Guest Post: 5 Books Recommended for Aspiring Authors by Jenny Morton Potts

Jenny Morton Potts was born in a smart, dull suburb of Glasgow where the only regular excitement was burglary. Attended a smart, dull school where the only regular excitement was the strap. Worked in smart, dull sales and marketing jobs until realising she was living someone else’s life.

Escaped to Gascony to make gîtes. Knee deep in cement and pregnant, Jenny was happy. Then autism and a distracted spine surgeon who wanted to talk about The Da Vinci Code, wiped out the order. Returned to wonderful England – and unlikely ever to leave again – Jenny, with assistance from loyal hound, walked and swam her way back to manageable health.

Jenny would like to see the Northern Lights but worries that’s the best bit and should be saved till last. Very happily, and gratefully, partnered for 28 years, she ought to mention, and living with inspirational child in Thaxted, Essex.

5 Books Recommended for Aspiring Authors

Well, this of course will depend on the kind of writing the author wants to do. But let us suppose that the author has not yet decided:  

For structure approaching perfection, you could do no better than an early Jeffrey Archer. For example, 'Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less'. The sheer talent of story-telling is there too, as well as pace and full denouement satisfaction.  

Now let's turn to artistry. Margaret Attwood would be my choice here. She's simply the best. As a sentence maker, she can't be beaten IMHO.  

Dialogue? You could do worse than turning the clock back a few decades and leafing your way through an E M Forster. 'A Room with a View' is a dialogue delight. And Forster is very funny. They say, don't they, that humour can be a problem. I can tell you that this great author never felt that. 

 Now, what about a writer who ticks all the boxes, with all the bells and whistles and any other metaphor I can chuck in there. David Mitchell. The man can go to any location, with any characters, in any era, and write with genius.  

 And finally, I'd like to include a Russian. Writing is a serious business and the Russians do serious extremely well. As do the French of course. I could choose Kafka or Dostoevsky. But instead I plump for Solzhenitsyn and his reality. His 'Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich' had such a profound effect on me and I'm sure, in consequence, my writing. So I conclude with that. 

A gripping psychological thriller with chilling twists, from a unique new voice.

Keller Baye and Rebecca Brown live on different sides of the Atlantic. Until she falls in love with him, Rebecca knows nothing of Keller. But he’s known about her for a very long time, and now he wants to destroy her.

This is the story of two families. One living under the threat of execution in North Carolina. The other caught up in a dark mystery in the Scottish Highlands. The families’ paths are destined to cross. But why? And can anything save them when that happens?

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Guest Post: The Fictional Black Detective in American Literature and Film by Antwan Floyd Sr.

Antwan Floyd Sr. is a Publisher, Author, and Reviewer. He publishes Crime Fiction novels under his publishing company Maleah Solange Books. He has released two titles in the Black Love Detective Series: Piece Keeper & Cannibal in the City. He has also written Dope Fiction and Dope Fiction pt. 2 "Greed Between the Lines". Originally from Chicago, IL he currently resides in Indianapolis, IN where he is penning his next novel.

The Fictional Black Detective in American Literature and Film

The fictional Black detective in American Literature and film is an important topic as it pertains to representation of a group of people and inclusion in this highly popular genre. I write this article strictly from a fan’s point of view, I am by no means an expert on the topic. I am in my learning stages and I suppose in a way I am taking you on my journey of discovery with me.

According to an article that I read posted in the Los Angeles Review of Books written by Gary Phillips one of the earliest books of fiction about a black detective was published in 1932 and written by author Dr. Rudolph Fisher titled The Conjure-Man Dies: A Mystery Tale of Dark Harlem which features a Sherlock Holmes–like Dr. John Archer and police detective Perry Dart — two black investigators out to solve a murder mystery. Now it so happens that this is one of the titles that I have read or should I say attempted to read. It was in my opinion very wordy and drawn out I failed to complete the entire book, I will eventually get back to it to finish the story but it is in my opinion a hard read.

Then there was Hughes Allison. He is credited in 1948 as the first black writer to have a story published in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. The story was titled “Corollary,” appeared in the July issue, and featured black police detective Joe Hill based in part, on a real-life cop Carlton B. Norris, a Newark police detective.

Persia Walker has written three mystery novels set during the heyday of the Harlem Renaissance. Walker deftly mixes issues of race and class, along with actual incidents and figures, in her handling of that period.

In Defender of the Angels: A Black Policeman in Old Los Angeles by Jesse Kimbrough, the reader gets a glimpse of a city in the 1920s and ’30s that is rarely depicted from a black point of view.

The Black 22s, produced by David Oyelowo (who will also star), purchased by the National Geographic channel, and billed as a black Untouchables about an all-black police squad in Prohibition-era St. Louis.

