New Books - NewInBooks

Must-Read Science Fiction Novels | April 2021

Have you been on the hunt for some exciting new science fiction novels? You're in luck because we've made a new list of some of our favorite must-read releases. The list includes new books by Edmond Geanta, T.E. Butcher, Bob Blanton, Kyla Stone, Ken Lozito, and Glynn Stewart. We hope you enjoy your new sci-fi reads!

Crimson Transcendence

by Edmond Geanta

Release Date: March 26, 2021

The fourth book in the Blood Calls Series by Edmond Geanta... A desperate call comes from Jenkins’ son, Josh who is now trapped and surrounded by zombies in Florida. Tormented by guilt for neglecting his son, Jenkins along with Rey and Silvia goes on a rescue mission. Along the way they encounter a strange fellow who calls himself God and who might hold the secret to the global pandemic. During the rescue attempt, a local king pin captures, tortures and forces the two men to kill each other. Will Silvia save the man she loves or the one she swore a blood oath to?

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Armored Warrior Panzerter: The Red World War

by T.E. Butcher

Release Date: April 10, 2021

The first book in the Armored Warrior Panzerter Series by T.E. Butcher... Mars. October 2135. Captain Paul Reiter must prepare for war. His homeland, The Republic of Tharsis, stands on the brink of war with it's neighbor the Union of Mars. As a member of the republic's Provincial Watch, Reiter must prepare his soldiers for battle with an utterly ruthless enemy. Their weapon: powerful Mecha known the system over as panzerters. He must leave behind his life as a teaching assistant to lead a rag-tag team of pilots in defense of their homeland.

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Delphi League

by Bob Blanton

Release Date: April 6, 2021

The 10th book in the Delphi in Space Series by Bob Blanton... The Delphineans have to deal with the fact that the Fazullan ship has slaves on it. They repatriate the Paraxean slaves with Mangkator and need to find a planet for the other slaves. But what do they do with the Fazullans? Then Catie takes is assigned the mission to take the Onisiwoens, the third set of aliens, home. What will she find there?

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Edge of Valor

by Kyla Stone

Release Date: March 28, 2021

The seventh book in the Edge of Collapse Series by USA Today Bestselling Author Kyla Stone... The final battle for Fall Creek looms...not everyone will make it out alive. With enemies closing in on every side, the survivors of Fall Creek find themselves facing impossible odds. Do they flee for their lives? Or do they defend their town and risk losing it all? Some things are worth fighting for, even dying for. This may be their last stand.

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Acheron Salvation

by Ken Lozito

Release Date: April 9, 2021

The second book in the Federation Chronicles by Ken Lozito... First came the development of a Personality Matrix Construct—PMC, transferring human consciousness into a machine. It changed the galaxy and the way wars were fought. Then something went wrong with PMCs and the Federation Wars toppled the galactic order. PMCs became a menace to be hunted and exterminated.

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Eyes of Tomorrow

by Glynn Stewart

Release Date: April 27, 2021

The ninth book in the Duchy of Terra Series by Glynn Stewart... Captain Morgan Casimir’s mission to stop a war has ended in a nightmare. In the heart of an ignored nebula, trapped behind a ring of newborn stars, she has awoken a creature of another time: the horde of biological starships who call themselves the Infinite.

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Must-Read Historical Fiction Novels | April 2021

There have been so many amazing new historical fiction book releases for readers to enjoy this month. Don't miss our latest must-read recommendations from bestselling authors Julie Tulba, Emma Lombard, B.G. Cousins, Rhys Bowen, Ann Bennett, and Kelly Mustian. Enjoy your new historical fiction novels!

The Dead Are Resting

by Julie Tulba

Release Date: March 31, 2021

Growing up in post-World War II America, Becky always knew who she was- the daughter of a Holocaust survivor- and yet a label that had never really defined her because of how her father was. The only survivor in his family, Becky's father had always refused to talk about the past, having spent his entire adult life internalizing his pain and suffering rather than coming to terms with it. It's because of this that her relationship with her father has always been one of tumult and discord.

