Thursday, April 28, 2011

Spacefreighters Lounge: Last Flight of the Endeavor

Spacefreighters Lounge: Last Flight of the Endeavor

Thanks to Laurie Green for the Last Flight of the Endeavor poster and patches. Awesome cool, and a little heartbreaking for those of us who lived through the entire history of space flight (so far).


Wednesday, April 27, 2011

You Gotta Read Videos - The Recount

Apparently the polls weren't quite closed when the first three places were posted on the web. Either that, or there were some hanging chads and the Supreme Court of YGRV decided in favor of another candidate.

In the interest of truth, justice and the American way I must concede my meager 3rd place to another contestant.

Everybody heads up! I have another video on the site on May 1st. I hope to get out the vote for that one. Here's the preview so you can soak up its wonderfulnicity.


Blogoversary of the Stars

Jessica Subject's subject is me and my book, ULTIMATE DUTY today.

Take a look at Mark of the Stars. Good blog to follow, IMO.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Visit SFR Brigade for a Free Read

My new book, "Mixed Bag II: Supersized," is going for a mini blog tour.

First stop: The SFR Brigade. Leave a comment for a free ebook.

Leave a comment here and you also can win a free ebook. Heck, leave a comment ANYWHERE mentioning my book and you'll get a freebie.

I'm feeling generous today.

Monday, April 25, 2011

Mixed Bag II: Supersized Now at B&N and Kindle

UPDATE: Also available at Amazon Kindle.

The releases begin to seep out into the world. The new, larger, improved edition of Mixed Bag (only 99 cents) titled Mixed Bag II: Supersized is now available at Barnes and Noble.

Here's what you get in the supersized edition. There is something for everyone here. While some of the stories are for an adult audience, there is no erotica. Unless ant attacks are your thing or if Big Foot drives you wild with desire.



Fish Story - Science Fiction
The Vision - Horror/Fantasy
Chilpequin 22 Miles - Fantasy
Coward - Horror
Heather's Pain - LitFic
The Delegate - SciFi
No Deposit, No Return - LitFic
Taxman - Humor
The Country Faire - Horror
Fair's Fair - Fantasy
If You Could See Her - Romance
Ma 'Yote and Her Cubs - Nostalgia LitFic
Invasion - Horror
The Cursed Valley - Fantasy
Shasta Lake - LitFic
Big Bessie's Place - LitFic
The Hunter - Horror
The Great Writing Competition - SciFi
A Good, Honest Dog - Non-fic
A Visit to Potter's Field - Fantasy
Extraordinary Rendition - LitFic
Jonathan Swift Finds Nemo - Alterate History
Lemons - Children
Neighborly - LitFic
A Grab Bag of Drabbles

Friday, April 22, 2011

Voting Open at You Gotta Read Videos

My book trailer for Tales of a Texas Boy is in the poll. Please click over to You Gotta Read Videos and vote for #12.

My next book trailer for Tales of Abu Nuwas (I'm big on Tales) will be featured on May 1st.

I posted both videos on this blog a few days ago for your consideration. I hope you enjoy the trailers and vote for me.
Thank you for your support.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Clear Your Calendars for the Month-long Muse Blog Conference

June is looking like a super month for writers. If they attend the FREE on-line Muse Blog Conference. Click the link to see the super lineup of experts on just about any writing or publishing topic you'd like. In addition, agents and publishers will be there to take your pitches. You MUST sign up for a pitch, so get your heinie over to the conference blog for details.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Book Sales Mysteriously Disappear

In March 2009, Amazon quit sending my book sales figures to Lulu or Lulu quit crediting my account. Despite all my efforts to get either of the monoliths to correct the situation, I had to remove the book from sale through Lulu. Later, I put it back up when Lulu offered a free reinstatement. For almost two years, the crediting of sales from Amazon to Lulu has worked fine.

Now, in March 2011, the same thing is happening. I've not received credit for book sales since mid January. Weird, eh? Guess I'll have to retire the book again. I'm already out royalties for 30 copies. May not be much, but it's my money, so I very much resent it. Neither Lulu nor Amazon are much help. They have until May 9th and if sales records aren't straightened out by then, Tales of a Texas Boy - Large Print (10.8 x 8.1 trimsize) will be off the market. Please buy the 9.5 x 7.3 trimsize edition instead (shown here). The latter book is also less expensive when buying direct from Amazon.

