Library Girl Reads & Reviews

Four Paws: Scott Morgan on Being An Author

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Donner) — Fri, 24 May 2013 09:00:00 +0000

This is a sponsored post presented by Orangeberry Book Tours and The Quillective Project.

The Quillective Project's mission is to turn the power of the written word into an instrument of compassion, hope, and generosity by putting that power directly in the hands of organizations that share our principles. The 2013 Quillective Project is Four Paws, a poetry anthology featuring bestselling authors Scott Morgan, Ben Ditmars, Amber Jerome~Norrgard and Robert Zimmermann, with a "fourword" by Russell Blake. 100% of all proceeds from the sale of Four Paws will benefit The Dallas Humane Society's no-kill shelter, Dog & Kitty City. Your purchase of this book makes a difference.

Buy on Amazon: Paperback * Kindle

10 Things I Wish I Knew About Being an Author

by Scott Morgan

I’m not big on Top Ten Lists, but in this case I see an opportunity to tell aspiring authors some realism about living the life. Writers, after all, are dreamers by nature. I don’t actually like to be the bucket of ice water, but I do like getting people past their dreams and into their goals (which, as the cliché says, are goals with deadlines).

1. You need help.

No one goes it alone. To be a successful, working writer, you need people ‒‒ preferably a wealthy spouse who lets you follow your writing dreams without being a jerk about it. Wealthy spouse or not, you also need people to help you figure out how to write, find your voice, market an promote, spread the word, and help you build your base. It takes a ridiculously long time and more patience than most people have, but the more help you get, the more you will succeed.

2. You’re not a writer, you’re a salesman.

Writers today are independent businesspeople. They are entrepreneurs. They must know how to sell, how to promote, how to sell, how to market, how to sell, how to set up events, and, if I haven’t mentioned it, how to sell. It’s exhausting. If you just want to write for your own edification and don’t care about sales, more power to you. But you’re not going to make it (certainly you’re never going to get your story optioned by Hollywood) without being a really good salesman. Whenever you look at a crappy book that becomes a soaring bestseller, know that it’s not the writing that got it there, it’s the salesmanship of the author and his team.

3. Nobody cares.

A better way of saying this is, nobody cares until you make them care. That’s where sales comes in. But believe me ‒‒ nobody’s waiting on you, no matter how good your book is. And if anyone IS waiting on you, you’ve already established yourself fairly well.

4. You spend WAY more time doing everything BUT writing.

Related to the sales thing is the website maintenance and interviews and “hey, could you read my book” requests and countless other things (like Facebook) that get in the way. You will have to make time for writing amid the chaos that is everything else in your life. So the moral here is, want it. Want it very, very badly or it’ll kill you.

5. You’ll want to quit.

Like I said, if you don’t love what you do, it will kill you. If you do love it, it will still try. The more you love it the harder it will try. And some days, when you see no sales, no retweets, no repostings on Facebook, and no general interest in your existence at all, you will wonder why you bother. If you’re normal, you will see a scalding review of your work and it will make you throw a hissy tantrum like a six-year-old. You will look around and think “I have to go to accounting school or something.” Don’t. Accountants aren’t happy either.

6. You’ll make friends.

When you’re building that base of helpers, you will come to realize that you will make actual friends. People will want to come see you. People will be happy to meet you. They will share their lives with you. Embrace them. These people are gold.

7. You’ll make enemies.

Someone will always hate you. The more successful you are the more people will know your name. Some will hate you because you represent something they dislike. Some will hate you because you’re successful. Some won’t hate you but will find it hilarious to say nasty things to you. And everyone else will tell you that you shouldn’t care. I don’t care if you care or not. But I do care that you believe me when I tell you you’ll make enemies.

8. Have a hobby.

Have I given the impression that writing is hard? I didn’t mean to. I meant to give the impression that it’s ludicrously hard and potentially destructive to everything you hold dear. Which is why you need a hobby to help keep your sanity. Paint, cook, play video games, knit, whatever. Just get away from writing every once in a while.

9. Social media is vital and stupid.

You need to be on Twitter and Facebook and a bunch of other sites. And I don’t regret having been on them because I’ve made genuine friends and advanced my career. But Facebook in particular is the worst thing ever. Nothing but crazies, activists, and motivational placards. Still, you need it, so buckle up and ignore the stuff you don’t like. 10. You need a publicist and they’re expensive.

All that marketing you’re doing on Twitter and Facebook? Yeah, you’re marking to the same handful of people who are marketing to you. In essence, everyone in class has baked their own cupcakes and we’re all handing them out to each other. The cure for this is a professional. Someone who knows how to promote and market you. Of course, if most writers could afford publicists, they wouldn’t need to write for money, so don’t forget that the writer’s life is filled with hilarious irony like that.

None of that was meant to scare you. It was just meant to motivate you. Believe me, the sooner you accept the truth about writing, the better positioned you’ll be to make a career of it.

Scott Morgan is the bestselling author of Character Development from the Inside Out and How I Make A Living In Writing, and is also the author of two short fiction collections, Short Stack and Tryptic. His latest book is How To Be A Whiny Beeyotch: 71 Writing Excuses Meet the Back of My Hand.

Scott is the president of WriteHook (Write for the Jugular), an editing and writing services company for fiction and creative nonfiction. He also is a teacher, presenter, and speaker.

Connect with The Quillective Project: Website * Facebook

Connect with Four Paws: Facebook * Twitter

Note: All opinions presented in book and product reviews are my own. Opinions presented in posts authored by others reflect the view of the author only and not necessarily my view or opinion.

Deborah Carney: Photos of Buddha Beach

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Donner) — Thu, 23 May 2013 11:00:00 +0000

This is a sponsored post written on behalf of
Deborah Carney and The Indie Exchange.

Click picture for a puzzle game to reveal the cover.

Buddha Beach is an area on the banks of Oak Creek in Sedona Arizona. The area is considered to be near one of the vortex sites, near Cathedral Rock. Cathedral Rock is probably one of the most photographed places in the United States.

Buddha Beach got it's name because people that visit Oak Creek started building rock cairns that resemble little (or big!) Buddha statues. The Buddhas are created and then changed by others visiting the area, making it a living, ever-changing rock garden.

photo used with permission of Deborah Carney

There is a sense of peace that comes over you if you stop and absorb the energy at Buddha Beach, which is also referred to as Buddha Garden. Being on the shore of Oak Creek gives you the soothing sounds of the water as you walk and enjoy the Buddhas. At some points in the creek there are actually Buddhas in the water.

The water level rises and falls in the creek, so one day the cairns are all on the sand and another day they are under water. The location is not only a place for families to go and play, but it more often is a place where people go to meditate and absorb the energy. If you need to recharge your batteries, consider a visit to Buddha Beach on Oak Creek.

See more of Buddha Beach in the photo books by Deborah Carney. The first two volumes are currently available.

Deborah Carney has been a freelance photographer for over 35 years. As a prolific photographer with an eye for details her photos involve many of her favorite subjects such as butterflies, hummingbirds and macro images of flowers, wildlife and nature of all kinds. Her latest study involves the geology and natural formation of rocks and minerals in Sedona, AZ with the manmade stone Buddha’s paired with the sayings of Buddha himself.

With the onset of color ereaders, tablets and applications, Deborah was inspired to create a multitude of high quality photo books on a large variety of subjects.

Currently she and her partner Vinny O’hare are refuges from Hurricane Sandy living south of Phoenix, AZ where they frequently go on day long photo adventures and discover new and exciting things to photograph.

Website * Twitter * Facebook * Gallery * Pinterest * YouTube

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Note: All opinions presented in book and product reviews are my own. Opinions presented in posts authored by others reflect the view of the author only and not necessarily my view or opinion. If a product was given to me for review, the source of that product is noted in the post. Amazon and Book Depository links are affiliate links and I do earn a small amount for each purchase. Other affiliate links will be noted in the post.

Annealed The Final Book of The Pipe Woman Chronicles by Lynne Cantwell

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Donner) — Wed, 22 May 2013 18:00:00 +0000

The Pipe Woman Chronicles by Lynne Cantwell is a series that I've been wanting to read since I first discovered at Cabin Goddess. Now that the final book is out I have no excuse not to get started! Be sure to enter to win the complete series and look for more from Lynne as she hits the web for a blog tour at the beginning of June.

Release Day Blitz for the Final Book in

The Pipe Woman Chronicles by Lynne Cantwell

Naomi Witherspoon lives in interesting times. At the winter solstice, she was Seized by a Native American goddess to mediate a power-sharing agreement between all the pagan gods and goddesses and the Christian God. Then, as her relationship with her new boyfriend Fissured, she Tapped a wellspring of strength – her Native American heritage.

Now, Gravid and due any day, she must conduct the mediation of her life. Will she succeed? Or will it all go up in smoke?

The answers to those questions, and more, can be found in Annealed, the final installment in the Pipe Woman Chronicles, an urban fantasy series by Lynne Cantwell.

It began at the winter solstice

And it ends

Now.

It’s zero hour…

Naomi has just two weeks to find a new home for Joseph's grandfather. The old Ute shaman is fighting for his life against a mysterious injection of toxin he received at the hands of the Norse Trickster god Loki. If Naomi is to defeat Loki once and for all, she must learn what it is he seeks under the old man's wickiup.

She has just one week before she must mediate between the Earth's pagan gods and goddesses and the Christian God. If her efforts fail, all of humankind will suffer the consequences.

And her baby is due any day.

In this, the fifth and final book of the Pipe Woman Chronicles, Naomi is in a race against the clock to balance the demands of her body, her family, and her friends – and she must do it while the whole world is watching.

Buy from Amazon: Paperback * Kindle
Add on Goodreads: Annealed * The Pipe Woman Chronicles
A taste of chapter 10:
Jehovah sighed. "White Buffalo Calf Pipe Woman, I concede that much of what You have said here is true. Humanity wrestles still with its baser impulses, even as it reaches for the pinnacle of its potential. Math, the sciences, engineering. I never thought they would figure out fractal theory." He chuckled. "I love My children dearly. Soon they will reach the stars. They are ever a surprise and a delight to Me."

