“10 Moments That Changed My Life” by Author Laura Strickland and 99¢ Sale: Steampunk Novel

I am pleased to introduce today’s guest, Laura Strickland, who is sharing the moments that changed her life, and a fabulous bargain…

10 Moments That Changed My Life by Laura Strickland

1. The first time my sister took me to the library. My older sister, Dot, was an avid reader and fortunately she infected me with the bug. She also shared her more advanced books with me, which stretched both my reading ability and my imagination. Thanks, Sis!
2. The moment I realized I could write my own stories, just like those in the library. I loved reading so much I often grieved when a story ended. Once it occurred to me that writing the story meant I could continue it for as long as I wanted, a writer was born.
3. The day I got my own first dog. For years I’d longed for a canine companion but I was the youngest of three girls and my mom had reached her limit on furry mess by the time I came along. Not till I graduated from High School did she (finally!) give in.
4. The day I met my best friend, who’s still my best friend today. We’ve spent uncounted hours sharing dreams and flying our fancies together, and she helped me hone my storytelling skills when I created serial tales and told them to her by the hour.
5. The first time I heard the song “Mother Goose” by Jethro Tull. This song opened my ears and my mind, and quite literally stopped my world for a moment. I still listen to Tull when I write Steampunk.
6. The night I met the man who would become my husband. We were pen pals first. Yes, my entire life has pretty much revolved around writing.
7. The (very early) morning my daughter was born. Little did I know that wee elf would soon become my friend, playmate and traveling companion.
8. The day I realized my beloved dog, Mac, had returned to me in the far larger body of yet another dog. Spirit is spirit, and bonding is bonding. ‘Nough said.
9. The day I stood in a glen in Scotland, the exact spot where I’d set several books of my Celtic Series but had never before visited. It was just as I’d pictured—pure magic.
10. The day I clicked on an email and learned I’d received my first contract from The Wild Rose Press. A fortunate moment for me indeed!

Oh wow, wonderful list! I can totally relate to the feeling of bringing a child into this world, both the human kind and the book kind. 🙂 Thanks so much for sharing, Laura, now tell us about your book… (LOVE the cover…and the premise!)

 

Book Blurb

Clara Allen needs a husband in order to keep a roof over the heads of her assorted dependents, a roof her nasty grandfather will re-appropriate unless she is married by her 21st birthday, only a few days away.  Strong-minded, unwilling to take orders from any man, she decides to solve her problem by raising a murdered prisoner from the dead and marrying him.  She expects an empty-headed puppet; she certainly never dreams he’ll be so devastatingly handsome.

Liam McMahon doesn’t recall much about his life before his hanging in the prison yard, other than being Irish.  He does remember the kiss Clara bestowed as she brought him back to life.  Every time he looks at her, his desire gets out of hand.  But his former life is chasing him down like a steam engine, and when a couple of mad geniuses decide he’d make a fine experiment, he wonders if he’ll live long enough to claim Clara’s heart or if he’ll die all over again.

Excerpt:

The room needed to be warm–she had learned that during past experiments. It helped if the subject awakened in an environment that was moist and heated, akin to the womb. And the breath of life was more easily received by warmed flesh.

Still obviously uneasy, Georgina rejoined Clara at the table. “You know you’re going to have to touch him.”

“I’ve already touched him. Ruella and I stripped and washed him down.”

“You’re going to have to kiss him.”

“It isn’t a kiss. It’s a resurrection.”

The room had warmed quickly. Now clouds of steam billowed and surrounded the table, lending an unreality to this thing she undertook. It blurred the edges of her vision and her reason.

She rested her fingertips lightly against the corpse’s chest and closed her eyes. He no longer felt cold but he did feel quite dead. She’d learned the difference over these many months. Against all the distractions she quieted her mind and reached for the power within.

It slept much the way the man’s flesh did, resting in oblivion. Like a separate entity within her, it mellowed and simmered until she called upon it, when it flared to life, bringing life.

She let the power grow and flare and burgeon inside of her because she would need a great quantity of it, more than ever before. When it threatened to overspill her like hot water in a steaming kettle she opened her eyes.

She felt full; she felt ready. She drew a deep breath–deep, deep, deeper than ever before–leaned down and placed her mouth upon that of the corpse.

 

Author Web site: www.laurastricklandbooks.com

Author Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000002632317

Author Amazon page:  http://www.amazon.com/Laura-Strickland/e/B001KHSACW/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

Buy link Amazon:  http://amzn.to/2kAdcxC

Buy link Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dead-handsome-laura-strickland/1121179536?ean=2940150186538

Buy link KOBO:  https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/dead-handsome-a-buffalo-steampunk-adventure

Buy link The Wild Rose Press: http://www.wildrosepublishing.com/maincatalog_v151/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=242_177_139&products_id=6082

Good Reads link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24951557-dead-handsome?ac=1

 

Author bio:

Born in Buffalo and raised on the Niagara Frontier, award-winning author Laura Strickland has been an avid reader and writer since childhood. To her the spunky, tenacious, undefeatable ethnic mix that is Buffalo spells the perfect setting for a little Steampunk, so she created her own Victorian world there.  She knows the people of Buffalo are stronger, tougher and smarter than those who haven’t survived the muggy summers and blizzard blasts found on the shores of the mighty Niagara.  Tough enough to survive a squad of automatons? Well, just maybe.