Jay Amberg's Blog, page 15
November 4, 2015
Spotlight on Just Reviews
Today’s stop on the Partners in Crime tour is a spotlight review at Just Reviews. Thank you to Fran Lewis for featuring Bone Box.
“Within this novel there are many conflicts not just the one faced by archeologist Sophia Altay. Altay finds with the help of her assistants an ossuary that within it has relics and documents that date back to early Christianity and could change our understanding if what is written on these documents is revealed. But, as the story opens Joe Travers is being sent to assess the dig, find out what is really happening there and possibly be told to terminate Sophia’s reign as director of the dig. The search for the contents of the ossuary, which was hidden by her assistant, sets the tone for this novel. Abrahim her assistant follows her every guideline and what is uncovered would change his life and others too.…”
You can read the entire review here.
November 3, 2015
Book Babble review & giveaway
Teresa Kander of Book Babble has reviewed Bone Box:
“This is an enthralling story, along the same vein as Dan Brown’s novels. I am always fascinated by stories which involve religious relics, whether real or fictional. This one includes so many conflicts that you might think it would be tough to follow, but that doesn’t happen at all. You have cultural conflicts, conflicts between religion and archeology, conflicts between individuals, etc.
“The chapters are generally short and easy to read, which offers the reader a chance to take a breath between scenes and not get swallowed up in long detailed descriptions. The main characters are never sure who to trust or what their next move should be, which keeps you on the edge of your seat.
“The story is creative, one of a kind, and well worth reading.”
I hope you are enjoying the tour so far. Enter to win a free copy of the book here.
November 2, 2015
Writers and Authors guest post
As part of the Partners in Crime tour, I’ve written a guest post for Writers and Authors:
“Two things happened yesterday that reminded me why I’m a writer and a teacher. Over the past thirty years, I’ve published a dozen books and taught thousands of students to write. I’d known since third grade that all I wanted to do with my life was to teach and write. The path I’ve taken hasn’t always been smooth or straight, but I’m one of the lucky people who has actually done with my life what I hoped to do.
“Yesterday afternoon, a student I haven’t seen in twenty-five years called me. A good writer and great student, Susan is now a doctor and a mother of three. Her thirteen-year-old daughter, Maisy, is an avid reader and writer, and Susan wanted to talk with me about how she could encourage Maisy. My answer, though stock, is true: read and write every day. A writer writes, and only a reader has some sense of how writing really works. Maisy writes poetry and has recently begun to write longer fictional pieces. Life at her age is inherently confusing, and any reflective writing has got to be both helpful and healthful.
“I learned to write, in large part, by keeping a journal. For me, the journal was more a notebook than a diary. Though I did include my emotional responses to events in my life, far more often I tried to describe whatever had happened. Scribbling in journals taught me more about writing (flowing language and following ideas and finding salient details and catching people’s voices) than did all the papers I wrote for school.…”
Please click here to read the entire post. I would love to hear what you think or answer any questions you may have.
3 Partners in Shopping review & giveaway
3 Partners in Shopping has graciously featured and reviewed Bone Box today. You can also enter to win a free copy of the book.
November 1, 2015
Suspense Magazine interview
If you missed it live, you can click here to listen to the online radio interview conducted this morning with Suspense Magazine. It was an interesting discussion and I am happy I was invited on the show.
BooksChatter interview
The first stop on the Bone Box Partners in Crime blog tour is an interview at BooksChatter:
What is the motivation for Bone Box?
“My novels always start with a question—something that concerns me or something about which I’m really curious. One question was What would happen if the child of the most famous athlete in the world was kidnapped? Another was What if a cargo being salvaged from a World War II battleship was enough enriched uranium to build a bomb? My question when I began Bone Box was What would happen if extremely controversial (in fact, history altering) documents were discovered at an archeological site in the Middle East? I began thinking about how certain people would kill to obtain those documents—and other people would kill to keep the documents and other relics from ever becoming public.”
Click here to read the entire interview and to enter to win a free copy of the book.
October 31, 2015
Blog Tour Begins Tomorrow
Remember, the Bone Box blog tour begins tomorrow with a written interview at BooksChatter and an online radio interview at Suspense Magazine. Listen in at 7:30 am Pacific as I discuss the book.
October 24, 2015
Bone Box Blog Tour, November 1–30
I am pleased to announce the upcoming Bone Box blog tour, hosted by Partners in Crime. Click here or the image below for the schedule.
Many of the blogs will be reviewing the book. I’ve also written two guest posts. The first stop on the tour is a radio interview with Suspense Magazine. I hope you listen in, I will be calling from the setting of Bone Box, İzmir, Turkey.
October 6, 2015
Smashwords promotion, Bouchercon 2015
Click here for the full post from the Smashwords blog. Includes Amika authors Pat Camalliere, Ronald L Ruiz and myself.
Two hundred and fifty Smashwords authors will be featured this week at Bouchercon 2015 in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Bouchercon, now in its 46th year, is the world’s largest mystery convention. It’s expected to draw 1,500 readers, writers, publishers, editors, agents, booksellers and other lovers of crime fiction.
Included in the conference registration bags will be a Smashwords thumb drive. On that drive will be 430 ebooks from 250 Smashwords authors. The drive features breakout indies, New York Times bestsellers, USA Today bestsellers, hybrid authors that publish both indie and traditionally, and future breakout authors.
September 4, 2015
Windy City Reviews, Bone Box
Ed Sarna of Windy City Reviews has written about Bone Box:
The cast of characters is well developed and nuanced. Our perception of who is good and who is not changes over the course of the book. Just as we think we understand what is going on, the plot twists and we have to question our original assumptions. Along with the fast moving plot and well-defined characters, the locations become another integral part of the story. On one hand, the nicely detailed descriptions of the cities and the countryside made me feel as if I were travelling well-trodden ground. On the other hand, there is also the feeling that we are strangers in a land with its own rules, rules that often make no sense. Foreboding builds and we are never really sure whom to trust, which adds to the anxiety level. Surprises continue all the way through to the end, but even then, we are left contemplating what just occurred and what may follow.
Read the full review here. What do you think?
