The Ghosts of Morgan Street - A psychological thriller

By P. J. Mann

Every time I think about how I started to conceive this story, it breaks my heart. The Ghosts of Morgan Street, far from being a horror tale talking about dead people coming to haunt the night sleep of the living one, are those people living at the margin of the society.
They are homeless, drug addicts, alcoholics, prostitutes.
Some of those come from a traumatic past from which they could not get out, others had a successful life, but recession took from them everything.
All those people are living in a community they've built up for them.
Harri, a gentleman from Finland, is the man that opened me the way to this novel. He had a life, a job, and a family. After the recession, he could not find anymore a job, and lost the house, giving up to alcoholism.
He lives in the park with other homeless, and when it's too cold, he can ask Police to host him to the jail for the night, at least he would have a dry place where to stay.

I have envisioned him as the man that will create a bond with the main character of the story, Jake, a young man rejected by the family, Patrick Blackwell. He is the man who, regardless of the fact of having lost everything, still finds the strengths to hope for something positive to happen, a chance to get back to what he'd lost. The great chance seem to arrive with the swearing of the new State Governor,

Darren Lewis, a man, determined to listen to the problems and needs of the homeless community.

Of course, together with the tale of their lives, I have inserted in the story my personal touch; a dark twist, a mystery that Jake will have to solve together with a friend ready to help him out, the chief Detective of NYPD, Ayden Boone.

 

Excerpt:

Darren turned his gaze to the car's window; the sun was starting to set, and people were talking to each other sitting on old mattresses. Those were the ghosts, invisible, yet too upsetting to be real ghosts.
Some of them looked lazily at him, but it was as if they were not even paying attention, it was as if they were both looking at a far image.
Too far to be even concerned about each other, he thought, “how can it be that we reached this point?” He suddenly wondered.
“We reached it because we focused only on what can gain a profit. We started to put economic growth in front of everything, and we forgot that not everybody can follow the same growth. Therefore, instead of slowing the pace, we figured that there was something wrong with people who cannot walk as fast as the others. They are the cause of their misery, and we all should forget about them. We believed that they are not as useful as people who can run faster and produce more, and that is when we transformed them into ghosts. We taught our children to despise people who are not strong enough to stand the rhythm of industrial production. Everybody has the duty to contribute to the economic growth of the homeland; everybody needs to sacrifice for it. It is not a question of whether you will get anything back from your sacrifice because nothing will be returned. We have indoctrinated our children to produce without asking, to be proud just of the fact of being part of the big machine. We raised perfect slaves, and when slaves cannot perform, we can discard them and forget about them. We convinced ourselves that this is the right way; that is what we have done, Sir.”

Buy The Ghosts of Morgan Street here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07C9RJVK6
Available also on KU
To know something more about the author: https://pjmann2016.wixsite.com/pjmann
Follow me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paperpenandinkwell

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Hunted: Dragons of the North

Rebecca Tran

In the spotlight today is one of my favorite books. it features not one, but two shifters and crosses species proving love has no boundaries. From the very beginning Lexa and Hunter have sexual tension that builds into a steamy romance. Hunted Dragons of the South is a continuation of my dragon shifter romance and is sure to please any romance fan.

Blurb:

A werewolf with amnesia. The enforcer of the Southern Territory. Saving a wolf in distress leads to more than he bargained for…

Hunter Silver was sent to Arizona to clean up the Southern Territory as their new Enforcer. After nearly a year on the job, things are finally falling into place. Life was ideal. That is until a starved female werewolf wanders into his life. Hunter’s dragon says mine before it ever meets Lexa. This has trouble written all over it. Can Hunter save the territory and Lexa or will he be forced to choose?

After waking up in a cage, Lexa Greene runs as far as she can before nearly collapsing from exhaustion. With her memory gone Lexa has no choice but to trust a handsome stranger. Lexa’s wolf wants Hunter before her human half ever realizes what she is. But Lexa can’t start anything until she’s pieced her life back together, or can she? Will Lexa risk it all for a chance at love or will she run again?

