Christmas Special -- Paranormal Mystery

Christmas Special

 http://www.amazon.com/Footprints-Dancer-Detective-Mystery-ebook/dp/B009PFNI3M/ref=la_B002BM2VJ8_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1355770291&sr=1-5#reader_B009PFNI3M

Not to be outdone by the big box stores, Bob Avey has put together an amazing Christmas deal.

For two days, Footprints of a Dancer, the latest book in the Detective Elliot series will be Free for a Kindle download. If you do not have a Kindle, you can download a Free Kindle app from Amazon for your pc, smart phone, tablet, or ipad.

What are the days?

Sunday, December 23, and Monday, December 24.

Here's what people are saying about Footprints of a Dancer:

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars Liked it very much!! November 13, 2012
By shopper2010
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
I have read all the Detective Elliot mysteries because I really like the characters.

NOTE: If you love intense murder mysteries that are fast paced this series might not be for you. There is also a lot of relationship stuff going on as well. This particular book in the series had a little bit more of a paranormal aspect to it but at the same time some Christian stuff as well. It was not overboard but it was there.

Kenny Elliot is an "odd" character but very likeable. The author shows glimpses of why Kenny is like he is. The books are a little slow overall but are interesting and keep your attention. I would probably not read them if I was on a serious intense murder mystery kick though. There are times though when I like this style but they have to have interesting characters & an interesting mystery as well. Good thing this series has both those elements.

I look forward to reading more in the series.

5.0 out of 5 stars Another good one November 27, 2012
By Claudette
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
Det Elliot definetly grows on you. Quite a guy and one heck of a Det. He seems to see things other don't.

This one almost gets him killed yet he manages to solve the darned thing.

His past always seems to find him. Heck even the good parts of his past are always there.

Loads of dead bodies and some really unbalanced folks in this one. Of course Kenny figures it out and manages to beat the odds one more time.

Good read and I highly recommend this one to anyone who likes the offbeat and creepy. Loads of same in this book. Good well written and solid. Another good one by Avery.
5.0 out of 5 stars Great addition to the series November 1, 2012

Here is the link:

http://www.amazon.com/Footprints-Dancer-Detective-Mystery-ebook/dp/B009PFNI3M/ref=la_B002BM2VJ8_1_5_title_0_main?ie=UTF8&qid=1353350777&sr=1-5

Amazing Black Friday Deal

An Amazing Black Friday Deal

Not to be outdone by the big box stores, Bob Avey has put together an early Black Friday deal.

For two days, Footprints of a Dancer, the latest book in the Detective Elliot series will be Free, O, Zip, No cost to you for a Kindle download. If you do not have a Kindle, you can download a Free Kindle app from Amazon.  

What are the days?

Tuesday, November 20, and Wednesday, November 21.

Would you like to unwind before Thanksgiving with a good mystery? Or perhaps escape with a good book from a hectic day with relatives? Bob would love to help you with that. And to encourage you to try his Free Kindle download of Footprints of a Dancer, for those two days he’ll be offering a rock-solid money back guarantee. If for any reason the Free, Kindle download does not match your expectations, Bob will cheerfully refund your Free purchase.

Here is the link:

http://www.amazon.com/Footprints-Dancer-Detective-Mystery-ebook/dp/B009PFNI3M/ref=la_B002BM2VJ8_1_5_title_0_main?ie=UTF8&qid=1353350777&sr=1-5

Abraham of the Bible, Article IV

Abraham, Article IV

Birth to age Forty Eight

Can you imagine living in a cave?

Being dark, cold, and damp, the caves I’ve visited would pass for last-ditch efforts to avoid the elements, but not as good places in which to take up habitation. However, Abram was hidden in a cave at birth, and he and his mother, Amathlai, lived there for ten years.

The caves around Mesopotamia were probably warmer and drier than those of my experience, but living there would not have been the life of luxury. And yet, even in such an environment, Abram grew in wisdom, which included a concept of God. At the age of three, he began to come out of the cave and experience the outside world. Abram’s mother and father were idol worshipers and followers of false gods, but upon seeing the sun for the first time, Abram thought it was God. Later, when the sun set and the moon rose in the sky, he wondered if the moon were God. However, as Abram continued to watch the cycles of night and day, he decided that there must be one true God who ruled over the sun, the moon, and the rest of the world; a sophisticated concept for someone so young and in the midst of contrary influences.

Amathlai must have understood on some level the importance of her son’s ancestry. It doesn’t seem feasible, under the circumstances, that the boy would have had contact with anyone other than his mother and Terah, his father. It’s doubtful that Terah would have further jeopardized his position in the kingdom of Nimrod by encouraging his son to explore his heritage. The evidence indicates Abram’s mother told him about the Flood, and explained to him his relation to Noah.

