Friday, March 31, 2023

Blurb Blitz - Racial Justice at Work by Mary-Frances Winters

 



This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Mary-Frances Winters and The Winters Group Team will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour bvanner to see the other stops on the tour.

Creating justice-centered organizations is the next frontier in DEI. This book shows how to go beyond compliance to address harm, share power, and create equity.

Traditional DEI work has not succeeded at dismantling systems that perpetuate harm and exclude BIPOC groups. Proponents of DEI have put too much focus on HR solutions, such as increasing representation, and not enough emphasis on changing the deeper organizational systems that perpetuate inequities—in other words, on justice. DEIJ work diverges from traditional metrics-driven DEI work and requires a new approach to effectively dismantle power structures.

This thought-provoking, solutions-oriented book offers strategic advice on how to adopt a justice mindset, anticipate and address resistance, shift power dynamics, and create a psychologically safe organizational culture. Individual chapters provide pragmatic how-to guides to implementing justice-centered practices in recruitment and hiring, data collection and analysis, learning and development, marketing and advertising, procurement, philanthropy, and more.

DEIJ pioneer Mary-Frances Winters and her coauthors address some of the most significant aspects of adding a justice focus to diversity work, showing how to create a workplace culture where equity is not a checklist of performative actions but a lived reality.


Read an Excerpt

Over the past fifty years, reams of research have been published around the idea of psychological safety, an aspect of organizational culture that cultivates openness, engagement, and positive change. It is the feeling among employees that employers and managers will not punish them for speaking up. As David Altman from the Center for Creative Leadership puts it: “People need to feel comfortable speaking up, asking naïve questions, and disagreeing with the status quo to create ideas that make a real difference . . . . It doesn’t mean that everybody is nice all the time. It means you embrace the conflict and speak up, knowing that your team has your back and you have their backs.” While most of the literature in this area has focused on team dynamics and organizational hierarchy—including the business case for psychological safety—the current zeitgeist requires we refine it even further with an eye toward justice: A just organization ensures that Black and POC employees are psychologically safe.

The majority of organizations in the US are still hierarchical in their structures. Generally speaking, org charts are a nominal variation of “executives are positioned above upper management, which in turn stands above middle management, which then oversees the general staff population.” There may be more levels, different terminology, or perhaps even a nice-looking horizontal layout, but at its core, this structure has become the operating paradigm in staffing. There are plenty of benefits of utilizing such a structure, and it can be highly effective in producing an organization’s desired outcomes, whatever they may be. The adage too often remains true, though: “Bad news doesn’t travel up.”

More to the point: bad news doesn’t travel up if no one feels safe sharing bad news. Likewise, good ideas die a quick death along with the bad news if employees expect their ideas to be overlooked, criticized, or dismissed out of hand. Put another way—the traditional workplace hierarchy often suppresses growth and change by suppressing bad news and good ideas due to employees not feeling psychologically safe. “Often” is the operative word there, for it doesn’t have to be so.

It takes a concerted effort from the team and company leaders to create a psychologically safe working environment, especially for Black and POC employees. Leaders have to be willing to receive open, honest feedback and not feel threatened by ideas from those lower in the hierarchy—especially employees of color—and cultivate a culture where everyone feels safe sharing.

About the Author:
Mary-Frances Winters is the founder and CEO of the Winters Group Inc. She was named a top ten diversity trailblazer by Forbes and a diversity pioneer by Profiles in Diversity Journal, and she is the recipient of the prestigious ATHENA Award as well as the Winds of Change Award conferred by the Forum on Workplace Inclusion. Winters is also the author of We Can’t Talk about That at Work, Inclusive Conversations, and Black Fatigue.

The Winters Group Team contributors are Kevin A. Carter, Megan Ellinghausen, Scott Ferry, Gabrielle Gayagoy Gonzalez, Dr. Terrence Harewood, Tami Jackson, Dr. Megan Larson, Leigh Morrison, Katelyn Peterson, Mareisha N. Reese, Thamara Subramanian, and Rochelle Younan-Montgomery.

