Saturday, July 19, 2008

The Conspiracy - Chapter 1 & 2 - more to come soon!

Now Released!!!

The Conspiracy

$13.95

"The Black Sheep Squadron Strikes Back"

Abducted

I woke up. I was surrounded by darkness. Pitch-black. I was thirsty, so thirsty, my tongue felt like a dried out old sock, too big for my mouth, about to choke me. Fortunately I always keep water next to my bed, I wanted some. That would help, a sip of water would do…but I was too weak to reach for it.

I was wondering, who was hammering something. That fool, he woke me up.

I turned to reach for my water bottle, fumbling for it in the dark, that's when I realized that the hammering was inside of my head…

The short movement had caused all the pain to centre in my head, with a painful sigh I sank back and was out instantly.

When I woke up again, it was still night. The pain was still there, too, as was the thirst.

I fumbled for the light switch and could not find it; neither could I find the water bottle, or my sheets. I was down right miserable.

I decided to wake up my husband, so he could take care of me. As I reached over to the left to shake his shoulder, I felt a cold wall. He was not there.

There was not supposed to be a wall. I always sleep on the right side of the bed, close to the door; Kevin sleeps on the left side. Next to him were lots of empty space and then the closet. But now, instead of Kevin, a wall was next to me. I felt utterly confused. For so many years, ever since we had been married, Kevin was on my left. This was odd.

I was too tired and my head hurt too bad for me to figure it out, maybe, I was not even awake, maybe I was just dreaming…I went back to sleep, or into another bad dream.

Chapter 1

"Hi Daddy, do you know where mommy is? She does not answer the phone." Timmy was angry. She knew that he always called after school, why could she not simply answer her darn phone!

"I don't know, little man, maybe she's in a meeting. She didn't answer my calls either." Kevin answered. He had not been surprised, when his calls had went unanswered, they had argued earlier and lately his wife had made it a habit not to answer his calls after an argument. But Timmy, she always answered his phone calls she was crazy about the little guy, as was he. He looked at his son's lovely face with the freckled nose, the hazel eyes and the full lips, now in a frown, the full dark curly hair, he remembered his wife commenting on these curls when Timmy was a baby ..You know, my Grandma always said curly head kids are very creative and every curl will stand for a different fury. We'll have our hands full with this boy, just wait and see!

"I tell you what," he said, " we'll have some Mc Donald's and if she doesn't call by the time we are done, we'll go and do something else, like bowling or miniature golfing, what do you say?"

"Alright, but it still sucks, I have something important to tell her." Timmy answered.

"Can't you tell me? I think that being your Daddy entitles me to be told important news!" he challenged his son, his brown eyes shining with pride.

"Yeah, but it's not the same." It was obvious that the boy wanted to be begged to share his important information.

"Come on, get in the car" Kevin smiled, "and then, please, tell me the important news. I think that I really should know. And, it would feel so good to know something important about you before your Mom does."

"I won the spelling test in school today! I was the only one who could spell the last four words!" Timmy's face was flushed with excitement and pride. He was twelve years old and had spent most of his life in Germany, visiting a German school. He was in fifth grade and had still problems with some German Grammar, but his English was coming along well.

His Mom was German, but most of the time they were talking and writing English at home, because to this day Kevin never had picked up how to speak or write German fluently.

They had come to Germany a few years ago, as civilians, working for the US military. There intentions had been to stay about three years and then return to the states. Somehow, every year something else had come up and prolonged their stay.

Considering Timmy's heritage and his problems with German grammar, his success in the spelling test was really great. Kevin was proud of his son.

"That must have been some awfully hard words, if you were the only one who could spell them!" Kevin said with pride.

"Well, it was in English class." Timmy answered, hoping to impress his father even more.

"Wow, you are absolutely the greatest! Put it here little man!" Kevin held out his big, brown fist and Timmy's small fist connected with his Dad's.

"So, can the best English- word-speller-ever have a twenty piece chicken nuggets and a milk shake?" the boy asked with a grin.

"Sure son, what ever you want" Kevin grinned back.

