The Dan O'Brien Project

A Moment with Whitney Moore

noreply@blogger.com (Dan O'Brien) — Tue, 21 May 2013 14:00:00 +0000

Tell us about your most recent release.

My latest release is Apocowlypto. It's part of my Quantum Cupcake series but it's not a sequel to my first book Cupcakes and the Centre of the Universe. Apocowlypto follows Trisha Campbell and a group of friends across England several thousand years from now when all the cows have disappeared. It's a comedy, it's a quest, it's full of one-liners and conversation-based jokes with a side order of cheese.

What else do you have coming out?

I'm working on the prequel to the first novel Cupcakes and the Centre of the Universe. It's about 80 percent done. The deadlines have been pushed way back at least twice already. Needless to say my editor is not happy. I'm also starting to shift my focus a little to non-fiction so we'll see where that takes me.

Is there anything you want to make sure potential readers know?

It's comedy. I think there are far too many writers and readers taking indie writing too seriously. Also I write in British English when my novels are set in England so if it looks like realise is spelled wrong it's not it's just British.

What's the most blatant lie you've ever told?

It would have to be when I was a kid. I was a frequent and quite terrible liar. Another time when I probably would have lied would be when I was caught by surprise by the ending of a question. I have a bad habit of answering what I think a question is going to be based on the previous conversation so I accidentally lie a lot. Recently I told someone I had been to a particular store when I actually have never even driven by it.

What is the most demeaning thing said about you as a writer?

I used to have a friend who said “You just throw stuff out there.” She tried to make it sound like it was a compliment but anyone who is from the “re-write 1000 times” school is not saying that as a compliment. I don't think any writer should be treated as if they don't care about their books or stories just because they write faster or more frequently than someone else.

How do you react to a bad review of one of your books?

I've been writing for nearly 20 years and I've learned there's only two ways to escape bad reviews. One is don't ever release anything which is no fun at all the other is don't read any reviews. It's not that I don't read any reviews but I do think not focusing on how many reviews or where the reviews are coming from is important for your sanity. In the early days I would get too depressed and paranoid to write anything at all and the reviews really were killing my career from the inside so now I just react by going on Twitter and making a joke about it or not reading them at all.

When are you going to write your autobiography?

I was just thinking about this recently because I started to notice how many celebrities have more than one autobiography. I don't think I'm anywhere near old enough in real years to write one now but when I do I plan to go for at least five of them.

Are the names of the characters in your novels important?

You know what's strange about that is that they are more important than I realize at the time. I named a character who has been given knowledge by aliens in Cupcakes and the Centre of the Universe Sonya and then a year later I found out Sonya means wisdom. I guess I have a natural talent for naming things. I have to say that I do usually start off with a name before any other part of a character. I usually know if a character is going to be written based on how the name sounds.

What about the titles of your novels?

Titles seem to be torturing me right now actually. Apocowlypto was a title-first story which hardly ever happens to me but it made me laugh so much I had to use it. Cupcakes actually didn't get its title until I had written the first few chapters. The book I'm working on now has a title that I quite like but feel like I need to resolve in the story or change it. That happens to me when it's a place name.

Are there any occupational hazards to being a novelist?

Well I write on my laptop sitting on my bed so falling off the bed in that sort of delirium that happens between looking away from the screen and walking. Also running out of creamer for coffee.

What's your favorite fruit?

I've been obsessed with frozen bananas lately. I make smoothies every day with frozen bananas, berries and almond milk. Also I love apples and melons. Just about any kind of melons. This is rapidly becoming my favorite question.

How many people have you done away with over the course of your career?

I assume this is characters but I have to say writing is nothing if it's not alienating some friends along the way. As far as characters go I've done away with about fifteen if you're only counting main characters. I'm pretty sure quite a few villagers and by-standers have been disposed of unintentionally.

Ever dispatched someone and then regretted it?

Yes. Of course. I always am very emotionally attached to the ones I dispose of. It's basically the point of getting rid of them I think. The theory has always been that if I cry over it or feel a sense of loss then the reader will too. In my first actual novel I killed my own favorite character and buried him in a glass coffin Snow White style. That book was extremely dramatic and badly written.

Have you ever been in trouble with the police?

Yes. But not for dispatching anyone.

So when were you last involved in a real-life punch-up?

Never. Thankfully because I have no upper-body strength. I did put my hand through a picture frame when I was a teenager once though. I guess that counts. It was a picture of Keith Richards that I ha drawn. So I guess I have been in a rather passive fist fight with Keith Richards.

If you were going to commit the perfect murder, how would you go about it?

First I would be a writer because it's the only group of people who can actually justify sitting around planning something like this. Then obsess about it for a while but eventually come up with something involving acid because that's the only thing anyone ever does. Either that or a time machine...some sort of worm parasite.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

A scientist. I'm actually returning to school to study Microbiology for a while. Everyone will be able to blame this for the changes to my writing in the future.

What is your favorite bedtime drink?

I'm obsessed with this cinnamon tea that I can only get a few times of the year from Barnes and Noble. Although now I find that it can be bought all year round I'll probably be drinking it more often.

Do you ever wish that you had an entirely uncreative job, like data entry or working in a factory?

I have spent a lot of time doing jobs I hate with no creativity involved so no not anymore.

Do you believe in a deity?

Yes.

Do you ever write naked?

No. Too many fluids.

Who would play you in a film of your life?

Either Jodi Foster or Graham Chapman. For the record I am aware that Graham Chapman is dead and also that this is possibly the strangest answer ever given. The thing about me is that I can be quite serious and driven as well as quiet, aloof and funny. So it would have to be either a clone involving the DNA of these two or someone amazing if I'm being truly honest. I'm amazing. It can't be denied.

What are the most important attributes to remaining sane as a writer?

Don't try to remain sane. It will drive you crazy.

Have you ever read or seen yourself as a character in a book or a movie?

Constantly. I'm usually an explorer character which can be found in every genre but in thriller/science fiction is usually where I am. My entire childhood was punctuated by films like Jurassic Park and books by Douglas Adams. It changes who you are.

What is the single most powerful challenge when it comes to writing a novel?

Sticking with it. It's easy to get distracted during large projects. But finishing can be done. Don't lose hope!

What do you consider your biggest failure?

Not being able to just be a writer and be happy with it. I have to have a job to have a personality basically. I become this horrible, obsessive, jerky, quiet, terrible person when I'm writing “full-time.” The trick that I didn't figure out until recently is that if you love your “job” and keep writing it's not really a failure anymore.

Do you research your novels?

When I need to. I can't write unless I believe it's going to happen so I have to start on the story first and then research as I go when I hit something I don't know or during the editing process. I do put placeholder facts in sometimes and then go back and look them up.

How much impact does your childhood have on your writing?

All of it I imagine. It seems like every new thing I'm into has some connection with something I've already seen. But it's OK. I don't think anyone is capable of creating anything new. If you think it's new chances are you just haven't looked far enough back into history to find it. Now that's what I call existentialism.

What was the greatest thing you learned at school?

That every situation in life should be treated as a learning experience. It honestly makes things more fun and it'll take away some of your questioning of the meaning of certain things.

Do you laugh at your own jokes?

Yes all the time. The worst part is that I've stopped caring about whether other people are laughing or not. If anyone—including myself—laughs I consider it a success.

Do you admire your own work?

I do when I re-read it and hit something that I didn't think I was capable of writing. I've actually read Apocowlypto about four times post publishing just because I enjoy it.

What are books for?

Oh no. This is usually what I ask myself right before I announce I'm never going to write again. They're for reading and making children happy. Making everyone happy really.

Are you fun to go on vacation with?

If you're the right kind of person. I have this tendency to become a deaf mute on vacation especially if there's a jungle to walk through or a beach to pass out on. But if you enjoy hunting down the nearest Starbucks, not doing much shopping and watching someone read then you can follow me. Actually I do enjoy going on vacation with others but I don't like it when the others don't seem to be having a good time. It makes me feel bad for them.

How do you feel about being interviewed?

I love it. I would be interviewed every day if I could.

Why do you think what you do matters?

Happiness and love for one thing. I think anything that you love that makes people happy matters. I also think it matters because for me money has nothing to do with it.

Have you ever found true love?

The love of self. Also I am making more of an effort to practice true love for others on a more conscious level. So stay tuned for that.

How many times a day do you think about death?

More than once less than twenty which is progress because I used to think about it all the time. I actually wanted a carnival-themed funeral at one point. It was very elaborate and I would have been stuffed in a photo-op type situation.

Are you jealous of other writers?

Not anymore. I used to be but what's the point? I think we're all a little jealous of the big six whoever that happens to be for us. Mine are Stephen King, Michael Crichton, James Patterson, Barbara Cartland, Dean Koontz, and Neil Gaiman. Not because they are all my favorite writers (only three of them are) but because of the number of books they have sold. Also I really want to write thrillers. I've never been able to finish one yet. It doesn't seem to matter how many I read or dissect. See? This is a bad road for me to be going down.

What makes you cry?

A lot of stuff. Mostly tears of joy though I have to say. Either that or tears of unrequited love. Not many tears of real sadness thankfully. I've never watched a movie preview without crying so dramatic music definitely does it. I can't think of too many books that make me cry except maybe Wuthering Heights. Oh, and I read De Profundis which was Oscar Wilde's letter to the man who betrayed him and sent him to prison. I cried for a while about that. On a daily basis though it's usually a picture of baby animals. Or it's because I've watched the 1986 version of The Fly. I don't know why I keep doing that to myself.

What makes you laugh?

I laugh like crazy at jokes about drugs which is terrible and frat-boyish of me. But on a broader scale when someone falls down I can't help myself. I think there's a lot of pressure to be funny on a daily basis now which makes normal everyday things funnier to me. I blame the internet.

What are you ashamed of?

Laughing at drugs jokes and also the enormous size of my underwear. I buy them in a bag about twice a year. They last forever. I can't help it. Any man who minds them that much can leave or close their eyes.

What's the loveliest thing you have ever seen?

The mountains in Thailand first thing in the morning. Also crowded streets in Thailand first thing in the morning when all the kids are off to school. Also flowers and trees and the ocean and people helping crippled dogs and all sorts of things. Go outside it's great out there!

Whitney Moore is an American writer who writes about England and food. Her current novel Apocowlypto as well as the one right before it (Cupcakes and the Centre of the Universe) is available for Kindle. She met Dan O'Brien when he stalked her on the internet and sent a request for an interview. Not that she minds she loves interviews.

Website: http://www.whitneymoorebooks.com

Twitter: @writeinlife

Perfect Flaw

noreply@blogger.com (Dan O'Brien) — Tue, 21 May 2013 10:30:00 +0000

A Guest Post by Delphine Boswell

My short story, “Tomorrow’s Children,” is an excerpt from a dystopian novel I have just completed. The first book in the trilogy is called After Shocks and explores life after a 9.8 earthquake has hit California, severing the Monterey Peninsula into the middle of the Pacific. The year is 2091, thirteen years after the quake has hit, and an oppressive form of government has taken control of the island. In “Tomorrow’s Children,” women are being forced to take their children to a Cryopreservation Center, where they will be frozen until further notice in efforts to control population control.

A few years ago, I read Margaret Atwood’s classic The Handmaid’s Tale while soon afterward vacationing in Monterey. At the same time, I was working on a thesis for my Master of Fine Arts when the chilling question came to me: What if a natural disaster had struck on the very land on which I had stood and had washed it out to sea?

As a writer, I have an underlying inclination toward dark themes. My writing style also deliberately looks for the twists in plot that add a multitude of tensions for my characters. It is then that I set them free, so-to-speak, and watch as they find ways to cope or not cope with life’s tribulations. I see myself as a scribe who quickly types up the dialogues and inner monologues of my characters, who I prefer to refer to as people, and often say, that if I were to see any of them on the street, I would recognize them immediately.

I was not content to write about just any island that floated into the Pacific, however. I wanted a whole new society to form and all of the ramifications thereof. At first, these were people glad to be alive, but in no time, as human nature will have it when there are no rules and guidelines to live by, the people started to turn on one another. A group of former military men from what was the Naval Postgraduate School, as well as some soldiers from what was the Presidio of Monterey, and several former police officers formed the National Association of Patrolling Officers, the NAPOS. In an effort to force the people to forget the origins from which they came, the Napocracy changed the people’s former names to that of stars and constellations; changed the names of the seasons; came up with codes, similar to laws, such as the Anti-Conception Law; and instituted such agencies as the Euthanasia Home, the Assisted Suicide Center, and the Cryopreservation Center.

“Tomorrow’s Children” seemed an apt name for the title of my short story as it reflects the uneasiness among the people of the island, called Domicile, as they wait in hope for a tomorrow in which their children will be thawed.

http://delphineboswell.com

The Doctor Who Finale: One Man's Opinion

noreply@blogger.com (Dan O'Brien) — Mon, 20 May 2013 19:21:00 +0000

Photo credit: www.tv.com

I was late to the Doctor Who fan club in a lot of ways. I had watched the old, corny episodes and then had friends rave about the re-boot that touted David Tennant as the very best Doctor there had ever been. I finally got around to watching Doctor Who, starting very much in the middle with the one of the best episodes ever: Blink.

From that moment on, I was hooked.

I watched it from the beginning and then every Saturday, for better or worse.

As time went by, I began to like Matt Smith more and more. Perhaps it was the dark themes or just his portrayal of the Doctor, but soon I was enamored by his adventures with Amy and Rory. Steven Moffat had done wonders in terms of making Doctor Who a little less silly and a little more accessible to the casual viewer.

And then it happened: the greatest companion of all arrived on the scene.

Clara, the impossible girl.

She trumped Amy, Rose, and River Song (who I am not a fan of at all). She was sweet and funny, strong and smart. Almost immediately I was intrigued by who she was and hoped that she would remain by the Doctor's side forever. And then the finale came around and we found out why she was the impossible girl and what part she played in the Doctor's timeline.

Enough delineation.

SPOILERS AHEAD!

The Finale

Though Neil Gaiman did not write this episode, I could almost feel his influence in the trajectory and seriousness of the episode from moment one. Clara falling through time and seeing different iterations of the Doctor revealed that her role extended far beyond the 11th Doctor as we knew him. When River Song appeared, I felt my heart sink. I have never been fond of her casting. The character could be fascinating, but there is something deeply irritating about how she delivers the lines and her overall demeanor.

That is the stuff of another post.

Matt Smith's progression and maturation as the Doctor came to fruition in this episode for me. The emotion he showed when Clara revealed where he was to go and then the emotion when the Great Intelligence merged with his time stream made we wonder what Doctor Who would be like without him in the future.

It was, however, the presence of Jenna Louise-Coleman as Clara that stole the show. There is something about her character that makes her braver than companions past and someone for whom audiences can cheer. When she realizes that she can save the Doctor by entering his time stream, she does so without fear or hesitation.

This series of events led us to possibly the most interesting moment in this season, and most certainly a dramatic reveal that left me wondering what happens next.

Introducing John Hurt as The Doctor.

When he turned around and this little phrase was flashed on the screen, I couldn't help but look up what this was all about. Was he the 12th incarnation, the final Doctor? What was going on? Was Matt Smith going to be replaced? A brief internet search revealed that John Hurt was portraying the REAL 9th Doctor, which meant that Matt Smith was the 12th.

What the deuce is going on here?

Apparently, the 9th Doctor did something so heinous or unforgivable that he was forgotten. Now that certainly changes the game. The 50th anniversary of Doctor Who is coming up this November and will feature John Hurt as the Doctor.

All in all, I felt like this was strong ending to the season and represented one of those rare moments in recent Doctor Who history that I felt like I was truly waiting to see what happened next. Often, I am waiting out of convention. This was a moment when I really wanted to know how Moffat would explain this 9th Doctor and make sense of the Doctor Who universe.

This is one fan who will be tuning this November.

Thoughts? I would love to hear them!

Stardust Summer by Lauren Clark

noreply@blogger.com (Dan O'Brien) — Mon, 20 May 2013 10:30:00 +0000

Stardust Summer

by Lauren Clark

Blurb:

Single mom Grace Mason doesn’t believe in miracles, magic, or love at first sight. She likes the quiet life, complete with her eight-year-old son, their tiny house, and her teaching job. For Grace, happiness means that nothing much ever changes in Ocean Springs, Mississippi.

Then, one thousand miles away, tragedy strikes. A massive heart attack leaves Grace’s estranged father comatose in an Upstate New York hospital. While a team of doctors fight to keep Henry Mason alive, Grace and Evan rush to his bedside to say their final goodbyes.

Henry’s passing brings little closure for Grace, but she finds herself inexplicably drawn to her new surroundings. What begins as a short trip results in an entire summer spent with Henry’s second wife, Kathleen, and her next-door neighbor, Ryan Gordon, the town doctor. When a series of unlikely events lead to Evan’s disappearance, Grace must face her worst fears to find her son and bring him back home.

Stardust Summer explores the complexities of forgiveness, what it means to be a family, and the fabulous possibility of falling in love—again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Excerpt:

Kathleen hadn’t counted on the Sailfish being this difficult to manage. She had been on it a thousand times with Henry and chided herself for worrying.

Her husband had patiently shown her how to trim the huge sail and make the boat go faster. She remembered that letting out the rope allowed the Sailfish to slow down. Kathleen knew how to move the rudder, and when to pull up the centerboard.

But she never had asked—or didn't remember hearing—exactly what steps to take when stuck in the middle of the lake. By herself.

Kathleen, in her hurry to enjoy the morning solitude, hadn't thought to bring her cell phone. She didn't leave Grace a note. And, of course, by now, Dr. Ryan Gordon was long gone, driving into work, his mind squarely focused on the dozens of patients waiting for him at the office.

