Selfies of Success for Authors welcomes KATE RIGBY with "Far Cry From The Turquoise Room".

Kate Rigby was born near Liverpool and now lives in Devon.  She’s been writing for over thirty-five years, with a few small successes along the way.

She realized her unhip credentials were mounting so she decided to write about it. Little Guide to Unhip was first published in 2010 and has recently been updated.

However, she’s not completely unhip. Her punk novel, Fall Of The Flamingo Circus was published by Allison & Busby (1990) and by Villard (American hardback 1990). Skrev Press published her novels Seaview Terrace (2003) Sucka!(2004) and Break Point(2006) and other shorter work has appeared in Skrev’s avant garde magazine Texts’ Bones including a version of her satirical novella Lost The Plot.

Thalidomide Kid was published by Bewrite Books (2007).

She has had other short stories published and shortlisted including Hard Workers and Headboards, first published in The Diva Book of Short Stories and as part of the Dancing In The Dark erotic anthology, Pfoxmoor Publishing (2011)

She also received a Southern Arts bursary for her novel Where A Shadow Played (now re-Kindled as Did You Whisper Back?).

Most of her titles are available in e-format and some, for instance, Far Cry From The Turquoise Room and Savage To Savvy, are also available in paperback.

She loves cats, singing, photography, music and LFC. She has fibromyalgia but is also an armchair campaigner against social injustice, energy permitting.

Far Cry From The Turquoise Room

Leila is the eight-year-old daughter of Hassan Nassiri, a wealthy Iranian property owner, and younger sister to the adored Fayruz, her father's favourite daughter. 

Then tragedy strikes in a holiday narrowboat accident having far-reaching consequences for the surviving family. So begins Leila's journey: at times heart-breaking and dangerous and romance, often exhilarating and ultimately life-affirming.

Review: 

"Hassan is a Persian man living in England with his family. Life is splendid; he does well at business and his family is perfect. But suddenly, life changes, when his oldest daughter dies in a tragic accident. At first, Leila, the younger daughter, does her best to fit in with the new family dynamic, trying to draw her parents out and make them happy. It becomes clear that her parents will not return to their previous way of life, however, when they threaten to send Leila to boarding school. This, coupled with the revelation that there will be a new baby in the family, prompts Leila to run away, and develop a new identity living with travelers throughout England.

The first few chapters of this book were like the soft introductory strains to a beautiful piece of music. They helped to identify the tone, mood, and voice of the entire piece. This music that the book creates is unlike anything I have ever experienced. The simultaneous stories of Hassan and Leila make for an incredibly original book.I really loved watching Leila's character develop. We walk with her over the course of several years, and watch her come of age in the most difficult of circumstances. She feels abandoned, by her sister, her parents, and later by the people who promised to protect her. I also really enjoyed seeing Hassan's character begin to awake, albeit a little late, to the important place Leila has in their family.
This story is so moving, and I think it really lends a voice to people and situations not normally represented in modern literature. While the book is very British in feeling and vocabulary, this is a story to which anyone can relate. Many countries have immigrant populations, and many immigrants are misunderstood, as Hassam feels Persians are. Many wish to fit it and fully assimilate, as Leila does when she wishes she were white. And who among us cannot relate to the pain of tragedy and death.
I am honestly struggling to find the right words to convey how breathtaking this book is. So, instead of taking my very inarticulate word for it, just simply read for yourself."  

 REVIEWED BY

Tiffany Harkleroad

PURCHASE LINK

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004ZF80N0

AUTHOR'S Website.

http://kjrbooks.yolasite.com/

 Or her occasional blog:

 http://bubbitybooks.blogspot.co.uk/

Selfies Of Success for Authors Welcomes V.M Gautier with her book "BLOOD DIVA."

Selfies of Success for Authors, welcomes V M Gautier.

VM Gautier is a pen name. Hence, the photo. However, the author is rumored to be Marion Stein, New York based writer, blogger, indie “pioneer” and author of Loisaida, Schrodinger's Telephone, and The Death Trip.

 BLOOD DIVA

The 19th century’s most infamous party-girl is undead and on the loose in the Big Apple.

