MEDIA RELEASE

SHADOW MOUNTAIN

BY TESS COLLINS

pub date: January 4, 2017

BearCat Press

Casebound: 978-1-937356-46-0

Trade: 978-1-937356-47-7

ebook: 978-1-937356-48-4

SAN FRANCISCO, CA. – SHADOW MOUNTAIN begins a new series for author Tess Collins. “The Shadow Mountain Saga opens in the time when the agrarian age is being overtaken by the industrial,” says Collins. “The conflicts of those times play out in the plot, and I suspect going forward in the saga, this won’t be the last we’ll see of cultures clashing in the personal stories of the characters.”

Tess Collins is a coal miner’s granddaughter, raised in a southeastern crater town of Middlesboro, Kentucky. She is the author of six novels and a non-fiction book on theater management. Tess graduated from the University of Kentucky and has a Ph.D. from The Union Institute and University.

Website: www.tesscollins.com/

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Synopsis of SHADOW MOUNTAIN:

At the peak of Shadow Mountain lives a woman who holds to the old ways of magic and conjuring. Delta Wade protects ancient mysteries for her son, Lafette, hoping he will grow up to wield those powers for the good of humankind. But the epoch of witch lore is giving way to an age of industrial titans greedy to control the mountains’ resources for material gain. As one man seeks to destroy Delta, another offers his love as salvation. Mother and son struggle with an enigmatic past only to find that true magic shows its power in its own way and in its own time.

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Kentucky Poet Laureate, Gurney Norman, says: “Tanglevine comes from Shannon’s ancient imagination, an original place where Kentucky dreams a dream of itself.”

Demoted war hero Jihan arrives in the Bluegrass to extend the Domed City’s power and salvage his family’s reputation. When a fellow official disappears, he commandeers a horseback caravan as backup and rides to the remote village of Tanglevine to investigate. Windland, the caravan leader, guides him through bewildering woods to a blighted village where only the locals’ respect for Windland shields them from resentment. The savage killing of a young woman and her child provokes Jihan to vow justice, but deceived by the villagers, targeted by a hostile witch and seduced, then betrayed by an elusive dancer, he begins to suspect that Windland has an agenda of his own. Gradually Jihan realizes that instead of a hunter pursuing a murderer, he is the prey of a hunter far more ancient than he. If he cannot believe in the impossible, the woman he loves will be destroyed.

Beth Tashery Shannon, a native of Kentucky, holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of Oregon, has taught college courses in creative writing and literature, and has edited fiction for publishers. Under the pseudonym Elizabeth Adair she is the author of The Sun and Stars, a mystery novel set in the court of Henry VIII (BearCat Press, 2012). Under her own name she has published short fiction in Pushcart Prize III and IX, Chicago Review, TriQuarterly Review and Pleasures: Women Write Erotica (Doubleday), and an essay on Salome in Approaches to Teaching the Works of Oscar Wilde (MLA Press). Also holding an MA in ancient art history, she has worked on the staff of the Egypt Exploration Society excavations at el-Amarna and contributed to Amarna Reports IV (Egypt Exploration Society) and symposia of the American Research Center in Egypt. She lives in Georgetown Kentucky where she writes, designs books, and is a volunteer tour guide and researcher with Old Friends, a retirement facility for Thoroughbred horses.

Look for the TANGLEVINE link in the BearCat Store.

MEDIA RELEASE

FLOATS THE DARK SHADOW
BY YVES FEY

Pub date: September, 2012
BearCat Press

Casebound: ISBN 978-1-937356-20-0
Trade paper: ISBN 978-1-937356-21-7
Kindle: ISBN 978-1-937356-22-4

SAN FRANCISCO, CA—FLOATS THE DARK SHADOW is a literary mystery set in the decadent world of Belle Époque Paris. Yves Fey’s debut novel tells a haunting tale of aspiring artist Theodora Faraday and Detective Michel Devaux as they find themselves at odds over the disappearance and murder of neighborhood children. “I want readers to have their surrounding world dissolve,” says Ms. Fey. “I hope they’ll be swept back to that golden, exhilarating era and find beauty and terror embraced there.”

