Tuesday, December 5, 2017

Did you vote in the 2017 Goodreads Choice Awards.  I did.  In case you have been wondering who and what won, click Goodreads Choice Awards 2017.  Have to say I haven't read any of them but I may have to check some out. 

Wednesday, November 22, 2017

I have 2 reviews to write and 2 books to read for review but I wanted to stop by and tell everyone: 

Tuesday, October 31, 2017

I have been so busy getting my craft business at an antique/craft mall going that I have only read two books this month.  I know it is shameful but crafts=money so what can I say?  Anyway I wanted to stop in and say:

Wednesday, October 18, 2017

This is an older interview with Lincoln Child and Douglas Preston, 2 of my absolute favorite authors.  I found it on their website.  Check it out if you are a fan or if you are interested in new authors to read.  Even though the interview is a few years old they answer a lot of interesting questions.



Friday, September 8, 2017

AAAACCCCKKKKK!  Life is very busy around here right now.  I am watching my 3 year old great-nephew, making craft items for my store, Fun Funky n Cool Creations, and making swag for my sister because she will be publishing her first book soon.  She will have a table at Penned Con 2017.  Her name is Debbie Browdy and I am so proud of her.

The 3 year old is her grandson and he was my assistant today working on her swag.

Tuesday, July 25, 2017

Bumps In the Road
by author Lois D. Brown

Bumps in the road. Everyone has them. One of my “bumps” turned into my first novel ever— The Saros Curse
In 2009-ish I was diagnosed with having Simple Partial Seizures. These kinds of seizures don’t affect motor skills, but they can affect all five of your senses. In addition they caused me to have MASSIVE déjà vu where time slowed to a crawl and everything around me faded in and out (not to mention my muffled hearing, a metallic taste, and the bright lights). Yeah . . . it was weird.
The diagnosis left me feeling low. It meant medication (probably for life) and the memory loss I’d experienced was permanent. After getting a bunch of tests at the hospital, I went to bed thinking about my situation. That night I had the most vivid dream. It was about a teenage girl who had these frightening feelings of having already experienced things before . . . but in another lifetime.
I woke up and knew I was going to write a book. A novel. For me, that was something new. I had been a journalist and non-fiction ghost author for twenty years. I had always told myself that fiction was out of my league.
Writing the book The Saros Curse  was therapy for me. Sure, the story is fake. Sure, things that happen in the book aren’t real, but in a weird way it helped me come to terms with my own “bump” in the road and move on. Better yet, I learned I LOVED writing fiction. Twenty years of being afraid of writing a novel were gone.
I don’t mean to turn this into a sermon, but if you’re going through a hard time, do what you can to embrace the challenge. For everyone that is something different. For me, it was writing a book.

Lois has kindly offered my readers a free short story:   Death in the Air.  Just click the link.

Where you can follow Lois:
Amazon

Where you can find her books:
Lois D. Brown

Saturday, July 22, 2017

Did you know the Japanese word tsundoku means:

ie:  Mount TBR

I found this out from J.A. Andrews newsletter.

Friday, July 21, 2017

I have news.  My friend Danielle Bannister, author (she has been featured in 2016 here with an awesome article on the cost of publishing books) and author Amy Miles have co-authored a book:  Netherworld, Book 1 of the Hallowed Realms Trilogy in the Fantasy/Mythology genre.  She shared with me the cover reveal that was released on 7/11.


Here is a Blurb:

Taryn
Flatline. The moment when one life ends and the next begins. That’s my cue. And I hate it. Being a banshee is a right pain in the arse. When I’m not ferrying manky old blokes or mental cat ladies through the veil between Earth and Netherworld, I’m training in secret for a war our King denies is coming. But I know better. An army of Lorcan monsters stands ready to breach the walls. If they succeed, the destruction they seek will not be contained to just our world, but to the human world beyond. My only hope is to rely on the aid of a cocky prince with his own agenda. But after a human man captures my interest, will I be able to accept the terms of the prince’s aid?


