About you.

Name:
Ivan Amberlake

Website:
http://www.ivanamberlake.weebly.com/

Other contacts/social media sites:  

Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/ivan.amberlake

 Goodreads:
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6907727.Ivan_Amberlake

 Twitter:
https://twitter.com/IvanAmberlake

Link to Amazon page and or any other place that your books can be purchased:
Amazon US Kindle: http://amzn.com/B00B7TG2DC


Amazon UK Kindle:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00B7TG2DC


Where did you grow up?
I grew up in Belarus, in a small, quiet town with a rich history and beautiful architecture. 

 
When did you start writing?
During my post-graduate course I had way too much free time, and I thought I should try something I’d never tried before. As I am an avid reader, the idea of writing my own book always appealed to me, so back then was a favorable time for me to start writing. 


What made you start writing?
Mostly the question of “Will I be able to write a book?” was what made me sit and type my first sentences. I got really excited when I realized that I can write something longer than a short story. From then on I kept sitting for hours and typing more and more. That was really exciting experience for me.

 
Is it something that you have always wanted to do?
To tell you the truth, I detested reading until the age of 15 when my English teacher offered me to read the first Harry Potter book. Writing a book was never on my mind until my university years, but I must say once you start writing a book, it’s difficult to stop. Now it’s what I really want to do, what I need to do, although there is often everyday life in the way.

 
What is your favorite genre to read, and do you have any favorite books or authors you would like to recommend?
I really enjoy urban fantasy and crime/thriller books. Too difficult to speak about favorite authors and books, there are too many of them. Right now I’m reading Velocity by Dean Koontz, and I’m rather enjoying it. 
 

What about to write?
Definitely fantasy with a paranormal twist. I also have an idea for a crime/thriller book, but I can’t say if I will ever get to writing it. I need to finish Books 2 and 3 of The Beholder Series first, then get to something new.

 
Do you write full time? If not, what do you do?
Unfortunately, no. Most of my day I teach English classes: morning, evening. I have only a couple of hours during the day, and an hour or two late at night, so finding even a few minutes for writing is
bliss.


Do you ever base your characters on anyone that you know, or are they solely from your imagination?
In most cases, my characters are partially based on the people I know. That helps me see them in a clearer way. But I never just took a person I know and inserted him/her into my novel. Perhaps I should do that sometime. It must be fun actually.

             
About your book                 
            

Tell us about your latest book. The story/plot.  
My debut paranormal fantasy novel, THE BEHOLDER, is an action-packed, fast-paced story set in modern-day New York. Here is the description:
 
Worlds of Light and Darkness are about to clash. And Jason will be in the thick of it.

In Asunción, Minsk and Sydney, people die under mysterious circumstances. Each branded with an arcane sign, they are pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. When more people are missing, with similar signs appearing in and around their homes, Jason, an average New Yorker, realizes the victims are a riddle addressed to him.

He is the final piece.

Emily appears, the most beautiful woman with extraordinary powers and startling amber eyes, and tells Jason that powers dormant within him are about to wake. In the world of Lightsighted and Darksighted, he is the only person who can prevent Darkness from enslaving the world. He is the Beholder whose advent has been awaited for many years.

Setting out on a journey with Emily, Jason discovers many improbable things like Sight, Soulfusion, the Hall of Refuge, but the greatest surprise arrives the moment he falls in love with Emily.

 
What gave you the idea?
There are a few threads in the book, and each of them is based on my ideas of the world around me. First of all, I always was intrigued by the idea of getting my mind into someone else’s body. That’s what Jason, the main character, is going through in the book.  


What genre is it?
Urban/Paranormal
Fantasy/Romance


Who is your favorite character?
I enjoy writing about all of my characters, good and evil. I love them in different ways. Jason, Debbie and Matthew, they are like siblings. Tyler is a very mysterious character, mainly because of his appearance and backstory. Emily is charming and irresistible. These characters are all different, therefore I enjoy writing about them so much.


And worst?
I’m not sure I can write about someone I don’t like, so I’m not sure if I have such characters. I think it will be up to the readers to decide if they like or dislike my characters. 


What are your hopes for it?
Every writer wants his or her book to become a best-seller, right? Well, I do believe that I have a marketable novel, and all I need (as most of us do) is a little push at the start, mainly from people who don’t know me. I’m going to make my Kindle book free on Amazon and Smashwords soon, and if people leave their reviews on my book and give their honest opinion, they will help me get closer to that dream.


What’s the next project that you’re working on?
I’m working on two books right now. One of them is Book 2 of The Beholder Series called Path of the Heretic, and the other one is a YA Paranormal Fantasy called Diary of the Gone, which is about a boy who has to write in his diary to ward off the dead that keep haunting him. Not sure if this is going to be a novel or a novella, but I must say my wife and my friends really like the idea of this book.


What’s the best piece of advice that you have been given in regards to your writing?
A friend of mine, Yannis Karatsioris, once advised me to put my characters in hell, and make them find a way out of this hell. It was one of the best pieces of advice that inspired me to add more action (more chapters actually) into my book than there used to be. So put your characters in impasses then let them find a way out of there. That’s what people like reading about.


To check out Ivan Amberlake's debut Paranormal Thriller follow the links below to Amazon.com!

Amazon US

Amazon UK

 

About you. I live outside Fredericksburg, VA. Our lake community is flanked by historic battlefields and farms – making the area very peaceful and family-friendly. I have two daughters, one fifteen years and the other seventeen months. My husband contracts for the government and is the most hardworking person I’ve ever met- leaving our home at four AM every day to travel the 1.5 hours to work. On the bright side, he comes home to us by three PM every day – leaving us ample family time before bed. Few things are more important to me than family. Having said that, writing books are a birthing process and the characters I write become like family.

 

Name: Eli Constant. My full name is actually Elizabeth Constantopoulos, but try putting that on a book cover. It either has to be a small font or broken into two lines. Not pretty formatting-wise. I find I really love my ‘pen name.’

Website: www.eliconstant.com

Other contacts/social media sites:  eli.constant.writes@gmail.com , Twitter: Author_EliC

Link to Amazon page and or any other places Dead Trees can be purchsed:

Amazon (kindle) http://www.amazon.com/Dead-Trees-The-Underground-ebook/dp/B00APYKD7G/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1360254200&sr=8-2&keywords=dead+trees%2C+eli

Barnes&Noble (nook) http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dead-trees-elizabeth-constantopoulos/1114013956?ean=2940016116440

 

Where did you grow up? I was born in Florida. My father was in the military so we moved rather frequently. I spent the majority of my formative years in Washington State and South Carolina.