Driven in all likelihood by the information his mother had given him, Abram left the cave at the age of ten and journeyed to the area where Noah, and Noah’s son Shem, lived in the mountainous region of Ararat. At the time, Noah was 892, and Shem was 390 years old. Welcomed by his relatives, Abram lived with Noah for thirty nine years, learning about God and the Flood from the men who built the Ark.

If you enjoyed this article, or if you would like to add something, please leave a comment.

Thanks

Special Promotion -- Footprints of a Dancer

Footprints of a Dancer is now available

The third book in the Detective Elliot series, Footprints of a Dancer is quite possibly the best Elliot novel yet. With its familiar characters and narrative taking the reader into unfamiliar territory, the book comfortably slips out of the envelope, tiptoeing into a world where the ordinary becomes extraordinary, normal blurs with the paranormal, and snippets of Oklahoma history find their way into the present. Footprints promises to be a read you won’t soon forget.

In celebration of the novels release, Deadly Niche Press has enacted a special offer. For a limited time, the price of the first two books, Twisted Perception and Beneath a Buried House, will be lowered to 99 cents for Kindle and Nook downloads. With Footprints debuting at $2.99, all three books can be yours for less than $5.00, less than a trip to a popular coffee shop. Just follow the links below:

http://www.amazon.com/Footprints-Dancer-Detective-Mystery-ebook/dp/B009PFNI3M/ref=la_B002BM2VJ8_1_4_title_0_main?ie=UTF8&qid=1350251497&sr=1-4

http://www.amazon.com/Beneath-Buried-House-Detective-ebook/dp/B003SE7J6I/ref=la_B002BM2VJ8_1_2_title_1_kin?ie=UTF8&qid=1350251497&sr=1-2

http://www.amazon.com/Twisted-Perception-Detective-Mystery-ebook/dp/B004C43H32/ref=la_B002BM2VJ8_1_1_title_1_kin?ie=UTF8&qid=1350251497&sr=1-1

Footprints of a Dancer - a paranormal mystery

Not your typical mystery.

Footprints of a Dancer, the third book in the Detective Elliot series was released for publication October 11, 2012. That's 10/11/12, a special date for a special book. The book is now available for the kindle version. The paperback and other e-book versions, such as Nook will follow soon.

To celebrate the book's launch, I will be posting some specials very soon, but I just wanted to let everyone know. I've posted the the link below. Please let me know what you think. If you would be interested in getting a free copy just for posting a review on Amazon, please let me know.

Here's a description of the book:

Most of us come into this world with an inborn need for religion, a higher power to believe in. However, when fear and misunderstanding are the driving forces behind that desire, the result is rarely a good thing.

Eight years ago, Laura Bradford mysteriously disappeared off campus, causing quite a disturbance in the lives of Kenny Elliot and Gerald Reynolds, a journalism student with a fascination for Mesoamerican artifacts. When Gerald calls unexpectedly to tell Elliot he's recently seen Laura then sets up a meeting only to be a no-show, Elliot tracks him down to get some answers. Instead he finds his old friend murdered in ritualistic fashion.

Elliot takes a leave of absence from his job as a Tulsa police detective and launches an unofficial investigation, which leads him into the world of an Aztec diety with an appetite for blood.

http://www.amazon.com/Footprints-Dancer-Detective-Mystery-ebook/dp/B009PFNI3M/ref=la_B002BM2VJ8_1_4_title_0_main?ie=UTF8&qid=1350064071&sr=1-4

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Book Review -- 40 Days to a Joy-Filled Life

With 40 Days to a Joy-Filled Life, author, Tommy Newberry draws on the principles set forth in the Bible verse Philippians 4:8. The book builds on the prevalent themes of Mr. Newberry’s first book, The 4:8 Principle – the power of positive thinking –; however, 40 Days puts forth a more intensified, hands-on approach.

40 Days to a Joy-Filled Life is well worth the reading, make that studying. Mr. Newberry’s knowledge of human nature and his down-to-earth handling of the subject, lends the book to practical application for both the secular and Christian markets. I would recommend the book to anyone who has reached a level of maturity, which allows them to understand the subject matter.

For purposes of this review, the publisher, Tyndale House supplied me with a copy of the book.

–        Bob Avey, author of Beneath a Buried House

Abraham of the Bible -- III

Who Was Abraham

Article III

Love is a powerful thing, and there is no earthly love stronger than that of a parent for their child.

