Friday, May 2, 2025

Writers of the Future Volume 41 #SciFi #Fantasy #Giveaway


Sci-Fi & Fantasy

Date Published: 04-22-2025

Publisher: Galaxy Press


 

This anthology blends science fiction, fantasy, and literary brilliance, showcasing thrilling adventures, fresh perspectives, and thought-provoking themes. Paired with stunning illustrations, each story immerses you in boundless imagination. Step outside the norm and explore worlds of wonder—order your copy today!

 



Authors


L. Ron Hubbard; Jody Lynn Nye; Tim Powers; Robert J. Sawyer; Sean Williams; Tom Wood; Seth Atwater Jr.; Randyn C. J. Bartholomew; Barlow Crassmont; Andrew Jackson; Ian Keith; Robert F. Lowell; Patrick MacPhee; Lauren McGuire; T.R. Naus; Joel C. Scoberg; Sandra Skalski; Jefferson Snow

Illustrators: Craig Elliott; John Barlow; Cam Collins; Haileigh Enriquez; CL Fors; Dwayne Harris; David Hoffrichter; Gigi Hooper; HeatherAnne Lee; Marianna Mester; Daniel Montifar; Breanda Petsch; Jordan Smajstrla; Tremani Sutcliffe

 

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Thursday, May 1, 2025

Father of One by Jani Anttola #WarNovel #LiteraryFiction #Giveaway


This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. The author will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Maka, a young Bosnian soldier, has survived three years under siege. When the enemy forces launch their final attack on his hometown, he must escape to the hills. But traversing the vast woods is a task against all odds: to stay alive, and to find his infant son and his wife, he is soon forced to make a desperate move.

Set against the harrowing background of raging guerrilla warfare and the genocide in Srebrenica, Father of One is, at heart, a story of deep humanity, compassion and love. It is the account of one man’s desire to reunite his family, separated by war, and of bonds unbroken by trauma, sustained by loyalty and tenacity. Writing in a voice that rings with clarity and authenticity, Jani Anttola lays open a dark moment in Europe’s recent history.

Enjoy an excerpt:

This is it.

He would shoot some of them, then kill himself with the last one.

Maka counted his rounds. One in the chamber, four in the magazine. That was enough. And he had the grenade. He clipped off a cartridge and put it in his pocket. How many could he get? One? Two? More? He decided on three. A good number. He’d kill two on the road, then at least one more with the grenade when they stormed the house.

Three lives for his. It sounded like some sort of a deal.

He placed the muzzle of the automatic rifle into the rugged hole and took aim at the nearest soldier. He was about thirty metres away. Maka would drop him with a single slug. But when he looked at the man through the sights, over the blued metal of the gun, he felt bitter about dying this way. He knew the man outside was there to kill him and his kin, but what if he, too, was somebody’s father? He was probably in his forties and distantly resembled a clerk who had worked in the post office in Srebrenica. This Chetnik also wore a šajkača, with its V-shaped top making his head look like a pig’s hoof. He had a messy stubble and a moustache that seemed to hang from his long, thin nose, as he stood under the sun with weary eyes.

So, you’re here to kill me?

It’s you who’s going to die now. But I don’t do this because I like it.

If there were a way to leave this situation without killing anybody, let alone himself, Maka would do so. Just it was too late. It was far too much, and nothing could get it undone. He positioned the sights in the middle of the man’s chest and calmed his breathing down. He took the slack out of the trigger, until he felt the tiny resistance of the firing mechanism in his fingertip.




Jani Anttola is a Finnish novelist and a medical doctor. In the 1990s he served in Rwanda with the French military and fought in Bosnia as a soldier of the Bosnian army. His works have been published in the UK and Finland. He has spent most of his adult life abroad, working in Africa, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific.

Author website: https://www.jani-anttola.com/

Buy links

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Father-One-Jani-Anttola/dp/1915603986

https://www.amazon.com/Father-of-One/dp/1915603986

https://bookguild.co.uk/bookshop/historical/father-of-one/

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GATOS by Lia Connor #Paranormal #Romance @changelingpress

 

(Cat O’Nines)

 

LGBTQ+, Dark Fantasy, Paranormal Romance

Date Published: May 2, 2025

 

 

Catkind -- they're rough, they're tough and they don't take no for an answer. But who'd want to say no? Not Gabriella, a barmaid in a tiny roadhouse named Gatos near the Mexican border. Nor her sister Marnie. With his sisters carried off by the Catkind, Tony's left to run Gatos, but he won't be alone -- a couple of misfit "alley cats" have joined forces with Tony.

Lucia's a party girl with two hot, hunky Catkind on her trail. Orion, a white Tiger, and Jomei, a Bengal, are royalty among the Catkind. They're about to learn Lucia's much more than a pretty face. When the four Gatos siblings return with their Catkind mates for a final showdown against their nemesis, Anuetta thinks she's got these tigers by their tails, but she doesn't count on the mighty strength of the Gatos family. The line's been drawn in the ashes, and the claws are out!