Lynne Cantwell's take on the excerpt:
"Naomi has finally reached the Big Mediation -- the one between the Christian God and all the pagan gods and goddesses that the whole series has been driving toward. In this scene, White Buffalo Calf Pipe Woman has just outlined all the ways humanity has trashed God's Creation: ruining the environment, using Scripture as an excuse to treat other human races like animals, and so on. God acknowledges all of that. But it's also clear that He takes great delight in what He has created -- and He has a sense of humor, too."

About the Author: Lynne Cantwell

Lynne Cantwell has been writing fiction since the second grade, when the kid who sat in front of her showed her a book he had written, and she thought, "I could do that." The result was Susie and the Talking Doll, a picture book, illustrated by the author, about a girl who owned a doll that not only could talk, but could carry on conversations. The book had dialogue but no paragraph breaks. Today, after a twenty-year career in broadcast journalism and a master's degree in fiction writing from Johns Hopkins University (or perhaps despite the master's degree), Lynne is still writing fantasy. In addition, she is a contributing author at Indies Unlimited and writes a monthly post for The Indie Exchange.

TWITTER | FACEBOOK | BLOG | GOODREADS | AMAZON

Giveaway: Wax by Phil Duncan

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Donner) — Wed, 22 May 2013 11:00:00 +0000

Yancey Muncey is dead. Or, he was. Raised from the grave by the shadowy figure of Dr. Blankenship, Yancey is now back in high school, hanging out with his best friend, and working up the nerve to ask the girl of his dreams to the upcoming Halloween carnival.

But not everything is the same as it was before: Yancey’s eyes are yellow, his skin is blue, and he’s indestructible. As if that weren’t bad enough, Dr. Blankenship has made it his life’s mission to hunt Yancey down. Because the only reason Yancey is alive again is to help the good doctor destroy his rival.

An average boy with a new lease on an extraordinary life, Yancey must battle high-trained security and high school bullies in his quest to get back to normal. What’s the worst that can happen after all? He’s already dead.

Buy Wax on Amazon

From the Strangest Places

by Phil Duncan

Let’s begin with a quick hypothetical:

Propelled by a dangerous nosey streak that often lands him in trouble, a man logs onto his girlfriend’s browser and begins casually perusing her Internet history. To his dismay, he finds bytes upon bytes of information on serial killers, the war crimes of the Peloponnesian war, and instructions for assembling a nineteenth century blunderbuss. His eyes glaze over, snot pools on his trembling upper lip, as he reads on: sustainable unicorn ranching techniques, the mating rituals of banana slugs, the pH ratio of Coca Cola. Finally, he reaches for the phone to alert the authorities when he stumbles upon a website, unapologetically entitled How to Murder Your Boyfriend in Seven Easy Steps. As he is just about to dial 9-1-1, the door of the office swings open and his girlfriend enters the room.

Though this sounds like the opening to a perfectly mediocre true crime tale, the girlfriend is far from being a felon-in-waiting or prime candidate for a straightjacket. The more likely explanation is that she is a writer; and her boyfriend just learned the consequences of snooping around in the typical schizophrenic browsing history of one who sets pen to paper. As writers, we find inspiration in just about everything -- which is why we’re often taken aback when asked by someone “so what inspired this book?” The answer is never easy, as we pull inspiration from our daily lives, our research, and from other books, films, and media. While my novel Wax is a very loose remix of Shelly’s Frankenstein, there are flecks of everything from Franny and Zooey to the “The Simpsons” to the regenerative capabilities of octopi found within its pages.

Inspiration strikes from the strangest places and it is the job of a writer to always be open to it, whether watching a French film from the ‘60s, reading a comic book, or – yes -- logging into online murderer message boards. No matter what genre or form her writing takes, the successful writer should never narrow her interests in regards to what inspires her research and, ultimately, her creative output. The more encompassing the radar, the more information the writer will receive. She may never process but a fraction of this information -- but that one character note, that one scene description, that one piece of detailed minutiae -- may be the element that ultimately determines the success of the piece.

So dirty up that browser history, but for your nosey partner’s peace of mind, consider cleaning it up once in awhile.

About the author:

Phil Duncan is the author of Wax, a young-adult novel published by RainTown Press, as well as of various short fiction published both in print and online.

Phil is a graduate of Goddard College’s Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program and the University of Washington’s English program. He is a former Jacob K. Javits Fellow and recently served as a Creator-in-Residence at the Tokyo Wonder Site-Aoyama in Tokyo, Japan. He currently lives in Portland, OR.

Connect with Phil: Goodreads * Twitter

Why do I keep asking for help for Appalachia? #monkeydo

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Donner) — Wed, 15 May 2013 17:52:00 +0000

I shared this video back in January when I introduced you to the Monkey Do Project but I think it is important enough to share it again. Please watch it and see exactly why the people of Appalachia need our help to provide the basic needs for their families.

Monkey Do Project still needs help to provide backpacks filled with books and healthy snacks to children in Adams County, Ohio. These backpacks will be given to kids when they attend a health fair where they can get routine check ups and health screenings. For some of these kids this may be the only healthcare they receive this year. Please read this post on the Monkey Do Project website to find out exactly what is needed.

I want to give a huge shout out to SOYJOY for sending boxes of SOYJOY bars to include in these backpacks!

Read more about how SOYJOY helped Monkey Do Project.

That is the good news. The bad news is that requests for donations for this project have been rejected by several U.S. companies because they are using their charitable funds for projects overseas. Currently, Monkey Do Project has not raised enough funds to purchase the backpacks or the books to go in them. So how can YOU help?

Visit Pave the Path with Monkeys and make a $26 donation to help fund this project.
Determine who in your company or organization would be responsible for making a corporate donation and share this project with them. (There are benefits for being a corporate sponsor!)
SHARE information about this project on all of your social media outlets! The more voices we have spreading the word about this project the better chance we have of being heard by people who can fulfill these needs.
Like Monkey Do Project on Facebook and follow on Twitter for the latest updates on this project and others.

Note: All opinions presented in book and product reviews are my own. Opinions presented in posts authored by others reflect the view of the author only and not necessarily my view or opinion. If a product was given to me for review, the source of that product is noted in the post. Amazon and Book Depository links are affiliate links and I do earn a small amount for each purchase. Other affiliate links will be noted in the post.

The Morph by JC Andrijeski with Giveaway

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Donner) — Tue, 14 May 2013 10:00:00 +0000

This is a sponsored post on behalf of JC Andrijeski and Orangeberry Book Tours.

An unusual shifter romance in the new adult category, the Gate-Shifter series centers on shifters from another world altogether, called morph. Morph and Earth humans were never meant to cross paths, until Nihkil Jamri tries to save private detective, Dakota Reyes while surveying Earth for his human masters from another dimension, and ends up pulling her into his dimension with him. Part urban fantasy, part paranormal romance, part science fiction adventure, the Gate-Shifter series explores alien romance with the least likely candidates imaginable.

Summary of Book One:

Dakota Reyes, a twenty-something private eye who specializes in what she calls ‘hard-to-prosecute’ cases, finds herself in a dark alley one night, about to end up dead at the hands of a young Ted Bundy in training…that is, until a lost, shape-shifting alien named Nihkil rescues her, and inadvertently takes her home with him. The problem is, his home is in a different dimension, and Dakota has no clue how to get back to Seattle, or Earth, or even her own time period. She finds herself bound to her rescuer, Nihkil, through his ‘lock,’ a quasi-biological structure that controls whether he can shape-shift, among other things, which he needs to be able to do in order to get her back home. Only Dakota has no idea how to open Nik’s lock, and the longer she spends in his world, the more forces begin to align against them, trying to prevent her from getting home.

Buy The Morph at Amazon or Smashwords

A Day in the Life of Fiction Writer

by JC Andrijeski

So, I strongly suspect this will be purely for amusement’s sake, rather than anything that’s going to be particularly illuminating in terms of writing process, but I thought it might be funny to document one of my ‘normal’ days as a full-time fiction writer. This is partly inspired by the series Dean Wesley Smith is currently doing on ghost-writing a novel in eight days.

Although, yeah, I won’t be doing that.

Somehow, I suspect I will learn more than I want to know about myself and my process by doing this, however…ha!

Okay. So here goes…

MONDAY – April 21st, 2013

6:50am – got up, cursing because I overslept (I usually get up at 6am, was up too late watching the L-Word, my latest ridiculous, brain-candy binge on Netflix). Roommate, who is allergic to pretty much everything and hates the world in the morning is already using the coffee grinder. Damn! He seems to take it as a personal affront if I’m even in the same room with him before he’s been awake for more than two hours, so I’ll have to try and navigate around him for the next hour or so.

6:55am – Roommate jumps in the shower. I run into kitchen, throw on water for coffee, fix filter, add grinds, add sugar. While water boils, proceed to water plants, do a few dishes, change my clothes, get my computer powered up. Roommate still in shower, so can’t do the usual teeth ritual and face washing until he’s gone.

7:07am – Water is boiling. Make coffee. (CRITICAL)

7:12am – Sit down to start working. Current work in progress is THE MORPH (Book 2), but pause to fill this post out first and check email. Since I’ve been working on other things for the past two weeks, I reread the last chapter I was working on to get back into the flow of the story and characters.

8:14am – Roommate is gone. Jump up to brush my teeth, floss, wash my face, put on moisturizer…all the things I normally do at 6am. Oh, and make another cup of coffee. Finished about 800 new words so far, give or take, so my brain is waking up.

8:32am – Sat back down to write.

9:19am – Took another short break, checked email, texted a friend about getting dinner this week, logged some finance stuff. Written about 1600 words at this point. Spent a few minutes working out a title for this book, which has been nagging at me. I think I’m going to call it SEATTLE MORPH (Gate-Shifters #2)…although I wavered a bit between that and EARTH MORPH.

