For Authors For Bloggers Beck Valley Books is an influential book review site and book tour host - Book Reviewer Yellow Pages A dream to work with, professional, helpful beyond measure plus working with her is one of the best things I've done to promote my eBook - author Lisa Consiglio Ryan I love working with you - you're kind, encouraging and effective! Thanks for all you do for all of us authors! - author Kaira Rouda I knew I had met someone who would handle my books like they were her own. Truly a pleasure doing business with you! - author Melissa Foster Your service and perseverance to assure that the tour ran smoothly enabled its success. I cannot express my appreciation enough - author Joyce Strand Amazingly organized, efficient and stays on top of the details. Her professionalism is outstanding, communication skills unparalleled and she's even rather adept at hand-holding when it is necessary - author Barbara Boswell Brunner Thanks so much to you and all of your wonderful reviewers! I've had phenomenal success from this blog tour - author Delia Colvin

Friday, August 31, 2012

Book Review - Return To The Desert by Dr Jerry Burgener

Book Review
Return to the Desert
Return To The Desert
by Dr Jerry Burgener

About the Author


Dr. Jerry Burgener grew up in Illinois and still lives there today. He received his PhD in Human Learning from Southern Illinois University, spent most of his career as a forensic psychologist as well as working in schools and Mental Health Organizations.  He is now in private practice with his techniques and approaches being presented in print by news media and on national television. Dr. Jerry has also ridden and trained horses in Illinois and Arizona.



Book Description
In this sequel to the novel Desert Journey, Jerry Burgener continues studying the spiritual lessons provided by his American Indian spirit guide, Tom, as he chronicles his incredible journey to understand life and relationships and why we choose one lover over another.

Again basing his story on true events, Jerry returns to Tom's mountain retreat near Apache Junction, Arizona, expecting sympathy and understanding from Tom when he relays that his fiancé has cheated on him with an ex-boyfriend. Instead, Tom calmly states, "Everything is perfect and as it should be." Jerry soon realizes he has to relearn many lessons Tom taught him on the very same mountaintop a year earlier and then must achieve a whole new level of understanding in order to find inner peace. As Jerry struggles to comprehend his need to constantly be immersed in a relationship, Tom challenges him to find his place in the universe and uses past life regression to help Jerry understand how his actions provide consequences beyond his current life.

Superstition Mountain provides a perfect backdrop as Tom continues his spiritual pilgrimage to find the key to true happiness.

Our Book Review
If you read my book review of the author's first book 'Desert Journey' then you will know just how much I loved it.  In fact I just could not wait to read the follow up and was certainly not disappointed and had an extremely hard job to put the book down.  Although I don't think it could come close to the experience of reading the first book, to be fair I don't think any book could !! 

A year ago, on a horse trek around Spiritual Mountain Jerry was gently guided by the hands of fate to an encounter with a wise old Indian named Tom unbeknownst to Jerry, Tom is his spiritual friend from many past lives and his spiritual mentor on his life's journey, they have shared many lifetimes together and made an agreement a long time ago to find each other to help reach their fullest potential.

In this book, Jerry returns a year later to the beauty of Spiritual Mountain for further guidance from his spiritual friend, Tom.  Jerry's quest is still to find true happiness and his true self, but he is also battling against his relationship demons after yet another relationship has failed.  He  looks to Tom for answers as to why after so much learning the previous year he can still get things so wrong.  Tom's reply is that everything is perfect as it should be, which makes no sense at all to Jerry.  After some time Jerry realises that he had let the learning slip and had forgotten many important lessons which he would need to restart once again.

The story focuses on finding the answers to why he feels so much anger and abandonment at leaving Jenna and why he is faced night after night with the recurring dream of John Lee, a young boy who's father left him and his mother to go to war.  The dreams continue to show John Lee working on the farm to look after his mother, a tragic accident for the plough horse, the death of his weak mother and finally trying to find his father during wartime. I could have read a lot more about John Lee's life but it would have ended up being a very big book to read.

