Christmas Gift Ideas

Have you waited until the last minute? Afraid of being trampled in holiday crowds? Then these gift ideas are for YOU.

Not everyone reads, but everyone SHOULD. Some people just need the right book. Some need to be mobile and would benefit from an ebook or an audio book. Some are young people who need an adult in their lives who values reading.

As an author, you’ll want to give your own book as often as possible. But if you’ve gifted to everyone you know or it’s not the right genre for someone, considering giving a book by another author. This community is all about support and purchasing and giving books is one way to do it.
Here are some suggestions:

Cling to God by Lynda R. Young

This devotional is a wonderful gift for a Christian or someone who needs a little faith in his or her life.

Print ISBN 9781939844279 / eBook ISBN 9781939844286

Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iTunes / Kobo

Mâtowak: Woman Who Cries by Joylene Nowell Butler

A follow up to her IPPY award-winning book, this is the perfect book for the psychological thriller-mystery fan who doesn’t like things too graphic.

Print ISBN 9781939844231 / eBook ISBN 9781939844248 / audio book

Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iTunes / Audible

CassaStar by Alex J. Cavanaugh

For the fan of science fiction and space opera, this best-selling book kicks off a great trilogy.

Print ISBN 9780981621067 / eBook ISBN 9780982713938 / audio book

Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iTunes / Audible

He Gave Me Barn Cats by Maria Santomasso-Hyde

An inspirational story based on true events, this is the perfect book for someone struggling with grief. Or who just loves cats!

Print ISBN 9781939844217 / eBook ISBN 9781939844224 / audio book

Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iTunes / Audible

Under a Purple Moon by Beverly Stowe McClure

For the teenager or just those young at heart, this sweet story tackles some tough issues with love.

Print ISBN 9781939844132 / eBook ISBN 9781939844149 / audio book

Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo / Audible

For more gift ideas, visit Dancing Lemur Press, L.L.C.

See a book someone might like? What book do you recommend as a gift and why?

Recommend a Scary Good Book!

Here are my recommendations for books that will chill and thrill you:

Hero Lost: Mysteries of Death and Life
Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iTunes / Kobo / BAM

Parallels: Felix Was Here
Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iTunes / kobo

Bloodwalker
Amazon / Barnes & Nobel / iTunes / Kobo / BAM

Maski: Broken But Not Dead
Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iTunes / Kobo

Matowak: Woman Who Cries
Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iTunes / BAM / Amazon UK

And a new release today:

Full Dark

What happens in the dark will come to light.

Full Dark is a collection of eleven short works with impressive depth and range. Twisted tales of ghosts, villains, and the paranormal await you—mystery, heinous fantasy, and pure suspense. Acclaimed and award-winning authors as well as a few talented newcomers have joined forces to be your guide. Venture into the dark if you dare.

Just A Matter Of Time by Loni Townsend
Forerunner by David Powers King
Taking Care Of You by Carrie Butler
The Apartment by Lisa Buie-Collard
The Caricature by Nick Wilford
Shifting Sands by Elizabeth Seckman
Shadows Falling On Rainbows by Celeste Holloway
Meringue, Murder or Marzipan by Tonja Drecker
Haunted Lake by Michelle Athy
Soul Coin by Laura Rich
Retribution by Melissa Maygrove

FULL DARK is a benefit anthology. 100% of the proceeds will be donated to the Gary Sinise Foundation, an organization that does many wonderful things for our country's active military, its veterans, and the countless first responders who sacrifice so much to keep us safe.

Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Goodreads


And you have until Wednesday, November 1st to get your entry in for The Insecure Writer’s Support Group Anthology Contest.


What scary good read do you recommend?

October Specials - Buy One Get One Free Audio Book/Recomment a Good Scare

Dancing Lemur Press, LLC October Special

Buy one audio book, get one free

Buy any of the eleven Dancing Lemur Press, L.L.C. audio books in October 2017 from either iTunes, Amazon, or Audible.
Send a copy of your receipt (less any payment info) along with your 1st and 2nd choice of free audio book to inquiries AT dancinglemurpressllc.com.

You will receive a code for a free audio book download.

