FEATURED AUTHOR: T.S. ROSE

 

ABOUT THE BOOK

Modern-day Britain, with the terrorism threat level set at severe and rising to critical, needs extraordinary measures to overcome the next threat, including the use of students with psychic abilities.
 
Alone, and frightened of her own power, Alpha is forced to use it to protect the care home she’s lived in since the loss of her parents. But such abilities do not go unnoticed, bringing her to the attention of others, some with good intentions and others with racist affiliations. She runs, but just when she thinks she’s found a sanctuary it turns out to have been infiltrated by those with the most violent form of terrorism on their agenda.
 
Sunday, a most unlikely hero and would-be young thief, must form a bond with Alpha if the pair are to stand even the slightest chance of averting the most catastrophic terrorist attack on British soil for many years. They must learn to trust others, too—but how can they do this, when everyone else is a suspect?



Book Details:
Title: Psychic
Author: T.S. Rose
Genre: sci-fi/fantasy/thriller
Publisher: Apprentice House Press (June 7, 2022)
Print length: 380 pages



GUEST BLOG: A DAY IN THE LIFE OF T.S. ROSE­­

Note: T.S. Rose is the pen name for Sharon and Tammy Rose, a mother-daughter duo



Sharon’s Day:

5:45 am  Alarm goes off. I get to work at 7.30 am, and start on over 300 emails and Facebook messages from local residents and councillors. The usual complaints: potholes, trees either just about to fall on someone’s house despite the fact that all the trees in that area were recently risk assessed, but in the mind of the complainant must immediately be cut down. Another complaint that the Council doesn’t plant enough trees. Can’t please them all! Applications from both national and local charities, pedestrian lights not working again, town clock out of order, and a hundred other things. 

9 am  Staff meeting, printer not working, and problems with sick leave applications not being received. Training on how to bring the lift down manually if the electricity is cut. Review of budget against actual expenditure. 



11 am  Walk round local park where a major event is being held – plan wrongly drawn up. Glad to have caught this in time.  


12 noon  Sign off 45 purchase orders raised by staff, query 2 of these. Goal posts in park haven’t been anchored in with concrete. Investigate with Property Officer.   



1 pm  Working lunch with councillors to consider the big strategic issues facing the Town Council. Flooding and the need to create more sequestration opportunities become important considerations. 



3 pm  Problem with allotment fencing that has blown down in the storm. Consider whether it’s worth claiming on insurance.  



4:30-6 pm  Meeting with Policy and Finance Committee. Review cost of capital project that is 2.5 x more expensive than anticipated and where funding will come from.   



7-8.00 pm  Meeting to discuss renewing contract with Leisure Service Provider, and implications of Covid-19 on swimming and gym membership.  



8:00 pm  Grab some dinner. Thank goodness my other half is cooking tonight.  



8:30 pm  Have a very quick swim. 



9 pm   Prepare agenda for Business Development meeting including writing a report on a new asset/liability to be transferred to the Council. 



10.30 pm  Take half an hour to consider my co-author’s next chapter and discuss implications with her.  Great writing. Oh dear! I’ve done nothing yet on my next chapter. Blank page facing me. Think long and hard – write first sentence, then go to bed. Very proud of first sentence.  No idea what second sentence will be.    
 

Tammy’s Day:


6:45 pm  Alarm goes off. I get dressed, then review my lesson plans over breakfast (great start today it’s croissants and grapes) and walk to school.  



8:10 am  Early meeting with other members of the English Department over forthcoming curriculum and in particular book choices for the year. 



8:35 am Staggered classes start. First lesson is with year 11 high achievers. Prompt them to find the humour and writing techniques used in The Importance of Being Earnest. Long and very funny debate about cucumber sandwiches.  



9:10 am. Year 7 class. Need to work on underachievement of targets, particularly with students inclined to be disruptive. Issue 5 S1 discipline records for poor behaviour, 4 x S2s and 1 x S3. That means yet another detention class this week after school.  



10:15 am   Shakespeare’s As you Like It. At least this lesson starts with a short film about the play.  



11:10 am   Take a class on creative writing and media studies. Several students impress me with their creativity. One busts into tears after getting an S1. Oh dear – something else more personal going on here that I will need to find out about.  



12-1 pm  My turn to monitor the canteen. 



1 pm  Library session – I usually enjoy these. These young people actually like reading, but this week we’ve got work people banging about outside the window, so it’s really not very productive.



1:50 pm  Grammar with year 10s. The difference between Demonstrative, Indefinite and Reflective Pronouns. Does anyone really care? Just ensuring students can identify the pronouns within a piece of text is difficult enough. 



2:30 pm Last class of the day. 



4 – 6 pm  Lesson planning for the next day. 



7 pm  An hour of yoga, followed by a shower – my mind is at peace. 



8 pm  Dinner – Dad’s a good cook – it’s cottage pie. 



8:30 pm Back to lesson planning, and marking of essays, then some Facetime with my brother and a few fellow teachers from my student years.  



10 pm  I finish a chapter of my own writing at great speed. I think it works well, but we’ll see what my co-author has to say.   



11 pm  Bed, then start all over again. If only I had an actual social life.        
 
 
 

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

T.S. Rose is the pen-name of Tammy and Sharon Rose, a mother-daughter duo living in London.

Tammy is a recent graduate of Queen Mary University of London and is now a secondary school teacher.

Sharon was born in South Africa, partially schooled in Germany and the UK, and lived for a while in Kissimmee, Florida. Her career as a Town Clerk, working for the good of the community, keeps her exceptionally busy, so writing takes place during stolen moments just before bed.

Connect with the authors:
Website  |  Goodreads 
Buy the book:
Amazon   |  Barnes & Noble   |  Bookshop

 

FEATURED AUTHOR: FRAN LEWIS

ABOUT THE BOOK

With the pandemic that never seems to be leaving us anytime soon I’ve created worlds that might make you pause for thought. Dark stories told by the characters as they experienced their journeys into worlds that you might not want to live in a hopefully be happy in the one you’re in.

Book Details:

Title: What If?

Author: Fran Lewis

Genre: time travel/ sci fi

Published by: Fidelli (July 8, 2020)

Print length: 78 pages

LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT WITH FRAN LEWIS

Things you need in order to write: my note pad on my phone, my computer, some interesting thoughts and a long walk before I get started and possibly a graphic organizer fill: med with ideas.
Things that hamper your writing: when my mind gets overloaded with ideas and I need to focus on the ones needed to create my novels or stories

Things you love about writing: I love that what I write belongs to me, and I can share my work with everyone.
Things you hate about writing: I hate editing and rereading.
 
Easiest thing about being a writer: just relaxing with a cup of coffee close by and writing without thinking about the outside world.
Hardest thing about being a writer: getting publishers to publisher your work and getting readers to give you constructive feedback before getting your work published.

