Wednesday, February 26, 2014

#ReviewShare #Thriller - Jack Canon's American Destiny by Greg Sandora @GregSandora

Jack Canon's American DestinyJack Canon's American Destiny by Greg Sandora
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Jack Cannon's American Destiny is the first book I am reading from this author. After the Jack Ryan series by Tom Clancy I was a bit skeptical that something similar could be any good. I had a hard time putting down this book.

Sandora's writing is fast-paced and more than once I found my heart pounding as certain key events took place. If taken too seriously, it doesn't make you feel particularly good about our government or its many agencies and politicians, though there are (thankfully) a few exceptions.

In the context of a fictional story, I was really impressed with the level of detail the author provided, not to mention that the speed was consistent so the fast pace and attention grabbing parts of the book seemed to just keep on coming.

And just when you think the story's got to end, it gets interesting in a hurry... But that's all I'll say on that subject. You have to discover the mysterious and somewhat hunky Jack Canon on your own. My only negative point was that sometimes the flow of words were a bit jerky or used too much jargon.

Disclosure - As a Quality Reads Book Club member, I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.



View all my reviews

Conspiracy of Silence by Gledé Browne Kabongo @gkabongo #Suspense #Excerpt #AmReading

On Thursday evening, Nina was home alone with pizza and a movie for company. When Marc was away, she took extra care to bolt every door and triple-checked to make sure the alarm was armed. They lived in a neighborhood where the crime statistics barely registered with the police department, but psychopaths didn’t care what zip code you lived in.
She threw on her favorite cotton nightie, grabbed a plate of pizza, popped the disc in the DVD player and settled in for a quiet evening of entertainment. The opening credits were still rolling when the doorbell rang. She paused the movie and charged towards the front door like a raging bull.
“Who is it?” she shouted.
“Nina, open the door. It’s me.”
She froze for a split second, wondering what on earth he was doing at her home this late. She made it clear how she felt about him and couldn’t imagine what was so important that he would show up unannounced. But then again, that seemed to be his favorite MO where she was concerned. She opened the door grudgingly. Phillip stood at the entrance with a silly grin on his face.
“You’re crossing the line as always. This is my home. It’s after nine o’clock at night.”
“I have good news.”
“There’s this invention called the telephone. Use it.”
“Are you going to let me in or would you prefer to have your neighbors call the cops because there’s a suspicious looking black man standing at the door and no one’s letting him in?”
“You weren’t too concerned about the neighbors when you stole my diary,” Nina griped, as she led him to the living room. “Or did you have someone else do your dirty work?”
“Goodness, Nina. Can’t you let that go? I told you I don’t have anything that belongs to you.”
Nina offered a mirthless laugh. “What do you want?”
“Geraldine came back. I don’t know what you said to her, but it worked.”
“Is there a full moon out tonight?”
“She said the two of you met and you helped her see things in a new light.”
“Did the light suck the grey matter from her brain?”
He sat down on the sofa and gestured for her to sit next to him. “I have something to give you.”
“No thanks. You’ve given me plenty. I still carry the scars.”
“Nina, please. I know I haven’t always been the best father. I wasn’t there for you as much as I should have. But I wanted to say thank you. You gave me my wife back and I wanted to express my gratitude,” he said, removing a small black box from his jacket pocket.
It didn’t make sense to Nina. After her conversation with Geraldine, she was positive there was no way she would stay with Phillip. Something must have happened to change her mind, something huge. Why would she go back to him? What was keeping her? Nina was sure she wouldn’t like the answer. She of all people knew how Phillip operated and how persuasive he could be. Maybe he worked his particular brand of black magic on his wife. What a shame.
Nina took the box from him and moved to the far end of the sofa and opened it. Inside was a stunning cross, encrusted with dozens of small diamonds with a large birthstone, her birthstone in the center. Based on the brilliance of the stones, Nina estimated the gift to be worth tens of thousands of dollars. She was speechless.
“I know how important your faith is to you,” he said.
“Then you should familiarize yourself with Leviticus Chapter 18. The gift is very generous, but I can’t accept it.” She returned the cross to the box and placed it in his hands.
He took her refusal as an affront. “You’re my daughter. Why can’t you accept a gift from your own father? I had this made especially for you. There’s even an inscription.”
He seemed genuinely baffled by her response. How odd. What did he expect? That she would jump into his arms, give him a big hug and tell him how much she loved it and he was the best dad ever? Well, that scenario already played out when she was a kid and it ended badly. She wasn’t falling for that trick again.
“You know why I can’t accept it.”
“Don’t do this, Nina. You said I was a sociopath who hated women, including you. That’s the most painful thing anyone has ever said to me and it hurt even more because it came from my own daughter.”
“Oh, sorry. I didn’t know you had feelings. You should have told me sooner.”
“This is funny to you?” he asked softly. “You think how I feel about you is funny?”
Her mood transformed from playful sarcasm to a dangerous place she had trained herself to avoid entirely. “That’s the problem, Phillip. I don’t know how you feel about me. I could only interpret your actions. Based on our history, I came to the painful realization that you weren’t capable of giving me what I wanted: a father who wouldn’t take advantage of a little girl’s desire to be loved and accepted by her dad without conditions. I promise you, I’m fine with it. You don’t have to pretend. Most kids take their parents’ love for granted. I had to learn that I couldn’t have what other kids had in that regard.”
It was a jaded view she had spent years cultivating, another survival mechanism. It only hurt if she talked about it and she never had until now. She could feel the tightness rising in her chest and prayed to God she wouldn’t start bawling right then and there.

