Wednesday, November 30, 2011

The Wicked Heroine - Jasmine Giacomo

Bio: Jasmine Giacomo writes from Washington State, where she lives with her husband and two small children. She graduated last millennium with a degree in English Literature from a college built atop a volcano. Her chosen genres are fantasy and mystery.
Though she's been writing since the age of four, she also enjoys geocaching, history, science and games, and holds a black belt in Danzan Ryu Jujitsu. She particularly enjoys reading and writing fight scenes.

Product description: The Cult of Dzur i'Oth wants its magical tome back. They can't rule the world without it.

The only person who knows how to destroy the twisted tome is Meena, a testy heroine who accidentally inherited immortality from the tome's pages centuries ago. Long turned to cynicism by the petty whims of mortals, she's secretive and brusque, dragging her young companions into mortal danger without a second thought.

Yet the magical reach of the cult leader, the Hand of Power, is long. Even from the far side of the world, he causes chaos and death in order to retrieve the key to the tome's magical prison.

A glorified librarian, a substitute prince and a secret-wielding swordsman must resolve their interpersonal conflicts in order to aid Meena in her quest. But when the Shanallar makes an unexpected sacrifice halfway to their goal, can they carry on without her? Or is the world doomed to enslavement at the hands of a magic-wielding madman?

Q: What will e-readers like about your book?
TWH is a tale of redemption, revenge and coming-of-age, set against a multicultural, exotic backdrop. The writing is YA-compatible, but at 119k, the story is long enough to keep adults entertained as well. It also has pirates and sea monsters. *nods*

Q: Why did you go indie?
I was first prompted to try it after a negative experience with a small press. I still wanted my books to be available, so I had to step up and learn how to make that happen. That learning process was pretty addicting! I like having the power to change things about my books, to offer sales and giveaways whenever I want.

Q: Who are your favorite authors in your genre?
Jim Butcher, Lois McMaster Bujold, Brandon Sanderson, J.K. Rowling, Rick Riordan, Anne McCaffrey, Terry Pratchett.

Blog: Worlds of Jasmine

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

The Little Universe - Jason Matthews

Bio: Jason Matthews is from Chapel Hill, NC and lives in Truckee, CA with his wife and teen daughters. He's been a snow-maker, a house painting contractor and now a full-time writer who loves skiing, dogs and playing/coaching soccer.

Product description: The Little Universe, a novel. What if you could create a universe - a miniature self-enclosed universe? Imagine having probing cameras that could focus to any star or planet looking for life. And once you found life, what if you could accelerate time and watch it evolve? What might you find? Primordial soup. Strange beings. Alien societies. Profound wisdom.

Q: What will e-readers like about your book? I believe readers will find this book absolutely unique, hard to compare or even put into a genre. It's like a mix of Richard Bach, Carl Sagan and Edgar Cayce in one. There are some great surprises too.

Q: Why did you go indie? I went indie because I believed my novels were very good and was already finding readers, though getting agents and publishers to read them was nearly an impossible task. I'm also a do-it-yourself type for just about everything, so going indie was an easy decision.

Q: Who are your favorite authors in your genre? The authors above that I so humbly mentioned comparing my own books to are favorites. I prefer subject matter to authors, so I like most things that deal with meaning-of-life issues.

Link to web site or blog or Amazon/Smashwords:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Little-Universe-ebook/dp/B0030EFXX2/
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/7127
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/little-universe-jason-matthews/1100196350
http://itunes.apple.com/au/book/the-little-universe/id380576761?mt=11

Monday, November 28, 2011

Pinpoint - Mary Taylor


Pinpoint by Sheila Mary Taylor

Bio:

Sheila Mary Taylor was born in Cape Town, beneath the towering slopes of Table Mountain. From an early age she yearned to be a novelist but only when her teenage son was diagnosed with life-threatening cancer did she begin writing in earnest. Those early scribblings became “Fly With a Miracle” published by Denor Press. With her pen triggered, she also had four romances published by Thorpe Publishing, then spent four years editing her mother’s three unpublished novels which Penguin published and for which Dora Taylor won the South African Posthumous Literary Award.
“Pinpoint”, is Sheila’s first thriller, and was for three months in the top 100 bestselling thrillers on Amazon Kindle. Coming soon is a revised edition of “Fly With a Miracle”, called “Counted”, to be followed by “The Nightingale Will Sing”, a contemporary romance. Work in progress is “Dead Girls Don’t Dance”, a romantic suspense thriller set in London and Menorca.