Things you love about where you live: it’s quiet, and most people stay to themselves.
Things that make you want to move: nothing that would make me want to move.

Things you never want to run out of: coffee, salads, fun foods.
Things you wish you’d never bought: some of the jackets I plan to get rid of. A bag that was really not what it was supposed to be.

Words that describe you: opinionated, hard working, bold, blunt, and yet stating my thoughts without hurting anyone’s feelings. I love working with authors and helping to promote their work.
Words that describe you but you wish they didn’t: tough as nails, asks too many questions, and at times won’t stop until I get the answers I need to solve a problem.
 
Favorite foods: pizza and tuna.
Things that make you want to throw up: beets, olives and spicy foods.

Favorite music: classical music and opera.
Music that make your ears bleed: RAP.

Favorite beverage: black coffee.
Something that gives you a pickle face: salty foods.

Favorite smell: hot brewed coffee.
Something that makes you hold your nose: a skunk.

Something you’re really good at: helping others with projects, finding information on the net and doing research for my books.
Something you’re really bad at: driving a car.

Something you wish you could do: teleport myself anywhere I want so I can finally see my nieces and nephews.
Something you wish you’d never learned to do: dancing lesson: I hated them.

People you consider as heroes: my dad who was my champion and taught me to let everyone hear my voice; my aunt Tommy who taught me to speak out and speak up.
People with a big L on their foreheads: people who are too opinionate and too negative and who never tell it straight.

Last best thing you ate: Sicilian pizza from Arthur avenue pizza.
Last thing you regret eating: chicken salad with too much mayo.
 
Things you always put in your books: something about me and my sense of humor.
Things you never put in your books: personal information and age questions.

Things to say to an author: your work is inspirational, thought provoking and definitely worth reading.
Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: your writing is disjointed and your plot line is flat, poorly crafted and uninteresting.

Favorite books: To Kill a Mockingbird, The Last Scoop, Gone With the Wind.
Books you would ban: I never read porn or erotica.

People you’d like to invite to dinner (living): Dick Belsky, Jon Land, Marsha Casper Cook.

People you’d cancel dinner on: reviewers that are rude,  a relative that is deceptive and betrayed my trust.

Favorite things to do: reading, walking on a nice day, shopping.
Things you’d run through a fire wearing gasoline pants to get out of doing: cooking, housework and talking to certain people.

Things that make you happy: texting my nieces and nephews, helping them with difficult assignments, just hanging out on the phone.
Things that drive you crazy: people that are always negative.

Proudest moment: completing my 4 masters and above.
Most embarrassing moment: burning dinner for date when I was single.

Biggest lie you’ve ever told: telling someone they look lovely not to hurt their feelings.
A lie you wish you’d told: I try not to, I’m too honest.

Best thing you’ve ever done: becoming an educator and working with students with learning challenges.
Biggest mistake: retiring early.

Most daring thing you’ve ever done: stock car racing.
Something you chickened out from doing: hang gliding and riding in a hot air ballon.

 

 

EXCERPT FROM WHAT IF?

One Race: One World: The Year 2050

It was now 2050 and the world had really changed.  There were no more planes or trains.  All you needed to do was think about being somewhere and you were there.  The government, in order to save money on gas and fuel, had banned cars, buses, and any means of transportation, and implanted chips in everyone’s arms that helped transport them to wherever they wanted to go, including the past.

A huge explosion had occurred, and all that was left in the world were twenty countries,  with only twelve hundred people in each country. Most people had not survived the explosion, which had caused most of the countries to just disappear into space forever.  No one really knew if anyone was out there or if these people survived somewhere, and no one really cared enough to find out.

One man called The Ruler headed all the countries, and assigned one person as the Chief of Law and Enforcement in each country.  Under this person, five people helped to enforce the rules and the laws.

Then, one miserable day, someone decided there were too many wars, too many hate crimes, too many people being killed on the streets, and too much traffic and congestion on the highways.  The government hired several scientists to find a solution to the problem, and that was how everyone in the entire world wound up multicolored.

Because of all the wars and fighting and hate that took place in the past, the government created a way to eliminate the many different races in the world and opted for only one. Everyone looked the same.  Our faces might have looked a little different, but our skin colors were the same—multicolored.  They did this so that no one would insult, mock, or hurt anyone because of their skin color.  They eliminated houses of worship so that everyone was nonsectarian, and no one would be discriminated against.  However, what they could not eliminate were our thoughts and desires to make changes in our lives, even though they tried.

Everyone that lived here had a job that paid the same amount.  No one, no matter what they did or what career they chose, was paid more than anyone else.  We never had to worry about being laid off.  Unless we decided to move somewhere else our job stayed the same, and there was no room for advancement—ever.  Everyone did the same thing every day.  Nothing changed.  Life was supposed to be anger free, insult free, and most of all, calm and tranquil.  HOW DULL AND BORING!  (OH!  I am not supposed to say that.  Opinions are not allowed here.)

One morning I got up and got dressed to go to my boring job as an accountant with the only accounting firm in this city.  I went over the books daily,  entered my accounts in their daily ledgers, and did taxes for some of the companies in this city.  It was grunt work, and nothing exciting ever happened at work or anywhere else.

Walking to work as usual, I began remembering how it was only twenty years ago when there were cars, trains, and people running and yelling for cabs and trains to wait for them at the station.  I missed the newspaper people on the street and the vendors selling hot coffee and bagels from their pushcarts.  Those were the days.  I loved the way people had looked and the different races and nationalities that lived here.  Learning from other people was what made life exciting. 

Then the unexpected happened.  A new family with two children moved in down the street from me.  These two kids were not going to conform to our way of thinking, and decided it was time to shake things up—and they did.  One morning when going to school they each wore something other than the school’s drab gray uniform.  The girl wore a pink and green dress with flowers, and the boy wore something blue, and a shirt that said, “I hate being the same.  Different Rules.”

This did not go over well, and they were taken into custody by the guards in their school and promptly suspended.  This did not stop them.  They started screaming and yelling all sorts of words we had not heard before.  “One race is not what we are supposed to be.  I hate this planet.  I hate all of you.”

I could not believe my ears. This was grounds for banishment into the Devoid Zone.  These two children had painted stars all over their faces.  Their younger sister decided to paint her face one color.  Who in today’s world had a face that was one color?  Everyone here looked and dressed the same.  It prevented jealousy, arguments, and fashion wars.  How dare they go against the laws of this state?

***

Excerpt from What if? by Fran Lewis.  Copyright 2020 by Fran Lewis. Reproduced with permission from Fran Lewis. All rights reserved.

 

 ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Fran Lewis taught for 36 years in a New York Public School as a dean, staff developer and reading specialist. She loved helping children with learning disabilities soar and rise to the top. Fran loves music and majored in music when she attended Hunter College and was a concert violist. Fran has a master’s in reading and learning disabilities, education, Administration and supervision and a PD in Administration and supervision. Fran enjoys doing book reviews, interviews on her network MJ network on Blog Talk radio, and she is currently writing her next Faces Behind the Stones book. Title to be decided.


