Indie Books Blog

Build a Man by Talli Roland

2012-01-14T06:00:00.000-08:00

Bio:

Talli Roland has three loves in her life: chick lit, coffee and wine. Born and raised in Canada, Talli now lives in London, where she savours the great cultural life (coffee and wine). Her debut novel, The Hating Game, was an Amazon Top 100 bestseller and shortlisted for Best Romantic Read at the UK’s Festival of Romance, and her second, Watching Willow Watts, was selected as a 2011 Amazon Customer Favourite. Build A Man is her latest release. Talli blogs here and can be found on Twitter here.

Product description:

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

Ever wanted to construct the perfect man? Ambitious tabloid reporter Serenity Holland has the chance to do just that . . . until it all goes horrible wrong, and she must choose between grabbing a chance for her dream job or following her heart. BUILD A MAN is chick lit with attitude.

Q: Why did you go indie?

I’ve had two books traditionally published, and I decided it was time to take control. I love the ability to set my own timelines and write novels I’m proud of.

Q: Who are your favorite authors in your genre?

My favorite authors in my genre are Sophie Kinsella and Susan Elizabeth Phillips.

My Amazon author page: http://www.amazon.com/Talli-Roland/e/B003P2X03E/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

Dark Steps by Martin Pond

2012-01-13T06:00:00.000-08:00

Bio:

Born in East Kent in 1970, Martin was educated at the University of East Anglia... but unlike many more famous writers didn't study Creative Writing there or do "The MA". A career in IT followed, and continues to pay the bills. In 2007 Martin made a hesitant return to fiction, not having written remotely seriously since his student days. He returned to UEA too, and took a diploma in Creative Writing.

Martin's stories have appeared in Unthology No 1, Streetcake magazineand Alliterati magazine, whilst three poems have appeared in The Artillery Of Words magazine.

He is currently working on a novel-length work, Drawn To The Deep End, and, as an experiment, is publishing the first draft, unedited, in weekly online instalments.

Martin's first collection of short fiction, Dark Steps, was published in August 2011.

Product description:A collection of short stories, a series of twist endings, and one author's dark steps back into writing...

A teenage boy waits to take a sinister test he may or may not pass; a new father hears a strange voice on his daughter's baby monitor; a poisoner's best-laid plans go terribly astray; an enigmatic man gets as close to death as he can; a young boy wonders why Christmas just doesn't feel right this year; after the year from hell, a man is driven to extreme measures; a dying man reveals a black secret to his son; and, after four years in limbo, a man's life starts to unravel...

These dark tales of the unexpected are for fans of the short fiction of Stephen King, David Morrell and Dean Koontz. Step outside of the every day and take dark steps into a shadowy place...

Reviews:

"...Waiting Room is an intriguing and mysterious Brave New World-type tale set in the near future which keeps the reader guessing right to the end..." (Eastern Daily Press, 4th December 2010)

"...there are many other points at which Unthology 1 rises to a level that has earned my profound respect...With 'Waiting Room', Martin Pond conjures up a near-futuristic world in which a boy is about to take a test, except no one will tell him what it is about, which has disastrous consequences for him." (Ian Chung, Sabotage Reviews, 3rd April 2011)

On Dream Feed: "A chilling tale of demonic abduction, worthy of le Fanu. It is succinctly structured with barely a word wasted and plays cleverly on the ambiguous significance of sounds...A horribly compelling fable!" (Dr John Yeoman, Writers' Village, 15th July 2011)

On Resolution: "A persuasive drama of a life fallen into ruin, well orchestrated by the story’s ‘count down’ structure." (Dr John Yeoman, Writers' Village, 15th July 2011)

Q: What will e-readers like about your book?
Short, punchy tales of the unexpected with twist endings! These are unsettling stories rather than horror per se, and deal in the darker aspects of everyday life. E-readers who enjoy the short fiction of Stephen King, David Morrell and Dean Koontz will find something of interest here.

Q: Why did you go indie?
Having had some success with getting short stories published in books and online literary magazines, I wanted to capitalise on that momentum. Going indie enabled me to do this quickly, whilst retaining full creative control over every aspect of the resulting book.

Q: Who are your favorite authors in your genre?
It's difficult to pigeonhole my stories into any one genre - they're not horror, they're not mystery. I've heard them called psychological horror and, plain and simple, tales of the unexpected. My favourite authors in these genres are Stephen King and, on the basis of the excellent collection "Black Evening", David Morrell.

Link to web site or blog or Amazon/Smashwords

http://martinpond.blogspot.com/

Amazon.co.uk • Amazon.com • Amazon.de • Amazon.fr • Barnes & Noble • Diesel eBook store • iTunes • Lulu • Sony ReaderStore • Smashwords

Judgment of Evil - Lori Lowthert

2012-01-12T06:00:00.000-08:00

Judgment of Evil continues the story of Rebekah, a young serial killer who falls in love.

Rebekah had vowed to stop killing for love, but she finds herself unable to stop. Scott still knows nothing about her secret life.She is happily attending graduate school when the unthinkable happens--she is arrested and charged for one of the murders she committed last year. She spends a few nights in jail before she goes in front of a judge, who sets the bail at an exorbitant $1 million. Her father and Scott are able to raise the necessary money and get her out on bail. She kills again, even when she is out on bail. Rebekah has hired an excellent criminal defense attorney, but she's afraid it won't be enough and she'll go back to jail.

Even though this book is book 2 of a trilogy, it and the third books are stand-alone books that can be enjoyed without reading the first one, Instrument of Evil, available now on Amazon.

Q: What will eReaders like about your book? The character Rebekah, who is both a deeply flawed killer and a loving wife and friend. She truly doesn't want to kill anymore, but finds herself driven to do so.

Q: Why did you go Indie? I went Indie because I didn't want to suffer a string of rejections, finally get my book accepted, and still be responsible for most of the publicizing and promotion myself anyway. I decided that if I went Indie, I could cut out the middleman, and retain all my rights myself.

Q: Who are your favorite authors in your genre? I have a hard time picking a genre, but I guess "Thrillers" comes closest. I like Thomas Harris, Stephen King, and Stieg Larsson all very much. I think Stephen King is a master of creating characters.

The link to my website is www.instrumentofevil.com

Detecting Magic with Dick Hunter: The Mort des Hommes Files by A. Jarrell Hayes

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

Bio:

A. Jarrell Hayes is a poet and novelist with 14 titles published to date. He designs t-shirts, hats, mugs and other products for writers and poets.

Product description:

What begins as a routine missing person case for Seattle's best private investigator, Dick Hunter, turns into a personal vendetta against a cruel murderer. The murderer, Mort des Hommes, happens to be a hell spawn possessing powerful magic.

In order to solve the case and avenge a death, Dick Hunter has to take a crash course in magic from the angelic Amie, and gather magical animal familiars in order to battle and defeat Mort des Hommes.

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

It is fast-paced and full of action, humor, and magic.

Q: Why did you go indie?

I like being my own boss and the freedom it provides.

Q: Who are your favorite authors in your genre?

Terry Brooks, Gene Wolfe, Jim Butcher, and Brandon Sanderson.

Link to web site or blog or Amazon/SmashwordsWebsite http://www.ajhayes.com
Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Detecting-Magic-Dick-Hunter-Hommes/dp/1456566059/

Smashwords http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/46217

Underdead in Denial - Liz Jasper

2011-12-17T06:00:00.000-08:00

Bio:

EPPIE award winning author Liz Jasper writes mysteries and YA novels in California near hiking trails and good public libraries, in a house where chocolate is welcome and the resident cat gets fatter and lazier every year. Why does Liz add a bit of paranormal to her books? With a career path that has gone from teaching middle school science to economics and finance, writing about blood-sucking demons was only natural.

Product description:
Eighth grade science teacher Jo Gartner is back after a deceptively quiet summer.
No Vampires.
No Cops.
No murder investigation.
Apart from the hormonal teens she has to deal with everyday and her sensitivity to sunlight everything seems, well, almost normal.

She probably shouldn’t have volunteered to help the hot new teacher on campus with his Haunted House fundraiser.
Because that’s just asking for the real vampires to show up…
And the next thing she knows there’s a dead body.
And the cops are back.
And Jo is forced to decide which side she’s on, once and for all.

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

My books appeal to cozy mystery readers, romance readers, and teens (who tend to steal the books from their parents, or so their parents complain to me). I have a lot of readers tell me they don't read vampire books but love these books because they're funny and the curl-up-on-the-couch-after-a-rotten-day-and-feel-better-book. UNDERDEAD IN DENIAL is the sequel to EPPIE Award winning Underdead. Here's a quick blurb: "Almost-undead" science teacher Jo Gartner has started a new school year and things are actually going well...until she volunteers to help with the Haunted House fundraiser. That's just asking for the vampires to show up. And they do. And then there's another dead body. And more cops. And Jo is forced to decide which side she's on, before someone gets rid of her permanently.

Q: Why did you go indie? I was tradionally pubbed by a small branch of a big publisher who decided to change focus. So I got my rights back and went rogue. I mean indy.

Q: Who are your favorite authors in your genre? I read a ton. Right now I'm reading P.B. Ryan (wonderful). My favorite mystery author is probably Elizabeth Peters AKA Barbara Michaels. If she would just write more books I wouldn't ever bother to pick up a pen. Okay, I lie. I would still write. But I'd be a happier reader if she had 8x the books. On my TBR right now is Kat Jorgensen's Eight O'Clock is Dead, which had me at the first line.

Link to web site or blog or Amazon/Smashwords

http://lizjasper.com/

Night Market - Hunter F. Goss

2011-12-16T06:00:00.000-08:00

Bio:

I spent most of my working life inwhat is probably the most obscure and unglamorous corner of the fashion world:making finished leather and selling it to shoe and accessories manufacturers.Under another name, I’ve worked in comics and graphic novels.

I’m passionate about food and wine and I’ve even written the occasional winearticle.

I live just north of Pittsburgh along the Pennsylvania-Ohio border in a quiet little townthat’s close enough to the big city to let me wave my Terrible Towel withimpunity.

Product description:

In NIGHT MARKET, love, sex, money,stock market crashes and bank failures punctuate the story of how and why theUndead helped John Pierpont Morgan rescue America’s largest banks during the Panic of 1907.

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

They’ll like the fact that NightMarket is a different kind of vampire story. Instead of the beautiful youngwoman falling for the handsome but dangerous vampire, the roles are reversedand a handsome young merchant banker becomes the lover of a 400 year old undeadhottie from Venice. They’ll also like the fact that in many ways Night Marketis an allegory for what’s been going on with Wall Street since 2008.

Q: Why did you go indie?

I grew up in the leather tanningbusiness; a culture where it’s the norm to have your own vision and then see itthrough without depending on anyone else. So going indie just seemed like theright fit for my temperament.

Q: Who are your favorite authors in your genre?

Well, since I mix genres, I’d haveto say Stephen King for horror andJohn Le Carre for his really sophisticated take on the thriller genre.

Link to web site or blog or Amazon/Smashwords

The Blog: http://www.hunterfgosswriter.blogspot.com

Amazon Listing: http://www.amazon.com/Night-Market-ebook/dp/B005JDRXC6/

And Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/84158

The Kiss of a Vampire, the Heart of a Wolf - Samantha Bates

2011-12-15T06:00:00.000-08:00

Bio: Samantha Bates is an indie author of Paranormal Romance and Erotica. By day she is a child protection worker, by night she writes the Silver Series. Born in the UK she travelled much of Europe as a child. This year she and her family made the life changing decision to move to Australia where she is currently living. At the moment she is getting ready to release the 4th book in the Silver Series, The man behind the vampire.

roduct description: Living openly with Other Species has changed the world as we know it. Humans are no longer as the top of the food chain; New York City is home to the Silver Wolf Pack. Theo is a wolf in love with Imogen, both are fighting for their lives and their hearts. When Imogen is attacked by vampire she becomes a hybrid vampire; can she find who she is before it's too late?

Theo and Imogen have each been hurt and traumatised, their wounds are the type that can't be seen but threaten to destroy the love they have for each other. Each one has a journey to make, a journey that could destroy them.

The goddess of War has been following the lives of the Silver Pack for longer than anyone realises, when she asks Theo for assistance he takes the opportunity to give Imogen the space she needs. It is on this quest that he finds family he never knew existed.

Imogen is taken in by the vampires. While trying to teach her how to adapt to her new life she is forced to face her fears.

Each has to face their own personal demons, but will they survive long enough to love and be loved by the other?

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

The book takes the reader on a journey; do vampires and shifters really exist? Are they hiding in plain sight? The Silver Series is set in New York where other species live with humans, how does this work? The series creates an exciting world where everyone lives openly. Following the Silver Wolf Pack and the Elite Vampires the reader becomes part of the excitement, the sadness and the fear as we follow their lives and loves.

Q: Why did you go indie?