Hunted is the first book in the steamy action packed follow up series to Dragons of the North. Its filled with characters you know and more you’ll adore. Hunter and Lexa offer a complex relationship full of heat and compassion. If you missed the first box series you can still start here without missing a beat although I guarantee you’ll want to read the first set after this book.

Excerpt:

Lexa was in the kitchen finishing dinner when Hunter came home. She called from the kitchen telling him to have a seat. Hunter tossed his keys on the coffee table and flopped on the sofa. Lexa had been here three weeks, and he was starting to get used to her steady presence. She came out a minute later and handed him a beer. She told him dinner was almost done and sat down next to him.

Lexa snuggled in close filling his nose with her blend of wildflowers and crisp mountain air. She smelled like home. He loved it. He loved her. Hunter couldn’t resist telling her. He whispered it in her ear. Lexa looked up at him and her eyes filled with mischief. She ran to the kitchen. It wasn’t the reaction he expected. Hunter took a long drink worried.

When Lexa returned, she took Hunter’s beer and set it on the side table. Then she put her arms around his neck as she straddled him on the couch. Lexa bent down kissing him. Her tongue explored the recesses of his mouth before withdrawing. Her lips gently tugged on his making him want more.

Lexa took off her tank top. Then she slowly unhooked her bra and let it slide off her shoulders. Taught toffee colored nipples waited to tease Hunter. Lexa rocked her body forward. Her center brushed against his shaft that was already throbbing for her. He could feel her heat through the layers of fabric they wore. Hunter caught her; one hand behind her back the other on her ass and thrust her closer. He took one perfect nipple into his mouth making her moan.

Reaching down Lexa skimmed her hands under Hunter’s shirt. She grabbed the edge and tugged it off of him. It left his perfect chest exposed for her to touch as she pleased. Her nails ran over bare skin raising goosebumps on his arms. Hunter captured her lips with his once more. Then he helped her out of her pants.

Hunter ran his thumb over the button at her center. Lexa moaned appreciatively. Then he let his fingers play in her warm folds.  Lexa’s body crashed into his, and he took her breast in his mouth once more. It wouldn’t take much to push her over the edge tonight. He trailed his fingers down her spine as two fingers dipped inside her. Lexa cried out with her pleasure.

As soon as the wave passed Lexa was unbuttoning Hunter’s jeans. He was more than ready for her. He tried to pull her close once more, but she pushed him away. With a little help, Lexa managed to get his pants off.

Then Lexa went to her knees between Hunter’s legs. Lexa took all of him into her mouth, and Hunter had a hard time restraining himself. She licked down one side of his shaft and up the other before sucking gently on the tip. Hunter’s hand fisted in her hair as she pleasured him. He didn’t want it to end. Although, he’d rather be buried deep inside her and he didn’t want to wait.

Hunter told Lexa what he wanted. She smiled at him once more and straddled him on the couch. Lexa took the lead this time, and Hunter found it intoxicating. She slid him inside. Hunter sighed with appreciation. Then she began to move. How had they not done this before? It was amazing.

‘Take her, Make her ours’ his dragon whispered. It was ever more insistent every time Hunter was with Lexa. Tonight the dragon was almost overwhelming. ‘She is ours do it,’ Hunter almost couldn’t focus on Lexa and the pleasure she brought. She nipped at his neck timing her thrusts perfectly.

“Mate, say it, Hunter, you’re mine. Do it.” Lexa’s voice brought him out of his euphoria. Hunter’s dragon was smug now. “Say you are my mate.” She ordered.

“Do you love me, Lexa?” Hunter asked between breaths.

She stopped moving, and it was torture. “Of course I do you ass,”

Hunter smiled “I am yours, mate” Lexa moved again, and he felt her magic sweep over him with her orgasm. Hunter was pulled with it.

