Saturday’s Snippets: Happy Valentine’s Day: Legends and Book Deals

@GlenysOConnell


I’d love to send everyone a huge bouquet of flowers to celebrate St. Valentine’s Day! Here are a few tidbits about St. Valentine that I wanted to share for fun – you can check out more on hhtp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentine%27s_Day

* Roman soldiers were not allowed to marry, but St. Valentine carried out wedding ceremonies for some soldiers with their sweethearts – and got himself imprisoned for it.

* He is said to have cut out parchment hearts to give to the soldiers and others he helped, to remind them of God’s love.

*He was accused of ministering to Christians, when Christianity was forbidden by the Romans and its followers were persecuted.

*When he was in prison, legend says St. Valentine healed the sick daughter of one of his jailers. He was to be executed, and before going to his death he is said to have written to the girl and signed the letter ‘Your Valentine’ .

* The tradition of exchanging candies, cards, and gifts on February 14th started in 18th century England during the Romantic Era, as a way of proclaiming one’s love.

* The busy, business-minded Victorians took the tradition from handwritten notes to commercially manufactured Valentine’s Day cards.

* Sadly, even though we love the hearts, flowers, cupids, and candy, whether the legends are true is a moot point. There were a number of saints in the Christian Church with the name Valentine, and we’ll probably never know whether the saint we celebrate actually existed or is a myth created by the actions of several martyrs.

Even so, here’s wishing everyone a wonderful Valentine’s Day. And remember, you don’t have to have a sweetheart to celebrate – celebrate yourself by doing something nice for the day!

And as a little gift from me, you can get my two romances, The No Sex Clause and Judgement By Fire, for just 99c each for a limited time! And don’t forget, you can get a bundle of ten great stories, including my Saving Maggie, for just 99c, in Running to Love, from Crimson Romance. Enough to bring a smile to any Valentine’s face!

Saturday Snippets: First Pages: Judgement By Fire

@GlenysOConnell

Which of the two powerful men in her life wants Lauren dead?

We’re about to start a new month, so I thought I’d start something new: Posting the first page of each of my books. Just a taster, so to speak!
Judgement By Fire is my first novel, written over a long period of time while snatching minutes from a full time job, a part time job, a hobby farm and family with four kids. These days I wonder where the energy came from!

This was published b y Red Rose Publishing, which is now defunct,(a whole other story) so I went on to revise and publish it in dependently. I thoroughly enjoyed the Indie publishing process and went on to do it a few times more!

So here goes, your taste of the first page of Judgement By Fire! Enjoy!

BLURB: 

Canadian wildlife artist Lauren Stephens swore off men after her marriage collapsed and burned. Instead, she's focused on her increasingly successful art career and made her home in an artists' colony based around an old mansion estate in Ontario.

When a multi-national corporation wants to buy the estate and turn it into a health spa for the very rich, turning the artists and writers out of their rented cottages, Lauren volunteers to lead the protest against the sale. The move brings her into direct conflict with Jon Rush, the powerful CEO of Rush Co. International.

An instant attraction springs up between them, although Lauren is reluctant to trust the handsome industrialist. When Lauren's studio is trashed and her life is threatened, Jon fears she's being targeted by the mysterious person trying to destroy his company – a villain not afraid to use violence in his determination to see Jon suffer.

But is there a darker shadow over Lauren? And can Jon save her from a Judgement By Fire?

Chapter One

“Damn it, Warren, surely you can come up with something better than this?” Jon Rush, president of

one of Canada’s largest independent business conglomerates, glared at the man who faced him across the cluttered mahogany desktop.

“I pay you for facts, not fairy tales. You’ve taken a whole series of unrelated events and turned them into some kind of soap opera plot!” Jon ran his fingers through his thick blond hair in a characteristic gesture of frustration.

It was the gesture the heavyset black man across the desk had been waiting for. Warren Dillon, chief of security for Rush Co., was one of the few men who knew Jon Rush well enough not to be intimidated in the face of his anger. Their friendship went back a long way, back to the dark days of their tour of duty in the burning deserts of the Persian Gulf, where the privileged son of a Canadian industrialist and the angry young black youth from the Southside slums of Chicago had forged a lasting friendship.

Coolly, Dillon watched as Jon Rush slammed down the thick red file folder causing a small blizzard of papers to break loose from their untidy stacks on the desk. Then he let out a heavy sigh and, leaning forward in his leather-covered chair, began speaking slowly and quietly, punctuating his words with a stabbing forefinger.

“Jon, your problem is you just won’t believe anyone would betray Rush Co. from the inside. Didn’t you learn anything in the Gulf? You’ve said it yourself - everyone has their price.” He paused for a moment, waiting for Jon’s face to react as the words sank in, and then continued in the same deep, intense tone.

“Even you have to admit that Rush Co. is in trouble. We’ve gone from being the golden-haired boy of the stock market to a walking crisis center in just a few months. Do you really believe that’s just bad luck? Well, do you? Or would you rather own up to jackass management?”

End of Page One, Judgement By Fire If this tweaked your appetite for more, you can read the entire first chapter for free at http://glenysoconnell.webs.com/firstchapters.htm

At the Booksigning..

A funny thing happened at the booksigning.
Sounds like the start of a comedy routine, doesn't it? For some odd reason, many of my public appearances seem like that, too.....
Where was I? My first booksigning was at a school. Thirty eager little boys gathered around me and listened rapt while I told stories - did I tell you I started out as a children's book author? - anyway, they were really good kids (I think their teacher had threatened them with something aweful if they weren't) and at the end I signed a huge pile of books. One little guy, about eight, came up and told me how much his sister loved my books, and read every one of them over and over. Was I ever pleased!
Until I realised that he was mixed up and thought I was another author - what an ego deflating moment that was! Still, I met the other writer later at a writer's conference and we had a good laugh when I explained how, when I was starting out, I had a chance to bask in her reflected glory!
But it was an event at my last signing, at a huge bookstore in Kingston, Ontario, for Judgement By Fire, that sparked this blog. A woman came up and was reading my promotion materials when she suddenly exclaimed : "Romance Can Be Murder!" (That's my tag line for my romantic fiction books)
"Oh,"she said, "You don't know this, but you've just given me a God message."
"Er, God message?" I asked, already feeling that funny ominous tingly sensation on my spine.
"Yes, a message from God. Romance Can Be Murder. Thank you so much - you've helped me make a decision! I can't tell you what a help this is."
And off she went, leaving me worrying about exactly what kind of decision a person makes from a line like Romance Can Be Murder.
I'm watching the local press for any stories about a woman killing her lover.
Can I be named as an accessory?