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Interview of LA Dragoni Author of GUARDIAN’S TOUCH

July 31, 2017 / Katie L. Carroll

I’m always happy to have a good writer friend guest on the Observation Desk, and LA is one of the best! It’s no wonder when I saw the answers on this author interview, which made me realize we have more in common than I thought. Check out her latest release GUARDIAN’S TOUCH, book two in the Touched by Afterlife series. There’s also a special running on book one GHOST TOUCH and a giveaway, so don’t miss out on those.

Final week of the Sale! http://www.ladragoni.com/

Welcome to the Observation Desk, LA. What made you want to become a writer in the first place?

Thanks for having me, Katie. Congratulations on your new baby. He’s adorable! (Thanks! 🙂 )

Like most writers, I’ve always written, but it was reading the Harry Potter series that really gave me the spark! I anxiously awaited the release of another book in the series, but I really missed Hogwarts. I thought to myself, “I can create a world of my own while I wait.”

GUARDIAN’S TOUCH is the second book in the Touched by Afterlife series. How does writing a second (or third or fourth…) book differ from writing the first one in a series?

It’s fun to write series because you know your characters that much better with each consecutive book. And usually your setting is familiar too, unless your characters travel around or are on a quest. For now, mine are still on Tamara’s farm, which is modeled after our old farm, a favorite place of mine.

What one book by another author do you wish you had written?

I really love emotional books. I recently listened to Me Before You by JoJo Moyes. Holy cow what a story. I had a book hangover for days. The characters popped into my head as if I expected to run into them at the store or find them in my living room when I returned home. I really didn’t want to let them go.

If you were stranded on a desert island and could only bring two books and one movie, what would you bring?

Goblet of Fire (the fourth Harry Potter, in case there is someone out there who doesn’t know that). It feels like the biggest turning point in the series to me. The kids are really growing up, the graveyard scene is so intense, the dance is fun, and dragons! What’s not to love?

One of Thoreau’s tomes. It wouldn’t really matter which one. They are all so impossibly long and filled with stream of consciousness and beautiful words.

It’s a toss up on the movie! Either the A&E version of Pride & Prejudice, because it’s long and I’ll have loads of time to fill, plus I’m a hopeless romantic and P & P is one of my favorite love stories ever. Or, Phantom of the Opera. Again, because it’s one of my favorite love stories, plus it has music and I like to fancy myself a good singer. I’m pretty sure I could be stranded for the rest of my life and never grow tired of that score!

What is your favorite part of the writing process? What is your least favorite part?

The first draft is my favorite part of the writing process. I’m a pantser – I write by the seat of my pants, without an outline. It never fails, about 2/3 of the way through the book I think I’ve written myself into a corner that I’ll never get out of and all of those smart things I set up have just become troublesome problems to solve. Then it all starts to fall together and I feel very pleased and extremely clever. You know how you wish you could read a really good book for the first time again? Because the discovery is part of the fun. That’s how the first draft is for me.

Least favorite part has become the marketing. Though I love to visit blogs (thank you!) and I enjoy social media, my efforts don’t always pay off and that is discouraging. My dream is to make enough money to hire an assistant.

What is the single best piece of advice you have for aspiring authors?

Read, read, read. Read books written for your target audience. Read best sellers and self-published and obscure. Learn what you like and what you don’t. When you are steeped in the books written for your target audience, then read everything else. If you write middle grade, read mystery for adults, if you write horror, read Christian romance. You will pick up on techniques that you might not have seen before that you can incorporate into your own work.

What is next for you in your writing career?

Thanks for asking! I have a time travel romance publishing in November that I’m super excited about. Readers can subscribe to my newsletter to keep up to date on that release and to be among the first to see the gorgeous cover! And I’m writing the third Touched by Afterlife book now and hope to release it in spring of 2018. I can’t even tell you the name, because it would be a bit of a spoiler for Guardian’s Touch.

Thanks for having me Katie. Good luck to your readers in the giveaway!

GUARDIAN’S TOUCH blurb:

Life has returned to normal for Tamara and Dex after helping a horde of ghosts cross over. Their brush with the afterlife affirmed one thing: happily ever after is real.

When odd pranks around the farm escalate to destruction, Tamara fears mischievous teenagers are vandalizing the neighborhood. Then Dex starts to act out of character. Meanness slips into his usually playful disposition. One day he even ridicules a co-worker publicly. Tamara watches helplessly as he seems to lose the ability to control his own actions. When Dex’s abnormal anger turns violent—toward Tamara—their happily ever after is threatened. Desperate to help Dex and herself, she sends out a silent prayer for help.

She didn’t expect Cal to come to her aid.

Available on Amazon.

About the Author:

LA Dragoni isn’t too particular about who falls in love or where they fall in love. Whether it’s paranormal, mythical, or time travel, LA simply considers it her job to divine their story and share it with you. She lives in Central Oregon with her husband and children, but haunts ghost towns and cemeteries throughout the west, in search of the next adventure to sift through her storytelling brain. Learn more about LA and her work at ladragoni.com

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1690 to 1695 – The Archenemy and the Wife #CaptainKiddHistory

July 28, 2017 / Katie L. Carroll

Here is the third installment of #CaptainKiddHistory. These historical tidbits about Captain William Kidd are told by Billy, the main character of my upcoming middle grade adventure PIRATE ISLAND. Billy discovered and wrote down these tidbits while doing research to find Kidd’s lost treasure but before he actually looked for it on Pirate Island. Let’s give a big welcome to Billy!

1690 to 1695 – The Archenemy and the Wife

by Billy Bonny

Credit: Captain Kidd in New York Harbor, ca. 1920 painting by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris. Public Domain.
Billy’s comment: Kidd looks a little too much like Captain Hook here!

If you want to know who was a real, cutthroat pirate, just look up Robert Culliford. He happened to be one of the English members of the crew who mutinied against the French captain and then became a crew member of the Blessed William (see my last entry Mutineer and Captain). Later while sailing in the West Indies, Culliford mutinied against Kidd and stole the ship and all the loot Kidd and the crew had earned in the war. Throughout his life, Culliford never even bothered to pretend to be a privateer but was a pirate through and through. More on that scallywag later, though!

Meanwhile, Kidd had earned a name as a successful privateer and headed to New York City. There he met Sarah Bradley Cox Oort, a woman of many names because even though she was only in her early twenties, she already had two widows. She was rich, too, thanks to her first dead husband. Her second husband suffered a mysterious death and shortly after, she married Kidd. Some historians pointed out the suspicious timing and think Kidd was involved in the death, but there’s no evidence to support that. One theme of Kidd’s life (and death) seems to be taking the fall for things he may or may not have done.

The full list of #CaptainKiddHistory posts by Billy Bonny:

January 1654? – A Legend is Born

1688 to 1689 – Mutineer and Captain

1690 to 1695 – The Archenemy and the Wife

December 1695 to September 1696 – Privateer, Not Pirate

September 1696 to October 16, 1697 – The Bucket Incident

1698 to April 1699 – A Privateer Prize and the Return of the Archenemy

June 1699 – Proof of Treasure

July 6, 1699 to May 23, 1701 – Trial and Execution

PIRATE ISLAND blurb:

A thrice cursed island, a legendary pirate treasure, and one not-so-brave boy. What could possibly go wrong?

For centuries, the whereabouts of Captain William Kidd’s lost pirate treasure has remained a mystery. When Billy’s best friend, Andy, proposes they look for it on nearby Pirate Island, Billy thinks it’s just another one of their crazy adventures. It’s usually Billy who ends up in trouble as a result, but he goes along for the ride…like always. The more he delves into the life and death of Kidd, the more he thinks the treasure is real and that it might be buried on the small island in Long Island Sound. Billy—nope, call him William—becomes obsessed with the captain of the same first name. He even believes he’s possessed by Kidd’s restless soul. Now he and the spirit of a long-dead pirate are leading the crazy adventure on Pirate Island. And what they find is far bigger than the treasure they imagined.

