Samantha Combs's Blog, page 12

Thanks and Giving

Probably as you read this post, there are about a million other posts being written about the same exact thing: things for which we are all thankful.  Since this year has been nothing less than a challenge for my family, I decided I better cut the post as short as I could.  There is not enough computer time for ALL the things which make me happy today.

So, I am going to take the lead from Wheel of Fortune and give you the easy ones.  Of course I am thankful for my husband, my children, my job, my family, and my health.  I have come up with five reasons I am thankful this year for other, not so obvious things.


I am thankful our country is making a slow, but concerted effort at recoveryI am thankful gas is no longer over $4.00 a gallon and my Mum can still afford to come up from San Diego at least once a month.I am thankful that this year, when it rains, I don't have to worry about the roof leaking.I am thankful I sell books.  I am thankful my husband is going to a much better place than he has been in the past two years.And one more thing I am thankful for is so important to me, I must let it stand on its own.  
I am thankful for independent presses, who publish independent books, written by independent authors. 
I am specifically thankful for my two Houses, Musa Publishing and Astraea Press.  Each of these Houses are run by strong, forward-thinking, passionate women who believe, truly and wholly believe, in every single book behind which they place their talent, their support, and their name.  And I am thankful to have been welcomed into both publishing families.  And grateful.
So, please enjoy this post while you think of how you would answer this same question....what five things are you most thankful for this year?
And while you're at it, enjoy the next stop on this Thanksgiving Blog Tour from another strong female, Kelly Martin at : http://www.kellymartinstories.com/

And thanks to Brenda Maxfield, a new YA author with the growing Astraea Press publishing family for linking up with me:  http://wp.me/p2HVcx-1r
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Speculative Fiction Done the Nancy DiMauro Way

Welcome today another new friend and author with Musa Publishing. Nancy DiMauro writes for the Urania imprint with Musa, which is the one that deals with speculative fiction. While this is a large genre, the category generally involves the essence of the unknown like paranormalcy, or supernatural powers in a kind of mix with a touch of science fiction. That kind of story you read that seems unlikely, but a tiny bit of you believes in it's possibility.

I haven't had a spec-fic author on the blog before and I'm happy to host Nancy. I especially love how she tackles writer's block. Enjoy meeting Nancy!

Tell us about yourself.I’m a mommy, writer, lawyer, and farmer. Wow, that’s a mouthful. My condo-raised husband agreed to move out to the country with me 12 years ago (almost to the day) because living on a horse farm was my dream. So, we have two horses in our front yard, and two dogs, three hermit crabs and four cats in the house. The Hubby has managed to resist the pleas for a partridge in a pear tree so far. But he doesn’t realize I planted a pear tree this last spring.

Anyway, I am lucky enough to have two boys (soon to be 14 and 12). I’ve been a practicing trial attorney since 1995, and in my free time, I write. Actually, I’m pretty regimented about when I write – between 9pm and 11pm 4-5 nights a week. After all, being a writer is one of my jobs.

Tell us about your book.My newest release is Apollo Rising about Apollo’s quest to break Daphne’s curse and restore her to her true form. In seeking to enlist the aid he needs, Apollo bargains with Hades for Daphne’s soul. But the god of the underworld may demand too a high price. You can find Apollo’s Rising on Amazon.


Who is your favorite character from one of your books and why?Has there ever been a question designed to cause more strife? It’s like asking which child is your favorite. I love them all. Vonna, from the Flashes of Life story in Paths Less Traveled, is probably my favorite to play with right now. While I have other characters with supernatural powers, Vonna’s ability to recover memories from the dead is pretty out there. Also, Vonna sees emotion as color so I’ve had to create a color wheel of emotion. That was really challenging. The other neat thing about Vonna is she’s living in a near future Washington, D.C. so I get to mix in politics with the vampires, psychics and weres. Oh my! Vonna’s talents also make her a target for anyone wanting to get away with murder.

What are you working on now?I’m in different phases on three novels. I’m editing/ rewriting The King’s Falcon, which follows Falcon from Lightning Strikes in Paths Less Traveled. I’m hoping to turn that in for consideration by the end of the year. I’m almost done with the first draft an erotic romance called New Bohemia: Just One Night in which May has a favor to ask of her best friend and housemate, Pete. I’m outlining The Nocebo Effect, which follows Vonna as she tries to solve a string of murders that initially appeared to be natural deaths before the killer finds her.

Do you listen to music when you write, if so what? I don’t listen to music, but I tend to have the TV on for background noise. I notice silence, but I can ignore the TV if I’ve seen the show before. So, my DVR gets a lot of play while I’m writing.

