Friday, January 29, 2021

Stork Bite ~ Lone Star Book Blog Tours Promo & Giveaway!

STORK BITE
by
L.K. Simonds
Genre: Historical Fiction / Southern Fiction 
Date of Publication: November 30, 2020 
Number of Pages: 359 pages

Scroll down for Giveaway!


“Everything has to be reconciled eventually.” 

Caddo Parish, 1913. On an October morning, a Klansman confronts seventeen-year-old David Walker at a hidden oxbow lake where he has gone to hunt. David accidentally kills the man and hides the crime. His determination to protect his family from reprisal drives him far from home and into manhood. 

Shreveport, 1927. Cargie (rhymes with Margie) Barre and Mae Compton are two vastly different young women, but both are defying convention to reach for their dreams. The men in Cargie’s and Mae’s lives help and hinder them in more ways than one. After years in hiding, David Walker finally resurfaces, and we discover the past is never as far from the present as it seems.
 

PRAISE FOR STORK BITE:
"Simonds is a wonderfully talented author and evokes the South in astonishing detail in Stork Bite, making us feel we're sitting in on a long, sumptuous, serial film production. But don't think it's mere eye candy--like the best period dramas, there's plenty of social commentary here. Highly recommended!" 
--Linore Rose Burkard, author of Regency Romance and Contemporary Suspense

CLICK TO PURCHASE!





L. K. Simonds is a Fort Worth local whose debut novel, All In, was published in 2019.


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---------------------------------------
GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY!
ONE WINNER
(US only):
Signed Paperbacks of ALL IN and STORK BITE
Plus $50 Visa Gift Card.
Giveaway ends Midnight, CST, February 5, 2021


a Rafflecopter giveaway



FOR DIRECT LINKS TO EACH POST ON THIS TOUR, UPDATED DAILY,
or visit the blogs directly:

1/26/21

Review

That's What She's Reading

1/26/21

Review

The Adventures of a Travelers Wife

1/26/21

BONUS Promo

LSBBT Blog

1/27/21

Review

StoreyBook Reviews

1/28/21

Review

The Page Unbound

1/28/21

Review

KayBee's Book Shelf

1/29/21

Review

Momma on the Rocks

1/29/21

BONUS Promo

Hall Ways Blog

1/30/21

Review

Rainy Days with Amanda

1/31/21

Review

Tangled in Text

2/1/21

Review

Librariel Book Adventures

2/1/21

Review

Jennifer Silverwood

2/2/21

Review

The Clueless Gent

2/2/21

BONUS Promo

All the Ups and Downs

2/3/21

Review

Book Bustle

2/3/21

Review

Forgotten Winds

2/4/21

Review

It's Not All Gravy

2/4/21

Review

Reading by Moonlight


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Wednesday, January 27, 2021

Ely Air Lines ~ Lone Star Book Blog Tours Character Interview & Giveaway!

   
ELY AIR LINES
Select Stories from 10 Years
of a Weekly Column,
Volumes 1 & 2
by
MIKE ELY
and
LINDA STREET-ELY
  
Genre: Nonfiction
Categories: Short Stories / Aviation / Adventure 
Date of Publication: January 29, 2020 
Number of Pages: Volume 1: 350 pages; Volume 2: 330 pages  

 
Scroll down for Giveaway!



Buckle up and fly with Mike and Linda Street-Ely to discover amazing people, interesting places, and the conquest of flight. Since 2007, readers have enjoyed engaging articles weekly in the newspaper column, "Ely Air Lines." Now you can step aboard to enjoy a collection of stories that explore the vast realm of the flyer’s world.

 

In this Character Interview, ELY AIR LINES Volumes 1 and 2 authors Mike Ely and Linda-Street Ely interviewed a historical character (a real person significant to the history of aviation), and the interview was dated 1911, as if we were there.

 

Interview with Eugene Ely

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

January 18, 1911

San Francisco, California

 

Mike: Mr. Ely, it is a pleasure to speak with you. Congratulations—amid all this noise and celebration—on your significant contributions, not only to aviation, but to the world, as the first person to take off and land on a ship! How did events unfold to bring us to this point? 

