Gelati's Scoop

Vague? Ryan Jenkins says why not!

2012-01-31T07:19:00.000-08:00

He finds himself tangled deeper into the world of darkness. He is beginning to understand more, but there is so much more that is left unseen. He learns the truth about himself, but sometimes it seems, that you just can't go home. And you can't run from who you are today.Update. Having a slow work schedule is conducive to either writing more, or being lazy. Thankfully, the latter hasn't happened. With the addition of help from a wonderful friend and first reader, I have been able to finish up stories in top form. She is currently reading over the third part of my series due to be submitted soon. Part four is also in the works. Soooo many twists and stuff I haven't gotten to you, its crazy trying to fit it all in, in the time I have to work on it! And plus, my first reader enjoys having something to do! Along with these two other parts in the work, I have another story in production, set in a far distant future of a destroyed world. Probably won't be a series of stories like the one I am currently writing. But, with the way this series has progressed, I may have just lied in the last part!

Coming Soon-Roy H. Ryan's "Hot Button Issues For Religion and Politics"

2012-01-31T03:50:00.000-08:00

This book deals with the relationship of religion and politics and some of the hot-button moral/political issues we face as a nation. The first part of the book focuses on the historical and political foundations for how that relationship was shaped by our Founders. The second part focuses on issues that have become controversial in both religious and political spheres. No effort is made to provide easy answers to the profound questions raised bysuch issues. Rather, the author seeks to help the reader learn to thinkbiblically, theologically and ethically about these concerns.The relationship of religion and politics emerged in the formative years of our history, beginning with the first settlers, many of whom came to “The New World” for the very purpose of religious freedom. By the time the Republic was formed, there were many different religious groups represented in the various colonies. The Founders faced the issue of how to frame this relationship so that the new nation would not be dominated by any one religious group or favor one religion over another.Two Virginians, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, were the most influential in defining this relationship in the Constitution and particularly in the First Amendment. Jefferson held the view that there should be “A Wall of Separation” between the church and state. Madison’s sought to have “A Line of Separation”. In both cases it was clear that the new Republic would not support a state-church and would allow for the free exercise of religion. One famous Englishman, C. K. Chesterton, called American “The Nation With the Soul of a Church”. He further stated that it was the only nation in the world that was founded on a creed---that all people are equal and deserve justice. It is in this context that we will examine the “Hot ButtonIssues.Most of the book is devoted to looking at these important concerns/issues from a biblical/theological/ethical perspective. No simple answers are proposed but an effort is made to help the reader examine these hot-button issues by reflecting on the biblical/theological/ethical aspects of “the problem”.The issues considered in the text are: Human sexuality; abortion; war and peace; capital punishment; medical technology (end of life issues); religion in public schools and immigration. The author has sought to be fair in presenting a range of views on these difficult issues. Where appropriate, biblical material is either quoted or referenced, and an effort is made to look at the various traditions within the Judeo-Christian Tradition. The reader is encouraged to think with the author as these sensitive matters are considered. Roy H. Ryan, a retired United Methodist Minister, is a native of Mississippi.He served pastorates in Mississippi and Texas before becoming an Adult Education Specialist with The General Board of Discipleship of The United Methodist Church in Nashville, Tennessee. He served 22 years in that role. Roy is the author/editor of nine books on Christian Education. His articles have appeared in numerous church and professional publications. For many years he contributed regularly to the development and writing of curriculum resources through The United Methodist Publishing House. He has taught courses at SMU and Itawamba Community College. He is presently a free-lance writer and a regular teacher in his local church. He holds a B.A. degree in Sociology/Anthropology from Millsaps College; an M.Div (Master of Divinity) from Emory University’s Candler School of Theology; an S.T.M. (Master of Sacred Theology) from Southern Methodist University’s Perkins School of Theology; and a professional doctorate, D.Min (Doctor of Ministry)from the Divinity School of Vanderbilt University. The three professional degrees are in biblical/theological studies; Adult Christian Education and Theological Ethics. Roy lives with his wife, Doris, in The Traceway Retirement Community in Tupelo, Mississippi. The Ryans have three adult daughters and six young adult grandchildren. He continues to be involved in church, community and political affairs.

Part III -Mark Miller's Interview with The Co-Authors of "One-Volume 5-For The Love of All"

2012-01-30T12:16:00.000-08:00

MM: It is not surprising that you are both nature lovers, as well. You obviously have a connectedness to our world. That heightened awareness probably makes you more susceptible to the solitude of a good trail or the comfort of other creatures. Well, let’s bring this to a close. Please let our readers know what they can look forward to from you in the future.Scott: I’m in the process of writing a collection of short stories about intimate partnerships and connectedness.Melissa: I’m currently putting together a book based on the radio interview program, Tiferet Talk, which I host for the literary journal Tiferet. The publisher, Donna Baier Stein, has started a press associated with the journal, and the first book will be a compilation of the first year of Tiferet Talkinterviews. It’s filled with insight and wisdom about spirituality and writing. I was fortunate enough to interview people such as Julia Cameron, Robert Pinsky, Marc Allen, and Jeffrey Davis. They had so much to share. I can’t wait to see it all collected together as one book!

MM: I have two unusual questions that I like to end with. When you move on from here, if you get the opportunity to speak to your supreme being, what’s the one thing you have to ask?Scott: Are we there yet?Melissa: How may I serve you and my fellow beings?MM: Very nice. Lastly, if you were a flavor of ice cream, what would it be?Scott: Most definitely I would be “Infinitely Chocolate.” Or at least, I aspire to be. I think about the myriad variations of chocolate and equate that with all the experiences I want to taste within this lifetime. It’s about living deeply, giving and receiving, growing and developing in love and acceptance. There’s also the mystery and intrigue of chocolate, with its range of lightness and darkness, its sense of duality, and, of course, the wonderful mood-enhancing chemistry it produces in the body and brain. These are things that, until I evolve into my ‘chocolate-ness,’ I currently achieve as a mortal, through practicing connection with people, meditating, running, and writing.Melissa: One time in New York I ate at this little hole-in-the-wall Thai restaurant, which, so sadly, I cannot remember the name of. They served me a dessert of red bean ice cream drizzled with rose water and garnished with basil leaves and saffron threads. The ice cream itself was humble, created from a modest bean, but it was dressed so beautifully, and the whole concoction was a delicate interplay of complexity and simplicity. I would be that.MM: Thank you both for taking the time to talk with me. If anybody has not read For the Love of All, by Melissa and Scott, it is available from Trestle Press in a variety of eBook formats and sells for only 99 cents. Keep in mind, this is story #5, which means there are four other fantastic stories waiting for you.Here are some links important links:Melissa's Official Website - http://www.melissastuddard.com/Melissa's Facebook Author Page- https://www.facebook.com/pages/Melissa-Studdard/148177095246272Melissa's Blog - http://melissastuddard.blogspot.com/Mark Miller's One - Facebook Fan Page- http://www.facebook.com/MarkMillersOneSix Weeks to Yehidah - Move over, C.S. Lewis; Melissa Studdard is here! Annalise of the Verdant Hills is one of the most delightful protagonists to skip through the pages of literature since Dorothy landed in Oz. Join Annalise and her two walking, talking wondersheep as they travel to ever more outlandish places and meet outrageous and enlightening folk on their journey to discover interconnectedness in a seemingly disconnected world. Discover with them how just one person can be the start of the change we all strive for. A book for all ages, for all time: wonderful, wacky, and bursting with truth! http://tinyurl.com/7nzkm3nMy Yehidah: A Journal into the Story of You- Bursting at the seams with joy and truth, My Yehidah leads you through one of the most important adventures you can take: the journey to the center of your very own self. Filled with writing and drawing prompts and beautiful illustrations to color, this book is the perfect jump start for meaningful, creative exploration for people of all ages. My Yehidah is great as a standalone, but for even more fun, explore it alongside the bestselling, award-winning novel, Six Weeks to Yehidah. http://tinyurl.com/7uq776y

Jo-Anne Vandermeulen "Internet Marketing Made Easy"

2012-01-30T07:42:00.000-08:00

“Internet Marketing Made Easy”An accomplished and inspirational entrepreneur, Jo-Anne Vandermeulen is known for her: online social media & marketing Expertize; a best-selling fiction & nonfiction author; a successful founder & business operator; and an energized radio producer & host. Today, she is excited to announce her latest release “Internet Marketing Made Easy” ( http://www.thelauruscompany.com/book/internet-marketing-made-easy ) and share… Authors & Marketers:5 Most Asked Questions AnsweredThroughout the year, I have had many opportunities to submit and interviews. Some have been author focused…others have been market focused…and yet, my favourite is a blend. Perhaps it’s time not to consider both as separate.Wouldn’t your life be a lot easier if you combined yourself as both an author and marketer?Here are the top 5 most asked questions:1.) When should I start marketing?Building an author platform begins even before the book is released. John Kramer states that a blog should begin as soon as you come up with the idea or know what your book will be about.2.) I love to write, but I don’t even know where to start. What do I do first?Whether you are an aspiring author or published, I always give the same advice…start a blog. A website is good, but do you have a place where your followers can interact with you? Think of today’s marketing as more personal…mix formality with conversational writing.

“The best marketing is not selfish. It never has been. It’s caring. It’s understanding your customer or audience and giving them what they want. The best marketing is careful and detailed. The best marketing is personal.” >Carolyn Howard-Johnson – The Frugal Book Promoter and The Frugal Editor!Todd Rutherford – the “Publishing Guru”, Todd Rutherford, VP of Yorkshire Publishing<4.) Is there a formula or something I can follow to make sure my blog is what it takes to sell my book?Check out other bloggers who have high traffic. What makes their blogs successful? And if you’re wanting to sell your book, here’s a short checklist that you can use:Vital Checklist for Your Blog:_____ – my book cover is visible even before the reader scrolls._____ – there’s a purchase button (preferably embedded in the book cover) or directly under the book._____ – there’s a tab or button where readers can click and directly connect with me._____ – if given a brief personal bio of myself and I have my full name included._____ – the link to the purchase button goes directly to the purchase page._____ – a tab indicates more information about the book (brief synopsis, reviews)_____ – posts include valuable information for my audience and will be an awesome sample of my voice.

5.) How do you do it all? Being an author is one thing, but now I have to market?Combine authorship with marketing. Sort of like the saying goes, ‘kill 2 birds with 1 stone’. Use your blog as a place to write and market. Learn short-cuts by following the advice of experts. There are many of us out there who are so happy to help and give tips. Do a search and follow these experts. They will save you tons of time and energy. (pssst…I’ve quoted a few above…oh, and then there’s myself…and don’t forget Tony Eldridge).Oh, and if you want the easy way out…(here’s the plug…lol)…order my book, “Premium Promotional Tips for Writers”. The many many amazing 5-star Amazon reviews don’t lie. There have been others like you who’ve appreciated the much needed advice.Remember, on the Internet, you’re never alone. You can *conquer all obstacles*.

The G-ZONE schedule this week!

2012-01-30T04:50:00.001-08:00

Another great week on The G-ZONE!Great guests, plenty of fun and most of all: great stuff for any reader or author. Tune in,call in, email in a question, be part of the conversation!Monday Jan. 30 11.30 am EST- International Best-Selling author David L. HoofTues. Jan. 31 4pm EST- Jo-Anne VandermeulenWed. Feb 1 2.30 pm EST- Lisa DoctorThursday Feb. 2 5.30 pm EST – Stephen H. KingFriday –TGIF-Feb. 3 4pm EST-CK Webb/Anthony Neil Smith/Les Edgerton

Looking for Something Amazing to Stuff Those Ereaders With This Weekend? Here Are Some of Trestle Press New Releases This Week!

2012-01-27T11:33:00.000-08:00

“Amish Forever-Volume 4- A Cold Winter”- Roger Rheinheimer & Crystal Linn“Amish Knitting Circle- Volume 8- Wings To Fly”- Karen Anna Vogel“What Friends Are Made Of”- Randy K. Wallace“How I Met Your Mother- Volume 5- Shattered Glass”- Mark cooper“Slouching Toward Bethlehem- Volume 4- The Stranger in Dreams”- William Tooker“Without Notice”- Jason Hughes“The Man of Shadows-Volume 3”- Angel Zapata“Wicked Little Lies-Volume 3” –Tanya Contois“Pepper & Longstreet Mysteries-Volume 1-The Beginning”- JT Lewis“Down Moon Girl”-Kyle Hemmings“My Son’s Presence” –A.G. Wedgeworth“Eddy Evers Electric Detective Agency”- E.E. King“Sons of The King-Volume 2-Happy Niners”-Olivia and Mark Miller“The Pandora Case”- Whit Howland“Call Me Smitty-Volume 9-First Kill”- B.R. Stateham“A Joke”-Joshua J. Mark“The Next Best Seller”- David L. Hoof

Kevin Helmick to release "Heartland Gothic" this Weekend!

2012-01-27T06:57:00.000-08:00

Heartland Gothic is a black comedy of going home and reawaking. Depression, early midlife crisis, and strange small town eccentricities drive this gothic story of failed Hollywood screen writer Mark West after he survives losing his contract, agent, car, girlfriend, and a comical suicide attempt on the same day he gets the news his mother in Iowa has been killed by a drunk driver. Estranged from his Midwestern roots and nothing on the horizon Mark reluctantly returns to the Mississippi river valley he thought he’d left behind forever. His bigoted older brother Mickey, a bitter alcoholic father, and his slightly deranged younger brother Skyler, reconnect in a blood pact of murder and revenge for their mothers’ life. Kevin Lynn Helmick, the author of three novels and a collection of poetry was born in Fort Madison Iowa, 1963, the youngest of five. Helmick has lived and worked as a carpenter, writer, photographer and artist throughout the Midwest and now resides in Lake Villa IL. Inspired by writers like Salinger, Capote, Twain and Hemmingway his writing shows a modernist, satirical look at life in America in the modern age. Known for a fast pace style, bold and gritty dialogue that challenges social norms and absolute truths through novels like The Lost Creek Journal, Clovis Point, Sebastian Cross, and Heartland Gothic.

Part II-Mark Miler Interviews the Co-Authors of "One-Volume 5-For The Love of All"

2012-01-27T04:01:00.000-08:00

MM: And that is why you two fit so perfectly with the One series. It is exactly the idea that regardless of your religion or label, we are all travelling on the same path, riding in the same vehicle floating through space. Sorry, I got carried away. Back on topic, who are some of your writing influences that maybe led you to this way of believing?Scott: Among the most prominent would be Victor Frankl, Natalie Goldberg, Imaculee Ilibagiza W.O Mitchell, Pablo Neruda, and Og Mandino. Victor Frankl is possibly one of the most spiritually stirring influences in my life.Man’s Search for Meaning has been a well-spring of hope and inspiration for me both personally and professionally. I have studied formally with Natalie Goldberg for a few years now. Her pairing of Zen meditation and writing practice has been influential in the birth and development of my writing. Imaculee Ilibagiza touched me deeply with her account of surviving the Rwandan holocaust in Left to Tell, and shaped my outlook on people, the unbreakable human spirit and their indiminishable capacity to love under all circumstances. W.O. Mitchell affirmed for me the connectedness of all people and living things to each other and our connection to the earth. He was also one of the pioneers of freefall writing, another of my entry points into the world of writing and creative expression. Finally, I absolutely love everything Og Mandino has ever written, especially The Greatest Salesman in the World. And I can’t get enough of the poetry of Pablo Neruda.Melissa: There are so many authors and works that I love. I adore T.S. Eliot, Homer, Hermann Hesse, Elizabeth Cunningham, Rainer Maria Rilke, Henry David Thoreau, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Pablo Neruda, Rumi, Shakespeare, Walt Whitman, Dorothy Bryant, T. Coraghessan Boyle, Rabindranath Tagore, Chaucer. I loved One Hundred Years of Solitude by Marquez, Wild Mind by Natalie Goldberg. In addition to Rilke’s poetry, I’m nuts about his letters, and Vincent Van Gogh’s letters too. I’ve been influenced by Jorge Luis Borges’ Labyrinths, Italo Calvino’s Cosmicomics,Anne Sexton’s The Awful Rowing Towards God, writings byJonathan Swift, Franz Kafka, Sophocles, Cervantes, Emily Dickinson, James Redfield, and Wu Cheng'en. I’ve also been inspired by The Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland, and other children’s classics. I could go on for pages. I love to read, and reading is a huge foundation for my own writing. Let me just say that anything I read that is crafted with some authenticity of voice or spirit, even if it is very different from my own style and themes, is likely to inspire me in some way.

MM: My head is spinning. I recognize (and have read) more than a few of those. That is an impressive list and definitely grounds for much inspiration. It seems that all you do is read or write. I bet you do not own a television. Let’s jump from writing influences to spiritual influences. Go ahead, hit me with another impressive list.Scott: It’s funny, but I’m having trouble separating my writing and spiritual influences. Among the greatest - Og Mandino, James Allen, Eckhart Tolle, Paulo Coehlo, Mabel Dodge Luhan, Jesus and Bhudda. The impact of writers like James Allen, Og Mandino and Coehlo have had on me in terms of the power of thought and love and in striving for a life of service and authenticity is profound. Tolle informs my journey encouraging me to experience the miracle of being present. Mabel Dodge Luhan is a spirit guide for me, leading and informing me as events in my life unfold. I love the examples of Jesus and Buddha in terms of peacefulness and unconditional love, compassion and acceptance for all of humanity. As well I’d have to include a number of dear departed friends and relatives including a great Uncle from Norway, Jon O. Botun who will forever connect me to the spirituality of the outdoors.Melissa: I’m loving these opportunities to pay homage. Again, I could go on for pages. I’ve been profoundly influenced by the teachings of Jesus in the New Testament; Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama; and Thích Nhất Hạnh the Buddhist monk who was nominated for the Nobel Peace prize by Martin Luther King, Jr. All of them teach love.I’ve also been inspired by writers and works such as The Bhagavad Gītā, The Tao, Sogyal Rinpoche’s The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, Many Mansions by Gina Cerminera, The Jātakas, Viktor Fankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning, Julian of Norwich, St. Thomas Aquinas, Natalie Goldberg, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, Huston Smith, Deepak Chopra, Edgar Cayce, Mabel Dodge Luhan, Thomas Moore, Eckhart Tolle, Robert Monroe, Rūmī, Carl Jung, Hildegard of Bingen, and Joseph Campbell.I know the list is eclectic, but the links are pretty obvious: love, mysticism, and awareness.MM: I see a pattern there. We writers tend to be emotionally connected to our words. It’s that emotionality and spirituality that keeps us writing. I imagine that a painter or sculptor could say the same of their medium. Love, Art, Spirituality are all absolutely connected. And before we get to heavy, let’s back up to your bios. What is something about you that typically doesn’t make it onto the back flap of the dust cover?Scott: If I were able to write and trail-runsimultaneously, I’d be a very happy man. There’s something magical that happens to me when I run. And when I am trail running, the experience is ultimately more enhanced. I get to a meditative place, probably because of the breathing, the rhythmic nature of my feet dancing over the trails and the influence of my natural surroundings. The spirituality of nature has always spoken to me in a clear voice. I get into a place of relaxed yet intense focus. This combination of things sends my “inspiration-meter” over the top. I get all sorts of beautiful creative visions and inspiration for writing and the work I do, as well as messages from spiritual guides. It’s as much pure meditation as is my sitting practice. The ideas and images flow to me with ease, filling up my vision as I run. It’s a powerful experience and a precious gift that I’ve learned to honor and value in my development as a writer and a human being.Melissa: I’m a complete sucker for animals. I’m always picking things up on the side of the road – usually dogs and cats – but I’ve had foxes, raccoons, possums, and other types of critters. My daughter says if it weren’t for Scott, I’d be the crazy cat lady. I even tried to get a fawn into my car a few months ago because the land it lived on had been cleared for a hideous strip mall, the mom had already been hit by a car, and I figured it had nowhere to go. Right now I have four cats, but that number is always changing.

Joshua J. Mark releases "A Joke"

2012-01-26T16:12:00.000-08:00

Carl Miller isn't good with people and goes out of his way to avoid them. Eric Eastman is a popular architect and friends with everyone. When the two men meet, by chance, at Herm's bar, they strike up an instant friendship unfamiliar to Carl.His life begins to unfold in ways he could never have imagined until his new friend asks him for a favor. It's a very simple favor: he wants to play a joke on his wife. It should have all been so simple. It was supposed to be a joke. Joshua J. Mark is a freelance writer with over twenty years experience who has lived in Greece and Germany and, presently, lives in upstate New York, USA with his family. His published works include `To Memory’ through Edge Piece Magazine, `Civil Serpents' through Open Heart Publishing, `After the Funeral’ through Five Stop Stories, and `The Last Chance' through Halfway Down The Stairs, as well as other stories through print and on-line. Mark is also a site moderator for and has been published in Ancient History Encyclopedia, where he writes primarily on Mesopotamia, Greece and Egypt; Suite 101, writing on Ancient Philosophy and Ancient History; and inspirational non-fiction through Angels on the Earth and Pure Inspirational Thoughts.com. Mark holds advanced degrees in both English and Philosophy. He is a part-time teacher of philosophy and writing at Marist College where he is a recipient of the Faculty of the Year Award.

Interview Mark Miller & The Co-Authors of "One -Volume 5" Part one of a three part Interview

2012-01-26T03:32:00.000-08:00

Authors of One Interviews: Melissa Studdard and Scott Lutz Hopefully by now you have had a chance to read the latest story from the One series. For the Love of All is written by a best-selling, award-winning author along with a counselor who happens to be a talented author, as well as an outdoor enthusiast.“For the Love of All- Mark Miller's One, Story #5”I want to thank Melissa and Scott for sharing such a beautiful story and taking the time to do this interview. Let’s jump into the first question:MM: What inspired you to write this story?Scott: A chance meeting that turned out not to be chance at all. In the summer of 2011, during a silent mediation, walking, and writing retreat in Taos, New Mexico, I met a traveler who seemed to be on a journey similar to mine. Brought together by forces beyond both of us, we discovered a connection of remarkable depth and intimacy. What followed was an intense recognition of each other that was so stark and clear, even though we had never met before – at least not in this lifetime. Almost immediately, we began to realize a series of synchronicities so profound and frequent that they were undeniable, pointing us toward relationship, collaboration in writing, and united purpose in matters close to our hearts.Melissa: Scott said it so perfectly. Everything he said applies for me, as well.MM: So the river scene actually becomes a metaphor for your philosophy. I can see how you were brought together by currents beyond your control. Writing such a personal story could not be easy. I’m sure you’ve had plenty of practice. How long have you been writing?Scott: I’ve been writing since I was a kid. My mother used to have this massive Sperry Rand electric typewriter. I remember at the age of eight or nine sitting down in the middle of summer behind that awesome humming cream-colored machine. It would spit out print as fast as I could poke it in. I loved it! It was like a hot-rod I could rev up, and it would take me places while I wrote. During summer vacations, (my middle school sabbaticals) when every other kid was outside playing in the sunshine and fresh air, I’d be in my room hunkered down behind my wondrous word machine, clacking away, trying to get the keyboard to keep up with my ideas. I’d write research papers and essays about anything and everything. My brother and sister thought I was nuts. But I remember the exhilaration of being behind that amazing machine for hours, turning out page after page, completely energized by the experience of inking my thoughts on paper. That was the real beginning.Melissa: It really has happened in stages. I think I've always been writing in my head. I can remember making up dialogue while standing in front of the mirror blow drying my hair as a kid. I didn't really know what I was doing or why, but it was part of what fed into my writing later, and it was the earliest stage. Thankfully, I didn’t tell anyone about the “voices,” so they didn’t lock me up! I started actually writing in my early twenties, and that was the second stage. I enjoyed it, but wasn't serious about it, and I stopped for a long time as I focused on other things. It never felt right to not be writing, but I wasn't very self-aware yet, and I wasn't sure what was missing. I began again when I was in my thirties, and that's when I got serious about it. In the past I’d always grappled with whether or not I was spending my time wisely by sitting around making things up. I just felt like there were better contributions I could make. I felt that writing was frivolous and a type of self-indulgence. In my thirties, however, I began to view writing differently and to really understand the kinds of contributions literature has made and can continue to make to our world. It was then that I finally allowed myself to become immersed in what I should have been doing all along. Now I absolutely cannot imagine my life without writing. It has become an integral part of who I am.MM: Both of you are deeply immersed in writing. Speaking from experience, an author can develop interestinghabits, some might say, eccentricities. What is one of yours that you would like to reveal?Scott: I like writing early in the morning or late at night. It’s a habit or at least a pattern that my best writing emerges late at night, between midnight and two in the morning. Although I write at various points throughout the day, when midnight rolls around, I usually know something fun’s about to happen.Melissa: Only one eccentricity? I’m feeling a little hemmed in by this. Ha ha. Okay, when I’m really rolling, I somehow end up crouched in my chair like a frog that’s about to leap, or some sort of deranged, keyboard-happy yogi—feet flat on the chair, rear-end resting on my heels or suspended, forearms on my knees, hands on the keyboard. The position is called Malasana or Garland Pose. I don’t know how I get into this position, but I do, instinctively, and I love it because it’s a pose of extreme energy, alertness, and readiness. I feel that I’m open to receive and poised to deliver. Obviously I don’t stay this way very long because, quite frankly, it’s not very comfortable. But when I’m in the most intense part of any writing project, I instinctively end up sitting like this for at least a little while.MM: Melissa’s posing leads me into another topic. In your story, you meet at a type of spiritual retreat. In some faiths, people go to church, in others, they meditate. What more can you tell us about your faith that we don’t get from the story?Scott: I’m always struck by phenomenal examples of human-kind that cross my path quite unexpectedly. This has deepened my faith in people in general and the universe’s ability to constantly surprise me with people of incredible quality and experiences beyond my wildest imaginings.Over time, I’ve developed greater faith in the fact that love is the most powerful force in the universe. I’ve been fortunate enough to have witnessed how acts of love and courage beyond the norm can transform lives of chaos into lives of peacefulness, meaning, and order.One final factor that guides my faith is that I’ve become aware of a “Flow” in life, an invisible stream of energy and circumstance that runs along like a powerful silent river. I’ve experienced being in and out of this flow at different times in my life. Events and relationships move incredibly smoothly as if they were traveling gently along in the same serene river of energy. A deepening awareness of this flow reinforces my faith in a loving and orderly universe.Melissa: I don’t know if there is a word for what I am. Agnostic means you’re uncertain but thoughtfully considering. Atheistic means you don’t believe in a deity. I believe it all. I believe that Buddha attained enlightenment. I believe that Jesus is the son of God and came as our savior. I believe that Ganesha is a remover of obstacles and Guanyin is a goddess of compassion. I believe that shamans communicate with the spirit world.When you look at the common denominator among religions – to do to others as you would have done to yourself – the details of the different faiths don’t seem to matter as much, and it becomes easy to believe in their mutual relevance and that they can peacefully coexist.

