Kipp Poe's Blog

Sylvia D. Lucas interview

2012-02-04T08:31:00.000-05:00

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

The first half. After 2pm, I start sliding down in my chair.

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

My hand is out of pen-and-pencil practice. I’ll use pen and paper for notes (I recently had to run for a pad of paper and pen to transcribe something from the Today Show so I could write a blog post countering their sexist and ageist position), but if I’m going to write at length, it must be on the computer. I can’t write fast enough by hand and start getting frustrated with how long it takes for the words to make it onto paper.

3: What do you draw inspiration from?

Empathy. Or, rather, a lack thereof. While writing something a couple of years ago, it hit me in a very real way how short life is, and how many of us mistreat it even in small ways. We have this chance to walk through it as happily as possible, and too many of us waste our time judging and condemning others, thereby making their one life less happy than it could be. We also waste too much time judging and condemning ourselves. So, the things I write usually try to create understanding toward others and encourage compassion for ourselves.

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

Not anymore. Another one of the things I realized when I had this epiphany about how I wanted to spend my life (enjoying it and not taking it so seriously) was that writing is supposed to be fun. I write when I want to for as long as I want to, and not a second more.

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

I’m both published and self-published as a writer, but the two books I’ve made available for Kindle are self-published. The cover for No Children, No Guilt was a collaboration with a graphic designer, and the cover for What Every Woman Wishes Modern Men Knew About Women was mine (but a different designer created the spine and back – and brilliantly!).

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

“Career” isn’t the word I’d use for my choice to write. I’ve been writing (without knowing I was really “writing”) since I was 12. It later became something I studied in school because it was the only thing I really wanted to spend my time doing (I went to grad school and received an MFA in creative writing). I guess the simple answer is, “I like it.”

7: Do you own an ebook reading device?

I do.

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

My favorites are the authors who write about the human condition. I like John Steinbeck, Margaret Atwood, Dorothy Parker…

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

I think they’re a lot of fun to make, but I don’t know that the message the author tries to get across is the one the audience necessarily receives. Fun: yes. Effective: No idea. Time consuming: somewhat. But if you feel like making one, why not? No harm done. (Wait – that might not be true. If viewers get the wrong impression of the book, you could lose a sale. This is a tough one.)

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

What Every Woman Wishes Modern Men Knew About Women went through a few title changes. It started out as What Every Man Should Know About Women. Boring. Then a male friend who has a daughter and is disappointed in men suggested the title, Modern Men are Worthless. I almost went with it, because I thought it was funny, but after some reflection, I decided it was a bad idea. No one could know my feelings about men (love them sincerely and deeply) and might think I was man-bashing, and that was the last thing I wanted anyone to think. And as inflammatory – and therefore, as attention-getting – as the title might be, I couldn’t be the type of person who would be a jerk just to make sales. You know—like Ann Coulter. So, I went with the title that was, yes, significantly longer, but most true to the message. (What isn’t revealed in the title is that this is as much a book for women as it is for men.)

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

A recent reviewer, Geek and Jock, gave it 7/10 stars, explaining the scoring like this:
Pros: There is certainly great education for both men and women, of all adult ages
Cons: Lots of subject matter relevant to the topic remains uncovered. Do I smell a sequel?

So…maybe a sequel.

http://sylviadlucas.com

What Every Woman Wishes Modern Men Knew About Women
No Children, No Guilt

Ruth Nestvold interview

2012-01-28T11:02:00.001-05:00

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

I'm not a morning person. I write best in the evening, sometimes even until late at night if I'm on a roll.

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

I almost always start with pen and paper. Brainstorming on paper in a spiral notebook (and not some kind of beautiful journal) seems to signal to my brain that I don't have to take it seriously, which is incredibly liberating. I just keep throwing ideas at the paper until something sticks, until I get that "Ah-ha!" moment where I know I've found something I should do with the idea.

3: What do you draw inspiration from?

All kinds of things. A snippet of conversation, a turn of phrase, a newspaper article that makes me mad or sad or curious, a historical figure I want to read more about, a literary convention I think it would be fun to play with ... Anything can be inspiration, when it comes right down to it. If you twist it and turn it enough to be able to see it in an unusual light, it can be material for a story.

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

When I'm creating new material, I tend to use daily and/or weekly word counts to keep myself on track. When I'm rewriting, revising, editing, I will use goals involving a set amount of time (two hours rewriting) or how much to accomplish within the novel (edit two chapters a day). Fixed goals are very important for me because it's so easy to get distracted.

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

The first short story I sold was published in Asimov's in 2000, so long before anyone seriously considered self-publishing an option. I started putting up ebook versions of my previously published fiction last year, and with the exception of "Dragon Time" my daughter helped me do the cover art (she's an old hand at Photoshop). With "Dragon Time" I just saw this lovely dragon art by Dean Spencer and had to have it for my short story, even though I know sales for stories and collections are pretty low.

When I got the English rights back for my novel Yseult (it was originally published in German translation) and decided to go indie with it, I knew I wanted to do it right, which meant getting a professional cover artist. I saw Derek Murphy's work mentioned on a blog post I read, so I checked out his site. I really liked what I saw, so I hired him for Yseult. He was great to work with, and when I get the next Arthurian novel, Shadow of Stone, ready to publish, I will probably hire him again -- if he isn't completely overbooked.

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

I've always been making up stories. I can hardly remember a time when reading and writing weren't a part of my life.

7: Do you own an ebook reading device?

I've had a Kindle for about a year.

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

Some of my favorite authors are Ursula Le Guin, Guy Gavriel Kay, Tracy Chevalier, Jane Austen and T.H. White. Right now I'm reading George R. R. Martin's A Dance with Dragons.

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

I don't really have much of an opinion. I never watch them, and presently I have no plans to make one.

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

I don't have a release date yet for Shadow of Stone, but I guess you could still call it my latest book. The title for that one comes from an important object in the book, a standing stone erected on a grave. The metaphorical shadow cast by that stone plays an important role in the book.

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

My present work in progress, Fragments of Legend, takes place on three different levels of time and revolves around a literary mystery concerning the German medieval epic, the Nibelungenlied. A kind of secret history fantasy.

Blog:

http://ruthnestvold.wordpress.com/

Smashwords page:

http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/Nestvold

Ruth Nestvold

www.ruthnestvold.com

Something Happened to Grandma (Crimescape) review

2012-01-28T10:34:00.000-05:00

A look into a criminal mind, January 28, 2012

Another very informative read from the CrimeScape collection giving insight of a man who couldn't tell the difference between reality and fantasy. A man who is a master of manipulation and all of the people he affected along the way. Nice color photos to view on the Kindle Fire.

Something Happened to Grandma (Crimescape)

Til Death (87th Precinct) Ed McBain review

2012-01-22T10:34:00.000-05:00

Three guns and a wedding, January 22, 2012

I was so excited when I heard Ed McBain was coming to Kindle and after 6 months after the announcement they are here. The wait was well worth it. The story takes place all in one day and keeps you reading at a very fast pace just to see what will happen next. Steve Carella sister is getting married and in trying to keep her day as special as it should be Steve and his colleges have their work cut out for them. With murder and mayhem going on behind the scenes.

Product Description

Hours before his sister's wedding, Steve Carella of the 87th Precinct learns that a killer is stalking the groom, and in order to learn the would-be murderer's identity, Steve must search through hundreds of wedding guests. Reissue.

Til Death (87th Precinct)

Nosferatu Real Cannibal Stories review

2012-01-22T10:09:00.000-05:00

It's a strange world we live in, January 22, 2012

The book starts out giving you insight into the world of the Vampire and not the sexy dreamy vampire but the blood sucking death warmed over parasite. Then the book takes a expansive look into 5 True Crime cases that border around individuals who take on some of the Vampire, and Cannibal traits. Nicely edited with pictures of the killers. A nice addition to my True Crime Library.

Product Description

Until very recently, the vampire has hunted to survive and flourish with the awareness that all our understanding was based on myth, legend, and old wives tales. However, now we have science. We can confirm the myths, describe the legends, and have the affability to thank the old wives with their tales, who were, and are, usually right.

