Hi everyone!
Sorry for posting the results of the contest so late! I ended up pulling a double shift & spent most of the weekend asleep! Sorry about that!!!
In any case, I picked a winner using random.org (awesome site to play around with, if you're curious) & here's the winner:
Auntie Deb!
I'll be sending you an email with the winning code from smashwords!
A blog where I review a little bit of everything, especially urban fantasy, anthropological thrillers, mysteries, and anything along the lines of James Rollins.
Showing posts with label check it out. Show all posts
Showing posts with label check it out. Show all posts
Monday, June 27, 2011
Friday, June 24, 2011
Check it Out: Linda Hawley
Today's the last day of the series, so I'm giving you double the author goodness with Linda Hawley!
The eBook version of Dreams Unleashed is available for purchase now at $2.99 (for all eBook readers) at Smashwords, Amazon, as well as at Barnes & Noble.
You can read a free sample of Dreams Unleashed at Amazon.
The print copy of Dreams Unleashed is due to be published the week of June 20th.
Visit Linda on her website as well as her blog at: http://lindahawley.com/ & http://lindahawley.com/b2e/blog5.php!
I notice that your book deals with a not-too-far-in-the-future where everyone is tracked. What made you come up with this frightening (yet entirely plausible) idea?
I want to try to make the world a better place. I am an observer of life, and those observations have led me to realize that many are unhappy with the government’s involvment in people’s lives. The inspiration for The Prophecies trilogy started with that. Tracking through RFID came about after I started to research the technology; it absolutely blew my mind. It’s being used right now in most advanced countries in the world, to track citizens. Taking the next step, into the future use of it in 2015, wasn’t that big of a leap.
Have you based any of the elements in your book on true life experiences or people? Obviously there's some creative liberty taken, but is any of it based on real situations? (That you can tell us, anyway.)
The last chapter of Dreams Unleashed came from an experience that I had. When I wrote it down (in story form), the main character, Ann Torgeson, was born.
What do you do when you hit a creative roadblock?
For me, writing is the easy part. There was one junction in writing Dreams Unleashed, where I ran out of ideas. I was talking in bed with my husband (at 3:00 AM, after writing), and told him that I had no idea what would happen to this character next. I said that my mind was a blank—nothing was happening. The next day, from work, he sent me an email with some ideas he had. One really funny idea stuck, and you'll find it in chapter 22 of Dreams Unleashed; it has to do with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).
For some it's the title, for others it's getting that perfect ending: What's the hardest thing about writing for you?
That would be editing. I want to make it clear that I have a content editor that is the Special Forces equivalent. But I detest the editing process; it’s actually painful for me. I lost at least 20,000 words in the editing process of Dreams Unleashed. In those 20k words, was a hat that one of my characters was wearing that I was very fond of. : ( However, with all that said, with very good content editing, the story is fit for comsumption by readers.
You've had an incredible past, working for the government as well as in our military (which I totally appreciate). Do you have any cool stories you can tell us? Did working at these places help or hinder your writing?
I have to be very careful here; I’m sure they’re listening. : /
I really wanted to include the military in this story, as part of Ann’s past, because I wanted to show another side of how the military contributes to government intelligence. I am certain that my understanding of these things helped me write the humor present in Dreams Unleashed. The scene with Ann at the shooting range was one that happened to me, so writing about it was fun.
That’s about all I can say. : /
I really wanted to include the military in this story, as part of Ann’s past, because I wanted to show another side of how the military contributes to government intelligence. I am certain that my understanding of these things helped me write the humor present in Dreams Unleashed. The scene with Ann at the shooting range was one that happened to me, so writing about it was fun.
That’s about all I can say. : /
Why should readers read your book?
This first book in The Prophecies trilogy is about getting yourself strapped in for a wild ride of adventure where anything is possible using the human mind. I have created multidimensional characters that stick with the reader, and that readers can invest in. In this trilogy, connections are everywhere. It’s the kind of novel that you can go back and read it a second time, and glean more from it. It keeps giving.
Can you tell us little bit more about yourself, family, or hobbies (other than writing or reading)?
I've kayaked from one island to another in the Carribean. I've backpacked the Appalachian Trail in West Virginia with the Sierra Club. I've attended a Christmas party at the White House and have been on Air Force One. I've been to Europe many times (I am in love with Paris, which will be a part of book two of The Prophecies). I’ve jumped out of a plane and had my parachute lines tangle, making me think through the emergency rather quickly. Of course, I've sailed the San Juan Islands, which are featured in Dreams Unleashed.
Any funny quirks or pet peeves?
I chew ice when I’m writing a tense passage in my novels. My dentist doesn’t like it.
Anything you want to say to readers and fans?
Recently I received permission from a number of Book Reviewers to use their quotes in interviews. Their objective perspectives are very insightful. Here is what they’ve said about reading and reviewing Dreams Unleashed (book one in The Prophecies trilogy):
“Ann is one of the most complex characters I’ve ever read…. The world is dystopian: the government is the evil Big Brother keeping people safe even against their will. Yet, the characters aren’t depressed or desperate. They try to live their normal lives which includes laughter, too.”
Mervi's Book Reviews
“The book really pushed me out of my comfort zone as I’ve never read any other book similar to this…. From the very beginning, the book kept me intrigued by its mystifying plot and excellent narration. I must laud the author for her ability to write her story in the finest detail, which makes the story sound somewhat believable. Everything was described superbly…. Overall, this novel is a real and pure page-turner.”
Vanessa Eric, The Bornean Bookworm
“The book has some references to current political figures and situations that make it very easy to get sucked into the story. The book is extremely well written and had my attention from the beginning to the end.”
Scott, Indie Book Blog
“It's like a present that you are slowly unwrapping layer by layer.”
Smitten With Reading
“If you put Dana Scully and Fox Mulder into a blender and hit puree, they’d make a mean Ann Torgeson. Dreams Unleashed was a great start to what I’m sure will be a fantastic book series. It poked fun at the TSA, and gave a frightful vision into a not-too-distant world where privacy truly is a thing of the past.”
She Never Slept
Thank you for reading my stories!
Linda
“Ann is one of the most complex characters I’ve ever read…. The world is dystopian: the government is the evil Big Brother keeping people safe even against their will. Yet, the characters aren’t depressed or desperate. They try to live their normal lives which includes laughter, too.”
Mervi's Book Reviews
“The book really pushed me out of my comfort zone as I’ve never read any other book similar to this…. From the very beginning, the book kept me intrigued by its mystifying plot and excellent narration. I must laud the author for her ability to write her story in the finest detail, which makes the story sound somewhat believable. Everything was described superbly…. Overall, this novel is a real and pure page-turner.”
Vanessa Eric, The Bornean Bookworm
“The book has some references to current political figures and situations that make it very easy to get sucked into the story. The book is extremely well written and had my attention from the beginning to the end.”
Scott, Indie Book Blog
“It's like a present that you are slowly unwrapping layer by layer.”
Smitten With Reading
“If you put Dana Scully and Fox Mulder into a blender and hit puree, they’d make a mean Ann Torgeson. Dreams Unleashed was a great start to what I’m sure will be a fantastic book series. It poked fun at the TSA, and gave a frightful vision into a not-too-distant world where privacy truly is a thing of the past.”
She Never Slept
Thank you for reading my stories!
Linda
Book/Author Information
The eBook version of Dreams Unleashed is available for purchase now at $2.99 (for all eBook readers) at Smashwords, Amazon, as well as at Barnes & Noble.
You can read a free sample of Dreams Unleashed at Amazon.
The print copy of Dreams Unleashed is due to be published the week of June 20th.
Visit Linda on her website as well as her blog at: http://lindahawley.com/ & http://lindahawley.com/b2e/blog5.php!
Check it Out: Lisa Lim
Hi everyone! This month's series of authors to watch for is winding down, but I've still got a few authors to reveal to you!
Lisa Lim has written a book that definitely strikes a chord with me. It's about a girl who works in a call center & as someone who used to work in an outsourced "call before you dig" call center (Indiana Underground, how can I help you?), I can commiserate with the craziness that abounds in this profession. (Spraypainted dogs, people yelling at me to turn their utilities back on... it was crazy.) This is a profession that's actually ingenious to cast a heroine in- there's a lot of potential for humor, drama, & for one call to take you in some of the most wild directions!
Confessions of a Call Center Gal: a novel is available on Amazon for Kindle and on Barnes and Noble for Nook for $2.99. The paperback edition is available on Amazon for $12.95.
Lisa Lim has written a book that definitely strikes a chord with me. It's about a girl who works in a call center & as someone who used to work in an outsourced "call before you dig" call center (Indiana Underground, how can I help you?), I can commiserate with the craziness that abounds in this profession. (Spraypainted dogs, people yelling at me to turn their utilities back on... it was crazy.) This is a profession that's actually ingenious to cast a heroine in- there's a lot of potential for humor, drama, & for one call to take you in some of the most wild directions!
What inspired you to write Confessions of a Call Center Gal?
I’m a chick lit junkie and I've read countless of chick lit novels. The women usually have fancy jobs, and they fancy men who hold fancy jobs. And I wanted to read about a woman I could relate to. A protagonist who is regular chick with a very ordinary job, who falls for a guy with an ordinary job. Although, the guy is anything but ordinary (I like to think).
