by Scott, D. D.
She’s a two-time Amazon Movers & Shakers List Author (making it all the way to #2 on that prestigious list) and has been both a featured author and her books have been top picks – including one of the Top 10 Books for Mother’s Day 2011 - for such superfab Ereader-centric Blogs as Ereader News Today (ENT), Kindle Nation Daily, Cheap e-Reads, Pixel of Ink, The Frugal eReader, Indie Books List, Only Romance, and Bargain eBooks. Her blog posts on the Indie Epub World have been picked-up by fantabulous blogs like Bufo Calvin’s I Love My Kindle.
She can be spotted all-week long on her one-million-hits-per-month grog The WG2E, a writer’s destination site for all-things-Epublishing. She often can also be found hangin’ on both the Kindle and Nook Boards, her new site The RG2E, a reader’s destination site for all-things Ereading, and has an active blog of her own on her website.
Also a Writer’s Go-to-Gal for Muse Therapy and now the Amazon #1 Bestselling Author of MUSE THERAPY: UNLEASHING YOUR INNER SYBIL, D. D. debuted her Muse Therapy Online Classes in 2009 and her Live Workshops in 2010. Thanks to the fabulous endorsement of Stephen Windwalker’s Kindle Nation Daily, there’s a ton more fun and fascinating MUSE THERAPY adventures in development.
D. D.’s first two short stories - The Mom Squad Mini-Mayhem Mysteries – FLUID FULFILLMENT and LICENSED FOR LOVE – released in October 2011, and a D. D. Scott Special Edition Ebook Boxed Set followed in December 2011, which included all three Bootscootin’ Books plus the first two Cozy Cash Mysteries. Her brand new Serial Novels THE STUCK WITH A SERIES released in March 2012, with STUCK WITH A SCHMUCK and STUCK WITH A STIFF, along with a total of 14 additional releases throughout 2012 and many more to come in 2013.
Declaring 2011 to be “The Year of the E-Book & Cross-Pollination”, D. D. co-founded and launched The Writer’s Guide to E-Publishing, your destination site for Everything E-Publishing. Whatever you want to know and/or cuss and discuss about E-publishing, it’s right there at The WG2E waiting for you as well as in her latest bestselling non-fiction book 10 YEARS AND 24 HOURS TO INDIE EPUBLISHING SUCCESS.
Declaring 2012 “The Year of the Reader”, she founded The RG2E – The Reader’s Guide to Epublishing – a sister site to The WG2E, which launched February 1, 2012 and is “the” new destination site for the Best in Ereading, Ebook Gifting and Ereader Giveaways too.
When she’s not writing, she’s busy luuuvin’ on her real-life hero “Sweet Man” and their beloved shelter-rescued dog Buckley and his new playmate Siggy the Affenpinscher.
For updates on her books, her sexy, sassy, smart neurotic writer’s life blog, and for a schedule of her appearances, including Muse Therapy and Indie Epublishing Sessions, visit her website D.D.Scott-ville.
BOOKS BY D. D. SCOTT
Welcome to D. D. Scott-ville, where “The First One is On Me!”
In other words, the book that started it all for me is FREE on all Ereading Platforms (Kindle, Nook, Sony, Kobo, Apple, Diesel, Smashwords and more)!
All of my books are priced between 99 Cents (fiction) and $2.99 (non-fiction, on-writing books), and here’s a list of them in order, in case, like me, you like to read a series from Book One on…:
The Bootscootin’ Books
The Cozy Cash Mysteries
The Royal Digs (Coming Soon)
The Mom Squad Mini-Mayhem Mysteries
D. D. Scott Boxed Sets
The Stuck with a Series
Stuck with Sleigh Bells (Coming Soon)
Non-Fiction Books
The WG2E All-For-Indies Anthologies
Audio Books
•••Available on Amazon, Audible and iTunes
Buckles Me Baby (Coming Soon)
Nothin’ beats treatin’ y’all to great books for great prices!
I also luuuvvv connecting with all of you superfab readers, so c’mon over and hang with me:
D.D.Scott-ville
The WG2E(The Writer's Guide to Epublishing), Co-Founder
The RG2E (The Reader's Guide to Epublishing), Founder
Twitter@ddscottromcom
Facebook DeeDeeScott
Goodreads D D Scott
Pinterest ddscott1
You’re all welcome in D.D.Scott-ville anytime!!!
The Best of Ereading Wishes — D. D. Scott
NOTE FROM DAVID SLEGG
I really hope you’ve enjoyed your time with Nicky, Sam and the rest of the Stuck with a Spell crew. D.D. and I had a lot of fun coming up with the story, and we hope you had fun reading it.
I grew up on a cattle farm on the banks of the Wabash River and studied Ag Economics at Purdue. I’ve been just about everything under the sun. When I say everything, I mean everything. I’ve been a waiter, a research technician, a bouncer, a salesman, a mapmaker, a bookseller, an ultramarathon runner, an AutoCAD drafter, and an editor. Oh, before I forget, I should also mention I recently earned my MLIS (Master of Library and Information Science) from Simmons College in Boston while living there for the past several years.
