Featured On the Reef ~ Pete Fanning @fatherknwslttle

 

 

On the Reef is a series featuring fabulous indie authors from around the blogosphere and beyond. Titles, covers, and blurbs that catch my eye, new releases, great reads… Basically, authors I’d like to highlight and works I’d like to share with my fellow book-loving word nerds. Happy Reading!

 

New Release

 

Justice in a Bottle by Pete Fanning

Justice in a Bottle

All thirteen-year old Nita Simmons has ever wanted is to be a journalist, but when she flubs a piece for her middle school newspaper she becomes a laughingstock at school and risks losing her coveted membership to the Junior Journalists Club. Nita’s confidence is at an all-time low when Earl Melvin, her reclusive neighbor and the town’s most notorious criminal–picks that day to speak to her. Mr. Melvin offers Nita a story–some old books he refers to as his memoirs. Nita can’t help but read the books, and what she finds is not violence but a tale of secret love and heartbreak in the Virginia back roads. Still dealing with her recent failure, Nita can’t believe that no one’s ever questioned such injustice in her own town. Sensing redemption, she dives into the research, getting to know the neighbor her mother warned her about.

 

You can get your copy here: 🙂

Amazon US | Amazon UK

Pete FanningAbout Pete:

If it weren’t for my two dogs, I’d have no stories to tell. The dogs need walks, lots of walks, and it’s on these walks where most of these ideas come to life. So it’s a fair arrangement for both of us.

The ideas usually hit mid-walk, at that point where I’m too far down the trail to run back to the house after realizing I’ve left a notepad or pen or stone tablet back home. So I can usually be spotted on the creekside trail, muttering and mumbling and otherwise conjuring up dialogue.

While a few of my stories have appeared in online publications, a handful of anthologies, and even a couple of writing contests, but I’m probably proudest of my letters to the editor of our local newspaper, involving trash and litter on those beloved trails.

Lunch Break Fiction. Well, life is busy. I have to work that pesky job, and so I’m thankful to have such a supportive wife and kid and those dog walks to work out my ideas. I usually find time to write in the mornings. Or evenings. Or my lunch break, in the car, a closet, or wherever else I can carve out a moment of spare time.

I’ve written more than one manuscript and used them to start more than one fire. But I’m thrilled to announce that both my debut novel, JUSTICE IN A BOTTLE, and my middle-grade road romp, RUNAWAY BLUES, are set to be published by Immortal-Works Press in 2020, followed by a third middle grade novel, BRICKTOWN BOYS, in January of 2021.

Website / Blog
Amazon Author Page

 

On the Reef: The Shark’s Friday Feature

 

New Beginnings

 

“Mama, I’m scared.”

She reached down, smoothed his hair, whispered, “It’s okay.”

His grip tightened around her leg, fist closing on the ear of his stuffed bunny.

She crouched, put a finger under his chin to lift it. “It’s bunnies. Just bunny feet.” She looked at him and smiled. “They’ve come to visit their friend here.”

He pulled the stuffed animal to his chest, she wrapped her body around his, squinted her eyes at the ceiling, flinched at the explosions on their roof.

“Bunnies hopping,” she breathed, closed her eyes. “Lovely thought. When we go, we’ll go with them.”

 

Flash Fiction Challenge over at Carrot Ranch

March 19, prompt: RabbitIn 99 words (no more, no less) write a story that includes a rabbit (or many rabbits) on the roof.

 

 

Featured On the Reef ~ Teri Polen @TPolen6

 

 

On the Reef is a series featuring fabulous indie authors from around the blogosphere and beyond. Titles, covers, and blurbs that catch my eye, new releases, great reads… Basically, authors I’d like to highlight and works I’d like to share with my fellow book-loving word nerds. Happy Reading!

 

New Release

 

Subject A36 by Teri Polen

If genetic engineering could guarantee you and your family perfect health and unparalleled beauty, would you pay top dollar for it? Would you kill for it?

Residents of the Colony would. And do.

Only the Insurgents can stop them.

Seventeen-year-old Asher Solomon is a premier operative with the Insurgents. He and his team have rescued countless hostages, saving them from painful deaths in Colony labs as desirable genetic traits are stripped from their bodies.

He’s also suffered more losses than anyone should have to.

