Go on over and check it out! Ivan Amberlake has done an excellent job with a background comprised of book covers! Just phenomenal!

https://twitter.com/BHB_Books

{Below is an interview done recently with TheWriteChris at http://thewritechris.blogspot.com/.}

You write fantasy based on Biblical themes? What drew you to writing in this style?

I’ve attended church and participated in charitable events through church for a long time, and so having Biblical themes just seemed to come naturally for me. And I also am a huge lover of the Fantasy genre. When I first sat down to write and mill over concepts the two things meshed for me, and I realized I had something great when I thought up the premise for The Ark of Humanity.

“God flooded the earth to annihilate humanity's sins. What if that sinful race didn't die when flood waters covered them but instead adapted to breathe water?”

What type of feedback do you get from readers about taking a Bible story into a new context?

I’ve had positive feedback from both Christians and non-Christians alike. People say that they really enjoy the story and the depth of the good v.s. evil concepts in both of my Fantasy books. My Christian readers love the themes and references. And here is a quote from one of my non-Christian readers below to show how he enjoyed it.

“Scott has a beautiful writing style and the world which his characters exists is both vivid and believable. He manages to combine an engaging story line with a new take on moral stance. The link to Christianity is interesting but not dominant that a non-Christian like me can enjoy it. If you enjoy reading books that are away from the norm, then I would highly recommend Scott's Ark of Humanity.” – James Hardy, on Amazon.com

Are there any unwritten rules for writing fantasy? How do you go about creating a fantasy world?

I give a lot of thought and planning to my books before I write them because they need to be both believable and fantastical at the same time. The author needs to create and build concepts that the reader believes could actually exist. And as for rules… That’s one thing I love about fantasy, there are no rules. The sky is the limit. As long as you ground it in believability and realistic human relations, you can do pretty much anything.

How long did it take to write your first book? How many re-writes do you think you did?

Two and a half years for The Ark of Humanity. I edited and re-edited the work again and again to get it just right. I also topped the charts of Authonomy, an author website, and put some valuable advice from HarperCollins to good use.
 
Did you go the normal route of seeking out a traditional publisher?

I did at first, sending out something like 15 to 20 submissions, and then I took a look around that realized I would rather self-publish and do this thing my way, getting higher royalties and putting my Public Relations degree to good use.
I’ve started up a self-published author group called BreakwaterHarbor Books with a young lady from London and am having a blast watching my sales and the group grow. We currently have an author named Mike Lee as a member who writes Sci-Fi and has been in Amazon’s top 100 for Kindle Sci-Fi for three months now. May we all have that kind of success in the future :) .

Are you active with any writer’s critique groups? If so, how have they helped you?  

I’m an Authonomy member, and the authors I’ve met there have been pertinent in helping me to become the level of author I am today. My gratitude to my fellow authors on Authonomy for their critiques and assistance is vast.

What is the best guidance an editor has ever given you?

I was once given some great advice, Edit it thoroughly three times yourself and find three other, writing minded individuals, to help with edits as well. I tend to trade off services for editing help and there is an author and gentleman named Ivan Amberlake who has helped with editing all of my books and was the main editor for three of those. He’s recently released an urban fantasy book titled The Beholder and it is a truly amazing work.

What type of publicity do you do to promote your book? 

Breakwater Harbor Books has been a great way to promote for me, along with word of mouth, Goodreads and Free Giveaways. Learning and selling has been an extremely fun ride.

What has surprised you the most about getting published that could have improved your writing sooner?

Confidence in my writing. I think going at writing and thinking you can’t do what the well know authors do just hinders you. When you have faith in yourself, that’s when your true strengths and abilities are able to shine.

What advice would you give someone who thinks they have a great novel in their brain just waiting to be told?

Write it. Begin it today and write one single-spaced page a day. You’ll be astonished at how fast your work is completed and how many people want to read it. Start today. It will be worth so much to you once it’s completed.

Below are links to Scott J. Toney's books on Amazon.com and Barnes&Noble.com.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=scott+toney

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/scott-toney?store=allproducts&keyword=scott+toney

As authors, the reviews of our works on Amazon.com and other sites move us. We have no control over these. They are the true feelings of our readers, good and bad, and so when we read a review we are excited to know what people who read our books experienced inwardly as they read. They carry great value to us as authors. The Beholder, Amberlake's debut Urban Fantasy novel, is no stranger to rave reviews and is already stacking them up on Amazon.com. Here is what people are saying about The Beholder! What will you say once you've experienced this well crafted Urban Fantasy?

