Tuesday 23 December 2014

Happy Christmas



Wishing all my readers, fellow authors, friends and family a Peaceful and Loving Christmas xx



I hope that 2015 is good to you,

Marie xx

www.mariegodley.moonfruit.com

Wednesday 19 November 2014

Dragonwand



Coming on the 9th December 2014 Legacy of the Dragonwand by Daniel Peyton.

 
 

Book Description

Publication Date: December 9, 2014 | Age Level: 12 - 18 | Grade Level: 6 - 12

The wizard wars ended over a thousand years ago, and nearly all the ancient wizards were destroyed. The evil betrayer, the one who started the war to begin with, remains. For a thousand years he has worked his will in secret. His goal is to find the last Dragonwand so he can regain his powers as the dark dragon. Close to the king of Gallenor and master of the court, the betrayer has the nation bowing to his machinations.

Sixteen year old Markus is looking for a wizard who will give him a letter of recommendation for the college of wizardry. Unaware of the Dragonwand or the betrayer, he stumbles upon Tolen the Wise. Little does Markus realize that this man is an ancient, like the betrayer. Instead of giving him a letter, Tolen sends Markus on a journey to stop the darkness by finding the Dragonwand before the betrayer can.

Markus and the friends he meets along the way are the only ones that stand between the betrayer and the fruition of his millennium of preparation. Will Markus get to the wand first? Where are all the other wizards? Can the betrayer truly be stopped?

To pre-order go to http://tinyurl.com/ltp7vtc
 
To find out more about Daniel visit one of the following pages
 
 
 
To see Daniel's other books go to http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/daniel-peyton
 
I hope you enjoyed reading about Daniel and his latest book. Don't forget you can pre- order it. He'd love you to drop by his Facebook page and say Hi!
 
Thanks for joining me again,
 
Marie
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Tuesday 14 October 2014

Authors For Charity


Authors For Charity - what exactly is that? Pretty much what is says. Myself, Jennifer Loiske, my daughter - Megan, Elizabeth Glanville and Laura Warnes met up and decided to write short stories to go into an anthology - the proceeds of which would go to charity.


Our first book was for children. Tales of an Old Wizard was published in 2013 and the money we raised helped fund an activity club for teenagers with Epilepsy.

 
TALES OF AN OLD WIZARD is a collection of short stories for 9+ readers. All the profits from this book go to charity. The world has forgotten the real, old magic and no one remembers how to make a fire by snapping their fingers, or how to raise waves with a whisper. Greum is a wizard. He used to rule the elements but now he doesn't bother. The only magic left in his life is that in the stories a young boy delights in tricking out of him. Stories of dragons, warriors and sorcery.
 
As soon as we'd finished this book we began discussing our next one and where the money would go. Laura had beaten cancer twice and asked that the money go to the unit that treated her. We agreed immediately. Joining us for our next collection is Drue Fairlie , and we decided to write stories for Young Adults, on a paranormal love theme. And what better title for our book Paranormal Love.
 
 
 
 

Witches, werewolves, mysterious creatures and haunted dreams...these are just a few encounters of the third kind that you will come across in the anthology of stories about dark love and forbidden romance. 
 
Sadly during production of Paranormal Love, Laura was diagnosed with cancer once more. and this time lost her battle. The proceeds from this book and any copies of Tales of an Old Wizard that are now sold, will go to the Sussex Cancer Unit that treated her and Paranormal Love is dedicated to her memory.
 
Please help us to make a difference to others that are treated on this unit by buying either of these books, which we hope will give the reader some hours of enjoyment and escapism.
 
Thank You from all of us.
 
To buy the books go to Amazon or Amazon.com
and to keep up with news from Authors For Charity like them on
 
 
 
Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy the books,
 
Marie
 
 

Monday 22 September 2014

Submissions



Yes! I've done it. I've finally finished all the edits for my YA novel.

I have submitted my MS to some agents - now I just have to wait and see if they like it.



As a sneaky peek as to what's inside, these are two things that are linked by being more than they appear to be.


 
Intrigued? Let's hope the agents are and then maybe I can get it turned into one of these:
 
 
Until then, I'm busy beta reading for others and I have a new book to start on.
 
I will keep you posted (If I get a yes you'll hear the squeals wherever you live!)
 
Until then dream on everyone, keep reading,
 
Marie.
 
 
 
 

Saturday 16 August 2014

Editing



Hurray - I have just finished editing my new Young Adult novel.