“That’s not how it is, Nina,” he said, desperate for her to believe him. “I’ve always loved you. You have no idea how much. That will never change. You don’t see it because you don’t want to. You prefer to dwell on bitterness and negativity.”
“It might be easy for you to dismiss what you obviously refuse to acknowledge and that way, you don’t have to take responsibility. I never had that luxury. You took away who I was supposed to be, the woman I would have become, so I had to work like a dog to create a new me from scratch. Do you know how hard it is to create a new person from the damaged scraps that existed before?”
They both fell silent. When he reached over to hold her hand, she brushed it away.
“You were lost to me for eighteen years, Nina. A parent never stops being a parent.”
“Don’t talk to me about parenthood. Add that to the long list of things you took from me.”
“I know you believe I was responsible for your miscarriage but you don’t know the whole story.”
“Enlighten me, then. You knew I was in trouble but delayed calling for help. Every second counted and the outcome could have been different if you weren’t trying to be a control freak who wanted to teach me a lesson.”
His expression was deeply melancholic, as if she had just twisted a sword in his chest. “That baby was my first grandchild. It took the ambulance at least fifteen minutes to get there. Everything happened quickly, from the time you said something was wrong to the time you passed out, it was a few short minutes. After the paramedics showed up, I stayed behind to clean up the blood on the floor the best way I could before I left for the hospital. The doctors said he was gone before the ambulance got there, all they could do was treat you.”
Conspiracy_Science
#1 Amazon Bestseller in the suspense and women's psychological fiction categories.
Boston executive Nina Kasai has been living a lie since her days as a student at Stanford University. But she's about to learn that some secrets are too big to stay buried.
Years ago, Nina fled from her life of wealth and privilege and vowed never to look back. The horrifying truth has been locked away in her hidden diary, and in the mind of a disturbed woman who will never tell, ever. However, the perfect life she's since created is about to come crashing down when Phillip Copeland --a ghost from her past with political ambition and secrets of his own, makes Nina an offer she can't refuse: her silence in exchange for his.
Soon, it all goes horribly wrong when a  shocking double-cross sends Nina reeling,  and devastating loss threatens to push her over the edge. To make matters worse, her diary, the only link to her secret past has been stolen.
To reclaim her life and bring this twisted game to its stunning conclusion, Nina must confront the past she's been running from, and find the courage to make a life-altering decision that leaves multiple casualties in its wake.
Buy Now @ Amazon
Genre - Psychological Suspense
Rating – R
More details about the author
Connect with Gledé Browne Kabongo on Facebook & Twitter

Fool for Love by Merry Farmer @MerryFarmer20

Chapter Four

The Majestic rose up out of the water in its Liverpool dock with all the glory of its name.  Amelia held one hand to her hat and stared at its iron sides, its two dun-colored funnels and three tall masts.  The ship was a strange thing to her, a mixture of old and new, progress with hints of the past.  It had sails that could be unfurled in a pinch, but with its powerful new engines, the ship could cross the ocean in a week.

Seven days to a new world.  It was an exact description of everything her life had become.  It was every bit as daunting.

“What am I doing?” Amelia whispered, staring at the hopeful monstrosity in front of her.  It was one thing to accept an offer for a new life.  It was another thing entirely to go through with it.