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VBT: Slaves of an Alien Game by Nina R Schluntz

 



It's a book tour and you're in for a treat. This is a whole series. Slaves of an Alien Game by Nina R Schluntz. You could win prizes, too. Like? One randomly chosen winner via rafflecopter will win a $25 Amazon/BN.com gift card. Sounds good, right? Then follow the tour for more chances. You can do that here: https://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2023/01/fs-nbtm-tour-slaves-of-alien-game-by.html

Slaves of an Alien Game by Nina Schluntz



About the Series:

Game Wardens rule most of the galaxy by a fierce empire built on enslavement and brokered deals. The only means to earn one’s freedom is by playing in the Alien Games. Two slaves go in the arena, the survivor, if there is one, is given their freedom and crowned a king, earning them a small country to rule and slaves of their own.

To make the battle more fun for spectators, genetically enhanced monsters, sahalias, are given to the combatants, but they must found in a scavenger hunt. Five orbs, each hatching into a lizard that will bond with their keeper, are hidden on a random planet. If the competitor finds all five, they have a great imbalance of power over the other, who will have none. The sahalias are created with one purpose, to battle to the death and destroy the other competitor.

Slaves of an Alien Game - Book 1

Caden works at an all night diner in a small town near the interstate. When a man comes in late at night, asking for access to the roof, Caden knows the man is a bit off. But his ruffian nature and a small bribe makes Caden decide to let him go up.

“It’s a scavenger hunt,” the man says. Caden thinks he’s being helpful when he finds the item, a black orb, but when he touches it, he unknowingly becomes a competitor in an intergalactic competition that ends in a battle to the death. Manipulated and lied to, drugged by the alien Incubus, Raghib, whom he is now allied with, he must train his lizard battle creatures to fight for him on an unknown planet with rules he barely understands.

He has little chance to survive and although he wants to trust, Raghib, who will earn his freedom if Caden wins the battle, he worries he is simply being used. A bit of truth is revealed when one of the Game Wardens takes a liking to Caden, but his alien species is known to eat humans, so Caden isn’t sure if the desire is that of hunger or true romance.

Either way, Caden is nothing but a slave to their alien games.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Slaves of an Alien Game - Book 2

Caden is free. He won his battle and got what he wanted. Sent back to Earth with his won kingdom given to the slave, Raghib. However, life on Earth, back at the diner isn’t the same after living on an alien planet. He still suffers from withdrawals from the Incubus influence and drugs Raghib forced on him, and nightmares from the horrible battle to the death.

When a woman arrives, the latest competitor in the alien games, she offers him a chance to visit Raghib. All he has to do is be her slave during the games and help her find the orbs. He agrees and finds she is a higher level competitor than Raghib was, the hunt is on a deadlier planet, one covered in darkness and monsters.

Caden is eventually reunited with Raghib and gets to see the kingdom he won. Raghib is more broken from the battle and haunted by the brutality of it than Caden. He has a new lover and is driving his country to poverty so he can buy drugs to forget the pain. Caden turns to the Game Wardens for help, offering to go back in the arena again, with the woman he helped in the scavenger hunt. He is a fan favorite and knows their ratings will improve if he goes in again.

He arranged to go in as her pretend slave, in a role that will have safety features turned on so he will be in no real danger. He thinks its his idea to go back in. Confident he’s messing with the structures in place and trying to leverage the Game Wardens to change the deadly games into a nonlethal form.

However, it was their plan for him to go back in from the start. Caden is still nothing but a slave to their alien games.

                                                     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Slaves of an Alien Game - Book 3

Caden’s long-term girlfriend on Earth is pregnant, and Caden is missing. Jenny worries he has been kidnapped and drugged again. A strange woman arrives, saying she knows Caden and where he is. She offers to take Jenny to him, if she helps her… they just need to find some orbs in a scavenger hunt. Jenny agrees, but is careful to not touch the objects. She doesn’t trust this woman.

