Astraea Press’ Valentine’s Day Short Story Anthology

Astraea Press Valentine’s Day Short Story Anthology

A challenge was made: write a short story of around 5000 words that incorporates love and diamonds. Using their varied talents and creativity, fifteen Astraea Press authors were up for the task.

These are their stories…

Sherry Gloag “Queen of Diamonds”

Will Sybil’s future be determined by diamonds?

Sherry Gloag writes to The Heart of Romance http://sherrygloagtheheartofromance.blogspot.co.uk/

Patricia Kiyono “Operation Rhombus”

Can a forgetful math teacher find the right formula for love?

Patty is a retired elementary teacher who likes to write about the places she’s visited. http://patriciakiyono.com

Heather Gray “Even When It Hurts”

Will he help her…even when it hurts?

Heather loves coffee, her family, God, and writing – not necessarily in that order. http://www.heathergraywriting.com

Kathy Bosman “The Engagement Ring”

Could the object of Rosalee’s pain bring hope and healing?

Kathy writes tender romance in Africa. http://www.kathybosman.com

Jennifer Rae Gravely “Love and Diamonds”

He struck out the first time.

Jennifer writes sweet Southern romance and coaches volleyball, her teams having won 5 state titles in South Carolina. www.facebook.com/JenniferRaeGravely

J. L. Salter “No Love, No Diamonds: The Story I Couldn’t Write”

Is that muscular man digging a mysterious hole next door just a distraction from Susan’s romantic story submission deadline, or could handsome Randy be her story?

Novelist; poet; retired librarian; veteran; former photo-journalist; husband; father; grandfather http://www.amazon.com/J.L.-Salter/e/B00D4F1YTE/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1390835362&sr=1-1

Amy Mullen “The Flood”

Sparks fly as the water rises.

Amy Mullen dreams of castles, knights, and interesting ladies – and the writes stories about them. www.authoramymullen.com

Vivian Roycroft “Treasure Hunt”

Men don’t do romance worth a hoot. Women don’t do adventure…, that is, not until challenged.

Vivian Roycroft is a pseudonym for historical fiction and adventure writer J. Gunnar Grey. And if she’s not careful, her pseudonymous pseudonym will have its own pseudonym soon, too. http://taketwoonromance.weebly.com/vivians-blog.html

Liz Botts “Delusions of Love”

Love can make you crazy.

Liz writes YA and adult contemporary romance while homeschooling her three kids in Northern Illinois. www.lizbotts.com

Zanna Mackenzie “One Of These Days”

Is losing something precious about to turn Megan’s world upside down?

Zanna writes contemporary, escapist romance, designed to make you smile. www.zannamackenzie.blogspot.co.uk

E.A. West “The Heart of Africa”

Diamonds are a girl’s best friend… unless they’re bloody.

E.A. West is an author providing journeys of hope, one story at a time. http://eawest.mcphitty.com

Brenda Maxfield “Meet Me in the Copy Room”

Beware when your ex returns to charm you!

Brenda Maxfield writes smart and sassy teen reads. http://www.brendamaxfield.com

Kelly Martin “The Best Catch”

One man. His Boat. And the woman of his dreams.

Kelly Martin writes dark inspirational YA fiction. https://www.facebook.com/KellyMartinAuthor

Kristine Cheney “Facets of the Heart”

A Jewel Heist had Never Gone So…Right

Kristine Cheney is a best-selling author of contemporary & inspirational romance www.kristinecheney.com

Nicole Zoltack “All for Love”

Can revenge ever bring back your love?

Nicole Zoltack writes speculative romances for young adults to adults. http://www.facebook.com/AuthorNicoleZoltack

Buy Links:

Amazon: http://amzn.com/B00I9MR450

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/love-and-diamonds-astraea-press-authors/1118588769?ean=2940148209317

Astraea Press: http://astraeapress.com/#!/~/product/category=662245&id=33538033

Liz Botts is here Sharing her New Release with Us!

Hello Everyone! I hope all is well with you! I’ve got Liz Botts with us today and she’s sharing her new release A Family Name with us. Check it out! I’ve got it on my TBR List!

