What is the title of your latest release?A LONG DARK NIGHT What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?A young woman returns home to her rural Alaskan town and is pulled into dangerous events at her brother’s workplace. How did you decide where your book was going to take place?Because I wanted to include dogsledding, I knew it had to be somewhere with cold, snowy winters. The oil drilling was another element that required a specific location, and I settled on Alaska. I’m fascinated by Alaska – how large, remote, and wild so much of the land is. I love to research when I write my stories, and I knew Alaska was somewhere I would have fun learning about. The town of Whitespur is fictional, but I was inspired by real places close to the arctic circle, like Coldfoot. Would you hang out with your heroine in real life?Yes, I think we’d have fun talking about food and trying new recipes! What are three words that describe your hero?Nina: Brave, determined, nosy.Grant: Kind, anxious, loyal. What’s something you learned while writing this book?I learned a lot about dog sledding terminology and how sled dogs are trained. Do you edit as…

Each Monday the Smashwords store lists the top ten most highly anticipated indie fiction ebooks based on the previous week’s preorder accumulations. Each title on the list is scheduled to release within the next week. To help the talented authors on this list accumulate even more preorders, click the title of the book. The hyperlink will bring you to a Books2Read page where you can order from your preferred ebook retailer. If the preorder is part of a series, click the hyperlinked series title to learn about the other books in the series. Be sure to check back Friday for a list of the Top 25 Bestselling Indie Ebooks.

Many readers know the story of the woman at the well,butA DEEPER WELL by Jill Eileen Smith invites us to truly see her. This week’s Jen’s Jewels selection offers a richly researched, deeply compassionate reimagining that brings Scripture, history, and heart together in a powerful way. LIGHTNING ROUND What’s your ideal writing fuel: coffee, tea, wine, or chaos? I drink water all day. It sits in a thermos on my desk as I write. Plotter, pantser, or “organized mess”? I’m a mix of both plotter and pantser. I have to have an outline and cast my characters, including pictures of them, before I begin writing. I get to know the story and the characters as I write. What time of day does your creativity peak? Writing happens mostly during the day. I can’t pinpoint when the words are creative or just trying to get something on the page. Creativity doesn’t have a peak time for me. THE DEEP DIVE Every book has an origin story. What was the “lightning strike” moment that made you say, “I have to write this”? There was no “lightning strike” moment for this book. I rarely have one of those. I look at Scripture to…

TAMING LADY TEMPERANCE Excerpt: Deputy James Paxton’s jaw tightened as he transformed his mosey into a march and lengthened his stride to hurry to his target. The irate female jabbing a pointed finger toward Milton Taggert’s chest. “I will not ‘make myself scarce,’ Mr. Taggert. I will make myself heard. I have the right of free speech, and I will exercise that right wherever and however I choose. I choose here and now.” The finger jabbed toward the ground to enumerate her point, easing a bit of James’s anxiety over the likelihood of said digit being snapped in two by the irate tavern owner. Milton Taggert had moved to Albany from The Flat after the railroad came through and had a roughness around his edges that didn’t bode well for single-minded women too blinded by their ideals to identify the danger right in front of them. “My customers have rights, too,” Taggert growled. “Like the right to spend their evenings as they see fit without being insulted by some sour-faced teetotalling old biddy who wouldn’t know a good time if it bit her on the nose.” Miss O’Sullivan’s stubborn chin ticked up a notch. “The demon drink you serve only…

Book Title: A DEEPER WELLCharacter Name: Nessa bat Raanan How would you describe your family or your childhood?We are like any other family in Sychar, I suppose. I’m the youngest in a family of four daughters and one son. My father would have preferred more sons. I am his favorite daughter because they say I am beautiful. I can fetch a greater bride-price when the time comes. My cousin Lavi came to live with us when I was young—his parent died and he was left with no one except us. Lavi always makes me laugh. What was your greatest talent?I learned to weave and am quite skilled at it. I love working with the colors and the patterns and seeing the cloth form beneath my fingers. Significant other?If I’d had my way, I would have married Lavi when I was finally old enough to beget. My life did not turn out the way I’d hoped. Biggest challenge in relationships?Living in peace with my mothers-in-law and sisters-in-law. Men act so foolishly around me, whereas women resent me—most women. There are a few exceptions like my best friend Gali and my sister Yaffa. Where do you live?The town of Sychar in Samaria….