From new pulp publisher Pro Se Press, and also set in the 1920s, is Alvin Grimes’s 2014 hard-boiled novel, Black Pearl, about a World War I vet Harlem Hell fighter called Jackson Blaze. Blaze gets mixed up in a gang war between the Jewish Mafia and boss Jimmy Rose for control of the rackets in Harlem.

Debuting in the late 1990s and spanning the Prohibition era to the 1940s, the crime fiction novels of Robert Skinner feature Wesley Farrell, a mixed-race nightclub owner who passes for white.

Another pulp publisher, Airship 27 brought out two books featuring African Americans set in the 1930s. In Rutherford Jones in Trouble Times Three, written by Robert Ricci and featuring three short stories, the time is 1937 and the place is Oakland. A mousy white guy supposedly runs the Ford Jones Detective Agency — but he’s a front to assuage white clients, and his supposed black assistant Rufus is the real hard-case private investigator.

Just wanted to lay a sort of foundation as it may to the introduction of the black detective in literature and in film, many of these authors and titles I’ve never heard of but I will go back and begin reading them to see how they tackled the genre.

Getting to some that I have heard of, I will start with Walter Mosley and his Easy Rawlin’s character which one of his titles was converted into a movie “The Devil in a Blue Dress” where Denzel Washington played the starring role of Easy Rawlin’s I saw the movie but never read the book or any other of the Easy Rawlins’ stories. But I did read all of the stories in the Leonid McGill series written by Walter Mosley which wasn’t as widely received as the Easy stories but I thoroughly enjoyed them and hope that he writes and releases more. Currently he has released a new title called “Down the River unto the Sea” a new detective tale:

Joe King Oliver was one of the NYPD's finest investigators, until, dispatched to arrest a well-heeled car thief, he is framed for assault by his enemies within the NYPD, a charge which lands him in solitary at Rikers Island.

A decade later, King is a private detective, running his agency with the help of his teenage daughter, Aja-Denise. Broken by the brutality he suffered and committed in equal measure while behind bars, his work and his daughter are the only light in his solitary life. When he receives a card in the mail from the woman who admits she was paid to frame him those years ago, King realizes that he has no choice but to take his own case: figuring out who on the force wanted him disposed of--and why.

Running in parallel with King's own quest for justice is the case of a Black radical journalist accused of killing two on-duty police officers who had been abusing their badges to traffic in drugs and women within the city's poorest neighborhoods.

Joined by Melquarth Frost, a brilliant sociopath, our hero must beat dirty cops and dirtier bankers, craven lawyers, and above all keep his daughter far from the underworld in which he works. All the while, two lives hang in the balance: King's client's, and King's own. I have yet to read it, but it is on my reading list.

Brian W. Smith is another author in the genre that I’ve read he has a mystery series titled: The Sleepy Carter Mysteries: He is homeless. He is a genius. He's solving the toughest murder cases in the city of New Orleans. But only one person knows he's alive.

Another author that writes in the genre I really enjoyed is author Niles Manning he has written two titles in the series called The Grainger Files.

There are others scattered here and there acclaimed actor Blair Underwood and Tananarive Due co-authored several mystery titles in the Tennyson Hardwick series. Valerie Wilson Wesley, Nora De Loach, and I’ve even come across a title written by former NBA legend Kareem Abdul Jabaar titled: Mycroft Holmes which I found interesting and I’m not sure if it has ever been done or not so don’t quote me. But as far as my understanding goes for those that are familiar with the Sherlock Holmes mythos Mycroft Holmes is the older brother to famed fictional detective Sherlock Holmes and Jabaar wrote his story with Mycroft as the antagonist sleuth.

I suppose that Mycroft Homes deviates from the black detective character in fiction but I mention this title for two reasons. One: Kareem Abdual Jabaar is a black author. Two: It is a sedge way into the final author and title series I am going to speak on titled: Watson and Holmes which was released as a comic written by Karl Bollers and Rick Leonardi. I think that their series is interesting because they took these two classic characters updated them to today’s time and made them Black: Collecting the entire first arc of the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes and Dr John Watson re-envisioning as African Americans living in New York City's famous Harlem district. Watson, an Afghanistan war vet, works in an inner-city clinic; Holmes, a local P.I. who takes unusual cases. When one of them ends up in Watson's emergency room, the unlikely duo strike up a partnership to find a missing girl. Watson & Holmes bump heads along the way as they enter a labyrinth of drugs, guns, gangs and a conspiracy that goes higher and deeper than they could have imagined.

Moving on to the black detective in film, the earliest that I remember seeing on film was Richard Roundtree in the title role of Shaft. I didn’t mention this earlier in my literary black detectives because although the hero in this tale was a black man, the story (and later the movie from which the movie was adapted) was written by a white man, a classic all the same. Shaft spawned a few spin-offs all played by Richard Roundtree.

