L. Salt's Blog, page 5
October 10, 2023
[Guest Post]: How to Identify Your Writing Problems by ML Barrs, the author of Parallel Secrets
I have a new guest author on my blog. ML Barrs released her mystery novel Parallel Secrets last month. Today, she’s talking about her writing journey, problems she faced along the way, and useful tools she used to improve her manuscript.
How to Identify Your Writing Problems
ML Barrs
It pains me to admit that the first draft of my first published book was confusing. Parallel Secrets takes place during two periods of time almost a decade apart, involves almost a dozen characters and as many story lines, and features plenty of dialogue freely mixed in with internal narrative. I hopped from head-to-head, time-to-time, assuming readers would follow along. Surely they’d get what I meant.
My beta readers set me straight. In my experience, paying attention to feedback from direct and knowledgeable beta readers is the best way to identify overall story and structural deficiencies and missed opportunities.
Once I accepted that I needed to restructure, I got to work.
I do all my writing in Word. The program has great tools. I’d used Word for memos and reports for many years. It was a fairly seamless transition to writing a book, once I learned to use Headers and Navigation Panel to form a fluid outline. Those tools allowed me to easily move chapters around and to spot duplications and omissions.
‘Find and Replace’ is another of Word’s most valuable functions. F&R ruthlessly pointed out
many, many opportunities to improve my prose.
Parallel Secrets includes a fair amount of people talking while sitting around drinking various beverages—but I was shocked when I ran ‘Find and Replace’ for certain words like nodded, smiled, shrugged, etc. HUNDREDS of repetitions, sometimes multiples on the same page. The words that? Said? Like? Literally thousands of occurrences in my 85k document.
I looked at each one of those individual words and decided whether they were necessary or best for the job. Very often they weren’t. Whenever I could, I changed dialogue tags to actions. “…said Vicky” appeared in my first draft more than twelve hundred times. One pass through the manuscript easily brought that down to under eight hundred. I used the same technique to check timelines, settings, and character development. A search by name allowed me to review every occurrence of every person in the order they appeared. I found consistency errors, but more often found ways to add to character arcs.
This task forced me to examine my manuscript closely and critically, to tighten up parts and
expand others. The devil’s in the details, as the saying goes, and fixing a myriad of details
created a much stronger foundation on which to build the intricate and satisfying story that is Parallel Secrets.
About the Book
Genre: Mystery
Date Published: 25th September 2023
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
After a young girl goes missing, former TV crime reporter Vicky Robeson joins the search with the help of her attractive new love interest. They take his RV to a tiny town in rural Missouri that’s filled with odd characters and darker secrets. But Vicky has secrets of her own. She believes this kidnapped girl may be linked to a case she reported on nine years ago, when a mystery child was found walking on levee, bloody and unable to speak. Back then, Vicky failed to follow up clues only she knew. Now, she has a chance to redeem herself. As she uncovers secrets, it becomes clear someone will kill to keep them hidden.
About the Author
ML Barrs ran TV newsrooms for years, guiding and managing the content and production of more than eight hours of live newscasts a day.In her debut novel, Parallel Secrets, protagonist Vicky Robeson shares that kind of experience as well as the author’s passion for justice, especially when it comes to the safety and well-being of children and other vulnerable people.
ML Barrs grew up one of thirteen children—the first girl, with three older brothers—a birth order she believes shaped her essence by the time she was eight. A girl’s gotta be a bit pugnacious to get along in that environment. Amid the chaos of fourteen people living in a mobile home (not a double-wide), she turned fifteen, dropped out of school and ran away from home.
Being homeless, then working minimum wage jobs quickly grew old. She earned her GED and went to college, where she met and married the father of their two grown children. After a successful career as a television news director and general manager, she decided that what she really wanted to do is write mysteries. Parallel Secrets was published September 2023, and its sequel is in the works.
Contact Link
Website: http://www.mlbarrs.com
Purchase Link:
Giveaway
$5 Amazon Gift Card + eBook and/or Paperback Copy
October 1, 2023
[Release Blitz]: Firefax by A. M. Vergara
Genre: Historical Fantasy
Date Published: 1st October 2023
“I would advise you, young man, to take care around anyone with the surname Firefax. I know not if the rumors be true that they be king killers, but they are, without any doubt, a dangerous family.”
Legend tells of a city of gold on a phantom island. The wealth of that city could end the American Revolution. But the only person who knows the island’s location is the world’s deadliest assassin. And he’s not giving up that secret without a fight . . .
