Introducing Dinosaur Lake III: Infestation by Kathryn Meyer Griffith!

Friday, October 31, 2014

So, I was delighted to learn that Kathryn Meyer Griffith has just published the third book in her thrilling Dinosaur Lake Series through Amazon, and that it is currently available to download. The book is called Dinosaur Lake III: Infestation and is, amazingly, Ms. Griffith's 22nd novel! I would advise you to grab your own copy as soon as possible!

As a matter of fact, Ms. Griffith is currently looking for some kind people who would be willing to read and review her latest book. All that potential reviewers are required to do is send an email to Ms. Griffith - requesting a pdf, epub or mobi copy of her book to read - and then post their honest review on Amazon. Just email Ms. Griffith at rdgriff@htc.net, and she'll be delighted to send you a complimentary copy to read.

I had the pleasure of reading Book 1 - Dinosaur Lake by Kathryn Meyer Griffith - back in March of 2014 and here is my review. Ms. Griffith was also kind enough to send me a copy of Dinosaur Lake II: Dinosaurs Arising back in May of 2014, and I do so hope to start reading it very soon!

Meet Kathryn Meyer Griffith

Since childhood I’ve been an artist and worked as a graphic designer in the corporate world and for newspapers for twenty-three years before I quit to write full time. But I’d already begun writing novels at 21, over forty-two years ago now, and have had twenty (ten romantic horror, two horror novels, two romantic SF horror, one romantic suspense, one romantic time travel, one historical romance and three murder mysteries) previous novels, two novellas and twelve short stories published from Zebra Books, Leisure Books, Avalon Books, The Wild Rose Press, Damnation Books/Eternal Press; and I’ve self-published my last five novels with Amazon Kindle Direct and my dinosaur novels are my best-sellers.

I’ve been married to Russell for thirty-six years; have a son, James, and two grandchildren, Joshua and Caitlyn, and I live in a small quaint town in Illinois, which is right across the JB Bridge from St. Louis, Mo. We have three quirky cats, ghost cat Sasha and Cleo, and live cat Sasha (Too), and the five of us live happily in an old house in the heart of town. Though I’ve been an artist, and a folk singer in my youth with my brother Jim, writing has always been my greatest passion, my butterfly stage, and I’ll probably write stories until the day I die…or until my memory goes.

2012 EPIC EBOOK AWARDS *FINALIST* for my horror novel The Last Vampire - Revised Author’s Edition ~ 2014 EPIC EBOOK AWARDS *FINALIST* for my thriller novel Dinosaur Lake.


Dinosaur Lake by Kathryn Meyer Griffith (2012)
Length: 451 pages
Purchase your copy from Amazon and Audible!

Dinosaur Lake Blurb:

Ex-cop Henry Shore has been Chief Park Ranger at Crater Lake National Park for eight years and he likes his park and his life the way it's been. Safe. Tranquil. Predictable. But he's about to be tested in so many ways. First the earthquakes begin, people begin to go missing, then there's some mysterious water creature that's taken up residence in the caves below Crater Lake and it's not only growing in size, it's aggressive and cunning and very hungry.

And it's decided it likes human beings. To eat.

And it can come up onto land.

So Henry, with the help of his wife, Ann; a young paleontologist named Justin; and a band of brave men, must not only protect his park and his people from the monster but somehow find where it lives and destroy it before it can kill again.

Now Dinosaur Lake by Kathryn Meyer Griffith is a 2014 EPIC EBOOK AWARDS *FINALIST* in their Suspense/Thriller category.


Dinosaur Lake II: Dinosaurs Arising by Kathryn Meyer Griffith (2014)
Length: 248 pages
Purchase your copy from Amazon and Audible!

Dinosaur Lake II: Dinosaurs Arising Blurb:

Prehistoric creatures have again invaded Crater Lake National Park…and this time there’s more than one.

Henry Shore has been Chief Park Ranger at Crater Lake National Park for thirteen years now and thought the days when he’d had to fight a rogue dinosaur that lived in the caves below the lake were long over.

Until one of his park rangers, to save a visitor’s life, is in a deadly struggle out in the woods with a new breed of dinosaur worse than the last one. It’s as big as a man, but this one is a young one. And growing.

Then more of the creatures begin to show up everywhere, threatening people and destroying the tranquility and safety of his beloved park.

A tourist trolley filled with fifteen people is snatched up off the crater’s rim by another version of the younger one…but this one has grown into a giant with fangs, claws and a deadly tail. And this one has wings. Ugly Gargoyles, Henry calls them. For this one isn’t alone. They’re flying beyond the park’s boundaries into the neighboring towns.

So Henry, with the help of his son-in-law, a paleontologist named Justin, and a band of brave park rangers, and a few good soldiers, must not only protect his park and his people from monsters once more but find their lair and destroy it and them before the creatures kill again.


Dinosaur Lake III: Infestation by Kathryn Meyer Griffith (2014)
Length: 285 pages
Purchase your copy from Amazon!

Dinosaur Lake III: Infestation Blurb:

Chief Park Ranger Henry Shore has dealt with and fought real live dinosaurs at his beloved Crater Lake National Park for over six years. With the help of his rangers, a few brave FBI friends and army soldiers he’d been victorious over a prehistoric lake creature and years later some particularly fiendish, and clever, specimens of the flying variety. He and his newspaper publisher wife, Ann, thought their park was finally rid of the monsters and they could reclaim their tranquil life in a place they cherished.

Not so. For suddenly across the park new and even more malevolent mutant species of dinosaur begin to appear and create havoc, attacking the park’s visitors and threatening its peace. And this time the primeval scourge isn’t confined to just their park. The creatures have moved into the nearby towns, across the western United States and up into Canada.

