It's Author Tuesday!

Usually, I post an author interview on Tuesday but as my author hasn't gotten back to me, I will take the time to promote other authors' work I have been more than privileged to read and explore. I consider it the least I can do for the indie writer community. 


There are many of us out there who are so incredibly talented, I feel absolutely overwhelmed they would share their work with me, yet another indie writer. 


I never hear indie authors complain they have nothing to read as we have so many sources, often times free books are involved for a review (and no, it doesn't have to be favorable); I've had several okay reviews from other indie authors and believe me, it is about improving our craft so we can compete with the big 6, not giving each other high fives for a *mediocre* job well done. I would like to share some of the authors I have read and know. Will you appreciate all their work? No, but if you find one to like or love then that is worth this post in gold. Without further ado, here they are!


Libby Hellmann: She doesn't need an intro from me but she is amazingly talented and I have just started reading her work. I started off with Easy Innocence, a very gripping read, but I also have Toxicity and Set the Night on Fire to read as well. This woman knows her work and easily is one of the best female writers out there in the mystery/detective sleuths category. I would easily put her in the same category as J Carson Black. 

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Easy-Innocence-Georgia-Davis-ebook/dp/B001UE8J4Y

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Set-Night-Fire-ebook/dp/B004C43IFY/

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Toxicity-Georgia-Davis-Prequel-ebook/dp/B005KK9MM2

Tracie McBride: I can't say enough good things about this author. Not only does she have a wicked collection of haunting stories available on Amazon called Ghosts Can Bleed but she has helped me with my work several times. It is an honor to know her and I think myself a lucky person to have discovered her at all. She is talented and I am waiting for a full length novel by her which hopefully will be coming out soon. 

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Ghosts-Can-Bleed-ebook/dp/B004XTX056

Christine DeMaio-Rice: The women is not only an author but a very talented cover artist as well (Ms. DeMaio-Rice has also done several covers for me, including Forever 27). Did I mention she just released a new book called Dead Is the New Black? Perfect for a cold night in a warm house and just about anyone who liked Sex & The City for the fashion element alone. This woman knows a grip about the industry and she's just opened the doors for all to see!

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Black-Fashion-Avenue-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B005MEG38C/

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Valley-World-Fantasy-Elementals-ebook/dp/B004QWZBMK

L.M. Pruitt: Okay, this is a shout out to one of my girls. I have a few others I will be promoting but her first novel, Shades of Gray, was a ride I just wasn't expecting. She is an excellent paranormal/urban fantasy author and I believe she will blow everyone's socks off when she releases her next novel titled Frankie. Sign me up, I am waiting with bated breath!

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Shades-Gray-Magdalyn-Novel-ebook/dp/B005HB1J1G

Laura Eno: Mmm, an author I can kindly mention Dean Koontz next to and not flinch. Her novel, Deadly Intent, is very gripping and I can't describe it any other way. It is one of those books which holds you close and doesn't want to let go. She has also dipped into fantasy with other works and romance too. This is definitely a renaissance woman we are talking about here and a Jill of all genre trades!

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Deadly-Intent-ebook/dp/B005CRGQ1S

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Tempest-Child-ebook/dp/B0052Z93NS

Lizzy Ford: Another renaissance woman, here! She even does YA which is a plus because when my daughter comes to me begging for something more grown up, I know what to  download for her Kindle. Did I also mention Lizzy gives a lot of her books away for free? What can be better than that? Better start snapping them up before the door shuts and she starts charging for all her books (she should)!

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Damians-Oracle-ebook/dp/B004JN0KHM

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Katies-Hellion-Rhyn-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B005347RCW

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Maddys-Oasis-ebook/dp/B0059JF6BU/

Sarah Woodbury: I have to give another shout out to my dear friend and YA author. I love her books set in ancient world of King Arthur's court. She is absolutely talented and although she needs no help from me in the sales department, she is a wonderful author who knows way too much about a more chivalrous period. Another I wouldn't have any problem downloading for my daughter's Kindle.

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Good-Knight-Medieval-Mystery-ebook/dp/B005OLTU8I

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Last-Pendragon-Saga-Pendragons-ebook/dp/B005MGAOS0

Shea MacLeod: I have given this girl so many shout outs, I can only hope it helps her shift some copies of her work. The Sunwalker Saga is by far my favorite paranormal collection of work and she has a new series coming out next month. Can I just say triple wow? And we have another Morgan Bailey book on its way in December. She just made my Christmas!

