THE JAMES MASON COMMUNITY BOOK CLUB discussion

Thanks, Lee. Please let me know what you think of the book. And if you win the giveaway, I'll send it to you and you can give it to a friend (or an enemy if you hated it...)

Thanks again.

Free today. June Edition of my monthly series, My Husband's On Facebook! This is issue no.5 in the series for those of you who enjoy short humorous reads.

http://www.amazon.com/My-Husbands-On-...

That's a very good hit, LeAnn. Congratulations.

Please drop by my blog and read about my novel. You are welcome to leave a comment.

http://millerscribs.com/blog/?p=282

best...

FREE NOVELS! Attention all Kindle readers.

Both our novels are FREE to download on Amazon from this Saturday until Wednesday (June 9-13).

Reviews are welcomed for both…

Fiji: A Novel – an historical action-adventure
http://amazon.com/dp/B0057YCZM0/
http://amazon.co.uk/dp/B0057YCZM0/

The Ninth Orphan - an international thriller
http://amazon.com/dp/B0056I4FKC
http://amazon.co.uk/dp/B0056I4FKC

The Ninth Orphan is the first novel in the Orphan Trilogy. The prequel, The Orphan Factory, will be published next month.

Hello Sterling, Thanks, I picked up "Ninth Orphan" and look forward to reading it.

I guess a recent publication or two in a couple of well- admired literary magazines qualifies as "writing." I know getting into a quality literary magazine is as hard or harder than getting a book published.
At any rate if allowable here it is:
Potomac Review (Spring 2012) "Story Cloth" (I'll also be speaking in Washington, DC. about the story on June 13.
North Carolina Literary Review (Summer 2012) issue. Due out in late July. My controversial "The Honey Wagon," also took second prize in the 2011 Doris Betts Fiction Prize.
Ms.Betts, a legendary literary icon in North Carolina, passed away only recently.

"This Little Piggy Belongs to the Devil" currently featured on Addicted to eBooks at http://addictedtoebooks.com/node/728

I'm delighted to announce that my first full-length poetry book, The Horizontal Poet (Zeitgeist Press, 2011), won a Lambda Literary Award last week in one of the two bisexual categories. The "Lammies" in New York City are the premier international LGBT book awards. I'm now busy selling copies of the book to pay off my credit card bill for the trip to Manhattan, where I got to meet lots of wonderful LGBT writers, editors and publishers. Among the speakers at the ceremony: lesbian feminist thinker and writer Kate Millett, actresses Olympia Dukakis and Ally Sheedy, and Armistead Maupin (author of Tales of the City).

Copies of The Horizontal Poet are now on sale at the following fine independent bookstores: The Laurel Bookstore in Oakland, California; The Beat Museum in San Francisco, California; Chaucer's Books in Santa Barbara, California; and Bluestockings in New York City.

You can also order the book directly from its indie publisher Zeitgeist Books at www.zeitgeist-press.com. If you prefer a signed copy, you can order one from me for $14 plus $2 shipping ($16 total) as a check or money order sent to Jan Steckel/PO Box 18797/Oakland, CA 94619, or for $16 sent to me via PayPal to Jmsteckel at aol dot com. Be sure to include your mailing address and to whom you want the book signed.

Jan Steckel
https://www.facebook.com/TheHorizonta...

Colin and Connor, twin eleven year old boys, are introduced in an excerpt of "This Little Piggy Belongs to the Devil" at http://www.vincepalazzo.blogspot.com

If it is of any use, I'm running a series on writing on my blog. For new writers, it's a reality check. For established writers, it's back-to-basics. For everyone, I hope it triggers something imaginative Seeley James: On Writing . Leave a comment if you like it. Next installment on Friday.

Seeley wrote: "If it is of any use, I'm running a series on writing on my blog. For new writers, it's a reality check. For established writers, it's back-to-basics. For everyone, I hope it triggers something ima..."

wonderful blog!!

Rick wrote: "wonderful blog"

Thanks! I try.