Yves Fey has an MFA in Creative Writing from Eugene Oregon, and a BA in Pictorial Arts from UCLA. She has read, written, and created art from childhood. A chocolate connoisseur, she’s won prizes for her desserts. Her current fascination is creating perfumes. She’s traveled to many countries in Europe and lived for two years in Indonesia. She currently lives in the San Francisco area with her husband and three cats. Writing as Gayle Feyrer and Taylor Chase, she previously published unusually dark and mysterious historical romances.

Website: www.YvesFey.com
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Synopsis of FLOATS THE DARK SHADOW:

Young American painter Theodora Faraday struggles to become an artist in Belle Époque Paris. She’s tasted the champagne of success, illustrating poems for the Revenants, a group of poets led by her adored cousin, Averill. When children she knows vanish mysteriously, Theo confronts Inspecteur Michel Devaux who suspects the Revenants are involved. Theo refuses to believe the killer could be a friend—could be the man she loves. Classic detection and occult revelation lead Michel and Theo through the dark underbelly of Paris, from catacombs to asylums, to the obscene ritual of a Black Mass. Following the maze of clues they discover the murderer believes he is the reincarnation of the most evil serial killer in the history of France—Gilles de Rais. Once Joan of Arc’s lieutenant, after her death he plunged into an orgy of evil. The Church burned him at the stake for heresy, sorcery, and the depraved murder of hundreds of peasant children. Whether deranged mind or demonic passion incite him, the killer must be found before he strikes again.

MEDIA RELEASE

THE ART OF THE TRADITIONAL SHORT STORY

BY LESTER GORN and JAMES N. FREY

pub date: August 15, 2012
BearCat Press
Casebound: 978-1-937356-28-6
Trade: 978-1-937356-29-3
Kindle: 978-1-937356-30-9

SAN FRANCISCO, CA. – THE ART OF THE TRADITIONAL SHORT STORY presents fourteen tales by master storytellers Lester Gorn and James N. Frey.

A native of Portland, Maine, Lester Gorn has at various times worked as a longshoreman, a cab driver, a news editor, a ghostwriter, a teacher and a soldier. A combat veteran of World War II, he advanced from squad leader to staff officer assigned to the Defense Department. He taught at University of California Extension, Monterey Peninsula College and the San Francisco Black Writers’ Workshop and is the author of The Anglo Saxons. In the olden days, he put in a stint as book editor and daily columnist of the San Francisco Examiner. The father of four sons, Lester Gorn now lives in Pacific Grove, California, with his beloved wife, Winnie.

James N. Frey is one of America’s leading creative writing teachers. For over fifteen years, he conducted the popular Open Workshop at the Squaw Valley Community of Writers and has run workshops and lectured at dozens of other schools and conferences, including the Oregon Writers Colony, the Santa Barbara Writers Conference, the Heartland Writers, the University of California Extension novel writing workshop, the California Writers Club conference, and many others, both in America and in Europe. He is the author of nine novels and five widely read creative writing guides: How to Write a Damn Good Novel, How to Write a Damn Good Novel II: Advanced Techniques, The Key: Writing Damn Good Fiction Using the Power of Myth, How to Write a Damn Good Mystery, and How to Write a Damn Good Thriller. He lives on a sailboat with his wife, Liza.

Websites: www.JamesNFrey.com/
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Synopsis of THE ART OF THE TRADITIONAL SHORT STORY:

A traditional short story has a beginning, middle, and end; it features dramatic conflict and dynamic characters struggling to achieve goals where the stakes are high. Traditional short stories end with a strong climax that reveals dramatic transformations in the characters. Such stories have a hypnotic power that makes the reader dream the fictive dream. Traditional short stories are highly emotional, they will often make you laugh or cry, be frightened or terrified, and they usually say something important about human nature. The best of them will stay with you long after you read them, perhaps years. Perhaps a lifetime.