They are so much more aggressive, smarter and hungrier than any that have come before and the infestation is spreading further and faster than Henry and Ann can even imagine. This time there’s no easy way to defeat the dinosaurs. There’s too many of them and they’re too devious. This time it’s full out war and the victor will someday claim Earth.

May you read well and often

Introducing Treasure Me by Christine Nolfi!

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

I'm delighted to announce that Treasure Me - Book 1 in Christine Nolfi's contemporary romance series The Liberty Series - is now permanently free on Amazon, Kobo and I-Tunes! I had the pleasure of reading Treasure Me back in June of 2013 and was delighted to receive Second Chance Grill and Four Wishes - Books 2 and 4 of The Liberty Series - from the author as well. I do hope to start reading both books some time soon! :)

 Treasure Me by Christine Nolfi (2011)
Length: 273 pages
Purchase your copy from Amazon, Kobo, and I-Tunes!

Treasure Me Blurb:

Welcome to Book One of The Liberty Series, where love, friendship and family life arrive with a second chance in the most heartwarming circumstances.

Petty thief Birdie Kaminsky has arrived in Liberty, Ohio to steal a treasure hidden since the Civil War. She’s in possession of a charming clue passed down in her family for generations: Liberty safeguards the cherished heart.

The beautiful thief wants to go straight. She secretly admires the clue’s author, freedwoman Justice Postell, who rose above the horrors of slavery to build a new life in Ohio. According to family lore, Justice left South Carolina at the dawn of the Civil War. Heavy with child, she carried untold riches on her journey north. As Birdie searches for the treasure, she begins to believe a questionable part of the story: a tale of love between Justice and Lucas Postell, the French plantation owner who was Birdie’s ancestor.

If the stories are true, Justice bore a child with Lucas. Some of those black relatives might still live in town. Birdie can’t help but wonder if she’s found one - Liberty’s feisty matriarch, Theodora Hendricks, who packs a pistol and heartwarming stories about Justice. Birdie doesn’t know that an investigative reporter who has arrived in town will trip her up - as will her conscience when she begins to wonder if it’s possible to start a new life with stolen riches. Yet with each new clue she unearths, Birdie begins to discover a family history more precious than gems, a tradition of love richer than she could imagine.

The books of The Liberty Series work as stand-alone novels you may enjoy in any order. Look for the other books in the series: Second Chance Grill, The Impossible Wish and Four Wishes.
 

Second Chance Grill by Christine Nolfi (2012)
Length: 319 pages
Purchase your copy from Amazon, Kobo, and I-Tunes!

Second Chance Grill Blurb:

Welcome to Book Two of The Liberty Series, where the heartwarming stories of love, friendship and family life provide an inspiring second chance for the town’s new doctor and a precocious adolescent.

Dr. Mary Chance needs a sabbatical from medicine to grieve the loss of her closest friend. But when she inherits a struggling restaurant in Liberty, Ohio she isn’t prepared for Blossom Perini. Mary can’t resist falling for the amusing preteen - or the girl’s father. The bond they
 forge will transform all their lives and set in motion an outpouring of love that spreads across America. 

The books of The Liberty Series work as stand-alone novels you may enjoy in any order. Look for the other books in the series: Treasure Me, The Impossible Wish and Four Wishes.

Second Chance Grill is the prequel to Treasure Me,
2012 Next Generation Indie Awards Finalist, which The Midwest Book Review calls “A riveting read for those who enjoy adventure fiction, highly recommended.” 

The Impossible Wish by Christine Nolfi (2014)
Length: 242 pages
Purchase your copy from Amazon, Kobo, and I-Tunes!

The Impossible Wish Blurb:

Notorious swindler Wish Kaminsky puts her daughter’s romance at risk in this hilarious and heartwarming installment of the award-winning series.

Wish is about to arrive in Liberty, and that means trouble. Liberty is the town that open-heartedly welcomed her daughter. Recently engaged, Birdie has turned her life around - and Wish is the last person she wants to see.

The books of The Liberty Series work as stand-alone novels you may enjoy in any order. Look for the other books in the series: Treasure Me, Second Chance Grill and Four Wishes.

Four Wishes by Christine Nolfi (2014)
Length: 255 pages
Purchase your copy from Amazon, Kobo, and I-Tunes!

Four Wishes Blurb:

Meade Williams has a successful company, an ailing father—and a secret desire to find love at last. Dr. Mary Chance isn’t sure the time is right to expand her family. Birdie Kaminsky has married the man of her dreams, but yearns to grow closer to her powerful sister. And young Glade Wilson must confront the daunting truth that she’ll become a mother before finishing high school.

Welcome to Book Four of The Liberty Series, where the heartwarming stories of love, friendship and family life unfold in surprising ways.

The books of The Liberty Series serve as stand-alone novels you may enjoy in any order. Look for the other books in the series: Treasure Me, Second Chance Grill and The Impossible Wish. Future releases coming soon.

Praise for Treasure Me, Book One of The Liberty Series:

“…this zesty novel is rife with witty dialogue and well-drawn characters…” - Publisher’s Weekly
as reviewed by Publisher’s Weekly for the
Amazon Breakthrough Novel Contest

Treasure Me is a riveting read for those who enjoy adventure fiction, highly recommended.” - Susan Bethany, The Midwest Book Review 

 
May you read well and often

Introducing Two New Short Stories by Kathryn Meyer Griffith!

