Rachelle Ayala's Blog, page 79

Three Women: Three Spellbinding Stories

Kandi, a young adult who is haunted by a past she doesn’t even remember – a memory that she has repressed – goes to college, expecting the best times of her life, yet finds herself being tormented by her Biology teacher.  She doesn’t understand why, so she finds solace in her best friend, Jimmy.

She loves Jimmy, more than anything.  They have been best friends for years.  He’s a cop, and she finds him extremely attractive in his uniform.  But, he’s overprotective.  Way too overprotective.  He won’t let her go anywhere without accompanying her, and she’s surprised that he allowed her to move to college without following her.  She doesn’t understand why he’s the way he is until the memory resurfaces.

Then, her entire world comes crashing down, knowing why her Biology teacher hates her.  She cannot bear the memory, and she wants nothing more but to repress it again.  She now must pierce her way out of the darkness.


Jennifer Cruz Jones isn't exactly a criminal. She just made a few bad choices--lying to the police, withholding evidence, oh, and making sure her boss didn't recognize her as the girl who destroyed his life--even after a hot bit of tongue wrestling.

Believing herself unworthy of love, she hides behind her computer wizardry, incessant exercise and a new identity. Unfortunately, a blackmailer threatens her and a killer stalks her.

When she runs out of excuses and diversions, Jennifer risks her life and heart by exposing her darkest, most devastating secret.

She discovers that love is not true unless it knows the truth.






Amanda so young, innocent and naive , finds herself moving from one emotional and abuse relationship to another as she enters into adulthood. When she meets Josh, she finally believes she has found true love, a man who will love her for who she is and protect her. Little does she know after only a few shorts years her world with spin out of control into an another emotionally draining abusive relationship.

Amanda denies what stares her in the face, like any victim she believes she deserves the abuse she receives.  Will someone finally be able to reach her and make her understand the direness of her situation before it is to late we find out whether she'll live or die?




FREE on Amazon Oct 10, 2012 Click here to check it out!

