Lance Morcan's Blog, page 102

‘If you like your stories straight up…without any sugar coating, then Fiji is sure to please.’ -Great Historical book reviews

Our historical adventure romance Fiji: A Novel continues to perform well on Amazon, attracting some compelling reviews.

One of the best – in our humble opinion – is this (abridged) 5-star review from Great Historicals, the site for reviews of historical novels:

If you like your stories straight up, told like it really was, and without any sugar coating, then Fiji is sure to please. This novel transcends gender and will appeal to both male and female readers. This book had a bit of everything – sex, violence, humor, historic detail, and plenty of twists to keep one reading.

Here’s some more (abridged) 5-star reviews for Fiji: A Novel:

***** BRAVO! This book was riveting. I felt like I was right there…This story literally takes you through the history of that region through a fictional story that uses historical facts so seamlessly that it is compelling. -Kim Rhym, book reviewer.

***** If you’re a fan of adventure, history, even romance, you’ll want to pick up a copy of “Fiji: A Novel” and brace yourself for the ride. It’s an intense story that will have you turning the pages long into the night. -Susan M. Heim, acclaimed author, editor of the bestselling Chicken Soup for the Soul series.

***** Authors Lance and James Morcan have taken the history of Fiji in the 19th century and created a well-written, totally absorbing novel. -Alice M. Dinizo, book reviewer.

***** Fiji is an adventure story, a love story and a historic fiction novel all wrapped into one. You are drawn in from the very beginning and taken on a wild ride through the very end. -Monica Stevanovic, book reviewer.

***** Fiji…is not just a religion versus religion, profit for sake thereof, but a story of coming to terms with soul, with sexuality; with a sense of humanity; with a sense of friendship, with a sense of, well, honor.…sit down with some kava and begin a journey not only of adventure, but of heart, and most definitely of soul. -Remy Benoit, historian/author/humanitarian.

***** This is an exciting, historically accurate sketch of life on the Island of Fiji. The extensive research is evident and the plot electrifying. If you are a fan of great historical adventure, plan to stay up late reading this thrilling story. -Beverly J. Rowe, book reviewer.

And here’s a 4-star review we kinda like…

**** …once I got into it, I was hooked… The ability to combine interesting historical fact with a tense and fractious plot line is a skill which these writers employ liberally and made this novel even more enjoyable for me. -The Kindle Book Review.

To read the full reviews, and more, for Fiji: A Novel go to: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0057YCZM0/

Fiji: A Novel is available via Amazon as a kindle ebook and trade paperback.

 

Happy reading! -Lance & James

 

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The Orphan Factory rates highly with Amazon reviewers

Book two in The Orphan Trilogy is averaging 4.6 out of 5 stars with Amazon reviewers, and its continued popularity is setting the scene nicely for this month’s release of book three, The Orphan Uprising.

The Orphan Factory is the prequel to book one, The Ninth Orphan, while The Orphan Uprising is the sequel. (Confusing, isn’t it!).

Here’s a selection of reviewers’ comments about The Orphan Factory:

***** I found this book to be even better than the first. The escapades of Nine as a new teenager, away from the structure of the orphanage, are interesting and completely believable. -c9c Reviews

***** Buckle up. Dangerous road…Black ice and black ops perhaps have a lot in common. You don’t see’em coming until you spin out. -Remy Benoit, historian/humanitarian/author.

***** I am so glad that the authors thought to go back and answer the questions that came up when reading the Ninth Orphan. This book was awesome. -Kim Rhym, book reviewer.

***** Buckle up for another wild ride in the Orphan Trilogy. -Wandalyn Thomas, reviewer for Examiner.com

***** Phenominal series. I loved this book and this series has me hooked. -John Winstead, book reviewer.

***** As soon as I’d finished it I wanted to go back and read the previous book…I’m liking the fact this is part of a trilogy – I want more!!!!! -Larissa Bilyard, book reviewer.