And I know this sounds cliched, but my English teacher in college prefaced every writing assignment with this advice – “Write what you know.” And I know too much about call centers. One only need to hear the word "call center" and everyone’s blood pressure skyrockets through the roofs. Callers go ballistic and become verbally abusive over the phone, and often feel entitled to unload their personal demons on us. I've seen many of my co-workers on the verge of tears... and I wanted to tell our story.
And I know this sounds cliched, but my English teacher in college prefaced every writing assignment with this advice – “Write what you know.” And I know too much about call centers. One only need to hear the word "call center" and everyone’s blood pressure skyrockets through the roofs. Callers go ballistic and become verbally abusive over the phone, and often feel entitled to unload their personal demons on us. I've seen many of my co-workers on the verge of tears... and I wanted to tell our story.
What do you do in your spare time when you're not writing?
I have three pooches that I adore to bits. They're shelter dogs and my motto is ~ Don't shop! Adopt!
I enjoy walking my furry companions but I find it mildly annoying when people ask, “Oh are you walking the dogs or are the dogs walking you?” Me: *Dry laugh*
Oh, I also love scarfing down bean burritos. Mexican food. *Nom* *Nom*
By the way, I want to marry a bean burrito.
And he will have Mexican Monterey cheese hair.
I enjoy walking my furry companions but I find it mildly annoying when people ask, “Oh are you walking the dogs or are the dogs walking you?” Me: *Dry laugh*
Oh, I also love scarfing down bean burritos. Mexican food. *Nom* *Nom*
By the way, I want to marry a bean burrito.
And he will have Mexican Monterey cheese hair.
What’s your typical celebration ritual when you sell a new book or get exciting news about an existing one? Anything strange or quirky we should know about?
Um, did I mention I love bean burritos? I blast the Mariachi music and gobble up bean burritos.
If you could choose one dessert or snack food that you could eat as much as you want of (and never gain an ounce!) what would it be?
Bwarhahahaha. I think you already know the answer to that one.
What was your favorite book growing up and why?
Anne of Green Gables, Sweet Valley High, oh and of course Peter Pan. That book is chock full of memorable sayings that I cherish. *COUGH* If I may? Here goes ~
“All the world is made of faith, and trust, and pixie dust.”
“Never say goodbye because goodbye means going away and going away means forgetting.”
“To love would be an awfully big adventure.”
“To live will be a great adventure.”
“If growing up means it would be beneath my dignity to climb a tree, I'll never grow up, never grow up, never grow up! Not me!”
“Wendy,’ Peter Pan continued in a voice that no woman has ever yet been able to resist, ‘Wendy, one girl is more use than twenty boys.”
~ by the great J.M Barrie
“All the world is made of faith, and trust, and pixie dust.”
“Never say goodbye because goodbye means going away and going away means forgetting.”
“To love would be an awfully big adventure.”
“To live will be a great adventure.”
“If growing up means it would be beneath my dignity to climb a tree, I'll never grow up, never grow up, never grow up! Not me!”
“Wendy,’ Peter Pan continued in a voice that no woman has ever yet been able to resist, ‘Wendy, one girl is more use than twenty boys.”
~ by the great J.M Barrie
If your book were to be turned into a movie, would your dream cast be?
Ohhh this is fab fun. The lead protagonist Maddy would be played by Zooey Deschannel (500 Days of Summer) and Zac Efron or Zac Levi would be cast as Mika—the Belgian stud.
Rex Lee (flamboyantly gay Asian on Entourage) or Jo Koy as Truong Nguyen.
Rex Lee (flamboyantly gay Asian on Entourage) or Jo Koy as Truong Nguyen.
What do you hope your readers come away with after reading your book?
No other emotion quite compares to laughter, and I hope my readers get plenty of laughs.
A fun chick lit that will appeal to fans of Sophie Kinsella and Marian Keyes. Bridget Jones meets The Office. Madison Lee is a fresh college grad, ready to take on the world of print media. But she has zero luck landing a job. Unemployment is at ten percent and on the rise. Desperate and left with no other options, she accepts a position as a service rep at a call center in Pocatello, Idaho. At the Lightning Speed call center in Spudsville, Maddy plunges into the wild and dysfunctional world of customer service where Sales is prided over Service and an eight hour shift is equivalent to eight hours of callers bashing her over the phone. Oh sure, the calls are bad. But Maddy manages to find humor on the phone and off the phone. And with all the salacious drama behind the calls, there is never a dull moment at the Lightning Speed call center.
Lately . . . Maddy has been pining for her smolderingly gorgeous co-worker Mika Harket. Now things are heating up on the phone--and elsewhere. Don't hang up on this novel. Working at a call center has never been this garish . . . or this delightful.
Lately . . . Maddy has been pining for her smolderingly gorgeous co-worker Mika Harket. Now things are heating up on the phone--and elsewhere. Don't hang up on this novel. Working at a call center has never been this garish . . . or this delightful.
Confessions of a Call Center Gal: a novel is available on Amazon for Kindle and on Barnes and Noble for Nook for $2.99. The paperback edition is available on Amazon for $12.95.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Check it Out: Chloe Bierge
Hi everyone! I've got another author to introduce to you today! Her name is Chloe Bierge & she's agreed to write a little bit about her book The Other Side of the Window for us!
The Other Side of the Window by Chloe Bierge is a dramtic, illuminating, and sometimes humorous journey of a young women's battle with mental illness.
Savannah Bloom believes in the power of good journalism and wants to report on important stories, which she believes can be found anywhere, even in the small town of Saddlebrook, Maryland. After her childhood sweetheart, Chase, returns from Africa, she gets sick with whatever it is that he brought back and soon finds herself battling It, this thing that takes over the helm in her brain in a mutiny that causes her to have a continuous tug of war between belief and disbelief as she battles her own war on terror. All the while she is being stalked by a young man who has hacked into her computer and is plagued with intrusive mental holograms of Tom, a pharmaceutical sales rep, after writing an unflattering story about the drug he sells. She worries he is her stalker. In her pursuit of the truth about what is wrong with her, what caused it, and how it can best be treated, she finds herself the central figure of a national story she uncovers. But her creditability -- her sanity-- comes into question, making it near impossible for her to get her story to be taken with the seriousness it deserves, which leaves her with a tall order to fill: She must prove to the world that she can have a brain disorder that at times makes her feel insane but still really be sane.
Chloe Bierge is an award-winning national medical journalist writing under a pen name so that she may let her creativity flow. The Other Side of the Window is based on years of research and blends fiction with fact. Chloe hopes readers will enjoy the story and learn a little along the way.
Savannah Bloom believes in the power of good journalism and wants to report on important stories, which she believes can be found anywhere, even in the small town of Saddlebrook, Maryland. After her childhood sweetheart, Chase, returns from Africa, she gets sick with whatever it is that he brought back and soon finds herself battling It, this thing that takes over the helm in her brain in a mutiny that causes her to have a continuous tug of war between belief and disbelief as she battles her own war on terror. All the while she is being stalked by a young man who has hacked into her computer and is plagued with intrusive mental holograms of Tom, a pharmaceutical sales rep, after writing an unflattering story about the drug he sells. She worries he is her stalker. In her pursuit of the truth about what is wrong with her, what caused it, and how it can best be treated, she finds herself the central figure of a national story she uncovers. But her creditability -- her sanity-- comes into question, making it near impossible for her to get her story to be taken with the seriousness it deserves, which leaves her with a tall order to fill: She must prove to the world that she can have a brain disorder that at times makes her feel insane but still really be sane.
Chloe Bierge is an award-winning national medical journalist writing under a pen name so that she may let her creativity flow. The Other Side of the Window is based on years of research and blends fiction with fact. Chloe hopes readers will enjoy the story and learn a little along the way.
Check it Out: Darren Pillsbury
Hi everyone! It's time again for me to introduce you to a new author! Today I have Darren Pillsbury, author of Peter and the Vampires! He was kind enough to answer some questions for me, so here goes:
Do you have any news I can dish out for you?
Yeah, I’ve pretty much always loved horror novels. Mostly because of Stephen King, and partly because he was ‘forbidden.’ I grew up in a pretty conservative, religious household, and while my father read King’s books (because my dad did whatever he wanted to), my mom forbade me to even look at them. So I remember sneaking into the grocery store book aisles when I was nine and ten and reading ‘the good parts’ of books like SKELETON CREW and PET SEMATARY.
I never saw horror movies growing up because I couldn’t see anything Rated R. When I finally went off to college, I never really gravitated towards horror movies that strongly, especially not slasher films or overtly gross ones. I vastly prefer being creeped out and frightened rather than disgusted. That’s what I shoot for in PETER AND THE VAMPIRES and its sequels (PETER AND THE WEREWOLVES and PETER AND THE FRANKENSTEIN).
As far as books, PET SEMATARY is my favorite horror novel of all time. And I’d say SEVEN is my favorite horror movie, although you could just as easily call it a thriller. I also like THE RING quite a bit.
I never saw horror movies growing up because I couldn’t see anything Rated R. When I finally went off to college, I never really gravitated towards horror movies that strongly, especially not slasher films or overtly gross ones. I vastly prefer being creeped out and frightened rather than disgusted. That’s what I shoot for in PETER AND THE VAMPIRES and its sequels (PETER AND THE WEREWOLVES and PETER AND THE FRANKENSTEIN).As far as books, PET SEMATARY is my favorite horror novel of all time. And I’d say SEVEN is my favorite horror movie, although you could just as easily call it a thriller. I also like THE RING quite a bit.
