Harvest of Dreams - Alison Henderson

Harvest of Dreams

by Alison Henderson

Alone on her farm in the middle of a blizzard, young widow Lisa McAllister labors to give birth to her first child. Help arrives in the strong hands of a stranger wearing a six-gun. Lisa has no reason to trust this man who makes a living by violence, even if he is on the right side of the law. Men and their guns have already claimed the lives of her father, brother, and husband, and she’s determined to protect her son at any cost.


Jared Tanner, a security agent for the stagecoach, has been on his own since he was twelve. Against his better judgment, his feelings of protectiveness toward Lisa and her baby turn to something deeper, and he is tempted by the possibility of a family of his own. Can their tender new love survive when an act of ultimate violence threatens to tear them apart?

BIOGRAPHY
Alison grew up in Kansas City on the edge of the prairie. One of her favorite memories is of the fringed turquoise cowgirl outfit she received for her fifth Christmas. She went off to New York to study art history at Vassar College but never lost her admiration for the fortitude of the pioneers who settled the American West. She began writing when her daughter entered pre-school and was quickly captivated by the creative process.

Although she has traveled the world from Japan to Tunisia, Alison has never strayed far from her Midwestern roots. She and her husband are empty-nesters living in Minnesota, and their daughter is a graduate student in Chicago.

WEBSITE
www.alisonhenderson.com

PUBLISHER
www.thewildrosepress.com

KILLER INSTINCT - Michael Allan Mallory

KILLER INSTINCT

by Michael Allan Mallory
and Marilyn Victor

As arguments rage across the country over the federal protection status of the gray wolf, an unknown hunter in northern Minnesota declares open season on the disputed animal. After zoologist Lavender “Snake” Jones and her old friend Gina Brown, a wolf biologist, discover four wolf carcasses in the woods near the town of Wolf Lake, Snake is taken aback as an enraged Gina swears vengeance against the shooter. Events take a dark turn when a cantankerous local man with outspoken anti-wolf sentiments is murdered and Snake fears Gina has acted upon her threat. Snake comes to grips with the killer in the dark interior of Superior National Forest, where she finds herself in a desperate struggle for her life.

“[Victor and Mallory] skillfully capture the subtle nuances of human and wolf behavior in their newest Snake Jones charmer. Killer Instinct is a page-turning delight, the perfect blend of mystery and wildlife. Highly recommended for both crime fiction and wilderness enthusiasts”

-- Anne Frasier, USA Today bestselling author


“Killer Instinct is both a great entertainment and a compelling mystery, with a strong sense of place (fans of Kent Krueger take note) and really cool, interesting characters.”

-- Crimespree Magazine


BIOGRAPHY
Michael Allan Mallory introduced mystery’s first zoologist sleuth in Death Roll (with co-author Marilyn Victor), which revealed what goes on behind the exhibits of a major metropolitan zoo. Zookeeper Snake Jones returns in Killer Instinct, research for which Michael volunteered at the International Wolf Center in Ely, Minnesota.

His short stories have appeared in several mystery anthologies, including the recently released Why Did Santa Leave A Body? and the forthcoming Deadly Treats (September 2011). He has degrees in English Literature and Electronics, and has worked in the Information Technology field for longer than he cares to remember.

Michael has studied and taught Wing Chun kung fu and is an avid lover of wildlife and nature. He is a member of Mystery Writers of America, the American Association of Zoo Keepers, and is the immediate past president of the Twin Cities chapter of Sisters in Crime, a national organization of authors and readers of crime fiction. Michael lives in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, with his delightful wife and an elderly but bodacious pure bred Maine Coon cat.

WEBSITE
www.snakejones.com

BLOG
http://zoofari.blogspot.com

SIGNINGS
Launch Party

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

7:00 - 8:30 PM

Once Upon A Crime Mystery Bookstore

604 W. 26th St., Minneapolis, MN 55405
www.onceuponacrimebooks.com

BACKLIST
Death Roll , 2007
Death Roll is available as an e-book on Kindle and Smashwords

PUBLISHER
Five Star Publishing, a division of Gale/Cengage
http://mlr.com/fivestar/

CITISCAPE Vol 1 - Anthology

The Twin Cities - Cifiscape Vol. I

The Twin Cities is an anthology of science fiction with a geographic bent. The focus of this anthology is the Twin Cities. A lot of the time science fiction is just written, but we wanted to branch out and include two graphic artists as well. So what we have is seven storytellers telling their particular perspective on how the future of the Twin Cities will look. These stories tend to talk about a dystopian future. Each of the futures has their own mixture of joy and pain. Each has characters that are memorable and well crafted. All of these storytellers are people who live in the Twin Cities and rely heavily on the Twin Cities for inspiration.

