Welcome to the Decadent Black Friday Hop

 

 

 

Happy Black Friday. As we all recover from our turkey hangovers, we have time to sit back and reflect on our year. This year has been a rather busy year for me. I had six releases. I also have one to be released the day after doomsday, December 22nd.

Which is what I’m dying to tell you about. When my publisher mentioned an idea for a Prepper series, I wasn’t sure at first what I'd write. It sounded like fun, but what did I know about preppers? The way my muse works, she takes a while to chew on an idea before she spits it out and slaps me upside the head, as was the case with Finding Mercy. I realized a lot of us are preppers already, in one manner or another. We prepare for bad storms, for the loss of power, or our jobs. We stock up on food and water. Grow gardens and put the food away. So, I researched and was caught up in it.

I couldn't stop thinking about it, so I spoke to my publisher on the phone for about an hour to find out more about what she wanted to see. By the end of the conversation, Evans Point was born and I was off and running.

Not only did my publisher give me a chance to write one of the launch stories for this new line of romances, she allowed me to build a world, a town to be more specific, and populate it with all kinds of people, who have all kinds of skills. People like us. Everyday people who use the skills they've aquired from jobs, the military, school and even experiences they've lived through. Then she let me invite my friends to play. Arlene Webb and Barbara Elsborg have also written stories in the Evans Point mini-series, Falling for Water andThe Princess and the Prepper.

 

 

Now, first I have to tell you this town wasn’t spun out of thin air. I had a lot of great inspiration. Evans Point, my fictional town, was modeled after the real town of Alliance, Nebraska. This little town on the edge of the Sand Hills has everything a prepper community could dream of.  In the 1940s, the United States Army built an airfield to train fighter pilots. The town’s population exploded overnight. Seeing a need to keep the military and their families safe, the Army Corp of Engineers built a bomb shelter under the town. This massive shelter takes up space under several blocks of the downtown area, and is a little known fact to people passing through. It has sat unused for over seventy years.

What if....

A town devastated by tornadoes decides to rebuild and refurbish, not only the town, but the shelter below, in hopes that they will never be caught unprepared again. This is the premise behind the community of preppers and their stories in Evans Point.

So, on December 22nd, after we’ve all weathered doomsday, I hope you’ll check out my latest release, Finding Mercy.

Blurb: 

You’ll die in three minutes without oxygen, three hours without shelter, three days without water and three weeks without food. But could you live a lifetime with a broken heart?

Mercy Evans has come to Evans Point hoping to collect herself and find a way to resurrect her career as an anchorwoman for Cheyenne’s news station. Sergeant Justin Redway has come to Evans Point to try to forget his past and survive what he’s done.

When two worlds collide, one of a battle damaged veteran, the other of a desperate woman who will go to any extreme to get his story, sparks fly and old wounds open. When the chasm between the fated lovers widens, will it be too big to cross?

One town, two lovers, and a second chance at finding mercy.

And here’s an excerpt: 

Fingers pressed against his throat, feeling for a pulse.

“This one’s alive.” Someone hoisted the weight of large chunk of wreckage from his torso. Two sets of hands slid under him. “On the count of three. One. Two. Three.”

They moved in unison, rolling him onto a stretcher.

“No,” he begged. He wasn’t alive. This couldn’t be real. Another protest gurgled from his throat and he began to convulse, unable to hold his limbs still.

“Hold him down so I can sedate him.” Hands grasped his wounded limbs. Bone cracked and shifted under their grip. He tried to arch up, but remained restrained by several soldiers. He yelled and thrashed his head side to side. They grabbed both sides of his face, holding him still.

Justin screamed. The sound was so inhuman, if he hadn’t been the one who’d made it, he wouldn’t have believed it came from a man. A stick with a needle. Burning.

As the seizure eased, they released their hold. He turned his head toward the medic who’d drugged him. The man blurred in and out. Justin’s vision came back into focus as a burnt picture of a woman and baby caught the breeze and tumbled across the baked earth next to where the medic kneeled. Justin swallowed and his eyes blurred with tears. Williams hadn’t even gotten to hold his daughter.

“You’re going to be okay.”

Let me die. Please. Let me die. Pain rode his nerves like an electrical wire, sending jolts of agony to the tips of his fingers and toes. He opened his mouth, but nothing came from his throat. Boom, boom, boom. His heartbeat slowed as the sedative did its job.

“Get him on the chopper.”

Regardless the drug, every step the medics took hurt as they hauled him toward reprieve. Broken bones, burns, but nothing compared to what played through his head. He’d killed them all and survived to see his handiwork. Nothing could be worse than that.

Thanks for stopping by, and make sure to check out the other stops on the hop to get in on the great prizes. For a chance to win a $10 Amazon Gift Certificate, leave a comment under this post. I’ll draw a name on Saturday and announce the the winner. And don't forget to mark your calender for December 22nd, for the triple release of the Evans Point Prepper series.

For more information about my books and buy links, please visit my website:  www.authordljackson.com You can find all my current works in the bookstore.

D L Jackson