Decades later a re-boot of the Shaft movie was done and portraying the Black private dick with all the chicks, was Samuel Jackson, the nephew of the original Shaft in which Richard Roundtree reprised his role.

Now, decades after that I’ve read an article that it is once again getting another re-boot via Netflix both Richard Roundtree and Samuel Jackson will reprise their roles, this time they will be joined with Jessie T. Usher as Samuel Jackson’s son (also John Shaft) looks like a film to be on the lookout for.

Others are A Man Called Hawk a television spin-off from the show Spencer For Hire. In the show A Man Called Hawk Avery Brooks played the titular role.

More recently there was Rosewood starring Morris Chestnut in the role of Miami pathologist Dr. Beaumont Rosewood, Jr. He finds secrets in people's bodies using his state-of-the-art laboratory equipment.

As a sidebar I will mention the BBC detective series Luther starring Black British actor Idris Elba, which was also very well written and portrayed on screen.

Without going on and on these are a few examples of the diverse stories and the authors and actors of color who portrayed these sleuths in all faucets of life. It shows that the black detective be it in written word or portrayed in television or on film have a diverse, rich, and often times complex range and unique ability of getting the job done and shows that inclusion is not only necessary for the genre to grow and become more but is craved and desired by readers and purveyors of everything mystery/crime fiction.

Antwan Floyd Sr. author of Piece Keeper & Cannibal in the City: Black Love Detective Series.

Teresa Prince, a small town girl with a big heart, had dreams of working in law enforcement her goals put on pause in the worse way possible. Will she overcome this tragedy and emerge triumphant with her mind and soul intact? Or will the mental anguish be too much for her to bare? 

James, a twisted soul with ideas of love and grandeur with a woman that doesn’t feel the same for him, at least not yet. That will all change if he has anything to do with it. Also, her old flame has stepped into the picture. Will James be able to win her over and make her the love of his life before the flame is rekindled between her and her ex? Or will he be left in the cold while they live happily-ever-after?

Black Love was always a white collar kind of guy more so than a gangster when an unfortunate incident occurs in a small town in Illinois he rushes to the side of his ex-fiancé to attempt to save the day. It does not take long to figure out that not everyone wants to see justice served. On top of that, his feelings for his past love may not only cause conflicts in the case but also add a rift to his new relationship. Will Black put his past behind him and find out who violated Teresa? 

In this fast-paced tale of pain, misguided passion, and lost love we follow these three souls as they embark on a journey of romance, rape, and retribution. When there’s no one to count on but yourself will you stand and deliver? Or bend and break? Each will face that question in the midst of what they once thought was true. They all find out that when love turns to war, someone has to be the Piece Keeper! 

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Guest Post: The Inspiration Behind Secrets Hidden In The Glass by Cate Beauman

Bestselling author Cate Beauman is back with her 12^th full length novel and her first stand-alone title: Secrets Hidden In the Glass.

Her multi award-winning Bodyguards of L.A. County series has over 500,000 copies sold and a 4.4 rating with 8000+ reviews.

Buy It Now!

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Stained glass artist Callie Davis is in desperate need of a vacation. Burnt out and on the edge of a nervous breakdown, she’s fleeing the pressures of her career and is taking refuge on Massachusetts’ tiny Carter Island. Callie yearns for long, lazy days and pretty walks on the beach—blessed solitude and an escape from the complications of her life. Then she bumps into gorgeous Nate Carter and everything changes.

Sheriff Nathan Carter couldn’t be happier now that the height of the summer season has finally come and gone. After four endless months, tourists have packed their bags and headed for the mainland. The quiet days of autumn are about to befall the town—the way Nate and his fellow Sandersonians like it best.

But nothing ends up quite the way Nate expects when he meets the beautiful blonde with the big blue eyes. Callie’s pretty smiles hide secrets—deep, dark mysteries that could cost them both their lives if they continue digging into the past and cross a killer’s path.

The Inspiration Behind Secrets Hidden In The Glass:

I always find the process of writing fascinating—imagining words and thoughts into subsistence that had once only existed in my head. Oftentimes, the undertaking is daunting. Months of research, careful plotting, planning, character development, and revising go into every page. There are many moments of doubt and worry. On occasion, there’s even a triumph or two. But finally, you type The End and you realize you’ve created a miracle of sorts—a story to share with your eager readers who are always waiting for what’s next.

I had such fun telling Nate and Callie’s adventure. There was something extra enjoyable about bringing Sanderson, Massachusetts to life—the fictitious, tiny town on the equally made-up Carter Island. Imagine dreaming up a beachy setting that gets to be exactly what you want it to be. Add a group of intriguing (and on occasion quirky) characters. Throw plenty of steamy romance and several sprinkles of mystery and suspense into the mix and you’ve got yourself one heck of a good time.

