R.M. Ridley's Blog, page 10

March 13, 2015

This is it! – Blondes, Books, & Bourbon – Release Day!

5* ‘Great book, I can’t wait to read more from this author.’

My Anthology is available in Kindle or Paperback!

Purchase your copy TODAY

and

ALL royalties go to

Helping a Family in Need [image error]
Please Help Out!

Go to Amazon and Purchase a copy of this Paranormal Private Investigator Anthology for yourself, or as a gift,

TODAY!

5 * ‘Brooding, cantankerous, and so deeply flawed he��s almost on the verge of shattering completely, Alvey is a fantastic homage to the hardboiled detective fiction of old with a fresh insertion of the mystical and arcane.’
5* ‘Like his last book, Mr. Ridley has created something more than just a likeable character, he��s created a character sensation. Jonathan Alvey is an extremely well developed and an amazingly crafted character.’
5* ‘Ridley opened this anthology with an interview that will make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up and an even bigger reaction in your brain to continue on reading.’

Filed under: Book Release, MIscellaneous, Publishing, Writing Tagged: anthology, cancer, Jonathan Alvey, medical bills, novel, paranormal, paranormal private investigator, prizes, publish, short story, survivors, Tomorrow Wendell, Urban Fantasy, White Dragon Black Series, writing, Xchyler Publishing

View more on R.M. Ridley's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on March 13, 2015 08:14

March 12, 2015

Today! Last Day to Pre-Order!

This is Alyson Grauer.[image error]
This is Mark��Grauer, Alyson’s Father.[image error]The Grauer Family Needs YOUR��HELP!

This is the LAST DAY to Pre-order your Kindle copy of this paranormal anthology and be sure ALL the Royalties from the sale go to helping this family pay for the medical billsPLEASE�� Be a part of this!
Click ‘HERE‘ to go to the Facebook ‘Book Bomb’ event to find out how you can help and have a chance to Win��Prizes![image error]

Filed under: Book Release, MIscellaneous, Publishing, Writing

View more on R.M. Ridley's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on March 12, 2015 08:07

March 11, 2015

If You like Reading or Music – Please Read

So this Friday is the day. All the hard work, the hours and hours of writing and editing, it all comes down to this – putting the out into the world an hoping that it is well received.

That’s how it was going to be.

Now it’s about something else. Something more important than if the world at large likes my stories. Something very personal in nature, and��close to my heart. It is about helping a family pay for medical expenses for surgery to remove cancer.

Mark Grauer[image error]
a teacher, band director, composer/arranger, husband, father, and grandfather and he and his family need your help!

This Friday the 13th, help one family’s battle with cancer by purchasing my book, for yourself, or for a friend. If you preorder your Kindle copy then the sales are guaranteed to be registered as��Friday’s sales. This means the royalties are guaranteed to be earmarked as going towards helping to pay for this families bills. If you prefer to hold the real thing in your hands – well, you are a reader after my own heart. If this is the case, PLEASE first thing Friday, Order your paperback version of ��the anthology.

��READ HERE WHY YOU SHOULD HELP.

It was not too long ago that I lost my cousin to cancer. She fought back for many years, but in the end – unfortunately – she passed away due to complications. She lived here in Canada though, so there were no devastating bills��piling up with each bout. She was able to get treatment, see doctors, and spend time in the hospital without the worry about how to pay for it.

This family is not just worried, they are feeling the weight of this burden while Mr. Grauer��still recovers in hospital. YOU CAN HELP��– simply PRE-ORDER��your Kindle copy of this anthology NOW, or purchase the paperback first thing THIS FRIDAY.

Please share this post. Reblog it, tweet it, post it on Facebook or G+ – help me get the word out about this. There are only days left!

This Link will bring you to the Facebook page about this event, and share how you can win prizes by taking part.

Filed under: Writing Tagged: anthology, cancer, frustration, Jonathan Alvey, Mark Grauer, medical bills, medication, novel, paranormal, paranormal private investigator, publish, readers, short story, survivors, Tomorrow Wendell, Urban Fantasy, White Dragon Black Series, Xchyler Publishing

View more on R.M. Ridley's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on March 11, 2015 08:26

March 9, 2015

Friday the 13th – Blondes, Books, & Bourbon – A Book Bomb

Don’t know what A ‘Book Bomb’ is? ��Just to reassure you, it’s not the same as a book bombing in sales.

In��this case, particularly, the term means we are doing our best to get it in your face, on your mind, and most importantly on your Kindle. We want you to preorder your copy of my anthology to make sure those sales get registered on that day. You don’t have much time – the anthology goes live this Friday the 13th!