#GuestPost Wayne Zurl - Putting a Dialect into Dialogue

            Writing dialogue with a dialect can generate controversy and debate, and on occasion, even animosity among writers and readers.            I write about a former New York detective working as a police chief in rural east Tennessee. The accents he’s been exposed to are about as similar as a Venezuelan and a Glaswegian both attempting to speak understandable English. Sorry, Scotland.            I live in the same area where my protagonist works. Coincidently, I’m also an ex-New Yorker. And through fourteen novelettes and three full-length traditionally published novels, I’ve used, in varying degrees, east Tennessee, and other accents.             To my ear, there are three separate and distinct accents in and around the Great Smoky Mountains and I write them all. Occasionally I have a “Nu Yawkah” visit Chief Sam Jenkins and we hear them ask for a “cuppa kawfee” or tell him to “open a windah” or cut the grass with a “mowah.” I do that so the residents of southern Appalachia can’t accuse me of picking on them exclusively when some of my characters use the universal greeting of the region, “Yew doin’ aw rot t’day?” or any of the other appropriate colloquialisms I hear all the time.  Honest folks, I don’t embellish or make this up. I only write what I hear—and I have always had a good ear for languages. That’s why I can speak English fairly well, am semi-fluent in two other languages, and can swear and order a beer in five more.            Okay, let’s look at what the experts say. In his book, THE 38 MOST COMMON FICTION WRITING MISTAKES (And How to Avoid Them), Jack M. Bickham wrote a   2 ¼ page chapter called Don’t Mangle Characters’ Speech. Jack says NEVER deviate from the King’s English; it may tend to confuse a reader. Prior to his death, Bickham published about 75 novels and taught English at the University of Oklahoma.            Since I didn’t like Jack’s answer, I looked further. Everyone’s heard of Stephen King and may have read one or more of his sci-fi/horror novels. I think we’ll all agree Stephen has done well for himself in the publishing business. I’m not a fan of horror stories, so I don’t read his fiction, but I liked and recommend his book, ON WRITING (A Memoir of the Craft). The first half tells the story of a young Stephen King teaching high school English in Bangor, Maine, near poverty, and in danger of having his utilities turned off before he finally sold the famous CARRIE. The second half is pure advice on how to write fiction King’s way.            Stephen’s take on writing dialect is, “Write it the way you hear it.” And he’s got a unique accent to duplicate in “Down East” Maine.            Steve, however, goes on to say, “Don’t substitute apostrophes for the letters you leave out of the words.” Example: writin’ rather than writing, should simply be writin, according to King.            So, I was looking at a stalemate, one for and one ag’in. While working on my first full-length novel, A NEW PROSPECT, I hired Bill Greenleaf, a retired editor, book doctor, and author of nine novels. Bill agreed with King and said, “Write it as you hear it; it’s more authentic when dealing with characters who speak with a unique accent.” He further stated that new writers probably shouldn’t just omit letters, as suggested by King, without using the substitute apostrophe. Stephen’s way may only confuse editors, thinking you might be submitting a manuscript with typos. Sad but true—a guy like Stephen King can get away with much more than you or I.A NEW PROSPECT was published and the publisher/editor accepted all the dialect without question. Since I’ve mentioned that book twice and at my age, I no longer have any modesty, I’ll tell you it was named best mystery at the 2011 Indie Book Awards, First Runner-up from all commercial fiction at the 2012 Eric Hoffer Book Awards, and was a finalist for a Montaigne Medal and First Horizon Award. So I guess the dialect hasn’t been too troubling to the judges who read the review copies.My second novel, A LEPRECHAUN’S LAMENT, being handled by a new publisher, not only features characters with thick east Tennessee accents, but several with English “black country” accents or Irish brogues. The folks at Iconic Publishing are comfortable with the accents written as they would like the reader to “hear” them.Additionally, both the publisher and editor at Mind Wings Audio where they’ve produced my novelettes as audio books and simultaneously published them as eBooks have accepted everything written with oodles of Tennessee dialect. The actor who reads the text says he has fun shifting voices. (A novelette is defined as something between 7,500 and 17,500 words.)Some readers or reviewers of my works say, “I’m from the south and I don’t speak like that.” Understandable. Someone from Charleston, South Carolina or Paducah, Kentucky sounds nothing like someone from Cocke County, Tennessee. Someone from Nashville in middle Tennessee doesn’t remotely sound like someone from the Smokies. To these complainers I say, “If you’ve never been in my neck of the woods, don’t comment on how my neighbors speak.” Not only can I state with authority how a resident of east Tennessee sounds (I’ve been here for twenty years) but I lived in New York for forty-six years and know first-hand that someone from Brooklyn speaks nothing like a resident of Buffalo, and both possess distinct accents.Recently, a reviewer said, “Writing in dialect neverworks.” I’m suspicious of someone who uses absolutes like always or never. When I hear that, I tend to wonder where they derive their expertise on the subject upon which they commented. This reviewer claimed, “It would be enough to state that the character spoke with a heavy accent.” Isn’t that telling and not showing? Just the opposite of what good writers are supposed to do. George Peleconos has written a successful series of novels featuring Derek Strange, an African American private detective working in Washington DC. Peleconos extensively writes dialogue in Ebonics. And it only makes sense. The jive-ass, hip-hop, gangsta-rapping, young drug dealers Derek encounters during his adventures do not speak like little old men from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. In my opinion, it would not sound authentic and would detract from the story if he omitted the dialect.And I should mention an old book with lots of dialect and a pretty fair track record: THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN by a guy who called himself Mark TwainSome readers have told me, “Reading dialects makes me slow down.” So what? What’s the hurry? Do you want to absorb and understand a novel or just knock out another book and add one more to your “I’ve read” list? Shifting from one writer’s voice to another causes me to slow down until I pick up the cadence and get in tune with a different style. In only a few pages most readers should click with something new. Sometimes, I think semi-professional readers (self-styled, unpaid reviewers) cruise through books so fast they really can’t write an honest or intelligent review. Another opinion (mine), “Everyone should savor a good book. Slow down and smell the printer’s ink.”
Wayne Zurl grew up on Long Island and retired after twenty years with the Suffolk County Police Department, one of the largest municipal law enforcement agencies in New York and the nation. For thirteen of those years he served as a section commander supervising investigators. He is a graduate of SUNY, Empire State College and served on active duty in the US Army during the Vietnam War and later in the reserves. Zurl left New York to live in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee with his wife, Barbara..For more information on Wayne’s Sam Jenkins mystery series see www.waynezurlbooks.net. You can read excerpts, reviews and endorsements, interviews, coming events, and see photos of the area where the stories take place.

Wayne's Amazon Author PageB&N link: http://barnesandnoble.com/s/wayne-zurlMind Wings Audio link: http://mindwingsaudio.com/?s=wayne+zurl. Don't have a KINDLE? Download a FREE Kindle APP and enjoy your ebooks on PC, Mac, iPad, Android and smartphones. Click here to check it out!

The Wonderful World Literary Cafe @Melissa_Foster #WLC

The World Literary Cafe is the brainchild of author and entrepreneur extraordinaire, Melissa Foster. It is a friendly place where authors, bloggers, readers and book reviewers can gather, meet, make friends, and share.

Let's face it. It's not easy being an aspiring author. Whether your goal is self-publishing or querying for agents, the journey to success is riddled with self-doubt, misinformation, fear, and procrastination.

When Melissa Foster published her first book, Megan's Way , three years ago, she became a pioneer, figuring everything out herself, making mistakes and learning. There were few other authors who had ventured into the nascent tide of self-publishing.

Fast forward two years and two books later. In November, 2011, Melissa published Come Back To Me . This time she was prepared. She had gathered a team of authors and aspiring authors. They supported each other in preparation for launch, social networking and patting each other on the back. Come Back To Me raced out the gates and topped all the charts. It was a phenomenal movement that saw many members of that group become best selling authors. By working together and supporting each other, Melissa taught her team that book selling is not a zero-sum game. Small pie or big pie? Melissa is definitely a pie grower.

At this point, I was blissfully unaware of Melissa and her team. So all of the history was gleaned from my interactions with Melissa and WLC members. I was an aspiring author with a single finished manuscript being edited. It was November 2011 and I was busy playing NaNoWriMo, completing two first drafts. I vegged around in December to recover from NaNoWriMo and wanted to sit back and read. About this time I discovered World Literary Cafe, called WoMen's Literary Cafe. They were recruiting Reviewers. I had been an Amazon Vine reviewer years before and I thought it would be fun to review for WLC. They'd give me free books and all I had to do was write a review.

