Hi and welcome to my stop on Jacky Dahlhaus’s Living Like A Vampire blog tour!

Many thanks to Jacky Dahlhaus and to Kelly @ Love Books Group Tours

Interview with Jacky Dahlhaus…..

For those who don’t know already, could you tell us about yourself and your book(s) please?

I’m a fifty-year-old lover of good stories, movies, traveling, and animals. I’ve had many jobs and tried many hobbies before I realized writing gave me such pleasure. I love stories that take you away from the hustle and bustle of real life, preferably with a bit of humor, action, and romance in them, and that’s what I like to put into my own stories. I hope it gives people a few hours of escapism and a pleasant memory after they’ve read them.

Where did/do you get your ideas from?

I had a dream in 2015 about a girl running and bumping into a vampire. I told my kids who told me to write it down. I sat behind my computer and wrote 55K words in a fortnight. It gave me such a buzz and have been writing ever since.

Most of my ideas come from dreams or random thoughts during menial housework tasks, when my mind is free to roam.

Are any of your characters based (however loosely) on anyone you know?

My main character, Kate, has two sisters, and their names start with the same letter as my own sisters. They are both (very loosely!) based on them.

One of the main love interests is a dwarf. As I don’t know any dwarfs personally, he developed into Peter Dinklage. He didn’t start out as him, but the later part of the character certainly is based on him. Caleb, the other love interest, is based on the appearance of Ioan Gruffudd when he played Hornblower.

How do you pick your characters’ names?

I try to be as random as possible when picking names, often looking around me and picking a word of something that catches my eye (Dr. Green in Book 3 was picked as I saw green leaves from my window).

Taking ‘typability’ into account is a thing for me, though. You don’t want to pick a name you have trouble typing. The c,x q, and w are letters I have trouble with, so you won’t often see names with those letters in my stories.

I gave one blogger who is a great fan of my stories the honor of naming the main character if my next novel. She was very chuffed with that.

Can you share your writing process with us, in a nutshell?

The first two books were written ‘on the fly,’ i.e., I let my characters take me on their journey. The third novel I plotted since I had about two years to think about it. I must admit I didn’t like it as much as I needed to steer my characters in a certain direction. I prefer to let them lead me on an unexpected journey. If I’m surprised, I hope my readers will be too.

Who are your top 5 favourite authors?

I love reading books from Anne McAffrey, Terry Pratchett, Neil Gayman, Conn Iggulden, and Kathy Reichs. I love McAffrey’s romantic flair, Pratchett’s humor, Gayman’s creativity, Iggulden’s epic stories, and Reich’s suspense.

If you could meet any author, who would it be and what would you ask them?

I’d love to meet Neil Gayman and ask him how he managed to keep positive about his writing when it’s so hard to get heard.

Were you a big reader as a child?

Yes, I like to think so. I used to read really fast, something that is the opposite nowadays. I read the big pills like Shogun and LOTR (and associated books) as an early teenager. For an English assignment I read all the books in Gullivers Travels, only to find out afterwards that I only needed to read the first story. LOL!

When did you start to write?

As mentioned earlier, I only began writing novels in 2015. I have kept diaries, have written (academic) articles, and have been a secretary for years, so writing has always been a part of my life. I only realized in 2015 that it gave me such pleasure.

After writing the first two novels, I realized there is more to writing that putting words to paper. I needed to improve my English grammar, learn how to write American English, and learn how to write eloquently. I used the last two years to hone my craft and all books in the trilogy have now been updated to a better version. It’s a never-ending journey, though, and I’ll always work towards improvement.

If you could re-write the ending to any book what would it be and what would you change?

I once read a book about the sinking of the Bismarck, a German destroyer during World War II. Most of its crew died. Even though they were ‘the enemy,’ the book made me very sad. I wished history was different, so I could re-write the ending to keep these men (and many others) alive.

Is there a book you wish you had written?

All of Terry Pratchett’s novels!

If you wrote an autobiography, what would your title be?

‘The boring life of Jacky D.’ That was actually the title I had given my diary when I was studying. It’s actually a fun read. I may read it again one of these days :D.

If you could invite any fictional character for coffee who would it be and where would you take them?

I would take Lord Havelock Vetinari, the Mayor of Ankh-Morpork (in Terry Pratchett’s novels) for a coffee at the Margaret River Chocolate Factory in Western Australia. He’s a very interesting character, and they do a scrumptious chocolate fondue at the Factory.

What are you working on right now?

At the moment I’m working on the first book of my next trilogy, for now called ‘The Extra.’ It’s about a girl from the interior of Alaska who dies in the first chapter. When she is revived, she recognizes everyone except for one person. She has to prove he doesn’t belong there or face insanity. As I’ve never been to Alaska, there’s quite a bit of research involved before I can actually put pen to paper.