Which of your covers is your favorite?Wow. That’s tough. Kelly Shorten did all the covers for my four Musa books. They are all really wonderful and tie in so well with the stories. Since I have to pick, I think the Shots at Redemption cover is my favorite. I love the ghost ship. Check out the cover at Amazon,

Where do you find inspiration?My family. My boys (all three of them) do and say the most outrageous things. My youngest son also loves telling stories so he and I will spend hours talking about worlds that only we can see.

Name 5 things that are on your desk right now?Pictures of my boys as babies; The Describer’s Dictionary by David Grambs; The Character Naming Sourcebook by Sherrilyn Kenyon; a list of e-mails from Dave Farland’s Novel Rewriting workshop participants; and a stack of business cards I still need to scan into my contact list.

What is your biggest distraction when it comes to writing?The need for sleep. Because I write so late in the day, there are times when I just can’t stay awake long enough to get the words on the page. I’ve learned just to give up and try again the next day.

When did you discover the need to write?Back in high school. I’d been writing poetry for years, and wrote my first novel when I was a sophomore. Of that fan-fic novel, let’s just all be glad that the changes in technology since the 1980’s have made the story unrecoverable.

How do you handle writers’ block?I don’t really believe in writers’ block. For me, when I hit a point I’m struggling to find the words, it generally means one of a few things. Usually, it means I haven’t taken the time I need to pre-write the scene. Because my keyboard time is limited, I spend a lot of time daydreaming scenes before they ever hit the page. The ones I struggle with are often the ones where I haven’t spent the time visualizing them first. I’ll log off for the day and imagine what I’m missing. It might take another day to get to the point where I can write the scene, but my high word count days are ones where I’ve been daydreaming a lot about the story.

Another reason I can’t write is because sometimes I need more research. In New Bohemia, I have a significant section of the story in the Swiss Alps. When it came time to write it, I realized my visualization of the area came solely from my memories of The Sound Of Music. So, not so good. I spent about two weeks researching locations, building construction, and most importantly snow rescue techniques. When I went back to the keyboard, the scenes were much easier.

The final reason I can’t get words on the page is exhaustion. My other jobs (mommy and lawyer) are demanding. Sometimes they take everything I have. When that happens I have to give into the inevitable and use my writing time for sleep.

Where can readers find you?On my website www.FalconsFables.com and blog. www.nancydimauro.blogspot.com
I’m also on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/writernancydi...
and Twitter. https://twitter.com/kings_falcon

How To NaNoWriMo

Better late than never, right?  So, even though we are more than halfway through the mind-and-butt-numbing exercise we lovingly call the craziest month in the writer year, I thought we could all use a boost.  (Yes, to answer the unasked question, I AM NaNoing, but on my terms (a Scorpio always, I just hate to be told what to do!).

A new friend answered a shout-out I sent out into the facebook and twitter stratosphere for tips they have found useful in their personal writing journey.  His ideas and suggestions are good, so good, in fact, I am practicing a couple of them.  (no telling which ones....a girl has to have some mystery surrounding her *wink*)

