It’s Reining Men Tour – Day Two

John W. Howell's avatarFiction Favorites

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Today is the second day of Traci Sanders’ It’s Reining Men Tour. It would be nice if you could jump over there and have a look at her blog. The post today is a little about me and my blog. While there look around and tell her I sent you and who knows, you may hit it off.

http://awordwithtraci.com/guest-author-john-howell-2

Traci is the author of When Darkness Breaks

a when darkness breaks

Local news anchor, Amber Woods, seemed to have it all – a thriving career, two beautiful children, and a doting husband named Drake. Life was perfect…until her world was turned upside down in one fateful night. While the incident causes Amber to renew her priorities; unable to deal with what happened, Drake begins sinking into a deep depression laced with infidelity and alcohol.

Hoping a change of scenery will salvage her quickly deteriorating marriage, Amber agrees that a move to New York may…

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Mini-Update: New Blurbs and Other Stuff

An Actual Comic Cover Blurb.  Made me chuckle.

An Actual Comic Cover Blurb. Made me chuckle.

As I lay here waiting to see if my stomach is either hungry or unhappy with something I ate or decided to attract a bug overnight, I thought I’d make a post.  About what?  Just random stuff, I guess.  Probably book related and I have had a few questions:

  1. New blurbs for all LEGENDS OF WINDEMERE books will be going up over the course of the week.  I already did the ones for BEGINNING OF A HERO, PRODIGY OF RAINBOW TOWER, and ALLURE OF THE GYPSIES.  That last one is still being reviewed though.  The goal is to get them all up by the weekend before I get my new author photo.  This way I can step into a new site I found with all the fresh stuff.
  2. I am hoping to release LEGENDS OF WINDEMERE: SLEEPER OF THE WILDWOOD FUGUE at some point in the spring.  The goal is April, but we all know what happens with me a deadlines.  The thing here is that I don’t want to do a mid-month release like the last two.  That probably didn’t have as much of an impact on the sales as them being part of a lengthy series.  Still I need to minimize the things that are going against me.
  3. Sales have been royally sucking and I’m out of ideas as far as promoting.  Trying to push on is the only thing I can do, but some aspects are really starting to bog down my mood.  It might be why one or two of my characters have become so irritable and depressed.  Yesterday I got Nyx out of her funk and today I do the same to Sari.  The boys are going to have to wait for the opportune moment.
  4. Shoveling snow in my pajamas was not fun.
  5. Dear god, what did I eat that is making my insides wish they’d never been given sentience by that voodoo priestess?
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Book Feature: Choices by J.L. McFadden

Nicholas C. Rossis's avatarNicholas C. Rossis

J.L. McFadden is author of The Guardian series, a unique blend of paranormal, urban fantasy and romance. This post is part of his 4WillsPublishing-organized blog tour, to celebrate the launch of Choices, the second book in his series. Before you leave, don’t forget to take part in his Rafflecopter Giveaway!

The Guardian: Book 1 in the Guardian series

From the blog of Nicholas C. Rossis, author of science fiction, the Pearseus epic fantasy series and children's booksIn The Guardian, John, a young man from Detroit, realizes he has a special bond with a vampire, Gala. This gives him special abilities and makes both of them a target, as the ancients will stop at nothing to destroy him and his relationship with this unbridled female vampire.

Choices: Book 2 in the Guardian series

From the blog of Nicholas C. Rossis, author of science fiction, the Pearseus epic fantasy series and children's booksIn Choices, Adela, head of Gala’s coven, and John both have their fair share of choices to make. Adela must think of her coven, but at the same time she feels a…

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#Authors – CONFIRMED COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT NOTIFICATION…

Search for your books and warn FB. Don’t fill out the copyright claims form on the site though. It’s a trap.

Chris The Story Reading Ape's avatarChris The Story Reading Ape's Blog

copyright-culprit

I’ve just been advised by Author Jack Eason that the following Facebook Site is offering six of his books in PDF format – WITHOUT AUTHORISATION, PERMISSION OR PAYMENT AGREEMENT WITH HIM…

Please check if YOUR BOOKS are being offered without YOUR permission.