My new story, A Family Name, features a thirteen year old foster child who is desperately searching for her birth parents. Lexi has been bounced around foster care from the age of two. She yearns for stability and a family of her own.

While Lexi’s search does not yield the results she hopes for, she does learn what a real family feels like. Her relationship with her biological father is very sweet, almost childlike, in her acceptance of him in her life. I think they have a nice reciprocity in their father-daughter bond.

Lexi’s relationship with her biological mother is much more complicated. It was her mother who lost custody of her. When Lexi finally reunites with her, things do not go as expected. It’s hard for a thirteen year old to understand what motivated an adult to make the choices she made, especially when the adult was supposed to love the child unconditionally and forever. Lexi does struggle with the abandonment issues that naturally surround her birth mother’s decisions, but with the help of her foster mother and her dad, Lexi manages to make peace with parts of the situation.

Though the book is not about Lexi specifically, she plays a pivotal role in the action. Truly it is because of her search for her biological family that her forever family comes together. I had fun writing Lexi’s character because she is such a mixture of child and teen. She’s someone so desperate to seem grown up and tough on the outside so that no one will know how much she hurts on the inside. Her growth also happens so organically that it made creating her character pure joy.

Here’s an excerpt!

Will moved to sit on the sofa beside Charlotte. He hovered a moment before easing himself onto a cushion at the opposite end. “What do you say to moving in here? You and Lexi. I’m sure the move will only be temporary. Just until I can get custody of Lexi, then you can go back to your own life.”

He watched as Charlotte clenched her jaw. He wondered what was going on in her head. Something told him to keep his mouth shut, which was proving far harder than he had ever imagined. Walker had always been more of the strong, silent type. Wyatt served in the role of family goofball. Will, on the other hand, had prided himself on being the serious one, the honest one, the shoot-from-the-hip one. Now he shut his mouth and decided to keep it shut until Charlotte answered him.

“That could take awhile.” Charlotte kept her eyes down, no matter how much he wished she would look up at him. “The courts can be so slow. I just don’t know how I feel about living here, just the three of us.”

“Sierra and Shane will be here too.”

The look on Charlotte’s face told him that he might have said the wrong thing. Or at the very least confused her. As he thought through the events of the past half hour it dawned on him why Charlotte’s brow was furrowed. In the shuffle of the news that he had a daughter Will had forgotten to mention his guardianship of Sierra and Shane.

Will took a deep breath. “My best friend and his wife named me temporary guardian of their children. They’ll be living with me until their grandparents come for them.”

“Oh.”

He watched as Charlotte pinched lumps of stuffing under the fabric of the throw pillow. She had long, graceful fingers, but short, unpolished nails. Refined, yet practical. The paradox of this woman intrigued him, and Will found himself mentally shaking himself to bring the conversation at hand back into focus.

“They’re great kids. Sierra’s five, and Shane is three.” Will felt a knot of emotion rise up in his throat, and he stopped talking. This grief he felt was so out of character for Will, and while he knew it was fine to feel it, he couldn’t stop himself from being embarrassed. He certainly didn’t’ want Charlotte to see this weakness.

To his surprise, a moment later Charlotte’s hand curled over the top of one of his fists. She didn’t say anything, simply held on to him. The connection Will felt to this virtual stranger nearly overpowered him. When he looked up and their eyes met in a gaze that caught something deep inside Will, he let go of Charlotte’s hand like it was on fire. Grief was making him soft.

“I just don’t know,” Charlotte said softly.

Silence settled over them as Will watched Charlotte. Her teeth caught at her bottom lip, and he could read her nervousness no matter how hard she was trying to hide it. Emulate Walker. That would be his new motto.

“I’d have to take a leave of absence from work, and I don’t think that’s even possible,” Charlotte continued after a few minutes. “And Lexi would have to leave her school. She just started there a few weeks ago. How would that make her feel?”

“We could ask her,” Will said, glad to hear his voice sounding even and like himself again.

“She’s thirteen and desperate for a relationship with her real parents. I can guarantee she’ll happily agree, but I can’t let her make this choice. She’s a child, and I’m still responsible for her well being.” Charlotte leaned back and crossed her arms.