 

Eugene Ely: I was traveling the air show circuit, performing what the promoters called “feats of great danger and thrill” when I met Captain Chambers of the U.S. Navy. That was last October. He was convinced it would be possible to take off and land an airplane on a ship, and he’d been appointed by Navy Secretary Meyer to look into how they could use aeroplanes for the military. So he approached me about doing it.

 


Linda: People have said that if there is one person in the world who would do it, you would be the one. Would you tell us what it’s like to achieve these accomplishments?

Eugene Ely: Of course. First, the takeoff. That was back in November. The 14th. I took off from the USS Birmingham, in a Curtiss Pusher. The Birmingham is a light cruiser, you see, and they built an eighty-three-foot sloping wooden platform for me. It went over the bow like a runway and was just long enough for the Pusher to get airborne (mostly). I flew off the ship and stayed barely above the waves. In fact, my wheels dipped into the water just a little bit, but I was able to pull it up. I wasn’t able to see too well though, because ocean spray splattered all over my goggles. So instead of circling the harbor and landing at the Norfolk Navy Yard as we had planned, I landed on the beach. But it all went well, and we proved what we set out to prove.

 

Mike: It was amazing you kept the airplane flying!

Eugene Ely: Yes, well, thank you. Then, of course, we didn’t try to do the landing that same day. I mean, I didn’t land on a ship the same day I took off of one. You see, we wanted to really think this through, the landing part, because landing on a ship is a huge challenge.

 

Linda: Yes, a moving target! And now here we are just two months later, in the San Francisco Bay, and you’ve done it! Congratulations, again! 

Eugene Ely: Right. Thank you. Well, eventually we will land on a moving target, but today, since we’re just here to prove we can, they anchored the USS Pennsylvania to the bay. And the Curtiss Pusher came through again – it’s a wonderful aeroplane built by Glenn Curtiss, a great designer and builder.

 

Mike: And where did you take off from today?

Eugene Ely: I took off from the horse track down in San Bruno. Tanforan. Not far, about ten miles south of here.

 

Mike: And this isn’t only the first successful shipboard landing for an aeroplane, is it? There’s something else special about it, too. Would you tell us what that is? 

Eugene Ely: Oh yes, we just tested out a new system that Hugh Robinson built called “tailhook.” It caught the hooks on the bottom of my aeroplane to stop me from going into the bay. It was easy enough. I think the trick could be successfully turned nine times out of ten.

 

Linda: Mr. Ely, even with your reputation as a daring and natural flyer, we understand that most onlookers could not fathom a successful outcome to today’s landing attempt.

Eugene Ely: That’s true. I think many people gathered here expecting to never see me fly again.

 


Mike: But indeed you will, and thankfully so. So what’s next for you?

 

Eugene Ely: Well, I’d like to go to work for the Navy, but we’ll see. They need to get organized with an aviation department, and I think I’d be the best candidate to make that happen. So far, Captain Chambers says he’ll keep me in mind, but I think he’s a little uneasy about the kind of exhibition flying I do. But you know, I love this stuff. It’s what I’m made of. I guess I will be like the rest of them, keep at it until I am killed.


Linda: Well, we’d say you’ve had a successful day and a successful career so far. Sirens and whistles are going off on all the ships in the bay. We’re celebrating the birth of Naval Aviation—delivered by a civilian. And it has all begun with a great pilot named Eugene Ely. Thank you, Mr. Ely, it’s been an honor speaking with you.

 

Mike and Linda Ely’s “Ely Air Lines” (Paper Airplane Publishing, LLC, January 2020) is a collection of 100 short stories selected from the first ten years of the couple’s weekly newspaper column about aviation – but written specifically for the non-flying general public – YOU! The Elys aim to put a face to the flyer’s world.  


