Orange September LGBTQ+ Poetry

Published on September 12, 2023 by mariacatalinaeganLeave a comment

by Jasmine Farrell

@RABTBookTours #RABTBookTours #OrangeSeptember #JasmineFarrell #Poetry

LGBTQ+ Poetry

Date Published: September 12th 2023

Publisher: Just Breathe Jasmine

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Witness a love that transcends societal norms, and immerse yourself in this poetic tale of love’s enduring power.

Unafraid and bare, as the autumn leaves fall over Brooklyn, a young woman discovers a love that was, is, and will be. Orange September gives us a peek into her heart as she navigates a budding union. Through lines brimming with passion, romance, and a few giggles, each word paints a vivid portrait of their love.

About the Author

I have always embraced the power and beauty of words. From my early years as a bubbly and quiet church girl, I found solace and inspiration in writing. With a pen in hand and my late grandmother’s memo pad as my canvas, I began to weave stories and pour my heart into poetic expressions. Of course, back then it was toddler scribbles and my mother would nod along as I gave the best baby gibberish to relay my stories—anyway…

Poetry quickly became my niche, a medium through which I could explore the depths of my emotions and connect with others… As a devoted bookworm and a secret midnight snacker, I found myself immersed in the literary world, drawing inspiration from the world around me, music and poets I looked up to. The elders, who were solid storytellers, shaped my love for language and storytelling.

Throughout my journey, I have six poetry collections, each representing a chapter of my growth and self-expression. These collections have allowed me to share my unique perspective with readers, delving into themes of love, loss, de-conversion from Christianity, self-discovery, and the beauty of the human experience. Additionally, I recently published my debut novel, marking a significant milestone in my writing career. Still working on the second installment.

Amidst my literary path, I stumbled into re-self-discovery that led me to challenge and ultimately de-convert from Christianity. Graduating from a Christian college, I found the courage to question my beliefs and embrace a new path of authenticity and self-acceptance. This transformative experience revealed profound aspects of my identity, including my late blooming realization of being a lesbian, a revelation that holds immense significance for someone who grew up in a strict fundamentalist Christian background.

Today, I stand proud in my newfound self-awareness. Alongside my loving spouse, our delightful cat named Aubry (She’s the ruler of our home. She just lets us live with her. Which is nice and stuff), and a home filled with random kitchen twerks to various genres of music, I embrace the vibrant colors of life. As bland as it may sound to some, this represents a monumental shift from the constraints of my past, and I celebrate every aspect of my journey.

Outside of writing, I find joy in exploring the world through books, traveling to new destinations, cherishing moments with loved ones, and immersing myself in the magic of live theater (AKA a Broadway Heaux). These experiences fuel my creativity and shape the stories I tell.

With the upcoming release of my poetry collection, “Orange September,” in September of this year, I eagerly invite readers into a world mushy love and poetic romance. I am also actively engaged in other writing projects, constantly driven to explore new themes and genres, always seeking to captivate and inspire my audience. Growing. Learning. One page at a time, really.

Thank you for reading my about me page and stuff. I am grateful for the opportunity to share my poems, stories and word vomits with you, and I hope that my words touch your heart and ignite your own creative spirit.

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Bloodalcohol

Published on September 12, 2023September 3, 2023 by mariacatalinaegan1 Comment

by Michael Botur

Genre: Horror Short Stories

The award-winning author of the acclaimed horror collection The Devil Took Her is back with ten fresh tales.

Bloodalcohol

by Michael Botur

Genre: Horror Short Stories

The award-winning author of acclaimed horror collection The Devil Took Her is back with ten fresh tales.

– – A South Island road trip turns murderous as a dangerous drifter smells a secret in her co-dependent partner.

— Millionaire Kiwi conservationists learn too late how little Mother Earth cares for mankind.

— A Far North teen confronts the terrifying truth about why Mum separated from Dad years ago.