When i first started writing, i initially started going down the route of traditional publishers. This notion didn't last long, whilst i recognise that publishers are able to market a book quicker, and faster the indies; i wanted the book to remain my work. I wanted to be the decision maker, that way i could listen to reviews and feedback and still keep the writing how i want it to be. I love writing and don't want to be tied to deadlines and emails for this and that. My books have only been on sale for 2 months but already they have been quite popular. By not having publishers take a cut of the profits i am also able to keep the cost down, and engage in marketing tools, such as special offers in anticipation of new releases. So far i have loved the experience of self publishing and giving something back to the readers.

Q: Who are your favorite authors in your genre?

J.R Ward
Christine Feehan
Sherrilyn Kenyon
Christina Dodds

Link to web site or blog or Amazon/Smashwords
http://www.amazon.com/Kiss-Vampire-Heart-Silver-ebook/dp/B005U31RQS/

http://samanthabatespnrauthor.blogspot.com/?zx=553b6a25679a857a

The Crystal Bridge - Charles M. Pulsipher

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

Bio:

Charles M.Pulsipher lives in Saint George Utah with his lovely wife and neurotic dog. Hewrites sci-fi and fantasy with the occasional zombie guide thrown in. He’sobsessed with surviving the zombie-pocalypse.

Hedraws cartoons on his blog that are usually funny if lacking in the amazinglyartistic department. He spends his time away from the keyboard hiking andcamping in stunning Southern Utah.

Heneglects his twitter account.

Hisvelociraptor impression is worth seeing, even if it makes grown-ups scream andhide. It’s probably the coolest thing about him.

Product description:

Kaden is a typical teenage boy, except hecan open wormholes to far away worlds.

His first trip almost killed him. He’s been afraid to try another.

Aren is far from a typical teenage girl. She has the ultimate gift of empathy,seeing into the memories and souls of others.

Her gift makes her different and lonely despite how close it brings her tothose she knows.

When these two meet, the existence of two worlds will be endangered as theirabilities plunge them into a planet at war.

Their adventure may tear apart multiple universes…or they may just save us all.

Q: What will e-readers like about your book? A: It combines science fiction and elements of fantasy in an interesting way. It has characters for everyone to identify with and I think the ending will surprise most readers.Q: Why did you go indie? A: Impatience and control. I wanted to get my words out there now, not wait years to find and agent, sign a deal, and get in print. I also like being able to set my own prices and fix typos whenever I want to.Q: Who are your favorite authors in your genre? A: Tad Williams, Orson Scott Card, C.S. Friedman, and Jasper Fforde.

Link to web site or blog or Amazon/Smashwords

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005NF3SDI

http://noticeyourworld.blogspot.com/

The Samurai Diet: The Science & Strategy of Winning the Fat Loss War - Nate Miyaki

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

TITLE

The Samurai Diet: TheScience & Strategy of Winning the Fat Loss War

BIO

Nate Miyaki is a fitness author, personal trainer, andnutrition consultant. He is a CertifiedPersonal Trainer (ACE) and a Certified Specialist in Fitness Nutrition (ISSA). He has a BA from the University ofCalifornia, Berkeley and has completed post-baccalaureate studies inKinesiology at San Francisco State University. He has been featured in Men's Health, Muscle & Fitness, and variousonline publications.

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION

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

1. Content: The Samurai Diet combines anthropologicalstudies (caveman and healthy cultural diets), scientific research, and realworld practical experience (as a fitness model and physique coach) to teachreaders an efficient plan geared towards improving health AND slashing bodyfat. It is backed by science, but alsoprovides practical strategies readers can apply to achieve real world results.

2. Format: The bookis broken up into 112 short, digestible "lessons". This makes for a quick read and serves as avaluable ongoing resource: readers canrefer back to any topic of interest at a moment's notice. The Appendix section provides a nutritiondatabase, food charts, individualized calculations, and sample diets.

Q: Why did you go indie?

Much of the established nutrition standards we have come toaccept as "healthy" are heavily influenced by the billion-dollarrefined foods industry. The fitnessindustry is full of scammers pumping out products and content that is focusedon what sells, not what is effective. Iwanted to give people the truth. Iwanted to write what I truly believe, without my teachings being edited to fitin with the status quo.

Q: Who are your favorite authors in your genre?

Loren Cordain, Ori Hofmekler, Asker Jeukendrup, Chris Aceto.

LINKS

website link: http://natemiyaki.com/

Amazon link: SamuraiDiet on Amazon

Committed - John W. Mefford

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

Bio: A veteran of the corporate wars, former journalist, and truestudier of human and social behavior, John W. Mefford has been writing hisdebut novel since he first entered the work force twenty-five years ago,although he never put words on paper until late 2009.

Considered a visionary leader in his fifteen-year IT career, hequit his job and started writing, pouring out his thoughts with no net.

When he’s not writing, he chases three kids around, slaves away inthe yard, reads, takes in as many sports as time allows, watches all sorts ofmovies, and continues to make mental notes of people and societies across theland -- even if they piss him off.

Committed is the first book in the series, The Michael DoyleChronicles.

John lives in Frisco, Texas with his beautiful wife, threeadorable kids, and a feisty fat cat.

Product description: Sinful deception. A malicious corporatetakeover. A grisly murder. Unrelenting greed.

We all have that inner voice, the one who knows all but refuses tolet even our closest confidantes inside. The one we must calm when we’re mostunsettled. The one who seeks to understand our path, our destiny.

Michael Doyle lives in emotional anonymity, resistant tofully devote himself to anyone or any cause. Without warning, a technologyconglomerate acquires Michael’s company, and he quickly sees through the fog ofpolitical posturing: false hope, layoffs, and blatant dishonesty.

Then, death reaches up and grabs him. Shaken to the core, Michael leans on hislive-in girlfriend, who has touched his heart like no one else. But herhaunting past resurfaces, and she’s pulled into a seedy web by an outside forceso cruel, so cunning it destroys every soul in its path.

Can Michael rise above his greatest fear to uncover the truth about a murderand save the life of the person he loves most?

Only if he's...COMMITTED.

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

A: Committed relates to readers on many levels. It involvesa malicious corporate takeover…Who hasn’t witnessed this painful event, orknown someone who has gone through it? Michael, the protagonist has neverdevoted himself to anything in his life. All of us can relate to a person withcommitment issues. And the book centers on greed…the root of all evil in oursociety. Of course, wrapping a murder around these topics creates buildingsuspense and a thrill ride all the way to the climatic conclusion!

Q: Why did you go indie?

A: The publishing industry is in the middle of seismicchange. I realized the most effective method to maintain control of thecreative product, my publishing schedule, marketing, and taking care of mytarget audience was to self-publish. It’s a great deal of work, but mostsatisfying.

Q: Who are your favorite authors in your genre?

A: The big ones got me hooked – John Grisham, JamesPatterson, Michael Connelly. But I’m very excited about Rick Murcer, MichaelPrescott, and a host of other authors I read every day.

Website/blog: http://www.johnwmefford.com

Amazon link (US): http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060LL4IA

UNDERDEAD - Liz Jasper

2011-12-11T06:00:00.000-08:00

Bio:

Product description:

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

I get a lot of comments from mystery readers who don't usually read vampire books but love UNDERDEAD because it makes them laugh. UNDERDEAD is a cozy mystery about a beleaguered young teacher who is bitten by a vampire who doesn't quite do the job, leaving her almost undead. The vampires are for comic relief and intrigue, and the mostly complicate the heck out of Jo's life. Jo doesn't want to be a vampire. She does NOT find the whole sexy-vampire thing appealing. There's a love triangle that goes through the books, too, because I like a little romance with my mysteries. Will, the vampire, is really a perfect guy for her--except for the bit about wanting her undead. And the detective who wants her to stay HER (i.e. not finish turning into a vampire) is also perfect for her, or would be if they had met under different circumstances. UNDERDEAD won the EPPIE award for Best Mystery and is the first in the series. The sequel, UNDERDEAD IN DENIAL is also out now and I'm working on #3. Appropriate for ages 13+. (Teens tend to steal it from their parents, go figure.)

Q: Why did you go indie? My publisher decided to shift focus away from mysteries so I got my rights back and went indie. A little like going rogue but with better chocolate. My books are reaching a big audience now and I love that.

Q: Who are your favorite authors in your genre? I read a lot of books. Off the top of my head, Janet Evanovich (she understands the importance of birthday cake), Joanne Dobson (I don't understand why she isn't famous) and Cindy Sample (light and fun).

Link to web site or blog or Amazon/Smashwords

http://lizjasper.com/

This Artist's Life: Volume One - Dana Sitar

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

Bio:

Dana Sitar is a freelance writer/editor/blogger in the San Francisco Bay Area, and author of the series This Aritsts' Life and the upcoming novel The Mailee Stories.

Product description:

Dana Sitar lives her life to chase after the Next Story. From two chaotic months with the surprise visitor from France, to nights of wandering from bar to comedy club to coffee shop in Madison, follow the writer through the late-night antics of her Wisconsin hometown, the last months of a failed marriage, and the realization that she is alone and nothing but an artist.

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

Split into short stories, the book is an easy read. Excerptsstraight from the writer's journal take the reader deep into the mindof the artist, and the stories she shares reveal the world she seeson the surface. The stories are filled with sex, drugs, and rock and roll -- and the journey of the artist as she learns more and more what those mean.
Q: Why did you go indie?

This is my first published book, and the stories are very personal to me, so I wanted to be involved in the entire process of bringing them out into the world. I love getting into all aspects of writing and publishing -- editing, formatting, cover art, marketing, selling, accounting, etc -- as well as having control over that entire process. My background before writing includes a lot of peer to peer marketing, visibility, planning, and management for organizations, so publishing on my own allows me to apply all of those skills to my writing career now.

Q: Who are your favorite authors in your genre?

As a creative nonfiction/memoir/autobiographical fiction writer, I admire the work and the lives of Anais Nin, Henry Miller, Hunter S. Thompson, and Charles Bukowski above all.

Link to web site or blog or Amazon/Smashwords
http://www.danasitar.com/book

Committed - John W. Mefford

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

Considered a visionary leader in his fifteen-year IT career, hequit his job and started writing, pouring out his thoughts with no net.

Committed is the first book in the series, The Michael DoyleChronicles.

John lives in Frisco, Texas with his beautiful wife, threeadorable kids, and a feisty fat cat.

Product description: Sinful deception. A malicious corporatetakeover. A grisly murder. Unrelenting greed.

Only if he's...COMMITTED.

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

Q: Why did you go indie?

Q: Who are your favorite authors in your genre?

A: The big ones got me hooked – John Grisham, JamesPatterson, Michael Connelly. But I’m very excited about Rick Murcer, MichaelPrescott, and a host of other authors I read every day.

Website/blog: http://www.johnwmefford.com

Amazon link (US): http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060LL4IA

Corsair - Slava Heretz

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

Bio:

Slava Heretz is the author of the epic science fiction saga, The Outer Pendulum.

In his lifetime Slava will never see the far reaches of space. He will most likely never venture to the depths of the Marianna Trench. And he will certainly never invent the time machine or transporter. But he dreams. And these dreams, well, they become a reality in the magnificent world of science fiction. That is why he writes.

Slava lives in Brookline, MA with his beautiful wife Alyssa, his neurotic dog Duke and his passive aggressive cat Chester.

Product description:

Corsair, 1st installment in a serialized novel, The Outer Pendulum

With rampant piracy and corruption bringing the human colony in the Hydra solar system to the brink of collapse, decorated ex-Alliance Navy officer, Eli Saffinger, is hired to protect a freighter that could single-handedly revitalize the young, fragile civilization.

Knowing the inevitable consequence of escorting such valuable cargo, Saffinger prepares to confront the most ruthless and dangerous privateer in the southern Messier region - a mission that many have undertaken but none have survived.

10,000 word first installment in The Outer Pendulum Saga

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

The Outer Pendulum is an epic space opera with plenty of action and a fascinating cast of characters. Every installment ends on a cliffhanger leaving fans wanting more with each release.

Q: Why did you go indie?

Quite simply, I wanted to be the master of my own fate. I actually have nothing against traditional publishers and even truly respect their ability to connect readers with quality literature. I’ve just always been a bit of a revolutionary and indie publishing has provided a peaceful outlet for my desire to break free from this status quo.

Q: Who are your favorite authors in your genre?

Dan Simmons and David Weber no question.

Link to web site or blog or Amazon/Smashwords:

http://www.slavaheretz.com/

http://www.amazon.com/Slava-Heretz/e/B005AOGJVK/

http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/slavaheretz

There is Money in Your House - Chinedum Azuh

2011-12-07T06:00:00.000-08:00

Bio

Chinedum Azuh is an apostle with the special mandate of raisingworld changers and history makers. He is achieving this mandate throughhundreds of published articles, bestselling books, seminars and empowermentcrusades around the world.

Product Description

Q: What wille-readers like about your book?

A: Chinedumis an author who has achieved amazing success against all odds. Now he shareshis wealth of experience by telling you that you don’t need more talents,money, intelligence, good looks or anything else for you to become prosperousand successful in life. The book is entitled “There is Money in Your House” andis written with the goal to end your financial worries or challenges and usheryou into the realms of unlimited riches.
The book itself takes an unusual and holisticapproach to the subject of making money and creating wealth.
Now is the time to take advantage of this amazinginformation considering the financial crisis that looms over us at this time.