“And I’m her father, so I think I should have some say in her well being.”

Charlotte laughed a short laugh. “You just found out that you are her father not even thirty minutes ago.”

“There’s no doubt in my mind that she’s mine,” Will said, knowing that he meant it. “I can see my family in her.”

“But how does that qualify you to make decisions for her so soon?”

Irritation rankled Will. Many retorts came to mind, but he bit them back instead only shrugging. “I’m her father. That’s all the qualification I need, in my mind anyway.”

The look Charlotte gave him actually made Will shiver. Her eyes narrowed, and her mouth became a line so thin it appeared to disappear into her face.

“So… I’m guessing this isn’t something you’re really considering?” Will felt defeated, and confused. Defeat wasn’t in his nature, but he couldn’t very well bully Charlotte into moving to the ranch. He’d feel guilty even if it did mean having his daughter there with him. Still there had to be a way.

Thanks Liz for being my guest today! 🙂

And thank you for stopping by my blog! I appreciate it. Please share your thoughts on Liz’s story I’m sure she liked to read them! 🙂

Liz Botts shares her thoughts about the Young Adult Market

Hello Everyone! I hope all is well with you today! I’ve got fellow Astraea Press author Liz Botts here and she’s going to tell us about writing for the Young Adult Genre and about her new release “Curtain Call”.

Take it away Liz!

I never read young adult books as a teen. Instead I read classics and romance novels. By college I had transitioned to a lot of nonfiction reading as a history major.  My younger sister (ten years younger) started reading young adult books, and once in awhile I would pick them up. From there I started to explore the genre. Since then I have consistently found my love of young adult books growing each year.

I love the risks young adult authors take, and the topics they are willing to tackle. As an adult reading young adult books, I find that there are always elements I can relate to from my own teen years. Plus I find that there is a lot of phenomenal writing in the young adult genre that many people over look simply because of the intended audience.

Why I write young adult fiction is another topic altogether. Part of it does stem from my love of the genre, but there’s more to it than that. Several years ago I worked as a youth director at a church. One of the programming activities I ran was a Wednesday night gathering where the teens in the youth group could come to hang out and de-stress from a busy week. The group that came loved being together and the hilarity that ensued often sparked story ideas.

Most of the youth group kids were in theater, something I had done in high school, as well, so many of the story ideas came from there. Having gone to the same high school as most of the kids, I could easily relate to a lot of the crazy things that went on in the theater department as almost nothing had changed in the ten years since I had graduated.

Another aspect of the stories that gave me a lot of material was the relationship drama inherent in any teen group. While none of the teens’ relationships have ever made it into my books, the general inspiration is everywhere.

One year I decided to take a story idea and create a book for NaNoWriMo. Eventually that story became my first published novel, In the Spotlight. Writing about teens proved a fun challenge, one that I have continued to enjoy. My latest release, Curtain Call, follows the story begun during, In the Spotlight. I hope you’ll check it out.

Blurb for Curtain Call:

Five years after their success in High School Theater, Josh and Hannah are still together. However, life has made things complicated, and Josh and Hannah have made some decisions that don’t sit too well with Hannah. During their final semester in college, Hannah begins questioning everything in her life. She decides that her relationship with Josh needs a break. Josh is heart-broken by this turn of events, but he remains steadfast in his love.

As their final semester in college progresses, Josh and Hannah find their way back to each other through school choices, family problems, and slightly meddling friends. Josh rediscovers his love of acting when he gets cast as the lead in Hannah’s senior project. And Hannah discovers that the things she wants in life might not have changed all that much after all.

Buy Links:

Astraea: http://www.astraeapress.com/#ecwid:category=662245&mode=product&product=13928801

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Curtain-Call-ebook/dp/B009GBDEEI

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/curtain-call-liz-botts/1113013420?ean=2940015607888

To find out more about me: http://lizbotts.com/

Thanks for stopping by Liz and I appreciate you taking the time to be here today!

Feel free to leave a comment for Liz and let her know what you think about her new release! 🙂