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Tuesday, April 9, 2019

Mamma's Moon by Jerome Mark Antil - Book Tour - Guest Post - Giveaway - Enter Daily!


Hi lovelies!  It gives me great pleasure today to host Jerome Mark Antil and his new book, “Mamma’s Moon”!  For other stops on his Goddess Fish Promotions Book Tour, please click on the banner above or any of the images in this post.

Be sure to make it to the end of this post to enter to win a $10 Amazon or Barnes and Noble Gift Card!!  Also, come back daily to interact with Jerome and to increase your chances of winning!

Thanks for stopping by!  Wishing you lots of luck in this fabulous giveaway!


Mamma's Moon
by Jerome Mark Antil

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GENRE: Literary Fiction

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BLURB:

A bond that can only happen on a dance floor happened in a cafe off Frenchman Street among four unlikely characters: a man who was about to die; his friend, an illiterate Cajun French yardman; and two of the most successful women in New Orleans.

Aging Captain Gabriel Jordan, retired, was given two months to live, three months before he met "Peck"--Boudreau Clemont Finch--a groundskeeper on the back lawn of his hospice on Bayou Carencro, Louisiana. It was at the hospice that Gabe told Peck his dream of seeing the Newport Jazz Festival before he died. They became friends, and Peck offered to help grant his wish by taking him there.

And they began their journey.

It quickly became a journey with complications and setbacks. They saved each other many times, but they were in turn saved by two extraordinary women: Sasha (Michelle Lissette), a real estate agent in New Orleans's posh Garden District, and her best friend, Lily Cup (Lily Cup Lorelei Tarleton), a criminal attorney.

Less than a year before the events in Mamma's Moon, Gabe and Peck wandered into Charlie's Blue Note, a small jazz bar in a side alley just off Frenchman Street, where the music was live and mellow and the dancing warm and sensual.

Here they encountered Sasha and Lily Cup, and amid the music, the dancing, the food, the flirting, and the cigar smoke, the four formed an unusual and lasting friendship that would see them each through a series of crises, disappointments, life-threatening situations, and moments of great joy and satisfaction.

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EXCERPT TWO:

She rolled her eyes and turned to the other chair.

“The only reason they haven’t busted down your door and you’re not behind bars is you’re a decorated veteran, and I’m your attorney, and I promised you’ll show up in the morning. Sasha warned me about you. I should have listened. You’re an ornery, stubborn old coot when you have a mind to.”

She sat down.

“I’m never ornery,” Gabe said. “But that’s enough.”

He leaned and poured coffee.

“You’re lucky we have Magistrate Judge Fontenot tomorrow. I heard her dad was killed in Vietnam. She’s been pretty fair to me in the past. A new school gal, tough on the letter of the law, but she’ll listen to reason if it solves a case. She hates red tape with a passion, and seldom lets the DA or the defense use the system for delays. She doesn’t get hung up on tradition.”

“Have you heard?” Gabe said. “Our Sasha has asked me to give her away. How about them apples?”

“Gabe, like she’s been my best friend since kindergarten, she tells me everything,” Lily Cup said. “It’s sweet.”

“I’m thinking Peck and I might throw a party,” Gabe said. “Something she’ll remember—commemorate their engagement Mardi Gras style. Lots of pictures; close friends.”

“Will you print invitations, like a formal do?” Lily Cup asked.

“But of course,” Gabe said. “Maybe costumes?”

“It’s party time! She would flip over a costume party, all our friends would,” Lily Cup said. “You and Peck celebrating her engagement will mean a lot to her.”

“Should we do it here or over at Charlie’s Blue Note with the live jazz?”

“Gabe, you’ve got one picture on the mantle, two chairs, and a cardboard box in the living room. This isn’t exactly what I’d call a Commander’s Palace party room.”

“I was thinking a streetcar day pass in the invite if we do it here at the house,” Gabe said.

“That’s a nice idea—parking sucks on this street. When are you going to buy some furniture?”

“I’m too old to impose furniture on Peck. Peck would only feel obligated to keep it after I’m gone. I’ll let him and Millie pick out the furniture doodads, curtains, and the dishes when they play house. There’s time.”

“How’s your stomach with what happened today? Were you hurt?” Lily Cup said.

“What stomach? They removed it.”

“I meant how’ve you been since the operation?”

“I’m a hospice survivor with some time left in me, hopefully. At least enough time to plan a party.”

“You might be partying in Angola if the DA pushes this to a grand jury,” Lily Cup said.

Gabe stood, got the coffee urn again and brought it into the living room.

“Warm your coffee?”

“Do you two at least have beds?” Lily Cup asked.

“Of course we have beds,” Gabe said. “Peck thinks he’s a prince— a mattress with sheets after sleeping on a canvas cot most of his life.”

“This must be a new world for him,” Lily Cup said.

“For fifteen years he slept in an unheated shed at a wood mill,” Gabe said. “Saw blades hanging over him like Macy’s parade balloons. It took him weeks getting used to sleeping on a bed. I’d find him curled on the floor with his window wide open.”

“Peck and Millie,” Lily Cup said. “They do seem like a good fit, don’t they?”

