Alex R. Carver's Blog

A novelette of sword and sorcery, a warband of dwarves are corrected in their erroneous understanding of one of their greatest legends by the legend himself and his companion from the myth. The Siege of Telemarqe had been known as a dwarven battle of heroics against the might of a Dark Elven army. But the truth was very different, will the warband accept the truth? ‘The Siege of Telemarqe is the last great legend in living memory for the dwarves, where a small, brave band of dwarven warriors, led by Stenchorn the Smelter, held the might of the Dark Elven army at bay until their eventual rout. ‘Or was it? Truth is stranger than fiction & the dwarves are in for a shock when their own hero Stenchorn gainsays the history books. Is the proud dwarven nation ready for the truth?’

If this sounds like something you’d like to read then you can find your preferred store here

https://books2read.com/theunsunghero2023

4* from me

A wonderful story which, despite the fantasy setting, could easily be an examination of real-world history and the way in which the largest party amongst the victors of a battle or war claim the glory, regardless of the truth. In this case, an encounter in a bar leads to a retelling of an historic battle and the revelation of who the true hero of The Battle of Telemarque is. Told wonderfully by the two people who were there, the acknowledged hero and the true, Unsung Hero, they enrapture a party of dwarves, whose rendition of the battle sparks the truth.

5* from JourneyBleu

A novelette with a tale worth telling: the TRUE story behind one of the most famous of dwarves legends. Gathered together in a wintry land in a storied bar, who is the stranger among them? How will his friend’s narrative challenge the very lore of the dwarves? In rich prose – evocative and fantastic, Jack Canis weaves a legendary story for all time.

I haven’t blogged in a long time, for a variety of reasons, but I was recently given an idea for a post by a friend, thank you Anna Faversham, so here I am doing that post.

Over the past five and a half years I have published 9 books in multiple genres and one question I have never asked is which of my books has the best opening, and that is what I am asking now.

Below are the opening books in the four genres I have explored so far and I would love to hear from my followers and any other interested parties which book grabs your attention the quickest.

Where There’s A Will: Inspector Stone Mysteries #1

Side by side, as though joined at the hip, Ben and Jerry stepped through the flaps and into the pavilion. They blinked in unison as they went from the darkness of outside to the brightness of the pavilion’s interior, which was lit by portable lights that hung overhead.

They knew what to do without talking – they had been working together for so long that they would have been as close as brothers even without the bond of blood – and while Ben made for the young man busily gathering up the plastic glasses that littered the tables, Jerry threaded his way through the tables to the bar.

The Curious Cousins and the Smugglers of Bligh Island

Sunlight, warm and golden yellow, shone down from the cloudless sky, offering a promise of the heat to come, while gulls flew back and forth across the unmarred blue, their cries blending into something almost musical. Every so often a gull would dive, disappearing beneath the shallow waves briefly before soaring back into the sky. Most had wriggling fish in their beaks, which they carried away to eat, while those that were unsuccessful returned to circling and wheeling in search of a target.

Written In Blood: The Oakhurst Murders #1

“I said stop!” Georgina was as surprised as He when she slapped him, it was completely out of character.

She sat there for several long moments, too stunned by what she had done to move, while He pulled back, the hand he had been sliding up her leg now at his cheek. It was only when he reached for her again, this time with something other than lust in his eyes, that Georgina found the impetus to move.

An Unwanted Inheritance: Cas Dragunov #1

The third judge took his seat at the bench which looked down over the courtroom and the order was given for everyone to be seated. Aside from the panel of three judges there was an usher and two security officers, who remained standing, the prosecutor, who sat ramrod straight at his table, and the defendant and his legal counsel – they were in quiet conversation while they waited for proceedings to get underway.

Eugenia Chu has a new release

Celebrating Chinese New Year

LAUNCHING DECEMBER 28, 2021!!!

Chinese New Year, also called the Spring Festival or Lunar New Year, is one of the most celebrated holidays around the world. This brand new #1 New Release book for kids explains the history, folklore, traditions, and customs of Chinese New Year and includes interactive activities that encourage kids to celebrate at home or in their communities.

