Tag: fiction

Monday Blog: Guest Blogger Ebunnygirl!

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Welcome to a special edition of the Monday Blog! This week, guest blogger Ebunnygirl will be posting one of her WordPress blogs. Please enjoy, and you can find more of her posts on her WordPress page,  https://ebunnygirl.wordpress.com/

cropped-emorose

 

Nicole Woolaston’s Spin-offs Are Worth Reading

I’ve never been a huge fan of spin-offs. Sometimes you find a really good TV show or book, and then someone decides to take a character or idea from it and create a second show or write a second book. The spin-off usually stinks. For example, I love the show “Criminal Minds”, but “Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior” kinda sucked.

As I have mentioned before, I’m a fan of indie authors, especially Nicole Woolaston. She’s the author of the Fortune’s Wing series, the Valentine series, and the Our Lady of Righteous Rage series. BTW: I am not being compensated in any way, to post any of this. Woolaston’s books are unique, and completely different from any other books I’ve read. Once you pick one up and start reading, you’re going to have a hard time putting it down. I’ve read Valentine, and it’s one of my favorite books. When I discovered Woolaston was publishing a series of companion books for the Valentine series, I became curious. Normally, when I give a spin-off a try, I end up being uninterested and disappointed. But that wasn’t the case with the Valentine Apart series.

The Valentine Apart series focuses on characters APART from Valentine (the lead character) herself. The first is Allan and Mac, which is about the brother and sister duo who work as hitmen. It is HYSTERICAL! The casual conversations that take place between Allan and Mac when they’re in the middle of doing their job, are brilliant. Next, is Her Name is Lola Vencent, which give details about Lola’s life before she started working for John Rafferty, the primary villain in the Valentine series. Jo Fuentes: The Black Queen talks about one of my favorite characters, Jo Fuentes. She’s the Marine turned hitwoman from the regular series.

What makes these books so good, is the way they’re written. You can read them as companion books to the Valentine series, or you can read them separate and apart. The end of each book, however, ties into the regular series with such ease. If you’ve read the regular series (as I have) you find yourself thinking, Oh, I know what this is!  I remember that scene from one of the other books!

The companion books in the Our Lady of Righteous Rage series work the same way. You can read them along with the regular series, or read them alone. And, much like the Valentine Apart books, the stories and endings tie into the books from the regular series.

I think one of the reasons Woolaston’s spin-offs are so entertaining, is the way she chooses particular characters to focus on. Allan, Mac, Lola and Jo from Valentine were excellent choices for stand-alone books. Erin, Dee and Jon from Our Lady of Righteous Rage are characters we didn’t know a lot about, but their personal stories were interesting enough to make for good reading. The author is currently writing two more Valentine Apart books, and is planning to write another Our Lady book as well. I’m looking forward to reading all of them. If you’ve never read Woolaston’s books, you really should pick one up.

Nicole Woolaston can be found here on WordPress and on her website, www.woolastonentertainment.com

Thank you to Ebunnygirl for providing this week’s post!

Monday Blog: The Witch of Fulton Lane’s Dark Sequel

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BW Flashlight

 

 

Greetings and salutations, everyone! It’s another fabulous Monday. This week, I’d like to focus on one of the three books I’m currently writing. Aside from the next two books in the Valentine Apart series, I’ve been making notes for the sequel to The Witch of Fulton Lane. The title is The Age of The Daughter.

 

The Age of The Daughter

I did some research on the subject of Dianic Wicca, Paganism, and Neo Paganism. If anyone takes the time to look into my borrowing history from the library, I’m sure they’ll be in for a surprise! Here’s a short list of what I’ve read recently:


The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Great Goddess by Starhawk

Modern Paganism In World Cultures: Comparative Perspectives by  Michael Strmiska

Re-Riting Woman: Dianic Wicca and the Feminine Divine by Kristy S. Coleman

Italian Witchcraft: The Old Religion of Southern Europe by Raven Grimassi

I’m always saying this: read what you write! If you’re writing a story where one of your characters is a gardener, you may want to pick up a copy of “Better Homes and Gardens”, and do a little research. If you’re working on a sci-fi book, READ some sci-fi books. Fulton Lane deals with witchcraft, so I needed to read about witchcraft.

The title The Age of the Daughter comes from a passage I read in Italian Witchcraft: The Old Religion of Southern Europe by Raven Grimassi. It speaks of a time when women will walk as men do; women will begin to have the power that has been reserved for men until that time. The moment I read that, I knew I needed to use it, and I knew I could build a story around it. In this new story, Dylan Maycriss will find herself being pursued by a coven of witches who practice Dianic Wicca, a neopagan religion of female-centered goddess ritual and tradition. They worship the Goddess Diana, and want to bring Dylan into their fold. Dylan also learns she may have a half-sister through her father, Marcus Maycriss, who is part of this coven.

