Category: Fantasy

Down Under Author: Beany Sparks

STRW down Under Banner sm Hearts

 Rainbow Ninja

Meet Beany Sparks!

Beany Sparks is the author of recent releases in her Paws and Magic series, Aiden’s Shepherd and Ryan’s Wizard.

To get to know Beany a little better, the author agreed to an interview. Look for the interview below and the Down Under Scavenger Hunt word found somewhere within.

✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍✍Author Bio 1

Beany Sparks lives in Western Australia. She first started reading romance novels in 2008, but it wasn’t until January 2010 when her Kindle got delivered (which she had brought herself on Christmas Day 2009) that the world of erotic romance opened its doors to her, and she hasn’t looked back.

Since English was never her strong subject at school she never expected to write a story, let alone try to get it published. With suggestions and support from friends, her muse—“affectionately” known as PITA—was finally able to break free, and in January 2014 her first story was written. Since she can’t put PITA back in his box—she’s tried!—Beany has decided to give in and team up with him.

Together they’ve made plans to write both MF and MM stories. Why? Because love isn’t gender specific, love is love.

Author Contacts

Website: http://www.beanysparks.com
Blog: http://www.beanysparks.com/blog
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/beany.sparks
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BeanySparks
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8416226.Beany_Sparks

********************Author Books Stories Down Under1 copy

 

Christmas Snow and a merman? coverryanswizard-finalAiden's Shepherd - Final

Return of the Cats

 

 

 

 

Available at eXastyBooks:
Aiden’s Shepherd (Paws and Magic #1):  Aiden's Shepherd - Final Blurb and Book Details: 

A man who never knew magic and shifters existed gets a crash course when he saves an injured dog.
Aiden Grey is packed and ready to move and start a new phase of his life away from the family that kicked him out when he was eighteen. The night before he leaves he sees something fall out of the back of a van. Upon closer inspection, he is shocked to find that it’s not the bag he suspected, it’s a dog!

He decides to take the dog with him, and the two set off the next morning to Aiden’s new home. Everything is going well for Aiden and the German Shepherd he named Lex. That is, until said German Shepherd shifts into a man who claims Aiden is his mate.

Lex can’t believe he’s finally found his mate. But as happy as he is to have him, he still worries about his brother and pack, and where they have ended up.

With the revelation that shifters exist, secrets about Aiden’s past come to light. Secrets he didn’t even know existed. Suddenly, Aiden has to deal with not only the reality of shifters, but also ghosts and magic. But with Lex by his side he can handle anything—even his surprise guest. (less)
ebook, 111 pages
Published October 1st 2014 by eXtasy Books
ISBN139781487400705
edition languageEnglish
http://www.extasybooks.com/Aiden-‘-s-Shepherd/
seriesPaws and Magic #1

Ryan’s Wizard(Paws and Magic #2):   Blurb and Book Details:ryanswizard-final

After years of no contact, Oliver “Olly” Grey was finally able to reunite with his cousin Aiden. He’s surprised to find that Aiden now has a mate—a male, shifter mate—named Lex. And it’s Lex’s pack mates that Olly is there to help save. What he hadn’t expected was Lex’s brother Ryan.

Ryan Shepherd was happy to have found his brother Lex, and even happier to know that his brother was happily mated. But there is something about Aiden’s cousin Olly that Ryan doesn’t trust, especially when he also smells like the man currently holding his pack members captive. Yet that doesn’t stop Ryan from wanting to hold and comfort the man, and eventually he realizes why—Olly is his mate.

Now the four of them need to plan a rescue mission, but what happens when they run into the two men that had held Lex captive and those same men come to the cabin in the middle of the night?

ebook, 119 pages
Published November 1st 2014 by extasy Books
ISBN139781487401061
edition languageEnglish
urlhttp://www.extasybooks.com/Ryan-‘-s-Wizard/
seriesPaws and Magic #2

Christmas, snow and…a merman? Coming in December 2014 from eXasy Books.Christmas Snow and a merman? cover

Return of the Cats (het romance)

Genre(s):
Erotic Romance
Gay Romance
Paranormal
Shifters

 

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Contests and Giveaways:

1. Today’s Giveaway (thank you, Beany Sparks) is an eBook copy the reader’s choice of Aiden’s Shepherd or Ryan’s Wizard. Enter using this Rafflecopter link here. Must be 18 years of age or older to enter.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

2. Down Under Scavenger Hunt – find the Hunt “word or phrase” in bold green . Collect all the words from each author and submit the list in writing no later than midnight on February 1st. Make sure you include an email address where you can be reached. Prizes will be given to 5 people selected, from 1st place to 5th! Happy Hunting.

Author Qand A

• When did you start writing?

I only started in January 2014.

• Were you a reader as a child?

Definitely! Every parent-teacher conference my mum went to, she would complain to my English teacher that I read too much. They kept telling her that it wasn’t a bad thing.

• What books as a child has the most impact on you?

I love Harry Potter and the Night World series (by L.J. Smith)

• Did that impression carry over into adulthood when you started writing?

