Riley Amos Westbrook's Blog, page 104

Brain to Books Blog Tour Alex Taylor

Brain to Books Blog Tour
Fast Fact
Author: Alex Taylor
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Books: The Wannabe Vampire from the Michael Alexander/Kari Logan series
Official Site
Bio
Alex Taylor is the author of the Michael Alexander/Kari Logan vampire series:

•  The Wannabe Vampire

•  Shampires

Alex is currently working on several projects, including the third and fourth books in the series.

While born and raised in Lompoc, California, a small town much like the one described in The Wannabe Vampire, Alex had the opportunity to travel extensively as a child. In 1977, the family packed up and moved aboard their sailboat, where they spent two years touring the South Pacific.

When not writing vampire stories, Alex enjoys camping, blogging, reading, and playing with parrots. Alex’s first RV was very much like the one Kari owns, but this is a total coincidence.

Blurb
Michael Alexander is not your typical vampire.

He has a house in a small coastal California city, a software development team in Mumbai, and a black Toyota Prius. He wants nothing more than to enjoy the pleasant life he’s crafted for himself and the friendship of Kari, his new next door neighbor.

Unfortunately, Michael also has a stalker.

Bruce is convinced that only the power of a vampire can save him from the ghost that haunts him. After a chance encounter in the grocery store, he turns to Michael for help. When Bruce’s entreaties are rejected, his unstable nature takes over. Trapped between a desperate and deranged man and his fantasies, Michael and Kari are caught in the crossfire.

Review

Kudos to author Alex Thomas for putting together a modern-day tale of a vampire falling in love and NOT ravishing the object of his affections. Good to know there are still some honorable undead left out there. – Vampbard, That’s what I’m Talking About

Excerpt
Ever since he was nine years old, Bruce Thomas wanted to become a vampire. It had started, quite innocently enough, as a game he had once played with his now-dead sister Louise. One night, they attempted to conjure up a ghost. It was Louise’s plan to frighten her younger sibling.

The spirit in question was that of a young woman named Agnes who had been killed in a terrible car accident nearly a century before. One summer night, she had been driving on a lonely, dark stretch of twisting mountain highway. She lost control and plummeted over the sheer cliff. The accident occurred in an era long before safety belt laws and car seats, so her infant daughter was riding unsecured in the front. When the car went over the edge, the child flew out the open passenger-side window and disappeared.

Several increasingly ghastly variations of the tale described the child’s end. In the happiest version, she was rescued, adopted, and raised to adulthood by a well-meaning passer-by. In another, she was found, killed, and consumed by coyotes. In the most ghastly telling, she was impaled on a tree branch and died a lingering death after which crows plucked out her sightless eyes.

However the child died, one thing was certain: Agnes’ desperate spirit regularly walked the lonely stretch of road in a futile search for her lost child. Sometimes, she would appear as a white woman walking along the side of the road, delivering an unhappy end to those who stopped to provide aid. On other nights, she would appear in the form of a white owl that would suddenly fly across a driver’s path, causing an ugly, and often fatal, wreck. No matter her form, unwary travelers risked meeting Agnes’ fate if they encountered her wandering and restless spirit along the road.

On that fateful night, Bruce and his sister huddled in the darkened guest bathroom. Louise handed Bruce her baby doll as bait for the ghost, then knocked three times on the mirror. “Agnes, I’ve got your baby,” she said.

Nothing happened.

She rapped on the mirror again, pausing for greater effect. “Agnes, I’ve got your baby.”

Finally, after knocking a third time, she shouted, “Agnes, I’ve got your baby!”

Slowly, almost imperceptibly, the face of a woman materialized in the glass. She appeared, greenish and semi-transparent, as a partially decomposed corpse. Her shoulder-length hair seemed to squirm, snake-like, as her hands reached slowly out towards the two mesmerized children.

Louise screamed.

Suddenly, the spell was broken. The two children exploded from the bathroom and spilled into the well-lit hallway. Once they had escaped, Bruce burst into tears. His sister, breathless, started to laugh. During the commotion, Bruce had wet his pants.

Although Louise soon forgot about the incident, the fright and the shame of that night never left Bruce. He had been the one to hold Agnes’ baby; her revenge was that she began to visit him in his dreams. At first, she would replay the terrifying details of her accident. Later, she began to show him her wicked hauntings of innocent travelers.

As a result of Agnes’ torment, Bruce developed a bed-wetting problem. The poor boy, too terrified to leave his bed and venture down the hall, would urinate in the quiet comfort of his warm sheets, much to the consternation of his parents and the ridicule and delight of his elder sister.

As Bruce grew, Agnes’ visits became more frequent and frightening. No longer did she confine herself to his dreams. He would see her when fully awake, as she prowled across his moonlit room sharing her gruesome tales. At night, he would scream; during the day, his parents sought advice from doctors, therapists, and even clergy.

By the time Bruce reached puberty, Agnes was his frequent companion. Although her visits were still frightening, she had stopped her nightly show of horrors. Instead, she promised to become his lover and would ask him to do small favors to prove his devotion.

At first, these things were harmless — a bouquet of wildflowers placed on an old grave in the cemetery, a shot of his father’s whiskey left out on the porch for a passing spirit. Later, she began to ask him for terrible, unspeakable things. She asked him to decapitate the neighbor’s cat and to loosen the lug bolts on his sister’s car to disastrous result. If he refused, she would cajole and threaten until at last he acquiesced. Bruce was powerless to resist.

Despite the efforts of all the professionals involved in his case, Bruce was not saved by the multitude of medications prescribed by his doctors and researched by his frantic parents. Invariably, each drug would put Agnes’ visits on temporary hiatus, only for her to return, angrier than ever, a few weeks or months later.

Although the medications did not give Bruce any relief, he was able to find some respite by losing himself in tales of the macabre. He obsessively collected horror magazines, books, and movies, because he found these stories oddly comforting. Observing the suffering of others plagued by the unholy machinations of ghosts, spirits and monsters somehow made him feel less alone.

As he began to read stories of the spirit world, he soon learned there was only one creature immune to their effects. Vampires, he realized, were unaffected by ghostly movements and demands.

To escape Agnes’ grasp, Bruce knew he must one day become a vampire. His difficulty in executing this plan was that he needed to find one to help him complete his transformation. Much to his dismay, he discovered vampires were a rarer breed than his vast media collection would suggest. At almost 50 years old, despite decades of trying, he had yet to meet even one.

Connect with Alex
Amazon

Facebook

Goodreads

Twitter

Buy the Book
Amazon US

Amazon UK

Paperback

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Brain to Books Blog Tour Catharine Bramkamp

Brain to Books Blog Tour
Fast Facts:
Author: Catharine Bramkamp, Popular author/award winning poet/ podcaster/ champion of Newbie Writers everywhere.
Genre: YA/Time Travel/Sci Fi
Book Title(s): Future Girls from the Future Girls Series
BIO



Catharine Bramkamp, author.

Photo by Deanne Fitzmaurice


Catharine Bramkamp is the co-producer of Newbie Writers Podcast that focuses on newer writers and their concerns. She is a successful writing coach and author of a dozen books including the Real Estate Diva Mysteries series, The Future Girls series (Eternal Press) and editor of the Redwood poetry collection, And the Beats Go On. She holds two degrees in English, and is an adjunct university professor.
A California native, she divides her time between the Wine Country and the Gold Country.
She and her husband have parented two boys past the age of self-destruction and into the age of annoying two word text missives.
 Accomplishments:
Writing Coach, Podcaster for the Newbie Writers Podcast, University Professor – critical writing. Board member for WNBA-SF, member of Redwood Writers.
Future Girls Blurb:

October 10, 2145: eighteen-year-old Charity Northquest’s whole future is ahead of her–and the future sucks.

October 11, 2145: she unexpectedly has a chance to fix it.

When her best friend is reported killed, but then re-appears the next day as an old woman, everything Charity has been taught is called into question. Even if she does not believe in time travel, she has little choice. So the ill-prepared Charity travels back to the mysterious and captivating 21st century where her single purpose of changing the future fades with the increasingly more urgent question of whether she can survive the past.



