Kenneth Atchity's Blog, page 234

My Addiction Discusses The Messiah Matrix

Interview with Kenneth John Atchity

















Interview with
Kenneth John Atchity Author of Homer's Iliad: The Shield of Memory - Which was his Ph.D. Dissertation. The work
was awarded Yale Graduate School's Highest Academic Honor - The Porter Prize;
and was later published by Southern Illinois University Press (Edited by John
Gardner).  Mentors at Yale Included
Thomas Bergin, Thomas Greene, A. Bartlett Giamatti, Richard Ellinger, Eric
Segal and Lowry Nelson Jr.






His Twenty Books Include:







·        
Homer: Critical Essays (G.K.Hall), 


·        
The Renaissance Reader (HarperCollins), 


·        
The Classical Greek Reader (Harper-Oxford University
Press),


·        
Italian
Literature: Roots & Branches (Yale University Press),


·        
A Writer’s Time (W.W. Norton)


·        
Seven Ways to Die (with William Diehl) (Story Merchant
Books)


·        
And The Classical Roman
Reader (Harper-Oxford)






Kenneth represents writers of both fiction and nonfiction. He
accounts for numerous bestsellers and movies both produced in television and on
the big screen. In 2011 he was nominated for an Emmy Award for Producing “The
Kennedy Detail.”






We are very pleased to introduce our readers to his latest
addition to storytelling which is his first novel called The Messiah Matrix.






Kenneth – thank you so much for giving me this interview.
From the interviews I have done so far over the past year I’m fairly positive
that you must be one of the most aspiring authors I have ever done an interview
on.  






Thank
you, Nadine. I’m definitely aspiring!






1.   
As a start I always like for authors to tell us a
bit about themselves. Where did your journey start, what made you start
writing?





I’m
sure it was my mother egging me on from the kitchen as I sat at the table
turning an essay into a short story. She came up with some preposterous plots,
but I modified them and made them work. Her mantra was “go for it”!





2.   
I have to ask (and I know I have asked some other
authors the same thing), how
do you approach your writing? A lot of writers build their story. They first
develop their characters, then develop their plot and then start writing.
Others just jump into it from the word go.





Every
project is different, but the FIRST THING I always do is to carve out time each
day to work on my current ‘creative project.’ Without time, we have nothing—and
it is time that gets work done.





3.   
Another question that I have asked before but
would like your input on is how do you treat sequel writing? As an author
(unpublished but striving) myself, I
had written my 1st novel, whilst I was going / am going through the
editing process I started work on its sequel.  I found that as my story progressed there was
some stuff that came up that I wanted to add into the first novel which I
thought would tie them together. Do you experience similar notions? If you did
how do you deal with it?








I don’t have the
‘sequel problem’ you’re experiencing. I focus on the story at hand, which is
challenge enough in itself. I can see how that would get complicated though,
and would have to understand in more detail to comment usefully.





4.   
From basic reviews I had obtained on The Messiah
Matrix I concluded that the novel covers a great story that is layered with
romance, believable characters, wonderful settings and an unpredictable ending.
Would you mind elaborating a bit on what readers could expect?





Readers
can expect to be drawn into one of the greatest mysteries of the last two
thousand years—how did the story of Jesus Christ get started? What is its
provable historical roots?





5.   
Where can readers follow your novels and latest
updates?





The
Messiah Matrix has its own website, www.messiahmatrix.com.
We’d love nothing more than questions from readers on the blog section of that
website. For my progress in general, check out kenatchity.blogspot.com and
storymerchant.com.  Messiah and Seven
Ways to Die also have their own Facebook pages.





6.   
The novel has reached number one on kindle. How
do you feel about that? 





I
was happily surprised, especially in England where it’s high on many lists and
selling very well despite the fact that we haven’t begun to market it yet.





7.   
Some readers claim that this novel was far better
than the Da Vinci Code. This is high praise, what are your views?





Of
course I knew the book would be compared to Dan Brown, whom I admire. My view
is that the issues Messiah Matrix
deals with are much more monumental—the very origins of Christianity—than Da Vinci, but I admire his mastery of
detail, which I couldn’t hope to equal.