A couple of messages stood out for me while I was so engrossed in the story.  The first was that when something happens to you you can spend all your time thinking of yourself as a victim and how awful it is or you can ask yourself what am I meant to learn from this experience.  Don't let feelings take control, its all about the perspective of a situation.  The other was that in relationships love is important but like and respect is much more important.  If you do not know why you liked that person in the first place then when love ends   what reason do you have to stay.  

I love the way the author writes the story to include life messages of self help.  I could actually sit and read about Tom's spiritual guidance and lessons all the time, I would obviously prefer to sit on the edge of the mountain with him overlooking the beauty of the valley below but will have to make do reading from a book.  

A highly recommended book to everyone who enjoys to read and I cannot wait for the author's next return to his spiritual guide.

Our Rating (surprise, surprise)
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amazon.co.uk          amazon.com


MVM Giveaway Linkup !!

Welcome to the best Giveaway Linkup on the web hosted by Moms with Voices Media! This is a great place to list and find giveaways hosted all around the blogosphere by some great bloggers.

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Sunday is Quote Day

Hunter Moon Cover Reveal plus SIGNED BOOK & GC Give Away

 

Hunter Moon

Bawling cattle tore Shelby Flint from her bed. With lawyer fees to pay in her struggle to keep her ranch from the clutches of her greedy cousins, she couldn’t afford the loss of even one calf. When she sees a large wolf circling her cows, she aims and fires. While the wolf escapes, Shelby can’t seem to get away from her troubles when a marijuana grower sets up shop on her land, sabotaging her property and eventually coming after her. Adding to that, a handsome game warden is poking his nose into her business and working his way underneath her skin. Shelby will have to fight harder than she ever fought before to keep from losing her heart and everything she ever loved

Buy on Amazon

Here is the New Cover!


In celebration of the new cover Cait Lavender is giving away 3 autographed copies with her NEW cover and a $20 Amazon or B&N GC 
(Prints to US or digital INT) 
Ends 9/11 @ 11:59PM EST 
 Fill out the form below to enter to win!

FREE BLOGGER OPP - Bloggy What You Want Christmas Give Away



Calling all bloggers, Sign up for the
Bloggy Whatcha Want Christmas Giveaway!

Jenn’s Blah Blah Blog, Diva Fabulosa, Dishin With Rebelle and There’s a Contest 4 That Bring you the Bloggy Whatcha Want Christmas Giveaway!

You’re not going to want to miss this awesome event!  Jenn’s Blah Blah Blog has an awesome event in the works for Christmas, hurry and get a spot, the good ones will fill up quickly!

About the event:
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These events are always awesome, everyone gets TONS OF COMMENTS!  Our readers love them, which is the reason we want to bring another fabulous event their way!  So don’t miss out on this awesome blogger opportunity!

Remember, if you want the FREE Facebook link for this Super Bloggy Giveaway you have to post an Announce post on your blog.  Why?  HELP PROMOTE, THE MORE BLOGGERS WE HAVE IN THIS EVENT THE BETTER PRIZES WE CAN OFFER OUR READERS, THE MORE FUN WE ALL HAVE!

WHERE DO I SIGN UP?

SIGN UP FOR THIS FABULOUS GIVEAWAY ON JENN’S BLAH BLAH BLOG HERE

FREE BLOGGER OPP - Hidden Treasure's Candles Give Away

 
  CALLING ALL BLOGGERS Check out this FREE Blogger opp! Jenn's Blah Blah Blog, Pink Ninja Blogger and Diva Fabulosa are hosting another awesome giveaway! 10 Hidden Treasure Candles, will be given away! We will be giving 2 Hidden Treasure Candles away to FIVE Lucky Winners! That's a total of $250 in amazing candles, with hidden treasures inside each and every candle! About the Hidden Treasure Candles
 
  • Every candle has a beautiful hidden treasure inside the amazing smelling wax.
  • Every 500 Candles sold, one lucky customer will win an iPad 3!
  • Every 1000 Candles sold, one lucky customer will receive a Le Vian Necklace!
  • Every 5000 Candles sold, one lucky customer will receive a Tiffany & Co. Pendant!
Look at some of the amazing jewelry in Hidden Treasure Candles!
 