Even though Abram’s father, Terah, had sworn his life and allegiance to King Nimrod, he formulated a plan to protect his newborn son, Abram, from the king. Nimrod, the powerful ruler of Babylon was the son of Kush, who was the son of Ham. Ham’s rebellion against God and his disrespect for his father, Noah, landed him in the position of being the least favored of Noah’s sons. Because of this, Nimrod suspected that his power-grab and declaration of kingship might one day be threatened by a descendant of Shem, one of Noah’s other sons. Whether or not Shem was the firstborn is debatable. It appears, however, that he was the favored son.

Nimrod’s priests warned him of the possibility of such an heir arriving on the scene, their prophecies precipitated, most likely, by their knowledge of Abram’s father, Terah, being a descendant of Shem. Should Terah have a son, his firstborn might well turn out to be such a threat. When Nimrod’s astrologers noticed a new and bright star rising in the east, they took that as a sign that a descendant of Shem had indeed been born. 

In response to his priest’s warnings, Nimrod decided that all newborn boys would have to be put to death. 

With a bit of bad timing, after years of trying, Terah, at the age of seventy, had recently become a potential father. His wife, Amathlai, was pregnant and about to give birth, a fact that she and Terah had managed to hide from the king. When Amathlai gave birth to Abram, Terah secreted his new son out of town and hid him in a cave. As it turned out, one of Terah’s servants also gave birth to a boy that night. Grasping the dark opportunity, Terah took the servant child and when the king’s messengers arrived, he passed the baby off as his own and turned the boy over to the king.

Abram lived in the cave until he was ten years old. What happened after that?

More to come in the next post.

As always, feel free to comment or offer additional information.

                                                           Abraham as a young adult

Abraham II -- Who was King Nimrod

Abraham Article II

Who exactly was Nimrod?

When the flood waters receded to an acceptable level, Noah and his wife, Emzara disembarked from the Ark along with their sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and their respective wives.

The descendants of Shem became the Shemites, or Semites (Semitic line of descent); the descendants of Japheth,  the Indo-European nations, also known as the Gentiles; and the descendants of Ham, the Canaanites, Babylonians, Egyptians, and the Philistines. 

Since we’re exploring Nimrod, it should be noted that the story of Ham, observing and taking delight in seeing his father, Noah, naked, is a metaphor for Ham’s rebellion against God. In light of this, it is understandable that Ham’s son, Cush, and his grandson, Nimrod, might also be rebellious against God. Nimrod proved to be that and more. In fact, it might be said that it became his life’s work, his passion to persuade people away from God. His reputation of being a mighty hunter might come more from his capturing of men than from hunting down wild game. 

As Nimrod’s influence grew, he established the Cities of Erech, Nineveh, Babel, and Akkad among others, which would become the land of Shinar, or Sumer, the beginning of the kingdom of Babylonia. 

It has been suggested that Nimrod and Ninus (In Greek mythology, King of Assyria and founder of the city of Nineveh) was the same person. Even more interesting, theories have emerged, which indicate that Nimrod might have actually been Gilgamesh, the hero of a Babylonian epic, inscribed on ancient clay tablets, that parallels the Biblical story of Noah and the flood. According to the tablets, Gilgamesh was from Erech, a city attributed to Nimrod. Genesis 10:8-11, states that Nimrod established a kingdom. Since the Babylonian kingdom seems to be one of the earliest, if not the first kingdom on earth, it stands to reason that such an event would be recorded in extra-Biblical literature. And it was. Not only was the epic of Gilgamesh recorded on Sumerian tablets, but similar tales are found among the Assyrian and Hittite cultures as well. 

Scholars and translators of the cuneiform tablets that contain the Gilgamesh Epic agree that the text was composed around 2000 BC while the material written about, the numerous episodes of adventure, relate to a much earlier time period, probably not long after the flood. There are many similarities between Nimrod and Gilgamesh. Both were known as great builders and might warriors, they were from the same area, and arguably lived around the same time period. Nimrod seemed to be obsessed with the occurrence of a second flood. He built the tower of Babel, which was most likely a Mesopotamian Ziggurat, a pyramid shaped structure with staircases and ramps that led to a shrine on top, with the hope of constructing it high enough to escape the flood waters.

Nimrod was also obsessed with something else. Being a descendant of Ham, he feared that a descendant of Shem would someday show up and challenge his authority. That descendant would be Abram, later known as Abraham. I’ll cover more of this in the next post.

Pictured below is an example of clay tablet containing Gilgamesh Epic

Amazon Promo

I have some news I want to share with my readers. Amazon featured my book, Beneath a Buried House
in a recent Email campaign. I know, I’m easily impressed, but it put a smile on my face.


Beneath a Buried House
Things aren’t always what they seem. Tulsa Police Detective, Kenny Elliot’s quest to uncover
the truth behind the death of a transient makes him a target – from whom or what he isn’t
sure. When he brushes the dirt from the surface of an apparent John Doe overdose case, he
finds a labyrinth of misdirection and deception beneath, and a trail, which leads him to an
encounter with an aberration in human nature, the likes of which he’s not prepared to deal
with.

Drawing on his strength of character, and sense of right and wrong, he wrestles with deep
personal feelings to solve the case.

Check out the ebook on Amazon here!

What About Abraham?

Not only did Abram’s (aka Avram) father, Terah worship idols, he was the Chief Minister of King Nimrod, with control of the armies, and the High Priest of the temple of UR, a temple dedicated to the worship of the moon god, Nanna.

Before Abram became Abraham, he lived an eventful ninety -nine years in and around the land of Sumer, (aka Shinar) a collection of city-states -- which included, among others, Kish, Babel (Babylon), Mari, UR, Erech, Akkad,  and Caleh – located around the lower Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in what is now Southern Iraq.

The exact date being difficult to determine, scholars agree that Abram’s birth occurred somewhere between 2100 BC and 1800BC, which would place it in the middle of the Bronze Age period for that particular area. The eras, defined by types of metal being used, are not representative of fixed dates. Populations around the world discovered the knowledge for making different metals at different times. For example, archaeological evidence supports the emergence of the Bronze Age in Sumer as occurring around 3000 to 4000 BC. 

Going back even further, the introduction of farming, which allowed people to produce food instead of having to hunt and gather, ushered in a monumental step-forward in human development. The farming concept, a decisive factor in enabling people to settle in permanent villages, emerged in the Sumer area between 11000 to 9000 BC. In contrast, the change from hunter-gatherer to farming occurred in Europe around 5000 BC. As would be expected, the onset of the Bronze Age emerged in Sumer perhaps thousands of years before the era reached Europe.

The significance of this is that Abram was born into the most advanced civilization of its time. His father was the High Priest of the temple of Ur and Chief Minister beneath King Nimrod. Far from being a wandering nomad, Abram was of noble birth into a high-class family.  

However, his noble lineage would prove not to be his comfort, but rather his source of conflict. Abram was the tenth generation removed from Noah, and a direct descendant of Noah’s son, Shem, the father of all Semitic people. In contrast, Nimrod was a descendant of Ham, the lowest and least important of Noah’s sons, a son that was even cursed by Noah. Nimrod had feared that one day a descendant of Shem would appear to threaten his position. He’d grown to trust Abram’s father, Terah, who’d long ago became his servant and follower. To guard against the appearance of a possible rival, Nimrod ordered his stargazers and astrologers to watch the sky for any indication that such a thing might happen.

But who exactly was Nimrod? 

In the next post, we’ll explore that question.

As always, comments are welcome.

Map of area where Abraham lived

  

Grandpa Luke and the 1/2 Cent Trees

We’re all guilty of falling into self- pity on occasion, believing we’ve worked hard all our lives, but don’t have enough to show for it. Allow me to share a story, which might help to put things into perspective.

As a child visiting my grandfather, who lived in Arkansas, I once chanced upon a conversation he was having with an old friend who’d dropped by. Grandpa Luke didn’t talk much to us kids. He loved us. We could tell by his gentle ways. But his words were few. He’d sit in an old wooden chair, its cane bottom long since rotted and replaced with strips of rubber he’d cut from an old inner tube – nothing went to waste around grandpa’s house – and smoke his pipe, his eyes as distant as Pluto, his mind contemplating concepts far beyond our reach.

The visitor talked of the old days when he and grandpa worked together. Their job was to go into a valley, chop down a tree, clear it of its branches and foliage, and drag it back up the hill. For each completed log, they received ½ cent. 

I don’t know how many finished trees a team could successfully bring to the top in a day, but my guess would be not that many. Even if you proved to be a human dynamo who could register ten trees, we’re still only talking five cents, and that would have to be shared with your partner. It’s easy to imagine why grandpa might be reluctant to drive into town and spend that nickel on an ice cream cone.

It wasn’t just luxuries our ancestors did without, but even simple pleasures that we hardly give a second thought to these days.

There’s more to the story. Later, grandpa walked the visitor to the dirt road, which ran past grandpa’s property. I couldn’t tell what was going on, but I’m pretty sure grandpa pulled out his wallet and gave the visitor some money. When grandpa came back, he again sat in his chair and resumed puffing on his pipe. Then he did something unexpected. He pulled the pipe from his mouth, leaned over, and motioned for us kids to come closer. “Yeah,” he said, “it’s true I did that all right.” Jabbing the air with the stem of his pipe toward the dirt road, he continued: “But he didn’t.”  

I’ve mentioned Grandpa Luke before in another post. It’s sad that I never realized until my adult years how much that old man meant to me, and just how instrumental he was in shaping my character.