Wednesday 15 April 2015

M is for Myrmidon, and Already Home Cover Reveal


For this year's A-Z Challenge I have selected a word from the dictionary for each day and written a story around it with a 100 word limit. For extra interest I have chosen words that are unknown or unfamiliar to me. All definitions are from the Oxford Dictionary & Thesaurus 2007 Edition. Today's word is: Myrmidon.

Myrmidon: A follower or subordinate of a powerful person, especially one who is willing to engage in dishonest activities.


He owed a debt to Mr Hasbrough, which was what Olly didn’t understand. Kept calling him a “myrmidon”, whatever that was. His kid brother’s fancy university education had left him with too many big words and not enough survival skills. If Mr Hasbrough hadn’t saved him from that gang, he would have been dead and so would Olly, because they’d promised to hunt down his family. So he might run a few scams, fleece a few gullible people. That was the real world and if he didn’t – well, all Olly’s big words weren’t going to help him.

*

Also for M, today I am featuring Heather M. Gardner with the cover reveal for the re-release of the first Maguire's Corner novel, Already Home!

Already Home

A Maguire’s Corner novel




Title: Already Home
Second Edition: formerly Maguire’s Corner
Author: Heather M. Gardner
Genre: Contemporary Romantic Suspense
Cover Design: Najla Qamber Designs
Re-release Date: May 20, 2015

~~~)(~~~
Coffee shop owner Maggie Maguire doesn’t trust the new police chief her father hired to protect Maguire’s Corner. He’s a stranger, cold, bossy and annoyingly handsome. But, Maggie’s witnessed a serious crime and now someone’s trying to kill her. The man that aggravates her most might be the only one that can help her.

Police Chief Jack Munro likes his new job and his new town, and unfortunately he also likes the stubborn but beautiful town sweetheart. His self-imposed hands-off Maggie policy is about to be put to the ultimate test when he must keep her close to protect her while he tracks down a ruthless killer.

Determined to ignore Jack’s charms, Maggie attempts to help him unravel the mystery but when their lives hang in the balance she must decide how much she’s willing to risk to save the man she suddenly can’t resist.

~~~)(~~~

Heather M. Gardner's love of books began on the hand-woven rugs of her small town library where her mother worked. There she had a never-ending supply of stories to read at her fingertips. As a teen, her favorite genres to curl up with were romance and mysteries. When she started to create her own stories, they were the perfect fit.

Heather resides in New York with her best friend who is also her husband, plus her talented and handsome son. She is currently owned by four stray cats. Heather's a full-time mom, works part-time from home, a chocolate enthusiast, coffee junkie, cat addict, book hoarder and fluent in sarcasm.


Blog:
The Waiting is the Hardest Part

Twitter: @hmgardner

Goodreads: HMGardner 

Facebook: HeatherWritesRomance Bottom of Form


43 comments:

Tammy Theriault said...

Heather is a great author. She is definitely not a "myrmidon". See what i did there?? ;D

Scribbles From Jenn said...

Cool word! I've heard the definition before, but never with that title.

Scribbles From Jenn - Visiting from the A to Z Challenge

Tasha Duncan-Drake said...

Great word and a lovely little story. Sounds like Olly got out while the protagonist didn't. That is a lovely cover for Already Home - such an inviting colour.
Tasha
Tasha's Thinkings | Wittegen Press | FB3X (AC)

Blogoratti said...

Great stuff, thanks for sharing!

Keith's Ramblings said...

Excellent word, terrific story and a great book!

Unknown said...

Interesting word...sounds like something that should be part of a fantasy story. Enjoyed your story too. :)

Sanch @ Living my Imperfect Life

Jolie du Pre said...

Loved that one!

Precious Monsters

Michael Abayomi said...

I wouldn't even know how to pronounce that one. :)

Jennifer Hawes said...

Yay for Heather! I'm one of her "m"inions for the AtoZ Challenge. :)

Unknown said...

Love that cover!

Tamara Narayan said...

Cool word, but another I probably couldn't pronounce.

Congrats to Heather on her new cover and rerelease!

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Cover looks awesome, Heather!

T. Powell Coltrin said...

I watched many movies where there was a thug that would do anything for the person in power. Myrmidons seem to not make their own decisions.

Sarah Foster said...

Never heard that word before. Congrats to Heather!

Christine Rains said...

Nope, not all the big words in the world will help him! Yay for Heather! :)

Chrys Fey said...

Myrmidon is a cool word. I'll have to use it in one of my stories. I have a couple with followers who do bad things.

Awesome cover. I love the colors. :) Congrats to Heather!

Heather M. Gardner said...

Thank you!
Nick, your blog readers are so sweet!

Thanks for helping me out today!

Poor Olly!

Heather

Stephen Tremp said...

And M is for Midway through A to Z!

cleemckenzie said...

Hurray for Heather! And good luck to her on her newest book.

Jeff Chapman said...

Cool word. I'm a fan of word histories. I need to check out your other entries for this month.

David P. King said...

Now I have a new word for my crew, err, minions, err, you know what I mean... And congrats to Heather! That's a cool cover. :)

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Nick - that's a new word .. and I don't think I fancy it .. a follower of a bad leader ...

Good luck to Heather too .. cheers Hilary

M Pax said...

I didn't know there was a word for that other than subordinate. Congrats to Heather!

Sharon Himsl said...

Another great word and one I couldn't pronounce (love those online sites). Thanks for story. For some reason I'm reminded of a relative who ran a rug cleaning business and hired college kids. He often complained in same way.

Inventions by Women A-Z
Shells–Tales–Sails

Sophie Duncan said...

I like that word! I've never heard that before. It fits the story as well :)
So the Moroi are somewhat elitist, then. Sounds like they could be interesting characters, though.
Sophie
Sophie's Thoughts & Fumbles
FB3X
Wittegen Press

Annalisa Crawford said...

Olly's lucky to be have an elder brother willing to look after him so well.

Congrats to Heather.

Annalisa, writing A-Z vignettes, at Wake Up, Eat, Write, Sleep

Anonymous said...

Nice little flash to show the word in use.

Congrats Heather. =)

~Patricia Lynne aka Patricia Josephine~
Member of C. Lee's Muffin Commando Squad
Story Dam
Patricia Lynne, Indie Author

Tyrean Martinson said...

Great flash and I love that new word (new to me) Myrmidon!
Congrats to Heather!

Nick Wilford said...

Thanks everyone! This is one of my favourite words I've found.

JazzFeathers said...

Short and sweet, eh? ;-)

betty said...

That book of Heather's looks interesting; wishing her success with it. I do like the cover.

Myrmidon is an interesting word, I like how it sounds. I might have to find a way to use it in a sentence soon.

betty

Susan Gourley/Kelley said...

Love Heather's cover. And you short about the real world, sad as it is for many.

E. Arroyo said...

Nope, big words aren't going to help him. =) Cover looks great! Congrats!

J E Oneil said...

Good word. It feels vaguely exotic to me :)

Shell Flower said...

Haha. All great villains have a myrmidon. I love that word :) And way to make Heather's book fit the theme. It looks intriguing.

Liz A. said...

Two very different stories. Nice juxtaposition.

Liz A. from Laws of Gravity

~Sia McKye~ said...

Well done, Nick! I liked that. You demonstrated the difference between showing and telling. :-)

Sia McKye Over Coffee

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

Congrats to Heather! It's nice to see her book everywhere.

Anonymous said...

I only knew of Myrmidons as the ancient greek warriors, I didn't realise it was now a noun. I wonder if there's a link between the current meaning of the word and the greek myths.

Kathryn Thornton said...

I like this word. The distinction of not just a follower but one who follows someone with loose moral character is great. I love a word with two layers.

The cover looks great. Thanks for introducing me to a new author.

Yvonne Ventresca said...

Interesting word!

Yvonne

djinnia said...

ooo! i like this word! the first thing i imagined when i read the definition was grima worm tongue from lotr.

Debbie D. said...

Another word I haven't heard before! This is a great vocabulary lesson! The story was a perfect illustration of it.