It’s not too late… You can watch the PowerPoint and hear the Authors’ readings and the Artist’s discussions of The Lost Train Anthology, On-Demand at this link: https://kcls.zoom.us/rec/share/Jvannvxy_vj8s6_MO4oruUmsuRj0XYRny0fG2dSc79b4l4IqAK9Jx0qBvn04w84T.OJYrlfyw7yfWdSVm?startTime=1638412228000
Enjoy!!
Valley Reads, The Lost Train Zoom program is tonight!! Feel free to join us 6:30 – 8pm PST, Wednesday, December 1st to hear readings by Pacific NW Authors and Chats by PNW Artists about their works that appear in this Special Co-op Anthology. Click this link to join from anywhere: https://kcls.zoom.us/j/87899556649?pwd=VHdMVFJNK2kvNnRlTW5UdGxmWlZtZz09
FVP is so excited to be spotlighted by KCLS in the Valley Reads program sponsored by Friends of the North Bend Library. Sign up now for your free copy of The Lost Train Anthology for pick-up at the Library if you’re local. And if you’re further away, sign up from anywhere in the world and join us via Zoom on Dec. 1st at 6:30pm PST to hear Readings by the Authors and chats with the Artists. We’ll have time for Q&A from Readers, too. Meet the people behind the book and discover the inspiration behind this Snoqualmie Valley Anthology Project that brought Authors and Artists together!
Victoria Bastedo
Another great writing tip shared by FVP Featured Author, Victoria Bastedo:
All characters need a home. It’s like meeting a new friend at work or at church. You may laugh in the hallways or at break time, but after a while the friendship doesn’t progress until you take that person home. It’s that way in a lot of shows on television too, as well as in love stories; meeting the family for the first time means something.
So give your characters a home, even if your story is set (as my current one is) on a spaceship. On the Enterprise in Star Trek we saw Spock at home in his quarters, playing a lute. In Middle Earth our hobbits returned to their hole in Bag End.
If you see a thriller where the spy only lives his life in hotel rooms and Moneypenny is his deepest relationship, there may be some excitement and fancy gadgetry, but there’s not a lot of personal connection.
Even if the home is oppressive at the beginning of the story and the goal is to get away from it, bring your characters to a home worth having by the end. Building that house makes a richer story.
It’s our pleasure to host a blog spotlight on Author, Rachel Barnard to celebrate her new release Donuts in an Empty Field on June 3rd.
This is Rachel’s third novel. You can find her others HERE. FreeValley Publishing is proud to have Rachel as one of our Featured Authors. She’s an avid reader, book reviewer and great supporter of other authors and her community. You can learn more on HER BLOG. And SPOILER ALERT there are giveaways, fulfillment of Rachel’s special request, and other great links at the very end of this post. If you skip stuff, don’t miss out on those! And don’t miss your chance to meet Rachel this weekend at the FreeValley booth at OddMall in Everett, WA.
Without further ado, let’s find out more about the book:
DONUTS IN AN EMPTY FIELD Available June 3rd, 2016 (aka National Donut Day).
Letting go of anger is life’s greatest challenge.
Vanessa hasn’t been the same since her father’s death. A hero until the end, he died saving a restaurant owner’s son from a burning building. Nessa blames the boy, but her best friend Nichole thinks it’s time to let go of the past. In a last ditch effort to break Nessa’s obsession, Nichole hopes signing up for the local food challenge will bust her out of her shell. A single choice defines the road ahead for Nessa. Doing the right thing isn’t easy, but living with the consequences of doing nothing might be worse.
And let’s also find out more about Rachel. First, the basic stuff – her bio. Then I’m going to ask her several categories of questions. We’ll do three of each category.
