Cliff Ball's Blog, page 21
April 23, 2010
Writer's Digest Self-Published Awards
Last year, I submitted Don't Mess with Earth to the "Writer's Digest 17th Annual Self-Published Book Awards" and a couple of weeks ago, I received in the mail, the results of entering into the competition. I know it was almost a month ago, but, I'm busy with finishing up my last semester of college. I have to type in the Commentary Sheet because there is no digital copy, which I wish they had, so here goes:
Author: Cliff Ball
Title: Don't Mess With Earth
Category: Genre
Judge: 57
On a scale of ...
April 12, 2010
Writing and author sites
Updated: This was blogged two years ago and I just thought I'd bring it back to the front.
If you're a new writer and looking for websites to market your work or yourself as an author, searching for those places online takes a really long time, especially if you don't type in the right keywords on google or other search engines. I thought I'd post sites all in one place so you can find what you're looking for without searching for days on end.
http://www.writersmarket.com Online version of the ...
April 10, 2010
Poland's leadership and Russia
As a writer, when something happens in the world, I tend to see possibilities of what might actually be happening behind the scenes. Well, the top brass of Poland was on and airplane approaching a Russian airstrip in the fog when it crashed and their were no survivors. Here is a list of leadership and what their equivalent is in US leadership:
The President and his wife
The Chief of Staff
A former President
The Secretary of State
The Secretary of the Interior
The Secretary of the Homeland Security
April 2, 2010
Updates on what I'm writing
It's been a while since I've posted anything, mostly because I'm concentrating on finishing up college, which will be this May if everything goes as planned. I have two stories in the works, one a sequel to Don't Mess With Earth and the other one is a political thriller, not science fiction at all.
I take a comment made by Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev back in the 1960's about how the Soviet Union would, in so many words "Bury us." What he meant by that was that he thought the American...
My novel on Smashwords
I just wanted to let everyone know that Smashwords.com is distributing e-books to Apple, Sony, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo. So, my novel
Don't Mess With Earth
is part of that. The novel is also on Kindle if any of you out there have a Kindle. Anyway, here's the link for the book on Smashwords
June 28, 2009
Book Contest
First Place
The Author with the most votes will have his or her book placed on the Barnes and Noble.com Best-Seller list, a package worth $12,000.
Second Place
The Author with the second most votes will have his or her book appear in 40 book fairs in the Salt Lake City, Utah market, a package worth $2,000.
Third Place
The Author with the third most votes receives lifetime membership to The Author Platform and a Self-Publishing in a Box Kit, a package worth $400.
June 12, 2009
Second review of Don't Mess With Earth
Author Cliff Ball draws on his considerable knowledge of history, folklore and Christianity to craft a convincing retelling of humanity's time on Earth.
Told mostly from the point of view of a newly sworn-in U.S. President, we learn that Earth has existed under the shadow of secrets and lies for thousands of years. As Noah was building his wooden ark to escape the flood, a highly developed race of people called Terrans was designing starships and planning to leave the earth entirely.
The Terrans t
Second review of Don’t Mess With Earth
Author Cliff Ball draws on his considerable knowledge of history, folklore and Christianity to craft a convincing retelling of humanity’s time on Earth.
Told mostly from the point of view of a newly sworn-in U.S. President, we learn that Earth has existed under the shadow of secrets and lies for thousands of years. As Noah was building his wooden ark to escape the flood, a highly developed race of people called Terrans was designing starships and planning to leave the earth entirely.
The Terrans t
June 10, 2009
First Review
My first review for Don’t Mess With Earth, done by Feathered Quill Book Reviews
Don’t Mess With Earth
By: Cliff Ball
Publisher: Virtualbookworm.com Publishing
Publication Date: March 2009
ISBN: 978-1602643413
Reviewed by: Will Gabbett
Review Date: June 10, 2009
In the new book, Don’t Mess With Earth, intellectually and scientifically advanced humans, as well as aliens from a distant world, have descended on Earth. They have been experimenting and meddling in the affairs of humans for the advancemen
June 7, 2009
The Day the Lights Went Out
Short story by Cliff
I woke up. I realized that my digital clock-radio hadn’t gone off, and it must be around 9 or 10 in the morning. I glanced over at the clock, but it seemed to be dead, so I tried the radio, but nothing came through. I got up, looked for my pre-digital watch, and the time said that it was 10:30. Since I was off today, it wasn’t that big of a deal, but it was disconcerting to say the least.
I got dressed and went into the kitchen, and that was when I noticed that it was eerily