Vampirism has been reported across Europe since the Dark Ages, the first instance in the British Isles was reported during the nineteenth century. More recently, many cases have been recorded in the North and South America, with some accounts of serious invasion, and serial killings. It has also been linked with witchcraft, religious overkill (pardon the pun) and pagan beliefs. Their hunting has become a matter of largely symbolic attacks based on myth and legend. The preferential age of select victims for vampires is early twenties.

Nosferatu Real Cannibal Stories

Gregory Morrison Interview

2012-01-22T09:09:00.000-05:00

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

Defenetly Morning. I’d like to go to coffee shop take laptop with me order some coffee, or tea, or water and dive into words.

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

My Iphone is helping me whit that. Usually I write ideas on the notes app or I just record it to Voice Memos and later licen and type it and add more.

3: What do you draw inspiration from?

By walking a lot, loking around, meeting defferent people.

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

If I have dead line, yes. If not, I can take as much time as I need. To be honest I prefer dead line, its keeps me going. I like finiched manuscripts, more that stock in the middle.

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

I’m self published author. I have sponsors who have interest in my work. So its like half half, lets say J . Cover art – I have story in “Four D” called “Four Rooms” and character in the story sometimes looking for a key to the door. So at the end I come up with the hole idea with the door and and letter D in form of the key. And ofcorse CreatSpace helped me with book cover and editing a lot.

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

I just love it. I cant see myself doing not something creative. Plus it’s a good way to redeem your demons.

7: Do you own an ebook reading device?

Shame on me but no! Actually on my Iphone I have Kindle app, and I have couple of books there.

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

Its so many J ! I like John Ornwell he is great in every sentense of his books. At the moment I’m reading The Art of War by Sun-Tzu. I like to mix what I’m reading.

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

Its good way to promote your book. Lets say free way whitch is always good. Yes I have two, my friend Olesya Opana is a film director so he offered me help. It took us two day to shoot first one, and one day to shoot second trailer.

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

Four D consists of four stories, so that why its Four, and D have multiple meaning its can be dream, dead, and door, and dawn.

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

I’m working at the moment on second part of Four D, its gonna show how characters connected in the real way. It’ll surprise you, I promise. And I just finish writing script for “The Principle of Luidgi”, and doing some editing.

http://gregorymorrison.net/

Four D

The naughty Kindle Fairy 3 days 360,000 eBooks downloaded

2012-01-16T16:14:00.000-05:00

The naughty Kindle Fairy said if you post this event Tshirt on your wall, Website, blog, or other virtual space, and then email epickindlegiveaway at yahoo dot com, you are entered for a $50 gift card from me, Aiden James Author, Htnight Author and J.r. Rain Author! Winner announced with Fire drawings Tuesday! Thanks!

https://www.facebook.com/hauntedcomputer

2012-01-13T20:06:00.000-05:00

5.0 out of 5 stars Another must read from Crimescape, January 13, 2012

What a sick and disturbing case this ebook clocks in at 1009 locations on Kindle and each of those locations is filled with intriguing information that will leave you wondering what a strange, and sick world it can be.

Through out the book we are given some full color photos of the house that this nightmare took place, it is a nice added touch to True Crime ebooks. The book takes you through the beginning of the investigation and all the way to the end of the final court case at a nice pace. Not weighting you down with to much drawn out info but just enough to keep you reading.

Crimescape books are some of my favorite books in my Kindle library and hope to read more of them. (Keep em coming)

NIGHTCRAWLER (Crimescape)

CRIMESCAPE™ EXPANDS TRUE CRIME COLLECTION WITH SIX NEW E-BOOKS

2012-01-13T11:56:00.000-05:00

CRIMESCAPE™ EXPANDS TRUE CRIME COLLECTION WITH SIX NEW E-BOOKS

“What makes for a good true-crime story? Interesting characters, an engrossing plot, situations that often teeter between life and death. But here’s the MacGuffin about true crime: What you’re reading actually happened. Sometimes truth really is more compelling than fiction. And that’s why you will enjoy reading Crimescape’s true crime series.”
—Paul Alexander, # 1 bestselling author of the Kindle Singles Accused and Murdered

RosettaBooks LLC, a leading independent digital publisher and eBook pioneer, has expanded its Crimescape collection to twelve short true crime eBooks. Three of the six new eBooks are written by bestselling Kindle authors Dr. Katherine Ramsland, Anthony Bruno and Mark Gado. In Psychopath, Dr. Ramsland reveals how science can now decode the sadistic behavior of serial killer H. H. Holmes, a real-life Hannibal Lecter. Holmes is a central figure in an upcoming movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio based on Erik Larson’s bestselling book The Devil in the White City.

Anthony Bruno’s The Roppongi Stalker takes the reader into the tangled world of Tokyo's sex trade where a charming serial rapist and killer preyed on young women to satisfy his deviant sexual desires. The wealthy playboy had a taste for young Caucasian women. He stalked them, lured them on dates, then drugged and raped them. After two women died, he eluded justice for a decade.

NIGHTCRAWLER by former detective Mark Gado is the story of a ruthless murderer who preyed on the weak and deceived the police at almost every turn. What he did with his victims afterwards shocked and appalled an entire city.

Crimescape has added three very experienced crime writers: Johnny Sharp, Rachael Bell, and Elizabeth Engstrom. British investigative journalist Johnny Sharp’s Murder on the New Moon: The True Story of the Monster of Florence brings new clarity to the bizarre case of the monstrous serial killer who stalked the picturesque Italian countryside around Florence, shooting and mutilating eight couples on moonless nights in dark lovers’ lanes. George Clooney will star in the upcoming movie about the unsolved murder case.

Sexual Obsessions Gone Wrong by Rachael Bell is an entertaining and at times tongue-and-cheek look into cases of bizarre sexually obsessive behaviors (paraphilias) that had unintended consequences. Bell is an expert in sex criminals and is a therapist in a lock-down facility for teenage sex offenders.

Singled out by People Magazine as one of America’s best mystery writers, Elizabeth Engstrom’s Something Happened to Grandma takes the reader into a horrific family tragedy precipitated by deep-seated anger and deception.

All twelve Crimescape eBooks are available on Amazon Kindle, Barnes and Noble Nook, and iBookstore. Each Crimescape true crime short is between 12,000 and 25,000 words.

Crimescape is a RosettaBooks collection of compelling short nonfiction crime books by the best true crime authors in the business, many of whom have seen their books made into major motion pictures. Taking readers into the dark heart of the criminal mind and the tense hunt to bring perpetrators to justice, Crimescape authors stand apart from other true crime writers because they are selected for their experience in crime investigation, whether as police detectives, investigative reporters, forensics professionals or criminal psychologists. Riveting storytellers, our Crimescape short nonfiction writers give readers all the information they need to understand relevant clues and the interwoven influences in each criminal case.

CRIMESCAPE

Today's Kindle Deal Ed McBain books .99 cents

2012-01-13T06:30:00.004-05:00

Today only, 35 Kindle Books from Ed McBain's "87th Precinct" series are just $0.99 each.

Ed McBain 99 cent books

Ed Mcbain comes to Kindle

2012-01-06T14:45:00.000-05:00

Ed Mcbain books are now available on Kindle and if you are a Prime subscriber you can read one a month for free. I'm a big fan of his work and will be reading each one of theses.

Ed McBain was one of the many pen names of the successful and prolific crime fiction author Evan Hunter (1926 - 2005). Born Salvatore Lambino in New York, McBain served aboard a destroyer in the US Navy during World War II and then earned a degree from Hunter College in English and Psychology. After a short stint teaching in a high school, McBain went to work for a literary agency in New York, working with authors such as Arthur C. Clarke and P.G. Wodehouse all the while working on his own writing on nights and weekends. He had his first breakthrough in 1954 with the novel The Blackboard Jungle, which was published under his newly legal name Evan Hunter and based on his time teaching in the Bronx.
Perhaps his most popular work, the 87th Precinct series (released mainly under the name Ed McBain) is one of the longest running crime series ever published, debuting in 1956 with Cop Hater and featuring over fifty novels. The series is set in a fictional locale called Isola and features a wide cast of detectives including the prevalent Detective Steve Carella.
McBain was also known as a screenwriter. Most famously he adapted a short story from Daphne Du Maurier into the screenplay for Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds (1963). In addition to writing for the silver screen, he wrote for many television series, including Columbo and the NBC series 87th Precinct (1961-1962), based on his popular novels.
McBain was awarded the Grand Master Award for lifetime achievement in 1986 by the Mystery Writers of America and was the first American to receive the Cartier Diamond Dagger award from the Crime Writers Association of Great Britain. He passed away in 2005 in his home in Connecticut after a battle with larynx cancer.