What school did you go to? Out of high school, I headed to Columbia College – a small women’s establishment in Columbia, SC. I quite enjoyed it there, but eventually, found the all-girl environment a bit limiting. Summer after Sophomore year, I completed a research fellowship at Texas A&M – Corpus Christi, TX. I fell in love with, not only the beach-y feel of the college, but also the well-funded science program. Senior year, I moved to Virginia outside DC to be near my family. After marrying my husband, I attended George Mason University in Fairfax, VA. I began my college career focusing on pre-medical. With each transfer, I found myself changing majors – struggling to figure out who I was and what I was meant to contribute to the world. Eventually, I settled on Biology. It was logical as I had the most credits in the sciences. I honestly don’t think I’ll ever be ‘finished’ with schooling.

When did you start writing? Years and years ago, when I was quite young. My grandmother has all my scribbling somewhere. I actually attended an art school and majored in creative writing the year before high school. Being a military family though, I was unable to go to the school long. This was probably a good thing as I had a creative writing teacher that lived for red ink on paper. I sometimes wonder if I would have written a book sooner if not for the discouragement of that teacher. In high school, I won the top award for a creative short story at a regional competition day. I don’t remember what the story was about exactly, but do remember it involved alien space-ducks, a little boy, and a lost yellow umbrella. 

What made you start writing? I’m not sure… maybe I was just born with the ‘itch.’

Is it something that you have always wanted to do? Yes, but I don’t think I admitted it to myself until about a year ago. I worked my hodgepodge of jobs post-college, staying the longest at a pathology lab in Sterling, VA. I took a short sabbatical from pathology and then back to it – I think after that break from the sciences, I began to realize that maybe I was walking the wrong path. Having my daughter and having the ability to stay home while she is young, has afforded me the opportunity to really dive into writing. Now I find, I can’t seem to stop.

What is your favourite genre to read, and do you have any favourite books or authors you would like to recommend? I’ve always been an avid Science Fiction fan, but I also have a great love for classics and historical fictions. I’ll never turn down and Orson Scott Card read – his work is fantastic, especially the Ender’s Game series and Alvin Maker series. Although Magic Street ranks up there too. I also quite love author Libba Bray. She has a trilogy that feels very Victorian, but beautifully weaves in the supernatural (the first book is A Great and Terrible Beauty).

What about to write? So far, I’m finding I like to write in varied genres. Dead Trees is a dark thriller with SciFi elements. Tears of Chios is an urban fantasy with mystery elements. DRAG.N. is a political semi-satire. I honestly think genre definitions are objective and sometimes unnecessary. More often than not, a book will be multi-genre and that’s what makes it so successful, layered, and dynamic.

Do you write full time? I mother fulltime right now; I write secondary to that.
 
_

Your latest book is Dead Trees, tell us all about the story/plot.  What’s it about?

Here’s the pitch for Dead Trees:

A scientist mommy battling beasties better be handy with a scalpel.

Elise Swanson is trying to give her daughters a decent childhood. This should be a simple task, but the invading undergrounders – subterranean humanoids that have existed since the dawn of mankind – make outdoor playtime a tad tricky.

After fleeing Georgia and surviving six months of bumbling self-sufficiency, Elise and her daughters meet Jason. He's tough and nature-savvy. Pit stop fights with beasties define the survival-road that the four companions navigate. The bloody pavement finally ends in Washington State at a government safe zone where the trekkers hope to build a stationary life.

A little rest and rehab would be nice, but Elise is quickly led down a path of research and deception where humanity's future isn't a priority. She becomes leader of a secret plan and long nights in the lab keep her busy. She strives to destroy the undergrounders and the life of an underhuman crossbreed hangs in the balance.

Haphazardly conceived and manufactured, the H2H (Humanoid-to-Human) chromosome-targeting nanotech has a small probability of success, but Elise has to believe it will work. Hour by hour, she becomes less confident and more emotionally compromised by the rapidly growing, stunning underhuman. Her maternal nature leads to a late-night escapade resulting in a platinum-haired, third daughter and a million uncertainties.

Fleeing her home, Elise had two loved ones to shelter. That number has risen. When the not-so-safe zone is invaded by beasties, she will save her family... no matter the consequences.

DEAD TREES is a 111k word, mature-reader Dystopian that weaves horror, levity, and science. Underneath the layers of storyline, a simple core exists – the limitless distance a mother will go to protect her children, both physically and mentally

_

What gave you the idea for Dead Trees? It all started driving home from visiting my parents. My dad had about half a dozen large, white sealable paint buckets in his basement – each were filled with a dry foods product. Next thing I knew, I had my recorder out and I was dictating the first chapter to what would become Dead Trees.

 

Who is your favourite character? That’s a bit of a tossup. I quite like Elise – finding she is, in my opinion, a very real character with very understandable worries and challenges. Then again, I’m also quite in love with Sheila-2 / Meg. The challenges she will face in the world are impossible to predict or quantify.  

 

You recently self-published. What made you decide to go down this route instead of the traditional way?  I find self-publishing gives me a certain sense of control.

 

What are your hopes for Dead Trees? I hope Dead Trees will continue to be well-received and my number of readers will slowly increase. As a debut, I’m quite happy with it. I must confess though, self-editing was a very difficult task. Even after publishing, it took me a month to work out all the kinks. Now though, I am confident that when someone purchases Dead Trees, the will be getting a put-together product. Having said that, I’m sure there’s a misplaced comma or two  - they are tricky little buggers after all. 

 

Tell us about DRAG.N DRAG.N. It’s a novella. It’s a brief, (~20k word) imaginative look at the future of America – paying special attention to a stylized viewpoint of National Healthcare. It’s been quite fun to write and was spawned during a writing contest hosted by the Kernel Magazine of London.  After DRAG.N., I’ll be hard at work preparing Tears of Chios for a late Summer release.

 

What’s the best piece of advice that you have been given in regards to your writing? Go with your gut. Just like with childrearing, a book is best ‘raised’ by its parent.