10:06am – I’m now at about 2,500 new words. I wander briefly around the room for a bit, stretching my limbs and doing a bit of yoga and some sit-ups.

10:13am – Sit back down to write (I do most of my new words in the morning).

12:01pm – A little more than 4,300 words, and now, okay, I’m hitting the low blood sugar portion of this program (coffee can only do so much). I also need to get out of the house for a bit, scrounge up some food since the fridge is bare, (which is why I didn’t have my customary 10am bagel and/or English muffin). It’s also a beautiful day in San Francisco, so wherever I’m going, I’m walking. I briefly try to decide if I should bring my computer, in case I want to work through lunch, and decide against it. So I back up my WIP via email (a ritual since I’m leaving my computer at home), and grab my keys.

2:47pm – Returned to the apartment after walking about 40 blocks to Best Buy before I realized the thing I wanted to return was actually purchased at Office Depot (oops!). On the way back called my sister and ended up talking to her over an hour about my impending move to Lincoln City. Badly in need of food at this point, I purchased a sandwich from Lou’s and a coke and headed home, where I’m now getting ready to watch an episode of the L-Word and eat (a rather late) lunch.

3:30pm – Finished lunch. Remembered I have a new article up on The Indie Exchange so I note it on my blog. Ended up talking to a friend while on Facebook who’s going through an intense break-up, and then answered a few emails.

4:00pm – Wrote a bit more but kind of sleepy. Around 4,800 words.

5:00pm – Woke up from a 30 minute nap. Started working on the paperback version of WAR: ALLIE’S WAR, BOOK SIX, which I’m in the process of formatting.

7:00pm – Brief break to read news and some blogs. Lunch was too late for me to want dinner, so I guess I’ll skip it.

7:45pm – Finish formatting the ‘guts’ of the paperback and start working on and finishing the cover now that I have the book’s dimensions. The big chunk of work for this is the back cover, which needs copy, etc. Luckily I’ve gotten a LOT faster with this, and I have a template for the Allie’s War books, since it’s a series.

11:20pm – Upload the finished paperback PDF (insides of book) and the cover. Finish all the meta data and so forth, and write a quick post on my blog with the new paperback cover in case anyone wants to weigh in.

12:00am – Well, I’ll probably be up for another hour or so, watching crap and winding down, but my day is more or less done.

Hope this wasn’t too terribly boring, ha!

You can see I pretty much work with breaks, rather than do a ‘normal’ (meaning 9-5) type schedule. I took a big chunk of my midday off to walk around, shop, eat, talk to friends and family…that’s pretty normal for me, actually. Then I usually work all night until 12am -1am, although often it’s more ‘publishing-type’ stuff and I’ll have a movie playing in the background if I can get away with it (although often I couldn’t tell you much about the movie afterwards and end up having to watch it again if it’s something I really want to see).

Looking this over, this is (sadly) a fairly normal day, although usually I don’t have a paperback to format every night…and naps are only occasional.

Would love to hear people’s reactions!

JC Andrijeski has published novels, novellas, serials, graphic novels and short stories, including the Allie's War series, The Slave Girl Chronicles series, and the bestselling novella, The Alien Club. Her short fiction runs the gamut from humorous to apocalyptic, and her nonfiction articles cover subjects from graffiti art, meditation, psychology, journalism, politics and history. Her short works have been published in numerous anthologies, online literary, art and fiction magazines as well as print venues such as NY Press newspaper and holistic health magazines. JC has traveled extensively and lived abroad, including two years spent at the foot of the Himalayas in Himachal Pradesh, India, a location she drew on a fair bit in writing the Allie's War books. She's also lived or spent considerable time in Poland, Prague, Australia, London, Vancouver BC, New York City, Los Angeles, Portland (OR), Albuquerque, Seattle, Eureka (CA) and DeLand, Florida. JC currently lives and works in San Francisco.

Connect with JC Andrijeski: Blog * Facebook * Twitter

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Note: All opinions presented in book and product reviews are my own. Opinions presented in posts authored by others reflect the view of the author only and not necessarily my view or opinion. If a product was given to me for review, the source of that product is noted in the post. Amazon and Book Depository links are affiliate links and I do earn a small amount for each purchase. Other affiliate links will be noted in the post.

Giveaway: Fern by Amy Richie Prize Pack

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Donner) — Fri, 10 May 2013 10:00:00 +0000

Summer is coming and you need start putting together your reading list.

Young adult paranormal fantasy author Amy Richie hopes you will pick up her Blood Vine series.

She's offering a Prize Pack to one lucky reader, which includes a signed paperback copy of Fern.

Join Amy Richie for a Twitter Party

May 10 at 11 am eastern

Use the hashtag #Fern

Connect with the author: website * Facebook

“It’s strange how fast life changes. Just when you think you have it all figured out, a council man hands you six werewolves to take care of.”

Willow and her pack had barely settled into their new town when the council shows up again. Only this time it’s to ask for their help - to save Gage. How can Willow refuse?

Suddenly, Willow is thrust into a world of childhood nightmares. The Ancient City. But it isn’t at all what she thought it would be. In fact, Willow soon realizes that not many things are what she thought they would be and she has to figure out for herself which things are worth fighting for.

Buy the book at Amazon.

Haven't started the series yet? Buy the first book, Willow, on Amazon.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

A GWR Publicity promotional event paid for by Anchor Group Publishing. Giveaway is sponsored by the author.

Note: All opinions presented in book and product reviews are my own. Opinions presented in posts authored by others reflect the view of the author only and not necessarily my view or opinion. If a product was given to me for review, the source of that product is noted in the post. Amazon and Book Depository links are affiliate links and I do earn a small amount for each purchase. Other affiliate links will be noted in the post.

Writers Workshop of Science Fiction & Fantasy Excerpt & Giveaway

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Donner) — Wed, 08 May 2013 10:00:00 +0000

“Nothing fills a page faster than dialogue,” the writer said.

There it is, the blank page or screen, the intimidating and recurring challenge every writer must face. The temptation is to fill that page as quickly as possible, to advance the narrative however you can. Often the easiest way to do that, even for writers who are not masters of dialogue, is to get the characters talking. A few writers are even bold enough to begin novels or stories with a line of dialogue, something I don’t recommend unless you possess the skills of the early Robert A Heinlein, who began his story “Blowups Happen” with the suspenseful line: “Put down that wrench!” Orson Scott Card also opened his popular novel Ender’s Game with a piece of dialogue that immediately rouses the reader’s curiosity: “‘I’ve watched through his eyes, I’ve listened through his ears, and I tell you he’s the one.” Writing good and convincing dialogue is usually enough of a challenge without relying on it to hook a reader right at the beginning of one’s story. Writing dialogue, whatever the difficulties, is generally easier than, for example, crafting descriptive passages, offering insights into a character’s psychology, creating vigorous and absorbing action scenes, or presenting necessary exposition in a graceful way.

Writers who harbor dreams of scriptwriting may be especially prone to fill pages with dialogue, but others also succumb, partly because dialogue is a shortcut and a very useful one. Sometimes a few well-chosen words of conversation can accomplish as much in a story as pages of description and exposition. There are also a fair number of readers who are more absorbed by stretches of repartee than by beautifully and poetically rendered descriptions. (Writers meet these people all the time; they’re the ones who tell you they skip all the dull parts, often meaning those carefully wrought passages that cost you so much effort.) Better just to cut to the chase, or in this case, drop in on the conversation.

The strength of dialogue—namely that it can be a useful shortcut—is also its weakness. Writers who rely too much on dialogue risk leaving too much out. The writer may hear the characters clearly and easily envision the scene, but that doesn’t mean that the reader will. (In a review of a novel some years back, Joanna Russ wrote that passages in that book seemed to be largely about names drinking cups of coffee, noticing the designs of ashtrays, or riffing on the furnishings in a room, the characters were so indistinguishable.) The beginning writer is likely to produce dialogue in which the reader will find it hard to tell one character from another. The useful shortcut can produce a story that is sketchy, in which too much has been left out.

About the Book:

Writers Workshop of Science Fiction and Fantasy is a collection of essays and interviews by and with many of the movers-and-shakers in the industry. Each contributor covers the specific element of craft he or she excels in. Expect to find varying perspectives and viewpoints, which is why you many find differing opinions on any particular subject.

This is, after all, a collection of advice from professional storytellers. And no two writers have made it to the stage via the same journey-each has made his or her own path to success. And that’s one of the strengths of this book. The reader is afforded the luxury of discovering various approaches and then is allowed to choose what works best for him or her.

Featuring contributions from a sensational list of writers such as Neil Gaiman, Orson Scott Card, Kevin J. Anderson, Ursula K. Le Guin, Harry Turtledove, Joe Haldeman, and many other top names in genre fiction, Writers Workshop of Science Fiction & Fantasy is a highly valuable contribution to the speculative fiction community developed by Bram Stoker Award-winning editor Michael Knost.

Giveaway: Down and Out in Beverly Heels by Kathryn Leigh Scott

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Donner) — Mon, 06 May 2013 13:00:00 +0000

Down and Out in Beverly Heels tells the story of Meg Barnes, a beloved actress who has it all and loses everything—and ends up living on the streets of Tinsel Town in her Ritz-Volvo—thanks to her newly wed con-man husband. The novel is a fun, light-hearted romance, taking us into the Hollywood social swirl, but also delves into the gritty truth of what it is to be “homeless and hiding it” in one of the most glittering, fashionable cities in the world. It’s also a story of redemption as Meg tracks down her fugitive husband and struggles to regain her reputation, career and friendships.

From Publishers Weekly:

Scott (Dark Passages), best known for her star turn on the TV show "Dark Shadows," delivers a unique novel about a Hollywood actress short on cash and down on her luck... Mystery and romance are craftily combined... Scott gives the readers a first-hand view of the fickle nature of Hollywood in a fast-paced story complete with eccentric characters and a plethora of mysterious twists and turns.