New YA Mystery Series,"Pepper Jones" by J.T. Lewis

2012-01-25T12:08:00.000-08:00

Pepper Jones and her mysterious sidekick Jacob Longstreet are investigating a string of burglaries in her neighborhood when they get a little too close! Finding the bandit’s hideout, she is surprised when he appears and threatens her life. Only Longstreet’s amazing abilities saves the day.

Next, A strange day at the Mall turns into a life and death situation for Pepper and her partner Jacob Longstreet as they rush to save the lives of everyone there. Facing down the terrorist on the roof is one of the hardest things Pepper has ever had to force herself to do, while Jacob’s quick thinking saves the unsuspecting shoppers below.Join Pepper and Longstreet as they embark on a series of adventures that have been described as the next Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew mystery series.Ya paranormal/mystery short story.JT Lewis is an author living in Southeastern Indiana with his wife Susan and their two dogs. They have four kids in various stages of college and life away from the home. During the day, JT Lewis is an electrical contractor, morphing into the crime fighting author at night and on the weekends.He is the Author of 'Murder! Too Close To Home', an action-packed murder mystery and the first in the series 'The Adventures of Gabriel Celtic'. Following close behind will be the second in the series, ‘Gabriel’s Revenge’.JT has also started a YA series called 'Pepper and Longstreet', the adventures of 16 year old Pepper Jones and her mysterious sidekick Jacob Longstreet. Also on the horizon is a Sci-Fi blog series called 'Circles'.You can contact JT @:Jt.lewis.books@gmail.com https://www.facebook.com/JTLewis.Author http://jt-lewis.blogspot.com/ https://www.facebook.com/Murdr.Too.Close.To.Home

2 Days only –Wednesday and Thursday, $.99 only, the novella “Call Me Smitty-First Kill-Volume 9” by B.R. Stateham

2012-01-25T08:03:00.001-08:00

B.R. Stateham has a very nice series he has been working on called “Call Me Smitty”; it is about a hitman/assassin that at times has a very big heart and at others is as cold as dry ice.Starting today, Jan. 25th and ending tomorrow the 26th we are putting the newest installment in the series on sale for $.99. Normally we price a novella sized story at $2.99, but to get more readers interested in the series we are reducing the price for 48 hours.Here is the synopsis, the link to Amazon Kindle where you can get it, and B.R. Stateham’s author biography. He is a guest on The G-ZONE blogtalk radio show today at 4.30 pm EST, that link is here also:The G-ZONE: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/gelatisscoop/2012/01/25/br-stateham-and-friends-todayAmazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Call-Smitty-First-Kill--ebook/dp/B007128S36/ref=sr_1_sc_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1327503376&sr=1-1-spell Three more deadly stories featuring the dark-eyed hit man, Smitty. Story number one gives details on Smitty's very first hit, and the repercussions coming from allowing too much emotion to cloud his judgement. The second story has Smitty lying on the deck of a fishing boat. But this is no vacation, pilgrim. The third story has a father seeking his son. But who is the father? And where is the son? Three bloody tales following the bloody trails of a man who is very good at his job. Are you brave enough to read them? Leave a light on tonight when you go to bed. Smitty may be lurking in the shadows. B.R. Stateham is a fourteen year old boy trapped in a sixty-one year old body. His enthusiasm and boyish delight in anything mysterious and/or unknown continues.Writing novels, especially detectives, is just the avenue of escape which keeps the author’s mind sharp and inquisitive. He’s published a ton of short stories in online magazines like Crooked, Darkest Before the Dawn, Abandoned Towers, Pulp Metal Magazine, Suspense Magazine, A Twist of Noir, Angie’s Diary, Power Burn Flash, and Eastern Standard Crime. He writes both detective/mysteries, as well as science-fiction and fantasy.In 2008 the first book in the series featuring homicide detectives Turner Hahn and Frank Morales came out, called Murderous Passions. A Taste of Old Revenge is the second book in the seriesAlso in 2008 he self-published a fantasy novel entitled, Roland of the High Crags: Evil Arises. The novel, the first in a complex fantasy series, is about to be re-issued through a new ebook publishing house, Trestle Press.In 2009 he created a character named Smitty. In 2010 a collection of Smitty stories, and a two-novella set came out featuring this dark eyed killer, again by Trestle Press.Married to a long suffering wife for a quarter century, B.R. Stateham is the proud father of three and doting grandfather of five.

C.K. Webb Starts off The G-ZONE’s TGIF show!

2012-01-25T06:17:00.000-08:00

Author C.K. Webb will be my guest on Friday at 4pm EST on The G-ZONE ,my blogtalk radio show, to discuss her many projects. Following her will be Anthony Neil Smith and a great friend of the show, Les Edgerton. Tune in for the fun:http://www.blogtalkradio.com/gelatisscoop/2012/01/27/tgif-ck-webbanthony-neil-smith-les-edgertonHere is a little bit about the novels we will be talking about with C.K. Webb:

Cruelty To Innocents :Who’s abducting children from 911 emergency scenes?What if you were in your car alone with your small child and you came upon an emergency scene? Would you stop to help? What if, while you are trying to assist a victim of an accident or mugging, you left your young child alone in the car, thinking he or she would be safe. What if, instead of help, the call to 911 brought a terrifying, sinister result?Someone’s abducting children from 911 emergency scenes in Aberdeen Maryland, while their parents call for help and lend aid to accident victims. Someone who’s also listening in, is a monster and vicious child abductor. In the midst of the chaos and confusion of the scene, that monster slips in and steals the innocent children leaving behind no trace for authorities.Sloanne Kelly is unprepared for what awaits in her hometown as she travels back to Maryland. Her goddaughter is one of the victims and the clock is ticking. Together with her best friend and a local fireman, Shawn Tyler, Sloanne will face the most insidious of criminals and fight to recover the children before there is anymore, Cruelty to Innocents.

Collecting Innocents : Highway travel can be lonely and treacherous. Broken down vehicles litter the Emergency Lane like corpses on a battlefield. What if you were alone with no one to call when you found yourself stranded? Your only companion; your small child sleeping in the back seat. What would you do? On I-10 in Louisiana the answer is simple… you use the Emergency Call Box. But while you sigh a breath of relief in the knowledge that help is on its way, a much more sinister listener has heard your 911 call. Calls for help are coming in from Emergency Call Boxes along I-10 in Louisiana. But, when the State Trooper or wrecker service arrives to assist, there is no sign of the vehicle. Days later, the driver is found savagely murdered with no trace of their tiny passenger in sight. When a police officer, formerly of the Aberdeen Police Department sees a twisted pattern of murder and child abduction arising from 911 calls, he contacts Sloanne Kelly, now known for her work with child abduction cases. Together, Sloanne, Shawn Tyler and Mac Mackenzie, with the help of reporter Birney Sullivan, go on the hunt for a killer and the innocent children he is collecting. Author Bio’s:

CK Webb:CK Webb was born and raised in Mississippi, and dreamed of writing like the greats; Emily Bronte, Edgar Allen Poe, and Stephen King, to name a few. CK joined the US Navy and traveled the world, but eventually returned to settle down in the tiny town of Millport, Alabama. A self-proclaimed ‘reformed bad girl’, this thirty-something writer now shares her life with her husband and two beautiful children. CK also enjoys spending time with her friends, family, and book club. Although CK delights in preying on the fears of others and enjoys killing people…thankfully she does it the legal way; in her novels. She has just completed the first two novels in the 'Innocents' series which she co-wrote with her best-friend and mother, DJ Weaver. CK writes in a variety of other genres and also writes articles and book reviews for Suspense Magazine.

DJ Weaver:DJ Weaver originally hails from Pascagoula Mississippi, but relocated to north Mississippi in 1980. She took courses at Mississippi University for Woman and Mississippi State University, studying paralegalism and Human Resources Management and has worked in the clerical field for twenty-five years.DJ, along with her daughter and best friend, CK Webb, recently completed the first two in the three-novel Innocents series. She also writes in a variety of other genres.When she isn‘t writing, DJ develops and maintains WebbWeaver Review blog, where she reviews books and interviews published authors regularly. She serves as co-chairwoman of WebbWeaver Book Club and also writes book reviews for Suspense Magazine.DJ is a 50-something year old mother and grandmother who now works part-time and makes her home in Millport Alabama.

Horror and Alternate History meet in Williiam Tooker's "The Stranger in Dreams"

2012-01-24T08:33:00.000-08:00

Joe Vesper is a street smart survivor from Seattle who finally made his nut and got out. He relocated to the sleepy boardwalk town of Veil, CA and things started going his way. He finally bought the old house, the laid back book cafe and even the girl of his dreams had come within reach. But what Joe didn't know was why. Someone had been spying on his dreams and helped him achieve those goals. In return, all the stranger wants is to use Joe as a pawn in a 100 year old turf war between a silent film director and lumber baron both of which have been long dead.In addition to his work on Slouching Towards Bethlehem series WIlliam also writes for Matt Campbell's "Mythica" series previewed as a web comic at http://www.mattcampbellart.com/archive/mythica-1/, He is Co Founder of Creephouse Comics .creephousecomics.com, writer and creator of The October Watch graphic novels with Steven Fisher of http://www.cre8ivedifferences.blogspot.com. He is now also at work on The Arcanum Mundi which started with Pain Eaters and will soon be followed by Choosers of the Slain.During the day William works as tech support for a red letter cable company in Ohio and is attended by the gods Osiris, Horus, Ra, Eris and Pan.

Father/Daughter Team Olivia and Mark Miller release-"Sons of The King-Volume 2- Happy Niners"

2012-01-24T03:42:00.000-08:00

Another Title in the Trestle Press Digital Short Story Series:Mark Miller (One, Small World Global Protection Agency) teams with his daughter and first time author Olivia Miller.In Sons of the King, they have created a fantasy world with a touch of science fiction. In the land of Mysstira on the planet Kaskaya, a great King has three sons. When a mysterious visitor falls from the sky, their world is changed forever. The sons of the King will soon face their destiny.Episode Two centers on the annual religious celebration known as the Nine Days of Creation. The sons of the King experience all of the food, fun and games they can handle. Unfortunately, a shocking event interrupts their festivities.Olivia Miller is currently a full-time student. She completed a three year dual language program, in which she learned Spanish as a second language. Olivia is an Honor Roll member and has been recognized as a gifted student.Born in Kansas, she moved with her family to Florida at an early age. She has a passion for writing and a unique way with words. Sons of the King is her first collaboration with her father. She has many more stories to tell, but also holds a secret wish to sing on America’s Got Talent.Readers can find more about Olivia at www.MillerWords.com and on Goodreads.Mark currently resides in Florida with his family. He strives to follow in the footsteps of his namesake, Mark Twain.His father was a newspaper writer and editor for both the Kansas City Star and Kansan. Mark received his Bachelor’s Degree in Film from the University of Kansas. He has been influenced by great stories from C.S. Lewis, and Tolkien and Star Wars.Mark is the author of The Empyrical Tales. Book I: The Fourth Queen and Book II: The Lost Queen are available now. Book III: The Secret Queen is coming Spring 2012. Mark is also the creator of the spiritual eBook series “Mark Miller’s One”. The first story, “Meant To Be”, tells how he met his wife.Mark believes being a father of four makes him uniquely qualified to write his stories. He also has spent time in the classroom with third, fourth and fifth graders.

The G-ZONE this week!

2012-01-23T15:37:00.000-08:00

Tues.-Jan. 24-5pm EST- E.E. KingWeds.-Jan. 25-4.30 pm EST-B.R. Stateham and FriendsThurs.-Jan. 26-4pm EST-Ryan CunninghamFri.- Jan. 27-4Pm EST- C.K. Webb and at 4.30 pm EST Anthony Neil Smith & Les Edgerton-TGIF!!

The First "Call Me Smitty" story of 2012 "First Kill"!

2012-01-23T12:41:00.000-08:00

Three more deadly stories featuring the dark-eyed hit man, Smitty. Story number one gives details on Smitty's very first hit, and the repercussions coming from allowing too much emotion to cloud his judgement. The second story has Smitty lying on the deck of a fishing boat. But this is no vacation, pilgrim. The third story has a father seeking his son. But who is the father? And where is the son? Three bloody tales following the bloody trails of a man who is very good at his job. Are you brave enough to read them? Leave a light on tonight when you go to bed. Smitty may be lurking in the shadows. B.R. Stateham is a fourteen year old boy trapped in a sixty-one year old body. His enthusiasm and boyish delight in anything mysterious and/or unknown continues.Writing novels, especially detectives, is just the avenue of escape which keeps the author’s mind sharp and inquisitive. He’s published a ton of short stories in online magazines like Crooked, Darkest Before the Dawn, Abandoned Towers, Pulp Metal Magazine, Suspense Magazine, A Twist of Noir, Angie’s Diary, Power Burn Flash, and Eastern Standard Crime. He writes both detective/mysteries, as well as science-fiction and fantasy.In 2008 the first book in the series featuring homicide detectives Turner Hahn and Frank Morales came out, called Murderous Passions. A Taste of Old Revenge is the second book in the series. At the moment we’re in a searching pattern to find a publisher. Also in 2008 he self-published a fantasy novel entitled, Roland of the High Crags: Evil Arises. The novel, the first in a complex fantasy series, is about to be re-issued througha new ebook publishing house, Trestle Press.In 2009 he created a character named Smitty. In 2010 a collection of Smitty stories, and a two-novella set came out featuring this dark eyed killer, again by Trestle Press.Married to a long suffering wife for a quarter century, B.R. Stateham is the proud father of three and doting grandfather of five.

Poetry and Manga Art blend together in Kyle Hemmings "Down Moon Girl"

2012-01-23T06:48:00.000-08:00

Down Moon Girl (a word play on the Anime series, Sailor Moon) is a collection of hybrid poetry/prose/flash fiction inspired by Manga art. The pieces revolve around young women in love or in solitude, shape-shifting between reality and fantasy. The setting is an alternate-reality Tokyo or New York. There is a strong flavor of magic realism running throughout many of the pieces. But no matter the heroes or anti-heroes, the princesses or the street girls, an attempt is made to expose the bruised heart of desire.The author's motivation to write these short pieces was his fascination with characters from more than one world--one foot in the real, the other in the surreal. He wanted to combine urban fantasy with pop culture, to imbue flash fiction with a seductive romanticism, to create elusive and seductive characters, who become more than just pen and ink, who find a new life inside the reader. Kyle Hemmings lives and works in New Jersey. His work has been published in Elimae, Nano Fiction, Thunderclap Press, DeComp, Wigleaf, Juked, and elsewhere. He is the author of several chapbooks: Cat People (Scars Publications, 2011), Avenue C (2010), Hojo Boy (TenPagePress, 2011), and Tokyo Girls in Science Fiction (NAP, 2011). He has become a recent fan of Manga.

Out right Now & Climbing the Charts-"Amish Knitting Circle-Volume 8- Wings To Fly" Karen Anna Vogel

2012-01-21T10:45:00.000-08:00

Another Trestle Press Digital Short Story Series:Amish Knitting Circle is a continuing short story series about 6 women. Granny Weaver started the circle when she saw her wool was stronger when spun into yarn. So she starts a knitting circle, believing the women will be stronger as they face life together. Volume 8 ~ Wings to FlyIt’s now a blustery February in Smicksburg, PA. The Audubon Backyard Bird Count is underway, an annual event cherished by the Amish. Many in the knitting circle are counting birds, and learning life lessons from their feathered friends. ~ Luke watched birds with Ruth for the first time and they observe how well finches get along. ~ Lizzie learns from Granny about waiting on God to gain strength so she can glide like an eagle.~ Maryann is recovering from surgery and a judgmental heart, being cared for by unwed mother Lavina and Englisher Marge. Her love for others begins to soar. ~ Granny’s called to the bishop’s house to discuss her “addition” to Jane Austen novels and being too friendly toward the English. ~ Roman holds his breath as Amos comes from Lancaster to visit Lizzie.

A trusted English friend among many Amish in Western PA, and NY, I want to share with you about these wonderful people I admire.Amish Knitting Circle was birthed when Trestle Press asked Suzanne Woods Fisher to write an Amish serial, and she referred them to me. Thank you Suzanne! I LOVE Trestle Press!I write full-length novels and short story serials. I hope readers will learn a lot about Amish culture and traditions, and realize you don't have to be Amish to live a simple life.In my Amish Knitting Circle you'll follow the lives of 6 women in a knitting circle who are knitting for charity and helping each other through life's challenges, the Amish way. An authentic Amish recipe is at the end of each edition.Knit Together: An Amish Knitting Novel, is a complete book. Granny Weaver starts a knitting circle that's half Amish and half not. As they meet and knit and talk, they end up unifying the town made of two different cultures: Amish and English.I'm a graduate from Seton Hill University and Andersonville Theological Seminary. In my spare time I enjoy knitting, birding, photography, watching BBC Period Drama's and spending time with family and friends.

"Amish Forever-Volume 4-A Cold Winter" by Amazon Best-Selling Authors Roger Rheinheimer & Crystal Linn

2012-01-21T07:55:00.000-08:00

In this fourth of twelve installments of the Amish Forever continuing series, it is New Year’s Eve. This normally festive time in the Troyer household turns sad as family members – and Jed – recall the life and passing of Ava’s father, Amos. The New Year starts with a thundersnow, an usual blizzard, which causes much damage and financial loss. As a result, Aunt Rachael must tend to the household responsibilities by herself as the Troyer brothers need Ava’s help in clearing the storm debris. Ava must face a bleak future, wondering if the conversation she overheard at church about Zeke is true and the fear that she will never again be able to see Zeke, her beloved fruend, who rescued her. But love always finds a way…Roger Rheinheimer spent the first eighteen years of his life in northern Indiana. His father was the only doctor for a small town of 1200, and had a hitching rail on a side street by his office for the Amish patients. His father bought an eighty acre farm, and Roger and his older brother worked it, raising cattle and growing crops.While he was still in high school, Roger learned woodworking skills from Elmer Schlabach, his Amish mentor. They built houses in the old-fashioned tradition, from hand-mixing the concrete for the foundations to hand-nailing the shingles. The only phase they did not do was the electrical. To this day, Roger enjoys using his wood crafting skills, making acoustic guitars and furniture.Roger earned an undergraduate degree in Behavioral Psychology from a small private college in the Shenandoah Valley, took a Creative Writing class, loved it, and published a short story called My Brother. He was a regular contributing writer to the college newspaper.Roger has two novels in print and ebook, Amish Snow and Yield Spread: a novel. Crystal Linn is a free-lance writer and award-winning poet who teaches a variety of creative writing classes. Her third book, Poetry for Friends, is scheduled to be released in the spring of 2012. She lives in the greater Seattle area where she enjoys reading mysteries, writing poetry and sailing with friends and family.

"Without Notice" , Jason Hughes horror novel is released on Amazon Kindle this weekend!

2012-01-20T07:20:00.000-08:00

Amanda, an attractive young woman from Pittsburgh, has just walked in on her soon-to-be husband, Michael, cheating on her with a best friend. She leaves him a few days before her cancer stricken mother passes away to start over the best she can. Amanda moves into The Graystone Castle Apartment Complex. Soon after she arrives, strange murders begin to happen and no one has a clue who could be committing these horrible acts. Along with the stalker, Amanda is unsure if her neighboring tenants are friendly, or out to get her.

ABOUT the AUTHOR Jason grew up in Texas. He has always loved Horror (and nightmares) since a young age and was practically raised on it, from age one. He loves (true) Horror as brutal as it can be, as well as realistic. His favorite of the genre is seventies Horror. He plays the drums and has opened for some of his idol musicians. He has been writing since a very young age. When he was a teenager, he had three poems published in three different books. He has also been into special effects since a very young age. He attended College at Tom Savini's (another lifelong idol) Special Effects Program in Pennsylvania. From there, he met many other Horror icons and idols and has worked with them. He graduated the Special Effects program in 2004. He still does special effects today, as well as writing Novels and screenplays for Rebellious Cinema, Sick Flick Productions and American - International Pictures (AIP). His short stories can be found in anthologies such as Nocturnal Illumination, Ladies & Gentlemen of Horror 2010, Thirsty are the Damned, the Thadd Presley Presents series and several others. Other works can be found on - line at SNM Horror Magazine, Beyond the Dark Horizon & The Dark Fiction Spotlight. Jason was voted one of the best up and coming Horror Authors of 2009 - 2011, and his writing has been compared by many to Stephen King and H.P. Lovecraft. He has written articles for The Houston Examiner, Horrornews.net and Twisted Dreams Magazine. He edited the anthology, Moral Horror. Jason is an avid Supporter of The West Memphis Three (www.wm3.org). "The story is worth the read, trust me."-The Dark Fiction Spotlight"WITHOUT NOTICE is a truly great read and a book that you won't want to put down!"-House of Horror Magazine"Jason Hughes [WITHOUT NOTICE] took me for a whirlwind of shock, horror and mystery. I often wondered what would happen next to Amanda and actually started to feel sorry for the woman....Don't be distracted when reading this book, or you will miss what good writing is."-Terry Morgan, Sonar 4 Landing Dock Reviews

Whit Howland's "The Pandors Case" coming at you this weekend!

2012-01-20T04:48:00.000-08:00

Joey Pantera, a mid level gangster has been ordered to go to the bus depot and retrieve a brief case from its current occupant, by any means necessary. Unfortunately, he has to bring along Teller, a low level hood, trying to make name for himself in the syndicate. Things go from bad to worse when Joey is double crossed by Teller, and finds out that other sinister people want this same case and are willing to kill for it as well. Take a blood and guts tour with through this dark and seedy underworld full of ruthless clowns, brutal mimes, and other assorted lowlifes, on trail of The Pandora Case. When Whit Howland is not writing about westerns, he is fueled by a voracious appetite of crime fiction from the likes of Richard Stark, Joe r Lansdale, Mickey Spillane, James Ellroy, Seth Harwood, to name a few. An L A native he currently resides with his wife in Godfrey Illinois.

Coming Soon-New Trestle Press Titles this weekend!

2012-01-19T12:08:00.000-08:00

Here is a snapshot at some of the new titles coming out this week by Trestle Press authors:Karen Anna Vogel- Amish Knitting Circle volume 8Randy K. Wallace- What Friends Are Made OfMark Cooper- How I Met Your Mother- Volume 5- Shattered GlassWilliam Tooker- Slouching Towards Bethlehem- Volume 4- The Stranger In DreamsAngel Zapata-The Man Of Shadows- Volume 3Tanya Contois- Wicked Little Lies- Volume 3J.T. Lewis- Pepper & Longstreet Mysteries-Volume 1-The BeginningKyle Hemmings- Down Moon Girl- Volume 1A.G. Wedgeworth- My Son’s PresenceJason Hughes-Without NoticeMark and Olivia Miller- Sons of The King- Volume 2- Happy NinersWhit Howland- The Pandora CaseB.R. Stateham- Call Me Smitty – First KillRoger Rheinheimer & Crystal Linn- Amish Forever –Volume 4

Chantal Boudreau to release an Urban Fantasy Romance Novel Jan.28,"When You Whisper"!

2012-01-19T08:47:00.000-08:00

Addy began her childhood shrouded by abuse and depression. When her younger sister, Felicia, was born, Addy first heard the voice, identified only as Javan, that brought her comfort and escape from her troubles, one that offered her support and encouragement. As she grew older the voice stayed with her, sometimes accompanied by visions of a shimmering man and eventually providing her warnings when danger was near. Then Addy finally took the explosive stand that changed everything for her and Felicia. Entering a new life with different hopes and fears, she faces her future with so many questions. Who or what is Javan? Why does he whisper to her, giving her the love and companionship she so desperately needs? Is he real, or is she going mad? Chantal Boudreau is an accountant by day and an author/illustrator during evenings and weekends, who lives by the ocean in beautiful Nova Scotia, Canada with her husband and two children. In addition to being a CMA-MBA, she has a BA with a major in English from Dalhousie University. A member of the Horror Writers Association, she writes and illustrates predominantly horror, dark fantasy and fantasy and has had several of her stories published in a variety of horror anthologies, in online journals and magazines and as stand-alone digital shorts, many of which have been published through Trestle Press. Fervor, her debut novel, a dystopian science fantasy tale, was released in March of 2011 by May December Publications, followed by its sequel in December 2011. Magic University, the first in her fantasy series, Masters & Renegades, was released by MDP in September 2011. When You Whisper, her first full-length novel from Trestle Press, is also her first urban fantasy romance.

Steampunk? Yes Trestle Press has that! In Fact , We Love It!

2012-01-19T04:58:00.000-08:00

For those that may not know Steampunk has a wide variety of elements to it: History, Romance, Paranormal, Fantasy, Suspense, Action, and to top it all off some nifty language.Here are a few definitions of the genre: Steampunk is a subgenre of speculative fiction, usually set in an anachronistic Victorian or quasi-Victorian alternate history setting. It could be described by the slogan "What the past would look like if the future had happened sooner." It includes fiction with science fiction, fantasy or horror themes.Medieval Steampunk: Speculative fiction set during the Middle Ages.Victorian Steampunk: A modern Science Fiction work (post-1930s) that is set in the early parts of the industrial revolution.Western Steampunk: Science fiction set in the American Old West.Industrial/Modern Steampunk: Science fiction taking place in the late industrial age, early modern age; i.e. World War 1, World War 2Examples of steampunk:Wild Wild WestFinal Fantasy 7Van HelsingThe Time MachineHellboySky Captain and the World of Tomorrow Directly from Wikipedia:Steampunk is a subgenre of fantasy and speculative fiction that came into prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s. The term denotes works set in an era or world where STEAM POWER is still widely used—usually the 19th century, and often set in Victorian era England—but with prominent elements of either science fiction or fantasy, such as fictional technological inventions like those found in the works of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne, or real technological developments like the computer occurring at an earlier date. Other examples of steampunk contain alternate history-style presentations of "the path not taken" of such technology as dirigibles or analog computers; these frequently are presented in an idealized light, or a presumption of functionality. Currently Trestle Press has two authors that pen Steampunk:Michel R. Vaillancourt-“The Sauder Diaries-By Any Other Name”The Sauder Diaries take place in an alternate-history Earth, in the year 1888. The Crimean War ended as a stalemate with a ceasefire being signed in Paris, not a surrender. Europe is divided along the Allied and Russian Imperial borders by the Scorchlands, and by the pop-culture of the times, large sections of “civilized Europe” cannot be traveled due to bandits, renegade armies, and rogue mad science experiments.

