June 2011 Blog Posts (114)

Hello everybody! I got this news yesterday and immediately my blood pressure sky rocketed. Incredible, fun, cutting edge, intense, how more commas can I have in this sentence? Anybody?

Let’s get to it shall we: Paul D. Brazill ,one of the gods of noir/hard-boiled/mystery/horror has begun to not just put together a character but an entire series called “Drunk On The Moon” ! The first installment hits cyberspace next Friday July 8^th. Each month a new installment of series…

I am a big fan of the work the Toyeman does, kind of hard not to be once you read some of his work: The Dribbles The Squirrel Series, Zorza, Intangibles Series, and the Toye Box Collections of Children’s Stories. His work covers different genres and age groups; I love the versatility, heart and passion his work contains. Zorza is a great example of what he likes to do and how he does it. This is actually a prequel to the first Zorza digital short story and gives us the…

I'm almost there, The Universe Calls, has 51,000 words.  All I need is a; edit, rewrite, cover, format, proof read a copy, fix proof another copy, moments of doubt and I'm there.

In my sequel, like in the first book, the youth of the world are in charge of the planet.  Its eaiser to run the planet now 3/4 of the population has been killed by the invading aliens.  There are plenty of resources to go around but…

I really don’t know why or how, but I have gotten a slew of deep, thought provoking novels lately, “Tribulation Point”  is another one. I want to get right to the synopsis of the novel:

“Abandoned at birth, conceived from a vicious assault on her mother, left on the steps of an orphanage, Precious must also face many other trials from her past. Teased and mocked by the children in the orphanage, she is called "half-n-half." She finds her first love only to lose…

I really don’t know why or how, but I have gotten a slew of deep, thought provoking novels lately, “Tribulation Point”  is another one. I want to get right to the synopsis of the novel:

“Abandoned at birth, conceived from a vicious assault on her mother, left on the steps of an orphanage, Precious must also face many other trials from her past. Teased and mocked by the children in the orphanage, she is called "half-n-half." She finds her first love only to lose…

Once in a while I think I find a gem, something maybe some people have seen, but really hasn’t found the audience it deserves yet. “The Lost Queen” is one of those works.   It as a YA novel, is part of The Empyrical Tales series, and it is fun , innovative and flat out well written. Yeah how do I really feel about it huh? Here is what is between the covers on this:

“Zandria and Olena continue their adventures in the land of Empyrean. Zandria discovers a magical…

Wish to Hek Reviews: Universal Studios, Orlando

     I’m releasing my inner geek here. I know I normally write a review about books in this blog but I wanted to change it up somewhat.  If you want a cool, different from the norm book, read the oldie but goodie, My Bondage and My Freedom: The Autobiography of Frederick Douglass.  It is devastating to read how a slave was treated back in the early history of the U.S.  As a teacher I like to keep up with some…

Debut efforts are fun reads for me; I really enjoy them. Sam Lang’s though, is one of the best I have read in a while. Did you get a chance to read his guest post a few days back?  I really enjoyed it. For me it showcased his ability to ratchet up the tension as time goes on. I know I am a few steps ahead in this story than you because I have gotten an advanced read on the material, but it is one tense series. As good as the first offering is, the rest of them just keep getting better and…

Congratulations to Al Povall, author of "The Time of Eddie Noel"! His book just received an Honorable mention in the True Crime Category at their Book of the Year Awards! 

In January, 1954, about eighteen months prior to young Emmett Till’s murder, and only forty miles away, a young black man named Eddie Noel shot and killed a white honky-tonk operator named Willie Ramon Dickard.  The killing took place in southwest Holmes County, Mississippi, a place drenched with violence…

Happy Monday morning to everybody! I hope that everybody wakes up and punches the day right in the face and gets off to the excellent start that you want. What is the gist of this Monday mornings rant? The Author’s Lab/Collaboration series is. I have been fortunate to receive a number of questions as to what is going on with it and where is it we are going?

Here is what I can tell you right now: The next installment for this week is a truly amazing read from Mark Miller,…

When starting a new novel there are an infinite amount of questions to ask yourself. Other than plot, characters, world building and the like you have to find out what point-of-view you will be leading from. If you're not familiar with POV I suggest you do your homework. In a nutshell it means what voice are you writing in. Are you speaking from the lead characters POV by speaking in his/her voice as you tell their story? Or will it be a narration delivering the story in third-person as you…

Most of the characters in my scifi novel are people I grew up with or became friends with in real life.  This made describing the characters in the book eaiser.  I know how my friends would react in different situations, what they would say or how their body would move during a conversation.

Now my friends might not like the responsiblity I put on them in my award wining scifi novel, traveling to another planet and training to fight the aliens that invaded earth but..., well I'm the…

Spiffy title hunh? Came to me in Church this morning, totally Divine intervention, besides I know by now most don’t think I am smart enough to come up with it on my own, hahaha. What is crawling around in my head on this subject?  Pretty simple stuff really. Werner Lind, author of a few vampire stories, has dropped an e-version of his full length novel ,“Lifeblood”.   My point is that this title is starting to finally move after laying fallow for so many years as just a…

Good morning on this nice Saturday morning. Just to recap a few things from the week, this author, Angelique LaFontaine had dropped in a guest post on my blog, Gelati’s Scoop; just go back into the archives and give it a gander. On my blogtalk radio show The G-ZONE we had some really interesting and engaging interviews: John Dedakis, C.P. White,  Estavan Vega, Cody Toye, Loree Lough and Laurie Bowler; feel free to go back and give them a…

This is the start?

In that case, I should thank Trestle Press for publishing Reprisal and thanks to the G-Man for putting me on his blog.

I don’t like to talk about myself, but I will tell you about Reprisal.

Making Plans, Making Memories is the first installment in the story of a dying town haunted by a Shadow. It is the introduction of our main character, Eddie, and his long-time friend Police Chief Canton. They are preparing a questionable plan to have a bus of…