Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Blog Tour - Off The Beaten Track by Lucy Felthouse


Release Notes is thrilled to feature Off The Beaten Track by Lucy Felthouse.  Enjoy the excerpt and make sure to purchase this hot new release!! 



Off the Beaten Track by Lucy Felthouse

When workaholic Libby Strong’s friends and family make her take a long overdue holiday, she’s not impressed. A week of lounging by a swimming pool and doing nothing is not her idea of fun. In an act of rebellion, she books a day trip, touring in a jeep. When her guide arrives, Libby’s astonished to discover she’s the only patron going on the trip. But as hunky Demetrio takes her off the beaten track and deep into the beautiful Portuguese countryside, she soon leaves her worries behind and hangs on tight for the ride of her life.

Available from:

Excerpt: 

Libby huffed and puffed as she made her way up the steep slope leading to the rear exit of the hotel complex. She swore the builders had had secret CCTV cameras installed so they could watch people suffer their poor planning for years to come. At least it was early. Had it been lunchtime, she’d surely have passed out with the heat.
Ah well, Libby thought as she finally reached the road, it’ll be worth it. This trip is going to be amazing.
As she stood on the mercifully flat pavement and got her breath back, a thought niggled at her. Nobody else was here. Panicking, Libby wrenched open her bag and pulled out her paperwork. She examined it, then a glance at her watch confirmed she had both the right date and time. So where was everyone? Yes, she was ten minutes early but surely the others should be here by now? Looking down the slope she’d just ascended, Libby frowned as she saw it was deserted. Everywhere was deserted.
Fuck, she thought, perhaps they were all here earlier and they’ve gone without me!
The rumble of an engine distracted Libby from her worries. Turning, she saw a jeep trundling down the road towards her. She watched hopefully as the driver pulled the vehicle up beside where she stood and reached into the passenger seat.
Picking up a clipboard, the man glanced down, then at her, and said, “You are Libby Strong?”
She nodded.
The man grinned widely, revealing dimples in both cheeks, and hopped out of the jeep. Walking around the vehicle to where she stood, he held out a hand.
“I am Demetrio. Your guide for the day.”
Libby took his hand and shook it. It was warm and strong. Much like the rest of him, she suspected, as she gave him a subtle once over. He was tall, with black curly hair to his shoulders, luscious brown eyes and olive skin. A white t-shirt bearing the holiday company’s logo covered his top half—though without obscuring his impressive biceps—and he wore longish tan colored shorts on the bottom. A pair of non-descript white-ish trainers and faded red cap completed his outfit.
“I’m Libby,” she said, even though he already knew her name. She was just being polite. “Pleased to meet you.”
They broke off the handshake and Demetrio smiled again, then moved to the passenger side of the jeep and pulled open the door.
“Please,” he said, gesturing she should get in.
Libby did as she was told, but couldn’t help asking the burning question.
“Where is everyone else?”
Demetrio waited until she was safely in the passenger seat, closed the door and made his way to the driver’s side. He got in, then turned to her.
“There is nobody else. You are only person on this trip. You get best views!”
He laughed then, the flash of white teeth against olive skin resulting in an unexpected jolt in Libby’s nether regions. She studied his profile for a few seconds, then grudgingly admitted to herself that Demetrio was, in fact, very attractive. Despite the fact she was a red-blooded woman, she rarely noticed such things.
Like most people, she’d come on this holiday to recharge her batteries. Unlike most people, she’d been practically forced into it. Libby was somewhat of a workaholic, which left her little time for anything else. It was this fact which had cost her last relationship. The long working hours, frequent rain checks on their dates and her lack of interest in any kind of affection, let alone sex, had finally caused James to walk away.
Libby had barely noticed. She’d just carried on working, and working…until her friends and family had finally intervened. They’d booked the holiday to Portugal, arranged with her boss for her to have the time off, and basically given her little choice but to go.
*****


Lucy is a graduate of the University of Derby, where she studied Creative Writing. During her first year, she was dared to write an erotic story - so she did. It went down a storm and she's never looked back. Lucy has had stories published by Cleis Press, Constable and Robinson, House of Erotica, Noble Romance, Ravenous Romance, Resplendence Publishing, Summerhouse Publishing, Sweetmeats Press and Xcite Books. She is also the editor of Uniform Behaviour and Seducing the Myth. 

Find out more at http://www.lucyfelthouse.co.uk. Join her on Facebook and Twitter, and subscribe to her newsletter at: http://eepurl.com/gMQb9

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Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Book Tour - Zombie Night in Canada: First Period By Jamie Friesen

Release Notes in conjunction with CBLS Promotions is thrilled to present:


Zombie Night in Canada: First Period”
By Jamie Friesen


Make sure to visit other stops on the tour.  Just click
And you’ll be taken the links.

Jamie is also offering a special discount!  Visit Smashwords and used the reduced price Coupon Code at Smashwords.com (allows for all e-book formats to be purchased) for blog readers:

Promotional price: $3.99
Coupon Code: CX94Y
Expires: July 1, 2012




BLURB

Tokyo. Sydney. Beijing. Cairo. Paris. Rome. New York. Los Angeles. One by one, the world’s great cities fell to the zombie plague. What chance does a small, non-descript city in Canada like Edmonton have?

The world as we know it is finished. Civilization has collapsed and humanity is on the brink of extinction. Billions of people are dead, victims of a horrific plague.