Now available for pre-order! Get it on Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Kobo, IndieBound, and many other of your favorite book sellers.

CRASH LAND ON KURAI by SJ Pajonas Book Blitz

July 19, 2017 / Katie L. Carroll

I’m very excited for the release of CRASH LAND ON KURAI by SJ Pajonas, one of my absolute favorite sci-fi authors. Don’t forget to check out the giveaway at the end of the post. Welcome, SJ!

This book blitz is organized by Lola’s Blog Tours. The book blitz runs from 19 till 20 July. See the tour schedule here.

Crash Land on Kurai (Hikoboshi #1)
By SJ Pajonas
Genre: Science Fiction, Action Adventure, Space Opera
Age category: Adult
Release Date: 18 July, 2017

Blurb:
Yumi Minamoto has the shortest fuse on the ship. She’s just whipped a bully and been confined to quarters, but she’s not staying there. A disgraced journalist trying to clear her name, her job is to document the mission to the Hikoboshi system, and she’s determined to get it right, despite all the trouble she causes. But when unknown vessels fire on their ship, and Yumi’s life pod crash lands on a dying moon, she’s separated from her family and friends, and her mission falls to pieces. Now she must navigate the unfamiliar and deadly terrain, deal with a society she doesn’t understand, and try to stay alive until rescue comes… if it ever does.

Crash Land on Kurai is the first book in the Hikoboshi Series, an action adventure, space opera series that explores the worlds settled by the Japanese who fled Earth a century ago. Culture, history, technology, and swords clash in a fast-paced future society on the brink of war.

You can find Crash Land on Kurai on Goodreads

Excerpt:

In the silence, a time when I was ten years old pops into my head. I was out for a hike with Kazuo, a few friends, and the family dog. Everything was off about this day. I’d gotten into a huge fight with my mom in the morning, over something stupid and insignificant. I can’t even remember what it was now. So, when I left to head out with everybody, I was in a really piss poor mood.

I hung back at the tail end of the hike, not wanting to talk to anybody about anything, just being angry about the world, my family, everything. Only the dog, Kohi-chan, was willing to spend time with me, probably because I would throw his stick whenever he wanted. Come to think of it, I was mad about some injustice involving my brothers. Since they were boys, they got all the praise in the family. That was always the way. Mom and Kazuo humored me, but even then, I was expected to fall in line.

Anyway, so there I was at the back of the trail, not paying attention. I was staring out into the forest, watching the birds, and being angry at myself and my family, when out of nowhere came a giant boar, barreling down on me. I screamed and ran as fast as I could away from it, Kohi-chan running to Kazuo, and then suddenly I was at the bottom of a gulch. I don’t remember seeing the edge of the cliff, nor my feet slipping and falling out from underneath me. Just one moment I was on my feet and running, and the next, I was lying on top of a pile of rocks with a broken arm.

That’s what falling from the sky in a life pod is like. One moment, I’m looking into the ship, the doors are closing, and I’m strapping myself in. The next, we crash land, the life pod skipping over the ground and tumbling end over end, and then everything is silent.

Read the first four chapters of Crash Land on Kurai! Get your sample here from Instafreebie!

You can buy Crash Land on Kurai here on Amazon
The book is available to read with Kindle Unlimited

Check out these teaser images for Crash Land on Kurai!

About the Author:
Stephanie (S. J.) is a writer, knitter, amateur astrologer, Capricorn, and Japanophile. She loves foxes, owls, sushi, yoga pants, Evernote, and black tea. When she’s not writing, she’s thinking about writing or spending time outside, unless it’s winter. She hates winter. Someday she’ll own a house in both hemispheres so she can avoid the season entirely. She’s a mom to two great kids and lives with her husband and family outside NYC. They have no pets. Yet. When it comes to her work, expect the unexpected. She doesn’t write anything typical. Find her online at http://www.spajonas.com.

