Daniel Wetta's Blog, page 16
August 28, 2013
Prologue to Corvette Nightfire Revealed!
The title of the new novel, Corvette Nightfire, comes from the name of one of the main characters in the novel. The title also expresses the mood and energy of the story. It is a sequel to The Z Redemption, so I wanted the Prologue to bridge the two novels. It starts with revealing a little of the psyche of David James, the romantic and damaged hero of The Z Redemption, as he follows his destiny out of Mexico and into the fires of the future in the United States. The expected publication date of Corvette Nightfire is late December, 2013.
Prologue to Corvette Nightfire
David Winston James
Just Outside San Antonio, Texas
He burned spit inside him, spit and gastric juices: the waste products of intended rage. This time, he pushed the Corvette past his usual comfortable cruising speed of one-five-zero. It was a walk in the park for the Corvette. For David, it was a bullet ride over the familiar and desolate, arrow-straight highway fleeing the city limits of San Antonio. The Texas troopers left him alone when he did these midnight runs to burn off the English inside him. They knew that David fought the bad guys from Mexico and the United States and that he did it with the Zs in very creative ways. They knew he had close friends in high places, like the President of the United States, and that his woman was a beautiful Mexican celebrity of causes praised throughout the world. The troopers admired him and gave him the pass to burn the fuel of his Corvette and the sludgy garbage of his dark, previous life. Very few people knew the details of his early years. The rumor was that to know was to die.
David felt the English inside him from the years he lived in Virginia, when he worked out of Camp Peary, a CIA post. He had lived with his wife and two daughters in Williamsburg, once the English capital of Colonial Virginia. The town had been restored to look as it had in the eighteenth century. His name was English. He descended from people who arrived at nearby Jamestown in the 1600s, where slaves from Africa were brought to support the tobacco and cotton economy that later sustained the South. David felt his fair skin underneath the tan that accumulated from years spent in Latin America. He knew that his skin was as white as a ghost. In his bones he sometimes felt the depressing rainy winters of England. They chilled him and threatened to make his life morose. This was why he heated his soul and body working in the climates of Colombia and Mexico, and why he gave himself to the hot passions of the Latin people. La música latina and the songs of his lover’s body underneath him were the self-prescribed drugs for the chronic heaviness of his moods. He never meant to disparage English people, but in his mind the English DNA in his body was toxic to him. When he felt like he was dripping English, he had to race. He purged his craziness by going for the speed of light. He knew that none of this was logical. He had found out that life did not have to be logical. It only had to have purpose.
He owned one of the earliest seventh-generation Corvettes. Red. Rojo. No one could see its color when it took its midnight paces. To the troopers, the Corvette missile streaking past them was a sound and a light trail. A new recruit had gone after David once, and when David was done, he had pulled over to accept his ticket. But something in David’s eyes, some purity of insight, impressed the young trooper that David was a man of unfathomable commitment to secret crusades for good. He let David off with an admonishment to “be careful out there.” He did not understand why he did it, but he felt justified in his heart for having done it. He told other troopers about this, and the troopers nodded their understanding.
This night, David had the rage that would not be exhausted until he hurled the Corvette to its top speed. He always bonded with his Corvettes. This new one needed to understand his tentative sanity. If they both pushed to the limits of their possibilities, then there would be trust between man and machine. David saw 186. He started a deep-throated growl that accelerated into a howl at the moon above him in the Texas flatlands. He intensified his wail. He saw 196. He bayed until he almost slumped from lack of breath. The inhale that followed whistled violently, convulsing his chest. His eyes spit tears. He had seen 202. He knew he was going to win.
The cartels had taken the money. Almost all of it. They had killed people to do it. They had not come to kill him or his woman. Instead, they had aimed their AK-47s at the foundation of the Zs in order to deprive them of their dreams and hopes.
Now David was coming for them. The cartels had made it personal again. With the cartels, it was always personal. He would point his howling Corvette in the direction of Las Vegas. He had found them there, and they were going to see his eyes.
August 26, 2013
The Z Redemption Now For Sale on Smashwords!
Now The Z Redemption can be purchased on Smashwords for viewing on all electronic devices including the Barnes and Noble Nook, the Apple iPad, the Amazon Kindle, and many others! For more information, click here: http://danielwetta.com/purchase-the-novel/
Read my Author Interview on Smashwords by clicking this link: https://www.smashwords.com/interview/danielwetta
Coming soon: the ability to purchase this and future novels directly in the Barnes & Noble, Apple, Sony, Kobo, and Amazon stores, and on this website! Yes, there will be paperbacks available for those who love the paper editions, hopefully before year’s end!
August 23, 2013
Review of Temptation by Denise Greenwood
Rating: 5 Stars of 5
I had a dilemma. I had written two book reviews before in my new role as a book reviewer, and both were five star reviews. If I were to read Denise Greenwood’s novel, Temptation, and liked it very well, could I possibly give another five star review? Would I be marking myself as a “five star reviewer?” In truth, I believed before I began to read Ms. Greenwood’s novel that this was not going to be my British cup of tea.
The plot accounts for what would seem to be ordinary lives in a small English village where not much of consequence happens on a daily basis. The cast of characters within the story inhabits a small church and a little restaurant/pub named “Cherries” that is well managed by Jarvis, a very capable entrepreneur who builds a business steadily according to his five year plan. The reader meets and becomes acquainted with a couple waitresses, a town boy or two, three chefs, a young minister not very liked by his ancient and horrible congregation, and some peripheral characters who serve as plot movers. Some of the characters at first seem to have very practical goals, while others seem to be adrift in life. As I began to read this story, I worried that it had all the ingredients of a big yawn.
I did not have to worry. For one thing, Ms. Greenwood has an extraordinary talent for bringing the hues of ordinary lives into living color, vibrant against the greyness of the drab village life. She does this with the artistry of a jeweler who polishes a dull stone into a jewel of great price. She writes with an incredible gift for observing the details of daily life. Her descriptions of the village environment and its geography draw the reader into a world richer in observations than he or she has in the world outside this novel. It was easy to spot the author’s passions. One is definitely cooking. Several times I had to “google” dishes that she described and even some herbs. Cherries is a bar. I am only a beer drinker, but her descriptions of wines and drinks have given me a desire to move a little past the hops that pass through my ordinary palate.
What this novel does is to draw you in by the descriptions, the hearts of the characters, and what the author describes as her dark humor. I found her humor to be delightful, not dark in the sense of disturbing. Through the writing in her novel, the author challenges staid, old conceptions of life held by people in towns small and large. She hates prejudices and stupid views of religion and relishes shaking up a fixed belief or two.
What I found is that there is a plot skillfully managed. I was charmed into its slow pace by the richness of the descriptions and characterizations. Certainly by the second half of the novel, I found myself wondering what was going to happen next. Best of all, I came to care about the characters and wanted things to work out for them. I had become totally engrossed and happy that, because I was so busy in life, I was enjoying a novel taking me a while to finish. It became the pleasant alone time that I looked forward to each day.
Like all novels, it is not perfect. The things I did not like are very nitpicking. To me, the author uses too much passive voice. I would like to see a little more dialog. That pretty much summarizes my negative literary criticism, and those are simply my preferences of style.
The novel’s plot has a couple shockers. The story ends in a very satisfying way. It is a neat ending, but not overly tidy. I think the ending is nearly perfect in terms of what would probably happen in this little village given the circumstances of the plot.
I would definitely describe the genre of this novel as literary fiction, and I recommend it for people who enjoy the richness of description, characterization, and conflict of human emotion. As a reader I quickly came to trust the author in the handling of her story and characters. Ms. Greenwood set the pace masterfully. It was her pace, and it was the right one. Go for a little Temptation, and prepare to become engrossed!
Website for more information: http://www.denise-greenwood.com/
August 21, 2013
Parkour: Z Training
They Can Fly! Believe!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NX7QN...
Read and believe:
http://www.danielwetta.com
Parkour: Z Training
They Can Fly! Believe!
August 20, 2013
Are Northern Triangle Countries ‘Narco-States’? – InSight Crime | Organized Crime in the Americas
The Building of the Narco-Continent: Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Mexico, The United States
Are Northern Triangle Countries ‘Narco-States’? – InSight Crime | Organized Crime in the Americas.
August 18, 2013
The Z Redemption Makes the Top Ten List on Indie Author Land!
The Z Redemption is Number 6 on the Top Ten List of Indie Author Land this week!
August 12, 2013
My Interview on Indie Author Land
Author Interview of Daniel Wetta by Indie Author Land
Here is my interview on Indie Author Land, a great website for discovering new books and authors! http://www.indieauthorland.com/archives/4545
August 5, 2013
Honoring the Heroes of Monterrey!
In conjunction with the free promotion today for my novel on Amazon, I dedicate this song to the great people of Monterrey, Mexico, who live happy, loving lives while public safety is shaky. A great dancing song to set you in motion! It says, “The people want to sing! The people want to laugh! The people want to dance! Like children playing! Welcome to my city!” Great photos of a beautiful city that refuses to surrender to the thugs! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBrETvzgPgY&list=FLDbtupCZN7rHF103M5uB6cQ&index=83
