THE ARTFUL GODDAUGHTER - Pre-order now, receive it next week!

THE ARTFUL GODDAUGHTER goes on sale in bookstores a week from today! Now available for pre-order on Amazon and Indigo (and this author really appreciates pre-orders.) Official in-person launch will be in Oct. in Hamilton. News on that soon.

http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/the-artful-goddaughter/9781459808195-item.html?ikwid=the+artful+goddaughter&ikwsec=Home&ikwidx=0

Review: Rowena and the Viking Warlord by Melodie Campbell August 20, 2014 Miriam Smith

Review: Rowena and the Viking Warlord by Melodie Campbell

August 20, 2014 Miriam Smith

What an incredible story! Battles, strategy, weapons, and a dragon. Yes, a little dragon named Cinders! Cute and awesome! Incantations with hilarious results, demons bent on destruction, and a claiming. (Don’t know what that is? Read this story and find out!)

Two things really stuck with me as I read this story. The first was the depth of Lars’ feelings for Rowena. His love for her came through with amazing clarity, and not just when they were in bed. I could feel it in the way he looked at her, how he talked to her, how he acted toward her, how he considered her when she spoke. He was always attentive when it came to Rowena, in a time when women were seldom valued so highly.

The second is the detail. Ms. Campbell’s attention to minute detail is spot on. There was never a moment where I felt like I was a spectator watching this story happen, because I always felt like I was actually there. Sounds, smells, environments. Wonderful job, Ms. Campbell. You pulled me right in and kept me there until the end.

A SHORT BREAK AS WE TAKE A WORD FROM OUR SPONSOR...

...or something of the sort <grin>
Announcing a First!  On Kobo, last night:

Viking Warlord #1 in Romance, Science Fiction & Fantasy!

Cool to make the Romance charts, when you really don't write Romance :)

"OUTLANDER meets SEX AND THE CITY"  (Vine review)

MEN AND GRASS: The Final Frontier - more humour from BAD GIRL

(Reprinted with Permission)

By Melodie Campbell

What is it, about men and their grass?  And I’m not talking about funny weed here.  I’m talking about the green stuff that becomes the object of mower wars every year once Jack Frost leaves for Florida.

Take one A-type guy.  Present him with a front lawn, much like the other front lawns owned by guys all down the street.  And watch him turn into a teeth-gritting supercharged competitive mess.

“Dear,” I say.  “Mable and I don’t lie in wait with the express purpose of determining whose house is cleaner at this very moment.  Neither do we examine bed sheets to see whose laundry is whitest.”

“Your point?” says the weed demon, currently glowering at a patch of clover-like substance.

“Why waste time doing the one-upmanship thing when we could be shopping?” I reply.

He grunts.

But I’m not finished.  “Why do guys care so much about whose lawn is the greenest?  It’s grass.  It grows.”

“Len was using Roundup last Friday,” he muttered.  “I know it.  And Charlie is using his sprinkler system at night on red days.”

“Red days?”  I question.

“When there’s a ban on watering!  I know he’s doing it.  I’m going to catch him in the act.”  He grins like a maniac and prepares to spend all night sleeping on the front porch.

And so I propose it. 

Admit it.  You knew it was coming.

The newest reality TV show – LAWN WARS!

8 am. Saturday.  A street in a town/city/burg somewhere in the northern hemisphere.  Joe creeps out of his house with coffee.  Surreptitiously wanders over to his neighbour’s yard.  Looks suspiciously down at the ground to see if Ralph’s grass is greener than his.  Meanwhile, Ed, two doors down, is doing the same reconnaissance work as Joe, but this time on Joe’s lot. 

War is declared.

Five minutes later, the lawn mowers come out on all adjacent properties.  Blades are set to golf course smooth.  Micrometers are used to measure each grass length. Weed and feed is executed with diabolical fanaticism. 

It’s Whippersnippers at thirty paces.

Meanwhile Mable and I are discussing laundry.

“Laundry sucks,” says Mable.  “All Len’s clothes are dirty. I think I’ll just throw them out.”

“Go for it.”  I say.  And then we go shopping.

Melodie Campbell writes funny books, like The Goddaughter’s Revenge, winner of the 2014 Derringer and Arthur Ellis Awards.  You can buy them at Chapters and at online retailers everywhere.

5 Stars for ROWENA AND THE DARK LORD - Many thanks to reviewers everywhere!

Reviewers:  if you ever wonder about not being appreciated, hear me now: there are times when the Black Dog hits authors.  Reviews like this keep us writing.  Yes, *reviewers* keep us writing, not sales cheques or publishers.  God bless you.

