What attracts you to the genre in which you write? I was always attracted to the darker aspects of fantasy, the fabric of our dreams and nightmares, where our wildest imaginations often have free rein. I find that this genre allows the story to be raw and cutting to the bone, with a realistic touch, lending fantasy a feel of authenticity. It makes it easier to believe as it reflects the darker aspects of human nature and existence.
What piece of writing advice do you wish you’d known when you started your writing adventures? That the amount of rejection has nothing to do with the quality of your work but rather a reflection on whether someone thinks they can sell and market it, it is nothing personal but rather a business transaction. So basically, keep pushing and don’t be discouraged, write for yourself, pour…
The cover is new and the book edited once again to enhance the experience. What is really nice is the price has been cut for the introduction. You can buy the kindle version for a special introduction price of:
$0.99
Here’s the blurb.
John J. Cannon successful San Francisco lawyer takes a well-deserved leave of absence from the firm and buys a boat he names My GRL. He is unaware that his newly purchased boat had already been targeted by a terrorist group. John’s first inkling of a problem is when he wakes up in the hospital where he learns he was found unconscious next to the dead body of the young woman who sold him the boat in the first place. John now stands between the terrorists and the success of their mission. Amazon for the kindle version
Check them out and read the first few pages on Amazon.
Also, you can check out John Cannon’s other two adventures, as well as, the new My GRL at John W. Howell’s Author Page
Author Bio
John began his writing as a full-time occupation after an extensive business career. His specialty is thriller fiction novels, but John also writes poetry and short stories. His first book, My GRL, introduces the exciting adventures of the book’s central character, John J. Cannon. The second Cannon novel, His Revenge, continues the adventure, while the final book in the trilogy, Our Justice, launched in September 2016. All books are available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle editions.
John lives in Port Aransas, Texas with his wife and their spoiled rescue pets.
Good morning, gentle souls; I am Daniel J. Daniels, Dog Extraordinaire. Most of you will know me by my nom de plume, Danny the Dog. As another great writer (but not as good as me) once said, “A rose by any other name . . .”
Today I have a smorgasbord of tales to tell. So sit back and relax. Put your feet up, light your favorite pipe, have a glass of wine, or dig into that box of chocolates that has been calling to you—for you are in for a rare treat. Today I am going to confess a few (just a few) of my sins. At least Andrew, my human, refers to them as sins. I say they are only idiosyncrasies. But I’ll let you kind, empathetic, thoughtful, and intelligent folks be the judge.
I think I’ll start off with the longest-running complaint Andrew has about me…
Well, others have had a chance to do a 7 tip list, so I guess it’s my turn. Not really sure what I can talk about though since I’m still figuring stuff out on my own. Everyone else has had experience with adventuring or at least traveling. I know I’ve gone through a lot, but they have too. Guess I still feel like an amateur among veterans, but at least I’m still alive. Maybe that’s what I can talk about and see where it goes. I have learned a few things about adventuring.
Confidence in the field can keep you alive. It can also get you into trouble. People are less likely to pick a fight if they think you’re stronger than you are. At the very least, they’ll underestimate you. I’ve been told that I had too much confidence when I started, so I try to be more humble these days. Not sure how well I’m doing because winning a fight still feels pretty good.
Mouthing off is a double-edge sword, especially during combat. It takes practice to talk and fight at the same time. Even if you’ve done it for years, you need to shut up when things start getting really dicey. That doesn’t mean you can’t throw out an insult or some type of barb. Warriors get pretty heated when a fight draws on for more than a few blows. Many don’t get phased by insults, but others do. It’s easier when you go against an enemy that isn’t trained or you know personally.
Speaking of angering people, try not to do it too much to your allies. That is unless you can cast magic, sword fight, steal, heal, track, cook, sew, and do everything else a person could possibly need on an adventure. Even Dariana can’t do all of that and she’s been around for centuries. This is easier to follow when you’re working with friends that trust and respect you. The point is that you live longer when you’re not alone.
Find a mentor and actually listen. I speak this from experience of doing the opposite for a while. Drove my grandfather and Selenia crazy when they were trying to teach me how to survive. The lessons still stuck, but it’s much easier to do when you’re working with them. Not to mention they’re happier when you come back and don’t start making plans to repair stuff after your visit. In Selenia’s defense, trouble does have a habit of following me to her doorstep.
Gear maintenance is very important. Keep your blades sharp, your waterskins full, food edible, and armor intact. I don’t really use armor, but you get the point. Last thing you want is to be on the road and have something break. This doesn’t only go for weapons. Cheap rope can dry out, fray, and snap when you really need it, so always check the more mundane supplies before you leave a town.
Never scoff at any job because adventuring doesn’t pay very well. Honestly, I don’t know where people got the idea that every monster has money on them. Most of them don’t even have pockets and it isn’t like they swallow gold coins in the morning. You can loot ruins or be a hunter of some kind, but heroic adventures for the good of the world don’t have a salary. I know I probably shouldn’t talk since I’m a champion and every temple has a treasure vault. Not really sure what to do about that. Seems pointless to have more than I can carry without weighing myself down.
This might not seem like a good way to survive, but it’s very important to have fun. If you don’t enjoy the adventure then you might get sloppy. This doesn’t mean run in wild and put fun above all else. All I’m saying is that you have to enjoy what you do and that goes double for adventuring, which can take a toll on your body, mind, and soul. Honestly, if I stopped having fun and had to keep going down this path then I’d probably go insane.
Main character description. Estella Delcour (Tsura) A seer and the Lady of Redfern Manor. She is the most far-seeing of all the Twilit folk, who sees the divine game played between Samael (the blind god) and the Goddess.
Synopsis:
In a world where angels, demons, and gods fight over the possession of mortal souls, two conflicted pawns are ensnared in a cruel game. The enigmatic seer Estella finds herself thrown together with Count Mikhail, a dogmatic Templar dedicated to subjugating her kind. But when a corrupted cardinal and puppet king begin a systematic genocide of her people, the two become unlikely allies.
Taking humanity back to their primordial beliefs and fears, Estella confronts Mikhail’s faith by revealing the true horror of the lucrative trade in human souls. All organized religions are shops orchestrated to consume…
Well, I got the April posts done and some posts for Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday. I’m writing this Thursday night since I doubt anything will really change tomorrow. This has not been a working week. Haven’t even touched a notebook aside from moving one off a table. I’ve been chowing down on Fairy Tail volumes to the point where I might have to discuss me racing ahead of the wife. I’ve got 2 left of the 6 I took out and just started with one. Last time this happened, she ended up with a pile of 10-12 on her nightstand and I was staring at it forlornly. Really wish I could design or do a series like this, but I guess I’m not that type of author. Then again, I’m comparing novel writing to manga writing, which is pointless.
Maybe I’ll take this as a day-by-day thing. Seems to work on weeks where a lot of stuff happened.
Monday
This is the day my wife was home, but I only got through a chunk of the April posts. We did a family trip to get my son a Lego Batman set. He did great in his first 100 days of school and my sister was chipping in to help. So, he picked ‘The Scuttler’ because it was the only set with Poison Ivy. He also got Dick Grayson, Barbara Gordon, Commissioner Gordon, Joker, and a 3rd Batman. Still, he was happy until I told him we weren’t building it yet. This was for Wednesday afternoon.
The Scuttler
Tuesday
Tuxedo fitting and let’s leaving it at that. At least the little guy had fun with all the mirrors. This carried into us doing a library trip and then an afternoon of him trying to convince anyone to open ‘The Scuttler’. He finally gave up on me, but I heard him telling grandma that she could do it for him. Needless to say, I was happy when he decided it was time for a movie. Peace and quiet!
Wednesday
Morning showing of Lego Batman Movie and it was a lot of fun. The movie itself was rather strange at times, but I had fun. We sat in a row that had a big open space for anyone in a wheelchair, so my son kept coming close to sliding off his seat during the fight scenes. He pretends to be involved in them at home and I think he was unwittingly getting ready to do the same here. I had to keep moving him back in his seat.
After the movie, he said there wasn’t time for lunch and we went home to build ‘The Scuttler’. 7 bags of parts and 242 (or was it 246?) steps. Probably more since it doesn’t count putting the characters together. I had my assistant for Bag 1, but lost him at Bag 2 since that had Poison Ivy in it. He came back for the start of Bag 3, but wandered off again when he finished putting Joker together. No interest in Bag 4, supervised for Bag 5, and then lent a hand for Bags 6 and 7. It was done and he immediately began putting all of the Lego Villains into Arkham Asylum. Apparently, Harley Quinn (from another set) really didn’t want to go and begged her butt off to be released. Why Joker, Poison Ivy, and Deadshot failed to attempt this is beyond me.
Thursday
We checked out a nearby nature preserve before meeting the wife for lunch. I should have known something would be off. Before leaving, I stumbled onto the fact that the pizzeria we were going to meet at had closed over the weekend. Switch to a Dunkin Donuts next door. No problem, so the kid and I headed for the preserve. They actually had Golden Pheasants from China, which was unexpected. My son pointed it out, but I only saw the brown and black female. He saw the brightly colored male behind a tree, so I wasn’t sure until it showed up. You don’t really expect that kind of animal in a Long Island nature preserve.
Golden Pheasant (Not one from trip)
Unfortunately, that wasn’t the highlight. We walked along the trails and came across a dead raccoon. Something killed and ate a bunch of it, but the tail was obvious. My son would not stop talking about this. He toned it down at lunch, which was good because other people were there. Back again on the ride home, so I told him to stop mentioning the dead raccoon. This is where he proved to be my son. He continued to talk about it WITHOUT saying the words ‘dead raccoon’. He kept coming up with other ways to say it without those words. ‘The thing next to the orange cone’. ‘The eaten thing’. It was both impressive and maddening.