These stories address the challenges of life through the lens of horror: Struggling to bond with a savage stepchild, losing your son to a gang of ghostly boys, doing desperate things to get famous, battling bullies, surviving school, and getting good with God.

Bringing his award-winning narrative skill to the genre of horror, Botur delivers his most powerful stories yet.

1. Bloodalcohol

A South Island road trip turns murderous as alcoholic drifter Tracey bullies her lover, the giant Adam, into killing for the ultimate drink – child blood – while Adam fights to keep a secret: his young son.

2. We Created a Country

Millionaire business owners Ross and Jennifer fall in love while trying to restore Northland to its pristine natural state through conservation and cleanups – but after borrowing billions to ban development from the Far North, the nature lovers learn what Mother Nature really thinks about mankind.

3. Weeks in the Woodshed

AJ was a young South Auckland teacher trying to provide for his wife and baby. Now, he’s had his privilege taken away, convicted of a crime while working at school – a crime he’s struggling to admit, a crime for which he’s been sentenced to complete Community Service in a remote countryside barn – and a crime which comes with unending punishment.

4. Butterfly Tongue

Lonely Kaitaia 14-year-old Venus asks her separated parents for the same simple birthday present every year. Venus just wants her hardened biker mum Marija to talk to her Dad again – and for Dad, a smooth-talking reporter, to be more sensitive with the women he romances.

As Venus counts down towards 18 and the end of school, she tries to intervene against her dad devouring dates – and finally confronts the terrifying truth about why Mum left Dad in the first place.

5. The Beast Released

Lonely Whangarei computer technician Christopher takes the challenging 11-year-old son of a woman he’s trying to impress on a hiking expedition through Northland forest to visit an old plane crash site and bond with the boy. Christopher finds that deep in the forest, however, one of them has a dark side eager to emerge, and the other is trapped.

6. Lossboys

Busy Northland high school teacher Āwhina tries to stop her son Nick sneaking out at night to join a gang of suicidal schoolboys who have discovered the ultimate thrill: killing oneself and frolicking as a ‘Lossboy.’ However, once the Lossboys take everything from her – including her son – Āwhina starts standing up against her untouchable tormentors.

7. Starving

Twentysomething Auckland singer-songwriter Anna Shrupali is desperate to make it in the performing arts world and escape the K Road rat race. But when husband-and-wife patrons offer to make Anna and her twin brother rich and famous, the deal takes Anna far outside her comfort zone and turns her into something monstrous.

8. Influencer

13-year-old Christchurch vandals Richie and Sammy learn the limits of their friendship after they are influenced on weekend missions by the mysterious Jacob, who seems to never leave school. After Jacob takes a prank way too far, the boys part ways and Richard forgets what he did until years later Jacob reappears, reminding Richie if he doesn’t play, he’s going to pay.

9. Racing Hearts

We call it the Airing Cupboard: the chapel where I counsel former doctors suspended for breaking down on the job.

You see, I’m a screw-up just like them. I’m on probation from the hospital’s Review Board and I don’t know if I’ll ever be allowed to walk the wards as an anaesthesiologist again.

It’s because I raced too hard and I fell. Fell in love with a doctor as competitive as me. And we both fell in love with a deadly drug – until one of us fell in too deep.

10. Luke’s Lesson

Life is hard for Hamilton brothers Luke and Danny, whose father is a reformed addict trying to go straight. After Luke and Danny are inspired by a charismatic carnival pastor who gives them Bible comics warning of eternal damnation, Luke tries to improve his community’s favour with God by brutally cleansing the sins of everyone he can reach – beginning with his family.

**Releasing soon!**

Amazon * Author’s Site

The Devil Took Her

by Michael Botur

Genre: Horror Short Stories

Melanie’s increasingly disturbing journal entries have to be delusional ravings—if they’re not, there’s something terrible out there, snatching runaways in the night and spiriting them off to somewhere unspeakable.

In his debut collection of horror stories, The Devil Took Her, short fiction writer Michael Botur, recognized in his native New Zealand as “one of the most original story writers of his generation,” offers twelve terrifying and bizarre tales that take us to the dark extremes of human imagination.