Q: Why did you go indie?

A: This willenable me to promote the book effectively.

Q: Who are your favorite authors in your genre?

A: Myfavorite authors are; Brian Tracy, Mike Murdock, Napoleon Hills, Robert G.Allen, Joe Vitale and Mark Victor Hansen.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005LO7DUA

Exmortus - Todd Maternowski

2011-12-06T06:00:00.000-08:00

Bio: Born in Madison, Wisconsin, Todd studied Ancient Near Eastern religion and early Judeo-Christianity at the University of Chicago before heading into the real world. He has since worked as a ballroom dance instructor, bass player, mediator, credit specialist, art preparator, janitor, journalist, copy editor, armored car money counter, mambo dancer and satirist. He lives in Dallas, Texas with his hyper-creative wife and baby girl.

Product description: EXMORTUS is the story of Ash Xavier, a headstrong young knight whose faith is challenged when the long-forgotten gods of ancient civilizations send their avatar to obliterate the remote holy fortress of Exmortus Abbey —his home.

Q: What will e-readers like about your book? EXMORTUS is not your typical, run-of-the-mill fantasy. It is a work of epic dark fantasy in the mold of George R.R. Martin or Gene Wolfe, with fresh angles on the classic literary problems of growing into adulthood, sword-and-sorcery adventure, love and sex, friendship and betrayal, guilt and innocence, murder and exile, battles on land and at sea, creepy demons and unsolved mysteries coming to life at the worst possible times.

Q: Why did you go indie? Two main reasons. First, a stunning number of fantasy publishers are failing financially, and of those that are still solvent, only three accept submissions from new authors. Secondly, the degree of creative control over the manuscript, ideas, cover art and marketing are all very attractive, even if it does mean I have to be my own sales team, which I'm terrible at.

Q: Who are your favorite authors in your genre? George R.R. Martin, Robert Anton Wilson, Neil Gaiman, Gene Wolfe.

Link to web site or blog or Amazon/Smashwords:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005G4QEX2

Sapphire Hunting - J. SenGupta

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

Bio: The author name is a pseudonym. I also publish another type of work ina very different field.

Product description: SapphireHunting by J. SenGupta. A Young Adult Fantasy Adventure about a young man facinghis own death, adegree course, and the search for his roots and his destiny.

Excerpt: “And so he was walking withSaesile high on terraced, ploughed hillsides, rich with lush summer growth,heavy with young fruit, buzzing with lazy summer insect species. The sun, highon the Cerulean sheet, itself hung high, pale and dry like rustling-old bluesilk, faded from being set out too long in the shop window, was obscured bytornadoes of dust whisked up by each whim of the breeze, and by each of theirsteps on the red path cut alongside the wide step of farmland. The red pathbled into the orange earth and the yellow stalks on the verges, and the fieldsstretched a short way on one side, punctuated here and there by low,heavy-barked trees, some with fruit, some with flower, and on the other sidethe dropping-away hillside, a slanting slice of thick verdure, and the prairielands below, stretching far, far away home. They were walking in step, and insilence, and the march of their feet beat out a tattoo on top of the low insectdrone, and as the trees punctuated the fields, sometimes near, and above themand sometimes far in the terracotta sunshine, the rustling of the wind in thecrops punctuated the rhythm with its whistles and rustles, and the shade of atree fell across them like a snap of dark chocolate.”

Q: What will e-readers like about your book?
Depending on the readerthey will like the vibe, the sense of place, or the peril and chase scenes.

Q: Why did you go indie?

It was by far the easiest wayto reach a cross-section of international readers.

Q: Who are your favorite authors in your genre?
Garth Nix, Diana Wynne Jones, Mary Hoffman, C.J. Cherryh

Link to web site or blog or Amazon/Smashwords
SapphireHunting

Tides of Passion - Tracy Sumner

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

Tracy’s story telling career began when she picked up a copyof LaVyrle Spencer’s Vows on a college beach trip. A journalism degreeand a thousand romance novels later, she decided to try her hand at writing asouthern version of the perfect love story. With a great deal of luck and morethan a bit of perseverance, she sold her first novel to Kensington Publishing.

When not writing sensual stories featuring complex charactersand lush settings, Tracy can be found reading romance, snowboarding, watchingcollege football and figuring out how she can get to 100 countries before shekicks (which is a more difficult endeavor than it used to be with her four-year-oldson in tow). She lives in Charlotte, NC, but after spending a few years in “thecity”, considers herself a New Yorker at heart.

Tracy has been awarded the National Reader’s Choice, the WriteTouch and the Beacon – with finalist nominations in the HOLT Medallion, Heartof Romance, Rising Stars and Reader’s Choice. Her books have been translatedinto German, Dutch, Portuguese and Spanish. She loves hearing from readersabout why she tends to pit her hero and heroine against each other and thatgreat novel she simply must order in five seconds on her Kindle.

Product description:

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

Sexy characters and great dialogue. TIDES OF PASSION was awarded the Reader's Choice for Best Long Historical and was a HOLT Medallion finalist as well. Romantic Times had to say: “This novel realizes with a great and witty gusto that independence isn’t so much about being on your own as it is about choosing to be together.”

Q: Why did you go indie?

I love writing -- I love the romance genre -- and the world is open to independent authors now. Publishing has finally taken a turn for the best. To the advantage of all the talented writers out there! I want to connect with new readers and find new writers myself.

Q: Who are your favorite authors in your genre?

Julie Anne Long, Meredith Duran, Judith Ivory

Link to web site or blog or Amazon/Smashwords

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005WVPFH0

Reel Life Crime - Cary Pepper

2011-12-03T06:00:00.000-08:00

REEL LIFE CRIME by Cary Pepper

Smashwords Coupon Code: YX65X

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/81833

Bio:

Cary Pepper is an award-winning playwright, novelist, and screenwriter.

You can read more about him at http://www.carypepper.com.

Product description:

San Francisco detective Ed Sampas is sitting in his office when Thelonius Noble enters

and says he wants to hire Sampas to recover a stolen item.

It’s a black statue of a bird, about a foot high, made of lead.

"Sounds like the Maltese falcon," Sampas jokes.

"It is," Noble responds.

Turns out, Noble owns the statue from the 1941 film, and it’s worth a million dollars.

Reel Life Crime mirrors the plot of Dashiell Hammett’s novel and John Huston’s film,

while being an original mystery in its own right, a tongue-in-cheek hard-boiled detective story,

an affectionate tribute to the noir genre, and a commentary on how much movies

impact our culture and our everyday lives.

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

It’s well-written, it’s funny, it’s imaginative.

It’s especially fun for fans of hard-boiled detective fiction as well as people familiar with

The Maltese Falcon and/or San Francisco.

Q: Why did you go indie?

I kept getting positive responses to the book from agents and publishers, but even with the positive responses no one would take it on. Because I believe in the book, I finally decided to

take matters in to my own hands.

Q: Who are your favorite authors in your genre?

Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler.

Link to web site or blog or Amazon/Smashwords

Web site: www.carypepper.com

Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/81833

Amazon/Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Reel-Life-Crime-ebook/dp/B005ZY0M6I/

Bloody Murder - Kate Kulig

2011-12-02T06:00:00.000-08:00

Bio:

Kate Kulig was born in Saugus, Massachusetts and denies all responsibility for the hospital having burned down at a later date. Throughout her schooling and into college, she enjoyed writing, and considered it as a college major. She was strongly encouraged by the people paying her tuition at Hofstra to major in business so she'd be able to feed herself after graduation.

Going in a completely different direction for a few years, Kate changed her major to Communications. and spent the better part of her college career at the campus radio station, WRHU, where she was Program Director her senior year. Shortly after college graduation, she learned just how little the glamourous career of radio paid while working as a disc jockey and copywriter in a small town in Arizona.
Several moves and careers later, including time spent as a stage manger, delivery driver, bookseller and a memorable temp job counting arrows, she found herself in New England again, and she travels to New Orleans whenever possible.

Product description:Zofia Smith left behind a promising career as a journalist when she realized her former employers meant it when they said, "You'll never work in this business again." Convinced by her best friend to move to New Orleans and start over, Zo opened a bookstore in the Crescent City's French Quarter.

For six years, life was peaceful, enjoyable. Bloody Murder made a profit with its focus on mystery books and its regular patrons enjoyed Zo's homemade muffins and fresh coffee.

Things changed one morning when Zofia walked downstairs from her apartment above the store and tripped over a corpse, landing in a heap of blood and muffins. The clues the police found included a knife with a Polish eagle and the corpse's criminal record that indicated he typically worked for a crime family, though not a local one.

Clues came from and pointed to different directions. A narrow miss with a gunshot, mysterious phone calls, and oddly enough to a man Zofia long thought dead.

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

The characters, which one reviewed called, "Likeable, in spite of their flaws." The atmosphere of New Orleans. How a bookstore owner goes from a quiet life to figuring out a mystery that quickly gets very personal.

Q: Why did you go indie?

Encouragement from my beta readers, and the more I investigated about indie books and authors, the more I thought I should give it a shot.

Q: Who are your favorite authors in your genre?

James Lee Burke, John D. MacDonald, John Sandford, Robert K. Tannenbaum. Tim Hallinan and I just discovered Laura Lippman.

Link to web site or blog or Amazon/Smashwordshttp://www.amazon.com/Bloody-Murder-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B005IE566Q/

She Wasn't Allowed to Giggle - Lavinia Thompson

2011-12-01T06:00:00.000-08:00

Bio: LaviniaThompson is a 22-year old journalism grad. She emerged from the darkdepths of domestic violence and abuse from her childhood to find the light atthe end of the tunnel to discovering her voice in writing. With that voice, sheis dedicating her passion for writing into raising awareness for domesticviolence. Her poetry book, “She Wasn’t Allowed to Giggle” released Sept. 28,2011, is a collection of poetry and prose based on what she experienced as achild. She also has a dark fantasy novel called “Spellbound by Fire,” the firstin a series, which also has the theme of preventing and stopping violenceagainst women. “Spellbound by Fire” willbe released Nov. 16, 2011 through Hellfire Publishing.

Through her writing, Lavinia wants to spread the messagedomestic violence victims and survivors that there is hope, help and there willbe a day when the words “never again” really mean, never again. She wants to bea part of making sure everyone sees that day.

Product description:

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

"She Wasn'tAllowed to Giggle" is a poetry and prose collection that explores the darkdepths of domestic violence and child abuse and about finding the light at theend of the tunnel. It is based on my own experiences growing up, told throughthe perspective of the little girl he destroyed grown up to be a woman with avoice. E-readers will appreciate the perspective of both the poems and the journal entries told from the point of view of a scared little girl becoming a woman, living with and in the aftermaths of abuse and domestic violence.

Q: Why did you go indie?

I heard nothing but great things about going indie and self-publishing. I was tired of always trying to please and get through to publishers who always took their own time and can tell you what and how to write, and what kind of writer to be. With self-publishing, you have the option to to be whatever kind of writer you want to be and maintain creative control over all aspects of your work. I love it.
Q: Who are your favorite authors in your genre?

I love many poets, many who are unpublished and are up and coming writers like myself.
Link to web site or blog or Amazon/Smashwords

Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/92467

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005QTX282

Blog: http://laviniathompsonauthor.wordpress.com/

The Wicked Heroine - Jasmine Giacomo

2011-11-30T06:00:00.000-08:00

Bio: Jasmine Giacomo writes from Washington State, where shelives with her husband and two small children. She graduated last millenniumwith a degree in English Literature from a college built atop a volcano. Herchosen genres are fantasy and mystery.

Though she's been writing since the age of four, she alsoenjoys geocaching, history, science and games, and holds a black belt in DanzanRyu Jujitsu. She particularly enjoys reading and writing fight scenes.

Product description: The Cult ofDzur 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 testyheroine who accidentally inherited immortality from the tome's pages centuriesago. Long turned to cynicism by the petty whims of mortals, she's secretive andbrusque, dragging her young companions into mortal danger without a secondthought.

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

A glorified librarian, a substitute prince and a secret-wielding swordsman mustresolve their interpersonal conflicts in order to aid Meena in her quest. Butwhen the Shanallar makes an unexpected sacrifice halfway to their goal, canthey carry on without her? Or is the world doomed to enslavement at the handsof a magic-wielding madman?

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

TWH is a tale of redemption, revenge and coming-of-age, setagainst a multicultural, exotic backdrop. The writing is YA-compatible, but at119k, the story is long enough to keep adults entertained as well. It also haspirates and sea monsters. *nods*

Q: Why did you go indie?

