Fiction – Page 44 – Everything Is Better With Dragons

Review: ‘Beauty’, by Peter Liney

BEAUTY by [Liney, Peter]

Published by: Independently Published

Publication Date: 18th June 2017

I.S.B.N.: 978-1521531310

Price: £7.25

Format: Paperback and Kindle

Blurb

When cosmetic and transplant surgery get together and beauty becomes a commodity that can be bought and sold, the Rich become more beautiful, the Poor less. But if something can be traded, it can also be stolen – brutally, violently, by the feared face-stealers, and to a point where the rich finally cry ‘Enough! . . . Enough. Make us plain; make us ordinary.’ Now there is no beauty left, not as we once knew it, only photos, videos, exhibitions. And yet . . . you still hear the occasional rumour.

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Review: ‘The Eye Of Nefertiti’, by Maria Luisa Lang

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I received this book directly from the author in return for an honest review.

Published By: CreateSpace Independent Publishing

Publication Date: 29th November 2016

I.S.B.N.: 9780996335218

Price: £6.70

Format: Paperback (also available as a Kindle ebook)

Genre: Fantasy, Historical Fantasy

Wrappa-Hamen is a wise-cracking, funny, slightly self-deceiving cat blessed by Bastet with the ability to walk and talk like a human. And eat like a human. A mysterious letter arrives at Wrappa-Hamen’s abode in New York, the home of Elena Knowall and her ancient Egyptian husband, the High Priest of Amen Ra, Gato-Hamen, and their son, Alexander, the reborn Pharaoh Wrappa-Hamen served thousands of years before. Elena learns to read the Tarot, much to Gato-Hamen’s shock and anger, especially after he interupts her reading for Wrappa-Hamen. Something momentous is going to happen to the cat.

The letter arrives from a woman in Bath, England, who wants Elena to write her biography. Elena accepts and the family, by one means or another go to Bath. Elens and Alexander fly, Wrappa-Haman and Gato-Hamen travel in the Boat that they arrived in New York on in the first book, via Stonehenge 1000 B.C.E. At Stonehenge they meet a mysterious Egyptian priestess. Arriving finally in Bath, the pair explore Bath with Elena and baby Alexander. Finding secret passages and discovering the mysterious woman from the Tarot reading and a dream Wrappa-Hamen has, the High Priest and Cat travel back to the city of Akhetaten in about 1330 BCE. The woman is Nefertiti, wife of the heretic Pharaoh Ahkenaten, and mother of Tutankhamun. They must find out why she has no memory of a period of 10 days and why she can’t die.

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Review: ‘Goldsmith Jones,’ by Sam Taylor-Pye

Goldsmith Jones Cover

Published By: Clink Street Publishing

Publication Date: 9th February 2017

I.S.B.N.: 978-1911110972

Format: Paperback

Price: £9.99

Blurb

Fourteen-year-old Goldsmith Jones is left stranded in crime-ridden, gangland territory. He finds himself living at The Shades, a home to local street kids. While selling sexual favours down the Dead Man’s Alley to survive, Jones is charmed by a seaman he knows as Sweet Virginia. Moving further away from the relative security that The Shades and his best friend, Raccoon, offered him, Jones is drawn ever closer to the manipulative Sweet Virginia. When Raccoon falls gravely ill and is taken to convalesce on the rural Rancheria, Jones is left under the controlling powers of the unscrupulous navvy. Swindled and wrongly accused, he is unexpectedly rescued by the leader of the villainous Suarez Brothers, the charismatic Saul. Faced with a choice between becoming Saul’s ‘little brother’ and saving Sweet Virginia’s life, Goldsmith Jones must embark on a dangerous journey which will change his young life forever.

Purchase from Amazon UK – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Goldsmith-Jones-Sam-Taylor-Pye-ebook/dp/B01MTYL3PO/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1485385843&sr=1-1

Purchase from Barnes & Noble – http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/goldsmith-jones-sam-taylor-pye/1125296311?ean=9781911110972

About Sam Taylor-Pye

Sam Taylor-Pye grew up on the border between Washington state and British Columbia, Canada

and currently lives in Kent in the UK. She received her BA from the Open University, and has an MA in Creative Writing. This is her first published novel.

Follow Sam on twitter – https://twitter.com/rtaylorpye

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Extract: ‘Katharina Luther: Nun. Rebel. Wife.’, by Anne Boileau

To round off my posts as part of the Clink Street Summer Blogival 2017, Allow me to present an extract. Thanks Anne Boileau for the extracts. And also thanks to Rachel Gilbey of Authoright for asking me to take part.

Dr Martin Luther wants marry. He is a priest, so this would be an act of rebellion against the Church, because priests are supposed to be celibate. If he were to propose to Katharina, a former nun, it would mean that both of them would be breaking their vows of chastity. In other words, it would, in the eyes of the church and the wider world, be seen as a union forged in Hell.

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Author Spotlight: Anne Boileau

After the review, I think it’s time to introduce the author. Today’s author is part of the Clink Street Summer Blogival 2017. Anne Boileau has kindly provided me with some information about herself and her book.