Monday, October 27, 2014

I was delighted to learn that Kathryn Meyer Griffith is releasing two new short stories - well, technically, it's one new short story and one with a newly redesigned cover! One story is quite a departure for Ms. Griffith in that it is strictly romance, and the other story is sticking with her horror roots. I actually had the pleasure of reading Always and Forever - Ms. Griffith's romantic short story - back in April of 2011; and here is my review.

I haven't read Night Carnival as yet, but I look forward to reading it some time in the near future. :) I would advise you all to grab your own copies as soon as possible!

Meet Kathryn Meyer Griffith

Since childhood I’ve been an artist and worked as a graphic designer in the corporate world and for newspapers for twenty-three years before I quit to write full time. But I’d already begun writing novels at 21, over forty-two years ago now, and have had twenty (ten romantic horror, two horror novels, two romantic SF horror, one romantic suspense, one romantic time travel, one historical romance and three murder mysteries) previous novels, two novellas and twelve short stories published from Zebra Books, Leisure Books, Avalon Books, The Wild Rose Press, Damnation Books/Eternal Press; and I’ve self-published my last five novels with Amazon Kindle Direct and my dinosaur novels are my best-sellers.

I’ve been married to Russell for thirty-six years; have a son, James, and two grandchildren, Joshua and Caitlyn, and I live in a small quaint town in Illinois, which is right across the JB Bridge from St. Louis, Mo. We have three quirky cats, ghost cat Sasha and Cleo, and live cat Sasha (Too), and the five of us live happily in an old house in the heart of town. Though I’ve been an artist, and a folk singer in my youth with my brother Jim, writing has always been my greatest passion, my butterfly stage, and I’ll probably write stories until the day I die…or until my memory goes.

2012 EPIC EBOOK AWARDS *FINALIST* for my horror novel The Last Vampire - Revised Author’s Edition ~ 2014 EPIC EBOOK AWARDS *FINALIST* for my thriller novel Dinosaur Lake.

Forever and Always by Kathryn Meyer Griffith (2014)
Length: 26 pages
Purchase your copy from Amazon!

Forever and Always Blurb:

Emma Baker’s husband, Jonathan, has just divorced her, shattered her heart and left her and her young son, Christopher, to fend for themselves. Bitterly lonely, she accepts a girlfriend’s suggestion to go out on her first night as a newly free woman. She vows not to let a man turn her head, vows not to let love make a fool of her again.

But she never counted on meeting a charismatic and sexy nightclub bouncer like Ben Lauery, who takes her for an exciting ride on his Harley, sweeps her off her feet and steals her heart. She never counted on the fireworks that explode in the bedroom and the sweetness of his burning kisses when he gently seduces her and makes her love him forever and always. All she knows is that, in the end, she can’t resist the passion, devotion and the forever love he’s offering and she has to give love a second chance.

Night Carnival by Kathryn Meyer Griffith (2014)
Length: 14 pages
Purchase your copy from Amazon!

Night Carnival Blurb:

Walking among the eerie assortment of skill-game booths and tattered tents she’s strangely drawn in by the eerie calliope music and the mesmerizing inhabitants of a carnival the likes she’s never seen before. The carousel is alive with demonic steeds flashing their hooves and neighing silently to the moon. There are wraith like luminescent creatures lurking in the shadows along the midway and the Ferris wheel, aglow with thousands of twinkling lights, moves without human hands to control it. The strange animals, lions, tigers and elephants, in the main ring have no human trainers, are much larger than they should be, and seem to float.

Then there are the sad-faced clowns who manipulate the crowds with only their glittering eyes and thoughts. They and the other carnies are vampires. One - ancient and powerful, their leader Dominic - has been waiting for her for a long time…to make her his forever. He offers her what she’s never had before. Love. A place to call home.

But is she willing to give up her humanity for this creature of the night? Is she willing to join her life to his and live among the vampires, shape shifters and ghosts of the traveling carnival for eternity? Could she be happy as one of them? Is she willing to die for him?

(The short story Night Carnival was a *Finalist* in the 2011 Just One Bite Anthology Contest at All Romance eBooks.)

May you read well and often

Introducing Tortured Souls by Kimber Leigh Wheaton!

Saturday, October 25, 2014


Hello Everyone! I was delighted to learn recently that Tortured Souls by Kimber Leigh Wheaton will be free to download from Amazon - at least for a short time! Yes, from Monday, December 15, 2014 until Friday December 19, 2014, Kimber Leigh Wheaton's supernatural young adult book Tortured Souls - Book 1 of her Orion Circle Series - will be available to download for free from Amazon.

Ms. Wheaton will also be hosting two awesome giveaways - she will be giving away a $20 Amazon gift card in a main giveaway. There will also be a host-only giveaway for a $20 Amazon gift card as a thanks to all participants. More information will be provided sometime on or before Thursday, December 11, 2014!

Meet Kimber Leigh Wheaton

Kimber Leigh Wheaton is a bestselling YA/NA author with a soft spot for sweet roance. She is married to her soul mate, has a teenage son, and shares her home with three dogs, four cats, and lots of dragons. No, she doesn’t live on a farm, she just loves animals. Kimber Leigh is addicted to romance, videogames, superheroes, villains, and chocolate - not necessarily in that order. (If she has to choose, she’ll take a chocolate covered superhero!) She currently lives in San Antonio, Texas but has been somewhat a rolling stone in life, having resided in several different cities and states.

 Tortured Souls by Kimber Leigh Wheaton (2014)
Length: 227 pages
Purchase your copy from Amazon!

Tortured Souls Blurb:

Sometimes Rest in Peace isn't an option

Kacie Ramsey sees ghosts - and it's ruining her life. Her mother left, her father blames her, and no matter how hard she tries, she can't keep the ghosts away. Now a new power has emerged. Nightly visions of grisly murders and a relentless predator draw her to the brink of insanity.

