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Love For The First Time
The Four Lives of Robinson Appleson follows a man living with a curse who must find a way to break it if he ever wants to experience love and happiness. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
First of all, my aim when I started to write this book was to create an unconventional hero. I wanted to make him being hated by the readers in the beginning and then slowly through the pages, I wanted to bring them to forgive him and like him at the end. Second, one of my favorite tales is “the Beast and the beauty.” So, I took inspiration from that to create this story. In both, the hero is cursed, and only true love can liberate them from the spell.
What do you think were some of the defining moments in Robinson’s development?
Actually, two things. First the encounter with Oscar, his cousin, who become his mentor. And second, the encounter with Gwendolyn, his sweetheart.
Robinson is a spoiled young man, until he met Oscar who teach him about self-discipline. Despite being surrounded by people, Robinson lacked of a guide. So far no one had the gut to tell him his wrong doings. When Oscar did, he recognize his faults. We all need a mentor to walk straight in life. That mentor could be parents, a teacher or God.
With Gwendolyn, my hero experience love for the first time. From a selfish human being, he becomes a caring man who is ready to sacrifice his life to save hers. This was only possible thanks to the unconditionally love he got from her. The more you receive, the more you give. That’s the law.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
The themes that I wanted to explore are about romance, emotion and love. How far a human beinggoes on and on to forgiving someone? My heroine, out of love forgive his lover for murdering her. She knew that he is doomed to kill out of love. Instead of escaping her fate, she embraces that. Only out of love. Love is a powerful weapon thanks to what the impossible can become possible. Many parents have forgiven the blunders of their child. How they managed? It’s all out of Love. Thanks to that gesture, the criminals got a chance to express remorse, redeem themselves.
What is the next story that you’re writing and when will it be published?
The next book is about a paranormal romance. It tells the story of young woman who lives in Mackinac Island. When her grandma and cousin died. She has to come to her hometown to assist the funeral. Unfortunately, she has to stay a few more weeks to take charge of her parent’s hotels while their absence. A few days later, she is victim of aggression from an invisible entity during her sleep. She wakes up with scratches and bites on her body. Thanks to the friendship of a hitchhiker whom she met on her way home, she will find the courage to get rid of that entity.
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Robinson Appleson is one lucky bastard!
We get only one life. He has had four so far.
And it’s not like he deserved them, either.
In his first life, he was a Porcian prince who was known to devour humans. His obsession with eternal youth and beauty made him addicted to the
taste of human flesh, much to the dismay and terror of his kingdom’s subjects.
Reborn as a rich kid in Beverly Hills, California, he has no recollection of his past life and thinks of himself as a blessing to mankind. He holds no respect or feelings for women and treats them like objects. It leads to everyone avoiding him like the plague.
His third life is different, as he is born as a jaguar in the African savannah. Filled with new wisdom, he fights against his instinct to hunt while the smell of prey drives him mad with hunger.
His last life lands him in the body of a beautiful but poverty-stricken Black woman who was also unfaithful!
Each of his lives has been different from the last, except that it looked as if he was doomed to make the same blunders. The woman he loves dies in his arms in all of his lives, because of a curse placed on his family.
Having been selfish and cruel in his previous lives, he attempts to change this forever. Using a range of tricks learned from Oscar, his mentor, he hopes to suppress and destroy the evil lurking inside him.
Would he manage to escape from his fate?
Quest For The Emerald Crystal – Book #2: Spiritual Warriors In Belize
Spiritual Warriors in Belize is the second book in Dan Ford’s Quest for the Emerald Crystal spiritual intrigue novel series. A spiritual thriller with fantasy elements, this novel picks up after the events of the first book in the series, Spiritual Warriors in the Bahamas. The protagonists, spiritual warriors known as “The Seekers,” follow Diana to the Central American country of Belize in their quest to stop her from dominating the world using an all-powerful crystal energy source used by the ancient Atlantean civilization.
The novel is action-packed with twists and turns, keeping the reader on the edge of their seats. Diana Daggert, despite the confrontation in the Bahamas, manages to acquire the Emerald Crystal and sets her scientists to work on replicating this advanced technology. The plot follows the protagonists as they attempt to steal the crystal back from Diana and destroy it before she can use its power to dominate the world in every aspect.
In this sequel, new characters with new kinds of capabilities are introduced as they join the family of spiritual seekers in their quest in Belize. Throughout the story, the characters discover that they are all spiritually connected due to their past relationships. The story also has fantastic queer representations, as gay and lesbian characters have their own romantic subplots. An inspirational thriller aimed at mature readers, Spiritual Warriors in Belize deals with complex philosophical discussions on the origin and evolution of individual souls, violence, and sexual themes. However, the author’s excellent use of humor lightens up the mood, and the well-developed world immerses the reader fully into the story.