HOW TO NaNoWriMO      by J.T. SchaadSo you want to take the challenge to write a novel in 1 month? Finding it difficult? It doesn't have to be.  Why is the NaNoWrMo thing becoming so popular? Because as an Indie author without a huge publisher behind you to promote your work with an unlimited bank account, you will quickly realize you need to write alot of books!This is a step by step guide of how to write a novel within 30 days. You may be surprised to find you can do this easily in 2 and a half weeks. So I assume you have your idea in mind of what the book will be about. If not then see my previous post about idea generation.Is it really possible to write this fast? Of course! Isaac Asimov wrote over 500 books! Without a pc! That's right. No word processing. Everything typed and typed and typed again until it was ready for print.You may not write 500 books in your life, but you should write at least 100!Step 1) CREATE AN OUTLINE! Now most people remember doing outlines from school and we all hated them back then. The strict outline form is retarded and no one ever needs to use it in real life. I am talking about a loose chapter by chapter outline where you simply make up the story. This is much faster to do with an outline because if you write it all in prose form there is too much redoing! It is maddening and takes forever.For instance, you are 200 pages into the novel when you get a genius idea for something that needs to happen now. But for this to happen, something else needed to happen 100 pages ago. That means you have to throw out the past 100 pages! What a nightmare. This takes a massive amount of wasted time. If this happened while you are doing the outline, you throw away 2 pages of outlined notebook paper. Takes about 2 hrs to get caught up. Way faster.Step 2) Tell THE STORY! Nothing is more irritating to a reader or more time consuming for a novelist than the belief that people’s imagination are so limited the writer must tell them every single detail about everything to get a point across. They go into explicit description about a characters height, hair color, eye color, the color of a house, the weather, the moon and the shape of it, the color and shape of every single freckle on the main character’s nose, etc. Way too much detail!As an author your job is to tell the story. When you are distracting and boring readers with all this other junk, unless it is crucial to the story in some way, it is a waste of space and time. Your book should be filled with fast chapters, witty and snappy dialogue, quick scenes. Dont’ feel that your book must be 400 pages to be considered a true novel. As a reader myself I start getting bored after 300 pages. It’s time to wrap it up. Over 400 pages I start to think of all the scenes and fat that should have been cut from this thing. After 500 pages I start to question whether the author has ever heard of this thing called a sequel…STEP 3) SET A SCHEDULE! This seems like a no-brainer but it is unreal how many authors struggle with adhering to a solidly consistent schedule. I understand that life happens and it is crazy to find time to write sometimes, but that is when you must make a choice. Find a time that you know you will be free to write. I recommend at least 2 to 3 hours a day. Now I am a fast writer and can easily rock out 5 pages or so an hour. That means I can do a 300 page novel in 20 days of writing even if I only do 3 hours a day. I believe many of you will find that with the outline completed the book writes itself because the STORY is already written! The outline is also usually quick to complete. It is the hardest part because you must create all of the elements of the story beginning to end. But still relatively fast. Most people can probably average about 3 chapters per hour for outlining.Now how to find those 3 hrs a day? When I first started doing this I dropped my sleep down to 4 hours a day. Yes it was rough but I was prepared to make the sacrifice for my art. I had a day job, so the only time I could find to write was in the middle of the night. I slept from 10pm to 2am. Then I wrote until 6am. That's 4 hours a day. Now this is not healthy but you must do what you must do to get it done.So that is really all that you need to accomplish to make this NaNoWrMo thing happen. As an indie author selling a fraction of what big name authors with fat publishing contracts sell, you must write way more books. Its easier and more profitable to sell 20,000 copies of 10 novels than it is to sell 5,000 copies of 1.If you are serious about doing this full time then you must make the sacrifice. I’m not saying that you have to or that you should give up sleep like I did, but you must break down your life to find all the time wasters that suck you of your life. They are there, trust me. Sit down and analyze your schedule. Condense and Condense and Condense. You will be surprised how much time you can squeeze out.Follow these steps and you will be amazed at how prolific you become.J. T. Schaad, a new friend, is a writer after my own twisted heart...a horror author.  I grabbed some contact information for him and you can reach him here:Contact InfoScreen Namewordsmithjts(Twitter)Websitehttp://jtschaad.comEmail100004144448306@facebook.comFacebookhttp://facebook.com/jtschaad


And don't forget his blog, where with his permission, I snagged this great post!http://www.jtschaad.com/

My Favorite Aussie Girl Stops By

They say to write what you know, and authors have made bundles off of doing that very thing.  My idol, Stephen King (bow and scrape) writes about his hometowns in Maine almost reverently.  And so does my friend Iris Blobel.  This Aussie Girl, transplanted though she is, embraces her adopted home country in her newest book and I just had to have her here on the blog to tell everyone about it.  Hey Iris!


