An Excerpt from "The Super Spies and the Pied Piper!"

Chapter One

“What do you mean you lost them?” Sarah Cole fidgeted as she waited for Agent Gray to answer. I can’t believe it! He lost the only clue to our parents’ location. What is wrong with this picture?

Agitated, Sarah shifted in her seat and chewed on her lip. She was uncomfortable in the folding chair and rearranged her petite frame so she wouldn’t feel the cold metal against her bare legs. Shivering, she glanced around the all‑too‑familiar  room.

The gray cement block walls no longer gave her that creepy, closed-­‐‑in feeling she’d used to get when she first came to the interrogation rooms. She remembered the first time she’d been in that tiny space. It had been the day she’d discovered the Cat Lady’s dead body. Sarah shuddered at the memory and then smiled when she remembered forming the Super Spies and bringing the Cat Lady Killer to justice. Glancing around the room again, she realized she’d been in this room quite a bit these last few weeks, not only during the Cat Lady investigation, but the High School Bomber investigation as well. Shivering again, Sarah rubbed her arms but she really wasn’t cold. Her mind filled with the image of the bomber the Super Spies had helped apprehend just a week earlier.

Wow! Was it just last week?

She tugged at a lock of her honey colored hair, then brushed it away with an impatient hand. She sighed and glanced at her younger sister. Lacey sat beside her with her legs crossed, jiggling her foot at such a rapid rate it seemed like her whole body was electrified. She caught Sarah’s eye, and for a moment her eyes glittered like emeralds before she shifted her gaze to Aunt June, who had placed her hand on Lacey’s leg in what appeared to be an attempt to quiet her. Sarah shifted in her chair and sighed again

.

Are we ever going to find Mom and Dad?

A commotion out in the hall drew everyone’s attention. Sarah leaned forward and craned her neck to see what was happening.

“Chief, we’ve got an OD!” An officer yelled.

“What?” Chief Johnson yelled as he rushed by. “An OD on what? Give me the details.”

“The parents found their son unconscious in his room this morning, and an empty bottle of prescription medication on his bedside table.”

“What was it?” Chief Johnson asked.

“It’s Myodine.”

“Who makes it?”

“Ah… Piper Drugs.”

“Call Poison Control with the name and manufacturer and ask them what to do about an overdose. Instruct the parents to get their son to the hospital pronto,” Chief Johnson ordered.

“They’ve brought him here.”

“What?” Chief Johnson exclaimed.

The sound of policemen rushing through the hall pulled Sarah and her sister out of their seats. They hurried to the door, unable to stifle their curiosity. Peering down the corridor, Sarah caught a glimpse of a young man sagging between two officers as they desperately tried to keep him on his feet. One officer gently slapped his face while the other officers held him up. The young man blinked and then gagged, puking on the officer in front of him.

The rancid stench of fresh vomit filled the air. While plugging her nose, Sarah ducked back inside the interrogation room, followed by her sister. Sarah closed the door, hoping it would keep the smell from penetrating the room.

“Did you hear that, Lace? Piper Drugs! That’s the company Dad works for,” Sarah whispered in her sister’s ear before proceeding back to her seat.

Lacey opened her mouth to speak, but closed it when Agent Gray cleared his throat and motioned for them to sit down.

He continued his conversation as if they hadn’t been interrupted. We were on our way to the location of the ping… but before we got there it disappeared.”

“So, what does that mean? Did you find our parents or what?” Sarah blurted out as she sat down. She stared into Agent Gray’s icy blue eyes, trying to read his mind.

Thanks for stopping by. This is the third book in the Super Spies series. If you'd like to check out the first two books in the series, their covers and blurbs are below.

This book opens in a small town in Michigan where fifteen-year-old Sarah Cole is stuck spending the summer at her Aunt and Uncle’s with her sister, Lacey. She’s not happy with the situation until she befriends a girl named Jackie. The three girls stumble upon the ruthless murder of a reclusive neighborhood woman. One of the officers investigating the crime believes the girls are responsible for her death. Fearing that this officer will frame them for the murder, the girls organize their own detective squad. They become the Super Spies and start their own fact-finding mission.  The Super Spies can’t understand why anyone would want to murder the “Cat Lady” until they start digging into her past and discover a horrible crime that happened thirty years ago. They uncover a connection between the two crimes and attempt to bring this information to the police, only to be reprimanded for meddling in the inquest. Not only are the girls upset by the admonition, but they also struggle with the fact that their exuberant investigating could provide a legal loophole allowing the killer to go free. To make matters worse, the police don’t even believe them. Frustrated by this turn of events, the Super Spies realize it’s up to them to snare the Cat Lady killer, or die trying…

This book opens in a small town in Michigan where Sarah and her sister Lacey are now living with their Aunt and Uncle. Still reeling from the fact her parents have disappeared, Sarah starts the school year with her new friend Jackie Jenkins. When Sarah learns the school has been bombed, she’s filled with dread. Uncle Walt is a teacher, and he was in the school when the bomb exploded. Taking matters into her own hands, Sarah decides to search for him. The rest of the Super Spies are right behind her. When a fireman chases them away from the school, Sarah becomes suspicious. She decides to investigate. The FBI arrives on the scene. Sarah realizes this bombing could have even bigger implications. Searching for the bombers, Sarah is introduced to the world of terrorism. She fears that the bombing and her parents’ disappearance are connected and terrorists are involved. To make matters worse, the bombers are determined to finish the job. Can the Super Spies find the bombers before it’s too late?

Social Media Links:

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Buylinks for "The Super Spies and the Pied Piper":

Astraea Press:  http://www.astraeapress.com/#!/~/product/category=662245&id=24157242

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Super-Spies-Pied-Piper-ebook/dp/B00D25G7ZM

Barnes and  Noble:  http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-super-spies-and-the-pied-piper-lisa-orchard/1115437908?ean=2940016589701

Character Monday: Please Welcome Kay Springsteen and Her Imaginary Friends...Uh I Mean Characters

Its Character Monday again and we are so very happy to feature Kay Springsteen and her second release with Astraea Press Lifeline Echoes. Lifeline Echoes releases tomorrow check out more about this amazing new contemporary novel and the characters that embody it. 

Voices form a powerful connection. The day the earth rocked LA, Sandy Wheaton became a voice lifeline over the radio for trapped firefighter, "Mick." Less than 24 hours later, she had fallen in love with him. Shattered when she learned that rescue came too late, she sought solace Wyoming, his home state that he had loved and described to her in detail. Now, seven years later, she's made a life there as the owner of a popular local bar. But her wounds still feel fresh and she longs to let go of the past  and her lost love so she can begin living again. When the local prodigal son returns home, the attraction is instant. It feels like she's known him for far longer than just a few days.

A son comes home. Sixteen years ago, Ryan McGee left home amidst controversy. After living through a harrowing trauma, he finally returns when his family needs his help through some troubling times. All he wants to do is make amends with those he hurt most and to get back to the life he'd never wanted to leave in the first place. When he meets the sexy bartender, he starts thinking in terms of forever. But there's still someone out there he wants to find, someone who once believed in him and gave him hope. Someone who had held his life in her hands...and then just disappeared. 

Tremendous Thursday: A New Release: Maya's Vacation

We are getting back on it. Please celebrate with us as we welcome Becca Gomez Farrell. She's has created a fun and original work with Maya's Vacation. Keep scrolling down to find out more about her and Maya's Vacation.

Blurb

Twenty-year-old Maya knew as she watched Dean walk away from her front door distraught at her silence and her father's threats, that she would never love anyone with the intensity that she loved him. He was her painter, her artist, her soulmate and being apart from him hurt too much. She tucked those feelings away, determined to enjoy the safe and secure life her parents approved of: business school and a marriage to Chuck, a successful real estate agent.

Thirty years later, Chuck has cheated on and divorced her. But when he comes back, begging for reconciliation, Maya takes a vacation to think it over. Her love of art, food, and wine combine at this retreat in the woods, and she prepares for a week of making new friends, tasting exquisite wines, and learning to paint again. What she hasn't prepared for is the familiar voice she hears the first morning at camp...a voice that makes her skin tingle and brings back memories of who she was before Chuck. Has Maya buried her passion too deep to find love with Dean again?

Character Monday & A New Release : A Double Feature

Here at Astraea Press we have had several amazing and unexpected events. We are behind yet ahead. How is that possible? I'm not really sure you'd have to ask Steph Taylor the cornerstone of our outfit. Anyways with that being said we are catching up on some releases while also promoting our new one. Without further ado please welcome Elaine Cantrell and her character Violet Emerson from A New Dream. 

After an auto accident destroys his pro-football career, Matt McCallum struggles to find a new dream for his life, but nothing engages him the way football did. After a stint in rehab, he takes a job managing a grocery store where he meets Violet Emerson.

Violet works in the bakery department, but her dreams carry her far beyond the doors of Chef’s Pantry. As soon as she can save the money, she plans to open a catering business. And she thinks the new manager’s broad shoulders and blue eyes are simply divine.

Thrown together at work, Matt and Violet find a common dream for their lives, but a loose end from Matt’s past returns to jeopardize their future. Will love be enough to save their new dream before it turns into a nightmare?

We Have Pie On Our Face...Interview with Steph Smith...Author of Lizzie and the Rebel

We at Astraea Press are a little behind and therefore have a little pie on our face. We suffered from technical difficulty last week and were not able to upload this post about our newest (as of last week) Lizzie and the Rebel. Please accept our apologies and welcome Stephy Smith to the house.

After You Purchase E-Books From Astraea Press

So you are surfing the web and you found the wonderful, amazing, fabulous (ok I'll stop now) Astraea Press website.  You've been shopping around, picked out your books, and paid. Now what? Well that's what we are going to address today.

• The email address that you used to fill out your order form will be the address the e-book will come too or if you used PayPal it will be the PayPal email you used.
•  Two emails will come. The first will be a receipt of your purchase.
• The second email will be a list of links for the book you bought. It will look something like this...
•  

 

• The next step is to decide what kind of file format you want. This will depend on your E-book reader device, such as Kindle, Nook, Ipad etc. I'm not going to get into all that today but here's a link that will explain the different e-book file types that you can reference. 

• Last but not least make sure you make a backup copy of your email and save your receipt. It helps if you have any problems in the future and have to contact us. 

So dear readers have you ever had any problems with e-book file formats? Have any questions? Leave them in the comments below and I will try to answer them.

Bri

What's a Touch-Know? Find out in this new steampunk called Into the Ether by Vanessa Barger

Blurb

As a Touch-Know, Genevieve has never been required to steal more than a few paltry coins.  But when a powerful stranger requires their help, her family of street-wise thieves sends her to get the most important thing they’ve ever decided to liberate.  It was supposed to be a simple overnight job.  Instead, Genevieve is required to appear attached to her mark, the curator of the British Museum.  For Genevieve it becomes more than an act, and her problems are far more significant than the possibility of her lies being discovered.

When her family betrays her, she must make an important choice – turn to the man who has destroyed everything she holds dear, or strike out on her own.

Wow we are so excited to have yet another truly original work by a talented author release here at Astraea Press. No lets here are little big about Vanessa. 


Author Bio

I am a Young Adult author who teaches high schoolers all about technology education (and yearbook!) in rural Virginia along the Chesapeake Bay. I am the owner slave to one cat, Molly, who looks a little like a cow when she gets a haircut, and write in my free time. I am actively involved in the YA Fiction Fanatics critique group, which is dedicated to helping its members produce the best MG and YA novels they can write. This past summer I finally bit the bullet and also joined the SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators). I’ve currently finished five manuscripts, and I’m working on several more. I have my second YA Steampunk, Into the Ether, coming soon from Astraea Press. I also love long walks on the beach discussing Shakespeare while sipping large fruity drinks with little umbrellas.

 Wow Vanessa you lost me at high schoolers (eek!) then got me back with fruity drinks. LOL joke.


Author Interview

A random fact about your story.

Terry’s red hair is based on a picture of my brother when he was about 7 and dressed as a hobo for Halloween. (you know. When he was little and cute.)

A random fact about you as an author. 

