The Sovereign Order of Monte Cristo by @SultanOfSalem #Action #Adventure #GoodReads

After the much-needed bath, Dantes puts on his dressing gown and lies down on his old bed, which he finds deeply comforting. He has played and traveled hard over the past few busy years, and he knows it has worn on him; there is more silver in his hair than before. He hopes to slow down soon, for he loves his new home with his family close by and misses them terribly. The sweet, baby faces of his daughters loom in the darkness of his closed eyes. How blessed he is! He resolves to enjoy Paris while he is here, though. He wants to go to the opera while he is in town and also visit a few of his favorite haunts. Finally, he falls fast asleep, only to awaken to a servant telling him the meal is nearly ready.

The servant helps Dantes dress and leads him to the dining room.

“The table looks divine,” Dantes says, thinking how nice it is to be out of his traveling clothes and into something more refined. He looks at the spread before him—fresh fruit and vegetables, as well as two huge pheasants with mint jelly. The yeasty smell of homemade bread fills the air and makes his mouth water.

“I hope this pleases you, sir,” Valentine tells him. “I know the food in America is quite different. Perhaps you have become too accustomed to their fare to appreciate ours.”

“Oh, nothing can compare to a good French meal, although American food has its own charms. When the baby is old enough to travel, you will all have to visit my estate in Georgia. It’s a different world, but one I believe you will enjoy,” Dantes tells them.

Just then, he hears the creak of a wheelchair. In comes M. Noirtier. Dantes rushes over to him and bids him hello.

“My old friend!” he says. “My heart fills with joy to see you—let us enjoy this magnificent feast as well as one another’s company.”

The next morning, Dantes plans to visit more of his old friends, at least those who still reside in Paris. A carriage awaits him in the hazy light of dawn, and he is flooded with memories as he drives through the streets. He wishes Mercedes and Haydee could be at his side, but knows his daughters are far too young for such travel; it would exhaust them.

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Genre – Action, Adventure

Rating – PG-15

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Website http://holyghostwriterbooks.blogspot.ca/

Carlos Aranda's Thoughts on Finding the Right Publisher @Losman1976 #IndieAuthor #WriteTip

Now there are many options when it comes to getting published. I will start with what I know most about and that is traditional publishers. There are very few these days that have open submission. Most traditional publishers today require that you go through a literary agent first. The only issue that I have with going with an agent is that, this in one more person cutting into the profits from your book. The advantage to using an agent is getting your book into a better company that will make up for the extra percentage by making sure that your book is making the most money possible. For a traditional publisher taking open submissions, there are a few things to check out before your submit and sign on the dotted line so to speak. 

First is this company a legitimate company that has a good reputation with others as well as part of the Better Business Bureau. There are some companies out there that market themselves as a traditional publisher yet are just what they call a vanity press. They look good but the final cost you have to pay for their services is just ridiculous. For the publisher I went with, Tate Publishing, they required a retainer for my publicist which the price was negotiable and is returned to you once you have sold 1,000 copies with them. The second thing with choosing traditional publishers is finding the one with the best royalty rate. There are some that will give you a very low royalty rate so that they make the majority of the money from the book rather than being fair and giving their authors a fair amount, considering that you did all the work really. 

Finally for traditional publishers you need to see what kind of marketing they are going to be doing on their end as well as the markets that they can present your book in. That is one advantage that I have learned about traditional versus self-publishing. A traditional publisher has markets that self-publishing cannot get into as a lot of companies will not acknowledge them, regardless of how wonderful the book really is. 

Now for self-publishing I don’t know that much about it. I do know that you need to really research each option and find which one is going to best suit your needs. You need to look at final cost, editing and if there is any help with some marketing of your book. I have found that there are indeed a few companies that do help with distribution and marketing of your book depending on what kind of budget you are looking at to get published. No matter what choice you decide to go with don’t just jump into the first opportunity that comes your way. Research and find the best choice that will suit you and your needs the best. Sometimes that first option is not always the best option.

This book is a biblical perspective on how God wants us to see and get through the trials that life brings our way. It is a book of conversations and things brought to our attention that we may not always see and how through scripture God wants us to get through them.

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Genre - Christian Living

Rating – G

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Website http://carlosaranda.tateauthor.com

@KentBurden on Family, Writing & Books #Fitness #Health #AmWriting

Q. What writing are you most proud of?

Actually my upcoming book has me feeling pretty proud. It’s titled The Modern Day Hunter Gatherer and it brings together what my parents and grandparents taught me about being healthy and the latest research. Having the opportunity to honor the people who ignited then fed the fire of natural good health in me and show that much of what they said is now being proven to be more than just old wives tails and folksy adages.

Q. What are you most proud of in your personal life?

My children. My daughter is in her senior year in college and getting great grades. My son recently finished writing his first novel Flash Bang that got an honorable mention at the Los Angeles Book Festival.

Q. What books did you read growing up?

I cut my teeth on Edgar Rice Burroughs novels like Tarzan and John Carter of Mars. I was absolutely in love with the Conan the Barbarian books as well.

Q. What book should everybody read at least once?

Micheal Pollan’s The Omnivores Dilemma. If you value your health you have to read this book.

Q. Is there any book genre you really don’t enjoy?

Not really fond of romance novels.

Q. How did you develop your writing style?

1. I write like I talk. In the beginning I used Dragon speech software and tried to just dictate my books but it didn’t take long to figure out that it was easier to write what I was thinking than fix all the  ums and half completed thoughts that come along with dictation.
2. Q. Where do you get your inspiration from?
3. A. I am constantly looking for ways to improve people’s health. I read a lot of science journals and keep an eye on health magazines and blogs.

Q. What is the hardest, the publishing process, the writing process or marketing?

For me it’s the writing. Writing is hard work for me. I really try to keep my books light, conversational and entertaining which isn’t always easy when you dealing with a lot of statistics or scientific information. Getting a book that is both informative and readable is really hard work.

Q. What marketing works for you?

I do a lot of marketing. I rotate between blog tours, Facebook ads, Fiverr gigs, Kindle promotions and email blasts. Each one of these things seems to help me sell books.

Sitting for extended periods of time is as bad for your health as smoking cigarettes. And exercising for 30-60 minutes a day isn’t enough to undo the damage from extended periods of sitting. Is Your Chair Killing You reveals shocking new research showing that sitting for long periods greatly increases your risk of developing obesity, heart disease, diabetes, stroke and cancer. 

Our bodies were designed to move constantly over the course of the day, but most of us sit for hours a day at work and at home! Fitness and wellness expert and award-winning author Kent Burden has created brief, simple movements you can incorporate into your daily life to combat the damaging effects of sitting. These simple movements, done standing for 1-5 minutes each hour will burn calories, energize and refresh you, and you won’t even break a sweat; you’ll even improve your back pain. This book is a how-to for weight loss and disease prevention. Read this book–you’ll be healthier in as little as 8 minutes a day.

Nominated for the Dan Poynter Global Ebook Awards and won honorable mention at the Los Angeles Book Festival

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Genre – Non-Fiction

Rating – G

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Connect with Kent Burden on Facebook & Twitter

Website http://www.kentburden.com/

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ICE by @TheobaldSprague #AmReading #Memoir #Climate

The main purpose of our trip the year before on Akademik Ioff was to find out the physical feasibility of our intended joint expedition and to see what the ice conditions were like in the Northwest Passage. For me, I hoped to gain a good visual sense of what I’d be trying to capture on film. Within the first few days, I knew I would bring back never-before-seen footage from The Passage. From Dan and Jim’s perspective, they grew confident that a Nordhavn boat could take on The Passage and survive. Each morning, the crew of Akademik Ioff provided the ship’s passengers with its own newspaper, giving the latest headlines. Each morning, the three of us would sit and discuss the sorry case of the world in general and feel all the more secure that our intended trip through the Northwest Passage was about as timely as we could hope for.

On September 15, 2008, with a growing sense of accomplishment and anticipation, I sat down for breakfast and opened the ship’s daily newspaper. I stared in abject and total disbelief at the latest headlines noting that Lehman Brothers was crashing, about to be financially erased from the face of the earth, and that the collateral damage was going to be unprecedented.

The collateral damage reached the Far North. As the days continued to roll by, Jim no longer wanted to discuss the trip. In fact, Jim no longer ate

with Dan and me. When the three of us actually were together, the talk was of anything but their $300,000 commitment to the trip and perhaps building a forty-foot boat so they could join in the adventure. By the time the trip aboard Akademik Ioff had ended, there was no $300,000 commitment. I saw it coming a mile away.

Dan Streech was the type of man who, when he told me of the offer’s withdrawal, he did it with tears in his eyes. I was completely in Dan’s corner. I couldn’t in good conscience ask for such a large amount of money while he was looking at having to lay off longtime trusted employees, people he truly loved.

But as much as I appreciated Dan’s position and honesty, I was devastated. Actually, more than devastated. I was completely and decisively screwed.

A sailor and his family’s harrowing and inspiring story of their attempt to sail the treacherous Northwest Passage.

Sprague Theobald, an award-winning documentary filmmaker and expert sailor with over 40,000 offshore miles under his belt, always considered the Northwest Passage–the sea route connecting the Atlantic to the Pacific–the ultimate uncharted territory. Since Roald Amundsen completed the first successful crossing of the fabled Northwest Passage in 1906, only twenty-four pleasure craft have followed in his wake. Many more people have gone into space than have traversed the Passage, and a staggering number have died trying. From his home port of Newport, Rhode Island, through the Passage and around Alaska to Seattle, it would be an 8,500-mile trek filled with constant danger from ice, polar bears, and severe weather.

What Theobald couldn’t have known was just how life-changing his journey through the Passage would be. Reuniting his children and stepchildren after a bad divorce more than fifteen years earlier, the family embarks with unanswered questions, untold hurts, and unspoken mistrusts hanging over their heads. Unrelenting cold, hungry polar bears, and a haunting landscape littered with sobering artifacts from the tragic Franklin Expedition of 1845, as well as personality clashes that threaten to tear the crew apart, make The Other Side of the Ice a harrowing story of survival, adventure, and, ultimately, redemption.

( TO WATCH THE OFFICIAL HD TEASER FOR “The Other Side of The Ice” [book and documentary] PLEASE GO TO: VIMEO.COM/45526226) 

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Genre – Memoir, adventure, family, climate

Rating – PG

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 Connect with Sprague Theobald on Facebook & Twitter

Website www.spraguetheobald.com

@Ted_Tayler on Planning to Live Forever & More #AmWriting #Thriller #BookClub

What genre of books do you adore?

I’m a crime fiction anorak I’m afraid! When I was younger I read all sorts of things, but over the years I’ve ‘homed’ in on thrillers, murder mysteries etcetera; if I’m not reading I’m watching a TV series or a film about it.

What do you hope your obituary will say about you?

Error 404 – Not found!

(I plan to live forever – so far so good!)

How did you develop your writing?

There’s probably a clever answer to this question; but quite honestly I just write my blog chapters, my short stories and my novels the same way I would tell you a story if we were sitting together sharing a meal and a glass of wine. It’s just a conversation written down; nothing pretentious or manufactured. That’s why my books don’t include reams of descriptive passages about landscape, architecture or feelings. The characters are what are important to me and I hope they’re more believable because of the way I write about them.

Do you find it hard to share your work?

There wouldn’t be a lot of point being a writer if I didn’t want people to read my work would there? Once a book is finished I want the world to read it!

How do you write?

I type my words straight into the computer (as I am doing now) for about 99% of the time. I don’t have a laptop or a desk as yet; on odd occasions I write a few paragraph headings and ‘notes to self’ with pen and paper when I’m sat relaxing in the garden.

How much sleep do you need to be your best?

This is a tricky one! At my age I’m not sure what my ‘best’ feels like anymore. Until last November I survived on about six hours a night. My wife went to work by seven in the morning and I got up to write before going downstairs for breakfast. Now she’s retired we’re rarely out of bed before nine! That’s two hours potential writing lost per day! I can’t find where she’s hidden the alarm clock as yet but I need to find it!

Tell us about your new book? What’s it about?

‘Unfinished Business’ is the sequel to the award winning ‘The Final Straw’ and it sees Colin Bailey return to the UK after almost a decade abroad in The Gambia. With a new surname (Owens – from his second wife Sue) and a new face he still has scores to settle. His meticulous planning takes him ingeniously across Scotland and the North of England ticking names off his list with the police completely baffled. DCI Phil Hounsell pitted his wits against Colin before and is now working in London with SOCA. He is sent to Durham where he teams up with super intelligent young DS Zara Wheeler; together they track their man to Manchester and then eventually south to Bath where Phil used to work and where he still lives with his wife Erica and their two young children. The final scenes take place on the streets of the Roman city; Phil Hounsell’s family is threatened and in a dramatic conclusion reminiscent of Holmes and Moriarty at the Reichenbach Falls, the two men struggle above the foaming waters of the historic Pulteney weir.

How often do you write? And when do you write?

When I was writing ‘Unfinished Business’, Lynne my wife had just retired. After many years as a manager she couldn’t resist getting me into a ‘routine’! She packed me off to the computer room at eleven every weekday morning and I wasn’t allowed my lunch until one o’clock! I did another two hour stint in the afternoon, then perhaps an hour in the evening a couple of days a week. Some weekends I was given time off for good behaviour provided I was hitting ten thousand words for the week. I’m in between books at present and the sun is shining! I’m sat at the computer doing these answers for my Author Interview; ‘Please can I go out for some fresh air tomorrow?’

What movies do you love to watch?

‘Breakfast Club’ or ‘Stand And Deliver’ are the two stand out movies that come to mind.

If you could do any job in the world what would it be?

Well paid!

What makes you angry?

Women who swear!

The sequel to the award winning ‘The Final Straw’ sees Colin Bailey return to the UK after almost a decade abroad. With a new name and a new face he still has scores to settle. His meticulous planning takes him ingeniously across Scotland and the North of England ticking names off his list with the police completely baffled. 

DCI Phil Hounsell pitted his wits against Colin before and so he is sent to Durham where he teams up with super intelligent young DS Zara Wheeler; together they track their man to Manchester and then eventually south to Bath. 

The final scenes take place on the streets of the Roman city; Phil Hounsell’s family is threatened and in a dramatic conclusion reminiscent of Holmes and Moriarty at the Reichenbach Falls, the two men struggle above the foaming waters of the historic Pulteney weir. 

Buy Now @ Amazon & Smashwords

Genre – Thriller

Rating – PG-18

More details about the author

Connect with Ted Tayler on Facebook & Twitter

Website http://tedtayler.co.uk/

@DeanfWilson on Print Books & Robert Galbraith #AmWriting #AmReading #Fantasy

Do you think print books are going out of fashion?

Yes and no. I think they are losing popularity, with ebooks cannibalising sales, but I don’t think the old-fashioned hardback or paperback will vanish entirely. As much as there are significant benefits to the ebook phenomenon, both for readers and writers, there will always be millions of people (myself included) who appreciate a well-produced physical book, and enjoy a large library. There is room for all types of books, digital and print, and options are never a bad thing.

What is hardest – getting published, writing or marketing?

Marketing is definitely the hardest and is something that all authors struggle with, regardless if they are self-published, published by a small press, or published by one of the Big Five. Making people aware of your work is a constant battle, and no author can afford to ignore this.

To put this into perspective, when J.K. Rowling published The Cuckoo’s Calling under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, only 500 copies of the book were sold initially. Sales jumped by 4,000 percent once it was revealed that the author was really Rowling, which shows that having a big publisher behind you isn’t enough on its own to generate interest. The book would likely have continued to have modest sales were it not for this revelation.

Do you plan to publish more books?

Most definitely. I aim to write at least one book a year going forward, though this will obviously depend on many factors, including my day job and other commitments. Regardless, I plan to write and publish indefinitely. Writing is a core part of who I am, and has been for a very long time.

What else do you do to make money, other than write? It is rare today for writers to be full time…

I also work as a technology journalist, so technically I write full-time, albeit in very different ways.

How do you write – lap top, pen, paper, in bed, at a desk?

I write on my PC in my office. I do, however, have a pen and paper by my bedside for those middle of the night ideas.

When you are not writing, how do you like to relax?

I like to play video games, watch TV, read, or socialise.

How often do you write? And when do you write?

I wrote on most days, usually several times a day. My fiction work tends to get done in the late evening or night time. I am generally not a morning person.

Sometimes it’s so hard to keep at it – What keeps you going?

Sheer will and determination. If I want a book to be done, then I have to write it. I usually set deadlines for myself to push myself more.

What do you hope people will take away from your writing? How will your words make them feel?

I hope people find they have read an enjoyable story, with an interesting plot and intriguing characters. I hope that they will learn a lesson, feel moved, or come away pondering something deep and meaningful. I hope the reader finds the language used something that will make them want to read the book again.

What’s your favorite meal?

I like variety, with many flavours, a hint of spice, and some kind of sauce or marinade. I strongly dislike dry food, and am not a huge fan of meat, but will eat some. I don’t have one specific food that I would eat more than any others, but I do like Chinese and Italian cuisine.

What color represents your personality the most?

Blue. It is my favourite colour, and I think most people pick a colour they can relate with for their favourite colour, and this can perhaps reveal something about their personality. The reality, of course, is that we are, or at least have the potential to be, the entire prism, focusing on a different colour in a different circumstance or environment, or when around different people.

THE DYING BREATH. THE DYING WILL. THE DYING HOPE.

After the catastrophe of the Call of Agon, Ifferon and his companions find themselves in the unenviable situation of witnessing, and partaking in, the death of another god—this time Corrias, the ruler of the Overworld.

With Corrias locked inside the corpse of the boy Théos, he suffers a fate worse than the bonds of the Beast Agon. Yet hope is kindled when the company find a way to restore the boy, and possibly the god, back to life.

The road to rebirth has many pitfalls, and there are some who consider such meddling with the afterlife a grave risk. The prize might be life anew—but the price might also be a second death.

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Genre - Epic Fantasy

Rating – PG

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'I am running out of time' - Six Strings by Jen Sanya Williamson #YA #TimeTravel #Music

I am running out of time. That thought tugs at the corner of my mind a lot these days, but right now, as I speed somewhat erratically toward downtown Tucson, I am definitely running out of time. If I don’t make it back home before my mother, I’m dead.

I’d partially woken up a few minutes ago from an unplanned afternoon nap, sprawled out on my bed, the foreboding copy of Invisible Man, my AP English summer reading, opened up beside me. I hadn’t even realized I’d fallen asleep. I was daytime dreaming, my eyes closed and my body heavy, but still taking in the small things happening around me: the indie-rock song playing from the iPod, the whir of the ceiling fan, the air-conditioning kicking on with a groan. Yet when Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture sprang from my cell phone, the ring tone jolted me awake.

“Riley, get to Congress now.”

It took me a moment to recognize the voice as Nathan’s, one of my best friends.

“What?” I asked, confused.

“You need to get in the car and drive to Hotel Congress, okay?” He spoke slowly and deliberately, as if that would help me understand.

“What? Why?”

“Because your grandma is down here in her muumuu, chatting up the bartender in the lobby. She’s discussing the art of making a Pink Squirrel.”

Usually I am an ardent rule follower, but now I race at least ten over the limit toward the hotel. I glance down at the car’s clock. I think of my mother’s work schedule: did she say she had a meeting with the Tucson Association of Realtors that would make her late for dinner? Or did she say she would be home for dinner because the meeting was cancelled? I slam my open palm on the steering wheel, annoyed with myself for tuning her out. At least, in this case.

Okay. Fifty/fifty chance I’ll make it home first. It’s worth a try.

Riley Witt is running out of time.Battling Alzheimer’s disease, Riley’s grandmother Mary suffers from memory loss, mood swings, and a tendency to wander off. As senior year approaches, Riley has to face the reality that the one person she depends on most is slowly fading. Making matters worse, when Mary does remember the past, she tells tales of time travel and visions. As Mary’s version of the past gets more confused, Riley knows they are running out of time together.

But when Riley discovers a guitar belonging to a famous rock star at Mary’s house, the truth behind the crazy tales finally comes out.

SIX STRINGS tells the story of Riley’s journey back to 1973 where she enters a world of music, long-lost family, and first love. Her adventure is all about discovering her past, understanding her present, and figuring out how to step into her future.

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Genre – Young Adult

Rating – PG-13

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