They find four orbs and encounter the other competitor. The fifth orb is there, and Jenny is forced to pick it up. The other competitor forfeits and Jenny finds herself now in the games, the woman she’d been helping now announced as her deadly competitor.

She is taken to an alien planet and united with a distraught Caden. He confesses that he has a relationship with a man, an alien man, an Incubus named Raghib, and the woman Jenny must fight is Raghib’s daughter.

Caden is in an impossible situation, either his lover’s daughter dies or his childhood sweetheart dies, but there is a rule in the games, a protection for slaves and their offspring, who are viewed as profitable future slaves. A pregnant woman may not enter the arena, instead the sire must.

Caden is again forced to play in the games, but this time he has no sahalias to battle on his behalf, and safety features are not allowed. If Caden is to survive, he must find a way to not be a slave in their alien games.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now for An Excerpt from Book 1:

I reached what looked like the bar and surveyed the drinks. I needed alcohol.

“You do not disappoint.” The voice was male and silky. I pried my eyes from the beverages I couldn’t identify and aimed my angry glare at the speaker.

He was tall and lanky, sporting a sharp graying goatee and a braided ponytail that trailed down past his waist. Both matched his gray suit and sparkling blue eyes. He was handsome but in an unnatural way, as though it was a quality designed to lure in prey. Instinctively, I knew who this man was.

“You’re one of the Game Wardens,” I said. He smiled like a tiger soothing a mouse.

“And you are the man making me rich. The fans love you. And that rant back there…” His eyes fluttered, and he groaned softly as if what I’d just done turned him on, or maybe the thought of how his TV ratings would spike was the reason. “You can’t buy that kind of drama.”

“You’re welcome,” I said because what the hell else was I supposed to say?

“I can’t decide if I want you to die or win in the battle.” He stepped closer, and I felt fear for no reason other than an instinctive fear you get when you know you are around something more powerful than you. He had this hungry look in his eyes, and I couldn’t help the words that came out.

“Is that because you can’t decide if you want to eat me or fuck me?”

His eyes widened. Perhaps no one had ever spoken to him like that before.

“You think I eat the people who die in the arena?”

“Why not? You’re already a sicko for making money off watching people battle to the death.”

“And you also think I have sex with the victors? Or are you implying it’s what you want, should you survive?” His eyes went down my body, appraising me.

“What? Don’t be weird,” I said. I pointed to the bottles on the counter. “Are any of these similar to alcohol on Earth? I want to get drunk.”

“You are the one who suggested it. And now you want me to get you drunk?”

“It’s the least you could do since I’m getting you such great ratings.”

“Oh, I do like you.”

“How flattering,” I said. “Buy me a drink then?”

Raghib finally appeared next to me. Where the fuck had he gone? Had he been apologizing to the pervert? I glanced at him to say as much, but mister slick put a finger on my cheek and turned my head back to him.

“If I am buying you a drink, you should keep your attention on me,” he said.

“Really? You think the viewers want to watch you schmooze me?”

His jaw fell open, and he gaped speechlessly at me. I wasn’t entirely sure what kind of fire I was playing with, but I didn’t want this guy to request me to personally entertain him or some shit either. And that look on his face was really starting to come across as sexual predatory-ish.

“Never mind,” I said. “I’ll just take some glamour. Nice talking.” I pushed on Raghib’s arm and moved away from creeper number three of the night.

“I leave you for two minutes, and I find you with a Game Warden?” Raghib hissed in my ear.

“He was thanking me for all the great ratings we are getting for his show,” I said. “What happened to you anyway? We’re tethered. How did you lose me?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

About the Author: 


Nina Schluntz is a native to rural Nebraska. In her youth, she often wrote short stories to entertain her friends. Those ideas evolved into the novels she creates today.