Hmmm…  I haven’t told anyone at work about my publishing, with the exception of about two people. I was afraid I might jinx it or something. And someday, when I hit the bestseller list, my brother owes me a case of my favorite, very expensive wine. And I will not forget it!

Favorite line in the story (can be funny, romantic, etc).  

Fireworks lit at my lips and burst in my heart.

How did you get the idea for your book? 

I have always wanted to visit the British Museum, and I think the coolest thing in the world would be if I got trapped there overnight. I also browse museums and wonder what sorts of things the artifacts have seen and what they’d say if I could talk to them.

What are you currently working on?

I just finished a YA paranormal horror-ish book. I’m editing and getting ready to submit it, while I outline a new sci-fi YA romance.

Is this your first published book? 

Actually, no. I have one other book published under another name. But YA is my first love!
  
Vanilla or Chocolate

Chocolate. Unless we’re talking ice cream. Then its French vanilla.

As a child what did you want to be when you grew up?

A writer. A teacher. An artist. Zookeeper. I got a few of those right!

What was the scariest moment of your life?

 My grandfather went in for open heart surgery, and after sitting in the waiting room for hours, my brother and I finally went for lunch. And then Dad came to get us and told us we needed to come back. Then they took us to that little room that never means good news and told us they couldn’t restart his heart.

How do you develop your plots and characters?

I’m not a big outliner, so I have a basic idea of what I want to happen and where I will end up, and then I write. The characters just seem to develop their own personality as we go along, though often they have a little of me or people I know in them.

Do you listen to music while writing?

 Absolutely. Unless I’m having a hard time concentrating, there’s always music on. And I have playlists specific for each thing I’m working on.

Plotter or Pantser? Why?

Panster. If I plot, REALLY plot, I get done and think, “Well, that’s done. I’m bored.” I also feel too confined. Like if I deviate from the outline the world will end or something.

Tell us about your current release.

Into the Ether is about Genevieve Bond, a girl who has no memory of her past and can read the history of an object. She lives with a band of street kids who are thieves. And…well.. here’s the blurb:

As a Touch-Know, Genevieve has never been required to steal more than a few paltry coins. But when a powerful stranger requires their help, her family of street-wise thieves sends her to get the most important thing they've ever decided to liberate. It was supposed to be a simple overnight job. Instead, Genevieve is required to appear attached to her mark, the curator of the British Museum. For Genevieve it becomes more than an act, and her problems are far more significant than the possibility of her lies being discovered.

When her family betrays her, she must make an important choice – turn to the man who has destroyed everything she holds dear, or strike out on her own.

Tell us the "story" of your book and how it came to be.

I don’t really know anymore. I wrote a piece of it, and it sort of came out from there. And I had been looking at information about the British Museum online, and was thinking about what it would be like to be there when the Elgin Marbles and things had just arrived, and when going to see things like that was much more popular. 

Do you have a writing routine?

Not really. I feel most inspired during thunderstorms or cloudy weather (I don’t get it either) and if I’m settling into a long stretch, I turn on the music and get out the tea cups and tea pot and tea tray and take it all to my “art room” (ie – junk room)

What inspires you?

Everything. My students, I have crazy dreams and they often end up as the basis for a story idea. Photos, trips, scenery, stories others tell me… its weird what will inspire a story.

What are you working on right now?

A spaghetti western style YA scifi romance. I’m still world building (and trying to get into the habit of using a “story bible.”)

 Favorite Muppet?

It’s a tie between Pepe the Prawn and Rizzo

Favorite movie and why?

Oh geez – there are so many…. I love Joshua for the message, I love the Mummy movies because they’re just fun, LOTR makes me happy, There’s a lot, and it changes all the time! (movies are my secret downfall. I’ve already had to buy two shelves this year to hold them, and I’m almost full. Again.)

What are your goals for this year?

Write at least three more YA novels, and finish the sequel to my adult novel. Get more published, maybe find an agent… you know… small stuff. lol

Thanks Vanessa for sharing. You can check out more about Vanessa herself at the links below

Facebook  

 Twitter

Blog

And her book Into the Ether can be purchase here....