Ed McBain

It Was The Dead Who Groaned Within now FREE on Kindle

2011-12-31T08:46:00.001-05:00

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

Russell Blake interview

2011-12-26T14:09:00.000-05:00

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.

http://Russellblake.com

King of Swords

My short story collection THE ROT is now FREE

2011-12-23T05:47:00.002-05:00

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 :
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 :
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 :
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

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

2011-12-20T15:59:00.000-05:00

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

2011-12-15T23:37:00.000-05:00

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

Joe R. Lansdale interview

2011-12-15T07:03:00.000-05:00

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.

http://joerlansdale.com/

Why I love Amazon excellent customer service

2011-12-12T22:01:00.000-05:00

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

2011-12-12T17:32:00.000-05:00

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."

Robin P Waldrop Interview Ties To The Blood Moon

2011-12-10T16:36:00.001-05:00

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

Twitter http://www.twitter.com/Robinpwaldrop

Facebook http://www.facebook.com/robinsauthorpage

Folks can contact me at any of those places or feel free to email me robinpwaldrop@gmail.com

Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing KDP SELECT

2011-12-08T10:16:00.001-05:00

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.

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

2011-12-04T11:32:00.001-05:00

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!

http://www.jakonrath.com/

http://www.blakecrouch.com/

Scott Mallory interview

2011-11-29T05:38:00.001-05:00

Tales of a Washed-Up Neverwas (Volume 1)

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

The overnight when the kids are finally asleep. The only problem is that I tend to pull all-nighters, which makes it rough to take care of kids or get them off to school the next day.

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

I keep a notebook and jot down notes, then I organize and do the heavy lifting on the computer.

3: What do you draw inspiration from?

Ideas just come to me or sometimes the title for the chapter or story comes first. I’m currently having a childrens book illustrated, and the whole story came to me in a dream.

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

The goal is to sit down, period. I have a short attention span, so it takes a lot to get me in front of my laptop sometimes.

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

I’m self-published, and I sought out artists at comic book and horror conventions. I knew what I wanted, I just had to find the right person to pull it off. I was lucky to meet up with artist Rob E. Brown at the FrightFest convention in Louisville. He’s illustrating my childrens book too.

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

I’ve always wanted to write but never had the time, then when my radio career dried up, I had the time. “Tales” was a monkey on my back that I had to write. It wasn’t a choice.

7: Do you own an ebook reading device?

My book is available as an ebook and my wife has a Kindle, but I’m more of a traditionalist. I like to have a real book in my hands.

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

I love comic books and Stephen King novels. Currently, I’m reading “Unmasked” by Kane Hodder and Michael Aloisi.

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

They’re very popular right now and I held a contest for my own. Andrew Copp put together a great one. It’s not necessarily reflective of my career or some of the book, but it’s very entertaining and will hopefully generate interest.

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

It was something that I used to call myself when I used to be on the radio.

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

My childrens book that mashes up classic monsters and sweets. It’s out there, but has a message for the kids. After that, I’d like to work on my horror anthology that I have outlined. It’s kind of my baby steps before I tackle a horror novel that I have planned.

Die Already is now FREE on Amazon

2011-11-29T05:08:00.001-05:00

DIE ALREADY

My book Die Already is now FREE on Amazon

Meet Horace, he has a very unusual gift or what you may consider a very grim curse anything and everything that dies in his presence will not die. No matter how violent or brutal their death may be they do not die.
Die Already is the new tragic and disturbing love story.

5.0 out of 5 stars Kindle Krack That Will Blow Your Mind,
It's not often that a storyline takes me completely by surprise. So I won't give this one away to ruin the impact. Kipp Poe Speicher's short story left me chilled. He entranced me right from the start and didn't let go until the very end, which will blew my mind. This is a story, which will definitely stay with me and reaffirms my admiration for the wonderfully twisted mind of Kipp Poe Speicher.

5.0 out of 5 stars Art of the perfect short story
Twisted, dark, but artfully rendered -- this is what a short story should be all about. I can certainly see Poe's influence on Mr. Kipp Poe Speicher's writing, which is really delightful (I've been a long-time Poe fan!). The end of the story was really fantastic, to conclude/embody the "dark romance" theme. Mr. Speicher's short stories are like hypnotic singles that you want to listen to, over and over -- I'm interested to see what a longer piece of work done by Mr. Speicher would read like. That being said, the short story genre/length suits him perfectly, and I'm grateful for witnessing Mr. Speicher's talent with a concise word count!

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Short Story
When I started this I didn't realize it was a short story. I finished it and was left wanting more. But that's a good thing, right? Well, I think it is. This is the first story I've read by this author and it won't be the last. The story is dark and disturbing, exactly what I think the author was going for.

Review by: John Davis on March 13, 2011 :
quick read of a good horror story. the cover artwork alone freaked me out, before i'd even BEGAN reading the actual story itself. recommended.

Review by: Tom Raimbault on Nov. 24, 2010 :
Not only did the harsh title, Die Already, grab my attention; but the disturbing artwork for the cover further pulled me in. The art alone of his stories are certainly worth collecting as they create feelings of a strange uneasiness. Really, the cover of this story is simply a young lady with a terrible neck injury. But a deeper looks reveals a subconscious suggestion of so much more that can disturb us. To me, the young lady takes on the features of a warped, antique doll that also possesses the attributes of a child. Combining these three elements, I am immediately reminded of innocent, yet, damaged antique dolls that only wish to be burned—already dead and forgotten, just somehow remaining in existence.
But enough of the artwork! Reading the story affects me as I immediately realize that the narrator certainly does have a terrible curse. Throughout his accounts, I found myself wondering how such a curse would impact someone emotionally, mentally or socially. And these things are briefly discussed; his fear of being out or around crowds. It will make perfect sense when you read it.
Kipp does quite well in illustrating the horrible scenes, giving us a front-row seat into the possibility of creatures that cannot die no matter how traumatizing an injury might be. At one point, I recalled a horrible sight that I experienced on the road some years ago. Somehow that gruesome scene became part of the story for me.
Being a fan of Kipp Poe Speicher's writings, I'm beginning to notice a certain style or flavor to his stories. He likes to integrate serious injuries or fatal wounds to the already morbid circumstances.
Let me also mention that there was just no chance of a positive outcome for this dark tale. Some part of me struggled to maintain hope that the ending would have a splash of something positive. But no; the curse was so terrible!
I give this story a 5 star rating, and recommend it to anyone who is a fan of horror.

Tom Raimbault
Chicago, Illinois

DIE ALREADY

David Lender Interview VACCINE NATION

2011-11-26T08:38:00.001-05:00

Vaccine Nation

Vaccine Nation Summary: Dani North is a filmmaker who just won at the Tribeca Film Festival for her documentary, The Drugging of Our Children, a film critical of the pharmaceutical industry. When she is handed "whistleblower" evidence about the U.S. vaccination program, she has to keep herself alive long enough to expose it before a megalomaniacal pharmaceutical company CEO can have her killed.

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

When people ask me when and where I write I usually laugh, because there’s no pattern. When I started writing seriously, about 15 years ago, my investment banking career was in full swing. I got up at 5 a.m., exercised, and then wrote for an hour or so before going to the office for my day job. I’d edit or outline new scenes on planes, in cabs, in conference rooms during breaks in negotiations on deals, anyplace. Today, it’s not much different. I get up, work out, then work. Some days I stay downstairs in the library and dictate on my Dragon software on my PC laptop. Other days I make notes, outline or type on my mac in the library. Sometimes I go up to the attic and work in my writing studio on my mac or Dragon PC software. Or I make notes, edit or draft scenes longhand wherever I am: on the bus to New York, on a chaise lounge by the pool, wherever.