My newest novel, DEADLY EYES, is also now available in paperback, along with its older sibling COVERT DREAMS. It is a Caribbean mystery/suspense thriller set on the island of St. Croix, where I was an English professor for four years at the University of the Virgin Islands. It has already received some very high-profile praise:

"Michael Meyer has done it again, weaving a fascinating tale of murder and intrigue in the tropical paradise of St. Croix that will keep you turning the page to the very end." -Nick Russell, the bestselling author of BIG LAKE

"The ride is fast and furious and the outcome will leave you blindsided....I recommend Deadly Eyes to all readers for its fast paced action coupled with the mesmerizing and intense suspense." - Marilou George, THE KINDLE BOOK REVIEW

http://www.amazon.com/Deadly-Eyes-Mic...

Thank you so much for checking out my work! I really appreciate it.
Mike

Hi there! I wanted to share links/blurbs to my two published works, Blood Rage and Blood-Mage Rising.

Blood Rage (The Dream-Walker War - Book 1) Paranormal Romance:
For eighty years since the Great Awakening, humans and non-humans have lived in relative peace together. That peace is threatened when three bodies turn up less than a mile from the Bureau of Non-Human Affairs in Tampa bearing the signature of vampires who once terrorized Europe.

The Bureau’s chief liaison to the vampires, Dara MacKechnie, learns that the Tampa victims are not alone when her ex-lover, and head of the vampire’s Great Council, Anthony Caldwell comes calling.

The pair discover the lie that separated them two centuries ago only banked their passion, not extinguished it. Dara must decide whether she can trust Anthony with her heart a second time as they try to head off the war that threatens all they hold dear.

http://www.amazon.com/Blood-Rage-The-...

Blood-Mage Rising (The Dream-Walker War - Book 2) Urban Fantasy w/romantic sub-plot:
In the eighty years since the Great Awakening, humans and non-humans have lived side by side, relatively at peace. In an attack that leaves his wife dead, Jordan MacNaught is caught up in the start of a war meant to turn the other races against the vampires. He knows beyond a doubt the vampires of yesteryear are not involved in the attacks. They're all dead, except for him.

Jordan asks for Chris Javert's help in hunting those who murdered his wife. She's no stranger to hunting vampires. After all, she nearly destroyed Jordan when she ended the reign of his Aristocrats in Europe two hundred years ago.

Despite doubts about Jordan’s innocence, Chris joins forces with him, the man who once tried to kill her, to save the inter-species pace from the new Aristocrats before war consumes them all.

http://www.amazon.com/Blood-Mage-Risi...

I hope you'll come by and check them out. The first couple chapters in both books are available to sample on Amazon. They're available through all major online retailers (B&N, Evernight, AllRomance, Bookstrand, etc).

Hey, everyone, it's mid-June and I feel like offering a promotion just for the heck of it!

For the next 3 days--until June 17, 2012--my fantasy novel Wind and Fire will be free on Smashwords. Just enter coupon code JM83M to get this offer. Reviews would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, everyone!

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/133776

Whew! It has been a crazy summer!

I finally have a new book out. If you liked This Brilliant Darkness, you will love Troll Or Derby. Wilder, faster, funnier, darker, a true guilty pleasure.



Very grateful for being an official James Mason Community Read with my first book. Hope you will like this one, as well! I am very proud of it.

so many wonderful books being written by James Mason member writers- let's make sure to support each other!

Hooray! As of June 15, my vampire novel Lifeblood is back in print (the link shows the old edition; the current one has new cover art). It's now published by World Castle Publishing, and is available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc., as well as directly from the publisher. The list price for the trade paperback is $10.99; the e-book (suitable for Kindle, Nook, etc.) retails for $3.99. If you like clean vampire romance for all ages, check it out!

The Inquisitor's Key is crime fiction, but the villains - a 14th-century Inquisitor and a 21st-century Apocalypse-minded televangelist - are based on disturbing realities. In this op-ed piece in the Tampa Bay Times, I discuss the dangers (medieval and modern) of mixing religious fervor with political power...

http://www.tampabay.com/news/perspect...

FREE on amazon for kindle Wednesday June 20 & Thursday June 21 the war on terror thriller based on the presidential kill list. http://www.amazon.com/Abomination-Ass...
The Abomination Assignment
Caution: contains scenes of sex and violence.