1781. New England.
The world’s oldest family of high-profile assassins, the Firefaxes, have been killing off dignitaries—and being well-compensated to do so—for centuries. The family is thrown into turmoil by their patriarch’s death and the return of their cunning, cruel prodigal, Murdoch. Murdoch is the only one left who knows where the Firefax wealth is, kept on a secret island. But Murdoch’s former protégé, now turned nemesis, Istäni, who is the leader of a British intelligence network, and Murdoch’s former colleagues from a Continental intelligence network are looking for that wealth. These spy networks are bent on tracking down the legendary treasure, whatever the cost, but may have met their match in this wily, dysfunctional family of killers.
About the Author
A.M. Vergara is a physician assistant and paramedic. When not writing, reading, or working in the hospital or on the ambulance, she can be found outside, hiking, camping, riding her mule, foraging for edible mushrooms, field-herping, or playing her banjo.Contact Link
Website: http://www.amvergara.com
Purchase Link
September 29, 2023
[Cover Reveal]: The Desk From Hoboken by ML Condike
Genre: Mystery
Publication Date: 5th March 2024
In a bid to heal from the grief of a personal loss, forensic genealogist, RaeJean Hunter, takes on a straightforward case —identify human remains found on a nearby college campus, believed to be the 180-year-old remains of Mary Rogers, a woman who died mysteriously in 1841 and was believed to have been buried in the nearby cemetery that had washed away. It should be simple enough, a project to get her back in the game.
Unfortunately, it quickly becomes anything but. In fact, it becomes downright dangerous.
Someone doesn’t want RaeJean to investigate the puzzling death of the woman whose death inspired Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Mystery of Marie Roget.” As she follows clues through four states and discovers living family members who both help and hinder her search, she quickly realizes that the secrets of Mary Rogers’ demise were never meant to be exposed.
What lengths will someone go to keep the truth buried in the past? As threats escalate and RaeJean and her family’s lives become endangered, she’s forced to follow every lead and use every skill she has to find the answers she needs before it’s too late. Using DNA from two famous New England families, historical data, modern genealogical techniques, and a little guidance from a seemingly mystical antique desk, RaeJean takes on the cold case despite being given every reason to abandon it.
After all, what truths have been hidden for 180 years that would be worth bribery, kidnapping, and even murder?
RaeJean Hunter is about to find out.
About the Author
ML Condike has published short stories in anthologies that include Strange & Sweet, (2019), Tall Tales and Timeless Stories, (2022), Malice in Dallas, Metroplex Mysteries, Volume 1 (2022), and won first place in the fifteenth annual Writer’s Digest Popular Fiction Awards, Mystery/Crime category (2019), and 2nd Place in the Tennessee Williams Short Story Contest, Key West Art & Historical Society (2022).She’s an associate member of Mystery Writers of America Florida Chapter, Sisters in Crime National, Sisters in Crime North Dallas (Treasurer), Granbury Writers’ Bloc, and Key West Writers Guild.
As the result of her study of genealogy for her debut novel The Desk from Hoboken, she researched her own family and she discovered she had a direct bloodline to a Patriot. So, most recently she has been inducted into the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR).
Contact Links
Website: https://mlcondike.com
Facebook Author: https://www.facebook.com/mlcondike
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mlcondike/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mary-lou-condike-b16117187/
Pre-order Links
September 25, 2023
[Release Blitz]: Parallel Secrets by ML Barrs
Genre: Mystery
Date Published: 25th September 2023
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
After a young girl goes missing, former TV crime reporter Vicky Robeson joins the search with the help of her attractive new love interest. They take his RV to a tiny town in rural Missouri that’s filled with odd characters and darker secrets.
But Vicky has secrets of her own. She believes this kidnapped girl may be linked to a case she reported on nine years ago when a mystery child was found walking on levee, bloody, and unable to speak. Back then, Vicky failed to follow up clues only she knew. Now, she has a chance to redeem herself. As she uncovers secrets, it becomes clear someone will kill to keep them hidden.
About the Author
ML Barrs ran TV newsrooms for years, guiding and managing the content and production of more than eight hours of live newscasts a day.In her debut novel, Parallel Secrets, protagonist Vicky Robeson shares that kind of experience as well as the author’s passion for justice, especially when it comes to the safety and well-being of children and other vulnerable people.
ML Barrs grew up one of thirteen children—the first girl, with three older brothers—a birth order she believes shaped her essence by the time she was eight. A girl’s gotta be a bit pugnacious to get along in that environment. Amid the chaos of fourteen people living in a mobile home (not a double-wide), she turned fifteen, dropped out of school and ran away from home.