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

I always start my outlines with pen and paper, but quickly convert them to the computer. My finished outlines are detailed, scene-by-scene outlines. Sometimes I even write dialog into the outline if it comes to me at the time in a way I want to get it down. I do almost all my writing on the computer using Dragon dictation software for the first draft, then edit. I’m also a constant note-jotter on paper.

3: What do you draw inspiration from?

Sometimes it’s someone in my life. Dani North, the protagonist of Vaccine Nation, my latest thriller, was inspired by my fiancé, Manette, and her work as a documentary filmmaker. Elmore Leonard is one of my favorite authors, and reading his stuff frequently gives me ideas. Sometimes it’s just throwing ideas around with friends. Many of them come from my career as an investment banker.

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

I try to average 1,000 words per day, which means if I’m not productive every day, I’m playing catch-up on other days. For many writers, that’s peanuts as an objective, but for me, I find it’s a level that allows me to balance discipline with producing quality.

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

I started out self-published with my first three books in 2011, Trojan Horse, The Gravy Train and Bull Street. My latest, Vaccine Nation, was published by Amazon’s Thomas & Mercer mystery and thriller imprint. The starting point for my cover art is my father’s photographs. He was an accomplished amateur photographer all his life and left a great legacy of photographs that are unique, beautiful and have great meaning to me. The cover photo for Vaccine Nation was the last picture he ever took. I did a blog entitled Hank Lender’s Photographic Legacy.

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

I am not sure it’s really a choice. It’s more a compulsion that a writer can’t resist. He/she can put it off, but I think it’s always going to rise inevitably to the surface, like a beach ball being held under water. Sooner or later it pops up.

7: Do you own an ebook reading device?

I own a Kindle, Nook and Kindle Fire.

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

I read a lot of Jack London growing up. F. Scott Fitzgerald is my favorite writer and I think The Great Gatsby is the great American novel. Few write with his rhythm, economy (Gatsby is only about 50 thousand words), or mixture of romantic sensitivity and understanding of human depravity. I was an English major, so I read all the big names you might expect. I also admire Hemingway, Joyce, the Bronte sisters, Henry James, Conrad and Steinbeck. Thriller writers who have influenced me are Frederick Forsyth (The Day of the Jackal may be the best thriller ever written), John LeCarre, John Grisham (although I don’t think he’s ever gotten close to The Firm again), Robert Ludlum, Ken Follett, and Thomas Harris. Elmore Leonard is the contemporary author I most admire. Out of Sight is his best, with Get Shorty a close second. Nobody does dialog or backstory like him. And his Ten Rules of Writing should be on every novelist’s desk.

I am reading Russel Blake’s The Geronimo Breach, JA Konrath’s The List and Lee Child’s Bad Luck and Trouble.

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

I think it’s a great idea if done right. I’m thinking about how to go about it. But they’re definitely here to stay.

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

One of my fiancé’s documentaries was entitled Vaccine Nation. A friend of hers, David Slater, came up with the title. I like it because I think it captures the essence of the CDC’s obsessive push to vaccinate, with its National Immunization Program of 14 vaccines administered in 49 doses by age 6.

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

I am starting a short story with Sasha Del Mira, the heroine of my first novel, Trojan Horse, as the protagonist. It will be a prequel to Trojan Horse that occurs after the assassination of Prince Ibrahim in the Prologue of Trojan Horse. It will also be a lead-in to my next novel, also a prequel to Trojan Horse, that will follow naturally from the short story. I love Sasha as a character, as do many of my readers, and I look forward to another adventure with her.

I am also working on a memoir, jointly with Manette, my fiancé, and Zac, her son, on Styles, our rescue pitbull we adopted last year. It is great fun, and Styles is a frequently hilarious and always sweet and loveable addition to our lives that we are working hard to capture in our book.

I’ve blogged about Styles, some of which will be in the memoir

David Lender is the bestselling author of thethrillers, Trojan Horse, The Gravy Train, Bull Street and VaccineNation. He writes thrillers set in the financial sector based on his over 25-yearcareer as a Wall Street investment banker. He draws on an insider's knowledgefrom his career in mergers and acquisitions with Merrill Lynch, Rothschild andBank of America for the international settings, obsessively drivenpersonalities and real-world financial intrigues of his novels. His charactersrange from David Baldacci-like corporate power brokers to Elmore Leonard-esquemisfits and scam artists. His plots reveal the egos and ruthlessness thatmotivate the players in the business world, as well as the inner workings ofthe most powerful of our financial institutions and corporations. Morebackground on David and his writing can be found at www.davidlender.net.

Imogen Rose INITIATION now on Kindle

2011-11-24T15:07:00.001-05:00

Product Description

Welcome to Bonfire Academy!

Set in the foothills of the alpine mountains in St.Moritz, this exclusive private school caters to a special kind of student. Enter at your own risk... but if you are human, you may not want to enter at all.

WARNING: This story is set in a school for paranormals who are very different from normal human teens. Thus, the language and some scenes might not be appropriate for younger YA readers. Recommended for those sixteen and above.

INITIATION (Bonfire Academy Book One) (Bonfire Chronicles)

Review of Jack Webb "The Badge"

2011-11-24T11:37:00.001-05:00

5.0 out of 5 stars 5.0 out of 5 stars

"Just the facts, ma'am", November 24, 2011

I'm a big fan of the tv show Dragnet and was interested in checking out this book. I have to say this was a well worth purchase. This book takes you even further into the life of a cop, way beyond the level of the television show. Jack Webb was an amazing person creating one of the most rememberable TV shows of all time (and radio shows) but he also stared in them. This book touches on some of the biggest cases in LA police history.

Along with the insight of the cases you also get a behind the scenes and history of being a police officer. Touching base on the training and mind set it takes to become a good cop. I was not expecting to enjoy this read as much as i did. Considering the time it was wrote it still holds up to what the world is like today.

The Badge: The Inside Story of One of America's Great Police Departments (Illustrated)

Kindle DX Black Friday sale save $120

2011-11-24T10:39:00.001-05:00

Get $120 Off Amazon Kindle DX - Featuring Large 9.7â E Ink Display and Free 3G Wireless

Shop Amazon's New Kindle Fire

Shop Amazon's Kindle Accessories Store

Kindle Fire now get over 100 Graphic Novels

2011-11-22T06:26:00.001-05:00

Comics

Huge Selection: Choose from popular comic books and graphic novels never before available on Kindle.

Visually Captivating: Enjoy your books in vivid, full-color layouts with the convenience of the Kindle reading experience.

Special Features: Graphic novels come alive on Kindle Fire with Kindle Panel View. Double-tap on any region to see it magnified. You can also swipe forward or backward to be guided through the panels in the author’s own sequence for an immersive reading experience.

This is amazing news the Amazon store has gone full force with the new enhanced comics so glad to see Neil Gaiman's Sandman series now on Kindle Fire.

Enhanced Comics come to Kindle Fire Video Demo

2011-11-21T06:58:00.001-05:00

Amazon has just posted even more of the enhanced comics for Kindle Fire now we have FIVE to choose from.

Kindle Fire: Comic Books
Graphic novels come alive on Kindle Fire with Kindle Panel View. Double-tap on any region to see it magnified. You can also swipe forward or backward to be guided through the panels in the author’s own sequence for an immersive reading experience. A software update may be required to view this title.

KINDLE FIRE review

2011-11-19T11:31:00.001-05:00

5.0 out of 5 stars Great value and reliable Gateway to all your Media, November 19, 2011

I'm very impressed with the Kindle FIre, I was so thrilled when i heard about the price of it. Since 2009 I have been a True Kindle fan, it has changed my life of the way I read, and now we have the Kindle Fire that will also change the way I listen to music and watch films, and TV programing.