Hi Lee, I will grab this and read it as soon as I can.
I have Conflict free on these dates:
July 11th.
Aug 14 and 15th.Conflict

Tollesbury Time Forever has had 58 five star reviews on Amazon and is averaging 4.8 out of the total of 69 reviews. It's only been out since January so I'm really pleased. It seems also to have had a fine response from Goodreads members. If you care to take a look I'd be really grateful. Cheers!

David wrote: "Hi Lee, I will grab this and read it as soon as I can.
I have Conflict free on these dates:
July 11th.
Aug 14 and 15th.Conflict"

Conflict is on my TR list. :)

Werner wrote: "Hooray! As of June 15, my vampire novel Lifeblood is back in print (the link shows the old edition; the current one has new cover art). It's now published by World Castle Publishing, and is avail..."

So glad you posted, sounds like a great summer read! Just added it it my kindle to-read list.

Great! Thanks, Amanda; I hope you like it.

Hi all
Book #4 in my series The Reboot Files called The Wrong Ghost is now available at the following links:

http://www.amazon.com/Wrong-Ghost-Reb...

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-w...

Just a reminder. This is a Christian Cozy Mystery series and the paranormal aspects are fake. Think Scooby Doo.

Hello everyone!

I'm one of the "new kids" on the block, having just published my first mystery in a series, FALSE IMPRESSIONS. I received a couple of good reviews and am hoping for a few more! My ebook is available on Amazon Kindle in the US at http://goo.gl/9NGji and in the UK at http://goo.gl/OcaiP and through other distributors.

My story will appeal to anyone who likes a good whodunit, including thriller seekers, cozy mystery readers, and amateur sleuth followers! Enjoy!

As usual- so very much amazed at the wonderful and diverse works of our VERY VERY talented James Mason Member writers!!!

Hollywood survivor Dan Bessie traces his lineage, unearthing a treasure trove of characters who, by no fault of their own, epitomize the rise of the American Dream. This uncommon biography is now available as an ebook, out now worldwide through Untreed Reads.

Rare Birds: An American Family by Dan Bessie

What does a writer do when he’s got a family that includes a blacklisted member of the Hollywood Ten, the brains behind Tony the Tiger and the Marlboro Man, a trio of gay puppeteers, the world’s leading birdwatcher, 1960s hippies, a Dutch stowaway who served in an all-black regiment during the Civil War, and a convicted murderer? He tells their stories and secrets, illuminating 150 years of American history along the way.

Dan Bessie begins his journey through the Bessie and Burnett family history with his great-grandfather in the cargo hold of a ship bound for New York on the storm-tossed Atlantic. What follows are stories of his grandfather’s various entrepreneurial schemes, a grandmother who was voted “New York’s Prettiest Shop Girl” (and who resisted the recruitment efforts of various city madams), and his uncle Harry’s Turnabout Theater in Los Angeles (a renowned puppet theater drawing patrons as diverse as Shirley Temple, Ray Bradbury, and Albert Einstein).

Through inherited journals and letters, Bessie comes to a new understanding of his father, Alvah, an actor and writer who fought in the Lincoln Brigade during the Spanish Civil War. Later, as a screenwriter, Alvah was blacklisted for his Communist sympathies and jailed as one of the Hollywood Ten.

Alvah is only one of many colorful relatives who would go on to play key roles in the world. Bessie’s research reveals many prominent people, from his grandmother’s cousin Sidney Lenz who wrote Lenz on Bridge, a classic guide to the game, to Bessie’s brother-in-law Wes Wilson who designed rock-and-roll posters for the Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco during the 1960s and lived a counterculture existence vastly different from the bridge-mad Depression Era.

Not to be outdone, Cousin Michael Bessie established his niche in publishing, co-founding Atheneum Press and shaping books by Anwar Sadat, Edward Albee, and Aldous Huxley. With an equally impressive career, Uncle Leo Burnett built the country’s fifth largest advertising agency. A passion of a different sort led cousin Phoebe Snetsinger to travel all over the globe; during her lifetime she sighted 8,400 different birds—nearly 85 percent of the species known to exist.

