Where I share my love of books with reviews, features, giveaways and memes. Family and needlepoint are thrown in from time to time.
Showing posts with label Guest post. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Guest post. Show all posts

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Book Blitz, Guest Post and Giveaway: Escape in You by Rachel Schurig



Escape in You
by Rachel Schurig
Publication Date: Oct 15, 2013
Contemporary, NA

Jet Taylor is the quintessential bad boy. A womanizer. A fighter. Dangerous. The type of guy most girls do their best to avoid. But Zoe Janes is no saint herself. In fact, she sees in Jet the perfect opportunity to distract herself from her responsibilities at home and the mistakes that keep her trapped there. He’s gorgeous, likes to party, and is clearly only interested in having fun—just like Zoe. But the more time they spend together the harder it is to stick to her “fun only” mantra. Jet is getting under her skin, making her believe things could actually be different. She knows they’re both trapped by the sins of their past but Jet is starting to make her think freedom might actually be possible. And that makes him the most dangerous boy of all.


Purchase Links:

 

Character Flaws
by Rachel Schurig

If I think about my favorite characters, whether from books, television shows, or movies, I find that they usually have something in common: I have a soft spot for flawed characters.

Now, that doesn’t mean that I have a thing for jerky guys or bratty girls. But I also find myself pretty much automatically turned off if a character is too perfect. For me, there needs to be a balance. Too many flaws and a character comes across as nasty or hopeless. But no flaws? Chances are I’ll tune right out, assuming the character is a bland goodie-two-shoes. A good balance, on the other hand, makes a character relatable. More interesting. The kind of person I want to root for.

The Notebook is one of my favorite movies of all time. Duh, right? Ryan Gosling is totally swoon-worthy as Noah Calhoun. Noah’s relationship with Allie (played by Rachel McAdams) is pretty much perfect—even though neither character is perfect. Allie is spoiled and really hot-headed. Noah is arrogant and has a temper to match Allie’s. The two fight like crazy (but isn’t it the best when they make up?). I think those flaws make the characters more interesting, more relatable. And I absolutely love how they make each other better. Isn’t that the hallmark of a great love story?

The characters in my new novel, Escape in You, are definitely flawed. Both Jet Taylor and Zoe Janes are hiding things about their pasts. They both deal with a lot of pain in their home lives. And, over the years, both have escaped their pain through alcohol, fighting, partying, and meaningless sex. They’ve hurt people who care about them and hurt themselves even more. But, as their relationship grows, they make each other better. Both become calmer. Less volatile. Stronger. Falling in love makes them realize how much they’ve been missing by hiding from life. My hope is that readers will enjoy watching them change and grow and fall in love—and will appreciate their imperfections just as much as I do.


About the author: Rachel Schurig lives in the metro Detroit area with her dog, Lucy. She loves to watch reality TV and she reads as many books as she can get her hands on. In her spare time, Rachel decorates cakes. Her THREE GIRLS series is available now from Amazon!

Author Links:








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Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Book Blast, Guest Post and Giveaway: Fractured Legacy by Skye Callahan



Building Paranormal Ideas from Legends
Skye Callahan

Paranormal stories rely on the author's ability to create a world that encourages the reader's suspension of belief.

I don’t do a lot of plotting, but making sure your characters paranormal abilities (and inabilities) are clear and consistent requires some planning. You don't want to get halfway through the book and have to explain how/why a character suddenly gains a new ability or inability (unless of course you have a good reason to do so). That's like knowing that the character has a cell phone in his/her pocket, but when they are locked in a room, they can't figure out how to call out for help. Likewise, a vampire who can suddenly "glamour" a victim two-thirds of the way through the book when he's never had/used/mentioned that ability is equally problematic.

When I need inspiration for paranormal or supernatural characters, I look for old myths and legends to see where the creatures originated. Creating a basis for supernatural occurrences within historical beliefs creates credibility with the reader. There is a reason certain stories survive, and a reason why certain supernatural elements - ghosts, vampires, werewolves - are so widespread. And understanding when and why legends originated may give you hints into how you can adapt the legend for your own purposes.

The paranormal entities in Fractured Legacy aren’t derived from one particular legend. But there were some old myths that influenced the decisions I made while writing. For example, there are a number of legends that reference the vengeful spirit of a mother who lost her child. In Japanese folklore, the Mu-onna has been known to protect children, but she may also try to merge with them—to do so she must put the child’s soul to sleep. You’ll have to read Fractured Legacy to see what aspects of the legend made it into the story.

Don't just set out to be original or do something different—give your mind a few pieces of kindling and let it do the rest as it tries to make sense of the legends and stories. The originality will follow as your imagination fills in the gaps. 