Tell us about your last release?

I finished the last novel in the Suckers Trilogy last March. It’s different from the first two books in that it is a whodunnit. Kate’s partner is missing, and she needs to work hard to get him back. It has the same, familiar characters as from the other two books in it, plus some interesting new ones (including one very sexy one).

After I released the book, I worked very hard to make new covers for the trilogy and am finally happy to promote all of the books.

Do you have a new release due?

As mention earlier, I’m working on the first book of my new trilogy and hope to bring this out halfway next year.

What do you generally do to celebrate on publication day?

After indulging in a bubbly alcoholic drink, I quickly carry on as normal, working on the next book as soon as possible.

How can readers keep in touch with you?

I am present on most social media:

My Website:

https://jackydahlhaus.com

Email:

jackydahlhaus@gmail.com

Pinterest:

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/JackyDahlhaus

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/jackydahlhaus/

Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14924554.Jacky_Dahlhaus

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/Jacky-Dahlhaus-Author-166614624053352/

People can follow me on one, some, or all!

Is there anything else you would like us to know?

My novels are on sale for 99c/99p each during October 2018. Once the sale is over, you can still get them with a 15% discount on my website.

Also, I would love to have readers write some reviews! It’s hard to get promoted by the better promoters with just a few reviews. It puts you between a rock and a hard place. Every review is a step closer to being more visible, so please, please; write reviews, people!

Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions, Jacky 🙂

It’s been my pleasure 😊

Blurb

Staying alive is hard in a world full of bloodsuckers. What do you do to survive?

Kate has just begun her new job as a high school teacher and is looking forward to living her suburban dream life. All her hopes and dreams turn into smoke as a virus turns people into vampires, roaming the world in packs and killing everybody they can get their hands on. Kate has to pretend to be one of them to stay alive. When she accidentally bumps into a handsome sucker who then mysteriously disappears, surviving is no longer the only thing on Kate’s mind.

Will Kate stay alive and human while pursuing this mysterious stranger?

Pick up this action-packed, fast-paced, suspenseful novel and explore the depths of Kate’s emotions as she struggles to make sense of it all.  

 

Buy Link

https://amzn.to/2OIrqvy

 

Jacky Dahlhaus in a nutshell

Jacky Dahlhaus lived in many countries, has worked many jobs, and tried many hobbies before she realized writing gave her such pleasure. She now loves to write paranormal fantasy stories full-time while delving into the human psyche with all its faults and mysteries.

Next to writing novels, Jacky helps indie authors by promoting them on her blog, writes an online newsletter/magazine, runs a writing club for adults and for children at the local library, and is a writer/director/producer for Aberdeenshire Film Productions.

When not busy with the above (which is rare nowadays), Jacky works on renovating her Scottish Victorian home, watches movies with her family, and tries to stop her two Jack Russells from barking for no good reason.

Jacky has written three novels, all books of the Suckers trilogy which is set in Maine, US, a novelette (the Prequel of the Suckers trilogy), and Short Shockers, a bundle of short stories. She is currently working on the first book of her next trilogy, this time set in Alaska.

You can connect with me via:

Email:

jackydahlhaus@gmail.com

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/JackyDahlhaus

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/jackydahlhaus/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/Jacky-Dahlhaus-Author-166614624053352/

Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14924554.Jacky_Dahlhaus

My Website:

https://jackydahlhaus.com

 

Hi and welcome to my Flashback Friday feature 🙂

On the first Friday of each month I like to have a little look back at what I was reading during the same month in previous years, since starting my blog.

Please do join in if you get the chance and don’t forget to share your link with us in the comments, if you do.

Here are my reviews from November 2017 (including a link to 2016)…..

The Liar’s Promise #BlogTour Mark Tilbury @MTilburyAuthor #BookReview @Bloodhoundbook

Good Me Bad Me by Ali Land @byAliLand #BookReview @penguinrandom

The Last Post #BlogBlitz @BKDuncanwriter @Bloodhoundbook #BookReview

Puppy: 12 Months of Rhymes and Smiles by Patricia Furstenberg @PatFurstenberg #BookReview

Dark Chapter #BlogTour Winnie M Li @winniemli @Legend_Press #BookReview

December Girl by Nicola Cassidy @ladynicci @bombshellpub #blogtour #BookReview

Christmas at the Falling-Down Guesthouse by Lilly Bartlett AKA @MicheleGormanUK #BlogTour #BookReview

Murder Game #BlogBlitz @Caroline_writes @bookouture #BookReview

Flashback Friday November 2017

#FlashbackFriday with @grahnort @JessikahHope @KatCroft @Caroline_writes

Have you read any of the above?