It’s going to take me a long time to write the first draft of this book, but I’d like to have most of it on paper (or USB, I guess) by October. I have so many details I want to pump into this book, so I’m going to take my time with it.

The Author’s Corner

And, I’d also like to mention, the Author’s Corner has some new members! This is open to all writers, bloggers, artists, etc. I will gladly post your information on my site for free. If you want to share links to your websites, books, Amazon Author Pages, social media pages and the like, please contact me. I can also post images of the covers of books, along with author head shots. I have seven members so far, so keep it coming!

See you again next week.

Monday Blog: Patagonia Library, New Valentine Apart Books, Biologicals

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Greetings, everyone! I hope you had a wonderful weekend. I have some wonderful news for you, so let’s jump right in: one of my books is available for check-out at a public library in Arizona, I’m further along in my drafts for the next two Valentine Apart books, and Biologicals is currently available in paperback form!

Patagonia Public Library

First, I need to say thank you to Shannon Wright of the Patagonia Public Library, for sharing info about the Street Lit Program on Facebook!  This was created in order to give indie authors some exposure. I donated a copy of Our Lady of Righteous Rage: Extended and Uncensored , and it’s available for check-out! So, if you’re reading this in Arizona, check out the books in the Street Lit collection!

https://www.patagoniapubliclibrary.org/

This has inspired me to reach out to public libraries beyond my home in New York. If anyone reading this knows of a library seeking book donations, please let me know! You can reach me on the WE website contact page, or just email me: woolent@hotmail.com

New Books in Valentine Apart

As I have mentioned before, I’m working on the next two books for the Valentine Apart series. So far, the drafts are coming along nicely. In Project Sleep, Jo Fuentes is not sure if she’s being paranoid, or if she’s being followed. Her suspicions are confirmed when Kelly McCormick gives her her next assignment.

Speaking of Kelly, in Young Kelly McCormick, Kelly attends a meeting and makes it very clear to the rest of the Syndicate, where she stands. She’s not there to be anyone’s secretary, and she wants just as much respect as the men sitting in the room. Of course, if she’s going to get a seat at the table, she’ll have to earn it the hard way…

I’ll keep you posted as I continue to write.

Biologicals

The paperback is ready! You can find it now in the Create Space store! By tomorrow, it should also be available on Amazon’s site. I will release the Ebook in a few weeks. I really hope everyone enjoys the latest Our Lady story!

Biologicals cover

Until next week, folks!

woolastonentertainment.com

Monday Blog: Inside the Personal Lives of Characters

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This month’s theme is New Fiction, and I’m currently working on three new books (technically four, but I haven’t started the draft for the fourth one yet; only notes). All three books explore the personal lives of the main characters featured in the story. This week, I wanted to talk a little about the characters.

JSarconi

 

Jon Sarconi of Biologicals

Jon only makes a few appearances in the Our Lady books. You’re introduced to him when he’s a toddler, and later, as a child and then as a teen, he only has a few lines. He receives his own chapters in Your Fame Will Destroy You, and even then, it’s limited. I started thinking about the idea of him being adopted, and how his relationship with his birth parents turned sour when he was young. I decided, there was enough material there to write a story. My first thought, was a shot story, then I decided to write a companion book. Biologicals gives readers a little insight into Jon’s life: his feelings towards his birth parents, his mother Amy Edwards, and his thoughts on being adopted. Like Novocaine, this book is written in Jon’s “voice”, so readers will get a chance to really get to know him.

Jo Fuentes of Jo Fuentes: Project Sleep

You already know a few things about Jo, if you’ve read the books in the Valentine and Valentine Apart series. She’s a Marine, who survived an attack in the Iraqi desert, which killed everyone in her unit, except herself and her friend Sully. She starts working for Kelly McCormick becomes a hitwoman for the Syndicate. Jo has a special set of skills, which saved her life and Sully’s life in Iraq, however, Jo can’t recall where she learned the things she knows. She’s adept at killing, and she knows a variety of methods. Little by little, Jo begins to have flashes of a white classroom, and five other soldiers, where she is being trained to kill. Kelly is able to do some investigating and learn that Jo was part pf a program called “Project Sleep”. The project was canceled, and Jo’s mind was supposedly wiped clean of any memories of it, however, the incident in Iraq triggered her memories. In Project Sleep, Jo finds herself digging deeper and deeper into her past, learning more about Project Sleep, and about herself.

Kelly McCormick of Young Kelly McCormick

Before Kelly McCormick made a name for herself in the Syndicate, she made a name for herself around her neighborhood, and with people who knew her. The Syndicate isn’t ready to accept a woman in a powerful position, but twenty-year-old Kelly is going to show them she deserves a seat at the table. Aside from working with the Syndicate. Kelly has several personal issues to deal with, including an uncle who gambles and gets himself into dangerously high debts. Young Kelly McCormick reveals Kelly’s life before her rise within the Syndicate.

