Dreamer's Perch

I'm in my writing cave.

2012-01-30T07:06:00.005-05:00

Some where in the Mammoth Cave in Kentucky

Sorry for the lack of blog posts. This is what happens when I focus on fiction. My mind becomes so wrapped around a story I don’t want to snap out of it to write anything else. This is because if I do, I will have to do too much re-reading of whatever story I’m working on. So basically I’ve gone into my writing cave and who knows when I will emerge. However, I am visiting the blogs I normally visit, even though I might comment every time.

Also, I'm doing some research. With the money for winning a couple of blog contests I bought a book called "Blackholes, Wormholes and Time Machines." So far I'm loving this book.

The picture above is from the Mammoth Caves in Kentucky. I've been there twice and they have many cave tours. The tours vary in length and in most cases there is a lot climbing involved. The longest is a six hour tour that involves crawling through tight spaces. I have never gone on that one. The two hour tours were good enough for me. I recommend going there in warmer weather if you have never seen it.

Also just a side note: I’m switching jobs again. A new one starts today. Woot!

A Focus on Fiction and Opening Doors.

2012-01-16T09:43:00.000-05:00

Most likely, I’m going to try and update the blog at least with a writing update on Mondays. I find that I can’t blog and write fiction at the same time, unlike some of my amazing friends. If I get into blog mode, I can blog a lot. If I turn my attention to fiction, blogging comes to a halt. I know some of you have heard these excuses before, so excuse the repeating *grin*.

Then if all goes well, I will have at least one other post a week. Either a guest post, author interview or something about any research I've done. (Mars, wormholes, etc).

All this will allow me more time to also keep up with the blogs I follow as well.

From all my observations, I can see it’s important to have not just one published book, but a series and more. The more you have out there, the more exposure and the more you have to work with. Sure I can get people interested in Vallar, but I’ve found out that they want more. If I wait too long some might lose interest, and I'm already behind.

Some good news: Although sales have slowed since the initial giveaway, I’m still seeing sales, not best seller sales, but it’s way better than before. Also…I sold a copy of Vallar on Amazon Germany, and 5 now on Amazon UK.

It’s these little things that excite me. I feel like Amazon select has opened some doors that were shut before, and I’m very grateful for that.

I have a bunch of projects in mind:

First, the Vallar Sequel, of course.
More adventures of Chad and Adelya in TransShifter.
A steampunk novel involving native americans.
And a Post-Apocalyptic story called. “In the Middle of Nowhere” and it’s about a mother and daughter struggling to survive after an ice age has been triggered by an asteroid impact. Most likely this is going to be a long short story for an anthology I'm working on with the other writers at Good Book Alert.

As far as progress in writing and publishing, I now feel like doors will open, but I can’t be miles from the door in order to go through it.

Everyone, be ready for those doors to open.

Have a great week!

The Hellas Basin on Mars. (Smart Cookie Award Post)

2012-01-09T06:31:00.000-05:00

I recently received the Smart Cookie award from Michael Offutt. Thanks Mike.

Here are the rules:

1. Thank the award giver and link back to them in your post. (See above)

2. Share 4 little known facts on anything.

3. Pass this on to other "smart cookies" you may know.

Mike suggested I post four facts about Mars and I figured, why not? And you know I have to go for something not all that well known. I mean we all know it’s small, reddish, and cold.

Friday, I promised I would explain why the Hellas Basin (a huge crater) is special for being more than just big. Just read the facts to find out why.

FACTS:

1. The biggest crater on Mars is called The Hellas Basin, and this is what it looks like…

2. Scientists estimate that the asteroid that formed this crater struck about 3,900 million years ago, during the "intense early bombardment period." Here is just how big this crater is....

Hellas is 1,100 miles across.

(Extra Fact: The other impact basin shown here, Argyre, is the location of a farming colony in my book Vallar.)

3. Both American and Russian space vehicles have tried to detect a magnetic field on Mars, but it has no magnetic field. A compass on Mars would be useless. Since magnetic fields are created from moving molten iron at the core of a planet, this means that the core of Mars does not have an active churning iron core. One theory for no magnetic field, is that Mars is half the size of Earth and it's much colder, so it cooled off faster.

4. However, the Mars Global Surveyor discovered that the crust in the southern uplands was magnetized, which could only happen if Mars once had a magnetic field, and this confirmed it.

5. A handful of Martian rocks have been found on Earth that are magnetized, dating back to 4,500 million years ago.

6. It's believed that the impact crater that formed the Hellas Basin punched a hole in the crust and disrupted the magnetic field and it never remagnetized.

And now you know why the Hellas Basin is interesting for more than being just the big. I hope you enjoyed these facts, and if you already knew this I would send you a geek award if I could.

Okay, so I knew I was going to go over the required fact count. I will now give out the Cookie Award to...

Enjoy your cookie, friends. :)

Writing Update and a Blog Fest.

2012-01-06T08:38:00.000-05:00

I signed up for the I'm Hearing Voices! Character Blogfest.

You too can join. Various posts are required. Here are the guidelines:

The Posts:

February 6th - Monday: Characters on the couch: Have one of your characters answer the following questions (to make this work to your benefit, choose a character who is the hardest for you to write :) Max 250 words (Not including the questions—only the answers).

1. What is your biggest vulnerability? Do others know this or is it a secret?
2. What do people believe about you that is false?
3. What would your best friend say is your fatal flaw? Why?
4. What would the same friend say is your one redeeming quality? Why?
5. What do you want most? What will you do to get it?

February 8th - Wednesday - Dialogue Introduction: Have two characters introduce each other using only dialogue—no backstory, no internalization, just dialogue between the two. Max 250 words.

February 10th - Friday - Emotion Flash Fiction: Emotion is the engine of a story. Pick an emotion and in a flash fiction piece of 250 words MAKE us feel it! We want to connect with your character. This will be a challenge in 250 words

The prizes:

Two books
Two query critiques
and two full manuscript critiques.

See the above blog link for more details.

---------------------------------

Writing Update

As some of you may have noticed, I enrolled both my books in the Kindle Select program. This gives you the option to set your book to completely free up for 5 days over the 90 day period. So here is what I did and what happened.

TransShifter: Free 3 days: 400 downloads.
Vallar: Free 2 days: 900 downloads.

Since being free I've been getting 2 or 3 sales per day (2 of them in the UK for the first time). TransShifter has sold double the amount of Vallar, but it was the first one set to free and it's only .99 cents while Vallar is currently 2.99. So we will see. This is only over the last 2 weeks. Not too exciting, but I'm happy with it. I feel it was a good way to get some exposure for the books and it may lead to gaining readers.

Yesterday, someone tweeted to me this about Vallar…

It took me about 7h to finish Vallar. I was gonna read a bit before sleeping but I couldn't put it down and now the sun is up.

Keeping someone up all night, made me very happy.

Now for my theories about science fiction. It's not really selling that well. Not near as well as other genres. Mysteries, contemporary, post-apocalyptic and thrillers from my observations are the hotter genres, especially on Kindle. I’m not so sure about YA paranormal on Kindle. I’ve seen some selling well, but others just sitting there. Perhaps the market is too flooded with them.

And get ready for the market to be flooded with Steampunk because I occasionally come across the SF writer considering Steampunk since they can't find an agent interest in SF. I too am guilty as I have had one story that could be Steampunk circling in my mind for some time.

I've also realized that SF is very hard to break into if you think about it. Of course, I should know this, but it’s just become even more clear in the last few days. I’m just an Indie up the giants. Then you have people (including Indies) who already have a series of books selling in SF.

So it's just plain competitive and I feel happy with these small successes. Sure some people have a hit and it takes off instantly and easily. But for others like me, it's more of a marathon and you just have to keep working at it. That's what I'm going to do.

Going free tip: tag your book with the words "Kindle freebie" if you set a book to free. There are some blogs that pick it up, list it and tweet about it. They must have some sort of bot that does it automatically. Don't worry. It won't post unless it's free.

Have a great weekend everyone.

PS: My cookie award post is coming up next Monday. It's about the biggest crater on Mars, the Hellas Basin, and why it's special for being more than just big.

It’s all about Habits.

2012-01-03T07:49:00.003-05:00

A few weeks ago, a theory came me about the human mind. I wanted to blog about this immediately, but decided to save it for the Insecure Writer Support Group sponsored by Alex Cavanaugh and his band of blogging ninjas.

Then I realized I accidently posted this one day early, so what the hell, I'll just leave it for tomorrow too.

Humans are creatures of habit more than I ever realized. And why didn’t I realize? This is really so simple.

My Dad has had depression and anxiety problems for years and while some of the time there was a reason often times there was no logical reason for the depression. I thought for years, why? Why is he like this? He is comfortably retired and other than the mental issues he’s in great shape for a guy in his mid-seventies. When you ask him for the reason for his depression, he doesn’t know and he is on medication for it. I have gone round and round trying to help him. Also psychiatrists and therapists have not been able to help him either. The medication doesn’t cure it, but instead dulls it and at this point he just gets by in life.

Recently to my surprise I found myself worrying about a problem that was resolved. My worry switched to “but is this good enough?” I found it frustrating that how at first I thought my worry was over and it really wasn’t. Then the light bulb went on. I saw a connection to what I was doing and to the way my Dad is. We don’t live in a perfect world and you can always find something to worry about. If you worry for so long over something, it can become a habit. So I realized this and dismissed my worry. Now, finally after years, I understand what happened to my Dad. He had worries and negative thoughts over things that were real at one time, but now he is stuck in those thought patterns. Those emotions became a habit.

One time a doctor told him “Your mind is trying to destroy you.” I thought that was a horrible thing for any doctor to tell a patient because my Dad obsessed over that one. But the thing about this is the doctor said this with no insight.

By no fault of our own, people find themselves in stressful situations.Then if the stress goes on long enough, but is eventually resolved, instead of finding relief, people struggle with adapting. Yes, your own mind can destroy you if you if it is programmed to do so, and if you don’t realize what is happening.

Then other things came to me about how the human mind is so prone to habits. We have all kinds of addictions. Hard addictions, like drugs, alcohol and food. Soft addictions are those that aren’t harmless instantly – like online or video games.

An example that came to me is soldiers who have experienced combat. When at last they come home, they expect to find peace. Instead many find themselves unable to adapt and wanting to go back even if it means risking their lives. Even post traumatic stress disorder is an example of habit. The danger is gone, yet the mind continues to replay it, all because it has become an ingrained habit. It’s amazing how addictive the human mind is when you think about it.

The mind can even make physical pain a habit. For example, a wounded leg that will never heal is amputated. The patient continues to feel phantom pain from it. The leg still feels like it’s still there even when it’s not. The pain was there so long it became a habit. The mind recreates the pain. This is why a person can still feel anxiety and depression even when the reasons are removed. We can become addicted to our own fears.

I think the whole key is recognizing when we think fearfully and make a conscious effort to turn it around. This is probably why some people use affirmations, which I always thought were a bit silly. “I’m great, I’m wonderful….I am amazing!” Yeah, right. But, I think affirmations could be the most useful when used at the times when you catch yourself having the negative thoughts. Then have your positive thoughts ready to replace them. Think of the good things in your life and all the good that you do. I find affirmations more believable if I come up with details about things I do well or about how I can attain certain goals, rather than just "I'm a great person." Then perhaps one can retrain their mind with positive thoughts.

It sounds so simple, but all addictions are hard to break. As for me, I grew up with a father who was negative and depressed from most of my early memories. If it wasn't for my mother, I hate to think of how I may have turned out. So to some extent I do have to battle with negative thoughts.

And lastly you will find that even when you achieve great success there will be people who will (for whatever reason) have a problem wiht you. Picture this...your book is published, after years and years of hard work (critiquing, polishing, rethinking every word) you're proud of your accomplishment and inevitably someone is going to say your books sucks because it just wasn't for them. The best thing you can do is not even read those negative reviews. The more time you give to something negative, the more power you give it. So cut down the weeds, rather than fertilize them.

Good luck and best wishes to everyone in 2012.

Hermes the Olympian by David Rosser

2011-12-23T08:50:00.000-05:00

Months ago, I interviewed David about his upcoming novel "Hermes the Olympian" Book One of the Trismegistus Trilogy. This book is now published on Amazon Kindle and I gave it five stars.

Summary:

Long before words could be written, the stories of the brave Olympians were songs sung and poems told at special gatherings and on feast days. The best of these tales always included the deeds of our faithful messenger Hermes, but somehow he never seemed to get the glory or the credit for it, even when he saved the day.

This is a tale of toil, tragedy and temptation, love with a triangular twist. It is filled with a freak show of mutated monsters, glorious gadgets and awesome artifacts. This is our chance to see for ourselves how Hermes was the real hero of the Olympians. Let him mesmerise you with his music, charm you with his caduceus, and carry you invisibly with him as he flies against the odds in his epic struggle against the evil Hades.

Can Hermes find a way to save the tree of life? You had better hope he can, your afterlife depends on it!

My review:

Even before his birth, Hermes can read minds and spirit travel to the astral plane. Here he is attacked by Hades, who tricks him into making a huge mistake that sets off a chain reaction which affects our chance for an afterlife.

Hermes' main quest is to make amends for that big mistake, but despite this daunting task, throughout the story he is sent on one mission after another by his father. Zeus uses the ever capable Hermes to tackle threats to his rule of Olympus, mainly from Hades and the Giants. While committed to these other duties, Hermes must continue to somehow find a way to save the tree of life. All the while he is either pursued and/or attacked by Hades who wants to control not only the afterlife, but also Olympus and more. All these factors made for an intriguing read.

I found the combination of science, fantasy and mythology to be fascinating. The most interesting aspect was the clever way the author combines mythology with science fiction. Even though this story is very different from the Harry Potter series, the brilliant insight into the ways the various scientific and mythological artifacts reminded me of J.K.Rowling's powers of invention.

*****

David is an expert on Greek mythology and has studied it for years. I highly recommend his book. Now on Amazon Kindle.

Amazon US
Amazon UK

****

And now it's time for Christmas Break on my blog. I hope to get some writing done over the holidays. Everyone have a great time.

World War Z Movie coming in late 2012

2011-12-21T06:27:00.000-05:00

Yet another movie that might come in 2012. This one looked interesting.

Plot Summary: World War Z: Is based on a 2006 post-apocalytic horror novel by Max Brooks. It is a follow-up to his 2003 book The Zombie Survival Guide. Brooks plays the role of an agent of the United Nations who published a report a decade after the Zombie War. The United Nations left out much of his work from the official report, choosing to focus on facts and figures from the war rather than the individual stories that form the bulk of Brooks' novel. The interviews chart a decade-long war against zombies from the view point of many different people of various nationalities.

Post-apocalytic books and movies (with or without zombies) are in high demand these days. This movie is sure to draw big crowds when it's released. As some of you may know, I have a hard time taking zombies seriously. I managed to find a trailer. (I don't know if it is a real one) At first when I was watching the trailer, I thought "Wow, this is very realistic." Then at about the halfway point, I was more like "and now it's getting silly."

At any rate, my kids love zombies, so they'll be sure to go. I'm not so sure about me. I will wait until the reviews are out.

