June Release: One Soul For Sale

One Soul For Sale by Cate Masters
http://www.eternalpress.ca/onesoulforsale.html
Paranormal, 20,170 Words
$4.50 US
Flame Rating: 1 Flames
Cover Art © 2009 by Amanda Kelsey
Edited by Diana Rubino
Copyedited by Valerie J. Coffey
Layout and Book Production by Ally Robertson
eBook: 978-1-926704-04-3Print: 978-1-926704-12-8

Low level violence
Adult themes (some adult language)
Mild horror

Summary:

When Madelyn sells her soul on UBuy, she’s not ready for the hell that’s unleashed. All she really wants is to make a success of her art. But the gorgeous stranger who buys her soul for $666 asks her to perform a few tasks. Tests of her true worth, Madelyn thinks, as each brings her – and her cat Brutus – into greater danger. And closer to the frightening shadowy figure stalking her. On All Hallows Eve, her final test will open the gates of hell. Or is it heaven?

Excerpt:

At the coffee shop, Madelyn waits at a table by the window and scans the Evening Gazette. The news is always the same. Until she reaches page six, where a blurb describes a disturbance the night before in her neighborhood. Telephone reception was lost. Television signals were scrambled. Residents reported strange noises, though no one saw anything out of the ordinary.
No one but Madelyn.
The guy in all black comes through the door. Her breath is caught in her chest. As he holds her gaze, his dark eyes sparkle like black diamonds. Her heart pounds as he walks to her table and sits down across from her.
“It’s you.” But she’d known it would be.
His expression is warm and inviting as he looks her over. “I wanted to be sure that, with such a low starting bid, your soul isn’t tarnished.” He speaks to her as if she’s an old friend.
“I feel like it is.” She proceeds to spill her guts to him. Even as she thinks she should be embarrassed to be doing so, it makes her feel lighter, like unburdening herself opens up space inside her, previously made heavy with bad thoughts, unfulfilled hopes, despair and gloom. Now it’s kind of airy, little particles sparking in the light as they float by.
His gaze penetrates her to the core. “So you think fifty dollars is all it’s worth? Your soul – the essence of your being?”
She couldn’t feel more exposed if an x-ray of her insides were hanging in the window beside them. “It started out as a joke. I thought people would read it and laugh. I wasn’t expecting anyone to place a bid. I wasn’t expecting…” she gulps, “…you.” Her intellect recognizes the idiocy of her situation. And stupidity. What a mess she’s made.
He leans in, his voice low, his smile like a crocodile about to snap her up. His breath is like a heat wave across her face and neck. “Didn’t your mother warn you not to wish your life away?” It seems less a question than a reminder.

June Release: The Yellow Stone

The Yellow Stone by T.M. Crone
http://www.eternalpress.ca/theyellowstone.html
Soft SF, 6400 Words
$2.50 US
Flame Rating: 1 Flames
Cover Art © 2009 by Amanda Kelsey
Edited by Stephanie Parent
Copyedited by Moss Bliss
Layout and Book Production by Ally Robertson
eBook: 978-1-926704-03-6Print: 978-1-926704-11-1

Summary:

Luzan Kiowa has lived in the canyon all her life, but it’s never felt right. Leaving the man she loves behind, she journeys with a group of searchers to find her real home. She takes along with her the yellow stone given to her by her Moma Kiowa, whose ancestors took it from their homeland following a devastating super volcano eruption. The stone leads her to the home of her ancestors, but the place is not what she expects. Will she continue to live in the strange new land where life is easy, or will she return to the only Ameriki who can truly warm her heart and anchor her feet to the earth?

Excerpt:

Moma Kiowa was buried at daybreak. Lozan selected a grave site atop the canyon walls, where Moma's spirit could overlook the western horizon and watch over her when she journeyed again. Wind rushed across the mesa, chilling Lozan and thickening her tears into icy droplets upon her cheeks. Not a single petal adorned Moma's final resting spot: the flora had already relinquished its life to the changing weather. Chanters promenaded around the grave, moving their ceremonially dressed bodies in a slow, graceful dance.

June Release: Blood Moon Rising

Blood Moon Rising by Angela Lam Turbin
http://www.eternalpress.ca/bloodmoonrising.html
Paranormal Vampire Romance, 59,802 Words
$6.95 US
Flame Rating: 2 Flames
Cover Art © 2009 by Dawné Dominique
Edited by Foery K. MacDonell
Copyedited by Moss Bliss
Layout and Book Production by Ally Robertson
eBook: 978-1-926704-02-9Print: 978-1-926704-10-4

Medium level violence
Adult themes
Sex scenes

Summary:
Deep in Shaman’s Forest, the vampire Valkyrie awakens to find her dhampir son, Anthony, ill with a fever. The sorceress says Anthony must have his father’s blood before the next full moon or else he will die. Valkyrie journeys with Anthony into the city to find a man she has not seen in 15 years. But will Anthony’s fascination with human life and Valkyrie’s need to feed on living blood tear them apart before Anthony’s father can be found?

Excerpt:

“He may look fine now, but he is dying,” the sorceress warned. “He needs you to help him.”
“How?”
“He needs his father’s blood. Anyone else’s blood will only hasten his demise.”
“But his father is human. How will I find him?”
“You will smell his scent like you smelled him before when you hungered for his flesh, thirsted for his blood.”
Valkyrie stared off into the distance and sighed. “I never hungered for him. He found my cave years ago on a camping trip. He was braver than the rest. He crept down to my tomb and startled me.”
The sorceress nodded, as if she already knew.
“Perhaps I should have bitten him, contaminated him, made him forever mine. But I let him go.” Valkyrie’s eyes misted. “I was in love.”

