Nick's cover reveal, unless I change my mind :-)

A second post in one day! It must be spring. If you're looking for my Theme Reveal post, it's here.

But, now, I'm delighted to be a part of Nick Wilford's cover reveal...

Title: A Change of Mind and Other Stories

Author: Nick Wilford

Genre: Contemporary speculative fiction

Cover Design: Rebekah Romani

Release Date: May 25^th 2015

A Change of Mind and Other Stories consists of a novella, four short stories and one flash fiction piece. This collection puts the extremes of human behaviour under the microscope with the help of lashings of dark humour, and includes four pieces previously published in Writer’s Muse magazine.

In A Change of Mind, Reuben is an office worker so meek and mild he puts up with daily bullying from his boorish male colleagues as if it’s just a normal part of his day. But when a stranger points him in the direction of a surgeon offering a revolutionary new procedure, he can’t pass up the chance to turn his life around.

But this isn’t your average surgeon. For a start, he operates alone in a small room above a mechanic’s. And he promises to alter his patients’ personality so they can be anything they want to be…

In Marissa, a man who is determined to find evidence of his girlfriend’s infidelity ends up wondering if he should have left well alone.

The Dog God finds a chink in the armour of a man with a megalomaniacal desire to take over the world.

In The Insomniac, a man who leads an obsessively regimented lifestyle on one hour’s sleep a night finds a disruption to his routine doesn’t work for him.

Hole In One sees a dedicated golfer achieving a lifelong ambition.

The Loner ends the collection on a note of hope as two family members try to rebuild their lives after they are torn apart by jealousy.

Bio

Nick Wilford is a writer and stay-at-home dad. Once a journalist, he now makes use of those rare times when the house is quiet to explore the realms of fiction, with a little freelance editing and formatting thrown in. When not working, he can usually be found spending time with his family or cleaning something. Nick is also the editor of Overcoming Adversity: An Anthology for Andrew. You can find him hanging out on his blog or on Goodreads or Twitter.

Preorder Links: Amazon US, Amazon UK or Add it on Goodreads

A - Z Theme Reveal

Right, I did it, I actually signed up again!

I decided upon my theme (term used loosely) while I was completing my entry for this year's Vine Leaves Literary Journal Vignette Collection Award. I had always enjoyed writing flash fiction, but writing vignettes felt quite liberating.

So that is my theme:

26 vignettes that have nothing at all to do with each other.

For those of you who don't know a vignette is, Vine Leaves themselves have the best explanation:

A vignette is what you call a snapshot in words. It differs from flash fiction or a short story in that its aim doesn’t lie within the traditional realms of structure or plot. Instead, the vignette focuses on one element, mood, character, setting, object, or if you’re clever, a unique and smooth blend of them all...

The vignette only has one rule: create an atmosphere, not a story.

I aim promise to keep my vignettes to under 400 words, so that readers won't have to scroll down and spend ages on my blog when they need to keep moving swiftly through the list.

I will be cheating for some entries, using excerpts from my published stories/books. And because I am not writing them in order, the cheating might appear to start quite early!

Check out the linky list here to read what other people will be up to in April.

Kyra's Game On cover reveal

Today, I'm pleased to help Kyra Lennon share the beautiful new covers for her Game On series, and to introduce Book #4 Play On.

BOOK & AUTHOR INFO:

Game On Series by Kyra Lennon
(Game On #1-4)
Genres: Contemporary, New Adult, Romance

Book 1 - Game On:

After swapping her small town life to work for one of the top soccer teams in the U.S, Leah Walker thought she could finally leave the ghosts of her past behind. However, when she meets serial womanizer, Radleigh McCoy, the memories of her old life come swarming back, and she is forced to ask herself whether she has really changed at all.

