M.A. Comley's Blog, page 16

January 31, 2012

Featured author today is Libby Fischer Hellmann

It's an absolute pleasure to introduce Libby Fischer Hellmann to my blog. Here's Libby's bio.


Libby Fischer Hellmann is the Anthony-nominatedauthor of 9 crime fiction novels, which include two series and severalstand-alones. The Ellie Foreman suspense series, which Libby describes as across between "Desperate Housewives" and "24," includes ANEYE FOR MURDER, and 3 others.Libby also writes the harder edged Georgia Davis PI series, (EASY INNOCENCE,DOUBLEBACK, and TOXICITY)  and the acclaimed stand-alone thriller SET THENIGHT ON FIRE. All her books, including short stories, are available on Kindle.A BITTER VEIL, a literary thriller set in revolutionary Iran, will be released April, 2012. 
TOXICITY
 [image error]http://www.amazon.com/Toxicity-ebook/dp/B005KK9MM2/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1314900768&sr=1-1  http://www.amazon.co.uk/Toxicity-ebook/dp/B005KK9MM2/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1314900768&sr=1-1  You can find Libby's other books on her Amazon author page. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Libby-Fischer-Hellmann/e/B005UJ1APK/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1  
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Published on January 31, 2012 01:56

January 30, 2012

Featured author today is Linda Prather

In my attempt to raise readers awareness of Indie authors, today it's my pleasure to welcome Linda Prather to my blog.


Here's Linda's fascinating bio.

 
Kentucky author living in Lexington,Kentucky.  I have always had a penchantfor things a little outside the norm. I saw my first "ghost" when I was fiveyears old, and I've spent a lifetime trying to understand that vision.  Was it real? And if it was, why?  I became aparanormal investigator and love old houses that go bump in the night. I canoften be found in old cemeteries just hanging out.

I've studied metaphysics, including theareas of touch healing, dream analysis, meditation and hypnosis. The power ofthe mind has always fascinated me. When reading I love books that allow me totravel around the world without ever leaving home.  As an author my greatest desire is to createcharacters that readers can love and hate, laugh and cry with, and stories thatallow the reader to spend a few hours in sheer entertainment.

The Jacody Ives series was my first attemptto combine my love of true mystery and the paranormal.  The Catherine Mans' series continues andexpands that combination, delving into the darker side of the power of themind.






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http://www.amazon.com/cant-FIND-Catherine-Suspense-ebook/dp/B007133JY8


http://www.amazon.co.uk/cant-FIND-Catherine-Suspense-ebook/dp/B007133JY8

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 http://www.amazon.com/Gifts-Jacody-Mystery-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B003U4WVQ4

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gifts-Jacody-Mystery-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B003U4WVQ4




You can find Linda's other books on her Amazon author page.

 http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_at_ep_srch?_encoding=UTF8&sort=relevancerank&search-alias=books&field-author=Linda%20S.%20Prather

And her website is: jacodypress.blogspot.com


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Published on January 30, 2012 00:37

January 29, 2012

Today's featured Indie author is Harry Nicholson



Whitby (UK) writer, Harry Nicholson, published his first novel in January 2011.
After careers as a merchant navy radio officer and in television studios, Harry retired to concentrate on art, poetry and teaching meditation.
He was born in Hartlepool where his family have fished since the 16th century and it is in that century that his novel, Tom Fleck, is based.


'Tom Fleck'.
The story of an unknown man.
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The novel is in paperback and Kindle. http://www.amazon.com/Tom-Fleck-ebook/dp...
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tom-Fleck-Harry-...






For more details, and to read Chapter 1, please call at my blog:
http://1513fusion.wordpress.com/1513-a-n...

Best wishes to all of you, and thanks for reading.
Harry Nicholson
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Published on January 29, 2012 01:28

This week's inspirational story is from Indie Chick, Anne...

This week's inspirational story is from Indie Chick, Anne R. Allen.

 

 Take it away Anne...

A KINKY ADVENTURE IN ANGLOPHILIA

By Anne R. Allen
When I started writing funny women's fiction fifteen yearsago, if anybody had given me a realistic idea of my chances for publication,I'd have chosen a less stressful hobby, like do-it-yourself brain surgery,professional frog herding, or maybe staging an all-Ayatollah drag revue indowntown Tehran.
As a Californiaactress with years of experience of cattle-drive auditions, greenroom catfightsand vitriolic reviewers, I thought I had built up enough soul-calluses to gothe distance. But nothing had prepared me for the glacial waiting periods; thebogus, indifferent and/or suddenly-out-of-business agents; and theheartbreaking, close-but-no-cigar reads from big-time editors—all the rejectionhorrors that make the American publishing industry the impenetrable fortress ithas become.
But some of us are too writing-crazed to stop ourselves. Iwas then, as now, sick in love with the English language.
I had three novels completed. A fourth had run as a serialin a Californiaentertainment weekly. One of my stories had been short-listed for aninternational prize, and a play had been produced to good reviews. I wasbringing in a few bucks—mostly with short pieces for local magazines andfreelance editing.
But meantime, my savings had evaporated along with myabandoned acting career; my boyfriend had ridden his Harley into the Big Sur sunset; my agent was hammering me to writeformula romance; and I was contemplating a move to one of the less fashionableneighborhoods of the rust belt.
Even acceptances turned into rejections: a UK zine thathad accepted one of my stories folded. But when the editor sent the bad news,he mentioned he'd taken a job with a small UK book publisher—and did I haveany novels?
I sent him one my agent had rejected as "too over the top."Within weeks, I was offered a contract by my new editor—a former BBC comedywriter—for FOOD OF LOVE. Included was an invitationto come over the pond to do some promotion. 
So I rented out my beach house,packed my bags and bought a ticket to Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, where my newpublishers had recently moved into a 19th century former textile mill on thebanks of the river Trent—the river George Eliot fictionalized as "the Floss."

