Charlie Bray's Blog, page 16

TOP TEN INDIE BOOKS: April 27th

The Top 10 is based on the number of sales and click-throughs from INDIETRIBE to Amazon in the last week. Whilst every click through does not lead to a sale, it is certainly evidence of a high level of interest, so the 10 authors should be justly proud that their books are being noticed. We monitor click-throughs and do not count multiple click-throughs from one computer.

I suppose the best way of aiming for this Top 10 list is to make sure readers keep tripping over your book in our Book Store, Showcase, News Flashes, Blogroll, and our brand new Chat Room and Message Board. Give your book the best chance you can.

To buy these books now, either click on the FRONT COVER to buy from Amazon.com or the TITLE to buy from Amazon.co.uk

IF YOU DO DECIDE TO BUY BOOKS, PLEASE BUY THEM WHILST YOU’RE LINKED THROUGH TO AMAZON FROM INDIETRIBE. THIS WILL HELP US TO ACCURATELY COMPILE THIS WEEKLY LIST.

Anyway, with no further ado, please welcome this week’s Top 10

1   CONFESSIONS OF A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DROPOUT  by Patti Lavell

Up from 3

2   LUCK OF THE WEISSENSTEINERS  by Christoph Fischer

Stays at 2

 3   THE PERSECUTION OF MILDRED DUNLAP  by Paulette Mahurin

Up from 4

4  TRAILS IN THE SAND by P.C.Zick

Up from 7

 

5   THE WARRIOR  by Ty Patterson

Stays at 5

 

6   RANI OF RAMPUR  by Suneeta Misra

New Entry

7   SAFE AND SOUND  by Danielle Singleton

Up from 9

 

8   DO NO HARM by Danielle Singleton

New Entry

9  JAZZ BABY by Beem Weeks  

Down from 1

10   DEAR CROSSING by Marjorie Swift Doering

Stays at 10

 

So congratulations to the books and authors in this week’s Top 10.

I can’t help notice that both the new entries into this week’s Top 10 were showcased earlier this week. If you’ve not yet had your book showcased, perhaps it’s time you did.If you have had your book showcased, maybe you would like to refresh readers’ minds and showcase it again. By public demand,we are about to offer Repeat Showcases to enable your book to constantly vie for attention. Watch out for a post in the very near future. In the meantime:

If you have one book to promote for the first time, click here to showcase

If you have more than one book to promote for the first time, click here to showcase.

Happy reading and writing until the next Top 10

 

Indie Book Editing Simplified

Like all self-published authors that need to edit their Indie books, I wish that Indie Book editing could be simplified.

I wish that editing options could be laid out clearly and transparently, and above all, kept simple.

And then I looked at myself, and particularly my own website, www.theindietribe.com. To my horror, I realised that I was as guilty as most at confusing self-published writers. The site was oozing a myriad editing opportunities, which was probably confusing any author that cared to look. I doubt they could see the wood for the trees.

So out came my scythe and I set to ruthlessly pruning The Indietribe’s book editing options. I’ve got it down to three simple choices, all representing extreme value for money, and all guaranteed to help you get a professional quality book to market.

So here we go. Here they are:

BOOK CRITIQUE

A one-off £195 ($302 U.S.Dollars) fee will ensure that your manuscript is critiqued. We’ll assess your story’s strengths and weaknesses, and show you how to improve plot structure, scene development, characterization, dialogue, physical setting, narrative style, and other elements.

Effectively the critique will be a macro edit, or an assessment of the wide picture. Are there holes in the plot? Are there loose ends? Is there continuity throughout? Is there enough tension? Does the story reach a satisfactory climax? Are the characters believable and has each one got a distinctive voice?

BOOK PROOF-READING

£5 per 1000 words will ensure that your manuscript is free of any spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, or typos.You will then be able to publish with confidence.

Style guides are used and the necessary distinction between UK English and American English is applied.

We study every line of your text twice, correcting errors as we go along. Our tracked changes will enable you to accept or discard every suggestion, so that you remain entirely in control.

BOOK UPLOAD

A one-off £95 ($116 U.S.Dollars) fee will ensure that your book is successfully published in eBook format.  You send us your book in word format, together with a jpg of your front cover, and we will convert it to digital  format and upload it straight to Kindle Direct Publishing for you. We will optimise your book’s blurb, add relevant keywords and advise on the most appropriate categories for your book. We will liaise with you on the most effective price for the book and dates for free promotions, and manage all that for you. We will place your book on Amazon sites worldwide.

So I hope this current choice of editing is simple enough for you. That was the aim. Effectively it does what it says on the tin – the secret to successful editing.

I look forward to assisting you with a  BOOK CRITIQUE ,  BOOK PROOF-READING  or  BOOK UPLOAD  soon.

Indie Book Promotion Simplified

Like all self-published authors that need to promote their Indie books, I wish that Indie Book promotion could be simplified.

I wish that marketing options could be laid out clearly and transparently, and above all, kept simple.

And then I looked at myself, and particularly my own website, www.theindietribe.com. To my horror, I realised that I was as guilty as most at confusing self-published writers. The site was oozing a myriad marketing opportunities, which was probably confusing any author that cared to look. I doubt they could see the wood for the trees.

So out came my scythe and I set to ruthlessly pruning The Indietribe’s book promotion options. I’ve got it down to two simple choices, both representing extreme value for money, and both guaranteed to reach out to a totally relevant audience – the Indie book readers that visit www.theindietribe.com daily in their droves.

So here we go. Here they are:

ONE BOOK PROMOTION

A one-off £15 ($23 U.S.Dollars) fee will ensure that your book is showcased in our regular Indie Book Showcase series and featured by genre in our two Indie Book Stores, one linked directly to Amazon.com and one linked to Amazon.co.uk It will also ensure that your Blog/Website is listed as an enhanced entry in our Blogroll, together with description and screen shot image

MULTI-BOOK PROMOTION

A one-off £45 ($70 U.S.Dollars) fee will ensure that all your books, past, present or future, are showcased in our regular Indie Book Showcase series and featured by genre in our two Indie Book Stores, one linked directly to Amazon.com and one linked to Amazon.co.uk. The offer includes all future books. Simply send in the information as they are published and we will include them. We will also ensure that your Blog/Website is listed as an enhanced entry in our Blogroll, together with description and screen shot image.

So I hope this current choice is simple enough for you. That was the aim. Effectively it does what it says on the tin – the secret to successful marketing.

I look forward to welcoming you to our ONE BOOK PROMOTION or MULTI-BOOK PROMOTION soon.

 

MAKE SURE YOUR BOOK IS SEEN! Get In Readers’ Faces

I often drive twelve miles from my home to Stamford, a very pleasant Lincolnshire village.

The drive takes me through archetypal English countryside, and the journey passes really quickly. I never regard it as a chore, and quite often I arrive in Stamford not being able to remember passing certain landmarks. This is not because I’m losing it, more that the journey is so easy that my creative imagination often runs riot and I’ve sometimes plotted a short story during the thirty minute journey.

But last Tuesday the journey was different. My attention was demanded by a host of people, animals and vehicles. All clad in high visibility markings. They all meant to be seen, and they were seen.

They also made an impression. I can recall every single one of them. Horses, workmen, policemen, cyclists, all dressed in eye-catching day-glo jackets. All vying for my attention. I can even tell you exactly where I came across each one, and how I reacted.

This  doesn’t form the basis of a new novel, but it did show me that our books should probably be demanding more attention than they are.

Your book should be highly visible. It should be forcing people to consider buying it. Not really by sporting a jazzy new jacket. It’s no doubt got an enticing front cover already. I hope so because readers do often judge a book by its cover. No, it should be highly visible by virtue of it popping up and shouting “Buy Me!” everywhere that readers browse.

Now I don’t spend my waking hours stalking readers to see where they go to search for books. But I do spend a lot of my waking hours enticing them into INDIETRIBE. And there are lots of them. And their numbers are growing daily.

I know how long they spend on INDIETRIBE, how many and which pages they browse during their visits, how many click throughs they make to Amazon, and what books they buy as a result.

I know that they love our Showcase, they read our reviews, they crowd into our Indie Book Store and they show a great interest in our weekly Top 10. And the funny thing is, most books that appear in our Top 10 appear nearly everywhere else too.

And that’s not a coincidence.

Gary Player, the golfing legend, was once accused of being lucky. He responded by saying the funny thing was that the more he practiced, the luckier he got.

And it’s the same with your books too. You actually make your own luck.

The more places within INDIETRIBE that they can be seen, the more readers will browse them, the more they will click- through to Amazon and the more they will buy.

And the whole thing becomes self generating. The more click-throughs and sales, the greater chance they will appear in the weekly Top 10. Then, when they’re in the Top 10, visitors will click-through to Amazon to see what’s so special about the books.  And hopefully buy them.

And so it goes – round and round and round. That’s how effective marketing works.

But you’ve got to be in it to win it! And it’s not all free. Nothing worth having is. I know most Indie authors are not awash with funds. But I also know, after all the blood, sweat and tears of writing it, they want to give their book the best chance they can.

The fact is you can be seen everywhere on INDIETRIBE for a fairly modest fee per book.

If you put your book in our Indie Book Store, get it  Showcased, create a News Flash about it, send off a line of it to our Best One-liners, leave messages in our Chat Room, get your book reviewed, get interviewed on INDIETRIBE, and get your book guested, in other words, treat your book to everything going, it would stand you at £85, approximately $130 U.S. Dollars.

If that would break your bank, you can always schedule each part of the whole and market your book bit by bit.

Either way, you should seriously consider bombarding potential readers with your book.

Just like my journey to Stamford, make sure your book is highly visible and popping up at every turn.

BE SEEN, not simply passed by.

10 One-liners from 10 Novels – Collection One

Welcome to the launch of a brand new series which examines the strength of single lines in a complete novel.

Whether it be sad, caring, funny or downright cruel, a single line from a book can stick in one’s memory and be passed around for eternity.

If you enjoy the line, you may well be tempted to read the book. Why not download now from Amazon.com by clicking the image, or from Amazon.co.uk by clicking the Title.

IF YOU DO DECIDE  TO BUY BOOKS, PLEASE HELP US TO HELP YOU BY BUYING THEM WHILST YOU’RE LINKED THROUGH TO AMAZON FROM INDIETRIBE

“The truth, in the right hands, can be a very flexible tool.”

THE GUILTY By Gabriel Boutros

“In less than one day, the planet had fallen into chaos and humankind’s continued existence hung in the balance”

ELEVENTH ELEMENTUM by J.L.Bond & Val Richards

“Mama always said you can tell a real lady by the shoes she wears, but then – nobody ever accused Mama of being a lady”

MAMA’S SHOES by Rebecca D. Elswick

“By late October, Grandpa Toby had taken to peeing in the oven”

DEAREST by Carole Marshall

“Upon our arrival I will piss over the drawbridge, drip slowly, and then park my chopper”

OPEN HOUSE by Charlie Bray

“It’s not like some high school dropout is going to roll you. They don’t have that much ambition here”

LOOPING FOR LOVE by Ginney Etherton

“The bus split open like a peapod, scattering passengers and their belongings along the roadway”

THE KUDZU CONSPIRACY by Delfina Hex

(Within the anthology That One Left Shoe)

“I thought about naming him after you,” she said to Clint, “but I thought calling the boy Dickless would give him self-esteem issues”

WHORES: NOT INTENDED TO BE A FACTUAL ACCOUNT OF THE GENDER WAR by Nicolas Wilson

“It would be a pity to damage such fine silk brocade, perhaps I might hold your waistcoat for you as well, and any other valuables that you would prefer weren’t lost to the river?”

JACK DAWKINS by Charlton Daines

“Ten pairs of eyes in various stages of fear, desperation, and sadness, all watching Sadie, seemingly pleading for her to do something”

BELIEVING IN HORSES by Valerie Ormond

Wow, what a great start! Congratulations to all the authors that made our first collection. Those that didn’t – you could well be in Collection 2 next Wednesday.

I hope you agree that featuring one line is a great way to promote your book, and hopefully it will tempt more than a few readers to reach for their credit cards.

Keep ‘em coming and send me lots more One-liners

 

NEWS FLASH: Mark Lingane’s New Novel Out Today

Chasing Heart by INDIETRIBE member, Mark Lingane has gone live today and can be downloaded now from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk

I know it’s a great book because I proof-read it and just couldn’t put it down. It was very much a labour of love.

Here is a brief extract from the book:

“You’re from one of those European countries, aren’t you, Ellen?”

I looked around wondering whom the great Peter Cowley may be addressing. There was no-one else. Must be me.

Close, I thought. “I’m from the Bible-belt,” I replied.

“I mean your heritage. Your roots, my dear girl.”

“Weeeell, if you go back far enough. Aren’t we all?”

“That’s that spirit.”

“But, wait, I…”

“Here is your ticket to Columbia. You change at L.A. and Bogotá, then a quick hop over to Barrancabermeja.”

“Where?”

“I’m sure you’ll sort it out on the way,” assured the Great Peter Cowley.

“What? Again, why am I going?”

It’s the mid-1990s and ELLEN MARTIN has a soaring corporate legal career in Chicago’s powerhouse firm Cowley&Tate. She is handpicked to perform a pro bono case in the sweltering Colombian town of Barrancabermeja. However, it is a place where she is not welcome, and soon events conspire against her to push her into a downward spiral of trouble and desperation.

She is kidnapped, arrested shot at, chased by the police, the military, a corrupt government, revolutionary groups, librarians and common criminals while civilisation crumbles around her.

Revolution comes to the small city and threatens the stability of the whole country. Her only help is Alex Heart, the musician housemate of the gay architect nephew of her personal trainer. Alex turns into her knight in shining armour while she tries to find out who is behind her predicament. Not is all as it seems. As Ellen’s life falls apart the events spiralling around her become more fantasy-like.

Chasing Heart is a modern day fairy tale.

Do yourself a real favour and download it now.

TOP 10 INDIE BOOKS: April 7th 2013

Hello and welcome to this week’s TOP 10 INDIE BOOKS, featuring the 10 most popular books on our site this week.

This is based on the number of sales and click throughs from INDIETRIBE to Amazon in the last week. Whilst every click through does not lead to a sale, it is certainly evidence of  a high level of interest, so the 10 authors should be justly proud that their books are being noticed.

I suppose the best way of aiming for this Top 10 list is to make sure readers keep tripping over your book in our Book Store, Showcase, Review series, News Flashes, Blogroll, and our brand new Chat Room and Message Board. Give your book the best chance  you can.

To buy these books now, either click on the FRONT COVER to buy from Amazon.com or the TITLE to buy from Amazon.co.uk

IF YOU DO DECIDE  TO BUY BOOKS, PLEASE BUY THEM WHILST YOU’RE LINKED THROUGH TO AMAZON FROM INDIETRIBE. THIS WILL HELP US TO ACCURATELY COMPILE THIS WEEKLY LIST.

Anyway, with no further ado, please welcome this week’s Top 10

1   MOMENTS IN LIFE by Shanbreen

Up from 2

2   THE PERSECUTION OF MILDRED DUNLAP  by Paulette Mahurin

Up from 5

3   PAULA’S PLACE Submission by James Wood

New entry

4   JAZZ BABY by Beem Weeks  

Down from 1

5   CONFESSIONS OF A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DROPOUT by Patti Lavell

A return to the Top 10

6   THE WARRIOR by Ty Patterson

Down from 4

7   LUCK OF THE WEISSENSTEINERS by Christoph Fischer

Down from 3

8   BRIDGE ICES BEFORE ROAD by  S. Rose

Down from 6

9  DELUSIONS OF GRANDEUR by Jason Najum

Stays at 9

10   CHASE TINKER AND THE HOUSE OF MAGIC by Malia Ann Haberman

Down from 8

So congratulations to the books and authors in this week’s Top 10. Can’t wait to see the chart next Sunday.

If you would like to talk about our TOP 10 INDIE BOOKS, why not visit our brand new

CHAT ROOM & MESSAGE BOARD

Until then…Happy Reading, Charlie

SHOWCASE 16: Nine Indie Books To Tempt You

Welcome to the sixteenth Showcase. If you would like to buy any of these books, click on the image to buy from Amazon.com, or the link in each book’s description to buy from Amazon.co.uk

IF YOU DO DECIDE  TO BUY BOOKS, PLEASE BUY THEM WHILST YOU’RE LINKED THROUGH TO AMAZON FROM INDIETRIBE.

If you’d like to see your book featured, simply JOIN INDIETRIBE, and we’ll make sure your book is showcased.

If your book has already been showcased and you would like more of your books to enjoy the same promotion, click here.

ONE CHANCE FOR GLORY  by Edward T. Heikell and Robert L. Heikell

Most people are well aware of Charles Lindbergh and his well-known 3600-mile solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean in 1927 while few have even heard of the incredible feat accomplished by Clyde Pangborn.  He played the key role in making a nonstop 5500-mile Pacific Ocean crossing four years later, in 1931.   During the crossing, Pangborn had to slip outside in the frigid night to make repairs at 17,000 feet, jettison the landing gear to reduce weight and drag and put the airplane into a terrifying high-speed dive to 1400 feet to restart the engine somewhere over the Bering Sea.

During and action-packed 41-hour flight, he eventually belly-landed in an airfield carved out of the sagebrush near Wenatchee, Washington.

Although the flight was nearly twice a long as the famous ‘Lindbergh crossing’ and the expertise required was considerably more taxing, Pangborn received insignificantly less fan fare.

Edward (Ted) Heikell and Robert (Bob) Heikell are brothers born in Yakima, Washington, and raised in Wapato, Washington

This is Ted’s first attempt at literature, but he has two DVDs on the market pertaining to hunting and fishing.

Also available from Amazon.co.uk

BRING ME THE HEAD OF EL MONTE SLIM by D.M. Ryan

Inspired during a long stay on a remote Pacific Island, the novel features a wacky, absurd and endearing cast of characters who undertake a quest to save the world from a corporate takeover.

Join El Monte, his trusty sidekick Pancho, and the irrepressible Annie Price on a coast-to-coast comic odyssey as they battle pharmaceutical hit men, suicide bombers, professional wrestlers and gay Native American bikers all out for the bounty on El Monte’s head.

D.M. Ryan’s novels, short-stories, and songs often revolve around society’s forgotten souls and underdogs. Ryan found inspiration for Bring Me the Head of El Monte Slim” during the  two years he spent on Sand Island,  Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, in the Pacific, where, he says, “I lost my compulsive attachment to reality.”

Also available from Amazon.co.uk

TRUTH’S BLOOD by Tyler Roberts

It is the waning years of the American Empire.  The Constitution and the Bill of Rights are fading memories, but the drones buzzing overhead are a constant reminder that everyone is being watched.  The economy is in ruins and the countries European style welfare state stands at the brink of collapse.  The United States can no longer pay its debts and China has come seeking payment in real assets.  Select cities are nuked, power is out and burned out houses occupy neighborhoods like rotting teeth in the mouth of a crack addict.  After occupying the United States China establishes work camps and begins rounding up the young males to extract oil, gas, timber and other natural resources as payment for what it is owed.

Truth’s Blood is the Lang family’s story of survival while attempting to rescue their sons from the chaos of the burning cities and the Chinese labor camps.  With the United States experiencing the disintegration of society and foreign occupation, their challenge verges on the impossible.

Tyler Roberts grew up in the Pacific Northwest.  He is trained in the fields of wildlife and biology.  In addition to writing, his hobbies include organic gardening, managing a small orchard and beekeeping.

Also available from Amazon.co.uk

JACK DAWKINS by Charlton Daines

Jack Dawkins, once known as the Artful Dodger in the streets of London, was sent to Australia on a prison ship when he was little more than a boy. Now he has returned to find that London has changed while the boy has turned into a man.

With few prospects provided by his criminal past and having developed mannerisms that allow him to move amongst a higher strata of society, Jack turns his back on the streets that would have primed him as a successor to the murderer, Bill Sykes, and quickly remodels himself as a gentleman thief.

New acquaintances and a series of chance encounters, including one with his old friend Oliver, create complications as remnants of his past come back to plague him. Jack is forced to struggle for a balance between his new life and memories that haunt him with visions of the derelict tavern where Nancy used to sing.

Charlton Daines is an academic and an afficionado of fine Literature. As such, he has sought to add to the collective of world Literature with the occasional selection that might appeal to those with a love of Classics and Historical Fiction.

Also available from Amazon.co.uk

SWEET OBLIVION by Bailey Ardisone

Nari hates everything about her life except for her best friend Rydan, but now that they’ve been separated during their senior year of high school, she has to learn to make new friends without him. When strange unexplainable phenomenons start becoming an every day part of her life, Nari struggles to come to grips with reality. And with love.

Naminé has responsibilities. Duties. It is her obligation to fulfill all that is asked of her by their King. But when a glimmer of hope is introduced to her by a prisoner,she does all that she can to turn that hope into reality and finally end the vicious war that has been ensuing since she was born. Even if that means keeping it secret from her King. Even if it means carrying out the biggest betrayal against the King ever seen during her time.

Bailey Ardisone is a collaboration between two sisters who were born and raised outside of Chicago, Illinois. They took the last names of their two grandmothers to form their pen name and combined their creative forces to write the first book in their series, called Sweet Oblivion.

Also available from Amazon.co.uk

SHADOW DREAMING by Jan Hawkins

It is an ancient Lore. They are a people who live by different rules in a modern world. Reach out and touch the Dreaming of the Ancient Australian Aboriginal Lore and travel with the Rainbow Serpent and other Spirit Creatures of the Dreamtime. Learn how a world very different from your own survives amongst us. The loves, trials and passions of the Shaman who live sheltered by their Lore and yet who walk amongst us, ordering our lives in what is the oldest land and continuous culture on the Earth.

Each book, of the four books in the Dreaming Series is a story in its own right. Each Shaman you follow lives within the boundaries of the lives of others and yet their stories are unique, phenomenal and rich in diversity and ripe in challenge. The Dreaming Series – a flight into another world.

Australian Author, Jan Hawkins, was raised in the Australian bush on the outskirts of Sydney along the Georges River. Now residing in Queensland, she spent 20 years in education. Jan is passionate about the real living history of her country, its diversity and its people and has a strong desire to discover and experience new places. This fuels her travels throughout the land and her research and interest in Australia’s ancient Lore.

Also available from Amazon.co.uk

LEATHER TO THE CORINTHIANS by Tom Lucas

Gather round all you tattooed, lost soul wandering, Wi-Fi/Lo-Fi mutants! Come! Come listen to the hypnotic beat of my drum! Join me on trip to the Village, a strange and surreal place, where an epic battle will determine the fate of the human race! The GENERAL is determined to win this war as the insane clown insurgent wants to settle a score! He’s got a bone to pick with his nemesis the KING, the mad ruler of the Village who only cares about celebrity status and bling!  You will meet a young SOLDIER, who fights to survive the melee, as he loses his humanity along the way!

Leather to the Corinthians is an absurd postmodern fable that defiantly flips a middle finger at modern American life. Through the perspectives of its multiple characters, it explores the absurdities of organized religion, the military, big business, fast food, advertising, sex, and the media. Witty, with bitter undertones, its story possesses a satirical spirit as it plays with traditional story structure, phrasing and cultural references. Its multiple layers encourage return visits as its characters have many more unique tales to tell.

Also available from Amazon.co.uk 

THE SITY by Curran Geist

Victor’s memory has been damaged from months of torture and enslavement. But there’s one thing they couldn’t steal from him…the hope of finding his lost family. Carina is haunted by strange visions and the symbols etched into her skin. She will stop at nothing to discover her true identity.

In this tale of survival and vengeance, two young humans fight back against the oppression of an alien race called the Kuljik. Dangers and unspeakable horrors lie around every corner of the Sity, a violent metropolis where enslaved humans are abused for the pleasure of the aliens. Victor and Carina are both blessed with mysterious supernatural powers and represent humanity’s best hope to escape. Will their personal demons cause them to unravel as they forge the destiny of their futures?

In writing his first self-published novel THE SITY, Curran Geist has merged his love of science fiction, fantasy, and horror genres with his belief in combatting social injustices.

Also available from Amazon.co.uk

WHITE PICKET PRISONS by Phil Taylor

A coming of age story about four men who never really did. Lifelong friends are drawn to the neighborhood of their youth for a funeral and for the first time they see the idyllic neighborhood of their childhood through the eyes of adults and their shocking discoveries challenge everything they thought they knew about themselves and each other. Our heroes are the guys next door, grown-ups by day but the same goofy kids they always were when they’re together, humorously meeting adulthood and a murder mystery head on. The question is not will they survive the bad guys, but will they survive each other? With something for everyone White Picket Prisons is equal parts suspense, humor, nostalgia, and a little romance and a car chase thrown in for good measure.

Phil Taylor is a father of three, husband to one, and life-long smart ass to many. His first fiction novel, White Picket Prisons, is an ode to the life-long friends that shaped his life.

Also available from Amazon.co.uk

I hope you’ve enjoyed this Showcase, and I look forward to publishing another one soon, with books from Danielle Singleton, Elizabeth Eyles, Gareth Barsby, Brigit Reed, Frank Hofer, P.C. Zick and Phillip Frey

If you’d like to chat and share views on this and other Showcases, why not visit our new Chat Room and Message Board.

It’s a great place to air your views and tell the world what you’re up to.

A great place to meet other INDIETRIBE members. See you there.

So, until the next Showcase, enjoy your reading, Charlie

Don’t forget to keep visiting our INDIE BOOK STORE  to browse an ever-growing collection of  Indie books of every genre.

SHOWCASE 15: Eight Indie Books Waiting To Be Read

Welcome to the fifteenth Showcase. If you would like to buy any of these books, click on the image to buy from Amazon.com, or the link in each book’s description to buy from Amazon.co.uk

IF YOU DO DECIDE  TO BUY BOOKS, PLEASE BUY THEM WHILST YOU’RE LINKED THROUGH TO AMAZON FROM INDIETRIBE.

If you’d like to see your book featured, simply JOIN INDIETRIBE, and we’ll make sure your book is showcased.

If your book has already been showcased and you would like more of your books to enjoy the same promotion, click here.

DAUGHTERS by Florence Osmund

Imagine growing up thinking you are white and then finding out your real father is not.

It is the year 1949, and twenty-four-year-old Marie Marchetti has just discovered the identity of her multiracial father, Jonathan Brooks, the father she never knew. Marie grew up in Chicago, the only child of a single mother, having had very little contact with people of other races, making her current situation more than just a little daunting.

Marie hopes the invitation from Jonathan to spend two weeks with her newfound family over Thanksgiving will help uncover vital truths about herself that her now deceased mother had never shared with her. But the visit has potential for being disastrous, since Jonathan had only recently acknowledged Marieʾs existence to his wife of thirty-one years and their three grown sons.

Florence Osmund grew up in an old Victorian home in Libertyville, Illinois, complete with a coach house, the same house she used as inspiration for her first two books. She earned her master’s degree from Lake Forest Graduate School of Management and has obtained more than three decades of experience working in corporate America. In an effort to help others with a wide array of writing advice, Florence maintains a website dedicated to new authors. Osmund currently resides in Chicago where she is working on her third novel.

Also available from Amazon.co.uk

 INCOMPLETE PASSES: Reflections on Life, Love and Football by Linda Lang

Linda Lange turned twelve in 1959, the year Vince Lombardi arrived in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and changed everything.  To say that Linda embraced Lombardi’s Green Bay Packers would be an understatement.  Her new passion transformed the way she viewed her hometown, the world, and herself.

But Incomplete Passes is more than a simple coming-of-age story.  It also recounts Linda’s “midlife crisis that turned into a musical comedy.”  And the reader comes to know the four women as they are today, facing advancing age with courage and humor as they reunite in Wisconsin each fall.Football led Linda to Pam, Del, and Carla.  The young women formed a bond that would survive distance, marriage, divorce, careers, and motherhood.

But Incomplete Passes is more than a simple coming-of-age story.  It also recounts Linda’s “midlife crisis that turned into a musical comedy.”  And the reader comes to know the four women as they are today, facing advancing age with courage and humor as they reunite in Wisconsin each fall.