Lets start with the video. Wow Hulu+ looks and works great on this, I have it on my PS3 also and it is really buggy on the PS3 but on the Kindle no problems at all. Great picture and sound and easy to navigate. Netflix seems to run very well also other than every once in a while you hear a slight click in the audio. As for Amazon Streaming video it is where this Machine really shines. With a free month of Prime you get plenty of films and TV shows to watch for Free. With a click of the button within seconds you have the movie in amazing clarity and sound in the palm of your hand. Super Troopers was the first movie i watched and was a lot of fun, nice to be able to stop it at any point and then start it right back up where you left off. A nice feature is having it in your carousel so all you have to do is press on it to resume the playback. Side loading video from you own collection is very easy also just plug in the USB to you computer just drag and drop.

Music: What can I say but yes i'm in heaven with Amazon and their cloud service I think it was April when they announced the whole cloud service for music and then they offered unlimited cloud service and thats all it took. I have an obsession for music and have a failing hard drive with over 200 Gigs of music from my collection. So since May I have been uploading my entire music collection to Amazon Cloud and now with a Wifi connection I have all the music at my finger tips with the Kindle Fire. If i'm going to be on the road I can easily hit a button and zoom the music is downloaded to the Fire.Yes it is a dream come true. The ease of just popping on over to the store while listing to the music is all right there.

Apps: Along with Amazon's mention of the cloud service they also gave us an app store with a FREE app of the day that I usually start my day checking out and purchasing since the opening just to have plenty of Apps to go with the then rumored Kindle Tablet. Well the day is here and I have plenty of Apps to play with on the Fire. Games, utilities, art programs. they all run great on the Kindle Fire. I also have a Dell Streak tablet and the apps on it are so so sometimes it works other times it just sits there. The Kindle Fire always boots them up and your on your way.

Web: It is nice to sit on the couch or at the kitchen table and surf the web, It seems very quick and easy to me I enjoy it just sometime I forget the ability is there right on the Fire.

Books: Well here we go back in 2009 i purchased my first Kindle 2 and instantly became a true addict to reading again. Having Dyslexia reading has always been so hard and it took me forever to read a Dead Tree book but then the Kindle came out with the ability to adjust the type size and the line spacing and it was like being reborn I was able to finally read without using my finger following each and every word. Now with the Fire not only do you have the ability to adjust the txt, We also get to be immersed in full color graphics and photos. Reading on the Fire is also a lot of fun with a tap of the finger you can read the definition of a word with in seconds. If thats not enough you can link it right to Google of Wikipedia and explore more.

I just love going to the book shelf section and enjoying all the cover art of the books. Your done with a book you are just a tap away from browsing the Amazon Kindle store. The ease of syncing up across all of you Kindle's is just another amazing way Amazon has changed the way we read and enjoy all other forms of media. Sure there a few flaws but it all can be fixed in a firmware update. I hope they put the Twitter posting capability in the reading app into the Fire OS along with the ability to see popular highlights. But those are a few minor things.

I hear from others that the battery life is not up to what the iPad offers? I have no problems with the battery life, consider you can buy two Kindle Fires and still save a $100 over the iPad price and then get 14 hours of battery life. I love my eInk display but the Fire is also another great way to read and have all your media at your finger tips.

Amber-the death mask FIVE Star review

2011-11-12T11:14:00.001-05:00

5.0 out of 5 stars Shutting off the outside world and entering a new realm., November 12, 2011

Tom Raimbault is what owning a Kindle is all about, his novel The Tree Goddess from last year was my favorite read of the year. Introducing you too the town of Mapleview with a cast of characters with their twisted stories all wrapping and warping around each others. The book is a true thrill to read.

Now Tom returns with more from the town of Mapleview and a little town of Sillmac, this story taking place before The Tree Goddess. You don't have to read either one of them first both are separate stories all within the same imagination of one another.

Tom this time takes us into the home and proud owner of Dickly's Hardware. The family suffers some hard times with their daughters terrible accident that leaves her paralyzed, and then the mothers sickness that eventually leads to her death.

All this sorrow and heart break leads to Michael finding the charm and helpfulness of a beautiful young lady named Amber. What seems to be a dream come true both for Michael and Amber begins to build and morph into a nightmare of regret, obsession, and betrayal.

You become so involved in the characters in a book of Tom's that the whole outside world just disappears, His writing style is captivating and at times he steps out from behind the curtain ands actually addresses the reader. So do yourself a favor get this book and all his other books. This guy should be populating the top sellers list.

Crawl up in a cozy blanket, open a bottle of fine wine and find yourself drifting off into the world created by Tom Raimbault, and then after your done wait for the next book to come out to take another vacation form reality.

Microsoft Bluetooth Keyboard 6000 Review Great Tablet keyboard

2011-11-07T23:24:00.001-05:00

5.0 out of 5 stars Love it, typing on my Dell Streak 7, November 7, 2011

This keyboard works great with my Dell Streak 7 Android tablet. This year I'm doing NaNoWriMo and can't afford a laptop for my local group write ins, so I thought i'd shop around for a blue tooth keyboard for my tablet for portability. After pairing up the tablet i'm off and running. This has become an great addition to my tablet and has become my official Writing machine. Using the App Pro Office Suite and uploading and doing backup with Dropbox I have everything I need to write my novel.

Cover for my NaNoWriMo novel THE NEW JUNK

2011-11-04T18:08:00.000-04:00

Here is the cover art for my book i'm writing this month for NaNoWriMo

Collectors Edition The Mutilation Man VHS

2011-11-03T17:15:00.001-04:00

My friend Andy Copp is selling a limited edition Collectors Edition The Mutilation Man VHS

http://coppfilms.weebly.com/the-mutilation-man.html

THE MUTILATION MAN (1998) - Andrew Copp's intense and disturbing debut motion picture that put him on the map that was called one the most upsetting underground movies ever made by many critics, is now available for a LIMITED TIME in a brand NEW COLLECTOR'S VHS package limited to 100 pieces.

Long out of print on both VHS and DVD this film is now available for the collector's market in this stunning VHS package featuring a red clam shell case and red VHS with incredible original all new artwork by filmmaker and artist Andrew Shearer. The artwork came out so interesting that there is TWO versions available.

Style A features Lead actor Terek Puckett on the cover

or

Style B featuring the RAZOR BLADE style cover.

The VHS also features a new alternate CUT of the film that runs approximately 10 minutes longer than any previously seen edition of the film.

Specs:
- Red clam shell case with Either Style A or B artwork
- Red VHS cassette tape
- 91 minute alternate cut of the film
- Trailers for most of the Coppfilms filmography including the just released INK & FLESH
- The short film THE DYING NAVIGATOR
- and the internet review show THE FINAL CUT reviews THE MUTILATION MAN in his special "What the Frak?" segment...
- Signed and numbered limited to only 100 pieces

Kindle Owner's Lending Library Free books with PRIME

2011-11-03T05:48:00.000-04:00

With Prime, Kindle owners can now choose from thousands of books to borrow for free including over 100 current and former New York Times Bestsellers – as frequently as a book a month, with no due dates.

Don't own a Kindle? Get yours now. If you're not a Prime member, start your one month free trial today.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/?docId=1000739811

How it works

Own a Kindle	+	Prime membership	=	Read for free
Books can only be borrowed and read on Kindle devices (works with all Kindle generations). ›Get yours now		FREE Two-Day shipping on millions of items and unlimited streaming of over 10,000 movies and TV shows. ›Start a free trial		Choose from over 5,000 titles, including more than 100 current and former New York Times Bestsellers, to read on your Kindle.

Tannis Skye interview

2011-10-28T07:24:00.002-04:00

1: What is the most productive time of the day for you to write?
In the car on the way to work. It is a forty minute drive and I find I always write the most then. If I wasn't still working and doing this full time, I have had great success at sitting in deserted parks on a sunny day and spending hours there.

2: Do you start your projects writing with paper and pen or is it all on the computer?
I have tried. I have really tried! I've had a writers bump on my finger since grade eleven because of how much I wrote and it gets unhappy after about two pages. It drives me nuts but in the end, I write more via typing anyways.

