Thursday, May 29, 2014

What the Media Isn't Covering.

That would be a series of blog posts, but this one is about the Amazon-Hachette dust up. David Gaughran says it better than I can.

The Amazon-Hachette dispute has caught the media’s attention. But what about the story the media refuses to cover?

The media is more concerned with one-sided accounts of Amazon’s perceived actions – when no one really knows the exact nature of the dispute.

Read more.

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

I Believe in Bigfoot
Do you believe Bigfoot exists? Have you seen one?
You may believe! Pick up a copy of BIGFOOT BOY: Lost on Earth, for ONLY 99 CENTS on Amazon NOW May 23-30. https://tinyurl.com/mb8klzw Hurry, the sale will be over on Friday.
Learn about Errl, the alien teen Sasquatch (Bigfoot) who becomes separated from his companions and teacher when their airpod crashes in the Kootenays. The nearsighted alien is lost for ten days, struggling to find the rescue ship that will take him home to Planet X.


In Errl's experience on Earth, there are angry hunters and police who chase him with guns, including a nervous Cub Scout leader who panics when he first spots Errl, lost and alone in the forest.
There is everything but a bomb squad from Homeland Security to defuse the harmless Bigfoot, and a demolition derby almost ensues when a kind trucker rescues him from a broken down RCMP paddy wagon and streaks through the forest with a van full of teens in flaming pursuit.
A friendly trapper and his son, and a sympathetic sheriff, befriend Errl, and he meets Hunny, a gorgeous Earth Bigfoot girl who is covered with golden fur. Errl doesn't want to leave Hunny behind, but his newfound friends are determined to find his ship and rescue him from the hunters,
Sightings of Sasquatch (Bigfoot) go back further than modern North American scare stories. The Canadian Press, Vancouver, reports that a Sasq'ets (Sasquatch) mask was recently returned from the Vancouver Museum to British Columbia, Canada aboriginal peoples. The mask disappeared in 1939 from the Sts'ailes First Nation near Harrison Hot Springs.
James Leon, who found and returned the revered artifact to its rightful owners, claims that sightings of Sasquatch by First Nations peoples go back for thousands of years. The mask was carved from descriptions of what they consider lucky sightings of Bigfoot over the centuries.
In McKinnon's YA novel, Bigfoot Boy: Lost on Earth, the luck looks like it's going to trickle out through Errl's big hairy feet as he plunges from one misadventure to the other. "Wonderfully unique and vivid phrasing adds polish and humor to this dynamic tale."
Brief Biography:
Kenna McKinnon's most memorable years were spent at the University of Alberta, where she amazingly graduated with a degree in Anthropology, thanks to some excellent profs and a love of study at the time. Her most significant accomplishment was raising two wonderful children. Kenna is a member of the Writers' Guild of Alberta and the Canadian Authors Association.

Her debut YA novel, SpaceHive, published by Imajin Books (2012) is available on Amazon, Smashwords, B&N, etc. worldwide, and in selected local bookstores and libraries.


Monday, May 26, 2014

Awakening


AWAKENING EXCERPT

I pause and look at him. He doesn’t look like a creep, but still my eyes narrow as I look him up and down. He sits, watching me scrutinize him.
Finally he smiles and stands up. “Do I pass?”  He asks, lifting my hand from the table and pulling me out of the booth.
Swept up in the moment, I abandon caution and join him. He guides me to the dance floor as his hand slips onto my back, just at the base of my spine, his thumb rubbing back and forth across my back. A chill starts low and climbs up my body.


When we get to the dance floor, I expect him to let me go so we can start dancing, only he doesn’t. He spins me into his arms and holds me against his body. I almost gasp when his hard chest presses into mine. His arm wraps tightly around my waist while he holds our joined hands high. For a second it feels like we are going to Tango, but thankfully we don’t. He pulls my pelvis into his and grinds his hips erotically into mine.
A jolt of electricity hits me so hard I would have stumbled if he hadn’t been holding me so tightly. The music is fast and loud and everyone around us is spinning and rocking out, but not us. Slowly, he moves our hips together as if he is listening to his own music. I look around self-consciously. Feeling his breath on my neck, he whispers something into my ear, but I have no idea what he said. He drops my hand and moves my hair behind my ear, caressing my neck. Shivers run through me. This man is all sex, and he knows it. Loosening his grip from my waist, both of his hands land on my hips, holding me in place while he rubs his pelvis into mine. Heat races across my skin followed by shivers.
Good God, I am so turned on right now. The alcohol is not helping me hold it together. I feel his hard cock dig into my pelvis, right where I want it. I need to get the hell out of here. This man is too good at this.


LINKS

BIO
Sydney Holmes writes contemporary romance with an erotic flair, or as she likes to say, “Hot and spicy romance that keeps you up at night!” She believes there is nothing more exciting than reading a hot, sexy tale about two people searching for themselves and getting lost in each other. Sydney is married with two children and a wonderful husband.  Sydney graduated from The George Washington University with a BS in Political Science and holds a Master’s Degree in Education. She lives near the ocean in California and travels as often as she can.