Connect with Fran:
Blog  |  Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Goodreads

Buy the book:
Amazon 

FEATURED AUTHOR: MATTHEW WILLIAM

ABOUT THE BOOK

Space-sheriff Joe Corbit may have just found the greatest collector's item in the history of the universe.


He also may have doomed the human race.


When a distress call leads him to the ruins of a lost, alien civilization, he finds an illegal archaeological dig underway. The Chinese Galactic Empire is working alongside the Martian mob in order to smuggle an ancient artifact across state lines.


One deadly shoot-out later and Joe finds himself the sole custodian of the curious relic. His plan is to auction it off to the highest bidder, that is, until he finds out why the Chinese were after it in the first place.


They believe it to be an ancient alien super-weapon.



All Joe has to do is hold off the most powerful space fleet in galaxy, long enough to prove that this whole 'ancient alien super-weapon' thing is being blown way out of proportion.



You see, Joe is hellbent on selling this artifact. Even if it kills him.

Book 
Details:

Title: The Star Collector


Author: Matthew William


Genre: Sci-fi

Publish date: March 27, 2019


Print length: 250 pages

   

LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT WITH MATTHEW WILLIAM

A few of your favorite things: Sitting by the fire with a little bourbon and my wife and cats.
Things you need to throw out: All my crappy clothes.


Things you need in order to write: My laptop.
Things that hamper your writing: My laptop.


Things you love about writing: Creating new worlds.
Things you hate about writing: Feeling like I have to perform. It’s not something you can do mindlessly, it has to be concentrated effort.


Easiest thing about being a writer: Not having to wake up early.

Hardest thing about being a writer: Fear of writing something people will hate – or worse – be indifferent to.

Things you love about where you live: The nature out in the country is really beautiful.
Things that make you want to move: The lack of stimulation that a city can offer.


Things you never want to run out of: Contact lenses.
Things you wish you’d never bought: Usually, it’s a bag of chips the moment after I eat the last of the crumbs.


Words that describe you: Friendly. Deep thinking. Kind.
Words that describe you but you wish they didn’t: Grumpy. Anxious. Lazy.

Favorite foods: I’m a fan of almost all food, so it’s so hard to whittle it down to just a few. I guess sushi would be near the top. Or a spicy curry. Or a good Italian sub.
Things that make you want to throw up: I’m not a fan of carrots.

Favorite music: Indie rock of all sorts.
Music that make your ears bleed: Death metal could probably do the trick.

Favorite beverage: A nice coffee. Cranberry juice. Yuengling beer.

Something that gives you a pickle face: Pickle juice, I guess.

Favorite smell: Tomato plants. There’s nothing like that smell, and it brings me back to being a kid.

Something that makes you hold your nose: Having to clean out a liter box.

Something you’re really good at: Basketball.

Something you’re really bad at: Snowboarding, skateboarding, anything that involves a board and balancing on it. 


Something you wish you could do: Speak Chinese.
Something you wish you’d never learned to do: I feel like learning to write in cursive was a colossal waste of time. But, since I was only seven years old, I didn’t really have anything better to do, so it’s a wash.

Something you like to do: Host dinner parties.

Something you wish you’d never done: Thinking I could sing in front of a crowd.

People you consider as heroes: Single moms and dads.

People with a big L on their foreheads: People who litter. I mean, it’s the simplest thing in the world to just put your trash in the bin and it makes everything look so much nicer.



Last best thing you ate: We went over to a friend’s house who’s a pro chef. He made fish tacos. I almost died.

Last thing you regret eating: When I tried to make the fish tacos myself.

Things you’d walk a mile for: See answer to 2 questions ago.
Things that make you want to run screaming from the room: See answer to 2 questions ago.

Things you always put in your books: A sprinkling of humor.

Things you never put in your books: Any of the real bad swear words.

Things to say to an author: “I blew through your book in one day!”

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: “Where do you get your ideas from?” I don’t really hate that question, per se, but I find it interesting that I get it so often. And I don’t really have a good answer for it. The ideas just sort of appear one day.

Favorite places you’ve been: Amsterdam – perfect mix of cool, pretty and lived in.

Places you never want to go to again: The DMV.

Favorite genre: Anything sci-fi. Old school, brand new, indie authors. I love it all.

Books you would ban: I don’t think books should ever be banned. That being said, some of the Star Wars new canon books would be ideal candidates.

People you’d like to invite to dinner: All of my favorite writers, but only one at a time.

People you’d cancel dinner on: The people who made the decision to cancel “Community.”

Favorite things to do: Writing. Video games. Watching movies.

Things you’d run through a fire wearing gasoline pants to get out of doing: Taxes.

Things that make you happy: My job, my friends, my wife.

Things that drive you crazy: My job, my friends, my wife.

Most embarrassing moment: Some campfire guitar playing comes to mind.

Proudest moment: Unplugging a seriously clogged bathroom drain this past week.

Biggest lie you’ve ever told: “It’s fine.”

A lie you wish you’d told: I think I told all the ones I wanted to tell.

Best thing you’ve ever done: Took the dive to move to another country.

Biggest mistake: Not saving enough when I was younger.

Most daring thing you’ve ever done: Moved to Sweden when I was 23. I wanted to try out life in another country and had friends in Malmö. So I decided to go for it. 

Something you chickened out from doing: I went to do relief work in Louisiana in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina when I was 19. I was there for one week and had the opportunity to stay longer, but wimped out. I was too young and didn’t really have the courage to be away from home so long. I still regret that one.

The last thing you did for the first time: Played D&D
.
Something you’ll never do again: Life’s too short to say never. It’s also too long to say never.



ALSO BY MATTHEW WILLIAM

The Enoch Pill

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

Matthew William grew up in the woods of Pennsylvania, reading the works of Philip K. Dick, Arthur C. Clarke, and other science fiction writers with abbreviations for middle names.



Currently he lives in Sweden and keeps himself occupied with podcasting, expanding his fiction library, and spending time with his wife and two cats. He enjoys connecting with other fans of good storytelling on social media.

Connect with Matthew:
Facebook  |  Twitter  |. Goodreads 

Buy the book:
Amazon

FEATURED AUTHOR: SARAH BAETHGE

ABOUT THE BOOK

The Eclipse is a company of evil.

Ronald Carpenter finds himself stuck helping them after they assist him.
        
Dr. Nigel Hunter gets caught up in mad experiments for The Eclipse, and doesn't know how he can escape once the company turns on him.
 

Book Details:

Title: The Illumination Query (The Speed of Darkness, book 1)

Author’s name: Sarah Baethge

Genre: sci-fi/fantasy


Publisher: Total Recall Press

Page count: 118

LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT WITH SARAH BAETHGE

A few of your favorite things: Rabbits, chocolate and anything that flies.
Things you need to throw out: I probably don't need the clutter of old letters on my desk.