I was first prompted to try it after a negative experiencewith a small press. I still wanted my books to be available, so I hadto step up and learn how to make that happen. That learning process was prettyaddicting! I like having the power to change things about my books, to offersales 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

Amazon AuthorProfile

Smashwords AuthorProfile

The Little Universe - Jason Matthews

2011-11-29T06:00:00.000-08:00

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

Pinpoint - Mary Taylor

2011-11-28T06:00:00.000-08:00

Pinpointby Sheila Mary Taylor

Bio:

SheilaMary Taylor was born in Cape Town, beneath thetowering slopes of Table Mountain. From an earlyage she yearned to be a novelist but only when her teenage son was diagnosedwith life-threatening cancer did she begin writing in earnest. Those earlyscribblings became “Fly With a Miracle” published by Denor Press. With her pentriggered, she also had four romances published by Thorpe Publishing, thenspent four years editing her mother’s three unpublished novels which Penguin publishedand 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 bestsellingthrillers on Amazon Kindle. Coming soon is a revised edition of “Fly With aMiracle”, called “Counted”, to be followed by “The Nightingale Will Sing”, a contemporaryromance. Work in progress is “Dead Girls Don’t Dance”, a romantic suspensethriller set in London and Menorca.

Product description:

A lawyer, a murderer and a policeman are caught in a tangled webof love, loss, terror and intrigue when the lawyer realises the murderer may bea shadow out of her past and an even greater shadow over her future. He is aserial killer and she may once have loved him more than anyone in the world.But who is he really? Hasshe 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 andthreatens 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’lllike the unique story-line that will have them turning pages furiously as Juliastruggles to decide whether to seek police help, or to go it alone in herbattle to unravel her past and save her daughter.

Thecrisp literary style, the cliff-hangers and the clock-ticking construction.

Andthe nail-biting climax with the ghastly revelation and twist right at the end.

Q: Why did you go indie?

Thepublishing 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 loveMaggie O’Farrell, Charlotte Bronte, William Boyd, Kazuo Ishiguro. And GerryMcCullough, a new indie author of “Belfast Girls” and “Danger Danger”.

Link to web site or blog or Amazon/Smashwords

http://www.amazon.com/Pinpoint-ebook/dp/B004UST5Q8/

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pinpoint-ebook/dp/B004UST5Q8/

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/51148

http://SheilaMaryTaylorAuthor.blogspot.com

The Whole Truth - Jim Murdoch

2011-11-27T06:00:00.000-08:00

Bio:

I’m a Scottish writer living just outsideGlasgow. In the seventies and eighties my poems appeared regularly in the smallpress magazines that were legion at the time. By the nineties I had allowedmyself to become disillusioned and stopped sending stuff out. I didn't stopwriting however but moved onto novels and short stories in that order. I’ve nowwritten five novel, two of which have been published (Living with the Truth and Strangerthan Fiction) and a third (Milliganand Murphy) due out any day. I’ve also brought out a collection of poetrycalled This Is Not About What You Think.

Productdescription:

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

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

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

Jonathan learns what he's missed out on inlife, what other people think and the true nature of the universe which isnothing like he would have expected it to be. At the end, having learned farmore than he ever wanted to know, he finds out that it's usually never too lateto start again. Only sometimes it is: no Ebenezer Scrooge or GeorgeBailey-esque turnaround for poor Jonathan.

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

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

Q:Why did you go indie?

Because I don’t write books that fall intotraditional genres

Q:Who are your favourite authors in your genre?

As I said I’m not a genre writer but thewriters whose influences you’ll see in TheWhole Truth are Keith Waterhouse, Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett, NeilGaiman and Alan Bennett.

Linkto web site or blog or Amazon/Smashwords

Blog

Website

Smashwords

5 Reasons to Leave a Lover - Carolyn Davenport

2011-11-26T06:00:00.000-08:00

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

Rose in the River - Jeff Napolitano

2011-11-25T06:00:00.000-08:00

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.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

2011-11-24T06:00:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving from Indie Books Blog!

The Tower's Alchemist - Alesha Escobar

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

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

Unmythed - chris wind

2011-11-22T06:00:00.000-08:00

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

www.chriswind.net

smashwords

amazon

Ghosts of the Asylum- Ty Johnson

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

Fantasyauthor Ty Johnston’s blog tour 2011 is running from November 1through November 30. His novels include Cityof Rogues,Bayne’sClimband Morethan 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,Ghostsof the Asylum,is now available. To find out more, follow him at his blogtyjohnston.blogspot.com.

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

Taljintus shuffled down a slime-covered step and raisedhis torch high, staring into the blackness beyond, the bottom of thestairs ending in water as dark as ink.

He couldn’t help but grimace as the outline of a bodyfloating face-down glided into view at the edges of the torch’slight. The corpse was that of a man, as all of them would be, thisone still wearing the river-soaked garb of one of the guards.

Not for the first time, Taljintus asked himself if hetruly needed this job. Unfortunately the answer was always ‘yes.’He hadn’t traveled all the way from Trode after losing his youngwife to the pox just to wallow in misery and indebtedness. He hadsought a new beginning in the city of Bond far from his homeland, andbeing an experienced stonemason he had hoped to find steady work herein the West. But he had arrived in the middle of Winter, during theoff season for construction. Tough months had followed, thestonemason forced to scrounge as a day laborer just to survive.

Now the Spring had arrived, and Taljintus had put in abid on the first major job he could find. Fortune had been with himand he had landed the bid.

But standing there in the cold and dark, one handrubbing at the last dark curls surrounding his balding head, he wasbeginning to wonder if he should have passed on this project.

The Asylum.

Wincing, he stepped down into the black water, the coldsoaking through his thin moccasins and chilling his flesh to thebone. Another step brought the water up to his shins, and the Trodanshivered as the cold ate away at him.

Taljintus cursed at not having the coin to purchase aproper pair of oil-cloth boots, or perhaps even waders layered by thegum of a rubber plant from a southern clime. He promised to add thatto his list of needed tools and other items he would purchase as soonas he received his first full payment for this job.

Stepping down further, he came to the floor of the darktunnel extending before him. The water now rose to his knees.

Taljintus continued to shiver, though he could not besure if it was the cold water which caused him to do so or the bodygently bobbing up and down ahead.

He had known there would be corpses, perhaps lots ofcorpses. Some kind of magical accident had apparently occurred herelast Summer, flooding the Asylum with river water. Other than cityworkers dragging away the dead on the ground level above, no one hadyet to clean the place nor get it into working order. The newsTaljintus had managed to overhear on the street was that ownership ofthe Asylum had changed hands several times during the Winter months,none of the owners seemingly interested in spending the gold it wouldtake to bring the main building and the basement level back to aworking condition.

The current owner was of a different mind, and hadwanted the Asylum restored to its former state.

The short Trodan grimaced further as he waded nearer thebody. He continued to quiver, but now it was at thoughts of theAsylum’s current owner. The young man had eyes as dark andforeboding as the water leaking into Taljintus’s leggings. At leasthe had promised to pay well, and his down payment had been enough tosecure the stonemason a place of residence in the Swamps for the nextfew months as well as enough money for daily needs.

But was it worth it? Growing closer to the floating deadman, 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’sjust a job, like any other job.

Except there were dead bodies, perhaps as many as ahundred or more if the rumors were true.

Why couldn’t there have been a nice church that neededa new cathedral? Or a new building for the university on the eastside of town?

Taljintus shook his head, driving away all negativethoughts. It was a job. He was being paid well, enough to hire asizable crew and keep himself in business at least through theSummer. Clearing out the basement level, of water and bodies, wassimply part of the job. Then there would be the new roof that had tobe constructed for the Asylum, then the main floor had to be rebuiltand --

The Trodan’s face turned white.

There was another body. Floating ahead there. Justbeyond the dead man he was almost touching.

The new body wore no clothes, its naked skin wrinkledand as pale as a dead fish’s gullet. The corpse floated on itsback. A pair of dead, white, flat eyes stared up at the brickedceiling of the basement tunnel.

Taljintus stopped moving. He had come down to the lowerlevel to take in what kind of damage the river water had caused, andto see the extent of the dead, but he had seen enough. His new crewcould take care of the bodies. That was part of their job. Taljintushad other things to do, like beginning the drawings for the new roof.

Yes, the new roof. He would get started on that. Let thelaborers clean up the mess down here.

He turned to leave.

A wind sprang up from the direction of the steps leadingabove, a wind so strong tears sprang to the stonemason’s eyes andhe 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 thecorpses of dead man floating about him. It was not a good place. Itwas 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 waythrough the large hole in the Asylum’s roof and had found its wayto the top of the stairs. Taljintus could just make out the bottom ofthe 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 theslick bricks of the tunnel toward the stairwell, the stonemason’sown mind began to play tricks on him. Had he just heard somethingmove behind him? And how had any wind down here been powerful enoughto knock out his torch?

A strong chill grew over the Trodan’s skin, raisingbumps on his flesh. For a moment he even believed he had seen hisbreath misting before the light of the steps.

“Stop it,” he repeated to himself. No reason tospook myself. I need this job. What with my own problems and theriots and --

Slurp.

Taljintus paused. That had definitely been something inthe water behind him.

Though not a superstitious man, the Trodan had hadenough 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 thewater.

For a moment there was nothing but blackness, even thelight from above being denied to the stonemason. He couldn’tbreath. He tried to suck in air, but murky, muddy water flooded hismouth. Then Taljintus panicked. He could help it no longer.

He thrust up his arms, reaching for the air, and foundcold, cold, cold. It was a cold so icy it caused the wet joints ofhis fingers to ache.

Then his feet found the bottom once more and Taljintuspushed, launching himself with a splash above the water level.

He spit out nasty muck and inhaled, glad to feel thecool breaths rushing down his throat to drive away the burningsensation in his lungs.

That had been close. He had nearly drowned himself, andwhy? Because of fear and impatience.

Taljintus rubbed at the black little mustache beneathhis bulbous nose and leaned against the wall to rest for a moment. Hehad to get a grip on himself. Whatever noise he had heard, it hadprobably been a rat, nothing more. In his line of work, he had runacross many a rat. Nothing of which to be afraid.

Okay. His breathing normal again despite the chill thathad invaded the tunnel, Taljintus pushed off the wall and slowly madehis way toward the exit. Yes, let the workers come down here in thedark and clean up the mess.

His right foot touched the bottom step, and he could seedaylight flooding into the hallway above, when the skin beneath theTrodan’s collar felt as if it were standing up, as if someone hadbreathed 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.

The Hollow - Anthony Izzo

2011-11-20T06:00:00.000-08:00

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 graduatedwith a B.A. in English from D’Youville College and makes his home in the Buffalo, NYarea. When not horrifying his neighbors, he enjoys drawing and doing asecond-rate impression of Jimmy Page on guitar.

Product Description:

Forfans 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 aseries of brutal murders.

Their final target was The Hollow Campground. Anentire family was dragged from their cabins and slaughtered. Then the killersdisappeared.

Now they're back.

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

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

The Hollow. How long could you survive?

Q:What will readers like about your book?

Thrillerfans will love the breakneck pace. Horror fans will love the gruesome stuff. Iaimed to write a story where the tension never lets up.

Q:Why did you go indie?

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

Q:Who are the favorite authors in your genre:

StephenKing, Jack Kilborn/JA Konrath, Richard Laymon, Cormac McCarthy

Blog/Website: www.anthonyizzo.com

Amazon: amzn.to/mPzxRO

The Continuing Case of Manny Tippitoes - Bruce Adams

2011-11-19T06:00:00.000-08:00

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

Remain in Light - Collin Kelley

2011-11-18T06:00:00.000-08:00

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 LeCarré, 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

The Last Way Station - Jon Reisfield

2011-11-17T06:00:00.000-08:00

Jon Reisfeld's BIO

A graduate of Northwestern University's MedillSchool of Journalism, Jon Reisfeld has worked, most of his adult life, as awriter and marketer. He has more than 25 years combined experience injournalism, corporate communications, advertising and marketing.

At 23, Jon became the first writer ever to have a storystart on the cover of Baltimore Magazine. (It was a piece about teenagesuicide.) He later founded and published Housecalls, a Baltimore-basedhealth-and-fitness magazine. In the mid 90s, Jon served as Director ofMarketing and Communications for Duron Paints and Wallcoverings, where he ranthe half-billion dollar regional paint company's 12-person in-house advertisingagency for several years before returning to his private marketing consultingpractice.

Jon's eclectic interests run the gamut from cosmology, chaostheory, technology and sci-fi to social issues, politics, the economy,anthropology, marketing and writing. He began writing fiction in his 40s andenjoys reading, walking, cycling, attending live theatre and "most"new movie openings.

His next major fiction project will be a sci-fi trilogy seton 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 notoriousmass-murderers in history, retired to his room in his bunker, 25 feet beneaththe old Reich Chancery garden. Above him, the Red Army was encircling Berlin as his dream of athousand-year Aryan empire lay in ruins.

Hitler placed a glass cyanide capsule between his teeth andpointed a loaded service pistol at his right temple. Then, smugly believing hehad both evaded capture and escaped all accountability for his crimes, he bitdown and pulled the trigger. He was wrong!