I hope you’ll enjoy Secrets Hidden In The Glass as much as I enjoyed telling it.

Read an excerpt from Secrets Hidden In The Glass:

Callie held her head up to the brisk winds blowing off the Atlantic as the ferry brought her closer to the island. She breathed in the salty air, letting the gusty slaps of cold sting her cheeks while the boat cut through the waters the clouds had cast a dismal gray. At two thirty this morning she’d dreamt of sunshine and whale sightings on her travels north toward the Hyannis Port docks, but choppy seas and intermittent raindrops were better than spending one more minute in New York.

She shuddered as she thought of the city and glanced over her shoulder, constantly on guard against the sense of unease she hadn’t been able to shake for months—the need to run. Three weeks away in Europe promoting her latest work was supposed to have helped. When that didn’t go as planned, she’d been certain the four-week gallery tour she’d been contracted to attend would have fixed everything, but nothing seemed to shake the restless, edgy energy that kept her up most nights.

Facing forward again, she stared down at her white-knuckled grip on the bold blue railing and commanded herself to relax, even as her heartbeat began thrumming a frantic rhythm. She clutched the cool metal tighter and closed her eyes, bracing for anxiety’s cruel surges of adrenaline that often left her a pathetic, trembling mess. “Everything’s all right,” she reassured herself, then let her head hang as she heard the lack of conviction in her own voice, certain she was teetering on the perilous edge of a nervous breakdown. For surely that’s what this had to be. She was officially cracking—caving to the never-ending demands of her career and her sudden inability to create.

“Folks, take a moment and look straight ahead,” the boat’s captain boomed through the speakers, startling Callie out of her thoughts. “You’ll see Point West Lighthouse coming into view.”

Callie opened her eyes and blinked, staring at the bright beam of light far in the gloomy distance.

“Point West Lighthouse has been a beacon of hope, welcoming sailors home to Carter Island for nearly four hundred years,” the captain continued in his strong Massachusetts accent.

Callie wiped her cheeks, finding comfort in the idea as she studied the black-and-white stripes of the mighty island tower. What must it have been like to battle raging storms and contend with months of endless seas, then finally see the light? To have weathered the worst of it all and found hope waiting on the other side? She longed to have an answer—and perhaps someday she would. According to Captain Bob, the boat was due to dock in fifteen minutes and her vacation would officially begin. She needed quiet—a few weeks to pull herself together. Then maybe she could start to figure out when it was that her life had started falling apart.

The Unofficial Secrets Hidden In The Glass Soundtrack

I love music! I can’t imagine a world without catchy tunes playing, especially when I’m writing. Music is inspiration. Melodies, beats, and the mood of each song help me portray emotions and feelings as I tell a story. It’s a rare day when I don’t have my headphones in place, bopping my head, while my fingers race across the keyboard. You can listen to the “soundtrack” for each book on my website www.catebeauman.com.

The soundtrack, of sorts, for Secrets Hidden In The Glass:

·         And Then You by Greg Laswell

·         Still Falling For You by Ellie Goulding

·         Beautiful Soul by Jesse McCartney

·         Cold Water by Major Lazer ft. Justin Bieber

·         Starving by Hailee Steinfeld ft. Zedd

·         Close by Nick Jonas ft. Tove Lo

·         Magic by Colbie Caillat

·         Until the Last Falling Star by Matthew Perryman Jones

·         I Can’t Breathe by Bea Miller

·         I won’t Let You Go by James Morrison

About the Author:

International bestselling author Cate Beauman is known for her full-length, action-packed romantic suspense series, The Bodyguards of L.A. County. Her novels have been nominated for the National Excellence in Romance Fiction Award, National Indie Excellence Award, Golden Quill Award, Writers Touch Award, Aspen Gold Award, Heart of Excellence Award, and have been named Readers Favorite Five Star books. In 2017 FINDING LYLA was chosen as the Booksellers Best Award Winner, the Maggie Award For Excellence, and received the Holt Medallion Award. REAGAN'S REDEMPTION and ANSWERS FOR JULIE were selected as rare co-winners of the Aspen Gold Award in 2016. JUSTICE FOR ABBY received the 2015 Readers' Favorite International Book Award Gold Medal, while SAVING SOPHIE took the Silver Medal. SAVING SOPHIE was also selected as the 2015 Readers Crown Award winner for Romantic Suspense and FALLING FOR SARAH received the silver medal for the 2014 Readers' Favorite Awards.

Cate makes her home in North Carolina with her husband, two boys, and their St. Bernards, Bear and Jack.