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Discerning Grace

by Emma Lombard

Release Date: February 22, 2021

The first book in The White Sails Series by Emma Lombard... Wilful Grace Baxter, will not marry old Lord Silverton with his salivary incontinence and dead-mouse stink. Discovering she is a pawn in an arrangement between slobbery Silverton and her calculating father, Grace is devastated when Silverton reveals his true callous nature. Refusing this fate, Grace resolves to stow away. Heading to the docks, disguised as a lad to ease her escape, she encounters smooth-talking naval recruiter, Gilly, who lures her aboard HMS Discerning with promises of freedom and exploration in South America.

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The Tachi

by B.G. Cousins

Release Date: November 23, 2020

The fourth book in The Rainey Chronicles by B.G. Cousins... After the Battle of Falkirk, Angus Rainey is hunted by a powerful English earl. Fleeing Scotland with the help of the Templars, he finds himself in the Holy Land, where he disappears with his Templar friend, Helmut Freiburg, to join a caravan traveling the fabled trade routes to Cathay. Along the way, they meet a disgraced Nihon nobleman and a Muslim princess fleeing persecution. Together, they form a pact to help the Nihon nobleman reclaim his rightful place in a land at the edge of the world.

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The Venice Sketchbook

by Rhys Bowen

Release Date: April 13, 2021

The new novel from New York Times Bestselling Author Rhys Bowen... Caroline Grant is struggling to accept the end of her marriage when she receives an unexpected bequest. Her beloved great-aunt Lettie leaves her a sketchbook, three keys, and a final whisper…Venice. Caroline’s quest: to scatter Juliet “Lettie” Browning’s ashes in the city she loved and to unlock the mysteries stored away for more than sixty years.

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The Lake Pavilion

by Ann Bennett

Release Date: April 9, 2021

India 1935: Amelia Collins, a missionary’s daughter, left destitute by the death of her parents, leaves their home in the Himalayan foothills to find work in Darjeeling. There she meets District Officer Reginald Holden, a powerful older man, who spirits her away from poverty and prejudice to start a new life as his wife in Ganpur.

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The Girls in the Stilt House

by Kelly Mustian

Release Date: April 6, 2021

Ada promised herself she would never go back to the Trace, to her hard life on the swamp and her harsh father. But now, after running away to Baton Rouge and briefly knowing a different kind of life, she finds herself with nowhere to go but back home. And she knows there will be a price to pay with her father.

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Hot New Romance Book Recommendations | April 2021

Looking for a hot new love story to add to your collection? You won't want to miss our latest must-read romance book recommendations from bestselling authors Mckenna James, L.J. Shen, Ava Ryan, Anna Zaires, Isabel Jolie, Penelope Ward, and Vi Keeland. Enjoy!

Inherit Love

by Mckenna James

Release Date: March 9, 2021

The couples in this collection will do everything they can to find love, even when riches get in the way. The 6-book Inherit Love collection follows six couples’ romantic journey to inheritance and love. Inside, you can escape to a tropical paradise or an Irish castle. Read stories of arranged marriages, second chances at love, office romances, enemies to lovers, and even amnesia. You’ll find marriages of convenience (and inconvenience), babies, football teams, bodyguards, and other smoking hot heroes.

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The Devil Wears Black

by L.J. Shen

Release Date: March 9, 2021

The new second chance romance from USA Today Bestselling Author L.J. Shen... Maddie Goldbloom stitched up a plan to ensure everything in her life was perfect—from a career in fashion to a chic NYC apartment to a pediatrician boyfriend. When her ex, Chase Black, storms back into her life with an outrageous request, her immediate reaction is to refuse him. But he only wants to fulfill his father’s last wish. So even though he’s the man who broke her heart, playing his fiancée shouldn’t be hard, especially if it means she gets to watch the arrogant devil squirm a bit.

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His Forbidden Love

by Ava Ryan

Release Date: April 8, 2021

The new release in the Manhattan Billionaires Series by Ava Ryan... I can’t get Ally out of my head. She was there four years ago, back when I was chief resident and she was my intern. Back when I was married to someone else. Somehow, I managed to resist this forbidden temptation. But things change. I’ve made my fortune. I’m building a cutting-edge surgery practice and I need brilliant doctors like her. Most importantly, I’m now divorced. The more things change, the more they stay the same...

