Cliff Ball's Blog, page 19
September 30, 2010
Book review of The Usurper – a political thriller
Here is the newest book review done by Nurture Your Books
"A cold-blooded, Clancy-esque political thriller; The Usurper is sure to entertain."
As decades of meticulous scheming and planning finally come together, the KGB, an under-appreciated threat, takes the final steps towards the ultimate coup. The terrorist faction exploits idealistic volunteers to do some of the dirty work and utilizes educated individuals, in positions of power, who are more than willing to die for their belief in ultimate control by the government. When a mixed group of terrorists and extremists spend years training for the eventual downfall of the western world, collateral damage and the loss of life isn't given consideration.
The Usurper starts off slowly, but quickly picks up momentum as the plot thickens and the story unfolds. There are multiple themes in this fictional novel, not the least of which is terrorism, persecution and indoctrinated loyalties; this story painstakingly illustrates a plan for world domination that requires countless willing and blackmailed participants. The main characters are written with the most depth, while supporting characters have very little in the way of a back story. More internal dialog would enhance the reader's ability to connect with the characters and pull them deeper into the story itself. Some structure and grammatical errors, while few and far between, need to be addressed to ensure a smoothly-flowing story that every reader will be able to enjoy.
Despite the minor issues mentioned, The Usurper is a very fast-paced, political thriller that will keep readers on their toes and offer some thought-provoking twists on historic and future possibilities in the political arena.
Plus.. featured book on Nurture Your Books.
September 23, 2010
Book review of The Usurper – a political thriller
Here is the newest book review done by Nurture Your Books
"A cold-blooded, Clancy-esque political thriller; The Usurper is sure to entertain."
As decades of meticulous scheming and planning finally come together, the KGB, an under-appreciated threat, takes the final steps towards the ultimate coup. The terrorist faction exploits idealistic volunteers to do some of the dirty work and utilizes educated individuals, in positions of power, who are more than willing to die for their belief in...
September 19, 2010
Where all my novels are located
Dear reader, if you'd like to know where you can buy my novels, here is a comprehensive list:
Out of Time, published through iUniverse in 2008 in paperback and a 2nd edition uploaded as e-book this year.
Paperback:
iUniverse
Amazon
Amazon UK
Barnes and Noble
Books a Million
Borders
Independent Bookstores
e-Book locations
Amazon Kindle
UK Kindle
Apple iBooks
Borders
Lulu
Sony Reader
Smashwords
Don't Mess With Earth, published in 2009 by Virtualbookworm.com
Paperback:
Amazon
Amazon UK
Barnes and Noble
September 10, 2010
The Usurper and September 11
In my newest novel, The Usurper, I explore terrorism as part of the novel and who in this fictional universe is actually responsible for starting it/financing it against the United States and everyone else in the world when it begins in the late 1960′s. I decided to have the KGB train various terrorist groups to undermine the western powers, no matter which side they were on, right wing, left wing, or religious terrorism, that way the Soviet Union thinks they can win against their main...
September 5, 2010
August 25, 2010
Goodreads Book Giveaway Winners and other info
The contest has finally ended for readers to win one of two copies of The Usurper on Goodreads.com. I had it go for a month, and ended up with 646 people signing up for the contest. Thank you to everyone who participated, it exceeded my expectations.
The winners that were chosen were: Dan Halperin and Lynnda Ell. I sent out the two copies this morning.
For everyone else, I'm offering a coupon to download the novel for $1, using coupon code FG36V, it's good until September 4th. Just go here: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/18734
The paperback edition, now priced at $8.99, but, with coupon code JKJLG2YW, the paperback can be bought for $3.99, since it's $5 off. Please visit: https://www.createspace.com/3469577
Also check out the group for me on Goodreads
Thanks!
Goodreads Book Giveaway Winners and other info
The contest has finally ended for readers to win one of two copies of The Usurper on Goodreads.com. I had it go for a month, and ended up with 646 people signing up for the contest. Thank you to everyone who participated, it exceeded my expectations.
The winners that were chosen were: Dan Halperin and Lynnda Ell. I sent out the two copies this morning.
For everyone else, I'm offering a coupon to download the novel for $1, using coupon code FG36V, it's good until September 4th. Just go here: ...
August 14, 2010
Interview on Kindle Author Blog
I had an interview done on the Kindle Author blog, and here it is:
http://kindle-author.blogspot.com/2010/08/interview-cliff-ball.html
I asked Cliff Ball, author of The Usurper, about his novel, his influences, and self-publishing on Kindle.
DAVID WISEHART: What can you tell us about your political thriller, The Usuper?
CLIFF BALL: Here is what a blog, not owned by me, wrote up about it, that I find to be more precise than a description I can give:
"What if the Soviet KGB had been undermining...
August 12, 2010
My next novel(s)
I'm in the process of writing my fourth novel, this will be science fiction, starts in 1976, and diverges from the original timeline with the election of someone else as President of the United States, who declares the US will establish a moon base and Mars base before 1990.
I had this idea back when I was in high school, which was 20 years ago, and I wrote a whole novel, but it was total crap. I go back and read it now, and I can't make heads or tails of it. So, I decided that now was the...
July 30, 2010
Where to find The Usurper
Ok, as of right now(July 30), here is the list of stores online that The Usurper can be bought:
The Usurper
Paperback: 310 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace (July 14, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1453702725
ISBN-13: 978-1453702727
The Paperback
CreateSpace
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Powells
and on Lulu with a separate ISBN
E-book Version
Kindle
Smashwords
Sony Reader
Kobo for your mobile phone
Scribd
Lebrary
Myebook
Coming soon to the Apple iPad