“I was so sure that all the supernatural worlds were already exhausted. Vampires, werewolves, aliens, ghosts… Then Mr. Amberlake’s novel arrived, took me by surprise and left me totally speechless. A world that no one has ever thought existed suddenly appeared. A world so perfectly built you wonder where it has been hiding before.” ~ Becca

“Mr. Amberlake, in my opinion, has created a literary masterpiece. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys fantasy novels.” ~ Bethanie Armstrong

“If you are a fan of storylines similar to The Matrix, then The Beholder could be its literary counterpart in the UF genre.” ~ Sandy, The Reading Café

“Amberlake does an excellent job of melding plot, fantastical concepts, darkness and light with a love story between Jason and his very real feeling counterpart, Emily.” ~ Scott J. Toney

“The author clearly has a deep understanding of the English language with a vast vocabulary.” ~ Lourie

Follow the link below for more and for your Kindle or Paperback copy of The Beholder!

http://www.amazon.com/The-Beholder-ebook/dp/B00B7TG2DC/ref=sr_1_1_title_1_kin?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1363186287&sr=1-1&keywords=ivan+amberlake

Lazarus, Man, Christian / Historical Fiction

This is the story of Lazarus of Bethany, told through tale and tribulation. 
 
Darkness. Nothing. There was a void in the world around him, without light or sound. A heaviness weighed on Lazarus' soul as he grasped for being. He sensed in the darkness there had been light only moments before but he could not grasp what that light was. Suddenly he felt a pulse in his chest. Something heavy held  his body firm. Memories flooded through his mind of heat, cattle...family. The  world was somehow wrong.

He tried to move but found he could not, could not raise the heaviness above him. He smelt Earth. Then, with a thrust, he pushed his bound arms out of the cave soil he was buried in and braced them on the Earth, using his weakened strength to pull upward. Earth caved in about him as he rose from his grave, his  arms and legs bound with bandages. There was a cloth over his face he could not  remove. He saw a faint light before him through the cloth.

"Lazarus, come out," a voice beckoned. He walked slowly in his bandages toward the light and could feel a warm breeze move about him. The sun radiated in the cloth over his eyes. "Unbind him, and let him go," the voice returned. He  felt coarse hands on his arms as bandages were unwrapped from him. Coolness came  over his skin where they had been. Lazarus breathed heavily, unsure of what was  happening.

Hearts of Avon, Romantic Suspense / Christian

In Avon, a beach town along the Outer Banks of North Carolina, Ben is falling fast for the beautiful and intelligent Caroline, even as they both deal with her stalker ex-boyfriend who has followed her south on vacation.

As Ben learns the depths of the other man's madness his and Caroline's relationship runs into another wall, level 3 Hurricane Irene moving quickly toward the Outer Banks. When the storm arrives, all of their lives will be drastically changed.

How will they learn to cope with the consequences? When they are tested with a disaster on the brink of their comprehension, how will they pick up the pieces of their lives?

"Wow! Immediatly from the start you can feel the story moving and what followed was even better and kept me hooked! Nicely done... an entertaining  story that reads with ease." - YGPAC

The Ark of Humanity, Epic Fantasy / Religious Fiction

God flooded the earth to annihilate humanity's sins. What if that sinful race didn't die when floodwaters covered them but instead adapted to breathe water?

Under the depths of the ocean one boy has raised himself, until the day when he meets a dark-skinned man with news that will change the lives of his civilization forever.

Now he must save his people from another empire of water dwellers bent on enslaving the oceans and torturing his peaceful realm.

Yet another question is posed as he learns that his people are descended from humans that lived on the land above the ocean; a people that were destroyed by floods made by the rage of God.

If they have to, in order to escape, will they be able to breathe air and join whatever is left of the world above the waters?

What would they find there? Is the mythological Noah still alive?

Praise for The Ark of Humanity - "I can see comparisons to Philip Pullman's 'His Dark Materials' trilogy in some of the themes raised [in The Ark of Humanity]. As with Pullman's 'daemons', the relationship between the beings and their companions who transport them is particularly enjoyable, a relationship which also reminded me of the dragons in the film 'Avatar'. I can see this as a fantastic storyboard for a Pixar film." - HarperCollins

Eden Legacy, Epic Fantasy / Religious Fiction

Thomas, the young King of Havilah, is drawn to a forest beyond his lands. Here he discovers seven figs, fruit from the long forgotten Eden.