When the phantom appears at a party, Kacie's longtime crush, Logan, saves her. He invites her to join the Orion Circle, a group of supernatural hunters with chapters in schools all over the country. Through the Circle, Kacie learns to embrace her spiritual powers, and for the first time in her life she feels in control rather than a victim.

But the Foxblood Demon will not give up so easily. A demented serial killer in life who trapped the souls of the thirteen children he murdered, imprisoning them within the walls of his mansion. Now in death, he plots his return while drawing power from the pure souls of the children. He recognizes something in Kacie he's never seen before - a medium powerful enough to provide a vessel for his tainted soul.

Kacie can't ignore the tortured souls of the children crying out to her every night. With Logan at her side, she will fight the Foxblood Demon. But can they banish this powerful phantom, or will Kacie lose not only her body, but her eternal soul to the monster.


May you read well and often

Introducing the Dinosaur Lake Series by Kathryn Meyer Griffith!

Thursday, October 23, 2014

Well, I was delighted to learn that the second book in Kathryn Meyer Griffith's Dinosaur Lake Series - Dinosaur Lake II: Dinosaurs Arising will be available in print from Amazon very soon. I had the pleasure of reading Book 1 - Dinosaur Lake by Kathryn Meyer Griffith - back in March of this year and here is my review. Ms. Griffith was also kind enough to send me a copy of Dinosaur Lake II: Dinosaurs Arising back in May of this year, and I do so hope to start reading it very soon!


Meet Kathryn Meyer Griffith

Since childhood I’ve been an artist and worked as a graphic designer in the corporate world and for newspapers for twenty-three years before I quit to write full time. But I’d already begun writing novels at 21, over forty-two years ago now, and have had twenty (ten romantic horror, two horror novels, two romantic SF horror, one romantic suspense, one romantic time travel, one historical romance and three murder mysteries) previous novels, two novellas and twelve short stories published from Zebra Books, Leisure Books, Avalon Books, The Wild Rose Press, Damnation Books/Eternal Press; and I’ve self-published my last five novels with Amazon Kindle Direct and my dinosaur novels are my best-sellers.

I’ve been married to Russell for thirty-six years; have a son, James, and two grandchildren, Joshua and Caitlyn, and I live in a small quaint town in Illinois, which is right across the JB Bridge from St. Louis, Mo. We have three quirky cats, ghost cat Sasha and Cleo, and live cat Sasha (Too), and the five of us live happily in an old house in the heart of town. Though I’ve been an artist, and a folk singer in my youth with my brother Jim, writing has always been my greatest passion, my butterfly stage, and I’ll probably write stories until the day I die…or until my memory goes.

2012 EPIC EBOOK AWARDS *FINALIST* for my horror novel The Last Vampire - Revised Author’s Edition ~ 2014 EPIC EBOOK AWARDS *FINALIST* for my thriller novel Dinosaur Lake.


Dinosaur Lake by Kathryn Meyer Griffith (2012)
Length: 451 pages
Purchase your copy from Amazon and Audible!
Dinosaur Lake Blurb:

Ex-cop Henry Shore has been Chief Park Ranger at Crater Lake National Park for eight years and he likes his park and his life the way it's been. Safe. Tranquil. Predictable. But he's about to be tested in so many ways. First the earthquakes begin, people begin to go missing, then there's some mysterious water creature that's taken up residence in the caves below Crater Lake and it's not only growing in size, it's aggressive and cunning and very hungry.

And it's decided it likes human beings. To eat.

And it can come up onto land.

So Henry, with the help of his wife, Ann; a young paleontologist named Justin; and a band of brave men, must not only protect his park and his people from the monster but somehow find where it lives and destroy it before it can kill again.

Now Dinosaur Lake by Kathryn Meyer Griffith is a 2014 EPIC EBOOK AWARDS *FINALIST* in their Suspense/Thriller category.



Dinosaur Lake II: Dinosaurs Arising by Kathryn Meyer Griffith (2014)
Length: 248 pages
Purchase your copy from Amazon and Audible!

Dinosaur Lake II: Dinosaurs Arising Blurb:
Prehistoric creatures have again invaded Crater Lake National Park…and this time there’s more than one.

Henry Shore has been Chief Park Ranger at Crater Lake National Park for thirteen years now and thought the days when he’d had to fight a rogue dinosaur that lived in the caves below the lake were long over.

Until one of his park rangers, to save a visitor’s life, is in a deadly struggle out in the woods with a new breed of dinosaur worse than the last one. It’s as big as a man, but this one is a young one. And growing.

Then more of the creatures begin to show up everywhere, threatening people and destroying the tranquility and safety of his beloved park.

A tourist trolley filled with fifteen people is snatched up off the crater’s rim by another version of the younger one…but this one has grown into a giant with fangs, claws and a deadly tail. And this one has wings. Ugly Gargoyles, Henry calls them. For this one isn’t alone. They’re flying beyond the park’s boundaries into the neighboring towns.

So Henry, with the help of his son-in-law, a paleontologist named Justin, and a band of brave park rangers, and a few good soldiers, must not only protect his park and his people from monsters once more but find their lair and destroy it and them before the creatures kill again.

 
May you read well and often

Cerece Rennie Murphy - Order of the Seers

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

52. Order of the Seers by Cerece Rennie Murphy (2012)
The Order of the Seers Trilogy Book 1
Length: 259 pages
Genre: Science Fiction
Started: 11 October 2014
Finished: 21 October 2014
Where did it come from? Many thanks to Kathleen at Pump up Your Book for sending me a copy of this book to read.
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 10 September 2014
Why do I have it? I like science fiction and Cerece Rennie Murphy is a new author for me.