Writing and Show Business

by Katheryn Leigh Scott

I have been a published writer as long as I’ve been a working actress and there are times when my two careers unavoidably merge. While I am completely thrilled with the book reviews for Down and Out in Beverly Heels, almost all the reviewers also identify me as a “Dark Shadows” actress. Over the years I’ve come to embrace the inevitability of always being referred to as the fiancé of vampire Barnabas Collins and I drew on that in creating the character of Meg Barnes in my novel. Meg once played Jinx Fogarty, an amateur sleuth in a wildly successful TV series, which means that no matter what she does in her life or career, she will always be known as Jinx, just as I will always be remembered as Maggie Evans and Josette DuPres. Just ask Sally Field what it’s like to always be reminded she was once “The Flying Nun”!

The downside for an actress like Meg Barnes, who has some celebrity attached to her name, is the harsh glare of the media when the spotlight is attracted for the wrong reasons. The tabloid press is rife with examples of wonderfully talented, successful performers suffering career meltdowns because of problems in their personal lives. In a nutshell, Meg faces intense public scrutiny when her newlywed husband turns out to be a con man, who bilks her out of everything she owns, and she ends up living in her “Ritz-Volvo” on the streets of Beverly Hills. Worse, her friends, law enforcement and the press all think she was in on the scam.

All of this is revealed in the first few pages of the novel because what really interests me as a writer and actress is how Meg rebuilds her life in the aftermath. What happens months later when the paparazzi is no longer on her doorstep -- when she no longer has a doorstep! -- and must deal with the pain and humiliation of having been stripped of everything she’s worked so hard to achieve. How does it change you? What do you do to survive? What is it you find in yourself that allows you to pull yourself back up? For Meg, it’s even harder to bear knowing that her life of comfort and security, and the enjoyment of doing work she loves, has been ruined through no fault of her own.

I’ve been an actress since 1966, when “Dark Shadows” first went on the air, and I appeared in the new Dark Shadows film with Johnny Depp in 2012, so I know how challenging it is to sustain a long career. Reputation means everything, and so many careers have been destroyed by a negative public image. Obviously, the process of aging also takes its toll, and leaving the profession for any length of time makes it even more difficult for an actor to find work again. Meg can’t afford to lie low licking her wounds. “Homeless and hiding it,” she ends up living in her car determined to eke out an existence until she can regain her livelihood.

Writing about a show business world that I am very familiar with, I don’t make it easy for Meg. It’s a tough, unforgiving profession in which even the most talented face rejection on a daily basis, but Meg is resourceful, resilient and blessed with a wonderful, ironic sense of humor. In the end she finds redemption and retribution. I care too much about Meg not to give her a chance to confront the person who plunged her into these dire straits, and also allow her to once again shine as an actress.

About the Author:

Best known for her role as Josette DuPres, the vampire bride to the reluctant vampire Barnabas Collins in the classic TV series “Dark Shadows,” Kathryn Leigh Scott has established herself as an author and publisher. Her titles include her latest work of fiction Down and Out in Beverly Heels, her debut novel Dark Passages, and several nonfiction works. While continuing her acting career, Kathryn launched Pomegranate Press to publish books about the entertainment industry. On the acting front, Kathryn appeared last year in a cameo role in Tim Burton's Dark Shadows, starring Johnny Depp, alongside other members of the original television cast. Learn more about Kathryn at www.kathrynleighscott.com.

An Easter Bonnet for Lily Giveaway & Twitter Party

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Donner) — Fri, 03 May 2013 09:00:00 +0000

From children's author & illustrator Jodie Stone

Prize Pack includes:

$25 Visa gift card, Paperback copy of 'An Easter Bonnet for Lily' ,
Jodi Stone Illustrated Greeting Cards,

Jodi Stone Illustrated Paper Dolls, Magnets, bookmarks

Join children's author & illustrator Jodi Stone for a Twitter Party

Tuesday, May 7 at 11:00 am ET

#EasterBonnet

Connect with the Author: Goodreads * Facebook * website

Easter is Savannah’s favorite holiday. She loves to dress up in her fanciest of dresses and bonnets, and enjoys all of the traditions her family continues year to year. Savannah finds herself struggling though on a day that she usually loves, and finds herself feeling discouraged. Across the land in Tulip, Easter Bunnies are preparing for the big day as well, all but one: Lily. Lily is the newest Easter Bunny recruit, but struggles with one major problem: her ears. Join both Savannah and Lily on this magical Easter adventure, where they will both realize that magic is held within your heart if you just believe.

Buy the book at Amazon!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

A GWR Publicity promotional event paid for by Anchor Group Publishing. The giveaway is sponsored by the author.

Note: All opinions presented in book and product reviews are my own. Opinions presented in posts authored by others reflect the view of the author only and not necessarily my view or opinion. If a product was given to me for review, the source of that product is noted in the post. Amazon and Book Depository links are affiliate links and I do earn a small amount for each purchase. Other affiliate links will be noted in the post.

Double-take Tales by Donna Brown #weeklyshorts

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Donner) — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 17:31:00 +0000

Weekly Shorts is a fun meme hosted by Kriss at Cabin Goddess. This is a great way to find something to read that doesn't take long and doesn't cost much. Kriss generally posts hers on Sunday but this isn't a day specific meme so you can find new reads all week long.

I received a copy of Double-take Tales by Donna Brown from The Indie Exchange as part of the April Blog Tour.

Double-take Tales is a collection of three short stories all with a bit of a twist at the end. The stories are Round Trip, Poison, and C'est La Vie.

My favorite of the three was Poison about a woman who uses her husband's nut allergy as a method of obtaining satisfaction. I thought this one had the best flow of all the stories and I could truly feel the emotion from the main character. My favorite line "Disappointment can chip away at your heart slowly until the damage is so extensive there is no suitable response."

I struggled a bit with Round Trip because most of the paragraphs were single short sentences and I couldn't quite catch the flow. I liked the idea of the story and the ending but I think I needed it to be a bit more filled in.

C'est La Vie had me rereading after the twist at the end to see if I could find clues that I had missed the first time. The story is compelling and the method of telling it is brilliant. It is a story with high anxiety and questions that you are not certain will be answered.

Double-take Tales by Donna Brown

Three dark, sardonic short stories that will have you expecting the unexpected:

In "Poison," a psychologically abused wife discovers that her husband's nut allergy may be the solution to all her problems.

In "Round Trip," a five pound note passes through desperate hands, greedy hands and tired hands before coming full circle…accompanied by a big surprise.

In "Ç'est La Vie," the police bungle a murder investigation under the watchful eye of someone uncomfortably close to the killing.

Donna is a long time book reviewer and has devoured books from an early age. She writes short stories as and when inspiration hits and is married to fantasy author David M. Brown. She is also a contributor to David's (mostly!) non-fiction book, Man vs Cat.

Donna has lived in many different areas of the UK over the last 31 years but has remained in Yorkshire for the past decade. She ardently disputes the misnomer that 'It's grim up north'. You can find Donna on Google+, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Goodreads, or visit the blogs she shares with her husband: Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dave, and Diary of Mr Kain

Controlling Your Fictional Character by Carolyn Moncel

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Donner) — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 10:30:00 +0000

Last week I featured Donna Brown and Double-take Tales as part of the first blog tour run by The Indie Exchange. Today I have the other author on the tour, Carolyn Moncel, and her book 5 Reasons to Leave a Lover. Make sure you enter to win a copy of one of these fabulous books. There are Amazon gift cards up for grabs too.

Controlling Your Fictional Character By Carolyn Moncel

Since my oldest daughter is now a young woman and spends most of her weekends out with her friends, I find that it’s a perfect time for me to bond with my youngest daughter. One of the ways in which we do this is by watching a lot of movies on Friday nights. This week’s selection actually wasn’t my choice, but I’m happy that my daughter selected it anyway because it was a real treat. It was sweet little movie called Ruby Sparks and as a writer, I could not help but love it. Think Stranger than Fiction but instead from the author’s point of view.

If you haven’t seen it yet, here’s a little recap of the movie’s plot. A young writer finds unexpected literary fame as an adolescent. Years later, he still struggles to write a successful follow-up novel and the pressure from his agent and publishing house to do so sends him spiraling out of control and on to a psychologist’s sofa. Having broken up with his long-time girlfriend only complicates matters. At his therapist’s suggestion, the writer creates a character for whom he would consider to be his “ideal” woman and girlfriend. The more the writer learns about her (a character who reveals herself as “Ruby Sparks”), the more she not only becomes the central character in his new novel, but also in his own life. The fun begins the day Ruby becomes a real, functioning human being, demanding a life of her own. In light of this surprising discovery, the question becomes whether or not her creator will allow her this free will to grow and evolve, or will he try to guide her every movement to the point of extinction.

I could totally relate to Calvin Weir-Fields, the writer in the movie. Take for example, my character, Julien Roulet, who is featured in the novella found in 5 Reasons to Leave a Lover. I know him better than anyone else because I created him. He is an elusive lover; distant and slightly mysterious. Tall and slim with brown hair and sparkling green eyes, he’s handsome, intelligent, creative, quick witted and tad bit irreverent. A French man who refuses to pronounce the letter “h” when speaking in English, he’s also married and a devoted family man. He’s far from perfect though – an insecure, rakish, adulterer in fact. And yet at the same time, he’s a good guy who is still deeply in love with his wife. Unfortunately, he now finds himself in an impossible situation and saving him remains my toughest challenge. The only problem being, Julien really doesn’t want to be saved. Oh, the complexity!

As authors we experience a whole host of emotions while creating characters. Just like in real life, we take up their hobbies, research their professions, record their fickle likes and dislikes, all in an attempt to better understand them. When all is going well between us, we can’t wait to visit them in their imaginary world each day. One minute we’re laughing at all of their jokes and the things that they do. And the next, we’re infuriated and downright embarrassed by their behavior. When they abandon us because they yearn for independence and space, we become fearful because we never know which direction they will take our story.

