Another Publisher Is Gone

My apologies for not posting sooner. I had every intention of posting excerpts from my two recent releases, but now there's no reason to. Sigh!

Yet again, we've lost another publisher. Desert Breeze Publishing is closing their doors. Amazon and the economy destroys millions of lives, and we "mid-list authors" are often left in the lurch. 

They're closing very quickly, so if you wish to buy any of my Desert Breeze Publishing titles (these include Adrian's and my young adult sci-fi BloodDark Series of 4 books now) please do so before June 30th. This includes my three stand alone novels written under my Cynthianna pen name as well. Check the gorgeous cover art (also going away soon) and synopses at my web sites of http://www.cynthianna.com and http://blooddarkbooks.blogspot.com

I'm heartbroken and feeling lost once again. I received the rights back to my novels from another publisher that folded and just recently had them re-published with Desert Breeze, a very professional small press. It's like losing a family member.

I will post the cover art here for my three romance novels that will soon be gone. (Unless you'd like to help me purchase the right to the cover art. I'm not  into "vanity publishing," but I do like the cover art and the artists did such a great job. Donations accepted at http://paypal.me/camatthews) Perhaps my books will be re-re-published again someday. I try to remain optimistic, but when publishers who have been around over a decade are folding/closing down, it's difficult.

The BloodDark series I hope will live on and increase in number. Be on the look out for them once we've secured a new home for them. Until then, please take care of your mid-list authors. Buy, read and review their books. You never know when it'll be too late to help them out with a sale or two or an encouraging words. Encouraging words can do wonders for a fragile author's ego.

P.S. Another publisher is gone. Ironic, isn't it, for you to buy our books in print/Kindle formats our publisher was dependent on the instrument of their--and so many small publishers'--deaths. But Amazon is a monopoly, and like all monopolies, their job is to put all competition out of business. Of course, once all competition is gone, they are free to publish or not publish as they see fit. They might not like science fiction or YA or romance novels, for example. It's called economic censorship, and you, the readers, are the biggest losers at the end of the day.

An excerpt from Preachin' to the Choir

Preachin' to the Choir
http://www.desertbreezepublishing.com/preachin-to-the-choir-epub/

Jonathan could do nothing to stop his wife’s losing battle with cancer. With twenty years into the ministry, he can't believe the Lord would leave him with both an empty nest and empty spot on the other side of the bed.

Kat, music teacher and mother of grown twins, feels settled in small town Texas. Life may be dull, but it's predictable, unlike her life with her late husband. Kat concludes a happy, committed relationship with a male is impossible, so she makes peace with herself and with God. If nuns can live celibate, why can't she?

One Sunday, Jonathan spies a golden beam of light descending upon Kat while she is directing the choir. Why hasn’t he noticed how beautiful she was before? From here on out, Jonathan knows he’ll be preachin’ to the choir, but will Kat—and his congregation and their children—let him?

Also available in print at Amazon. 

An excerpt from Preachin' to the Choir... 

Kat pounced on the stack of sheet music he had brought to the lesson. "Um, would you like me to play the version you brought?" 

"Please do."

She sorted out the copy from the others and opened it across the music stand. "Sorry, but we need to switch places. I need to sit where you're sitting to play properly."

Jonathan stood and side-stepped over to the left to give her access to his stool. 

Kat flashed him a grin in gratitude and sat down without looking. Immediately she found herself deposited on her rear end.

"Ouch!" she cried, rubbing her bruised tailbone. "I missed." 

"You seem to be doing quite a bit of falling on your backside lately." Jonathan chuckled. Placing his large hands under her arms, he lifted her to her feet in one easy motion. "There you go. You all right?"

"I... I'm fine," she managed, taking a step back. The warmth of where his palms contacted her bare flesh lingered, sending tingles of awareness down her arms. "I just need to adjust the height a little."

Kat bent to twirl the stool to raise the seat. To her horror, it stuck.