In the land of Cush, Princess Lilya suffers under the rule of her father, until the day when young King Thomas of Havilah invites her away to his lands. There, she hopes to find peace she has never known.

But Thomas has been drawn to a foreign land, to figs he hopes are from Eden and the Tree of Life. When he eats them to heal his wounds things change within him, distorting him in ways he could not predict.

Now Lilya must make a decision. Does she stand by Thomas's side or act to dispel the evil consuming his soul?

Amidst this world Lilya has befriended a dragon. There are secrets within the beast that could determine all their fates.

Praise for Eden Legacy - "...utterly believable and yet simultaneously fantastical! This is not unlike the styling of C.S. Lewis. It is an epic, fantasy tale that will hit home with all readers, and when the last page is reached, leave them with a thirst looking for more of Scott J. Toney's writings!" - Laura A. Diaz, author of Come What May

Breakwater Harbor Books would like to send a HUGE congratulations to author Melissa Simonson for climbing Amazon's Kindle charts to be ranked in the top 100 in Horror!

This is Simonson's first release and it is phenomenal to see Doubles doing so well! She is an addicting author. If you haven't yet checked her out, BHB highly suggests the read. You will be glad you did!

Cameron is twenty-one and drunk when she's abducted after a homecoming party. She doesn't know where she is, why this has happened to her, or anything about her new cellmate, Colin. She has time to figure it all out though—nothing but time.

Amy, Cameron's twin, doesn't think much of her sister's disappearance. She's got her own life to contend with. Since Cam has gone missing, Amy's been the glue holding her family together, but she's not bulletproof, and she can't shake the feeling that she's being watched. 

Sam has too much anger, a penchant for blondes, and a fondness for voyeurism and electromagnetic shock. He's good at hiding—not even his wife knows  he's a monster dressed in janitor's clothing. Maybe that's why he's gotten away  with his dark desires for so long.

EXCERPT FROM THE
BOOK


1

The body lay between us for what felt like hours. 

Looking back, I realize it was probably only a couple minutes. We watched it warily; we’d seen enough horror movies to know we couldn’t accept death so easily—surely it’d crack an eye open. 

Any minute now.

Colin kept the gun trained though, with a remarkably steady hand for someone who was wearing a shirt soaked with sweat. The single bulb that hung from the basement ceiling swayed, waltzing weak light over the corpse. 

I watched the light weave around my feet instead; they were less horrifying to look at. The splinters and abrasions that decorated my filthy toes didn’t hurt anymore. But I suspected they’d still need to be amputated so the necrosis wouldn’t spread.

My wrists didn’t hurt either. They’d been tied together for so long, I wondered if I’d lost nerve endings. I gave them an experimental wiggle. 

“Colin,”I whispered. It seemed like it’d been forever since I’d spoken.

He didn’t answer, didn’t blink, didn’t do anything at all but aim that dark hole in the gun barrel at the body between us. 
 
“Colin,”I said, louder this time, extending a finger toward the body. “…let’s get out of here.”

He still didn’t speak aloud, but he didn’t need to. We’d had enough silent conversations for me to get the gist of his thoughts. He looked at me, dead-eyed. His eyes had been dead since the moment I met him, and I wondered if they’d ever been alive. 

“One more minute,” he said. Flat. Deader than his eyes, even. 
 
A shudder tore through me. 
 
“Cameron, we’re safe now. We just need to make for goddamned sure that it’s gonna stay dead. Okay?”

He smiled when I nodded my assent, but it was a weak one. I appreciated it anyway, and hoped that he was right, that we’d be fine. The last time we thought we might make it out alive, there were three of us. Our number had dwindled. Only me and Colin now. Just a couple more minutes. A couple more minutes was nothing compared to the weeks we’d already been here.

Colin’s hand tensed on his weapon. He wasn’t going to take another gamble.


2

It was past one a.m., and the violet sky was pregnant with a full, bloated moon. He watched her stumble home through the college campus. Every now and then a dorm room door would burst open and more of them would tumble out, hideous pop music and drunken laughter puncturing the tepid air. Didn’t they have better things to get on with? Studying, perhaps? 
 
He slapped a mosquito and wiped its dead, brittle body from his elbow. 

She didn’t see him standing in the shadows as she lurched nearer. Typical that she’d be drunk. A drunk cheerleader, who would have thought.  He’d almost given up hope of ever finding her again.  Until tonight.  It had to be a sign—act now.  
 