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Learn more about this fabulous giveaway on Jenns Blah Blah Blog

FREE BLOGGER OPP - $200 Fall Event Give Away

  
  Jenn's Blah Blah Blog, Diva Fabulosa and Simply Shawn & Jenn are bringing you an awesome FREE Blogger Opportunity! 

 They will be giving away $200, in their Have it your way event! 
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 Kindle Fire, PayPal Cash, Amazing, Wal-Mart, Target! Who cares, they get just what they want! 
 Blogger get FREE Facebook link with the option to purchase additional links! Jenn's Blah Blah Blog had a giveaway just like this called the Sizzling Summer Giveaway that was fabulous, so were going to bring it back over and over and over again! This time Simply Shawn & Jenn has decided to join in the fun to celebrate reaching over 10K fans! 

About the event
  • Prize: Whatever you want up to $200 (shipping included) Do you want a Kindle Fire? Maybe an iPod, hummm maybe gift card to Target, oh wait Paypal cash? We don't care we want you to have it your way! So let the games begin, and let's have some fun with this one!
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You can sign up for this event, HERE

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Weekly Book Blog Hop Time !! Join In !!

Beck Valley Books Weekly Book Blog Hop
Hosted by Beck Valley Books
Our Book Blog Hop is here to unite all booklovers worldwide, readers, book reviewers, authors, publishers, book bloggers, book sellers, putting you all in touch with each other and keeping real books alive x

We would love it if you could share our hop with all your booky friends 
and display are book hop badge (optional obviously x)

F
irst follow our blog using Google Friend Connect, leave a comment and we will always follow back,
then add your blogs and giveaways below.....
Remember to leave a comment on each blog for a follow back!!
Now included are Library Thing / Book Likes / Shelfari links xx 
(these will be left on each week to save you finding them again lol )


Share on your blog so your readers can join in :-)
While Your Here also join in our 'Follow My Pins' Pinterest Hop
Follow My Pins Pinterest Hop
UK GiveawaysPhotobucket

Winners of the PrintRunner Giveaway are...........


THE LUCKY WINNERS OF THE
PRINTRUNNER GIVEAWAY ARE

BRIANA F
COURTNEY A
RHONDA W

CONGRATULATIONS !!!

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Follow My Pins !! Pinterest Hop !!

Follow My Pins Pinterest Hop
Hosted by Karma Media
Let's connect with each other through the 'things' we find interesting.
Browsing pinboards is a fun way to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests.

Add your Pinterest link and follow those on the linky.
Links can be your main Pinterest link or share your favourite Pinterest board or pin,  the choice is yours!!

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Monday, August 27, 2012

Book Review - The Sex God, No Mud No Lotus by Ben Belenus

Book Review
the sex god book
The Sex God - No Mud No Lotus

About the Author

Ben would describe himself as a spiritual citizen of Planet Earth. His teacher told him that writing is like making love. By going deeply into sex with an aware spirit, ascension for any reader can happen. When we go deeply into sex with awareness, we can all rise in love.

Author on Facebook   Author's Website   Author on Twitter




Book Description
The sex god – No Mud No Lotus is a thorough and sacred investigation into sex, love and authenticity. It’s a sexually explicit and passionate love story that follows one man’s evolution towards spiritual freedom. The story is told through his many erotic encounters. We follow him from innocence into sexual cockiness, painful infidelities, porn addiction and then onwards into deepest Tantric Love. The book explores sex, infidelity, Tantra, sex addiction, pornography, sexual healing, sacred sexuality and eco sexuality in great depth. Men will be understood and confronted. Women will be challenged and adored. 

This erotic mind, body, spirit book aims to expose our guilty and shameful relationship to sex. We live in a world with billions of sexually repressed women, billions of sexually damaged men and millions of people addicted to pornography. Something has gone wrong. The sex god prompts us all to take a good look at the assumptions that we make about our sexuality. Sexual energy is immensely powerful, what if we could master it?
BenBelenus
Our Book Review
This is a totally open and honest account of one man's sexual conquests throughout his life.  The loves, the one-night stands and sometimes just sexual urge to fulfill himself.  The conquests and relationships he finds himself in are not just explained from a sexual point of view, the psychological point of view is also explained.