Fractured Legacy
(Darkness Bound #1)
By Skye Callahan
Publication Date: Oct 22, 2013
NA, Paranormal, Urban Fantasy

Kaylyn Anderson's fascination with abandoned places and dark creatures kindled her work as a paranormal investigator. But when dreams begin to distort reality, she questions what is real and pulls away from everyone she trusts. The opportunity to investigate the Teague Hotel--a long-abandoned landmark that has always piqued her curiosity--provides a chance to redeem herself. Unraveling the hotel's secrets won't be easy, but Kaylyn soon finds herself the target of a dark entity that has been trapped in the building for decades. 

If Kaylyn stands any hope of defeating the spirit, she'll have to accept that her fears are real and convince fellow investigators that she hasn't lost her mind.

Book Links: 





About the author: Skye Callahan was born and raised in Ohio and has seen enough unbelievable stuff to feed a lifetime of paranormal stories. When not writing or working at the dayjob she hangs out with her ethnomusicologist husband and pet ferrets, reads, and takes long walks through the cemetery. 

Author Links:







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Monday, August 26, 2013

Blog Tour and Guest Post - Working it Out by Rachael Anderson





On Naming Characters

Of all the books I've written, Working it Out took me the longest to come up with names for the characters. I created a heroine who judges people based on the meaning of their names. Therefore, I needed the majority of my characters to have certain names that meant certain things. This feat turned out to be a lot more time consuming than I imagined it would. I spent hours and hours researching names, compiling lists, then dismissing some and waffling on others. When I finally stumbled across the various meanings of Seth's name, I knew I'd finally found the perfect fit for my hero. It actually made characterizing him easy and fun. Grace's name came next, followed by Lanna, Alec, and Cameron--characters whose names fit them perfectly. You'll have to read the book to find out why. :)


About the author: Rachael Anderson is the author of five novels (Working It Out, The Reluctant Bachelorette, Minor Adjustments, Luck of the Draw, and Divinely Designed) and two novellas (Twist of Fate, from the All I Want anthology and The Meltdown Match from The Timeless Romance Anthology: Summer Wedding Collection). She’s the mother of four and is pretty good at breaking up fights, or at least sending guilty parties to their rooms. She can’t sing, doesn’t dance, and despises tragedies. But she recently figured out how yeast works and can now make homemade bread, which she is really good at eating.


Working it Out
by Rachael Anderson

A chance encounter . . . 
Grace Warren’s life is safe and predictable—exactly the way she likes it. But when she gets roped into going to an auction to help out a friend, everything changes. She meets Seth Tuttle—a guy who unexpectedly kisses her then disappears, leaving her flustered and upset. If she never sees him again, it will be too soon.

A chance for love . . . 


Weeks later, when Seth limps into Grace’s rehab clinic post surgery, she immediately recognizes him. Unfortunately, he’s every bit as frustrating and annoying as she remembered. Yet there’s something about him that makes her second-guess her carefully placed boundaries even though he’s everything she’s sure she doesn’t want in a man. But maybe Seth is exactly what Grace has needed all along—assuming she’s willing to risk safe and predictable for a chance at love.

Blog Tour Special Price Drop!
Grab a copy of Working it Out for just $2.99!



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Sunday, July 14, 2013

At times, Birthdays of a Princess by Helga Zeiner was almost too painful to read - but I couldn't put it down! (Book Review, Guest Post and Giveaway)



Birthdays of a Princess
by Helga Zeiner
on Tour June 1st - July 31st 2013



Title: Birthdays of a Princess
Author: Helga Zeiner
Publisher: POW WOW Books
About the book: To be famous and be admired by total strangers can be very dangerous.
Her little girl has always been her princess. In fact, she was so lovely, Melissa entered her toddler into child beauty pageants, making her a star from an early age. But her dreams and hopes are shattered one October morning, when Melissa watches a breaking news story on television. A young girl has been filmed by bystanders, committing a brutal assault in broad daylight in a downtown Vancouver Starbucks…and it looks like the girl is her daughter.

From this moment on, a story unfolds, so shocking, that it will hold you captive and you will find yourself reading faster and faster into the night.


Purchase Links: 
   

My thoughts: I devoured this book - the Prologue (see below) pulled me in and I just had to finish the book. The author did a great job of keeping you right on the edge of your seat.

Tia is Melissa's daughter, and she was raised by Melissa and Gracie after her father was killed in Afghanistan on the day she was born.  This family was dysfunctional from the start.  Melissa retreated into her own world and Gracie raised Melissa like she was her own child for the first couple of years.  I use the phrase "like her own chld" loosely here as I don't know any mother who would put their child through what these two did.  Gracie was the true criminal here while Melissa's crime was just being negligent and keeping her eyes closed to what was going on.