Is anything in your book true to life? There's obviously some creative license involved, but is anything in the book based on real people or experiences? If not, what's your favorite ghost story?
Oh yeah, there’s a ton of stuff I take from my own life. Mostly small plot details or characters. The most obvious one is that Peter has a two-year-old sister named Beth who is a terror. She’s just hellacious. And she’s taken directly from my own real-life sister, down to details like they both wore a Strawberry Shortcake bathing suit over their regular clothes in the wintertime. (My sister now is very nice and sweet, and since she doesn’t remember how bad she was as a toddler, she always thinks we’re lying when we tell stories about her at family gatherings.)
As far as spooky stuff, no, I've never encountered anything supernaturally creepy in real life. My favorite ghost story is about a woman who goes into a deserted church late at night. She sits down near the front and notices a silver platter on the altar - and in it she sees the reflections of a bunch of skeletons in the pews behind her. They claw at her as she runs out the front door, and she barely escapes with her life. Nobody in the village believes her until they find her shredded scarf lying in front of the empty church. I like that story so much I actually stole it and put it in the book! Anybody who reads PETER AND THE VAMPIRES will recognize that scene immediately, even in its modified form.
As far as spooky stuff, no, I've never encountered anything supernaturally creepy in real life. My favorite ghost story is about a woman who goes into a deserted church late at night. She sits down near the front and notices a silver platter on the altar - and in it she sees the reflections of a bunch of skeletons in the pews behind her. They claw at her as she runs out the front door, and she barely escapes with her life. Nobody in the village believes her until they find her shredded scarf lying in front of the empty church. I like that story so much I actually stole it and put it in the book! Anybody who reads PETER AND THE VAMPIRES will recognize that scene immediately, even in its modified form.
What age group would you say your book is for?
Everybody. No, I’m serious! Like the Harry Potter series, PETER AND THE VAMPIRES has young protagonists, but the stories are definitely entertaining for older audiences. Ten-year-old kids will enjoy PETER, but I blogged the series for three years, and most of my fans are in high school, college, and their 20’s and 30’s.
Wait – you blogged these books for three years?
Yup! I wanted to try to build up an audience first by blogging the stories for awhile. ‘Awhile’ turned into three years and four novels (PETER AND THE MUMMY will probably be out in Fall 2011). I took down the blog posts, but I made some Youtube videos that are still around. Just google ‘Peter And The Dead Men video.’
Do you have any specific inspirations & muses or do you pick up ideas randomly?
Mmmm…I’d say that I get core ideas from simple images, and I build off of those through a lot of daydreaming. Usually I see something interesting and I think, “Hey, what if…”
For instance, in "Vampires," the image in my head was of a little girl in a rainstorm, calling up to a window in a faint, creepy voice. And then, when the lightning crashes, she’s gone. Who was she? Why was she there? That's fairly typical of how I'll start a new story.
For instance, in "Vampires," the image in my head was of a little girl in a rainstorm, calling up to a window in a faint, creepy voice. And then, when the lightning crashes, she’s gone. Who was she? Why was she there? That's fairly typical of how I'll start a new story.
I notice that you're active with charities. Any specific one that you really love that you want to mention here on the blog?
Yes, thank you for mentioning it! SaveThe Children is a great charity that helps impoverished kids throughout the world. If you want to donate, they’re a wonderful organization.
Writer's block: the author's worst bogeyman. What do you do to slay this horrendous beast? Any suggestions for other authors?
The hardest part of writing every day is the first ten minutes. Every day it’s a struggle to get started. Then once you warm up and you’re in the zone, it’s fun. So just start, and it gets a whole lot easier after that. When I begin writing for the day, I go back and revise the last page from the previous session, and that usually gets me into the frame of mind for putting down new material.
The other thing is I don’t write nearly as much as I daydream. For most of the stories I write, I’ve already daydreamed a movie in my head with all the major plot points. I usually have A, B, E, J, M, P, Q, and Z. I just have to fill in all the other letters so the story’s complete. (That’s a big ‘just,’ by the way.) So as long as I make it through that first ten minutes, knowing what big scene is coming up next helps me stay on track and away from writer’s block.
The other thing is I don’t write nearly as much as I daydream. For most of the stories I write, I’ve already daydreamed a movie in my head with all the major plot points. I usually have A, B, E, J, M, P, Q, and Z. I just have to fill in all the other letters so the story’s complete. (That’s a big ‘just,’ by the way.) So as long as I make it through that first ten minutes, knowing what big scene is coming up next helps me stay on track and away from writer’s block.
Do you have any news I can dish out for you?
Let’s see…go buy PETER AND THE VAMPIRES (99 cents!), PETER AND THE WEREWOLVES ($2.99), and PETER AND THE FRANKENSTEIN ($2.99)! Available on Kindle, Nook, and Smashwords!
I eventually plan to put out paper versions, but it might take a year, and they’ll be a whole lot more expensive.
PETE
R AND THE MUMMY (Volume 4 of the series) will hopefully be out in Fall 2011.
I also have another book, IMAGINARY FRIENDS (about a single dad who can see his two little boys’ imaginary friends), that is currently available in paperback on Amazon. It should be out as an ebook at the same time as MUMMY.
I eventually plan to put out paper versions, but it might take a year, and they’ll be a whole lot more expensive.
PETE
R AND THE MUMMY (Volume 4 of the series) will hopefully be out in Fall 2011.I also have another book, IMAGINARY FRIENDS (about a single dad who can see his two little boys’ imaginary friends), that is currently available in paperback on Amazon. It should be out as an ebook at the same time as MUMMY.
What made you want to write? Was there a specific moment in your life that made you realize this is what you wanted to do or did you always know?
I think I always knew. It crystallized a bit more when I started reading Stephen King – “I wanna do that when I grow up!” – but I always made up stories in my head, from the earliest I can remember. There weren’t many kids in my neighborhood growing up, so I came up with all sorts of imaginary stories and worlds to pass the time. More than anything, I think it was that need to entertain myself that eventually led me to writing. Now hopefully I can entertain other people, too!
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Curious to read Darren's books? You can find them on Amazon, Smashwords, & Barnes & Nobles!
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Curious to read Darren's books? You can find them on Amazon, Smashwords, & Barnes & Nobles!
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Check It Out: Simon Dunn
Hey everyone! Here's your latest dose of author goodness! Today I have author & comedian Simon Dunn! He's here to answer a few questions & promote his book Rotten Apple: Seven Sins, One Deadly City!
Bills.
Bills.
--------------------------------------------------------------
A noir-crime-suspense-thriller parody.
Seven interwoven comic stories from the underbelly of a sinful city. The hard-boiled detective, the down-to-earth stripper, the embittered hack, the psycho killer, the sultry brief, the gentleman thief - they all live in the Rotten Apple.
Curious about Simon's book? You can pick it up via Amazon.com for the kindle!
Where do you come up with your ideas? Do you have a specific muse or do you draw your inspiration from things you see in your daily life?
I never know how to answer that question without sounding sarcastic. One writer once said that he heard a voice in his head, but it spoke in a foreign language he couldn't understand, so instead he sat down and wrote for hours until everything was done.
I see you've done some comedy work. Is it very different, writing comedy for the screen rather than writing for a book?
They are different disciplines for sure, but they both rely on strong dramatic structure. Prose gives you more breathing space to explore ideas though, while on screen you have to be quick, concise and have many more ideas in a shorter space of time. I think Rotten Apple is paced more like a screenplay than a book - it probably needs to be when it comes to comedy.
Comedy is serious business. Have you ever worked on a scene or joke for so long that it just isn't funny to you anymore?
Yes. It needs to stop being funny before you can assess it critically. It's usually the things that make you laugh when you write them which are the things that soon get dropped and re-worked.
Are any of the events in your books based upon real people or situations? If so, how much of it is real & how much is from your own imagination?
There's a moment when Vic Malone jumps out of a tenth storey window naked and uses the body of a cop to dampen his fall. That happened to me.
Do you have any news that I can dish for you?
I'm currently working on a few ideas for British TV and a new Kindle book is coming soon.
What do you do when writer's block hits you? Any advice for other authors out there?
There's no such thing as writers' block, it's pretentious nonsense. No other field of work hides behind such twaddle. You don't see coal miners taking the day off because they aren't feeling creative. If your writing is running out of steam, it's due to lack of planning and thought. Always have several projects on the go, and switch to another and let your mind ponder things for a while.
What drives you to write & do comedy work? What made you look at these fields & decide "this is the life for me"? Was there a big moment or did you just always know this is what you were meant for?
Bills.
Coke or Pepsi?
Bills.
--------------------------------------------------------------
A noir-crime-suspense-thriller parody.
Seven interwoven comic stories from the underbelly of a sinful city. The hard-boiled detective, the down-to-earth stripper, the embittered hack, the psycho killer, the sultry brief, the gentleman thief - they all live in the Rotten Apple.
Curious about Simon's book? You can pick it up via Amazon.com for the kindle!
