GUEST AUTHOR - JESS C. SCOTT - THE OTHER SIDE OF LIFE

Since deciding to use this blog to help fellow fantasy authors, I've received a flood of requests to be featured. As I'm presently immersed in the pre-publication phase of my next novel (Journey Through the Land of Shades...first volume of a five part fantasy cylce), I can only get to a few of these per week.I believe that this concept of genre cross promotion has the potential to benefit everyone who participates...the more exposure for the artist and the genre, the better. My initial intention was to concentrate on epic high fantasy in this promotion...though I will make allowances for urban and youth fantasy. Due to time constraints, I cannot accept offerings from other genres...though this is hardly a proprietary idea and others should consider applying the same concept of reciprocal cross-promotion to their chosen areas.

Today's featured author is Jess C Scott and his novel entitled The Other Side of Life

Here is a synopsis of the novel:
Anya and Leticia are partners-in-crime who steal for a living. Their world turns upside down after a chance encounter with fellow rogue, Ithilnin—the enigmatic leader of an Elven band of thieves.


A scuffle to prove who’s “the better thief” transforms into more than Anya and Ithilnin ever bargained for. They retrieve the missing piece of an ancient poem, before getting caught in the secret dealings of a megacorporation. What they uncover threatens to alter the very essence of not just human life, but the other side as well.

Elven intrigue, cyberpunk action, and a deadly dose of danger come together in The Other Side of Life [Book #1 in the (Cyberpunk) Elven Trilogy].

GENRE: Urban Fantasy / Cyberpunk / YA with adult crossover appeal


Here is the link to Jess' website along with the places that his novel can be purchased.
 www.jessink.com/tosol.htm



1. LINK FOR The Other Side of Life PDF:

http://jesscscott.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/theothersideoflife_jesscscott.pdf



2. LINK FOR KINDLE, SONY, NOOK, KOBO OR OTHER:

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/36639

I hope that visitor take the time to check out his site and I wish him well with his project.

GUEST AUTHOR - PATRICIA PUDDLE - VELVET BALL AND THE BROKEN FAIRY

The love of fantasy can be fostered in children from an early age...Inkheart and Harry Potter can chart a course through the imagination that can lead to Steven Erikson and Robert Jordan as an adult. The imagination of a child is a wonderful garden to cultivate.

To that end, here is a fantasy offering by Australian author...Patricia Puddle and her youth fantasy novel entitled, Velvet Ball and the Broken Fairy.

Here is the novel's cover:

Here is the Synopsis of Patricia's novel:
Synopsis:




Nine-year-old Velvet is sick of being teased at school and called a pixie just because she’s bald. Avoiding bullies on the school bus, she takes off into the woods. On her way home, she comes upon a fairy caught in the bow of a tree. The tiny doll-like creature claims to be Roseberry - Fairy of Crabtree Forest. Velvet doesn’t believe in fairies, but when Roseberry promises to grant her a wish, she takes a chance and wishes for golden curls. Just like Velvet thought, Roseberry's magic doesn’t work and when the fairy tries to fly away, she falls to the ground with a thump. Feeling sorry for the helpless little sprite, Velvet takes her home and hides her in her bedroom. But the fairy isn’t at all endearing, she’s rude, bad mannered and spoilt. All she's interested in is trying on Barbie clothes, dancing around the bedroom, and causing mischief. Velvet figures the fairy has no powers because she didn’t pay attention in Magic School. Roseberry's not interested in learning anything, she’d sooner play jokes and get Velvet into trouble. Velvet’s had enough and wishes the nasty little snot would just buzz off, but her heart breaks when Roseberry's kidnaped by a gang of bullies. They think the fairy's just a doll and use her as a football, catapult her into trees, and toss her around. When Roseberry's grabbed by the gang leader’s snotty-nosed baby sister, Velvet tries to save her, but before she has a chance, the toddler stuffs the fairy in her doll pram and wheels it indoors. Now Velvet has to break into the house without been seen by the crabby-looking woman in the kitchen, plus the boys are coming back up the garden path.


Here are key links to Patricia's blog and sites where this novel can be purchased:

Here’s my blog site:  http://trish-mollygumnut.blogspot.com/




Here’s the links to buy my book:



It’s available as a paperback with Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Velvet-Ball-Broken-Fairy-1/dp/1456387448/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1293724495&sr=1-2-spell



As an eBook with Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Velvet+Ball+and+The+Broken+Fairy&x=19&y=17



With Smashwords as an eBook: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/32393



As an eBook with Barnes and Noble NookBooks: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Velvet-Ball-and-The-Broken-fairy/Patricia-Puddle/e/2940011146060/?itm=1&USRI=velvet+ball+and+the+broken+fairy


I hope that everyone will take the time to visit Patricia's site and explore the fantasy world she's crafted....

