S.J. Reisner's Blog, page 113

An Open Letter to the Health Crazed

Dear Health Fiends,

I gave up red meat, eggs, bad fats, bacon, whole milk and normal cheese. I no longer drink soda. I started exercising. I got sugar out of my diet and I eliminated anything with HFCS (i.e. disguised as Corn Sugars). I stay away from Aspartame. I eat organics as much as I can. I've switched to foods without a lot of additives. I've given up milk chocolate in favor of dark chocolate and I eat a lot less of it now. I eat my 5-7 servings of veggies and fruits (bleh!) a day. I ra...

Review: Doom With A View

Doom With A View (Psychic Eye Mystery #7) - by Victoria Laurie

This series of books is about a professional psychic named Abigail Cooper who keeps ending up in the middle of murder mysteries. In the early books she was a lone wolf. Now that we're at book 7, she has a sidekick friend who's a PI and her cop turned FBI boyfriend. She's also closed her private business (as a psychic reader) in favor of working as an FBI consultant. On that note (SPOILER ALERT) at the end of this book she and Dutch...

Cover Art

Yesterday's review brought up the question of cover art for the second OTS book. As I said, people either really hated the cover of Outer Darkness, or they loved it. I guess surreal art isn't everyone's cup of tea. I rather liked the cover (of course I would).  It was better than the alternatives and after being shown several different options by artists who just weren't "getting it" - well... I did what I had to do.

So anyway, several people have asked me about the art for the next book.  Rig...

A Review!

I opened my mail earlier this afternoon to learn I had a reviewer review!

Outer Darkness Review on Escape Between the Pages

I wasn't really surprised about the cover art critique as it seems people have felt one of two ways about the cover on this one. Either they really like it -- or they really hate it. lol! There really hasn't been anyone on the fence about that.

But I am thrilled that a reviewer, who is obviously well read in the paranormal and urban fantasy genres, enjoyed the book enough...

The Reasons People Go Indie

On a writers forum I'm on, I often frequent the Indie board since I'm simultaneously a micro-publisher and micro-press author (which evidently is considered self-published by industry standards). There's an interesting shift in the publishing world. Do it yourself services like Lulu and CreateSpace have made it easier than ever for anyone who's written anything to have it published and distributed. This has also given rise to micro-presses and niche publishers as well as the indie book.

What h...

What I'm Reading Now

You should know up front that I am prone to reading more than one book at a time. Not necessarily a good habit. LOL!

Doom with a View (Psychic Eye Mysteries, Book 7) by Victoria Laurie (Paranormal Mystery)

Admittedly I burnt myself out with this series by reading them all in order. So I am kind of alternating reading this one with another book.  I'm not so bored I'm giving up. I'm just taking my sweet time.

The book that sucked my attention away from Doom with a View is Destined by Gail Cleare....

On Book Burning

Recent controversy about the Florida preacher who wants to burn the Koran has caused me to ask myself where I really stand on book burning. This is a really tough subject and isn't as black and white as it seems. First, I've decided that in a free country, it is our freedom to burn any book we choose to burn so long as we bought it. So, for example. if I wanted to toss a copy of the Holy Bible or a copy of Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time into my backyard fire pit, it is my right to ...

Reviews and Such...

I'm starting to get more feedback on Outer Darkness now that people are starting to read it. To be honest - I'm completely in awe of the response I'm getting. I never got feedback like this on my fantasy novels. That's not to say my fantasy novels suck. Actually - the fans who do enjoy them love them a great deal. However, I've never had what happened with Outer Darkness happen with one of the Sorcerers' Twilight books.

In this instance, a family member read it, actually sought me out to tell...

Family and Friends: A Reading Audience?

A lot of new authors go into Indie publishing or the small press thinking their friends and family are going to support them. And most often times certain people will. They'll give you the encouragement you need to keep going, congratulate you when the book comes out, and even help you set up the book release party.

However - don't expect them all to race out the door to buy a copy. There are three members of my immediately family I can count on to actually read what I write, and one person in...

Who's Really Blowing Sunshine?

Time and time again I meet Indie and Small Press authors who think their printing service or their distributors are trying to screw them. Why? Because a lot of people will tell you they've purchased your books, but didn't.

In reality, they're just blowing sunshine up your ass.

Pardon my candor - but it's the truth.  Even family will lie and tell you they've purchased copies of your book when they haven't. I know, right now you're saying, "Steph! You're wrong! My family and friends would NEVER l...