I think so because they were about magic and shifters and that’s what I love to read and write.

• Where do you draw inspiration from?

I let my mind wander a lot, occasionally a good idea pops up.

• Favorite genres to write in and why?

Paranormal because it allows me to do whatever I want.

• Title or characters or plot?  Which comes first?

Characters. I’m lucky if I get the plot at all! Usually I don’t know what’s going to happen until I’m writing it.

• Favorite book/story you have read as an adult

Too many to choose from!

• What’s the hardest part of writing your books?

My muse PITA who changes the story on me or just shuts up for ages so that I get no writing done.

• If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in your first book?

No. It was a good learning curve.

• If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor or has the biggest influence on you?

I would say Bailey (Bradford) or Talia (Carmichael). They encouraged me from day one and without them, I wouldn’t have gotten the courage to give writing a go. At least not any time soon.

• My first impression of AUS/NZ was from stories and novels like Colleen McCullough’s The Thorn Birds or Nevil Shute’s A Town Like Alice as well as from movies like The Man from Snowy River, The Dish, Rabbit Proof Fence, Strictly Ballroom, and yes, Crocodile Dundee!

There are so many out there.

• What are your current projects?

I’m writing Book 2 in the Merman Tales series and Book 3 in the Paws and Magic series.

• What’s next up for you?

Merman Tales Book 2 is coming out 1st February.

Down Under Day 13: Welcome, Beany Sparks, NZ/AUS Facts of the Day and Contest Details!

 DownUnder_badge

Its Down Under Day 13 and our featured writer today is Australian Author Beany Sparks!   Beany Sparks Author page follows this one.  Check out all  of Beany’s books, her interview and thoughts on writing!  Don’t miss out on her giveaway contest and search out her Scavenger Hunt word somewhere on her page.

Because Beany Sparks is from Western Australia, I thought it would be fun to have our Australia Fun Facts focus on Western Australia and Perth!

Australia Fact of the Day:

Perth is the most isolated capitol city in the world. The closest city, Adelaide, is 1,387 miles away.

The largest rock in the world is Western Australia’s Mount Augustus. Measuring 5 miles long and 2 miles wide.

Early astronaughts dubbed Perth as ‘The City of Lights’ since it’s bright lights stood out on our planet earth.

The largest city park in the world is King’s Park (1,003 acres) in Perth.thKings Park 1

The oldest living things on earth, our friendly organisms, stromatolites, also call Western Australia home.

 

 

New Zealand Fact of the Day:

World’s Largest and Heaviest Insect Calls New Zealand Home!

The Giant Weta is a large grasshopper type insect found only in New Zealand.  There are eleven species of Giant weta, all of which are examples of island gigantism.   Check out the many YouTube videos on the man who recently found the largest Weta to day.  New Zealand Weta

An Aurora YA Review: Tales From High Hallack Volume Three by Andre Norton

Rating:  4 stars out of 5

Tales From High Hallack 3In the third and final volume of High Hallack, tales of high fantasy, science fiction, and coming of age reach back as far as 1943, yet are still as fresh and relevant today as when they were written. High Hallack was a place in Andre Norton’s fiction and was also the name of the genre writer’s library she opened in Tennessee. It is a wondrous keep that she called home, and now High Hallack opens its gates and allows these amazing stories to unfold.

 

This book is a compilation of short stories, all taking place within the same world, but not necessarily interconnected. It focuses largely on high fantasy elements.

I really had a great time reading this book, and it’s definitely one that I would have picked up even if I had just seen it on a shelf somewhere. Some of the stories had be so on edge that I read through them again simply to get the thrill of it. I think that the author really captures making very real characters in very ridiculous circumstances, which is always something that I love to see in my fantasies. Short stories can often fall short in making you really care about the characters in such a short amount of time, but that is really not a problem with this book. I found myself, with many of the stories, even wishing that they could have gone on longer!

The book only lost a star because, while I absolutely loved a lot of the stories in the book, some of them weren’t quite suited to my fancy, which is a matter entirely of personal opinion and every story was very well written, my interest levels just varied throughout the book.

Cover Artist: L.C. Chase. The cover art is simple, but pretty and well suited to the book. I think the dark color scheme definitely makes it appealing, while the bright color of the fire draws the readers eyes to the bottom of the page where the artist wants them to look.

A MelanieM Note:  I first discovered Andre Norton when I was about Aurora’s age and have loved her writings ever since.  I was curious when I saw this new collection of her stories just published.  Would this generation of YA readers find her as relevant and exciting as I found her all those years (decades if I am honest) ago?  Happily, it turns out the answer is yes,  Andre Norton and her stories are timeless.  Pick them up and discover that for yourself!

