Phil Giunta's Blog, page 98

About This Writing Stuff... On Hiatus

As I need to begin recording the audio version of my new novel, By Your Side, and since I am serving as the writer liaison for the Farpoint SF convention happening in February , I'm afraid blogging will need to take a back seat for a few weeks.   Those two activities, in addition to my day job and the rest of my obligations, will consume my time.

At the very least, I'll post updates on By Your Side and Farpoint as they arise.

"About This Writing Stuff..." will resume as my schedule allows.


Happy Holidays

Farpoint's 20th Anniversary Convention!

Are you a fan of Eureka? Farpoint's got returning favorite Felicia Day in February!

Are you a fan of Once Upon a Time or Breaking Bad? Farpoint's got Giancarlo Esposito at one of his first cons!

Also, voice actor Ron Paulsen, John Billingsley (Enterprise, True Blood) and returning favorites Lee Arenberg (Once Upon a Time, Pirates of the Caribbean), and Bonita Friedericy (Chuck)!Writer guests include Peter David, Michael Jan Friedman, Aaron Rosenberg, Bob Greenberger, Donna Galanti, Nobilis Reed, Helen Madden, David Mack, Don Sakers, Howard Weinstein, Lance Woods, Steven H. Wilson, and more...including yours truly!

Click here to check out Farpoint's website for more details!

So This Book Arrived in the Mail Today...

The proof copy of my second paranormal mystery novel, By Your Side, arrived in the mail today from my publisher.   Tis a beautiful thing! 

Electronic copies have been sent to those book reviewers that accept that format.  My publisher will be shipping paperback copies to the rest in the coming weeks.

The book is on target to launch at Farpoint and then will be released to the market in March.   Ironically, By Your Side is following the same release schedule as my first novel, Testing the Prisoner, down to the exact time of year!

Whereas being published in  ReDeus: Divine Tales was a wonderful birthday gift back in the summer, this is an excellent Christmas gift...to myself!  :-)

Taking a Break Over the Holiday...

This blog will go dark for the rest of the week.  I'll resume next week with a new edition of "About This Writing Stuff."  Thanksgiving weekend will find me kicking off the recording of the audio version of my upcoming novel, By Your Side.  Also, as writer liaison for the Farpoint SF Convention coming in February, I need to hunker down and start scheduling the discussion panels for the writers programming track.

And somewhere in there, I need to actually rest before kicking the Christmas decorating into high gear next week.

For now, have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

We Have a Book!!

I am ecstatic to report that my second paranormal mystery novel, By Your Side, has gone to press!  My publisher sent the eProof copy to me on Friday and a paperback proof copy is coming next week. 

By Your Side is on track for a March 2013 release and will launch at Farpoint , a SF Media convention that will take place February 15-17, 2013 in Timonium, MD.

What's it about? 

While haunted by visions of her brother's suicide, psychic-medium Miranda Lorensen is called to Lancaster, Pennsylvania to investigate a series of bizarre deaths—some of which are also suicides. Miranda and her team of paranormal investigators quickly find themselves confronted by a vengeful spirit awakened thirty-three years after a bloody family tragedy.  Miranda realizes that only she can stop the entity before it claims its final victims, but will her obsession for saving lives redeem her for the brother she failed?


Here is an excerpt!  This scene is from the POV of our protagonist, Miranda Lorensen...

"Nancy!" Miranda called. "None of this is going to bring back the life you had, or the children you lost. Ginny never did anything to you. She’s innocent!" What had started as a dull ache in her shoulders and upper back was now becoming unbearable. She desperately wanted to collapse on a soft bed in dry pajamas. Lord, please. I’m getting too old for this. Help me out here.

Ginny spun, her eyes burning with rage. The eyes of Nancy Vernon. "So were my children!"

"Then why take another child’s life?" Miranda shook her head. "I won’t allow it. Give Ginny to me, now!"

"You can’t stop me. You can’t win this."