Choose your free book from these ten titles:

He Gave Me Barn Cats by Maria Santomasso-Hyde
The Remnant by William Michael Davidson
Tornado Warning by Tamara Hart Heiner
CassaStar by Alex J. Cavanaugh
CassaFire by Alex J. Cavanaugh
CassaStorm by Alex J. Cavanaugh
Bloodwalker by L.X. Cain
Matowak: Woman Who Cries by Joylene Nowell Butler
Under a Purple Moon by Beverly Stowe McClure
Dragon of the Stars by Alex J. Cavanaugh

(CassaSeries by Alex J. Cavanaugh available as audio book but not available as free audio selection.)

Visit Dancing Lemur Press, L.L.C. and select your audio books today.

It’s Halloween!

Time to read a good scare

What books chill you?

October 30-31, 2017

Audio Books on the Rise

I am at The Insecure Writer’s Support Group today with book formatting tips.

Five-six years ago, the only book format plunging faster than audio books was the mass-market paperback.

Now, thanks to downloadable mp3s and the rise of people listening with their cell phones, audio books have made a big comeback.

While some continue to produce CDs, most publishers and authors have migrated to downloadable content. With companies such as ACX, it no longer costs a fortune to produce an audio book.

Over a year ago, Dancing Lemur Press, L.L.C. began converting its top titles to audio. There are now eleven books/collections available:

Our latest -

He Gave Me Barn Cats

By Maria Santomasso-Hyde

Amazon / iTunes / Audible

The Remnant

By William Michael Davidson

Amazon / iTunes / Audible

Under a Purple Moon

By Beverly Stowe McClure

Amazon / iTunes / Audible

Dragon of the Stars

By Alex J. Cavanaugh

Amazon / iTunes / Audible

Tornado Warning

By Tamara Hart Heiner

Amazon / iTunes / Audible

Mâtowak: Woman Who Cries

By Joylene Nowell Butler

Amazon / iTunes / Audible

Bloodwalker

By L.X. Cain

Amazon / iTunes / Audible

CassaStar

By Alex J. Cavanaugh

Amazon / ITunes / Audible

CassaFire

By Alex J. Cavanaugh

Amazon / ITunes / Audible

CassaStorm

By Alex J. Cavanaugh

Amazon / ITunes / Audible

CassaSeries

By Alex J. Cavanaugh

Boxed Set

Amazon / iTunes / Audible

Are you listening to audio books? Are your books available on audio?

#IWSGPit - IWSG Twitter Pitch Party is July 17, 2017!

The Insecure Writer’s Support Group

Twitter Pitch Party!

#IWSGPit

July 27, 2017

8:00 am to 8:00 pm Eastern Time

All writers and authors are invited to participate in our very first Twitter Pitch.

Create a Twitter-length pitch for your completed and polished manuscript and leave room for genre, age, and the hashtag. On July 27, Tweet your pitch. If your pitch receives a favorite/heart from a publisher/agent check their submission guidelines and send your requested query. Sample Tweet from #PitMad:

Many writers have seen their books published from a Twitter pitch - it’s a quick and easy way to put your manuscript in front of publishers and agents.

Rules:

Writers may send out 1 Twitter pitch every 1 hour per manuscript.

Publishers/Agents will favorite/heart pitches they are interested in. Publishers can either Tweet basic submission guidelines or direct writers to their submission guidelines. (Writers, please do not favorite/heart pitches.)

Pitches must include GENRE/AGE and the hashtag #IWSGPit.

Ages:
#C - children’s
#MG - middle grade
#YA - young adult
#NA - new adult
#A - adult
Genres:
#AD - adventure
#CF - Christian fiction
#CO - contemporary
#F - fantasy
#H - horror
#HI - historical
#LF - literary fiction
#MCT - mystery/crime/thriller
#ME - memoir
#NF - non-fiction
#PB - picture book
#PN - paranormal
#R - romance
#SF - sci-fi
#WF - women's fiction

Participating Publishers and Agents:

Acorn Publishing

Bond Literary Agency

Tiny Fox Press

Dancing Lemur Press

Dystel, Goderich & Bourret LLC

Entangled Publishing

Curiosity Quills Press

Rainbow Nerds Literary

Blaze Publishing

Inklings Literary Agency LLC

Owl City Press

Donald Maass Literary Agency

Carina Press

Anaiah Press

Speilburg Agency

Blue Ridge Literary Agency, LLC

Emerald City Literary Agency

Red Fox Literary

Fraser Bub Literary

Golden Wheat Literary

AB Literary Agency

Holloway Literary Agency

Dingbat Publishing

Aevitas Creative Management

The Knight Agency

Prospect Agency

Keen Editorial and Literary Services

The Friedrich Agency
Gandolfo Helin & Fountain Literary Management
Writers House LLC
The Seymour Agency

*Authors, please check out the publishers and agents before #IWSGPit day and before submitting.*

The Next IWSG Anthology is Out - Hero Lost

From The Insecure Writer’s Support Group:

Hero Lost

Mysteries of Life and Death

An Insecure Writer’s Support Group Anthology

Can a lost hero find redemption?

