Sadie's Spotlight

March 23, 2021March 23, 2021

Audio Spotlight & Excerpt: The Janus Witch + Author Interview

Title: The Janus Witch

Author: Michael Scott Clifton

Narrator: Kendra Murray

Length: 11 hours 30 minutes

Publisher: Michael Scott Clifton

Released: Dec. 17, 2020

Genre: Paranormal Romance

A beautiful witch with a violent past has an unlikely love affair with a compassionate young doctor…until she fears she may end up killing him.

Tressalayne is a member of a murderous witches’ coven. An attack by witch hunters forces the coven to escape through a hastily constructed portal of magic. Ripped from her medieval world, the portal hurls Tressalayne and the coven’s leader, Morganna, into present-day East Texas. Critically injured in the passage, Tressalayne awakes in a hospital with no memory of her previous life.

Lucas Beckett finds himself in charge of the mysterious patient’s recuperation, and soon develops more than just a medical interest in her recovery. However, their blossoming relationship is marred by Tressalayne’s nightmarish flashbacks and uncontrolled manifestations of magic.

Can their life together survive this collision of past and present? As Tressalayne’s struggles continue, other threats emerge to loom over the young couple, and the stage is set for a final confrontation.

Murderous intent, or love and devotion? Only one can survive, and the Janus Witch must decide.

“Michael Scott Clifton weaves and casts a magical spell in his fantasy romance The Janus Witch. A must-read for any fantasy romance, urban romance, or paranormal romance enthusiast!” (Ranay James, author of the McKinnon Legends, a time-travel series)

Q&A with Author Michael Scott Clifton

If this title were being turned into a movie (or a streaming series, which is more along my dream of what I’d love to see happen), these are the actors I’d love to see cast as its characters:

How did you select your narrator?
- The two biggest criteria for me are the narration of dialogue and scene description. I’ve heard beautiful, flowing narration of scene description by a narrator, then awful dialogue…and vice versa.
How closely did you work with your narrator before and during the recording process? Did you give them any pronunciation tips or special insight into the characters?
- I initially give the narrator a brief description of the main characters. Not enough to overwhelm them, but enough that they have a clear idea as to their personalities. Accents are important but not always necessary, so I try to make clear if they are needed or not.
Were there any real-life inspirations behind your writing?
- I’ve always been intrigued by the whole “nature vs nurture” debate. So with The Janus Witch, I decided to take a violent, murderous witch, have her lose her memory, then have her fall in love with a kind and compassionate young man. Will her old nature return, or will her love for someone a polar opposite of the way she used to be, transform her into a different person?
Are you an audiobook listener? What about the audiobook format appeals to you?
- I’ve never been an audiobook listener, but since I’ve had to listen to narrator auditions and edit my audiobooks, I’ve found it to be quite enjoyable. I can see why audiobooks have exploded in popularity.
Is there a particular part of this story that you feel is more resonating in the audiobook performance than in the book format?
- The final confrontation between Tressalayne and her coven leader, Morganna, is especially climatic. I believe the audio narration brings this to life in a dramatic fashion more so than in a book format.
If you had the power to time travel, would you use it? If yes, when and where would you go?
- Yes, I would. I would go back in time straight to Bill Gates’ garage and buy into his fledgling start-up company, Microsoft. I would never have to peel my own grapes again, lol!
If this title were being made into a TV series or movie, who would you cast to play the primary roles?
- I would have Emily Blunt play the role of Tressalayne, Nicole Kidman as Morganna, Ryan Goslin as Lucas Beckett, Leonardo DiCaprio as Mason Crick, and Peter Dinklage as Hank Harper.
What do you say to those who view listening to audiobooks as “cheating” or as inferior to “real reading”?
- We live in a fast-paced society where time is a precious commodity. Stuck in traffic, waiting at the airport, long-haul truck driving, all represent “dead” time. Why not fill this gap with entertainment (like an audiobook) which edifies and relaxes? So…get over it!
In your opinion, what are the pros and cons of writing a stand-alone novel vs. writing a series?
- For me, a stand-alone is much easier to write than a series. The first book in a series is always the easiest to write, then the next one is harder, the one after that harder still…you get the pattern. As I have gone deeper into a series, I have to keep up with characters, situations, plotlines, etc. It becomes more complicated with each successive book. It is so easy to forget something or make a mistake. Beta readers or a good critique group are a must with a series!
What’s your favorite:
- Food – My wife’s green enchiladas
- Song – Tie: “Another Auld Lange Syne” by Dan Fogelberg & ”Stairway to Heaven” by Led Zeppelin
- Book – Tie: “The Stand” by Stephen King & “Lord of the Rings” by JRR Tolkien
- Television show: “Big Bang Theory”
- Movie – “Avatar”
- Band – “The Rolling Stones”
- Sports team – The Texas Rangers
- City – Longview, TX
- Are any of those things referenced in appearance in your work?
- Yes. Longview, TX.
What bits of advice would you give to aspiring authors?
- Go to writers conferences, join a writers group, or take part in a critique group. Last but not least, develop a thick skin, and be receptive to constructive criticism.

