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Showing posts from September, 2013

Featuring Kristy Berridge - Part 1

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       Hi, folks. My favorite thing about having this blog is talking about books and authors that I like, and I’ve been looking forward to featuring this particular author for a while now. During the next two weeks I’ll focus on Kristy Berridge, the Wonder from Down Under. This week we’ll look at her books. Next week we’ll have an interview!                                              Kristy Berridge, The Wonder from Down Under Although Ms. Berridge is in the process of publishing an interesting crowd-funded side project called Diary of a Teenage Zombie , her main body of work to-date encompasses The Hunted books. There are already two of the eventual five novels out in this paranormal fantasy/horror series which chronicles the coming of age of the vampire-werewolf hybrid Elena Manory. I’m a fan. Let’s get to it. The Hunted                                                                   At Amazon.com   Description Elena Manory is by no means an ordinary teenage

Deadlines - The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

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Hi, folks. It’s time for one of my musings . No, no, wait. Hear me out. I promise I’ll be brief. You see, I’ve been working under a deadline lately, one that has become increasingly evident that I won’t make (unless I’m willing to greatly sacrifice the quality of my work, which I’m not). It was a self-imposed deadline, and I feel bad about it. I’ve disappointed myself and my readers. Mostly, I just don’t have anyone else to blame. So, I had to give this some thought. What is a deadline, anyway? The Good A deadline can be a good thing. We all need goals, right? At least that’s what the experts say. A deadline can serve as motivation to achieve something we long for. Maybe even something that’s good for us. And for those of us who are born slackers (yes, I did say us ), if we didn’t set a date nothing would get done. The Bad This is the easy part. The guy that coined the phrase put two very powerful words together, and one of them is dead . There’s really no n

Book Review: The Legacy of Daddy

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Hi, folks. It’s time for another book review, and this time I’m stepping outside my genre to review some science fiction. I’ve been a sci-fi fan since I was a little kid, and elements of it creep into my paranormal fantasies. (Clifford Crane is a genetically engineered werewolf, in case you hadn’t figured it out, yet.) So, when I saw Angus H. Day’s The Legacy of Daddy reviewed on another blogger’s site, I couldn’t help myself. I had to check it out. The Legacy of Daddy is the first of the Next You novels, of which there are currently five. Mr. Day has cleverly created a future dystopia in which an over-crowded Earth and the planets it has begun to colonize are at the mercy of a multi- national -planet corporation called Next You, which has effectively gained a monopoly on nanotechnology and its interface with newly discovered and more advanced alien technologies. The Legacy of Daddy is a delightful story, and the writing of Mr. Day is fast and furious. Let’s take a look.

Writing Isn't Everything

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I’ve been in a little production slump lately. Work on Red Wolf Rising has stalled while I ponder ways to correct some defects my editing team pointed out in the first draft of part one. In addition, I’ve gotten sidetracked with trying to get my new web site up and running. And I’m not alone. I’ve noticed a number of social media posts lately from other members of my little writing circle bemoaning similar roadblocks in their paths. When such things happen, many of us tend to beat ourselves up about it. So I decided to give us all a little pep talk. Writing isn’t everything. It… …is not “the answer” All my life I’ve dealt with the problem of finding something that’s new and interesting - or just makes me feel good - and thinking, Oh, this is it, the thing I was born to do – the thing that will make me whole. The first hit I got playing baseball, the first ace I served up in tennis, the first laugh I got from a joke I told, rock and roll, drugs, any number of women at