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Check it Out: Victoria Martinez
Ok, so I know I read almost entirely fiction (urban fantasy at that), but I couldn't resist having Victoria Martinez write a guest blog for me for this month's series! Her book takes an in depth look to the standards of royal beauty & hopefully her blog will have you eagerly lining up to order her book! I have to say, this blog is absolutely fascinating! I hope you will enjoy reading it as much as I have!
Beauty’s Divine Right of Sovereignty
By Victoria MartÃnez
From Helen of Troy, wife of the king of Sparta and the woman whose face “launched a thousand ships,” to Catherine Middleton, now HRH The Duchess of Cambridge, whose beauty routine has launched a thousand blogs and YouTube videos, the correlation between preternatural good looks and royal women is deeply rooted in our collective psyche. Even if we remove childhood fairy tales and modern beauty pageant “queens” from the equation, we still expect and want real princesses and queens to be beautiful, and great pains are taken to help maintain this symbiosis.
The truth is somewhat more brutal as history is filled with royal women who were anything but beauty queens or who resorted to extreme measures to keep up the fa̤ade of beauty and elegance under intense public scrutiny. Royal beauty Рor lack thereof Рis a topic I explore in two chapters of my book, An Unusual Journey Through Royal History.
Personally, all my expectations of royal beauty were shattered at the tender age of six when I first saw a photograph of Queen Victoria. Clad in black, built like a battleship, stern and unsmiling, even her masses of impressive jewels failed to inspire awe in me. She was certainly not what I had been hoping for in my royal namesake. But her appearance inspired me in other ways as an adult; in particular, encouraging me to explore the lives of royal women on whom the spotlight didn’t shine. One of these was Queen Victoria’s cousin, Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge, whose story I tell in the chapter, “The Courting of Fat Mary.” At 200-plus pounds, the royal family found it quite difficult to find her a suitable husband despite the fact that she was a “remarkably light dancer.”
Even the most celebrated royal women in history, whose legendary beauty has been lauded for time-immemorial by historians, scholars and, of course, Hollywood, are no longer immune to harsh reality, as I describe in the chapter, “A Pageant of Queens.”
Cleopatra, immortalized on the Silver Screen by Elizabeth Taylor and even named as one of the 100 most beautiful women of all time as recently as 2004, may have won the hearts of Julius Caesar and Marc Antony, but she didn’t do it with her stellar looks according to modern archeological finds. An article in the January 2002 issue of Harper’s Bazaar succinctly described Cleopatra as she was portrayed in contemporary images as “an ordinary-looking woman, short, with bad teeth and a bony nose.”
Portraits of French Empress Josephine Bonaparte always emphasize a woman with delicate features and apparent gentility, but they also never show her smiling, and for very good reason. Having been raised on a sugar plantation in Martinique, Josephine had early on been exposed to too much sugar and not enough dental hygiene. In short, her teeth were blackened from decay and her gums were swollen from irritation. Even the most flattering contemporary descriptions of Josephine credit her more for her “sweet personality” than for anything other than being merely “pretty.”
Not even Queen Nefertiti, the ancient Egyptian consort whose name roughly translates to “the beautiful one is come,” was immune to the ravages of age, which is why she opted for an early form of facelift.
A wonderful anecdote of the expectations of royal feminine beauty is given in My Blue Notebooks, the diary of the 19th century French courtesan Liane de Pougy. Known for her exquisite beauty and terminal elegance, Liane tells how, in 1892 or 1893, French dramatist Henri Meilhac asked her to attend a performance at the Opéra-Comique in Paris and emphatically insisted that she wear her “tiara, masses of jewels, a low-cut dress… [and] white cloak with the gold embroidery and the ermine lining.” He also told her she “must have an entourage” and that she “must arrive before the curtain goes up.” For her troubles, he gave Liane 2000 francs and promised her the left stage box, but failed to provide an explanation for her dramatic appearance and entrance.
Liane did as she was asked and made a grand entrance to her box at the opera promptly 15 minutes before the curtain rose, dressed to the nines and accompanied by two equally elegant and well-dressed ladies. Much to her surprise, every person in the packed opera house rose to their feet and turned to look at her. The orchestra suddenly “broke into patriotic music,” causing Liane and her entourage to rise to their feet and prompting the audience to break into spontaneous applause. The celebrated courtesan went gracefully along with the strange situation, assuming that the display was simply a “homage to my youth and beauty.”
Within moments, Meilhac entered Liane’s box and, hysterical with laughter, explained what had just happened… “We’re expecting the Queen of Sweden – in the box opposite – they thought you were her, it’s too killing for words.” Liane looked across to the other box and saw: “a lanky, sad-looking woman, rather badly dressed, surrounded by quite an entourage. Her entrance had been ruined, no one noticed it. It was me… to whom the crowd had paid homage – and the orchestra too, because it was the Swedish national anthem that they had played.”
Meilhac summed up the situation best when he said later, “Homage to beauty! Vox populi, vox dei [trans: The voice of the people is the voice of God]! How beautiful is our Liane! That is how people expect a queen to look, and she has proved it.”
Oscar Wilde wrote in The Picture of Dorian Gray that beauty “has its divine right of sovereignty. It makes princes of those who have it.” Perhaps, but sovereignty does not always make beauties of those princesses and queens who have it, no matter how much we’re inclined to believe otherwise.
An Unusual Journey Through Royal History by Victoria MartÃnez is available at Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com and WhoDaresWinsPublishing.com.
Beauty’s Divine Right of Sovereignty
By Victoria MartÃnez
From Helen of Troy, wife of the king of Sparta and the woman whose face “launched a thousand ships,” to Catherine Middleton, now HRH The Duchess of Cambridge, whose beauty routine has launched a thousand blogs and YouTube videos, the correlation between preternatural good looks and royal women is deeply rooted in our collective psyche. Even if we remove childhood fairy tales and modern beauty pageant “queens” from the equation, we still expect and want real princesses and queens to be beautiful, and great pains are taken to help maintain this symbiosis.
The truth is somewhat more brutal as history is filled with royal women who were anything but beauty queens or who resorted to extreme measures to keep up the fa̤ade of beauty and elegance under intense public scrutiny. Royal beauty Рor lack thereof Рis a topic I explore in two chapters of my book, An Unusual Journey Through Royal History.
Personally, all my expectations of royal beauty were shattered at the tender age of six when I first saw a photograph of Queen Victoria. Clad in black, built like a battleship, stern and unsmiling, even her masses of impressive jewels failed to inspire awe in me. She was certainly not what I had been hoping for in my royal namesake. But her appearance inspired me in other ways as an adult; in particular, encouraging me to explore the lives of royal women on whom the spotlight didn’t shine. One of these was Queen Victoria’s cousin, Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge, whose story I tell in the chapter, “The Courting of Fat Mary.” At 200-plus pounds, the royal family found it quite difficult to find her a suitable husband despite the fact that she was a “remarkably light dancer.”
Even the most celebrated royal women in history, whose legendary beauty has been lauded for time-immemorial by historians, scholars and, of course, Hollywood, are no longer immune to harsh reality, as I describe in the chapter, “A Pageant of Queens.”
Cleopatra, immortalized on the Silver Screen by Elizabeth Taylor and even named as one of the 100 most beautiful women of all time as recently as 2004, may have won the hearts of Julius Caesar and Marc Antony, but she didn’t do it with her stellar looks according to modern archeological finds. An article in the January 2002 issue of Harper’s Bazaar succinctly described Cleopatra as she was portrayed in contemporary images as “an ordinary-looking woman, short, with bad teeth and a bony nose.”
Portraits of French Empress Josephine Bonaparte always emphasize a woman with delicate features and apparent gentility, but they also never show her smiling, and for very good reason. Having been raised on a sugar plantation in Martinique, Josephine had early on been exposed to too much sugar and not enough dental hygiene. In short, her teeth were blackened from decay and her gums were swollen from irritation. Even the most flattering contemporary descriptions of Josephine credit her more for her “sweet personality” than for anything other than being merely “pretty.”
Not even Queen Nefertiti, the ancient Egyptian consort whose name roughly translates to “the beautiful one is come,” was immune to the ravages of age, which is why she opted for an early form of facelift.
A wonderful anecdote of the expectations of royal feminine beauty is given in My Blue Notebooks, the diary of the 19th century French courtesan Liane de Pougy. Known for her exquisite beauty and terminal elegance, Liane tells how, in 1892 or 1893, French dramatist Henri Meilhac asked her to attend a performance at the Opéra-Comique in Paris and emphatically insisted that she wear her “tiara, masses of jewels, a low-cut dress… [and] white cloak with the gold embroidery and the ermine lining.” He also told her she “must have an entourage” and that she “must arrive before the curtain goes up.” For her troubles, he gave Liane 2000 francs and promised her the left stage box, but failed to provide an explanation for her dramatic appearance and entrance.
Liane did as she was asked and made a grand entrance to her box at the opera promptly 15 minutes before the curtain rose, dressed to the nines and accompanied by two equally elegant and well-dressed ladies. Much to her surprise, every person in the packed opera house rose to their feet and turned to look at her. The orchestra suddenly “broke into patriotic music,” causing Liane and her entourage to rise to their feet and prompting the audience to break into spontaneous applause. The celebrated courtesan went gracefully along with the strange situation, assuming that the display was simply a “homage to my youth and beauty.”