Biography:
Rachel Barnard
“Author, Reviewer, and Donut Enthusiast”
My greatest accomplishments have been eating an entire half gallon of ice cream in one sitting, winning a boot toss, and writing a fictional novel based on my high school years. The first book in my For the Love of Donuts Books, Donuts in an Empty Field, is available June of 2016. My other YA novels include Ataxia and the Ravine of Lost Dreams and At One’s Beast. For more information and to see what I’m up to, visit my website: rachelauthorbarnard.com
Find the author: Blog | Facebook | Goodreads | Amazon
Simple Questions for Rachel:
3 random Facts about Rachel:
Harder questions for Rachel:
Simple Questions for Rachel about books and writing:
Harder Questions for Rachel about books and writing:
Simple Questions about Donuts in an Empty Field (For the Love of Donuts Book 1):
And here are the links to contests and other cool stuff related to Rachel Barnard, the For the Love of Donuts series and the upcoming release:
Big Donuts Giveaway (you could win this prize too!)
June 3rd Online Release Party:
Rachel Barnard Newsletter Signup
Important upcoming Dates/Events:
Event: Oddmall Emporium of the Weird
Location: Holiday Inn Everett, WA (Booth 8 with FreeValley Publishing)
Date/Time: 06/04/16 – 06/05/16
Location: Lake Wilderness Park, Maple Valley, WA (near the Info booth with FreeValley Publishing)
Date/Time: 06/10/16 – 06/12/16
Event: Neverending Bookshop Reading with Donuts and Books
Location: Bothell, WA (10123 Main Place St. 2)
Date/Time: 06/25/16, 3:00 P.M. – 5:00 P.M.
Local author Rachel Barnard will read from her most recent publication, Donuts in an Empty Field. Bring your used books for store credit and to get more entries into the free raffle. This event features a blind donut tasting of several local donut shops. Come try some local donuts and vote on your favorites. Got something cool to say about donuts? Don’t forget to add it to the “All about the Donuts” comment/quote box. First five purchases after 3:00 P.M. will receive a FREE mini donuts swag pack.
Event: Third Place Books Dual Author ReadingLocation:
Third Place Books in Bothell, WA (17171 Bothell Way NE, Lake Forest Park)
Date/Time: 06/25/16, 6:30 P.M. – 7:30 P.M.
Come listen to Ksenia Anske and Rachel Barnard as they read from their new books The Badlings and Donuts in an Empty Field (For the Love of Donuts Book 1) respectively. There will be challenges, a raffle, and other fun stuff.
Last but not least, the fulfillment of Rachel’s special request. I (Sheri J. Kennedy) was asked to blog about my favorite donut:
I’m a fan of cinnamon-sugar cake donuts. I like to take a satisfying bite of the firm but moist deliciousness and then let the gritty cinnamon-sugar melt away before chewing up the yellowy cake. Yum! …Best with an excellent Americano or double-shot of espresso of course. -SJK
FreeValley is pleased to announce a new release, THALIA AND EARTH, by our loyal follower, Mari Collier. This is Book 5 in the Chronicles of the Maca. Earthbound, Book 1 received an Amazon Best Seller Badge for being #1 on Kindle’s Western/Sci-fi Best Sellers for three weeks last year! Thanks for sharing this excerpt with us, Mari…
Years ago, I started writing a novel and realized I wasn’t mature enough nor educated enough to finish it. Over the years it was resurrected and buried a number of times. It eventually grew into Gather The Children. Then a strange thing happened. The families featured in Gather The Children insisted that everything be recorded. The result is the Chronicles of the Maca which has grown to five published novels. I’m currently working on Book 6, but it remains untitled. I’m seriously thinking of Murder in Thalia. Thalia is the planet of the stranded alien on Earth who recreates his House and returns to free Thalia from bondage. Now it is time to return to Earth to verify that all is going well with his remaining Earth family.
Before they can return, the Sisterhood regroups and attacks. When Thalia is calm and peace restored they return and find all is not going well. Some members of the family are unaware of their planetary origins, others try to hide it, one member wants to destroy the family corporation, another hides a secret of other interplanetary contact, and one has the ability to kill with his mind.
The following is an excerpt from Thalia and Earth. It is Book 5 of the Chronicles of the Maca. Earthbound, Book 1, Gather The Children, Book 2, Before We Leave, Book 3, and Return of the Maca, Book 4.
