TODAY'S CREME....MULTI-PUBLISHED AUTHOR KEVIN HOPSON

Welcome to the 


FIRST of the 

Ladybug Lin Parade of 

Creme de la Creme...Or Muse Authors, Most EXCELLENT!

Now to give you an idea of the quality of author the Ladybug is showcasing...here's the criteria:

Gene Rodenberry created the STAR TREK franchise. It's true he was NOT a book writer...but a writer is a writer is a writer. His ability to create a cohesive, well researched story in the limited time and space allowed by a one hour television script describes genius...SO Ladybug Lin is on the lookout for authors who can emulate Rodenberryesque story telling talent...no matter WHAT genre the author writes in...SO shall we get started?

The very FIRST of TODAY'S Creme de la Creme authors at the Muse Hall of Superlative Storytelling Skills is....

BIG DRUM-ROLL PLEASE

KEVIN HOPSON

Kevin Hopson writes SHORT stories, and because of that, he has a limited amount of time and space to create the angst needed for his stories to impact US, his audience...Just like Mr. Rodenberry, Kevin Hopson knows his topics, expands on his field of interests, and is coming through magnificently with each of his books so far.

Let me elaborate...On November 1, 2010 Kevin Hopson's first Muse It Up Book WORLD OF ASH released...


...It's a short story this Ladybug Lin read shortly after it debuted. I wasn't sure I'd like it since the cover was enough to scare the bejeeburs out of me, and scary is not my usual forté...but I discovered I really LIKES the way Kevin Hopson can scare me silly.

Ladybug Lin, as you can see by the award THE WORLD OF ASH won right out of the gate, is not the only one who's found this book a winner, and Kevin Hopson an author to stand up and take notice of.

Blurb:

Jax has always succumbed to his boss’ wishes in an effort to please him. When he is asked to journey to the town of Tellare with a volcanic ash cloud standing in his way, Jax realizes the dangers, but he accepts the job anyway. He even brings along his friend Stu as company. However, Jax starts to regret his decision when Stu puts up resistance and conditions continue to worsen. What awaits them inside the ash cloud, and will Stu prove to be a liability when push comes to shove?

Sounds good doesn't it? But we're just beginning.

Kevin Hopson is not a man to sit back on his heels and let his laurels rest...oh no...he immediately jumped in, wrote and released his SECOND blockbuster short in less time than most people would take to enjoy the accolades from that impressive award.

EARTHLY FORCES...now I have to admit, I was drawn to this book at first by its cover. Having grown up in an area where lighthouses are part of the backdrop for my childhood playground, I naturally have a fondness for them.

Although...the ones I remember never looked quite this scary. That may be because I never saw them in the throes of an angry story with clouds that looked like they had eyes peering down at me. (I know...probably my imagination in overdrive...but Kevin inspires such imaginings. )

Blurb:

Ken is a middle-aged fisherman who has captained the Sea Mac for more years than he can count. He has experienced heavy weather, rough seas and even death. However, nothing has prepared him for what he is about to endure on the island of Eilean Boghdoiri. His friend Paul, also the island’s lighthouse keeper, has gone missing. Ken and his deckhand Jimmie set out in search of him, only to discover things are far more complicated than initially thought. As they race to unlock the mystery, Ken and Jimmie find themselves fighting to stay alive. Will Paul ever be found, and, if so, can they make it off the island in time?

EARTHLY FORCES is a winner. Short, scary, and one you will keep on your e-reader to pull up and read again and again...oh, and definitely, again...whenever you want to have something to counter the howl of the wind outside and the flickering of the lights within.

The title of this next KEVIN HOPSON classic made me laugh when I first saw it. The TITLE is just...alive with humor...

...the cover? Well...from it I had a feeling this was NOOOOO comedy...but then...it's a KEVIN HOPSON...how COULD it be a comedy? That would be like going to see Robin Williams live and expecting him to pull out a knife and start slashing the theater up...there're just some things you know not to expect...and a COMEDY from the masterful brain of Kevin Hopson's scary muse? NO WAY!

EARLY RELEASE FOR BAD BEHAVIOR...with hypodermic needles on the cover?...this was not going to be a joyride...One of the things I most love about the fabulously gifted Kevin Hopson is I can count on him to always deliver spine tingles. I KNOW he's going to scare me into a whole bunch of new white hairs atop my head, and make my toe flesh shrivel more than a long soak in any bathtub ever could.

Blurb:

Someone is illegally moving death row inmates between prisons, and one prisoner finds out firsthand what the perpetrator wants with them.