_

Additional Questions:

Q1. At the end when the beasties are screeching, does that mean they are near the camp? Ah, spoiler-alert! Guess it doesn’t ruin too much though. Yes, at the end of the book, wild-beasties have been attracted to the camp by the military helicopters. That’s all I’m saying though.

Q2. When is the sequel out? Dark Wombs: The Underground, Book Two has been planned out to the last detail. I’m hoping to tackle it after Tears of Chios is out. I wouldn’t expect it until end of this year or beginning of 2014 though.

Q3. Bone-popping sound of Undergrounder joints: I supposed I was a bit sick of the overly-used norm for sounds in regards to monsters/humanoids/alien antagonists. I felt like it was always hissing- reptilian like. I do take some inspiration from reptiles in the jerking of the heads back and forth. Anyway, it dawned on me that as the undergrounders adapted and became 'more humane-esque' that the legs (originally inverted) were moving forward and that would bring with it some bone-on-bone contact and deterioration of cartilage. So I envisioned these changing joints rubbing together- thus, the sound. Hope that makes sense.

Ivan Amberlake's THE BEHOLDER has a fresh cover! Check it out, and after you do, head on over to Amazon.com for your own copy of this thrilling URBAN FANTASY! 99 cents for a limited time!

Worlds of Light and Darkness are about to clash. And Jason will be in the thick of it.

In Asunción, Minsk and Sydney, people die under mysterious circumstances. Each branded with an arcane sign, they are pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. When more people are missing, with similar signs appearing in and around their homes, Jason, an average New Yorker, realizes the victims are a riddle addressed to him. He is the final piece.

Emily appears, a beauty with startling amber eyes, and tells Jason that powers dormant within him are about to wake. In the world of Light- and Darksighted, he is the only person who can prevent Darkness from enslaving the world. 

Setting out on a journey with Emily, Jason discovers many improbable things like Sight (the ability to see Energy Threads), Soulfusion, the Hall of Refuge, but the greatest surprise arrives the moment he sees Emily and finds Real Love.

Follow the link below for your 99 cents Kindle copy or $6.65 Paperback copy of The Beholder!

The Beholder

Below is the recent interview by author Mary Fan of Breakwater Harbor Books' author Ivan Amberlake. To visit Mary Fan's website follow this link.
http://zigzagtl.blogspot.com/2013/04/author-interview-ivan-amberlake.html
__________________________________________________



 

The Beholder
tells the story of an ordinary New Yorker, Jason, who learns about his critical role in a supernatural battle between good and evil. What inspired this story? How did you develop the idea of the Sighted?


Before I started writing The Beholder, I only had an image of a man standing on top of a skyscraper, with a thunderstorm raging around him. This image was so powerful that it inspired me to start writing chapter after chapter, something that I’d never done before. The scene that I had in mind was initially a prologue, but I decided to move it closer to the end of the book.

Frankly speaking, The Beholder wasn’t supposed to be a fantasy book at first, but it just happened to transform into one as I was greatly influenced by Sergei Lukyanenko’s "Watch" Series. I wished to create something like this, yet new, and the Lightsighted and Darksighted were born.

Why did you choose New York as your setting?

From the beginning I knew the story would be set in a city with lots of skyscrapers, so my choice was between Moscow and New York—cities I’ve never been to, yet would love to visit sometime in the future. I picked New York because of its grandeur and glamor, but it doesn’t mean that part of the series won’t happen in Moscow or any other city of the world. One of The Beholder chapters is set in Minsk, Belarus, and I intend to let my characters travel to other cities and countries in the books to come.

What is your favorite scene in The Beholder? Could you please describe it?

Frankly speaking, I can’t choose just one, probably because The Beholder is not a one-genre book, but has elements of fantasy, sci-fi and romance in it, so if my favorite fantasy scene would be the one I’ve described above, my favourite romantic scene is the one in Chapter 23 where Jason and Emily are strolling around the estate garden and come up to two trees with a hammock tied to them. This is where and when Jason and Emily say they love each other, and also the point at which the story takes a darker turn.


Do you consider yourself as having a particular writing style?

When writing I always try to visualize what is going on and then describe the scene. I get inside my characters’ minds and try to show what they feel. I stick to the principle of “Less is more” by using the right amount of narrative, dialogue and descriptions.

Can you tell us a bit about your writing process? How much did The Beholder change from first draft to publication?

With The Beholder, I just sat down and started hammering the keys without thinking much about what I was writing. Frankly speaking, I often think that the book wrote itself, because when rereading the first draft I sometimes wondered how I could write this scene or that. Of course, after my first draft was ready I started editing heavily. It was great luck for me to come across a writers’ community Authonomy.com, where I met lots of great people who helped me understand the principles of modern writing. The book would never be the way it is now if not for them. So when The Beholder was finished, it was completely different from the first draft.

Among the characters in The Beholder, do you have a favorite?

Oh, they are all my favorites, each of them in his or her own fashion. If we take Jason Walker, the main character, his transformed self closer the end of the book is what I’ve wanted my own self to be. As for Emily Ethan, who Jason falls in love with, she was greatly inspired by my wife, so she’s definitely one of my favorites as well. I can’t help liking even my evil characters because they are part of the story that helps me show a world I have within to my readers. Without these characters the story would be incomplete.

Can you tell us a bit about Breakwater Harbor Books, who is listed as The Beholder’s publisher?

Well, BHB is not exactly a publisher, but rather a group of self-published authors who promote each other in different ways: on Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, Authonomy, and on the last pages of our books where more releases of BHB authors are recommended. Scott J. Toney and Cara Goldthorpe are the founders of this group. Both helped me immensely with The Beholder, and I’m grateful to them and other members for their support.

What’s your favorite part of writing? Dialogue? Descriptions? Plotting?

I think it’s the descriptions. Plotting usually gives me a splitting headache, and while writing dialogue I always question myself: “Do people talk like that in real life?”, so I think the best part of writing for me is describing the scenes, especially the ones with lots of action and tension. That’s where I’m in my element.

Are you working on anything new?

As crazy as my real life is at the moment, it’s really hard to find the time to write, though I should say I’m writing Book 2 of The "Beholder" Series, which is called Path of The Heretic, and I also hope to finish my YA Paranormal/Horror Novel (Novella) called Diary of the Gone which tells about a boy haunted by the dead. The boy can only stop the dead from following him by writing in an old diary he accidentally finds, yet at some point the diary disappears and his life turns into a nightmare.