Little did I know that by reading and writing reviews, I would begin to appreciate that reviews were lifeblood to an indie author. I was gradually introduced to the author forums and found a class Melissa Foster taught on Basic Book Marketing for only $25. My editor had returned my manuscript and I was busily revising it. Soon, I would have to launch my book and I had no idea what to do except hit the "publish" button at Amazon.

The course was fantastic. Not only did Melissa explain social networking, web sites, twitter, and promotions, but she did it online using Google+ Hangout. She talked to us and answered questions from us personally. She then put us in a special Facebook group of all the people who took her class. We were encouraged to ask any stupid questions we wanted and no one would make us feel inadequate. Those who had gone before guided those who were coming along.

Melissa was always available to answer questions and help in a personal manner. When someone had trouble with a tweet, she'd explain how to use URL shorteners. No question or problem was too trivial for her. She'd spend hours on the phone encouraging people and making suggestions. She was seemingly everywhere, on Facebook, Twitter, Google, and online at WLC. And the amazing thing is that she remembered everyone's name.

This summer, Melissa recorded all of her fantastic information into courses offered through a website Fostering-Success.com. Courses offered are:

Social Media Made Easy

Creating an Effective Author Website

Creating an Effective & Branded Online Presence & Platform

Self-Publishing, Simplified

Effective Book Marketing

These classes come with online videos and bonus handouts with useful content. They are entirely self-paced and you can watch and review the videos at your convenience.

I met Melissa Foster rather accidentally. Someone told me to follow some famous writers, so I found twitter addresses to quite a few of them. I was still relatively new to twitter and when I followed Melissa Foster I immediately received a direct message (or DM). I was amazed that this famous writer would send me a message asking me to be her friend on Facebook. I know what my husband said about not friending strangers on Facebook, but I broke his rule because Melissa was a famous writer, and I had read her books. She couldn't possibly be bad!

I friended her on Facebook and she wrote a message on my wall. She actually wanted to get to know me! So I took opportunity to tell her about how I was completely wrong with the culprits in Chasing Amanda , and how she had thrown all these red herrings and had me imagining completely off the wall scenarios. She thought that was funny. How cool was that? I had never talked to a best selling author before. They always seemed so distant, in the ivory tower, surrounded by minions of flying monkeys with batwings, spears and helmets.

When I finally launched Michal's Window at the end of February, Melissa and her crew supported me the entire way. I signed up for WLC New Release Program and put my book up for free on Kindle Select. I used the WLC Tweet Teams to inform everyone about the free book. After my free days ran out, I purchased a WLC Book Buzz to extend the exposure for my book. I ended up selling 995 books that first month.

WLC offers many programs for authors, readers, and bloggers, such as Author-Blogger Connection, Read-and-Review, #WLCFreeToday Forum, Tweet Teams and more. But the most important thing WLC offers is the community, a connection between people helping people. My self-publishing journey would have been a lonely grind into obscurity had I not met Melissa Foster and her fantastic team at WLC. Instead, I'm a member of something greater than myself and my books, all thanks to the vision and hard work of Melissa Foster.

Melissa Foster's Books are available at Amazon. Visit her Amazon Author Page
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Click here to check it out!