Book review:
By Betsy Fasbinder on February 15, 2015
Format: Kindle Edition

This book gets 5 stars from me because it’s everything it intends to be. It’s an interesting twist on the time-travel motif. The story lauds the influence and power of women and girls, but is also a cautionary tale against passivity and blind obedience to authority and the potentially dire effects of getting complacent and accepting what governments and the media say without question. This is a suspenseful story with a main character we can root for and villains that take a variety of forms. Lots of fun social and political themes (global environment, feminine power, corruption, sexualization of women, religion, media manipulation, , e.g.) addressed in creative ways without being overly dogmatic or preachy.
My very favorite thing about this book was that it didn’t disintegrate into a corny romance where they guy fixes everything for the helpless girl and she has to give up everything important for romance. The heroine is necessarily naive because of the sheltered experience of her life in the future, but she’s not a fool…and she learns and grows along the way. Guys are there as allies, partners, helpers, and sometimes villains, but they don’t upstage the heroine’s role.
The book is a stand-alone, but I can see the seeds for the series and will surely read those when they arrive on the scene. If Hollywood is looking for movie material, here it is. Katniss Everdeen, step aside. There’s a warrior of a different sort on the scene and she gets to use her smarts and her heart as her best weapons.

 Connect with Catharine

Catharine’s Website
Catharine’s Blog
Follow Catharine on Twitter
Like Catharine on Facebook
Follow Catharine on Pinterest
Catharine’s YouTube Channel
Email Catharine
The Newbie Writers Podcast – iTunes


Buy now on Amazon


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Brain to Books Blog Tour Annette Mardis

Brain to Books Blog Tour
Fast Facts
Author: Annette Mardis
Genre:Contemporary romantic suspense
Books: Shore to Please, Gulf Shore series Book 3
Official Site
Bio
Annette is a veteran newspaper journalist who holds to the adage “write what you know.” A native Floridian, she fell in love with dolphins as a child watching Flipper on television. Now, she volunteers at Clearwater Marine Aquarium, where she educates guests, leads tours, and gives presentations, and is a member of the Stranding (rescue) Team and the Sea Turtle Patrol. She immortalizes her pets in her books: Ozzie the African gray parrot, affectionately known as her “little boy in a bird suit”; and her beloved dogs Cocoa and Shelby, who have supporting roles in Shore to Please as Taco and Kirby.
BLURB
Tara Langley thought she’d found the love of her life, but he betrayed her with another woman. So she buried herself in her mission: convincing Gulf Shore Aquarium that dolphins and whales belong in the wild, not in artificial pools.

If Tara had her way, Paul “Flipper” O’Riley would lose the job he loves. Flipper is the head dolphin trainer, and the aquarium’s dolphins are his babies. While he’s open to having a real family one day, Tara is the last person he would choose to be his wife and the mother of his children.

These two should be sworn enemies, after all. He certainly swears at the sight of her. And his surfer-dude looks and lover-boy reputation aren’t exactly what Ms. Prim and Tidy had in mind when she pictured her ideal man.

But in the age-old way of opposites attracting, Tara and Flipper find themselves inexplicably drawn to each other. There’s no possible way a relationship between them could work, right?

As the two try to find common ground amid the quicksand, Flipper and his coworkers become the targets of an increasingly more menacing campaign to force the aquarium to release the dolphins under its care. Will Gulf Shore Police Detective Joanna Tompkins catch the culprit before it’s too late?


BOOK REVIEW
On Amazon.com from reader Sue D. Clarke:

Never suspected the culprit!

With so many possible suspects out to harm Flipper, Tara and the people who worked at GSA, it was hard to figure out who the real threat was. I got very caught up in the story, and the cast of characters became very real to me. Also enjoyed learning about all that goes on behind the public eye to make an aquarium succeed in helping all the sea creatures that they rescue. I have enjoyed all 3 books in this series.

EXCERPT
After Flipper and Tara end up attending the same seminar in Orlando, he offers to buy her dinner. After some hesitation, she gives in. It’s far from a romantic interlude, and they desperately search for common ground amid the quicksand.

“Where’d you grow up, and how’d you end up in Orlando?” Flipper asked.

Tara flashed an enigmatic smile. “You can’t tell by my accent?”

“What accent?”

“Precisely.”

His baffled expression amused her. In fact, the man himself delighted her when they weren’t picking at each other over his job and her cause. Once again she found herself wishing they’d met under different circumstances. But he couldn’t change what he was any more than she could.

“I’ll play along, mystery lady. What do you call a soft drink?”

“Soda.”

“Soda or soooda?”

She laughed. “Just one syllable. Now you tell me.”

“Growing up, I called everything coke.”

“Even when you were drinking root beer?”

“Yep. Everything was coke, lowercase.”

“And now?”

“After the first few times a server brought a Coke when I wanted a Dr. Pepper, I learned to specify. Okay, here’s another one. Do you refer to a small stream of water as a creek or a crick?”

“Creek, of course.”

“Me, too. What do you call your maternal grandmother?”

“Grandma. You?”

“Mimi. How do you address a group of two or more people?”

“My neighbors said you-uns, but my mother frowned on that expression.”

“Uh, okay. My people say y’all.”

“Hmm. What kind of shoes are you wearing now?”

Flipper looked at his feet and then at her. “Tennis shoes. What do you call them?”

“Sneakers. All right, one more.”

“Make it a good one.”

“Of course. What’s the term for the gunk that gathers in the corners of your eyes overnight?”

“Eye booger.”

She made a sour face. “That’s certainly crude.”

“And what do you call it, Madam Etiquette?”

“Sleep.”

“Sleep? Seriously?”

“It’s a good deal better than”—she turned up her nose—“eye booger.”

“I think that’s pretty descriptive. I mean, you say those two words and everyone knows what you’re talking about.” She shook her head, still unconvinced. “Anyway, based on everything you’ve just told me, Tara, I’d say you’re from Snob City.”

“What? I am not a snob, Paul O’Riley.”

“We’re back to Paul, are we? Okay, how about Snootyburgh?”

“Flipper.” Her tone carried a warning.

“Uppityville?”

The corners of her mouth quirked. “Are you finished?”

“Almost. Haughty Valley? Pompous Place?”

“Keep it up and Comedy Central will be calling.”

“You can’t deny you sometimes sound like you have a big board wedged up your butt.”

“I most certainly do not!” He raised an eyebrow. “Okay, perhaps I do, especially when I’m feeling off-balance and lapse back into ingrained habits. My mother was an English teacher who abhorred slang and insisted on proper diction. I never even dared utter a curse word until after I went away to college.”

“That explains a lot.”

Tara flashed him a fake smile and continued. “She wanted in the worst way for me to major in English language and literature. I’ve always felt like a disappointment to her. She takes great satisfaction in comparing me to my younger sister, who buckled under to the pressure and followed in Mother’s footsteps. If you think I have a proper way of speaking, you should meet Caroline. Even I think she’s a bore. She married an equally tedious math teacher, and they have two oddly spiritless children who never have snotty noses, sticky fingers, stained clothing, or skinned knees. My mother is beside herself with pride.”

“Your household must’ve been some fun while you were growing up.”

“You have no idea.”

“What about your father?”

“He was a high school principal preoccupied with upholding an image, so he and my mother were a united front. Now, back to our original topic. It’s my turn to do you.”

He winked at her. “I thought you’d never ask.”

“I didn’t mean it that way! Stop laughing. And you wonder why I tend to avoid the vernacular.”

That made him laugh harder. She tried not to smile but couldn’t help it.

“Just for that,” she told him, “I’m going to guess you’re a native of the Isle of Fools.”

“Cute.”

“New Port Ninny? Buffoon Beach? Cape Cretin? Ooh, ooh, I know. Simpleton.”

Flipper gave her an indulgent look.

