Phil Giunta's Blog, page 118
June 14, 2011
Author Profile: Kieryn Nicolas
I stumbled across YA author Kieryn Nicolas on the Writers Coffeehouse Yahoo Group when she announced her new release, Flawless Ruins , and was immediately intrigued. I checked out her website and was very impressed by her promotional efforts in terms of blog tours and personal appearances.
I reached out to Kieryn for some further information about her books, including her first YA novel, RAIN . As it turns out, Kieryn will be appearing at the Allentown Library on Saturday, June 25th at 11AM. (Unfortunately, I will be out of town that day but I may pop over to say Hi before I leave).
Kieryn is also the author of the YA short novel, Poison Ivy , published by Quake eBooks.
I hope to have an author interview with Kieryn sometime in the near future.
Links:
Kieryn's Blog
Kieryn on Twitter
Facebook: Kieryn Nicolas (person page), RAIN by Kieryn Nicolas, Kieryn Nicolas (author)
June 9, 2011
About This Writing Stuff...
How to Be a Successful Ghostwriter by Kelly James-Enger
When Is Lying in a Memoir Acceptable? by Tracey Seeley / posted by Jane Friedman
How to Let Plot Guide Your Short Story by John Dufresne
Should You Avoid New Agents Because They May Not Have Good Contacts? by Brian A. Klems
6 Things Writing a Second Novel Taught Me by Marybeth Whalen
Agent Jon Sternfeld on Engaging Your Audience posted by Chuck Sambuchino
How I Got My Agent: Holly LeCraw posted by Chuck Sambuchino
New Agent Alert: Jessie Cammack of JABberwocky Literary Agency posted by Chuck Sambuchino
4 Ways to Make the Most of a Critique Group by Susan Cushman / posted by Jane Friedman
Don't Treat Conflict As Monolithic by Cary Groner
The Kristine Kathryn Rusch Set: Surviving the Transition
The Business Rusch: Surviving the Transition (Part One)
The Business Rusch: Surviving the Transition: Publishers (Part Two)
The Business Rusch: Surviving the Transition: Agents (Part Three)
June 8, 2011
Testing the Prisoner coming to Podiobooks!!!
From what I've been told, the first five chapters of the FREE audio book, read by yours truly, will be posted right away with additional chapters posted weekly.
I hope you'll tune in!
June 6, 2011
For Your Consideration - An excerpt from By Your Side
Well over a year before Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson of SyFy's Ghost Hunters investigated the Philadelphia Zoo, I had written the opening chapter of By Your Side wherein psychic-medium Miranda Lorensen and her team of paranormal investigators spend an evening at the fictional Emery Zoo in western Pennsylvania.
Prior to the following scenes, Miranda and her team were given a tour of the zoo by the night security guard named Stanley whose facts about the land's history are found to be slightly inaccurate. Read on. Comments are definitely welcome and encouraged. Keep in mind that this is first draft material.
-------------
On the opposite side of the zoo, Miranda and Amy found themselves in complete darkness. They had made their way to the Reptile House by the light of the lampposts. It was a long, one-story brick building with four windows along each side.
During their guided tour earlier in the evening, Stanley the security guard had promised to keep the door unlocked until their investigation was over. No sooner had Miranda touched the handle of the glass door than her flashlight went dark. She turned around to find Amy twisting the handle of her flashlight back and forth.
“It just died,” she said. “And these are new batteries.”
“Yeah, mine, too,” Miranda reached down and unclipped the walkie-talkie from her belt. The LCD display was dark. She turned the unit off and back on to no avail. “Check your radio, and the mini DV.”
After a moment, Amy shook her head. “Same. What the hell? There’s no way everything could shut off at once.”
As if on cue, the closest lampposts along the trail suddenly went out.
“I stand corrected,” Amy said in a low, timid voice. “I don’t scare easy but this is creeping me out.”
It was a popular theory among paranormal investigators that as spirits attempt to manifest, they draw energy for their surroundings. In doing so, they can drain batteries, as well as any heat in the immediate vicinity.