If YES, NOTIFY FACEBOOK IMMEDIATELY…

MESSAGE FROM AUTHOR SUSAN TOY

PLEASE don’t send the complaint forms!!!

This is a click farm that collects your email addresses to sell.

Also, the last time this happened to us and we complained about copyright infringement our computers were infected with a virus.

Block this site on Facebook so that they cannot promote their pirate site there. 

With all of us reporting the site it will get taken down.

DO NOT SEND YOUR PROOF OF COPYRIGHT TO THIS SITE

NEVER TRUST THIEVES!!!

https://www.facebook.com/ebookdownloaddotnet

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It’s Reining Men Tour – Traci Sanders Invited Me to Go Along

John W. Howell's avatarFiction Favorites

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Traci Sanders has made space for me on her blog A Word with Traci. She is having an event she calls It’s Reining Men Tour. Here is a little more about the tour and the wonderful person and author. I’ll be there all week so stop by when you have a chance and check out the other tabs on her site.

Tracy says

I have a very special ♣March♣ gift for all of you!

♣ 4 WEEKS

♣ 4 INCREDIBLE MALE AUTHORS

You will be entertained and enlightened!

Stay tuned to find out who our special authors are …

All during March!

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Author and mother of three, Traci Sanders has been composing poetry, songs, and children’s stories since the young age of ten. In 2003, she opened her home to young children in her community offering “beyond the basics” teachings. In 2008, she was recognized by the Child…

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Sensitive Topics

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This is a tough post to write because it edges near things that I prefer to discuss in private.  We all know the topics that can stir a massive fight.  Issues that draw out the emotions and typically block rational discussion once the trigger is pulled.  I won’t even list the areas here because I’m sure we all know them.  Instead, I’m going to ask a simple question:

How do you touch on these in your stories without causing the fight?

First, let’s admit that people are going to see what they want to see.  Someone that goes into a fictional story with an agenda will find a way to satisfy that agenda.  I write fantasy adventure with an ensemble cast, but I still get the rare complaint that falls into one of the forbidden topics.  I tend to ignore them because I don’t write my stories with these subjects in mind.  Ignore might not be the right word.  I don’t publicly react and I look at how I can adapt to remove the complaint from happening in the future.  This really is hard to explain when one focuses on not starting a fight or holding onto neutrality.

Another thought is if we should focus on these topics if they aren’t part of the story.  They can subtly turn up, but there are books I’ve read where it feels like such topics consumed the actual story.  Reminds me of trying to see the road through a thick fog.  Not to belittle the issues, but it’s always strange to read a story that doesn’t focus on them and somehow gets overshadowed.  Though, I do wonder if that was only my perception and the author never noticed/intended for it to happen.

So, what do other authors do when it comes to ‘taboo’ topics?  Are they impossible to avoid in today’s world?

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I’d Like to Introduce You to… @JoshPahigian #baseball #authorinterview #MLB

A very cool interview. Great for readers who also enjoy baseball.

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…from Author, Charles E. Yallowitz… from Role Playing Games to Crafting Novels… fascinating Guest Post…

Check out my fun guest post on the blog of Seumas Gallacher. Another big thanks to Seumas for the invitation.

Seumas Gallacher's avatarSeumas Gallacher

…so many times I get flabbergasted by intriguing Guest Posts… today my gast is flabbered by good pal, Author, Charles E. Yallowitz… we had been discussing material for a piece here, and he asked if it was appropriate to show the comparisons between Role Playing Games (RPG) and writing novels… I’m not a gamer, but I’m sure many of yeez Lads and Lassies have delved into the ‘Dungeons and Dragons’ otherworlds… this post is fascinating, and underlines for me how much thought we quill-scrapers pour into our own masterpieces… enjoy:

Thank you to Seumas for inviting me to write a guest post. I thought long and hard about what to write about. Then I went out for some pizza, watched some TV, and thought up the idea during a commercial break.

Charles author photo B&W

I’ve been publishing my fantasy series Legends of Windemere since 2013 and many people have asked me what inspired…

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#Read The Edge of Revolt by #Author Uvi Poznansky #FREE 1st and 2nd March

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The Sunday Show – Defining Moments with artist and poet Michael Birchmore

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