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Lurking Musings

~ Musings of a newly published writer

Lurking Musings

Tag Archives: free books

Back to the blogging stone… and a free book!

22 Monday Jun 2020

Posted by D.A Lascelles in Giveaway, Musings, Publications, Publicity

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

free books, Kindle promotion, lockdown, Lurking Miscellany


Lurking Miscellany: A collection of short stories by [D.A Lascelles]It has been a while since I have been actively blogging, mainly because I have been working on my writing and trying to get a few projects completed. Also because, due to lockdown, a lot of the things I had planned to do this year and blog about didn’t happen.

Also, I’ve been lazy…

But I am making a commitment to blog more. Mainly because I have now made significant progress on those aforementioned projects and I might want to tell you about them.

But first, to celebrate my return and the fact that last week I finished a complete first draft of a new novella, I am offering free copies of the ebook to Lurking Miscellany for any who want it…

UK version here

US version here

The free promotion lasts for the rest of this week so get in quick if you want to claim it.

If you read and enjoy, feel free to drop a review on Amazon or Goodreads!

 

Freebie Blitz: Volkov Mafia Series and Secrets & Whispers by Samantha Harrington Jan 30th – Feb 3rd

30 Monday Jan 2017

Posted by D.A Lascelles in Giveaway, Guest posts

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Tags

author, Author signing event, Erotic dark fiction, free books, Kindle, Samantha Harrington, Volkov mafia series


Samantha Harrington Author giving away free booksI met Samantha the night before the Manchester Author signing event in August last year. She dragged me out to a pub near the venue and there was entertainment galore. This week many of her books are on free as she builds up to her attendance at the West Midlands signing event.

*´¨✫)
¸.•´¸.•*´¨)✯ ¸.•*¨)
✮ (¸.•´✶ (¸.•` 🔫Freebie Blitz: Volkov Mafia Series and Secrets & Whispers by Samantha Harrington Jan 30th – Feb 3rd 🔫

💕

@ Author_S_E

#VolkovSeries #SamanthaHarrington

Obsession (Volkov Mafia #1)

 Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25842236-obsession?

 Faith

I had it all, friends, designer everything and money.

With my degree in the bag it was my time to shine, a new beginning just for me. To live my life my way and not to conform to anyone else’s plan.

One day changed all of that and everything I knew was taken away from me.

When It happened that one catastrophic event, the person I was before was ripped away from me in the blink of an eye.

How could I deal with the pain of betrayal?

Will I ever be able to deal with what happened? To find my inner strength to get me through or will the person I once was cease to exist?

After everything that happened and everything I learn, can I ever go back to who I was before?

Who can you trust, when you lose yourself?

 
Purchase Link: books2read.com/u/mV7WJP

 
Unexpected Christmas (Volkov Mafia #2)

 Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28115780-unexpected-christmas

Faith

We have been to hell and back, So our love is treasured. We have overcome so much. We are stronger than ever. As we wait for the impending arrival of our baby, and the joy of spending our first Christmas together. Will it all go to plan? Or will fate have other ideas.

Damien

The past Six Months have been bliss. Watching Faith bloom everyday, knowing that she is carrying my child. Doesn’t get better than this. She is strong. She is mine.

I fly back out to Russia, end up stuck here longer than I expect, will I make it back in time for Christmas, or will I miss more than just that?

Join Faith and Damien as the celebrate the holidays, will it turn out how they hope? Join them in this little holiday treat..

Mature readers only 18+ due to graphic and sexy scenes 

Purchase Links: books2read.com/u/mqzQJO

 
Fractured (Volkov Mafia #3)

 Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28423555-fractured

 Malcolm

She destroyed me, she fractured my heart too many times. I still need her, I still want her, now all I have to do is go get her. Show her I’m the only man she needs.

Camilla

I’m lost, I’m broken, I’m ruined.
Through the torment and the suffering he brought me back from the brink, then I took our son and ran from the only man who ever loved me.

I can’t be in his world, I’m not strong enough to fight for him, the only man I will ever love.