Things you need in order to write: Quiet, I never understand it when someone asks what music I listen to as I write.
Things that hamper your writing: Worrying that I need to finish quickly kills inspiration.


Things you love about writing: Getting the story to go how I want it to feels good.
Things you hate about writing: Worrying how people will like it can be another thing that stalls me.


Easiest thing about being a writer: Focusing on imaginary worlds.

Hardest thing about being a writer: Spending time worried about promotion instead of just writing.

Words that describe you: Strange, quiet.
Words that describe you but you wish they didn’t: Lazy, shy.

Favorite foods: Macaroni & cheese, dark chocolate
Things that make you want to throw up: Gushy peas

Something you’re really good at: In school I was always good at math.
Something you’re really bad at: I don't spend enough time with other people.


Last best thing you ate: Pad Thai
.
Last thing you regret eating: I sometimes feel wrong about eating meat and killing animals.

Things to say to an author: What are you writing now?
Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: Your writing is a waste of time.

Favorite places you’ve been: San Antonio, Texas.

Places you never want to go to again: The place where I began high school.

Favorite book: Stephen King's Misery.

Books you would ban: None, if you try to ban something, it nearly guarantees that someone will try to read it.

People you’d like to invite to dinner: First name I thought of was Morgan Freeman.

People you’d cancel dinner on: I'm not sure I'd want to eat with Donald Trump.

Things that make you happy: Disney cartoons.

Things that drive you crazy: Political debates.

Book Trailer

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Sarah Baethge was born in Houston in 1982, and grew up in Texas and Louisiana. She was an intern for Lockheed-Martin directly out of high school where she graduated with a national merit scholarship in 2000. She worked loading the software onto computers at NASA in Houston in the summer before college at The University of Texas at Dallas.



In November of 2000 when driving to school, she was in a car wreck that left her in a coma for 6 months. After waking, she began writing and self-publishing short fantasy and science-fiction stories, starting with the original The Speed of Darkness book. Soon after it was out she had greatly expanded the story in her notes. She decided to take the book down from Amazon and Smashwords because it began a bit abruptly, having plans to improve it with a prequel or two.



She currently has other writings on Amazon including a short story piece of the Speed of Darkness series as an ebook. She also has a vampire poem called ‘And I Was Hungry’ that was published in an online magazine called What the Dickens in March of 2014.


Connect with Sarah:
Website  |  Blog  |  Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Goodreads 

Buy the book:
Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble |  Smashwords

FEATURED AUTHOR: JONATHAN FESMIRE

ABOUT THE BOOK

U.S. Marshal James Creed has known loss, starting from the untimely death of his wife and daughter in a sudden fire. His work, chasing down and arresting outlaws across the Wild West, is all he has left to live for. Then one day, in 1876, the infamous killer Corwin Blake catches Creed by surprise and guns him down.



Creed awakes after a mysterious young woman resurrects him in a basement laboratory beneath a brothel. Half alive, Creed feels torn between his need for justice and his desire to fall back into the peace of death. Creed's instincts drive him to protect the city of Santa Cruz, California, from the outlaws it harbors while searching for Blake.
 
He uncovers a secret criminal organization, likely protecting Blake, determined to use resurrection technology for its own ends. The former marshal, now faster, stronger, and a more deadly shot than ever before, must work with a brothel madam, a bounty hunter, and the remaining marshals to uncover the criminal syndicate before they can misuse the machines of rebirth and create more mindless zombies. Meanwhile, he must also stop Blake, before the outlaw kills the only people he cares about.
 
His own death can wait.

INTERVIEW WITH JONATHAN FESMIRE

Jonathan, who are you?I am Jonathan Fesmire of Santa Cruz, First of His Name, the Geek, the Steampunk, the Intellectual, Writer of Fiction, Father of Gingers.

Where’s home for you?
I still think of Santa Cruz, California as home. I grew up in Santa Cruz County and got my BA at U.C. Santa Cruz. In fact, Bodacious Creed takes place in an alternate version of Santa Cruz in 1876.

Where did you grow up?
More specifically, I grew up in Watsonville, California, part of Santa Cruz County, though my heart has always been in Santa Cruz itself. I’ve lived all over the county, including in Aptos, Soquel, Capitola, and Santa Cruz.

What’s your favorite memory?
I have two. My daughter’s birth, and my son’s birth. There’s no more amazing feeling than seeing your own children come into the world.



So true. What’s the dumbest purchase you’ve ever made?
I bought a 3D printer a couple of years ago, thinking I would somehow make money with my 3D model designs, but the printer had too many problems.

What do you love about where you live?

I live in Anaheim, California, so my son and I are close to the Disneyland Resort. When we have annual passports, we’re able to go often. It’s pretty amazing being able to go to Disneyland just for the evening, go on a few rides, get a bite to eat, then come home.


I'll bet! Have you been in any natural disasters?
I was in the heart of the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake, on Cathcart Street, oddly enough, in the main area where Bodacious Creed takes place in its alternate reality.

The roof collapsed at the Ford’s store across the street from where I was. The popular Cooper House, made primarily of stone, fell to pieces. Many other buildings suffered significant damage.

That was an amazing night in the sense that everyone came together to help each other, just incredible cooperation. But Santa Cruz is like that. The busses ran for free to get people home, and since I took the bus to work at the time, that’s how I got back to Watsonville.

As it turned out, the area where I lived had also been hit hard. Many of the houses had slid off their foundations. Our fireplace had fallen into the driveway and the indentation in the pavement remained for years. My family, and a friend of mine who was able to make it to my place but not his, slept in the back yard that night.

Wow. What’s one thing that you wish you knew as a teenager that you know now?
I wish I had known that writing was the thing I wanted to pursue, and I wish I knew that, once the Internet came, I could start building my reader base.


What makes you bored?
Standing in line or waiting at an office with nothing to read.


Do you have another job outside of writing?
I’m lucky that for my day job, I’m a copywriter. I get to write for a living. That’s amazing.

Yes it is. Would you rather be a lonely genius, or a sociable idiot?
A lonely genius. Stupidity is ruining the world.

How true is that! If you could live anywhere in the world, where in the world would it be?

I would love to live in Paris. I speak French but rarely get to use it and loved Paris when I visited. There’s great cuisine, amazing little cafes, many fascinating museums, and you can get anywhere quickly on the metro. Besides, there’s a Disney park nearby.

What’s the story behind the title of your book?
This book started as my thesis project for graduate school. It wasn’t even a story exactly at first, but a background and set of characters for my 3D modeling demo reel. Since I was already a writer, I also thought it would make a great novel.