Friends have been telling me for years that I should write a book. These urgings were not for the reasons you might expect. Let’s just say I’ve had an unusually high number of improbably unlucky experiences. We’re talking about the sorts of things that you’d find humorous if they were happening to a character in a novel but not so funny if they were happening to you. I intend to inflict some of these situations on my characters. Hell, it might even be therapeutic.
How vain it is to sit down to write if you have not stood up to live.
~Henry David Thoreau
There have been many variations of the sentiment behind the Thoreau quote above. Several successful writers have said something to the effect that you should go out and experience life before you begin to write. If that’s true, I’ve got the “go out and live” half of the equation covered in spades.
Speaking of living, I recently moved back to the family farm. I’m actually writing this note to you in my father’s old office sitting at his antique rolltop desk. When I’m not writing, you can find me doing the daily tasks that come with running a cattle farm. They include everything from mending fence to birthing calves. I also take time to run, hike, and read when I can.
You’ll find both the noise of the city and the sounds of the country in my stories. There’s also a strong possibility that you’ll meet a librarian or two along the way. I’m really excited to be launching my career co-writing with Amazon and B&N Top 100 Bestselling Romantic Comedy and Humorous Mystery Author, D.D. Scott. It’s a real joy to have such a great co-author who’s full of great idea’s. We’re looking forward to more adventures in the STUCK WITH A Series.
You can hook up with me at:
@DavidSlegg on Twitter
And on Facebook.
I think we’re going to have a good time. Come and laugh with me.
The Best of Ereading Wishes — David Slegg
Soul Redemption
Prequel to Waning Moon
Book One in The Chronicles of Lily Carmichael Trilogy
By PJ Sharon
Chapter 1
“Lighten up with your hands around my throat.” Lily gasped as she struggled to escape my grip.
“Sorry. I guess I don’t know my own strength.” I let go, unaware that I was crushing her wind pipe.
As soon as I loosened my hold, Lily shot her hands straight up into the air, breaking the hold. She spun around and locked my arms under hers. Then, with a wide step back and a sweep of her leg, she slammed me to the ground. The wind gushed out of my lungs as she landed on top of me and jammed her elbow into my stomach.
Before I could recover and grab her, she rolled away and was on her feet, a broad grin in place. “I can’t believe you fell for that.”
I dragged myself to standing, dusted off the dirt, and picked straw out of my hair before it got lost in the thick, dark curls. I glared at my sister. “That wasn’t fair. You used mercy as a weapon.”
“No, I used my brains as a weapon.”
I wanted to wipe the s
mug look off her face, but she had squarely beaten me. I let a smile curve my lips. “I hope you didn’t strain anything.”
“Ha ha, very funny.” We stalked around each other again.
“Don’t think I’ll fall for that twice. It’s not like you wouldn’t heal if I happened to…say…break your arm…” I grabbed for her wrist and twisted it behind her back, pulling her in close and wrapping a forearm around her neck in a choke hold.
I had her up on her toes as she gave out a yelp. Then I heard a pop and immediately let go. She dropped to her knees.
“I’m sorry!” I yelled over her screaming. “I didn’t mean to…”
But she was already manipulating her arm into the socket and working her way to stand, her face going from pale to crimson in a matter of seconds as she relocated her shoulder and shrugged off the pain. “That’s exactly what I’m talking about! You have no self-control!”
“I said I was sorry.” I stared at my feet, tucking my hands behind my back as if they might do more damage if left to their own devices. Controlling my strength, my temper, and worst of all, my life-taking abilities was becoming increasingly difficult. With each passing day, the urges became stronger, the temptation greater.
Lily approached cautiously, which only served to make me feel worse. “I realize this is challenging, but you have to try harder to control yourself. If that was anyone else, you could have done permanent damage.”
What she meant to say was that I might have killed them. These training exercises were pointless. I didn’t need to learn how to fight off an attacker. If anyone so much as laid a hand on me, I had the power to siphon their life’s energy off in a matter of seconds, leaving them gasping for air until the light drained from their eyes. At least that’s how I imagined it happening. I’d used my gift, as Lily insisted on calling it, to save her life from a mountain lion and to kill wounded animals to stop their suffering. But human life had a certain intense…flavor—one that was hard to forget and even harder to resist. More than once I’d siphoned off bits of energy from strangers and townspeople who continued on their way, fatigued and nauseous, but unsuspecting. Vague memories haunted my dreams, telling me I’d done worse.
I squared off with my sister, grudgingly admitting she had a point. “You don’t understand how hard this is.” I turned away, afraid she might see my desperation. “I don’t want to hurt anyone. I just can’t control…what’s happening to me.” The rush of adrenaline that surged through me when I allowed my ability to take over frightened me with its intensity, but I couldn’t help wanting to experience the powerful effects. It was like a drug. And the high kept getting better.