It is against this backdrop that the story of Hans Sauder is told. Hans is the son of a German industrialist, on his way to University to study engineering and airship systems design. En route his passenger airship is attacked by an infamous pirate crew, the legendary Bloody Rose. Hans is taken prisoner and given the choice of joining the crew as an engineer, or taking his chances with parachuting into the wilds of Europe.Thus begins the “diaries”, detailing his travels — the reader is first treated to Hans' impressions of events and then gets to see what really happened.Hans and his new crew-mates are hunted by the airship navies of Allied Europe, chased into hiding in Egypt, board merchant ships over Germany, and visit hidden black market trade centers. Things really get rough when they are hired to undertake a dangerous mission in the skies of the Russian Empire.As the story unfolds, Hans' new life is further complicated by the romantic advances of the leader of the ship's gunner-marines, a ruthless and no-nonsense woman with a chip on her shoulder. As well, Hans is perpetually dogged by a deep conflict between his sense of morals and duty to his family, and the challenges and adventure of this new life he has discovered.The Community Fan Page for "The Sauder Diaries: By Any Other Name" can be found on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/the.sauder.diaries In brief about me, I am forty-two years old, currently living in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada. My day job is CEO & Alpha-Geek for a video conference hosting company. I’m married, I have a son and I have been reading and writing for most of my life. I have been involved in Steampunk for two years and a fan of adventure stories since I was twelve.You can find out more about me at http://about.me/michel.vaillancourt

S.L. Schmitz- “Mina’s Daughter…The Harker Chronicles”Ever since she turned eighteen, Katherine Wilhelmina Harker has been keeping a horrible secret; she craves human blood. But she has no idea where this terrible thirst comes from - all she knows is that her father is dead and her mother passed away last year in mysterious circumstances. Katie lives in the London apartments of her guardian, Dr. Seward, and does not want to let anyone know about the dark stranger who sometimes visits her at night.Now a teacher at the same academy her mother attended, Katie dreams of a world beyond London society, but is too frightened of her odd, newly-developing powers and her desire to drink the blood of all of the young gentlemen who call on her. She knows that there has to be more to the story of her birth than anyone will tell her, so now, to find out who she really is, Katie sets about locating the whereabouts of the missing Dr. Van Helsing to get the answers…

Westerns? Yes, Trestle Press Has them!

2012-01-18T06:48:00.000-08:00

Amazon Kindle Best-Selling author Heath Lowrance, Whit Howland and Henry P. Gravelle head up the trio of authors that Trestle Press has currently writing in the Western genre. Heath and Whit were guests on The G-ZONE blogtalk radio show yesterday discussing their love and fascination with the genre and all that goes into it. Here is the link to the show:http://www.blogtalkradio.com/gelatisscoop/2012/01/17/whit-howland-heath-lowrance-westerns Here is a glimpse at what each author has done with this dynamic genre:

Heath Lowrance-“That Damned Coyote Hill” “Hawthorne came to lay vengeance upon the heads of the guilty, and all the beasts of Hell wouldn't stop him..."Heath Lowrance is the author of THE BASTARD HAND and DIG TEN GRAVES. He lives near Detroit, Michigan."

Whit Howland-“The Cain Series- Good Smoke and Whiskey”Cain, an outlaw/bank robber is a man who is seeking redemption for his stormy and violent past. He wants to go someplace where no one has heard from him and start a new life. Unfortunately, crime is in his blood and he always manages to get caught up in one last shadowy scheme after another involving, cutthroats, conmen, and crafty double dealing saloon women.

Henry P. Gravelle- “Black Knife” Doctor Jacobi is a Confederate trained battlefield surgeon. Now, he practices medicine by travelling between out of the way towns. He hangs his shingle in Jamison Township but travels bi-weekly to the towns of Baron and Garrison Creek. He travels with his trusty Appaloosa, named Bell. She is his source of emotional saneness and safety as he talks with her of their adventures, issues, and problems, and it seems Bell understands. While the Doc and Bell make their way toward Baron Township, they confront two strangers who claim to have fought off an Indian war party. After the Doc directs them to Jamison, he finds a wounded Indian and must remove his arm to save him. The next day, he brings the Indian to his office in Baron.The Doc learns from a bartender that two strange men killed a friend and an Indian squaw, during a robbery. The Doc realizes the two he encountered are responsible and that they have gone to Jamison. In Baron, a saloon prostitute named Billy helps bring the Indian up to the Doc’s place. She is a classy woman from New Orleans, travelling across country but out of funds. She has taken to prostitution for money to continue her travels. The district Marshall named Garvey also travels like the Doc, visiting several towns and outposts within his territory. Garvey is a rough drunkard bully, who is partial to Billy and dislikes other men around her. He especially dislikes the Doc believing he is discreetly meeting with her. The town drunk, an old harmless Indian, sees Billy and the Doc bring the injured Indian upstairs to the doc’s office. He informs members of his tribe who are looking for the two men who killed the squaw. They come after the injured Indian. They learn the Doc knows where the two killers are and demand he take them to the two white men who killed the chief’s wife. The Doc hesitates until they threaten to kill Billy if he refuses; he reluctantly goes with them to Jamison.The Doc finds the two men at a diner. When confronted, he kills one; the other is captured and taken to the waiting Indians. As they lead the man away, the Marshal joins the Doc. They hear the screams of the man as the Indians torture him. Garvey tells the Doc he earned the reward for the two men. After the Doc brings Bell to the Livery to rest and feed, they discuss plans to wait for the reward money and give it to Billy so she can continue her travels.Henry P. Gravelle is the creator of the Buddy Sands Cases, Ten Wide, The Sketcher and The Closet of Lucy Pang, where the adventures of medically retired Boston police detective, Kevin “Buddy” Sands bring him into the world of criminals and creatures. Also the series of Doc Jacobi and his horse, Bell; a western series beginning with Black Knife. He has also penned The Bamboo Heart, Pug, The Fort Providence Watch, The Banshee and Apple Hill along with two short story collections, Ollie-Ollie Oxen Free and Epitaph. He is screenwriter for the short films, Cream, two sugars, El Paso and Chum, as well as co-writer for the feature films Gunner’s Rift and The Igloo Boys, both adapted from his novellas of the same names. The novellas Hobo and Bogieville were optioned for film as well. Henry has been cast in the films Johnny Taw, Little Boy Blue, Cream-two sugars and El Paso, as well as a feature character in the trailer for Final Hours, a feature film in pre-production for Story Street Productions.As a Playwright Henry’s short plays, The Last of the Meagans and Chum, were presented at the prestigious Sundance sponsored First Stage Playwrights festival in Hollywood, California. Double Walker received an Honorable Mention, and reading, at the Camino Real Playhouse, San Juan Capistrano, California. He is currently in pre-production with The Ten-Cent Tour, a showcase of six skits within one play.His stories have appeared in numerous print and Ezine publications. He attended Northeastern University in Boston and currently resides along the south shore of Massachusetts.www.henrygravelle.com

Meet Lisa Taylor, author of the "Shana Black"series

2012-01-17T15:47:00.000-08:00

Hello Trestle fans! My name is Lisa Taylor, and I’m one of those starving artist types; a writer, to be precise. Have I always, since my tiny little brain first recognized a word, wanted to be a writer? Heck no. In fact, a couple years ago I was about as far on the other end of the spectrum as I could get. Out of high school, I went to college at the United States Military Academy at West Point. There I earned a degree in physics while I trained to be a leader in the Army. Though I dreamt of making some earth shattering discovery that might tie the world we see together with the worlds we can’t, it was only a daydream, as much inspired by imagination as by science. I didn’t actually plan to be a physicist, because when one graduates from West Point, they must serve five years as an active duty officer in the U.S. Army; and my plan was to be in for life. Even then I wrote short stories and worked on a novel, but to me it was only a hobby. It had been a hobby since I was nine years old.Then real life hit. In my senior year I was diagnosed with a heart condition. Long story short, I graduated, but I was medically discharged from the Army. With a loan to pay and no job, I became a teaching assistant at the University of Kansas while I worked towards my Masters in physics. With all of my experience being either military or rooted in top secret government science projects…what else would I do?

Unfortunately, I’d never really planned to be a physicist. The more exposure I got to life in a lab, the more I realized that I should have chosen a different back up career. One night, I sat on the floor of my apartment, papers full of brain-bursting equations scattered before me, and I heard a ding at my computer. I had received a new comment on a short story I’d recently shared at a writing site online, and I grinned in elation.

That’s when it hit me. Why am I not doing something I love?So, against all advice, I left graduate school at the end of the semester to begin my writing career. Since then, I have published quite a few things, but the Shana Black Series is where all my experience meets writing. This story of a West Point Cadet gone secret agent is fictional, but I pour my experience into the world around her. This series gives a purpose to all the things I’ve done in my life up to this point, because I can share those experiences with my readers, and if you are already one of Shana’s faithful fans, then I thank you from the bottom of my heart. If you’re not, well it’s your lucky day, because with Trestle Press’s BOGO sale, you can buy two Shana Black installments and get the other two free of charge!My life has been full of adventure so far, and I don’t plan for that to end. To keep up with what I’m doing, you can follow me on Twitter, @BlackFire88, check out my website at http://www.creatingworldswithwords.com, or follow my blog at http://www.writersparty.com I’m also on Facebook and pretty much all major social networking sites. Thank you for listening to my rambling, and please know that I welcome questions, comments, or just plain old “hellos.” After all, without readers, what good would I be?

Nigel Bird’s “Smoke” – a Spinetingler Award Nominee- Best Novella 2011- Now Just $.99

2012-01-17T12:18:00.000-08:00

This is straight from Spinetingler magazine:“To honor the crime fiction novellas released in 2011 we are proud to announce the first annual Spinetingler Award for Best Novella. If the trend of novellas continues then this award will be folded in to the main awards in the future.The polls will be open until the end of the month.Congratulations to Raymond Embrack, Ray Banks, Fingers Murphy, Tom Piccirilli, Jack Tunney, Kio Stark, Nik Korpon, Gerard Brennan, Chuck Wendig and Nigel Bird

California can be bought hereEverything I Tell You is a Lie can be bought hereEvery Shallow Cut can be bought hereFelony Fists can be bought hereFollow Me Down can be bought hereOld Ghosts can be bought hereThe Point can be bought hereShotgun Gravy can be bought hereSmoke can be bought hereIn considering the award I read every mystery/crime novella that I could find that was released in 2011. I wound up reading 40+ novellas. I’m willing to make the full list of novellas that were considered available upon request. Send me an email or leave a comment here and I’ll send it to you.This from: Brian LindenmuthBrian is the non-fiction editor of Spinetingler magazine and one of the fiction editors of Snubnose Press. In addition to Spinetingler his work has appeared in Crimespree magazine and at BSC Review, Galleycat and the Mulholland Books website. He also heads the Spinetingler Award committee.About Spinetingler magazine:“The writing industry is often difficult to enter as an emerging writer. Writers are routinely rejected simply because their name or work is not known. Often, exceptional manuscripts are returned unread with a rejection form letter. Many of our staff writers have faced this challenge and know the frustration of spending months or even years waiting for the big break.We also realized that the publishing industry was not being responsive to the changes in the world. Too often an author is forced to mail a manuscript with an SASE to a magazine or publisher, required to spend time and money on a process that does not make sense in a world where doing things “online” is a normal way of doing business.That’s why we created Spinetingler Magazine. We want to entertain our audience while we promote and enhance the profile of talented emerging writers using the forum of electronic publishing. We know there are a lot of great stories out there that should have a place where they can be told, so we are providing that venue for them.”The link to their website- http://www.spinetinglermag.com/ You can cast your vote here- http://www.spinetinglermag.com/2012/01/16/2012-spinetigler-award-best-novella/ You can buy “Smoke” on Amazon Kindle - http://www.amazon.com/Smoke-ebook/dp/B005UO9USY/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1326760095&sr=1-1 You can buy “Smoke” on Amazon UK - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Smoke-ebook/dp/B005UO9USY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1326760331&sr=8-1 This week Trestle Press is running a BUY ONE GET ONE FREE SALE on its titles. If you purchase “Smoke “ today, we will be more than happy to send you another Trestle Press title free. The sale is on till the end of the week, Sunday Jan. 22,2012.We would also encourage you once you have read “Smoke” to vote for it. Please email us to get your free title-trestlepress@gmail.com About Nigel Bird:46 years. It's been a long journey. I've been a primary school teacher for almost half of them, moving from mainstream to exceptional needs to additional support needs. I'm most happy with and most proud of my own family. Second to them comes my involvement in writing and peripheral projects.I co-edited the Rue Bella magazine for 5 years or so and am mighty proud of that too. Recently I've been more involved with writing my own pieces.I've been lucky enough to find spaces for some of my work in some of the best crime/noir magazines around. In April 2011 my work will be showcased in the Best British Crime Stories collection where I'll be appearing with names that make me feel very humble indeed (Banks, Guthrie, Atkinson, McCall Smith, Cody...)I've given up gambling, alcohol, smoking and any kind of unnatural highs over the past few years and am looking for a new compulsion - maybe I've found it in Twitter.Yep, 46 years.I haven't always known it, but I've been a very lucky man indeed.

This week on The G-ZONE!

2012-01-16T05:56:00.000-08:00

Another incredible week of guests is coming at you this week! Here is the list of guests :Monday-Jan. 16- James Winter-11am ESTTuesday-Jan. 17- Whit Howland/Heath Lowrance- 4pm ESTWeds.-Jan. 18- Richard Lutman-12pm ESTThurs. - Jan. 19-D.P. Lyle- 4pm ESTFriday-Jan. 20- Great Minds Think Aloud -4pm EST

ONE DAY THROW DOWN! SALE WITHIN A SALE-PAUL D. BRAZILL’S “BRIT GRIT TOO -MONDAY- AND MONDAY ONLY -$.99, PLUS THE BUY ONE GET ONE FREE IS STILL IN FORCE!!

2012-01-16T04:28:00.000-08:00

Amazon Kindle Best-Selling and trailblazing author Paul D. Brazill has decided to drop the price of his legendary “Brit Grit Too” to $.99 for one day, Monday, January 16, 2012. If you purchase “Brit Grit Too” Trestle Press will match that with any title up to the full purchase price of $4.99 as part of the BOGO sale.Just email Paul D. Brazill or find him at his legendary blog- http://pdbrazill.blogspot.com/Or email Trestle Press directly with your proof of purchase-trestlepress@gmail.comThis is what you will find contained within “Brit Grit Too”: Edited by Paul D Brazill, Brit Grit Too collects 32 of Britain's best up and coming crime fiction writers to aid the charity Children 1st http://www.children1st.org.uk/The BRIT GRIT mob is coming to kick down your door with hobnailed boots. Kitchen-sink noir; petty-thief-louts; lives of quiet desperation; sharp, blood-stained slices of life; booze-sodden brawls from the bottom of the barrel and comedy that’s as black as it’s bitter—this is BRIT GRITTable of Contents.1. Two Fingers Of Noir by Alan Griffiths2. Looking For Jamie by Iain Rowan3. Stones In Me Pocket by Nigel Bird4. The Catch And The Fall by Luke Block5. A Long Time Coming by Paul Grzegorzek6. Loose Ends by Gary Dobb7. Graduation Day by Malcolm Holt8. Cry Baby by Victoria Watson9. The Savage World Of Men by Richard Godwin10. Hard Boiled Poem (a mystery) by Alan Savage11. A Dirty Job by Sue Harding12. Squaring The Circle by Nick Quantrill13. The Best Days Of My Life by Steven Porter14. Hanging Stan by Jason Michel15. The Wrong Place To Die by Nick Triplow16. Coffin Boy by Nick Mott17. Meat Is Murder by Colin Graham18. Adult Education by Graham Smith19. A Public Service by Col Bury 20. Hero by Pete Sortwell21. Snapshots by Paul D Brazill 22. Smoked by Luca Veste23. Geraldine by Andy Rivers24. A Minimum Of Reason by Nick Boldock25. Dope On A Rope by Darren Sant26. A Speck Of Dust by David Barber 27. Hard Times by Ian Ayris28. Never Ending by Fiona Johnson 29. Faces by Frank Duffy30. The Plebitarian by Danny Hogan 31. King Edward by Gerard Brennan32. Brit Grit by Charlie WadeSpinetingler Award nominee Paul D Brazill has had stories in loads of classy print and electronic magazines and anthologies, such as A Twist Of Noir, Beat To A Pulp, Crime Factory, Dark Valentine, Deadly Treats, Dirty Noir, Needle, Powder Burn Flash, Thrillers, Killers n Chillers, Noir Nation, Pulp Ink, Pulp Pusher, Radgepacket Volumes Four and Five, Shotgun Honey& The Mammoth Book Of Best British Crime Volume 8.He writes for Pulp Metal Magazine and Mean Streets.His blog, You Would Say That, Wouldn't You? is here:http://pdbrazill.blogspot.com/He is the creator of the horror/noir series, Drunk on the Moon, published by Trestle Press.

Trestle Press -BUY ONE GET FREE SALE FRO JAN. 14 TO JAN 22!!

2012-01-14T08:40:00.000-08:00

Starting today, Saturday January 14th through Sunday, January 22, 2012, Trestle Press will be having a BUY ONE TITLE GET ONE TITLE FREE SALE !!All of our titles are part of this sale, all of our authors will be participating in it, and all you have to do is when you purchase one of our stories send us the proof of purchase and we will be happy to send you the title of your choice that is of equal value. You can email us in one of three ways; send the proof of purchase by email to one of the following:-the authors of the titles you purchased and get your free titles directly from them.-Trestle Press: trestlepress@gmail.com -Giovanni Gelati:gelati.giovanni@gmail.comWe have a wealth of talented authors at Trestle Press and there are many great stories to discover and read. As the week goes on there will be a few surprises thrown into this sale, so please stay tuned to our website: www.trestlepresspublishing.com or your favorite authors’ websites or blogs.Feel free to follow us at our website for all the upcoming news and events surrounding all of the Trestle Press authors as they create more Best-Selling novels, novellas, short stories and series for you to follow and enjoy.We hope that you will join us and our authors as we make our journey and try to blaze a new trail in this wide open world of publishing. Without you all is for naught; for everything we do, we do for you the reader!Have fun and happy reading!!

This week on The G-ZONE

2012-01-09T03:44:00.000-08:00

Another week full of fun and surprises. Here is the guest list and times: Monday-Allan Zendell-11am ESTTuesday- Kyle Hemmings-6pm ESTWeds- Joe Edd Morris- 4pm ESTThursday- Josh Mark-4pm ESTFriday-The Mayor & Deputy Mayor of Book Town and Manjo Rao- the fun starts at 6pm EST

The G-ZONE Today and Next Week!!!

2011-12-30T06:04:00.000-08:00

Before everybody forgets about 2011, I wanted to get the schedule for The G-ZONE out there for the first week of the New Year.*****Don’t miss out on Tracey Krauss today from the Edgy Christian Fiction social networking website. It is a great resource for readers and writers. She is with me@11 am EST Today. ****************** January 2-Josh Marks- 4pmESTJan 3-Henry E Ravelle-7pm ESTJan. 4- Joe Perrone Jr.-9am ESTJan. 5-Whit Howland-4 pm ESTJan 7-Kevin Hemlick-11am ESTIf you want to be a guest on the show just email me: we would love to have you on.gelati.giovanni@gmail.comHappy New Years everybody!!

So you want to know who Wenona Hulsey is when I'm not a writer.

2011-12-29T07:54:00.000-08:00

So you want to know who Wenona Hulsey is when I'm not a writer. Very hard thing to do is separate my life from my writing. My mind is always spinning on a scene or looking for inspiration to strike, even while I slave away at my day job as a shipping manager for a medium size company or while I'm taking my two kids shopping or to the lake. I don't think I have a life that can be separated because my writing is part of my day to day life just like eating at my favorite Chinese restaurant or lounging in a book store, it's just part of me.

If I was to define me I would say I am the proud mother of two wonderful children, a boy age 6 and a girl age 15. I work forty or more hours a week at a blue collar day job and I am known as the woman who is always reading or writing. I carry my Kindle with me everywhere and my laptop is close by for when an idea strikes.I'm currently working on the last book of the Nicole Keenan Series, titled Blood of Fire. It should be hitting ebook shelves Spring of 2012 via the wonderful Trestle Press Publishing. The series is a Paranormal Romance/ Urban Fantasy with a healthy dose of humor and suspense. Suggested reading order for the series is to start with the novelette Blood Awakening, then dive into the full length novel Burden of Blood then put Blood of Fire on your wish list for when the final book of the series is set loose on the world.I also love social networks so if you would like to keep up with the latest in my world just add me. I'm always up for a good chat!Wenona Hulsey's Author's Page on FacebookWenona Hulsey on TwitterWenona Hulsey on Google +

Mark Cooper-The Shadow of al-Khayal

2011-12-27T06:13:00.000-08:00

The Shadow of al-KhayalI know – the heading makes it sound like a Lovecraftian pastiche, but bear with me – there’s a point here somewhere.My wife asked me when I started writing. After some serious thought I answered that I probably started in earnest sometime around 2004 but I’d been writing off and on since late 2001. Although September 11th wasn’t a source of inspiration for my urge to write I would have to admit that it provided a form of contextual background to it – especially when you consider the somewhat sketchy nature of al-Qaeda as it was being portrayed in the mass media at the time. It was like SPECTRA from the James Bond universe or COBRA from GI Joe had sprung out of the realm of fantasy and into the real world. Our real world – and it all seemed uncomfortable and frightening. Would anyone have been all that surprised if Osama Bin Laden had appeared on television that night and stated that he had a death ray positioned on the Moon that was aimed at the world’s capital cities and he was demanding one million dollars with his little pinkie pointing at his lip, ala Dr Evil? Fast forward to about 2004 and I found myself a member of a long since defunct Yahoo group where someone brought up the portrayal of spies in fiction. I recall that one particularly illuminating discussion revolved around the fact that the British Secret Service only actually pays its field operatives around £27,000 a year and that the burn out rate of operatives, particularly women, was extremely high. Also, the emotional complications that a life of deceit and subterfuge wrought upon agents were catastrophic with many of them developing addiction and trust issues later in life. Thus the genesis of “How I Met Your Mother” came to pass. Originally the series was going to be called “Selina Summers, Agent of PATRIOT” but it was clear after the first two parts were complete that I’d veered away from my original intention and I’d simply created something more akin to a comic book character than a quasi-realistic espionage series. So it was mothballed until mid 2008 when I dusted it off and re-tooled it, resulting in the series as it currently stands. I’ll admit that I tend to write in a sort of hyper-realised sort of style and I lay the blame for that squarely on the shoulders of my comic-book reading past and present – I seem to think of things in terms of a nine-panel lay out and four piece story arcs.Thanks Simon Furman – that’s all your fault. The Paranormal“Blood” was a conscious effort to try something different – sort of like a detective story set against a backdrop of biological tampering. It actually came about from an article I read about the real-life condition called Porphyric` Haemophilia which gives it’s suffers the insatiable thirst for human blood. It struck me that something like this could have been the genesis of all those vampire stories you read about during the Middle Ages – in the same way that real-life lycanthropy influenced the concept of the Werewolf. I’d also been reading about some medical experiments in Nazi concentration camps around that time too, so the fusion of the two ideas seemed to make sense. Who knows, maybe there’s a prequel to it somewhere around the title of “Nazi Werewolves of the SS” – although I still think that “Zombie Disco Diva’s From Hell” is a book that’s just screaming to be written by someone. A Guy Called BobI work with a guy called Bob. Bob is a nice guy – I’ve worked with him for nearly 19 years. I know what car he drives, where he lives and what his favourite food at lunch is. However, I could count the number of conversations I’ve had with Bob on the fingers of two hands. You see our exchanges are generally limited to the pleasant, polite refrain of “Alright Bob/Alright Mark” as we pass each other in the office.Bob represents the reality of life in an office these days – especially the more cubicle orientated structure of the late 90s and early 00s. Our interactions are ephemeral; our friendship is fleeting and restricted to a particular location – I’m sure if I knew Bob outside the office then we’d be friends but the fact of the matter remains that I don’t.So, this leads me to an interesting conundrum – could I count on Bob in a time of crisis? When the world is falling apart would Bob have my back? Fortunately I’m not in the position whereby I need to find out – the closest thing to a disaster we ever experience is the weekly fire drill. However, the reality of the world of “Infection” is that people are forced into alliances with other survivors who they may not actually know and who often have conflicting goals. So there you go – a brief summary of everything that Trestle Press have published so far. I guess that brings this little guest post to a close, except for me to sign off by saying one final thing…BUY MY BOOKS! BUY MY BOOKS! RegardsMark

Q&A with Rod Rees,author of "The Demi-Monde:Winter"

2011-12-26T08:08:00.000-08:00

Q: In The Demi-Monde you introduce a myriad of religions that are loosely based on ones that exist today (e.g. UnFunDaMentalism, HerEticalism etc.). Why did you decide to incorporate these into the story? When I was first designing the Demi-Monde I wanted each of the four books to be set in one of five different Sectors so that there was something new and unexpected in every instalment to intrigue the reader and keep the story fresh. As the DM is a war zone I decided there would be ‘Areas of Tension’ that would provoke the Sectors to be continually at each other’s throats. And the Areas of Tension I chose were those I thought would be simultaneously the most fun for me as a writer to explore and the most provocative: to paraphrase Mr. Bennet, what are the foibles of the human race for, if not to be made sport of. So I finally decided to make the inter-Sector antagonisms stem from differences in race, religion, gender and sexual orientation ... and the greatest of these was religion.The religions I developed for the Demi-Monde – UnFunDaMentalism, ImPuritanism, HerEticalism, HimPerialism, RaTionalism, nuJuism and Confusionism – are merely the religions of our world stretched and distorted to breaking point, my belief being that only by showing a belief system in extremis is it possible to see it as it really is. Reductio ad absurdum and all that. I’d love the Demi-Monde series to be remembered for its satirical aspect. Satire is the way a belief system is stress tested.