Linda Lange has never forgotten what it was like to be a teenager living in Green Bay, WI, during the 1960s when the legendary Vince Lombardi coached the Packers to five National Football League championships.  She shares her memories in Incomplete Passes:  Reflections on Life, Love, and Football.

Also available from Amazon.co.uk

THORNS OF GLASS by Kelly Samarah

Sam Jude was a typical teen growing up in the 1980′s. He loved his little family-his mom, Cheryl and kid brother, James. But when Cheryl brings home her new boyfriend, Ray, Sam’s life is turned upside down. Ray is abusive, but more than that. He has secrets. Sam knows he has to find out what they are-they could be the key to saving his family from Ray’s grip. Sam comes close to revealing Ray’s dark past, but everything changes for him when he wakes up dead. Now he is lost, and his family doesn’t know what happened. Trapped within the walls he was murdered in, Sam is befriended by another spirit, Dahli, who has secrets of her own. Together, Dahli and Sam must find a way to help Cheryl and James before it’s too late.

Kelly Samarah lives in a small town in Oregon with her two children, her dog, and her cat. When she isn’t writing she enjoys painting, reading, cooking, and music. Thorns Of Glass is her first published novel.

Also available from Amazon.co.uk

THE HARD SWIM by Keith Dixon

FEBRUARY 1942: The Struma, a broken-down steamer, explodes and sinks in the Black Sea, drowning 658 Rumanian Jews fleeing the Nazis and heading for Palestine, and safety.

JUNE 1944: Thirty-one SAS soldiers are captured behind enemy lines and are forced to dig their own graves before being shot and buried in a forest in the heart of France.

SEVENTY YEARS LATER: A young woman is attacked in the grounds of Edinburgh Zoo – the attacker seeking the document that might link these two wartime events.

Private Investigator Sam Dyke rescues the woman, Chantal Bressette, and embarks on a quest to find out why the document she carries is being sought by a high-ranking Government official and his team of ex-Army thugs. They follow a series of clues that lead them eventually to an isolated village in central France, tracked by the thugs and government minister Gideon Blake, who becomes obsessed with uncovering what the document reveals because he believes it implicates his father – and thus himself and his family – in an obscene war-crime.

Recently Keith Dixon worked as a management consultant in leadership training and at the same time edited novel manuscripts for publication. He also writes an occasional blog where he analyses and critiques crime writing. This is the third book in a series about Sam Dyke.

Also available from Amazon.co.uk

A DELICATE TRUTH by Zoe McNight

Blair and Vaughn have put their past behind them, renewed their vows, and embarked on a new chapter of their lives. They appear to have it all. Wealth, devotion, and now, a little girl. But, there’s something Vaughn doesn’t know. Something that would devastate him and bring Blair’s walls crumbling down around her—their child, his precious, long-awaited daughter, is not his.

A Delicate Truth is a powerful story about a woman desperately clinging to the life she’s worked so hard to build, and contending with the mistakes of her past so they don’t destroy her future.

Zoe McKnight was born and raised in New York. After graduating from Hofstra University with a degree in business, she launched a career in marketing and public relations. Author of Living in Glass Houses and the sequel, A Delicate Truth, she currently lives in New York City.

Also available from Amazon.co.uk

HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW? by Lorna Lee

Lorna is like everyone you’ve ever known. She’s also like no one you’ll ever meet again. She’s just an ordinary person trying to make the best of the predicament du jour. What makes her different? The answers are revealed in this, her first, book. Here’s a hint: Lorna finds herself in more knotty predicaments than a novice knitter yet she tells her often grim life story with a frisky grin.

Lorna’s story is one of decisions and their consequences born out of ignorance, or innocence. Information was withheld; secrets were kept. Looking back, she asks, “How was I supposed to know?” And then she laughs, because what else can she do?

Lorna currently lives with the man of her dreams and the dog of her dreams in the home of her dreams: a cozy, finished, and decidedly unbroken home. She keeps herself busy writing, quilting, walking, and blogging.

Also available from Amazon.co.uk

THE UP-COUNTRY MAN by Kenneth C. Ryland

In April 1967, a young British engineer arrives in Nigeria to take up his new job. The country is seven years into a volatile independence and Ken Ryeland struggles to come to terms with the culture shock and the endemic tribalism that pervades every level of society. On being transferred to Enugu, capital of the troubles Eastern Region, he is further challenged when the Regional Military Government rebels against the Federal Military Government in Lagos. An act of secession quickly follows and the short-lived Republic of Biafra is born. Almost immediately, the new republic is plunged into a bloody and bitter war of survival with the Lagos Government and Ryeland finds himself trapped in the rebel enclave as federal troops close in for the kill.

The Up-Country Man is a personal account of the events leading to secession and the conditions inside Biafra during the early days of the Nigerian civil war.