“Or how about—”

He leaned forward and silenced her with a kiss. Tara’s mind short-circuited, and she clung to his shoulders when he started to pull away. He cupped the back of her head and teased her mouth open with his tongue. Swept up in the moment, she briefly forgot who and where they were until the server plunked two beverages in front of them. They broke apart with a start, and as reality intruded once more, she feigned interest in her place setting and the small bowl of lemons for their iced tea.

“Tara, honey, look at me,” he coaxed.

She spread her napkin over her lap instead. He reached across the table and, with gentle but firm pressure beneath her chin, lifted her head.

“Don’t be so freaked out. It was just a kiss,” he soothed.

“Oh, sure. First it was just dinner, now it’s just a kiss. What’s next?”

“Depends on what you want to happen?”

“Nothing, that’s what I want to happen. Flipper, what are we doing?”

“We’re having a nice time. Or at least we were until you started overthinking things again.”

“Overthinking? I’m not so sure my brain’s been engaged at all.” She ran a nervous hand through her hair.

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

“Isn’t it? There’s only one way this can end, and that’s badly. I’ve already endured one failed romance this year. I don’t think I could stand another one.”

Flipper took her busy hand and held it still. “Aren’t you getting a little ahead of yourself? You’re acting like we woke up in bed together after a night of scream-so-loud-you-piss-off-the-neighbors sex.”

The highlight reel in her mind made Tara’s girl parts leap up and shout, “Hallelujah!” Her tongue, on the other hand, seemed Super-Glued to the roof of her mouth. Staring at him was the best she could do at the moment.

“What? No snappy comeback?”

She shook her head.

“Well, that’s disappointing.”

CHARACTER INTERVIEW
Q: Go ahead and introduce yourself. Tell the audience about yourself.

A. Hi, everyone. My name is Paul “Flipper” O’Riley and I’m the head dolphin trainer at Gulf Shore Aquarium in Gulf Shore, Florida. Dolphins have fascinated me ever since my parents took me to SeaWorld when I was 10. My first career choice was to play Major League Baseball, but I realized in high school I’d never be good enough to compete at the highest level. So I decided to become a dolphin trainer, which requires a college education. My parents always struggled to make ends meet and told me the only way I’d go to college was on an athletic scholarship. I was a good outfielder with decent pop at the plate, and I busted my butt and managed to get that scholarship to a Baltimore school that had a very good animal behavior program.
Q: Tell us where and when you were born.

A. I was born 36 years ago in Alabama, and my family moved to St. Augustine, Florida when I was 12.
Q: How would you describe yourself?

A. People tell me I look like a surfer dude, and they assume I only care about how good I look in my wet suit and where I can catch the next wave. I may be kind of a simple guy with simple tastes, but I’m not empty-headed. I read a fair amount, am eager to learn new things, and have a variety of interests. I’ve worked very hard to get to where I am today, and I take my job very seriously. But I also like to have fun as much as the next guy, and I couldn’t cope with 50-hour work weeks if I didn’t enjoy what I do for a living. I think I have a natural rapport with people, which is a good thing because we spend a lot of time interacting with aquarium guests. I’ve got a good sense of humor. I’m a good friend, a good son, and a good boss. At some point in the future, I’ll be a good husband and father, but I don’t see that happening anytime soon.
Q: Tell us about where you grew up.

A. St. Augustine is the nation’s oldest city, celebrating its 450th birthday this year, and it’s a blend of the historic and the modern. It’s a tourist town, of course, and there’s a lot to do in the area, both cultural and recreational activities. I spent a lot of time at Anastasia State Park camping, fishing, swimming, kayaking, and walking the nature trails. Marineland, one of Florida’s first marine mammal parks, is close by, too.
Q: Tell everyone what it is you do when you’re not working as a dolphin trainer.

A. I like to play darts and pool and eat wings and drink beer at Bikini Barb’s Bar & Grill, which is our after-work hangout. I’m also a certified scuba diver, I play softball, and I like to watch sports, especially baseball, on TV. I root for Tampa Bay’s sports teams — the Rays, Buccaneers, and Lightning — and attend games when I can. I’ve also gone to a couple of NASCAR races at Daytona International Speedway.
Q: Are you serious with anyone?

A. There’s a lady I’m really attracted to, Tara Langley, but she’s an animal rights activist and my boss would hit the ceiling if I spent any time with her. Besides, there’s no way we could ever make it work between us. But in my fantasies, we get along really, really well, if you know what I mean.
Q: Tell us about your worst fear.

A. I’m afraid of the nutcase who has been threatening the aquarium and demanding we release our dolphins into the wild. None of our dolphins would survive out there, so “setting them free” would be sentencing them to death. There’s also a small faction of extremists who think that dolphins would be better off dead than in “captivity.” My dolphins are like my kids, so if anything happened to them…well, I don’t want to think about that. And now I have to worry about my own safety and about my coworkers and friends, too, because the anonymous notes being sent to the aquarium are getting nastier.
As you might’ve guessed, I’ve got a lot on my mind lately. And I have this bad feeling that Tara will end up getting blamed for those threats. I’m not sure what I can do to help her, because my bosses get upset when I defend her. I predict things are about to get very interesting, and very dicey, in Gulf Shore.
Connect with Mardis
Blog: http://www.annettemardis.com/blog

Facebook: www.facebook.com/AuthorAnnetteMardis

Twitter: @AnnetteMardis48

Amazon: www.amazon.com/Annette-Mardis/e/B00E5UHPMM/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/author/dashboard

Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/annettemardis/

Smashwords: www.smashwords.com/profile/view/Shelbypie

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=221177296&trk=nav_responsive_tab_profile_pic

Google+ https://plus.google.com/+AnnetteMardis/

YouTube: www.youtube.com/channel/UCC1doptfvHDj7h7svO6ZtTA

Tsu: https://www.tsu.co/AnnetteMardis

iAuthor: http://www.iauthor.uk.com/profile/annettemardis48:9290
BUY LINKS
Liquid Silver Books: http://www.lsbooks.com/shore-to-please-p1026.php

Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/q9lmzsz
Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/shore-to-please-annette-mardis/1121964097?ean=9781622102297

Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/shore-to-please
All Romance: www.allromanceebooks.com/product-shoretoplease-1839913-153.html
iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/shore-to-please/id996612777?mt=11
GIVEAWAY
I’m giving away digital copies of my first Gulf Shore book, The Shore Thing, to the first three people who sign up for my newsletter on Aug. 26, my day on the Brain to Books blog tour. The free book offer will be posted at www.annettemardis.com. The form to sign up for the newsletter is athttp://www.annettemardis.com/contactsubscribe.html.

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Brain to Books Blog Tour J.A. Carlson

Brain to Books Blog Tour
Fast Fact
Author: J.A. Carlson
Genre: Crime Fiction
Books: Shrike
Official  Site
Bio
I have aspired to be a writer since my grade school days. Shrike is my first novel. I live in North Carolina’s Triad. Originally I am from Connecticut – Southern Connecticut to be exact, where we put mud flaps on the BMWs.  I’m proud to be a Swedish American.  When I’m not thinking about writing, I like ice hockey and traveling. I’ve tried stand-up comedy too; however, no one thought I was as funny as I thought I was. A cat owns me; in fact, she has helped me pen three picture books featuring her and her friends and the compilation thereof has just been published. I have a few more novels in various states of inception; I hope Shrike’s success will give me the impetus to finish them.  Right now, writing is my avocation, not my vocation.  I’d love for that to change someday, as I was told by a teacher in high school that I have a natural talent for writing and that has stuck with me over all these years.
Interview with Carlson
1. Tell us a little about yourself. 
Carlson: I got started writing in grade school. I hated reality so I found writing as a way to make my own.

2. Is this your first book?
Carlson: Shrike is my first book made public. I wrote two others, but now they belong to the ages.