Sales Links:      Open Road Media    amazon             Buy It  Here

Book Details:

ebook, 300 pages, also in paperback
Published October 14th 2014 by Open Road Media Sci-Fi & Fantasy (first published January 1st 2014)
ISBN 1497660378 (ISBN13: 9781497660373)
seriesTales from High Hallack #3

Tales from High Hallack Collections by Andre Norton:

Tales From High Hallack, Volume 1: The Collected Short Stories of Andre Norton, Volume 1
Tales from High Hallack, Volume 2: the collected short stories of Andre Norton
Tales from High Hallack, Volume Three: The Collected Short Stories of Andre Norton

A MelanieM Review: Mythica by L.J. LaBarthe

Rating:  4.25 stars out of 5

MythicalgishHalf selkie Caiden is unhappy that as a Mythica he is unable to serve his country as his father had done.  In fact all Mythicas are banned from service because they might not be able to handle the stress, changing forms in combat.  While Caiden agrees intellectually with that assessment, emotionally he’s frustrated and taking his discontent out on those around him.  Its even affected his viewpoint of the  sy’lph, an alien race that arrived on Earth seeking sanctuary and a home after their galaxy was destroyed in a war.

But when a minotaur goes wild at the government offices of the Bridging Lives agency (a sort of  Social Security other being checkpoint and social agency), Caiden jumps in to stop the minotaur and his world changes forever.   First he is rescued by Gray, a sy’lph who is the local liason between humans, mythica and the sy’lph.  Gray is gorgeous and Caiden is overwhelmingly attracted to a being he has resolutely disliked.  Secondly, the minotaur had been poisoned.

Soon all the mythicas are under attack.  And Gray and Caiden take their first steps towards understanding and a relationship just when everything starts to fall apart around them, putting themselves and Caiden’s family in danger.

Mythica by L.J. LaBarthe is a book that defies categorization, something that surely thrills its author.  How to describe a beautifully written story that encapsulates human mythological creatures come to life, along with an alien race fleeing galactic genocide and bringing inhuman technology with them.  Then throw in a interspecies romance, racial purity rights terrorists, and much, much more and you have Mythica – scify, supernatural, paranormal, action, suspense, mystery romance!  I would expect nothing less from L. J. LaBarthe.

From the opening lines, the author pulls you into the joy of Caiden’s life as a half selkie!  He is frolicking in the ocean waters near home which is Broome in Western Australia:

Dolphins swam up to join him, and he grabbed the dorsal fin of the nearest one, laughing when he surfaced and breathed in air again. The dolphin dragged him along through the water at a rapid rate, making him whoop with delight, a sound echoed by the raucous cries of the seagulls hovering overhead. Schools of fish swam below him, sometimes their silvery bodies brushed against his toes, and Caiden loved that too, the feeling of being so free, so connected to all the elements—water, air, light, earth. The dolphin that pulled him along through the water brought him close to shore, and Caiden felt the soggy roughness of sand beneath his feet. He let go of the dorsal fin, calling a thank you and goodbye to the dolphins as they swam on.

LaBarthe conveys the lightness of being and the spontaneity of Caiden’s selkie behavior in the waters.  And just as quickly, the author is able to ground Caiden in his human half, complete with his discontent and unhappiness at leaving the watery haven behind as he reluctantly arrives at the Bridging Lives agency.   LaBarthe has created with her “mythicas” a fascinating new group of beings (albeit from an ancient beginnings).  The mythicas are

“Mythica were the descendants of all mythological creatures of antiquity—the pixies, fairies, selkies, minotaurs, dragons, and more—who lived and worked alongside humans.”

Caiden himself is half mythica, his father human and his mother a selkie, a human/mythica pairing not uncommon in this story. The author is quick to give Caiden a  painful past made bearable by a supportive, loving family, only some of which are mythicas.  Broome is pictured as normally as is possible when mythicas and aliens such as the sy’lph casually walk about its facilities and streets.  There is an authenticity to each scene that is wonderful considering who and what is appearing throughout each description and event.

Also marvelously imagined are the sy’lph.  Alien beings of mallable metal (think mercury) whose real shape and body is confined within a synthetic humanoid shell.  Just seeing their true shape/body is enough to blind any human.  Their back story and natural history is as complex and captivating as everything else that LaBarthe has created here.  But while all the outside elements are fantasical in nature, inside there exists a lovely romance between two beings/people trying to learn about each other and work their way towards something more lasting and real.

Interspersed throughout the myriad of plot threads is the threat to Caiden, his family and all mythicas.  It isn’t long before the villain of the pieces appears  and the uncertainty and dread that comes with this nasty little storyline

is yet one more element that will keep the reader engaged and deeply involved in Mythica until the ending.  Which I was sorry to see arrive.

Mythica has such a wide appeal and such a ingenious universe, that I hope to see LaBarthe revisit it again in another story.  Both the mythicas and the sy’lph deserve to have their stories told.  But while we are waiting for that to happen, pick up Mythica and see why I recommend it so highly.  Never has such a concoction of genres been so appealing.

Cover by Mumson Designs is lovely, and captures the joy of Caiden perfectly.

Sales Links:      Bottom Drawer Publications   All Romance (ARe)          Amazon          Buy it here

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 217 pages
Published September 18th 2014 by Bottom Drawer Publications
ASINB00NQA0FV0
edition languageEnglish