Friday, September 26, 2014

New Release: The Beachcombers

by Stephanie Queen
Excerpt:

Dane Blaise leaned against the wall outside the terminal building of the tiny airport in Edgartown on the tiny island of Martha’s Vineyard. It had been his corner of paradise every summer for years and this summer a much-needed respite from the world at large. Until today. He played with the pack of cigarettes he’d purchased for effect. He wore his only button down shirt – a white linen deal with the long sleeves rolled up so he didn’t have to bother buttoning the cuffs. The sun blazed. This was a far cry from the drink on the terrace at the Haven cafe he’d planned with a certain lady he’d met the day before. At the very least, he should be on the beach resting his soul where he belonged between assignments. But then he supposed he was no longer in between assignments. They had him the second he agreed to volunteer as a judge for the so-called American Invitational Surfing competition.

He watched the low-wing prop plane land and circle around the runway toward the building. But he wasn’t the only one watching.



A tall lean striking man in a pale lemon linen suit –seemed linen was in fashion today—strolled outside and smoked a cigar while he talked on his cell phone. If Dane hadn’t been trained to notice these things, he wouldn’t have noticed the way the well-dressed man watched the plane not too closely, especially once the door popped open and the passengers began disembarking. An airport employee came through the terminal building door out onto the cement pad where they stood and headed toward the plane, but the man in the tan uniform stopped dead and looked stunned. A quick glance at the lemon-suited man told Dane he’d stopped everything and stared too. Dane turned back to the plane to see why.

A long-legged shapely woman with billowing sun-bleached hair wearing a tropical flowered halter sundress and strappy ruby stilettos stepped down from the plane onto the tarmac. If Dane were the kind of man who let out wolf whistles at such visions, Ms. Knockout would qualify. But so far in his life, he’d found it easy to control such impulses in favor of steady yet stealthy stares.

Blurb:
THE BEACHCOMBERS
Book 4 of the Scotland Yard Exchange Series

Hard core freelance military operative Dane Blaise plans to get some much needed rest at his beach hideaway on Martha's Vineyard until he gets called by his old friend and special ops mentor, the governor of Massachusetts. Boston's Scotland Yard Exchange Program needs Dane to help find a young heiress who mysteriously disappeared from a suspicious surfing competition. 
Interpol warnings alert them to a French con man with a bad track record and big plans is on the small island.

But when Dane meets his partner in crime-solving, Shana George, a beach-bunny bombshell straight in from Australia to play undercover rich-girl surfer, he knows there'll be more trouble than the bad guys are dishing out--and no rest at all for this weary soul.



Author Bio:

USA Today Bestselling author Stephanie Queen is a romantic at heart and a writer by nature with the enthusiastic soul of a cheerleader. She enjoys creating stories where her rose-colored world-view comes to life and the good guys always win. Having spent most of her life in New England, she's attended a few of the area colleges, including Harvard. Although she lost count of all the jobs she had before she settled on being a Novelist, her favorite was selling cookies as a Keebler Elf.

Purchase Links:
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MRG85MK
iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-beachcombers/id912150281?mt=11
KOBO: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/The-Beachcombers/book-Lb22XyOgSEuJVTQuyqm49g/page1.html?s=evNJZ9s0YUWZKc_v70I4-Q&r=2

Monday, September 22, 2014

Something's Rotten

According to David Gaughran, something is rotten in publishing.

From his blog:

There is something seriously askew with the supposed values of the publishing business.

The most egregious behavior continually gets overlooked, ignored, and swept under the carpet, in favor of pursuing pet targets.

.

Read the rest.

Saturday, September 13, 2014

Author Rock Star Roundup

Here's what my rock star authors have been up to recently.

Bob Mayer has been talking about catastrophes.

Why be concerned about catastrophes?


False Assumptions

What is a catastrophe?


The final event of the dramatic action, especially of a tragedy

An event causing great and often sudden damage or suffering; a disaster Utter failure.

Read more.



J.A. Konrath is talking about the author conference of the future.