3. What genre do you enjoy writing the most and what is this book about?
Carlson: I don’t have a favorite genre as such. If I have a story to tell, I will tell it.  Shrike is the story of one young woman’s overcoming tremendous physical, emotional and logistical adversity to defeat evil incarnate.
4. What inspired you to write this book? 
Carlson: For years I wanted to write a story of someone who is just a regular person by day and a hero by night. With the help of the young lady to whom my book is dedicated, Shrike came to be.
5. How did you come up with the title of your book or series?
Carlson: I just like the name Shrike. It’d be great as a movie title.
6. Tell us a little bit about your cover art. Who designed it? Why did you go with that particular image/artwork?
Carlson: One of my Facebook friends offered to design it for me. I wanted a vision of my heroine rising from the flames.
7. If you could cast your characters in the Hollywood adaptation of your book, who would play your characters?
Carlson: I have been told Rooney Mara would be great as Taryn. I can see Gene Hackman as Bill Tatum, but he may be too old for it. Maybe Melissa Fumero from Brooklyn Nine-Nine for Miranda. Kate Burton (from Scandal) as Nancy Mounce.
8. When did you first consider yourself a writer?
Carlson: In a Composition class in high school, the teacher grading an assignment of mine told me I had a natural talent for writing. For someone who had been pretty meaningless previously, it was kind of a big moment.
9. Do you have any strange writing habits (like standing on your head or writing in the shower)?
Carlson: I love to drink and write. Often did a bottle of Jack Daniel’s sit next to me as I wrote Shrike.
10. Are you a plotter or do you write by the seat of your pants?
Carlson: I always have a beginning and an end. Both are quite clear. Then, I have to plot a path between the two.
11. Is there a certain type of scene that’s harder for you to write than others?
Carlson: Writing a love/sex scene is a challenge for me. I task myself to write them without naming body parts. I think that is a true test of a writer.
12. What book do you wish you could have written?
Carlson: I’m throwing up in my mouth a little, but I wish I had written the 50 Shades trilogy. I’d be a trillionaire by now.
13. What is your biggest fear?
Carlson: Leaving this world as someone meaningless. I’m most of the way there now.
14. What do you want your tombstone to say?
Carlson: I would borrow from Dan Fogelberg – “Between the worlds of men and make believe I can be found.”
13. Where is one place you want to visit that you haven’t been before?
Carlson: Sweden – land where my fathers died.
20. What is your favorite song?
Carlson: Shilo by Neil Diamond. My life in a few minutes.
23. What is your favorite movie?
Carlson: Animal Crackers.

Connect with Carlson
Publisher’s Website

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Goodreads

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Brain to Books Blog Tour Stacy Lynn Mar

Brain to Books Blog Tour
Fast Fact

Author: Stacy Lynn Mar
Genre:  Poetry
Book:
Mannequin Rivalry
Deeper Than Pink
Anonymous Confessions
Conversing in a Black Cadillac
Bio
Stacy Lynn Mar is a confessional poet and a life coach who emphasizes the concepts of positive psychology and writing as a basis for her therapeutic approach.    Some of her poetic idols include Anne Sexton, Sylvia Plath, Sharon Olds, Charles Bukowski, and Erica Jong.   Stacy lives a life rich in Buddhist philosophy, is a practicing Yogi, and dabbles in digital art when life permits.  She divides her time between family, home-schooling her daughter, and a rich intellectual life devout of arts, literature, the silver screen, ice cream, indie music, and vintage things.  She’s described herself as a psychology nerd and a professed bibliophile.
Author Accomplishments
Stacy has authored four collections of poetry and a collection of poetry-writing prompts.   She has had hundreds of poems widely published in over 50 small & independent press magazines, webzines, and journals.   She has been nominated numerous times for Best of the Web & thePushcart Prize.
Stacy is Editor & Founder for the online women’s literary & development webzine Pink.Girl.Ink. Press. She also is masthead of a Gothic Romance Reviews, where she reviews novels and hosts author interviews of the genre.
Stacy graduated from Lindsey Wilson College with her BA in Counseling Studies, she earned her MA in Mental Health Counseling & her Addiction/Professional Counseling Certification from Capella University.   She also attended Ellis College for undergraduate studies in English Literature.
Blurb
Feminist, poet, teacher, and scholar…Stacy is as bold and witty as she ever was in this fourth installment. Yet again, she has masterfully orchestrated a confessional collection of poetry resurrected from the gritty observations of everyday life.
Her accounts of love, loss, suffering, and the beautiful agility of the human spirit have been well-crafted from front-seat observations and five a.m. coffee sessions.
Stacy has a remarkable sense for detail and a dramatic, unique skill for wrapping the ‘everyday’ into metaphorical sentiments. She masters this gift in the poem ‘Mountain Parkway’ as she remembers an old love and simultaneously pays homage to her homeland:

Excerpts
“The summer is passing
Like a long arm swaying
From the passenger seat
Of a car on a four-lane highway.
And I ride alongside you
Like a virtue, a wild nag
That grinds my eyesight
To the moon-ground recollections
Of dreams that buzzed in June
Now as splintered as rosewood
And littered of memories
That irk my nervous hands
Like a nose itch that won’t wipe away.”
What Readers Are Saying

“Her raw, metaphorical take on life and relationships reminds me of a younger, softer version of Sharon Olds.”

-Tammi Watts, Educator from Wisconsin

“Once she pulls you in, it’s impossible not to complete a poem. Her words read as sentimental, metaphorical eulogies to everyday life. I can’t read a book by Mar without pausing to pay thanks to even the experience of the mundane.”

-Jennifer, Blog Writer and educator of Culinary Arts, from New Jersey

“Remarkable would be a bland understatement. This young poet is as intelligent and creative as she is touching and heart-rending. She adores life, she embraces it’s scars…”

-Shelley Wright, Mixed Media artist from Brittish Columbia

“She is a woman warrior with a brilliant insight. How can you not appreciate that?”

-Felicia, Student and Writer, from Kentucky

“Her metaphors and symbolism are absolutely breath-taking! Pick this book up, you will not regret the words that await you from this Indie author!”

-Elizabeth Ward, Educator, from Canada

“This is real poetry. This is individualism in it’s raw aura. These words are life, themselves.”

-Erica, Student, Nigeria
BOOK EXCERPT
Only The Young Have Such Moments
The girl is leaning close to the boys face,
Is telling him why objects lost from
The soft hands of strangers
Are really heirlooms disguised as garbage.
She holds a matchbox toward his face,
Delicately, the cardboard glowing
Of acrylic paint and super-glued lace.
Tells him it’s a concubine for one lonely heart,
The slippery paper taped to the corner
Once held a doughnut which touched
The lips of a young boy’s first kiss.
She says she likes to paste and rearrange
otherwise insignificant pieces of people’s lives,
The smell of Japanese take-out
On the sixth Sabbath, fortunes unsnapped
From cookies and still smelling of sugar.
Says she is stealing memories,
Making those lost,  semi-witnessed moments
Immortal in their own rights.
He listens, one eye trained against the sky,
Sinking beneath the dark holes
The stars form in their broken constellations.
He is dreaming of their first kiss
And how she might savor it,
All the while she’s recalling the strange smile
Of John Lennon on the cover of a vintage record,
Wondering how she can illuminate
The vinyl in a decoupage-styled collage
without losing the infinite kiss of Yoko Ono.
Pizza Talk and English Beer
On the eve of a holiday
I cannot fully remember
I came to you
Like a drunkard on the mend,
Stiff in my winter boots,
The smell of front porch
on my hair.
I’m not sure what I expected
But you were two thumbs deep
In some foreign documentary
So we spread cold pizza
And Old English beer between us
And talked sleepy circles
Around mad prophets,
The historical poets of our time
And each syllable you spoke
Felt like the edge of another world
I could cross, except
The alcohol was stealing my thunder
So all I could manage
Was a 2am rant about
The binds this world born us into,
The unjust in our lack of choice,
The wondering eyeball of chance,
And the God in all our words;
How always Saturday night
Would find us waging wars
Against the invisible forces
Of our universe and how
Come Sunday morning
There’s always more questions
Than there are answers.
How, exhausted, we fall asleep
Across the bent in arms of each other,
Aging as we sleep
Like old dogs waiting to die.
The Piano Player
He said
Spring always reminded him
Of silk dresses,
rims of their sewn edges
Hugging the breeze
Like petals mending
Their strong, poetic skeletons
In the aftermath of winter.
We’d spy
The first flight of a butterfly
On a porch swing
In the country.
Tin trailer and a horizon
Of black-shingle roof
To shed us from the sun.
Two ice teas between us,
We’d talk of books,
The stiff voice of Yeats,
The sheets where Sexton slept,
And like a traveler mid-stop,
He’d bring his melodies to me.
I’d ride the baritone waves
Of his old love songs,
His tan skin and hand joints,
all open-throat and thrashing keys.
And when his fingers paused mid-play,
I’d pray he still had
Something left to say to me.
Vintage Runaway
Love was a church hymn
she couldn’t sing without choking.
Outgrowing the trees of her homelands’ hills,
The rooms that bore her grandmothers babies,
Mountain air becoming the spit spew
Of a stifled star shower beneath the lunar moon.
Then the bare, brown clapboarded rooms,
Bright of tiny square windows
Where she’d gaze like a prisoner
Across uncalculated miles of rolling green,
Strength of the dogwood set afire by the sun,
Weeping tendrils of the willows bowing forward,
Waving their bony, green fingers as if inviting
Her to walk along dust hollows, barefoot,
To drop her threadbare white dress
Into the ocean of a puddle alongside
This make-shift highway leading south.
To throw her head back,
Shake the wild curls of her hair,
The feet of each pale strand
Itching to dance between the fingers
Of so many strange boys.
Connect With Stacy
Facebookhttps://www.facebook.com/MaRandaStacie
Personal Blog http://warningthestars.blogspot.com/
Pink.Girl.Ink. Press http://pinkgirlink.blogspot.com/
Gothic Romance Reviews http://gothicromancereviews.blogspot.com/
Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7626066.Stacy_Lynn_Mar