A woman trapped in a coal cellar discovers that in order to live, part of her needs to die. A teen prankster’s vicious joke against her tutor brings revenge served cold. Cutting class turns terrifying for two high school introverts. A powerful-yet-paranoid publisher turns a young man’s magazine internship into a nightmare. And more . . .

Praise for Michael Botur and The Devil Took Her

“Prolific, dope-as-tits writer Michael Botur is back, with a new collection. His writing in these twelve stories is pure, no-holds-barred revelry in the weird and genuinely scary. Each story is highly imaginative and, most importantly, fun to read.” —Jeremy Roberts, GingerNutsofHorror.com

“Michael Botur’s work grabs you by the throat and won’t let you go. His stories throb with what feel like real people, real conversations, real moments of pain and hope, misunderstanding and reconciliation, remorse and surprise.” —Maggie Trapp, New Zealand Listener

“Botur is a superb practitioner with the ability to bring to life these terrifying moments… It’s a little like a car crash, you don’t want to look – but you just can’t help yourself.” —Chris Reed, NZ Book Lovers

“Gritty, unsettling, and utterly intoxicating.”—Steffanie Holmes, USA Today bestselling and award-winning author

“Aside from the incredible inventiveness of its plot, Botur’s writing sings at times with fluency and vivacity. —Jenny Purchase, Kete NZ Books

“Botur is considered one of the most original story writers of his generation in New Zealand.” —Patricia Prime, Takahē 86

Amazon * Apple * B&N * Kobo * Smashwords * Other Links * Bookbub * Goodreads

Michael Botur, born 1984, is a writer originally from Christchurch, New Zealand, who now lives in Whangarei with his wife and two kids.

Botur is author of four short story collections and published the novel ‘Moneyland’ in 2017.

Botur holds a Masters in Creative Writing from AUT University and a Graduate Diploma in Journalism Studies from Massey University, as well as degrees in arts and literacy.

Botur makes a living from writing as a columnist, corporate communications writer, blogger, advertising writer and journalist.

Botur has published creative writing in international literary journals Newfound (US), Weaponizer (UK), The Red Line (UK), Swamp (Aus) and most NZ literary journals including Landfall, Poetry New Zealand, 4th Floor, JAAM and Tākahe.

He has been making money from creative writing since the age of 21 and was in 2017 proud to be included in the University of Otago collection ‘Manifesto Aotearoa: 101 political poems’.

Botur has published journalism in most major NZ newspapers including New Zealand Herald, Herald on Sunday, Sunday Star-Times, as well as many magazines.

Botur has a long history of volunteering, including working with Maori and Pasifika literacy, Youthline, ESOL refugee tutoring, and assisting stroke patients, and in Whangarei is involved in improv theatresports and performance poetry.

Botur’s books ‘Moneyland,’ ‘LowLife,’ ‘Spitshine’, ‘Mean’ and ‘Hot Bible’ all available on Amazon.com.

In 2021 Botur was the first Kiwi winner of the Australasian Horror Writers Association Short Story Award for ‘Test of Death.’

Website * Facebook * Twitter * Instagram * Bookbub * Amazon * Goodreads

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The Damned ~

Published on September 12, 2023September 12, 2023 by mariacatalinaeganLeave a comment

Bite-sized horror stories are brought to you by thirteen authors.

Anthology Stories Include:

The Drain, The Enforcers, The Fog, On a Spring Day, and The Trial.

Flash Fiction, Horror

Date To Be Published: September 23, 2023

Bite-sized horror stories are brought to you by thirteen authors. From creepy crawlies to the seemingly normal pets. From hideous monsters lurking in the dark to charismatic people showing their true colors.

Each tale is precisely 100 words and leaves a long-lasting chilling effect. Some will make you question the security of the world around you, and what’s more terrifying than that?

