#Canada150Event!

To celebrate Canada's 150th birthday, my publisher, Imajin Books will be giving away 150 ebooks to Canadian residents and 150 ebooks to international residents. To enter, just subscribe to the Imajin Books Inner Circle (IBIC newsletter).

Winners will be selected from subscribers and will be able to choose their ebook prize. This is a great way to add to your summer reading collection, for free!

To enter, go to http://www.imajinbooks.com/ibic

Good luck!

Cheryl Kaye Tardif joins Margaret Atwood, Ian McEwan, Ken Follett & other authors in Freedom from Torture's "Immortality Auction"

Canadian author Cheryl Kaye Tardif has joined a number of well-known authors, including fellow Canadian Margaret Atwood, in an "Immortality Auction" to support Freedom from Torture, an organization dedicated to assisting those affected by torture and other organized abuses. This includes violence by different races or religions that do not acknowledge the basic human rights most of us enjoy.

What's an Immortality Auction?

You can be "immortalized" in one of the participating authors' upcoming books. Each author has donated one or more characters to be named after the highest bidders. Think of it! Your name as one of the characters--and perhaps your wife's, husband's, daughter's etc.

Cheryl's auction:

The highest bidder will name 2 characters in Cheryl's upcoming new thriller, THE 6th PLAGUE, which is set in Banff, Alberta, Canada, during the Banff World Media Festival. THE 6th PLAGUE will be released in the summer/fall of 2015.

Why is Cheryl participating?

"As an author who writes suspense, I am often influenced (and horrified) by true stories in the media, and it stuns me that human beings can be so cruel to one another, especially since torture is not only conducted in war zones but in civilized countries. We all bleed the same color; we all live and we all die, and those who have suffered at the hands of others need support and compassion."

Bidding is open now!! 

Please dig deep and help support a worthwhile cause and organization.

Bid on Cheryl's Immortality Auction now!

And please share this post.

Name a character in new novel by Noah Baird! (Contest)

Noah Baird, author of Donations to Clarity, needs the name for a female roller derby player. These girls/women love scary names, so let your imagination fly!

He also needs an original rock band name, circa late ‘80s. He wants something so sleazy, so nasty, you’ll want to bathe in Purell and throw your keyboard away.

If you are the winner of the contest, Noah will use your submission in an upcoming book (Unless he comes up with a better idea later on), and he’ll send you an autographed copy of Donations to Clarity.

To submit your names for consideration or for further information, click here: Don’t Read This Buhlog by Noah Baird.

New Release! FORCE OF HABIT - Contest!

All she wanted was a breath of fresh air. Was that too much to ask?

Apparently so.

Isobel Enid Schuster never planned to go into space. She almost wished there had been no Vatican III, and the clergy had not gone co-ed, or at least the Jesuits had not.

But all those things had happened. The Galactic Union Space-Troopers teamed up with the St. Bennedetta Jesuits to form the Space Academy Preparatory School, and now Bel is a Professor of Extra-Terrestrial Humanities and Value Systems on a starship.

Restricted shore leave on the planet Llannonn is better than staying on the ship, especially when Bel swaps clothes with a close-look-alike Llannonninn woman and slips out to see the sights. But the woman is the target of a criminal from another planet. The woman thinks Bel is a police agent, come to take her place. The criminal thinks Bel is his target. Yet another criminal thinks Bel is a VIP he can kidnap and hold for ransom.

The only thing between Bel and a life of slavery in the provinces is the tenuous friendship she's formed with Tetra Petrie, a language professor from the planet Gilhoolie.

Gangsters aliens, local law enforcement and highly placed political operatives all get into the act, as a tangle of misunderstanding, miscommunication and mistaken identity land Bel in court, facing what passes for a legal system on Llannonn.

AND, I'm running a contest on my blog:

What are the prizes?

• a copy of EEL'S REVERENCE (eBook)

• a copy of FORCE OF HABIT (eBook)


• a copy of LONNIE, ME AND THE HOUND OF HELL (eBook)


• a copy of THE KING OF CHEROKEE CREEK (eBook)


• a copy of MA'S MONTHLY HOT FLASHES: 2002-2007 (eBook)


• a MomGoth's Sweet Little Baby Angels pin


• the name of your choice in the story I write to promote my next eBook release, SIDESHOW IN THE CENTER RING. Holly Jahangiri, who won this in the last contest, called it, "Best. Prize. Ever."

How do you win?

• leave a comment on this or any other blog on which I post, saying you're entering the contest. One entry for each post on which you comment.

• If you've already bought and read one or more of my books, write a review (or reviews) and leave a comment on this blog linking to the review(s). One entry for each review.


• Mention the contest on your blog and your social media networks (Twitter, Facebook, Google+, whatever) and leave a comment on this blog saying so. One entry for every place you spread the word.

Entries will be numbered and winners chosen by Random Number Selector. First entry drawn gets first choice of prizes and so on.

How long does it run?

Until midnight EST October 31.

Ready. Set. GO!

Click here to read the first chapter.

Click here to read a sample and buy from Smashwords in multiple formats.

Click here to read a sample and buy from OmniLit in multiple formats.

Here’s a link to a post about turning fanfic into original fiction.

Here’s one about the roots of this novel in Star Trek (TOS) fan fiction.

Here’s a link to a post about cross-genres and mash-ups relative to FORCE OF HABIT.

Marian Allen
Fantasies, mysteries, comedies, recipes

Win Free Books for a Year!

Second Wind Publishing is running the best contest ever! The winner will receive a copy of every book published by them in 2011, which will include my latest, Light Bringer.

If you have not yet signed up for Second Wind Publishing's contest, you can go to my blog and leave a comment: http://ptbertram.wordpress.com/2010/12/12/win-free-books-for-a-year/. That's all you have to do to enter. Three people chosen at random from those entries will also receive an ecopy of one of my books (their choice).

I hope one of you win! Keeping it in the family, so to speak.

Ebook Giveaway!

Second Wind is celebrating the release of two new mystery anthologies, Murder in the Wind and Mystery in the Wind, and they are offering you a chance to win an ecopy of either book. They will be giving away three ecopies of each anthology.To enter the econtest, all you have to do is leave a comment on their blog. (Click here to find the blog: Ebook Giveaway!.) If you prefer one of the books over the other, please state that preference in your comment, otherwise you will be entered into both drawings. The winners will be chosen at random on July 7th. Best of luck to all of you!

They are also running a contest for print copies of both books. Find the rules for that contest here: Win Print Copies of Our Mystery Anthologies!!

You can read about the anthologies here: Murder in the Wind and Mystery in the Wind

Win Copies of Second Wind's Mystery Anthologies

Second Wind Publishing is celebrating the release of two new anthologies, Murder in the Wind and Mystery in the Wind, and they are offering you a chance to win a print copy of both books. All you have to do is write a sentence using the words “murder,” “mystery,” and “wind,” then post on the Second Wind Blog as a comment. (Click here: http://wp.me/pljtd-YM to find the blog.) The person who writes the most original sentence (in the opinion of the authors of Second Wind) will win a print edition of each of the anthologies. One other person, chosen at random, will win a print edition of Murder in the Wind.

The contest starts now and ends on July 6.

On your marks, get set . . . write!

You can find out more about the anthologies here: Murder in the Wind and Mystery in the Wind

My story, "The Stygian Night", is published in the Murder in the Wind anthology

Textnovel.com Announces Semi-Finalists in Dorchester "Next Best Celler" Romance Writing Contest

PARK CITY, Utah, November 3, 2009—Textnovel.com announced the Semi-Finalists for the current Dorchester “Next Best Celler” Romance Writing Contest, which combines a live, serial publication model with a unique voting and ranking system to help identify top new novelists and fiction writers.

See who made the Top 20 Semi-Finalists.

I'll let you know that Lancelot's Lady, my debut romantic suspense, is #3 on the list. In fact, I'm the ONLY Canadian author to make the Top 20.

If you haven't read Lancelot's Lady yet, please do. If you enjoy it, click on the blue thumb and phone circles. This contest isn't over yet, and points still matter.

Thank you all for your support!