She turned away from the ship, swallowing the nausea that had plagued her since she’d left her mother’s house.  This time it wasn’t morning sickness.  That was long past.  At the moment, the baby was the least of her worries.  Her stomach rolled over the idea that she was about to board a ship heading for a new life at the mercy of a stranger, a man, no less.  The last time she had trusted her life and her future to a man had been a disaster.

She paced, purse clutched to her chest, scanning the busy dock in search of her American savior.  Men, women, and children crowded the gangplanks, eager to start their journeys, excited and hopeful.  Many of the third-class passengers carried bundles that indicated theirs was a one-way trip as much as hers was.  Eric had left her there to go buy her ticket, but there was nothing stopping him from running off and leaving her stranded.  Like her father.  Like Nick.  She was a fool to agree to this.  She pivoted and marched away from the ship.

No, she stopped herself after a handful of steps, this was the best decision she could have made.  She may have felt small and lonely standing by herself, waiting, heart and stomach fluttering, but she was as much a part of the intrepid adventurers seeking a new life in America as any of her fellow passengers.  This was right.

Maybe.

“Well, we got a minor problem on our hands.”

The twang of Eric’s accent shocked Amelia from her worries.  She spun to face him as he approached her with wide strides, scratching his head and looking as guilty as a schoolboy.

“A problem?” she asked, voice fluttering.

“Yeah.  I went to buy you a ticket, but they’re plumb sold out.”

Amelia’s chest tightened and her tender stomach lurched.  “Oh.  Oh dear.  Well I suppose….”

She lowered her eyes, heart aquiver.  As quickly as it started, her chance for a new life was over.  All that worrying for nothing.

She squared her shoulders to face her fate.  “I … I thank you for your efforts on my behalf regardless, Mr. Quinlan.”

Eric’s brow crinkled into a curious frown.  “Regardless?”

“I suppose I could find work here in Liverpool,” she explained.  “Surely there must be a shop somewhere that would look the other way from….”  She lowered her hand to the mound of her stomach.

Eric’s lips twitched.  The morning sunlight caught in his eyes.  “I didn’t want to have to put you in third-class, so I told them you were my wife.”

Amelia blinked.  “You what?”

“I told them we’re newlyweds.  I reserved my stateroom in first class last year when I came over.  Good thing I paid for it then too, ‘cuz after this fiasco of a trip I’ll never ride first-class again.  Anyhow, when they said they didn’t have any more rooms, I told them you were my wife and that we would be staying in the same stateroom.  They sold me a ticket for that.”  He handed her a fresh, clean ticket with her name written as ‘Mrs. Amelia Quinlan’.  “Sorry.”

Amelia held perfectly still on the outside, but on the inside her heart pounded and her stomach rolled with guilt for questioning him.  He wasn’t abandoning her.  He had gone out of his way to help her.  Her heart squeezed as it never had before.  She took the ticket from him with a trembling hand, hardly noticing when her fingers brushed his.  She was rescued after all.

“Thank you, Mr. Quinlan.  You have no idea how much this kindness means to me.”  She had to concentrate on breathing, standing straight, and looking up into his handsome eyes with a smile to keep her tears at bay.

“You don’t mind sharing then?” he asked her.

FoolForLove

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre – Western Historical Romance

Rating – R

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Connect with Merry Farmer on Facebook & Twitter

Website http://merryfarmer.net

Sunday, February 23, 2014

Eva Fejos' #WriteTip for Building Your Career as a Writer @fejoseva #amreading #amwriting

How to build up your career as a writer even if your publisher/agent doesn’t put too much emphasis on this?
The basic starting point should be that your book is good. You believe this to be true and that is why it has been published. Now ‘the only thing’ you have to do is to find your readers who will spread the news of the wonderful book you have written by word of mouth. How can you achieve this?
1. Use social media and be yourself. Write down your opinion on things, post excerpts from your work, show people what you’re like. The power of one’s personality is becoming increasingly important, so make sure your showing your true self and not some ‘invented character,’ because sooner or later, deception will be exposed.
2. Meet your future readers. Meet them at book clubs, schools, libraries, and take part in the organization of these meetings. Don’t try to sell books, don’t read from your book, but instead, talk to the people who came, show yourself, talk about your novel, but don’t try and pitch it, because that is ‘literally’ not your job. Your task is to show yourself, to ‘sell yourself.’ Get people interested in you and your work. Appear at all meetings possible.
3. Be on good terms with bloggers and journalists. Don’t get offended if they are critical of your work. Don’t be concerned with this at all. Don’t react to negative criticism, don’t defend yourself, don’t retaliate, because it will only make things worse. Accept the fact that not everyone has the same taste, and so your book can’t please everyone either. There’s nothing wrong with that. But you must know that if you argue with bloggers, critics, or commenters, your will NEVER come out on top. It’s much most elegant if you just go on with your work, and if someone asks for an interview or a guest post, be accommodating.
4. Create your own web page if you haven’t already. Post excerpts from your works and host lots of games where people have the chance to win a copy of your book. Free books can spread knowledge about you, so be generous.
5. Only very few people are able to achieve a breakthrough from one moment to the next. Usually outsiders forget that even these authors have many, many years of work behind their seemingly fast, or ‘instant’ success. So don’t be impatient. Write, write, write, and build slowly, but surely. If your works are good, sooner or later you will be discovered, but make sure you do all you can to get yourself noticed, and follow the advice I mentioned above.

