Today I welcome the Book Tour for the gripping and powerful Kill for Me by Rebecca Bradley. Along with this spotlight post, I’ll be giving my take on the novel here in a bit. But before I get to talking about the book, let’s start by learning a little about this here book, okay?
Book Details:
Book Title: Kill for Meb by Rebecca Bradley Release date: February 14, 2019 Format: Ebook/Audiobook Length: 275 pages
Book Blurb:
A deadly game. An unstoppable killer. The perfect alibi.
Lucy Anderson is late collecting her daughter from nursery. A mistake that could prove fatal.
Her daughter is gone and there is only one way Lucy can get her back. The ransom is simple, she has to kill someone…
And this is just the beginning. A deadly game with a domino effect has started as the real killer forces others to do his bidding.
Can detective inspector Hannah Robbins find the killer’s next puppet before they’re forced to strike or will this be the case where her opponent has found the perfect way to kill?
Pick up Kill For Me for impossible choices and moral dilemmas and see where you would fall.
For fans of Peter James and Angela Marsons
About Rebecca Bradley:
Rebecca Bradley is a retired police detective. She lives in the UK with her family and her two cockapoo’s Alfie and Lola, who keep her company while she writes. Rebecca needs to drink copious amounts of tea to function throughout the day and if she could, she would survive on a diet of tea and cake while committing murder on a regular basis, in her writing of course.
She writes the DI Hannah Robbins police procedural series and has also released a standalone novel, Dead Blind, about a cop who acquires prosopagnosia, also known as face blindness.
To receive a free novella sign up to her readers’ club and you will be able to download the prequel to Hannah Robbins series. Find it on the blog at rebeccabradleycrime.com You’ll also be provided exclusive content and giveaways.
Today I’m pleased to welcome the Book Spotlight Tour for Emperors of the Deep by William McKeever. Who doesn’t find sharks fascinating?. Check out the information about the book or just scroll down to the end of the post and enter the givewway — or just go buy it.
Book Details:
Book Title: Emperors of the Deep by William McKeever Publisher: Harper Collins Category: Adult Non-Fiction Release date: June 25, 2019 Format: Ebook/Hardcover/Audiobook Length: 320 pages Content Rating: PG-13 + M (Intense underwater moments and descriptions of interactions with Sharks both in diver and hunting situation)
Book Blurb:
In this remarkable groundbreaking book, a documentarian and conservationist, determined to dispel misplaced fear and correct common misconceptions, explores in-depth the secret lives of sharks—magnificent creatures who play an integral part in maintaining the health of the world’s oceans and ultimately the planet.
From the Jaws blockbusters to Shark Week, we are conditioned to see sharks as terrifying cold-blooded underwater predators. But as Safeguard the Seas founder William McKeever reveals, sharks are evolutionary marvels essential to maintaining a balanced ecosystem. We can learn much from sharks, he argues, and our knowledge about them continues to grow. The first book to reveal in full the hidden lives of sharks, Emperors of the Deep examines four species—Mako, Tiger, Hammerhead, and Great White—as never before, and includes fascinating details such as:
Sharks are 50-million years older than trees;
Sharks have survived five extinction level events, including the one that killed off the dinosaurs;
Sharks have electroreception, a sixth-sense that lets them pick up on electric fields generated by living things;
Sharks can dive 4,000 feet below the surface;
Sharks account for only 6 human fatalities per year, while humans kill 100 million sharks per year.
McKeever goes back through time to probe the shark’s pre-historic secrets and how it has become the world’s most feared and most misunderstood predator, and takes us on a pulse-pounding tour around the world and deep under the water’s surface, from the frigid waters of the Arctic Circle to the coral reefs of the tropical Central Pacific, to see sharks up close in their natural habitat. He also interviews ecologists, conservationists, and world-renowned shark experts, including the founders of Greenpeace’s Rainbow Warrior, the head of the Massachusetts Shark Research Program, and the self-professed “last great shark hunter.”
At once a deep-dive into the misunderstood world of sharks and an urgent call to protect them, Emperors of the Deep celebrates this wild species that hold the key to unlocking the mysteries of the ocean—if we can prevent their extinction from climate change and human hunters.