See the Brain to Books Blog Tour Giveaways with Lu!



A Brain to Books Production

Filed under: Riley Amos Reviews, Support Indie Authors Tagged: Blog Tour, Brain to Books, SupportIndieAuthors

Brain to Books Blog Tour Catharine Bramkamp

Brain to Books Blog Tour Catharine Bramkamp
Fast Facts:

Author: Catharine Bramkamp, Popular author/award winning poet/ podcaster/ champion of Newbie Writers everywhere.
Genre: YA/Time Travel/Sci Fi
Book Title(s): Future Girls (Future Gold is due to release on July 1st!)
Series: Future Girls Series
Accomplishments: Writing Coach, Podcaster for the Newbie Writers Podcast, University Professor – critical writing. Board member for WNBA-SF, member of Redwood Writers.

BIO



Catharine Bramkamp, author.

Photo by Deanne Fitzmaurice


Catharine Bramkamp is the co-producer of Newbie Writers Podcast that focuses on newer writers and their concerns. She is a successful writing coach and author of a dozen books including the Real Estate Diva Mysteries series, The Future Girls series (Eternal Press) and editor of the Redwood poetry collection, And the Beats Go On. She holds two degrees in English, and is an adjunct university professor.
A California native, she divides her time between the Wine Country and the Gold Country.
She and her husband have parented two boys past the age of self-destruction and into the age of annoying two word text missives.



Links:

Catharine’s Website
Catharine’s Blog
Follow Catharine on Twitter
Like Catharine on Facebook
Follow Catharine on Pinterest
Catharine’s YouTube Channel
Email Catharine
The Newbie Writers Podcast – iTunes



Future Girls Blurb:

October 10, 2145: eighteen-year-old Charity Northquest’s whole future is ahead of her–and the future sucks.

October 11, 2145: she unexpectedly has a chance to fix it.

When her best friend is reported killed, but then re-appears the next day as an old woman, everything Charity has been taught is called into question. Even if she does not believe in time travel, she has little choice. So the ill-prepared Charity travels back to the mysterious and captivating 21st century where her single purpose of changing the future fades with the increasingly more urgent question of whether she can survive the past.




Book review:
By Betsy Fasbinder on February 15, 2015
Format: Kindle Edition

This book gets 5 stars from me because it’s everything it intends to be. It’s an interesting twist on the time-travel motif. The story lauds the influence and power of women and girls, but is also a cautionary tale against passivity and blind obedience to authority and the potentially dire effects of getting complacent and accepting what governments and the media say without question. This is a suspenseful story with a main character we can root for and villains that take a variety of forms. Lots of fun social and political themes (global environment, feminine power, corruption, sexualization of women, religion, media manipulation, , e.g.) addressed in creative ways without being overly dogmatic or preachy.
My very favorite thing about this book was that it didn’t disintegrate into a corny romance where they guy fixes everything for the helpless girl and she has to give up everything important for romance. The heroine is necessarily naive because of the sheltered experience of her life in the future, but she’s not a fool…and she learns and grows along the way. Guys are there as allies, partners, helpers, and sometimes villains, but they don’t upstage the heroine’s role.
The book is a stand-alone, but I can see the seeds for the series and will surely read those when they arrive on the scene. If Hollywood is looking for movie material, here it is. Katniss Everdeen, step aside. There’s a warrior of a different sort on the scene and she gets to use her smarts and her heart as her best weapons.

Buy now on Amazon

Filed under: Support Indie Authors Tagged: Blog Tour, Brain to Books

Brain to Book Blog Tour Everett Robert

Brain to Books Blog Tour: Everett Robert
Just the Facts!
Author: Everett Robert
Genre:

Angela B. Chrysler: What is your book about?

Everett Robert: BASED ON THE… is a collection of four (4) short dramatic retellings of famous stories either based on previously published material now available in the public domain. The first play in the collection is called THE REUNION and is based on Thomas Hardy’s classic poem “A Ruined Maid” and tells the story of two old friends running into each other on the street of a major city and they catch up. I put a modern twist on my adaptation, set it in modern times and made it about a Christian woman and her best friend from high school, who came out as a lesbian. Hardy’s poem is about how others view you isn’t always the way you view yourself and that was one of the ideas I was playing with. The second play, THE MYSTERIOUS CASE OF LOT 249 is based on one of the first “mummy” horror stories in literature, “Lot No. 249” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It is about a police detective interrogating his primary suspect in a recent string of murders. The play BLINK is based on the true story and many of the newspaper accounts of the infamous Newsboys Strike of 1899 in which a group of New York city newsboys, the “extra, extra read all about it” hawkers, went on strike against the two major newspaper publishers at that time and won. Those kids, there were boys and girls, were organized by a young man somewhere around the age of 13-15 nicknamed Kid Blink (because he had one eye). BLINK is a short monodrama style play that tells Blink’s story of leading the strike. The final play, MIRIAM AND ISA, is based on the famous Nativity story from the Bible but looking at it from a more historical context.

ABC: Where did you conceive the idea for your book?

ER: I’m an actor and director in addition to being a writer so I love to read plays. I also like to work with young actors who are competitive drama and are always looking for new pieces to perform. I thought it would be fun to have a collection of short plays that these actors could do in competition. The fact that there were all “based on” a previous famous or not famous, story also made it an interesting challenge for me. I started writing these scripts after sitting in a class at Fort Hays State University on English literature and studying A Ruined Maid. I thought it would be beautifully dramatic to adapt Hardy’s poem (something I don’t think has really been done with that poem). The Mysterious Case of Lot 249 was inspired when I was watching a movie and saw an adaptation of it done with Steve Buscemi and Christian Slater. I got to thinking about the police detective who would investigate this crime and a Law and Order type interrogation scene. BLINK was inspired while listening to the soundtrack to the musical NEWSIES. I knew that the original 90s movie and the recent Broadway Musical were based on a true story but I wanted to know the truth and found the truth much more interesting then the stage and film versions. MIRIAM AND ISA came when a friend contacted me asking if I would write her a monologue for her church’s Christmas pageant that would explore the historical Mary. My previously published plays (Allie In Wonderland and The Absolutely True Story of Tom Sawing As Told By Becky Thatcher) were both adaptations and that was something I felt comfortable tackling.

