Last Light Falling: Into The Darkness

Last Light Falling: Into the Darkness: Book II

Another masterpiece! ~ Review by Crystal Simons

I read the first book of this series and loved it and was so excited to see this one. And man I was not disappointed. It picks up where the other one ended and the tragic story of Arena and her brother Gabe continues. It is so thrilling and deep, I could not stop reading it. The struggles, the hell they face daily is intense. And their strength grows as they do. Their journey to find their friends leads them to a place they did not expect and it changed everything once again. War, death, betrayal and the pure fight to survive grab you and hold you prisoner. I love the details as much as the first book and the strong characters made it another joy to read. It has a wonderful smooth flow and keeps your attention. I hated to see it end. J.E. Plemons is such a talented writer and I love how he thinks and how deep his imagination goes. I want more! I recommend this book highly to everyone and I look forward to more of this saga .You will love both books. They are both favorites of mine and ones that stay in your mind and heart long after the last page.

Book Description:

Arena has left the nation’s administration with a dead president and a weakened military, and while the tragic memories continue to scar her, the government struggles to regroup without its leader. For the people who still remain in hiding, it’s evident the country is all but lost, and with Russian operatives taking over, the nation’s hope of recovering is grim.

After months in hiding, Arena and her brother, Gabriel, fight to survive the aftermath while they trudge through unkindly terrain across the country to rejoin their friends, but what they soon discover may staunch their journey. The government’s failed attempt to rebirth a broken nation has caused civil unrest like no other.

After reuniting with their friends, Arena’s decision to stay changes when she discovers the secrets of a refugee camp behind a clandestine group of rebels, known as the Southern Resistance. With an opportunity to escape to a permanent safe haven, Arena risks her life to lead the new fellowship. But the darkest days are upon them, and with a new war brewing, Arena’s path will take a dark turn as her survival is in jeopardy.

Into The Darkness captures the cruel truth behind our darkest secrets which may often cause us to question our faith. In this graphic second installment of the LAST LIGHT FALLING series, J.E. Plemons continues the grim story of Arena Power’s fate, testing her faith while she and her brother search for an answer to their survival in a brooding world filled with chaos.

Meet The Author!

Jay has a BS in Music business with emphasis in publishing and copyright law, an English degree that he never intended getting, and a music education degree to which he will forever embrace.

Jay spent a year studying for the LSAT, then decided to attend culinary school,  hoping to become an aspiring chef in a five star restaurant, but didn't care for the fourteen hour days in a kitchen. So what did he do? Met his wife in college, got married, and after hearing the news of their first child, decided to skip the idea of attending law school. It was the best choice he ever made.

Jay spent his years in Nashville working in the music industry for companies like RCA, Sony, Zomba, and Dreamworks, all of which gave him a bitter taste in his mouth. Aside from working directly with many famous artists, his conclusion of the industry was a tainted cesspool of filth. From Austin, Texas to Nashville, Tennessee, Jay worked a small time in the film industry, as a PA, extra in a few films, and a various of other uninspiring, uneventful jobs. He dedicated his carpentry skills for a while creating custom fine furniture, manned a press for a print shop, was a studio musician, played drums for a few famous artists, taught high school band for a year, giving IT support for the Texas Legislature, and now an aspiring author. He has no claim to fame, nor does he want any.

Jay has been fortunate enough to experience many things in his life, some of which were humbling, others fulfilling, and because of that, he's grown to be patient and content. He's willing to struggle, fail, sacrifice, and fall before he learns to move on from those experiences. He's not afraid to die, but willing to live as long as he's able. Even though he'd like to see his kids grow old, Jay understands that every day  is precious, yet uncertain. He lives with the best intentions that everything is going to be okay until it isn't, and when that happens, He's free to just let go.

Last Light Falling: Into the Darkness: Book II

See previous posting about Last Light Falling: The Covenant, Book I

The Sword of Telemon

THE SWORD OF TELEMON

Review by Arky  TOP 1000 REVIEWER

I could tell that this author really enjoys fictional worlds, I do as well and was excited to read this one. Dr. Eiland has put together a wonderful cast of characters in this book and it was really a fascinating read. Orfeo tries to find his brother on a never-ending adventure. He finds that his brother is working as a galley slave. Orfeo and his friends have to save the prince before it is too late. I thought that the author did a great job with the scenery and making things exciting. There's a lot of description in this book, which really made me feel as though I was there. Will read another from this author.