Hi everyone – I’m grateful for Samantha’s invitation to talk about my newest release “Innocent Tears”. The story is set here in Australia, mainly in Melbourne – according to Wikipedia the city was the second after Edinburghto be named a UNESCOCity of Literature. Perfect for my story where two worlds collide – Flynn, business lawyer, and little Nadine, six years old and has just lost her mother.
This is one of my favourite scene
“Flynn? Flynn!”He dipped his head and shook it regretfully. “Yes, Mum, I’m still here.” He paused for a moment and then continued. ”Sarah’s parents came for a visit.”The surprise was obvious by the moment of quiet. “Teresa and William?” she asked in disbelief, her voice an octave higher than usual.His hand was holding the bottle of beer next to him like his life depended on it. “Mum, I’ve got a young daughter.”Silence. “Flynn, have you been drinking?”“Mum, I’m serious as serious could be. Remember Sarah not wanting to live in Melbourne, and then saying she had someone else in her life?” He heard her sigh. “How can I forget? I don’t think I’d ever seen you so upset and depressed.”“Well…” He took a deep breath. “That someone was a baby. I’ve got a little girl, Mum.”More silence. His mouth curved into a grin when he heard his mother whisper to his father, “Get me a stiff drink, Carl. We’ve just become grandparents.”She lifted her hand off the receiver and rattled out questions. “How old is she? What’s her name?”The grin disappeared and he rubbed his face. “Six, and Nadine,” he murmured.Jenny screamed into the phone. “Si-i-i-ix?”Flynn almost dropped the bottle. “Good grief, Mum. Keep it down.”He heard her sipping her drink – whatever it was. “How am I supposed to keep it down? Flynn, why on earth… why the… Teresa and William… and where’s Sarah–““Mum!”Silence.“Jenny Rose McCormack.”She sighed. “Yes?”“Ask Dad for a glass of water.”“Oh my goodness gracious, Flynn.” He heard her holding her hand over the phone. “Carl, he says I need a glass of water.”Flynn shook his head. Carl wanted to talk to his son as well – of course, because so far he was just serving her with drinks and listening to outbursts of disbelief and questions. “Not now… in a minute… It’s my turn”“Mum?”“Your father is a bit of a pain here.”“Mum?” he said more firmly.“Yes?” she replied flustered.“Saz died just after Christmas last year.”Silence.“Mum?”“Flynn? It’s your dad here. What just happened? Your mother is pale as a ghost.”“Hi, Dad.” Flynn felt his stomach turning upside-down. This was more like a comedy than him trying to tell his parents about his last forty-eight hours. “Dad? I’m a Dad as well. Sarah died last Christmas. Teresa and William have been in Melbourne, and in Teresa’s subtle and gentle way, she told me about the young daughter I have. Nadine’s her name, and they want me to take over custody and look after her.”Silence.“Son? That’s a lot to take in. How are you going?”Flynn rubbed his temple with the heel of his hands. How he was going? How was he going?
Thank you all for stopping by. I appreciate your time!
Blurb: Becoming a parent can be daunting at the best of times, but for Flynn, a business lawyer in Melbourne, it almost pulls the feet from right underneath him. He’s become a father to six-year-old Nadine literally overnight! He had no idea about her existence, and the news throws him into chaos, even more so when he is asked to take over custody.
With the help of Emma, an employee at the hotel where Nadine and her grandparents are staying, and his parents, Flynn tries to do the right thing. Yet, the right thing in his eyes differs from his parents’, and Emma is voicing her opinion as well. And right in the middle is little Nadine, still grieving the loss of her mother and finding a wonderful friend in Emma. There’s no doubt she’s afraid where and with whom she will settle.
But in the end, it’s a letter Flynn receives that helps him figuring out what to do
Where you can buy “Innocent Tears”Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Innocent-Tears-ebook/dp/B009CK7HSC/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1352536217&sr=1-1Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Innocent-Tears-ebook/dp/B009CK7HSC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1352536352&sr=8-1Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/innocent-tears-iris-blobel/1112935696?ean=2940015712766Bookworld: http://www.bookworld.com.au/ebook/innocent-tears/38066724/Bookstrand: http://www.bookstrand.com/innocent-tearsAll Romance Books: http://www.allromanceebooks.com/storeSearch.htmlSmashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/237178
Where you can find me online:Official Blog: http://www.iris-b.blogspot.comTwitter @_iris_b: Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4067254Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/irisblobel

Lisa Orchard, Astraea Press author, joins the Blog

Hey Followers, sorry I've been silent for a bit.  The Comb's household was taken hostage by a particularly vicious flu bug.  It's taken forever to get back to something close to normal.  I am behind on everything, the least of which is my beloved blog.
So, welcome today Lisa Orchard, a fellow author with me at Astraea Press.  She has been more than patient waiting to see her post....and it's such a great post with important information for any writer struggling with finding new fans, especially of the young-reader variety.  She has some cool ideas.  Welcome, Lisa!
Hello Everyone! I hope all is well with you today! I’m Lisa Orchard, the author of the Super Spies series and I’m here as a guest of Samantha’s. I’d like to take just a second and say thanks for having me here. Thanks Samantha!
Today I’d like to talk about motivation. I think having hopes and dreams is a very essential part of happiness. These goals are the motivation that gets us up in the morning. Wouldn’t you agree? J
As I look back on my life I realize my happiest times were when I was pursuing a goal.  When I was a teen, I wanted to be a detective. That’s right; I wanted to be Nancy Drew. J
So, I got my friends together, we formed our own detective squad, and started detecting. We had the time of our lives! It was awesome! Not only were we occupied for hours on end, but we stayed out of trouble… for the most part. J
As I look back, I realized why I had so much fun.  It was because I was chasing a dream and it was my dream not my parent’s, or my teacher’s, or my coaches; it was mine and mine alone…along with my friends.  I feel this is an important distinction when it comes to motivation. J
And maybe that’s why there are so many problems in our educational system today. We have reluctant readers and kids who don’t want to go to school. I have to wonder why? I loved school when I was a kid and even though I had a hard time getting up in the morning, JI was excited about learning.
When I thought about why our young people don’t seem motivated to learn, I had to ask why. And then it hit me. It’s our educational system. JWhen my kids go to school they have to learn what the teacher or the state chooses to teach them. So, if they’re learning about a subject that doesn’t interest them, their motivation goes right out the window.
 I say let’s give our kids choices. Why can’t our kidsI know what you’re thinking? That’s kind of unrealistic. I mean we can’t provide different books for every kid.  Really?  J  Here’s my solution to the problem J. You knew I had one didn’t you? (wink).
Let’s provide all the students with e-readers. I know you’re laughing right now but let’s just think about this for a second.
If each student had an e-reader they would have a virtual library at their fingertips. With all the e-book choices out there I’m sure even the most reluctant reader would find a book he’s interested in reading. J
I know you’re worried about the cost, right? Well…ereaders are expensive that’s true, but have you checked out the price difference between paperbacks and e-books lately? I bet the savings between the two book formats would offset the cost of the ereaders very quickly.
And now that we’re talking about cost, why don’t we put text books in e-book format. Think of the huge savings there! J
So there you have it in a nutshell, my solution to the motivational problems for our reluctant readers. I’d love to hear what you think and if you have any ideas that would help ignite a young mind please share. And while you’re at it, check out my books. I’ve got two available in my Super Spies series and I’ve been told that young readers have a hard time putting them down. J  They’re written for the Upper Middle Grade/ Young Adult market.  The covers and blurbs are below.
You can find me at these social media sites.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lisa-Orchard/328536613877060?ref=hlTwitter: https://twitter.com/lisaorchard1Website: http://www.lisaorchard.com/