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Book Review: ‘Katharina Luther: Nun. Rebel. Wife.’, by Anne Boileau

Blurb

Katharina Luther: Nun, Rebel, Wife

On 31st October 1517, Martin Luther pinned ninety-five theses on the Castle Church door, Wittenberg,

criticising the Church of Rome; they were printed and published by Lucas Cranach and caused a storm. Nine young nuns, intoxicated by Luther’s subversive writings, became restless and longed to leave their convent. On Good Friday 1523 a haulier smuggled them out hidden in empty herring barrels. Five of them settled in Wittenberg, the very eye of the storm, and one of them – Katharina von Bora – scandalised the world by marrying the revolutionary former monk. Following a near miscarriage, she is confined to her bed to await the birth of their first child; during this time, she sets down her own story. Against a backdrop of 16th Century Europe this vivid account of Katharina von Bora’s early life brings to the spotlight this spirited and courageous woman.

Purchase from Amazon UK – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Katharina-Luther-Nun-Rebel-Wife-ebook/dp/B01J95GP8W/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1473953274&sr=1-1&keywords=anne+boileau

About the author: Anne Boileau (also known as Polly Clarke) lives in Essex. She studied German in Munich and worked as interpreter and translator before turning to language-teaching in England. She also holds a degree in Conservation and Land Management from Anglia University and has written and given talks on various aspects of conservation. Now she shares, writes and enjoys poetry; her work has appeared in a number of anthologies and magazines; she has also won some awards, including First Prize with Grey Hen Press, 2016. She translates modern German poetry into English with Camden Mews Translators and was Chair of Suffolk Poetry Society from 2011 to 2014.

Published By: Clink Street Publishing

Publication Date: 4th October 2016

I.S.B.N: 978-1911110613

Format: Paperback

Price: £8.99

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Review: ‘Hall of Heroes: A Fellowship of Fantasy Anthology’

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

Publication Date: 21 Jun. 2017

I.S.B.N.: 978-1548275334

Format: EBook or Paperback

Price: £0.00 (Ebook); £12.57 (Paperback)

Blurb

Twenty-Seven Thrilling Tales from Amazing Fantasy Authors!

Whether they are unwitting, plucky, or just plain epic, heroes capture the imagination and rescue us from everyday life. With stories set in fantastic, magical realms, gritty urban landscapes, and fairytale kingdoms, our heroes stand fast as defenders of good. Struggling against evil governments, wicked demi-gods, wrathful nature, supernatural con-men, and their own insecurities, each must find the strength to triumph and the will to persevere.

In the second anthology from the Fellowship of Fantasy, twenty-three authors explore the theme of heroes, covering genres ranging from steampunk and fairytale to urban and Arthurian. These are the heroes you’ve been waiting for.

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Review: ‘The Mask of Sanity’, by Jacob M. Appel

Published by: Permanent Press

Publication Date: 31st March 2017

I.S.B.N.: 978-1579624958

Price: $25.91

Blurb

On the outside, Dr. Jeremy Balint is a pillar of the community: the youngest division chief at his hospital, a model son to his elderly parents, fiercely devoted to his wife and two young daughters. On the inside, Dr. Jeremy Balint is a high-functioning sociopath–a man who truly believes himself to stand above the ethical norms of society. As long as life treats him well, Balint has no cause to harm others. When life treats him poorly, he reveals the depths of his cold-blooded depravity.

At a cultural moment when the media bombards us with images of so-called sociopaths who strive for good and criminals redeemed by repentance,The Mask of Sanity offers an antidote to implausible tales of evil gone right. In contrast to fictional predecessors like Dostoyevesky’s Raskolnikov and Camus’ Meursault, Dr. Balint is a man who already has it all –and will do everything in his power, no matter how immoral, to keep what he has.

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Review: ‘Best Day Ever’, by Kaira Rouda

Best Day Ever Paperback by

ISBN: 9781848456914
Imprint: HQ
On Sale: 07/09/2017
Format: Paperback
List Price: £7.99

LINK

Blurb

A loving husband. The perfect killer?

‘I wonder if Mia thinks I have a dark side. Most likely as far as she knows, I am just her dear loving husband.’

Paul Strom has spent years building his perfect life: glittering career, beautiful wife, two healthy boys and a big house in the suburbs.

But he also has his secrets. That’s why Paul has promised his wife a romantic weekend getaway. He proclaims this day, a warm Friday in May, will be the best day ever.

Paul loves his wife, really, he does. But he also wants to get rid of her. And with every hour that passes, Paul ticks off another stage in his elaborately laid plan

Behind Closed Doors meets Liane Moriarty in this creepy, fast-paced psychological thriller with a twist you won’t see coming!

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Review: ‘Deadly Burial;, by Jon Richter

Published By: HQ Digital

Publication Date: 1st March 2017

I.S.B.N.: 9780008219833

Format: Ebook

Price: £1.99

Blurb

A fight to the death…

When DI Chris Sigurdsson is assigned a grisly murder case on remote Salvation Island, he knows that it might be his strangest yet.

A forgotten wrestling star of the 1980s has been poisoned whilst in the ring, and amidst the slippery lies of his dangerous opponents, unravelling the victim’s murky past is almost impossible.

And as a storm threatens to cut Salvation Island off from the mainland, the race is on for Sigurdsson to find the ruthless killer before he strikes again…

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