H.S. Stone's Blog, page 15

Release announcement: Courage

Hello, readers! I'm happy to announce the release of a new collection of three short stories, Courage!


 You can purchase Courage for just 99 cents from the following retailers:
AmazonSmashwordsBarnes & NobleKoboiTunes
Damsels in distress? Meek girls in pretty dresses? You won’t find them here! 

These three YA fantasy tales prove that heroism comes in different packages. Don’t underestimate the courage inside anyone. 

"Moon Warrior" - Separated from her tribe after a sand dragon...

"Girls" books

Not long ago, I noticed the trend of books containing the word "Girl" or "Girls" in the title. It turns out that I'm not the only one. In 2009 and 2010, there were a combined total of five books with either of those words in the title. This year, there will be 79!

I decided to do a brief analysis of my own reading habits, using my Goodreads account as the source of truth. In the five years since I started using Goodreads, I've logged 516 books read. Of those, ten contain the word "Girl" or "Gi...

A Horde of Horses

Today, I decided to post a piece of flash fiction that I just published on Wattpad. If you like it, you can read the other parts of this collection of stories that I call A Spoonful of Stories . I hope you enjoy it!


A Horde of Horses

Some people have nightmares about being chased or of falling or drowning. Others suffer from dreams of fires or natural disasters. My nightmares involve horses. Which is odd because I’ve never ridden a horse, and the closest I’ve gotten to a horse is seeing one in...

A Harry Potter summer

Nine years after the publication of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and five years after the movie release of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2", the series continues to play a part in my life.

In June, my family embarked on a movie-watching journey and went through all eight Harry Potter movies. It was great fun reliving the series and seeing Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint grow up in front of my eyes over the course of four weeks.

The movie binge was in prepar...

4th of July weekend sale

What better way to celebrate the Fourth of July (or any holiday) than with a book sale? For the next three days, three of my novels are discounted to 99 cents on Amazon. Pick up your copy before they go back up in price!

           
Amazon links:
All That Remains of Me Beyond New Eden Keep Your Enemies Close
Also, remember that there are several other ways to enjoy my books for FREE!

The trouble with time travel

I recently re-watched "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban." Near the end of the movie, Hermione reveals that she has a time turner, which she and Harry use to go back in time and fix past situations. That made me wonder why we don't see the time turner again in the series. In the next book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, they could've used it on numerous occasions and saved a lot of grief, especially when it came to Harry, Cedric, or Moody. (I'm intentionally keeping it vague in c...

There are no new ideas: Star Wars/Harry Potter edition

Star Wars (at least episodes 4 through 7) and Harry Potter are two of my favorite series of all time. "Star Wars: A New Hope" was released in 1977, and twenty years later, we got Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone for those of us in the U.S.).

I recently started re-watching the Harry Potter movies and noticed several similarities between it and the original Star Wars trilogy. For example, both series feature a trio of heroes. In Star Wars, they're L...

Putting first things first

 Image courtesy of FreeImages.com
For those of you who are familiar with Stephen Covey's "7 Habits of Highly Effective People," you may recognize the title of this blog post as being habit #3. I recently (re-)learned the 7 habits, and this one resonated with me because it's one that I have trouble with. Putting first things first means that you can't do everything in the 24 hours you're given each day. You have to focus on your highest priorities and say no to the unimportant things. I've...

How to read my stories for FREE

Readers, did you know that you can read some of my stories for free?? That's right, FREE!

Here are four ways:

1. "Drive," the first story in the Driver Series, is permafree. If you're a fan of post-apocalyptic YA, this series is for you. Why not try the first installment without paying a cent? You can download "Drive" from the following retailers:
AmazonB&NSmashwordsKoboiTunes 

2. Sign up for my newsletter and get a Smashwords coupon for a free e-book. There's a link in the top right co...

Anti-social? Who, me?

Before I experienced what it's really like to write a novel, I believed in the stereotypical image of an author cranking out his or her masterpiece in solitude. Think Thoreau at Walden Pond or Jack Torrance in The Shining (minus the homicidal tendencies, of course).

Image courtesy of FreeImages.com
While working on a book alone isn't the reason why I wanted to become an author, it certainly has its appeal. I'm in introvert by nature, which means that I prefer to spend my time and energy in the...