Product description:

A lawyer, a murderer and a policeman are caught in a tangled web of love, loss, terror and intrigue when the lawyer realises the murderer may be a shadow out of her past and an even greater shadow over her future. He is a serial killer and she may once have loved him more than anyone in the world. But who is he really? Has she met him before? Does he hold a key to her lost childhood memories?
When he is duly convicted, he suddenly turns on her in the courtroom and threatens that one day he will wreak his revenge on her.
But why? What has she ever done to him?

Q: What will e-readers like about your book?

They’ll like the unique story-line that will have them turning pages furiously as Julia struggles to decide whether to seek police help, or to go it alone in her battle to unravel her past and save her daughter.
The crisp literary style, the cliff-hangers and the clock-ticking construction.
And the nail-biting climax with the ghastly revelation and twist right at the end.

Q: Why did you go indie?

The publishing revolution made this seem like the most sensible way to go forward.

Q: Who are your favorite authors in your genre?
Barbara Vine, Ian Rankin and Val McDermid for crime fiction. But I also love Maggie O’Farrell, Charlotte Bronte, William Boyd, Kazuo Ishiguro. And Gerry McCullough, a new indie author of “Belfast Girls” and “Danger Danger”.

Link to web site or blog or Amazon/Smashwords

Sunday, November 27, 2011

The Whole Truth - Jim Murdoch


Bio:

I’m a Scottish writer living just outside Glasgow. In the seventies and eighties my poems appeared regularly in the small press magazines that were legion at the time. By the nineties I had allowed myself to become disillusioned and stopped sending stuff out. I didn't stop writing however but moved onto novels and short stories in that order. I’ve now written five novel, two of which have been published (Living with the Truth and Stranger than Fiction) and a third (Milligan and Murphy) due out any day. I’ve also brought out a collection of poetry called This Is Not About What You Think.

Product description:

Jonathan Payne is a jaded bookseller at the end of a wasted life which has been spent in a drab English seaside town. He could be an everyman, but seems to have missed the boat somewhere. He's both distastefully pathetic and oddly sympathetic. A passive character, he’s been happy to read about life without experiencing either great joy or great despair. If Death were to knock on his door it wouldn’t trouble him greatly.

The knock comes. Only it’s not Death. It’s the truth. Literally. The human personification of truth.

Truth proves to be a likeable, if infuriating, character with a novel mode of expression: “glib dipped in eloquence and then rolled in a coating of irony,” to quote one reviewer. He knows everything and has no qualms revealing intimate details of lives of the people who cross his path; he’s quite indiscriminate. The same reviewer described him as “one of the most endearing antagonists I have come across.” Comparisons with Peter Cook’s devil in Bedazzled are not unreasonable.

Jonathan learns what he's missed out on in life, what other people think and the true nature of the universe which is nothing like he would have expected it to be. At the end, having learned far more than he ever wanted to know, he finds out that it's usually never too late to start again. Only sometimes it is: no Ebenezer Scrooge or George Bailey-esque turnaround for poor Jonathan.

Q: What will e-readers like about your book?

The fact that they’re getting two books in a single volume.

Q: Why did you go indie?

Because I don’t write books that fall into traditional genres

Q: Who are your favourite authors in your genre?

As I said I’m not a genre writer but the writers whose influences you’ll see in The Whole Truth are Keith Waterhouse, Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman and Alan Bennett.

Link to web site or blog or Amazon/Smashwords

Saturday, November 26, 2011

5 Reasons to Leave a Lover - Carolyn Davenport

Bio: 
A media and web consultant by day and author by night, Carolyn Davenport-Moncel also is the author of Encounters in Paris - A Collection of Short Stories. Originally from Chicago and a graduate of Loyola University, she has lived in Paris and currently resides in Lausanne, Switzerland with her husband and two daughters. Her next work of fiction Geneva Nights - A Novel debuts in the fall of 2012.

