Monthly Archives: May 2017

Bad Metal 02: Dirty Jobsby Robert Black

Gibson has been adjusting to his new job as a Wrecker – part cop, part garbage man, dealing with malfunctioning automatons. But he is beginning to suspect that there is more to these malfunctions than meets the eye.
How is it that some of the malfunctioning automatons seem able to spontaneously learn new skills?
Why did Red Eye, the automaton that nearly killed him, ask such searching, existential questions?
As Gibson and his Wrecker allies ponder a growing surge in cases of automaton ‘outliers’ – units that begin acting strangely but show no signs of malfunction or external tampering – they stumble across a criminal conspiracy that threatens to change the world as they know it.

Bad Metal 02: Dirty Jobs is the second in an ongoing series of cyberpunk novellas.

How Not To Run A B&Bby bobby hutchinson

HOW HARD CAN IT BE?? A HUMEROUS MEMOIR

Bobby Hutchinson, a best selling Harlequin romance writer, decides to open a B&B in Vancouver, B.C.

Despite never having stayed in a B&B and knowing absolutely nothing about running one, she jumps right in. Strange people from nearby and halfway around the world arrive at her home with their stories and struggles, not to mention their baggage, psychological and otherwise.

In explaining why she opened a B&B, she says, “I was far too old for prostitution, the only other job I could think of which might net enough to pay the mortgage.”

˃˃˃ HUMOR, A LITTLE TRAGEDY AND MANY LIFE LESSONS. (But mostly humor.)

What does a hostess do when a dog rips the bathroom apart? Or gerbils reproduce in the attic?

Make wonderful breakfasts and keep on keeping on.

˃˃˃ SURE FIRE BREAKFAST RECIPES

Lots of other recipes as well, guaranteed to turn out. And some advice that may or may not work, but what can you lose by trying?

The Memory of Us: A Novelby Camille Di Maio

Julianne Westcott was living the kind of life that other Protestant girls in prewar Liverpool could only dream about: old money, silk ball gowns, and prominent young men lining up to escort her. But when she learns of a blind-and-deaf brother, institutionalized since birth, the illusion of her perfect life and family shatters around her.

While visiting her brother in secret, Julianne meets and befriends Kyle McCarthy, an Irish Catholic groundskeeper studying to become a priest. Caught between her family’s expectations, Kyle’s devotion to the Church, and the intense new feelings that the forbidden courtship has awakened in her, Julianne must make a choice: uphold the life she’s always known or follow the difficult path toward love.

But as war ripples through the world and the Blitz decimates England, a tragic accident forces Julianne to leave everything behind and forge a new life built on lies she’s told to protect the ones she loves. Now, after twenty years of hiding from her past, the truth finds her–will she be brave enough to face it?

Molly’s Memoirby Deanna Edens

“Mr. Minion pushed open the door of the cabin and immediately froze when he heard the shrilling sound of an infant crying. He knew, for sure, that when he’d left out this morning there weren’t any babies living with him, and as far as he could recollect, he wasn’t expecting none either.”

Molly’s Memoir is a journey through the life and times of a woman who is raised by a Seneca Indian after she is abandoned on the porch of a log cabin in the hills of West Virginia. Growing up in the isolated Monongahela Mountains, she learns about love, faith, and of the craft of healing with medicinal herbs.

The background of these stories begins in 1905 when West Virginia was wild and wooly, and continues to the later half of the 20th century, when a journalism student, who works at the Springfield Senior Care Facility, is recruited by two gray-haired, knee-high wearing women to inscribe Molly’s tales.

Stories from the past, and from when the memoir is written in 1990, are intertwined as the most memorable events of a remarkable life, are revealed with humor and a gentle touch.

Molly’s Memoir offers a fascinating picture of a strong Native American woman, medicinal healing, historical events, biases, and the significance of family ties – even when you aren’t blood kin.

A Southern Placeby Elaine Drennon Little

Mary Jane Hatcher– everyone calls her Mojo– is beat up bad. She’s in the ICU of Phoebe Putney, the largest hospital in South Georgia, barely able to talk. How Mojo goes from being that skinny little girl in Nolan, a small forgotten town along the Flint River, to the young woman now fighting for her life, is where this story begins and ends.

Mojo, her mama Delores and her Uncle Calvin Mullinax, like most folks in Nolan, have just tried to make the best of it. Of course, people aren’t always what they seem, and Phil Foster–the handsome, spoiled son of the richest man in the county–is no exception.

As the story of the Mullinax family unfolds, Mojo discovers a family’s legacy can be many things–a piece of earth, a familiar dwelling, a shared bond. And although she doesn’t know why she feels such a bond with Phil Foster, it is there all the same, family or not. And she likes to think we all have us a fresh start. Like her mama always said, the past is all just water under the bridge. Mojo, after going to hell and back, finally comes to understand what that means.

“A fascinating, engaging cross-section of Southern characters.” –Haywood Smith, New York Times best-selling author

“In the great tradition of Southern storytellers, Little spins a tale specific and universal, one that speaks authentically to both the tragedies of the past and the triumphs of the future.” –Rachel Harper, author, Brass Ankle Blues

“A realistic Southern tale, like a Hank Williams song.” –Paul Yarbrough, author, Mississippi Cotton

“In a house on stilts in a hamlet in Dumas (“doom us”) County Georgia, a world unfolds of love, loss, falling apart and coming together, in Elaine Little’s captivating debut novel.” –Roy Hoffman, author, Almost Family and Chicken Dreaming Corn

“…a stunning debut novel that captures the essence of the working poor in the Deep South.” –Memoir Writer’s Journey

“I was surprised to learn this is the author’s debut novel, as it is written beautifully and will keep you captivated throughout its entirety.” –Books I Think You Should Read

Dancing with Armandoby Jill Cox Vogt

Born in a commune to an activist mother and an unidentified father, Iris Lyon already feels short-changed. Now, in small-town Twicks Hill, her husband ignores her, her mother stages protests, and her musically gifted daughter grows sneakier by the day. When Iris runs into an old acquaintance, handsome mystery writer Armando Torres, she hopes for friendship to ease her frustrating world. Instead, she must overcome deceptions that crash in on the night she dances with Armando.

Dancing with Armando chronicles three generations of strong and optimistic women, each with hopes and dreams — and closely guarded secrets. While Sophie and her daughter Iris walk a fine line between love and dejection, granddaughter Heaven shines as a musical prodigy whose curiosity about her missing grandfather sets off a chain of emotions that will change their worlds.

Dirty Daddiesby Jade West

Some bad girls need a firm hand to keep them in line.
I’m bad enough to need two.

After all… dirty girls need very dirty daddies.

***

Carrie Wells is nothing but trouble.

She’s wild and difficult. Not worth anyone’s time.

Carrie Wells is a beautiful little brat. She’s also a vulnerable young adult on my case list.

She’s half my age and totally off limits. I’m breaking every rule in the book by giving her somewhere to stay when she’s out on the streets with nowhere to go. And I’m breaking every rule of friendship by holing her up in my best friend Jack’s house while he’s away on business.

I thought life was difficult enough when I fell for the girl, but it gets a whole lot harder when Jack comes home early and finds a beautiful stranger causing chaos in his house.

And a whole lot harder still when he falls for her too.

He’s the one guy on this planet I’d share my last supper with. I’d share it gladly.

I’m just not so sure how I feel about sharing Carrie Wells.