Book Blast: Casto, Gods of War by Xenia Melzer

Posted on June 3, 2016 by Charley Descoteaux

SERIES BLURB

All is fair in love and war. Or is it?

On the world called Ana-Darasa, the gods of war engage in a desperate search for their lost hearts while waging a battle against the Good Mother for supremacy. But theirs is not the only struggle as dominant men, powerful rulers, and demigods clash, fiery passion erupts, and destinies are shaped on the battlefield and in the bedroom. In a war between pride and love, no victory is ever simple.

BLURB

All is fair in love and war. Renaldo has lived happily by that proverb his entire life. But he has finally met his match, and he’s about to discover how unfair love and war can be.

When demigod and warlord Lord Renaldo takes a beautiful stranger captive during an ambush, he is delighted to have found a distraction that will keep him entertained during the upcoming siege. Little does he know, Casto is keeping more than just one secret from him. Slowly, Renaldo gets sucked into a turbulent roller-coaster relationship with his mysterious prisoner, one that begins with hatred and soon spirals into a whirlwind of conflicting emotions. And when it seems that things can get no worse, an old enemy stirs right in the heart of his home.

Determined to keep Casto by his side, Renaldo has to find a balance between the capricious young man and his own destiny as a ruler and god to his people.

Excerpt

Captive

“Renaldo, you won’t believe what we just found!”

The desert brothers, Kalad and Aegid, approached their god with broad smiles on their faces. He looked at them expectantly.

“If I won’t believe it, then you better hurry up and tell me before I run out of patience.”

“A caravan! And right now it’s taking a break at the oasis we discovered yesterday. You know, it’s not even an hour from here. We could go there, get the quarry, and be back before anybody misses us.”

Lost in thought, Renaldo observed their camp that was set up in a dip beneath the hill where he had waited for Kalad and Aegid. Renaldo’s brother, the powerful Wolf of War, had sent them on patrol to make sure the area was entirely safe. So far, they had not come across any danger, which meant that it was all right for them to have some fun. His brothers-in-arms looked at him eagerly.

“Well, there’s no harm in having a look, is there?”

Kalad’s lively brown eyes overflowed in happy anticipation. “No, definitely not. We’ll show you the way.”

The other members of the patrol led by Noran—like Aegid and Kalad, he was an Emeris, a chosen counselor of Renaldo and Canubis—were ten of the best and most experienced mercenaries in the service of the warrior gods, and they lined up behind the desert brothers. The group rode sharply toward the oasis that had quenched their thirst only a day ago.

Between the trees there was indeed a caravan with thirty camels, every beast burdened high with merchandise. It was not only the traders who delighted in the fresh water from the spring; the warriors also spied some heavily armored men patrolling the goods. Renaldo shot Kalad a slightly poisonous look. Kalad had obviously forgotten to mention this small detail, but the desert warrior just shrugged. There weren’t enough enemies to get them into any serious trouble.

At that moment the people at the waterhole stirred.

A man wearing a floor-length cloak led a pitch-black stallion to the spring. Although the stranger was clothed in white, as was sensible in the heat, he radiated an intimidating arrogance that surrounded him and the steed like a shield. The traders, as well as the mercenaries, hastened to make room for the exceptional pair. Renaldo’s eyes lit up. Never before in his long life had he seen a horse like that: its mane and tail sparkled in the sunlight like polished blackwood; the noble head with the big, intelligent eyes sat on a muscular, proudly held neck; the long, clean legs with hooves as hard as flint carried the powerful body with elegant, elastic movements despite its mass. The long silky tail trailed like a banner behind the proud beast. Then the stallion bent down to drink, and the man leading him followed his example.

Renaldo watched this scene in fascination, purposely ignoring his fighters’ imploring looks. He had to have that horse, no matter the cost.

The horse’s small ears were nervously flicking back and forth, and then suddenly the noble head reared up and snorted a warning.

The hooded man jumped into the saddle, drawing his sword in one strong, fluid movement while his eyes scanned the oasis, searching for intruders. “Danger!”

His voice echoed through the loosely scattered date trees like a melody, causing panic among the traders and priming the mercenaries to fight. Renaldo couldn’t suppress a satisfied nod. Those men were highly professional and definitely worthy opponents.

He turned to his men. “Let’s go!”