The point to all of this is this. Creating characters for which there is genuine affection is what makes writing fun and rewarding. Whenever we are able to achieve that level of love for our character, our readers are the true beneficiaries. However, as writers we also have to know when to let our characters live. We cannot become obsessed with controlling their every movement or behavior in order to achieve a desired outcome for their lives. After all, it is their lives. Even if we could changeour characters's lives, as authors we would be doing so at our own peril because our characters would lose their essence -- the very “spark” that gives us permission to love (or hate) them in the first place. And, THAT would be such a shame.

5 Reasons to Leave a Lover by Carolyn Moncel

In 5 Reasons to Leave a Lover, author Carolyn Moncel offers up a fresh batch of stories based on love and loss. As singer/songwriter, Paul Simon so eloquently suggested in a famous song from the 1970s, there are many ways to leave a lover. However, Moncel's characters demonstrate that the reasons for leaving in the first place are quite finite. Encounters in Paris` Ellery and Julien Roulet return, picking up their lives where the short story, "Pandora`s Box Revisited," ends. This time the Roulets are involved in a love triangle, and along with two other couples, must explore how love relationships are affected and splinter due to abuse, ambivalence, deception, cheating and death. This bittersweet collection of tales proves that some breakups are necessary; while others are voluntary; and still others are simply destined and beyond anyone's control.

A virtual media and web consultant by day and author by night, Carolyn Davenport-Moncel moved to Paris from Chicago, her hometown, in 2002. She received her bachelor's degree in Communications from Loyola University. Known for her online articles on media relations, Moncel owns MotionTemps, LLC, a bilingual Digital Project and Web Content Management firm with offices in Chicago, Paris and Geneva; and its subsidiary, Mondavé Communications, a media relations training and publishing company. She has written, placed articles or been featured in such diverse publications as Entreprenuer.com, Expatica.com, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, Wired News, International Herald Tribune, Wall Street Journal, and Working Mother. She currently resides in Lausanne, Switzerland with her husband and two daughters. Author of Encounters in Paris - A Collection of Short Stories and 5 Reasons to Leave a Lover - A Novella and Other Short Stories, her latest collection is called Railway Confessions - A Collection of Short Stories.

Through These Veins by Anne Marie Ruff

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Donner) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 18:02:00 +0000

Through These Veins takes the reader from Ethiopia to Washington, D.C. following the journey of a plant which holds the possibility of saving countless lives. A medicine man's daughter, an Italian scientist, and an employee of a pharmaceutical research company are brought together in unexpected ways as the research becomes a personal quest.

I received a copy of Through These Veins from the publicist/author to review.

Through These Veins sounded like an intriguing book as I wondered what could connect a medicine man's daughter and an Italian research scientist beyond his time in her area of Ethiopia. While there was a connection when they met and then again later on in the book when their lives connect again, I think I was expecting more during the middle section of the book based on the description.

The best parts of the book for me were the time spent in Ethiopia, both in the beginning with Zahara and her father and then when Ruth and Stefano return and see the devastation, and the last portion of the book when Ruff takes the reader through the politics of the pharmaceutical industry. The two sections provide a great contrast and social commentary.

Unfortunately, the middle was slow going for me. As the characters moved on their own paths with seemingly no connections I found myself reading sections and wondering why the author was including some scenes at all. Now it did turn out that some of the information and detail included in that section was actually critical to events unfolding as they did later on in the book but at the time, to me, it didn't seem like important material.

Overall I enjoyed the book even through there were sections I struggled to get through.

About the Book:

In the coffee-growing highlands of Ethiopia, an Italian scientist on a plant collecting expedition discovers a local medicine man dispensing an apparent cure for AIDS. As the medicine man’s teenage daughter reveals the plants behind the cure, their lives become irrevocably intertwined. Through These Veins weaves together the dramatically different worlds of traditional healing, U.S. government funded AIDS research, and the pharmaceutical industry in an intensely personal, fast-paced tale of scientific intrigue and love, with both devastating and hopeful effect.

All profits from the sale of this book will be distributed to the Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines of Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders and the Institute of Biodiversity Conservation in Ethiopia.

Purchase at Amazon: Paperback and eBook

About the Author:

Anne Marie Ruff has reported on AIDS research, drug development, biodiversity conservation, and agriculture from Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and East Africa. Her work has been broadcast by National Public Radio, Public Radio International, the British Broadcasting Corporation, and PBS TV. Her articles have appeared in Time, Christian Science Monitor, and Saveur among other publications. Through These Veins is Anne Marie's first novel.

Please visit www.annemarieruff.com to learn more about the book and Anne Marie.

Connect with Anne Marie Ruff on Facebook and Twitter.

Donna Brown on Committing to the Story

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Donner) — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 11:00:00 +0000

Today I am thrilled to be participating in the first book tour hosted by The Indie Exchange. I've been lucky to work with this group of authors and bloggers for over a year now. It was through this group that I first met Donna Brown and her husband David. David has been featured on the blog a few times but now it is finally Donna's turn. Double-take Tales is coming up quickly on my "to read" list and I've only heard wonderful things about these stories. Now I'll let Donna fill you in on her approach to writing and everything else. Keep reading to the end of the post to find out more about Donna's book and the other book on this tour, 5 Reasons to Leave a Lover by Carolyn Moncel. You also have an opportunity to win one of these books or an Amazon gift card.

Can I Commit to a Long Term Relationship?

I admit it: I'm flighty, sometimes impetuous, easily distracted. Life is full of so many things, I'd like to try to learn as much as possible. The phrase 'Jack of all Trades, Master of None' rings true. Since leaving high school I've studied modules in politics, Spanish, German, English, biology, chemistry, maths, animal science and social sciences. Commitment problem? Oh yes! I've studied something almost every year for the last decade and achieved good scores, yet I don't hold a degree. You want me to learn ONE thing for three years? Ouch...

The same rings true in my writing. I admire my husband's commitment in spending 10 years building a fantasy world, but it also baffles me. 2-3,000 words is more than enough time for me to introduce my characters, make things happen and then leave them to it. Do I wonder what happens next? Truthfully, no. I care deeply about my characters in the past of the back story and the present story. Not their futures. Truth be told, I don't really want my readers to care either. I write stories with a twist because I want readers to question what they read and look back, not necessarily ahead.

Even so, a character keeps haunting me. Harry Schmidt has been popping in and out of my thoughts for almost four years now. I know his story, but can I commit to this character for long enough to tell it? I really don't know. I care deeply about Harry's story and that's part of the problem. Perhaps it needs someone more committed to really do it justice. What if I sell this very very flawed character short, burying him under dark humour and terrible events, instead of offering some kind of redemption? That could be worse than never telling the story.

Recently I looked into completing my studies and turning my work so far into a Social Sciences degree. The fees are now prohibitive - that ship has clearly sailed. Maybe it's a sign that I'm not meant to be a master of any one trade. Maybe, instead, my impetuousness and lack of commitment is a gift, always taking me somewhere new. Or maybe it's a sign that sometimes you need to commit, even if you're not entirely sure. Time will tell.

MEET HARRY SCHMIDT: Excerpt from the first chapter

Harry Schmidt was forty-two when love first found him. He lived alone, having shared a house with his mother until her death two years previously. At 82 Mrs Schmidt had retained a startling amount of independence and thus Harry required far more looking after than she did. Indeed this situation would have continued for several years had it not been for the unfortunate incident with the shoe.

Despite 35 years of being told not to do so, Harry had the unfortunate habit of kicking off his shoes at the end of a working day (Harry worked as a postman and therefore his feet were begging to be relieved from his shoes after hours of walking). Regrettably, Harry often kicked off his shoes in unfortunate places; thus, during the years, Mrs Schmidt had needed to be ever more vigilant in order to avoid Harry’s wayward footwear. Many accidents had been avoided due to Mrs Schmidt’s careful approach over the years but it was, perhaps, inevitable that in the end a shoe would be her downfall.

As a postman Harry was usually home in the afternoon; however, on the ill-fated day in question he had decided to go out to watch a football match and had been delayed in getting home due to the bus breaking down. The fates would further conspire in orchestrating a fuse outage at the house, which would lead the independent Mrs Schmidt to attempt to navigate her way down the cellar stairs with only a candle to light her way. Naturally, this would also be the day that Harry had kicked off his old work shoes for the last time for just the day before he had purchased a new pair of black boots and was wearing those instead. His old shoes had been haphazardly abandoned as so many times before but this time with catastrophic consequences.

So it was that all these coincidences conspired against poor Mrs Schmidt to ensure that when she weaved her way through the small corridor to the cellar door and pulled it open, her foot clipped one of the abandoned shoes as she took her next step and this small action was enough to unbalance her. At any age a stone staircase is a difficult adversary but for 82 year old Mrs Schmidt it was a fatal one.

Harry would never know the trouble that his misplaced shoe had caused for the very step that had caused Mrs Schmidt to unbalance was the step that knocked the shoe into a tidy position. When the fuse switch was flipped and light was restored, paramedics could only conclude that Mrs Schmidt had panicked in the darkness and taken the stairs too quickly. In this way, Harry was spared from a lifetime of guilt but, sadly, not from the loss of his beloved mother.

Therefore, at forty years of age, Harry Schmidt was finally forced to stand on his own two feet and face the world. And this he did. For a while, Harry would feel quite content with his progress in the world; however, Harry Schmidt was yet to face his biggest challenge – love.

Double-take Tales by Donna Brown

Three dark, sardonic short stories that will have you expecting the unexpected:

In "Poison," a psychologically abused wife discovers that her husband's nut allergy may be the solution to all her problems.

In "Round Trip," a five pound note passes through desperate hands, greedy hands and tired hands before coming full circle…accompanied by a big surprise.

