Sandra Cox's Blog, page 115

Wacky Wednesday

ThunderTree Cover Reveal

Blurb:

Ben Evers is a drifter that never stays in one place too long, always hankering to see what’s over the next horizon. His traveling companion—an eagle. He lives by two rules. Mind his own business and always treat women with respect. The first rule stands him in good stead until he meets former Texas Ranger John T. McAllen and his niece Kate Landon. The two are drawing him into their lives and Ben knows from personal experience no good ever comes from getting involved in other folks’ trouble.  John T. and his neighbor are caught up in a feud over land and Clary’s daughter. When danger strikes, swift and hard, Ben has a decision to make. Turn his back and ride away from people he’s grown to care about or break his rule of minding his own business, and stay and fight.
Short Excerpt: 
Ben Evers watched the scene playing out at the base of the arroyo, ignoring a cutting wind that whipped his shirt against his body and stung his face. He leaned forward for a better view into the clay-colored, rough-edged gully.  Below him, three men tossed a youth back and forth punching him and laughing. His hands tight on the pommel, he shifted in the saddle.  It went against the grain to let anyone take a licking, especially when the odds were uneven, but he’d learned at an early age to mind his own business. It was a rule he lived by. Still it didn’t sit well. Not well at all.What the hell? He jerked in the saddle as one of the ruffians tore the youth’s shirt revealing a body that didn’t belong to a boy. At the same time, the victim’s hat fell off and rich russet-colored hair tumbled halfway to a slender waist. He gave a startled oath. A woman! This changed everything. His other rule: show respect to women. Minding his business be damned.
* Warning. Content contains six-guns, strong-women and hand-tooled boots.
 
Available for Pre-order at Amazon.
 https://tinyurl.com/thundertree

Friends, if you can help me out by posting the pre-order meme, alone or with blurb and link, between now and July 22, it would be much appreciated.

Weekend Wishes

Thursday's Trivia

Did you know...that German Silver contains no silver. It's a nickel, zinc, copper alloy.
Thanks, Shane.

Wacky Wednesday

Monday-Tuesday

Greetings. How was your weekend and how is the beginnings of your week?
Have you noticed your groceries going up? We sure have. This apple rang up at $1.52. If I wore dentures, they would have dropped right out of my mouth

AND...
The day lilies are still blooming.

AND...

Thanks, Rye.

AND...
Stranger Than Fiction
I mentioned in a previous post that my daughter and SIL have bought their first house. It's over  a hundred years old.Why is this important? Because it means the house could have had many residents in its lifetime AND that it needs a lot of work. The floors and the staircase are rotten so the SIL has been tearing them out and replacing them. One day, he was working on the staircase and guard rail and removed a support-post. He noticed when he removed it that it rattled. Curious, he cut it open. Inside was a cigarette butt and knife wrapped in plastic. If the stairs hadn't been removed it would have never been found.
Feel free to write a story--no longer than a paragraph--in the comments section, on why you think the knife was hidden and what you think happened.

Happy Father's Day

Weekend Wishes

DARK DESIRES

We interrupt Thursday’s Historical Trivia for exciting book information from Ronel Janse van Vuuren on her new release Dark Desires. Blurb Dark DesiresIron and fae aren’t friends. But Tasha has no choice but to be in the human realm: her very life is at stake.High School isn’t much safer than Faerie, though. Clicks, falling in love and navigating day-to-day activities are dangerous enough without the added dread of being unmasked as being otherworldly.But when something happens and everyone reveals their true selves, Tasha has a choice to make: will she save them from the curse upon them and reveal her true nature, or will she let them die and stay safe?UBL: https://books2read.com/u/ba0W56The Power of Short StoriesStudies have found that the average attention span of people have dropped from [insert stats]. Not only do our books have to compete with various forms of technology, other activities and other books, they also have to compete for the full attention of the reader.Your book needs to stand out.We all know that. We write the best books we can, put them through various rounds of editing to bring them to industry standards, we have them professionally formatted, and we have eye-catching, genre-specific covers made for them.But that is the bare-minimum, the cost of entry.Now your book is bought. The reader starts to read. Life happens. Your epic saga is abandoned. Perhaps forever. Why?“The first page sells this book. The last page sells your next book.” – Mickey SpillaneIf you haven’t made that crucial emotional connection with your reader, they won’t invest their time and energy to read your book. and, as the quote above explains, if they don’t finish this book, they are less inclined to buy your next book and the next.How to bridge that gap?Short stories.“Dark Desires” at around 5k can be read comfortably in one sitting, gives the reader a satisfying journey, showcases my writing style and World, and makes a lasting impression on readers.The upside: at the price-range (99c) a lot of people will give a new (to them) writer a chance; at the time-to-read range (less than an hour) a lot of people will give a (new to them) writer – and genre – a chance; stories rejected for anthologies can be rewritten, edited and published in this format; stories accepted for print for which you have your rights back can be published in this format; e-book royalties are reasonable; your entire catalogue can (and should!) be listed in the back for the reader to check out; it doesn’t take as long as a novel to write and publish.The downside: unless you sell thousands of copies, your overhead might stay higher than your profit; readers can come to expect short reads from you, meaning you’ll have to constantly produce shorter works, leaving your longer projects on the back burner; instant gratification (faster turn-around than a novel/novella that can lead to abandonment of longer projects); only available in e-book unless you create an anthology of previously published short stories and then publish as a paperback; short stories are usually perceived as literary fiction and thus doesn’t sell as well as a full-length novel.Personally, I like to see the glass as half-full of water and overflowing with air.As for Tasha from “Dark Desires”: would her story have benefited from being longer? No. Can she have more adventure – in any length? Yes. I believe her story is so much more powerful because of the brevity.Why not get your own copy of “Dark Desires” and we can discuss this point? Author Bio Ronel 2019Award-winning author Ronel Janse van Vuuren mainly writes for teens and tweens, though she is known to write mythology-filled short stories for anthologies aimed at older readers. Her dark fantasy works, usually full of folklore, can be viewed on her website and on Goodreads.Ronel can be found tweeting about writing and other things that interest her, arguing with her characters, researching folklore for her newest story or playing with her Rottweilers when she’s not actually writing.All of her books are available for purchase from major online retailers.Sign up to be notified of new releases, giveaways and pre-release specials – plus get a free eBook – when you join Ronel’s newsletter. https://mailchi.mp/020d96f05055/ronelthemythmakernewslettersignup Connect with Ronel onlineTwitter: https://twitter.com/@miladyronel/ Pinterest: https://za.pinterest.com/miladyronel/ Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17528826.Ronel_Janse_van_Vuuren Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/miladyronel/?hl=enAmazon author page: https://amazon.com/author/roneljansevanvuurenmythmaker  Ronel the Mythmaker, Website of Dark Fantasy Author Ronel Janse van Vuuren: http://www.ronelthemythmaker.com/ 

 

Wacky Wednesday

Frank trying to see what's going on next door.