If Henry could see her, Kathleen thought, he was probably having a chuckle. She looked up at the few white puffs floating by against the blue and leaned her head against the steel mast.

Kathleen scanned the horizon. It was daybreak. Lights were just starting to come on in houses dotting the shoreline. A few birds swooped down, nearby, in search of breakfast. They paid her no attention, darting and calling out to each other. Otherwise, the lake was empty. Even the Sheriff’s boat would have been a welcome sight at this point.

She considered her options. Kathleen could try to paddle back to her dock using the centerboard, which was awkward and unwieldy. She could try to swim back, as she had the life vest on, but she’d have to leave the boat. She could wait. Or, if it wasn't so early, she might try to yell or scream and attract some attention.

The latter, however, was out, she decided. She'd rather not completely lose her dignity. The talk in Penn Yan would be nothing but stories about the crazy woman who lost her husband, and a day later, tried to drown herself in the middle of Keuka Lake.

Paddle it was, Kathleen decided.

At least she was facing the right direction. Letting the rope go slack, she tugged at the slippery centerboard. It wouldn't budge. Kathleen set her jaw and tried again, readjusting her grip. With a small grunt, she yanked hard, finally freeing the centerboard.

The effort threw Kathleen off balance, and out of the corner of her eye, she watched the rope unfurl and slip into the water. A second too late, she grabbed for the thick, white strand, but felt the braided edges brush past her fingers.

Trying not to panic, Kathleen tucked the centerboard behind her, eased toward the edge of the Sailfish, and slid one leg into the water, trying to catch the rope with her toes.

No such luck. Kathleen slapped at the lake in disgust, causing droplets to spray her nose and mouth. With the back of one hand, she wiped at her face, trying not to cry.

How had she ever gotten herself in such a predicament?

Kathleen rubbed at the back of her neck and blinked away tears. She glanced around, hoping to see another sailboat or a swimmer. She saw no one, but noticed with increasing concern that the sky had grown dark. Thick clouds were rolling in from the South, covering what had been a perfectly blue horizon.

A few droplets of rain fell against her leg and spattered the boat.

Kathleen let out a tiny moan.

Gusts of wind now pushed persistently at the sail, rocking the Sailfish from side to side. Kathleen clung to the rails, unable to think. She shifted back, inching closer to the mast. When her tailbone hit something hard and cold, she jumped.

The splash, directly behind the boat, stopped her cold. With horror, Kathleen realized she had lost her only other means of saving herself. Holding her breath, she turned her head.

The centerboard was in the water, floating away. Damn!

Wind, causing the lake to whitecap, whipped at Kathleen's hair. The strands played on her cheeks and eyelashes, making it difficult to see. Before she could tuck them out of the way, a bigger gust took the sail and spun it.

There was an awful scraping sound, metal on metal.

All at once, the long, silver boom swung around, gathering speed, and hit the back of Kathleen’s neck. She winced in pain and grabbed at nothing, too late. The Sailfish tilted up, unsteadily, then back. Water washed over her legs and feet, pulling and dragging her away.

Kathleen plunged into the dark, cool lake. The last thing she remembered was watching the sail crash to the water next to her head.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lauren Clark writes contemporary novels sprinkled with sunshine, suspense, and secrets. A former TV news anchor, Lauren adores flavored coffee, local book stores, and anywhere she can stick her toes in the sand. Her big loves are her family, paying it forward, and true-blue friends.

Lauren is a member of the Gulf Coast Writers Association, the Mobile Writers Guild, and a regular contributor to Parents & Kids Magazine's Mississippi Gulf Coast Edition. Check out her website at www.laurenclarkbooks.com.

Stardust Summer for Kindle

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BFZVW1K

Stardust Summer for Nook

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/stardust-summer-lauren-clark/1114565578

Stardust Summer for KOBO

http://www.kobobooks.com/search/search.html?q=stardust+summer

Stardust Summer for Smashwords

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/285619

Lauren Clark Books Website

http://www.laurenclarkbooks.com/

Lauren Clark Books BLOG

http://www.laurenclarkbooks.com/blog

GoodReads Lauren Clark

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5280308.Lauren_Clark

Twitter Lauren Clark

https://twitter.com/#!/LaurenClark_Bks

Facebook Lauren Clark

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lauren-Clark/235315706518284

Lauren will be awarding winner's choice of either Dancing Naked in Dixie or Stay Tuned (in .mobi .pdf or .epub) to a randomly drawn commenter at each stop. Also, a $20 gift card to Amazon or BN.com (winner's choice) will be awarded to two randomly drawn commenters during the tour and a signed paperback copy of Dancing Naked in Dixie and Swag will be awarded to two randomly drawn commenters during the tour (USA ONLY).

A Stop on the Andrew Toy tour

noreply@blogger.com (Dan O'Brien) — Mon, 20 May 2013 10:30:00 +0000

About Andrew Toy:

Andrew Toy lives with his wife and dachshunds in Louisville, KY. He is currently editing books of nearly every genre and is a writing coach for aspiring authors. He and his wife are trying to adopt their first child, and he is using the means of writing and editing to accomplish the goal of enlarging his family. Check out some more of his writing and upcoming books on his popular blog: adoptingjames.wordpress.com

Andrew Toy Links:

Twitter

Facebook

Blog

Book Synopsis:

Work provided Robbie Lake the perfect escape from his family. But his life is turned upside down when he is unexpectedly fired. When he finds a new way of escape through a cardboard box, everything changes. The imaginary world of his childhood has evolved in his absence and is now more savage and hostile than even he could have dreamed. Robbie is drawn in by the excitement of his secret world, but will the cost of abandoning his family prove too high?

Tour Schedule and Activities

Tour Page URL:

http://www.tomorrowcomesmedia.com/andrew-toy-virtual-tour/

April 29 - Read 2 Review - Guest Post

April 30 - Ian’s Realm - Character Post

May 1 - Sapphyria’s Book Reviews - Promo/Spotlight

May 1 - Ali’s Bookshelf - Character Post

May 2 - Writings, Musings, & Other Such Nonsense - Guest Post

May 3 - Beagle Book Space - Promo/Spotlight

May 4 - Watch Play Read - Interview

May 5 - Lost Island of Book Reviews - Review

May 6 - Angela Meadon - Interview

May 6 - A Girl and Her Kindle - Review

May 7 - A Daydreamer’s Thoughts - Guest Post

May 8 - Book in the Bag - Interview

May 9 - Lost Inside the Covers - Review

May 10 - Come Selahway With Me- Interview

May 11 - Alex Reads - Review

May 12 - The FlipSide of Julianne - Interview

May 13 - Sheila Deeth - Guest Post

May 14 - SpecMusicMuse - Review

May 14 - Mom Cat’s Book Blog - Guest Post

May 15 - Spellbindings - Contest/Giveaway

May 16 - Darlene’s Book Nook - Guest Post

May 17 - Bee’s Knees Reviews -Review

May 18 - Laurie’s Thoughts and Reviews - Character Interview

May 20 - The Dan O’Brien Project - Excerpt/Promo

May 21 - A Book Vacation - Character Interview & Contest/Giveaway

May 23 - WTF Are You Reading? - Review

May 25 - I Smell Sheep - Guest Post

May 28 - Breath of Life - Review

May 29 - Library Girl reads and Reviews - Guest Post

Star Trek Into Darkness: Sherlock Steals The Show

noreply@blogger.com (Dan O'Brien) — Sun, 19 May 2013 16:48:00 +0000

It should come as no surprise that I am a Star Trek fan. The latest installment, which is a follow-up to the J.J. Abrams reboot, was certainly a must-see summer movie right alongside Man of Steel. As I walked out of the theater, I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.

I think I had hoped for too much.

As usual, I will not offer starred ratings or some kind of thumbs up/thumbs down systems. Instead, I will offer my thoughts on the acting/casting, direction, writing, special effects, soundtrack, and overall impressions.

Make it so!

Acting/Casting: The one take-home message from this movie was that Benediction Cumberbatch (Sherlock) is a fantastic actor that more than steals every scene that he is in. The crew of the Enterprise remains in tact and Pike returns. The introduction of Peter Weller as an Admiral was well met, if not a little amusing. Cumberbatch's John Harrison is far more than he seems (no spoilers from me) and the Kirk/Spock bromance continues to grow. The acting here, headlined by Cumberbatch, was by far the strongest part of the movie.

Direction: The direction of the movie irked me a bit. I wanted more screen time for Cumberbatch. For me, the villain often pushes the movie in one direction or another in terms of quality. I found some of the directorial choices a bit lazy, but I am not a director. Also, Klingons are only in the movie for a brief moment (albeit a brief, action-packed moment) and seemed like a bit of a missed opportunity.

Writing: I often find myself championing any work that comes out of the Orci/Kutrzman workshop, but I feel like there was some predictability to the script, as well as a frightening lack of development of the villain. More irritatingly was how they handled the end. I found the last 5 minutes nearly un-watchable because of a cop-out to save face with audiences and a terrible line delivered by McCoy. It nearly ruined the movie for me.

Special Effects: The movie was loud and bright again with explosions and massive sets. They managed to make the future look quite real and as a spectator the special effects bring the world the alive. The first installment of Abrams' Stark Trek foray depended more on story and less on effects. This outing certainly hid behind the beautiful construction of the universe when the script failed them.

Soundtrack: Forgettable. It brought nothing of substance that would differentiate it from its predecessor.

Overall: It might sound like I was very critical of Into Darkness, and rightfully so. Abrams has taken the helm of two of the largest, and beloved, science fiction franchises in cinema. If he wants to maintain some semblance of respectability, he will be held to a higher standard than most other directors who attempt the same fare. Was Into Darkness worth watching? Absolutely. Are my concerns the product of over-thinking and nit-picking? Yes and no. There were fun moments (mostly when Cumberbatch was on the screen) and some highly derivative and lazy moments that were speed bumps for the critical and careful viewer.

Bottom line: Should you see it in theaters this summer? I would urge you to do so. Make you own judgements. Part of my disappointment in a few places was because I expected so much of it. I wanted it to be better than its predecessor. I wanted Cumberbatch's villain to transcend villainy. I clearly wanted too much.

The Crazy Bohemian: Why Impressionism?

noreply@blogger.com (Dan O'Brien) — Sun, 19 May 2013 14:00:00 +0000

Those Crazy Bohemians (Why Impressionism?)

Caddy Rowland (The Crazy Bohemian)

The period of Impressionism saw artists begin to paint in new and exciting ways. For centuries artists had been painting realism, making paintings exact reproductions of the subject matter. Strict rules had been followed and subject matter often was religious or portraits of family members of the upper class. There was also still life and landscape. Every painting had been done to "perfection" rendering an eternal picture of how a person or place actually looked.

What changed artists and their visions in the nineteenth century?

The answer was simple. It would be romantic to think it was all about artistic vision and the desire to always create something new. While those things were definitely part of the equation, the main driving force behind artists painting in a new way was one of the most basic: survival.

You see, the camera had been invented and was becoming more and more effective at taking photos. What use would there be for artists who took weeks and months to finish a portrait when a photographer could be hired? True, the photographs were not in color. But artists realized that it was only a matter of time before that would no longer be true and, if they did not change their style, they would become obsolete.

Another problem compounded the dilemma. Class structure had changed. Now there was a middle class. The lower middle class was called proletariat. The lowest of these proletarians were the artisans. All of a sudden, more and more artists who painted found themselves on their own and struggling to put food in their mouth.

You see, for centuries artists had been employed by the very wealthy to paint family portraits and history, many times staying on permanently as a staff member to continue to paint that history over the years. They had a place to sleep, food, and sometimes were even treated like a family member. It really depended upon the family how the artist was seen. Some families considered the artist another servant, and provided minimal lodging, food, and a small wage. Others loved their artist and had them sit with them at family meals, gave them a room in the main house that was luxurious and paid them quite well.

The trade off? The artist had no freedom to paint what their soul cried for them to paint. All of their time was taken up painting for the family. Many artists mourned the fact that they spent their life painting things they would rather not be painting, just to make a living. Still, the fact that they had food, shelter and a wage was nothing to turn one's back on.

Then the camera came. All of a sudden, it became more and more rare for an artist to have permanent employment with a family. Sure, they could be hired once in awhile for a painting, but even that was not guaranteed. Now they had the freedom that all people blessed with artistic ability long for...but no money! No place to live and, very often, nothing to eat. Artists began living in squalor, sometimes going door to door with paintings, begging for buyers at any price, just so they could eat. Even Renoir and Degas had to peddle their paintings just to make rent at times.

It seemed there was no happy medium. Artists today still struggle to make it.

These artists began gathering and talking with each other. Ideas fed off of each other and soon the images that were talked about began to appear on canvas. They knew everything that they painted going forward had to have something different about it or it would never sell.

I, for one, am happy that all of this change occurred. Realism generally bores me. Look, anyone who can paint can do a vase of flowers exactly how it looks. All artists can create a still life in exact replica of the items places in front of them. So can a camera. If you want a reproduction, for God's sake just take a picture.

The new mantra for these bohemians was "Show me something different". And did they ever! We will talk more about those crazy bohemians in future posts. For now, I will just end by saying this: If you want real art hanging on your walls, go for the piece that shows the ordinary in an extraordinary way. As those bohemians realized, THAT is what art would and should be, moving forward. Once art becomes stagnant it ceases to be the driving force it is meant to be.

Art should always be fresh and alive. Art should always strive to reinvent itself; to be something different. Anything less tarnishes the very definition of art.

A Moment with David Henry Sterry

noreply@blogger.com (Dan O'Brien) — Sat, 18 May 2013 14:00:00 +0000

Tell us about your most recent release.

My new book is Mort Morte, with beautiful pictures by Alain Pilon.

On my third birthday, my father, in an attempt to get me to stop sucking my thumb, gave me a gun. "Today son, you are a man," he said, snatching the little blue binky from my little pink hand. So I shot him.

So begins MORT MORTE a macabre coming-of-age story full of butchered butchers, badly used Boy Scouts, blown-up Englishman, virginity-plucking cheerleaders, and many nice cups of tea.

Poignantly poetic, hypnotically hysterical, sweetly surreal, and chock full of the blackest comedy, MORT MORTE is like Lewis Carrol having brunch with the kid from The Tin Drum and Oedipus, just before he plucks his eyes out. Or Diary of a Wimpy Kid as told by Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver

In the end though, MORT MORTE is a story about a boy who really loves his mother.

A new review:

"Who do you think of when someone says black humor? Johnathan Swift? Joseph Heller? Kurt Vonnegut? Perhaps Roald Dahl?

Well, add David Sterry to your list. His newest book, Mort Morte is as black as sin and twice as fun. It all starts innocently enough. Our three-year-old protagonist, vengeful over his father's depriving him of his binky, seeks revenge by shooting dear-old-dad with the very gun he had given Mort as a birthday present. Be forewarned, though. After that, things take a violent turn. This pithy little book with its delightfully cheeky artwork escorts us through murder after murder, each more hilariously executed than the last, before our hero is figuratively ridden out of town on a Texas-sized rail. Where does Mort go from there? Surely, you jest! Where else but Harvard? Buy a ticket on this one. You'll enjoy the ride."

Trailer

Here’s where to buy it:

From publisher Barnes & Noble Amazon Bookadda (India's favorite on-line bookstore) Books for less

What else do you have coming out?

I have a new anthology called Johns, Marks, Tricks and Chickenhawks, it's all writings by people from the sex business. It's a follow-up to the anthology I put together a few years ago called Hos, Hookers Call Girl and Rent Boys, which appeared on the front cover of the Sunday New York Times book review. "Eye-opening, astonishing, brutally honest and frequently funny... unpretentious and riveting — graphic, politically incorrect and mostly unquotable in this newspaper." It is a unique sociological document, a collection of mini-memoirs, rants, confessions, dreams, and nightmares by people who buy sex, and people who sell. And because it was compiled by two former sex industry workers, the collection is, like its predecessor, unprecedented in its inclusiveness. $10 crack hos and $5,000 call girls, online escorts and webcam girls, peep show harlots and soccer mom hookers, bent rent boys and wannabe thugs. Then there's the clients. Captains of industry and little old Hasidic men, lunatics masquerading as cops and bratty frat boys, bereaved widows and widowers. This book will shine a light on both sides of these illegal, illicit, forbidden, and often shockingly intimate relationships, which have been demonized, mythologized, trivialized and grotesquely misunderstood by countless Pretty Woman-style books, movies and media. This is hysterical, intense, unexpected, and an ultimately inspiring collection.

Next up is a book that I cowrote for Norton with my partner Arielle Eckstut and two brain scientists from Duke, it's called What Are They Thinking? It’s all about this amazing research they've done on the teenage brain. It's absolutely horrifying! But fascinating at the same time. Really gives insight into anyone who's ever been, or will be, a teenager.

Then I have a novel which I wrote with twins Keith and Kent Zimmerman, they’re best-selling authors who've done books with everyone from Johnny Rotten to Alice Cooper. This collaboration is called The Hobbyist, it’s about this strange real-life website in the Bay Area where men rate sex workers, kind of like a Zagat guide for prostitutes. The book can be described as About a Boy meets The Graduate meets The Happy Hooker.

And finally, the 10 year anniversary of my memoir Chicken I coming out in the fall. It’s about when I was studying existentialism with a bunch of nuns at Immaculate Heart College, while I worked as a rent boy, servicing rich ladies in Hollywood. The book has been translated into 10 languages, it's an international bestseller, and has been optioned by Scott Buck, the show runner for Showtime’s Dexter. He has written a screenplay based on the book.

