Blog Archives

Interview with author Mike Baldwin

1/29/2016

Tell us about your genre. How did you come to choose it? Why does it appeal to you?

I’ve always loved a fast-paced, well-written mystery that takes readers on a spellbinding journey. As a kid, I was an Agatha Christie addict. My all-time favorite Agatha Christie novel is “Then There Were None,” the novel that hooked me on whodunits. . . People love a good mystery, including whodunits disguised as TV shows like “Major Crimes,” “Law & Order” “Monk” and “Cold Case.” It’s always been that way whether it was a black-and-white “Perry Mason” courtroom drama or TV shows like “Murder She Wrote,” “Columbo” or “Matlock.” I contend a lot of mystery viewers/readers enjoy a fast-paced mystery to discover the why (motive) as much as the (who).

What do you find most challenging about the writing process, and how do you deal with it?

The biggest challenge for me is describing the story that’s imbedded in my mind to where a reader sees the exact same things I see. As for “dealing with it,” I’ve discovered a formula that works well for me. My formula? For my second novel, I assembled a six-person All-Star Reading Team — four women and two men — who provided everything from feedback on the characters and plot to taking out a red pen and helping me edit the manuscript. My All-Star Reading team, which I hand selected, has read a collective 5,000 novels in their lifetimes. It’s comforting to know my AllStar Reading team “has my back” and will help me polish my manuscript.

When and where do you do your writing?

I do most of my writing on my home computer in my office. However, I have discovered it’s beneficial to “get away.” Two or three times during the writing process of each story I borrow a friend’s lake house that’s 150 miles from my day-today routine. It’s a tremendous blessing to have a location where I can focus entirely on the book without any distractions. . . Concerning the “when I write” part of the question, I’ve always been a night owl. It’s no coincidence a lot of my best writing occurs from 7 p.m. until 4 a.m. (A humorous example: My wife often gets up at 5 a.m. to walk the dogs before she goes to work. Several times when’s she’s gotten up to start her day, she’s blown away that I spent the entire night working on my latest project).

What have you learned about promoting your books?

That readers literally have one million options which makes it extremely difficult for a new author to gain visibility. Since a self-published author does all the work themselves, they face many challenges ranging from making sure the manuscript is publishing-house-quality edited to finding someone to design an eBook cover. What’s humbling is I’ve realized I still have a lot to learn about the “social media” aspect of marketing an eBook. . . I am encouraged early reviews on Dream Killer have validated it’s a fast-paced, page-turner packed with twists and turns which is essential to writing a fun, entertaining mystery.

What are you most proud of as a writer?

During my sportswriting career, I was fortunate some of my stories won national awards. One story was selected one of the top five sports features in the country that particular year. But as I tell friends, it was the “subject” as much as the “writer” which is why for a novelist writing a captivating plot is critical. (FYI: The nationally recognized story featured an Oklahoma State player who became only the second “deaf” player in Division I football history, an inspiring story that inspired me). . . I also was humbled and honored last year when my alma mater, Oklahoma Christian University, voted me into its Sports Hall of Fame, the first “media” person ever inducted.

If you could have dinner with any writer, living or dead, who would it be and what would you talk about?

John Grisham. I admire his amazing storytelling skills. Since I’m familiar with his background, I know he loves baseball. Because my first two mysteries have a fictitious Major League Baseball team as the backdrop, if I ever had the opportunity to sit down and talk with John Grisham one-on-one, his insight into the publishing industry would be invaluable. The bottom line is it would be a lot of fun to trade a few baseball stories while I picked his brain.

A former sportswriter, Mike Baldwin has transitioned to becoming a full-time novelist who specialists in mysteries that feature female lead characters; classic whodunits that appeal to mystery fans of all ages and gender.

His niche is fast-paced stories about dynamic female lead characters involved in plots packed with twists and turns, capped by surprise endings. Sprinkling in humor, Mike injects thought-provoking elements to introduce readers to new experiences while they’re being entertained by a fun story.

Mike’s favorite author is John Grisham because of his unique storytelling skills. He enjoys a well-written mystery whether it’s a page-turning novel or TV shows like Law & Order, Monk, Cold Case and Major Crimes. His favorite current series is “Suits,” simply because of the crisp, engaging dialogue. Mike’s only pet peeve is he believes many quality TV shows and commercials feature outstanding writing that rarely get the attention it deserves.

