This post contains affiliate links
Hi everyone and welcome to my first monthly supporters showcase! This is where I share the books and blogs of my Ko-Fi members. Please check out their amazing work!
Jill Horton
Jill Horton loves creating magical worlds for children to learn in and explore. She and her husband have four kids who love the adventures found in good books. One dog, two cats, and four parakeets joined the family’s fun and literary travels. Now, Jill is inviting you to pick up one of her books and start your own family’s storytime traditions too!
My review of The Fast Little Fox.
Jill's links:
Dorian’s love for writing came far prior to his education, however. He was first published at the age of 12 in Creative Communications (a national journal of student creative writing) with his poem “Brotherly Love”. Since then, Dorian has had a total of over 160 poems and short stories published in literary magazines and journals around the globe. His work has been nominated for numerous awards, including the Eric Hoffer Book Award and Best of the Net.
Aside from writing, Dorian loves English horseback riding, playing violin, and traveling with his loved ones. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Crow’s Feet Journal and an editor at Paramour Ink. He’s also an active member of the Horror Writers Association and Horror Authors Guild. Dorian currently lives in Kansas City, MO with his two cats, Binx and Hope.
Some of Dorian's books:
Dorian's links:
Izzy Matias
Izzy's book:
One night, Cameron and his best friends, Benji and Eric, fellow musicians themselves, stumble upon a series of underground live music shows called The Hush Society. There they find a community of new musicians who inspire each other and help one another succeed—in music and life. Cameron is instantly drawn to the community—and its founder, Cassie, an enigmatic, artistic wild spirit.
When Cassie invites Cameron and his mates to join The Hush Society's summer tour, he decides to give his passion a go one last time. But Cameron sees this as his last shot and feels he must commit fully—sans safety net—if he wants to make it in music. So he does the unthinkable: he drops out of University. Even if his bean-counting father already put in the down payment. Even if it dents his parents' fragmented relationship further. Even if his Dad’s ultimatum (go to Uni or don't ever come home) scares the hell out of him. Will Cameron finally be able to overcome the part of him ruled by fear? Or will he destroy his chances of success, his friendship with his best mates, and ultimately return his doomed life in Beverley?
Izzy's links:
Adam Peter Johnson
Adam worked as a newspaper reporter and editor for a decade, in the U.S. and Australia. He's been writing all his life but was moved to publish Branches following the sudden death of his mother in 2018. At once a dystopian alternate history story filled with twists and a personal, character-driven drama, the novel is about reflecting on the choices you've made while the world around you feels like it's spinning out of control—a feeling that, unfortunately, many people can relate to right now.
Authors that Adam credits as influences include Ray Bradbury, Flannery O'Connor, George Saunders, Chuck Palahniuk and Ted Chiang. Learn more and sign up to receive updates about upcoming releases at adampeterjohnson.net.
Adam's book:
This isn’t your life.
This isn’t your timeline.
And there’s a way out.
An emotional, mindbending page-turner in the tradition of Dark Matter and The Midnight Library, this surprise Amazon bestseller will make you question everything you know.
“A powerful piece of inventive and topical science fiction [that] will undoubtedly resonate with readers in a way that many stories reach for, but few achieve.” –The BookLife Prize
For one man, the past few years have delivered one shock after another. The election of an authoritarian president. The sudden loss of his mother. A series of debilitating seizures. Now, as America descends into a nightmare, he’s shocked to discover the explanation for his seizures: He’s in the wrong universe.
A drug trial promises to return him to the timeline where he belongs. With his family life strained, his job gone and tanks in the streets, he jumps at the opportunity. But what will he find on the other side?
Take a reality-bending trip filled with surprises and second chances. Visit alternate timelines where life played out very differently, yet one man keeps dying in every one. Explore the roads not taken. Question the nature of fate. And find an answer to the biggest question of all: in a world that feels like it’s spinning out of control, what would it take for one person to make a difference?
