Red Tails reminder and what is next

Just a final reminder that Red Tails in the Sunset will be on sale tomorrow, maybe even this evening as they sometimes get new releases posted the previous night! Be sure to check out my posts on the Amber Quill authors blog tomorrow. That's at https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=18545575#allposts  New excerpt, some behind the scenes stuff etc.

So what's next? Well my next story will be out on September 21 as part of the Silver Foxes PAX which is five stories with younger men hooking up with older ones, thus the silver and of course they are foxy! My contribution is called A Game of Hearts and I do have a cover, drool-worthy of course! Here is a sneak peek--you all are the first to see it!  Right now I will only tell you that the story has nothing to do with a card game of that name but much more would be too close to a spoiler. Look for a  few more hints late in August when I get home from my vacation of a lifetime, three weeks in Alaska! And here is the collection cover; I love older men, they are confident, suave,  mostly well-to-do and of course sexy as the blazes!!!

Meanwhile go in peace and happy reading.

One more for Red Tails...

Just a few days now before Red Tails in the Sunset hits the market. You can tell I am excited about this story. Even with my rapidly approaching trip to Alaska just a long week away--I depart on July 30--Red Tails has s big place in my thoughts. I'm sure some of these planes and pilots are hard at work in Washington right now and elsewhere in the fire-challenged west.

The story will be featured on the Amber Quill home page https://www.amberquill.com and on the Amber Quill author's blog at https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=18545575#allposts

Here is one more little snippet excerpt to whet your appetite, the first meeting of Blaine and Daz.

****

Blaine brought the plane in and set it down. It settled so lightly he wouldn’t have broken a china plate. He smiled to himself. Still got the touch, ole man. A plane is like a good horse, a good dog, a good lover. Responds to the right handling, every damn time.

At first he’d thought he’d miss the sheer power of the military jets he used to fly, but this old prop plane was the sweetest bird he’d ever flown. Even though it might not be as fast or capable of busting the sound barrier in a flash of balls-to-the-wall full military power, he could thread it through a canyon and counter crosswinds and unexpected updrafts at minimal altitudes no jet could maintain for long.

As he climbed down, Mike Morrissey, his second-in-command, came running to meet him. “Hey, I know you want to get in another run today, maybe two, but there’s somebody you need to talk to. Although I could be wrong, I think this is big…maybe the break we’ve been looking for on these fires. You know, the arson angle and who and why.”

Blaine glanced at his watch. “I can give it thirty minutes. That’s about how long it’ll take the crew to refuel and reload the bird. No more than that. While news is great, getting this fire out is greater. Though I’m not sure I buy the official ‘fifty percent contained,’ bullshit, we’re starting to get a handle on it and stopping the rapid advance. A few more runs will make a big difference.”

He matched Mike’s fast pace across to the big hangar, more intrigued than he wanted to be, much more than he’d admit. Yeah, they’d had suspicions and had even glimpsed some inexplicable activity on the ground at times. For some reason, the powers that be were not interested in hearing any wild theories, maybe not any theories at all. It was as if the government wanted to attribute it all to the drought and global climate change and let it go at that.

It took a few seconds for his eyes to adjust to the shadowy interior of the hangar after being out in the bright sky all morning. Then he saw and recognized the man who waited in the lounge area, the man who jumped up and almost ran across to greet him.

“You! I know who you are—that freelance muckraking ‘investigative reporter.’ Haven’t my people told you to get the hell out of here and stay out? If they haven’t, I’m going to tell you myself and make sure you get the word.”

“B-b-b-ut, Mr.—er—Major Darby, you’re the man of the hour. You’re flying tricky drops and missions that have to be as fraught with danger as any you completed in the Middle East. You’re a hero twice over.”

“What I did in the Middle East is fucking irrelevant, and there’s no new dirt to be dug there, Reporter Contreras. I don’t have anything to say to you. Whatever you told Mike here to get him to let you in, I’m not buying. None of it.”