Is there anything you want to make sure potential readers know?

I also run a company called The Book Doctors, which helps people figure out how to get successfully published. We started the company when our book The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published came out a couple of years ago. Anyone who buys a copy of our book after reading this interview will get a free 20 min. consultation from Oz. We helped dozens and dozens of talented amateurs become professionally published authors. Just send your proof of purchase to: Sterryhead@Gmail.com

What's the most blatant lie you've ever told?

I once tried to pick up girls at Venice Beach by telling them I was a photographer for Playboy.

What is the most demeaning thing said about you as a writer?

This was from the editor of a poetry journal that went out of business about six months after he sent me this very helpful critique of my work I am now the author of 14 books.

How do you react to a bad review of one of your books?

First I tried to figure out if there's anything useful I can get out of the criticism. I've had some reviewers say really helpful things as they lashed me with their poison pen. After that, I plan revenge. What can I do to wreak havoc on their miserable lives? That kind of thing.

When are you going to write your autobiography?

I've written two memoirs, the above-mentioned Chicken, and I wrote a book about when I was the master of ceremonies at a male strip club called Chippendale's in New York City in the mid-80s, when it was the hottest show in the city that never sleeps. My boss was shot in the head, executed by a hitman. It's called Master of Ceremonies.

Are the names of the characters in your novels important?

Absolutely. The hero of my novel was called Mort Morte. The E on the end of the second Mort of course means death.

What about the titles of your novels?

Yes.

Are there any occupational hazards to being a novelist?

I think if you spend too much time in your imagination you can get stuck there, and it gets hard to interact with the other humans. Of course it's hard to make money writing novels. But I absolutely love it. As Woody Allen said, there are only two things in life can control, Art and Masturbation. And as a novelist, I get to engage in those two things every day.

What's your favorite fruit?

Raspberry.

How many people have you done away with over the course of your career?

In my new book, our hero kills four or five of his dads.

Ever dispatched someone and then regretted it?

In the novel I’m working on now, a character gets exterminated. But my readers love this guy, so I kept expanding his role in the book. I'm definitely going to bring him back for the sequel.

Have you ever been in trouble with the police?

I was once thrown in jail for hitchhiking through Highland Park, which is one of the richest suburbs of Dallas. I was 18 at the time and had very long hair.

So when were you last involved in a real-life punch-up?

When I was eight years old, in Hueytown Alabama, my neighbor was really mad at me, I can't remember why, but he came running straight at me like you was going to kill me. I reared back and punched him right in the nose, and fell like I shot him. It was very satisfying.

If you were going to commit the perfect murder, how would you go about it?

I been watching a lot of Breaking Bad, and I think I would get a big plastic tub and dissolve the person in acid.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Happy. If I can't be happy, I’d like to be really really rich.

What is your favorite bedtime drink?

Chamomile tea laced with liquid opium.

Do you ever wish that you had an entirely uncreative job, like data entry or working in a factory?

I was a building inspector. I fried chicken for a living. I was a telephone solicitation technician. I learned a lot about life from all these medial, deadening, dead-end, underpaying jobs. But I would not want to do them again.

Do you believe in a deity?

I guess I categorize myself as a Pagan humanist. I worship the earth and the sky and food and sex and love and music and creativity.

Do you ever write naked?

I'm naked right now!

Who would play you in a film of your life?

Actually, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, who was a teen heartthrob on the show Home Improvement optioned my memoir Chicken so he could play me at 17. Sadly, that never happened. Right now we’re trying to get Justin Bieber to play the lead role in Chicken, he would be portraying a 17-year-old sex worker. I'm not kidding. That's totally real.

What are the most important attributes to remaining sane as a writer?

Surrounding yourself with people who like you. I had a lot of trouble doing that in the first 40 years of my life. I really enjoy reading my work in public, that's part of what keeps me sane as a writer.

Have you ever read or seen yourself as a character in a book or a movie?

I was a professional actor for many years and did portrayed everyone from George Washington to Abbie Hoffman to Leif Ericson. Among many others. I see myself as every character in every movie or book I read or watch.

What is the single most powerful challenge when it comes to writing novel?

Getting people to read your work.

What do you consider your biggest failure?

I trust people too easily. I assume they're going to do what they say they're going to do. I suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder, and I sometimes fly into a crazy rage. I'm really trying hard not to do that, but there are just so many RIDICULOUS HORRIBLE ASSHOLES!

Do you research your novels?

I tried to do is little research as possible, because I want to make the most money per word as possibly. One of my heroes as a writer is Dr. Seuss. There are only 232 words in Cat in the Hat, and he's made approximately $1 billion from that book. I don’t think he had to do much research on it. The novel I’m working on now involves the main character living with the Shakers, who were a pretty well known religion in the mid-1800s. The Shakers are famous for two things. They made great furniture. They didn't believe in sex. There are no more Shakers. I did lots of research on them.

How much impact does your childhood have on your writing?

Enormous. As you see above, in my new book, a three-year-old kills his father with the gun his dad gives him as a birthday present. It's the first book I ever wrote. I think I was trying to work out some stuff.

What was the greatest thing you learned at school?

I got turned onto a lot of great books and music. Beethoven to Nick Drake to Robert Johnson to Taj Mahal to Jean Pierre Rampal. Thomas Pynchon to Charles Dickens to Hunter S Thompson. The list goes on and on.

Do you laugh at your own jokes?

Only if they're really really funny.

Do you admire your own work?

Only when it's really really good.

What are books for?

Escape, laughter, adventure, information, thrills, chills, romance. My partner and I wrote a book called Putting Your Passion Into Print, which got updated into The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published. So we got a bunch of boxes of the hard cover version of PYPIP, which are essentially useless now. But they throw off a lot of heat when you burn them in the fireplace. And living in northern New Jersey as we do, that can be highly significant.

Are you fun to go on vacation with?

Oh yes. I love to swim. I also enjoy playing all kinds of games.

How do you feel about being interviewed?

I love it.

Why do you think what you do matters?

It keeps me out of trouble. Also, I talk about things that are forbidden in our culture. I was raped when I was 17. It’s in my memoir Chicken. When I get up in public and talk about that, there are always a couple of people in the audience who’ve been through the same thing. And when I talk about it, it gives them license to talk about it. They don't feel like such a freak anymore. Or maybe they realize that we're all freaks in one way or another. Part of my mission has been to expose how kids get exploited and abused by grown-ups. I think this is very important. I also write a lot about se work and create a forum for writers who have been in the sex business. I want to normalize this occupation, remove some of the taboo and stigma. I consider this to be important.

Have you ever found true love?

Absolutely. Writing Mort Morte actually led me to getting an agent, who turned out to be the love of my life. And we have a daughter who’s five years old, and I have a love for her that is so profound and deep, it's like nothing I've ever experienced.

How many times a day do you think about death?

I sometimes go days without thinking about it. But I do have these morbid images of my daughter dying in some horrible way, and me not being able to stop it. Once in a while lying awake at night I imagine what the world would be like without me, and it's truly a horrible idea.

Are you jealous of other writers?

Constantly.

What makes you cry?

One of the ways I got over posttraumatic stress disorder, and addictions to cocaine and sex, was through hypnotherapy. My hypnotherapist taught me how to unleash the emotions within me. I was raised in an English environment, where no one ever cried. So now all kinds of things make me cry. I can cry watching a trailer for a sappy movie. The other day I was watching Love Actually, which is really cheesy movie. But I wept like a baby. I really enjoyed it.

What makes you laugh?

Buster Keaton. Richard Pryor. Lenny Bruce. George Carlin. People who can make comedy out of tragedy.

What are you ashamed of?

When I was in my 20s I used and exploited people, mostly women, to get what I wanted. I was like a vampire sucking love & sex out of women, and giving nothing in return.

What's the loveliest thing you have ever seen?

My daughter.

David Henry Sterry is the author of 14 books, a performer, muckraker, educator, activist, and book doctor. His first memoir, Chicken, was an international bestseller, and has been translated into 10 languages. His anthology, Hos, Hookers, Call Girls and Rent Boys was featured on the front cover of the Sunday New York Times Book Review. He authored The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published with his ex-agent and current wife. His novella Confessions of a Sex Maniac, was a finalist for the Henry Miller Award. He has written books about working at Chippendales Male Strip Club, the teenaged brain, how to throw a great pajama party if you’re a tween girl, a patriciding mama’s boy, World Cup soccer, a sex maniac, and how to get a book published. He has appeared on, acted with, written for, worked and/or presented at: Will Smith, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Stanford University, National Public Radio, Penthouse, Huffington Post, over 100 independent bookstores from the Strand in NYC to Books & Books in Miami to City Lights in SF to Powell’s in Portland, Miami, LA & Teaxas Book Festivals, Michael Caine, 92nd St. Y, Smith College, Brooklyn Book Festival, the London Times, Reed College, Playboy and Zippy the Chimp. He loves any sport with balls, and his girls. www.davidhenrysterry

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Southern Haunts

noreply@blogger.com (Dan O'Brien) — Sat, 18 May 2013 10:00:00 +0000

Alexander S. Brown

Alexander S. Brown is a Mississippi author who was published in 2008. His first book, Traumatized, is a short story collection that has received rave reviews from horror fans throughout America. Although, Brown began as a horror author, he has recently published two young adult steampunk tales, which can be found in the anthologies, Dreams of Steam 2: Brass and Bolts, as well as, Clockwork Spells and Magical Bells. His poem, “Maters” was later published in the magazine, Midnight Screaming Volume 3, #4. Brown says there are more works on the way as he plans to write a series of novels chronicling the lives of residents in a town that is damned. Eventually, he will pen a fantasy/horror trilogy.

J.L Mulvihill

J L Mulvihill is the author of the young adult fantasy novel, The Lost Daughter of Easa, published through Kerlak Publishing. Other stories J L has written and had published includes, Chilled Meat, a steampunk thriller, found in Dreams of Steam II-Of Bolts and Brass, anthology; The Leprechaun’s Story, a steampunk urban fantasy found in the anthology, Clockwork, Spells, & Magical Bells. A Real Dragon and Magic in The Ozarks, found in Memories and Dreams published by The Fine Arts Center of Hot Springs, AR; Jen’s Spicy Crawfish Bisque, found in It’s All about Food with a Mississippi Twist, published through the Clinton Ink-Slingers; and The Proud Oak, published through the Gulf Coast Writer’s Association.

J L Mulvihill has written several articles for Examiner.com as the Jackson Literature Examiner. She is also an event’s coordinator for the Mississippi Chapter of Imagicopter known as the Magnolia-Tower, a volunteer organization of authors and artists who promote their own publications while lending a hand to other writers and artists. J L Mulvihill is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), Gulf Coast Writers Association (GCWA), The Mississippi Writers Guild (MWG), as well as the Arts Council of Clinton, the Clinton Ink-Slingers Writing Group, and the Java Jotters.

J L is currently working on her second novel, Elsindai, as well as her young adult steampunk series, Steel Roots, and an anthology project with horror author Alexander S. Brown entitled Southern Haunts. She also continues to write short stories in the fantasy, steampunk, horror, and sci/fi genre, as well as poetry inspired by her life in Mississippi. She has also been known to Karaoke from time to time when she thinks no one is looking.

Webpage: http://www.elsielind.com/

Social Media Links for Seventh Star Press

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/seventhstarpress

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/7thstarpress

Website: http://www.seventhstarpress.com

Blog: http://seventhstarpress.blogspot.com

Synopsis:
Southern Haunts (editors Alexander S. Brown and J.L. Mulvihill): From the shadowed realms of the paranormal comes 16 chilling tales that dwell in the South and Southwest. Resurrected in your very hands are stories that will make you laugh, ponder, and shiver as the reader is introduced to spirits that are humorous, saddened, and vengeful.

From 16 authors, learn of haunted homes, buildings, landmarks and roads where restless entities from beyond the grave desire acknowledgement amongst the living.

Become acquainted with the aftermath of an eclipse that awakens the dead in a Memphis cemetery, see what horrors dwell in the woods at Hell’s Gate, learn the dark secrets of Sidney’s Cotton, and dare to travel down Ghost Road.

These and many other tales are sure to keep you awake as you are introduced to what makes the South and South West so unique…. History and GHOSTS!!!!!

So, sit back, dim the lights and prepare yourself to face the spirits that walk among us.

Featured stories and authors in Southern Haunts:

Windsong Levitch – “Interview for a Ghost Hunter”

H. David Blalock – “An Eclipse Over Elmwood”

Richard Parks – “Sydney’s Cotton”

Jason Hughes – “Ghost Road”

Herika R. Raymer – “Cal’s Cutoff”

Diane Ward – “The Shack”

Roland Mannn – “Haints”

L.S. Nadler – “You Will Come to Meet Your Demise”

M.R. Williamson – “Hell’s Gate”

William R. Eakin – “Maddness”

Roman Merry – “Wellspring”

Kalila Smith – “The Bequest”

Miguel L. Viscarra – “The Cleansing”

J.L. Mulvihill – “Bath 10″

Angela Lucius – “Nightmares at Moccasin Bend”

Alexander S. Brown – “The Top Floor”

Southern Haunts Tour Segment

May 16 Jay Wilburn Blog Guest Post

May 17 Laurie's Paranormal Thoughts and Reviews Interview

May 18 The Dan O’Brien Project Promo-Spotlight

May 20 Book in the Bag Review

May 21 Spellbound by Books Excerpt

May 22 Darlene’s Book Nook Guest Post

May 26 Kentucky Geek Girl Interview

June 1 Babs Book Bistro Excerpt

June 2 Beagle Book Space Promo-Spotlight

June 3 Reading Away the Days Review

June 10 Spellbindings Guest Post

June 12 Celticlady’s Reviews Promo-Spotlight

June 13 The Witchy Contessa Review

June 14 Word to Dreams Guest Post

June 16 I Smell Sheep Guest Post

June 17 Bookishly Me Review

June 19 Recent Reads Review

Full Tour Schedule: All Segments Included

May 16 Jay Wilburn Blog Guest Post (Southern Haunts)

May 16 MikesFilmTalk Guest Post (Vampires Don’t Sparkle)

May 16 Armand Rosamilla, Horror Author Guest Post (Perfect Flaw)

May 17 Laurie's Paranormal Thoughts and Reviews Interview (Southern Haunts)

May 17 Laurie’s Thoughts and Reviews Interview (Perfect Flaw)

May 17 Come Selahway With Me Guest Post (Vampires Don’t Sparkle)

May 17 The Dan O’Brien Project Guest Post (The End Was Not the End)

May 18 The Dan O’Brien Project Promo-Spotlight (Southern Haunts)

May 18 A Girl and Her Kindle Review (Vampires Don’t Sparkle)

May 18 Ian’s Realm Guest Post (The End Was Not the End)

May 19 Angela Meadon Blog Guest Post (Perfect Flaw)

May 19 Strange Amusements Review (The End Was Not the End)

May 20 Book in the Bag Review (Southern Haunts)

May 20 The FlipSide of Julianne Guest Post (Guest Post)

May 20 Laurie’s Paranormal Thoughts and Reviews Interview (Vampires Don’t Sparkle)

May 21 Spellbound by Books Excerpt (Southern Haunts)

May 21 The Dan O’Brien Project Guest Post (Perfect Flaw)

May 21 Kentucky Geek Girl Interview (Vampires Don’t Sparkle)

May 22 Darlene’s Book Nook Guest Post (Southern Haunts)

May 22 Strange Amusements Promo/Spotlight (Vampires Don’t Sparkle)

May 22 Bookishly Me Guest Post (The End Was Not the End)

May 23 Workaday Reads Guest Post (Perfect Flaw)

May 23 Book Den Guest Post (Vampires Don’t Sparkle)

May 23 Laurie’s Thoughts and Reviews Interview (The End Was Not the End)

May 24 Books, Owls and Tea Guest Post (Perfect Flaw)

May 24 Beagle Book Space Promo/Spotlight (Vampires Don’t Sparkle)

May 24 I Read a Book Once Review (The End Was Not the End)

May 26 Kentucky Geek Girl Interview (Southern Haunts)

May 26 Armand Rosamilla, Horror Author Review (Vampires Don’t Sparkle)

May 27 Bookishly Me Review (Vampires Don’t Sparkle)

May 28 Spellbindings Guest Post (Writers Workshop of Science Fiction & Fantasy)

May 29 Darlene’s Book Nook Guest Post (The End Was Not the End)

May 29 Book in the Bag Interview (Writers Workshop of Science Fiction & Fantasy)

May 30 Darlene’s Book Nook Guest Post (Perfect Flaw)

May 30 The Cabin Goddess Review (Vampires Don’t Sparkle)

May 31 WTF Are You Reading? Review (Vampires Don’t Sparkle)

May 31 Literary Meanderings Interview (Writers Workshop of Science Fiction & Fantasy)

June 1 Babs Book Bistro Excerpt (Southern Haunts)

June 1 Readings Sunshine Review (Perfect Flaw)

June 1 The Witchy Contessa Review (The End Was Not the End)

June 1 Laurie’s Thoughts and Reviews Interview (Writers Workshop of Science Fiction & Fantasy)

June 2 Beagle Book Space Promo-Spotlight (Southern Haunts)

June 2 Kentucky Geek Girl Promo-Spotlight (Writers Workshop of Science Fiction & Fantasy)

June 3 Reading Away the Days Review (Southern Haunts)

June 3 Book in the Bag Review (Vampires Don’t Sparkle)

June 3 Spellbindings Guest Post (The End Was Not the End)