Devlin
Our paths were never meant to cross. I’m meant to live my human life, unaware of the world that exists beyond the veil. I know about death, sure. My own sister’s life hangs in the balance, holding my own happiness with it. But when Taryn and I collide, my world flips upside down. Nothing makes sense anymore. There are things I shouldn’t be able to see but now can’t escape from. Logic tells me to run as far as I can from Taryn and the horrors of her world but my heart screams at me to follow her to the literal ends of the earth. Even if it means my own damnation. 

Pre-order at ibooks
more venues will be coming soon.


Wednesday, July 12, 2017

AUTHOR OF THE DAY

AMY SOJAI


  Amy Shojai, CABC calls herself an "accidental writer" because she took a detour on her way to Broadway and stayed to write books. She earned a double-major in music and theater performance, and sings, plays piano and cello, as well as composing/producing musical comedy plays. 

Amy is a certified animal behavior consultant (for dogs and cats) and a former vet tech. All of these topics inform Amy's "pet-centric Thrillers With Bite!" She is also the award-winning author of more than 30 nonfiction pet care books, and has appeared frequently in the media as a pet care expert, including Animal planet. 

Once Amy accepted the commute from her mid-west home to New York theater was outside her gas budget, writing became her creative outlet. She fell in love with advocating for pets through her articles, blogs and books, and co-founded the Cat Writers Association in 1992 (catwriters.com). She's also a member of the Dog Writers Association of America, International Thriller Writers, Sisters in Crime, and an honorary life member/past president of Oklahoma Writers Federation. 

Today, Amy lives in North Texas with an 11-year-old wise-ass German Shepherd, a delinquent four-year-old tabby cat, and a 21-year-old Siamese wannabe who rules the whole house.

In her spare time, Amy volunteers with local school programs and community theaters teaching young thespians, as well as offering professional cat and dog behavior consults to help solve "pet peeves." Oh...and she loves bling, especially pet-theme jewelry, hence the name of her blog, BLING, BITCHES & BLOOD.

Amy's critically acclaimed September & Shadow Thriller Series, set in North Texas, are high-octane domestic thrillers praised by James Rollins, J.T. Ellison. Jon Land and others. They feature an animal behaviorist who plays cello on the side, and her German Shepherd service dog (he has his own viewpoint chapters!) as well as a trained Maine Coon cat. Of course, her "furry muses" keep her honest and on track writing both fiction and nonfiction that empowers pet lovers with life saving info-tainment.




Learn more about Amy:
Facebook
Twitter
Blog

Amy Sojai, CABC (certified Animal Behavior Consultant)

Where to get Amy's books:
Amazon
Bling, Bitches and Blood - her blog
Bookbub




Friday, April 14, 2017

Just for fun here is a quiz "How Well do you know your Synonyms?"   Here is the link:  Synonym



Tuesday, March 28, 2017

AUTHOR OF THE DAY:

ROBERT EGGLETON



Robert Eggleton has served as a children's advocate in an impoverished state for over forty years. He is best known for his investigative reports about children’s programs, most of which were published by the West Virginia Supreme Court where he worked from 1982 through 1997, and which also included publication of models of serving disadvantaged and homeless children in the community instead of in large institutions, research into foster care drift involving children bouncing from one home to the next -- never finding a permanent loving family, and statistical reports on the occurrence and correlates of child abuse and delinquency. 

Since winning the eighth grade short story competition, he has aspired to become a rich and famous author. Always inspired by pursuits of remedies for the most needful, except for a few poems that were published over the years, fiction took a backseat. In 2002, Robert accepted a job at a local community-based mental health center. The program where he worked served kids with serious mental health problems, many of whom had been traumatized by child abuse, parental abandonment, rape…. For the first time in his career, his job description did not include the production of written material. The heartfelt need to write began to build until one day something almost magical happened. 