The book is no hold bars and will not be a book for everyone to read, if you are offended by sexual explicit terms and very descriptive sexual text then this is not a book for you.

The honesty the author share about the women involved, the actions and positions they experience, just go to show us that sex is natural and shouldn't be seen as seedy or dirty.  By being open and sharing your vulnerability or enjoyment it can bring people together and through intimacy can strengthen the bond.

I think that through the book the author is trying to tell us that sex is a basic instinct and if a willing partner is to be found there is no shame in any of the behaviour that follows between them.

As I have stated the book is extremely descriptive and a little too explicit for my taste, although a great insight into how men in general see and think about sex.

Our Rating




 
amazon.co.uk            amazon.com


Around The Blogosphere !! Add your events !!

Welcome to Around the Blogosphere, hosted by Karma Media!
Uncreative Mommy in a Sea of Crafty Bloggers

The purpose of this hop is to help promote each others:
  • Giveaways
  • Blogger Opps
  • Reviews
  • Affiliate Links
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  • Other Hops/Linkies
All submissions must be family friendly and cannot promote intolerance or hate. Enter your links below, there is no limit to how many you can submit. All we ask for in return is to share or promote this hop, hey it helps you too, remember!!
Giveaways Blogger Opps Reviews Affiliate Links Blogger Groups Book Tours Hops/Linkies

WINNERS of the Mark Of The Witch Giveaway are.....


THE LUCKY WINNERS OF THE
MARK OF THE WITCH GIVEAWAY ARE

HELEN B
STACY S
JENN
BRANDY S
BROOKE B

CONGRATULATIONS !!

Sunday, August 26, 2012

WIN $50 - Easy Entry !! Open Worldwide !!

WIN $50 - Open Worldwide
Giveaway and Sweeps FB Group

**EXCLUSIVE TO MVM GIVEAWAY AND SWEEPS MEMBERS **
Not yet a member, hurry and join HERE

Easy to enter !!  
Simple add a giveaways to this linky, vote for your favorite, the giveaway with the most votes wins. Simple !!

Open Worldwide
Ends 31st August 2012


The Winner of our MVM Exclusive Giveaway Link-up is Isis BayAreamommy !!

Congratulations !! 

Book Review - The Rx Factor by J Thomas Shaw


Book Review
The RX Factor
The Rx Factor
by John Thomas Shaw

About the Author
John Thomas Shaw John Thomas Shaw was born in Quincy, Illinois, and attended the University of Oklahoma and Illinois State University. He now resides in Southern California with his wife and their two children. Prior to his relocation to California, Mr. Shaw lived for six years in Durham, North Carolina and two years on a ranch outside of Cotopaxi, Colorado. He has traveled extensively throughout the Bahamas', Caribbean and Mexico. The scenes throughout The RX Factor takes place in the various locations that the author has lived or experienced in his travels. Throughout the process of writing The RX Factor, the author consulted with his good friend, Johnny Powers Ph.D. 



Book Description
Five years after the death of his wife and children, Ryan Matthews is living alone with memories of his failed career in cancer research when fellow scientist Jordan Carver catches his eye. Preparing for a move to Mexico, Jordan plans to open a clinic where terminal patients will have affordable access to experimental medication. Despite Ryan’s skepticism on her willingness to bypass the FDA drug approval process, he is intrigued by Jordan’s passion and determination to provide alternative care to terminal patients. But when a violent explosion leaves the small Bahamian island of Exuma on edge, Ryan knows his life has once again been forever altered.

Drawn together by circumstance, attraction, and shared ambition, Ryan and Jordan become united in their international quest for the truth. The two embark on an explosive thrill ride ending in Washington, D.C., where the couple unravels the country’s best-kept secret: the government will stop at nothing to maintain the American way of life, with heartbreak and sickness for all.