In "Ç'est La Vie," the police bungle a murder investigation under the watchful eye of someone uncomfortably close to the killing.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Note: All opinions presented in book and product reviews are my own. Opinions presented in posts authored by others reflect the view of the author only and not necessarily my view or opinion. If a product was given to me for review, the source of that product is noted in the post. Amazon and Book Depository links are affiliate links and I do earn a small amount for each purchase. Other affiliate links will be noted in the post.

How Can You Help With $26? #monkeydo

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Donner) — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 13:00:00 +0000

How much value do you place on $26? For some people that is a drop in the bucket. An amount so small that it might not be missed at all. For others $26 may mean the difference between paying all of the bills or only some of them. For yet another group $26 may be all the money they have for a week, two weeks, or even longer.

Could you give $26 to help a child?

The Monkey Do Project has many ways that $26 can help people in Appalachia, one of the poorest regions of the United States. Many of these projects are ongoing but there is one with a firm deadline. The organization needs 2000 people to donate $26 each by July 1 in order to meet their commitment to providing backpacks with a book, healthy snacks, and school supplies to children in Ohio. This is a need that cannot be met without help! Please visit Pave the Path with Monkeys to donate directly using PayPal.

I know that money is tight for a lot of us right now. If you can't donate, please help by spreading the word. We need to get this need in front of as many people as possible to be able to reach the goal of giving out 2000 backpacks to children who need them.

Jack Templar and the Monster Hunter Academy by Jeff Gunhus

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Donner) — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 11:00:00 +0000

The attack didn’t come until nearly dusk on that second day. And it had nothing to do with wolves.

The screaming came first. Daniel had just turned to me and pointed to a rocky outcrop ahead of us. The cave. That meant a campfire and a chance to eat something hot. Just as Daniel turned, a black shadow streaked out of the treetops, emitting a deafening shriek that only stopped once it smashed right into Daniel’s face.

In what seemed like slow motion, a splatter of blood arced through the air and landed in a pattern on the fresh snow.

Daniel spun around on his horse, and Saladin reared on his hind legs, nearly knocking me off his back. I looked over at Daniel and saw something attached to his face—a creature with pale grey flesh and wiry hair. About the size of a large rat, it was so emaciated that its skin looked like only a thin casing stretched tight against its skeleton. Adding to this bony appearance were thin, papery wings that were wrapped around either side of Daniel’s head, holding on while the creature’s mouth gnawed on his face.

I put my hands to my ears as the forest erupted with the same maddening shriek, but now in a chorus. Judging from the ear-shattering volume, there had to be dozens of them. I knew exactly what these things were, remembering them from one of my classes. These were shriekers, members of the Lower Creach. Not overly dangerous by themselves, but deadly when they hunted as a group.

I caught movement out of the corner of my eye and looked up into the trees. At first I thought I was seeing things. The low light and the wind rocking the trees had created a bizarre dance of shadows, confusing my senses. But as I watched, I could discern dozens of dark forms gliding through the shadows.

Shriekers.

Everywhere.

Screeching and spitting.

Picking their way toward us with their stubby feet and their bat-like wings.

I could see their faces now. They were small, with pointed noses that reminded me of a ferret or a weasel. Only these guys had mouthfuls of pointy teeth that protruded out from elongated jaws.

The shriekers nearest me saw that I’d spotted them and they opened their mouths wide and hissed at me. They launched themselves off the trees, falling in an ungainly, barely controlled descent.

Saladin reared again and this time I couldn’t keep my grip tight enough. I fell off the saddle and hit the ground hard. Instinctively, I rolled to one side.

Thump.

The creatures landed in the snow where I had been seconds before.

I climbed to my feet and drew my sword, struggling to block the shrieking from my ears as Saladin ran into the forest.

* * *

After barely surviving the onslaught of monsters that tried to kill him the day before his fourteenth birthday, Jack Templar leaves his hometown on a quest to rescue his father and discover the truth about his past. Joined by his friends Will and T-Rex, and led by Eva, the mysterious one-handed monster hunter, Jack sets out for the Monster Hunter Academy where he hopes to find answers to his questions. Little does he suspect that the Academy is filled with dangers of its own, many of them more terrifying than anything he’s faced so far.

Buy Jack Templar and the Monster Hunter Academy at Amazon

Buy the first book, Jack Templar Monster Hunter, at Amazon

* * *

Jeff Gunhus is the author of the Middle Grade/YA series The Templar Chronicles. The first book, Jack Templar Monster Hunter, was written in an effort to get his reluctant reader eleven-year old son excited about reading. It worked and a new series was born. Jeff is also the co-CEO of College Works Painting, a national company with over 4,000 employees that has been featured in national media for its unique opportunity for college students to learn entrepreneurial skills. He is the author of the motivational career guides No Parachute Required (Hyperion) and Wake Up Call (Seven Guns Press). After his experience with his son, he is passionate about helping parents reach young reluctant readers and is active in child literacy issues. As a father of five, he leads an active lifestyle in Maryland by trying to constantly keep up with his kids. In rare moments of quiet, he can be found in the back of the CIty Dock Cafe in Annapolis working on his next novel.

Author Website * Series Website * Twitter * Facebook * Goodreads

Don't forget to enter to win the $50 Amazon Gift Card

Visit Girl Who Reads for a complete list of Jack Templar tour stops

Jack Templar and the Monster Hunter Academy $50 Amazon Gift Card Giveaway

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Donner) — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 11:00:00 +0000

Warning

Since I can’t be certain that you read my first book about the night I found out I was a monster hunter, I should start out with a warning.

First, monsters are real. Vampires, werewolves, zombies, demons; you name it. In fact they are more common than you could ever imagine. Second, this book is not make-believe. This is a truthful account of my life as a monster hunter and the mysterious circumstances that seem to constantly surround me. Third, reading this book makes you fair game for monsters.

You heard me right: the simple act of reading this book will attract monsters to you and give them the go-ahead to attack. Usually, if you were under fourteen years old, you would be safe by the Law of Quattuordecim, an ancient truce between man and monster that protects non-combatant children on both sides until sundown on their fourteenth birthday. I blew it by attacking a monster that was trying to eat someone I knew the day before my birthday. You’re about to blow it by reading this book.

If you’re over fourteen, you are already at risk for monster attacks, but in reality they are few and far between. Still, by reading this book, you are guaranteeing they will come after you. So don’t come crying to me if a rock troll chops off your feet or a harpy eats one of your eyeballs. The choice is yours.

However, if you decide to turn the page, you’ll be reading about the Monster Hunter Academy, a place no non-monster hunter has ever seen or heard about before. What happened there is not for those with weak stomachs or for those who are easily upset. There is blood and gore and death and, like it or not, some kissing. But there is also an adventure unlike anything you have ever seen before.

So turn the page if you dare. The adventure starts now.

Jack Templar

Now available the highly anticipated sequel to Jack Templar Monster Hunter by Jeff Gunhus, a 2012 ForeWord Reviews Book of the Year Award finalist.

Buy the Book!

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Read more about Book 1: Jack Templar Monster Hunter and Jeff Gunhus

Follow the tour for Jack Templar and the Monster Hunter Academy.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

A GWR Publicity promotional event paid for by the author.

Note: All opinions presented in book and product reviews are my own. Opinions presented in posts authored by others reflect the view of the author only and not necessarily my view or opinion. If a product was given to me for review, the source of that product is noted in the post. Amazon and Book Depository links are affiliate links and I do earn a small amount for each purchase. Other affiliate links will be noted in the post.

Dragon Wars by Emily Fogle Giveaway with Amazon Gift Card

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Donner) — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 11:00:00 +0000

A magical fairytale for all ages: Dragon Wars by Emily Fogle

The prize pack includes: one tote, 2 jumbo book marks, 2 signed bookmarks, 2 tattoos, 3 pencils, 1 mouse pad, 1 calendar (filled with illustrations by Robert Immings), 1 pen, 3 magnets, 2 keychains, 1 signed paperback copy of Dragon Wars, and a $20 Amazon Gift card. Enter the giveaway below.

Join children's author Emily Fogle
for a Twitter chat

April 3 at 10:30 am

#DragonWars

(easiest way to join the chat is with tweetchat.com)

Dragon Wars by Emily Fogle is an amazing adventure from start to finish. If you love a good fairytale this is the book for you.

~ Kypris, Amazon

Amazing imagery explode from each page of this book.

~ Laurel, Goodreads

Life is filled with changes, but sometimes even the most tragic events bring joy in the end, which is something Danny Warren learns when he joins the Dragon Wars.

Danny sadly loses his father in a hit-and-run auto accident and is forced to move to a different town. But his fresh start is a horrible one and Danny desperately wants to find a world he can belong to. One afternoon, after a particularly hard day at school, Danny finds a mysterious box hidden inside his window seat. He soon discovers that the box is his portal to Dorcian, the dragon world. Sadly, the once amazing world is in utter turmoil, and its inhabitants are suffering.

Danny finds the one thing that can bring meaning and happiness back to his heart: saving those that desperately need his help. Together, one boy and six lone dragons, will defeat evil and wage the Dragon Wars. And, in the midst of it all, Danny will discover that even the smallest person can make a huge difference when it matters the most.

Emily Fogle was born and raised in Southern California. Her dream and ultimate goal was to get her Masters degree in English and become a teacher with enough time to write, as well. However, she soon found out that the best dreams often come true when they aren’t planned. Instead of fulfilling her teaching goal, real life took over and she married the man of her dreams. She now has an amazing 8 year old son and a beautiful baby boy.

She dedicates the majority of her time taking care of her family, volunteering at her son’s school, and being a Cub Scout Den leader. And though she loves every minute of it, the thought of being a writer still tugs at her heart. So, after the busy days are done and everyone is finally sleeping quietly, she squeezes in time for all the other loves in her life: the characters running wild inside her head.

Now, incredibly, her writing dream is also coming true. Her first novel, Dragon Wars, is being published by Anchor Group. Emily feels sincerely blessed to have been given so much in life and can’t wait to start the next chapter.

Facebook * Twitter * Goodreads

Buy the book at Amazon!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

A GWR Publicity promotional event paid for by Anchor Group Publishing. The giveaway is sponsored by the author.