This Chinese New Year kids’ book includes:

Diverse traditions—From festivals and parades to relaxation and cooking, kids will learn how Chinese New Year is celebrated in different ways.Fun, hands-on activities—Kids can explore a variety of ways to get festive, like making Chinese dumplings, paper lanterns, and their very own Chinese Zodiac calendar.Fascinating facts and pictures—Colorful illustrations and fascinating factoids help bring Chinese New Year to life for your child.

Get little ones excited to learn about this beloved holiday with this standout among Chinese New Year books for kids.

Hi! I’m an attorney, turned stay-at-home mom, turned writer.  I am a first generation Chinese-American citizen and live in Miami Beach with my husband and son, Brandon, who is the inspiration for my stories.  When Brandon was very little, I couldn’t find children’s storybooks to read to him which touched upon Chinese culture and which included some Chinese (Mandarin) words and phrases to teach and/or reinforce his Chinese vocabulary, so I started writing my own.

**Signed books available to US addresses only**

If you are in the U.S. and have Venmo or Paypal and would like a signed book at a discount, plus a free bookmark and surprise gift, you can order them now here:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1LbugyaUHuhG3OtmVrK8sJ6AEwwbWEX8e0jEB-w1HyjE/

Brandon Makes Jiǎo Zi (餃子) is my first “Brandon” story. It’s a picture book for little ones about a boy bonding with his grandma while making Chinese dumplings, called jiǎo zi (餃子). You can see more about this story by clicking the “About Brandon Makes Jiǎo Zi (餃子)” tab in the Menu to the left.

http://amazon.com/author/eugeniachu

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Brandon Goes to Beijing (北京) is my award winning chapter book. This book is for older kids, grades 2-5. It’s all about Beijing and a mysterious little panda! You can learn more about this book by clicking the “About Brandon Goes to Beijing (北京)” tab in the Menu to the left.

If you would like a peek at this book: Flipping through book

Brandon Goes to Hong Kong – Xiānggǎng (香港) is my second chapter book.

While on a trip to Hong Kong, Brandon thinks he sees a great red dragon – but is it real or imaginary? Join Brandon as he tours the city and learns about dragons in this multicultural, multigenerational chapter book which includes some Mandarin Chinese (Simplified) with Pinyin pronunciation throughout, adding educational elements of the Chinese language and culture. Is Brandon the only one who sees the dragon? Can legendary or mythical creatures ever be real? What do you believe?

I’m working on a few other stories, too, so please check in once in a while!  I’ll also be posting reviews for other children’s books and introducing children’s book authors on my blog.  Hopefully you will find some new books/authors here that the little ones in your lives will love!  Thanks so much for visiting my website!  

Website: http://eugeniachu.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/chuauthor

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eugeniachu8245/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eugeniachuauthor

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17045487.Eugenia_Chu

Amazon: amazon.com/author/eugeniachu

I’m a little late in announcing this, about 6 weeks late in fact, but I have a new release out.

You could say this is a book that began its life more than 30 years ago as a creative writing project at school when I was just 10.

Inspired by Enid Blyton’s The Famous Five, The Curious Cousins and the Smugglers of Bligh Island is intended to be the opening book in a series featuring The Bligh cousins, Edward, Elizabeth, and Henrietta (that’s Henri!).

Nobody believes them.

For Edward and Elizabeth, a summer on Bligh Island with their cousin Henrietta (it’s Henri!) is like being sentenced to die of boredom. But adventure awaits! The island harbours family history and the hideout of a band of 18th century smugglers. It’s all great fun . . . until modern-day smugglers show up!

The kids take the case to the police, but the local officer won’t believe them. They’re on their own, and their lives are in danger. How can they stop the smugglers?

If this has got you interested, you can find the book at your favourite site by following the link here

Winner of the first ever Diabolic Shrimp Golden Shrimpy Award

Weasel Words by Dale E Lehman

You can see the podcast where the win is announced here

Those weasels are up to something…

Between them, Bernard and Melody Earls have looks, charm, brains . . . everything but money. That’s why they steal from the rich and give to themselves. So when Alexander Hamilton Plaskett hires them to nick a silver statuette of a pine marten from his brother Paul Revere Plaskett, they’re happy to oblige. But it won’t be as easy as it looks. For one thing, the little beast is guarded by Fitzroy Fortresses, the best security system money can buy. For another, the five Plaskett siblings are obnoxious buffoons. Still, a job is a job, and this one may offer more than it appears.