Why? ��Well, it isn’t about my ego. It isn’t about my publicity. It isn’t even about my profits… but it does have a lot to do with money.

You see, ALL of the royalties��from that day’s sales of Blondes, Books, & Bourbon are going to a��benefit. Not any random benefit, but one very close to the hearts of everyone in my publishing house.

[image error]A fellow indie author of mine,��Alyson Grauer, needs financial help. Not to get a better wardrobe, or finance a trip to a convention, not even to buy more books, or finance writing more books (though we all want her to write many, many more). She needs this money to help pay the medical bills of her father. Hard to say no to that one isn’t it?

Click HERE to read more about what this is about and why this family deserves and needs your support.

That’s why I’m doing this.

As a Canadian – I can, all too easily, take for granted the fact that so much of my��medical expenses��are covered by my government.��I can’t fathom having to need medical assistance and then being sent a bill that would bankrupt a small country. So my publisher is working with me and ALL��the royalties��from sales on my release day will go to help out my fellow author and her family.

BUT THIS IS FOR ONE DAY – SO WE NEED IT TO COUNT!

PLEASE – PREORDER you copy of Blondes, Books, & Bourbon NOW!

I promise it isn’t wasted money. The reviews are starting to come in, and they are saying it is even better than the first novel, Tomorrow Wendell!

If urban fantasy / paranormal private investigator stories are not for you there are other ways you can help.

There is MORE! ��This isn’t just about asking for you to buy a book… there are prizes to be won!

Just follow this ‘LINK‘ and find out all there is to know, about other ways to help, and what prizes there are to be won and especially how to win them!

Filed under: Book Release, MIscellaneous Tagged: Alyson Grauer, anthology, Blondes Books & Bourbon, Book Bomb, cancer, free, Friday the 13th, Jonathan Alvey, Kindle, medical expenses, paranormal, paranormal private investigator, preorder, prizes, publish, reviews, royalties, short story, Tomorrow Wendell, Urban Fantasy, White Dragon Black Series, writer, writing, Xchyler Publishing

View more on R.M. Ridley's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on March 09, 2015 14:14

The S.C.A. Side-effects

Having now been to two shire ‘meetings’ and one wonderful event, it is clear that we are, most certainly, back to playing in the Society for Creative Anachronism. Perhaps we should have tired it long ago, perhaps this is the perfect time for us to re-enter the life, either way it part of our life agin now and I am already feeling the side-effects of playing.

First thing in the Morning – instead of sitting, and clutching my coffee, blankly looking at nothing, while my wife knits or scans her FB page on the television, I stare at my jewelry making books. The fine coating of dust blown off and the spine cracked for the first time in over a decade. If not that then, scattered around me are the photocopies of research done while I still lived in Trinovantia Nova (London, ON). Also my coffee cup can be surrounded by half completed projects and bits and bobs of metal, wood, and bone.

Later Morning – moving assorted project pieces and their corresponding sketches and blueprints, out of the way of my computer. Social media now showing not only friends complaints and accomplishment, as well as book releases, reviewers, and advice, ��now I have pictures of period clothing and accessories as well as notifications about events, knighting’s, crowning’s, and arts and science projects. Then actively looking for pictures of extant period jewelry��and��accessories for current project.

Afternoon – finally getting off the computer and having to cover it with a cloth as I begin to work one of the many projects I’ve either begun to work on again, or started new (because I need more projects ). Filling the house with the smell of wood, metal and bone and wondering why I thought making this piece was a good idea in the first place.

Late afternoon – putting down the project, and taking a picture for prosperity sake and documentation of the work. Brushing off the dust from everything, and stumbling away to find food.

Other – looking forward to going resale shopping because now I can browse not looking for��things I might want ‘as is’ but looking for things for; their base material,��repurposing for period use.

The list goes on – and will only grow over time – but I have to stop writing, because my wife is playing renaissance music in preparation for teaching a period dance class.

Filed under: SCA Tagged: jewelry, Society for Creative Anachronism

View more on R.M. Ridley's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on March 09, 2015 08:42

March 5, 2015

All Quiet on the Frozen Frontier

I know – I know… I have been remiss in my postings. I place all the blame, squarely on Winters shoulders. That bitch had me in a strangle hold, and it’s hard to type when your fingers are frozen.

My routine, the entirety of my days, was all about getting wood ready for the furnace to keep warm. I had little time of my own, and less energy when I got it.

Also my truck wasn’t running, which added a level of stress, and time consumption, which didn’t help matters any.

I haven’t written in — an embarrassingly long time.