The Last Way Station begins moments after Hitler’ssuccessful suicide, when the Führer finds himself mysteriously transported to anumbingly cold, solitary holding cell in the afterworld. There, he meets hiscaseworker, a supernatural being tasked with helping him face, and workthrough, his sins. The caseworker explains that Hitler will remain in solitaryconfinement indefinitely, as he prepares his soul for eventual return to thematerial world. The method, Hitler learns, involves seeking enlightenmentthrough physically embodying his victims and then personally reliving the atrocitiescommitted against them in his name.

This speculative, historical fantasy novelette exploresHitler’s psychology, the psychology of evil and asks, ‘What, if anything,constitutes fitting punishment for the ‘super evil?’

Q: Whatwill e-readers like about your book?

Anyonewho is NOT a fan of Adolph Hitler should get satisfaction out of seeing the Führerfinally brought to justice. I believe they also will like the interactionbetween Hitler and his caseworker, as well as some of the speculativeexamination into how his background may have nurtured his anti-semitism. The bookexplores BIG, nagging questions about organized evil and attempts to addresssome open questions about Hitler's psyche and his motivation for, among otherthings, writing a final, vicious attack on the Jews even after he virtually had annihilated them. Finally, the book explores "moralrelativism" and the role it plays in facilitating evil acts by thoseserving under oppressive, amoral regimes such as The Third Reich.

Q: Why didyou go indie?

They sayIndie publishing is the future, that traditional publishing is now "upsidedown" and I agree. I want to be apart of the new movement online to empower writers to take their projects intheir own hands, shaping and guiding them into the mainstream. This is anexciting time to be a fiction writer as we can now speak directly to ouraudiences, with new immediacy, and without having our messages unduly distortedand diluted, by well-meaning intermediaries.

Q: Who areyour favorite authors in your genre?;

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

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

Bloodstorm - Sam Millar

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

Bloodstorm by Sam Millar

Bio:

Born in Belfast,Ireland. Worked in an abattoir as young man and based my best-selling TheRedemption Factory on my horrific experience of the place. The book hasbeen short listed for this year’s Grand Prix de littérature policière, France’s most prestigious crimefiction award. I’ve had numerous other crime book published, including the KarlKane books. Best-selling memoir, On The Brinks, acquired by WarnerBrothers.

Product description:

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

What will e-readers like about yourbook?

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 isdivorced, 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 ofnot killing the man responsible for the death of his mother. The man laterkilled 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 thinkthe rules bleached too much of the soul from my writing. Now, I have totalcontrol over my books.

Who are your favorite authors in yourgenre?

James Thompson

Jon Lands

Ken Bruen

Link to web site or blog orAmazon/Smashwords

http://www.millarcrime.com/

http://www.amazon.com/Bloodstorm-Sam-Millar/dp/0863223753

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/89039

Cowboy- Staci Stallings

2011-11-15T06:00:00.000-08:00

Staci Stallings' Cowboy

Bio: A stay-at-home mom with a husband,three kids and a writing addiction on the side, Staci Stallings has numeroustitles for readers to choose from. Notcontent to stay in one genre and write it to death, Staci’s stories run thegamut from young adult to adult, from motivational and inspirational tofull-out Christian and back again. Everytitle is a new adventure! That’s whatkeeps Staci writing and you reading.

Product description: "Cowboy is a grace-filled story about the power of giving everything to God andhow a simple act of compassion can change lives forever." Life has doneits best to knock Beth McCasland to the ground, and the truth is: it’s done apretty good job of keeping her there. Stuck in a minimum-wage job with a youngdaughter counting on her, Beth does her best to stay standing under the weightof it all because she knows God is on her side. Then one night she gets thechance to be an angel to another of life’s weary travelers. For once hope hasnever 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 cantransform lives across the spectrum--for the one receiving the kindness and theone giving it. I've heard from numerouspeople that this book made them want to open their hearts and do something tohelp someone else out--not to get anything back but because love is the onlything 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 seethat every agent, editor, and industry person wanted me to first fit my storiesinto their box before they would look at them. I write the stories God gives me to write the way He gives me to writethem. I'm not interested in trying tomake that fit into someone else's formula.

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

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

Varangian: The Stone of Babylon - Sabine K. Atkins

2011-11-14T06:00:00.000-08:00

Bio:

Born in the southern German state of Bavaria, Sabine K. Atkins grew up
listening to and reading old German fairy tales and folk stories.

She immigrated to the US, became a citizen in 2005 and now resides
near Nashville, Tennessee.

She seeks to combine the folk tales of the old world with fast-paced
modern storytelling driven by unique characters and the powerful
imagery of US blockbuster movies.

Product description:

Bound by an ancient oath, Edric is protecting a powerful secret ...

Anglo-Saxon Edric is a Varangian, the member of an elite military
force in medieval Constantinople. Being part secret service agent,
part imperial security detail, he is privy to all kinds of secrets and
intrigues in a strategically significant city embroiled in wars as
well as internal political turmoil. But Edric is taken by surprise,
when he finds out that his friend, an alchemist from Persia, has given
him superpowers and wants him to protect the Stone of Babylon - by any
means necessary.

This task sends Edric on a mind-bending journey of epic proportions,
full of exciting clashes with warriors and supernatural beings,
dangerous alchemy, time travel, fantastical machines, and the
acquaintances of strikingly beautiful members of the opposite sex (and
not all of them seem to be concerned with his well-being).

A journey that not only will reveal to him the purpose of the Stone of
Babylon, but also show him his true strength.

(This is the first book in a trilogy.)

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

A unique, tough, intelligent protagonist/superhero and his historical
background, alchemy and medieval battle action, an entertaining
contemporary mystery/chase/search plot

Q: Why did you go indie?

I like to spend my time writing instead of hunting after agents or publishers.

Q: Who are your favorite authors in your genre?

Michael Moorcock, J.R.R. Tolkien

Link to web site or blog or Amazon/Smashwords

http://edricthevarangian.com/
http://amzn.com/B005KN3XOC
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/85874

The Uncanny Valley - Bryan R. Dennis

2011-11-13T06:00:00.000-08:00

Bio:

Born and raised in the cornfieldsof Illinois, Bryan enlisted in theArmy upon graduation from High School and served his term overseas. Afterwardshe moved to Las Vegas, Nevada and enrolled in UNLV’s college ofbusiness. It took a degree in Accounting, years of daydreaming in cubicles, anda collection of stories piling up on his hard drive to learn he is a writer andnot an accountant. His writing style is influenced by authors Raymond Chandlerand Carver, Philip K. Dick, Ray Bradbury, Charles Bukowski, and HarukiMurakami. He currently resides with his family in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Author: Bryan R. Dennis

Genre: Sci-fi Fantasy, Horror

Purchase Links:

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/100226

http://www.amazon.com/The-Uncanny-Valley-ebook/dp/B0060WVV7I

Blurb:

The Uncanny Valleyis a collection of 16 unsettling tales that draws inspiration from old-schoolscience fiction, horror, and dark fantasy series such as the Twilight Zone.

"A Chance in Hell" - Life is about to get worsefor one troubled youth after he breaks into a house he thought was empty.

"Greet the World" - A company employee is toldhe'll die if he tries to resign.

"Nox Noctis" - What would happen if one day alllight ceased to exist? The characters in this story are about to find out.

"Scents of Life" - A husband has a late-nightencounter with a mysterious woman cloaked in disarmingly familiar fragrances.

"The Uncanny Valley"- The war between man and machines is the least of one survivor's problems inthis post-apocalyptic future.

These, and eleven more tales, will launch you on a journeyfrom the comforts of normalcy to a valley in which nature refuses to tread.

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

I think readers will like the fleshed-out characters and theTwilight Zone vibe that flows throughout the book. There is a surreal aspect,an air of menace that follows the main character, which will keep readersturning the pages until they reach the shocking conclusion.

Q: Why did you go indie?

I’m independent by nature. I wanted control of the processand I didn’t mind investing the time learning the ropes. I also think, the waythings are going, that going indie doesn’t prevent new authors from signingprint deals with publishing houses later. Going this route in reverse, however,would prove more difficult, as traditionally-published authors have attested.

Q: Who are your favorite authors in your genre?

Jeffrey Deaver and Haruki Murakami.

Link to web site or blog or Amazon/Smashwords

http://www.amazon.com/Saw-a-Rainbow-ebook/dp/B005KSLRFY

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/85870

Blurred Realities - Amber LaShell

2011-11-12T06:00:00.000-08:00

Blurred Realities by Amber LaShell

Bio: By day Amber LaShell is a communications specialist living in Dallas, TX and by night she weaves tales of the erotic nature. She is a lover of all things paranormal and has stories constantly swirling around in her brain ready to escape at any moment.

Alexandra is taking a much needed vacation to visit Ireland, the place her ancestors are from. Early into the trip she notices an odd man with glowing green eyes staring at her from across a pub. Suddenly she starts having some very erotic dreams about him that are just a bit too real. Now she's on a mission to find out who, or what he is.

Product description:

Basically this book is an erotic thriller about a woman who is being stalked by a Vampire in her dreams that turn out to be real.

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

A: My book is a thriller that reads fast and has a surprise ending

Q: Why did you go indie?

A; The possibility of setting my own limits: creating my own cover art, selling through website I choose, and higher royalties.

Q: Who are your favorite authors in your genre?

A: Sherrilyn Kenyon, Laurel K. Hamilton to name the two that come to me first.

Link to web site or blog or Amazon/Smashwords

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Amber-LaShell/e/B004X7FZPQ/

Smash Words: http://bit.ly/fW5Fd9

HAPPY VETERAN'S DAY

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

We're taking a day of silence to honor our veterans.

Symphony of Blood - Adam Pepper

2011-11-10T06:00:00.000-08:00

Bio:

At times disturbing and grim, others raunchy and comical, Adam Pepper’s work is known for a unique blend of horror, suspense and speculative fiction. Learn more about Adam at his website: www.AdamPepper.com

Product description:

Hank Mondale, a rough-around-the-edges P.I. with a small drinking problem and a large gambling problem, needs a break. With his landlord threatening eviction and his bookie threatening worse, things look bleak. Until real estate mogul Thomas Blake calls with an incredible story: a monster is trying to kill his daughter. Hank figures she's probably some whacked-out spoiled brat, but desperate, Hank takes the case to track down the supposed monster. It seems that people around Mackenzie Blake are disappearing. It's obviously no coincidence. Was Hank hired to unwittingly aid a wealthy murderess? Or is there really someone...or some thing, trying to kill Mackenzie Blake?

A symphony plays that only It can hear. But there will be a special performance, just for her.

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

My book will appeal to fans of dark fiction for adults. A fiercely loyal market that is consistently underserved, underappreciated and underestimated by the big guys in New York.

Q: Why did you go indie?

I spent over a decade pursuing the traditional publishing dream. I wrote five novels, had two agents and accumulated hundreds of rejections but was unsuccessful. I published in the small press and enjoyed it immensely, but I don’t think I’ll ever “break out” that way. In the current marketplace, with hungry readers clamoring for inexpensive options, I see a great opportunity to connect with an audience that appreciates my work.

Q: Who are your favorite authors in your genre

Clive Barker, Hubert Selby, Jr., Kurt Vonnegut, Chuck Pallaniuk and Cormac McCarthy.

Website: www.AdamPepper.com

Her Own Best Enemy - Cynthia Justlin

2011-11-09T06:00:00.000-08:00

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

I love writing action packed, fast paced suspense stories with a tense love story thrown in. Grace Stevens is a single mom on a mission: to find her missing son and bring him home safely, even if it means begging for help from special forces officer Keith King, the one man she had hoped to never see again. The good part is, Keith doesn’t remember her. The bad part is, he is nothing like the cruel teenager she used to know and she finds herself falling for this new, stronger, gentler, honorable, man who is risking everything to get her son back. Every twist and turn, every new clue brings them closer together, but Grace isn’t ready to let go of the past, and Keith isn’t ready to trust her with his future.

Q: Why did you go indie?

I didn't immediately decide to go indie. I've been pursuing traditional publishing for years and have had some pretty close calls that didn't quite come to fruition. In July 2010, I was diagnosed with cancer, and like any news that knocks you for a loop, it made me re-evaluate my priorities. I decided that I was tired of sitting on my dreams, waiting for the doors of NY to be opened to me, and that if I wanted to make my dream a reality, I needed to take control of it. Going indie was a way to do that.

Q: Who are your favorite authors in your genre?

Suzanne Brockmann, Roxanne St. Claire, Cindy Gerard and Karen Rose.

Link to web site or blog or Amazon/Smashwords:

My website: http://www.cynthiajustlin.com
On Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004RVN1AO/

2:27 A.M. - Stephen James Price

2011-11-06T06:00:00.000-08:00

Bio: Stephen James Price is an author, editor, publisher, and print and eBook interior and cover designer. He was born and raised in New York, but has lived in the deep south(or within a two hour drive of it) for more than half of his life. Although he claims to be northern by birthand southern by choice, he has never said “ya’ll”and even finds it difficult to write.

He currently lives in central Arkansas in a hauntedhouse on “The Hill,” the Price family compound.