The  Beholder is available  at: Amazon US (Kindle e-book), Amazon  US (paperback), Amazon  UK (Kindle e-book), Amazon  UK (paperback)

Breakwater Harbor Books is excited to announce the release of Melissa Simonson's newest Crime Thriller, Hazard Pay! Simonson is best known for her hit Thriller/Horror novel, Doubles, and this is her third release. For a taste of this addicting new author, read the pitch and exerpt below!

Allison and her brother Miles have been on their own as long as they remember, but they’re not doing badly— they’ve got two million in an overseas account. The downside is that how they make their living is illegal.

The second drawback is Reid.

A lie seals her death warrant when Reid decides it’s high time for house-cleaning. She escapes with the aid of an unlikely partner, but Miles isn’t as lucky.

Bobby—Allison’s savior—tells her to run. It’s what Miles would have wanted. He’s right. But she can’t leave and allow her brother’s murderers to carry on with their business.

Murderous vengeance isn’t healthy, Bobby says. It’ll lead her to a very dark place. Maybe she’d pay his advice more mind if he weren’t enforcement for a drug kingpin.

She doesn’t know when she’ll feel whole again or if it’ll ever happen, but there’s one thing she wants before worrying about the healing process: blood.

EXCERPT FROM THE
BOOK

ONE

The same tired song kept playing on the radio, but I didn't want to change the station and mess up my brother's presets.  He was touchy about his things.  I didn’t blame him.  I was too.

“I know what you're thinking, and forget it.  I like this song.”

“I did too, before they played it a thousand and five times every hour.”

I felt Miles roll his eyes, though I couldn't see him. 

“How much longer?”  I knotted my arms over my seatbelt.  “It's been goddamned forever.”

“It's been twenty minutes.  Relax.”

I scowled.  He knew I hated being told to relax, but it didn’t stop him saying it. “You should tell these assholes to be on time for once.  This is bullshit.”

“They make the rules.  They can be three hours late. Nothing we can do about it.”

I puffed out a sigh, jiggling my knee.  “Nobody believes in punctuality anymore.  When I say I'm gonna be somewhere at eight, I'm there at eight.”

Miles switched off the ignition.  “Shut up.”

“I'm just saying.”

“Pardon me for laboring under the delusion that you didn't believe in anything.”

I had to grow up way too fast.  We both did.  There was nothing for me to believe in except rules dictated by common courtesy.  Like punctuality.

I’d have told him as much, but a car rounded the corner into the parking lot we’d been stationed in for the last twenty minutes.  The headlights flooded our Chevy’s interior, and through my own slitted eyes I saw Miles flinch as well.

The car pulled up beside ours and killed the lights.

Miles didn't move, and when I turned to face him, he gave me one of those, 'well what are you waiting for?' expressions.  He looked pathetic with that black eye, and I wondered when it’d fade.  He'd gotten it nearly a week ago.

“What?”

“I thought you dealing with him this time.  Bryan's an asshole.  He likes you better since he's a perv.”

I heaved a melodramatic sigh, grabbed the plastic container by my feet, and wrenched the door open.  “You're a real crybaby sometimes,” I told my brother, before slamming it shut.

Miles was right.  Bryan was an asshole.  And it pissed me off he drove a car worth a hundred K when we were in a run-down Chevy.  We could have bought a decent car since we had enough money but Miles quashed the idea as soon as I'd uttered it.  He thought nice cars were pretentious, screamed LOOK AT ME, and he didn't want to draw attention to ourselves.  He was probably right.

I shifted the container on my hip and stopped at Bryan's door.  He rolled the window down and peered out at me.

A smile split his face.  “I haven't seen you in a while.”

“Yeah, well, I've been busy.”

“Doing what?” 

I rustled the container's contents.  “What the fuck do you think I've been doing?  It doesn't make itself.”

“We got a scale in the backseat.”  The man in the passenger’s seat elbowed Bryan.  “Check the weight.”

 “You wouldn’t lie, right?” He asked me with a steely smile, a quiet menace slithering through his voice.  Bryan looked jolly, like an overgrown teddy bear, but I knew better.  I’d seen him plunge a screwdriver into someone’s eye a week ago, the same day he’d given my brother that beautiful shiner.

“I don’t have any reason to.  It’s just business.  Never lied to you before.” 

He chuckled and turned to the man beside him. “Get the lady the case.” 

Bryan dug in his breast pocket and unearthed a piece of paper as Felix came around with a suitcase.

“We dumped our phones.  You can reach me at this number now. Might be a good idea to ditch yours too.  Avoid whatever fallout might happen.”

“Fallout of what?” I asked as Felix thrust the suitcase at me. 

“Cops been cracking down harder than normal.  Can’t ever be too careful.”  His engine roared to life and his car rolled forward a few inches.  He smiled again. It looked pretty phony in my professional opinion.  “Tell your brother I said hi.”

***

I dropped bags of groceries onto our kitchen table.  The microwave clock ticked over to ten p.m.  About time for the weirdos to come out and play.  Scottsdale was chock-full of freaks.

I shrugged out of my jacket and slung it over a chair.  “We need to get out of this.  I’m sick of Bryan.”

Miles took his sweet time unpacking cartons of yogurt.  He didn’t meet my eyes, standing there separating my flavors (strawberry and chocolate) from his (key lime pie and lemon meringue). “We will soon.  Whatever he meant by ‘fallout’ can’t be anything good.”

No kidding.  ‘Fallout’ meant getting caught.  Getting caught would land us in jail, and I doubted I’d survive a prison sentence.  I had a hard time knowing when to shut up, and I didn’t think I’d be able to handle being separated from Miles. 

He unscrewed the cap off a jug of milk and drank from the carton.  A trickle slid down the dimple in his chin.  There was a reason we bought two different jugs each trip to the grocery store.  My brother was a pig.  Most people thought we were twins, but I was glad we weren’t.  If he was a pig outside the womb, I didn’t want to know what he was like inside one. 

Miles wiped the residue off with the back of his hand.  “We’ll figure something out.  I’ll try to talk to Reid.  Find out what’s happened.  Bryan’s not exactly brilliant.”

I chewed my lip.  “Let’s move to Aruba.  You can fish all day.”

“You knew there’d be some consequences.  There’s repercussions with everything, especially in this business.  We’ll get out when we can.  And you don’t eat fish.”