#GuestPost Jerold Last on the Magic of Machu Picchu

Author Jerold Last joins us today with a fascinating account of Machu Picchu, the historical city of the Incas. The latest book in his South American mystery series is the Matador Murders.  The book immediately preceding The Matador Murders, is The Surreal Killer. It takes place in Peru and Chile, with a key chapter set in Machu Picchu. Join Jerold as he takes us on a tour of this very special place.
Title:  A Visit to Machu Picchu
Machu Picchu, the sacred city of the Incas high in the Peruvian Andes, is used as the setting for a chapter in The Surreal Killer.  It is a very special place I thought some of you might be interested in learning more about.
Conventional USA and European history of Machu Picchu:  Hiram Bingham III was appointed as a lecturer in South American History at Yale University in 1907.  He traveled through South America, including Peru, in 1908 and returned with Yale-sponsored expeditions to Peru in 1911, 1912, and 1915.  Since The Panama Canal wasn't open until 1914, Bingham's first three visits to Peru involved difficult trips either overland or around Cape Horn and were far from being as simple as it is nowadays.  
            A local native of Peru, Melchor Arteaga, led the first Bingham expedition in 1911 to Machu Picchu, which had been largely ignored by the non-indigenous people of Peru at that time.  With the casual racism and arrogance characteristic of the times, Bingham claimed to have discovered Machu Picchu (that it hadn't been lost to the locals and that other European explorers had been there before him apparently didn't count) and proceeded to loot the ruins, bringing back something like 40,000 different artifacts to Yale.  These mummies, ceramics, bones, and other artifacts were supposed to be returned to Peru by Yale a few years ago after prolonged litigation. The switchback-filled road for tourist buses that runs from the Urubamba River to Machu Picchu is now called the Hiram Bingham Highway.  Bingham himself has been suggested to be the basis for the "Indiana Jones" character in Steven Spielberg's blockbuster movies.            History of Machu Picchu: The decision to colonize the Andean Altiplano by indigenous tribes tens of thousands of years ago was a choice of a difficult life style due to the harsh conditions of weather and altitude versus constant exposure to the vector-borne diseases of the lowland jungles and swamps like malaria and dengue fever, poisonous snakes and insects, other human predators like crocodiles, piranha, and jungle cats, etc.  Initially the highlanders followed the camelids (llamas, alpacas, etc.) and mountain goats and were hunter-gatherers.  They learned the tricks of survival in this harsh terrain and later became farmers as well.  The Incas conquered most of the other indigenous tribes in the 15th and 16th centuries to create the Incan Empire, which lasted for less than 100 years until the Spanish conquest in the 16th Century.  The Incas brought not only spears and arrows, but sophisticated irrigated agriculture and huge granaries with them as an inducement to join their culture and religion.
The sacred site:Machu Picchu (which can be seen as the cover picture on my novel The Surreal Killer) is amazing.  It is not just the engineering scope and scale, the artistry of the architecture and the remote and inaccessible location.  It's the serenity and spirituality of the place.  That's why Machu Picchu is at the top of most lists for international visits by New Age enthusiasts and affluent hippies.  Almost five hundred years after the conquest of the Incas, a visitor can still feel this religiosity emotionally and consciously, even though it is a different religion than that of 99.9% of the tourists who visit there.  Just standing on the mountaintop, silently looking at the ruins of the Temple of the Sun or the Temple of Three Windows, makes it impossible not to be embraced by the spirituality of Machu Picchu.  Chile's greatest poet and writer Pablo Neruda said it all in his work, "The Heights of Machu Picchu".  "Machu Picchu is a trip to the serenity of the soul, to the eternal fusion with the cosmos, where we feel our fragility."  Perhaps the strongest statement made by tourists is the long silences as they look at the ancient Incan ruins and think their private thoughts. 
Incan religion:The Incas had a highly developed and sophisticated religion, which had several sacred places---Machu Picchu and Lake Titicaca are perhaps the most familiar sites to tourists nowadays. The early Incas also had to adjust to their life high in the Andes, an area of steep cliffs, huge boulders, and mountainous terrain.  They made unique stone formations into special objects for worship by imbuing them with spiritual properties.  These rocks were thought to possess their own spiritual forces so they were truly "gifts from the gods".
The puma and other sacred animals like the condor or eagle are a recurring theme in all of the religious places found in this area.  The most sacred structures feature the puma image.  The puma represents the Incan god responsible for our world and was worshiped by all of the Incas. A carved rock in the Machu Picchu ruins called Q’enko has a puma carving and zigzag channels carved into the top to allow the flow of llama blood after sacrifice of the animals during religious rituals.  The puma also appears in Cuzco, where the historic city is supposed to be laid out in the shape of the puma, with the fortress of Sacsayhuaman as its head.
The condor represents the gods of the upper world, which included the sun, moon, stars, lightning, and rainbows.  The third kind of animal the Incas deified was the snake, which represented the lower world, or inner earth. That was where the ancestors of the Incas, their great dead heroes, and the most important of their gods Pachamama, Mother of the Earth, lived.
There are ceremonial showers at Machu Picchu (e.g., Tambomachay) where the nobility bathed in preparation for rituals.  Apparently the nobles and the priests both participated in the important ceremonies, some of which included sacrifices of animals or humans.  Human sacrifice was rare.   It happened only during the most special occasions, like the crowning of a new King of the Incas or to try to get the gods to intervene in famines or epidemics of disease.  Animal sacrifice, especially of llama, was more common.  The most common sacrifice was a small amount of food crops at the time of harvest to ensure a good yield for the next crop.  Archeologists tell us that some of these religious practices continued at Machu Picchu long after the time of the Spanish conquest, so Incan spiritualism outlived secular Incan government, probably until the era of modern Peru, if not longer.
Building Machu Picchu: Incan construction techniques such as those used at Machu Picchu are fascinating.  They used huge rocks, some dragged many miles up and down mountains at altitudes as high as 12,000 feet, using only human labor to move, grind, and polish boulders weighing tens of tons.  The Incas did not have cement, so the rocks were shaped to fit together like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle and held in place by gravity.  They hadn't invented the wheel, so primitive rollers made from logs and fiber ropes were used to transport the rocks.  The Peruvian altiplano is a major earthquake zone, but many of the walls have survived more or less intact for over 600 years.
Author Bio: The author is a Professor of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the University of California's Medical School at Davis.  He has a Ph.D. degree in Biochemistry and does research on asthma and health effects of air pollution on the lungs.  He is also a big fan of hard-boiled mystery novels.  A quick search of Amazon will turn up books and articles in biochemistry previously edited or authored by Jerry, as well as his South American mystery novel series.  The settings and locales for all of these novels are authentic; the author lived previously in Salta, Argentina and Montevideo, Uruguay.  He has ongoing collaborations with local scientists in Uruguay, Argentina, and Peru. The Matador Murders, set in Montevideo and Santiago, Chile, is the fourth book in this series, following The Empanada Affair, set in Salta in Northwest Argentina, The Ambivalent Corpse, set in Montevideo, Uruguay and the surrounding region, and The Surreal Killer, set in Peru and Northern Chile's Atacama Desert region.   All of these mystery novels are available as Kindle E-books from Amazon; the first two books are also available from Smashwords, Apple, Nook, Kobo, and most other e-book dealers.  A fifth book in this series, The Body in the Parking Structure, an 11,600-word novelette set in Los Angeles, is also available from Amazon.  You can learn more about Jerry and find links to all of his books on Amazon on his blog at: http://rogerandsuzannemysteries.blogs... (plus a serialized short story, "Someone Did It to the Butler" in 5 installments also posted on the blog)
Jerry writes hard-boiled mystery books that are fast moving and entertain the reader, while introducing the readers to a region where he has lived and worked that is a long way from home for most English speakers.  Montevideo, Salta, Machu Picchu, and Iguazu Falls are characters in these books, and the novels portray these places as vivid and real.
Check out the blurb for The Matador Murders and find the book at Amazon.
 P.I. Roger Bowman and his wife Suzanne are back in Montevideo, Uruguay after being summoned from Los Angeles by a late night phone call.  One of their friends is suspected of murder and needs their skills as detectives to help clear him of the charges.  Life for Roger, and especially for Suzanne, is more complicated these days as they now have an infant son, Robert.  The three of them, accompanied by Robert’s nanny, Bruce, fly to Uruguay and the game is afoot.  Before long we have our heroes directly in the middle of a gang war, off for a quick trip to Chile to learn all about the local crime scene, and meeting some unlikely allies in their mission.  The book has lots of action, a good whodunit storyline, guest appearances from several old friends and an old enemy, and occasional opportunities for sightseeing and eating regional specialty foods.

