Giveaway: Win 3 copies of Dexter Boomstick @dexterboomstick (US)

When the world descends into a madman's twisted imagination, Dexter “Boomstick” Reynolds, a 30-year-old sporting goods store manager with legendary bat-swinging power, must find his way back to the beautiful Roxanne before she lands in the clutches of the self-proclaimed Pig Monster, Roy Hecht. Will the mysterious Golden Slugger baseball bat, business casual attire, and devilishly good looks be enough for Dexter to prevail?

I am delighted to show case Dexter Boomstick on the blog today. To celebrate the release the author has provided 3 copies to giveaway. 

Giveaway:

3 copies to giveaway

Open to US residents only

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Blog Tour Guest Post: My Mother the Liar by @TroupAnn @HQDigitalUK

Every family has a secret…

When Rachel Porter’s estranged mother dies, she returns to her family home filled with dread about having to face her past, and the people who populated it.

Little does she know that there are dead bodies waiting to be discovered, and a lifetime of secrets are about to unravel.

Buy the book: UK/Ireland | US

Guest Post: 5 Things I'd like people to Know about my Books

1 – You’re probably not going to find too many ‘likeable’ characters in my books. Nice, good, appealing people don’t tend to do bad things and my books are full of people doing awful things. Even my protagonists have their faults, because people are imperfect and most of my characters will have been victims of the acts perpetrated by the bad guys. It would be unrealistic to expect a character to come out of that unscathed, so even my heroes and heroines are a bit flaky and tend towards the dark side of life on occasion. The good news is that I like a bit of redemption and always give them a positive in the end. 
2 – There will be more than one or two characters and things will get twisty. When you are trying to construct a fictitious plot involving preposterous goings on there is a need to suspend the reader’s disbelief. Very few situations in real-life involve only one or two people and the reasons why we do awful things are rarely simple. For suspension of disbelief to happen I think it’s important to have a realistic cast of characters involved. Some will be more important than others, but they all play a part. Quite a few won’t make it to the end, so if you didn’t like them there’s a good chance you’ll see them bumped off or at least get their comeuppance!

3 – There will likely be a creepy old house. Our homes are often a visual representation of who we are – how we live, what we own and who we live with are often outward representation of our personalities and values. The houses in my books are often characters in their own right, setting the scene for a dark history and representing a sense of the cloying nature of living with misdeeds and their consequences. I also love old houses and find their histories fascinating. One of the joys of storytelling is the advantage of being able to construct whatever world your imagination conjures and being able to insert whatever object/symbol/artefact takes your fancy.

4 – Every book I have written has a basis in truth. All four of the stories I’ve told stem from real stories involving real people. What I do is strip them back, mix and mingle them to create drama and suspense and throw in many fictional elements to make them more exiting. Truth is very much stranger than fiction and though the ‘truth’ in my stories is heavily disguised (and involves far more dead bodies than the real-life situations that inspired them) it is there as a grain of inspiration.


5 – All four books will be available as audiobooks from April this year. I don’t know about you but one of my favourite things in life is being read to, I am a great fan of audiobooks and love listening to a good story well told. So, if you fancy a bit of grown up Jackanory time you know where to look!


Thanks so much for hosting me on your blog Amanda, it’s been a pleasure.

Buy the book: UK/Ireland | US

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Bookish News: London Book Fair's Write Stuff competition is open for entries! @LondonBookFair

The London Book Fair’s ever-popular writing
competition issues Call for Entries for 2018!

London, 20 February 2018: The London Book Fair (LBF), the UK’s biggest gathering of international publishers and agents, has announced the Call for Entries for its ever-popular writing competition, The Write Stuff, which will take place on Thursday 12 April in LBF’s Author HQ - the area of the Fair dedicated to writers and aspiring writers, which is sponsored by IngramSpark and Kindle Direct Publishing.

The competition takes the form of a “Dragon’s Den” style panel event. Six authors will pitch their books to a panel of literary agents, and an Author HQ audience, for the chance to win a follow-up meeting with a literary agent and a free year’s membership to LBF’s Author Club. This year’s panel of judges includes representatives from Felicity Bryan Associates, Jo Unwin Literary Agency, Marjacq, MBA and Peters Fraser & Dunlop.

Authors will have three minutes each to pitch – to introduce themselves and present their work. The judging panel will then provide on-the-spot feedback to each pitch, as well as the authors’ writing, having received in advance of the competition sample chapters of each finalist’s work.