There was a blur of motion to Miranda’s left. Amy bolted from the stairwell on a dead run. Startled, Ginny clumsily swung a leg over the rail.

Miranda gasped. "No!"

Amy lunged forward, wrapping one arm around Ginny’s midsection. The girl screamed and slid several inches along the slick rail before Amy’s weight brought her down to the asphalt roof in a crumpled heap. Miranda cringed, inhaling sharply through gritted teeth.

Ginny cried out, wincing in pain. For a few moments, she was utterly motionless, her mouth hanging open. Her chest heaved as she began breathing in spasms. Beside her, Amy pushed herself to her knees and swept a veil of drenched hair from her face. Miranda could see scrapes and scratches on Amy’s hand and arm that were just beginning to bleed.

"How’s that for being stopped, bitch?" Amy said.

Miranda hurried toward them. "Are you okay?"

Amy nodded just as Ginny rolled onto her side with a strangled moan and drew her knees up to her chest in a fetal position. Amy slipped her arm from the girl’s waist and laid a gentle hand on her shoulder. "I’m sorry, Ginny."

"Don’t be." Miranda crouched down beside Ginny. "She may be hurt, but you saved her life." She grasped Ginny’s ankles. "We need to be careful now. Hold her down. If Nancy’s still—"

"Get away from her right now!"

Miranda and Amy looked up in unison as a man of average height and build approached from the fire escape. He wore faded jeans and a dark blue polo shirt. A police badge was clipped to his belt.

And his semi-automatic was leveled at Miranda.

She lifted her hands, palms out. "Sir, we’re not armed."

"I don’t care. Move away now."

"Denny!" Ginny cried. Her raspy voice was tinged with panic. "These are the people I told you about, the ones from the library and the restaurant. They forced me up here and tried to throw me off." Her body trembled as she began sobbing. "Help me, please."

So Nancy’s still in her head. This should get interesting.

Taking one hand off the gun, the cop pointed toward the stairwell access. "I’m going to tell you this only once. Both of you will release Ms. Knedlhans and get over there on your knees, hands on your heads, now."

Miranda refused to budge. "If we let Ginny go, she’ll jump. She was already up here when we arrived. Now, you can shoot us but I guarantee you’ll be scraping her off the street. All we want is to get her safely back inside. Then I’ll explain everything."

"I don’t think so, blondie," Ginny scoffed. Miranda glanced at her but it was Nancy Vernon who met her gaze. She shot a sidelong glance at the cop. "I’m so sorry, Denny. I know how much she meant to you."

Meant?

Denny took a step forward. "Ginny, what are you—"

The girl swung her fist upward and backhanded Amy, sending her stumbling into the iron railing.

Miranda leaned over Ginny to pin her arms to her side but Nancy anticipated her. She slammed both feet into Miranda’s midsection, knocking the wind out of her. Miranda doubled over as Ginny gracelessly pushed herself up and reached for the rail.

Denny lowered his gun and bolted forward. "Ginny, stop!"

Without hesitation, Miranda charged ahead, grasping for Ginny with both hands. By the time she stopped moving, Miranda was bent over the rail with a bird’s eye view of the parking lot. She felt Amy’s arms around her legs, providing ballast.

Miranda strained to breathe against the pressure of the metal against her abdomen. Taking short breaths, she ignored it and focused on Ginny dangling precariously in her grasp. With one hand, she held Ginny’s left forearm while in the other, a wad of stretched maroon tank top that was already beginning to tear.

"A little help," Miranda groaned. The fleeting image of a frightened girl in an oak tree flashed through her mind. Don’t let go…"I can’t hold her."

In her peripheral vision, Denny climbed the rail to her right. He hooked his feet under it and held on with one hand as he crouched down. He extended his free hand, fingers brushing Ginny’s shoulder.

"Give me your other hand, sweetheart," Denny said.

Ginny tilted her head and gazed up at him quizzically. "Now why would I do that? Didn’t I make myself clear? This can only end one way. The blonde can’t hold on forever."