Within moments, Meilhac entered Liane’s box and, hysterical with laughter, explained what had just happened… “We’re expecting the Queen of Sweden – in the box opposite – they thought you were her, it’s too killing for words.” Liane looked across to the other box and saw: “a lanky, sad-looking woman, rather badly dressed, surrounded by quite an entourage. Her entrance had been ruined, no one noticed it. It was me… to whom the crowd had paid homage – and the orchestra too, because it was the Swedish national anthem that they had played.”
Meilhac summed up the situation best when he said later, “Homage to beauty! Vox populi, vox dei [trans: The voice of the people is the voice of God]! How beautiful is our Liane! That is how people expect a queen to look, and she has proved it.”
Oscar Wilde wrote in The Picture of Dorian Gray that beauty “has its divine right of sovereignty. It makes princes of those who have it.” Perhaps, but sovereignty does not always make beauties of those princesses and queens who have it, no matter how much we’re inclined to believe otherwise.
An Unusual Journey Through Royal History by Victoria MartÃnez is available at Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com and WhoDaresWinsPublishing.com.
Monday, June 20, 2011
Check it Out: K.A. Tucker
Hi everyone! I've got yet another great author to introduce (or re-introduce) to you! Today we have K.A. Tucker, author of Anathema!
A Writer’s Approach to Writing.
Every writer has their ‘right way’ to write a book. A way that makes sense to them, that’s comfortable, that (hopefully) saves them from months of agonizing revision and rewrites. The trick is discovering what that perfect method is.
So how did I find mine?
September 30th, 2009. That was the day I began writing what would become Anathema. My second daughter was 3 months old and had (finally) drifted off to sleep, and I was stretched out in the family room with an archaic second-hand Dell laptop and an idea. I began adding to that idea each day, during my girls’ naps and in the evenings, after they had gone to sleep. I had no method. I just wrote. It made sense for me at the time. It’s all I knew.
Until revision time came…
I started revising all wrong. I worked on line-editing - trying to smooth out sentences and correct typos, all while this little voice in the back of my mind kept nattering, “yes, you know the difference between their, there, and they’re… but is the actual story any good?”
I finally accepted that I had no sweet clue how to write a novel, even with 110 000 of my own words staring back at me. That’s when I decided I needed to get help. For some, that means going directly to an editor. For others, it’s a writers’ critique group. For me, it was an online course.
In August of 2010 I began a course by Holly Lisle, called “How to Revise your Novel.” I think the title is self-explanatory. It was online, it was at my own pace, and it was delivered in a very easy, non-English class format (you want to see my eyes glaze over? Start throwing terms like ‘predicative adjective’ and ‘reflective pronoun’ at me).
Every single night after my kids went to bed, I cracked the course lessons, as painful as some of them were. And believe me, some of them were downright stab-me-in-the-eye-with-a-fork painful. In the end, I had stripped out 50 000 words of meaningless, pointless crap from my manuscript and rebuilt with another 30 000 of ‘good stuff’ in. It was an eye-opening experience I don’t ever want to go through again.
Why do I mention this course here? It’s not meant to be a plug for Holly’s course (though I highly recommend it!). It’s because during this course, I also stumbled upon my perfect writing approach. The ‘right way’ for me to develop a story. It was derived from a combination of Holly’s teachings, common sense, and my own practicality.
How do I know I’ve found it? Because the night I sent Anathema to the editor, I began working on the second in the series using my newly discovered method. Within two weeks I had a solid outline and within two months the first draft. And the entire process was comfortable. It felt right. My new-found approach gives me the level of structure I need to effectively tie the plots and conflicts together from the beginning, all while not handcuffing my creativity. It’s my perfect balance. It may not work for others - in fact, I can guarantee it won’t for many - but it’s perfect for me.
I’m not going to sit here and outline my perfect writing approach. It’s mine. My precious.
Just kidding. :)
The purpose of this guest blog was simply to highlight that there is no one right way to approach writing a novel but there IS one right way for every individual writer. You all have a perfect approach waiting to be discovered and when you do, expect magic.
Have you found yours yet?
Thank you to Book Goggles for hosting me today :)
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Evangeline has spent her teenage years in obscurity. Her foster parents have the emotional aptitude of robots and her classmates barely acknowledge her existence. About to turn eighteen and feeling like a social pariah, she is desperate to connect with someone. Anyone.
When Evangeline meets Sofie after literally stumbling upon her café, she believes she’s found that connection. Willing to do anything to keep it, she accepts a job as Sofie’s assistant and drops everything to fly to Manhattan, where she is thrust into a luxurious world of Prada, diamonds, and limitless cash.
With such generosity and kindness, it’s easy for Evangeline to dismiss certain oddities . . . like Sofie’s erratic and sometimes violent behavior, and the monstrous guard dogs. She’s even willing to dismiss her vivid dreams of mob-style murders, beautiful homeless people living in caves, and white-eyed demons that haunt her each night as figments of her imagination—especially when one of those figments is the gorgeous Caden. When she wakes up with bite marks on her neck, the fairy tale quickly turns into a nightmare. She slowly unravels the mystery surrounding Sofie and friends, and the reality of the bites and the “dreams.” What she discovers is far more mysterious and terrible than anything she could have imagined.
In a world where everyone has motive to lie for personal gain, Evangeline must decide which deception is least likely to get her killed.
Just to let you know, you can buy K.A. Tucker's book on amazon, smashwords, & Barnes & Nobles!
Also, don't forget that there's a book giveaway!
A Writer’s Approach to Writing.
Every writer has their ‘right way’ to write a book. A way that makes sense to them, that’s comfortable, that (hopefully) saves them from months of agonizing revision and rewrites. The trick is discovering what that perfect method is.
So how did I find mine?
September 30th, 2009. That was the day I began writing what would become Anathema. My second daughter was 3 months old and had (finally) drifted off to sleep, and I was stretched out in the family room with an archaic second-hand Dell laptop and an idea. I began adding to that idea each day, during my girls’ naps and in the evenings, after they had gone to sleep. I had no method. I just wrote. It made sense for me at the time. It’s all I knew.
Until revision time came…
I started revising all wrong. I worked on line-editing - trying to smooth out sentences and correct typos, all while this little voice in the back of my mind kept nattering, “yes, you know the difference between their, there, and they’re… but is the actual story any good?”
I finally accepted that I had no sweet clue how to write a novel, even with 110 000 of my own words staring back at me. That’s when I decided I needed to get help. For some, that means going directly to an editor. For others, it’s a writers’ critique group. For me, it was an online course.
In August of 2010 I began a course by Holly Lisle, called “How to Revise your Novel.” I think the title is self-explanatory. It was online, it was at my own pace, and it was delivered in a very easy, non-English class format (you want to see my eyes glaze over? Start throwing terms like ‘predicative adjective’ and ‘reflective pronoun’ at me).
Every single night after my kids went to bed, I cracked the course lessons, as painful as some of them were. And believe me, some of them were downright stab-me-in-the-eye-with-a-fork painful. In the end, I had stripped out 50 000 words of meaningless, pointless crap from my manuscript and rebuilt with another 30 000 of ‘good stuff’ in. It was an eye-opening experience I don’t ever want to go through again.
Why do I mention this course here? It’s not meant to be a plug for Holly’s course (though I highly recommend it!). It’s because during this course, I also stumbled upon my perfect writing approach. The ‘right way’ for me to develop a story. It was derived from a combination of Holly’s teachings, common sense, and my own practicality.
How do I know I’ve found it? Because the night I sent Anathema to the editor, I began working on the second in the series using my newly discovered method. Within two weeks I had a solid outline and within two months the first draft. And the entire process was comfortable. It felt right. My new-found approach gives me the level of structure I need to effectively tie the plots and conflicts together from the beginning, all while not handcuffing my creativity. It’s my perfect balance. It may not work for others - in fact, I can guarantee it won’t for many - but it’s perfect for me.
I’m not going to sit here and outline my perfect writing approach. It’s mine. My precious.
Just kidding. :)
The purpose of this guest blog was simply to highlight that there is no one right way to approach writing a novel but there IS one right way for every individual writer. You all have a perfect approach waiting to be discovered and when you do, expect magic.
Have you found yours yet?
Thank you to Book Goggles for hosting me today :)
-----------------
Evangeline has spent her teenage years in obscurity. Her foster parents have the emotional aptitude of robots and her classmates barely acknowledge her existence. About to turn eighteen and feeling like a social pariah, she is desperate to connect with someone. Anyone.
When Evangeline meets Sofie after literally stumbling upon her café, she believes she’s found that connection. Willing to do anything to keep it, she accepts a job as Sofie’s assistant and drops everything to fly to Manhattan, where she is thrust into a luxurious world of Prada, diamonds, and limitless cash.
With such generosity and kindness, it’s easy for Evangeline to dismiss certain oddities . . . like Sofie’s erratic and sometimes violent behavior, and the monstrous guard dogs. She’s even willing to dismiss her vivid dreams of mob-style murders, beautiful homeless people living in caves, and white-eyed demons that haunt her each night as figments of her imagination—especially when one of those figments is the gorgeous Caden. When she wakes up with bite marks on her neck, the fairy tale quickly turns into a nightmare. She slowly unravels the mystery surrounding Sofie and friends, and the reality of the bites and the “dreams.” What she discovers is far more mysterious and terrible than anything she could have imagined.