Rare Birds celebrates the colorful diversity of a remarkable and accomplished family. While their choices and professions run the gamut of the American experience in the twentieth century, the history of the nation can be traced in their lives as Bessie’s passionate bids of a feather sing their unique songs across the decades and generations.

About Author Dan Bessie:

Dan Bessie is an award-winning filmmaker who cut his teeth in cartoon animation then went on to write, produce and direct more than 125 films, both live and animated, from shorts for schools to features to TV specials.

How to Purchase Rare Birds: An American Family:

Rare Birds is $4.99 from The Untreed Reads Store. When you purchase from our store, you receive five of the most popular formats all for the same price: EPUB (compatible with Nook and most other readers), HTML, MOBI (for Kindle devices), PDB (for Palm Reader) and PDF.

You’ll also find the titles at virtually every ebook retailer around the world including Amazon, B&N, Apple, Kobo, WHSmith and Waterstone’s.

Hi Rick, and everyone else, sorry I haven't been around much lately. I'm on the mend now, at last!
and will hopefully be able to bin 'the happy pills' at least for a while. I can't understand what knocked me down this time, sales of 'RO' on kindle at $1or 77p over here have been alright. 'The Day the Ravens Died' is on Kindle at one third of the Paper Back price and is still selling a few.
My new one 'The Undefended Land'is published tomorrow [friday] it will be a bit before it's on kindle but will be available as an ebook from Authors OnLine. It is the follow up from 'Ravens' but both stand alone.So lets hope things are on the up at last.
I'll be around again hopefully, looking forward to some interesting discusions.
All the best Paul Rix [oldgeezer]

C.L. wrote: "


Hi all
Book #4 in my series The Reboot Files called The Wrong Ghost is now available at the following links:

http://www.amazon.com/Wrong-Ghost-Reb......"

love the cover!!!!

Timothy wrote: "Hi Rick, and everyone else, sorry I haven't been around much lately. I'm on the mend now, at last!
and will hopefully be able to bin 'the happy pills' at least for a while. I can't understand what ..."

always great to hear from!!!!

Hi Rick and all!

Please visit this link and get your free download of 'How to Write a Memoir'.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/97578266/Ho...

Any thoughts and suggestions welcomed!

Thanks!

I am the author of 'Eating Smoke: One Man's Descent into Drug Psychosis in Hong Kong's Triad Heartland'

Hi fellow Masons. Free today! If you're looking for a quick pick me up, try my Kindle eBook, My Husband's On Facebook! June Edition. Good luck to all and have a funny day!
http://www.amazon.com/My-Husbands-On-...

If anyone is interested, I've been hosting a Q&A here on Goodreads all week on my debut novel, A Lovely, Indecent Departure: A Novel and have enjoyed discussing the book, the writing process and such.

Don't take my word for it though. Click on over to my profile to see things for yourself.

Happy to have you join in the sharing!

The best of times, the worst of times, the times we'll never forget. No matter how hard we try. Untreed Reads is proud to announce the worldwide release of our new young adult novel SOPHOMORIC!

by Rebecca Paine Lucas

Bizza Johnson has just started her sophomore year at boarding school. Struggling with the idiosyncrasies and irritations of high school that every teenager faces, she also experiences and voices life’s fears and insecurities; the roommate who touts homemade lasagna and Bible verses, the parents who won’t get off her back and the girls everyone publicly hates and privately envies. Her occasionally dry sense of humor and irreverent observations point out the nearly universal, but often unacknowledged, experiences that make up the life of the most tortured creature on Earth: the teenager.

About Author Rebecca Paine Lucas:

Rebecca Lucas grew up in metropolitan Chicago with her parents and two siblings. Currently, she is a student at Wellesley College. While still in high school, Rebecca attended the prestigious New England Young Writers’ Conference at Breadloaf School of English. She was awarded Regional Silver and Gold Keys for her short stories in the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards. Rebecca also spent a week in Miami during her senior year of high school as one of 150 Finalists in the national NFAA YoungArts competition. In her free time (which is rare and wonderful these days), Rebecca enjoys spending time with her friends, reading books by Dennis Johnson and wasting an obscene number of hours on Facebook.