His hobbies include reading, writing,photography and telling “Grandpa’s Lies.”

Product Description: 2:27 A.M. is based on a true story. It has multiple narrative strands surrounding a grieving widower, Michael Saunders, a coven of witches (The Woman of the Thibodeaux Clan,) and Dr. Norman Baker, a charlatan in the 1930s claiming to have the cure for cancer. This story interweaves each of their lives with the motto, Be Careful What You Wish For.

Q: What will eReaders like about your book?

A: This book is based on the true story of Dr. Norman Baker, a man with a 10th grade education who promoted himself to a doctor and claimed to have the cure for cancer. Hundreds, if not thousands of people died directly because of this man. It interweaves the story of Michael Saunders, a grieving widower and that of his wife, Maggie, a witch from a family of witches.

Q: Why did you go Indie?

A: I wanted to have more control over all aspects of the publication of this book.

Q: Who are your favorite authors in your genre?

A: Stephen King, Bentley Little, Scott Nicholson, Brian Keene and about 100 or so others.

You can find 2:27 a.m. on Amazon.

The Number 3 Mystery Book - Chris Pink

2011-11-03T06:00:00.000-07:00

Bio: Chris Pink is a 30 year-old bearded freelance writer and artist from Cambridge, UK. He writes for a London publishing company and a few loyal clients. To date he has written in excess of 3,000 articles, blog posts and press releases. The Number 3 Mystery Book is his first (published) novel -- which appeals to both teen readers as well as adults -- and it's receiving great reviews and feedback. He'd prefer not to talk about the eight he wrote before he got this far...

Product description: The Number 3 Mystery Book is a darkly humorous investigation into one boy's journey as he strives to become the greatest Cryptozoology expert of all time. And it's going great, until strange events start occurring, forcing him to consider the idea that even darker forces may be at work than he first suspected...and on top of all this he has to deal with his best-friend Wonky, who is a pain, not to mention a girl!

Q: What will e-readers like about your book? It makes for easy enough, accessible reading, but with a story that's different from most teen fiction books; it's also educational, at the same time as tackling serious issues that will resonate with anyone with a pulse.

Q: Why did you go indie? I can't wait forever to get published, and besides, I like having control of every aspect of my work. Artists have that privilege in every other medium; publishers might not like it, but I don't see why writers should have to feel any guilt about doing that.

Q: Who are your favorite authors in your genre? Mark Haddon, Neil Gaiman, Mark Twain.

Link to web site or blog or Amazon/Smashwords

Blogs: http://www.cpink.wordpress.com / http://www.ltltbg.wordpress.com

Official book website: http://www.thenumberthree.co.uk

Amazon book page: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Number-Mystery-Book-ebook/dp/B005457MRA

Shrike - Jeff Carlson

2011-11-02T06:00:00.000-07:00

I believe e-readers will like Shrike as my heroine is a simple human being who experienced something inhuman and accomplished what might be classed as superhuman. She is not a billionaire industrialist who builds a suit of iron, she is not a nerdy kid who gets bitten by a radioactive spider. She has a job, a well-ordered life and dreams that are all at once robbed from her but she abides and triumphs.

I went indie as no literary agent wanted to represent me and I just got angry. I wanted to give the world a chance to judge my work despite the opinion of some wet-eared pup fresh out of an MFA mill interning for some bipolar agent too busy using her blog to rail out against one of her clients.

I know of no other author who writes like I do, so I have no favorite author in this genre.

Here is the Amazon.com link:

http://www.amazon.com/Shrike-ebook/dp/B005OSYHXO/

White Seed: The Untold Story of the Lost Colony of Roanoke - Paul Clayton

2011-11-01T06:00:00.000-07:00

White Seed: The Untold Story of the Lost Colony ofRoanoke

By Paul Clayton

Product Description:

From PublishersWeekly: This above-average historical hews closely to the record of SirWalter Raleigh's second doomed attempt to plant the British flag in Virginia,but embroiders the who, what, when with enough fanciful embellishment to createa riveting story. The focus is 17-year-old "wench" Maggie Hagger,whose passage on Raleigh's ship was paid by colony Governor Sir John White soshe can serve his pregnant daughter. The ship's stormy passage to the New World-- during which widower White falls for Maggie, who is meanwhile evadingunwanted advances from a scalawag -- establishes the many well-wroughtcharacters, some noble (particularly real-life Native Manteo), others evil. Thedepiction of the colony's physical and moral disintegration between 1587 and1590 -- as drunken, cannibalistic soldiers mutiny and brutalize the settlersthey were meant to protect, and as colonists confront disease, starvation andmadness -- evokes a harrowing sense of human fallibility. Readers with morethan a nodding familiarity with American colonial history will experience a …déjà vu, but others less hip to what happened in late-16th century times willfind this saga, which starts slowly but soon reaches page-turner velocity, tobe both a dandy diversion and an entertaining education.

Q: What will e-readers like about your book? I think e-readers will like hook of the story- abandonment, the struggle for survival, and the realistic way the charactersinteract to bring it all to a fascinating conclusion. Like Publishers Weeklysaid, the book is a page-turner. E-readers’ thumbs will be busy.

Q: Why did you go Indie? Commercial publishers made me do it. I’d already published four bookscommercially, with Putnam/Berkley and also St. Martin’s Press. But things move so slowly in publishing, andhouses are, I believe, too focused on what’s hot at the moment to see thepotential in much of what they receive. Andthe advent of Kindle and other e-reading devices made it much more possible forwriters to go out on their own and get their work out in front of readers.

Q: Who are your favorite writers in your genre? Ken Follett is a big favorite, as is JamesMichener, James Clavell and Edward Rutherfurd.

Links to web site or blog or Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/White-Seed-Untold-Roanoke-ebook/dp/B002SN9GF2/

Confessions of an Average Half Vampire - Lisa Shafer

2011-10-31T06:00:00.000-07:00

My name: Lisa Shafer

My blog link: http://lisashafer.blogspot.com/

My book link on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Average-Half-Vampire-ebook/dp/B005JM03XI/

Book Price: 99¢

Cover art: attached as jpeg file

Bio blurb: Lisa Shafer is a junior high school English teacher who writes YA fiction. Her writing dreams began when she won a prize in 6th grade with a humorous story about a vampire. Later, the first short story she ever got published in a "big name" magazine was also about a vampire. Naturally, her first published novel is also about -- you guessed it -- a vampire. Or at least about a half-vampire, anyway.

Contrary to anything her students may tell you, she does not really drink blood.

Book blurb:

Lurking in the nuclei of a few rare human cells is an as-yet unstudied gene. It is a gene that makes the inheritor crave mammal blood and faint in bright sunlight. It is a gene that prevents the bearer from appearing normally in digital or mirror images.
It’s a gene that makes life heck if you’re in junior high and trying to fit in.

Eric Wright is a half-vampire with a problem. Several problems, actually. He can’t tell bloodlust from his rollercoaster adolescent hormones. The cutest girl in first period English wants him to become a vegetarian. And the assistant principal suspends him when he refuses to explain why his skin appears translucent in a school security video.

Then Eric’s non-vampire mom, who’s definitely not telling everything she knows, takes him with her on a business trip. To Scotland, where it never stays sunny for very long. The perfect hang out for a vampire. Or several. If only Eric can find one to talk to before he makes any more stupid mistakes....

What do readers like about the book? It's funny. It's got vampires that boys like, too, since they don't sparkle or brood over women. Most kids tell me that they like Eric because he does such real things and gets into such odd situations that make them laugh.

Why did I go indie? Well, I tried the traditional approach, but agent after agent told me they LOVED the book but didn't want to try "another vampire" book right now. Then I realized I really WANTED to design my own cover and try selling my own book, so indie was a natural choice. (The only thing I don't like about indie is doing my own formatting. Ick.)

My favorite YA author is JK Rowling, of course. My favorite vampire author is Bram Stoker -- of course. Honestly, if I gave you a complete list of favorite authors, it'd take up a whole page.

Heaven Again - H. C. Turk

2011-10-30T06:00:00.000-07:00

Bio:
Hi, I'm H. C. Turk. Born in Michigan, now living in Florida, I'm a writer, visual artist, and recording artist. I have novels published by Villard and Tor, two novel excepts published in the Chicago Review, my images have appeared in numerous magazines and web-sites, my album, Thenever, is available at iTunes, and my music vids are some of the most unusual you'll ever see (for better or worse).

Book description:
Heaven Again is a literary novel of 70,000 words:
A child is murdered. Her father kills the murderer. These sad, disastrous deaths cause the parents to split. Then the murderer's sister seeks revenge by tormenting the parents with a child who resembles the dead girl. But the father is convinced his daughter still lives, and is willing to kill for her again. Death, despair, and revenge are the three evils that Glenn and Janet Alden defeat in Heaven Again, a story that ultimately is ingratiating and uplifting in depicting the profound reunion of husband and wife.

Q: What will e-readers like about your book?
A: With prose as compelling as its themes, Heaven Again is a story that will startle readers with its originality and utterly convincing voice.

Q: Why did you go indie?
A: Indie allows a faster, more direct connection to the reader.

Q: Who are your favorite authors in your genre?
A: Julio Cortazar, Samuel Beckett

Link to web site or blog or Amazon/Smashwords
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005MKQOT4
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/88504

The Fugitive's Doctor - Deirdre-Elizabeth Parker

2011-10-29T06:00:00.000-07:00

Bio: The Fugitive's Doctor is the debut novel by Deirdre-Elizabeth Parker. She lives in Florida.

Product description:

At the age of 51, Dr.Doretha Vaughn decides to join an online dating site to find a husband. Herdaughter warns her to be careful, but Vaughn trusts her judge of character andmeets Sam Cawley, a kind man who treats her like a queen. He fills her dayswith laughter and affection while providing a caring refuge from the dailysuffering and death she battles as an emergency physician.

After 8 years of happy marriage, a phone call from theBroward County Sheriff makes Vaughn question her happiness. She learns that SamCawley is really William Wallace, who has been on the run for 17 years, and isnow wanted on charges of identity theft and credit card fraud.

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

Whether readers supportVaughn’s decisions or shake their heads at her in amazement, Parker believesthey will be swept along her journey into the depths of a crisis that fewpeople can imagine. The author hopes that the book will make readers questiontheir own ability to offer unconditional love.

Q: Why did you go indie?
Technology and communication have changed the traditions of publishing and distribution. Indie is the future.

Q: Who are your favorite authors in your genre? "The Pilot's Wife" by Anita Shreve.

Link to web site or blog or Amazon
Website: www.dandbworkshop.com

Blog: http://dandbworkshop.blogspot.com/

Base Spirits - Ruth Barrett

2011-10-28T06:00:00.000-07:00

Bio: A Canadian actor-turned-fiction-writer-- mad for all things British-- who lives in Stratford, Ontario. Surrounded by theatre, art, music and a lively community of friends, I lead a slightly crazy, creative life.

Product description: In 1605, a Yorkshire nobleman's murderous rampage leaves a family shattered. The killer suffers a tortuous execution as his house is forever tarnished by blood and possessed by anguished spirits. On vacation, an unhappy modern couple unwittingly awaken a dark history. Clara is forced back in time to bear witness to the tragic saga, and Scott is overtaken by malevolent echoes. Only one player in this drama can survive.

Q: What will e-readers like about your book? It's a compelling, creepy read for a night by the fire or an overnight flight. Who doesn't love a ghost story?

Q: Why did you go indie? I've published short stories by the traditional method, but found getting a novel out there very frustrating. I like the options and control e-publishing gives to authors these days. The old self-publishing stigma is fading fast.

Q: Who are your favorite authors in your genre? It's a mixed genre piece: for horror-- Stephen King, Peter Straub and Scott Nicholson. For historical-- Louis Bayard, Sarah Waters and Michel Faber.

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Base-Spirits-ebook/dp/B005L38G8E/

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/84640

Blog: http://ruth-barrett-spiritedwords.blogspot.com

Jack Be Nimble: Gargoyle - Ben English

2011-10-27T06:00:00.000-07:00

Bio:

--My first thriller, Jack Be Nimble: Gargoyle, was based on a short story written for a literary contest while I was an undergraduate student. I attended Brigham Young University, where I studied international relations, English, and broadcast journalism. For some reason, I also hold an MBA with an emphasis in Global Management. In addition to working as a novelist, I am the head of marketing for an international technology services provider based in the San Francisco Bay Area, where I live with magnificent wife and two children. For more information, visit www.benenglishauthor.com.

Product description:

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

--Readers who enjoy fast-paced, electrifying stories that unfold in historically-rich settings will really enjoy Gargoyle, the first book in the Jack Be Nimble series.

The series follows a harrowing week in the lives of Americans Jack Flynn and Mercedes Adams as they race from Paris to London to L.A. to Havana, Cuba, to stop a brilliant technologist bent on global socio-economic ruin. Though separated for years, Mercedes and Jack discover the path to survival lies in their increasingly intertwined lives and in the secret history they share.