It was a warm summer evening and they chose a place on the outside of the crowded McDonalds restaurant. Timmy was happily dipping his chicken nuggets in sweet and sour sauce and sipping on his milk shake.

Kevin was munching on his Big Mac and sipping his soda.

"You know," he said between bites, "I was thinking, maybe we should drive out to the lake and rent a boat for an hour."

"Yeah, and then we will play a round of miniature golf, that will be fun! I bet you five bucks that I can beat you!" Tim replied.

"Do you have five bucks?" Kevin asked.

"I don't need them, because I'm going to beat you." The boy giggled.

"Ah, I see. Then eat up and let's see what you've got." Kevin challenged him.

They drove out to a little park with a lake, a miniature golf course, ponies, ball courts and a beautiful playground.

They went to the little golf course first.

After Timmy beat his Dad by eight points, they walked over to the lake and rented one of the white and blue paddleboats.

"She still has not called" Tim complained.

"Probably a bad reception out here" Kevin replied, paddling the little boat to the middle of the lake.

They took turns paddling and talked about Championship wrestling, basketball and the latest movies. Before they knew it, the hour was over and they had to turn in the boat.

On the way back to the car Tim pulled his cell phone out and tried to call his Mom again. She still did not answer the phone. He left a message on her answer machine.

Kevin could not help, but to wonder if something had happened to her. It was after 9pm. She should be home by now and wondering, where her guys were. He pulled out his cell phone and called his oldest stepson, Frank.

"Hey Frank, have you heard from your Mom?" he asked

"Nope, I have not been home all day. It's going to be a few more hours ..till I get there." The boy answered. He was twenty years old and more out on the run than anywhere else. If he was not at work he was meeting with his friends.

"Alright, later." Kevin hung up the phone and put it back on his belt.

"Maybe she went out with friends or to the gym" he offered.

He knew that she would not really go anywhere, without checking with Timmy and letting him know where she was. Actually, he was pretty sure, she would let him know as well if she had some plans. It was not like she had been all that mad in the morning. And even if, she definitely would let Timmy know, where to reach her.

When they got home, her car was not there. They went upstairs to their apartment; no sign of her, no message on the answer machine, no indication that she had been home since she had left for work in the morning.

"Do you have any home work to do for school tomorrow?" he asked his son.

"No, all done." He answered.

"Then how about, if you put on your PJ's and we watch a movie, your choice." Kevin suggested.

"O.K., let's watch a Jackie Chan movie" those were Tim's favourites.

While the boy changed and brushed his teeth, Kevin put in the movie and got two sodas out of the refrigerator. Then he sat down on the couch. Timmy sat right next to him, bringing his pillow and his blanket with him.

Through the first half of the movie he stayed awake, checking his phone frequently to make sure, it was turned on and he didn't miss his Mom's call. Then he finally fell asleep.

It was almost midnight when Frank came home.

Kevin still had not heard from his wife and had not been able to reach her.

"Hi, where's Mom, sleeping already?" Frank greeted his stepfather. He was very tall, over six feet, with short blond hair and dark blue eyes, the same eyes as his Mom.

"No, she did not come home. And she did not call either. I need you to do me a favour and call all the German hospitals in the area and maybe the police. I already checked with the MPs and the military hospitals." Kevin replied.

"Shit!" was Frank's only comment as he picked up the phone and started calling around.

An hour later they still had no clue about what had happened and where she was. But they at least had reason to believe that for right now she was not involved in some accident.

"That's weird, man" Frank said, shaking his head, "I think, I'll jump in the car and go looking for her."

"Where do you want to look?" Kevin wanted to know.

The only place he could think of was the air base where she worked as a detective for a civilian company. He doubted that she would be there; she didn't like to hang out there after work.

"I don't know, I thought I'll check the air base, the two gas stations where she likes to stop and maybe Eddie's place."

"I already called Eddie, they haven't seen her all day. I called Sonja and Marla too. They have not heard from her either." Kevin felt beat. This was the first time ever in eighteen years that he didn't know where his wife was. He was worried.

"Well, I will go and check all the other places then. If she shows up, give me a call, and don't worry, she'll be fine." With this Frank turned around and left.