Multi Award-Winning Author Michael Scott Clifton, a longtime public educator as a teacher, coach, and administrator, currently lives in Mount Pleasant, Texas with his wife, Melanie. An avid gardener, reader, and movie junkie, he enjoys all kinds of book and movie genres. His books contain aspects of all the genres he enjoys…action, adventure, magic, fantasy, and romance. His fantasy novels, The Janus Witch and The Open Portal, received 5-Star reviews from the prestigious Readers’ Favorite Book Reviews, and he has been a finalist in a number of short story contests with Edges of Gray winning First Place in the Texas Authors Contest. Professional credits include articles published in the Texas Study of Secondary Education Magazine. The Open Portal, won The Feathered Quill Book Finalist Award, and launches the fantasy book series, Conquest of the Veil. Michael’s latest release, Escape From Wheel—also a 5-Star Readers’ Favorite Review—is Book Two in this fantasy series.

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Kendra performed in numerous plays in high school and college, and directed a play for her senior project, which earned her the school Drama Cup. She apprenticed at, and managed the Box Office of the Berkshire Theatre Festival in Stockbridge, Mass. She performed, produced and directed radio plays with Petaluma Radio Players. Kendra narrates audiobooks across many genres, as solo narrator and as duet narrators with her husband, Ralph Scott, all available on audible.com. She frequently “speaks” in character voices for her dog, Gandalf, and her cats, Merlin and Saffira. She has two young adult children and a stepdaughter. Kendra is an avid knitter and spinner, and is very crafty.

Website

March 20, 2021September 18, 2022

Audio Spotlight & Excerpt: A Hundred Kisses + Top Ten List

Title: A Hundred Kisses

Author: Jean M. Grant

Narrator: Rosalind Ashford

Length: 10 hours 49 minutes

Series: The Hundred Trilogy, Book 2

Publisher: Jean M. Grant

Released: Jul. 23, 2018

Genre: Romance

Two wedding nights. Two dead husbands.

Deirdre MacCoinneach wishes to understand her unusual ability to sense others’ lifeblood energies…and vows to discover if her gift killed the men she married. Her father’s search for a new and unsuspecting suitor for Deirdre becomes complicated when rumors of witchcraft abound.

Under the facade of a trader, Alasdair Montgomerie travels to Uist with pivotal information for a claimant seeking the Scottish throne. A ruthless baron hunts him, and a dark past haunts him, leaving little room for alliances with a Highland laird or his tempting daughter.

Awestruck when she realizes her unlikely travel companion is the man from her visions, a man whose thickly veiled emotions are buried beneath his burning lifeblood, Deirdre wonders if he, too, will die in her bed if she follows her father’s orders.

Amidst magic, superstition, and ghosts of the past, Alasdair and Deirdre find themselves falling together in a web of secrets and the curse of a hundred kisses….

Author Jean M. Grant’s Top Interesting Viking Facts

The “hundred” trilogy spans three generations, from 1263 to 1322 (check out my bonus material for the series – family lineage, map, and complete glossary.). I delve into Norse, Scottish, English, and “mystical” cultures in the books. Since my first book in the series has a lot of Norse action and plots, I thought it would be fun to share some Interesting Viking Facts:

Vikings refer to people of Scandinavia (Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Finland, Sweden) from 750-1300 A.D., though their reign had greatly diminished after 1100 A.D.
They put rocks inside the keel of a ship beneath removable planks for stability, and longships were made with a shallow draft and square sails to navigate rivers, coastal waters, and fjords, as well as open sea.
There were three main types of ships: longships (warships that could carry 100 men), cargo ships (called knörr), and small coastal river ships.
How did they navigate? Simple Mother Nature (including birds and the color of the sea), a sunstone, and the night sky. And luck. They were messy navigators, and even messier fighters. Though this unorganized brutality caught many opponents by surprise.
They traveled far: ranging to Russia, Africa, and Asia Minor, and as far west as North America (Newfoundland) around 1000 A.D.
Some Norse words present in English: Thursday (Thor’s day), window (vindauga), guest (gestr), anger (angr), husband (húsbóndi) to name a few of hundreds.
Viking women had a freer status compared to many in Europe for this time period, with duties of maintaining the farm and wealth; some could be rune masters, priestesses, merchants, and warriors.
The phrase “going berserk” comes from the elite warriors called Berserkers (Old Norse berserkir, “bear-shirts”) and úlfheðnar (“wolf-shirts”). These crazed warriors were rumored to either have supernatural powers (possessed by animal spirits), or modern theory suggests this trance-like frenzy was induced by drugs, alcohol, or precipitated by mental illness.
Viking men loved blond hair and would use lye to bleach it.
Though information abounds online, my primary resources included a tour of the Draken Harald Hårfagre, and several books including: The Sea Wolves, A History of the Vikings by Lars Brownworth; Norse Myths by Martin J. Dougherty; Vikings: Raiders, Traders, and Masters of the Sea by Rodney Castleden.