Q: How does a nice guy like you come up with a high-concept, absolutely nightmarish book concept like this?I’m a qualified accountant!Q: Ella, your jazz-singer protagonist/heroine, must be an homage to your wife? In what way do you envision a jazz artist equipped to save the world …even/especially if it’s a cruel, pseudo-steampunk-cyberworld?Believe me, Nelli could sort out any world, cruel or otherwise! As you say, Nelli’s a jazz singer and as her manager I got involved with helping her write material and choose songs. This necessitated me reading a lot about the golden age jazz musicians and the conclusion I came to was that these people were gifted left-field thinkers, so it was natural when I was looking for a template for Ella that I should think of her as a jazzer. I mean, if people like Billie, Dizzy, Charlie, Louie et al. could cope with the prejudices and antagonisms our world threw at them, dealing with the Demi-Monde would have been a snap.Q: The Demi-Monde is really a place where testosterone was allowed to run free—yet your two most heroic figures are both females. Can you explain the dynamic at play? It’s a difficult question to answer: having three (they all get to be heroic in the end) rather feisty girls as lead characters just seemed the right thing to do. I suppose as I wanted one of my characters to be ‘in peril’ at the beginning of the story it was a natural (tho’ somewhat clichéd) inclination to make her female, but then to have made the character male would have changed the dynamics of how I planned to have the story develop. The trouble with this rationale is that all the new, heroic figures in later books also tend to be female (UnScrewed Liberationist, Odette Aroca in ‘Spring’ and Fresh Bloom, Dong E in ‘Summer’) so I guess this is just a subconscious nod on my part to the fact that this is going to be a century when women take the reins of running the world (and not a moment too soon in my opinion!). And, of course, having two smart, tough and very ambitious teenage daughters probably had something to do with this thought process (though I’m not going to be drawn as to which personality traits belongs to which character; Kit and Ellie know where I live!). Q: The Dupes: how much fun did you have re-envisioning the most criminal, the most evil, humans in history, and how did you select the ones that you set loose (in their alternate personas) within the Demi-Monde?There are eighteen PreLived Dupes (digital duplicates) loose in the DM; these über-psychotics of history intended to provide ‘aberrational leadership’ to the thirty-million Dupes who inhabit my virtual world. In selecting them I tried to steer away from the obvious—Hitler and Stalin for example—as they have become a little hackneyed in the fantasy stakes. I tried to pick the lesser-known of history’s b******. Some I knew from my history lessons at school—Heydrich, Shaka Zulu and Robespierre for example. Beria I read about when I lived in Russia in the early 90s. Crowley I remembered from the Dennis Wheatley books. Archie Clement (what a find!) I stumbled on when I was researching Jesse James and the rest from Googling ‘monsters’ and ‘psychotics’. I did have trouble finding female Singularities though and this is what ultimately led to my idea for the series denouement.Q: Is it plausible that any government is working on a Demi-Monde of its own at this very moment?I pulled this off today’s web:The Army wants to develop a massive virtual world populated by 10,000 avatars that are managed by artificial intelligence and operate over a 32-mile square simulated landscape.Officials at the Army Research, Development and Engineering Command's Simulation and Technology Training Center said they want a systems integrator to put together a virtual world that includes soldiers, vehicles and weapons that can move around a landscape built from Defense Department digital terrain elevation data.The Simulation and Technology Training Center also said in its request for information that it wants to incorporate technologies used in massively multiplayer online games and offer classified and unclassified versions.The Army is looking for the contractor to create avatars that have the same kind of Web 2.0 communications found in the real world, including chat, instant messaging and links to smart phones.Based on the requirements, the Army is likely to choose a closed world open only to its personnel, and not a public world such as Second Life, which is open to everyone, said Dan Frank, managing partner for Three Wire Systems , a virtual world developer in Vienna, Va., which placed first in this year's Federal Virtual World Challenge.Now I hope the similarities with my Demi-Monde end there, ‘cos otherwise we’re in deep, deep, shit! The funny thing is that in the early days of my website I had a lot of hits from the US military: I wonder if I should demand royalties?Q: Prior to your career as a writer, you did quite a bit of traveling around the world. How did this, if at all, directly affect your perception while writing this story?As you say, I’ve got a lot of mileage (air-mileage as it happens). I lived in Tehran during the final days of the Shah, I was in Moscow when Communism crumbled and I’ve worked in Nigeria, Somalia, Burundi and several other of the more mal-managed, mal-nourished and mal-f***ed countries of the world so I’ve seen and experienced chaos at first hand. Walking through the streets of Lagos at night informs you in a very visceral way about what life might be like in a world like the Demi-Monde.But there is more to it than that. Living and working throughout the world has convinced me of one thing: that all men are created equal in their duplicity and their ability to say one thing and do another. Duplicity is a theme running through The Demi-Monde ... as is my questioning of whether there is intelligent life on earth.Q: There’s a great map included in the front of the book. I saw an earlier version of it on your Facebook page as well. How did you decide which cities to include in each of the regions?Generally they were cities I knew – London, St. Petersburg, Paris, Harare, Istanbul, Cairo, Venice. It’s so much easier to write from experience than from the imagination.Q: Do your books have a soundtrack, and if so, what’s the soundtrack for this one? I’m listening to an album by Cachaito (Cuban bass player) at the moment (brilliant) whose playing I’d love to think my writing emulated (fluid, effortless, spellbinding … I wish) but if I had to pick an album that encapsulates the book I’m currently struggling with I’d pick Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew: inspired in parts but the whole thing is teetering on the brink of collapse. I’m also putting together Nelli’s second album (she’s a nuJazz singer): I’ve just posted some of her stuff on YouTube (The UnFunDaMentalists, featuring Nelli Rees).Q: Are you a keen researcher – and has that research ever changed the course of the story? Yeah, I do a lot of research. I might write about fantastic worlds but I want them to have a coherency that persuades my readers to suspend disbelief. And yes, as I have a number of historical characters popping up in the Demi-Monde I have to regularly tweak the story when I realise that their public persona doesn’t quite match the reality unearthed by my research. Percy Shelley was a case in point: what a wuss …About the author: Rod Rees has spent his life traveling throughout Africa, the Middle East, Bangladesh, and Russia, and consequently found himself living in Qatar, Tehran, and Moscow. He has built pharmaceutical factories in Dhaka, set up a satellite communication network in Moscow, and conceived and designed a jazz-themed hotel in the UK. Now a full-time writer, he lives near Derby, England, with his wife, Nelli, and their two children.

New Releases from Trestle Press in time for Christmas!!

2011-12-22T11:34:00.000-08:00

New Releases from Trestle Press in time for Christmas!!Trestle Press has released another bunch of incredible stories just in time for Christmas to feed those hungry ereaders. Without further ado, here they are: FULL LENGTH NOVELS:J.T. Lewis- Murder! Too Close to HomePaul Grzegorzek-The FollowPaul D. Brazill- Brit Grit TooDavid L. Hoof-Triple JeopardyMichel R. Vaillancourt-The Sauder Diaries: By Any Other NameFrank Duffy-Between These Pages,These PlacesErich Beller-The Wolf and The BearJoe Brennan-SUPERDOLLARNovella:Stephen H. King- Undercover TruthsGraham Smith- Harry Charter ChroniclesDigital Short Stories:Malcolm Holt- Crime Tyne Shots-Volume 2- Birthday GirlMina’s Daughter…The Harker Chronicles-Volume 3Mark Miller- Stories of Queens’ Day-Holiday Inspiration From The Land of EmpyreanChantal Boudreau-InsuranceB.R. Stateham-Call Me Smitty-Volume 8-Fairwell,BrotherGeorge Michael Loughmueller-An Amish Journey-Set Free-Volume 2-The Hat on The WaterRoger Rheinheimer/Crystal Linn- Amish Forever-Volume 3-A Plain ChristmasMark Miller-One –Volume 4-The Hand of GodD.L. Coleman-Killer Story

ICE-Read all about it!

2011-12-22T03:17:00.000-08:00

ICE - International Community of E-PublishingGoal: • To recognize and promote work of independent authors, agents, editor, publishers and other e-publishing professionals.• To be able to vet outstanding writing and to provide assistance, via connections to other e-pub professionals to help an author produce quality work and product.Membership: • Open to all participants who are working to produce emedia work.• Open to all genres of writing.Membership Dues: Open for discussion. We will need a way to finance this and possibly offer some type of award of recognition in the future. We will also need funds to promote the work of individual members and support a webpage and email lists, etc.• Individual membership - author level (eBook, eZines only)• Individual membership - author level -(eBooks, etc. printed material)• Individual membership - Blogs, Podcasters and Reviewers• Individual membership - editor, agents, based on 3 or more clients• Corporate membership - e-publishing businessAward Criteria: • Maybe establish protocol like Kindle Book Review? At least 5 reviews, 4-stars or more, before it can be considered.• Independent board of readers who will vote on titles (majority rules if it's in or out)? There will always be *some* exclusion• Categories based on length: Flash, Short Story, Novella, Novel, Multi-media (Like B.R.'s idea)Professional Guidelines and Bylaws: to be developed.Cross Professional Affiliations: This is something the organization may want to consider. I don't want to be exclusionary to the point of like MWA or Romance Writers. I would rather reach out to these organizations and try to build a case of value for all.To contact Aldo Calcagno please email: mysdawg@sbcglobal.net

2011-12-21T12:25:00.000-08:00

Today at 5.30 pm EST Aldo Calcagno will be dropping a bomb of a new idea he has called ICE. DO NOT MISS THIS11http://www.blogtalkradio.com/gelatisscoop/2011/12/21/aldo-calcagnoanastasia-v-pergakis-and-cheryl-riker

Please meet George Michael Loughmuller

2011-12-21T05:00:00.000-08:00

My name is George, but for the moment please allow me to be frank.Two things up front: I’m not a writer and I’m not a web surfer.When I say I’m not a writer, I mean I didn’t plan to be. I have a good life and a wonderful family. My friends all say I tell good stories and a few of them pushed me to writing them down. See, there’s this publisher called Trestle Press and they are making waves, becoming known. So my friend says send that story to them. I did and here we are.

Point number two: I don’t use the internet...much. Sure, I’ve been on the web. I’ve had my free trial of Netflix. By the by, I prefer going into the local mom and pop store. There is something soothing about browsing the shelves, especially when I’m the only one in there. Aside from that, I see why they call it a web. I felt like I got stuck. Fortunately, I have been blessed with a brilliant guide named Giovanni to fumigate the spiders and cut through all the webs. Now, I’m on Facebook, Goodreads, Amazon and so many other sites.So those two things combine. Now I have a series. It’s fiction, but the inspiration is from things in my life and based on some things my grandpa did. My dad sure thought he was crazy, which probably pushed him away from grandpa’s beliefs. When you’re a teenager, I guess you know everything. I wish I could remember half the stuff I knew back then. Anyway, I decided to show my dad and become more religious than he ever was. In his last years, we got along well though. He told me a lot about my grandpa. My aim is to turn those stories into something entertaining for you.I hope you enjoy them and maybe they will strengthen your spirit too!Oh, and please come visit me at www.facebook.com/LaughingGeorge

How to Create Quality Characters by John Hansen

2011-12-20T03:09:00.000-08:00

How To Create Quality CharactersBy John HansenCreating and developing characters is never an easy task, but there are numerous, easy ways to approach it. In this post, I’ll share my method for this madness, but keep in mind there are many other just as successful ways as well. I tend to base a book off of a plot idea and then build the characters off of that plot. However, some authors prefer to start with the characters first, which is also fine. Using the plot idea I create, I judge what type of characters should go into the story. I always make sure that they are all loveable and relatable – except my antagonist or if this is horror, it doesn’t matter as much (though it still matters) – because if a character isn’t loveable, a reader won’t feel for him or her. They will then lose interest. It’s been proven. By science.I tend to make a great collage of characters to add some zest to the story. My characters range from quirky secretaries who have the strangest, most hilarious rituals, to killers who bitterly regret murdering their neighbor and just want to make it right, to sadists, to brilliant detectives and so forth. When creating your characters, you must make sure that you create a wide range of personalities and also that they play well off of each other. A good range of characters is great, but characters t a good range of characters that don’t play well off of each other isn’t. The second step of this process is what I refer to as the “skeleton” phase. I use my plot to create the basic skeleton for my more important characters. By knowing the plot, it isn’t too hard to figure out what type of character should be used; if you have a basic idea of what should happen in the book, you need to create a believable character that would do whatever their task is and have it make sense to the reader. Once I’ve established the basic frame of my characters, I move on to developing them or as I like to call it, the “meat” stage. Beefing up characters is much harder than simply creating the skeleton, obviously. This is because as an author, I want – I need – to make my character as interesting as possible, but I have to keep in mind that I shouldn’t go too overboard. Otherwise, that character might not believably complete the task that he needs to in the book. I tend to, in the beefing stage, give my character some physical and personality traits I have, as well as the traits of people I know. My dad has this funny quirk where he claims that every TV show he likes is also a show I ‘love’ when I hardly enjoy it. The fathers in my stories or novels always have that same trait, because it is a nice, quirky addition to any father. I am, as strange as it sounds, a perfectionist. I am also very empathetic and quite humorous when you get to know me (and I’m modest, too). So are my characters, because I base them off of what I know. Characters are always more relatable and believable if they have a basis from a real person. Physical traits, personality traits all come into play. You need to make sure that whatever you do to your character doesn’t conflict with his role in the book. After giving my character these traits, I go into the final stage, which I like to call the “makeup” stage. This is where I give my character interests, athletic ability, intelligence levels, more funny personality traits and rituals, or really anything I think might make my character unique or more appealing to a reader. These traits aren’t usually found in myself or anyone I know, just additions that fit into the plot and the character, as well as add a layer of interest and authenticity to that character. And then, you have it: a finished character.This post in short:- Plot- Skeleton- Meat- Makeup- Completion_______________________________________________________________________________John Hansen is the author of “The Perfect Game“, a horror short story published by Trestle Press (available at all ebook retailers) and other random murderous pieces. His work appears in the lit mags “Raphael’s Village”, “Crack The Spine” and “Fingerprints” and may also be found in volume one of the “Dark Pages Anthology“.Visit his blog, The Ultimate Guide To Self-Publishing (http://indiesunite.blogspot.com)

Trestle Press Buy One Get One Free Sale Right Now!!

2011-12-19T11:48:00.000-08:00

Trestle Press Buy One Get One Free Sale Right Now!!All the Trestle Press authors are now engaged in providing readers with a buy one get one free sale from this very moment till the end of the day December 24th,2011. Just send any of us your proof of purchase and we will gladly send you another Trestle Press title of equal or lesser value. Feel free to go to any of these places to get the Trestle Press titles:www.trestlepresspublishing.com and just click on the Amazon Kindle or Barnes &Noble Nook badges.Amazon Kindle- http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?rh=n%3A133140011%2Ck%3Atrestle+press&keywords=trestle+press&ie=UTF8Barnes and Noble Nook-http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/trestle-press?keyword=trestle+press&store=ebook Email your Proof of Purchase to :trestlepress@gmail.com or gelati.giovanni@gmail.com Thank you and we look forward to hearing from you.

Stirapalooza 2011 Leona DeRosa Bodie

2011-12-19T11:07:00.000-08:00

Stirapalooza 2011:5 E-Book Trends Stirring Up The Publishing IndustryDecember 16, 2011 By Leona DeRosa BodieAlthough the publishing industry is dramatically changing, how is technology rewriting the rules?1. E-Book Versus Print Book SalesMy predictions are . . . e-book sales in the not-so-distant future will outpace their print counterparts. Yet, I don’t see the printed book format disappearing in the next 20 years. My perspective though is different from my son’s. He advocates we ditch printed books in favor of digital alternatives. I still want the option to have both or at least the right to choose between print and e-book versions. However, when 2084 rolls around, I’d wager it’ll boil down to no choice at all.2. Mass Market Exposure For LessRecently, a 90-year-old fan surprised me when she flashed out her Kindle and downloaded my title with the flair of a twenty-something. For sure, the e-book revolution is cross generational, here to stay and its launch has upended the publishing industry. For way too long, just a few guided what came to market. Now everyone has equal access to publishing. New devices and the means of consuming content are changing the industry. Today’s technologies mean mass market exposure is easier and faster with less investment for readers, authors and publishers. Another upside is more royalties. 3. The Only E-Reader ContenderThere are 20 other dedicated e-readers, but only two real contenders. Between the Kindle and Nook, I see Barnes and Noble’s product eventually lagging in the doldrums with Kindle surging ahead in popularity. The latter will capture the market share. Thanks to Amazon’s continuous improvement and technology advances, their e-reader capabilities will evolve. Enhanced e-books are coming. That innovation will be the key to growth, competition and sustainability. 4. Portability As The Ultimate Convenience FactorWe are also moving into a visual culture. Who would have thought 20 years ago that people would read a book on the phone? However, consumers want portability of titles from one device to another, a.k.a. convenience. So all future book content must be adaptable and accessible, no matter whether the public’s choice of delivery is via tablets or smart phones, e-readers, iPads or any other gadgets out there. For example, Kindle also works on the iPad, iPhone, and computers.5. Better E-Books are ComingMost e-books today are the same as print, just in digital form. The e-book of the-near-future will be interactive. As digital publishers race toward multimedia content, they will capitalize on tomorrow’s bleeding edge technologies. For this reason, more traditional publishers and individual authors will partner with integrated media companies to release digital editions that are more akin to software than anything we seen thus far. Yesterday’s VCR in today’s living room is just as prehistoric as today’s Kindle with digitized text a decade from now. Technology will drive Amazon and continue to revolutionize the book industry! Leona Bodie is currently Vice President and serves on the Board of Directors for the Florida Writers Association, a statewide, nonprofit organization of 1,200 members. Her career took her from high school English teacher to a biotechnology executive and president of the Greater Miami Society of Human Resource Management before she shifted to writing books. She’s the author of the digital short “Cocooned in Darkness,” the upcoming book FEAR THE WHISPERS, and her debut thriller SHADOW CAY, is the recipient of 4 literary awards. For more details about Leona Bodie and her books, please visit: www.leonabodie.com.

Mike Evers – The Fun and Mischief of Writing

2011-12-19T06:46:00.000-08:00

Mike Evers – The Fun and Mischief of Writing As we head towards Christmas and New Year and people start to get into a festive mood, I thought I’d take the opportunity to talk about something that’s close to my heart. We all know about the great enjoyment we can get from reading, but I’m not sure many people are aware of the fun that can be had when making words, sentences and stories. I’ll try to give you some examples of the mirth and mischief that can be had:NamesSome of my favourite authors clearly enjoy playing around with names, and it’s clear why – there’s a whole cornucopia of sounds and spellings to mess around with. Douglas Adams, for example, created the character Slartibartfast when trying to come up with a name that was completely rude and yet would be acceptable to the BBC when he wrote The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Furthermore, Terry Pratchett’s Discworld is inhabited by such colourful characters as Twoflower, The Luggage (a walking trunk which could be terrifying and lovable all at once), Mightily Oats, and my personal favourite – Seldom Bucket. An absolute master of amusing names, of course, was Roald Dahl, who created classics such as Veruca Salt, Augustus Gloop and the Oompa-Loompas. My attempts at making gnome names, though not in the same league, can even have me in stitches at their sheer silliness: Grundl Wibblesnapper or Bundl Fugglebum being two cases in point. Just try saying them out aloud!

DescriptionsAdjectives and adverbs are another area for plenty of fun. Who can forget Roald Dahl’s scrumdiddlyumptious chocolate bar or Ian Fleming’s Truly Scrumptious - an adverb, adjective and name all in one? Just writing a sentence like - ‘The wily old goat menacingly munched the policeman’s trousers.’ is entirely silly – and a lot of fun to make. It’s even better if you can get some alliteration and assonance in as well. I’ll leave it to Edgar Allen Poe to show how it’s done in The Raven - ‘For the rare and radiant maiden who the angels named Lenore.’SimilesI’ve got no idea where I first heard it, but I seem to spout the simile -‘she was all over him like a cheap suit’- far too much these days. And when I do my wife usually scowls at me disapprovingly, which is a shame. Noir writers, in particular, have a field day with such expressions. Paul Brazill’s character, Oliver Robinson, in the short story The Tut, endured a marriage that was ‘at best, like wading through treacle’ as he faced the constant critical rebukes (‘tuts’) of his wife, which drove him increasingly to desperation. The ‘tut, tut, tut was like the rattle of a machine gun’ echoing through their home - wrote the author. And I bet he was smiling when he wrote it. You get the idea.I haven’t even scratched the surface, but I hope I’m pointing you in the right direction. And in these days of independent publishing, e-books and opportunity, you owe it to yourself to have a bit of fun and merriment. So start creating some fun stuff. I know I will. Mike Evers is the author of ‘The Chaosifier’ out now with Trestle Press.http://mountain-lord.blogspot.com/

Jynnipher Olbert Interviews Her Main Character Madi Baranova

2011-12-17T12:44:00.000-08:00

I didn't want to do a normal get-to-know the author blog; I have done three of those in the last few weeks. I thought it would be nice to interview Madi Baranova, the female lead in Vision of the Moons. Here is what I found out about her during the interview.Interesting shirt, can you tell me about it?I am a huge fan of the saga, although they got the vamps wrong. Do I really look like I sparkle in the sun? I haven't been in the sunlight in over ten years, not since I hit puberty.With all of the hustle and bustle around this time of year, do you and your family celebrate the holiday season? If so, what are some traditions you have?

I think my favorite holiday tradition is opening presents on Christmas morning with Gabi and Bella, my nine-year-old twin sisters. They are so much fun. Gabi always gets Bella to help her run through the house and wake everyone up, even Vladimir and his family, who run our household during the day. Then in January, we celebrate Christmas with Vlad and his family in the way of the Russian Orthodox Church.What do you do to keep yourself busy?After I graduated from Harvard, I became a teacher at a private school outside of Boston. The school is for supernatural children and owned by one of the founding vampire families. I also tend bar on the weekends to keep busy and for fun. When school is out on break, I pick up a few more nights.Where do you live? How long have you lived there?I live outside of Boston with my parents, my twin brother Niko, and Gabi and Bella. Our family has been in the area for centuries. Before you ask, yes it is customary for supernatural young adults to remain at home until after they go through their transformation, which is when we get our fangs and our special powers emerge.Tell me about your parents. How well do you get along with them?My family has its moments, but for the most part, we get along with each other. My mother is the Empress of the Vampire society, which keeps her busy. My father is a member of the Protectors who are responsible for keeping the secret of our race and order among our people. What was your birth order? How many siblings did you have? Who else was in your family while you were growing up? I am the older twin, by seven minutes; a fact Niko constantly reminds me. In the younger set of twins, Gabi is the oldest, leaving Bella as the youngest of us all. Vladimir, his wife and two kids also feel as if they are part of the family as they have been with my parents since before Niko and I were born. How did you fare as a teenager?My teen years were difficult with the weight gain, which happened near puberty as well. It seemed as if the minute my boobs grew, so did my jean size. I've tried every human diet under the sun without any luck. I will say this, I am hopeful with my upcoming transformation. Two older girls were talking at my sixteenth party about how one of them lost fifty pounds overnight. Mom later explained that the supernatural body adjusts to its ideal condition during the transformation and that we keep this physique for the rest of our lives. What makes you happy now?I enjoy listening to music, although my tastes vary with my mood. I love to read and hang out with my best friend Laurie. I also enjoy my work with the kids; to see their mind develop is so much fun. The part-time job at the club is fun because I get to watch the humans party with the supernaturals and they don’t even know it.What is your greatest fear?I think my greatest fear is losing or growing apart from Niko and not finding anyone to love me. I want the happy ever after with the kids, house and dog. Oh, and spiders, they scare the hell out of me.What would you change about yourself if you could?I think I would shed about seventy pounds. I would love to walk into a normal human clothing store and not worry about finding my size. One last question, what do you want out of life?I want to find someone who will love me for me, even though I don't look like the normal vampire woman, curvy with a small waist. I got the curves, just not the small waist. I must have missed the day that gene was given out.

Amazon Kindle Best-Selling Author Karen Anna Vogel Guest Post

2011-12-17T07:59:00.000-08:00

I’d like to thank everyone at Trestle Press and Suzanne Woods Fisher for encouraging me to write an Amish serial, something I didn’t think I could do. But as I was knitting one night, I thought of my knitting circle and how women bring up their problems, sometimes to people they hardly know. Then I thought of all the advice I’ve gotten from two elderly Amish women in Smicksburg, PA. Granny Weaver was born; she a combo of these two women. She starts the Amish Knitting Circle. I wanted to show that the Amish have problems, just like anyone else, but they solve them very differently. Basically, they don’t sweep anything under the rug and deal with issues in community. So issues that women deal with such as poor body image, infertility, marital problems, illnesses, and more, are all talked about. Some issues, like anxiety disorders, I had to get the advice of a professional to make sure I was being accurate.

In my full length novel, Knit Together: An Amish Close Knit Novel, Granny Weaver starts a knitting circle that is attended by both the Amish and English. Since I lived among the Amish in Upstate NY, and now have Amish friends nearby in PA, I wanted to show the cultural differences, but also how similar we are. I always tell people, “You don’t have to turn Amish to live a simple life, but we can learn a lot from them.”Lately, my research for the two Christmas serials in Amish Knitting Circle has made the biggest impact on me. They do really focus on the real meaning of the season and just getting together and having fun. I’m kind of over the top with Christmas, and tend to get run down and sick. I discuss this journey of mine toward a simpler Christmas on my blog, Amish Crossings. I have an Amish author once month stop by to share what they’ve learned from the Amish. Might want to see what Trestle Press author, Roger Rheinheimer (Amish Snow and Amish Forever) has to share about these awesome people. http://www.karenannavogel.blogspot.com/

What is Magical About Magic? Paul Guthrie

2011-12-16T08:32:00.000-08:00

What is magical about magic? Arthur C. Clarke famously noted that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, and that seems to imply that magic is just another way to do things, one that we don’t understand. “Sufficiently advanced” is a pretty ambiguous standard, of course, and it changes with time. In the movie “Minority Report” Tom Cruise uses a computer interface that looks like magic. He waves his hands and information pops up, images zoom, move around, disappear. Now we have tablet computers that behave in much the same way. Even if I don’t know how to make an iPad, I can buy one and learn to use it – clearly not magic. What if there were no visible object, the images just appearing in thin air? Holograms and retinal projections come to mind. I think magic has to be something that we inherently can’t do. Only special people (or creatures) can do magic.So that raises some interesting questions for stories. What if you could learn to do magic? Does that make you special, even if you are otherwise ordinary? What if it isn’t very powerful, at least at first? If you could learn to do magic it might seem ordinary to you. You might treat it exactly the way we treat the iPad; play around with it, find out what it can do, be briefly astonished, and eventually take it for granted. The real question is, what would regular (normal?) people think, and how would they treat you?The answer to that last one depends on when and where the story is set. I’ve begun exploring possible answers in a cycle of novels and stories called “The Magic of Others.” One meaning of “other” is simply “different,” and the characters in these stories are different in a number of ways. The first story, a novel, is called “The Wrong God,” and it introduces the way my magical system works. It explores the discovery (or rediscovery) of magic by modern scientists. The second is a short story, called “The Rule,” about a Roma (gypsy) girl in Ireland in 1692. Different times, different places, different beliefs about magic, but always that central difference; someone who can do magic is not like the rest of us.The stories will be published by Trestle, so regular visitors to this blog will find them first. “The Rule” and “The Wrong God” are available now in e-book form wherever e-books are sold, including the links below.The Rule:http://www.amazon.com/Magic-Others--1--Rule-ebook/dp/B006KIY5SO/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1323724982&sr=1-3http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1107931470?ean=2940013830745&itm=1&usri=paul+guthrieThe Wrong God:http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/21978Amazon.com: The Wrong God eBook: Paul Guthrie: Kindle StoreBARNES & NOBLE | The Wrong God by Paul Guthrie, Paul Guthrie | NOOK Book (eBook)

Where Did Sadie Come From-Julia Madeleine-Guest Post

2011-12-16T03:39:00.000-08:00

Where Did Sadie Come From... Sadie was raised in hell, the Devil’s daughter—a femme fatale character and serial killer in my short story series, The Devil’s Music. Sadie collects the souls of music legends who sign contracts with her in exchange for their success. I originally wrote this story for a blues festival here in Mississauga, west side of Toronto, called the South Side Shuffle. I was invited to do a short fiction piece with a blues theme to include in their program. So I started researching Robert Johnson and was intrigued by the mystery and speculation surrounding his death and the rumors that he’d sold his soul to the devil.