In “Gargoyle,” Jack is alone in Paris, left a widower by a clandestine operation gone wrong, his team of special operatives in disarray. Mercedes is at the pinnacle of her career as professional photographer, but left increasingly dissatisfied both by her success and the healing process following a recent divorce. Unbeknownst to her, a team of assassins has been dispatched to her home by an old family friend determined to uncover secrets left behind by her parents.

Gargoyle will appeal to lovers of thrillers, suspense, and romance. The follow-up novel in the series, Jack Be Nimble: Tyro, is also available, and the remaining two books in the series are slated to be available in the fall of 2011, before Christmas.

Q: Why did you go indie?

-- Can't imagine going any other way! I never seriously considered approaching the traditional publishing houses, and I absolutely love the idea of sharing these stories in a way that is most accessible to readers who love books, either in e-book or print.

Couldn’t have said this a few years ago, but from a business perspective there really aren’t many long-term benefit in going with a traditional publishing house. Indie publishing includes a vibrant, energetic community that will only grown as the publishing business continues to change.

Q: Who are your favorite authors in your genre?

Dean Koontz, Joseph Finder, Neal Stephenson, Lincoln Child, Douglas Preston, Tom Clancy, and Harry Harrison.

Link to web site or blog or Amazon/Smashwords

--Author Website: www.benenglishauthor.com

--Print: (Amazon) http://www.amazon.com/Jack-Be-Nimble-Gargoyle-1/dp/1463680899/

--Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Jack-Be-Nimble-Gargoyle-ebook/dp/B0058NX038/

--Nook: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Jack-Be-Nimble/Ben-English/e/2940011388699

--iBookstore: http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/jack-be-nimble-gargoyle/id452776235?mt=11

--Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/70137

Sophie's Turn - Nicky Wells

2011-10-26T06:00:00.000-07:00

SOPHIE'S TURN by NICKY WELLS

Bio:

Born and raised in Germany,I moved to the UK to study and work. I currently live in Bristol (UK) with myhusband and two children. Whilst expecting my first baby, I set out to write mypersonal “all-time favourite romantic comedy,” with all the laughter and tears,sex and introspection I would like to see in the perfect book. The result is Sophie's Turn... and I am working on the sequel, too!

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

Sophie's Turn is a rock star romance--yes, the male hero is a rock star, and Sophie has to make a choice between him and her fiance, Tim. The story is funny, honest, occasionally bittersweet, and very fast-paced. Who wouldn't marry their favourite star, given half a chance? The novel has a surprising but highly satisfactory ending. Book bloggers who have reviewed Sophie's Turn have called it the 'perfect chick lit book' and told me they absolutely want a sequel.

Here's the blurb: One fine day in Paris,Sophie Penhalligan suddenly finds herself engaged to her teenage crush andlove-of-her-life-from-a-distance, rock singer and star extraordinaire DanHunter. But there is the small matter of her very recent, but very prior,engagement to Tim. Reliable, honest, trusting Tim, her boyfriend of two yearsstashed away safely in his mews house in South Kensington while Sophie isdrinking rather too much champagne with Dan in Paris. The novel describes howSophie gets into this impossible situation and how she turns it around.

Q: Why did you go indie?

I decided to go 'indie' via Amazon Kindle because I like the fact that I'm in control of when I publish, where I publish and at what price. What's not to like? Sophie's Turn is available all over the world via the various amazon sites: amazon.co.uk, amazon.com and amazon.de.

Q: Who are your favorite authors in your genre?

Favorite authors in my genre include (but are by no means limited to) Catherine Alliott, Sophie Kinsella, Jane Green, Helen Fielding and Jill Mansell.

Link to web site or blog or Amazon/Smashwords (please could you insert the full sentence???Cheers!)

Find out more about Sophie's Turn, read its awesome reviews, or buy it, via my blog at: http://nickywellsklippert.wordpress.com/

How To Live Forever (A Very Fictional Guide) - Barry Burnett

2011-10-25T06:00:00.000-07:00

Bio:

Barry Burnett splits his life between family medicine and writing (with a little left over for family and healthy stuff) in Boulder, Colorado.

Product description:

How To Live Forever (A Very Fictional Guide) [Novel: 133K words]

Meet David Black, a young family doc whose solo practice has spectacularly tanked. So has his marriage; the two are not unrelated. His best friend, Oz, wants him to reinvent himself, offering their fellow Boulderites everything they need to live forever (or at least long enough for Oz to profit and retire).

David balks.

At first.

What follows is a romp of a read, a comedy with heart - from the characters who staff the new clinic to pursuit by pheromone-crazed wildlife, an entirely non-virtual cliff-hanger, and the love that, in the end, might save him.

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

--The story, which I hear is as fun and involving as the experience I had writing it.

--Personally, I'm crazy about the cast of characters, from Junie Blanche, a Katrina refugee and grad student who's way smarter than David, through the rest of the happy but confused Forever Clinic crew.

--Then there's Boulder, an excellent but often very quirky place to live.

--Finally, beneath the story and the characters is a modest amount of health information. Not how to live forever–I don't think anyone has a handle on that yet–but a mixed bag of mainstream and alternative approaches that frame out how to live well, which has to be most important, and how to have the best shot at living long.

--Oh–and it's free... for at least another month.

Q: Why did you go indie?

I've had some experience with an agent and publishers in New York, and realize that the multi-genre books I'm currently interested in writing are not the easy sells that a shaken industry is likely to take a chance on. Plus writing to the market never really worked for me--I write what I care about, with a certain driving passion, and then, when the product looks worthy, am stuck with getting it to readers myself. It would be so great to be a Famous Author, and see my words get gently caressed and fly out into bookstores everywhere, but but the few semi-famous ones I've met tell me it can be a tough hard fight for them as well. Lately, the best thing about indie publishing is been e-books, which allow some early polishing (done!) and low- (or no-) cost distribution to readers.

Q: Who are your favorite authors in your genre?

Alexander McCall Smith, Armistead Maupin (Tales of the City), Jane Smiley (Moo), David Lodge, Susan Isaacs, and Michael Malone (Handling Sin).

Direct free download links to Amazon, iBooks, and Smashwords, and a darn cheap one at Nook, are at howtoliveforever.com

Lucid Membrane - Tantra Bensko

2011-10-24T06:00:00.000-07:00

Bio:

I teach fiction writing online, focusing on experimental. I promote Experimental Writing through a large resource site of that name, and Exclusive Magazine, FlameFlower Contest, and LucidPlay Publishing. I have 170 creative writing publications in magazines, and many books including 4 chapbooks and this full length book.

Product description:

Short stories cover the range of the self, from the subconscious, “reg'lar” and expanded employing Absurdist whimsy, New Wave Fabulism, zany Realism, and Experimental explosions that move outside conventions in inventive ways. A young man tattoos a royal flush on the behinds of some of his classmates, the grand opening of his glow in the dark technique being the homecoming dance. Another man teams up with him, as he paints with hair regrowth ointment on skin, and they create a hair circus. A young woman finds a Sasquatch to sit for her elderly father in the rural south, while another lady nearby learns to read with her breasts, feeling the heat of the print against her skin.

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

Many say my stories puts them in altered states of awareness that they find very pleasurable. The book provides portals out of linearity, and identification of the self only as that which resides inside the skin, out of the default storyline based on a plot arc made of problems. The readers get to travel into other parts of the continuum, flying higher and delving deeper into the dreamy aspects of the self. To play.

And it's a transmedia book, so much of it is online. It's website is generous with including other people, and readers can take that further by putting the password that resides in the book into the Secret Womb page of the website, for more participatory fiction, images, and chances to collaborate with each other.

Q: Why did you go indie?

I never considered anything else. There is a love behind indie publishing that I like being part of. Tim Roux, of Night Publishing, does what he does not for commercial reasons, but out of a sense of mission. He's a kind, thoughtful man, with a great sense of humor, and has made friends out of a lot of writers he publishes.

Q: Who are your favorite authors in your genre? Kyle Muntz, Tom Robbins, Italo Calvino

Link to web site or blog or Amazon/Smashwords

http://lucidmembrane.weebly.com/

The Island of Whispers - Brendan Gisby

2011-10-23T00:01:00.000-07:00

Bio: Brendan Gisby was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, halfway through the 20th century, and was brought up just along the road in South Queensferry (the Ferry) in the shadow of the world-famous Forth Bridge. He presently lives on the fringes of an ancient volcano, Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh. Retiring from a business career in 2007, Brendan has devoted himself to writing. He has published two novels, The Island of Whispers and The Olive Branch; a collection of short stories about growing up in the Ferry during the 1950's and 1960's, Ferry Tales; and a biography of his late father, The Bookie’s Runner.

Product description: This is the story of a colony of rats living on an island under the world-famous Forth Railway Bridge. Ruled over by an ‘inner circle’ of evil fat rats, and in fear for their lives, a group of lowly ‘watchers’ attempts to brave the stormy waters and scale the giant bridge in a bid for freedom. But celebrations for the bridge's centenary are about to begin.... will they make it? A story of oppression overcome, fierce loyalty, dreams and devastation. Grisly to the end, but with heart. You'll never look at those little islands in the same way again.

Q: What will e-readers like about your book? The book should appeal to readers of all ages, especially those who have read and liked Watership Down. Although the central characters are rats rather than rabbits, readers quickly forget their natural aversion to rodents and become immersed in the story. And they say the story is every bit as good as Watership Down!

Q: Why did you go indie? Given the impossibility of a new and unknown author placing his first manuscript with a conventional publisher, it was inevitable that I should go indie. But I’ve no regrets about taking that route.

Q: Who are your favorite authors in your genre? For meaningful stories based on animal societies, my top choice has to be the master himself, Richard Adams. Running a close second is another master storyteller, George Orwell, who penned the wonderful Animal Farm.

Website: http://the4bs.weebly.com

Amazon.com Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/The-Island-of-Whispers-ebook/dp/B004HZXQ2S

Amazon.co.uk Kindle: http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Island-of-Whispers-ebook/dp/B004HZXQ2S

Barnes & Noble NOOK: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/island-of-whispers-brendan-gisby/1103109505?ean=2940011113734&itm=1&usri=brendan%2bgisby

Kobo: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/The-Island-of-Whispers/book-YQEz64x_AkS0BwVx0O1vbQ/page1.html?rId=fb7a9702-d97f-4a96-a20d-c8fbaf3f37bc

Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/26019

The Last American Martyr - Tom Winton

2011-10-22T06:00:00.000-07:00

Bio: Tom Winton was born and raised in New York City. During his working career he has done everything from working on a railroad gang in the Colorado Rockies to driving a taxicab in Manhattan. Now retired, he has also been a mailman, a salesman, an entrepreneur and more. He lives in Hobe Sound, Florida, with his wife Blanche and their ill-tempered but loveable Jack Russell terrier, Ginger. They spend part of their time in Carmel, Maine.

Product Description: It doesn’t happen often, but every now and then one small soul rises from the crowded depths of obscurity and causes the earth to wobble on its axis. This last happened in 2008 when an unemployed doorman, in a secondhand Goodwill suit, stepped onto the worldwide stage in Stockholm and accepted The Nobel Prize for Literature.

In this me-me twenty-first century, Thomas Soles may very well be the last American martyr. This self-described “simple man” writes a simple book that resuscitates the all-but-dead international labor movement. The response to his thoughts and perceptions are astounding. All around the globe, from pole to pole, from America to Zimbabwe, the marching footsteps of workers, young and old, tremor the earth. But not everyone is pleased. There’s a tight-knit, elitist clique that is absolutely livid over the thoughts and ideals that fill the pages of his book. And the moment Tom and his wife, Elaina, return home from Sweden, they realize just how angry this profit-hungry mob really is.

Q—What will readers like about your book? Firstly, it’s a very timely book! With struggling people and economies all over the world, most readers will in one way or another easily relate to the subject matter. Also, The Last American Martyr is a suspenseful novel sandwiched between two heartrending romances. Already it seems to be garnering a very wide reading audience.

Q—Why did you go indie? After ten agents asked for all or part of my debut novel, Beyond Nostalgia, last July (yes TEN agents--four in one day) I allowed myself some hope. But I did not have one taker. Several said they were “sure” I’d find the right agent “soon”, but it didn’t happen. I was then approached by a small indie publisher, and Beyond Nostalgia came out this past February. By the way, this book that ten agents nixed...it has been on four Amazon Bestseller lists at one time and three “Top Rated” charts.

Q—Who are your favorite authors in your genre?—Odd as this is going to sound, I don’t read a whole lot of suspense. Though, like I said, The Last American Martyr is suspense in the middle of two romances, it somehow evolved into that. I had a rough idea of what the story was going to be, but I let the MC, Thomas Soles, take me wherever he wanted. My favorite authors are Pat Conroy, Steinbeck, and Jim Harrison, just to name a few.

The Last American Martyr link: http://www.amazon.com/The-Last-American-Martyr-ebook/dp/B005GFM764/

The Defender - Mark Chisnell

2011-10-21T06:00:00.000-07:00

Bio:

Mark Chisnell is the author of the Kindle chart-topping thrillers The Defector and The Wrecking Crew, as well as award-winning works of non-fiction. He's a sometime professional racing sailor and also works as a broadcaster and journalist, writing for some of the world's leading magazines and newspapers, including Esquire and the Guardian.

