Showing posts with label Spotlight On. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Spotlight On. Show all posts

June 6, 2015

Spotlight On ~ The Gifted Realm Series by Jillian Neal



WITHIN THE REALM
Book 1

BLURB:
He buried his father seven years earlier. As Rainer Lawson comes of age, he is set to join the ranks of Elite Iodex, the fiercest law enforcement organization in the Gifted Realm. Rainer will not allow his father's assassination to have been in vain.

Emily Haydenshire has been the love of his life since childhood, and he wants nothing more than to start their life together. Heady desire consumes them both, but this raw sexual need could blind them to the dangers that surround them.

As they allow their voracious passions to consume them, evil seems to lurk around every darkened corner. The Interfeci criminal organization is desperate to regain power. Iodex is set to use their extraordinary powers to harness and control the energies of the Earth in order to keep the Interfeci at bay. Will Rainer's determination be enough to protect his family and the love of his life Within the Realm?


LESSONS LEARNED
Book 2

BLURB:
One breathtakingly hot, passion-filled, night ignites a fire in his soul. Everything in his world should be nothing short of perfection…but he is Rainer Lawson.

His wild evening with Emily is the Realm’s front-page story. Could he have lost the respect of the man that has been like a father to him? Could his family’s hard-earned fortune really dissolve before his very eyes?

Evil rapidly cinches its chokehold, and everything his father fought and died for threatens to implode. Rainer attempts to protect those that he loves and satisfy the fiery passions between he and Emily, but everything in his world is spinning wildly out of control. His desire to prove himself could very well be his undoing.

Sometimes the best of intentions are not enough, but perhaps it is the trials by fire that make the man. Steel sharpens steel, and passion burns white hot in “Lessons Learned.”