They left cover in a semicircle, each attacking their chosen mercenary. Renaldo had planned to go after the hooded man and his steed, but two of the enemy bore down on him from the sides. On his periphery he could see one of his men going against the stranger and being swept out of the saddle for his trouble. Then Renaldo lost sight of the man and the horse he so wanted.

Buy the Book: http://www.dsppublications.com/books/upcoming-releases-c

About the Author

Biography Xenia Melzer
Xenia Melzer was born and raised in a small village in the South of Bavaria. As one of nature’s true chocoholics, she’s always in search of the perfect chocolate experience. So far, she’s had about a dozen truly remarkable ones. Despite having been in close proximity to the mountains all her life, she has never understood why so many people think snow sports are fun. There are neither chocolate nor horses involved and it’s cold by definition, so where’s the sense? She does not like beer either and has never been to the Oktoberfest – no quality chocolate there.
Even though her mind is preoccupied with various stories most of the time, Xenia has managed to get through school and university with surprisingly good grades. Right after school she met her one true love who showed her that reality is capable of producing some truly amazing love stories itself.
While she was having her two children, she started writing down the most persistent stories in her head as a way of relieving mommy-related stress symptoms. As it turned out, the stress-relief has now become a source of the same, albeit a positive one.
When she’s not writing, she teaches English at school, enjoys riding and running, spending time with her kids, and dancing with her husband. If you want to contact her, please visit either her website, http://www.xeniamelzer.com or write her an email: info@xeniamelzer.com .

Book Blast: The Eye and The Arm by Andrew Q. Gordon!

Posted on April 15, 2015 by Charley Descoteaux

Excerpt:

Miceral grabbed his last javelin and crept toward the starboard rail. The tip of pirate’s prow had just reached their stern. He could see men crouched under the protection of the gunwale. “They’re almost here—be ready.”

Moving faster than the enemy could react, Miceral scaled the short staircase and quickly found a protected spot in the aftcastle. Peering through a narrow opening, he scanned the clusters of men he could see. At the rear of the largest group, Miceral spotted someone who, by clothing at least, appeared to be an officer. With no one else standing out as being the captain, this man became his target.

Springing to his feet, he hurled the spear before anyone could target him. One of the pirates huddled by the rail fired an arrow, which Miceral caught in midflight. Flashing the enemy a wicked grin, he snapped the shaft in half before dropping back behind his cover.

Miceral closed one eye and stared through the space between crates. He watched the men look toward where their officer had been standing, and from the shouts he knew he’d hit his mark. One pirate tried to pull the spear out but failed. When he turned to ask for help, a stream of blood dribbled out of his mouth and over the feathers of the arrow protruding from his neck. Everyone else ducked immediately and remained out of sight.

Miceral traced the shaft’s path back to where Peter knelt, nocking another arrow. He gave his friend a wink and a nod. Before either could enjoy the small victory, a hail of arrows and spears whistled across the deck. Under the cover of this barrage, dozens of grappling hooks landed on the deck of the Rose. Once the barbs dug into whatever purchase they could find, the two vessels inched closer. Miceral heard the faint thud of the two ships colliding and slipped the mace and axe from his belt.

With the ships tethered together, the pirates flipped long wooden planks from their ship onto the Seafoam Rose. Hooks on the ends secured the slim pathway firmly in place. The first wave of invaders ran across the boards, screaming at the top of their lungs. If they expect to scare the crew into surrender, that hope dissipated when four of their number fell dead from a round of arrows.

Miceral used the distraction to leap from his hiding place. Screaming his own battle cry, he rushed the startled pirates. From his right, Emerson and Nathan led the crew in defense of their ship.

The ferocity of the resistance appeared to catch the invaders by surprise. Miceral killed anything in his reach, stalling the attack momentarily. Peter stood next to Miceral and proved the value of all the long hours of practice he’d been put through.

Unfortunately, Miceral couldn’t defend all points of entry onto the vessel. The pirates quickly learned to avoid the armed warrior who moved with the speed of lightning.

The initial advantage of the Rose’s crew quickly evaporated as the pirates brought superior numbers onto the trading ship. To avoiding being surrounded, the defenders fell back to a predetermined, more defensible position. This allowed the rest of the pirates to cross unimpeded.