 

Hi and welcome to my stop on Wendy H Jones’s Bertie The Buffalo blog tour 🙂

Many thanks to Wendy H Jones and to Kelly @ Love Books Group Tours

Interview with Wendy H Jones…..

For those who don’t know already, could you tell us about yourself and your book(s) please?

Firstly, thank you for inviting me on your blog. It is a real honour.

You’re very welcome, Wendy 🙂

I am actually the author of 9 adult and young adult crime books, set in Scotland. I started writing after spending twenty-three years in both the Royal Navy and the Army. I reached the rank of Major, a rank I keep until the day I die. I then worked in Academia where I wrote frightfully boring textbooks and articles. I turned my hand to fiction after a long period of illness.

I currently have four series running and another one which I am planning. The first, the DI Shona McKenzie Mysteries, is a police procedural. Shona is smart, sassy funny, sharp and always knee deep in dead bodies. The books are unusual in that you see the story from both the police point of view and the point of view of the killer. You get to see inside the killer’s mind and what motivates him or her. The first in the series is Killer’s Countdown and there are five others so far with another three planned.

The second series is the Cass Claymore Mysteries. Cass is a red headed, motorbike riding, ex-ballerina who inherits a private detective agency and accidently hires an ex-con dwarf and an octogenarian. The first book, Antiques and Alibis, is a laugh out loud tale of bungling incompetence littered with dead bodies, antique teddies, hapless crooks and a Lord of the Realm who has gone AWOL. This series does not take itself seriously.

My Young Adult series, The Fergus and Flora Mysteries is a bit Famous Five meets Scooby Doo but for an older age group. Fergus and Flora are a couple of teens who rattle through the countryside causing havoc whilst saving Dundee and other parts of Scotland from all manner of evil. There are two books so far – The Dagger’s Curse and The Haunted Broch. I am currently half way through writing the next one, The Warrior’s Revenge.

I was commissioned to write Bertie the Buffalo as the story is based on a true story of real buffalo who escaped in Scotland. Scotland’s very own wee escape artist managed to rattle around Fife for 13 days escaping detection.

Where did/do you get your ideas from?

I’m never short of an idea or two and people say my mind is a worrying place to be. They are probably right as everything comes straight out of my head. Remember one of my series involves serial killers. With regards to the humorous books I find life extremely funny anyway and try to see the laughter in everything. I have a fairly dry sense of humour and even in my police procedurals there are elements of laughter. Life is too short to take yourself seriously.

The initial idea for Bertie the Buffalo was handed to me on a plate. Thankfully the Buffalo on this plate was still alive and kicking. The wee chap escaped from a Buffalo Farm in Fife and was on the run for 13 days. The idea was that I wrote about his adventures whilst the wee escape artist was on the run.

Are any of your characters based (however loosely) on anyone you know?

I have real characters in all my books, apart from Bertie the Buffalo. My friend’s son, Brian Gevers, is a policeman in the DI Shona Mckenzie Mysteries. Two of my friends sons are written into the Fergus and Flora mysteries. Both Bek Slater and Nathan Black are characters and based on the boys themselves.

How do you pick your characters’ names?

I chose Cass Claymore because I started with the name Cass and needed something Scottish and strong to go with it. Shona McKenzie started out as Shona MacLeod until I thought is sounded too much like a character in another crime series. I then went through every Mc until something sounded right. With Fergus and Flora, I wanted the female character to be a descendent of the original Flora MacDonald. Then I needed a Scottish boy’s name which would go with that. I sat in the car going through boys’ names until I came to something that sounded right.

Bertie the Buffalo was actually called Bert by the BBC. They were looking for him when he went missing so I already had a name. Bertie sounded much better then Bert so I used poetic licence.

Can you share your writing process with us, in a nutshell?

I’m an any time, any place, anywhere girl, in a literary sense of course. I have written in some odd places and have turned where I work into a game on social media. For example:

Today’s writing is brought to you form Captain Scott’s cabin on board the RRS Discovery

Today’s writing is brought to you from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s desk in the Toronto Public Library

Who are your top 5 favourite authors?

My this is a tough one. They have to be:

Eleanor M. Brent Dyer

Janet Evanovich

James Patterson

Alex Gray

Julia Donaldson

If you could meet any author, who would it be and what would you ask them?

It would have to be Enid Blyton and I would ask her how she managed to be such a prolific writer.

Were you a big reader as a child?

I was a huge reader as a child. I was an early reader and had a library card at age three. You couldn’t get one until you were five way back then. I also had an adult library card at the age of ten as I’d read my way through the entire children’s section of the library.