This collection contains the previously released novellas in the Cat O'Nines collection: Cat's Claws, Cat's Eye, Cat's Cradle, Cat's Meow, and Cat's Paw.

 



EXCERPT


Excerpt from Cat's Claws

"So there I am, standing in the middle of the street, screaming at him en Espanol. I'm calling him things our abuela would turn over in her grave to hear me say. And then she'd wash my mouth out with soap."

"Lucia, when are you going to learn?" Gabriella unlocked the door to Gatos' cold storage unit. "You stay away from men like him. They're trouble."

Lucia, her sister, had the fire of a Roman candle and a temper to match. She jammed her hands on her hips in indignation. "Like you have room to talk," she shot back.

"I do. Do you see me getting tangled up with any troublemakers like him?" She yanked open the door, and cold air escaped with a whoosh. "Uh-uh. Oh, that's good." Gabriella closed her eyes and swayed in bliss. It was a gorgeous day outside in the shabby outskirts of San Miguel, the sky pure blue and the horizon clear for miles. Which meant it was hot enough to suit the devil himself, especially back in the warehouse. She let herself enjoy the cool air coming from the cold storage unit for a moment, then got back to business. She nudged the handcart. "Come on, you take one crate and I'll take the other."

"We shouldn't roll out a keg?"

"If you think you can manhandle a keg in heat like this, dolly or no dolly, you're welcome to try. Grab a case for now. Tony can get the rest later." Gabriella sized up the hefty crate stamped with the Moctezuma Brewery logo. Nothing tasted as good or as rich as their cervesa. Moctezuma was why locals bothered traveling to her tiny, out-of-the-way bar. If the brew master hadn't been a friend of her brother Tony, no way she'd have gotten her mitts on any of their goods. "Come on, Lucia, put your back into it."

Lucia pouted briefly before bending and lifting the crate. Tendons stood out in her neck from the effort as she wrestled a heavy crate onto the dolly. "We need some strong young stud for this."

"And there you go again, thinking about men," Gabriella chided. "I'm not saying I wouldn't like to have a strong young thing around, especially if he's hot, eh? I'm saying we can get by fine without one. You seem to think that's a mortal sin, which is why I'm listening to you pitch a fit in the street." She tempered the sting of her words with the fondness of her tone.

Gabriella shut the door to the cold storage unit and clicked the padlock back in place before taking the handle of the dolly. Oof. She had to admit, the crates were terribly heavy. Together they headed back to the main room of Gatos, the tiny tumbledown bar that had been their sole legacy from their mother.

Not exactly a rich and abundant inheritance. Ah, well, Mama had tried.

Lucia was still stuck back on Gabriella's opinions. "You're telling me if a man like Roger came on to you, you'd say no? He looked so pretty." She swung around to walk backwards. "Those cornflower blue eyes and his soft golden hair. Like a prince out of a fairytale." Her pleading turned wicked. "And good in bed? He was a devil when it came to loving me."

"And how many other women at the same time?" Gabriella bumped open the swinging kitchen door. "Would I say no to a man like Roger? Hell, no, I wouldn't. But..."

Lucia rolled her eyes.

"But," Gabriella went on, not letting Lucia's scorn stop her, "I'd say yes long enough to enjoy his body. If he's as good as you say, I'd have fun with him for a few days then send him packing. No harm, no foul, and no broken heart that needs someone to sweep up the pieces."

Lucia scoffed. "You wouldn't know how to let your hair down if someone gave you a hands-on demonstration."

Gabriella's pride was stung. "Says you!"

"You're right, says I. You want to make a bet on this? Friday night's tip jar says you don't have the guts to take the next handsome guy who walks into Gatos for a test run."

Ay, Lucia had her there. Gabriella could never back down from a challenge. "I'm listening. What are the terms?"

Lucia stretched her muscles out before unlocking the cooler. "So we have a deal?"

"Not yet." Gabriella pulled the dolly close enough to the cooler to unload it. "Let me hear the details before I say yes or no."

"Like you would," Lucia smirked. "All right, here's the deal. When we open tonight, you and I man the bar. When the first hot guy walks in, one I decide is enough of a handful for even you, I point him out and that's when the game begins. You come on to him, you do whatever you have to do, and if he's safe you get him into bed."

"I'm not a slut," Gabriella objected, all the while hoisting crates and holding them for Lucia to unpack and stow in the cooler. "And how am I supposed to know if he's 'safe'?" She dusted off her hands after the last bottle was stashed away. "You have to give me more than that to go on. I'm supposed to proposition a customer? That'll give me a great reputation."

Lucia shrugged smugly. "So you're saying no? You're backing down already?"


