Competition - Win a Coffee Morning with Linzé Brandon and Book-ed

Book Launch: The Traveler by Lisa Williamson

Edana is the finest courier in the Six kingdoms. With her black stallion Midnight, she has built a reputation. But a robbery attempt and cursed blade turn her world upside down.
Now fighting for her life, Edana must rely on unexpected friends and kind-hearted strangers who introduce Magic and Prophecy into her life. Tales of elves, dwarfs and elementals are proving true.
Is Edana really who they say she is? Can she really bring closure to an ages old tragedy? Or will events that took place before her birth doom her and all who love her to utter destruction?

Excerpt

Riding through the storm, Edana sighed as the shelter finally came in sight. She had been riding for hours in the massive storm. The crash of the thunder had become just background noise to her. As her horse stumbled to a halt, she pulled her mind together and with great effort looked around. They had stopped in front of the first travel shelter she had seen in days. It was one of a series of small buildings scattered along the old grand highway or should have been. Most had been left to the elements, falling to ruins that had barely a single wall to set a tent against. With an effort of will she unclasped the hand holding the reins, her fingers were white from the cold. She pushed back her heavy, wet hair with a shaking hand and sighed wearily. "This is a good enough place. Time to rest."

With a groan she leaned to the side and slid off the animal's back. Landing in a heap on the ground, she lay panting. "We traveled too long this time, boy."

The horse put his head down and nudged her, whickering. She reached up and grabbed his halter and the horse pulled his head back, helping her stand. "Thanks, boy," she murmured. Leaning against his warm bulk, she surveyed the shelter. From here it looked solid. That was to be hoped for, as the weather outside was abysmal. She slowly put one foot in front of the other and led her horse toward the front door. The stables were off to the side but she did not think she could make it there and back to the shelter, she was so tired. Pushing open the door she headed inside.

The shelter was black as sin inside but she knew that lamps were kept just inside these shelters and she groped around until she felt the cool metal of a traveler's lamp. Picking it up she shook it gently to see if it had any oil inside. There was a satisfying splash, so she fumbled in her pockets and pulled out her striker. It took three tries but she finally got it lit.

The lamp threw out a pool of golden light across half the room. The travel shelter consisted of one great room with a fire pit in the center. She could see a neat pile of firewood to the left and large wooden chests along the right. A smile crossed her weary face as she opened one and saw it was filled with dried goods. Whoever was in charge of this stretch of the old highway was following the rules perfectly.

She turned as her big companion nickered. "What? Oh, sorry, boy. Let's get that saddle off you right now." She worked the water-soaked leather through the buckle and slid the saddle off. She looked about and then saw the saddle stand off to the side. "They really know how to stock a shelter in these parts." She struggled with the heavy saddle and placed it on the stand. Then she turned back to her mount.

He was a beautiful beast, more than a normal saddle horse. He came out of bloodlines that had been specially crafted for endurance and brains. That he was easy on the eye was a surprise. Most of the foals thrown by his dam were of a muddy brown with intelligent eyes and a sturdy body, but the stud that had mounted her had been one of surpassing beauty. It was thought that since he was not of the same breed that the colt would be a cull. She had convinced the owner of the dam to let her take him off his hands, sight unseen. Now she held the ownership of one of the smartest horses ever bred.

He looked at her for a moment and then nickered. He knew that he had worked hard and that his mistress was tired, but he also knew from experience that the human would take care of his needs before her own. He was more intelligent than even she knew, more than could be expected of a four-footed kindred. The stallion that had mounted the mare that was his dam was not really a horse. He was something out of legend and though he had spent all of his life with this young woman he knew just what he was.

Amazon

Author Bio

A writer since an early age, I have been fascinated by stories where the characters go through changes and develop strength from great trials. I prefer the genre fields of fantasy, science fiction and horror over the general fiction. By placing my characters in fantastical settings I can let them grow and develop in ways that you just can't in a real world setting.
Published in the early days of the ebook movement in a CDRom book that saw little movement I have now taken to the digital age with style. I will continue to set my words free and hope that these children of my heart find homes with caring readers who are willing to look beyond the normal to the fantastical.
I can be found writing fantasy, science fiction, light horror and fanfiction.

Don't Call Me Sweetheart - a birthday gift

In celebration of my birthday today, 1 December, you can download a copy of my latest story, Don't Call Me Sweetheart from Smashwords.

