Sorry for
the silence everyone, I’m in Puerto Rico meeting my Reserve obligation. Easily
as cool as last summer when I was in Amsterdam, and with the bonus of having a
beach.
The Vampire of Rome has undergone the first round of edits, and I’ll be
working hard to correct my many mistakes. Still on schedule for release in
October. I hope to have the cover ready for viewing next post. We shall see. I
have two reviews of books I think you should consider, but first a dear friend
has dropped by to tell us about her latest Victorian era mystery of her wildly
popular sleuth series, The Adventures of Xavier & Vic. Take it away Liza -
MEET TUBS
Sonny
Tubs is 400 lbs and nearly seven foot tall. Recently, he got shot three times
in the chest and not even that managed to kill him. [Guns were wimpier in 1895]
But lying in the bed was killing him
until Vic made him get to his feet and start exercising. While he’s still weak,
his lungs have cleared and he can still put the fear of God into criminals.
Chaos abounds in Late Victorian
England. Xavier goes off on a mission without Vic because her protector, Tubs,
is not well enough to keep Vic from harm right now. In fact, Tubs is dying and
the doctor doesn’t expect him to live for more than a week. Upon discovering
Tubs’ dire situation, Vic sets about rescuing him instead.
Good thing too. To all
appearances the two strongest crime lords of London have declared war on each
other. Only the two attempts on Vic’s life tells her this is all a clever plot
by a third party—worse yet, a female villainess.
To stop the crime lords
from destroying one another, leaving their territories open to the Russian spy,
she must bring Seth and Samson together, share what is really going on, and get
them to agree to work against this third party. Not an easy task since Seth
Sojourn thinks Vic is nothing but a foolish sop. Unfortunately, Xavier has gone
missing, so it’s up to her to convince the angry crime lord that her plan is
best. Otherwise, this villainess will kill everyone who gets in her way and
bring England to its knees.
The carriage pulled into
the warehouse just as a man screamed in agonizing pain.
When Tubs stepped out of
the carriage, the man being tortured groaned and either fainted or died. A
panicked whisper ran through the barred cells. The name ‘Sonny Tubs’ spoken in
fear and trepidation.
Tubs held everyone’s
attention, so no one even noticed Vic, Casey and Fagan following him. He
reached down and felt for a pulse. Then he nodded for Fagan to get rid of the
man.
He glared at the cells
full of seventy men. “That’s the last one getting off easy. Now I have other
things I’d rather be doing, so I’m going to offer you three choices. The best
choice of the lot is that you tell me what I want to know right off. Then I won’t
bother torturing or killing you or the ones still alive by the time I get to
you.”
Tubs let that choice
settle in their frightened brains as he studied the men in each cell.
“The second choice is
that you tell me what I want to know after I’ve begun torturing you. In that
case I’ll kill you quickly to end your torment, and let those after you live.”
He then smiled. “And the
worst choice is that I will torture you until your body gives up and runs to
hell, and I stay here until every single one of you has made your choice.”
Half the men looked ready
to give up the ghost and run off to hell right now.
“I suspect only a few of
you know the answer I’m looking for, which is a bit unfair for those who don’t
know and thus have no chance to choose option one or two.”
A great majority of the
men nodded in agreement.
“Can’t be helped,” he
stated. Moans burst from the men. A few fell to their knees. “So I’ll give you
this one chance to offer up those who know the answer to my question. That way,
they’ll be first. And if there are more than five of you who know the answer,
I’m pretty certain once I torture the first four, the fifth will talk, saving
the rest of you.”
“What do you wanna know?”
a terrified fellow asked.
“I want to know the exact
address of the blonde bitch who started this war.”
Within minutes, every
jail cell had pushed forward one or two men they insisted knew the answer.
Tubs walked up and down
the cells studying these men. He smiled at a terrified young man wearing a
rumpled but good quality suit.
“Let’s start with that
one. He’s not used to real pain.”
The pungent scent of
urine filled the area as the other men stepped away from Tubs’ selection.
Vic never liked Jackson
but she couldn’t help but feel a modicum of pity for him. However, she approved
of Tubs’ choice. If ‘the Professor’ knew the location, he would almost
certainly break and give the address at once.
Casey and Fagan pulled
him from the cage and yanked him to the chains.
“No, please. I want to
invoke option one,” he cried. He then looked at the men in the cages. “I’m
saving all of your lives. So repay the favor and don’t tell Achlys who told.”
Who
the hell was Achlys?
Vic was no longer certain
the jerk planned to tell the truth. She stormed forward and gripped his hand,
jamming a pick beneath his nail. He screamed and fell to his knees.
Vic grabbed him by his
hair and pulled his face to hers. “We're in a hurry. Give me the correct
address or I will keep you alive so I can torture you for years. I want the
blonde bitch that was upstairs in the hall the night you saw David at the
casino.”
He gulped. “Achlys. She
has a mansion on Hampstead Avenue, but her lover turned out to be a French spy,
so she’s moved him to the old jail on Bleak Street.”
Vic could see no
deception. She looked at Tubs. “I think he’s telling the truth. But let’s keep
them all here until we know for certain.”
Tubs looked at Casey.
“Put him in a cell by himself.” He then glared at Seth and Samson. “Leave them
be until we’ve determined if the intel is good.”
Seth growled. Samson
nodded. “We’ll wait.”
Vic could tell Tubs was
exhausted, so she had Fagan bring the carriage right up to him. She opened the
door and climbed in. Tubs followed, with Casey standing behind him, hopefully
blocking Seth’s view of Tubs as he nearly stumbled getting in. Vic reached out
and closed the door and the carriage headed out.
She moved to Tubs side of
the carriage and hugged his giant arm. “You are magnificent.”