About the Author

Lia Connor lives in the South, but her job takes her almost everywhere but. Her laptop is her best friend. Lia loves stories about BBW’s, hot, hot, hot threesomes and wily shifters who get into (and out of) all kinds of trouble...

 

Publisher on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok: @changelingpress

 

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Wednesday, April 30, 2025

Taken by the Maine Coon by Megan Slayer #paranormal @changelingpress

 

Paranormal Women’s Fiction, Urban Fantasy

Date Published: May 2, 2025

 

 

A big cat and a woman without magic could just be the right combination.

 

Meela Durning swears she doesn’t belong in Eerie. She’s not magical. Never has been, but she’s the child of paranormals. When she’s forced to return to Eerie to sort out the problems from her past, she finds a big, fluffy cat. The animal lover in her has to make sure the feline gets home. He could be missing. Someone has to want him, right?

Aslan Maine has known from the moment he met Meela that she was destined to be his. He’s seen her in his dreams. When she picks him up to return him to his rightful home, he can’t hide his secret any longer. He’s no ordinary cat!

She can’t believe her eyes when the fluffball she rescued shifts into the sexiest man she’s ever seen. When he offers her forever, she’s got to decide if she deserves to be alone or to have a future with the handsome shifter.

 

If she can survive her past, she can have him. Right?

 


 

EXCERPT


“Christ, I’m tired.” Meela Durning stretched and cracked her back. She shook her head, then closed her laptop. She hadn’t spoken to anyone in particular. There wasn’t anyone there to hear her. Just as well. When she’d had someone there to listen, he hadn’t listened. Hadn’t wanted to be there, either.

She’d grown used to being alone.

Tonight, she didn’t want to be by herself. It wasn’t like she could poof a man into existence. She’d wanted to try that for ages, but with no magical abilities, a spell was out of the question. She supposed she could summon one, but that only worked in her dreams and she swore it had nothing to do with magic. Just her overly active imagination.

She shrugged, then stretched her legs before standing. The man of her dreams might only be in said dreams, but that didn’t matter. He couldn’t let her down that way. Didn’t have faults. He wanted to be there. Wanted to please her. Wanted to be with her.

Unlike her ex -- the rotten troll.

She sighed and pushed in her chair. She didn’t even have a fish. She’d wanted a cat, but the building manager didn’t permit animals that had fur. Ridiculous rules.

She checked that the apartment door was locked, then picked up her phone before switching off the lights. She padded into the bedroom. Once she tossed the phone onto the bed, she made her way into the bathroom. She stripped out of her shirt, and bra, then her jeans and panties, returning to the bedroom long enough to don her sleep shirt. She brushed her teeth, but her thoughts turned to the man of her dreams.

She paused, mid-brushing. Man of her dreams. That sounded so silly. The only time he’d ever appeared physically, she’d been asleep.

A vision of him formed in her mind. Tall, muscled, but not huge… thick dark-blond hair with just a bit of shag to it. Enough to remind her of a superhero, with his hair blowing in the breeze. Twinkling green eyes, a wicked smile that hinted at mischief, but he’d been a gentleman. A dusting of hair from his navel to below the belt.

She’d never seen his cock, but she’d felt it. Heat washed over her. She swore she’d felt his hands on her body, the way he’d touched her and kissed every inch of her. He took care of her. Treated her like a treasure. Like she had worth.

She knew damn well she had value. It’d taken her years to figure that out, but now that she knew, she wasn’t about to let anyone tell her otherwise. She refused to be a doormat again.

Meela finished in the bathroom and switched off the light before crawling between the sheets. Something in her bed vibrated. For a moment, she thought she’d left a toy from the night before. When a rectangle lit up beneath the blankets, she remembered -- her phone. She must’ve lost it under the blankets when she climbed into bed. She retrieved the irksome device and checked the notifications.

An email. Now what? She swiped to retrieve the message. Overdrawn.

“You have to be kidding me,” she muttered. She swiped to her banking app. Sure enough, the money she’d expected to be deposited there… wasn’t. Her ex-husband hadn’t bothered to pay alimony. Again.

She scrubbed one hand across her forehead, then checked her texts. The asshole hadn’t messaged her. Hadn’t bothered to let her know he’d be a bigger asshole by not paying. She did the math in her head. This was the sixth month in a row he hadn’t bothered to deposit the money. The fucker.

She switched back to her banking app and shifted money from her savings to the checking to cover her bills. Once satisfied everything would be paid out of her wages from the software company, she brought up the chat box to her lawyer.

Eerie, Ohio, wasn’t exactly her favorite place to go. She didn’t belong there. She had paranormal blood, but no magic. Couldn’t conjure, summon, wake the dead… wasn’t a shifter, vampire, necromancer, faerie… Nothing about her was extraordinary. She’d simply been the child of a conjurer and a celebrity psychic. All she had was her bloodline.