Buylinks: 
“The Super Spies and the Cat Lady Killer”  
Amazon:  http://www.amazon.com/Super-Spies-Lady-Killer-ebook/dp/B007JZH61K/
Barnes and Noble:  http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-super-spies-and-the-cat-lady-killer-lisa-orchard/1109518725?ean=2940014338202

“The Super Spies and the High School Bomber”

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Super-Spies-School-Bomber-ebook/dp/B008P8O7OY

Barnes and Noble:  http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-super-spies-and-the-high-school-bomber-lisa-orchard/1112263058?ean=2940014992244

What Scares You Most?

Even though I love writing YA, and YA paranormal in particular, I have to confess...I've been having an illicit affair with horror.

Sneaking into my thoughts, invading me when I am alone, consuming me with ideas I dare not mention here (potential story ideas, don't you know!), horror and I have been keeping each other company for longer than I will admit.

I don't want to ruin my relationship with YA paranormies, I just want a tasty little sumpin' sumpin' on the side.  A gory, tasty, little psychotic sumpin' sumpin'.  Is that wrong?

Well if loving horror is wrong, I don't wanna be right!  (Sorry, to every single song from the 70's).  And as the creepy, just, just wrong ideas are invading my dreams (nightmares?), I want to know what floats your boat as well.  Or, I guess, sinks it?

So, I asked my friends, family and facebook fans the ultimate questions.....What scares you?

The answers were amazing.  And illuminating.  And hilarious.  It started with my hubs who had no idea he was going to be in a post. He hates spiders.  Like, irrationally hates and fears them. When one is in the house, he will kill it, but only if he can find the most giantist shoe in the house.  And because I won't allow him to slam a workboot against the wall, this usually ends up being one of mine.  Let me tell you, it is totally gross scraping squished bug from your platforms.

Bugs of any kind were a huge answer.  I got spiders, ants, basically any bug with more legs than a dog.  I even got a wicked visual about a roach peeking out from a faucet in a tub...with the bather still in it.!

I got lots of snakes.  A scorpion was mentioned. Wasps and bees got a mention.  Even heard worms and slugs.

But many of you took the question where I hoped you would....to a psychological level.  Since the horror I write is mostly mind-bending, not gore-slinging, this was right where I wanted to go.  Those answers were the most telling of all.

Mothers losing their children.  Or their children no longer needing them.  Or the fear of losing everything.  This friend called it Bag Lady Fear.  To which I replied: Great story idea!
My baby girl is still afraid of the dark.  Or as she quantified, what might be in the dark that she can't see.  A member of my family is frightened of being alone.  Another member is afraid of not finding happiness.

I think the results of this terribly informal poll was this: anything can be frightening.  It doesn't have to be crawling on you, or dropping from the ceiling into your hair (another of mine!), it can be the fear of the unknown, the unnamed, the unaccepted.  And thank goodness for that, because it's those fears as a horror author on which I base my stories.

I want you to be scared to keep reading and scared not to.  I want your fear to be palpable because somewhere in the back of your rational, calm place is a teeny, tiny voice saying...maybe, just maybe, it could happen.

Welcome to my brand of fear.