Mike held up a cautioning hand. “No, Blaine, hang on. Hear him out. He admits it may be an iffy lead, but he’s got a line on some sightings of trespassers in the forest who damn well are not Mexican nationals, people carrying stuff that appeared to be chemicals and electronic equipment and speaking some language that sure as shit isn’t Spanish.”

He turned to the reporter. “Tell him. Show him the pictures.”

“Let me get a soda and something to eat,” Blaine muttered. “Then I’ll sit and listen—for twenty minutes, not a second longer.”

“I’ll get it,” Mike volunteered. “Sit and start listening.”

More tired than he cared to admit, Blaine dropped into a chair. The young Latino snagged another and turned it to face him. He began talking at once, speaking so fast Blaine could not get a word in edgewise.

“I talked to a couple of guys two days ago, guys who live up in the hills. They may be growing pot for all I know. Still, they know the forest and the canyons up there. I can’t doubt that for a minute. They’ve seen stuff, watched and listened. When they’ve tried to tell the border patrol and the forest service, no one will listen, so one of them tracked me down. Right now, though there’s not too much proof. for some reason I believe them. We’ve got terrorists setting fires. I’d bet my life on that. I need you to help me prove it.”

He paused to gulp a fast breath and charged right on. “Mr. Morrissey told me you’d both seen things that didn’t look right. Ms. Cahill, too. You aren’t flying those fast jets, thousands of feet up in the air…you’re coming in low and slow over those fires and the smoke doesn’t always hide the ground.”

Mike returned and set a sandwich and a cola in front of Blaine, sliding into yet another chair by the beat-up table.

“That’s Captain Cahill; she’s still Air National Guard.” Blaine knew it was controversial to have a female pilot in his crew, at least among the old-timers. He didn’t care. Margie Cahill was one of the best. He’d welcome her as a wingman any day of the year. In fact, she had flown beside him in the Middle East, and he’d been proud and happy to hire her last summer when she came off active duty. Every one of his employees was former military, and most of them had served with him.

The young reporter had the grace to nod and accept the mild rebuke. Maybe he wasn’t a total lost cause after all. Blaine’s thoughts jerked back to the issue at hand as the Latino went on.

“What I’m asking –and I know it’s almost over the top—is to ride along with one of you and observe for myself…see what you all see.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Blaine saw Mike stiffen as a shock wave swept over his face. Over the top wasn’t even close. However, he didn’t blurt out a categorical denial. He thought about it for all of thirty seconds, if not more. The reporter squirmed in his chair like a kindergartner needing to go pee. Blaine could see in his eyes the eagerness coupled with raw fear that he’d gone way too far too fast.

“It’s completely against rules and policy,” he began. “The forest service would freak out. They can’t fire my ass or pull my contract because they can’t afford to with planes like mine at a premium while two other fleets are grounded for mechanical issues, but they’ll chew me a new one. Still, I own my planes outright and insure them and my company for damn near everything. If you’d sign a waiver releasing us from any liability if something goes wrong, I might consider it. You won’t fly with anyone else on my crew, though. I wouldn’t put that onus on another pilot.”

“Oh, man; oh wow. That’s like awesome.” For a breath, the reporter’s demeanor was fifteen years younger, like a kid meeting his rock star hero or sports idol. “I mean I really appreciate it. This could let me break my biggest story ever. I swear, I’ll do absolutely and exactly what you tell me to do. You’ll hardly know I’m there.”

Blaine gave him a tolerant half-smile. “Yeah, and the moon is made of blue cheese.” He shook his head before he went on, yet it wasn’t a negative gesture. He held up a cautioning hand. “Not today and not tomorrow. We’re at a critical point on containing this blaze, and I’ll be making some real risky maneuvers. Possibly the next fire. It’s a bit less dangerous when I make the first recon flight or two to size things up.”

Red Tails in the Sunset debuts in just over a week!