BangkokTransit
Bangkok: a sizzling, all-embracing, exotic city where the past and the present intertwine. It’s a place where anything can happen… and anything really does happen. The paths of seven people cross in this metropolis. Seven seekers, for whom this city might be a final destination. Or perhaps it is only the start of a new journey? A successful businessman; a celebrated supermodel; a man who is forever the outsider; a young mother who suddenly loses everything; a talented surgeon, who could not give the woman he loved all that she desired; a brothel’s madam; and a charming young woman adopted at birth. Why these seven? Why did they come to Bangkok now, at the same time? Do chance encounters truly exist?
Bangkok Transit is a Central European best-seller. The author, Eva Fejos, a Hungarian writer and journalist, is a regular contributor to women’s magazines and is often herself a featured personality. Bangkok Transit was her first best-seller, which sold more than 100,000 copies and is still selling. Following the initial publication of this novel in 2008, she went on to write twelve other best-sellers, thus becoming a publishing phenomena in Hungary According to accounts given by her readers, the author’s books are “therapeutic journeys,” full of flesh and blood characters who never give up on their dreams. Many readers have been inspired to change the course of their own lives after reading her books. “Take your life into your own hands,” is one of the important messages the author wishes to convey.
Try it for yourself, and let Eva Fejos whisk you off on one of her whirlwind journeys... that might lead deep into your own heart.
evafejos_portrait
About Eva Fejos, the author of Bangkok Transit
- Eva Fejos is a Hungarian writer and journalist.
She:
- has had 13 best-selling novels published in Hungary so far.
- Bangkok Transit is her first best-seller, published in 2008.
- has won several awards as a journalist, and thanks to one of her articles, the legislation pertaining to human egg donation was modified, allowing couples in need to acquire donor eggs more easily.  
- spends her winters in Bangkok.
- likes novels that have several storylines running parallel.
- visited all the places she’s written about. 
- spent a few days at an elephant orphanage in Thailand; and has investigated the process of how Thai children are put up for adoption while visiting several orphanages. 
- founded her own publishing company in Hungary last year, where she not only publishes her own books, but foreign books too, hand-picked by her. 
- Her books published in Hungary thus far are:
Till Death Do Us Part (Holtodiglan) | Bangkok Transit | Hotel Bali | Chicks (Csajok) | Strawberries for Breakfast (Eper reggelire) | The Mexican (A mexikói) | Cuba Libre | Dalma | Hello, London | Christmas in New York (Karácsony New Yorkban) | Caribbean Summer (Karibi nyár) | Bangkok, I Love You (Szeretlek, Bangkok) | Starting Now – the new edition of Till Death Do Us Part (Most kezdődik) | Vacation in Naples – the English version will be published in summer, 2014 (Nápolyi vakáció)
To be published in spring of 2014: I Waited One Hundred Nights (Száz éjjel vártam)
Bangkok Transit (English version): http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HDIT4UY
Buy Now @ Amazon
Genre - Women's Fiction, Contemporary
Rating – PG-13
More details about the author
Connect with Eva Fejos on Facebook & Twitter

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Najeev Raj Nadarajah on Living Anywhere in the World @NRNadarajah #fantasy #author #goodreads