EVERY ACTION
Book 3

BLURB:
“Mr. Lawson…” the man drawled. His French accent did nothing to cover his sinister tone. “Saw the little show your fiancée put on for you last night at the Tower. She's quite a handful isn't she?”
“I don't know who the hell you think you are, but if you get anywhere near her, I'll kill you.”
“Well then, Mr. Lawson, you better hope you find her before I do.”
~~~

If Emily’s father doesn’t win the vicious race for Crown Governor, the Realm falls to the savage clutches of Wretchkinsides. Evil chokes ice cold, but the hot, kindled burn between Rainer and Emily keeps them ablaze. 

A whirlwind trip culminates from DC, to Paris, Boston, to Seattle. The race is on and the stakes are far too high. Ultimately the entire Gifted world awaits their fate.

Everything that tries to rip them apart, everything that keeps them tightly bound, and everything involved in the ultimate betrayal, teaches Rainer that not Every Action is an option. 

  

ROCK BOTTOM
Book 4

BLURB:
Dan Vindico is the Chief of Elite Iodex, the fiercest, peacekeeping, police force in the Realm. He appears to have been constructed of raw sinew and steel. He’s sought revenge for his fiancée’s murder for the last decade. As he tears apart the men responsible, seemingly without end, he finds himself drowning in the riptide. Amelia’s kidnapper is going to walk free. The knowledge drives Dan to the brink.

Rainer Lawson, son of the assassinated Crown Governor and the newest officer to earn the Elite rank, can’t seem to do anything more than watch his boss be crushed under the weight. With Emily on another continent, Rainer has already let his guard down for one brief moment and has seen the brutality of the Interfeci. They’ve taken something he can’t ever get back. Can they be stopped? Can they save Vindico from the hellish abyss he seems determined to let consume him? 

Vindico can’t continue on. He’s reached the end. Narrowly escaping certain imprisonment and possible death, his body seems unwilling to fight anymore. While licking his inflicting wounds, in walks his saving grace. He’s hit Rock Bottom. Rainer, Logan, Garrett, and all of his men can’t save him. Perhaps, what he needs are the wings of an Angel. Can he have anything good in his life? Can he have true love again? How can he keep her from ending up like Amelia? Could it ever be worth the risk?


AN ANGEL ALL HIS OWN
Book 5

BLURB:
She’s everything Dan Vindico has ever wanted. Fionna Styler embodies every single thing he told himself could never exist inside of one woman. She’s beautiful, smart, funny, powerful, and she’s his… almost. 

No one can know they’re together. The Interfeci would never let her live. It was an inevitability, but Dan simply cannot resist her. 

After a vow to somehow keep her safe, Dan learns what that really entails. Betrayal, scandal, millions of dollars, and watching her in the arms of other men are only the beginning, when danger intrudes into every sanctuary he secures. 

Dan can’t determine if the demons in his soul or the monsters outside are more vicious, but Fionna’s life depends solely on him. That blasted tomb is ever-present in his mind. Can he save the Angel who managed to pull him from the depths of hell, the one he longs to make his own? 


ALL BUT LOST
Book 6

BLURB:
With the quick lock of their eyes on one another, the passion ignites. Their bodies speak volumes that can never be shared. As long as Dan Vindico keeps Fionna Styler between him and his bed sheets, she’ll be safe. If anyone finds out about the two of them, she’ll be at the very top of every Interfeci hit list. Keeping anyone from knowing that his world now rises and sets to the rhythms of her body is all that matters. 

The Realm prepares for a long anticipated trial, the birth of the new Crown Governor’s baby, and the wedding of the century. Everything is going according to plan until one night threatens to unravel every precaution and every safeguard Dan has set to keep Fionna safe. If he doesn’t end the Interfeci soon, he’s going to lose everything, including Fionna.

Dominic Wretchkinsides, head of the Interfeci criminal organization, goes several steps too far, and Dan declares war. They meet in a heated battle where the winner takes all and there are no holds barred. Could getting everything he’s wanted for so long cost Dan Vindico everything he already has? Can he keep Fionna safe or will everything he’s worked for be All but Lost?



THE QUELLING TIDE
Book 7

BLURB:
He ended them all with his bare hands and it almost cost him everything good in his life. Dan Vindico and the Gifted Iodex police force buried the world’s most brutal criminal organization, the Interfeci. They’d taken far too much to be allowed to exist. Dan lost a child in the fight, and his determination not to lose one more thing drives his vengeance. He walked away from the takedown broken but determined.

Fionna was safe, their family was expanding, and Dan was ready to finally live his life. The darkness that robbed him of every good thing in his life has passed. He’s ready to step into the light, but the evil he somehow survived seems unwilling to let him go.
 

Money is missing, officers are being brutally murdered, and someone takes something from one of Dan’s top officers, Rainer Lawson, that can never be returned. From the Pentagon in Washington D.C., to an island deep in the Florida Keyes, to Paris, France, if Dan is ever going to have peace he’ll have to discover who is behind the attacks that ultimately put his wife and his precious little girl back in the vicious crosshairs of danger. Will the fire ultimately consume him, or will he finally find peace in the Quelling Tide?




ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jillian Neal is a Romance writer with a passion for passion who pens strong, character driven novels, told from the male perspective. Her guys aren’t afraid to let us inside their minds or inside their bedrooms. They’re hot on the trail of a sinister criminal organization when they’re not burning up the bed sheets. 

She’s a self-proclaimed ‘Southern girl with a sassy mouth.’ Her coffee addiction is barely legal, and she’s most often running around with her hair and her pen on fire! She's full of smarts, sass, and sizzle and that's a lot to get into barely five feet of girl with her head always in the clouds.


December 8, 2014

Spotlight On ~ Antony Millen, Author



I'd like to say a big thank you to the numerous authors who answered my call and agreed to be featured here at
My Book Chatter
over the next couple of months.

Help me give a big welcome to my first guest, Antony Millen...




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Antony Millen is a Canadian living and writing in New Zealand.

Originally from Pictou County, Nova Scotia, Canada, he moved to New Zealand with his wife and two children in 1997. He has lived in Taumarunui since then, working at St Patrick’s Catholic Primary School and, more recently, as the head of the English department at Taumarunui High School.

During his early years in New Zealand, he wrote sporadically, but with a dream to write novels as a major part of his life-style if not as a career. In 2013, he launched his first novel, Redeeming Brother Murrihy. Rather than satisfying his urge to write, releasing the book only made him hungrier to pursue his dream more enthusiastically.  Te Kauhanga: A Tale of Space(s) is his second novel.

Antony is the winner of the 2014 Heartland short story competition (Fishing the Pungapunga). He also received a Highly Commended rating in the 2014 NZSA Central Districts short story competition for The Boy at Ohinetonga.
Antony Millen‘s profile with the New Zealand Society of Authors (NZSA). He is asscoiated with the Waikato and Central Districts branches.

