Shannon's Law Cover Reveal - romance, danger, adventure and passion from Emma Calin.

 Cover-reveal for "SHANNON'S LAW" the new action-adventure-romance novel from Emma Calin.

Blurb

Wild child inner city cop Shannon Aguerri walks a dangerous line between her methods and justice. When the bosses lose their nerve, after yet another maverick mission, she is transferred to green pastures to play out the role of a routine village cop. When she encounters signs of people and drug trafficking she homes in on serious millionaire criminals. As a loner she has attracted men but nothing has stuck. When she meets Spencer, the hunky and widowed Earl of Bloxington, there is an immediate rapport between them. Their social differences mean nothing to their passion and need. Already in the mix is an upper class female rival – who has long plotted her way into the Earl's bed. The jealousy is an evil shade of green and the anger is a violent scarlet. Often inhibited by a sense of duty and honour, Spencer is slow to reveal his feelings. When Shannon confronts him with the need to choose between her word and that of her rival, he does not immediately support her. All the same, when they are forced together to carry out a desperate rescue mission, their love is stronger than everything ranged against them.

Shannon’s Law USA        Shannon's Law UK

(Pre-order paperback only at this stage)

We will be revealing snippets from the story, photos of places and people that inspired the venues and characters on Pinterest during the pre-launch book tour. There are already some scrap-book cuttings posted:

http://www.pinterest.com/emmacalin/shannons-law-launch-reveal-on-pinterest/

There is also news about the book on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ShannonsLaw

(‘Likes’ are always appreciated.....)

There are two launch parties themed around “Afternoon Tea At Bloxington Manor”. The first is online on the 28th February on Facebook and the second is LIVE at the English country house that inspired the home of the hero of the book, on Sunday 2nd March. A local favourite venue for Emma,  Avington Park in Hampshire, UK, is steeped in history and tradition. (Think genuine Palladian style rather than Downton Abbey neo-Jacobean). The private owners have kindly agreed to open up with a tour of the house and then tea and cake – oh and launch the book of course!

Shannon’s Law Cover Reveal Draw

$30/£20 Amazon voucher
A pair of tickets to Avington Park Launch Party 2nd March (UK only)
3 Advanced Review Copies of Shannon’s Law

EVERY entrant will receive a FREE gift of an audiobook of Emma Calin's short story Escape to Love.

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/share-code/Mjg1OTEwYzI5YjYwMjA3ZWY2Y2EzZDEzODljNmNjOjE4/

An Excerpt From Chain of Command

Signing Chain of Command at the Official Launch Party

As I leave you guys today, I’d like to say a huge thanks for partying with me. I’ve had a great time joining you here at the Goddessfish Party Pavilion.   I leave you now, with an excerpt from the first chapter of my debut thriller, Chain of Command, which R.L. Stine, the thriller master himself, says, “…will shock you—and the shocks keep right on coming. Colby Marshall has written a book that deserves to be called THRILLER." 

I hope you enjoy the excerpt, and if you do, please consider purchasing Chain of Command!  And without further ado, here’s the excerpt:

CHAIN OF COMMAND

By Colby Marshall

CHAPTER ONE      

Zero Hour

California

His heart rate never rose above sixty as he looked through the scope of his .50 caliber sniper rifle at the unfortunate soul caught in his crosshairs.

He kept his breathing even. He inhaled deeply, slowly, so he could hold his breath as long as it took when the moment came. Then, he controlled his exhale equally. Hold. Breathing when he pulled the trigger could affect the shot’s precision. He had done this a time or two. Actually way more than that. 

But this one was different.

This one he knew.

Still, no reason to worry. Stick to the protocol.

He fixed on the target’s head in the center of the scope. The perfect kill shot. Just the way the United States military taught him.

Beside him sat a cell phone, the prepaid kind you could pay cash for in any discount store so it could never be traced. Only one person had the number to this phone.

He sucked air into his nostrils, noting the feel of the air temperature as he watched the glowing face of the phone, the clock flicking in time from 8:59 to 9:00 PM. The phone vibrated against the cement. He turned it on and listened in his earpiece.

“You good to go?”

“Yep, have to go now. Target locked.”

“On my three,” said the voice.