Our Book Review
An excellent, page turning thriller based around the controversial area of clinical drug tests which could help saves lives in the future.

The story centres around Dr Matthews and Jordan Carver who are two research scientists looking into the possible cure of cancer.  Someone is trying to stop them, who and why?  

Once you start reading the book you will not want to put it down, the author has a knack of keeping you on a knife edge.  The emotion you feel while reading this book is immense, you will feel yourself getting angry and upset as we all know someone who could or would have benefited from a new trial of drug.

The storyline is one of controversy and you wonder how much of the truth is fiction.  Have the big pharmaceutical companies really found drugs that can cure illnesses but if released would cost them billions in lost revenue due to not having to sell prescription drugs to alleviate the symptoms of the patients suffering.

The corruption which comes with this suppression and by paying big bucks to influential businessman and politicians to quash the trials makes this a must read. 

The author will be on my must read list and maybe just could be the new James Patterson.

Our Rating




 
amazon.co.uk            amazon.com


WINNERS of the Moody Bands Giveaway are........

WINNERS OF THE MOODY BANDS GIVEAWAY ARE

Theresa is a winner!
Klydra Pugh is a winner!
Cheryl Rahkonen is a winner!
Anita Jones is a winner!
Sandy VanHoey is a winner!
Aria Hillhouse is a winner!
Alexia Miller is a winner!
Michelle Macaluso is a winner!
Karen Farrow is a winner!
RainaDelrio is a winner!

CONGRATULATIONS !!


Saturday, August 25, 2012

Pinterest Linkup!! I Wish I'd Thought of That !!

Have you found ideas, recipes, crafts that you have pinned on to your Pinterest boards? 
Maybe you found something that made you say "I wish I had found that!"   
Ever found something that makes you go "AH! Now that is an IDEA that just makes so much sense!" 

We want to know! 
Please share those great pins with us! 

Link up your favorite pins so we can follow you. 
(Don't just link your pinterest account - link your favorite image!) 

Friday, August 24, 2012

MVM Giveaway Linkup !!

Welcome to the best Giveaway Linkup on the web hosted by Moms with Voices Media! This is a great place to list and find giveaways hosted all around the blogosphere by some great bloggers.

  • List your giveaways below.
  • Hop over and enter 1 or 2 (or all) of the giveaways! If you're the lucky winner, we'd love to hear!

For more giveaways, sweeps and contests, check out our Giveaway Group on Facebook.




Join our new facebook group
Sunday is Quote Day

WINNER of the His or Hers Power Wheels Jeep is......


THE LUCKY WINNER 

IS 

LUCY N

CONGRATULATIONS !!

SIGNED BOOK GIVEAWAY - Captain by Thomas Block

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Open to US
Ending on September 12th at 12.01am EST

'Captain' is his most ambitious, intricate and action-packed aviation tale yet . It is a chilling and all-too-real story about a routine Trans-Atlantic airline flight that suddenly turns absolutely insane. In the doomed airliner's cockpit, inside the passenger cabin and on the ground, a complex array of characters have been propelled at jet speed into a sudden and frantic race for survival. 'Captain' is about the individual and collective struggles of each of these men and women as they attempt to deal with and ultimately fight against the odds and circumstances that are stacked against them.

'Captain' is a novel that pits man against man while also pitting man against machine. It is a story about the need for human judgments, hard-learned experiences, gut feelings and unbridled perseverance in an effort to rise up against a world where the strict adherence to written rules, regulations and procedures have been accepted as the norm.

'Captain' is about the way real airline pilots think, feel and react, especially after those giant airliners that they've strapped themselves to have suddenly turned vicious and unpredictable.

Open to US
Ending on September 12th at 12.01am EST

Enter Below and Good Luck !! a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Book Tour - Captain by Thomas Block





Welcome to another great Karma Media Book Tour, where you will find honest reviews and insights into today’s authors and books.


Each tour stop is unique, so remember to check back with the tour daily.  View the entire tour schedule here:



This tour will feature:

Author: Thomas Block 
Featuring the book: Captain

CreateSpace (April 7, 2012) - 348 Pages
Available in Paperback and Kindle ($16.99/$6.99)
Action/Adventure/Thriller

About the Author:
Thomas Block has written a number of aviation-oriented novels, many which have gone on to acquire best-seller status in numerous countries. His novel writing began with the publication of "Mayday" in 1979. That novel was rewritten with his boyhood friend, novelist Nelson DeMille in 1998 and remains on DeMille's extensive backlist. "Mayday" became a CBS Movie of the Week in October, 2005.

Other novels by Block include "Orbit" (a top bestseller in Germany, among other nations), "Airship Nine", "Forced Landing" (also done as a radio serializatoin drama in Japan), "Skyfall", "Open Skies" and "Captain". Thomas Block is still writing both fiction and non-fiction, and has edited and updated his earlier novels into ebooks of all the major formats and also into new full-sized (trade soft cover) printed versions.

Block's magazine writing began in 1968 and over the next five decades his work has appeared in numerous publications. He worked 20 years at FLYING Magazine as Contributing Editor, and as Contributing Editor to Plane & Pilot Magazine for 11 years. Block became Editor-at-Large for Piper Flyer Magazine and Cessna Flyer Magazine in 2001.

During his long career as an aviation writer he has written on a wide array of subjects that range from involvement with government officials to evaluation reports on most everything that flies. Block has piloted gliders, seaplanes, the Goodyear Blimp, warplanes and many large transport jets, to name just a few categories from his logbook. He has owned more than a dozen light airplanes.

An airline pilot for US Airways for over 36 years before his retirement in April, 2000, Captain Thomas Block has been a pilot since 1959. Born February 11, 1945, Block has accumulated 30,000+ hours of flight time since his first solo on his sixteenth birthday. He holds an Air Transport Pilot rating in numerous large aircraft. Block flew the Trans-Oceanic routes for US Airways in the Boeing 767 to a cross-section of European cities for the last decade of his airline career. Block is also rated for single and multi-engine land and sea aircraft, and gliders. Since 2002, Thomas Block has lived on a ranch in Florida with his wife Sharon where they board, compete and train horses. The Ranch website (www.FlyingB-Ranch.com) contains additional information about Thomas Block's novels and his other writing activities.


About the Book:

'Captain' is his most ambitious, intricate and action-packed aviation tale yet . It is a chilling and all-too-real story about a routine Trans-Atlantic airline flight that suddenly turns absolutely insane. In the doomed airliner's cockpit, inside the passenger cabin and on the ground, a complex array of characters have been propelled at jet speed into a sudden and frantic race for survival. 'Captain' is about the individual and collective struggles of each of these men and women as they attempt to deal with and ultimately fight against the odds and circumstances that are stacked against them.

'Captain' is a novel that pits man against man while also pitting man against machine. It is a story about the need for human judgments, hard-learned experiences, gut feelings and unbridled perseverance in an effort to rise up against a world where the strict adherence to written rules, regulations and procedures have been accepted as the norm.

'Captain' is about the way real airline pilots think, feel and react, especially after those giant airliners that they've strapped themselves to have suddenly turned vicious and unpredictable.

Excerpt:

PROLOGUE

The fire was directly behind them and catching up. Ray could not only feel the on-rushing hot and acrid air that rolled over them from behind, but he could sense the flames and, every now and then, would catch a glimpse of that holocaust when he dared peek over his shoulder. “Hurry,” he said as he and Katie ran down the long, narrow valley in northern Italy that was being engulfed in a wildfire.

“Ray, I’m frightened.” They continued running along the only exit path available to them. Katie faltered and stumbled, her breathing heavily labored.

“Keep running. Almost there. I can see it. The next bend in the roadway.” Ray felt Katie’s fingers as they, literally, dug into his hand. She was moving slower, and he was pulling her as best he could, urging her along, trying to reach the only chance they had against the monstrous wildfire that had trapped them in this long and narrow valley.

“I can’t…keep going…” Katie said as she nearly fell.

