Book Spotlight + Excerpt and Giveaway: Leopard's Daughter by Stephen J. Tillman

Series: Were-Leopard Series Book 1
Genre: Crime, Fantasy
Publisher: Azure Spider Publications
Publication Date: September 15, 2018

Spine-tingling were-leopard fun

Leopardís Daughter is a markedly original crime novel with elements of the occult. In a world where vampires and werewolves exist, but are extremely rare, Bobby Sandar, his wife, Olivia, and their two oldest children are were-leopards. Bobby and Olivia are Secret Service agents. Following Bobbyís death, Olivia feels the need for a fresh start. She takes a job as a detective in the sheriffís department of a rural western county. Oliviaís first assignment is to go undercover as an exotic dancer in a nightclub run by gangsters. She has to battle mobbed-up criminals, a terrorist leader who is aware of Oliviaís history and abilities, and human traffickers to save her family and herself.

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Excerpt

Even though she was expecting the move, Olivia was still surprised by the speed and power of the vampire. She was knocked to the ground, but managed to avoid the full onslaught. She grabbed hold of the vampire, but couldn’t avoid getting bitten in the shoulder.

The vampire made no attempt to get away from Olivia’s grasp. She swallowed, moved her head toward Olivia neck, and suddenly convulsed, retching. She sat up and said, “Somethin’ the matter with you blood, Colleen. You sick or something? Looks like…”

Whatever Cannery had been about to say was cut off when a spotted leopard landed on her back, causing her to fall onto her abdomen. She immediately started to rise, but the leopard seized the back of her neck and bit down hard, crushing two of the cervical vertebrae. The vampire’s arms flopped uselessly. But then the spinal column started to heal itself almost instantly. Before Cannery could regain control of her limbs, a black leopard landed on her back and began raking it with razor-sharp claws. Unfortunately, the black leopard bumped into the spotted leopard. He lost his grip on the vampire’s neck. Cannery kicked the black leopard with her legs, but couldn’t get the shredding claws away. However, the wounds started to close almost as soon as they were made.

Getting to her hands and knees, the vampire was able to buck Tammy’s leopard off, just as the spotted leopard again landed on her back. She reached over her head, grasped Tyler’s leopard by the neck, and heaved him away.

Cannery jumped to her feet and started to run. She took two steps and tripped. Olivia held onto the vampire by her left ankle. Olivia tightened her grip as much as she could. She knew that if the vampire was able to escape, they had little chance of finding her again.

Cannery rolled over and kicked Olivia in the head with her right foot. Olivia’s grip loosened. Cannery once more started to get to her feet. Before she could accomplish that, however, both leopards were on her once again.

This time Tyler’s leopard grasped the vampire by the throat and tried to use his front and back claws to fend off her flailing arms. With Cannery lying on her back, Tammy’s leopard raked her body, digging as deeply as possible over the chest. The vampire kicked the black leopard away. It crashed into a tree. Cannery started to get to her feet once more while trying to gouge the eyes of the spotted leopard, which was still hanging from her throat.

Moving quickly, Olivia was able to knock the vampire onto her back and push a stake into a wound before it could close completely. Cannery tried to kick Olivia away, but Tammy’s leopard returned, grasped one ankle in her jaws, and pulled the leg straight. A stake was sticking out of the vampire’s body. Avoiding the kicks from the other leg, Olivia used all of her considerable strength and thrust the stake into the heart. An anguished cry split the air as the vampire exploded into a pile of foul-smelling dust.

Both leopards changed. Tyler and Tammy lay there, naked, panting heavily. After several minutes, Tyler got to his feet. He rotated his neck, and said, “I thought she was going to pull my head right off my body. I’m lucky she couldn’t get her thumbs in my eyes.” He spat out dust, and added, “Ugh! Does that taste terrible, or what?”

Book Tour Schedule

November 28 - December 11, 2018

Visit each tour stop daily and discover more features, excerpts, reviews, interviews, fun facts and more! To check the latest tour schedule, visit the Leopard's Daughter Book Page at Book Unleashed.

About Stephen J. Tillman

Stephen Tillman is an Emeritus Professor of Mathematics at Wilkes University, where he taught for forty-two years, and holds a Ph.D. in Mathematics from Brown University. As most scholars of mathematics, Stephen has always dreamed of writing a novel. Although he started writing fiction relatively late in life, he is still younger than the folk artist Grandma Moses when she began her artistic career. Stephen is an avid reader of mysteries and science fiction and has published short stories in both genres.