Jonathan grimaced. "Did I break it? I apologize if I did."

She straightened slowly and shook her head. "Don't worry. It isn't broken. It probably needs to be greased a bit. Why don't we try relocating the bench?"

Jonathan removed the stool. Kat grabbed the bench and started dragging it into position. Without a word, both seated themselves side by side, thighs touching. 

Kat shuddered at the delicious sensation of Jonathan's near presence. This isn't the appropriate time or place for playing footsies, but wouldn't it be nice?

Swallowing hard, Kat focused her attention on the music. Just as she was about to turn to the first page over there came a small moan of wood, then snap! The wounded bench decided it couldn't handle their combined weight any longer as a back leg collapsed. The seat tilted left, throwing her against Jonathan's hard body as they tumbled to the floor.

Preachin' to the Choir is now available from Desert Breeze Publishing.

Book 3 is now here--can you help us decide which cover is best?

 Our latest in the BloodDark Series...

Book 3 in the "Olivia's Trilogy"  

Olivia's Decision

http://www.desertbreezepublishing.com/blooddark-book-three-olivias-decision-epub/  and also available at Amazon.
 

Olivia's chance to prove herself as a spy hasn't gone well. She knows the handsome vampire Moreau is up to something. With the assistance of Kate and Mahvet, Olivia solves the mystery of the rogue Portal and Clan Alpha's illegal artwork sales, then escapes with the help of Valori, whose growing telekinetic powers prove frightening.

Hernando is hurt by Olivia's lie, but there's too much at stake to remain mad for long. Even Olivia learns to trust the Pure Bloods. They travel with the ruling council by airship to the Alphans' defensive weapon constructed with materials bought from billionaire Roland Grundfest. She senses the true invaders are Earthmen who've stolen BloodDark's technology for their own purposes. Olivia is torn between Earth and the world and peoples she's come to love. Will a climactic encounter in the desert decide Olivia's--and BloodDark's--fate once and for all?

Read an excerpt at The World of BloodDark web site. 

Books 1 and 2, Olivia's Escape and Olivia's Return, are  available in e-book and print from Desert Breeze Publishing, Amazon and other fine online book sellers. Read more about them at The World of BloodDark.

 




We're trying to decide which cover to use on promotional materials for this trilogy (as other stories set on BloodDark are forthcoming). Which one of the three covers "speaks" to you the most? Why do you think it works best? Let us know in the comments below. Thank you.

Meet the Authors of Olivia's Escape

 We were recently asked some questions about our writing and our methods as writers. Here are our responses:

Are you a full-out plotter? Are you a "let's see what happens" pantser? Or do you think you fall somewhere in between? Describe your process in coming up with and executing a story idea.

Adrian says: I'm by nature a pantser. I will plot things out if necessary, like when I'm writing a murder mystery. I don't really have a process in coming up with a story idea. They come to me from out of the ether--in the middle of the night sometimes--and then I write the story idea down.

Cindy says: I have to admit to being a "let's see what happens" pantser. I've tried to be more methodical and plot things out in detail, but somehow the characters always take me by the hand and lead me down another path. They just start "talking" to me as I write the scene, and they tell me they're not going to do as I want them to do. (Very much like children, it seems!) I'm not sure I have a set process for coming up with story ideas, but I read quite widely and expose myself to a lot of different people and subjects as a freelance writer/editor, so I'm constantly being inundated with potential characters and stories. Once I get a feel for "a character who has a story that needs telling" I start to envision the opening scene with my main characters and allow myself to be taken on a ride from there.


**Where is the most interesting place you have ever traveled? If you haven't traveled much, where would you absolutely love to go?