Jean has a penchant for the misunderstood be it sharks, microbes, or people (fictional and real). A scientist by training, she now spends her days as an author and champion for her children. She has five published novels in the genres of historical and contemporary romance, and women’s fiction. She also writes for family and travel magazines and websites. When not writing, she enjoys tending to her flower and vegetable gardens, tackling the biggest mountains in New England with her husband, and chilling with her children, while taking snapshots of the world around her and daydreaming about the next story. Find her on jeanmgrant.com.

Website⎮Twitter⎮Facebook⎮Goodreads⎮Instagram

I am also an Audible-Approved narrator and producer, and a member of both Actors’ Equity Association (AEA) and SAG-AFTRA, the unions for professional performers. (Bit of a mouthful I’m afraid.)

I was born and raised in Worcestershire, England and trained in Dramatic Arts—dance, drama and film—in conservatory programs at Madeley College and Keele University, UK. I moved to NY in part to pursue a career in theatre, in part to satisfy a strong wanderlust. Whilst I have, since then, performed onstage from Off-Broadway to regional theatre and on film and TV, I also detoured into other fields over the years.

Microphone training and a great deal of valuable voice experience was acquired as a radio presenter, and for a number of years I read Books for the Blind live on the air—great on-the-job training for audiobook narration! I have also done many voiceovers and radio commercials for national and international markets.

Website

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March 8, 2021March 7, 2021

Audio Spotlight: Hide and Seek + Giveaway

AUDIOBOOK TOUR

Book Title: Hide and Seek: Stories from the Sound (All Cocks Stories) book 6

Author: TM Smith

Publisher: TTC Publishing

Narrator: Mackenzie Brennan

Release Date: February 12, 2021

Genre: M/M Romance

Trope/s: Strangers to lovers

Themes: Hurt/comfort

Heat Rating: 4 flames

Length: 7 hours and 7 minutes

It is book 6 in the series.

Add on Goodreads

Buy Links

Audible US | Audible UK

Amazon US | Amazon UK

Truths come out and trust is put to the test. Can the All Cocks family find the happiness they deserve?

Blurb

Dusty Anderson left his hometown in Justin, Texas, for the Big Apple not long after graduating high school with dreams of becoming an actor. A year later, no closer to realizing his dream but pretty damn close to being broke, he comes across a flyer in a local gay bar that provides a solution to his dilemma.

Six years later, Dusty has all but forgotten his dream to be an actor. The family he gained when he went to work at All Cocks and the job itself are enough for him – for now, at least.

David Thompson is barely 21, high on life and starting his second year at NYU as an art student. Now that he is old enough to enjoy the city’s nightlife, David finds his first crush at a local hot spot in the village, The Monster Bar. Young love is laid to rest, though, when David comes out to his mother and older brother…with disastrous results.

A tragic incident at the hands of David’s brother changes the course of all of their lives and brings the two together, but is it coincidence or fate? Regardless of unlikely circumstance, Dusty is inexplicably drawn to David, who suddenly finds himself alone in the world. Protective of David from the start, Dusty realizes his extended family at All Cocks and his best friend Kory will not understand this new relationship. Fearing the worst, Dusty plays a dangerous game of hide-and-seek, risking everything to keep David safe and sheltered.

But hiding can only last for so long, and David and Dusty aren’t the only ones dealing with uncertainties. The Dimir men find that the one thing they’ve longed for might be within reach and Dusty’s father, Dean, arrives in town unexpectedly with secrets of his own.

Note: This book was previously released in the All Cocks Stories series. This book is intended for mature listeners due to adult content.

About the Author

A military brat born and raised at Ft. Benning Georgia; Smith is an avid reader that just happens to write sweet & sexy gay romance. A Texas transplant, she now calls DFW her home. Most days she can be found curled up with a good book, or ticking away on her next novel.

Smith is a single mom of three disturbingly outspoken and decidedly different kids, one of which is Autistic. Besides her writing, she is passionate about Autism advocacy and LGBT rights. Because, seriously people, Love is Love!