Use coupon code PY64N and enjoy a little sci-fi action on me! ♥

NaNoWriMo 2013 - the blood, sweat and almost tears

After my previous (albeit very successful) NaNoWriMo, I decided never to punish myself that way again. What was I thinking? This year was worse!

And the punishment had nothing to do with the word count target of 50k, but everything to do with my attempt to write non-fiction.
For a pantser, planning is the equal of pulling teeth, through the ### (okay, I won't say it, but you get it) and yet non-fiction cannot be written any other way.
Having had some experience with non-fiction writing over the years, academic papers and such, I knew what to do.
Research was in place.
The structure of the document was in place.
The format changed and changed again until I was satisfied with the way it looked.
So I just had to write each chapter and I was set, right? It didn't happen. Sure the research was there, but not complete. So I had to spend several hours finding the info I had missed somehow. Did I mention that was a deadline involved here?
So Plan A was ditched, temporarily, and Plans B, C and D came into effect. And boy, did that help. I still have to do a lot of work on the non-fiction title, but I got three complete short stories written too! And one of them will be submitted for an actual competition in December!
This year I may not have done the 100k like I did last year, but I have three completed projects (the first drafts anyway) and another one well on its way.
Now to go and dig out that internal editor. Where are you hiding, little butterfly?

Follow Me - The Orange River (slightly bent)

We had to entertain ourselves for one day since we couldn't change our booking for our overnight accommodation for the trip back. So we went shopping - if you could call browsing in a co-op shopping. I found some seeds for yellow tomatoes for my vegetable garden. Can't wait to plant those.
And then we decided to visit the Orange river crossing where we parked our two buses and enjoyed the view.

What the Orange River really looked like.

The photographs you see here were taken as panoramas from my Samsung S3. They came out...well, a little bent. But then who needs to see the world in straight lines anyway. Enjoy!
 

The Orange River from a "bent" perspective :)

Then I decided to bend a bridge. Ha, it was a lot of fun doing it my way!

Standing on the white line - 180 degree panorama

Well, that is the end of this tour. Thank you for following me as I travelled my country and allowing me the privilege of sharing a few glimpses of it with you. Until the next time...

Follow Me - The Guys, the Fun and the Rescue

I had mentioned before that I work with a great bunch of people and now you get to meet some of them. While I will remember the trip for the not-so-successful outcome of our tests, I will also remember it for the fun we had together.

Derek explaining something difficult as usual

Mpho bearing his kit while inside the Badger

Eric explaining to Sam what the next test is going to be about

Thato - at least I wasn't the only woman this time!

Hennie, Willem and Tienie wondering if the fishing is any good

Willem and Paul wondering what happened to their hats

Hours of laughing while just sitting around, talking nonsense and reminiscing about previous tests where people did silly things. Some of the people we talked about I knew, others I didn't. What did strike me was the camaraderie that people enjoy, even as colleagues. Many of our test facilities are fairly isolated, making it difficult to just jump into a car to go see a movie. It is either too far away, or there is such entertainment available in the nearest town.

On the last morning of our tests, we came across a group of springbuck running down the road. We frightened them and they were going all over the place, even running into the fences next to the road.
One of the group managed to get itself so tangled up that it couldn't shake itself free.

Springbuck running

Deciding that it was our fault to begin with (the fence), it was our duty to rescue the animal. 

And so three of my colleagues and one member of the SA Army who was with us in the bus, did the honours.
My attempt at a video was unsuccessful, the sun was too bright for me to see the screen of my mobile phone, but I did manage to capture a few photographs.

Springbuck stuck in the fence and the guys on their way

Job done! Back to work now :)

The heroes - all in a day's work!

Follow Me - Harnessing the Power of the Sun

While on the way towards our destination we came across two projects under construction to erect solar panels on several hundreds of hectares on land. The first was between Douglas and Prieska, fairly close to the road (all the photographs you see here). The second was right next to the old Copperton mine. Although we could see the construction work well enough, it was too far away to take good photographs with my mobile phone.

 On our way back home we came across a third such project. While I cannot remember exactly where - somewhere between Kimberley and Wolmaranstad - it too was large and set too far away from the road for a decent picture.
And the Northern Cape is the ideal place with its high number of days of sunshine per year.
What is heartening is seeing these solar farms being constructed to help with the increasing demand on the existing and future supply of power to the national grid.

