“Never Trust A Stranger”, a romantic suspense novel has been released as a paperback novel! Paperbacks are priced at $9.95 from Publish America. Softcovers are still available. Coming Soon! “Never Trust A Stranger” will be available as an e-book for The Nook.
Archive for the ‘Fiction’ Category
NEVER TRUST A STRANGER IN PAPERBACK!
Tuesday, August 17th, 2010“Never Trust a Stranger” by Weslynn McCallister, writing as Jamie Cortland
Sunday, March 7th, 2010After returning from the Sleuth Fest, I discovered that I had received a contract for publication from a traditional publisher for my new suspense novel, “Never Trust a Stranger!”
The novel is about a handsome charismatic man in his late twenties with a Borderline Personality Disorder who develops an attachment to a beautiful and wealthy woman whose husband has just been reported missing in an airline crash.
When he is hired as her gardener and maintenance man, he mistakes her friendly attitude for attraction and vows to destroy anyone he believes is in his way of possessing her body, mind, and spirit.
This novel will be released in late 2010 or 2111. You will want to pre-order this one. I’ll keep you advised on its progress of publication.
I promise you, when you read “Never Trust a Stranger,” you will fine it every bit as suspenseful as “Skin Deep.”
Excerpt from SKIN DEEP by Jamie Cortland
Saturday, December 5th, 2009
James tossed and turned. In his dream, he lived a nightmare of the past. He tried to block out the scene that played on the canvas of his mind, but neither the images nor the voices would disappear.
“Go then, and good riddance.” Brakes screeched as a fire-engine red Pontiac raced over the bridge and struck Elaine. Her shrill scream cut through the early evening hours. She flew up onto the hood of the car, bounced twice, and landed hard on the pavement. Traffic on Palmento Park Road backed up for miles as she lay dying just across the street from her favorite restaurant. Blood oozed from her head and puddle on the hot asphalt.
James sat straight up in bed. Perspiration beaded on his forehead. Screams echoed in his mind, along with a vision of his wife dying just a few feet away from him. He’d had this dream on every anniversary of Elaine’s death for the past twelve years. Had he pushed her? He might have wanted to, but in his right mind, he would never have killed anyone. Even though he’d never been baptized, he’d been brought up Christian. By the time he was six years old, he knew the Ten Commandments.
Though the fatal accident had happened years ago, the day remained crystal clear in his mind. When he’d awakened that morning, he’d gone for his usual walk on the beach. It was hot and humid, unbearable so for 6:30 a.m., although this weather was not unusual for Florida. The heavy, rain-laden clouds and warm waters of the Atlantic promised that a tropical storm was brewing.
Lately, his mind had been as stormy as the weather forecast. He’d been hearing voices again, voices that drove him past the edge of sanity. When Elaine had been killed, Bobby had only been three years old. After that day, he’d raised his son alone. Perhaps Bobby had been better off without a mother, like the voices had said.
Elaine had been unfaithful to him for as long as he could remember. Steve had told he’d seen her in restaurants with men when he’d been out of town. Since Steve had been a friend of his mother’s for most of her life, he had no reason to doubt him. When he’d accused Elaine, she’d denied it. She’d wanted a divorce, full custody of their son, alimony child support and their home. He’d desperately wanted her out of the way. Maybe he had pushed her. Was this Elaine’s way of punishing him if he had? By haunting him?
WYATT’S DECK by Weslynn McCallister Book Review
Friday, November 20th, 2009Review of Wyatt’s Deck, written by Weslynn McCallister
Tombstone, the historical town of the old west, had an air of mystery about it, not only historical, but strange incidents that couldn’t seem to be accounted for. Was It foul play or something more?
Cally Sullivan, a bright young woman who had stopped in Tombstone for the night, drove into town with the threat of a storm right behind her. After checking into a small hotel, she ventured out to look at the town. As the rain began to mix with hail, Cally found shelter in Big Nose Kate’s, a local bar, as the storm intensified. With a roar like a train, the storm changed into something more, and as it touched down. Leaving a path of destruction, Cally was swept up in a rush of wind and rain that transported her somewhere she hadn’t expected. Cally awakened under the table she was under, but in another time, Tombstone, 1881. Still a bit dazed and very confused, Cally crawled out from under the table and nearly fainted into the arms of none other than famous lawman, Wyatt Earp.
After she had rested, she awakened to the sound of a familiar voice, the voice of her former friend, Sherri, who had run off with Steven, who was at the time Cally’s fiance’. It had been some time since she had seen or heard from her and there was talk that she had been missing when her car was found on the side of the road. Authorities feared it was foul play, but no body was found and neither was Steven.
It was Sherri who had to convince Cally that she was indeed in Tombstone in 1881 and that it was not a town reenactment. Sherri explained to her that she was also transported somehow back in time by some type of portal that had opened when she herself was caught in a tornado and though she had no idea if they could ever get back to the present, she told Cally that Steven, who was here too, was looking for a way to get back.
Cally had to resign to the fact that her life in the future, her brother Donnie, her job and even Drake Butler, her boss whom she had been secretly in love with since she started working with Butler Realty, were forever lost. It was the here and now that she had to learn to live in, and with Sherri’s help she would try. This woman who had betrayed her by running off with Steven was the only one who could help her now. Days passed into months and Cally was adapting to the life of the Old West as well as meeting colorful characters such as Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp.
This is a wonderful book that not only gives us romance, but a chance to let our imaginations run.
Louise Riveiro-Mitchell, Reviewer-The Romance Studio.com
To read more about “Wyatt’s Deck,” by Weslynn McCallister published by Jada Press, please go to: http://www.weslynn.com.
Available through the author’s website and most on-line bookstores.
Book Reviews for Skin Deep by Jamie Cortland
Friday, November 20th, 2009SKIN DEEP by Jamie Cortland
Reviewed by Carine Nadel who is on The Reader’s Advisory Panel of Woman’s Day magazine and has had numerous articles published both on various websites and print publications.
Level: Platinum
Carine Nadel is on The Reader’s Advisory Panel of Woman’s Day magazine and has had numerous articles and recipes published both on various websites and print publications.
Skin Deep by Jamie Cortland is billed as a romantic suspense novel-but it has much more in substance than the name alludes too.
Written under one of her pseudonyms, Weslynn McCallister has written a book that incorporates how a smart and talented woman could be taken in by a good-looking and very unbalanced alcoholic.
Evelyn Valentino, still half-way in love with her super star ex-husband gets caught up in a marriage with a man she believes, at first is a dream. Only she doesn’t see James McMann for what he is-a schizophrenic with bipolar tendencies who is also an alcoholic.
Her four-year old daughter nicknames him “Mr. Stranger Danger” at the very first encounter in the holding area of a local breakfast diner. Evelyn’s mother begs her not to go through with the impending marriage. Her father, a psychiatrist, doesn’t know exactly what it is he doesn’t like about the good-looking James, he just knows there is a huge problem.
Within weeks of the ceremony Evelyn realizes the depths of her mistake. She sends her daughter to stay with her ex-husband (who is also still in love with Evelyn.) After nearly beating her to death-James becomes a monster in her nightmares-one that she can only awake from by his death.
Skin Deep humanizes the victims of mental illness-from the patient himself to his friends and family.
Cortland/McCallister has written a well formed story of suspense. It had me rapt from chapter one, page one with the introduction of Evelyn, Chrissie-her daughter and a seemingly harmless nightmare after a new divorce-through the different experiences of her abusive second marriage and her finding her way back to the true “man of her dreams.”
SKIN DEEP is a good read for all those who like a little suspenseful romance.