Kevin stayed, hoping that his wife would show up any minute now, safe and unharmed.

Somehow it did not feel like she would.

Chapter 2

I woke up again, still surrounded by darkness, still thirsty and still suffering from a splitting headache.

This time I managed to sit up. At least now my head was clear enough to realize that I was not at home in my bed.

I still was wearing my clothes and I was lying on the ground.

I reached in my pants pocket and fumbled for my lighter. I found it and flicked it on.

The weak light revealed a small dirty room with shelves on one side and a heavy door across the room.

I crawled to the shelves and found a bunch of dirty, dusty wine bottles. I opened one of them and smelled on it. Is seemed to still be all right. I took a long swallow.

I felt a little better. More light headed, but not all that thirsty anymore. The lighter in my hand got hot and I dropped it.

Carefully I put the bottle down and felt the dirty floor, hoping to find my lighter. There, that was it. I flicked it back on and looked for my purse.

Finally I found it. I looked for my cell phone. It was not there. The lighter burned my hand and I dropped it again. Ouch! I crawled on the floor fumbling for the lighter. There, finally.

I sat on the floor in the dark, wondering, how I got here and what I wanted here.

I could not remember. The thinking made my head hurt worse. I flicked the lighter back on and got my purse. I found my pain pills and grabbed the wine bottle.

Great, I had to let the lighter go in order to get the pills out of the container. In the dark I wrestled with the top of the pill bottle. I poured some of the pills into the palm of my hand. Four. Good, could not come much worse, if I took four of them with wine. I dropped them into my mouth and swallowed with two big sips of the wine. Then I put my lighter back into my pants pocket.

I decided not to think about where I was and why I was here any more. It was too much trouble to figure it out. I would leave it up to Kevin. As a matter of fact, he could just figure it all out, while I was sleeping.

"Let me know, what you come up with, hun'." I said and laid back down. "Give me back my pillow," I said and then I was asleep again.

Stay tuned for chapter 3 and 4! You know you don't want to stop now.

June Bear Adventures: The Missing PiesJune Bear Adventures: The Missing Pies
Birgit Pratcher, Roger Pratcher
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Matt and Spencer in Their Great AdventureMatt and Spencer in Their Great Adventure
Birgit Pratcher, Roger Pratcher
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One Family's Adventure: The Cheating LandlordsOne Family's Adventure: The Cheating Landlords
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Friday, March 07, 2008

Featured Author Susie Honeycutt

What better time to introduce Featured Christian Romance/Fiction Author Susie Honeycutt then now, when spring is just around the corner and romance is blooming! And, honestly, if it comes accompanied by mystery, even better!
Susie is not only an incredible woman, a wonderful friend, a loved and honored mother and wife, but also a very talented writer. She is the mother of two and proud grandmother to four grandchildren.
She loves the Lord and has an unquenchable thirst for the Bible, she loves to write about it as well! She also loves nature and animals, loves to look in their eyes and connect with their soul. Living  by the woods she has many occasions to do so and has several animals at home. 
Currently Susie is working on a Bible Trivia, which promises to be very interesting.
Susie Honeycutt is working as a 911 operator, police, fire and EMS dispatch. Some of her experiences are used in her novel Alfaland.

 


      Visit Susan Honeycut on myspace:  www.myspace.com/alfaland


                                                                                                www.myspace.com/rainingtruth    



Alfaland, paperback 189 pages, $  19.95    


ISBN 978-1424135394


Buy at Amazon


 


Excerpt:


The words spoken by Aaron Marshall to his lovely wife Kendra were expressions that would haunt her mind countless times throughout the years that followed. “Isn’t this place peaceful?” Aaron had whispered softly in her ear. “It makes a person just wish time could stand still right here.” Kendra never forgot those words. Perhaps the words on the small weathered tombstone at Hammer Cemetery would have been more accurate. “I once was as you, and you shall be as I.” After a fabulous weekend getaway, Kendra and Aaron joined Kendra’s parents and younger sister Aimee at Alfaland, a prestigious country farm that held abundant cherished memories for Kendra and her family. What a difference a phone call and five minutes made for Kendra and her entire family when a huge whirling black cloud dropped from the sky and altered their lives forever.