Note: All opinions presented in book and product reviews are my own. Opinions presented in posts authored by others reflect the view of the author only and not necessarily my view or opinion. If a product was given to me for review, the source of that product is noted in the post. Amazon and Book Depository links are affiliate links and I do earn a small amount for each purchase. Other affiliate links will be noted in the post.

Wildflowers by Schledia Benefield #99cents

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Donner) — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 11:00:00 +0000

Fairytale vs. Reality

(The Life of an Author)

Thank you, Angela, for inviting me to share with you and your readers.

Aspiring authors often have a fantasy view of writing novels. They are born with creativeness and gifted with a beautiful way of expressing their language. Words just seem to flow through their fingertips. They dream of writing bestselling books and seeing their stories made into movies, so they start with an idea, they mold it, form it, and create their babies. They spend months (sometimes years) spilling their hearts through their pens. Once they’ve finished, they breathe a sigh of relief. They feel elation. They’ve done it! They’ve created a masterpiece that a big publishing house will pay them big bucks to print. BUT have they actually finished?

A vast majority of readers and even non-readers seem to have the same fantasy idea of what life is like for an author. What they don’t understand is that after spending hours creating a character map (being careful in choosing appropriate names and descriptions), after hours of writing an overview, after hours writing a chapter outline with a brief summary of what takes place within each chapter, and after months and months of writing, rewriting, cutting scenes, changing scenes, embellishing the writing style, and proofreading for grammatical errors, they are actually nowhere near finished. Having completed all they have thus far is indeed a great accomplishment, yet there is so much more to being an author than actually writing a book.

Once an author has completed their manuscript, they must begin searching for an agent and/or publisher. This entails research and attending writers’ conferences to meet agents and editors. After creating a list of potential agents and publishers, the author must write personalized query letters to each of them and pitch their book. They must also write a synopsis of their work. Writing a great query and a good synopsis can be even more difficult than writing the story itself.

After an agent agrees to represent the author, the author waits while he/she tries to sell it to a publisher. Some small publishing houses will accept direct submissions from the author, so it is possible to bypass seeking an agent. Once a publisher decides to pick up an author’s work, the editing process begins AGAIN. I can only speak from here on out from a small press stance since I am not published by a big publishing house. The publishing company will have an editor to read the manuscript for content. At this point the editor will makes notes of any content that seems wrong, doesn’t make sense, timeline issues, believability, and so on. They will suggest adding, deleting, and rewriting anything they feel will improve the marketability of the story. After these changes are made, the author resubmits the manuscript, and the same editor will either suggest more changes or okay the manuscript.

Once all content revisions are made, the manuscript is sent to another editor for the purpose of line editing. This editor looks for grammatical issues within the story. The author then receives the manuscript back with all the corrections he/she needs to make, and then resubmits after executing proper changes. The editor does another read through, and if all is well, they are ready to take it to the galleys and create a cover. Then the author gets to see an example of the completed work, cover included. He or she breathes a sigh of relief feeling that he/she has finally done it! BUT it is not over yet. There is still more to being an author than writing a book, editing a book, and having a great cover!

Then comes the marketing, which can be just as time consuming as the writing process. There are multiple guest posts to write, multiple interviews to be scheduled, many questions to answer, book signings to attend, and speaking engagements to prepare for. Being published through a small press means the author has to do a large amount of the footwork. Big publishers will do more marketing for the author, but in today’s economy they do less than they used to do and expect their authors to do more than in the past. This phase lasts several months and can continue on even longer. So, as you can see, there is much more to being an author than simply writing a book.

Readers who love romance novels will be pleased to know that this week from March 25-31, the Kindle version of Wildflowers will be on sale for 99 cents!

About the Book:

Have you ever feared what may be hiding deep within you?

Darkness often skulks in the blood of unsuspecting victims, but Aster McGrath is acutely aware of the violence coursing through his veins. After all, he is the son of a murderer, and everyone in the town of Bayville, Mississippi says he will end up just like his father.

When Susan Blackman moves into town, Aster has already embraced his brutal nature, but her gentle spirit draws him in and slowly melts the icy exterior of his heart. Taming his savagery, she professes her love, but will the good within him be able to overcome the evil lurking deep inside? Or will the fiend break free of its fetters and seek blood?

Buy Wildflowers at Amazon

About the Author:

Schledia Benefield is the author of Plain Jane, Pretty Boy, and Wildflowers. She attended Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College but chose to be a stay-at-home mom for many years. She devoted eight years of her life to working with youth as a youth minister and has been invited to speak in a rehab to hurting and wounded women, giving them hope for a better future. She was the Keynote Speaker for Division 14 of the Key Club International’s divisional rally.

Born and raised on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, Schledia holds a sense of pride in her southern heritage. She presently lives in Big Point, Mississippi with her husband and four of her five children. On top of writing novels, she writes youth and children’s church curriculum, and she works as a substitute teacher at East Central Middle School. In her spare time, she reads, sews, and spends time with her family.

Connect with Schledia: Blog * Twitter * Goodreads

Education #BlogFlash2013

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Donner) — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 09:00:00 +0000

I have many concerns about the education that my daughters will receive. I am nervous about public school for a variety of reasons. I'm not completely convinced private schools would be any better even if we could afford to send them. I don't feel capable of educating them on my own with homeschooling. There are many options but so far none of them feel like a perfect fit for our family. I'm thankful that my oldest still has another year of preschool after this one so I don't have to make a decision any time soon. I also need to remind myself that I'm not locked in to any one way of schooling. If we try public school and it isn't working for us I can do research into other options. I just want my girls to receive the best education that will prepare them for whatever they may face in the future.

IXEOS by Jennings Wright + $50 Amazon GC #giveaway

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Donner) — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 11:00:00 +0000

Edititing, My Love/Hate Relationship

I am currently editing IXEOS: Rebellion, book 2 in the IXEOS trilogy. For writers, I think editing is contrary to our nature – I don’t edit at all when I write, and that feeling of creating a new world is why it’s so fun. Editing… Well, editing is about tearing down that new world to a certain degree, and it can be painful!

I use the same process on all my books. I write the first draft with zero edits. After it’s finished, I go make a fairly quick read-through and fix all the obvious things, like bad typos and misspellings. At that point, I email the book to beta readers. I know, some people send them a late draft. But I don’t use my beta readers as line editors or proofreaders. I don’t want to spend a ton of time editing before they’ve read the book and made their comments.

What does that mean exactly? Well, let’s say I spend a lot of time editing a scene and have it perfect. When the beta readers respond with their comments, half of them hate that scene. Since my general rule of thumb is to pay attention when 2 or more beta readers make the same comments, that means I need to really consider the scene, and if it should even be in the book.

It’s possible that I’ll delete the scene. At best, it would obviously require a lot more editing. Because I’ve already spent a lot of time on it, there’s a mental challenge here, because it is human nature to defend something you’ve spent a lot of time on. Perhaps I wouldn’t be as objective as I need to be.

Now, I tend to write pretty clean first drafts, so this works for me. I specifically ask beta readers to not worry about grammar and typos (most can do that, some just absolutely can’t let those go!). After I get their feedback, then I really start digging into the work.

My first pass after getting the feedback is a detailed reading of the book, with the beta readers’ comments close at hand. As I’m reading, I’m looking for character continuity, dialog issues, lost story threads, and, of course, analyzing the feedback against what I’m reading. This is a pretty long process, as I’m looking at all the big picture things, as well as working on grammar, typos and word placement.

When this is done, I print off the book and do it again, making notes in the margins. I find this “on paper” edit very helpful, as I tend to skim as I get tired when reading on the computer, and no amount of mental flogging seems to stop it. Sometimes I use multi-colored pens, but usually I just use one color and use arrows, circles and notes to clarify the changes.

The next step is my least favorite: putting the on-paper edits into the document. During this time, I feel like my eyeballs are going to implode. It’s very easy to get tired, and I need more frequent breaks to stay sharp. While I’m doing this, I am not reading the manuscript. This is simply a hunt-and-change operation.

After this step, I’m in the home stretch. I read through again, this time really looking at word usage and placement, taking out unnecessary adverbs, and doing “finds” for my most overused words. (“Just” is my worst offender, and I tend to use “and” and “but” a lot, and not always correctly!) I also do a grammar scan on Scrivener and check out all the spelling and grammar suggestions.

I’m really close at this point! I move the document to Word on my pc and do another grammar/spelling check using Grammarly. (Grammarly doesn’t work within Word on a Mac, so I have to move it over, then move it back.) The final check is when I move the document back to Word on my Mac, when I once again do a grammar/spelling check using the Word tool. Amazingly, the three programs all skip problems, and all propose different solutions!

At this point, I run around my house announcing to my family that I’m done. My son always gives me a high five. My husband, who is usually busy with his own book, smiles, waves and keeps working. Since my announcement to my daughter is via text, since she’s in college, I usually get an all-caps response saying “YAY!!!!!!!” I congratulate myself for awhile… And then get to work on the next project.

About the Book:

The McClellands are enjoying a lazy summer vacation at the beach when they are lured from our world into Ixeos, an alternate Earth. Finding themselves lost in a maze of tunnels under Paris and surrounded by strangers, they discover that they have been brought to Ixeos for one purpose: to take the planet back from humanoid aliens who have claimed it. With the aid of the tunnels and a mysterious man named Landon, the teens travel the world seeking the key that will allow them to free Darian, the long-imprisoned rebel leader.

The aliens aren't the only problem on Ixeos -- the McClellands have to deal with brutal gangs, desperate junkies, and a world without power, where all the technology is owned by the aliens, and where most of the population has been killed or enslaved.

The worst part? There's no way home.

Buy IXEOS at Amazon: Paperback or eBook
About Jennings Wright:

Born and raised in Rockledge, Florida, Jennings spent her early years reading anything she could get her hands on, when she wasn't spending time in and on the water. She won a prize in the 6th grade for her science fiction stories.