How to Purchase Sophomoric:

Sophomoric is $4.99 from The Untreed Reads Store. When you purchase from our store, you receive five of the most popular formats all for the same price: EPUB (compatible with Nook and most other readers), HTML, MOBI (for Kindle devices), PDB (for Palm Reader) and PDF.

You’ll also find the titles at virtually every ebook retailer around the world including Amazon, B&N, Apple, Kobo, WHSmith and Waterstone’s.

Here is a lovely interview and guest post from a site across the pond for my Caribbean mystery, DEADLY EYES. Please enjoy.
Mike Meyer
http://asidefromwriting.wordpress.com/

Deadly Currents, the first book in my RM Outdoor Adventures mystery series starring whitewater river ranger Mandy Tanner, is on-sale in Kindle format until June 30 at $1.99 (80% off Amazon's previous sale price)!! You can buy a copy here:
www.amazon.com/Currents-Outdoor-Adven...

The sale is to promote the release of the second book in the series, Wicked Eddies, so I hope you'll consider buying it, too. You can get both in Kindle format for less than the retail price of one.

Untreed Reads is thrilled to announce the release of this devilishly funny take on life, work and the thin line between heaven and hell. GOODBYE LUCIFER is now available worldwide.

Goodbye Lucifer by John Harold McCoy

Hell closes down when Lucifer falls in love, quits his job as the Prince of Darkness, and becomes a bartender in Ft. Lauderdale.

Deep in the rugged mountains of southern West Virginia, nestled in the cradle of an idyllic little valley, the tiny town of Brandell, and its colorful cast of lovable characters, hold an ancient secret.

Here, in this most unlikely of places, the women of Brandell Valley cook, clean, shop, gossip, dream, fall in love – and guard the gates of Hell.

The tranquility of daily life in the valley is disrupted when Lucifer finds a way out of the depths. He simply quits his job as the Devil, packs his bags, and heads for Florida.

Pandemonium erupts in the valley when, without the devil to keep things in check, various demons find their way out of Hell and wander into Brandell.

A rather likeable Lucifer, decidedly un-evil demons, sorcery gone awry, romance and hilarity set the tone of this heart-warming, very tall tale.

A Word from John Harold McCoy:

I live in St. Petersburg, Florida. I love it here. There are dolphins in the bay and parrots in the palm trees. There are miles of beautiful gulf beaches teaming with luscious young snow bunnies, and cool, dark bars where you can guzzle margaritas while hiding from the mid-day sun.

I write, read, eat, drink and sleep… and kick George (ill-tempered mutt) for crapping in the house. The four wives have all run off somewhere so I don’t have to take out the garbage till I’m good and ready, and the kids find me boring and stay away – till they need something.

I’m quite happy.

When I was 10, or so, I spent a few summers with my grand parents on their small farm just a few miles from Brandell, West Virginia. In the town, across the street from what I remember as a big scary looking house made of stone, was a drug store. There were candy jars on the soda fountain counter and comic books on a whirling rack. The strawberry sodas from the fountain were the best in the world – I thought.

A few doors down the street from the drugstore was the Brandell Theater – the only movie theater for many miles around.

That little town, in its little valley, was the inspiration for this book. I like to think the characters I’ve created truly haunt Brandell Valley, or at least my hazy memory of it. They fit so well there.

How to Purchase Goodbye Lucifer:

Goodbye Lucifer is $4.99 from The Untreed Reads Store. When you purchase from our store, you receive five of the most popular formats all for the same price: EPUB (compatible with Nook and most other readers), HTML, MOBI (for Kindle devices), PDB (for Palm Reader) and PDF.

You’ll also find the titles at virtually every ebook retailer around the world including Amazon, B&N, Apple, Kobo, WHSmith and Waterstone’s.

Know anybody interested in middle grade fantasy? http://www.wildchildpublishing.com/in...

If anyone likes short stories, I've just published a collection of 12. A couple of months ago I was cleaning out and organizing the attic and came across the files I have of Dad's writing. I read several short stories he had written and it got me thinking it would be fun to put together a collection of stories by Dad and me. So, that's what I did. There are 5 by Dad, 5 by me, and 2 that we co-authored. By co-authored I mean that Dad wrote them, then I edited, revised, and otherwise "played around with" them.