George Eliot. I was going to be working and living only a few hundredyards from the ruins of the house where she wrote her classic novel about the19th century folk who lived and died by the power of Lincolnshire's great tidal river. Maybesome of that greatness would rub off on me. 
At the age of… well, I'm not telling…I was about to have the adventureof my life.
I knew the company published mostly erotica, but wasbranching into mainstream and literary fiction. They had already published thefirst novel of a distinguished poet, and a famous Chicago newspaper columnist was in residence,awaiting the launch of his new book.
But when I arrived, I found the great Chicagoan had left ina mysterious fit of pique, the "erotica" was seriously hard core kink, and theold building on the Trentwas more of the William Blake Dark Satanic variety than George Elliot's bucolic"Mill on the Floss."
Some of my fears subsided when Iwas greeted by a friendly group of unwashed, fiercely intellectual young menwho presented me with generous quantities of warm beer, cold meat pies andgalleys to proof. After a beer or two, I found myself almost comprehendingtheir northern accents.
I held it together until I saw my new digs: a grimy futon and an old metaldesk, hidden behind stacks of book pallets in the corner of an unheatedwarehouse, about a half a block from the nearest loo. My only modernconvenience was an ancient radio abandoned by a long-ago factory girl.

I have to admit to admit to some tears of despair.

Until, from the radio, Big Benchimed six o'clock.
That's six pm, GMT.

Greenwich Mean Time. The words hit me with all the sonorous power of Big Benitself. I had arrived at the mean, the middle, the center that still holds—nomatter what rough beasts might slouch through the cultural deserts of theformer empire. This was where my language, my instrument, was born.

I clutched my galley-proof to my heart. I might still be a rejected nobody inthe land of my birth—but I'd landed on the home planet: England. Andthere, I was a published novelist. Just like George Eliot.

Three years later, I returned toCalifornia,older, fatter (the English may not have the best food, but their BEER isanother story) and a lot wiser. That Chicagoan's fit of pique turned out to bemore than justified. The company was swamped in debt. They never managed to getme USdistribution. Shortly before my second book THE BEST REVENGE was to launch, themanaging partner withdrew his capital, sailed away and mysteriously disappearedoff his yacht—his body never found. The company sputtered and died.

And I was back in the slush pileagain.

But I had a great plot for mynext novel.

Unfortunately, nobody wanted it.I was now tainted with the "published-to-low-sales-numbers label and my chanceswere even worse than before.

So I wrote two more novels.Nobody wanted them either.

Then I started a blog. I figuredI could at least let other writers benefit from my mistakes. My blog followersgrew. And grew. The blog won some awards. My Alexa and Klout ratings got betterand better. Finally, publishers started approaching ME. (There's a moral forwriters here—social networking works.)

And finally, six years later,another publisher, Popcorn Press, fell in love with FOOD OF LOVE and sent me acontract. Soon after, they contracted to publish THE BEST REVENGE, too.

And this September, a brand newindie ebook publisher called Mark Williams International Digital Publishingasked if I had anything else ready to publish.

Just happen to have a fewunpubbed titles handy, said I.

He liked them.

So in October and November of2011, those three new comic mysteries will appear as ebooks: THE GATSBY GAME,GHOSTWRITERS IN THE SKY, and SHERWOOD, LTD (that's the novel inspired by myEnglish adventures.) Popcorn Press will publish paper versions in 2012. THEBEST REVENGE debuted as an ebook in December, with the paper book to follow inFebruary.

A fifteen-year journey finallyseems to be paying off.

Did I make some mistakes? Ohyeah—a full set of them. But would I wish away my English adventures?

Not a chance.
*******Links:

Blog http://annerallen.blogspot.com
Twitter @annerallen
 Authorpages:  At Amazon.com , at amazon.co.uk, on Facebook

 SHERWOOD, LTD
(Romantic comedy/mystery: MWiDP) A penniless socialitebecomes a 21st century Maid Marian, but is "Robin" planning to killher?  Buy at amazon.co.uk, amazon.com,or Barnesand Noble
 
THE BEST REVENGE
(Romantic comedy/mystery: Popcorn Press) A suddenly-broke1980s celebutante runs off to Californiawith nothing but her Delorean and her designer furs, looking for her long-lostgay best friend—and finds herself accused of murder. Buy at amazon.co.ukor amazon.comand inpaper at Popcorn Press or inpaper at Amazon.com .
 