Product description:

In 5 Reasons to Leave a Lover, author Carolyn Moncel offers up a fresh batch of stories based on love and loss. As singer/songwriter, Paul Simon so eloquently suggested in a famous song from the 1970s, there are many ways to leave a lover. However, Moncel's characters demonstrate that the reasons for leaving in the first place are quite finite. Encounters in Paris` Ellery and Julien Roulet return, picking up their lives where the short story, "Pandora`s Box Revisited," ends. This time the Roulets are involved in a love triangle, and along with two other couples, must explore how love relationships are affected and splinter due to abuse, ambivalence, deception, cheating and death. This bittersweet collection of tales proves that some breakups are necessary; while others are voluntary; and still others are simply destined and beyond anyone's control.

Q: What will e-readers like about your book? 
I think readers will like this book because it's a quick yet thoughtful read.  I'm a very realistic writer so I like to confront complicated relationships and place them into the proper context.  There's a lesson to be learned but not in a judgmental way.  The question one has to ask is when do relationships become so complicated that staying in them becomes impossible not to leave? 

Q: Why did you go indie? 
I wanted complete control over what I write and how I distribute my work to readers.  I wanted the channels to remain as unfiltered as possible.

Q: Who are your favorite authors in your genre? 
My work can best be described as Women's Contemporary Fiction, however it does have some genre bending elements as well.  That's because I love authors from so many different genres.  I like Anne Padgett, Lionel Shriver and Jodi Picoult but I also like Danzy Senna, Lorene Cary and host of other writers.  The list is very long!

Link to web site or blog or Amazon/Smashwords:


Amazon:  http://www.amazon.com/Reasons-Leave-Lover-Novella-ebook/dp/B0053GCGFS/

Smashwords: 
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/63293

Friday, November 25, 2011

Rose in the River - Jeff Napolitano

http://www.amazon.com/Rose-in-the-River-ebook/dp/B005OHF9W8
 
Blurb:
One shattering moment bonds the lives of two soon to be teens who will forever share the memory of the sudden crueltly of one heartbreaking act. That bond turns into the desperate need to protect one another and leads them down a path of a love so deep, not even the fear of punishment from a crazed father or ties to a dangerous mob can keep them apart. Together these two learn there is only one way out.
 
What will e-readers like about my book? It takes the weakest types of people with no chance and empowers them with hope.
 
Why did I go Indie? I went Indie because I have seen success in other authors who have done the same and I really enjoy finding artistic pieces of literature that are out there and discovering them first before they are shared with everyone.
 
Favorite authors in this genre? Mario Puzo, Godfather,  and Dennis Lehane Mystic River.
 
I hope to give you more info on this book if you are interested.
 

Thursday, November 24, 2011

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Happy Thanksgiving from Indie Books Blog!

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

The Tower's Alchemist - Alesha Escobar

Bio:

Alesha Escobar first discovered her love of writing stories at the age of seven and hasn't stopped since. She enjoys reading, crafts, and is a self-professed caffeine addict. She lives in
California with her husband and four children. "The Tower's Alchemist" is her debut novel and the first book of The Gray Tower Trilogy.

Product description:


On her last spy job for the Allies, Isabella George (codenamed Emelie) must extract a rogue wizard from Nazi occupied France and destroy his deadly alchemical weapon before it devours the continent. However, a few things stand in her way-- betrayal, a vampiric Cruenti warlock who's bent on stealing her powers...and the realization that wizards of the Gray Tower, the very people who trained her as an alchemist, may be her greatest enemy.


Q: What will e-readers like about your book?


"The Tower's Alchemist" has just the right amount of action, mythology and magic all woven into this interesting alternate history to keep you intrigued. There's also a bit of humor and romance amidst the suspense as you experience the story through the point-of-view of the heroine.


Q: Why did you go indie?

I believe electronic readers (and thus ebooks) are bigger than ever, and will continue to be. Since I've learned how to deliver my stories through this venue, I feel it gives me the freedom, control, and reward that I desire as an indie author.



Q: Who are your favorite authors in your genre?



George R.R. Martin, Robert Jordan, and Jim Butcher to name a few. I love fantasy and urban fantasy!


Link to web site or blog or Amazon/Smashwords


Amazon: http://amzn.to/nJ9FJF

blog: http://www.aleshaescobar.com

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Unmythed - chris wind

Bio: 

chris wind has degrees in Literature, Education, and Philosophy.  Her prose has been read on CBC Radio, and both her prose and her poetry has been published in numerous magazines and journals.  Her theatrical work has been performed, most notably in Toronto , Ontario and Laurel , Maryland .  She has received thirteen Ontario Arts Council Writers’ Reserve grants. 