My beta readers were fabulous and some even read it twice!!

Next to go through it will be my daughter and after that it is ready to be sent out into the big, scary, publishing world to see if it gets taken on.



Wish me luck.

Thank you to my wonderful beta's - you guys rock!

 
and, as always, thanks for my readers for joining me here on my blog. See you next month,
 
Marie
 

Tuesday 8 July 2014

Ty The Bull


 Ty the Bull is a special book. It deals with bullying from a child's perspective.

 
Everything seemed to fall apart for Ty when his parents got a divorce. At his wits end after being bullied endlessly, he started to ditch school. It wasn't until he met up with a skater named Peacock that things somehow turned around and he put the pieces of his life back together.
 
Rex shows remarkable courage in writing his story down for others to read. I think that it should be read by kids, parents and teachers. There is no 'happy ever after' at the end of this book because it is based in real life and life is on-going.
 
Strength isn't about how muscled you are or whether you can intimidate people, it's about having the courage to turn things around in your own life - and doing it day after day as each new challenge appears.
 
 
 
And to find out more visit the Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Tythebull?fref=ts 
 
I want to thank Rex, Brenda and Kim for writing this book but before I go I have one or maybe two observations to make.
 
I'm reminded of the line "No man is an Island" a concept portrayed so well in the film "It's a Wonderful Life". Our actions or what we say don't only affect those that are personally involved, they affect others too.
Think of it like the ripples radiating out from a pebble thrown into water - one small stone causes a lot of ripples.
So if you are going to cause ripples and impact on someone's life, make sure they are positive vibes that you are sending out.
 
Secondly, it is easy to allow fear to get out of control by not dealing with it. The more we ignore it, the more it is fed until it can seem insurmountable. Find that inner strength to feed your courage instead. You might not be able to defeat that fear in one go - you may have to take chunks out of it slowly - but you can defeat it until it is small enough to cope with. You will never be without fear and without fear you wouldn't know what courage was! 
 
So please, send out Good Vibes and Feed Your Courage, Not Your Fear!
 
Thank You for reading and I wish you all a peaceful and happy day,
 
Marie
 
 
 
 

Sunday 22 June 2014

Six Days of Memories



Today I'm delighted to welcome Stacy Eaton just before the launch of her new book Six Days of Memories.

Marie – Thank you so much for having me here today! It’s been a whirlwind this month with my birthday, the release of Distorted Loyalty and now Six Days of Memories coming out in a few days! I’m so glad I could be here to entertain your readers for the day!

 

















Before we tell you more about Six Days of Memories- lets have a good old fashioned Q&A session.


You seem to be writing one story after another – Do you have lots of ideas for books or do they come to you as you finish one and where do they come from?

 

Funny thing is I have all these ideas, but not enough time to work on them all. Right now, I believe I have 3 plot lines that I have only written general notes on. I have 6 other books that I currently have started. What I write and when I write it depends on the character voices and who feels like coming out to play.

 

Three days after I published Second Shield last November, the plotline for Distorted Loyalty came to me. It had a very intense need to write – and the story was written in 28 days. The same thing happened with Six Days of Memories. No sooner did I finish writing Distorted Loyalty, the plot started twisting. When I finished Six Days, a new plot line started boiling and now I am working on a book called One Every Thirty-Six.

 
 Does anything you plan ever change as you’re writing it?

 Holy cow! Yes!  I can sit down with clear plans on where I want the scene to go, but no! The characters will have minds of their own and before I know it, I’m sitting back going where the heck did that even come from! I love that though. I have to give the characters some control of the story, or they would drive me crazy!

 
What made you decide to write?

 
Lol…. I have no idea. I came up with an idea and said, “Hey, I’m going to write a book.” My husband thought I was crazy – of course now that I am releasing books 7 and 8 he doesn’t think I’m crazy for writing, he just wonders what really goes on inside my mind.

 

Do you use it to escape from a hard day at work?

 
Absolutely! Being a detective full time is very stressful. I deal with so much drama every day, that sometimes the only way to deal with it is to lose myself in a story with my characters.

 
There must be bits of you in your main female characters – do you want to tell us what they are or would that be telling?

 
All of my female characters are pieces of me. In the My Blood Runs Blue books, Kristin doesn’t like for people to take her choices away, neither do I. In Whether I’ll Live or Die, Nichole is a survivor, so am I. Corey deals with moral issues in Garda ~Welcome to the Realm, and as a police officer I deal with those issues quite often. Jacquelyn in Liveon~No Evil fought to keep her emotions out of her job and in Second Shield, Mack was intense and focused, yet still a woman with feelings and needs.