Being homeless, then working minimum wage jobs quickly grew old. She earned her GED and went to college, where she met and married the father of their two grown children. After a successful career as a television news director and general manager, she decided that what she really wanted to do is write mysteries. Parallel Secrets is published September 2023, and its sequel is in the works.
Contact Link
Website: http://www.mlbarrs.com
Purchase Link
Giveaway
$5 Amazon Gift Card + eBook and/or paperback copy
August 9, 2023
[Release Blitz]: Echo from a Bayou by J. Luke Bennecke
Genre: Thriller
Date Published: 8th August 2023
A high concept suspense thriller of adventure and betrayal with a supernatural twist.
After a freak skiing accident puts him in a coma, John Bastian awakens with memories of a past life as Jack Bachman. Unshakable visions of treasure, a violent ax attack, and a vibrant red-headed woman consume his thoughts, propelling him toward a dangerous future that feels as inevitable as his past.
John embarks on a journey to Louisiana, where all the new memories as Jack center, to find answers and confront the man who murdered him in his past life. As danger lurks at every turn, John must fight for survival and protect those he loves before a hurricane hits.
This page-turner is full of twists and turns that will keep readers on the edge of their seats until the very end. Experience the thrill of ECHO FROM A BAYOU and discover the truth about John’s past life in this exciting novel.
“What can I say about this fantastic novel? The pacing is amazing. The action starts on the first page and only gathers momentum from there. Bennecke knows exactly where to drip-feed information and where to cut it off to keep readers hooked without being frustrated. The setup is taut. Who could resist searching for another life? One that held true love, adventure, and a fortune in gold? The premise is so intricate and uniquely executed. It’s the kind of story you can jump on board with immediately.” – Independent Book Review
About the Author
J. Luke Bennecke is a veteran civil engineer with a well-spent career helping people by improving Southern California roadways. He has a civil engineering degree, an MBA, a private pilot’s certificate, and is a partner in an engineering firm. He enjoys philanthropy and awards scholarships annually to high school seniors.In addition to his debut novel, bestseller and award-winning thriller Civil Terror: Gridlock, Luke has written several other novels and screenplays, a creative process he thoroughly enjoys. His second Jake Bendel thriller, Waterborne, was published in 2021 by Black Rose Writing and received several awards. Echo from a Bayou is his latest suspense thriller with a supernatural twist, available August 2023. He is currently pitching the third Jake Bendel thriller and editing his fifth novel.
Luke resides in Southern California with his wife of 32+ years and three spunky cats. In his leisure time he enjoys traveling, playing golf, voiceover acting, and spending time with his grown daughters. Bennecke is a member of International Thriller Writers and looks forward to attending ThrillerFest every year in New York.
Contact Links
Website: https://www.jlukebennecke.com/echobayou
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jlukebennecke
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jlukebennecke
Purchase Links
B&N:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/echo-from-a-bayou-j-luke-bennecke/1143707495?ean=9780965771573
Kobo:
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/echo-from-a-bayou
iBooks:
https://books.apple.com/us/book/echo-from-a-bayou/id6450713138
August 1, 2023
[Live Reading]: Reading from Dive Beyond Eternity
My new sci-fi/thriller novel Dive Beyond Eternity was released on 20th July by Northodox Press . Follow me on Instagram for more updates and readings.
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Valeriya Salt (@valeriyasalt_author)
Order your copy
Northodox Press:
https://www.northodox.co.uk/product-page/dive-beyond-eternity-paperback
https://www.northodox.co.uk/product-page/dive-beyond-eternity-ebook
Waterstones:
https://www.waterstones.com/book/dive-beyond-eternity/valeriya-salt/9781915179210
Amazon:
July 31, 2023
[New Release Blitz]: Hel by Gitte Tamar
Genre: Horror, dark fantasy, psychological thriller, fiction, occult
Date Published: 17th July 2023
After losing his job at a genomic research company, Joel worries about his ability to provide for his family, especially during the holiday season. Even more concerning is how his unemployment may affect his perfect image within the extremist community he has lived in since birth. Lured by the idea of a quick fix, he impulsively books a flight for himself and his family to Europe when the offer of a large inheritance arrives in his inbox.
Confident that he knows best, Joel blindly trusts a stranger’s invitation to return to the village of his ancestors to collect his birthright. But rather than wealth, they quickly discover that their lineage only possesses monstrous truths with deadly consequences.