8.   
Where did the idea come from for the writing of
the Messiah Matrix?





It
came from my Roman Catholic upbringing, and the doubts I began having at the
age of 15 about the “facts” of the life of Jesus, and the “rules” of the
Catholic Church. For example, everyone who ate meat on Fridays went to hell for
all eternity if they didn’t receive confession before they died. THEN the
Church changed the rules and said it’s okay to eat meat on Friday. So what
happened to all those souls in hell for eating meat on Friday? The answer is
that they’re still there because those were the rules when they were alive.
Hmmm, I thought, what kind of God acts like that? Do these rules, in fact, have
anything to do with God at all? Read the novel and find out.





9.   
As a Christian, what can readers expect to
discover with regards to the roots of Christianity, anti-Christian perspectives
and general religious views.








The
book is very respectful of Christianity, and its basic peaceful doctrines; it’s
much less tolerant of organized religion, which I personally believe is one of
the greatest causers of violence the world has ever known. If read properly,
the book actually acclaims that Christianity was founded in a magnificent way
that should make everyone even prouder to be a Christian.





     10. 
You recently did an article on CNN religion’s
site that read “the Jesus debate: man vs. myth. The article covers Timothy
Freke’s discovery of a religious image that some would call obscene. From the
description it was of a drawing from a third-century amulet depicting a naked
man nailed to a cross. The name on the amulet however isn’t that of Jesus of
Nazareth, instead it was a pseudonym for Osiris-Dionysus, a pagan god in
ancient Mediterranean culture. How was this article received within the public?
What’s your personal conclusion?





Why
is a man hanging on a cross obscene if it’s Orpheus (not Osiris) and not
obscene if it’s Jesus? Geez, this kind of stuff makes me nuts. The name on the
amulet is actually Orpheus—Bacchus (another name of Dionysus).








1 1. 
As an author, can you give struggling authors any
advice on the way forward?





The
way forward is persistence. Never give up. And, as the late great Ray Bradbury
said, “Start writing more. It’ll get rid of all those moods you’re having!”





1 2. 
Final quote/ inspiration note.



“Go for it!” and read The Messiah Matrix, and review it for amazon.

Maggie G. on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

With Story Merchant client Dennis Walsh (Nobody Walks, forthcoming) at Dan Tana’s

Leonard Maltin Names Hysteria One of the Five Best Indies

Leonard Maltin









OFF-HOLLYWOOD: The Five Best Indie Movies To See This Month 






This may be the first summer movie season where box-office results in
China and Russia mean more to Hollywood than the domestic returns.
That's not good news for those of us who crave movies for mature
audiences, as those mushrooming new markets seem especially hungry for
superheroes, special effects, and 3-D.




On the other hand, the report from last month's Cannes Film Festival
was bullish about indie movies, with buyers spending more money than
they have in recent years. That spells hope for filmmakers who have
interesting stories to tell and don't have multimillion dollar budgets.




As for the here-and-now, even during summer months it's possible for
discerning moviegoers to find adult fare if they're just willing to seek
it out. Here are my picks for June.

HYSTERIA (in theaters)









The movie that purports to chronicle the invention of the vibrator
is, in fact, a sassy, irreverent comedy about sexual repression in
Victorian England. Hugh Dancy plays a young doctor with forward-thinking
ideas who winds up working for straitlaced (and straight-faced)
physician Jonathan Pryce, who treats a female condition he calls
"hysteria" with the artful use of his finger. Maggie Gyllenhaal,
Felicity Jones, and Rupert Everett costar. 




You'll find my full review HERE .

BEACH BOOK FESTIVAL NAMES “SEVEN WAYS TO DIE” FOR GRAND PRIZE

NEW YORK _ A crime thriller with a unique back story is the grand prize winner of the 2012 Beach Book Festival, which honors the summer’s hottest reads. “Seven Ways to Die” is the final book from best-selling author William Diehl, who passed away five years ago after writing 400 pages of the novel, yet leaving it still incomplete.



His wife allowed his  friend and fellow author, Kenneth Atchity, to step in and complete the work. Atchity, who has written 15 books and produced 30 films, used notes and an outline to finish the whodunit. Fans of intriguing plots and page-turning reads will not be disappointed.



