Meet The Author: Darin Calhoun

Darin Calhoun is an independent author sailing the genre seas, with the island of urban fantasy as his current home. Be warned, he writes about strong women and flawed characters. So, if you don't like these personalities in your protagonist, you'll be abundantly disappointed. However, if that's the way you enjoy your heroes, read on.

Darin admits to posting on Twitter or Facebook at 3AM, but blames it on an abusive muse. Some writers' muses give them a gentle tap on the shoulder; his, he explained, uses a sledgehammer.

The latest story his muse knocked out of his brain is about Gina Madonna. Gina is a former Los Angeles newspaper crime reporter who finds herself unemployed, dumped by her fiancé, and having to crash at her best friend's apartment in Hollywood while she picks up the remnants of her life. In desperation, she accepts a job interview as a personal assistant to Mr. Green, and she becomes caught up in a mysterious world filled with dark intrigue and magic that may lead to her demise.

Darin was kind enough to share a link to Gina Madonna and the Falling Man: http://bit.ly/HxcjhA

As Darin said above, he is on Twitter and Facebook at all hours of the day and night, interacting with readers, authors, and friends.

He would love for you to connect with him via the links below:

Twitter

Website

Facebook

Goodreads

Looking for chills, thrills, and suspense? Check out these authors:

I'd like to introduce you to three published authors and one coming-soon novelist. For more information, just click their cover.

 

 

Erica Fletcher is beautiful, smart, tough, and nothing can knock her off course. She's spent her life running away from her mother’s mistakes, locking her emotions away, and focusing on her career. But when she finally decides to slow down and allow real romance to bloom, her life suddenly turns to chaos. Two hundred million dollars disappears from the firm where she works and all evidence points to Erica. Now she must fight for her life as she struggles to hold on to the new woman she's become

  

A murder amid the madness of New Orleans Mardi Gras, where no one is what they seem, and evil is only a whisper away.
When Rita Brooks meets Brian LaPorte via an Internet website, she’s happy knowing he’s a safe distance away. But after a horrific car accident, she emerges from a coma remembering a cryptic message by another soul. When Brian’s brother shows up, demanding to know her part in his suicide attempt, she’s sure that soul was Brian. To make sense of his urgent message, she must go to New Orleans.
Christopher is the shadow to Brian’s light, everything that intimidates … and draws her. Unfortunately, she needs his help, because Brian had shadows, too, and someone is trying to kill his secrets. Amidst the chaotic revelry of Mardi Gras, she is plunged into a bizarre masquerade where masks conceal secrets, longings, and murderous intent.

 

When unseen forces cause a building to implode around Billy Hitchings, a nineteen-year-old working in a fast-food joint, multiple lives intertwine to unearth the source of the evil.

Coincidence and his own curiosity push Billy into a tangled mess of dark questions with darker answers, at the heart of which are rumors of an ancient legend and a not-so-ancient artifact.

John Reeves, a former marine now working as a bodyguard for high-profile political figures, only wants to reconcile with his fiancée who along with her coworker, Dr. Amfar Ditrpra, have orders to deliver a trunkful of ancient artifacts for additional research to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

When their paths cross, Billy needs to resolve whether his new friends will help him find the answer he seeks or betray him to their own needs?

And introducing Stacy Green

Stacy's novel, Into the Dark will be available soon. She is working with a publisher, and you'll be hearing great things from this romantic-suspense, thriller writer. Until then, follow the link below to read excerpts of Stacy's work and to follow her true-crime posts.

Meet Aspiring Author Abby Jones

Abby Jones grew up in a family of voracious readers. From the age of six, Abby showed signs of loving stories, but with a strong repugnance to grammar and spelling, she never considered writing. One day, her then boyfriend, now husband, took up the art. Inspired by his short stories, Abby began to take the stories in her head and put them on paper. Her first attempts at writing were mostly swords and sorcery, or high fantasy inspired by years of Dungeons and Dragons. With each story, she wrote herself into a box and set it aside. This trend continued for almost eight years. Finally, Abby decided to switch to a modern urban fantasy setting, and the stories started to flow. In two years, she finished her first novel, When Skies are Gray, a tale of a serial killer hunting two generations of the Galloway family. Less than a year later, she finished her second novel, Inheritance, a tale of a man forced to hold souls while they die. Inheritance is now a weekly, readable tale on her blog. She is currently working on book 3, 4, and 5.

Abby has lived in places as diverse as Los Angeles, California, and Yellville, Arkansas but Texas is her home. She can milk a goat and dress local socialites for charity events. Abby and her husband own a small set of designer consignment boutiques in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. 

She has designed a world which mirrors our own, which allows her to blend her research on serial killers, a love of fashion, steampunk, and her faith. She writes tales of hope after hardship, of the light shining in the darkness, of the power of friendship, and love. Her stories include witches, serial killers, fairies, angels, demons, vampires, and humans trying to live normal lives. Abby describes her writing style as an 80s action movie in a book, spiced up with bits of horror, thriller, anime, and poetry. Her main muses are J.R.R. Tolkien, Dean Koontz, Sylvester Stallone, Gene Rodenberry, and Joss Wheden, which gives her a unique, fun, and fast paced voice, though sometimes a bit cheesy.

With a strong background in classical fiction, literary fiction, and modern thrillers, Abby Jones hopes to offer back to the world what she enjoys as a reader – a great yarn!

For more information about Abby, visit one of the websites below:

Author’s Website

Twitter

Meet The Author ~ Synithia Williams

Synithia Williams has loved romance novels since reading her first one at the age of thirteen. It was only natural she would begin penning her own romances soon after. But it wasn’t until 2010 that she began actively pursuing her publishing dream. She completed her first novel, You Can’t Plan Love, in the fall of 2010, which published September 2012, and is now working on edits for book two.