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Guest Post: My First Year as a Published Writer: Thoughts & Reflections on Dreams vs. Reality by Leonora Meriel

Guest Post

My First Year as a Published Writer: Thoughts & Reflections on Dreams vs. Reality

 by Leonora Meriel

A powerful dream

My earliest memory is telling people I wanted to be writer.

All through my childhood I read avidly and wrote stories, poems, even a terrible novel or two. I read literature at two universities in Britain and Canada, and never for a moment doubted what I was born to do.

And on October 1^st 2016, my dream came true: I published my first novel “The Woman Behind the Waterfall.” I was 38 years old.

Why had it taken me so long?

Life is never a straight line, however shiny your dreams are. And the older you get, the less straight the line becomes. By the time I finished university, I was living in New York, working for the United Nations and then a law firm, married, then pregnant, and then moving to Ukraine. For the first time in my 20 years, life was far, far more exciting than the books I loved to read. And so I forgot entirely about writing, and jumped wholeheartedly into the business of living a whirlwind, stimulating life. This excitement lasted throughout my 20s, and it was only when I celebrated my 30^th birthday – the perfect opportunity for reflection and evaluation of goals – that I remembered about the dream I was meant to be fulfilling.

At that point, I was living in Ukraine, speaking Russian (and Ukrainian), running a business I had founded, with two children and a very exciting life. But it was time to start doing what I had been born to do: write novels.

Over the next seven years, I left the business I had founded, passing on my job of CEO to a co-founder and friend, moved in part to Barcelona – the most creative city I know – and wrote my first novel “The Woman Behind the Waterfall.” It was during the process of writing it that I realized how valuable the experiences I had gained over the last 10 years were to my writing dreams. I had gained a lifetime’s worth of adventures. Now I had all the material I needed to spend the rest of my life developing my skills as a writer, and fulfilling my dream.

The First Novel

“The Woman Behind the Waterfall” is a literary fiction novel filled with magical realism. It is set in a village in Ukraine and is about 3 generations of women, and their search for happiness. It is not a commercial novel, it is intended to be something different, beautiful, strange, challenging and provocative. It is meant to appeal to readers (as I had been) who love something new and eclectic and brave and raw. Something where you can feel the emotion of the writer and the pain of creation.

So, you can imagine, not many publishers jumped at the chance to publish something strange, beautiful, and not-very-commercial by a debut author.

However, I had an agent who loved the book and valiantly tried to sell it. After a year, she hadn’t found a publisher, and I had read enough about self-publishing to decide to release my novel into the world myself.

The road to publishing

It was a hard journey learning about all the different aspects of independent publishing. Cover design, structural editing, copy edition, proofreading, typesetting, distribution channels, a launch strategy, a sales plan, and so much more. Luckily, my skills as an entrepreneur came in handy as I was used to having to deal with multiple issues of different kinds and finding solutions. But it was a lot of hard work.

Launch Day

“The Woman Behind the Waterfall” was launched in October 2016 in a London bookshop. I was surrounded by friends and family who had shared my dream and who had come to celebrate the day it came true. My oldest friend wrote a Facebook post entitled “Dreams can come true – now I believe anything can happen,” and wrote about my story. It was one of the most incredible days of my life. I truly felt that every minute of my existence had been leading up to this moment – looking out at the group of people who had shared my life and believed in me. I will never forget this.

The childhood dream

My childhood dream took 38 years to come true.

If I could condense those 38 years into a nutshell, I would say there were 20 years of reading and scribbling, 10 years of life experience, and 8 years of learning to write a novel. I would say, with retrospect, that this is a solid formula. And now I have the next 38+ years of writing novels that (hopefully) get better and better.

Lessons from fulfilling a lifelong dream

Here are some things I have learned about dreams:

·         Dreams are never fulfilled in a straight line.

·         True dreams will never disappear from your heart (even though I forgot about my dream for 10 years, when I returned to it, it burned as fiercely as ever).

·         Dreams will rarely come true exactly as you imagined they would. Most often, they will be better and more suited to your particular life (when you dream as a child, you often base your dreams on what you see other people have accomplished. You do not yet know what you are capable of accomplishing).

·         Dreams coming true are the most incredible feeling you will ever experience (for this feeling goes to the very depths of your soul and your heart, which has nurtured them for year after year).

·         Dreams make you generous (the intense and deep joy of your own dream being fulfilled makes you passionately want to help other people with their own dreams).

Conclusion

It has been a year since the publication of “The Woman Behind the Waterfall”. In that year, I have received wonderful reviews, been stocked in dozens of bookshops, made friends with writers, editors, publishers and many more people from the book world, and learned an enormous amount about independent publishing and the publishing industry.

While fulfilling my dream was incredible, it was also merely the first step on the path of a brand-new career – one that will challenge and amaze me for the rest of my life. From now, I can truly say that I am happy, and that I have done what I was born to do.