 

Customer Review

Oh Row .. what else could happen to you!!!!, August 13, 2014

By 

jen

This review is from: Rowena and the Dark Lord (Land's End Book 2) (Kindle Edition)

Book 2 of the Rowena Series, was just as good as the 1st. I was so drawn into the the book I was about to read it in one day! it was amazing.

This book starts off a few weeks after Row, Thane, Kendra and Richard all go back through the portal. Thane is depressed at the way he left his men on the battlefield and Row is so sad that she made him choose between her and his honor.

Row is kidnapped again by Gareth and brought back to Land's End once again, but this time she is completely alone. But it works out for her, she discovers some new friends and even a family member she didn't know still existed in Land's End.

So much happens in this book it's hard not to give anything away so I'm going to say if you liked the 1st one you will love the 2nd one. The story flows with such ease it's like Lands End is right in front of you. You can feel the sun on your skin and the green grass under your feet. Just amazing writing from an amazing author, thank you!

“THE PRINCESS BRIDE with SEX” or WHY I WRITE WACKY TIME TRAVEL (in addition to respectable crime)

By Melodie Campbell

I am best known as a writer of comic crime capers, and in particular The Goddaughter series (Orca Books). 

However, I also have a second life as an author of racy fantasy…the sort of thing that has been called “The Princess Bride with Sex.”

Why?  Why would a moderately respectable crime author swap genres and write a wacky time travel series, set in Arizona and Alternate-world Great Britain?

1.  I like Arizona.  Especially in winter.  You can fly nonstop there from Toronto.
Whoops – delete, delete.  Of course, the real reason for using Arizona is I believe in accuracy of setting and doing research, which I take great pains to do once each year in February. 

2.  I like Great Britain.  And I like to be accurate.  But you can’t travel to medieval Great Britain right now, at least not on WestJet. (WHY doesn’t someone invent a cheap time travel airline?)  So I can’t be accurate, which bugs me a lot.  But I can be silly, which is almost as good.  Hence, Alt-world.

3.  My cousin Tony’s family, the Clegg-Hills, used to own a Norman castle in Shropshire.  Unfortunately it burned down in 1556.  Damned careless of them.  I had to make up what it would look like from family stories, which are probably dubious at best, and vaguely criminal, on reflection.  Also, I hate being sued. Hence, Alt-world.

4.  Fessing up, here.  I actually didn’t plan to write funny time travel.  I meant to write a serious whodunit that would get the respect of the Can-Lit crowd, and the more erudite members of Crime Writers of Canada.  This ‘veering from plan’ is becoming a nuisance.  Next book, for sure, will be a serious whodunit.  Okay, maybe a whodunit.  Okay, maybe a book.

5.  Okay, I lied.  The serious whodunit turned into a wacky mob comedy series that has won a Derringer and an Arthur.  Still no respect from the Can-Lit crowd.  So I might as well go back to writing wacky time travel.

Why?  ‘Cause it’s a hell of a lot of fun.

ROWENA and her VIKING WARLORD GO ON TOUR! Catch the fun at these sites across North America

FIRST: 
Catch me in person at WHEN WORDS COLLIDE! Calgary, Aug.8-10

Friday 6 PM Writing Hot [panel] 
Friday 9 PM Laughing at Love [panel]  (podcast)
Saturday 2 PM Why Paranormal/Urban Fantasy Is So Popular [panel] 
Saturday 4 PM Get It Written! The Craft of Plotting your Novel [presentation
Saturday 8 PM Autographs  
Sunday 12 PM Murder Most Fair [panel]  (podcast)
Sunday 4 PM Death Throes [panel]  (podcast)

Also join CWC RVP Susan Calder and I at the CWC Crime party on Saturday night!  All welcome.

THEN: Join me as I touch down on these blogsites across the US:

Monday, August 4

First Chapter Reveal at The Literary Nook

Tuesday, August 5

Book Review at Emeraldfire’s Bookmark

Wednesday, August 6

Book Featured at Laurie’s Thoughts and Reviews

Thursday, August 7

Book Review at My Book Addiction and More

Monday, August 11

Guest Blogging at ARe Cafe

Tuesday, August 12

Book Featured at Bound 2 Escape

Wednesday, August 13

 Interview at Examiner

Thursday, August 14

Interview at As the Page Turns

Monday, August 18

First Chapter Reveal at Read My First Chapter

Tuesday, August 19

Interview at Deal Sharing Aunt

Wednesday, August 20

Book Review at Written Love

Thursday, August 21

Interview at The Writer’s Life

Monday, August 25

Interview at Beyond the Books

Tuesday, August 26

Guest Blogging at Lori’s Reading Corner

Wednesday, August 27

Interview at I’m Shelf-ish

Thursday, August 28

Interview at Review From Here

Friday, August 29

Book Review at My Life, Loves and Passions