Merry-Go-Round Books for July

What a better way to relax than with a good book!

This month, three of our authors have books available for your reading pleasure - check them out and don't forget to tell your friends out the blog and the books.

Ada Nish Pura by Lazette Gifford

Injured and alone, the only survivor of a treacherous attack on a starship takes refuge on Kailani -- a world with little land and where many are genetically adapted to living in the sea. Caught between a ruthless enemy hunting for him and the mistrust of the locals for outsiders, Marcus learns the truth about honor.

You can get copy of this science fiction novel from Smashwords.

Quarter Square by David Bridger

English carpenter Joe Walker thinks his life is over when he discovers his wife and best friend having an affair. Restoring an abandoned theatre offers little hope for a fresh start...until he follows a group of strangers through a hidden door into a world he never could have imagined.

In the haven known as Quarter Square, Joe encounters a community of supernatural street performers who straddle the mortal world and the magic realm known as the Wild. Here, Joe finds a sense of belonging he's never known before—and a chance to uncover the truth behind the frightening visions that have haunted him since childhood. He also meets Min, an enchanting singer who quickly captures his heart.

But as Joe settles into Quarter Square, he learns their haven is under attack, while an ancient enemy threatens to tear him and Min apart. Now, Joe must learn to wield his own powers in order to save the life he's come to love...

You can pick up this popular paranormal romance from the Carina Press website.

An Extraordinarily Ordinary Life by Alex F. Fayle

Usually Fairy Godmothers help out lost princesses, girls forced into family slavery, and wooden puppets wanting to be real boys. Gail McCain, however, is none of these things. She's just a normal 18-year-old girl who likes to get up, go to work, eat sensibly and go to bed early. Okay, so maybe she's not that normal.

Enter Amanda, a fairy life-coach (godmothers are so last millennium) who informs her new client that she's cursed to be boring--and it's the fairy's job to get Gail a life. Skeptical at first, Gail quickly adapts when she gets some new friends and even a boyfriend.

But Amanda's not done with her yet, insisting that the curse needs something powerful to break it. She makes Gail a famous celebrity blogger, tossing scandals, love triangles and bitchy starlets in her path. But can a teenager whose idea of excitement is her egg-one-a-week Sunday breakfast survive all this excitement?

Download your copy of this YA paranormal romance from Amazon (also available on Smashwords).

What books are on my nightstand?

A question proposed by the Forward Motion Writing community Merry-Go-Round Blog tour for the month of July: what books are on your nightstand. Like many others, I do not have a nightstand. My bedroom is just too small. However, I have a 4" tall bookshelf in my living room that I call "To be read". As I sit here and write tonight, I see this shelf packed full of all the books I want to read. Each one seems like it should be next. The decisions are tough at the end of each book.

Read the rest at my blog...

The Growing Stack on the Headboard

While most of the fiction I read is on my kindle (and it often goes where I go) for whatever reason there’s always a collection of paperbacks sitting on the headboard, too. I generally read a few books at a time unless I’m working hard and heavy on a revision. While I’m initially writing I can read just about anything. Continue reading on my blog...

Different take on the Nightstand

Sometimes, a freaky dream will catch us by surprise. These dreams might offer sparks toward a present work in progress, or they might offer an idea for a new work. Either way, we want to save what our unconscious threw out for processing.

Continue readng on my blog ...

How to Put Books on A Nonexistent Nightstand

When the topic for this blog tour came up--it's "Books on My Nightstand"--I didn't quite know what to make of it since . . . well, here's the problem: I don't have a nightstand. I didn't even know what a nightstand was until it was mentioned in the blog tour. Don't worry, though. I've looked it up on Wikipedia since. Anyway, back to where we left: I don't have a nightstand. But my personal bookshelf is filled way beyond capacity, so I've had to store a fair number of my books on--guess what--my bed. And since the book-bearing area on my bed is pretty big (it's not even a shelf-thingy on the headboard--the books are really, physically, on the bed), it appears that I have more books here than most people do on my nightstands. Naturally, most of them are rather recent acquisitions, but sometimes I cycle books back and forth between my bed and bookshelf when I get bored of my nocturnal reading material. Here's a list of the things currently on my bed, or at least the ones whose titles I can look up without upsetting the precarious balance of their piles.

Books on my nightstand

I fear if I’d start listing those books up, it would take entire day. It’s not that I wouldn’t mind naming them. I’ve got some good books there. It’s just that it isn’t really a nightstand – though it used to be some years back – it’s a full size from floor boards to foam-plated ceiling high bookshelf. It was nice and small when I first got it, but then I started buying books one or two per month and suddenly there was no room left. So my father suggested upgrading... Continue reading on my blog.