June Release: The Sea-Wagon of Yantai

The Sea-Wagon of Yantai by Steven R. Southard
http://www.eternalpress.ca/theseawagonofyantai.html
Historical Fiction/Folklore, 5000 Words
$2.50 US
Flame Rating: 0 Flames
Cover Art © 2009 by Amanda Kelsey
Edited by Diana Rubino
Copyedited by Erin Cramer
Layout and Book Production by Ally Robertson
eBook: 978-1-926704-01-2Print: 978-1-926704-09-8

No overt violence
Aftermath of battle scene described
Off-stage suicide
Suitable for Young Adult

Summary:

In 206 B.C., China is torn by warring dynasties. A young warrior, Lau, receives orders to verify the legend of a magic wagon that can cross rivers unseen. He encounters Ning, the wagon-maker in the seaside village of Yantai. Ning has constructed an unusual wagon that can submerge, travel along the bottom of the Bay of Bohai, and surface in safety—the world’s first practical submarine.

Ning enjoys the peace and beauty of his undersea excursions and will not allow the military to seize his wagon or learn its secrets. Lau must bring the valuable weapon back to his superior. In the hands of these two men rest the future of the submarine, as an instrument of war or exploration.

Excerpt:

“Ah, Ning, with this machine, you have given birth to a truly modern age,” Lau marveled. He needed to find out if Ning would be receptive to his plans or not. “With this chariot, one can do so much more than merely watch fish. Troops could cross deep rivers, bays, seas, and even the great eastern ocean. No lookout on shore would see them coming. The great Sun Tzu tells us we must use surprise for a successful invasion, and we must travel by unexpected routes. But even he could never have imagined an underwater chariot. What a marvelous engine of war! Have you thought of these things, Ning?”
The old man looked at him in horror, then frowned. “You told me you were a traveler who enjoyed watching fish.”
“Think of this,” Lau went on. “Imagine a chain of your chariots linked by stout ropes, emerging from the water up onto an enemy’s beach. It would appear as a dragon rising from the sea to any lookout ashore. He would be too scared to send his alarm signal.” Lau had to get this chariot to his Lion, along with the secret for making more. The silly old man was wasting time observing gobies while the Qin armies could be using the machines for sneak attacks.
Ning shook his head. “I did not build this wagon for war. You have deceived me with a lie. We must go back now. Kindly rotate the wheel in the opposite direction.”

June Release: Sisters in Time

Sisters In Time by Ginger Simpson
http://www.eternalpress.ca/sistersintime.html
Paranormal Romance, 57,400 Words
$5.95 US
Flame Rating: 3 Flames
Cover Art © 2009 by Dawné Dominique
Edited by Lauren Gilbert
Copyedited by Heather Williams
Layout and Book Production by Ally Robertson
eBook: 978-1-926704-00-5
Print: 978-1-926704-08-1

Summary:

Mariah Cassidy awakens in the twentieth century. Confined in a pristine environment, hooked to tubes and beeping machines, she’s scared, confused and wondering why everyone keeps calling her Mrs. Morgan. Who is the strange man who keeps massaging her forehead and telling her everything is going to be alright?

Taylor Morgan tries to focus on her surroundings through a blinding headache. The patchwork quilt, the water basin, and the archaic room don’t strike a familiar chord. Her mouth gapes when a handsome man waltzes into the room, calls her darling, and expresses his delight that she’s on the road to recovery.

Clearly something is amiss.

Excerpt:

Suddenly, an intense rumbling sound shook the prairie stillness. From an almost cloudless sky, thunder cast a single bolt of lightning, striking the ground with energy enough to propel dirt through the air and set fire to a small patch of grass. Immediately, calm prevailed; only a column of smoke billowing skyward remained as evidence.
Frank pondered the strange occurrence, but fueled by the need to find his wife, hurried in the direction of the fading smoke. “Mariah, Mariah, please answer me.” His boots cut a path through the heavy brush.
In the grass beyond the wagon, he spied the brim of her yellow bonnet. He rushed to her side, finding her in an oddly contorted position. Mariah’s head rested against a large rock and rivulets of red dripped onto the grass beneath her. Frank’s throat Frank’s throat constricted. “Oh my God, are you all right? Mariah, answer me, please.” His words were little more than a whisper over his choking fear.
He gently removed her head covering and inspected the crimson-stained gash on her temple. “Callie,” he yelled, “Get the tablecloth from the picnic basket. I have to stop this bleeding. Quickly, Jacob, bring me the water jug.”
Frank cleaned Mariah’s wound then wrapped a makeshift bandage around her head, but she remained unconscious. He had to make her hear him; she had to wake up. A tear trickled down his cheek and he brushed it away. His children already sobbed with fear; he had to show strength.
Frank continued to bathe his wife’s face with cool water. “Mariah, please darlin’…” He looked to the sky. “Lord this can’t be happening.”

InDescent ~ M/M urban fantasy ~ May 11

You read that right. Outside-the-box urban fantasy. Two heroes for the price of one. No Mary Sue, no first-person narration, no standard baddies. InDescent will be released Monday, May 11, by Liquid Silver Books. For a sample of this novel, please go to the LSB "Coming Soon" forum -- http://www.liquidsilverbooks.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9200 .

Being Familiar With a Witch Up for Best Book of April at Book Cover Lovers

Being Familiar With a Witch is up Best Book for April poll at http://bookcoverlovers.blogspot.com/. It's a great cover. If can take the time, please vote for it. The poll is on the right side of your screen at the blog. Thank you.