Amy shivered as a chill seemed to wrap itself around her body. “Oh, my God, Randy, did you feel that?” She whispered. “I think we have a cold spot.”
There was movement in front of her, shuffling feet. Something flashed in the gray streak of moonlight that crossed the entrance to the reptile house.
That’s when Amy realized that she was alone in the cold darkness.
“Randy?” She stepped up to the glass door and pulled the handle but it wouldn’t budge. She cupped her hands around her eyes and pressed her nose to the glass. With a gasp, she drew back. The door was nearly frozen to the touch. It was as if the chill was emanating from the building itself. Amy could barely discern any details inside save for the reflection of moonlight on various surfaces. A shadow passed in front of a window at the back of the building. What the hell? Amy pulled back from the door. Her breath caught in her throat. Was that Miranda?
Amy pounded on the glass. “Randy?”
No one came to the door. Amy called out again, still no one appeared.
Where is she?
Amy stepped away from the building. The air became noticeably warmer. With a shred of hope, she pulled the walkie-talkie from her belt. It was still dead.
“Dammit,” she whispered. She looked around, half expecting to glimpse more shadows passing through the moonlight, but there was no activity. She considered making her way back to the security office but couldn’t bear to leave Miranda alone.
The question was, how long could Amy bear to be alone?
The air was oppressively hot. In the blink of an eye, moonlight through the windows had turned into the fading rays of the setting sun. Straw crunched beneath her feet. Somewhere in the distance, a woman frantically called her name.
A door rattled behind her. Miranda turned to look just as the barn door began to shake. It slid aside slowly, stopping mid-way then moving again as if requiring great effort. Then the silhouette of a young boy appeared in the doorway. He held an oil lamp in one hand and in the other, a leather strap that led to a halter of a brown horse. It appeared to be a young and sturdy animal. Save for a white patch between its eyes, it had no other markings.
“Come on, Bluff,” the boy said. As he drew near, Miranda estimated his age at ten, perhaps eleven. “It’s too hot out today. We’ll ride tomorrow.”
Miranda went unnoticed as the boy led the horse past her. He placed the oil lamp atop a small table across from one of the stalls and used his free hand to unlock the stall door and swing it open. Suddenly, there was a loud thud from the hayloft at the rear of the barn startling both boy and horse. Bluff jerked its massive head to one side and began turning around to face the barn doors. The boy reached out and gently stroked the horse along its taut neck but this seemed to aggravate it all the more.
“Come on, Bluff.” The boy struggled to maintain control of the horse. “It was nothing, probably a squirrel or a bird.” He pulled on the strap as hard as he could to turn the horse back toward the stall, but Bluff would not have it. The horse reared up, yanking the strap from the boy’s grasp and whipping him back against the door of the neighboring stall.
The boy’s eyes were wide with fear and for a moment, Miranda hoped that same fear would keep him frozen in place, allowing the horse to bolt freely from the barn. Instead, the boy moved forward toward Bluff.
“No!” Miranda shouted an unheard warning and watched in horror as Bluff’s left hoof slammed down on the boy’s head, knocking him to the floor in a crumpled heap. The horse then bucked, kicking the table with its hind legs. The oil lamp tumbled to the floor, igniting a patch of dry hay.
At that, the horse bolted from the barn, leaving the boy unconscious and helpless against the flames that were spreading across the floor. Within minutes, the fire had consumed the stalls and the boy with it. The entire right side of the barn would soon be ablaze.
There was nothing Miranda could do. She was merely a spectator in this vision of the past, a dark moment in this land’s history set in the stone of time.
Movement to her left caught Miranda’s attention. Grateful for the distraction, she peered up through the smoke to the hayloft. There another boy, this one clearly older than the first, peered over the edge of the loft on his hands and knees. He appeared to be drowsy and disoriented, as if he’d just awakened from a nap.
His eyes grew wide and he pulled himself to his feet. Frantically, he brushed bits of hay from his hair and clothes. The fire was now underneath the loft, flames scorching the underside of the wood. The boy looked to his right at the ladder that would lead him to safety. Miranda calculated that if the boy started down the ladder immediately, he could escape through the far door.
Apparently, the boy had the same idea.