 
 

Mike Ely has logged thousands of hours over more than forty years as a professional pilot. He holds an airline transport pilot certificate with multiple type ratings and a flight instructor certificate. Mike has taught people to fly in small single engine airplanes, gliders, turboprops, and corporate jets. As a freight pilot and an international corporate pilot, he has flown through all kinds of weather, to many places, both exotic and boring. His love for writing was instilled by his father at an early age. 

Linda Street-Ely is an award-winning, multi-genre author and playwright. She also holds an airline transport pilot certificate, a commercial seaplane certificate and a tailwheel endorsement. She has air raced all over the U.S., including four times in the historic all-women’s transcontinental Air Race Classic. Besides flying, Linda has a keen appreciation for great storytelling. She loves to travel the world, meet people, and learn about other cultures because she believes great stories are everywhere. 

Together, Linda and Mike are “Team Ely,” five-time National Champions of the Sport Air Racing League, racing their Grumman Cheetah, named the “Elyminator,” and dubbed “The Fastest Cheetah in the Known Universe.” They live in Liberty, Texas.



---------------------------------------
GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY!
TWO WINNERS (US only)
Each win an autographed, 2-volume set of ELY AIR LINES
Giveaway ends midnight, CST, January 29, 2021


a Rafflecopter giveaway

FOR DIRECT LINKS TO EACH POST ON THIS TOUR, UPDATED DAILY,
or visit the blogs directly:
 

1/19/21

Excerpt

It's Not All Gravy

1/19/21

BONUS Promo

LSBBT Blog

1/20/21

Review V1

Jennie Reads

1/20/21

Review V2

Librariel Book Adventures

1/21/21

Guest Post

Forgotten Winds

1/22/21

Review V1

StoreyBook Reviews

1/22/21

Review V2

Reading by Moonlight

1/23/21

Author Interview

All the Ups and Downs

1/24/21

Author Interview

The Adventures of a Travelers Wife

1/25/21

Review V1

Book Bustle

1/25/21

Review V2

Book Fidelity

1/26/21

Excerpt

The Page Unbound

1/27/21

Character Interview

Hall Ways Blog

1/27/21

Top Ten

Momma on the Rocks

1/28/21

Review V1

The Clueless Gent

1/28/21

Review V2

Chapter Break Book Blog


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Monday, January 25, 2021

Good Grammar is the Life of the Party ~ Book Blog Tour Guest Post & Giveaway!


Good Grammar Is the Life of the Party
Tips for a Wildly Successful Life
by Curtis Honeycutt

Genre: Adult Non-Fiction, 18 yrs +
Categories: How-To, Humor, Grammar and Writing Reference
Publisher: The County Publishing 
Release date: May, 2020
Page Count: 244 pages
Content Rating: PG-13: some mild profanity


Book Description

Grammar rules! Good Grammar is the Life of the Party: Tips for a Wildly Successful Life will convert grammar goofballs into bonafide word nerds. As the writer of the award-winning humor column “Grammar Guy,” Curtis Honeycutt’s grammar advice appears in dozens of newspapers every week. His debut book—filled with witty word wisdom—is designed to make your life more awesome by improving your grammar. 

Do you love language, but sometimes get tripped up by confusing grammar rules? Good Grammar is the Life of the Party is like a cheat code for your social life. Level up your grammar game to become a linguistic legend—from romantic relationships to job promotions to getting invited to fancy roof parties. Climb the corporate ladder, convince people you’re smart, and win at life with dozens of helpful tips on how to master the English language.

Buy the Book:
Amazon
B&N ~ Apple ~ IndieBound ~ Kobo

Add to Goodreads

Guest Post:

Science has gone too far.

by Curtis Honeycutt

Somewhere in a secret laboratory (probably in Minsk), a team of thermodynamic scientists worked for years to perfect the to-go mug that hermetically traps heat, keeping your coffee or tea hot for hours. They traded handshakes and perhaps a few high fives before scalding their taste buds on some celebratory hot chocolate. It was certainly a historic occasion in the field of drink container science.

My biggest question isn’t a grammar question. I want to know: just how long do we need to keep our drinks hot? Is it that important for our coffee to stay at near-boiling temperatures for up to six hours? I think the whole industry needs to cool off a bit. 