The cover doesn't EXACTLY show it but this DOES take place in a prison...That's the ONLY guarantee. Kevin Hopson, we're now discovering, loves creating SURPRISE endings...and he's so blood curdlingly GOOD at it!

There isn't ANY topic Kevin Hopson won't explore. His next book...

...with a cover so breath cripplingly powerful it had me staring at it for quite some time before I could bring myself to read the book, sizzles. Having been in a fire, I give that element a great deal of respect. I also know Kevin Hopson writing about it is going to take me into singed layers of my soul I'm going to have to do more than shake 'n' bake my way through. 

Back Cover

Max and Lorenzo are strangers who have crossed paths under the most dire of circumstances – the need to survive. With the earth nothing more than a wasteland and solar radiation a constant threat, the two of them set out for a place called Hope Cavern, an underground city where people have taken refuge. Making the journey north, however, they realize there is a price to pay for companionship.

EARTH ABLAZE This is a post apocalyptic story...but in the deft hands of a master. How so much can be expressed in such a condensed grouping of words...truly shows how great a master Kevin Hopson is. 

This next book I read not long after all those miners in South America were rescued. The world celebrated that success, so I wasn't certain I wanted to read a horror story with a similar core theme...but once you get addicted to Kevin Hopson, you really know you're going to read it no matter what.

THREE MILES BELOW. You SOOOO want the happy ending, and you read along with your heart in your throat...but remember what I said about Kevin and his SURPRISE ENDINGS?

Back Cover:

When an earthquake hits, Mackenzie and two of his co-workers are forced to take shelter in a refuge chamber three miles below ground, uncertain of the damage around and above them. Weighing their options, the three must decide whether to stay put or take their chances climbing to the surface, though making it to ground level is just half of the battle.

He delivers!

In fact...here we are at the beginning of 2014 and here's FIVE short thrillers that would have made Alfred Hitchcock happy had HE written him...YEP they really ARE that good...but Kevin Hopson is JUST beginning. 

FIVE in three years...Can't wait for the next three years and then the three after that...oh and I JUST learned he DOES have one coming out in less than THREE months! How lucky are we?

Take a look at this cover....Be still my palpitating heart...March...you only have to wait until March...sorry WE only have to wait until March...

KEVIN HOPSON...remember that name...and follow the links above to his books and become a Hopson addict like me Ladybug Lin.

This is Ladybug Lin, thanking you for checking out my first Creme de la Creme. Who will be the second author to make my Creme? You'll have to check back, and often. 

When LIES AND PAINE nears...GRAB YOURS! by Cyrus Keith

Betrayal

Most of us can look back on our lives and not see threads woven, layer upon layer, into a tapestry of nothing but lies, from the moment of

conception onward.

For Jenna Paine up until the moment her father died of pancreatic cancer when she was just a little girl, she had the delusion of being a normal kid with a normal family...BUT lies and betrayal have a way of catching up with the tellers and deceivers...Just as the title of his fourth book in his NADIA PROJECT SERIES suggests

LIES AND Jenna PAINE are about to meet...

HEAD ON!

What would you do if everything you were told turned out to be a lie of calculation and gain by others?

Cyrus Keith, a master in creating high octane Sci-NOT-so-Fi action is back again with another journey into his astounding NADIA PROJECT SERIES.

If you haven't found your way to his books yet, you are SO missing out on a talent the world is going to one day clamor for the way I remember everyone clamoring for Isaac Asimov...and I DO remember it.

So be like me..in the forefront of this wave of future SCI-FI cutting edge fans. (The man's already won an

EPIC award...so the rumble HAS begun.)


Grab yourself a copy of LIES AND PAINE on sale at TWENTY PERCENT OFF today at his publisher, MuseItUp Publishing, INC!

You won't be sorry...and once you've read

LIES AND PAINE scurry on over with your eager hand out for


BECOMING NADIA,


UNALIVE
and


CRITICAL MASS

And then, like me, to quote a line from my High School English Lit class, you'll be hooked on Cyrus Keith, FOREVER MORE!

THE DIPPY DUO from ECHOES FROM THE PAST

Lin Holmes: Today I have from

ECHOES FROM THE PAST by L.J. Holmes' my author's name and my very first full length epic classic Time Travel novel releasing from Muse It Up Publishing Inc, in May, the unusual pair affectionately, by some, known as The Dippy Duo, individually known as cousins Jed Haskell and Hank Slokum visiting straight from The Holler

Welcome Boys. I was thrilled to hear you were eager to come all the way from your mountain home to spend time with me today and discuss your part in the making of ECHOES FROM THE PAST .