June 3 The Witchy Contessa Review (Writers Workshop of Science Fiction & Fantasy)

June 4 Jess Resides Here Guest Post (Perfect Flaw)

June 4 The Dan O’Brien Project Guest Post (Vampires Don’t Sparkle)

June 5 Book Reviews and More Review (Perfect Flaw)

June 5 Once Upon a Time Guest Post (The End Was Not the End)

June 6 A Book Vacation Guest Post Perfect Flaw)

June 6 Beauty in Ruins Review (The End Was Not the End)

June 6 Come Selahway With Me Interview (Writers Workshop of Science Fiction & Fantasy)

June 7 Word to Dream s Review (Perfect Flaw)

June 7 Bee’s Knees Reviews Review (Vampires Don’t Sparkle)

June 7 I Read a Book Once Review (Writers Workshop of Science Fiction & Fantasy)

June 8 The Witchy Contessa Review (Perfect Flaw)

June 10 Spellbindings Guest Post (Southern Haunts)

June 10 WTF Are You Reading Review (Perfect Flaw)

June 11 Darlene’s Book Nook Guest Post (Vampires Don’t Sparkle)

June 12 Celticlady’s Reviews Promo-Spotlight (Southern Haunts)

June 12 Bookishly Me Review (Perfect Flaw)

June 12 Library Girl Reads and Reviews Guest Post (The End Was Not the End)

June 13 The Witchy Contessa Review (Southern Haunts)

June 13 Book Den Guest Post (Writers Workshop of Science Fiction & Fantasy)

June 14 Word to Dreams Guest Post (Southern Haunts)

June 14 Sweet Southern Home Guest Post (Perfect Flaw)

June 15 Bee’s Knees Reviews Review (The End Was Not the End)

June 15 The Dan O’Brien Project Promo-Spotlight (Writers Workshop of Science Fiction & Fantasy)

June 16 I Smell Sheep Guest Post (Southern Haunts)

June 16 SpecMusicMuse Review and Interview (Perfect Flaw)

June 16 Jess Resides Here Top Ten’s List (Vampires Don’t Sparkle)

June 16 Once Upon a Time Promo-Spotlight (Writers Workshop of Science Fiction & Fantasy)

June 17 Bookishly Me Review (Southern Haunts)

June 17 Spellbindings Guest Post (Perfect Flaw)

June 17 The Witchy Contessa Review (Vampires Don’t Sparkle)

June 18 Recent Reads Review (Writers Workshop of Science Fiction & Fantasy)

June 19 Recent Reads Review (Southern Haunts)

June 19 My Seryniti Review (Vampires Don’t Sparkle)

June 19 Come Selahway With Me Guest Post (The End Was Not the End)

Oh Just Give Up

noreply@blogger.com (Dan O'Brien) — Fri, 17 May 2013 14:00:00 +0000

Oh Just Give Up

Charlotte Bennardo

Maybe you’ve heard this from a friend, a family member, an editor? The rejection letters are piling up. The critiques are coming back with so many red marks and cross outs that your manuscript is terminal.

Is it time to give up?

My mother drags out the story about Dr. Seuss getting 50 rejections before he got pubbed. Yeah. I had three times that amount. Dr. Seuss, in terms of rejection, it’s amateur hour for you.

Or the one about Thomas Edison trying over 100 materials to perfect his lightbulb.

Or that Olympic athlete who trains for years, giving up everything, only to fall, get hurt, or come in last.

How much ‘failure’ can and should a person take?

That all depends on the perspective. Talk to the person who eventually succeeds, even through years of effort and rejections and they will tell you it was all worth it. Ask the person who never achieved their goal and they might be bitter, complaining they wasted years, resources and even relationships, and now have nothing to show for it except regret. We’d all like to be the success story but realistically, that’s not going to happen. All the platitudes about “Dare to make your dreams come true” become stinging reminders when your dreams aren’t achieved, leaving you feeling hollow, cheated, resentful, and depressed.

When we hear some celebrity boast about how he wrote his picture book in hours and then every bookstore on planet Earth was pimping it, it leaves a rancid taste in mine and the mouths of those who study and labor for years to perfect our writing craft, only to see a rank amateur achieve success solely based on his (or her) fame from a different endeavor. It hurts. It makes you want to quit and those feelings are understandable.

But should you quit?

Only you can answer that. Ask yourself if you can keep on writing, editing, and submitting only to hope for a miniscule chance of success. Would you rather walk away and go enjoy life with family and friends, leaving feelings of inadequacy and resentment behind? Ultimately, it is your choice, even if you have passion. J. D. Salinger not only walked away from the writing life, he went into hiding. Prince gave up recording music. Others have done it, why not you?

Maybe because then you’ll Never Know. That’s another driving force that keeps me going. Maybe the next query letter will be The One. Maybe this editor will want it. Maybe readers will embrace it.

Some people honestly don’t have the talent they think they have and I’ve seen it in their work when I read or critiqued it. Should I do them a favor and say, “Just give up”? It could either drive them to work harder, maybe push them to success, or it could drive them into a soul deep depression. But that’s not my place; it is my job, when asked, to critique the work, not the person or the motivation. Making revisions, going forward or giving up belong to the creator, even if maybe sometimes some people think it’s time to give up.

Do I sound ambiguous? I should. It’s your dream to follow or give up, your life to continue or change. It doesn’t matter what anyone else says, but if writing (or whatever) is your passion, maybe you can’t stop it no matter what.

So what’s your decision: will you stay and strive, or go and forget?

Medicine Man 1: Chief of All Time

noreply@blogger.com (Dan O'Brien) — Fri, 17 May 2013 10:30:00 +0000

Medicine Man 1: Chief of All Time

by S.R. Howen

Blurb:

Shannon Running Deer is American Indian by blood, but he has forsaken his people's ancient ways to embrace the "modern" world as a wealthy, highly successful trauma surgeon.

His comfortable existence begins to unravel when, seemingly by chance, Shannon finds himself gradually drawn into the past. Pursued by an ancient evil, he knows he can change the future, if he can survive the past.

In the tradition of Diana Gabaldon, S.R. Howen's MEDICINE MAN is a distinctive and atmospheric novel full of spirituality, mystical time travel, romance, passion, and suspense.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Excerpt:

She stood up, undid her jeans, and started lowering them as if I were not staring at her like some lusty teenager. I fled the room and shut the door on her seductive form. I stood in the hallway, leaned against the wall with my eyes shut, and tried to still the passion she invoked in me. I knew she didn’t wear a bra; the absent top buttons on her shirt made it obvious. She also didn’t wear any underwear. Not unless they were much lower on her hips than her partly lowered jeans. In all my adult life, I had never felt like this before.

“You could have her. Take her,” the elk-man’s voice echoed.

“You’ve been too long without a wife,” my grandfather said.

“Leave me alone,” I said, as much to the elk-man voice as to my grandfather.

“You have been too long without a wife,” my grandfather repeated. “Even I remember what it was like to be that ready for a woman.”

I tried to yank my shirt down farther before I opened my eyes to tell him to mind his own business. I got a good view of his back as he went into the guest room. The door shut with a firm thump. The sound of the lock turning made me shake my head.

My grandfather was at his exasperating best. Later, he would wander out of there to raid the refrigerator for whatever he could find. I went into the kitchen and put the teakettle on the stove. The burner lit with a faint whoosh, and I experienced a flash of the medicine dances I’d attended in my youth. The tribal medicine man would throw fine sulfur dust into the fire to make it do the same thing. A grand show, as was everything medicine men did. None of their tricks had worked for my father.

My father, being a firm believer in the old ways, would’nt seek out modern medicine past the point of being told he had terminal cancer. He wouldn’t even consider modern healing mixed with the old beliefs. My own mother turned her back on me after he died.

The teapot shrilled, and Morning Dove’s voice came from the doorway. “I am very tired.

I took a mug from the shelf above the sink. From a different cupboard, I took down the box of nighttime tea I kept there. I added water and tea to the mug and watched the steam for a moment, before I held it out to her.

“It will help you sleep,” I said when she just looked at the cup.

“I have had enough white-man’s medicines put into me already.” Her eyes flashed with what I took for humor.

“This is a mixture of natural herbs, no preservatives, no artificial colorings, no caffeine. . . ”

With a smile, she took the cup. Her fingers brushed against mine, sending an electric chill along my nerves. I led the way to my study and turned on the gas fireplace. Morning Dove went to the thick sheepskin rug in front of it and sat down. While she sipped the tea, I went to the closet and retrieved a pillow and some blankets. I paused with them in hand to watch her. She sat in the terry robe and held the mug in both hands. She took a small sip and stared into the fire.

Her hair hung down over the robes back in a glimmering wet curtain. One corner of the robe slipped down to reveal her shoulder. I wanted to sink to the floor and wrap myself around her. With a grunt, I pulled myself away from thoughts of intimacy with her. I covered the couch with a sheet and punched the pillow a few times--to fluff it.

The gate buzzer sounded loudly in the silent room. What nut would be out on a night like this unless they had to be? I pulled the door to the study shut and went to answer the gate intercom.

No one answered. When I turned away from it, thinking the storm had made it go off, it buzzed again. Loud and insistent. I jabbed the button.

“Who’s there?”

I heard nothing in return except the thunder rumbling overhead. I pulled open the front door. Down the drive, through the sheets of rain, it looked like a set of round headlights on the other side of the gate. My brother’s Jeep?

I reached back inside and pushed the button to open the gate. Lightening cracked so bright I couldn’t see for a moment. I blinked back the brightness, tried to blink it away again.

It didn’t help. The deer filling my driveway didn’t go away. They ran past the house in a steady stream, an entire herd. Where had they come from? The drums sounded behind me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Medicine Man I: The Chief of All Time (Wild Child Publishing): http://www.wildchildpublishing.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=106&products_id=404&zenid=8e8ea1c48ee3fc580ce3355a6fbb25e8

Medicine Man I: The Chief of All Time (Amazon Ebook):

http://www.amazon.com/The-Chief-Time-Medicine-ebook/dp/B009Z2R3BS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1353081294&sr=8-1&keywords=medicine+man+howen

Medicine Man I: The Chief of All Time (Amazon Print) :

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Medicine Man I: The Chief of All Time (B&N Ebook): http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/medicine-man-sr-howen/1113712670?ean=2940015913316

Medicine Man I: The Chief of All Time (B&N Print): http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/medicine-man-i-s-r-howen/1113795431?ean=9781617980718

Medicine Man I: The Chief of All Time (Kobo):

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An Editor’s Fantasy: Remember the Basics

noreply@blogger.com (Dan O'Brien) — Fri, 17 May 2013 10:00:00 +0000

An Editor’s Fantasy: Remember the Basics

Joshua H. Leet

Editor of The End Was Not the End: Post-Apocalyptic Fantasy Tales

There are some very simple requirements for a short story. You’ll find them repeated time and again in articles about writing and in advice from writers. I’ll speak to my own experience editing The End Was Not the End.

Your story needs to start quickly. Unlike a novel where you can take the time to develop your setting, characters, and plot, a short story has to comparatively fly. A short story should grab the reader’s attention immediately, especially when it’s likely the editor will be receiving many submissions. If a short story is just 10 pages and your first page is all exposition or setting description, it’s going to the bottom of the pile, if not the trash can. I put down one story because the apocalypse took place on page five of 12, with the previous four pages being setting and character thought. How is that post-apocalyptic?

Consistency and reader expectations are important too. If a character does something that doesn’t make sense, or if a murderer is revealed to be some character you’ve not even introduced previously, it’s an unsatisfying read. Another piece I eliminated introduced a plot and characters, but rushed through the final reveal while also having the character abruptly change in a fundamental way without any believable warning. Surprises are only satisfying if you can go back and see them develop under your nose in a second read.

Especially with anthologies, where polished pieces are expected, you can’t afford grammar, spelling and formatting mistakes. If it looks like a first draft, it’s not worth my time. This is a business of entertainment, not a school. Spell your character’s name two different ways, repeatedly use the wrong their/they’re, or fail to demonstrate knowledge of commas and paragraph breaks, and I will turn away from your story in frustration or disgust. An editor may have dozens, if not hundreds, of pieces vying for a spot. Also, many of the submissions for the post-apocalypse anthology did not follow the requirements in the call, and several were submitted with line breaks instead of paragraph indents, as if written for a web forum.

Avoid confusing the reader at all costs. Don’t make your reader have to go back to try to figure out who did what or where the palace is and why that matters. One story I didn’t use had four characters with very similar names. That’s bad enough in an epic length novel, but in a short story, you may not even need four characters total, let alone four with similar names. They may be distinct in your mind, but you don’t have time to differentiate them in a short story.

The theme is paramount, yet many authors somehow ignore it. While it is often en vogue to try to utilize the theme in some unexpected way, if I can’t recognize the theme in your story within the first 10-25%, I’m simply not going to believe it’s there, and I’ll put your story down. Revealing on the final page that there was magic all along does not merit inclusion in a fantasy anthology. Readers usually want to know they’re within the genre, and then the plot and characters need to entertain them, not some twist for the sake of individuality. I rejected several stories for being sci-fi, not fantasy, and others for not even being post-apocalyptic.

Still, setting is less important in a short story, even when it is the defining aspect of the theme. I’ve seen stories describe setting for half of the text only to have a very bland plot. Characters, too, shouldn’t be studied at great length. Don’t spend pages describing your character’s appearance and backstory. Many people have this desire because in their head the character has had many adventures, adventures they plan to continue in later stories or a novel. No one wants to read a 10-20 page character dossier. You’ll never get to write more about it if you don’t entertain us the first time.

For my part with the post-apocalypse fantasy anthology, I was specifically looking first for the theme/setting, then for a good story and at least one character, and that character needed to be consistent in the setting. They didn’t have to have the clearest motivations, and they could be as clueless as the reader concerning their circumstances, but it had to be consistent, well-written, and in the end, it had to have a satisfying ending, even if it ended poorly for the character. Far too many submissions failed to deliver, and I turned down pieces with excellent characters and stories that missed the theme entirely.

I’ll end by suggesting a useful resource. Find “The Lester Dent Pulp Paper Master Fiction Plot,” a resource countless authors will recommend. Developed by a pulp writer, it can very easily be applied to any form of writing, especially short fiction. The formula breaks a story down into a number of parts, describing what should be accomplished within each section to maintain pacing and other crucial elements. Even if some people look down on pulp, the action and mystery stories of that era excelled at getting a reader’s attention quickly, being a fun and swift read, and not being overly complicated when working with a small word count. Even if you don’t follow it every time, learn it.

The End Was Not the End: Post Apocalyptic Fantasy Tales (editor Joshua H. Leet): Heroes prevail… usually. You sit close to a campfire, depending on its faint, flickering light to ward off the darkness. Yet the fire cannot hold back dark memories, thoughts of your fallen kingdom, of monsters across the land, of magic gone awry. Around fires like yours are seated other travelers, refugees from catastrophes none dare mention. Kings and queens huddle shoulder to shoulder with peasants, wizards share scraps with slaves, and each wishes only to be saved.

Some will be lucky, for heroes yet remain in their lands. For others, hope was not among the provisions stuffed into a pack when fleeing home. Eventually the silence of the night grows too heavy, and someone speaks. They tell a tale of loss, of foolish pride and tragic mistake. With bravery stoked by company, others speak up, each sharing their own sorrows. Before long, there are enough tales to fill a volume.

The conversations continue through the night, and by the time dawn has filtered through the gnarled tree limbs, journeys must continue, and one by one, the strangers trudge away. Their worlds may have ended, but they have survived another night. They will continue on, seeking to rebuild upon the ruins of great dreams. Their stories linger upon the air, drifting into time like the smoke from their extinguished fires, fed only by faint embers.

This book contains eleven stories set in worlds where an apocalypse has already come, but the characters you’ll read about aren’t quite ready for the end.

This anthology includes the following authors and stories:

Deedee Davies – “The Halls of War”

Desmond Reddick – “Blood and Fire”

Scott Sandridge – “Make Way for Utopia”

Jay Wilburn – “Twenty Year Plan”

Mandi M. Lynch – “Nightmares and Dragonscapes”

Magda Knight – ”The Stone-Sword”

William Ransom – “In the Hills Beyond Twilight”

Steven S. Long – “Blade of Fire”

Bill Blume – “Waist Deep”

Darra L. Hofman – “Ben”

Nathen Gallagher – “Story’s End”

Iconic Characters or Grinding the Franchise?

noreply@blogger.com (Dan O'Brien) — Thu, 16 May 2013 14:00:00 +0000

Iconic Characters or Grinding the Franchise?

Charlotte Babb

For the last four days, I've had the flu, and to rest and nap, I've been watching Enterprise on Netflix. Never heard of it? It was the fifth incarnation of the Star Trek franchise, the prequel to TOS, set roughly a century or two before Captain Kirk and his iconic crew.

Why wasn't this series a booming success? Why don't you see T'Pol, Captaion Archer, or Dr. Phlox at cons? What can did I learn about writing through watching 30 episodes back-to-back between naps and doses of fizzy cold medicine?

Casting is important and well-rounded characters require more than a bit of makeup and an accent. Each character needs to be an icon, a real person, with depth and in more than 64-bit color.

I admit to being a trekkie. I'm not serious enough to be a trekker, as I don't own my own pair of Spock ears, but do have a metal badge and identification card. I have carried a torch for Mr. Spock, and by association, Leonard Nimoy, since I was sixteen, but I don't have a restraining order from him. I've seen all the TNG episodes multiple times, and most of DS9 and Voyager. I'm even remotely kin to John Billingsley (Dr. Phlox) by marriage (true story), and I met him at ConCarolinas in Charlotte a couple of years ago, long before ever seeing the show.