When 23 year-old Parisian courtesan, Marie Duplessis succumbed to consumption in 1847, Charles Dickens showed up for the funeral and reported the city mourned as though Joan of Arc had fallen. Marie was not only a celebrity in in her own right, but her list of lovers included Franz Liszt – the first international music superstar, and Alexandre Dumas fils, son of the creator of The Three Musketeers. Dumas fils wrote the novelThe Lady of the Camellias based on their time together. The book became a play, and the play became the opera La Traviata. Later came the film versions, and the legend never died.

But what if when offered the chance for eternal life and youth, Marie grabbed it, even when the price was the regular death of mortals at her lovely hand?

Now Marie wonders if perhaps nearly two centuries of murder, mayhem, and debauchery is enough, especially when she falls hard for a rising star she believes may be the reincarnation of the only man she ever truly loved. But is it too late for her to change? Can a soul be redeemed like a diamond necklace in hock? And even if it can, have men evolved since the 1800′s? Or does a girl’s past still mark her?

Blood Diva is a sometimes humorous, often dark and erotic look at sex, celebrity, love, death, destiny, and the arts of both self-invention and seduction. It’s a story that asks a simple question – Can a one hundred ninety year-old demimondaine find happiness in 21st century Brooklyn without regular infusions of fresh blood? 

BOOK REVIEW:

Amazon 5.0 out of 5 stars Pressing issues for future vampires, January 5, 2015

By 

carlosredivivus - See all my reviews

Verified Purchase(What's this?)

This review is from: Blood Diva (Kindle Edition)

I don't read much fantasy, and in spite of their popularity, vampires are (most likely) phantasmal--so I wouldn't have read `Blood Diva' if it hadn't been written by the author of the excellent `Loisaida', under the pen name `VM Gautier'. I bought it to find out why she published under a pen name, assuming it was something she'd prefer to keep at a distance.
Nope. It's great, a novel to be proud of on several levels.
It is, first of all, a fabulously sexy retelling of the Marie Duplessis story, the basis for the movie `Camille', and the opera `La Traviata'--but leaving aside the tuberculosis (a metaphorical guilt trip laid on the 19th century heroine.) If you're a vampire, you can live for pleasure all night long, century after century, no restraints, inhibitions or penalties--and Gautier's heroine takes full advantage.
And Blood Diva is very well written, not only as a `genre' novel but as a serious (also funny) novel that plays with a generic form, as Borges' played with cowboy and detective novels, satisfying the reader's expectations for the genre, and yet going as far beyond it as the reader cares to follow, raising questions about human nature (particularly the feminine side of it) and social and sexual mores.
How might a woman behave if her life was not at risk every time she got into bed, no pregnancy, no disease, no risk of violence--or even criticism. How about if gender roles were reversed and the man was at greater risk? If she could demand satisfaction whether or not he agreed? If she could kill, and yet not be killed? And how can she justify her survival at the expense of other human beings, no matter how degraded they might be? Questions reminiscent of those raised by Glaucon's story of the Ring of Gyges, that made the wearer invisible.
A remarkable job of writing, and fun to read.

 PURCHASE HERE

http://www.amazon.com/Blood-Diva-VM-Gautier/dp/1496027515/

  Links to more information.
http://www.blooddiva.com

http://www.marionstein.net

Welcome Mandy Eve Barnett with her Selfie of "THE RYTHON KINGDOM"

Selfies of Success for Authors  welcomes author
Mandy Eve Barnett with her book "The Rython Kingdom"

Meet Mandy Eve Barnett.
 

Mandy currently lives in Alberta, Canada but is originally from England. She is passionate about writing to the point of obsession and she succeeded in becoming a published author in record time. September 2011 saw the launch of her first children’s book, Rumble’s First Scare. In August 2012 her adult fantasy e-book, The Rython Kingdom was released on Smashwords, and Amazon. Mandy recently collaborated in creating a ‘how to’ write your memoir workbook, Your Lifetime of Stories. Mandy second children's book, Ockleberries to the rescue was released in October 2014. Mandy is now editing a cowgirl romance novel, Willow Tree Tears, and a thriller, mystery, The Giving Thief.

The Rython Kingdom

The famed troubadour, Guillem, attends the king’s court to recite a marvelous tale but his suspicions are raised by a strange servant. With the help of a wizened old woman and her beautiful granddaughter, Guillem attempts to outwit a witch to save the kingdom from murder and mayhem. He then finds himself part of a ritual for life everlasting with the entrancing and mysterious Juliana.