After Tia is arrested, she refuses to talk to anyone. A very caring (and clever) Dr. Eaton or  "psycho-doc" as she calls him, gets her to trust him and convinces her to start keeping a journal.  She documents her life through her birthdays and what happens each year.  She finally reaches a point though, that she  can't remember what happened, or just refuses to remember what happened.  She lets Dr. Eaton read her journal - I think because it is all too painful for her to say out loud - but she wants someone to know.

Between her journal writings and conversations that Melissa has with her also dysfunctional mother Louise, you begin to learn about Tia's life.  At times it is almost too painful to read, but I couldn't put it down.  The tension was just enough to keep me riveted.

I really liked how the author resolved the book and brought some lost souls together in the end.

~I received a complimentary Kindle copy of Birthdays of a Princess from Partners in Crime Book Tours in exchange for my unbiased review.~

Excerpt from Birthdays of a Princess:

Prologue

She wakes up earlier than usual. It’s not even eight yet. The apartment feels empty, but that doesn’t surprise her, because it is empty most mornings. To make sure, she gets out of bed, opens the curtains, waddles down the narrow hallway, stops at the second bedroom and listens briefly. Not a sound. Of course not. She would have heard the flat door open, no matter how late. She is a light sleeper.

The kitchen greets her with familiar comfort. Welcome, my lonely friend. Make yourself a cup of tea. Sit down by the window. Look out, check the weather, think about what to wear for work. Stop listening. Nobody is home but you.

Just another day in the big city.

Vancouver is still sleepy. Yawning and slowly stretching like a lazy lion, rubbing its exhausted eyes, waiting for the helpers to brush the filthy remains of last night’s excitement from the concrete floor of its den.

The water kettle switches itself off and she pours the boiling water over the tea bag and waits one minute, standing in front of the kitchen counter. It has to be exactly one minute, no point in doing anything else but stare at the twirling surface inside her cup. Sixty seconds later–the second dial on her kitchen clock is within her periphery—she discards the bag, heaps three generous spoonfuls of sugar into the cup, followed by so much cream that the tea instantly cools to drinking temperature, and sits down at the kitchen table.

Still thinking it’s just another day.

A gentle traffic hum outside, no sound inside her kitchen. Correction: no sound inside her flat, this two bedroom, one bathroom borderline apartment. Borderline because its location touches a good neighborhood and the Eastside. The street she lives on stops the filthy guts of downtown spilling over into suburbia. Her kitchen window points toward the high-rise monuments of downtown Vancouver. Very pretty at night, not so attractive at daytime when the not-so-high and not-so-modern buildings that envelope the skyscrapers become visible. She doesn’t want to look at the decaying grey buildings any longer that provide a battle ground between city planners who want to sell it to developers and Eastsiders who have occupied them.

Just another day. And it is so quiet.

Melissa turns on the TV, not realizing that it is exactly eight o’clock now. The channel is set on CTV and there is a ‘Breaking News’ banner flashing in bright orange below the female morning anchor. She increases the volume. The excited voice of the lady anchor fills her kitchen. She takes a sip of her sweet, sweet tea and leans back a little.

“We have a developing story of a brutal attack on a customer at Starbucks coffee shop on Robson Street. Apparently a young woman has stabbed another woman inside Starbucks. Our reporter Emily Jackson is on location. Emily, what can you tell us…?”

The upper body of a reporter, holding a microphone in one hand and fighting her wind-swept hair with the other, comes into the picture. Melissa hadn’t noticed that it is quite windy outside. Well, it’s October, at least it’s not raining. Behind the reporter a yellow band is restricting access to the crime scene. She sounds overly excited. “From what we have learned, a young woman has suddenly attacked a woman inside the coffee shop you see right behind me. We don’t know yet if the customer was already seated or still standing in line to place her order. We also don’t know the identity of the attacker or of the victim yet or have any information about the motive. Apparently the attacker suddenly produced a knife and threw herself at the woman, yelling obscenities on top of her voice. As you can see behind me, police have cordoned off the area and are processing the scene.”

The anchor interrupts her. “Do we have any information about the condition of the victim? Is she badly hurt? Or…”

An autumn gust blows hair over the reporter’s face. She nearly loses her microphone, trying to control the strands with both hands, but fumbles it back into position when she realizes that the camera is focused on her again. One side of her pretty face is completely covered with hair. It looks ridiculous and Melissa catches herself thinking the reporter would look a lot prettier if she had a different hairstyle.

“The ambulance has transported the victim to the emergency ward of St Paul’s…”

The reporter’s voice travels along Melissa’s attention span and loses its grip. Background noise quality. She likes that. And God, her tea is good.