More complications.  It wasn’t something I’d planned on since we’d been doing well as of late, so all I could do was shrug half-heartedly.  He was probably right.  He usually was.   I turned my back and upended another grocery bag.  

“I want you to visit Mom with me tomorrow.  It’s almost her birthday.” 

I chucked a container of cottage cheese into our refrigerator so hard it burst open, the plastic film splitting down the middle and vomiting curdled milk.

“You go.  I’m staying home.”

He sighed and sank into a seat.  “When are you going to let it go?  She’s different.  I can tell.”  The kitchen lights bore down on his chestnut hair, auburn strands morphing into crimson. 

I pushed my sleeves to my elbows and retrieved a sponge from the sink. “She’s always been a good actress.”

“That’s not fair.  Drugs screw people up.  You know that, seeing what we see every day.”

“I was never stupid enough to use in the first place.  Neither were you, and we had plenty of opportunities.  I don’t want anything to do with her.”

He let me win.  Miles knew when to accept defeat.  Plus I screamed louder than him, and my raised voice gave him eye twitches.

“One day she won’t be around.  And you’ll wish you’d gone to see her.”

“When that day happens,” I told him, aiming a vicious swipe at a sludgy trail of cottage cheese, “I’ll give you my cut.” 

I heard the smile in his voice, even with my head stuck in the fridge.  “An extra three hundred thousand’s nothing to sneeze at.  Deal.”   

***

When I slumped into the kitchen at seven a.m., Miles was mysteriously absent.  He normally didn’t make it out of his bedroom until noon when I turned the thermostat to HELL to smoke him out from underneath those Star Wars bedcovers.  He’d never make it to night classes otherwise.   

He left a note on the kitchen table, but only half of his cramped scrawl was decipherable.  Something about visiting Mom. Maybe he still thought of her as ‘Mom’ but the tamest thing I’d called her was Vicki.

He’d propped a photograph against salt and pepper shakers.  A yellowed one depicting our family when we were solid, unblemished.  Before Vicki started using, when she looked happy, and when my father was alive.  Miles and I were chubby toddlers in near matching attire, born sixteen months apart.  He was older, which I supposed was the reason he thought he was Head Bitch in Charge.

We had the same hair, a wavy chestnut.  Exactly the shade of Vicki’s, but life in jail had likely turned it gray.  Not that I cared.  She ruined her chances with me the day she got so twacked out she decided to stab our father forty-seven times with a steak knife.

Miles remembered the incident better than I did.  He was five, and had been the one to dial 9-1-1.   I was four, and did nothing but stand there whimpering at the ocean of blood on our kitchen floor while our mother stood at the sink, humming Pop Goes the Weasel as she rinsed the knife off.

Understanding his unconditional love for that woman was something I doubted I’d ever be able to do, though I figured males—normal ones anyway—always had a soft spot for their mothers.  I only had a soft spot for Miles and iced peppermint lattes.

I turned the snapshot face-down and plunked the salt shaker over it.  Miles would have gotten mad if I’d torn it to shreds, the way I’d done with all the other old pictures.

“Fuck you,” I said, and turned to brew some coffee.

The counters were piled with thick wads of cash Miles unpacked the previous night.  I hated math, anything to do with numbers, so he’d nominated himself treasurer of our little family operation.

My cell phone buzzed, connected to its charger beside the money.  I turned it sideways to view the caller I.D.  Bryan.

He didn’t wait for my ‘hello’.

“Your product was light yesterday,” he told me over some horrific techno song in the background. “I don’t like being lied to.”

I cradled the phone between my shoulder and ear.  “It wasn’t when I weighed it.  Maybe some of your co-workers have been dipping into the stock when you’re not looking.  Terrance looks pretty shady.”

“It went straight from your hands to mine.  Either your scale’s broken or you’re a liar.”

I dumped a scoop of coffee grounds into a filter.  “Look, if it’s light—and it’s not, because I checked—then it was an honest mistake.  We’ll make up for it next time.”

“Mistakes are still mistakes, and I think you know pretty well Reid doesn’t give out many second chances.”

“I think he’d make allowances since it’s not likely you’ll find much better.  Everyone else’s shit sucks.  And they’re tweakers.”

“I’ll be in touch.  Reid’ll decide what to do about this.”

I pressed the power button, and the coffee maker puffed to life.  “When am I gonna meet him, anyway?  Miles has.”

“He won’t deal with women.  They’re too emotional.”

“I think I should sinceI keep hearing his name thrown around.  When can you make that happen?”  It was hard to keep the pent-up frustration from my voice.  I knew we couldn’t meet everyone involved; it was for our own protection, but it didn’t stop me from being annoyed I’d been kept in the dark on certain aspects.

His laugh was a soft, secretive one I was long used to hearing. “Probably sooner than you want to, honey.”

“I’m not your ‘honey,” I spat, but Bryan had already disconnected.

***

Miles wasn’t back by the time I needed to hit the road, so I left without him.  He took the train when he visited Vicki, so the piece of crap Chevy was still in our assigned space, baking under Arizona heat. 

“I hate you,” I told it, before climbing inside.

Miles and I based our operation in a storage facility owned by a guy he’d met at some bar.  We rented the north block of units to keep the smell at a minimum, and Jimmy falsified records so they reflected renters of different names. 

The storage facility sat in an industrial center, next door to a factory that belched foul vapors morning, noon, and night.  The odor was disgusting but helpful when it came to masking the acrid steam Miles and I made while cooking.

Jimmy lounged in a swivel chair when I swung into his office.  He didn’t lift his gaze from the television mounted on the wall.  “It’s pay day.”

I rolled my eyes, slapping a few belted wads of hundreds on the counter next to his phone.  “Don’t I know it.  You remind us every day how long it is till pay day.”

The constant reminders were one of his more annoying habits, but we paid him to look the other way and go about business like nothing illegal took place right under his nose.  In the event he got incarcerated, we’d agreed to shell out a flat one hundred thousand as hazard pay so he wouldn’t decide to spill his guts to a pushy cop about who he worked for.  But even if he did, all Jimmy had were our first names.  Miles and I were the only people he dealt with.

Jimmy looked around when a commercial interrupted the Mexican soap opera.  He didn’t speak Spanish so why he watched them remained a mystery, though I suspected it was because the women wore next to nothing. 