Jennings attended the University of the South and the University of Tampa, graduating with a B.A. in Political Science, and almost enough credits for B.A.s in both English and History. She spent time over the years doing various kinds of script doctoring, business writing, editing, and teaching writing, but mostly having and raising her family, homeschooling her children, owning and running a business with her husband, and starting a non-profit to Uganda.

Thanks to a crazy idea called NaNoWriMo Jennings got back into creative writing in 2011 and hasn't stopped since. She's written four novels and a screenplay in less than a year, with more ideas on the drawing board. She currently lives in North Carolina with her husband, also a writer, and two children, and travels extensively.

Connect with Jennings: We bsite * Faceook * Twitter * Goodreads

City #BlogFlash2013

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Donner) — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 09:00:00 +0000

The sound of her heels clicking on the pavement blended in with the beat of boots and the shuffle of tennis shoes. Individual steps were lost as the footsteps of strangers created a rhythm filling the air. When she had first arrived the noise bothered her. The constant sounds of cars and people at all hours of day and night made it hard to think. Now though it was simply background noise as she walked the short distance from her apartment to the office.

Arriving early, she settled in with her homemade coffee as she waited for the computer to boot up. Even as she went over her mental checklist of tasks she needed to complete that day, her mind was already thinking about the night ahead, wondering what her friends had planned as they joined her for a weekend in the city.

Money and Values #BlogFlash2013

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Donner) — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 13:00:00 +0000

Yesterday in my BlogFlash2013 post about water, I asked you to consider donating just $20 to help build a well in a community needing clean, safe water. In the grand scheme of our lives $20 seems like so little to give to give hope to so many.

Yet there are a lot of different organizations out there asking for donations for so many different causes. There are health organizations, human rights organizations, political organizations, and religious organizations. The list goes on and on and it is enough to make your head spin as you try to decide which organization can do the most good with what you have to give. You have to decide what causes you support and how to best demonstrate your values through your giving. My friend +Jacqueline Wilson wrote an amazing post titled Cats, Comics, or Kids which talks about where people are putting their money even in this economy. I would urge you to visit her site and read it as it is truly eye-opening.

I know that I am rethinking some of my spending habits because of organizations such as Monkey Do Project and The Thirst Project. Seeing what other people don't have is making me realize some of the things that I can do without in order to help someone else. Monkey Do Project has many infographics detailing what $26 could give to a child in Appalachia. Could you spare $26 to help Pave the Path with Monkeys and give a child a backpack with school supplies and healthy snacks?

The Mirror of The Moon by Travis Simmons

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Donner) — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 11:00:00 +0000

The sound of children laughing in the street outside gusted through the patio doors, ruffling the gossamer curtains and bringing the soapy smell of flowers to her. The knock sounded again, and she pushed herself off the sofa and went to answer the door.

The Tall Stranger, looked worse than Angelica had remembered him looking upon their first meeting. With a gasp she took an involuntary step back into the room, which gained him entrance.

“Don’t worry,” he said. Listening to his voice gave her the same feeling that coming in contact with his wyrd for the first time did; she felt as though insects crawled over her. “I can’t use my wyrd against you for someone has stolen it from me.”

JOVE! she screamed down her link to her brother, but he must have been too far away from her because there was no response.

The first punch caught her by surprise and sent fire through her jaw. She stumbled back and almost fell into the divan. Quickly she regained her footing and took a defensive stance, which only made the Tall Stranger laugh at her.

“Don’t think this will be easy for you,” he told her matter-of-factly. “I am a skilled fighter.”

“So am I,” Angelica said and took a swing at him. The Tall Stranger easily ducked away from, kneeing her in the stomach as he sidestepped, effectively pushing her off balance and knocking the wind out of her.

An elbow to the back of the head sent her mind swimming, and her body crashing to the floor.

“I told you this would not be easy,” he chided. He straddled Angelica and, gripping her hair in his fist, pounded her head off the wooden floor twice. Blood flooded her mouth and drizzled out her nose even as darkness formed in splotches at the edge of her vision. A strange thought came to her then that told her she was losing consciousness.

The Tall Stranger lifted her from the floor and threw her face-first into the wall. Angelica stumbled, arms reeling as she tried to gain her footing again, but it was in vain. The darkness at the edge of her vision became more than splotches, and soon it was not only invading her vision, but her muscles as well. She stumbled into a table near the door. The knick knacks and unlit oil lamp smashed on the wooden floor and oil soaked into the Balageshian rug.

Blackness chased her into oblivion.

Moments later strong yet pliant arms lifted her and sat her on something soft, yielding, and when she forced her eyes open it was to look into the warm encouraging face of Rama.

The attendant cupped her hands before her face and Angelica could feel the gathering of wyrd. She had never thought sorcerers were as prominent as they were here in Fairview, but she was wrong.

The space before Rama’s face glowed with power, lighting her face in golden relief. Angelica had never seen a message orb wyrded before.

“Dalah, emergency, Joya has been taken, Angelica beaten, the room penetrated … somehow.” In haste Rama stood the folds of her red gown rustling as she threw her hand out toward the patio, the golden ball of light quickly tracing its way to the intended recipient.

About the Book:

With the death of one of the companions, Grace must answer for the secrets she’s kept. The path before them is ever lengthening in their quest for Amber. There are changes they all must face, and when Joya enters her trials of sorcery, danger lurks around every corner. The power within Angelica and Jovian is strengthening and with it comes confusion. What are they? It is painfully obvious nothing like them has ever existed before. Why is it at times they seem more one person than two separate people? With all the mystery surrounding their latent power, Angelica stumbles upon a passage in a book of sorcery indicating she is evil. Could she be the Mask prophecy speaks of? Is she destined to turn against her own flesh? To make matters worse, the Well of Wyrding (a giant well that controls all sorcery) has been breached and wyrd itself is spiraling into chaos.

Buy The Mirror of the Moon on Amazon

About Travis Simmons:

I have been writing since I was 14. I began writing a book called "The Calling of the Two" and while writing that on and off I started uncovering another idea.

"Yes, this is all well and good, but what about before? What happened in the world before these characters came into it?" I always knew there was a "before" and as I started wondering about it I got ideas. At first they were little ideas but as I discovered the names for my characters a whole story about them emerged.

I started working on The Revenant Wyrd Saga several years back and I am very happy I did because hearing and documenting Jovian and Angelica's story has been one wild ride.

I live in a remote part of upstate New York and honestly just hoofing around my neck of the woods gives me a ton of inspiration for my novels. I love research, and I love speculating on different ideas and theories.

Connect with Travis: Website * Facebook * Twitter * Goodreads

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Note: All opinions presented in book and product reviews are my own. Opinions presented in posts authored by others reflect the view of the author only and not necessarily my view or opinion. If a product was given to me for review, the source of that product is noted in the post. Amazon and Book Depository links are affiliate links and I do earn a small amount for each purchase. Other affiliate links will be noted in the post.

The Need for Clean Water #BlogFlash2013

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Donner) — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 09:00:00 +0000

Water is absolutely vital to sustaining life and staying healthy. Unfortunately clean, safe water is difficult to obtain in many areas of the world. According to The Thirst Project almost one billion people do not have access to clean drinking water and proper sanitation. 4,400 children die every year from diseases caused by contaminated water and 80% of global diseases are water-borne. The average distance to get clean water is 3.75 miles and this is usually walked by young women and girls. These girls spend so much time and energy getting water for their communities that they have no time to get an education. Communities are stuck in a cycle of poverty that they are unable to break.

What would happen in these communities if water were closer? By building wells that use the water that is available under the ground's surface, communities can have safe, clean drinking water right in their village. This reduces disease and childhood mortality dramatically. It allows opportunities to develop agriculture and time to obtain an education.

How can we help? The Thirst Project can build wells in most developing nations for between $5,000 and $12,000. Each well can provide up to 500 people with clean water indefinitely. As little as $20 can give one person clean water for twenty or more years. Those $20 donations add up to build the wells in each community.

Please consider donating to The Thirst Project
to help give a community clean water.

Library Girl Reads & Reviews

Four Paws: Scott Morgan on Being An Author

Related articles

Deborah Carney: Photos of Buddha Beach

Related articles

Annealed The Final Book of The Pipe Woman Chronicles by Lynne Cantwell

Release Day Blitz for the Final Book in

The Pipe Woman Chronicles by Lynne Cantwell

It began at the winter solstice

And it ends

Now.

About the Author: Lynne Cantwell

Related articles

Giveaway: Wax by Phil Duncan

Why do I keep asking for help for Appalachia? #monkeydo

Related articles

The Morph by JC Andrijeski with Giveaway

Related articles

Giveaway: Fern by Amy Richie Prize Pack

Related articles

Writers Workshop of Science Fiction & Fantasy Excerpt & Giveaway

Related articles

Giveaway: Down and Out in Beverly Heels by Kathryn Leigh Scott

Related articles

An Easter Bonnet for Lily Giveaway & Twitter Party

Related articles

Double-take Tales by Donna Brown #weeklyshorts

Related articles

Controlling Your Fictional Character by Carolyn Moncel

Related articles

Through These Veins by Anne Marie Ruff

Related articles

Donna Brown on Committing to the Story

Related articles

How Can You Help With $26? #monkeydo

Related articles

Jack Templar and the Monster Hunter Academy by Jeff Gunhus

Related articles

Jack Templar and the Monster Hunter Academy $50 Amazon Gift Card Giveaway

Related articles

Dragon Wars by Emily Fogle Giveaway with Amazon Gift Card

Wildflowers by Schledia Benefield #99cents

Related articles

Education #BlogFlash2013

Related articles

IXEOS by Jennings Wright + $50 Amazon GC #giveaway

Related articles

City #BlogFlash2013

Related articles

Money and Values #BlogFlash2013

Related articles

The Mirror of The Moon by Travis Simmons

Related articles

The Need for Clean Water #BlogFlash2013

Related articles