Another developing story news-flash banner demands her attention again. The anchor sounds triumphant: “We have just received a video-clip from one of our viewers. We would like to warn you that some viewers may find the content of this video-clip offensive in nature…”

The clip starts. The picture is shaky, the filmmaker hassling for a good position between other coffee-shop customers who have jumped up to look what is going on in the middle of the room. The back of shoulders and heads pop in and out, screams of horror and confusion can be heard. Their unedited sound quality provides an unnerving authenticity to the unfolding drama.

 An arm rises up in the air and down again, in kind of a wood chopping motion. Up and down, in one swift move, no hesitation whatsoever. In fact, the chopping goes on. Up and down, up and down—accompanied by ‘Oh my God’s’ and ‘Oh no, oh no’s’. The filmmaker edges closer, seems to get up on a chair, because he is above the scene now, holding his iPhone or whatever device he’s got, high above the center of the customer-circle that inched away from the dangerous situation. The victim of the attack is on the floor now, mercifully blurred by the rapid movements of the inexperienced cameraman, or maybe by CTV’s editing. The attacker, the young woman, wearing a black hoodie, is over her and chops into her with such vengeance that Melissa can feel the force of her hatred, furious and powerful. The victim is trying to protect her face and chest with crossed hands. The mad attacker continues to stab her wherever she can—face, arms, torso, it is impossible to make out exactly in the shaky clip where her knife slices into.

Bodies pop in and out of the picture and mercifully block most of what is going on. Several of them finally muster enough courage to intervene. The picture goes even more shaky and blurry. Then the anchor speaks again.

“We have word from the police that the victim you have just seen being attacked inside Starbucks on Robson about an hour ago is in critical condition. The young woman has been overpowered by three heroic young men…”

and now it happens, it’s not ‘just another day’ any longer

“they were performing a citizen’s arrest and held her captive until the police arrived…”

the anchor’s voice fades, just like the reporter’s before, because all of Melissa’s focus concentrates on what she sees on the screen. Meanwhile the filmmaker has managed to muscle himself closer to the group of guys who have pulled the young women off her victim and have now pinned her to the ground. Her face appears. The filmmaker zooms in. She smiles victoriously straight into his camera, as if she has achieved a very special feat.

Melissa is standing now, holding on to her cup of tea, frowning with the exhausting task of connecting what she sees on the screen with the reality of her life. It can not be. It can not be. But it is.

The tea cup slips from her weak hands, falls to the floor, spills its content on the cheap vinyl kitchen floor before rolling under the table.

It is. It is.

It is…her daughter.





About the author: Born and educated in Germany, Helga left her home country when she was 18 to travel the world and experience the magic of life she was passionately reading about.
She spent the next 15 years in exotic places like India, Thailand, Australia and Hong Kong, where she worked her way up into excellent managerial positions in large international companies. To achieve this she had to further her education and enrolled at night classes at the 'Chinese University of Hong Kong' for her Diploma in Management Studies.
Love eluded her for many years. She was nearly 40 when she finally met her dream man and settled in Canada, where she now lives, neatly tucked away in the wilderness. She has previously written several suspense novels which have been published in Germany.
Her first novel written and published in English is called. ‘Section 132”. A thrilling fact-based page-turner about a young girl forced into a polygamous marriage that has received countless 5-star reviews.
Birthdays of a Princess’ is her second novel and will be published in June 2013.

Catch Up With Ms. Zeiner:



Please enjoy this guest post from Ms. Zeiner:


Memories I cherish from childhood

One of my earliest memories connected to my passion for writing is of the day I came home from school – I must have been about seven years old – with a top mark for my very first essay.
I can’t remember what the essay was about, but my father told the whole family to sit down after dinner and listen to me read the essay to them. Mom, dad, my two sisters, grandmother and a few neighbours, who had been invited by my dad to come on over and listen as well, sat around our large kitchen table.
I was a little shy at first, but quickly got into the moment after seeing my dad busting with pride. He was an avid reader and loved books, so to have one of his girls showing even the slightest talent with words was something very special to him.
Maybe the essay was indeed good, after all, top marks were rarely given at our school, but my dad acted as if it was the best thing he had ever read. For days, he kept telling everybody in his grocery shop about the future writer in his home. His amazingly supportive attitude didn’t change over the years, but that very first essay reading inspired me to go on writing, to love it, to feel safe with it and to be self-confident about it.
Hopefully all parents will react like my dad did when they discover even the smallest inkling of an interest or talent in their children, no matter what it may be.


Helga Zeiner

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Publication Date: May/June 2013
Number of Pages: 290
ISBN: 978-0-9868798-7-6

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Can't Stop Believing by Jodi Thomas (Book Review) w/ a guest post by Jodi Thomas!