“Now would be a good time to arrive, Farrell.” Miceral didn’t know if Farrell could hear him, but if he didn’t arrive soon, there’d be no one left to rescue.

“I’m almost there, Ral.” Farrell’s voice distracted Miceral enough that he cut off an opponent’s arm instead of slicing through the man’s neck. “Hang on!”

Buy The Eye and The Arm: http://www.dsppublications.com/books/the-eye-and-the-arm-by-andrew-q-gordon-95-b

Rafflecopter Prize: 3 e-copies of the Last Grand Master with the new cover art.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tour Stops

Parker Williams, Fangirl Moments and My Two Cents, Bayou Book Junkie, Cate Ashwood, Charley Descoteaux, BFD Book Blog, Full Moon Dreaming, Divine Magazine, Butterfly-O-Meter, Molly Lolly, The Fuzzy, Fluffy World of Chris T. Kat, Rainbow Gold Reviews, The Hat Party, Love Bytes, Inked Rainbow Reads, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, The Novel Approach, My Fiction Nook, Velvet Panic, Prism Book Alliance, Wicked Faerie’s Tales and Reviews, Fallen Angel Reviews, Amanda C. Stone, Elin Gregory, Nephylim

About the author:

Andrew Q. Gordon wrote his first story back when yellow legal pads, ball point pens were common and a Smith Corona correctable typewriter was considered high tech. Adapting with technology, he now takes his MacBook somewhere quiet when he wants to write.

He currently lives in the Washington, D.C. area with his partner of twenty years, their daughter and dog. In addition to dodging some very self-important D.C. ‘insiders’, Andrew uses his commute to catch up on his reading. When not working or writing, he enjoys soccer, high fantasy, baseball and seeing how much coffee he can drink in a day.

Where to find the author:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dominic.andrews.7568

Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/andrewqugordon

Twitter: @andrewqgordon

Website: www.andrewqgordon.com

Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+AndrewQGordon/posts

email: andrewqgordon@gmail.com

Publisher: DSP Publications

Cover Artist: AngstyG

Guest Author: Andrew Q. Gordon!

Posted on January 27, 2015 by Charley Descoteaux

I’m excited to be the opening stop on Andrew Q. Gordon’s First Love tour! Not only is it part of his popular “Champions of the Gods” series, it’s a freebie! Thank you for sharing it with us, Andy!

Thank you Charley for letting me come by and talk about the new free release.

First Love has its origin in what was basically one sentence in The Last Grand Master. At one point Farrell tells Prince Peter of Belsport in passing about his first love. It was ten years before the opening of The Last Grand Master and Farrell’s mother—Queen Zenora—and teacher—Heminaltose—were still alive.

First Love not only shows what Farrell was like before the war began, it also let’s me show his mother and teacher, through his eyes.

Of all the characters in the series, Farrell is naturally the most fleshed out. The story is through his eyes. But what of the secondary characters? The Champion of the Gods series is well over 2 million words long. Much of that is filler and background that I wrote to flesh out the story that will never see the light of a Kindle. Writing it, however, made it easier to write the entire story.

Since this is the first day and first stop of the blog tour, I thought it would be a good idea to talk about one of the main characters we meet in First Love; Lieutenant Cameron of the Queen’s Guard. He is Farrell’s first real crush. In the original draft, Cameron had a much bigger role in the story, but was removed during the rewrite. He may, however, make an appearance later on. The changes I made that wrote Cameron out in Book 2: The Eye and the Arm might will require a bit of a rewrite later that may give Cameron an opportunity to make an appearance.

In the first draft, Farrell finds Cameron alive along with other survivors of Yar-del. Unknown to Farrell, Queen Zenora sent the better part of the Navy elsewhere to prevent Meglar from capturing the ships. Given the size and power of Yar-del fleet (perhaps second only to Dumbarten) denying the enemy this weapon was vital to the war effort. With these ships, Meglar would have the means to attack Dumbarten, Yar-del’s closest ally. To prevent this, Zenora made an agreement with the King of Dumbarten to use a small island well off the Dumbarten coast as a naval base. Cameron is one of the officers sent with the fleet.

