Bernard Jan's Blog, page 20

Today is the Day!

Today is the day! My first ever indie e-book A World Without Color is released and available for purchase on Amazon! If you are a member of Amazon KDP Select program, you can even read it for free! If you are not, be among the first ones who will get it at a symbolic price of $1.99!

Please don't forget the golden rule and dream of every indie author: Buy Me. Read Me. Review Me. Share Me. Befriend Me.

Thank you for waiting so long, for buying and reading my book, for reviewing it and spreading the word about it with everyone you can think of!

Today is the day when I share(d) the intimate and still unhealed part of me with you, my dear friend and faithful reader. This is HUGE, this is the moment I cannot and will not forget. I hope, neither will you.

There is no greater joy than to share what you love with those who appreciate it. This is why I worked so hard in the past few months on my story A World Without Color so I could share it with you here at Amazon.

Bernard Jan
www.bernardjan.com

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I'm Coming Out, will You Support Me?

July 1, 2017 is approaching fast, it's almost here!

Which means the pre-order deadline for my e-book A World Without Color on Amazon is closing to its end! Which means, those are the last days when you can pre-order it if you still did not do that. Which means you will finally get your pre-ordered copy and will be able to read it and hopefully enjoy it!

So cool!

But this is not the end, not yet. This is where I need you more than ever. The future and fate of every book and its author depend on you, our faithful reader. Your role is much more important that you think!

It is you who will keep A World Without Color alive. If you want to help me, an author and the publisher, and my first indie book, please read and follow these three easy and simple steps.

If you purchase a copy of my e-book today, you will help enormously with its Amazon rankings. Now it is roller coasting up and down but with enough purchased copies it can improve its ranking and maybe even attracts press, general interest and new readers!

When you read a book, don't just close your reading app but please leave a review. Positive reviews at this early stage are crucial for exposing the book to the new readers, and Amazon will love them too! You don't have to write a one-page review like I do, haha! Two or three encouraging sentences of an honest review will take only a few minutes of your daily schedule but are important recommendation to others to take notice of A World Without Color too.

That being done, please do that one last step and share it with others. Your friends, family members, people you care about or strangers you want to impress. Word of mouth, though sometimes underestimated, still does miracles. If you are not much of a talker, just copy-paste the link to my book on Amazon and add a brief comment above it. Or share the link to my press release on my website. (I will post it on my blog too once both my e-book and paperback are available for purchase.)

I would ask those of you who still prefer to hold a printed copy in their hands instead of reading from a device for a little more patience. My paperback will also be available for purchase in July if everything goes as planned and then you will get to read it. That doesn't mean, though, you cannot spread the word about it now, because time is valuable and each day counts!

Thank you for your kind support and happy reading!

Bernard Jan
www.bernardjan.com

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Bernard Jan

Death by Default Review

Death by Default by Trish Reeb

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


My dad excels in chess. When I was a teenager, and even younger, I used to play with him. Sometimes more than I wanted. There were days when I really enjoyed the game, especially when we played on time control. Some days I was bored. Because the game was too slow and required too much thinking. Thinking is good, but when I play a game, I want to have fun. Not to test and challenge my gray brain cells.

I am grateful to my dad for teaching me the game. I was never as good as he was but he put so much effort in me. I wasn't too bad either but I could take more effort in learning from him. This is what our parents want from us. To take their knowledge, to give us their life experience. To help us.

Sometimes they can be clumsy and irritating, despite their best intentions. Like Conner Smyth who uses ten-year-old Jamie to teach him chess and play online games with a serial killer, in spite of the genuine likeness and fondness for the boy. Conner isn't Jamie's father, but the affection between the detective and a young chess champ is genuine and mutual. Conner's intentions are good—to put an end to collecting bodies with chess pieces planted somewhere in their cavities—but his judgment is bad and can easily endanger the boy's life.