Click here to join Antony’s e-mail list and receive updates about books, reviews, events and blog posts.


Can you tell us a little bit about yourself that we won’t find in your bio?

I’ve just taken up mountain biking and am in the process of selling a car so that I am forced to either walk or cycle to work. My wife and I have two children who are well and truly adults now, so we have picked up mountain biking to pursue some shared adventures. 


How or why did you choose the genre you write in?

I classify my novels as Literary Fiction, and by that I mean that I explore some rather complex themes, often with allusions to other literary works. At the same time, I write stories that are direct and accessible. I have a background in studying literature so I am participating in a conversation with the writers I admire. My novels and recent short stories are set in rural New Zealand, an area in which I’ve lived for the past 17 years since arriving from Canada.


Do you work with an outline, or do you just write?

I don’t just write, but I also don’t work strictly to an outline. In the years of thinking about Redeeming Brother Murrihy, I constructed many outlines, including a timeline since the story covers a specific time period during October 2004. However, once I started writing, I rarely referred to the outline. With Te Kauhanga, I wrote without an outline altogether. Instead, my most important reference was a map I had drawn of the town. This proved essential in tracking my characters’ movements and was fitting as the story deals with maps, cartography and our occupation of space.


Is anything in your book based on a real life experience or is it purely all imagination?

Redeeming Brother Murrihy contains quite a bit of my real life experience and specific places in Nova Scotia and New Zealand, including my town of Taumarunui. I adhered to the adage, “Write what you know”, and incorporated some of my life in the background of the story while diverging dramatically from that into pure fiction. Te Kauhanga is more purely imaginative, particularly with the characters. The town of Te Kauhanga shares many similarities with Taumarunui and many other small New Zealand towns.


What was your favorite chapter (or part) to write and why?

There’s a scene near the middle of Te Kauhanga in which the three storylines converge at a town council meeting. The meeting reveals the differing viewpoints, political stratagem, and cultural complexities of the town while also hosting characters from the storylines who otherwise don’t often cross paths even though they do influence one another. In writing each of my novels, I’ve written a scene somewhere in the middle where, after completing it, I was able to sit back, satisfied that the plan was working, the story’s threads were coming together and that it would all work out from that point on. In Te Kauhanga, this scene did that for me. 


How did you come up with the title?

One of the definitions I discovered for Kauhanga was “open space” or even better, “sacred passageway”. So, for me, the title means “The Sacred Passageway”. These definitions are in keeping with the theme of the book. Te Kauhanga also sounded like a good name for a town in the North Island, similar to Te Kuiti, Te Awamutu or Te Puke. 


What project are you working on now?

I’ve just finished a round of short stories which I entered into some national competitions. I was very pleased to learn I’ve won this year’s Heartland short story competition and was rated “Highly Commended” for the NZSA Central Districts competition. I have written out plans for at least two novels, one of which is aimed at a young adult audience. I now must decide which one to work on first and begin my research process. This needs to be done over the next few weeks so that I can begin writing it over the summer months.


Are there certain characters you would like to go back to, or is there a theme or idea you’d love to work with again?

Absolutely. In fact, for my short story The Homeless Men of Mahuika, I included two characters from Te Kauhanga and I am considering using another character from that novel for my Young Adult project. I’m encouraged in this by the likes of J.D. Salinger, who wrote many short stories about Holden Caulfield before writing Catcher in the Rye, and Bruce Springsteen, who uses entire lines in multiple songs. John Steinbeck repeatedly returned to the Salinas Valley and David Adams Richards, a top Canadian novelist, apparently sets all of his novels along the Miramichi River. I’m starting to notice which themes are repeated in my writing: home, family, cultural identity, uncertainty, interconnectedness, spirituality, loss and redemption. 


What has been the toughest criticism given to you as an author? What has been the best compliment?

I actually wish I would receive some tougher criticism. My reviews have been very positive so far, but not as far-ranging as I would like. I suppose hearing criticism about editing or choice of point-of-view have stung a bit. For Redeeming Brother Murrihy, the best compliment I received was from a past judge of a national book award who recommended I submit it the following year as he felt it may win. It didn’t, but the compliment has continued to encourage me. My first review for Te Kauhanga was written by an author from Pirongia who said she enjoyed it more than she’d enjoyed a novel in a long time. The short story competition win is a high compliment of course. There have been many and I treasure the feedback.


Who are your ‘must read’ authors and who would we find on your bookshelves/e-reader?

For this question, I’d like to refer your readers to my blog post: “The Minimalist Reader: 10 Books That Will Stay on My Shelf” (https://antonymillen.wordpress.com/2014/07/03/the-minimalist-reader-10-books-that-will-stay-on-my-shelf/) in which I write about my reduced book shelf and the books and authors that I will also keep and revisit for inspiration and guidance. A short list of authors for me would be: John Steinbeck, Bruce Springsteen, Maurice Shadbolt, Harper Lee, William Shakespeare, James K Baxter and David Adams Richards.

Fast Five


Favorite food…
Pizza – from the Acropole, Pictou County, Nova Scotia

Favourite movie… Star Wars

Cat lover or Dog person…
Neither really, but we have several cats. My wife loves cats.

Celebrity crush…
I think I’m past the celebrity crush stage, but I do have an abnormal, yet healthy obsession with Bruce Springsteen and the Montreal Canadiens ice hockey team. I watch Canadiens games online and I’ve been to see Springsteen in concert three times since coming to New Zealand including a trip to Sydney, Australia just to see him play there.

If you weren’t a writer, you’d be…
a reader.

Thanks so much for agreeing to be interviewed Antony <3



Smashwords Cover

Conrad Murrihy’s mother is dying and she has one final wish: to see her eldest son Francis who has not contacted home in two years.

In a race to find him and return home to his mother, Conrad travels far from his native Nova Scotia, Canada and through the heart of rural North Island, New Zealand following leads to Taumarunui, Auckland, Whanganui, Ratana and, finally, on an epic journey up the Whanganui River. 

Along the way, Conrad discovers his brother has been living multiple lives – as a Catholic brother, a spoken-word poet, a suspected criminal and a new kind of poropiti for iwi Maori.

Conrad’s search forces him to confront issues in his own life – issues of commitment, family loyalties, reconciliation with the past and openness to future possibilities – brought on by his encounters with the people, places and spirits of New Zealand.

In this, his first novel, Antony Millen explores the complex spiritual fabric of New Zealand while still telling a simple story of a man trying to mend his family.

PURCHASE LINKS