Book 2 - Blindsided

After a successful first soccer season in L.A, Jesse Shaw heads to London with his best buddy, Hunter, but his world is turned upside down when a dangerous prank threatens his career and his blossoming relationship with Hunter's cousin, Isabelle. Isabelle Mills lives in Notting Hill with her parents and her twin sister, Georgia. When she finds out her cousin is coming to stay, along with his famous soccer player friend, her first instinct is to hibernate until they've gone. However, once she meets Jesse, everything changes. He's everything she ever wanted, but with so many obstacles in their path, can she really risk putting her heart on the line? Blindsided is a New Adult romance.

Book 3 - Sidelined

At the age of twenty-one, Bree Collinson has more than she ever dreamed of. A handsome husband, a fancy house, and more shoes than Carrie Bradshaw and Imelda Marcos combined. But having everything handed to her isn’t the way Bree wants to live the rest of her life. When an idea to better herself pops into her head, she doesn’t expect her husband to question her, and keep her tied by her apron strings to the kitchen.

Isolated and unsure who to turn to, Bree finds herself falling back into a dangerous friendship, and developing feelings for the only person who really listens to her. Torn between her loyalty to her husband and her attraction to a man who has the perfect family she always wanted, she has some tough choices to make.

While Bree tries to figure out what she wants, a tragedy rocks the Westberg Warriors, triggering some dark memories, and pushing her to take a look at what’s really important.

And now for the brand new...

Book 4 - Play On

Freya Phillips’ life was flipped upside down when she lost the man she loved in a tragic accident. Now she has to piece together the remains of her shattered heart and try to find a way to push through her pain to get her life back on track. With reminders of what she’s lost at every turn, anxiety takes over and instead of moving forwards, she finds herself hurtling in the wrong direction.

Freya’s downward spiral leads her unexpectedly into the arms of one of her oldest friends, and as they seek comfort in each other, they realise they have more than just grief in common. Guilt-ridden and confused, Freya is too ashamed to tell anyone what she’s done, but there’s no such thing as a secret in Westberg. When the truth gets out, will Freya escape the gossip with her friendships and pride intact, or will she lose more than she ever bargained for?

Find the series on  Goodreads  and Amazon 

AUTHOR BIO:

Kyra Lennon was born on the South coast of England, and to this day, still lives by the sea. Fiction writing has always been her passion, but she also has numerous articles on a variety of topics published on prolific websites.

Author links:

Blog // Facebook // Twitter // Goodreads

Have you read the series so far?

How much do you love these new covers?

Chocolate and music!

Check out this gorgeous box of handmade German chocolates. Yes, I've eaten one already - it is past 10am, and they've been in the house for two hours. I think I've been quite restrained.

If you've been hanging around my blog, or my Facebook page, recently you'll know that Hubby has been on a five and a half week tour of Germany to promote the digital release of his album Six Strings... Keep Me Sane. Well, he's back! Yay, everything can return to normal.


I made the decision to put my writing on the back burner while he was away to make sure I was on top of everything else, like cooking. I've been scribbling a few flash fictions for the A-Z Challenge, but left larger projects alone; but now I'm really looking forward to getting stuck back in.

Not writing is hard, but sometimes it's necessary. Before Peter went away, I was in a bit of a writing rut - staring at a blank screen, having ideas running through my head, but being unable to put them into words - and now I can't wait to get back to it. My dreams have been getting more and more vivid, which is a sure sign my creative juices are flowing without a proper outlet.

In related news, it's finally light when my alarm goes off in the morning, and when I walked the dog over the last couple of days, I actually had to take my coat off!

You can check out/buy Peter Crawford's album Six Strings... Keep Me Sane here.

IWSG - a musical interlude

Another first Wednesday of the month... here's the list of other members.

I started writing this post a couple of days ago, and a moment ago I deleted it all, because it was too depressing - eg. Amazon rankings seem to imply that one of my books is lower in rank than they actually have books to rank.

So, instead, I am going to provide a musical interlude. Which can also double up as background music while you read other members posts if you open another tab.

Hopefully I'll feel more positive next month!

Edited 4 March 2015, 18:49: I'm not really too hung up on the rankings, I just thought that being 9 millionth and something out of (to quote) over 8 million books was kinda funny :-)