So I feel reasonably confident to comment on why nobody has ever heard of this series, and what writers might want to think about when developing a series of narratives. It's not like Berman and Brana did not have the necessary structure and formula for a good series.

They had the requisite (magnificent) seven characters, each with his or her character tic:

Archer has a dog.
T'Pol is the first (token) Vulcan. She meditates and never raises an eyebrow, even when lying.
Hoshi is the (token) Asian linquist and second female. She is claustrophobic.
(All current adventure stories are required to have one token female character. It's questionable whether T'Pol counts, or if they are both double-tokens.)
Mayweather is the (token) Black with the distinction of being raised in space. Minimal development in first season.
Trip is the Southern drawl and redneck mouth. (All war movies have this character. )
Dr. Phylo is a second (token) alien (remarkabl y opposite in personality from Dr. McCoy) who raises various semi-medicinal animals. He finds humans amusing.
Malcom is a second "accent" character from Great Britain. His quirk is extreme stiff upper lip.

The plots are standard fare, with good stories that don't blatantly repeat themselves. The 2-thread personal vs. aliens plot structure, learned and honed on TNG, is in evidence. The special effects are very nice, though the producers apparently learned that darkness and flashlights were cheaper than plywood and Christmas lights. There were lots of alien species with excellent facial latex makeup, all the ones we are familiar with except the Borg & Q (I only watched 30 episodes so far), and some new ones with various agendas. Everything one could ask for is presented, including hints as to how some of the standard tropes of TOS came about—The Prime Directive, the Federation, early use of the transporter and how Velcro came to be discovered.

So what went wrong?

Two things: presentation and casting.

Berman and Braga were bored. They wanted something new, and different, so they left the name STAR TREK off the series title. While many vessels have been named Enterprise because of Star Trek, this show could just as well have been about Donald Trump. When you are milking the cash cow, there's every reason not to rename her.

A second mistake was to use a ballad as the theme music. It's a nice song, but it does not sound anything like the symphonic music of the galaxies. It sounds like a farewell instead of a grand adventure. A Freudian slip, perhaps, nostalgia, looking back instead of looking ahead to where no HUMANS had ever gone before. Just because we knew where they were going, like watching Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon after a decade of reading science fiction, doesn't mean THEY knew.

A third mistake was casting—or maybe poor direction. I don't object to any of the actors, and all of them were certainly competent and convincing, but none of them created iconic characters. They are forgettable, partly because they seem to be all the same size and type. Maybe it was the scripts?

Far be it from me to extol the Shatner School of Hyperacting, but at least you knew at a glance who was who. Short, slight, BALD Patrick Stewart was always in command, and Jonathan Frake was just pretty boy backup. At least he looked different from Data, Geordi, and Worf, not to mention Tasha, Beverly, and Deanna. DS9 had lots of aliens, and Voyager added tattoos and facial mechanics. They looked different from each other. They walked differently from each other.

Even having different colored tunics helped on TOS, but on Enterprise, all the uniforms are the same color, and the actors are the same size, and more nearly the same age. They are not memorable. Their inner conflicts and deeper motivations are still hidden from me. That should have been the first things to work through. We've all seen the universe; we (with dramatic irony) KNOW what's out there. We aren't allowed to see enough of them working through conflicts except as minor episode complications.

This is what struck me, as I am building characters who must be distinguished by what they say and do, primarily, not how they look.

I was half-way through the first season (admittedly feverish) before I was sure if the blond crewman was the engineer or the tactical guy, or which one had which accent. They are nearly interchangeable. Imagine confusing Scotty and Sulu or Chekhov. Malcom's reticence makes for one of the episode personal story lines, but it has little to do with how he gets his job done or why he won't open up. He might as well be a Vulcan.

So as I return to my own sequels, my prequel and offshoot stories, I know that I have to make my characters much more iconic. No one should confuse Belle and Fiona, much less Calliope and Tulip. I have to show them as I see them, with more than a facial or verbal tic, but with deep character, death-defying decisions and personal moral codes that conflict with each other character. Each act has to be unique to that character (Did Spock ever say "I'm a Vulcan, Jim, not a stenographer" ?)

Without icons, the story is nice for a sleepy afternoon, but not the stuff of legend.

I write comedy, and I want my readers to laugh, but I want them to remember Maven and Fiona and Jones, just like they remember Ralph and Alice and Norton, or Lucy and Ricky and Ethel, or for the young folks, Bart and Homer.

I have some serious work to do.

Just to make my point, the new, spiffed up TOS-B, creates iconic characters who cannot be confused, even if they are much different from the icons of the 60s. Casting Quinto as Spock was brilliant, IMNSHO, and focusing much of the story on Spock rather than Kirk even more so. I'm interested to see what they do on May 17. (Yes, of course it's in my planner. DUH!)

Elven Blood by Debra Dunbar

noreply@blogger.com (Dan O'Brien) — Thu, 16 May 2013 10:30:00 +0000

Elven Blood

Debra Dunbar

Blurb:

Sam may be the Iblis, but she is also an imp with a price on her head. The powerful demon Haagenti won’t rest until she’s dragged back to Hel for “punishment”. Sam knows she can’t face Haagenti and win, so when an Elf Lord offers to eliminate the demon in return for her help, Sam accepts. It’s a simple job – find and retrieve a half-breed monster dead or alive. But finding this demon/elf hybrid isn’t proving easy and time is running out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tell us about your most recent release.

In Elven Blood, Sam finds herself being pulled in every direction. She’s got ridiculous, bureaucratic duties as a member of the angelic Ruling Council – and the angels have more forms and meeting agenda items than a corporate boardroom. She’s ticked off a powerful demon in the previous novel, and in spite of having killed three of his hit-men, he continues to send every demon he can bribe to try and drag her back for a gruesome punishment.

An elven lord has offered to take-out the demon gunning for her in exchange for her help, but the assignment is proving to be very difficult and is causing a rift between her and her human boyfriend.

There’s lots of action in this one, and a more intricate plot than before, but Elven Blood still has all the humor readers come to expect from Sam.

What else do you have coming out?

There are two more short stories in my Naughty Mom romantic erotica series due out this summer, and in the fall I’ll have the fourth book in my Imp series, as well as a paranormal thriller- Dead Shift.

Is there anything you want to make sure potential readers know?

Elven Blood is the third novel in the Imp series, but I wrote them so they could be read as stand-alone novels. There will be some spoilers and, of course, there will be some carry-over themes and references from previous books that may not be recognized, but they’re still fun, even out of order.

What's the most blatant lie you've ever told?

What, like “I really like your new hairdo”? Or “Oh, that’s a lovely picture of. . . a tree? A cat?” I try to avoid white lies as much as possible, and there are times when someone makes it very clear they’re looking for critical feedback, but sometimes I have no choice. If someone else is clearly pleased with something, I’m not going to be mean. Their feelings are a lot more important than whether I really like their meatless lasagna or not.

How do you react to a bad review of one of your books?

I’m really afraid to answer this one because I know I’m jinxing myself- I haven’t had a bad review yet. I know one will eventually come, and I’ll probably eat a lot of chocolate, open a bottle of wine, and have a good cry, but then I’ll dust myself off and keep going. Even the best authors have readers that don’t enjoy their particular style. I know it’s just another part of being an author, but I’m sure it will still be painful.

When are you going to write your autobiography?

Timing an autobiography is so difficult. I want to get it as close to my death as possible, so it’s all inclusive and doesn’t require latter revisions, but if I cut it too close it may not be completed before I kick the bucket. Based on my estimations, I’m thinking around my 90th birthday, give or take a decade.

Are the names of the characters in your novels important?

Oh yes! Most of the names are chose to convey certain attributes – like Wyatt as a strong, country-boy type, others for amusement. Candy is a good example. She’s a werewolf, and it sounds so out-of-place to have an OCD, kick-ass were named “Candy”.

The angels and demons have more researched-based names. Gregory (the angel) is called that because he’s the head of the Grigori (the group of angels sent to “watch” the humans, and ensure their evolution goes according to plan). Sam’s name came from a human whose identity she’s assumed- Samantha Martin. But Samael is sometimes one of the names sometimes attributed to Satan, so it foreshadows her role.

Of course, angels and demons have many names, and can be reluctant to reveal them all. Names hold a lot of significance. Knowing a spirit being’s names, truly understanding what those names mean, can give someone power over them.

Are there any occupational hazards to being a novelist?

A really big rear end.

I sit all day in front of Excel spreadsheets for my corporate day job, then sit and write in the evenings. Even a daily 3-mile jog and the occasional horseback ride can’t negate an entire day of basically sedentary non-activity. The junk in the trunk is reaching alarming proportions!

What's your favorite fruit?

It sounds boring, but apples are my go-to fruit. They’re portable, not all that messy, and the leftovers can be enjoyed by either our poultry or the horses. I’ll munch on one as I head out to bring Treasure in for a ride, and he gets a little treat on our way back. We also have a big strawberry patch in front of our house. The kids will snag them right off the plants- they love strawberries so much that I’ve expanded the garden this year.

How many people have you done away with over the course of your career?

Oh, let’s see. . . a couple of humans, some werewolves, a vigilante angel, a serial killer, bunch of drug dealers, and demons - many, many demons. I’m not really a slasher-type author, but with urban fantasy, there’s got to be blood on the floor.

Have you ever been in trouble with the police?

I’ve always gotten along really well with the police, even when they’re writing me a ticket, but when I was 18 some friends and I were cruising the strip in an old Dodge Dart. We were pulled over while cutting through a McDonald’s parking lot, and, as usual, the glove box door popped open as we stopped and banged onto my knees. When the officer approached the window all he saw was me trying to slam the glove box shut, swearing up a blue streak.

Yes, the car was searched. We didn’t have anything for them to find, but that’s the closest I’ve gotten to “trouble” with the Po-Po.

If you were going to commit the perfect murder, how would you go about it?

If I were ever to murder, it would probably be a crime of passion. Body-parts-all-over-the-place, and me-running-for-the-border kind of thing.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Do I have to grow up? Nobody said anything about growing up.

What is your favorite bedtime drink?

Beer, wine, or vodka. Sometimes all of the above.

Do you ever wish that you had an entirely uncreative job, like data entry or working in a factory?

I’ve done those before, and they provide lots of opportunity for my mind to wander and imagination to take root. I’ve come up with some great creative ideas while doing repetitious work.

Do you ever write naked?

So far I’ve always remembered to throw a bathrobe on first.

What are the most important attributes to remaining sane as a writer?

A sense of humor, a thick skin, a really sound liver, and a best friend or partner to help with the non-stop mood swings.

What is the single most powerful challenge when it comes to writing novel?

Just finding the time to get it done. I like to write in big blocks of time, but that’s just impossible with kids, a day job, and other demands. Lately I’ve been trying to train myself to snatch little bits of time – a half hour here, a half hour there – and put some words on paper. Otherwise I turn into a huge angry monster.

How much impact does your childhood have on your writing?

I’ve always had an overactive imagination, and always been a storyteller, but my childhood was pretty idyllic. I grew up in a middle class household, with a stay-at-home mother who loved to take me to plays and the zoo, and always found money in the budget to feed my ravenous appetite for books.

My Dad was a firm believer that girls could do anything that boys could, and introduced me to math, science, philosophy, and football. Our Sunday morning trips to get groceries usually wound up at the ice cream shop with double scoops and sprinkles.

My little brother (7 years younger than me) has always been a proud geek. He’s published several indie comic books, is a commercial graphic artist and still runs a D&D game on weekends. I was always tripping over his thousands of Matchbox cars, and enjoyed frightening the heck out of him with my tales of ghosts in the attic and horrific stuffed animal accidents.

See? Normal childhood.

Do you laugh at your own jokes?

Yes, although I try to hold it inside until other’s laugh first, so I don’t look like a total dweeb. When I’m editing my novels, I often catch myself laughing. Which is probably a good thing. If I don’t find my writing funny, I doubt other people will.

Do you admire your own work?

I think I’ve done a good job, and I admire the work and effort that went into my books as well as the finished product. Still, I’m continually looking for ways to learn and grow in my craft. There’s always room for improvement!

Are you jealous of other writers?

It’s hard not to be. There’s always someone who is selling more, whose rankings are better, who seems to have an easy time of success as opposed to working themselves to the bone for each and every reader. I try to remember that I’m walking my own path, and learn whatever I can from their success. I’ve encountered the most supportive helpful authors, who are always happy to help another writer out. It really is one big community out there, so although jealousy is a natural reaction, I don’t let it linger for more than a brief moment.

Excerpt:

It was after lunchtime when Gregory arrived for our meeting. So much for “early”.

He usually appeared in my house, unannounced, but this time he strode in the front door holding a head by the hair. He plopped it down on my dining room table and waved a hand, causing a depressing amount of paperwork to cover the table surface. I ignored the paperwork and focused my attention on the more interesting item.

“Is this a present?” I asked in delight.

I picked up the head and sat it like a hat on top of my own head, modeling it with a flourish.

“How did you know? I’ve always wanted one of these. And it fits perfectly.”

The angel was not amused. “We’ve got a lot to review today, and as often as you get sidetracked, we’re liable to be at it for a week. Put the head down and focus.”

Why the fuck did he bring a head if he didn’t want me to mess with it?

“Should I put it in a vase? Display it as a centerpiece on the table? How can you expect me to focus on stupid, boring paperwork when I’ve got this amazing, decomposing flesh tempting me with its beauty?”

“Fine. We’ll address this matter first, and then I’ll get rid of the thing so it won’t continue to distract you.”

He took the head from my hands and stuck it back on the table. It made an entertaining squelch sound.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Debra Dunbar lives on a farm in the northeast United States with her husband, three boys, and a Noah’s ark of four legged family members. Her urban fantasy novels feature supernatural elements in local settings. In addition to A DEMON BOUND, SATAN’S SWORD, and ELVEN BLOOD, she has also published a short story erotica series titled NAUGHTY MOM. Connect with her on Twitter @debra_dunbar on Facebook at debradunbarauthor, and on her website at http://debradunbar.com .

A DEMON BOUND: http://amzn.to/MK6nxD

SATAN’S SWORD: http://amzn.to/Tsi1Wr

Debra will be awarding an e-book copy of A DEMON BOUND (book 1 in the Imp Series) to a randomly drawn commenter at every stop, and a grand prize of a Kindle Fire with an ELVEN BLOOD book cover skin to one randomly drawn commenter during the tour (US ONLY). E-book copies of A Demon Bound and Satan’s Sword, and a basket of awesome swag will be awarded to a randomly drawn host.

Paying for Contests

noreply@blogger.com (Dan O'Brien) — Wed, 15 May 2013 23:11:00 +0000

Should writers pay to enter contests?

I know that I shy away from contests that ask for entry or reading fees and a low purse. It makes me wonder what the fee is for. Is it to pay someone for their time? Is it to cover publishing costs? A lot of big name publishers (like Writer's Digest) have entry fees for their contests even though they will have an article warning against reading fees in the same issue.

In this modern publishing world, the means with which to publish something like an anthology or book is so very simple, and often free, that charging for the opportunity to throw your hat in the mix feels a bit suspect. You can utilize CreateSpace or Lightning Source to create a print book for free and platforms like iBooks, Kobo, Nook, and Kindle all have free uploads of your print-ready documents as well.

So why the fees?

Let's say that an entry fee is low, like $5, and the prizes total $400 for fiction and $400 for poetry. That means that 160 entries would cover the cost of the prize money. So every entry beyond 160 makes the contest for-profit and not in the best interest of the participant. Any publisher worth their salt uses advertising and sales to cover the cost of payroll. So why pass on the financial burden to writers who just want to see their work in print?

Greed, lack of planning, bad business model: take your pick.

Amalgam Publishing, the little endeavor me and few friends started, is treating our anthology like a magazine and a contest. Everyone who gets published will receive a penny a word. The importance of being in a paying market is so that the great writers we print can be a part of organizations that will increase their visibility.

The best essay, short fiction, and poem will win $200.

There are NO ENTRY FEES.

I mean, honestly, how hypocritical of me would it be to charge entry fees right after getting up on my soapbox. So if you are a northern California or Wyoming writer, send your fiction, poetry, and essays our way for a chance to win a $200 prize or be a part of a paying market that highlights writers from your region.

Learn more about Amalgam Publishing

Submit your short fiction, poetry, or essays

Disagree? Let me know!

Advertising Opportunity

noreply@blogger.com (Dan O'Brien) — Wed, 15 May 2013 18:19:00 +0000

A Call for Submissions and an Advertising Opportunity

A large part of having a successful publishing endeavor is advertising support. That is where you come in. I am offering advertising space in The Northern California Perspective and The Wyoming Perspective. This is for rural northern California and Wyoming businesses, or businesses (or independent entities) with a large online presence that would benefit from increased exposure. They are going to start out as annual publications.

For the same price that you paid for a single month’s advertisement anywhere else, you will get the following by advertising in these new publications:

A black-and-white advertisement in the print edition
200x200 advertisement on my blog for one year (which averages 10,000 hits per month)
A color advertisement in the digital version

So why advertise? Magazines, pamphlets, regional free publications are thrown out or recycled after their use––your advertisement gets a single touch per reader.

This is not so with an anthology. These anthologies will never go out of print. No one throws out books. Provided I reach my advertising budget, I will be doing a free, limited print run that will be distributed throughout the state in addition to having it available for sale in print. If someone decides they are done with an anthology, they give it away to a friend, goodwill, or a bookstore. Your ad lives on in a way regionally that cannot be accomplished with anything else. The digital version will be free and available to tens of thousands of readers through opt-in mailing lists, readers groups, writing groups, and library exchange.