I wanted to do something a little different with the character of the Devil. Women serial killers are particularly frightening I think. There’s something very mysterious and seductive about the classic femme fatal character. It’s the use of sexual power, her beauty, her charm, to ultimately dominate and destroy her victims that’s so chilling. Women are in general by nature, nurturing. So when a female kills, especially if it’s a cold-blooded type of killing that’s particularly scary in the collective mind. And I say that women are nurturing by nature in a very general terms because men can be just as nurturing if not more than some women, but it’s typically how we think of women. So, I think it’s the combination of female sexual power and a woman who is a predator, that for me at least, I find fascinating. I love the classic film noir femme fatales. Horror writer Frank Duffy, author of Mountains Of Smoke, has written book two in the series called, In The Music There Is Always A Shadow. It’s a cool story about Sadie trying to collect on her contract with composer Roy Webb.

Karen Malena, author of "Son of Mine" Guest Post

2011-12-15T14:26:00.000-08:00

Recently I was talking with an old friend about her daughter. She was thanking me for being there for her when her daughter was going through spinal surgery for scoliosis. She mentioned that someone should write a blog, sharing their experience with curvature of the spine to help others who may be going through this trauma.
You see, when I was about twelve years old, I noticed something about myself in the mirror. When a young girl should begin to develop curves, I was developing lumps. Something was distinctly wrong with the image looking back at me.
My pants were fitting funny, my back was aching. It wasn't until my poor mother was scratching my back one day, and noticed something very wrong with me, did we even know there was something to be truly concerned about.
All I could do was panic and cry when mom said we should call for a doctor appointment. I think I had been fooling myself that something would change.
I asked Mom what she thought we would find out when we saw the doctor. Did she think they had to do some type of surgery on me? She assured me, no, there was probably nothing like that which I would have to go through.
Was she wrong! We sat in a specialists office with a doctor who had no bedside manner whatsoever. He blurted out that I had scoliosis, would need a spinal fusion, which was major surgery, and would be in a body cast for almost a year. Surgery was quickly scheduled.
In June of my twelfth year, I found myself in Children's Hospital, amidst young people with so many scary looking contraptions, some wheelchair bound, some who would never walk again. I was to count myself fortunate this was all I had.
There were various tortures to endure, the main one, a plaster body cast encasing my whole torso, the back of my head and up the front to my neck. This was placed on before surgery. It would be cut before the spinal fusion, then a new one would be fabricated afterward.
We all learned to communicate on our hospital ward with pen and paper. My parents were the couriers who brought the notes back and forth to all of us children going through many different surgeries, as we couldn't get out of our hospital beds.
I was in the hospital for three weeks. My parents were so very strong for me at that time. I would never know how hard it was for them, seeing their little girl with tubes and wires, a huge plaster contraption encompassing me. But they were my saviors, and strength. The cards and letters that family members and friends sent, were encouragement to me. Books became my best friend at that time.
It was not easy at first but after leaving the hospital, adapting to a new style of life in a body cast soon became second nature to me. I had to be tutored at home, since school was going to be difficult.

I didn't like feeling so different from other girls I was seeing. They were beautiful, curvy, free from the confines of a plaster prison. I felt like some sort of freak show whenever I would go anywhere with my parents, as people always stared at the huge contraption I was wearing. I think the only place I felt normal, was at the hospital, or doctor's office for the many xrays they had to take.
A smaller cast was placed on me after about eight months, and it was strange having my neck free to move about once again. Something I had taken for granted before, but it all felt so free! I could move again!
The hardest part is being a young teenager when you are going through something like this. Feeling like an alien, or feeling like an outcast. But know there is light at the end of the tunnel, and it is all worthwhile. Our bodies are free from severe deformity. Something people in the past weren't even able to go through. Have you ever seen a misshapen little old woman and known that could have been you? Let's thank the Lord above that there are surgeons out there, good surgeons who do their jobs well.
Let's all be a light for one another, and pass our stories along to help the next person possibly going through the trauma of spinal surgery.

Coming Soon-Michel R. Vaillancourt-"The Sauder Diaries: By Any Other Name"

2011-12-15T07:28:00.000-08:00

Michel R. Vaillancourt's Trestle Press debut novel "The Sauder Diaries:By Any Other Name" will be relased Monday Dec.,19. Here is the synopsis and author biography:

The Sauder Diaries take place in an alternate-history Earth, in the year 1888. The Crimean War ended as a stalemate with a ceasefire being signed in Paris, not a surrender. Europe is divided along the Allied and Russian Imperial borders by the Scorchlands, and by the pop-culture of the times, large sections of “civilized Europe” cannot be traveled due to bandits, renegade armies, and rogue mad science experiments.

It is against this backdrop that the story of Hans Sauder is told. Hans is the son of a German industrialist, on his way to University to study engineering and airship systems design. En route his passenger airship is attacked by an infamous pirate crew, the legendary Bloody Rose. Hans is taken prisoner and given the choice of joining the crew as an engineer, or taking his chances with parachuting into the wilds of Europe.

Thus begins the “diaries”, detailing his travels — the reader is first treated to Hans' impressions of events and then gets to see what really happened.

Hans and his new crew-mates are hunted by the airship navies of Allied Europe, chased into hiding in Egypt, board merchant ships over Germany, and visit hidden black market trade centers. Things really get rough when they are hired to undertake a dangerous mission in the skies of the Russian Empire.

As the story unfolds, Hans' new life is further complicated by the romantic advances of the leader of the ship's gunner-marines, a ruthless and no-nonsense woman with a chip on her shoulder. As well, Hans is perpetually dogged by a deep conflict between his sense of morals and duty to his family, and the challenges and adventure of this new life he has discovered.

The Community Fan Page for "The Sauder Diaries: By Any Other Name" can be found on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/the.sauder.diaries

In brief about me, I am forty-two years old, currently living in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada. My day job is CEO & Alpha-Geek for a video conference hosting company. I’m married, I have a son and I have been reading and writing for most of my life. I have been involved in Steampunk for two years and a fan of adventure stories since I was twelve.

You can find out more about me at http://about.me/michel.vaillancourt

Anastasia V. Pergakis Guest Post

2011-12-15T03:35:00.000-08:00

The Kinir Elite is made up of six elves. They are the Special Forces in their country - like Delta Force here in the States. or the S.A.S in the United Kingdom. They have unique and specialized training that allows them to handle missions of all kinds, ranging from hostage rescue to information gathering to “spy” work.

Because of the strong military theme throughout the series, protions of my royalties will be donated to the Wounded Warrior Project. This organization helps wounded soldiers and their families heal when they return home.

Cleanse Fire Blurb

Cleanse Fire is a fantasy adventure novel, with edge-of-your-seat action. Epic battles, suspense, and a bit of romance too! Follow the Kinir Elite as they track down a traitor and find more than they bargained for.

Complete the mission, no matter what…
Captain Derac Vidor has served Kinir for nearly twenty years. It’s his life, his blood, his soul. And then his Commander betrays everything Derac holds dear. Now he has to focus on his own life and his team instead of saving the citizens of Kinir.

Treason is only the beginning…
Fueled by rage, the team chases the source to their Commander’s betrayal – a powerful wizard bent on revenge. The wizard seeks to destroy the Kinir Elite, in both mind and body. No place is safe, even among their allies.

The past holds the key…
Derac’s tragic past may be the key to saving the team. But can he face the gruesome nightmare in time?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=2AsSuOgO-Cg (Book Trailer)

Want to know more? Join the Kinir Brigade by signing up for our newsletter! Get exclusive deals, access to special giveaways, and inside information about the series! Join the Kinir Brigade now! And don't forget to visit our Facebook Page and Website too!

Purchase Cleanse Fire
• for your Kindle at Amazon
• for your Nook at Barnes & Noble
• for your other E-Readers at Smashwords
• in paperback at Amazon
• in paperback at Barnes & Noble
• in hardback at Kinir Elite Website

I’m giving away copies of Cleanse Fire during my tour! Visit the Kinir Elite website to find out where I'm posting on my blog tour. Leave comments on those posts to enter into the random drawing. I'll draw the names at the end of my tour. The more comments you leave, the more chances you have to win!

All commenters will also be added to the drawing for a chance to win a signed hard cover. Drawing for the hardcover will be on January 31, 2012.

You can also get more chances to win by tweeting or posting on facebook! Just leave a link to the tweet or post in the comments of the post you shared!

D.L. Coleman,author of the soon to be released "Killer Story", Guest Post

2011-12-14T06:24:00.000-08:00

I knew when I was sixteen I wanted to write. I don’t know why, I just did. I’d never even read a novel at that point; too energetic to sit still long enough. I remember coming home from football practice one night in the late ‘50s and lying across my bed with a notebook and pencil. I wrote two sentences, then took the next ten years off to think of a third one. So I came to this writing thing kind of bass akward, not like your typical book-loving library rat.
In college, after several years in the Marine Corps, working, and starting a family, I took an interest in fiction, thanks to some very influential professors who made reading enjoyable, even for hardhead jocks like me. This helped begin an eleven-year trial as an aspiring literary writer, culminating in two novels and enough frustration to make me quit writing for a decade. Later, a brief brush with law enforcement led to an interest in crime, in general. Not as a criminal, understand, but as a candidate for the sheriff’s office back home in Virginia. I lost by a landslide, not that I entertained any illusions of winning against two other highly experienced and popular candidates. I was just pushing a platform and getting some practical experience to go with my Political Science degree, maybe teach college or something. Mostly “or something.”
Soon I was operating a small but boring retail business out of state, with time on my hands, reading five or six newspapers a day, seven days a week, ninety to hundred hours per week and dying for contact with the outside world. I found it in studying reports of numerous unsolved crimes, locally and nationally. I started developing the International Crime Study Club, fascinated with the challenge of maybe helping solve one of these boogers in a joint effort with others, several with special skills, like medicine, forensics, etc. But this was before the internet and it was so time consuming and expensive, the phone calls, the letters to police and newspapers around the country, and no interest on their part. I did get a lot of exposure from the news wire services and a radio interview or two, and several newspaper columns, which helped generate interest, but the logistics were insurmountable for someone like me confined to a small space and limited resources.
So I began reading, among others, the true crime cases like Joe McGinniss’s Fatal Vision, his take on Jeffrey McDonald, Capote’s In Cold Blood, having seen the movie, etc., which led directly to crime fiction where I discovered my favorite, James Lee Burke, as well as Jonathan Kellerman, Sue Grafton and numerous others. And, of course, as a writer, I immediately said to myself, “Hell, I can do this.” So I started writing crime novels. I say “started” because I’ve finished only one, so far(KILLER STORY/Trestle Press)), and have three more in progress, a prequel and a sequel to it in the Wray Larrick P.I. series, and a thriller, PROFESSOR OF DEATH.
I’m not one of these people who writes for therapy. I do it to make a point, convey an idea, or tell a story I think is either important, entertaining, or both. If no one’s listening, I’m not talking. I’d already thrown in the towel again, not wanting to get as serious as three decades before, dropped off the writer sites, canceled my web site(www.PVT.EYE.NET), my window decals, and taken a hiatus from the whole writing infection, saying goodbye to fellow authors, including the talented mystery characterist B.R. Stateham(the Turner Hahn/Frank Morales series) and such, when I happened to have a conversation with Ben Sobieck(Cleansing Eden), another fellow “crimespace” member and right-to-your-gut crime fiction author, himself, who suggested I give Trestle Press a try, like he and B.R. have. Glad I did. What a breath of fresh air. Real people. Responsive. Bootstrappers defying the odds and succeeding with the new technology. My kind of folks.
So I guess the more I leave this writing thing, the more I don’t.

From Reviewer to Reviewed- Graham Smith author of "11 The Hard Way"

2011-12-14T03:13:00.000-08:00

From Reviewer to Reviewed.

For two and a half years now I have been a book reviewer for the very well respected www.crimesquad.com during this time I have made friends with a lot of authors both face to face and via the world of Facebook. I have also been very fortunate to meet and interview some of the biggest names in crime fiction. There has been a constant stream of excellent books appearing in my mailbox and whenever I get talking with aspiring authors and they find out I’m a reviewer, it’s only a short time before their precious book is being pressed into my hands along with an impassioned request for a review.
As a reviewer the instructions from my editor are simple. If you like the book – write a review. If you don’t like the book – then don’t write review. If you have nothing nice to say- then say nothing.
Crimesquad.com is a place where crime fiction in all of its sub genre’s is championed. All the reviewers are fans of the genre and understand what makes for excellent crime fiction.

Suddenly I was on the other side of the fence. My own precious book – 11 The Hard Way – was up for review. And not only was it being reviewed by Crimesquad.com but also a friend who reviews for our counterparts over at Shotsmag had also requested a copy.
Shine a light, this was serious now. The two biggest review websites for my chosen genre were reviewing my work. I had only been writing for three months and here was my first effort receiving the most intense scrutiny.

Was I nervous? You better believe I was. I know I said earlier that Crimesquad.com are not the kind of reviewers who put the boot in. but what if the reviewer didn’t enjoy it and said nothing. Oh the ignominy. And what about Shotsmag? I didn’t (and still don’t) know their editorial policy although the reviews I have read are all fair and balanced.
Is this what authors go through every time a book is submitted for review?
I was nervous, irritable and on more than one occasion an enquiring E-mail was written and then deleted when a rare strength of character appeared.
Then I got to thinking about the many E-mails and conversations I’d had with authors who knew I would soon be reviewing their work. Most of them would always say something along the lines of “please can you let me now how you get on with my book”. There have been one or two occasions when I’ve been lucky enough to be one of the first to read a book outside of the publishing houses and agents circle. I actually E-mailed the author of one of these and he was delighted to hear I’d enjoyed his book and admitted relief to hearing that it was as good as previous efforts.

Until my book was reviewed by these two very influential sites I never truly appreciated the power of reviews. Now I am fully aware of the influence and as a case in point I watched my own Ebook jump 42,000 places overnight wen the two reviews came out.
I have learnt just how nerve wracking it is to have your book under review and I will always try to contact authors wherever possible, to say a couple of nice things about their book and chase away the butterflies I know they have. Of course I won’t share the review with them. I’ll just give them a taster of how I found the book.

Charlie Wade, author of "A Life in Rags" Guest Post

2011-12-13T15:48:00.000-08:00

Normally in my blog, Spies, lies and pies, I usually write about what I'm currently working on, with occasional book reviews, short stories, music reviews, general middle-aged man rants about youngsters, and amusing pie pictures and links to other sites and blogs.
However, as I've been given access to Trestle Press, I thought I'd tell the tale of why and how I started writing.
I was never any good at English at school, but I've always enjoyed reading. In fact I failed 'O' level English the first time round. It was my handwriting, you see. Very poor. In the pre-computer age, handwriting was king and my writing was about five hundredth in line to the throne, twice removed.
Despite the poor handwriting, I first wrote something of substance when I was sixteen. I had a weird dream that had to be written down. It involved inept spies, moped riding drug runners for a pizza shop and green plastic frogs. Obviously, it didn’t go anywhere.

Then, at about the age of 24, I discovered Irvine Welsh. A lot of people discovered him at the time. I missed punk when it happened (being seven does that to you) but at the time, seventeen odd years ago, dance music had become the new punk with its raves and warehouse parties. Irvine Welsh became the author of that generation.
The punk ideal had been reborn, sort of. My thinking was, if he can write and sell that, anyone can. So I had another go. I did and wrote about 20,000 words of a book about a modern revolution. The problem was, partying all weekend and spending half the next week recovering doesn't mix well with writing. Funnily enough though, part of what I wrote back then became the end of The Bailout.
I started writing again in the year 2000. Mainly short stories. Computers and spell checks had made writing a lot easier for me. At the time, I had a very slow AOL dial up connection but AOL had various forums and chat rooms where I met other budding writers. It was fun. The Internet was fairly new, and writers from all over the world were sharing short stories and talking to each other. Anyway, I got half way through writing a book about a spy called Barry, but a change of jobs and personal circumstances left me with less time in the evenings to write, so I again gave up.
2007 saw me writing again. This time, after two years I eventually finished a book, Spies lies and Pies (or The Spy With Eczema as it's now called.) I carried on writing and wrote a short story for the Alibi Crime Writing Contest. I quickly found that crime was a genre I much preferred. My story didn't win the contest, but Out Of The Gutter magazine took it instead. I then found loads of webzines that took short stories of a crime, noir and pulp nature and I became hooked. Since then, I've written another book, The Bailout, and I've nearly finished another, Seven Daze.
Alongside those, I've also written a series of mini-novellas, Bites of Grime. These are separate tales about the underbelly of society, but several of the characters reappear from time to time. The first two in the series, Das Slap and A Life In Rags have been released by Trestle Press, with more to follow.

Friday-The G-ZONE- The Mayor of Book Town Returns!

2011-12-13T08:39:00.000-08:00

A note to everyone reading this: I am about inclusion! That being said, I openly invite any author, blogger, or administrator of a Social Network or website to my blog and blogtalk radio show.
Now a word from the Mayor of Book Town on his upcoming visit to The G-ZONE:
The Deputy Mayor and I will be in The G-Zone Friday December 16th
I am very pleased to announce that the Deputy Mayor and I have been invited back to Gelati’s Scoop GZONE. The theme of the show is So You Think You Know Book Town.
Every author no matter how big needs to promote their work. We will count down the top 10 reasons why all writers should join Book Town Gold. We will also answer the question how authors who can't afford a shoestring budget can still promote their novels and get sales.
Also, what is GBB and how can it boast your internet presence.
Listen to our:
15 reasons why you should become a member of Book Town on the G-Zone the place to be this Friday evening.
http://booktownusa.org
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/gelatisscoop

Chantal Boudreau, author the soon to be released "Insurance", Guest Post, "Fictional Speculation"

2011-12-13T06:56:00.000-08:00

Fictional Speculation
My husband and I were casually discussing the publishing industry and my latest release, Magic University, when we noticed a bizarre likeness between the current debate over traditional versus self-publishing and the divided magic system in my fantasy series. Any similarities were entirely coincidental, considering how long ago I actually started writing my series - more than a dozen years ago - and that the magic system pre-dated even the books I have written. If I had based my Master versus Renegade conflict on the great publishing debate that has strengthened as a result of online sellers and POD publishing, it would mean I had precognition. I’d be willing to accept that, a very handy trick, but I doubt anyone else around me would believe it.
There may be more to the similarities than just random chance, however. Sometimes things in life do mimic ideas captured in speculative fiction. The reason for this, I’d have to say, is that a writer does not function in a vacuum. Writing, as with any art-form, is a means of expression, a response to our environment, be it physical or social. We might be predicting things to come while contemplating current affairs and weaving them into our tales, not because we’re psychic, but because we can see in what direction society or technology is headed, even if we only recognize it on a subconscious level.
With science fiction, it’s much more obvious than other speculative fiction. Authors really are trying to foresee the future. The author usually selects a specific technology that is making advances or some sociological or political aspect that appears to be headed for change. They research the topic to death (the good ones do, anyway) and then they make a prediction based on the knowledge they’ve gathered. Nobody is terribly surprised when some of these predictions come to pass. They’re based on hard facts and educated guestimates. All the best science fiction authors at some point have made predictions that have come true.
But just because there’s no open association with the world we live in, or there is the addition of elements supernatural, doesn’t mean that fantasy and horror can’t play the same role; they just happen to do it on a subtler level. Political commentary might be hidden behind the shield of fictional factions in some non-existent kingdom. Fears of the impact of developing technologies, ones based on legitimate concerns, might manifest in the form of renegade techno-zombies bent on chaos and destruction.
So the next time you read some speculative fiction that really makes you stop and think “what if?” consider the fact that they just may be on to something. That type of fiction isn’t just a matter of whimsy and fanciful creation, and it’s not constrained by the limitations of mainstream thinking.

New Releases from Trestle Press!

2011-12-12T15:51:00.000-08:00

It was another busy week for our authors as they continued to release new digital short stories and full length novels again last week. Here is the rundown of the new releases:
Carey Jane Clark- “After the Snow Falls”- a full length novel
Angelique LaFontaine/Eddie Frantom- “Thirty-1 Therabs-Volume 4 “
Angelique LaFontaine- “The Lipstick Stain”
William Tooker-“Slouching Towards Bethlehem-This Flesh Eternal-Volume 3”
Joe E. Morris, Ph.D. - “Things I Wish Jesus Hadn’t Said” – a non-fiction full length book, our first in this category
Paul Guthrie-a new digital short story series-“The Magic of Others-The Rule”
David L. Hoof- “Triple Jeopardy” –a full length novel
Lisa Taylor- “Shana Black-Volume 4- Tensions and Traitors”
Sam Lang- “Reprisal-Volume 5-The First Cut is The Best”
Karen Anna Vogel-“Amish Knitting Circle-Volume 6-Old World Christmas”
George Michael Loughmueller-“An Amish Journey-Set Free-Volume 1- Coming Home”
Conor McVarnock-“Christmas at The Sharp End”

Coming Soon From The Trestle Press Authors: More Great Novels, Novella’s and Digital Short Stories for those hungry ereaders!

2011-12-12T10:47:00.000-08:00

Michel R. Vaillancourt- “The Sauder Diaries-By Any Other Name” a full length novel
David L. Hoof-“ Just Machines”
Chantal Boudreau- “Insurance”
Malcolm Holt- “Crime Tyme Shots-Volume 2”
Graham Smith- “Harry Chambers Chronicles” a novella
Lisa Vooght- “Small Doses-Flash Fiction in a Medical Vein”
Amy Bennett-Rollo’s Journey” a novella
S.L. Schmitz-“Mina’s Daughter…The Harker’s Chronicles-Volume 3”
B.R. Stateham- “Call Me Smitty- Volume 8”
Paul D. Brazill- “Brit Grit Too” a full length novel
D.L. Coleman-“Killer Shot”
Mark Miller-“Stories of Queen’s Day –Holiday Inspiration From The Land of Empyrean”
JT Lewis- “Murder Close to Home” a full length novel
Paul Grzegorzek-“The Follow” a full length novel
Frank Duffy- “Between These Pages, These Places” a full length novel
Paul Christopher-“The Wolf and The Bear” a full length novel
Whit Howland- “The Cain Series- Volume 2- Another Town-Another Torch”

Amazingly Busy Week on The G-ZONE!! Check out this guest list:

2011-12-12T08:24:00.000-08:00

Starting tomorrow and running through at least Friday, who knows maybe I will have to add Saturday, we have another intense week on The G-ZONE, my blogtalk radio show sponsored by Trestle Press. Here is the lineup:
Tuesday-December 13-Daniel Palmer and Graham Smith 4pm EST
Weds. December- 14- B.R. Stateham and Paul D. Brazill 4pm EST. Who knows who else may call in though, I would be prepared for a full house. This going to be your basic Noir/Hard-Boiled Party.
Thursday December 15-Author Panel - 4PM EST–Subject Music- Big Daddy Abel, John Reed, Tanya Contois and many more
Friday-December 16- 4.30 pm EST –We start our TGIF show with Amazon Kindle Best –Selling author Joe E. Morris Ph. D. and then the second half (5.30Pn EST) of the hour my guests are The Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Book Town with some special announcements.

K.A. Laity- "Obsession"- Guest Post,author of "Drunk on The Moon-It's A Curse"

2011-12-12T03:23:00.000-08:00

Obsession

I seem to have two speeds: obsessed and don't care. The greater part of the world falls into "don't care": politics, fashion, television, sports -- I just don't care. For that matter, add cooking and cleaning and talking to people who don't amuse me. Obsessions: writing, Peter Cook, The Fall, writing, myth, magic, folklore, writing, travel, theatre, film, writing and classic British comedy. And writing. I completely understand P. G. Wodehouse's comment, "I never want to see anyone, and I never want to go anywhere or do anything. I just want to write."

My ex once accused me of having hypergraphia . It's a clinical disease where people obsessively write anywhere, anytime, on anything they've got in front of them. Most people who suffer from the little-studied disease write nonsense: it's the action of writing that comforts their manic sprees, not content. I have a head bursting with stories that want to be written and I spend a lot of time in front of my black Mac going tappity-tappity. I also go out to the pub with friends and go see plays and walk along Galway Bay and think nothing at all but what a wonderful world this is. But writing is what I do. Writing is how I see the world. When something terrible happens to me, I struggle through it by finding the right words to describe it in my head.

The world does not care: most writers spend an awful lot of their time racking up rejections, facing indifference and incomprehension. Even when we do get published, we're generally very poorly remunerated for the long hours spent polishing the words. It is a kind of madness.

Writing has to be an obsession. People tell me all the time, "I think I'd like to be a writer." If I'm feeling polite, I make encouraging remarks about how to get started. But inside my head echo the words, "If you really did, you'd be writing already." It's a simple thing: sit down at your pad of paper or your keyboard and vomit forth entire galaxies from your brain. Scrape the insides of your skull until magic happens on the page. And then write the next word. Open a vein and dip that pen. Stare at the blank page and will characters to appear. Give them problems, give them friends, give them homes and then take away their hope, their loves and sometimes their lives. Then smile and do it all again.

My character Riley in "Mandrake and Magpies" has an obsession: he's heard whispers of a new drug, one that puts all the other intoxicants in the shade. Magic. However, having an obsession makes you vulnerable. Prices suddenly go up. Riley knows Una might be the best way to get some of this new stuff, but as soon as she knows how much he's jonesing for it, the cost will rise. How much will he pay? How deep into the darkness will the poor lad go?