They range in length from 1-page vignettes, to 25-page stories and cover a span of more than 35 years. Some of mine were written back when I was in high school and college. Some of Dad's date back even farther than that.

The book is available in ebook format for the Kindle on Amazon.com and for the Nook at BarnesandNoble.com. Here are the respective links, as well as a link to my web site which lists all of our books that are currently available. At only $3.99, Selected Shorts is a steal.

http://www.amazon.com/Selected-Shorts...
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/selec...
http://merrillheath.wordpress.com

-Merrill

The 31st five-star review of The Survival of Thomas Ford, which popped up on Amazon UK a couple of days ago...thank-you Peter Urpeth!:

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Eerie, clever and original thriller, 26 Jun 2012
By Peter Urpeth - See all my reviewsAmazon Verified Purchase(What is this?)
This review is from: The Survival of Thomas Ford (Kindle Edition)
I became interested in this book after it was recommended to me by another author, and as a result of the string of top star reviews the book has received.Being of the belief that reader reviews are generally very reliable when in good number,I got a copy on kindle. I do not usually read thriller or suspense titles, though I'm always looking for those with an original twist or which are unusually well written, and this promised - and delivered - on both fronts. From the very start of this book, I was, as many other reviews have stated, gripped by the off-the-wall (but also familiar) characters, the twisting narrative and the fine pace and tone of the writing. The story builds with a deliberate and unrelenting pace, not rushed but judged to let events unfold with real tension. I don't like giving plot summaries, so I won't, but I very much recommend this title as a great read, fresh in the genre, tense and with a nicely sinister eye for when the seemingly ordinary and mundane can yield real threat value. I'm looking forward to Logan's next one.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Survival-...

http://www.amazon.com/The-Survival-Th...

Hi all! I just wanted to take a second to let you know that my blog has been featured in an article for the Hartford Examiner. This group has been a constant source of support, so thanks to everyone who participates in making it one of the best. Below is a link to the article. Please check it out if you get a chance.

http://www.examiner.com/article/a-boo...

-Ethan
http://e135-abookaweek.blogspot.com/

SUPER POSTS!!!

Deep sigh of relief - my fourth Murray of Letho book has just been uploaded to Kindle. After 24 hours of wrestling with jpg files, I can now breathe again!

'A hot summer in Fife, and Charles Murray, laird of Letho, is a busy man. His servants’ wing is leaking, his minister’s manse is falling down, his houseguest is annoying and his neighbour’s niece is entrancing. When an unknown woman dies mysteriously on his land, he can hardly find time to investigate her death – until it involves the whole village, and more violence follows. This is the fourth novel in the Murray of Letho series, set in Georgian Scotland.'

What a great idea, Rick! You're always thinking... :D

So sorry I have not been around much - it's a been a wild ride this past year or so - many changes - nothing horrendous, just, you know, LIFE! I will try to chime in more!

Sadly I have not completed my fiction projects (since I write and edit books for others for a living), but my movie review/recommendation book, A Book Full of Movies, has been out for a while. Wonder when I'll have time to finish volume 2, ha!

Just to chime in. I'm working on a crime/cop thriller. The project is going well. I'm about 40,000 words in so there is no turning back. I hope to have it done by September and will be offering review copies prior to release. Working title is 'A Dish Served Cold' which kind of gives away the theme.

Ken wrote: "Just to chime in. I'm working on a crime/cop thriller. The project is going well. I'm about 40,000 words in so there is no turning back. I hope to have it done by September and will be offering ..."

Ken- totally right- from the title I can already tell the main character of the book is a bowl of Gaspacho

Zuzana wrote: "What a great idea, Rick! You're always thinking... :D

So sorry I have not been around much - it's a been a wild ride this past year or so - many changes - nothing horrendous, just, you know, LIFE..."



Great Idea for a book Zuzana! I would strongly recommend you look into a 1937 forgotten treasure called MAKE WAY FOR TOMORROW for the follow up book- it is simply an unforgetable film..more timely now then even in 1937- An older couple loses their home and their 4 grown kids don't want to bother with helping them out- magnificent film- a favorite for over 30 years.