CONTRIBUTORS
Ken Avidor
Brian Garrity www.briangarrity.com
Toianna Gum
Max Hrabal
Bob Lipski http://boblipski.wordpress.com
Ken Lubold
Aaron M. Wilson www.soullessmachine.com

PUBLISHER
http://onyxneon.com/books/twincities/index.html

BLOG
www.twitter.com/cifiscape

PURCHASE
Amazon.com

Entangled - Barbara Ellen Brink

Entangled

by Barbara Ellen Brink

One lost summer is time best left forgotten.

When Minneapolis divorce attorney, Billie Fredrickson, inherits her uncle's small California winery, she has no intention of actually moving to the west coast and starting a new life. Her only thought is to get it off her hands as quickly as possible. But her return to the winery after an absence of twenty years opens up more than the reading of her uncle's will. Childhood memories, long-buried, begin to surface, prompting more questions than anyone is able or willing to answer.

A late night prowler, a break-in at the winery, and an unearthed box of shocking photographs is someone's way of pulling the welcome mat out from under Billie's feet, but it only makes her dig her heels in deeper.

More secrets lie buried beneath Fredrickson Winery's innocent facade and Billie intends to get to the root. But disturbing the past lays bare the skeletons of others, including her mother's. Can she live with the consequences of full disclosure or will she run home where everyone is Minnesota Nice?

BIOGRAPHY
Barbara Ellen Brink is a freelance writer and novelist, supported financially by a loving husband who just happens to have a better paying job. Her novel, Time in a Bottle, was selected as a finalist in the Pacific Northwest Writer's contest in 2006 and her novel, Sense of Danger, was a finalist in the 2007 contest. Barbara’s short stories and articles have been published in THEMA Literary Magazine, The Springhill Review, Evangel, Liguorian, and others. Entangled is her first published novel.

She grew up on a small farm in Washington State, but now lives in the mean “burbs” of Minnesota with her husband and their dogs, Rugby & Willow. With her kids now pushed out of the nest and encouraged to fly, Barbara spends much time writing, motorcycling with her husband in the summer, and hiking through the snow with the dogs in the winter.

The second book in the Fredrickson Winery Saga will be out in March.

WEBSITE
www.barbaraellenbrink.com

BLOG
www.barbarasthinline.blogspot.com

PUBLISHER
https://www.createspace.com/3483348

Entangled is also available digitally in ebook formats through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Sony, Diesel, Kobo, Apple, and Smashwords.

If you're buying it from B&N, I know there are useful Barnes and Noble coupons to be found here.

The Vyne - Daniel Walls

The Vyne-Mystery of the Hidden Ember

by Daniel Walls

Asher Meadows has a secret—one he's so terrified of, he calls it his curse. For as long as he can remember he has possessed unexplainable abilities. And for sixteen years his widowed father has forced him to keep these strange supernatural traits hidden. But when an elusive girl named Scar enters his village, Asher's life is forever transformed. Bound by mutual despair, the teens plot to run away. However, when a mystical medallion finds its way into Asher's hands, they soon learn that running is not an option, it's imperative. In the wake of discovering the medallion, Asher is thrust into the pursuit of a legendary treasure, believed to possess an incredible power—the power to save the world from the prophesied apocalypse. Yet, for reasons Asher can't understand, the key to unlocking this power lies within the secret of his curse.


While hunted by fearsome dark forces bent on stealing the sacred medallion, Asher begins to realize that Scar has secrets of her own; she is not the girl he thought she was. Time is running out as he struggles to find the strength to let go of his feelings for her and summon the courage to embrace his destiny. A chilling, heart-wrenching tale of colliding worlds and forbidden love, The Vyne reinvents steampunk-fantasy for a whole new generation.

BIOGRAPHY
An Art and Design graduate from Saint Paul College (1996), Daniel holds two Creative Writing degrees from Long Ridge Writers Group (1997 & 2008). In 2006 LRWG named him one of their most promising writers, asking him to pilot a new course in Novel Writing. Upon Daniel's completion of this course, his professor (novelist, Tom Hyman) writes: ''Dan shows considerable talent as a writer and has already developed a distinct and strong prose style, consistently demonstrating a mastery of structure, character creation, narrative and dialogue. He shows the ability to create at a level that has both an intellectual and an emotional impact on the reader. Dan shows great imagination in his work.''

As a boy growing up on the Canadian border of northern Minnesota, he spent most of his free time writing and illustrating fantasy stories, sharing them with his devoted audience, an English Springer Spaniel. The Vyne is his first full-length novel, and he promises it will not be his last. Daniel lives with his wife, two children, three-legged dog, and sometimes-present cat in Minneapolis. Currently he is penning the second thrilling installment of The Vyne saga.

WEBSITE
www.vynesaga.com


PUBLISHER
Two Harbors Press
www.twoharborspress.com