If it ever does happen, this is how I'd picture it:

One giant room, similar to ComiCon, with a stage and microphones.

Authors sit at tables, which are set up everywhere. For table space at the 3 day conference, authors pay $25 a day.

Attendees get in for free.

Read more.

Friday, September 12, 2014

Victim Mentality

Or maybe it's Stockholm Syndrome. I'm not a psychologist, just a writer. It's the only explanation for the fact that we writers don't share about problems with our publisher until they go out of business. So knowing that, I applaud this author for standing up and saying the Emperor is not wearing clothing.

I’ve talked some about the issues I’ve been having with one of my publishers. Talked here. Talked on FB and Twitter.

Time to talk again.

Read the rest: http://avrilashton.com/blog/on-royaltywatch/

Monday, September 1, 2014

HOW TO MURDER A WRITING CAREER

By Alina Adams

All writers are given the same advice. Write your story, edit your story, polish your story. Make sure that only your very, very best work ends up in front of agents, editors, reviewers and readers.

Well, I followed that advice. I wrote, edited and polished many, many manuscripts. And I sent them out. And I got rejected. So I wrote and edited and polished some more. And eventually, I sold. Regency romance novels, contemporary romance novels, figure skating mysteries, non-fiction, soap-opera tie-ins. I’ve published over a dozen books, including two NYT best-sellers.



But, here’s the thing: It was all trial and error.

When my books were being rejected, I didn’t get any feedback. I had to guess what was wrong. And I had to guess how to fix it. Afterwards, I’d get editorial notes. Some were specific and helpful. Some less so. (My personal favorite, from an editor who shall remain nameless, was: This scene doesn’t work. Make it work.)

When I was first starting out, I would have loved the chance to just shadow a professional writer and watch them go through the entire process, from first draft to publication, and hear their reasons for why this word instead of that one, why this scene that way and not another way, why begin here, why end there?

S

o I’ve created the resource I never had. http://alinaadamsmedia.com/live/ is me writing my latest book completely live. Readers can literally watch as each word is typed. And erased. And rewritten. And misspelled. And then deleted along with the rest of the lousy paragraph. Maybe even the whole chapter.

The problem is, I am doing the exact opposite of what every writer is told. I am not putting my best foot forward. I am putting out my worst one. I want readers to see what I go through. All the missteps, the dead ends, the clunky prose, the boring characters, the laughable sex scenes. And I want them to chime in with their thoughts so that I can make my book the very best that it can be – for them.

Am I risking someone clicking on a link, reading a few lines of my first-draft prose and deciding they never want to see anything with my byline again? It’s certainly possible.

Am I putting my entire career at risk? Sure seems like it.

Am I going to do it anyway? Yup.

Because, honestly, after 20 years of writing for a living, I was starting to get bored. And there is nothing that gets your blood pumping faster than working without a net.

Won’t you join me?

Bio

Alina Adams is the NYT best-selling author of soap-opera tie-ins, figure skating mysteries and contemporary and Regency romance novels, including “When a Man Loves a Woman,” “Annie’s Wild Ride,” “The Fictitious Marquis” and “Thieves at Heart.” Visit her at www.AlinaAdams.com, and stop by to watch her write her next book live in front of your eyes with real-time reader feedback at: http://alinaadamsmedia.com/live/

BLURB:

Annie’s Wild Ride by Alina Adams



When his ex-wife and daughter’s plane goes down in a snowstorm, Major Paul Gaasbeck is forced to break every US Air Force rule and betray his own honor code in his attempt to rescue them.

As both battle the elements in a desperate struggle for survival, Paul and Anne can’t help remembering all of the reasons why they couldn’t stay together – or apart.

From Colorado’s Air Force Academy to military bases all across America to the hostile skies above Libya and the battlefields of Iraq, romance lovers will be helplessly swept away – just like Paul – by ANNIE’S WILD RIDE.

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MFVMZN2
BN: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/annies-wild-ride-a-adams/1002967486?ean=2940149627080
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/464977