3: What do you draw inspiration from?
I try and write about things I have questions to personally. Hence why I really went into the origins of how vampires/shades came to be. I never liked the 'make me a vampire' theme in all books/movies so I changed that.

4: Do you set goals for yourself when you sit down to write such as word count?
Sometimes, yea. I'd like to say 'I just write until the story is told' but that is BS. I do keep my eye on the word count a little, but it doesn't decide much for me other than if it is a reasonable sized novel or not. Biggest goal I have is writing out the main points I want the book to cover before I begin it.

5: Are you a published or a self published author and how do you come up with your cover art?
I am self published. But not for a lack of trying in other ways, believe me. I wanted this amazing model and photographer to do my cover art. But then contracts got involved because it would be a book cover and I tossed that idea out fast because drama and complications aren't my bag. So I sat for the picture, my fiance took it and my friend did the smoke and spooky trees as a favor.

6: What drives you to choose the career of being a writer?
I am great at nothing else. Kinda simple. I am good at everything, great at nothing, except this. Plus, it would be so bonkers to have something else as a career but still dream/think/obsess over these story lines in my mind. Like, two full time jobs. One I am doing and one I am thinking.

7: Do you own an ebook reading device?
Only if my iphone counts.

8: Who are some of your favorite authors and What are you reading now?
I am a big fan of Brent Weeks and his 'Shadows' books. I am also re-reading Eat Pray Love again because it is a great book, but it gives me a break from the supernatural wold I am writing about. Also, I want to do a first person book soon, this will help me in doing so.

9: What do you think of book trailers and do you have any plans to have any?
Book trailers are only good if they're done well. Which most are not. So, unless Stephen Spielberg did mine, I would pass.

10: How did you come up with the title of your latest book?
I watched a documentary on heaven and hell, and instead of calling them circles, I called them levels and instead of it being just vampires, I wanted there to be a very big difference is power. Shade is strong, demon born, vampire is weaker, vampire born.

11: What are you working on now that you can talk about?
I am in the midst of the second book in The Shade Series, called The Shade and The Unholy Priest. When I want breaks from that, I am doing a non-fiction book called Sewer Sisters. Its about two sisters who live in Columbia and are homeless and at night, off duty police and business men go around hunting them for sport. It started in the early 1980's and still goes on to day. It baffles and sickens me that this isn't a fictional story I am telling.

I just created a twitter account so i can chat will fellow writers or bloggers: tannisskye
I will be making a facebook under tannisskye as well. I really have to create these accounts just for this because really, I don't do much facebook and never do twitter.

I am on amazon and smashwords under tannisskye. Just look for The Shade and The Nine Lower Levels!

www.tannisskye.com is offering the ebook for download for free for two weeks under the "FREE BOOK!" tab, so enjoy it!

Graphic novels come alive on Kindle Fire

2011-10-27T22:17:00.000-04:00

Graphic novels come alive on Kindle Fire with Kindle Panel View. Double-tap on any region to see it magnified. You can also swipe forward or backward to be guided through the panels in the author’s own sequence for an immersive reading experience.

Pre-order today and have them when your new Kindle Fire arrives.

The Dead Man Series now $0.99 limited time Kindle

2011-10-27T16:01:00.000-04:00

For a limited time The DEAD MAN series is only $0.99 a book get them now before the sale ends.

Law & Order The Complete Series 104 DVDS

2011-10-24T22:11:00.003-04:00

Law & Order: The Complete Series

This title will be released on November 8, 2011
The Emmy®-winning series Law & Order is the longest running crime series of all time and you now hold a complete collection worthy of its iconic status. This incredible set includes every powerful hour made from Law & Order's 20 years on NBC and comes with an exclusive and collectible episode guide. For twenty seasons, Dick Wolf's Primetime series covered the dedicated New York City police who investigated crimes and the district attorneys who prosecuted the offenders. Known for its hard-hitting, ripped-from-the-headlines style, the series showcased the talents of numerous illustrious stars from stage, film and television. Rediscover Law & Order's intelligent writing and the riveting acting that inspired a brand of successful dramas that continues to captivate audiences around the globe.

I was interviewed about Indie Publishing

2011-10-16T09:13:00.000-04:00

Check out the interview I did over at The Pudge Factory "Rise of the Indie Author"

http://www.jpudge.com/?page_id=309

It Was The Dead Who Groaned Within now on NOOK

2011-10-15T09:41:00.002-04:00

My new book is now on the NOOK

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/it-was-the-dead-who-groaned-within-kipp-poe-speicher/1106674444?ean=2940013310414&itm=4&usri=kipp%2bpoe

It Was The Dead Who Groaned Within now on Kindle .99 cents

2011-10-13T12:24:00.000-04:00

Is now available on Amazon Kindle for .99 cents

http://www.amazon.com/Was-Dead-Groaned-Within-ebook/dp/B005V82S7E/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1318504552&sr=1-4

THE RAVEN in theaters March 9th 2012

2011-10-07T16:41:00.000-04:00

March 9th 2012 THE RAVEN hits theaters

"It Was The Dead Who Groaned Within" Free on Smashwords Zombie Apocalypse

2011-10-02T22:43:00.002-04:00

My new short story It Was the Dead Who Groaned Within is now FREE on Smashwords.com

A police officer wakes up in a strange location, and finds himself in the middle of a Zombie Apocalypse.

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/93107

FIVE STAR review for THE ROT

2011-10-02T19:46:00.000-04:00

5.0 out of 5 stars This is the book to read, October 1, 2011

J. P. Wilson (Americus, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)

This review is from: The Rot (Kindle Edition)

The Rot is a fine collection of short stories that showcases this author's originality and skill. "The Rot," a short I can't really discuss without giving away a good bit of the plot--I will say expect to be horrified--is a fun and fast rollercoaster read, and fans of the horror, thriller, and crime genres can expect to enjoy it.

The prose in the next story, "i," is really rich, and the story is almost poetic as it unravels, the tale of love lost and regained, only to be lost again. It delves into the human psyche, and I think it would be hard for someone to not connect with this piece. And though it is sad, and gloomy, like something Edgar Allen Poe would create, there is a great optimism about it in the end that leaves you with a sense that there is hope.

"Die Already" is another short in this collection that is really great. This one is about a man with a horrible curse. When he curses a loved one, he tries to figure out how to unravel the horror he has cast upon her. This one is very original and worth reading to get a sense of the style this author possesses.

"Closing My Eyes Helps me to See Clearly" is the final tale in this collection, and it shows off another wonderful, bizarre plot from this author. Nothing is as it seems in this piece.

I believe that The Rot is a great book that shows a promising new talent in the field of horror. I think everyone should give it a chance and judge these tales. I am a fan of Kipp Poe and can't wait to see his next offering.

Michael Davidson (herocious) interview

2011-10-02T16:11:00.000-04:00

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

The morning. My brain hums in the morning. My fingers can't keep up. As the day progresses, my fingers outpace my brain, and the writer in me becomes inert. That's when I do things like run down to the lake and fill my brain with new smells and images, which often slip their way into whatever it is I'm working on the next day.

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

I always start longer manuscripts on the computer. But I enjoy writing book reviews on my notepad first, usually while drinking bottomless coffee at my local coffee shop. I also tend to write short stories and essays longhand. Whenever there isn't a mountain of material behind whatever it is I'm writing, the whole pen and paper thing works quite well. I'd even go so far as to say that writing by hand gives a different pacing to my sentences and paragraphs. It's almost as if I'm a different writer depending on my tools.

3: What do you draw inspiration from?

It's hard to say what exactly inspires me to write. Definitely not just any one thing. I think almost everything inspires me always. I tend to write stuff down. I'm the person taking pictures of inanimate objects and composing odes to them.

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

When I'm focused on writing a novel, word count does come into play, at least on the days I'm writing as opposed to revising. The goal used to be much higher when I was just starting, but as I wrote more, the quota dropped, and I began to care more about the weight of each word, making the most of the space on a page.

