Tag Archive for astraea press

Six Sentence Sunday

For this week’s Six Sentence Sunday, I’m sharing the very first six lines from my work-in-progess, an epic fantasy novel. I’ll be spending all of August working hard on this book–I’m really hoping I finish it this year. Feedback on if this first paragraph grabs your interest is definitely welcome.

He was an enticing prospect, especially the way the candlelight accentuated the curves of muscle seeping through the black sleeves of his tunic. He’d taken off his cloak, hot from the ride, and was holding it hooked around his pointer finger. Vesperi stifled a giggle at its vivid hue, the bright purple of the Meduan sunset on a cloudy night. Illa wasn’t trained in subtlety. Anyone wearing a cloak that bold was practically announcing his ambition the moment he rode through a town square. Maybe that was the point; her father was a man drawn to power like a priest to intrigue.

Thanks for reading! Be sure to browse my other works available for purchase or for free. Also, I have a giveaway of my romance novella, Maya’s Vacation, over at I am a Reader, Not a Writer. Leave a comment there to be entered to win an e-copy of it!

Six Sentence Sunday

Time for another Six Sentence Sunday post–it’s been great fun participating and getting your feedback on such short snippets! Here’s another one from my romance novella, Maya’s Vacation.

“Where are we going?” she asked after a few minutes of silent walking. She stopped to catch her breath, not knowing if the pace, the wine, or the proximity of Dean were responsible for her short‑windedness.

“Just a little spot I saw earlier today–itʹs on the other side of the bed cabins, and I think youʹll love it.”

“Okay, but slow down a little? Iʹm not exactly nineteen anymore.”

“No,” he agreed while lessening his speed, “youʹre better.”

Synposis of Maya’s Vacation:

Twenty-year-old Maya knew, as she watched Dean walk away from her front door, distraught at her silence and her father’s threats, that she would never love anyone with the intensity that she loved him. He was her painter, her artist, her soul mate and being apart from him hurt too much. She tucked those feelings away, determined to enjoy the safe and secure life her parents approved of: business school and a marriage to Chuck, a successful real estate agent.

Thirty years later, Chuck has cheated on and divorced her. But when he comes back, begging for reconciliation, Maya follows her intuition and takes a vacation to think it over. Her love of art, food, and wine combine at this retreat in the woods, and she prepares for a week of making new friends, tasting exquisite wines, and learning to paint again. What she hasn’t prepared for is the familiar voice she hears the first morning at camp . . . a voice that makes her skin tingle and brings back memories of who she used to be before Chuck. Has Maya buried her passion too deep to find love with Dean again?


Maya’s Vacation is published by Astraea Press for $2.99. It’s also available at Amazon, and Barnes and Nobles for $3.99.

Six Sentence Sunday


It’s time for my second Six Sentence Sunday post! Six Sentence Sunday is a challenge to authors to put out six sentences from any of their works, published or not, that should excite readers to read more, and it is organized by the fine folks over at the Six Sentence Sunday blog. I thought I’d continue with Maya’s Vacation for now, though I may include my fantasy work in the future! Here are my six:

He pulled away. “But you shouldn’t be. You know that, don’t you? He left you, Maya! How could anyone ever leave you willingly?” His voice was raspy now, how it used to sound if he’d stayed up all night, unable to stop painting.

 

Maya’s Vacation is sweet, contemporary romance published by Astraea Press and available at their website (and Amazon, Barnes and Nobles, and Smashwords) in all e-book formats.

Six Sentence Sunday

I’m participating in something new today! It’s called Six Sentence Sunday, which is organized by the fine folks over at the Six Sentence Sunday blog. As you may be able to guess, Six Sentence Sunday is a challenge to authors to put out six sentences from any of their works, published or not, that should excite readers to read more. These six sentences are from my romance novella, Maya’s Vacation, which is published by Astraea Press and available at their website (and Amazon, Barnes and Nobles, and Smashwords) in all e-book formats. Here we go:

“Dean Mitchell. Nice to meet you too, Cliff.” He spoke fast and with a nervous catch in his voice, but each syllable cracked her concentration until it shattered like a boulder hitting a car windshield. She went to look, and her heart nearly stopped. It was him.