Then Asher gets intel that might give his people the upper hand. The Colony is searching for Subject A36. If the Insurgents determine the subject’s identity first, they might be able to turn the tide of the war.

Asher and his team embark on their riskiest mission ever, and the stakes have never been higher. But even if he survives the physical dangers, the devastating secrets he uncovers might destroy him.

 

You can get your copy here: 🙂

Amazon UK | Amazon US

 

About Teri:

Teri Polen reads and watches horror, sci-fi, and fantasy. The Walking Dead, Harry Potter, and anything Marvel-related are likely to cause fangirl delirium. She lives in Bowling Green, KY with her husband, sons, and black cat. Sarah, her debut novel, was named a horror finalist in the 2017 Next Generation Indie Book Awards.

Website / Blog
Amazon Author Page
(Please check out her other books here)

 

On the Reef: The Shark’s Friday Feature

 

Featured On the Reef ~ Erik Tyler @BestAdviceSoFar

 

 

On the Reef is a series featuring fabulous indie authors from around the blogosphere and beyond. Titles, covers, and blurbs that catch my eye, new releases, great reads… Basically, authors I’d like to highlight and works I’d like to share with my fellow book-loving word nerds. Happy Reading!

 

New Release

 

Tried and (Still) True by Erik Tyler

With his characteristic wit and conversational style, the author of The Best Advice So Far introduces a proven, practical and refreshingly personal guide to self-empowerment. Discover what more than five centuries of brilliant minds somehow knew about thriving despite the uncertainty of a modern age. No hype. No jargon. No quick fixes. Just clear and simple strategies that work.

Answer a few simple questions to yourself:

When did you last make a positive change that stuck?

Do you often say yes to things you wish you hadn’t?

How deeply connected do you feel to others?

What is your driving force or purpose?

Are you truly happy?

Those of us living in the twenty-first century have become obsessed with new. We allow ourselves to get caught in a never-ending loop of chasing the latest guru or seminar or system that promises success and happiness. Yet all the while, we step right over the time-tested tools that history has already left squarely in our path.

TRIED & (Still) TRUE takes a different tack on “only the strong survive” by making the compelling case that the strongest tools for success and happiness have survived the test of time and remain every bit as true and powerful in 2020 as they ever were.

They’re simple. They’re easy to remember. And they’re yours for the taking. Gain practical, use-it-now strategies for:

• maximizing your time

• saying no and preventing burn-out

• keeping your home, office or dorm room in ship shape with minimal effort

• maintaining peace of mind in the midst of change or upheaval

• beating procrastination and getting stuff done

• cultivating meaningful relationships while letting go of toxic ones

• handling disappointment and loss with character

• figuring out whether to stick with a hard thing or bail

• …and many more real-life skills that just make life better

It’s your turn to discover the “oldest tricks in the book” for making the kinds of small do-able choices that lead to big change—change that lasts.

TRIED & (Still) TRUE includes special features for use in book clubs and other discussion groups.

 

You can get your copy here: 🙂

Amazon US | Amazon UK

About Erik:

Erik is an author, speaker, blogger, mentor, facilitator, workshop leader, people lover, creative force, conversationalist, problem solver, chance-taker, noticer, and lover of life. He lives in the Boston area of Massachusetts.

Website / Blog
Amazon Author Page
(Please check out his other books here)

* Thanks so much to D. Wallace Peach for sharing this book on her blog. That’s how I learned about it. 🙂

On the Reef: The Shark’s Friday Feature

 

Road Trip

 

“This isn’t going to end well, is it.”

He glanced in the rearview mirror. “That a question, little lady?”

“Not really,” she sighed. They’d just passed the exit to Jimmy’s Ice Cream, where he’d promised to bring her. Why the hell had she hitchhiked? Whatever happened now would be her own damn fault. Idiot. Her dead cell phone may soon have some company.

“Well,” he cleared his throat. “This ain’t no fun.”

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, well, join the club.”

“You ain’t scared?”

“Eh.”

He slid a gun from his waistband. “Now?”

“Cool. Can I see that?”

“Er…sure.”

Okay, folks. This is my first ever choose-your-own-adventure flash. What happens next? 

Flash Fiction Challenge over at Carrot Ranch

February 27, prompt: Open Road In 99 words (no more, no less) write a story that includes the open road. Where will the trip lead?