Saturday, December 31, 2011

It Was The Dead Who Groaned Within now FREE on Kindle



Nothing like kicking off the new year with some
It Was The Dead Who Groaned Within (A Zombie Apocalypse)

 It Was The Dead Who Groaned Within (A Zombie Apocalypse) and for a limited time it is FREE on Amazon for your Kindle 



Monday, December 26, 2011

Russell Blake interview





1: What is the most productive time of the day for you to write? When I write, it's for ten to fifteen hour stretches, so I wouldn't say there's a particular time. But the most unproductive time is when I've been at it so long my vision's blurring.

2: Do you start your projects writing with paper and pen or is it all on the computer? All computer. I jot out a one or two paragraph description, and sometimes one sentence chapter summaries, then start writing.

3: What do you draw inspiration from? The stellar work of standout novelists. And the occasional times I hit a sentence or a story out of the park.

4: Do you set goals for yourself when you sit down to write such as word count? Generally, yes. I shoot for 7500 words a day. That's actually slow, if you divide by 12 hours. But I'll sit down and stick to it until I hit it. Usually, as in 85% of the time, I make it. This year, I will have released a dozen books by year end. People are skeptical and wonder how. Take 7500 and multiply by couple hundred days, and you quickly see how the math works. Simple, really.

5: Are you a published or a self published author and how do you come up with your cover art? Self-published. I come up with a concept - I "see" elements of the story as the cover, and then give my talented artist a conceptual description, sometimes accompanied by a very rough sketch.

6: What drives you to choose the career of being a writer? I've always been interested in the effect language can have. The power. To evoke, to jar, to elate. It seemed like something worth doing. And I enjoy conjuring up a story.

7: Do you own an ebook reading device? A kindle.

8: Who are some of your favorite authors and What are you reading now? David Foster Wallace. Lulum. Forsyth, Trevanian, Harris. Dickens, Dumas. Now I'm reading Black Flagged by Steven Konkoly, and next up is Vaccine Nation by David Lender.

9: What do you think of book trailers and do you have any plans to have any? I don't know enough about them to comment, other than to say that if someone could show me that they're actually effective and offer good ROI, I'd take a hard look at them.

10: How did you come up with the title of your latest book? King of Swords? My Brit editor actually suggested it. Liked the visual tied to a tarot card that's used by the assassin as his calling card.

11: What are you working on now that you can talk about? I just wrapped a prequel to King, called Night of the Assassin. I wanted to get that done while the character was vivid in my mind. Am editing The Delphi Chronicle trilogy, which is an international conspiracy thriller based on the US involvement in narcotics trafficking and its operating hit squads in Central America during the 1980s. And my next one that I'm just rolling into is The Voynich Cipher, which is sort of a Foucault's Pendulum-esque treasure hunt adventure/thriller featuring the protagonist from Zero Sum, Dr. Steven Cross.




King of Swords



























Friday, December 23, 2011

My short story collection THE ROT is now FREE



In celebration of the Holidays I am making the collection of all of my short stories Free for you on Amazon. The Rot
contains all six of my short stories in one book. This deal is only available for 5 days so get while you can.






Review by: Chantale Reve on March 21, 2011 : star star star star star 
I have just read "The Rot" and am absolutely chilled to the bone. With an economy of words but an expanse of compassion, Speicher keeps the reader of this cryptic tale in suspense until the end. Palpable, odorous, stifling and frightening, Speich's masterful flash fiction left me wobbly in the shoes of his everyman protagonist.