In a world where everyone has motive to lie for personal gain, Evangeline must decide which deception is least likely to get her killed.
Just to let you know, you can buy K.A. Tucker's book on amazon, smashwords, & Barnes & Nobles!
Also, don't forget that there's a book giveaway!
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Check it Out: Kimberly Spencer & Shimmerspell
Hi everyone! Back again for another dose of authors & books to check out! (Isn't the cover on this one gorgeous?)
(Find Kimberly's book on Amazon.com, Smashwords.com, & Barnesandnoble.com!)
Hi. My name is Kimberly Spencer and I devour young adult fiction. What kind, you may ask. Well, I’d have to say the paranormal kind—ones with boys that bite, fallen angels, bean sidhes, and even a killer unicorn or two. I wake up with those types of books on my mind and usually go to sleep the same way. Crazy, I know.
Paranormal and fantastical elements have always been exciting to me and that's why I chose to include them in my own writing. My novella, Shimmerspell, tackles faerie lore, specifically the tale of Morgen Le Fae. My goal was to create a modern faerie tale loosely based on Arthurian Legend that answered the question: How did the Faery world react to Morgen’s betrayal of King Arthur? With Shimmerspell, I’d like to think I accomplished that goal and more.
Shimmerspell is the first novella in the YA Paranormal/Urban Fantasy series, Faerie Tale Girl. I plan to release the follow-up, Limerick, July 2011.
When sixteen-year-old Jensen Meadows finds herself caught in the middle of an ancient faerie war, she soon learns that faeries aren't made of sparkly goodness. They're vicious. And worse, they're after her.
With the help of Liam Casey, she delves into their world to find her missing sister and begins to suspect that her whole life has been nothing more than a faerie tale.
But maybe some truths should never be revealed...
Random facts about me:
-In a past life, I wanted to be a singer-songwriter. Because of that, I write my stories with a melody in mind and each line must fit the arrangement before I can move on to the next chapter.
-I absolutely hated school, but somehow managed to get my BA in Psychology and MSCE in Counseling Psychology.
-My favorite authors are Rachel Vincent, Gena Showalter, and Cassandra Clare.
(Find Kimberly's book on Amazon.com, Smashwords.com, & Barnesandnoble.com!)
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Check it Out: Christina Daley & Seranfyll
Hi everyone! I'm bringing you a new set of authors to be on the watch for! First up is Christina Daley, who was gracious enough to do a guest blog for me!
I'm delighted to be a guest blogger today on Book Goggles, and I thank Chibi Neko for giving me the chance to talk about my debut work here.
Seranfyll is a fantasy written for readers ages ten and up. It's the story of a thirteen-year-old slave girl called Rain, who lives in the country of Yoan, where slaves aren't allowed to have proper names. After being sold to pay part of a gambling debt, she's bought and freed by an eccentric young nobleman named Domrey Seranfyll. Many rumors surround her unlikely emancipator, such as his house is haunted, his horse can fly, and that he's actually a devil.
When faced with making a choice for the first time in her life, Rain decides to stay with Lord Domrey, as does another freed slave called Coal. The book follows the adventures of these three as they learn about choices, consequences, and what being free really means.
Often when I write, I'm trying to figure something out. I have a question, and in the quest for the answer, sometimes I'll put that matter into a story. Then, I let the characters hash it out until a satisfactory answer arises--in theory at least. Among the many questions that I explored in Seranfyll, one of the main ones was, "What does real love look like?"
I think in our Desperate-Idol-saturated society, the concept of "love" has taken on many different forms. We may not like some family members, but we love them anyway, because we're related. We love our spouses, because hopefully they love us in return. We love things like money and sex and entertainment, because they make us feel good, if only temporarily. In short, love is selfish, obligated, and it often comes with strings attached.
So, what does the unselfish kind look like? The kind that creates bonds that not all the poetry or prose or scientific data in the world can explain? I tried exploring this in all three main characters: Rain in her patience and compassion, Coal in his honor and loyalty, and Domrey in his provision and protection.
All of them show their affections in their unique ways. At one point in the story, the otherwise rough-around-the-edges Coal says something significant to Rain: "You once said that you couldn't think of anythin' that you were better at than yer sister. Well, just bein' around you is good enough. You don't have to do anythin'."
In other words, Rain was valued for her self, no strings attached. I test this selfless love in several more situations, some more drastic than others. The result, I think, is not perfect relationships between Rain, Coal, and Domrey. But they are meaningful ones.
Did I find the answer I was looking for? I don't know. You'll have to read the book and find out :) Of course, I had to have some fun with it, hence the bits of goofball humor that pop up in the story here and there.
Seranfyll is available on Amazon.com, Smashwords.com, and BarnesandNoble.com. Also, I invite you to visit my blog (christinadaley.blogspot.com), as well as follow me on Twitter (@CDaleyAuthor), or find me on Facebook (Books by Christina Daley) to keep up to date with future projects and other "shtuffs."
Thanks for having me, and happy reading!
Check it Out! Book Giveaway: Shimmerspell by Kimberly Spencer
Hi everyone! Time for another series of "Check it Out" as well as another ebook giveaway!
This time I have a really awesome looking ebook to offer you, especially for those of you who love authors such as Melissa Marr. The contest will go on for 7 days, starting on 6/18/2011 (12:01 AM) & ending on 06/24/2011 (11:59 PM). The winner gets a smashwords coupon for the format of your choice!
Want to enter? Easy! Just comment here with whatever comes to your head, along with your email address. (But be sure to put it like this: name at domain dot com. This was the spammers don't get you.)
When sixteen-year-old Jensen Meadows finds herself caught in the middle of an ancient faerie war, she quickly learns that faeries aren't made of sparkly goodness. They're vicious. And worse, they're after her. With the help of Liam Casey, she delves into their world to find her missing sister and begins to suspect that her whole life has been nothing more than a faerie tale. But maybe some truths should never be revealed...
This time I have a really awesome looking ebook to offer you, especially for those of you who love authors such as Melissa Marr. The contest will go on for 7 days, starting on 6/18/2011 (12:01 AM) & ending on 06/24/2011 (11:59 PM). The winner gets a smashwords coupon for the format of your choice!
Want to enter? Easy! Just comment here with whatever comes to your head, along with your email address. (But be sure to put it like this: name at domain dot com. This was the spammers don't get you.)
When sixteen-year-old Jensen Meadows finds herself caught in the middle of an ancient faerie war, she quickly learns that faeries aren't made of sparkly goodness. They're vicious. And worse, they're after her. With the help of Liam Casey, she delves into their world to find her missing sister and begins to suspect that her whole life has been nothing more than a faerie tale. But maybe some truths should never be revealed...
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Check it Out: Point Deception (Book Trailer)
Hi everyone! I'll be coming out of my self imposed hibernation in a few days to give you a new round of "Check it Out".
Until then, here's a trailer an author (Jim Gilliam) sent me for his new book Point Deception. I haven't read it, but it sounds like it should be an interesting read for some of you guys out there!
Point Deception is a suspense thriller, packed full of criminal activities, military action, and a likeable protagonist with a tortured soul.
Surviving the mean streets of New Orleans in 1956, young Tim Kelly begins a young Indiana Jones style adventure by lying about his age to join the Coast Guard at fourteen.
In lieu of a court martial Kelly volunteers for combat duty in Vietnam where three of his friends are killed in a friendly fire incident. Deeply mourning the loss of his friends, he releases his rage in an Air Force officer's club, earning him a less than honorable discharge.
Returning to his home state of Texas Kelly embarks on a new career as an undercover narcotics agent, entering the shadow world of drug and human trafficking sponsored by his old friend and mentor Rodolfo Guzman, a kingpin in the powerful Campeche drug cartel.
His failure to check in with his handler alerts a team of Texas lawmen who embark on an illegal, clandestine, armed incursion into the sovereign territory of Mexico to rescue Kelly, or recover his body. It is a bold and dangerous plan. Not even the most elite units of the Mexican federal police dared attack Rodolfo Guzman's hacienda--a renegade state within a state that did not answer to the Mexican government.
As the helicopter lifted off synchronized explosions of C4 completed the destruction of Rodolfo Guzman's once proud seventeenth century hacienda.
No one spoke during the short flight back to the safe house on the Texas side of the Rio Grande.
Until then, here's a trailer an author (Jim Gilliam) sent me for his new book Point Deception. I haven't read it, but it sounds like it should be an interesting read for some of you guys out there!
Point Deception is a suspense thriller, packed full of criminal activities, military action, and a likeable protagonist with a tortured soul.
Surviving the mean streets of New Orleans in 1956, young Tim Kelly begins a young Indiana Jones style adventure by lying about his age to join the Coast Guard at fourteen.
In lieu of a court martial Kelly volunteers for combat duty in Vietnam where three of his friends are killed in a friendly fire incident. Deeply mourning the loss of his friends, he releases his rage in an Air Force officer's club, earning him a less than honorable discharge.
Returning to his home state of Texas Kelly embarks on a new career as an undercover narcotics agent, entering the shadow world of drug and human trafficking sponsored by his old friend and mentor Rodolfo Guzman, a kingpin in the powerful Campeche drug cartel.