Jed: We've been keeping our eye on you

Miz Holmes, and have to say we were twice pleased when we learned you decided to move closer to us here in the glorious south.

Hank: Yeah, it means we didn't have to hitch our arses quite as far as we mighta if we'da had to come sit a spell with ya up in yankee territory.

Jed: Now Hank, we don't wanna start off this visit offending Miz Holmes. Please excuse my cuz Miz Holmes, Hank wasn't always paying attention in Sunday school when Mis Jezzy Mae Connors was teaching.

Hank: Only cuzz I was batting eyes with Betty Sue Wilkins.

Lin Holmes: No offense taken gentlemen. You're here because you play such vital rolls in ECHOES FROM THE PAST. What did you think of Dr. Kira Firebird and Ahoishmahir the central characters of the story?

Jed: Actually, we never got to meet them.

Hank: Came close there near the waterfall, dontcha think, Jed?

Jed: We was hallucintaing, Hank, and I thought we agreed not to discuss that.

Hank: Oh yeah. I forgot. Bet you didn't know getting stuck on your arse by a massive swarm of bees and then having snapping turtles latch onto those boo boos can cause hallucinations did you?

Jed: Hank!...What part of we agreed not to talk about it didn't you get? I suppose you want me to talk about how you thought you could turn on a wolf by blowing some lame assed wolf call?

Hank: You promised!

Jed: Exactly!

Hank: Geeze. Forget one teensy thing...

Lin Holmes. Wolf Call? Boys are you talking about Boomerang? Dr. Firebird's wolf? Dr. Firbebird's SPIRIT wolf? You DID meet him right?

Hank: Spirit? Wolf? Her wolf is a ghost? Ah geeze! You didn't tell me that Jed!

Jed: How the hell was I to know? We never exactly got close enough to exchange apple pie recipes if you remember.

Lin Holmes: So you didn't mean Boomerang. Let me understand this. You didn't meet Boomerang, you didn't meet Dr. Kira Firebird, you didn't meet Ahoishmahir, did you meet anyone?

Jed: We met The Boss, naturally.

Hank: Boy did we ever! Mean old cuss!

Jed: Yeah, but we knew that going in.

Hank: Knew our arses were fried if we didn't deliver Dr. Firebird and the treasure she was seeking.

Jed: You can say that again.

Hank: Knew our arses were fried...

Jed: You're a fool! Didn't mean for you to actually say it again!

Hank: Then you shouldna said it!

Jed: Yeah you're a fool!

Hank: Am not!

Jed: Am too, but let's move on. We DID meet an angel...we think!

Hank: Yeah thank God! Cured our arses and my nose. See my nose was swollen the size of the Missisppi River, and so big I couldn't see round it.

Lin Holmes: How'd your nose get swollen?

Hank: We had a lot of mishaps befall upon us following Dr. Firebird.

Jed: Boy did we ever. It rained; really, really, rained two nights in a row in the freaking desert. Ever spend the night bare assed and wet in the desert? Not at all comfortable, nor to be believed.

Hank: She asked how I got a busted schnozz. Not how you got frostbit.

Jed: Well excuse me! And need I remind you I wasn't alone in freezing my arse off?

Hank: Yeah, but you were alone in almost getting yer willie snipped off! I told you that tent had jaws!

Jed: You have a death wish don't you cuz?

Hank: Me maw'll kill you if'n you touch one golden strand from me gorgeous head and you know it.

Lin Holmes: Boys, boys, please.

Hank: Sorry, Miz Holmes. You was asking bout me nose. See after the bout with the turtle, I was trying on a pair' a Dr. Firebird's shorts. Got 'em up as far as me knees. Lost me balance and I sorta tipped over. Smashed me nose right inta the ground.

Lin Holmes: <smothering a giggle> The angel?

Jed: Appeared outta nowhere, offered us relief and an exit.

Lin Holmes: I'm assuming you took it.

Hank: The Boss'd kill us.

Lin Holmes: So you didn't?

Jed: The Boss is our cousin. Ain't nowhere we could go and hide he couldn't find us. Our goose'd be good an cooked.

Lin Holmes: Oh Dear!

Jed: Yeah. Oh Dear. Fact is we can't afford to tell you.

Hank: Right, but we also wanted to be part of the hoopla coming now that ECHOES FROM THE PAST is about to rise about yon distant horizon.

Jed: We're dumber than dirt, but we do know how to hide...we hope.

Hank: Yep we sure do.

Lin Holmes: Boys are you certain you want me to post this interview?

Hank: Oh yes Ma'm. If we got to, we can high tail it down Mexico way to a cantina or two we know 'bout till the Boss forgets all 'bout us...