Review by: Tom Raimbault on March 21, 2011 : star star star star star
A hot-button topic has recently appeared in every day conversation, suggesting that our country's leaders may not be looking out for our best interest. Who hasn't come to this conclusion in recent times? It would appear that politicians and company CEOs, alike, have it their only objective to make obscene amounts of money--whether it be for personal use or campaign funds. How far will these leaders go to get exactly what they want? What sort of sacrifices can be made? To make this issue all-the-more angering, it would appear that it's the ordinary, everyday citizen who pays the bill and often receives one injustice after another in doing so.
Conspiracy theory: it's a topic that creators of horror fiction have suddenly embraced. We truly are fearful of those who lead this country. What if politicians could do something horrible, and do it to those who are in most need of help in this country, all for the sake of a personal gain?
When reading the first, few paragraphs of The Rot, I couldn't help but feel for those less fortunate than me. When waking up this morning, I heard nothing but peace and quiet in my house. I had hot water in my shower, and the plumbing didn't sputter and spray air for some moments before finally spiking cold water. I'll go so far as to say that my environment was nice and clean; and I had food in my refrigerator for breakfast. Is it any wonder that I had a sense of guilt while experiencing a small moment of the main character's day?
But his day was only going to get worse!
I give this story 5 stars. Kipp did a great job in embracing a new terror that disturbs and outrages us. Well done!

Review by: Ey Wade on Aug. 12, 2011 : star star star star star
Wow, short, to the point and disturbing. The Rot, scared me. Just the idea of such a thing happening doesn't seem far fetched in this haves and have not world. I suppose the poor would be seen as pests to be eliminated. Awesome story Kipp. Hope you never become leader of the world or a politician. Not kidding. lol

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

FREE 2 day shipping on Kindles ends 12-21-11 at 8 pm PT




12-21-11 is the last day for the 2 day Free shipping on all the Kindle family until 8 pm PT






Thursday, December 15, 2011



I found some more great Pulp Fiction on the Kindle all at a great price






















Joe R. Lansdale interview



1: What is the most productive time of the day for you to write?

The  morning. It can vary from six to nine when I start, but usually I work about three hours and that's it for the day. Now and again I work extra, or even start later, but it's rare. If I miss my morning slot I really have to push it. I can do it, but I don't like it. I seem best when I'm closer to dream state and the day hasn't settled in yet.

2: Do you start your projects writing with paper and pen or is it all on the computer?

All on the computer.

3: What do you draw inspiration from?

Everything. There's no particular thing. Life. Books. Movies. Music. Radio shows. Anything can spur an idea. A loud hotel room once gave me the idea for my novel LOST ECHOES. It doesn't take much. There are times when I seem more fertile when it comes to ideas, and other times when I'm more plodding. Sometimes they come so fast I can't write them fast enough.

4: Do you set goals for yourself when you sit down to write such as word count?

Yes. I set three to five pages a day. Today I did seven. Yesterday I did three. It's pretty close to finished prose, but I do a polish, and of course if the editors see something and I agree, I change it. I find by doing fewer pages, and being careful, I have less to rewrite. I work out of the subconscious mostly, then polish with the conscious.

5: Are you a published or a self published author and how do you come up with your cover art?

I'm a published author. And I usually don't come up with the cover art. The publisher does, but I have a say in it. Mostly I can nix something I don't like more than I can choose what should be there, though in the small press, I can do that a little. I prefer to let artist do their work, and me do mine. I try to pick the artist I want and let them go at it.

6: What drives you to choose the career of being a writer?

I've always wanted to do it. I think it's simple. I like stories. I wanted to be a storyteller. Being paid for it is icing on the cake.

7: Do you own an ebook reading device?

I do. I've used it exactly three times, and look for any reason  not to use it. I prefer books, but I believe the ebook reader is important and is the paperback of the future.


8: Who are some of your favorite authors and What are you reading now?

I just finished King's 11/22/63. Loved it. I read a James Garner autobiography after that. Am reading a collection of short stories by Ry Cooder, and have just started WATER FOR ELEPHANTS.

9: What do you think of book trailers and do you have any plans to have any?

I like them. I wish I did have some.

10: How did you come up with the title of your latest book?

It usually comes before the book, or as soon as the book idea hits. now and again that doesn’t happen, but mostly that's how it happens.

11: What are you working on now that you can talk about?

A new Young Adult novel. That's all I'll say. I'm still writing it, and therefore figuring it out as I go.








































































Monday, December 12, 2011

Why I love Amazon excellent customer service




Why I love Amazon

I received a gift card for Best Buy a few weeks ago and really never had any desire to run out and use it. With the Holiday traffic and the price of gas I just didn't want to deal with it all. Besides the only thing I could imagine getting was using it to purchase an Amazon gift card,but I don't think i would be able to do that?