For more information, interviews, or photos contact: BearCatPress@gmail.com/

Pub date: June, 2012
BearCat Press

Casebound: 978-1-937356-16-3
Trade paper: 978-1-937356-17-0
Kindle: 978-1-937356-18-7
EPUB: 978-1-937356-19-4

SAN FRANCISCO, CA. – THE SUN AND STARS, a mystery set in Tudor England, mixes fictional and historical characters into a plot that weaves through the dramatic events of Henry VIII’s court. Elizabeth Adair’s debut novel leans toward the cozy while deftly incorporating history. “The Sun and Stars is a fanciful mystery tale,” says Ms. Adair, “but I hope it evokes the colorful mosaic and treacherous politics of the Tudor court.”

Elizabeth Adair has written internationally published fiction and nonfiction and is a graphics designer. The Sun and Stars is her first novel. After a decade on the West Coast, Elizabeth returned to her home, the Kentucky Bluegrass, where she lives in a small town and is an advocate and worker for the aftercare of retired racehorses.

Author website: http://elizabethadairauthor.wordpress.com/             

Synopsis of THE SUN AND STARS:

 Isabel Holland, illegitimate daughter of King Henry VIII, walks a privileged but precarious road through the intrigues of the Tudor court. When her cousin Sir Hugh Lovell is accused of stealing the prized crown known as the Sun and Stars and murdering its guards, Isabel pits her family loyalty against the political plotting of formidable opponents Cardinal Wolsey, Thomas Cromwell and the ruthless Lord Adam Colford. A young woman without official status, she discovers more murders and their connection to a conspiracy far more vast than a simple theft. Isabel realizes she is the only one who can save her cousin from execution and expose a plot to betray the King and the future of England.

For more information, interviews, or photos contact: BearCatPress@gmail.com

MEDIA RELEASE

HELEN OF TROY
BY TESS COLLINS

Pub date: January, 2012
BearCat Press

Casebound: ISBN 978-1-937356-00-2
Trade: ISBN  978-1-937356-01-9
Kindle: ISBN 978-1-937356-02-6
EPUB: ISBN  978-1-937356-03-3

*****   e-book 99 cents for 1 week only: January 1 – 7    *****

SAN FRANCISCO, CA—HELEN OF TROY, a novel of mythic mischief will be available January 1, 2012. Best known for her thrillers, HELEN OF TROY marks the entrance for Ms. Collins into mainstream storytelling. “It’s all about creating an experience for the reader,” she says, “I want them to get lost in the characters, invested in their decisions and remember their names years after they’ve read the book.”

Tess Collins is a coal miner’s granddaughter, raised in a southeastern crater town Middlesboro, Kentucky. Living in a crater made for bad TV reception and after the town’s only movie theatre burned down, Tess spent most her time in a one room Carnegie Library reading around the room. She started at SALLY AND THE BEAR and ended with WAR AND PEACE at which time she thought, “I want to do this.”

Previous novels include THE LAW OF REVENGE, THE LAW OF THE DEAD, and THE LAW OF BETRAYAL. Her non-fiction book HOW THEATER MANAGERS MANAGE is published by Rowman and Littlefield’s Scarecrow Press. Miss Collins received a B.A. from the University of Kentucky and a Ph.D. from The Union Institute and University.

Website:  www.tesscollins.com
www.BearCatPress.com

Synopsis of HELEN OF TROY:

HELEN OF TROY is a quirky and lively retelling of the classic Greek legend in small-town America. Helen Ramsey and her good-old-boy husband, Rudy, fight like caged roosters. When their bachelor neighbor becomes Helen’s confidant, rumors spread and sides square off until the entire town joins the ruckus. After Helen is kidnapped by her would-be lover, Rudy resorts to a clever Trojan Horse stratagem, and Helen wages a war worthy of a goddess.  But will even that be enough to triumph over the gossip of a small-town Cassandra?