It was him.

Here’s the cover art for Maya’s Vacation.

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Character Interview Scavenger Hunt!

This special Sunday blog is coming to you courtesy of the Character Interview Scavenger Hunt! What’s that, you ask? Why it’s a great excuse to discover the websites of a bunch of intriguing authors from Astraea Press, Whimsical Publications, and Purple Sword. Basically, you need to find the character interview on each site and answer a question based on each interview at some point during the month of May. There will be three winners pulled at random from the pool of participants who submit the correct answers to each question. Each winner will receive a different prize basket of goodies from us authors — what’s a scavenger hunt without prizes? All you need to do is have fun browsing some new blogs! There are 18 blogs to visit, but you have all month to do it — just make sure you have your answers in before the end of the month. To participate, e-mail Robyn at promorobyn@gmail.com to let her know you want in. She’ll send you the list of questions to answer and the links to the blogs.

And now, here’s my interview of Maya Holden, the main character in my novelette, Maya’s Vacation.

Me: Maya, you seem like such a down-to-Earth woman, but tell me, how did you end up with a litter of ferrets?

Maya: Oh, that. [She waves it away with a giggle]. My husband — ex-husband, now, of course, but he was my husband  then — he never let me live that one down. What happened was that Meredith Viera one day on the Today Show had these long, furry animals I’d never seen before. They were so cute, I just had to get one. So I headed to the pet store that very afternoon, and what did I find but a mother ferret with a new litter of four babies! They were all so cute, no longer than my index finger, and I just couldn’t separate them. It felt like the right thing to do, taking them all home! Chuck turned bright red when he saw them, but he never did complain, not really. He’d been married to me too long! You might say I’m a creature of instinct.

Read more →

Maya’s Vacation Reading #2

Here’s the second clip! This one takes place later that same evening, after Dean and Maya have spent the afternoon and evening reconnecting.

[audio:https://www.rebeccagomezfarrell.com/audio/mvexcerpt2.mp3]

Maya’s Vacation is available for purchase (e-books only) at Astraea Press, Amazon, and Barnes and Nobles.

Don’t forget to head out to my book launch party at City Beverage tonight if you’re local! I’ll just be chilling from 6:30 to 8:30 with a pile of bookmarks, family, friends, and libations. Come by and say hello, and you might be one of 5 people to win a free download of the book!

I also have two interviews posted on other blogs today about Maya’s Vacation. Take a stroll over to the Astraea Press blog and Kim Bowman’s blog to read my answers to questions about my writing style and the book. What inspired the book? Who would I cast as the main characters? Take a gander!

Maya’s Vacation Reading #1

That’s right, folks. The day has finally arrived, and I am now a published book author! I can’t thank you all enough for your support over these last few crazy weeks. I hope you’ll pick up, by which I mean download, a copy of Maya’s Vacation soon. It’s available as an e-book only, but you can get it in whatever format you want: PDF, Nook, and Kindle files are all supported. Purchase it directly from my publisher, Astraea Press, or from Amazon or Barnes and Nobles. It’s only $2.99 for 50 pages worth of romance, food, wine, and a relaxing, quick read.

To celebrate, I’ve recorded two excerpts from the book for your listening pleasure. Each clip is about 3 minutes and 30 seconds, enough to give you a glimpse of the artsy retreat Maya attends, the delicious food Catelyn makes for all the campers, and the long-absent connection she rediscovers with a certain surprise guest . . .

Here’s the first clip! The second one will be available later this afternoon.

[audio:https://www.rebeccagomezfarrell.com/audio/mvexcerpt1.mp3]

Don’t forget to head out to my book launch party at City Beverage tonight if you’re local! I’ll just be chilling from 6:30 to 8:30 with a pile of bookmarks, family, friends, and libations. Come by and say hello, and you might be one of 5 people to win a free download of the book!

I also have an interview posted on the cover art for Maya’s Vacation today. Take a stroll over to Kim Bowman’s blog. What inspired the cover art? Who would I cast as the main characters? Take a gander!

Book Launch Party 3/29! City Beverage, 6:30-8:30

It’s only 7 days until the launch of my first book, Maya’s Vacation, and I’m getting quite excited!