In 2006, Robert met the role model for his protagonist during a group psychotherapy session that he was facilitating. She sat around a table used for written therapeutic exercises – a skinny eleven year old girl with stringy brown hair. Instead of just disclosing her abuse by one of the meanest daddies on Earth, she spoke of her hopes and dreams for the future, finding a loving family that would protect her. Robert named her Lacy Dawn, the origin of the Lacy Dawn Adventures project.        

After fifty-two years of contributions into the U.S. Social Security fund, Robert retired in 2015 to write and promote his fiction. Three short Lacy Dawn Adventures have been published by magazines: Wingspan QuarterlyBeyond Centauri, and Atomjack Science Fiction Magazine. Rarity from the Hollow is his debut novelThe Advance Review Copy was named one of the best books of 2015 along side of Revival by Stephen King and The Martian by Andy Weir.  It was also awarded Gold Medals by two prominent book review organizations. On December 5, 2016, the final edition of Rarity from the Hollow was released to AnazibAuthor proceeds have been donated to a child abuse prevention program operated by Children’s Home Society of West Virginia. http://www.childhswv.org/  




Robert continues to write fiction with new adventures based on a protagonist that is a composite character of children that he met when delivering group therapy services. The overall theme of his stories remains victimization to empowerment. So far, most of his work has been literary genre benders with a speculative or science fiction backdrop. His next major project is titled, Ivy – an almost forgotten Appalachian town and the headquarters of an alien invasion of Earth. Of course, satiric social commentary is written into the story.   

Purchase links:

Dog Horn Publishing
Weightless Books

Author Contacts:

Lacy Dawn Adventures
Goodreads
Lacy Dawn Adventures on Facebook
Twitter
Google +
Linkedin


PS from me, Diane, I read both the first and the second editions of Rarity From the Hollow.  I enjoyed the second much more than the first.  Here is my review of the second on Goodreads, Rarity From the Hollow  The picture though is the first. 

Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Scott Bury who was featured as an "Author of the Day" 1/2/17 is having a launch party on facebook for the last book in his WWII Trilogy - Walking Out of War - Check it out here Launch Party 5p - 9p EST Scott Bury

You can get the first book in the series:  The Army of Worn Soles on Amazon - free Kindle version


Tuesday, February 14, 2017

I love some of the articles at Bustle.  Today I found one by Maddy Foley regarding George Orwell's 1984.  In this article she points out quotes in the book that was published in 1949 that are relevant today.

Check out the article here.  I noticed that the first link that says: "1984 quotes that are horrifyingly relevant in 2017" goes to a site that only shows where Kellyanne Conway used one.  If you scroll down the article on Bustle you will find all of them.

You can get the Dystopian novel 1984 on Amazon (Kindle edition) or Amazon.com (HB or PB) if you haven't read it yet.


Sunday, February 12, 2017

AUTHOR OF THE DAY

Rickie Blair


Given that I conjure up stories about murder and mayhem every day, you might think my own life is quite exciting. You’d be wrong. When I’m not hunched over my computer, I’m either struggling with my half-acre garden, discouraging my dog from chasing my cats (she means well!), or thinking about what to have for dinner. (I do that a lot.)  

I love to travel, though, and many of my favorite destinations are right here in Canada—from the soaring bank towers of Toronto to the open Prairiesand the snow-capped Rockies to the cobbled streets of old Quebec City. As a financial journalist, I lived in three provinces and traveled across the country. Now I live in southern Ontario, near the shores of Lake Ontario and not far from Niagara Falls. (Surprisingly, I’ve ended up just a few miles from my childhood home.)  

Later this year, I’m travelling with friends to India, which has been a lifelong dream of mine. We’ll see the Taj Mahal, take a boat trip on the Ganges, and look for tigers in Ranthambore National Park. I’m beyond excited! 