Product Description:


This collection of poems reveals the myths within the myths revealed: what might Pandora, Circe, Penelope, Eurydice, Persephone, the Gorgons, and others have thought and done if they had not been the creations of a chauvinist patriarchy?
 
For poetry fans, especially feminist; of interest to scholars of Greek and Roman mythology; a good resource for English teachers who teach a Mythology unit.

Q: What will e-readers like about your book?


It's intriguing.  And unsettling.  Especially "Bellerophon"...



Q: Why did you go indie? 



“Personally, I would not publish this stuff. This is not to say it isn’t publishable – it’s almost flawless stylistically, perfect form and content, etc. etc. It’s perverse: satirical, biting, caustic, funny.  Also cruel, beyond bitter, single-minded with a terminally limited point of view, and this individual may have read Edith Hamilton’s Mythology but she/he certainly doesn’t perceive the essential meanings of these myths.  Or maybe does and deliberately twists the meaning to suit the poem. Likewise, in the etymological sense.  Editorial revisions suggested? None, it’s perfect. Market potential/readership Targets: Everyone – this is actually marketable – you could sell fill Harbourfront reading this probably. General comments: You could actually make money on this stuff.”  anonymous reader report for a small Canadian press, that rejected the ms



Q: Who are your favorite authors in your genre?  Plath, Rich, Eliot



Link to web site or blog or Amazon/Smashwords


Monday, November 21, 2011

Ghosts of the Asylum- Ty Johnson

Fantasy author Ty Johnston’s blog tour 2011 is running from November 1 through November 30. His novels include City of Rogues, Bayne’s Climb and More than Kin, all of which are available for the Kindle (http://www.amazon.com/Ty-Johnston/e/B002MCBQRU/ ), the Nook (http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/ty-johnston ) and online at Smashwords (http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/darkbow ). His latest epic fantasy novel, Ghosts of the Asylum, is now available. To find out more, follow him at his blog tyjohnston.blogspot.com.

Below is an excerpt from his newest novel, Ghosts of the Asylum:

Taljintus shuffled down a slime-covered step and raised his torch high, staring into the blackness beyond, the bottom of the stairs ending in water as dark as ink.
He couldn’t help but grimace as the outline of a body floating face-down glided into view at the edges of the torch’s light. The corpse was that of a man, as all of them would be, this one still wearing the river-soaked garb of one of the guards.
Not for the first time, Taljintus asked himself if he truly needed this job. Unfortunately the answer was always ‘yes.’ He hadn’t traveled all the way from Trode after losing his young wife to the pox just to wallow in misery and indebtedness. He had sought a new beginning in the city of Bond far from his homeland, and being an experienced stonemason he had hoped to find steady work here in the West. But he had arrived in the middle of Winter, during the off season for construction. Tough months had followed, the stonemason forced to scrounge as a day laborer just to survive.
Now the Spring had arrived, and Taljintus had put in a bid on the first major job he could find. Fortune had been with him and he had landed the bid.
But standing there in the cold and dark, one hand rubbing at the last dark curls surrounding his balding head, he was beginning to wonder if he should have passed on this project.
The Asylum.
Wincing, he stepped down into the black water, the cold soaking through his thin moccasins and chilling his flesh to the bone. Another step brought the water up to his shins, and the Trodan shivered as the cold ate away at him.
Taljintus cursed at not having the coin to purchase a proper pair of oil-cloth boots, or perhaps even waders layered by the gum of a rubber plant from a southern clime. He promised to add that to his list of needed tools and other items he would purchase as soon as he received his first full payment for this job.
Stepping down further, he came to the floor of the dark tunnel extending before him. The water now rose to his knees.
Taljintus continued to shiver, though he could not be sure if it was the cold water which caused him to do so or the body gently bobbing up and down ahead.
He had known there would be corpses, perhaps lots of corpses. Some kind of magical accident had apparently occurred here last Summer, flooding the Asylum with river water. Other than city workers dragging away the dead on the ground level above, no one had yet to clean the place nor get it into working order. The news Taljintus had managed to overhear on the street was that ownership of the Asylum had changed hands several times during the Winter months, none of the owners seemingly interested in spending the gold it would take to bring the main building and the basement level back to a working condition.
The current owner was of a different mind, and had wanted the Asylum restored to its former state.
The short Trodan grimaced further as he waded nearer the body. He continued to quiver, but now it was at thoughts of the Asylum’s current owner. The young man had eyes as dark and foreboding as the water leaking into Taljintus’s leggings. At least he had promised to pay well, and his down payment had been enough to secure the stonemason a place of residence in the Swamps for the next few months as well as enough money for daily needs.
But was it worth it? Growing closer to the floating dead man, the Trodan’s feelings on the matter were beginning to shift. Yes, he needed the coin, but there had to be other jobs available. Right?
Stop it,” Taljintus whispered to himself. It’s just a job, like any other job.
Except there were dead bodies, perhaps as many as a hundred or more if the rumors were true.
Why couldn’t there have been a nice church that needed a new cathedral? Or a new building for the university on the east side of town?
Taljintus shook his head, driving away all negative thoughts. It was a job. He was being paid well, enough to hire a sizable crew and keep himself in business at least through the Summer. Clearing out the basement level, of water and bodies, was simply part of the job. Then there would be the new roof that had to be constructed for the Asylum, then the main floor had to be rebuilt and --
The Trodan’s face turned white.
There was another body. Floating ahead there. Just beyond the dead man he was almost touching.
The new body wore no clothes, its naked skin wrinkled and as pale as a dead fish’s gullet. The corpse floated on its back. A pair of dead, white, flat eyes stared up at the bricked ceiling of the basement tunnel.
Taljintus stopped moving. He had come down to the lower level to take in what kind of damage the river water had caused, and to see the extent of the dead, but he had seen enough. His new crew could take care of the bodies. That was part of their job. Taljintus had other things to do, like beginning the drawings for the new roof.
Yes, the new roof. He would get started on that. Let the laborers clean up the mess down here.
He turned to leave.
A wind sprang up from the direction of the steps leading above, a wind so strong tears sprang to the stonemason’s eyes and he was forced to blink.
During one of those blinks, his torch died.
Taljintus almost panicked. Almost.
Here he was, stranded in near pitch blackness with the corpses of dead man floating about him. It was not a good place. It was not a place he wanted to be.
At least there was some little light ahead of him there, from the stairwell. A touch of the sun’s glow had worked its way through the large hole in the Asylum’s roof and had found its way to the top of the stairs. Taljintus could just make out the bottom of the landing above his eye level.
Now all he had to do was work his way over there.
As his feet began to slowly, agonizingly slide along the slick bricks of the tunnel toward the stairwell, the stonemason’s own mind began to play tricks on him. Had he just heard something move behind him? And how had any wind down here been powerful enough to knock out his torch?
A strong chill grew over the Trodan’s skin, raising bumps on his flesh. For a moment he even believed he had seen his breath misting before the light of the steps.
Stop it,” he repeated to himself. No reason to spook myself. I need this job. What with my own problems and the riots and --
Slurp.
Taljintus paused. That had definitely been something in the water behind him.
Though not a superstitious man, the Trodan had had enough of snooping around in the dark and the wet with dead bodies. He plunged toward the exit.
And slipped on the floor, falling face-first into the water.
For a moment there was nothing but blackness, even the light from above being denied to the stonemason. He couldn’t breath. He tried to suck in air, but murky, muddy water flooded his mouth. Then Taljintus panicked. He could help it no longer.
He thrust up his arms, reaching for the air, and found cold, cold, cold. It was a cold so icy it caused the wet joints of his fingers to ache.
Then his feet found the bottom once more and Taljintus pushed, launching himself with a splash above the water level.
He spit out nasty muck and inhaled, glad to feel the cool breaths rushing down his throat to drive away the burning sensation in his lungs.
That had been close. He had nearly drowned himself, and why? Because of fear and impatience.
Taljintus rubbed at the black little mustache beneath his bulbous nose and leaned against the wall to rest for a moment. He had to get a grip on himself. Whatever noise he had heard, it had probably been a rat, nothing more. In his line of work, he had run across many a rat. Nothing of which to be afraid.
Okay. His breathing normal again despite the chill that had invaded the tunnel, Taljintus pushed off the wall and slowly made his way toward the exit. Yes, let the workers come down here in the dark and clean up the mess.
His right foot touched the bottom step, and he could see daylight flooding into the hallway above, when the skin beneath the Trodan’s collar felt as if it were standing up, as if someone had breathed an arctic, bitter mist down his back.
His eyes went wide.
But still, he did not panic again.
Until the cold, wet, clammy flesh of claw-like fingers grasped at the back of his neck.