During his newspaper career, Mike covered Super Bowls and Final Fours, interviewed countless Hall of Fame athletes and coaches and was blessed his career allowed him to see the country. He attended games in 80 of the 90 NFL stadiums, NBA arenas and Major League Baseball stadiums, plus visited more than fifty college campuses.

The highlight of his career was when he wrote daily stories as a beat writer for The Oklahoman, the Oklahoma City newspaper. For seven years, he covered owner Jerry Jones’ team during the Barry Switzer era when the Cowboys were led by future NFL Hall of Famers Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith, Michael Irvin and Deion Sanders.

Mike was humbled and honored last year when he was inducted into the Oklahoma Christian University Sports Hall of Fame (class of 2015).

DREAM KILLER eBook can be purchased at the following:

Amazon: http://ow.ly/WrBxQ

Barnes and Noble (Nook): http://ow.ly/WrBzp

Apple (iTunes, iBooks): http://ow.ly/WrBB9

Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-ca/ebook/dream-killer-1

Goodreads link: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/49480134-mike-baldwin

Find the Author Online:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BeatBaldwin

Website: http://mikebaldwinbooks.com/

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Blog Series: Ten Empowering Lessons About Writing ~ Post Two: Show, Don’t Tell

1/28/2016

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My blog series on hard-won writing wisdom continues this week. Today’s pearl: Show, Don’t Tell.

Compare the first excerpt from my new thriller, Tell On You, with the rewrite that follows:

A HOWL ROSE IN Nikki’s chest, demanding release. How could Mr. B have denied her? She fought down the anguish, as she jogged to her car in the motel parking lot, stoking herself with anger instead, her default emotion But, she told herself, she would not just get mad.
She would get even.

A HOWL ROSE IN Nikki’s chest, demanding release, as she jogged to her car in the motel parking lot. Car keys became her weapon. She slashed at random vehicles, gouging paint, picturing Mr. B’s face. You had your chance and blew it. Nobody got away with dumping Nikki Jordan.
He’d find out.

Which do you prefer? What differences do you notice? One of my beta readers prompted the revision with her comment about the first version, show, don’t tell. (Or SDT, as she wrote, having reminded me so often.)

A staple of writing know-how, SDT means evoking feelings, moods and insights from the reader, rather than spelling them out. Evocative writing engages the reader instead of patronizing her. As you probably recognized, my first excerpt told you Nikki was angry, while the second showed it through her actions, a more dynamic way.

Showing is harder than telling. In a first draft, we might take the short-cut, but in rewrites, showing makes the story come alive. So how does a writer show? Here are a few of the approaches I’ve found helpful.

Actions speak louder than words. What does an angry person do? What expressions and body language illustrate surprise? Depict emotions through behavior.
Use all five senses. To evoke experiences or atmosphere, translate them into sights, sounds, smells, taste, touch.
Employ dialogue. Convey what characters think and feel through speech, rather than description, when you want to create a sense of immediacy.
Let characters talk to themselves. Rather than say “Harry thought it was a silly idea,” try something like: “Harry rolled his eyes. How dumb can you get?” Readers feel more engaged when they’re inside the character’s head.

Hope these suggestions help. I’d love to hear from other writers on how you approach the challenge to show, not tell.

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Book Spotlight: On My Way to Someplace Else

1/25/2016

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On My Way to Someplace Else
By Sandra Hurtes
Genre: Essay Collection

The essays in this collection were written after I’d begun pondering a divide in myself, one separating me into two selves: a daughter of Holocaust survivors and an average, liberated American woman. Born in 1950 in Brooklyn, I was—at least on paper— American. But even as a young girl I understood that being American meant being lighter and freer than I often felt. I was a painfully self- conscious child, consumed with concern for my family’s welfare.

The first piece in this collection is my first published essay. In it, I begin exploring my relationship with my mother—a gorgeous and painful presence in my life and a touchstone for much of my work—and the complex impact her Holocaust experiences had on me. This was the essay that helped me gain a third identity, as a writer. The rest touch on a range of themes. Some address the Holocaust; others spring from my experiences as the American Everywoman I’ve always longed to be. All are in some way about growing up, taking cues from society and peers, trying to make a life outside the life that had been ordained for me.