Detective Conner Smyth is one of the oddest characters in mystery thriller novels I ever read, but that makes him so human and real, with so much passion for justice that burns beyond his physical, emotional and rational limits and logic. He is the guy who will rise out of his weakness and put himself in the hands of death to save the innocent, especially his friends, colleagues and family members. Yes, he is imperfect, insecure in front of the beautiful woman he loves and sometimes very submissive and humble in front of strong female characters in the novel Death by Default by Trish Reeb. But he is our unsung hero, natural and human, he is one of us.

Trish Reeb delivered us a great book. I was a bit skeptical before I start reading it, since Death by Default is a chess-themed mystery thriller, and chess and thrillers are a combination of two polarities that defined my childhood and maturity. Trish incorporated a relatively boring game (no offense to anyone) into an exciting and page-turning thriller, thus surprising me. And when she checkmated me, a smile kept lingering in the corner of my lips while my chest thumped with inner beats of satisfaction for well-invested and spent time.

Bernard Jan
www.bernardjan.com

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This Crazy Thing I Call My Life Review

This Crazy Thing I Call My Life by Jonathan Hill

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Already in A Christmas Outing David and Jamie made me guffaw both in public and within the intimate safety of my home. The brisk, adorable and cracking humor continued to entertain me as well throughout the second book of teenage boyfriends This Crazy Thing I Call My Life by Jonathan Hill.

David and Jamie are now a real couple and it is only appropriate that their parents meet and get to know one another. While Jamie's parents are proud of their gay son and celebrate his homosexuality, David's parents are more closeted about their feelings. When these two families meet on a family gathering, it is easy to guess what the outcome will be!

Not discouraged by the eventful dinner and their first proper argument that follows, Jamie is determined to bring their families together and plots with David another family reunion. This time it is a parents-only reunion, because the boys have something else on their minds....

This Crazy Thing I Call My Life is ripe with funny situations and characters and it is a worthy sequel to the hilarious A Christmas Outing. If you like (British) humor and laughter, grab these two novellas and read them! Jonathan Hill is a great writer and entertainer. He, David and Jamie have the potential to give us a lot more laughter and are hiding plenty of new things in store for us. Somehow I feel it's going to be hot soon and this heat won't have much to do with the summer heatwaves!

Bernard Jan
www.bernardjan.com

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Bernard Jan

Dead Men Naked Review

Dead Men Naked by Dario Cannizzaro

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


In my first review of Cannizzaro's work (a collection of stories titled Of Life, Death, Aliens and Zombies) I wrote: Three of my favorite stories are Yet Another Zombie Apocalypse, The Best Place to Plan a Mass Shooting and The Announcement. These stories carry the weight of a deeper truth and hypothetical and yet not-so-alien reality, if we only allow ourselves to think outside the box we have been put and locked into. There is one particular story (...) Impurita (...) the most complex and in-depth story of them all, but what truly separates it and places it on a special pedestal is the beauty and love with which it is written, a strong and deep emotion and the poetry in every sentence through which it speaks to us. Would calling it a literary masterpiece be an exaggeration?

Dario's new book and his first novel Dead Men Naked is a literary masterpiece. It is of no importance what other people say and with how many stars they rate it. No stars and no other opinion and review can alter the feeling and sensation I experienced while reading it.

I am not a person who flirts with occult and otherworldly. I also don't think often about death despite my occasional suicidal thoughts and moments when meeting death would be a welcome hideaway and oasis of nirvana and nonexistence from the everyday monsters of the world of the living.

The way Dario Cannizzaro flirts with it in his Dead Men Naked makes me want to reconsider it, even though for a brief random and non-regular moments. Without restraint and holding back, Dead Men Naked is an open buddying and intellectual lovemaking with the Grim Reaper and ghosts of our departed loved ones.

I bet you’ll never forget your first real friend, and for me that was Neil — my first true friend and probably the only one. I missed him in my bones and in my gut. It was a physical feeling, a ghostly limbic resonance with something that wasn’t there anymore.