***** The authors have created what hopefully will be a long running series with readers worldwide asking when the next volume is due off the press. -Alice M. Dinizo, book reviewer.

***** This book is the perfect complement to the first faced paced thriller…Awaiting eagerly for the next instalment. -Amanda Phillips, reviewer/film director.

And here’s a 4-star review we kinda like…

**** The Morcan’s take us to Chicago, Ill., on a journey with 23 genetically altered children and the organization bent on creating the world’s most elite stable of espionage operatives…a suspenseful story that engages the reader. -Tom Clementson, The Kindle Book Review reviewer.

 

To read the full reviews, and more, for The Orphan Factory (The Orphan Trilogy, #2) go to: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008M9WWKW/

The Orphan Factory, the prequel/book two in the trilogy, is one of the highest review-rated books on Amazon and Goodreads.

Happy reading! -Lance & James

 

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The Ninth Orphan cracks the quarter-century mark for 5-star reviews on Amazon

Book one in our top rated international thriller series, The Orphan Trilogy, has amassed twenty-five 5-star reviews on Amazon, and remains a regular visitor to Amazon’s bestseller lists in the Spy Stories and Technothriller categories.

Here’s a selection of reviewers’ comments:

*****  This psychological thriller really kept me on the edge of my seat! –Susan M. Heim, bestselling author & editor of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series.

***** A well-crafted universe of intrigue that sucks the reader in, allowing us to forget about everything else while reading. –Gregory S. Kuhn, futurist/quantum physicist/author.

 ***** Is the system that generates such horror reparable by one man; or only reparable by recognition and all standing for an end to such abuse? –Remy Benoit, historian/humanitarian/author.

 ***** Full of lots of twists and turns and no dull moments it left me hungry for more. -Amanda Phillips, film director

 ***** Do yourself a favor, read this book, enjoy the journey and find out the surprise ending. –Michael N. Vanatta, book reviewer.

***** This book should come with the warning: Do not start unless you have the time to finish. -Suepat, book reviewer

***** This book has all that I look for in a thriller of this genre – action, fast pace and suspense. -Sandra Dee, book reviewer.

***** Hitman meets The Pretender meets James Bond in this nonstop thriller. -Wandalyn Thomas, book reviewer.

And here’s a 4-star review we kinda like…

**** Mix in a beautiful girl who is first a hostage and then a lover, and the story has a nice mix of directions it can go…This book is fast paced, and I mean fast. -c9cREVIEWS.

 

To read the full reviews, and more, for The Ninth Orphan (The Orphan Trilogy, #1) go to: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0056I4FKC

The Orphan Factory, the prequel and book two in the trilogy, is one of the highest review-rated books on Amazon and Goodreads. Meanwhile, the sequel and book three, The Orphan Uprising, will be released soon.

Happy reading!  -Lance & James

 

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The e-book had its moment – print is here to stay, according to Wall Street Journal columnist

“The Fifty Shades of Grey phenomenon probably wouldn’t have happened if e-books didn’t exist…”

So says Nicholas Carr, author of The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains, in an article in the January 5 US edition of The Wall Street Journal.

Mr Carr goes on to say:

…Readers of weightier fare, including literary fiction and narrative nonfiction, have been less inclined to go digital. They seem to prefer the heft and durability, the tactile pleasures, of what we still call “real books”—the kind you can set on a shelf.

E-books, in other words, may turn out to be just another format—an even lighter-weight, more disposable paperback. That would fit with the discovery that once people start buying digital books, they don’t necessarily stop buying printed ones. In fact, according to Pew, nearly 90% of e-book readers continue to read physical volumes. The two forms seem to serve different purposes…

…Half a decade into the e-book revolution, though, the prognosis for traditional books is suddenly looking brighter. Hardcover books are displaying surprising resiliency. The growth in e-book sales is slowing markedly. And purchases of e-readers are actually shrinking, as consumers opt instead for multipurpose tablets. It may be that e-books, rather than replacing printed books, will ultimately serve a role more like that of audio books—a complement to traditional reading, not a substitute…