At least, that’s Bernard’s theory. The pine marten isn’t particularly valuable, so why do the Plasketts contest its ownership so fiercely? To find out, he and Melody insinuate themselves into the Plasketts’ world and enlist a college geek to hack the unhackable Fitzroy system. Failure means poverty. Discovery means prison. And the biggest obstacle to Bernard’s brilliant schemes? Melody’s penchant for running off-script!

If this has got you interested, you can buy the book at the following link

Weasel Words – pick your retailer

Paperback cover for The Curious Cousins and the Smugglers of Bligh Island

Two and a half years in the works, and still not finished yet, I am finally ready to give a preview of my upcoming release, The Curious Cousins and the Smugglers of Bligh Island.

Inspired by Enid Blyton’s Famous Five books, and adapted from a story I first wrote a little over 30 years ago for a school creative writing assignment, The Curious Cousins and the Smugglers of Bligh Island is a young adult mystery/adventure book about three cousins sent to stay with distant relatives for the summer holidays who, along with a new friend, find themselves tangling with modern day smugglers as they explore the island of Bligh and search for its past.

The brilliant cover shown above was designed by Jervy Bonifacio on 99Designs.co.uk after running a competition, and below is the opening chapter of the book for your enjoyment.

Although I’m getting close to being ready to release this book, I am still editing and polishing it up, so please forgive me if you spot a typo or slight error in this preview chapter.

Most of all, I hope you enjoy this and look afterward to buying the book when it’s released.

1

Sunlight, warm and golden yellow, shone down from the cloudless sky, offering a promise of the heat to come, while gulls flew back and forth across the unmarred blue, their cries blending into something that was almost musical.

Every so often a gull would dive, disappearing beneath the shallow waves briefly before soaring back into the sky. Most had wriggling fish in their beaks, which they carried away to eat, while those that were unsuccessful returned to circling and wheeling in search of a target.

Ordinarily, Edward would have been watching the aerial display avidly. He was a lover of all things in nature, except spiders, he couldn’t stand the ugly, evil-looking things. He hated them so much that he had once run from a room with a girlish scream at the sight of a particularly large specimen.

Just then, however, he was indifferent to the show nature was putting on. His attention was elsewhere.

The gentle breeze that ruffled his wavy, dirty-blond hair and plucked at his t-shirt was ignored as thoroughly as his surroundings. The only thing the fifteen-year-old had eyes for was the speck on the horizon; only it wasn’t a speck anymore.

The ferry that bore him was far from speedy, yet the small island that was his destination drew steadily closer, seeming to double in size with each passing second.

Edward’s grey eyes remained fixed on the island as it grew from a dot to a blob, and then began to take on the outline of something that might be inhabited by humans, though its irregular shape showed no sign of occupation as yet.

It wasn’t until the ferry had been underway for half an hour that the finger reaching up from the island into the sky became identifiable. At first, it had appeared to be nothing more than a column of rock pointing to the heavens from atop a cliff, but now he could see that it was a lighthouse, standing tall and upright like a sentry, guarding the island against intruders.

The next sign of human habitation came into view ten minutes later as a small bay, containing the island’s only town, revealed itself when the ferry curved around the island.

Details were hard to make out at that distance, but Edward pictured white-washed houses, a pub, a small shop, a church, and not much else.

His mental picture depressed him.

It would be bad enough visiting for a day, he thought. Spending the summer holidays there with relatives he had never met was likely to be a nightmare.

“Is that it?”

Edward didn’t hear the question, just as he hadn’t heard the footsteps of the questioner. It wasn’t until he was tapped on the shoulder that he became aware there was anyone with him in the bow of the ferry.

Looking around, he saw two girls standing just behind him.

The grey eyes of his sister, Elizabeth, who was the taller of the pair, alternated between Edward and the approaching island.

Anyone seeing them together would have been forgiven for thinking they were twins. Most people assumed they were, given the similarities in their appearances. They were not twins, though, almost eleven months separated them, with Edward being the elder.