Sunday, November 20, 2011

The Hollow - Anthony Izzo

Bio: Anthony Izzo is the author of the horror thrillers Cruel Winter, Evil Harvest, The Dark Ones, No Escape, and The Hollow. He also writes crime stories under the Jack Vincent pen name. Tony graduated with a B.A. in English from D’Youville College and makes his home in the Buffalo, NY area. When not horrifying his neighbors, he enjoys drawing and doing a second-rate impression of Jimmy Page on guitar.


Product Description:

For fans of Dean Koontz, Jack Kilborn, and Richard Laymon

A 60,000 word novel of terror.

The Hollow...

Twenty years ago a pair of killers committed a series of brutal murders.

Their final target was The Hollow Campground. An entire family was dragged from their cabins and slaughtered. Then the killers disappeared.

Now they're back. 

The Hollow has recently re-opened, but people haven't forgotten the carnage that took place there. Liz Mallory is taking a weekend camping trip to the Hollow with her old college friends.

Liz doesn't know they're being watched. The killers have come home, and the weekend plans are about to take a turn for the worse. 

The Hollow. How long could you survive?


Q: What will readers like about your book?

Thriller fans will love the breakneck pace. Horror fans will love the gruesome stuff. I aimed to write a story where the tension never lets up.

Q: Why did you go indie?

Because I’m able to write whatever I want, when I want.

Q: Who are the favorite authors in your genre:

Stephen King, Jack Kilborn/JA Konrath, Richard Laymon, Cormac McCarthy

Blog/Website: www.anthonyizzo.com

Amazon: amzn.to/mPzxRO

Saturday, November 19, 2011

The Continuing Case of Manny Tippitoes - Bruce Adams

I live in Chicago and this is my first book.
Manny Tippitoes is a character that appeared to me in a dream.  When I told my (then) 7 year old niece about my dream she started asking me questions about Manny. Soon I was telling her stories and was persuaded to start writing them down.  Those stories became The Continuing Case of Manny Tippitoes.

I've worked for independent record labels most of my working life and decided DIY route and publish myself. I found a fantastic illustrator named Anna Wieszczyk who had worked for independent comics publishers and worked with a great editor and designer.  Given the ability to self-publish and reach readers directly I decided not to send out query letters and search for a literary agent and/or publisher.  Instead, I did it myself, punk rock style.

E-readers will like the illustrations and layout of the book.  The book tells a story from the perspective of two characters and takes place over a hundred years' time.  Readers get glimpses of events and characters across Victorian, Jazz Age, World War Two and contemporary times as our characters search for the mysterious person who calls himself Manny Tippitoes.  The structure of the book is designed for maximum enjoyment in bite-sized chunks.

Some of my favorite authors are Anthony Trollope, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, Shel Silverstein, J.R.R. Tolkein and Agatha Christie.  I've written Manny with kids (and adults) who are voracious readers and inquisitive media consumers.  I firmly believe that kids in the middle grades have access to all kinds of entertainment and reading and don't need to be "written down to."

The Continuing Case of Manny Tippitoes is now for sale as a publish on demand paperback through Createspace and Amazon.com.  Barnes & Noble has just put up the Nook Version/.  Kindle and iPad versions will be available shortly.

You can preview a pdf of the entire book at  http://scr.bi/nZhHOO

Friday, November 18, 2011

Remain in Light - Collin Kelley

Bio: Collin Kelley is the  author of two novels, the just released Remain In Light and Conquering Venus. His poetry collections include Better To Travel and the recently reissued Slow To Burn. His poetry, interviews, essays and reviews have appeared in magazines around the world.

Product description:

In 1968, Irène Laureux's husband was murdered during the Paris student and worker riots. Thirty years later, she is still on the hunt for the man who knows how and why Jean-Louis died – his secret lover, Frederick Dubois. Aiding in her search is American expat Martin Paige, a writer still reeling from a love affair gone wrong with a student, David McLaren. Martin meets a young poet, Christian, and the two fall in love, but their happiness is shaken when Martin's friend, Diane Jacobs, arrives in Paris with news that David has gone missing. Diane discovers that David's disappearance is more than just a missing person case with connections to drugs, stolen identities, long-hidden government secrets and a shocking connection to Irène's past. This literary mystery takes readers from America to London and into the dark underworld of the fabled City of Light.