I am really excited about this story. Even if it is releasing just a few days before I take off on a big bucket-list trip of a lifetime --going to Alaska!!--I do want to remind my readers about this very special story. On the 27th of July, I'll have three posts on the Amber Quill Authors' Blog at
https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=18545575#allposts   That's  the day the story hits the market. I'd love for you to pop over there and read them!

Meanwhile I throw a few special tidbits out here. Like, since Blaine Darby is featured on the cover, I thought I'd share a shot that was one inspiration for my Latin Lover journalist, Daz Contreras. (BTW, one of the posts over at the AQ blog is an interview with our Daz. Don't miss that one!)

Over at my deirdre-fourds blog, I will talk a little bit about the summer my parents ran a forest lookout in the North Kaibab forest one summer when I was just a wee tyke. It was an amazing summer even if I did not have any kids to play with. Raised by two eccentric and sometimes reclusive parents, I was used to entertaining myself and it's probably a big factor in my becoming a writer!

Here is one more look at the fantabulous cover of Red Tails. I really want it poster size to hang on my wall. I am just loving it! Those eyes and my amazing cover artist just read my mind and portrayed Blaine just the way I had visualized him!

I am also totally in awe of the pilots who fly those "slurry bombers" and other fire fighting aircraft. They put military and stunt pilots to shame with some of their incredible feats. That was one reason I was driven or drawn to write this particular story. The title was a gift--came to me as I watched one of those red tailed crafts take off from the local general aviation (not commercial with scheduled flights) airport which is a base for some of them here in southern New Mexico. They often flew right over my house last summer. No big, bad fires close to here so far this year. XX --fingers and toes all crossed! May the Powers watch over all who are fighting fires all over the west as I type this.

First Peek at luscious, perfect Cover!!

Oh my golly but I am totally blown away. This is just one of the most awesome covers yet!! I had to share it and will give you just a teensy clip --unedited right now--of this special stand alone story that will be released the last weekend of July. I've mentioned it before briefly but here you are! Isn't that just beautiful? It is the right plane and the guy looks like I imagined my pilot hero to look, too! Love those eyes!

So anyway here is the blurb and I'll do just a wee snip of the opening scene even though it has not been edited yet.So just get the feel and don't look at any boo-boos that my wonderful editor will catch for me in a week or three, okay?

Blurb: Former military pilot Blaine Darby carries a load of guilt and pain from harm he may have caused in wartime. Now he seeks to earn some balancing good karma by fighting wild land fires while he holds on to his great love of flying. Reporters like young Daz Contreras scare him, one of the few things that do, because he shuns the public eye. When a near tragedy develops he puts his life on the line to save a trapped hotshot firefighting crew. Will all this make the news?

Freelance investigative journalist Daz Contreras is convinced terrorists are behind at least some of the wild land fires plaguing New Mexico. All he needs is enough proof to break a story. As he pursues this he begins to follow pilot Blaine Darby and develops a big case of hero worship. Allowed to ride with his hero one time, he may have gotten the proof he seeks. But a heroic rescue may be an even bigger story. Will the reclusive Darby allow him to do it? 

Excerpt: 

Vista Montaño, NM

Mid June

The powerful plane floated down through the fiery-hued haze of smoke and dust, engines muted to a dull roar. The wheels touched the runway, stirring yet more dust as it rolled along, slowing to stop near the terminal. The service crew swarmed out to the aircraft, which now looked as clumsy as an albatross on the ground. Lilliputian ants, the crew milled around the soot-streaked bird to check every aspect of its airworthiness, fill the fuel and retardant tanks, top off all the fluids and prepare it for the next mission. Nothing would go unchecked.

Watching from the edge of the runway, as close as he was allowed to get to the action, free lance investigative reporter Durazo “Daz” Contreras scanned the scene. He raised his videocam and taped a few minutes but mostly he absorbing the atmosphere, the hectic yet orderly routine.