~~~~~

Te_Kauhanga_Cover_for_Kindle (2)

Montreal Perec is an accomplished cartographer with unusual powers of perception. He lives as a recluse in the town of Te Kauhanga, sheltered deep in the central North Island of New Zealand. Thirty years ago, he travelled from overseas and settled into his lighthouse look-off, led by his unfruitful search for the treasure of his ancestors. An online encounter with a mysterious mapping hobbyist launches Perec down a new trail of mind-bending clues.

Sharon Pellerine works for the local council in Te Kauhanga. An attractive woman, she is desired by various rural and municipal courters. But her skills and demeanour as an archivist from Wellington conceal a painful past and a shady secret that she attempts to address with the help of a peculiar visiting transient.

Another immigrant to this small town, Stanley Kowalczyk, hails from the northern city of Hamilton. Five years ago, he arrived with his own unique set of skills as an insurance adjuster and an even more specialised obsession with straight lines. His weakness for beautiful women opens him to the possibilities of wandering outside his self-imposed parameters.

These characters’ lives revolve around the apparently perishing tree of Taumata—an enormous tree, one of the legendary legs of Tane Mahuta and a taonga to local iwi Maori. As debate rages in the township about the tree’s future, Perec is led closer to his treasure by the activities of his fellow citizens.

Te Kauhanga is Antony Millen’s second novel—a tale of spaces that examines our position and movement in this world and how these interchange, connect and influence others.

PURCHASE LINKS

~~~~~


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