Travis Luedke's Blog, page 15

NEW Scifi/Fantasy/Paranormal Social Media Hub! #UrbanFantasy #Baddassary #ASMSG

CHECK OUT THE NEW Scifi/Fantasy/Paranormal SOCIAL MEDIA HUB!
https://www.rebelmouse.com/ASMSGhub2/
Find all your favorite ASMSG author/publishers in the SciFi, Fantasy, and Paranormal Genres HERE:

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THE NIGHTLIFE is now a Social Media Hub and Emagazine! #AwesomeSauce #HellYeah #ASMSG

The Nightlife Series goes Rebelmouse!  
https://www.rebelmouse.com/TravisLuedke
In my quest for bigger-better ways to waste time in social media and showcase my content, I ran across a phenomenal social media hub tool, rebelmouse.  Basically, you can feed in filtered content from twitter, facebook, blog RSS feeds, and have a constantly refreshed feed of content. 
And, check out the #AWESOMESAUCE Emagazine:

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FREE Advance Review Ebook >> FOREVER ... AND 365 DAYS by Ulrike #Inspirational #ASMSG

Grab it now while its FREE!
FOREVER ... AND 365 DAYS
by ULRIKE

Release Date: January 19th, 2014

Add it on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20497012-forever-and-365-days
A better life will naturally come your way, once you have mastered the art of right thinking. In her new inspirational book ULRIKE chronicles the thoughts and applications of a metaphysics teacher and author. She places great emphasis on making happiness your goal in life by applying scientific and practical methods. 
“My book shows the’ how and the why’ of application in simple steps and by examples. It includes stories of real people,” Ulrike says, “I want to make sure that you get a clear picture and realize your potential, which can be achieved through your own right and good thought.”
We have to reeducate and retrain ourselves to think and act correctly. It is a daily task. Minute by minute we must be aware of our actions and make certain that love is our motive in everything we do. Love is the motivating principle of all things and Love is the mother of our being. Let us return to this source of all bliss, let us enjoy our health, wealth and happiness - now and forever…and 365 days
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WANTED: Beta Readers for new PARANORMAL SERIAL ~ SNOW BLOOD #Paranormal #Amreading #ASMSG

Sign up now for a limited offer beta reading of a 6 part paranormal serial:
SNOW BLOOD


Join the dark world of Brogio, the first vampire!  What past secrets torture his present-day existence? How can his Kindred dog help him overcome the forces threatening to destroy him and all that he loves?  
When Brogio must turn Snow, a beautiful white husky, in order to save the dog, a series of events are unleashed that reveal a sinister plot against the father of all vampires. As life and true death experiences bond the two together, they unravel a conspiracy that when resolved may return Selene, the love of Brogio’s life, back to him and set him free from the lonely existence that has plagued him for thousands of years! 


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About the Author:
Carol McKibben writes from the heart of a dog’s eyes. Often telling her stories to Labradoodles, Basset Hounds and any stray that happened by, it wasn’t long before people stopped to have a listen! Now Carol writes for people and speaks to large audiences, dogs included.



Carol is a former magazine publisher and has worked as a freelance writer and editor since 2007. As well as editing other authors’ works to realize their dreams, she has completed a novel, Luke’s Tale, and published a memoir, Riding Through It.

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A writer asks if she should be worried about bullies? YES, sort of. #Trollssuck #ASMSG

This morning I was asked by a dear writer friend who is preparing to publish her first romance novel, "What do you think of this?"
She had given me a link she found on twitter, a write-up about  INTERNET BULLIES .
I am acutely aware of this problem, specifically bullies who troll books with 1 star ratings, troll social media with hateful comments, and use vicious shelvings and lists to spread hatred throughout Goodreads. Anyone who spends as much time in social media as I do will eventually encounter this problem (probably numerous times over). I had personal experience with a mess like this HERE , and again in a twitter blowout, where social media gurus were abusing a certain hashtag used for an author group I work with.

In my experience, there is never anything to be gained by engaging internet bullies. I tried, I vented, I unleashed that wicked part of me that I tap into for writing villains and horrific scenes of murder and mayhem. That monster belongs in my books, not in my social media.
Here's my practical advice, a policy for avoidance:
Yes there are bullies.  A fact of life.
Goodreads recently cracked down on this problem .
The key to authors avoiding this, is to grasp the intricate balance between author/reader relations.  Never, ever attack a reader for a negative/critical review. If the reviewer admits they did not read the book, then sometimes, Goodreads allows that review to be removed, or in the case of spoilers, hidden.  If the review has wicked/nasty shelvings, those shelves can also be removed.
This is something to address with GOODREADS or AMAZON, not with the reviewer, and not in comments on the actual review.
This negative energy vortex generally only hits authors who are crossing the fine line of etiquette with readers one too many times. I have never crossed that imaginary line, but, the negativity did hit me, from a competing author, and again from a group of social media gurus. I hit back with a wicked vengeance.
In hindsight, that was a foolish mistake.
Luckily I skated past without any real issues. No matter how much hatred is flowing from bullies, never let them get you out on social media with anger, it will quickly become an epic, deranged episode of Jerry Springer.
The thing about Goodreads, you cannot be spammy, you cannot enter that site with a needy-begging please-read-my-book-I-need-ratings kind of mindset.  And that goes for anywhere in social media.  
If you need ratings, reviews, there are gazillions of proper ways to seek those out from fans of your genre, and none of it involves begging or becoming a sycophant.
Authors who misbehave badly with reviewers and solicitations have created a situation in social media where bullies are empowered by these few bad examples.  You must take pains to never be that misbehaving author, or you will become the next example, the next target.
Authors are not angels, and neither are readers. They both get ugly and these things escalate into massive proportion blowouts that can ruin book ratings averages very quickly.
Example:   I know an author who has a certain set of conservative values, who came across a Facebook group of authors swapping book reviews. The rule in the group was no negative reviews. If you were to participate, it was for the purpose of bolstering the members with positive reviews. In some cases, some of these authors may not have even read the book they 5 starred.
Is that a horrible concept?  NO. Is it morally grey, potentially unethical?  YES.  
Goodreads allows readers to rate and shelve books however they like, as long as they don't resort to personal attacks on the author.  Amazon allows the same in reviews.  So, as long as its allowed for, it will continue, regardless of morality or ethics.
I follow a simple rule: I rarely review Indie work, but when I do, its always positive. If I have something negative to say about Indies, I don't say it publicly. I might go to them and say, hey, I think you could benefit from this and this. Usually I don't.  Chuck Wendig has a wonderful blog post about critical reviews of a fellow author, and I agree with him .
So, this author friend of mine gets all up in his righteous indignation about this heinous Facebook group doing 5 star reviews, and proceeds to blog about them, trying to inform the world of this unthinkable immorality (which goes on 24/7, with or without Facebook groups to organize it).  
Guess what?  This author soon found himself the target of bully attacks and one-star ratings on his books.  Surprised? Nope.
Common sense rules the day.
Don't engage negatively in social media. Don't engage negatively regarding reviews and ratings.  Don't use social media to 'call someone out.'

Now, on occasion, you might see me being an obnoxious bastard in social media. 


That's just me being me, projecting the tone of my obnoxious, perverse fiction novels, along with my own brand of snark.  I have embraced who I am, and its very liberating.   But, I draw the line at personal attacks.
So, next time someone spews reeking hatred all over one of your books, pull up Charlaine Harris's latest novel, or Laurell K. Hamilton's latest novel, and see how much hatred is spilled across those books.  While you're at it, see if you can find the fans who love those authors regardless of such a heavy, vocal, presence of negativity.
Internet bullies hit hardest in our insecurities. We perceive them as far more dangerous than they truly are.
Stop worrying about bullies and write.  Write with all the passion you can muster.  Write books that make you laugh and cry.  Write sex scenes that make it uncomfortable to sit in your chair any longer.  Write violence like you're eviscerating that bully who left you a 1 star rating. 
Write great books.  
Keep writing great books, and rise above the pettiness bullies would like to see you mired in.



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The Wrong Way to Promote Your Book on Twitter (REBLOG) #Spam #ASMSG

Because my own experiences as an author on twitter have been so very similar, I felt the need to reblog this insightful and entertaining blurb from Robert Bevan.REBLOGGED:http://www.deadpixelpublications.com/1/post/2013/12/the-wrong-way-to-promote-your-book-on-twitter.htmlBefore I get into this, I should make it known that I hate Twitter. I hate that it’s called Twitter. I hate that I have to refer to my posts on Twitter as “tweets”. I hate the character limit. I hate whole ‘race-to-get-more-followers-even-if-you-have-to-pay-for-fake-ones’ Twitter culture. I’d probably even hate most of the people I follow if I ever bothered to read what they write. Fortunately, I don’t. Twitter, at least for me, is the Diet Coke to Facebook’s having-sex-with-an-adventurous-gymnast. I’m not so good with analogies.
"What are these 'ogies' you speak of?"So if I hate it so much, why am I on there every day? Well I’ll tell you. For all of the horrible continuous shitstorm that Twitter is, it’s also a fantastic means of getting your work noticed… if you’re willing to put in the effort.You can find advice on how to use Twitter effectively all over the internet, and most of it will involve tips like “Be interesting and engaging”, “Don’t just spam your ads”, “Seek followers in your target audience rather than other authors”, and “Don’t be annoying”. I tried it that way in the beginning, and then one day I said “Fuck all that,” and developed the strategy I currently use.

On my journey as a self-published author, I’ve found that creatively breaking the rules of established conventional wisdom is often more effective than following them. You can see this in my amateurish book cover designs, my blurbs, and perhaps most in my decision to self-publish in the first place, rather than follow the age-old tradition of querying literary agents and publishers.

Let’s have a look at the conventional wisdom of Twitter usage, and discuss why I choose to give it two big middle fingers.

1, Be interesting and engaging. Who has time for that shit? I’m a self-published author. I know the path to success lies in writing more books. Every minute I waste trying to translate a coherent thought into text-message-ese is a minute that would be better-spent writing my next book.

So if I’m not there to be interesting or engaging, what do I post? That leads me to my next bit of anti-wisdom…

2, Don’t just spam your ads. I absolutely just spam my ads. That is 100% of what I do on Twitter. Well… that and spam other people’s ads. What’s that? Then why the hell does anyone follow me on Twitter? Segue Time!
"Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"3, Seek followers in your target audience rather than other authors. Why does anyone follow anyone on Twitter? One reason is that people like to follow celebrities, find out their opinions on politics or what they had for lunch or some such bullshit. That’s certainly not why people follow me. Another reason is that some people are just Twitter whores who want a bunch of followers. I’d guess that’s why a certain amount of people follow me, because I generally follow back (and unfollow those who unfollow me). But the primary reason people follow me is because I have something to offer them. These are the people who, just like me, are on Twitter to sell their shit. They retweet my book ads, and I retweet theirs.

I know what you’re thinking. “What’s the point? Other indie authors don’t want to buy your books. You’re just spamming each other. It’s just a huge circle jerk.” And you’re right. The people who follow me are not my target audience at all. Neither are most of the people who follow them, because we’re all pretty much just following each other. But “most” is the operative word there. For every person with tens of thousands of who retweets one of my tweets (my soul dies just a little bit more every time I say that word), I might reach a few hundred new potential readers. My followers, the whores and spammers, know this, which is why they continue to suffer through my bullshit, and spam it out to their own followers.

Am I making Twitter a worse place by doing this? Probably, but in my mind that’s the equivalent making dog shit less tasty.
There's literally nothing you can't find on the internet.4, Don’t be annoying. Too late, bucko. If you’re on Twitter, you’re annoying. This is why my follower count continuously goes up, in spite of me tweeting the same thirty-something book ads over and over again every day. Sure, I lose followers every day as well. As funny and entertaining as my ads may be, they get old after the forty-seventh time you read them, and so some people finally decide they’ve had enough of me and drop me. But by that time, they’ve already either bought my books or decided they weren’t interested. My work with them is done. I simply unfollow them right back and get back to my spamming.

“So, Bob,” you say. “You’ve explained why you constantly act like a giant spammy douchebag on Twitter. Thanks for that. But in a moment of hollow shame, I too spammed my book ads, and they neither sold any books, nor gained me any followers. What am I doing wrong?”

There could be a number of things.

Maybe you write shitty books. Please don’t take that personally. I don’t know you or your books, but there are a lot of shitty ones out there. Maybe they have shitty covers. I mentioned above that my books have amateurish covers, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t put any thought into them. I like to think they have a sort of rough charm that appeals to my target audience.

Maybe you write shitty tweets. Twitter is not a subtle man’s game. Each person following you is constantly getting bombarded with hundreds (or even thousands) of tweets per minute, depending on how many people they follow. “Please check out my book. (title)(link)” just isn’t going to cut it. You need to stand out. Be bold.
Be funny.
Be borderline offensive.
People will draw their borderlines at different places.Before I leave you, I'd like to share some tips on how to get the most out of your Twitter relationship with me. Some of you might be wondering why I don't retweet you. Here are a few possible reasons...

1. You don't retweet me. Maybe you mention me. Maybe you say nice things and even share a link to my books. Maybe you even copy and paste one of my tweets into your own tweet (By the way, why the fuck do you do that?). But if it's not a retweet, I'm going to ignore it.

2. You make your own tweets nigh-impossible to find. As I mentioned before, I don't like Twitter. I want to spend as little time there as possible. I want to be in and out in twenty minutes. I'm not going to spend ten minutes scrolling down your Twitter feed searching for something you'd like to have retweeted. If I don't find anything in the first ten seconds of scrolling, I'm probably going to skip you. Do yourself a favor. Whatever message you want the world to see, post that shit on top.

3. You're a spammer.


Yeah, I know. We're all spammers. I'm talking about Twitter meta-spam. When you tweet those ads for products that auto-tweet your crap for you, or keep track of your followers, or whatever. If I see the words "Contributed tweets for @SomeStupidAsshole are delivered by @SpamGeneratorShitheads", you get skipped.

4. You don't follow me. My Twitter family has grown to the point that I can't retweet everyone who retweets me anymore. So while I can't blame you for not wanting to watch my endless stream of recycled spam, and I do appreciate your retweets, I give priority to those who are following me.


So there we have it. I've shared with you the secrets of how we can make Twitter an even more miserable place together, and maybe sell some books. Will my strategy work for you? Who knows? Give it a try. The nice thing about Twitter is that none of your followers really give a shit about you or what you have to say. So even if this doesn't work for you, nobody will even remember it twenty seconds later.

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Why Is Sci-Fi Sexy? (REBLOG) #Smexy #SciFi #AlienSex #ASMSG

Why Is Sci-Fi Sexy? 
(REBLOGGED from Patricia A. Knight ~ imagery and captions added by ME)
http://www.patriciaaknight.com/1/post/2013/08/why-is-sci-fi-sexy.html

If you still don't know why Sci-Fi is sexy, then read on....


The $64,000 Question: Why Is Sci-Fi Sexy?
In the time-honored tradition of storytelling, I will try to illustrate with words why Sci-Fi is sexy. Here are a couple of paragraphs that came hot off the keyboard. 
Gives new meaning to domo arigato Mr. Roboto
Clear your mind. Settle into your chair and relax. Now imagine this:
I, Darla Marie Dexter, object of alien fixation and thus representative for the entire human race, sat alone in my neighborhood Chicago bar – the one with the too-loud music and the tacky plastic tablecloths that my ex used to disparage. But I was waiting for a male from the planet Vortus. What would he know from plastic tablecloths? 
It was late, but the joint was packed. A good local band had played tonight. I chatted with Max, the bartender, and sipped my girly mixer with the pineapple on a stick and a cheesy little umbrella. I was always too embarrassed to order one in front of my sophisticated former boyfriend but I was a sucker for anything coconut. 
Max’s head lifted and his eyes shot to the door to draw my attention to the new arrival. I would have known, regardless. I felt it when he walked in. Because of my seniority with the Office of Extra-terrestrial Assistance, I’d been assigned as personal, cultural liaison to the Vortian. You know, prevent any social faux pas, educate the alien on how Earth inhabitants behave, that sorta stuff. I just didn’t realize how intimately he wanted to liaise. I hoisted my cocktail and tried not to stab my eye out with the umbrella as I gulped the entire contents.
“It’s the Vortian, Darla. Back to work. Make us proud.” 
“Yeah, Max. I know.” 
I ran shaky fingers through my page-boy hair cut. First putting my brunette locks behind my ears, then pulling the hair back to cover the blush that heated my cheeks. 
I did know. I could feel the Vortian’s arousal. I could feel the blood pounding into his groin. I could feel the expansion of his male, ah, parts . . . yeah, you heard right, parts. See, that was the thing. I didn’t imagine I felt it. I really felt it. That mind telepathy stuff made the male delegates from Vortus a real hit with us earth ladies. Well, that and the extras that wrapped around and tickled your, ahem, while they, ah, stroked inside with the other, ah, thing. I picked up my bar coaster and started to fan my face.



And then I was looking at me through his eyes. I could see my slender body perched on the barstool, my miniskirt barely decent, my four-inch stilettos caught on the wrung of the stool. I inhabited his body – a body that was, whoa, gorgeous, and equipped with that little something, ah, extra. And all the time there were these erotic images of what he wanted to do to me rolling through my mind like classy porn – memories of what I had looked like coming apart underneath him the last time he’d done me. Holy multiple orgasms! Take me to your leader. 
I shoved the empty fruit-drink toward Max. 
“Maxie, I need some ice water, fast.” 
The closer he came, the hotter I got. The bar stool I was sitting on was getting a little slippery from all the extra moisture down there, if you know what I mean. I knew, without even turning around, when he reached out to touch me. I could see it through his eyes.
“Darla.” The deep whisky velvet of his voice added to the sensory overload and I turned with a brilliant smile.
“Ulrik.”
“Are you ready?”
“Absolutely.” Oh, lordy, the things a woman will do to save Earth.
Would you follow Captain Kirk's orders to save Earth?
There! Now, dear reader, you are going off to have sex with a telepathic alien with vibrating parts. Can you get THAT on earth? (If you can, will you please give me his number?)
 ~ ~ ~
I hope you all enjoy Patricia Knight's futuristic, smoking hot novels! (I certainly have)
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FRIGHT NIGHT 2 ~ An honest review #Smexy #Vampires #Horror #Thriller #Nov #ASMSG

 
The Blurb: By day Gerri Dandridge is a sexy professor, but by night she transforms into a real-life vampire with an unquenchable thirst for human blood. So when a group of high school students travel abroad to study in Romania, they find themselves ensnared in Gerri's chilling web of lust and terror. Charley and "Evil" Ed must stop Gerri from drinking and bathing in the blood of a "new moon virgin," which just so happens to be Charley's ex-girlfriend, Amy. They enlist help from Peter Vincent, the vampire hunting host of a reality show called "Fright Night," to drive a stake through Gerri's plan and save Amy from a fate far worse than death.
The Review:
Was it horrific?   Kinda.
Was it sexy?   Not like I wished.
Was it intense?  Mostly.
Was it a decent vampire film?    Kinda.

I admit, I never saw the latest 2011 remake, Fright Night, with Colin Farrell.  So, my evaluation of Fright Night 2 is totally independent of any other versions of this movie, even though I vaguely recall the old Fright Night films from the late 80's.
Was it worth watching as a DVD rental? YES. The movie was made for DVD, never even hit the theaters.
Straight up:
I wish I could read this novel. But there is no novel. Somebody needs to take the script and adapt it to a novel, which could be so much better than the film. Better dialogue, better exposition, better everything.
So, I want a novel that has never been published.
Sorry, I'm a vampire fiction junky.  
This movie should have been better in so many ways, but, before I go there, I am going to talk about what Fright Night 2 did right:
1)  Sex APPEAL 
This film had SHIT-TONS of sex appeal: a butt naked girl hanging upside down to drain her blood into a tub.  Very Inspiring.  We get a couple of almost lesbian vampire scenes (could have been way better--barely scraped the tip of that iceberg).  Then there's the smoking hot Gerri Dandridge played by Jaime Murray, a.k.a. Elisabeth Bathory, the embodiment of what every female vampire should be.  

Gerri got everything right.   She is the only reason to watch the movie.


2)  Teen Angst
Plenty of teen angst.  Probably more than I wanted, but it was the prerequisite stuff. You gotta have a college kid pining over his girlfriend.  Its a written law somewhere in vampire films.


3)  Interesting and unique facets of the vampire mythos:
This film was chocked full of Romanian vampire history.  I LOVED THAT.  I am a total vampire history junky.  This movie did FULL justice to vampire mythos of old.  Even if it was based on early versions of the myths surrounding Elisabeth Bathory who literally bathed in the blood of virgins. Yep, that shit really happened. Not much of a stretch to build a vampire story out of that. And we get plenty of the wonderful naked Gerri bathing-in-blood scenes.
▼Even if you hate the movie, you must watch it for these scenes▼
Now, the bad stuff:
>>>Uninspired and somewhat ridiculous dialogue is peppered throughout the whole movie. I have seen better dialogue on Power Rangers.
>>>Action scenes were seriously lacking. In a vampire film, I expect matrixy, underworldish, blade style action.  Effing Twilight (the first movie) had better action that this.  The film really really needed some Asian guy to come in and beef up the action choreography.  It was shitty.
>>>There was no real 'fright' or scare moment. This isn't really horror. Its simply a nod to vampire fans, that's it. You can see an attempt is made to scare you, and my three year old would probably get scared, if I let him watch (not happening), but no one over the age of five would call this a 'scary movie.'
>>>The lame attempts at comedy fell flat.  Even if its not scary, and the dialogue sucks, and the action scenes look like they were filmed by high school kids doing a project, I still expect to have at least one laugh-out-loud moment.  Not.
So, really, the only reason to see this movie is Gerri :
 
Gerri – Elisabeth Bathory – carries the film, limping along, and makes it all worthwhile.  Somebody give this woman a medal for salvaging an underbudgeted, cheesy vampire flick.
And here's one more, because the cover art is so phenomenal, much better than the film:



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Book Signing in Santa Barbara California with @johnjdalyjr #KeyClass #Jobs #Nov #ASMSG

Join John J. Daly Jr. at a live Book Signing in Santa Barbara California!
6 p.m. The Granada Bookstore

Obtaining the key to success in any area of life...
...depends on social ETIQUETTE skills.


THE KEY CLASS  
 Add it on Goodreads HER E
It doesn’t matter who you are, what you do, or where you want to go, if you don’t have the proper social etiquette the doors to success will not easily open for you. Our society is based on social interactions, from obtaining our first job to landing large promotions, starting our own business, traveling in foreign countries, enrolling in universities, or speaking about causes and experiences closest to us.
Social etiquette is at the heart of success.
Social etiquette is a universal language that knows no boundaries.
˃˃˃ Those who master social etiquette feel comfortable, confident, and able to communicate effectively in any social situation.

THE KEY CLASS is your go-to-guide for mastering social and business etiquette. Taught by world-renowned special event producer John Daly, The Key Class presents a rare and unique program custom tailored to fit the needs of any organization, school, corporation, or individual. Although the keys to social and business etiquette are universal, there is no one-size-fits-all route to achieving personal success.
The Key Class works with you to meet your own individual goals.
˃˃˃ Through Partners in Education, The Key Class is currently being taught in the majority of high schools in the Santa Barbara, California School System.

Whether you are an educator seeking a valuable social skills resource for your students, a professional student needing that extra edge in job searching, a foreigner who needs to know American etiquette, a returning veteran, or a director of a non-profit or corporation looking for ways to increase employee value within your organization, The Key Class has the unique trajectory to help you reach those goals.
˃˃˃ WHAT DO I GET FROM THE KEY CLASS?

The purpose of The Key Class is to teach the tools of successful social and business skills for anyone, especially youth, who wants to succeed in life. In both personal and professional situations, every society has traditions in place that determine the way people are judged by the people they meet. Understanding these guidelines in society can make or break a person in social and business circles.

The Key Class teaches students how to get along with others, behave properly and treat others respectfully in the workplace or in social situations.

Along with being informative, The Key Class is user-friendly and fun! The use of high-energy interactive teaching methods increases student participation and enhances the learning environment. A series of four classes provides lecture, interactivity and role-playing to give students the knowledge to enter worlds that might not otherwise be achievable without it.
The course covers a variety of techniques, including: communications technology modifications, involving cell phones, email and social media handling applications; research; securing appointments; phone etiquette; proper introductions; positive body language; conversing; following up after an interview; creating an effective resume; what to wear and what etiquette to use for interviews that take place over a meal; financial literacy. Participants will leave with a complete understanding of the necessary skills to succeed in both their work and life environments and the tools for a successful job search and/or college entrance.
Take a class from the Key Class and get job winning interview skills now! AMAZON US AMAZON UK Add to your 'want to read' list HERE

Find John Daly:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7206173.John_J_Daly_Jr_
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http://www.thekeyclass.com/

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Delving into the Nine Circles: LEONARDO RAMIREZ #YA #Fantasy #Paranormal #Nov #ASMSG

It’s a fall evening and the sun whispers goodbye as it gently descends over the horizon. But the day has been too short for you so you decide to go for a walk with nature. But then you realize that you’ve wandered far from home. . . . very far. So far that you’ve come across a dark forest and you ask yourself if you really want to go in there. Despite the fading of sunlight your curiosity gets the best of you. After all, you’re not far from the gravel road, right? You go in and hear the crunch of leaves beneath your feet. The chill in the air caresses the back of your neck and begs to turn back. Suddenly, you notice an old wooden sign that is nailed to a tree.
ABANDON ALL HOPE, YOU WHO ENTER HERE
You’ve heard stories of this place before. It’s not where you want to be. You try to move your feet but you can’t. You start to shake and break into a cold sweat when all of a sudden. . .
. . . you wake up.
It was all a dream. It’s not real.
But what if it was? How would you escape the nine circles of hell?


This is the premise (at least, in part) for the new novel by author, Leonardo Ramirez titled, Haven of Dante: The Staff of Moshe. In the work, the nine circles have become incensed at the audacity of Alighieri’s emergence from their realm and after a lengthy war they’ve come together to inflict pain on mankind. Calling themselves “The Aristocracy” they are responsible for every evil that has plagued man.
Here’s the synopsis:
Haven Irena Dante, seventeen, struggles with a dysfunctional family.  Her workaholic father is never there, but his absence is filled by a loving mother harboring the secret and mysterious past of their family.  The Dantes are inheritors of a centuries old legacy stretching back to Dante Alighieri himself.  They fight to contain the nine circles of hell described in the classic literature "Dante's Inferno."
Today, the nine circles have infiltrated the world at every level, operating as a secret society known as "The Aristocracy."  The only thing stopping The Aristocracy from world domination is the Dante family line.
Now its Haven's turn to carry that torch.
Combining literary fiction with fantasy, this action-packed young adult adventure races through dimensions of paranormal, science fiction and the supernatural. 
Why did you write this book?
I wondered what someone would do if they were at the point of death and they were given the choice to remain in a suffering world where all they had experienced was heartache and pain or go into paradise. The catch would be to return to this world knowing that there was a chance they could fix their relationship with a loved one. This is where the idea stemmed from and led into the inclusion of Dante Alighieri’s cantos which represent the ills of mankind and our struggle to overcome them. Our protagonist needed to have more than enough reason not to return so we also included a violation. This was not done gratuitously. My wife had suffered the same experience and today she is alive and well. I wanted others to have gone through this horror to have the same chance and be an encouragement to them. Aside from this I wanted to delve into some of the things that we fear the most fully knowing that there is always a reason (more specifically, a hurt) behind them. I think that sometimes we allow a hurt to become a fear and then the fear becomes a part of us. Some could argue that it makes us human and I would not disagree. But at the same time we reach a point of decision when we are exposed to the meaning behind the fear or the hurt. And that can manifest itself in any of the areas explored in the nine circles.

To keep it interesting, I’ve given the leader of each circle a character who in turn, become hybrids.
In the interest of keeping the spoilers to an absolute minimum, I’ve deleted some of the biographies of the hybrids.
Circle One – Those in limbo led by Lord Limbus. This demon transports humans into the nine circles. According to the code of the Aristocracy, no human can be transported out of the realm of the nine circles except of their own volition.
Circle Two – The lustful led by Lord Hedonis.
Circle Three – The gluttonous led by Lord Voratum. This is a gluttonous demon that possesses Chuck Flegman, an outcast in Haven’s high school.
Circle Four – The hoarders led by Lord Hordran.
Circle Five – The wrathful led by Lord Vengus.
Circle Six – The heretics led by Lord Retic.
Circle Seven – The violent led by Lord Ravage. This demon is a mindless savage beast bent on the destruction of the Dante family line and all human life. The more he kills the stronger he gets.
Circle Eight – The sorcerers led by Lord Lock.
Circle Nine – The traitors led by Lord Traiton.
What are you working on at the minute? Right now I’m writing the 2nd book in a Children’s Steampunk series titled, The Jupiter Chronicles: The Ice Orphan of Ganymede. It’s geared towards struggling readers in the 2nd grade and on up. 

What’s it about? The series focuses on two kids (Ian and Callie Castillo) who have just discovered their missing father had been the ruler of the steam-powered world of Jupiter. It also explains how steam technology arrived on Earth and forever changed our world.
What is the one message that you want readers to hear coming from this book?
The one resounding message that I want folks to (hopefully) get is that no matter how bad the cards that have been dealt to you are, you can still make good choices. You might stumble along the way. You might fall. You might be angry and hate for a little while. But after you’ve allowed yourself to experience those feelings you can still make constructive choices for your life. The road to heaven sometimes goes right through hell.
There is a violation on the main character that occurs in the story but this is not done gratuitously.  My hope is that the book will be an entertaining source of encouragement in its message that you can make some good choices despite the cards that have been dealt to you.
So with all of that said, how would you escape the nine circles?
Author Bio
Leonardo Ramirez is a husband, a father, a Karate instructor with a 3rd degree black belt, and a writer. His first graphic novel, Haven, is a supernatural Young Adult story centered on an ancient war between the Dante family and the nine circles of hell. His follow up is a self-published children’s Steampunk book called The Jupiter Chronicles: The Secret of the Great Red Spot. It follows the adventure of two children as they are transported to the steam-powered cities of Jupiter, find their long-lost father, stop an attack from Mars, and witness the birth of Steampunk.

“My heart and motive have always been for people who are hurting. These can be kids who have had to suffer through child abuse or neglect or an absent parent which can be equally torturous as was the case in The Jupiter Chronicles. It can also be young girls who have suffered an assault like Haven did in Haven of Dante. Young or old it doesn’t matter. Those are the kids and adults I want to speak to because I’ve been there.”

It’s not just Science Fiction.

It’s Science Fiction for the Human Condition.

Social Media Links
Website: http://twitter.com/leonardoverse Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/leonardoverse Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/leonardoverse Goodreads: http://goodreads.com/leonardoverse
Where we can find your books
Jupiter Chronicles: HERE Haven of Dante: HERE

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