Bi-weekly paychecks, Tim Horton’s double doubles, men’s league hockey and cheap winter vacations to Cancun. That was the life Xander Barnes had known for years until a pandemic swept the globe. Efforts to slow its spread or develop quarantine zones, in many cases were too little, too late.

Nowadays, life consisted of avoiding the plague victims, ghouls who had an insatiable appetite for human flesh and finding enough food to survive day to day. How long can one ordinary man survive in a world gone mad?
 

EXCERPT

“Gentlemen, it’s going to be a race to get to the cars, so I suggest you hurry. Larry and Greg, run to the Sheriff’s office and see if there is more ammo and maybe some working flashlights. We’ll meet you at the ramp by the fountain in one minute,” Darryl said. “If you’re not there in time, we’ll leave you behind. Got it?”

“Got it!” they echoed.

Just then the doors to the Bowker Building opened again and dozens of infected streamed out. The two groups raced off. John and Darryl reloaded as they ran and got to the stairs, hiding behind a planter filled with sub tropical plants, with the older men a dozen steps behind them. Sunlight poured in from a skylight and illuminated the area. Greg glanced out the windows and saw that the Legislative Grounds were filled with dozens more infected. When the old men had finally caught up to them, they raced down the stairs. John tossed a table onto its side and shoved all three of them behind it.

“Stay,” he ordered tersely.

Larry and Greg followed Darryl’s orders and raced into the office. Greg ran into the back room and fired his pistol twice into a locked cabinet. The lock shattered and he ripped it open, pulling out a pair of pump action shotguns. He loaded shells into each and stuffed more in his vest pockets. He stuffed several pistol magazines in as well and scrambled back out to the front office, where Larry was tearing a desk apart looking for batteries.

“I can’t find any!” Larry hollered.

“Forget the batteries, let’s get going!” Greg yelled, grabbing a jacket off a nearby chair and threw it on.

Greg tossed a shotgun to Larry and jammed the half empty box of shells into his hands. Then he tore out the door without another word. Larry pulled one last drawer open and yelled, “Jackpot!” He stuffed a couple packs of batteries into his over-sized pockets and followed Greg out the door, tossing on a heavy jacket as well. A second later, Larry heard a shotgun blast. As he ran out into the hallway, he saw Greg standing there, firing his shotgun into a huge group of infected, blood and flesh exploding from the lifeless victims.

“This way,” Larry shouted and raced for the ramp that spiraled down to the lower level. Greg followed, and they took turns, running and firing, covering each other’s back whenever possible. They made it to the bottom of the ramp and saw John and Darryl firing into a group of infected, coming down the stairs that were located at the south edge of the ramp. The premier and cabinet ministers huddled in abject fear only a few feet away.

The infected from the Bowker Building were coming down the ramp and Larry turned and fired at them. In the narrow confines of the ramp, every shot finished off several infected, but their numbers suddenly seemed limitless. Dozens, if not hundreds, poured down the ramp from the ground floor.

Darryl’s pistol’s slide jacked back as the magazine emptied. “Did you find us any ammo?” he screamed at Greg.

Greg tossed over all four of the magazines he had found. Darryl shoved one in and resumed firing. Suddenly the way was clear.

“Let’s go!” Darryl hollered.

He grabbed the premier and then both he and John raced down the tunnel towards the parking lot. The two cabinet ministers followed in their steps, with the two young sheriffs firing into the ever expanding pack of infected. A door to the Legislative Annex on their left from opened, and more infected flooded into the hallway as they ran past it.

“Sir, run for the end of the hallway!” John yelled. Charchuk and two cabinet ministers continued down the darkened tunnel.

John and Darryl stopped and fired point blank into the infected.

“Last magazine, make ‘em count!” Darryl said over the gunfire to John, as he passed him a magazine. John nodded.

“Greg, Larry, come on!” Darryl shouted, as the sheriffs were on the verge of being cut off by the host of infected flowing from the Annex. They ran backwards and stood shoulder to shoulder with Darryl and John. Natural light from three periscopes flooded the hallway with an eerie light, adding to the emergency lights mounted on high on the walls.

John and Darryl fired again and again until both were out of ammunition. Darryl’s gun clicked on an empty chamber. He glanced around, looking for something, anything to hold off the infected. He ran to several nearby display cases, marked ‘Alberta Legislature’, which had a display about the provincial government. One cabinet was stuffed with replicas of both the Legislature’s mace and several medieval-era battle maces, and he smashed the glass with butt of his pistol. He jammed the pistol back into its holster and reached into the case, pulling out a pair of wicked looking maces and leaving the gaudy, gold-painted Legislative replica behind.

He ran back to John and gave him one, then attacked the infected reaching for him with an over-handed swing. The mace came down and crushed the infected teenager’s skull, sending blood and brain matter in every direction. John emulated him and they cut a bloody swath through the infected. The young sheriffs, also out of ammunition, were now using the butt end of their shotguns like clubs to fend off the infected.

They fell back slowly, responding to any attempt by the infected to get around
them. Bit by bit, they were moving closer and closer to the parkade. 

BUY LINKS

Amazon

Smashwords

 
ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jamie Friesen was born in Lahr, West Germany while his father was serving with the Royal Canadian Air Force. He attended the University of Alberta where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts in History, and followed it later with a Masters of Arts in Communications & Technology. After obtaining his Bachelor's degree, Jamie went abroad and taught English in Japan and Taiwan.

He now lives in Edmonton, Canada with his wife and daughter, working in the Public Relations field and writes in his spare time, which usually translates to early mornings and lunch time.