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

I've had short stories published in print journals and magazines. That's what motivated me in my early 20s. This year I decided to self-publish my first novel because it seemed like the best thing to do in this economy. As for the cover art, I came up with it. The typeface is Helvetica. The image is a close-up I took of a girl's lower back. I was going after the whole 'slice of life' idea.

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

Something indestructible. It's almost scary how hard it is. I think it sits somewhere close to my heart, or maybe inside my lips.

7: Do you own an ebook reading device?

No. I still read books. I lug them around with me and stare at how beautiful their binding is. Since I handpress books on my kitchen table, binding is no small miracle.

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

I'll start with what I'm reading right now: HEAVY PETTING by Gregory Sherls, MUSEUM OF THE WEIRD by Amelia Gray, and DON QUIXOTE by Cervantes. Some of my favorite authors are Thomas Bernhard, W. G. Sebald, José Saramago, Knut Hamsun, and Noah Cicero.

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

Book trailers are a fresh new medium great for communicating your book's premise to a wider, bouncier audience. I'm not sure if the effort that goes into making one actually increases sales, unless is goes viral, but I do know that it gets your book out there, it opens up some inroads. I actually already have one for AUSTIN NIGHTS. My girlfriend, Bridget, put it together using footage I took on our epic move from Miami Beach to Austin. She kept it short, under two minutes, and so far people who either review the book or interview me have enjoyed including the video on their site. I'm happy to have it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jXfmKoPbUE

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

AUSTIN NIGHTS, when read aloud, sounds exactly like Austinites, which is what denizens of Austin like to call themselves, and the book wouldn't have been possible without its weird cast of homegrown Austinites.

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

Great question. Thanks for asking.

40% of my energy is dedicated to Tiny TOE Press, which is an imprint I started to publish my first novel but has grown beyond that. For Halloween we'll be releasing our second title, a killer vampire story by M. L. Kennedy called THE MOSQUITO SONG. It's not your usual fare, but it will leave readers of this genre highly satisfied and yet hungry for more. Both handpressed and ebook versions will be available for consumption.

30% of my energy is concentrated on giving love either directly or indirectly to my book. It's like a slightly crippled creature I've had to coax into reader's hands.

20% of my energy is concentrated on reading and reviewing books from contemporary small press authors who deserve way more attention than they're getting.

8% of my energy is reserved for indulging in creative outbursts just to keep my trusty legs oiled for the next marathon.

And 2% of my energy is focused on editing 'completed' manuscipts to get them up to par for the light of day.

Relevant links:

Tiny TOE Press: http://theopenend.com/bookstore/
Austin Nights: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004M8S60C

New Kindle FIRE, Touch and $79.00 Kindle

2011-09-28T12:11:00.000-04:00

The new family of Kindles are now ready for Pre-order

28 FREE Enhanced Classic books on Kindle

2011-09-25T09:17:00.001-04:00

VOOk has brought us this morning 28 Classic Enhanced eBooks a must own for any library.

http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&node=154606011&p_28=classics&p_15=vook%20-domain&hidden-keywords=-domain%20-breakthrough%20English&sort=price&p_36=0-0&kc=AG56TWVU5XWC2&redirect=true&tag=dailycheaprea-20#/ref=sr_pg_1?rh=n%3A133140011%2Cn%3A%21133141011%2Cn%3A154606011%2Cp_15%3Avook+-domain%2Cp_36%3A0-0%2Cp_28%3Aclassics&sort=price&hidden-keywords=-domain+-breakthrough+English&ie=UTF8&qid=1316954903

Eileen Granfors interview

2011-09-24T15:11:00.000-04:00

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

I am definitely a morning person. I get up and walk the dogs, thinking about a chapter or a scene. I come home and write it. That’s Monday-Friday. I can’t go into my writing zone when my husband is home. I need quiet!

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

I may take some research notes on note cards or conduct a warm-up on paper from a prompt, but my novels are written on the computer.

3: What do you draw inspiration from?

I have so many different genres that I have worked in. . . inspiration comes to me from snippets in the newspaper, thinking about people in my life, and the lives of minor characters in classic books. I started a book about bad girls that became a tribute to a high school Chicana friend, and very much about a good girl! (Some Rivers End on the Day of the Dead). My fans are restless for the sequel, but that’s down the queue a bit.

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

I don’t consider it a finished working day until I have 1500 words, one chapter. If I haven’t written by 9:45 a.m., I go to the gym because there’s no way I’m going to write that day. I grew up in a military family—I have to stay on schedule!

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

My novels are self-published, although my new novel, Stairs of Sand, received some nibbles from agents. Some of my poetry and short stories have been published in anthologies and on web sites. My cover art is the product of Internet research and permissions from the artists, drawn directly from CreateSpace or purchased from Getty Images.

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

In my life, books have been very important sources of information and inspiration. I shared my excitement and love of literature in my teaching career. Once I was no longer teaching, I found that writing helped me to sort out my life, especially after my mom died.

7: Do you own an ebook reading device?

I received a Kindle last week for my birthday. I love it immensely.

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

I have a couple hundred favorite authors, but I would definitely list Emma Donoghue (Room and Slammerkin); Vanessa Diffenbaugh (The Language of Flowers); Gwen Gross (The Orphan Sister); Carolyn Parkhurst (The Dogs of Babel) and any book by Margaret Atwood. Right now I am reading The Concert Killer by RJ McDonnell—he writes rock ‘n roll mysteries with a sardonic private investigator, who narrates.

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

I love making book trailers. I am not sure how much they help to sell the books. I have four on youtube. Search youtube for Eileen Granfors, and there they are!

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

My latest book out, Stairs of Sand, is one of those titles with layers of meaning. I always liked the image from Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice (“cowards, with hearts as false as stairs of sand. . . “), and it fit well with my story of a girl moving to her grandfather’s beach town where she also finds that a lot of good intentions collapse like stairs of sand.

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

I am working on a prequel for the Dickens’ classic, A Tale of Two Cities. This is a book I was asked to write about thirty years ago by class after English class, kids who fell in love with the morose and yet heroic, Sydney Carton. Right now the book is called Sydney’s Story. I’m imagining his youth and the influences that turned him into such a depressed alcoholic. It’s fun, but the research about 18^th century London and Paris is slow going. I’m about half-way through writing the book. And I need to get finished with the sequel I promised for Some Rivers End on the Day of the Dead—ya, multicultural—never a dull moment for this author.

http://www.authoreileengranfors.blogspot.com (my books)

http://www.eileengranfors.blogspot.com (my reviews of others' books)

Jimmy Pudge BAD BILLY now on Kindle

2011-09-20T23:47:00.001-04:00

Product Description
Born out of shame and sin, he is an abomination that has been shunned from the world. But one day the chains confining him to the basement floor weaken. Now, Bad Billy is about to step out into the sunlight, and he's bringing hell with him across the Georgia red clay.

"Bad Billy" is a novella, approximately 20,100 words in length.

A Reader's Review

"What do I think about 'Bad Billy?' It's like 'Of Mice and Men' meets 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.'" --R. Scott McCoy, Publisher, Stygian Publications, author of Feast and The White Faced Bear.

Stuart Jaffe Interview

2011-09-19T22:46:00.002-04:00

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

It's changed a lot over the years. Right now, I get started around 9am and put in 1,000 words by 10 or 10:30. Then I do promotion, social media, that kind of thing as well as plotting the next few chapters and revisions on other work. Later, around 1pm, I'll sit down for another 1,000 words. This is the first time I've tried it this way and so far it's great.

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

I have a spiral notebook for each book I write. In it I jot down notes, research, etc and do all my plotting. The actually writing is done on the computer (though not always the same computer) but revisions are pencil and paper.

3: What do you draw inspiration from?

Um, everything? Seriously. The Way of the Black Beast came from my interest in samurai movies, mixing anime archetypes with monomyth plot structure, post-apocalyptic stories, tattoos, and blues. A different series I'm working on draws from my hometown's history. I've had ideas from books, movies, music, everything. And, frankly, that's how it should be. If you only draw inspiration from one source, pretty soon all you create will become the same. But if you open yourself to the world around you, you'll have infinite sources in which to find the Muse.