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Devil’s Lair

by Anna Zaires

Release Date: April 13, 2021

The first book in the Molotov Obsession Duet by New York Times Bestselling Author Anna Zaires... On the run from ruthless killers, I’m down to ten bucks in my wallet and a half-tank of gas in my ancient car when I spot the ad. The job sounds like the answer to my prayers, but there’s a catch. The child’s father is the most beautiful, most dangerous man I’ve ever met. Darkly seductive and filthy rich, Nikolai Molotov is a tantalizing mystery, a lethally alluring contradiction.

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Rogue Wave

by Isabel Jolie

Release Date: April 13, 2021

The first book in the Haven Island Series by Isabel Jolie... I roamed the untamed ocean. Set out to play the conservationist hero. Those high seas? They remain lawless for countless reasons. Over ten years, I saw the worst that humanity has to offer. And accomplished… nothing. The futility of it all left me disillusioned. Numb. I returned to the island of my childhood summers. All I wanted was to lick my wounds. Hide. Regroup. Like a rogue wave, an idealistic beauty thrust herself into my world. Tells me we can make a difference. We can save the oceans. We’re one with the sea.

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Not Pretending Anymore

by Penelope Ward & Vi Keeland

Release Date: April 10, 2021

Finding a good roommate through a classified ad isn’t as easy as it sounds. I was starting to lose hope. Until a knock at my door came and God answered my prayers. Except…uh…wrong prayer, God. I’d definitely requested the big guy find me a drop-dead gorgeous man on more than one occasion...just not as my roommate.

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Interview with Laila Tarraf, Author of Strong Like Water

What can you tell us about your new release, Strong Like Water?

Strong Like Water is a leadership book disguised as a memoir. It has been described part memoir, part leadership guide, part psychological probe. It chronicles a period in my life when I lost my husband, my father and then my mother as I was trying to raise a young daughter and establish myself in my first senior executive role. As is so often the case, times of tremendous adversity become powerful teaching moments in our lives. For me, it was the moment in my life when I realized that if I didn’t allow myself to be vulnerable and feel the pain associated with those losses, I would become hard and brittle and unable to raise my daughter with compassion and vulnerability. I was terrified the journey would make me soft, and it did. But soft turned out to be strong.

What or who inspired you to become an author?

I have always enjoyed reading and writing stories. Throughout my life I would catch myself trying to capture the moment in a few words in my head as if I were writing a book, but I never consciously thought I would be an author until a friend invited me to a daylong workshop for aspiring writers led by Laura Munson. I was so moved by that day that I signed up for a 5-day author retreat at Laura’s home in Montana. Throughout the retreat, she had one or two participants read a scene we had written out loud in front of the others. I remember being really nervous and feeling like an imposter. I chose to read a scene that represented a particularly poignant moment with me and my mom and when I finished the piece and looked up, everybody was crying. Something clicked in my brain in that moment. I had touched them with my writing. Maybe I could do this.

What's on your top 5 list for the best books you've ever read?

I never know how to answer these questions because it’s so hard for me to compare vastly different stories to each other.

I love reading the books of contemporary writers like Ann Patchett (Bel Canto), Kristin Hannah (The Nightingale) and Jodi Picoult (Small Great Things). They are all amazing writers.

I love sagas like Ken Follette’s Pillars of the Earth and Larry McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove. I’m always so sad when I finish reading them because I have completely immersed myself in the worlds they have created.

Classics by the Bronte sisters and Jane Austin like Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre and Pride & Prejudice and books we all read in school like To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck are near the top of my list.

And finally books that have had a big impact on how I see the world are Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl and more recently The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer.

Say you're the host of a literary talk show. Who would be your first guest? What would you want to ask?

Two women whom I would love to speak with are Diana Gabaldon author of the Outlander series or Margaret Atwood author of The Handmaid’s Tale. I would ask them all about their process in conceiving, structuring and writing in such rich detail the worlds they create. I can’t even get my head around what that would take, and I’m fascinated by their ability to do it so masterfully.

What's your favorite thing about writing?

My favorite thing about writing is when you are so into a scene that it almost writes itself. It is revealing itself to you as you write it as if it’s not coming from you at all. It’s a magical space to be in.

What is a typical day like for you?

