George Hamilton's Blog, page 3

Author’s research: Secrets From The Dust – The Australian Outback

In my research for Secrets From The Dust, the landscape and environment of the Australian outback always seemed to have such a significant impact on the lives of the peoples living there, that I had to treat it as if it were a separate character. At one time it can be welcoming and bountiful with plants and wildlife. But very quickly it can bake hot as an oven and be unrelentingly hostile.

Streams run from rocks and ridges during heavy rains. Wild figs grow from crevices, and water collects in...

Is free just another way of spending the advertising budget?

I was drawn to write this post after reading Chicki Brown’s Thursday Thoughts, where she responded to another blog as to “Why are More and More Authors Faking Their Way to the Top of Bestsellers Lists?” Since I started on this journey, I have read a number of articles by indies decrying those who allow their books to be downloaded for free. They are cheapening the market, it’s a race to the bottom, and it’s an unfair way of rising in the Amazon rankings I seem to read every other week. But is...

Check out Debdatta Dasgupta Sahay’s review of Secrets From The Dust

When a friend referred this novel to me, I promptly added it to my TBR list and the author was kind enough to send me a free copy for review purpose. Since this particular friend of mine doesn’t recommend books lightly, I picked up this novel with the expectation of a couple of hours of enjoyable read at the least. But I got much more than just a couple of hours of well invested time. This novel left me speechless… (See the full review at Indie House Books)

Book Review: Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy 4*

A bunch of American mercenaries are hired by various Mexican governors to hunt down and kill the Apache renegades who have been wreaking havoc across their states. The men must return with Apache scalps to collect their bounty. But in short time these misfits are killing and scalping Apache and Mexican citizen alike. Soon the hunters also become the hunted, by both the Apache and the Mexican cavalry.

The novel is set in an environment both beautiful and unrelentingly savage. This feels like th...

Attack for posting a scene lead to devastation and then a new realization

I recently wrote a guest post for Book Reviews by DDS about how I got over being attacked online for posting a scene from my novel Carnival of Hope.

Check it out here:

Attack for posting a scene lead to devastation and then a new realization

How long are you prepared to wait for your favourite authors’ next book?

Do you want your favourite author to take as long as necessary to write their next blockbuster? Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Toni Morrison famously can take anywhere from 5 to 10 years to deliver a novel, and it tells in the beauty of the prose.

Or do you prefer your bestsellers delivered every few months – James Patterson and Wilbur Smith now use co-authors, so that they can churn out several books each year.

Most of us indies writing full length novels aim for one or two books a year, depending...

People I admire: Solange (Sonia) Pierre

I don’t quite remember when it was that I first heard the stories of the bateyes of the Dominican Republic, and the Dominican born children of Haitian descent, many of whom live in these farm workers settlements and were effectively stateless. But it was only a few months ago that I learned about Solange (Sonia) Pierre—herself Dominican born and raised, and of Haitian descent—and how she tried to help Dominicans of Haitian descent gain citizenship through her organisation Mudha. She first cam...

New Release Announcement #NewRelease – HIDDEN UNDER HER HEART by Rachelle Ayala

HIDDEN UNDER HER HEART (A Story of Abortion & Courage) by Rachelle Ayala

On sale for 99c at Amazon and Barnes & Noble 21-23 Jan 2013

Maryanne Torres is a compassionate nurse who fails at relationships. After a string of losers, she swears off premarital sex, hoping to land a marrying type of man.

Lucas Knight, a law-school dropout, moves to California to train for the Ironman Triathlon. He’s smart, sweet, and everything Maryanne wants in a man, but their relationship suffers from his dedication...

Book Review: I don’t wish nobody to have a life like mine – by David Chura 5*

I don’t wish nobody to have a life like mine (Tales of kids in adult lockup)

This is a non-fiction book, but many of David Chura’s stories about life on the inside of a detention centre for the juveniles that he taught there have a fictional quality. It’s funny in places, and in some, as lyrical as many of my favourite novels. We learn something of the drug addicted, alcoholic, and downright appalling parenting that led many of the young people down the murky path to a jail cell. The author po...

The Disease – a George Hamilton suspense novel, spreading to a location near you soon!

Description: Doctor Ludmilla Toropov is a Gold Cross bearing Daughter of her Nation, a champion advocate for President for life, Emile Sakovich. Her estranged daughter, Olga, has joined the student dissidents. When a deadly virus sweeps the world, wiping out millions in weeks, her repressive East European nation, under sanctions from the international community, becomes the first to develop a vaccine. But with their antiquated production facilities, they are only able to satisfy the demand of...