Dan Ford’s spiritual intrigue series keeps getting more interesting with each book. I would recommend the Quest for the Emerald Crystal series to everyone interested in knowing more about spirituality, mythology, and human evolution in the form of an action-packed thriller.
Pages: 399 | ASIN : B0BXFNL2GL
If They Were Some Sort Of Dream
The Hidden Lives of Dick & Mary is a pair of paranormal tales surrounding the unusual lives and acquaintances of Dick Fischer and Mary Deacon. What was the inspiration for the setup of your supernatural stories?
For Haunted Houses: Gateway to the West and the Beyond, my inspiration was Jefferson Barracks itself. I’m retired from the Air Force and Air National Guard, 12 years of which were at “JB”. Many of the ghost stories come from my fellow airmen.
The Tale of Mary Deacon is even more personal. During my teens and twenties I experienced waking up to grey beings in my bedroom. On one occasion I even experienced missing time shortly after getting home from work. These experiences felt real. Because of how real these experiences felt, it’s easy to believe they happened. However, it’s equally impossible not to wonder if they were some sort of dream. For this novella, it was cathartic to fully indulge the “I Want To Believe” impulse.
Dick and Mary are intriguing characters. What were some driving ideals behind their character development?
As a fan of paranormal investigation shows, I’ve always wondered: what were the ghost’s stories? While the investigators often weave the narrative of the ghosts haunting a house, I wanted to write the ghosts as characters in their own right. For Dick, this meant making his gift beyond question for the reader.
In terms of Mary, I wanted to give her agency in her own right. She’s more than her husband’s assistant. Nor is she another psychic; mirroring her husband’s powers. By making her an alien abduction experiencer she has her own past that makes her intriguing.
What scene from these stories did you have the most fun writing?
The very first one in Haunted Houses: Gateway to the West and the Beyond. This takes place in a basement on JB that is incredibly creepy when it’s dark and you’re all alone. Even now, reading this prologue give me the chills.
What is the next book that you are working on, and when will it be available?
My next book is called Broken Hearts & Other Horrors. It’s 12 short stories that are so interconnected that it could be read as either a novel or a horror anthology. Broken Hearts & Other Horrors will also be illustrated by Corey Galal who has worked for TOPPS and Lucasfilm doing sketch cards for Star Wars and The Walking Dead! It will be available May 25, 2023.
But, it’s not the only one I’m planning on releasing in 2023! My debut novel A Mother’s Torment is dropping on September 1! This story is about a young woman moving back home after catching her husband cheating on their anniversary. As she develops her own psychic gifts, family secrets will be revealed that threaten to tear her family apart far more than the ghosts who haunt her girlhood home…
Author Links: GoodReads | Twitter | Facebook | Website
Dick Fisher is a medium, and he and his rookie reality show team of ghost hunters find themselves entrenched in the military history of Jefferson Barracks. “Haunted Houses: Gateway to the West and the Beyond” follows the team in St. Louis, Missouri, as they discover spirits both friend and foe and learn what exactly it took to terrify the soldiers who claimed they weren’t afraid of anything.
Mary just wants someone to listen to her and not go running like they’ve just seen a ghost. In “The Tale of Mary Deacon”, a young girl who wishes to go to space begins to get more than she bargained for. As she gets older and the abductions more invasive, she must learn who to trust and how.
Both haunting and emotional, The Hidden Lives of Dick and Mary explores what can happen if you open your mind to the existence of things–and people–that go bump in the night.
Literary Titan Gold Book Award – Mar 2023
The Literary Titan Book Awards are awarded to books that have astounded and amazed us with unique writing styles, vivid worlds, complex characters, and original ideas. These books deserve extraordinary praise, and we are proud to acknowledge the hard work, dedication, and writing talent of these brilliant authors.
Award Recipients
Rethink Your Financial Health AJ Uitvlugt
Off Kilter by M. Lee Musgrave
A Guide for Aging Heroes: Owning the Second Half of Life in 30 Days by Randolph Harrison
A Murder in Ashwood by Robert Brighton
Visit the Literary Titan Book Awards page to see award information.
Literary Titan Silver Book Award – Mar 2023
The Literary Titan Book Awards are awarded to books that have astounded and amazed us with unique writing styles, vivid worlds, complex characters, and original ideas. These books deserve extraordinary praise, and we are proud to acknowledge the hard work, dedication, and writing talent of these brilliant authors.
Award Recipients
Visit the Literary Titan Book Awards page to see award information.
