Showing posts with label Hashtag Press. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hashtag Press. Show all posts

Friday, November 10, 2017

Book Spotlight ~ The Waiting Gate by J Merrill Forrest


The Waiting Gate
J Merrill Forrest

Publisher: Hashtag Press

Publication date: October 27, 2017

ISBN: 978-0-9957806-6-8

About the Book:

Alex Kelburn is a psychic medium who knows full well where we go when we die for he has been there. But what about those in the grip of severe dementia whose minds have disconnected? Where, indeed, do they go? He knows he must find the answer. Not only for Erin, the caring, compassionate nurse who has asked it, but also for his own wife, and for friends Kallie and Trish, and the thousands of others who are grieving and bewildered because they have loved ones who have gradually disappeared until only their physical selves remain.

Working on the case of an unidentified little girl whose remains have been discovered in a shallow grave, he is gradually led to a new and wonderful understanding of just what is on the Other Side …

Purchase Links:

Hashtag Press     Amazon UK     Amazon




Read the Teaser:

“Where do you think they go, the patients who no longer seem to be aware of themselves or their surroundings? I mean, take Simon. One moment he’s angry and shouting, the next it’s as if he’s simply left his body behind and gone somewhere. Some of the patients are like that all the time, never having lucid moments at all, and I’ve always wondered … where do they go?”

Meet the Author:

J Merrill Forrest’s deep interest in the supernatural is a major theme in her writing. For more than thirty years Jane has researched her subject, visiting psychics, mediums, Spiritualist churches and séances, always keeping an open and questioning mind, hunting down evidence.

At age 40, J Merrill Forrest followed her dream of going to university and gained a BA (Hons) in English Literature, and returned to academia ten years later to gain her MA in Creative Writing. It was during this time she began to work on her novel ‘Flight of the Kingfisher’, published in 2015, which deals with the emotive and polarising subject of life after death and introduced psychic medium Alex Kelburn. He returns in her latest novel, ‘The Waiting Gate’, the main theme of which is dementia and what happens to those who ‘disappear’ as the disease takes hold.

J Merrill Forrest is also the author of 'Orders from Above' published in 2013.



Tuesday, October 17, 2017

Modern Slavery- More Terrifying Than Fiction by Helen Matthews, Author of After Leaving the Village



Please welcome Helen Matthews to the blog today!

Modern Slavery- More Terrifying Than Fiction

Modern slavery is real. It is happening in our communities. We interact with it on a daily basis. There are more slaves in our world today than there were during the Transatlantic Slave Trade, a trade abolished in 1807, but still prevalent in our society 210 years later. It is an illicit trade and a crime, but it impacts men, women and children. Nearly 4,000 people are identified as potential victims of modern slavery in the UK each year; it is widely expected that this is just the tip of the iceberg.

‘After Leaving the Village’, a contemporary suspense thriller by Helen Matthews (to be published by Hashtag Press in October) follows the journey of Odeta, an ordinary girl from a normal village family in Albania. Odeta’s life isn’t exceptionally hard but it’s mundane so when she meets a fascinating stranger, Kreshnik, who promises her an exciting new career in London, the temptation to travel with him is overwhelming.

Once Odeta arrives in London, her life changes in ways she could never have imagined. This doesn’t mean she’s naïve. The promise of adventure, an urge to go out and explore the world rather than remain in a village repeating the pattern of life her parents’ families have lived for generations is natural. Who wouldn’t grasp the chance to escape?

Meanwhile on the same London street, journalist Kate is going about her daily life - working, raising her son, facing secrets from her past, dealing with family crises, making new friends - unaware of what is happening behind the closed doors of number thirty-eight.

“My novel is a thriller with a social conscience,” says author Helen Matthews. “All the characters, places and incidents are entirely fictional but I hope that – along with being a gripping read – my book will help to raise awareness of human trafficking in the UK.”

“After Leaving the Village is a captivating and accurate portrayal of trafficking and sexual exploitation. Slavery is not a thing of the past and this story is common – the promise of more, the prospect of adventure and escape, the frenzy of falling in love,” says Kate Garbers, Founder & Director, Unseen.

Human trafficking is a hidden crime and it is important to know the signs and report anything suspicious in your community.

Unseen, has produced a new short film, which shows some of the ways people are trafficked in the UK and who to call for advice, support or to report a crime.

To watch the full film and read more about its characters click here: http://www.unseenuk.org/modern-slavery-is-real

After Leaving the Village
Helen Matthews

Publisher: Hashtag Press

Publication date: October 12, 2017

Genre: Thriller, Suspense

ISBN: 978-0-9957806-8-2

Two women. Two villages. Different destinies.

About the Book:

Odeta’s life has shrunk to a daily round of drudgery, running her father’s grocery store in a remote Albanian village. One day a stranger from Tirana walks into the shop and promises her a new career in London.

Odeta’s life is about to change, but not in the way she expected.

Journalist Kate lives on a quiet London street and seems to have a perfect life but she worries about her son Ben, who struggles to make friends. Kate blames the internet and disconnects her family from the online world so they can get to know their neighbours.

On a visit to her home village in Wales, Kate is forced to confront a secret from her past. But greater danger lies closer to home. Perhaps Kate’s neighbours are not the friendly community they seem.


Meet the Author:

Helen Matthews is the author of debut novel ‘After Leaving the Village’, winner of the Winchester Writers’ Festival prize for opening pages of a novel. Born in Cardiff, she read English at the University of Liverpool. After travelling, she worked in international development, consultancy, human resources and pensions management but fled corporate life to pursue her dream of becoming a writer. She holds an MA in Creative Writing from Oxford Brookes University. Helen has been awarded prizes for short stories and published in the literary journal Artificium. As a freelancer, she writes content for websites and business magazines and has, in the past, been published in The Guardian and had columns broadcast on BBC radio. She is married with two grown-up children and lives in Hampshire.