For the past sixteen years, the Knight family have effectively been hiding in plain sight. Jill Knight, a widow with a sixteen-year-old son and a thirteen-year-old daughter, has kept the truth about their father's accidental death from them for as long as she could; now, with time running out, they have been discovered and Jill must prepare her children for what they will soon face.

Liam Knight and his sister Lilith are being hunted by The Guild - a ruthless worldwide organization that seeks to capture Lilith and exploit her unique abilities as a Seer to envision the future. Soon after they are forced to leave their home and go on the run, Lilith and Liam discover that she is not alone. There are other Seers like Lilith who are routinely kidnapped and enslaved by the Guild for the express purpose of consolidating wealth and power around the world. 

But from within the organization there is a revolt brewing; Marcus Akida, a captured Seer with extraordinarily powerful visionary capabilities, quietly plots his daring escape with the help of a beautiful and tormented Seer named Alessandra. Soon joined by two other desperate Seers, also intent on fleeing, the escaped Seers travel to the same remote commune in Iowa where Liam and Lilith are living. When they are drawn to such a place, Marcus and the others each find a place where they can slowly begin to rebuild their lives and rediscover their passion for life and love.

As the Guild's efforts to locate them intensify, the Seers ban together with the misfits of the commune to fight back against the organization that threatens their lives. As they battle to save themselves, the actions of the Seers will set off a chain of events which unleashes their full power and will ultimately change everything we know or understand about the true potential that lies dormant within each of us.

This was quite the beginning to a fascinating trilogy. I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed the story; it was intensely dramatic and full of action. I'm completely engrossed in the Seers plight, and can't wait to find out what will happen next. I give Order of the Seers by Cerece Rennie Murphy an A! On to Book 2 of The Order of the Seers Trilogy: The Red Order!

A! - (90-95%)
       
May you read well and often

Calling All Book Reviewers!

Sunday, October 19, 2014

Well, with Halloween a little over two weeks away, I'm certain that everyone is looking for some titles that are more than appropriate for the Season. Kathryn Meyer Griffith would like to offer up for your reading pleasure, her popular horror books Witches, A Time of Demons, All Things Slip Away and Dinosaur Lake II: Dinosaurs Arising; which are currently available to download through Amazon or Audible.

You can choose from a variety of spooky characters to read about: from time traveling witches determined to stop murder, demons determined to bring about Armageddon, crazed serial killing stalkers all the way to ravenous dinosaurs roaming through Oregon, and everything in between - just take your pick!

Meet Kathryn Meyer Griffith

Since childhood I’ve been an artist and worked as a graphic designer in the corporate world and for newspapers for twenty-three years before I quit to write full time. But I’d already begun writing novels at 21, over forty-two years ago now, and have had twenty (ten romantic horror, two horror novels, two romantic SF horror, one romantic suspense, one romantic time travel, one historical romance and three murder mysteries) previous novels, two novellas and twelve short stories published from Zebra Books, Leisure Books, Avalon Books, The Wild Rose Press, Damnation Books/Eternal Press; and I’ve self-published my last five novels with Amazon Kindle Direct and my dinosaur novels are my best-sellers.

I’ve been married to Russell for thirty-six years; have a son, James, and two grandchildren, Joshua and Caitlyn, and I live in a small quaint town in Illinois, which is right across the JB Bridge from St. Louis, Mo. We have three quirky cats, ghost cat Sasha and Cleo, and live cat Sasha (Too), and the five of us live happily in an old house in the heart of town. Though I’ve been an artist, and a folk singer in my youth with my brother Jim, writing has always been my greatest passion, my butterfly stage, and I’ll probably write stories until the day I die…or until my memory goes.

2012 EPIC EBOOK AWARDS *FINALIST* for my horror novel The Last Vampire - Revised Author’s Edition ~ 2014 EPIC EBOOK AWARDS *FINALIST* for my thriller novel Dinosaur Lake.

Witches: Author's Revised Edition by Kathryn Meyer Griffith (2013)
Length: 290 pages
Purchase your copy from Amazon and Audible!

Witches: Author's Revised Edition Blurb:

There are witches in the world...some are good and some of them are downright evil.

Amanda Givens is careful how she uses her powers. She doesn't want the people of Canaan, Connecticut, to know they have a witch among them...even a good, white witch. For years, she's lived quietly in a remote cabin in the woods with Amadeus, her feline familiar.

When she's wrongly blamed for a rash of ritualistic murders committed by a satanic cult, she knows she can't hide any longer. She's the one the cult's after. More than that, she’s the only one who can stop them and prove her innocence.

In doing this, she's drawn back in time by the ghost of the malevolent witch, Rachel Coxe, who was drowned for practicing black magic in the 17th century. Now, as Amanda tries to rehabilitate Rachel's reputation in an effort to save lives, as well as her own, she has to rely on a sister's love and magical knowledge, and a powerful sect of witches called the Guardians, to help her get home safely.


Before the End: A Time of Demons by Kathryn Meyer Griffith (2010)
Length: 478 pages
Purchase your copy from Amazon and Audible!

Before the End: A Time of Demons Blurb:

Since Cassandra Graystone was a child and her family perished in a fire she knows and sees things other people don’t…when someone will die or that a demon lurks beneath a human skin. She sees phantoms. Yet she craves a simple life singing out with her musician brother, Johnny, and caring for her elderly aunt and uncle; to be with her friends, Sarah, a psychic, and Walter, a clown in a carnival circuit. But when Sarah sees apocalyptic events in her tarot cards and demons are everywhere, Cassandra fears she’s going insane or something terrifying is happening in the world.

Rayner, an ancient blood demon, lodges next door. He becomes obsessed with her. Never having felt pity or affection for a human before he believes he loves her, would die to protect her. The demon realm gathers for the final confrontation between us, Rayner warns. The apocalypse comes. You and your friends must prepare.

Cassandra flees that knowledge until an angelic being, Manasseh, appears. Your powers will grow. You must fight for humanity’s survival after the first wave is taken. Seek out others like you. Persuade them to join the battle. Only these can see and challenge the demons until the end when all eyes see them. She doesn’t want her life to change; doesn’t want to be a nomad who battles demons. Doesn’t want to be anyone’s protector.

Until a tornado flattens Sarah’s house. Johnny’s apartment. There are monsters maiming and killing everywhere. Demons persecute her and those she loves, burn down her home and force her family and friends onto the road, as everywhere cataclysmic weather and signs of the end days make things hellish for humans. Cassandra and her friends can no longer deny their destinies. They must fight…or see the remnants of humanity engulfed in flames.


All Things Slip Away - Revised Author's Edition by Kathryn Meyer Griffith (2014)
Length: 264 pages
Purchase your copy from Amazon and Audible!

All Things Slip Away Blurb:

Ten years ago Frank Lester, a Chicago homicide detective, thought he had rid himself forever of the Mud People Killer who’d kidnapped and murdered six people. Frank had shot him as he’d fled through a snowy night; had killed him, he believed, though a body was never found.

But the killer wasn’t dead. He’d only been waiting to take his revenge on Frank and those he cares about now…ten years later. Frank retired early and is living back in his hometown of Spookie when the killer resurfaces to take up where he left off. Kidnapping more innocents and tormenting Frank and the people he cares about.

Unless Frank and his artist girlfriend, Abigail Sutton, can find and stop him before he kills more people and perhaps both of them.


Dinosaur Lake II: Dinosaurs Arising by Kathryn Meyer Griffith (2014)
Length: 248 pages
Purchase your copy from Amazon and Audible!

Dinosaur Lake II: Dinosaurs Arising Blurb:

Prehistoric creatures have again invaded Crater Lake National Park…and this time there’s more than one.

Henry Shore has been Chief Park Ranger at Crater Lake National Park for thirteen years now and thought the days when he’d had to fight a rogue dinosaur that lived in the caves below the lake were long over.

Until one of his park rangers, to save a visitor’s life, is in a deadly struggle out in the woods with a new breed of dinosaur worse than the last one. It’s as big as a man, but this one is a young one. And growing.

Then more of the creatures begin to show up everywhere, threatening people and destroying the tranquility and safety of his beloved park.

A tourist trolley filled with fifteen people is snatched up off the crater’s rim by another version of the younger one…but this one has grown into a giant with fangs, claws and a deadly tail. And this one has wings. Ugly Gargoyles, Henry calls them. For this one isn’t alone. They’re flying beyond the park’s boundaries into the neighboring towns.

So Henry, with the help of his son-in-law, a paleontologist named Justin, and a band of brave park rangers, and a few good soldiers, must not only protect his park and his people from monsters once more but find their lair and destroy it and them before the creatures kill again.

May you read well and often

Book Blast For The Murders at Astaire Castle by Lauren Carr

Thursday, October 16, 2014


Hello Everyone! I hope that you're all having a wonderful day today. I am delighted to welcome Lauren Carr, author of the Contemporary Mystery The Murders at Astaire Castle to Emeraldfire's Bookmark. Ms. Carr will be going on a Virtual Book Blast Tour with Pump up Your Book! lasting through the end of October. This is also my sixteenth Book Blast post ever, but I still hope that I do The Murders at Astaire Castle by Lauren Carr justice.

The author are also doing an awesome giveaway - she is giving away one paperback copy, two ebook copies and three audiobooks of The Murders at Astaire Castle to six lucky winners at the end of her Book Blast. Be sure to fill out the Rafflecopter form below, and I wish you all the very best of good luck in taking part!

About The Murders at Astaire Castle:


Never tell Mac Faraday not to do something.

In The Murders at Astaire Castle, Spencer’s police chief, David O’Callaghan, learns this lesson the hard way when he orders Mac Faraday to stay away from the south end of Spencer’s mountaintop - even though he owns the property. It doesn’t take long for Mac to find out what lies on the other side of the stone wall and locked gate, on which hangs a sign warning visitors to Keep Out!

Topping the list of the ten most haunted places in America, Astaire Castle is associated with two suicides, three mysterious disappearances, and four murders since it was built almost a century ago - and Mac Faraday owns it!

In spite of David’s warning, Mac can’t resist unlocking the gate to see the castle that supposedly hasn’t seen a living soul since his late mother had ordered it closed up after the double homicide and disappearance of Damian Wagner, a world-famous master of horror novels.

“Halloween has always been a fun time,” best-selling author Lauren Carr explains in a note at the beginning of her fifth Mac Faraday mystery. “It’s the time to break out and be someone else. As a child, I would pretend to be one of the Bobbsey Twins searching for clues to lead me to a secret treasure. If I was lucky, it was made up of chocolate. As a teenager, I was Nancy Drew. Always, when October rolled around, I craved mysteries with something extra added - something beyond the normal - something supernatural. As an author, I couldn’t resist taking this one Mac Faraday Mystery on a scary Halloween adventure.”