This collection contains my earliest essays. I offer them, believing that no matter how unusual my circumstances have been, they will resonate with anyone who has searched for an identity and found it in more than one place.

Author Bio

Sandra Hurtes has written essays and features for The New York Times, The Washington Post, Poets & Writers, Writer's Digest and numerous other publications. She's taught creative nonfiction workshops and currently teaches English at John Jay College and Marymount Manhattan College.

https://www.facebook.com/TheAmbivalentMemoirist/?ref=bookmarks

sandrahurtes.blogspot.com

Purchase Links

http://amzn.to/1SaYarq

http://bit.ly/1UixJ2l

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Interview with author Jennifer Sun

1/22/2016

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Tell us about your genre. How did you come to choose it? Why does it appeal to you?

I consider my genre contemporary literary fiction. Why I chose this genre? Because it provides a flexible platform for me to write about the time we are living in. The events and changes that are happening in the world, how those events affect our lives and what we do to adapt to the changes we don’t seem to be able to control. I believe the reason why the works of literary giants like Thomas Hardy, Scott Fitzgerald, and Somerset Maugham were considered master pieces is they all reflect the times the authors lived in, like Thomas Hardy’s Far from the Madding Crowd, an illustration of the impact of industrial revolution on farmers and British society, Scott Fitzgerald’s portrayal of an era of glittering Jazz and bootleg, and Somerset Maugham’s depiction of the devastating effect of the 1929 Stock market crash in The Razor’s Edge. Personally, contemporary literary fiction provides me the most effective guiding frame for a book that could potentially be entertaining, relatable, thought-provoking, and educational to readers who are interested in this particular genre. At the same time, a writer is not limited to write everything contemporary. Historical throw-back to the past can always be woven in to show the cause and effect of past and present, how choices we humans make shape our character and determine our destiny. For Two Tales of the Moon, the genre allows me to tell a story of how globalization is affecting our lives today. It also offers glimpses of China’s past and a by-gone era of America, both lead to answers why the characters behave the way they do and how the choices they make will shape a future of their own making.

What do you find most challenging about the writing process, and how do you deal with it?

Sure as writers we all experience occasional writers’ block, when we tell ourselves that it’s time to take a break, and wait for the next wave of inspiration to hit us. As much as I want to believe that, I came to realize that the challenge is not how to break writers’ block, it’s the enforcement of discipline – that is to show up for work every day. To me it’s 90 percent hard work and 10 percent inspiration.

When and where do you do your writing?

I use my living room as my office. My writing desk is tucked nicely in a large bay window, looking out to a huge garden surrounded by Japanese maples trees, ever greens, azalea bushes, and rhododendrons. I give my husband full credit for taking care of the garden and keeping it beautiful year around. Most of the time, when I sit down in front of the desk to write, my cat Paung (it means chubby in Chinese) will come to sit on the right side of the desk, and my dog Nova, the Doberman Pinscher lies at my feet. On the left side of my desk, is often a mug of hot water with lemon. During week days, I usually get up at 4:30AM. I drink a small cup of coffee and begin to write around 5:00AM. I stop writing at 7:00AM. I do 30 minutes yoga and then go out for a run for 45 minutes. While I am running, I go over what I wrote early in the morning or what I am going to write next. It never fails – running always unclogs my mind and makes my prose flow more easily. After I get back from running, I spend 30 minutes to an hour to edit what I’ve written early morning and then I’m done writing for the day.

What have you learned about promoting your books?

CHALLENGING. More difficult and challenging then writing the book. I spent over 25 years of my life in business and fully understand the importance of marketing. But I’ve learned that marketing one’s book in today’s world of publishing turmoil, especially for self-published first time authors, faces additional hurdles as traditional promotional channels like bookstore signings are reserved for big name writers, though virtual book tour sites like Sage’s Book Tour has offered valuable services to authors like me, and will help me to achieve success in the long run.

Perseverance and determination do count for a good book to be discovered, and my intuition tells me that in the end, a good, compelling story with flawed writing will find more readers than a perfectly written bad story.

What are you most proud of as a writer?

I wish I could say I am proud because I made some best sellers’ list (chuckle, chuckle). I am proud that I finished my first novel and have given it to the world. As a business woman turned literary fiction writer, I am proud that I found fiction writing both therapeutic, rewarding, and will keep on writing, though at the same time, I am full aware of the financial and opportunity cost “risks” I am taking.

