The Moment Between VBT

Blurb:

After four years of mourning, Doctor Hackett Metzger is determined to stop letting his wife's death control his life. He is finally beginning to live again, but his recovery leads to an unexpected fight for his own survival and startling revelations about what happens to all of us in The Moment Between.

Hackett, a brilliant neurologist, is a skeptic. He doesn't believe he will one day be reunited with Jean, or dwell with God in heaven. What he does believe is that he should have seen the warning signs of her heart attack; he should have saved her. He also cannot accept the possibility that his clinical study of near death experiences could prove the existence of a conscious afterlife. When Hackett falls for the mother of a patient, grief finally begins to fade. But he has no idea his new love is hiding her dangerous past. Will Hackett's damaged spirit endure another heartbreak?

Excerpt:

In those first months, he tortured himself with the notion that Jean’s voice had been real. He was sure that she had been present while he tried to save her. He prayed that she lived on in death, hoped that even as he failed, she had a soft landing on the other side. Her voice became his torture.

And so he understood death as he never had before. He understood grieving and pain. He understood what it meant to miss someone and to know that he would never see that person again. He understood loneliness. Most of all he understood the foolish and painful illusion that life might somehow continue. There was no voice. Jean had not talked to him from beyond. He had tortured himself from within. She was dead. He had learned to accept that cold hard reality. Anger had settled into the dark hole that was his memory of that day, poisoning his spirit. For weeks he stayed home from work, for months the blackness held him captive, until slowly he emerged into the world once more. His sanity hinged on his acceptance that Jean’s voice had been an illusion. Death was just death.

Do you believe in the afterlife?

Polling has consistently shown that about 70% of Americans believe in some sort of afterlife, be it heaven, hell, nirvana or some other spirit world, but would you believe a friend who told you they had died and met God? Far fewer people will go that far. So why is it that so many believe the abstract, but are skeptics about personal experiences?

What about consciousness? What is it? How do we explain our own existence?

Science can describe the physical activities in our brains, but can't explain how conscious thought itself is possible. It might as well be voodoo. The best explanation was presented 400 years ago by Rene Descartes, "I think, there for I am." And that doesn't really tell us anything.

These questions and an unusual Christmas card are the ideas that drove the creation of my novel, The Moment Between.

As Steven King once said, "(The writer's) job isn’t to find ideas but to recognize them when they show up."

My inspiration showed up in the mail when I received that Christmas card from a friend who mentioned the death of her brother-in-law and alluded to his wife being the murderer. A very strange Christmas card, indeed. I couldn't stop thinking about it. When I called my friend and asked what had happened, I found out that, as they say, fact was stranger than fiction. I used the woman in question to create one of my characters. Some people think I created a monster. The truth is, real monsters are often real people.

The Moment Between is a psychological thriller that brings death to life through the story of Doctor Hackett Metzger, a neurosurgeon still recovering from the passing of his wife when he becomes involved in a medical study of near-death experiences, and falls for a woman with a dangerous past. Hackett, a likeable and brilliant doctor, is also a bit of an awkward nerd. He agrees to support the study even though his heart and mind tell him that death is final.

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Author Bio and Links:

Gareth Frank is a former union organizer and administrator. He received a Master's Degree at the University of Wisconsin and later studied at the Writer’s Center in Bethesda, Maryland. The Moment Between is his first published novel. His short stories have been published in various journals and have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize as well as the Silver Pen Write Well Award.

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Our Secret Powers: Telepathy, Clairvoyance and Precognition Blurb Blitz

Blurb:

Is the paranormal normal?

Many readers will be surprised when learning that reputable scientists, among them several Nobel laureates, have claimed that telepathy is a reality. Their curiosity will increase when reading that Cleopatra’s lost palace and Richard III’s burial place were recovered by means of clairvoyance. And some will think it to be science fiction when finding out about Stargate—the espionage program where the American military and CIA engaged in the development of psychic spies!

Simonsen, a Norwegian historian of ideas, introduces an array of entertaining paranormal tales from history, archaeology, anthropology and psychology, and presents scientific research that has provided fascinating results. He argues that the stories we hear about telepathy, clairvoyance and precognition ought not to be dismissed as superstition

In step with spiritual and occult traditions, the author suggests that consciousness is not limited to our own head. Rather he thinks that all humans (and perhaps all living beings) are linked together in a “Mental Internet.’ Via this network we may exchange ‘telepathic emails’ with friends and family and make clairvoyant ‘downloads’ of information.  Thus perhaps what we usually call ‘supernatural’ is completely natural but little understood communications via this Mental Internet?

Our Secret Powers gives us a engaged and entertaining analysis of a controversial subject and would make an excellent travel companion.

