Toby’s Tales by Vicotira Zigler: Now in Audio Book

Posted on September 26, 2017 by Charles Yallowitz

Written by Victoria Zigler – and now with an audio version read by Joseph A. Batzel – the “Toby’s Tales” series is a five book series designed to show children – and adults too – the struggles and challenges faced by people who are blind, or who are adjusting to sight loss, while also being useful tools to show anyone who finds themselves in Toby’s situation that they aren’t alone in facing those struggles and challenges.

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Book 1 – Toby’s New World

Toby has just learned he’ll never see again. Now he’s learning just how frustrating it can be doing even simple things when you’re blind. And it doesn’t help when his big brother Jake, and little sister Emma laugh at him when things don’t go right. But there’s always a way to make things easier… Isn’t there?

Buy “Toby’s New World” as an audiobook, eBook, or paperback – in some cases two or more of these formats – from Audible, Smashwords, CreateSpace, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Chapters-Indigo, iBooks, iTunes, Amazon UK, Amazon US, Amazon Canada, or The Book Depository.

The book also has a page on Goodreads.

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Book 2 – Toby’s Monsters

Toby’s world is scary and full of monsters his mind has created. If he wasn’t blind he could see what the monsters really are, but he is, so he can’t. Can he find a way to battle his monsters? Or will he spend the rest of his life afraid of every unexplained noise?

Buy “Toby’s Monsters” as an audiobook, eBook, or paperback – in some cases two or more of these formats – from Audible, Smashwords, CreateSpace, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Chapters-Indigo, iBooks, iTunes, Amazon UK, Amazon US, Amazon Canada, or The Book Depository.

The book also has a page on Goodreads.

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Book 3 – Toby’s Outing

Everyone is excited about the trip to the aquarium. But not Toby. Toby’s sure he won’t have fun, after all, aquariums can’t be fun for blind people… Can they?

Buy “Toby’s Outing” as an audiobook, eBook, or paperback – in some cases two or more of these formats – from Audible, Smashwords, CreateSpace, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Chapters-Indigo, iBooks, iTunes, Amazon UK, Amazon US, Amazon Canada, or The Book Depository.

The book also has a page on Goodreads.

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Book 4 – Toby’s Games

Now that he can’t see, Toby can’t play with his big brother Jake like he used to, and every time he tries to he just gets frustrated, upset or hurt. He’s starting to feel like he can’t do anything fun any more. Is he right? Or can he find a way to still do the things he enjoys?

Buy “Toby’s Games” as an audiobook, eBook, or paperback – in some cases two or more of these formats – from Audible, Smashwords, CreateSpace, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Chapters-Indigo, iBooks, iTunes, Amazon UK, Amazon US, Amazon Canada, or The Book Depository.

The book also has a page on Goodreads.

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Book 5 – Toby’s Special School

Toby’s starting to feel like he’s the only blind boy in the world, so when his first day at his new special school comes around, he’s sure the other children will tease him because he can’t see. But when he gets there he soon learns just why they call it a “special” school, and even manages to make a new friend.

Buy “Toby’s Special School” as an audiobook, eBook, or paperback – in some cases two or more of these formats – from Audible, Smashwords, CreateSpace, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Chapters-Indigo, iBooks, iTunes, Amazon UK, Amazon US, Amazon Canada, or The Book Depository.

The book also has a page on Goodreads.

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“Toby’s New World” book excerpt:
At dinner time his Mother told his Father, his big brother Jake, and his little sister Emma about the visit to the doctor and how there was no hope of fixing Toby’s eyes. “There’s nothing they can do,” she finished.

“It will be OK,” his Father said.

Toby still didn’t think so. In fact, Toby still thought things would never be OK again. But he didn’t say so. Instead he hugged his favourite bear tightly, said nothing, and tried to eat his dinner.

Eating his dinner wasn’t working too well for him. Things wouldn’t stay on the fork, and Toby was getting very cross about it.

“Look at Toby,” said Jake, laughing.

Emma laughed too.

Toby didn’t know what was so funny, but the fact they were laughing at him made him want to cry.

“Toby can’t help getting himself in a mess with his dinner,” said their Mother.

But Jake and Emma still laughed.

“What mess?” asked Toby, unable to see the food that had ended up all over his clothes, his bear, and just about everything else.

His Mother came with a cloth to clean him up, and Toby tried not to cry as he allowed her to clean the spaghetti off himself and his bear.