Now an international Amazon bestseller, Branches is at once a twisty cerebral drama and a deeply personal journey through fear, grief and redemption.
First in a series.
REVIEWS
“Part dystopian, part all-too-familiar reality … walks an imaginative line between what we think we know and what actually is.” –Stories on Stage Davis
“Lovers of alternate histories will find much that fascinates [in] this bold experiment in timelines and trauma.” –BookLife
“I did not want to put it down, and I did not stop thinking about it after.” –Amazon review
“A story of emotional discovery and depth that left me breathless by the last fateful word. … This is sci-fi with both brains and a heart. … Brilliantly insightful.” –BookBub review
“The vivid imagery … and heart-pounding drama caused me to read this novel in one sitting.” –Amazon review
“If you were a fan of Blake Crouch’s Dark Matter, this is for you.” –GoodReads review
Adam's links:
Phannie
Her book blog was created in June 2017, and she migrated to a self-hosting platform in July 2021.
Phannie's links:
Twitter
O. J. Barré
O.J. Barré hails from the lushly forested, red-clay hills near Atlanta, Georgia. From birth, O.J. was a force of nature. Barefoot and freckled, headstrong and gifted; she was, and is, sensitive to a fault. Books became her refuge as a young child, allowing O.J. to escape the confines of her turbulent alcoholic home on adventures to untold places and times. Her daddy's mother was a Willoughby, making O.J. a direct descendant of William the Conqueror. Her Awen series is a love letter to that distant past.
Many of O.J.'s favorite novels are those with animal characters. In the early 2000s, Terry Brooks's Magic Kingdom for Sale/Sold leapt off the racks of her local Barnes & Noble and into her hands, changing O.J.'s life forever. With its quirky dog-scribe Abernathy and the other talking animal and earth characters, this series became one of O.J.'s favorites. Brooks's juxtaposition of a fantastical world within our day-to-day one directly influenced the creation of the Awen trilogy. O.J.'s love of meditation, natural healing, nature, and cinema can also be found in the pages of her novels.
A child of the '60s and '70s, O.J. cut her teeth on the classics, reading every book her local library had to offer, including Animal Farm at the tender age of eight. A tomboy, she rode horses, climbed trees, waded in creeks, and cheered, all while excelling in English classes and maintaining a straight-A average in school.
Majoring in business in college, O.J. graduated cum laude with a BBA in both Accounting and Finance. She later went on to earn her Doctor of Chiropractic degree, graduating summa cum laude. In the early 2000s, O.J.'s lifelong love affair with words and reading compelled her to finally sit down and begin writing. She poured out her heart in a memoir, then lost it to a crashed hard drive. After recovering from that blow, O.J. was seized by an idea for a children's book. And in the blink of an eye, Frank and Ernie Find Home was born. That manuscript currently resides on a treasured thumb drive, but someday Frank and Ernie WILL find a home.
O.J.'s next writing adventure was a women's fiction novel, written when the title came in a flash of inspiration while driving through Dahlonega, Georgia. That title will be revamped as a paranormal women's fiction novel and published soon, along with a series of other novels starring the main character, Sammy Starr.
When ideas for the Awen Trilogy began bombarding O.J. and would not relent, she sidelined Sammy's project and dove into the fantastical Awen Universe. At present, this consists of Awen Rising, Awen Storm, and the soon-to-be-released Awen Tide. Plus, two short-read Awen prequels, The Druids of Marduk, Parts I and II. Part III will complete the prequel and is due out in early 2022.
Slave to a twenty-pound, black, longhaired he-cat named Rambo, O.J. currently resides near Boise, Idaho (U.S.). Her time is split between writing, working as a semi-retired chiropractor, vacationing at the Oregon coast and in the Idaho mountains, and occasional jaunts to Georgia and other parts of the globe.