If any of you have a dream – especially if it is a dream to create – then know that it is possible. Keep believing. Keep working. It will come true.

About the Author

Leonora Meriel grew up in London and studied literature at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and Queen’s University in Canada. She worked at the United Nations in New York, and then for a multinational law firm.

In 2003 she moved from New York to Kyiv, where she founded and managed Ukraine’s largest Internet company. She studied at Kyiv Mohyla Business School and earned an MBA, which included a study trip around China and Taiwan, and climbing to the top of Hoverla, Ukraine’s highest peak and part of the Carpathian Mountains. She also served as President of the International Women’s Club of Kyiv, a major local charity.

During her years in Ukraine, she learned to speak Ukrainian and Russian, witnessed two revolutions and got to know an extraordinary country at a key period of its development.

In 2008, she decided to return to her dream of being a writer, and to dedicate her career to literature. In 2011, she completed The Woman Behind the Waterfall, set in a village in western Ukraine. While her first novel was with a London agent, Leonora completed her second novel The Unity Game, set in New York City and on a distant planet.

Leonora currently lives in Barcelona and London and has two children. She is working on her third novel.

About the Books

The Woman Behind The Waterfall

For seven-year old Angela, happiness is exploring the lush countryside around her home in western Ukraine. Her wild imagination takes her into birds and flowers, and into the waters of the river.

All that changes when, one morning, she sees her mother crying. As she tries to find out why, she is drawn on an extraordinary journey into the secrets of her family, and her mother's fateful choices.

Can Angela lead her mother back to happiness before her innocence is destroyed by the shadows of a dark past?

Beautiful, poetic and richly sensory, this is a tale that will haunt and lift its readers.

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The Unity Game

A New York banker is descending into madness.

A being from an advanced civilization is racing to stay alive.

A dead man must unlock the secrets of an unknown dimension to save his loved ones.

From the visions of Socrates in ancient Athens, to the birth of free will aboard a spaceship headed to Earth, The Unity Game tells a story of hope and redemption in a universe more ingenious and surprising than you ever thought possible.

Metaphysical thriller and interstellar mystery, this is a 'complex, ambitious and thought-provoking novel' from an exciting and original new voice in fiction.

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Guest Post: Why Book Covers are So Important by Veronica Thatcher

Guest Post

Why Book Covers are So Important by Veronica Thatcher

Book covers. A common mistake that most orthodox-minded writers make is that they don’t pay attention to the book cover. After all, there is an age-old maxim about it. “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” So, writers think, who in hell cares for the cover?

Rookie mistake. In today’s modern world, no one follows maxims. If they did, life would be much, much simpler. Everyone, in fact, does the very opposite. They do judge a book by its cover. And why shouldn’t they?

Let’s face it, book covers are like first impressions. The cover is the first thing you see when you pick up a book. You read the back matter – the synopsis and author biography much later. Just like first impressions are the most important, so are book covers. If you fail to make a compelling first impression, whatever chance you did have is down the drain.

While picking out the cover of my debut novel, A Way Back Into Love, I was over-obsessed with finding the perfect cover for my book. I spent all day and all night, every day, on stock image websites like Shutterstock and Adobe Stock. I was driving myself, my mother and my project manager so crazy that my mother finally gave up and said it. “Why do you care so much about the cover? The book is what matters the most! People are gonna be reading the book or gawking at your cover all day long?”

Oh, Ma! If only you knew. As I said, orthodox-minded people from the 90s who have this stereotypical notion that no one judges a book by its cover and that if a book is good, it will sell even if the author sits inside the four walls of his/her room all day and does nothing to market it, will never understand that the cover of a book is one of the most important marketing tools a author has.

Covers have the ability to speak to the eyes that behold them. It can draw a reader in instantly, or repel the reader to such extent that the reader will not bother to flip your book and read the back matter despite the fact that your book is the next Pride and Prejudice.

An attractive cover is like flirting. It captures the attention of the reader and forces him/her to flip the book. Covers also represent the content of the book. It gives the reader a taste of what is to come.

A risqué cover often represents an erotic romance. A sweet cover in pink could represent teen fiction. A dark cover with solid colours could represent dark romances, forbidden subjects, serious issues, paranormal fiction or a murder mystery/psychological thriller.

After a lot of humming and hawing, a lot of back and forth, I finally chose a cover for my debut novel that I thought represented its theme. I was not overly satisfied with the cover due to my cover designer’s reluctance to add filters to it, and the cover may go under serious editing post release, but it’s OK for now.