The publications will be 7x10 (print: black and white; digital: color) anthologies that will feature short fiction, essays, poetry, photography, and original artwork from people in northern California and Wyoming respectively. It will be read by people in northern California and Wyoming––your customers and neighbors.

The rates are very straightforward:

1/8 page (2.5” x 3.5”) $80
¼ page (5” x 3.5”) $150
½ page (5” x 7”) $275
Full page (7” x 10”) $500

Your rate will remain the same over time if you advertise in our first issue, even if rates go up. If you would like to talk more about this, then please do not hesitate to get in touch with me.

As an additional advertising opportunity, I am offering limited ads in my novels and an upcoming publication called A Free Look! that will be distributed alongside the Chico News & Review. Also, my books will be featured at a booth at Comic Con this July. The ads are first come, first serve and will be limited to 1/4, 1/2, and full-page ads. They will go in both the print and digital version of the books.

The options are in the following books:

The Journey (philosophical fantasy)
The Path of the Fallen (YA fantasy)
Cerulean Dreams (science fiction)
The End of the World Playlist (zombie novella)
The Path of the Fallen: Unabridged (YA fantasy)
Bitten (horror)
A Free Look! (Excerpts from all books, an article about fitness from a fitness consultant, an article about aquarium maintenance from a local aquarium specialist and consultant)

The price breakdown is very simple:

1/4 page - $80
1/2 page - $150
Full-page -$250

Get in touch if you are interested!

A Moment with Brieanna Robertson

noreply@blogger.com (Dan O'Brien) — Wed, 15 May 2013 14:00:00 +0000

Tell us about your most recent release.

One of my most recent releases is called Liron’s Melody. It is a fantasy romance where a grieving woman who is a classical pianist finds an old, weathered music score. When she plays it, it transports her to a different dimension where muses exist.

Two of my other recent releases are also fantasy romance. One is entitled Warrior’s Rise, about a man sent to serve out a community service sentence at a kids’ summer camp where things are definitely not as they seem. The other book is called Beyond Wild Imaginings, about a writer who discovers a realm where all things imagined actually come to life.

What else do you have coming out?

I am currently involved in several projects. I am re-releasing two of my favorite novels soon. One is a contemporary romance called The Road Less Traveled. This is my first published novel and it is re-releasing with bonus content and a better edit. It is about five friends and their adventures on a road trip to see a rock band. I am also re-releasing a novel that is very dear to my heart called Amaranth of the Wild Things. This one is a fantasy about a heartless assassin who is hired to kidnap a woman who can see the good in the darkest things. It will be re-releasing with World Castle Publications. I am also currently finishing up a the third contemporary in a trilogy of humorous contemporary romances entitled Confessions from a Studio Apartment, as well as several short stories in a compilation book I am working on with co-author Tex Leiko.

Is there anything you want to make sure potential readers know?

The one message I strive to convey in all my works is to be yourself and to follow your dreams. To me, these are the most important lessons I could impart on anyone. That is what I am passionate about, what I write about, and what I want my readers to take away from my stories.

What's the most blatant lie you've ever told?

Uh…I value honesty above most everything else, so I generally attempt to be truthful…even to a fault at times. I am not saying I have never lied, but I don’t keep track of the times when I have because they are not proud moments for me.

What is the most demeaning thing said about you as a writer?

The most demeaning thing anyone ever said really wasn’t all that demeaning to me. I had a reader review a short story of mine and they said it was terrible and contrived and completely predictable. As I hated the story I had written and couldn’t comprehend why it was selling so well, I laughed and thought to myself, “finally, someone who sees this piece of crap for what it actually is!”

How do you react to a bad review of one of your books?

It depends. Mostly I laugh and shrug it off because bad reviews come with the territory. And I find it humorous that the straightforward message I am trying to convey in most of my stories completely eludes some people. I also find it humorous that a lot of people think my works would be better if I had raunchy sex in them. To me, if you don’t like what I write, that’s fine. You don’t have to read it. I write for me and hope that my stories touch the lives of others, but I am not looking for acceptance by the mass public. Besides, even bad publicity is still publicity.

When are you going to write your autobiography?

I have many stories that contain autobiographical elements in them. My novel Second-Rate Groupies for one, and Confessions from a Studio Apartment as well. They have the most, but in truth, all of my stories have some aspect of my life in them.

Are the names of the characters in your novels important?

Extremely. I can’t even write the beginning sentence of a story unless I have the two main characters’ names picked out. I find if I don’t have the right name, the story doesn’t flow correctly. I know that sounds weird and OCD, but it’s true all the same. The characters don’t speak to me if they have no identity.

What about the titles of your novels?

Titles are more annoying to me than anything else. I can never figure out what to call anything. Half the time, I don’t come up with my title until midway to the end of the story.

Are there any occupational hazards to being a novelist?

Spilled beverages (i.e. water, coffee, and wine) all over myself, my desk, and my keyboard, the giant Quasimodo lump I get in my upper left shoulder from sitting at my desk too long, sciatica, insomnia, eye strain, and impaired relationships when I disappear from the human race for too long.

What's your favorite fruit?

Strawberries.

How many people have you done away with over the course of your career?

Literally, as in killing? None. Metaphorically or only in my mind? Quite a few.

Ever dispatched someone and then regretted it?

I have never ended a relationship, business or otherwise, that I regret because usually at the point that I am ready to end it, there is nothing left to salvage.

Have you ever been in trouble with the police?

Not unless that speeding ticket counts.

So when were you last involved in a real-life punch-up?

When my friend and husband were wrestling and accidentally socked me in the nose.

If you were going to commit the perfect murder, how would you go about it?

I would fail in such an epic manner I’d probably end up accidentally killing myself before I ever got to the victim. I am THAT BAD at strategy, and I am THAT clumsy.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Myself.

What is your favorite bedtime drink?

Wine (red, preferably)/

Do you ever wish that you had an entirely uncreative job, like data entry or working in a factory?

Nope. I’ve done data entry. I’ve also worked in retail, housecleaning, and fine art sales. I can’t handle it. Boring jobs give me panic attacks and make me prone to hostile tangents.

Do you believe in a deity?

Absolutely.

Do you ever write naked?

LOL no!

Who would play you in a film of your life?

Probably Emma Stone. She looks the most like me, I suppose.

What are the most important attributes to remaining sane as a writer?

Making sure I have time to write. Writing is the thing that keeps me the most sane. When I get caught up in other things and don’t make time for myself to write, I get irritable, moody, and depressed. I need to be creative in order to function properly.

Have you ever read or seen yourself as a character in a book or a movie?

All of the characters I write are different aspects of me.

What is the single most powerful challenge when it comes to writing novel?

Making time to sit down and do it without talking myself out of it because I have other “more important” things to do.

What do you consider your biggest failure?

I don’t view life in terms of successes and failures. I look at good things as great achievements and not so good things as mistakes to be learned from.

Do you research your novels?

Not if I can help it. I hate doing research. One of the reasons I write fantasy is so that I can make up all my own rules.

How much impact does your childhood have on your writing?

Very much. One whole book of mine, Beyond Wild Imaginings, is inspired by and dedicated to my childhood. I had a wonderful upbringing and was encouraged in my creativity. Most of the fundamental things I believe in so passionately stem from my childhood.

What was the greatest thing you learned at school?

That playing by yourself in the corner of the field with creatures only you can see is not something to be ashamed of. It is something to be embraced. And the people who come by who happen to see those same creatures, they are the ones you should hold close and cherish.

Do you laugh at your own jokes?

All the time. Even if no one else does.

Do you admire your own work?

I think I write humor well, and I think my characters are people a lot of others can relate to. I am proud of my work because I feel like every book finished is an accomplishment and every book published is a great achievement, but often I think all artists and creative people are their own worst critics. I am no exception to this rule. I second-guess myself all the time.

What are books for?

They are portals to worlds where we can escape.

Are you fun to go on vacation with?

I attract chaos. I think I’m a blast. You’ll never have a dull vacation with me. lol

How do you feel about being interviewed?

I actually have a really weird fascination with filling out surveys and answering questions so I love being interviewed.

Why do you think what you do matters?

It matters to me because I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t write. It’s the only thing I have ever wanted to do. If I didn’t write, I’d lose my mind. It is one of the biggest pieces of the puzzle that makes up who I am. Even if it didn’t matter to anyone else, it would still matter to me. But if I can touch someone else, make someone laugh, or inspire emotion within someone who reads one of my novels, that is a supreme bonus and an honor.

Have you ever found true love?

Let’s put it this way—I write romance novels because I enjoy telling love stories. I am fascinated with the process of falling in love and complexity of human relationships. I have never been disillusioned by them as so many people are. I long ago gave up any notions that a “Prince Charming” exists. I never really wanted one anyway. Prince Charmings are too one-dimensional. Give me the dark knight any day, the complex hero who sometimes seems like anything but the hero. Even so, “heroes” of any variety are few and far between in this world. Many women write and read romance novels because they want to escape in a world where men like the ones they read about actually exist. I don’t have to escape into a romance novel to find that. All I have to do is wait for my husband to come home. I have found a man to laugh with, to have adventures with, to write with, who stands beside me in all things; a partner, a protector, a confidant, a best friend. I somehow managed while writing everyone else’s love story, to stumble into one that was even better—a real life love story with a hero to leave all others I’ve encountered in the dust.

How many times a day do you think about death?

Generally I try to avoid that kind of thing. I love life too much.

Are you jealous of other writers?

I’d been lying if I said I wasn’t slightly jealous of my husband, who can pop out an entire novel in record time and write 6 pages in an hour while it takes me six months to complete a short story and that’s if I have a lot of time. There was a time long ago and far away that I used to be able to write that fast, but alas, adulthood happened…against my will, mind you.

What makes you cry?

People being douchebags. I have never and never will understand why some people have to be conniving, lying, fake backstabbers. Every time I encounter a person like this, it kills me that genuinely good people have to be hurt repeatedly by these manipulative, selfish jerks. Also, the ASPCA commercials make me cry. And really good music lol.

What makes you laugh?

I generally laugh at most everything. Humor is how I deal with life. I laugh at myself more than anything. But more specifically, my husband makes me laugh…A LOT. My family, my friends, Daniel Tosh, Keegan Michael Key and Jordan Peele, Jack Black, David Spade, my cats….the list goes on.

What are you ashamed of?

I’m ashamed that in a not so great time in my life I really hurt an innocent person and almost turned my back on my entire belief system because I was really pissed off at someone else. No one person should have that kind of power over another, and the fact that I allowed someone to do so, and was not strong enough to practice everything I preach, still makes me kind of sick inside.

What's the loveliest thing you have ever seen?

Nature. In all its aspects. The powerful ocean, the serene forests and lakes, the dry, stark desert, snow-capped mountains—all of these things to me are wondrous. I am humbled by how much beauty surrounds us that so many people take for granted.

Also, I think I can get away with saying this without seeming too corny given I write romance. My husband’s heart is an amazingly lovely thing, full of passion and light. It is an enigmatic wonder that I am constantly finding more colors and shades of.

My bio from my website:

If someone were to ask me what I am, it could be summed up in one, simple word: Dreamer. Ever since I was a small child, my imagination has run wild. I have been telling stories for as long as I can remember, creating grand worlds in my head and going on adventures that were invisible to others around me. Am I eccentric? Yes. Am I proud of that? Absolutely.

I write about the things that inspire me, both in this world and in realms only seen with the imagination. My heroines are sassy and strong. My heroes are sometimes shy. I have an obsession with music (and musicians) and a fascination with wings. I believe true love does exist, and sometimes it is found in the strangest, most unexpected places. I also believe that family and close friends are the glue that hold people together.

Above all things, I believe in being true to yourself and seizing the day. Life is an amazing gift. Make your experience as beautiful as you possibly can.

Website:

www.brieannarobertson.com

Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Brieanna-Robertson-Fantasy-and-Serendipity/224740111698

Who Determines the Literary Market?

noreply@blogger.com (Dan O'Brien) — Wed, 15 May 2013 14:00:00 +0000

Who Determines the Literary Market; the Authors, Publishers or Readers?

Chimezie Ihekuna

If are you an author, a publisher or reader, how has your experience been? Have you asked yourself the question: ‘who determines the literary market-is it you, the reader, the author or publisher?’

Digress a bit, from our studies of economics; we are made to believe that there are four chains of production;

From the manufacturer to the wholesaler

From the wholesaler to the retailer

From the retailer to the final Consumer

In this order, the chains of production can be viewed as:

Manufacturer-Wholesaler-Retailer-Final Consumer. In fact, we are made to see that the process of production is not complete until it gets to the final consumer. We are also made to believe that the consumer determines the market. In fact, ‘customers’, the saying goes, ‘are always right’. However, who decides for the final consumer the quality of produced goods and services and at the long run decides the ‘actual’ market dynamics? The answers to these questions are analogous to the topic of interest.

Similarly, in the literary circle, the starting point of production of books begins with the author. Here, the author painstakingly conceptualizes certain strings of thoughts and ideas. Then, using a system of understood schematics, he arranges coherently the written out ideas in an accepted book format. He sends it to the publisher who rigorously reviews it. And if the author’s work gets accepted and a subsequent contract has been signed, the publication processes begin. An editorial team is assigned to develop the contents, correct observed grammatical blunders, delete and add, if necessary other materials towards a better quality. Other processes such as designing, letterings, barcodes, printing, and lithographs are employed at the discretion of the publisher FOR the general or specific audience.

The promotion, distribution, advertisement, book launch and sales take place. The author is invited for book interviews, showcased in various billboards, publicized in different newspapers and magazines, principally participates launching of his book and goes on book tours. The publisher’s business acumen in spreading the publicity of the book through different on-line and off-line channels gives the giant book wholesalers (other international marketing agents) the push to make bulk purchases. Then, because of its popular demand ‘imposed’ on the general public, retail bookstores(on- and off-line) demand for it. The final consumer, also known as the reader, finally gets it.

In this format, we see that: The Author to The Publisher, The Publisher to The Giant Book Wholesalers and retail outlets, The Giant Book wholesalers to Retail outlets (on and offline channels), Retail Outlets to the final consumers.

To be realistic, it is up to you decide who really determines the literary market!

I want to use this medium to express my heartfelt congratulations to Barack Obama, his supporters , Americans and other peoples of the world as he enters another term of presidency. Many years of political posterity in America!

Following the words of the great Greek philosopher, Socrates, ‘Employ your time by improving with other men’s writings so that you can gain easily what others labored hard for’, Mr. Ben, as he is fondly called, is poised to impact humanity in all spheres of life and human recognition. With his knowledge zenith, he is willing to disseminate valued and ageless information to all interested persons, groups and organizations-what he toiled to gain over the years.

To depict this feat, he has written over twenty breath-taking masterpieces that cut across almost very literary category to help improve the cause, shape and existence of humanity; sexuality, business anecdotes, science, home affairs, marriage, relationships, friendship, self-help, gender issues, life matters, motivational and inspirational interests, educational/academic matters and many more…He is still counting! To his credit, he has written over forty timeless articles on the various literary categories; showcased on www.ezinearticles.com, www.articlebase.com, www.searchwarp.com, www.triond.com and other affiliate sites.

His amazing writing skills, novel concepts, creative works and avid reading and communication skills have earned him a recognized membership with the following international affiliations; www.christianwriters.com, www.associationofaspiringauthors.com, www.writerface.com and other known writers’ organizations. No doubt, he is not only a writer with a difference but also an entrepreneur, investor and a philanthropist whose slogan reads ‘service to God and humanity are paramount’.

Based in Lagos, Nigeria, Ben currently runs an E-retail outfit known as Hub Of All Enterprises (www.mrbenisreal-wwwstoryland.blogspot.com). He loves reading, communicating, meeting people, writing, listening to music and singing, watching classic movies and playing football.

www.literaryagentsandpublishers.wordpress.com

www.facebook.com/ihekunab

Lucid by Natalie Roers

noreply@blogger.com (Dan O'Brien) — Wed, 15 May 2013 10:30:00 +0000

Lucid

Natalie Roers

Blurb:

Being hailed by critics as an intelligent new voice in young adult fiction, Roers' debut novel tells the anything but ordinary, coming of age story of a small town, teen aged, misfit named Travis Hunter.

Disfigured at birth and ostracized at school, Travis dreams of acceptance and secretly yearns for the affection of a beautiful young woman named Corrine. When a mysterious doctor promises to help Travis through something called lucid dreaming, Travis suddenly finds himself ushered into a secret society called "The Lucid.," a collection of social outcasts like himself, who have created their own world inside of dreams.

When Travis discovers he is able to bring Corrine into these dreams, he gets more than he ever bargained for and soon finds himself learning the secrets of love and life in a fantastic unconscious world.

An instant classic, Lucid is a timeless story of self-acceptance with a fresh paranormal twist.

Excerpt:

Corrine sipped nervously at her coffee, looking for the most appropriate way to brush over the topic. “It was just nice being able to be ourselves, ya know? No fears, no consequences, no regrets. It’s such a significant word, isn’t it?”

“What word?”

“Lucid. It means to have a clear perception of things. Don’t you think it’s funny that it would take a dream for us to see clearly?”

Corrine placed her coffee on the ground next to her. “Like you,” she said. “Who would’ve known you were like this?”

“Like what?”

“Well for one, you talk!” She laughed. “I must’ve seen you dozens of times before. Why don’t you ever say anything to anyone?”