Of course, I will continue to act as a third party vendor on Amazon for all my books.

Monday, April 18, 2011

Review of The Tales of Abu Nuwas

Getting a review is great; getting a laudatory review is even greater.

Bamika on Goodreads is a fine writer from Australia. I'm eagerly awaiting the publication of her science fiction series on clones. I've read several stories in the universe she's created. She should be published and I hope she'll soon put together the stories in book form.

In the meantime, she was kind  enough to read and review one of my books. Lucky for all of you, The Tales of Abu Nuwas is a mere 99 cents (USD) on Amazon. I'm not sure what that is in Aussie dollars.

Click here to read her full review at Goodreads.

When I started reading the Tales of Abu Nuwas by Marva Dasef I was immediatly charmed by the sweet, innocent character of Setara. Setara is a girl on the verge of womanhood, itching to escape the clutches of her over-protective father and explore the world beyond the walls of her home.

And what a world it is, filled with bandits, pirates, demons, magic and djinn! Dasef has created an Arabian Nights landscape of bazaars and palaces, caves and stables. A never-was world of magic and adventure.

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Linky List

I'm doing a trial run with a tool called Linky List. You can enter a bit of text and a link to follow. Its purpose is for creating blog hops and such. I'm not sure about it, so just go enter something and a link and help me figure out if it's worth $24/year to use.

As I understand it, you can specify how long the link list is active (which works for blog hops). They've also got various templates if you want to mess with it yourself. You get a one-month free trial to see if it's useful.

So Linky away over there >>>>>> on the sidebar.

Friday, April 15, 2011

Guest Post by A.R. Norris

Amber Norris posts lots of excellent information on writing. Here's the start of her post on Reason and Motive in writing. Follow the link to read the rest of the article. I'm sure you'll want to follow Amber's blog regularly.

Reason and Motive. Both are important to a successful story, if not the most important things. You may think they are the same as they are often used interchangeably, but they're not. Reason, by definition, is a justification or explanation for a belief or action of a person. Motive is the driving goal/objective that causes a person to act in a certain way and/or do a certain thing. EXAMPLE:


The King of Mars declares war on Venus to set fear [MOTIVE-"GOAL"] into the hearts of the Venusians because the residents of Venus tease them too much [REASON-"BELIEF"] .

See? The reason gives justification to the action which gives purpose to the motive. People can have all kinds of reasons for believe things and never develop a motive to do something about it. But, most of the time, people working for something have a reason why they're motivated towards it.

"So, where am I going with this?" you're probably asking.

Read the rest of the article at Science Fiction Adventures - A.R. Norris Blog

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Book Trailer on You Gotta Read Vids

The book trailer for Tales of a Texas Boy is #12 in this month's You Gotta Read trailer contest. Voting opens on the 21st. I hope you'll vote for Eddie. He'd be mighty pleased if'n ya did.

TALES OF A TEXAS BOY

How do you handle a crazy jackass? Eddie knows. If you ask Eddie, he'll tell you pigs can fly and show you where to find real mammoth bones. Take his word for it when he tells you always to bet on the bear. These are things he learned while dreaming of becoming a cowboy in West Texas during the Depression. Through Eddie, the hero of "Tales of a Texas Boy," we find that growing up is less about maturity and more about roping your dreams. Hold on tight. It's a bumpy ride. A wonderful read for anyone who enjoys books like "Little House on the Prairie" or "Tom Sawyer." A great bit of nostalgia for seniors, too.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Review - A Past and a Future by Penny Ehrenkranz

Penny Lockwood Eherenhanz was my guest when her book "A Past and a Present" was released. I've had a chance to read the book and offer a brief review.

REVIEW:

It's difficult to evaluate an entire book of short stories, but I can say that I enjoyed them all to some degree. Unfortunately, this book is available only from one site for now, and in print to boot. We can only hope the publisher will get this out in ebook format to reach a wider audience.


Look for it here: http://sdpbookstore.com/anthologies.htm

Let me pick out my favorites for special mention.