Unfortunately, it was too late.
He had barely taken two steps toward the ladder when his left leg punched through the floor. He fell through to the knee and screamed. His face contorted in agony from the pain of the jagged wood that sliced into his calf and the flames that singed his bare foot and ankle.
Miranda knew he had no chance. He sat back on the floor and pulled his leg up through the hole. He began crawling toward the ladder but the floor could no longer support him and collapsed, sending the boy plummeting to his death in to the inferno below.
Shaking uncontrollably, Miranda fell to her knees. She began sobbing loudly, ignoring the fire that raged out of control around her. There was a cracking sound directly above her, followed by creaking and groaning of wood. She tilted her head up slowly, just as a roof collapsed.
All the lampposts turned on at once.
Amy sat bolt upright on a park bench beside the Reptile House, nearly sending the video camera tumbling from her lap. She caught it clumsily and noticed the red glow of the power light. She flipped open the screen and aimed the camera and at the light of the lamppost. She had video but not for long. The batteries were nearly dead.
“Amy.”
With a start, she twisted in her seat to see Miranda leaning wearily against the side wall of the building.
“Randy, oh my God.” Amy leapt to her feet and ran to Miranda. In the stark light of the lamppost, Amy could see the woman’s hair was matted and her skin glistened. “What happened? You’re drenched with sweat! Are you okay?”
Miranda swallowed hard before finding her voice. When she finally spoke, she was nearly breathless, inhaling sharply between sentences. “Those boys died here. The barn was here, whole thing burned down. They died here, not over there.”
Miranda raised her arm tiredly and pointed with her thumb toward the other side of the zoo, indicating the Weeping Willow Garden.
“You had a vision...” Amy realized.
Miranda nodded. “I need to sit down.”
Amy helped Miranda to the bench. She slumped onto the wooden seat before closing her eyes and tilting her head back. Amy didn’t want to push her and refrained from asking any further questions until she was sure that Miranda had collected herself.
Miranda wiped the sweat from her forehead with her sleeve. “Hot in there.”
“You were only in there for a few minutes.”
“A few minutes in Hell.”
“There you are.”
Amy looked up just as Eddie approached with his arms outstretched at his sides. He adopted a confused expression as he spoke. “What happened? We’ve been trying to get you on the rad—whoa, Randy, you okay?”
Miranda smiled wanly. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
“She had a vision,” Amy said. “All of our equipment lost power. Even the lampposts went out.”
Eddie looked at the women skeptically. “No freakin’ way.”
“She’s not lying,” Miranda confirmed. “It’s been a few years since I’ve had a vision that powerful.”
“So what did you see?” Eddie asked.
Amy sneered at him and shook her head.
“If you feel up to talking about it, of course,” Eddie added, shrugging at Amy and mouthing What?
Miranda sighed before imparting her experience. “What I saw was that Stanley was partly correct although his location was off. The brothers did die in a barn fire—“
“—but the barn was here.” Eddie finished her sentence. “Right where the Reptile House is now.” He pointed a thumb behind him.
Amy’s eyes widened. “How did you know?”
“Google.”
Miranda chuckled.
“Seriously, you wanted me to research the history of the area, right?” Eddie asked. “I found a website of some local historian and he had all the details of what happened here so your vision was accurate. Sucks that you had to watch some kids die but that’s awesome. Oh, and as for the mother, Nellie, she didn’t hang herself from a tree, she died in a nursing home seven years ago at the age of eighty nine. The father, Leonard, died from a heart attack eleven years before that.”
“Nice work,” Miranda said.
“Maybe we should get some fresh batteries and send two other people back here,” Amy suggested. “Set up video and audio inside the Reptile House. We might catch those speakers turning on by themselves like Stanley said.”
“I’ll stick around,” Edgar volunteered eagerly. He patted his jacket pocket. “I got my digital voice recorder in case those dead kids have something to say. Just send someone back with fresh batteries in the video camera.”
Amy shook her head in disbelief. “Those dead kids? You’re so rude.” She turned to Miranda. “You feel up to walking back?”
“Absolutely.”