When did you start to write?

About six years ago when. I moved back to Scotland from the South of England. I was bored and had an idea for a book. The rest as they say, is history.

If you could re-write the ending to any book what would it be and what would you change? Is there a book you wish you had written?

Blimey, that really is a tough one. I can’t give any specifics as I can’t remember the names, but there are a couple I would have written a happier ending. I like books to end on a positive note, although I appreciate life is not always like that.

I wish I had written The Hound of the Baskervilles as I truly love that book.

If you wrote an autobiography, what would your title be?

Grab Life by the Horns

If you could invite any fictional character for coffee who would it be and where would you take them?

Sherlock Holmes and I would take him to Fortnum and Masons for afternoon tea.

What are you working on right now?

Five different projects but the main one is Killer’s Curse, the seventh DI Shona McKenzie Mystery.

Tell us about your last release?

My last release was The Haunted Broch, my second Fergus and Flora Mystery. The Detective Duo, as they call themselves, are on an archaeological dig at Scotland’s Lost Broch, in Stirling. Within minutes of touching base, they are awash in ghostly events and evil deeds. Will the Detective Duo be able to save the dig from ghosts, ghouls and deadly goings on/

Do you have a new release due?

My next release is Bertie the Buffalo which will be out by the beginning of November.

What do you generally do to celebrate on publication day?

Have a glass of champagne, a slice of cake and start the next book.

How can readers keep in touch with you?

Through my website wendyhjones.com. There is a contact form on there.

Is there anything else you would like us to know?

Writing books is the most fabulous job in the world. Being able to write for so many age groups is a privilege and I enjoy every single minute of it. I want to thank all readers everywhere. You are what makes it all worthwhile. Thank you once again Kerry for your hospitality and for asking such interesting questions.

Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions, Wendy 🙂

How cute is this…..

Blurb

Bertie the Buffalo is based on a true story of when a Water Buffalo escaped from a Buffalo Park in Fife, near Dundee, Scotland. A rhyming book about the adventures Bertie got up to and how he safely returned home, demonstrating how important each of us is no matter how insignificant we feel. Bertie felt that no one noticed him. But he didn’t need to think that as we are all special. We are all a part of one big family.

Buy Link

https://amzn.to/2Phntyv

Award Winning Author Wendy H. Jones lives in Scotland, and her police procedural series featuring Detective Inspector Shona McKenzie, is set in the beautiful city of Dundee, Scotland. Wendy has led a varied and adventurous life. Her love for adventure led to her joining the Royal Navy to undertake nurse training. After six years in the Navy she joined the Army where she served as an Officer for a further 17 years. This took her all over the world including Europe, the Middle East and the Far East. Much of her spare time is now spent travelling around the UK, and lands much further afield. As well as nursing Wendy also worked for many years in Academia. This led to publication in academic textbooks and journals. Killer’s Countdown is her first novel and the first book in the Shona McKenzie Mystery series. Killer’s Crew won the Books Go Social Book of the Year 2107. There are now six books in this series with Killer’s Crypt being released in August, 2017. The Dagger’s Curse is the first book in The Fergus and Flora Mysteries for Young Adults. This book is currently shortlisted for the Woman Alive Magazine Readers Choice Award Book of the Year. She is also a highly successful marketer and she shares her methods in the book, Power Packed Book Marketing.

 

Another Kind of Magic

“I am a cat. But I am no ordinary cat. I am a witch’s familiar. I am also a woman, with a woman’s heart and a woman’s frailty.”

Nearly two hundred years have passed since Caitlyn was trapped by supernatural forces and black magic, and she has known many mistresses. This time, the witch she is enthralled to is Joan, wife of Llewelyn, Prince of Wales.

At first, this mistress appears no different to any of the others Caitlyn has served – until Llewelyn captures William de Braose, and Joan falls in love, risking everything, including Caitlyn, to fulfil her desire.

Caitlyn, meanwhile, has her own cross to bear in the form of the gallant and reckless Hugh of Pembroke…

Pre-Order Link:

https://www.books2read.com/AnotherKindOfMagic

 

Author Bio –

Elizabeth Davies is a paranormal author, whose books have a romantic flavour with more than a hint of suspense. And death. There’s usually death…

Social Media Links –

Website – www.elizabethdaviesauthor.co.uk

Twitter – @bethsbooks

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/ElizabethDaviesAuthor/

Instagram – @elizabethdavies.author

Giveaway –

Win Tote bag and a signed paperback copy of each of the three books in the Caitlyn series. (Open Internationally)

*Terms and Conditions –Worldwide entries welcome.  Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below.  The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then I reserve the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over.  Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time I will delete the data.  I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize

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Good luck!