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Kissed-Fire-Sunwalker-Saga-ebook/dp/B005I58P1S

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Kissed-Darkness-Sunwalker-Saga-ebook/dp/B0058PIWJ8

Sebastian P. Breit: One of the first men on this list but he is talented and did I mention he's German? As in born and bred? Which makes Wolf Hunt, a novel set in both the future and past a gripping piece of work as it is written in English and not just "English to get by English" but actual, gripping and moving English which takes you right there in this bleak world of what could be and what might be if we continue on the world course we are now. I absolutely loved this novel from the first word. I can't wait until the next novel is released.

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Wolf-Hunt-Burning-Ages-ebook/product-reviews/B0056QJGN0

Allen Schatz: Can I just say wow? First I should preface this whole love letter by saying I don't like baseball but his Game 7: Dead Ball changed my mind about the whole sport. I still wouldn't watch it on television but I am more than happy to read about any baseball analogies he has in this gripping series. I am loving it!

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Game-7-Dead-Ball-ebook/dp/B004R9QVFS

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Inning-Death-Marshall-Connors-ebook/dp/B0052XP9HE

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Rally-Killer-Marshall-Connors-ebook/dp/B005H0XO42

Mike Cooley: My favorite prankster who happens to be a very talented writer. He won me over with his little indie publishing memoir, Traditional Publishing is My B*tch, and his lovely satirical short, How To Keep Sparkly Emo Vampires Off Your Lawn, a tirade from an eighty year old man who wants to be left alone but the vampires and zombies just won't go away! Did I mention he is a renaissance man and has a wonderful sci-fi novel by way of The Crystal Warrior and more novels in store? The man is a genius.

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Crystal-Warrior-Legend-Crystals-ebook/dp/B004RPZRMK

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Keep-Sparkly-Vampires-Your-ebook/dp/B0056KOMWG

M. Edward McNally: He has a fantastic YA collection that I would definitely trust my daughter to read in a few years when she is of age. He also has three short story collections he is giving away for free. The man sure knows how to reel 'em in and I am more than happy to help. Enjoy!

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Sable-City-Norothian-Cycle-ebook/dp/B004PLNNLS

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Eddies-Shorts-Volume-1-ebook/dp/B005ESFVV6

Athanasios: Another talented author who also happens to be a cover artist (see The Beautiful People series for an example of his fine art). He excels at both and can be found doodling over on his website when he isn't writing the follow up to his own curious take on the anti-Christ aptly titled Mad Gods.

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Mad-Gods-Revelation-Cancelled-ebook/dp/B004QOA768

Fellow bloggers, let's just say I don't ever want to hear from you I didn't give you anything. If you can't find a few books (or ten) from these authors to read then you are a tough crowd or I must have not covered the genre you like. No worries, I can wax poetic about indie authors all day. Look for an author Thursday. I left off a *lot* of talented people. Although on Thursday, it will be ladies' day. I suppose that will make next Tuesday mens' day but I'm hoping I will have an actual author interview to upload. Enjoy and happy reading!

Interview with Arshad Ahsanuddin

So, I am back on the Indie Writers Unite Blog Tour and this week, I am proud to announce I am hosting the talented Arshad Ahsanuddin, author of the Pact Arcanum series, or shall I say saga? These books are detailed works of art. I wanted to mix things up a bit though. Arshad seems so serious so I asked him some very fun and silly questions. He was only too happy to oblige. Without further ado, here is our interview:

1)      If you were an animal what kind of animal would you be?

Phoenix

2)      What is your favorite color?

Silver

3)      What would I find in your refrigerator right now?

Lots of take-out.

4)   If you could be any character in fiction, whom would you be?

Edmond Dantes, The Count of Monte Cristo.

5)      What was the last movie you went to see?

Green Lantern

6)      If someone wrote a biography about you, what do you think the title should be? 

Rapid Cycling

7)      If you were a type of food, what type of food would you be?

Pizza

8)  If you were a car, what kind would you be?

Lexus

9)  What kind of people do you dislike?

Self-righteous, arrogant jerks.

10)  How many close friends do you have?

Currently, six.