O. J.'s books:
O. J. Barré
O.J. Barré hails from the lushly forested, red-clay hills near Atlanta, Georgia. From birth, O.J. was a force of nature. Barefoot and freckled, headstrong and gifted; she was, and is, sensitive to a fault. Books became her refuge as a young child, allowing O.J. to escape the confines of her turbulent alcoholic home on adventures to untold places and times. Her daddy's mother was a Willoughby, making O.J. a direct descendant of William the Conqueror. Her Awen series is a love letter to that distant past.
Many of O.J.'s favorite novels are those with animal characters. In the early 2000s, Terry Brooks's Magic Kingdom for Sale/Sold leapt off the racks of her local Barnes & Noble and into her hands, changing O.J.'s life forever. With its quirky dog-scribe Abernathy and the other talking animal and earth characters, this series became one of O.J.'s favorites. Brooks's juxtaposition of a fantastical world within our day-to-day one directly influenced the creation of the Awen trilogy. O.J.'s love of meditation, natural healing, nature, and cinema can also be found in the pages of her novels.
A child of the '60s and '70s, O.J. cut her teeth on the classics, reading every book her local library had to offer, including Animal Farm at the tender age of eight. A tomboy, she rode horses, climbed trees, waded in creeks, and cheered, all while excelling in English classes and maintaining a straight-A average in school.
Majoring in business in college, O.J. graduated cum laude with a BBA in both Accounting and Finance. She later went on to earn her Doctor of Chiropractic degree, graduating summa cum laude. In the early 2000s, O.J.'s lifelong love affair with words and reading compelled her to finally sit down and begin writing. She poured out her heart in a memoir, then lost it to a crashed hard drive. After recovering from that blow, O.J. was seized by an idea for a children's book. And in the blink of an eye, Frank and Ernie Find Home was born. That manuscript currently resides on a treasured thumb drive, but someday Frank and Ernie WILL find a home.
O.J.'s next writing adventure was a women's fiction novel, written when the title came in a flash of inspiration while driving through Dahlonega, Georgia. That title will be revamped as a paranormal women's fiction novel and published soon, along with a series of other novels starring the main character, Sammy Starr.
When ideas for the Awen Trilogy began bombarding O.J. and would not relent, she sidelined Sammy's project and dove into the fantastical Awen Universe. At present, this consists of Awen Rising, Awen Storm, and the soon-to-be-released Awen Tide. Plus, two short-read Awen prequels, The Druids of Marduk, Parts I and II. Part III will complete the prequel and is due out in early 2022.
Slave to a twenty-pound, black, longhaired he-cat named Rambo, O.J. currently resides near Boise, Idaho (U.S.). Her time is split between writing, working as a semi-retired chiropractor, vacationing at the Oregon coast and in the Idaho mountains, and occasional jaunts to Georgia and other parts of the globe.
O. J.'s books:
Bankrupt and broken, Emily Hester is in dire need of a safe place to hide. But when her long-lost Druid family tracks Emily down and offers her haven, she balks at the "Must Save Earth" clause.
Thinking life couldn’t possibly get any worse, Emily smacks into her witchy stalker. She flees the scene but now has only one option. Emily must accept the Druids' proposition—despite its blatantly outrageous terms.
At their headquarters in Atlanta, Emily learns several shocking secrets. She was kidnapped by the mother who raised her on the run. Her real father and his Druid followers believe Emily is Earth's only hope. And a dark, forgotten foe lurks beneath Humanity's feet.
As these Reptilians engineer a plan to breach Earth's unsuspecting borders, Emily desperately seeks to unleash the powers the Druids swear she possesses. But, can a sexy druid priest, his teenage nephew, and their animal Elders tilt the odds in Emily's favor?
Find out in Awen Rising, the first book in the Awen Trilogy. If you like compelling stories with a strong but believable female lead, quirky sidekicks, and worthy adversaries, read Barré's breakout urban fantasy. Or better yet, grab the whole series!
Only one Druidess can stop them.