Alfaland Song, first verse:


Whenever I pass a group of pines it sparks my memoryMy thoughts go back to Alfaland, the place I long to be.Wherever on earth I find myself and feel a gentle breezeMy mind wanders back to Alfaland the place I long to see.Alfaland, sweet Alfaland, my soul cries out for thee.To see the one I love once more and hold her tenderly.                           Written by Alfaland character Joey Dubois


 




  • Read what author Geraldine Ahearn had to say about Alfaland:


    A Great Read!
    REVIEW Is Also Posted on:
    http://www.amazon.com/
    And... http://www.barnesandnoble.com/


    *****REVIEW
    Kendra Patton, and her younger sister Aimee Sue, grew up at Alfaland, a
    prestigious country farm in Indiana. The Patton home consisted of one-
    hundred and eighty-eight acres of pure beauty, with blooming gardens,
    pools and ponds, and horses that Kendra and Aimee deeply admired.
    Childhood for the Patton girls was a family album of cherished, loving
    memories that shined through Alfaland from their parents and relatives,
    friends, and Amish neighbors. Their religion constituted high morals and
    values, respect, and love for others. Everyone in the town they lived in
    admired and respected the Patton family. The abundance of love that
    Kendra's parents, Byron and Leigh gave to their daughters could be felt
    through Kendra, Aimee, and Alfaland. At twenty-two years old, Kendra
    married Aaron, and was expecting her first child. Aimee Sue was in her
    second year of college, during which time she met the love of her life at a
    party. Kendra and Aimee were invited to dinner at Alfaland, a day that was
    supposed to be the happiest day of their lives. The anticipation of Kendra
    announcing that she was three months pregnant to her first child was
    overwhelming. The thought of her parents becoming grandparents,
    and Aimee becoming an Aunt, filled her with an abundance of joy that she
    could no longer keep a secret. The girls had arrived at Alfaland, and Kendra
    and Aimee were sharing secrets. Byron and Leigh were preparing dinner,
    and had just found out that they would soon be grandparents. Aaron was
    taking in the scenery, so much admiring the love and beauty of Alfaland,
    smiling at his dog Buster, who also loved the farm. George, who was the
    Patton's hired helper, was tending to the barn as he always did. Bryon and
    Leigh were shouting to the girls from their outdoor patio to hurry up,
    so they all could eat dinner, before it begins to rain. Kendra was inside the
    house, listening intently to Aimee Sue's secret. Aimee had just told Kendra
    that she was in love with someone. During this time, Aunt Jane called to
    warn them about a storm coming their way. Within a split-second, a raging
    tornado attacked Alfaland, changing the lives of the Patton family forever.
    In the first few chapters of Alfaland, the reader can sense love, happiness,
    and horror. In a clever way, the author describes beauty to its utmost level,
    and terror from mother nature in its devastating behavior. The strength of
    Kendra as described by Susie Honeycutt is a remarkable portrait of
    inspiration to all readers. The reader can detect love as described in the
    movie "Ghost." The reader can feel the happiness, and sadness as described
    in the movie "Love Story." As one reads through the lives of the Patton
    family, after the impact of the horrific affects of the tornado, pain and
    remorse can also be felt. I would recommend this novel to teens as well as
    adults. The story reveals a crucial fact of how our strength through an
    unexpected crisis in our lives can not only help us, but others as well.
    The author paints an incredible picture of determination through the
    lives of the Patton family, after they battle grief from death, and sadness
    from loss. The moral of the story lies in the truth that many of us have
    lived through, and the "Beatles" made a hit song of it, titled "All you Need
    Is Love."

    Geraldine Ahearn, I.O.M.
    Author of 6 books
    Author Geri Ahearn, INC.


      Alfaland by Susie Honeycutt
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    Sunday, November 25, 2007

    Featured Author: Tracy B. Evans

    Featured Author:


     



    Please meet mystery/suspense author Tracy B. Evans.


