Armchair BEA - Giveaway and Literature!

Today - just for stopping by you can enter to win a $10 Amazon gift card AND an ebook copy of my novel, Lifeboat! Just enter via the Rafflecopter (click the link).

Late to the game - Joining Armchair BEA! Here's my introduction post.

Port MacDonnell Pier, Southern Ocean
Courtesy Port MacDonnell website

Please tell us a little bit about yourself: Who are you? How long have you been blogging? Why did you get into blogging? 

I'm A.B. Shepherd - Abie will do. I've been blogging for somewhere between a year and half - two years. I got into blogging because of some friends I met on Goodreads. I was joking about wanting to be a professional book reviewer - which I am not. But my friends were bloggers and I decided, why not? 

Armchair BEA Genre Classics - Science Fiction - The Chrysalids by John Wyndham

So Armchair BEA wants to know why I love classics.


Well, why do YOU love classics? Honestly, I don't love all classics. I think somehow, somewhere in my mind they still have a stigma from high school lit class. My teachers picked the most boring classics for us to read when, way back then, all I wanted to read was bodice rippers. But times have changed, and I've grown up and more open minded. Bodice rippers are boring now. I hate reading romance novels. 


But I'm trying to read more classics in some different genres and give them a fair chance. I recently read The Chrysalids which is a classic science fiction novel. 


Here is my take on it. Before you go, tell me - do YOU love the classics? Which are your favorites and why?

Book Blurb:
The Chrysalids is set in the future after a devastating global nuclear war. David, the young hero of the novel, lives in a tight-knit community of religious and genetic fundamentalists, who exist in a state of constant alert for any deviation from what they perceive as the norm of God's creation, deviations broadly classified as 'offenses' and 'blasphemies.' Offenses consist of plants and animals that are in any way unusual, and these are publicly burned to the accompaniment of the singing of hymns. Blasphemies are human beings; ones who show any sign of abnormality, however trivial. They are banished from human society, cast out to live in the wild country where, as the authorities say, nothing is reliable and the devil does his work. 

Interview with Tony Brooks author of Halfway Human

Today I am privileged to interview Tony Brooks, author of Halfway Human. Tony and I recently met (virtually) through a mutual friend. Tony is a veteran author living in the Adelaide area. He's an interesting man. I think you'll agree. Do read on.

Book Blurb: 

In the early 19th century British convicts were transported to the penal colony of Australia by the thousands. Irish farmer, Laurence Frayne finds himself caught in the crushing gears of the Crown's justice system for a minor offense, and learns first hand of its barbaric treatment of prisoners.

Release Day Blitz & Giveaway! Enter now. Annealed by Lynne Cantwell

Release Day Blitz for the 5th and Final Book in The Pipe Woman Chronicles by Lynne Cantwell

Naomi Witherspoon lives in interesting times.  At the winter solstice, she was Seized by a Native American goddess to mediate a power-sharing agreement between all the pagan gods and goddesses and the Christian God.  Then, as her relationship with her new boyfriend Fissured, she Tapped a wellspring of strength – her Native American heritage.

Now, Gravid and due any day, she must conduct the mediation of her life.  Will she succeed?  Or will it all go up in smoke?

The answers to those questions, and more, can be found in Annealed, the final installment in the Pipe Woman Chronicles, an urban fantasy series by Lynne Cantwell.

Book review: Running by Rhiannon Douglas

Book Blurb:
She will be hunted. She will be found. The Empire will never be the same.

In a world where Power is everything, Gwendolyn leads a quiet life in a country town. That life ends the day a Rogue attack triggers the dormant Power within her.

Her guardian has been kidnapped and her home is no longer the sanctuary it once was. Accompanied by a young man who is more than what he seems, hunted by Rogues and the Empire Ruling Council, Gwen must find herself before they do.

With Power she can't control and plagued by forgotten memories she does the only thing she can.

Run.

Book review: Shield: Allie's War by J.C. Andrijeski

Book Blurb:
Grappling with her identity as "Bridge," a being thought to herald the end of humanity, isn't even Allie's biggest problem. She's also dealing with being married to a seer while trying to stop the Rook she put in the White House from starting a war. Then the boy appears. A highly dangerous telekinetic seer, he doesn't appear to have aged in over 100 years. Worse, he thinks Allie belongs to him.

My review:
It's been over a year since I read the first book in this series - you can check out that review here. Shield is the sequel to Rook, both in the Allie's War series. It is a complicated, sophisticated, continuance of the story of Allie, a seer who was raised as human, and her seer husband, Revik. While I found it

I've Stowed Away!

I have become a stowaway aboard the UFO that has abducted my heroine in Lifeboat. 

Click here and you can eavesdrop as I tell the Cabin Goddess all about it. You can enter to win a copy of my ebook too!

Unexplained Fascination

I am not quite a conspiracy theorist, but I am thoroughly fascinated by the unexplained, and love ideas of legend. This post is inspired by a thread I read on a message board, which is primarily geared toward women, last night about Tinfoil Hat Conspiracies.

There were a ton of conspiracies mentioned over topics ranging from 9/11, to the American economy and education systems, to UFOs.

It got me thinking. Some of the things I find intriguing in this life are Big Foot, The Loch Ness Monster, and UFOs. Although I cannot say with any degree of certainty these things exist, no one has yet convinced me that they definitively do not exist.

But my biggest fascination is unexplained disappearances.

Amelia Earhart's disappearance on her final flight. The Flight 19 disappearance off the coast of Florida. The Valentich disappearance.  The lost city of Atlantis. And nearly anything involving the Bermuda Triangle. Although theories abound regarding all of these things, and some would say they have been solved, none have with any degree of proof.

Where, you might ask, am I going with this?

Launch the Lifeboat! It is here!

I'm so excited.

The time has come to launch my Lifeboat!

The ride has been a roller coaster, but I think it will be worth it.

My novel is now available for purchase in eBook format.

Click here to get your copy at Amazon, and Amazon UK,  in Kindle format, or at Smashwords in any eBook format.

If you are new to my blog, you can also click the Lifeboat tab above to read the blurb, and find the book trailer link.

If you read it, please come back and tell me what you think. If you are interested in reviewing it, message me for a review copy.