Well, I still have a full-time job. I’m the Chief People Officer for Allbirds and right now I’m pulling triple duty as a full-time leader, an emerging writer and a single mother of a high school teenager. Lots and lots of coffee!

What scene from Strong Like Water was your favorite to write?

I actually loved writing about my Aunt Helen. She was iconic. Everything she said and did could be turned into a bumper sticker. She had her own way of looking at things which was maddening and hysterical at the same time.

Do you have a motto, quote, or philosophy you live by?

I used to have a Maya Angelou quote up on my whiteboard at work for years, that said, “If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude. Don’t complain.”

I think it captures my philosophy to life. I can be dissatisfied with something and even complain about it a bit, but I pretty quickly either figure out how to change it so it works for me or how I can let go of my attachment to it if I can’t.

Laila Tarraf is the author of the new book Strong Like Water.

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Interview with McKenna James, Author of Inherit Love

Today we’re interviewing both halves of the Mckenna James writing team.

What can you tell us about your new release, Inherit Love?

Mckenna: Inherit Love is a series of contemporary romance stand alone novels. We came up with the idea for the series one day when we were talking about how, in other genres like cozy mystery—

James: --and Hallmark movies.

Mckenna: Yes, in so many of those—you have a character who inherits something and their world changes. So we decided to write a series of books where an inheritance plays a major role in the story.

James: And they are all very different. In Inheritance Goals, the heroine inherits a football team, which makes her life complicated because the team’s quarterback is her ex-boyfriend. In Inheritance Reversal, which is an office romance, a woman who is a mere assistant inherits the company and becomes her hot boss’s boss.

Mckenna: We had a lot of fun writing them. Readers like them because they have some steamy scenes, but there’s also a sweetness to the stories that fans of Hallmark movies will enjoy.

What books are currently on your nightstand?

Mckenna: I’m reading The Yellow Wife by Sadeqa Johnson.

James: And I’m reading Lord of Chance by Erica Ridley. Also, we both just got The Heroine’s Journey by Gail Carriger, a book on writing that we’re both dying to read.

If you had an extra hour each day, how would you spend it?

Both: Reading!

What makes your world go round? Why does it bring you joy?

Mckenna: My kittens. They are a year old now, but a stray cat had kittens in our garage during the pandemic, and we kept the momma and two of her kittens. Watching them grow up has brought our family so much joy. They keep us entertained.

James: I’m a dog person. Her cats are cute, but I have two Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, and they are my babies. We go on walks every day together and have a great time.

What scene from Inherit Love was your favorite to write?

Mckenna: The scene in Baby Inheritance where Valentina and Hudson come to an agreement to make a baby. It’s both awkward and sexy at the same time.

James: Probably the scene in Forgotten Inheritance where Roman realizes the hospital staff thinks Charlie is his wife and in a split second he decides to go along with it. There are so many complex emotions that run through him in that one scene, and the ramifications are so huge!

McKenna James is the author of the new book Inherit Love.

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Interview with Ava Ryan, Author of His Forbidden Love

What can you tell us about your new release, His Forbidden Love?

A sexy alpha male billionaire doctor who could have anyone struggles with his feelings for the one unforgettable woman who's off-limits to him. Emotional turmoil, intense passion and a happily ever after ensue.

Which books would we be surprised to find on your shelves?

Jon Krakauer's riveting Into Thin Air, about the 1996 Mt. Everest disaster, is one of my favorite books. I revisit it in audio or ebook at least once a year.

Who is your favorite couple from literature?

Do Calvin & Hobbes count? Is that literature? 😉

If His Forbidden Love is turned into a movie, who would you pick to play the main characters?

Thinking...thinking...this is a surprisingly difficult question...Okay. Got it. Kit Harrington, but we'd have to de-Brit him and give him blue contacts. And Bryce Dallas Howard. Man, they'd make beautiful kids, wouldn't they?

What's in your Netflix queue?

My life is all about Grey's Anatomy right now. I'm late to the game and watch an episode a day. It'll be a dark day around here when I get to the end.

What scene from His Forbidden Love was your favorite to write?

There's a scene where Michael finally confesses his feelings--emotional FIRE!!!

Ava Ryan is the author of the new book His Forbidden Love.

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Interview with Edmond Geanta, Author of Crimson Transcendence

What can you tell us about your new release, Crimson Transcendence?

