Keith B. Darrell's Blog, page 59
July 31, 2011
Angels & Sex, in the Age of Moral Relativism
Note: Today's blog post has its genesis in a topic raised on the GoodReads Forum: "Angels and Sex" and a review comment: "An example of taking away the fundamental aspects of a being people know is when the author had the angel (Gabriel) have sex... I'm sorry, but when people think of Heavenly angels, they think of goodness and purity. They don't think of them as having human weaknesses, like sexual temptations."
All good fiction revolves around the human condition. Characters should not be...
July 28, 2011
Guest Blog by Alain Gomez
Alain Gomez lives in San Diego and has beenwriting since she was sixteen. She works in the field of music but hascontinued to pursue her passion for writing as an independent author. Thoughshe generally sticks to writing shorter stories, Alain enjoys experimentingwith a variety of genres including romance and thrillers. Alain's blog is at http://bookbrouhaha.blogspot.com/.Her Space Hotel collection is available from Amazon.
Guest Blog by Alain Gomez:Short Stories Spread Social Disease
Or at...
July 25, 2011
Grow A Pair
In an earlier post, I described an incident that occurred onthe writers' section of a popular online forum. One of the participantse-mailed me with the observation it "provided excellent grist for the mill interms of a psch profile." That startedme thinking: why would presumably decent, ordinary individuals become heinousjackasses online? These are probably the same people we see every day at thesupermarket who smile or even stop for a polite chat. What is it about onlineforums that brings...
July 22, 2011
Standards Matter
Standards matter. Standards are what separate aspiring amateurs from professionalism. Every profession has a set of objective standards that must be met by its practitioners before one can be qualified to earn the title granted by that profession. This usually involves education and training, culminating in the receipt of credentials, to establish the individual has learned the skills of his craft or trade.
Lately, there has been a populist sentiment that standards don't matter, and anyone...
July 19, 2011
New Interview With Keith
Jennifer Rainey has just posted her interview with Keith on her blog, Independent Paranormal. Jennifer is the author of "These Hellish Happenings", a fantasy novel about a vampire whose pact with the Devil 300 years earlier lands him a position as a bureaucrat in Hell.
In the interview, Keith reveals the inspiration for the Halos & Horns series and his greatest marketing tip for struggling authors.
In the interview, Keith reveals the inspiration for the Halos & Horns series and his greatest marketing tip for struggling authors.
Sins of the Blogger
Forgive me, blog readers, for I have sinned. It has been 21 days since my last post.
But I haven't been idle. I've written a new short story, "Hare to the Throne", a tale about social conformity arising from within the society, through peer pressure, as opposed to being imposed by the government, as is typical in most dystopian stories. The story takes the more religious reader out of his comfort zone and place him in the POV (point of view) of an atheist viewing religion. It will probably be...
June 30, 2011
Freedom Giveaway Hop
Freedom Giveaway HopJuly 1st to 7th, 2011 hosted by I Am A Reader, Not A Writer and Simply Stacie. Visit the other participating blogs. This giveaway is to be distributed to US participants only. One lucky person will win a $10 Amazon.com gift card.
-----> ENTRY FORM <-----
Required to Enter:
Must be a follower of this blog.
Extra Entries:
1. Follow me on Twitter.
2. Like my Facebook page
June 29, 2011
Update on Halos & Horns
There will be a third book in the Halos & Horns series, tentatively titled "To Hell in a Hand Basket", followed by a fourth novel, "The Witches' Cauldron".
I know there are some readers who will be upset by the controversial ending to the second book, "And A Child Shall Lead Them". I ask that you set down your torches and pitchforks long enough to see how it is resolved in "To Hell in a Hand Basket" before you pass final judgment. I admit, it is a shocking cliff-hanger, but remember...
I know there are some readers who will be upset by the controversial ending to the second book, "And A Child Shall Lead Them". I ask that you set down your torches and pitchforks long enough to see how it is resolved in "To Hell in a Hand Basket" before you pass final judgment. I admit, it is a shocking cliff-hanger, but remember...
June 28, 2011
The Best Book Reviews Are The Silent Ones
We've been talking a lot this week about book reviews. There should be an awards presentation for amateur reviewers. I've already got my candidates lined up. The funniest: the book vlogger who stumbled over title of Paved With Good Intentions (come on, it's only four words!), then held the book up to the camera, turned the spine facing her, and surreally flipped the pages for her viewers - presumably to show it was a real book with real pages... and that was it. The whole "review" - 28 s...
So What's Your Opinion?
We've been having some rather active discussion on the Kindle Boards about pricing of eBooks. Some authors are pricing novels at $2.99, which is the lowest price to qualify for Amazon's higher discount. Other authors insist that 99 cents is the best price, even though that will slice their royalties in half. Another school of thought is that readers will think a 99-cent novel must be of poor quality and will not look at eBooks priced below $4.99. And finally, there are some authors adamant t...