If you want to share any of your fears, please let me know.  I promise, if a story is born of it, I will give you all the credit.
*evil giggle and fade to black....as a spider drops from the ceiling*

My New Friend, Musa Author Ted Mendelssohn Teaches Me a New Trick

Getting a new blog post from Ted was a bit like kismet.  I have been wrestling with a component of a sci-fi I've been working with.  After reading his advice, I realize why I have a block about it.....while trying to write scientifically, I've actually been trying to be TOO scientific.  Here, let me let Ted explain it.  He does it so much better than me.
WRITING SCIENTIFICByTed Mendelssohn

Samantha has graciously invited me into her house – her blog, that is – with a post about including science in your writing. So here it is, the Big Basic Rule of Writing Science Fiction (because yes, there is only one):
Science fiction is NOT about science.
Period. Full stop.
Entirely new power sources? Travel to other star systems? Sentient non-human beings? Who cares?Seriously. An SF story is about none of these things. Rather, it's about the effects these things might have on the story's protagonists.
Good example: Robert Heinlein's classic 1940 short story, Blowups Happen. Five years before we had the atom bomb, and eleven before the first nuclear power plant came on line, Heinlein imagined a breeder nuclear reactor that provided power and medical radioactives to the entire western United States. And then he asked "But what if the plant is fundamentally unstable? What if it could explode in an atomic fireball?" The plant is vital to the US economy; it can't be shut down. But the engineers know that one mistake on their part could wipe the entire state of Nevada off the map in a multi-megaton explosion. The stress is unbearable, so they start to "blow up." Although there was plenty of science in the story, the most important thing was the stress on the human beings.
Another classic example: Cordwainer Smith's Scanners Live in Vain. Smith asked the question: "What if space flight requires men to undergo radical transformations – to become partially machine, to lose some of their humanity? How will they behave?" His answer was utterly believable – that men who had sacrificed so much, and lost so much of what makes us human, would protect their power and status with extreme, terrible acts that they would never have considered before they were transformed.
This is how to use science in fiction: Understand the implications of a new development, and follow them wherever they might go. What if genetic engineering allows us to give up sleep? What would the psychological effects of immortality really be like? Instead of creating a world you like and finding science to justify it, look at science and wonder what the implications might be.
And go from there.Thanks, Ted!  And if you liked what you read here, you will love to get more comfortable with his works.  Buy and read, and let him know how you felt.  The best way to support an indie author is to buy an indie author.  We all thank you.
Ted's new book is from Musa Publishing:  
And you can become a follower of his, here:  http://theswordthatnagged.blogspot.comhttp://www.thewrongsword.com

HELLOWEEN is upon us!

No, really.  I didn't misspell it.  HELLOWEEN is my new book.  My eighth publication and my third adult horror collection, I am pleased to announce it will be available on Amazon within the next twelve hours.

To give you a little taste of it, I'm including the first few lines of each of the six stories.  Hope it whets your appetite and makes your skin crawl, even the tiniest little bit.



 Eat at JOE’sReynaldo “Rey” Claude leaned over the wooden crate of tomatoes and inhaled deeply. The farmers market was always the best place to find the freshest ingredients for his culinary creations and Rey enjoyed his visits to gather the tasty produce. He strolled along the bustling wholesale market, making his choices and filling his basket. He was known there, and most vendors stopped to say hello and offer Rey a free sample of this, that, and the other. Which he took willingly. His food creations were like art pieces to him; each had to have its own special sauce. Pasta was pasta, but it was all about the sauce. He only wished his patrons felt the same.
DEMON IN THE GPSNadine Keller was running late. She still had a million things to do and had most of them on her mind, so when the GPS started talking to her, she didn’t immediately notice it. She had jumped into the Range Rover and flung the dry cleaning into the back seat. She dumped her overstuffed purse on the passenger seat and backed out of the mall parking lot. When she heard the calm, modulated voice telling her to turn left, she just obediently flicked on her signal and made the turn. Later, she would realize she didn’t remember programming an address into the GPS. She should have been wary then. GPS units didn’t just start talking to you out of the blue, demanding things.               Not like husbands did.
SKIN DEEPDarla Demples punched the elevator button to the tenth floor. She shifted back and forth on her fashionable high heels and transferred her briefcase from her right shoulder to the left. Impatient, she poked the button again and began to tap her slender foot. Damn! You’d think the head of one of the largest cosmetics company could get a damn elevator when she wanted it.  Her gaze fell on her company logo, proudly emblazoned on literally every surface in the lobby: Dollyface Cosmetics. She read the catch phrase underneath, pride welling within her: Look like a living doll, forever. Dolly smiled wistfully, remembering how she came up with the slogan, after a sleepless night with a very cranky baby daughter. Denise was almost an adult now, in college hundreds of miles away. She knew she didn’t see her near as often as she should, but she always found a way to validate that. I’m working for her future. She knows that. My success will set her up for the rest of her life, her and her future children.
IMAGINARY FRIEND   
Just because I’m telling you this story, doesn’t mean I’ll be alive at the end of it. I just want to clear that up. So there aren’t any surprises at the end. It’s how I kind of like to do things. I’ve never been one for surprises. Even when I was younger, when my birthday would come around, I made sure I knew all the plans ahead of time. I never wanted the surprise party all the other kids were begging for. Neither did Lenny. He hated them even more than me. Only, he couldn’t tell anyone. You see, Lenny was my imaginary friend. Or maybe I should say is. I’m fully grown now, with an education, a great job and even my own office. In fact, that’s where I am right now. Lenny is here, too, somewhere. He doesn’t always come out, only when he thinks I need him. I guess I needed him earlier. I suppose I should get the whole story out now, before they arrive. Just looking down at the bodies makes me a little scared of what they will think. What they might do to me. Lenny keeps saying I didn’t have a choice. He told me I had to do it. If not, I’d never be my own person. I’d never be free.
New Neighbors
Mindy Jasper hollered down the hall of her new house to her children. “Jackson! Danielle! Hurry or we’ll be late for your first day of school.” She peered down the hall, then had to flatten herself against it to avoid being crushed by both of her children as they came hurtling toward her. Her daughter came first and spun around Mindy’s jeans-clad legs, hiding from her brother, who was only seconds behind her. He stopped when he reached his mom and sister, but only because he’d tired of the game. His sister didn’t look terrified anymore, not now that she was next to Mom, and to him, it was only fun if she was.
THE SERIAL KILLER’S WIFEShe heard the back door creak open and shut. Even though he always tried to be quiet, she never missed that unmistakable sound. Elaine Gardner had heard that sound a million times. Most of the time, it meant that her husband Roland was coming in from work, or from tending the garden, or from taking out the trash. She knew when it didn’t mean that. When he came in way past midnight, she knew it had an entirely different meaning: it meant her husband, Roland Gardner, was returning from a kill.