The scene put him in mind of a team of first responders, dealing with a major accident or tragedy. Make haste slowly, everything controlled and precise, urgent yet never frantic… The adrenaline rush always took hold of him when he covered such action. And as a reporter known for tracking down the bizarre, scandalous and deeply hidden stories, jerking the camouflage off cover-ups, he made ambulance chasing and disasters his stock in trade.

As he watched, a tall, lean figure emerged from the cockpit and descended to the tarmac. From the man’s lanky build, he identified Blaine Darby, the owner of this and two more slurry bombers now contracted to the U. S. Forest Service for fighting the spreading epidemic of wildfires in the drought-stricken west. After some research into a subject that had become a passion, Daz knew this one, clearly Darby’s favorite, was a P-2V Neptune. It had the size and power to deliver over 2250 gallons of water or slurry to a blaze but also the maneuverability to deal with the confined spaces of the rugged southwestern terrain.

Daz started in Darby’s direction as the pilot headed toward the terminal. Although exhaustion etched every line of the man’s body, he did not slouch or stumble. His pace slow, he still marched rather than trudged. From the little Daz had learned about him so far, that probably reflected his military background. As if he sensed someone closing on him, Darby speeded up and slipped in through a door marked “Official Personnel Only” in screaming scarlet letters. He’d been just a few strides ahead of Daz.

From experience, Daz knew the door was locked and would remain so. Knocking was always useless as the press was emphatically not welcome. He shook his head, cast a last look at the parked airplane and then headed for his SUV in the parking lot. No interview this evening, no close up shots of the latest hero of the battle against the brutal Mescalero blaze.

Daz had a hunch there was more to the recent epidemic of fires than merely weather extremes and bad luck for those who lived in the areas. The word arson had floated past him more than once. They used the “human caused” euphemism in most of the official reports as if the fires were only an accident, but the bottom line seemed to be someone or several someones were kindling wildfires with ruthless determination.

Although Darby shunned the public eye as much as possible, Daz had learned he’d been a US Air Force pilot in the Middle East and seen combat in both Iraq and Afghanistan. After his second tour, he resigned his commission as soon as he got home. Again there were whispers as to why but they were mere rumors and so wildly diverse it was hard to take any of them as valid. Obviously it wasn’t cowardice since fighting wildfires ranked right up there beside combat as far as danger went. Still, it seemed clear the pilot had secrets, deep, dark ones. 

A Life Long Love Affair

The past few weeks I have started attending a small writer's group at the local Senior Center. (Yes, I do qualify as a senior although I am sure I look, act and think about thirty!! And if you believe that I can sell you some great Arizona ocean front property!) Anyway, the focus of this group is encouraging folks to get down stories from the past, their stories, because in the last fifty or seventy or ninety years things have changed so much! So I join in and write a short essay each Friday afternoon and read it aloud as the rest of the group does. We laugh, sigh, even tear up a bit at times. It is fun!

I've shared a few of those short pieces over at the deirdre-fourds blog but this one may fit better here. Bits and pieces of it have appeared on both I gusss so if you have read some of it, just skip a few lines!

I titled this one "A Love Affair With the Written Word."

As the first child and an only for eight and a half years, I was the focus of much of my parents' attention during my early years. Some of my first memories involve sitting in Mom or Dad's lap while they read me a bedtime story. A favorite was a big red book of Mother Goose Rhymes which was illustrated with lovely Victorian line drawings. I still have that book, a bit faded and dog-eared but no less beloved.

The ritual was they'd read several rhymes and then color one drawing with colored pencils which my Dad used for drafting and schematics stuff as he had worked for an early electronics firm for awhile and been in ham radio as a boy. It wasn't long before I began to recognize those odd black squiggles were a kind of code and that certain ones had sounds and groups of them made words!

By the time I started school, I had pretty well claimed the alphabet and phonics came easily. I zipped through the little paperback pre-primers and was into the bigger 'real' book in a few weeks while many classmates were still struggling with, "Run, Spot, run. See Spot run."