…The initial e-book explosion is starting to look like an aberration. The technology’s early adopters, a small but enthusiastic bunch, made the move to e-books quickly and in a concentrated period. Further converts will be harder to come by. A 2012 survey by Bowker Market Research revealed that just 16% of Americans have actually purchased an e-book and that a whopping 59% say they have “no interest” in buying one…

…e-book purchases have skewed disproportionately toward fiction, with novels representing close to two-thirds of sales. Digital best-seller lists are dominated in particular by genre novels, like thrillers and romances. Screen reading seems particularly well-suited to the kind of light entertainments that have traditionally been sold in supermarkets and airports as mass-market paperbacks.

These are, by design, the most disposable of books. We read them quickly and have no desire to hang onto them after we’ve turned the last page. We may even be a little embarrassed to be seen reading them, which makes anonymous digital versions all the more appealing…

For the full article go to: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323874204578219563353697002.html?KEYWORDS=print+books#articleTabs%3Darticle

WHO AGREES WITH MR CARR? LET ME KNOW. I’D BE INTERESTED TO LEARN YOUR OPINION.

For what it’s worth, I suspect we’ve only seen the tip of the e-book revolution iceberg and I believe Mr Carr and, indeed, the rest of us will be amazed by the monumental changes coming in the publishing industry and in the literary world.

Publishers who don’t adapt won’t survive.

All power to the lowly writer!

-Lance

 

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The Ninth Orphan returns to Amazon’s bestseller list for Technothrillers!

Our international thriller, The Ninth Orphan (The Orphan Trilogy, #1) has returned to Amazon’s bestseller list for Technothrillers. Yay!

But wait there’s more…

In a one-day free promo on Amazon yesterday, book two in The Orphan Trilogy, The Orphan Factory, climbed to #1 on Amazon’s free kindle list for Spy Stories.

Both novels continue to rate highly with Amazon and Goodreads readers and reviewers, appearing in those sites’ top rated lists in their respective categories.

Click on the book covers below to access the first few chapters…

The links for these novels are:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0056I4FKC  &

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008M9WWKW/

Book three in The Orphan Trilogy, The Orphan Uprising, will be released by Sterling Gate Books this month.

Happy reading!   -Lance & James

 

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Free spy thriller novel for Kindle readers

Our coming-of-age spy thriller novel The Orphan Factory is FREE today only on Amazon Kindle http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008M9WWKW/

It is book 2 in The Orphan Trilogy…However, it’s a prequel to book 1 (The Ninth Orphan), therefore The Orphan Factory can also be read first, so go for your lives and enjoy the read!

Book 3 in the trilogy, The Orphan Uprising, will be published later this month.

Amazon reviewer gives ‘Fiji: A Novel’ 5 stars

Amazon reviewer Monica Stevanovic says “You are drawn in from the very beginning and taken on a wild ride through the very end” in her 5-star review of our historical adventure-romance, Fiji: A Novel.

Here’s Ms Stevanovic’s (abridged)  review:

Fiji is an adventure story, a love story and a historic fiction novel all wrapped into one. It is an exciting tale that intertwines the lives of three groups of people from very different backgrounds (an American adventurer,

English missionaries and various Fijian tribes) and vividly puts you in the middle of 19th century Fiji. Prior to reading this book, I really didn’t know much about Fijian history or their customs, many of which were hard to digest (human sacrifice, cannibalism, etc.)…I still really enjoyed the story. You are drawn in from the very beginning and taken on a wild ride through the very end.

For the full review go to: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0057YCZM0/

To read the first few chapters of Fiji: A Novel free click on the cover below…

Available via Amazon as a kindle ebook and trade paperback.

(Average Amazon reviewer rating 4 stars).

 

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Happy New Year to all our Followers!

James and I would like to wish you and all our valued Followers a Happy New Year and all the best for 2013.