The excerpt is from Thalia and Earth, Chapter 24 and is entitled Earth 1976: Mind Death
David Krampitz sat at the walnut desk staring intently into the darkness of the massive wooden door. His large, work calloused hands were curled into tight fists resting on his knees. In his mind, he could see the car racing past Buster’s Roost, the four occupants were intent on reaching the highway to Oklahoma. He concentrated on the driver, a man with straight dark hair, brown skin bronzed by sun, dark eyes focused on the road to make sure no boulder had rolled onto it from the last rain. And then David went deeper into the man’s mind. They became one as he gripped the steering wheel and tromped the gas pedal. David twisted the steering wheel to the right and drove the auto to the edge and over, the waves of fear and nausea generated in the man’s mind washed back into David’s mind.
The man fought to regain physical control, but lost. The car plunged downward, rolling over and over until it crashed into a huge outcropping of rock.
David swiveled in the wooden chair and turned the desk light on. The yellow glow spread over the desktop and outward onto the floor. His breathing was heavy and his two hearts were pounding; pounding as if he had been in that car and survived. He stood and walked over to the built-in walnut gun cabinet with banks of drawers on the side and two doors on the bottom. He opened one of the doors, retrieved a glass and a bottle of whiskey. He poured the glass half full, gulped it down, and returned the bottle to the shelf. He looked up at the painting above the door.
“I don’t drink whiskey, but I just took a swig of your expensive bottling that’s been setting in this house for over thirty years. Is that how you handled any guilt? Why didn’t you leave a journal or instructions on how to exist without destroying other people? Old timers say you killed men, but that was openly. Did you kill men in the dead of night when no one could charge you with murder? Did that spaceship take you away from all the memories?”
The gray eyed man in the painting made no reply.
Copyright, Mari Collier. All Rights Reserved
Since leaving the home we had in Snoqualmie Valley, where FreeValley Publishing is based, I’ve published three anthologies (one is Twisted Tales From The Northwest) and the five novels. I tried a vanity press before it was so easy to publish on Amazon and then had a small press publisher. I’m now back to semi-independent, but the experience with the new company has been wonderful. Happy reading and writing to all.
https://twitter.com/child7mari
https://www.facebook.com/Twisted-Tales-From-A-Skewed-Mind-124947397618599/
NOTE FROM FVP SITE EDITOR: If you’re interested in having an excerpt of your published or soon to be released novel featured on our site, please email me through Contact Us. We’d love to see what you’re up to and help get the word out on your new work. Anything posted on FVP remains the sole property of the author, and the post is free of charge and spam-free afterwards. We enjoy helping our fellow authors. -Sheri J. Kennedy, editor
FreeValley is happy to host the final stop of T.A. Henry’s blog tour for her new release novel, SCRIPTING THE TRUTH. She shares an excerpt and then lets us into the life of a writer by answering a quick interview. Check it out, and take a look at this entertaining read that’s carefully nestled in post WWII history. And if you are intrigued, you can find Scripting the Truth in Kindle and Paperback on Amazon.
First, the blurb: At loose end in post World War II London, Lady Margaret Leighton chances upon a movie poster showcasing the young soldier she gave her heart to while serving as a military nurse. Desperate to reconnect with him, she uses her wits and newly discovered writing muse to scheme her way into the movie studio where he is an actor. Molly is certain they will live happily ever after. And they just might… But first Molly has to figure out who she is and what she wants. Can she make this unexpected career work with the expectations of her elite family? She’ll try to do it all while trying to keep the seams on her stockings straight.
This is a re-blog of a great interview posted by Mysti Parker on Unwritten, ‘YOUR one-stop shop for book reviews, interviews, contests, monthly series, & random wittiness.’
The interview with FVP Featured Author Victoria Bastedo can be found HERE.
It talks about common writers’ issues, her upcoming book, ROOTS ENTWINE, and shares an original poem by Victoria. READ IT NOW
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