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#AuthorInterview Chris Semal, musician and writer

Hi Chris, thanks for stopping by my blog. Musician, singer, songwriter. Do you find your background in music has helped you as a writer? And if so, how?
Absolutely, music has always been my first love and is a constant source of discussion with my friends, who mostly are musicians themselves. It's an innate form of communication and you can express pretty much every emotion by how and what you play. I'm usually the lyricist in whatever original bands I've played in and most of the songs are character driven, that is to say, they are sung from other perspectives than my own personal one. Someone once told me that to be the singer in my band, you need to be a method actor. This is a huge help in writing a novel, as you have to put yourself in the heads and personalities of many different characters and make them all believable. I'm probably a precious few steps away from having multiple personality disorder :-)
Also, writing about something I know so innately helps in conveying the joy that playing with other musicians provides. I think I've translated that feeling well in the chapters and scenes which focus on that element, as well as the coldness and calculation on the business end.

You're right, music is about evoking feelings and emotions with sounds, whereas writing is with words. Did you have a playlist while writing your latest book, Trial of Tears ?
I always write with iTunes on in the background, but no particular playlist. I have some 9500 songs and just let it run on random play like a jukebox. I may tweak things a little and forward a song if it's not the right mood for where I'm at, but I usually just let it run. When you're in a Guns N' Roses mood and Miles Davis shows up, you've got to take charge of the moment, though sometimes it'll take you somewhere unexpected.

Interesting. I know some authors play certain types of music to get them into the mood for a fight scene. Any other stories you have have hidden in your skeleton closet? Will what you're working on see the light of day?
With any luck, most of my stories will see the light of day. At this point, I'm not the most prolific producer, though I see my pace picking up the more I write. The next work to see publication is a novella called 'Time Flies'. It's a coming of age story set in Manhattan in the late 1980s through the aftermath of 9/11. As a native, I love setting my stories in the city. I wrote this as a bit of a reaction to people who commented that Trial of Tears is a little intense or over the top for their tastes. I look at it as if Ozzy Osbourne played a bar mitzvah. That's not to say that I don't let humor into the story, but it's on a different level.
I am currently working on the sequel to Trial of Tears, titled Reign of Tears. It picks up the story a year later. I'm about seven chapters into it and hopefully will have it done in 2013.
Well, I love intense stories, but then, I'm an adrenaline and dramatic junkie. How about characters, which one do you relate to most?
Ah, I relate to most of them in one way or another. The relationship between the protagonist, Pete Watts, and his closest friend is based on the way my oldest friend and I get along. Pete's a nice fellow who, though he's had a tough life, is the kind of guy you'd like to hang out and have a beer with.

That being said, I really had the most fun writing for the villains, of which there are many. You can let loose the worst elements of your psyche without fear of incarceration or recrimination. I wanted to make my bad guys truly hissable, but with an element of humanity that keeps them grounded. They chose the paths they took for a reason.

*Spoiler Alert* I was seriously bummed out when I had to kill off Ronno towards the end of the story. As despicable as he was, he grew on me and I gave him tons of good lines. 

Alice, the inspiration for the novel's title and cover, was an absolute gem to write for, broken toy that she is. She wasn't even in my initial character sketches when I started outlining the story! From some deep, dark recess in my mind, she makes her entrance in Chapter 5 and does her best to take over the story. I've gotten a lot of feedback from readers who want to know more about her and that will happen in Reign of Tears. In this book, I treat her like the monster of a well-done horror movie. You don't want to show too much and overexpose her, so I focus more on the wreckage she leaves behind. I recently had a fun publicity assignment in which I wrote a character interview with her. It ends very badly for the interviewer.


