Malcolm R. Campbell's Blog, page 259

Everybody's talking

When a writer approaches the Internet with the hope of attracting people's attention to his books, it appears that everybody's talking.

To what end, I often wonder. There are times when many writers feel like they're lost in a wilderness of chatter where the noise of all that talking drowns out every individual voice.

I read a great post this morning by a blogger whose name and URL I forgot to note, and he said that when we step into the social networking arena, it's easy to forget who we are a...

Operation E-Book Drop

I'm happy to announce that my comedic/thriller novel "Jock Stewart and the Missing Sea of Fire" will be available to service men and women of our Coalition Forces via Smashwords operation e-book drop. Smashwords offers our books via multiple formats.

My novel is available on Smashwords, including e-book drop, via my publisher Vanilla Heart. For more information about e-book drop, click here.

This is a great idea, and I'm happy to be among Vanilla Heart Publishing's participating authors.

Malcolm

This, That, and Then Some

This morning, I worked on my short comedy entry for the annual Mona Schreiber Prize competition. The deadline is December 1, so you still have time to write a 750 word (or less) comedic story, essay or article. The contest requires a $5 entry fee, but the prizes are great.

I very much enjoyed Smoky Trudeau's novel "Redeeming Grace" and posted a review of it on my Writer's Notebook blog. With that post, I tried out the free Ping-O-Matic service that pings search engines when you update your blo...

I like announcements even if they're small

I drove up I-85 to Commerce, Georgia, a town I remember from my childhood because it sits on highway 441, a road we took from Florida to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and placed some copies of "Jock Stewart and the Missing Sea of Fire" at the Bookstand of North East Georgia there on consignment. The store has a local author's shelf. I know most of the people there and it's great to be included. The store has been open a year and a half and appears to be doing well, focusing primari...

Do you avoid using Tom Swifties in your work?

The "Tom Swift" novels published between 1950 and 1993 often linked an adverb to word "said" in dialogue that created a pun with what was being said, as in:

"Pass me the shellfish," Tom said crabbily.

Or, without the adverb and avoiding the word "said":

"I might as well be dead," Tom croaked.

Every once in a while, somebody brings these up and a fad sweeps the country and everyone starts using these horrible things. Most of the people who try them out have never read the books, nor have any idea...

Gangsters on Monday

Join author Pat Bertram and I on Malcolm's Round Table today for a discussion of gangsters and gangster research in her new novel "Daughter Am I."

This is a well-written thriller with a lot of humor in it about a young woman who learns that her supposedly long-dead grand parents have just been murdered and she is the only heir in their will. And, quite possibly the next target.

It was a pleasure to stop by Visual Arts Junction as today's guest author to talk about writing influences and my late...

Sunday's Stuff

Congratulations to Vanilla Heart Publishing's Pushcart Prize nominees:

Robert Hays; The Life and Death of Lizzie Morris
Chelle Cordero; Final Sin
Victoria Howard; Three Weeks Last Spring
Collin Kelley; Conquering Venus
Kate Evans; Complementary Colors
Vila SpiderHawk; Forest Song: Little Mother

I spent most of Saturday reading a wonderful new mystery by Deborah J. Ledford called "Staccato." I posted my five-star review of the novel on Amazon, Goodreads, and my Malcolm's Round Table blog. Thanks to ...

Musing without my muse

My muse went out and got drunk today, so I'm on my own recognizance. It's nice to be free of the chattering book ideas for a while.

In a comment on my Malcolm's Round Table blog a few days ago, critic Janice Harayda wondered what nature writer I thought deserved a Nobel prize. Can you guess what woman I picked? Check out "A Note to the Nobel committee."

On October 19th and 20th, author Pat Bertram and I will be discussing quests, gangsters and her new novel "Daughter Am I." It's a wonderful nov...

Balloons, Books and Idle Thoughts

My wife and I enjoyed our Columbus Day weekend trip to Indianapolis to see my daughter and her husband and my grand daughter, Freya. She's 18 months old. It was fun seeing how much Freya had grown since last fall's visit. While in Indy, we saw the King Tut exhibit at the children's museum, went to a large play ground, visited the nearby Connor Prairie living history museum, and enjoyed a downtown tour that included a stop at the zoo. Connor Prairie has a helium balloon exhibit in which one ca...

Wednesday's Wonderings

I wonder why there's a bookseller in the new and used category on Amazon selling "Jock Stewart and the Missing Sea of Fire" for $899. If it sells, I want to talk to those people about their marketing methods.

I wonder how long it will take the authors published by Kunati to find new publishers for their books now that Kunati is closing down. I feel bad for the authors having to go back to square one with their novels.

I wonder if the books (destined for last Sunday's West Hollywood Book Fair) b...