The judges awarded the book top honors for its colorful characters and intriguing plot, making it a perfect beach read for the coming season. The authors will be honored at a private awards ceremony to be held June 22 at the Grolier Club in Manhattan.

Hollywood snaps up hot ebook titles

Producers mine a new source of branded material

By Rachel Abrams










ebooks are emerging as a sexy new source of material for Hollywood.










With
the "50 Shades of Grey" series hitting 10 million sales this week,
ebooks are emerging as a sexy new source of material for Hollywood. The
majors are keeping a close eye on digital bestseller lists and showing a
willingness to pay traditional book-rights fees for digital titles --
provided they come with built-in brand awareness.




The hunt to option
such titles is heating up after a handful of high-profile sales of
ebooks, many self-published, including April's $3 million sale of "50
Shades" to Universal. Observers credit "Shades" with paving the way for
subsequent sales of "Wool" and "On the Island," both of which sold for
big bucks despite the fact that both went straight to Kindles and iPads
without going through major publishers.




"As we've known for years
and years, the studios have been much more interested in brands, whether
that's a board game or video game or traditional book," said Steve
Fisher, veep of APA and a literary agent who represents books-to-films
deals. "The last couple of deals have really indicated a huge
willingness on the part of studios and other buyers to be open to ebooks
in a way they hadn't been before."




Fisher most recently repped
the author of "On the Island," a romance eBook which MGM snapped up
(Daily Variety, May 14). Tome by Des Moines, Iowa resident Tracey
Garvis-Graves spent five weeks on the New York Times bestseller list
before the Lion forked over a low- to mid-six-figure fee.




"The
effect is that they're looking more closely than ever at the ebook list
for the original ebook bestsellers," said Jody Hotchkiss, a literary
agent with Hotchkiss and Associates.

But traditional books have a
key advantage over their digital counterparts: publishers tend to get
into business with known quantities, or properties vouched for by
literary agents. With ebooks, it's the Wild West when it comes to
identifying promising authors and material. Digital books are virtually
free to publish, and there's no gatekeepers vetting their quality.

According
to data from research firm Publishers Marketplace, film and TV
producers bought rights to 209 books last year and 79 so far this year.
Very few of those were ebooks, and nearly all sold before they were
published.




That means ebooks grab the attention of lit agents only
after they start rising on the charts or generate enough word-of-mouth
buzz. Currently high-charting ebooks include "Beauty" by Laurell K.
Hamilton; Neal Stephenson's sword-fighting epic "Mongoliad"; romance
"The Marriage Bargain" by Jennifer Probst; and "Beautiful Disaster" by
Jamie McGuire -- none of which have yet been picked up. Meanwhile,
E.L. James' steamy "50 Shades" continues to top the ebook chart.




The
New York Times began listing bestselling ebooks in early 2011, a few
months before thriller author John Locke reached 1 million in sales for
his ebooks. But just like with traditional book publishing, getting
discovered is a big challenge for the ebooks that aren't perched atop
the bestseller list.




"The tricky thing about ebooks is that there
are a lot of them out there," Fisher said, pointing out that ebooks
don't get promoted the way traditional books can be. Reps often catch
wind of self-published material by looking at the top-sellers lists on
Amazon and iTunes.




"We follow sales by looking online, just as
anybody can," said Jane Dystel, president of literary management agency
Dystel & Goderich. Dystel found "On the Island" author Garvis-Graves
by checking online book sales, later bringing the scribe to Fisher.




"The
availability of ebooks is much greater today than it was even six
months ago ... as the availability of good books increases, of course
Hollywood is also going to be more interested," she said.




But
because many are self-published, ebooks must also contend with the
stigma that they're not the same quality as traditional novels. Most
agents would rather not dig through the virtual slush pile in the hopes
of finding a "50 Shades."




"I'm finding that book scouts in New
York are really integral to this process even more so than they are
(for) traditional books," Fisher said. "It's harder for your average
ebook to separate itself from the pack, but a lot of these authors are
very savvy at promoting themselves."