(Vimeo tells me it might not show correctly, if that’s the case, click here to watch the trailer. It’s one of the best looking book trailers you’ve ever seen — you really should watch it)
About William McKeever:
William McKeever is a writer and documentary Filmmaker. He is the founder of Safeguard the Seas, an NGO dedicated to ocean conservation. He is the producer and director of the forthcoming feature-length documentary Man Bites Shark.
This post is a team effort: the good people over at iREAD Book Tours provided the questions, Brian VanDongen provided the answers, I provided the . . . er, well, intro? I really want to read this book after reading this, hopefully you have the same reaction.
What made you write a book about play?
I feel that there is a “play deficit” in today’s society. For children, with the reduction of recess in schools in favor of more classroom time to focus on standardized testing and the increased “professionalization” of youth sports, free play is diminishing. As a recreation professional, I know the value that free play has on everyone’s life. I wrote this book to try to reframe the value of play and provide helpful stories and tips on how to live more playfully, and why living playfully will help people live a better life.
How did you get those stories about play for the book?
Fortunately, there are a lot of great organizations and initiatives for play across the country and around the globe. These organizations are very willing to share their stories and successes, because they want people to live more playfully, too!
Did you have a favorite story you came across during your research?
Wow, that’s a tough question. All the stories are great in their own right. I particularly enjoyed learning about an exhibit in the Children’s Museum of the Lowcountry, where children used real tools to build things. I’m sure you’re thinking, “real tools for kids!? Wouldn’t someone get hurt?” Well, yes, but it may not be who you think!
Seems dangerous.
As I note in the book, in two chapters, there’s a difference between risky play and dangerous play. But through risky play, children learn how to assess and manage risk, a key adult, real-world skill.
Do you have a favorite place to play?
Being in New Jersey, it’s easy to find places to play. We have mountain ranges with beautiful trails (including part of the Appalachian Trail) and gorgeous beaches. You’re not far from a place to play. Of course, the world can be your playground if you look hard enough!
Today I’m pleased to welcome the Book Spotlight Tour for Play to Liveby Brian VanDongen. I think this book good — especially for parents of kids who are about a decade younger than my youngest, but I can’t fit in to my schedule (at least not quickly enough to help out with the tour). Still, I thought it was potentially useful and wanted to help spread the word about it. So we’ve got this here spotlight and then a little later this morning a A Few Quick Questions with the author. But first, check out the information about the book and the givewway — or just go buy it. Either way…
Book Details:
Book Title: Play to Live: Life Skills and Joy Through the Natural Talent to Play by Brian VanDongen Publisher: BVDPlays Category: Adult Non-Fiction Release date: April 30, 2019 Format: Ebook/Paperback Length: 119 pages Content Rating: G
Book Blurb:
Play To Live: Life Skills and Joy Through The Natural Talent To Play by author Brian VanDongen takes you back to your childhood to remind you about what being a child is all about. Playing! We all have those fond childhood memories of growing up playing with our friends in social settings. Developing social skills and learning how to handle friendships and relationships.
What we didn’t realize at the time was that those skills we learned for the building blocks which lay the foundation for the rest of our lives. What are our children learning right now? How are they playing now and what part are we playing in how our children interact with the world around them.
For many children, their idea of play and playing now consists of talking to friends online and playing with electronic devices, staying safe indoors, and not venturing further than their own small safe world which we have created.
Inside Play To Live you’ll discover:
Understanding what it means to play.
Where play has gone and what has changed?
How playing inside the box promotes the simplicity of play.
Why risky play is not the same as dangerous play. Are we too overprotective?
That climbing up the slide is just as important as sliding down.
Getting muddy outside and rediscovering nature is imperative.
That play is serious business and so much more.
Inside Play To Live: Life Skills and Joy Through The Natural Talent To Play you’ll read about case studies and reports followed by tips, tricks, and information to help you. If you would like to rediscover what it means to play, then grab a copy of Play To Live right now!
Brian is a life-long “parks and rec kid.” Now, he is a parks and recreation professional.
Brian has created, designed, and implemented transformational recreational programming for thousands of residents. Through his work as a park and recreation professional, Brian helps people play and find their natural talent to play.
He believes everyone has that talent, but it is sometimes hard to find, or even suppressed in today’s society. Fortunately, play at its most basic level is easy, fun, healthy, and desirable. That playful talent just needs to be unleashed.
Brian has helped thousands of people find their natural talent to play and become happier and healthier people through the power of play.