The second girl, Henrietta, who preferred to be known as Henri, was a cousin rather than a sister. She was both younger and shorter than the other two, being only thirteen and barely five-feet-tall, compared to their five-feet-seven and five-feet-five.

Height was not the only difference between the cousins. Henri’s hair was a golden sheet of pure blonde with no trace of darkness, and her eyes were a brilliant blue rather than the cloudy grey of Edward and Elizabeth. She was also dressed more casually in a pair of denim shorts made from jeans whose legs had been cut off untidily, and a scruffy and faded red t-shirt, while Edward wore a pair of jeans that looked new and a blue t-shirt, and Elizabeth had on a lemon-coloured summer dress.

“What did you say, Elizabeth?” Edward asked of his sister. It was always Elizabeth, never Liz, Lizzie, Beth, or anything else, just as he was always Edward. Henri was the only one who refused to call them by their proper names, no matter how much they protested.

“I asked if that’s it,” Elizabeth said, pointing ahead to the cluster of buildings that were taking on individual characteristics as they drew nearer.

“Of course that’s it,” Henri said, moving past the older pair so she could climb up onto the railing at the very bow of the ferry. She wobbled for a few moments before catching her balance and then leant forward, bracing herself with her legs, as though to see their destination more clearly. “Where else do you think it could be? The ferry only goes between Handley and Bligh Island, they told us that, so that has to be Blighton.”

“That it be, girly,” a deep rumbling voice said suddenly as a shadow fell across the teens.

At the sound of the voice, the trio spun around. The speaker was a huge, barrel-chested man with an enormous and unkempt, iron-grey beard, eyes that were so deeply set it was impossible to make out their colour, a bald head, and a mass of wrinkles that spoke of a long life spent outdoors.

The ferry’s first mate, who looked as though he belonged on a seventeenth-century pirate vessel, had a frightening appearance, and he smelled unpleasantly of fish and tobacco smoke, but Edward held his ground, though it took an effort. Elizabeth wasn’t as brave as her brother, she backed up, wanting to put as much space between herself and the first mate as she could.

Henri was the only one of the three who was undisturbed by the mate’s appearance. She looked him over briefly and then turned her attention back to where she was going to be staying for the next six weeks.

“You’d best get down from there, girly. If you’re not careful, you’ll go overboard. Besides, we’ll be there soon.”

Henri ignored the advice and tempted fate by leaning even further over the railing. “My name’s not girly,” she said over her shoulder. She was a confirmed tomboy and hated any suggestion that she was at all like Elizabeth, who was about as girly as a girl could be. “It’s Henri.”

“Don’t encourage him,” Elizabeth told her cousin. “You know it’s not a good idea to talk to strangers. And get down from there.” She grabbed the back of Henri’s t-shirt and tugged insistently.

“You’d best do as you’re told, girly,” the mate said. “Your aunt’ll be none too happy if you go overboard and get yourself chewed up by the propeller or caught on the rocks, they’re dangerous round here.” With that warning given, he turned and walked away.

Edward waited until the three of them were alone again and then he turned to Henri.  “Get down,” he said in a voice that carried all the authority a fifteen-year-old could muster.

It was the tugging from Elizabeth, not the command from Edward, that finally got Henri down from the railing. She pulled her t-shirt free from Elizabeth’s grasp the moment she had done what was wanted of her, though she paid no mind to the wrinkles left in the material.

“How did he know we’re going to stay with Aunt Brenda?” she asked.

Edward shrugged. “It’s a small community on a small island. I imagine pretty much everyone on the island knows that Aunt Brenda — the relationship was more distant, but they had been told to call her aunt — is having relatives to stay. Most likely she’s been telling everyone who will listen since the arrangements were made. I doubt she’s had anything interesting to talk about for ages,” he said, making it clear that he thought the island and those who lived there were devoid of excitement. “This is going to be the most boring holiday yet.” He shook his head in disgust.

Elizabeth and Henri could only nod in reluctant agreement. They were used to boring holidays that saw them shipped off to one distant relative or another, while their parents jetted off to a succession of exotic locations. It happened every summer, just as it did every Easter, and at least every other Christmas, but this promised to be the worst yet.

“At least we haven’t got Obnoxious Ollie with us this time,” Henri said, determined to find the positive in the situation.