Title: Can't Stop Believing
Author: Jodi Thomas
Publisher: Berkley

About the Book: NY Times and USA Today bestselling author Jodi Thomas takes us back to Harmony, Texas, in CAN’T STOP BELIEVING. The sixth book in her popular Harmony series presents a story where big dreams are brewing—and anything and everything is possible…

Cord McMillan gave up his freedom at eighteen when he went to jail for a crime he didn't commit. Now, ten years later, he's about to give it up again for a piece of land. Nevada Britain, his neighbor, has just made him an offer he can't refuse: If he'll marry her, she'll sign over a section of property that their families have been fighting over for a hundred years. Nevada refuses to ex-plain why, but Cord knows the bargain is in his favor. 

He just has one condition--she has to sleep in his bed every night as long as their doomed marriage lasts.  

Nevada only wants to maintain her family's legacy--and redeem herself for a wrong she did Cord years ago. But as she spends more time with her husband by necessity, she discovers something unexpected--a love so deep it takes her breath away. 

“Another winner...Fans will be delighted.”
-Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Compelling and beautifully written.”
-Debbie Macomber, #1 New York TImes Bestselling author


Book Links


My thoughts: First I want to apologize to Jodi for being late with my review.  She is one of the nicest authors I have ever worked with and I hate it that I missed my review date!  And I absolute love her Harmony series.  

This is book 6 in the series, and I have loved - loved - loved - the ones that I have had the good fortune to read! (Welcome to Harmony, Book 1; Somewhere Along the Way, Book 2; The Comforts of Home, Book 3) and really hope that I can fit the two I missed in my reading schedule! (Just Down the Road, Book 4Chance of a Lifetime, Book 5)

I think the reason that I like her books so much is that her characters are flawed, which makes them so real.  They have things in their pasts that they are ashamed of, but those things have helped shape who they are.  They are not always the best looking, like you seem to find in all the romance novels. They might be overweight, or handicapped, or made to feel homely or unloved, but this just makes them more believable.  These are people that you could meet in your hometown, or right next door.

The books in the series, while they might focus on a person or couple, are really about all the people in the town.  You never know who might show up from previous books, or who you might be meeting that is going to be a major player in a book down the road. I loved it that this book, Can't Stop Believing, revisited Ronny from The Comforts of Home and brought some closure to a chapter in her life, as well as Tyler Wright, whom we met in Welcome to Harmony.

By no means don't think that you have to read them in order though!  Like I said, I missed two books in the middle, but that did not affect this storyline at all.  I think what it will do though, is make you hungry for more and you will find yourself traveling back to Harmony again and again.



About the Author: Jodi Thomas is the NY Times and USA Today bestselling author of 37 novels and 11 short story collections. In June 2011, WELCOME
TO HARMONY, the first book in the Harmony series, won a RITA, the highest award for women’s
fiction. Jodi currently serves as the Writer in Residence at West Texas A&M University in Canyon, Texas.

Website
Twitter
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From the day I started writing CAN’T STOP BELIEVING, I felt like I was surrounded by people I could love.  These characters walked off the pages and said hello.  I had to laugh when Martha Q, a widow seven times married, forms a writing group and then decides to help folks out whether they want it or not.  I cried when Ronny first sees a love she thought she’d lost.  And I fell in love with Cord and Nevada as they fought their way through all the baggage they both carried to find something worth keeping.

People often ask me where my characters come from.  In truth, I don’t feel like I make them up.  I feel more like they sit down across the desk and talk to me as I write.  They tell me the story and some nights I stay up longer to get it all down.

Cord McMillan stopped my heart when I first saw him.  He was a man trying to stand tall even after life had done its best to knock him down.  He doesn’t think he has a friend in the world and every time someone shows him a kindness, he pays it back double.  He can’t believe it when his rich, spoiled neighbor offers a bargain he can’t turn down.  He offers her the one thing she can’t buy, honesty.

CAN’T STOP BELIEVING will warm your heart.  The people of Harmony will stay with you long after you finish reading.  Come along with me into a story that will make you laugh and cry and fall in love for the first time, for the last time, forever.

Enjoy the book,

Jodi Thomas



Friday, April 5, 2013

Book Tour: Grim by Joseph Spencer w/Guest Post!


The Virtual Book Tour of Grim by Joseph Spencer is brought to you by Reading Addiction Blog Tours.  It runs from March 18 - April 12.

