Calling for Volunteers for Two Events

CALLING FOR VOLUNTEERS FOR 2 EVENTS!

We’re getting close to the debut of Legends of Windemere: Family of the Tri-Rune. All I need is the cover art and then it’ll be 2-3 days of hype. Still, it’s not too early to get volunteers for these events.

  • Cover Reveal– This is a simple revelation of the cover, book blurb, and my author information. I’ll be sending an HTML file of this to all volunteers about 1-2 days before it has to go up. Since I don’t have the cover or a clear completion time, I can’t give an exact date. I apologize for this, but I’d like to get volunteers without doing a last-minute scramble to get my book out. Timing is everything.
  • April Blog Tour– Like last time, I will give a day to each volunteer to make their post and I’ll do a thank you post in return. Any authors who join will have it mentioned in that post along with any social media sites and their Amazon sales site. The document at the bottom will make gathering this information a lot easier. Again, this will come in the form of an HTML file that you simply copy and paste into your post screen.

CLICK HERE FOR THE DOCUMENT!

Thank you to anyone who volunteers and please spread the word. Also, please use the document, which will make things easier to keep track of. Thanks again.

Friday Haiku is as Does

 

Finally Friday and time to get ready for the weekend. My favorite part of the weekend is not necessarily taking time off, but the thought time off is completely up to me. I have a self-imposed schedule that is a killer, but on the weekend it seems I cut myself some slack and goof off. It usually starts with a Margarita on Friday night to set the mood. It then works its way into actually taking time to relax. This is very hard for me and need to plan to release on a particular project. So this week’s Haiku hopefully captures this spirit. Hope you enjoy it.

The Line by John W. Howell

Friday is a line,

Drawn quite unnaturally . . .

Between life and work.

I hope you all have a great weekend.

Beautiful Review of My GRL -by Kevin Brennan

 

Yesterday Road

Kevin Brennan who writes the blog What the Hell and who is an accomplished author of several books including; the critically acclaimed Yesterday Road , wrote a beautiful review of My GRL on Amazon. You can go here and read all of it, but what caught me was Kevin’s statement  “Despite the serious themes and the white-knuckle action, it’s the humor and cleverness in this novel that make me think I ought to give the genre another shot.”

I can’t think of a better compliment than that and I am so glad he enjoyed the book. If you haven’t read Yesterday Road yet, you are missing a wonderful, warm, thought-provoking literary tour de force. You should put it on your TBR list right under My GRL.

Thank you Kevin for the nice words

Break the Fourth Wall – Happy Hump Day

Yay. We made it to Wednesday. Give yourself a pat on the behind. (Don’t worry no one will think a thing of it as long as it is your behind.). Time for a story. This one is a real experiment brought about by Charles Yallowitz discussing the fourth wall on this post on February 19th.  I was very intrigued and decided to give it a try. To review and to quote Charles, “One of the most popular tricks to do these days is ‘Break the 4th Wall’.  For those that don’t know, this means for a character to interact with the audience.  The 4th wall refers to where the audience is sitting since a stage would have a back wall, right wall, left wall, and then nothing in the front.” So here goes.

How does it feel? By John W. Howell

“Hey Harry. Look out there.”

“Where?”

“Out there beyond the computer screen. Out where folks are reading what you say.”

“Huh?”

“All those people on the other side of our computer, drinking coffee and, checking out their reader for something interesting.”

“Oh yeah I see them.”

“Pretty funny huh?”

“Can they see what we say?”

“Oh yeah every word.”

“So if we talk dirty they will see us?”

“I wouldn’t do that Harry. They can see every word.”

“What do they want from us?”

“They want to be entertained. Don’t you folks?”

“I can’t hear them.”

“Doesn’t matter. They will agree I’m sure. Who doesn’t want to be entertained? Right you guys?”

“So what do we do?”

“Well . . . we could rant about something. That’s pretty entertaining.”

“I don’t have anything to rant about.”

“Doesn’t matter. A rant is entertaining and people love it. Watch. How about those stupid people in Washington? Can’t they get anything right? Am I right people?  Does anyone have a solution to the problem?”

“I hear crickets Frank. I don’t think this fourth wall break through is working.”

“Sure it is. Look at all the ‘Likes’ we are collecting.”

“Frank.”

“Yes Harry.”

“Give it up. There is no body there.”

“Is Harry right? I could sing a song . . . Daisy, Daisy give me your answer do.”

Monday Book Tag is as Monday Book Tag Does

Mondays are Book Tag days and I have been tagged by Jo Robinson. As you may be aware, Jo lives in South Africa and hopes to publish four books this year.

jo robinson

Lesser Being is the first in a collection of novels featuring Judith, a ghost writer specializing in memoirs. Each book tells the life of the person whose memoir she’s currently writing. The first one is Emmaline. Jo describes it as: “This particular story started out as a memory of someone, then turned into a daydream about what route her life had taken, then it became a high-definition movie in my head with surround sound in 3D. All I had to do was write it down, and try not to use too many exclamation marks again.”

Thanks Jo for tagging me.

The rules of this tag are to answer the following four writing questions, and then tag three other authors. Next week, March 3, these three authors will answer the same questions and tag three others, and so the chain continues to grow larger. This will enable readers to get to know more authors and their books. It will also allow everyone to get to know these authors a little better.

Questions:

1. What are you currently working on?

I’m currently putting the finishing touches on the second part of the John J. Cannon trilogy. The draft is finished and now needs editing. The working title is His Revenge and tells the story of the attempt of Matt Jacobs the money and brains behind a small, but dedicated group of terrorists to discredit John Cannon, the protagonist from My GRL. Speaking of My GRL I am still in the heat of marketing. I actually have posted a first chapter on the sidebar of Fiction Favorites.(for those who actually visit the site)

2. How does your work differ from others in the same genre?

Most thrillers have a strong hero-type protagonist who seems immune to any threats or harm. John Cannon is an ordinary guy who has been very successful in his work and wants to relax and enjoy the fruits of his labor. He is not connected with any agency or secret mission team. He is just a man wanting to learn to be a charter boat captain and is caught up in circumstances not of his making.

3. Why do you write what you do?

I have a dream to finish five novels before my brain turns to oatmeal. The subject matter of these works comes to me and I am compelled to write them down. Sometimes I have no idea why I write what I do. Some of my short stories reflect this “in the dark,” scenario.

4. How does your writing process work?

I usually outline a few chapters and then work on a timeline. After that, I start writing and don’t stop until I think the story is finished.

And now time to Tag three other Authors.

The first is Charles Yallowitz  whose blog  Legends of Windermere is also the name of his series of fantasy novels: The Beginning of a Hero, The Prodigy of Rainbow Tower and Allure of the GypsieS. (Click on the covers below to go to Amazon) Charles has been described as the hardest working author of anyone. He also is a mentor and coach to those authors who need some advice.

wattpad beginningrsz_prodigy_cover_finalCover by Jason Pedersen

 

 

 

Charles is also hard a work on at least three more Legends of Windemere book which I know about. If you have not visited him yet you should go

Helen Valentina is my second choice and is a writer who loves to explore why we do the things we do and how our characters are formed by our beliefs and actions.  The essence of the reason for her blog is best said by her: “Like most people, I have a number of sides to me. The most interesting one probably emerges through my writing, hence this blog. I love to read, and also to write, and so this is a way to share both. A visit to her blog will show you how uniquely talented Helen is in her writing. Her poems will cause you to think and ponder and then react.

Not content with poetry alone Helen has written two books The Seed and Curiosity

a seeda curiosity

‘The Seed’ is a dark romance that looks at the impact of dreams and myths on our romantic natures and choices – an intense and sometimes ambiguous journey into the heart of passionate people. The Seed, now available on lulu.com, iTunes (link via lulu.com), Amazon Kindle and POD and on Nook.  Helen describes The  Seed, “ is a dark romance, exploring passion and the reasons that we choose to follow relationships and the implications that can arise from those choices.  For those familiar with my poetry, the mix of passion/love and mystery/ambiguity will be quite familiar.”

 ‘Curiosity’ is about a man who believes the world has already ended and no-one noticed, and how his beliefs and nature propel him into being an unlikely hero for the modern, media age. She says: “As a black comedy/satire, Curiosity is a major departure from my first novel The Seed. It’s writing style, though of course my own, is lighter and more cynical – more extroverted and action oriented than introspective and contemplative. As I’ve said before, if my novels were my children The Seed would be the moody, passionate artist. Curiosity is a bit of a brat to be honest, but hopefully a clever child, who will one day grow to cut a swathe in public relations or the gossip column industry.”

My third choice Devorah Fox is a fellow member of the Rockport Writers Group and has published three novels. Two: The lost King,and The Kings Ransom are fantasy stories of her character King Bewilliam and his quest to restore his lost kingdom. The third is a departure into a Mystery story Titled: Naked Came the Sharks .

Naked Came the Sharks synopsis: Chasing her dream of becoming an investigative reporter in San Francisco, Holly Rivera Berry has to return to her hometown of Bonafides on the Texas Coastal Bend to settle her recently deceased father’s estate. She discovers that just before he died her father researched the possibility that via an old Mexican land grant the Rivera family owns The Gap, a natural channel to the Gulf of Mexico. Land speculators plan to erect luxury homes, resorts, hotels, and a casino along The Gap and Holly comes to doubt that her father died of natural causes. The more she investigates, the more things don’t add up. One by one her allies fall victim to fatal accidents and it looks like Holly might be next.

lost kingThe King's RansomNaked Came the Sharks

1st Birthday Sale for Beginning of a Hero! Free for 3 Days!

This is an entertaining book and right now is the time to get it. FREE? You kidding me. (excuse the alliteration) Don’t wait since this has to be the best give-a-way of the year.

Charles Yallowitz's avatarLegends of Windemere

Cover Art by Jason Pedersen Cover Art by Jason Pedersen

On February 24th, Legends of Windemere: Beginning of a Hero will be 1 year old.  To celebrate, I’ve done the following:

BEGINNING OF A HERO IS FREE FOR THE NEXT 3 DAYS!

ENJOY THE SALE AND SPREAD THE WORD!

And don’t forget the rest of the series!!  Click on the cover art to go to the Amazon site!!

Cover Art by Jason Pedersen Cover Art by Jason Pedersen

Cover by Jason Pedersen Cover by Jason Pedersen

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TGIF is as TGIF Does

 

Thank goodness it is Friday. It has been a hectic week. Right in the middle of everything my internet went down. After about two hours with the tech rep it was decided  they had network problems. Was kind of funny since they swore up and down it was something wrong with my computer. You have to wonder about service protocols when I explained that:

  1. My PC could not connect.
  2. My wife’s Apple iPad could not connect.
  3. My wife’s Apple Mac book could not connect.
  4. The Femto cell which allows us to receive wireless calls could not connect.
  5. The TV and VCR which are connected to the internet could not connect.
  6. All our iPhones could not connect.

Yet, the tech continued under the assumption the problem was with my computer. FINALLY the engineering group got on the phone and did a download and upload path test. GUESS WHAT? The @#$%^&* problem was in the network. That’s not all. In the process, the tech did a hard boot of my router and reset all the values back to default. The next day we figured out all our Apple products needed a different frequency which we had set up originally. ANOTHER HOUR ON THE PHONE. Totally frustrating.

I did have to think that no animals or children were hurt in the drama and as a result, got over the feeling of being duct taped to a phone. So here is a little Haiku to take you to the weekend:

Duct Taped to the Phone by John W. Howell ©2014

Been on hold an hour,

Internet is not working . . .

Told to visit web.