About the Author
Brigitte, “Gitte,” Tamar was born in a small rural Oregon town. Growing up, she was enthralled by scary tales featuring poetic tones and consistently gravitated towards writing darkened narratives. In the different storylines, Brigitte explores the harsh realities of social issues faced by today’s generations. This includes the dark outcomes brought on by peer pressure, addiction, homelessness, mental illness, childhood trauma, and abuse. She feels it is essential to share narratives that refrain from sugarcoating the topics society tends to shy away from.Contact Links
Website: https://www.brigittetamar.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brigittetamar
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/brigittetamar
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brigittetamar
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/22065458.Gitte_Tamar
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/gitte-tamar
Purchase Links
July 20, 2023
[Release Day. Excerpt]: Dive Beyond Eternity is out today!!
It’s a release day for my dark, nautical, reality-bending sci-fi/thriller Dive Beyond Eternity. To celebrate it, I want to post here the first chapter. Enjoy!
Chapter One
Zara
Boston, U.K.
Present day
The small research vessel rolled pitched wildly on the storm swell of the North Sea, the horizon disappearing beneath the dull waters. An armada of heavily pregnant clouds advanced from the west, readying their attack, giving no ground to the eternal blue sky or permitting the sun to penetrate their thick grey armour.
Zara never felt seasick. In fact, the long drive from Portsmouth to Boston, to reach the wreck, exhausted her more than a few hours in the pre-storm sea. She daydreamed that in a previous life, she could’ve been a mermaid, or a pirate, or maybe a submarine captain.
She squinted, tasting the salty spray on her lips as she observed the mission’s progress. The gusting wind punched the small boat, jerking it to and fro in a maddening waltz.
‘The dive is taking much longer than I expected.’ Anita Patel, the team’s sonar specialist, interrupted Zara’s thoughts. ‘I informed Professor Milne we’ve never worked with such a large object before, but he insisted.’
‘Looks like the storm is approaching much faster than we planned,’ Zara mumbled in reply. ‘The sea is too rough.’
She also wondered about Professor Milne’s strange choice of divers. Instead of summoning the university’s usual contractors, he had employed a random company they knew little about.
Perhaps he wanted to keep the mission low profile. Discovering this dark underwater shape, mysteriously buried in a sandbank, sounded like science fiction. And yet the professor had agreed with North Waters Offshore that it could be of interest to the university and had sent Zara to investigate.
‘What do you want me to do?’ Ms Patel stared at Zara, waiting. ‘Do you want me to call off the operation right now or –?’
‘How much time do we have?’
‘About an hour’s worth of oxygen in the divers’ tanks.’
Zara fixed her eyes on two monitors, watching the remotely operated vehicle – ROV -transmitting underwater video from the darkness.
For the last hour, the two divers had been trying to clean the layers of sand away from the wreck, using a specialised pressurised air hose. The sonar monitored the location of the wreck over a hundred-foot radius, and there was no mistaking in distinguishinging shape of the U-boat. Her three-bladed propeller, small conning tower, periscope, antennae, snorkel, and hydroplanes.
‘There’s one thing we know for sure – this is a U-boat.’ Zara exclaimed, shifting her gaze from the sonar to the camera screens and back. ‘U-4713/A,’ she read the number on the conning tower aloud. ‘This is a rather unusual number. 4713/A? Where did you come from?’
‘She looks like she left port yesterday,’ Anita said. ‘Look. The hull’s rubber coating is undamaged. No signs of sea life’s interference. There’s no debris around her either.’
‘No signs of torpedo impact or a strike by a mine.’ Zara nodded. ‘Nor implosion from within.’
‘Pete, Ivor… can you get closer to the rock?’ the supervisor asked the divers, turning to the screen. ‘We need to see the surface where it meets the hull.’
Ivor gave a thumbs-up signal, dragging the the pressurised air hose to the rock where it met the submarine.
‘Can you see this?’ Ivor’s slightly accented voice sounded from the radio. His camera moved closer to the hull.
Even in the murky water, Zara and Anita could distinguish no damage to the U-boat.
‘It looks like she’s growing straight out of the rock! How on earth?’ Anita shot an anxious look at her colleague.
‘I have no idea, but…’ Zara trailed off in thought. ‘The only way to know is to glimpse inside,’ she said finally. It sounded like a huge favour to ask, far too dangerous, far too risky, and outside of the company’s regulations, but it seemed like the only way to clarify her theory.
‘I’m sorry, Miss Rose, but I can’t put my people at risk,’ Anita said. ‘Professor Milne agreed that only—’
Zara exhaled. ‘I understand. Safety first.’
Anita had made it crystal clear she wasn’t ready to sacrifice her divers and the company’s equipment for the sake of her crude scientific guess.
The wind whipped Zara’s hair over her face, thunder rolled in the distance. ‘The storm’s approaching. We have to leave.’
Anita nodded and commanded the divers, ‘Guys, return to the boat. We’re leaving.’