January 2013 marks the launch of The Orphan Uprising, our third book in The Orphan Trilogy. For those who enjoyed books one and two, we predict you’ll love the final instalment in the life of Nine, the ninth-born orphan.

Until the launch, the ‘hard yards’ continue with the current manuscript as we revise, revise, revise. Meanwhile, book one The Ninth Orphan and book two The Orphan Factory are regular visitors to Amazon’s top rated lists in their respective categories and continue to rate highly on that wonderful literary site, Goodreads.com – as does our historical adventure-romance Fiji: A Novel. (A big thank you to our readers!).

Finally, for our fellow writers, here’s a new post on Author Solutions, the worth-a-look Indie book writers’ blog, that caught our eye.

Five tips to getting published in 2013

-by Keith Ogorek

Pick a date when you want to hold a copy of your book. Writing is a process, but publishing is a goal so you need a deadline. And I have found the authors who are successful in self publishing, set a date when they want to hold a copy of their book. Sounds simple, but it is really important.

Decide when is the best time for you to write and make that your routine. I have talked to hundreds of authors and the ones who get to the goal have a discipline about their writing. Most have a better time in the day when they write most productively. What is your best time to write? Do you know when it is? Have you marked out that time on your calendar everyday or most everyday.

Make yourself accountable to help you stay on track. No secret here. Most goals are reached because we have others who help us get there. Find someone to provide encouragement as you write. This could be a friend, a relative or maybe a member of a local or online writers’ group. The Author Learning Center has tools and an online Author Circle that can help.

Select the best publishing path based on your goals, budget and time and talent you have to invest. The Four Paths to Publishing whitepaper can help you understand and evaluate your options. You can download a free copy here.

Plan your book launch event. Just like setting a deadline for holding your book, you want to set a date for a book launch party. Becoming a published author is quite an accomplishment and it is cause for celebration. Be creative. Think about holding it somewhere other an book store. Sell copies of your book and ask those who buy them to go online and write reviews. It will help you build your platform and get word of mouth started.

For more info on this post go to: https://mail.google.com/mail/?shva=1#inbox/13bf263138d505af

Here’s to a great 2013.  -Lance

 

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OZ-Bollywood feature films

I am currently filming two new feature films which I wrote the screenplays for and am acting lead roles in. Both are OZ-Bollywood productions filming in Australia and India. Filming started in late November and is scheduled to wrap late January.

Here are the IMDb links:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2527256/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2496488/

Happy New Year,

James Morcan

Book three in The Orphan Trilogy soon to be released!

The Orphan Uprising , book three in our international thriller series The Orphan Trilogy, will be released in January, 2013.

A sequel to book one, The Ninth Orphan, it follows the prequel/book two, The Orphan Factory. Both those novels continue to attract stellar reviews and feature in Amazon’s top rated lists in their respective categories incl. Technothrillers etc. (They also rank highly in the prestigious literary site, Goodreads).

The Orphan Uprising storyline resumes five years after The Ninth Orphan ends. Our hero, Nine – Sebastian Hannar, the ninth-born orphan – has married his one true love and they have a beautiful son, Francis. The boy has inherited Nine’s unique DNA. When the shadowy Omega Agency abducts Francis and sends him to one of their underground medical laboratories for scientific testing and experimentation, Nine is forced to come out of retirement to find and rescue him. What follows is a hunt that takes him around the world – from Tahiti to America, Germany, Greenland, Zambia and the Congo – and brings him into violent conflict with his fellow orphans, all elite Omega operatives. As well as being up against the mighty Omega Agency, Nine is battling a serious heart condition and so is on borrowed time. It’s a race against the clock to find his son before Omega can harm the boy - and before his heart gives out.

Let me recommend books one and two in The Orphan Trilogy. They are available through Amazon. Click on the book covers below to read the first few chapters at no charge:

                          The Ninth Orphan                                                       The Orphan Factory

(Book #1)                                                                            (Book #2)

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0056I4FKC   http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008M9WWKW/

 

Happy holiday reading!     -Lance & James

 

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