What if Death himself wanted to die? Can deliverance be found on a bloody battlefield? Could the gift of silvering become a prison for those who possessed it? Will an ancient warrior be forever the caretaker of a house of mystery?

Delving into the depths of the tortured hero, twelve authors explore the realms of fantasy in this enthralling and thought-provoking collection. Featuring the talents of Jen Chandler, L. Nahay, Renee Cheung, Roland Yeomans, Elizabeth Seckman, Olga Godim, Yvonne Ventresca, Ellen Jacobson, Sean McLachlan, Erika Beebe, Tyrean Martinson, and Sarah Foster.

Hand-picked by a panel of agents and authors, these twelve tales will take you into the heart of heroes who have fallen from grace. Join the journey and discover a hero’s redemption!

In this marvelous collection of speculative fiction, we journey through twelve wonderfully written tales to find out if the tortured hero can be redeemed. - Christine Rains, author

The authors have done us a favour by all being darned good at their craft. Recommended for fantasy fans. - Gordon Long, author

Website - Lost Hero Anthology

$14.95 USA, 6x9 Trade paperback, 226 pages
Fantasy, Freedom Fox Press
Print ISBN 9781939844361 eBook ISBN 9781939844378
$4.99 EBook available in all formats

Find at Goodreads
Purchase print at Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Books-A-Million
Purchase eBook at Barnes & Noble / iTunes / Kobo / Amazon / Amazon UK / Amazon CA

New Release and Supporting a Friend

Many of you know Joylene Nowell Butler, author and The Insecure Writer’s Support Group admin. Last week, she broke her hip and underwent surgery on Friday. As a result, she is unable to share in the joy of her IPPY award-winning book being released as an eBook for the first time.

One thing that’s great about this online community is the support. If any of you can share this week, that would be wonderful. (Many already answered the call on Facebook - thank you.) I’m going to save all the links to those posts and send them to her. It will cheer her to see that others were willing to step up to the plate on her behalf.

Available today for the first time in eBook form -

Maski: Broken But Not Dead
By Joylene Nowell Butler
Psychological Thriller
$4.99 eBook ISBN 9781939844385

An IPPY Silver Medalist!

To the Breaking Point...

When Brendell Meshango resigns from her university professor position and retreats to her isolated cabin to repair her psyche, she is confronted by a masked intruder. His racial comments lead her to believe she is the solitary victim of a hate crime.

However, is all as it appears? After two bizarre days, the intruder mysteriously disappears but continues to play mind games with her. Taught by her mother to distrust the mainstream-based power structures, and with her stalker possibly linked to a high level of government, Brendell conceals the incident from the police. But will her silence keep her safe?

Then her beloved daughter, Zoë, is threatened and Brendell takes matters into her own hands. To save Zoë, Brendell searches for the stalker and confronts not just a depraved madman but her own fears and prejudices.

“Joylene Nowell Butler gets straight to the story, taking you from one happening to the next and keeps you turning the page.” - Martha A. Cheves, author

“A psychological thriller filled with suspense, action and drama...” - John Bell, 93.1 CFIS-FM: Prince George, BC

“Riveting and beautifully written. You won't be able to set it down.” Judith S. Avila, author

Joylene, Métis, is the author of Dead Witness, Broken But Not Dead, and Break Time. She and her husband and their two cats reside in Canada for the summers and Nayarit for the winters. They believe life should be an adventure.

Blog / @cluculzwriter / FaceBook

Purchase Links: Barnes & Noble / Kobo / iTunes / Amazon

Release the Barn Cats!

I’m excited to bring to the world a captivating tale about loss, healing, barn cats.

Follow her blog tour through MC Book Tours for your chance to win a free copy.

HE GAVE ME BARN CATS

By Maria Santomasso-Hyde

Inspired by true events...

Losses send a woman’s soul into its darkest winter...

Maria has cared for her very ill mother for many years. Her burdens are heavy, causing a sadness bordering on darkness. When she discovers her historic barn is now home to a mother cat and kittens, she feels lighter than she has in years. As the kittens grow, they teach her as only animals can do.