First Love doesn’t show much beyond their first date. In The Last Grand Master Farrell explains that the romance didn’t last. In the original draft, when Farrell meets Cameron, they have a heart-to-heart and Farrell learns that after Cameron broke his heart, Queen Zenora removed him from the guard and sent him off with the navy. In Yar-del, the naval was a vital and respected branch of the military. So while this might not have been what Cameron wanted, it did offer him more opportunities to advance his career than would be available in the guard. In the unused part, Cameron does take advantage of his new position and rises to high rank among the survivors.

My real hope is to rescue some of the unused bits on the cutting floor at a later date, but for now, First Love will be the only appearance for the dashing young Lieutenant Cameron.

Enjoy!

First Love by ~ANDREW Q. GORDON~

Prequel to The Last Grand Master
A Champion of the Gods Story

On a visit to Yar-del with Grand Master Heminaltose to celebrate his age of majority birthday, Farrell catches the eye of Lieutenant Cameron, a handsome young officer in the Queen’s Guard. But having spent most of his life cooped up at Heminaltose’s school for wizards, Farrell is clueless as to palace intrigue. He is unaware that his access to the queen is something others would greatly prize. When the queen points out that his suitor is the son of a social climbing minor noble, Farrell must decide whether to heed the warning or meet with Cameron anyway.

EXCERPT

Tenth hour would take an eternity to arrive, but they both had to attend to their duties. Although Cameron seemed suitably impressed by his appointment, it didn’t improve Farrell’s mood.

He stopped himself as he started to think of ways to get out of dinner. Not going wasn’t an option. More importantly, Heminaltose only allowed Farrell brief visits to Yar-del City to see his mother. Skipping dinner meant one less chance to spend time with her. And he’d see Cameron at tenth hour.

“Boy.” The deep voice behind Farrell made him freeze.

He turned slowly but already knew who he’d find. “Master Heminaltose.”

Dressed in his formal blue-gray robe, he leaned on his white wooden staff and tilted his head to the left. “What brings you to this out-of-the-way place? And why are you just standing there?”

Farrell had been in trouble often enough to know his master suspected him of something. When he tried to answer, his mouth went dry and his tongue turned to stone.

“Well?” The older man raised his bushy white eyebrows and peered down his nose at his student. “I’m waiting for an answer.”

His euphoric mood dashed, Farrell knew better than to lie. “I came here to meet someone.”

“Someone?”

“Yes, Master, someone.” This approach never worked, but he’d been too embarrassed to answer directly.

“Don’t treat me like a fool.”

Despite being at least an inch taller than his teacher, Farrell felt like Heminaltose towered over him.

“I’m not, Master. I… I just….” His cheeks flushed and he started to sweat. “I’d rather not say.”

“Excuse me?”

“It’s private.”

“Private? You mean…?” Heminaltose jerked his head back and his eyes opened wider. “By the Six! Now? Your hormones have decided to kick in now?”

Get your free copy of First Love:

DSP Publication – http://www.dsppublications.com/books/first-love-by-andrew-q-gordon-72-b
All Romance eBooks – https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-firstlove-1729343-234.html
Amazon – http://www.amazon.com/First-Love-Champion-Andrew-Gordon-ebook/dp/B00SM1UTOQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1422104210&sr=1-1

GIVEAWAY DETAILS:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Andrew Q. Gordon is giving away the following:
– $15 DSP Gift Card
– An E-copy of “Third Eye” by Rick R. Reed
– An E-copy of “Ghost” by Carole Cummings
– An E-copy of a book by J. Tullos Hennig

Contest Begins: 27th January, 2015
Contest Ends: 9th February, 2015

FIRST LOVE BLOG TOUR

1/27 – Charley Descoteaux

AJ Llewellyn

1/28 – Anne Barwell

1/29 – Kim Fielding

1/30 – Cheryl Headford

Silvia Violet

2/2 – Amy Rae Durreson

2/3 – Rebecca Cohen

2/4 – Draven St. James

2/5 – Nic Starr

2/6 – Chris T. Kat

2/9 – Amanda C. Stone

About Andrew: Andrew Q. Gordon wrote his first story back when yellow legal pads, ball point pens were common and a Smith Corona correctable typewriter was considered high tech. Adapting with technology, he now takes his MacBook somewhere quiet when he wants to write.