This past Sunday I headed out to work early in the morning to clean an office and when I got there the parking lot had cars in it and someone was using the main meeting room. I not wanting to work around people and not really wanting to sit in my car waiting for them to leave I headed on over to the Best Buy right up the street.

Walking around for about an hour looking to find anything interesting to purchase I finally decided on getting the Blu ray of one of my favorite movies The Big Lebowski. Then after cleaning and then getting home on that freezing Sunday afternoon I opened the package and noticed a slip of paper with a code to download the Digital Copy of TBL and what was even better it was not just limited to iTunes, I could log onto Amazon and get it for free there.

I thought this is great I get one of my favorite movies to play on my Kindle Fire
when ever I want to watch it. So after following the instructions on the Universal web page I hopped on over and purchased The Big Lebowski
for $7.99 even though the code gave $9.99 credit to purchase it.

Within minutes it showed up in my Kindle Fire
Library, But with one catch the purchase did not come off of the credit I got from the code it was taken out of my account, and left the $9.99 in my Amazon Video credit. So after a few minutes on the phone with Amazon the representative refunded the $7.99 to my account and told me to just go ahead and use the $9.99 on any other video download I wanted. 

So after browsing 1000 of movies I found one of my favorite directors and a very good friend Andrew Shearer's movie Fake Blood
for $3.99 to own (SCORE) so after i purchased that I went to see that the purchase also went to my credit card and not the Amazon Video store credit of $9.99.

I figured I would just shoot them an email to let them know that the code is still getting funky results. No more than three minutes after the the email was sent my cell phone rings it is a representative calling me to discuss the problem, having a very nice conversation with him he figured out that the code must only be valid for that one and only video purchase of TBL so he said he would delete that code and put in a new code and make it for $10.00 so I would know when it went through.

Within a few minutes my Amazon Video account had $10.00 in it and I could not resist purchasing one of my other favorite movies to play on my Kindle Fire
Apocalypse Now Redux

for $5.99. What amazing customer service at Amazon. 









Suzanne Tyrpak new release HETAERA now on Kindle




Hetaera—suspense in ancient Athens, is Book One of the Agathon’s Daughter Trilogy. Born a bastard and a slave, Hestia has a gift: the power to read people’s hearts. And yet, the secrets of her own heart remain a mystery. Hestia’s keen intellect makes her a match for any man. But even a literate slave has little control over destiny. Sold to a prominent statesman with sadistic tendencies, Hestia becomes his hetaera (consort). As her wealth and fame increase so does her despair. She dreams of freedom, but she faces enemies at every turn. When Hestia is accused of murder the mystery of her past unravels and fate takes another turn.





Biography

Suzanne Tyrpak ran away from New York a long time ago to live in Colorado. She enjoys bike-riding, skiing, hiking and swimming--but she spends most of her free time writing or posting on the internet. She's had numerous jobs: actor, dancer, tarot reader, radio advertising exec, airline customer service. These jobs often provide inspiration for her stories--as does her insanity.

Suzanne's debut novel is Vestal Virgin, suspense set in ancient Rome, available as a trade paperback and in all eformats. Her collection of nine short stories Dating My Vibrator (and other true fiction) is available on Kindle, Nook and Smashwords. J.A. Konrath calls it, "Pure comedic brilliance." Ghost Plane and Other Disturbing Tales is available in all eformats. Scott Nicholson says, "Enter this circus and let Suzanne show you why horror is the greatest show on earth." Part One of her historical suspense trilogy, Agathon's Daughter, Book One: Hetaera, will be published in December 2011.

Her short story Downhill was first published in Arts Perspective Magazine. Rock Bottom is published in the Mota 9: Addiction anthology, available on Kindle. Her short story Ghost Plane was published by CrimeSpree Magazine. Venus Faded appears in the anthology Pronto! Writings from Rome (Triple Tree Publishing, 2002) along with notable authors including: Dorothy Allison, Elizabeth Engstrom, Terry Brooks and John Saul. Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers awarded her first prize in the Colorado Gold Writing Contest, and Maui Writers awarded her third prize in the Rupert Hughes writing competition.

