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.

Halloween Flash Fiction!

I wrote a flash fiction piece from a prompt for fellow author Kate Hill for her Halloween blog promo. Turns out she only wanted one line! So below the cover advert is the rest of this short, short story for your Halloween "horror" entertainment. Enjoy! (P.S. It's not all that scary--this is my PG rated persona writing, after all.)
 

Our latest book in the BloodDark trilogy--SF adventure for all ages! From Desert Breeze Publishing and available online at Amazon.

 

 

 

The Bus
by Cynthianna

On a cold, dark night, you're alone at a bus stop when your cell phone rings and the caller ID says it's your boyfriend, so you answer it. The voice on the other end isn't his... In fact, it's not even a voice but the sound a puppy whimpering.  It sounds like your dog.

"Is that you Rex? How did you get out of your crate--and how the heck did you call me on Danny's phone?" The bus pulls up and the door opens. "Don't worry. I'll be home soon."

You enter the bus and sit down as it pulls away from the curb. Strange, it's empty. Usually there's a few other souls riding the route, coming off of second shift work about the same time you do, but tonight you have the bus all to yourself. Blinking, you notice there's no bus driver either. The vehicle is driving itself, and you know your city is too cheap to buy a self-driving bus.

"Oh, no... Get me out of here!" You rush to the back door, ready to disembark the moment the bus stops at a light, but it only speeds up. This is your worst nightmare--being trapped on a speeding bus. It reminds you of that movie with Keanu Reeves, the one Danny loves watching over and over again on your big screen TV while you and your faithful dog Rex silently fume at the imposition.

With a sudden jerk you're thrown forward and hit your head against the back of a seat. Minutes later you slowly open your eyes and look up, puzzled to see you're now at home, in your apartment, lying on the sofa next to your boyfriend as he watches television.

"Man, you missed all the good parts," Danny says as he picks up the remote and starts flipping channels. "Good thing you're awake now. I think Rex needs a walk before bedtime."

"You take him," you say to Danny, patting your pup on the head. "I don't think I can go out again tonight. I'm coming down with something... Something I caught on the bus."

 You can see the very nice Halloween Adventures page Kate set up for me at
http://kate-hill.com/halloweenpage/adventures-start-here/cynthianna

Also available from Desert Breeze Publishing, my latest rom-com novel, Preachin' to the Choir!

 

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.

Another Excerpt from Preachin' to the Choir

Happy Valentine's Day! Have you ever experienced a time when you wanted to to tell someone how much you liked them but dared not? Kat finds herself in this quandry in this scene from my latest contemporary romance... Enjoy!

Preachin' to the Choir 
by Cynthianna

A love story of "heavenly" proportions! Jonathan is preachin' to the choir, but will pretty choir director Kat let him? 

Available in all e-formats at Mojocastle Press:
 http://www.mojocastle.com/preachin-to-the-choir.html





In this excerpt, Kat goes jogging to get away from her thoughts about Jonathan, but somehow she can’t escape them...

“Get over it,” Kat muttered as she jogged across the field toward the entrance of the walking trail. Nestled in a small valley along scenic limestone ledges in a grove of live oak and ash juniper, the track
had quickly become the favorite pathway for pedestrians. She fell into an easy loping stride and allowed her mind to wander.

Tuesday’s piano lesson had had a mesmerizing effect on Kat. The feel of Jonathan’s arms around her waist, his hands touching hers, his breath warm and sensuous against her neck... She shuddered. Here it
was ninety-plus degrees, and she was actually shivering. Shivering with desire at the recollection of how Jonathan had made her feel Tuesday evening.

No man had ever made her feel so keenly aware of her body’s responses Kat realized, not Dirk, not B.B.not anyone. What was it about Jonathan that made her feel so alive? She had never seen Jonathan Rawlins in such a light before. Now he was practically all she could think of.

Kat halted and grabbed her knees, gasping for breath, at the first park bench located a dozen yards along the trail. God should strike me dead for such wicked thoughts, she moaned inwardly. She was lusting after
a man who was still mourning his late wife, his late wife who was a saint by anyone’s standards, and was still sorely missed by one and all. She should feel ashamed of herself. Really she should.

Yet, somehow, she didn’t.

Kat started jogging again. The exercise would purge her of these impure thoughts or at least make her too tired to act on them.

“You know, it wouldn’t be too forward of me to ask him over for dinner some night,” she reasoned aloud. “I could just tell him I wanted to make sure he was eating right.”

You could tell him that he’d never have to eat another meal alone. Ever.

Kat gulped and blinked hard, hastening her pace. Good Lord, her estrogen levels must be completely whacked. She was acting like a silly teenager who harbored a secret crush on her teacher. She was
fantasizing about becoming Jonathan Rawlins’s main squeeze.

“I’ve got to get over this.”

Kat tilted her head back and let the rays of dying sunlight streaming through the trees bathe her face with their warmth. She focused her concentration back into the tempo of her footsteps falling on the
path... Right, left, right, left, right, left... Up, down, up, down over the rolling hillsides...

Her breathing slowed. Presently, she felt a calming blanket of sanity wrap itself around her raging hormones. Her mind began to solve her present dilemma. It was all so simple. She was an adult—he was an adult. Two adults having the occasional dinner together was a perfectly natural, perfectly wholesome activity. Hadn’t he invited her out to eat
once before? She could say she was returning the favor. It wasn’t anything to be ashamed of.

“Look out!” a familiar male voice shouted, rousing her from her daydreaming, but it was too late.

Kat tumbled top over bottom over the large, man-shaped obstruction in her path. Sliding and tumbling in an unladylike jumble of limbs and legs among the carpet of woodchips, only to land spread-eagle on her
well-bruised backside.

“Kat? Are you all right?”

Jonathan’s voice sounded like it was coming from somewhere near her right temple, but Kat couldn’t be too sure. Was she hallucinating? After all, hadn’t she been thinking about Jonathan a moment before she
fell?

A large hand tenderly caressed her cheek. “Kat? Speak to me, please.”

Kat slowly opened her eyes and looked to her right. Jonathan Rawlins’ face hovered mere inches from her own.

Preachin' to the Choir is now available at Mojocastle Press
http://www.mojocastle.com/preachin-to-the-choir.html

Available at All Romance eBooks
https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-preachin039tothechoir-1404592-149.html

Available at Amazon
www.amazon.com/Preachin-Choir-Cynthianna-ebook/dp/B00I115J3I/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1391552292&sr=1-1&keywords=Preachin'+to+the+choir