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

With my new approach I'm shooting for one of two goals. Either 2k words or finishing as far as I've outlined. While I have the overall plot laid out, I do the detailed outlining only a few chapters ahead at a time. That way when one of my characters decides I should go left instead of right, I can adjust on the fly. It's my happy median between pantser and plotter.

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

I've been both (small press and self) and plan to continue to do both. The Way of the Black Beast is self-published. I've often advocated for new writers to go a traditional route to start because even if it doesn't work out, they'll learn about how this business works (or doesn't work) and they'll make great connections along the way. As a result of my own journey, I've become friends with many talented cover artists who are willing to give me a "friend rate" to help me out. The result -- I have a beautiful, professionally made cover at a price that I can actually afford.

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

Madness.

7: Do you own an ebook reading device?

When I decided to try indie-publishing, I bought a Kindle. I thought it'd be a good idea to see what others did well and what I didn't like. The second I held it in my hands, I thought, "Now I see what all the fuss is about." It was a real eye-opener.

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

John Steinbeck is my all-time favorite author. Also, for sheer intensity, you can't do better than Jack Ketchum. I've also recently discovered John Jakes. For fantasy writers, I highly recommend reading Jakes or any historical fiction. Those authors have many similar world-building issues that we have, and it's an education to see how they handle it. As for what I'm reading -- I just finished Brandon Sanderson's Hero of Ages, a fantastic conclusion to a fantastic trilogy. I'm now in the middle of Winter Journey by Diane Armstrong about a dental forensics doctor being called to Poland to help excavate a mass grave from WWII.

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

A few have been amusing but I don't really care for them. I've yet to find more than a handful of authors who think book trailers did anything for their sales. Considering the cost of doing one well, I probably won't do one.

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

The Way of the Black Beast had a long gestation period and at one point was call The Way of the Sword and Gun. I wanted to keep the "The Way" idea which is partially a martial arts/samurai nod, but the Sword and Gun technique belonged to a character that no longer fit into this book. The working title became The Way of Vengeance, because the heroine, Malja, spends much of the book hunting down two magicians as she seeks vengeance. But that title didn't really say enough about the book, seemed a bit of a turn-off, and limited the reader to only one idea regarding Malja. In the course of writing, the concept grew that vengeance was a shadowy Beast Malja must learn to deal with and as I wrote that metaphor into the story it took on greater layers of meaning, and the title emerged.

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

I'm working on the sequel called, amazingly enough, The Way of the Sword and Gun. The character cut from Book 1 now has a place and so, for now, the title gets to be used. Sometimes things just work out.

The Way of the Black Beast -- a post-apocalyptic fantasy novel

10 Bits of My Brain -- a short story ebook collection

website -- http://www.stuartjaffe.com
blog -- http://www.stuartjaffe.com/blog
Co-Host of The Eclectic Review Podcast (http://eclectic.libsyn.com)

THE WAY OF THE BLACK BEAST -- a post-apocalyptic fantasy novel

Malja wants answers. She wants to know why the two most powerful magicians in all of Corlin ripped her from her mother's arms, raised her only to fight, and then tossed her away to die at age ten. She wants to know why they are trying to recreate the spells which caused the Devastation that wiped out most of the world's population, leaving behind skeletal cities and abandoned technology. And she wants to kill them.
With Tommy, an orphan bearing the tattoos of a sorcerer, she crosses this shattered land. Despite the challenges they face -- crazed magicians, guitar-playing assassins, mutated beasts -- Malja pursues her vengeance with a single-mindedness that may destroy all she holds dear, forcing her to make a terrible choice
between the family she lost and the one she has built.

10 Bits of My Brain -- a short story collection

This collection of ten short stories, including three all-new tales, runs from the tiny life of a fly to the far reaches of space, from an elderly witch in WWII’s Lublin ghetto to a dragon detective in the modern world’s harsh streets, from tattoos and chess games to robberies and betrayals. These stories are packed with action, drama, and a bit of the weird.

“Stuart’s work defies pigeon-holing . . . All of these pieces, though, show a master storyteller at the top of his art.” — from the introduction by David B. Coe.

Kindle Version:http://www.amazon.com/Black-Beast-Malja-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B005NRXT6W/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1316306316&sr=8-9 <http://www.amazon.com/Black-Beast-Malja-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B005NRXT6W/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1316306316&sr=8-9>
Smashwords Version:http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/89710
B&N and Print Versions are coming and might be out by the time this is posted.

Anne Holly interview

2011-09-18T12:30:00.000-04:00

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

Early in the morning, between 4 and 7am, and late at night, between 11pm and 3am. Sometimes all day, if I can get some time to do it.

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

I outline with pen and paper, but I almost entirely write on computer now, except for scraps of dialogue or description that come to me when I’m away from the keyboard. I wrote my first novel by hand, and I’m writing a couple of personal pieces by hand.

3: What do you draw inspiration from?

Everywhere. Life around me, my own experiences, watching people, actors I like, people I’ve known. It all goes into the mill.

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

I do 1k a day, without fail, with 1-6k on my writing days. I usually make it. I have to set goals, since I am often tired and wanting to go to bed, since I write after my son goes to bed, usually – this way, I can tell myself not to quit until I’ve hit the count.

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

I am published with small presses, so the covers usually fall to the companies, though I’ve generally had a lot of chance to give input. All the presses I’ve worked for have asked me to provide descriptions of what I’d like, and then I can let them know if I have suggestions/issues when I see the first draft. The cover for my contemporary Canadian romance Strings Attached, I personally commissioned the artist, Amanda Wood, because I wanted a dramatic, northern feel, and I knew what I wanted. Normally, though, we go with the couple and a few choice symbols of the season/setting/situation.

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

I have a regular career, along side writing, so in a sense writing fiction is not my main career. I chose to do it because I love it, and I’m good at it. Sometimes, I wonder if I’m nuts taking it along side my day job and raising a child, but it makes me a little bit of money, and I find being read very rewarding.

7: Do you own an ebook reading device?

I don’t, except for three or four programs for my PC (Kindle for PC, Adobe Digital and Copia). I’d like a Kindle or Nook some day, maybe, but not with a very active three year old in the house.

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

I am a fan of Jane Austen, the Brontes, Graham Greene, George Bernard Shaw, Dickens, Trollope, and most of the Victorians. I don’t read a lot of very new fiction, as I’m still catching up on the classics. I get a lot of second hand paperback romances from family, though, since there is a thriving trade circle with those. I read a lot of nonfiction, for my work and my enjoyment. I’m always reading three or four books at a time, so it’s hard to list what I’m reading at the moment. I’m working my way through Order of the Phoenix again, though.

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

I kind of like making book trailers for my books, as it gives me some neat promo stuff for my blog, but, to be honest, I don’t think they do much good. I’ve never, ever bought a book because of a trailer, and never once heard from someone that any of my trailers sold them on my book. It’s something to try, but I don’t think it’s a major necessity.

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

This one that I’m writing now, it came to me in a flash as I was trying to fall asleep. Most of my books, I have titles during the writing phase, though one of them I had to change after release, and another I really struggled with right up until I was about to submit it to publishers – I had to mooch for suggestions and feedback from other writers for that one.

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

Right now, I am trying my hand at a paranormal shifter romance, which is not my usual field at all. But, I wanted to do something different, and a little darker than my regular stuff, which is usually quite happy. I especially wanted to make the female the shifter – why should guys get all the fun of turning into wolves and things? Females should have some superpowers once in a while, too.

Anne Holly is a Canadian writer of romance and erotic-romance, as well as a mother and teacher. She is the author of the novel Strings Attached, which was described by The Romance Reviews as “a classic contemporary romance.” She is currently at work editing the remaining installments in her five story holiday erotic-romance series published by Rebel Ink, as well as perpetually producing new stories. She has been published by Wild Horse Press, Decadent Publishing and Rebel Ink Press. Anne’s work is characterized by its unusual heroes, sweet/spicy balance, witty dialogue, responsible citizenship, and its positive, optimistic nature. You may visit Anne at her blog or website, or find her on GoodReads, Facebook and Twitter (@anneholly2010). You can find all of her releases on Amazon.

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