He currently lives in the Washington, D.C. area with his partner of nineteen years, their daughter and dog. In addition to dodging some very self-important D.C. ‘insiders’, Andrew uses his commute to catch up on his reading. When not working or writing, he enjoys soccer, high fantasy, baseball and seeing how much coffee he can drink in a day.

Contact Andrew:
Website: http://www.andrewqgordon.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/andrewqugordon
Twitter: @andrewqgordon
Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+AndrewQGordon
E-mail: andrewqgordon@gmail.com

PUBLISHER: DSP Publications

SERIES: Champion of the Gods

RELEASE DATE: 27th January 2015

LENGTH: 40 Pages

TOUR ORGANIZER:
CREATIVE MINDS PROMOTIONS
https://creativemindpromotions.wordpress.com/

Book Blast and #Giveaway: Third Eye by Rick R. Reed

Posted on November 18, 2014 by Charley Descoteaux

I’m thrilled to host this Book Blast! I’ve wanted to read some of Rick R. Reed’s non-romance fiction for a while, and I think this will be the one I start with. The excerpt grabbed me, and now I just have to know what happens!

Excerpt:

Cayce was just about to put the paper aside when another article—and a familiar name in the byline—caught his eye. “Teenager Reported Missing,” by Dave Newton. It wasn’t so much the headline that got his attention but the picture of the young girl beneath it. Pretty. Long blonde hair. And disturbingly familiar.

Even though Fawcettville was a small town, the girl’s name, Lucy Plant, didn’t ring any bells. Perhaps Cayce had waited on her at the Elite, the diner where he worked. But still, no specific recollection came back. Cayce couldn’t visualize the girl sitting at the counter, nor at one of the booths.

And yet she looked so familiar, as if she were someone Cayce was friends with, or even a relative.

Cayce scanned the story. The girl had been reported missing by her mother yesterday afternoon, just before the storm that had caused such a turn in Cayce’s own life.

There were no clues. The girl, at least according to her mother, could not possibly have been a runaway. “Lucy’s a good girl,” Amy Plant had told Fawcettville police detective JT Simmons. “She wouldn’t even go down the block to visit a friend without telling us first.”

The last time anyone had seen Lucy Plant was when her mother looked outside the living room window. Lucy had been playing with her Barbie dolls on the front lawn.

Cayce closed his eyes. He remembered, suddenly, the storm coming, and not knowing where Luke was. He sympathized with the girl’s mother and the panic she must have felt when she couldn’t locate her daughter.

A ceiling fan. Beneath his closed lids, Cayce saw a ceiling fan. He didn’t know why. He didn’t own one himself, and the one in his parents’ living room was an entirely different model from this one, which was white, with a plain globe. His parents’ fan had four frosted-glass light fixtures and faux wood blades.

Cayce kept his eyes closed, watching the ceiling fan whirl, its blades blurring and becoming singular. There was something wrong with the fan. It didn’t work quite right.

Cayce felt nauseated and opened his eyes. His face was glazed with sweat. His stomach churned, and he was afraid he would vomit. Why was seeing a ceiling fan so disturbing? Or was this some sort of aftershock, an effect of his accident?

Cayce didn’t think so.

He glanced down at the face of Lucy Plant and sucked in some air. “Oh my God,” he whispered, “she’s dead.”

Buy Third Eye: http://www.amazon.com/Third-Eye-Rick-R-Reed-ebook/dp/B00OWMY0CG/

Rafflecopter Prize: E-book of Rick R. Reed’s thriller novella, ‘How I Met My Man’
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tour Stops:

Regular Guys, Hot Romance

My Fiction Nook

Emotion in Motion

Fangirl Moments and My Two Cents

Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words

Wicked Faerie’s Tales and Reviews

Wake Up Your Wild Side

Book Reviews and More by Kathy

Rick R. Reed is all about exploring the romantic entanglements of gay men in contemporary, realistic settings. While his stories often contain elements of suspense, mystery and the paranormal, his focus ultimately returns to the power of love. He is the author of dozens of published novels, novellas, and short stories. He is a three-time EPIC eBook Award winner (for Caregiver, Orientation and The Blue Moon Cafe). Raining Men and Caregiver have both won the Rainbow Award for gay fiction. Lambda Literary Review has called him, “a writer that doesn’t disappoint.” Rick lives in Seattle with his husband and a very spoiled Boston terrier. He is forever “at work on another novel.”