He reached over with his
left hand and ruffled her hair. “I don’t know. You got him talking pretty damn
fast.”
Book 7
Free with Amazon Kindle Unlimited
Need to catch up?
Book 1
Book 2
Book 2.5
Book 3
Book
4
Book
5
Book
6
All Xavier & Vic books are Free with Amazon Unlimited
Liza O’Connor was raised badly by feral cats,
left the South/Midwest and wandered off to find nicer people on the east coast.
There she worked for the meanest man on Wall Street, while her psychotic
husband tried to kill her three times. (So much for finding nicer people.) Then
one day she declared enough, got a better job, divorced her husband, and fell
in love with her new life where people behaved nicely. But all those bad
behaviors has given her lots of fodder for her humorous books. Please buy these
books, because otherwise, she’ll become grumpy and write troubled novels
instead. They will likely traumatize you.
You have been warned.
Mostly humorous books
by Liza:
Ghost Lover—Two British brothers fall in love with the same young woman. Ancestral
ghost is called in to fix the situation. And there’s a ghost cat that roams
about the book as well. (Humorous Contemporary Romance)
Saving
Casey— Cass
wakes up in the body of a troubled teen who has burned every bridge imaginable.
Her only choice is to turn this life around, but that’s much harder than she
ever imagined.
Untamed &
Unabashed—The youngest of the Bennet sisters, Lydia, tells her story. A faithful
spinoff from Pride & Prejudice.
A
Long Road to Love Series: (Humorous Contemporary odd Romance)
The
Adventures of Xavier & Vic Sleuth series: (Late Victorian/Mystery/Romance)
The Missing Partner — Oops! The greatest sleuth in Victorian
England goes missing, leaving Vic to rescue him, a suffragette, and about 100
servants. Not to mention an eviscerating cat. Yes, let’s not mention the cat.
A
Right to Love
— A romantic detour for Jacko. Want
to see how amply rewarded Jacko was when he & Vic save an old woman from
Bedlam?
The Mesmerist — The Mesmerist can control people from afar and make them murder for
her. Worse yet, Xavier Thorn has fallen under her spell.
Well Kept Secrets — The problems with secrets is
that they always come to light, no matter how you wish to silence them.
Pack of Trouble — Changes are a part of life,
but these changes almost kill Vic.
The
CrimeLords’ War — Vic is almost killed twice as
she tries to prevent a CrimeLords’ War and stop a female Russian spy from
killing Xavier.
FOR
MORE INFORMATION ABOUT
Investigate
these sites:
Reviews
Lost Soul
(Harbinger P.I. Number 1)
Adam J Wright
First off
we have to address the Harry question - is this a riff on Harry Dresden? Yes,
there are a lot of similarities, but that is all. I do not see this as some
rip-off or derivative of what Jim Butcher writes. If you read what I write then
you know I’m friendly with R.L. King who is the author of the Alastair Stone
Chronicles, and just as an English professor of occult studies at Stanford who
also happens to be a magician is not the same as a private detective/ wizard
from Chicago, a Preternatural Investigator in rural Maine is also a magi of a
different flavor.
One very
large difference - the personality of the main character. Alec Harbinger is not
walking around with a giant chip on his shoulder, as does Harry Dresden,
despite being banished and shamed for making a mistake while on mission. He is
wrenched out of Chicago to Dearmont Maine, which to this former Maniac sounds a
lot like Searsmont, a tiny town not far from where I used to live, Bucksport.
Searsmont is also near Lincolnville which is where I wanted to live, Lincoln,
living in Lincolnville, could it be anymore awesome?
In any
event despite being banished to a small, bucolic appearing town (Searsmont is
100 square kilometers in size and has about 1,000 people in it), there seems to
be quite a bit of preternatural activity in Dearmont. In fact before Alec even
has a chance to sit down at his new desk he has a client who thinks there is
something wrong with her son, something dark and from the magical realm.
This was
an good story, the secondary characters were a bit stock, I might
have fleshed them out a bit, and then killed them in horrible ways, but that’s
me. The writing was evocative and the plot straightforward. A couple of
kinks, but no real hook. Editing was well done, no layout errors. A good lazy
Sunday read, but not one that will keep you up into the wee hours wondering
what happened next. I have bought the next one in the series.
BloodWalker
L.X. Cain
I love this cover. It’s not often I complement another
author’s cover, but in this case it’s a damn good image. Read the book and you
will understand how the cover tells the story without giving anything away. There
is a mélange of genres in this tale woven together like a fine linen shirt. My
best comparison is Bloodwalker is the horror version of Sara Gruen’s Water for Elephants. There is a touch of
romance, mystery, horror, and a reveal of the precarious life of someone who is
not a performer in a small circus. Hint - talent is not replaceable, everyone
else is.
The story centers on Rurik, who is head of security for the Zorka
Circus, a job with a lot of responsibility, but not much power. Children have
been disappearing in the towns they have performed in, the obvious and easy
scapegoat is the circus. While Rurik is trying to stop the kidnappings, there
is also the wedding of the Bloodwalkers he needs to make sure goes off without
issue. Bloodwalkers are from Romania, and prepare the dead for burial. Shunned at best, even by the circus
performers, things are never simple. There are mysterious RV fires, bizarre
rituals that may or may not be some sort of witchcraft or worse. Felonious
clowns, chases through rail yards, in abandoned factories, and during lightning
storms. And a well-imaged, nasty bad guy doing really evil things.
Pre-order now and read this book. You will not be sorry.
Yes, I received a copy for an honest review and that’s what
you got, an honest review.
Speaking of bad guys doing evil take a gander at these currently selling above most of the Were-bear porn on Smashwords.
Junior Inquisitor Book One
Soulless Monk Book Two
The Witch’s Lair Book Three