So, if any of these sound interesting or compel you to read them in some way, buy the book for a buck at Amazon and don't forget to tell me what you think.  Enjoy and Happy Halloween!

My Fearless Friend Sharon Ledwith shares the deets on writing a series

WRITING A SERIESBy Sharon Ledwith Face it. If you’ve written a great book filled with equally great characters, readers will want more. Much more. And the sooner the better. Then, you start to panic. Sweat drips off your face and onto your keyboard. You’re committed now. Legions of readers are waiting in the wings for your next installment.
Stop.
Don’t worry.You’ve got this.
The most important thing to remember in creating a series for any genre is to connect the dots, create a common thread to tie your individual stories together into a nice, shiny bow at the series end.Complicated? Not really. Read on…
First: Make sure your characters have enough problems going on both individually and together to carry through at least five books. The entire series needs to get from A to B to Z dragging your characters along (sometimes kicking and screaming) until, by the end of the series he or she or they need to come out changed. They need to have shown growth, they need to have evolved through the course of their adventures.
Second: Don’t put any elements into your first story that you don’t want to live with through five or more books. It’s a long haul to drag unnecessary fillers such as a troublesome pet, a psychotic boyfriend or an ongoing health problem for the ride. Like they say, “Use it or lose it”.
Third: Don’t solve the big mysteries or resolve all their problems in the first book. Too much, too soon. The idea is to hook’em with that first book, and get your readers begging for more. Your characters should still have dreams and goals and ambitions to work toward through the length of the series. Oh yeah, and as you do answer the burning questions and resolve the terrible conflicts, make sure you replace them with additional—hopefully more serious—ones.
Fourth: Remember—it’s all about building relationships between your characters. Throw obstacles their way and create the necessary tension between them to get your readers to care about them. It’s all about the journey and how they work together to resolve their problems. You want readers to be as invested at the end of the series in how that relationship is working out as they were in the first book.
Fifth: Keep a series guidebook stuffed with all the vital information on your main characters— and recurring side characters. The color of their hair and eyes, their brother’s or sister’s names, or any allergies is vital to log. Believe me readers know when something is amiss and will call you on it.
Sixth: Make sure you’re writing a series for the right reason—because you love your characters enough to tell their story over a period of years to come. And hopefully, that could be a long, long time.
Sharon Ledwithis the author of the middle-grade/YA time travel series, THE LAST TIMEKEEPERS, available through Musa Publishing. 

When not writing, researching, or revising, she enjoys reading, yoga, kayaking, time with family and friends, and single malt scotch. Sharon lives in the wilds of Muskoka in Central Ontario, Canada, with her hubby, a water-logged yellow Labrador and moody calico cat.
BlurbWhen 13-year-old Amanda Sault and her annoying classmates are caught in a food fight at school, they're given a choice: suspension or yard duty. The decision is a no-brainer. Their two-week crash course in landscaping leads to the discovery of a weathered stone arch in the overgrown back yard. The arch isn't a forgotten lawn ornament but an ancient time portal from the lost continent of Atlantis.
Chosen by an Atlantean Magus to be Timekeepers--legendary time travelers sworn to keep history safe from the evil Belial--Amanda and her classmates are sent on an adventure of a lifetime. Can they find the young Robin Hood and his merry band of teens? If they don't, then history itself may be turned upside down.
Want more info on The Last Timekeepers series? Check it out on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/The-Last-Timekeepers-Time-Travel-Series/373953795955372Buy Links:http://musapublishing.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=5&products_id=277Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/Last-Timekeepers-Arch-Atlantis-ebook/dp/B0084AKSP0/ref=la_B0084DUHJO_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1337709376&sr=1-1Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-last-timekeepers-and-the-arch-of-atlantis-x2019-sharon-ledwith/1111074347?ean=2940014363952
Learn about Sharon Ledwith on her website and blog:www.sharonledwith.comhttp://sharonledwith.blogspot.com/Stay connected with Sharon on Facebook and Twitter:Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/#!/seledwithTwitter: @sharonledwith: https://twitter.com/?iid=am-82952056813386643146889016&nid=23+following_user&uid=525750371&utm_content=profile#!/sharonledwith