Jake and Emma were still laughing, but Toby didn’t think it was funny. He wanted to cry. He wanted to shout at them to stop. He wanted things to go back to how they were when he could see. He wanted his eyes to work again. He wanted to get out of the kitchen and be by himself where he could cry without Jake thinking he was a baby.

Toby threw down his fork, and got up off his chair without asking if he could leave the table.

“Finish your dinner,” said his Father.

But Toby didn’t listen.

He stormed out of the kitchen, banging his elbow on the doorframe as he went, and tripping over Max who was laying in the doorway.

Then he started stamping his way up the stairs, his favourite bear held tightly in one arm.

*Stamp, stamp, stamp*

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About the author:
Victoria Zigler is a blind poet and children’s author who was born and raised in the Black Mountains of Wales, UK, and is now living on the South-East coast of England, UK. Victoria – or Tori, if you prefer – has been writing since she knew how, has a very vivid imagination, and spends a lot of time in fictional worlds; some created by her, others created by other authors. When she remembers to spend some time in the real world, it’s mostly to spend time with her hubby and pets, though sometimes to indulge in other interests that capture her attention from time to time. To date she has published 8 poetry books and more than 40 children’s books, with more planned for the near future. She’s also contributed a story to the sci-fi and fantasy anthology Wyrd Worlds II.

Author links:
website, blog, Goodreads, Facebook Author Page, Twitter, Google+.

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About the narrator:
Joseph Batzel has a BA and an MA from Brigham Young University in Film and Theater. He is also a professional actor for stage and film for over thirty years. Joseph has over 150 voice- over credits including radio, TV, audiobooks, and animation. He has traveled extensively throughout the US teaching voice over workshops. Joseph is a dialectician and can perform most American regional dialects and most foreign accents.

Mr. Batzel has just joined Deyan audio one of the world’s largest Independent producer of Audiobooks as one of their narrators. He is married to his wife Alice of forty-four years, she is a published playwright and working on her first novel. They have two sons and five grandchildren. He presently lives in Brigham City, Utah where he currently works as an adjunct instructor at Utah State University teaching courses in Creative Arts and Public Speaking.

Posted in Guest Blogging, Spotlight | Tagged audio book, blindness, children, children's books, disabilities, KidLit, school, Sight Loss, writing | 4 Comments

A Hint of Good in the Bad

Posted on September 25, 2017 by Charles Yallowitz

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A major point of Path of the Traitors is that some of the villains in Legends of Windemere are not entirely evil. They have a chance at redemption and even some positive qualities. While not every villain is in this story, I’m going to run down the roster and point out the spark of good that is in them. Although, I won’t mention Trinity because she’s had several of her own posts.

General Vile

This halfling warrior didn’t get nearly as much book time as I’d hoped, but I tried to make sure he always shined in his scenes. One way of doing this was giving him a sense of honor and manners. He’s rarely angry and insulting even to Yola, who is known for being highly irritating. Vile gives Kayn a fair fight when he debuted and tried to do the same with Sari until he was pushed too far. His spark of good is this sense of honor that hints he was a much better man in his younger days. It’s just that his desire for a challenge led him to the Baron’s services and he sacrificed his noble side for the promise of glorious fights.

Yola Biggs

The thing about Yola is that she rarely means any harm. This doesn’t make her a good person because she still hurts people. Even innocent evil is still evil, but it is hard to call it evil when she’s still learning the difference between right and wrong. Remember this is a primordial being, so those things can get a little confusing for her. Another sign that she isn’t totally evil is that she will fix her mistakes if they’re pointed out. For example, she put everything back to normal after she caused a major upheaval in The Merchant of Nevra Coil. Yola also has no problem apologizing, which is something you don’t see a lot of villains do.

The Hellfire Elf

Being a demon, you expect nothing good from this character. Yet, he’s shown a sense of honor and fairness when it comes to Luke. There are a few times when his actions even help the one he’s called his rival. It’s because demons have a design ‘flaw’. When they are pulled from the Chaos Void, they are truly evil and obey their masters as long as they aren’t the stronger being. As time goes on, they will gain emotions and thoughts that are oddly mortal. For this Hellfire Elf, it’s the sense of being thrilled with fighting a strong opponent. It’s no longer about the orders and job, but just having fun and he doesn’t even care if he wins. Will this remain now that he’s in the Chaos Void again? You never know.