Happy Reading!
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Published on January 29, 2012 01:11

January 28, 2012

The spotlight today is on Indie Writer D.M.Andrews


Today's featured author is D.M.Andrews.


BIO: D.M. Andrews has been drawing maps, writing stories, and coming up with weird ideas since the age of twelve. Although fantasy features in most of the author's writing, he also has a keen passion for history (especially for his native land of England), genealogy, mythology and even political philosophy.


Title: The Serpent in the Glass (92,000 words)
Genre: 9-12, Teen, General Appeal
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You can buy it at the following links.

Paperback: http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/DMAndrews
US Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Serpent-Glass-Thom...
UK Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Serpent-Glass-Th...

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Published on January 28, 2012 03:33

January 27, 2012

Featured author today is Stuart Ayris


In my attempt to help get the word out about Indie authors, over the next few weeks I'll be featuring an Indie author every day.


Today it's Stuart Ayris' turn.

This is his bio. 

I was born in the summer of 1969 and have worked as a psychiatric nurse in Essex for the last fourteen years. When I was 22, I wrote my first novel, A Cleansing of Souls, which I published in August 2007. I have been living the small Essex village of Tollesbury for the last six and a half years and three years ago began writing Tollesbury Time Forever. Numerous agents and publishers either stated it was not commercial enough or just didn't reply at all. So I decided to put it on Kindle and what do you know? In the first two and a half weeks the novel has had 18 fantastic reviews on Amazon, has spent the majority of the time in the top 50 of the Literary Fiction Bestseller charts and has given me the confidence to carry on writing!




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 Amazon UK link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tollesbury-Time-...


Amazon US link. http://www.amazon.com/Tollesbury-Time-Forever-ebook/dp/B006TJDJKE



Here's Stuart's Amazon Author page too.


http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_2?_encoding=UTF8&search-alias=digital-text&field-author=Stuart%20Ayris
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Published on January 27, 2012 03:52

January 26, 2012

Today's featured author is Shaun Jeffrey

Here's today's recipient of sharing the love for Indies.

Shaun Jeffrey was brought up in a house in a cemetery, so it was only natural for his prose to stray towards the dark side when he started writing. He has had five novels published, 'Killers', 'The Kult', 'Deadfall', 'Fangtooth' and 'Evilution', and one collection of short stories, 'Voyeurs of Death'. Among his other writing credits are short stories published in Cemetery Dance, Surreal Magazine, Dark Discoveries and Shadowed Realms. The Kult was optioned for film by Gharial Productions.




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http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kult-Prosper-Sno...
http://www.amazon.com/Kult-Prosper-Snow-...

You can find more books by Shaun on his Amazon author page.


http://www.amazon.co.uk/Shaun-Jeffrey/e/B002CQVFZE/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1
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Published on January 26, 2012 03:27

January 25, 2012

Featured author David Wailing

Today's featured Indie author is David Wailing.



David Wailing writes contemporary relationship-based fiction, a blend of thriller, mystery and humour. The key theme of his novels is 'identity' - all his work is focused around characters that fake being someone else or take on others' characteristics.

Books:




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Fake Kate -Amazon UK      Amazon US



You can find his other books at his Amazon author page.


http://www.amazon.com/David-Wailing/e...


Author website - www.davidwailing.com
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Published on January 25, 2012 04:27

January 24, 2012

Highlighting other Indie Authors.

In my quest to help give other Indie authors a leg up in the baffling world of publishing, I'd like to introduce Katie W. Stewart to you all.








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Katie W Stewart is an Australian author of fantasy fiction for all ages. She was born in Lancashire, England and emigrated with her family when she was 9 years old. In her non-writing life she works as a Library Assistant and IT Support person at a small school in country Western Australia. She is also the mother of three children aged 8-18. In her spare time, she illustrates books, creates covers for ebooks, paints pet portraits and plays celtic harp and guitar.




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The Dragon Box a YA fantasy? This is the link -
http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Dragon-Box-ebook/dp/B005FWQ296
http://www.amazon.com/The-Dragon-Box-ebook/dp/B005FWQ296

You can find her other books at her author page on Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/Katie-W-Stewart/e/B004XFRBOG/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1

Website: www.katiewstewart.com
Blog: http://kates-scribbles.blogspot.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Treespeaker
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Published on January 24, 2012 01:13

January 23, 2012

Highlighting other authors!

For the next six weeks or so, I'll be highlighting other Indie authors and trying to give them a helping hand to get some recognition for their work.


Here's the first author Karina Kantas.

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Karina Kantas is an exciting author of urban thrillers. Novels about the unknown world of outlaw motorcycle clubs. Voted one of the top female authors of biker fiction, Karina has an international fan base that continues to grow and she is only to happy to chat with her readers.


http://www.amazon.com/Huntress-Karina-Ka...

Book trailer

http://youtu.be/9lMhP-kBlHo




Karina's other titles includeyou can find them on her author page here. http://www.amazon.com/Karina-Kantas/e/B0034P98EW/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1

In Times of Violence
Lawless Justice
Huntress


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Published on January 23, 2012 04:35