Meet Nathan McBride Nathan McBride, #1  KindleAmazon Audible   Ten years ago, a botched mission in Nicaragua ended covert ops specialist Nathan McBride’s CIA career. Now he utilizes his unique skill set in the private sector—until the night Frank Ortega, former director of the FBI, calls in a favor. A deep-cover federal agent has vanished, along with a ton of Semtex explosives, and Ortega needs them found—fast. Because for him, this mission is personal: the missing agent is his grandson. And Nathan McBride is the only man he trusts to save him. But it quickly becomes clear that something bigger than even Ortega could have imagined is at stake. Within days of accepting the assignment, McBride finds himself trapped between a ruthless adversary hell-bent on revenge and a group of high-ranking federal officials who will stop at nothing to reap their own brand of justice. Here there are no rules, no protocol, no backup. Only McBride… Kindle | Amazon | Audible Can’t Get Enough of Nathan McBride? “Part Jack Reacher, part Jason Bourne, Nathan McBride is a compelling, conflicted hero. Option to Kill is a masterful thrill ride. Definitely one for your keeper shelf – I couldn’t put it down.”…

Two of my great loves are sweeping historical romances and martial arts adventures like “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.” My current release, THE SWORD DANCER, is a mash-up between the two. A story featuring a famous thief-catcher chasing a sword dancer across ancient China might seem like quite a departure from your standard romance, but at the core of it are some beloved tropes which is why THE SWORD DANCER was so much fun to write. The Bathtub Scene At one point, Li Feng, my feisty sword dancer, confronts Thief-catcher Han in a bath house. I can’t count the number of times I’ve seen the sexy bath scene in historical romance. She walks in on him, he spies on her…It serves the dual purpose of providing sexy times while also reminding us that our heroes and heroines, despite living in the 9th century, are indeed fresh and clean. Dating Catwoman “We conducted our courtship on rooftops and fire escapes. A strange flirtation, a hide and seek, a game of cat and mouse…” — Catwoman, Whatever Happened to The Caped Crusader? The hero and heroine of THE SWORD DANCER are on opposite sides of the law. Sometimes they’re at odds, sometimes they’ve…

I hear a lot about the need to “slow down the pace” of our writing, and I know that especially applies to me. I am definitely not one of those who spends too much time on descriptions and backgrounds. Anyone who’s read my books knows I like to throw the reader right smack-dab into the action from the opening page. As a result, I get a lot of drama going on, which is great for the reader—to a point. But readers can get worn out with too much action and need a break on occasion. And so I’ve learned to slow things down and intersperse my heavy-action scenes with breathers, enabling the reader’s adrenaline to return to normal…until the next action scene, of course. Recently, however, I had an interesting writing experience that took me beyond the occasional breather to an entirely new dimension of slower-paced writing. That doesn’t mean I took a lot longer to complete my manuscript; it does mean that I realized we authors can create character depth and compelling stories without run-for-your-life chase scenes and near-death experiences on every other page. A couple of years ago my agent, Tamela Hancock Murray, suggested that some of her…

I’m waving a huge hello to the gang at Fresh Fiction! It’s wonderful to be here with you. Thanks for inviting me back to blather on a little bit and celebrate the release of my newest novel, CHANGING LANES. You know, I answered an interview question earlier this week about the significance of the new book’s title: CHANGING LANES. Specifically, the interviewer wanted to know if I could change anything about my past, would I? I quickly responded that no, I wouldn’t. But since I hit the Send key on that interview I’ve given the question a lot of in-depth thought. Guess what? My answer is still the same. Sure, I joked about a poor hair choice I’d made (and trust me, there have been thousands), but as far as life goes, I love where I am today. Fifteen books later, am I glad I took a risk and gave up my marketing career to try my hand at writing fiction? Yes! And, although years of infertility left my husband and I battered and bruised, our decision to adopt was the most wonderful lane change of all. Today, I look at my beautiful seven-year-old and know every moment of struggle…

Spotlight on Sylvia McDaniel $2.99 e-book / $9.99 paperback e-book Kindle nook iTunes Kobo paperback Amazon Barnes and Noble Books-A-Million Powell’s Books Indiebound She’s a Runaway Bride Valerie Burrows is running from a wedding, her attorney fiancé and the law. Pampered Valerie takes a bus to nowheresville, where she learns her cash and credit cards have been stolen. Left with only her designer clothes and luggage she takes on a new identity and must learn to be self-reliant. She swears off men, especially attorneys, only to find the one man who refuses a one night stand and wants a relationship. He’s Looking For A Wife Matt Jordan, the Colorado Crusher, is the most successful liability lawyer in the state. After the death of his brother-in-law, he realizes he’s ready to settle down with a family of his own. His only requirements are intelligent, great-looking, wants more than a hook-up and doesn’t lie. After witnessing the lies his father told his mother, he demands complete honesty. Yet Valerie Brown shows him sometimes in order to find yourself, you must become someone else. Even if that means lying. Chapter One “I need a one-way ticket to anywhere,” Valerie Burrows commanded the girl…

