Sandra Cox's Blog, page 312

Top Jobs In America

Want to train for the best jobs currently available or soon to be available in the country? Doctors? No. Nurses? No. Accountants? No. Dental hygienist? No.
In my humble opinion if you're after the perfect job, go into politics. Why? Glad you asked. Where else can you squabble like spoiled children, play chicken with the world's economy and not get a write up in your file or a pink slip? And the bennies are the best. When you want to take a vacation drop what your doing and go. Never mind you're throwing thousands of people out of work and losing millions of tax dollars in revenue, what does that have to do with you?
Congress, what a gig huh?

Believe

"If you'll believe in me, I'll believe in you."

Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass

Contest,contest,contest

To celebrate the release of Vampire Bay, I'll be running a contest all this month.
First prize: Starbucks Card, Cooke Lee Bracelet (see pic) and a download of Vampire Bay.
Second prize: Paper Copy of Moonwatchers
Third prize: Paper Copy of Vampire Island.

To enter: Just leave a comment and mention Vampire Bay Contest. Please include your email addie. Or if you'd rather not leave your email on the comment section you can send it to me at sandraco x1@gmail.com.
~*~
Excerpt:

Amber eyes glowed in the predawn dark. My heart rose in my throat. "Who's there?" I croaked and fumbled for the light switch.

Brightness flooded the room and caused Uncle's silver-clawed ocelot, stretched out on the bed, to blink.

"Oz." With a sigh of relief I fell on the pink duvet and stroked his sleek head. The coverlet rustled as he rolled on his back, stuck his feet in the air and made loud rumbling noises in his throat. His silver claws gleamed in the light.

The average ocelot doesn't have silver claws. But Oz was born on Vampire Island where silver claws had evolved in ocelots as a defense mechanism against vampires.

Feeling absurdly better with Oz in the room, I stripped down to my pink chemise and thong then raced across the cold wooden floor, flipped off the light, ran back and hopped in bed. I burrowed in between white flannel sheets that emitted the clean, comforting scent of detergent. Oz nestled beside me. Warm and toasty, I fell asleep to his rumbling purr and dreamed…

The bat swooped down. Its wing slid over my throat in an icy caress. I shrank back against the dank black wall. The bat fluttered in front of me. "Zoe." The voice brought my stomach to my throat. Clammy beads of sweat broke out on my forehead. Dere!

"You thought you'd killed me, didn't you?" His laugh echoed and reechoed in my head. I clasp it to stop the mad laughter.

"You can't kill me, Zoe, but I can kill you."

I screamed then but as in most dreams no sound came out, except a horrible moan that stuck in my throat.

The bat hovered in front of my face. He squealed and revealed fangs that dripped with saliva. I threw up my hands to protect my face. The rodent swooped in and bit my hand. The pain woke me.

Available at:
Amazon.com
or
Smashwords.com

Rabies

I'm blogging today at Night Writers about rabies. See you here Monday.

E Book Prices

I just got a notice that a very popular author I like has a book coming out. Since pricing is getting to be a hot topic in e industry, I glanced to see what the e price was for the new release. I was stunned to see the price was $14.99. Nearly fifteen dollars for an e book? If you're willing to forgo the hard copy, its cheaper to buy a paperback. How can a publisher justify that price for an e?
After this mental rant, I looked at the prices of my own e's and noticed a couple were listed at $8.95. So with a gulp, I swallowed my indignation. I realize, that unless the reader buys directly from the publishing site, its like anything else...a chunk goes to the middle man/distributor.
For publishers, and self-pubbed authors, pricing is a fine line. Every publisher has his/her own idea of what price will net the most profits.

So if you were a publisher--or if you are one--what would be your approach? Mark it higher so that everyone makes something from the sale or bring the price down in hopes you'll sell more books and be compensated for the drop in price?

What do you think is a reasonable price for an e book? And what price do you normally pay for an e?

Did You See This? - Play of The Day

David Brown author of Fezariu's Epiphany

Joining us today is David Brown, author of Fezariu the Mercenary. Welcome, David. What caught my attention in David's bio was the mention of his six rescue cats. I like this author already:)

Here's his Bio:
David M. Brown was born in Barnsley in 1982 and first conceived the idea of Elenchera in college. His love of history and English led him to read these subjects at Huddersfield University. David is inspired by medieval history, Norse mythology and Japanese role-playing video games and anime films. He lives in Huddersfield with his wife Donna and their six rescue cats.

A littl e bit about: Fezariu the Mercenary

Fezariu first turned to the Merelax Mercenaries at the tender age of eleven, his childhood having very nearly ruined him. The promise of untold riches, fame and the chance to see the world were too great a lure for the young boy but his main motivation in enlisting as a mercenary was the chance to escape his past and, over time, perhaps bury it for good.