Can Cami and Malc overcome everything that has happened, to get their happy ever after, or is the past and present to much to fight against.

18+ due to mature content. some parts of this book maybe difficult for some to read. may have triggers. and lots of steamy content.

 Purchase Link: books2read.com/u/m0z1Z0

 
Redemption (Volkov Mafia #4)

 Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30532203-redemption

Synopsis

Alekzander

Guilt eats away at your soul. Pride makes you foolish. I want to be more for her.
Scared to try and petrified of failure.
She came into my life showing more fight and courage than anyone I had ever meet.
Through my wrong doings, she was saved!

As time goes by, she brands herself on my heart.
I have to walk away, I have to say goodbye.
But having her once will never be enough.
Redemption comes at a price and I’m just scared that’s it’s going to be Emma!

 Purchase Link: books2read.com/u/mvY0J8

 
Secrets and Whispers (Club Secrets & Whispers Book 1)


Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29479217-secrets-and-whispers 

Have you ever wondered what goes on behind closed doors?

Well now you don’t have to.
Follow the journeys of the members of club Secrets & Whispers.
See how they really feel about their clients, and who they enjoy most.

These little shorts will leave you wanting more, needing more. craving more.

Are you willing to go behind closed doors?

18+ due to adult content, scenes of a sexual nature, may cause triggers

 Purchase Link: books2read.com/u/bOrWY0

 
Author Bio

I wouldn’t say that I wanted to be a writer from when I was little.
I only really started reading often when I had baby number five, as he was born very early and spent thirteen weeks in special care. It was then that I discovered my love for reading.
From then on, I was hooked. I read all types of romance books.
It dawned on me that I wanted to be more than a mum/reader/blogger. I wanted to write, as I have a very active imagination, so I put pen to paper.

I write romance – contemporary, dark and erotic.

I like to write about loss, pain and love, and what it’s like to fight for your happy ever after. 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SEHarringtonAuthor

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Author_S_E

Exit pursued by a Dalek… A tale of a fashionably late World Book Night

27 Sunday Apr 2014

Posted by D.A Lascelles in Musings

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

After the Funeral, Agatha Christie, Anna Percy, Ben Aaronovitch, books, Dalek, Dermot Glennon, Doctor Who, Ed Fortune, Fab Cafe, Flapjack Press, Frances Hardinge, free books, Jackie O'Hagan, Manchester, Manchester Museum, Ninfa Hayes, Poetry, R.A Smith, Rivers of London, Sarah Grace Logan, Starburst Magazine, TARDIS, Tony Curry, Transitions, World Book, World Book Night, Zach Roddis


Myself and Ed Fortune sat in front of a TARDIS. Picture taken by Frances Hardinge

Myself and Ed Fortune sat in front of a TARDIS. Picture taken by Frances Hardinge

World Book Night happens annually on the same day as Shakespeare’s Death, the 23rd April. On this day, volunteers give out free books in order to encourage reading in those who do not read much. Being a World Book Night giver I was of course giving out books on that night…

Except I wasn’t. Because I was giving them away on the 24th April. A day late… Damned temporal distortions again.

That was the base concept behind the Fashionably Late World Book Night party at the Fab Café in the city centre of Manchester. To be fashionably late in giving away our books. So, I turned up at a Geek themed basement bar with a bag full of books and author Frances Hardinge in tow for a night of poetry, prose and free books.

And there were a lot of free books:

freebooks6

Not only were there the 18 copies of Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London and the 36 copies of Agatha Christie’s After the Funeral provided to our givers by the World Book Night charity but also a large collection of ex review copies of books that had been sent to the Starburst offices and which were now no longer needed. This meant that any SF or fantasy fan could walk out with quite a haul if they so chose and the murder mystery fans were not ignored either. The books proved very popular with the crowd in the venue. Some of them had come here just for the books, some of them had been drawn by the promise of readings by local writers and poets and the chance to hob nob with them. Many more had come because it was a Thursday night and they always went to Fab on a Thursday.