Review by: Lisa Nikolits‘s review Jun 14, 14      

Like a magical fairytale of olde, this battle between ancient scaly evil and noble valour is a spell-binding page-turner. You feel as if you are seated at the king’s table, feasting among ladies and knights, and listening to the troubadour tell tales within tales. This novella is nicely done!

http://www.amazon.com/The-Rython-Kingdom-Mandy-Eve-Barnett/dp/1927510236/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1382287293&sr=8-1&keywords=the+rython+kingdom

Selfies of Success for Authors welcomes Tom Winton with "Forever Three' the sequel to 'Beyond Nostalgia.

Meet author TOM WINTON

 Tom Winton was born and raised in New York City. During his working career he has done everything from pounding spikes on a railroad gang in the Colorado Rockies to driving a taxicab in Manhattan. He’s also been a mailman, a salesman, an entrepreneur and more. He lives in the Great Smoky Mountains with his wife Blanche and their ill-tempered but loveable Jack Russell terrier, Ginger.

Said to be a man who writes with his pen dipped in his soul, Tom has been listed as one of Amazon's Top 100 "Most Popular Authors" in both Literary Fiction and in Mystery, Thriller and Suspense. His bestselling novels have been likened to such classics as Catcher in the Rye, To Kill a Mockingbird and more. His titles are Beyond Nostalgia, The Last American Martyr, Four Days with Hemingway's Ghost, Within a Man's Heart, A Second Chance in Paradise, Forever Three, and a short story collection The Voice of Willie Morgan.

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About, FOREVER THREE- If ever there has been a story to give voice to the joy and pain of love, it’s Forever Three. 

For far too long author and nice guy Dean Cassidy has lived with the misfortune of loving two women at once. Over and over his heart has been stretched, wrenched, twisted, and bruised in an emotional tug-of-war.

Dean has loved his wife, Maddy, since long before they took their vows, but after 22 years, he still can’t shake the memory of his childhood sweetheart, Theresa Wayman. And now things are getting worse. Suddenly, the torturous triangle is closing in on him like a three-sided vice.

Day after day Dean is pummeled by a dizzying, soul-numbing succession of guilt, joy, tragedy and uncertainty. He’s all but lost the will to go on. Nevertheless, the human spirit does not destruct easily. It is resilient and tenacious. And as close to going down as Dean is, he’s determined to keep swinging until the very end. The question is will it be enough?

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REVIEW OF FOREVER THREE. By Soooz Burke on Amazon.com

Having read and been deeply moved by ‘Beyond Nostalgia’ I was delighted to find that author Tom Winton had penned a sequel.

Although this book can easily stand alone.

Life has pain in store at some point, for all of us.
It’s how we deal with that pain, and how we struggle, often unsuccessfully, to move beyond it that alters the end game.

Author Tom Winton has tapped into that pain, that experience; the regrets, the longing … and the destructive forces we humans carry within us to destroy what we have, before it destroys us.

The character of Dean is a man, a complex, fallible man, and a man capable of great love. He is equally capable of being blinded by what once was, at the risk of losing what now is.

It is part of the human condition to wonder “What if?” To nurture and dream of the ‘If only …’ in our lives.

This author has a deep gut level understanding of these demons that propel us. He possesses the enviable gift of empathy, an empathy that draws us in, because we recognize these characters, and the things within their nature that lay buried within our own psyche.

He had me sighing in recognition with his beautifully penned words. Can any one of us say honestly that they have not wondered at some point in their lives if someone is out there that will always remember us with love and longing?

The characters of Therese and Maddy are equally complex. They have their own demons. They share a history with this man, a love, a lifetime of sad regrets, and a need to know which of them will be the acknowledged last love of his life.

Author Tom Winton takes us on a journey in this book. A journey that compelled me to read on, often blinded by tears, and just as often feeling anger and frustration with the character of Dean.

These characters will affect you, they made me … feel. I became involved in their lives. I was given the gift of belonging for a time within these pages.

That in my opinion is the measure of a wonderfully talented and gifted author.

I once said of Tom Winton that he ‘writes with a pen dipped in his soul.’

This book reinforces that completely.

If you are to read only one book in this genre this year, I strongly recommend that you make it this one.

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Link to purchase (Amazon) - http://amzn.com/B00S8JKS5M

Link to Tom’s Amazon Author Page - http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=tom%20winton

Link to TOM WINTON’S website - http://tomwintonauthor.com/