Q: What will e-readers like about your book?
Remain In Light is a mystery/suspense novel, but it also has touches of the magical realism, paranormal, crime drama and even poetry. I don't like to be defined by the genre, so I always try to throw in a few curve balls. It's also a quick, globe-trotting story which will appeal to readers with a sense of adventure.

Q: Why did you go indie?
I joined the small POD/ebook press Vanilla Heart after going through the wringer with the Big 6 and multiple agents. I wanted to land in a place where other authors were working together to promote each others work and paying attention to detail. I always wanted to have a voice in the design, editing, covers and promotion. It's been a fun ride so far.

Q: Who are your favorite authors in your genre?
In the mystery/thriller/suspense genre I love John Le Carré, Karin Slaughter, Robert Ludlum, Patricia Highsmith, Grant Jerkins and many others. For the more literary and magical realism aspect it's Margaret Atwood, Toni Morrison and Isabel Allende.

Link to web site or blog or Amazon/Smashwords


Author Website: http://www.collinkelley.com
Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/Remain-in-Light-ebook/dp/B005Q133EI/
Smashwords link: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/92573



Thursday, November 17, 2011

The Last Way Station - Jon Reisfield

Jon Reisfeld's BIO

A graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, Jon Reisfeld has worked, most of his adult life, as a writer and marketer. He has more than 25 years combined experience in journalism, corporate communications, advertising and marketing.
At 23, Jon became the first writer ever to have a story start on the cover of Baltimore Magazine. (It was a piece about teenage suicide.) He later founded and published Housecalls, a Baltimore-based health-and-fitness magazine. In the mid 90s, Jon served as Director of Marketing and Communications for Duron Paints and Wallcoverings, where he ran the half-billion dollar regional paint company's 12-person in-house advertising agency for several years before returning to his private marketing consulting practice.
Jon's eclectic interests run the gamut from cosmology, chaos theory, technology and sci-fi to social issues, politics, the economy, anthropology, marketing and writing. He began writing fiction in his 40s and enjoys reading, walking, cycling, attending live theatre and "most" new movie openings.
His next major fiction project will be a sci-fi trilogy set on earth and spanning "several hundred years" of human history.


The Last Way Station
Product Description:

ISBN: 978-1-4580-1272-2
Available Now in ebook format at Smashwords, Apple, Amazon (ASIN: B004ZR9KSW), Diesel, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, Scrollmotion, Sony. Print release date: 11/15/11.

Overview: 

On April 30, 1945, Adolf Hitler, one of the most notorious mass-murderers in history, retired to his room in his bunker, 25 feet beneath the old Reich Chancery garden. Above him, the Red Army was encircling Berlin as his dream of a thousand-year Aryan empire lay in ruins.
Hitler placed a glass cyanide capsule between his teeth and pointed a loaded service pistol at his right temple. Then, smugly believing he had both evaded capture and escaped all accountability for his crimes, he bit down and pulled the trigger. He was wrong!
The Last Way Station begins moments after Hitler’s successful suicide, when the Führer finds himself mysteriously transported to a numbingly cold, solitary holding cell in the afterworld. There, he meets his caseworker, a supernatural being tasked with helping him face, and work through, his sins. The caseworker explains that Hitler will remain in solitary confinement indefinitely, as he prepares his soul for eventual return to the material world. The method, Hitler learns, involves seeking enlightenment through physically embodying his victims and then personally reliving the atrocities committed against them in his name.
This speculative, historical fantasy novelette explores Hitler’s psychology, the psychology of evil and asks, ‘What, if anything, constitutes fitting punishment for the ‘super evil?’

Q: What will e-readers like about your book?

Anyone who is NOT a fan of Adolph Hitler should get satisfaction out of seeing the Führer finally brought to justice. I believe they also will like the interaction between Hitler and his caseworker, as well as some of the speculative examination into how his background may have nurtured his anti-semitism. The book explores BIG, nagging questions about organized evil and attempts to address some open questions about Hitler's psyche and his motivation for, among other things, writing a final, vicious attack on the Jews even after he virtually had annihilated them. Finally, the book explores "moral relativism" and the role it plays in facilitating evil acts by those serving under oppressive, amoral regimes such as The Third Reich.