March 21 - My Reading Addiction - Review
March 22 - Comfortably Read - Review
March 24 - The Adventures Within - Review/Guest Post
March 26 - Author Ever Leigh - Review
March 28 - The Life and Lies of an Inanimate Object - Review/GuestPost
March 30 - Sinnful Books - Review/Interview
March 31 - Must Read Faster-  Review/Guest Post
April 1 - Words I Write Crazy - Review/Guest Post
April 4 - Book Reviews and More - Review
April 5 - Books and Needlepoint - Guest Post
April 6 - FUOnlyKnew - Review
April 7 - One Page at a Time - Review
April 8 - Bean Counting Mommy - Review/Guest Post
April 9 - Cabin Goddess - Review
April 10 - Turning the Pages - Review
April 11 - Genuine Jenn - Review
April 12 - RABT Reveiws - Review



Grim
by Joseph Spencer

Grim is a complex, gritty, and often gory tale which follows a series of grisly murders in Prairieville. The blood trail leads to a reclusive millionaire Heath Grim, who wears a mask to hide his war scars from the world, but he harbors a darker secret on the inside. Virtuous detective Adam White almost always gets his man, but he's haunted by the one case he's never closed - his wife's murder. When White is pushed to the limits of his sanity from a rising body count and a criminal kingpin who has turned crooked cops and corrupt politicians against him, will he be able to collar the killer? Or will a plot to tarnish his image and the killer's information on a common enemy turn White into the type of man he's hunted throughout his law enforcement career?

About the author: INTRO
Joseph Spencer is the author of the Sons of Darkness series launched by his debut novel, Grim, on September 1, 2012. Work on his second book of the series, Wrage, is already underway and is expected to be released some time in 2013. 
THE ROAD HERE
The Sons of Darkness is a series of paranormal crime thrillers following investigations into mysterious deaths in the central Illinois city of Prairieville. Home of the notorious serial killer, The Reaper, Prairieville has had a history of violence centered on an ongoing feud between the Marino and Black organized crime families. When bodies start showing up again at the abandoned Marino State Hospital, many fear the Reaper has returned. The people of Prairieville are about to find out their problems stem from a supernatural source which has lurked in secret for decades. 
THE STORYTELLER’S STORY
As a boy, Joseph Spencer immersed himself in the deductive logic of Sherlock Holmes, the heroic crime fighting of Batman and Spider-Man, and a taste for the tragic with dramas from poets like Shakespeare and Homer. 
Before Joseph took to spinning his own tales, he pursued a career in print sports journalism, graduating with honors from Clinton (IL) High School in 1996 and summa cum laude from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale in 2000. He covered such events as NASCAR’s Subway 500 race in Martinsville, the NBA Draft Camp in Chicago, the Junior College World Series, and Minor League Baseball’s Midwest League All-Star Game during a ten-year career throughout the Midwest. Now, he works as an emergency telecommunications specialist with an Illinois police department. The combination of years of writing experience with a background working with law enforcement professionals gave rise to his writing aspirations. 
Joseph was married Dr. Amy (Waggoner) Spencer, an accomplished veterinary doctor, on March 14, 2012. He received word his debut novel was accepted by his publisher, Damnation Books, the next day. Joseph and Amy look forward to their honeymoon in Paris in September 2012. Murphy, a 15-year-old orange tabby, is perhaps the most vocal member of the family. The Spencer family enjoys reading Charlaine Harris, George R.R. Martin, Mary Janice Davidson, and most paranormal stories. The Spencers also enjoy quoting movie lines from The Princess Bride, Rain Man, Bridesmaids, and Office Space.



Ten Things I Wish I Knew About Being An Author Before Getting Published
by Joseph Spencer

You’ve done it! You committed to writing the great American novel you always thought you could write. You put your butt in the seat, your hands over the keyboard and your words on the screen. It’s finished. Your debut novel is finished, and set to skyrocket straight to the top of the bestseller list. The lion’s share of your work is done, right? WRONG!

For most authors, this step in the process is where the real learning takes place. The reality is debut authors, particularly ones who aren’t celebrities or aren’t being published by a major house, have to work as hard or harder on the business and marketing side of the book to get their masterpiece in front of a marketplace which isn’t familiar with them or their work. People are looking to stretch their dollars further in these times of economic hardship, and they have to be convinced that your work is worth spending their hard-earned dollars on. With that in mind, here are some things to consider if you’re looking to be published for the first time and aren’t quite sure what your next step should be.

1. No Agent, No Cry 
When I began my publishing process, I figured I had to have an agent before any publisher would even consider my manuscript. That’s just not the case. The truth is a majority of independent authors submit unagented manuscripts all the time. The right agent will definitely help, but you can be published without one. Also, when you query agents, don’t get depressed when you get form letter rejections. Every author gets rejected, and it’s common for rookies to get the cold shoulder.

2. Do your homework
Whether you’re querying an agent or a publisher, don’t expect to cut and paste a generic form letter and get great results. You’re writing professionals who see massive volumes of material every day. If you don’t stand out, you don’t get out of the slush pile. Besides, if you wrote a fantastic science fiction novel, you don’t want to submit it to a romance publisher or an agent who handles primarily nonfiction works. There are a number of online resources which can help. www.pred-ed.com is one of the best out there.