Her husband continues to ensure her stories maintain a touch of realism as she delves into the science fiction and fantasy realm. Their three cats are always willing to stay up late to provide inspiration, whether it is a howl from the stray born in the backyard or an encouraging bite from the so called “calming kitten.”

https://mizner13.wordpress.com/
https://twitter.com/mizner13
https://www.facebook.com/nina.schluntz.novels
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1980193.Nina_R_Schluntz
https://www.queeromanceink.com/mbm-book-author/nina-schluntz/

Series link:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BMXTJLSV

Book 1: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BM4HLGJL
Book 2: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BMY6H3P7
Book 3: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BMZC24SF

Kindle Vella (serialized version of the series, available in USA only)
https://www.amazon.com/kindle-vella/story/B0BKTF9LMF


Book Video Links
Book 1: https://youtu.be/uN3P7D3oY4c
Book 2: https://youtu.be/4AXEX23pA3A
Book 3: https://youtu.be/_d_7Ki4S_MI

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Thursday, March 30, 2023

Book Blast - The Beautiful Misfits by Susan Reinhardt

 



This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. The author will be awarding a $15 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Eighty-four seconds can change your life. Or destroy it. Josie Nickels is an Emmy-winning news anchor, poised to rise through the ranks of television journalism. On a bitter March evening on live TV, the pressures and secrets burbling behind the closed doors of her ridiculous Victorian mansion explode and the overwhelmed journalist spills family secrets like a Baptist at altar call. The aftermath costs her much more than a career. It robs her of a beloved son—a preppy, educated millennial trapped in the deadly world of addiction. Desperate for a new start and a way to save her son, Josie packs up her pride, her young daughter, and accepts a new job slinging cosmetics at a department store make-up counter with other disgraced celebs. In the gorgeous mountains of Asheville N.C., known for hippies, healings, and Subarus, Josie is faced with a choice for her son: Take a chance on a bold, out-of-the-ordinary treatment plan for her son or lose him forever. This heart-wrenching and, at times, hilarious novel, will delight fans of book-club women’s fiction and inspire and give hope to those with addicted sons and daughters.

Read an Excerpt

Josie finally managed to reach the woman stroking the La Belleza products as if she were examining the finest porcelain from the Qing dynasty. The jars and hour-glass-shaped bottles, in that rich lapis blue, were where the money grew.

“Hola. May I help you, ma’am?” Josie always gave her customers space, not making them feel the intense pressure they might endure at another counter or from a sales associate who hadn’t hit her goal in a month.

“I was wondering if I might have a sample of this new oil?” she asked. Her lips hardly moved. She had one of those manmade faces, tight and swollen baboon-fanny traits, courtesy of plastic surgery that left her of an undeterminable age and species. Every feature hardened like papier-mâché as if mummified. Oh, and her hair! Josie couldn’t peel her eyes from the woman’s updo, rising hive-like and so stiff with lacquer a gum wrapper was embedded near the top. Two white petals from the Bradford pear trees had blown in and settled near a neck so tight you could all but see her thyroid.

“Why, we certainly can arrange for a sample,” Josie said. “At La Belleza, if you have a seat for a few minutes and give me the honor of demonstrating our award-winning skin care, we are happy to treat you to a gift with your visit.” Into the chair and out with the Brigman’s charge card. Twenty minutes later the woman left with Josie’s personalized skincare guide, three small samples in a lapis-and-white polka-dotted La Belleza cosmetics bag, and nearly five hundred dollars on her card.

About the Author:
Susan Reinhardt grew up in LaGrange, GA. and Spartanburg, S.C.where most girls twirled batons, entered beauty pageants, and became debutantes.

Bucking the norm, Susan spent her free time water skiing almost every day, fishing, and pining for a ragamuffin boy who was always up to no good.

Earlier in her college years, she pursued nursing, but most of her patients were terminal and her mastery and frequency of giving enemas had her questioning this line of work, though she adores nurses and often wishes she’d have stuck with the field.

She recently took a part-time job caring for adults with disabilities and loves the work, figuring it would at least make up for past misdeeds and get her a better shot at the Pearly Gates.