All this is beginning to change, as does the weather. Warmer days, and nights, means less wood consumption, which means more free time, which means an ability to return to usual habits.

My truck is running now (why she wasn’t before remains a bit of a mystery) although I do need to take her into the mechanic today – her axel U-joints are in bad shape. So I have to drive into town and spend money we don’t quite, really, have. But there is not to do about it especially when I look at the next month and see the travel we want to put on her.

This weekend we go to London for the SCA event ‘Winter War’ – or first event in over a decade. In a little over a week, I go to Windsor to watch my sisters cats again, and thus want to be sure I leave my wife a working vehicle – especially as she is going to be coming into Windsor for another SCA event during that that time. When I am done my cat sitting duties, I then get to go to the Ad Astra Convention, which I have been looking forward to since… well, November. That’s in Toronto, which a couple hours drive from me… so truck running = good.

The truck must be fixed, and so she will be.

On top of all this, my White Dragon Black anthology ‘Blondes, Books, & Bourbon’ comes out this Friday the 13th (actually you can get the paperback now��from Amazon – HERE)

So this month won’t quite be ‘routine’ but it’s will be a good break from what Winter was doing to me, and get my brain back on the right track. Hopefully soon, I’ll be back to posting about word counts, and story arcs, and characters.

Filed under: Book Release, Homesteading, Mental Health, Writing Tagged: Ad Astra, anthology, Blondes, Books & Bourbon, Brain, cats, characters, Convention, crazy, Friday the 13th, frustration, heat, Jonathan Alvey, paranormal, paranormal private investigator, publish, SCA, short story, Toronto, truck, Urban Fantasy, White Dragon Black Series, wife, winter, wood, writing, Xchyler Publishing

View more on R.M. Ridley's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on March 05, 2015 08:14

March 4, 2015

Be a Hero, Be the [Book] Bomb

Originally posted on Ever On Word:

[image error] Aly and Mark, back in the day.

Here��s the deal, Ever On Wordians: My dear friend and fellow Xchyler Publishing author��Alyson Grauer��is going through one of life��s rough patches. Her father, Mark, is undergoing surgery for cancer, and the fight for his health is not coming cheap. The family could use some help footing the bills, and I��m here to share a few ways even the most sorta-kinda-flat-broke of us can make an impact.

1) Mark Grauer��s Cancer Fund on GiveForward.com.��Every buck counts! Even if that single dollar is all you have to give ����or if all you can afford is to spread the link around ����show cancer and the Grauer family respectively just what you think of them, the crowd funding way.

2) The Generous Juli McCarthy. Quoth mutual friend of Aly��s and mine, jewelry artist Juli of Mockingbird Studio:

For the next��

View original 630 more words

Filed under: Writing

View more on R.M. Ridley's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on March 04, 2015 14:51

March 1, 2015

New Novel Tour! – Haruffa Tales

��

Haruffa Tales by Kenneth E Hautala
Genre: Retro Pulp Fantasy
Publisher: Friesen Press
Page Count: 345

SYNOPSIS:

BEYOND THE CONSTRAINTS OF TIME, LIFE, AND DEATH, THERE ARE POWERFUL UNSEEN FORCES.
Beyond the constraints of Time, Life, and Death, there are powerful unseen forces; these forces oversee the movements of life as the balance between good and evil heaves like the waves of the sea. And within the spiral of time, an eternal love causes the chords of the soul to thrum with an unrelenting anthem. This living, evolving melody is etched into the psyche of a most unlikely hero��a young, sickly child who was, by all accounts, not expected to survive, let alone be conceived.
In the city of Madra, two healers joyfully anticipate the birth of their long-awaited son, Haruffa. But after only a few short weeks, it becomes apparent that he is quite ill. Desperately petitioning the supernatural Aspects of Life, Death, and Time, the child��s parents beg for help at any price. Their cries for mercy are duly heard and answered.
The timing of Haruffa��s birth is, in fact, no accident: he is to be appointed and equipped to overcome the greatest threat to life upon the planet��the evil necromancer, Bruab, and his growing undead army.

Praise For Haruffa Tales: Five star review from Foreward Reviews��With the next installment of Haruffa Tales, Specter Past, already on its way, now is the time to enter Haruffa��s world. For fantasy devotees or graphic-novel lovers looking for something a little different, Hautala and Trout��s collaboration is not to be missed.�� -Pallas Gates McCorquodale

��

Character Interview

Tell us a little about yourself. Who are you and what role do you play in Haruffa Tales?

