Cover Reveal for Hunted Heart

Image courtesy of Wikipedia Commons.

I met a friend online who gave me a prompt for Hunted Heart. Her idea was to have a strong heroine as the Hunter from Snow White who is given the job of killing the prince. Heartbreak, magic mirrors, and poisoned apples all wound themselves into the plot, and fifty thousand words later I had an adult take on the fairytale.

My publishing group, Myrddin Publishing, does a charity publication each year in December. This year my Myrddin effort is Hunted Heart and all royalties will be donated. It’s available for pre-order on Amazon, and you can add it to your reading lists on Goodreads.

When Tali is hired to cut out the heart of Prince Kas, the huntress can’t refuse. Tali realizes there is no escape from the dark magic of the queen’s mirror, even though her own feelings for the prince are far too complex to understand.

As they try to run from their shared destiny, Tali and Kas have to rely on their wits and each other as hunter becomes prey and hearts are won and lost.

A genderbent Snow White for adults (18+ only.) All royalties go to Save the Children.

My illustrator did a lovely job with the book. Here is Lisa Daly’s cover for Hunted Heart:

About the author: Alison DeLuca is the author of several fantasy and steampunk novels. Currently she lives in New Jersey with her husband and daughter, where she wrestles words and laundry.

You can find her on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Goodreads.

Christmas O'Clock

Available on Amazon US

Amazon UK

in print

All proceeds to benefit Water is Life

26 Days of Kindness: Water is Life

Terri Long has been running a wonderful series this month, called 26 Days of Kindness. After seeing the huge storms on the east coast and the devastation after them, it's lovely to discover what nice things people do for other, every single day.

My announcement is this:

My publisher, Myrddin Publishing Group, has made a donation to the Water is Life charity. We raised the money through book sales of Christmas O'Clock, our holiday anthology.

You can read more about the book and the donation on the Myrddin website.

I'm very happy to be part of two such wonderful projects.

Christmas O'Clock and Water

We've released an anthology of Christmas stories for kids called Christmas O'Clock. It includes two full-length books and three stories, including Rudolph Saves Christmas and Bah, Humbug!

All royalties go to the Water is Life charity, which works to provide clean drinking water for kids and families in the third world. Since the anthology is an international effort, we wanted the charity to be worldwide as well. And this charity is amazing - it dispenses a simple, small filtration system known as "The Straw."

The Straw removes tiny microbes that can cause typhoid, cholera, and dysentery. It also removes nasty things called "guinea worms" so children can drink and stay healthy. Each one costs ten dollars and lasts for a year.

Of course, that is only a first step. Water is Life also works to put in complete water systems so villages can access clean water without using The Straw.

We are offering Christmas O'Clock for FREE today and tomorrow - 12/3 and 12/4 -  on Kindle in order to get the word out about our book and this very important charity. If you haven't downloaded Christmas O'Clock yet, do have a look on Amazon US, UK, Germany, Spain, France, Japan, and Italy.

Enjoy!

Water

I remember reading a story about the search for the most delicious thing in the world. What would it be? Apple pie with vanilla icecream, roast lamb, carrot soup, a perfect cheese souffle?

The point of the story was that if you can't find it, the most delicious thing in the world is pure water. And for many people out there, they have to faucet, no resource to instant, running, clean H2O.

Samaritan's Purse is one organization that works to bring water to those who don't have access. In Haiti, in Africa, they bring access, wells, and ship bottled water to families and kids who need it.

Try spending a day without drinking, and you'll see just how delicious water can be. Ever been in a car or on a train with no drinks? That first swallow is so sweeeeeet. Now imagine living in a country where you have to walk a mile or two for fresh water, or where you have to line up for bottled water.

Connie J. Jasperson, along with some of the other writers at Fantasy Island Book Publishing, has collected an anthology of stories by the FIBP writers. All proceeds go to the Samaritan's Purse water project to help those in need around the globe. I have two stories in there; one is a horror short and the other is a prequel to The Night Watchman Express.

Find it here: http://amzn.to/StoryAntho

So again, if you have some spare change in the glove compartment, your coat pocket, or behind the sofa cushions, please consider spending it on a collection of shorts. It'll help some people at the same time.

*EDITED TO ADD - THIS COLLECTION INCLUDES MATURE LANGUAGE AND THEMES.*

Jingle Jingle

I heard yesterday on the news that someone popped a diamond ring into one of those kettles manned by bell ringers. This followed the news over the weekend that another generous soul had given them a huge gold coin, a rare one, for the eighth year in a row.

Wouldn't you love to be able to do that? What a wonderful feeling, to stuff all that largesse in a kettle and just walk away. The afterglow has to be superb. Those gift givers must feel like that scene in Ghost, when Oda Mae Brown puts a check worth millions into the hands of a nun.

Alas, I don't have diamond rings cluttering up the place, nor gold coins, nor checks worth millions, so I have to resort to smaller means.


Oh, I just want to support so many good causes. I think that the ability to be able to be able to do some real good for a charity or a group of people is the ultimate luxury. Forget the Neiman Marcus customizable cupcake car.

Don't know if I can quite pull this off...

So, here is what I could do, though: I collected two books and two stories for kids, and put them in one collection, and donated the royalties to Oxfam. One book is by me, and it's about getting coal for Christmas. Except, of course, coal from the North Pole is magic...


The other book is by Shaun Allan, the creator of Sin and Zits n Bits. He donated Rudolf Saves Christmas, a story that is a holiday version of Hoodwinked, where Rudolf is sent to jail. 


Connie J Jasperson wrote the Christmas Tree, a sci fi story about Santa finding a family in space (I LOVE that concept!) 


And Nicole Antonia Carson donated The List, a tale of a girl who has to defend her Goodness in the North Pole court. Nicole does a lot on the stage, so it's no surprise that her story is very visual and very, very funny.


Finally, my cover artist, Lisa Daly, donated the sweet little girl and her toes for the cover:

http://amzn.to/XmasOClock

My thanks to all those authors and to Lisa for their very, very generous donations. They are worth so much more to me than a cupcake car, or even Oda Mae's check.


If you have 99 cents rattling around in your purse, or behind the sofa cushions, will you consider buying this collection of stories? They are all G rated and a lot of fun, and they are available on Kindle. And all of the proceeds go to help families and kids through Oxfam's international efforts.

Now I wish I could ring a bell for you. But I will say: Thanks so very much!