The two women started off along the trail back toward the security office. Before they were too far away, Miranda turned to ask Eddie if he was sure that he’d be all right by himself for awhile. It was, after all, technically against the rules of investigation to go anywhere alone. However, Miranda was unable to find her voice. Eddie had taken a seat in the center of the bench and was speaking into his voice recorder. This was not unusual. It was common practice to provide a brief introduction so you know what you’re listening to later when you review the evidence.
What was unusual was seeing the ghosts of the two boys seated on opposite sides of Eddie. As Miranda looked on, they both turned and waved at her before vanishing. Slowly, she raised her hand and returned a short wave.
“Hey, thought I lost you for a second,” Amy said as she walked back toward Miranda. “You worried about leaving Eddie alone?”
Miranda shook her head. “Nah, he’ll be fine. Besides, he’s definitely not alone.”
June 4, 2011
Saturday Nightmares Horror Expo
Spent part of the day in E. Rutherford, NJ at the Saturday Nightmares Horror Expo. I believe it was the convention company's second show. I honestly never thought I'd see the inside of this hotel again since both Chiller Theatre and Creation had pulled their conventions out for various reasons.
SN Expo was a small show, with both dealers and celebrity autograph tables in one ballroom. My main reason for attending was to finally meet
After a brief tour of the dealer room...twice, I then stopped at
After that, I happened across
All in all, a good, quick con and home in time to finish some much needed house chores!
June 3, 2011
Author Interview: Mark E. Benjamin
Since I began featuring author interviews on my blog in January, the response has been far more enthusiastic than I had anticipated. What was intended as a monthly entry quickly became semi-monthly as I reached out to more authors and in turn, more authors reached out to me with requests to be interviewed.
Once in awhile, it's a pleasure when I can go to a party and chat up a fellow local author. Today, we welcome Mark Benjamin who paired his deep Christian faith with his love of history, adventure, and fantasy to produce his first novel, Passing Through Lightning.
1. First, let us know where we can find you online such as blogs, websites, Facebook, etc.
Book: Facebook: "Passing Through Lightning" --- Website: http://ptl.voydphil.org/
Ministry: Facebook: “VoydPhil” --- Website: http://www.voydphil.org/index.html
2.
Are there any particular writers who inspired or influenced you? What genres do you enjoy reading?
Frank Peretti
J.R.R. Tolkien
Alex Haley
Adventure fantasy, mystery, historical.
3. Your first novel, Passing Through Lightning (Xulon Press, 2006) is a Christian themed tale set both in modern day and Civil War era, with a protagonist that travels in time between the two.
What inspired the story?
As far as the setting, my fascination for the Civil War time period and also personal family (ancestors) involvement in the Civil War and in the military in general.
As far as storyline and points that I try to get across, it is from observation of situations and struggles in mine and others' lives. There are many times we need to look back to be able to face the future and scrutinize what lies ahead of us in order to comprehend our past. Passing Through Lightning does that in many ways.
How much research was involved to depict that time in America’s history? Is that a subject in which you had expertise before you wrote the novel?
I have a personal family connection to each war in America’s history with quite a few ancestors of mine being in the Civil War. The most iconic being 6 generations back (my 4Great-Grandfather) Brigadier General James Nagle – who happens to have a statue at the Antietam battlefield. I have always been interested in and a student of history, but when you have relatives that were helping to make it, you tend to have an even higher interest in the subject.
Even though Passing Through Lightning is a historical “fiction”, you still do need to get the history part as close to real events as possible, so there was certainly additional research needed. Mostly done as I wrote and I came up against issues that needed to be just right or clarified I would look up those facts.
4. Can we expect any future books from you?
The Lord willing – yes. I have a first draft done on another book. It has to do with Spiritual and Physical warfare and how it is sometimes difficult to tell who is on what side, especially when they are so intertwined with each other. Plus I have notes on several other books I would like to write.
5. What does Mark Benjamin do when he isn’t writing?
Keeping up with a wife and five kids is a good place to start.
Working on furthering alone VoydPhil. Besides the PR and face-to-face type stuff, there is a lot of research and writing that is put in to VoydPhil. Between publishing newsletters, commentating on news events, articles and correspondence, there is more here to do than there is time to do it in.