In this latest installment of Carr’s hit series, what starts out as a quick tour of a dusty old castle turns into another Mac Faraday adventure when Astaire Castle becomes the scene of even more murders. Mac is going to need to put all of his investigative talents to work to sort out this case that involves the strangest characters he has run into yet - including a wolf man. No, we’re not talking about Gnarly.

Purchase Your Copy From Amazon!

Meet Lauren Carr


Lauren Carr is the best-selling author of the Mac Faraday Mysteries, which takes place in Deep Creek Lake, Maryland. Twelve to Murder is the seventh installment in the Mac Faraday Mystery series.

In addition to her series set on Deep Creek Lake, Lauren Carr has also written the Lovers in Crime Mysteries, which features prosecutor Joshua Thornton with homicide detective Cameron Gates, who were introduced in Shades of Murder, the third book in the Mac Faraday Mysteries. They also make an appearance in The Lady Who Cried Murder.

Lauren launched the Lovers in Crime (first introduced in Shades of Murder) mystery series in September 2012 with Dead on Ice.

The owner of Acorn Book Services, Lauren is also a publishing manager, consultant, editor, cover and layout designer, and marketing agent for independent authors. This year, several books, over a variety of genre, written by independent authors will be released through the management of Acorn Book Services, which is currently accepting submissions. Visit Acorn Book Services website for more information.

Lauren is a popular speaker who has made appearances at schools, youth groups, and on author panels at conventions. She also passes on what she has learned in her years of writing and publishing by conducting workshops and teaching in community education classes.

She lives with her husband, son, and three dogs on a mountain in Harpers Ferry, WV.

Connect and Socialize with Lauren!

Website * Facebook * Twitter * Blog


Visit The Murders at Astaire Castle at Goodreads and Watch the Book Trailer at YouTube!

Pump Up Your Book and Lauren are teaming up to give you a chance to win a paperback copy, two ebook copies and three audiobooks of The Murders at Astaire Castle!

Terms and Conditions: 
  • By entering the giveaway, you are confirming you are at least 18 years old.
  • Six winners will be chosen via Rafflecopter.
  • This giveaway begins October 6 and ends October 31.
  • Winners will be contacted via email on Monday, November 3.
  • Winner has 48 hours to reply. 
Good luck everyone!

ENTER TO WIN!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

May you read well and often

Nikki Rae - The Donor

Monday, October 13, 2014

51. The Donor by Nikki Rae (2014)
The Donor Series Book 3
Length: 35 pages
Genre: Short Story
Started/Finished: 13 October 2014
Where did it come from? Many thanks to Nikki Rae for sending me a copy of this book to read.
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 9 October 2014
Why do I have it? I like short stories and since this was the third part of the novella, I felt that I was invested in the story too much not to see how it all ended.

Casey Williams may not have known exactly what to expect when she first joined the exclusive website MyTrueMatch.com and met Jonah Black, but now that she's with him, life has gotten even more unpredictable. She has just discovered someone else in the picture and now she has no idea where she fits into the puzzle. She was convinced Jonah had needed her, now she's not so sure...

Determined not to be a burden on anyone, and convinced that Jonah doesn't need her anymore, Casey is torn between giving up entirely and doing whatever it takes to help her family. But Jonah, as it turns out, needs her much more than she knows. Time is a luxury; something neither of them have. Can Casey and Jonah just hold each other together as time runs out?

I really enjoyed this book; I was completely caught up in this story right from the beginning so I wanted to know how it all would work out. I must say that it didn't really work out the way I was expecting that it would, although it may have worked out the only way that it plausibly could. I give The Donor Part Three by Nikki Rae a definite A! I have all three books in The Sunshine Series by Nikki Rae already on my TBR pile as well, and I can't wait to start reading them soon.

A! - (90-95%)

May you read well and often

Introducing Two Empty Thrones by C. H. MacLean!

Thursday, October 9, 2014

I know that my wonderful followers and the readers of Emeraldfire's Bookmark are probably expecting to read my review of Two Empty Thrones by C. H. MacLean. Currently, I'm reading the first book in the Five in Circle Series - One is Come! I had started this book on Sunday, October 5th and am just starting Chapter 5 - approximately 10% into the story, at least according to Goodreads.

I fully intend to post my review of One is Come by C. H. MacLean within the next several days, and then my review of Two Empty Thrones will not be too far behind, I'm sure. However, instead of my review, I'll be posting a combined Book Spotlight for both books in the Five in Circle Series today. Here we go - I hope that you all enjoy! :)

Meet C. H. MacLean

To young C. H. MacLean, books were everything: mind-food, friends, and fun. They gave the shy middle child’s life color and energy. Amazingly, not everyone saw them that way. Seeing a laundry hamper full of books approach her, the librarian scolded C. H. for trying to check them all out. “You’ll never read that many before they expire!” C. H. was surprised, having shown great restraint only by keeping a list of books to check out next time. Thoroughly abashed, C. H. waited three whole days after finishing that lot before going back for more.

With an internal world more vivid than the real one, C. H. was chastised for reading in the library instead of going to class. “Neurotic, needs medical help,” the teacher diagnosed. C. H.’s father, a psychologist, just laughed when he heard. “She’s just upset because those books are more challenging than her class.” C. H. realized making up stories was just as fun as reading, and harder to get caught doing. So for a while, C. H. crafted stories and characters out of wisps and trinkets, with every toy growing an elaborate personality.

But toys were not mature, and stories weren’t respectable for a family of doctors. So C. H. grew up and learned to read serious books and study hard, shelving foolish fantasies for serious work.