“I’ve been around enough people to know what they’re thinking when they stare at me. It doesn’t help me any to hear them say it.”

Corrine reached a hand forward and touched my knee. “I’m not gonna lie,” she said. “You do look a little different. You know what though? I don’t even notice it that much now that I’m talking to you.”

I looked down at her hand.

She pulled it back. “You should talk more,” she said, nodding. “Some people might surprise you. Not all of them…but some.”

REVIEW SOUND BYTES

"Roers' debut novel heralds the arrival of an intelligent, heartfelt voice in the world of young adult fiction. The rich characters, emotional complexity, and confident prose are matched only by the landscape of dreams that Roers sets them against... a landscape brought vividly to life by the author's seemingly boundless imagination. This is a novel that respects its readers as much as its characters, and that's a beautiful rarity."

~ Mike Flanagan, Filmmaker, Absentia and Oculus

"Natalie Roers' debut novel is both riveting and relevant. More than a paranormal/fantasy/thriller, this is a complex tale that cuts to the very of heart of issues facing young adults today. Well sculptured characters and powerful imagery propel Roers' fascinating narrative."

~ Jason Tinney (Award-winning freelance journalist, musician, actor and the author of the story collection Bluebird.)

"Lucid is an interesting story and a fun read."

~ Amy Carol Reeves, author of Ripper and Renegade

"Natalie Roers' voice is amazingly confident for a first novelist. Her journalist's eye for human detail draws you in, and makes you care about the people who populate the LUCID world. The more I got to know them, both awake and asleep in the world of lucid dreaming, the more time I wanted to spend in their world."

~ Jeff Howard, writer for Film District and Focus Features.

Natalie Roers is a veteran writer, voice artist, and on-air personality. A journalist by trade, Lucid is her first work of fiction. She is busy at work on her second novel and hopes to raise money and social awareness for worthy causes with each book she writes. Natalie plans to donate a portion of every sale of this book to her favorite anti-bullying organizations. She lives with her husband Cory, and son Austin, in Columbia, South Carolina.

jointhelucid.com

http://natasha-r.com/writer/

https://www.facebook.com/natalie.roers?fref=ts

https://www.facebook.com/jointhelucid?fref=ts

http://jointhelucid.com/blog/

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16214486-lucid

You can download this book for only $4.99 this month! That price won't last!

http://www.amazon.com/Natalie-Roers/e/B00CQCCJ0O/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1368395305&sr=8-1

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1115281192?ean=2940016700366

Natalie will award a $10 Amazon or BN.com gift card to one randomly drawn commenter.

A Stop on the Lawrence Weill Tour

noreply@blogger.com (Dan O'Brien) — Wed, 15 May 2013 10:30:00 +0000

Excerpt from Incarnate:

“Mommy?” Louis is crying full steam now.

“Shut up and sit down, Dale!” Lara screams.

“Let up, Mother. Take your foot off the gas! Father says when you’re spinning, you let up!” He is yelling now too. Dale’s Heavenly father is telling her what she needs to know. Divine advice will save them all. She feels a wave of relief. This is why she is being tested, so God Himself can reveal His wondrous ways. Lara removes her foot from the pedal, then presses again, but part of the way this time, and she feels the rear end move with her, pushing against the current. She steers to the right, towards where the road should be, and prays. “Oh, dear God, He’s your son, remember. I’m doing this for you, Lord.” She says it low, to herself, to the voices. The wagon tilts upwards along the edge of the gravel and Lara feels a stab of relief. She presses harder again on the gas pedal, and the wheels catch. She has too much gas on now and the wagon bucks as it sways out of the creek onto gravel, jumping out of the tiny lane and into a brush pile along the side of the road. The engine dies, but Lara doesn’t care. They have made it across. She suppresses her desire to cry in relief.

“Mo-ther!” Dale stretches out the word, accusing her, as if she has done something wrong. Louis whimpers somewhere in the darkness of the back seat.

“Hush up, now, Dale, honey. It’s all okay. You and your Father have saved us.” She tries to sound soothing, but her voice sounds quaky even to herself. “Oh, Honey. This rain is so hard to drive in.”

She turns and looks at Dale, her skinny, crew-cut oldest son. Her vision is blurred with tears. He will change everything, the entire cosmos, and she, well, she is something special too, isn’t she? “Make it stop raining, Dale,” she orders her son. Dale furrows up his eyebrows and stares at her.

“Huh?”

“Make it stop raining, Honey.” She says it so matter-of-fact, it almost sounds like a normal request.

“How?” Dale shrugs at her, looks back into the seat at Louis who has fallen quiet again, then back at her.

“Just tell it to stop raining, Dale.” Lara turns around and turns the key. The engine cranks a few moments, then catches. She backs out of the bush, the car sliding just a little as she brakes in the wet rock, then pulls back into the muddy lane. “Go ahead, Dale. Tell it to stop.” She feels calmer now, and she hears it in her own voice. The voices are quiet again. She wonders what they were going to tell her. She can feel the vibration of her rapid heartbeat.

“Stop it,” Dale whispers. Lara glances over at him. Who is he speaking to, exactly? “Stop it right now,” he says a little louder. She looks out of the corner of her eye. “Stop raining.” He is calm, assured, as he should be. Lara smiles and takes a hand off the wheel and pats his arm as she drives towards the end of the road.

Her heart begins to return to normal.

“Sit back now, Dale. Try to relax.” She pulls up to the highway and turns towards Barkerville. Dale disappears into the darkness. The blacktop is hard to see with the dim headlights, but the rain begins to slow. Lara can’t suppress another smile. By the time she gets to Goodlettsville, the rain has slowed to a tiny drizzle. She and her two precious sons are safe. She leans forward and, looking in the mirror, tries to see the boys in the back, but it is too dark, so she focuses on the road and lets herself think about that first meeting with Frank at college again. Lara begins to hum, “Rain, rain, go away…”

Lawrence Weill is an author and artist in western Kentucky. In addition to novels, he writes short fiction, non-fiction articles and books, and poetry. His work has appeared in a wide range of local, regional, and national journals. He and his wife live in the woods overlooking a beaver pond. Please visit his website: www.lawrenceweill.com

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Book Synopsis for Incarnate:

What should a woman do if she believes she is the mother of the second coming of Christ? This is the problem Lara Joyner faces when she comes to believe, through her visions, through the look on his face, through her cards, and through the thousands of hidden signs she sees in nature, that her son is Christ incarnate.

Incarnate is driven by this woman’s character and readers struggle between wanting to sympathize and knowing she is deeply troubled. In the end, we discover how her delusion turns many worlds upside down, as well as how faith overpowers reason. The story follows Lara and her two sons as she pushes Dale to perform miracles and save humanity. Although obviously unable to do so, he goes through the motions to protect his little brother Louis. Told alternately from Lara’s perspective (in the present tense) and from the other principles in the story, the plot follows the trials brought on by Lara’s spiraling madness, her husband’s desperate search for his family, and the children’s bewilderment and fear.

Stop Criticizing Me!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan O'Brien) — Tue, 14 May 2013 14:00:00 +0000

Stop Criticizing Me!

Richard Stephenson

Okay, we need to talk. Gather round my fellow indies, this is a safe place. A happy place. Relax and take a deep breath. Pull up a chair, some stale coffee is on the back table but the doughnuts are fresh.

Whether you are new to the self-publishing biz like me or have come to accept rejection and criticism like a pro after years or decades of writing, let's be honest with each other - criticism hurts. If you're like me, your writing is a very intimate part of your soul. You open up your very being and put pieces of yourself on the page. In the simplest terms, you make yourself very vulnerable.

I knew going into this whole thing that Collapse would not be everyone's cup of tea. People's tastes are particular. I know my tastes are particular. I'm a huge fan of the TV show Game of Thrones, however, I can't stand the books. I found the first one much too difficult to follow along with the dozens of characters. I tried my best to read it but had to stop about a quarter of the way into it because I just couldn't get into it. Martin is obviously a successful and talented writer, but I'm not a fan.

Do you remember your first negative review? I know I do. The funny thing about it - it was a three-star review. The reviewer was not kind, claiming that my writing style was horrible and that my dystopian thriller was aimed at twelve year olds. Not sure how a book with graphic violence and language, a racist skinhead, and the victim of Richard Dupree's crime was material aimed at twelve year olds. That particular review bothered me a lot. It raised my blood pressure and upset my stomach enough to warrant some pepto. Then another negative review, another three star mind you, came just minutes behind the first one. This review made the claim that Dupree's escape from the courthouse was lifted completely out of Silence of the Lambs. This upset me even more because I couldn't see the parallel at all. Dupree didn't cut someone's face off and wear it as a mask or dress up a corpse in his own clothing to confuse his captors. I chomped on some more pepto tablets and realized I had a serious problem to contend with. If three star reviews bothered me so badly, how on earth was I going to cope with one and two star reviews?

Then I got my first two-star review. My stomach started churning and I could feel my heart pounding. My hand was actually shaking when I clicked the mouse to see what horrible bashing was in store. Was a grown man about to cry?

It didn't bother me in the slightest. In fact, I had nothing but respect for the reviewer's opinion. Collapse was just not his cup of tea. He was expecting a different type of book. He thought the book would be geared more towards survival fiction in the same vein as James Wesley Rawles Patriots. He also wasn't fond of the main characters. I totally get that. To each his own.

As more time has gone by, I've collected seven two-star reviews and four one-star reviews to tarnish my combined fifty-nine four and five star reviews. Most of them didn't bother me at all, they made claims that they didn't enjoy the story or the format of multiple storylines was too confusing. Not a big deal. Two in particular freely admitted that they gave up after a few chapters and stuck me with a one-star review. Really? You read less than 10% of the book and think that your very limited knowledge qualifies you to leave a review? Gimme a break! This is just my own personal gripe, if you think that you can give up on a book very early on and leave a review, that's your right to do so. I just find it to be unfair and in poor taste. If I give up on a book a few chapters in, I simply move on to something else and wouldn't dream of leaving a review.

Over at GoodReads I got two reviews that really offended me. The two reviewers could not separate the storyteller from the story. The first reviewer directly accused me of being anti-Islam. Not the story, not one of the characters, me personally - "The author doesn't seem to like Islam very much..." The other reviewer stated "...the writing of a man that not only has major issues with the current US Government but has little faith in the populous to fix the problem of corruption." Let's be clear, I wrote a piece offiction. Actually, let's take it a step further and point out that I wrote a piece of dystopian fiction. Clearly this reviewer doesn't understand the definition of dystopian. Let's take one final step further and point out that I actually workfor the US government in my full-time job.

On the last page of Collapse, I included a list of contact information so that readers could interact with me via Twitter, Facebook, this blog, and by email. I understood that this decision would expose me to both glowing praise and harsh criticism. A gentlemen sent me an email all but condemning me to hell for the offensive language in the book and was shocked that I let my wife read it. (I'm guessing he believes that a woman's delicate sensibilities couldn't handle an F-bomb.)

Did I write this blog post to garner your sympathy? Am I fishing for your complements to boost my ego? Not at all, far from it. Well then, Mr. Stephenson, what is your point you may ask? I hope that by sharing my experience that other indies will learn the simple fact that you are going to get a lot of negative criticism. That fact might be obvious to everyone, you might even be waiting on your first negative review at this very moment confident in the fact that you are prepared for it. I thought I was prepared and ready, but I was not ready for criticism that just defied logic and reason. I was prepared for criticism about a great many things. Towards the end of the book I wrote a love scene that I knew would offend some people, I was prepared for that. I wrote several scenes containing graphic violence that I knew would offend some, I was prepared for that as well. Some portions of the book might lead you to believe I'm a hardcore liberal that hates conservatives and wishes to offend them (I'm not, by the way). Much of Collapse requires the reader to suspend belief as a lot of fiction does, I was prepared for people to not being able to make that leap.

What I was not prepared for was criticism that, in my opinion, came out of left field and just flat confused me. I had to fight the urge to leave comments on those reviews and engage the reviewer in debate, explaining my side of things and hopefully change their mind. I decided against it because in my experience, once someone has made up their mind about something, it is often an exercise in futility to make them agree with you. It often makes the situation far worse and in my opinion, is just not worth the time.

My advice, prepare yourself for anything. Get ready for criticism of all types -constructive criticism that is tactful and polite, criticism that makes you ask yourself "Did this person actually read my book?" Be ready for criticism that is harsh, rude, offensive, and even says your writing style is terrible.

Even better, if you can resist the temptation, don't even click on the ones and twos. ;)

Sleep Stalker by Patrick Royal

noreply@blogger.com (Dan O'Brien) — Tue, 14 May 2013 10:30:00 +0000

Sleep Stalker

Patrick Royal

Blurb:

Sleep Stalker takes you into the lives of a group of people that are experiencing nightmares; however, they are a bit more than just bad dreams. After numerous reports of an outbreak of nightmares, unexplainable deaths begin to occur. Then three decades later, it happens again. There is speculation that the deaths are at the hands of a demon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Excerpt:

In Hobart, Indiana, Joshua Fairchild awakened and sliced the air with a blood-curdling scream. Sitting up in bed with wide eyes and beads of sweat blanketing his forehead, he stared blankly as his dream quickly left him.

Joshua’s mom, Margret, pushed his bedroom door inward, and rushed inside. “Joshua,” she said panting, “Was that you screaming? Are you having another nightmare?”

“Yeah, I guess so. I don’t remember any of it, except for a cawing crow.” He took a deep breath, looked down, and stared at the lime green stripes on his sheets.

“You nearly gave me a heart attack,” his mom said with her hand on her chest. “I told you watching those monster movies wasn’t good for you.” She took her own deep breath. “Well, it’s time to get up if you’re going to make the parade.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot today was the Fourth of July.” He smiled and pumped his fist. “Oh, boy! I love the parade.”

“Get a move on so we can get a good spot. It’s already a little after nine,” his mom said. When she left she closed the door behind her.

Joshua didn’t waste any time getting dressed and meeting his mom outside by the station wagon, not only a station wagon, but a 1957 Ford station wagon; a hand-me-down to his mom from her father.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Patrick Royal is a family man. Born in Virginia, raised in Northwest Indiana, and he and his wife Lynette have resided in Western Kentucky for seven years. An avid watcher of Horror movies and reader of Stephen King. He's inspired to use the gift God gave him to chill his readers. He is also the author of Novels "Jacobs Closet," and "Sleep Stalker."

FACEBOOK:

https://www.facebook.com/#!/HorrorAuthor.RoyPatten

MY WEB SITE:

http://roypatten.webs.com

TWITTER:

https://twitter.com/patrickroyal46

PINTEREST:

http://pinterest.com/patrickroyal

AUTHORSDEN:

http://www.authorsden.com/patrickroyal

BUY SITES:

www.wildchildpublishing.com

www.amazon.com

www.barnesandnoble.com

www.kobo.com

Full Court Press: Chasing the Gold Medal Since 1992 Part I

noreply@blogger.com (Dan O'Brien) — Mon, 13 May 2013 18:14:00 +0000

(An important note: standard deviations and effect size were purposely left out of the reporting of the statistics for ease of reading)

An Overview

When the conversation began to build and people started to take sides, I decided that I wanted to investigate the 1992 Olympic Men’s Basketball team, affectionately known as the Dream Team, and see if I could come to some kind of statistical conclusion about whether or not the 2012 team stacked-up in a head-to-head contest.

The conclusions that I will draw will say nothing of what would happen, since we do not have a time machine (at least I do not) and as such we cannot see what would actually happen if the squad in 2012 met the 1992 version of the Hall of Fame members of the Dream Team.

Instead, my goal is to look at the statistics of the game, the numbers that are used to generate fantasy leagues and talk about the hierarchy of all-time greats with a standardized precision. I will utilize the statistics from Basketball-Reference.com, which is a database of extensive statistics that are wonderfully robust for the time periods I am investigating.

I will use statistical tests to compare the two teams as a whole, and as well a position-by-position analysis. For the sake of an objective analysis, I will not be taking into account the career statistics or career accolades of the much-lauded 1992 Olympic Team. Also, I will be omitting the statistics of rookie Anthony Davis from the 2012 team (because he does not have professional basketball numbers) in addition to Christian Laettner of the 1992 team, for the same reason. I will be using statistics from the year immediately preceding the Olympics games for all of the players included in the analysis, with the notable exception of Magic Johnson. I will use his career numbers, as 1991-1992 averages were not available. I had, briefly, considered using his 1990-1991 numbers, but they would be many months removed and felt that the career numbers were a more conservative estimate of his numbers (as his career numbers reflect comparatively) and a better representation of his contribution at the time.

The teams will be evaluated on a variety of variables. I will not take into account point differentials during Olympics wins because of the difficulty presented in comparing the other national teams. The PER rating (the per minute efficiency rating of a player) as well as true shooting percentage will be used in conjunction with a variety of statistics (averages over the year leading up to the Olympic games) taken from Basketball-Reference.com: points per game, assists per game, rebounds per game, steals per game, blocks per game, free throw percentage, field goal percentage, offensive rebounds per game, defensive rebounds per game, three-point field goal percentage, and defensive rating. I will break down the comparisons in the following three ways: team, front court, and back court.

What will follow will be a statistical analysis of the Olympic squads from the Dream Team forward. While statistics do not reveal everything, there is something to be said about an objective, comparative analysis in the only way that is possible: statistics. The intangibles of the game are what make watching it so great. This is an exercise in combining two great loves: statistics and basketball.

What Does It All Mean

For many of the readers, I imagine statistics are simply that awful word-based math you had to sit through during school. Perhaps mentioning statistics conjures the famous Mark Twain quote: "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics." For the sake of this analysis (and subsequent analysis), I will be using group comparisons. I had contemplated the variety of ways with which I could talk about the data and the most pertinent was using each Olympic year as its own group and drawing conclusions from there.

What we are interested in when considering group comparisons is whether or not a group is distinguishable from another group in a statistically significant way. This is to say that if there were no labels that we would be able to say one group was larger or smaller than another group in a meaningful way and not just due to chance. So when I talk about the mean values (the averages) of any particular statistic, I will be sure to differentiate purely numerical differences and statistical differences.

Since I know that statistical analysis is about as interesting as pulling teeth for most fans, I will try and rephrase everything in more palatable terms. Much of what we love about fantasy sports is due to statistics. I love using statistics to examine basketball because it allows me a unique perspective into the game that is often only afforded to basketball-operations types.

The first step when considering so many variables and groups is to perform a multivariate analysis of the data. There are multiple dependent variables and we want to guard against statistical errors, so performing due diligence toward that end did indeed yield a significant multivariate effect at the p < .001 level. This means something and nothing all at once.

Take a breath.

What this means is very simple: there are differences between the Olympic teams and that difference is statistically significant. The reason why it doesn't tell us much is that teams are different and how they are different is not revealed in a multivariate analysis; instead, we know to look further and we shall. In addition to a multivariate analysis, I was curious whether or not there were factors that hung together when considering teams that won a gold medal since the 1992 Dream Team.

A factor analysis, in the simplest terms possible, is an attempt to understand how variables hang together. So when I say that the top three factors account for 67.37 of the variance, I am certain that means very little. The number goes over 80 percent when including two more, much smaller, factors.

So the first factor is comprised of the following: RPG, BPG, ORPG, DRPG, HGT, WGT (38.940%). This looks a lot like a defensive statistic, which would work well to describe a power forward or center. The second factor is comprised of these variables: PER, OFFRAT, PPG (16.384%). I would venture to say this factor is very much a scoring statistic, which might fit very well with a shooting guard or small forward. The final factor was comprised of these: TSPER, FGPER, USAGEPER (12.046%). This looks suspiciously like a leadership statistic that would fit well with a point guard (or the newly minted point forward).

What the deuce does that mean? Nothing, really. For a statistician such as myself, I might be inclined to take my analysis further utilizing these new categories, but I won't. For the casual basketball fan, it means that there are definitely three factors to a great team: defense, offense, and leadership.

Alright, enough with the explanations.

Let's get to the statistics.

Age

The mean ages (in years) for the Olympic teams were as follows: 1992 (29.64), 1996 (29.58), 2000 (30.83), 2004 (23.82), 2008 (25.92), and 2012 (26.36). There was a significant difference in mean age, F(5,63) = 7.48, p < .001. There were also linear (p < .001) and cubic (p = .07) trends, which would suggest a gradual decrease in age over time punctuated by a stark decrease in 2004 (the only year since 1992 that the US did not win a gold medal).

How were they different?

The 1992, 2004, 2008, and 2012 teams all had significantly lower ages than the 2000 team. What about the question of whether or not the 2012 team was younger than the 1992 team. Numerically, this is true. However, there was no statistical difference in age between these two teams. This, in plain terms, means that we cannot be certain that the difference in the ages is not due to chance.

Steals

Steals might seem like an insignificant statistic when considering the whole of a team, but there is something to be said about how defensive pressure impacts the game. The means for each Olympic year were as follows: 1992 (1.86), 1996 (1.58), 2000 (1.14), 2004 (1.42), 2008 (1.38), and 2012 (1.36). The only significant difference was between the 1992 team (which had the highest average steals) and the 2000 team (which had the lowest average steals). There was also a significant linear trend (p = .040), which would seem to imply a steady decrease in average steals since 1992.

Defensive Rebounds

Unfortunately, there was no real difference in defensive rebounds between the different Olympic teams. Based on the scale of the graph you might be inclined to think otherwise, but there was nothing significant about the different years. For numerical sake (because we know I love numbers), here are the average means for each year: 1992 (6.23), 1996 (5.47), 2000 (4.96), 2004 (5.33), 2008 (5.27), and 2012 (5.11).

Blocks

Another defensive statistic that certainly looks like it decreased over time. While there were no significant differences between groups, there was indeed a significant linear trend (p = .037) that would certainly suggest a decrease in average shots blocked from 1992 through 2012. To better visualize the data, the means were as follows: 1992 (1.26), 1996 (1.03), 2000 (.96), 2004 (.86), 2008 (.64), and 2012 (.54).

Free Throw Percentage

The graph would seem to suggest that there is a polynomial trend at work here, but that is not the case. There were not significant differences between Olympic teams. However, because I know how much you love numbers, here are the averages by year: 1992 (79.5%), 1996 (74.8%), 2000 (77.9%), 2004 (75.2%), 2008 (77.7%), and 2012 (79.8%)

Defensive Rating

The Defensive Rating statistic is based on how many points were allowed per 100 possessions (The lower the number, the better the defense.) There were not significant differences between any particular teams, but there was a 4th order trend (p = .023) that would seem to suggest that at least teams were different enough from the predicted trend that they stood out (1992, 2004, and 2012). However, this does not tell us anything about how the teams are different from each other, only how they are different from an overall trend moving from 1992 until 2012. Moving from oldest to most recent, the average defensive rating by year was: 1992 (102.55), 1996 (103.92), 2000 (103.50), 2004 (101.18), 2008 (106.00), and 2012 (102.91).

Field Goal Percentage

Field Goal percentage is how many shots were made relative to how many shots were taken. (This number excludes free throw percentage.) While there were no differences between the different Olympic teams, a quadratic trend was observed (p = .023) that shows a clear drop-off during the 2004 Olympics. It should be noted (again) that the 2004 team was the only team since 1992 not to win a gold medal. The averages by year were: 1992 (51.3%), 1996 (50.0%), 2000 (46.6%), 2004 (45.4%), 2008 (48.5%), and 2012 (48.2%).

Usage Percentage

Usage percentage is an estimate of the percentage of team plays used by a player while he was on the floor. The graph would suggest much more is in play than the statistics reveal: there was nether an overall trend nor any differences between the groups. It is interesting to consider the averages from each team: 1992 (25.7%), 1996 (26.8%), 2000 (25.0%), 2004 (26.4%), 2008 (26.7 %), and 2012 (27.0%).

Height

Once again (thanks to the scale) there appears to be an overall trend of a small line-up, but there was neither a trend nor group differences to support that hypothesis. The means would suggest incremental differences (hence the lack of significance): 1992 (79.73), 1996 (79.75), 2000 (78.83), 2004 (78.91), 2008 (78.50), and 2012 (78.46).

Offensive Rating

Offensive rating is the points produced per 100 possessions. There were indeed significant differences between the Olympic teams, F(5,63) = 5.54, p < .001. The 2004 team (109.17) had a significantly lower offensive rating than the 1992 team (117.27), the 1996 team (115.92), and the 2008 team (113.50). The 2000 team (109.17) and the 2012 team (111.09) were not different from any other group. There was as well a linear (p = .014) and quadratic (p = .002) trend, which would suggest a gradual decrease in offensive rating as well a dramatic dip in 2004.

Weight

Yet another statistic that was not meaningful in terms of helping us differentiate between teams. The averages (in pounds) are pretty close: 1992 (217.91), 1996 (224.75), 2000 (209.75), 2004 (221.82), 2008 (219.42), and 2012 (216.27).

True Shooting Percentage

True shooting percentage is a measure of shooting efficiency that takes into account field goals, 3-point field goals, and free throws. There was indeed a difference in Olympic teams, F(5, 63) 4.895 , p = .001. The 2004 Olympic team (52.4%) was significantly lower than the 1992 team (58.2%), the 1996 team (58.2%), and the 2012 team (58.1%). The 2000 team (54.4%) and the 2008 (56.6%) were not significantly different from any other team. There was as well a quadratic trend (p < .001), which would seem to suggest a subtle drop-off in shooting efficiency in 2004.

Points Per Game

While the graph of PPG (Points Per Game) looks like there is something going on, I can assure you that there is nothing of statistical significance. The average points per game by Olympic year are as follows: 1992 (23.23), 1996 (22.21), 2000 (19.58), 2004 (19.79), 2008 (21.61), and 2012 (21.50).

PER (Player Efficiency Rating)

John Hollinger created the PER statistic that he described as thus: "The PER sums up all a player's positive accomplishments, subtracts the negative accomplishments, and returns a per-minute rating of a player's performance." There was a statistical difference between Olympic years, F(5,63) = 2.901, p = .020. However, follow-up tests yielded no difference between individual groups. The means are as follows: 1992 (23.71), 1996 (23.28), 2000 (19.96), 2004 (19.76), 2008 (22.06), and 2012 (22.99). There was a quadratic trend as well ( p = .003) that would suggest a lull during the 2000 and 2004 teams in terms of efficiency ratings of the roster.

Assists

The Olympic teams were not significantly different from each other in terms of average assists per game. The averages for each year were as follows: 1992 (6.07), 1996 (5.18), 2000 (4.43), 2004 (4.18), 2008 (5.72), and 2012 (4.84)

Total Rebounds

Sadly, total rebounds per game lacked a significant result as well. The averages were: 1992 (8.37), 1996 (7.42), 2000 (6.79), 2004 (7.27), 2008 (6.90), and 2012 (6.56).

Offensive Rebounds

It should come as no surprise that offensive rebounds lacked significant findings as well. The averages were as follows: 1992 (2.16), 1996 (1.96), 2000 (1.83), 2004 (1.96), 2008 (1.62), and 2012 (1.48).

Conclusions

Making sweeping conclusions about statistical data is part of the fun for me. Basketball is a team sport where one individual can dramatically change the course of a game. An Olympic team is, in theory, comprised of the best players at a given time. The only team that was significantly different than any other year was the 2004 team, which was the only team since 1992 to not win a gold medal.

Does that mean we can say that the other teams are better?

Not necessarily.

All we can really say is that the other teams were more similar to one another (teams that won a gold medal) than they were different from the 2004 bronze-medal winning team. I imagine that is slightly anti-climatic. The reality is that looking at averages of all positions created a homogenized sample. What I will do next is look at the team position by position and see if I can find any differences that would illuminate one team as distinct from another.

Stay tuned, sports fans.

Other basketball articles:

http://thedanobrienproject.blogspot.com/2013/03/something-is-cooking-in-denver.html

http://thedanobrienproject.blogspot.com/2013/02/crowned-beginning-of-lebrons-legacy.html

http://thedanobrienproject.blogspot.com/2012/06/pulling-on-supermans-cape-brief.html

Eyes Ever to the Sky and How to Quiet the Lies

noreply@blogger.com (Dan O'Brien) — Mon, 13 May 2013 13:00:00 +0000

How to Quiet the Lies (Or, let’s make Dr. Phil proud)

Katie French

Before I had children, I watched A LOT of Dr.Phil. "Now Katie," you are likely thinking, "this post should be about writing and not about your most embarrassing personal escapades." Yes, dear reader, you are right. I state this point about my previous love for Dr. Phil not just to embarrass myself, but to use it as an illustration One thing I love about Dr. Phil (besides his folksy sayings and shiny head) is that he helps audiences identify hidden negative thoughts they are thinking about themselves. Then he helps to squash them like a Texas chigger. As a school counselor, I use this a lot with my students, but I also use it a lot in my writing. There is no other activity where I have more negative thoughts than when I am conjuring up new worlds. I think I am not alone, though if I am solo in this cold and lonely place at least Dr. Phil is with me. (Imagine his thick mustache for a moment. Ah, yes.)

Here are some of the most common negative thoughts in no particular order.

Lie One - "I have to be inspired to write."

The Fear - "I will sit down to the computer and realize I have nothing to say. Furthermore, I will realize I actually am a dolt with a Twizzlers for a brain. I should probably give up and focus on my Words with Friends game."

The Solution - Begin by telling yourself that it is okay not to feel inspired to write, but make yourself do it anyway. Tell yourself it is okay if everything you write sounds terrible. I'd say it's okay if all you write is "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." (However, if you have any inklings towards buying an ax, seek professional help.) The very act of sitting down in front of a computer can kick your brain into writer mode. You'll be surprised at how the inspiration finds you right there on the page.

Lie Two - "If I write, it will be terrible and there will be no fixing it."

The Fear - "Any material that I produce will be drivel. My writing will be crap and no matter how many times you sculpt a cow pattie it'll never be Michelangelo's David (tiny pee pee and all).

The Solution - Pounding out a crummy first draft is the only way to start. No one writes a perfect first draft, not even the greats. As Raymond Chandler once said, "“Throw up into your typewriter every morning. Clean up every noon.” And as Ernest Hemingway so eloquently put it, "The first draft of anything is shit." So, either way you've got a lot of puking or pooping to do before you lay a golden egg.

Lie Three - "I'll focus on building my platform first. I need to have lots of followers so that when I actually write my book, I'll have people to buy it."

The Fear - Sitting down to do the hard work. What's more fun: dredging your soul or chatting on Twitter?

The Solution - Forget about platform, at least for now. You'll need to connect with readers at some point and you'll want a landing spot where readers can find you, but the work. THE WORK, is what will sustain you and keep those readers coming back for more. Don't let your brain fool you into taking the easy way out. Write first, platform second.

There you have it, little Phil-inites, three big lies we writers tell ourselves. The sooner you can squash them, the sooner you'll be on your merry, writing way. What about you? What are some lies you tell yourself when you sit down to write?

Katie French is the author of The Breeders, a Young Adult dystopian adventure, and Nessa: A Breeders Story, a prequel novelette both available on Amazon. Her sci fi romance, Eyes Ever to the Sky, released May 13th.You can find her on her website, or like her on Facebook or Twitter.

When Hugh wakes up in a smoldering crater–no memory, no clothes–a single thought echoes in his head…trust no one. Frightened and alone, with no memory of who he is, he stumbles upon a grisly murder scene and is shot by police. He wakes, only to find he can heal himself. He has superpowers and he’s going to need them.

Desperate and bleeding, Hugh stumbles upon fifteen-year-old Cece, who’s got enough troubles of her own. Between caring for her bipolar, out-of-work mother and trying not to get evicted from her run-down trailer, Cece may be the only person struggling as much as Hugh. Drawn to Hugh, Cece finds herself falling for him. But when the real killer–a man-hunting beast–chooses another victim, Hugh and Cece realize they must unlock the clues to their past if they have any chance at a future.

Angel of Syn by Mertianna Georgia

noreply@blogger.com (Dan O'Brien) — Mon, 13 May 2013 10:30:00 +0000

Angel of Syn

Mertianna Georgia

Blurb:

Contemporary witch Cara Augustine goes international and inter-dimensional, from San Francisco to France to an alternate Eden-like dimension, in this second book of the Synemancer series.

Cara is a fugitive, pursued by the Portalkind police for breaking a major covenant. When she accidently made a werewolf her witch’s familiar, it amounted to enslaving a human. And the punishment is death. On the run for her life, she and her companions stumble into a strange paradise dimension. But they quickly find the dangerous world is filled with strange creatures, deadly and beautiful. And, because she’s quickly learning a Synemancer’s life is never simple. Cara has to deal with an amorous Nephilim (half-angel half-witch), a dangerously deranged French werewolf, and the darkly handsome Nightkind she just might love. Each powerful supernatural man has his own reasons for wanting to possess Cara, body and soul. But if the Portalkind police catch her, she’ll be in a fight for her life.

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Excerpt:

The nape of my neck tingled with the familiar sensation of being stalked. I glanced over my shoulder to see my bodyguard, Azrael. He was named after the angel of death, but he was no angel—in any sense of the word. I used to think it was a nickname. It wasn’t. We were both witches, but he came with specialized security training. He watched me from his favorite indoor spot halfway up the stairs to the second story of our Berkeley hills house. His sky blue eyes stared at me hungrily.That stare reminded me of a hawk watching a tasty mouse. Irritated, I took a last bite from my nearly finished apple, turned, and threw the core at him with deadly precision. I’d been practicing using non-magical self-defense skills. My magic skills were unreliable to say the least.The apple core flew between the wooden posts directly at his beautiful face. He deftly caught it in a blur of motion, put it up to his nose, inhaled deeply, and slowly licked the apple. His eyes never left me.

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Mertianna currently lives with her husband, son, and three dogs in Northern California. At a young age, while traveling the globe with her military family, she discovered the joys of reading. Armed with a fascination for science fiction, the paranormal, and fantasy, she amused, shocked, and impressed her teachers with her imaginative stories.

As an adult, reality reared its boring head, and she joined the business workforce. After many years working as a professional manager while secretly wishing she was a writer, she took a detour from the corporate world to immerse herself in the fictional worlds of her own making.

Mertianna has accumulated multiple graduate degrees in business and survived years of doctoral studies in psychology, all of which undoubtedly has influenced how her characters behave or don’t behave as the case may be.

Amazon Print:

http://www.amazon.com/Angel-Syn-Mertianna-Georgia/dp/1610261186/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1359358824&sr=1-1

Amazon Ebook:

http://www.amazon.com/Angel-Syn-Synemancer-Series-ebook/dp/B00B5EGYA0/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1359358824&sr=1-1

ImaJinn Books:

http://www.imajinnbooks.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=IB&Product_Code=AOS-DLD.pdf&Category_Code=NR

Mertianna will be awarding a canvas tote bag printed with the book cover on one side and a saying on the other("Are you a syn-er?"), and filled with goodies plus a $20 Amazon gift card to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour (US ONLY).