By second grade I had met Nancy Drew, gotten through most of the Little Golden Books and was looking for new worlds to conquer. During the summer between second and third grade while my parents operated a US Forest Service fire lookout, I wrote my first verses, original spelling and all. I even illustrated them with line drawings in bright crayons. By then I was hooked and have remained so all the passing years. I devoured books by the score and was reading outside the kids' section of the library before I was a teen if not sooner.And soon I was rewriting some of those tales as I thought they should be and then inventing or interpreting my own.

The idea of writing never seemed strange to me. Shortly after my parents with toddler-aged me moved to Arizona from the Midwest, my father spent a year or two writing what was to be the next great American novel. It was never published but already I saw writing as a thing grown ups did and I was going to get a head start. He went on to write for a number of outdoor adventure type magazines so the role model continued.

From Nancy Drew and some girl-and-horse stories, I soon moved on to classic westerns like Zane Grey and the tales of Edgar Rice Burroughs, especially the Tarzan series. Somehow I didn't get into science fiction for many years. From there it was a natural step to historical novels and I read many: Thomas Costain, Willa Cather, Anya Seton, Frank Yerby and so on. But none of them had enough of my favorite part--Romance!! Still, books were my friends, my escape, my substitute for the movies and TV I seldom saw. I read and read and read.

And I wrote--what one might call 'ranch romances' scribbled in many steno notebooks and sometimes shared with my mostly younger girlfriends. They all were sure I'd be a famous author even though most were not avid readers. I also wrote lots of bad poetry, mostly maudlin, mushy and filled with teenage angst. But now and then one was not too bad. In between high school and college--a period of a few years since with my Dad I operated a business training and selling horses and mules for trail riding and did some guiding--I even wrote my own girl-and-horse story. It's now painfully outdated but might work as a "this was how grandma lived" sort of book--if young girls still read in this day of electronic wonders.

Even though college I still read, nights when I should have been studying or felt I was caught up enough. Once I went to work and then soon married, time got scarcer but I also discovered science fiction and fantasy from my husband's reading habits and delved deep into that. I met the wonderful characters and worlds of Ursula LeGuin, C.J. Cherryh, Tolkein, Marion Zimmer Bradley and Andre Norton to name just a few. Finally it was 1986 and I discovered category romance. Oh wow, just what I always wanted. Real love stories!!

Everything I had ever written had a love story as a big part of the plot from early teens on. This new genre was wonderful and I had to try my hand. But lo and behold, after a time, a steady diet of love did get a bit cloying. I wanted adventure, too. So that was what I wrote. My tales never quite fit the mold for Harlequin and Silhouette even though I got "good" personal rejection letters from several of the editors. I wasn't fluent enough then in editor-speak to figure out exactly what they wanted.  I never sold there but about that time e-books came to be and a flock of small indy publishers sprang up. The good, the bad and the ugly were well represented and I got burned a few times but eventually some of my books were published and finally I found some good publishers and have made a happy home there! If you are a reader of mine, you know who they are!

So that is my life long love affair with the written word, fiction that always includes some kind of a love story and poetry that always has a romantic slant, either in the literary or the 'true love' way. Now you know the rest of the Gwynn Morgan/Deirdre O'Dare story! And I will read and write until I die, may the Powers That Be grant me that privilege.

Yikes and darn!

Boy does the time get away from me. Catastrophe has been out almost two weeks and I didn't remind everyone. They tell me it is selling well along with the other four tales in the Purrfect Tales  Amber PAX(c) all featuring feline shifter characters.

I will be featuring it in the Urban Fantasy themed Book Brew event over at Coffee Time Romance and More's blog site, www/coffeetimeromance/CoffeeThoughts/ this coming Monday, June 2. There will be other good urban fantasy tales as well as we have about ten guest authors appearing. I serve as host for the event under my "AzGaye" alias! The party runs from noon until eight pm EDT so factor in the hour by hour across the US for your time but you can check in any time until midnight and comment. Most authors do have giveaways as will I--a download of Catastrophe or the winner's choice from my backlist. (comment to get your name in the hopper) There is also a $25 gift certificate to the Coffee Time Bookstore and a good number of publishers and authors are featured there.