The Writers Buzz online magazine featured her short story, Weekends, in October 2011, and she is a member of Romance Writers of America. When she isn’t writing, this Green Queen—as dubbed by the State Newspaper—works to improve air and water quality, while balancing the needs of her husband and two sons. For more information on Synithia and her writing, visit her website where she blogs about writing, life, and relationships.

You can read about Synithia's new release, You Can't Plan Love, here.

Author’s Website

Twitter

Meet the Author: Jennifer Gracen

Jennifer Gracen grew up torn between her two great loves: books and music. She spent most of her younger years unable to choose whether to be a writer or a singer. After spending her youth writing in private and singing in public, she now only sings in her car and fully embraces her lifelong passion for writing.

Jennifer has four full-length novels: SHADES OF DENIAL, AUTUMN GETAWAY, and FINDING WAYS, a sequel to AUTUMN GETAWAY, as well as a novella, CONNECTING.

Launching a STAR contest recently awarded Jennifer 3rd Place in the Single Title Category. She is a member of Romance Writers of America (with PRO status) and the Long Island Romance Writers (RWA Chapter 160).
  

When she isn’t taking care of her family, reading, or feeding her addiction to Twitter, Jennifer is writing women’s fiction and contemporary romance. She is also actively pursuing her ultimate goal: to become a published author. She is seeking agent representation.

For more about Jennifer, visit her sites below:

Author’s Blog

Twitter

Facebook

#MeetTheAuthor: Stacy Green:

A lifelong reader and writer, Stacy Green has a degree in Mass Communications and spent several years in advertising. Becoming a stay at home mom gave Stacy the time to pursue her writing career. After plunking around a few ideas, she dove into her first novel, pantsing all the way. That book is a love story that she’ll probably never allow to grace a bookstore, but the experience taught her a lot about the craft of writing and the importance of practice.

When she began writing Into the Dark in 2010, Stacy made a commitment to become part of the online writing community and grow as a writer. A year later, her romantic suspense novel, set in Las Vegas and featuring the harrowing Las Vegas storm drains, is complete and on submission.

Stacy spends most her days chatting about true crime, especially on ‘Thriller Thursdays’ on Twitter, and supporting other writers in ‘A Round of Words in 80 Days’.

You can connect with Stacy at any of the links below:

Author Website

Twitter

Facebook  

Goodreads

#MeetTheAuthor: Mike Glenn ~ Christian Paranormal Writer

Mike Glenn is the author of An Angel's Point of View. He loves writing Christian books about the unseen spiritual realm.

A Former Pastor and prophetic teacher and intercessor, Mike loves to travel to Asia and Latin America as a vactionary-missionary. He speaks Spanish, reads constantly, and enjoys playing Texas hold em when not spending time with his wife.

For more information about Mike, visit...
Website 
Twitter 

Facebook

 

Meet The Author ~ MJ Kane:

“Writing is not to be taken lightly. It's more than putting words on paper. It's the art of seducing your readers into your world.” – M.J. Kane

I am an aspiring author with big dreams. As an only child, I spent a lot of time exercising my imagination by acting out short stories with my collection of dolls. As I got older, I turned to reading books as a way to escape the boredom and keep my mind active. My favorite genres were Sci-Fi, Drama, Mystery, and Suspense. Very rarely did I dip into a Romance novel. And to think, when I decided to start writing, Romance was the genre I chose.

My love of Romance novels started by accident. I was at work on my one-hour lunch break and halfway through, I finished reading the final book in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Return of the King. A co-worker noticed, dug into her desk, and loaned me a Nora Roberts book. I wasn’t excited about reading a sappy romance novel but decided it was better than being bored. Thus, my love of the genre began.

Four years later, as a stay at home mom, I once again found myself bored. One day, my husband reminded me of a short story I had written, a fan fic of the show Lost, and suggested I continue to write it. I tried but realized I didn’t want to continue writing something that someone else created. I wanted my character to experience more. Before I knew it, I was at the library reading books on writing and the romance genre. My desire to write began.

Over the past two years, I’ve gone through the ups and downs of learning the art of story telling. Frustrated, I’ve put down my pen and paper for a while and gave up. But a month later, my character was knocking down the door, begging me to tell her story. And tell it I have.

The genre I have chosen – or rather has chosen me – is Multicultural Romance / Women’s Fiction. Rather than approach telling my characters stories in the tradition of the romance genre, I have created The Butterfly Memoirs, a collection of stories told by the characters themselves—a diary if you will.

Butterflies have long been a symbol of dynamic change in people’s lives. This dynamic change is what each of my characters—both the heroine and the hero—go through in their story. My goal is to not only entertain my readers but also to inspire, encourage, and bring hope to those who can relate. My characters do not live in the world of make-believe, they are like you and me, facing everyday hardships, trials, and heartbreak, yet they manage to find the moments of joy and happiness that keeps them going.

The first book of the series, A Heart Not Easily Broken, is about an interracial romance between Ebony Campbell, a black woman who is determined to reach her goal of becoming a veterinarian technician and Brian Young, a white man who is an up and coming musician. Despite their racial differences, it doesn’t take them long to realize they have a lot in common and support each other in ways others from their past did not. Ebony finds herself carrying a secret that could not only destroy her newfound relationship with Brian; it could also ruin the life of her best friend, Yasmine Phillips. Ebony must choose. Does she keep her secret and let life go on around her? Or will she expose the truth and deal with the consequences of her decision?

Sample First Chapter

A Heart Not Easily Broken is available now!

To learn more about my writing journey and me, visit my blog: This Writer’s Life

Please feel free to connect with me via links below:

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