Karen McCullough

The winner of my prize on the Heartbreaker blog hop is Ashley A.  I’ve contacted her by email to deliver her prize.

This post is part of the Heartbreaker  blog hop. Scroll down to the end for information about prizes available and other participants.

The hero of my just-released novel, THE WIZARD’S SHIELD, seems like a heartbreaker to me. Michael Morgan is a powerful wizard with a troubled past that included being a foster child and then being kicked out of the only home he’s ever known after he’d settled there. In anger and despair he hooked up with a bad group of wizards, which led him to be part of a crime where a man was murdered.

It woke him up to how self-destructive his behavior was. He turned himself into the authorities of the magical world, and took his punishment. But someone took it too far and Michael was tortured for months in the process.

Once free again, he finished his education, getting a Ph.D. in physics, then retreated to a place on the North Carolina coast to work on his own. Among other things, he invents a shield to protect himself from magic used against him, to ensure no one will ever be able to torture him again.

But when word leaks out about his device, one of the two ruling bodies of the magical world sends Ilene McConnell, a former girlfriend to find out what it is and what it can do. Meanwhile, those bad wizards recognize the potential of the device and steal it.

Being together again is painful for both Michael and Ilene, especially when they quickly recognize that the old attraction is still there. But Ilene is working for Diamond Council, an organization Michael hates, and she believes his shield is too dangerous to exist. She urges him to destroy it if they can ever retrieve it.

Before the story ends Ilene will see all too plainly and painfully why Michael needs the shield and Michael will face a nightmare scenario that forces him to do things he swore he’d never do again.

I like to think that Michael is a definite heartbreaker hero. He broke mine while I was writing the story

(Those of you who’ve participated in previous hops may recognize that this book is one I asked for help with last fall. I wasn’t happy with the title or cover of the book that was once known as Magic, Murder and Microcircuits. I asked for advice on both and your comments helped me decide on the title and new cover!)

Now for the promo part…

About The Wizard’s Shield:

To solve a murder and retrieve a stolen magical shield, a pair of wizards journey into a dangerous, magical underworld, where the weapons of choice might be guns… or lightning bolts.

A powerful wizard with a physics degree and a checkered past invents a shield to ensure he’ll never again be tortured almost to death.

The wizarding powers-that-be fear the repercussions of such a device and send his former girlfriend, an accomplished wizard herself, to retrieve the device or destroy it.

When the shield is stolen by the magical mafia, Ilene McConnell and Michael Morgan have to set aside their differences and work together to recover it. Michael claims he needs the device as insurance against the kind of injury and injustice he suffered once before. Ilene maintains its potential to upset the delicate balance of power makes it too dangerous and that it needs to be destroyed. But none of that will matter if they can’t retrieve it before a ruthless, powerful wizard learns how to use it for his own ends.

• Trade Paperback: http://www.amazon.com/The-Wizards-Shield-Karen-McCullough/dp/148118296X
• Kindle:      http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060Y5IQ6
• Nook: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-wizard-x2019-s-shield-karen-mccullough/1045768171?ean=2940015953275
• Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/281723

Finally – about the prizes: To enter all of the contests, comment here and be sure to include your email address!

My Prize: One commenter here will win their choice of ebook from any of the following: A Question of Fire, Programmed for Danger, The Night Prowlers,  A Vampire’s Christmas Carol or a paperback copy of A Gift for Murder.

Blog Hop Grand Prizes!

We have THREE grand prizes. You as a reader can go to EACH blog and comment with your email address and be entered to win. Yep, you can enter over 200 times!

1st Grand Prize: A Kindle Fire or Nook Tablet

2nd Grand Prize: A $100 Amazon or B&N Gift Card

3rd Grand Prize: A Swag Pack that contains paperbacks, ebooks, 50+ bookmarks, cover flats, magnets, pens, coffee cozies, and more!

http://carrieannbloghops.blogspot.com/

I’ve got a new cover and new title for one my epublished books.  The book formerly known as Magic, Murder and Microcircuits is becoming The Wizard’s Shield.  This is the proposed new cover.  Let me know what you think!

This post is part of the Holiday Gifts of Love blog hop. Scroll down to the end of information about prizes available and other participants.

Regular readers of my blog know that my mother passed away recently. One of the hardest things we had to do after her death was to clean out her apartment.

She’d already started her Christmas preparations, including some shopping. We found several things she’d bought that were obviously gifts and had to try to decide who she’d intended to give them to. Some were obvious, some less so, but we did manage to get those distributed as best we could.