I had ideas for a gunfighter type character and a young brothel madam who was secretly an inventor, but didn’t have names yet. One morning as I was waking up, the name Bodacious Creed popped into my head. I figured I must have heard it before. It had to already be the name of a character somewhere. So, I looked it up. To my surprise, it wasn’t being used. I decided that I’d better take it before someone else did!

Is Bodacious Creed part of a series?
This is the first book in an intended series. I’m doing research and brainstorming for the sequel now. At this point, there’s not much readers need to know aside from what’s in the first novel.

As a primer, however, I’ll share a bit. Bodacious Creed takes place in an alternate history, a world where, in the 1870s, steam-based technology begins advancing rapidly. In other words, a steampunk world, though of course the specifics are of my own invention. It’s a western, it’s hard science fiction, and it has zombies.

Awesome! How did you create the plot for this book?
For me, plot comes primarily from the characters. While I knew some things that I wanted to have happen, it had to make sense for the characters to get to those points. Basically, after every chapter or even scene, I mentally check-in with my characters on their goals and motivations, which can change based on things they have just experienced. Then, I figure out what the characters—those specific characters—would do next.

Are any of your characters inspired by real people?
In Bodacious Creed, one character is fully based on a real person. It’s the bounty hunter Rob Cantrell. When I decided to write this novel, I ran a Kickstarter to find it. This was an amazing experiment. Not only did it reach its funding goal, but I was able to get input from readers for the story. Rob wanted a version of himself to be in the book. Once the Kickstarter ended, I sent him a release of likeness contract so I could do this legally, and his doppelganger is a major part of the story.

Why did you decide to self-publish?
In years past, I’ve had agents, and they had difficulty placing my books, even though they enjoyed them. Once self-publishing through print on demand became possible, I embraced it, especially when Lulu opened its services, as those were free to writers. I now use Create Space.

The thing is, I learned early on that all the worries I had about self-publishing apply to traditional publishing, too. Writers in both camps must do their own publicity. Self-published authors can ensure that their books are as well-written and edited as any traditionally published book. Also, many writers who have made it big had their books rejected dozens of times from big publishing houses. J.K. Rowling had a tough time finding a publisher for the first Harry Potter book. It’s tough to read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and not recognize that it’s exactly the sort of novel that young adults want to read.

You are so right. So you're happy with your decision to self-publish?
I am. What I needed to learn was how to better promote my books, and it took a while to find good sources for that information. In short, the most important thing to do is build a following using one’s own mailing list, social media, and making connects with others, such as fellow writers and reviewers.

As I worked on Bodacious Creed, I kept up my blog and built my following, or platform. Because of that, it’s been doing well. Now, I want to keep that momentum going as I write the sequel.

What steps to publication did you personally do, and what did you hire someone to do? Is there anyone you’d recommend for a particular service?
For Bodacious Creed, I set up pre-orders on Amazon for both the Kindle edition and the trade paperback, and that brought in a lot of sales in the month or so before the book’s release. Then, I ran a Facebook release party the weekend after the book came out, before the Kindle edition went up from its pre-order price of $1.49 to its regular price of $3.99.

I have an art degree, so I was able to create the full cover using the cover art by Joshua J. Stewart. Though I’ve formatted book interiors in the past, this time I used the CreateSpace template for 6x9 trade paperbacks, and that worked well. I’m pleased with the result.

I also had several beta readers who commented on the book as I rewrote it, and who found various small errors. Since the book is self-published, if someone finds a small error and points it out to me, I can correct it and fix it immediately for the Kindle edition, and also update the trade paperback, so that new orders will have the fix as well.

Alas, if I had the money to hire a professional editor and pay him or her fairly, I would, and may in the future. Still, the copy is a clean as what I find in most traditionally published books.

What are you working on now?
I am working on the sequel to Bodacious Creed. While the first novel takes place in an alternate Santa Cruz, California, the second will mostly take place in San Francisco. To that end, I’ve been researching San Fran, learning about its history and many of the colorful characters who lived there. The first book has two people in it out of Santa Cruz history. I want to have more in San Francisco.

EXCERPT FROM BODACIOUS CREED

CHAPTER ONE

Anna Lynn Boyd served drinks with one of her doves, Karla Hotchkiss, and kept an eye on the saloon. She grabbed a cloth from under the bar and wiped down the walnut surface that captured the blurry reflections of her patrons. Cowboys, hostlers, ranchers, and factory workers gulped ale and whiskey and downed their meals. Today's specials included shark, tuna, seasoned beef steaks, rye bread, fresh corn, and red potatoes.

With the supper rush well underway, The House of Amber Doves, Anna's bordello and restaurant, had come alive with its usual evening activity. The exquisitely carved clock on the wall opposite the bar read six twenty in the evening. On this first day of July, eighteen seventy-six, the sun would still be out for another hour or so. A cool breeze turned the hot day pleasant as it blew through the double doors, carrying with it the salty tang of the ocean.

Anna went to the far end of the bar, where her companion, Jonathan Johns, sat reading a book and working his way through an omelet stuffed with ground beef and onions and drinking a beer. Just twenty minutes prior, Jonny had downed a sugared coffee. Anna's twenty-year-old lover kept strange hours, which suited her fine. She did, too. It meant they could work together downstairs or make love in her bed as they pleased.

She took a moment to look over the short blond hair and long features she loved. He resembled an angel out of an El Greco painting. What's more, Jonny had proven a better lover than any of the men she'd entertained in her years as a dove. More important to her though, he was smart, damned brilliant, actually.

The book lay flat beside his plate, so Anna tipped it upward to read the spine. The day before, Jonny had gone through the newspaper in ten minutes. He had started this novel in the morning and had nearly finished it.

Jonny pushed the book back down and turned the page.

Anna leaned close to Jonny's ear and whispered, “Mary Shelley, is it? Research?”

Jonny winked at her then continued reading. Anna ran her fingers through his hair, over his left ear, and felt the bumpy, curving metal form, less than an inch long.

Her invention had saved his life, but Jonny could no longer speak. He could nod and shake his head, so they enjoyed simple communication. He helped with schematics in the basement. With his skills, he could have been working directly for Morgan's Automatons, but he preferred partnering with Anna. Yet speaking and writing remained beyond him.

Anna went back to the center of the bar and took a moment to assess the room. Karla might need help with the customers, or a table might deserve a visit from the parlor's madam.

Past the stairs stood Lucky and Dixie, two security automatons. Several more of Anna's girls leaned on the second-floor banister, gazing down at the patrons, waving, and blowing kisses. At the back of the stage, Hattie, a buxom blonde dove in a fancy blue dress, played the piano.

Meanwhile, singer Nate Lieby, his wild ginger hair and beard giving him the look of a fiery god, and his musical group, Whiskey Zombie Collective, tuned up violin, bass, banjo, guitar, and mandolin. The group frequently performed at Amber Doves and some customers came in just to hear them play.