That's funny. Do you have a link to the character interview?

http://www.fictionalcandy.com/2012/06/character-interview-trial-of-tears-by.html

Do you have any advice for other writers?
There are many things, but a lot of them are subjective and what works for one person might ruin someone else's work. If I had to give the younger version of me advice, it would be to realize how much polishing an initial manuscript needs. It's normal to think that you've written something tremendous after you've completed a novel and you may confuse the completion of a major milestone, which finishing a first novel certainly is, with how far you are along the road to being publishable. Without a doubt, once you have it polished til it gleams, hire an editor. You can only go so far by yourself. No one has an ugly baby, but a professional perspective will show you what is working and what needs work. If you have to go down the road of self-publishing, figure out what your business strengths and weaknesses are, because you're going to need to put a good team together. So many different skills are required and it's unlikely you'll be good at all of them.


Anything special you'd like to say to readers? 
I always enjoy getting feedback on my work, good or bad. This a labor of love and I had no idea how much I was going to enjoy the process. It's one of the best mental exercises you can put yourself through and, even if you don't wind up on the bestseller list, all sorts of doors will open up to you if you take a journey like this.
Trial of Tears is available from Amazon.
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#BookReview I'm Here to Win by Chris "Macca" McCormack

I'm Here To Win: A World Champion's Advice for Peak Performance by Chris McCormack
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Totally awesome book! First time I ever seen Macca was on a Wheaties box. His grinning face was on our breakfast table for over a year. Don't know why they're doing the old Mary Lou Retton, Bruce Jenner and Ali boxes nowadays. I want Macca back!

This book is a great introduction to triathlons by the greatest triathlete on the planet. What I admire about Chris McCormack is his honesty. That's right. He talks about his failures as well as his glories and doesn't sugarcoat his mistakes.

The chapter about his mate Sean Maroney's death and later his mother's short fight with breast cancer was a real tearjerker. But he was able to persevere and dedicate his first Ironman World championship to them.

This book is more than a book about athletes, but a treatise on life experiences. Since I'm writing a novel ( Hidden Under Her Heart ) with a triathlete as the male main character, I found this book invaluable with diving into the mind of a world class athlete. My character had doubts about his biking ability. His father was an Olympic swimmer and his mother an Olympic sprinter. Yet he was a big man. Although before I read this book, I didn't know 175 lbs is considered heavy. My guy is 6'2" and 179 lbs. His girlfriend encouraged him to attack on the bike and he'd been training with uphill mountain biking and sprints to build is leg power. He'd always been confident about his marathon abilities, so hanging back on the bike had been his biggest obstacle.

All this was written before I came across Chris McCormack's book. Imagine my surprise when Chris outlined the exact strategy for my character to win. Obviously my character made mistakes such as attacking on the uphill close to the summit and losing it when he almost fell on the downhill [I mean, in fiction you have to pull out the bunny rabbit ran across the road moment], but Macca's descriptions of his races helped me with the realism of my race scene.

My editor may still cut it out, but at least I enjoyed writing it, and I am going to cheer for Macca to beat Crowie for the 2012 Ironman World Champion.

At the end of the book, Chris talks about honesty and not cheating. I immediately thought of Lance Armstrong and John Locke. What good is temporary glory when it is bought off the back of underhanded methods? I'm really glad he tackled this taboo topic, because at the end of the day, each person has to look inside themselves and like what they see.

I also love the relationship Chris has with his wife, Emma-Jane. Theirs is an undying love, close friendship and emotional consideration that all romance novels aim to achieve.

Macca said if you're too focused on the results and not on the process you'll burn out. The same can be said for writing. Enjoy and love the journey and savor the destination, but never cheat or take shortcuts.

View all my reviews

Buy Chris' Book on Amazon (Hardcover, Paperback (preorder), Ebook) and visit his Amazon Author Page

Please enter Rachelle Ayala's Giveaway for a copy of Michal's Window (your odds are much better here than at GR)
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#AuthorInterview Amy Metz of Goose Pimple Junction