This is Book 4 of the “Blood Calls for Blood” Series and it follows the struggles of an ordinary family with unique blood traits. When the hero (Gabi Halldor) gets infected, her husband choses to find a cure for her. In book 1 (Zombie Evolution) he does just that, but now, transformed into a telepathic vampire, Gabi and her daughter, Eve are being hunted by the government and other unsavory characters for their blood with hopes to find the immortality formula.

“Crimson Transcendence” follows three characters: Gabi’s husband—Reynir Halldor - an Icelandic ex-special forces (big shout to Iceland here – love the country and its people), Jenkins--a former medical doctor and Gabi’s second in command-Silvia who is also a vampire.

The three of them travel to Florida in an attempt to save Jenkins’ son, Josh who is now surrounded by hordes of zombies. The book depicts Silvia’s dedication and sacrifice when confronted by a very tough choice – save the man she loves or the one she swore an oath to.

What or who inspired you to become an author?

Although English is my second language, I’m an avid reader of English literature. I’ve always been fascinated with books written by Ray Bradbury, Richard Matheson and Stephen King but also the classics—Shakespeare, Twain, Steinbeck, etc.

The flexibility and richness I found in the English language is so unique to me. I’ve always aspired to be like these authors, so I decided to put my thoughts on paper and share my stories with the world.

What's on your top 5 list for the best books you've ever read?

I am Legend – Richard Matheson
The Republic - Plato
Misery- Stephen King
Home Deus – Yuval Noah Harari
Brunner – C. L. Werner

Say you're the host of a literary talk show. Who would be your first guest? What would you want to ask?

If I could turn back time, that would definitely be Edgar Allan Poe. The guy was weird enough to create huge ratings.

For a contemporary author I would go with Jeff Carson. Reading about him actually inspired me to start publishing. I thought—“If he did it, why not me?”

I would ask Jeff the following:
1. What are the things you’d do different when you wrote and published your first book?
2. How much time do you dedicate to social media promotion and on what platforms specifically?
3. What would be his advice to Jeff Carson from ten years ago?
4. Would you consider crossing genres and write something totally different than what you’ve been writing so far?

What's your favorite thing about writing?

The editing. Ideas I have plenty and I can write several thousand words each day, but editing is an art. Constantly trying to hone the idea into less words without losing its meaning and intention is a drug to me. I quit watching TV or movies just so I can have more time to write.

If a day goes by and I haven’t written something, I feel I wasted that day. Not trying to be cheesy here but, the truth is that writing completes me, although my wife might have different thoughts on that topic…

What is a typical day like for you?

I don’t sleep much, probably because I consume insane amounts of coffee and chocolate. Also, because I have a full-time job and a part time one as well – teaching management and leadership at a local college.

The day starts with reviewing what I wrote the day before while I’m having my three cups of coffee. Then, I talk to my wife for a bit, who is doing all the social media, promotion, ads on Facebook, etc. We go over the stats, changing ads, descriptions, etc. Without her I would probably be miserable and unpublished.

Then I start my full-time job – I’m a Technology Program Manager, working remote for a company out east. During my lunch break I write and then, after dinner, the real writing starts until past midnight.

I go to bed thinking about my characters and what would they logically do next. Whatever crazy idea comes to mind, I write it down and then I struggle for days to get the characters out of the problem I just created for them. Interestingly enough, some days I wake up after dreaming the solution of the problem I just created for my characters. I love to shock my audience with twists in the plot that make sense and could very well happen. In a way, I create problems for myself, not my characters and I never take the easy way out, as in an UFO dropped by and gave the hostages a ride out of the conundrum, they found themselves in, etc.

During the day I also respond to messages from my fans (emails, Facebook messages, IG, etc.). I think it’s important for and respectful to those who read my books, so I always dedicate time to that.

What scene from Crimson Transcendence was your favorite to write?

One that I’m afraid to share with you because it would give away the book. Let’s just say, my wife cried while I was reading her that part and my editor admonished me for writing that piece. It seems both, my wife and my editor had grown fond of one of the characters and the final chapter was not something they expected. In the end they loved it.