 
I have to put pieces of me into my characters. I’m a very strong person and I want my characters to carry those same qualities. In Distorted Loyalty, which was published June 13th, Rachel has to deal with emotional issues while still focusing on her job and doing the best she can. And in Six Days of Memories, Natasha thinks outside the box on how to deal with the situations.

 You bend some aspects of law enforcement to fit into your stories. Do you ever wish anything you’ve altered was reality?

 
Lol… I love this question! If you ever really knew what I deal with in my job as a police officer, you would know that life is really altered all the time.  Sometime reality is stranger than fiction.

 
 
 

Some of the scenes you write are very emotional – I’m thinking in particular of the funeral scene in Garda – Welcome to the Realm – Do you get upset writing them?

 Oh boy! In one word, Yes. There are times I have written an emotional scene and had to walk away when I was done. My heart would be thudding and I’d have tears on my face. What I love to hear is that when readers read those scenes, they get the same feelings. I love hearing that a reader was so touched they cried while reading the book or could so relate to the character that they were laughing along.

 
When I wrote Whether I’ll Live or Die, I had a really rough time with some of the scenes. There were many times I had to force myself to get through a scene because of the intensity of it. The emotions came from a personal knowledge and it was like I was reliving many of the scenes. I did a lot of cleaning when I wrote that book, lol…
 
 

 
 
In Liveon No Evil the story line has them turning Garda – Welcome to the Realm into a film. Is that something you would like? Have you actors already picked out for the roles?
 
I would love to see one of my books turned into a movie. That would be the ultimate! I was half way through writing Liveon when I figured out I needed to give the movie a name that Ryan was filming. I chuckled when I added Garda to it. I thought it was funny and even gave myself a little cameo appearance!  As for characters, no. I have never really thought about it. That’s not my job, my job is to write the story, someone else can put the faces to the characters.
 
In Six Days of Memories you describe a car crash. Is that something you’ve had to deal with and, if so, did it make it hard to write that scene?
 I can’t tell you how many accidents I have handled in my fourteen years on the force. I have dealt with minor fender benders, more DUI accidents then I care to think about and even some serious fatal accidents. When police do our jobs, we tend to push our emotions to the side. Sometimes we seem cold when we deal with serious incidents, but that is just our defence mechanisms kicking in.  The fact that I have investigated so many crashes just makes it easier to write about.

 
Six Days of Memories has an interesting fact item in it; a tattoo.  If you could have any tattoo, size, colour, pain notwithstanding, what would it be?
I have two of them – and I plan to get more. Right now I have a few symbols on my ankle that stated “Gemini Justice” and I have a wolf on my back. I am thinking real hard about what I want to get now, but it will either be other words, a ribbon for domestic violence or another wolf. We shall see!
Six Days of Memories is out on June 30th – tell us about it.
 
First let me tell you that I loved writing this story! Natasha and Jay are awesome characters! And I fell in love with both of them! I hope readers do too! Here’s the blurb!
Detective Natasha Foster will put her job on the line to prove her gut feeling is dead on.
 When Detective Foster responds to the scene of a crash, she finds the female passenger dead, a bag full of money in the back seat and a body in the trunk.  It is only when the driver, whom she nicknames Jay, wakes up with no memory that she must go with her instincts and continue the investigation in a way that was never taught.
 Jay finds himself lost, but drawn to the beautiful detective who steps above and beyond the call of duty. His need to know if he was a victim or the criminal pushes him to try and recall what happened and who he is. With the pull of a trigger, Jay’s memory will suddenly return and with it, the terrible truth.
 
Thank you so much for joining me here today Stacy - and good luck with Six Days of Memories.
Thank you Marie for allowing me to visit and share so much about myself and my books! I look forward to hearing any comments from your readers!
 To find out more about Stacy visit one of the links below
Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Stacy-Eaton/e/B005KQIJY8/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

Keep an eye on her Amazon page and don't forget 30th June is the day you will be able to get Six Days of Memories.

Thank you readers for taking the time to sit with me again. I hope you enjoyed hearing about Stacy and her books. I'm sure she'd love it if you left her a comment.

Marie
www.mariegodley.moonfruit.com


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 

 

Sunday 8 June 2014

Inspiration


A few months ago I had an idea for a story. It isn't perfectly formed yet - in fact I probably only have half of it - undeterred I'm slowly writing it at the train station. For those of you who have read my earlier blogs you know why I write at the train station - for those that haven't catch up here Time to Write .