Now here’s my grammar question: should you write/say a historic or an historic? Let’s dive in.

When you think about world-changing events like the moon landing, the signing of the Declaration of Independence, or the cup scientists perfecting a heat-sealing tumbler, you probably imagine someone referring to any of these as an historic occasion. Technically, this isn’t correct! So, what’s the rule?

Use the article an when it precedes any word that starts with a vowel sound. This certainly applies to words that begin with a silent h, including heir, honor and hour. It doesn’t apply to words in which you pronounce the h sound, such as heroic, hysterical, or historic. So, why do people put an in front of those words? Probably because at some point back in England people dropped the h sound in these words and supplied an before them (to properly imagine this, I hear someone speaking in a thick Cockney accent). The article an hung on although people started to uniformly pronounce the h sound in these words.

Old habits die hard, as when I take a swig of my morning tea too early, even though I know it’s still way too hot. Either people still add an before words like historic because they learned to say it that way from previous generations, or they’re just snooty. There’s a fancy term for speech or writing that is only designed to impress: it’s called an affectation. For most people, they probably add an because that’s how they’ve always heard it pronounced. For people who prefer to be snooty, I heard there’s a great sale at the monocle store: all glasses are half off.

—Curtis Honeycutt is a syndicated humor columnist. He is the author of Good Grammar is the Life of the Party: Tips for a Wildly Successful Life. Find more at curtishoneycutt.com.

Meet the Author:
Curtis Honeycutt started writing about grammar in his local newspaper. His column, "Grammar Guy," has since won multiple awards and now appears in newspapers across the U.S. Originally from Oklahoma, Honeycutt now lives in Indiana with his wife, Carrie, and their two children, Miles and Maeve. 

connect with the author:  
 

 






Enter the Giveaway:

ONE WINNER: signed copy of GOOD GRAMMAR IS THE LIFE OF THE PARTY, swag, & a $25 Amazon Gift Card 
(USA only. Ends 2/12/21.)

Tour Schedule:
Jan 18 – Locks, Hooks and Books – book spotlight / giveaway
Jan 18 - Working Mommy Journal - book spotlight / giveaway
Jan 19 – Rockin' Book Reviews – book spotlight / guest post / giveaway
Jan 19 - bless their hearts mom – book spotlight / guest post / giveaway
Jan 20 – Jazzy Book Reviews – book spotlight / guest post / giveaway
Jan 20 - The Phantom Paragrapher – book spotlight / giveaway
Jan 21 – Books Lattes & Tiaras – book spotlight / author interview / giveaway
Jan 21 - My Reading Journey – book spotlight / giveaway
Jan 22 – Westveil Publishing – book spotlight / author interview / giveaway
Jan 22 - Lisa Everyday Reads  - book spotlight / giveaway
Jan 25 – Hall Ways Blog – book spotlight / guest post / giveaway
Jan 26 – Splashes of Joy – book spotlight / guest post / author interview / giveaway
Jan 26 - Library of Clean Reads – book spotlight / giveaway
Jan 26 - Gina Rae Mitchell - book spotlight / giveaway
Jan 27 – Man of la Book – book spotlight / giveaway
Jan 27 - Laura's Interests – book spotlight / giveaway
Jan 27 - The Phantom Paragrapher - book spotlight / giveaway
Jan 28 – Book Corner News and Reviews – book spotlight / guest post / giveaway
Jan 28 - I'm All About Books - book spotlight / giveaway
Jan 29 – Writer with Wanderlust – book spotlight / guest post / giveaway
Feb 1 – Books, Tea, Healthy Me – book spotlight / author interview / giveaway
Feb 2 – Pine Enshrined Reviews – book spotlight / author interview / giveaway
Feb 2 - Redhead with a Camera/Goodreads - book review
Feb 3 – The Irresponsible Reader – book spotlight / guest post / giveaway
Feb 4 – Stephanie Jane – book spotlight / giveaway
Feb 5 – fundinmental – book spotlight / giveaway