Arshad's Contact Info:

Website:  http://pactarcanum.com/

Blog:  http://pactarcanum.com/blog/

Facebook Page:  http://www.facebook.com/pactarcanum

Twitter Handle:  http://twitter.com/pactarcanum

Amazon.com Author page:  http://www.amazon.com/Arshad-Ahsanuddin/e/B004YNJKKA

Goodreads Profile:  http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4759071.Arshad_Ahsanuddin

Arshad's Pact Arcanum Saga

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/61128
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Sunset-Pact-Arcanum-ebook/dp/B004TTWMNG
Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/sunset-arshad-ahsanuddin/1102946111

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/61241
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Sunrise-Pact-Arcanum-ebook/dp/B004SC9PVG
Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/sunrise-arshad-ahsanuddin/1102511376

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/62966
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Moonlight-Pact-Arcanum-ebook/dp/B00584OITW
Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/moonlight-arshad-ahsanuddin/1103802280

Write What You Know?

This post will be quite light-hearted and I admit, it peaked my interest based upon a thread running on Indie Writer's Unite. There is an old adage that we as authors should write what we know. Why, you ask, well, apparently if we tax our brains too much on subjects we don't know, suspension of disbelief will be lost and all we will produce is a bunch of drivel.


Say what?


I'm assuming Frank Herbert, James Patterson, Dean Koontz and Stephen King are writing what they know.


Mr. Herbert had the opportunity of exploring different galaxies and created a whole series behind it. You might have heard of the first novel in the series as it was a highly successful 80s film with a young Kyle MacLachlan, Sting (aka real name Gordon Sumner) et al called Dune.


We just know James Patterson writes what he knows. Not only has been been a black cop/former FBI agent who resides in Washington D.C. but he has also been an Irish Catholic police officer on the force in NY City, and a female police officer in San Francisco; in all three of his previous lives, he's dealt with more than his fair share of crazies, serial killers, et cetera.


Dean Koontz must be totally off his rocker, poor thing. I don't blame him for turning to religion; I would have too if I'd lived his life. Not only has he been haunted by the government (yep, it's always the "Man" trying to hold us down, y'all!) but he has been chased by aliens and seen demons hiding in people's bodies not to mention he has toyed around with some very disturbing serial killers who like to kill for sport, including his sex-change operation stint as a young Hollywood actress who was hunted by not one but two serial killing identical brothers from the wine country in California.


Poor Stephen King, the man must be mad as a hatter. Not only has he dealt with crazies and vampires but he has written of giant rats, a red-neck town taken over by aliens and he has met one of the Devil's minions himself and lived to tell about it. Then there are just all those wacky short stories he writes and we all remember how he suffered at the hands of his "number one" fan. It's nice to know medicine has really come far and he was able to make full use of his legs after what that crazy woman did to him. Do any of you people remember Misery? Everyone knows that was based upon his life as a number-one best-selling author!


Okay, you all get my point. I just find it a bit too hard to write what I know. I actually like doing research, believe it or not. I like exploring the deep secrets of Hollywood but the paranormal world is just as exciting. No, I have never been any of the characters I have written but I have faked them all quite well.


If I wrote only what I knew, all my stories would be sappy poetry the queens of Country music would froth at the mouth to turn into those heartbreaking songs we all know too well. My life, in the best possible way for me to phrase this, is a bit of a Lifetime movie and as I have lived it, well, I don't particularily want to go down memory lane again, you know what I mean?


So, I'll stick to what I am good at: making stuff up. It's easy and with countless research and a good plot, suspension of disbelief takes care of itself. The joys of being a writer: really, when you write, there are no hard and fast rules, and to me, that is just pure poetry!


Question of the Blog Day: Should authors only write what they know?
***All those who answer automatically qualify for a copy of my new novelette, Forever 27 (The 27 Club series) on an ebook format of your choice***



 What I am Reading: Morgan Bailey is in a world of trouble and this time, if she doesn't solve an earth-shattering mystery, a race of creatures thought to be extinct will be in very real trouble of the myth becoming a reality. Great reading and impossible for me to put down. Yeah, I'm drawing it out but it's like that with Shea MacLeod's novels. I don't *quite* like them to end.

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/82621
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Kissed-Fire-Sunwalker-Saga-ebook/dp/B005I58P1S
Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/kissed-by-fire-shea-macleod/1105160405

Added to my TBR List:

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/87158
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Black-Fashion-Avenue-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B005MEG38C

Exclusively on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Life-But-Dream-Grace-ebook/dp/B004JU21YU

Note: I mistakenly attributed Dune to L. Ron Hubbard when it was in fact Frank Herbert. I thank Mr. Ahsanuddin for noticing the error.