Okay here is a video. I don't know for sure if it is the official video. Watch the video and decide....

Your book can be reviewed by a young adult...

2011-12-20T06:30:00.002-05:00

Months ago, I submitted Vallar to a site that reviews books and all the reviewers are teenagers. It's called Flamingnet.com. They are an Amazon associate, which means if they sell a book through their site they get a small percentage, but they donate the money to libraries. So they're not a commercial site.

Since Ian Connors is 16 years old in Vallar, I decided to submit to them because it could be considered a young adult book. The funny thing is that when I wrote Vallar I used simpler language on purpose because it's told from the viewpoint of a 16 year old. I had one crit partner who would flog me if I used too big of words saying "A 16 year old doesn't think like that" However from this review, it makes me wonder if I could have been much more complicated. Kids these days are so smart and they also notice everything...as you will see if you read the review I got from one smart kid.

Vallar review at Flamingnet.

At least he or she wants a sequel. That pretty much tells me he liked it.

So here you go fellow writers. It takes awhile, but you can get a review here. In case you're wondering, they don't post the reviews to Amazon. However, it's fun and it's for a good cause.

In other news: I won the Grumpy Bulldog's blog fest last Friday. Wee! Thank you Bulldog. Just for you, I found this picture. Bulldogs can and do run after all.

Charge!

Godzilla in 2012

2011-12-19T06:26:00.001-05:00

I used to watch Godzilla when I was a kid because my dad (who will watch almost anything) liked it. While I found it interesting, I never took it seriously. It wasn't possible to completely take Godzilla seriously with that honking type noise he made. Sometimes Godzilla was bad, other times he was good. I found the episodes where he was good more interesting. Then he ended up fighting some other beast to protect the humans.

There was a Godzilla movie in 1998 with Matthew Broderick, however, I didn't see that one. From what I understand, the reviews weren't that great and it didn't do well at the box office. It involved Godzilla attacking New York. That sounds like the basic shoot the monster type movie. Anyway, they want to try again. I say make Zilla a good guy! A tortured misunderstood monster who only wants to be understood. Perhaps he only wants to live in peace....

The Old Zilla

The New Zilla!

Then I found this picture.....

I found this trailer and I have to say, Zilla is not good in this one and to my surprise I like what I see. EDIT: I realize it might be fake, but I still like it.

Basset Hounds look unusual when running...

2011-12-16T06:23:00.001-05:00

This is just something funny I had to share. My daughter found these pictures on the web. We have a Basset Hound and this is what they look like when they run.

This is our hound, Fergie.

Something interesting about Fergie. She has cancer, but it's in remission. The type of cancer she has is called mast cell, which mainly affects the skin. She had two masses removed over the last year. It seemed that every time one was removed, another one would start growing. Then after doing some research, I found out that Prednisone is a treatment for this disease. I asked the vet for it and after giving it to her, the 3rd mass (which was on her paw) shrank. She was getting one on her chest and it disappeared. Now she is on a low dose of Prednisone and it seems to be in remission. In the summer, she has allergies, and I think her allergies are what caused the cancer. Anyway, she's doing great now.

Have a great weekend!

The Bah Humbug Blahg Fest.

2011-12-15T06:43:00.009-05:00

I've joined the Grumpy Bulldog's blog fest. All you have to do list the 12 things you hate about Christmas.

First, I must admit that when I was a kid, Christmas was sort of magical. My mom made it that way for me. Now that she’s gone, I’m the one doing all the work and most of the giving.

The 12 Things I hate most about Christmas…

1. A child waking me up at 5 a.m. on Christmas morning. My son did this the year I bought him an Xbox360. Then it took half the day to get it connected and working right.

2. Struggling to help my kids open all those toys strapped into their packing.

3. Toys or any sort of gadget not working for whatever reason. There was one year I swear, nothing worked right. I couldn’t even manage to set up the Dora tent.

4. Stores packed with people after Thanksgiving and until Christmas.

5. One of my favorite radio stations playing Christmas songs starting Nov 1st and until Christmas Day. I have no idea why they have to play all those cheesy Christmas songs for so long.

6. The expense. Let's just say it's a good thing I have a job now.

7. Having to cook and put toys together on Christmas day, which generally leaves me exhausted.

8. The pressure of not being able to go to the store on Christmas day. If I forget something at the store related to dinner, I’m in trouble.

9. I just remembered that I have to send out Christmas cards…oy.

10. Most of the TV shows having a Christmas Episode.

11. Having to listen to all the other classes sing in a packed, hot auditorium before my daughter's class comes out onto the stage.

12. Not being able to be with my Mom. I want her back for Christmas, but no, that can't happen.

In general, Christmas is a lot of work.

Hang in there, everyone!

My Thoughts on KDP Select

2011-12-14T06:46:00.000-05:00

Last Thursday morning, I logged into Kindle Digital Publishing and discovered (along with thousands of other authors) that Amazon is offering a new option. We can enroll our books in KDP select and it will be free for Amazon Prime members only. Plus we get paid a percentage depending on the amount of downloads. The main condition is that during this time your title must be 100% exclusive to Amazon for ninety days.

My big question is…will it help the author? What type of exposure will the book get? I wouldn’t put Vallar in there now, but perhaps TransShifter. The only problem being is that I have to pull the book off all the other vendors, which could take up to a month. Because this is a lot of trouble, I have been hesitant to begin the process. Instead, I’m waiting to see if other authors are benefiting. It’s too soon to tell.

Some authors are interested and others find it offensive. I came across an interesting blog post on the Smashwords blog: Here Where they accuse Amazon of being a predator.

Well, of course Amazon is a predatory. What a great way to get people to sign up for their credit card. I can only think that they want the exclusives as a further blow to Apple (iPad) and Barnes and Noble (nook). Smashwords is just an after thought.

As for the Smashwords post, perhaps they are worried because authors will pull their books. But on the other hand, I say to Smashwords, why don’t you do something more to attract authors? When I first published both Vallar and TransShifter to Smashwords neither of them appeared in the correct genre. I tried to contact them about it, but with Vallar there was no response. With TransShifter, I couldn’t get the person sending messages back to understand what was going on. It was as if he/she was handling numerous messages at once. The ugly truth (at least for me) is that Smashwords has been good for generating free coupons for giveaways for review copies. It’s been useful for having TransShifter go free on Nook and Apple and HOPEFULLY Amazon. Authors use Smashwords to manipulate the prices on Amazon. (Hmm, that could be a new title “The Price Games”.)

I think in general Amazon is trying to offer a win/win to the author. If it turns out to be not worth it, authors will lose interest.

I know many people think that Amazon is trying to take over the world, but I like Amazon. They brought a lot of readers into the e-market. Out of all of them, a new book by an unknown author has its best chance on Amazon. If it wasn't for Amazon, where would certain well known Indies be? They would still be unknown.

New DUNE Movie in 2012

2011-12-13T07:00:00.000-05:00

While searching for upcoming movies, I stumbled upon the possibility of another Dune movie (A remake).

Dune was one of the first SF novels I ever read. When I was about thirteen, I considered it an accomplishment to read a book that came with a dictionary at the back of it.

Unfortunately, the first Dune movie turned out to be a disappointment. Although, I have to admit that I didn’t hate it as much as most people. While watching it, I think it is one movie that somehow makes one feel as if they are watching a very alien world. I know that’s not the best way to describe it, however, that’s how it stood out.

The thing that makes Dune a difficult movie to make is that there is so much a person might need to know about that world. So it seemed to me that in the first movie they were trying to jam in all this back story that nobody cared about. Fans of the books already know and random movie goers want some action.

As for the Dune series, I then moved onto Dune Messiah and Children of Dune, but unfortunately I didn’t like those. Oddly, I read a couple of the pre-sequels written by Frank Herbert’s son (Brian Herbert) and I did like those (while there are many Dune fans who hate those books). I wonder if part of the problem could be they just don’t like anyone other than Frank Herbert writing them. I have to admit I found it annoying when I first heard that his son was writing those books because how easy is it break into the business when your father is Frank Herbert. Plus he has help from other authors.

Anyway, I would love to see Dune be a hit on the big screen. The giant worms are so cool and there are so many possiblities.

John Carter of Mars coming March 2012

2011-12-10T09:26:00.051-05:00

As we approach the end of the year, I'm going to be posting about new movies of science fiction and fantasy coming in 2012. The first on my list is John Carter of Mars (of course). I've been waiting for this one.

Plot Summary: Civil War vet John Carter is transplanted to Mars, where he discovers a lush, wildly diverse planet whose main inhabitants are 12-foot tall green barbarians. Finding himself a prisoner of these creatures, he escapes, only to encounter Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium, who is in desperate need of a savior.

This movie is based on a story published in 1964 and written by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

Taylor Kitsch plays lead role.

The release date I found for this movie is sometime in March 2012. I'm looking forward to it, but the thing that puzzles me is in this movie Mars has a breathable atmosphere. I also noticed a river of some sort. How can this be? Perhaps Mars did have Earth like conditions a million years ago, but it says John Carter is a civil war vet. Unless maybe he is also transported to the past. (I know that if I somehow wrote about a Mars with an atmosphere without explanation readers would thrash me.) Either that or it's going to be a leap of the imagination. Anyway, I am looking foward to this one.

Check out the video.

Does it Snow on Mars?

2011-12-05T06:31:00.000-05:00

Before the use of Mars rovers and satelites it was impossible to tell. Scientists wanted to observe the polar caps, but they are not tilted toward Earth. This made observing by telescope difficult. However, we now have satellites circling Mars that can observe much more - plus the Mars rovers.

First a little about the polar caps.

(This is the southern polar cap on Mars)

At one time, they didn’t know if the polar caps were made up of water or carbon dioxide. The latest theory is that the central core is water and the seasonal deposits are carbon dioxide (dry ice). In other words, the water that is there never thaws because it is much too cold for the ice to melt. However, some of the dry ice (CO2) will turn back into gas because during the Mars summer it gets warm enough for that to happen. This is why both polar caps have been observed expanding and contracting.
But does it snow?

I’m getting to that. Radar on those Mars global surveyors have detected clouds that form at night over the polar caps. These clouds appear to be formed from dust and dry ice, which is believed to fall and form the polar caps. So from my research, snow falls in the form of dry ice or you could call it dry snow. This occurs at night at the polar caps. These clouds tend to disappear after sunrise. This means that explorers could get caught in a snow/dust storm if they’re there at night.

A few more facts:

The main difference between the northern polar cap is that all the dry ice melts in the summer. While at the southern polar cap, not all of it melts.

Continual thawing, freezing and swirling dust cause layers and circular patterns to form.(Some of the patterns remind me of crop circles..lol.)

There is evidence that these layers of ice can move and some have half covered craters.

The average temperture at poles at night can drop to as low as -100C or -147F

Here is a brief video that shows the layers of ice.

Time and Goals.

2011-11-18T10:44:00.000-05:00

II've been thinking about time -vs- goals lately. Then I listed my goals and the time spent on them. It made me realize that I need to stop getting distracted by the things that take time away from those goals. In my case...like Facebook, chatting with friends, internet browsing and the occasional online game. We all need to have some entertainment, but it made me realize if I want to reach certain goals I have to shift more of my time into these goals. So I've been trying to curb my habit of checking email and all those fun social media sites.

Anyway, the goals. Let's take a common example. Many people want to lose weight, but how much time and effort do we actually put into it. I would like to lose about 7 pounds and keep it off. Yet I just look at the scale about every other day and think it will happen by itself somehow when nothing has changed. Some people join gyms or buy equipment or go on diets. They lose weight, but a lot of them don't keep it off. Changes have to be permanent when it comes to weight.

How about writing. You want to write a trilogy, but how much time do you spend working on it? It's the same thing with being consistent.

In my case, I just want to produce more fiction. I'm not even sure Vallar will be a trilogy, but I want to at least have a sequel, so I am going to be focusing mainly on fiction until I have reached my goals. The blog is going to suffer, but I will still visit the blogs of friends and try to update once a week.

And a small update. I'm trying again to get TransShifter to go free on Amazon again. It is free on Apple and Nook. Offering something free seems to be an effective way to reach readers who may not want to take the "risk". So this is about my only marketing plan right now. I feel like I've exhausted all the others for the time being.

Have a great weekend.

Note: Just in case anyone gets the wrong idea. There is romance, but no sex in TransShifter.

Penguin plans service to “help” self-published authors.

2011-11-17T07:50:00.000-05:00

There has been some talk about Penguin launching a service to help self-publishers called “Book Country” where for a fee of $99 to $500+ (and a cut of your sales revenue) they will provide a cover art creator and book formatting service. I’m sure both of these will be automated.

I hope writers aren’t fooled into thinking that using their cover art creator will be the same as a cover that is professionally designed. Createspace already has a free cover creator. If you design the paperback first, you can use Createspace to make the Kindle version. Converting a book to eformat is not that difficult.

And I seriously doubt that these books will have the Penguin label. They will have the “Book Country” label. There is no mention of marketing, but it sounds like the books will be listed (buried) on a site called Book Country.

How can this be a good idea?

I'm wondering if this is some sort of desperate move from Penguin. How is this different than a vanity press? Why would they want to get involved with that? Why not just make their ebooks prices more reasonable and try to find more talent? Publishing in ebook format is cheap and easy. They have a huge platform and good reputation already. Sure they would have to provide editing and cover art, but they could easily hire people. How many artists would love to have on their resume that they worked for Penguin? People would probably work on a percentage of royalties just to have the opportunity and experience.

By doing this are they saying that they just don’t know what sells and/or they just don’t know a masterpiece when they see one? So we’re just going to open this up to everyone.

Anyone who has already self-published is going to say no to this because we know this is a waste of money.

Note: This was brought to my attention by my good friend JABeard, and you can read more about it here.

Noctis Labyrinthus "The Labyrinth of the Night"

2011-11-07T07:42:00.000-05:00

While writing my book Vallar, I studied several maps of Mars, which gave me ideas for scenes. The Noctis Labyrinthus caught my attention, for one because of the fancy mysterious name, which means The Labyrinth of the Night. It’s located between the Valles Marineris and the Tharsis region. The labyrinth is a maze-like system of deep, steep-walled valleys. Some of the canyon walls have collapsed because of landslides. Other areas the land appears to have sunk down into pit-like formations. It is thought that this canyon was formed from the formation of the volcanoes. As you will see, there are three large volcanoes nearby - long since inactive.

I imagined what it would be like for jets to race through that canyon. The possibility of landslides made it all the better.

You can see the Noctis Labyrinthus right across from the three volcanoes that show up in white here.

The larger canyon attached to it is called the Valles Marineris. At more than 4,000 km long, 200 km wide and up to 7 km deep,[the Valles Marineris rift system is the largest known canyon, surpassing all canyons on Earth, with the exception of the underwater deep rift valley that runs the 16,000 km length of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.

It also occured to me that this narrow canyon would make an ideal hiding spot for anyone who didn't want to be found.

But was there ever water running through the Noctis Labyrinthus and/or Valles Marineris? Evidence shows there used to be as deposits of water-altered minerals have been discovered there. Although most books, web-sites, etc that I studied aren't sure water had anything do with the formation of these canyons.