Book Description:

A young Achaean prince (from northern ancient Greece) is captured in a raid. His younger brother Orfeo, and a group of warriors are sent on a mission to look for him.

Telemon, a legendary warrior, and Zurga, an elderly wanderer, are soon joined by Clarice, a girl who is a master of disguise.

To their dismay they find that the kidnapped prince has been made a galley slave and that the maritime power of Thera plans to conquer the entire Mediterranean. Can they avert disaster?

“This story is a story that no matter where you come from or how people see you, you can still be a warrior.” ~ Cayce Hrivnak

Murray Lee Eiland Jr. (Author’s Portrait Painting in Greek Style)

I have always been interested in ancient cultures, and during my travels to collect rugs I visited many areas of great antiquity. It was this experience which promoted me to write the Orfeo Saga. My foray into the private investigator genre was stimulated by my time in Los Angeles. ~ Murray Lee Eiland Jr.

EXCERPT: CHAPTER ONE

Faint sounds seemed to mingle with the breeze, as they came first as distant whispers and then in wave-like gusts, now louder or softer, resounding along the valley walls and over the hilltops, carrying both a pleasant reminder of spring-awakened splendor and a sense of unease. Subtly the day’s stillness dissolved into disarray, as the restful rippling of the clear mountain stream now found counterpoint in the echoes of a great bronze bell, erupting in a voice of gentleness and power. A sense of alarm arose, and faint cries of assembly carried from the valley, where men ran to join the commotion around the king’s great tent.

Orfeo had been sitting on a flat rock overlooking the encampment when he recognized that something had gone wrong. Raising himself more in disbelief than concern - as though his repose on the meadow and the bleating of his small goat flock made mockery of the frantic shouts below - he fastened his sandals and bounded from stone to stone toward the path and then raced in long loping strides down the hill. The goats could look after themselves until he found them later. When King Kiros summoned his people neither kinsmen nor retainers delayed, and now the mounting noise from below gave further spur for haste.

As he entered the encampment Orfeo heard first the clatter of swords in preparation for use before isolated words gave him a glimpse of what had happened. “A raid,” he heard repeated. Someone must have seen danger approaching, and the image brought with it a vision of the Hannae from the north, galloping on their small, swift horses, bringing fire and pillage in their wake. Once as a boy Orfeo had cowered in a thicket of juniper as the swordsmen had stood their ground against invaders and had finally driven them off. Now he was ready to stand with the others, still a boy, perhaps, at sixteen summers, but able to wield a sword and hold his place in the line. He ran toward his father’s tent, dodging nimbly among the assembling warriors. The bell now sounded at close quarters and sent a chill of excitement through the crowd. Standing on his platform before the great tent stood the king with raised arms. Three armed men had pushed before him with weary movements, as if they had run a greater distance than the others and had already encountered the enemy.

“What news do you bring?” asked the king.

“We were too late,” gasped the leader, Tyron, falling to his knees in shame and frustration. “They reached the ship before us and sailed.” He was trying to catch his breath. “They jeered at us as we reached the shore.” He held his weapon’s hilt in smoldering rage.

“Then they are captive,” said the king as if the admission robbed him of all inner peace. “My oldest son, Herron, and three companions were attacked today and seized by raiders.”

Those in the crowd who had not already heard the news reacted both with shame and anger.

“It was a slave ship of Tyrian merchants,” added Tyron. “They landed several raiding parties, and they took captives among the men of Ikea to the south.”

“Herron must be returned,” said the king with a voice more focused upon a course of action. “We must rescue or ransom my son from the slavers.”

THE SWORD OF TELEMON

It's All Fun and Games

It's All Fun and Games (Available for Pre-Order on inkshares)

Book Description:

When six high school friends spend a weekend Live Action Role Playing they discover that the game world is both real and very, very deadly.

Fifteen year-old Alison Duggan finally gives in and joins her best friend TJ’s regular gaming group on a weekend of adventure that he promises “will be fuuunnnn.” Not long after the adventure begins, however, the friends find themselves transported from Earth to a world filled with both magic and danger. Suddenly, what Alison expected to be a relaxing weekend being geeky turns into a fight for survival against brigands, kobolds, and other nasty characters as the group tries to finish their mission…or at least get back home.

It's All Fun and Games is the first in a series of Young Adult novels that follow Alison and her friends as they adventure through the game world.

Prologue

“Run! NOW!” TJ shouted, yanking at Alison’s sleeve. Her eyes were focused on the ground, where their friend lay, twitching slightly. An arrow shaft stuck out of his chest. Her first thought was that it was all part of the game – this was some elaborate way of pranking the newbies on their first outing. If so, it wasn’t very funny.

But no, there was no way that arrow was fake. The noise it had made when it struck. The blood that was rapidly spreading across his clothes. The raspy way he was breathing and the saliva slowly trickling from between his lips. Alison felt another yank on her shoulder and TJ shouted, “Leave him for now!” She shrugged off his grasp, reaching down to try to drag her injured friend by the collar. After only a few moments she gave up, however, recognizing the futility of the effort.

A sudden force struck her in the shoulder and spun her around. Dazedly, she looked for whoever had hit her with a bat and was surprised to see no one standing nearby. Instead, she found a second arrow stuck in the wall, still quivering with spent energy. She reached up to her shoulder and felt a dent in the metal of her breastplate. A quick look revealed that the archer in the woods had drawn a third arrow and was fitting it to his bow, a determined look on his face. With a cry of anguish and one last look at her fallen friend, she turned and fled after TJ and the others.
 

It's All Fun and Games (Available for Pre-Order on inkshares)

Dead Things

  Opportunity to get a FREE COPY of LT Kodzo's latest novel* - Dead Things

Nominate this novel on Kindle Scouts!

Book Description:

Can a half-Ute boy survive abusive white men?

Sixteen-year-old Jimmy Hunter loves dead things. Decaying fossils and buried men no longer have the power to bite or abuse. Jimmy’s problems exist with the living. The half-Ute-Indian boy must survive the angry white men his mother insists on dating without killing them. Because like it or not, he has killed. The list he keeps has over 500 names on it. He doesn’t want to add any more. Can Jimmy escape to the reservation for the life he’s dreamed of? Or will he die trying?

“I understand that cultures can be very different, but people at their heart are the same.”

~ LT Kodzo (Author Q & A)

Award-winning Author of Locker 572 releases her second book Dead Things.

EXCERPT: CHAPTER 1

Q: What does the word dinosaur mean?

A: Terrible lizard.

“I love dead things.”

The noise in the classroom stopped.

The PowerPoint presentation behind Jimmy illuminated the dim room in a creepy blue.

His tenth-grade English teacher frowned at him. She probably thought he was going to talk about zombies or ghosts or something dumb. But he wasn’t. Jimmy actually did love dead things.

The real dead.

The decayed and silent and harmless dead.

He cleared his throat to continue, but Mrs. Harris stopped him before he could say another word.

“Tell us your name,” the teacher said.

Jimmy rolled his eyes. He hated the introduction ritual, not just because it was stupid, but because he didn’t like his full name. James Hunter was his father’s name, and Jimmy wanted nothing to do with that dead, white man. But he currently had a bigger problem facing him. In order to get out of the F-zone in English, he had to finish his two-hundred-word, oral essay.

He bit the inside of his lip. Not a single student smiled at him. A couple kids refused to even make eye contact. He tossed his long, black braid over his shoulder and asked, “Do I get all of my points if I start over?”

Mrs. Harris squinted at him before addressing the entire class. “I will make this one exception, but you all know better. I’ve told you all year how important it is to introduce yourself during public speaking events. I will dock anyone else five points if I have to remind you again.”

To emphasize her point, she jabbed her index finger toward a couple of boys in the back. One of them whispered, “great,” while the other flipped Jimmy off from under his desk.

Whatever. Making his bullies angry didn’t matter. He didn’t prepare his “I Love Blank” assignment for them anyway. He did it for his grade. Parent-teacher conferences were in two days and Pyen wouldn’t like that he was failing English. Not that his mother would do anything harsh. She left that task up to whatever white boyfriend she had at the time. She always blabbed to them about him.

“We’re waiting.” Mrs. Harris tapped her pencil on the clipboard.

The class laughed. That didn’t bother Jimmy either. When you weigh over two-hundred-fifty pounds at sixteen years old, you get used to laughs. Instead, Jimmy stood up tall and cleared his throat.

“My name is James Hunter.” He barfed out the hideous title, then added the facts everyone already knew. “I’m a sophomore at Fife High in Puyallup, Washington, and I’d like to present my oral essay titled ‘I Love Dead Things’.”

He glanced at the teacher and she nodded. A girl in the front row leaned forward and pulled long sleeves over bruised wrists. Jimmy didn’t know her, but he recognized the reason for winter flannel while the rest of the school embraced spring in summer shorts. He advanced the presentation. “According to Merriam-Webster, the word ‘dead’ means something is no longer alive.

“It can no longer feel. It can no longer move. Therefore, it can no longer hurt you.”

He exhaled. Thirty-two words done, one-hundred-sixty-eight to go. While he was used to being fat, he still didn’t like standing exposed to the critical eyes of his classmates.

He clicked to the next slide where an animated, screaming T. rex appeared to climb into the room. “The Tyrannosaurus rex has historically been labeled one of the most ferocious animals to ever walk on land, yet since extinction, his reputation has changed.”

The next page showed images of Barney, plus the horse-like T. rex from the Age of Zombies and the quirky smiles of monsters turned friendly in the old TV show Dinosaurs. Jimmy talked about how most people didn’t even know that the word dinosaur meant terrible lizard. “Their ability to entertain has replaced the true facts related to them.

“While some modern re-creators of this savage beast captured its real desire to kill and destroy”—Jimmy clicked through images from the movie Jurassic Park, and the game Minecraft and a screenshot of Grimlock from Transformers—“the real question is, why would anyone choose to change the idea of something so vicious and present it as tamable?”

He looked around the classroom. Kids that sometimes snickered at him were paying attention. Cool. He exhaled again and shifted his weight from one sore foot to the other. This was actually working out for him. After spending a life studying death, he found a place where his childhood experience proved useful. He swallowed and said, “Dead things are safe things.” He looked directly at the front-row girl. “The dead no longer have the ability to hurt the living.”

He clicked to a pic of a museum with the skeletal remains of frozen beasts.

“They are quiet.”

He clicked on an image of an old lady putting flowers into the mouth of a T. rex vase.

“They are tamed.”

He clicked on his favorite picture and smiled. The green-painted monster that monitored downtown Vernal, Utah. The statue, two states away, was dressed in a cowboy hat eating a gigantic watermelon. He loved this corny image for two reasons. It validated that the dead were honestly tamed and because it stood only twenty-five miles down the highway from the Uintah and Ouray Reservation where his mother was born.

“In our world today, dinosaurs are fun. You can’t say that about most living animals until long after they are dead.” He hadn’t written the report for the girl in the front row or anyone else like her, but he desperately wanted her to hear and understand. Her situation had a solution. He cleared his throat. “So, next time you visit a cemetery or a museum, consider how quiet and calm it is and remember, the dead always rest in peace.”

The End appeared on the screen only to be eaten by an animated clip-art T. rex.

Mrs. Harris prompted the other tenth graders to clap. Jimmy felt his brown cheeks warm as he squeezed his way back to his desk. It was over and nothing bad happened. Until, of course, he sat down.

Plastic crunched beneath his butt.

Crap.

Girl-like giggles came from the boys behind him.

He smelled the applesauce before he felt the broken snack-pack seep through his stretch pants. He placed his hand on the desk and stared forward. The only way these boys would win with this prank was if he acknowledged that it happened. He didn’t move. He sat there without shifting through six other presentations until the bell rang. He’d kept a spare pair of sweats in his locker since freshman year. He refused to let a couple glee-geeks steal this moment from him.

Besides, now that the worst part of his day was over, he started to think about the worst part of his night.

Anxiety crawled around in his gut as the rest of the students filed from the class. In less than an hour, he’d be just another young Indian trying to survive in the white man’s world.

  *****

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Mashups for Teens

UK USA CDN AU

Fresh and Original Excerpt of Review by Amazon Customer

A mashup is defined as a mixture or fusion of disparate elements. The author explains that musical mashups are a current popular trend in which elements from various songs are combined to create a single new song. Likewise, literary mashups also take two or more elements from different sources and combine them to create an original story. Wilson offers Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Slayer as a popular example of this…

The result of her efforts to make history exciting was a fresh and original approach to its exploration that is, all at once, educational, entertaining, and fun.