GUEST AUTHOR - KRISS PERRASS RUNNING WATERS - 300 NIGHTS

When I consider the challenges that I’ve face over the last few years in the effort of writing for public consumption, it occurred to me that authors would benefit greatly from fostering a climate of community rather than competitiveness…that we could all benefit from the notion of mutually reciprocal cross-promotion. Every neophyte author is faced with the same slippery slope of roaring indifference when trying to spread the message of their craft to the reading public…challenges that can be disheartening to say the least.


To this end, I’ve decided that I would open the blog portion of my site to the concept of featuring the offerings of other fantasy authors who are more or less in the same situation as myself. Fantasy is a genre of immense creative and artistic potential and stunning beauty and those who love the world of the epic fantasy saga are ravenous consumers of the art. Thus, there is no need to take the me for myself approach to promotion and the community of fantasy author can benefit by spreading the gospel of the genre as it were…both their own works and the works of others.

The first work I would like to feature is not a fantasy novel, but rather a modern sci-fi...arguably a close cousin of the genre. The novel is entitled 300 Nights by author Kriss Perras.
 
 

 
 
Here is a link to the novel's site on barnes and noble
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/300-Nights/Kriss-Perras-Running-Waters/e/9780557824304/?itm=1&USRI=kriss+perras+running+waters
 
Here is a brief synopsis to the novel:
 
About the Book:


300 Nights is a cyberpunk science fiction novel where a society

controlled by genetic manipulation creates social classes based on

neural implants and gene bums. The biological superpower, the Basic

Protection Corporation, controls the key to human survival. Yet, the

Company stands idly by while a deadly space-born virus hurled down to

Earth during an apocalyptic meteor storm annihilates the human

population above ground. Exiled to the Earth’s womb, humanity now

faces the BPC-born threat of another race more powerful and genetically

superior to the Homo Sapien. Humanity hangs in the balance with their

defenders Benner, caught in the Demon’s Hole of the next generation

Mindbender, and Miranda only just discovering who she really is in a

gritty new world.



Hard Copy ISBN: 978-0-557-79969-5

eBook ISBN: 978-0-557-82430-4



Website:

novel.300-nights.com

    Hopefully, visitors will take the opportunity to visit Kriss' site and take a close look at 300 NIGHTS

FREE KINDLE FOR PC PROGRAM AND OTHER NEWS

Hello to all:

As my latest effort has been released as an e-book (a format that I am likely to use for the foreseeable future), I just wanted to let visitors know that Kindle has provided a free download of their kindle software that will allow readers to download kindle format books for their computer. This will provide full Kindle functionality on their computer, including bookmarking and one touch page turning that makes the Kindle such a joy to use.  This free download can be had at the following address:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=kcp_pc_mkt_lnd?docId=1000426311

For fans looking to purchase Closures in Blood, they can do so through the Smashwords website. Be sure to select the mobi version when downloading the novel, so they can enjoy it with the Kindle for PC software.

On other matters, I am hard at work on editing the first novel in my fantasy series: Journey Through the Land of Shades. In addition to this preliminary editorial work, I'm writing the first draft of the fourth novel of this series...Wake of the ShadowCaster. Developing a living map and the cover concept for the first novel of the series has left my plate overflowing, but I've never been as delighted with the creative process as I am with this particular project. I will post more as I delve deeper into this world I've labored so mightily to create.

A few things I have discovered and am enjoying immensely:

Slash's new cd: FNF'NR
Blackmore's Night new cd: AUTUMN SKY
The Robert Jordan Novel: EYE OF THE WORLD

George Straatman to Discuss Closures in Blood on Night Fright

Hello to all...I'm very pleased to announce that I will be the featured guest on Brent Holland's Night Fright, which will air On CKLU fm radio on Wednesday, May 19th from 10:00 p.m. until Midnight. This broadcast can be heard via the internet through the following link.




http://www.cklu.ca/streaming.htm




This will be the third occasion that I've been a guest on Brent's show and I am very grateful for the coverage and encouragement he has given my work over the years. I hope that fans of the series will tune in for a deeper insight into the now-complete world of The Converging.

THE CONVERGING: CLOSURES IN BLOOD

The graphic above is the front cover image from my forthcoming novel: The Converging: Closures in blood. I would like to begin by thanking Steven Efondo (Sefdesign) for breathing such scintillating life into my vision for the graphic representation of the final novel in this series. Steven’s talents as a graphic designer have helped polish the visual aspect of not only my novels, but my website and road presentation props as well and I thank him for his invaluable contributions to my project. As the appearance of a cover graphic would suggest, the novel is in close proximity to being release-ready. As I have indicated in the forums section of this site, the novel will begin its life as an e-book.

Fans of the series might ask why I’ve elected to go the e-book route and as the query is certainly valid, I will try to provide an answer…As I’m inclined to be frank and candid by nature, my response to this question can only be unequivocally honest. Amberdias publishing is a small regional micro press and when it was first created, everyone involved imaged that our project would garner a certain level of community and fan support in the area where we could realistically expect to operate…Unfortunately, sales of my first two novels have not met these expectations. The reasons behind this lack of acceptance are difficult to pinpoint…those who read the first two installment of the trilogy seemed to enjoy the effort, but enticing readers in the area to pick up the novels and embrace the tales told within has been a challenge to which we have not been equal…The reasons behind this are complicated and elude me, but as the refrain goes…they are what they are and I cannot help but accept them. Bottom line is that writing for public consumption is a marriage of art and business and at this time, it would not be practical to release a paper version of the novel. Will that change in the future…I am always hopeful, but augury is not my area of expertise, so I cannot predict and so I must say that the possibility of a paper version is…remote.

There are other reasons for my decision to go with an e-book format…they involve my strong belief in the environment and the idea that the proliferation of e-book technology is a positive thing for the book industry and the e-book has afforded me an opportunity at world-wide distribution that I may otherwise have never achieved.

Still this most compelling reason I’ve decided to release Closures in Blood as an e-book is this…during the course of the last three years, I have promised fans that Elizabeth and Cynara’s epic horror tale would have a fitting conclusion and by releasing this e-book, I am honoring that promise to the best of my ability. I am particularly pleased by the concluding volume of this trilogy…As the name would imply, the volume provides closure for all of the primary characters in the trilogy…This may well be my final foray into the world of writing for public consumption and though I am sad to see Elizabeth and Cynara’s story come an end, I can bid them a fond farewell knowing that I’m both satisfied and gratified by the way in which I told their story.



George

The Rise of the Ebook

The proliferation of the e-reader may be the most profound change to the publishing industry since the advent of the internet...I believe that it is an innovation with virtually no downside and will provide benefits to every aspect of the industry. I think that the environmental impact of this technology should be self-evident and so I won't devote any time to elaboration...Instead, I would like to talk about why I have made the decision to embrace the e-reader...as both a reader and a writer. From a reader's perspective, books are cheaper, readily available and won't require that you have to invest in a bigger house if, like me, you wish to hang on to your books. The devices do have their limitations and are presently not well-suited to manga, and other forms of books with high graphics content, but if you spend most of your reading time with simple text novels, they are ideal. Taking the Amazon Kindle as an example...the device holds up to 1500 novels, can down-load directly to the device and is ergonomically well-designed and portable. For the cynical, I would point out how so many companies are offering their own versions of the technology and how so many publishers have jumped on the bandwagon of making their products available in e-book format as an indicator of how the media giants view the future importance of this evolving technology.

As a writer, the e-book has given me access to markets that my small paper publisher never would have been able to deliver. Smashwords has allowed fledgling authors the opportunity to deliver their works to markets that were essentially closed just a few years ago. Thanks to this indie publisher, I can now sell my works on Amazon, the Sony reader store and Barnes and Noble and have been able to do so while preserving the artistic integrity of the story I wished to tell. What's more, I have been able to achieve this previously unimaginable goal without have to plunge myself into utter penury as the production costs of an e-book are a mere fraction of what the paper sibling would be.

This is why the final segment of my Converging Trilogy will begin its life as an e-book. Closures in Blood should soon be ready for public consumption. I am pleased with the concluding volume, just as I have been with the trilogy as a whole.

As the banner at the top of this post would indicate, The week of March 7th has been designated 'read and e-book week'. I would encourage every reader to spend some time during that week familiarizing themselves with the technology that is now available to deliver e-books. Both the e-book and e-reader are not a passing fad...rather they are a step forward in the advancement of our industry and can a tremendous benefit to both the consumers of the written word and those who weave those words together...take care...and by the way, Cynara and Elizabeth send their regards!