*New York Times bestselling author, Terry Brooks says about her writing: "...a writer of real talent...a promising new voice."
*New York Times bestselling author Tess Gerritsen says, "Suzanne Tyrpak weaves a spell that utterly enchants and delights. Her writing is pure magic."








Saturday, December 10, 2011

Robin P Waldrop Interview Ties To The Blood Moon




1: What is the most productive time of the day for you to write?

Right now, I’m not working at our family painting business, so I start writing early in the morning, and usually write—except when I have to stop to do laundry or clean something— off and on all day long until around four-thirty or five when my husband gets home. I would love to write at night when it’s perfectly quiet, and because I am not a morning person at all, but it’s just too noisy in the evenings with the family home and I don’t have an office in which to escape.

2: Do you start your projects writing with paper and pen or is it all on the computer?

Both sort of. Even though I do ninety-nine percent of my writing on my laptop, I’ll stop here and there to write brief outline notes or write down something I might need to look up later. I love writing on my computer, and am a firm believer in the cut and paste feature. I’m always finding something that would be a better fit in a different place. Trust me, if I did that with pen and paper I wouldn’t be able to read it through the dozens of the scratch marks.

3: What do you draw inspiration from?

My head. I have a whole line of characters lurking in the dark recesses of my mind, and each one is completely different. Once I figure out which one I want to let out, voila! A story is born.

4: Do you set goals for yourself when you sit down to write such as word count?

I try to set a goal each day of at least a two or three thousand words. However, this is my first time writing in the urban fantasy genre, and also writing in first person. I am absolutely in love with this particular genre, and I find myself writing an easy five thousand words at one sitting. I’ve only been writing this novel a little over a month I think, and I have already written about sixty thousand words.

5: Are you a published or a self published author and how do you come up with your cover art?

Both. I started out self publishing short stories and my first novel on Smashwords, and Textnovel. About two months ago Books To Go Now, a lovely short story e-publisher, read the first short story I had ever written, a YA/mystery, LOST HOPE, and scooped it up. As for my novels, I have decided to self publish. I’ve only been writing just over a year, and after finishing my first novel, I tried the traditional route, but got discouraged early on, and then Joe Konrath told me not to give up and suggested I look into Indie publishing. I did, decided I loved the concept of being in control, and never looked back. As for my cover art, my friend and author, John Marion Francis, taught me how to make my own with a free program from the Internet.

6: What drives you to choose the career of being a writer?

Writing chose me when I was four years old. That’s when I first learned to read and write, and even before I could write, I wasn’t happy if I was telling a story. After high school, I got married, started a family, and put my writing on the back burner for many years. I might not have ever picked it back up if I hadn’t tried to read the worst book ever written. It was so bad I could not get through one chapter before flinging the book across the room. I told my husband even I could write better than that. He asked me what I was waiting for, and four months later, I finished my first novel.


7: Do you own an eBook reading device?
No, unfortunately I do not. I do have a Kindle reader installed on my laptop, and that will have to do until further notice. I don’t mind reading books on my laptop. The only problem I have is trying to fit my laptop into my purse.

8: Who are some of your favorite authors and what are you reading now?

I really have so many, but a few of my most favorites are John Grisham, Patricia Cornwell, Aaron P. Lazar, J. D. Salinger, Agatha Christie, and my newest favorite is Amanda Hocking. I just read her My Blood Approves series, and really connected. Her writing style is so much like mine, at times I felt like I was reading my own work.

9: What do you think of book trailers and do you have any plans to have any?

Love them—if they are done right. Some people just take odd pictures, slap on some text and music, and hit publish. I recently made the book trailer for my newest novel, Ties To TheBloodMoon, and I was really shocked at how well it turned out, especially for my first attempt at making one. I used a program already on my pc, and was surprised how easy it was to make.

10: How did you come up with the title of your latest book?

I’m not really sure. I think it came to me in a dream, because right after I started writing the book, someone asked me what the name was and it just rolled off my tongue. I Googled the title and was thrilled when I couldn’t find another book out there with the same title.