His failure to check in with his handler alerts a team of Texas lawmen who embark on an illegal, clandestine, armed incursion into the sovereign territory of Mexico to rescue Kelly, or recover his body. It is a bold and dangerous plan. Not even the most elite units of the Mexican federal police dared attack Rodolfo Guzman's hacienda--a renegade state within a state that did not answer to the Mexican government.
As the helicopter lifted off synchronized explosions of C4 completed the destruction of Rodolfo Guzman's once proud seventeenth century hacienda.
No one spoke during the short flight back to the safe house on the Texas side of the Rio Grande.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Check it Out: LJ Deleon
Hi everyone! I'm going to be posting the winners of the contest soon, so check back in a little bit to see if you won!
For my final interview I have LJ Deleon, author of Warrior's Rise & Dragon's Child. She's one of the authors who generously donated an ebook for the contest, so one lucky person is going to get their choice of one of her books! (Click on the image below to go to her website!)
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If you're curious about LJ's books, you can purchase her books via Amazon, Smashwords, & other fine retailers!
For Fae-human half-breed Deva Morgan, life as she knows it changes on her thirtieth birthday. One moment she’s a barkeep, the next she is a warrior fated to save Earth from the Dark Lord and his demon hoard. Shunned by both her races, she faces a danger-filled quest with few allies. Too bad her powers haven’t fully emerged or stabilized.
For Deva it is life or death, on-the-job training with her companion, Padraig O’Neal, a Fae warrior with a shadowed past. Can he quiet the storm raging inside her, help her harness the growing power within her, and provide a barrier between Deva and a fatal outcome? Will their love be enough to save Deva and stop the Dark Lord’s demons from entering Earth?
A fire-breathing dragon, Moira O'Neal, was exchanged at birth for a Fae princess. Discovering the truth, she escapes the cage of the royal court and joins forces with the sexiest wereleopard on Earthworld. She fights the urge to mate and the trap that comes with it as they race against time to find the missing princess and a master of the black arts who covets her power.
Major Steve Taylor, a wereleopard in the Army For Light, partners with the impetuous Moira in the middle a dangerous mission where failure means all their deaths. Worse, his leopard decides Moira is his mate, leaving the man at war with his cat.
Bio: LJ DeLeon is an Army brat and a world-traveled former CIA Intelligence Analyst who has seen enough of this world to appreciate other worlds. Working for the CIA was great training for writing fantasy, paranormal, and futuristic romance—and understanding the warrior mentality. Amazing how real life and fiction overlap.
Visit LJ at her website and blog!
For my final interview I have LJ Deleon, author of Warrior's Rise & Dragon's Child. She's one of the authors who generously donated an ebook for the contest, so one lucky person is going to get their choice of one of her books! (Click on the image below to go to her website!)
What made you decide to write? Did you always know that you wanted to be an author or was there an “aha!” moment in your life where you suddenly knew that this was what you wanted to do?
LJ: It was an aha moment, but not one you would expect. In retrospect, I have always been a storyteller. When a book or film or TV show didn’t end the way I wanted it to, I rewrote it. On the long drives I made between Fort Huachuca, Arizona and anywhere, I made up stories to amaze myself, such as the flicker of light was a UFO and the aliens have a secret base in the Cochise Mountains.
Then in 1990, I read a book that was a real wall-banger—the type where a book lover like me who doesn’t break the bindings would rip it to shreds—and I decided I can do better than that! A year later, I had a completed manuscript that lined the litter box. Six manuscripts later, I finally had a book I was willing to show someone.
How do you come up with the titles for your books? These can often be amongst the hardest things for authors to settle on, so how & when in the process do you start coming up with titles?
LJ: Warrior’s Rise went through three, or was it four, different titles before I settled on it. I had the title of the series, Warriors For Light, but Deva Morgan’s book gave me fits. I finally stopped torturing myself and looked at my story. Deva starts as a barkeep, by the end of the first scene she’s been told she is the future leader of an army to save Earth and Otherworld from the Dark Lord and his demons. Over the course of the book, she grows/rises into a warrior.
Whereas, I had the title for Dragon Child, the second book in the series, before I wrote the first line. I mean, truly, what else can you name a book when the heroine, Moira O’Neal, is a Saraph, a fire-breathing dragon shifter, who was exchanged at birth with the newborn Fae princess. The third book, Absolution, will be released in May. Again, this title came first. The hero, Lucan “Luc” Woods, is in search of forgiveness, why and how he achieves it is the crux of the story.
In my other series, The Turner Chronicles, it wasn’t the title, The Ultimate Game, that proved the problem but the series name. This series is a futuristic romance/cyberpunk. In 1875, a cave-in traps Max Turner and two woman in a mine filled with a strange gas. In 2484, he awakens in a cryo chamber. Max, a conman and professional gambler, plays The Ultimate Game, to keep the heroine and himself alive, uncyber-chipped, and to take down the ruling family that wants him dead.
Whereas, I had the title for Dragon Child, the second book in the series, before I wrote the first line. I mean, truly, what else can you name a book when the heroine, Moira O’Neal, is a Saraph, a fire-breathing dragon shifter, who was exchanged at birth with the newborn Fae princess. The third book, Absolution, will be released in May. Again, this title came first. The hero, Lucan “Luc” Woods, is in search of forgiveness, why and how he achieves it is the crux of the story.
In my other series, The Turner Chronicles, it wasn’t the title, The Ultimate Game, that proved the problem but the series name. This series is a futuristic romance/cyberpunk. In 1875, a cave-in traps Max Turner and two woman in a mine filled with a strange gas. In 2484, he awakens in a cryo chamber. Max, a conman and professional gambler, plays The Ultimate Game, to keep the heroine and himself alive, uncyber-chipped, and to take down the ruling family that wants him dead.
Are any of the experiences in the books based on someone you know, or events in your own life? Obviously the more fantastical aspects come from your imagination, but have you ever drawn on anything that you’ve seen or done (or anyone you’ve known) in real life & used it in part of your story?
LJ: I joke about being an Army brat and a former CIA intelligence analyst set the stage for my writing fantasy romance, urban fantasy romance, and cyberpunk romance. But in a way, it’s true. Aside from being surround by testosterone most of my life, I lived in Japan as a kid. I’ve never forgotten their stories, myths, and festivals. I love mythology. Warriors For Light was born out of this. I combined Greek, Roman, Norse, and Celtic myths, threw in some of the Bible, and turned it all upside down.
For The Turner Chronicles, I wondered what the world would be like if globalization were taken to the extreme. What if these mega corporations were run by “families” who controlled physical territories and the lives of those who lived under their thumbs? What if someone from a time when absolute freedom was valued dropped into that world? Would he survive, and if so, how and what impact would he have?
For The Turner Chronicles, I wondered what the world would be like if globalization were taken to the extreme. What if these mega corporations were run by “families” who controlled physical territories and the lives of those who lived under their thumbs? What if someone from a time when absolute freedom was valued dropped into that world? Would he survive, and if so, how and what impact would he have?
Do you have any latest news I can dish for you?
LJ: The third book in the Warriors For Light series, Absolution, will be released in May and the fourth and fifth books Sophie’s Challenge and Kate’s Army will be out in late November or early December. Also, Warrior’s Rise got a terrific review from Bitten by Paranormal Romance. I’m hopeful it will be the first of many and that the reviews for Dragon Child and The Ultimate Game follow in the same vein.
Who are some of your favorite authors? Have they helped inspire your writing by reaffirming your decision to write or by indirectly giving you ideas for various stories?
LJ: My favorite authors, hmm. Let’s see, I love Nalini Singh, JR Ward, and Ilona Andrews. I’ve also discovered a new author and am nuts about her. KH LeMoyne. Like me, she writes out of the box, has subplots that run through the book and it seems through the series, and is an indie author.
Do you have any advice for new writers?
LJ: Write, take workshops on writing, get a critique partner but don’t let them change your voice, and write. Make sure you know grammar and punctuation. If don’t, learn it. Make sure you have the mechanics of writing down then set a schedule or quota for each day and write. If you write just one page a day, you will have a book at the end of the year. Also, don’t be afraid of failure or rejection. If you don’t follow your dream, you have already failed and rejected yourself.
What is the hardest thing about writing for you? Everyone’s got that one part of writing that seems to stick with them.
LJ: For me, it’s finding that first sentence of the scene. I know it sounds silly, but without that first sentence, I can find myself floundering. I usually call or email my critique partners and beg for a sentence. For some reason, just hearing it shoves my mind into gear and I’m off.
In the light of recent infamous responses to negative reviews, how would you recommend responding to negative reviewers?
LJ: Suck it up, be a professional. Yes, it’s your baby and its birth rivaled, maybe even was worse than childbirth labor, but not everyone will like it, any more than everyone likes you. It could be something as simple as the character’s name, over which you the author have no control. Or something you have complete control over, spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
I’m an indie author. To ensure my books don’t disappoint because of things under my control, I have an outsider editor I use and a fantastic graphic artist to create my covers.
If a reviewer attacks me as a person, then shame on them. If they complain about the plot, characters, or the mechanics, shame on me. In both cases, I wouldn’t respond. But if it were the second, I would take a hard look at the review and learn from it. Reviewers aren’t a writer’s enemy. They’re usually book lovers who want to be swept away by the story, and when it doesn’t happen because of spelling, grammar, punctuation, or story, they have every right to complain. When disappointed it isn’t the cost of a book people object to. It’s the time they spent reading it.