His magic swept through her at the same time sealing their mating bond. ‘mate’ It was the first time he heard her wolf. That was going to take some getting used to. ‘Again, I want to meet your dragon.’ The wolf demanded. Hunter looked at Lexa a little worried he meant it when he told her his dragon was temperamental. Any time the beast got involved in sex things got rough. He’d only ever let him out with other dragons.

“He would never hurt me, Hunter we are mates,” Lexa assured him. Then her eyes faded to gold, and the wolf was there. “Your dragon is a part of you. Stop fearing what it can do.”


The irony wasn’t lost on Hunter. Lexa had to accept what she was turned into while Hunter was born this way. He’d known his beast his whole life, and there was a part of him who feared letting go. Hunter laid Lexa back on the couch and kissed her one last time before relinquishing control to his dragon.

I am a mother of two and author of romance, sci-fi, and fantasy. I love romantic comedies, fantasy, and sci-fi flicks. Currently I'm binge watching Vikings and getting my butt beat in Call of Duty. I've also come to love a female Dr. If you are interested in my work or my personal website you can find it here.

 

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An extra help to get you into bookstores (Part 2).



Last time I was talking about the two ways to get published and I gave a hint on how to make possible even for an indie author to have a concrete chance to have their books listed on physical bookstores.
There is the combination Amazon/KDP + IngramSpark that seems to work quite well on that sense.
The open question I wanted to focus the attention was the quality between the two prints and how to solve a couple of barely perceptible difference between the two prints.

1. The tones of the colors.
Since there aren’t two printing machines that give the same results, you need to understand that there will be some differences and, in this case, I have noticed that the colors of the book printed from Amazon are brighter and more vibrant than those in the cover printed by IngramSpark.
Again, the difference is minimal, and you can be happy with the result obtained without the need to change anything. However, if you prefer having the exact same results, keep in mind to brighten the colors for the cover printed by IngramSpark.

The book on the left is the one printed through IngramSpark, the one on the right is the one printed through Amazon.

2. The trim and cover formatting:
Although the trim is the same, there is a substantial difference between the margins suggested by Amazon and those by IngramSpark. The latter prefers keeping the bleed thinner, so you need to calibrate the two covers according to the guidelines so that they will look exactly the same once printed.

3. Inside the books:
Honestly, the quality of the binding is in both cases excellent, and I have nothing to say about. I use the cream color for the pages of the book, because it gives that lovely nostalgic look old books have, so the Amazon version is slightly lighter cream color barely noticeable, and the print is larger, making the book thicker (404 pages in the Amazon version against the 398 of the IngramSpark version).

Once you know in advance about those little differences between the two prints, you can plan the cover accurately so to have two perfectly equal paperbacks. However, considering that those difference do not affect the general quality of the product, you can also decide to ignore them.
Personally, I am not going to make any change in this book, rather I am going to correct those small issues for the next books.

I hope this information was useful, have a great day!

 

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365: Poetry by Cindy J. Smith at #OurAuthorGang

Poems from the Heart

by Cindy J. Smith

 

AMAZON

 

This collection was created from my 2017 New Years Resolution. Seeing and hearing various remarks about the new year being "a clean slate" and that "each day is a new page in life write something fresh" inspired me to vow to write a poem everyday. I do write almost everyday so I challenged myself to collect the very first poem, no matter the topic, as the day's offering. No theme was involved, everything was fair game. I wanted to be able to look back and see if perspectives really do change daily. I offer everyone a ride on this poetic rollercoaster, where life changed at the speed of a turned page.

 



 HALF & HALF

Life is a struggle

A balancing act
Find "truths" by mixing
Some fiction with fact
To find happiness
Plod through woe and grief
Use sports and hobbies
For boredom relief
Our friendships keep
Enemies at bay
Work hard to succeed
But make time for play
Appreciate light
Because we know the black
Face sadness knowing
Smiles can bring joy back
Negatives reveal
Positives reward
Balancing the carrot
We all head towards

 



The readers said:

"It has everything love, sadness, sarcasm and humor...there really are so many emotions and I think she touches them all, meaning to or not! What a perfect collection of what is quite possibly her heart and soul. How special are we that she is so willing to share them. "  Kim Page