Lorraine Silver strode into the saloon through the front doors to chat up a man at the bar. Her sharp voice cut through the chatter, piano, and shuffling cards. Anna had learned to tolerate that voice but sometimes thought Lorraine should talk through a pillow to tone it down.

“Howdy Lonzo,” Lorraine said, leaning against the bar, her hands on the big man's leg. “I think you're going to be a very busy man soon.”

Lonzo Rivera smiled devilishly. “That right? That an invitation?” The deputy always had brothel coins for Lorraine.

“Well yes, but not just that. Somebody just checked into the federal marshal office.
Someone who means business wherever he goes.”

At “federal marshal,” Anna, who had been pulling down a new whiskey bottle, froze. She watched them in the mirror past her own reflection.

“You don't mean James Creed?” Lonzo asked.

“James 'Bodacious' Creed,” Lorraine said, emphasizing the adjective.

“I do wish people wouldn't call him that. The man's done a lot of good, no doubt about it, but it makes you think of, I don't know, some sort of immortality. Like he's so brave nothing can touch him.”

“Don't be jealous now, love.” Lorraine ran the back of her fingers down Lonzo's arm.
As Karla turned, Anna shoved the whiskey bottle at her. “Well damn, Anna, what's got under your dress?”

Anna walked around the bar and took Lorraine's hand. “Lonzo, I need to borrow my girl here for a minute.”

“Be my guest, Miss Anna. Lorraine, you come back to me after.”

Anna led the young woman past noisy tables to the stairs. The steelies, their polished hickory and steel bodies mostly still, watched as Anna walked past. Their rudimentary brains considered her safety their top priority.

At the foot of the stairs, Anna stood with her left boot on the first step.

“What is it, Miss Boyd?” Lorraine asked.

“How do you know James Creed is in town?” Might this be Anna's chance to finally confront him? Highly self-educated, Anna felt no need for, nor faith in, prayer. Still, she held her palms together at her lips as though asking Jesus himself if this could be true.

Lorraine's voice rose, even sharper. “I just saw him! The man is legendary and handsome. I mean, in pictures, sure, but in real life? Oh Lord.”

“You follow him in the papers?” Anna asked.

“I follow everything. It was him.”

“Right, of course,” Anna answered. “Well, you better go back to Lonzo. You have fun with him.”

“Always do!” With a peppy smile and a flip of her hair, Lorraine went back to the bar.
Anna rushed out the front doors and turned left for Smullen's Stables and Livery, right across Soquel Avenue from The House of Amber Doves.

Anna’s parlor was the tallest building along the street after the renovations late the year before, right after she had bought the business from the former madam, Margarita Fullerton. Few knew the truth of how Anna had acquired the capital to buy the establishment and renovate it outright. Most people believed she had come into a big inheritance, and that’s how she wanted it. She couldn’t risk a backlash against the two companies she invented for, Morgan's Mechanicals and Morgan's Automatons. If the world knew that a former prostitute had ushered in a new technological age, what might it mean for her family of doves?

At Ott Smullen’s stables, she waved to one of the horse tenders feeding a brown and white spotted mare. He nodded back, a signal that meant, “I see you. Go ahead and take your ride.”

Anna strode down the row of horses, hay crunching under her boots, and reached her stallion, Espiritu, a black Saddlebred with white streaks along its back, almost like rib bones, and white patches on its face that gave the impression of a skull. Espiritu could look downright spooky at night.

She had no time to saddle her steed, not if she hoped to make it to the federal marshal outpost while Creed might still be there, so Anna slipped on its bit and bridle, hefted herself up, her dress bunching between her legs, grabbed the reins, and guided Espiritu out of the stable, past the other neighing horses and the smells of manure and oats.

“He’s here,” she whispered. The books he would read to her as a child. The secret code she’d invented and taught him. The hugs and laughter in front of their home's hearth back in Virginia, while her mother called them to dinner for chicken soup and homemade rolls. If only her mother could be there too, could return to life again just for a few days.

Still, U.S. Marshal James Creed had come to Santa Cruz, California, against all probability. After years of hoping, Anna could finally see her father.

Also BY JONATHAN FESMIRE:

Fantasy Novels:
Children of Rhatlan
Tamshi’s Imp

YA Fantasy:
Amber in the Over World

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

 Author Jonathan Fesmire, originally from Santa Cruz, California, now lives in Southern California with his son. By day, he's a copywriter, by evening a steampunk author, and at all times, a dedicated dad.

Though Jonathan started out writing fantasy, he has moved completely to steampunk, enchanted with its aesthetics, possibilities, and implications. He's a fan of the stories, the art, and the gadgets, and enjoys interacting with the community.  In fact, Jonathan regularly interviews popular members of the steampunk community for his The Wild Steampunk Blog.

Connect with Jonathan:
Website  |  Blog  |  Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Goodreads  |  Amazon   |  YouTube  

Buy the book:
Amazon 

Featured Author: John Forelli

About the book

When Ray Ality arrives for a job interview at Simulations Inc. he's immediately drawn to Delilah, the cute receptionist. Only one problem: she's engaged.

Ray soon concocts a plan to win Delilah over, as he and his new eccentric coworker Bob use the company's software in an attempt to simulate the process of courting her. Ray soon discovers that the simulations aren't exactly what he expected, and as he sinks deeper into virtual reality it becomes harder to distinguish real life from the imaginary.
This novel is Office Space meets The Matrix--an existential discourse told among keyboards and cubicles.

Interview with John Forelli

John, what's the story behind the title of your The Simulations?
It's pretty simple. The main character uses the computer game "The Sims" in order to simulate courting a woman he works with.

Where's home for you?
Philadelphia. Land of Yeungling and cheesesteaks.

Where did you grow up?
South Jersey. A little town called Somerdale.


What's the dumbest purchase you've ever made?
That last shot of Jameson Saturday night.


What's the most valuable thing you've learned?
That nothing worth learning can ever be taught.

Who would you pick to write your biography?
Either Khalil Gibran or Jonathan Nolan. If you've never read The Prophet, go do it right now (after you've bought my book). It'll take less than an hour and change your life.

What dumb things did you do during your college years?
Jenn, that one night. 



Have you been in any natural disasters?
Only if my fifth grade haircut counts.

I'll count it. What is the most daring thing you've done (besides get that fifth grad haircut)?
Walked up to a woman at a bar and bet her I could get her to kiss me in less than a minute. 


Well, who won? We both did.

What is the stupidest thing you've ever done?
Hopefully not deciding to do this interview.

What's one thing that you wish you knew as a teenager that you know now?
This quote by Oscar Wilde: “You'll care less about what other people think when you realize how seldom they do.”


What makes you bored?
People who talk when they have nothing to say. 


What choices in life would you like to have a redo on?
None. Our “mistakes” make us the people we are just as much as our successes, and if you're happy in the present (which I am), there's never any reason for regret.

