Cinco De Mayo Corona style #nodui #staysafe #giveaway

I know April Showers brings May flowers is the proper statement but this month me and several author friends are going to shower you with fun tips to make the best of this Corona Virus Pandemic, crafts and or recipes plus there is a big giveaway at the end so read on and enter! This week’s guest is Lyndi Alexander. Oh and Happy Cinco De mayo! Hi Lyndi!

The good news? Cinco de Mayo is on Taco Tuesday this year!

The bad news? The only Corona we’re all celebrating is the Corona virus. Bummer.

But really, the good news that’s starting to come out as the quarantine goes on is that we, as Americans, seem to be accomplishing the goals set for us by the governments around the world, i.e., to flatten the peaks so that our overburdened health care system can manage to save their patients as new equipment and protocols filter in.

Or as one of my favorite captains put it, “We have done the impossible, and that makes us mighty.” 

Cinco de Mayo commemorates the Mexican army’s unlikely victory over the French forces of Napoleon III on May 5, 1862, at the Battle of Puebla. (It is not Mexican independence day, which is celebrated September 16.) (Or really, anything to Americans. Except a great reason to eat tacos, burritos and drink up.)

Remember about 40 years ago, back in mid-March 2020, when the powers that be declared millions would be affected and lost, both here and around the world? Even though there are still those who are inexplicably not taking proper precautions, enough of us have done so that we have also achieved an unlikely victory over an enemy with an unknown face. Surely, that deserves some celebration! 

Technologies many of us might not have used before will allow us to share the holiday together, via Zoom.us, or Google Hangouts, or Facetime. Sure, it might be hard after too many margaritas not to have a buddy to pick you up off the floor of your favorite Mexican-celebrating watering hole, but here’s the bonus: YOU’RE ALREADY HOME! No chance of a DUI, no worrying about getting lost—perhaps more cleaning up of post-festivity detritus of all kinds, but that’s not too bad. Especially if you have a big dog. Just leave it. It’ll be gone in the AM.

Sounds like a win to me. Stay home. Stay safe. This, too, will pass. Olé!

Title  The Elf Queen        

Series if applicable  The Clan Elves of the Bitterroot

Author   Lyndi Alexander

Cover designer   Terri Branson

Publisher   Dragonfly Publishing, Inc.

Genre/heat   Urban fantasy

Pages  256 pages

Blurb  At her friend’s coaxing, Jelani tries on a glass slipper left lying on the sidewalk. When she steps into the shoe, it shatters, cutting her foot. As blood trickles to the pavement and mingles with the broken glass, dozens of two-inch high creatures emerge and then scurry away into the shadows. Soon she is approached by two mysterious and handsome men claiming to be elves who need her help to rescue their queen. More revelations come, threatening to unravel the life of this sassy barista from Missoula, Montana. Jelani must learn to accept that elves are real and living in the forests of the Bitterroot Mountains.

Buy links Paperback at Amazon •Paperback at Barnes & Noble • Paperback at Lulu • Hardback at Barnes & Noble • Hardback at Lulu • eBook at Amazon Kindle • eBook at Apple • eBook at Barnes & Noble • eBook at Kobo • eBook at Smashwords

Excerpt/heat rating:

 As she reached Broadway, a worn blue bicycle pulled up next to her, horn screeching over its rider’s distinctive squeal. “Where is your car, woman?”

     Jelani eyed her best friend, Iris Pallaton, whose blonde hair swirled above the bright cloud of a magenta blouse. “Richard had it towed.”

     “Rat!”

     “Tell me about it. I’m late.” Jelani headed off again.

     Iris pedaled along the curb beside her. “You should call his supervisor and complain.”

     “And what? Humiliate myself because he’s a jerk? Screw him!”

     “Maybe you should.” Iris laughed. “Then he’d be too awed to bother you again.”

     Jelani glared as they crossed the street. “Funny.”

     On the far side, she caught the glint of glass in the middle of the sidewalk. “What idiot would drop a bottle when there’s a trash can right there?” she grumbled. “I’ll get it. First karma points of the day.”

     Iris climbed off the bike and put down the kickstand. “What is that?” She bent down near the object. “Oh, sweet Gaia! It’s a glass slipper!”

     No kidding. It really appeared to be a shoe made out of glass. A large one.

     “Who would have left this here?” Jelani picked it up, looking around for a prankster camera team. Something kept her from tossing the shoe.

     “Try it on,” Iris whispered. “It would get Richard Snyder off your mind.”

     “Richard is not on my mind. He’s on my crap list.”

     “Oooh. Sorry.” Iris ran her finger over the shoe. “You’re chicken anyway.”

     “Don’t even go there.”

     “Chicken. Bawk-bawk.” Iris giggled.

     “Fine! If it means I can get to work.” Reaching down with her right hand, she unzipped her boot and kicked it off. “Ready? You want a picture?”

     Iris dug for her cellphone and raised it, ready to take a shot. “Just in case your prince shows up right then.”

     “I don’t need a prince,” Jelani complained. “I don’t need a man. I need a new life.”

     Setting the shoe on the ground, Jelani slipped her foot in it and gently stepped down, not sure to what expect.

     The slipper shattered, slicing into the sole of her foot.

     Nauseous, Jelani screamed and could only watch in disbelief as tiny men sprang from the blood trickling under the broken shoe. She lost track of how many.

     With the biggest maybe two inches high, the men scattered into the shadows around the nearest building and disappeared.

      She lifted her foot, shaking off the blood, and examined her sole to see if glass remained buried in her skin.

     “Did you see that?” Iris gasped, nearly breathless. She grabbed at the wall, eyes closed for a moment.

     Jelani felt faint, too, suddenly washed out. “I don’t know.”

     There were no glass fragments in her foot or anywhere. The shoe had vanished. The only trace of the whole incident was dark blood, slowly drying in the sun on the sidewalk. As she watched, the cuts in her foot healed.

     Iris knelt down to peer at Jelani’s foot. “There were little people. Naked little people. They ran away. I swear they did.”

     “Did you get pictures?”

     “I almost forgot!” Iris got up and activated the screen on her cell phone, pressed the arrow. Jelani leaned close to watch the whole thing replay in living color. “Oh. Bless. My. God,” Iris said, in her shock reverting to the male deity.

     Jelani nodded. “And the horse He rode in on.”

Bio

Lyndi Alexander always dreamed of faraway worlds and interesting alien contacts. She lives as a post-modern hippie in Asheville, North Carolina, a single mother of her last child of seven, a daughter on the autism spectrum, finding that every day feels a lot like first contact with a new species.

Stalker Links

Website  https://lyndialexander.wordpress.com

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/lyndialexander13/

Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13490585-triad

Amazon Author Page https://www.amazon.com/Lyndi-Alexander/e/B005GDYPU2?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1554826986&sr=8-1

Coming soon:  Also set in the mountains of Montana, a new release by Lyndi’s alter ego, Alana Lorens:

Now for the Giveaway! Lyndi is giving away an ebook copy of the Elfqueen to one lucky winner. There are also 2 grand prize packages and lots of individual giveaways so many chances to win!

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