Runnin’ late — been running late all week, really. No time for an intro, really. Go directly to the links, do not pass go, do not collect $200. The odds ‘n ends over the week about books and reading that caught my eye. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:
FKA USA by Reed King — I’ve seen a ton of ads for this one, and the premise/tone intrigue me (go read the link, I’m not going to try to summarize in a sentence). Not sure, I’ll like it, but I’m quite curious.
Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to Thomas Neil for following the blog this week.
This has been one of those weeks…I seem to have a lot of them, lately. I’ve barely been online — as this short list will demonstrate. Still, some good stuff.
Also, I’ve been trying to adjust to Progressive lenses. Trying being the operative word. I’m spending a lot of time with my new lenses in my pocket, to be honest. Which is not what I spent the money for. My old glasses took up space in my pocket while I read for a lot less money. Any glasses that interfere with my reading are not going to spend a lot of time on my face. Anyone else out there dealt with Progressive lenses? Anyone have better success? Tips to share?
Still, I cobbled together a few odds ‘n ends over the week about books and reading that caught my eye. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:
Disability and writing — Friend of the blog, writer par excellence (and his book recommendations are almost as good!), Ian Patrick wrote a great piece on writing life when you have a disability (hopefully the first of many) that contains some smart advice for everyone.
This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
Velocity Weapon by Megan E. O’Keefe — I didn’t finish O’Keefe’s last SF series (which really bugs me), this one looks as good — maybe better. As Paul’s Picks said..
Lastly, I’d like to say hi and extend a warm welcome to Kyles for following the blog this week.
Today I’m excited to welcome the Book Tour for the funny, clever, tragic and engaging Dead is Beautiful by Jo Perry. I already posted about the book back in February, so along with this spotlight post, I’ve been given a great excerpt to share here in a bit as well as a page that indexes The Irresponsible Reader’s Jo Perry/Charlie and Rose content in one easy to use post.
But first, let’s focus on the book in question here: Dead is Beautiful
Book Details:
Book Title: Dead is Beautiful by Jo Perry Publisher: Fahrenheit 13 Release date: February 13, 2019 Format: Ebook/Paperback Length: 268 pages
Book Blurb:
DEAD IS BEAUTIFUL finds Rose leading Charlie from the peace of the afterlife to the place he hates most on earth, “Beverly Fucking Hills,” where a mature, protected tree harboring a protected bird is being illegally cut down.
The tree-assault leads Charlie and Rose to a to murder and to the person Charlie loathes most in life and in death, the sibling he refers to only as “his shit brother,” who is in danger.
Charlie fights-across the borders of life and death–for the man who never fought for him, and with the help of a fearless Scotsman, a beautiful witch, and a pissed-off owl, Charlie must stop a cruel and exploitative scheme and protect his beloved Rose.
About Jo Perry:
Jo Perry earned a Ph.D. in English, taught college literature and writing, produced and wrote episodic television, and published articles, book reviews, and poetry.
She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, novelist Thomas Perry. They have two adult children. Their two dogs are rescues.
Jo is the author of DEAD IS BETTER, DEAD IS BEST, DEAD IS GOOD, and DEAD IS BEAUTIFUL, a dark, comic mystery series from Fahrenheit Press.
As usual, I can’t hear that phrase without thinking of Baldrick and Blackadder…which, actually, is kind of fitting given where Andrew J. Harvey goes with his. I enjoyed this, hope you do to:
A Cunning Plan
It was during the process of developing the trailer for my Alternate History novel, Nightfall, the first book in my Clemhorn Trilogy, that I was shocked to discover how badly I had underestimated the general public’s knowledge of history.
I have always been interested in history, even taking one unit at University when I was studying there, and had perhaps foolishly believed that like myself, people were interested in the past. Particularly given George Santayana’s warning that: “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Given the myriad mistakes and failings that humans are so susceptible too, the blindness to history’s lessons seems particularly dangerous to me.
I was realistic enough to understand that it was unlikely that most people would have, as I did, entire bookshelves filled with history books, and the occasional alternate history novel, but I did at least expect that one or two history books would be displayed somewhere. As I said, I was quickly disabused of this while testing the book trailer for Nightfall, with the following teaser:
In 1884 the world stood on the verge of war. Once again the Russian and British Empires faced each other across the Mississippi.
And discovered that the person I was speaking to had no idea that in our own history the Russian and British Empires had never, ever faced each other in America, let alone across the Mississippi.