Featuring drabbles from Storm Lomax, Jonathan Reddoch, Zari Hunt, Kellee Kranendonk, Andreas Flögel, Simon Clarke, Jacek Wilkos, Ferenc K. Zoltán, Vanessa Bane, C.L. Hart, Natascha Eschweiler, Angela Zimmerman, and J.E. Feldman.

Excerpt

The Drain

Professor Vladimir Reed-Field wished he had never taken the job at Miskatonic University. He’d never had problems like this when he was teaching at the University of Hawaii. A volcanic eruption would be a welcome change over the sound coming from that damn kitchen sink.

The plumber from Blizzard Pipeworks could find nothing wrong with the drain. She’d scoped it, snaked it, and performed a full flush. She said that sometimes the plumbing in Arkham’s old houses just made odd noises.

The problem wasn’t the pipes themselves. It was the thing inside the pipes that kept whispering the professor’s name.

Purchase Your Copy Today

About the Author

C. L. Hart, the owner and sole employee of Naughty Netherworld Press, is spoken of in hushed tones. She is described as The Mad Scribe of the Northeastern Colorado Plains, The Terrible Old Woman, and The Author That Should Not Be.

When not penning sanity-destroying works of dystopian fiction, Lovecraftian fantasy, or old-school horror with the occasional sweet romance thrown in to upset the cosmic apple cart, Ms. Hart enjoys creating baked goods she hopes will be considered palatable.

Ms. Hart shares a home in a remote rural town of 134 souls with her adult son and three cats. Her sense of fashion is best described as Early Twenty-First Century Unmade Bed. This disabled former nurse can usually be found arguing with herself about subplots or rehabilitating eldritch horrors.

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Crime Paradise Cover Reveal

Published on September 12, 2023September 12, 2023 by mariacatalinaeganLeave a comment

Noir Crime/Murder Mystery

by Gene Desrochers

Boise Montague, Book 3

Noir Crime/Murder Mystery

Date Published: December 12, 2023

Publisher: Acorn Publishing

After his girlfriend ditches him at a concert, private investigator Boise Montague makes the latest bad mistake in a long line of them. Only this time, instead of waking up with a hangover and some woman he doesn’t know, he wakes up with a hangover on a Caribbean beach, along with three women. All of whom are dead. With the dead women’s blood all over his clothes, no memory of what happened, and no way for Boise to explain it, the cops and the prosecutors think it’s a slam dunk. Boise knows he didn’t do it, but no one’s willing to listen—so he’ll have to find the killer himself. But whoever said the truth will set you free never saw anything like this. The people behind it are powerful, careful…and they want Boise out of the picture for good. Soon, Boise will face not only present danger, but past pain, because the deeper he digs, the more skeletons he finds. And some of those skeletons are his own. But will he finally bury them—and the past—or will those skeletons bury him instead?

Perfect for lovers of Agatha Christi, Michael Connelly, and Richard Stark, bestselling author Gene Desrochers’ third book in the hardboiled Boise Montague mystery noir series will take you on an adventure into the dark side of crime, the darker side of memory, and the danger that comes to anyone who ventures into a Crime Paradise. Get your copy now!

About the Author

Growing up in an 18-room guesthouse/wartime hospital in the Caribbean isn’t for everyone, but it proved just the right atmosphere for bestselling author Gene Desrochers to hone a sense of story, mystery, and scene that would prove critical in his writing career. Born on a tiny dot called “St. Thomas” (somewhere in the Caribbean), Desrochers migrated steadily west over the years until he found a home – with a wife who loves him, kids who are young enough to still think he’s pretty cool, and a cat who tolerates him – in the continental United States. He also found the time to earn a JD and become a practicing lawyer, run a tennis club, and publish award-winning short fiction in publications across the US and beyond. Now settled in the mysterious and exotic land known as Los Angeles, Desrochers splits his time between the loves of his life: his family, his writing, his tennis, and his ability to impress strangers with his St. Thomian accent. Find out more about him – and the worlds he creates – at his website, GeneDesrochers.com

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