 

See you next week….

woolastonentertainment.com 

Sample from “Jo Fuentes: Project Sleep”

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I‘m currently working on three new books. One of them is Jo Fuentes: Project Sleep. This is the fourth book in my Valentine Apart series, and it a sequel to Jo Fuentes: The Black Queen. Yes, my ass-kicking Marine turned hitwoman is back, and I’d like to share a small sample from the first chapter. Enjoy! 

            Remember why you are here. You are here to serve your country…

            It was the inside of a white classroom. Six of them stood in a row, guns drawn and pointed at the mannequins at the other end of the room. The idea was to shoot the mannequins, at center mass. The six of them fired at once. When they were finished, they lowered their guns, and awaited further instructions. This had been a simple task, with no real challenge. Using a handgun was easy enough. The real training would begin, when they learned how to use inanimate objects. There was a rumor going around, they would be trained to kill using something as common as a number two pencil…

            So you can shoot a handgun. Big deal! What would you do if a gun wasn’t available? What else would you use? It was always the same voice, barking from behind them. No matter how good you are, you can always be better! Let’s start with Fuentes!

            Jo’s eyes suddenly shot open. She stared up at her ceiling, furrowing her brow and trying to get a grasp on where she was. She slowly turned to her left, and recognized her alarm clock, sitting on her nightstand. She took a deep breath, and released it. Her room, in the same apartment she’d grown up in. The white classroom from her dream had faded into memory. She sat up and swung her legs over the side of her bed, and scratched the back of her head. It was Saturday morning. There wasn’t any place she needed to be today, so the day was all hers. She stood up, and stretched all five feet and eleven inches of her, and yawned. “First order of business,” she said out loud, “A shower.”

 

Monday Blog: New Fiction!

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It’s July! It’s a new month! It’s time for a new theme! I’m thinking about having a dual theme, but for now, I’m going to focus on new fiction. I currently have three new books in the works (and I’m still doing research for a fourth). So, this week, I’m going to tell you about the three I’m working on. Warning: there may be some spoilers here!

Biologicals

Another side-story in the world of Our Lady of Righteous Rage is emerging. This one is all about Jon Sarconi, Amy’s adopted son. Written in the same style as Novocaine, Jon’s life is one it’s way up: his band is finally becoming serious about their music, he’s getting help from Nick and Mike, and he’s about to start his first year of college. Nothing can spoil any of that, right? Then he receives a visit from a pair of unexpected guests: his biological parents.

Jon’s parents haven’t participated in his life since he was seven. Amy and David adopted him, and after their divorce, Amy won custody of him. As far as Jon is concerned, Amy is his mother. But his birth parents (or biologicals, as he calls them) suddenly want to get back into his life. Jon can’t help but wonder why. Biologicals will be available later this month.

 

Jo Fuentes: Project Sleep

Valentine and family have moved out of New York and on with their lives. Kelly McCormick is running the Syndicate, and Jo is her left hand man (Hugo is still her right). Jo begins having strange dreams about classrooms and training sessions, which lead her to think about how she learned to become such a skillful killer. But Jo’s not the only one thinking about her skills, and the more she begins to dig, the more she finds herself in serious danger. In this fourth installment of the Valentine Apart series, Jo will finally learn who she really is…

 

Young Kelly McCormick

Everyone has to start somewhere, right? Before she was running the Syndicate, and before she became one of the most fearsome women in New York, young Kelly McCormick had to work to make a name for herself. And, being one of very few women in the business, she certainly wasn’t going to be the one to schedule meetings and make coffee for everyone else. Kelly makes bold moves to show everyone around her, why she deserves a place in the Syndicate…

I’m also doing research for the sequel to The Witch of Fulton Lane, which should be out by October (hopefully in time for Halloween!). I’ve been reading a ton of material on Witchcraft, Wicca, and Paganism, and I’ve come across some truly fascinating information I want to use in the sequel. The working title is The Age of the Daughter. I’ll tell you more about it, as I continue to work on it.

Until next week…

woolastonentertainment.com

A Line from “Biologicals”

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“If you’e going to call me anything, call me Bank of America, or Capital One, because apparently you think I’m a bank!”—Jon from “Biologicals”, coming soon from Woolaston Entertainment   🙂  

Monday Blog: The Boys of Our Lady

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Nick
Aidan
Rob
Mike
Jon

 

 

 

We’ve arrived at the final blog post for the month of June. To close out one of this month’s themes, this one is all about the male characters in the Our Lady of Righteous Rage series. I won’t lie: this is my favorite W.E. series, and I’ve sort of been looking forward to this post.