11: What are you working on now that you can talk about?

I’m the type of person that can’t write several things at once. Every morning when I wake up I’m so excited about writing the next chapters of this book that I can’t think about anything else. It is the first in a series of three or maybe more, so I’ve already started working on the outline for the next book. One of my daughters, Danielle, has been a major help to me. I bounce ideas off her, and she helps fill in all the gaps.


So, as soon as this one is finished, hopefully by the end of October, I’ll start the second book in the series, but I’m also going to write a novella about a certain character from the series. I can’t say who yet, but I can say it’s not one of the main characters.

I also pulled my first novel, Twisted, off the shelves at Amazon, and am doing a full rewrite and name change on that one. Nobody knew who I was, and I didn’t do any marketing before I released it, so it didn’t sell many copies.

I can be reached via my blog at http://www.robinpwaldrop.blogspot.com
Folks can contact me at any of those places or feel free to email me  robinpwaldrop@gmail.com







Thursday, December 8, 2011

Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing KDP SELECT


https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/KDPSelect

Looks like some exciting changes over at Amazon on Kindle Direct Publishing KDP Select


  • Reach a new audience - Distribute books through the Kindle Owners' Lending Library and reach the growing number of US Amazon Prime members.
  • Earn a whole new source of royalties - Earn your share of $500,000 in December and at least $6 million throughout 2012 when readers borrow your books from the Kindle Owners' Lending Library.
  • Promote your book for free to readers worldwide - The newly launched Promotions Manager tool will allow you to directly control the promotion of free books.
  • Instant feedback - Check real-time performance of your books in the Kindle Owners' Lending Library.
  • How to enroll in KDP Select:

    Book(s) already published to Kindle or uploaded to KDP? » You can enroll existing books by visiting the bookshelf. You'll be able to enroll a single book or easily enroll multiple books at the same time.

    Starting your new book(s)? » New books can be enrolled during the publishing process. Simply select the "Enroll this book in KDP Select" option and proceed to publish the book as you normally would.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Kindle Owners' Lending Library?

The Kindle Owners' Lending Library is a collection of books that Amazon Prime members who own a kindle can borrow once a month, with no due dates. For more information,click here.

How is my share of the Kindle Owners' Lending Library fund calculated?

Your share of the Kindle Owners' Lending Library Fund is calculated based on a share of the total number of qualified borrows of all participating KDP titles. For example, if the monthly fund amount is $500,000 and the total qualified borrows of all participating KDP titles is 100,000 in December and if your book was borrowed 1,500 times, you will earn 1.5% (1,500/100,000 = 1.5%), or $7,500 in December.

If my books are distributed in the Kindle Owners' Lending Library, can customer still buy it?

Yes, your books will still be available for anyone to buy in the Kindle Store, like they've always been, and you will continue to earn royalties from those sales like you do today.

What does it mean to publish exclusively on Kindle?

When you choose KDP Select for a book, you're committing to make the digital format of that book available exclusively through KDP. During the period of exclusivity, you cannot distribute your book digitally anywhere else, including on your website, blogs, etc. However, you can continue to distribute your book in physical format, or in any format other than digital. See the KDP Select Terms and Conditions for more information.

Where can I see the terms and conditions of KDP Select?

Click here to see KDP Select Terms and Conditions.

For more FAQs, click here.

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Todays Kindle Deal of the day Stirred (Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels Mysteries)



Stirred (Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels Mysteries) Kindle Deal of the day only .99 cents.



STIRRED


John Locke Reviews Stirred
I no longer write reviews. If you know me at all, you know this about me. But when I read Stirred, I had to make an exception. The writing team of Blake Crouch and J.A. Konrath represents the major leagues to a sandlot player like me. When Mantle and Marris invite you to sit in the Yankee dugout and watch them knock one out of the park, what are you going to say—you're too busy?
You find time. You make time. And afterward, you're glad you did, because you saw something special. Stirred is that kind of special. It's a major league, bottom-of-the-ninth, bases-loaded home run of a book!