My Darkest Prayer by S.A. Cosby - Virtual Book Tour and Giveaway

My Darkest Prayer

by S. A. Cosby

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GENRE:   mystery/suspense

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BLURB:

Whether it's working at his cousin's funeral home or tossing around the local riff raff at his favorite bar, Nathan Waymaker is a man who knows how to handle the bodies. A former Marine and Sheriff's deputy, Nathan has built a reputation in his small Southern town as a man who can help when all other avenues have been exhausted. When a local minister with grandiose ambitions is found dead, Nathan is approached by his parishioners who feel the local police are dragging their feet with the investigation. What starts out as an easy payday soon descends into a maze of mayhem filled with wannabe gangsters, vicious crime lords, porn stars, crooked police officers and a particularly treacherous preacher and his mysterious wife. Nathan must use all his varied skills and some of his wit to navigate the murky waters of small town corruption even as dark secrets of his own threaten to come to the surface.

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EXCERPT

I handle the bodies.

That's what I say when people ask me what I do for a living. I find that gets one of two responses. They drift away to the other side of the room and give me a sideways glance the rest of the night or they let out a nervous laugh and move the conversation in another, less macabre direction. I could always say I work at a funeral home, but where's the fun in that?

Every once in a while when I was in the Corps, someone would see me at Starbucks that modern mecca Wal-Mart in my utility uniform. Sometimes they’d catch me in my dress blues after a military ball just trying to grab something before heading back to the base. They would  walk up to me and say, “Thank you for your service.” I'd mumble something like “No, thank you for your support” or some other pithy rejoinder, and they would wander away with a nice satisfied look on their faces. Sometimes what I wanted to say was, “I took care of the bodies. The bodies with the legs blown off or the hands shredded. The bodies full of ball bearings and nails and whatever some kid could find to build his IED. I loaded the bodies up and dragged them back to the base, then went back out on another patrol and prayed to a God that seemed to be only half-listening that today wasn't the day that someone would have to take care of my body.”

But I don't think that would have given them the same warm and fuzzy feeling.

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I asked the author Where are five places you might visit for inspiration for your books? See what he said:

SAC: I think the top five places I would love to visit would be in no particular order.

1. The city of New Orleans. I have never had the opportunity to travel to New Orleans but I would love to experience the history and architecture of the Crescent City.

2.  I want to go to the Great Pyramids in Egypt. Not so much for a direct inspiration for my specific type of writing but as  an inspiration to me as a man of African descent . To stand in front of those wonders of the world and realize that my ancestors built this with nothing but ropes and water and stone. It would be a moment I would never forget.

3. As inspiration for my current work in progress I went to see several drag races. The need for speed. The symbiotic relationship between a driver and his or her car. The thrill of pushing the envelope helped me get inside the head of my main character.

4.Redwood National Forest. Again this wouldn’t be a direct inspiration for a new story or book. More accurately this would be a motivation for my writing in general. It would be a chance ot commune with a part of myself that is often hidden by the trapping of modern life.

5. I enjoy going ot roadside bars. I grew up behind one and this had a lasting and profound impact on my work. The roadside bar is where the regular everyday person in rural America goes to find a bit of peace and jocularity in an otherwise dreary world. I like to sit at the bar sipping on a whiskey and listen to people talk. I don’t care about what they are talking about I am just listening to the cadence. the rhythm. It helps me find the notes for my dialog. It’s the best creative writing class i’ve ever taken.

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

S.A. Cosby is a writer whose work has been published in numerous magazine and anthologies. His story "Slant-Six" received an honorable mention in Best Mystery Stories of 2016. His life experiences include being a retail manager, a bouncer, a forklift driver, a landscaper, a roadie, a construction worker, a mortuary attendant, and he once wore a cow suit when he worked for Chik Fil-A. He majored in English at Christopher Newport University and now lives in Gloucester, Virginia.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blacklionking73/

Twitter: @blacklionking73

Amazon: 

 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1940758866/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_taft_p1_i0

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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION :

S. A. Cosby will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway