Kitty Honeycutt/Morrigan Austin's Blog, page 4
October 3, 2012
GUEST POST WITH AUTHOR, J.A. PAUL
Using Creative Visualization to Get What You Want
[image error]
What is creative visualization?
Creative visualization is the exercise of seeking to affect the outer world by setting one's inner thoughts and expectations. Basically you can effectively think or dream about something to help you make your wishes come to fruition.
Why use creative visualization?
One of the most well-known studies on creative visualization was conducted by Russian scientists who compared the mental training to the physical training ratios of four different teams of Olympic athletes.
• Team A received 100% physical training
• Team B received 75% physical with 25% mental training
• Team C was 50 – 50
• Team D received 25% physical training and 75% mental training.
Team D showed the best performance results, even though they performed the least physical work thus discovering that mental images can act as a prelude to muscular impulses. Another great reference is the Franklin Method if you want to study up more on this topic.
When I first read this, I wanted to try creative visualization with my son. At the time he was playing quarterback for his 6th grade football team. He was playing hard but was struggling to gain positive yards when called upon to run the ball. I helped him practice seeing himself gaining huge chucks of yardage. I presented different situations to him, and he practiced visualizing each movement. He would close his eyes and move his body through the motions (defenders). It was fun to watch him practice his visualization, but nothing compared to the excitement it created on the football field after only a couple days of using creative visualization. The first time it worked, he broke through a mob of would-be tacklers to score a touchdown. I was thrilled, but not nearly as thrilled as he was. He is now a firm believer in the power of the mind.
How to use this powerful technique:
• Set a goal.
• Use your imagination to create a mental structure of your desires.
o Start with photos or videos if necessary (ie. visualize a dream home)
• Visualize it over and over with all your senses.
o What does it look like? Smell like? Sound like? Feel like?
o Become enthusiastically attached to your desire!
• Have faith in the idea that your goal will be fulfilled.
• Repeat, repeat, repeat.
• Take action. Begin by taking baby steps to help you succeed your goal. Nothing happens without action. Be accountable to yourself.
When to use visualization
The beauty of visualization is that you can do it almost any time and all the time, but you have to really want something so badly that you can taste it. The burning in your stomach means that you have a desire – now get after it!
When my youngest son was in kindergarten he drew a picture of what looked like a bunch of tents with windows. He said it was a blanket fort. He wanted me to help him build it, but I wasn’t sure how. He used my long reach and pragmatic building capability and mixed it with his desire and creative direction. The entire living room was filled with propped up and oddly angled blankets. So much so that Mom couldn’t get mad, but only laugh when she saw how much fun he was having crawling around in his new fort.
Who can use creative visualization?
People of all ages. I use it to help discipline myself in my daily writing habit. It took me four years to complete my first book, Gladius and the Bartlett Trial. Now that I have learned to visualize what I want I was able to write book two, Gladius and the Sea of Lost Souls in eight months. Book three is coming along on schedule as well. These books are a part of the Gladius Adventure Series trilogy, a fantasy adventure story for ages 8 and up. For more information please visit www.authorjapaul.com
[image error] [image error] [image error]
Here are some famous people who claim that creative visualization played a role in their success: Oprah, Tiger Woods, Anthony Robbins, Bill Gates, Will Smith and also Jim Carrey, who wrote a check to himself in 1987 for 10 million dollars. He dated it ‘Thanksgiving 1995’ and added the notation, “for acting service rendered.” He visualized it for years and in 1994 he received $10 million for his role in the movie Dumb and Dumber.
What do you think? Is creative visualization something you might try?
[image error]
What is creative visualization?
Creative visualization is the exercise of seeking to affect the outer world by setting one's inner thoughts and expectations. Basically you can effectively think or dream about something to help you make your wishes come to fruition.
Why use creative visualization?
One of the most well-known studies on creative visualization was conducted by Russian scientists who compared the mental training to the physical training ratios of four different teams of Olympic athletes.
• Team A received 100% physical training
• Team B received 75% physical with 25% mental training
• Team C was 50 – 50
• Team D received 25% physical training and 75% mental training.
Team D showed the best performance results, even though they performed the least physical work thus discovering that mental images can act as a prelude to muscular impulses. Another great reference is the Franklin Method if you want to study up more on this topic.
When I first read this, I wanted to try creative visualization with my son. At the time he was playing quarterback for his 6th grade football team. He was playing hard but was struggling to gain positive yards when called upon to run the ball. I helped him practice seeing himself gaining huge chucks of yardage. I presented different situations to him, and he practiced visualizing each movement. He would close his eyes and move his body through the motions (defenders). It was fun to watch him practice his visualization, but nothing compared to the excitement it created on the football field after only a couple days of using creative visualization. The first time it worked, he broke through a mob of would-be tacklers to score a touchdown. I was thrilled, but not nearly as thrilled as he was. He is now a firm believer in the power of the mind.
How to use this powerful technique:
• Set a goal.
• Use your imagination to create a mental structure of your desires.
o Start with photos or videos if necessary (ie. visualize a dream home)
• Visualize it over and over with all your senses.
o What does it look like? Smell like? Sound like? Feel like?
o Become enthusiastically attached to your desire!
• Have faith in the idea that your goal will be fulfilled.
• Repeat, repeat, repeat.
• Take action. Begin by taking baby steps to help you succeed your goal. Nothing happens without action. Be accountable to yourself.
When to use visualization
The beauty of visualization is that you can do it almost any time and all the time, but you have to really want something so badly that you can taste it. The burning in your stomach means that you have a desire – now get after it!
When my youngest son was in kindergarten he drew a picture of what looked like a bunch of tents with windows. He said it was a blanket fort. He wanted me to help him build it, but I wasn’t sure how. He used my long reach and pragmatic building capability and mixed it with his desire and creative direction. The entire living room was filled with propped up and oddly angled blankets. So much so that Mom couldn’t get mad, but only laugh when she saw how much fun he was having crawling around in his new fort.
Who can use creative visualization?
People of all ages. I use it to help discipline myself in my daily writing habit. It took me four years to complete my first book, Gladius and the Bartlett Trial. Now that I have learned to visualize what I want I was able to write book two, Gladius and the Sea of Lost Souls in eight months. Book three is coming along on schedule as well. These books are a part of the Gladius Adventure Series trilogy, a fantasy adventure story for ages 8 and up. For more information please visit www.authorjapaul.com
[image error] [image error] [image error]
Here are some famous people who claim that creative visualization played a role in their success: Oprah, Tiger Woods, Anthony Robbins, Bill Gates, Will Smith and also Jim Carrey, who wrote a check to himself in 1987 for 10 million dollars. He dated it ‘Thanksgiving 1995’ and added the notation, “for acting service rendered.” He visualized it for years and in 1994 he received $10 million for his role in the movie Dumb and Dumber.
What do you think? Is creative visualization something you might try?
October 1, 2012
GUEST POST WITH AUTHOR, DAVID EBENBACH
Real Life and the Short Story
David Ebenbach
[image error]
There’s a great moment in the movie The Darjeeling Limited where the character played by Jason Schwartzman finally admits to his brothers, after a whole movie spent denying it, that his fiction is autobiographical. It’s a great moment, but it’s also a little uncomfortable, at least for this fiction writer.
It’s uncomfortable because people (especially family and friends) ask me, too, if those stories I’ve made up aren’t really, secretly, deep down, actually true—and I do spend a lot of my time denying it. I mean, I write these stories not to pass on the facts of my life but to hopefully find some larger insights that might have some value and meaning beyond me. Even when I do get inspired by real life, I have to change a lot of facts to get effectively at those bigger things. And then there are the stories that have no factual connection to my life, stories where the characters are unlike anyone I know and where the things that happen to those characters haven’t ever happened to me or anyone I know. So, I stick to my answer: the stories are fiction.
And yet, like that writer character in The Darjeeling Limited, I might be protesting too much. Because there’s one way in which the stories are really and completely about me: they tell the world what it is I care about. When I write about people navigating the complexities of their relationships, it shows you how much those relationships preoccupy me. When I write about people trying to understand one another, you can get a sense of how much that effort matters to me.
My books also lay bare the way that my preoccupations change over time. My first collection of stories, Between Camelots, was about people trying to form relationships, trying to make them work. Since that time I’ve gotten married and had a child, and my current collection, Into the Wilderness, is all about the power and complexities of parenthood. The stories look at parenthood from all kinds of angles—parents of newborns, of schoolchildren, of adult children; married parents, single parents, same-sex parents, people trying to get pregnant—and, although these characters aren’t me, they help me explore things I need to explore.
In the end, I think it’s right to stick to my answer: these stories are fiction. They’re not autobiographical. No—in fact, the truth is that these stories are something much more important: they’re personal.
Into the Wilderness(Synopsis)
BOOK DETAILS
Paperback, $16.95
ISBN: 978-0-931846-65-6
Fiction, 204 pages
Washington Writers’ Publishing House
Releases: October 2012
“For the very real people in David Ebenbach’s vivid and emotional stories,” says author Jesse Lee Kercheval, “becoming a parent—as Judith, the single mother in four of the stories, says— is going ‘into the wilderness.’” The collection Into the Wilderness explores the theme of parenthood from many angles: an eager-to-connect divorced father takes his kids to a Jewishthemed baseball game; a lesbian couple tries to decide whether their toddler son needs a man in his life; one young couple debates the idea of parenthood while another struggles with infertility; a reserved father uses an all-you-can-eat buffet to comfort his heartbroken son. But the backbone of the collection is Judith, who we follow through her challenging first weeks of motherhood, culminating in an intense and redemptive baby-naming ceremony. Says author Joan Leegant, “Ebenbach takes us deep into the heart of the messy confusion and terror and unfathomable love that make up that shaky state we call parenthood. These stories are fearless, honest and true.”
David Ebenbach
Author Biography
[image error]
David Ebenbach was born and raised in the great city of Philadelphia, home of America’s first library, first art museum, first public school, and first zoo, along with his very first stories and poems – though those early efforts went on to become (deservedly) less famous than, for example, the zoo.
Since then David has lived in Ohio, Wisconsin, Philadelphia
again, New York, New Jersey, Indiana, and Ohio again, picking up some education (formal and otherwise) and more than a few stories along the way. He has a PhD in Psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an MFA in Writing from the Vermont College of Fine Arts.
In addition to his short-story collection Into the Wilderness (October 2012, Washington Writers’ Publishing House), David is the author of another book of short stories entitled Between Camelots (October 2005, University of Pittsburgh Press), and a non-fiction guide to creativity called The Artist’s Torah (forthcoming, Cascade Books). His poetry has appeared in the Beloit Poetry Journal, Subtropics, and the Hayden's Ferry Review, among other places.
He has been awarded the Drue Heinz Literature Prize; fellowships to the MacDowell Colony, the Virginia Center for Creative Arts, and the Vermont Studio Center; and an Individual Excellence Award from the Ohio Arts Council. David currently teaches at Georgetown University and very happily lives in Washington, D.C. with his wife and son, both of whom are a marvel and an inspiration.
Website: www.davidebenbach.com
David Ebenbach
@DavidEbenbach
David Ebenbach
[image error]
There’s a great moment in the movie The Darjeeling Limited where the character played by Jason Schwartzman finally admits to his brothers, after a whole movie spent denying it, that his fiction is autobiographical. It’s a great moment, but it’s also a little uncomfortable, at least for this fiction writer.
It’s uncomfortable because people (especially family and friends) ask me, too, if those stories I’ve made up aren’t really, secretly, deep down, actually true—and I do spend a lot of my time denying it. I mean, I write these stories not to pass on the facts of my life but to hopefully find some larger insights that might have some value and meaning beyond me. Even when I do get inspired by real life, I have to change a lot of facts to get effectively at those bigger things. And then there are the stories that have no factual connection to my life, stories where the characters are unlike anyone I know and where the things that happen to those characters haven’t ever happened to me or anyone I know. So, I stick to my answer: the stories are fiction.
And yet, like that writer character in The Darjeeling Limited, I might be protesting too much. Because there’s one way in which the stories are really and completely about me: they tell the world what it is I care about. When I write about people navigating the complexities of their relationships, it shows you how much those relationships preoccupy me. When I write about people trying to understand one another, you can get a sense of how much that effort matters to me.
My books also lay bare the way that my preoccupations change over time. My first collection of stories, Between Camelots, was about people trying to form relationships, trying to make them work. Since that time I’ve gotten married and had a child, and my current collection, Into the Wilderness, is all about the power and complexities of parenthood. The stories look at parenthood from all kinds of angles—parents of newborns, of schoolchildren, of adult children; married parents, single parents, same-sex parents, people trying to get pregnant—and, although these characters aren’t me, they help me explore things I need to explore.
In the end, I think it’s right to stick to my answer: these stories are fiction. They’re not autobiographical. No—in fact, the truth is that these stories are something much more important: they’re personal.
Into the Wilderness(Synopsis)
BOOK DETAILS
Paperback, $16.95
ISBN: 978-0-931846-65-6
Fiction, 204 pages
Washington Writers’ Publishing House
Releases: October 2012
“For the very real people in David Ebenbach’s vivid and emotional stories,” says author Jesse Lee Kercheval, “becoming a parent—as Judith, the single mother in four of the stories, says— is going ‘into the wilderness.’” The collection Into the Wilderness explores the theme of parenthood from many angles: an eager-to-connect divorced father takes his kids to a Jewishthemed baseball game; a lesbian couple tries to decide whether their toddler son needs a man in his life; one young couple debates the idea of parenthood while another struggles with infertility; a reserved father uses an all-you-can-eat buffet to comfort his heartbroken son. But the backbone of the collection is Judith, who we follow through her challenging first weeks of motherhood, culminating in an intense and redemptive baby-naming ceremony. Says author Joan Leegant, “Ebenbach takes us deep into the heart of the messy confusion and terror and unfathomable love that make up that shaky state we call parenthood. These stories are fearless, honest and true.”
David Ebenbach
Author Biography
[image error]
David Ebenbach was born and raised in the great city of Philadelphia, home of America’s first library, first art museum, first public school, and first zoo, along with his very first stories and poems – though those early efforts went on to become (deservedly) less famous than, for example, the zoo.
Since then David has lived in Ohio, Wisconsin, Philadelphia
again, New York, New Jersey, Indiana, and Ohio again, picking up some education (formal and otherwise) and more than a few stories along the way. He has a PhD in Psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an MFA in Writing from the Vermont College of Fine Arts.
In addition to his short-story collection Into the Wilderness (October 2012, Washington Writers’ Publishing House), David is the author of another book of short stories entitled Between Camelots (October 2005, University of Pittsburgh Press), and a non-fiction guide to creativity called The Artist’s Torah (forthcoming, Cascade Books). His poetry has appeared in the Beloit Poetry Journal, Subtropics, and the Hayden's Ferry Review, among other places.
He has been awarded the Drue Heinz Literature Prize; fellowships to the MacDowell Colony, the Virginia Center for Creative Arts, and the Vermont Studio Center; and an Individual Excellence Award from the Ohio Arts Council. David currently teaches at Georgetown University and very happily lives in Washington, D.C. with his wife and son, both of whom are a marvel and an inspiration.
Website: www.davidebenbach.com
David Ebenbach
@DavidEbenbach
FREE TODAY ON AMAZON GET IT WHILE YOU CAN!
Re-Post! October 1-3 "Zombified" by Lyra McKen is available for FREE on Amazon.com!
US LINK: http://www.amazon.com/Zombified-ebook...
UK LINK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Zombified-ebo...
US LINK: http://www.amazon.com/Zombified-ebook...
UK LINK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Zombified-ebo...
September 29, 2012
GUEST POST WITH AUTHOR, C.C. HUNTER ("WHISPERS AT MOONRISE") THE NEW SHADOWFALLS NOVEL!
Ten Things You’ll Learn from Whispers at Moonrise
[image error]
1. Kicking your boyfriend’s father’s butt might not be good for the relationship.
2. Sometimes following your heart means breaking some rules.
3. Getting trapped in a grave with three dead girls is not a walk in the park.
4. Your parents breaking up sucks. Your mom having a boyfriend, and kissing him in front of you, sucks BIG TIME.
5. When your boyfriend says one thing, but does another, what do you believe? His actions or his words?
6. You can’t always protect the ones you love. Sometimes the only way to protect them is to tell them the truth—even if it hurts.
7. When you are in love, you usually want to talk a lot more about your boyfriend than your girlfriends care to hear.
8. You shouldn’t mess with magic if you don’t know what you’re doing. Especially when someone could end up sterile.
9. Sometimes it is the little choices we make, and not the big ones, that define who we are.
10. Be careful what you wish for or you might end up turning a bright shade of red in the boys’ bathroom.
“It’s not often that I love a series as much as Shadow Falls. I find myself thinking of nothing else! This has been one of my favorite series of all time.” –Open Book Society
http://www.youtube.com/embed/qJIaKYwfGaE
Shadow Falls Camp is back in session with the most explosive installment yet. A shocking new threat will rock Shadow Falls—changing it forever and altering Kylie’s journey in ways she never imagined.
Even at a camp for supernatural teens, Kylie Galen has never been normal. Not only can she see ghosts, but she doesn’t seem to belong to any one species—she exhibits traits from them all. As Kylie struggles to unlock the secrets of her identity, she begins to worry that Lucas will never be able to accept her for what she is, and what she isn’t…a werewolf. With his pack standing in their way, Kylie finds herself turning more and more to Derek, the only person in her life who’s willing to accept the impossible.
As if life isn’t hard enough, she starts getting visits from the ghost of Holiday, her closest confidante. Trouble is, Holiday isn’t dead…not yet anyway. Now Kylie must race to save one of her own from an unseen danger before it’s too late—all while trying to stop her relationship with Lucas from slipping away forever. In a world of constant confusion, there’s only one thing Kylie knows for sure. Change is inevitable and all things must come to an end…maybe even her time at Shadow Falls.
[image error]
1. Kicking your boyfriend’s father’s butt might not be good for the relationship.
2. Sometimes following your heart means breaking some rules.
3. Getting trapped in a grave with three dead girls is not a walk in the park.
4. Your parents breaking up sucks. Your mom having a boyfriend, and kissing him in front of you, sucks BIG TIME.
5. When your boyfriend says one thing, but does another, what do you believe? His actions or his words?
6. You can’t always protect the ones you love. Sometimes the only way to protect them is to tell them the truth—even if it hurts.
7. When you are in love, you usually want to talk a lot more about your boyfriend than your girlfriends care to hear.
8. You shouldn’t mess with magic if you don’t know what you’re doing. Especially when someone could end up sterile.
9. Sometimes it is the little choices we make, and not the big ones, that define who we are.
10. Be careful what you wish for or you might end up turning a bright shade of red in the boys’ bathroom.
“It’s not often that I love a series as much as Shadow Falls. I find myself thinking of nothing else! This has been one of my favorite series of all time.” –Open Book Society
http://www.youtube.com/embed/qJIaKYwfGaE
Shadow Falls Camp is back in session with the most explosive installment yet. A shocking new threat will rock Shadow Falls—changing it forever and altering Kylie’s journey in ways she never imagined.
Even at a camp for supernatural teens, Kylie Galen has never been normal. Not only can she see ghosts, but she doesn’t seem to belong to any one species—she exhibits traits from them all. As Kylie struggles to unlock the secrets of her identity, she begins to worry that Lucas will never be able to accept her for what she is, and what she isn’t…a werewolf. With his pack standing in their way, Kylie finds herself turning more and more to Derek, the only person in her life who’s willing to accept the impossible.
As if life isn’t hard enough, she starts getting visits from the ghost of Holiday, her closest confidante. Trouble is, Holiday isn’t dead…not yet anyway. Now Kylie must race to save one of her own from an unseen danger before it’s too late—all while trying to stop her relationship with Lucas from slipping away forever. In a world of constant confusion, there’s only one thing Kylie knows for sure. Change is inevitable and all things must come to an end…maybe even her time at Shadow Falls.
September 24, 2012
GUEST POST WITH AUTHOR, AJ SCUDIERE
PHOENIX
[image error]
What makes a woman pack up everything and walk out on the man she lives with? And why would anyone side with him?
That was my dilemma as I began writing Jason’s story in my fourth book, Phoenix.
Jason is by turns both bright and slow. Like many of us, though he is all these things he is not always good, always smart nor always kind. He is blind to many things around him, while at the same time very open and far-seeing about others.
Developing the characters for a book is at times a daunting task. Always characters must be distinct from each other, but must interact in a way that is believable. They must have depth, strengths, weaknesses and even quirks. And while that character must be present, and must be the heart of the story, it cannot be all of the story.
I work under the pressure of the things I hate as reader, too. Personally, I hate spoilers in suspense novels. I hate when the turns are obvious from very far away. But just as much, I hate things that come completely out of nowhere. I dislike random events that move the story forward. Though random things do sometimes happen, I find they are almost never as random as they first appear.
How often do planes fall out of the sky onto us? Rarely, if ever. How many times do we walk down a normally safe street in broad daylight and get mugged at gunpoint? Not me and not anyone I know. We all play an unwitting part in the seemingly random happenings in our lives.
In my real life years ago, I was in a grocery store when the armed Brinks guards were robbed. Was this random? Only somewhat. I shopped at grocery with lower prices, not driving to a more expensive store in a better neighborhood; I chose to live in Los Angeles (not the safest place in the world) and I entered the store in spite of knowing the Brinks truck was outside and knowing that this increased the likelihood of a robbery. I entered anyway. Am I responsible? Did I bring this on myself? No. But I’m not a completely random victim either, am I?
I have always joked that if my kids did something stupid and I asked them (as I often do) “Why did you do that?” I’d probably let them slide if they shrugged and said, “I don’t know, but it moves the plot forward.”
Just this way, I wanted Jason and the other characters in Phoenix to drive their own destinies. Who they are changes what happens to them. The choices they make bring their circumstances back around. And sometime the choices that other characters make come back to Jason, too.
In Phoenix, the characters had to drive the plot. Planes do not fall out of the sky, guns don’t go off randomly, and the past that Jason slowly uncovers happened for a series of reasons. So I found myself constantly asking, “Does this make Jason the kind of man who would have this happen?” And I molded his character so that the answer was always ‘yes.’
I hope you enjoy Phoenix, and that you find Jason to be someone you relate to, not because he’s perfect, but because he isn’t. And I hope that you find his story intriguing for the very possibility of it.
Biography of best-selling thriller
author A.J. Scudiere
[image error]
It’s A.J.’s world. A strange place where patterns jump out and catch the eye, very little is missed, and most of it can be recalled with a deep breath, it’s different from the world the rest of us inhabit. But the rest of us can see it – when we read. In this world, the smell of Florida takes three weeks to fully leave the senses and the air in Dallas is so thick that the planes “sink” to the runways rather than actually landing.
For A.J., texture reigns supreme. Whether it’s air or blood or virus, it can be felt and smelled. School is a privilege and two science degrees (a BA and MS) are mere pats on the back compared to the prize of knowledge. Teaching is something done for fun (and the illusion of a regular paycheck) and is rewarding at all levels, grade school through college. No stranger to awards and national recognition for outstanding work as a teacher, trainer and curriculum writer, like most true teachers, the real joy for A.J. is in the “oh!” - the moment when the student sees the connection and it all makes sense. A.J. has lived in Florida and Los Angeles among a handful of other places.
Recent whims have brought the dark writer to Tennessee, where home is a deceptively normal looking neighborhood just outside Nashville.
AJ Scudiere.com
Follow A.J. on Twitter: @ajscudiere
or at
Facebook/AJScudiere
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Jason Mondy’s world is unraveling.
His seemingly secure job as a fire fighter is suddenly thrown into chaos.
The bright spot in his week is that he rescued two children from a house fire,
but he returns home that night to find all his furniture is missing.
His girlfriend has left him without warning and his nightmares keep him from sleeping.
Even just a simple trip home to find some rest leads his adoptive mother to sit him down
and tell him that maybe his troubles aren’t quite as innocuous as they seem.
Then she divulges a secret she’s kept for over twenty-six years . . .
Jason has a brother he doesn’t remember existed.
He doesn’t remember his life before he was adopted at age seven.
He only knows that he was rescued from the fire that took his birth mother’s life.
But the story is deeper than that, and the foundation on which he built his world is now cracking.
The brother he doesn’t remember it out there somewhere, left behind.
Armed with only this stunning new piece of information,
Jason embarks on a quest to find the truths buried deep in his past.
As he searches, one by one the pieces of his life fall like dominoes.
And the more he uncovers, the more everything he thought he knew
about himself and his past
begins to turn to ash.
His truth isn’t true at all . . .
[image error]
What makes a woman pack up everything and walk out on the man she lives with? And why would anyone side with him?
That was my dilemma as I began writing Jason’s story in my fourth book, Phoenix.
Jason is by turns both bright and slow. Like many of us, though he is all these things he is not always good, always smart nor always kind. He is blind to many things around him, while at the same time very open and far-seeing about others.
Developing the characters for a book is at times a daunting task. Always characters must be distinct from each other, but must interact in a way that is believable. They must have depth, strengths, weaknesses and even quirks. And while that character must be present, and must be the heart of the story, it cannot be all of the story.
I work under the pressure of the things I hate as reader, too. Personally, I hate spoilers in suspense novels. I hate when the turns are obvious from very far away. But just as much, I hate things that come completely out of nowhere. I dislike random events that move the story forward. Though random things do sometimes happen, I find they are almost never as random as they first appear.
How often do planes fall out of the sky onto us? Rarely, if ever. How many times do we walk down a normally safe street in broad daylight and get mugged at gunpoint? Not me and not anyone I know. We all play an unwitting part in the seemingly random happenings in our lives.
In my real life years ago, I was in a grocery store when the armed Brinks guards were robbed. Was this random? Only somewhat. I shopped at grocery with lower prices, not driving to a more expensive store in a better neighborhood; I chose to live in Los Angeles (not the safest place in the world) and I entered the store in spite of knowing the Brinks truck was outside and knowing that this increased the likelihood of a robbery. I entered anyway. Am I responsible? Did I bring this on myself? No. But I’m not a completely random victim either, am I?
I have always joked that if my kids did something stupid and I asked them (as I often do) “Why did you do that?” I’d probably let them slide if they shrugged and said, “I don’t know, but it moves the plot forward.”
Just this way, I wanted Jason and the other characters in Phoenix to drive their own destinies. Who they are changes what happens to them. The choices they make bring their circumstances back around. And sometime the choices that other characters make come back to Jason, too.
In Phoenix, the characters had to drive the plot. Planes do not fall out of the sky, guns don’t go off randomly, and the past that Jason slowly uncovers happened for a series of reasons. So I found myself constantly asking, “Does this make Jason the kind of man who would have this happen?” And I molded his character so that the answer was always ‘yes.’
I hope you enjoy Phoenix, and that you find Jason to be someone you relate to, not because he’s perfect, but because he isn’t. And I hope that you find his story intriguing for the very possibility of it.
Biography of best-selling thriller
author A.J. Scudiere
[image error]
It’s A.J.’s world. A strange place where patterns jump out and catch the eye, very little is missed, and most of it can be recalled with a deep breath, it’s different from the world the rest of us inhabit. But the rest of us can see it – when we read. In this world, the smell of Florida takes three weeks to fully leave the senses and the air in Dallas is so thick that the planes “sink” to the runways rather than actually landing.
For A.J., texture reigns supreme. Whether it’s air or blood or virus, it can be felt and smelled. School is a privilege and two science degrees (a BA and MS) are mere pats on the back compared to the prize of knowledge. Teaching is something done for fun (and the illusion of a regular paycheck) and is rewarding at all levels, grade school through college. No stranger to awards and national recognition for outstanding work as a teacher, trainer and curriculum writer, like most true teachers, the real joy for A.J. is in the “oh!” - the moment when the student sees the connection and it all makes sense. A.J. has lived in Florida and Los Angeles among a handful of other places.
Recent whims have brought the dark writer to Tennessee, where home is a deceptively normal looking neighborhood just outside Nashville.
AJ Scudiere.com
Follow A.J. on Twitter: @ajscudiere
or at
Facebook/AJScudiere
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Jason Mondy’s world is unraveling.
His seemingly secure job as a fire fighter is suddenly thrown into chaos.
The bright spot in his week is that he rescued two children from a house fire,
but he returns home that night to find all his furniture is missing.
His girlfriend has left him without warning and his nightmares keep him from sleeping.
Even just a simple trip home to find some rest leads his adoptive mother to sit him down
and tell him that maybe his troubles aren’t quite as innocuous as they seem.
Then she divulges a secret she’s kept for over twenty-six years . . .
Jason has a brother he doesn’t remember existed.
He doesn’t remember his life before he was adopted at age seven.
He only knows that he was rescued from the fire that took his birth mother’s life.
But the story is deeper than that, and the foundation on which he built his world is now cracking.
The brother he doesn’t remember it out there somewhere, left behind.
Armed with only this stunning new piece of information,
Jason embarks on a quest to find the truths buried deep in his past.
As he searches, one by one the pieces of his life fall like dominoes.
And the more he uncovers, the more everything he thought he knew
about himself and his past
begins to turn to ash.
His truth isn’t true at all . . .
"UNLUCKY DIP" A NEW YA NOVEL FROM GMTA PUBLISHING & AUTHOR KATE TENBETH! OUT OCTOBER 1ST!
"UNLUCKY DIP" NEW RELEASE FROM GMTA & AUTHOR KATE TENBETH!
[image error]
Hello everyone! GMTA Publishing has a new YA novel set to come out on October 1st by Kate Tenbeth! Here's your first look at the amazing cover by UK artist Elizabeth Eisen!
Read Below for More Information!
SYNOPSIS:
There are always high stakes to play for in the world of gambling, but it’s a world 15 year-old Holly Maddon knows nothing about until her step-mother tries to kill her. The race is on as she tries to discover what her step-mother is up to and whether her father was murdered. She comes up against gangsters, multi-million pound land deals, treachery and deceit, she’s kidnapped, shot at and loses just about everything she loves – it’s a rollercoaster of a ride and Holly's intent on turning the tables.
AUTHOR BIO:
I live in Essex with my son, who is studying at University, and my two cats, Puzzle and Bud. I’ve always loved writing and in January 2011 I got together with some friends and set up a writers’ group at our local library. One of our first guest speakers was a young lady called Penelope Fletcher who talked to us about self-publishing – I was so inspired I went back home, found some stories I’d written for my son when he was young and started the process of learning how to self-publish. I published 3 books in the Burly & Grum series and then in July 2012 was lucky enough to be signed up by GMTA. I’ve enjoyed every single second of my journey so far, learnt an incredible amount and I’m looking forward to the future!
ABOUT THE COVER ARTIST:
Elizabeth Eisen is a 23 year old freelance illustrator from North London. She graduated from the University of Westminster with a BA Hons in Illustration in 2011 and has since worked on commissions ranging from album artwork to editorial. Further examples of her work can be found at www.elizabetheisenillustration.co.uk
[image error]
Hello everyone! GMTA Publishing has a new YA novel set to come out on October 1st by Kate Tenbeth! Here's your first look at the amazing cover by UK artist Elizabeth Eisen!
Read Below for More Information!
SYNOPSIS:
There are always high stakes to play for in the world of gambling, but it’s a world 15 year-old Holly Maddon knows nothing about until her step-mother tries to kill her. The race is on as she tries to discover what her step-mother is up to and whether her father was murdered. She comes up against gangsters, multi-million pound land deals, treachery and deceit, she’s kidnapped, shot at and loses just about everything she loves – it’s a rollercoaster of a ride and Holly's intent on turning the tables.
AUTHOR BIO:
I live in Essex with my son, who is studying at University, and my two cats, Puzzle and Bud. I’ve always loved writing and in January 2011 I got together with some friends and set up a writers’ group at our local library. One of our first guest speakers was a young lady called Penelope Fletcher who talked to us about self-publishing – I was so inspired I went back home, found some stories I’d written for my son when he was young and started the process of learning how to self-publish. I published 3 books in the Burly & Grum series and then in July 2012 was lucky enough to be signed up by GMTA. I’ve enjoyed every single second of my journey so far, learnt an incredible amount and I’m looking forward to the future!
ABOUT THE COVER ARTIST:
Elizabeth Eisen is a 23 year old freelance illustrator from North London. She graduated from the University of Westminster with a BA Hons in Illustration in 2011 and has since worked on commissions ranging from album artwork to editorial. Further examples of her work can be found at www.elizabetheisenillustration.co.uk
September 22, 2012
GUEST POST WITH AUTHOR, EMILY FORD
MEET CAT TOWNSEND!
[image error]
Hey there, Cat Townsend here! I bet you’re wondering how it really feels to have magical powers, aren’t you?
Well first I can tell you, it totally screws with your mind. I mean everyone knows magic only exists in the worlds of fairy tales, JRR Tolkien, JK Rowling and other fantasy authors.
So finding out that there most certainly IS magic out there, and entire communities as well – is a little much to absorb to say the least. Add to that the notion that you’re in the .000001% of the population who has the real opportunity to actually possess special powers…and well, the notion is over-the-top mind-boggling.
But…I’m adjusting. As with anything, there are pros and cons to having magic. Just like athletes who suddenly stumble into enormous sums of money, I have to set boundaries and establish realistic goals. It also helps to have great friends and family to keep you grounded. And hopefully one or two you can truly confide in.
Then, add the most gorgeous guy in the world to the mix and voila, you have my life. Well, perhaps two such guys…
I have no idea what the future holds, but one thing I know for certain. My eternity will never be boring!
Look for Book 2 soon, and follow me. I’ll keep you posted on my crazy, nonsensical magical life.
Bye for now!
EMILY FORD
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Debut novelist Emily Ford has always been a storyteller. As a kid at summer camp in Maine, she’d make up ghost stories at bedtime for her fellow bunkmates.
Her Djinn Master’s Legacy trilogy also began as a simple bedtime story, intended for Ford’s then adolescent children to have in writing and use to tell their own kids one day. By the time she finished writing, she had three very full books.
2:32 a.m., Ford’s first installment of her young adult series, caught early readers’ attention as a fiction book minus the typical vampire and werewolf characters.
The Texas writer interned each summer with KHOU-TV in Houston while gaining her bachelor’s degree in radio and television at The University of Arizona. She worked on the copy desk at The Dallas Morning News, and eventually started the marketing company KapsMark, Inc.
EmilyFordAuthor.com
@DjinnMstrLegacy
The Djinn Master's Legacy
Emily Ford
MOM OF TWO TURNS BEDTIME STORY INTO YA TRILOGY
Emilys Ford’s 2:32 a.m. a ‘refreshing’ read for teens, focused on wish-granting genies instead of blood-thirsty vampires
HOUSTON, TX – September 2012 – Emily Ford thought she might have something special when her kids requested bedtime stories long after it was cool. Their favorite, about a teenage genie, has become the focus of their mother’s three novel book series for young adults. Ford launches the first installment of The Djinn Master’s Legacy trilogy – 2:32 a.m. – this October.
After being plagued by strange dreams involving a mysterious man, 17-year-old protagonist Cat Townsend discovers not only do mythological figures such as genies exist, but a particularly powerful one wants to transfer his powers to her. 2:32 a.m. explores the life of Cat prior to learning about the genie legacy she’s been asked to accept, and the struggle she endures in deciding whether to take on that new life and the overwhelming responsibility that come with it.
Reviewers love the fact that Ford sees YA fiction doesn’t equal vampires and werewolves.
“What was most refreshing about 2:32 a.m. was the absence of the usual paranormal phenomena. 2:32 a.m. intrigues readers with the mystery and power of genies. For those who love mystery, magic and love, this is a must read,” says Tamar Mekredijian of Pacific Book Review.
A teen novel also void of foul language and sex, more readers can enjoy the fast-paced story.
“Like most late teenagers, Cat is learning how to adapt to a multitude of very real, and seemingly insurmountable difficulties. Some of her choices are better than others, and like all of us, she must accept the consequences regardless, and learn from her mistakes,” Ford said.
Heavily influenced by authors like J.R.R. Tolkien and JK Rowling, maybe Ford’s greatest wish would be for The Hunger Games star Jennifer Lawrence to take on the role of young Cat Townsend if 2:32 a.m. were made into a movie. Her readers wish for more books, soon.
“Complete with romance, danger and something a little different … Emily Ford writes an addicting novel. I can hardly wait to read the next one,” raves Lisa Fox of Top Book Reviewers. And Kirkus Reviews says Cat “might just become a creature of legend.”
Born in Houston, Texas, Ford interned each summer with the local KHOU-TV station while gaining her bachelor’s degree in radio and television at The University of Arizona. She worked on the copy desk at The Dallas Morning News, and started a marketing company KapsMark, Inc. Now writing full time, Ford is happy to be back in her roots of storytelling, which started at summer camp as she entertained fellow bunkmates each year.
[image error]
Hey there, Cat Townsend here! I bet you’re wondering how it really feels to have magical powers, aren’t you?
Well first I can tell you, it totally screws with your mind. I mean everyone knows magic only exists in the worlds of fairy tales, JRR Tolkien, JK Rowling and other fantasy authors.
So finding out that there most certainly IS magic out there, and entire communities as well – is a little much to absorb to say the least. Add to that the notion that you’re in the .000001% of the population who has the real opportunity to actually possess special powers…and well, the notion is over-the-top mind-boggling.
But…I’m adjusting. As with anything, there are pros and cons to having magic. Just like athletes who suddenly stumble into enormous sums of money, I have to set boundaries and establish realistic goals. It also helps to have great friends and family to keep you grounded. And hopefully one or two you can truly confide in.
Then, add the most gorgeous guy in the world to the mix and voila, you have my life. Well, perhaps two such guys…
I have no idea what the future holds, but one thing I know for certain. My eternity will never be boring!
Look for Book 2 soon, and follow me. I’ll keep you posted on my crazy, nonsensical magical life.
Bye for now!
EMILY FORD
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Debut novelist Emily Ford has always been a storyteller. As a kid at summer camp in Maine, she’d make up ghost stories at bedtime for her fellow bunkmates.
Her Djinn Master’s Legacy trilogy also began as a simple bedtime story, intended for Ford’s then adolescent children to have in writing and use to tell their own kids one day. By the time she finished writing, she had three very full books.
2:32 a.m., Ford’s first installment of her young adult series, caught early readers’ attention as a fiction book minus the typical vampire and werewolf characters.
The Texas writer interned each summer with KHOU-TV in Houston while gaining her bachelor’s degree in radio and television at The University of Arizona. She worked on the copy desk at The Dallas Morning News, and eventually started the marketing company KapsMark, Inc.
EmilyFordAuthor.com
@DjinnMstrLegacy
The Djinn Master's Legacy
Emily Ford
MOM OF TWO TURNS BEDTIME STORY INTO YA TRILOGY
Emilys Ford’s 2:32 a.m. a ‘refreshing’ read for teens, focused on wish-granting genies instead of blood-thirsty vampires
HOUSTON, TX – September 2012 – Emily Ford thought she might have something special when her kids requested bedtime stories long after it was cool. Their favorite, about a teenage genie, has become the focus of their mother’s three novel book series for young adults. Ford launches the first installment of The Djinn Master’s Legacy trilogy – 2:32 a.m. – this October.
After being plagued by strange dreams involving a mysterious man, 17-year-old protagonist Cat Townsend discovers not only do mythological figures such as genies exist, but a particularly powerful one wants to transfer his powers to her. 2:32 a.m. explores the life of Cat prior to learning about the genie legacy she’s been asked to accept, and the struggle she endures in deciding whether to take on that new life and the overwhelming responsibility that come with it.
Reviewers love the fact that Ford sees YA fiction doesn’t equal vampires and werewolves.
“What was most refreshing about 2:32 a.m. was the absence of the usual paranormal phenomena. 2:32 a.m. intrigues readers with the mystery and power of genies. For those who love mystery, magic and love, this is a must read,” says Tamar Mekredijian of Pacific Book Review.
A teen novel also void of foul language and sex, more readers can enjoy the fast-paced story.
“Like most late teenagers, Cat is learning how to adapt to a multitude of very real, and seemingly insurmountable difficulties. Some of her choices are better than others, and like all of us, she must accept the consequences regardless, and learn from her mistakes,” Ford said.
Heavily influenced by authors like J.R.R. Tolkien and JK Rowling, maybe Ford’s greatest wish would be for The Hunger Games star Jennifer Lawrence to take on the role of young Cat Townsend if 2:32 a.m. were made into a movie. Her readers wish for more books, soon.
“Complete with romance, danger and something a little different … Emily Ford writes an addicting novel. I can hardly wait to read the next one,” raves Lisa Fox of Top Book Reviewers. And Kirkus Reviews says Cat “might just become a creature of legend.”
Born in Houston, Texas, Ford interned each summer with the local KHOU-TV station while gaining her bachelor’s degree in radio and television at The University of Arizona. She worked on the copy desk at The Dallas Morning News, and started a marketing company KapsMark, Inc. Now writing full time, Ford is happy to be back in her roots of storytelling, which started at summer camp as she entertained fellow bunkmates each year.
September 21, 2012
GUEST POST WITH AUTHOR, M. MARIZ
Invitation to Dance
[image error]
I have a confession to make. When I was a kid I had an addiction that consumed all of me and that made me lose all my savings. The name of the drug? The Goonies.
My mom was the first one to notice the power of The Goonies. If my brother was driving her crazy, or attacking an anthill with a sword or testing his martial arts on me, she’d play the movie and he’d be as quiet as a fish for the next couple hours.
I was the next one to take advantage of it. If I had “accidently” broken one of his G.I Joes while he was at his friend’s house, I’d make sure that the movie was on at the time he arrived at home. Of course, I’d sit next to him to watch the movie too. But as no activity between brothers and sisters can be a long-term truce, it soon turned into a bet: whoever watched The Goonies more times would get the other’s savings.
Although I ended up losing all my money, I realized that even after watching the same story more than twenty times that summer, I’d still laugh and hold my breath with every viewing.
I started calling this phenomenon “Invitation to Dance”, which is very common in lighthearted stories.
Lighthearted stories are just like music. They have the ability to touch our hearts with grace and slowly form a connection with our thoughts, conducting us to a state of happiness. When you least expect, you’ll realize that you are dancing: moving through emotions and leaving your troubles behind.
Of course we all have those days when we want to watch a David Lynch or Quentin Tarantino movie, maybe see a Franz Kafka play, or read Rousseau’s The Social Contract. But most of the days, when we arrive exhausted after hours of work or intense studies, or when some anguish or sadness consumes all of our leftover energy, we just want to be conducted by the understanding and carefree rhythm of a lighthearted story.
So when I decided it was the time to write my first novel, after spending years writing so many different styles of theater plays, I knew what kind of story it would be. Not the one that would make the audience remember their worst fears, but one capable of making that guy sitting in the last row, with a frown and hunched shoulders, smile.
I formally invite you to be conducted by the fast-paced but joyful rhythm of my YA adult sci-fi/mystery novel, entitled The Chosen of Gaia.
M. Mariz
Author Biography
M. Mariz is an actress, lawyer and writer with more than 20 plays produced. Her debut novel The Chosen of Gaia (Sept. 28, 2012) was inspired by her own Revelation dream.
Born in Rio de Janeiro and currently living in Southern California, Mariz writes screenplays and novels in both Portuguese and English. The artist has more than 15 years of acting experience, encompassing works in theater, television and movies. She has multiple plays and sketches featured in theaters, including a teenager play that was performed by young Brazilian celebrities all over the country, and has written many other plays for different Brazilian companies to present work-related themes in a funny, entertaining way.
She lives with her husband in Orange, California, where she is constantly developing ideas for new stories to tell.
Website: TheChosenOfGaia.com
@AuthorM_Mariz
[url=https://www.facebook.com/pages/M-Mari... Mariz
M. Mariz
Synopsis
[image error]
BOOK DETAILS
Paperback, $13.99
ISBN: 978- 0985808433
eBook, $3.99
Sci-fi / Fantasy YA, ages 12 +
230 pages
Sept. 28, 2012
Fifteen-year-old Albert has just received an invitation that could transform his disappointing life completely – a chance to belong to an advanced and hidden society that only reveals itself to a select few.
Immersed in a new world of mind-boggling technology and intriguing peers, Albert will overcome his fears enough to ignore a few suspicious details. But soon he'll find his family dragged to the center of a scandal that threatens to tear them apart and erase their very identities.
A conflicted Albert must find the strength to challenge authority by relying on his newfound allies and gift for Revelation.
Prepare for adventure, humor and suspense in this fast-paced tale of a “normal” family striving for their place in a “perfect” world.
[image error]
I have a confession to make. When I was a kid I had an addiction that consumed all of me and that made me lose all my savings. The name of the drug? The Goonies.
My mom was the first one to notice the power of The Goonies. If my brother was driving her crazy, or attacking an anthill with a sword or testing his martial arts on me, she’d play the movie and he’d be as quiet as a fish for the next couple hours.
I was the next one to take advantage of it. If I had “accidently” broken one of his G.I Joes while he was at his friend’s house, I’d make sure that the movie was on at the time he arrived at home. Of course, I’d sit next to him to watch the movie too. But as no activity between brothers and sisters can be a long-term truce, it soon turned into a bet: whoever watched The Goonies more times would get the other’s savings.
Although I ended up losing all my money, I realized that even after watching the same story more than twenty times that summer, I’d still laugh and hold my breath with every viewing.
I started calling this phenomenon “Invitation to Dance”, which is very common in lighthearted stories.
Lighthearted stories are just like music. They have the ability to touch our hearts with grace and slowly form a connection with our thoughts, conducting us to a state of happiness. When you least expect, you’ll realize that you are dancing: moving through emotions and leaving your troubles behind.
Of course we all have those days when we want to watch a David Lynch or Quentin Tarantino movie, maybe see a Franz Kafka play, or read Rousseau’s The Social Contract. But most of the days, when we arrive exhausted after hours of work or intense studies, or when some anguish or sadness consumes all of our leftover energy, we just want to be conducted by the understanding and carefree rhythm of a lighthearted story.
So when I decided it was the time to write my first novel, after spending years writing so many different styles of theater plays, I knew what kind of story it would be. Not the one that would make the audience remember their worst fears, but one capable of making that guy sitting in the last row, with a frown and hunched shoulders, smile.
I formally invite you to be conducted by the fast-paced but joyful rhythm of my YA adult sci-fi/mystery novel, entitled The Chosen of Gaia.
M. Mariz
Author Biography
M. Mariz is an actress, lawyer and writer with more than 20 plays produced. Her debut novel The Chosen of Gaia (Sept. 28, 2012) was inspired by her own Revelation dream.
Born in Rio de Janeiro and currently living in Southern California, Mariz writes screenplays and novels in both Portuguese and English. The artist has more than 15 years of acting experience, encompassing works in theater, television and movies. She has multiple plays and sketches featured in theaters, including a teenager play that was performed by young Brazilian celebrities all over the country, and has written many other plays for different Brazilian companies to present work-related themes in a funny, entertaining way.
She lives with her husband in Orange, California, where she is constantly developing ideas for new stories to tell.
Website: TheChosenOfGaia.com
@AuthorM_Mariz
[url=https://www.facebook.com/pages/M-Mari... Mariz
M. Mariz
Synopsis
[image error]
BOOK DETAILS
Paperback, $13.99
ISBN: 978- 0985808433
eBook, $3.99
Sci-fi / Fantasy YA, ages 12 +
230 pages
Sept. 28, 2012
Fifteen-year-old Albert has just received an invitation that could transform his disappointing life completely – a chance to belong to an advanced and hidden society that only reveals itself to a select few.
Immersed in a new world of mind-boggling technology and intriguing peers, Albert will overcome his fears enough to ignore a few suspicious details. But soon he'll find his family dragged to the center of a scandal that threatens to tear them apart and erase their very identities.
A conflicted Albert must find the strength to challenge authority by relying on his newfound allies and gift for Revelation.
Prepare for adventure, humor and suspense in this fast-paced tale of a “normal” family striving for their place in a “perfect” world.
September 17, 2012
GUEST POST WITH AUTHOR, HARVEY SIMON
"THE MADMAN THEORY"
[image error]
In the Summer of 2000 I left my job as a public policy writer/researcher at Harvard to write a novel, which was published this September and is called The Madman Theory. After 12 years, the writing I was doing at Harvard had become almost rote. Having never written fiction, I thought I might be able to write a novel -- if it was one I could research. I wanted to learn something new about how to write, to stretch myself, and this was the way to begin.
I'd been reading about how President Kennedy had almost lost the 1960 presidential election and wondered what the world would have been like had 20,000 voters in three states woken up on the other side of the bed that November day. I was particularly interested in what would have happened in 1962, when the world was on the very brink of nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis, which occurred when the Soviet Union built a secret nuclear missile base 90 miles from Florida.
I found an inexpensive house to rent by Buzzards Bay in Massachusetts and began teaching myself how to write fiction. I wanted The Madman Theory to be as realistic as possible. If I was going to tell a story of what might have actually happened, had Kennedy lost the '60 election, my characters would have to include the people who likely would have been staffing the government. With this sort of alternate history fiction, writers typically invent a character who observes the action of historical figures. But of course there really would have been no such fictional character in this alternate world so I decided to dispense with this device. Instead, I wrote The Madman Theory from the point of view of the historical characters themselves. Kennedy's Republican opponent was an almost equally young Richard Nixon, so I wrote The Madman Theory from his point of view -- and that of his wife, Pat. I wanted to tell the story of their marriage in parallel with the political events at the heart of the novel and tried to weave the two together.
It's hard for me to write sloppy stuff. I need to get everything correct as I go. This is a slow process. Not having written fiction before, I wrote a lot of carefully constructed chapters that were OK on their own, but didn't work for the book. When my time was up in the house by the bay, I hadn't come close to finishing. I had to go back to work. The job I took, as a Washington journalist, left me with very little energy to work on the book. When the publication I was reporting for closed down, I switched to freelance writing and editing. I learned to take whatever paid the most to maximize my free time and was able to resume work on The Madman Theory. The looming 50th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis this October gave me a deadline -- just what I needed to finish The Madman Theory.
The result, available online at Amazon and Barnes & Noble in paperback and as an e-book, is a political thriller about how the man who almost won the 1960 election might have responded to the threat of nuclear missiles just off America's doorstep. The title is taken from Nixon's very real idea that he could force a nuclear-armed foe to back down in a crisis. All he had to do was convince them he was a madman -- that he really was crazy enough to start a nuclear war. In The Madman Theory we find out where Nixon's crazy notion would have taken the world when it was already on the brink of Armageddon.
-- Harvey Simon
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
[image error]
Harvey Simon is a freelance writer living in Washington, DC. His articles have appeared in The Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe Sunday Magazine, the History News Network and elsewhere.
Before moving to Washington he was a national security analyst at Harvard University, where he also wrote about other public policy issues.
The Madman Theory (Sept. 18, 2012, Rosemoor Press) is Simon’s debut novel. Its release coincides with the 50th anniversary of the most dangerous event in U.S. history – the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Simon received his undergraduate degree from Cornell University and has an M.A. in philosophy from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
AUTHOR-WEBSITE: http://www.TheMadmanTheory.com
TWITTER: @TheMadmanTheory
http://www.twitter.com/TheMadManTheory
GOODREADS: http://www.goodreads.com/author/sho.....
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-.....
[image error]
In the Summer of 2000 I left my job as a public policy writer/researcher at Harvard to write a novel, which was published this September and is called The Madman Theory. After 12 years, the writing I was doing at Harvard had become almost rote. Having never written fiction, I thought I might be able to write a novel -- if it was one I could research. I wanted to learn something new about how to write, to stretch myself, and this was the way to begin.
I'd been reading about how President Kennedy had almost lost the 1960 presidential election and wondered what the world would have been like had 20,000 voters in three states woken up on the other side of the bed that November day. I was particularly interested in what would have happened in 1962, when the world was on the very brink of nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis, which occurred when the Soviet Union built a secret nuclear missile base 90 miles from Florida.