That’s why I’ll defer to my second favorite piece which is the banter and often life philosophies shared between Rey and Jenkins during their trip to Florida to save Josh. The scenes consist of questions I often ask myself. By writing them, I actually provide my own answers. In a way, I’m dialoguing with myself. It’s fun…in a weird kinda way.

Do you have a motto, quote, or philosophy you live by?

Several:
1. Don’t tell me what to do. Nobody died and made you king.
2. Live and let live.
3. If there’s no love then there’s nothing.
4. Without darkness you’ll never appreciate the light
5. Every man dies, not every man lives.

Edmond Geanta is the author of the new book Crimson Transcendence

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Interview with T.E. Butcher, Author of Armored Warrior Panzerter

What can you tell us about your new release, Armored Warrior Panzerter?

It’s a military story as much as a sci-fi story. Veterans will recognize a lot of familiar situations and kinds of people in some instances. I’m not even talking about combat, but day to day things. Oh and there’s plenty of awesome Mecha fights.

What or who inspired you to become an author?

It was my own desire to tell stories. I’ve always been a storyteller in one form or another, weather it was through my experience with tabletop games or just telling my family members about something amusing or dangerous that I did. What it came down to was I just had so many ideas I wanted to explore welling up and lacked a medium to share them until I discovered self publishing.

What's on your top 5 list for the best books you've ever read?

Top five is tough, because it’s constantly changing. Number Five would have to be the Worldwar series by Harry Turtledove. Four I’m going to say is The Exodus Arks series by J.N Chaney, though I admit there’s a fair bit of recentcy bias there. Jurassic Park and The Lost World by Michael Chrition are solidly three and H.G. Wells the War of the Worlds is Number two. The original Dragonlance trilogy sits at number one for me as it got me into tabletop gaming and fantasy.

Say you're the host of a literary talk show. Who would be your first guest? What would you want to ask?

I would host George R. R. Martin and do a bit where I’m like a hard boiled detective and he’s a mob boss and I’m grilling him over where Winds of Winter is. If he could do an Italian accent that’d be even better.

What's your favorite thing about writing?

My favorite thing about writing is the stories themselves. I just get so excited when I’m hyper focused on the worlds I’m building and I’m in my element writing.

What is a typical day like for you?

I wake up early , kiss my wife, go to my day job, come home in the evening, workout, then I work on writing for about three-four hours. Throughout the day I’m making notes, checking my email, editing, outlining and rereading parts on my lunch break and my bus ride. It gets busy, but I hope to write full time in a year or so.

What scene from Armored Warrior Panzerter was your favorite to write?

Honestly it’s the downtime scenes I love writing because I get to reminisce about my own time with my brothers in arms. Some of the downtime conversations are real conversations I’ve had.

Do you have a motto, quote, or philosophy you live by?

Embrace the suck- an old Army mantra. Means that you’ll have to experience something unpleasant or different, but doing so is required to move forward so why sweat it

T.E. Butcher is the author of the new book Armored Warrior Panzerter

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Interview with Emma Lombard, Author of Discerning Grace

What can you tell us about your new release, Discerning Grace?

I hope my readers have just as much fun reading about Grace's adventures as I did writing them. I never realized how much of a penchant I had for feisty female leads in historical fiction until I started writing my own. The first ever strong fictional female who made an impact on me was Centaine de Thiry (The Burning Shore — Wilbur Smith). She was so strong and resilient and SMART! No matter what the world threw at her, she handled it with poise and passion. I'm no wilting wallflower myself so it was good fun sharing some of my character traits with Grace. She's actually MUCH braver than me, and of course, she can live on a ship no problem, where as I get queasy the minute I step onto the dock.

What or who inspired you to become an author?

Reading the epic historical adventures by Wilbur Smith as an early teen started the ball rolling for me. Then when my grandmother told me about my 3x great grandmother who eloped with an English sea captain and lived aboard his ship, I just knew I wanted to write a story like that one day — and so the idea for Discerning Grace was born.

What's on your top 5 list for the best books you've ever read?

The Power of One — Bryce Courtenay (first book to ever make me cry — and I mean sob!)

The Burning Shore — Wilbur Smith (my favorite go-to re-read)

Outlander — Diana Gabaldon (I adore the book series, audiobooks and TV series!)