“That’s true.” Edward brightened at the thought of the absence of their other cousin, Oliver — he was a Graham rather than a Bligh, as he, Elizabeth, and Henri were — known to the rest of them as Obnoxious Ollie because of the way he behaved, who was normally packed off to relatives with the rest of them. That summer, though, Oliver was absent because he had broken his leg, and was being looked after by other relatives who lived closer to home.

There was silence for a short while as the trio watched their home for the next six weeks get closer, then Elizabeth spoke.

“Do you think they’re in the air yet?” she asked of her brother. Her eyes went skyward, as though she could see the plane that would be taking their parents to Kenya for a month-long safari.

Edward glanced at his watch before answering. “They should be, their flight was due to take off an hour ago.” His tone was indifferent. He didn’t really want to think about their parents, who didn’t even care enough about them to see them off, choosing instead to get to the airport early and leave it to the housekeeper to make sure they got to the ferry on time. “I don’t know why you bother worrying about them, you know they won’t worry about us. We’ll get a call a week, maybe an email or two, if we can get the internet out here, and they can get it where they are, and they’ll have expensive trinkets for us when they get back.”

“And they won’t ask us anything about what we did, but they’ll expect us to sit and listen while they tell us about all the stuff they did, whether it’s fun or not,” Henri piped up. “If it wasn’t for the presents, I wouldn’t even pretend to listen.” It wasn’t that she was shallow or acquisitive, though she realised that some people might see her that way, but her parents did have good taste when it came to buying gifts from the places they visited.

The same couldn’t be said for Edward and Elizabeth’s parents, who seemed only to look at the price tag when buying presents.

Now that it’s the new year (Happy New Year everyone) I feel it is time for me to put a bit more effort into my books, both writing and promoting.

With that in mind I am teaming up with Clint Forgy for some cross-promotion; I’m the crime, Clint’s the comedy. He’s also a good guy, a good writer, and an all around good egg (that’s the British in me coming out for those of you not familiar with such phrases).

Before I get on with telling you about our books, it makes sense for me to introduce the pair of us, starting with Clint, who writes humorous tales with the focus on believable characters who would make great friends for anyone who loves a laugh.

Clint Forgy was hatched at a very young age and raised in Iowa, walking 2.4 miles uphill both ways to school. I can prove it. I mean, he can prove it. As a stowaway aboard an Amish buggy, he escaped to Colorado before eventually landing in Missouri aboard the good ship Lollipop.

Forgy hates long walks on a short pier, rainy days, and coconut. He loves bourbon with an air chaser, women in stiletto heels, and the smell of a new grandchild’s scalp. And puppies.

After centuries of mundane employment as a canine hair shortener, future organ donor, lion tamer, computer wrangler, and tractor-trailer pilot, Forgy picked up his trusty laptop, set it down to refill his coffee mug, and picked it up again to begin writing. He’s always been like that.

As you can tell from his bio, Clint is humorous and doesn’t take himself very seriously. If you’d like to find out more about him, you can follow his Twitter

Now that I’ve told you a little about Clint, I guess I should tell you about myself.

After enduring school and a decade and a half of employment in a variety of jobs, Alex R Carver left the day jobs behind to become a carer for various family members. While this has been hard work, both physically and mentally, it has given him an opportunity to follow his dream and write.

Reflecting his interest in true crime, Alex mainly writes mysteries and thrillers, however he has taken a diversion into the world of science fiction, and is exploring young adult fiction with his current work in progress.

Released titles include 5 books in the Inspector Stone Mysteries, the thriller duology, The Oakhurst Murders, and the first book in the Cas Dragunov scifi/space opera series.

If you’d like to find out more about me, you can find me on the following sites Twitter – Facebook – Instagram

A New Release by Anita Dickason



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The launch of the fed’s new gold-backed currency sparks more than fierce protests when the Federal Reserve Chairman is warned of a plot to assassinate him. 