Then I had the idea of comparing the Grand Canyon to the Valles Marineris.

Here it is below as seen by the crew of Expedition 1.

Then the Valles Marineris

As you can see, Valles Marineris doesn't have that water formed look. However, I'm not a scientist, but I research these things for my books. I tend to agree that the canyons on Mars were not formed by water, but may have at some point contained water and probably still contain water in the form of ice.

The Noctis Labyrinth provided a good setting for a battle between the waring factions in my book. The Mars setting also lets the reader go on a trip to a different world. Not everything I write or read involves an unusual world, but I do enjoy escapism as long as the focus is on the characters while letting the setting enhance the story.

Have a great week everyone.

Winners of "Olga - A Daughter's Tale"

2011-11-03T06:44:00.000-04:00

I'm happy to announce the winners of this giveaway.

The paperback goes to Mary Ellen Zeitz.

The first ebook goes to Elizabeth who happened to be the first person who commented.

The second ebook goes to Cathy Ward.

Insecure Wednesday

2011-11-02T06:31:00.000-04:00

This is for the Insecure Writer's Group by Alex Cavanaugh. You too can join this group by posting about your insecurities the first Wednesday of every month.

There is only one thing that I’m feeling insecure about these days. The writing of the Vallar sequel. I’ve never written a sequel before, and I want to live up to those who are interested in book two. I don’t want to disappoint. So these last few weeks, I’ve been having fun working on the sequel and questioning myself constantly at every turn. One thing about writing the sequel is this magnet force that tries to get one to write the same thing with somewhat different events. I’m not sure why this force is there. Perhaps it happens because I’m working with the same characters and their problems. However, I’m determined not to recreate the same thing. I want a different story, but a good story. Also, I've found that using a different theme helps.

It won’t be published unless I think it’s good enough either.

Ahhh, it's so good to vent that...lol.

Good News

Some of you may know that I have been looking for a job. Last Friday someone hired me! I'm so excited. I'm going to be working for a financial company, and it has nothing do with what I went back to college for (medical billing and coding), which makes me feel like I should've never gone back to college.

BUT...the hours are great, it's close to home, and it has a lot of variety. I'm going to be a coordinator. It involves administrative type tasks, some web-design, marketing, and putting on seminars. The thing that sold them on me, to my surprise, was my knowledge of the Internet and social media. I was hesitant to mention the book, but it ended up coming up seeing as we were talking about marketing. Then they asked me "what kind of book". For a moment, I paused and thought "Here's the part where they write me off as a geek." I know my face reddened at this point. I just can't help that.

But I ended up telling them the title and genre. I guess it didn't phase them. So don't be afraid to mention your writing in interviews. They were impressed that I finished a novel and published it.

Tour of Olympus Mons

2011-10-31T06:23:00.002-04:00

One of the places that might have a scene in the Vallar sequel is Olympus Mons, so I went on a tour of the place recently.

Facts:

Olympus Mons is the largest volcano on Mars, but also the largest known volcano in the solar system.

It’s 25 kilometers high (82,000 feet) and has a diameter of more than 500 kilometers.

The entire chain of Hawaiian Islands would fit inside Olympus Mons.

The lava flows on the Martian surface are observed to be much longer, probably a result of higher eruption rates and lower surface gravity.

Another reason why the volcanoes on Mars are so massive is because the crust on Mars doesn't move the way it does on Earth. On Mars, the crust remains stationary and the lava piles up in one, very large volcano.

There are very few craters on its slopes, indicating that it is geologically very young. Olympus Mons is presumed to be less than 100 million years old.

The name Olympus means the house of Zeus.

Interesting possibilities for scenes.

There could be many empty lava tubes making for interesting passages and discoveries.

People could be living inside of it.

It could be a launching site to get off the planet.

Although not mentioned in the first book, Captain Bret Yargar has camped there with his family.

I also see some possibilities for using it as some sort of symbolic meaning, but I don’t want to give anything away.

An Interview with Marie Campbell Author of Olga - A Daughter's Tale. Plus a Giveaway!

2011-10-27T06:33:00.003-04:00

Back in June of 2011, I reviewed this book for my other blog Good Book Alert, and I gave it 5 stars. It's not in a genre that I normally read, but I do enjoy learning about history and different cultures, so this book captured my attention. Recently, I had the chance to talk to Marie Campbell and find out more about how this book came about.

Summary:

Based on a true story, 'Olga - A Daughter's Tale' is a family saga about heritage, culture, identity and belonging with an epic feel - from Jamaica to England amidst World War II at a time when Jamaica was a jewel in the crown of the British Empire.

Written in the form of diary entries and letters, it is about the cruelty, revenge and jealousy inflicted on an innocent young woman and about her moral courage, dignity, resilience and, in particular, love.

It is the story of a remarkable woman who, because of circumstances, made a choice which resulted in her losing contact with her beloved family in Jamaica until nearly half a century later when her daughter discovered her mother's past.

Here is my review copied from my post at: Good Book Alert

This story is a great read that brings with it wisdom to be gained based on real life events. It’s not your typical novel because it’s told through a series of letters and diary entries. At first I didn’t think that this format would interest me, but the more I read the more I found it compelling.

Most of the diary entries and letters are from three women: Lucy, Becky and Olga. Through their eyes, I learned interesting and well described details about Jamaican beliefs and customs. I also learned what it was like in England during World War Two. The three women are likable and down to earth types. Lucy and Becky were originally from England and it was interesting to see how they adapted to Jamaica. They even became somewhat caught up in the dark magic practiced by Jamaicans.

The women all experience hard times, and Olga is the one who had the roughest life. There were times she frustrated me, but overall her courage and determination amazed me. Even after I was done reading, I couldn’t help thinking about her and what she accomplished considering her situation.

If you’re looking for the intensity of the typical genre novel, this isn’t it. The format (diaries and letters) basically means the story is told, and telling always tones down any intensity. Yet, I continued to want to get back to it. The strongest points about this story are that it’s about real people, and therefore the characterization is excellent. The story is so well written it puts you right into the time period and locations. Readers who enjoy history and genealogy are going to be especially interested.

What inspired you to write this book?

In 1994 my mother was admitted to the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton, UK, seriously ill. As she slowly recovered I realised had she died so too would the chance for me to find out about our past, her family in Jamaica and, of great importance to me, who my father was information she had resolutely refused to share with me. So I decided to find out for myself. What I found out filled me with such admiration for her that I decided to write a book so that future generations of my family would know about my Mum. And now I want the world to know about her.

Have you always been interested in writing or was it this story that got you started?

It was this story that got me writing a book. But having said that, I've always turned to writing when something bad has happened to me. I find it cathartic to off load my emotions on paper.

How did you obtain all the letters and diary entries to write this book? Was it difficult?

Olga – A Daughter’s Tale lay dormant for long time while I tried to find the voice to write the book. I’d tried writing it as a narrative and I’d tried writing it from my mother’s point of view and mine, as her daughter, but none of it worked. Well not for me anyway. And then one day I was reading Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’, which is written in the form of diary entries and letters, and I knew I’d found my voice! So I wrote the book using that format and augmenting them with the few actual documents I had..

What person in the book do you admire the most other than your mother Olga and why?

That has to be my grandmother, Becky because she had so much courage and followed her heart marrying my grandfather, a black Jamaican, knowing that she would be ostracised by the white, coloured and the black Jamaican community in Kingston! They would have made her life miserable.

I admired your mother a great deal while reading this novel. I'm wondering what scene in the book makes you admire your mother the most?

I used to visualise her in the Refuge for Friendless Women and writing that scene was hard for me particularly knowing the life she had come from. But what I admired most about her was that in spite of the things that happened to her and the circumstances she found herself in, she never changed - she never became bitter. She remained a kind, gentle woman.

As I recall, your mother would not tell you who your father was for years. How did she feel when you finally found out?

Very sad.

Did you ever feel any resentment toward your mother for keeping so much from you?

No, not until about 20 odd years ago when I was working for my local council as the Administrator to the Adoption Panel. Wherever possible when a child was up for adoption, the social workers would put together a ‘life story’ book that would contain details, possibly photos, and even letters from the child’s biological parent/s to give some background and, in some cases an explanation why the child had been taken into care and put up for adoption. The Panel recognised that as an adult the child may want information about their biological parents so this ‘life-story’ book would be given to the Adopters to pass on at an appropriate time.

I saw some of the ‘life story’ books and, without realising it, they’d had a gradual emotional impact on me. I’d get into my car after the Panel met and just burst into tears. It took me a while to work out that I was crying, not for the children, but for myself because they would know their history one day, but I didn’t know mine. It made me feel angry towards Mum.

I also remember that your mother was ill when you began the search into her past. I'm curious how is she is doing now?

Mum died late in 2006.

Is your family supportive of your book?

By the time I published the book only two of Mum’s sisters were alive and suffered with dementia so they never got to see the book, although they did know about it and I had their blessing. My two sons are very proud of their heritage and did go to Jamaica to meet their great Aunts a few years ago.

Mum always lived with me until the last three years of her life when she went into a nursing home. My sons, like me, knew nothing about her past or her family in Jamaica and what I discovered was quite a revelation for them. They spent a lot of time with her when they were growing up and adored her.

What do you hope your readers come away after reading your book?

I’d like them to come away with the thought that ‘Olga – A Daughter’s Tale’ was a great human interest story and have a certain admiration for Olga. Particularly since it emanated as the result of researching my family’s history and culture, something that we all have. I hope it will encourage others to delve into their family history - let’s face it – every family has a story!

Do you plan to write and/or publish any more books?

Yes. The plan is that the second book will take up the story from where ‘Olga – A Daughter’s Tale’ finished. But time constraints mean I’m not able to start it until early next year.

Thanks for being on my blog today, Marie. I'm sorry to hear about your mother passing away. But on a happy note her memory and story lives on through your book.

Giveaway Time!

Marie would like to giveaway one paperback copy of her book and two e-book copies. To enter simply leave a comment on this post with your email address. You can format it like this...

myname AT somewhere DOT com

Mention what version you are interested in winning. Paperback, ebook or either one. I will use random.org to pick the winners. Results will be posted next Thrusday.

Purchase Links:

Amazon Kindle

Paperback at Lulu

Barnes and Noble Nook

Smashwords

Author Links:

Blog

Today's Musings....

2011-10-25T21:13:00.004-04:00

Writing Update….

I’ve been in a bit of a blogging rut this week, so I just thought I’d ramble over here and see what happens. It seems that when I concentrate on fiction, the blogging suffers. So this last weekend I had some more ideas and have been working on the sequel.

I noticed that I need to switch gears with my writing. I’ve been in editing mode for so long, I forgot to switch out of it. My writing method is to hash out the plot first. Once I know the plot is working, I go back and fill in details, description, etc. Usually a lot of that has to be filled in. So with my WIP, I’ve been letting go of worrying about things like… “am I showing and not telling” But I still think about it and leave notes. (needs more detail, show don’t tell, etc.)

As for my publishing adventures, Vallar is going to be featured on the Indie Spot Light today.

Then I was going to try and get TransShifter to go free on Amazon, however, I found out this is very difficult. First to do this I put it for free on Apple (via Smashwords), and reported a cheaper price on Amazon, so Amazon will price match. I also had a couple of friends report the lower price. Do you think it would go free? No! It just won’t go free. I guess it takes a long time.

Then I discovered that 7 people gave TransShifter ratings on Apple, which averages 3 stars. I don’t know what it is, but whenever I give out any of my books free I end up getting low ratings and/or reviews. The frustrating thing about Apple is I can’t see the ratings in detail. Also..the last time I checked it’s still free on Apple.

There was one time I gave away several free Vallar copies for Nook and ended up with 1 two-star rating with no review. With Barnes and Noble, you can’t see who left it. Reviewers can leave anonymous reviews too. Also at that time, Vallar didn’t have any other reviews, so it was sitting there with this two-star review. Yeah…good times.

So I have put the price of TransShifter back to .99 cents, but it has not changed on Apple yet. When things like this happen, I feel like just unpublishing it. If people think it’s crap, why leave it out there? I have no problem taking it down. There is no paperback, so it’s easy to unpublish.

And the whole point of going free on Amazon is for the purpose of getting some exposure for both books. I’ve seen it work. Maybe all the Indies will flood Amazon with free books now. Yay..lol.

Meanwhile, I’ve had 4 job interviews in the last 8 days. A new record for me.

And somehow I’ve found myself playing this game again on Facebook. Bejeweled.

Shapeshifters are so fun.

2011-10-18T20:52:00.001-04:00

One day I thought to myself that if I ever wrote a story with an alien in it - it would have to be a shape shifter.

I mean this type of alien just does not interest me.....

And this is too creepy......

I think the Alien movies (at least the first two) are well done, but for some reason I don't enjoy writing the darker type stuff. Not that bad things don't happen in my stories, but I just don't like killing off character after character, which is more common in horror.

******

I prefer aliens that are more civilized and those that can do cool things.

This is Martia (a shapeshifter) from the Star Trek Movie "The Undiscovered Country."

Cool, exotic, mysterious and good at imitating Captain Kirk.

******

Odo from Deep Space Nine

An interesting character. He couldn't quite imitate every detail of a human. This was due to being separated from his own kind (as others of his kind could imitate humans fully). He also had a problem of having to return to a liquid state after several hours.He was head of security, kinda grumpy and I remember him having a lot of problems with this individual....

Quark (a Ferengi)

Then one of my favorites is Q. Okay, he's technically not a shapeshifter, but he is similiar in some ways. I think characters that are almost invinsible are harder to write about since they are too powerful to suffer, unless you take away their powers (which happened to Q in one episode) And of course, he was used for the purpose of stirring up problems for Picard. One of the most interesting things about Q was one episoe where he was bored because his life was too easy. Then they mentioned others of his kind who actually killed themselves because they had been alive for so long and ran out of things to do.

I stumbled across an interesting video about where the concept of Q may have come from.

I guess over the years perhaps these shapeshifters may have influenced me to write about one of them. Although, Adelya (in TransShifter) isn't exactly like the ones I mentioned, although there are a few elements of these characters in the story.

Happy Writing.....

My Virtual Trip to Antarctica

2011-10-17T06:42:00.000-04:00

Google Earth can help writers. For example, if you want to write about a city, but you've never been there just it via Google Earth.

Sometimes I do research for my books just for the purpose of helping me with description. Since I write about an extreme place (Mars) it's hard to find comparable places on Earth, although not impossible. I've wanted to write a scene involving one of the Mars polar caps. This led me to visit Antarctica via Google Earth. So far I think it’s the most interesting place I’ve found while exploring with the program. There are some amazing pictures. I just thought I would share a few of them.

This was my first stop. The arrow shows the area with the most interesting pictures.

Zooming in closer shows you where the pictures are......

Some of my favorite pics from the area....

Happy Feet?

There were more pictures I could've posted, so I highly recommend you visit this place on Google Earth. Especially if you like penguins. There are tons of penguin pics.

Pay It Forward Blog Fest.