What the Heck is an Ebook Anyway?....Author Margaret Lesh gives us a Primer

As much as we tout the digital age of publishing, there is still a huge faction of people that don't love or even own an ereader.  My own father falls in this category.  He wants to support his little girl (me), but hasn't the first idea where books have gone in the last decade.  When I read this post, I knew I had to share it.  It's so simple and straightforward.  This one's for my Daddy.
There’s This eBook I Want To Read. Now What..?Friday, October 19, 2012      |     Margaret Lesh - Author At the Houseor… StoryRhyme’s Relatively Painless and Slightly Boring Guide to Ebooks so You Can Download Fifty Shades of Grey...
Note: I’ve been meaning to write this post for a while now, but each time I try to write it, I fall asleep. Here is my post on ebooks. Now I’ll go take that nap.

With  my debut novel’s recent publication as an ebook  , I’ve received thousands of (umm, a few) questions from folks. For many, ebooks are newfangled, slightly scary, and a little mysterious. There are many misconceptions, and many of us are learning—especially those of us who aren’t, erm, techies.


What is an Ebook?

Technically, an ebook is nothing more than a file that you download to your computer, phone, tablet, etc., to read.

So, an ebook is not a physical book one can hold in their hands, but it is in every other sense a book with a delightful cover, an index, dedication, chapters, and an acknowledgements page at the end. It’s been professionally edited and published by a real publisher (there are also some great self-published ebooks).

So, it's just the "electronic version" of any book you'd find in your local bookstore and library.

The quality of any ebook, as with traditionally-published books, varies, but one can almost always read a sample of the book on Amazon.com to see if it piques their interest.

What are the Advantages of an Ebook?

Ebooks do have some advantages over paper books. Here are but a few: They’re usually far less-expensive than their paper book counterparts because they don’t cost as much to produce, ship and stock. They’re searchable, can contain hyperlinks to further information, imbed media (pictures, audio, movies). You can even easily change the type size and style! (Take that, tiny hard-to-read print.)

Depending on your ebook reader, they can even be read aloud by your device (phone, tablet, computer).

Oh, and there are thousands of free ebooks available; from classics to newly-released titles.

You can carry your entire book library around in your pocket!


What do I Need to Read an Ebook?

Very good question, if I do say so myself. You may read your shiny ebook on your computer (if you’re the iconoclastic type), or your iPad (if you’re very cool), iPod (yeah, we know you), your Kindle (if you’re a trendsetter), your Android phone (if you’re one of the hip ones), your Blackberry (if you still have one of those), or your netbook (if you’re like me). You can read your ebook on pretty much anything with a screen and a reader. Yes, people read ebooks on their mobile phones. I’ve seen this; I know it happens.

What are the most common ebook formats? (Another very good question. I give myself ten points.)

Epub—developed as an industry standard. Use if you have a Nook, iPad, iPhone, iPod, Android phones and tablets.

PRC—Kindles

PDF—Most Windows-based and Mac computers.

Mobi—Blackberries.

A common misconception: I can’t buy an ebook on Amazon.com because I don’t own a Kindle.

Untrue! Anyone can purchase an ebook from Amazon.com (the behemoth of the ebook world). As long as you have a way to read the book on whatever device you choose, you may purchase from Amazon.com. Musa Publishing offers ebooks in all four main formats, so this is very handy, and everyone can join in the ereading fun. (Yes, I just wrote that.)

Okay, Really, I Just Want to Read an Ebook.

Here’s one super-fast and easy way:  Just go here and download Amazon’s free Kindle app and start reading...  

It doesn’t matter what computery thingy you have. If you have an iPod, iPhone or iPad. If you have an Android phone or tablet. If you have any Macintosh. If you have a Windows PC or laptop. Even if you have a Blackberry or Windows phone. Everything works!

Once you have the free Kindle app, you can use it to find and read just about any ebook out there. It's really that simple.

I hope you’ve enjoyed StoryRhyme’s instructional guide. Questions? Feel free to post, and we’ll see if we can help you.