ENCHANTRESS: Merlin knows the one he loves will be his downfall, but can he win in the end?

I enjoy re-tellings and add-ons to the Authurian legends. I'm not a purist who thinks a writer must follow the E.B. White classic. Learning more about the legendary characters just add to my experience. Some contradict each other (different ideas by different authors), but isn't history often have more than one interpretation? I just saw a History channel special on John Wilkes Booth. Three theories exist on what happened to Booth. Even for an event this close in our history, speculation is all over the place. That's why I love to see authors stretch their imagination when dealing with well-known tales.

THE BABY MAKERS – In a world where cloning is possible, will Reese be able to save his illegal newborn child from a government determined to make her a non-citizen?

In a completely different world than Merlin, we have a possible future already showing signs of coming to be. This is another one of my favorite imaginings. Not just the specific of cloning children, but I love the way Penny has come up with making this a fresh idea.

REBELS WITH A CAUSE – Shayleena is tired of living her life through holovision. She wants a real life with real people. Will she find it as a volunteer for juvenile offenders, or will she be mugged and left to die?

Again, Penny takes a social topic, and extrapolates a future in an original way. The disaffected rich and idle, given a steady diet of entertainment can become bored and wish something else. Shayleena tries for making herself relevant. I applaud her efforts since we need more people like her in the world.

Tuesday, April 05, 2011

Lindsay Buroker - Author of Encrypted


Guest Posting 101 by Lindsay Buroker


Welcome to my guest post about…guest posting. I could have written about my lovely new novel, Encrypted, today, but I’m a professional blogger for my day job, and I get more questions about blogging than I do about my stories (I’m trying to decide whether or not to be offended by that).

People, especially authors and book reviewers, often ask me for tips on building up a blog that draws lots of visitors every day. Authors are looking to create awareness about their books (and selling them is pretty okay too). Book reviewers are looking to make some money blogging about their passion for literature (if that’s a new idea to you, check out a series I’m running on my site on how to make money as a book blogger). Either way, we all seem to want more visitors to our blogs.

Guest blogging is a great way to achieve this. You can guest post for other sites, and you can invite others to guest post for your site. There are benefits to both.

Guest Posting for Others

The best way to get more visitors to your blog is to get links from other sites. This not only helps by sending you direct traffic but by improving your blog’s “authority” in the eyes of the search engines. The more links pointing to your site, the more important Google, Yahoo, etc. are going to think it is (and they’ll be more likely to rank your pages in their search engine results).

You probably won’t get far randomly asking people to link to your blog, but if you surf around and visit other sites, you’ll find folks open to hosting guest bloggers. If you’re willing to write a free, original article their readers might appreciate, they should be willing to include a bio (with links to your site) or perhaps, for my author friends out there, information about your book and where it can be purchased.

If you’re interested in more information, I’ve written a post on Guest Blogging Your Way out of Obscurity.

Inviting Guest Bloggers to Your Site

Now that we’ve talked about why you might want to guest post for someone else, let’s talk about why you might want to host guests on your own blog.

Or maybe you already know. You’re already thinking…ah, I need to finagle people into posting for me, so I can take some days off! That’s actually why many folks start hosting guest bloggers—as a way to continue posting fresh content for readers even when they are out of town or too busy to blog every day.

Other reasons to take on guest bloggers are: 
  • to offer you readers fresh points of view.
  • to share information on areas in which you’re not an expert.
  • to get some help with promotion (guest bloggers often mention the posts they do on other people’s blogs, so this can also be a way to get some link loving!).

Of course, it isn’t always easy to attract guest bloggers, especially if your site is new. You may want to work on building up your own content and increasing readership before trying to woo folks to write for you.

Once you feel a slot on your blog would be a worthwhile reward to a guest writer, add easy-to-find information about your guest policy (most folks will look for this information in the contact or “about” area, but you can also add a link to a dedicated page). That way, visitors don’t have to hunt around to figure out if you accept guest posts or not.

You can also ask for guest bloggers on various social media platforms, such as Twitter and Facebook. I’ve seen quite a few people recruiting over in the Writers’ Café on KindleBoards.com. Make sure bloggers know you’re willing to provide links to their sites as a reward for their hard work.