I've got a magpie feather quill tattooed on my left arm. It looks like a drop of blood dripping from its tip, but it's really ink. If you cut me, I bleed ink. I'd use it that way anyway. Obsessed? Damn right I am.

K. A. Laity is the author of PELZMANTEL, UNIKIRJA and the forthcoming easy-to-spell OWL STRETCHING (Immanion 2012). Elizabeth Hand says, "Laity is a very remarkable sorceress indeed." She also writes historicals as Kit Marlowe and erotic romance as C. Margery Kempe . Visit www.kalaity.com for a seemingly endless list of publications.

New Release- Sam Lang- Reprisal- Volume 5- The First Cut is The Best!

2011-12-11T12:55:00.000-08:00

Trestle Press presents Sam Lang’s Reprisal, a digital short story series.
Reprisal is a dying town built on secrets and haunted by a mysterious shadow since its beginnings.
Eddie Newport must survive one night in this town with his oldest friend as a bus full of escaped murderers breaks down on Main Street.

Dr. Donovan Longcutte is not the man you want to see if you are sick. His patients have a way of mysteriously dying, even from the mildest of symptoms. His devious work lands him in the Edgar King penitentiary along with De’Light and David Lent. Now he is awaiting his transfer, but not before the Shadow comes to visit.
Sam Lang lived a cold, dark life. Ignored for most of his existence, he developed a fascination with things of a macabre nature. His writing explores the dark recesses of human behavior. Lang writes with heavy thematic elements and symbolism, creating harsh, hyper-realistic characters. Lang currently resides in Florida where he spends his time thinking of new ways to delight and horrify his readers.
Trestle Press has brought him out of the shadows with his series, Reprisal, a murderous tale of escaped convicts in a deserted town haunted by a mysterious shadow. The first four episodes are available as digital short stories from Trestle Press, starting with Making Plans, Making Memories followed by The Impeccant, Shadow Boxing and She’ll Get Your Engine Started . More chapters are yet to come.
Sam has participated in the Author’s Lab collaboration series with Giovanni Gelati on The Two Johns. He also has the upcoming one-shot A Vampire’s Guide to Sex, a short tale about (you guessed it) vampires and sex.
Currently, Sam has teamed with Darren Sant to create Severed, an on-going short story zombie series.
Not much else is known of this reclusive author.

What? You've Written a Book by McDroll, Best-Selling Amazon UK author of "Kick It" & "Kick It Again"

2011-12-11T07:45:00.000-08:00

What? You’ve Written a Book?

How long have you had the idea that one-day you would love to write a book? I think many, many people hold this ambition or so I have found anyway since I’ve let the cat out of the bag and admitted to my friends and colleagues that I’ve been lucky enough to have some of my writing published.

People have been astounded but usually always say how much they would like to be able to write a book but then quickly qualify this by saying that they don’t have the time just now. Friends also wonder how I’ve actually had the time to write because they know that my ‘real’ job is pretty all consuming (I’m a primary school head teacher) and that I have two children who keep me busy most nights driving them around the countryside to their various clubs and classes.

Most people consider ‘writing the book’ is something they will tackle when they retire, when they have quality time to kick back and come up with that fantastic idea for a novel. This is all a bit of a giveaway though I think, and my prediction is that these people will never actually write the novel, they will always find some excuse for it ‘not being the right time’.

My friend and colleague Jay summed this up nicely for me when he explained that if people really want to do something, if they have that burning desire, then they will do it, busy or not. I agree with him because writing to me isn’t a chore, it’s a pleasure, it’s a burning desire, it’s an escape and it is totally fulfilling.

I can’t imagine not writing. I write because I want to but also because I have to. If you think writing would be a chore then you are never going to write the novel, much the same as I am never going to play the piano no matter how often I say that I wish I could.

I’ve now had three collections of short stories published with Trestle and it’s just been a fabulous experience. What a kick it is to see your book on sale on Amazon and to have people tell you how much they have enjoyed reading your stories.

My first publication KICK IT is a collection of crime/noir tales with a Scottish twist. Three of the stories are about a character called Gemma Dixon whom I just love writing about. She’s everything that I’d love to be; brave, bolshie and sure of herself. As a young CID officer, Gemma finds herself in all sorts of scrapes and not only has to deal with criminals but also has to defend herself against colleagues who think that she’s green behind the ears and as a woman, pretty useless in a man’s world. She soon puts them right about those misconceptions.

My second collection, KICK IT AGAIN, has a mixture of crime and emotional noir. I want you to really feel the pain of the characters that I write about and to understand what pushes ordinary people into carrying out extraordinary and often violent actions.

I do hope you will take a look at my stories and if you do, please leave me a comment on twitter where you will find me @mcdroll. Here’s to lots of success for Trestle Press writers over the Christmas period and into 2012!

Coming Soon- Lisa Taylor's "Shana Black-Volume 4-Tensions and Traitors"

2011-12-10T10:05:00.000-08:00

Trestle Press and Lisa Taylor will be releasing the fourth installment of her popular “Shana Black series” called “Tensions and Traitors”. It will be available for sale December 11. Look for at Amazon Kindle and Barnes and Noble Nook. Here is the synopsis and author biography.

After the attempted break in at the armory, Shana's team of CIA agents has been searching for the small terrorist group that has infiltrated West Point, and now they may have found them. But when the interrogation goes awry and all but one escape, there's no way of knowing what desperate action the group might take.

During the interrogation one man let slip one name, the name of the man that might have all the answers, the man working from the inside; but can they get to him in time to learn his secrets? Pieces of a puzzle are starting to appear, but Shana's friends are becoming ever more suspicious as she struggles to hold this scheme together long enough to discover the truth.
Lisa has served our country in the military,attended West Point, earned a Bachelor's of Science degree in physics, and attended graduate school. Finally, at twenty-three years old, she has found her calling, and she recently began her writing career. Her debut novel,” The Hour of Tiamat”, was released in June 2011, and she is working on a fantasy trilogy as well as a series of short stories. She now lives happily in Kentucky, working in the local library and living with her sister and two beautiful border collies.”

Carey Jane Clark, author of "After The Snow Falls" askes the question-"What Keeps You Up At Night?"

2011-12-10T06:25:00.000-08:00

What Keeps You Up at Night?

People who know me well know that my sleep schedule is, well, somewhat unorthodox. In theory, I know that the body needs its eight hours, and I have the best of intentions when it comes to sleep. I know that I'm at my best for the tasks on my to-do list when my head hits the pillow no later than 10:00 p.m.

But it's after midnight now, and I'm still awake. Tonight, it's no mystery what's keeping me up. I'm writing this blog post. And it's writing that often keeps me up: writing fiction, writing blog posts, thinking about writing blog posts, or doing what inspires them: homeschooling or learning Mandarin, or reading the latest just-can't-put-it-down novel. It's those things that don't make it to the to-do list that are often the source of my late-night (or early morning) alertness.

I suppose it's passion that keeps me up. The obsession with the life of one of my characters--a problem he or she just has to work through or the struggle to capture in words the perfect turn of phrase to capture the emotion of a scene. Or explaining the joy of one of my children in an "aha" moment we shared in our homeschool day.

Passion is a funny thing. A slippery thing. I remember as a young person being advised to find my passion when deciding on my career. The hardest question I had at that time was which passion? I found it hard to narrow it down. Even now, the author bio takes more work for me than the thousands of words in a novel. I am a homeschool mother and writer who happens to live in China (returning in February). How does one say that succinctly? Those elements don't even seem to go together. And yet, somehow, they do.

Maybe I needed to be wired this way to be fascinated by the details of research that go into writing a novel. For After the Snow Falls I needed to learn what a trucker looks for when buying a second-hand truck, where alternative medicine clinics are most often located and what kinds of treatments they offer, how a tracheostomy tube is cared for, details about the tourist sites along Route 66 (actually, this doubled as research for a vacation for my husband and I--one we haven't taken yet because we ended up in China, instead).

The same fascination with life and all its details serves me well as I homeschool my children. In a single week, I might be called upon to know about what happened in 17th century Japan, the names of the parts of a plant, how to identify trees in winter, how to teach the multiplication facts in a way that "sticks," and how to diagram a sentence.

So what keeps you up at night? What's your passion?

Carey Jane Clark is a Sinophile and homeschool mother by day, writer by night. Her first novel, After the Snow Falls, will be released December 15 by Trestle Press www.afterthesnowfalls.com.

Heroes, B.R. Stateham

2011-12-09T10:28:00.000-08:00

Heroes.
We all need them. In a world filled with bad guys, bad times, and bad memories, heroes are the one set of safety pins that keep us all from going irretrievably insane.

But what about our heroes. Do we really want the caped figures of a Batman or Superman? Heroes of unimaginably super powers and incredible durability. Figures born out of our fantasies. Sure, we all wish we could be incredibly strong. Even invincible. Along comes a fictional hero like a Superman or Batman and we flock to their movies, buy their comics, dream in the those most private moments we occasionally have about one day turning ourselves into a hero of mythological proportions.

But in truth, deep down in all of us, we are searching for a hero . . . or heroes . . . whom we know are all too human. They're like us. They have their strengths. They have their weaknesses. They do good. And sometimes . . . sometimes they make really terrible mistakes. People like us who, for one reason or another, are forced to stand up and face the ravages of an insane world. Forced to fight back the terrors of the night.

Two of my characters are genuine heroes. Cops. Homicide detectives. Turner Hahn and Frank Morales. One, by accident of birth, grows up to look remarkably like a long dead movie actor. And . . . again by accident of birth . . . years after working as a cop and suffering through a failed marriage, suddenly discoverers he has inherited a fortune and become insanely wealthy. Yet, for all the money he now suddenly has at his command, and despite of his movie star like good looks (which he definitely does not see as an asset) he remains a cop. Goes to work every day. Chases the crazies, the insane, the murderous psychopaths every day. Sees the pain, the hardships, the personal and private loss of those who become the victims of crime.

The second cop is totally different. Through the travesties of birth and DNA he's born not with good looks. Just the opposite. As an adult he becomes the photo-image of a modern day Neanderthal. A red haired, hulking giant with no neck and hands as wide as bulldozer blades. Looks would suggest he would be as dumb as a rock. Reality is the guy has an IQ possible four digits long. He's married, has kids . . . lives in suburbia. But first and foremost he's a cop. And like his partner he gets up every day and goes to work and faces the dangers, the boredom, the arcane with an equal amount of commitment to protect the innocent and hunt down the bad guys.

Turner Hahn and Frank Morales. Heroes.

God knows we need a couple of people like this to help us retain a little sanity in our lives.

Coming Soon-George Michael Loughmueller's "Set Free-An Amish Journey-Volume 1- Coming Home"

2011-12-09T08:18:00.000-08:00

Trestle Press will be releasing a new digital short series by George Michael Loughmueller called “Set Free-An Amish Journey-Volume 1-Coming Home” December 10. We feel it is a very unique look on the Amish, their culture, and one Families chance to re-discover themselves. Here is the synopsis and author biography:

“His last chance was their only hope.
In this new periodical short story series from Trestle Press, a man on the brink of self-destruction is given the opportunity to start over.
Allan Howarth is unhappy in work, in marriage, in family. He is stressed by finances and relationship problems. When a letter arrives from a long forgotten friend, Allan suddenly finds an opportunity to help himself, his wife and their two teenage children.
The letter presents Allan with a unique possibility which leads him on an Amish journey.

George Michael Loughmueller is a descendant of German heritage. Finding joy in being a husband and father, he is known by his friends as “Laughing George” because of his cheerful disposition and the pronunciation of his last name.
Born in the Midwest, George has spent time both in Omaha, Nebraska and Des Moines, Iowa. He works in retail, but has long had the dream of being an author. With the support of family and friends, George decided to write a story inspired by his grandfather.
“Set Free: An Amish Journey” is a work of fiction. However, some of the events are based on facts and stories told by George’s late father about the unusual life of his grandfather. In George’s mind, the fictional church district of Karsten Field is set in the small communities of eastern Iowa.

Angelique Lafontaine, author of "A Long Road Ahead" ,Guest Post

2011-12-09T06:27:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone!
It’s been a while since I’ve stopped in and said hello. I hope that everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving and is looking forward to a wonderful Christmas and New Years.
I am really excited to end the year the way I am. I’ve met a lot of new people who are extremely talented writers and have a lot of input to offer that has helped me produce work that I am proud to say ventures a little outside of what I’ve been writing.
I usually try to write about fantasy and science fiction, horror or suspense. I like to keep the reader guessing. However, some of my latest works have been more on the drama side. That’s an area I’ve stayed away from for a while. The interesting thing that I’ve discovered though is that entertaining the reader isn’t the only thing that an author can do. Sometimes, it’s just as important to give the reader something to identify with. When found in despairing moments of life, some people find themselves feeling alone and isolated. The drama stories that I’ve found myself writing offer, even if in a small way, reassurance to the reader that they are not the only one who has experienced unfortunate circumstances. Perhaps in that, as an author, I can help alleviate their feelings of angst, rejection, sorrow, what have you.

The drama stories that I have written, can and are based on everyday, real life situations. They happen to everyone. So entering into the holiday season this year is a little bit more special for me. I really hope that some of the stories I’ve written help others find a little bit of peace.
Thanks and I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday!
Angelique LaFontaine
www.AngeliqueArtWork.com

Coming Soon- "Things I Wish Jesus Hadn't Said" by Joe E. Morris Ph.D.

2011-12-08T13:09:00.000-08:00

Trestle Press will be releasing a full length non-fiction book by Joe E. Morris Ph.D. titled “Things I Wish Jesus Hadn’t Said” on December 10th. Here is the synopsis and author biography:
The book focuses on two groups of Jesus’ messages. One group comprises those sayings which make it hard to be a Christian. The other includes those which seemingly make it easy.
The “hard” or “tough” sayings of Jesus sere and scorch, challenge and demand. They call us to accountability, responsibility, and action. These are the sayings of the Sermon on the Mount, to the Rich Young Ruler, to the adulteress about to be stoned. These are sayings G. K. Chesterton was possibly recalling when he said, “Christianity, even when watered down, is hot enough to boil all of society to rags.” These sayings do not let us off the hook.

The easy sayings seem to contradict and counter the hard sayings. I wish he hadn’t said them because they confuse and allow us wiggle room with the hard sayings. They let us off the hook from spiritual, ethical, and moral obligations. They are susceptible to misinterpretation and more vulnerable to exploitation for personal, or national, agendas. They are easily ripped from context, manipulated, and distorted to allow excuses for behavior denounced in Jesus’ tough sayings. Some examples are “I did not come to bring peace, but a sword” (Matthew 10:34), “If anyone will not welcome you or listen to you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town” (Matthew 10:11-15), and “the poor you will always have with you” (Matthew 26:11)
About the Author
Joe Edd Morris was born in New Albany, Mississippi (birthplace of William Faulkner). Morris’s poetry and short fiction have appeared in the following literary journals: CHATTAHOOCHEE REVIEW, SOUTH DAKOTA REVIEW, CONCHO RIVER REVIEW, APPALACHIAN HERITAGE, BAYOU REVIEW, DELTA REVIEW AND THE POET. His novel, Land Where My Fathers Died, a semi-finalist in the 1998 Pirate’s Alley Faulkner Prizes for Fiction, was published spring, 2002. It was nominated for the Southeastern Booksellers Association Best Book of the Year, Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Best Fiction of 2002 and was awarded Best Fiction of 2003 by the Mississippi Library Association. It was also featured in ESQUIRE as one of the top reads of that summer. The past several years he has won first place in the William Faulkner Short Story Contest. More recently, his short fiction has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize.

In addition to poetry and fiction, a non-fiction work, Revival of the Gnostic Heresy: Fundamentalism, was published December, 2008 by Palgrave -MacMillan. Morris has also published professionally in journals of psychology and theology and a book entitled Systematic Jury Selection: A Practical Approach.

Sam Lang, author of "Reprisal" and co-author of the "Severed" series, Guest Post

2011-12-08T09:57:00.000-08:00

What makes you special?
What do you like about yourself?
What if you could enhance those things and improve your quality of life?
Thanks to the innovative New You* program, all of that and more is possible. New You is a vitamin-enhanced supplement program designed for your body and your mind. The cornerstone of the program is an amazing diet aide called EZ-Thin**.
Imagine burning calories faster, having more energy, more focus and controlled cravings. If you truly want to change your body image, then EZ-Thin is the ONLY supplement that does what it says. Clinical tests*** have shown the most rapid weight loss compared to all other major brands on the market. Even if weight loss is not your goal, EZ-Thin has proven to alter those cravings and promote aggressive digestion to improve your metabolism and make you a more active individual.
What are you waiting for? The end of the world? Make the change today and change the way you live!
A New You is only a bite away!
*New You is a pill-based non-addictive**** supplement program.
**EZ-Thin is a non-prescription pill. Side effects may include: Upset Stomach; Dizziness; Aching Joints; Vomiting; Fever; Diarrhea; Bleeding from All Bodily Orifices; Cannibalistic Cravings; Massive Cardiac Arrest; Total Internal System Failure; Mindless Zombie-like Behavior
***Clinical Tests have not been submitted to or approved by the FDA
****This statement has not been validated

I don’t know about you, but I would be in line to get EZ-Thin, the fictional diet pill that Darren and I use in Severed. We have a lot of fun writing this series and it grows exponentially each time we start the next volume. In the coming months, we plan to develop characters in other parts of the world. We are going to keep the focus on the characters, but there will be delights for the gore hounds as well. After all, it is a zombie story.
We should have Volume 3: True Faith to you before the end of December. In the meantime, you can connect with Darren and me @ Facebook.com/GotZombies
Severed Vol. 1: In The Beginning... and Severed Vol. 2: Myths & Legends are both available now for Kindle, Nook or your preferred eBook format.

"What Sacrifice Means To Me" Alexandrea Weis, author of The NOLA series

2011-12-08T07:45:00.000-08:00

What Sacrifice Means to Me

“Love. The word felt like a thunderbolt piercing my insides and rendering my heart from my soul. How could I tell him what that word meant to me? Like so many inept poets and philosophers before me, I was waylaid by the overpowering presence of such an emotion. But my recollections of love were not the chubby cherub laden, red heart encounters so often depicted on sappy Valentine’s Day cards. Love to me was a black enshrouding veil of mourning that embraced your heart in an aching perpetual winter. Love was loss to me. Love was death to me. For all I had ever loved had left me, and my heart had never fully recovered.” Pg 17, Sacrifice
In Sacrifice, the third installment of the Nicci Beauvoir series out now, Nicci comes face to face with her own feelings about love. She searches for her understanding of what true love is and has to make a decision about how she wants to spend the rest of her life. But like so many of us, after the clouds of despair have lifted, a new set of questions suddenly pervades Nicci’s thoughts. Instead of asking why she has suffered through such a terrible loss, she starts asking what if my life had been different? Questions about the choices we have made in life and the path we have chosen often follow periods of mourning and loss. And so Nicci Beauvoir, awakens from her own winter of confusion, to begin to wonder what it is she really wants for herself and who she wants to spend the rest of her life with. In Sacrifice, we see Nicci changed and strengthened by her grief. She begins to search inside of herself for the answers about life. In the end, tragedy always transforms us by making us re-evaluate what is really important in our lives. As I learned after the devastation of Katrina, things do not matter, people do. And I wanted Nicci’s transformation to reflect the post-Katrina attitude now found in the city of New Orleans. After the storm, we learned as a community that it is not the monuments or antiquated architecture that makes a city; it is the people that give it its strength. And in Sacrifice Nicci Beauvoir realizes that her strength comes from those around her. She learns to define herself by the love that encompasses her life. And from that strength, she is able to start down a new road and mold herself into the kind of person we all know we can be. A shame it takes a heart-wrenching disaster for many of us to rise like a phoenix from the ashes and grasp this valuable lesson, but I guess in the end it is better we face this truth before we lose what we never realized we had.

Darren Sant on The Importance of Setting, Realism and Dialogue

2011-12-07T07:55:00.000-08:00

Darren Sant on The Importance of Setting, Realism and Dialogue

There are so many vital things you have to consider when writing a novel. However, as a short story writer I want to discuss the importance of the setting. The reason I called my short story series Tales From The Longcroft Estate was that I wanted a clear place in mind, even if it is a fictional place.

A good setting should ideally be somewhere you can relate to. It doesn’t have to be somewhere you’ve lived just a place you have a strong image of and can go back to in your head and draw from. With my Tales From The Longcroft Estate the setting is a cross between a few different places I knew growing but have embellished. It takes a lot of time and effort to research new places so the writers friend is always that place remembered fondly from childhood. You have to consider what to include in your new setting. Remember to make it appropriate. If I were to include an Armani shop on the Longcroft Estate even if it was not shoplifted of all stock within the first hour of trading no one would be able to afford their prices, it’s just not that kind of area.
A good deal of realism can come from your setting. You can believe that there would be a Kebab shop in the area. You can believe there would be a bookies near the pub. Would there be a golf club? Of course not.

Dialogue is a very important when considering realism. If your story is set in Sunderland you don’t want to be using Cockney rhyming slang every other sentence. If you have a couple of hoody wearing gang members you don’t want them speaking like upper class twits as they beat up their rivals. Dialogue is a whole other blog post but consider the less is more rule. If you are unsure of how you want your characters speak then actions speak louder than words. Sometimes a single word can be more effective than a whole sentence.

Darren Sant is a 41 year old writer from Hull in the UK.
Find out more about Darren and his writing here:
http://darrensant-writer.yolasite.com/

Edith Maxwell, author of the soon to be released "Speaking of Murder' Guest Post

2011-12-07T04:58:00.000-08:00

Trestle Press will release my traditional mystery, Speaking of Murder, on December 21. I have always been a writer but this is my first published full-length novel. Creating fiction, long and short, is my passion. Here’s a list of my short stories and links to them. I have made my living writing technical documentation in the software industry for nearly two decades. Before that I variously wrote features and essays as a free-lance journalist, edited medical texts, and produced several published articles and a doctoral dissertation in the field of Linguistics. And before that, as a child and teenager, I wrote fiction and news articles. It must be in my blood.

I am active in several mystery-writers' groups, in person and online, that provide valuable support and information, particularly Sisters in Crime and the New England chapter. I am also a member of the Society of Friends (Quaker), as is my protagonist, Lauren Rousseau. Her sometime-boyfriend, a Haitian-American named Zac, works in video forensics on a system for which I wrote several of the manuals at a previous job.

I currently reside in Ipswich, Massachusetts, but am originally a 4th-generation Californian. I have two grown sons, and live in an antique house with my beau, our four cats, and several fine specimens of garden statuary.

Look for me as Edith M. Maxwell on Facebook, and @edithmaxwell on Twitter. I blog weekly at Speaking of Mystery.

My protagonist in Speaking of Murder, Lauren Rousseau, is a Linguistics professor. We find out that she speaks Japanese and Bambara, a language spoken in Mali. We see her teaching a class on Japanese phonology and learn that she's writing a paper to present at the East Asian Linguistics conference. She’s pretty good at identifying regional and foreign dialects and accents, and in fact uses that to help solve the murder. She pops up with a smattering of greetings in languages like Russian and Greek.

But what is linguistics? It's a wide-ranging field with a number of subspecialties.

You don't have to know a bunch of languages to be a linguist, although many do. You could spend all your time theorizing about the underlying structure of language, or you could go out with a recorder to collect data about a language that has only two speakers left who learned it as their first language.

One subspecialty is child language acquisition, and another is historical linguistics. Here’s a story that puts them together. Last week my little friend James (age almost three) said to me, "I can put my napron on now," speaking of his apron for cookie-baking. Modern English borrowed "napron" (napkin) from French a half-dozen centuries ago, and then speakers misinterpreted "a napron" to be "an apron." And now a child reverses that history, hearing "an apron" as "a napron."

Historical linguistics also tracks sound shifts like the one that resulted a common Indo-European root for 'father' ending up beginning with a [p] sound in the Latinate languages, an unaspirated [p] sound (which to English-speaking ears sounds a lot like a [b] at the start of words) in the Indic languages, and an [f] sound in the Germanic languages, of which English is one.

You could explore acoustic phonetics, measuring how many milliseconds an average vowel is in English when it precedes a voiced consonant like [d], [b], or [g] as opposed to when it precedes a voiceless consonant like [t], [p], or [k], and conversely the length of those consonants.

You could study psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, or typology of languages, looking at whether a language's basic word order is Subject-Verb-Object, which the majority of languages use, or SOV, as in English, or VSO. You could study languages that use tone to mark meaning and grammatical function, like Hausa, Yoruba, and Chinese. Linguists also work in forensics, testifying in court about, for example, whether a written confession or a text message was in fact created by the accused.

Speaking of Murder only touches on the possibilities of a linguist as an amateur sleuth. We're looking forward to seeing how else Lauren might use her skills to solve crimes in the future. One of my favorite blogs is LanguageLog.com. The bloggers are a number of well-known academic linguists who post about all kinds of topics of general interest and they draw the funniest and most erudite commenters I've ever seen on the Internet. I recommend it. You can read more about the field on wikipedia.

What experiences do you have with linguistics? Any questions you've been dying to ask? I’ll be stopping back in to answer as best I can!

Great Minds Think Aloud Literary Community, Trestle Press and The G-ZONE blogtalk radio show

2011-12-06T11:21:00.000-08:00

Great Minds Think Aloud Literary Community, Trestle Press and The G-ZONE blogtalk radio will be teaming in the future to bring you incredible contests, author interviews, and segments on the blogtalk radio show. The synergy between all will create an informative and interactive experience for all readers as all three cover the gamut of genres. All three foster an atmosphere of inclusion and this partnering will help take it to a new level for all involved: readers, reviewers and authors.
If you have not had the pleasure of finding Great Minds Think Aloud Literary Community please visit them:
http://www.greatmindsliterarycommunity.com/
Find them on Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, and a host of other places.
Trestle Press:
www.trestlepresspublishing.com
and The G-ZONE blogtalk radio show:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/gelatisscoop

TWITTER PARTY TODAY, DECEMBER 6, 4PM EST @ #TrestlePress

2011-12-06T07:10:00.001-08:00

We have had number of Twitter Parties @ #TrestlePress. The experiment has worked on many levels and it has been doing it. The obvious benefit is the increased number of followers but we have much more comes of it. In investigating what goes into a successful Twitter Party we have a few things which I would like to share with you right here. Here is the link and what we found:
http://www.twitterpartyguide.com/what-is-a-twitter-party
What Is a Twitter Party?
A twitter party is a fast and fun virtual party, using the twitter platform. Usually held in the evening, twitter parties typically last 1-2 hours and are a wonderful way for people to connect and discuss a topic of choice. Most twitter parties have an expert panelist and party host to keep the party on topic.