Each Friday the Smashwords store reports the bestselling indie fiction titles based on the previous week’s sales. If an author has more than one title eligible for the list, only the highest performing title will be included. This ensures high-performing titles receive the accolades they deserve, while providing up-and-coming authors the visibility they have earned. Don’t miss Monday’s Top 10 Hot Preorders List, where Smashwords will provide a list of the most highly anticipated ebook preorders.

Excerpted from SHOULD HAVE TOLD YOU SOONER by Jane Ward: Chapter 7 The Disco, November 1990 The dance beat pounded, steady and unvaried. At the song’s chorus, the press of people on the disco floor raised their arms into the air in unison while colored lights strobed, illuminating the floors and walls and bodies. “Take me dancing naked in the rain!”             Noel stood apart from the scene, looking down from the balcony where the drinks were sold. She nursed a gin and tonic; she couldn’t stand the sweet, yeasty smell of ales or cider. Discotheques were unfamiliar to her and she was too self-conscious for dancing. Alone up here, she felt out of place and conspicuous. She had come at Calum’s urging but knew no one in the crowd well except for him, and he was currently one of the arm wavers down in the crush of moving bodies. As she watched them, her overactive imagination conjured a fire breaking out, a stampede that might block a mass exit from the disco, the newspaper story she might not live to see the next day: Death, Disaster at the Disco.             “I should go home,” she whispered to herself.            …

Excerpt from GODS BENEATH THE ICE by Alexandra Kennington: Revna I looked out at the crowd of exhausted soldiers, tense Nilurae, and scowling citizens and clenched my jaw as my thoughts told me again what I already knew to be true: every person here today hates you. My eyes caught Freja’s where she stood, just in front of the temple steps. Her foot tapped a steady, anxious rhythm against the cobblestones and she tried to muster a smile. It was a poor attempt-the result was far more grimace than anything else. I swallowed down the lump in my throat and tried not to think about how much more she would hate me tomorrow, when the treaty with Kryllian was officially signed and I told her the full truth of everything I’d been hiding. The thought was another chip out of my carefully constructed, utterly porcelain armor. I winced as the slipup of my thoughts avalanched into something far worse. Music. My mother’s lullaby was never far from the surface, but today, I’d shoved it down as far as possible. Now, of all times, was not an option for breaking. It was too late, though. The thud of my own heartbeat…

Book Title: SUBATOMIC LOVECharacter Name: Dr. Vienna Sevelier (known as Dr. Cecilia Ribold in former life) How would you describe your family or your childhood?In my current life (it being 2022 for me), my family has been, and thus my childhood was, marked by exceptional generational wealth. My grandfather, a copper magnate and also my best friend, has always been larger than life, which is partly why I chose this family when reincarnating after my last death in 1971. That larger-than-life aura has pervaded our entire family, my upbringing, our family today, with excessive connection and love, in lavish settings, either in my Victorian on the sea, his eight-chimney mansion on the sea, my parents’ (mother and stepfather) colonial on the sea, my sister’s cottage – on the sea. There is no struggle, no conflict, within my current-life family, which is, again, why I chose this family, and not my birth father, who came as an unfortunately necessary biological donor (which is the nicest way I can characterize him, without devolving myself into violent emotions and expletives). For the most part, the struggles and conflicts of my life come from sources outside our lavish family homes, sources that have chased…

Azgard Outcast Faces Deadly Retribution (Below is brief excerpt from Stoneslayer Book Three PAYBACK, just published and available at all online retailers.) “Bring the nahazi bastard to me,” Malachi said. Helen’s bowels turned to ice. Although she knew it was pointless, she resisted. She twisted, turned, bucked, and tried to dig her heels into the smooth floor. She threw her weight backward or to the side, whatever she could think of to impede her captors’ forward progress. While she was fighting them, another altercation broke out at the South Doors. The acting Lord Protector burst into the inner chamber, running down the center aisle, followed by three King’s Guards. Orlando did not hesitate to plunge straight into the group of priests tussling with Helen. He peeled them off her, wrenching and shoving anyone he could get his hands on to the side, away from her. The guards dared not treat any of the Brotherhood of Kronos so disrespectfully, and refused to pursue Orlando further. Freed temporarily, Helen backed away from the melee until she was pressed against the paneling that formed the first row of the elevated benches for the lords of the Great Houses. “Stop!” Malachi roared. “On pain…