Traveling to research a trip is such fun. For those of you who don’t get out enough or far enough south, come along with me on this trip to Louisiana I took with my sister last fall. We started from my parents home in a little town called Arkadelphia, Arkansas, early in the morning. The sun was just coming up as we hit the interstate headed toward Texarkana. That was the easy part, then we cut around Shreveport and drove south into bayou country. After a long few hours of traveling we were in bayou country where the roads paralleled cannels and cypress trees towered out of the water. We stopped along the way at a mom-and-pop joint for a yummy taste of Shrimp Okra Gumbo and continued south to our first stop, the farthest point south, Grand Isle, a small patch of islands connected to the mainland by bridges. We were thinking vacation spot and, to some, it is. The beaches were eh, but it seemed the fishing was what people come for. The houses were on stilts, 8-10 feet above the ground (think hurricanes and storm surges). But you won’t find a better sunset than what we found…

My name is Jeff Horton, and I am a novelist. I say I am a novelist and not an author because an author can be someone that writes about anything including novels, historical biographies, travel guides, etc., while a novelist is an artist, a painter if you will. Imagination is the paint and the keyboard the paintbrush. I enjoy writing because for me it is pure creativity. From my imagination proceeds people, places, sights, sounds, and events which have never really existed. For me, writing a novel is sort of like watching a movie. I start writing with an idea of what I’m after, but the story truly takes on a life of its own as I write, often taking me in a direction I never could have imagined it going in before. The end result is that I have no idea how the story is going to end myself until I have finished the first draft. Even then, the story can morph as I make my way through a series of inevitable revisions where the rough stone is cut and chipped away at, before being polished into what I consider to be a work of art. When I write,…

May 2006 Featuring: F. Scott Fitzgerald; Ginevra King 320 pages ISBN: 0618537252 Hardcover $24.00 FictionBuy at Amazon.com Gatsby’s Girl by Caroline Preston A Novel of First Love… She was two months past her sixteenth birthday, a rich man’s daughter who had been told she was pretty far too often for her own good. He was nineteen years old, a poor boy full of ambition. They met at a country club dance in St. Paul, Minnesota, in January 1916. Ginevra was F. Scott Fitzgerald’s first love, but despite their intense epistolary romance, the relationship wouldn’t last. After throwing him over with what he deemed “supreme boredom and indifference,” she married a handsome young aviator from the right background. Caroline Preston deftly evokes the entire arc of Ginevra’s story from her first romantic meeting with Scott to the second act of her sometimes charmed, sometimes troubled life. Ginevra ruminates over what might have been had she picked the writer instead of the aviator. Furtively reading the now famous Fitzgerald’s work, Ginevra sees herself in his characters, and not just as the spoiled debutante he’d known, but also uncannily predicting the woman she has become–cracks and all. An affecting story of two people:…

My first book, TO MY SENSES, has been called a romance by some and more than a romance, a love story if you will, by others. Is there a difference between a romance and a love story? I believe that difference is in the eye of the reader. For some, a romance novel may follow a set of circumstances that promise the inevitable happy ending, but a love story often takes the reader on a much different ride. It engages the reader on a deeper level with emotionally charged characters and poignant, life-altering choices. Romances may bring a comforting conclusion, but a love story does not because, as many of us know from experience, love is never predictable. Some romances may be forgettable, but a great love story will live on in the reader’s memory for many years to come. Why are love stories so engaging? Perhaps it is because of the nature of love itself. Love changes us, and can alter our direction in life, as Nicci Beauvoir was awakened by David Alexander’s love in TO MY SENSES, or Pamela was transformed by Daniel’s love in my novel, BROKEN WINGS. Such great love can act as a sudden wind…

One of the best questions I get from readers, bloggers, and other authors, is, “Did you always know you wanted to be a writer?” Ha. No. If you even knew what I was like growing up, the fact that I’m doing this now would blow your mind! I was definitely one of those students that didn’t read the books that were mandatory reads in school, I was also one of those students that failed the first half of one of their English classes in high school because I was … err … am absolutely awful at grammar! But the thing that makes everyone laugh the most, is that I was one of those students that failed out of a Creative Writing course in college. It wasn’t that I didn’t do the homework, or that I didn’t try, I was just really terrible. The professor told me I wouldn’t have a career in writing, and I thought that was just fine because I didn’t want to be a writer anyway. I’d just needed that class for my major, unfortunately. Needless to say, when I published my first novel, my entire family didn’t believe me. I got practically the same reaction from…