Miranda knew that only she could see Nancy Vernon. To Denny, his best friend’s daughter was ten stories and two tentative grips away from joining her father. Don’t let go.

At that moment, a hole opened up in the back of Ginny’s tank top but Miranda maintained her grip. She squeezed Ginny’s forearm with her other hand in a feeble attempt to ward off the growing numbness in her fingers.

Denny stretched his arm desperately. "Ginny, please."

If I can get her closer. Miranda braced her knees against the rail and arched her back, pulling Ginny upward until she was within Denny’s reach. Nancy made no motion to hinder her effort. She merely allowed Ginny’s body to hang like deadweight, waiting for Miranda’s grip to weaken.

"That’s good." Denny slid his way closer along the rail. Miranda marveled at his courage but feared for him nearly as much as for Ginny. "Just a little higher."

Somewhere below them, Miranda heard excited voices and the rattling of metal but ignored it. She pressed her foot against the rail for support. Denny wrapped a hand around Ginny’s bicep and began to lift her—but Nancy would not have it. She yanked her arm from Miranda’s grasp and goudged the back of Denny’s hand with her fingernails. He howled in pain and recoiled, dropping her arm.

Fabric tore. Amy gasped.

And Ginny fell.

About This Writing Stuff...

This week, we learn why Lee Goldberg thinks that now is the best time to be a writer.  Jody Hedlund warns us about common first-chapter mistakes while Ann Aguirre offers tips on changing your process to become more productive.  Dean Wesley Smith looks back on the year in publishing. IndieReader praises the Espresso Book Machine while Arthur Klebanoff opines on the benefits of Amazon's Kindle Serials program.  P.J. Parrish brings us Ian Fleming's essay, How to Write a Thriller.

And more!  Enjoy...


The Best Time To Be a Writer by Lee Goldberg

New Survey Supports That Ebook Borrowers Buy, Too by Jeremy Greenfield

Five Common First-Chapter Mistakes by Jody Hedlund

Changing Your Process by Ann Aguirre

The New World of Publishing: Some Perspective on 2012 by Dean Wesley Smith

Will Kindle Serials Transform Anthology Publishing? by Arthur Klebanoff

The Espresso Book Machine: Double Shot of Innovation by Keri English

The Point of a Scene: Thinking in Concepts by Jami Gold

Do You Cringe When Authors Market Their Books? by Dan Blank

Are You Thrilling or Merely Mysterious?   by P.J. Parrish

7 Ways Writing a Screenplay is Different Than Writing a Novel by Michael Ferris

About This Writing Stuff...

This week, I present a shorter version of About This Writing Stuff as I'm pushing to complete a story this week.   Breaking away from her series on Structure, Kristen Lamb debunks three platform-crippling myths.   Kristine Kathryn Rusch offers estate advice for writers while Goodreads CEO, Otis Chandler, addresses the future of discoverability.   Jami Gold discusses the journey to publication and writing a series versus a stand-alone tale.  John Grisham talks writing, reviews, sex scenes and politics.  All that and a bit more...enjoy!


3 Social Media Myths that Can Cripple Our Author Platform by Kristen Lamb

Want To Be Read 100 Years From Now?  Here's How by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

2 Ways Your Brain is Wired to Undermine Your Story and What To Do About It by Lisa Cron

John Grisham: My Sex Scenes Make My Wife Laugh Out Loud an interview with John Grisham by Celia Walden

Transformational Journeys: Working with Archetypes by Robin LaFevers

Goodreads CEO Otis Chandler on the Future of Discoverability and Social Reading by Jeremy Greenfield 
 
Unreliable Narrators by Clare Langely-Hawthorne

Can We Tell When We're Getting Close? and Series vs. Stand-Alone, What Should We Work on Next? by Jami Gold

About This Writing Stuff...