3. Do It Yourself?
If you’ve submitted your manuscript and aren’t getting any bites from agents or publishers, there’s another decision to make. It’s up to you whether you think the reason you’re getting rejected is that the material isn’t professional standard, whether it just needs more polish on the editing table or whether the scope of your work hasn’t found its niche. Another alternative is self-publishing. It’s becoming more common for authors to publish their own work through companies like CreateSpace, Lightning Source and Smashwords. The author eats a lot of upfront cost, but also keeps more of the profit when the book sells.

4. Together Everyone Achieves More
The TEAM acronym isn’t just a corny slogan for high school basketball warmup shirts. Authors go a lot further when they find the right network of specialists to help them with creative and promotional services. Did you know there are companies to help you find the right agent (www.agentresearch.com)? Online resources can help you choose editors, cover artists, publicists, and other specialists to help whip your manuscript into shape.

5. Love at first site
In this age of social networking and content delivery on the Web, it’s important for authors to have a strong online presence. If you don’t have one already (get out from under the rock), you need to get Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads accounts to post announcements to promote your book both before and after it’s published. This will help get the word out to your close friends and family who will be your best salesmen to other prospective readers. Depending on your economic situation, you can choose to make your sites either author or book specific. Also, try to blog content frequently on your site.

6. Everyone’s a critic
It’s important for authors to develop a thick skin when putting their work out on the marketplace. Please keep in mind that suggestions made by professional editors are meant to enhance the book’s appeal. If an editor sends back your manuscript with a lot of corrections, it doesn’t mean you’re an unskilled writer. It just means that editor sees potential for you to make your work even better.

7. Just face it
It’s not enough to lock yourself away in an office and write. Our society loves celebrities. Even if you don’t feel any differently, others look at you as a big deal once you get published. Readers want to meet and talk to the people responsible for the characters and stories they love. Make an effort to do a tour of local libraries, local book stores and fan conventions which make sense. Also, it’s just as important to do blog tours with companies such as Full Moon Bites (http://fullmoonbites.blogspot.com). Remember, out of sight, out of mind.

8. Give to receive
Odds are that you never expected to be hawking pens, bookmarks, notepads, magnets and various other items when you started writing your manuscript. However, these promotional materials go a long way in trying to get readers to remember you and your work. Sites like www.vistaprint.com sell a variety of material you can purchase cheaply and give to readers at your appearances.

9. Upon Further Review…
There are times when all it takes to break open a treasure chest of potential readers is a favorable review from the right online blogger, media critic or genre-specific site. Sending out review copies costs money, but it’s essential in winning over readers who are on the fence about buying your book. Attempt to get as many reviews as you can because people are more likely to give you a shot when they see your material was liked by other readers.

10. Be Good to Each Other
Believe it or not, other authors can become your best allies when you’re trying to attract your following of loyal readers. Creating a network of writing friends, whether it’s a local group which can help you work on your skills and read your work or whether it’s an online group which can give you tips on promotion or help you cross-promote each other, is a rewarding and potentially lucrative experience. On my site, I do a weekly blog post of author interviews. I let other authors know they are welcome to promote themselves because it drives traffic and visitors to my site, too.


Friday, February 22, 2013

Guest Post by Nell Gavin (Author of Hang On)

Nell Gavin
Author of Hang On

Teenagers travel in herds, so when I was seventeen a number of us accompanied a friend of ours to the police station to file a report. I don’t recall the nature of the problem – a stolen car, I believe – but we all went with him, piled together in someone else’s car, the girls squeezing themselves onto boys’ laps, and stragglers spread horizontally across everyone else, pressed up against the roof of the car. Eleven teens fit into a sedan in 1971 because cars were bigger then, and seatbelt laws were not yet in effect. Off we went.

The police station looked as if it hadn’t been renovated in decades. It was old and worn, and had that 1930s look about it, with tall, dark wooden benches, dirty gray-green paint, black-and-white tiled flooring, and dirty glass globe lights dangling from the ceiling.

Our friend spoke with a police officer while we hovered, affronted and indignant behind him, providing moral support for him in his predicament. When he was finished with his business, we all turned to go. As we did, I saw a little girl, about four years old, sitting alone on a bench looking terrified. Her hair was long and dark and messy, and her clothing looked dirty and slept in, but she was a very beautiful child. She wasn’t crying because she apparently was too stunned, or was beyond tears. She sat stiffly, her hands folded and her dangling legs crossed at the ankle. Her eyes were wide with fear and wariness. The most frightening thing about her was that she did not cry. What did that say about her, and her life, and why she was there?