The Merelax Mercenaries dictated that recruits had to be sixteen years old before they would be considered for military training. Rather than turn Fezariu away, he was accepted at Archangel University and placed under the guardianship of General Bayard, an esteemed mercenary veteran with an impeccable military career. General Bayard's five years as Fezariu's tutor were motivated by a desire to break the boy and make him give up his dream. It didn't work.

Fezariu was given menial tasks such as cleaning weapons, collecting glasses at the university tavern and running the full length of Merelax Island delivering messages. He never wavered. General Bayard's education wasn't all about the body though. Having Fezariu visit the library daily, General Bayard pushed the boy hard with his reading, writing, arithmetic and history. For every lesson a test followed within a week. Fezariu prevailed on every occasion and General Bayard came to accept there would be no ridding Archangel University of this boy.

At sixteen Fezariu began his training as a mercenary and once again found himself under the tutelage of General Bayard. Fezariu's three years of mercenary training saw him master the sword and build up his strength and stamina through a series of obstacle courses engineered by General Bayard himself. By nineteen Fezariu had achieved his dream, eight years after he first set out on the lonely path.

As a mercenary, Fezariu shared in the hopes of his peers by dreaming of lucrative assignments out in the western colonies. Colonialism, spearheaded by Eligantiar and Odrica in the Twelfth Shard, had seen the majority of the lands in West Elenchera subdued and their native races bound in chains to make way for families from the east dreaming of new and lucrative lives overseas. Though slaves, the native races of West Elenchera had insurgent spirits that could overcome any chains and revolts and attempted revolutions were commonplace during this turbulent period of history. It was into this vortex of mayhem that Fezariu wished to be assigned.

Fezariu fought with distinction in Emeraldon against the dangerous valkayan insurgents before returning to Merelax Island as a decorated hero. His final assignment came when the bulk of the Merelax Mercenaries were sent across the sea to assist Odrica in an ambitious invasion of Himordia. Against such accomplished and brilliant warriors, the Odricans and Merelax Mercenaries were always going to struggle and so it proved. Fezariu swapped the glory of crushing rebellions in Emeraldon for a desperate struggle for survival in Himordia. It is the aftermath of this devastating defeat in Himordia that forms the opening of Fezariu's Epiphany.

Now for the excerpt:

The Whi te Oak betrayed the impact of the stranglehold of time. The once pristine sign above the main entrance had faded, while the outer walls were cracked and filthy, their once white coat blemished and degraded. Nonetheless, the clattering of glasses, raucous laughter and jovial music still flowed from the open windows out onto the filthy streets.
Across the street from the White Oak, Fezariu stood with one hand resting on the wall of a derelict house, his eyes were locked on the door of the White Oak and his mind was reliving that fateful day when he had seen his mother entertaining the patrons. She had pushed him aside then, defined the worthlessness that had consumed his very essence until he stumbled upon the path of salvation that led him to Merelax Island and to the mercenaries.
The last time Fezariu had seen the White Oak he had been nothing to his mother, nothing to anyone, but now things were different. He had changed his life around, he was successful now, respected by his peers and finally of some value. With the weight of achievement supporting him, Fezariu finally had the reason and purpose to come back to the White Oak, to prove to his mother what he had done with his life; that he had thrived without her love and without her help. Today he would dictate the exchange between them, show Wild Jessamine that she was just another whore to him and not his mother. As a child, Jessamine had looked down on Fezariu and cast him aside as she would stained garments, but now Fezariu would tower above her and make her feel the same worthlessness he had.

Want to learn more about David and Fezariu's Epiphany? Or buy the book?
The Elencheran Chronicles: http://elenchera.com
The World According to Dave: http://blog.elenchera.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/elenchera http://www.facebook.com/fezariu
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/elenchera
Book Video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPgcNNLMBvY

RRP: £9.99/$14.99 (paperback), $4.99 (ebook)

David will be giving away a $25 Amazon gift certificate. To enter the contest just leave a comment. To increase your chances of winning, just follow David's tour: http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2011/06/virtual-book-tour-fezarius-epiphany-by.html

When Does An Editor Go Too Far?

I was chatting with a writer bud who repeated a comment her editor had made about her writing. It was both unprofessional and unkind. Keep in mind that someone liked this author's writing enough to contract the story.
Now add into the mix that the editor is both author and editor. This is always a yellow caution sign for me. Are you going to get a supportive professional editor or an editor who imposes her or his writing style on you? I've had both sides of the spectrum. On the positive side of the equation, one of the best editors I've ever had was an author/editor.
But regardless of whether an editor writes for a living and edits on the side or is a full time editor, that person has a responsibility to treat his/her authors in a professional manner. And vice versa. As authors, when interacting with our editors and publishers, we need to show them the same professional courtesy that we expect them to show us.
Authors, what do you think? When does an editor go too far?

Manic Monday

Always remember you're unique, just like everyone else.





www.i-love-cats.com

Cats' Sunday

I'm blogging on the American Bobtail at Night Writers. If you're in the vicinity, stop by and say 'hey'.



www.i-love.cats.com