If someone gave you $5,000 and said you must solve a problem, what would you do with the money?
Hire someone to frame Donald Trump for murder. 

I’m not sure $5,000 would do it, but it would be worth a try.

What makes you nervous?
Ruben Amaro's continued employment as General Manager of the Phillies. 


What makes you happy?
The thought of Ruben Amaro's firing from the Phillies.

Yikes. I take it you’re a Phillies fan. Who else are you?
I ask myself this all the time. When I find out I'll let you know.

How did you meet your spouse?
I'm not married. God help the poor woman who ends up being the answer to this question.
She would definitely have to have a sense of humor.

Would you rather be a lonely genius, or a sociable idiot?
Lonely genius, without a doubt. I'd rather have tremendous insights into the wonder and beauty of the world and be unable to share it with anyone than have friends but be oblivious to it all.

What's one of your favorite quotes?
“Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” -Lincoln

If you could live anywhere in the world, where in the world would it be?
Next to Kate Upton, wherever she is.

What would you like people to say about you after you die?
Like George Costanza, I don't want to be remembered. I want to be forgotten.

What's your favorite line from a book?
“It was but yesterday we met in a dream.
You have sung to me in my aloneness, and I of your longings have built a tower in the sky.
But now our sleep has fled and our dream is over, and it is no longer dawn.
The noontide is upon us and our half waking has turned to fuller day, and we must part.
If in the twilight of memory we should meet once more, we shall speak again together and you shall sing to me a deeper song.
And if our hands should meet in another dream, we shall build another tower in the sky.”
-Khalil Gibran, The Prophet

Well, that's several lines, but okay. Are any of your characters inspired by real people?
The character “Bob” is inspired by my high-school friend Bob. Inspired is actually understating it. They're practically the same person.

One of your characters has just found out you're about to kill him off. He/she decides to beat you to the punch. How would he kill you?
Tell me the Eagles won't win a Super Bowl before I die. I'd commit suicide in an instant.

With what five real people would you most like to be stuck in a bookstore?
Ernest Hemingway, Jesus, Christopher Nolan, Buddha, and Kate Upton.

Who are your favorite authors?
Hemingway, Khalil Gibran, and Ayn Rand.


What book are you currently reading and in what format (e-book/paperback/hardcover)?
Live From New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live, by Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller.



About the author

John began writing when he was 7 years old and needed to forge a note to get him out of detention. The quality of his writing has only gone downhill from there.

John lives in Philadelphia, and when he's not yelling barely comprehensible obscenities at young children, he's probably eating a cheesesteak.

Connect with John:
Website  |  Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Goodreads  |

Featured Author: Kenneth G. Bennett

EXODUS 2022, by Kenneth G. Bennett, will be released May 20, 2014. Get to know Kenneth and his book with the following interview and book excerpt. Click on the book title to pre-order the book.

About the book:

Joe Stanton is in agony. Out of his mind over the death of his young daughter.

Unable to contain his grief, Joe loses control in public, screaming his daughter’s name and causing a huge scene at a hotel on San Juan Island in Washington State. Thing is, Joe Stanton doesn’t have a daughter. Never did. And when the authorities arrive they blame the 28-year-old’s outburst on drugs.

What they don’t yet know is that others up and down the Pacific coast-—from the Bering Sea to the Puget Sound—-are suffering identical, always fatal mental breakdowns.

With the help of his girlfriend Joe struggles to unravel the meaning of the hallucination destroying his mind. As the couple begins to perceive its significance—-and Joe’s role in a looming global calamity—-they must also outwit a billionaire weapons contractor bent on exploiting Joe’s newfound understanding of the cosmos, and outlast the time bomb ticking in Joe’s brain.

Other books by Kenneth G. Bennett:

The Gaia Wars

The Battle for Cascadia

Interview with Kenneth G. Bennett

Kenneth, EXODUS 2022 is your third published book. How long have you been writing, and how did you start? 

I started writing stories at age 6 and have been a professional advertising copywriter most of my adult life.

What’s the story behind the title of your book? 

The book is about a vast relocation that occurs in the year 2022. A migration from Planet Earth that humans are utterly unaware of—-until it’s too late. The title EXODUS 2022 seemed to fit.

How did you create the plot for EXODUS 2022? 

I like to start with an idea and let the story unfold organically by jumping in and moving forward on blind faith—on the strength of the initial idea. It’s a scary process, but much more exhilarating and satisfying to me than trying to map everything out ahead of time.

How do you get to know your characters?

I like to let them develop slowly, along with the book itself. My characters start out flat and one-dimensional and grow and develop as the story develops. I’m not big on fully designing characters (or plot) up front.

Are you like any of your characters?

Like the lead character, Joe Stanton, I love nature and the wilderness and try to get into the backcountry as often as I can.

Where and when do you prefer to do your writing?

I have a sunny breakfast nook in my house with coffee close at hand. That’s my favorite place to write.

Where’s home for you?

Bainbridge Island, Washington. An island in the Puget Sound.

Lucky you! It's beautiful up there. If you could only keep one book, what would it be?

The Hobbit.

Let's pretend you’re leaving your country for a year. What’s the last meal (or food) you would want to have before leaving? 

Anything made by my wife. She’s the most amazing chef.

Would you rather work in a library or a bookstore?

A small, local bookstore that also serves great coffee. The big difference being the great coffee.

Where is your favorite library, and what do you love about it? 

The Bainbridge Island Public Library is fantastic, with a very friendly, helpful staff.

You’re given the day off, and you can do anything but write. What would you do?

Disappear into the wilderness with a great traveling companion or two.

What’s one of your favorite quotes?  

“The written word is new. People have listened to stories for millennia. Your voice is the voice of the storyteller around the campfire. Our writing is an imitation of an audible experience.” --Lee Child

Excerpt from Exodus 2022

Ella awoke after a time and lay there, thinking about the first time she and Joe had really talked: in the meadow in the wilderness, under the stars.

She’d found him charming and handsome. Gentle and rugged and sexy. He was a great listener, and, as she’d discovered on her first visit to St. Anthony’s—a great speaker. She’d found his homily that morning brilliant, relevant, and deeply touching.

They dated. Their romance flourished, and within a few weeks she was madly, passionately in love.

Aside from the instant and powerful physical attraction they shared, she found it incredibly easy to talk with him. About anything.

She knew that he was intuitive. Sometimes it seemed that he could read her mind. Even before she told him, he’d been aware, somehow, of a secret she carried and divulged to almost no one. It hurt still to think about it, and most of the time she left it alone, acknowledging the awful event without really examining it. Without reliving it.
Now, though, lying there next to Joe, the memory of the thing unfurled in her mind, unbidden, and she let it flow.

To read another excerpt from the book, click here.