“Where’s Miles?”

“Why do you care?  All that matters is you get your money.  And you got it.”

“Miles is a little more nice.”  He thumbed through wads of cash with lazy fingers. 

“Miles is better at being fake.”

He waved an airy hand.  “Tell him I said hi, then.”

“Tell him yourself next time you see him.” I pushed the swinging door open and headed for the northern block of units. 

I held my breath upon entering because the smell made manure pleasant, and groped in my purse for a surgical mask.  When I’d locked the door behind myself, I checked on the latest batch drying in baking sheets.

Smashing it to bits was probably my favorite part of the cooking nightmare.  Thick, long shards were one of the things our meth was known for.  That and its ice-white color.  One of our foster brothers had been a cook, and he’d taught Miles the ropes.

Foster care was good for something.  We wouldn’t have six hundred thousand dollars in the linings of our mattresses, beneath floorboards, and hidden our apartment walls without Foster Brother Eddy.  When I aged out of the system I came to live with Miles, and our operation snowballed from there. 

Eddy worked with us in the beginning until a meth lab exploded and gave him third degree chemical burns.  He died in the hospital.  Miles made us wear stupid hazmat suits from then on. 

I tapped the mallet over the smooth surface, and the impact sent rippling cracks through the dried meth.  When the bulk had been broken up, I slipped on a pair of latex gloves to examine it.

Miles insisted on gloves, too.  Apparently you’d still fail a drug test if you handled meth with bare hands, since skin absorbed the chemicals.  I always said the probability of our being subjected to a test was low because we weren’t involved in selling, rendering it unlikely we’d get caught in the middle of a deal.  And then there was the fact that Miles and I hid under covers of being college students scraping by on our respective FAFSA grants and an inheritance from our grandmother.  

I was dumping shards from the baking sheet when my ass started buzzing.  I ripped the gloves from my hands, pulled out my phone, and answered. 

“Take your mask off,” Miles said.  “I can barely hear you.”

I peeled it off and balled it in my fist.  “Where are you? When are you getting back?”

“Don’t you want to know how Mom’s doing?”

“That’s a stupid question.”

He sighed.  “I should be at the train station in a few hours.  I’ll call you when I’m pulling in.  I’m gonna need you to pick me up.”

I threw the slanted metal scraper down on the workstation. “When the hell did I become Mary Fucking Poppins?  I gotta clean the apartment since you’re a slob, break up this batch, pay off Jimmy the Idiot, and come pick you up?  Call a taxi.”

“You’re a pain in the ass.”

“Takes one to know one,” I told him, though he’d hung up on me. 

Why does everyone hang up on me? I fumed, snapping the mask back on. 

***

The apartment was empty by the time I made it home.  I dropped my purse on the counter and blew out a sigh.  The job of stashing money and cleaning up had fallen to me, as per usual. 

My call to Miles’s cell went unanswered, and I figured he was still irritated about our earlier conversation.  For someone who claimed to be a burgeoning mixed martial artist, my brother acted more womanly than me.

I sprayed Windex over the counters and wiped the tile in lazy spirals, wondering whether I should be worried.  Did trains get into accidents often?  I’d never been a passenger on one since I’d eat my own face before visiting Vicki. 

The clock struck eight p.m. by the time I started to freak.  How likely was it something bad happened?  Hadn’t I already reached my lifetime tragedies quota? 

“You’re being an ass, you know,” I told his voicemail on the fifth unanswered call.  “If you’re trying to teach me a lesson, fine, you win.  I’ll come get you.  Call me back, for Christ’s sake.”

The line disconnected me after a few more choice swears, so I slammed my phone on the kitchen table.  Immediately after I did, it buzzed with an incoming call.

“Where the hell are you?” I yelled.  “And don’t give me some line about no cell service.”

The voice on the other end laughed, and it sounded nothing like Miles.

“Who the fuck is this?”  I demanded.  “Put my brother on.”

“My name is Reid.  I’ve heard a lot about you.  Your brother’s sitting right here.”

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

http://www.amazon.com/Hazard-Pay-ebook/dp/B00CFT5EWS/ref=sr_1_4_title_0_main?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1366464200&sr=1-4&keywords=melissa+simonson

Mary Fan, the author of the sci-fi novel Artificial Absolutes, has posted her review of The Beholder today!

Here is what she says about the book:

"In present day New York, Jason, an ordinary man with an office job at an  interior design firm, learns that his nightmares are more than just bad  dreams. In them, he sees a man of great evil, Pariah, pursuing a young  woman with amber eyes. Both disturbed and intrigued, he soon finds out  that the dreams are in fact supernatural visions, a glimpse into a  supernatural world of light and dark energies.

Meanwhile, Jason  hears reports of people around the world dying under mysterious  circumstances. Each body is left branded with an arcane symbol. After  realizing the bodies are a riddle addressed to him, Jason
encounters the  amber-eyed woman, Emily, who tells him that he possesses dormant abilities of great power. In addition, he may be the only person who can  keep darkness from enslaving the world.

The Beholder is an  imaginative urban fantasy that takes a reader into a captivating world  of magic and mystery.
Amberlake weaves his world in vibrant images,  wrapping each scene in colorful descriptions that make the story easy to  visualize. The reader follows Jason as this world is slowly revealed to  him. The supernatural elements, such as Sight and Soulfusion, are well  explained, as the reader learns what Jason learns. 

There’s an  ebb and flow to the pace of The Beholder, which works well for its story  line. It draws you in by setting up the mystery at the very beginning,  then slows down to let you look around. The action scenes, each a  vividly portrayed fight between good and evil, are exciting and  thrilling, and it’s easy to get lost in the language. Jason is a likable  protagonist who’s easy to sympathize with, especially since Amberlake  lays out his internal thoughts, allowing the reader to see what he sees,  feel what he feels. Some chapters are written from the perspectives of  other characters, giving the reader a 360 degree view of the story.

While  the plot of The Beholder focuses on the supernatural battle between  good and evil, Amberlake highlights the human element of the struggle  through his characterizations and relationships. As Jason follows Emily  into the realm of the Sighted, he also finds himself falling for her,  which adds an element of romance to the story. It also ups the personal  stakes for Jason as he heads toward the book’s climatic battle. In  addition, Jason’s close friends, Matt and Debbie, end up getting  involved, and so by the end, Jason is fighting not only for humanity, but for those he cares about most.