BLURB

Book One

ONCE YOU STEP OVER THE EDGE THERE'S NO TURNING BACK

Ever feel like everyone else has figured out this thing called life but you’re just watching it fly by, not really living?

Nora Young still believes she has time to figure it all out. She can still go to law school and take on the Supreme Court, make love in the sun, or even share her dreams with her boyfriend.
Maybe that explains her morose mood when she realizes she’s moving up the corporate ladder at work as an Event Specialist—not a party planner thank you very much! It might also explain the horror when her emotionally distant boyfriend tosses out the words “marriage” and “kids” as if they’re the inevitable next steps in their benumbed, stifling relationship.
 

Nora realizes she needs to take control and create a life filled with passion, purpose and adventure.

Ryan Cole walks into her office and seems to offer everything Nora is looking for: passion, adventure—exhibitionism? But just when Nora starts to open up to Ryan and his crazy adventures, his ex girlfriend warns her that Ryan’s real tastes are dangerously extreme. Intrigued, Nora pushes Ryan to reveal his secrets but will Nora be able to handle it when he comes clean? Does setting boundaries with Ryan mean saying goodbye to the most passionate, sexy man she’s ever met?





Thursday, May 22, 2014

Smart Bitches

Just couldn't pass up highlighting this.

Sometimes, the sound and fury of an uninformed pseudo-critic should be ignored, because that lessens their impact. When someone attempts to condemn an entire genre on the basis of one book, it is too familiar, an ill-informed position we've seen too often in the last few weeks.

Read the rest.

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Lucky's Break

After almost losing her Uncle Phen during the investigation of her mother’s murder, Felicia “Lucky” Fascino cut all ties and ran away, hoping her family would move on and forget the promises they made. Putting the past behind her has never been easy, but Lucky knows the job is slowly destroying her already fractured psyche. Staying away, especially now that her family is in danger, is the only way to keep everyone safe.



Kenji Zinn, determined to locate his ex-lover, tracks Lucky to a small island with her family’s help, and finds her in a miserable and self-destructive condition. His connection to her is strained after months apart but his feelings haven’t change, and he attempts to persuade her to come home, to protect her family and keep her promise. Despite her obvious mental fatigue, only Phen is able to convince her that the way to get closure is finding an elusive man named Quimby and take him out permanently.

Once home, Lucky breaks it off with Kenji, and agrees to go back to work if Phen promises to let her go when it’s done. While her family continues to track their target, Lucky returns to work for the network—struggling through each job, aware that pushing her family away won’t bring anyone the peace they deserve. As she begins to repair her shattered relationships, her true feelings for Kenji are tested when she almost loses him completely. Before it’s too late, Lucky realizes he’s her best ally to help her finish what she started and find Quimby before he strikes again.

Excerpt 2

Lucky and Kenji regroup after taking out an obstacle…

“That’s about as bad as it gets. Most of my marks are from a distance,” Lucky said with a shrug of her shoulders. “Up close and I tend to get….”

“Forceful.”

“Brutal, Kenji. I wanted him to hurt. I had to walk away, afraid I was going to pummel him just for the hell of it.” Her body shuddered under his hands.

“You were not brutal. You did what you needed to do.”

“I didn’t need to kill him. I wanted to.” She stepped back out of his grasp and walked to the bed. “I’m not some sadistic fuck who gets off on hurting people, but sometimes…and with you there this time….” When she sat down, she pulled her legs to her chest. “Everything that happened yesterday, being with you in the field and letting you see me that way….”

“The last few days have been taxing,” he said, sitting beside her. She reached the edge of every thought but held back, afraid to speak her mind. He kept his distance despite the desire to hold her.

“I’m still trying to wade through it all.” She put her head on her knees. “What were you thinking, after I killed him?”

“I thought you extracted all you could from him and finished the job.”

She turned her head to face him, seemingly agitated. “Then what were you feeling?”

“Satisfied it was over and impressed with your methods.”

Felicia huffed, got up from the bed, and started to walk away. He grabbed her wrist. “Let go.”

He held tighter and stood. “What do you want to know, Felicia? Stop being vague.” “How did you feel toward me?” Her voice was heated, sharp. “You were watching me like a hawk.”

“Mostly, I admired your abilities and thought of little else. There were moments I felt intimidated, other times aroused. Watching you overpower and manipulate that man was invigorating.”

“Why were you intimidated?”

“The way you handled the situation astounds me. I was not needed, yet you allowed me to help.”

She broke from his grip and walked to the opposite side of the room. He stood, silently waiting to see what she’d do. Rubbing the back of her neck, she turned around with wide eyes.

“After all that, you still want me.”

“I have never wanted you more.”


