The hard ones - by Michael Davis

 I’ve read on many of the author forums of people seeking advice on how to overcome the inevitable condition know as writers block. I’m very fortunate in that, after six novels and three short stories, I have yet to encounter that roadblock. The stories seem to just float around in my head like fluttering butterflies.

Still, until I get the first three or four chapters under my belt, I’m becoming more and more resistant to lock myself away in the back room and bury my brain in the fictional world. That’s to be expected given how isolated authors become once they’re in the zone. There’s one area where the pressure required to force my big butt to stay glued to that chair is more than just simply twisting my own ear; its an all out war.

This battle between me wanting to get the story in my head down on paper and yet pushing away from the keyboard on selected scenes has happened on each novel I’ve written, but it was only after my third story that I realized why I was pushing back. You see, as a rule, I’m a gentle teddy bear, hard on the outside but mushy on the inside. Sure, I get anger and fight back verbally when some politically blind cranial vacuum tries to shove their lies and rhetoric down my throat, but in most of the difficult situations we encounter each day, for my size, I am very laid back. That characteristic of my personality goes along with the fact that I have great difficulty dealing with the suffering of others. Whether it be abuse, conditions of poverty, or physical pain; it truly screws up my mind to deal with such human suffering.

What’s my point? I’m sure that many people experience such difficulty. Problem is, as a writer of suspense, intrigue, and romance; human suffering is part of the draw that envelops the reader. We become entwined in what the character is going through and remain locked on every word till we can see how the world is made bright and sunny again. I confess, I’m a sucker for such stories. Yet as a writer, I hate dealing with the hard scenes where I have to “make” someone experience pain or emotional torment. Each time I come to those scenes, it is a confrontation with my own inner voices to force myself to sit down and do the scene.

After writing six novels, I recognize this weakness, and I accept it without frustration at myself for being such a wussy. Case in point, I can usually rough out a chapter every couple days. On a novel I just finished but have not yet submitted, I had to work piece meal on the story across three other novels I was writing. I just couldn’t bear to deal with the emotional suffering going on in the story. Then why not just change the scene? Doesn’t work that way, at least not for me. The story has a life of its own as the muse whispers in my ear. Take out a scene, and the whole story changes.

I’m currently at that stage in another story I’m working with my co author budette Candace Morehouse and I’m still struggling with chapter three. Why? You guessed it. Something really really bad happens in Chapter one and three and I just got over the stress of the first chapter. Now I have to go through it again. Geez. But I will get it done, I just have to take a deep breath, tie myself to the chair and DO it.

Till next time.

Michael Davis (Davisstories.com)

Author of the year, 2008

“The How To Look At A Woman Primer”

“The How To Look At A Woman Primer”

I want to talk this week about our national pastime. No, we’re not gonna talk about baseball, cause that’s not our real national pastime. It’s certainly not the national pastime for women, and it’s not even the national pastime for men, if we‘re honest about it. If all of us men would come clean, the national pastime for us is, has been, and always will be looking at women. More specifically, looking at very attractive women.

We may as well just own up to it - we men would rather look at a nice looking woman than just about anything else. We’re biologically programmed that way. From the time the first hormones of puberty hit, we enjoy looking. And we continue enjoying it on up until we die. We can be young, old, married, single, divorced, employed, unemployed, white, black, red, yellow, tall, short, educated, or uneducated, and our one commonality is that we love looking at women. If any of you ladies out there doubt me on this, simply try the following - walk over to the man in your life, look indignantly at him, and sternly ask, “Fred, do you really like looking at that trashy looking Pamela Anderson in her skimpy bathing suits?” Then, just sit back and watch his reaction - you’ll see and hear more stammering than you would if you asked him to go out and buy certain feminine related products for you. Let’s face it, of course he wants to look at her, she’s a beautiful, trashy looking blonde, and if he didn’t want to look at her he’d be wanting to watch some Richard Simmons‘ exercise videos, and I don‘t need to say anymore about that.

So, now that we’re honest about men loving to look at hot women, we now need to discuss just how we actually do it. It’s not as easy as you’d think - first, you can’t just out and out gawk at a beautiful woman. If you’re with your wife, mother, or girlfriend when you do so, it can be pretty embarrassing. Maybe even potentially dangerous. Therefore, with that in mind, most of us men learn to look at women in ways that won’t get us into very much trouble. The following are our most widely utilized techniques:

1. The very simplest way to look at a nice looking woman without getting caught is to just look away from her, and then cut your eyes over to where she happens to be - it’s quite simple and effective. The only problems with it are that you can get some real powerful headaches if you cut your eyes over to the side for very lengthy periods of time, and, if you’re out walking when you’re cutting your eyes over, you can slip up and walk headfirst into something if you‘re not careful. I had a friend one time who actually walked right into soft drink vending machine while raptly gazing upon some feminine beauty. Talk about a cold, hard dose of reality!

2. Another way to look at a woman and not get caught is to create a diversion. It goes something like this - let’s say you and your partner are walking along in a Wal-Mart one day, and you happen to spot a real babe. Quickly, you look over towards the front of the store and say to your partner, “Wow, did you see that old woman just shove the door greeter?” Your partner will instantly walk over to check it out, and this is the time you use to scope out some newly minted gold for your eyeballs. Normally, this works out pretty well, but there’s hell to pay if your partner comes back a little too quickly and sees you checking out a hot woman. It’s easier trying to explain a loud burp at a funeral than that.

3. One novel technique is to walk up to a pretty woman and say, “Excuse me, I’m a Human Resources executive and I’ve been interviewing candidates for a self-defense instructor at our institute all afternoon. My eyes are just killing me. Would you mind if I just gaze upon your beauty for a few seconds?” Okay, honestly I’ve never heard of anyone trying this, but I just wish that one of you guys out there would take the initiative, try it, and let me know if it works out for you. I’d be most appreciative.