"Superb survey of the paranormal... Although serious in content, it is written in a light, often humorous, style which is a delight to read. As someone who has myself made a lifelong study of the paranormal, I cannot recommend it highly enough." ~ fantasy author, Herbie Brennan

"Simonsen describes his book as "A travelogue from the twilight zone,"but he is far too modest. Our Secret Powers is a sprawling work, meticulously researched, in which the author deftly, and with engaging wit, pulls together the various strands of "psi"--telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition,telekinesis, and healing--and presents them for our consideration." ~ Pulitzer-prize winner, Teresa Carpenter

Excerpt:

Based on this idea, we launch a quite simple model, called the “Mental Internet.” The basic metaphor here is that somewhat in the way our computers are linked together via the Internet, the ‘consciousnesses’ of all humans, and perhaps all living beings, are linked together via some sort of Mental Internet. Consciousness, like the Internet, is—on some level—something that we are all doing together; it is networking. And telepathy is the communication that drives this network.

I therefore invite the reader to engage in a little thought experiment throughout the book: namely that an Internet Model of consciousness may have some relevance. Galileo once invited the Inquisition to look through his telescope in order to see what he himself had seen. But, as we know, the inquisitors were not very keen on having their horizons expanded and instead muttered murkily of ‘the work of the Devil.’ However, I take it for granted that the reader has a radically more open attitude than those darkened souls, and I am therefore confident that my invitation will be well received.

I find it intriguing to think that our everyday perception of Space and Time may, in some respects, be merely a mental frame, a habit. And therefore it might be possible to think outside the box in a more radical way. The proposed thought experiment about a Mental Internet allows for this, and telepathy can then be considered as the ‘emails’ sent and the ‘downloads’ made  via this mental network. Many phenomena that otherwise would appear inexplicable will in light of this model fall quite nicely into place. More (much more) about this later!

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Author Bio and Links:

Terje G. Simonsen is an author with a Ph.D. in the History of Ideas. He has increasingly focused his attention on the esoteric and occult traditions and on paranormal phenomena, as telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, telekinesis, healing etc. Recently he published the highly acclaimed Our Secret Powers, based on his extraordinary knowledge within this field. Elegantly and with great personal wit and insight, he discusses parapsychological phenomena such as telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition. 

Simonsen has had his work praised by several of the world’s most renowned experts on the paranormal: The bestselling parapsychologist, Dean Radin, chief scientist at the Institute of Noetic Sciences, says: ‘As an encyclopedic introduction to the psychic side of the fascinating but puzzling domain known as the paranormal, there is no better choice than Our Secret Powers.” And Stanley Krippner, expert on hypnosis, shamanism and altered states of consciousness, former leader of two departments in the American Psychological Association, says: “This is an outstanding book and it deserves all the attention it can get. Not only is Our Secret Powers a book for all seasons, it is a book for all reasons!’”

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A Different Kind of Fire & Fury: Revenge Book Blast

Blurb:

Detective Michelle Velasquez kicks ass with the Santa Fe Police Department, and she’ll need all her moxie May, 2013 as she’s assigned two cases which may be related. She’s assigned a vicious rape case of Maria Acevedo, an intern with the Jones Financial Group, as she gets a call from an old friend, Richard Stanberry III. He’s intent on re-connecting, but she’s suspicious of his motives for good reason.

As she digs into Maria Acevedo’s rape case, she’s assigned a thirty year old murder case of her former friend, Susie Murphy, who happened to be Richard Stanberry III’s girlfriend at the time of her murder. If Detective Velasquez wants to solve both cases, she’s going to have to put her life on the line to uncover some dark secrets that some prefer to stay buried.

Excerpt:

“Has he given you problems before?”

         

“I’m new.”

         

“Are you afraid to tell me who he is?” She nodded in the affirmative.

         

“I wasn’t a person to him. Just a body to poke his dick into for my humiliation.”

         

“If you tell me who he is, I can arrest him, and you’ll never have to worry about him again.”

Tears started down her cheeks. “Can you tell me why you are so scared of him?”

         

She said, “Because he threatened me.”

         

“But you called the Police?”

         

“No. The cleaning crew came in, after closing hours, and found me. I begged them not to call you, but they did.”

         

“I’m glad they did.”

         

“Please don’t make me tell you who he was. He’ll destroy me.”

         

I said, “You know most rapists threaten their victims to keep them quiet, but they seldom follow through.” As I said it, I didn’t believe a word of it because to confront your attacker would not be easy. I’d shoot the bastard where it counted, if I ever got raped before I’d get dragged through the system. She continued to shake her head from side to side, so I said, “Why don’t we do this. I’ll take you to St. Francis Hospital, and we’ll process the evidence. You don’t need to make a decision, at the moment, on disclosing his identity. If in the future you change your mind, we have the evidence.”

         

“I don’t think there will be evidence because he used protection.”