If you could have dinner with any writer, living or dead, who would it be and what would you talk about?

Hands down Thomas Hardy. I’d like to talk about his novel The Mayor of Casterbridge, the life and death of a man of character. What inspired him to write this particular novel? Was there a particular person in his life who influenced him to create the character of Michael Henchard, the protagonist? I want to ask him if he’d agree with me that as human beings we all have inherent character flaws, but what separates a good human being from a bad one is the good one, whether he/she succeeds or fails, never stops struggling and striving to be a better person?

About the Author

Jennifer Sun has a MBA from George Washington University and a B.A. in English Literature from Fudan University in Shanghai, China. She has held several executive financial management positions at Fortune 500 companies in telecommunication and web technology industries. She currently writes full time and lives with her husband in Vienna, Virginia. She is also an avid reader, a runner and a foodie.

www.Facebook.com/JenniferSunAuthor
@JenniferSun8
www.JenniferSunAuthor.com

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14554078.Jennifer_Sun

Available on Amazon: http://amzn.to/1Ns0irQ

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Book Review: Devil’s Bridge by Linda Fairstein

1/21/2016

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This is the seventeenth book in Fairstein’s Alexandra Cooper series of thrillers set in New York City. I’ve read them all. If you’re unfamiliar with them, “Coop,” the protagonist, is an Assistant DA and head of the elite Sex Crimes Unit (“a younger, thinner version” of Fairstein, per her own description). She’s had a push/pull relationship, spanning all those volumes, with Michael Chapman, a smart, brash NYPD detective. To be honest, I almost gave up reading the series because I was getting so pissed off at what a dick Chapman was with Alex.

This volume renewed my faith.

When Alex is abducted early in the novel, the point-of-view shifts to Mike Chapman’s for the remainder of the story. It’s the first time Fairstein has done that. Finally, we get into the guy’s head and heart to really know how he feels about Alex! I thought Fairstein did a good job of developing Chapman’s voice and making him sympathetic to the reader. The novel also benefits from Fairstein’s usual savviness about her city and its history, and her clever plot turns.

Trigger warning: although Fairstein doesn’t name names, it’s crystal clear how she feels about the current mayor of the Big Apple!

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Interview with author Russ Hall

1/18/2016

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Tell us about your genre. How did you come to choose it? Why does it appeal to you?

The Al Quinn books are suspense/thriller, with an element of mystery-solving to them. The first book I wrote in the series started out as a literary mainstream novel with a great deal of autobiographical backstory to it. But a piece of writing often becomes what “it” wants to be, not what you thought it would be, whether that’s a poem, short story, novel, or novella. In my case, bad people wanting to do harm to Al’s brother popped into the writing early so I threw out most of the backstory content and followed the thread of a thrilling and suspenseful story. The rest of the stories in the series, like A Turtle Roars in Texas, came easier once the identity of the genre was established.

What do you find most challenging about the writing process, and how do you deal with it?

I don’t outline. Often I keep cranking up the tension and situations until I’m not sure how my protagonist is going to get out of this mess himself. Then I sleep on it and wake up with a clear head as I write my character out of his mess. Sometimes I have to listen to the characters. I’m mowing the lawn or driving the car, and when my motor cortex is occupied the characters begin to talk to me and each other. “I wouldn’t say or do that. It’s not organic to my character.” I have to turn off the mower or get off the road and write down what they have to say. They know what’s going on far better than I do, so I listen. What I’m talking about is finding the natural or real aspects of a story and not trying to force things into place.

When and where do you do your writing?

I tend to write best early in the mornings. Sometimes beginning at 2 a.m., other times at 4 a.m. By afternoon I shift gears, put on my editorial cap, and polish, revise, refine, and tighten what I’ve written, eliminating redundancies and repetitions. I work in a home office in the mornings, but like a change of scene for the afternoons, whether at the dining table, a coffee shop, or the back yard picnic table. I print out a copy and can be quite tough and mean to what I’ve written in the mornings. Afternoon me isn’t very indulgent with morning me, but they work out their differences for a polished book in the end.

What have you learned about promoting your books?

It’s a whole new world out there. I moved to New York City many years ago to learn how publishing works, and now it doesn’t work like that at all anymore, except for a very few lucky authors. Most people have to do much of their own promotion. In fact, having a platform of followers to promote to is a current Catch 22 for some newer writers. Publishers want to know how you can help the book gain momentum. The internet is a big help these days in seeking reviews and letting people know about new books being released. But I also make a lot of public appearances, do workshops, and do some direct mailing. It used to be that book signings at small independent bookstores helped. But most are gone now. Even signing at the bigger remaining chains isn’t very productive, mostly because they don’t or can’t do the advance promotion for events. Book festivals are great. The real surprise comes from appearing at events that aren’t book specific: music festivals, craft shows, and venues related to a book’s topic. I had a mystery set in a Texas winery once and toured small vineyard tasting rooms signing books. I had some of the best results ever. It helps when you can have a reading audience a little liquored up.

What are you most proud of as a writer?

I’ve won awards and such, but the real thrill comes from having folks who are looking forward to the next book, who had a good time reading the last one I wrote. Writers are most often introverts, but we’re entertainers as well. So there’s a time and place for me to step on stage, and it’s when someone is holding and reading one of my books.

If you could have dinner with any writer, living or dead, who would it be and what would you talk about?

Oh, that would have to be Mark Twain. I love his humor. Even though my books, whether mysteries, suspense/thrillers, or westerns always feature characters in action situations, I also seek to provide humor. Laughing is a real part of life, just as much as worrying about what might happen next. If we quite laughing, we might as well roll over and let it all plow over us. I would like to talk to Twain about how he stayed able to write well and humorously during the times that were tough for him.

Author Bio

Russ Hall is author of fifteen published fiction books, most in hardback and subsequently published in mass market paperback by Harlequin's Worldwide Mystery imprint and Leisure Books. He has also co-authored numerous non-fiction books, most recently
Do You Matter: How Great Design Will Make People Love Your Company (Financial Times Press, 2009) with Richard Brunner, former head of design at Apple, Now You’re Thinking (Financial Times Press, 2011), and Identity (Financial Times Press, 2012) with Stedman Graham, Oprah’s companion.

His graduate degree is in creative writing. He has been a nonfiction editor for major publishing companies, ranging from HarperCollins (then Harper & Row), Simon & Schuster, to Pearson. He has lived in Columbus, OH, New Haven, CT, Boca Raton, FL, Chapel Hill, NC, and New York City. Moving to the Austin area from New York City in 1983.

He is a long-time member of the Mystery Writers of America, Western Writers of America, and Sisters in Crime. He is a frequent judge for writing organizations. In 2011, he was awarded the Sage Award, by The Barbara Burnett Smith Mentoring Authors Foundation — a Texas award for the mentoring author who demonstrates an outstanding spirit of service in mentoring, sharing and leading others in the mystery writing community. In 1996, he won the Nancy Pickard Mystery Fiction Award for short fiction.

On Red Adept Publishing http://bit.ly/RAPTurtle
On Goodreads: http://bit.ly/1OBCi7I
On Amazon: http://amzn.to/1ldEy9T

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Guest Post: "Don't Ask" by Jon Ripslinger

1/15/2016

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"I want to write a book. How do I start?"

Over the years, wherever I meet with friends—parties, dinners, weddings, funerals—I've been asked that question. If it's convenient, the person and I will find a quiet corner and talk for a bit. If not, I'll ask for an email address and then the next day send an email.

I always say this: Find, read, and reread the kind of book you want to write. Read a lot of them. But when you write your book add your own bit of uniqueness. Carve out a writing space for yourself at home; sit down and write every day. Finish that first project so you can judge what you have; don't stop in the middle. Join a writing critique group and share your manuscript. Brace yourself for criticism, disappointment, and failure. Subscribe to a writer's magazine such as Reader's Digest. Buy how-to books such as Writing Fiction for Dummies. Attend a writing conference or take an online writing course. If your first project turns out to be garbage, learn from your mistakes. Then sit in front of your computer again and start a second project. The road to publication might take several years, maybe a decade, but don't give up.

After I finish, a person's initial look is most often a frown that implies, "Are you serious?

I don't have time for that."

If I've written an email, I usually get a, "Thank you!" in reply, followed by something like, "I'm going to start soon."

