VBT Presents: Tribal Affairs by Matt Dallmann

YA/Fantasy

Date Published: 07/31/17

Dahlia, a centuries old genie, lies hopelessly trapped in a damaged golden locket charm attached to an ankle bracelet. Its owner, sixteen-year-old Liana, wears it for the first time during her father Jamison’s opening night illusion spectacular. Not only does its presence cause Jamison to folly his performance, but it also starts a chain of bizarre events that lead to a showdown with Dahlia’s mortal enemy, Stefan, and an unsuspecting romance between Liana and his son.

About the Author

Matt Dallmann has a background in acting and holds a BFA from Marymount Manhattan College in New York City. His films and screenplays have been featured at film festivals across the United States including Cinequest, Big Apple Film Festival, Seattle’s True Independent Film Festival, DragonCon and Zero Independent Film Festival. His piano compositions have been published for commercial use and he is a member of ASCAP. Matt is also the Co-Founder and Vice President of the boutique medical billing firm VGA Billing Services, Inc. in New York City. He lives in New Jersey with his wife and two daughters.

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VBT Presents: Sleep State Interrupt by T.C. Weber

Science Fiction (Cyberpunk) / Thriller

Date Published: September 1, 2016

Publisher: See Sharp Press

Awards: 2017 Compton Crook Finalist for best first science fiction novel!

In Sleep State Interrupt, a giant media corporation has taken over the Internet, created an addictive virtual reality called BetterWorld, and controls nearly all information. Politicians do their bidding and a brainwashed humanity serves a privileged few.

Waylee Freid, an unemployed Baltimore journalist with ever-worsening bipolar disorder, is the only hope for a brighter future. She and her countercultural friends bust a notorious teenage hacker out of jail and sneak into a closed presidential fundraiser at the Smithsonian castle, where they hope to record incriminating admissions that will wake up the world. Hunted by Homeland Security, Waylee and her friends must reach a sufficient audience by broadcasting their video during the Super Bowl. But to do so, they'll have to break into one of the most secure facilities ever built.

Read the First Four chapters of Sleep State Interrupt, plus a lot more extras, free at http://savethereefs.wixsite.com/sleepstateinterrupt

About the Author

Ted Weber has pursued writing and music since childhood, and learned filmmaking and screenwriting in college, along with a little bit of physics. Trapped at home during the "Snowmageddon" of 2010, he transformed those interests into novel writing, and has completed four novels and a number of short stories since then. By day, Mr. Weber works as an ecologist for a non-profit organization and has had over twenty scientific papers and book chapters published. He lives in Annapolis, Maryland with his wife Karen. He enjoys traveling and has visited all seven continents.

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RABT Tours Presents: Becker Circle by Addison Brae

Romantic Suspense

Date Published: 14 March 2018

My first and only boyfriend believed I was too gutless to leave. He was dead wrong. My name is Gillian. I graduated Harvard early and left his hot temper and everyone else behind for Dallas. Determined to make it on my own, I land a second job bartending at the neighborhood pub smack in drama central where most every jerk in the neighborhood hits on me—at a huge price.

A week into the job, the neighborhood’s very popular drug dealer falls to his death a few feet from the table I’m serving. The cops say suicide, but the hot guitar player in the house band and I suspect foul play, and I intend to prove it. We dig deeper, grow closer, and make a shocking discovery. We know the murderer.