“Maybe I understand more than anyone.” Lily followed me to the paddock where Phoenix and Shilo, our two horses, stood munching oats from their buckets. I sat down on a bale of hay while she leaned against the fence, petting Shilo’s long nose. “I know what it’s like not to be able to use your gift—to have to hide who you are from the world.”
Lily’s gift for healing was an amazing ability, but she wasn’t allowed to use it for fear of drawing unwanted attention. The Industry would like nothing better than to get their hands on us. EVO kids like Lily and me ended up captured, detained, and brought to the Western Desert, never to be seen again—an outcome Sam, our uncle, was determined to avoid. Lily made exceptions, of course. Her healing nature wouldn’t allow her to turn away someone in need, but she tried to keep her talents hidden. Otherwise, people from all over would track her down seeking help and she’d never have a moment’s peace. Then too, every time she did a major healing, like bringing someone back from the edge of death, the strain took a toll on her, leaving her weak for days sometimes. In some ways, her gift was probably harder to keep contained than mine.
“We’re two of a kind, aren’t we, sis?”
“Two sides of the same coin.” She smiled and sat beside me, ruffling my hair and then rubbing her knuckles across the top of my head. I winced at the biting pain. Not that I didn’t deserve it for dislocating her shoulder.
“Sorry about hurting you.”
Her face grew serious. “You have to learn to control yourself, Zeph. I understand you’re going through a lot of changes. It’ll take time and practice to figure out your limits.” A sympathetic smile passed across her face and then faded. “I want you to remember how bad it feels to hurt someone. That feeling of regret and sadness may be the only thing that stops you from acting on those urges.”
Taking in a slow, deep breath, I considered the heavy weight of guilt I carried for causing the people I cared about so much pain. “This power is not a gift, Lily; it’s a curse.” I turned away and my hair fell over my eyes.
“Only if you let it be. If you can find a way to use your ability for good—to make the world better—to help people—then you’ll see it as a gift.”
“You make it sound so easy.” I nudged her, trying to smile past the awful truth that made her words sound impossible.
She rested her head on my shoulder. “It’s not easy, Zeph. But I’m afraid it’s the only way you’ll survive.”
Chapter 2
Medical Journal Entry-02232043
Dr. Hope Greyson, Geneticist for Industry Laboratories
I am certain that I’m dying. This pregnancy has gone from bad to worse and every day, my vital signs grow weaker and my health declines with no determinable etiology. I can only hope that Carl will be able to care for the children and protect them from the influence of the Industry. Dr. Bartholomew and his team of scientists who’ve taken control are determined to continue their experiments on the EVO carriers.
My first pregnancy seems to have been one of the few successes, but with Industry involvement, the trials have been increasingly unpredictable and dangerous for test subjects. Genetically altered fetuses are surviving the womb and are showing remarkable resistance to the pandemic virus that has spread to every continent and has reportedly taken the lives of over four billion people. The only good news is that we believe we’ve found the cure. However, distributing the vaccine will take time—precious time that we cannot afford.
Carl and I are thinking of moving into the hills with my brother Sam once the baby is born, though we avoid discussion of the likelihood that I won’t survive delivery. At least Carl will be with our beautiful little Celia, a perfect child if there ever was one. She has shown remarkable resilience during this trying time—never having been sick a day in her life. Notably, she heals miraculously fast from minor cuts or abrasions. As an active three year old, she’s prone to bumps, bruises, and scrapes, but within hours or minutes, they are completely gone without even a trace of a scar. Celia remains the brightest spot in our lives and keeps us hoping for a better future—
Hearing footsteps on the stairs, I closed mother’s journal and tucked the spiral bound notebook away under Lily’s mattress where she thought I wouldn’t find it. I resisted the temptation to wallow in guilt and evaded the inevitable sting of tears that would follow, knowing I had been responsible for my mother’s death.
“What are you doing in my room? You’re supposed to be out doing chores.” Lily rounded the corner just as I climbed to my feet.
“I was looking for my crossbow.” Lying to my big sister, the paragon of virtue formerly known as Celia, was no big deal. Our lives had been one lie after another right from the start. I was only three when we came to live with our uncle Samuel in the Northeast sector after father died at the hands of the Industry agents who tried to take us away. My sister hid me for two days before Sam found us in a secret room at our old house. Sam changed my name from Timothy John Greyson to Zephron Carmichael, a trade I wished I’d had some say over. Celia, my protector, continued to hover like a guardian angel, however much I wished she would find another charge.
Lily raised a sandy brow, her tone suspicious. “Under my bed?”
“I thought you were hiding it from me as some stupid punishment for shooting that hawk the other day.
“No, I didn’t h
ide your crossbow, although I should have. You can’t just go killing anything you want because you’re mad.”
“The hawk was eating our chickens. I was defending our food supply.” I brushed past her in the doorway and then turned back. “That’s the problem with you, Lily; you don’t understand that killing to survive is natural.”