Then I write, "Let me know what kind of progress you're making. Show me some pages." But I never get an answer.

Lately, I've been thinking that published writers don't ask that question: How do I start? I didn't. I think the urge to write—I can't tell you where it comes from—is initially so strong in potential writers that they self start. That is, feeling emotionally pushed, having something to say, they automatically pick up pencil or pen, or plunk themselves down in front of a computer and begin to write. Maybe it's much like a person who picks up a guitar, plucks around on it for a while, loves what he hears, and decides he needs lessons to get better; maybe he needs a mentor. Same thing with writers. Magazine subscriptions, how-too books, critique groups, conferences, writing courses—all are a writer's way of getting better and earning his way to publication.

So maybe this is the way it works: A person possessed with a powerful urge to write simply starts—maybe with a journal or diary, maybe with a short story or the opening scene of a novel. He seeks help, preservers, and eventually, with lots of luck, publishes. He finds his own way, never having asked anyone, "How do I start?" He just does.

Author Bio

After Jon retired as a public high school English at Davenport West High school, he began a career as a young adult author. His credits include eight published YA novels, and he has signed a contract with Red Adept publishing for a ninth YA novel. Jon has been a presenter at the Pen-in-Hand workshops for the Midwest Writing Center, Davenport, IA, and for the David R. Collins Writers' Conference held yearly at St. Ambrose University, Davenport, Iowa. He has also published numerous short stories in Woman's World, a leading woman's weekly magazine. Jon and his wife live in Davenport, where their six children and their families also live. When not working on his computer crafting another story, Jon enjoys collecting music from the '40s and '50s playing pool, and spending time with his family.

www.facebook.com/ripslinger
@YAwriterRip
Website: one-minuteromance.blogspot.com
On Amazon: http://amzn.to/1IlcsEf
On Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/1Zm44bx
On Goodreads: http://bit.ly/1PjNhmB
On Red Adept: http://bit.ly/1Zm4639

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Interview with author Jack Getze

1/15/2016

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Tell us about your genre. How did you come to choose it? Why does it appeal to you?

My genre is called humorous mystery, funny mystery or the tag I prefer, screwball mystery. I prefer it because my character Austin Carr is definitely a screwball. The leading practitioners I would think are Janet Evanovich and Carl Hiaasen. I can't say I chose the genre at all; it chose me. When I sat down to write the first novel in this series, Big Numbers, Austin's voice was -- well, the voice of a screwball. Somebody angry, fed-up and disillusioned, but a guy who still looked at his troubles with a strong sense of humor. I suppose it's my philosophy, too. If you can't laugh at yourself, life is awfully disturbing.

What do you find most challenging about the writing process, and how do you deal with it?

Like most novelists, I'd say the biggest challenge is obscurity: very few people read your work. Sure, everybody knows writers like Harlan Coben or Gillian Flynn, but Amazon will publish more than two million books in 2016. Everybody's a writer. Fewer and fewer people get a New York publisher behind them every year; fewer and fewer names appear in Barnes & Noble. Novelists are artists, and we'd better figure on dying undiscovered. At times that can be a tough pill. When we start out, we all half-expect to someday be rich and famous, to eventually write that bestseller. Hey, I'm still hoping it will happen. I'm still trying. But I write every day because of who I am, not who I want to be, and that's how I deal with the lack of financial and critical success most novelists face. My life's purpose is to be an observer, a storyteller, and I'm okay with that. I paint pictures on the cave wall.

When and where do you do your writing?

Wherever and whenever I have to, but usually in the den at home and the earlier the better. When I wrote a lot of stories for the newspaper, I forced myself to rise early and work on my fiction before work. All that writing at the paper made fiction particularly hard after the job.

So early morning writing is a habit I liked and stuck with all my life. I get up before everyone else. If I'm hot and heavy on something, nearing the completion of a draft, I'll rise at 4 a.m. As for where, I used to have a big Lazy-Boy in the TV room where I loved to write, but my wife replaced chair with an L-shaped couch. My corner does have a foot-rest, my wife points out, but it's no Lazy-Boy. If the house gets noisy, I move to the garage.

What have you learned about promoting your books?