    Her first book Fatal Kidnapping is a thrilling mystery, fast paced and filled with suspense. While her debut novel Fatal Kidnapping is taking off to a great start, she is busy writing on her next manuscript, which will be another suspense thriller. The title and the plot are still a secret, but we are sure it will be as exciting as Fatal Kidnapping!


    Her favorite books to read are mystery thrillers and sometimes a little romance.


    Sometimes Tracy likes to write poetry, which is not published at this time.


     


    See what Debra Gaynor from ReviewYourBook.com had to say about Fatal Kidnapping:


    Fatal Kidnapping
    Tracy B. Evans
    ISBN: 978-1-4343-2512-0


    Author House, 2007
    Reviewed by Debra Gaynor for ReviewYourBook.com, 11/07
    Twists and turns…
    5 Stars


    A day never went by without Katie Stone calling her father at least once, but on that fateful day she didn't call. She and fiancé Caleb had agreed to meet for dinner, but she didn't show up. Something was wrong; Katie was missing. Terrified her father and fiancé turned to the local sheriff. Sheriff Day found her car at the Grocery Store. The town began to search for missing Katie.


    When I review a book, I usually give a much longer summary. This time, I intentionally kept the summary short so that I would not give away any of the astonishing story. Fatal Kidnapping is like a roller coaster ride there are enough twists and turns to keep you holding on to the edge of your seat. I found the plot amazing; I was still trying to figure out " who done it" up to the last chapter. My only criticism of Fatal Kidnapping was the dialogue in a few places it is a little contrived. The plot falls heavily on the dialogue, which is good. I like books with a lot of dialogue. Tracy B. Evans is a talented writer. The cover deliciously hints at what lays inside. The characters are well developed; Caleb, loving and supportive, and Jed, a father that loves his daughter deeply. As a child, Katie was filled with pain. Fans of mystery and suspense will cherish this one.


     


    Visit Tracy at MySpace


     


    Visit Tracy at www.tracybevans.com


     


    Fatal Kidnapping,  Paperback, 216 pages, $ 12.78 at Amazon


    $13.04 at Barnes and Noble


     


     


    Fatal Kidnapping:
    Katie Stone felt all alone. At the same time, however, she never felt alone. Katie was constantly checking over her shoulder in fear, a perpetual and eerie feeling that someone was watching or following her. Unfortunately, no one would believe her. In Fatal Kidnapping, Tracy B. Evans' new book of love, death, and abduction in a small town, the refusal to believe Katie turns into disbelief when, suddenly, Katie disappears.
    When Katie's father, Jed, does not hear from her and neither he nor Katie's fiancé, Caleb, can find her, Jed contacts his close friend and the town's sheriff, Jack Day. Sheriff Day is clueless when it comes to conducting a search for a missing person, as he has never had to deal with any major crimes in such a small town. He eventually calls together a group of people from the town to meet him at the police station and begins the search for Katie. As the townspeople look high and low for the missing girl, the search begins to seem pointless. They find nothing to aid them in the investigation, and no sign of Katie. Caleb fears that Katie has left town because she has decided that she does not want to marry him after all. Then, suddenly, a few days later, Katie is discovered. She is bruised and battered, but she is alive.
    Katie begins to tell Sheriff Day what happened to her during the time she was gone, but Sheriff Day is immediately frustrated and confused. Why is she beginning her statement with details about her childhood? Katie tells him he must listen to the whole story or he will never believe her. Wanting to get to the bottom of things, Sheriff Day agrees, and he can not believe what he learns next. When Katie is finished, Sheriff Day believes he has discovered the truth behind her kidnapping. But has he really, and will the truth ever truly be revealed? Katie is adamant that the statement she has given is correct, but how can the kidnapper be a man who has been dead for years?
    Follow Katie's story and its incredible conclusions in Fatal Kidnapping.
    More information is available at www.tracybevans.com .

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    Tuesday, November 13, 2007

    The New Featured Author

    Dear Friends,


    our newest Featured Author is posted in the "About Me" section on our site.


    Please come on over and check it out on our Author Support site!


    www.myspace.com/rbpratcher2



    To view previous featured authors visit our web site


    Wonderful Stories!


    R&B

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