S.K. Nicholls's Blog, page 75
October 24, 2013
FREE COPY OF MIEDO
Dont forget! ;)
FREE psychological thriller from across the pond by Kevin Cooper. make sure you click the correct link if you are U.S.
Syndicate Spotlight #26: Shady Acres
Reblogged from The Literary Syndicate:
Today I am reviewing Shady Acres by Mark Paxson.
Shady Acres comes in at 146 pages and is currently available from Amazon for $.99 as of this posting(10-24-13).
For those who are unfamiliar with my review style, I do not do spoilers. Spoilers are the tools of Satan and should be banished from our realm. For more information on how I do reviews, check here.
A 99 cent short story that you won't want to miss by Mark Paxon, author of "Weed Therapy" and "One Night in Bridgeport".
Brighter Cover Image
With my brighter book blurb, I felt I needed to go with a brighter book cover image, so I talked with my cover image guy at create-imaginations (Paul in the UK-check out his new page) today and this is what we came up with.
After seeing my proof copy and finding it to be quite dark, I felt a need to brighten both the title and the statue image.
New cover, brighter
old cover-darker
The old cover looked really dark in actual print (almost black rather than blue), it did make the title more difficult to see, and the whole image had a more despondent feel to it.
So what do you think?
Filed under: Writing, Publishing, & Marketing Tagged: Book Cover Image, brighter, changes, darker, paperback, proof received
WIP: I need help concerning nicknames!
I need help from readers and writers concerning nicknames in published works. Everybody knows McDonald’s by the nickname Mickey D’s. At least, I think they do. I named my youngest son Daniel, and I refused, though, to allow anyone to call him Danny or Dan, because I liked and wanted Daniel.
I have come to a point in my work in progress where I seriously need to decide on a name for my detective. Right now, I am using a Scrivener name generator produced name for my detective and I don’t like it.
I have decided on either Robert Richardson, or Richard Robertson and I will tell you why. It has to do with nicknames. Many nicknames can be made from Robert: Bob, Rob, Bert, and from Richardson: Rich. Likewise many nicknames can be made from Richard; Rich, Ricky, and Robertson. These can be used interchangeably between Christian and Sir names, if need be. This is most likely going to be a series, so this name will follow him throughout.
Questions though: Do you really care for nicknames in what you are reading, or do they bother you? Do they get too confusing? If the name stays the same in narrative, are nicknames more acceptable in dialog? Or do they still trouble you?
I have read books that used nicknames in dialog without problem and it was easy to follow. I have also read nicknames used in narrative and dialog that became too difficult to follow, especially at the beginning of a book. I have a couple of humorous scenes in my WIP wherein the detective could get into trouble because of the use of nicknames, but I am unsure if the reader would enjoy that, or would it be too confusing? This detective takes his work seriously, but has a rather not so serious sidekick. The detective is fortyish, comes from a small town outside of Atlanta, GA (no, I won’t call him Bubba), and currently resides in Orlando, FL.
I know that he has sold 19 million copies of The Bat: The electrifying first appearance of Jo Nesbø’s detective, Harry Hole. But I can’t go with anything like Hairy Hole…I just can’t do it.
What are your thoughts on reading books with nicknames? Do nicknames make a storyline too challenging to follow? Do you have any suggestions on; perhaps, a different name besides the two that I am debating?
Filed under: Writing, Publishing, & Marketing Tagged: help,
October 23, 2013
Interview with S.K. Nicholls
Reblogged from Kristen Hope Mazzola:
Tonight please give a warm welcome to the lovely S.K. Nicholls!!
Do you write under any other names? Not yet.
What are you currently working on? A crime novel/murder mystery that is turning into a bit of a psycho thriller and a sort of autobiography.
How many (if any) books do you have published and what are their titles? Only the one, “Red Clay and Roses”.
Thanks to the lovely Kristen Mazzolla, author who wrote the soon to be released "Crashing Down" we have another nice interview of Moi. Enjoy :)
Atlanta Landmark Hotel: The Hyatt Regency
In the novel, “Red Clay and Roses”, Sybil has occasion to dine in one of Atlanta’s most famous hotels, The Hyatt Regency, which was relatively new at that time. While atrium hotels and rooftop restaurants are commonplace nowadays, such was not so when the hotel first opened its doors in 1967.
The crowning- literally crowning- glory of the hotel was the Polaris. The revolving rooftop restaurant was an instant hit; everybody who was anybody had to take the space-age elevators up for lunch, dinner, or just plain gawking. As children, we saw the futuristic rooftop as the coming of our own personal futures, a “Jetsons” cartoon come to life.
Atlanta has grown by leaps and bounds in the past forty to fifty years. There were few tall buildings there in my childhood, as Atlanta tended to sprawl rather than to build upward. Dwarfed now, by the skyscrapers built up around it, the hotel was once one of the tallest buildings in the downtown area at 22 stories.
John Portman’s vision for the Regency was simple; it would be a world-class hotel where none had ever existed before, and its architecture would be so distinctive that the hotel would need no further recommendation as Atlanta’s premier place for visitors to stay. From the outside, the Regency went up as a fairly severe 22-story box that gave very little hint of what was to be found inside, until one looked up at the roof. Where most downtown buildings have nothing whatever, the Regency had a shimmering blue Plexiglas bubble of a revolving restaurant, known then and now as the Polaris.
It was only upon entering the hotel that a first-time visitor saw the considerable lengths to which its designer had gone to make this the most memorable hotel of its day. Portman had taken more than a few cues from an architect he respected highly; his respect was well-founded, since the architect was Frank Lloyd Wright. Portman’s first and greatest homage was to Wright’s Johnson Wax building. Its modern glass elevators were also a hit, and many would come to tour, just to say that they had ridden in a glass elevator.
