I thought it would be interesting to do a book promotion party by giving not only the name of your book and what it is about but also the opening paragraph.
I offer the following from Maledicus: The Investigative Paranormal Society Book 1 by Charles F. French:
“Lucius Antony Caius exalted in his good fortune. He was in complete control of his destiny, of his place in the world. Not for him was the belief in the three sisters of fate–they would not measure and cut his string of life. Caius, also known as Maledicus, as he was called because of his odd lisping voice coupled with the grating sound of sandpaper grinding on coarse wood and with his personality, believed he controlled the world. And his evil persona caused others to fear him. He didn’t look like the image of a strong Roman–he was short and fat, with little hair, but he was as dangerous as the most powerful general.”
So, if you would like to join the party and promote your book, please offer a quotation!
Have fun, promote your book, and please share this post.

Available on Amazon

Get The Draft Done! is available here: Amazon.com

Gallows Hill can be found here in ebook.
Gallows Hill in paperback can be found here.
An interview about Gallows Hill can be found here.

Please follow the following links to find my novel:
Thank you!
The book trailer:
Maledicus:Investigative Paranormal Society Book I
My radio interview:


Happy new year 🌸
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Thank you, and Frohes neues Jahr!
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Looking forward to sharing another virtual year with you. Happy & Healthy New Year Charles! 🤩🌃🎆✨🍾
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Cindy, thank you! Happy and healthy New Year to you and yours!
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Here’s my intro paragraph for my first book, Kismet and Tell: Adventures in Sorcery:
A blue light flashing in my face woke me. I stared at the blinking globe on the bedside table for a minute, still half asleep. It took my fuzzy mind a minute to remember what the light meant, and when I did, I covered my eyes with my hand and groaned. They always pick the worst time to summon me, I thought in irritation. Don’t they know a young sorceress like me needs her beauty sleep? I sat up and pulled the heavy brown curtain aside from my window a little and looked out at a black sky dotted with stars, and a bright full moon high in the sky. Yep, still dark. I turned back to the bedside table and checked the clock sitting next to the blue bauble. It showed the time as midnight. Heaving a sigh, I placed my hand over the globe, turning the light off, and reluctantly got up from my bed. Then I opened the curtain all the way and used the moonlight pouring in to get dressed by. I slipped out of my sleeping gown and put on my usual outfit of dark pants, white linen shirt, leather tunic, gloves, boots, and gold circlet with an emerald in the middle. As a precautionary measure, I strapped my short sword to my waist. Then I ran a brush through my knee-long, deep blue hair, not bothering to braid it as usual because I was in a hurry. I checked my appearance in the mirror quickly, frowned slightly at the bags under my big, round sapphire blue eyes, and again cursed the midnight summons.
Here’s the link to in on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0791MSLSF/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0
The “prequel”, Chronicles of Riss, can be found here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00U1UCNC2
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Wonderful, and thank you for joining in the party!
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Thanks for the opportunity 🙂
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You are very welcome!
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Here is the opening paragraph of my short story, WOLF DAWN.
Cramps gnawed at Kara’s legs as she crouched behind a rock at the edge of the village. All day she’d skirted the area, spiraling closer from shadow to shadow as she studied the people and landscape. It wasn’t much different from other places she’d seen. Buildings clustered along one main road with a few side streets running along a small river. People moved about, some laden with packages, and others hauling small carts. Farmers tended crops and cattle, and fishermen worked as their boats bobbed at the dock. A few motor vehicles were parked in the street. Every person moved with a purpose, like a well-rehearsed dance.
Wolf Dawn
A. L. Kaplan
Gifted with the ability to wolf-talk, Kara has lived with the wolves since she lost her memories. Now at sixteen, snippets of her past send her searching for answers.
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Thank you so much!
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Star Touched
A. L. Kaplan
Eighteen-year-old Tatiana is running from her past and her star-touched powers eight years after a meteor devastates earth’s population.
And here’s the opening:
“Hurry. The ceremony’s gonna start soon.” The dark-skinned girl tugged her mother through the town square.
A hard lump formed in Tatiana’s throat as she watched them. She’d give anything to spend time with her mama again, but the Cataclysm had ripped that possibility away. The young teenager bounced on the balls of her feet and craned her neck to see over the crowd. Her hand waved for her mother to catch up.
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Thank you for joining in the little party!
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Thank for throwing it.
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Reblogged this on alkaplan and commented:
What a great way to start the new year. Hello 2021. Take a look at these reads.
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Thank you!
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Happy New Year! Anyone interested in fantasy, horror, and poetry, check out a series of titles available on my Amazon author page, from an epic fantasy novel to several anthologies:
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Andrew, thank you!
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You’re welcome, and thank you!
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Thank you for the opportunity, Charles! Here is the first paragraph of Telling Sonny:
After a year or so, the death knell marking the end of Faby’s marriage lost its resonance–yet it continued to toll, as steady and devoid of feeling as a metronome set in motion for someone who can’t keep time. Then in April of 1952, unbeknownst to Faby, the tolling unexpectedly stopped. For a week, she knew of nothing that should change her steady marking out of time. She walked to the telephone company in the morning to put in her hours at the switchboard; she walked home again at day’s end to eat her meager supper.
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Liz, thank you so much!
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You’re welcome, Charles!
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Happy New Year!
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Thank you! Happy New Year!
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Thank you!
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You are welcome!
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Happy New Year, Charles!
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Jennie, Happy New Year!
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I’m a bit late for this party, Charles. I have managed to finalise the last small changes to A Ghost and His Gold so it is on track to publish this month. Hooray.
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That is wonderful! Please let me know when it is out and what I can do to help with publicity for you!
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Nice idea, Charles. Thanks! 🙂
This is the opening of “A Touch of Malice,” one of four short stories in Malice and Forethought.
She caught her blurred reflection in the antiquated steel doors of the basement elevator.
Black turtleneck. Black Jeans. Black boots. Jacket and gloves, also black.
If she were in a nightclub, she would be considered hot.
But she wasn’t some voluptuous bad-ass fashionista making a statement or setting a trend. She wore black for one reason. It hid blood splatter.
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You are very welcome!
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