This week, Amazon could be deleting your reviews!  Ed Robertson refutes the idea that self-published writers are killing the industry while Michelle Gagnon is fed up with the mud-slinging between traditionally and self-published authors.  Kristen Lamb offers the next installment in her series on structure.  James Scott Bell and Kristine Kathryn Rusch remind us that it's the reader who matters most.  Tracy Hahn-Burkett gets the final word on epilogues, and what writer wouldn't want 1,000 true fans?  All that and more...enjoy! 


Self-Publishers Aren't Killing the Industry, They're Saving It  by Ed Robertson via David Gaughran

eBooks at 25% by Dean Wesley Smith

Amazon Removes Reviews by JA Konrath

Authors Cannot Review Authors on Amazon   by Prachi Gupta

Structure Part 8 - Balancing the Scenes That Make Up Your Novel by Kristen Lamb

No Reader Left Behind by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Why It's Not the Critic Who Matters by Shelli Johnson

After "The End" - The Epilogue by Tracy Hahn-Burkett

Enough Already by Michelle Gagnon

Making Readers One at a Time by James Scott Bell

1,000 True Fans by Kevin Kelly (this is an oldie but goodie that Kristine Kathryn Rusch references in her latest post above)

Kindlegraph is now Authorgraph!

Ladies and gents, Authorgraph (formerly Kindlegraph), is a service through which readers can request an author's autograph digitally onto a Kindle ebook. For example, here is my Authorgraph page . You can read more about Authorgraph on the website.
A few days ago, I received the following email from Authorgraph founder, Evan Jacobs:

I have exciting news to share with you. Kindlegraph is now Authorgraph!

This is a big deal since it means that readers can now receive digital inscriptions from their favorite authors regardless of which digital reading app or device they use.

In addition, I've bundled a bunch of other significant updates into this relaunch including the following:

Readers no longer need a Twitter account to request an Authorgraph (they can simply use an email and password)The website has been completely redesignedReaders can submit an Authorgraph request via the widget on your blog or website

Finally, I want to take this opportunity to announce that there are now more than 5,000 authors using the Authorgraph service to connect with their readers! This is something I never imagined when I started this service more than a year ago. I want to thank you for your support and enthusiasm for Authorgraph and I look forward to sharing many of the exciting new features that I'm currently developing.

Regards,
Evan Jacobs, Founder
http://www.authorgraph.com

About This Writing Stuff...

On this early, pre-hurricane Sandy edition, we have a few more morsels of advice for those participating in NaNoWriMo.  Amazon's author rankings and KDP Select are also discussed and Smashwords founder Mark Coker has some harsh words on the topic.  Melissa Foster wonders whether the DIY authors are ruining publishing as a whole.  Jeremy Greenfield and Colin Robinson debate Robinson's comments about saving the publishing industry. Richard Curtis warns of the slippery slope of publishing novels as eBooks from the start....and more!  Enjoy, and if you're in the path of Sandy, please be safe.

8 Simple Tips to Write Better by Elizabeth Sims

How to Prepare for NaNoWriMo: To Outline or Not to Outline by Kevin Kaiser via Briam Klems

Productivity Tips for NaNoWriMo by Kevin J. Anderson

Mad Dash by Ben Yagoda

Amazon Author Rankings and Who They Actually Benefit by John Scalzi

Popularity, Visibility, and KDP Select by David Gaughran

Amazon is Playing Indie Authors Like Pawns by Mark Coker, Founder of Smashwords

Are Self-Pubbed Authors Killing the Publishing Industry?   by Melissa Foster

Is Blogging Important for Novelists Considering Sellf Publishing?   by Jody Hedlund

The Slippery Slope of E-Originals Part One and  Part Two by Richard Curtis

Ten Ways to Save the Publishing Industry and Debating Ten Ways to Save the Publishing Industry by Colin Robinson

Commentary on Ten Ways to Save the Publishing Industry by Jeremy Greenfield

After Earth: Innocence - The Reviews are In by Bob Greenberger