         

“We need photographic evidence of your injuries plus he may have left a hair or two behind.” She shook her head faster, so I said, “It’s just a few photos. Nothing too obtrusive,” but they were anything but. If she named her rapist, her life would no longer be private. But without evidence, I had no chance of an arrest. “Let me take you to the hospital. I’ll call a rape counselor for you to talk to. It’s confidential between you and her.” She nodded. I’d get the son of a bitch because he wasn’t going to get away with destroying Maria Acevedo’s life. #Timesup

         

I rode with her in the ambulance, to St. Francis Hospital, where I stayed with her through the abysmal experience. They loaded her onto a gurney. They cut her clothes off and replaced them with a gown. Wrapped in a blanket to keep her warm, they shuffled her from room to room.

Once they reached the examination room, they had her stand. They removed the blanket and gown as the nurse held a ruler to the different abrasions while they photographed them. They swabbed her vagina and anus and gave her various shots and pills. After the shots were administered, they aimed a Canon between her legs. Once they had sufficient pictures, they inserted long beaks inside her and smeared her vagina with blue paint to check for abrasions. When they finished, they let her shower.

         

Her rapist wasn’t a novice, so I would check the database for any similar reported attacks. Otto and I went home after her rape counselor showed up. I’d get the son of a bitch because the arrogant prick thought he was entitled to take what he wanted, but he didn’t know that I would get the final say. I would be Maria Acevedo’s avenger. Scumbags like her rapist understood one thing, you had to punch back.

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Author Bio and Links:

I'm a debut author who has long had an interest in crime thrillers and an interest in criminal psychology, specifically, sexual assault. I was stalked two times in my 20's and had to relocate both times as I barely escaped rape both times. I used those experiences in creating one of my fictional characters in the book.

I'm an avid outdoor enthusiast and a lover of animals. I own 5 dogs and have horses, too. They're my babies.

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Lie to Her Blurb Blitz

Blurb:

Despite years of treatment, twenty-one year old Lydia still struggles with trauma from being attacked as a teenager. House-bound with anxieties and haunted by ghostly visions, she soon comes to suspect her psychiatrist husband, Myles, of sabotaging her recovery.

Her pursuit of the truth uncovers secrets more terrible than she ever imagined and it soon becomes clear that nothing is as it seems and no one can be trusted – not even herself.

Excerpt:

Lydia sprinted out of the lounge, through the kitchen-dining room, out ontothe back patio and down onto the grass in her socked feet. Her heart felt like it had multiplied in her chest and was hammering along with all its replicas out of sync. When she turned back to the face the house, she saw the girl standing in the upstairs window, looking down at her. A second later, she was gone.

She had left her cell phone and everything else inside. She had nothing to protect herself with, so she hurried to the tool shed near the garage to look for her gardening shears. When she couldn't find them, she grabbed the garden rake instead and headed to the gate with it.

When she got there, she undid the latch and threw the gate open. But she had only taken a few steps into the road outside when she felt a sudden vertigo descend on her. Various planes of her vision shifted and an icy-sharpness cut across the surface of her skin. She staggered back to the gate and inside the compound of the house.

It took her some time before she could stand up straight. She looked back at the house with dread. The irony of her situation was not lost on her – that she could no sooner go inside feeling this way than she could leave the perimeter of the house without risking another kind of panic attack. She was pitifully stranded. 

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Author Bio and Links:

Mehrisa Mex writes mystery-thrillers, neo-noir and international crime. She often appears in her own imagination lit in the chiaroscuro style of film noir and narrating thoughts to herself in moody, hard-boiled tones.

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The Comfort of Black Review and Giveaway

Though they seem to have everything, Hannah Parks has watched her husband, Dallin, become increasingly distant. Her hope is buoyed when the couple decides to start a family, but what Dallin reveals in his sleep one night rocks Hannah to her core. As she starts to investigate a much darker side of Dallin than she ever knew existed, Hannah peels away the layers of a diseased relationship closely tied to her own abusive past. When Dallin attempts to have Hannah abducted, she is forced to run, doing so with the aid of a man named Black—an ex-con and expert at helping people disappear. Together they must keep Hannah safe from her husband's far-reaching grasp, all the while trying to solve the mystery behind Dallin's sudden violence. Does Hannah's dark family history hold the key to her survival?

The Comfort of Black will appeal to fans of Gillian Flynn, A. S. A. Harrison, and Lisa Gardner.

My Review:

4 stars

For a debut novel, I was very pleasantly surprised. The characters were interesting and well-written, particularly Hannah, who grows into a strong female protagonist throughout the story. The plot was interesting, with plot twists and surprises throughout.

The ending surprised me as I didn’t see it coming, which was a bonus in my book, even though I wasn’t a huge fan of the way the book ended. I also liked how the author added an epilogue that answered all my remaining questions, though I would be interested in seeing even further down the line. I won’t say any more than that, as it would ruin the story.

All in all, this was a strong debut for Wilson and even though I didn’t always like or agree with the author’s writing choices, I would still definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a great psychological or mystery read.

*I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.*

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