I'm so happy to have Amy Metz on my blog today. I first ran into Amy in a book review at my friend Ara's blog: My Book and My Coffee. Goose Pimple caught my eye. We usually think of Goose Bumps, but a pimple??? It had to be a humongous goose bump. So, Amy, how did you come up with the title of your book?
First of all, I came across the real town of Goose Pimple Junction, Virginia in 1985, and I loved the name and never forgot it. So when I started writing a humorous mystery, I thought the name Goose Pimple Junction was perfect for my fictional town. The title started out just as Goose Pimple Junction, but one of my critique partners suggested I needed something in the title to reflect the mystery part of the story, so thanks to Dennis, I added Murder & Mayhem, since a lot of murder and mayhem occurs throughout the story.
I read Ara's wonderful review and agree. She's so looking for more murder and more mayhem. How did you create the plot for this book?
The book is centered around several events that actually happened to my ancestors in the 1930’s. I have heard the accounts of the bank robbery and murders ever since I was a little girl, and I always thought they would make a great book. Murder & Mayhem In Goose Pimple Junction is a fictionalized version of those events; in my book the murder is solved, unlike real life.
That's what's great with fiction; we get to write the right ending. We also get to have a fantasy love life. So, tell me, with which of your characters would you most like to be stuck on a deserted island?
Oh that’s easy. Jack would definitely be my first choice. He’s handsome, smart, romantic, and witty. But I wouldn’t mind being stuck with Louetta either. She’s a hoot and would keep me laughing.
Sometimes laughter is the best medicinal, more important than muscles. Which character did you most enjoy writing?
That would have to be Tank. He only plays a small role in the book, but I really loved his personality. He’s a no-nonsense biker dude, tough as nails, and big as a tank. Spoiler alert: I hated to kill him off!
What??? You can't do this to us. I haven't read the book yet. Boo hoo! Okay, now that I've thrown my tantrum, I'll curse you. Do you ever get writer’s block? What do you do when it happens?
I’m usually working on several books at a time, so I just switch to another book until the block passes. Or I edit. There’s always editing to be done. Always.
Well, there's always that and organizing your dental floss collection. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?
I would live in Charleston, South Carolina during the winter and spring, and Kennebunkport, Maine during the summer and fall. And both places would be by the beach.
Sounds like a great plan. How do you handle criticism of your work?
I try to keep it in perspective, but it always stings. I think the worst thing to deal with is silence. When people say they can’t wait to read your book, but they never say another word about it. Or when people say, “I read your book,” and then they say nothing else. I get the message that they didn’t like it, but I don’t know why. I also had one reviewer who wrote a very favorable review, but she gave it two stars. I’d love to know why, because there was nothing negative in her review.
Must have been a strict teacher who hates grade inflation. What are you working on now?I’m finishing up the second book in the Goose Pimple Junction series, and I’ve written three chapters of the third. I’m also working on and off on a thriller, and I’m finishing up the layout for a photography coffee table book on a historic home. There’s always something to do.
That there is. I'm glad there will be more Goose Pimple Junction books, and I'm sure your readers are anxiously awaiting the next one. Thanks for visiting with us.
Thanks for having me, Rachelle. I appreciate you hosting me.
Folks, check out Ara's review of Murder and Mayhem in Goose Pimple Junction.
Contact info:Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AuthorAmyMetzTwitter: https://twitter.com/goosepimpleismsBlog: http://abluemillionbooks.blogspot.com/Website: http://amymetz.com/Book trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vIbieSgVjk

#BookChat A Child Lost in Flight by Mohan K. #memoir

Synopsis
A Child Lost in Flight is a first person account of a father coming to grips with the sudden death of his child on an international flight. The story is about his tragedy and the author’s experiences in recovering and moving on. It weaves together inspiration and a practical approach to managing crisis and life changing events. It is ultimately about human triumph over tragedy.

From the Author
My intent in writing the book was because I found it cathartic to write about it. The book is also intended to demonstrate how my wife and I moved forward after a personal tragedy, perhaps an inspiration for others undergoing life crisis.

My challenge has been in trying to get mainstream media/bloggers interested in reviewing the book. I was planning to attempt it again after it gets some reviews from bloggers and on Amazon.

Reader's reactions
Luanne Stevenson blogs
“It is unimaginable to comprehend a parent’s pain after losing a child. The struggle to move on may feel impossible, like mountain climbing in flip-flops. But Mohan K’s story reminds the reader that it is possible to move through unimaginable grief and when you reach the summit, you may be scraped and bruised from the climb, but the view from the top will take your breath away. Mohan K’s story is inspiring.”

Susan Bailey blogs
A short narrative of 57 pages, A Child Lost in Flight moves with urgency causing this normally ponderous reader to fly through the pages, anxious to find out what happened to this family. The author’s simple, transparent prose disappeared behind the quick flow of the story.

There is much wisdom in A Child Lost in Flight that can apply just as easily to people of faith as to people with little or no faith. Little Aditya will never be forgotten but his memory can serve as a reminder and a guide to this couple of life, death and renewal: the most basic, and most profound of mysteries.

More...
Mohan, as a parent who has lost a child I can totally empathize with the tragedy that happened to you. You are indeed brave and inspiring to write about such a painful subject. I do look forward to reading your memoir. Thanks for sharing it with us. -Rachelle

Mohan K. is an Indian-American technologist based in North Carolina. This memoir is based on his experiences. You can find out more about Mohan at his blog: http://achildlostinflight.blogspot.com/
A Child Lost in Flight is available at Amazon.