The Politics of an Artist

I began thinking about this certain subject after I unfollowed someone on Twitter for talk I thought was just inflammatory and unfair. It reminds me of a particular episode which happened almost twelve years ago when one of my favorite artists, Marilyn Manson, said in an interview he would be voting for George W. Bush in the upcoming elections. Bush's camp responded that they had no wish to be associated with such an artist and thus, he could keep his "vote". 


All the people who read my blog tend to notice I stay out of politics and with good reason. It is like religion for me. You never know how another person feels and instead of insulting someone, I would rather insult no one at all. I don't know whether half my friends are Republicans, Democrats or Anarchists and I don't much care either because I feel everyone has the given right to think any way they wish. As long as we are friends, I consider there to be a mutual respect there; you respect the way I feel about certain issues and I will respect yours as long as the way you feel isn't defamatory or out and out racist in concept. I still take each individual as they come and never make blanket statements about any ethnic group of people. I tend to think of a lot of the problems we have in society nowadays as being class rather than race-ethnic issues. Poverty has touched people across the color scope and as long as those wealthy corporate industrialists realize they can continue to use the Proletariat's prejudices against them, they will.


So, what is this post really about? Well, I was discussing with a group of my friends about Stephenie Meyer and Twilight series. I didn't realize many of her fans didn't know she was a Mormon. There isn't much wrong with her choosing to be a Mormon but as they have some pretty inflammatory opinions about non-white people, I am a bit weary of anyone who chooses this sect of Christianity for themselves. It's a bit like asking a Jewish person to be friends with a neo-Nazi and hope their views about people of the Jewish persuasion don't get in the way. 


Ms. Meyer is an artist but she is also a person and we as people have free will to believe in what ever we want to believe in; what we might want to keep in mind is the public will find out and there might come a time when someone decides not to buy your work because of your personal views. I realize this all too well (I sometimes think I should have gone into Marketing had I not had a knack for writing). Once you become famous, your views no longer belong to you and what ever you think, you have the ability to influence, especially if you are an artist.


Has Mr. Manson turned me into a hardcore Republican? I'm afraid not; then again, he isn't one of those hardcore Republicans but a more moderate one who's more concerned with the bottom line. Republicans have always been, generally, the low-tax party and Democrats, the high-tax party. If you were a millionaire superstar, which party would you choose (unless you were disgustingly Warren Buffet-Bill Gates-Oprah Winfrey rich and don't much care about paying your share of the taxes)? I don't know about you but I'm not that wealthy yet and probably never will be. I don't mind paying taxes but I would like to bring some money home too. These are the values of the Republican party I have always found to be sensible. The morality issues, well, I won't open up that can of worms because that's what this whole post is about, offending people without really knowing it.


Yes, there are some people out there who are easily offended and it doesn't really matter what you say or do because they would look for an excuse not to buy your work anyway. But when you are talking about issues of ethnicity, sexuality (ie: areas of life people don't decide as there isn't a line you settle into before you are born to choose whether you want to be strictly hetero or strictly homo, Polish or Italian, Somalian or Lebanese, Japanese or Korean ... that's kind of outside any of our control, know what I mean?), it is always best to err on the side of caution.


Question(s) of the Blog Day: Do you think your political outlook influences your work as an artist? Do you feel you should be able to express yourself as artist regardless whether anyone is offended by your views or not, or do you believe it is okay to self-censor and tone it down a bit?

What I am Reading:
What is Morgan Bailey up to now? Buy Kissed By Fire and read for yourself!

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/82621
Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1105160405
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Kissed-Fire-Sunwalker-Saga-ebook/dp/B005I58P1S

Added to My TBR List:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/HALLOWEEN-COLLECTION-INDIE-ECLECTIVE-ebook/dp/B005LPGG0C
Available Free on Smashwords:  https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/86993

A Change of a Dress... ;-)

I want to thank Athanasios for the work he has done on all my covers. This isn't a full post, just one thanking my new cover artist.

Here is a link to his website: http://www.mad-gods.com/
And his blog: http://mad-gods.com/blog/

He doesn't just work for me. He'll work for an author (indie/published/Big 6/whatever) who needs a little cover action so give 'em some love!