Nyder Fortune

What to say about this Gnomish inventor? Well, people might not know about him because he rarely leaves Shayd. Most of his scenes are in the prologue or when the other villains are passing through. Because of this, Nyder became the Baron’s confidant and developed the ability to speak openly without fear of reprisals. Instead of being the sniveling manipulator like so many other evil advisers, he shows true concern for his master. He tries to steer him away from self-destructive actions and mentions when he thinks the risks are too high. By the end of the series, I’ve found that Nyder really is a friend instead of a lackey for the Baron. They’re still trying to rule the world though, but it shows there’s respect and friendship there.

The Lich

The original main villain of the series, who might look rather weak by this point. He was never the best planner, necrocaster, or much else. You have to wonder why he was kept around and given important missions. It comes down to one really important aspect of the Lich that he actually shares with Luke Callindor. Good old Tyler never gives up even if he has to make a new body. More so than the other villains, he has an incredible amount of faith in his master. This doesn’t stop the Baron from turning his back on him and letting him die when he failed too many times, so you have to wonder what the Lich thought at the very end. Still, you gotta give him credit for staying the course and believing in the cause. He’d be an interesting hero if that passion was directed to a nobler goal.

Baron Arthuru Kernaghan

It’s tough to put a positive spark in the major villain, especially when he’s supposed to be so evil that the gods and goddesses erased him from history. I think it’s this good point that makes him even more dangerous. The Baron has tortured, killed, and done nearly every horrible act in the back. (For some reason, I can’t see him as a rapist, so there’s one plus.) Even with all of the evil, he shows kindness when it strikes his fancy and this can draw people in. He won’t strike down an agent for one failure if they tried and are willing to improve for him. He acknowledges that not everyone is as powerful as him and his curse means not everything will go his way. So, mortals are not seen as expendable as they once were to him. Trinity has made him appreciate the chaos elves more and Nyder has softened his edges by caring about him. It’s not easy to see since he has limited scenes and I needed him to be the biggest baddie in the series, but he has moments of humanity.

Perhaps the biggest examples are Melanie and Raksha. For those that don’t know, Raksha is a kitten that Trinity gave to the Baron and he turned it into a monster. This was done to make sure it can survive on Shayd and in the Chaos Void. He needed someone to tend to Raksha, but the knife-tipped tails made the pet fairly dangerous. Around this time, a girl caught his attention. She was in a group of people that were taken to be used as food for his demons. The Baron took Melanie out of the pack and transformed her into a being of metal to play with Raksha. The pair can be found playing around several scenes and he shows glints of genuinely caring about them. It could be selfish though because the Baron has been around for so long that he might be struggling to retain some of his humanity. Still, it is an act of benevolence in some fashion.

Stephen Kernaghan

Well . . . You see . . . He . . . Okay, there’s an exception to every rule. Stephen was and always will be the ultimate bastard in this series.

Posted in Character & Book Themes, Legends of Windemere | Tagged Baron Kernaghan, epic fantasy, evil, fantasy, good, high fantasy, Legends of Windemere, magic, sword & sorcery, The Lich, Trinity, villains, Windemere, writing, Yola Biggs | 7 Comments

13 Tales of Illusory Blog Tour Stop #3

Posted on September 25, 2017 by Charles Yallowitz

Welcome to Hell Bent

Hey! Welcome to the next stop of the “The 13: Tales of Illusory” blog tour! Are you, by any chance, looking for a creepy read, with a classic Night Gallery sort of feel? This might just be what you’re looking for.

Tag Line: Can you survive all 13?

Back cover blurb: 13 enchanted horrors. 13 spine-chilling tales. Down, down in the depths they fell, bodies in the dark of a liquid hell. Can you survive all 13?

So to help commemorate the new book, Travis has gotten the opportunity to interview one of the many characters found within the 13 short tales… No character pic this time…but in all fairness, I think I might have forgotten to ask about that.

In all honesty, Travis can’t remember how he’d gotten underwater. Nor can he figure out why he hasn’t drowned (then come back, then drowned again, over and over) by now…

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A Perfect 10 with Michele Jones

Posted on September 25, 2017 by Charles Yallowitz

This week, I have the pleasure of featuring Author Michele Jones for this edition of A Perfect 10.