Q: Why did you go indie?

They say Indie publishing is the future, that traditional publishing is now "upside down" and I agree.  I want to be a part of the new movement online to empower writers to take their projects in their own hands, shaping and guiding them into the mainstream. This is an exciting time to be a fiction writer as we can now speak directly to our audiences, with new immediacy, and without having our messages unduly distorted and diluted, by well-meaning intermediaries.

Q: Who are your favorite authors in your genre?;

Elie Wiesel is one of my favorite holocaust writers and Harlan Ellison is one of my favorite fantasy/speculative fiction writers.

Website link;  http://www.jonreisfeld.com

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Bloodstorm - Sam Millar


Bloodstorm by Sam Millar
Bio:
Born in Belfast, Ireland. Worked in an abattoir as young man and based my best-selling The Redemption Factory on my horrific experience of the place. The book has been short listed for this year’s Grand Prix de littérature policière, France’s most prestigious crime fiction award. I’ve had numerous other crime book published, including the Karl Kane books. Best-selling memoir, On The Brinks, acquired by Warner Brothers.

Product description:

Bloodstorm is the first of the Karl Kane books. Karl Kane is a private investigator with a dark past. As a child, he witnessed the brutal rape and murder of his mother. The same man sexually molested Karl, leaving him for dead with horrific knife wounds covering his body. Years later, Karl has a chance to avenge his mother’s murder by killing the man responsible. The opportunity arises on one unforgettable Good Friday night. For reasons he later regards as cowardice, Karl allows the opportunity to slip through his hands, only to be shattered when, two days later, two young girls are sexually molested and then brutally murdered by the killer on Easter Sunday morning. Karl now holds himself responsible for their deaths.

What will e-readers like about your book?

Bloodstorm is a very gritty crime noir book. Kane is a very likeable and human PI. He has every-day worries about his health, and paying his bills. He is divorced, and his daughter keeps trying to him to go back to her mother, something both parents know will probably never happen. He is an anti-hero, willing to bend the law, though not too much. He carries a terrible guilt of not killing the man responsible for the death of his mother. The man later killed two children. There is humor in the book, but admittedly very dark.

Why did you go indie?
Despite having success with my books, I always felt constrained by the rules from my publishers. At times, I think the rules bleached too much of the soul from my writing. Now, I have total control over my books.

Who are your favorite authors in your genre?

James Thompson
Jon Lands
Ken Bruen

Link to web site or blog or Amazon/Smashwords



Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Cowboy- Staci Stallings

 
Staci Stallings'  Cowboy

Bio:  A stay-at-home mom with a husband, three kids and a writing addiction on the side, Staci Stallings has numerous titles for readers to choose from.  Not content to stay in one genre and write it to death, Staci’s stories run the gamut from young adult to adult, from motivational and inspirational to full-out Christian and back again.  Every title is a new adventure!  That’s what keeps Staci writing and you reading. 

Product description:  "Cowboy  is a grace-filled story about the power of giving everything to God and how a simple act of compassion can change lives forever." Life has done its best to knock Beth McCasland to the ground, and the truth is: it’s done a pretty good job of keeping her there. Stuck in a minimum-wage job with a young daughter counting on her, Beth does her best to stay standing under the weight of it all because she knows God is on her side. Then one night she gets the chance to be an angel to another of life’s weary travelers. For once hope has never looked so real.

Q: What will e-readers like about your book?
Hope is so sparse in so many lives today.  Cowboy shows how a simple act of kindness can transform lives across the spectrum--for the one receiving the kindness and the one giving it.  I've heard from numerous people that this book made them want to open their hearts and do something to help someone else out--not to get anything back but because love is the only thing that in the end makes any sense in this crazy, mixed up world we live in.

Q: Why did you go indie?
Because my first book got edited to death and I could see that every agent, editor, and industry person wanted me to first fit my stories into their box before they would look at them.  I write the stories God gives me to write the way He gives me to write them.  I'm not interested in trying to make that fit into someone else's formula.

Q: Who are your favorite authors in your genre?
I love Debra Ullrick's work.  Beyond that, I mostly read Christian non-fiction, so Joanna Weaver, John Ortberg, Joe Beam, Steve McVey, and Brennan Manning.

Link:  http://stacistallings.wordpress.com/2010/11/18/cowboy/