ABC: What kind of research did you do for your book?

ER: BLINK and MIRIAM AND ISA took the most amount of research. I have a folder of internet pages and scans of newspaper clippings from the actual strike. MIRIAM AND ISA took a bit more research since The Bible has been translated from one language to another and from an ancient time period to a modern context. The trick was going through the speculations of lots of different scholars (conservative and liberal) and finding the ones that made the most sense to me. What I wrote I believe but I understand that others might have a different perspective then me. Like the inn may not have been an “inn” like we associate it (a hotel like business) but possibly a family member’s house that wasn’t prepared for them.

ABC: What scene/chapter was the hardest for you to write? 

ER: MIRIAM AND ISA was, without a doubt, the hardest to write because I wanted to treat that story with respect and devotion but at the same time give people a new perspective on the familiar story.

ABC: What part of your book is your favorite? 

ER: BLINK is probably my favorite play in the collection. I love that character to death.

ABC: What are your favorite past times? 

ER: I love to act and perform as well as write for the theater, so any chance I get to do that, I will. I also love to cook. I’m a huge TV/film fan so I’ll take any chance I get to “veg out” or even have something playing when I’m writing. I also, in my non-writing capacity, am a wedding DJ and love that as it allows me a chance to drive all over Kansas and celebrate with people on their most important day.

ABC: What is your favorite movie? 

ER: Casablanca or Field of Dreams

ABC: What is your favorite book/author? 

ER: I can’t just limit to one LOL but I will say that Gregory McDonald’s Fletch books, Elmore Leonard and Stephen King have all played a huge part in my reading habits. Some more recent authors I enjoy are Lisa Mantchev, Christopher Moore, and Ernest Cline.

ABC: Tell us about your pets. Do you have any fur friends?

ER: One cat, named Puck after Shakespeare’s mischievous fairy from A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM.

ABC: Favorite foods? 

ER: Chili cheese dogs are my go-to comfort food. Love them!

ABC: “Story” has always been the center of all human cultures. We need it. We seek it out. We invent it. What does “story” mean to you? 

ER: To me Story is about distilling the human experience into a bite size piece. To borrow a term from the culinary word, story is like an amuse bouche, a bite sized portion of flavor to set the evening’s dining off. That is what story is to me, a “bite” of the human experience to tease us into what is ahead.

ABC: Where can we find you and your books?

ER: My website is Emergency Room Productions. You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads,YouTube, and  Tumblr. You can buy my book on Amazon

Additional Links:

Emergency Room Productions

Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
Goodreads
Tumblr
Author Profile
Amazon Profile

Filed under: Support Indie Authors Tagged: Blog Tour, Brain to Books

Cruisin’ through books cause books make life worth living with Aly 8/24/2015

So first off guys, I gotta ask you all to send Alysia some well wishes! She’s got an important test coming up, and though I think she’s going to ace it with flying colors, it never hurts to have the thoughts of others at your side! We’re with you Aly, kick that tests ass!

Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.

The Baby by Sylvia Norman

This was a great short, sweet book.  I loved the  horror and suspense of the book.  I love the fact that you are not sure how the book will end.  I would recommend this book to anyone who likes to read horror or suspense. * I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review*  5/5

Filed under: Riley Amos Reviews, Support Indie Authors Tagged: Book Review

Brain to Books Blog Tour John W Howell

Brain to Books Blog Tour John W. Howell
Fast Facts:




Photo by Tim Burdick


Author: John W. Howell


My genre(s): Fiction Thriller
My book title: My GRL from the John Cannon Trilogy
Official Website
Bio
John was born in Detroit Michigan but has lived on all coasts of the United States as well as Chicago and Indiana. John graduated with a Social Science degree from Michigan State University and after working for a large consumer products company he went back to school to obtain his MBA from Notre Dame. After twenty-five years in the consumer products industry, John then worked as a consultant and then finally in the telecommunications industry for fifteen years. John finally escaped organized commerce to pursue writing full-time.
John is married and lives by the Gulf of Mexico in South Texas with his wife Molly and loving rescue pets.
Author Accomplishments
Molly and John are active in Austin Boxer Rescue where the emphasis is on saving individual Boxer dogs from euthanasia in community shelters and finding suitable forever homes.
Blurb
John J. Cannon successful San Francisco lawyer takes a leave of absence from the firm and buys a boat he names My GRL. He is unaware that his newly-purchased boat had already been targeted by a terrorist group. John’s first inkling of a problem is when he wakes up in the hospital where he learns he was found unconscious next to the dead body of the woman who sold him the boat in the first place. John now stands between the terrorists and the success of their mission.
Book Blurb
5.0 out of 5 stars Exciting thriller and terrific fun January 25, 2014, Format: Paperback|Verified Purchase

My GRL is a terrific thriller – exciting, with an engaging and very likeable protagonist (who has a wonderful dry, self-deprecating humor that had me laughing out loud at times!), and full of twists and turns that keep you guessing and turning the pages to see what happens next. Throughout the action builds very well and is fast paced when needed and very believable. Every aspect is described so well you feel almost like you are watching a movie, and indeed I believe this would translate very well to that sort of medium and be very successful in that form too.
The story commences with a lawyer going on a sabbatical, buying a boat and starting to enjoy a new way of life. Little does he know what these innocent and worthy pursuits are about to bring into his life! I won’t give spoilers because a great deal of the pleasure of this book is having the story unfold, but suffice to say the hero finds himself with far more than he bargained for!
The author John W Howell has constructed his thriller very cleverly and created a truly pleasurable reading experience. I found myself suspecting just about everyone of something and being right only about half the time, which is probably in itself one of the marks of a very good thriller.
I do note there is a vague hint at the end of a possible sequel – if, so I say bring it on! I’d love to read the next stage of this story! But if that’s just wishful thinking on my part I certainly look forward to any other work from this engaging and talented thriller author.

Read the Excerpt
Gerry and I finish our beers at the Sandbar and make a move to cross the crowds toward the front door. Before the karaoke noise starts, we agree to go to another place for some pizza. She directs something to me which I can’t understand, so I hold my hand to my ear and try hard to hear her. She looks a little upset. I signal we should wait until we get outside to talk.
She nods and I take the lead, reach back, grab her hand, and act like a bulldozer while I separate the crowd as we pass through. It becomes harder since everyone has begun to pay attention to the drunken girl singing what sounds a little like a slurred Avril Lavigne song to the karaoke machine on the stage up front.
We make it to the door and go out into the humid night. I drop Gerry’s hand and notice there are two guys walking toward us. I tell her to stay close and figure the guys will eventually make way and go into the bar. I am about to ask her what she was trying to get me to understand in the bar when I feel a rush of air behind me and hear what sounds like someone thumping a watermelon. That was the last thing on my mind when the lights of the world go out.
Links

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Buy the Book
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Martin Sisters Publishing