Case in point: Amanda
Hocking, the 28-year-old self-published writer whose popular paranormal
teen novels landed her a movie contract with Media Rights Capital last
year. After selling more than 100,000 ebooks, Hocking landed a $2
million deal from St. Martin's Press for a four-book series, turning
down a higher bid from a competitor that she felt wouldn't reach as many
readers.




"Studios have signalled that they don't care whether
it's an ebook or a hardbook because, ultimately, they bring the same
kind of brand awareness that they so value," Fisher said.

Studios
are willing to pay for that brand awareness. In a non-competitive
situation, traditional book rights often fetch between $150,000 to
$250,000 -- a range that now applies to popular e-fare.




While
agents like Fisher may not always deal with publishers when it comes to
ebooks, they rely heavily on book scouts -- filters that tend to go in
and out of vogue as studios cut back budgets and depend upon junior
execs to bring in material.




"In-house book scouts stopped being
common when the studios determined that New York publishing was less
important for movies (than) 10 to 15 years ago," Hotchkiss said.

Studios,
for example, often have a book scout in-house or work with an outside
company. Disney, 20th Century Fox and Sony, for example, have a scout on
staff, while Warner Bros. and Universal work with outside companies on
an exclusive basis.




But as hot ebooks continue to go mainstream, Hollywood will surely continue to pay attention.




"Studios
and major buyers out here were taking their book scouts' calls a lot
more quickly and suddenly paying attention to New York in a way that I
hadn't seen in years," Fisher said of the immediate effect of the "50
Shades" sale. "I think that any qualms that buyers had about getting
behind an ebook ... (are) gone."



Contact Rachel Abrams at
Rachel.Abrams@variety.com

Fossil River Book Trailer

Guest Post: The Power of a Pin: Why Pinterest Is a Game Changer by Penny C. Sansevieri

 



About ten months ago, I listened to Gary Vaynerchuck talk about this new site called Pinterest. He was really excited about it, though at first I didn't get it. "Get on Pinterest now!" Gary encouraged. I didn't listen, thinking, "Oh, dear, not another social network!" But Pinterest has proven to be anything but another social network. First off, its growth has been extraordinary. According to several reports, including a blog post shared on Mashable, from September 2011 to December 2011, unique visitors on Pinterest increased by 429 percent. That kind of growth has never been seen in a social network and while it's still early for Pinterest, we're seeing a lot of staying power, especially with established brands like Macy's, Land's End and magazines such as Real Simple -- which got more traffic from Pinterest in October 2011 than from Facebook.



For those of you who haven't been on Pinterest, the concept is almost deceptively simple. You sign up for an account (there's a waiting period right now as Pinterest tries to manage traffic and new accounts; once you sign up it should take about a week before you can get in). The site is a collection of boards, sort of like virtual bulletin boards that you name and add to your page. You can have as many boards as you want and name them whatever you want (though make sure to read through the Pinterest terms of service so you know you're not violating any of their regulations). The boards can describe your brand, book, message, or business. We'll look at some board ideas in a minute but for now, think bulletin board.



So, that said, how can you make the most of Pinterest? Like any social network, I recommend that you poke around, follow a few people in your industry and see what they are posting about. There are a lot of creative boards and a lot of companies using Pinterest as a unique brand extension. Check out Chobani's Pinterest page; they have all sorts of boards that tie into their brand including Chobani Champions, recipes, spoons, and sans yogurt which is a board about all things non-yogurt related.



Picking your Boards



First off, it's important to come up with creative and interesting board names. Keep in mind that these board names get shared whenever someone repins you so make them catchy!

 

When you first start on Pinterest, you are a completely blank slate. It's up to you to fill your new Pinterest page with exciting boards. But where to start? Well, your business, product, message, or book will often determine the boards you put up. You should consider your audience first and what they would like to see. Here are a few ideas:

 

If you do a lot of speaking or other offline events, create a board that captures the excitement of these by posting pictures and videos. This is especially great if you have a conference or other big event you're planning. You could put the board up early with "teaser" content to encourage sign-ups, too!

 

Create a customer or reader board that has pictures and/or videos of happy customers. I often talk about capturing endorsements or reviews on video when you see someone at an event, these can be posted to this board.

 

How-to boards are great as well. You can create a board (or several) around how-to's related to your product or service.