Amberlake writes with a poetic lilt, bringing his story to life through intricate language. For  instance, here’s a description from early in the book:

“[Jason]  burst through the revolving doors and into the outdoors, and ran into a  nearly solid wall of heat. Even in the shade of the skyscrapers, he  found it difficult to breathe. He paced, restless. Needing to walk off  some of his anger, he thrust his hands in his pockets, then started  roaming the streets, weaving through the rush hour crowd.”

Well  written and wonderfully inventive, The Beholder is a highly entertaining  book and a relatively fast read. The supernatural concept at the center  of the story is unique, intriguing, and leaves you wanting more."

I'm truly humbled by this amazing review! Thank you so
much, Mary! - Ivan Amberlake

http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/581995640

http://amzn.com/B00B7TG2DC

Follow the link below to Mary Fan's Blog.

http://zigzagtl.blogspot.com/2013/04/review-beholder-ivan-amberlake_14.html

Below is an interview and review done recently with The Reading Cafe at http://thereadingcafe.com/

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I recently had the opportunity to read THE BEHOLDER by Ivan Amberlake and was so impressed that I thought I would bring the author to you.

TRC: Hi Ivan and welcome to The Reading Café. Congratulations on the release of THE BEHOLDER.

Ivan: Thank you. It’s an exciting time for me, and I hope it will go on like this for as long as possible.

TRC: We would like to start with some background information. Would you please tell us something about yourself?

Ivan: I was born and live in Belarus, a small state bordering on Russia and Ukraine. “Amberlake” is a pen name I chose because I felt my real name would be difficult to pronounce and remember for most native speakers.

For a few years I’ve been working as a teacher of English, but now my ambition is to become a full-time writer, as writing is what makes me tick. I’m an avid reader of fantasy, proofreader, freelance editor, and member of a self-published writers’ group called Breakwater Harbor Books.

Besides literature, I love music, action movies, sunsets and the sound of rain pattering against the roof.

TRC: What or who inspired you to write your first book?

Ivan: THE BEHOLDER was not my first attempt at writing. I have a couple of unfinished drafts that became a kind of stepping-stones to my third book that I finally published. To tell you the truth, THE BEHOLDER started as a completely different book, the general idea similar to THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY, which may come as a surprise to those who have read the book. I was influenced by Oscar Wilde’s style, unaware of the modern principles of fiction-writing. Now it is a fast-paced, action-packed fantasy novel.

As to sources of my inspiration, my parents and wife are my main ones. They always ask how my book is doing, what reviews I’m getting. They are always ready to support me, and I’m trying to respond in the same way, so I dedicated my first book to my wife, and was so happy to see the smile on her face when she saw the dedication.

I enjoy listening to music, and I wrote most of Book 1 while listening to different genres –- from romantic ballads to melodic death metal. For example, the romantic episodes in the book were inspired by the music of the Swiss folk metal band ELUVEITIE and their album, “Evocation I: The Arcane Dominion”.

TRC: THE BEHOLDER is the first storyline in your new series appropriately entitled The Beholder. Would you please tell us something about the
premise?

Ivan: THE BEHOLDER is not just about a man tormented by dreams where people are haunted and killed by shadows. I’ve always been intrigued by the idea of my mind being infused into the mind of a different person, so I wished to explore this idea in a book. I think that was how I came up with my main character, Jason Walker, being inside the victims’ minds, although Jason got a bit unlucky that he found himself in the minds of people about to die a horrible death. To Jason, these deaths are not only dreams but also a message that he is the last to be killed, that the shadows will come for his life.

TRC: Is there a message in the novel that you would like your readers to understand or grasp?

Ivan: As much as I love reading for pleasure, I love writing books that other people would enjoy. I’m not intent on teaching anyone anything, but I dwell on the concept of Good vs. Evil and offer my readers a vision of the world that I’ve had in mind for a few years now. It’s the world that I enormously love and want to share with as many people as possible. I’m trying to explain why things happen as they do in our lives, but I must say this concept will be developed bit by bit throughout the whole trilogy.

TRC: Your hero is Jason-the average working man who discovers he is The Beholder. Are the human characteristics of Jason based on anyone in your life or an amalgamation of different people?

Ivan: The character of Jason Walker has been changing with each rewrite of the book, so even if I wanted him to resemble me, Jason has become independent of me. I also used some of the best friends’ features for him and other characters. As for Emily Ethan, she was greatly inspired by my wife and her beauty.

TRC: How did you keep your plot unpredictable without sacrificing content or believability?

Ivan: “Believability of fantasy” is the term that I got acquainted with not so long ago. I was introduced to it by a Greek author Yannis Karatsioris who helped me grasp the notion so I could make THE BEHOLDER more believable than it initially was. But on the way of accomplishing that I had to cut more than 40,000 words and write another 15,000-20,000 words.

TRC: How much research (logistic, historical, philosophical, theological) was involved in the writing of this particular book and series?

Ivan: At the time when I started writing the book, Dan Brown’s THE DA VINCE CODE was much discussed, and I had an idea to use Freemasonry as the power in charge of Jason’s dreams and murders. I did a lot of research on them, and I’m so lucky to have changed my mind and decided against using them in THE BEHOLDER. I knew I had to come up with something of my own, and I promised myself that I would rely solely on my imagination, and there I came up with a world of Lightsighted and Darksighted.

TRC: What do you believe is the biggest misconception about your novel?

Ivan: I’ve come up with it only recently. While giving away Kindle copies of the book to people I realized that men strongly ignored my invitation to read the novel. Apparently, the words “love” and “romance” used in the blurb scare the bejesus out of them. I’ve always considered my book as a universal read, for men and women, for Young/New Adult and Adult readers, so if men are not sure whether they should try reading my book, I may assure them there is a lot of action there that they will love.

TRC: What difficulties have you had to face getting your novel to publication?

Ivan: I think my main difficulty was me. I was really insecure about getting it published, about my first reviews. Besides, I just couldn’t let myself publish a book if I knew it wasn’t finished. I am lucky to have so many friends who read the novel before it got published and helped me make it better. And I’m also grateful to my editor, Genevieve Graham, for spending awhile with THE BEHOLDER before it got published.

TRC: PATH OF THE HERETIC is the second storyline in The Beholder series. Would you please tell us something about the premise?