More Than He Bargains For
Route 666: Highway to Hell follows an aspiring author as his research takes him into battle with supernatural forces and an age-old war of good vs evil. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
The initial inspiration for the book was the existence of a real Route 666 which is on the outskirts of Culpeper, Virginia. For the nearly 30 years I have lived in Northern Virginia, I have passed by this road several times, wondering why state authorities would ever have a Route 666 given the evil connotations of this number. Coming back from a weekend getaway with my wife, I passed by the road again and the idea of a man wanting to write a book and getting more than he bargains for was born.
Is there anything about Jack that came from yourself or your life experiences?
One of the writing rules I developed for myself when I started was “write about what you know.” Honestly, much of what has happened to Jack and his family is true and based on my own experiences. Writing this book was very much my way of wrestling with my owner “personal demons” and hopefully brings an authenticity to the story. Finally, there also was a real Jack Aitken. My Grandfather passed away when I was far too young to get to know him well. Naming the main character for him is my way of honoring his memory.
How much research did you undertake for this book and how much time did it take to put it all together?
Writing the book from the beginning to the day it was first published took about eighteen months. The historical research in particular, helped to fulfill another of my writing rules which is to “blur the lines between fact and fiction.” I have had a number of readers who have commented that one of the things that made the story enjoyable for them was the realization that many of the historical references and places are true.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
Sins of the Fathers is the next installment in the Highway to Hell series and was self-published last fall. It picks up where Route 666 ended and leads Jack and his family deeper into the dystopian nightmare that was set in motion in the first novel. I am currently working on the third installment in the series which is tentatively titled The Gathering Storm.
Author Links: GoodReads | Twitter | Facebook | Website
It is human nature to dream and plan for an idyllic future. But random twists of fate have caused Jack Aitken’s dreams to be altered, postponed, or abandoned. He’s played by the rules all his life, but living years on the knife’s edge has drained him mentally and spiritually. Now, he has a plan to change the trajectory of his life.
Chasing his dream of becoming an author, Jack completely throws himself into researching Route 666, a road closed by the government due to an unusual number of deadly accidents. Ignoring the warning signs and the pleas of his wife, Amanda, Jack uses an ancient map provided by a suspicious museum curator to search for a previously unknown Native American burial mound.
Instead, he interrupts a satanic ritual and ignites a chain reaction of events that leave him in a life and death struggle with a malevolent being whose power rivals the devil himself.
Route 666 is a wild ride that will leave you breathless as Jack Aitken fights to save his family, his soul, and humanity itself from the essence of pure evil.
About the novel’s thrilling conclusion, editor Emily Marquart stated, “I loved the twists and turns, and I honestly had no idea how it would pan out!”
Get ready to travel Route 666, the Highway to Hell!
Dimension Guardian: The Realm of Darkness – Blind Ambitions
In the gripping sequel of The Guardian Tournament, Team Dalton returns to battle against other Guardians for the next part of the competition, all while trying to investigate the larger threat that continues to invade the world they live in. As the group gets closer to discoveries, they also find out a lot of things about each other, and not all of them accept what they find. Cooperation and trust are tested within the group, making the work much harder, and giving the god-like enemy time to prepare to wreak havoc across demons, beasts, darkness, light, and humans. The team must put aside their differences and ready themselves to confront the villain before it is too late.
Dimension Guardian: The Realm of Darkness – Blind Ambitions by K.J. Amidon is another exciting journey that takes us back to our beloved characters from a well-received novel. The sequel brings us to the same place but different time, where we find out what has happened to the characters after the last page of The Guardian Tournament, and what new adventure is in store for them. This does not just include their mission, which gradually gives anticipation and nervousness at the same time, but also their personal relationships with one another and their families. K.J. Amidon continues to give the right amount of world-building to introduce the second book, as well as references from the first book to keep it all accurate and flowing smoothly.
The second novel deserves the same attention as the first, not just because they are connected, but because this one offers another excellent reading experience to fans of the series. Each conversation, thought, and line in the novel contributes to the story it offers, and in the end gives a well-rounded idea about the happenings of the past, present, and even the future. Despite the increase in the number of characters, Amidon makes sure to give each one ample time to be highlighted, so readers can comprehend their personalities and significance in the narrative. Perhaps what stood out to me the most was that, as we get to know the characters more, we can clearly see that they are not all black and white, as they are molded by their personal experiences of triumph and hardship, a humbling thought for all-powerful creatures and humans.
This riveting dark fantasy serves as a great follow-up to its predecessor and opens doors for other adventures in the world. I highly recommend this paranormal adventure to readers who are ready to take on and invest their time in lengthy novels, because the author provides gates to new dimensions (with pun intended) that her fans can venture into.
Pages: 341 | ASIN: B00HR5U5AQ
LITERARY TITAN 