The sway of her hips reminded him of the girls he’d gone to high school with. That and the blonde hair that bounced on her shoulders. It was natural blonde, he could tell when she walked underneath a streetlamp and it spotlighted her. No hideous dark roots on this little beauty. Gold, interwoven with copper and palest yellow—beautiful. 

He cocked his head, appraising her.  She looked the same as she had two years ago. Better, even.  Tight dark jeans and one of those tiny tank tops that didn’t entirely cover her ample chest. Strange how such a slim-hipped girl could be so endowed in the chest area. He rather liked it, though. 

He stepped out in front of her, and she nearly ran into him. 
 
“Whoops!” She crowed, and her voice grated his nerves. Too high and cheerful. Those voices only sounded nice when they were screaming. She steadied herself with his arm. Small hands, with a what kind of manicure—French? 
 
He laughed aloud when he thought about what those cute little hands would look like in a few weeks’ time. 

“What’s funny?” She asked, smiling up at him. A wide smile with pretty, plump lips, and two perfect rows of perfectly white teeth—how could he resist taking her? His other one was almost done. Made sense to snatch her when she’d been practically begging for it.  Again. Hadn’t learned her lesson the first time around.  What sort of girl stumbled home drunk at one in the morning? A slut, that sort of girl. 
 
But why didn’t she recognize him?  
 
He was quick with the duct tape. Any college janitor would have to be, he guessed, as he slammed a silver stretch of it over those sweet, glossy lips. Her eyes went wide, and the moon reflected in them. Pretty eyes too, lined with a full fringe of thick black lashes. The color was almost too beautiful to be confined to a face—it belonged to the ocean, or the sky. 
 
Her manicured fingers bit into his forearms as she struggled. Well drunk girls didn’t struggle for long. 

He spun her around and imagined he was dancing with her. He’d never really learned to waltz when they’d taught it in his high school P.E classes, but he liked his own dance better. His forearm snaked around her throat, the other hand in a fistful of pretty blonde hair. 
 
Her fighting increased, but only for a moment. Little thing like her couldn’t hold out for too long. Not in a choke hold, anyway. 
 
She fell against him, limp, and he flipped her back around to get a better look at that face. Her jaw hung slack and her eyes were closed. She’d painted her lids with black liner and nude shadows. Bedroom eyes. Even with her mouth hanging open in absolute oblivion, she was still pretty. 
 
His campus van wasn’t too far away, so he slung the girl over his shoulder like rolled-up rug and carted her out to it. When she was snug in the backseat, he was quick with his roll of duct tape once again, and wrapped it around her sexy little torso. Several times, because he’d learned, and the very fucking hard way, that more was best. He definitely didn’t want this one trying to bust free. 

Her eyelids began to flutter when he pulled back to shut the car door. He’d had this one before, and re-runs could be dull sometimes, he thought as he slammed the door. Same old shit, but maybe he’d be struck by a creative lightning bolt, come up with some new games they could play.


For more of this addicting Horror/Thriller follow the link below to Amazon.com!

http://www.amazon.com/Doubles-ebook/dp/B00BK7UE5I/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1361763442&sr=1-1&keywords=melissa+simonson

Breakwater Harbor Books is excited to announce the release of Mindy Haig's debut Romance/Chick Lit novel, The Wishing Place! BHB is excited to have a talent like Haig onboard. To discover a wonderful new book, read the pitch below!

The Wishing Place was magical. You went to sleep and you could be there, if it chose to take you. On those lucky nights you could do anything you wanted. You could have anything you could think to ask for. You could even see the future. But what if you had to wait 16 years for the vision to become reality?

Valerie Porter was a lonely little girl. Her world fell apart when Granny passed away and her parents troubled marriage ended in a bitter divorce. Her only solace lay in Granny's fairy tales and the secret Granny had shared with her alone - the secret of the Wishing Place. 

Granny said what The Wishing Place showed was real and would happen. She promised Valerie that there was true love out in the world meant for her. But a promise wasn't much to hold on to when Valerie became an unwelcome stepchild. 

One night, Valerie asked The Wishing Place to show her something special - something  really important. What she got was an eight-year-old boy named Nickolas Rossi  who was everything she could want in a friend. But was he just a dream or could  he fulfill Granny's promise and make happily ever after a reality?


For more of this wonderful Romance/Chic-Lit novel please follow the link below to Amazon.com!

http://www.amazon.com/The-Wishing-Place-ebook/dp/B00BNHQ9FE/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1362371918&sr=1-1&keywords=mindy+haig