It is an ode to death which celebrates life and poetry on every page, a detailed and intimate portrait of who we are while stepping over the threshold of the unknown, our becoming into something else or nothing, the ultimate cognition of what we are so desperate to find out while blooming with life but are unable to do so.

There are no secrets to the dead, as after this life they still exist, and known to them is the exit from this stage of fools; alas, everyone will join in this secret eventually, in his own personal way; but a great death takes a life of preparation.

Beautifully portrayed characters are just our guides through this unusually sensual, emotional and deep story. Everything is subordinated to a strong mixed feeling of dying and staying alive, of meeting and escaping the inevitable. I am at the lack of words and abundant with tears of strong impressions, and if I keep saying more, I will only ruin the whole experience. Therefore I will say only this: Dario, you nailed it!

Under the bird’s wings are Neil, Mallory, and Angelene. All of them naked. We’re under the stars, in what looks like an ancient Roman arena. The moon is shining and the clouds are broken and remade by the wind in an endless dance.
Who are you gonna save? the bird declares.
All of them, I reply.
No, you won’t, because you cannot save anyone but you.
The bird flaps his wings once, twice. The air coming from them throws me to the ground. Angelene and Mallory and Neil turn into skeletons and their bones shine like constellations.

Bernard Jan
www.bernardjan.com

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Bernard Jan

Pre-order My Book on Amazon!

I planned it for weeks and it came almost overnight!

Amazon approved it and my novella A World Without Color is finally available for pre-order! This means you can order it for a symbolic price of $1.99 almost three weeks before its official release date on July 1, 2017!

It was a long and stressful way that lead to this moment, and it started already in 2008 with its original edition in Croatian. But I am glad this happened, I am glad I took this challenge because I learned a lot and pushed my barriers way out of my comfort zone.

The only thing I wish I could change would trade this book for the life of my cat. I wish Marcel was still alive and I didn't have to write our story....

If you want to meet him and get to know him through the pages I wrote, please (pre)order the e-book A World Without Color. Be a part of my world that will keep him alive. Thank you.

"This short book is the deeply-felt and well-written account of the love and interdependence between a man and his companion animal. All those who have had a pet, and there are many of us, know that the time comes when the last kindness we can give them is to ease their journey out of the world. Here, we see the heart-breaking decision and the lonely aftermath sensitively portrayed. Many will recognise these feelings."—Kath Middleton, author and e-book reviewer

Bernard Jan
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A World Without Color

Janus: The Devil's Election

Janus: The Devil's Election by Angel Ramon Medina

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I don't like politics and I don't trust politicians. When we look back at the centuries-and-centuries-long history of lies, deceptions and broken promises, this shouldn't be a surprise. Common good and national pride are the terms abused for personal gain by often incompetent individuals who should be anywhere else instead of leading countries or ruling our towns. History is their judge. The judge of their actions, turned coats, words spoken too easily behind the flimsy and fake smiles.

Human and animal rights, environmental issues, global warming, world hunger, wars, national, religious, racial and sexual hatred, poverty and health issues, unemployment, refugees, none of this is their concern as long as they can profit from the blind trust of their voters. History is their judge. Of everything they promised and didn't do. Of their lies.

Hard as it is to believe, there is one other group of individuals compared to whom our politicians look naïve and innocent like babies. They are the real puppeteers of our lives who rule from the shadow. To them, people like Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton are just puppets on the strings, the ways and disposable means of achieving their goals. Loaded with money and supercharged with power, they can have anyone at any cost. Price is not the issue for the invisible throne of the modern slavery reign.

That is what Janus wants when he decides to orchestrate the 2016 United States presidential elections. He uses funding of both Clinton's and Trump's running for the office campaigns for funding his stem-cell substance criminal activities. The FBI-wanted criminal uses both candidates to conquer the country with this genetically modified drug, bringing the national elections to the unexpected and culminating end.