Jed:...or till we become so pickled in tequila we stop caring. Now ya promise us Miz Holmes to share our side of the story. We earned that. The angel assured us we'd be okay...mostly.

Lin Holmes: Okay Boys. I will say it's been interesting meeting you. You stay safe.

For the rest of us.

ECHOES FROM THE PAST is releasing from Muse It Up Publishing Inc, In May but until then you can catch up on some of the antics of the main players by seeing what BOOMERANG has to say, and check out the magnificent TRAILER Suzannah Safi has done.

There will be more interviews coming...one with Dr. Kira Firebird and Ahoishmahir definitely but more as well.

Insulated Undies...Need Some

I really DO need some

electric long johns...any idea where I can snatch some in the next...oh,,,five minutes...if I'm lucky?

Living with

Kat Holmes means I am used to the

gods and goddesses spending time popping in and out of my world. I am so tired of finding

Hermes' winged shoes floating in my toilet tank...and if Aphrodite doesn't stop landing her

seashell in my dishwasher I'm gonna start charging her for the plumber's repairs she leaves behind. (You'd think they'd have better things to do than muck with my modern gadgets...but NOOOOO!)

Kat is the author of the Best Selling Gods At Work series that so far has made my world a visiting place for the likes of Aphrodite, star of Book One of the GAW series,

WORKING UNDER COVERS, Hera. Book Two,

HEART OF THE QUEEN, (I'm still picking

peacock feathers out of my dentures.) Hades,

IN DEATH'S ARMS, ( Ever try to make nice with

Cerberus when he's bent on trying to intimidate your precious kitties?)

Poseidon,

CRIMSON WATERS, and

Apollo

DANCES AT DAWN. Okay he's a hunk so him I can handle...most of the time.

Let me tell you something honestly though,

 the Kraken does not belong in your central air conditioner? Pulling him out is so not fun!

Hekate

is also the head wizardess behind Kat's vampire Hekate's Web Series, Book One

HIDDEN. (Kat is a card carrying bug-a-phobe, so when Hekate decides to drop one of her webs teeming with

creepy crawlers in our upper corners I'm having to run for the

earplugs when Kat sees it and lets out one of her blood-curdling screeches.)

So you'd think I wouldn't so much as bat an eyelash when I get a

Chill-a-gram from the god behind her ORIGINAL Artica Lights Series, Book One

FROZEN and book two releasing like soon...

REFLECTIONS OF ICE,

Tichi requesting I allow him to come and speak about his domain. HOWEVER, despite my industrial strength battery powered long johns I am quaking in my

Mukluks.

If you piss off a god of a land of

eternal ice and snow, what will he do to you? Since I just noticed the mercury in my

ladybug thermometer dipping dramatically I hope I'm not this close to finding out.

Please join me in welcoming the

God of All of Artica, Tichi. Do you want me to empty my ice cube maker and create a nice cold place for you to sit?

Thanks but I'm more than capable of lowering the temp here enough for my needs. You don't have anything against icicles dangling from your lampshades do you?

Ohhh uhmmm, ahhh. I must admit I'm not used to seeing my breath puffing out of me inside my own living room, but please make yourself at home. I must admit I'm also not used to my fingertips turning blue, but blue is my favorite color,.

Mine as well.

I've noticed that from the various pictures I've seen of Artica, which is beautiful by the way. But even though it is covered all the time by snow and ice, it does have a blue tint to it. Is that by design or accident?

Absolutely by design. The moisture in our clouds is blue and of course so are our most powerful moonbeams.

But I'm fair with my people. They have this affection for color, so I made sure the could create interior designs filled with many hues.

To be honest, I didn't want them to start praying to me asking me for ridiculous things like, well...rainbows. I mean seriously, can you picture icy rainbows?

You're a god so you have some pretty awesome powers. I read FROZEN the first book in Kat Holmes' Artica Lights Series. What made you decide to create Artica as virtually a frozen land with no changes in seasons?

Ice is really cool!

But we do have changes in our seasons, just not as dramatically as what your people seem to experience. We also have hot springs. They're just not springing forth before all to see the way your Old Faithful...right?...does.

I like keeping my...creative side a bit more of a mystery. I love my people but if they knew everything I am capable of they'd be praying to me for everything and I'd never get a seconds peace to enjoy blizzard surfing.

Do you know anything about the Greek Pantheon of gods? Zeus is their head god and he did the horizontal nasty to create all his offspring, but from what I've heard you don't and yet Awni the current queen of Artica IS your daughter. How does that work?