2011-10-14T06:49:00.001-04:00

Here is how this blogfest works: The idea is to introduce everyone to everyone else. We want this to be an easy post that allows you to meet and follow as many other bloggers as you can. In your post, we would like you to please list, describe, and link to three blogs that you enjoy reading, but that you suspect may fly under the radar of a lot of other bloggers. Or they can be famous blogs, as long as they're awesome.

Here are my three recommendations.....

J. A. Beard's Unnecessary Musings: Author Interviews, magic and historical posts.He writes, crits, reviews, posts blogs, has a day job and somehow has time to post random facts on Twitter.

Marooned - Science Fiction and Fantasy books on Mars: Science fiction and fantasy books on Mars. Classic works, new releases, short fiction, audiobooks, cover art, e-books, graphic novels and more. Lots of cool retro stuff.

The Bluetonian Death Egg: Rusty's blog. He's a talented writer. I like his dry sense of humor. I also enjoyed his novelette, which I reviewed on Good Book Alert today.

"A Dead God's Wrath."

Don't Dwell on Mistakes.

2011-10-12T08:53:00.000-04:00

One of the main purposes I created this blog was to inspire others. I feel like I have to get back to that, so I’m going to talk about a common problem we all have.

Regretting our mistakes.

Of course we don’t mean to dwell on mistakes, but at times it’s hard not to let it happen. We might not even realize we are doing this at times. People are imperfect and mistakes will happen. When an important decision comes up, we make the best choice we can at the time. I find myself looking back on some of those decisions and wishing I would’ve made a different choice.

For example, I worked for a school district for ten years. I had a secure, stable, although somewhat boring job processing payroll and other data. But when I was there I wanted to be a stay at home mom. My son had asthma and it was triggered by colds. He was getting stick constantly while in day care. When my husband got a better job with benefits, I quit my job. I loved being a stay at home mom. But I didn’t know I would end up divorced or that the economy would collapse. I look back on that and it’s hard not to think that “If only I would’ve known. I had a secure job there with good benefits (dang it) I should’ve stayed. I would have nothing to worry about right now.”

But, I won’t let myself dwell on it. At the time, I had the best intentions. I wanted more time with my kids. I was naïve that nothing could ever go wrong. In fact, I find that most of my mistakes come from being naïve, but that is another story.

Dwelling on a mistake is not going to help things get any better. So when you think back on something you feel is a mistake, think about the good intentions you had when you made that decision. Think about other decisions you made that went great. The best part is that we learn from our mistakes. We don’t have to repeat them.

-----------------

"Do not fear mistakes. You will know failure. Continue to reach out." - Benjamin Franklin

"Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations." - Steve Jobs

"Mistakes are the portals of discovery" - James Joyce

"There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting" - Buddha

Into the Lion’s Heart Review

2011-10-11T09:06:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, I posted a review of “Into the Lion’s Heart” a historical romance novelette by Beth Trissel on my review blog Good Book Alert. I also have a copy of her other book “Somewhere My Lass” which I wish I could read and review next, but I have to space them out as to give others equal opportunity. Sorry guys, but this story is for women. Although, I think any writer will appreciate Beth’s writing talent. Also I love the cover.

Summary….

As the French Revolution rages, the English nobility offer sanctuary to many a refugee. Captain Dalton Evans arrives in Dover to meet a distant cousin, expecting to see a spoiled aristocrat. Instead, he's conquered by the simplicity of his new charge. And his best friend Thomas Archer isn't immune to her artless charm, either.

Cecile Beaumont didn't choose to travel across the Channel. And she certainly didn't expect that impersonating her own mistress would introduce her to a most mesmerizing man. Now she must play out the masquerade, or risk life, freedom – and her heart.

Read the Review….

Amazon pulls Readers Favorite Reviews....

2011-10-10T07:13:00.000-04:00

A few days ago I noticed a review missing from Vallar's Amazon page. Then to my surprise, I realized it was the one from Readers Favorite. I was like...why would they delete my review? After some searching around, I found some information on the Readers Favorite Facebook page that only explained Amazon was pulling their reviews. ALL of their reviews on Amazon are gone.

This has something to do with Amazon pulling paid reviews, but here's the thing. Not all of those reviews are paid. Readers Favorite will give you one free review, which they post on Amazon. If you want them to post the review elsewhere, they charge $5. So the review that appears on Amazon is free.

The thing that puzzles me even more is that through CreateSpace you can buy a KirKus review for.......

So are they going to pull these as well? Amazon owns CreateSpace as far as I know. Oh, but I'm sure the Kirkus reviews have the Amazon stamp of approval.

Readers Favorite is now looking into posting reviews on sites like Goodreads and Library Thing.

Anyway, the thing about this is it doesn't really fix anything. Authors can and do easily get glowing reviews from friends and most people would never even realize. What are they going to do about that little problem?

My Insecurities Over Typos.

2011-10-05T11:51:00.004-04:00

This is for the Insecure Writer's Group by Alex Cavanaugh.

I knew that because my book was self-published that some readers were automatically going to make a bigger deal out of any typo that they found. So I tried VERY hard to get people to proofread Vallar. Because I can’t afford professional editing. Some readers think that is a disaster in itself. They feel you must afford it. But I am a single mom struggling to get by and a starving artist.

First of all, Vallar, went through a long critique process on Critique Circle. Then I enlisted help of writer friends, regular friends, anyone I could get to read the final version. Then none of my friends got past the halfway point because they are too busy. But even then I wasn’t counting on them to find everything, so I worked my butt off editing my own work.
I read it over about 10 times myself. I checked every homonym, using a list of homonyms. I listened to it on my Kindle twice in that horrible robotic voice(there is an easy way to transfer your own documents to Kindle).

Then I published, it and eventually….sure enough there were a few typos that slipped past. What did some reviews do? They exaggerated it by using words like “a lot” and “numerous” typos. This is exactly what I predicted they would do and they did it. I have noticed some reviewers doing this to other books that I have not even noticed any errors in, so I’m not alone.

Anyway, I corrected the remaining typos and uploaded it again so the dreaded typos should be gone.

And btw…I have found typos and grammar mistakes in traditionally published books and “professionally edited books.” But in those cases the author no longer has to take responsibility. They can blame their publishers and/or editor.

This is another reason why I haven’t used the professional editor route. All that money and still mistakes??

Yet, I have come across threads on Amazon and other places from readers who just rip Indies to shreds if they somehow find out their work was not professionally edited. They don’t even know that most books have a few typos regardless of where they come from. There was one thread called “Why do Indies keep shooting themselves in the foot” (by admitting they don’t have an editor). Now, of course, even I become annoyed at “numerous” typos, and I have done my best to prevent them. Sorry, I’m too poor to spend thousands on editing. On a project that will most likely never make enough profit to pay back the cost of editing.

Okay, I will stop ranting now.

Second Campaign Challenge.

2011-09-28T06:30:00.003-04:00

Okay folks, here it is, and unlike last time (where I just threw something together) I lingered over this for two days.

As I found out, there are two meanings to the word Imago.

1. A mature insect.
2. An often idealized image of a person, usually a parent, formed in childhood and persisting unconsciously into adulthood.

I decided to go with the second meaning.

Definitions of the other required words:

Miasma: A poisonous atmosphere formerly thought to rise from swamps and putrid matter and cause disease.

Lacuna: An empty space or missing or part ( a gap)

Oscitate: To open mouth wide or yawn.

Synchronicity: Events in harmony.

Imago of the Mind

Only geniuses become successful authors.

In a state of writers’ block, the thought lingers. It drags me down like a thick miasma, surrounding me with poisonous fumes and holding me back from accomplishing my dreams. I’m no genius. I oscitate at the words. Why am I even trying? This is a train wreck, and now I’m stuck. I spin around with my back to the monitor.

Without writing, I could be free of criticism. There would be time for other things. Still, my thoughts drift to the story. I catch myself and grumble. Despite all my doubts, denying I’m a writer doesn’t work. No matter the frustrations, it’s hard to leave behind the world and characters I created. The idea of giving up becomes a lacuna that can’t be filled by anything but writing.

I recognize the voice of my imago. The one I looked up to as a child, but over the years put self-doubt in me. I shrug it off and refuse to give up. The words aren’t even true.

Without my stories, I’m left with a lack of synchronicity within myself. I turn back to the keyboard for another try.

------------------------------------

If you happen to "like" this, I'm #149 over HERE.

Pirating, E-Books and Harry Potter.

2011-09-27T06:28:00.001-04:00

Last Saturday, I went to one of my favorite restaurants. I had my Kindle out and was trying to find something to review for my other blog Good Book Alert. I haven’t done a review in awhile. Anyway, the server comes over and says “Oh, I have a Kindle, and I read it all the time. I’m reading the Harry Potter series.” And without thinking I say. “But Harry Potter isn’t on Kindle." As I said the words, I realized what was going on. Then the server gets a guilty look on his face. He didn’t tell me exactly how he got it, but he alluded to some sort of pirate site. He said the formatting was great too.

The reason this didn’t occur to me instantly is because I had never thought about the possibility that a book like Harry Potter would be available for free in Kindle format (and I'm sure all the e-formats) I had thought someone was stopping these pirates. That someone was shutting them down and filing lawsuits. (But I get the feeling that many of you must think I'm naive. I try to work on that, but sometimes the 'naive' problem reappears.)

I don't like stealing of any kind. Authors deserve to have control over their work. Producing a novel isn't exactly easy.

However, I have heard that some artists like to be pirated. I read a blog about an author who (on purpose) uploaded his book to a pirate site just to get exposure for his work and his name. He said he used to buy pirated media when he couldn’t afford to pay (during his college days) and now he pays. So the idea is to gain exposure and fans for later sales. The thought of uploading any of my books to a pirate site makes me cringe. (Don’t worry, I won’t do it.)

But I got to thinking about other things. It seems to me that for this very reason Harry Potter should be on Kindle and in other e-formats. Seeing as a pirate has e-published it anyway. That way at least readers who prefer e-books can have the chance to buy them, rather than steal them. Although, I’m sure people would still resort to stealing anyway. But between the books, the movies, the merchandise, the millions what does Rowling really care? Pffffft.

Then I had another thought, and it’s not a good one for the Indie author. If readers can get Harry Potter free, then they can get just about anything they want free with great formatting. The cheap price of .99 cents or 2.99 from an unknown self-publisher just isn’t going to mean as much as it may have when the Kindle first came out.

And I have to admit that when I first set up my Kindle, I wanted to see what I could zap over to it for free. But I went through the Amazon Library, not a pirate site.

So what does this all mean? I’m not sure, but it could mean lower and lower prices of e-books. More authors will be offering their books for free just to get exposure. I already see authors doing this with success. They have a series and to hook readers they offer the first one free. I’ve seen this working for some, but again, soon there will be more and more free books available. Readers will be overwhelmed with free e-books, but they will download them anyway on impulse, knowing they won’t be free forever and they may not read them for years. Hmm…I think this is happening already.

Campaign Stuff

2011-09-26T06:35:00.000-04:00

While catching up on blogging and writing, I discovered the second campaign challenge was posted.

Write a blog post in 200 words or less, excluding the title. It can be in any format, whether flash fiction, non-fiction, humorous blog musings, poem, etc. The blog post should:

Include the word "imago" in the title.

Include the following 4 random words: "miasma," "lacuna," "oscitate," "synchronicity,"

If you want to give yourself an added challenge (optional and included in the word count), make reference to a mirror in your post.
For those who want an even greater challenge (optional), make your post 200 words EXACTLY! Entries in the Second Campaigner Challenge will close on Monday, October 3rd (at 11.59pm EDT).

For more details, head on over to Rachel's and check it out.

And no, I don't have my entry anywhere near ready. This looks like a fun challenge though and I'm looking forward to giving it a try. Hopefully I can come up with something.

In other news, I had a great time being one of the judges for the first challenge. One of the posts I chose ended up in ninth place.

Leah Denman

The other one I picked was by Jess (and to my surprise she is only fifteen.) She's so talented for one so young.

The second challenge is going to judged on votes alone. This isn't my preferred method of how a contest should be judged, but I understand that it must be a little easier for Rachel and those who have helped her.

Lastly, my novel Vallar was featured on Daily Cheap Reads last Monday evening. Paula at DCR's told me that they didn't have many SF readers, so I wasn't expecting many sales. I think I got about four sales from it. Still, it was fun. I had been trying to get them to feature Vallar since I published it and finally they did.

Writing Update September 2011

2011-09-20T20:12:00.000-04:00

I probably should call this a "not writing" update because that would be more accurate. Unfortunately, a serious family problem is making it impossible for me to concentrate on writing. Plus I'm working at a temporary job and job hunting to find something after it's over. It would be nice if things would settle down, but I don't see that happening for awhile.

And I'm too tired to find a picture to go with this post.

Happy writing and reading everyone.

Cindy.

Book Covers, Blurbs and Writing: Do they have to be great?

2011-09-16T11:31:00.003-04:00

Victorine Lieske has a blog called "Why is my Book Not Selling?" On this blog, she invites people to critique the cover, the blurb and the sample. I think it's very kind of Victorine to take the time to help others, and perhaps to some extent it will help some. However, when I first heard about it I had some doubts. Is it really a good idea to draw attention to a book's weaknesses right out in the public and give people a reason not to buy it? Not that authors don't need the help, but wouldn't it be more ideal if this was done in a in a critique group instead? On the other hand, I don't think this will really hurt a book too much because I doubt that not more than 20-30 people will even come across the posts.

However, when it comes to selling a book should we suggest that the cover, blurb and sample are vital to success? From my findings, the answer is no. The main reason a book is not selling is because the book is not reaching its target audience. I have proof. There are plenty of Indie books that are selling regardless of the writing, the cover, the blurb, etc. Why are they selling? Because the marketing efforts of those writers managed to reach their target audience. That's the only reason. Readers that like certain books will buy them if they can find what they're looking for, and Kindle readers love to scoop up the cheap books.

Readers will find and buy your book on Amazon IF the book is linking with other books of their kind. You need this combination or readers in your target audience won't be able to find it. But gaining that exposure is the hardest thing because of so many ebooks are now being published at this time.

Who can be successful in self-publishing? Maybe? I observe authors and books, and who do I see as having success.

1. People who have sales experience from other businesses. Not only do they have experience in marketing, but they have built up contacts who they can easily reach and say "By the way, I have this cheap book..."

2. People with many friends and family who will support their book. But this only works if their friends and family read and buy on Amazon, so the book will link with others of their kind.

3. Some people just know how to market and can spend all day doing it. They wrote their book with a target audiance in mind, and they know how to reach them. (Instead of writing what you love and wondering what to do next...like me.)

So yes, you can strive to be a great writer, but it's more important to be a great marketer or you simply won't go anywhere. You have to learn both if you are self-published or small press published. Maybe even if you are traditionally published. Since I've never been published by the big six, I can't say for sure.

Now for my proof regarding book covers. The following all came from the Amazon Kindle library. I don't mean to pick on these books. Hey, they're selling that's the important thing. But all I hear is the importance of covers, blurbs and reviews. So why are these selling?

Scout Force ($2.99)

Science Fiction Adventure

Selling: This is just some sort of greenish blob. This cover wouldn't turn me away, but it doesn't catch my attention either. It also has a short blurb that would not convince me to buy it. Only one four star review.