The Regency is unusual among iconic Modernist buildings in that it is still in use for its original purpose, still owned by its original owners, and all the considerable renovation and addition it has undergone has been at the direction of its original architect. The hotel is now twice the size it was originally; a circular bronze-glass International Tower was added in the 70’s, and 1996 saw the addition of another tower that neatly duplicates the original 1967 facade of the main building. The hotel has evolved in décor and amenities; the first iteration of the rooms was Sixties basic. The Polaris Restaurant still exists for diners today by that iconic name. Today, Hyatt offers visitors rooms ranging from businesslike-but-cozy to sybaritic. The staff has functionaries unheard-of in 1967 Atlanta, among them a concierge.
LINKS
Visit the homepage of the Hyatt Regency Atlanta at: www.atlantaregency.hyatt.com
Visit the homepage of John Portman Associates at: www.portmanusa.com
This article has not been authorized by any of the persons or entities mentioned in it; the author and publisher are solely responsible for its content.
All photographs presented in this article are the property of their respective owners.
Filed under: Settings and Feature Articles on Red Clay and Roses Tagged: 1967, Article: Settings, futurist, Hyatt Regency, Landmark Hotel, Polaris revolving restaurant, Red Clay and Roses
October 22, 2013
Papi Talk!... With Mark Paxson
Reblogged from The Literary Syndicate:
Hello everyone! Welcome to this week's edition of Papi Talk! On the couch today is Mark Paxson, Author, Blogger and all around good guy. Let's see what can be revealed by prying and probing Papi Z Style!
Thank you very much Mark for taking time to do the interview, I know you are a busy guy. Here we go.
Get to know more about the man, Mark Paxon, author of "Weed Therapy" a book recently reviewed here. Interviewed by the Ranting (but loveable) Papi Zilla at The Literary Syndicate!
Interview with Kevin Brennan, Author of Yesterday Road
Welcome to an interview with Kevin Brennan, author of Parts Unknown, Our Children Are Not Our Children, and the recently released Yesterday Road. Kevin also has a blog at http://kevinbrennanbooks.wordpress.com/ where he takes his readers along on his sometimes funny, sometime harrowing road to self-publication.
M: Kevin, thank you so much for agreeing to be interviewed. I’m excited to be able to talk with you about your current book, …
Another great interview by Marie Bailey with, Kevin Brennan, author of the newly released "Yesterday Road".
The naked launch: Yesterday Road is out today!
The day has finally arrived! Book Launch Tuesday! BLT. I’m hungry already.
Yesterday Road is available now for $2.99 at Amazon.com and at Smashwords, if you prefer EPUB or any other format. It should hit Barnes & Noble, iTunes, Sony, Kobo, and all the usual outlets in a few days.
In the meantime, I stand here now -- hat in hand -- to ask for your help.
One we have been waiting for. Check it out! Released today: "Yesterday Road" by Kevin Brennan
October 21, 2013
Afterword and Collective Consciousness
The progress of reality: The purpose of my book, “Red Clay and Roses”, was, through storytelling, to explain how things were during a particular era in time. Many have read the book and enjoyed the read, but some took issue with the one page, “Afterword”, which was meant as a sort of disclaimer. I do not advocate pro-life or pro-choice with the writing of the book. The book’s storyline simply indicates options available for women in relationships which resulted in pregnancy during a time when options were more limited than they are today and the dilemmas they faced in exploring their options. Women’s reproductive rights and responsibilities are explored through the telling of individual’s stories in another era in time.
In the “Afterword” I quoted Mark Twain when he said, “Racism, Chauvinism, and Religion are the three greatest evils of mankind.” I went on to say that the bloodshed in the name of these three things is what makes them tangible evils.
That offended some, and that is okay.
I am not anti-religious, but I am not religious. I do believe that many have died in the name of religion unnecessarily.
In many Eastern cultures there is a concept of non-duality. I have studied many religions from Baptist to Methodist, Judaism to Islam to Christianity, multiple Hindu to multiple Buddhism ways of thinking. It all gets very complicated. There are many shades to the concept of non-duality. In my concept of non-duality, we are all one people with one collective consciousness. When harm is done to one, it not only harms the one and the doer, but harms the whole of humankind in the universe, because we are merely a microcosm in this universe.
The internet is a good example of this non-dual “collective consciousness”. This interconnectedness. It is not limited to Earth, in my opinion, but the entire universe. God made it all, whether we believe in science, spirituality, or both, in this country, we are allowed to believe or not believe this is true. In western culture, with many faiths, there is an interconnectedness wherein individuality is retained, and mind, body, and spirit are interrelated. Social creatures that we are, we are not exclusively individuals because we are influenced by other individuals and their reactions to our own selves.
Non-duality is not to be confused with transcendentalism wherein there is inherent goodness of both people and nature…I believe inherent evil and wickedness do exist.
In the Christian way of thinking there is a spiritual union with God. While I am not a practicing religious person, I do have this spiritual union, this interconnectedness with God.
There is a New Age movement confining dogmas with a worldwide view of science and spirituality. It is inclusive and pluralistic. While I agree with some of this movement, I am not in the practice of soul searching. I am quite content with the soul I know myself to have, although I feel that I am enlightened every day that I live and breathe.
According to David Loy, “When you realize that the nature of your mind and the Universe are non-dual you are enlightened.” Non-duality is almost non-conceptual, not easily graspable in an idea. One eastern culture gives a metaphor of the essence function of non-duality: a lamp and its light. They are the same and they are not. There is body and there is function. I am a lamp and its light. We are one!
Filed under: Settings and Feature Articles on Red Clay and Roses, Spirituality Tagged: Afterword, collective consciousness, God, non-duality, Oneness, women's rights and responsibilities
