Scott Bury who was featured as an "Author of the Day" 1/2/17 is having a launch party on facebook for the last book in his WWII Trilogy - Walking Out of War - Check it out here Launch Party 5p - 9p EST Scott Bury

You can get the first book in the series:  The Army of Worn Soles on Amazon - free Kindle version

I love some of the articles at Bustle.  Today I found one by Maddy Foley regarding George Orwell's 1984.  In this article she points out quotes in the book that was published in 1949 that are relevant today.

Check out the article here.  I noticed that the first link that says: "1984 quotes that are horrifyingly relevant in 2017" goes to a site that only shows where Kellyanne Conway used one.  If you scroll down the article on Bustle you will find all of them.

You can get the Dystopian novel 1984 on Amazon (Kindle edition) or Amazon.com (HB or PB) if you haven't read it yet.

AUTHOR OF THE DAY

Rickie Blair

Given that I conjure up stories about murder and mayhem every day, you might think my own life is quite exciting. You’d be wrong. When I’m not hunched over my computer, I’m either struggling with my half-acre garden, discouraging my dog from chasing my cats (she means well!), or thinking about what to have for dinner. (I do that a lot.)  

I love to travel, though, and many of my favorite destinations are right here in Canada—from the soaring bank towers of Toronto to the open Prairies, and the snow-capped Rockies to the cobbled streets of old Quebec City. As a financial journalist, I lived in three provinces and traveled across the country. Now I live in southern Ontario, near the shores of Lake Ontario and not far from Niagara Falls. (Surprisingly, I’ve ended up just a few miles from my childhood home.)  

Later this year, I’m travelling with friends to India, which has been a lifelong dream of mine. We’ll see the Taj Mahal, take a boat trip on the Ganges, and look for tigers in Ranthambore National Park. I’m beyond excited! 

I’ve been writing stories since I was a child, but I started writing fiction seriously a few years ago, when I began a series of financial thrillers. My Ruby Danger stories are based on real-life cases of fraud and larceny. Ruby’s a troubled young actress with a heart of gold and Hari’s a math genius who’s crazy about her. The stories have darker elements, but I had real fun with the characters.  

Then I turned to cozy mysteries, which are much more fun!  

The protagonist in my Leafy Hollow Mysteries, Verity Hawkes, travels to the deceptively idyllic Canadian village of Leafy Hollow to search for her missing aunt and blunders into a murder mystery. An Amazon reviewer says it has “quirky characters and clever plot twists.” I hope she’s right, but you’ll have to judge for yourself! 

Where to find out more:

Rickie's Website

Facebook
Amazon author page and her books

This is a postscript from me:  I've read 2 of Rickie's  mysteries and they are fantastic.  You can see my reviews of recently From Garden to Grave and early last year, I think, Dangerous Allies.  You can find my reviews on my the Mystery/Psychological thrillers page

Danielle Bannister's Doppelganger was released yesterday.  Here is an excerpt and if you head over to her facebook page Bannister books she is having a giveaway.

Description

Julie Green was not having a midlife crisis.

Her move across the country from sunny LA to the unsuspecting town of Bucksville, New Hampshire, was not about her being up to her eyeballs in fake people and even faker tits. It was not about hating her job as a temp and it most definitely did not have anything to do with her ex-boyfriend or his wife getting pregnant with kid number three.

No, this move was going to be her chance for a ‘do over.’ A quiet life in a quiet town.

Or, at least, that was the plan.

A case of mistaken identity thrusts her into the public eye, tossing her into a world of flashbulbs and shadows. Not the ideal situation to me her potential Mr. Right, but her newest temporary gig was unlike any she’d ever held. The chance of a lifetime…Will it get to be too much, forcing her to cut and run-or will she find out that love stories aren’t just for the silver screen?

Excerpt

I was not having a mid-life crisis no matter what my friends might have said when they found out I’d left. The decision to pack up and leave everything behind wasn’t irrational. It was going to be the most logical thing I had ever done, in theory.

Everyone has a breaking point, and I had reached mine. Enough was enough. I was done. Done with the commute…done with the smog…done with the crowds. Done with fake people and the even faker tits that basked in the LA sun and I was most definitely done with my former boyfriend, Anthony, and his perfect wife getting pregnant with kid number three.

There it was; the straw that broke the camel’s back.

So, I left. It felt good, too. For once in my life, I was taking charge of my own destiny. At least, that’s what I kept telling my mother’s voice each time she popped into my head during the twenty-three-hour drive across the country.

Julie, honey, what are you running from?

Really bad choices, Ma.

When are you going to settle down and make me some grandbabies?

Um, never.

Maybe you could go back to school and finish your degree this time? It’s so hard to explain to people what it is you do.

Tell them I work in an office. I’m a temp. It’s not that hard.

Why don’t you move back home? I heard Daniel Howards got divorced.

Thanks, Ma, I’ll pass.

Those are the types of questions my mother would ask if I called—which is precisely why I didn’t when I left. I chose to avoid the lectures and reminders that I had failed in life, yet again. I just wanted out.

My mother, of course, had no idea about my affair with Anthony. If she had discovered that I was the other woman she would have gotten down on bended knee and prayed for my soul, even though she hadn’t been to church in years. The fact that her daughter had been sleeping around with a married man for the last three years, however, might be enough to send her back.

I’d send her a text whenever I landed someplace. When it was too late for her to talk me out of it.

The plan had been to end in Maine, the literal farthest away I could get from LA, but I ended up pulling over somewhere in New Hampshire to ask directions from a woman who was putting up a For Rent sign in her yard. We started chatting, and I decided, on the spot, I needed to live in that house.

New Hampshire was just as a good a state as any, as far as I was concerned. Now all that was left to do was unpack. Not that I’d brought much. Only as much stuff that fit in the rented SUV. The rest, I’d left behind, along with a note to my landlord letting him know not to expect a renewal of my lease. But before I began unloading the car to officially start my new life, I needed wine. And maybe some Doritos. Okay, and some ice cream too.

Where to find Doppelganger:

Amazon US      UK        AU
ibooks
Smashwords
Nook

In today's world there is an upheaval over refugees.  Everyone has a strong opinion on yes, no, maybe.  I'm not here to get into the pros and cons or even to state my opinion.

What I am here to do is introduce you to authors that were refugees.

1. Isabel Allende author of  The House of Spirits was on a death list in Chili and had to flea her home country.
2. Ishmael Beal author of a long way gone Memoirs of a Boy Soldier left Sierra Leone but found himself in another horrific situation till UNICEF rescued him.
3. Elias Canetti author of Crowds and Power who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1981 and fled Bulgaria with his family to England.
4. Anne Frank author of The Diary of a Young Girl departed Nazi Germany to Amsterdam.
5. Karen Gershon author of We Came as Children  ran from Nazi's.+
6. Victor Hugo author of Les Miserables
7. Ismail Kadare author of The Fall of the Stone City left Albania claiming political asylum in France.
8. Rigoberta Menchu author of I, Rigoberta Menchu: An Indian Woman in Guatemala was forced into exile in Mexico in the 1980's and later won the Nobel Peace Prize.
9. Viet Thanh Nguyen author of The Sympathizer  escaped Saigon for Pennsylvannia then won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
10. Felix Salten  author of Bambi left Vienna during the time of the Nazi invasion to Switzerland

I am sure there are many, many more but this is a brief list of authors you may know and authors that are new to you.

For a more extended list that includes more than just authors check out Famous Refugees