Maverick ($2.99)
Fantasy

A flame with eyes and I can barely see the author's name. The blurb was better on this one. Ten mixed reviews.

Through the Flames: $2.99
Fantasy

First, the cover is ugly. The man on the cover looks like the Grim Reaper. Maybe it's intentional, but I wouldn't even read the blurb. But other people do, and it's selling. Reviews are mixed.

Falling Star (.99 cents)

Science Fiction

This isn't a horrible cover, but it's plain and not eye catching. Reviews are mostly positive. He also has an extensive book description that is probably helping with sales.

Birthright
Ranked #11 in Space Opera

This book isn't even the right shape. The author doesn't know how to format it. Only 1 Five star review.

Duty, Honor, Planet (.99 cents)
#3 in Space Opera.

Not ugly, not eye catching, but another one that doesn't know how to format.

Hundreds of examples are now available on Amazon Kindle.

I don't want to draw negative attention to the actual writing, but I will say that I sampled these books and let's just say in a couple of the cases I found the writing to be amateurish. I won't say what ones or go into details since I'm also an Indie. (At least for the time being.)

So fellow writers, forget everything you know about writing and book cover design. Slap up any old thing, and just focus on the marketing. Okay, so I'm being *cough* negative.

However, I had a funny thought about starting a blog called "Why IS this book selling?" But seeing as I am an Indie, there are those conflict of interest problems that may arise.

Job Hunting Personality Questions.

2011-09-13T07:40:00.000-04:00

In my job hunt, I’ve had to fill out all these online applications. The process is extremely repetitive. Many online applications include these laughable personality tests. Do I dare complain about it at the risk of not fitting into their mold?
These are the choices for all these questions:
Strongly Disagree
Disagree
Neither agree nor Disagree
Agree
Strongly agree

For some reason, these questions give me the impulse to answer the opposite of what I know they want to hear, but, of course, I can’t really do it.

But it’s my blog and I can have some fun. Here goes….

I try to be friendly and courteous to everyone I meet.

Strongly disagree, when I'm in a crowd I try to blend in so nobody notices me.

The problem with technology is that it puts a lot of people out of work.

Agree, that’s why so many people are out of work.

I am very open-minded about changes in the workplace.

Disagree, I don’t see why people are always trying to change things. I say if it's not broke, don't fix it.

I have a hard time sitting still.

Strongly agree, I’m extremely hyper, and sitting still for eight hours straight isn’t healthy.

The more diverse a work group, the better job it will do.

Disagree, it doesn’t make any difference.

A lot of people upset me.

Agree, especially if they ask too many questions.

I pride myself on always getting the job done.

Disagree, I just want a paycheck and when will these questions end?

I dislike it when others tell me how to do my job.

Agree, I always know how to my job better than anyone else.

I sometimes do things in a halfway manner.

Agree, but only if you mean all those unfinished novels.

Some people would describe me as being somewhat hard to talk with.

Neither agree or disagree. I don’t know how "people" would describe me.

Does it make you want to pound your head on a desk to have to answer the same stupid questions over and over again because we all use the same personality test?

Oh no, not at all. I love it. I love everything. (Whatever you want to hear, yada, yada)

Whatever happened to mailing in a resume and going on an interview? It can take me up to an hour filling out online applications and survey questions. Not only questions like the above, but many of these questions also want to know my gender, nationality and age. They say it’s for statistical purposes, yeah, how convenient. I bet some are set to auto-reject.

Anyway, right now I have a mix of small part-time jobs. One of them is only temporary. What I really need is full time. (About five years ago, at the same time the economy collasped, I ended up a divorced after several years of being a stay at home mom). My job hunting efforts didn't work out so well, so I went back to college to update my skills, but even after graduating I'm still searching five months later now.

Of course, there is the dream to make a living from writing. But we all have that, don’t we?

It only takes one good opportunity to change your life.

TransShifter Chapter 1

2011-09-09T20:21:00.002-04:00

Our platoon hiked through a narrow, dusty trail going slightly up hill while the sun neared the horizon. Boots crunched over small stones along the desert terrain. My feet begged for a break, but we pressed on. A helicopter pilot had reported suspicious activity in this area, so we had to check under every rock.

Every human weakness was noticeable while simulating the uncomfortable form of a man. I preferred imitating female humans, but the male body was stronger and easier for accomplishing some things – such as my task of impersonating a human soldier. To keep up with the physical challenges, I formed a muscular body with dark skin giving me an advantage in the hot climate.

My fellow shifter, Eskton and I had imitated many creatures for five Earth years. We challenged each other as to who was the more talented shifter. I looked forward to hearing about how he was doing in Iraq also playing the role of a soldier. Whichever one of us aborted the assignment first was the loser of our little game. If Eskton won again, I would never hear the end of it.

Six months had passed. I hadn’t seen any combat, and I hoped Eskton hadn’t been so lucky. I’d managed to study the local vegetation along the way, but I was bored.

My friend, Chad hiked next to me. Beads of sweat ran down his cheeks because he wore long sleeves despite the heat to protect his fair skin.

“This is a waste of time.” Chad kept his voice low, so no one else could hear, especially the senior officer who hated griping. “All I want to do is go back to the base and call my wife. Is that too much to ask? She hasn’t talked to me in two weeks.” He sighed. “I sent her some flowers before we left. I’m hoping they’ll smooth things over. Do you think it’ll work, Ray?” He took off his helmet and wiped his hand across short reddish blond bangs.

Whenever he called me Ray, it caused a tickle of anxiety to go through my stomach because the real Ray Johnson didn’t exist. I had infiltrated computer systems and adjusted important documents, so I could join this platoon as a new transfer from a base in the United States.

“Well?” Chad raised his eyebrows.

I wished I could be more useful because Chad tended to help me out frequently. “I’d like to say yes, but I don’t know much about marriage.”

“Well aren’t you lucky.” Chad grinned and playfully jabbed me in the upper arm.

I saw this as an opportunity to gain more insight on human behavior. “Why do you care?”

“What kind of question is that?” Chad narrowed his eyes and scrunched his face. “She’s my wife, of course.”

His reaction indicated I needed to be more cautious. I sighed because no matter how much I studied human behavior there was always more to learn. “B-But I thought you said she hasn’t talked to you in two weeks?”

“It wasn’t always like that.” He reached in his pocket, pulled out a wallet-sized picture and winced as if seeing it pained him somehow. “See here, these were the good days.” He handed it to me.

Chad and his wife sat on a dock overlooking a small lake with their arms around each other. As far as humans go, Chad looked handsome wearing a sleeveless shirt and with his reddish hair grown out. Wavy brown hair hung down past his wife’s shoulders.

I thought of the appropriate male thing to say and handed it back to him. “She’s hot, dude.”

“Thanks.” Chad tucked the photo back into his pocket. “What are you gonna do when we get back to base?”

“I hope to study my vegetation samples further. Maybe add some more to the collection.”

Chad chuckled. “So you’re interested in science?” He unhooked the canteen from his belt and took a drink.

“Yeah, I’d like to become a biologist, someday.”

He hooked the canteen back on his belt. “Sounds interesting, but how many job openings are there for those guys?”

I shrugged only half listening as we entered an area with scattered patches of grass and an unusual patch of yellow wildflowers growing to the right of the trail. I wanted to get a sample, so I checked the location of the senior officer.

Lieutenant Shaw hiked at the front of the group, not noticing. “There’s nothing here . . . .” he said into the radio. “Not even a footprint. We’ll be turning back in about twenty minutes.”

I wandered off the trail toward the wildflowers. Chad stopped and shook his head at me.

I held my finger up to my mouth. “Shh....” I whispered.

Chad looked back and forth between Shaw and me. These soldiers were tense under the calmest of conditions. Despite their obvious fear, they continued to sacrifice for their leaders - leaders with goals that never made a significant impact on the energy of the universe. They were mere pawns in the pointlessness of it all.

I kneeled down, studying the vegetation. The flowers stood about three feet high, weaving in the slight breeze. The leaf pattern reminded me of an ocean shell. Everyone passed me, although Chad lingered at the rear of the group. I reached down and pulled out a sample. Earth with its wide variety of life was indeed a fascinating planet to study and explore.

“Ray, get back here!” yelled a corporal.

Everyone stopped and looked at me. I turned back to the flower. They could wait for once.

Shaw spun around. “Johnson, get over here.” His eyes glared with the irritation that comes from having to repeat oneself constantly.

I sighed at the organizational ways of humans. They needed to loosen up if they were to ever advance. Instead of acting like ants, couldn’t they give me a break for two minutes?

The lieutenant nagged so much the urge to return to space and explore alone in blissful peace was intense.

As I took a step back to the troops, something clicked beyond the ridge of hills. The men stopped in their tracks and clutched their weapons.

“Get down!” yelled the lieutenant.

Gunfire peppered the ground in front of me. I couldn’t tell where it came from and froze, not knowing where to run. Move. Move! I told myself, but I remained paralyzed like a terrified mouse. The soldiers fired at the canyon walls, searching for the enemy. A round, hissing object thudded onto the ground a few feet in front of me.
“Ray.” Chad raced toward me. “Grenade!”

He leaped across the road and hurled both of us to the ground. The land erupted into an explosion of earth and flying metal. A fragment ripped into my right arm. Chad landed on top of me, screaming. A piercing whine went through my ears and echoed through the hills as men yelled and shouted orders.

Searing pain and primitive fear caused me to make an attempt to convert into my natural state, but it didn’t work, as I needed to be calm and pain free to make any shifts. I wanted to flee back to the safety of space.

Then I realized Chad lay on top of me, not moving. While the men returned fire, I squirmed out from under him with blood splattered on my uniform. I gently turned Chad over. Blood coated his legs from the knees down. His left leg was broken away from his body. He didn’t move and his eyes stayed shut.

“Help….” My jaw trembled. “Medic!”
Machine guns rattled and explosions shook the ground. I ducked down and covered my wound with my left hand. The urge to return to space gripped me again. I didn’t care if Eskton won another round, but nobody was coming to help Chad. I couldn’t just leave him.

Another grenade detonated dangerously close, spraying us with dust and rocks. I grabbed Chad’s arms and dragged him behind a small hill. He woke up and screamed, his face contorting in pain. The intensity of Chad’s voice made me tremble. I touched him, trying to calm him, but was jolted back from a sudden surge of what felt like electricity. Somehow, my mind interpreted Chad’s pain as extreme heat. How can he stand it?

A young, stocky medic hurried over and another soldier clamped his hand over Chad’s mouth. My damaged arm ached, but I could regenerate it in a day. However, the full force of the blast would’ve destroyed my molecular structure beyond repair.

Lieutenant Shaw shouted our coordinates into the radio calling for help from the air. Blood seeped out of Chad’s leg and he struggled to breath. A soldier put pressure on the wound to control the bleeding. His eyes rolled around as if he was about to fall unconscious again. Pity humans couldn’t regenerate.

Kneeling over him, my throat tightened. “Please hurry.”

The medic gave me an annoyed glance and continued fumbling around in his backpack.

“I-I can’t feel my legs,” Chad mumbled and shivered.

“You’ll be okay,” I said.

The medic wrapped up the wound, trying to put Chad’s left leg back together. I had to give him the strength to live, but that meant touching him and feeling his pain. Trembling, I moved toward Chad’s head and braced for another shock of pain. It didn’t happen.

Instead, a cold feeling went through my arm. “Hold on, damn it.”

The medic pushed a needle into Chad’s arm. He glanced at us shaking his head, his face falling with dread in his eyes. My friend’s life could be sustained through a merge. I had heard of a few of my fellow shifters doing this, never having attempted it myself. While the medic struggled to control the bleeding from Chad’s leg, I focused all my strength to block the pain and for a moment I imagined myself back in space.

I emitted a bright flash of light to conceal what I was about to do.

“What’s that?” shouted the medic, blocking his eyes and falling back.

My arms and body lightened until I appeared as nothing more than a glittering cloud to humans. I quickly entered Chad’s body unseen.

Chad’s eyes opened. “Ray?”

I’m here.

Chad nodded once as if he acknowledged my presence. His eyes fell shut, but his heart still beat, sending vibrations through my particles. I formed an invisible shield around the broken areas, especially of what was left of his left leg. Even though I had lost some mass, I could sustain him long enough for help to arrive.

Click here for more information.

An Interview with Chrystalla Thoma.

2011-09-08T06:30:00.000-04:00

In a world where parasites create new human races, Elei leads a peaceful life as an aircar driver — until a mysterious attack on his boss sends him fleeing with a bullet in his side. Pursued for a secret he does not possess and with the fleet at his heels, he has but one thought: to stay alive. His pursuers aren’t inclined to sit down and talk, although that’s not the end of Elei’s troubles. The two powerful parasites inhabiting his body, at a balance until now, choose this moment to bring him down, leaving Elei with no choice but to trust in people he hardly knows in a mad race against time. It won’t be long before he realizes he must find out this deadly secret – a secret that might change the fate of his world and everything he has ever known – or die trying.

Cindy: Hi Chrystalla. Can you tell us a little about yourself?

Chrystalla: Hello! Thanks for having me here. What can I tell you about myself? Well, here are 5 not-so-random facts:

I am an author of fantasy and science fiction

I hate mint ice-cream and all sweet minty stuff (like After Eights!)

I am Greek Cypriot, which means, a) my native language is Greek, and b) I am not really Greek but close (lol).

I love the sea.

My dream is to travel to Italy, India and Japan some day.

Cindy: What inspired you to write this book?

Chrystalla: Two main themes run through the book, in my view. The first one has to do with our perception of the others. How do we know whom to trust? How far can we trust our feelings? Is logic and facts the most important thing or gut feeling and instinct? The second was my fascination with parasites, which are quasi-mythological beings in what they can do – the ways they can alter behavior, change our body from the inside, give it abilities or kill it to serve their own interests. What they can do is nothing short of magic. So you could say that Rex Rising is actually on the borderline between science fiction and paranormal.

Cindy: The blurb for your book is very interesting. I'm curious about how parasites can make new human races. Could you share more about that?

Chrystalla: First of all, “race” is an unclear concept, but I used it in the sense of “species” (maybe a little clearer, lol). Species differ in their genetic encoding, even if the difference is sometimes very small. I read a lot about a parasite called Wollbachia which transfers parts of its genes to its host (see http://www.rochester.edu/news/show.php?id=2963) and can completely change the population, transforming all into females and only allowing the birth of females (http://www.nature.com/news/1998/990429/full/news990429-8.html). In fact, the parasite takes over its host so completely (and its whole generation of hosts) that it cannot reproduce if it is not infected with Wolbachia and in some cases they can reproduce asexually (http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2002/07/03_paras.html). And this is just one parasite. The world of parasites is just amazing. Although Wolbachia does not infect humans (or even mammals in general, I believe), it was my prototype for Regina, the parasite that created the Gultur all-women race in Rex Rising.

Cindy: How did you come up with the title?

Chrystalla: This is Book One of Elei’s Chronicles, and it documents the rise of Rex, the King who will fight Regina, the parasite that created the Gultur race. Book Two will be called Rex Cresting, as it will document Rex in its full powers.