Praise for Becker Circle:

·         “I thoroughly enjoyed this book and look forward to finding out what will happen in Becker Circle next.” ~ 4* Goodreads ARC review by Cathy Geha,

·         “Overall, Becker Circle was a good book that I’m sure many people will love.” ~ 4* Goodreads ARC review by Kiss Like a Girl

·         “Brimming with both action and drama, Becker Circle draws readers into its social milieu and keeps them hooked, page after page.” ~ 5* Cadia Cox, Award-Winning Author of Double Shot of Love and Mistletoe & Macaroons

·         “This is an awesome mystery/thriller set against the backdrop of a popular neighborhood full of intrigue, a fascinating cast of characters and a sexy romance. It'll make you look at your favorite neighborhood bar in a different light.” ~5* Amazon reader review

·         “Becker Circle and Gillian kept me on the edge of my seat between the romance, suspense, and mystery. Every chapter took me to a place I didn't see coming and an ending that I would have never anticipated.” ~5* Goodreads reader review

·         “Becker Circle has a main character you'd like to know, and a slow burn suspense that just keeps getting creepier.”  ~ Kris Bock, Author of suspense, mystery and romance

About the Author

Addison Brae lives in Dallas, Texas on the edge of downtown. As a child, she was constantly in trouble for hiding under the bed to read when she was supposed to be napping. She has been writing since childhood starting with diaries, letters and short stories. She continues today with articles, video scripts and other content as an independent marketing consultant. 

When she’s not writing, Addison spends her time traveling the world, collecting interesting cocktail recipes and hosting parties. She’s still addicted to reading and enjoys jogging in her neighborhood park, sipping red wine, binge-watching TV series, vintage clothing and hanging out with her artistic other half and their neurotic cat Lucy. 

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Goddess Fish Presents: The Curse of the Ancients by Hawk MacKinney

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Hawk will be awarding a $20 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

As Craige Ingram climbed the stairs of the derelict building, that peculiar stench of a dead body hit him. It was the same smell no matter where—SpecOps SEAL encounter gone sour, or in a vacant, roach-infested apartment. Inside, his SEAL buddy-turned head of Buckingham Parish Homicide’s Investigative Support Division, Grayson MacGerald, was huddled with the coroner next to a swollen decaying corpse that was days old and hardly more than oozing dead meat. The PI inside Craige had a gut feeling that there was more to this than a dead body, and Craige’s Grannie always told him, “Trust your feelin’s.” But that was before Mihály Keaulescu set down two of his Black Falcon choppers on Craige’s Moccasin Hollow private airstrip in an uninvited stopover. It got worse. From his airstrip to Israel, to Turkey and a nightmare-dream of one-of-a-kind ancient artifacts that not only threatened the serene life Craige knew and loved at Moccasin Hollow, it would destroy the world.

Read an Excerpt:

The smell got worse as Craige made his way up the stairs. Like the smell of burning human flesh, a fermenting corpse gave off one of those distinctive odors one never forgot. Craige thought of the adage about it taking a strong stomach to work with a body that had been dead for a while. One never got used to it. Some memories weren’t pleasant—time on storm-swept beaches, digging for supplies buried in the sand, hidden under piles of rubbish, in dark alleys or trashed rat-ridden warehouses; huddled in black dark caves or stinking tunnels. Their Special Mission CTU team cocked and loaded for anything; prepared to deal out any necessary parcel of maimed, butchered and dismembered—or running for their lives the few times their cover was blown.

As Craige climbed to the second-floor landing, the smell went from bad to a sour-worse. He spotted familiar faces from the department’s forensic team; intent and focused around the pulpy lump with swollen pumpkin dimples where eyes should have been in one very bloated dead body. The corpse was well beyond the initial stages of being recycled. It no longer looked human after cooking several days in the sweltering oven of a Dixie mid-August scorching summer in this dreary one-flight walkup of apartments with no AC and painted-shut windows. The dreary apartment was busier than it’d been in years with lab and forensic techs bustling and sorting the pitiful pieces of the when and how of abandoned death. Near the peeling paint archway into a worse kitchenette he spotted Gray huddled with just over five feet plus, roly-poly Coroner-Medical Examiner Fred Dinkins.