 

Company boards are great too, you can create one that showcases your company, sharing your core values, and also highlights your team.

 

Thank you boards are great, too. Consider creating a thank you board for clients.

If you're promoting a new book, product, or campaign you can also create a board to support that. The board can have tutorials on it, or videos of the new product. It can be a combination of how-to and showcasing what you're offering.

 

Tutorials are big for our company, so we plan to offer tutorial boards to help walk our clients through how to use social media, how to continue reaping the benefits from our campaigns once they are done, etc.

 

Trends and seasonal stuff make great boards, too. So don't hesitate to create a holiday or trend board if you think your audience will be interested.

 

You can also let your customers work on a board with you. Create a user-generated content board and invite customers or readers to pin away!





Marketing Ideas



If the idea of Pinterest is still intimidating, consider the following marketing ideas for your boards:



Videos: Pinterest loves videos. What videos can you pin to a board?



Keywords are big on Pinterest, so be sure to think carefully about what you name your picture and what words you use in the description. You can even use hashtags on Pinterest and if you're trying to get the attention of another Pinner, use the @ followed by their Pin-name to tag them. You can also use a dollar sign to add a "ribbon" to your pin that will immediately show pricing. This is great if you're selling a product.

When you add your pin, don't forget to tweet it and add it to Facebook; you can do this as soon as the pin is loaded.



When you blog, be sure to add great pictures to your blog so that when you pin your blog post to your board, you can capture a great image. Images on Pinterest are obviously important!



Click the "popular" link on Pinterest to see what's hot and what's trending. You might be able to make this part of your content strategy.



Be sure to promote your Pinterest account on Facebook, Twitter, on your website, and in your email signature line, of course.



A Few Final Points



Be sure to add a catchy description to your profile and when you're setting up your Pinterest account, link it to your Facebook and Twitter accounts. This will help you gain followers, and add the icons to your profile page so you can direct people there, too.



Make sure to engage on Pinterest. Repin pins you love, comment on pins and since you can see pins on the site from folks you aren't even connected with, be sure to broaden your reach when networking. You never know where the next follower will come from.



Pinterest is a fun, if not highly addictive way, to start marketing. Still not sure what to do on Pinterest? Then get started by following others in your industry and get a sense of what they're doing. While the future of Pinterest is still uncertain, one thing we know is for sure. The site has grown at rates that no one expected and continues to do so. It's been the quickest site to monetize (to give you perspective, it took Twitter five years to monetize) and has already become a staple for many businesses.



Happy Pinning!

City Book Review Gives Story Merchant Client Dennis Palumbo's Fever Dream Four Out Five Stars!

 


Fever Dream










By Dennis Palumbo

Poisoned Pen Press, $24.95, 350 pages

ISBN 9781455114771

Fever Dream by Dennis Palumbo is the second book to feature
Daniel Rinaldi, a clinical psychologist specializing in the treatment of
traumatic stress. This time he’s called into support police action to
resolve a bank hostage situation. Robbers have released one woman and
Rinaldi must get as much information from her as possible before SWAT
goes in.



Unfortunately, time is short and, in response to shots fired
inside the bank, SWAT responds. Only the bank guard survives and he’s
wounded by a sniper’s bullet.

The current DA is running for governor and wants Rinaldi to stay on
the case to get as much information as possible from the traumatized
witness. Except nothing runs smoothly and Rinaldi becomes a target for
violent attack. Now it’s a race against time to capture the robbers.
Then events escalate with an attempt on the DA’s life. Rinaldi is also
saddened by a suicide at the clinic where he worked as an intern. When
you put these strands together, there’s a very clever set of problems to
solve. Although Rinaldi’s capacity to absorb punishment is less than
realistic, this is a high-adrenaline action thriller with some clever
deductive reasoning to show whodunnit. Highly recommended!

Reviewed by David Marshall

NightSide – Clint Hill And Lisa McCubbin, Authors Of “Mrs. Kennedy And Me” Were In Studio « CBS Boston

Listen to this great interview with Dan Rea on Boston's NightSide.



NightSide – Clint Hill And Lisa McCubbin, Authors Of “Mrs. Kennedy And Me” Were In Studio « CBS Boston