Cindy: Tell me more about the world building/setting.

Chrystalla: The world of Rex Rising consists of seven islands. Dakru is the central one, and the other six are clustered around it. More about the islands will be revealed in Book 2. After a war between the Gultur and the other humans, hundreds of years ago, the Gultur emerged victorious and control the world – the resources and people. The rest of the humans live in poverty and misery, and there are rumors that the Gultur, who reproduce asexually (without need of men) are contemplating a cleansing of the Seven Islands, especially targeting the men.

Cindy: Who is your favorite character in the book?

Chrystalla: Elei. He goes through some very traumatic experiences but his instinct leads him right to where he can find a family in the chaos that surrounds him. I also love Kalaes and Hera. They are mad and nice in their own ways.

Cindy: What made you decide to Indie publish? Are you happy with your decision?

Chrystalla: First of all I was very curious. I heard tales from different self-published authors and wanted to get a taste of that freedom – the freedom of choosing your own cover, your price, your editor... Everything. I like the feeling of total control it gives me and the good royalty it pays. So far I do like it a lot!

Cindy: Is there anything else you would like to share about the book?

Chrystalla: I am currently writing both a sequel, called Rex Cresting, and a sort of prequel which is in reality Kalaes’ story and what went before with him before he met Elei. Finally, I have just finished writing a novelette which gives a glimpse into Hera’s story.

Cindy: What can readers look for from you next?

Chrystalla: Well, as mentioned above, more stories from the world of Rex Rising. Next in my plans is a series of vampire romance set in Cyprus, and a thriller featuring an elf.

You can read more about my stories, either published, in progress or planned, as well as samples and free stories, on my blog:

http://chrystallathoma.wordpress.com

You can find Rex Rising at the following distributors:

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Amazon DE

Smashwords

TransShifter is now available on Kindle.

2011-09-06T18:59:00.000-04:00

If anyone is interested.....

TransShifter at Amazon (.99 cents)

Two shape shifters compete with each other by imitating humans in difficult situations. The loser is the first to give up and covert back into shifter form.

Adelya feels confident to win until she falls in love with a man who shows her there is more to being human than she realized. She wants to be with him, but he doesn’t know she’s a shape shifter.

TransShifter is a paranormal love story.

This novelette is 11,500 words long. (52 pages in paperback)

First Campaign Challenge

2011-09-05T13:49:00.002-04:00

Rather, than come up with something new I took a scene from my WIP (Science Fiction/Adventure/YA/Romance). If your curious about the campaign and challenge visit Rachel's blog.

Note: Ian is psychic, so he can sense emotions.

****

The door swung open.

Kayla’s father, Seth, stepped inside.

He glared at us as we stood in the doorway of my bedroom.“Did you stay here all night?”

“Yes,” Kayla said. “I didn’t want Ian to be alone.”

Sonny stepped in behind Seth. He pressed his lips together, trying to keep his cheeks from exploding with laughter. I waved my hand, wanting him to know that nothing happened.

“You stayed in his room?” The lines in Seth’s already wrinkled face deepened.

“Maybe.” She glared back at him.

I sensed layers of anger from Seth, and it gave me a chill. “Sir, nothing happened. I promise you.”

“How am I supposed to believe that when you’re in a robe and you both just stepped out of your room?”

Sonny's grin dissolved and he snapped, “Ian is not a liar!” His tone reminded me of when he used to yell at the workers in the elevator shop.

Seth’s head jerked toward Sonny as if he couldn’t believe anyone would yell at him. “Then what’s going on here?”

“I was sick last night and Kayla took care of me.”

“That’s no excuse. You could’ve gone to the infirmary!”

****

Okay, not sure how good that is, but at least I entered.

Anyway, I'm back from my trip to Cedar Point. It was 97F on Friday, and we ended up leaving early. Most people either headed to the water park section or left. I didn't end up going on the Dragster because my daughter (who is 11yrs) wouldn't go on it, and I ended up waiting with her while my son went on it.

However, I went on this ride called The Windseeker. They have this mystical music going during the ride. I was okay until it got to the top and went faster. I kept seeing the lake, then the park over and over. Then I couldn't take it and had to shut my eyes until it slowed down. . My kids loved it. Roller Coasters don't bother me, but this did. Uh, I wouldn't go on it again even though the view is amazing.

Here is the cover for TransShifter.

2011-08-31T12:50:00.001-04:00

If anyone is curious.....

Anyway, I'm going on a short unexpected vacation to Cedar Point with my two kids. I'm thinking about riding the Dragster this year. It's the only roller coaster there I haven't been on. It's a little different in that there is no chain or cable pulling it up. It's just launched sort of like a rocket, and I love watching it take off. The only thing that really holds me back from it is that the lines are very long and the ride is so short. But this other mom from my daughter's school told me she went on. So if she went on it, then so can I.

Yet, again those lines.... (So I will be gone Thursday and Friday)

A New Release coming soon....

2011-08-30T08:18:00.001-04:00

After much thought, I’m leaning going to publishing my novelette TransShifter to Kindle. TransShifter is a paranormal/romance with a dash of science fiction.

This is a possible blurb (although I do have a longer one. I'm leaning toward this short one.)

Adelya loves a man who shows her there is more to being human than she realized, but he doesn't know she's a shape shifter.

If anyone is curious, this story is written in first person in the viewpoint of the shape shifter. I had a lot of fun taking on the personality of a shape shifter. I'm excited for readers to find out certain things about her. She's rather unusual. There is a reason for the title too, but I don't want to give away any spoilers.

Do I plan to write all my stories in first person? No, I want to write a novel in third person after I finish the sequel to Vallar.

TransShifter will be .99 cents and is about 12,000 words long.

I already have something ready for the cover art.

PS: I'm also a guest on Chrystalla's blog today.

My Thoughts on NaNoWriMo.

2011-08-29T08:24:00.000-04:00

I can’t believe it, but already I’m hearing writers talking about NaNoWriMo in the forums. For anyone who doesn’t know, NaNo stands for National Novel Writing Month, and it’s in November where writers go on a writing marathon to write a novel in a month. The goal is to reach at least 50,000 words. In 2009, I joined NaNo and I met the 50K word requirement with Vallar (book two).

But since 2009, I have not done NaNo and I don’t mean to sound grumpy, but I don’t plan to do it again. Not that there weren’t some good things about it. The most interesting thing was that I discovered how much I could write at once, and that I could keep going and going. Even after NaNo was over, I had this build up of momentum that carried over to other writing projects.

However, the disappointing part of it was I found most of Vallar (book two) unusable. At first I thought maybe I could salvage some scenes, but so far I haven’t used any of it. I know of some good writers who like NaNo and find it useful, but for some reason it doesn’t seem to work for me. Sure I can push past plot holes and keep pounding away, but when you have this unworkable mess, then what?

When thinking back, I remember the whole point of NaNo is to ignore your internal editor, and I could do it, really. I also think it can be good for those who feel blocked and need to push through it.

But on the other hand, I feel like I’ve come full circle with it, if that makes sense. I’ve found that I can keep going without ignoring the internal editor, but I do have to pause and think now and then, not at the speed required of NaNo. So at this point, I’d rather write at my own pace and hopefully produce something useable.

The good news is I believe I have twelve solid chapters written of Vallar (book two). I’m still leaning toward calling it Saving Vallar, but it’s not for sure yet.

I also managed to put myself in a category over at Rach Writers for the platform building event. I don't know what it is, but I keep having to use Google Chrome with her blog tools. I have Internet Explorer, which just doesn't seem to work over there. I blame it on blogger.

Good luck to those already planning for NaNo.

I also want to apologize for my lack of acceptance of some blog awards that were so kindly given to me within the last few weeks by:

Michael Offutt: Who rocks an awesome blog. A must see!
Cheryl: Also a great blog. She has some writing contests going on right now.

I thought I should at least mention them for thinking of me. If only these awards didn't require me to do any work. *grin*

PS: I will soon be talking about a new release coming soon from me. A novelette.

Reviews, Amazon and Me.

2011-08-25T08:47:00.001-04:00

I'm feeling in a blogging rut, so I'll just talk about myself. ;)

First, I'm not sure I'm going to continue with the ebook news because guess what? I'm already bored with it.

Next.....

Before I published “Vallar” all the writers’ forums I visited were saying “you have to get reviews to sell books” So when I was first published, one of my marketing plans was to submit to book bloggers. I submitted to over fifty of them. This was about five months ago. In that time period, about six of them have responded.

Here are a couple of quality places to get reviews:

Just recently Vallar was reviewed by Leslie Wright on her blog Tic Toc. The cool thing is that her reviews go out to other sites. (Blogcritics and Seattle PI.) Not only that, but she writes an in-depth review, so out of all the book blogger sites that have responded to my review requests this one stands out. She also posts to Amazon, Goodreads and Library Thing free.

Another place I thought to be very good is Reader’s Favorite. The only improvement I could suggest for Reader’s Favorite is that the review gets some exposure on their site. Perhaps by adding a “recent reviews page” because all the reviews are buried on their site. They do post to Amazon free and after that they want $5 for any other places you want it posted.

Midwest Book Review has a great reputation, and I was told I would be lucky if I could get a review from them. What I found out is they only a review a book if they can give it five stars. This makes them IMO lean on the generous side. I should also mention that they review all kinds of books, including non-fiction.

I was glad to get a five star review from them, but the review was more like a short summary and didn’t really say why it earned five stars. They have several reviewers and I guess it depends on who ends up with your book. Also you must have two hard copies to send. Then they will try to sell them. The used copies will appear next to yours on Amazon. Their site also has the lack of exposure problem. All the reviews are lumped in together in a mix of various editions. So why do I recommend them? They were reliable, professional, and they post to Amazon.

In all this, I have found that reviews do not result in any noticeable increase in sales in the short term. On the other hand, reviews and interviews can add to name recognition, which might lead to future sales. So in the long term, it’s hard to say.

So before you go crazy submitting your book for reviews (like I did), look over the book bloggers site in depth. How many followers does it have? Will your book be buried? Is it worth the expense if you have to send hard copies? Will they sell the hard copies on Amazon.

Another tip I learned. If at all possible, get a few reviews before publishing. That way when your book goes live readers will have access to reviews right away.

In other news.....

I found out from the Kindleboards that I could have Amazon send updated copies of the Kindle version to my readers. All I wanted was for them to have a chance to have the new cover, so I contacted Amazon. They said they could in an email to each reader. This was weeks ago. So a couple of days ago they sent this email that said the other version had 'formatting issues' and a new version was available...when it's only a different cover. Why do I mess with stuff?

There never were any formatting issues. Although those who have purchased it shortly after release, will now also notice a table of contents if they update.

Lastly,

A couple of days ago I tried to sign up for the platform building event at Rach Writers, but once I finished filling out the form, it wouldn't submit. Or at least it didn't appear to submit?

Random Author and Ebook News/Aug, 22th, 2011

2011-08-22T08:11:00.004-04:00

Ebook News

Microsoft Reader eBook software has a year left to live: Microsoft is discontinuing its ebook platform. Long before EPUB and Amazon Kindle books had become the de facto standard, the Microsoft Reader .lit format was one of the most popular eBook formats around. (Click to read more)

Should you buy the $99 Kindle? It seems Kindle prices are lower than ever. The author of this article doesn't seem crazy about the non-touch screen of the Kindle. However, I've read discussions about Kindles and many cringe at the idea of a touch screen Kindle. They don't like the idea of finger prints on the screen, or maybe they think the e-ink won't be the the same. I do love the e-ink.

Barnes and Noble offers new Nook owners free apps, books, and study guides: To help keep the momentum going, Barnes and Noble has announced a new offer aimed at getting students to add the Nook to their list of back-to-school purchases.

Janet Evanovich and Kathryn Stockett Join the Kindle Million Club: Apparently Amazon has a "club" where they announce those who sell a million Kindle books. See who else is in the million club and other details in this Amazon press release.

Author News

LK Rigel finds cover art that matches one of her books. Read her blog post "Should I be Upset?"

Connie Willis' "Blackout/All Clear,"—wins the Hugo Award for best science fiction and fantasy novel. Oxford in 2060 is a chaotic place, with scores of time-traveling historians being sent into the past. Published as two books, "Blackout" and "All Clear" tell the story of three Oxford students who become trapped in World War II England.

Years ago I read the Doomsday book, and I greatly enjoyed it too. She is one of my favorite authors. But after all these years she is still writing what sound like similiar stories? This story sounds very similiar. Check out the reviews at Amazon. It's good to know one can win big awards even when Amazon reviewers think differently. Yet, I just have to question how the same formula can will all the time. However, on the Amazon Facebook group all the comments were positive that people wanted to read these books.

Misc Finds of Interest

Racheal's third writers' platform-building campaign: Visit her blog for details. I did this one last year and it's my favorite one. It's starting this week.

Are you writing? A blog post I came across about spending too much time online that made me feel guilty.

New study shows that knowing spoilers doesn’t ruin a story I came across this study twice. Once on TV and again on the internet. I think in general it's really hard to keep a spoiler secret once a movie or book has been out a few weeks. Especially if it's something popular that thousands have been waiting for. They are going to talk, of course. My question is...if you know everything that happens, why read the book (or see the movie?) Or is it just fun to see it actted out anyway. Hmm.....

This concludes today's edition.

Authors: If you have some interesting news, contests, new releases, giveaways, etc, feel free to let me know. Just click on contact up and the top and send me a message. It will be included in the next edition.

Note: I adjusted the title slightly to fit the content.

“Tuesdays with Morrie” is one of my favorite books.

2011-08-17T17:48:00.003-04:00

If you’re feeling frustrated with your life read this book. Even if you’re happy most of the time, still read this book.

It’s written by Mitch Albom, a sports reporter for the Detroit Free Press. The story is about an older man, Morrie Schwartz, who has come down with Lou Gehrig's disease (ALS). Morrie used to be Mitch’s professor in college. Even though Morrie meant a lot to Mitch while in college, he became so caught up in his career that he didn’t visit him again, until sixteen years later when he found out he was sick.

After seeing Morrie on television talking about ALS, Mitch calls him and this leads to a visit. Then a newspaper strike frees Albom to commute weekly, on Tuesdays, to visit with Morrie. The resulting book is based on these fourteen Tuesdays they meet. It’s a mix of Morrie's lectures, life experiences and flashbacks about both Mitch and Morrie.

This book is inspiring to me because no matter how bad things become for Morrie he continued to have a positive outlook. ALS gradually robs a person of every last physical ability while usually leaving the mind intact. It’s amazing how Morrie continued to stay positive and how he shared his wisdom right up to the end. Morrie was a natural teacher, always more interested in his students and others – rather than himself, which is why he was loved so much. He had amazing inner strength.

The story comes down to one thing: If you knew you were dying soon, what would be important to you?

Your career and the items you have accumulated.

The way you have affected or touched other people, your loved ones, etc.

Of course, it’s easy to get wrapped up in the pressures we have in life, but the book is a great reminder of the little things we shouldn't forget, and it’s also about enjoying the present moment. All easier said than done, of course.