‘Give us a minute,’ Pete’s low voice crackled from the radio. ‘I just want to film the conning tower’s hatch a bit closer.’
‘Can we have a clear image of the propeller, please?’ Zara asked the second diver, before turning to Anita. ‘Markings on the blades can indicate where the propeller was manufactured and which shipyard assembled the vessel.’
Ivor acknowledged, ‘Copy that.’
The two women watched the diver cleared sand from the hatch’s handle. The screen blinked into complete darkness.
‘Pete?’ Anita bellowed. ‘Pete, what’s going on? Your camera’s offline.’ She squeezed the radio but heard nothing.
The second camera seemed to have frozen as well.
‘A technical issue?’ Zara shifted on her feet.
‘Pete? Ivor? What’s going on? Where’s Pete?’ Anita almost screamed.
Zara grabbed Anita’s shoulder and stared at the screens.
‘Ivor? Pete?’ Anita repeated, turning the radio’s volume to maximum.
‘I’m not sure.’ Even through the radio’s interference, Zara could hear Ivor’s panic. ‘Pete was right here a second ago—’
The second screen blinked into darkness. The radio fell silent. Only. the sound of the approaching storm howled around them.
Purchase Links:
Amazon
Northodox Press:
Paperback: https://www.northodox.co.uk/product-page/dive-beyond-eternity-paperback
Ebook: https://www.northodox.co.uk/product-page/dive-beyond-eternity-ebook
Waterstones: https://www.waterstones.com/book/dive-beyond-eternity/valeriya-salt/9781915179210
July 19, 2023
[Book Blitz]: Intergalactica by F. P. Trotta
Genre: Science-Fiction
Publication Date: 29th June 2023
On launch day of NASA’s long-awaited expedition to explore Jupiter’s moon Europa, neuropsychiatrist Amanda wakes up from a coma after months battling acute meningitis.
Along with two patients, they discover they are part of a growing puzzle involving an underground geopolitical corporation called The Firm, which plans to sabotage the mission, taking advantage of a new technology to hijack the ship and set a course to a habitable planet located seventeen light-years away from Earth.
About the Author
A love for space operas with controversial and adult themes along with a hint of Lovecraftian horror are F. P. Trotta’s specialty – born in Rio de Janeiro in the Early 90s, Intergalactica was originally published in Brazil in 2016. The Intergalactica book series went on to move tens of thousands of physical copies in Portuguese and is currently the only ongoing space opera franchise published in Brazil.
Contact Links
Twitter: www.twitter.com/francoptrotta
Instagram: www.instagram.com/fptrotta
Facebook: www.facebook.com/fptrotta
Purchase Link
July 14, 2023
[Book Blitz]: In the Shadow of the Kingmakers by Vahid Imani
Genre: Historical Mystery, Thriller
Publication Date: February 2019
In this historical thriller inspired by true events, a British espionage plot spirals out of control—with devastating consequences.
It’s the aftermath of World War I and imperialist powers jostle for influence in Tehran, capital of Persia and heart of the Middle East. James Malcolm is a ruthless British spy set on undermining his American and Russian rivals, but when an act of sabotage escalates into an international incident, the kingmaker becomes the pawn.
Rose Pearce works in the English Consulate with her friend Ali, a sweet boy of fourteen. Their simple existence is shattered the day Ali shares the details of a troubling conversation he’s overheard. Rose encourages him to stick to what he knows best: serving tea and trimming roses in the consulate gardens, but Ali is filled with a sense of duty and takes matters into his own hands, changing their lives forever.
Caught in the shifting sands of shadowy espionage, international agendas, and a lust for Western dominance at all costs, James, Rose, and Ali must fight for what they believe in—if they manage to survive at all.
In the Shadow of the Kingmakers is a vivid, heart-stopping exploration of a moment in history that shaped the world we know today.
About the Author
Vahid Imani was born in Tehran, Iran, and made the United States his home in 1979. He earned his master’s degree in 1980 from Gonzaga University’s School of Business in Spokane, Washington. At the turn of the century, he transitioned to the world of fine arts after a career in high-tech as a business executive. His opinions and insights about arts, history, and international politics have been shared in articles, public lectures, and mass media.In 2014, he debuted as an author with his award-winning middle-grade novel “Naji and the Mystery of the Dig”.
In February 2019, he released his historical thriller, “In the Shadow of the Kingmakers”. In May 2020, he released his memoir, “Like the Wind I Go, A memoir of Iran, America, my struggle to freedom”. Imani is the father of three children, grandfather of three, and lives with his wife in California.
Contact Links
Website: http://www.najistories.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/najistories
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NajiStories
Purchase Link
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