The Warrior's Progeny by Jeny Heckman 💕 Behind the Scenes, Book Tour & Gift Card Giveaway 💕 (Paranormal Romance)

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Colton Stone is a newly traded tight end whose reputation is as battered as his football helmet. When he receives a vacation invitation from his new teammates, he accepts. There he collides with Dr. Lillian Morgan, a pediatric cardiovascular surgeon, and doesn't know what to think.

A widow with two children, Lilly travels to Kauai to attend the wedding of a friend and witness the union she lost three years prior. When she meets Colt, she struggles between letting go of her perfect past for an uncertain future.

Strange events begin to occur, out of the realm of normal consciousness. Black energy touches their world and the couple become pawns of the immortal Greek gods. Is the love between them real, or part of a larger prophecy?

Hello and thank you so much for having me on today!

So, some behind the scene tidbits. Here are a few!
Writing in general…
Every book I write will always have some variation of my grandfather’s name in it. Bert Raymond “Ray” Bailey. I made him a promise before he passed away that there would be a character with his name in every book. He wanted me to do this, so he could still have adventures. Yes, he was a wonderful, delightful handful, and even in death I don’t think he’s lacking in adventures.

Often I will use quirky mannerisms of people in my life in a book. My husband uses the bottle cap of one beer to pop the cap off another bottle. He was taught to do it by one of his employee’s and it’s always stuck.

I love to travel and I love to write. My goal is to visit the scenes set in every book I write. So, we’ve been to Alaska, Kauai, Seattle, New York, and California among other places I gather inspiration from and hope to write about later like Scotland, Ireland, Sweden, Norway and Belize. I hope to go to Greece before the series is complete, so stay tuned.

I think about how people actually talk when writing dialogue. If I can’t see and hear my character saying something, it doesn’t make the revision cut.

On July 26th, I held my first ever book launch party where we had massive door prizes, food, drinks, entertainment and fun. It was a big hit and I hope to do it again with each Heaven & Earth book.

The Warrior’s Progeny specifically…
Many people ask why Hera’s descendant is a cardiothoracic surgeon, rather than something like a divorce attorney or something to do with marriage, (Hera is the goddess of marriage). I made her a kid’s surgeon because Hera is also the goddess of childbirth. When a couple get married and have children, those children usually become the center of a marriage (at least for eighteen years). The heart is the center of individuals, the center of a family and definitely the center of a marriage. So, that’s why she’s a heart surgeon. I made Lilly a widow because her marriage was betrayed by death. Hera is a very jealous and ruthless goddess. Her reactions to the women her husband, Zeus, beds are legendary, though interestingly her wrath is rarely focused on Zeus himself. Lilly’s marriage was perfect and again disrupted by death, so Lilly punishes herself and others, rather than letting go of her late husband, David.

There are dark smoke like bindings or ribbons, from the Greek world called, Okapnose, that are the hands, feet, tentacles of evil in the modern world. This creature is deadly and does the dark work of Cronus. I came up with the word by mixing two Greek words together. Obsidian = Οψιάνος (opsiános) and Smoke = καπνός (kapnós)

Greek mythology is really confusing. There are so many cross connections, relationships and stories that can cross the boundaries of decency in human, mortal life. In our world siblings, parents, first cousins and the like do not mate and have children together. Adultery happens but hundreds of children don’t usually transpire from one person. Virgins don’t regain their virginity by bathing in special pools and the like. I fought to include a glossary in this book, so it will hopefully be less confusing. Readers will also find there is more of the Greek world touching the modern world in The Warrior’s Progeny from The Sea Archer (book one). There will be even more in book three.

Thank you, thank you for having me on today and hanging out with me. I love doing blog tours and meeting new people. So, please come leave a message or comment for me and I will respond! Cheers and stay healthy out there!

Lilly looked down at the football, lying prone and guilty in the sand, as realization hit her.

“Oh my God, Que! Are you okay?”

She examined Que’s head and neck checking for injuries, with rapid authority. A small goose egg already formed just above her right temple. A tiny cut opened in her eyebrow, from her broken sunglasses now laying in the sand, causing a small bead of blood to well up.

Used to the recklessness of her son and his friends regarding the sport, Lilly turned, gearing up for an impressive tongue lashing to teenagers.

“What in the hell...” she bellowed, turning around and smacking her face into the sweaty muscular chest of a massive redhead. Refusing to let the fourteen-inch height difference and the hundred and sixty pounds of additional weight intimidate her, Lilly balled her small fists on her hips, shifted her gaze up, and narrowed her eyes.

“What in the hell is the matter with you? You’re on a crowded beach with a bunch of young children and families. You’re a grown-ass man. Can’t you catch a football?” When he stared down at her in fascinated disbelief, she continued. “There is a wide-open park just over there,” she said, stabbing her finger in the general vicinity. “Maybe you and your little friends”— she looked over at all the massive men in his group, but continued undaunted—“should go over there and pull your heads out of your asses.”

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Award-winning author, Jeny Heckman, was born in Bellingham, Washington, and was the youngest of two daughters. She met her husband, Jeff, in August 1992, and eloped three months later, at Magen’s Bay, on St. Thomas, U.S.V.I.

She wrote her first book, the Catch, in a few short months but took several years before she gained the courage to self-publish it at her son’s urging, and her love for writing began.
In 2018, Jeny knew her next project would be a series that showed adults could have adventures in the paranormal-fantasy genre too. So, she created the Heaven & Earth series, a story of doomed Greek gods and their only salvation, their modern-day descendants. Her first book of the series, the Sea Archer, was immediately picked up by the New York publishing house, the Wild Rose Press, and won, “Best in Category” from the 2018 Chanticleer International Book Awards.

In the year 2020, Jeny released, Dancing Through Tears, a short story from the anthology, Australia Burns: Volume Two, highlighting the Route 91 massacre from the perspective of one family at the concert, and at Mandalay Bay. She also intends to release, the Warrior’s Progeny, and Dee’s Cornucopia, in 2020, continuing the Heaven & Earth Series.
Jeny lives in Washington State with her husband of over twenty-eight years.