Writing has always been her first love. And she became good enough at it to earn many dozens of awards, including three Best of Gannetts for her feature stories and columns. Along with a bunch of other junk that really doesn't matter in the end.

What matters to Reinhardt is making people laugh. And think. And love others.

She is married to her second and final husband, country and genius lawyer Donny Laws who is bald but has a ponytail and loves to ride a bike. She has two adult kids, three steps, and a granddaughter.

She’s been on national TV, has modeled for one glossy magazine, and was the subject of a British documentary on aging and body image. She hopes that the documentary is lost and never resurfaces.

She once had a radio show called Susan Uncensored; a sold-out one-woman show called “From Hilarity to Insanity and Back.”

She no longer water skis but performs fairly decent front and backflips from a diving board and half-ass rides a unicycle and twirls a baton simultaneously.

Her hobbies include a vintage camper obsession and she’s owned three. Recently she’s settled on her 1968 Scotsman, which she hopes to paint pink and teal with polka-dots and haul on book tours.

She has two rescue cats who vehemently hate each other.

In her next life, she’d like to be a figure skater.

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Wednesday, March 29, 2023

Book Blast - Bells and Bombshells by Trixie Silvertale

 



This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Trixie Silvertale will be awarding a $75 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other hosts on the tour.

A pattern of murder. A threadbare case. Can our psychic sleuth pick out the guilty before time spools out?

Mitzy Moon is finally tying the knot. And she’s loving the whole town’s excitement for their upcoming big day. But when their tailor is found buttons up behind a jazz lounge, the almost-newlyweds will have to hem in a murderer before their dreams rip apart at the seams.

Knowing they’ll get no help from the new sheriff in town, the couple embarks on a tightly woven undercover assignment. But Mitzy fails to heed ominous warnings from her mentor, Ghost-ma, and her entitled feline. When another body drops, she could be the next target erased by the mounting powers in the darkness…

Can Mitzy and Erick unravel the twisted clues, or will their wedding be eclipsed by a funeral?

Bells and Bombshells is the first book in a hilarious new paranormal cozy mystery series, Harper and Moon Investigations. If you like snarky heroines, supernatural intrigue, and a dash of romance, then you’ll love Trixie Silvertale’s wedded whodunit.

Buy Bells and Bombshells to stitch up a killer today!


Read an Excerpt

“Once you wake up, head over to the station for a going away party. I wouldn’t want you to miss it.” A wonderful text from my fiancé, Sheriff Harper.

A thrill of excitement rockets up my spine. A going away party? Dear Lord baby Jesus, it can’t be true. Is my arch-nemesis and resident bully, Deputy Paulsen, finally leaving the force? I never thought I’d see this day. Now I have two amazing things to celebrate this week!

I place my dishes in the bus bin behind the counter, wave to my grandfather, and practically run out of the diner.

When I burst into the station, I’m not surprised to find the front desk abandoned. The deputy I’ve nicknamed Furious Monkeys is usually in residence, deep into said video game by this time of the morning. However, it seems the entire force has shown up to celebrate the end of Deputy Paulsen’s reign.

I glance around the overflowing bullpen, and several familiar faces toss smiles my way. All the local deputies, of course, but there are also a number of deputies from the nearby town of Broken Rock. Including the sharpshooter, Boomer. He’s helped out on a few previous cases. Not surprising he’d be here. However, the presence of two of the FBI agents that assisted Erick and me in nabbing an interstate train robbery gang seems highly out of place.

Sheriff Harper was the one who worked with them and —

It’s at that precise moment I see the makeshift sign flapping in the breeze near the overhead heater vent. The handmade signage reads:

“You’ll be missed, Sheriff Harper!”

What the —?

About the Author:
USA TODAY Bestselling author Trixie Silvertale grew up reading an endless supply of Lilian Jackson Braun, Hardy Boys, and Nancy Drew novels. She loves the amateur sleuths in cozy mysteries and obsesses about all things paranormal. Those two passions unite in her Harper and Moon Investigations series, and she's thrilled to write them and share them with you.

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Tuesday, March 28, 2023

Book Blast - I Dream of Demigods by Alexa Sullivan

 



This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Alexa Sullivan will be awarding a $50 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Ro Baird can't cast a spell without setting her own pants on fire—until she kisses her hot new boss, Alex. Suddenly, she's able to access her magic…sort of…and she now has a familiar, who may be more trouble than she is helpful.

Alex Kouris happens to be a soul-stealing demigod of the Underworld. He claims he's trying to leave the life, but can she really trust a man whose magical talents are manipulation and charm? When Alex enlists a shady ex to help him, Ro must risk her heart and her life to save him and humanity from Hades’s evil scheme.

Can she harness her true power to set Alex and herself free?

Read an Excerpt

I turned from side to side in front of the mirror, examining my half French braid. My dark-brown hair wound across the top of my head, like a crown. I tucked the end under the rest of my hair and twisted it into a side ponytail, tying it off with a clear elastic.

“Pretty.” Tabitha stood in my bathroom doorway. With her flat tone of voice, she might as well have been describing broccoli or glue.

I plucked a beaded fringe earring off the counter and slipped it through the hole in my right earlobe.

Lenti, who sat on the counter, trilled and swiped the earring with her paw.

“Nope.” I jerked my head away. “I got these at a craft fair, and you’re not destroying them.”

“What’s that?”

“Never mind.” Should’ve known this was going to happen. Gritting my teeth, I removed the earring and tucked it into a drawer. I tugged the neckline of my clingy black dress a little lower, then turned to Tabitha. “Is it too much? Should I wear my strappy sandals or my ankle boots?”

She crossed her arms. “Explain to me how this happened. You were supposed to talk to him, not go out with him.”

About the Author:


Alexa Sullivan writes humorous, contemporary paranormal romance. She imagines a world where the mundane meets magic -- and where vampires, werewolves and witches have normal jobs. Oh, and there are cats, too. She sets all her books in the beautiful state of Oregon. When not writing, she can be found walking her cat on a leash, hanging out with her husband, and watching far too much Bravo reality TV.

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Tuesday, March 14, 2023

Blurb Blitz - The Spirit of Harriet Tubman by Spring Washam



It's a blog tour and there are prizes to be win. This week, I'm featuring The Spirit of Harriet Tubman by Spring Washam. You'll want to keep reading. You could win stuff! Like? Spring Washam will be awarding a $20 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Want more chances to win? Then follow the tour. You can do that here: https://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2023/03/blurb-blitz-tour-spirit-of-harriet.html



The Spirit of Harriet Tubman: Awakening from the Underground
by Spring Washam

The Spirit of Harriet Tubman, who was called the Moses of her people, is rising again, and we can call forth her spirit to embody incredible strength and unwavering courage. Combining direct transmissions of Harriet's message with insightful explorations of her life and legacy, this extraordinary book gives us support and inspiration to deepen our roots of resilience and become powerful conductors of love and truth in our own lives.

We can learn how to remain fearless in the face of hatred and confusion. And through Harriet Tubman's guidance, we will learn how to meet the challenges of this moment with a compassionate heart.

Spring's previous works have been praised by Publishers Weekly as "bring[ing] considerable gifts for conveying her vision of personal change and offer[ing] vivid, inspiring testimony to the power of Buddhism." And now, she inspires a new generation of activists to carry her message and her work forward.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now for an Excerpt: 