You can find and contact SJ Pajonas here:
– Website
– Facebook
– Twitter
– Goodreads
– Tumblr
– Instagram
– Youtube
– Wattpad
– Bookbub
– Amazon

Giveaway
There is a tour wide giveaway during the book blitz of Crash Land on Kurai. These are the prizes you can win:
– 2 winners will get a US$10 Amazon.com gift card and a Nogiku Series Omnibus ebook delivered via BookFunnel (valued at US$13)
– 1 winner will win a Nogiku Series Omnibus ebook delivered via BookFunnel (valued at US$13)

For a chance to win, enter the rafflecopter below:
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1688 to 1689 – Mutineer and Captain #CaptainKiddHistory

July 14, 2017 / Katie L. Carroll

Here is the second installment of #CaptainKiddHistory. These historical tidbits about Captain William Kidd are told by Billy, the main character of my upcoming middle grade adventure PIRATE ISLAND. Billy discovered and wrote down these tidbits while doing research to find Kidd’s lost treasure but before he actually looked for it on Pirate Island. Let’s give a big welcome to Billy!

1688 to 1689 – Mutineer and Captain

Credit: Howard Pyle, via Wikimedia Commons. Public Domain.
Billy’s comment: That’s more like how I pictured Kidd!

by Billy Bonny

In the lost years from Kidd’s birth (in 1645 or 1654…see my last entry about his unknown date of birth) to the late 1680s, Kidd made his way from Scotland to the Caribbean. If you know anything about pirating in this time period, the Caribbean was the place to be. There were also what were called privateers there as well. A privateer is sort of a legal pirate. Where a pirate goes around attacking and stealing from any ship they feel like it, a privateer has the backing of their government to attack ships from any country they are at war with. The loot would then have to be shared with the government.

So Kidd finds himself working on a French privateer ship when England and France go to war. Kidd and the other English members of the crew mutiny and sail the ship to Nevis, an island in the Caribbean that was an English colony. This is when he first becomes captain of a ship, which is renamed Blessed William. It’s pretty cool that they named the ship after him. It became Kidd’s job to defend Nevis from the French and pay himself and his crew with whatever loot they took from the French. In the eyes of English law, even with the mutiny on the French ship, Kidd is a privateer and hasn’t really broken the law (though I’m sure the French weren’t too happy with him).

The full list of #CaptainKiddHistory posts by Billy Bonny:

January 1654? – A Legend is Born

1688 to 1689 – Mutineer and Captain

1690 to 1695 – The Archenemy and the Wife

December 1695 to September 1696 – Privateer, Not Pirate

September 1696 to October 16, 1697 – The Bucket Incident

1698 to April 1699 – A Privateer Prize and the Return of the Archenemy

June 1699 – Proof of Treasure

July 6, 1699 to May 23, 1701 – Trial and Execution

PIRATE ISLAND blurb:

A thrice cursed island, a legendary pirate treasure, and one not-so-brave boy. What could possibly go wrong?

Now available for pre-order! Get it on Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Kobo, IndieBound, and many other of your favorite book sellers.

Book Blitz IT WAS ALWAYS YOU by Ashelyn Drake

July 11, 2017 / Katie L. Carroll

I’m happy to welcome Ashelyn Drake (also known as Kelly Hashway) to the Observation Desk to celebrate her latest release, a contemporary romance called IT WAS ALWAYS YOU. Welcome, Ashelyn!

IT WAS ALWAYS YOU by Ashelyn Drake is live! Grab this #ContemporaryRomance today!

♡ http://amzn.to/2t0dxdK ♡

IT WAS ALWAYS YOU blurb:

Aria Carmichael and Nate Dixon have the perfect friendship—completely ignoring the fact that they’ve been in love with each other for the better part of twelve years.

When a night filled with too many drinks lowers their inhibitions, they both question if they could take their relationship to a new level.

But a job opportunity threatens to put more than just physical distance between them. Will their romance end before it’s even truly begun?