So, to all those new authors, I say again, be a professional and suck it up. If you don’t say anything and are lucky, you may have a number of good reviews that bury that negative one.
I’m an indie author. To ensure my books don’t disappoint because of things under my control, I have an outsider editor I use and a fantastic graphic artist to create my covers.
If a reviewer attacks me as a person, then shame on them. If they complain about the plot, characters, or the mechanics, shame on me. In both cases, I wouldn’t respond. But if it were the second, I would take a hard look at the review and learn from it. Reviewers aren’t a writer’s enemy. They’re usually book lovers who want to be swept away by the story, and when it doesn’t happen because of spelling, grammar, punctuation, or story, they have every right to complain. When disappointed it isn’t the cost of a book people object to. It’s the time they spent reading it.
So, to all those new authors, I say again, be a professional and suck it up. If you don’t say anything and are lucky, you may have a number of good reviews that bury that negative one.
What do you like on your pizza? (Not book related but everyone’s got a favorite topping!)
LJ: While I love UNO’s pizza where it has olive oil on the crust, sliced tomatoes with spinach, broccoli, and cheese piled high on it, ice cream is my downfall. My favorite food is ice cream—rich, fatty, ice cream. I mean really, if you’re going to blow the diet, do it in style with something that has a ton of calories. (Me: Oh my gosh, that sounds AMAZING. I know what I'm getting next time I go to UNO's.)
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If you're curious about LJ's books, you can purchase her books via Amazon, Smashwords, & other fine retailers!
For Fae-human half-breed Deva Morgan, life as she knows it changes on her thirtieth birthday. One moment she’s a barkeep, the next she is a warrior fated to save Earth from the Dark Lord and his demon hoard. Shunned by both her races, she faces a danger-filled quest with few allies. Too bad her powers haven’t fully emerged or stabilized.
For Deva it is life or death, on-the-job training with her companion, Padraig O’Neal, a Fae warrior with a shadowed past. Can he quiet the storm raging inside her, help her harness the growing power within her, and provide a barrier between Deva and a fatal outcome? Will their love be enough to save Deva and stop the Dark Lord’s demons from entering Earth?
A fire-breathing dragon, Moira O'Neal, was exchanged at birth for a Fae princess. Discovering the truth, she escapes the cage of the royal court and joins forces with the sexiest wereleopard on Earthworld. She fights the urge to mate and the trap that comes with it as they race against time to find the missing princess and a master of the black arts who covets her power.
Major Steve Taylor, a wereleopard in the Army For Light, partners with the impetuous Moira in the middle a dangerous mission where failure means all their deaths. Worse, his leopard decides Moira is his mate, leaving the man at war with his cat.
Bio: LJ DeLeon is an Army brat and a world-traveled former CIA Intelligence Analyst who has seen enough of this world to appreciate other worlds. Working for the CIA was great training for writing fantasy, paranormal, and futuristic romance—and understanding the warrior mentality. Amazing how real life and fiction overlap.
Visit LJ at her website and blog!
Check it Out: Chris Wimpress
Hi everyone! Here's your second dose of author goodness for the day!
Meet Chris Wimpress, author of Joe is Online. Luckily I remembered to get Chris a copy of the questions so I do have an interview for you today! (And we get an answer to the burning pizza questions. I do have to say, I've never wanted pizza as much as I have during these interviews!)
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Curious about Chris's book? You can check it out via amazon & smashwords!
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Don't forget that there's still time to enter the giveaway!
Meet Chris Wimpress, author of Joe is Online. Luckily I remembered to get Chris a copy of the questions so I do have an interview for you today! (And we get an answer to the burning pizza questions. I do have to say, I've never wanted pizza as much as I have during these interviews!)
What made you decide to write? Did you always know that you wanted to be an author or was there an “aha!” moment in your life where you suddenly knew that this was what you wanted to do?
I’ve been writing all my life, starting with short stories (which I’m rubbish at), then poems and then finally novels. Two novels were aborted when I was younger. This one took 3 years to finish.
What inspires you? Do you have a muse that you tap into each time you write or does your imagination respond to different things, like seeing an apple & suddenly deciding to write a story about an apple farmer?
Most of my inspiration seems to come from visiting places and traveling. I write about cities I love or which have a lot going on inside them. I try to find music which matches the mood and theme I’m trying to create and then listen to those tunes a lot. But then I always have to write in absolute silence.
How do you come up with the titles for your books? These can often be amongst the hardest things for authors to settle on, so how & when in the process do you start coming up with titles?
‘Joe is Online’ just came to me because it’s one of the most frequent statements in the book. It had a working title before that but it was just something I could name it as a file on my desktop. I only had my title about six months before completion.
Are any of the experiences in your book based on someone you know, or events in your own life? Have you ever seen or done any of the things in your book? If not, how did you go about doing your research? Any funny stories you can share with us?
I’ve been to all the cities in the book, and plus all of the less urban areas as well. I’ve been on roadtrips around the UK and north America many times. I love open, empty roads. I did a lot of research on explosives, computer viruses and hacking. Given the laws we have in Britian these days to snoop on people, I sometimes expected my front door to be kicked in by the police.
Do you have any latest news I can dish for you?
I’m going back to work as a journalist at the British Parliament. I’ve had three months off and I’ve missed it.
Who are some of your favorite authors? Have they helped inspire your writing by reaffirming your decision to write or by indirectly giving you ideas for various stories?
My favourite authors are Margaret Atwood, William Boyd, Iain M Banks, Alastair Gray and Thomas Pyncheon. I think all of them can be very funny. I love it when you find laugh-out-load humour in even the darkest of books.
Do you have any advice for new writers?
A friend of mine owns a restaurant, and she has a sign above her bar which reads ‘The chef accepts tips but not advice’. All I would say is be sure to back up your work, in duplicate and triplicate. If you can’t be disciplined about that, buy an Apple Time Capsule.
What is the hardest thing about writing for you? Everyone’s got that one part of writing that seems to stick with them.
Editing. I can’t edit my own work once I’ve finished it, so I have to edit as I go along. The idea that you could write a first draft then go back and edit it from the start is very strange to me.
In the light of recent infamous responses to negative reviews, how would you recommend responding to negative reviewers?
I wouldn’t recommend responding to any reviews at all.
What do you like on your pizza? (Not book related but everyone’s got a favorite topping!)
I LOVE pizza and my favourite combo is BBQ sauce (not tomato), ground beef, jalapenos and green peppers.
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Curious about Chris's book? You can check it out via amazon & smashwords!
In 1997 a 13 year-old boy with no friends called Joe went online.
He decided the offline world was too harsh be real. With the help of an internet psychic called Magda Magenta, Joe unleashes a series of co-ordinated attacks on the world, beginning online and spreading into the offline world. He develops an online cult populated by people who've also been let down badly by the real world.
Nobody can trace their source until a quiet, shy professor in terrorism called Penelope Hunt discovers a link to Joe. She finds herself sucked into a conspiracy which transcends race and religion. With only a radical tele-atheist to help her, Penny decides to shut down Joe's activities, placing her own life in grave danger in the process.
'Joe is Online' spans continents and decades. Its setting is at the boundary where the online and offline worlds meet.
He decided the offline world was too harsh be real. With the help of an internet psychic called Magda Magenta, Joe unleashes a series of co-ordinated attacks on the world, beginning online and spreading into the offline world. He develops an online cult populated by people who've also been let down badly by the real world.
Nobody can trace their source until a quiet, shy professor in terrorism called Penelope Hunt discovers a link to Joe. She finds herself sucked into a conspiracy which transcends race and religion. With only a radical tele-atheist to help her, Penny decides to shut down Joe's activities, placing her own life in grave danger in the process.
'Joe is Online' spans continents and decades. Its setting is at the boundary where the online and offline worlds meet.
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Don't forget that there's still time to enter the giveaway!
Check It Out: Jazmyn Douillard
Hi guys! Today's the last day to enter to win one of the goodies I have up for grabs in this month's contest! I've got a ton of cool ebooks to give away as well as an Amazon giftcard!
Now for what you're really reading this post for: Jazmyn Douillard. Unfortunately I didn't get a copy of my questions to her, so again we'll have to guess at what type of toppings she likes. (I'm going to guess olives. Those are yummy.)
Kat wakes up from a nightmare she's had many times before to find a dead laptop with no memory of her thesis for her final grades.
If only she knew that possibly failing out of college was going to be the least of her worries for the day. If it isn't humans pushing her in front of cars, it's an ancient race of beings who are thirsty for her link to a woman who's been dead for over two hundred years.
Can Kat survive the day on her own, or is she going to have to accept help from an unusual man who seems to pop in and out of her life with conspicuous timing?
And if she doesn't survive, will she stay dead?
A full length supernatural adventure novel that will take you around the world!
Warning: Contains adult situations, course language and sexual content.
When Jaz isn't looking awesomely stylish, she's working as a graphic artist & polishing up her books. A quick peek through her etsy shop (which you totally have to check out here) shows that she's got an incredibly vibrant imagination & a wonderful set of esthetics. Jaz writes, sews, AND writes- she's a creative triple threat! She's also contributed to The One Million Masterpiece, a site that accepts art from all over the world in an attempt to get an end result that is truly global! (See her contribution here.)
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