Jenn’s love of writing started the year she received her first diary and Nancy Drew novel. Throughout her teenage years, she kept a diary of her personal thoughts and feelings but graduated from Nancy Drew to other mystery suspense novels.

Jenn often adds a thriller and suspense element to anything she writes be it Romance, Science Fiction, or Fantasy. When not writing, she spends her time reading, observing pop culture, playing with her two dogs, and working on various charitable projects in her home state of New Jersey.

Website: www.jennnixon.com
Facebook: facebook.com/JennNixonAuthor
Blog: www.jennafern.blogspot.com
http://twitter.com/jennnixon

Purchase links:
Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Jenn-Nixon/e/B002BLNBBQ
Wild Child Publishing http://www.wildchildpublishing.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=449

Saturday, May 17, 2014

Lunar Lion Update

In the $30 million Google Lunar X PRIZE, a challenge for the first privately funded team to transport a robotic spacecraft to the moon and send video, images, and data back to Earth, there are some big players with a lot of manpower. Competitors in the challenge, launched in 2007, include Moon Express, a lunar transportation and data company based at NASA's Silicon Valley research park; Synergy Moon, a nonprofit initiative with working groups toiling away in 15 countries; and Earthrise Space, which has a NASA contract to provide data from its first mission to the moon.

Read more.

Friday, May 16, 2014

Author Rock Star Roundup

J. A. Konrath tells us to Tend Our Garden.

Your ebooks function much like a garden.

One rare occassions, a plant will thrive with little help from you.

Others may whither and die no matter how much help you give them.


Read the rest



Hugh Howey talks about how to follow someone, but I don't think he's really talking about espionage.

One of my favorite movies of all-time is The Zero Effect. If you haven’t seen it, you really should. Absolutely brilliant. One of the best scenes has Daryl Zero (played by Bill Pullman) explaining the trick to following someone without getting caught. It’s simple, he says. You just get where they’re going before they do.

Read more.



Over at Marketing for Romance Writers Blog, Emerald tells us how to get the most out of their Facebook page.

So far in this series, I’ve talked a lot about things I do from the moderator side of the MFRW Facebook group. I’m shifting gears a little bit today to offer some recommendations for potential and current group members to get the most out of being a member of the group and using Facebook to help market your work.

Read the rest.

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Excerpt: License to Nerd

I have a special place in my heart for the nerds in the world. The socially awkward, the ones too smart to tie their own shoes. So of course I have to write about them. This is a first in a series called Nerds Saving the World.

License to Nerd

Madison West walked down Main Street, Mill Hall, towards the one person who could help her. The one person with such a unique skill set, that no one else could duplicate. A skill set acquired doing things even she didn't have enough security clearance to know about.

Who would have thought he could be in small town New Jersey? Why wasn't he doing something for the government instead of helping his brothers run a two-bit detective agency? That, Madison thought, was probably a story for another day.

Right now, she needed him for a case. Her last case, she reminded herself. She was not going to work for the government anymore.

Not that he would know her real agenda. No, she had to play this as if she was just looking for Charlie.

With the sun in her face, she strode down the sidewalk looking for Quincy Detective Agency. She found it in a brick building that stood apart from those on either side, creating two alleys. She ducked into one of them to think once again about what she would say to Peter Quincy when she saw him for the first time in, well, since she married her husband.

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Non Payment of Royalties

Dear Author has a post about Ellora's Cave not paying their authors royalties in a timely manner and contract changes at Samhain.

The rise of self publishing hasn’t just affected traditional print publishers. In fact, with the rate of ebook adoption slowing many observers suggest the numbers indicate we’re reaching a plateau. One of the less publicized victims of the sea changes occurring in publishing is the digital first publisher.

Read more

Monday, May 12, 2014

Doh!

I was supposed to have two interviews to post on her this week, but I can find no evidence that I e-mailed them back with their dates.

So the lack of posts are my fault. Instead I may give you a sneak peak of my next book out, License to Nerd. I'm hoping to get it out before the end of May.

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Author Rock Star Update

Last week my author rock stars were up to their usual shenanigans.

J. A. Konrath wrote about Ug and Zug's One Stop Wheel Shop.

Hmm could this be a metaphor for publishing?

In the year 3330BC...

After painstakingly hand-carving a wheel out of redwood--a process that took three months--longtime employee KOR rolls it over to his corporate masters, UG and ZUG, to show off his work.

Read more.



The Passive Voice has a great mashup of stories including Amazon and Cosmixology, and is the future of books paper?

Read more.



Marketing for Romance Writers Blog wrote about loglines this week.

This post is syndicated from Whitley Gray: The Logline--Who Needs It? How Can I Write One?

This is right up there with synopsis and query and cover letter. It’s the secret weapon that says you know what your story is about and can sum it up in one sentence. It’s the jewel you can memorize and blurt out at any time.

Read more



This week Hugh Howey blogged about goals versus dreams.

My goal was to write and complete a single novel. My dream was to be an international bestselling author.

Read the rest.