Cover Reveal: Don't Call Me Sweetheart by Linzé Brandon

Excerpt
Hell had found me. I was staring at its ugly fangs and I knew if I stayed here any longer, it wasn't going to end well for me. I had to get out of here before more innocent people got hurt. Screams attacked my ears – so loud that it drowned out the pounding club music. But it didn't drown out the bullets causing the panic. Blood splattered over me as two more people fell.
"Where the hell did she go?"
I was too busy dodging bullets to pause on my way to the closest exit to find out who had said that. There. The moment I spotted the door, my feet moved faster.
My one day off from work, my time to relax, hang out, and look at me now; hiding behind a stinking crate of rotten vegetables in the middle of a very long and dark alley. Halfway between me and the safe end of the alley was a flickering yellow light above an entrance of some kind. I thought I saw something move, but it could be anything, from a vagrant getting comfortable for the night to a rat. I shuddered. Neither of those options inspired a sense of safety. I had to move. This was not a good place to be – too many opportunities to be ambushed. I edged around the crate and looked towards the exit of the club I had come from mere moments ago. No one had followed. Yet. How I made it out of the club alive, and uninjured, must have been some kind of miracle.
I glanced down at my expensive high-heeled boots. Damn, I loved those boots and now I would have run – through whatever muck, and dirt, and all kinds of other dead and dying things – in them. This was so not the night I had envisaged for myself.

Look out for this Sci-fi action thriller (with the tiniest hint of romance) on Smashwords very soon!
 

Follow Me - Life on the Road

Since it takes us two days to reach our destination, there are lots of things to see along the way.
We often spotted impala, springbuck, a snake or two and even a tortoise who was trying its level best to cross the road.
Once our convoy of four vehicles rushed past of course.
One of the more fascinating sights is a little bird that lives in a communal colony with many other birds. It is the sociable weaver that makes its nest on the poles that carry the power lines along the road.
The nests expand as they continue to build, and care has to be taken that it does not grow too heavy and break up. Many poles have stacks of nest materials around their bases where the nests had become too heavy.

Prickly pears are another sight to make your mouth water. The luscious fruit grows wild in the Northern Cape, while it is not found only around here.

Just as we settled in for the last leg of our journey, it started to rain. While rain was not unwelcome, we were concerned about our tests that we conduct outside. The weather websites were consulted, and we relaxed as the rain was predicted to move on to the eastern parts of the country.

Stay tuned as the next installment will be about an exciting development in this part of South Africa.

Books-A-Fire: An e-Book Promotion to Fit Everyone's Pocket

The Books-a-Fire authors are back with more fabulous deals and NEW books to buy. There are no gimmicks or hoops to jump, just incredible prices on every single book.

Just point, click, and buy books in every genre for just 99 cents each.  

YES!  All books on the page are priced at 99 cents to make your shopping easy and affordable. For less than the price of a dinner out, you could buy every single book on the page.

To make it really easy, we've also created categories.  Click your favorite category at the top of the page and see all the books that are on sale in that category. 

Load your Kindle and enjoy a quiet read now that the kids are back in school. You've had a hectic summer so treat yourself to a good book today! 

►  Go to www.booksafire.com  ◄

Follow Me - On Route Day 1

We left Pretoria on Saturday and took the route to our overnight destination in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. 

It is one of the driest parts of our country as you can see from the photographs. 

It is also one of the geographical areas that can change almost overnight from a semi-desert to a lush savannah with a single rain storm.

Unfortunately, rain is a rare commodity and very often dams are but dry patches of sand, rather than blue stretches of live providing water.

Kimberley is an interesting city with a long history of diamond mining, that I am sure you have learned about in school. It also boasts one of the oldest, if not the oldest pub in the country.

Garden of the Kalahari Lodge in Kimberley

Follow Me - Off travelling once again

I am traveling again with my colleagues from work to do some tests again. After my last disaster - killing my poor mobile phone - I couldn't post any photographs of South Africa and the things we saw and did on the way. Well this time, I am going to do my best not to destroy my phone and then you can see the wonderful country side that is my country.
Since I still work for the same company, and the same rules still apply, you won't see any of the actual work. More about that here.

As I intended before, the posts will follow my awesome colleagues (and they truly are a great bunch of guys!) with chats and quirks, and a few quips - I promise to keep those PG!

If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, there will be updates there too.