I found an inexpensive house to rent by Buzzards Bay in Massachusetts and began teaching myself how to write fiction. I wanted The Madman Theory to be as realistic as possible. If I was going to tell a story of what might have actually happened, had Kennedy lost the '60 election, my characters would have to include the people who likely would have been staffing the government. With this sort of alternate history fiction, writers typically invent a character who observes the action of historical figures. But of course there really would have been no such fictional character in this alternate world so I decided to dispense with this device. Instead, I wrote The Madman Theory from the point of view of the historical characters themselves. Kennedy's Republican opponent was an almost equally young Richard Nixon, so I wrote The Madman Theory from his point of view -- and that of his wife, Pat. I wanted to tell the story of their marriage in parallel with the political events at the heart of the novel and tried to weave the two together.
It's hard for me to write sloppy stuff. I need to get everything correct as I go. This is a slow process. Not having written fiction before, I wrote a lot of carefully constructed chapters that were OK on their own, but didn't work for the book. When my time was up in the house by the bay, I hadn't come close to finishing. I had to go back to work. The job I took, as a Washington journalist, left me with very little energy to work on the book. When the publication I was reporting for closed down, I switched to freelance writing and editing. I learned to take whatever paid the most to maximize my free time and was able to resume work on The Madman Theory. The looming 50th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis this October gave me a deadline -- just what I needed to finish The Madman Theory.
The result, available online at Amazon and Barnes & Noble in paperback and as an e-book, is a political thriller about how the man who almost won the 1960 election might have responded to the threat of nuclear missiles just off America's doorstep. The title is taken from Nixon's very real idea that he could force a nuclear-armed foe to back down in a crisis. All he had to do was convince them he was a madman -- that he really was crazy enough to start a nuclear war. In The Madman Theory we find out where Nixon's crazy notion would have taken the world when it was already on the brink of Armageddon.
-- Harvey Simon
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
[image error]
Harvey Simon is a freelance writer living in Washington, DC. His articles have appeared in The Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe Sunday Magazine, the History News Network and elsewhere.
Before moving to Washington he was a national security analyst at Harvard University, where he also wrote about other public policy issues.
The Madman Theory (Sept. 18, 2012, Rosemoor Press) is Simon’s debut novel. Its release coincides with the 50th anniversary of the most dangerous event in U.S. history – the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Simon received his undergraduate degree from Cornell University and has an M.A. in philosophy from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
AUTHOR-WEBSITE: http://www.TheMadmanTheory.com
TWITTER: @TheMadmanTheory
http://www.twitter.com/TheMadManTheory
GOODREADS: http://www.goodreads.com/author/sho.....
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-.....
September 14, 2012
GUEST POST WITH AUTHOR, SALLY STEPHENSON
GUEST POST WITH THE AUTHOR OF "RAGE OF HEAVEN" SALLY STEPHENSON
[image error] [image error]
In September of 2011 I woke up one morning and found my dad’s bedroom door was open, this wasn’t unusual, he had been sleeping funny hours and I was used to him being awake in the middle of the night and asleep during the day. Today however, was different. I popped my head round the door at what must have been around 6am on a Saturday (apparently this time does exist!) and saw him getting the last things ready in his suitcase for his holiday to Italy. He was happy, making jokes as normal and making fun of himself. I wished him a happy holiday and for some reason felt compelled to tell him that my brother and I were okay – we had been squabbling recently and my dad wasn’t happy – he didn’t seem to believe me but I assured him, wished him a safe journey and returned to bed. I got up a few hours later and he’d already gone to the airport.
I would never see him again.
I phoned my dad around lunch time to let him know that a letter he had been waiting for had arrived. It was a quick two minute conversation.
It would be the last time I ever spoke to him.
I received a text message early Sunday morning, my dad telling me he and his friend Ann, had arrived safely in Italy and were settled into their hotel. I didn’t reply because international texting was expensive.
It was the last text I received from him.
16 hours after receiving that text message, 11pm UK time, there was a loud bang on the door. It was the police. My father had died in Italy a day after arriving on his vacation and mine and my brother’s world was turned upside down.
I had begun writing Wildflowers a month before the passing of my father, the months afterwards it was forgotten. Not important enough to be worrying about. Then November came, National Novel Writing Month – a month in which writers attempt to write 50,000 words by the end of November. I needed something to save me from the grief. So I wrote.
What came out of that period of Wildflowers was the book I’m now promoting. What came out of the darkest period of my life, was work that I had never expected. I channelled my grief into my words, I made my characters suffer because I was suffering, I put my pain into them and in turn they saved me.
I sent the book out to agents, two showed interest but ultimately passed. I decided to self-publish and phenomenal things have happened in just a month. The book is selling, it’s found a place already in an independent bookstore but more importantly it’s dedicated to my father. His name is in a published piece of work.
My dad never knew of this book or what would happen, I can only think he would be proud. I moulded Edith’s relationship with her father on the one I had with my own and so she became a character I emphasised with most. She felt the most of my pain and while I can only apologise to her, I’m going to write her as becoming stronger, more powerful, because that’s how I’m learning how to be, it’s how I’m shaping my writing to be. And so out of the darkness of last year hope is emerging and finding an outlet that has saved me a thousand times over.
http://www.sallystephenson.com/rage.....
[image error] [image error]
In September of 2011 I woke up one morning and found my dad’s bedroom door was open, this wasn’t unusual, he had been sleeping funny hours and I was used to him being awake in the middle of the night and asleep during the day. Today however, was different. I popped my head round the door at what must have been around 6am on a Saturday (apparently this time does exist!) and saw him getting the last things ready in his suitcase for his holiday to Italy. He was happy, making jokes as normal and making fun of himself. I wished him a happy holiday and for some reason felt compelled to tell him that my brother and I were okay – we had been squabbling recently and my dad wasn’t happy – he didn’t seem to believe me but I assured him, wished him a safe journey and returned to bed. I got up a few hours later and he’d already gone to the airport.
I would never see him again.
I phoned my dad around lunch time to let him know that a letter he had been waiting for had arrived. It was a quick two minute conversation.
It would be the last time I ever spoke to him.
I received a text message early Sunday morning, my dad telling me he and his friend Ann, had arrived safely in Italy and were settled into their hotel. I didn’t reply because international texting was expensive.
It was the last text I received from him.
16 hours after receiving that text message, 11pm UK time, there was a loud bang on the door. It was the police. My father had died in Italy a day after arriving on his vacation and mine and my brother’s world was turned upside down.
I had begun writing Wildflowers a month before the passing of my father, the months afterwards it was forgotten. Not important enough to be worrying about. Then November came, National Novel Writing Month – a month in which writers attempt to write 50,000 words by the end of November. I needed something to save me from the grief. So I wrote.
What came out of that period of Wildflowers was the book I’m now promoting. What came out of the darkest period of my life, was work that I had never expected. I channelled my grief into my words, I made my characters suffer because I was suffering, I put my pain into them and in turn they saved me.
I sent the book out to agents, two showed interest but ultimately passed. I decided to self-publish and phenomenal things have happened in just a month. The book is selling, it’s found a place already in an independent bookstore but more importantly it’s dedicated to my father. His name is in a published piece of work.
My dad never knew of this book or what would happen, I can only think he would be proud. I moulded Edith’s relationship with her father on the one I had with my own and so she became a character I emphasised with most. She felt the most of my pain and while I can only apologise to her, I’m going to write her as becoming stronger, more powerful, because that’s how I’m learning how to be, it’s how I’m shaping my writing to be. And so out of the darkness of last year hope is emerging and finding an outlet that has saved me a thousand times over.
http://www.sallystephenson.com/rage.....