“She’s loved the boy with a passion since the day he made the Greyhound bus stop so he could jump off just to give her the baby doll she left on her seat,” Gabe said.

“Her baby doll, Charlie. Sasha told me about the doll. Hell, I had my Teddy bear all through Harvard. I still have it,” Lily Cup said.

“Millie does love her Charlie,” Gabe said.

“Does she like the house?”

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GUEST POST:

Fierce Female Lead Characters: How to Create Strong Role Models in Books

I was born in 1941, next to the youngest of eight children. I was raised by three very strong, successful, females. My mother and two sisters, each of whom were old enough to be my mother. Growing up during WWII – most men were away at war.  I learned that women could be smart, successful, sexy, and achieve anything they wanted to.  My mother was a championship figure skater when she was 12. My one sister Mary was Phi Beta Kappa when she was 18, taught French 1 through 7 and wrote poetry her entire career – raising four boys. One sister founded AFSCME – the union for civil servant workers.

I make certain my reader understands that my female leads are incredibly intelligent, very successful because they are good at what they do – and they are human, and feminine and sexy – and very giving.  I boast their successes –

Lily Cup was 3rd in her class in Harvard – smokes cigars – and drinks rye and gets horny the night before a murder trials in New Orleans’ criminal Court.  She always wins.  She admits to having more money than good taste and relies on her best friend since they were six is Michelle Lissette to pick out her clothes for her.

Michelle owns the largest realty office in the Garden District, drives a Bentley, wears only Chanel and Prada and is quite proud of her cleavage and her contributions to charities.

A few nights a month both Michelle (who changes her name to Sasha these nights) and Lily Cup ‘slut-up’ as it were – in their Chanels strapless dresses, thigh highs and garter belts and go to Charlie’s Blue Note in an alley off Frenchman Street to drink and catch up and find men to dance jazz.

(Quote from first novel – One More Last Dance – is telling about Sasha. Peck was asking Sasha where she grew up. Several times he asked her until she told him the island she grew up on. He said he figured it was near water.  She asked him why – he said in effect, “Cuz you shore get neked a lot’.

In two books these two pillars of femininity and the community care for and help men they meet at Charlie’s and befriend. Gabe, an aging black man who ran from a hospice to hear some jazz before he dies–is the best dancer Sasha has ever danced with.  Lily Cup meets the lawn mower and fisherman, illiterate Peck – who helped Gabe leave the hospice and find their way hopefully to the Newport Jazz Festival and the ladies get him a tutor and he earns a GED, because of them.

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AUTHOR BIO:


JEROME MARK ANTIL writes in several genres. He has been called a “greatest generation’s Mark Twain,” a “write what you know Ernest Hemingway,” and “a sensitive Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.” It’s been said his work reads like a Norman Rockwell painting. Among his writing accomplishments, several titles in his The Pompey Hollow Book Club historical fiction series about growing up in the shadows of WWII have been honored. An ‘Authors and Writers’ Book of the Year Award and ‘Writer of the Year’ at Syracuse University for The Pompey Hollow Book Club novel; Hemingway, Three Angels, and Me, won SILVER in the UK as second-best novel.

Foreword’s Book of the Year Finalist for The Book of Charlie – historical fiction and The Long Stem is in the Lobby – nonfiction humor. Library Journal selected Hemingway, Three Angels and Me for best reads during Black History Month.

Before picking up the pen, Antil spent his professional career writing and marketing for the business world. In this role, he lectured at universities - Cornell, St. Edward’s, and Southern Methodist. His inspirations have been John Steinbeck, Mark Twain, and Ernest Hemingway.

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CONNECT WITH JEROME:

“Dennis Rodman doing a selfie with me.”
PC – From Jerome Mark Antil

“My muse and lover (wife) Pamela and I catch a Streetcar in the Big Easy.”
PC – From Jerome Mark Antil

Website:

Blog:

Newsletter:

Facebook:

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Goodreads Author Page:

Goodreads Book Page:

Amazon Author Page:

“A fan came to the table for autograph.”
PC – From Jerome Mark Antil

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BOOK BUY LINKS:

Amazon Paperback:

Barnes and Noble Paperback:

The Book Depository Paperback:

BAM! Books-A-Million Paperback:

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GIVEAWAY INFO:

Jerome will be awarding a $10 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.


**This post contains affiliate links and if clicked and a purchase is made, I may receive a small commission to help support this blog.  This does not cost you anything, it just helps pay for all those awesome giveaways on here.**

This contest is sponsored by a third party. Fabulous and Brunette is a registered host of Goddess Fish Promotions.  Prizes are given away by the sponsors and not Fabulous and Brunette. The featured author and Goddess Fish Promotions are solely responsible for the giveaway prize.

5 comments:

  1. Jerome ~ Good morning! It is so great to have you here! Congrats on your new book and good luck on the book tour! :) Also, fabulous guest post! I enjoyed reading it and am glad to see you picked that topic! And thanks for including the wonderful pics! It’s truly a great way for readers to get to know you better!

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  2. Who is your favorite character in the book? I hope your book is a success.

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  3. The cover is amazing and this sounds so good!

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