Together we've traveled to several Civil War battlefields and sites, such as

Wilson's Creek in Missouri, Lookout Mountain/Chattanooga in Tennessee and Chickamauga and Kennesaw National Battlefields in Georgia. Recently, we stopped off at both the Gettysburg and Antietam National Battlefields. (Hint: Try not to tour both of these within 48 hours--there's way too much to see at each to do them justice.) We're hoping to return to both of them someday soon and visit other Civil War sites in Virginia and West Virginia as well.

We both used to do French and Indian War re-enactments, so we really enjoy touring historical places and speaking with others about the significance of what happened there and the historical personalities involved. When we were in England visiting Adrian's family, we enjoyed touring castles and other historical sites in County Norfolk.


**What have you never written about, but want to some day?

Adrian: I've had the idea for a SF story knocking around for years, but haven't got around to writing it beyond working up a few notes.

Cindy: I've always wanted to write a more "hard science fiction" novel about a near future that may or may not come about and the consequences of our actions in bringing such a world into existence. I'm not saying it would be Orwellian in tone, but it probably would be much more "serious" than anything I've been able to publish so far (in fiction at least).

**Describe for us how it felt the first time you actually completed a manuscript.

Adrian: Jubilant! There's nothing better for me as a writer than the moment when I type "The End."

Cindy: I think I was shocked the first time I completed a romantic-comedy novel. It had taken some time to write that first draft (as I had two very young daughters underfoot at the time) and my first thought was, "What do I do now?" Luckily, I joined a writer's group not too long after finishing that book, and I learned a lot about rewriting and polishing a manuscript for publication, so much so that I eventually sold the book, The Fixer-Uppers. (And it is still in print/e-print, too. You can read about it at my contemporary/fantasy romance persona's website www.cynthianna.com.) 

**Did you write stories or make up stories as a child? Do you remember what any of them were about? Tell us...

Adrian says: I did write a short story at age 8 or 9. It was about the pilot of a 1930's Grumman Goose seaplane who discovers pirate treasure in the South Seas. I can even remember the title - "Barry Linton's Treasure." I might just revisit the idea as a full YA novel one of these days, although the 80's TV series "Tales of the Gold Monkey" seems to have stolen my idea!

Cindy says: Oh, did I ever make up stories when I was a child! I remember my mother helped me write my first "picture book," which was a story about a dining table full of talking objects who came to life late at night… 

The salt and pepper shakers were characters, as was the butter in the butter dish and the sugar bowl, etc. I drew the pictures in blue ball-point, as I recall, on scrap paper, and my mom wrote the words of my story beside the pictures and bound the pages all together, and I then made proper cover for it. (I was about four or five years old, and we didn't learn to write until first grade way back when. We didn't even have to attend kindergarten!) 

I hope I can find the remnants of my first "book" someday in all the boxes of nostalgia I've inherited from my late mother, but I fear it's long been lost. Still, I am ever so proud to say I "wrote and illustrated" my own book before I even attended school.


**Consider the main character in the last book you had published with DBP. What was different or special about him or her?

Olivia is different from a lot of our other heroines because she's 1) a young adult (age 17 in the first book) and not a mature adult (as we both usually are drawn to write), and 2) she's a strong person who acts on the courage of her convictions. 

That's not say Olivia is a person without self-doubts--because all of us question our own motives from time to time--but Olivia is special in that she has the innocence of her childhood and the love of her family fresh in her mind when she faces the challenges of being abducted and taken to an alien world. Her bravery is genuine and not jaded by a long past that many older characters have. In other words, she hasn't grown overly cynical. 

Olivia feels free to take a moral stand and to do whatever is necessary to bring about change on BloodDark to help her new friends and her new love, Hernando, survive and thrive there. It's quite refreshing to write from the perspective of a young and positive heroine who has the energy and guts to tackle challenges without shying away from them.

**Do you have a favorite inspirational quote/scripture/poem that you feel motivates you?

Adrian:
I like this quote:
"We are all of us lying in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars." --Oscar Wilde

Cindy: My favorite poem is "Success" by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Its last stanza is particularly motivating:

"To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded."