In his fourth novel—and first in the series of political thrillers—Angel Ramon Medina gives us the vision of the world behind the curtain of dirty political games and sick ambition of a handful of individuals filled with hatred and determined to enslave and destroy mankind. In their world no one is too important or irreplaceable to be spared from being injected with the devilish substance, nothing is sacred or too menacing to deter them from their mission. Janus and his compatriots are the reincarnation of pure evil and they turned the US presidential elections into their playground.

One thing that is more frightening than the dead bodies paving the way to the new American presidency is the belief that such evil as Janus exists only in Ramon's head and his novel. To accept such idea as pure fiction is as dangerous as signing a personal death warrant, for the mark of the beast may be stamped on our skin or running through our bloodstream even before we get to realize what is happening.

Stay alert: Janus is still not done with the world.

Bernard Jan
www.bernardjan.com

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The Force Behind the Written Word

In my previous post I have introduced you to photographer Zach Singh and Mario Kožar from MKM Media, the two people responsible for the beautiful cover of my soon-to-come-out novella A World Without Color.

I also promised to mention other people involved in its making because we all know, whether we are writers or not, that beside the face we enjoy looking at, each story must have something that runs and live beneath its skin: its blood, flesh, bones, its heart that pumps it alive.

Before the English version, there was a story in Croatian which came to life in 2008. These are the people whom I owe gratitude for their support and for making it happen: Ozren Ćuk, Tihana Hren, Jelena Boromisa, Anita Euschen, Aleksandra Hampamer, Goran Pavletić, the Croatian Ministry of Culture, Sonja Kunović, Saša Dujanović, my parents Ksenija and Dubravko, and all those who by their existence wrote these pages.

The crew working with me on the English edition is even more diverse. Those amazing and selfless individuals and professionals come from several countries and continents: Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy, Puerto Rico and Croatia!

Aldina Šćulac, Mirjana Ptiček and Irena Krčelić were my great home support and encouragement in my international endeavors. M.G. Wells, Victoria M. Patton, and Rebecca Gransden, along with the people I am yet to mention below, were my huge international encouragement, moral support and balance of sanity when my mind was projecting distorted images of reality.

My good friend and founder of Tom's Music Place, Thomas Carley Jr. from Oregon, was the first one to proofread my English manuscript, Philip Newey from Australia carried the biggest burden of editing it on his shoulders, while Kath Middleton from England double-checked my later and additional changes and corrections.

I cannot and must not forget to mention Kristina Pepelko from Michigan who helped me with my first query letters and website announcements.

My writing buddy Jonathan Hill from Manchester, England, a town whose soccer team I supported while David Beckham played in it, brushed my blurb to its final glaze and gave me many useful tips of an experienced indie writer.

Anita Euschen (you are here again, bro!) originally from Berlin but already long-time resident of Croatia, Bruna Rocha originally from Brazil but now enjoying the Croatian sun as well as my fellow writer originally from Italy but now living in Ireland Dario Cannizzaro were stuck with me in my formatting nightmare and were looking for and providing answers to my never ending questions!

And finally comes my Angel, his full name being Angel Ramon Medina, founder of the Hybrid Nation and my Puerto Rican friend and manic writer, who patiently guided me through all my slow and painful baby-steps in this three months long self-publishing journey.

Those are my people, this is the force behind the written words of my novella A World Without Color you will read soon. Please follow them!

Bernard Jan
www.bernardjan.com

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Bernard Jan

The Face of A World Without Color

The time has come to reveal the hidden, to unveil the covered and show what I kept secret.

My first indie book is coming out soon!

Yes, it is true. Finally and at last I can publicly say that, even though I didn't decide about its release date yet. It will be anytime between end of June and beginning of August (or maybe even later or outside that period of time). However, it is time now for me to present you my official book cover.

I love it eternally! I have fallen in love with the photo of my friend cuddling his cat the very moment I saw it on his Twitter feed and I am so happy it now adorns my book. This is the perfect image for my story, my complete opening and revealing of the best and worst days of my life. My deepest emotions and hardest tribulations when I lost my favorite creature and didn't know whether I should carry on living without Marcel or stop with my life a few hours or days after our family veterinarian put him to sleep and took him away from us.