I had some things that I knew I wanted in it and whilst I'm happy to picture them in my head it's better when you can find the things you want. And here I have been lucky.

 
I found this on a day out with my family.
 
 My story is going to have a special pendant in it. Then I remembered I had these - they're actually earrings but I think it makes a great necklace and it is the right colour and texture.
 


For Christmas, my daughter bought me this angel pin. I love it and put it in the story.

 
With these constant reminders it makes writing the story more fun. So I'm back to editing but when I find a spare few minutes I will be continuing this story - especially as my son is waiting for the next chapter and I won't tell him what it's about!
 
Thanks for reading.
 
Marie
 
I want to thank my son Jordan for taking the photos of my jewellery - you did a great job x
 

Monday 2 June 2014

Melissa J Rutter


My guest post today is from Melissa J Rutter.


     I am from the seaside resort town of Bournemouth in the UK and now live in Poole with my husband and two children. I lived and worked in New Hampshire as a nanny for a while, I studied at the Institute of Art while there and met my husband when I returned to the UK just to visit. I have been published since July 2012 and currently have seven books out. I also love to read and enjoy movies.

     This weekend I released Lunar Ryce, Soul Searcher, Book 2 of the Sheol Legacies.
 

Book Blurb:

She knows the rules, she knows she can't fall in love, and she certainly can't fall in love with a Hunter, but she has and after his rejection, the only thing she could do was leave.

Sheol is under siege, held captive by Xavier and his demons. She has to collect a thousand souls to help strengthen the veil between worlds so that the demons will have no choice but to leave. But with Elias Reid, the Hunter, in her heart, missing everyone she has ever known, on top of being exhausted, how can that be her only priority?

Scott, Xavier's son, is trying everything he can to win her back, but her heart belongs to someone else, he had his chance and he blew it. This causes him to take drastic measures with unprecedented consequences. The ransom is high and guess who has to pay it.

     Weeks before Lunar’s seventeenth birthday her guardian and grandmother Delilah (Delly) died. Leaving her to be cared for by her sister Mika, as Mika is in school a long lost cousin is drafted in to care for her, Syrus. Soon she discovers that nothing about her life has been the truth and that she has been left the last Soul Collector in her family. In book 1, we followed her training and her first collections. Sheol was captured by demons and she managed to escape with Elias, a Hunter sworn to protect her. The book ended when she admitted she had a crush on him and he her, though, forbidden to love, they couldn’t do anything about it. She left him behind to hut for the souls to help free her friends.

     As she travels collecting souls she has so much to deal with, the infatuation her best friend Jaxon has with her, the fact that Syrus and everyone in Sheol is being held prisoner by her ex-boyfriend Scott’s father, a ruthless demon, Xavier. On top of all of that, she is in love with Elias. Time is running out and she will have to make a choice, one which would be hard to live with no matter what she decides.

 

Where to get the book: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/reader/B00KOG2XVO/ref=sib_dp_kd#reader-link
 
To find out more about Melissa: http://melissajrutterauthor.webs.com/

Twitter handle @melissajrutter

https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/14474720-melissa-rutter

and she is on Linkedin  MelissaJRutter


Melissa, thank you for telling us about yourself and your new book. I wish you the best of luck with it.

Thank you - as usual to all my wonderful readers - you rock.

Marie.

www.mariegodley.moonfruit.com






    

Friday 30 May 2014

Where Angels Tread





Today I'm going to tell you about a new novelette out called Where Angels Tread




Where Angels Tread is the debut novel of poet Loretta Livingstone. She has cleverly woven the overlapping story of people's lives, with the story of the main characters told from each of their perspectives.

It is a short story - perfect for a lazy afternoon (or morning - us authors aren't fussy as to when you read our books)

More about Loretta:
Loretta Livingstone lives with her husband in a beautiful area of the Chilterns. She writes both rhyming and free verse about anything which happens to capture her imagination. She enjoys writing love poems, inspirational verse, verse about her strong Christian faith, and humorous poems, and has just published her first foray into the world of fiction, with her novelette, Where Angles Tread - a story about a young, homeless girl. She says of her work, "Above all, I want to leave my readers with smiles on their faces."
 