Apprehensive over a cryptic note left in his coat pocket, Frank Littleton’s phone call to the head of the FBI Tracker Unit at three in the morning has Scott Fleming rushing out the door. The clandestine meeting at a run-down diner leaves Scott holding a political time bomb when he discovers someone intends to assassinate Frank. He’s got to come up with a plan to protect the 2nd most powerful man in the government. Frank Littleton is the Federal Reserve Chairman. When a bizarre message, along with a baffling set of bank reports, is sent to the Tracker office, the urgency to find answers intensifies. Is the message, written in a decades-old code used by the Navajo Code Talkers in World War II, a communique from the dead? Who sent it? Why are the bank reports important? Are they linked to the imminent launch of the fiercely contested gold-backed currency? A new Tracker agent and financial crimes expert joins forces with an undercover Interpol agent. The case turns deadly when they infiltrate the inner sanctum of the Federal Reserve and become the target for an assassin’s bullet. Stalked by a killer, can they survive to stop the assassination and prevent a global financial cataclysm?

Available from Amazon

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I was asked what I would like for Christmas last year and I couldn’t think of anything in particular – except more time. Neither of my children felt able to conjure this up. I was very happy with their substitutes but still had a long delay in getting any writing done: my husband and I were moving house. Decluttering, packing and cleaning took precedence.

Shortly after we moved to our new place, the Lockdown was declared and having no small children to attempt to educate, I now had much more time to write. Be careful what you wish for is a well-known phrase and even the title of an Eminem song and many, many books. But please don’t blame me for this terrible virus!

And so I come to the reason for writing a book which is dedicated to ‘The Swan’.

It all started many years ago when I was still reading ‘once upon a time’ stories. I heard the story in the Bible about a rich man who ignored the needs of a poor man. The rich man went to Hades, where he was in torment. The poor man went to Heaven. The rich man called out for relief but Abraham (in Heaven) said, more or less, ‘Tough. No can do.’ The rich man begged for someone from Heaven to return to Earth to let his family know of his terrible fate, to warn them. He was denied this with these words ‘…they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’ It’s a story by that expert story-teller (no, not Jeffrey Archer) Jesus.

I remember my mother saying I always supported the underdog so you can imagine that this story captured my imagination and there it lay for many years until the main character kept making himself a nuisance in my head. I had to let him out and he was much better once he began his adventures.

Writing was exciting but also a bit worrying until I read a quotation by Charlotte Bronte. It’s too long to quote here but its essence revolves around the creation of Heathcliff. Charlotte Bronte tells of how we ‘are not always master’ of the ‘creative gift’. She states that ‘be the work grim or glorious, dread or divine, you have little choice left but quiescent adoption.’ Heathcliff was stronger than the muse which is a gentler giver of inspiration.

I like many of Mark Twain’s quotations and this one seemed to hit the nail on the head for Chester’s story.

‘The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.’ —Mark Twain

[image error]Let me warn you, you aren’t going to like Chester; he’s not sure he likes himself. Having achieved his burning ambition to become a successful investigative reporter he is forced to hide from others who don’t like him either, in fact, they want to kill him.

Living off the grid in New Zealand, his quiet life is shattered when a stranger knocks on his door and takes him to the gates of Hell and back. He holds onto his sanity through the promise of returning to the only girl he has ever loved.

You are invited into this mystery: intriguing, exciting and deadly.

I hope you will accept the invitation and tiptoe into Chester’s strange life.

And why is it dedicated to the swan? One overcast day, when I was alone and worried about something, I sat on the beach with a book. No one else was on the beach. A swan waddled up to me and sat directly beside me. It tucked its head under its wing and stayed there with me until I left, some hours later. It was so close I could have stroked it. Shortly after it arrived, its mate sat on the other side of me, this time a couple of yards away. It settled but stayed on watch. I had no food to offer them in thanks, so years later… a dedication is all I can offer.

If you’re interested in getting your copy, you can get it here

My thanks to Alex for letting me loose on his blog.

[image error]Introducing TL Clark

So, who is she? (*deep breath*) TL Clark is a best-selling, award-winning British author, writing romance stories in order to explore the many kinds of love. Her home, which she shares with her supportive husband and spoiled cat, is in the south of England.

That’s all you need to know, right? OK, maybe not.

TL is a spiritual person, of all religions yet none. She’s also a Reiki master and holistic therapist. And used to be an administrator. Loves horse riding. Oh, and is a trained counsellor. Truly a multi-faceted person, a bit like a diamond really