What almost broke our hearts, though, was finding the box of embroidered felt Christmas ornaments she’d made. We knew exactly what they were. Every Christmas, each major gift she gave would have one of those little ornaments attached to the bow or ribbon. My tree has a collection of them saved from over the years.  We divided them up so each family member would get one, the last ornament each of us would have from her.

They were small things, but each one was crafted by her and given with love. Those ornaments are treasures that will remind me of her each year when I bring them out and hang them on the tree.

What is your most treasured Christmas decoration and why?

Now for the promo part…

Can Christmas Eve get any more fun? On her way to her family’s home, Carol Prescott’s car slides into a ditch in a deserted area with no cell phone signal. The only available shelter is already occupied…by a vampire. To Michael Carpenter, Carol is the bait of a trap.

In an effort to hold onto his soul, Michael has resisted the urge to drink human blood for almost a century. Now he hovers between human and vampire. If he doesn’t drink from a human before the night ends, he’ll die. He’s desperately thirsty, but Michael has seen the soulless monsters vampires are and he prefers death. Carol is pure temptation to him, the Christmas present from hell…or is it from heaven?

Just $.99 for this Christmas vampire novella!  Buy:  Amazon Kindle Nook Smashwords

Finally – about the prizes:

One commenter here will win their choice of ebook from all of my books available in ebook form.

There ae also a number of prizes available as part of the hop:

More info on the blog hop available at: http://carrieannbloghops.blogspot.com/

Today is National Cookie Day. Who knew? The person who organized this terrific blog hop, that’s who.

So you get a double treat, one of my favorite Christmas cookie recipes and a different sort of promo blurb for my Christmas vampire story, A VAMPIRE’S CHRISTMAS CAROL.

First the cookie recipe:

Cinnamon Cookies

3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 cup soft butter
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg

Directions:
1. Sift flour with salt and cinnamon.
2. In large bowl, beat butter, sugars and egg until light and fluffy
3. Gradually add flour mixture, stirring until smooth and well combined
4. Form dough into a ball. Wrap in waxed paper. Refrigerate one hour (no more).
5. Divide dough into 4 parts. Refrigerate until ready to roll out
6. Preheat oven to 375F. Make topping.
7. On lightly floured surface, roll dough, one part at a time, into a 9×7-inch rectangle. With floured knife or pastry wheel, cut into 16 rectangles.
8. Using greased spatula, place 1 ½ inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Brush top of cookies with egg mixture; then sprinkle with sugar mixture.
9. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until set and golden brown. Remove to wire rack. Cool.

Topping:
2 tablespoons milk
1 egg
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon

1. In small bowl, combine milk and egg.
2. In another small bowl combine sugar and cinnamon

Scroll down below to the links to other participating authors for more scrumptious recipes.

And now for the Story Promo – I wrote this for Tina Donahue’s blog, but I like it so much I’m reposting it here:

A Meeting with the Vampire on Christmas Eve

Twas the night before Christmas and all through hall
The vampire was ready for his last night of all.
A hundred years gone and the urge to drink blood
He’d struggled against and so far withstood.
When out on the porch there arose such a clatter
He trudged to the door to see what was the matter
When what to his wondering eyes should appear
But a young woman shivering with cold and fear.
Her face it was lovely and her blood warm and sweet
To him, she was temptation, from her head to her feet.
Ignoring the warning that his presence meant danger
She opted for shelter and passed time with the stranger.
Memories of Christmases long gone they traded
Gifts and feasts and treasures now faded,
The terrible night, a century ago,
When a vampire stole his life and his hope.
As he suffered the death throes of blood-hunger pollution,
She struggled to help him and find a solution.
When an enemy terrible showed up to gloat
He tries to make Carol a sacrificial goat.
She’s no willing victim and fights for her life
And to help Michael get through a night of strife.

Here’s the official blurb:

Can Christmas Eve get any more fun? On her way to her family’s home, Carol Prescott’s car slides into a ditch in a deserted area with no cell phone signal. The only available shelter is already occupied…by a vampire. To Michael Carpenter, Carol is the bait of a trap.

In an effort to hold onto his soul, Michael has resisted the urge to drink human blood for almost a century. Now he hovers between human and vampire. If he doesn’t drink from a human before the night ends, he’ll die. He’s desperately thirsty, but Michael has seen the soulless monsters vampires are and he prefers death. Carol is pure temptation to him, the Christmas present from hell…or is it from heaven?

Buy:
Amazon Kindle     Nook      Smashwords

For more cookie recipes, visit these sites of other participating authors:

Autumn Jordon
Heather Hiestand
Jane Wakely
Jessa Slade
Laurie London
Lily Rede
Mona Karel
Paty Jager
Shelley Munro
Tawny Weber
Vanessa Kelly