Interview with John. W. Howell
Angela B. Chrysler: Tell us a little about yourself (How did you get started writing? What do you do when you are not writing?
John. W. Howell: I have always wanted to write and tried doing it while working full time. I found that neither the work nor the writing was quality output when done in the same time frame, so I waited until I retired to devote myself to wring full-time. I started writing as a kid and did it for the enjoyment. When I’m not writing, I usually spend time on the beach with our two Boxers.
ABC: Is this your first book? How many books have you written prior (If any?) List other titles if applicable
John. W. Howell: My first book which is titled Next Door is in manuscript form and works to hold the laundry room door open. I have not published it since during my first edit I realized just how bad it was. My GRL is my second book, and I have since written three more. Two are the final books in the John Cannon Trilogy, and the forth is a different story and being queried.
ABC: What genre do you enjoy writing the most and what is this book about?
John. W. Howell: I most enjoy Thriller Fiction since there is always the challenge of crafting a story that is not easy for the reader to guess the twists before they happen. My GRL is about an ordinary guy who gets caught up in a terrorist plot to blow up a symbol of America’s greatness. He is not a superhero so he must use his intellect and whatever is at hand in order to thwart the plot.
ABC: What inspired you to write this book?
John. W. Howell: My sister and I visited the Aircraft Carrier Lexington since our dad served on her as a naval aviator during WWII. I was standing on the massive flight deck, and it struck me that if anyone wanted to destroy this symbol of America’s military strength they could do so with no resistance. Later I developed a plan to destroy the Lexington and then a plan to prevent it. The story just flowed from there although in the book the Lexington is not the target.
ABC: How did you come up with the title of your book or series?
John. W. Howell: The title MyGRL came from the name John J. Cannon; the protagonist gave this boat. The boat played an integral part in the story, and the name reflects John’s affection for her. The second book is titled His Revenge, which leaves the reader guessing if John gets revenge on the terrorist boss or is it the other way around. The final book is titled Our Justice, which leads us to believe all ends well.
ABC: Tell us a little bit about your cover art. Who designed it? Why did you go with that particular image/artwork?
John. W. Howell: The cover was designed by Martin Sisters Publishing. The image symbolizes the final scene of the action, and although it appears calm, it is a view that John sees as he is slipping away.
ABC: If you could cast your characters in the Hollywood adaptation of your book, who would play your characters?
John. W. Howell:
John Cannon – Bradley Cooper
Ned Tranes – Sam Elliot
Jason Savard – Gerard Butler
Ralph Winter – Matthew McConaughey
Matt Jacobs – Christian Bale
Sarah Barsonne – Kate Beckinsale
Choices from the serious list

ABC: When did you consider yourself a writer?
John. W. Howell: The day I opened my first case of books I considered myself a writer. I have to say the day I got my first royalty check enhanced that view.
ABC: What does your writing process look like?
John. W. Howell: When I’m working on a novel I, set a daily word count goal. The count that is comfortable is 1000 words. My routine is to accomplish the goal first and then do other writing or jobs around the house. This gets me to about 90,000 words in three months. I use a laptop computer and operate from a limited outline of the story. The characters and story develop while I am writing although I have written the last three lines of the book before starting the first chapter as an ending spot.
ABC: What writing advice do you have for aspiring authors?
John. W. Howell: When I’m asked, I always tell aspiring authors not to show their work to others until it’s finished. The reason is too often I have seen writers showing pieces of a book to someone only to get discouraged when the someone has some critical comments. This leads to a self-confidence problem that might not be solvable. Once a work is finished there is plenty of time to show it around and get all the advice in the world. At least the advice won’t stop the book from getting written. Don’t stop writing for any reason is another piece of advice I like to give since procrastination is so much easier than the hard work of writing.
ABC: Do you read reviews? Do you respond to them good or bad? Do you have any advice on how to deal with the bad?
John. W. Howell: I always read reviews. I consider understanding what the reader thinks of my work is a part of my job. I hope everyone enjoys what I write but know that does not always happen. I don’t respond to reviews as I think the person wanted to leave the review without having to worry about the author making comments. I respect the reviewer’s privacy in this manner. My advice on dealing with bad reviews is simple. If the bad review is well thought out and has some merit, learn from it. If the review is nasty and obviously meant to deride the author, then it should be ignored. In no case should an author engage in any response.
ABC: What are your current projects?
John. W. Howell: My publisher has waived their first right of refusal rights on the sequel to My GRL,which is titled His Revenge. I am currently working to self-publish the work so I have the book out for a beta read and once done then it will be professionally edited I expect publication before the end of the third quarter. The final book in the series Our Justice is complete and waiting a beta read and professional edit. I think the publication of Our Justice will be in April of 2016. I also have a general fiction novel completed titled Circumstances of Childhood. It is the story of a successful athlete and business person who gets sideways with the SEC and Justice Department. He ultimately finds out his firm has been compromised by a thief and yet must stand trial as if he committed the crime. This book is currently in the query process and is being reviewed by an agent.
ABC: What do you do (when not writing) to support yourself?
John. W. Howell: As I mentioned, I am retired, and I have my pension and investments to keep me in the necessities. For support, I generally turn to a well-made margarita or an IPA since I very seldom am not writing.
ABC: Which of your books was the most fun to write and why?
John. W. Howell: Circumstances of Childhood was the most fun for me. I’m not sure if it is because I think I know more now than I did when I started the first or if I am less concerned about making mistakes. I do know that I wrote this book exactly as I wanted to write it. The characters were developed on my terms, and the story flowed more from the character development than story construction. The freedom I experience was such that I almost don’t really care if it ever gets published. Of course, it will but if not it was like taking a test drive in a Lamborghini. A real pleasure that not being able to afford the car will take away.
ABC: Here are some zanier and off-beat questions. What do you wear while you are writing?
John. W. Howell: Since I live on the Gulf of Mexico, I’m usually in a T-shirt and board shorts. I very seldom have shoes on my feet unless I need to go down to the beach. I also listen to music while I write and find IHeart radio to be a real pleasure since I don’t have to fool with playlists or CDs
ABC: Do you have a pet or pets?
John. W. Howell: We have two feral cats and two Boxer dogs. The cats were found fifteen years ago out in the wild and were brought into our house when they were four weeks old. They don’t know they are feral and are as kind as they can be. One Boxer was rescued from the streets of San Antonio, and the other is from a litter in Port Aransas Texas. All four get along as if they were raised together. My wife and I do realize we are outnumbered.
ABC: What is your favorite snack food?
John. W. Howell: I’m afraid I am addicted to potato chips. I just love them in almost any form. My favorites are Cape Cod, and I am embarrassed to say I visited the plant when I lived back east. I could hardly wait for the free bag they give you at the end of the tour. I like my chips plain but can go with French onion dip once and a while.
ABC: Who is your favorite author and what is it that really strikes you about their work?
John. W. Howell:My favorite author is Kurt Vonnegut and what really strikes me is his ability to blend humor and a sense of history into every story. He was able to capture the headlines of the day and turn a piece of fiction that was amazingly plausible in its creation. I was particularly taken with Jailbird, which had the Watergate break-in as a backstory. The main character went from being in prison for getting caught with a bunch of Watergate-related evidence to heading up a worldwide company that owned everything. The story is well crafted and to me at least represents some of Kurt’s finest work.
ABC: What are you reading now?
John. W. Howell: I am reading a fantasy book by Charles Yallowitz titled The Family of the Tri Rune. It is the fourth book in the series and although I’m not a fantasy fan I am totally enjoying each of his books. He writes a very plausible story that is well thought out and detailed. After the fourth book, I’m beginning to realize the series has a sophisticated continuity about it, and I am feeling more comfortable with understanding some of the conventions that come with the Fantasy Genre.

Angela: We are pleased to have with us John J. Cannon the leading character in the John J. Cannon Trilogy. I hope you are comfortable John. I will be asking you a few questions and want to thank you for being here.
John: My pleasure Angela. After what I have been through being with you is like a vacation.
Angela: I’m sure we’ll hear more about that but go ahead and tell the audience about yourself.
John: I’m a litigation attorney working for a law firm in San Francisco. About six months ago I decided to take some time off, so I asked for a leave from the firm. Up to then I’ve been working straight for the last ten years and haven’t taken any time for myself. In fact, I was quite surprised at how much money I had in the bank, and so I convinced myself to spend some of it on a beautiful boat. You see I have always wanted to be a charter captain and figured now was the time.
Angela: Tell us where and when and were you born.
John: I was born in 1977 in a small town in Indiana. The town is named Nashville and is in the heart of the tourist area. My parents still live there.
Angela: How would you describe yourself?
John: I think I would describe myself as a normal perso0n. I am a bit driven though and from the time I left high school and until this year I have kept a pretty stiff pace. There was college, Law school, and then the firm.
Angela: Tell us about where you grew up.
John: My hometown is small and during the summer it is packed with tourists. It is a very quaint town, and people come from all around to shop in the stores and look at the wonderful scenery. I worked in a few of the stores while in high school and during the summer in college. My friends, I have known since kindergarten, and most still live in town. We used to do all the normal stuff. We played football and baseball and when old enough we would hang out at the Dairy Queen. When I went away to college, I pretty much lost contact with them. I had hoped to go to our ten-year reunion but was busy with a case
Angela: Tell everyone what it is you do when you’re not working on a law case?
John: Up to six months ago I really didn’t do anything but work on law cases. When I bought my boat which I named My GRL I had every intention of staying in the small fishing village where I took up temporary housing for a year to get my captains license. I really didn’t know if I was ever going back to the law.
Angela: Are you serious with anyone?
John: Yes I have a special person who I have found. Her name is Stephanie Savard and in addition to being a terrific partner she is a combat pilot in the Air Force
Angela: Tell us about your worst fear.
John: Right now my worst fear is that the leader of a group of terrorists by the name of Matt Jacobs will elude being brought to justice. If not incarcerated he will carry out his plan to exact revenge on America. He holds America accountable for the injustices perpetrated on Palestine by the Western World for the last five hundred years. He is a dangerous man and a billionaire to boot. I hope he is reading this interview since I have sworn to help the authorities bring him to justice.
Angela: Wow, John. I had no idea you were involved with such dangerous people. I hope that all will be resolved, and you will be able to go for that charter license.
John: Thank you again for having me and I share your hope for normalcy