Everyone was too busy to worry about a little girl as she sat there alone, looking very small. That, more than anything else, struck me – that the child was alone. How could it be that nobody was comforting that terrified little girl, or even sitting with her? Shouldn’t that be what one DOES? Without thinking?
I started to walk over to her – she needed a hug – but someone grabbed my sleeve and pulled me out the door. We were leaving now, and teens leave in herds. So I left, walking backwards, being pulled but resisting, still looking at that child, who has haunted me to this day.

She is the child I was thinking of, when I described Holly Salvino in Hang On. I made up her story: Her mother commits suicide, and everyone else abandons her. Where does she go next? To her abusive grandmother. And what happens to her for the rest of her life? Horrible things, and then wonderful things. I wanted to give that child love, so I did it in a book.

I merged her story with my own. She gets pulled into the world of Rock and Roll, and so was I. She has a mental illness, and so did I.

Rock and roll was like a drug, back in the 1970s. It had more glamour, excitement, mischief, danger, and sexiness than just about anything that had ever preceded it. Pumping rhythms, gyrating singers, screaming fans, smashed guitars – adrenaline surged through your veins at most concerts. This was the era when rock and roll production introduced lasers and pyrotechnics. This was when Heil Sound System’s “Talk Box” and other sorts of miraculous gimmickry came to be.

I was there, in the mid-70s. Like Holly, I had a roadie boyfriend, I was on the band bus, and I spent countless hours backstage meeting dozens of rock stars. I was flown to the Bahamas, like Holly. Like Holly, I was nearly sent home because my prepaid airline ticket wasn’t paid in full for some reason, so I’d given an airline all of my spending money and arrived in Nassau virtually penniless, with no phone number to call and no local references to give them. I thankfully slipped through customs and played Coconut Bowl on the beach with the band and some others. I also watched Bahamian’s elite drive up to hang out with the rock stars. I attended parties in incredible mansions when I was forced to, and hung out at the Traveller’s Rest restaurant and bar to escape the noise of it all, whenever I could.

The lead singer of “my” band was brilliant. He was nothing at all like the somewhat dense Angus Atkins. However, after I left the Bahamas I learned he had driven a particularly fretful rental car (one they all disliked – transmission problems, I believe) into the ocean in protest, and left it there. So he had his moments, just as Angus does in Hang On.

It was exciting, it was free, it was high-energy – if I were to pick a decade, I would pick the 1970s as my favorite. The clothing was stupid, but the entire decade was a party. Plus we were living in a very short window between wars, and before AIDS.

From another perspective, that decade is unfortunate. In the 1970s Holly’s mental illness will not be recognized as a condition until the 1980s, and there will be no effective treatment for it until the 1990s. This condition does not respond to medication, so her psychiatrist is of no real help to her. Nevertheless, she continues to see him, and continues to go hungry in order to pay him because she has bouts of very severe depression and thoughts of suicide, but has vowed to never kill herself, as her mother did. He is her only safety net.

I had Holly’s condition, when I was young. It is called Borderline Personality Disorder, and it covers a very wide spectrum of symptoms, with an equally wide spectrum of severity. Its symptoms “border” those of several conditions, all at the same time. It most typically impacts people with a high emotional sensitivity score, who also suffer some kind of trauma, neglect or abuse in childhood. If the sensitivity level is high enough, it takes very little (or even no) trauma to trigger symptoms. (When I was reading the Secret Life of Bees I imagined that the character “May” was one of these.) If the sensitivity level is lower, it requires a more extreme level of trauma for a person to show signs of it.

So each sufferer falls somewhere on the spectrum, from highly functional to non-functional, depending on his or her own sensitivity score and the trauma he or she experiences. People at risk for Borderline Personality Disorder are also those who most easily succumb to Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. The factors in play are very similar, and in some ways so is the treatment.
The good news about Holly’s (and my) condition is that symptoms improve as you get older, particularly if you make an active effort to confront and overcome them. In my case they are completely gone, and I leave a breadcrumb trail in Hang On for how I did that.

I was highly functional, and so is Holly. She holds a job and pays her rent. However, she is very lonely because her symptoms make it difficult for her to interact with other people and sustain relationships for very long. She has one or two friends who overlook her mood swings, and she has Trevor. The world of Rock and Roll keeps her afloat. But her isolation is palpable and painful, and her fear of losing the little she has is very real.

Hang On is sad, but it’s also funny. As I explained earlier, I gave that little girl in the police station “love,” and also shared with her some of my wonderful adventures. But I have no doubt that she grew up not-quite-wholly-intact. I wanted to show this, but I wanted to also give her hope.

I only wish I could have hugged her.

Title: Hang On
Author: Nell Gavin
Publisher/Publication Date: CreateSpace, Mar 2012
ISBN:  9781475023213


Watch for my review of Hang On before the end of the month.  
There will be a giveaway!

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