To get a copy of Where Angels Tread go to http://www.amazon.co.uk/Where-Angels-Tread-Loretta-Livingstone
 
Thanks as always for reading and supporting new authors,
 
Marie
 




Saturday 10 May 2014

Unjust


Unjust

Nobody thought that was where it was supposed to go, and who’d had the audacity to put it there was a total mystery. The villagers gathered round, eyeing each other surreptitiously, trying to glean a clue as to who the culprit was; or what would be done about it, for it couldn’t stay there. It had been expressly forbidden by, Evan Glenroth, the lord of the manor at the meeting, and even before then. The whispers and outrage had started the minute Melanie had died.

Melanie had never fitted in with the villagers. She had always been different; from her waist long hair that was never tied back, to the boots that she wore all year round, even in the hottest of weathers; and gossip followed her wherever she went. Gossip that was often fuelled more by the fact that she was a single attractive woman, who spurned all men who showed an interest in her, and likewise didn’t make any friends at all; than by any evidence of wrong doing.

Melanie had acquired a working knowledge of all the plants in the surrounding countryside and their uses. Those who were thankful for her talents, because they had used one of her natural remedies to heal an ailment when they couldn’t afford to go to the doctor, said it was because she dedicated her life to learning about plants or if pushed suggested she had a gift. Those of a less trusting disposition or who were trying to gain favour with Mr. Glenroth, said it was because she was a witch.

 Whatever the truth was behind her abilities it didn’t alter the fact that nobody was prepared to cross the lord of the manor and speak up for her after her death; or so it had seemed until this morning.

The villagers continued to gaze down at the fresh mound of earth and the wooden cross that had the name Melanie carved into it. It was up against the stone wall in a disused corner of the graveyard but it was still on consecrated ground. Nobody spoke; it was as if they were afraid to say anything lest they should be suspected, though a few amongst the crowd did wonder why Father Morris hadn’t come out to investigate the gathering.

“Let me through,” barked a loud voice.

Evan Glenroth, his face turning purple with restrained anger looked at the grave.

“This is an outrage. Get some shovels and move it instantly,” he ordered.

“No.” A single word, spoken so quietly but it was said with such conviction that the authority it carried made itself felt around the crowd and everybody turned to look at the speaker.

There stood Father Morris; his robe brushing the ground, his hair untamed and blowing in the breeze. His usually gentle demeanour was at this moment tinged with a centre of hardness that few had ever witnessed before.

“What did you say?” Mr. Glenroth asked incredulously.

“Melanie is staying there. She is entitled to have a resting place within these walls and I have seen to it that her final wishes have been carried out,” Father Morris answered calmly.

“You put her there? How could you?” the villagers began shouting at the priest.

“She was a witch!” someone shouted.

“No she was not!” Father Morris replied crossly. “Shame on you all, accusing a woman with no evidence; was it not bad enough that you ruined her happiness whilst she was living, that you try and deny her peace in her death too?”

“She knew the ways of the witch, look at all the potions she made,” a small weasel like man said.

“And those potions saved many of you from suffering,” the priest pointed out. “Will you accuse the blacksmith of being the devil just because he works with fire all day?”

Quiet murmurings were his only reply although one or two of the villagers began to look uncomfortable.

“Why did she never attend church?” asked Evan, obviously determined to try to restore his authority.

“She was nervous about being inside crowded buildings, another reason she spent so long wandering the hills for plants. I ministered to her privately in her own home or she came after dark to pray alone when she knew the church would be empty,” Father Morris said with a sigh.

“Why did you not tell us before?” the lord of the manor’s voice was suspicious.

“Melanie did not wish her weakness to be revealed, she said you would accuse her of being unable to enter a church, thus adding to your theories that she was a witch; yes of course she knew what you called her,” he spat out as a few villagers gasped. “After her death you were so busy condemning her that you would not have listened to reason, even if spoken by your priest. So I gave her the service and burial she deserved. She is in this corner, not to keep you happy but because here is the space that she craved in life and none of you are going to take it away from her.”

The fierce expression on Father Morris’ face frightened some of his parishioners and made others admire him. Evan Glenroth turned without another word and stalked off back to his manor.

Father Morris sat up all night, worried in case anyone tried to dig the grave up. However the lack of sleep from the previous night, when he had conducted Melanie’s funeral and burial single handed, meant that he fell asleep just before dawn.

He woke up startled and afraid that damage had been done, but when he glanced at the grave he was gratified to see that not only was the grave intact, there was a small posy of wild flowers leaning against the cross.

 Thank you for taking the time to read my short story - I hope you enjoyed it. feel free to leave a comment.
 
Marie.