The Awen Order of Druids has named Emily Hester as its new leader. Unfortunately, she's no heroine, and her magic needs work. Her long-awaited date with the druid priest has ended in disaster. Now she's stranded on a ledge in Zoo Atlanta with a dragon breathing down her neck.
Worse, the Reptilians are amassing inside the planet. They despise humans. They have no souls. And if they find a way out, our world is doomed. Can Emily escape and seize her magical powers? Or will Earth be left to the mercy of these monsters?
Find out in Awen Storm, the second book in the Awen trilogy. If you enjoy compelling stories with a strong but believable female lead, quirky sidekicks, and worthy adversaries, read Barré's imaginative urban fantasy today. Or better yet, grab the whole series!
_________________________________
PRAISE FOR AWEN STORM
Exciting! Like the first, this second book in the Awen Trilogy is well written and complex... I love Druid lore, so this trilogy attracted me based on that alone. However, it held me with that and so much more. O. J. Barré has penned a well written, complex Urban Fantasy that's full of rich characters. And the world-building! The world-building is terrific. The author certainly knows her stuff when it comes to painting a scene. It's detailed enough that I could easily close my eyes and see it, but it's not over the top. What it all boils down to is that this is an entertaining book in an entertaining series, and I'm not going to give spoilers, so I'll just sum up by saying this second in the trilogy is exciting, and I'd say anyone who enjoys Urban Fantasy and/or Druid lore would enjoy this series. ~ Amazon Reviewer
For Emily Hester, it's do or die.
In this explosive finale, Emily Hester, the new Grand Druid of the Awen Order, finds herself imprisoned in the caves beneath a crumbling Chateau Falaise in France. Now skilled in magic, Emily must escape and reach the mythical isle of Beli where a long-dormant power lies in wait.
Meanwhile, the Reptilians have breached Earth’s defenses. While the FBI downplays the danger in the US, the rest of the planet remains clueless. Can Emily find a way to save Humanity and herself? Or will the world as we know it cease to exist?
Find out in Awen Tide, the final book in the Awen Trilogy. If you like original stories with imperfect heroines and bone-chilling adversaries, read Barré’s thrilling urban fantasy today. Or better yet, grab the whole series!
After nine thousand years of peace and prosperity, the Milky Way Galaxy is about to get a rude awakening. Druantia, queen of the Druid world of Marduk, is the only celestial who stands between the galaxy and a race of bloodthirsty Reptilians. Worse, Bé Chuille, her witch-goddess guardian and nemesis, is conspiring against Druantia.
Can Queen Druantia convince the Alliance of Worlds to close its borders to the warring race? Or will the other gods’ ignorance bring disaster upon them all?
To find out, read The Druids of Marduk, Part I, today.
Author's Note: This 47-page short read (Part I) takes place thousands of years before the Awen Trilogy and details the harrowing events of the Druid-Reptilian exodus to Earth. Part II relates their first days in UnderEarth, while Part III chronicles their eventual migration to AboveEarth.
Queen Druantia barely survived the destruction of Marduk. Now she and her Druids are stuck on Earth with no way out. Worse, the Reptilians are stranded here, too, and Bé Chuille is making a bid for Dru's queendom. Will Druantia find a way to surmount these new challenges? Or will Earth be the end of her and her Druids?
To find out, read UnderEarth, Part II of the Druids of Marduk.
Author's Note: This is a ~70-pg short read. The Druids of Marduk, An Awen Prequel, takes place thousands of years before the Awen Trilogy. Part I details the harrowing events of the Druid-Reptilian exodus to Earth. Part II relates their first uneasy days in UnderEarth, while Part III chronicles their eventual migration to AboveEarth.
O. J.'s links:
Thank you so much to my Ko-Fi members! If you'd like to join please check out my Ko-Fi membership page.
As an elementary teacher and mom of 3, I'm very interested in reading "The Fast Little Fox." Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDelete