Discover The Passenger by Joie Lesin & A Giveaway

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Joie Lesin will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

She’s a 1940s ghost whisperer.

Burdened with her empathic gift, Elizabeth Reilly wants to be free of it and fit in with normal people. Nevertheless, when the spirit of an old man asks for her help, she travels across the country to help him return home.

He’s the son of a ghost.

Gio Clemente is still angry with his father who abandoned him as a child. To help the father pass on, Elizabeth must persuade Gio to let go of his anger. Though he resents her intrusion, they are both stunned to find themselves fighting a profound attraction.

Elizabeth can accept his headstrong brand of love, but can Gio accept her gift—and believe in her?

The Passenger, a 1940s ghost story set in the California wine country, tells a tale of family connections, life-changing choices, and love—lost and found.

Read an Excerpt

When her husband was on his way to her to say goodbye, she’d sweated through the cries of soldiers falling into the mud around her and the deafening noise of battle.

Don’t go there, Elizabeth. You couldn’t help him.

She’d known the only help she could provide was to help him pass on in peace.

Elizabeth had expected Patrick’s ghost to visit her. For weeks, she braved the early spring chill to await his arrival. Bundled in layers, she waited on the beach for him. Their special place. When he finally came, he met her there. Patrick sat next to her on the blanket he’d given her as a birthday present when they were younger. The one with the purple daffodils. When she thought of his final goodbye, she thought of the daffodils she’d stared down at while he talked—as if the color of the flowers were the most important detail of the day.

Yet the broken dead man who sat beside her was.

Patrick’s once handsome face wore sadness like a caul. He’d wished she would remember him as the whole and healthy man who she clung to and kissed before he shipped off to war. When she pictured the delicate purple flowers imprinted on the fabric, she overlooked the bloodied gash in his side where he’d taken the bullet.

About the Author:

Award-winning, Minnesota-based author, Joie Lesin is a life-long fiction writer and poet. She is most recently the author of The Passenger (The Wild Rose Press, 2024) and her work is also featured in Scribeworth Magazine. She has long been fascinated by anything otherworldly including mermaids and ghosts. Joie writes character-driven, emotional, atmospheric tales about heartache and hope.

Website: https://www.jlesin.com
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/joielesin.bsky.social
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authorjoielesin
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JoieLesin
Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@joie.lesin
Goodreads BookPage: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/214564853-the-passenger

The Wild Rose Press Book Page: https://wildrosepress.com/product/the-passenger/
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D6WBVJB9
Apple Books: https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-passenger/id6504288982
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-passenger-joie-lesin/1008401528?ean=2940185717905
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-passenger-48

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tour Stop/Giveaway: The Flying Barons of Negriponte

 

Check out James Calbraith's The Flying Barons of Negriponte today.

Author Interview:

Where is your book set and have you ever been there?

It's set in Greece, the island of Euboea near Athens - and yes, I traveled there last summer for research, it's a beautiful, mysterious place. 

Do you have another profession besides writing? 

I recently started working for Edinburgh Bus Tours! Not the job I studied for - that was History - or have most experience - writing databases - but it's the most fun of all.

How long have you been writing? 

I was writing stories since high school, and started writing full time novels in 2008

What is your next project? 

The sequel to the Flying Barons - The Sky Pirates of Morea

How are you similar to your main character?

I guess - I love freedom, and pursuit of knowledge. Ikaria has my taste in food - and my fondness for the cool winds of the Mediterranean

In one sentence, what was the road to publishing like? 

I self-publish - and by now, I have everything set up so that the time from finishing manuscript to release is only a few weeks.

What is something you had to cut from your book that you wish you could have kept? 

I wanted to put even more explanation of alchemical technology - I have full schemes and blueprints in my notes! - but I didn't want the novel to turn into a ship-building manual 

Do you snack while writing? Favorite snack? 

Breadsticks - grissini or pretzel sticks. I can devour an infinite amount of them in one sitting.

Where do you write?

In my flat in Edinburgh, or in the motorhome while travelling

Do you write every day?

I certainly try to!

In today’s tech savvy world, most writers use a computer or laptop. Have you ever written parts of your book on paper?

No - I embraced technology early on, as soon as I got a computer with a wordprocessor - an Amiga 600 back in the 90s - I never looked back. I only use paper to draw maps.

Fun stuff:

Favorite travel spot? 

Kyoto

Favorite dessert?  

Gelato

Any hobbies?

Video games, to my doom

What song is currently playing on a loop in your head? 

Kate Bush - Pull Out The Pin

What is something that made you laugh recently? 

Rewatching Friendship is Witchcraft on YouTube. If you know, you know.

What is your go-to breakfast item? 

Scrambled eggs with salmon

What is the oldest item of clothing you own?

A green uniqlo heattech undershirt. I don't keep clothes for long.

What advice would you give to a first time writer?

Get a routine and stick to it. Doesn't matter if you only write 500 words a day, as long as you do it every day.

Title: The Flying Barons of Negriponte

Author: James Calbraith

Publisher: Flying Squid

Publication Date: September 20, 2023

Pages: 134

Genre: Historical Fantasy/Candlepunk

 

BOOK BLURB:

 

They killed her father. They took her ship. But nothing will stop Ikaria's vengeance.

 

Forty years since Constantinople fell to the Venetian flying citadels, high-altitude Aether racing is the favoured pastime of bored, wealthy Latin nobles. Ikaria, proud daughter of a legendary Aether engineer and one of the best racing pilots in the Aegean, is determined to uncover the truth behind her father's mysterious disappearance at the end of the last Grande Regatta of Negriponte.

Driven by the thirst of vengeance and pursuit of engineering excellence in equal measures, Ikaria vows to win the next Regatta herself - and to find out what really happened to her father. But there's a catch: a new Imperial edict bars her, and anyone not of noble blood, from taking part in Aether races. To her rescue comes Sire Mikhael of Chiarenza - an enigmatic handsome young Greek turncoat in the service of new Latin masters. His motivations unclear, the source of his funds and supplies a secret, Ikaria nonetheless agrees to accept his help: together, they set out to challenge the supremacy of the six Hexarchs, the infamous Flying Barons of Negriponte.

Pick up your copy of The Flying Barons of Negriponte at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CJKXXQB1 .

 

Book Excerpt:

A black-headed gull landed on the bowsprit. It glanced around, confused as to why a small, sleek sailboat suddenly appeared in its path in the middle of a billowing cloud hundreds of feet above the surface of the sea. Its eyes met Ikaria’s; the bird squawked in indignation and spread its wings as if to protest this sin against God and nature. A sudden, violent gust pushed it off the spar. Still squawking in disgust, the gull continued on its way while the boat pushed onwards, deeper into the cloud and out the other side.

A white-washed dot of Saint Elijah’s chapel appeared among the rocky outcrops, marking the eastern end of the Chalcis Pass. Ikaria reached under her tunic and took out a small brass key, inlaid with a piece of ruby glass, hung on a silver chain at her neck. Gingerly, she inserted it into a slot in the side of the Caput Chamber and turned it a quarter to the right. A conduit linking the Inhibitor Retort with the Tribikos Manifold hissed, indicating a forming air gap. She turned the spigot in the nozzle, releasing half a dram of the Inhibitor into the Sublimation Aludel. It took another few moments for the reaction to start. She turned to the Hygroscope and observed the four liquids behind the pane of rock crystal: a mixture of quicksilver, aqua fortis, brine and fish oil, each coloured with a different hue of vitriol, indicated the proportion of gaseous Quintessence – the Naviferous Aether – in the air under the hull. The liquids bubbled behind the crystal, reacting to a sudden change in pressure, then stabilised at the new levels, layer upon layer, at their respective measuring notches carved in the crystal pane. And then – a new layer emerged where there shouldn’t be one: a fifth, ruby-coloured liquid filled out the unmarked space between the quicksilver and aqua fortis.

 

 

 

 

About the Author

 

James Calbraith is a Poland-born Scottish writer of history-adjacent novels, coffee drinker, Steely Dan fan and avid traveller.

Growing up in communist Poland on a diet of powdered milk, “Lord of the Rings” and soviet science-fiction, he had his first story published at the ripe age of eight. After years of bouncing around Polish universities, he moved to London in 2007 and started writing in English. Now lives in Edinburgh, hoping for an independent Scotland.

His debut historical fantasy novel, “The Shadow of Black Wings“, has reached Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award semi-finals in 2012. “The Year of the Dragon” saga sold over 30,000 copies worldwide.

His new historical fiction saga, “The Song of Ash” has been on top of Amazon’s Bestseller lists in UK for months.

Connect with James:

Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Goodreads | Bookbub | Wattpad | Quora