Thanks to Shawn Salik, Publicity ChiZine Publications, I am giving away one copy of House of War and Witness by Mike, Linda, and Louise Carey.
House of War and Witness by Mike, Linda, and Louise Carey
“1740. With the whole of Europe balanced on the brink of war, an Austrian regiment is sent to the farthest frontier of the empire to hold the border against the might of Prussia. Their garrison, the ancient house called Pokoj. But Pokoj is already inhabited… by a company of ghosts from every age of the house’s history.
Only Drozde, the quartermaster’s mistress, can see them, and terrifyingly they welcome her as a friend. As these ageless phantoms tell their stories, Drozde gets chilling glimpses not just of Pokoj’s past but of a looming menace in its future. Meanwhile, the humourless lieutenant Klaes pursues another mystery. Why are the people of the neighbouring village so surly and withdrawn, so reluctant to welcome the soldiers who are there to protect them? What are they hiding? And what happened to the local militia unit that was stationed at Pokoj before the regiment arrived?”
Praise for House of War and Witness by Mike, Linda, and Louise Carey
“If you like classical feeling fantasy tales with modern complexities, which is enchanting, captivating and enjoyable, then [The House of War and Witness] should be top of your list.”-Gavin Pugh, GAV READS
“It is… a brilliant story, a story about stories, about justice and hope, friendship and love between women”- Liz Bourke Blogspot
“There’s an intriguingly playful approach to the storytelling.”- SCI FI NOW
About Mike, Linda, and Louise Carey
Mike Carey is a comics writer, novelist and screenwriter who lives and works in London. He is best known for his work on the multiple EISNER-nominated series LUCIFER and for a critically acclaimed run on Vertigo’s flagship title, HELLBLAZER. He is the author of the Felix Castor novels and is currently writing the monthly series, THE UNWRITTEN, for DC Vertigo. He has also written X-MEN, X-MEN LEGACY and FANTASTIC FOUR for Marvel Comics. His screenplay SILENT WAR, written for Slingshot and Intrepid Pictures, is about to go into production.
Linda Carey, writing as A.J. Lake, authored the Darkest Age fantasy trilogy. She has also written for TV, most notably for the German animation series MEADOWLANDS, on which she shared the duties of lead writer.
Louise’s Carey’s previous writing includes DIARY OF A LONDON SCHOOLGIRL for the website of the London Metropolitan archive and the graphic novel CONFESSIONS OF A BLABBERMOUTH, co-written with Mike. She is a member of the Chicken Shed theatre company and has acted in their productions of ALICE IN WONDERLAND and GRIMM NIGHTS
Giveaway House of War and Witness by Mike, Linda, and Louise Carey
This giveaway is open to Canada and the US only and ends on January 29, 2016 midnight Pacific time. Entries are accepted via Rafflecopter only.
Thanks to Amy Bruno of HFVBT, I am giving away one Print copy of Teresa of the New World by Sharman Russell.
Publication Date: March 3, 2015
Yucca Publishing/Skyhorse Publishing
Formats: Hardcover, Ebook
ISBN: 978-1631580420
Genre: Historical Fiction/Young Adult/Fantasy
From the bestselling author of An Obsession with Butterflies comes a magical story of America in the time of the conquistadors.
In 1528, the real-life conquistador Cabeza de Vaca shipwrecked in the New World where he lived for eight years as a slave, trader, and shaman. In this lyrical weaving of history and myth, the adventurer takes his young daughter Teresa from her home in Texas to walk westward into the setting sun, their travels accompanied by miracles–visions and prophecies. But when Teresa reaches the outposts of New Spain, life is not what her father had promised.
As a kitchen servant in the household of a Spanish official, Teresa grows up estranged from the magic she knew as a child, when she could speak to the earth and listen to animals. When a new epidemic of measles devastates the area, the sixteen-year-old sets off on her own journey, befriending a Mayan were-jaguar who cannot control his shape-shifting and a warhorse abandoned by his Spanish owner. Now Teresa moves through a land stalked by Plague: smallpox as well as measles, typhus, and scarlet fever.
Soon it becomes clear that Teresa and her friends are being manipulated and driven by forces they do not understand. To save herself and others, Teresa will find herself listening again to the earth, sinking underground, swimming through limestone and fossil, opening to the power of root and stone. As she searches for her place in the New World, she will travel farther and deeper than she had ever imagined.
Rich in historical detail and scope, Teresa of the New World takes you into the dreamscape of the sixteenth-century American Southwest.
Praise for Teresa of the New World by Sharman Russell
“Wow! The magical elements were a total thrill-ride, and what a satisfying ending. After finishing it I had that wonderful sensation I get from a great read—the mysterious feeling of having been somewhere, of dreams having risen up and carried me along on a wild journey.” – Sarah Johnson, Editor
Praise for Sharman Russell
Russell has written twelve previous books with numerous starred reviews in Publishers Weekly and Booklist. The San Francisco Chronicle has said “Russell’s writing is luminous” and Kirkus Reviews wrote, “A deep reverence for nature shines throughout Russell’s rich, enjoyable text.” The Seattle Times described her An Obsession with Butterflies as a “masterpiece of story-telling” and the San Diego Union Tribune called it “A singular work of art, with its smooth, ethereal prose and series after cascading series of astonishing lore.” The New York Times and Discover Magazine both described her book on hunger as “elegant.”
Teresa of the New World by Sharman Russell Available at
Sharman Apt Russell has lived in Southwestern deserts almost all her life and continues to be refreshed and amazed by the magic and beauty of this landscape. She has published over a dozen books translated into a dozen languages, including fiction and nonfiction. She teaches graduate writing classes at Western New Mexico University in Silver City, New Mexico and Antioch University in Los Angeles, California and has thrice served as the PEN West judge for their annual children’s literature award. Her own awards include a Rockefeller Fellowship, the Mountains and Plains Booksellers Award, a Pushcart Prize, and the Henry Joseph Jackson Award.
For more information visit Sharman Russell’s website. You can also find her on Facebook and Goodreads.
Giveaway of Teresa of the New World by Sharman Russell
This giveaway is open to the U.S. and Canada and ends on May 27, 2015. Please use Rafflecopter to enter.
Publication Date: January 15, 2015 Palladino Books Formats: eBook, Paperback
Genre: Historical Fantasy
Italy 1899: Fiery-tempered, erotic medium Alessandra Poverelli levitates a table at a Spiritualist séance in Naples. A reporter photographs the miracle, and wealthy, skeptical, Jewish psychiatrist Camillo Lombardi arrives in Naples to investigate. When she materializes the ghost of his dead mother, he risks his reputation and fortune to finance a tour of the Continent, challenging the scientific and academic elite of Europe to test Alessandra’s mysterious powers. She will help him rewrite Science. His fee will help her escape her sadistic husband Pigotti and start a new life in Rome. Newspapers across Europe trumpet her Cinderella story and baffling successes, and the public demands to know – does the “Queen of Spirits” really have supernatural powers?
Nigel Huxley is convinced she’s simply another vulgar, Italian trickster. The icy, aristocratic detective for England’s Society for the Investigation of Mediums launches a plot to trap and expose her. The Vatican is quietly digging up her childhood secrets, desperate to discredit her supernatural powers; her abusive husband Pigotti is coming to kill her; and the tarot cards predict catastrophe.
Praised by Kirkus Reviews as an “enchanting and graceful narrative” that absorbs readers from the very first page, The Witch of Napoli masterfully resurrects the bitter 19th century battle between Science and religion over the possibility of an afterlife.
Praise for The Witch of Napoli
“Impressive…an enchanting, graceful narrative that absorbs readers from the first page.” –Kirkus Reviews
About Michael Schmicker
Michael Schmicker is an investigative journalist and nationally-known writer on the paranormal. He’s been a featured guest on national broadcast radio talk shows, including twice on Coast to Coast AM (560 stations in North America, with 3 million weekly listeners). He also shares his investigations through popular paranormal webcasts including Skeptiko, hosted by Alex Tsakiris; Speaking of Strange with Joshua Warren; the X-Zone, with Rob McConnell (Canada); and he even spent an hour chatting with spoon-bending celebrity Uri Geller on his program Parascience and Beyond (England). He is the co-author of The Gift, ESP: The Extraordinary Experiences of Ordinary People (St. Martin’s Press). The Witch of Napoli is his debut novel. Michael began his writing career as a crime reporter for a suburban Dow-Jones newspaper in Connecticut, and worked as a freelance reporter in Southeast Asia for three years. He has also worked as a stringer for Forbes magazine, and Op-Ed contributor to The Wall Street Journal Asia. His interest in investigating the paranormal began as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Thailand where he first encountered a non-Western culture which readily accepts the reality of ghosts and spirits, reincarnation, psychics, mediums, divination,and other persistently reported phenomena unexplainable by current Science. He lives and writes in Honolulu, Hawaii, on a mountaintop overlooking Waikiki and Diamond Head.