As many of you have asked, yes, I am holding a book launch party to celebrate! This is not an organized shindig so much as it is an excuse to have drinks with friends. The wonderful Johanna, the Durham Foodie, arranged for me to stake out a spot at City Beverage in Durham from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm on 3/29, the date the book launches. If you are a blog reader, friend, whomever, you are more than welcome to come. My plan is simply to chill in the Lava Lounge (the purple room) the whole time. I will be armed with bookmarks for Maya’s Vacation, and I’ll be giving away a few free downloads of it. I’ll also have some flyers printed promoting my short story and reading  with Bull Spec on 4/15. Swing on by anytime between 6:30 and 8:30 and say hello! Please let me know if you can come!

I’ll also be doing book readings on this blog that Tuesday, probably two recorded readings from the book to whet your appetites for the $2.99 download. It will be available in all e-book formats at Astraea Press on 3/29–buy one, buy two, buy five and send them around to anyone you know who doesn’t mind a little romance mixed in with food and wine descriptions sure to make you hungry. It’s a book about reigniting passions, whether they be joy in cooking, creating, or accepting what Fate throws your way.

Check out Apocalypse

Yes, folks, it’s time for more shameless self-promotion! On Saturday, I had a short story published over at Yesteryear Fiction.

It’s a free daily Webzine that publishes flash fiction fantasy of all stripes, whether they be paranormal, epic, urban, or poetry. This particular piece, Apocalypse, is poetic prose that takes place in an alternate world–unless you’d prefer to read it as an extended metaphor. Here are the first three lines:

Corena sits on a bench in a field of marigolds and cement. She sits and watches the people walk past her in the same direction, which is away. They tread on the endless sidewalks lying between the rows of marigold planter boxes.

Now go and read it!

Upcoming Publications!

Today, I have an update on my writing ventures, specifically, on two writing ventures that are coming up in the next two months! At the end of March, my romance novelette, Maya’s Vacation, will be released by Astraea Press! It will be available in e-book formats only, but Astraea hopes to add print-on-demand to their repertoire in the future. Regardless, I’m super excited to have signed with them and to have Maya’s Vacation out in the world soon.

I’m posting the synopsis in a moment, but I think this novelette will be great reading if you’re a fan of this blog—my years of writing and pondering food and wine play a huge role in the story’s concept. If you enjoy how I describe a dish or beverage, I hope you’ll buy a copy and delve in! It’ll be a fast read and safe for anyone who enjoys passionate characters without the busom-busting to go along with them. Astraea only publishes nonerotic fiction, which is one of the many reasons they and Maya’s Vacation are a great fit. Here’s that synopsis.

Twenty-year-old Maya knew, as she watched Dean walk away from her front door, distraught at her silence and her father’s threats, that she would never love anyone with the intensity that she loved him. He was her painter, her artist, her soul mate and being apart from him hurt too much. She tucked those feelings away, determined to enjoy the safe and secure life her parents approved of: business school and a marriage to Chuck, a successful real estate agent.

Thirty years later, Chuck has cheated on and divorced her. But when he comes back, begging for reconciliation, Maya follows her intuition and takes a vacation to think it over. Her love of art, food, and wine combine at this retreat in the woods, and she prepares for a week of making new friends, tasting exquisite wines, and learning to paint again. What she hasn’t prepared for is the familiar voice she hears the first morning at camp . . . a voice that makes her skin tingle and brings back memories of who she used to be before Chuck. Has Maya buried her passion too deep to find love with Dean again?

In other news, the fifth issue of Bull Spec is set to to appear on April 15, with my short story, Bother, in the fiction section. Woo hoo! The release party for Issue #5 will be at Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh on the same date.

As part of the festivities, I’ll be reading from Bother. Be prepared for urban marital angst and dragons! If you don’t want to miss my short story or you’re just a fan of speculative fiction, you should definitely subscribe to Bull Spec now. It’s a gorgeous print magazine, but if you prefer reading online, e-subscriptions are available too.

Don’t worry, I’ll be posting reminders as the dates draw near, and I will definitely keep you posted on any release night plans I come up with for Maya’s Vacation. My family will be in town, so dinner out, at the very least, will be in order!