How does a twitter party work?
Twitter users tweet with a specified Hashtag (#) for the party. The party host will announce the hashtag prior to the event. If you look at the twitter party calendar, parties are listed by the hashtag (#). Users use their tweet chat client to search for the hashtag and join in the conversation. Tweetdeck and Tweetgrid make following a twitter party much easier.

What are the benefits of attending a twitter party?
Twitter parties are a great way to connect with new friends using the power of social media. People get together for fun, friends and support. Often times twitter parties have some great prizes to give away.

What are the benefits of sponsoring a twitter party?
Twitter parties are a wonderful way to ignite conversation around your brand. A twitter party can generate thousands of tweets in under two hours. Twitter parties are an excellent way to introduce new products or services, start a conversation about your niche, or get better acquainted with an enthusiastic group of people.
Please join us at 4pm EST over #TrestlePress, it gets busy, fun, fast and furious.

The G-ZONE Guest List- Another Full Week of FUN!

2011-12-05T06:57:00.000-08:00

Another week and another full slate of guests to come at you. Here is what we have brewing this week for your entertainment:
Monday December 5th- Jeffrey Dinsmore 4.30pm EST
Tuesday Dec.6- Irene Woodbury and Cort McMeel starting at 4pm EST
Weds. Dec 7- S.L. Schmitz 11.30am EST
Thursday Dec. 8- Joan Meijer and Melody Carlson starting at 6pm EST.
Friday Dec. 9 Janie Franz at 4pm EST.

“I Have Been Expecting You…” A Horror Anthology from Trestle Press Available December 24th. Do you want to be part of it?

2011-12-03T05:38:00.000-08:00

Trestle Press and its stable of horror authors will be releasing a horror anthology this December 24th. Do you want to be part of it? We are taking submissions; the cutoff date is December 15. We strongly suggest that you reserve your spot as soon as possible if you want to be a part of this.
The theme chosen by the Trestle Press authors: New Year’s Eve. Any way,shape or form that you can wrap the horror around the New Year’s Celebration is what this all about. Have fun.
To get in touch with us just email us at trestlepress@gmail.com or gelati.giovanni@gmail.com
Or visit us at our website: www.trestlepresspublishing.com

Paranormal/Fantasy/Sci-Fi Anthology by Trestle Press, “Inklings from Another World”

2011-12-02T12:28:00.000-08:00

Trestle Press will be releasing an anthology December 24th that will have a special theme to challenge any Paranormal/Fantasy/Sci-Fi author. We are looking for stories that have a New Year’s Eve theme. So get your vampires, werewolves, sorcerer’s, wizards, and time travelers ready to be shot off the e-reader and into readers’ minds and hearts.
Tell your friends! The submissions close December 14th.
Email your submissions to either trestlepress@gmail.com or gelati.giovanni@gmail.com
Or just visit our website: www.trestlepresspublishing.com

Take Angel Zapata's Challenge-Can you tell an entire story in 25 words? Find out what 5x5 really is!

2011-12-01T12:18:00.000-08:00

5x5 Fiction: Skillfully Shortening the Short Story
Just about everyone, at one time or another, has read a short story. But ask someone if they’ve ever read any flash fiction, stories told in less than 1,000 words. You’ll most likely get a cocked eyebrow. Ask them about micro fiction, stories told in less than 500 words. It’s probable the reaction will be a deeper furrow of the brow. Now ask them about the possibility of reading a complete story told in just 100 words (a drabble), or in 50 words (a dribble). How about in 6 sentences? 6 words?

Most will say it can’t be successfully done. They’ll say there’s no way a story can have a beginning, middle, and an end in so few words.
I’m here to dispel that belief.
Ernest Hemingway, author of such classics as The Sun Also Rises, To Have and Have Not, and For Whom the Bell Tolls, was allegedly put to this very challenge in the early twentieth century. He said he could spin a yarn in only 6 words. This is what he wrote:
“For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”
Wow. It’s amazing how much story is packed into these 6 small words. I know qualifying his sentence as a ‘story’ opens a forum for debate, but think about this: this will probably be one of the only stories you’ll ever be able to quote simply by memory. And isn’t the longevity, the timeless impact of such a succinct tale, what every writer aspires to give the reader?
Whichever side of the fence you find yourself, I’m here to expose you to one such possibility of storytelling. It’s called 5x5 Fiction: stories told in 5 sentences of 5 words each. These are complete stories, not poems or rantings. I’m the creator and editor for this online magazine. 4 times a year I publish the very best 25-word stories you’re likely to ever read.
In radio terminology, ‘5x5’ is the shortwave code for ‘Loud and Clear’. Using this code verifies the transmission signal is at optimal ‘strength and clarity’. To apply this definition to a tight, concise story is the challenge; a challenge many writers do incredibly well. Let me share a few with you. These have all appeared in previous issues of 5x5 Fiction.
Bonemeal By Simon Kewin

“My, such glorious roses, Pamela.”
“I feed the soil well.”
“What do you use, bonemeal?”
Sunlight glints off raised shears.
“Something like that,” she says.
Dog By Scott Cole
Dog dog dog dog dog. That was all she said. I glanced over her shoulder. And saw nothing but darkness. Then suddenly… nothing but teeth.
A Night in the Morgue By Kevin G. Bufton
Dr. Marsden’s heart was pounding. He recalled his Hippocratic Oath. Thou shall do no harm. Trembling, he completed his form. Patient’s cause of death: autopsy.
Love Means…By Debbi Antebi
They opened a champagne bottle. He celebrated their 40th anniversary. She celebrated keeping her secret. The doctors had all agreed. Next year, she’d be gone.
Confession By L. Muñoz
“Bless me, father, I’ve sinned.” Transgressions spilled from her mouth. The priest remained silent, trembling. Suddenly the monster grabbed her. “Forgive me,” the priest sobbed.
My hope is these stories have thrilled you, transformed you by their remarkable energy, and have left you gasping for more. I invite readers and writers alike to visit 5x5fiction.blogspot.com. And if you’re inspired to create some of your own, read the guidelines and submit them for consideration.
I leave you with the words of English poet, Robert Southey. “It is with words as with sunbeams, the more they are condensed, the deeper they burn.”
Angel Zapata grew up in NYC, but now resides near Augusta, Georgia. Some of his fiction and poetry has appeared at The Boston Literary Review, The Glass Coin, In Between Altered States, Erotica Quarterly, and the Pill Hill Press anthology: Monster Gallery. He is author of the Trestle Press short story horror series, The Man of Shadows. He also edits 5x5 Fiction: 25-word stories told in 5 sentences of 5 words each. Visit him at arageofangel.blogspot.com and 5x5Fiction.blogspot.com

Hospice of the Comforter and Florida Writers Association Join Forces to Help One Dying Man’s Final Wish Come True

2011-12-01T11:29:00.000-08:00

A TERMINALLY ILL PATIENT’S DREAM IS REALIZED THANKS TO THE DEDICATED EFFORTS OF A VOLUNTEER WITH HOSPICE OF THE COMFORTER, DOUG DILLON.

ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla… Meet Hospice of the Comforter patient Tony Mancuso. He offers you the best smile he can, given his physical situation while at the Garnet Heart group home in Altamonte Springs, Fla. And meet Doug Dillon, a volunteer with Hospice of the Comforter of Central Florida, whose patient is Tony.

Doug Dillon-vol, Tony Mancuso-pt, Melanie Serafine-CM, Susan Peoski- vol coor-pic 3 crop 2.jpgDuring one of Doug’s visit, he learned that Tony was a writer and before he got sick, published 1,200 copies of his first novel titled, The Lie Catcher, where he uses first names of family members and friends as the first names for characters in his book. The 230-page Christian mystery novel tells the story of Kevin Petty, an ex-FBI profiler, as he struggles to solve a bizarre case for a Central Florida police department.

Finally realizing he would never be able to market his books, Tony told Doug that he would at least like to give them away in hopes that some people might enjoy the story. Meet Doug Dillon, again, also a published author with multiple books, including An Explosion of Being, and a member of the Florida Writers Association (FWA), whose motto for the statewide group is, “Writers Helping Writers”…and this story tugged at his heartstrings.

Doug approached Rose van der Berg, director of volunteer services at Hospice of the Comforter, to see how they might help Tony’s dying wish come true.

Rose loved the idea and together they started distributing copies of the book to volunteers and churches. Included in the book was a letter from Tony Doug Dillon.jpgexplaining his situation and asking readers to consider dropping him a note at his group home and telling him what they thought of his work.

Here is an excerpt from Tony’s note: “Please accept this book, The Lie Catcher, as a gift from me to you. I wrote it a while back, hoping to get it out into the world through proper marketing but God had other plans for me. After suffering a debilitating stroke, I find myself living in a group home and under the care of Hospice of the Comforter. So, instead of selling my book, I decided to give it away to people who might find it of interest. It really makes me happy to know that you are taking a copy and I very much hope you enjoy it.”

Over the next few months, over 100 books were distributed and Tony received cards of appreciation from his readers that pleased him to no end.

But Doug was determined to see Tony’s dream come true, so he contacted Chrissy Jackson, president of FWA and asked if there was any way she could help Tony. Chrissy’s enthusiastically responded, “Of course, we can help!” She explained that they could distribute 600 of Tony’s books at the annual Florida Writers Conference in October at the Orlando Marriott Hotel in Lake Mary. Chrissy agreed to put the books into the goody bags for every participant. Rose and Hospice of the Comforter staff prepared 600 letters The Lie Catcher book.jpgand books and delivered them to the conference.

To open the event, Chrissy presented the Tony Mancuso project to the 500 assembled writers from across Florida. She outlined the history of the project and made a heartfelt plea for all attendees to glance at Tony’s book and send him a card. She even set up a huge flip chart so people could write notes to Tony. Throughout the conference, people stopped Doug to tell him how much Tony’s story touched them.

Doug enlarged a photo of the himself and Chrissy holding Tony’s book and the signed sheets into a large poster…that and all the newsprint sheets were placed on Tony’s wall, and cards started coming in for him from the other writers. Even as weak as he was, his smile and eyes widened as he looks at what his book had done. “I can’t thank everyone enough for all they did,” he said.

On October 30, 2011, Doug got a call from Tony’s wife, Lynda Mancuso. She was at his bedside in tears. Tony had just died. Doug had shared a kindred spirit with this stranger that became his friend. But as Doug explains, “My experience in life tells me that a part of us continues on after death and I know Tony is okay. And as I think about it, I strongly suspect he held on until after the Florida Writers Conference.”

It is not often in the work of a Hospice of the Comforter volunteer that one can do something extraordinary for patients beyond befriending, but Doug was lucky enough to have that opportunity with Tony. Doug shared his belief about his volunteer experiences, “If you act on what you find, those smiles you get in return will warm your heart forever.”

For more information about Hospice of the Comforter, call 407-682-0808 or visit www.HospiceoftheComforter.org.

###

Starting Tomorrow a NEW FEATURE on the Trestle Press Website!

2011-11-30T13:31:00.001-08:00

Starting tomorrow each and every day there will be at least two guest posts by Trestle Press authors on the Trestle Press website Monday through Sunday. The only off day in December will be Christmas Day. Plan to read plenty of insightful and interesting content. Get to see a different side of the authors: their viewpoints, thoughts and feelings on what is going on in and around their writing world and the new landscape of publishing as they strive to help transform the reading experience for you. Be an insider; check the Trestle Press website two ,three ,four times a day for news, information and amazing fun content from and about authors that are on the cutting edge.
Here is this week’s lineup of authors:
Dec 1st-Alexandrea Weis and Angel Zapata
Dec. 2nd- Angelique Lafontaine and B.R. Stateham
Dec 3rd- Benjamin Sobieck and Cary Jane Clark
Dec. 4th Cecilia Roberts and Chantal Boudreau
Just go to www.trestlepresspublishing.com , bookmark it!

Question:How important is a You Tube video to the sale of a story?

2011-11-30T12:19:00.000-08:00

I need to ask you as a reader, is: ”A You Tube video important to you? Does it help in your purchasing decision?”, How much does it sway you to push that button to make the purchase?”
Trestle Press has not been using its You Tube page much to this point. Some of the authors have been making videos lately in the hopes of increasing sales, or just getting their work more visibility. We would like your feedback on not just what goes into your decision to make the buy on an author’s work but what role does the video play in it if at all?
Do you seek them out?
Are they a valuable tool for you?
What elements in the video are important for you as a reader and consumer?
What turns you off as a viewer?
Would you like to see more of the author than just the basics of the story?
We at Trestle Press are looking for your feedback on this. Feel free to email us; comment here where you find the post, or just go to our Facebook or You Tube page and leave your thoughts. We would appreciate it very much.
Here are the places to go:
Email: trestlepress@gmail.com
Website: www.trestlepresspublishing.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/trestle.press
You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/user/TrestlePress?feature=mhee

Today on The G-ZONE: Mark Cooper ,author of “Infection”, “Blood” and the popular “How I Met Your Mother” digital short series

2011-11-28T11:50:00.000-08:00

Today at 5pm EST, I get the opportunity to interview Mark Cooper for the first time. It should be fun. Here is a little about him and today’s link:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/gelatisscoop/2011/11/28/mark-cooper-starts-off-a-busy-week-here-at-the-g-zone
“Mark Cooper is a 37 year old civil servant, father of three and life-long lover of the strange and bizarre. When he isn’t trying to understand the greater mysteries of the universe or how to synch his iPod to his laptop he can be found in various comic book stores in the central regions of England spending money his wife doesn’t know about.
He currently has five works in print from Trestle Press publishing; an espionage series entitled How I Met Your Mother available from Amazon & Amazon UK; a zombie fiction entitled Infection and a short vampire tale under the title Blood. “

Lady Knights on the Mean Streets: Modern Women in Hard-Boiled Crime Fiction-Thad Brown-one of "The Dark Pages Deadly Dozen" -Guest Post

2011-11-28T07:47:00.000-08:00

Lady Knights on the Mean Streets: Modern Women in Hard-Boiled Crime Fiction

What we’ve come to call the “hard-boiled” tradition in crime fiction, as it’s lovingly explored and chronicled here in Crime Wave Magazine, originated in the American pulps of the 1920s, and flourished through the rise of the paperbacks in the 1950s. (As I’m using the term “hard-boiled” here, it denotes crime fiction that involves a significantly greater component of violent or potentially violent action than the traditional mystery, is less focused on cerebral deduction, and may not involve the solution to a mystery or end with the apprehension of the culprit at all; it would include the whole noir tradition, but doesn’t always embody the moral cynicism of classic noir.) From this era, which fans often think of as this sub-genre’s Golden Age, we derive a number of archetypal figures: the smart-aleck, hard-living male gumshoe who’s handy with fists and gun; the dastardly male villain who’s smart, physically formidable (or has formidable types working for him) and wholly unscrupulous; the calculating, sinister femme fatale who uses sexual seduction to bend hapless males to her evil purposes, and who’s no more scrupulous than her male fellow villains; the cretinous police detective/D.A./police commissioner who hates P.I.’s on general principles; the traditional Damsel in Distress; and the detective’s patient and capable female secretary, who handles the paper-worky end of the business. But one sort of character was glaringly absent from this roster: any sort of female figure who could wield fists or gun in defense of justice and the innocent. Raymond Chandler’s famous comment about the detective who must go down the mean streets without being mean, tarnished or afraid envisions strictly the hero, not the heroine. (The determined exclusion of women from violent action roles tended to apply even to the villainesses; they might not hesitate to shoot somebody to death but, like Bridget O’Shaughnessy in The Maltese Falcon, they do that sort of dirty work only by stealth and surprise, to unsuspecting victims who have no chance for a fair fight.)

Among the changes this tradition has seen in the last fifty years, though, has been the rise of the action heroine in crime fiction. Peter O’Donnell’s Modesty Blaise is arguably the first of these, originating in 1963 as a comic-strip character, with the first of a series of novels appearing in 1965. (This series is often classified as espionage fiction, since Modesty at times assists the British intelligence agency; but her background is in the underworld –she ran a Tangier-based crime syndicate before turning her back on the lawless life—and the plots can involve other things besides spy capers. I’d contend that the line, if any, that divides this literature from crime fiction is very thin.) Perhaps inspired by the considerable popularity of the 1976-1981 TV show Charlie’s Angels, with its lady detectives, female P.I.s began to turn up in the crime literature of the 1980s. Sue Grafton is usually credited with starting this trend in her series-opener A Is for Alibi (1982), featuring woman sleuth Kinsey Milhone; the author and the series went on to garner numerous genre awards. The trend didn’t end there, so by now Kinsey has numerous sisters in the hard-boiled mystery field: Linda Barnes’ Boston-based Carlotta Carlyle, Marcia Muller’s Sharon McCone, who works out of San Francisco, and Chicago private investigator V. I. Warshawski, created by Sara Paretsky, are among the best known and most popular. We can probably exclude Janet Evanovich’s Jersey girl Stephanie Plum from this list –she’s a bounty huntress whose cars tend to get blown up in the course of her work; but though she packs a gun, she still hasn’t learned to use it after 22 novels and novellas, and still refuses to learn any self-defense techniques. That series is really oriented more to humor than serious action. All of the other women mentioned here, though, are female equivalents of the male P.I.s in this tradition, at least insofar as their capacity for the hard-boiled type of detective work is concerned; they can handle the rough stuff, and are capable of using lethal force if they have to.

As women have entered the world of fictional (and real-life) private investigation in the later 20th century, they also began to join real-life police forces in the same period, and some eventually have become full-fledged police detectives. These ladies, too, have begun to have their counterparts in the hard-boiled crime fiction field. Coupled with the increasing recognition by authors in this field that the police can actually be competent and professional, rather than just the traditional inept foils for the independent P.I. hero, you have the potential for police officers of both genders to be serious heroic figures in the action mold. Eve Dallas, the creation of “J. D. Robb” (which is actually a pen name used by Nora Roberts) is probably the genre’s foremost policewoman heroine. But there are others, which include J. A. Konrath’s Lt. Jacqueline “Jack” Daniels, and April Smith’s FBI Special Agent Ana Grey. Genre authors have branched out the roles of action females in crime fiction in other ways as well. If you see espionage fiction with a lot of violent action as a natural subset of this tradition, Greg Rucka’s Queen and Country series featuring British spy Tara Chace, who started her career in comic books but, like Modesty Blaise, eventually transitioned to the regular novel, in her case beginning with A Gentleman’s Game (2004), is a good example. Hard-boiled crime writing has also seen some reinterpretation of females on the other side of the law. Characters such as John Sandford’s hit woman Clara Rinker (who appears in two of his Lucas Davenport series novels, Certain Prey and Mortal Prey) aren’t simplistic, one-dimensionally bad villains; they have layers of moral complexity, underneath which they may not be wholly evil at all --though, obviously, they’ve got a dark side, to varying degrees. And they may be as capable of formidable action roles as their more upright sisters.

This is a genre trend that shows no sign of abating; indeed, it’s increased markedly since its beginnings in the 80s. Contemporary crime writers like Kelley Armstrong with her Nadia Stafford series, Dennis Lehane (creator of the P.I. character Angie Gennaro), Concrete Pearl author Vincent Zandri, and British author Mark Cooper, creator of British intelligence agent Leah Bennett Hargraves, all are mining this territory, along with many others. My own short story collection, The Smoking Gun Sisterhood, with action heroines of several of these (and a few other) types, is a contribution to the same trend, albeit a modest one. But what’s the social significance of the trend?

Some critics, of course, would have it that the significance is negative: that women shouldn’t be filling this kind of role anyway, and that these kinds of fictional depictions are just exploitative money-makers designed to appeal to unhealthy male fantasies. (Though why it’s unwholesome for males to admire strong, capable females, and wholesome to admire fragile and helpless ones, has never been satisfactorily explained.) No doubt, some of this fiction does come from writers who simply want to ride a trend and make money. But trends start from somewhere, and they fulfill certain reader needs and express certain values. To me, it seems like the rise of the action heroine in this genre (as in other fictional genres in the same time period) reflects a growing awareness that women as a group have the same range of capabilities and possibilities as males –that their biological gender isn’t an absolute determiner of their roles in life. In that sense, it’s a reflection of the growing influence of the woman’s movement that began in the 60s, but it’s not about male-bashing; it’s about the recognition that some women can do the same jobs that some men do, and if they have the aptitude and the willingness, there’s no reason why they shouldn’t. As noted above, the entry of women into these roles in fiction has reflected their entry into similar roles in the real world; and one of the major arguments of hard-boiled crime fiction’s apologia has always been that it’s “realistic,” a gritty mirror of the way things actually are. (And that way has changed a lot since the noir “Golden Age!”) Related to this, it reflects an increasing awareness that if a willingness to use force for good purposes doesn’t make a male bad, it doesn’t automatically make a woman “bad” either; a recognition that there’s only one moral standard of behavior, not two different ones depending on which gender is doing something. I’d argue that these are positive changes; and that a type of fiction that reflects and promotes them, in its own small way, is doing something socially constructive. So, readers, let’s give these lady knights their propers, as they patrol the mean streets untarnished and unafraid!

The G-ZONE Guest List for the week of November 28th

2011-11-26T06:12:00.001-08:00

Hey a new week is almost upon us and we have a full week from Monday through Saturday. Who knows maybe we will add Sunday also, stay tuned. Here is this week’s schedule:
Monday-Mark Cooper -5pm EST
Tuesday- Jason Hughes and John Reed- 4pm EST
Weds.- Dan Walsh-11 am EST
Thursday- Mystery Guest
Friday- Edith Maxwell 4pm EST
Saturday- Roger Rheinheimer and Crystal Linn
The link for the show is: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/gelatisscoop
To call in and be part of the conversation just dial: 1-949-270-5955

Five Guests –One Intense Hour of Blogtalk Radio: Saturday a Christian/Inspirational Panel

2011-11-25T12:10:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow, Saturday November 26th, 12pm EST, I will be hosting a Christian/Inspirational Panel on my blogtalk radio show The G-ZONE.
My guests will be: Karen Anna Vogel, Roger Rheinheimer, Crystal Lynn, Kathi Macias, and Carey Jane Clark.
Here are their biographies and the link:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/gelatisscoop
Karen Anna Vogel:
A trusted English friend among many Amish in Western PA, I want to share with you about these wonderful people I've come to love. We live in a terribly fast paced world and people are longing for simplicity. We need to get back to what's important; faith, family and friends.
The Amish Knitting Circle was birthed when Trestle Press contacted Suzanne Woods Fisher to write an Amish serial. Suzanne graciously referred them to me. Thank you Suzanne!
Being in a knitting circle myself, and seeing how women open up about their joys and problems, inspired me to write this series. The six women in the Amish Knitting Circle all have problems relevant to women today, and I hope readers will learn how problems are faces the Amish way, in community, confronting problems instead of ignoring them, and so much more.
I currently own Thrifty Christian Shopper, found at www.thriftychristian.com and on Ebay and Amazon. I have a B.A. from Seton Hill University, and a Masters in Biblical Counseling from Andersonville Theological Seminary.
In my spare time I enjoy birding, photography, knitting, watching BBC Period Drama's and spending time with my husband and four grown "kids", who are now my BFF's ;).
Kathi Macias:
Kathi Macias is a multi-award winning writer who has authored more than 30 books and ghostwritten several others. A former newspaper columnist and string reporter, Kathi has taught creative and business writing in various venues and has been a guest on many radio and television programs. Kathi is a popular speaker at churches, women's clubs and retreats, and writers' conferences, and recently won the prestigious 2008 member of the year award from AWSA (Advanced Writers and Speakers Association) at the annual Golden Scrolls award banquet. Kathi "Easy Writer" Macias lives in Homeland, CA, with her husband, Al, where the two of them spend their free time riding their Harley.
Roger Rheinheimer & Crystal Linn:
Roger Rheinheimer spent the first eighteen years of his life in northern Indiana. His father was the only doctor for a small town of 1200, and had a hitching rail on a side street by his office for the Amish patients. His father bought an eighty acre farm, and Roger and his older brother worked it, raising cattle and growing crops.
While he was still in high school, Roger learned woodworking skills from Elmer Schlabach, his Amish mentor. They built houses in the old-fashioned tradition, from hand-mixing the concrete for the foundations to hand-nailing the shingles. The only phase they did not do was the electrical. To this day, Roger enjoys using his wood crafting skills, making acoustic guitars and furniture.
Roger earned an undergraduate degree in Behavioral Psychology from a small private college in the Shenandoah Valley, took a Creative Writing class, loved it, and published a short story called My Brother. He was a regular contributing writer to the college newspaper.
Roger has two novels in print and ebook, Amish Snow and Yield Spread: a novel.
Crystal Linn is a free-lance writer and award-winning poet who teaches a variety of creative writing classes. Her third book, Poetry for Friends, is scheduled to be released in the spring of 2012. She lives in the greater Seattle area where she enjoys reading mysteries, writing poetry and sailing with friends and family.
Carey Jane Clark:
Carey Jane Clark writes to instill courage, hope and conviction in her audience. She has authored several articles for Canadian publications and has ghostwritten a devotional for teens. She has been writing in one form or another for more than twenty years. Her writing in After the Snow Falls has been compared to that of Karen Kingsbury and Jodi Picoult.
Carey shares the adventure of her life with her husband Brian and three children, whom she homeschools. She blogs about their experiences homeschooling and as expats in China at www.careyjaneclark.com/enCouragement and www.holdthemsg.com.

Benjamin Sobick on Maynard Soloman

2011-11-25T07:55:00.000-08:00

Maynard Soloman is an old crusty badger of a detective with a potty-mouth straight outta 1932. Throughout his short story series, he's had some big cases. Yet none of them come close to his most recent in the e-book, Maynard Soloman Proves Santa Claus is Real.
Exactly how he does this involves a drunk hound dog, an eccentric church and a baseball bat-wielding thief. Oh yeah, and some reindeer hooves on the roof of his Winnebago.
I won't divulge any details, but I will give you a taste of Maynard's approach to life. His Guide to Milk and Cookies appears as a bonus feature in the e-book, Maynard Soloman Proves Santa Claus is Real. But I'll let you in on a little preview now.
Here is Maynard Soloman's Guide to Milk and Cookies:
When Santa Claus breaks into your home Christmas Eve, tramples through your living room and leaves a pile of shit to throw out in February, you'll be glad you read this guide.
Why? This greedy bastard expects some sort of tribute. Virgins, probably. But since you lack the upper body strength to hurl said virgin into that volcano, you'll do something else. You'll leave milk and cookies.
You're a sap.
Here's how to do it the right way:
1) Load your shotgun.
2) Stick the business end up the chimney.
3) When you hear noise, shoot.
4) As the remains of Santa beg for mercy at your feet, fetch the milk and cookies.
5) Taunt Santa while eating the milk and cookies.
6) Go on the roof and slaughter the reindeer. Tell Santa you know a nice meat processor.