Ivan: I hope to make PATH OF THE HERETIC a much darker book. I’m planning on bringing the supporting characters of Matthew Allen and Debbie Eve to the fore, so that the readers would have stronger connection with them. I’m going to weave the main antagonist’s – Pariah’s — Point of View into the story, which I hope will add tension and suspense to the series.

TRC: Many authors bounce ideas with family and friends or, other authors. With whom do you bounce ideas and why?

Ivan: After I finished my first draft of The Beholder – naïve and inexperienced as I was – I started querying New York agents. Soon I came across a writers’ website hosted by HarperCollins UK, Authonomy. This is where I realized that I had so much work to do with THE BEHOLDER to make it right. After a year of writing and editing, I got the book to the Top 5 and it was selected for review by HarperCollins. I was lucky to have got a reviewer who gave me great advice on what to do with the book, so all in all it took me about 3 years to publish my debut novel.

TRC: What five things would you like to accomplish in the next ten years?

Ivan:
#1 – make my wife as happy as possible.
#2 – finally visit Great Britain and the USA!
#3 – become a traditionally published author.
#4 – complete “The Beholder Series” and start another series.
#5 – live a happy life and make other people happy.

TRC: How many books do you have planned for the series?

Ivan: It was supposed to be a 5-book series at first, but after a long consideration I decided it would be a trilogy. Yet I’m so in love with my characters that probably I’ll think of writing another book, but that might not happen in a long time.

TRC: If you could change something about yourself personal or professional,what would it be and why?

Ivan: I’m the world’s biggest procrastinator, in about everything. Maybe it is just everyday life that is always in the way, but it takes a long time for me to sit down and write. I do need inspiration for that. But when I do sit and write a line or two, or a chapter, I feel complete. It’s the feeling I’m eager to feel as often as possible in the near future.

TRC: Thank you Ivan for taking the time to answer our questions. Congratulations again, on the release of THE BEHOLDER. We wish you all the best.

Ivan: Thank you for this wonderful opportunity to be interviewed.

To Order THE BEHOLDER:
Amazon US Paperback: http://amzn.com/1481931024
Amazon US Kindle: http://amzn.com/B00B7TG2DC
Amazon UK Paperback: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1481931024
Amazon UK Kindle: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00B7TG2DC

FOLLOW Ivan:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/IvanAmberlake
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ivan.amberlake?ref=tn_tnmn
THE BEHOLDER page on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Beholder/152577228229536?bookmark_t=page
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6907727.Ivan_Amberlake
Website: http://www.ivanamberlake.weebly.com
Breakwater Harbor Books: http://breakwaterharborbooks.weebly.com/index.html

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Below is the review of The Beholder done by Sandy from The Reading Cafe.

REVIEW: THE BEHOLDER is the first storyline in Ivan Amberlake’s Urban Fantasy series The Beholder. If you are a fan of storylines similar to The Matrix, a film based on the Sci-Fi novel Neuromancer by William Gibson, then The Beholder could be its literary counterpart in the UF genre.

The storyline focuses on Jason, a man who suffers from inexplicable painfully tactile dreams and nightmares that speak to him of danger, death and the battle between good and evil but his dreams are based in reality and most of what he ‘sees’ has or will come true. What Jason will soon discover is he is ‘The Beholder’-the savior of the Lightsighted-those with the power to use and see energy. The prophecies have foretold of The Beholder and the Lightsighted have been searching for The One who will save them all. But like every UF storyline there is the evil, the Darksighted who have been ordered by the Pariah to find and destroy The Beholder before he comes into his powers.

The storyline follows Jason and his friends Matt and Debbie ( A Trinity ), as they endeavor to learn about the world of the Light and Dark. The trio is a power unto themselves but there is never a thorough explanation as to the power of the three. There is an enormous amount of background information by way of interpretation regarding the use of energy, power and sight. The Beholder (Jason) is the key, the one with the power to save the world-but it is a world in an alternate reality. Time and space are different for the sighted and the battle is looming.

Like all UF storylines there is a battle between good and evil; light and dark; sighted and unsighted; love and loss. This is a storyline of romance, love, betrayal and hatred all mired in a contemporary fantasy world where good triumphs over evil-if only for a short time.

Ivan’s world building is fluid and tangible and, his characters are real. There is never any doubt about the direction of the story. But I want to add, that the premise appeared to be shrouded in theologian beliefs-whereby the people are waiting for their savior-the one to free them from an eternity of evil at the hands of the Pariah-and Jason-The Beholder-is literally the savior of the world. Will we eventually see Jason sacrifice himself to save the world from the Dark? There was nothing ‘preachy’ about the novel, only an overwhelming sense of faith and Christianity déjà vu.

The Beholder is a well-written novel that will pull you into the storyline as though you were experiencing the reality yourself. Congratulations to Ivan on an amazing piece of literary fiction. I am looking forward to the next installment.

So you say you'd like a FREE PAPERBACK copy of THE BEHOLDER, Ivan Amberlake's debut Urban Fantasy Thriller, then just follow the link below to Goodreads.com where you can enter for the opportunity to win a free paperback copy!

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17288224-the-beholder

Here is what people are saying about The Beholder!

“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

 

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

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.


Follow the link below for your Kindle copy of Doubles!

http://www.amazon.com/Doubles-ebook/dp/B00BK7UE5I/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1361997204&sr=1-1&keywords=melissa+simonson

Worlds of Light and Darkness are about to clash. And Jason will be in the thick of it.

In Asunción, Minsk and Sydney, people die under mysterious circumstances. Each branded with an arcane sign, they are pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. When more people are missing, with similar signs appearing in and around their homes, Jason, an average New Yorker, realizes the victims are a riddle addressed to him. He is the final piece.

Emily appears, a beauty with startling amber eyes, and tells Jason that powers dormant within him are about to wake. In the world of Light- and Darksighted, he is the only person who can prevent Darkness from enslaving the world. 

Setting out on a journey with Emily, Jason discovers many improbable things like Sight (the ability to see Energy Threads), Soulfusion, the Hall of Refuge, but the greatest surprise arrives the moment he sees Emily and finds Real Love.

Follow the link below for your free Kindle copy of The Beholder!

http://www.amazon.com/The-Beholder-ebook/dp/B00B7TG2DC/ref=sr_1_1_title_0_main?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1361997266&sr=1-1&keywords=ivan+amberlake