Social media links: Facebook

Giveaway

WIN FREE COPY OF LEOPARD'S DAUGHTER

Prizes up for grabs:

Free Copy of Leopard's Daughter

Contest runs from November 16 - December 11, 2018.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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In partnership with

Book Unleashed Blog Tours

New Release + Giveaway: Leopard's Daughter by Stephen J. Tillman

Series: Were-Leopard Series Book 1
Genre: Crime, Fantasy
Publisher: Azure Spider Publications
Publication Date: September 15, 2018

Spine-tingling were-leopard fun

Leopard’s Daughter is a markedly original crime novel with elements of the occult. In a world where vampires and werewolves exist, but are extremely rare, Bobby Sandar, his wife, Olivia, and their two oldest children are were-leopards. Bobby and Olivia are Secret Service agents. Following Bobby’s death, Olivia feels the need for a fresh start. She takes a job as a detective in the sheriff’s department of a rural western county. Olivia’s first assignment is to go undercover as an exotic dancer in a nightclub run by gangsters. She has to battle mobbed-up criminals, a terrorist leader who is aware of Olivia’s history and abilities, and human traffickers to save her family and herself.

Add to Goodreads

Purchase Links

Amazon (Kindle) | Amazon (Print) | Barnes & Noble

Excerpt

“That’ll just give them one more hostage,” Kardmelli protested.

“I can be very persuasive,” Olivia said with a feral grin.

Kardmelli stepped back and shivered. The hairs on his arms and legs stood straight up. The pulse on his neck was beating a mile a minute. Nickford was standing hunched over with his eyes wide open and his lower jaw hanging down.

I scared the crap out of both of them, Olivia thought. Nickford looks as if he’s about to pee his pants.

Kardmelli started to speak, but then had to clear his throat. “We’ll do whatever you want,” he said.

“You are ready to do what we asked?” an accented voice asked when Kardmelli buzzed the galley with the intercom.

“We have a woman who wants to speak with you.”

“You know what we want. We will not talk to anyone else, especially a woman!”

“Please just let her in to talk to you. She won’t be armed. What can another five minutes matter?”

There was a brief pause, and the voice said, “She wants to come in here? We will allow that, but five minutes is all she will get until time starts again.”

“You must assure me you’ll allow her to leave if you cannot come to an agreement,” Kardmelli said in mild attempt to remove suspicion of a trap.

“Of course, of course,” the voice said. Olivia knew he was lying. He wouldn’t want to pass up the opportunity to get one more hostage.

***

Olivia entered the galley, now very crowded with eight people in it. The door was slammed shut behind her by a man holding a gun. The captain was lying on the floor, clearly dead, with his throat slashed. So much for their promise to release him. Two of the attendants were crying, being watched over by a second man, standing to the side, wielding a knife. The third attendant, more defiant, was being held by a third terrorist who had one arm wrapped around her body and a knife to her neck. He relaxed slightly when he saw how small the new hostage was.

Olivia quickly assessed the situation, and decided she could probably handle it without changing and all the crap that would ensue if a leopard were to suddenly appear, apparently out of nowhere. She took two steps toward the man holding the attendant. He looked her over. An evil grin came to his face.

Moving so fast she was a blur, Olivia grasped the arm holding the knife, twisting it and breaking the wrist, grabbed the knife as it fell, and plunged it into the man’s heart. She shoved the body toward the man with the gun, and leaped toward the third man, who was too stunned to react immediately. She took hold of his head using both hands and twisted violently, snapping his spinal column. She caught his knife before it hit the floor and threw it at the terrorist with the gun, now entangled with his dead companion.

He ducked away from the flying knife. That gave Olivia time to move forward, grab his gun, and yank it out of his hand, dislocating his elbow in the process. He screamed in pain. Before he could react in any other way, she broke both of his clavicles with a two-handed karate chop, keeping him alive for questioning, but rendering him helpless.

“Holy Mary Mother of God,” one of the attendants murmured. Her eyes were opened wide. Her pupils were dilated. She was taking deep breaths and her hands were shaking. Beads of sweat were on her face, even though the room was cool. “Who are you?” she croaked.

“Secret Service,” Olivia replied as she opened the galley door.

Book Tour Schedule

November 28 - December 11, 2018

Visit each tour stop daily and discover more features, excerpts, reviews, interviews, fun facts and more! To check the latest tour schedule, visit the Leopard's Daughter Book Page at Book Unleashed.

About Stephen J. Tillman

Stephen Tillman is an Emeritus Professor of Mathematics at Wilkes University, where he taught for forty-two years, and holds a Ph.D. in Mathematics from Brown University. As most scholars of mathematics, Stephen has always dreamed of writing a novel. Although he started writing fiction relatively late in life, he is still younger than the folk artist Grandma Moses when she began her artistic career. Stephen is an avid reader of mysteries and science fiction and has published short stories in both genres.

Social media links: Facebook

Giveaway

WIN FREE COPY OF LEOPARD'S DAUGHTER

Prizes up for grabs:

Free Copy of Leopard's Daughter

Contest runs from November 16 - December 11, 2018.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

---

In partnership with

Book Unleashed Blog Tours