It was important their shots go off at exactly the same time so the message would be unmistakable.

He heard the voice count it off at the other end of the phone. “One...”

His finger tightened on the trigger. His eyes bored into the skull of the man he was about to blow apart. He was lucky he still had a clear shot, but then again, his plans rarely went wrong. Amazing that something so incredible and horrible could be counted off in the same manner as ripping a Band-Aid off of a five-year-old kid’s knee.

“Two…”

His finger tensed just the right amount and held there, ready to fire.

“Three.”

As he squeezed the trigger, he heard the shot at the other end of the line. A blast right on top of my own. That’s a new one.

Even as the recoil slammed his frame backward, he was already back on his feet and disassembling the rifle. He thrust the pieces into his case in less than thirty seconds, then ran down the stairwell, calm but rushed.

And he was right to be in a hurry. He’d not only just heard the gunshot that killed the President of the United States. He had just executed the Vice President.

Day 1: Early Morning

Washington D.C.

The phone rang. The shrill cry of her mockingbird ringtone crowed in the air demanding an answer. Try as she might to ignore it, it just wouldn’t stop.

“All right, all right!” Fifty-three-year-old Elaine Covington rolled over in her bed and pulled the receiver to her ear. This had better be good.

“What?” she barked into the phone. The numbers on the clock beside her four-poster bed read 12:44 A. M. Who the hell would be calling at this hour, and what was so important they felt like they needed to wake her up?

“I’m sorry for the lateness of the hour, Madame Speaker,” said the voice on the other line, tension seeping through the cracks of his tone. His first words were too fast, his last few too slow, as if he didn’t know what to call her. “But it’s an emergency. This is Bert Royal.”

She knew him, though her staff spent more time with him than she had. There weren’t many occasions when her position required her to interact with President Seymour’s Chief of Staff. Elaine clutched the phone tighter as Bert spoke.

“The president and the vice president have been shot. Both are dead. Madame Speaker, you’re the first Congressperson, um, former Congressperson to know.”

Through the white hailstorm in her mind, the lists of what to do, what to say, in what order, and to whom battled for dominance. She had to get dressed, had to get out of this room, out of bed, damn it. 

“Give me ten minutes. No, make it fifteen. Get that new bimbo press secretary we just hired. Meet me at the back office.”

“No, Madame Speaker. I’m sorry. I’ve got orders to send a car with a special detail to take you to a secure place.”

She swore. What her exact words were she doubted she’d remember. She agreed to be ready within the hour. She dropped her cell phone back on the nightstand, her knuckles still white from clenching the phone.

She lay back on her pillow. Surely she was in the middle of a dream. A nightmare. Congress would assemble; she would have to preside for hours over a debate about whether or not to attack the country responsible.

Suddenly, her eyes flew open. She sat up straight in her bed. She hadn’t been asked to show up at the Capitol. She had been told she’d be taken to an undisclosed location where she would be debriefed.

It was as if she’d been slapped across the face the same way her grandmother smacked her once when she talked back to her at age ten.

President Seymour was dead.

Vice President Tifton was dead.

The Constitution dictated the next person in line.

Elaine Covington blinked twice. She was now the President of the United States.

I hope you’ve enjoyed spending a little of your day with me.  Don’t forget to leave a comment on any of my posts today for a chance to win a cool Chain of Command messenger bag.  The bag giveaway winner will be announced the afternoon of Feb, 4 on my facebook fan page and my twitter, so be sure you’re following me in one of those places to claim your prize.

Follow me on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/colbymarshall

Like me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorcolbymarshall

And if you’ve enjoyed what you’ve seen here today and would like to know more about my books, please check out my website at www.colbymarshall.com.  Consider joining the newest addition to the site, the SWAT page at www.colbymarshall.com/swat, a members-only page that allows fans of the books to gain access to exclusive material such as deleted chapters from Chain of Command, SWAT-only giveaways, and sneak peeks at my newest thriller, which will be published in June 2013.  Thanks again for hanging with me today, and I hope you’re having a great weekend.  Cheers!

CHAIN OF COMMAND Author Party Crashes, Awesome Giveaway in Hand!

Before I get started in this post, please know that I have one of the awesome Chain of Command messenger bags (see picture at right!) up for a giveaway.  For a chance to win, just leave a comment on any of my posts today before 12 noon on Feb. 4.  The winner will be announced on my TWITTER: https://twitter.com/colbymarshall and my Facebook Fan page: https://www.facebook.com/authorcolbymarshall , so be sure to follow me on Twitter or "Like" me on Facebook so that you can claim your prize if you win!  Now, on to the post!

It's been said that writers reveal their own struggles, fears, dreams, etc. through their work.

Well, if that's the case, I'm not really sure what Chain of Command says about me.  So, I began to explore the possibilities.  If a complete outsider who knows nothing about me were to analyze, here are some scenarios they might come up with:

      Theory Number 1:  Colby Marshall is clearly violent. 

      Analysis:  I once made a list of casualties in Chain of Command (after an interested editor was daunted by the death toll).  I can't remember what it was and am afraid to go back and count again.  Either way, let's just say that when the death toll on page two equals the page number, chances are, you're book might be a bloodbath.

    Reality:  Colby Marshall won't even kill her own spiders because she's afraid of them.  The bloodbaths in her books are probably a way of fooling herself into thinking she could totally pull off the I-Walk-Away-From-Explosions-And-Don't-Look-Back type of badassery as well as Denzel Washington can.

   Theory Number 2:  Colby Marshall dreams of a world where a female president leads our country sooner rather than later.  

     Analysis: There's no denying it: Chain of Command does explore the possibility of the first female president of the United States of America.  Being female, I suppose it would be an easy leap for someone to think that I'd want this glass ceiling to be broken.  Obviously any woman writing about an assassination plot resulting in the first female taking the highest office in the land has to be chomping at the bit to see a woman in the Oval Office.  Right?

   Reality:  I learned about the United States chain of command to the presidency in school, and I found it interesting that the line of succession had fortunately never had to be put into action past the vice president.  The U.S. has also never had a female President.  When two nevers collide in my mind, a story is bound to be the result.  So, I decided having the chain of command be employed while the third in line for the presidency happened to be a woman would be a conspiracy theorists' wet dream.  As for whether or not I care about a woman being president--I have another post about this very topic coming soon in the blog tour, but suffice it to say yes and no.  I'd love to see a woman hold the highest office in the land, as, generally speaking, I believe women can do as good of a job as men in leadership positions.  That said, I'd only want to see a Madame President elected if she was the right lady for the job and for our country--not because she happens to own an impressive collection of Stuart Weitzmans, gets at least two pedicures a year, and knows the difference between hi-lights and lo-lights. I don't want a woman president just because she is a woman.

Theory Number 3:  Colby Marshall, like her main character McKenzie, fears not knowing the truth about a situation.

Analysis:  Hm.

Reality:  Well, yes.  I suppose there, I have me.

So, while the conclusions one might draw about me as a person might not be entirely accurate based on Chain of Command or any of my other books, for that matter, I do think there’s a little piece of me in every book, even if it's small and something only I would notice.  For example, the next in the McKenzie McClendon series, The Trade, revolves around the black market baby trade, and I was pregnant when I wrote the ending of the book.  I like to create my own characters and situations, but if my own experiences never entered my writing at all, I wouldn't have nearly the depth of characters I do when I can relate their experiences to my own. 

What about you—do things in your life influence what you want to read or write about, or is reading/writing more of an escape from anything remotely similar to your every day life?      

Colby Marshall’s debut thriller, Chain of Command is now available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, StairwayPress.com, and other major e-readers.  Writer by day, ballroom dancer and choreographer by night, Colby has a tendency to turn every hobby she has into a job, thus ensuring that she is a perpetual workaholic.  In addition to her 9,502 regular jobs, she is also a contributing columnist for M Food and Culture magazine and is a proud member of International Thriller Writers and Sisters in Crime.  She is actively involved in local theatres as a choreographer as well as sometimes indulges her prima donna side by taking the stage as an actress.  She lives in Georgia with her family, two mutts, and an array of cats that, if she were a bit older, would qualify her immediately for crazy cat lady status.  Her debut thriller, Chain of Command is now available, and the second book in her McKenzie McClendon series, The Trade, is due for publication by Stairway Press in June 2013.   

Check out the official book trailer for Chain of Command: