Yes I know it is Friday but we have so much going on here I need to do a few things with the posts today. Each one of the following posts is going to contain important info into what I have going on here at Gelati’s Scoop and The G-ZONE, my Blogtalk radio show. First the immediate stuff: Siabello Giorello is my guest tonight on The G-ZONE @ 8.30pm EST. It should be fun, how could it not?  Next we have the next in our series of Improvised Digital short Stories scheduled for tomorrow and everyone is ready and raring to go. Remember, 2 teams, Girls vs. Guys, 3 words (a person, a place and a thing), 4 authors on each team: Girls (Laurie Bowler, Bri Clark, Joan Meijer, and Barbara Briggs Ward) and the Guys (Thomas Kaufman, Vincent Zandri, CQ Scafidi, Thomas White) trying to make 2 stories, each author getting 1.5 hours to craft their 1,000 to 1,500 words of the storyline. We will read the stories live at approximately 3pm EST on The G-ZONE, just before we do that, to bring a little more value to the day, I am going to interview Trestle Press Spring Submission Winner Robert Ford, author of The World of Hek series. His first digital short story is Fall of Grace. In the next post for later on today, I am going to tell you what Vincent Zandri,  a class of grad students from West Virginia University and I are going to be doing together. Also as an added bonus to this post, for my Goodreads friends I am tacking on my post of Top 20 Novels I have chosen for this first Quarter of 2011. Alright to the Digital short Story of today , Cleveland W. Gibson’s, Only The Best. What is it all about? Check this out:

“Trestle Press Award winning author Cleveland Gibson takes us inside the mind of a man that is has been captured and is about to be executed. He thinks he is “Only The Best” at being a secret agent in his country, but is he really, and will he crack before he is in front of the firing squad?  Get inside the head of someone that is facing imminent death, what is racing through his mind? Read “Only the Best” and find out.

Cleveland is a dedicated carer who also enjoys writing Science Fiction. He is a BeWrite.net writer exploiting local history for surreal stories often mystical but set in modern times. He has produced an audiobook, which can be found at Faringdon.org.

His entertaining children’s stories feature magical robots; all of them have been translated into Braille. Currently he is working on a collection of short stories. One is on the RD Larson site.

He has also made available the text of his audiobook “Faringdon Dragon Country” to the Bookshare.org company so that disabled people all over the world can enjoy surreal tales of St George and the Dragon. Later on he hopes to sell the same audiobook through Amazon.com or BooksOnTape.com.

Besides writing, Cleveland has been for ten years a Road Race director for the Great Tithe 10K Road Race, the Faringdon Folly Fun Run, and a voting member of BARR (the British Association of Road Races). He has run four London Marathons.

After saving a young girl in a traumatic drowning situation, Cleveland trained to become a Life Guard and gained the Bronze Medallion from the Royal Life Saving Society. He loves to travel, fund-raise and enjoy the odd pint of beer with friends.”

One thing I can say about this digital short story, Cleveland W. Gibson knows how to build suspense and ramp up the tension. Have you ever been locked in a cell awaiting execution? Me,  thankfully no. But I got a glimpse into what it could be like by reading this tense tale. Gibson’s narrative is strong throughout and is definitely worthy of the $.99 for the read. I love these stories that are a buck. If they are good, like this one, they stick with you for a while, much longer than the pack of gum that costs more or the 20 oz. soda that was recently consumed that costs more. The passion and drive of the story, the intensity, the honor of the spy, it is all there and incredibly tangible. We will be hearing much from Cleveland as he already has a number of stories in the pipe ready to be released. This is an author to follow.

 The Gelati’s Scoop/The G-ZONE Top 20 novels of the 1st quarter of this year 2011

Hi, everybody! I have put together my top 20 picks of novels for so far this year. Some of the novels are not from the Big 6 publishers and that should not be of any surprise to anyone that follows my blog. I try to find good stuff to read just about anywhere I can. As a side note to all of this, I will be posting my Delicious Dozen of Digital short Stories tomorrow, please look for it. The Self-Published list will be out later in the year as I accrue more posts. Remember, I actually took Sundays off in January and part of February.  Those were the days, a day off each week, where have you gone? Okay back to reality, here are my picks and I don’t think number one should surprise anyone. Harlan Coben is a favorite of mine and I hope that one day I will get to yap with him in The G-ZONE, a guy can dream can’t he? That’s not why the novel is numero uno though, it just rocks! Here is my Top 20 in order:

1. Harlan Coben-Live Wire

2. John Locke- Everything the guy has done: Donovan Creed to Follow the Stone. This is must read stuff!

3. Layton Green- The Summoners- $.99 of kick#$%

4.Lee Goldberg-Mr. Monk on the Road- This is probably the man’s best work with this character!

5. Amy Faircloth/Joanne Lewis- Wicked Good- An amazingly intense read, captivating, it will make you cry, laugh, smile and inspire you. Do not pass this up!

6. James Patterson- Tick.Tock- I am a sucker for the main character.

7. Blake Crouch –Run-This is one of the reasons I am enjoying Horror more, great author, excellent writing.

8. Robert Crais- The Sentry- Joe Pike,need I say more?

9 .B.R. Stateham- Death of a Young Lieutenant- so well written that the WWI theme will not be a factor, but a bonus. This guy can write period. If you are looking to discover a versatile author look no further!

10. Jason McIntyre- Thalo Blue- I believe I wrote something like this in my post about this story,” It got into my brain pan and wouldn’t leave it.” This is a freak show of fun, download this novel.

11.Suzanne Woods Fisher- The Search –An Amish novel ,you bet, it rocks, but Plain Folk style. Nice lady also, she was an awesome guest in The G-ZONE.

12. Preston/Child- Gideon’s Sword- I just fell in love with the character, good stuff, nice read.

13.Irene Hannon- Fatal Judgment- New series for her, same awesome quality in a novel.

14. Laurie Bowler- The Depths of Darkness- Are you a vampire freak? This one is for you. Plenty of blood and romance for all.

15.Alex Berenson- The Secret Soldier- One of my favorite characters by an awesome author.

16. Brad Meltzer- The Inner Circle- what a conspiracy in the Nation’s Capital, do tell? Well he did and it was fun,if you haven’t tried it don’t hesitate.

17.Beth Groundwater- Deadly Currents- what you ask ,a tall Italian guy in raging white water? Why not, it sounds fun.

18.Siabello Giorello- The Mountains Bow Down- I thought I would give them a chance before I kicked them down like other tall buidings I have. Good novel.

19. J.E. Seymour- Lead Poisoning- This has nothing to do with a number 2 pencil, just thought I would clue you in.

20. Janice Thompson- Stars Collide- you know anytime that your daughter takes a book from you and doen’t give it back it is a keeper.

What are you reading today? Have you checked out our new blogtalk radio show The G-ZONE? Check us out and become our friend on Shelfari, The Novel Spot &Twitter. Go to Goodreads and become our friend there and suggest books for us to read and post on. Did you know you can shop directly on Amazon by clicking the Amazon Banner on our blog?  Thanks for stopping by today; We will see you tomorrow. Have a great day.   http://www.gelatisscoop.blogspot.com