Today, as I begin this chapter, it’s International Women’s Day, March 8, 2022. My assistant, who is in Mexico City, called to tell me. She’s off to join a huge women’s march there. “How perfect!” I say. As I head back to the cabin where I’m on a writing retreat, getting ready to start a session with Harriet, I wonder what Harriet will share today. I think we’re going to talk about women. I know she is passionate about the rights and dignity of women. Suddenly, I feel Harriet’s spirit really close to me. I prepare myself to surrender and go on another journey with her, but instead, we just sit together quietly. I feel her come closer and closer until her spirit merges right into me and she enters into my heart. Our breathing becomes synchronized in the most beautiful way. I’m not shaking, dizzy, or overwhelmed by her powerful energy. We are, at last, in harmony, in sync and attuned, and it’s magical. After a few minutes, I begin thinking about women and I sense Harriet is as well. As we sit quietly with our hearts merged, I begin feeling and experiencing a deep and tender part of Harriet, soft, loving, and almost aching with vulnerability. She begins to speak, “Oh, Child, the women . . .” almost in a whisper and then stops, over and over, as we breathe in and out together. I feel it too, a deep concern for the feminine spirit. Half the world are women, and way too many are oppressed, beaten down, and denied their God-given right to be free. As we continue breathing together, Harriet begins chanting. It’s a prayer: “Heavenly Father, forgive them. Forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~


About the Author: 

Spring Washam is a well-known meditation and dharma teacher based in Oakland, California. She is a founding member and core teacher at the East Bay Meditation Center located in downtown Oakland. She is the founder of Lotus Vine Journeys, an organization that blends indigenous healing practices with Buddhist wisdom. She was trained by Jack Kornfield and has studied numerous meditation practices and Buddhist philosophy since 1997. She is a member of the Spirit Rock Teachers Council. In addition to being a teacher, she is also a healer, facilitator, spiritual activist, and writer. Spring is considered a pioneer in bringing mindfulness-based healing practices into diverse communities. She has studied indigenous healing practices and shamanic practices for over a decade. She has practiced and studied under some of the most preeminent meditation masters in both the Theravada and Tibetan schools of Buddhism. She currently travels and teaches workshops, classes, and retreats worldwide.

For more information on Spring Washam, or to follow her social media for event updates, inspiring quotes, and images:

Website: http://www.springwasham.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/spring.washam

FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/teacher.springwasham/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvoIv70jZKKXT2-ctKGhr7A

Twitter: https://twitter.com/SpringWasham

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/springwasham/

Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/Spirit-Harriet-Tubman-Awakening-Underground-ebook/dp/B09YQZ79C5/




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Tuesday, March 7, 2023

Book Blast ~ One Helluva Gig by Kevin R Doyle

 



This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Kevin R. Doyle will be awarding a $10 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Rob Jeffers has it all: fame, money, and the life of a rock and roll star. Frank Peters is a regular guy, a newspaper reporter who just happens to have a passing acquaintance with the Great Jeffers. As Jeffers's career shoots up, Peters's fortunes follows in his wake.

And when Jeffers passes away at the height of his fame, Peters’s life begins a steady unravelling. Until a chance encounter on a minor story gives him a new outlook on the celebrity lifestyle, and new hope for his own future.









Read an Excerpt

After graduating, I decided to make a stake for my future in California. Naturally, imbued with youthful naïveté (a nice euphemism for stupidity), I submitted my portfolio at the L.A. Times and The San Francisco Examiner. I naturally figured that it would require only a cursory examination for them to see my undeniable genius and hire me on to work on their front pages.

Didn’t work out that way, not at all, and by the time I’d worked my way through the second tier, and then the third tier papers, I finally managed to snag my first professional newspaper job.

In Lodi.

Lodi, for Chrissakes. I mean, that Fogerty guy even wrote a song once about the dumpiness of Lodi. However, by the time they floated the offer, I was so hungry, cold, and desperate that I would have taken anything. Then, once I’d moved my few knapsacks of belongings down there and found a room I could rent by the month, came what seemed like the final indignity.

They put me to work writing obituaries.

Understand, in the early eighties, practically everyone in newspaper work got started in the obits. Even so, it seemed like the drudgiest of drudge work. Six days a week, I sat at my desk, scanning the death notices, calling hospitals and checking with the cops to fulfill my daily quota of morbidity.