“You can!” Ray pulled on her arm to steady her, and she regained her balance. She continued moving forward with him. “Almost,” Ray said. “There it is! The airport!” “Where?” Katie asked, breathlessly.

“Straight ahead. Behind that row of trees.” There it was, the small Italian airfield that Ray had somehow known about, nestled in the bowels of this narrow valley, its single blacktop runway positioned parallel with the high valley walls on either side. It would be their only chance to get out of this valley alive. As Ray had remembered, there was a single row of small Italian airplanes parked at the far end of the airfield. “A little further.”

“Yes…Okay…”

Katie was keeping up with him, so all that was left was to pick a suitable airplane to make their escape. But as they neared the row of parked aircraft at the deserted airfield, Ray realized that the small airplanes parked on the line — a dozen or more — were the same type. “Single seat sport planes, every one of them!” Ray shouted back at her. “Damn!”

“I can fly one. I can do it, if you show me.” Katie ran past several of the tiny Italian airplanes, glancing at each and, for some reason, going on to the next. The airplanes were identical, and they had very small cockpits with only one seat. There was no way to get two people into one airplane. “You’ll have to fly your own,” Ray said. “Can’t both fit into one.”

“I can do it, Ray,” Katie said as they stopped at one aircraft in the middle of the pack. Katie popped open the cockpit canopy and peeked inside. “You need to show me how to get it started. The cockpit labels are in Italian, can’t read them.”

“Get in.” Ray boosted her into the tiny cockpit. While she strapped herself into the pilot’s seat, Ray pointed to various controls as he figured them out. “Mag switch, starter, fuel selector, throttle. The control stick is normal, like the one you’ve used in the Cub at home. Wheel brakes on the floor, next to the rudder pedals. Use your heels. Put this headset on and use the radio once we get going. Press this button to transmit.”

“Okay.” Katie glanced around the unfamiliar cockpit. “Ray, I can do this. Get yourself into the next airplane.” Katie pointed toward the aircraft to their right. “Hurry. The fire is almost here.”

“I know.” Ray closed the canopy on Katie’s airplane, jumped from the wing and ran to the next aircraft in the line. As he climbed in, he could see the wall of flames as it worked its way around the turn in the road that was not a half a mile from them. The outflow of hot air had gotten stronger, and it was blowing directly down the short runway. That hot wind would shorten their takeoff roll, but it meant that they had to take off directly toward the enormous fire that was racing toward them. As Ray started the engine of his airplane, he could see that Katie had already started the engine of hers. “Can you hear me?” Ray asked on the radio.

“Yes,” Katie answered. “Ready.” She paused, then transmitted, “Ray, you go first, I’ll follow.”

“No.” Ray could see the problem they’d be facing. The only runway they could use was directly toward the towering flames and mounds of billowing smoke, and it was getting closer with each passing moment. He needed to get Katie to make the first takeoff so she could clear that maelstrom with room to spare; if he were to cut into the top of it, he stood a better chance than she did of wrestling the airplane through that smoke, the flames and the heavy turbulence. “You go, I’ll follow behind you.”

“Ray, you first — please!” Katie pleaded into the microphone.

“Okay.” There was no time to argue. Ray pushed on the throttle and the Italian airplane jolted forward. “Follow me,” he transmitted. “Stay close.”

“I am.” He glanced over his shoulder and could see her aircraft, only thirty feet or so behind his. “When we get to the far end of the runway, I’ll swing around,” Ray transmitted. “I’ll add full power and roll straight down the runway. You wait ten seconds – no more than that – then do the same. Use eighty on the airspeed indicator as a takeoff and climb speed; that should be safe.”

“Okay.”

“Keep transmitting while you’re making the takeoff so I know how you’re doing.” Ray knew that Katie found comfort in using the radio, in talking about what she was doing, as if that electronic link to someone else provided her with more hands and eyes in the cockpit, and with more skill. “Let go of the transmit button if you need me to answer you.”

“I understand.”

“Here I go,” Ray said into the microphone. “Push up the power in ten seconds.”

“Right.”