Just out of curiosity, I browsed the reviews over at Amazon. Although most of the reviews are five stars, to my surprise there are some one star reviews. Yet even in the one star reviews most of them say that Morrie was a great man, but the negative reviews suggest Mitch is egotistical by including things about himself in the story. But I don’t agree with that because part of the story is about how Morrie affects Mitch, so why not include it?

Other negative reviews thought the story was too preachy as being against society/corporations. I don’t really ‘get’ those. There were some comments that the language used was too simple. I don’t know why people don’t understand that keeping something simple can be the best way to do it. Mitch is more than capable of using complex language.

Since I think this book is a masterpiece, of course, I don’t agree with these negatives. It seems that even though I write science fiction, I still like human interest type stories based on real people.

Mitch still writes a sports column for the Detroit Free Press, and he has a radio show on an AM station here. (I know because I live in the area). I can’t help thinking how great it would be to have a platform like that to sell books. But, of course, you still need a great book. I’m sure no agent hesitated to sign him up.

There is also a movie version with Jack Lemmon as Morrie, but I've never seen it. Maybe one day.

Morrie liked to dance.

Mitch Albom's Website

Random Ebook and Kindle News/Aug, 15th, 2011

2011-08-15T08:34:00.001-04:00

Last week was a little slow. Remember authors you can contact me. See note at the bottom.

EBook News

You can read over 950,000 Kindle books instantly with iPad, Chrome, or Safari—no download or installation required. Kindle Cloud Reader (And that's all I know about it.)

Amazon has started a Kindle Indie Book Store. "We hope the Kindle Indie Bookstore will showcase top selling, popular and high quality books from independent authors and publishers."

After looking at it, it seems that the books that are already getting good exposure are the ones on the page (since they are already on other lists because they are selling so well). In other words, it's not going to be of a much help to anyone just starting out. But it may continue to boost the ranks of already well-known Indie books. On the other hand, I think it's nice Amazon is recognizing the Indies in some way since they are bringing in money for them.

New Releases on Kindle

Rex Rising a young adult scifi novel by Chrystalla Thoma.

A Dead God's Wrath a scifi novelette by Rusty Webb. (I read this and really enjoyed it.)

Misc

Free Online Children/YA Writer's Convention: WriteOnCon Rated MC-18, for Main Characters under 18 only. Created by writers, for writers. August 16 to 18, 2011

VOTE FOR YOUR "What'd Ya Say? Dialogue Contest" Favorites! This contest is in the second phase. You can pick our your favorite dialogue from a group of finalists.

Free critique opportunity at YA Stands.

This concludes today's edition.

Why not write about Vampires?

2011-08-12T10:55:00.000-04:00

First of all, I don’t completely dislike vampires. They aren’t exactly all that evil. The way they are written about these days they are the same as the tortured hero mixed in with forbidden love problems. They used to fall into the horror genre, but now they are sub-genre of fantasy or dark fantasy at the worst.

I have to admit I like the tortured hero and forbidden love can be interesting. (I once saw a poll that most women prefer the tortured hero over other types). Also I do have elements of that in my novel.

However, the thing about me is that I like to write about something more unique. To me, the vampire scenario is overdone. There are people so obsessed with vampires that they will buy the book/movie with no matter how awful it is. A couple of years ago, I went to see New Moon with my daughter just to find out what all the excitement was about. I thought I was going to die of boredom (aside from a few shirtless scenes, of course) and I couldn’t stand Bella’s continual brooding and screaming. Yet, the movies keep coming, of course, they make money…a lot of money.

Even my daughter who is eleven likes these “Monster High” dolls. They are a mix of monster and yet designed in a way to look cool to an eleven year old. She also has an Edward doll and now Edward is dating the new vampire (in the picture). But that’s a long story. As expected, the Monster High dolls are more expensive than Barbies too. People must be willing to pay more for the monster look.

Whenever I look for a novel to read, I’m eager to see something unique about that novel. This is the main thing that attracts my attention. Of course, I realize that every story has already been done. If you break down a story enough, you come up with this:

Man verses man.

Man verses environment.

Man verses himself

A story is going to fall into at least one of these categories, but each one can be unique in some way, and I like to look for a unique spin on a story. That’s what I try for in my own writing. I’m sure there are many people out there who also don’t want more of the same thing. Before I write a story, I keep twisting things until something comes up that isn’t cliché.

If I could come up with a unique idea about vampires, perhaps then I would be motivated to write about them. The only idea that comes to mind is if somehow a vampire could become human again somehow. I bet that’s already been done.

Disclaimer: I wasn't the one who bought her the Edward doll.

Salt Water on Mars?

2011-08-10T07:55:00.000-04:00

Often scientists have speculated about the possibility of water on Mars. Usually it’s mentioned to be in the form of ice, underground or in the Mars of the past. However, last week there was a report of possible salt water on Mars running down slopes every spring in the warmer areas. This is based on sightings of streaks on slopes that darken and lighten.

Slopes that lighten and darken could mean ice or a damp patch of dirt. (so they say).

While writing my novel, all my research indicated that water would evaporate immediately whenever exposed to the Mars atmosphere. The freezing temperatures, lack of atmosphere, lower gravity, etc. So this report caught my attention. Somehow, they feel salt water has a better chance of not evaporating so easily and perhaps in the spring it lasts longer. My guess is it's coming from underground when the temperatures warm up, leaving a damp spot, and when it evaporates it may leave some salt behind.

I'm now thinking of doing a scene with water underground in the form of a stream for the sequel to Vallar. I think it's possible as long as the area is sealed, which wouldn't be hard to explain.

Click here for an article about salt water on Mars.

Random Ebook and Kindle News #2

2011-08-08T09:10:00.000-04:00

I was going to post this Wednesday, but news is piling up so I've moved it into the Monday slot.

Ebook News

Facebook has acquired e-book publisher and app maker, Push Pop Press, in a move that has analysts scratching their heads over what it could mean for the social networking giant's strategy. Push Pop Press is known for its interactive books created for the iPad and iPhone, which incorporate interactive graphics and give books a “movie-like” feel. Click to read more.

A new e-reader: Laser EBOOK-EB7C-4G: An ebook reader that can also be used for watching videos and listening to music.

Author News

Last week, K.C May released her sequel to Kingshield Legacy, The Wayfarer King Upon release it rose to #3 in Hot New Releases in Epic Fantasy on Kindle Amazon. It's flying off the cyber shelf.

Scifi author Thomas Wilson is looking for beta readers.

Marva Dasef's lastest mystery Missing, Assumed Dead, was released last week.

Writing Contests

The New Rose Prize 2011 is looking for new writing talent and is open to all unpublished writers. To enter, write a short story of any genre, maximum 2,500 words - amaze us, thrill us, make us cry, it's up to you. The closing date for entries is midnight (UK time) on Wednesday 31st August.

Flashtastic, a flash fiction contest is going on over at Cheryl's blog.

Readers' Favorite contest submissions recently opened. Plenty of time: Deadline May, 2012

Book Giveaways/Contests.

Chick lit giveaway contest over at Wise Words.

Two book giveaways at Tabwriter: An ARC of Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendra Blake and Enclave by Ann Aguirre.

Free Smashwords review e-copies of Eternal Knight. (Cheryl at Good Book Alert reviewed this book and gave it 5 stars)

Marketing Tips

16 Ideas to Help Your Book Marketing Efforts.

I really liked these ideas and found them better than others I have read about, but oddly, the book itself doesn’t seem to be selling that well. I think it’s because of the price. It’s hard to compete when some marketing books are .99 cents to free.

This concludes today's edition.

Authors: If you have some interesting news, contests, new releases, giveaways, etc. Feel free to let me know. Just click on contact up and the top and send me a message. It will be included in the next edition.

Random Ebook and Kindle News #1

2011-08-03T09:47:00.007-04:00

At first I was going to call this "Things I come across", but that sounded too vague. Anyway, I'm starting a weekly post (hopefully) of random information related to ebooks, publishing, and authors. Every week I come across interesting things. It occured to me, why not just share them on my blog.

REVIEWS THAT AREN'T SO GOOD

Earlier in the week I got into an discussion on Goodreads about this link. A rather blistering review of Amanda Hocking and John Locke. I also noticed this link mentioned on Absolute Write.

Here was my response:

I think it's easy for any reviewer (if they want to) to pick out sentences in a book and take them out of context to make a book look bad. Especially sentences that can look cheesy without the rest of the paragraph. But, of course, readers probably won't realize how easy that is to do.

In general, the books just weren't for him. Why be so scathing about it? This is just another person who looks down on the self-published. The books that have been vetted by the big houses are the only ones of any worth. A few typos and omg...it's because it's self-published. Well, I find typos and grammar mistakes in books published by the big houses too, but those never get mentioned.

****

Since publishing my book, I’ve found that no matter how hard to work and slave, someone still won’t like my book. See what books have received bad reviews in this article.

Amazon Reviewers think this Masterpiece sucks.

SPAM

Yesterday, I received an email from Amazon that said I could get a free subscription to Fantasy & Science Fiction, Free Exclusive Digest.

It turned out to be a free 14 week trail, but it didn’t say that in the email. They were bitching mighty loud on the Amazon Kindle Facebook page when they found out free was temporary.

The old bait and switch. They would be better off being upfront about it. Instead, I bet they lost sales. When I found out, I deleted the email.

BOOK MARKETING

I came across some free book marketing information. The first one was brought to my attention by fellow blog buddy Cheryl. This is a collection of blog posts about book marketing.

How to Market Your Book.

Then I found this free ebook on Smashwords.

Savvy Book Marketing Secrets: 52 Experts Share Insider Tips for Selling More Books.

I've read almost half of it and a few things have clicked for me. All of it is interesting.

AUTHOR NEWS

I reviewed the SF/Thriller book Unalive by Cyrus Keith, which is coming out this Friday. It's the second book in his NADIA project series.

Malcolm Petteway's first novel in the Osguards series, Homecoming, received ‘Honorable Mention’ at the 2011 Hollywood Book Festival Contest. He went to Hollywood to receive his award and tells about his adventure on his blog: A Funny Thing Happened to Me on the Way to Hollywood.

Congrats to Michael Offutt! His SciFi novel was accepted by Double Dragon Publishing.

****

This concludes my first edition of Random Ebook News

aka:Things I come across.

I hope you found something interesting or useful.

Have a Great Day.

Vallar is a finalist in the Readers' Favorite Contest.

2011-08-01T18:06:00.003-04:00

I went to the Reader's Favorite site to see if anything was annouced and found my book listed. Squeeee!

At first, I didn't think I would be on it because I hadn't received even an email about it. You have to scroll through numerous books to get to the science fiction. I only found mine by doing a search on the page.

The winners will be announced in September.

The Hostage/Kidnapping Scenario in Movies.

2011-08-01T13:08:00.000-04:00

I don’t know what it is, but I come across many movies that use this formula. Usually it’s found in thrillers, mysteries, crime related stories, but it can extend into other genres. I would like to point out what is wrong with this overused situation:

The hero is most likely a male who has either a girl friend, a wife with or without children. They have a scene where you see the loving relationship and it hooks you into carrying about these people. Then the bad guys go after the helpless people in the hero’s life by either kidnapping them and/or eventually killing them. For me, the disliking comes in when it’s drawn out to extremes. The movie continually goes back and forth between the struggling hero and the suffering of his loved ones. I find it especially disturbing when the loved ones are tortured in some disturbing way. Suspense of this kind usually turns into anxiety, which is not all that enjoyable.

One big reason I don’t like this is because I’ve seen it so many times it’s easily predictable every step of the way. You can expect everything to go wrong for the hero and they will make it so nothing goes right (no matter how stupid it is) until the very end, but, of course, that doesn’t mean all the loved ones will survive. And I really hate it if they kill off any of the loved ones after struggling through an entire movie trying to save them.

Another reason is that they always make the loved captives so helpless. They might make a weak attempt to escape, but you know that just isn’t going to happen. It will only lead to more torture.

But the worst thing about this is the entire movie involves the rescue, and that’s why it makes for too simple of a plot.

However, this all could be just me, of course, as I tend to have problems with movies that don’t have enough breaks in the tension. Like The Dark Knight and Transformers 2. The Dark Knight was highly rated.

PS: Yes, I’m trying out a new cover and I had to upload it in about five different places.

Deadliest Catch and Working in Dangerous Places.

2011-07-23T15:56:00.023-04:00

I don’t usually watch much reality TV, but whenever I see Deadliest Catch on I will check to see what is happening.

I admire the men who work on the crab fishing boats. They go out into the hazards of the Bering Sea risking their lives to support their families. In the winter, water ices up on decks and make it even more difficult. They work crazy long hours, going without sleep for long stretches of time. In one episode, the Coast Guard pulled survivors from a sunken fishing boat. I think only one or two survived. They wear these emergency suits that give them temporary protection from the ice water, but it really doesn’t last that long. Water, especially water that cold, will suck the life out of you very fast.

Sometimes the workers get into heated arguments because of the stress. Then you have the disagreements between ship crews as they sometimes fight over fishing territory. I don't think they should argue, but conflict is good for ratings.

My favorite crew is the Time Bandit because the crew seems to have good morale for the most part. One time their ship became stuck in ice and they almost didn’t get out of it. It could’ve gone much worse. Their ship could’ve easily been trapped and severely damaged from all that ice. I know what that ice is like because I used to live on Lake St. Clair and we had similar ice that would pile up sometimes along the shore depending on the wind. Of course, Lake St. Clair is small compared to the Baring Sea and the only time we went out on it in the winter was to snowmobile. Below is the map of Lake St. Clair and I used to snowmobile on Anchor Bay and I've also gone boating in those channels leading the St. Clair River.

But it helps me imagine what it is like on a bigger scale because we used to get broken up ice. Sometimes it would clog up the St. Clair River and the water level would drop. Oddly, almost every year fishermen would go in their shanties and sometimes they would get blown out into the lake on an ice flow and wouldn’t realize it until they came out of the shanty. The Coast Guard would pick them up, and we’d hear about it on the news. It could be even more dangerous if the ice flow broke up. Yet, they just love to ice fish and take their risks. The lake looked like this in the winter time, but picture cars, trucks and snowmobiles out there too.

The crab boats also have to deal with the huge waves, twenty – thirty feet high, splashing ice water over the sides and drenching everyone. A lot of greenhorns think they can handle it, but then they don’t do so well. Another difficulty is that the captain has to stay at the wheel for hours and hours. Sure he gets to sit down, but he can’t move around enough. This can’t be healthy. I saw one crew member with a bad foot. He was a good worker and one of the younger crew members called him “the old man”, but I didn’t think he was that old. He kept struggling to keep going. When the pain was too much, he had to stop. I felt so bad for him because he dreaded having to stop. Sometimes there is a medical crisis and because they’re out in the middle of the sea, the Coast Guard has to be called to get the sick or injured crew member. So each fishing season it is a test of endurance for the captains and their crews.

There are other difficult places on Earth to work, such as mines. It wasn’t long ago that there was a huge rescue of several miners. Just thinking about these places gives me ideas for more scenes in my Vallar series. Mars has to be one of the hardest places to work considering the low temperatures and lack of oxygen. Instead of freezing water, there is an ocean of dust. I’ve already had some fun with the dust. Maybe I can have some more.