Product description:

What will you do, when it's you or them? This is the dilemma at the heart of The Defector - can Martin Cormac turn his back on his ruthless past as a currency trader, a big city player, and do the right thing? Not when he's looking for answers in a succession of sleazy dives.

One night, Cormac gets caught trying to chat up the bar owner's girlfriend and soon needs rescuing. Unfortunately, his white knight is anything but - Janac's a drug baron with a psychotic urge to test people to the limit, and if possible... over it. And soon Cormac is running from more than his past, he's running from the most dangerous game he will ever play.

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

The page-turning, stomach churning pace.

Q: Why did you go indie?

It's a transitional time in publishing, eBooks are the future and the fastest way to be a part of it and get it out onto eReaders was to do it myself.

Q: Who are your favorite authors in your genre?

Ian Fleming and Alistair MacLean. The latter is almost forgotten now, but he was a hugely successful thriller writer in the 1960s and 1970s, and I could inhale one of his books in an afternoon when I was a kid. And as for Ian Fleming, what hasn’t already been said about the man who brought us James Bond?

Link to web site or blog or Amazon/Smashwords:

http://www.markchisnell.com/

Being Human - Patricia Lynne

2011-10-20T06:00:00.000-07:00

Bio: Patricia Lynne never set out to become a writer, and in fact, wasn't very good at it during high school and college. But some stories are meant to be told and this one chose her. Patricia lives with her husband in Michigan, hopes one day to have what will resemble a small petting zoo and has a fondness for dying her hair the colors of the rainbow.

Product description:For Tommy, there is only one thing he needs to do: survive.

Only surviving isn't that easy. The hunt for blood can be tricky when humans know to fear the night. Desire sits on the edge of his mind, urging him to become the monster humans think he is. Vampire Forces, a special branch of police, is determined to turn every vampire to ash. Tommy included.

The only human Tommy can trust is his twin brother. A bond connects them, and with Danny's help, Tommy starts to understand the human world he struggles to survive in. He'll learn what friendships means and feel the sting of betrayal, find that sometimes the worst monsters are very human, and come to understand that family means more than blood.

Tommy just wants to survive and he knows what he needs to do. But with the number of humans that mean more to him than a meal growing, he'll learn there's more to life than simple survival. He'll discover being human doesn't mean being a human.

Q: What will e-readers like about your book?I am having a really hard time figuring out the answer to this question. I've typed a few different things and scraped them all. Honestly, I really just hope the reader enjoys getting lost in my world I created. That when they put the book down, they realize they forgot the real world existed, forgot any worries and just enjoyed the story. I do think readers will like the twist I gave to vampires. I really wanted to get away from the same old same old I've kept seeing stories take and put a new light on vampires.

Q: Why did you go indie?

When looking into whether to go indie or traditional, indie just felt like the better options. Things seem so hectic with publishers and indie is making great leaps. Plus, it really appealed to the do-it-yourself in me. I love being in control of all aspects. Even the ones that are a bit difficult or tricky.

Q: Who are your favorite authors in your genre?

Heather Brewer, author of The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod. She just inspired me to try and her stories take me to another world. I love everything she writes.

Link to web site or blog or Amazon/Smashwords

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/84106

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005JNBWBO

http://plbjourney.blogspot.com/

(C)rock Stories: Million Dollar Tales of Music, Mayhem and Maturity - Dave Brigham

2011-10-19T06:00:00.000-07:00

Bio:

I grew up in a small town in Connecticut, and started writingstories in the 3^rd grade. I discovered college radio when I was 17;bands I’ve loved over the years include the Flaming Lips, Butthole Surfers,Naked Raygun, Sonic Youth, Giant Sand, Dead Kennedys, Fugazi, Echo & theBunnymen, New Order, Frightened Rabbit, Chin Up Chin Up and Clinic. For somereason, it took me until age 35 to hit upon the idea of writing fiction aboutmusic. I used real-life events, bands and friends to build a collection ofconnected short stories that touch on universal themes such as love, death,friendship and self-discovery. I've lived outside Boston for 20 years and am a Red Sox fanatic.

Product description:

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

In "(C)rock Stories: Million-Dollar Tales of Music, Mayhem and Immaturity," there are 15 lively stories centered on punk rock, classic rockand post-punk. You don’t have to like those kinds of music, or music at all(but who the hell doesn’t like music?) to enjoy the book. The stories are aboutgrowing up, figuring out who you are, trying to understand love and friendshipsand having fun.

Q: Why did you go indie?

I spent the better part of 10 years writing my collection, andhonestly, I just wanted to get it out there, and wasn’t interested in spendingmy time trying to sell the book to agents or publishers. I wanted to get it onthe market and then use it to wave in front of publishers’ faces when I’m readyto put something else out.

Q: Who are your favorite authors in your genre?

I don’t read enough, but some fiction I’ve enjoyed in recentyears is Joe Pernice’s “Meat Is Murder”; Tom Perrotta’s “Little Children”;Steve Almond’s “My Life In Heavy Metal”; and Peter Bognanni’s “House ofTomorrow.”

Link to web site or blog or Amazon/Smashwords

http://www.amazon.com/rock-Stories-Million-Dollar-Immaturity-ebook/dp/B004RQ82MG/

Funeral Party - Paul L. McMurray

2011-10-18T06:00:00.000-07:00

BIO

I grew up on the SW side of Chicago and then lived in nearby suburbs and mainly stayed out of serious trouble thanks to my strict-but-kind mom and a top-ranking relative on the CPD. I worked a lot of jobs, including selling insurance in the “inner city”, where I had a loaded gun pointed at my head twice (by undercover cops, not residents) but didn’t get shot, and learned to look out for roving packs of feral dogs. I also remember gratefully the many good people there who checked the windows first so I didn’t get robbed and/or my butt kicked. I then joined my family in owning and running the 2^nd largest private campground in SE Wisconsin (at the time and may still be). I’m busy working on the next Zak & Freddy (Funeral Party) caper—The Wilding—because my lovely wife won’t let me start cocktail hour until I finish a lot of pages each day.

I live in Wisconsin but travel frequently to Chicago for more “research”, which usually involves Italian beef sandwiches and beer after driving around some bad neighborhoods with Mike Da’ Cop or other protective drivers.

And while I might sound like I’m joking around in my BIO , I’m serious about my writing. I just talk this way.

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION

FUNERAL PARTY (Mystery, Murder, and Martinis: On The Run). (Approximately 154,000 words; Adult Content—contains sex, violence, and frequent profanity). Tavern owner and former bagman for the Chicago Outfit while he was a cop, Zak O’Neill is forced to do one more job for his old Mob boss: take the gangster’s girlfriend out on a date to see if she can be trusted. Of course she can’t—but for an entirely different reason than suspected—and Zak is forced to shoot his way out of a set-up and flee, leaving behind his tavern, his house, and the girl he’s in lust with. Driving far north into Wisconsin to hide, low on cash and gas and lost, Zak winds up at a desolate saloon and all too soon wonders if he wasn’t better off back in Chicago , hit-men be damned. Besides the fact that he’s a hated Flatlander in Cheesehead-land, there’s the hulking but too-short Freddy who’s always looking for a fight, the WANTED fax with Zak’s face that brings those darned bounty hunters, the mysterious private club that hosts a funeral party complete with strippers dancing around the casket, and finally the ultimatum: Die here, or head into dangerous territory to deal with gangs, guns, and a lot of missing money.

WHAT WILL E-READERS LIKE ABOUT YOUR BOOK?

I use a lot of Chicago flavoring, and Wisconsin also, and even if you’re not from either place, I think you’ll get the feel. Some of my characters are not good people, and their dialogue reflects that—they are definitely not PC (and please re-read the Adult Content disclaimer, eh?). But that’s the way certain people talk and act, and there it is. For $2.99, I think you get a lot of bang for your bucks (no pun intended).

WHY DID YOU GO INDIE?

I was in the “200 Rejection Club” for some long-ago submissions and quit writing. Somehow I found Scot Nicholson’s 100 Blog Tour (I think it was that many; I just know I went back to any I could still get onto for the Kindle contest). I mainly wanted the Kindle, but the more I read each blog, I saw examples of good writing being published, works that might still be stuck under a coffee cup (or a martini) on a NY desk. I decided then to do it right (and give myself my own rejection slips when I wrote under-par) and publish it when I decided it was ready.

WHO ARE YOUR FAVORITE AUTHORS IN YOUR GENRE?

I re-read Ed McBain and Robert B. Parker, and I’m waiting for the next Michael Connelly and Lee Child, but it’s not right to say that’s “my genre”. What I will always try for is because of a book I read as a kid: Step Right Up! (aka Memoirs of a Sword-Swallower) by Daniel P. Mannix. I had read a lot of crime and mystery from a young age, but Mr. Mannix, in his autobiography about joining a carnival (so definitely not my genre), just impressed the hell out of me with the way every paragraph, long or short, kept me reading until I couldn’t stay awake anymore. Check it out.

LINKS are at my blog: http://mcmurraymysteries.blogspot.com

The Extraordinary Adventure of Ordinary Alice - Rebecca Rivinius

2011-10-17T06:00:00.000-07:00

I'm a new author who is also a stay-at-home mom and a proud Air Force wife of eight years. I was born and raised on a farm in North Dakota and I currently live in Florida. My love affair with books began pretty much the moment I learned to read. In my spare time, when I'm not reading, I'm usually cooking. Sometimes I try to do both at the same time! The first thing I ever wrote was a story for my son. One day, my husband and I were talking about writing and I said, "I could never write a full length novel!" I had challenged myself without even realizing it. The moment the words were out of my mouth, I knew I had to try and I immediately began writing THE EXTRAORDINARY ADVENTURE OF ORDINARY ALICE.

In THE EXTRAORDINARY VENTURE OF ORDINARY ALICE, Alice, a wife and stay-at-home mother to three boys under the age of nine, is content with her regular and somewhat boring routine. She is not looking forward to her family’s vacation in a beach house in Mexico because she knows all too well how complicated things can get with three small children. Therefore, she is hardly surprised when an array of funny mishaps occurs. But what Alice is not expecting is to be caught up in the life of the mysterious artist who lives down the beach. This encounter forces her to discover how she truly feels about herself and the life she has created. Alice is given the opportunity to determine the answer to the question that lies deep within us all—Are we truly happy?

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

I think e-readers will enjoy the fact that they can relate to the main character. As the title suggests, Alice is an ordinary person. I wanted to create a character where anyone who reads about her can say "Oh my god, that's me" at some point in the book.

Q: Why did you go indie?

I decided to go indie after attending a conference about publishing children's books. A main theme throughout the conference was how the publishing world is currently in turmoil and the difficulties authors are facing with a traditional publisher. I felt very defeated. The reason I wrote this book was to share my story with family, friends, and all the people out there who I knew would be able to relate to Alice's story. Going "indie" seemed to be the best way to accomplish that goal.

Q: Who are your favorite authors in your genre?

I love so many books by so many different authors. And different genres serve different purposes for me. When I need to laugh, I pick up Sophie Kinsella. When I want to think, I pick up Jodi Picoult. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden, and Sister by Rosamund Lupton are also three of my favorites.

http://www.amazon.com/Extraordinary-Adventure-Ordinary-Alice-ebook/dp/B00538H53O/

Road Rules - Jim Winter

2011-10-16T06:00:00.000-07:00

Bio:

Jim Winter is a web developer by day, middle-aged student, stepfather, and writer by night. Since 2001, his crime fiction has appeared in Plots With Guns, Thug Lit, and the upcoming West Coast Crime Wave. He is the author of 2005's Northcoast Shakedown. Originally from Cleveland, Jim makes his home in Cincinnati with his wife Nita and stepson AJ.

Product description:

The road trip to Hell starts with a stolen car. Stan and Mike take what they think is an easy trip to Florida to deliver a collectible Cadillac. Little do they know that they're hauling something much more important in their trunk. And everyone wants it: The Feds, the Catholic Church, a deeply spiritual - if sex and cocaine addicted - Cuban drug lord, and a desperate PI dressed as a truckstop hooker. Instead of a week prowling the beaches of Miami, they end up in a showdown on a sleepy Sunday morning in Savannah. It's high noon in the garden of good and evil.

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

We often hear about how criminals are really not all that bright. This is the story of what happens when their mental reach exceeds their limited grasp. It is equal parts Elmore Leonard, Donald Westlake, and JA Konrath, laced with a healthy dose of sarcasm.

Q: Why did you go indie?

I had an agent shop this and get some really good looks, but as publishing is trying to figure out what it wants to be in this new world of ereaders and disappearing bookstores, I realized I'd probably do better going it alone.

Q: Who are your favorite authors in your genre?

I am a huge fan of Ken Bruen and Dennis Lehane, as well as Stuart MacBride and Ed McBain.

Amazon