Ray concentrated on his own takeoff. Rolling directly toward that wall of flame and smoke was disconcerting, but there was no other way. The Italian airplane leapt off the runway at 80 on the airspeed indicator, as he figured it would. “Eighty works fine,” Ray transmitted. “Start your takeoff.”

“Here I go,” Katie announced.

Ray steered his airplane as steeply as he dared. He would, barely, clear the flames and smoke. He was clearing it by hardly more than inches, and the turbulence was severe. That meant that Katie wouldn’t clear it, and the turbulence would be worse. “Off the ground…climbing…Ray, the flames, the smoke…right in front of me…it’s above me…Ray…Ray…”

In the background, behind her terrified words, Ray could hear the loud ringing of an alarm bell. It was, evidently, from inside her airplane, some sort of fire bell or overheat or smoke warning built into this Italian sport plane. Her airplane was on fire.

“Ray…Ray…I’m going down…Ray…”

But he couldn’t answer her because she had kept her finger on the transmit button while she was losing control. He couldn’t say anything to her, couldn’t give her any advice – if there was any advice that he could give, any advice that would save her. Oh, my God.... Ray kept hearing her frightened, pleading voice with that loud, shrill ringing of the fire bell in the background….

Finally, the ringing penetrated his conscious mind. Ray realized with a start that it was, in fact, the telephone beside his hotel bed that was ringing. “Hello?” he said, after fumbling around and finally picking up the receiver. What he heard on the other end was an electronic voice: it was the automated wake up call for 8:00 am that he had requested when he checked into this small hotel north of Rome late the evening before.

Ray got out of bed, stepped into the bathroom and splashed cold water on his face. His stomach was churning from the remnants of that bizarre dream, a nightmare that had seemed so damned real, and from the memory of Katie’s frightened voice. Put that out of your mind. Right now. You’ve got to. Ray splashed more cold water on his face, then left the bathroom.

He went to the telephone and picked it up. When the front desk answered, Ray verified that his previous night’s instructions were being carried out and that the hotel had arranged for a taxi to take him to Rome’s Airport at 10:00 am. That would give him two hours to shave, shower, pack and have breakfast. “The taxi will be ready at ten?” Ray asked.

“Si,” the front desk operator answered. “I have the instructions right here. This taxi service, he’s a very dependable. The ride is short, twenty minutes at the most. You will have no problems.”

“Thank you. Gracie,” Ray said.

“Prego.”

Ray turned and headed to the bathroom. He had spent the past sixteen days driving through northern Italy, going only to places he had never been before, places that he had never taken Katie to. His friends — the few friends that he would speak to about this very personal subject — said that a change of scenery would be helpful, and so would new areas to explore and enjoy. It would get his thoughts going in a different direction. They had been right, it had.

Some. But not much.

Ray glanced at the one novel and three magazines that he would be taking on the flight. That, plus the one self-help book that he had impulsively grabbed from that bookstore shelf before leaving on his trip to Italy, the book he had bought one afternoon when he had aimlessly wandered around Manhattan on a shopping trip while his head was throbbing and the memory of Katie’s face was hardly below the surface of his thoughts.

As Ray had suspected, the words in Dealing With Anxiety and Guilt were totally dead to him. Even after he had forced himself to finish that self-help psychology book, the words remained stone dead: as dead as Katie was.

Got to let it go. Those words had become his recurring mantra for some time, but they also had done little to help. Mouthing those words had done almost nothing to ease his pain, nothing to erase those constant, gnawing memories and the periodic dreams and nightmares. Ray sighed, then shook his head as he looked directly at himself in the bathroom mirror. He knew that Flight 3 from Rome to New York was going to be a long ride for him today.

Copyright © 2012 by Thomas Block.  All rights reserved.

Disclosure: This tour was brought to you by Karma Media. As a participant of this book tour, I received a copy of the book in hardcopy or ebook format for the purposes of sharing my honest review with you.

If you are interested in joining Karma Media Book Tours or would like to explore the possibility of having Karma Media feature your book or series, we invite you to visit our team website at www.karmamediateam.com

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

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