#also I’m new to goodreads so this probably isn’t that interesting of an email

[diana-daphne]

Damn goodreads I didn’t realize you were gonna get all existential crisis on me

[christinaengela]

Hello friends and fans!

Welcome to my 34th newsletter – and this time, I think you’ll notice right away that there’s something different about it!

In Brief:

October already? Wow! One of these days it’ll be December and Saturnalia again! 😉 Oktoberfest is on its way – and of course, our favorite festival of the year: Halloween!

In last month’s newsletter I said that this has been one of the busiest, most productive years in writing I’ve had in a long time, and it’s only right that I emphasize that!

That said, this edition of my newsletter also has to be the most intensively updated and detailed one yet! It even has a gorgeous new header image – and lots of extra information!

Let’s carry on, starting with some of the technical background stuff related to my writing!

Discontinuation of the .net website

As I told you last month, the .net website has been discontinued as of mid-September, so please don’t use the christinaengela.net url/link as the redirect to christinaengela.com isn’t expected to work much longer!

I opened the .net site in September 2018 as an experiment, and set up an array of onboard selling tools – but although I finally had just three direct sales from that website during the past year (amounting to a whopping $6 in all that time!) the cost of renewing the service just didn’t justify the expense. I have no intention of renewing the .com domain either when it expires in 2020, since the cost of that via WordPress would be actually three times the renewal cost of the .net through GoDaddy! I will nevertheless do my best to keep all my url mentions updated – hence this reminder!

Updates On Lulu AND Amazon

As you probably are aware, one of the two main service providers I publish through is Lulu.com (the other I use is Smashwords). While both have their fans and their pro’s and cons, Lulu is the only one of the two that distributes to Amazon straight-off – Smashwords wants you to sell a truck-load of a title via their own site, or Apple, or Kobo before they will even consider forwarding it to Amazon! Also, as I mentioned in last month’s newsletter, I’d updated quite a few titles incrementally on Lulu over the past few years, and noticed that inspite of everything I did, Amazon was still displaying some quite old versions of my books that were no longer available, and not updating to the newest versions!

Upon investigation, I complained to Lulu’s help department, and they clarified: it turns out that while I may have updated a project file on a particular book, those changes didn’t reach Amazon. I’m still not sure if this means the process of “revision” on Lulu is automatic and it didn’t work properly in this case, or if the process is not automatic and I’m supposed to notify them to send updated files to Amazon after making changes – they simply didn’t clarify that part – but in the meantime I found a workaround of my own! By that I mean that I undertook the gargantuan task of republishing my books on Lulu not once – but TWICE in the space of a single week!

Let it not be said that I don’t put enough effort into my books! Whew!

The process involved taking down basically ALL my books that are on Lulu, “retiring” them one by one, and then manually republishing each one again – from the beginning, getting new ISBN numbers in the process! As if that wasn’t stressful enough, a few days after completing the updates I received an email from Lulu informing me that this still wasn’t good enough and that I would have to make changes yet again! Hang on a sec – I thought Smashwords was supposed to be the pedantic nitpicking one?

I decided I’d be damned if I was going to change all the covers again to suit them – I wanted the series names on the covers as well, so – groaning and grudgingly, I took all of Galaxii and Quantum down a second time in the space of one week – and republished them again, this time with titles matching the covers EXACTLY! Fortunately, the next morning I received notice that this had done the trick and all Galaxii and Quantum titles had passed Lulu’s evaluation for distribution and had been forwarded to Amazon, Kobo and Barnes & Noble!

I heaved a huge sigh of relief once that was done!

In the meantime, all the titles concerned were still directly available via Lulu’s own shop page, and of course, everywhere else they’re distributed to – Kobo, Barnes & Noble, iBookstore, Smashwords, etc.

All that legwork is now finally behind me, and the newly updated titles that were supposed to have reached Amazon months ago arrived there by the 20th September! But at least, they’re finally there! I was finally able to claim them by clicking “This is my book!” and added them to my Amazon author page! Only then was I able to ask Amazon to link the new editions to previous editions, which will solve the knotty problem of having multiple editions showing side-by-side there!

Still, the drama isn’t quite over yet, as only once this has been done will I be able to update my GoodReads book listing, since their system allows only ISBN/AISN numbers of books being sold on Amazon, and nowhere else!

To make matters even more complicated, somehow in the publishing process over the past couple of years, a duplicate GoodReads author profile got created automatically by some system gremlin or other, and all my current titles are already listed on that site under “Ms. Christina Engela” in duplicate – as they are on Amazon itself – and I can’t claim or add or merge them with my existing GoodReads author user account either! *Head desk!* Perhaps this issue can be resolved if I create a new user account on GoodReads and claim that account… but I still have to get around to it!

I often wonder if aspiring indie authors out there actually knew the amount of work, admin, research, learning, trouble and frustration lying in wait for them, if they’d just give up and not bother! But then, this is my obsession, so it’s not as if I actually have a choice in the matter!

Reviews

“Dead Man’s Hammer” received an amazing 5 star review from UK writer and reviewer, Lee Hall on September 9! I’m not sure how other writers take it, but when I see glowing reports of something I wrote, containing statements like: “As the Quantum series unfolds, it grows more and more impressive“, “Dead Man’s Hammer is proof that Christina Engela can build an established world and insert so many genres into it along with retaining a unique style of writing that not only tributes her influences but has a way of confiding in readers” and “Throughout Engela’s writing style naturally flows and is fun to read“, I feel like breaking out the bubbly and inviting people round to celebrate!

It’s truly gratifying to realize that the reason a reviewer is saying these things, is because they took the time to read something I wrote. It’s also humbling, and I’m very grateful!

It’s probably worth mentioning though, that “Dead Man’s Hammer” has been available since 2006, and this is the very first review I’ve had of that particular title! That alone should serve as an indication of how difficult it is to get reviews as an indie or self-publishing author!

Theo & Yvonne Engela’s Books – New Covers & Formatting

As part of the revision process I told you about in the previous section, I took the opportunity to fix a few things and improve upon the presentation of my parent’s books! I know, I know, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it, right? Still, I couldn’t help myself! At any rate, what I did was create new covers for my parent’s books to make them stand out more, and also to make them look similar and part of the same series, while also reformatting the interior of the eBook into a more uptodate and modern format – the same as the one I use on all the Galaxii and Quantum books! I think they really pop, don’t you?

Poetry by Wendy K. Engela

A couple of months ago my wife and partner in all things wierd and wonderful, Wendy, published her first book – a collection of her gothic poetry! “Season’s Change“. The collection is now available as an eBook via all the expected places, Amazon, Lulu, Smashwords, and all their distribution partner sites.

Sales & Downloads

Since I made a host of new free promotional items available on Lulu and Smashwords, interest towards the end of July – particularly on Smashwords has been gradually showing signs of improvement. Let’s just say that at least I can detect a pulse! Downloads of my free items are happening, and I feel a little encouraged. On the sales front however, things are still pretty dire. Hopefully they will pick up soon.

Current Writing Projects 

Book 7 in Quantum – tentatively operating under the working title “Underground Movement” – is still under way. Just slowly. At the time of last month’s newsletter I told you I’d just reached over 29000 words… and then I peeled some of those off and shifted them to the next title after that’s draft… so “Underground Movement” is currently sitting at just over 21000 words again! Still, it’s all part of the creative process, isn’t it? Right now I’m pondering whether I shouldn’t just merge the next two title’s stories? The story’s finer detail is still evolving and unfolding, so sometimes it’s easy to lose sight of the path while I’m distracted by all the scenery! Anyway, when I make my mind up, I’ll let you know!

Translation

As some of you may recall, in 2016 I released Afrikaans translations of “The Thirteenth Ship” and “Wiggle Room“, which like the English originals, were made available as free downloads. These have been updated and made available once again!  I also made it a goal back in the day, to get all my fiction works translated into Afrikaans for the local market, but also into a couple of other languages – as far as that was possible! Translation work isn’t easy, as I’m sure you can imagine – translation apps can really mangle the works up, and without a native language-speaker to check these translations I’m still up the creek without a canoe!

That said, I’ve had to rely on volunteers to do it out of their own good will rather than to pay top dollar for paid translation services! All I’ve been able to offer people willing to assist me in this task, is mention of their name in the credits and perhaps to give them a free eBook copy of any one of my paid books upon completion of the job!

Now, before you accuse me of being a skint old duck, please bear in mind that the items I wanted translated were all free sample works for which I wouldn’t get paid anyway! It doesn’t make sense to spend thousands of near-worthless Souf Efikin ronts on something that gets given away for free, does it? That being said, some time ago, a few people volunteered eagerly to translate a couple of short stories, and quietly disappeared, never to be heard from again! This recently was the case as well, with several apparent eager-beavers silently vanishing into the mist! Hopefully, in the long-run I can get some of the novels translated. This is a long-term goal, so I expect progress to be slow.

Communication

I’ve also done my level best recently, to start making a post via my website blog daily and then sharing that across social media instead of posting directly to Facebook, Twitter et al. The goal I’ve kept in mind is to post informative articles about various different characters or elements of my stories – and also to come across to readers as more personable… that is to day, less businesslike and less intimidating. After all, I is human too, and I don’t bite… much! So far, that seems to be helping! Below are links to a few of my most recent posts on The Crow Bar:

The Tech Side #1: A Broad-Spectrum Approach To Sci-fi Storytelling

LGBT Heroes in Galaxii & Quantum – the “G” in LGBT

Secret Weapons of the Resistance: Time Travel, Beck the Badfeller & Cindy-Mei Winter

FAQ’s Answered #13: Who Is Sona Kilroy?

FAQ’s Answered #12: Who Is Cindy-Mei Winter?

FAQ’s Answered #11: What Is The Time Saving Agency?

Storm Area 51! Let’s See Them Aliens! Etc!

FAQ’s Answered #10: Who Is Marsha In “Dead Beckoning” to Blachart?

FAQ’s Answered #9: What Inspired “Prodigal Sun” & “High Steaks”?

Secret Weapons of the Resistance: Fred (the Arborian)

Secret Weapons of the Resistance: Bovine Torpedoes

FAQ’s Answered #8: What Inspired The Akx?

Preserve The Past… Save The Future!

Another Round At The Crow Bar #33 September 2019

FAQ’s Answered #7: What Do I Write About (& Other Questions)

Anyway, let’s move on to some more new releases!

New Releases

Some of you may recall that in 2016 I released Afrikaans translations of “The Thirteenth Ship” and “Wiggle Room“, which like the English originals, were made available as free downloads. These have been updated and made available once again!

  Currently Available Titles:

I currently have 22 unique titles available in 4 series (not including the 15 free promotional items).

Alternately, you can view Christina’s books at Amazon, Smashwords, Lulu or Payhip.

Some of Christina’s titles are available in other languages: Afrikaans.

The Galaxii Series

(Click on the cover images to view product pages for each title.)

The Quantum Series

  (Click on the cover images to view product pages for each title.)

Panic! Horror In Space

Space Sucks!

(Click on the cover images to view product pages for each title.)

Other

  (Click on the cover images to view product pages for each title.)

Non-Fiction

(Click on the cover images to view product pages for each title.)

Edited by Christina Engela

  (Click on the cover images to view product pages for each title.)

FREE Promotional Items:

     (Click on the cover images to open free samples.)

On A Personal Note

As I related to you last month, I have opted to sell via Amazon again. Not that I like them, but there’s simply no other way to make any headway as an author – especially an indie author – without making use of their platform.

The two different earlier editions of my dad’s collection of short stories “African Assignment” I mentioned last time as listed on my Amazon author page have finally – after another round of emails, been merged. At this stage, I’m just waiting for the current version to reflect on Amazon’s database before adding it to my listing and then getting those merged with it as well.

Hopefully some headway will be made soon in this regard, and I will as always, keep you posted.

Fan Mail, Reviews & Honorable Mentions

I found the following items to display in this months issue:

Medium.com has shared my article “No LGBT Stereotypes Here!” from last year on their website.

“Dead Man’s Hammer” received an amazing 5 star review from UK writer and reviewer, Lee Hall on September 9, 2019 – the very first for this title!

My favorite reviewer also tweeted THIS about “Black Sunrise” on the 12th!

I got this review on Smashwords for “The Thirteenth Ship“: “Started average, but the ending was different. 4 Stars” – James Jenkins September 12, 2019.

I was quoted by Stephanie C. Odili on Aug 13, 2019 on an article at Medium.com “The patriarchy longs for the days ‘when men were men’ and women were oppressed, subservient — and they can see no wrong in it. It justifies its former power and lust to hold on to it — and if possible, to regain it…How can oppression and power over another person’s life ever be ‘love’?” ― Christina Engela.

A short story project I collaborated on with fellow author Alex S. Johnson “Negative Wonderland” appears on Pintrest.

CrowdCount has one of my quotes at the bottom of their website in a carousel along with quotes from Margaret Mead, Ron Siltanen and Mother Theresa. “Human rights is a numbers game. Who is going to care if only 20 people pitch for a protest?“

Poopbite (odd name, that) lists one of my quotes on a list about bonfires. “Knowledge and education are the keys to this human tragedy which is a bonfire of hate-fueled by ignorance.” – Christina Engela.

GGGMall is still quietly carrying on, selling my books via their website AND on Bid or Buy.

The Daily Ripple posted a quote of mine from “The Pink Community – The Facts” right at the top of their homepage! “The problem is, in a world where some people (even in the USA, where someone like Donald Trump was allowed to rise to the level of a serious presidential candidate in 2016) have descended to such levels of ignorance that science itself is dismissed by leaders, political and religious as ‘an agenda’, and frightening numbers of people cling to ignorance and superstition because it suits their conservative anti-human rights views and objectives.” ― Christina Engela, The Pink Community – The Facts.

I display my Fan Mail, Reviews & Compliments with pride, gratitude and humility. You are always welcome to have a look.

Hate Mail & Horrible Mentions

I’ve had nothing in this department over the past month, other than a couple of pitiful dick pics and weak insults – surely my haters can do better?

This Levitican dickhead (who was on my Facebook friends list until then) made an effort to let me know what a hopeless transphobe he is by posting this string of abusive comments on a share of LGBT Heroes in Galaxii & Quantum – the “G” in LGBT. Yes, I write about LGBT characters in some of my books – and I’m open about being transgender and lesbian myself – so if you’re a homophobe or transphobe, why send me friend requests to begin with? #gallery-0-7 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-7 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 33%; } #gallery-0-7 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-7 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

This next ignoramus stepped up to demonstrate what happens when you’re a hate-filled sack of shit and you miss your turn to use the family brain cell – when you open your piehole, you sound like a TERF. #gallery-0-8 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-8 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 33%; } #gallery-0-8 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-8 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

I’m rather proud of my hate mail, and you can review my collection here – but be forewarned, don’t do it while eating or drinking, or you might choke while laughing!

Interviews

I have nothing new to show you here this month.

All my interviews are linked to from this page. If you would like to do an interview with me about my work, please do get in touch!

In Closing

Well, that’s all for this time, folks! 🙂

Thanks again for all your support, friendship and interaction!

Until next time, keep reading!

Cheers! 🙂

If you would like to know more about Christina Engela and her writing, please feel free to browse her website.

If you’d like to send Christina Engela a question about her life as a writer or transactivist, please send an email to christinaengela@gmail.com or use the Contact form.

Show your appreciation for Christina’s work!

All material copyright © Christina Engela, 2019.

Another Round At The Crow Bar #34 October 2019 Hello friends and fans! Welcome to my 34th newsletter - and this time, I think you'll notice right away that there's something different about it!

[megansreviewingjourney]

Title: We Were Liars

Author: E. Lockhart

Rating: One Star

Goodreads Summary:

“A beautiful and distinguished family.

A private island.

A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.

A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.

A revolution. An accident. A secret.

Lies upon lies.

True love.p

The truth.

We Were Liars is a modern, sophisticated suspense novel from New York Times bestselling author, National Book Award finalist, and Printz Award honoree E. Lockhart.

Read it.

And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.”

We Were Liars is a best selling, well regarded YA novel. Many goodread reviewers mentioned crying after reading this book.

I like literary YA novels, such as I’ll Give You the Sun, so I thought I’d enjoy this novel, despite the pretentious novel description.

This book is highly overrated.

The Liars are underdeveloped. It’s never even explained why they’re called Liars! How does the title of the book make sense? Cady has no personality traits besides being a writer. In summary she’s called a brilliant girl, she makes several stupid decisions throughout the novel, Her toxic relationship with both parents is unexplored and her dad is scarcely mentioned. She likes Gat, but their relationship isn’t explained. When did they start liking each other? Why do they like each other?

Oh, and he’s basically her cousin. (His dad has dated her aunt since they were children) Ick.

Gat has the strongest personality of the group. He’s political, literate, and hard working. Many of the Sinclairs are racist to him, occasionally even the Liars. The prejudice he experiences is also scarcely explored. I enjoyed his Heathcliff comparison.

Johnny and Mirren have such little characterization and dialogue there’s no point elaborating on them. They’re indistinguishable.

‘‘whose friendship turns destructive’’ I’ll elaborate on this in the spoilers section, but how? They never fight.

I did enjoy the feud between the aunts and the grandfather, even if Bess, Penelope, and Carrie are also undeveloped.

I’m conflicted about the writing. Many descriptions are vivid and lovely and I liked the fairytale sections. However, there’s also some filter words and many instances of telling instead of showing in regards to character traits.

The most

distracting style

issue was when

sentences were

written like this

for no reason.

These stylistic line breaks were used too often to be special or interesting.

First of all, it praises itself in the summary on a plot twist. If you can’t enjoy a book knowing the ending, it’s probably a bad novel. I guessed the cliche plot twist early in the book. I couldn’t miss the many blatantly obvious hints. Additionally, several plot threads are introduced but lead nowhere.

Spoiler Section:

This book would improve if it disregarded the amnesia plot. Instead of Cady discovering what happened that summer, the novel follows the teens reacting to to the constant and increasing tensions between their parents and grandfather over the summer. Cady and Gat’s relationship would alleviate her misery, but it also fuels Cash’s desire to do something drastic. Cady would struggles to convince Mirren, Gat and Johnny to burn the house, but they accept her plan. They all still die and Cady has to live with the guilt. Pretty dark for a YA novel, but the story becomes stronger and the characters more developed.

No, instead we get Cady talking to hallucinations of Gat, Johnny, and Mirren all summer. These interactions don’t exist therefore the characters lose any existing sparse depth. She’s trying to find out what happened the summer the house burned down. She asks her mom every day but forgets the next day. She writes down the answer, but this plot point is forgotten because then the story would end early.

It’s obvious these characters are dead. Johnny’s mom walks around crying in his jacket. They never interact with anyone besides Cady in the present, when the family insists on spending time together for appearances. They never reply to her emails. There are many other glaring hints. The only decent, nonobvious foreshadowing is the conversation between Cady and Taft on the phone.

The Liar’s friendships isn’t toxic because Cady has no difficulty convincing the others to burn the house. They all agree with each other most of the time.

We Were Liars is a skeleton with a few interesting aspects, but nothing substantial.

[misscecil]

How To Be A Great Art Ally to your Creative Friends.

Slightly tweaked from my 2015 post How To Be A Great ART ALLY

I’ve been having a lot of heart to hearts lately with my friends who are authors and artists and we’re all saying the same thing: It is getting harder and harder for everyone who isn’t in the top 5% of their industry to get the word out about work they are doing.

Because of the way the industries are now, many artists are not getting the marketing and push that they deserve or need. Much of that promotion and publicity now falls on the artist’s shoulder. Your artist friend may have a good career, but unless they are crazy lucky, or have the “it” thing of the moment, your artist friend is probably really struggling.

“What. But they have so many books out! They are on tour all the time! They are always doing some wacky play!”

Sadly, about 90% of artists are struggling and barely making a living wage. According to the NY Times (1/5/19) The median wage for most authors is $20,300 

Most of your creative friends have full-time day jobs on top of their full-time art careers. Or they are taking a lot of side speaking gigs, lecturing or school visits and other supplemental work to add to their income to meet basic needs. 

Remember, every new project that they do is like starting from scratch. 

For example, many of the people who I know who are not artists see all the stuff that I am doing and think that it’s going so great for me that I don’t need their help to get the word out about my books. But I do. All of your artist friends (even the most famous ones) need your support all the time.

To be a great Art Ally for any of your author/artist friends I’ve drummed up a list of things that you can do. I’ve focused on books, since I’m an author, but I’ve added helpful tips within to give you ideas on how to help your music, performer, filmmaker, comic book, visual artist and indie game maker friends.

1) Pre-order their stuff. Seriously. If your friend has a book (or CD or DVD or indie game or comic book) coming out pre-order it. Pre-orders give the publishing company an indication of interest and can help with print runs. Good pre-orders sometimes help a book because the publishing company may give a book a little push with extra marketing money and publicity based on those numbers.

2) Show up. If your friend has a reading or something, go to it. “But I went to it once for another book!” That’s great! You are a supporter! But, every book is a whole new thing! (Go to their rock show! Play! Art gallery opening! If your friend is in a film/made a film go opening weekend, that’s when the box office counts. Or order it on VOD the week it drops. Or buy the game the week it comes out. You get the idea.)

3) When you are there, buy the book. “But I already pre-ordered it!” Yeah, I know. But buying it at the store or the reading helps the bookstore and the numbers and will help your friend do another reading there the next time. This is especially important if your friend is doing a reading not in their hometown. (If your friend is a musician, buy merch because that might be how they are paying for gas. If your friend is an artist, buy a piece of art because that might equal a bag of groceries.) (comics peeps put your pals book on your pull list) (etc)

3a) “But argh! This is not my kind of book. I don’t read that genre. It’s not for me. I’m not a kid/teen.” Sure, that’s fair. The book might not be for you. But I bet you one million dollars that you know somebody that the book (or other thing) would be perfect for. Maybe a strange aunt? Maybe your weird nephew? Maybe your co-worker? And remember the holidays are always just around the corner! Why not get it signed? Think of it as a back up present. You can give it at a white elephant exchange. If all else fails, get a copy and donate it to your local library or if it’s a kids book, to the school library nearest you.

4) Signal boost their work. While it may look to you like everybody knows about your friend’s book, they probably don’t. Remember that we are all kind of in a bubble when it comes to social media. Authors (and artists of all kinds) are always looking for new readers/audience and you totally have a bunch of friends that your author/artist friend doesn’t know. And those friends might have never heard of your friend’s book, movie, game, music and it might be right up their alley. And those friends have friends that you don’t know. And so on. And so on. So every once in a while, if you like and in a way that you are comfortable with, an easy Art Ally action is to Tweet, Instagram, Pintrest or Facebook (or repost) something about that person’s art thing on the social medias! This signal boosting helps to get new eyeballs on the book (or art thing) that your friend is doing.

5) Review it / Rate it. Perhaps you are on Goodreads? Or perhaps you frequent Amazon or B&N or Powells? If you really are a fan of the book (or art thing), a simple way to help boost your friend’s work is by giving it a star rating or a review. (For musicians you can do this at those places as well. Also you can add their album to your streaming site and rate it! For films rate it on Netflix if it’s there! For games there are places to do this too!)

5a) For books, on Goodreads it’s also helpful if you add it to your to read shelf. It’s both helpful before the book comes out and when the book comes out. So if you haven’t done it already, go to it! Add all your friends books to your to read shelf. It’s not too late!

6) Make sure that it is in your local library branch! Libraries are the biggest purchasers of books! An author wants their book to be read! Libraries help with that! Maybe you are librarian? Or someone super close to you is a librarian? This is where you can really help to get it on the library radar by making sure that it is on the order list for your branch or for your system. Sidenote: Many libraries are too poor to purchase books this is a great place for you to donate that extra book!

7) Consider using it in your class! Many books have reader guides or teacher guides. Are you a teacher? Or is someone super close to you a teacher? If you love the book, Or if not that, you can donate the book to your (or your teacher pal’s) school library or classroom library for students to enjoy.

8) Book Club it. If you have a book club, suggest your group read your friend’s book. Or maybe just have a one-off book club and get a group of your friends together to read your friend’s book. If your friend writes for kids, do a mother/ daughter or father /son book club with a group of people. I’m 100% certain that your author friend would be delighted to come over (or if they live far, Skype) to discuss their book with your book club. (for musicians you could host a living room show at your house)

9) Ask your art pal to come in and speak! Maybe your school or library has a budget to bring in a variety of guest speakers for classrooms or assemblies? Your friend would be perfect for this. If your institution has no budget, you can still ask your friend to come and speak! Lots of authors have sliding scales and can organize a way to sell their own books and that can offset a pro bono visit. Also, it will help them to get new readers. Being an art ally is all about getting new audiences for your arty friends. (Your other artist pals would make great classroom / assembly visitors as well.)

10) Vote and Nominate. It’s possible that there are lists that you can vote on or nominate your friends for that they may be eligible for and deserving. This could be anything from your local publicly voted on thing to a list that is for professionals which you might be. It’s easy for everyone to remember to nominate the big best sellers of the year or the debut books that are getting the big pushes. But there are many midlist books that are wonderful and get lost in that shuffle. Make sure to champion the midlist! They really need help to be seen! (This is the same for all of your artist friends. There is always a thing that is going on where they can use your vote or nomination. You’ve gotten those emails / updates.)

11) Hand sell. Maybe you are a bookseller? Make sure that the book is on the shelf. And then, when and if you love it, hand sell it! You can also help by making sure that the book is still on the shelf once it’s sold. Many stores don’t automatically re-order a book if it doesn’t sell more than a certain amount. If you are not a bookseller, you can still hand sell by just talking up the book to people. (Talk up their music, game, comic, play, and movie.)

11a) If you work in retail anywhere and your pal is a musician and you like their music: Try putting their album on at work! Who knows? Maybe someone will ask you who that swell band is? Your pal may gain a new listener!

12) Be a Microphilanthropist. Support their Patreon/Kickstarter/Go Fund me.  It really helps to get that support whether it be a small patreon contribution or a small contribution to getting that dream project done. Support their Indiegogo or Kickstarter or Patreon. For your other artist friends who are making movies, plays, albums, comics, indie video games support their crowdfunding or patreon effort. Really. You can totally afford the $5-10 level (even if you think the project is lame.) for a crowdfunding and $1 for patron. And it will really help them and boost morale.

13) Be a good literary citizen. If you are an author, remember to be a good literary citizen. Promote yourself, but also do stuff for the larger literary community. Participate and include others. There are many things you can do. You can organize events. You can pitch panels. You can show up to things. You can volunteer to be a judge for things or to moderate panels (be a good moderator if you do.) You can write essays about other works. Remember to extend past your own inner circle of friends to include people who you might not know. Being an artist is very hard. There are many ups and downs in a career. At some point everyone goes through a hard time and needs help. Avoid the cool kids table mentality. Be kind. When you are on the top, don’t forget to keep helping your community. Diversify your literary and artistic world. (Other artists, you know what this is in your own field. Art citizens for the win!)

14) Invite your friend over to dinner. Or buy them dinner. Or have a potluck. Everyone could use a good night out with friends and conversation. It’s a spirit booster. No lie.

[whimsiesofanerdgirl]

Reading More Productively | Getting Into the Habit

If you’re anything like me right now you’re shaking your head thinking, how did I not finish as many books as I had liked to this year? Or the classic “why am I not reaching my Goodreads goal?” Well, my friend, that means you have to read a lot smarter and no, I don’t mean more “intelligent books.” Having trouble getting back into reading can be a result of many things and I’ve noticed quite a few of these from my own reading habits.

LACK OF INTEREST

You might be finding yourself not having any inspiration to sitting down and having yourself a good old reading sesh. This is usually because you’re probably a mood reader and not only that, you’re bored af with your TBR list. You need to cut off and forget those books that aren’t serving you any purpose and are basically TBR place holders. If you need some more ideas on how to sort yours read one of my past posts on how to sort your TBR into a more manageable list.

FOLLOW BOOK BLOGGERS, BOOKTUBERS, AND BOOKSTAGRAMMERS

Sometimes all it takes is to follow someone who has similar tastes in books as you. Don’t waste your time following someone if you have nothing in common with your reading. It makes more sense to follow someone who digests the same genres and authors that you adore. Plus, you find another book bestie to read along with! :)

YOUR FOCUS NEEDS MORE FOCUS

Not gonna lie, this is probably my number one problem and I’m probably speaking on behalf of like 90% of other readers when I say that I have issues getting off the internet. Specifically as readers we struggle with this the most because we use the online world to find more books to discover and we are starving for knowledge or to immerse ourselves in another person’s world. This is completely okay, but taking all your spare time to check the latest tweets on Twitter? Eh, not so okay for your TBR pile. Unplug from the data and wifi so you can truly dive into that book that’s been sitting on your bedside table for over the past week.

JOIN IN ON #READATHONS

Sometimes knowing that you’ve got a community at the touch of your fingertips that’s reading at the same time as you makes the simple act of reading more fun! If you’re at a loss of which to follow go read one of my recent posts to discover some new readathons!

GRAB A READING BUDDY

So maybe you’re not the large crowd reading type? That’s okay too because there’s always the option of finding someone IRL or online to buddy read with who has similar reading tastes. A lot of times all it takes is a quick tweet/hashtag #buddyread/post/DM to ask others out there who’d want to join you.

START A BOOK CLUB OR JOIN ONE

So what if you’re an inbetweener? That’s cool, you can always create your own book club or find one that’s already established. Just search #bookclub on any of the social apps you use to find one to your liking. When in doubt look into some book clubs for your favorite genres in Facebook groups. If you need any tips on how to start a book club read another post from this #Bookmas series.

TAKE PART IN THE #READINGAFTER10 CHALLENGE

It’s funny, I’ve been telling myself to do this for like the past year. No joke. 😂 BookTuber, Ariel Bissett, started this challenge awhile back hoping to contribute more of her time reading versus wasting time elsewhere. You can search into the challenge and see what others have been up to by looking up the hashtag on Instagram. Ariel at one point explains that she fell off the bandwagon not long after, probably due to being so busy with all her creative bookish YouTube content that she’s always up to! Anyways, just because she may not be participating at this moment doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t give it a go! Let’s bring back this movement! Honestly, there’s a few awesome benefits to this. 1) Less time on social media = less exposure to blue light on your phones. This means that you have an easier time falling asleep at night. 2) More reading time. 3) Finally catching up on the top books of your TBR pile.

SUBSCRIBE TO A BOOK BOX

When you’re getting a newly released book every month you’re more inclined to read it if there’s others getting it too. Some book boxes even include fun activities and communities that you can be a part of. So if you’re feeling out of place with no close friends that read this would be a great option for you! I’ve conveniently made a list of 18 book boxes the other day that goes into detail of what they include as well as the current prices (as of November 2018).

USE SOME APPS AND PHONE SETTINGS TO DISTRACT YOU FROM ACTUALLY BEING “ONLINE”

FOREST

If you have a love for greenery and artificial woods then the Forest app is for you! This is seriously one of the most adorable productivity apps you can download on your phone or use via your browser (if you have easy access to a computer). Every day you start off with a clean slate of grass and the goal is to grow your forest as much as you can in a day. It’s fun because over time you rack up coins to buy different kinds of trees to grow! You can also sync your account from mobile to desktop if you have other stuff you want to work on like I do with book blogging! Another great perk is the ability to block yourself from certain apps and websites which is helpful against your online weaknesses.

POMODORO

This is an app a lot of people use when they need to get some sort of task finished, but it can easily be used as a timer for reading! Simple set the timer for 25 minutes and keep reading! If the timer goes off, feel free to either keep reading or move onto something else that needs to be done in your daily tasks. This is such a short time frame that it will be simple for you to dedicate only 25 minutes a day to reading or more sessions if you’d prefer.

STAYFOCUSD

For those of you that like to be on a desktop/laptop throughout the day this is another great service similar to Forest where you can block specific websites from being used while being in focus mode for specific amounts of time. This one is available as a Google chrome extension.

STAY FOCUSED

Almost the same name as the previous one I’ve mentioned as well as similar features, but they take it a step forward by letting you choose a maximum amount of time to spend on particular sites/apps as well as which days of the week. This is an app offered for Android. I have mainly android based devices so if you’re an iOS user your best bet is to search for similar apps/extensions as the ones I’ve mentioned above. Some may or may not be offered via both iOS and Android.

RAIN SOUNDS

If you’re a person that needs some kind of noise in the background, but isn’t distracting (like sound lyrics) you should look into downloading the Rain Sounds app. They have a variety of different tracks of rain in different atmospheres and environments and you can edit the specific sounds you’re hearing as well..

AIRPLANE MODE

Though, not QUITE as fun as using the Forest app you can always set your phone to airplane mode (or silent for those of you with better willpower). It’s the easiest and quickest way to get you sucked into a book.

I hope that I helped you figure out some new ways to get back into the habit of reading. I know it can be hard with the online world that we have, but your TBR pile misses you! Pay attention to it! Give it some love! :)

Check back on my socials, join my newsletter, and/or come back here tomorrow to read another #Bookmas filled post!

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[elucubrare]

the tl;dr continueth

also hello, i'm sorry you're getting such fascinating insights into the inner workings of my brain today, but 

1. god, I have hated few websites more than the "new" BPL's – it's been like that for at least a year, so I should probably be used to it, but I'm very lazy, hate change, am very particular about my tabs, and bear a grudge, so I'm still mad about the fact that to search the catalogue in a way that isn't annoying you have to go to the main page, click "borrow," then click "books," and then that link opens in a new tab; also that you used to be able to bookmark book records and/or keep the tab open & it would stay there, but now it snaps back to the catalogue home if you leave it open for more than about 15 minutes. also they used to have been descriptions of the book, now I have to look it up on Goodreads.

also a while ago they stopped supporting their old iPhone app, saying that they'd have a new one "soon"; about nine? maybe? i don't know what time is? months later I did my periodic search of the app store to check if a new one had been released, and it had been, and they didn't see fit to email me, which you'd think would have been an important step. And it's not even that different - cosmetically, mostly, as far as I can tell.

also when they "updated" their catalogue it started sorting your checkouts by the date you took them out by default, which is the least of my complaints but also, like, I am interested in the date which I took things out, in the way that I'm interested in how much the pressure point in my back hurts – evidently I've renewed the one I've had out longest fourteen (14) times (I don't feel guilty because it's mediocre sci-fi from storage that probably no one wanted anyway  and if they did they could put a hold on it), but I want to see the date they're due – you know, when I need to renew them by to not get fines? also you used to be able to automatically select all the books that were due on the same date and renew them & now you can't, which isn't the worst, but I currently have 36 books out & had, I think, 75, so that's a lot of boxes to check. 

2. through a combination of actively trying to read more, not really finding anything new I want enough to acquire, and bailing early and often on things I don't feel a quick connection to (the King Arthur book I've had out for a while is probably fine, but it's first person, the prose is only okay [i think it actually used the phrase "clapping her hands in joy"], and it's in a weird font*), I'm down to 365 books on my to-read list from 430 or 40-something, which isn't really that  much better, but I have, in the past, read that many books in a year (I'm not going to this year, but I have), so it feels more possible to get it down to manageable levels, and possibly even get through my 2018 shelf before 2025.   

[kayespivey]

Tomorrow is the last day to enter the Giveaway on Goodreads for my poetry collection, Fragments. 

However, in light of an email sent out to all past giveaway authors from Goodreads this morning, I wanted to discuss why this will probably be the last giveaway I run through them. I talked about it some on my Twitter, but I wanted to mention it here as well.

The email starts off really hopeful, promising authors more opportunity to get noticed and gain reviews and details two different packages for how they hope to achieve this in 2018. 

For those who don’t know, Goodreads allows authors to run a giveaway, which they host, and you can set a length of time and number of winners, then people enter to win. Once the giveaway ends, Goodreads randomly selects the number of winners you specify and then sends you their address so you can pay postage to personally send them a copy of your book. This has worked out really well for many authors because there is an assumption that you send someone a free book and they are supposed to leave you a review in return. It’s also a great way for many people scrolling through to see your book and maybe take interest in it in the future. However, many people do not leave reviews so it isn’t a perfect platform.

On the other hand, it was a decent form of free advertising and helped you to reach an audience interested in your genre and was very valuable to many authors. I was able to receive some really fantastic reviews from people who would never have otherwise found my poetry through them and I’m grateful to Goodreads for helping me reach them.

Now Goodreads is going to start charging authors to run giveaways. And they’re charging a lot more than most indie or self-published writers can justify when starting out with a new novel and more than most poets will ever hope to make back on their writing. On top of that, they aren’t really fixing that many things about the platform. It’s disappointing and frustrating that they’re basically cutting out the exact audience that really needed their platform, and they’re favoring large companies who were going to shell out on advertising anyway. 

I’m going to go ahead and post the entire email I received here under a cut, so if you’re interested go ahead and take a look. Suffice to say, should this go into effect, I won’t be using Goodreads giveaway system any more.

As an author who uses Goodreads Giveaways, we want to let you know we’ll be introducing our new Goodreads Giveaways program on January 9, 2018, offering even more powerful book marketing benefits that authors have been asking for. Our new Goodreads Giveaways program includes two packages, Standard and Premium—you can learn more about them below. And for the first time, Kindle Direct Publishing authors can run giveaways for Kindle ebooks—a feature previously only available to traditional publishers. The new program, which replaces our current Giveaways program, will initially be for giveaways open to U.S. residents.

Since we launched Goodreads Giveaways nine years ago, we’ve helped authors and publishers get millions of books into the hands of readers to drive prerelease buzz, discovery, and reviews. Giveaways have become a core part of Goodreads’ suite of book marketing tools (advertising, deals, and giveaways), and have become a must-do tactic for authors and publishers, helping many titles – including The Girl on the Train – break out to early success.

From January 9, 2018, you can choose from the following two packages:

Standard Giveaway (available in your choice of print book or Kindle ebook format).

1. (NEW) Everyone who enters your giveaway automatically adds the book to their Want-to-Read list, promoting your book via updates in their friends’ updates feeds, and building an audience for your title.

2. (NEW) The author’s followers and anyone who has already added the book to their Want-to-Read list get a notification, letting them know there’s a giveaway starting. This helps generate even more entries, creating more stories in the Goodreads updates feed.

3. About eight weeks after your Giveaway ends, winners receive an email from Goodreads to remind them to rate and review your book. This will help other readers discover and decide to read the book too.

4. Giveaways are featured in the Giveaways section of Goodreads.com, allowing readers to discover new books.

The new Standard Package is $119 per giveaway for either print book or Kindle ebook format. From January 9, 2018 to January 31, 2018, take advantage of our introductory price: only $59 (save 50%).

Premium Giveaway (available in your choice of print book or Kindle ebook format).

Premium Giveaways are designed to give you more opportunity to connect with readers than ever. A Premium Giveaway includes:

1. (NEW) Premium placement in the Giveaways section of Goodreads, with tens of millions of visitors each month, giving your giveaway significantly more visibility and more entrants.

The Premium package also includes all of the benefits of the Standard package:

2. (NEW) Everyone who enters your giveaway automatically adds the book to their Want-to-Read list, promoting your book via updates in their friends’ updates feeds, and building an audience for your title.

3. (NEW) The author’s followers and anyone who has already added the book to their Want-to-Read list get a notification, letting them know there’s a giveaway starting. This helps generate even more entries, creating more stories in the Goodreads updates feed.

4. About eight weeks after your Giveaway ends, winners receive an email from Goodreads to remind them to rate and review your book. This will help other readers discover and decide to read the book too.

5. Giveaways are shown in the Giveaways section of Goodreads and the book page, allowing readers to discover new books.

The new Premium Package is $599 per giveaway for either print book or Kindle ebook format. From January 9, 2018 to January 31, 2018, take advantage of our introductory price: only $299 (save 50%).

New Giveaways created on or after 1/9/18 will initially be open to US residents only. Giveaways created prior to 1/9/18 will continue to run as scheduled, but will not benefit from any of the enhancements in our new Giveaways program.

We encourage you to take advantage of this introductory pricing and try the new products out!

[cromulentbookreview]

A Perfectly Cromulent List of the Best Books I’ve Read This Year

Well, the best books I’ve read this year that I haven’t cromulently reviewed on this site. I read a lot of books because it’s what I like to do and I don’t really have a lot of friends to hang out with, or really anything that I do besides work and grad school so...yeah, I read a lot. My Goodreads challenge this year is 100 books, which would be the first and only time I’ve ever read 100 books in a year. I’m at 95 right now - so close! Just gotta get some short books and audiobooks in, and I’ll be good!

Anyway.

Below are some of the books I’ve read this year that I really liked, but didn’t feature here.

The Cromulent Book Review is where I like to post reviews of ARCs so I can ensure that I keep getting them. 

ARC = Free Book! 

Free Book = Me happy. 

Therefore:

Happiness = x(ARC+1) + H^2.

I have no idea if that equation works or even makes sense. Math was never my strong suit. Maybe I should’ve paid attention instead of reading The Hobbit under my desk. 

Anyway! Here, in no particular order, are some of the best books I’ve read this year:

Cucumber Quest by Gigi D.G.

Did you know this is a webcomic? Yeah, it is. I did not when I read the ARC from Netgalley, so I was all sad when I thought I’d have to wait for more books...but you don’t! Hurray! One of the best graphic novels / webcomics I’ve ever come across - snarky, subverts most familiar fantasy tropes, and, best of all: bunnies. And bunny-related puns. It’s fan-fricking-tastic. Read it now. Then go buy the books! Go on, I’ll wait.

Castle in the Stars: The Space Race of 1869 by Alex Alice 

Love it. It has everything I love: German history, Steampunk, gorgeous illustrations, space travel...I desperately need more than just the first volume. Also, at roughly 60 pages, these "books" are way too short! I need the whole story now, please. God, I miss Germany. Nitpicking: Neuschwanstein was only just beginning to be under construction in 1869. Ludwig II never really lived there (well, he did for a bit while it was still under construction) - he never lived to see it completed, though it wasn't like he didn't have eleventy-million other castles. Like Hohenschwangau, which is literally across the way from Neuschwanstein. It's quite nice. There's also Herrenchiemsee, Königshaus am Schachen, and Linderhof which is the only castle Ludwig II lived to see completed. Neuschwanstein was opened to the public immediately after they were done building in 1886. It's been a tourist attraction since then. ...God, I miss Germany. I need to re-up my German and my German history. I've got a book on Ludwig II in German around here somewhere...

Eden West by Pete Hautman

It's rare that I ever finish a book in a day. I am way too easily distracted by the internet, the job I’m supposed to be doing, the graduate work I’m supposed to be doing, the writing I’m supposed to be doing, the chores I really should get to before something catches fire...you know, stuff. This book I think, is the first time I've seen an Amazon Kindle 1.99 deal, gone "sounds interesting, I'll buy it." And then, on the "thank you" page, clicked "read in Kindle Cloud Reader" and started reading immediately. I was over halfway through this book when the receipt email made it to my inbox. I was sucked into this book immediately and dropped everything to read it. My only complaint is that it ended too early - I would have loved to see Jacob adjusting to life in the world outside of the Nobb, interact with society at large, meet Lynna's friends. Also, it would have been nice to see some of the jerks within the Nobb get their comeuppance or see the place be shut down altogether. Also, protip: if you have to keep telling people "it's not a cult", you're probably in a cult. Just sayin'.

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

Yeah, I went to a rural high school chock full of conservative Christians, Mormons, and, oddly enough, members of the Russian Orthodox church. No way in hell were we ever going to go near The Color Purple. I mean, if Ricochet River was too risque for my school, then The Color Purple would’ve been considered pornographic. God forbid we have any books featuring frank discussions of female pleasure! The Color Purple all about female empowerment, friendships, relationships, sex, love, hate, racism, sexism... So of course my school didn’t teach it. By far the most beautiful book I’ve read this year, and I honestly wish they’d make The Color Purple required reading for not just all high school students, but for all humans. 

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

I don't often describe books as "compulsively" readable - for the most part, if I'm reading something, I can stop, switch to something else or go do something else for a while and I'll be good. But when I started The Hate U Give, I just could not stop. I had to keep reading, keep reading, keep reading. This book hooks you and just does not let go, it's awesome. The 4.5/5 is really only for some scenes which, in retrospect, set up just how normal and loving Starr's family life is, but they dragged a little too long. Some scenes could have been cut. That is my only criticism. This is a fantastic and extremely relevant book - it's another one of those books I'd like to buy multiple copies of and then just hand out to random people and be like "READ THIS NOW." Seriously, read it.

This Monstrous Thing by Mackenzi Lee

Immediately after reading The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue, I just had to get my hands on everything Mackenzi Lee had ever written, but this turned out to not be a lot...still, I inhaled This Monstrous Thing, loved it, was disappointed when I learned it wouldn’t be getting the sequel, but then my heart nearly exploded when I learned that Lee herself will be writing a YA Marvel tie-in novel...about Loki.

About. Loki.

The awesome woman who brought us Gentleman’s Guide is going to write a novel about Loki!

Also, Gentleman’s Guide is going to be getting a sequel soon! Hell yes!

That high pitched ringing you heard a couple weeks back was my fangirlish squee - unless you have tinnitus, in which case, it was tinnitus and my fangirlish squee. Mackenzi Lee is probably my favorite writer that I discovered this year, and I can’t wait to see more of her stuff in the future. She’s also very tolerant of my pestering of her via Twitter. (Sorry, Ms. Lee!)

Nimona, the Audiobook by Noelle Stevenson

Loved, loved, loved the audiobook version of Nimona! It was absolutely perfect, and probably as close to a Nimona movie or TV series that we'll ever get (fingers still crossed! Noelle Stevenson writes for TV now - come on, Marvel, make us a Nimona TV series!). It's done in a BBC Radio Play style with a full cast and original music and it's just absolutely delightful. Sir Goldenloin sounds exactly like how you think he would, too :) It's only 2.5 hours long, so it would be perfect for a long car ride or if you need something fun to listen to while cleaning or doing housework. I actually managed to clean my whole room while listening to this - made the task fun rather than torturous. My only complaint was that occasionally the voice actors would ham it up a bit with growls and groans and such, but...eh, it's an audiobook/radio play. I'm mostly just glad now that Nimona has been made accessible to the blind. Nimona is awesome and everyone should get a chance to experience it, whether or not they can see the illustrations.

Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk

This book broke my heart into a million pieces and then put it back together somewhat...but still. Beautiful and sad.          

Bronze and Sunflower by Cao Wenxuan (曹文轩) translated into English by Helen Wang

Beautifully translated book about two young children growing up in rural China during the Cultural Revolution. A very heartwarming tale of a family sticking together no matter what in the face of poverty and diversity. Can't believe I hadn't heard of this book til it was assigned in my MLIS program! Love it love it love it. Stop everything and read it now.         

The Thing About Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin

This book took my adolescence and distilled it into a middle grade novel about a girl who becomes obsessed with the idea that a jellyfish killed her ex-best friend. The way Suzy sees the world and the way people treated her was all to familiar to me, especially the story of how, around middle school, her elementary school best friend Franny suddenly became a different person, and that person didn’t want to hang around Suzy anymore. Not only that, she started being mean to Suzy. This is one of those awful, painful experiences that I’m pretty sure everyone has had at some point in their lives. I highly recommend this book for anyone who has lost a friend - whether it be because they died or they simply turned into an asshole as a byproduct of puberty.

The Last of August by Brittany Cavallaro

There are two things I love: YA and Sherlock Holmes stories, and most of the time when they're combined the end result isn't all that great, but the Charlotte Holmes books have both been absolutely amazing so far. Brittany Cavallaro became a new favorite of mine with A Study in Charlotte and she managed to top it with Last of August.  I am in desperate need of book three. Right now. I don't want to wait. I need it. Neeeeeed it.

Before the Devil Breaks You by Libba Bray

Oh God, oh God, oh God why did it have to end?!? Libba Bray is perhaps my favorite YA author ever - in fact, A Great and Terrible Beauty was the gateway book to my YA addiction. I remember reading A Great and Terrible Beauty under my desk during my high school chemistry class. Worth it! So what if knowledge of chemistry never really sank in? Anyway: I tore through all those books, endured the long, awful wait for the next one, and then was depressed when they ended with The Sweet Far Thing. And then The Diviners came out in 2012 and I was immediately hooked. Who doesn’t love fiction set in the Roaring 20s? I tore through Diviners, endured the long, awful wait for Lair of Dreams, and then endured the even longer, more awful wait for Before the Devil Breaks You. My only criticism is that I, somehow, had the idea that Before the Devil Breaks You would be the last book in a trilogy - and that this book would provide all our answers and give us an ending for Evie and Sam and Jericho and Mable and Theta and Memphis and Ling...but as I made my way through the book and the number of pages I had left began to dwindle, I rapidly realized this was the final book of a trilogy, but the third book in a series. There’s going to be a book 4. Which, first off: awesome! More, please! But also: NOOO! Agh, no, I want to know all the answers! I want to know whether Evie will end up with Sam or Jericho. I wanna know if Theta will finally find happiness. I WANT TO KNOW, DAMN IT! Ugh! So it was disappointing knowing that I would be taken along for a wild ride through the Roaring 20s but with magic and special powers and a 20s Stranger Things vibe only to be set up for yet another long, awful wait for another book. Ugh! I WANT IT NOW. In fact, I NEED IT NOW!

Also, when are we going to talk about the fact that Diviners and the Gemma Doyle series take place in the same universe?? Don’t believe me? Go reread that Post Office scene from Lair of Dreams. Go on, I’ll wait. I need Gemma and her friends to show up for the final battle, or to act as a mentor to Evie or something!

Aaaagggghh. Series books. They’ll be the death of me, I tells ya!

This is by all means not a complete list. Just a list I threw together to make up for the fact that I’m lazy and not blogging because...eh, busy. And lazy. So...there are some books to read. Go read them? I dunno, you don’t have to listen to me, I’m just some random person who has a Tumblr account. Read these books or not, your choice.

Still, you should read these. They’re great.

[curlygirl79]

Today, as part of the blog tour for Overstrike, book one in the Fixpoint series, I am honoured to be able to share with you a Q&A that the author took part in for me. Many thanks to CM Angus for taking the time to do this, and to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for inviting me to be a part of the tour.

What made you decide to move from writing technical non-fiction to writing fiction?

That’s probably not how I look at it. I guess I’m more of an opportunist. Back in 2006 I found myself working with a couple  of technologies which were new enough to have literally no books written about them. As I was learning the hard way to get to grips with these I saw there was an opportunity for a technical publication.

Likewise in 2014 when I found myself with the embryo of the story that went on to become Overstrike, I decided to give it a go.

It was certainly very different, but I believe the past is a dream that doesn’t define us – each of us has the capacity to continually reinvent ourselves..

What authors inspire you?

I’d have to say: Ones that make it happen against the odds. People like David J. Kowalski – whose 2007 debut The Company of the Dead I enjoyed a lot. The fact that he managed to write a pretty awesome novel whilst being a Obstetrician, inspired me to believe maybe I could somehow find time to write also.

Thank you David.

Do you have a literary hero? How about a favourite literary villain?

In a lot of ways, this is likely to be the stream of consciousness everyman like Bukowski’s semi-autobiographical Henry Chinaski, or The Narrator (Phaedrus) from Pirsig’s Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Whoever it is, they’re likely to be a thinker, a drunk and a little unhinged. In a lot of ways, I find characters, or for that fact, people in general, become far more interesting when they don’t conform. As for hero’s and villain’s, I tend not to think in those kind of binary terms, I think that there are angels and devils in all of us –  that everyone is both good and evil. The most interesting characters, for me, are ones that either fall from grace or seek redemption – whether that’s Milton’s Lucifer in Paridise Lost, Rowling’s Snape,  Jane Austen’s Mr D’Arcy, Dickens’ Scrooge or even Martin’s Jaime Lannister, the idea that a character’s drivers and motives are fluid, makes them interesting to me.

What is your favourite under-appreciated novel?

Not sure whether this counts, but I’d have to say The View from Gallows Hill by Nick Stead. I was lucky enough to be a beta-reader on this and liked it a lot – certainly one to look for when it comes out. 

Where do you do your writing? Do you have a special place to go for calm and inspiration or are you a write anywhere kind of guy?

I’d have to say wherever the muse takes me. But it’s more about finding the headspace than than a particular location or time. If things are too noisy I’ve got no chance. If things are too quiet – again; that’s an issue. So it feels like I’m forever in search of my own Goldilocks zone *laughs*. Sometimes I find it in my local park with a laptop, sometimes it’s in a bustling coffee shop – I seem to change like the wind. Invariably it ends up being stolen moments interspaced between other activities – I try to use technology so that I can switch between desktop, laptop, tablet and phone and keep going in between being Dad’s taxi! So I guess I’m a write anywhere kind of guy…

What is the strangest thing you have had to Google for writing research?

Man, now that’s going to be quite a list…

I guess it would include:

* Current theories on quantum entanglement and the plausibility of time travel.

* Elements of the Holocaust during WWII.

* Key players in early electroconvulsive therapy.

* Details of Schizophrenia.

* Large parts of London and its transport network. 

However I’m sure I must be missing something.

You seem to be a man of many talents – how do you fit everything in? I find I am easily distracted from one hobby or interest by another – do you find the same?

Definitely. It’s not just a question of passion. I need to set myself goals and make these public – actively throw myself under the bus, if you will, to force myself to complete things. Then its a case of multitasking and combining things, but it isn’t easy and without the support of my family I couldn’t do any of it.

At the end of the day though, it’s about setting realistic goals and keeping on with these – even if the progresses glacial. For instance: Overstrike has taken around 5-years, so I’d say it’s more to do with perseverance and pig-headedness than some kind of silver bullet.

Thanks again to CM Angus for taking the time to answer my questions. For more information about Overstrike, read on!

BLURB:

When Matt Howard’s grandfather told him he must alter history to protect his newborn son, Matt thought the old man was crazy…

…Then he realised it was true.

Overstrike spans 4 generations of a family haunted by the prospect of an approaching alternate reality where their child has been erased from history.

Touching on themes of retro-causality, ethics and free will, and exploring ideas of cause, effect and retribution, it follows the path of Matt Howard, whose child, Ethan, is at risk, as he, his father and grandfather attempt to use their own abilities to manipulate reality in order to discover and prevent whoever is threatening Ethan.

Overstrike is volume I of Fixpoint, a trilogy about a family who discover their inherited ability to manipulate reality. It enables them to effect changes in order to safeguard themselves and all that they hold dear. But even seemingly small changes in a timeline can have unforeseen and far-reaching consequences. Follow the stories of the Howards, on a journey exploring reality, time and our own sense of self.

PURCHASE LINKS:

Amazon UK

Amazon US

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

CM Angus author and writer of Speculative fiction, Sci-fi and Horror grew up in the North East of England and now lives in Yorkshire with his wife and children. He is interested in all things creative & technological.

Currently working on Fixpoint, a series of books with each piece tackling different aspects of discontinuities in time and is a Speculative Fiction spanning 4 generations of a family haunted by the prospect of an approaching alternate reality where their child has been erased from history.

Overstrike, Volume 1 of Fixpoint, will be published by Elsewhen Press in early 2020.

SOCIAL MEDIA:

Twitter

Website

Facebook

Amazon

Goodreads

Publisher

GIVEAWAY:

Win 5 x Overstrike T-shirts  (Open INT)

*Terms and Conditions –Worldwide entries welcome.  Please enter using the Rafflecopter link below.  The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over.  Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data.  I am not responsible for dispatch or delivery of the prize.

ENTER HERE

To find out more about Overstrike, head on over to the other blogs taking part in the tour.

@c_m_angus is answering my questions on the blog today. #bookblogger #Q&A #fixpoint #overstrike #fictioncafewriters #spoonshortagebookclub @rararesources Today, as part of the blog tour for Overstrike, book one in the Fixpoint series, I am honoured to be able to share with you a Q&A that the author took part in for me.

[givencontext]

2018 Annual Review

Welcome to my year end review of 2018. My first instinct at the end of the year was to go through my journal and make a list of all the cool things I did in 2018. There were so many things! While I was making my list, I received an email from James Clear with his annual review. I decided I liked his format. He got the idea from someone else, and I have seen a few others use it as well. If it works for them, it can work for me, so here goes….

What went well this year?

Reading Less/Writing More

In 2017 my reading goal was 80 books. I hit that goal, and I completed the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge (mentioned here .) I also tried to get started writing my blog. I was a bit overwhelmed by the end of the year and found that I let the writing slide. So in 2018, I resolved to read less books and officially start my blog. I set my reading goal at the magic number 42, because that’s how old I would be for most of the year. It took me all year to hit that goal, so cutting back feels like it was the right move. I got my blog started and made several posts. I feel good about how this goal shaped up for 2018.

In 2019, my goal will be to read 43 books (I’ve already done 2 but Goodreads isn’t giving me credit for a re-read) and to write even more. Blogging is not the only kind of writing I do, so I might write more without the public evidence. My target is to blog weekly, but I am allowing myself some grace around that.

Travel

I’m no Johnny Cash. My theme song could be: “I’ve been to the same few places over and over again.” That does’t have the same rhythm, does it?

In 2018 I went to a lot of new places and revisited several old ones. For Spring Break, the kids and I went on an epic road trip to the Northeast while touring colleges. We met #1 kid’s BFF at Niagara Falls. We lived one of my favorite James Taylor songs by taking “the turnpike from Stockbridge to Boston.” We experienced our first Nor’easter on the first day of Spring. We made a quick visit to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum in DC and took selfies in the sculpture park.

In the summer, I took my first vacation by myself to attend the Bright Line Eating Family Reunion. This was my first trip to California/the West Coast, then I returned a couple of months later for a work trip. I actually took more plane rides in 2018 than I had taken in all 42 years of my life prior. I made this map showing all of the states I visited in 2018.

Click the map to make your own.

For 2019, I am planning another epic road trip. I plan to revisit the BLE reunion, but this time I want to take the family and drive. Driving across the desert in July? Why not!?

Connection

If I had to give 2018 a name, for me it would be the year of Connection. In my blog post about habits, I talked about Connection as one of my core values. Formerly, I had a different “C” word that would have been there, but as I worked on that post it became very clear that Connection had moved into the top spot. I have not always had a lot of friends. I was not exactly the popular girl in high school. (See my junior prom picture here.) Lately, my wonderful husband has taken to calling me “Miss Popular,” because I am always connecting with some friend, family member, or group.

I have plans nearly every day of the week. Monday is usually free, but Tuesday is “cheap date night” when movies are only $5. Wednesday is tap dancing class. Thursday I have a Mastermind Group call. Friday is yoga with my bestie. Naturally, I can find something to do on the weekend. The thing is… I’m not really an “activity” person. What motivates me to attend all of these things is the chance to connect. Movies are with my friends, kids, and/or my husband. Tap class is with my oldest. My MMG call is with a couple of fabulous friends. And I never see my BFF often enough. When I go to book and craft club or “moonlight ladies,” it’s about connecting with awesome women. I have discovered that I love it! Thanks, 2018, for helping me embrace this.

What didn’t go well this year?

Being Complacent

You might have seen me mention this little thing called Bright Line Eating. I have talked about it several times including here, here, and here. I have had tremendous success with this program. So much success that I became complacent. My brain started to play tricks on me and try to make me believe that I could eat like a “normal person.” Well… nope! The good news is – this program has become my lifestyle, so even when I have gone “off-plan” I have gone right back on again automatically. The bad news – I strayed from my good habits often enough that I brought my weight loss to a halt. I didn’t regain. I actually started 2019 exactly 2 lbs lighter than I started 2018, but I had thought that 2018 would be the year I got to goal. I allowed some unspoken fear of success to hold me back.

Luckily for me, midway through December a new program was launched in the BLE community that addresses exactly this issue. I signed up, and I am leaning hard into the program and the support community (connection.) I am not going to promise that 2019 will be “goal year.” My only promise is that I am going to stop trying to analyze that fear and just “act as if” it doesn’t exist. When I take care of my program, it will take care of me. And I am SUPER grateful for the people who take care of me so that I can take care of my program.

PITA

In case you don’t know, PITA stands for Pain In The Ass. This time you can take it literally. I still have issues with my spine. This causes sciatica and issues all the way down to my toes. It is MUCH better since I started Bowen therapy, but I can’t get it as often as I probably should. I also need to seriously do my physical therapy exercises every day. As soon as they start to help and I feel better, I start to slack. I have lots of other fun things to do, I don’t have 5-10 minutes per day to spend strengthening my core! (sarcasm)

Despite my pain level being 80-90% improved from where I started the year, it is still frustrating that I have to deal with this at all. I feel like freedom from pain should be automatic with losing 100 lbs. C’mon! Sadly, I have also had to admit to myself that there are things that my spine will never allow me to do again. Our local-ish theme park opened a new roller coaster. I should be celebrating a NSV (non-scale victory) of being able to fit into a roller coaster seat and ride again, but I can’t. I was really, really, really sad the day I admitted to myself that I can’t risk further injury to my spine by disregarding the warnings and riding anyway. The last time I rode a coaster I started to black out on a loop. Message received. My coaster days are over. And I am grieving that loss. It’s not so much the coasters themselves as the sense of finality that an era of my life has passed and can never be regained.

The Day Job

Is there always going to be one of these that I don’t even want to talk about and don’t want to admit? I hope so, or else I am going to feel bad about this one. I have a great job. I like the kind of work I do. Mostly. Sometimes it’s too much math even for a nerd like me. I don’t have any idea what else I would do if I “had my druthers.” I probably make good money, although don’t our circumstances always seem to challenge us on this one? Making the statement that this would be my dream job is what landed me here. Why, then, would I find myself in this “maybe not” state?

LAYOFFS – When I started my previous job, my dad had told me not to drink the Kool-Aid. He told me if it was ever in their best interest NOT to pay me to do that job, they wouldn’t think twice about it. I was there 14+ years and never forgot that advice. Then I changed companies and I placed this, my favorite brand, on a pedestal and thought it would be different. While I was lucky enough to not be laid off, I saw it happen to others, and it did indirectly impact and change my role. I had actual survivor’s guilt. (Thanks again, therapist!) And I felt heartbroken… that really is the only word for it… at having my illusions burst.

There’s more, but I find that I need to stop there. I’ve heard people say that you have to work through the whole story before you can tell it. My gut is telling me to sit with it a while longer. Not just because sometimes my boss reads my blog. LOL. I think he knows that wouldn’t stop me. But not now.

But one last thing on the “what didn’t work” side of it is that I no longer partake of 90% of my company’s products due to my lifestyle change. When I recently told someone else in the program where I work, they said, “Well, it’s a good thing you’re not a Buddhist, because y’know, ‘Right Livelihood’ and all that.” Which led me to say, “Actually….” and explain how I thought I was leaving my old job for precisely that reason (guns,) and now find myself faced with the same thing a few years later, because I now view Sugar as poison. For me and many others like me, it has to be an all or nothing thing. There is no moderation. And as much as I could rationalize that I didn’t help put guns into stores for any ill intent, and I am not responsible for what people do with them (once again, therapy!) I have a serious karmic struggle happening.

What did I learn?

The Answer is Always MORE SUPPORT

Have I mentioned that one of the cool things about Bright Line Eating is the supportive community? That includes coaching calls where people get help with specific struggles. I’ve done this program for more than two years, and eventually I noticed a pattern. Regardless of what sort of struggle someone is having, the answer is always more support. One of the most vicious things about addiction – I identify as a food addict – is that it wants to isolate us. This is true of other ailments as well. Once I recognized that everyone else wants to isolate too, it began to get easier for me to reach out. Notice I said easier. I didn’t say easy.

I have not branched this out much to other areas of my life yet, but honestly, right now having my food and daily habits around this at 100% is my highest priority. I know when I do apply it to other areas, it will serve me just as well.

Staying True to Myself is Still the Key

I don’t know how to be anyone but myself, but sometimes I try. This inevitably leads to disaster. Sometimes it’s less about being someone else and more about just not really and truly being fully myself. Like I said in this post, I hope that the person I am is constantly evolving. I reserve the right to change and to change my mind. I even mentioned above that one of my top 3 core values swapped out this year. But that value and the one it replaced are both still in alignment with “ME.”

The darkest spots in 2018 for me were a few instances where I attempted to “go along to get along.” It was premeditated. It was supposed to be strategic. The person who got the least benefit from it was always me. These were not big, life-changing things. Nothing illegal. (Do y’all even know me?!) But these things have been stuck in my craw simply because I know they were out of alignment. I expect more from myself. And I will do better next time. That reminds me of an Incubus song… nah, that too, is a story for another time.

Conclusion

2018 was a good year. Everything didn’t turn out like I planned, but I planned a lot, so there was room for error. I am so grateful for my family. My husband really doesn’t get enough credit for putting up with and taking care of me. You might have heard how awesome, smart, and talented my kids are. That’s still true. (And Holly is graduating in May!) I have already started 2019 by spending some time with a couple of my wonderful cousins. Extended family is fantastic! Stay tuned for my next blog about more of my 2019 plans. I am sure they won’t all work out either, but won’t it be fun to try?!

Did you do a 2018 Annual Review? If so, share a link in the comments! Is there anything that stands out to you about my 2018? Again, leave a comment! Do you have big plans for 2019? Hey, save that comment for next week! Do you want to know more about Bright Line Eating? Ask me! (trina@givencontext.com) Are you sick of me talking about it? Well, sorry, but I am excited about it, because it works! Maybe the most important question: How many books do you plan to read in 2019? Tell me in the comments and leave suggestions of books for me to read!

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[bookloveravenue]

Moonlight Seduction by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Release date: June 26, 2018

The de Vincent brothers are back—and so is the intrigue that surrounds them—in New York Times bestselling author Jennifer L. Armentrout’s sizzling new novel...

Nicolette Bresson never thought she’d return to the de Vincents’ bayou compound. It’s where her parents work, where Nikki grew up... and where she got her heart broken by Gabriel de Vincent himself. Yet here she is, filling in for her sick mother. Avoiding Gabe should be easy, especially when so much of Nikki’s time is spent trying not to be stabbed in the back by the malicious hangers-on who frequent the mansion. But escaping memories of Gabe, much less his smoking-hot presence, is harder than expected—especially since he seems determined to be in Nikki’s space as much as possible.

Gabriel spent years beating himself up over his last encounter with Nikki. He’d wanted her then, but for reasons that were bad for both of them. Things have now changed. Gabe sees more than a girl he’s known forever; he sees a smart, talented, and heartbreakingly beautiful woman... one who’s being stalked from the shadows. Now, Gabe will do anything to keep Nikki safe—and to stop the de Vincent curse from striking again.

GOODREADS: http://bit.ly/MoonlightSeductionJLA-GR

AMAZON: http://amzn.to/2BycJEF

BARNES & NOBLE: http://bit.ly/MoonlightSeductionJLA-BN

BOOK DEPOSITORY: http://bit.ly/MoonlightSeductionJLA-BookDepository

Preorder Moonlight Seduction and receive a bonus story!

RULES/INFO:

·      Preorder an ebook or print copy of Moonlight Seduction by Jennifer L. Armentrout and get an exclusive de Vincent bonus story sent via email!

·      Open Internationally

·      You must upload a copy of their preorder receipt of Moonlight Seduction to be eligible.

·      The de Vincent bonus story will be emailed after the release Moonlight Seduction (6/26/18)

PREORDER CAMPAIGN LINK: http://bit.ly/MOONLIGHTSEDUCTIONS-PREORDEROFFER

Check out the first chapter of Moonlight Seduction here!

Chapter 1

Six years later . . .

It took every ounce of self-control for Gabriel de Vincent to stand back and do nothing. Just stand there and watch him being led away, but that’s what he had to do, because that’s what he’d promised and Gabe tried to be a man of his word.

Sometimes he failed at that. Failed at that in ways that haunted him late at night, but he wouldn’t go back on this.

He’d promised them three uninterrupted months.
That’s what he was going to give them.
His jaw ached from how hard he was clenching it as the Rothchilds walked back into the restaurant. He didn’t take his eyes off them, not until he couldn’t see them anymore. Only then did he look at the slip of paper.

Looking down at the drawing of puppy on a piece of blue construction paper, he felt the worst mix of emotions. Sadness. Pride. Helplessness. Hope. Fury that he’d never tasted before. He had no idea how one person could feel all of that at once, but he did.

A wry smile tugged at his lips. There was definitely talent in the drawing. Real skill. The de Vincent knack for the arts was still kicking around it seemed.

His gaze flickered over what was written in a blockish handwriting. He’d already read in three times, but couldn’t bear to read it a fourth time. Not right now. He didn’t want to fold the paper and created creases in it, so he was careful as he carried it back to where he was parked.

“Gabriel de Vincent.”

Frowning at the vaguely familiar voice, he turned around. A man stepped out from behind a truck. Dark, square sunglasses shielded half the man’s face, but Gabe recognized him.

He sighed. “Ross Haid. To what do I owe the honor of seeing you in Baton Rouge?”

The reporter for the Advocate gave one of what Gabe assumed was a trademark half grin; the kind that probably got him into a places and events he sure as hell didn’t belong in. “Headquarters are here. You know that.”

“Yeah, but you work out of the New Orleans office, Ross.”

He shrugged a shoulder as he neared Gabe. “I had to come up to headquarters. Heard through the grapevine that a de Vincent was in town.”

“Uh-huh.” Not for one second did Gabe believe that. “And you just happen to hear that I was at this restaurant?”

The smile kicked up a notch as he ran a hand over his blond hair. “Nah. Seeing you here was just luck.”

Bullshit. Ross had been sniffing after his family for about two months now, trying to get to one of them when they were out at dinner or at an event, showing up at nearly every damn function one of them was attending. But back home, in New Orleans, Ross had trouble getting near them. Well, he had troubled getting to the one he really wanted to talk to which was Gabe’s older brother.

Didn’t require any leap of logic to figure out what was going on. Somehow Ross had heard that Gabe was here, and that’s why Ross conveniently ended up here. Normally he could tolerate Ross’ incessant questioning. Hell, he sort of liked the guy, appreciated his determination, but not when Ross was here and something he didn’t want a reporter finding out mere feet away.

Lowering his sunglasses, Ross eyed Gabe’s ride. “Nice car. Is it one of the new Porsche 911s?”

Gabe raised his brows.

“Family business must be going well. Then again, the family business is always going strong, isn’t it? The de Vincents are old money. The one percent of the one percent.” Gabe’s family was one of the oldest, linked all the way back to the days the great state of Louisiana was being created. Now they owned the most profitable oil refineries in the Gulf, coveted real estate all around the world, tech firms, and once his older brother married, they’d be in control of the one of the largest shipping industries in the world. So, yeah, the de Vincents were wealthy, but the car and nearly everything Gabe owned, he bought it with the money he worked for. Not the money he was born with.

“Some say that your family has so much money, that the de Vincents are above the law.” Ross straightened his sunglasses. “Seems that way.”

Gabe really didn’t have time for this. “Whatever you want to say, can you stop beating around the damn bush and get to it? I’m planning to head home sometime in the next year.”

The reporter’s smile faded. “Since you’re here and I’m here, and it’s damn hard to talk to you all any other time. I want to chat about your father’s death.”

“I’m sure you do.”

“I don’t believe it was a suicide,” Ross continued. “And I find it also convenient that Chief Cobbs, who openly and publicly wanted your father’s death investigated as a homicide ended up dead in a freak car accident.”

“Is that right?”

Frustration hummed off Ross about as loud as the damn locusts. “Is that all you got to say to me about this?”

“Pretty much.” Gabe grinned then. “That and you have an overactive imagination, but I’m sure you’ve heard that before.”

“I don’t think my imagination is nearly vast enough to compete with all the things the de Vincents have had their hands in.”

Probably not.

“Okay, I won’t ask you about your father or the chief.” Ross shifted his weight as Gabe opened his driver’s door. “Also heard some interesting rumors about some of the staff at the de Vincent compound.”

“I’m started to feel like you might be stalking us.” Gabe placed the drawing facedown on the passenger’s seat. “If you want to talk about staffing, then you need to have a chat with Dev.”

“Devlin won’t make time to talk to me.”
“That doesn’t sound like my problem.”
“It seems like it is now.”
Gabe laughed, but the sound was without humor as he reached inside, grabbing his sunglasses off the visor. “Trust me, Ross, this isn’t my problem.”

“You may not think so now, but that’ll change.” A muscle twitched along the man’s jaw. “I plan to blow the roof of every single damn secret the de Vincents have been keeping for years. I’m going to do a story that not even your family can pay to keep quiet.”

Shaking his head, Gabe slipped his sunglasses on. “I like you, Ross. You know I’ve never had a problem with you. So, I just want to get that out of the way. But you have got to come up with some better material, because that was cliché as shit.” He rested his hand on the frame of the car door. “You’ve got to know you’re not the first reporter to come around thinking they’re somehow going to dig some skeletons out of our closets and expose us for whatever the hell you think we are. You’re not going to be the last to fail.”

“I don’t fail,” Ross said. “Not ever.”
“Everyone fails.” Gabe climbed in behind the wheel.
“Except the de Vincents?”
“You said it, not me.” Gabe looked up at the reporter. “Some unasked for advice? I’d find another story to investigate.”
“Is there where you’re going to tell me to be careful?” He sounded oddly gleeful by the prospect. “Warn me off? Because people who mess with the de Vincents end up missing or worse?”

Gabe smirked as he hit the ignition key. “Doesn’t sound like I need to tell you that. Seems like you already know what happens.”

Nikki stood in the center of the quiet and sterile kitchen of the de Vincent mansion, telling herself that she was not the same little idiot that almost drowned herself out in the pool six years ago.

She sure as hell wasn’t the same idiot who had spent years making an utter fool out of herself, chasing after a grown man. An act, which resulted in one of the worst ideas she’d ever had in the history of bad ideas.

And Nikki had a remarkable history of making not the brightest of all decisions. Her dad said she had a bit of wild streak in her, taking after Pappy, but Nikki liked to blame the de Vincents for the recklessness. They had this really bizarre talent of making everyone around them stick one toe into Recklessville.

Her mother claimed that most of Nikki’s bad decisions came from having a good heart.

Nikki had the habit of picking up strays—stray cats, dogs, a lizard here and there, even a snake, and humans, too. She was a bleeding heart, hating to see anyone she cared about in pain and she was oftentimes a bit overly affected by the troubles of strangers.

It was why she avoided the TV around the holidays, because they always played those heart-wrenching videos of freezing animals or children left to starve in war-torn countries. She hated everything about New Year’s Eve because of that and spent the week between Christmas and the first of January moping around.

There was a lot of Nikki that was the same as she was the last time she walked through this house. She still got emotionally invested in animals that didn’t belong to her—that was why she volunteered at the local animal shelter. She still couldn’t turn away from someone who needed help, and she still found herself in weird situations but reckless? Wild?

Not anymore.

Not since the last time she’d been in the house, right before she left for college. That had been four years ago and now she was back, and nothing and everything had changed.

“You okay, hon?” her father asked.

Turning to find her father standing just inside the large kitchen, she pulled herself out of her thoughts and smiled widely for him. Goodness, her dad was starting to look his age, and that scared her—truly terrified her. Her parents had her late in life, but she was only twenty-two, and she wanted another fifty years or so with them.

Nikki knew that wasn’t going to happen.
Especially now.
She forced those thoughts from her head. “Yes. I’m just . . . it’s weird being in here after being gone so long. The kitchen is different.”
“It was remodeled a few years back,” he replied. The mansion was constantly being remodeled it seemed. After all, how many times had this place caught fire since it was built? Nikki had lost count. Her father drew in a deep breath, and the lines around his mouth became more pronounced. He looked so tired. “I don’t know if I’ve said this to you or not, but thank you.”

She waved him off. “You don’t need to thank me, Dad.”

“Yeah, I do.” He walked over to where she stood. “You went away to college to do something better than this—better than cooking dinners and running a household. To become something better.”

Offended on his behalf, she crossed her arms and met his weary gaze. “There’s nothing wrong with cooking dinners and running a household. It’s good, honest work. Wok that put me through college. Right, Dad?”

“We take great pride in our job. Don’t get me wrong, but what your mother and I did all these years was so you could do something else.” He sighed. “So, it means a lot that you would come home to help us out, Nicolette.”

Only her dad and mom called her by her full name. Everyone else called her Nikki. Everyone except a certain de Vincent who shall remained nameless. He and only he called her Nic.

Her parents had worked for the de Vincents, one of the wealthiest families in the States and possibly the world, since long before she was born. It was weird growing up in this house, being privy to a lot of strange stuff—things the public has no idea about and would probably pay a large sum of money to learn. And personally? It was like she had a foot in two different worlds, one absurdly wealthy and the other middle working class.

Her father was basically a butler, except she always had a small suspicion that her father had . . . taken care of things for the de Vincents that no normal butler did. Her mother ran the day-to-day functions of the house and prepared the dinners. Both her parents loved working for the family and she knew both had planned to continue to the day they died, but her mom . . . .

Nikki’s chest squeezed painfully. Her mom was not well and it had happened so fast, coming out of nowhere. The dreaded C word.

“Honestly, this is perfect. I got my degree and this will give me time to figure things out.” In other words, figure out what the hell she wanted to really do with her life. Get to work or go for her master’s? She wasn’t sure yet. “And I want to be here while Mom is going through everything.”

“I know.” His smile wobbled a little as he brushed a strand of blondish-brown hair out of her face.

“We could’ve hired someone else to step in while your mother—”

“No, you couldn’t have.” She laughed at the mere thought of that. “I know how weird the de Vincents are. I know how protective you two are of them. I know how to keep my mouth shut and not see what I’m not supposed to. And you two don’t have to worry about someone new not keeping their mouth shut and not seeing what they’re not supposed to.”

Her dad arched a brow. “A lot of things have changed, honey.”

She snorted as she took in the white marble countertops with gray veining. Mom had filled her in on some of those changes during one of her chemo treatments. After all, what else did they have to talk about while she was being pumped full of poison that would hopefully kill only the cancer cells building in her lung?

Things in the de Vincent mansion that had changed.

For starters, the patriarch of the family, one Lawrence de Vincent, had hung himself a few months back. An act that had shocked her because she figured that man would’ve outlived a nuclear bomb. And Lucian de Vincent apparently had a live-in girlfriend and they were about to move into their own place. That was even more insane, the idea of Lucian settling down.

The Lucian she remembered put the play in player. He’d been an incorrigible flirt, leaving a string of broken hearts across the state of Louisiana and beyond.

She hadn’t met his girlfriend yet since they were away on some kind of trip; the rich rarely seemed to have much of a schedule. She just hoped whoever his girlfriend was, she was nice and nothing like Devlin’s fiancé.

Nikki might not have been around the de Vincents in four years, but she remembered Sabrina Harrington and her brother Parker.

Sabrina had just begun seeing Devlin the year before Nikki had left for college and that had been a year’s worth of snide comments and rather impressive disdainful looks. Nikki could deal with Sabrina though. If she was the same woman as she was before, she could be as mean as a cornered rattlesnake, but Nikki normally didn’t even register on her scale of people to pay attention to.

Parker though?

Nikki suppressed a shudder, not wanting to worry her father who was watching her like a hawk.

Parker had often stared at her the way she’d wanted Gabe to look at her, especially when she had grown brave enough to move from a one-piece bathing suit to a two-piece.

And Parker . . . he had done more than look.

She drew in a deep breath. She wasn’t going to think about Parker. He wasn’t worth a single thought.

What happened to Lawrence, and Lucian’s new romance weren’t the only things her mom had told her. She filled Nikki in on the whole sister reappearing and then disappearing again thing. Something that she knew the general public had no idea had even happened. She didn’t know the details around it, but Nikki knew that in typical de Vincent fashion, it had to the most drama-llama-est thing possible.

And she also knew better than to ask questions about it.
Her father stepped back. “The boys are all out.”
Thank God and baby Jesus.
“Devlin should be back this evening for dinner. He likes dinner to be ready at six. I believe Ms. Harrington will be joining him.”
Well, thanking God and baby Jesus lasted all of five seconds. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes and make a gagging sound. “Okay.”
“Gabriel is still in Baton Rouge, or at least, that’s the last I heard,” her father continued, ticking off the brothers’ schedules while she wondered what Gabe was doing in Baton Rouge. Not that she cared. She totally didn’t care whatsoever, but she wondered if it had anything to do with his woodworking business.

The man was talented with his hands.
Really talented.
Her cheeks flushed as an unwanted memory of how his calloused palms felt pierced her straight through the chest. Nope. Not going there. Absolutely not.
There were examples of Gabe’s skill all around the house—the furniture, chair rails, and trim, even in the kitchen. All of the woodwork was designed and created by Gabe. As a little girl, she’d been fascinated with the idea of picking up a piece of wood and turning it into something that was truly a work of art. That fascination had turned into quite the hobby for Nikki.

It had started one long, fall afternoon when she was ten and she’d found Gabe outside, whittling away on a piece of wood. Out of boredom, she’d asked him to show her how he did it. Instead of shooing her off, Gabe had given her small scrapes of wood and showed her how to use a chisel.

She’d gotten pretty good at it, but she hadn’t picked up a chisel in over four years. Nikki refocused on what her dad was telling her.
“We’re a little understaffed right now,” her dad continued. “So there’s a lot of dusting in your near future. Devlin is very much like his father.”

Great.

That was not a compliment in her book.
“Is it the ghosts?” She half joked. “Scaring off the staff?”
Her father shot her a look, but she knew damn well that her parents believed this

house was haunted. Hell, they wouldn’t even come here at night unless it was a dire emergency. None of the staff would and everyone in town knew the legends about the land the de Vincent mansion sat on. And who hadn’t heard about the de Vincent curse more than a time or two?

Being in this house as much as she had been in the past, she had seen some weird things and heard some stuff that couldn’t be explained. Plus she grew up within minutes of New Orleans. She was a believer, but unlike her friend Rosie, whom she met in college, she wasn’t obsessed with all things paranormal. Nikki operated on the whole if- you-don’t-acknowledge-ghosts-they-can’t-bother-you theory and so far it had worked so far wonderfully.

Then again, Nikki had only come here at night once in her life, and that had not turned out well at all. So maybe ignoring ghosts didn’t work, because she liked to think

she was possessed by one of ghosts that supposedly wandered the halls, and that was what provoked her to do what she’d done that night.

Nikki was well aware of how the house was run because she’d spent most of her summer vacations in the house watching her mom, so she got to work pretty quickly once her father left her.

First thing first was tracking down what staff they did have at the house. Understaffed her butt! The only staff they had left was her dad; the landscaper who was constantly mowing grass it seemed or re-mulching; the de Vincent driver; and Mrs. Kneely, an older woman who’d done the laundry services since Nikki was a little girl.

Beverly Kneely actually owed her own laundry business and only came to the house three times a week to take care of the linens and clothing.

According to Bev, whom she found in the large mudroom at the back of the house, packing up clothing that needed to be dry-cleaned, over the last couple of months, nearly everyone had quit.

“So, let me get this straight.” Nikki smoothed back a few strands that had escaped the knot she’d pulled her hair up in. “The waiters are gone, as are the maids?”

Bev’s buxom chest heaved as she nodded. “It’s just been your parents for the last three months. I think all that work was wearing poor Livie down.”

Anger flashed through Nikki. Hadn’t the de Vincents noticed how thin and tired her mom had been getting? How quickly she got out of breath? “Why didn’t the de Vincents hire someone to help?”

“Your father tried, but no one around here wants to come close to this place, not after what happened.”

She frowned. “You’re talking about Lawrence? What he did?”

Bev tied up the bags. “Not like that wasn’t bad enough, but that wasn’t the straw the broke the camel’s back around here.”

Nikki had no idea what she was talking about. “I’m sorry. I don’t think I’ve been updated on all the crazy. What else happened?”

Looking around the room, Bev arched her brows as she headed toward the side door. “Walls got ears. You know that. You want to know what’s been going on here, you ask your father or one of the boys.”

Her lips pursed. She was so not asking the boys.

Bev stopped at the door and looked back. “I don’t think Devlin is going to be happy when he sees what you’re wearing.”

“What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?” It was jeans and a black tee shirt. No way was she going to dress like her mom or her dad. Her willingness to help her parents did not extend to wearing uniforms.

She looked down at herself and saw the hole just below the knee.
Nikki sighed.
Devlin was probably going to have a problem with the hole, but what Nikki wanted to

know was what the hell had happened in this house to drive almost all the staff away?
It had to be something.
Not just because the de Vincents paid extraordinarily well, but also because her father hadn’t told her.
And that meant it was something really bad.

Moonlight Seduction is out June 26th, 2018!

Jennifer L. Armentrout Bio: 

# 1 New York Times and # 1 International Bestselling author Jennifer lives in Martinsburg, West Virginia. All the rumors you’ve heard about her state aren’t true. When she’s not hard at work writing. she spends her time reading, watching really bad zombie movies, pretending to write, hanging out with her husband and her Jack Russell Loki. In early 2015, Jennifer was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a group of rare genetic disorders that involve a breakdown and death of cells in the retina, eventually resulting in loss of vision, among other complications. Due to this diagnosis, educating people on the varying degrees of blindness has become of passion of hers, right alongside writing, which she plans to do as long as she can.

Her dreams of becoming an author started in algebra class, where she spent most of her time writing short stories….which explains her dismal grades in math. Jennifer writes young adult paranormal, science fiction, fantasy, and contemporary romance.

She is published with Spencer Hill Press, Entangled Teen and Brazen, Disney/Hyperion and Harlequin Teen. Her Wicked Series has been optioned by PassionFlix. Jennifer has won numerous awards, including the 2013 Reviewers Choice Award for Wait for You, the 2015 Editor’s Pick for Fall With Me, and the 2014/2015 Moerser-Jugendbuch- Jury award for Obsidian. Her young adult romantic suspense novel DON’T LOOK BACK was a 2014 nominated Best in Young Adult Fiction by YALSA. Her adult romantic suspense novel TILL DEATH was a Amazon Editor’s Pick and iBook Book of the Month. Her young adult contemporary THE PROBLEM WITH FOREVER is a 2017 RITA Award Winner in Young Adult Fiction. She also writes Adult and New Adult contemporary and paranormal romance under the name J. Lynn. She is published by Entangled Brazen and HarperCollins.

She is the owner of ApollyCon and The Origin Event, the successful annual events that features over a hundred bestselling authors in Young Adult, New Adult, and Adult Fiction, panels, parties, and more. She is also the creator and sole financier of the annual Write Your Way To RT Book Convention, a contest that gives aspiring authors a chance to win a fully paid trip to RT Book Reviews.

[segnalibroblog]

Interview - Matt Johnson - author of Wicked Game, Deadly Game and End Game (Orenda Books)

Matt Johnson is the critically acclaimed author of Wicked Game,Deadly Game and the upcoming final chapter in the trilogy, End Game (published by Orenda Books), crime thriller novels about Robert Finlay, an ex-SAS soldier and policeman, who suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Matt has very kindly agreed to an interview with me alongside the cover reveal for End Game.

Hi Matt. Tell me about Robert Finlay, the main protagonist in your first two novels, Wicked Game and Deadly Game:

I’m not too sure where Finlay’s character came from, Lisa. He certainly wasn’t planned. I started writing many years ago, not with the intention of writing a book but as a therapy, a means suggested by a counsellor to address the PTSD I had been diagnosed with. At that time I wrote about my symptoms, their causes, and about my career in the Army and police. It was only much later that the idea came about to use the notes that resulted to create a crime thriller. As I wrote, Finlay evolved as the main protagonist of the story. He isn’t me, and Wicked Game isn’t an autobiography, but I have used many of my personal career experiences in the telling of his story.

Finlay, like me, is a soldier who became a cop. Unlike me, he faces a threat from his past when terrorists discover his identity and that of friends from a similar special-forces background. His story is authentic, but the events in Wicked Game are, of course, fictional.

Finlay’s battle with PTSD is largely based on your own struggle with the disorder. How cathartic has the process of putting your experiences on paper been, albeit from a fictional standpoint?

It was very cathartic. At the time, and particularly when I started, I found it very challenging. Recording events in words, thinking about them, finding the right way to describe them and then writing about me, how I felt, how I reacted, how I was affected, it all served to compel me to unearth and address emotional issues that had built up over many years. I have likened it to the de-fragmentation of a hard disk on a pc, the before and after, where the result is a disc (or brain) that can function better for having undertaken the process.

As I’ve mentioned in my reviews of your books on Segnalibro.co.uk, I love the character of Jenny, Finlay’s wife. In my opinion, she offers the reader an insight to Finlay that illuminates his struggle from the viewpoint of someone who likely knows him better than himself. Was this your intention for Jenny, or was she purely there to be Finlay’s raison d’etre?

From the feedback I’ve received I think you are not alone. People like Jenny. I created her as Finlay’s rock, the woman he turns to when he needs solid advice, and also as the life-partner he is motivated to protect. I didn’t want him to be a character that only had himself to worry about and as a result might act in a way that was perhaps too heroic or too cavalier. I wanted him to have to think about the effect his actions and decisions would have on others and to have that influence him. I also wanted a third-person view on the troubled character, to show what he cannot see of himself, and to care enough about him that she is prepared to also take risks. It was also important to me that Finlay and Jenny have a strong, caring relationship; characters to whom loyalty is important.

Have you known Finlay’s end game from book one or has your direction changed at all for Finlay’s story?

I’ve had a rough idea of where the story is heading, and it was always my intention to tell it over the course of a trilogy. Having said that, the story has evolved in the telling and the editing process has brought about several changes I didn’t foresee at the beginning.

What is your day to day writing process?

Pretty disorganised but I’m getting better. Wicked Game was written ‘on the hoof’ so to speak. The story developed as I wrote. By the time I started book two, I realised I was going to have to be more organised and, for book three, I became yet more disciplined. I have a daily target of one thousand words – which I seldom meet – but I’ve now learned to create a storyboard which I loosely follow as the narrative unfolds. I take my time and frequently take a break to go back and re-assess where I have reached. Often this produces new ideas that can change the story quite markedly.

I write creatively in the afternoon and evening. Mornings tend to be saved for emails, personal work and social media. I also like to get out as often as I can and will break off to give my dogs another walk up ‘the mountain’ where I do my best thinking. And I always try to carry a small digital recorder to save those little ideas that pop into the brain unexpectedly.

Who are your writing inspirations and why?

I was actually inspired to write by a series of events. To cut a long story short, I let a colleague down during the 1980s when I failed to recognise his PTSD. Many years later when I also became a victim I promised myself I would try to make amends for that failure by bringing the realities of the condition to the attention of people through the medium of fiction. So, it was that experience which inspired me to write.

In terms of role models, it’s a much harder question as, immediately before I started writing, I read very few books and I favoured non-fiction. I was a ‘holidays only’ reader of, perhaps three or four books a year. In my twenties and thirties I used to read a lot more, enjoying the work of James Herbert, Isaac Asimov, James Patterson and Paulo Coelho, amongst others.

Favourite author? Probably Lee Child.

How important is social media, and reviews by bloggers like myself, to you? 

Social media is really an essential writer’s tool. Without it, building a readership can be a very slow process indeed and interacting with readers is now so much easier – if time consuming! I learn from readers all the time and I read all my reviews. If someone likes the books I want to know what I did right – so I can repeat it – and if they have a constructive criticism I will also pay heed to it.

Book bloggers are something of a new phenomenon. I’ve heard mixed points of view from my fellow writers. Some think that the blogging world is very insular with bloggers essentially writing to a small audience who read each others blogs. Others, myself included, subscribe to the notion that book blogging is a growing medium that readers are now starting to cotton onto. Review sites like Goodreads and Amazon have their uses but, for those readers who want a more in-depth analysis of a book – that they are about to commit several days of their precious time to read – the blog is a growing source of a reliable assessment.

You tackle some real political hot potatoes in your novels, such as international terrorism and people trafficking. What do you do in terms of research when writing on such big issues?

Having spent the bulk of my working life dealing with such crimes, much of my fiction is based on my own experience of the realities of such subjects. Add in the fact that I’m also fortunate enough to have a good network of colleagues who are still in the police and related services and you’ll quickly see where I go when I need an idea or an answer to a question.

And then there is my natural detective’s curiosity. I read about current affairs and I explore every medium I can to learn more about subjects that capture my interest. Often this produces ideas, some of which I incorporate within my own work.

Wicked Game was self-published initially until Orenda Books weaved their magic over what was already a great narrative. To any aspiring author, what advice would you give on publishing their first novel?

If self-publishing I would advocate checking and re-checking your work before you press that ‘publish’ button. Check grammar, spelling etc. Check formatting, check layout, check everything and then get another set of eyes to re-check it. Nothing seems to frustrate readers more than having to fight through a badly proofed novel in order to try and get into what might be a really excellent story.

If commercially published, I’d say to trust the team around you. As a new writer I was initially somewhat alarmed by the way things can be taken out of your hands. Jacket design, marketing, price-setting and all manner of other decisions are made by others. Editing is also a real skill. What I’ve learned is that all the people involved in getting your book onto the shelves are very skilled and very professional, and by the time your ‘baby’ is ready for publication they have as much invested in it as you do – more, if you include the financial investment of your publisher. Trust them, they want it to succeed just as much as you do.

You’re currently finalising book three. Can you give us any information on what we can expect from Finlay in this next instalment?

Book three is called ‘End Game’ and is the final part of the Wicked Game trilogy describing the world of the Intelligence Services that Finlay and his former friends have entered into conflict with.

In this book, Finlay finds himself an outcast from the police service as he battles to clear a friend who has been imprisoned and falsely accused of a most serious crime.

‘End Game’ will take the reader into the world of the Hostage Negotiator and MI5, the Security Service, as I tackle issues of mental health in policing, betrayal, loyalty and the true meaning of courage.

Will this be Finlay’s last story or does he have more tales to tell?

I’m not sure. Certainly, I have sketched-out ideas for three more novels and one non-fiction book. I would like to see Finlay at the centre of these stories but whether he is, well, we will have to see.

For readers like myself who are eager to read Finlay’s next story, when will book three be published?

The publication target, I understand, is Feb/March 2018.

Thank you so much, Matt, for answering my questions. I look forward to reading End Game soon.

Interview – Matt Johnson – author of Wicked Game, Deadly Game and End Game (Orenda Books) was originally published on segnalibro.co.uk

[christinaengela]

Hello friends and fans!

Welcome to my 20th newsletter: August 2018! Coming up in this edition of Another Round @ The Crow Bar:

Regular updates, new releases, and a monthly spotlight on one of my books, this time, the new release of “Dead Beckoning“.

Hello!

I’ve been keeping busy with a few things in the past couple of months, including completing and releasing “Lange’s Legacy” – book 4 in the Galaxii Series (released on July 13) and since then, another project I’ll be telling you about later in this newsletter – look under the “new videos” section for more about that!

As I mentioned last time, MoboReader, a Chinese company that deals with ebook distribution, approached me in June with a request to list my e-titles. I agreed, hoping that this should expand my reach somewhat, and signed a contract with them. I’m curious to see what effect this will have on my sales, if any – which is also why I also made all four books in the Galaxii Series available via Smashwords. So far it hasn’t been very encouraging, since I haven’t seen any notice of sales via these two channels, at least not yet.

The long-awaited fourth title in the Galaxii Series, “Lange’s Legacy” was released via Lulu to Amazon and everywhere else on July 13, 2018. This book features brand new illustrations, and there’s also a book trailer video.

I’ve also been working on book 5 in that series, “Where Darkness Softly Treads“, but I’m still not sure how long that’s going to take me *wink*. I’ll keep on plugging away at it, and keep you posted!

This time, under new releases, I’ll be telling you about “Lange’s Legacy“.

On with the show!

New Releases

“Lange’s Legacy” “Lange’s Legacy” is a story about Sean Lange, a man who works on a huge star-liner as chief of security. It’s a monotonous routine job, and with around 3000 guests and 1500 crew to look after, there’s no rest for the wicked. Space travel is pretty exciting, as he would tell you – which only means you get to see your life flash before your eyes several times a day – but can’t hear much dialog over the sound of your own screaming.

The disappearance of the Red Star Liner “Demeter” becomes one of the great unsolved mysteries of commercial deep-space travel, until one day, a military ship on patrol spots an object drifting in space – which turns out to be a shuttle from the long-lost mystery ship, Demeter. They find a body onboard – a body clutching a very long letter…

“Lange’s Legacy” is the fourth title in the Galaxii Series by Christina Engela.

Back Cover:

“My name is Sean Lange, and you will probably never have heard of me. I always wanted to leave some kind of a legacy in this life, and perhaps to be remembered in a good way. Instead, circumstances have arranged it so that this is probably the last time I will ever use that name, and it probably won’t be remembered very kindly.

By now you will have noticed the name and registration of the shuttle. Demeter. I’m sure when you run it through the interweb, or if you’re from a military ship, through your own database – you’ll see that you’ve stumbled across a relic of one of those great mysteries of deep space, and probably one of those missing ships people like to write spooky stories about. Well, whatever they wrote, buddy, they got it quite wrong. You can take it from me. I was the chief of security on that civilian behemoth, and I saw it all go down. Hell, I was right in the center of it.

‘Paradise between the planets’, they called it. Most of the time, that’s how it was. But not this time. On the last voyage of the Demeter – a deep space star-liner with the Red Star Line, passengers and crew got more than they bargained for. Way more.”

Christina Engela is that rarest of authors – able to seamlessly blend together elements of dark horror and sci-fi to create stories that will stay with you long after the last page has been turned.” – Mark Woods, author of Time of Tides and Fear of the Dark.

Order: Paperback (Lulu) / eBook (Lulu) / eBook (Smashwords)

Currently Available Titles:

The Galaxii Series

Blachart

Demonspawn

Dead Beckoning

Galaxii – Into The Abyss (a special omnibus of the first three titles in the Galaxii Series)

Lange’s Legacy

The Quantum Series

Black Sunrise

The Time Saving Agency

Innocent Minds

Dead Man’s Hammer

Loderunner

Prodigal Sun

High Steaks

Underground Movement

Moon Jockeys

Fortitude

The Last Hurrah

The Quantum Series – Keep Off The Crabbygrass (an omnibus of The Quantum Series titles 1, 2, 3 and 4.)

About The Quantum Series will give you more background about the series, its settings and characters. To get a better idea of what the latest two titles are about, read What Readers Can Expect In “Prodigal Sun”, “High Steaks”, “Fortitude” & “The Last Hurrah”.

Work on the next four titles in this series, (“Underground Movement“, “Moon Jockeys“, “Fortitude” and “The Last Hurrah“) is still pending at this time.

Panic! Horror In Space

Panic! Horror In Space #1

Panic! Horror In Space #2

Panic! Horror In Space #3

Panic! is a sci-fi/horror series, which will have some decidedly sci-fi characters encountering some decidedly horror entities – ghosts, haunted objects, zombies, etc. along with my usual twisted brand of humor! The first three titles are available in paperback and ebook versions on various distribution platforms including Amazon and Lulu.

For Children

Other Kids Are Kids Almost Just Like You

Ramalama-Side Up! (coloring book)

Non-Fiction

Bugspray

The Pink Community – The Facts 

The Peed-Off Peasant’s Collection Of Awesome Parking Memes

Don’t Get Left In The Dark

Edited By Christina Engela

African Assignment by Theo Engela

A Way Of Life by Theo Engela

Shakandazu Valley by Theo Engela

Op Vreemde Weë by Yvonne Lorraine Engela

When Day Is Done by Yvonne Lorraine Engela

Afrikaans Titles

Some of my titles have been translated into Afrikaans – but as you could imagine, it’s a full-time job – and when you use translation software “sickbay” comes out as “Telaxian stoofpot” instead of “siekeboeg” – so you could imagine!

On A Personal Note

Fan Mail & Honorable Mentions

Noticed in the past month by my shiny new wife and PA, Wendy K. Engela, (  😉  ) were the following honorable mentions:

In July, I had an awesome interview with the folks from “Awesome Gang – where awesome book readers meet awesome writers”. 🙂

I display my Fan Mail & Compliments with pride, gratitude and humility. You are always welcome to have a look.

Hate Mail & Horrible Mentions

The past month was (another) rather quiet on the hate mail front. (What am I doing wrong?) I’m sad to say I have nothing new to show you this time! (I may have something to show you next time though!)

(I’m rather proud of my hate mail, and you can review it here – but be forewarned, don’t do it while eating or drinking or you might choke while laughing at it!)

Interviews

In July, I had an awesome interview with the folks from “Awesome Gang – where awesome book readers meet awesome writers”.

If you would like to do an interview with me about my works, please do get in touch!

New Videos

Have a look at my videos on my Video Channel for book trailer videos, interesting snippets, and other information.

A new video is on its way, based on my short story “Innocent Minds” – or rather on the little story inside that story called “Bang! Splat!” This will be a short animated film, entitled “Bang! Splat!“, with narrative by Morne’ Condon, and some really awesome sound effects! The video and effects parts are already done, pending final edits – and even without the narrative track, it’s already enough to leave me in stitches. No, really. More details about this video next time.

New Listings

As you can see below, my books now seem to be listed just about everywhere!

CHRISTINA WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU! A few nice words go a long way! Please leave your REVIEWS on Academia.edu, Amazon, Anobii, Apple iTunes, Barnes & Noble, Bol, Book Depository, Dilmot eBookMall, FictionDB, Fnac, Foyles, Goodreads, !Indigo, Kobo , Lulu, Lybrary, MoboReader, Nook, Smashwords, Takealot, 24 Symbols – or wherever you see Christina’s books – or just send her an email via the Contact form!

Support The Author

Although most titles listed are available in paperback and/or ebook formats through most online retailers internationally, Christina prefers readers make their purchases via Lulu. This is because while all retailers charge the same price to YOU the reader, Lulu gives the author the largest portion of the proceeds from your purchase.

Monthly Book Spotlight [Spoiler Alert]: “Dead Beckoning“

Order: Paperback (Lulu) / eBook (Lulu) / eBook (Smashwords)

“Dead Beckoning” is the tale of Adam – a former Corsair working to expunge his bloody past by doing good… Starting with helping the imperial star ship Antares to track down and capture one of the most powerful and feared Corsairs in legend: Sona Kilroy… aka The Hammer.

The terror of the marauding Corsairs was supposed to be over, but it wasn’t. Not just yet.

Like every warrior who leaves home to go to war, Adam hopes to return to the arms of his love – but Adam isn’t exactly a soldier, and Marsha… well, Marsha isn’t exactly standard spec either… but if he did return, he hoped to return to her.

“Dead Beckoning” is the third title in the Galaxii Series by Christina Engela.

Details:

Published: Second Edition, June 12, 2018

Pages: 158

Words: 51,980 (Flowing Text eBook)

Binding: Perfect-bound Paperback

Dimensions (inches): 6×9″ tall (US Trade)

‘Like’ Dead Beckoning by Christina Engela on Facebook

Economize! Buy “The Galaxii Series Omnibus 1: Into The Abyss“, containing the first three titles in the Galaxii Series by Christina Engela: “ Blachart ”, “Demonspawn” and “Dead Beckoning” – all in one big omnibus, for LESS than buying all three separately!

Back Cover:

“Meradinis! The stuff of myths and legends! The Turtle Island of the stars – home planet to the fearsome Corsairs – the terrors of the black, the monsters in Human form who killed innocents and waged a campaign of terror against the colonies for nearly a century! Then the day came when the Corsairs luck finally ran out…

The Battle of Turtle Island darkened the skies with the dead. After nearly two days of fierce fighting, the Terrans finally had their venomous, defeated foe cornered in its own den. In orbit, where the battle was fought, the remnants of the once feared predatory Black Fleet drifted, blazing, while the Corsair civilization below breathed its last.

But not all the great Corsairs of legend had been captured. Some – including one Sona Kilroy – the most dangerous of them all – had slipped the Terran’s net, and threatened to rebuild the Corsair menace. It was up to Mykl d’Angelo, captain of the Antares, and a mystery-man called Adam, to stop him.”

“Engela’s eye for the quirky humor of even the darkest situations sets her writing apart from the masses. Her fiction combines oddball humor, in the tradition of writers like Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams, with the best of traditional science fiction.” – Sarah Rutledge Fischer, Focus Mid-South Magazine.”

CHRISTINA WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU! A few nice words go a long way! Please leave your REVIEWS on Amazon, Anobii, Apple iTunes, Barnes & Noble, Bol, Book Depository, eBookMall, FictionDB, Fnac, Foyles, Goodreads, !Indigo, Kobo , Lulu, Lybrary, Nook, Smashwords, Takealot, 24 Symbols – or wherever you see Christina’s books – or just send her an email via the Contact form!

Synopsis:

[Spoiler Alert]

“Dead Beckoning” is the third title in the Galaxii Series, a saga set in a distant future.

Sona Kilroy is the one that got away – a Corsair – but not just any old space pirate – the most cunning, vicious and dangerous of them all – Sona Kilroy, ‘The Hammer’ – former Admiral of the Black Fleet and brother of the Patron of the Black Palace!

Having survived the Terran invasion of the Corsair home world and the fall of Meradinis, and escaped the full might of the assembled Terran Space Fleet, Kilroy has done the seemingly impossible – he captured the very same Terran warship sent to capture him! Now, using the Indomitable, he has set about gathering Corsair stragglers and rebuilding the Corsair culture on another world in the dark depths of the Omegan Quadrant, from where he threatens to wreak piratical vengeance upon every Terran colonist in deep space – and further, he’s put a bounty on the head of his former colleague Blachart’s for good measure!

The I.S.S. Mordrake and I.S.S. Antares under way together.

Nearly four months later, the Terran Space Fleet discovers what Kilroy has been up to when a small surveillance base in an asteroid field is destroyed, and hastily charges the crews of the Antares and the Mordrake, two very experienced ships, with the task of bringing Kilroy to heel. For Captain Joe Lofflin of the Mordrake, it’s a chance to get back into the swing of things after a three month shore leave on Tremaine following serious repairs for his ship. For Mykl d’Angelo, Captain of the Antares, dealing with Corsairs is not a safe bet without the assistance of someone who knows Corsairs – and Kilroy intimately, so his first goal is to find and recruit the man formerly known as Blachart the Bloody.

Blachart is a reformed Corsair who, while making the most of his new Terran pardon –  and going by the name Adam – has only just begun to forge a relationship with Marsha, a girl who came to the fringe to make a fresh start, and to get away from her former male past. For Marsha, life out on the fringe is definitely not what she expected, and for her, having met someone she can finally feel safe and open with is a relief met with the counter-weight of risk to her safety by whatever it is this man has got himself into.

Adam is found on the barely-established new Terran colony of Caries, and recruited by Mykl d’Angelo – the closest thing Adam has to a friend in the universe –  to join their task force to help them hunt down Kilroy, to end the threat of Corsairs once and for all, and to put an end to the bounty on his life. They embark on a wild adventure to find, capture or end Kilroy – before it’s too late! This leads to the Second Battle of Turtle Island, and a climactic confrontation between the forces of good and evil, while the fate of the civilized galaxy hangs in the balance.

This is the third episode in the Galaxii Series, consisting of “Blachart“, “Demonspawn” and “Dead Beckoning”.

Summary:

This is the third book in the Galaxii Series, packed with comedy, suspense and action, and tells the tale of Adam – a former Corsair working to expunge his bloody past by doing good… Starting with helping Mykl d’Angelo – captain of the imperial star ship Antares to track down and capture one of the most powerful and feared Corsairs in legend: Sona Kilroy… aka The Hammer.

Reviews:

One Of The Best Voices In Sci-fi Right Now

“Quite simply, Christina Engela is one of the best voices in sci-fi right now and to not read her work would be to miss a treat!

If you like classic space opera with an ultra-modern twist, you should check her out. Having read previews of her forthcoming work [Dead Beckoning], I can guarantee you the best is yet to come…” – Mark Woods, author of ‘Fear of the Dark’ and ‘Time of Tides’

Author Questions:

1) In Dead Beckoning you bring Mykl d’Angelo and Blachart the Corsair back together again as a team; what is the nature of their relationship?

Mykl and Blachart started out in “Blachart” as adversaries, but by the end of that story they were already friends. Their initial adventure concluded, Blachart went on his way to try and make a fresh start in life, traveling, trying to leave his Corsair past behind him as ‘Adam’.

Blachart is found on a small fringe colony, trying hard to make the most of his Imperial pardon, and experimenting with alternate identity… He has been living under assumed names for so long, this man of mystery can barely remember his original names… if at all. The new freedom given him by his pardon is balanced out by the price on his head, offered by his former masters who had fled Meradinis.

In “Dead Beckoning”, Blachart is re-introduced as a ‘special consultant’ engaged to assist the Space Fleet in hunting down Sona Kilroy. They pick up the the threads of their friendship, and build on it, learning to trust each other further.

2) Tell us more about the character of Marsha. Who is she, what is she, and what part does she she play in relation to the character of Blachart?

Marsha is a girl who came to the fringe to make a fresh start, and to get away from her former male past.  Life on the fringe is definitely not what she expected, and for her, having met someone she can finally feel safe and open with is a relief met with the counter-weight of risk to her safety by whatever it is her love interest Adam/’Blachart’ has got himself into.

Adam finds himself fighting off would-be Corsair assassins working to track him down to earn the bounty put out on him by Kilroy – and this is not only annoying, but also endangers the life of his new love – a girl who seems to have ‘a few extras the other girls didn’t leave the factory with’.

Marsha is someone who he fears sharing his background and past with, on account of it being so ugly and filled with horror that he thinks she will leave him if he does so. So they play a ‘name game’ every day, in which they both adopt different names and pretend they have never met before. At least, until the weight of reality intrudes in the form of another pair of assassins that he is forced to put down in front of witnesses, including her.

She represents Adam’s motivation to get through the trials ahead, someone to return to when it’s all over. Marsha represents the challenge: what would you do to earn the right to come back to the one you love? What would you do to make yourself worthy of a future with that person?

3) In “Dead Beckoning” you include the main characters from the two previous books, “Blachart” and “Demonspawn” – since these are two different sets of main characters, did this create any problems for you?

 Yes, but nothing I couldn’t overcome! The main characters in “Dead Beckoning” were pretty much the main characters from “Blachart“, while the characters from “Demonspawn” played mostly supporting roles in this story. Actually, it was mostly just Captain Joe Lofflin from “Demonspawn” who made a few appearances and had some dialog in the new story, with mostly just ‘mentions’ of his ship and crew appearing in “Dead Beckoning”.

4) Tell us about the villain in this story – Sona Kilroy?

Sona Kilroy is a famous Corsair, the main Admiral in their black fleet. He is experienced, sly and also without conscience. “Dead Beckoning” picks up just after the resounding defeat of Meradinis, the former Corsair homeworld in “Blachart“.  In the ensuing chaos, several powerful Corsair figures manage to escape the long arm of Terran justice – including Kilroy! But not all Corsairs are so willing to let go of their way of life, and of these, none is more feared – and respected – than the man known as Sona Kilroy, the Admiral of the Corsair fleet!

Seeking vengeance, Kilroy puts a bounty on Blachart’s head, and sets out to rebuild the Corsair civilization on another planet hidden deep within the Omegan Quadrant. In a big way, he represents everything Blachart could have been if he’d continued on the Corsair path – a nemesis for the new Adam.

In Closing

Well, that’s all, folks! 🙂

Thanks again for all your support, friendship and interaction! Until next time, keep reading!

Cheers! 🙂

If you would like to know more about Christina Engela and her writing, please feel free to browse her website. If you want to know what Christina Engela’s focus group or target market is, please read here. If you would like to read more about Christina’s life and experiences, please go to her Biography and the article “Timeline of Milestones, Awards & Achievements“. To leave her a message, please use the Contact form. Visit her Shop. ‘Add’ Christina Engela on Facebook (Profile). ‘Like’ Christina Engela on Facebook (Page). All material copyright © Christina Engela, 2018.

Another Round @ The Crow Bar #20 – August 2018 Hello friends and fans! Welcome to my 20th newsletter: August 2018! Coming up in this edition of Another Round @ The Crow Bar:

[gravetells]

Take a sneak peek inside Kylie Scott’s upcoming Dive Bar novel, Twist #excerpt

From New York Times bestselling author Kylie Scott comes the second sizzling stand-alone novel in the Dive Bar series!

When his younger brother loses interest in online dating, hot bearded bartender Joe Collins only intends to log into his account and shut it down. Until he reads about her. Alex Parks is funny, fascinating, and pretty much everything he’s been looking for in a woman—except that she lives across the country. Soon they’re emailing up a storm and telling each other their deepest, darkest secrets…except the one that really matters.

When Alex pays Joe a surprise visit, however, they both discover that when it comes to love, it’s always better with a twist.

Pre-order it at: Amazon US* | Amazon UK | Amazon AUS | Amazon CA | iBooks | B&N | Kobo | Google Play

Read an excerpt

I watched the streetlights cast shadows on the angle of his cheekbone, the furrow of his brow. Strange how his manly beauty had grown on me, redefining or rather stretching my usual boundaries. Perhaps some people’s allure came from the inside out. A good thing. Their ways and their words did the wooing instead of their physical appeal. Not to diss Joe’s impressive physique. As nice as a pretty face was, though, the personality, the person beneath the skin, should matter more. Anything else was pretty shallow and unlikely to last. Guess that was the difference between my scratching an itch with a stranger and the way this man had me tied up in knots. And not even neat, sea-worthy knots. I’m talking, haven’t washed or brushed your hair in forever and there’s a big old mess back there. Shit. At the bar, he’d flirted with me. Full-on flirted with me, his supposed platonic friend who was not his type. No way did I know what to do. Normally Valerie would be first on my hit list of people to call. But she’d just tell me to jump him, regardless of what else was going on, or any possible consequences. Plus, with him beside me it would be kind of uncool. But a couple of whisky sours or no, I was pretty certain I hadn’t imagined his interest. As Mom had always said, however, best to be sure. “What are the renovating plans for tomorrow?” I asked. “Rip out the old fittings and prepare the space for new.” I nodded. “So we’ll be doing some pounding and screwing?” “Ah, yeah.” The man cast me a look out of the corner of his eye. “Sound okay?” “Absolutely. Can’t wait to get my hands back on that big hard hammer.” “Great,” he said, throwing me another questioning look. I gave a nice bland smile. Yeah, pal. Two could play at the what-the-fuck-is-going-on flirting game. I turned in my seat, all the better to face him. “Did you want to bang, Joe?” “What did you say?” Wide eyes flashed my way. “Like I did on that wall today. That was fun,” I said with all due sincerity. “Will we be doing more of that?” A pause. “Sure.” “Awesome.” Another quizzical look. “Something wrong?” I inquired politely. “No.” His Adam’s apple dipped as he swallowed hard, shifting in his seat, gaze decidedly unsure. The poor fool couldn’t begin to understand the crazy he’d unleashed with his little taunt. Get rough with the man? My starved libido was well beyond the rough-and-tumble stage. No more hiding or denying, sticking to the sidelines of life. It was my time to step forward and be brave. When it came to Joe Collins, I was more than ready to say yes. “I just . . .” he started. “Never mind.” Neither of us spoke as he pulled into a parking space a short walk down from the hotel. I leaned over, placing my hand on his denim-covered thigh. The muscle tensed beneath my fingers. Shame on me for straying a little close to his loins. “Thanks so much for tonight, Joe. I’m so glad we decided to be friends. Because you, sir, make a great friend.” “Right. Good.” A frown. “How much did you have to drink again?” “Not nearly enough. Quick, let’s get to my hotel room so I can have more!” I threw open my door. “Okay.” Hands stuffed in his pockets, he followed me inside, lingering a step or two behind. Guess he didn’t like it when people’s moods got all mixed up and mercurial either. Funny, that. I nodded to the dude at the front desk and pressed the button on the elevator. It opened immediately. Mirrors and old-timeylooking wooden framing decorated the small space. We both leaned against the back wall as it slowly ascended. “Yeah, sure can’t wait to do some banging, and pounding, and screwing around with you, Joe.” I smiled. “Sound good?” He just gave me a dry look from his superior height. All confusion gone from his handsome face. Confined spaces only made him seem bigger, even more imposing than usual. No way, no day, however, was I crawling back into my shell or turning into a shadow. We’d agreed to work on our issues, so fine, I was putting it out there. Still, my bravado was fading, I could barely meet his eyes. The man affected me in all the ways. “It’s hard, no pun intended this time, because sometimes it feels like you want to be just friends,” I said. “But then other times you flirt with me and I honestly don’t know what’s going on. No huge surprise there, I know. Social awkwardness is my jam. But I thought I mostly understood where you were coming from.” A ding from the elevator and the doors opened at our stop. I walked out, his bearded hotness following slowly behind, stalking me almost. For certain his usual cool, easy-going-guy persona was missing in action. The man radiated tension, intensity, even. And if he didn’t, I definitely did. Inside the hotel room I went for mood lighting, only turning on the table and bedside lamps. I rubbed sweaty hands against the sides of my pants. “What you said back at the bar about me getting rough with you, however. Now, that almost sounded like a dare.” “Did it?” “It did.” Arms hanging loose at his sides, he just watched me, saying nothing. Jerk. “So tell me.” I stood at the foot of the bed, facing him. Every part of me was wired, wide awake. “What’s going on, Joe?” His shoulders rose and fell on a deep breath. “I realized something tonight.” “What?” “That I was falling into old habits. Doing what was easy instead of doing what I wanted.” “Huh?” “It was just before you spilled ice on that guy’s pants.” “Sure. I can see how you’d be seduced by my smooth moves,” I said, voice filled with much doubt. My insides were ready to spontaneously combust. I swear I could feel sweat breaking out all over me, the man was just that hot. Also, my nerves were on high alert. One corner of his lips tipped up. “You know how you said you weren’t jealous?” “Yes?” “Well, I was.” Wow. I had nothing. “This is the part where you’re supposed to admit you were jealous too,” he supplied. “I didn’t think it needed to be said. I’m not that good a liar.” “True,” he said. “Anyway, I made the pass at you and then I was leaving it up to you to figure out what you want. To be brave and make the next move.” Softly, I laughed and shook my head. Men were such idiots. “Make the first move? This isn’t a game. As I said last time the subject of sex came up, previous hurt feelings, etc. It’s going to get complicated.” “Yeah, probably,” he said, voice deeper than I’d ever heard it.

Pre-order it at: Amazon US* | Amazon UK | Amazon AUS | Amazon CA | iBooks | B&N | Kobo | Google Play

About the author

Kylie is a New York Times and USA Today best-selling author. She was voted Australian Romance Writer of the year, 2013 & 2014, by the Australian Romance Writer’s Association and her books have been translated into eleven different languages. She is a long time fan of romance, rock music, and B-grade horror films. Based in Queensland, Australia with her two children and husband, she reads, writes and never dithers around on the internet. You can learn more about Kylie from http://ift.tt/OWwaLa

Find Kylie online at her website | Facebook | FB Fan Group | Twitter | Instagram | GoodReads

  *Denotes GraveTells affiliate link

from Take a sneak peek inside Kylie Scott’s upcoming Dive Bar novel, Twist #excerpt

[misscecil]

How to Be a Great Art Ally to Your Creator Friends

Slightly tweaked from my 2015 post How To Be A Great ART ALLY I’ve been having a lot of heart to hearts lately with my friends who are authors and artists and we’re all saying the same thing: It is getting harder and harder for everyone who isn’t in the top 5% of their industry to get the word out about work they are doing. Because of the way the industries are now, many artists are not getting the marketing and push that they deserve or need. Much of that promotion and publicity now falls on the artist’s shoulder. Your artist friend may have a good career, but unless they are crazy lucky, or have the “it” thing of the moment, your artist friend is probably really struggling. “What. But they have so many books out! They are on tour all the time! They are always doing some wacky play!” Sadly, about 90% of artists are struggling and barely making a living wage. Most have full-time day jobs on top of their full-time art careers. Remember, every new project that they do is like starting from scratch. For example, many of the people who I know who are not artists see all the stuff that I am doing and think that it’s going so great for me that I don’t need their help to get the word out about my books. But I do. All of your artist friends (even the most famous ones) need your support all the time. To be a great Art Ally for any of your author/artist friends I’ve drummed up a list of things that you can do. I’ve focused on books, since I’m an author, but I’ve added helpful tips within to give you ideas on how to help your music, performer, filmmaker, comic book, visual artist and indie game maker friends. 1) Pre-order their stuff. Seriously. If your friend has a book (or CD or DVD or indie game or comic book) coming out pre-order it. Pre-orders give the publishing company an indication of interest and can help with print runs. Good pre-orders sometimes help a book because the publishing company may give a book a little push with extra marketing money and publicity based on those numbers. 2) Show up. If your friend has a reading or something, go to it. “But I went to it once for another book!” That’s great! You are a supporter! But, every book is a whole new thing! (Go to their rock show! Play! Art gallery opening! If your friend is in a film/made a film go opening weekend, that’s when the box office counts. Or order it on VOD the week it drops. Or buy the game the week it comes out. You get the idea.) 3) When you are there, buy the book. “But I already pre-ordered it!” Yeah, I know. But buying it at the store or the reading helps the bookstore and the numbers and will help your friend do another reading there the next time. This is especially important if your friend is doing a reading not in their hometown. (If your friend is a musician, buy merch because that might be how they are paying for gas. If your friend is an artist, buy a piece of art because that might equal a bag of groceries.) (comics peeps put your pals book on your pull list) (etc) 3a) “But argh! This is not my kind of book. I don’t read that genre. It’s not for me. I’m not a kid/teen.” Sure, that’s fair. The book might not be for you. But I bet you one million dollars that you know somebody that the book (or other thing) would be perfect for. Maybe a strange aunt? Maybe your weird nephew? Maybe your co-worker? And remember the holidays are always just around the corner! Why not get it signed? Think of it as a back up present. You can give it at a white elephant exchange. If all else fails, get a copy and donate it to your local library or if it’s a kids book, to the school library nearest you. 4) Signal boost it. While it may look to you like everybody knows about your friend’s book, they probably don’t. Remember that we are all kind of in a bubble when it comes to social media. Authors (and artists of all kinds) are always looking for new readers/audience and you totally have a bunch of friends that your author/artist friend doesn’t know. And those friends might have never heard of your friend’s book, movie, game, music and it might be right up their alley. And those friends have friends that you don’t know. And so on. And so on. So every once in a while, if you like and in a way that you are comfortable with, an easy Art Ally action is to Tweet, Instagram, Pintrest or Facebook (or repost) something about that person’s art thing on the social medias! This signal boosting helps to get new eyeballs on the book (or art thing) that your friend is doing. 5) Review it / Rate it. Perhaps you are on Goodreads? Or perhaps you frequent Amazon or B&N or Powells? If you really are a fan of the book (or art thing), a simple way to help boost your friend’s work is by giving it a star rating or a review. (For musicians you can do this at those places as well. Also you can add their album to your streaming site and rate it! For films rate it on Netflix if it’s there! For games there are places to do this too!) 5a) For books, on Goodreads it’s also helpful if you add it to your to read shelf. It’s both helpful before the book comes out and when the book comes out. So if you haven’t done it already, go to it! Add all your friends books to your to read shelf. It’s not too late! 6) Make sure that it is in your local library branch! Libraries are the biggest purchasers of books! An author wants their book to be read! Libraries help with that! Maybe you are librarian? Or someone super close to you is a librarian? This is where you can really help to get it on the library radar by making sure that it is on the order list for your branch or for your system. Sidenote: Many libraries are too poor to purchase books this is a great place for you to donate that extra book! 7) Many books have reader guides or teacher guides. Are you a teacher? Or is someone super close to you a teacher? If you love the book, consider using it in your class! Or if not that, you can donate the book to your (or your teacher pal’s) school library or classroom library for students to enjoy. 8) Book Club it. If you have a book club, suggest your group read your friend’s book. Or maybe just have a one-off book club and get a group of your friends together to read your friend’s book. If your friend writes for kids, do a mother/ daughter or father /son book club with a group of people. I’m 100% certain that your author friend would be delighted to come over (or if they live far, Skype) to discuss their book with your book club. (for musicians you could host a living room show at your house) 9) Ask your art pal to come in and speak! Maybe your school or library has a budget to bring in a variety of guest speakers for classrooms or assemblies? Your friend would be perfect for this. If your institution has no budget, you can still ask your friend to come and speak! Lots of authors have sliding scales and can organize a way to sell their own books and that can offset a pro bono visit. Also, it will help them to get new readers. Being an art ally is all about getting new audiences for your arty friends. (Your other artist pals would make great classroom / assembly visitors as well.) 10) Vote and Nominate. It’s possible that there are lists that you can vote on or nominate your friends for that they may be eligible for and deserving. This could be anything from your local publicly voted on thing to a list that is for professionals which you might be. It’s easy for everyone to remember to nominate the big best sellers of the year or the debut books that are getting the big pushes. But there are many midlist books that are wonderful and get lost in that shuffle. Make sure to champion the midlist! They really need help to be seen! (This is the same for all of your artist friends. There is always a thing that is going on where they can use your vote or nomination. You’ve gotten those emails / updates.) 11) Hand sell. Maybe you are a bookseller? Make sure that the book is on the shelf. And then, when and if you love it, hand sell it! You can also help by making sure that the book is still on the shelf once it’s sold. Many stores don’t automatically re-order a book if it doesn’t sell more than a certain amount. If you are not a bookseller, you can still hand sell by just talking up the book to people. (Talk up their music, game, comic, play, and movie.) 11a) If you work in retail anywhere and your pal is a musician and you like their music: Try putting their album on at work! Who knows? Maybe someone will ask you who that swell band is? Your pal may gain a new listener! 12) Support their Indiegogo or Kickstarter or Patreon. For your other artist friends who are making movies, plays, albums, comics, indie video games support their crowdfunding or patreon effort. Really. You can totally afford the $5-10 level (even if you think the project is lame.) for a crowdfunding and $1 for patron. And it will really help them and boost morale. 13) Be a good literary citizen. If you are an author, remember to be a good literary citizen. Promote yourself, but also do stuff for the larger literary community. Participate and include others. There are many things you can do. You can organize events. You can pitch panels. You can show up to things. You can volunteer to be a judge for things or to moderate panels (be a good moderator if you do.) You can write essays about other works. Remember to extend past your own inner circle of friends to include people who you might not know. Being an artist is very hard. There are many ups and downs in a career. At some point everyone goes through a hard time and needs help. Avoid the cool kids table mentality. Be kind. When you are on the top, don’t forget to keep helping your community. Diversify your literary and artistic world. (Other artists, you know what this is in your own field. Art citizens for the win!) 14) Invite your friend over to dinner. Or buy them dinner. Or have a potluck. Everyone could use a good night out with friends and conversation. It’s a spirit booster. No lie. You have the power to be a great ART ALLY! Champion what you love. From all artists everywhere, I thank you for your support!

[books-n-wine]

~**~ Excerpt Reveal for Twist by Kylie Scott ~**~

    From New York Times bestselling author Kylie Scott comes the second sizzling stand-alone novel in the Dive Bar series! When his younger brother loses interest in online dating, hot bearded bartender Joe Collins only intends to log into his account and shut it down. Until he reads about her. Alex Parks is funny, fascinating, and pretty much everything he's been looking for in a woman—except that she lives across the country. Soon they're emailing up a storm and telling each other their deepest, darkest secrets...except the one that really matters. When Alex pays Joe a surprise visit, however, they both discover that when it comes to love, it's always better with a twist. Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon AUS | Amazon CA | iBooks | B&N | Kobo | Google Play       I watched the streetlights cast shadows on the angle of his cheekbone, the furrow of his brow. Strange how his manly beauty had grown on me, redefining or rather stretching my usual boundaries. Perhaps some people’s allure came from the inside out. A good thing. Their ways and their words did the wooing instead of their physical appeal. Not to diss Joe’s impressive physique. As nice as a pretty face was, though, the personality, the person beneath the skin, should matter more. Anything else was pretty shallow and unlikely to last. Guess that was the difference between my scratching an itch with a stranger and the way this man had me tied up in knots. And not even neat, sea-worthy knots. I’m talking, haven’t washed or brushed your hair in forever and there’s a big old mess back there. Shit. At the bar, he’d flirted with me. Full-on flirted with me, his supposed platonic friend who was not his type. No way did I know what to do. Normally Valerie would be first on my hit list of people to call. But she’d just tell me to jump him, regardless of what else was going on, or any possible consequences. Plus, with him beside me it would be kind of uncool. But a couple of whisky sours or no, I was pretty certain I hadn’t imagined his interest. As Mom had always said, however, best to be sure. “What are the renovating plans for tomorrow?” I asked. “Rip out the old fittings and prepare the space for new.”   I nodded. “So we’ll be doing some pounding and screwing?” “Ah, yeah.” The man cast me a look out of the corner of his eye. “Sound okay?” “Absolutely. Can’t wait to get my hands back on that big hard hammer.” “Great,” he said, throwing me another questioning look. I gave a nice bland smile. Yeah, pal. Two could play at the what-the-fuck-is-going-on flirting game. I turned in my seat, all the better to face him. “Did you want to bang, Joe?” “What did you say?” Wide eyes flashed my way. “Like I did on that wall today. That was fun,” I said with all due sincerity. “Will we be doing more of that?” A pause. “Sure.” “Awesome.” Another quizzical look. “Something wrong?” I inquired politely. “No.” His Adam’s apple dipped as he swallowed hard, shifting in his seat, gaze decidedly unsure. The poor fool couldn’t begin to understand the crazy he’d unleashed with his little taunt. Get rough with the man? My starved libido was well beyond the rough-and-tumble stage. No more hiding or denying, sticking to the sidelines of life. It was my time to step forward and be brave. When it came to Joe Collins, I was more than ready to say yes. “I just . . .” he started. “Never mind.” Neither of us spoke as he pulled into a parking space a short walk down from the hotel. I leaned over, placing my hand on his denim-covered thigh. The muscle tensed beneath my fingers. Shame on me for straying a little close to his loins. “Thanks so much for tonight, Joe. I’m so glad we decided to be friends. Because you, sir, make a great friend.” “Right. Good.” A frown. “How much did you have to drink again?” “Not nearly enough. Quick, let’s get to my hotel room so I can have more!” I threw open my door. “Okay.” Hands stuffed in his pockets, he followed me inside, lingering a step or two behind. Guess he didn’t like it when people’s moods got all mixed up and mercurial either. Funny, that. I nodded to the dude at the front desk and pressed the button on the elevator. It opened immediately. Mirrors and old-timeylooking wooden framing decorated the small space. We both leaned against the back wall as it slowly ascended. “Yeah, sure can’t wait to do some banging, and pounding, and screwing around with you, Joe.” I smiled. “Sound good?” He just gave me a dry look from his superior height. All confusion gone from his handsome face. Confined spaces only made him seem bigger, even more imposing than usual. No way, no day, however, was I crawling back into my shell or turning into a shadow. We’d agreed to work on our issues, so fine, I was putting it out there. Still, my bravado was fading, I could barely meet his eyes. The man affected me in all the ways. “It’s hard, no pun intended this time, because sometimes it feels like you want to be just friends,” I said. “But then other times you flirt with me and I honestly don’t know what’s going on. No huge surprise there, I know. Social awkwardness is my jam. But I thought I mostly understood where you were coming from.” A ding from the elevator and the doors opened at our stop. I walked out, his bearded hotness following slowly behind, stalking me almost. For certain his usual cool, easy-going-guy persona was missing in action. The man radiated tension, intensity, even. And if he didn’t, I definitely did. Inside the hotel room I went for mood lighting, only turning on the table and bedside lamps. I rubbed sweaty hands against the sides of my pants. “What you said back at the bar about me getting rough with you, however. Now, that almost sounded like a dare.” “Did it?” “It did.” Arms hanging loose at his sides, he just watched me, saying nothing. Jerk. “So tell me.” I stood at the foot of the bed, facing him. Every part of me was wired, wide awake. “What’s going on, Joe?” His shoulders rose and fell on a deep breath. “I realized something tonight.” “What?” “That I was falling into old habits. Doing what was easy instead of doing what I wanted.” “Huh?” “It was just before you spilled ice on that guy’s pants.” “Sure. I can see how you’d be seduced by my smooth moves,” I said, voice filled with much doubt. My insides were ready to spontaneously combust. I swear I could feel sweat breaking out all over me, the man was just that hot. Also, my nerves were on high alert. One corner of his lips tipped up. “You know how you said you weren’t jealous?” “Yes?” “Well, I was.” Wow. I had nothing. “This is the part where you’re supposed to admit you were jealous too,” he supplied. “I didn’t think it needed to be said. I’m not that good a liar.” “True,” he said. “Anyway, I made the pass at you and then I was leaving it up to you to figure out what you want. To be brave and make the next move.” Softly, I laughed and shook my head. Men were such idiots. “Make the first move? This isn’t a game. As I said last time the subject of sex came up, previous hurt feelings, etc. It’s going to get complicated.” “Yeah, probably,” he said, voice deeper than I’d ever heard it.     Kylie is a New York Times and USA Today best-selling author. She was voted Australian Romance Writer of the year, 2013 & 2014, by the Australian Romance Writer’s Association and her books have been translated into eleven different languages. She is a long time fan of romance, rock music, and B-grade horror films. Based in Queensland, Australia with her two children and husband, she reads, writes and never dithers around on the internet. You can learn more about Kylie from http://www.kylie-scott.com/   FACEBOOK | TWITTER | FACEBOOK FAN GROUP | INSTAGRAM | GOODREADS