The second heads up concerns Kit's Ultimate Deal. For the die-hard 'real book' fans, it is now available in paperback from Amazon.com (under Gwynn Morgan) and I will have a few signed copies available at 40% of list plus postage to ship them to you--by your choice of priority or media mail. Email me at azwriter427@yahoo.com  to order one and I do take Paypal!

I just turned in a new story, release date TBA and will have another in by June 1 which is set to come out the last week of June. The first one is called A Game of Hearts and has a very unusual plot twist. It's part of the upcoming Silver Foxes PAX group that features stories of older and younger men hooking up. The latter is called Red Tails in the Sunset and is about a reclusive former military pilot who now flies the "slurry bombers" to fight wild land fires and a persistent investigative reporter determined to track down some fire-related stories. Stay tuned for much more about both of these upcoming offerings in the weeks ahead. I am on pins and needles to see the covers and will share as soon as they hit my desktop!

Fun stuff from Amber Quill Press

Amber Quill sports a new and redesigned web site with lots of new user friendly features for readers and fans. Be sure to stop by and look around. As part of the grand opening events check out this contest on our Facebook page! If you are staying home from RT this year here is one celebration you can still be involved in and a chance at some kewl freebies!  You might even be able to win my new Gwynn Morgan release Kit's Ultimate Deal or perhaps Deirdre's Catastrophe, which will be out on the 18th--if it isn't included since it is not yet on the market, well, comment to me here and I will pick one or more winners for it!!

Contest Time!

June 1-14, 2014

From June 1 through June 14, 2014, Amber Quill Press will be running a contest via the Facebook Page at (www.facebook.com/AmberQuillPressPublishing). The name of the contest is “Rediscovery Roulette.”

The ultimate prize to be given away for this contest will be a Kindle Fire, although there are lesser prizes to be won. There will be 3 ways to win during this contest:

1. People who “share” the contest notice (which will be pinned to the top of the AQP Facebook page) will be entered to receive a $10 AQP gift certificate. This “Share” Contest will run from now through the end of the contest period (June 14th).

2. Each day of the contest, running June 1-14th, an ebook will be given away. To enter this contest, people should do the following:

a. Go to www.facebook.com/AmberQuillPressPublishing and “Like” this page.

b. Go to www.amberquill.com and search for a book you would like to win from one of three imprints, Amber Quill Press, Amber Allure, or Amber Heat. On the AmberQuillPressPublishing Facebook page, in the comment section for the appropriate message for the day’s contest graphic (which will have the specific date), provide the following information: (i) name of book; (ii) a one-sentence line quote from the excerpt on the site; AND (iii) the link to the book sales page. One entry per day per person.

One winner will be picked each day.

3. From the winners of the ebooks, on June 15th, one grand prize winner will be drawn from the 14 ebook daily winners, the prize being a Kindle Fire.

Full rules are posted on the AQP Blog at: http://aqpauthors.blogspot.com/2014/05/rediscovery-roulette-rules-to-play-game.html.

We have a range of graphics that authors may use if they wish to promote this contest and their AQP books. I’ve uploaded them to the AQP_Promo files section in the “Rediscovery Roulette” folder. If you are unable to access the folder, please let me know and I can send graphics for you to use via email.

If you have not already “liked” the Facebook page, feel free to do so, and perhaps comment on the page, post excerpts, etc., to help keep the energy level up, and perhaps to get people to check out your book page at AQP and post to perhaps win your book.

We will be promoting this contest at RT next week via business cards available to hand out. If you are attending RT, and would like to pass out a few of these promotional business cards, please let me know. (Look for Adrianna Dane/Darcy Abriel at RT). I will be at the “Pimp Your Badge” reader event at the very beginning of the conference, so that might be an easy way to find me. Other than that I will be out and around the conference.