I live in an ice cave. There aren't a lot of creatures who'd be all that willing to do the, horizontal nasty, as you call it, in my sub-zero environment, but hey, I liked the idea of being procreative so I sort of blow my magic into the child I've selected to become my daughter and the rest is Artica history and legend. You must admit my way is much less intrusive than anything that old hound dog Zeus came up with and none of my daughters to date have tried to figure a way of locking me away with evil Titans or trying to eat me whole. They actually LIKED me.

We know about your current daughter, Awni, and she's the Queen. Have all the Artica queens been your daughters and if so are they goddesses?

All the queens have been my daughters, but they're born mortal, so no, they don't exactly become goddesses but they do become forces in their own right. They're my eyes, my force for justice, and they're a piece of my heart that is actually somewhat warm despite the frigid cold of our blazing snows..

You love your daughters?

Absolutely.

Yet the moment you enter them with your power, you sentence them to a life of loneliness and isolation, right?

Yeah well, even gods make mistakes, but once they're made it's kind of hard backtracking and admitting those mistakes. Let me give you a for instance.

Say your Zeus tossed one of his lightning bolts down and it hit a precious sequoia tree, splitting it apart all the way down to its roots. He could put the tree back together with his god powers, but if he did that, all of his lessers, you know humans, would know he'd made a mistake. It's never a good thing to let the lessers know we gods can and yes do make mistakes. All we can do once we identify a mistake is try to amend the mistake next time around.

Is that why you've started bringing people from our world into yours, to correct your mistakes?

Well you must admit they would not have been in Artica at the time of my original...I'm not going to call them mistakes...let's just call them...miscalculations, okay?

For those of us not used to living in lands of perpetual ice and snow, but who might one day end up in your world, tell us what you do for fun.

I 've already told you about blizzard surfing. That's a really cool blast, but I also love snowball fights. I have a wicked curve ball that is the envy of all the Articans. Since we've been receiving humans from your side of the Lights in Artica I've been seriously considering starting snowball games. I have some of our engineers looking into the possibilities of something similar to your Baseball games...though we're not sure how to create stabilized playing diamonds given our blizzards.

Awni's husband Brent, who's from your side, tells me I have a wicked sense of humor when it comes to designing my

ice formation. I must admit I'd never thought of it that way, but I guess, now that I have flitted around here for a bit on your side of things, he may have a point.

Tichi, you specifically asked to come here and spend time being interviewed. Is there something we haven't yet covered that you want my readers to know about you and/or Artica?

 Actually there is. Those who have read Kat Holmes' books based on

Artica's Lights think they're reading fiction, but the truth is I've been channeling our world to her because well, I've heard, thanks to Brent and a few others about your Greek Gods, Norse Gods, Roman Gods, Egyptian Gods and so on and I realized what a disservice we Articans were doing to you humans by keeping our rich heritage secret.

We can't share all of our history with you in one lump...you'd never believe it...so we have to take our time and let Kat reveal our world in stages. There's a reason the series is called ARTICA LIGHTS and also a reason why both covers for our stories have the lights included in the majesty the covers reveal, but you'll never guess it.  

I live in an ice cave, so I'm one cold dude and yet I have more fire in my little iciclettes than your Zeus has in every one of his lightning bolts and that guy Thor has in his big hammer, or Ra in his big hat.

You've known about all those other deities for a long time, but know nothing about me and my world. My Lights deserve the opportunity to spread their luminosity and that means it's time for me Tichi to lower your thermostats and bring our chilly frostings your way.

Book Two in Kat Holmes' revelations about your land  REFLECTIONS OF ICE is coming out very soon. Have you any idea when that might be?

Actually yes, I do. It comes out on December 14th...perfect for a wintry blast, but I'm learning about bargain hunting on this side of the Lights and the fact is right this every moment you can pre-order it and get 20% off. I know a bargain when I hear about one.

I even have the link to it's sale page so your readers won't have to hunt all over for it...

REFLECTIONS OF ICE.

I see by the

ice covered clock on the wall we'll almost out of time. Is there anything more you want to share with my readers?

Nope, just that all of Artica is really enjoying getting to know our cousins here on this side of the Lights, and we look forward to having you come on over and spending time with us. We may be cold, but we have tons of

heart.

Thank you Tichi. It was fun. To all of the rest of you, there are LOTS of specials coming up for Kat Holmes' fans. I can't give it away yet...but you ALL need to check Kat Holmes' books on the Muse It Up Bookstore site, ESPECIALLY on December 2nd because BIG surprises are in store.

Until then, here's the direct link to KAT HOLMES' MUSE IT UP AUTHOR'S PAGE for you to browse through and check out what's what.