For more on snagging folks (and why you’d want to), check out my post on “How to Attract Guest Bloggers.”

Now, I hope you’re excited to go out and guest blog for people, and maybe invite some folks onto your blog as well. Go forth, and write!

Read all about Lindsay's work on her website: http://www.lindsayburoker.com/


ENCRYPTED SYNOPSIS AND EXCERPT
More about Lindsay's exciting new science fiction romance, ENCRYPTED

Professor Tikaya Komitopis isn’t a great beauty, a fearless warrior, or even someone who can walk and chew chicle at the same time, but her cryptography skills earn her wartime notoriety. When enemy marines show up at her family’s plantation, she expects the worst. But they’re not there to kill her. They need her to decode mysterious runes, and they ask for help in the manner typical of a conquering empire: they kidnap her, threaten her family, and throw her in the brig of their fastest steamship.

Her only ally is a fellow prisoner who charms her with a passion for academics as great as her own. Together, they must decipher mind-altering alchemical artifacts, deadly poison rockets, and malevolent technological constructs, all while dodging assassination attempts from a rival power determined the expedition should fail. As if Tikaya didn’t have troubles enough, her new ally turns out to be exiled fleet admiral, Federias Starcrest, the man who recommended taking over her nation. To trust him could be a mistake; to fall in love with him would be a betrayal to her people, her family, and the fiancé she lost in the war. Those runes cloak more than mysteries, however, and he may be the only one who can help her unravel them before their secrets destroy the world.

EXCERPT:

A man towered a few paces away, a dagger and cutlass at his belt, and a muzzle-loading rifle crooked in his arms. His bronze skin and dark hair would have marked him a foreigner even if the black military uniform with its fine factory weave did not. It was a uniform she had not seen in a year, not since the war ended, but she had not forgotten its significance: Turgonian marine.

Swallowing, she shifted her gaze left and right, hoping to spot a couple of the seasonal laborers her father hired to harvest the cane. But the day grew late, and she had worked herself into a private corner of the field. The house stood hundreds of meters away. No one would hear her yell.

The marine said nothing, though his dark eyes followed her darting gaze. Running  would confirm she had a reason to hide; maybe she could trick him into thinking she was  no one of consequence. Not that being an innocent would necessarily make her safe from  a Turgonian.

“If you’re looking for rum,” she said, his language sliding off her tongue automatically, “my brother’s working in the distillery. He can sell you enough for your entire ship at a fair price.”

The marine’s eyes widened, and a satisfied—no, triumphant—smile stretched across  his face.

Dread curled through her belly. They knew who she was, what her role had been in  the war. Addressing him in his language had been a mistake, a confirmation that they had  found the right person. She eyed the rifle, noticed it was loaded and cocked. A huge mistake.

Sunday, April 03, 2011

You Gotta Read Videos

My book trailers will be on the Gotta Read Videos site on:

April 12th - Tales of a Texas Boy

May 1st - The Tales of Abu Nuwas

I hope you'll take a look and vote on the 21st through 26th of each month. You can preview the trailers right here.




Friday, April 01, 2011

WATCH FOR Blog Guest - Lindsay Buroker on April 5

INFO AND EXCERPTS COMING 4/5


Professor Tikaya Komitopis isn’t a great beauty, a fearless warrior, or even someone who can walk and chew chicle at the same time, but her cryptography skills earn her wartime notoriety. When enemy marines show up at her family’s plantation, she expects the worst. But they’re not there to kill her. They need her to decode mysterious runes, and they ask for help in the manner typical of a conquering empire: they kidnap her, threaten her family, and throw her in the brig of their fastest steamship.

Her only ally is a fellow prisoner who charms her with a passion for academics as great as her own. Together, they must decipher mind-altering alchemical artifacts, deadly poison rockets, and malevolent technological constructs, all while dodging assassination attempts from a rival power determined the expedition should fail. As if Tikaya didn’t have troubles enough, her new ally turns out to be exiled fleet admiral, Federias Starcrest, the man who recommended taking over her nation. To trust him could be a mistake; to fall in love with him would be a betrayal to her people, her family, and the fiancé she lost in the war. Those runes cloak more than mysteries, however, and he may be the only one who can help her unravel them before their secrets destroy the world.