But if she wanted to meet with her lawyer, she’d have to go back to the place of her birth. She’d have to head back to Eerie. Would have to talk to Norm Slone, divorce lawyer gnome. His name had a distinctive ring to it. No one forgot him. Thankfully, he could be a junkyard dog in the courtroom, too.

She opened the chat box and sent him a message.

Need to meet with you. Tiernan isn’t paying alimony. Sixth month in a row. Tired of being shafted. Help?

She hit SEND, then darkened the phone and tossed it onto the side table. If Norm Slone had time for her, he’d let her know in the morning. Besides, she didn’t want to give her ex any extra space in her mind. He owned too much as it was. Some days, he lived there rent free. Those were the days she second-guessed divorcing him. She’d loved the troll once, hadn’t she? Thought they could make a future together, right? A woman with no magic and a troll could make things work, in theory. The more she considered her past, the faster she remembered the reason she’d left Tiernan. He’d only married her under the assumption she’d inherit money from her parents.

Wrong.

After the wedding, when he found out she was penniless, he’d walked out. He claimed he wasn’t interested in her any longer. He had to work late. He’d made friends with other people. Their lives were going in different directions. Other days, he simply didn’t speak to her.

He’d packed his belongings up in the middle of the night and walked out.

Her head ached. She’d lost a dozen years of her life to him. Years she could’ve been happy. Could’ve been single but making the best of her situation. Instead, she’d tried her damnedest to keep the marriage together. Tried to make herself loveable to him again.

What a waste. He wasn’t going to love her then or now… or ever. She had to stop living in the past and thinking about what wasn’t going to happen in order to focus on the future -- whatever future she had.

She switched off the light and snuggled in her blankets. She might not be living with anyone, but then again, she didn’t have to share the bed. Didn’t have to argue with anyone. Didn’t have to explain herself. But the loneliness overwhelmed her at times.

She closed her eyes and allowed herself to forget the day, forget her situation for a little while. Forget her Ex. Time to dream. She loved her dreams. Her mysterious stranger showed up when she closed her eyes.

 

 

About the Author

Megan Slayer, aka Wendi Zwaduk, is a multi-published, award-winning author of more than one-hundred short stories and novels. She’s been writing since 2008 and published since 2009. Her stories range from the contemporary and paranormal to LGBTQ and white hot themes. No matter what the length, her works are always hot, but with a lot of heart. She enjoys giving her characters a second chance at love, no matter what the form. She’s been nominated at the LRC for Best Author, Best Contemporary, Best Ménage, Best BDSM and Best Anthology. Her books have made it to the bestseller lists on various e-tailer sites.

When she’s not writing, Megan spends time with her husband and son as well as three dogs and three cats. She enjoys art, music and racing, but football is her sport of choice. She’s an active member of the Friends of the Keystone-LaGrange Public library.

 

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Publisher on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok: @changelingpress

 

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Tuesday, April 29, 2025

A Voice in the Mind by Bruce M. Perrin #PsychologicalThriller

 

The Mind Sleuth Series


Psychological Thriller

Date Published: April 29, 2025

 

 

Randy Hutton had fallen on hard times. He had lost his management job in customer service, “a victim of technology” as his manager had put it during his exit interview. Randy, however, described it as being ousted by little more than a glorified answering machine.

His wife, Isabella Perez-Hutton, on the other hand, was the up-and-coming star at Breakthrough Systems, leading a project that would help artificially intelligent computer systems work with their human counterparts. All the smart machines needed, she reasoned, was a better understanding of the strengths—creativity, intuition—and limitations of their human coworkers.

The irony of the couple’s situation—she building better, faster, smarter technology—and him displaced by a simple form of it wasn’t lost on either of them. That irony, however, wasn’t the reason for the violence that surrounded Isabella at work—a suicide, a demolished lab, a murdered programmer. Rather, the justification for those acts came from a voice deep within Randy’s head, a voice that tormented him endlessly, making sleep impossible and retaliation against those who would destroy him his only sanctuary.

And although Isabella’s new friend, Nicole Veles, came to suspect Randy, would it make any difference? Because by the time she came to this position, husband and wife were deep in the Colorado wilderness and Randy had killing on his mind.

 

A Voice in the Mind is part of The Mind Sleuth Series

Find out more about all of the books in the series at

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0753HDYWF


About the Author

If you’re interested in what I’m like in something more detailed than what will fit in this space, I’d say, buy any of my books. That overly analytic guy (read geek) is me. OK, I’ve never saved the day like the heroes in my books, but we think alike. I’m interested in technology and psychology (my formal background) and enjoy writing about where they meet, now and in the future. In addition to pounding the keyboard, I like to tinker with home automation and I’m an avid hiker. When I’m not on the trails, you’ll find me at home with my wife and our dog in Aurora, CO.

 

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