This resulted in the following rewrite:
In 1884, in a history very different from our own, the world stood on the verge of war …
As an aficionado and writer of Alternate History this was particularly disappointing given that Alternate History is a genre of fiction where stories are set in worlds in which one or more historical events unfold differently from how it did in our world. It is better appreciated with at least some modicum of how the historical event the author is writing about actually unfolded in our own reality.
But I now have a cunning plan, and hope that anyone reading Nightfall will be interested enough to investigate how some of the alternate histories I portray in the novel actually played out in our history (hint in Nightfall the Mainline split from our own when in 1451 the Serbian Emperor Uros III captures Constantinople, triggering a Serbian rather than Italian renaissance). And of course if they continue to read the series, they continue to meet other alternates, and with fifty-four lines making up the Cross-Temporal Empire there’s more than enough to keep a reader delving into all sorts of histories for quite some time.
Along these lines I leave you with a paraphrasing of George Santayana’s words, that is: “those who cannot remember the past may be brought to appreciate it by the ‘what ifs’ posed by alternate history.”
Today I’m pleased to welcome the Book Spotlight Tour for Nightfallby Andrew J. Harvey. It’s another case of a book that looks good, but I can’t fit in to my schedule (at least not quickly enough to help out with the tour). Still, I wanted to spread the word about it, and in addition to this post, in about an hour the author, Andrew J. Harvey has provided me with a nice guest post that you should really check out. But first, check out the information about the book and the giveawway — or just go buy it. Either way…
Book Details:
Book Title: Nightfall (Book 1 in the Clemhorn Trilogy) by Andrew J. Harvey Publisher: Zmok Books, an imprint of Pike and Powder Publishing Group LLC Category: Adult Fiction Genre: Science Fiction Military, Alternate History Release date: February, 2019 Format: Ebook/Paperback Length: 250 pages Content Rating: PG-13 (includes some violence and adult themes including one off-camera torture scene)
Book Blurb:
After eighty years of war the remnants of humanity on the Nayarit Line struggled to survive in sealed domes, surrounded by radioactive wasteland and genetically engineered viruses. It was in the last, desperate years of the war that the first trans-temporal portal was developed at Chiqu, a small research facility on the west coast of North America. As the domes finally failed and civilization collapsed around them, Iapura led fifty-three survivors to found a new empire on a parallel Earth; an Earth where, in 1884, Russian and English armies faced each other across America’s Great Plains, totally unprepared for the technology of the invading Nayarit. The Cross-Temporal Empire now encompasses fifty-four parallel Earths. But with its ruling Council riven by dissent the death of First Leader Manet, sets the Council into a slow and irrevocable slide into civil war.
A war that threatens not only the lives of the Clemhorn siblings: Conrad, Arnold, Donald, and Ivy; but the very future of the Empire.
Andrew spent his high-school years in the school’s library lost in the worlds of Andre Norton, Robert Heinlein, and Isaac Asimov.
His first novel to be accepted for publication was originally completed to be read to his two sons at night. Now his children have left home he lives in Perth, Western Australia, with his wife, one dog, and sixty-four goldfish.
Odds ‘n ends over the week about books and reading that caught my eye. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:
Possible salvation for Barnes & Noble — The jury’s still out, obviously, on what this week’s big news is going to mean for B&N, but there’s reason for hope. And if B&N does better, books as a whole do better…
18 Books and Series Gen Z Grew Up With — I’ve bought copies of most of these for my kids (borrowed a few others from the library) — read more than my share, too. Not sure why 1977’s Bridge to Terabithia made the list — but it deserves it’s place on it, as I recall.
A Book-ish Related Podcast Episodesyou might want to give a listen to:
O&F Podcast, Ep. 196: Patricia BriggsStrout talks to Briggs about a whole host of stuff — I appreciated her talking about grief and what it did to her writing, and the pressures of hitting the NYT Best-Seller List. But just an enjoyable chat overall.
This Week’s New Release that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey — a PI is called in by her estranged twin to solve a murder at a Hogwarts-esque private school? Sign me up.
Rebecca Bradley is a retired police detective. She lives in the UK with her family and her two cockapoo’s Alfie and Lola, who keep her company while she writes. Rebecca needs to drink copious amounts of tea to function throughout the day and if she could, she would survive on a diet of tea and cake while committing murder on a regular basis, in her writing of course. 