7) Come out of your drug-induced haze, you stupid doper. There is no Santa and there are no reindeer. Also, the cops are here.
8) Use your one phone call from jail to tell your family you dropped acid on Christmas Eve. They will use words like, "extremely disappointed," "we're changing the locks" and - since you pissed away most of your life - "not surprised."
9) As you sit in jail, you will get a nickname from the other inmates. It will be "Milk and Cookies." You will not enjoy this name. Especially when the big fat guy with a beard comes over to "get my Milk and Cookies."
10) Let me know if you need some bail money. I'd be happy to laugh in your face.
If you enjoy this cynical take on Christmas, you'll especially like the new 99-cent short story e-book, Maynard Soloman Proves Santa Claus is Real.

Happy Thanksgiving to Everybody!

2011-11-24T03:34:00.000-08:00

From of all of us here at Gelati’s Scoop, The G-ZONE blogtalk radio show and Trestle Press we hope you have a very nice Thanksgiving Day.
We know not everyone we know or work with celebrates this holiday on Thursday, but everyone is in our thoughts and we appreciate all the support and kind words we have received. Without everybody we would not be able to do what we do.
So thank you again, God Bless all of you, and please have a safe, wonderful Thanksgiving celebration.

Carey Jane Clark to release new novel with Trestle Press in December

2011-11-23T09:35:00.000-08:00

In the middle of a soccer drill, in an awful, awkward moment, Celia Bennett's eight-year-old son Caleb lands on his face and chest in the grass. The diagnosis blindsides her, bringing her face-to-face with every parent's worst nightmare.

Desperate to save her son’s life, Celia pursues a cure through alternative medicine, but her quest ends in frustration and disappointment. Facing despair, hope walks in on the most unlikely set of legs, when her father returns after a 30-year absence. Can she release pain to embrace hope? Will it make a difference, or is it too late?

About the Author

Carey Jane Clark writes to instill courage, hope and conviction in her audience. She has authored several articles for Canadian publications and has ghostwritten a devotional for teens. She has been writing in one form or another for more than twenty years. Her writing in After the Snow Falls has been compared to that of Karen Kingsbury and Jodi Picoult.

Carey shares the adventure of her life with her husband Brian and three children, whom she homeschools. She blogs about their experiences homeschooling and as expats in China at www.careyjaneclark.com/enCouragement and www.holdthemsg.com.

“Carey Jane Clark is a new voice in Christian fiction, and definitely one to watch. Her picturesque prose and compelling characters makes After the Snow Falls a riveting story, one that will remain with readers long after closing the final page.” - Kathi Macias

Question from a Literary Agent yesterday to Trestle Press marked URGENT: “Did you just publish Stephen King?” Our answer, “Why yes, we did!”

2011-11-23T06:16:00.000-08:00

Hey we did and we are extremely proud of it. His name is Stephen H. King and he has written “Cataclysm: Return of the Gods”. It is a very good full length novel selling for $4.99. It clearly states on the cover his full name and his bio (which I have placed below) gives you a nice snapshot of all the pertinent information.
What the bio does not tell you is that he is a really nice guy that flat out can write. I for one am very thankful that I get to work for him. He makes no bones about the fact that he is the “other” Stephen King that is why he adds the H. to his name. He could go without it and try to gain a few sales just on his name and the similarities, but I have way more respect for him and his work that he wants to be known for his writing skills and content, not the name sameness.
It is nice going to war every day with a talented author that wants to be known for his own skills and ability, so yes we say with a great deal of pride, That we do publish Stephen H. King; he rocks. To us “Stephen King” is the other “Stephen H. King”.
One last thing, the REAL Stephen H. King has a great sense of humor. I think it would make a great blogtalk radio show and be very entertaining if anybody knows the “Other” Stephen H. King tell him I am looking for him. I would like to interview both on the same show. Just ask him to email me:
gelati.giovanni@gmail.com
Here is some information on Stephen H. King:
The novel: http://www.amazon.com/Cataclysm--Return-Gods-ebook/dp/B006BI5LJU/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1322049786&sr=1-3
Here is the synopsis and bio:
The world is rebooted from its technology foundation into a mythical existence controlled by powerful flows of elemental magic as small pockets of humans scramble to live through the resulting cataclysmic disaster. Crystal, one of those scrambling humans, survives only through the surprising powers of her husband, who teleports the family to safety.

When it turns out that he's actually Mars, the God of War, she struggles to figure out what it means to be the wife of a god. More to the point, what does it mean to be Mrs. Of War? As she comes to grips with her new reality, she suffers a series of jealous encounters with Sorscha, a shape-shifting dragon and her husband's servant who spends most of her time in stunningly beautiful human form.

Crystal soon learns, though, that her true enemy is Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love and her husband's ex-wife. Worse, the goddess wants her husband back, and the game that unfolds takes Matt and Crystal to Atlantis and on an evening jaunt to Olympus, the dive bar for the gods, before ending in an epic battle for Crystal's life.

A Mississippi native, Stephen H. King was moved in high school entirely against his will from the small town of Corinth to a large city he ended up loving in southern California. After, a series of mostly unexplainable decisions led him through a strange sequence of events beginning at the United States Military Academy, where he double-majored in physics and electrical engineering, through a fairly short career as an Infantry officer and then an electronics technician, a product engineer, a carpenter’s helper, and an elementary school janitor, to ultimately finding himself on the faculty of a small college in Anchorage, Alaska.

During those years, he learned that reading science fiction and fantasy allowed him to escape the strangeness into the more understandable worlds crafted by Isaac Asimov, Piers Anthony, Marion Zimmer Bradley, and many other great writers. As time went on he began to mold his own worlds.

Stephen now lives in Midlothian, VA, with his wife, daughter, and two white Chihuahuas that enjoy morphing from Therapuppies into miniature dragons at the sound of food being opened. Stephen is currently working on the next book in the Goddess series.

John Blandly,author of the soon to be released "Robot Driver, Guest Post

2011-11-22T11:52:00.000-08:00

Why do you write what you do?
I write what I like to read and what I think others want to read. Recently, I’ve been focusing more on young adult literature. It’s hard to write good young adult literature because I’m sure young people don’t want to be fooled, and I doubt they can be fooled. They want the truth. They can handle the truth. Stories and especially novels, in my opinion, need to be about important turning points in a person’s life. Young people often face turning points. Granted, I’m not talking about really young people, I’m talking about people in their late teens, twenties, or thirties—singles. No one needs to read about married people with children, unless it’s really about their kids. You’d have to knock their socks off to write another “Bringing Up Father.” I do think stories about families are amusing, however. Usually the father is a dunce-like character, eternally fooled by his wife and children. This is, I think, an accurate picture of how most good families work. The mother is a saintly and wise person, while the father is an error prone barely tolerable self-appointed foolish leader of doubtful missions. So, I think, in a realistic young adult novel, told from the child’s point of view, parents should be distant, crazed lunatics. Then the kids are free to deal with their turning points, without the interference of their parents’ advice or guidance, which, of course, would be outlandish and way off.
What do you mean by turning points?
Turning points usually involve the opposite sex and how you are being dumped or how you are hooking up. Other turning points are careers. It can involve flunking out, getting kicked out of or quitting school, or getting fired or hired. Marriage and having children is always a huge turning point. The biggest, but a final one, I believe. Once you are past that, not much more that is important can happen to you in life or in a book, in my opinion. And who cares? Let’s talk about great books. Take “Of Human Bondage,” for example. What if that guy had a wife and kids? Kind of weird. Might be funny, but probably wouldn’t be popular. Or “Breakfast At Tiffany’s” with a married guy with kids. Doesn’t work. Or the hooker character in that book—what if she had kids? Not nice. Wouldn’t sell. It’d be real, but who wants real? We want love. We need love. We buy love. I’m no expert on erotic novels, but I bet few of them have main characters who are married with kids. Those people don’t have time to fool around, or they shouldn’t.
Do you think what you are doing is important?
I used to think writing was the most important thing. Now I’m not too sure. We all have ambition—want to make a mark for ourselves in this world. Otherwise you’re just like any other name on the side of a gravestone. Nobody. But remember, the people who have had streets and cities named after them—nobody knows who those people are anymore. So, it’s a good question. I’d like to cure a disease, or invent something useful, and still would like to make some amazing astronomical discovery. Even my sci fi books don’t do that, so I don’t know what I’ve accomplished there. Maybe I just need to return to what I first believed in grammar school—that what I wanted to do was make people laugh. I still think that’s an honorable calling.

Joe Brennan, author of the soon to be released "Superdollar", Guest Post

2011-11-22T03:21:00.000-08:00

There are very few ordinary people in Northern Ireland. By ordinary I mean, nine to five job, a wife or a husband, two kids, a dog and a mortgage. About three weeks ago my twenty two year old son Mark came into my office in West Belfast and I suggested we go grab some lunch in a cafe a few hundred yards up the road. When we went in, the place was pretty busy; it’s a nice place good food at a good price. We were about to leave as there were no tables when I heard my name being called, Joe! It was a man I went to school with and who I now meet from time to time around Belfast and sometimes have a beer with. Gerry Kelly called me over and he and his girlfriend offered to share their table with us. So my son and I thanked them and we sat down, we made small talk, I mentioned that I had just finished a book and he told me he was working on a book as well, his life story. Gerry is a Junior Minister in Northern Ireland he holds jointly the second most important job in our Government. Over the years while he has been in office I have never really considered the importance of his position, when in his company I always looked on him as just an old schoolmate. It was my son who brought it to my attention when he said to me that it was kind of funny sitting talking to that guy, when I usually only see him on television. This got me thinking about the unique situation that is Northern Ireland. Go into a bar anywhere in West Belfast there would most likely be a guy or maybe two, responsible for the death of several people and now released under the ceasefire agreements. This guy or guys would be sitting at the bar and would be regarded by every one else as just another customer very rarely would their pasts come up in conversation nor would anyone think any more or less of them for it.. Although while some would think of them as mass murderers others would regard them as freedom fighters. Then there are other situations when at a charity bash or community event there would be two or three people present who are on first name terms with the President of United States of America. How many Americans will ever get the chance to shake a hand that has shaken their Presidents hand, but I have. What a melting pot this little place is and out of this very place as I write we have the best golfers in the world emerging, we have champion boxers, rock stars and film stars but more important we have people with stories to tell, it is said everyone has a book in them, well everyone in Northern Ireland has a fantastic book in them. It is so easy to prove you are a good golfer, just get the ball in the hole. It’s easy to become a champion boxer, just go out and beat the crap out of your opponent. It is even easy to prove you are a talented singer or actor but no matter how good an author you are, ninety nine times out of a hundred you were always going to be told. “Yeah it’s good but I’m afraid it’s not for me”. That is until now. eBooks!! Watch this space, in fact watch this little country of ours.
Joe Brennan.

A Little Help Please: What makes a good Twitter Party? What are the key elements for success?

2011-11-21T12:14:00.000-08:00

Hi. We could use a hand from our friends. We have only had one Twitter party. It was fun, but we would like to take it to the next level tomorrow at 4pm EST over TrestlePress@Twitter.com.
What do you think are the key elements to make this party a success?
I found some tips at a blog, http://www.likeawarmcupofcoffee.com/home/2010/05/how-to-host-a-successful-twitter-party/ , here is what it says essentially:
10 Tips for Hosting a Successful Twitter Party
 Have tweets, with your hashtag prepared in advance and in the order you plan to tweet them (welcome tweets, introductions, links, giveaway pics, etc.) – make sure they are under 140 characters (less is better so people can RT). You are still “free tweeting” but you have the prepared ones ready to go so you can keep the party flowing smoothly.
 Prep your team and sponsors well so everyone is in the loop!
 Make sure everyone on your team knows to keep an eye on their DM’s so you all can communicate privately during the party if need be.
 Have a theme for the party – think of things people are interested in (what would you want to talk about on Twitter?).
 Ask an “expert” or two on your theme to be on hand to answer questions – give the experts a gift and openly praise them.
 Have a post dedicated to the party with all the details regarding the party (include hosts’ twitter handles). Example here.
 Tweetchat is my favorite tool during a Twitter party, but Tweet Grid and Tweetdeck also work well.
 Start promoting the party a few days in advance – tweet link to party details post.
 Give a prize away every 10 minutes for duration of the party.
 Engage with people and HAVE FUN!
****
If you can , send me your suggestions, gelati.giovanni@gmail.com, or just comment on this post where you find it. Thanks, and I look forward to hearing from you.

Stephen H. King Q&A, author of the soon to be released "Cataclysm"

2011-11-21T06:41:00.000-08:00

"Cataclsym" will be released November 23rd. Here is the synopsis and a Q&A with the author:
The world is rebooted from its technology foundation into a mythical existence controlled by powerful flows of elemental magic as small pockets of humans scramble to live through the resulting cataclysmic disaster. Crystal, one of those scrambling humans, survives only through the surprising powers of her husband, who teleports the family to safety.

When it turns out that he's actually Mars, the God of War, she struggles to figure out what it means to be the wife of a god. More to the point, what does it mean to be Mrs. Of War? As she comes to grips with her new reality, she suffers a series of jealous encounters with Sorscha, a shape-shifting dragon and her husband's servant who spends most of her time in stunningly beautiful human form.

Crystal soon learns, though, that her true enemy is Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love and her husband's ex-wife. Worse, the goddess wants her husband back, and the game that unfolds takes Matt and Crystal to Atlantis and on an evening jaunt to Olympus, the dive bar for the gods, before ending in an epic battle for Crystal's life.

Q&A:

Q: How long have you been writing?
A: I started early but took time off. My first creative effort was as a very young boy; I wrote a 16-page booklet with notebook pages cut in half and then folded in half again. The title was “Things I know about girls” and the pages were every bit as blank as they should have been. My parents yelled at me for wasting paper, though. A friend and I also started making a comic book back in middle school, but once again the critical reviews weren’t positive at all. I was fairly noncreative for decades after that. I finally succumbed to internal pressure and attempted a NaNoWriMo in 2007, failing miserably but at the same time succeeding in breaking out of the shell I’d encased myself into. I didn’t actually start writing seriously till this year, though.

Q: How many of the characters in Cataclysm are based on real people?
A: Many of them. I literally wrote some of my good friends into the book because I thought they belonged there. Aphrodite, who ends up being the crazy lady antagonist, is actually a composite creation of several people. Others are artistic renditions of reality, while some characters including Sorscha are entirely made up. I think most authors, at least most newbies like me, fall back on known personalities to help make our characters interesting and believable.

Q: Where do you get your ideas from?
A: All over the place, really. The basic ideas for this story line came from way back when I was reading Piers Anthony’s Adept series. The concept of alternate realities, one based on technology and one on magic, resonated with me as something I could believe in. I gave it my own twist and created the world of Cataclysm: Return of the Gods.

Q: Shapeshifting dragons isn’t new, either, is it?
A: No, it’s not a new concept at all. Then again, brand new concepts bring with them the challenge in fantasy novels of having to explain themselves. Readers accept a shapeshifting dragon almost by default. Sorscha came to me early on as a foil to Crystal’s character, but she grew into much more than that as I developed her more.

Q: Where did you get your ideas for the pantheon of Cataclysm from?
A:The story came first. I wondered what it would be like to find yourself married to a god, and what kind of woman might find herself in that position. Then I added what it would be like to find yourself in competition with a flawless humanoid dragon (Sorscha). Then came the evil goddess, who overtime became Aphrodite. Once I had two gods, I had to ask myself what the world would look like given the conditions I’d set up, and then I looked back through mythology to see where the various cultures’ views of pantheons and my story could be interwoven.

Q: Are you a student of mythology, then?
A: Yes, I am, though only informally. Someday, given time and money, I’d love to make a study of cultural mythology as it relates to sociology. My research for this book taught me a great deal about how the Greeks, Romans, Vikings, and others crafted their god-personas to match their cultural ideologies. I flipped it around in this book to deal with the question of whether the deities were actually guiding that, of course.

Q: How long did the book take you to write?
A: A few months, if you’re referring to the first draft. No, you probably know better, but I would have been before going through the process myself. I prided myself in college on my ability to write a first draft that could earn a passing grade as a final submission. Cataclysm, though, has been through months of revision and editing. It’s been exhausting, but thrilling at the same time as I watched the story improve.

Q: Now that this book is written, are there any more in you?
A: Oh, absolutely. I have a second novel and a novella in the Return of the Gods series already drafted. There are two more stories in that series in various stages. I have some other projects on the back burners for other genres as well. So much to write, so little time to do it!

Mondays Guests on The G-ZONE: a founding member of “The Dark Pages Deadly Dozen” Julia Madeleine and NYT Best-Selling author John Weisman, author of “KBL”

2011-11-21T02:59:00.001-08:00

I have two guests today: Julia Madeleine and John Weisman. John Weisman starts the show off at 4pm EST, with Julia Madeleine joining us a little later into it. Here is a little something on each author:
Julia Madeleine:
Julia Madeleine is a thriller writer and tattoo artist living on the outskirts of Toronto with her husband and teenage daughter. For a year she lived in the country on a 30-acre wooded property which became the inspiration for her second novel, No One To Hear You Scream. When not sticking people with needles at her day job, Julia enjoys writing short stories of mayhem and suspense which can be found published around the net, one of which was nominated for a Derringer Award in 2011. Visit Julia's websites for more information on her writing and art: www.juliamadeleine.com www.malefictattoos.com
About John Weisman:
Seven time New York Times bestselling author John Weisman is one of a select company of authors to have their books on both the Times nonfiction and fiction bestseller lists. He pioneered coverage of Naval Special Warfare when he co-authored the No. 1 New York Times best-seller ROGUE WARRIOR, the story of Richard Marcinko and the creation of SEAL Team 6, and then conceived, created, developed and wrote eight best-selling Rogue fictional sequels.
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Seymour Hersh called his 2004 novel JACK IN THE BOX, “The insider’s insider spy novel.” Weisman’s CIA short stories were chosen for inclusion in BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES in 1997 and 2003. His most recent CIA short fiction appears in Agents of Treachery (Random House/Vintage, 2010). He reviews books on intelligence and military affairs for the Washington Times and his analysis has appeared in AFIO’s periodical INTELLIGENCER.
Since 2003 he has appeared on more than 130 radio and television shows as an expert on terrorism and intelligence matters. In the spring of 2005, he was invited by the German Government to lecture on the state of the U.S. Intelligence Community. Weisman is an adjunct instructor at Team One Network, which provides tactical training to both local and national law enforcement agencies, and at the Executive Protection Institute, for which he teaches the terrorism bloc.
He is an NRA-certified pistol instructor who has created and run tactical exercises for Loudoun and Fairfax counties (VA), and worked on the City of Manassas Park and Clarke County (VA) active shooter exercises. He is a current a member of the Clarke County (VA) Sheriff’s Advisory Board and he was appointed in 2011 to the National Rifle Association’s Public Affairs Committee. Weisman lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.
KBL: KILL BIN LADEN , a novel based on true events gets as close—or perhaps even closer—to the truth about the hunt for and the mission to kill Usama Bin Laden than any newspaper, magazine, or TV account seen so far. Seven-time New York Times bestselling author John Weisman, a writer "perhaps wired more tightly into the reclusive special operations community than any other" according to the Washington Times, offers a unique look inside the joint CIA –JSOC operation that climaxed with Operation Neptune Spear and the as-yet-untold story of what happened when UBL’s corpse arrived on the USS Carl Vinson.
Veteran CIA operative and New York Times bestselling author Robert Baer calls KBL: KILL BIN LADEN "a true story that can only be told in fiction." KBL has been compared to Clancy's "Red October" because the book contains the real world tradecraft used by CIA’s covert operatives in Abbottabad; provides detailed accounts of the covert rehearsals of the secret operation, and uncovers the internal battles fought in the White House over whether the President would even approve the mission. And while other reports have highlighted just a few pieces of this special operations, intelligence community and political puzzle, Weisman’s sources have allowed him to deliver a holographic picture of how they all finally came together.
That is because Weisman has employed accurately sourced yet fictionalized accounts of real-world Tier-One military unit tactics and cutting edge intelligence tradecraft and technology. This ‘docudramatic’ technique allows Weisman to take readers inside the complicated, politically sensitive, and risky operation that finally culminated with the stalking, hunting, and killing of Usama Bin Laden and his final burial at sea aboard the Vinson.
THE TOP-TEN MOST EYE-OPENING DETAILS REVEALED IN KBL:
1. How CIA discovered UBL’s compound in Abbottabad and set up its own safe house to monitor it.
2. How CIA might have staged a deception operation to divert Pakistani attention from its Abbottabad safe house.
3. Who in the administration was in favor of a boots-on-the-ground raid, and who was against it.
4. What other government organizations besides the highly publicized SEAL Team Six, did some heavy lifting with regard to the last year of the hunt for UBL.
5. The deep involvement of the CIA Director in Operation Neptune Spear.
6. How one CIA analyst could have convinced the president to authorize the Abbottabad operation.
7. The correct tactical sequence of the raid—something that previously has been misreported.
8. What units made up the assault element? Was it just SEALs or were there others?
9. Why the President might have waited an extra day before giving CIA the green light on Neptune Spear.
10. And the as-yet-untold story of what happened when UBL’s corpse arrived on the USS Carl Vinson.

Another Busy Week on The G-ZONE

2011-11-20T15:03:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving is right around the corner and we have another incredible week on The G-ZONE: #1 Best-Selling authors, a Christian/Inspirational panel, one of the “Dark Pages Deadly Dozen”, and a noted horror author. Here is the line-up:
Monday-November 21, 4pm EST- John Weisman and Julia Madeleine
Tuesday- November 22- no show, I am peeling 20lbs. of potatoes for Thanksgiving. I am one of the steady QB’s for the Family football game, I need my throwing arm well rested, that and I wanted to see if you are paying attention. Just checking, but I am peeling the spuds.
Weds. November 23- Heath Lowrance-4pm EST
Thursday-Happy Thanksgiving everybody!!
Friday- November 25- Amazon Kindle #1 Best-Selling author Karen Anna Vogel, Kathi Macai, Karen Malena, Roger Rheinheimer, Mark Miller
Here is the general link for the show: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/gelatisscoop
The call in number to ask questions is: 1-949-270-5955

Lawrence Johnson, author of “Escape 2 Earth”, Guest Post

2011-11-20T10:42:00.001-08:00

Last Friday my daughter and I made our second appearance on The G-Zone blog talk radio program. Based on my past experiences on being interviewed I used to be reluctant to do interviews but the G-Man's easy going personality and gracious style has made me a believer
again. Throughout the week I found myself looking forward to Friday's interview. Whereas some interviewers request you to focus on one book Lauren and were given the opportunity to talk freely about the entire Escape 2 Earth series.
In case you missed it that's three novels, Escape 2 Earth 2012, Return 2 Earth and the Quest to Save Xanar, two novelettes Assault of the Telda and Murder on the Eros Star, a novella The Visions of Koto Ryin and a nearly dozen short stories.

Lawrence Johnson, author of “Escape 2 Earth”, Guest Post

The host Giovanni is a very busy man who wears many hats. You can image our surprise when during the interview he reviled to us and his audience that he had read and enjoyed Escape 2 Earth 2012.
The hour went by quickly. A few of the topics discussed was the re-launch of Escape 2 Earth 2012 which includes 100 plus additional pages and a re-edit. The release of Lexicon of the Spiral Galaxy a free guide to everything relating to the E2E series. The free guide has names of all the major players, ships, planets, etc. Lexicon of the Spiral Galaxy can be downloaded
from Smashwords: Lexicon of the Spiral Galaxy . The big announcement was the soon to be unveiling of the Escape 2 Earth 2012 petition. We are asking for everyone's help in getting the Escape 2 Earth stories made into a sci-fi series. In addition to giving away the Lexicon each week we will randomly select 5 names from The Escape 2 Earth Petition to receive a Kindle download of the first book in the series, Escape 2 Earth 2012.
Lauren is currently working on the sequel to The Quest to Save Xanar and I have been working on Earth 2: Redemption, the third novel in the E2E series.
We had a great time on the show and are looking forward to our next appearance sometime before Christmas!

Coming Soon-Mike Evers “The Chaosifier”

2011-11-19T04:18:00.000-08:00

Coming at you by November 24th, a new Full Length Novel From Trestle Press:
The Chaosifier:
The basic idea behind the story is that sometimes when we sneeze, it signifies a change in our fortunes. This was the original premise, and it's quite surprising where you can go with it.
The heroes in the book are a small team of magical creatures, whose day to day job is finding unfortunate people, making them sneeze and changing their luck for the better. At the start of the tale they go about their daily business in small-town Yorkshire doing fairly routine work. The creatures are very much like you or I - with personalities and issues you will easily recognise. It's fantasy (or perhaps real?) within a modern day setting and the locations expand throughout the different acts, leading us, eventually, to fairly dark places.
The villain of a book is a figure from central European legend, called Rubezahl. He is temperamental, mischievous, and has issues with the 'luck goblins'. Perhaps not entirely meaning to, he sets of a chain of disastrous events which eventually threaten the whole of mankind (which is no mean feat). Our heroes, of course, rise up to deal with the threat.
The influences behind the story are fairly mind-boggling at times - and are largely stuff I read when I was young. I guess I'm trying to bring back a sense of magic that I used to feel as a teenager and young adult. I've borrowed from The Hobbit, LOTR and Huckleberry Finn, the notion of a journey with trials and tribulations along the way. My characters and dialogue are influenced by Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams, James Herriot (yes, the vet) and the TV show Red Dwarf, among others. You may even spot Tom Clancy-esque situations when military hardware is involved. Oh, and it's a rip-rollicking adventure and philosophical treatise on cause and effect too. I'd say the layers and complexity of the book lends itself to the older spectrum of young readers - teens and young adults.
Mike Evers:
I was born in Singapore in a British military hospital way back in 1970. Soon after, my father left the navy and my family moved to Australia as 'Ten Pound Poms'. However, due to various reasons, we didn't stay in Oz and I found myself in my mum's old neck of the woods in the autumn of 1976- cold, damp, grimy, industrial South Wales. This is where I happily grew up until I was 18. I have been to lots of places ever since, though I am yet to see attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I was even found in Poland at one time, working (or was is hanging out?) with fellow Trestlers Paul D Brazill and Frank Duffy.
When I'm not concocting mind-bending fantasy adventures, I'm often found teaching English to adults in a college in West Yorkshire. I also spend a lot of time changing nappies (diapers) and helping out my lovely wife, Joanne, with our baby son, Joseph. My interests include reading just about any type of thing I can find, and getting obliterated by European teenagers on PS3 and PC (if you meet a gamer called Two2Dog, please be nice).