About the author:

Kenneth G. Bennett is the author of the young adult novels, The Gaia Wars and Battle For Cascadia, and the new sci-fi thriller, EXODUS 2022. A wilderness enthusiast who loves backpacking, skiing and kayaking, Ken enjoys mysteries, science fiction, action adventure stories and, most especially, novels that explore the relationship between humans and the wild. He lives on an island in the Pacific Northwest with his wife and son and two hyperactive Australian Shepherds.

The Gaia Wars series was optioned for film by Identity Films, LA in 2012, and both Gaia and Battle have been featured as Top 100 Bestsellers in Teen Literature and Fiction on Amazon. Kirkus Reviews called The Gaia Wars “A solid first entry of a promising, imaginative new young-adult fantasy series featuring a well-crafted character.”

About the author:
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | LibraryThing | Shelfari

Buy the book:
Amazon 

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Featured Author: Leti Del Mar

I'm welcoming back to my blog Leti Del Mar, to tell us about her newest release, Land of the Unaltered, published by Rambaldi Press. Leti was here in December to talk about her novel, The Inadvertent Thief, and to contribute a guest post. I'm happy to have her back today.

About the book:

Rose comes from the capital of the Confederation of Cities where its citizens live in luxury and the greatest fashion statement of all is being Altered. People change everything about the way they look as often as they do their hairstyle but Rose is different. Her position of privilege has made her an outcast and led her to suspect that something sinister is happening to the citizens and flees the capital along with a past that imprisons her in search of a fresh start in the Land of the Unaltered.

Flynn lives in the Land of the Unaltered and hates the capitol and everything it stands for. So when a spoiled capital girl is assigned to work with him, he wants nothing to do with her and is prepared to make her life miserable. But Flynn was not prepared for someone like Rose. She doesn’t fit the mold he expected and finds himself strongly attracted to her. As she continues to surprise and outwit him, they begin to forge a bond that is tested when they discover a secret that could change everything they know about Land of the Unaltered.

Land of the Unaltered is a Dystopian Romance and is the first installment of the The Confederation Chronicles.




Interview with Leti Del Mar:

Leti, this is your second published novel. How long have you been writing, and how did you start?

I’ve always tinkered around with writing but it wasn’t until 2009 that I sat down and wrote my first novel, The Inadvertent Thief.  After a very long time of looking for an agent, sending away my manuscript, getting rejected, doing it all over again, followed by even more time waiting; I decided to self-publish in 2012. The last year has been an incredible journey from which I have learned so much. I now find myself much more business savvy and ready to promote my newest novel with a strategic marketing plan.

Do you outline, write by the seat of your pants, or let your characters tell you what to write?

I am an obsessive compulsive organizational freak when it comes to writing. I create character charts, plot charts and checklists before I start writing. When I finish my first draft, I go back to these charts and lists and see what needs to be improved upon. I’ve made all of my tools available on my website under the “Author Resources” tab. Feel free to check them out and use them.

I will. Thank you! Did you have any say in your cover art?

As an obsessive compulsive organizational freak, I have a lot of trouble handing over the reigns in any part of the creative process. My covers are all mine. For my recent book, I knew I wouldn’t be able to create the exact cover I had in mind so I got help from the very affordable Digital Donna.

Do you have a routine for writing?

I am a big believer in checklists and calendars. I like to give myself a deadline for when I want my completed product to be finished by. Then I break it down into all the steps I need to do to make this happen and assign them smaller deadlines. That way each week, and even each day, I know what I need to accomplish.

Do you ever get writer’s block? What do you do when it happens?

Writer’s block and I are old friends. We go way back. My solution is to stop writing. Instead, I switch gears and do something else that is productive. Sometimes I focus on the business side of writing. The point is to switch gears until I feel the creative juices flowing again.

Leti's Guest Post:

As a self-published Indie Author, I’ve learned a thing or two about this business from other professional in the publishing industry, fellow authors and book bloggers. This know-how has really paid off. The publishing and promoting of my second novel has gone so much smoother and has seen greater results. Looking back, I think I can consolidate it into 5 tips that I wish I knew before self-publishing.

#1- Market your book before it is even published

If you wait until your book is published, then you have waited too long. By telling people, readers, bloggers about your book before it is even done, you start to build a platform for potential readers. I wish I had done this with my first novel. I published it and then wondered, “Now what?” The key is to have a solid marketing plan in place and begin working on it while you finish writing and publishing your book.

#2- Network

Gaining contacts is golden in this industry. Find and meet fellow authors. I have been amazed by the results. These friendly people have pointed me in the direction of resources that have helped me immensely. Search blogs and blog directories. When you find a blog that looks helpful and interesting, follow it and comment frequently. Read their books and build real connections with these people. I have also directly emailed other Indie Authors with brief questions and those emails have led to wonderful exchanges of tips and ideas. You will get back just as much as you give. I promise.

#3- Choose quality over quantity

It sounds easy to tweet and post daily about your book. But no one likes a commercial, much less a persistent one. If you have something worthwhile to say, then tweet it, post it, ect. For example, while visiting a Kindleboards forum, I posted a question about using KDP Select and had a great discussion there. It was meaningful and helpful to me and in the end, one of the guests told me she just purchased my book! Not all online discussions will lead to a purchase, but you will have a better chance of selling your work if stop trying to sell your work with every breath you take.

#4 Learn your craft

I’m not talking about the craft of writing (although the same advice goes for that), I’m talking about the craft of selling your books. Keep looking for great sites, sign up for informative newsletters, join communities, read books by those who have made this work. This is a business after all, and you should be invested in doing it to the best of your ability.

#5 Write more

You’re a writer, so write. It can be easy to get caught up in the business side of being a writer, but you need a quality product before you can sell it. I have learned two things about successful Indie Authors. They write series and they have a huge back list of titles. This didn’t happen overnight. So if you feel discouraged and think it is never going to happen, then write another book. Keep writing those books, preferably write them as part of a series. It may not happen this year, or next, but it will happen. Believe in it!

From the author:

I live in sunny Southern California with my husband, daughter and abnormally large cat. When I'm not writing, reading or blogging, I am teaching Biology and Algebra to teenagers. I'm also a classic film buff, passionate about Art History and love to travel.

Connect with Leti:
Facebook | Twitter | Google+ | Linkedin | Mailing list | Goodreads


Buy the book:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords |




Leti's tour schedule:

Busy Moms Book Reviews- July 1

A Book So Fathomless- July 2

Writing Belle- July 3

Punya's Reviews- July 4 

Jodie Pierce's Ink Slinger's Blog- July 5

MaMa's Book Corner- July 8

A Blue Million Books- July 9

Curse of the Bibliophile- July 10

Read Between the Lines- July 11

Nette's Bookshelf- July 12

Laurie's Thoughts and Reviews- July 13

Tangled Up in Books- July 15

Notebook Blogairy- July 16

Rosie Amber- July 17

Smart Girls Love Sci-Fi- July 18 

Dream Big...Read Often- July 19



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