Guest Post: Please welcome Michael Schmicker to Teddy Rose Book Reviews Plus.
Which authors do you admire?
Aloha Teddy, and thank you for the opportunity to talk with you and your readers.
Which authors do I admire?
That’s a difficult question to answer. I admire so many – Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Washington Irving, David McCullough, Umberto Eco, George Orwell, Ray Bradbury, Studs Terkel – the list goes on and on. But I’ll name three: E.B. White, Italo Calvino, and J.D. Salinger. That’s because each taught me to focus on a specific skill of my craft.
E.B. White taught me to be precise in choosing my words. White wrote for The New Yorker magazine for six decades; penned Charlotte’s Web, the quintessential, perennial Number 1 children’s novel; and won a Pulitzer Prize in 1978 for his essays and short magazine pieces. Every piece he wrote was clean, chiseled, granite hard. Each word was hand-picked and polished before being embedded in the sentence. No waste, no fluff. Memorable prose is not accidental. His most famous work is The Elements of Style, a guide to writing clearly. Generations of writers have studied it to improve their phrasing. I was given a copy in tenth grade and thirty years later I used it to edit and tighten the 78,000 words which collectively constitute The Witch of Napoli.
Italo Calvino stretched my imagination. Among his many literary successes, Calvino wrote a wildly inventive collection of short stories entitled Cosmicomics. The narrator is named Qfwfq. No vowels. Qfwfq lives in a make-believe time eons ago when the earth is so close to the moon you can reach it with a ladder. An aquatic uncle still lives in the sea, left behind by family who’ve evolved and moved to land. A mollusk muses on love. Calvino was imagination unleashed. I deliberately re-read Cosmicomics the week before I began writing TheWitch of Napoli. Why? Because I needed to move beyond the mindset of a journalist, a collector and arranger of dead, squared facts. I would be tackling fiction, where imagination reigns supreme. My 1899 Naples wouldn’t be half as strange as Qfwfq’s world, but I would still have to create a world out of thin air – a memorable narrator, heroine, villain, and supporting cast. I would have to dress them, put words in their mouth , conjure up spirits to haunt my séance room, invent a monumental faux pas at an upper crust, English garden party, describe a back alley abortion, a 19th century mental asylum, a climactic confrontation in a cathedral, multiple table levitations, demon possessions, materializations, murder, abandonment, and ravishment. Cosmicomics helped jumpstart my right brain.
And J.D. Salinger? He taught me the primacy of emotion in storytelling. Asking ”How do you feel?” produces and infinitely more interesting answer than “What do you know?” It’s the difference between a novel and a textbook. Holden Caulfield, the iconic, troubled anti-hero of Salinger’s classic, Catcher in the Rye, describes a lot of things, but it’s what he feels that keeps us turning pages. Emotion and conflict are the throbbing heart of any novel –including historical fiction. Too often, the historical novel writer is tempted to cram the novel with historical facts at the expense of human drama. Catcher in the Rye reminded me to put emotion first. When in doubt, I cut the academics and kept the soap opera. You’ll still get an education, I promise, but you’re in for a page-turner.
P.S. Here’s to Vancouver! I’ve skied Whistler a half-dozen times with my wife and son, and we always schedule a salmon dinner and a walk through Stanley Park before returning to the Islands.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing some of the authors you admire, Michael!
Thanks to Amy Bruno of HFVBT, I am giving away one print copy of ‘The Witch of Napoli by Michael Schmicker. This giveaway is open to the U.S., UK, and AUS and ends on March 10, 2015. Please use Rafflecopter to enter.
Linda Carey, writing as A.J. Lake, authored the Darkest Age fantasy trilogy. She has also written for TV, most notably for the German animation series MEADOWLANDS, on which she shared the duties of lead writer.
for the website of the London Metropolitan archive and the graphic novel CONFESSIONS OF A BLABBERMOUTH, co-written with Mike. She is a member of the Chicken Shed theatre company and has acted in their productions of ALICE IN WONDERLAND and GRIMM NIGHTS
