Keith B. Darrell's Blog, page 57
November 16, 2011
Authors Occupy Wall Street
Several weeks ago, I added my name to the growing list ofauthors expressing support for the Occupy Wall Street Movement. The full listof authors can be found at http://occupywriters.com/.
On Tuesday, at the behest of NY Mayor Michael Bloomberg,police launched a military-style surprise raid on the protesters in ZucottiPark. Police prevented reporters from entering the site to report on theremoval and how it was handled, a clear violation of the First Amendment. Evennews helicopters were...
November 15, 2011
Politically Incorrect
No sooner had I posted the previous post than I came acrossthe same topics being discussed on Tess Gerritsen's blog, Novel Rocket .
I have had readers confuse my characters' words and philosophieswith my own. If I have a character who is a misogynist or a racist, that doesnot mean that these characters represent my views. As an author, I must writein many different voices, and rarely (at least in my fiction) are any of thosevoices my own.
If an author is writing about murderers, rapists, and...
November 12, 2011
From the Mailbag
I learned a long time ago not to publish email addresses on web pages because there are nasty spammers out there who use things called "scrappers" to collect email addresses off sites to add to their mailing lists. Yet, my clever readers have figured out they can email me through the Amber Book Company website. (Hmm, since the email link is listed in every book and ebook, maybe they're not that clever, after all). Nonetheless, on occasion I receive emailed questions that I feel deserve a...
November 3, 2011
Oops! I Just Learned An Author Should Never...
Never tell your readers and fans you've released a limited edition book... and that they can't have it. I think I'll file that lesson under "The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men" department. In my last post, I mentioned I had produced a limited edition book of my supernatural tales to help in the ongoing effort to raise funds to restore Carey mansion, the iconic locale of my favorite childhood TV show, Dark Shadows. The book was made available to attendees at an event at the mansion and is...
October 20, 2011
A Sense of Wonder
My favorite TV show is Dark Shadows. Not the 1990s remake,but the original supernatural soap opera I used to run home from school everyafternoon to watch. School let out at 3p.m. and only a large field separatedthe schoolyard gate from my house across the street. If I was able to avoid detention and outrunthe after-school bullies, I made it home in time to watch. There was novideotape back then; if you missed it, it was gone forever.
We tried hard to preserve the ephemeral experience and...
October 18, 2011
Angel or Devil?
Is your baby a sweet angel or a mischievous tyke? Maybe a little of both? Then, the new Halos & Horns baby bib is just what you need! It's the latest addition to our line of Amber Ware available through our affiliation with the good folks at Cafe Press. You can see the entire line of Amber Ware (and we'll be adding to it regularly) at the Amber CafePress store or by clicking the Amber Ware tab at the top of my blog.
(Now you know what baby Alaric was wearing in Halos & Horns, Book 2: And A...
October 15, 2011
Just Say No to Panda
If Part One of this post wasn't reason enough to boycottGoogle's search engine, here's a thought: Panda has resulted in a large percentage oflegitimate, relevant responses to your search query not being shown in yoursearch results. By depriving its searchers of vital, relevant information,Google is not only doing a disservice to its users but is failing in itsprimary purpose: bringing you, the searcher, all of the relevant Websites andletting you chose which to click on. Instead, big Brand...
October 12, 2011
Forget Zombies! Beware the Google Panda!
"You've been Panda-slapped," my SEO guru explained to me.Understand, this was the man who, when Facebook was a distant rival to MySpace,had "poked" me and, failing to get my attention, "thrown a cow" at me. So, beingPanda-slapped sounded like a fun new app; it wasn't.
I was reviewing the Web traffic on several of my sites andhad consulted him when I had noticed a disturbing coincidence. From January toJune, traffic was relatively stable on all the sites; then, it dropped offabout 30% in July...
October 10, 2011
Don't Sweat It!
Winter is coming; are you prepared? There's still time to order your Halos & Horns sweatshirt! It's the latest addition to our line of Amber Ware available through our affiliation with the good folks at Cafe Press. You can see the entire line of Amber Ware (and we'll be adding to it regularly) at the Amber CafePress store or by clicking the Amber Ware tab at the top of my blog.
October 7, 2011
Warning: This Post Has the P-Word!
A few months back, I started receiving email from blogreaders. I didn't think anything of it at the time, because, with 13 email accounts, I get a lot of email.When each account gets 20 or 30 emails daily, a few blog-related missives don'tstand out. But, as the number of emails exceed the number of blog comments, itmade me wonder why they had bothered to email when it would have been easier tohit the comment button on the blog. Not that I minded the emails; I was justcurious. So I asked...