Friday
The grandparents took him to a live play of ‘Madagascar’. This is the animated film where those four penguins and King Julian the lemur come from, which probably still doesn’t help most people who haven’t had kids in the last decade. I could have done writing, but I just wanted some quiet and figured I’d lose the weekend. Nothing would annoy me more than starting the next Ichabod story and then not touching it for a few days. I’m not in a rush considering my plan is to finish the 4 stories and then move on to the next Dawn Addison story. Not enough time to tackle a big project and April will be put aside for editing.
So, what are the goals for next week?
Write 1-2 Ichabod Brooks stories.
See if I can negotiates a viewing of ‘Logan’, but doubt it. March weekends are neutered pretty badly.
Read more ‘Fairy Tail’.
Sleep, cook, and bike.
Look into ways to recruit beta readers for Ichabod Brooks collection.
Look into cover artists for Ichabod Brooks collection too.
Figure I’ll leave an Anime Music Video of my favorite Fairy Tail character too. Since I brought it up so often. Haven’t found many others that have watched or read it, which is odd since it has a big fan base. Must be getting old. (Not a big fan of the song, but everything else with music I liked focused on her with another character.)
Like Scrooge in a Christmas Carol, my latest adventure in self-publishing is a cautionary tale!
I’m an Indie science fiction writer and began my latest novel, Innerscape, during the Nanowrimo of 2012. Nanowrimo stands for National Novel Writing Month and is held every November. You can’t really write a novel in a month, at least I can’t, but you can make a good start on one. That’s what I did in 2012, but it was not until the start of November, 2016 that Innerscape was finally finished.
“Just in time for a Christmas launch!” I thought, rubbing my hands in glee. “Wonderful!”
What better time to promote a new book than when everyone is primed to shop-till- they-drop?”
A great many wonderful things did happen during my recent, pre-Christmas launch. For example, I discovered that there are an awful lot of kind, generous, interesting people online. I also discovered…
So, what are you hunting or fishing for today? No problem if you haven’t decided since we have bundles for the undecided. A little from column A and a little from column B will get you pretty far. Just follow me and look at the selection. Don’t get too close since some of them make stains that don’t come out.
Now, I prefer to go with our Rainbow package because it tries to connect with every animal preference. It isn’t perfect, but you have every basic color and a variety of scents. We include smell enhancers and glitter spray as well. You see, some beasties are attracted to certain aromas and others like the shiny targets. Don’t have to use too much either because they’re both rather potent. Keep in mind that this is all basic and you have to do the dressing yourself. We can include a manual to help since bait preparation can be considered art.
Keep in mind that the Rainbow package is a starter, so you can exchange for specific bait types and add other pieces. We do have some fatteners in stock to make your bait juicier, slower, and more appealing to a predator. These are all done by injection and we recommend that you don’t do it until you get out into the field. Once a piece of bait is fattened up, you can’t return it and it’s viability drops from months to days. You better be sure when you use these because they’re a risk. Still one of our biggest sellers though. Oh, and doing it too early means it’ll be hard to move the bait because they become a lot heavier. Imagine dragging an entire pack of cast iron dumbbells around.
One other thing that is included in all packages is obedience spray. This is specifically for live bait, which becomes docile and follows your commands. Makes a hunt a lot easier without the bait trying to escape, shout, or talking back. The bottles are plastic and reusable, but we do have a warning. If you plan on using the bottles for anything other than obedience spray then it must be cleaned out with vinegar and I mean thoroughly. This stuff will make you zone out for days, which means you won’t be eating, drinking, or sleeping for that time. After all, you can’t give orders to yourself with you’re in a trance and this stuff is very potent.
That should do it since you aren’t going for anything specific. Actually, one more thing that I always forget. Do you want virgin or non-virgin bait?
…my good friend, Author Gerald Neal, is no stranger to this ‘ere blog… and my page is the more blessed for that… however blessings are usually never far from curses… and his insightful piece below is witness to that… enjoy…
THE WITCHES OF HARWICH. by Gerald Neal
The first case on the Sessions Book in Harwich concerned five women accused of witchcraft in 1601 – all were found guilty and hanged, not burnt alive as myth would have it. This did not occur until 1645 when Matthew Hopkins, the Witchfinder General from nearby Manningtree bought over fifty suspected witches for torture and subsequent trial at Chelmsford court.
In 1605 Mary Hart was found not guilty of bewitching 7lb of meat that had gone putrid, but her luck ran out the following year when she was found guilty and hanged on another charge.
In 1609, Thos Barneby, Peter and Cecelia Wigborough were accused…