Books On My Nightstand

Hi!  Jean Schara here.  I use my inaugural post for the tour to introduce you to me via the books on my nightstand -- I think you can tell a lot about a person's interests by the books they are reading, and I hope some of you will find some kinship with me and what I read.

Continue reading on my blog...

Books on my nightstand: Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour/1

Russ and I met in a bookstore where we had our first conversation while looking over a History Book Club catalogue.

We were doomed from the start.

My house is filled with books. They take up every corner where we could fit a bookshelf, and when we ran out of room, we bought the small house next door, where Russ moved most of his books and created his own office when he was still doing freelance work.

Continue Reading on my blog

What books are on my nightstand?

Last weekend, because I knew I was scheduled to write this post today, I finally got around to tackling the tall tower of already-read books on my bedside table. It made my wife happy, and if I hadn't done it this post would have taken until tomorrow to write. It's a sturdy table. It needs to be, because clear-outs like that only happen every two or three years. Anyway. Let's not linger on what used to be. Here's what sits there now, all virgin and promising.

Continue reading on my blog...

Novels On My Nightstand

First off, let me welcome you to my first entry for the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour! Some hearty soul entertained the great idea at Forward Motion Writers’ Community to better publicize our blogs, and this is our first month in action! From here on out at least one of my monthly In Shadows entries will be on the group’s choice of topic.

I’ve had the opportunity to read a number of great books in the last month, both fiction and non-fiction, that I’d like to share with you. My public library is a wonderful thing in that I’ve been able to not only find a couple of new favorite authors, but I was able to locate the one book that started me on the writing path many years ago.

Continue reading at In Shadows!

what's not on my nightstand

I keep a lot of junk on my nightstand: an ashtray full of spare change, weeks-old receipts, and a blue jay of happiness. I never keep a book on the nightstand, though. Instead, the books go on the floor, since the prominent position nearest my pillow is for my watch. This is because I'm severely near-sighted, and so I can figure out the time in the wee morning hours without fumbling past a book. Read more on my blog...

What Books are on LJCohen's Nightstand?

If you're a writer, chances are you were a reader first.  I know that's true for me.  I actually can't remember a time when I didn't know how to read.  My mother remembers me pulling books out of her hand when I was still a toddler and pretending to read them rather than letting her read to me.

I do know that I entered Kindergarten already reading.  And when I got to first grade, I was reading fluently, which got me in trouble. . .  (Continue reading on my blog)

What books are on my night stand? Or not?

This topic is an interesting one for me, simply because a year ago I would have been able to give a great list of books ranging from urban fantasy to horror. I read books in almost every genre (really I only avoid poetry, all that rhyming, *shudder*). But now, looking at my completely empty nightstands I can say I am honestly surprised at how they got this way. Click here to read the rest

Books on the Nightstand: Chess

Every once in awhile, I get a hankering (yes, a hankering) to play chess. Or rather, learn more about playing chess. To be honest, the actual playing of chess is less interesting to me than learning about and exploring chess. But I have always loved watching people play chess. Whenever I see two people set up a board in the local book store, I can’t help but sneak glances every chance I get. I don’t stare outright (that would be rude), but I do look at the board furtively under lowered eyelids and make predictions about who will win. Continue reading on my blog ...

books everywhere but my nightstand

I'm another who doesn't have books on my nightstand. I don't read in bed. I seldom read in the bedroom, though we have a couple of chairs for the purpose. No television, either. There is a radio, for playing classical music or the Red Sox game while showering or folding laundry, but mostly we don't do anything in this room except sleep and other marital activities... More at Cowgirl in New England.

DMBonanno's Nightstand

At first thought, this topic seems to call for a "what are you reading now?" segment, but in all honestly, what's on my nightstand calls more to my frame of mind than my reading queue. It's what I keep close to me, within arm's reach. There are other places I keep books within arm's reach: in the car, at my desk. But the nightstand is more representative of what I want to read and what I want to focus on in my writing.

Continue reading on my blog: DM Bonanno.

What's on my nightstand?

I was going to start this post with a picture of my nightstand and intersperse it with other shots of reading material around the house. I even dusted my nightstand before taking pictures! However, there have been yet more computer problems Chez Hartshorn, so that's not happening. I'll post pictures some other time; sorry, folks. This first non-existent picture is the state of my nightstand as I write this. There are three different stacks of books, including paperbacks and hardbacks. There's a lot there, to be sure — Continue reading on my blog . . .

Staring off and Breaking the Rules Already...

My bedroom is too small to have a nightstand and I no longer buy physical books (yay to my Kindle!), so I can't answer the question "What books are on my nightstand?".

So, to kick of the blog tour, since it's Friday, I've decided to give you some Friday Flash - a short piece of fiction to get your weekend started right.

Continue reading on my blog...