I’ve been writing stories since I was a child, but I started writing fiction seriously a few years ago, when I began a series of financial thrillers. My Ruby Danger stories are based on real-life cases of fraud and larceny. Ruby’s a troubled young actress with a heart of gold and Hari’s a math genius who’s crazy about her. The stories have darker elements, but I had real fun with the characters.  

Then I turned to cozy mysteries, which are much more fun!  

The protagonist in my Leafy Hollow Mysteries, Verity Hawkes, travels to the deceptively idyllic Canadian village of Leafy Hollow to search for her missing aunt and blunders into a murder mystery. An Amazon reviewer says it has “quirky characters and clever plot twists.” I hope she’s right, but you’ll have to judge for yourself! 

Where to find out more:

Facebook
Amazon author page and her books

This is a postscript from me:  I've read 2 of Rickie's  mysteries and they are fantastic.  You can see my reviews of recently From Garden to Grave and early last year, I think, Dangerous Allies.  You can find my reviews on my the Mystery/Psychological thrillers page

Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Danielle Bannister's Doppelganger was released yesterday.  Here is an excerpt and if you head over to her facebook page Bannister books she is having a giveaway.


Description
Julie Green was not having a midlife crisis.
Her move across the country from sunny LA to the unsuspecting town of Bucksville, New Hampshire, was not about her being up to her eyeballs in fake people and even faker tits. It was not about hating her job as a temp and it most definitely did not have anything to do with her ex-boyfriend or his wife getting pregnant with kid number three.
No, this move was going to be her chance for a ‘do over.’ A quiet life in a quiet town.
Or, at least, that was the plan.
A case of mistaken identity thrusts her into the public eye, tossing her into a world of flashbulbs and shadows. Not the ideal situation to me her potential Mr. Right, but her newest temporary gig was unlike any she’d ever held. The chance of a lifetime…Will it get to be too much, forcing her to cut and run-or will she find out that love stories aren’t just for the silver screen?

Excerpt
I was not having a mid-life crisis no matter what my friends might have said when they found out I’d left. The decision to pack up and leave everything behind wasn’t irrational. It was going to be the most logical thing I had ever done, in theory.
Everyone has a breaking point, and I had reached mine. Enough was enough. I was done. Done with the commute…done with the smog…done with the crowds. Done with fake people and the even faker tits that basked in the LA sun and I was most definitely done with my former boyfriend, Anthony, and his perfect wife getting pregnant with kid number three.
There it was; the straw that broke the camel’s back.
So, I left. It felt good, too. For once in my life, I was taking charge of my own destiny. At least, that’s what I kept telling my mother’s voice each time she popped into my head during the twenty-three-hour drive across the country.
Julie, honey, what are you running from?
Really bad choices, Ma.
When are you going to settle down and make me some grandbabies?
Um, never.
Maybe you could go back to school and finish your degree this time? It’s so hard to explain to people what it is you do.
Tell them I work in an office. I’m a temp. It’s not that hard.
Why don’t you move back home? I heard Daniel Howards got divorced.
Thanks, Ma, I’ll pass.
Those are the types of questions my mother would ask if I called—which is precisely why I didn’t when I left. I chose to avoid the lectures and reminders that I had failed in life, yet again. I just wanted out.
My mother, of course, had no idea about my affair with Anthony. If she had discovered that I was the other woman she would have gotten down on bended knee and prayed for my soul, even though she hadn’t been to church in years. The fact that her daughter had been sleeping around with a married man for the last three years, however, might be enough to send her back.
I’d send her a text whenever I landed someplace. When it was too late for her to talk me out of it.
The plan had been to end in Maine, the literal farthest away I could get from LA, but I ended up pulling over somewhere in New Hampshire to ask directions from a woman who was putting up a For Rent sign in her yard. We started chatting, and I decided, on the spot, I needed to live in that house.
New Hampshire was just as a good a state as any, as far as I was concerned. Now all that was left to do was unpack. Not that I’d brought much. Only as much stuff that fit in the rented SUV. The rest, I’d left behind, along with a note to my landlord letting him know not to expect a renewal of my lease. But before I began unloading the car to officially start my new life, I needed wine. And maybe some Doritos. Okay, and some ice cream too.

Where to find Doppelganger:
Amazon US      UK        AU
ibooks
Smashwords
Nook


Friday, February 3, 2017

In today's world there is an upheaval over refugees.  Everyone has a strong opinion on yes, no, maybe.  I'm not here to get into the pros and cons or even to state my opinion.

What I am here to do is introduce you to authors that were refugees.


  1. Isabel Allende author of  The House of Spirits was on a death list in Chili and had to flea her home country.
  2. Ishmael Beal author of a long way gone Memoirs of a Boy Soldier left Sierra Leone but found himself in another horrific situation till UNICEF rescued him.
  3. Elias Canetti author of Crowds and Power who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1981 and fled Bulgaria with his family to England.
  4. Anne Frank author of The Diary of a Young Girl departed Nazi Germany to Amsterdam.
  5. Karen Gershon author of We Came as Children  ran from Nazi's.+
  6. Victor Hugo author of Les Miserables
  7. Ismail Kadare author of The Fall of the Stone City left Albania claiming political asylum in France.
  8. Rigoberta Menchu author of I, Rigoberta Menchu: An Indian Woman in Guatemala was forced into exile in Mexico in the 1980's and later won the Nobel Peace Prize.
  9. Viet Thanh Nguyen author of The Sympathizer  escaped Saigon for Pennsylvannia then won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
  10. Felix Salten  author of Bambi left Vienna during the time of the Nazi invasion to Switzerland
I am sure there are many, many more but this is a brief list of authors you may know and authors that are new to you.

For a more extended list that includes more than just authors check out Famous Refugees





Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Author of the Day

Jason Blacker


"Jason writes tall tales because he seems to believe that fiction is more interesting than reality. Though sometimes reality is stranger than fiction. And this conundrum causes small difficulties in his fiction, because if you put too much strangeness into fiction then folks won't believe it. 
Nevertheless, he writes stories primarily to entertain himself. The types of stories that he enjoys reading. He's read just about all of Agatha Christie's stories and desperately wanted more, so he developed the Lady Marmalade murder mysteries. These cozy mysteries take place in the UK and elsewhere around the time of the two World Wars.
One of his favorite writers, and writer he considers to be amongst the best of all time is Raymond Chandler. Jason's read all of Raymond Chandler's and Dashiell Hammett's hardboiled mysteries, and as with Agatha Christie, craving more, he started writing the Anthony Carrick hardboiled murder mysteries.
Anthony Carrick is a classic hardboiled PI. He's a tough talking, hard drinking, no nonsense ex-LAPD homicide cop who's attitude and fists oftentimes get him into trouble. But he always solves the crimes he's hired to solve.
Jason is also a huge sci-fi geek and nerd. He loves Star Trek and Star Wars, though he prefers Star Trek to Star Wars. Because of this, he also likes to write sci-fi stories. His favorite Star Trek character is Spock and his favorite Star Wars character is Yoda. In fact, as he writes this, he's rewatching Star Trek: TNG. Fav character from that series has to be Data.
When not writing, Jason enjoys running, calisthenics and squash. He went to art school for a couple of years but doesn't have as much time to paint and draw as he'd like. He's thrown himself out of airplanes a couple of times to figure out why birds fly (because they can 😉). He's been a butcher, a baker and a candlestick maker. Well, perhaps not the last one but it rhymed. He's also been a cop, an army and navy veteran and a librarian.
He was born under the African sun, and perhaps because he was a butcher, he's since been a vegan for 27 years. He writes a haiku everyday that's published on his poetry blog and he hopes to one day sell more books than James Patterson, though he'll settle for a tenth of that.

To find out more about Jason check out his website Jason Blacker, I author

Where to buy Jason's books:
Amazon

iTunes

Barnes and Noble

Kobo

Smashwords