Be sure to check out our latest release, Olivia's Escape, from Desert Breeze Publishing!

Two Fiction Releases in One Month

After a quiet time with no new releases, suddenly I have two fiction releases in one month. When it rains, it pours!  (And after a very dry summer, we actually got rain this week, too. Is that a good omen or what?) ;)

My husband and I have been waiting for about a year for the first book in our Young Adult-Science Fiction series, BloodDark, to be released from Desert Breeze Publishing, and here it is at last...

Olivia's Escape 
The BloodDark Series: Book 1
http://blooddarkbooks.blogspot.com 

by Cindy A. Matthews & Adrian J. Matthews

Seventeen-year-old Olivia Brown is abducted on her way home from a night out on the town and wakes up to find that she is imprisoned by a vampire-like race in a dark city bathed in eternal night. Hernando, a handsome half-human slave, reveals what is intended for her – the bloodsuckers want her blood for the upcoming festival. Together they plot an escape. 
 

 Joining a resistance cell, they help plot a revolution, and fall in love. Their group plans take control of the Portal, a teleportation device that links Earth with BloodDark. They plan to attack when the Pure Bloods go into hibernation in caverns located deep beneath the city. The Resistance fighters make it to the city only to find the Overseers, the Pure Bloods’ henchmen, are armed and waiting for them.

Will Olivia and Hernando survive the battle? And if she returns to Earth, will Olivia see Hernando ever again?

Available in ebook formats from Desert Breeze Publishing: http://www.desertbreezepublishing.com/the-blooddark-series-book-one-olivias-escape-epub/ 

In print at Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Olivias-Escape-BloodDark-Cindy-Matthews/dp/1682949303/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1471490078&sr=1-2&keywords=olivia%27s+escape

My contemporary sweet-romance persona, Cynthianna, has a short story release from Devine Destinies Books.

 Hurricane Alley
(a contemporary short romance)
by Cynthianna
http://www.devinedestinies.com/hurricane-alley/
 
Sometimes only a hurricane can calm the storm in your heart.

When Elena’s car breaks down in a Carolina town, the big city saleswoman falls into the arms of a handsome singing auto mechanic named Jake who is more than he appears to be. Can two lost souls from two very different worlds find love and happiness together or will a storm blow them apart?






I hope you give my titles a look over and consider purchasing a copy. Feel free to leave a review of any of my books on Amazon and/or elsewhere, too. Thanks!

Countdown to Our Upcoming Release...

It's been a hectic year so far, which is a lame excuse as to why I haven't been updating this blog as often as I could have. I've written several book reviews that I hope to get around posting soon. In the meantime, join the countdown for my our upcoming release.

Coming in mid-August, Desert Breeze Publishing will release the first title of our new Young Adult science fiction series, BloodDark, by husband and wife writing team Cindy and Adrian Matthews. Here's a sneak peek at the blurb and cover.

Olivia's Escape 

by Cindy A. & Adrian J. Matthews

Book 1 in the BloodDark series and the first book in Olivia's trilogy (Olivia's Return, Olivia's Decision) is coming August 2016 from Desert Breeze Publishing.

Seventeen-year-old Olivia Brown is abducted on her way home from a night out on the town and wakes up to find that she is imprisoned by a vampire-like race in a dark city bathed in eternal night. Hernando, a handsome half-human slave, reveals what is intended for her – the bloodsuckers want her blood for the upcoming festival. Together they plot an escape.

 Joining a resistance cell, they help plot a revolution, and fall in love. Their group plans take control of the Portal, a teleportation device that links Earth with BloodDark. They plan to attack when the Pure Bloods go into hibernation in caverns located deep beneath the city. The Resistance fighters make it to the city only to find the Overseers, the Pure Bloods’ henchmen, are armed and waiting for them.

Will Olivia and Hernando survive the battle? And if she returns to Earth, will Olivia see Hernando ever again?