Please enjoy this week’s installment of A Perfect 10

If you want to check out past interviews, you can find them in the following links:

A.C. Flory, Steve Boseley, Kayla Matt, Mae Clair, Jill Sammut, Deanna Kahler, Dawn Reno Langley, John Howell, Elaine Cougler, Jan Sikes, Nancy Bell, Nick Davis, Kathleen Lopez, Susan Thatcher, Charles Yallowitz, Armand Rosamilia, Tracey Pagana, Anna Dobritt, Karen Oberlaender, Deby Fredericks, Teri Polen, Darlene Foster, Robert Rayner, C.C. Naughton, Sherry Rentshler, Linda Bradley, Luna St. Clair, Joan Hall, Staci Troilo, Allan Hudson, Robert Eggleton, Paul Scott Bates, P.C. Zick, Joy Lennick, Patrick Roland

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The Future of Bedlam: After Protecting

Posted on September 24, 2017 by Charles Yallowitz

Joker

Last Thursday, Protecting Bedlam came to an end on this blog. The summer into fall adventure of Cassidy and Lloyd didn’t really net much in terms of sales. Still, a BIG THANK YOU to everyone who read to the end, are still reading to the end, bought one of the previous adventures, and reblogged. I really appreciate that since this is a project I love writing, but seem to get little back for in terms of response.

This brings up the question of what to do next. I would normally be publishing Derailing Bedlam in February since it’s written and only needs to be edited and given a cover. Yet, this isn’t cheap and money is getting tight. 2018 will see the start of a new series and the stand alone from Legends of Windemere. Bedlam is in a category where people love the idea, talk about it when it’s on the blog, and then nothing happens in terms of sales to justify putting money behind it. Maybe I can just pay for the cover and do all free publishing. The problem there is that I such a thing would involve a lot of guest posts, but I’ll be having the first War of Nytefall book coming out in April and it might be too soon to be guest so close together.

I’m also trying to think about the pricing. Crossing Bedlam and Chasing Bedlam are 99 cents each. Do I keep that going or raise the sequel to $2.99? What if I do a third one?

Anyway, I’d be happy to hear what people think. I know I should be confident and publish my finished projects like many authors do. Yet, this is becoming an issue of funds and the previous books getting very little traction. So, what do people think?

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Meet Guest Author, Laurette Long…

Posted on September 23, 2017 by Charles Yallowitz

Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog

Hello readers, I’m Laurette Long, author of The French Summer Novels and I’m writing this sitting in a garden full of rosemary and lavender, admiring the sun slipping behind the hilltop village across the valley and waiting for the nightingale to tune up. Before it gets dark I might stroll down the field to pick a handful of figs–making sure to stamp loudly to warn any sleeping snakes. Where am I? Sometimes I have to pinch myself. They say Life’s a journey. How did that journey take me from a council house in west Yorkshire to a hamlet in south-west France?

I blame it on the parents. At the tender age of thirteen, I was pushed out of the nest one summer and sent to foreign climes. France. Mum and Dad, firm believers that travel broadens the mind, scraped up enough money to send me on a school exchange programme…

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Narrator Interview – Joseph Batzel

Posted on September 23, 2017 by Charles Yallowitz

This gallery contains 5 photos.

Originally posted on Library of Erana:
*Tell us a bit about yourself: My name is Joseph Batzel. I live in a small community in Utah by the name of Brigham City and have lived here since 1980 when I moved…

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Path of the Traitors, War of Nytefall, and Other Stuff: Goals!!!

Posted on September 23, 2017 by Charles Yallowitz

First, a reminder that Legends of Windemere: Path of the Traitors is live and ready to be read. I did as much marketing as I could with this one, but it doesn’t seem to be exploding like the previous ones. Doubt I’ll reach a Top 100 list outside of the New Releases, which Amazon never promotes outside of the Top 1-10 if even that. So, I’m hoping this changes now that the first week is over and that writing this doesn’t bring a lot of chaos on my head. I’ve mentioned before how the people who want me to quit look for every drop of blood to came at me over. Anyway, that’s that part of the week.

The rest of the week was one of those ‘whatever could go wrong, went wrong’. My son had Thursday and Friday off, which I planned for. What I didn’t expect was him to throw up on the bus on Monday and for his fear of eating to come back stronger than before. I lost Monday to taking care of him even though it was only motion sickness made worse by sucking down a chocolate milk 10 minutes before getting picked up. The rest of the week had me battling him over food and having no patience for it. I nearly put this issue to bed and then it got worse. Before anyone gives advice, there are no foods that he will eat no matter what and he isn’t even listening to his stomach when things get bad. Took him over 2 hours to eat one cup of Mac & Cheese because of this and that was ALL he ate that day. I’m refusing to give him snacks because I don’t want this to turn into him avoiding meals and only eating cookies. So, this sapped most of my strength and mood.

