Read a line  or two from the opening paragraphs of each of the short stories in my newest project, Music Speaks. :)


Gone too Soon by Christopher T. Grace

“I was sitting in an overpriced restaurant in Hollywood when I read the news about Bryan Justice.“

The Heart Never Forgets by Ann Cathey

“The job as a trade-show coordinator has me traveling all over the country from convention centers and rodeo arenas to private offices and back.”

Solo by David Antrobus

“So, I could never sing, couldn’t even shout really, which is why it’s such a damn fine spectacular thing I’m a guitar player, thank the almighty music gods in their boundless mercy.”

Heavy Metal Lovesong by Pam Bainbridge-Cowan

“In the early years he was Fat Boy with Guitar. No one talked to him much, girls not at all.”

Save Me by Erin McGowan

“As I crossed the overpass for 161, I thought about crossing the turn lane, timing it just right, and jumping off the bridge.“

Playlist by James Clark

“He wanted to remember who had been in the car with him, but it was in the shadows along with just about everything else about the latest party.  Or the one before.  Or the one before that….   “

Music Heals All Hearts by Laurie Sorensen

“Martin strolled the hallways of St. Vincent’s Hospital, strumming on the guitar in his arms, something he always did to soothe the people in pain.”

Punk Rock 101 by JD Mader

“First show you ever played. Venue the size of a shoebox. Smell like 100 pairs of wrecked Chuck Taylors. Cigarettes. Some other smells you don’t recognize. Yet.”

Double-edged Sword (Jukebox Heroes Vignette -Seth) by LB Clark

“On nights like tonight, when I’ve had one Scotch too many, I stop and wonder where I’d be without music.”

Heaven Sent (Jukebox Heroes Vignette - Chris) by LB Clark

“I turned away from my dinner long enough to give her a once-over.  She looked like a thousand other women who’d walked through Haven’s front doors: medium height, medium build, medium brown hair, hoodie and Converse and jeans.  Average, and kind of boring.“

End of the Line (Jukebox Heroes Vignette -Adrian) by LB Clark

“In my head, I could hear the moving hands tick-tick-ticking like a metronome.  It wasn’t the wall clock I was hearing, but the imagined sound of my wife’s biological clock.”

 

100% of royalties go directly to the MusiCares Foundation, an organization that helps music industry professionals in times of need.

The ebook can be found at Amazon, BN.com, and Smashwords. 

Maids of Misfortune - a Victorian San Francisco Mystery by M. Louisa Locke

Blurb:

It’s the summer of 1879, and Annie Fuller, a young San Francisco widow, is in trouble. Annie’s husband squandered her fortune before committing suicide five years earlier, and one of his creditors is now threatening to take the boardinghouse she owns to pay off a debt.

Annie Fuller also has a secret. She supplements her income by giving domestic and business advice as Madam Sibyl, one of San Francisco’s most exclusive clairvoyants, and one of Madam Sibyl’s clients, Matthew Voss, has died. The police believe his death was suicide brought upon by bankruptcy, but Annie believes Voss has been murdered and that his assets have been stolen.

Nate Dawson has a problem. As the Voss family lawyer, he would love to believe that Matthew Voss didn’t leave his grieving family destitute. But that would mean working with Annie Fuller, a woman who alternatively attracts and infuriates him as she shatters every notion he ever had of proper ladylike behavior.

Sparks fly as Anne and Nate pursue the truth about the murder of Matthew Voss in this light-hearted historical mystery set in the foggy gas-lit world of Victorian San Francisco.

Review:

Maids of Misfortune is the kind of book that keeps you reading until the wee hours even when you have to be up early for work.  The characters are all aptly realized, the sort who you can’t help feeling something for.  The storyline is interesting and without holes, and the mystery - while adequately foreshadowed - manages to keep you guessing up until the end.  The best thing about this book, though, are the details: descriptions of San Francisco and the coast, daily life in the Voss household and at Annie’s boarding house, bits and pieces about the characters and locales.  Everything is richly imagined and brought to life without the long, boring descriptive passages that many authors resort to.

Highly recommended to readers of cozy or historical mysteries or those who love well-written ‘pageturners’.

Rating: 4 stars

REVIEW - Dreams and Nightmares

Title: Dreams and Nightmares

Author: Ann Werner

Blurb:

On what feels like the worst day of her life, instead of getting an expected marriage proposal, Decker Jones is dumped by her boyfriend of three years. Her heartbreak is tempered with joy when she receives the news that after ten long years of trying to get noticed, top literary agent Lillian Cardone has agreed to represent her, moving her a giant leap forward towards the dream of becoming a bestselling author.

Albert Crawford is a career bank robber who is planning to retire to live the good life in Mexico after pulling one last job. Things go horribly wrong when a bank guard is killed. Three time loser Albert is arrested and sent to spend the rest of his life in prison. Two different people. Two different futures on a collision course. Neither can imagine what the future holds.

Review:

For most of the book, I had no idea how Albert and Decker’s lives would intersect.  That Werner managed to keep that under wraps is impressive.  The book shifts from one character’s story to another until they intersect in the last quarter of the book.  The stories are interesting in their own right, but trying to sort out how they will come together – and then watching them collide – is what makes Dreams and Nightmares so compelling.

The story is well thought-out and well written.  The characters are believable and the descriptions evocative.

I enjoyed this book a great deal and would recommend it to anyone who’s looking for a novel that’s neither fluffy nor weighty but just right. 

Rating: 4 stars