Book Description:

For me history got boring . . . fast. However, now, history fascinates me . . especially history learned through the lives of people who have made or are making a difference in the world. After reading this book or any of the books in this series, I hope you will agree.

This is the fourth book in the Mashup series. I wrote this one because I love princesses and these three princesses (Spoiler Alert! there is a third princess showcased in the book) are all women I admire. I share both the unique commonalities and differences between these three ladies. Just like you will find, I found surprises. My goal in writing these unique mashups has and will continue to be—to help you get inspired by their lives as I have.

Oh, the marvelous mashup. Enormously vogue in music and more recently, literature, the premise is simple. Take elemental bits and pieces of popular culture and remix them. The result is one part fresh, one part familiar.

Mashups for Teens: From Princess Grace to Princess Kate (Masters Mashups Series)

UK USA CDN AU

It Takes A Fool

UK USA CDN AU

This is a powerful story told through the eyes of a ten year old. At the outset, it appears that Sasha is a young girl who "has it all." Her parents are loving and successful; they have just moved into a new townhouse. The reader quickly begins to see that life unravelling. Sasha is exposed to the prejudice facing her African-American family. While Sasha is brilliant and talented, her parents are drug addicts and she becomes responsible for the house and the care of her younger sister, Sarah. Pressures and jealousy of her best friend set her off to bullying and troubles at school. The plot twists and turns as Sasha's family life spirals out of control. ~ Excerpt of Review by Barbara Ann Mojica

Book Description:

Author Hopes To Reduce Bullying With Her New Memoir

Over 3.2 million students are the victims of bullying each year in America.
Life couldn't be sweeter for ten year old Sasha...

She’s the darling of her fifth grade class and her best friend always has her back...just like a sister. But simmering beneath the beautiful life are the dark secrets her parents harbor, secrets that slowly wind their way around the heart of the family, choking the life from Sasha. Helpless, afraid and alone, she fights the only way she can but her desperate quest for survival could lead to her own destruction!

It Takes a Fool explores the darkest depths of poverty, addiction and bullying, and how even the innocence of a child can be twisted into something monstrous. Sasha will do all she can to survive a nightmare she can’t wake up from, but in protecting herself, she might just destroy everyone around her.



Excerpt from Author Bio on Amazon ~ Sasha believes wholeheartedly that writing is healing. At times throughout her writing process it was painful, but now that the tears have dried and the past forgiven a horribly beautiful story has emerged. Follow Sasha on her journey as a writer, business woman, wife, daughter, sister, mother, and friend. Watch as her dreams come true.

It Takes A Fool: A Tough Lesson Learned On Bullying

UK USA CDN AU

Being a Normal Family is a State of Mind

Guest Article by  Erik Daniel Shein (Author), L.M. Reker (Author)

"I loved it. The story teaches you that it is okay to be different or unique. It also shows great respect for animals and nature." ~ Amazon Review by N. Cataldi - The monsterjunkies

*****

When four teenagers enter the house on 1313 Road-to-Nowhere they will learn a lesson that will change their lives forever.

Tucked away at a remote estate in Foggy Point, Maine is a place where the strange is normal, and the bizarre is every day. This is a unique place, where, if you do not have an open mind, you will lose your mind in its reality and truths. This is the home of The Monsterjunkies: An American Family Odyssey. They are a modern day Addams Family with elements of mystery, enchantment, adventure, gothic subculture, ancestral loyalty, unusual beings, and a love of wildlife and rare creatures.

Crow and his sister, Indigo Monsterjunkie and their friends are forced to face bullying, emotional abuse, prejudice, and revenge while exploring the worlds around them and experimenting with their identities. The Monsterjunkies and their animals are about trying to carry on an important legacy in the face of social rejection, false accusations, and loss.

The Monsterjunkies, An American Family Odyssey. Being a Normal Family is a State of Mind: We all are MonsterJunkies and wear masks during our daily lives, in school, during work, hanging out with our friends, imitating people we look up to and admire, or those we want to be. It is the people who take off their masks and show the real person inside who are the ones that truly find meaning in their lives.

Who are the real monsters? People who wear masks of goodness and
respectability, but hide their actual hypocrisy and deep intolerance of
others?

Or

Are the creatures and people who are different because of their appearance,
social status, and the choices they make, the real monsters?

Follow these authors on their Company Facebook  page called "Arkwatch".

Available on Amazon - Links in USA & Canada