Years passed in a black and white blur. Then, unpredictably falling in love all the way to a magical marriage rattled C. H.’s orderly world. A crazy idea slipped in a resulting crack and wouldn’t leave. “Write the book you want to read,” it said. “Write? As in, a fantasy novel? But I’m not creative,” C. H. protested. The idea, and C. H.’s spouse, rolled their eyes.

So one day, C. H. started writing. Just to try it, not that it would go anywhere. Big mistake. Decades of pent-up passion started pouring out, making a mess of an orderly life. It only got worse. Soon, stories popped up everywhere- in dreams, while exercising, or out of spite, in the middle of a work meeting. “But it’s not important work,” C. H. pleaded weakly. “They are not food, or friends, or…” But it was too late. C. H. had re-discovered that, like books, life should be fun too. Now, writing is a compulsion, and a calling.

C. H. lives in a Pacific Northwest forest with five cats, two kids, one spouse, and absolutely no dragons or elves, faeries, or demons… that are willing to be named, at least.

His latest book is the YA fantasy, Two Empty Thrones.

Connect and Socialize with C. H.!


One is Come by C. H. MacLean (2014)
Length: 231 pages
Purchase Your Copy From Amazon!

One is Come Blurb:

Haylwen doesn’t care who actually blew up the wall of the school library. With a chance to finally have real friends, all she cares about is if her suspension will make her parents move again. Her parents, forced to keep their own magical past silent, are shocked to learn that she is indeed a magic user. She tested negative. Twice! Desperate to hide Haylwen from the King of magic users, they flee, but their efforts thrust them all into mortal danger.

Haylwen’s parents don’t know about the prophesy of “The One,” or that the only one who doesn't know Haylwen is a powerful magic user is Haylwen herself. The King and the dragon clans’ plans to remake the world are already in motion. As Haylwen struggles with her feelings of loneliness and unworthiness due to her inability to make a friend, she is completely unaware that the fate of the entire world rests on her choices. Will she learn about her magic and true friendship in time to save her life and hopefully the rest of the world?


Two Empty Thrones by C. H. MacLean (2014)
Length: 293 pages
Purchase Your Copy From Amazon!

Two Empty Thrones Blurb:

With her powers growing every day, fourteen-year-old Haylwen Rightad thinks she’s safe in the magical forest. And now that she finally has the friends she always wanted, what is there to be afraid of?

But she’s not out of the woods yet. Old enemies rip through her beloved forest, threatening to haul Haylwen and her newfound friends away. Their safety shattered, Haylwen and her friends are suddenly at each other’s throats. Is the friendship she worked so hard for already ruined, or is there another, unseen enemy at work?

Haylwen and her brother must unmask this mysterious enemy before they can fight it off. But even if all their enemies are destroyed, the King of the magic users will stop at nothing to ensure he’s still in power when the dragons take over the world. And he’s hidden an enemy where Haylwen would never think to look.

If no one is what they seem, who can she trust?

With a mysterious prophecy, magical secrets and dragons, Two Empty Thrones is the second book following siblings Haylwen and Cadarn as they face their fears and come to discover they have powers they never dreamt of - and a destiny only they can fulfill.


May you read well and often

Brandon Daily - A Murder Country: A Novel

Sunday, October 5, 2014

50. A Murder Country: A Novel by Brandon Daily (2014)
Length: 192 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction
Started: 4 September 2014
Finished: 5 October 2014
Where did it come from? Many thanks to Brandon Daily for sending me a copy of this book to read.
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 21 June 2013
Why do I have it? I like historical fiction and Brandon Daily is a new author for me.


As the late eighteenth century slowly draws to a close, and ushers in the start of the nineteenth century brimming with a belief in progress and hopeful of the possibility of a bright brand new world, many small towns in the Appalachian backwoods still dwell in a violent and harsh reality. For three men touched by such violence - Josiah Fuller, William Corvin and a person known only as 'The Rider' - there is nothing else in the world beyond bloodshed and brutality, where exacting punishment for innocent blood spilled and violence is the ultimate law of the land.

When seventeen-year-old Josiah Fuller returns home to find his parents hanged and mutilated and the family house burned to the ground, he sets off to find the man responsible for their murders and is determined to avenge their deaths. His journey takes him through new towns and stretches of wilderness he has never seen before. He meets people who show him the realities of living in a violent world, forcing Josiah to decide what is most important to him: vengeance or grace.

Years after running away as a young boy, William Corvin returns home with his new bride to take up the reigns of the family's coal mining operation. Though he is haunted by violent memories of his past, he sets out to live a peaceful life and hopes to raise his family there someday. However, William's dreams of peace are shattered, and his hopes of living a life of happiness and contentment are threatened when a shocking act of violence causes him to revert back to the man he once was. 

After being visited by an angel in a dream many years earlier, the Rider has become a man with violence in his blood; a man to be truly feared by those who cross his path. The Rider believes himself to be appointed by God to collect the souls of sinners - an instrument of God's divine justice. He travels around on his horse, killing whoever he feels is deserving of God's wrath and vengeance.

These three men travel alone along their own individual paths, their stories intersecting with one another, each man continually searching for an understanding of the violent world in which they live and their own actions within that world. This novel examines the power and fragility of belief and conviction within humanity; showing how one small, seemingly insignificant act often leads to consequences that reach far beyond anyone's imagining.

I must say that while I certainly enjoyed this book very much; it is definitely not a story for the faint of heart. I found it to be a very well-written and descriptive story; with a violence and a grittiness that was evocative of the 'western genre' - in my opinion at least. I give A Murder Country: A Novel by Brandon Daily an A! It was an intriguing debut novel, and I will certainly be keeping my eyes open for more from this author in the future.

A! - (90-95%)
        
May you read well and often