Shantaram — Gregory David Roberts (I bought it purely because it was the size of a doorstop, but I fell in love with the epic tale)

The Magic Faraway Tree — Enid Blyton (still just as magical when I read it to my own children 25 years later)

Say you're the host of a literary talk show. Who would be your first guest? What would you want to ask?

If I remembered to stop gushing long enough to let my guest speaker get a word in ... Enid Blyton. I'd ask her whether The Famous Five adventures were a figment of her imagination or based on childhood experiences, and whether she had a dog like Timmy when she was growing up. Who wouldn't want a dog like Timmy?

What's your favorite thing about writing?

As a historical fiction author, I like researching events and people of the times and then re-imagining how my characters would react to those circumstances given their personalities. I incorporated some crazy characters I came across in my research into my story but my editor and beta readers didn't think they were plausible. LOL! Just goes to show that sometimes life can be stranger than fiction.

What is a typical day like for you?

Being in Australia, and in complete opposite timezones to much of the world, I wake between 5 and 6am and hop onto social media so that I can interact in real time before everyone goes to bed. After the kids have left for school, it's good that my working day is not overly interrupted by the lure of social media. I only go onto social media if I'm taking a break from writing (or updating my website, blog, newsletter, or one of the other million things an author does besides writing novels). Because of my early starts, I'm usually ready to wrap up by about 4pm. Then I hop on social media again for a little while just as the world is waking up. You could say my day is like a social media sandwich!

What scene from Discerning Grace was your favorite to write?

Ooo, I can't say too much for fear of spoiling it for readers. But let's just say it was the poignant death scene of one of my absolutely favorite characters. It needed to happen plot wise, but I shed plenty of tears over it. And based on the number of messages I receive from readers that just say, "NOOOOOOOO!" I guess there's plenty of tears happening on their part too. (Am I an evil author if this makes me chuckle?) Sorry, dear readers.

Do you have a motto, quote, or philosophy you live by?

Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity — Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Roman philosopher. Or as we say in Aus: you gotta be in it to win it!

Emma Lombard is the author of the new book Discerning Grace

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Interview with B.G. Cousins, Author of The Tachi

What can you tell us about your new release, The Tachi?

The Tachi is Book 4 of the Rainey Chronicles. Like the previous three, it is an adventure novel steeped in real history.

Angus Rainey is caught up in the Wars of Scottish Independence. He becomes hunted by a powerful English earl and has to escape the country. In doing so, he eventually ends up with a caravan traveling the ancient Silk Roads to China. Along the way, he meets a German knight, a Persian princess and a disgraced Japanese nobleman who possesses three great Asian swords. One will become the hereditary sword of the Raineys, as seen in Books 1 to 3 of the Rainey Chronicles.

Together, the four head to the land of Nihon (medieval Japan) to regain the lands and status of the Japanese nobleman that were lost through deceit and betrayal.

What books are currently on your nightstand?

I do a lot of historical research. For Book 5 of the Rainey Chronicles, I have a copy of Vietnam by Max Hastings. For a novel unrelated to the Rainey Chronicles, I have The Ghosts of Medak Pocket by Carol Off and I’ve saved a video on my PVR called You are Here: A Come From Away Story.

What advice would you give your teenage self?

Oh, tough question. Anything I would say would eventually change who I am today, so one must be careful. I think I would say, consider your imagination and curiosity as strengths. Ignore people who belittle you for it. However, don’t be curious about too many things. Focus on three things, tops, or you will not reach your potential.

If you had an extra hour each day, how would you spend it?

That’s easy. I’d go for longer walks with my dog. My imagination soars the best when I’m walking alone with my puppy, especially when I’m in the mountains around Banff and Canmore.

What makes your world go round? Why does it bring you joy?

Bagpipes. Not only does it make my world go round, but it has also allowed me to travel to far off places with bands. I love to travel, and music has always been such a big part of me. Bagpipes define me to a large extent.

What scene from The Tachi was your favorite to write?

Ah, that is too hard to answer. There are so many scenes that I enjoyed visualized and putting to paper. The fight scenes are exciting. The funny conversations, especially the off-beat comments made by Freiburg throughout the book, were a joy to write. I couldn’t pick just one scene.

B.G. Cousins is the author of the new book The Tachi

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