Showing posts with label book spotlight. Show all posts
Showing posts with label book spotlight. Show all posts

Sunday, July 5, 2015

Spotlight: Sandcastle

Sandcastle
by Justin Bog

Synopsis

The Complete Edition of Justin Bog's First Collection of Dark Psychological Suspense Tales.

An award-winning collection, Sandcastle and Other Stories reveals twisted secrets that are mined like plutonium. These twelve literary tales are nothing short of an adventure through a roiling sea of emotion. With authenticity and eloquence, author Justin Bog holds a provocative and compelling mirror on the human condition.

"The stories are those of everyday people who might live next door or in the walk-up across the street . . . A man with a personal crisis takes a singles cruise – a woman leaves her toddler girl at the beach while having a romantic tryst – a B-list actor’s character is killed off – a girl is sucked below the sand into an underwater chamber . . . an old gardener who has dark secrets interacts with the bosses daughter in a most unforeseen way. The only commonality in these tight, little stories is they are unexpected. Having this book is like having a string of black pearls – each one slightly different, but each a perfect, dark, little gem . . . Bog paints pictures with words as Titian did with oil paints – startlingly detailed with deep perspective and rich complexity."

--Rosi Hollenbeck, San Francisco Book Review

About the Author

Justin Bog lives in the Pacific Northwest on Fidalgo Island. Justin Bog was Pop Culture Correspondent and Editor for In Classic Style. He enjoys cooking, lawn mowing not so much, and spends time walking and handing out treats to two long coat German shepherds, Zippy and Kipling, and two barn cats, Ajax The Gray and Eartha Kitt’n.

Sandcastle and Other Stories: The Complete Edition  on Amazon: http://amzn.to/1T2gnHX

*The author will be selling two new stories separately in one bundle under the title: Speak the Word! as an eBook only for $1.99

Justin’s creative writing blog is here.
On Twitter @JustinBog

On Goodreads: http://bit.ly/1FCBVk3

Sunday, April 26, 2015

Book Spotlight: The Jack of Souls

The Jack of Souls
by Stephen Merlino

Synopsis
Harric is an outcast rogue who must break a curse put on his fate, or die on his nineteenth birthday. To survive, he’ll need more than his usual tricks. He’ll need help. But on the kingdom’s lawless frontier, his only allies are other outcasts. 
One of these is Caris, a mysterious, horse-whispering runaway, intent upon becoming the Queen’s first female knight. The other is Sir Willard—ex-immortal, ex-champion, now addicted to pain-killing herbs and banished from court.
With their help, Harric might keep his curse at bay. But for how long?
And his companions bring troubles of their own: Caris bears the scars of a dark past that still hunts her; Willard is at war with the Old Ones, an order of insane immortal knights who once enslaved the kingdom.
Together, they must overcome fanatical armies, murderous sorcerers, and powerful supernatural foes.
Alone, Harric must face the temptation of forbidden magic that could break his curse, but cost him the only woman he’s ever loved.

“The first volume in Stephen Merlino's 'The Unseen Moon' series, "The Jack of Souls" is a terrific read from beginning to end and clearly establishes Merlino as a master of the fantasy action/adventure genre. Highly recommended for community library Science Fiction & Fantasy collections…” - Midwest Book Review



About the Author
Stephen Merlino lives in Seattle, WA, where he writes, plays, and teaches high school English. He lives with the world's most talented and desirable woman, two fabulous children, and three attack chickens.
Growing up in Seattle drove Stephen indoors for eight months of the year. Before the age of video games, that meant he read a lot. At the age of eleven he discovered the stories of J.R.R. Tolkein and fell in love with fantasy.
Summers and rare sunny days he spent with friends in wooded ravines or on the beaches of Puget Sound, building worlds in the sand, and fighting orcs and wizards with driftwood swords.
About the time a fifth reading of The Lord of the Rings failed to deliver the old magic, Stephen attended the University of Washington and fell in love with Chaucer and Shakespeare and all things English.
Sadly, the closest he got to England back then was The Unicorn Pub on University Way, which wasn't even run by an Englishman: it was run by a Scot named Angus. Still, he studied there, and as he sampled Angus's weird ales, and devoured the Unicorn's steak & kidney pie (with real offal!), he developed a passion for Scotland, too.
In college, he fell in love with writing, and when a kindly professor said of a story he'd written, "You should get that published!" Stephen took the encouragement literally, and spent the next years trying. The story remains unpublished, but the quest to develop it introduced Stephen to the world of agents (the story ultimately had two), and taught him much of craft and the value of what Jay Lake would call, "psychotic persistence."
Add to that his abiding love of nerds--those who, as Sarah Vowel defines it, "go too far and care too much about a subject"--and you have Stephen Merlino in a nutshell.
Stephen is the 2014 PNWA winner for Fantasy.

Friday, November 14, 2014

Book Spotlight: The Lebrus Stone




The Lebrus Stone 
by Miriam Khan 

Genre: Paranormal Romance 

Synopsis

When eighteen-year-old orphan, Crystal Valdez, accepts an invitation to the small town of Blacksville, West Virginia, she hopes to have a summer to remember and a chance learn more about her parents, to also get to know the family she never knew existed. 

But the Lockes begin to act strange and erratic; eerie movements in the night fuel her vivid and gruesome nightmares. To complicate her summer further, she becomes attracted to the menacing yet handsome Cray Locke: her none blood related cousin. He seems determined to keep his distance. The only bonus seems to be the housekeeper and gardener. 

And when a local informs Crystal of the secrets buried at Thorncrest Manor, the kind consisting of a forbidden relationship and war between hidden worlds, and witchcraft, she must decide whom to trust. Even if it means leaving behind those she has come to love. 

About the Author

Miriam is from Cheshire, England and a family of six siblings. Her love for creativity led to acting at her local theatre before being a lead vocalist in rock bands. During those years, she often found solace penning her thoughts and feelings through lyrics or poetry. She chose not to continue singing in 2006, and two years later she woke up with the idea for The Lebrus Stone and began typing. revising and editing it for the next six years. She is now eager to see what readers will think. 

Links 
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100007806765011 http://miriamkhannovels.blogspot.co.uk/ http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/9793155.

Miriam_Khan Giveaway: The author is giving away a Purple Crystal Wing Heart Necklace.




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Monday, November 10, 2014

Book Spotlight: Homeward Bound

Homeward Bound
by Josh Greenfield

Synopsis

A young man sits alone in a public garden contemplating the big questions; the origins of the Palisades Cliffs, cold sesame noodles and his father's mortality. In the spirit of James Joyce, Josh Greenfield, follows the thought process of Jordan Fineman, where ever it leads.













About the Author


Josh Greenfield is a graduate of both Phillips Andover Academy and Cornell University's College of Arts and Sciences. He holds two masters degrees from the City University of New York, one in History and one in English Literature. He also completed the better part of a doctorate in English at Fordham University. His desire in writing is to tell a entertaining and engaging story, to look for laughs in dark places. He is the author of "The Obsessive Chronicles: a novel."

Facebook: http://on.fb.me/1rTvi5J
Amazon: http://amzn.to/1wquLi4

Goodreads: http://bit.ly/1vxXrWf

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Book Spotlight: Crimson Son



Crimson Son
by Russ Linton

Synopsis


His mother kidnapped, his superhero father absent, powerless Spencer Harrington faces a world of weaponized humans to prove himself and find the truth.

Nineteen-year-old Spencer is the son of the Crimson Mask, the world's most powerful Augment. Since witnessing his mother's abduction by a psychotic super villain two years ago, he's been confined to his father's arctic bunker. When the "Icehole" comes under attack from a rampaging robot, Spencer launches into his father's dangerous world of weaponized human beings known as Augments.


With no superpowers of his own save a multi-tool, a quick wit and a boatload of emotional trauma, Spencer seeks to uncover his mother's fate and confront his absentee superhero father. As he stumbles through a web of conspiracies and top secret facilities, he rallies a team of everyday people and cast-off Augments. But Spencer soon discovers that the Black Beetle isn't his only enemy, nor his worst.

About the Author

In the fourth grade, Russ Linton wrote down the vague goal of becoming a “writer and an artist” when he grew up. After a journey that led him from philosopher to graphic designer to stay at home parent and even a stint as an Investigative Specialist with the FBI, he finally got around to that “writing” part which he now pursues full time.

Russ creates character-driven speculative fiction. His stories drip with blood, magic, and radioactive bugs. He writes for adults who are young at heart and youngsters who are old souls.
a brief excerpt from your book









Social Media:
Website - www.russlinton.com

Purchase Links:
Amazon
Amazon UK
Barnes and Noble

And here's an excerpt from Crimson Son

This part always comes so fast.

I hand the phone back to Mom. “You’ll need to send later, I guess. The signal dropped. Should be in your outbox ready to go.”

As she takes the phone, the wall of the room explodes.

Here. Dream becomes nightmare. For a moment, I feel I can make it stand still, but why would I? Events unfold with the emptiness of the bunker gnawing at my insides. I can identify every stray chunk of plaster and splinter of wood in this time-robbed moment.

Fragments of home spray like a swarm of locusts. Mom screams and the world spins under her protective dive. I struggle to see through a haze of dust. Glimpses of the valley filter past a humanoid silhouette. A long, pincered arm lashes out. The arm clamps tightly around Mom’s waist and retracts, drawing us closer.

“Release the boy and he will live,” the Black Beetle speaks with an unnatural vibration. “He can relay a message for your husband.”

Mom squeezes tighter but her screaming stops.

I search her face, knowing what I’ll find, all the while scrambling to find an anchor as we slide across the room. She’s bleeding from a gash on her forehead and the pincer cinches tighter. Her eyes are full of fear, but focused. She’s calculating, deliberating. A hundred times? A thousand? It always hurts.

“No, Mom, please!” I throw my hands around the leg of a toppled chair which drags uselessly behind us. Countless trips through this nightmare, I know I can’t keep us here, but I reach out anyway. And always, she lets go.

I grab her arm, trying to pull her back, cursing my stunted size, my weak limbs, my feeble grip. Sweaty hands slip as the pincer continues to retract. Her trembling lips form a final smile and she watches me with a sad but determined expression.

She mouths the words, “I love you.”


Thursday, October 9, 2014

Book Spotlight: Our Orbit

Our Orbit
by Anesa Miller

Synopsis

In Anesa Miller’s new book, Our Orbit, nine-year-old Miriam Winslow has never worn new clothes, was not permitted to cut her hair, and believes that children must repent their sins with major displays of remorse, or harm will come to their loved ones. Barely half a year after her mother’s death, Miriam is thrust into a different world when her father, a militant tax protester, is jailed on weapons charges.

Miriam finds herself in foster care, her teenage siblings sent to other homes.


College-educated Rick and Deanne Fletcher quickly come to love their “new little girl.” Then they encounter the rest of Miriam’s family: Uncle Dan believes he was abducted by aliens. Sister Rachel, just out of juvenile detention, harbors many painful secrets. Brother Josh is outraged that the Fletchers disrespect Christian teachings. When his plan to remove Miriam from their home fails, Josh reacts with growing hostility to outside interference in their way of life. 

About the Author

A native of Wichita, Kansas, and longtime Ohio resident, Anesa Miller is a writer with training in Russian language and literature. Her work has been published in The Kenyon Review, The California Quarterly, the Southern Humanities Review, and others. Her debut novel, Our Orbit, is a story of cultural conflict set in Appalachia in the 1990s.












Links:

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Book Spotlight: Dark Seed

Dark Seed
by Lawrence Verigin

Synopsis


A disillusioned journalist and the grieving daughter of a murdered scientist uncover an immoral and destructive global plot by the largest developer of genetically engineered seed and its parent pharmaceutical conglomerate.
Nick Barnes and Morgan Elles learn that the goal of the man behind these organizations is the complete control of human existence. He eliminates opposition and interference without hesitation or remorse.
The couple quickly find themselves fighting for their lives. And yours.
Grad hold for a wild ride with this exciting, high concept thriller that tackles one of the big issues of our time.
Author Bio
Lawrence Verigin’s goal is to entertain readers while delving into socially relevant subjects that need more attention brought to them. Since 1999 Lawrence has spent a considerable amount of time and effort learning the writing craft. 
In his spare time Lawrence enjoys cooking good food, rich red wine, travel, running, reading and numerous rounds of golf.
Lawrence and his wife, Diana, live in beautiful North Vancouver, Canada.
Contact
Email: lawrenceverigin@gmail.com
Website: www.lawrenceverigin.com
Facebook: Lawrence Verigin      
Twitter: @lawrenceverigin
Amazon: http://amzn.to/1qsWlJB

The author is giving away 8 digital copies of Dark Seed and 2 signed copies! Below is the Rafflecopter code to include in your blog post:
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Sunday, October 5, 2014

Book Spotlight: Brand Legacy

Brand Legacy
by Angela Mayartis Johnson

Synopsis


Brand Legacy is a guide for those who dream of something more than their current occupation, and are considering a change from their present (physical and/or mental) circumstances to their intended future. Through the use of Brandercises (branding exercises), vivid real life stories and key transitional tips, Brand Legacy, educates you on how to understand your value proposition in order to accomplish your dreams. It instructs you on how to live a passion-filled, purpose-driven life that leaves a legacy that communicates your narrative.







About the Author

Angela Mayartis Johnson is a dynamic motivational speaker who successfully redefined her legacy from Marketing Executive to Personal Brand Development Specialist focusing on helping athletes discover their passion, brand their niche and build their legacy. Using clearly defined and applicable techniques in her MBA course work, Angela passionately empowers others to overcome fears and create pathways to their future. Mayartis Brand Academy is a speaking/training forum that was created to develop brands, assist entrepreneurs in realizing their dreams and building their legacy. It is Angela's goal to help individuals define their "Why" and determine their goals, so they can live their dreams and make their mark. 
Links
@mayartis

Friday, September 19, 2014

Book Spotlight: To Hear the Rest More Clearly

To Hear The Rest More Clearly
by Anne Victoria Pyterek 
Synopsis
Calliope Braintree has a lot working against her, but the forces of Nature and Love conspire to make her an instrument in the liberation of her fellow humans and the Wildness they have suppressed and perverted.
Aided by the Muse of Epic Poetry, an urban coyote, and the Chicago River, Calliope saves herself from the ravages of abuse, self-loathing and sexual humiliation. It’s not easy for her to remember the plan she and Muse had made for this life, but memories do come, in confusing fits and starts. A homeless orphan, sure of nothing but her urge to write, she ignores the mind-numbing conventions of civilized society, preferring to listen to her Muse. She follows Coyote, who leads her away from the degrading and harsh brutality of her life, into a haven of safety. Calliope goes to live in a hidden pocket of Wildness alive in the city. Still in the world, she is no longer of it, and she’s glad.

River is a powerful entity, her world a parallel reality existing in the cracks of civilization’s façade. And, polluted and tormented as she is, River is still able to transform the toxins polluting Calliope’s mind, absorbing what is hideous and making it holy. This process climaxes in a Trickster-ized version of Revelations, after which Calliope’s life will never be the same again.
About the Author
Anne Victoria Pyterek is as much the product of her protagonist, Calliope Braintree, as she is her producer.  For in the ten year process of bringing Calliope into being, she ended up completely re-writing the story of her own life.
Very much a daughter of Daniel Burnham, Anne left the City of Big Shoulders—at Calliope’s request—driving off into the sunset in a big blue bus with her then 11 year old son, a managerie of animals and no income.  She did this for the adventure, the learning and to find out about Calliope’s childhood.  She and her son live in Colorado now, still in the bus, on 120 acres with a pack of semi-feral dogs, surrounded by coyotes.
Author Blog: Anne of Blue Bus Books (http://blue-bus-books.com/)

Thursday, September 18, 2014

Book Spotlight: The Anonymous Girl + Giveaway!!

The Anonymous Girl (Special Edition)
by Holy Ghost Writer
Synopsis
Unbeknownst to the world, Zaydee is not only the founder of Bitcoin, soon to revolutionize banking, but also a descendant of the real person that inspired The Count of Monte Cristo. As she makes her way through the federal prison and court systems she continues her plans to start her own country that we first learned about in That Girl Started Her Own Country. Will she win her case or make a daring and unique escape as she turns her enemies in real zombies? No, not those silly ones in Walking Dead, but like those that have been made in Haiti for generations.

"This book's author adds mystery to the series by remaining anonymous. Those who like fantasies set in the present day, depicting exaggerated lifestyles and cyberspace intrigue, will be entertained." Margaret Cullison, Foreword Clarion

About the Author
Who is The Holy Ghost Writer?
The identity of the author is part of an international contest, and the first person to correctly name the HG Writer from the clues found in the Count of Monte Cristo sequels will receive a reward of $5000. Visit the Holy Ghost Writer's Amazon Author Page for Details and see if you can discover the real identity of the author being heralded as the new Stieg Larsson for That Girl Started Her Own Country, the successor of Alexander Dumas for The Sultan of Monte Cristo and the next Ray Bradbury for The Boy Who Played With Dark Matter. Contact the author c/o books@illuminatedpublications.com


Amazon - http://amzn.to/1uj5UL7 
Blog - http://holyghostwriterbooks.blogspot.com 
Twitter - http://twitter.com/SultanOfSalem 
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/pages/Holy-Ghost-Writer/156425124542924 
Website - http://www.mysteriousauthor.com 

Rafflecopter Code for the $25 Amazon Gift Card Giveaway a Rafflecopter giveaway

Monday, September 15, 2014

Book Spotlight: The First Noble Truth

The First Noble Truth
by C Lynn Murphy
Synopsis

Machiko Yamamoto pulls out her hair, picks at her skin, and triple checks the locks to the house behind the school where she works. When a foreigner moves into a neighboring thatched roof cottage, she quickly falls in love with the quiet woman with the mangled hand.

Krista Black does not mind the weekly visits from the local English teacher. The scarred woman seems harmless, but she always wants to talk about travel and language and why Krista has come to the remote, Japanese village. Krista avoids her questions. She has seen much of the world, and she knows what it does to fragile people. Machiko may want to know her, but she could never understand her.

Set in Kyoto, New England, Africa and Kathmandu, THE FIRST NOBLE TRUTH is a story of redemption, interwoven between two protagonists, across two cultures. It peers beneath the comfort of expected storytelling to investigate the dualities of suffering and joy, religion and sex, and cruelty and kindness. 

About the Author
Lynn Murphy was born in New Hampshire, but has since lived in Scotland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, England, Nepal, India, and Mongolia. She also spent a year backpacking across the African continent for kicks.
She is a doctoral candidate in Buddhist Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, as well as a graduate of St Andrews University (M.A.) and Oxford University (MPhil).
Whilst a resident at a Tibetan Buddhist nunnery in the Himalayas, she wrote her first book, 'The First Noble Truth.' 
She currently lives between Mongolia and the UK, where she is conducting fieldwork on post-Soviet economies of the funeral industry and their impact on contemporary Mongolian cultural and religious identity. 
She writes, she knits, she eats mutton.

Thursday, September 4, 2014

Book Spotlight: The Dance of the Spirits

The Dance of the Spirits 
by Catherine Aerie

Synopsis

Spring 1951: it is the fiery zenith of the Korean War, a war that the youthful US Army lieutenant Wesley Palm and his men thought that they had won … until the Chinese swept across the Yalu River. Traveling with the million-man army bent on driving back the march of “American imperialism” is Jasmine Young, a Chinese surgeon who has volunteered herself into the war for unspoken, grave reasons. Through a chronicle of merciless battles, freezing winter, and the brutality and hypocrisy of human nature, the two will find themselves weaving through the twist and turns of fate and destiny, where an unquenchable passion, a resilient pursuit of liberty, and an inherent dignity light the darkness against the vast sky of a warring world and of nation and cultures that stand shattered and divided by the same forces that unify them.

About The Author
Catherine Aerie, a graduate from the University of California, Irvine with a master degree in finance. She was inspired to write “The Dance of the Spirits” while researching a family member’s role in the Korean War, deciding to revive an often neglected and overlooked setting in fiction and heighten the universality of resilient pursuit of love and liberty. Her debut novel was finished after about two years of research. She currently resides in southern California. 
Website: www.catherineaerie.com
Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-dance-of-the-spirits-catherine-aerie/1117019491?ean=9780989690928&itm=1&usri=9780989690928


Book Spotlight: Secret of the Elders


Secrets of the Elders
by David Matthew Almond

Synopsis
After their peaceful village, Riverbell, is raided by the foul monstrous skex, brothers Logan and Corbin Walker find themselves caught in a race against time, desperate to warn the capitol before the dangerous skex arrive to wreak the same havoc upon the unsuspecting people of Fal.

Never could they imagine, that this would only be the very beginning of their unforgettable journey, when Logan is suddenly exiled from the kingdom for a crime he did not commit. On the run, doggedly avoiding his own brother, sent to pursue the wanted criminal, can Logan Walker possibly hope to stay free long enough to unravel the Secrets of the Elders?

And So the Fourth Age of Acadia begins...

The World of Acadia

Ages long past, forced to abandon the surface, mankind descended inside the core of their planet, fleeing an impending xenocide at the hands of the mighty Jotnar invaders and settling a new homeland among the deep forests in the wide caverns of Vanidriell, under the light of the Great Crystal Baetylus.

About the Author
David Matthew Almond has been working in the restaurant and IT industry for the last 19 years. Over the last two, he has made time to focus on his true passion, writing stories.
David grew up in the small Upstate NY city, Utica (home to such rare delicacies as Tomato Pie, Utica Greens, Pusties, and Chicken Riggies) and attended "Buff State" in the amazing city Buffalo NY, where he would eventually return to run his bakery café, meet some of the best people in the world, and fall in love with his wife Julie.
David currently lives in beautiful Monkton, Vermont and would love to hear from you...


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Sunday, August 31, 2014

Book Spotlight: Hostage

Hostage: Kidnapped on the High Seas
by Linda Davies

Genre: Memoir

Synopsis

Known for her powerful female protagonists who refuse to back down in the face of evil, New York Times bestselling author Linda Davies somehow found herself in a situation that could have been ripped from the pages of one of her thrillers. 

In 2005, Linda was living happily with her family in Dubai. Ever the adventurer, she was on the maiden voyage of her new catamaran alongside her husband when the boat's captain unknowingly sailed into sharply contested waters in the Strait of Hormuz, off the coast of Iran. Soon the trio were surrounded by gun boats and boarded by armed Iranian militants.


Over the next two weeks Linda was held hostage by one of the most feared regimes in the world, with no reason to expect anything but the worst. The story of her imprisonment and harrowing escape, which she has worked so hard in the past to forget, is told in candid and shocking detail.  Crackling with tension, it is also laced through with black humor and insight. Iran is perhaps the most hated and the least understood country in modern society and Linda's account gives a rare, illuminating glimpse into the realities of the oppressive regime.

About the Author

Linda Davies is half Welsh, half Danish, or half Celt, half Viking, and loves myths, legends of warriors and the sea.

 A graduate in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Oxford University, she worked for seven years an as investment banker in New York, London and Easter Europe before escaping to write novels.  She grew up steeped in economics as both her late father, Professor Glyn Davies and her late brother, Professor John Davies, were economists.  Like them, she believes that economics is more art than science and she particularly enjoys delving into the emotions of markets and market makers, both the honest (yes, they do exist!) and the fraudsters, many of whom remain invisible.

Her first Novel, Nest of Vipers, has been published in over thirty countries, selling over two million copies.  It has also been optioned three times by major Hollywood studios. 
 Linda has written four more novels for adults which have all been published internationally; Wilderness of Mirrors, Into the Fire, Something Wild and Final Settlement.  She is known for her portrayal of strong, independent and rebellious women in extreme situations.
Linda lived in Peru for three years, and in the Middle East for eight years, during which time she was kidnapped by Iranian government forces and held hostage for two weeks in Iran.  After UK government intervention, she was freed.   

Linda writes for Young Adults too.  Her first series, the Djinn Quintet - Sea Djinn, Fire Djinn, Storm Djinn and King of the Djinn (and in time War of the Djinn) - has been optioned by Hollywood producer, Sandy Climan.

 As well as writing novels, Linda also writes for The Times, Sunday Times, Daily Telegraph, Independent and the Guardian newspapers in the UK, and the National Theatre.  She is a winner of the Philip Geddes Prize for journalism.  Linda is married with three children.  She lives by the sea in Suffolk.

Twitter: @LindaDaviesAuth