What I see a lot these days is that most of the romance novels out there, whether self-published or traditionally published, have a racy cover or a guy’s chiselled chest on the front, even though the content of the book might be suitable for teens. I don’t understand this trend. There are a lot of graphics that can represent romance and still fall in the PG-13 rating. Why go all R-rated on covers? Just because it sells? Fifty Shades of Grey is not suitable for anyone below the age of 21, and it still has a decent, intriguing cover. You can keep a romance book’s cover clean and family friendly and still represent it thematically. A cover is supposed to hook the reader – I believe one should try to keep it thematic yet a bit intriguing instead of just exposing a raunchy scene to the readers and just give away what the book is about. Keep an air of mystery surrounding it – choose a cover that has a deeper meaning and resonates with its beholder.

In the ideal world, of course, you could choose a cover with a melon on it and your book would still be a bestseller. If you hold that opinion, then no one’s judging you. We are nothing without our own principles.

About the Book

Nothing is perfect. Life is messy. Relationships are complex. Outcomes, uncertain. People, irrational. But love…well, that makes everything complicated. And when you are caught in a tangled web of secrets, lies, and complex affairs, someone is bound to get burned.

Emily Stevens is a spunky, spirited college girl whose life gets turned upside-down when she realizes she's in love with her best friend of fifteen years, Derek Thorpe. As Emily prepares to confess her feelings to Derek, something happens one night which changes her life forever. Five years later, Emily finds herself in Boston, alone and heartbroken. Will she ever be able to forget the past? And what will she find when she returns home...to the man she left behind?

Buy Links

Paperback: Amazon.in I Amazon.com 

Ebook: Amazon.in I Amazon.com

Excerpt

Emily stepped back from him and shook her head. “Oh, you know damn well what I mean. You know what, Derek? I’m done having this conversation with you. I’m so done with this conversation and I’m so done with you,” Emily spat out angrily before brushing past him.

“Emily, wait,” Derek said, catching her by her arm. “Where are you going?”

Emily spun around and gave him a bitter look before looking down at his hand gripping her arm. “Leave my arm,” she said in a low yet threatening voice, “And why do you care where I’m going? It’s none of your business.”

Derek didn’t leave her arm in spite of her warning and said, “Em, you’ve had too many drinks. You can’t drive in this condition. I’ll drop you home.”

Emily jerked her arm free from his grasp and replied in a bitter voice, “Thank you, but no. I’m perfectly capable of getting myself home on my own. I don’t need you to drop me home. Do you get it, Derek Thorpe? I DON’T NEED YOU!” Emily yelled the last words, causing a few people to look their way.

About the Author

Veronica Thatcher is an exciting new contemporary romance author. Ever since she was very young, she’s dreamed of becoming a doctor when she grew up. While still forging ahead with that, majoring in pre-med in college, she unwittingly stumbled upon a new dream—becoming a published author. Some may call her an introvert or a wallflower, but she has always found she could express herself better in written, rather than spoken, words. However, never in her wildest dreams had she envisioned she would pursue writing as a prospective career, not just a hobby. Her love for writing goes hand-in-hand with her love for a good romance novel—whether it be a feel-good, sweet romance or a dark, suspenseful one. When she’s not studying, reading, or writing, she is usually found blasting her favourite songs, sometimes singing and dancing along to them.  She dabbles in a number of activities, including painting, karate, singing and dancing. She is a huge chocoholic – probably the biggest – and she is an ice-cream junkie too. She considers herself technologically handicapped forever and has no shame in admitting that. She also deems chocolates her boyfriend, Patrick Dempsey the love of her life, and Friends her life!

Her first book, A Way Back Into Love, is slated for release in February 2017, and she hopes readers will enjoy it as much as she enjoyed writing it. You can reach Veronica through Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, Wattpad and Gmail.

Guest Post: Being A Writer - Going From Title To Truth by J.R. Fehr

Guest Post

Being a Writer: Going from Title to Truth by J.R. Fehr

A lot of people say they’re writers, but not a lot of people actually write. I say this because that was me for many years. Sure, I had “written” things—even a few unpublished novels—but I was not writing regularly.

In one of the first conversations that I ever had with Chris Hansen—back when I had asked him to train me in story—he told me that I needed to be writing for at least three hours a day. This was one of his requirements for working with new writers.

“Three hours a day writing?” I couldn’t believe it. “That’s not possible. I have a job. I work eight hours a day.”

“It is possible,” he told me, “people do it all the time—people with families and careers. Sometimes it requires them to get up really early and write before going off to work. But they find time to do it.”

And then he said the words that would haunt and challenge me for months to come. “Writers write, directors direct, actors act, animators animate, etc. If you want to be a writer, then you need to be writing regularly.”

Hmm. I wasn’t writing three hours a day. I wasn’t even writing three hours a week! Had I been deceiving myself? Was I really a writer?

As I examined that question, I realized a hard truth. I wasn’t a writer. I was someone who wanted to be a writer.

But wanting to be something and actually being it are two different things. So I sat down and challenged myself to try and write a little bit each day. I didn’t exactly think that Chris was right when he suggested that three hours a day was realistic, but I figured I’d try to do at least an hour a day.

It took time—a lot of time—before I was able to build a routine around writing and develop the discipline required to sit down and write daily. At first, it was difficult to last even an hour before I would get distracted and seek some other kind of stimulation (I watched a lot more TV back then).

There were many blocks for me—insecurities and self-doubts that kept me from writing regularly. I was afraid that I would be judged, that people wouldn’t like my writing, and that the things I wrote would expose me. Worst of all, I was afraid that I wasn’t any good.

But as I worked on writing regularly, I gradually developed more and more focus. Soon, I found it much easier to get to that blissful place known to artists as a “flow state.” I was writing for hours at a time without any issues.

And best of all, I felt refreshed and energized while doing it! Writing daily became like breathing to me. Once I got into the habit of writing every day, I found it difficult to stop. On days that I wasn’t writing, I was thinking about writing.

That was what it took for me to realize that, yes, I could truly call myself a writer. Writing was now, without a doubt, something that I would be doing for the rest of my life. Before I came to this conclusion, I wasn’t really sure. I guess it was just more of a hobby for me—something I pursued on weekends or whenever I felt like it. It took me awhile to see the need to make writing a routine.

So, my advice to other aspiring writers is the same advice that I was given. If you want to be a writer, then just start writing. Don’t wait for inspiration or for that lucky break to come around. If it’s in you to write, and you can do it for long periods of time without feeling miserable, then you’re a writer. You don’t need publications, a career, or public recognition to make you one. Create because it’s in you to create. Imagine because your mind is a wonderful place. And most of all, write without fear and love the things you write. If you can do all this, and do it regularly, then—woo hoo!—you are a writer.

About the Books:

The Magician’s Workshop, Volume One

Authors: Christopher Hansen, J.R. Fehr

Publisher: Wondertale, California

Publication Date: November 8, 2016

Book Links:

Amazon * Goodreads

 Synopsis:

Everyone in the islands of O’Ceea has a magical ability: whatever they imagine can be brought into existence. Whoever becomes a master over these powers is granted the title of magician and is given fame, power, riches, and glory. This volume of books follows the journey of a group of kids as they strive to rise to the top and become members of the Magician’s Workshop.

Layauna desperately wants to create beautiful things with her magical powers, but all she can seem to do is make horrible, savage monsters. For years she has tried to hide her creations, but when her power is at last discovered by a great magician, she realizes that what she’s tried to hide might actually be of tremendous value.

Kai just wants to use his powers to have fun and play with his friends. Unfortunately, nearly everyone on his island sees him as a bad influence, so he’s forced to meet them in secret. When one of the creatures they create gets out of control and starts flinging fireballs at their town, Kai is tempted to believe that he is as nefarious as people say. However, his prospects change when two mysterious visitors arrive, praising his ability and making extraordinary promises about his future.

Follow the adventures of Kai, Layauna, and a boatload of other characters as they struggle to grow up well in this fantastical world.

The Magician’s Workshop, Volume Two

Authors: Christopher Hansen, J.R. Fehr

Publisher: Wondertale

Book Links:

Amazon * Goodreads

Synopsis:

Return to the world of The Magician’s Workshop: Where Dreams Become Reality.

In Volume Two, the Festival of Stars has finally arrived, and the Color Ceremony is about to commence. As children from all over the islands gather to stand before a puller, one question remains: who will have a Color, and who will be found void?

Rejoin your favorite characters as they step forward and receive a label that will have the power to dramatically alter the course of their lives forever.

About the Authors:

Christopher Hansen

The first glimmering Chris Hansen had that there was far more to reality than he had ever imagined occurred six days after his ninth birthday. “Christopher!” cried a wise, old sage. “Life is full of deep magic. Miraculous things happen all the time and all around us, if you know where to look for them.” Full of expectation and childlike optimism, Chris began searching for this magic, prepared to be surprised and amazed by it. And he was: he found Wonder! Now he’s chosen to write stories about it.

J.R. Fehr

When J.R. Fehr popped out of the womb, he knew there was more to the world than the four boring hospital walls that he was seeing. “Zango!” his newborn mind exclaimed as he saw people appear and disappear through a mysterious portal in the wall. As a child he found life wowtazzling, but as he grew older the cold water of reality hit him, and the magic he once knew vanished. After spending some wet and shivering years lost in a joyless wasteland, he once again began to see magic in the world. He writes because the Wonder of true life is far grander than anything he ever thought possible.

Contact the Authors:

Website * Facebook