But I just wanted to say that I admire those men (and some women) who have those dangerous jobs. They are everyday heroes who do these jobs because that’s how they make a living - bringing crab to fine dining. Truth is, I tasted crab once and didn’t like it. Thought it was too fishy.

The Time Bandit

Me on a snowmobile in Michigan's Upper Peninsula

A Blog Dedicated to Mars.

2011-07-22T14:53:00.000-04:00

I just wanted to share this with you. A couple of weeks ago, I came across an awesome blog: It covers classic works, new releases, short fiction, audiobooks, cover art, e-books, graphic novels, comics, poetry, music, films, authors, awards, and more.

Marooned - Science Fiction & Fantasy books on Mars

I followed the owner on twitter, and he was kind enough to post my book. I didn't even ask him. He just noticed one of my tweets.

Dreams, Visions and Prophecies - What do they mean?

2011-07-18T12:16:00.001-04:00

I’ve found that I can remember my dreams if I think about them first thing in the morning – rather than jumping out of bed right away.

Dream experts agree, they fall into categories. These are just the most basic ones.

Fear: This is the most common type. We’re not necessarily scared out of our wits. But have you ever had the experience of not being able to do something in a dream? It’s like you’re running up hill with the wind against you. You want to accomplish something and nothing is going right. Sometimes I have dreamt of myself struggling to punch in a phone number, but I keep doing it wrong over and over again. I’ve also dreamt of things going wrong before an important event. One time I was in a horseshow, and the day before I dreamt the horse was covered in mud standing in her stall as I came into the barn that day. In another time, I was getting my daughter ready for school and we missed the bus. Then I had to drive her and I ran into car problems and road blocks. It seemed that no matter what I did, I couldn’t get her to that school.

On rare occasions, I will have an extreme fear dream and usually they are always about either one of my kids missing, killed, sick, dying… I mean my subconscious has to come up with something drastic if it’s going to really scare me because most of my fear dreams don’t impress me.

These dreams, of course, are linked to fears. We release those fears through dreams, so perhaps we have less anxiety during the day. One time though, something cool happened to me in one of these fear dreams. I had to open a door to stop a train from crashing (I have no clue why), but the door wouldn’t open and I had to get this key to open it. I couldn’t find the key anywhere, but then, for no apparent reason, I realized I was dreaming and said to myself. “You can make the key appear right in your hand.” Boom…the key materialized. But instead of needing the key, everything dissolved. I was back in my room and this pretty woman sat across from me on the bed, smiling at me. I have no idea why my mind created such a person. Then she floated up through the ceiling. I followed her for awhile and woke up.

I found out later that this is called lucid dreaming (when you realize you’re dreaming and start taking control) I went through a phase where I had a lot of these lucid dreams, and found that if I planted the idea of recognizing a dream before bed I had a better chance of doing so.

The Wish Dream: I love this kind of dream. For me, they don’t happen that often. It’s simply a dream where everything goes right and you have a good time. You might achieve something in the dream that you have always wanted to do. One time, after recently moving from a house I really liked, I had a dream I was back in that house floating in the kitchen. Not really doing anything, but just looking at the cupboards and stove. Everything was extremely vivid and clear in this dream. There are those who believe this could be something like an out of body experience, but how would I ever know for sure? This happened to me a few other times with another house I once lived. For some reason, I always get very attached to whatever house I lived in and leaving them has always been hard, so it’s possible I like to dream about being there.

Symbolic dreams: I have this type second most. Usually there is an object in the dream that represents something in your life. These can be combined with fear dreams and they are trying to tell you something. The key in my example dream could be symbolic. What do keys represent? Unlocking, going through a barrier that is in your way. Now this is funny, but sometimes I have repeated dreams about rodents of some kind, usually gerbils because I used to have them. In the dreams, there are many cages of gerbils (I know you’re laughing), and there are always problems with the cages. Gerbils are escaping, some are not being fed or some have died from running out of water. All I do is catch the gerbils and fix the cages. I wish I could figure out what these rodents represent.

Prophetic Dreams: My interest in dreams spread over to my writing. With Ian Connors, I was able to experiment with different dreams and visions, which was a lot of fun. But he is a gifted psychic. (It’s more of a blessing and a curse, in his case.)

However, I think it is possible for many people to have this type of dream because we all have intuitive ability if we practice at it. The subconscious mind can tune into things and it will be thinking and problem solving without you even having to work at it. In this type of dream, you predict the future. But it is hard to prove if it’s just a coincidence or not.

Here are some examples of famous people who claim to have had prophetic dreams.

Abraham Lincoln was said to have dreamt of his own body laying in a coffin two weeks before he his assassination.

Golfer Jack Nicklaus found a new way to hold his golf club in a dream.

Albert Einstein's theory of relativity was inspired by a dream.

Joan of Arc predicted her death in a prophetic dream

Hannibal based his battle plans against the Romans according to a prophetic dream

The defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo was foretold in a prophetic dream

Then, of course, there is the Bible, filled with prophesies, many of which come from dreams. The biggest one is the book of Revelation, the last and most confusing book the Bible. It’s believed to be written by the apostle John while he was on exile on Patmos. It’s supposed to be a prediction of an apocalypse of the world as we know it. Many of the things in this prophecy are symbolic as well and scholars, of course, have tried to figure out the meaning for years. Some smaller religions have tried to interrupt it and act like they know for sure what events in history are represented by certain images in Revelation, but I think in general it’s wiser to admit that nobody knows for sure what the imagery means.

I've come to the conclusion that most dreams are trying to you something about ourselves, and it can be useful to listen to them. Have you ever had an unusual dream, a vision, or predicted something in the future?

Thanks to all the Authors & Writing Update.

2011-07-17T13:21:00.001-04:00

Thank you Fellow Indies!

I just wanted to say thanks to all the authors who participated in my interview tour. When I first decided to do this, I contacted many authors. Some of them I had met before, but most of them I didn't know at all. I felt shy at times to ask them, but I wasn't turned down by anyone. However, a few that had contacted me never ended up showing up. But overall, it was a great turnout.

Searching for an author? On the sidebar, I added a link to an index of all the authors who have appeared on my blog.

Writing Update.

I have been plugging away at the Vallar sequel. I would really like to have 4 stories available in the next year. This is my plan:

Realm of Heroes (A free short story)
A cheap Novella (This might be a steampunk/native american historical)
Vallar
Saving Vallar (The sequel)

Where will Ian's visions take him this time? Muhahah!

But anyway, have you ever noticed that there is a greater chance of a sequel being not so good. That's because they're harder to write. There is this danger of recreating the same thing, and I don't want to do that. So, it might take me awhile to get it right. I don't want to my readers to be disappointed. Oh, the pressure.

I also have some new blog posts planned. One of them is coming up this Monday or Tuesday. However, depending, I won't be able to post as frequently as some of my amazing blog buddies. Most of my time and energy goes into my novels or they wouldn't get done.

Meet Debra L. Martin co-author of The Quest for Nobility.

2011-07-16T12:33:00.002-04:00

The parents of royal Otharian twins Darius and Dyla have been murdered; their cousin is stealing their throne, and they are falsely accused of murder. Their only choice is to flee to the forbidden and quarantined planet Earth, but it could turn out to be a one-way trip.

To return home, they must find an ancient crystal, that once belonged to Merlin, to power the return portal. When the twins stumble upon the location of the crystal, the local crime boss, who has an interest in the crystal, sends out his assassin to retrieve it. Can Darius and Dyla use their PSI powers to open the portal home and reclaim their throne before the assassin catches up to them?

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

I write with co-author, David W Small, who also happens to be my brother. We grew up together loving the same books – fantasy and science fiction -- and it was this love of the genre that helped us to decide to write our own story.

What made you decide to Indie publish?

During 2008 and 2009, I was actively pursuing trying to find an agent for our fantasy series, The Rule of Otharia. The first book, “Quest for Nobility” was finished and the second book, “The Crystal Façade” was in the editing stage. We received rejection after rejection, many with personal messages. “The story has potential.” “It’s a good story, but I just don’t love it enough.” Then in the spring of 2010, I found Kindleboards and began to learn about Amazon’s publishing portal and everything clicked. I didn’t need an agent to bring the books to the reading public.

Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?

Yes, writing with a co-author. As authors know, it is hard work coming up with ideas for a new book, putting those ideas to paper and then editing those words into a book that is ready for public consumption. Having two authors trying to accomplish this takes extra effort and it means leaving egos at the door. Every idea must be vetted and our reasoning is “if you can’t justify why it should be included, out it goes.”

Do you work with an outline or just write?
We do extensive outlines for the world we are creating, the plot lines and the characters. We found out with our first book that it is imperative to do all this background work first. It certainly saves a lot of editing at the end.

I live on the East Coast, Dave lives on the West Coast and we both work full-time so we each must dedicate a portion of a day to writing. My best time to write is first thing in the morning and Dave likes to write at night. This schedule actually works out well because I can edit what Dave writes and he gets to read new lines most days. We don’t impose a word quota on each other; sometimes one of us writes a paragraph and the other finishes the rest of the chapter or we each write a few paragraphs. Because of our hectic schedules, it usually takes a year to finish a book.

Where do you get your ideas?

We both have so many idea bouncing around in our heads that it’s difficult to pin down only a few to work on. What I find so enjoyable though is that both Dave and I are open to whatever idea the other has to offer. If we can come up with a storyline that makes sense, we go with it.

Who designed the covers?

We have our fantastic graphic artist, T.M. Roy, to thank for the covers of the Otharia books.

How do you market your work?

Being an indie author is tough when it comes to marketing your books. There are so many titles out there competing for reader’s interest. This is where social media comes in. I have a blog, Two Ends of the Pen. I blog about our books, writing, publishing as well as offering support for fellow indie writers through interviews, books reviews and panel discussions. I am also active on facebook and twitter.

What advice can you give to others Indie publishing?

Patience! Patience in everything – writing, editing, publishing and marketing. Don’t rush a project to publication. Put out the best book you can the first time and then give it time to reach readers. I hear a lot of authors say that they can’t afford an editor. I think this is most important. An unbiased professional eye can catch most everything. Search around. Talk to other authors. There are editors out there that are not only excellent, but are very affordable. Your reading public will thank you for it.

As an author, what are your goals for the next few years?

Dave and I hope to complete a number of books over the next few years and establish our names in the fantasy genre. You can only be successful if you have product out there for the readers to buy. The more product you have, the more name visibility.

What can readers look for next from you?

We are currently working on a new fantasy involving assassins, witches and the Stone of Prophesy. If all goes according to plan, we should finish this story by the end of 2011.

Author Links:

Purchase Links:

Thanks for being here today, Debra. This is the last of the author interviews for now. I might be doing a few more in October. Thanks to everyone who visited my blog. It's been fun.

Meet Vered Ehsani Author of Diary of a Part Time Ghost

2011-07-15T13:36:00.000-04:00

In the first book of the ‘Ghosts & Shadows’ series, fifteen-year old Ash wants nothing more than to be a normal kid and avoid trouble. Then his birthday gift transforms him into a ghost and zaps him back in time to the beginning of the American Revolution. If he thought that was bad, it’s about to get a whole lot worse. Ash must rescue his ancestor from one danger after another, including an implacable enemy who controls the very shadows.

What starts out as a brief experiment in time travel rapidly changes into a race for his very survival, and Ash is running out of time. Despite his efforts to stay out of trouble, Ash finds plenty of it as he must decide what his role will be in the shifting balance of forces. As he moves through one shadow-plagued adventure after another, Ash gradually discovers that true power lives in the most unexpected place: himself.

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Originally from South Africa, I live in Kenya with my family: husband, 10 year old son, 8 year old daughter and an assortment of animals. My work background is in engineering and environmental management.

What gave you the idea to write your book?
I wanted to write something for teen readers that would be a fun adventure with a character who wants to do the right thing but isn’t always sure he wants the hassle that comes with that. Ash, the main character, came into being a few years ago while my family and I were visiting Vancouver. I was standing in my mother-in-law’s living room, trying to round up my kids so we could go out somewhere. And then, in between chasing after them, Ash and the basic structure of this book popped into my mind.

What is your favorite character in the book?
Ash, the main character. He’s real. I mean, he’s not smooth, confident or particularly brave. He’s just trying to be a normal kid. He’s a very reluctant hero who would prefer if the world would just leave him alone. Fortunately for us, the world has other ideas! He also has a slightly sarcastic sense of humour and talks to himself, which I find endearing.

What kind of readers will enjoy your book?
I was writing for a teenage audience, although older readers have enjoyed it as well. It’s an adventure story with a dose of paranormal and a twist of time travel.

What do you hope your readers come away with after reading your book?
Apart from enjoying the ride, I also hope that readers will think about what Ash learns along the way: that he has to make a choice, and maybe sitting on the fence isn’t the best one.

What was the hardest part of writing your book?

Deleting what wasn’t working! It means being honest and recognising parts that shouldn’t be included: a word, a sentence or even a whole chapter! That’s tough, but doable. Just don’t ask me to delete a character though – that’s kind of like murder.

Did you learn anything from writing your book and what was it?

I learned how to tighten up the story line (hence the ‘deleting’ comment in the previous question!) and balance character development with plot movement. I’m still learning!

Where do you get your ideas?

Hmm, that depends. Often, characters will start a conversation in my head. Yeah, I know that sounds a little on the weird side of normal. No, I don’t wander around the streets pushing an overloaded grocery card and talking to myself (well, not yet at least). Sometimes, I will be daydreaming (happens a lot) and see a scene unfolding and then realise that I have to write it down.

Do you ever experience writer’s block?

No, my “problem” is the opposite: I have too much I want to write and not enough time. And if I ever start mulling over a word or scene and I’m not sure how to proceed, I just leave it alone and keep writing the next scene, and let all the little gremlins in my brain work on the problem in the background. By the time I come back to it, I have a solution.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

I think I was 7 or 8. I was standing by the kitchen table while my mom was reading out a story I had written about a unicorn who wasn’t doing his fair share of work in the herd.

As an author, what are your goals for the next few years?

Write, write, write! Ok, seriously now: I’m working on a ‘coquel’ to this story (as opposed to a prequel or sequel!). It’s entitled “Where Shadows Dance” and should be out by end of the year. I’ve already sketched out ideas for a sequel that will link the first two books up, and plan to get that out mid next year. Beyond that: keep writing.

What do you do when you are not writing?

Try to survive until I can write again! Well, I also have two kids who are still young enough to need my regular attention and who think I’m just the best because I’ve written a book (yes, my first two fans!). I also work as a consultant with the United Nations Environment Programme.

Author Links:

Website

Purchase Links:

Kindle

Paperback

Thanks for being here today.

Winners of "A Sign in Blood" By Marion Sipe

2011-07-15T08:35:00.000-04:00

Congratulations to those who won a copy of Marion's latest novel.

Becca
Mike Offutt
Elizabeth Stanley
Katy S
Christie

Tyeaney

Sharon F

Becca

If you haven't received your copy, please comment with your email address or use the contact button at the top and send me an email.