Because of that epic mess, I had trouble focusing on War of Nytefall. I got 2 chapters done, but I wrote at a slow speed. The first chapter was a lot of character intros and interactions to set a few things up. The second was Clyde’s gang having a first mission to see how they worked together and my confidence was shot during it. I can’t tell if it came out bad or my own frustration was making it impossible to see things clearly. Clyde seemed too restrained and tame here, which I was doing to have the other characters worry about there being a problem with him. It didn’t feel natural at all for him, especially after the previous chapters. The whole thing ended with him admitting that he was unsure of himself because of the secret he’s carrying. Even then, I’m not sure if I properly wrapped it up. Looking over the outline, he isn’t going to be in this state again, which might be adding to the confusion. Can a character who is always confident have a single chapter where he suffers from doubt and then realizes it isn’t like him?

On the plus side of things, we got a fun zoo trip in with friends on Friday. That food issue popped up, but my son and I had a fun morning compared to the battling on Thursday. It took a while to get home thanks to traffic, but that’s Queens. At least it wasn’t Manhattan or Brooklyn. Also picked up the pieces needed to make a Green Lantern ‘battery’, which is basically a green lantern. My son picked Green Lantern as his Halloween costume, but we can’t find one. Those we did find had reviews saying that they fell apart with a little running around. So, I’m making the lantern while my wife makes the uniform. Believe it or not, this is something I know how to design even though I forgot how to sew. Made my own Spider-Man costume in senior year of high school to go trick-or-treating one final time. Ended up coming down with the flu that day, but I made a really good costume that ended up disappearing while I was at college.

This week is going to be touch and go depending on the kid’s stomach. Have a night meeting one day, which will kill off writing at night. I’m hoping to make up for that by working tomorrow while the family is out. They aren’t happy I bowed out of the outing, but I lost so much this last week that I need the time. Today is going to be dedicated to writing the Legends of Windemere: Warlord of the Forgotten Age blurbs that I’m hoping to test on Thursday. Been putting that off for too long. Beyond that, it’s going to be War of Nytefall at every chance. All heading into next Saturday, which is:

Yom Kippur, The Jewish Day of Fasting!

Don’t expect much from me next weekend because of that. I’ll make this post in advance, but everything else will be twitches of activity or incoherent rambling. Plan on playing a video game until I’m forced to leave the house for dinner.

So, what are the goals?

Warlord of the Forgotten Age blurbs.
War of Nytefall: Loyalty writing. Really need to remember that book title and not only the series one.
Getting the kid to eat without losing my mind.
Read more One Piece and Black Cat when unable to do anything else.
Try to find other ways to promote Path of the Traitors.
Prepare December guest posts for anyone that asks for one. All I need are topics. Got 25-27 volunteers, which is great.
Do NOT starve on Yom Kippur.
Life stuff that are small, but combine to earn one slot.

Posted in Goal Posts | Tagged fantasy, future, goals, Legends of Windemere, parenting, vampires, War of Nytefall, writing | 29 Comments

Review – City at the Edge of Time – Fantasy

Posted on September 23, 2017 by Charles Yallowitz

Library of Erana

#review #fantasy #sacredband

Janet Morris

5 stars

https://www.amazon.co.uk/City-Edge-Time-Sacred-Band-ebook/dp/B0755P12F2/

Politics, deadly magic, legend, love and the machinations of gods abound in this fantasy tale of immortals, pawns and power. This is the fifth Sacred Band novel and steps aside from the usual locations to a mythic city lost in time. When Nikodemos literally falls from the sky in a god-born storm he must not only save himself from the strange and hostile customs of the place but save the city from the wrath of gods and mages. This book, more than the other Sacred Band tales, is Niko’s adventure and of all the characters he is the one who the reader takes to heart. Whereas most of the others are more than human, demigod, or wizard Niko is the fighter whose courage and honour shine brightly but he is a mortal man, with all the flaws entailed. This is Niko’s tale…

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Short Story Saturday – No Pain, No Gain – Part 4

Posted on September 23, 2017 by Charles Yallowitz

Well, as often happens, this story has taken on a life of it’s own. I’m four parts in and the action is ramping up, but it still has a bit of story left to tell. If you want to catch up and read the first three parts you can click on the links below:

Things are starting to merge in the two threads of the story. It will be interesting to see how it ends up.

Please enjoy No Pain, No Gain Part 4

No Pain, No Gain – Part 4

weight

“Dr. Haybrook, it’s me, Hanson.”

“Mr. Hanson, I didn’t expect you to call me on my personal cell phone.”

“I want to keep this conversation off of company communication devices. One can’t be too careful.”

“What conversation?”

“Not over the phone. We need to meet somewhere off campus. I need you to meet…

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