#AuthorInterview Shane Etter #supernatural #thriller

Welcome, Shane, to Rachelle's Window.
Where did you grow up and was reading and writing a part of your life? Who were your earliest influences and why?
I grew up in Jackson, MS.  I read a lot as a child.  The first books I remember making an impression on me were Lord of the Flies by William Golding and a book of Sherlock Holmes short stories.
Why do you write ?I started writing to improve my brain after a stroke. Now I write because it consumes me.
A stroke? Kudos to you on your recovery.I was the least creative man in the world before my stroke, but during one of rounds of brain healing I became creative literally overnight.
What is your novel BOTTOM DWELLERS about?BD is a love story written inside a supernatural thriller. While scuba diving in Lake Lanier, one of the deepest lakes in the U.S., in north Georgia, Patrick Dylan encounters a race of green mutants who have been living there for over 50 years. He also meets the love of his life, Trudy Dylan, a U.S. Park Service Ranger.
Who is Patrick Dylan? Who is Trudy Price?Patrick Dylan is a successful IT professional who becomes an adventurer whose life is changed as he battles the Lake Lanier denizens who as he later will find out are just a small part of a worldwide group of mutants.
Where did the inspiration come from for BOTTOM DWELLERS ? How much research went into writing BOTTOM DWELLERS ?About 10 years ago I read in the AJC Newspaper that there were still houses on the bottom of the lake and the idea grew from that fact. I did a great deal of research on the construction of Lake Lanier by the Corps of Engineers and spent time interviewing members of the U.S. Park Service that run the lake.
Describe your title BOTTOM DWELLERS as it relates to the plot?I just thought Dwellers was a clever word and it will now be in the title of all future books in the series.
If Hollywood called and asked you to cast BOTTOM DWELLERS - Who would you cast and why?Dwayne Johnson, The Rock, as Patrick Dylan because Patrick is tall and there aren’t that many tall actors in Hollywood. Angelina Jolie as Trudy because of her beauty, height, and intelligence.
What are readers saying about BOTTOM DWELLERS ?
1. "Reminiscent of stories like Deliverance and Them this is an imaginative murder-mystery with the focus on good and evil in all forms of society."
2. "Shane has crafted a great first book! He has written a fast paced story that allows you to suspend disbelief and enjoy the story! I look forward to his next book!"
3. "While it was a most incredible premise, "Bottom Dwellers" sucked me right in, making the unbelievable, well, believable. Shane Etter used his personal knowledge of place and personal experiences to craft a fun, fast-reading novel that I didn't want to put down. He crafts a beautiful love story and manages to get in plenty of action and adventure as well. I enjoyed reading it and thought about it long after I finished the book. I can't wait to see what he writes next."
What do you hope to achieve with BOTTOM DWELLERS ?I hope to create a series of books similar to and in the vein of F. Paul Wilson’s Repairman Jack series.
That is impressive. What was the last book you read?Eureka, by my mentor, Jedwin Smith’s mentor, the late, great, William Diehl, author of novels turned movies, Primal Fear and Sharkey’s Machine.
What's next?Mind Dwellers with Patrick and Trudy battling a new mutant threat in Georgia and New York City.
Sounds interesting! Well thanks for being on my blog. Bottom Dwellers can be purchased at Amazon.

#BookChat - #urbanfantasy ONLY IN HER DREAMS by Christina McKnight

It's Release Day!!!

Only InHer Dreams, The Oneiroi Book 1 When Lucessa Sarcona awakes from a recurring dream, she has no idea her life is about to be turned upside down. A stranger, familiar to her dreams, shows up in the flesh, and Lucessa knows she’s either crazy or experiencing something not of this world.

A war ensues between three demigod brothers. One, trained to rule Erebos, is violently replaced. One forced to return to his homeland and lead the dream-gods of the Oneiroi. And one is charged with the impossible task of protecting Lucessa. How is she linked to the Oneiroi? Why do two brothers seek to keep her hidden and protected? And how does another plan to use her against the two demigods who love her?

Will Lucessa’s dream man have the courage to claim her as his own or will he bow to the command of another, forsaking the one he loves?

Only in Her Dreams is a modern spin on a Greek legend--the new direction of Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance, moving from angels, demons, vampires, and witches and toward the realm of demigods.
From the Author I originally intended Only In Her Dreams, The Oneiroi Book 1 to be a light, Sunday read, but my beta readers were continually urging me to do more with the story. So, I took a step back and assessed my plot and characters. The results were four new characters and three additional subplots! This is when I discovered I wasn’t done with my characters…they had more to show me. I enjoyed researching the mythology behind my novel and coming up with new and exciting ways to include the untapped idea of demigods, a niche that has not been extensively explored in the current market.


Early Reader's Reactions “It’s very easy to become engrossed with the characters and story line.....to the point that you don’t want to put it down and as such I read the entire novel in about 6 hours.”

“Only in Her Dreams is a modern day story about demigods, written in a fast-paced fashion, it is difficult to try and savor this book. There is romance, intrigue, mystery, and turbulence; and with so many twists and turns in the story, one can’t help but keep reading until the last page to see what happens.”

“With Lucessa being human and Maxim a demigod, a romance between them seems doomed from the start; after all, they come from two different worlds. ... I love the Greek mythology and look forward to reading more from her.”

Behind the Scenes
Since my novel was released in September I’ve had overwhelming support from just about everyone I know. My aunt called and asked if she could have a few copies for her salon. I thought to myself, ‘How supportive is that?!’ So, I sent five copies and they sold (I thought she was giving them away!) within two days. Then I received another call from my aunt and she asked me to hold on the line…that she had a client who read my book and wanted to talk about it! Seriously?! Someone wanted to discuss MY book with ME! This was a very surreal moment.

Buy Only In Her Dreams from Amazon.

Author Bio
Christina McKnight is a book lover turned writer. From a young age, her mother encouraged her to tell her own stories. She’s been writing ever since. 

In college, Christina took many courses to help develop and enhance her writing skills. She completed a seventy-page dissertation on the need for community policing in American society. Now, she focuses on Historical Romance, Urban Fantasy, and Paranormal Romance.
Christina lives in Northern California with her husband, daughter, two boxers, two cats, and a Beta fish named Marmaduke.  If she’s not behind a computer screen or book, she’s busy leading her daughter’s Girl Scout troop. She is very active in several writing groups and a local book group.

Find out more about Christina at her Amazon Author's Page
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/CMcKnightWriter
Blog: www.christina-mcknight.blogspot.com
Email: christinamcknight.author@yahoo.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/christinavellamcknight
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15734380-only-in-her-dreams