-My name is Jai and I��m Haruffa��s cousin. ��I have a twin sister Jameela and the three of use grew up together. ��My father Sohail runs a military training academy outside the city of Madra where Haruffa lives.

My aunt and uncle come over to visit often but mainly on vacations and holidays.

Even though my father runs the academy, as students, he has little patience for our antics however when Haruffa is around we always seem to get away with a lot more.

My father thinks of Haruffa as a second son and has always been a bit overprotective of all of us, particularly my sister.

Jameela and I never knew our mother. ��She died shortly after giving birth to us��father doesn��t like to talk about it.

What��s the challenge you are trying to overcome in the story?

-We are an extremely close knit family and Haruffa��s single-minded stubbornness can cause problems. ��My sister and I both originally planned to join the city militia and progress through the ranks until one of us eventually achieved the rank of Captain of the Guard, like our father, but the tragedy changed all that.

Name one thing you want and how far you are willing to go to get it?

– My sister and I look at Haruffa as our younger brother and want nothing more than for him to find peace. ��His career path worries us but he��s determined to follow the road that has been laid out no matter where it takes him.��Nothing is more important than family and we do whatever it takes to protect our own.

��

Tell us something about yourself that would surprise us.

-Haruffa doesn��t know this but I��m having an affair with one of his closest friends.

Purchase Links:

About the Author

From the time he was a young teenager, Kenneth E. Hautala fanned the spark of creative inspiration into flame through his innate love of storytelling. As a carpenter and construction health and safety professional, he has a deep respect for the value of hard work and skill��a characteristic he applies to his life as a writer.

An avid fisherman and outdoorsman, he lives in Newmarket, Ontario with his beautiful wife, Linda, his beloved mother-in-law, Vivian, and their St. Bernard, Xuber.

Author Links

Twitter | Website | Facebook

SOUNDTRACK

Music plays a crucial role in Haruffa Tales. Not only in the novel itself but during the novel’s creation as a whole. That being said, it��s my pleasure to bring you *The Imaginary Haruffa Tales Soundtrack.

Track One: Love and Rockets – Bound for Hell

Track Two: Sneaker Pimps – Blood Sport

Track Three: Lyeoka – Simply Falling

Track Four: Kongos – Hey I Don’t Know

Track Five: Tenacious D – Master Exploder

Track Six: Skrillex (feat. The Doors) – Breakin’ a Sweat

Track Seven: Tito &Tarantula – Angry Cockroaches

Track Eight: Alice Francis – St. James Ballroom

Track Nine: Garbage – Push It

Track Ten: Jazzbit – Swingin’ Man

Track Eleven: Monster Magnet – Bummer

Track Twelve: Snoop Dogg vs. David Guetta (Remix) – Sweat

Track Thirteen: Ashley MacIsaac – Sleepy Maggie

Bonus Tracks:

Denis Leary – Asshole (Uncensored Version)
US3 �� Cantaloop
Stereo Mc��s �� Step it up

*All rights to the music belong to the legal copyright holder.
��

Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Filed under: Book Release Tagged: Haruffa Tales, Kenneth E. Hautala, Retro Pulp Fantasy

View more on R.M. Ridley's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on March 01, 2015 05:30

February 23, 2015

New Anthology – Steampunk Stories !

Rafflecopter Giveaway:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

[image error]

Jay Barnson

Software engineer, video game developer, and father, Jay Barnson

is a transplant to the state of Utah from the east coast. He grew up on

a diet of science fiction and fantasy ranging from Howard, Heinlein,

and Tolkien to Lucas and Spielberg. His wife and daughters had to

drag him to his first steampunk convention. And now they can��t drag

him away from the genre. Jay��s first short story with The X, ��Dots,

Dashes and Deceit,�� appeared in Terra Mechanica: A Steampunk

Anthology (2014).

Goodreads

1. Character Casting: Who would you cast for your main

characters and why?

Samuel Chase – Zachary Levi. For reasons of Samuel’s heritage, and

the fact that Levi has proven he can play a buff nerd… which

describes Samuel.

Miriam Janssen – Jennifer Lawrence. Hey, I can dream, can’t I? She’s

smart and doesn’t suffer fools lightly.

Brom “Bones” van Brunt – Rutger Hauer. Brom was an athlete,

horseman, jokester, and maybe a little bit of a thug when he was

younger – a lot like some of the characters Hauer played.

Katrina van Brunt – Kate Mulgrew. Katrina was once a beautiful young

heiress with few requirements but to attend her studies and choose a

suitor, but decades and hardship have forced her to become practical

and self-reliant. Mulgrew could definitely do that.

2. Author Favorite Things:

My favorites change daily. I’m a leaf in the wind!

- Quote

Not “I’m a leaf in the wind,” sadly. How about this one by Antoine de

Saint-Exupery: “Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing

more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”

- TV show

Ever? Probably Firefly. *sniff*

- Comic book character

Spider-Man. Love his style. Unless I’m trying to prove my geek cred

by noting someone less popular, in which case I’d choose Illyana

Rasputin (Magik). Poor Illyana.

- Movie

If I pretend the other movies didn’t happen, I might answer “The

Matrix.”

- Book

Fiction? Probably The Warrior’s Apprentice by Lois McMaster Bujold

- Candy bar

Symphony Bar.

- Junk food

Cajun french fries.

- Place you visited

Hawaii. It might be different living there, but it sure is an excellent

place to visit.

- Restaurant

Rodizio Grill!

- Island

Miyazaki’s Laputa – the Castle in the Sky.

1. Please share how you came up with the concept for your

story?

Almost every modern story based on The Legend of Sleepy Hollow -

movies, TV shows, whatever – makes the assumption that the

headless horseman was a supernatural entity. I thought, “how about

a follow-up story based on the idea that there was nothing

supernatural going on?” The horseman was Brom the whole time.

Ichabod Crane did go to New York City and became a successful

lawyer, and eventually a judge, as was suggested in the original

story. Maybe he raised a family – that was definitely a dream of his.

Assume a steampunk twist to the story – with some fun pseudo-

science – and move forward a few decades into the middle 1800s,

and what kind of story could be told?

Originally, Brom wasn’t even going to be a character in the story. But

when I imagined the strapping, athletic, sometimes bullying prankster

Brom in his waning years – literally, the waning days of his life in this

story – I fell in love with the concept. Here’s a guy whose body has

betrayed him, his regrets weighing down his soul. What would he do

for one more day of youthful vigor? And what would he do with it if he

got it?

2. Please name some of your other published works?

As far as fiction is concerned, I had a steampunk short story

published by Xchyler last year in Terra Mechanica called “Dots,

Dashes, and Deceit.” I’m also an indie game developer, and my most

recent release is a tongue-in-cheek fantasy role-playing game for

Windows called “Frayed Knights: The Skull of S’makh-Daon.” Yeah, it

is pronounced “Smack Down.” We’re talking subtle, high-brow humor

here.

3. What is your preferred writing genre?

At this point, with two steampunk stories published, I’d have to say

steampunk. I love it and want to keep writing more of it, if only

because it’s something fun and relatively different. But I’m a fan of all

kinds of speculative fiction, so I’m really happy working with several

subgenres.

4. And preferred reading genre?

That’s kind of like asking me to name my favorite child, isn’t it? I could

say, “Speculative Fiction” and leave it at that, I guess, because I love

everything from horror to space opera to steampunk to sword-and-

sandals fantasy. While I definitely have a preference for the fantastic,

it still comes down more to author and story for me than genre.

5. What are your top 3 favorite books?

If I were to limit myself to fiction, I’d say… Neuromancer by William

Gibson, The Warrior’s Apprentice by Lois McMaster Bujold, and

Small Favor by Jim Butcher. Although all three of those are part of a

series of books and short stories, and I couldn’t possibly just

recommend anyone read one book without reading the rest…

6. Do you have any particular writing habits?

Bad ones, mainly. My wife is amused by my habit of pacing while I’m

thinking. If I get stuck trying to figure out how to say something or

how to get to point B from point A, I apparently need to move my feet

to resolve it.

7. Do you have a playlist that you created while writing your

story?

The theme song for The Van Tassel Legacy was “Last Ride of the

Day” by Nightwish, from their Imaginaerium album.

8. Panster or plotter?

I’m a poser panster and a poor plotter. How’s that? I like to think that I

can write by the seat of my pants and my muse just cuts loose, but

that never happens. I need a solid foundation to work from. It’s like I

don’t know what to write until I’ve already written it… in the form of an

outline. But then the story never follows the outline. It starts there, but

inevitably runs off in its own direction about halfway through.

9. Advice for writers?

Write.

10. What’s up next for you?

February 21, 2015

Book Review: Blondes, Books & Bourbon (ARC)

The latest review of my Anthology can be found ‘write’ here!

Book Review: Blondes, Books & Bourbon (ARC).

Filed under: Book Release, Publishing, Writing

View more on R.M. Ridley's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on February 21, 2015 08:34

← Previous 1 2 … 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 … 43 44 Next →

R.M. Ridley's Blog

R.M. Ridley's profile
25 followers