The readings and guest writers were also popular. Everywhere you went there were conversations between writers, poets and their fans in topics ranging from their latest books to why it is not possible to do a decent film version of Lovecraftian horror. The bar was doing a roaring trade and the atmosphere was friendly and open. The SF theme decorations added to the unique nature of the venue and had at least one contributor (who shall remain nameless) running around gleefully with a camera taking shots of Daleks, Cybermen and TARDIS’s left right and centre. I was also taking photos, of course, but in my case it was, um, for professional reasons.

 

hobnobbing7interview2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even the presence of some of TVs most intimidating and scary villains did little to dampen the mood.

 

There was only one critic present at the event but he was notoriously brutal...

There was only one critic present at the event but he was notoriously brutal…

Though they did seem to lurk menacingly off stage whenever a writer was up doing their reading…

reading6

reading3However, the presence of the resident critic from the Skaro evening Chronicle (tagline ‘News to exterminate to’) did little to deter the performers. We opened with R.A Smith who read an extract from his debut novel, Oblivion Storm. It went down well, he got applause and was not exterminated.

This was followed by, um, me… reading an extract from Transitions. This was my first ever public reading and I was petrified. Yeah, I know, I’m a teacher as well as a writer and yes speaking in public (sometimes in front of very hostile audiences) is part of the job. It’s practically all the job (well, apart from the planning, marking, admin and occasional public appearances for publicity) so I shouldn’t have been so scared. Shouldn’t but I was. You see, there is a difference between standing there and talking freely about a topic you know a lot about and reading something out loud. With the former there is room for improvisation and the chance to have discussions and take questions from the audience – to get them involved and active in the process. Reading aloud is more static and you have to stick to the script. It is not the time to start subconsciously editing your own work and reading out this new edited version instead of the published one (which I may have done a little bit). Also, the lack of light made reading difficult (thankfully the representative of Flapjack Press was able to supply a reading light to those who came after me to solve this problem). Despite all these issues I managed to struggle through the section where Gaius Lucius meets the mad old man in the cave and got my own round of applause and absence of extermination.

The poets and writers of Flapjack Press then took the stage in turns and wowed the audience with their poetry and prose. They included Tony Curry who read out poems relating to what it was like to be a man and Sarah Grace Logan whose poetry contrasted nicely with its more feminist vibe and her works based on the objects she sees daily in her work at the Manchester Museum.

reading10 reading11This was followed by Frances Hardinge who read out a chilling extract from her latest and as yet unreleased novel, Cuckoo Song. It was unfortunate that due to a postal service snafu there were no copies of this book available for sale or signing. If the expected parcel from her publisher had actually arrived that night would have been the first time and place that book would have been on sale in the reading15world – a true exclusive.

There was then a short break before the second half of the evening, this compered by another local poet, Anna Percy who also performed her own poetry. She was joined by Dermot Glennon, Zach reading25Roddis and the wonderfully anarchic comedy poetry of Jackie O’Hagan making this night a truly North Western literary occasion. All performers were well received by the audience and did sterling sets that ended in applause. More importantly, none of them were exterminated by the resident critic, for which I am sure they were all grateful.

Unfortunately we had to leave before the end, though I hear that the evening ended with dancing to nineties classics which I am sorry we missed. On the free book table as we left there were no more copies of Rivers of London and only a handful of copies of After the Funeral. The Starburst review copies were also much reduced, presumably meaning that there is now much more room in their offices for future ARCs. I grabbed a handful of the Agatha Christies as we said our final goodbyes to Anna Percy and the other contributors. Those copies were offered to students at my college the next morning and one was gifted to the college library.

Shown here are only a handful of the photographs I took that evening. I’d try to cram more in but I fear this blog post would be an endless sea of photography. If you want to seem more of them, you can go and look at my Flickr account. If any of the poets or writers who were there wish to  make use of any of these for their own web pages or blogs you may feel free. Contact me and I can send you the original copies. I’d appreciate an acknowledgement in return.

With such a successful night I am not sure how we can beat it next year but I am sure we will have a damn good try. There may have to be ballet dancing elephants.

 

 

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