About the Author:
A high-school teacher, former college instructor and fiction writer, Kevin R. Doyle is the author of numerous short horror stories. He’s also written three crime thrillers, The Group, When You Have to Go There, and And the Devil Walks Away and one horror novel, The Litter. Recently, he’s begun working on the Sam Quinton private eye series. The first Quinton book, Squatter’s Rights, was nominated for the 2021 Shamus award as Best First PI Novel. The second book, Heel Turn, was released in March of 2021, while the third in the series, Double Frame, came out in March of 2022. The fourth Sam Quinton book, Clean Win, will be released in March of 2023.

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Friday, March 3, 2023

VBT - Moon Life by Marlene Fabian Stiles and Hank Fabian

It's a virtual tour and this one looks to be fantastic. I'm featuring the book, Moon Life by Marlene Fabian Stiles and Hank Fabian. You'll want to keep reading. Why? There are prizes to be won. Like? One randomly chosen winner via rafflecopter will win a $25 Amazon/BN.com gift card. Want more chances to win? Then follow the tour. You can do that here: https://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2023/02/fs-tour-moon-by-marlene-fabian-stiles.html 


MOON LIFE
by Marlene Fabian Stiles and Hank Fabian



It is the year 2051 and the International Space Institute has just sent two rival astrobiologists to search for extraterrestrial life on Europa, the mysterious ice moon of Jupiter. What they encounter could not only revolutionize science, it might make one of them the most famous person on Earth. Or does the Universe have other plans?

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Now for an Excerpt: 

Sure enough, Bikman returned alone the next day and held out an empty bilum.

Gnesh sounded exasperated. “We can’t give him any more. What are we going to eat?” Spreading his empty hands Charlie said, “I have nothing more to give you.”

Bikman’s eyebrows shot up.

“You ‘no sabe,’ right?” Charlie leafed through his dictionary. “Someday I’ll have to teach you some English.”

“Or you’ll learn Tok Pisin,” Gnesh teased.

“Nogat…nogat… mo. Nogat mo,” Charlie read aloud. When Bikman stared down at his empty sack, Charlie relented and took a small headlamp out of his pocket. “Here, for you.”

“I hope you have another one,” Gnesh muttered as Charlie showed the chief how the headlamp worked.

Bikman smiled and held out his hand again. “Givim one thousand dollah.”

The astrobiologists looked at each other. “He knows some English,” Gnesh said. Charlie turned back to the chief. “Why one thousand dollars?”

Bikman grinned. “Baim president.”

Charlie’s jaw dropped. “You want to buy our president?”

Gnesh rolled his laughter into a hoarse cough. “He’s not kidding, Charlie. I read about a tribe that tried to buy Lyndon Johnson back in the 1960s.”

Charlie was curious. “Why baim president?”

“President bringum kago. Kago gutpela.”

Charlie phrased his response carefully. “No thousand dollars. Now baim president one hundred thousand dollars.”

About the Authors:

The family that writes together stays together, so siblings Marlene Fabian Stiles and Hank Fabian co-authored a science fiction adventure that explores Jupiter’s moon Europa as two rival astrobiologists race to be the first to find extraterrestrial life. This discovery should ensure the winner fame and fortune, but the Universe has other plans.

Hank is the guy walking around with a long lens camera and binoculars, a tourist of the world fascinated by every creature that moves and every plant that grows. He teaches biology and helped devise a college genetics program. As a scientist he likes to work with facts, so there's a possibility that the creatures he’s created actually exist!

Marlene is the president of a nonprofit, The I Will Projects, dedicated to advancing educational venues that include a middle school aquaponics program in partnership with the Boys and Girls Club which received a NASA grant. She writes in multiple genres and also has published “Elderchild,” an Alzheimer’s narrative written in the first person. She shares Hank’s love of the natural world and is dazzled by the interconnectivity of all living things.

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21747101.Marlene_Fabian_Stiles
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21747100.Hank_Fabian
Hank Fabian Amazon Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B0B9HTNXX7/about
https://www.amazon.com/Moon-Life-Hank-Fabian-ebook/dp/B09BPMVX44/