 

"I can open this book at any time and find new meanings to fit my own situations. This is what Smith does for me, she writes what I can't even express. She gets in my head, and I have made her a place there."  Marsha Thalleen

 

"Not only is 365 an engaging collection of creative art, it reads with the fascination of a diary. Each poem is a window into its day of creation, an intimate vantage point that sweeps you away into the author's world." EIEIOMommy

 

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C. S. Lewis

C. S. Lewis

Christina Weigand

C. S. Lewis; Clive Staples Lewis was born November 29, 1898 to Albert Lewis and Florence Lewis in Belfast, Ireland. He had one brother, Warren (Warnie). He died on November 22, 1963 in Oxford, England.

At four years old, Lewis witnessed, his dog, Jacksie, killed by a car. After having seen that he declared that to honor his dog he would only answer to the name Jacksie, which he later agreed to shorten to Jack. To his friends and family he became Jack for the remainder of his life.

As a youngster he was schooled by private tutors until the age of nine which coincided with his mother’s death from cancer. He was then sent to board and study at Wynyard School in Watford Hertfordshire where his brother was already enrolled. When the school closed shortly afterwards he attended Campbell College in Belfast until he had to quit due to respiratory problems. He was sent to a health resort town, Malvern Worchestershire, and studied at Cherbourg House, a preparatory school. It was here that he abandoned his childhood faith and became an atheist, interested in mythology and the occult. Later he attended Malvern College for a short time and then studied with his father’s old tutor.

Throughout his teen years he was fascinated with Icelandic sagas. His love for nature grew and its beauty reminded him of stories of the North. As a young teen he and his brother wrote together and created the world of Boxen, inhabited and run by animals.

Boxen: The Imaginary World of the Young

 With growing older, he moved away from Boxen and wrote epic poetry and opera to try and capture his fascination with Norse mythology.

Lewis was awarded a scholarship for University College, Oxford and within months of registering the British Army shipped him to France to fight in WWI. Several months later he was wounded and two colleagues were killed. He suffered depression and homesickness. Upon his recovery he was assigned to duty in Andover, England and later demobilized. Then he restarted his education.

After he returned from the war and received numerous honors he became a philosophy tutor at University College and later was elected a fellow and tutor at Magdalen College, where he served for 29 years. Eventually he returned to Christianity with the influences of J. R. R. Tolkien.

At the start of WWII he and his brother Warnie, took in child evacuees from London and other cities into his home, the Kilns as it was called. It was theorized that this is where he came up with the idea for The Narnia Series along with his childhood home, Little Lea. He tried to reenlist but was refused. During the war he spoke on religious programmes broadcast by BBC from London. Later these broadcasts were anthologized in Mere Christianity.

After the war Lewis accepted the chair of Mediaevel and Renaissance Literature at Magdalene College, Cambridge and remained there until his death. During this time he along with a circle of literary friends, that included J. R. R. Tolkien, Charles Williams, and Owen Barfield along with his brother, Warren started the Inklings.

In his later life he met and married Joy Davidman Gresham, an American writer. She divorced her alcoholic husband and moved to England with her two sons. When she passed away from cancer in 1960 he continued to raise her sons.

Besides writing the Narnia fantasies he also wrote Space Trilogy, science fiction for adults. His non-fiction featured such works as Mere Christianity and Miracles. He wrote more than 300 books that have been translated into more than 30 languages and have sold millions of copies. Some of his fiction have been seen on stage, TV, radio and cinema. His philosophical works have been cited by many Christian apologists.

 Space Trilogy, science fiction for adults.

 The Narnia Series

 Mere Christianity

 Miracles

C. S. Lewis, a multi-talented gentleman has left us a lasting legacy that will continue to inspire people for ages to come.

Photos from: https://www.amazon.com/C.-S.-Lewis/e/B000APXBPG

Information: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._S._Lewis

To see more of my posts on dragons, characters and authors go here.

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