About the Author:

With postgraduate degrees and faculty positions at several medical universities, Hawk MacKinney has taught graduate courses in both the United States and Jerusalem. In addition to his work in classrooms and laboratories, he has written numerous professional articles on chordate neuroembryology and authored several novels that reflect his southwest upbringing in Arkansas, Texas and Oklahoma. Moccasin Trace, a historical novel nominated for both the prestigious Michael Shaara Award for Excellence in Civil War Fiction and the Writers Notes Book Award, details the family bloodlines of his protagonist in the Moccasin Hollow Mystery Series. Hidden Vault of Secrets and Westobou Gold, Books 1 and 2 in the series, have received national and international attention. Hawk is also writing a science fiction series, The Cairns of Sainctuarie.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiAGlgQQsMQ&feature=youtu.be
Website: http://hawkmackinney.net
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Curse-Ancents-Moccasin-Hollow-Mystery/dp/0997096268/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_2

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Movie Review: Ocean's 8

Ocean's 8 is the girly version of Ocean's 7, 11, 12, 13 and who knows what else.  Instead of a pack of guys ripping something off, we got a pack of girls ripping off jewelry from the Met during a fashion dinner.  Sandra Bullock takes the main role as Danny Ocean's (George Clooney) sister.  Her sidekick is Cate Blanchett, and they assemble a team of Rhianna, Helen Bonham-Carter, Anne Hathaway, and other familiar faces.  The plan begins with Sandra Bullock who dreams of the heist throughout her five years in prison.  It's meticulously planned out and (what a surprise) successfully executed.

My Review:  Love it!  Great fun!  I think most of us dream of robbing a bank, or even better, a bunch of priceless jewels!  The women were terrific.  My only criticism is some of the predictability as well as an editing error (she was in prison for 5 years but then she flashes back to the day of her arrest and the flashback was 10 years).  I know-I might be too picky!  Overall, I highly suggest this flick for Ocean fans as well as chick-flick fans.  4/5 Stars

RABT Tours Presents: Red Rider by Gerrit Steenhagen

Thriller

Date Published: April 1 2018

A grieving father – known to the reader only as Teacher – takes on a new identity after the brutal murder of his teenaged son. Masquerading as a substitute teacher, he tracks down the killer – a high school senior – and methodically builds a web to entrap him. Teacher does not desire simple justice or death for the killer; he wants the killer to endure what his son endured. But Teacher’s plan takes a life-shattering turn when he must save his son’s former girlfriend from the clutches of the brutal MS-13 gang.

A taut, suspenseful thriller, Red Rider explores the depths of revenge and the strength of human bonds.

About the Author

Gerrit Steenhagen grew up in San Diego, California. He wrote, produced, and directed the indie drama If Tomorrow Comes. He currently resides in Los Angeles.

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Book Review: Man of Legends by Kenneth Johnson

Man of Legends is about an immortal man, Will, who wanders the earth for twenty centuries, waiting for redemption.  Will never ages as he walks through history.  He keeps his distance with other human beings in fear of being discovered.  
As the story progresses, Will opens up to others little by little.  First, he confirms Mary Shelley's (author of Frankenstein) suspicions of his situation.  He then has a wild love affair with Hannah Claire after saving her from suicide.  The setting spans throughout the decades, but lingers mainly within the year 2000.  Will believes or hopes that something big will happen, maybe even the return of Christ.  He believes it was Jesus who cursed him in retaliation for Will pushing him while He carried the cross to Golgotha.  Will deeply regrets his actions and spends the rest of his never-ending life trying to help others.  As Will lives throughout the ages, he learns that the devil as well as the Vatican are aware of his immortality.  They follow him for selfish reasons.  Soon others figure Will out as well.  A nosy reporter, a wanna-be artist, an old flame, as well as others whose lives he had touched are on to his power.    
My Review:
This was an amazing ride through history.  I loved the characters, the research, and the religious link to God.  The author did a spectacular job telling the story by constantly switching perspectives of the plot through the eyes of dozens of characters.  Will begins to accept his curse, and even believes that Jesus somehow passed him a metaphorical torch to continue his good deeds.  I enjoyed the story immensely.  5/5 Stars.