Then tragedy strikes. As Maria loses her family, the darkness envelopes her like the heavy fog that blankets her Blue Ridge Mountain home each morning. She creates a scorecard: God: 9, Maria: 0. Her questions turn into anger at God. She searches to find answers as to why her loving God would take away so much in such a short time.

How will she learn to trust again? Can the kittens in her barn help her heal?

Christian Fiction / Christian Life-Death, Grief, Bereavement
$10.95 Print ISBN 978-1-939844-21-7,$3.99 eBook ISBN 978-1-939844-22-4
From Dancing Lemur Press

“...accessible, compelling and deeply infused with the heartbreaking and heart-lifting realities of life.” - Kurt Rheinheimer, Editor in Chief, Blue Ridge County magazine.

“A gracious, gentle tale of faith, told with refreshingly unexpected perspectives.” - Cathy Pickens, award-winning author of the Southern Fried mystery series

“Maria Santomasso-Hyde spins a yarn exquisitely told — a raw and truthful journey that travels from the depth of despair to the edge of salvation.” - Tom Mayer, executive editor, Mountain Times Publications

Formerly a newspaper reporter, Maria Santomasso-Hyde now owns Alta Vista Fine Art Gallery. She lives in Valle Crucis, North Carolina, with her husband, Lee, and The Queen of the Universe (Roma, their Black Cat)… and other Black Cats who decide to move in.
Website / Alta Vista Gallery

Purchase at Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Books-A-Million / iTunes / Kobo / Nook / Foyles / Indigo / Dancing Lemur Press / Everything Cats
Add on Goodreads

New Releases and IWSG Twitter Pitch Party

See the IWSG site regarding our first Insecure Writer’s Support Group Twitter Pitch Party!

The Remnant
By William Michael Davidson

One nation, without God...
Colton Pierce apprehends Abberants—those who display symptoms of faith—and quarantines them on a remote island to ensure public safety. Years prior, the government released a genetically-engineered super flu that destroyed the genes believed to be the biological source of spiritual experience in an effort to rid the world of terrorism. As an extractor with the Center for Theological Control, Colton is dedicated to the cause.
But Colton's steadfast commitment is challenged when he learns his own son has been targeted for extraction. An underground militia, the Remnant, agrees to help Colton save his son in exchange for his assistance with their plan to free the Aberrants on the island.
Colton is faced with the most important decision of his life. Remain faithful to the CTC? Or give up everything to save his son?

$15.95, 6x9 Trade paperback, 242 pages, $4.99 EBook
Science Fiction (FIC028000) / Christian Futuristic Fiction (FIC0402020)
Print ISBN 978-1-939844-29-3 eBook ISBN 978-1-939844-30-9

William Michael Davidson lives in Long Beach, California with his wife and two daughters. A believer that "good living produces good writing," Davidson writes early in the morning so he can get outside, exercise, spend time with people, and experience as much as possible. A writer of speculative fiction, he enjoys stories that deal with humanity's inherent need for redemption.

Purchase the eBook: Amazon / iTunes / Barnes & Noble / Kobo
Purchase the print book: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Chapters / Books A Million / Book Depository / Foyles
Mark to-read on Goodreads

Galactic Outlaws III: The Outlaw's Savior
By Susan Kelley (Gourley)
Futuristic Romance

A dark paladin walks in shadows, venting his wrath onto the deserving, until she pulls him into the light.

The Federation had cleaned up most of its corruption, but criminal gangs of pirates linger on the fringes of the settled universe. Innocent settlements are attacked, and their people taken as slaves to these dregs of society.

Rain Silver’s mission to destroy every criminal gang in the verse takes him to many dark places. But he likes the shadows and longs to restore his honor that he unknowingly compromised.

Mercy McElroy rescues those abused and enslaved by the pirates, somehow always avoiding danger. When one of her missions intersects with the dark and dangerous Rain, she recognizes the mysterious knight who saved her years ago.

Rain isn’t sure why he allows Mercy to act as his partner, but soon he’s breaking all the rules his lives by to keep her at his side. The largest and meanest gang either of them have ever faced forces them both to reevaluate their methods. If they want peace and justice in their corner of the universe, they’ll have to trust each other beyond what they’ve ever dared. And for that peace to last, Mercy will have to lead her tarnished knight back into the light.

Purchase at New Concepts Publishing