What else do you do to make money, other than write? It is rare today for writers to be full time… 
I work at University of Toronto as a building patrol for their libraries. It’s a great job where I meet a wide variety of interesting (and eccentric) people, and it allows me time to write.
What other jobs have you had in your life? 
I’ve been a paperboy for the Toronto Sun, a busboy for the Keg Steakhouse, a cashier/receiver/cleaner for Tim Horton’s, a digital imaging specialist for Best Buy, a home tutor, as well as a security guard.
If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be? 
Naturally, I’d say a tropical island without a care in the world. But that’d drive anyone nuts after a while. I get bored easily. I’m someone that likes to keep active, whether it’s by playing hockey, going out, working, or even moving about at home, keeping busy.
Having said that, I believe I’m already living in one of the greatest cities in the world. We have everything here. Everything! You’d be hard-pressed to find even a fraction of the food options we have in this city in any other city across the world. You name it. We’ve got it. And for a guy like me who loves good food and breathes hockey, Toronto’s one kickass place to live.
How do you write – lap top, pen, paper, in bed, at a desk? 
I’m a creature of habit. By that, I mean I need three things to work. My laptop. A library. A medium double-double from Tim Horton’s.
Provide me with those three, and I’ll be able to work for hours.
When you are not writing, how do you like to relax? 
I’m a big fan of hockey, so naturally, I play the sport as well as spend countless hours watching games, viewing highlights, and taking care of my fantasy team rosters.
Aside from that, I also love watching particular anime and TV shows.
I’m a very simple guy and I like to keep it that way.
Do you have any tips on how writers can relax? 
I’ve got a simple tip that not only works for writers, but anyone who’s looking to relax their mind. Grab a seat. Kick back. Take a half hour or so and treat yourself to a good video or two. Make yourself laugh. Laughter’s a great medicine for one’s mind and soul.
There’s only one other thing I can advise that works wonders, even more so than laughter, and that’s exercising.
Try one or the other, or even both together. Laugh while exercising to your heart’s content. Having said that, here’s one final tip on what I just said. Make sure you don’t laugh when you’re bench pressing.
How often do you write? And when do you write? 
I write every day between 1pm and 5pm. That’s probably because those are the times in which I’m free. Aside from that four hour timeslot, I take every opportunity I get to write, even if it’s just a few words or sentences.
Do you have an organized process or tips for writing well? Do you have a writing schedule? 
I follow two simple rules when I write. Every day, I make an attempt to write at a specific time. The reason behind that is simple. We’re all creatures of habit. Once you get used to doing something regularly, it’ll eventually become force of habit. You’d no longer have to struggle to get yourself into that chair, or into that mindset to write.
Secondly, if I’m struggling to form thoughts and place them down as words, I won’t force it. You don’t ever want to force your story to progress. When my brain says enough’s enough, I step away from my writing and start browsing online. I’ll read up on writing advice, read reviews for other novels. I’d read reviews others wrote about my novel, I’d watch a YouTube video or two, and just simply kill time. Eventually, given a few minutes, my brain will kick into gear. Sometimes, all it needs is a little jogging.
Sometimes it’s so hard to keep at it - What keeps you going? 
I want to tell stories and make others happy. I want to leave behind a legacy. I want to do what no other in my family has done ever before. I dream and hope to achieve something that no other Tamil born has done ever before.
It’s not the fame I’m after, but the recognition. The acknowledgement. That alone is enough to keep me going.
What movie do you love to watch? 
My most favourite movies of all time: The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Pretty soon, The Hobbit will fall in with that series.
Aside from that, I also love the Harry Potter series.

DreamCaster
Haunted by memories of his massacred settlement, sixteen-year-old Weaver seeks cover in a hidden refuge among the remains of a ruined city. In the midst of building a new life, Weaver discovers that he has the amazing power to cast his dreams into reality. Convinced it’s just an anomaly, Weaver ignores it. That is until he learns of a mysterious man who shares the ability, and uses his power to bring nightmares into existence and wage war on the world. The peaceful life Weaver hoped for begins to unravel as waves of chaos begin to break loose about him. In a race against time, Weaver must learn to accept his role as a dream caster and master his new power, before his new home is destroyed and humanity is pushed to the brink of extinction.
Buy @ Amazon & Smashwords
Genre – Fantasy
Rating – PG
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Connect with Najeev Raj Nadarajah on Facebook Twitter

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Josh VanBrakle & What Motivates Him to Write @joshvanbrakle #YA #Fantasy