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Brain to Books Blog Tour Mel Edwards

Brain to Books Blog Tour
Fast Facts
Author: Mel Edwards
Genre: nonfiction
Books: The Bold Way

Official Site
Bio
Mel has a master’s degree in storytelling from East Tennessee State University. She is a defeater of depression, eLearning Pro, and (other than writing) she loves: bodybuilding, the arts, and nerdy stuff.
Blurb
Everyone, it seems, tells you to find your passion, but few talk about your truth — that part of yourself that is undeniably you. Have you ever heard what happens if you ignore your truth? This book attacks the reality of self-denial, and gives step by step actions to discover, honor, and live a life that yokes your best traits to create a happy life worth living on your terms, your way.
The companion workbook is available separately for those who want to dig deeper and start immediately.


Review

“I have had the opportunity to read and do the exercises suggested by Mel Edwards in her new book: The Bold Way. She uses a simple no nonsense approach to help you get out of the rut you are in and living the life of your dreams. I highly recommend this book and the companion workbook that goes with it” – Jocelyn Jones

Interview with Mel Edwards
Angela B. Chrysler: I want to take a moment to welcome Mel Edwards author of The Bold Way, The Bold Way Workbook and As Spirit Moves Me: Poems and Photographs of Everyday Lifeavailable on Amazon.
ABC Question: Thank you so much for speaking with me, Mel. Please take a moment to tell us about The Bold Way.
Mel Edwards: The Bold Way is about finding, claiming and living your truth. Your truth is who you essentially are. For example, from an early age I was a creative person. One of my first memories was of my mom asking me to sing her a song. Instead of just singing where I was, I found it necessary to move the hassock (ottoman) into the middle of our little living room floor, stand on top of it, stretch out my arms and belt a tune of nonsense sounds that were very operatic, in my opinion, at that age. That is what I thought singing was, and I honestly haven’t gotten far from that idea. For me, singing is performing. If I’m going to do it, I’m going to do it big.
ABC Question: How did you come up with the idea for your book?
Mel Edwards: There a hundreds of books out there about finding your passion, but I am passionate about many things: being kind to everyone, equality, empowerment, gardening and feeding yourself/family/community, learning all I can to create the life that I want and encouraging others to do the same. It is not a simple one word, one phrase answer for me, and, frankly, most people I speak with can’t put their passion into a word, phrase or box of any kind.
I want everyone to create joy by being who they’re best at being, as long as that causes no harm to themselves or others. Your best skills and greatest joys are part of your truth, and can be used in your passions, but they don’t have to be. For me, my truth is that I am a creative, curious person with an immense appreciation for beauty and excellence. I use all those things in my writing, teaching, art, gardening, and even watching others in action – from students to those I see in public. These things bring me incredible joy, and to foster that is to empower my own success and growth. Everyone deserves growth, successes, and excitement as they navigate their life journey. It is my hope The Bold Way will lead to such realizations for the readers.
ABC Question: What happens if you get so busy with your life that you don’t have time to work on your truth or passions? After all, most of us have bills to pay.
Mel Edwards: I’m glad you asked. In 2008 I had the opportunity to interview 75 creative women for a project I was completing called Shout: Kiss My Art! As I interviewed everyone I kept coming across this thread that when life got in the way, and they ignored their truth, bad things happened, almost as a warning or omen to take care of themselves. Those who ignored the warnings eventually had horrible things happen to them, including cancer, being told they’d never walk again, and multiple failed relationships from family and marriage to work.
In the end, I also ignored my truth to do a job that paid the bills, but had many shackles on my freedom of expression. People I loved and admired told me to keep at it because they loved my work, but I was miserable, and ended up clinically depressed. I wanted this book to come out immediately so people could hear the warnings and perhaps avoid the pitfalls that many of others experience when ignoring their truth.
ABC Question: Where can we find you and your book?
Mel Edwards: It is a Kindle book on Amazon, and the Spanish translation is coming out on my birthday, August 27th, with the German version coming out soon after that. The audio book is due out on Audible on my birthday as well. I picked that day because it was one I would remember.
ABC Question: What are your next steps?
Mel Edwards: The Bold Way was the first steps in getting people to realize how important being true to yourself really happens to be, but I also know stubborn folks, like myself, will say, “Sure, that might happen to others, but not to me!” just like I did. So, I’ve written Depression Smackdown, a book that spends half of it detailing my journey into depression and how I stopped my slide down the rabbit hole once I found myself in a position that I never dreamed I’ve be in. One day I woke up and said, “This is not me, my life or my path,” and went back to my truth.
That will be out on October 19th, on Evaluate Your Life Day.
ABC Question: I understand you have some special gifts for those who purchase The Bold Way?
Mel Edwards: Yes. If someone purchases The Bold Way on Amazon (or the audio book on Audible later in August) and joins my email list via my website www.MsMelEdwards.com during August or September (2015), they can send me proof of purchase to me via email at mel@MsMelEdwards.com and I will send The Bold Way Workbook and The Bold Way Playbook as free pdfs via email.
Also, if they review The Bold Way on Amazon, Goodreads, or Audible, and email me a link to that written review, I will also send my chapbook As Spirit Moves Me: Poems and Photographs of Everyday life for free.
In the end, one purchase, combined with joining my mailing list and writing a single review can give a reader not only the one purchased book but two more (The Bold Way Workbook and As Spirit Moves Me) as well the special bonus The Bold Way Playbook, not published anywhere else at this time.
I’m all about paying it forward.
ABC: Thank you again, so much for speaking with me.
Mel Edwards: Thank you, Angela, for your time and consideration. It is a pleasure to be part of your world and to speak to your readers.
If someone purchases The Bold Way on Amazon (or the audio book on Audible later in August) and joins my email list via my website www.MsMelEdwards.com during August or September (2015), they can send me proof of purchase to me via email at mel@MsMelEdwards.com and I will sendThe Bold Way Workbook and The Bold Way Playbook as free PDFs via email.

Also, if they review The Bold Way on Amazon, Goodreads, or Audible, and email me a link to that written review, I will also send my chapbook  As Spirit Moves Me: Poems and Photographs of Everyday life for free.

In the end, one purchase, combined with joining my mailing list and writing a single review can give a reader not only the one purchased book but two more (The Bold Way Workbook and As Spirit Moves Me) as well the special bonus The Bold Way Playbook, not published anywhere else at this time.
I’m all about paying it forward.
Connect with Mel
Official Site
Facebook
Pinterest
Buy the Book
Amazon


See the Brain to Books Blog Tour Giveaways with Lu!


A Brain to Books Production

Filed under: Riley Amos Reviews, Support Indie Authors Tagged: Blog Tour, Brain to Books, SupportIndieAuthors