After 20 years working in Africa, the Far East and the Middle East, the author returned to the UK and occupied various senior engineering posts in the motor and insurance industries before retiring in 2004. He is a widower with three grown children and likes writing, gardening, cross-country walking, classic British motorcycles and fine red wines.

Also available from Amazon.co.uk

LUCKY by Craig Inglis

“Lucky” is an easy-read children’s picture book by Craig Inglis and beautiful illustrations by Richard Kinsey. This uplifting,enlightening book shows children that they can overcome even the most challenging of problems with the love of friends and with  plenty of determination. Positive and joyful, this highly original book shows children the power of positive thinking in difficult times through the triumphant story of a lovable, plucky dog named Lucky.

Craig has been writing all his life. He has had articles published in the L.A. Times and has written over 75 songs. He studied Cultural Anthropology and Children’s Literature in college. He worked in the early childhood area as a teacher. He has always had a connection with the disabled. Their courage and determination in overcoming their disabilities inspired this story.

Also available from Amazon.co.uk

I hope you’ve enjoyed this Showcase, and I look forward to publishing another one soon, with books from Ed Heikell, D.M. Ryan, Tyler Roberts, Charlton Daines, Bailey Ardisone, Jan Hawkins, Tom Lucas, Curran Geist and Phil Taylor.

If you’d like to chat and share views on this and other Showcases, why not visit our new Chat Room and Message Board.

It’s a great place to air your views and tell the world what you’re up to.

A great place to meet other INDIETRIBE members. See you there.

So, until the next Showcase, enjoy your reading, Charlie

Don’t forget to keep visiting our INDIE BOOK STORE

to browse an ever-growing collection of

Indie books of every genre.

NEWS FLASH: Steven Lyle Jordan’s New Novel Out Today

Steven Lyle Jordan’s new novel, Sarcology is now live at  Amazon.com 

On its surface, Sarcology is a futurist detective adventure:  A husband-and-wife detective agency must help a scientist who has been blackmailed, forced to regularly submit to her blackmailer’s sexual appetites in order to keep her past indiscretions secret; but the blackmailer has suddenly moved up from sex to corporate secrets, and now he must be stopped.

But the heart of the story is in the relationship between Allen and Jessica Teal, the detective couple… and, later, between Jessica and a robot prototype that enters her life, carrying the memories of her husband. Jessica must soon try to decide whether the robot is simply mimicking her husband, or if her husband is trapped inside a robotic body… and whether that should make a difference.

Some comments from the advance copy reviews:

“I have read many of Steve’s books and although they are all good, this one outshines them all. Well written, suspenseful and loaded with lots of speculative ideas about robotics. I assume that these ideas are all here now or within a possibility. I REALLY enjoyed reading this book… His best yet. I rate this one at 5 stars.” - Allan MacDiarmid

“In Sarcology, Steve has another winner: a fast-paced thriller, full of corporate espionage, love, lots of sex (including robot sex), and murder. This is a roller-coaster of a novel, with highs and lows, and I could not wait to find out what happens next.” -Sherri Mines

“Without realizing it you will find yourself drawn into the lives and feelings of the characters, and the effort put into character development will pay off in a major way halfway through the book. Prepare to get emotional… The philosophical questions it generates are interesting, the characters are very well done, and it’s an interesting ride that comes to a satisfying conclusion, something very hard to do.” -Thomas Meister

“The plot is very tightly done and goes from blackmail to industrial espionage to murder, to domestic terrorism and a plot to divert highly sensitive military secrets to hostile nations without any seams or glaring “drop offs” of narrative.  And the denouement chase scene is well-crafted and tense without going over the top at any time… The story rolls along quickly and doesn’t have any slow spots or info dumps that can plague near-future SF quite often.  The concepts of science are woven into the narrative and serve to convey the “differentness” of the future, without taking over the plot.  I thoroughly recommend this book.  You will not be disappointed.” -Brian Proctor

“A steamy sex scene, a kidnapping and the start of an investigation into black mail, espionage and intrigue.  An interesting story of the not too distant future with autonomous autos, robots and the effect they will have on our society.  Quite different from Steven’s earlier stories but definitely an exciting criminal investigation story set in a realistic near future.  I thoroughly enjoyed the story.” –Bob Morrison

The book is also available from Amazon.co.uk

INDIETRIBE OPENS A BRAND NEW CHAT LOUNGE

You can now enjoy your visits to INDIETRIBE even more by popping into our new Chat Room. You will be able to chat with whoever is in there, or simply leave a message re your new book publication, free promotion, or anything else relating to Indie books.

When you visit the Chat Lounge for the first time, simply sign up free on the Chatroll logo at the bottom of the page, and thereafter you simply sign in and chat away.

I look forward to meeting you there.

THAT’S IT FOR OUR LATEST NEWS FLASH. DON’T FORGET TO KEEP SENDING IN YOUR NEWS