I've traveled the country, attended over a dozen mystery conventions, hired pubic relations people, spoken at libraries, bookstores and literary fairs, advertised online and in print publications. I'm convinced after a decade of promotion and publicity that only word-of-mouth can make your books sell well. So I stay home now and try to write a better book.

What are you most proud of as a writer?

I am most proud not a single one of my 150-plus reviews mentions my beautiful writing. I earned my first byline for the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner when I was nineteen, more than half a century ago, and clarity and brevity are my objectives as a writer. I'm a student of the Elmore Leonard School of Fiction: "If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it." The idea is to disappear as an author and let your characters tell the story.

If you could have dinner with any writer, living or dead, who would it be and what would you talk about?

It would have to be Elmore Leonard. I have a lot of questions for him about that School of Fiction his work represents. Plus "Dutch" was an interesting character and had several fascinating grudges I'd love to hear more about. Did you know Get Shorty was written and titled as a revenge against Dustin Hoffman (who claims to be 5' 6") for optioning a piece of Elmore's work and then letting the film die? Supposedly, that restaurant scene with Danny DeVito acting like a jerk came from a real life meeting between Elmore and Dustin. Maybe the story I read wasn't accurate, so I'd love to hear the real skinny from Leonard himself.

Author Bio

A former reporter for The Los Angeles Times, Jack Getze is Fiction Editor for Anthony nominated Spinetingler Magazine, one of the internet's oldest websites for noir, crime and horror short stories. His Austin Carr Mysteries BIG NUMBERS, BIG MONEY, BIG MOJO and this fall's BIG SHOES are published by Down and Out Books. His short stories have appeared in A Twist of Noir, Beat to a Pulp, The Big Adios and Passages.

http://austincarrscrimediary.blogspot.com
https://www.facebook.com/jack.getze

On Amazon: http://amzn.to/1LVwK54

On Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26783711-big-shoes

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Cover Reveal - Beautiful Carnage--a Neo Geisha novel

1/15/2016

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Beautiful Carnage--a Neo Geisha novel
By Monica L Patton
Genre: Steamy Psychological Thriller

Orphaned and brain-washed from the age of six, Philomene Doucette is a beautiful assassin programmed to be a soulless killing machine by the CIA— and death has never looked so good.

In the, steamy, psychological thriller, Beautiful Carnage, Philomene is given her most important assignment yet: executing Haruto Mori, the leader of a deadly Japanese clan. To conceal her identity, Philomene is smuggled into Japan under the guise of being a sex worker and is presented as a gift for Haruto. Philomene’s mission to kill Haruto becomes an inner battle as she struggles between her conditioning, the affection she feels for Haruto and her increasing desire for Tadakai, her CIA handler.

When Haruto is unexpectedly murdered, Philomene uses her deadly training to find answers. She learns of a shocking government plot for mass murder at an upcoming Yakuza Summit—where Tadakai will be in attendance.

Philomene rescues Tadakai, and together they find a haven in a remote, abandoned farmhouse. As they forge a deeper connection, the two make a life-changing decision to leave this dangerous lifestyle behind to create a new life together...but their past misdeeds will not be absolved without exacting bloody sacrifices

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Monica Patton @neogeishaforeve
monicapattonforever.com

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Book Review: The Voices by F.R. Tallis

1/14/2016

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What a treat to find a little gem on the New Fiction shelf – although in my rural library, it’s more like Newish Fiction. But if you love a good ghost story (and who doesn’t?), this one’s for you.

Set in North London in the mid-1970s, the novel centers on a young couple and their baby, new owners of a picturesque Victorian cottage. The husband, a composer, his career light dimming, discovers otherworldly voices turning up in his studio recordings. Obsessed with producing a groundbreaking work, he turns a deaf ear to his depressed wife’s growing anxieties about the house and their baby’s odd behavior.

You can see it coming, right?

Tallis paces his story with pitch-perfect tension, well-nuanced characters and excellent use of the setting. Transplant Henry James to London during a period of economic and ecological anxieties, and this is what you’d get. A great read.

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Author

Freda Hansburg is a psychologist and co-author of two
self-help books, PeopleSmart - which has sold more than 75,000 copies and has been translated into ten languages - and
Working PeopleSmart,
as well as numerous professional publications. Her first novel Shrink Rapt,
is a psychological thriller with a dash of romance. She lives in the South Carolina Low Country.

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