Writing A World Without Color was my way of surviving, a true story I wrote in three days while memories, scars and wounds were still fresh and burning. This story I had to tell, I had no option, I couldn't do it otherwise and bury it in me. Soon it will be in front of you should you wish to read it.

Many people worked on this with me and I will say a few words about them in my future blog posts. But since I am showing you its beautiful face here, its cover which warms my heart and gives my life a certain sense of completion of something very important and dear, I will mention two people, two names only: Zach Singh and Mario Kožar.

Zach Singh, my buddy from New York and Columbus, Ohio is a nice and talented young photographer who loves cats as much as I do - if not even more - and was so kind and ready to provide me this photo for my book cover when I came with my proposal about this project to him (I can never thank you enough, Zach!).

Mario Kožar from MKM Media is my designer who lives on the relation Rome-Zagreb and he gave my book such a sparkling and professional shine. Thank you, Mario, for having so much patience with me and understanding for all my demands for promotional ads I will be posting in days and weeks and months to come.

I only hope my readers will like at least half as much what I wrote as I like what you both did to give such a beautiful new life to my story. With this cover you gave a face to its soul.

I’d ask everyone who is reading this to please be so kind and generous and give your vote of confidence to Zach and Mario if you like their creation. Later you will judge me and my writing, but now I ask you to follow, like, retweet and share them because their talent deserves that.

Always share what you love with those who appreciate it because there is no greater joy than that.

Thank you!

Check the Photos to see the book cover or click here.

Bernard Jan
www.bernardjan.com

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Bernard Jan

Lightmasters Review

Number 13 by M.G. Wells

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Maybe we don’t remember anymore how it was to be thirteen, but we remember being a teenager. And we remember how even small things could affect us at that gentle age.

Not everyone of us has lost their parents so early or was bullied by new students and teachers after moving in with our grandparents in another town, which is what happened to Jessica Wyrd in the middle grade novel Lightmasters - Number 13 by M.G. Wells. Sometimes not belonging to a group of our peers or being an outcast could be reason enough to seek a refuge at some isolated and mystical place where things are different and we are brave and heroes with our real but lost or imaginary friends.

Before her thirteenth birthday Jessica Wyrd is guided to the forest by a strange light where she meets three Lightmasters. Not completely convinced, she walks through an oak three and enters the whole new world and dimension. During her journey into the other world and after the encounter with other mystical creatures Jessica realizes her gift and special powers. She also learns about a big decision she will have to make as the newly recruited Lightmaster about doing battle with dark forces.

This well written middle grade novel gives us a strong portray of a bright and intelligent teenage girl who faces the choice and decision of using her gift in the eternal fight of good versus evil. Whether the choices must be made on a smaller, personal level, or as a part of a greater plan to save the world by joining ranks with mystical creatures, her implications become inevitable when she escapes to a beautiful fantasy world. Her decision carries the weight much heavier than the special jewel she gets there or the mark of the mystic she carries.

Just like Jessica, we also face choices which lead us to our decisions. Every day, on our smaller scale. Those decisions might not have the impact of saving our whole crumbling world but they are equally important. For, even though we don’t live in the world of the Lightmasters, we are the Lightmasters of our world and Jessica can be our encouragement and motivational force.

It all boils down to having choices and deciding. To give a smile or to yell at someone, to give abundantly or hold back selfishly, to offer help or deny it.

Does it take courage to be like Jessica and do we need special powers to be a good person? Yes and no. Each small deed leads to greater good. With more good we bring into this world, we lessen the power of dark forces. We don’t need more proof of their existence and we don’t need more proof of what good can do. We need a happier world though, and we can do a lot about it!

Bernard Jan
www.bernardjan.com

Don't forget to read my review of M.G. Wells' picture book for children Moobala Schmoobala.

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Bernard Jan