Our Lady follows Amy Edwards and friends as they start a business, a band, and try to keep up with both, while jumping over hurdle after hurdle. What sets this series apart from the others I’ve published so far, are the characters: they are anthropomorphic cats. However, when you’re reading the books in this series, you may find yourself completely ignoring that, and just enjoying the story. Another difference: stream of consciousness. Each chapter is narrated by a different character (think William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying). On the surface, that may sound confusing, but I can assure you it’s not. The chapters are short, and there aren’t that many characters to keep up with. So, let’s get to the boys, shall we? (SPOILER ALERT AHEAD!)

David Sarconi: He and Amy start out as friends, then they become boyfriend and girlfriend, then they get married. And then, it all changes. David tries to be passionate about music, but he just doesn’t seem to be his thing. On top of that, he doesn’t think it should be Amy’s thing, either. He’s also Nick’s cousin, and while the two start out just fine, David changes and begins to distance himself from his cousin.

Nicolas “Nick” Lianetti: Born in Sicily and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Nick is the lead singer and primary song writer for Our Lady of Righteous Rage. Music has been his passion since he was young. His father wasn’t around very much while he was growing up, but it helped shape him into a mature and responsible young man (or cat). He’s very even-tempered; he remains calm in situations that would send any other person into a rage (such as a cheating girlfriend…).

Aidan Sirci: Okay, I’ll just say it: Aidan is my favorite male character in the series. Life knocked him down more times than not, but he just keeps getting up. He’s generally cheerful and in a good mood, cracking jokes and making sarcastic remarks. He’s Nick’s best friend, and Amy’s non-biological big brother. Tall, blond, and green-eyed, most of the band’s female fans tend to gravitate to him, even though he’s deeply in love with his wife, Dee.

Rob Zickye: He’s half Scottish and half German, and the tallest member of the band (six foot five, btw). He’s been in love with Amy since they met in high school, but the two don’t get together until later on. Rob is a self-taught drummer, and can play nearly any song by ear. He’s also my second favorite, and another character who’s father wasn’t in the picture (a common theme in this series). He’s protective of his family, especially his older brother, who happens to be bipolar.

Mike Murnsen: Mike knows his way around audio and recording equipment. He’s been helping his father at his store since he was young, and when Our Lady opens a studio, he helps them produce their first album. Later, he becomes their manager.  He’s married to one of  the founding members of  the Urban Collective, Vanessa. The two of them constantly bounce ideas off one another. Mike is quiet, but he has no problem standing up for himself, or the band.

Jon Sarconi: Amy’s adopted son. He’s actually David’s younger cousin, and the two of them adopted him shortly after they got married. After their divorce, Amy had to fight to get custody of Jon. He idolizes his mother, and wants to be a rock star, just like her. The older he gets, the more assertive he becomes.

Next week is the first week of July, so it will be time for a new theme. I’m considering running 2 again. One of them will be New Fiction: I’m working on three new books, and my mother is working on one, too! If you’re an indie author and you’d like to share what you’re working on, please contact me. I’d love to post some info about you and your work! Until next week…

Monday Blog: Celebrating Jo Fuentes

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JoFuentes_KDP

 

This month, Woolaston Entertainment is celebrating two themes: Male Character Month, and Pride Month. I’ve decided to begin with the later. This week’s blog post, is all about Jo Fuentes of the Valentine and Valentine Apart series.

Jo is the first LGBTQ character to be featured in a published Woolaston Entertainment book. She’s also W.E.’s first LGBTQ character to receive a stand-alone book, Jo Fuentes: The Black Queen. When I created Jo, I was thinking of a sort of alter-ego for Valentine.  The two of them do share a few characteristics: they’re tall, mouthy, and they don’t take any crap. Jo was never intended to be a soldier of any kind, but I had a dream about the scene in the second chapter of The Black Queen, where Jo takes out eight men in under sixty seconds. I thought, it would be cool to have a female character experience a James Bond moment, but I needed a reason. I decided, making her a Marine, would be the best reason.

Jo is a great character, because she’s a little complicated. She has a frightening set of skills, and she has no idea where she learned them. She’s gay, and proud of it. She values the friendships of the people who matter the most to her, and she’ll do anything for them.  She easily makes the transition from Marine to Hitwoman when she begins working for Kelly McCormick. And, she has a wicked sense of humor.

I’m honoring Jo, by making Jo Fuentes: The Black Queen, available for FREE, June 4-June 6. If you’ve never read it, this is a great opportunity to become acquainted with Jo, and the rest of the Valentine Apart/Valentine series.

Jo Fuentes on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Jo-Fuentes-Black-Queen-Valentine-ebook/dp/B078TNHBRF/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1528138515&sr=8-1&keywords=jo+fuentes+the+black+queen

Next week: the boys of Valentine and Valentine Apart