What motivates you to write?
I have a lot of strange ideas, and I tend to take perspectives that a lot of people don’t have. Sharing those thoughts is a big motivation for my writing. I want to help people see the world in a different way. I want to communicate with others and share my passions. I’ve always been amazed at the ability of a good writer or filmmaker to reach out to an audience they’ve never met and make them laugh, cry, or scream at all the right moments. I want to be able to do that with my writing.
My fans also motivate me. They’ve told me how much they enjoyed The Wings of Dragons and how eager they are for book two of The Dragoon Saga, so I can’t let them down.
What writing are you most proud of?
No question, the piece I’m most proud of is my debut novel, The Wings of Dragons (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FKJKJCA) published by Arboreal Press. I started forming the ideas for it over a decade ago, and its release marks the achievement of a lifelong dream for me to publish a book. I put over two years of sweat, toil, and (I’m not ashamed to admit) tears into that book, and all of that hard work has paid off.
What are you most proud of in your personal life?
It has nothing to do with my fiction writing, but I’m proud to have earned a Master’s degree in natural resource management from the State University of New York. Much like writing a novel, graduate school for me was a two-year process with a massive research project and an equally massive thesis. Looking back, I still can’t believe I crammed everything I did in grad school into two years. All that work helped when I wrote The Wings of Dragons. It wasn’t necessarily the subject matter, although I use my knowledge of the environment to make my settings more believable. Rather, it’s the skills I learned in how to plan out big projects, to take them one step at a time and to stick with them even when they seem impossible.
What books did you love growing up?
Although I write fantasy, I grew up reading more science fiction, especially the Star Wars expanded universe books. I was growing up about the time books like Timothy Zahn’s Heir to the Empire were just coming out, and since I loved the original Star Wars trilogy, I devoured everything related to it.
Who is your favorite author?
Wow, there are so many I could pick from here. I really enjoy Michael Crichton. He told a great story and always kept me turning the page. He also had the ability to integrate science (like cloning in Jurassic Park) and take it one step further to make a thrilling novel made all the scarier by its seeming potential to really happen.
On a more personal level, though, my favorite author has to be Shannon Delany, author of the 13 to Life series and the Weather Witch series. She hosted the writing workshops in 2011 that inspired me to follow my dream and get a novel published. She’s also continued to support me and give great advice ever since. She’s a kind, wonderful person, and without her, you wouldn’t be reading these words right now.
What genre of books do you adore?
Fantasy, especially high fantasy (“swords and sorcery”) is my favorite. I love the magical places, the bizarre creatures, and the incredible spells authors come up with. Like a lot of genres, it can get overdone, like when every novel you read has Elves, Dwarves, Goblins, and Halflings in it. But the ones that do it really well, that let their imaginations run wild while at the same time telling real, human stories, those are some of the best books I’ve ever read. 
What book should everybody read at least once?
The Wings of Dragons by Josh VanBrakle, naturally. Oh, you wanted me to name someone else’s book? In that case, as a fantasy nerd, I have to say The Hobbit. It’s like my book’s great-granddaddy, and you have to respect your roots.
Are there any books you really don’t enjoy?
I read a lot of genres in both fiction and non-fiction, and as long as the story’s compelling and the characters are believable, I’m pretty flexible. That said, I’ve never been able to get into the bodice-ripper kinds of romance novels. I’m also not a huge fan of horror, although I do enjoy some thriller writers like Michael Crichton.
What do you hope your obituary will say about you?
“He gave life everything he had.”

The Wings of Dragons
From fantasy author Josh VanBrakle comes an epic new trilogy of friendship, betrayal, and explosive magic. Lefthanded teenager Iren Saitosan must uncover a forgotten history, confront monsters inspired by Japanese mythology, and master a serpentine dragon imprisoned inside a katana to stop a revenge one thousand years in the making.
Lodian culture declares lefthanded people dangerous and devil-spawned, and for Iren, the kingdom's only known Left, that's meant a life of social isolation. To pass the time and get a little attention, he plays pranks on the residents of Haldessa Castle. It's harmless fun, until one of his stunts nearly kills Lodia's charismatic heir to the throne. Now to avoid execution for his crime, Iren must join a covert team and assassinate a bandit lord. It's a suicide mission, and Iren's chances aren't helped when he learns that his new katana contains a dragon's spirit, one with a magic so powerful it can sink continents and transform Iren into a raging beast.
Adding to his problems, someone on Iren's team is plotting treason. When a former ally launches a brutal plan to avenge the Lefts, Iren finds himself trapped between competing loyalties. He needs to figure out who - and how - to trust, and the fates of two nations depend on his choice.
"A fast-paced adventure...led by a compelling cast of characters. Josh VanBrakle keeps the mysteries going." - ForeWord Reviews
Buy @ Amazon & Smashwords
Genre – YA epic fantasy
Rating – PG-13
More details about the author
Connect with Josh VanBrakle on Twitter