VoydPhil’s purpose is to better educate Christians in their Jewish background so as to not only give them a deeper understanding of their own religion but to provide for a better connection to their Jewish cousins so as to present the optimum situation for witnessing and a higher success in bring the Jews to know their Messiah – Jesus.
Genealogy – it’s the ultimate mystery.
And then the biggest interruption – my full time job in computers.
June 2, 2011
About this Writing Stuff...
Know Your Characters Inside and Out by Juliette Wade
5 Free eBooks Every Writer Needs by Jane Friedman
The Value of Reading Your Book Aloud by Kim Wright / posted by Chuck Sambuchino
The 5 Secrets of Great Storytelling by I.J. Schecter
What's the Difference Between Self-Published and Print-On-Demand (POD)? by Brian A. Klems
Agent Advice: Katie Shea of Caren Johnson Literary Agency posted by Chuck Sambuchino
6 Key Components of an Online Author Platform by Jane Friedman
2 Tricks to Keep Your Online Reading Manageable by Jane Friedman
7 Things I've Learned So Far by Lisa Lawmaster Hess posted by Chuck Sambuchino
How I Got My Agent: Diana Spechler posted by Chuck Sambuchino
May 31, 2011
BaltiCon 45 Recap
I did two readings from my first novel, Testing the Prisoner, and two readings from my upcoming paranormal mystery novel, By Your Side. I was also a panelist on three different topics throughout the weekend. The first was about Small Press publishers/authors, another about ghosts, and the last one was about the line between horror and the paranormal. All very lively and engaging discussions.
After the Small Press panel, Hildy Silverman (Editor-In-Chief of Space and Time Magazine ), introduced herself and asked me a bit about Crazy 8 Press, the publishing venture started by Bob Greenberger, Howie Weinstein, Peter David, Aaron Rosenberg, Michael Jan Friedman, and Glenn Hauman. We a had a brief conversation about self publishing, small press, and changes in the publishing business. She wished me luck with my writing.
The best part of the weekend was reuniting with my Maryland friends including the man who opened his publishing doors to me, fellow author Steven H. Wilson . I actually had the chance to sit with these folks and chat and have dinner with them without the burden of working the convention or being chained to dealer tables.
I also attended the 8PM Podcasting panel on Saturday night and met Podiobooks founder, Evo Terra . A very gregarious and energetic man who co-authored Podcasting for Dummies with fellow podcasting guru, Tee Morris . I had the pleasure of meeting Tee later that night at a podcaster party.
On Sunday at 2PM, I had the honor of meeting Dr. Ben Bova, author of over 125 books, both SF novels and real science and six time Nebula award winner. He was a very friendly and intelligent gentleman who regaled us with some very interesting stories from the golden age of SF writers like Arthur C. Clarke, Lester Del Rey, Harlan Ellison and others. On Saturday morning, he was a panelist along with three physicians on the topic of extending the human life span. THAT was an interesting hour.
All in all, an excellent show! Here are some pics from the show, including Ben Bova, Steve Wilson, and a cute Dalek. Yes, a cute Dalek...
May 26, 2011
Get Testing the Prisoner eBook at 50% off from Smashwords!
Soon, Prisoner will be available in all major eBook formats (Nook, iBook, and others) but this specific deal is exclusive to Smashwords. Get it while it's hot, people!
May 25, 2011
About this Writing Stuff...
How to Break the Rules & Get Published by Lori Foster
The Characters Must Come First (in Any Genre) by Juliet Marillier
5 Things The Great Books Taught Me About Writing by Robert Bruce / posted by Jane Friedman
The Revision Process: How I Prepared My Book for Publication by Madeline Sharples / posted by Chuck Sambuchino
Tips on Building Readership by Jane Friedman
7 Things I've Learned So Far by Bill Peschel / posted by Chuck Sambuchino
How I Got My Agent by Anita Clenny / posted by Chuck Sambuchino
Agent Advice: Deborah Grosvenor of Grosvenor Literary Agency posted by Chuck Sambuchino