Well, I feel good that we’ve established what the American males’ true national pastime is. I’d love to write even more about it, but I’m already hard at work on my next expose article, where we’ll discuss why women think men are perfect before marriage, and bums afterwards...

Traveling to Your Novel’s Setting for Research, by Stacey Coverstone

Traveling to Your Novel’s Setting for Research, by Stacey Coverstone

“Outlaw Trail” is the title of my historical western romance being released by Champagne Books in December.  This novel takes place in 1882 New Mexico, and it tells the story of Josie Hart, who is half Tewa Indian, and Grey Paladin, a couple who become reluctant partners and travel two hundred miles of dangerous trail in search of a treasure that could change each of their lives.

Ask anyone who knows me and they’ll tell you I’m in love with the Land of Enchantment.  Why?  Because the skies are bigger and bluer, the sun is brighter, there’s something magical about the desert, and the mountains call me home.  I go to New Mexico often, but not often enough.  That’s why so many of my stories are set there.  When I’m not able to physically be there, at least I can dream about my second home and re-imagine all the wonderful places I’ve seen and the people I’ve met.  Setting a story in a real town or state gives an author a good reason to travel—in order to do research.  That’s what I’m talking about today.

When I wrote “Outlaw Trail,” I referred to actual New Mexican towns and settings; places Josie and Grey visited or stopped at during their long journey.  Some of these places I’d really visited in my own travels, some, I hadn’t.  Once I’d mapped out Josie and Grey’s destination during the plotting stage of my story, I decided the Nambe waterfalls would be the spot where the climactic scene would take place.  I’d never been to those particular falls before, but it seemed the perfect setting.  Now, if I was going to be accurate in my description of this place, I had to see the waterfalls for myself, right?  You bet.  So, off I went, to Northern New Mexico on a research trip.  I invited one of my best childhood friends, Linda, to meet me there, because she needed a vacation bad. 

Linda flew in from Illinois and I came from Maryland, and we met up at the Albuquerque airport.  One rental car later and we were off on our adventure!  I can’t begin to describe all the fantastic sights and spectacular beauty we experienced.  Today, I’m sharing Nambe Falls with you. 

Nambe Pueblo is one of the Tewa Pueblos of the northern Rio Grande region.  The name is a Spanish interpretation of the Tewa word “name”, which roughly translates as “earth roundness.”  Prior to the arrival of Spanish explorers, Nambe Pueblo served as the primary cultural and religious center for the northern New Mexican pueblo communities.

Nambe Pueblo sits at the base of the rugged Sangre de Cristo Mountains, sixteen miles north of Santa Fe.  It encompasses 19,000 acres of land surrounded by national forest.  Its terrain is scenic and striking, featuring waterfalls, lakes and mountainous areas.  The Nambe Falls are located above the Pueblo.  A 15-minute walk along shaded cottonwood trails next to the river takes you to the base of Nambe Waterfalls.  A longer hike up the side of a steep, rocky canyon affords you a magnificent birds-eye view of the stunning triple-decker falls.  Standing at the peak, one can turn around and gaze out at the mountains and desert for as far as the eye can see.  Guess which hike I chose to take?

My dear friend, Linda, is not a hiker.  Nor is she an outdoors person.  However, she was a real trooper—all in the sake of research.  Despite her fear of death by stumbling and falling over the cliff to the jagged rocks below, she did climb that canyon with me all the way to the top.  It took a while, but we made it. 

Later, after she’d sat for a while, resting on a rock, she drank a bottle of water, wiped the sweat from her face, and mumbled a few choice words about the stupid cowboy hat she bought that was too big and kept sliding off her sweaty forehead.  But, she agreed with me that the tricky hike up the canyon had been worth it. 

As I gazed at the stunning three-tier falls that dropped through a cleft in the rock face to tumble into a reservoir below, I asked Linda if she’d ever seen anything so beautiful or felt so at peace. I’d experience that same feeling of peace several more times during our trip, because New Mexico is full of magical and spiritual moments that stay with you long after the vacation is over. 

Josie and Grey battle outlaws, nature, and each other on their journey, but when they finally arrive at Nambe Falls, they discover riches more valuable than the original treasure they sought. That’s the way I look at research, especially when I can travel to the Land of Enchantment to conduct it.

Visit my website to read an excerpt of “Outlaw Trail,” coming December 1.
http://www.staceycoverstone.com

The hidden return - Michael Davis

If you’re an author associated with the big eight (Random house, Penguin, etc) chances are writing is more of a monetary endeavor than the 99.8% of published writers (like myself and many on this blog) who are driven because of the mental return offered by the writing experience. There’s another side of the “return” equation I had not explicitly considered until last week when a reader asked me about several scenes in my first novel TAINTED HERO that moved him in an emotional or humorous fashion. He asked where those particular scenes came from and as I often do, I explained that many things I write about are derived from my personal memories, friends and family. As I went on and on and on, I began to realize that there was an element to becoming a published writer that I had never before considered, namely: sharing my world with others in a form that will extend beyond my time.

You see, the vignettes based on the pain my grandmother suffered for being native American, or the humor from when my cousin whacked her husband in the head with a frying pan for going to a strip joint, or the moment I watched my dad give his lunch money for a month to a single mom out on her luck; they're all real. In these and other elements of my personal life that have flowed into my stories, writing has provided an outlet to share my memories with others, and in so doing broaden the awareness of the wonderful people that mean so much to me.

I also now realize the tremendous opportunity I’ve had as an author to convey to my grand daughter the degree to which she is loved by her Pa Pa. In two of my novels, the activities and scenes blended into the story for the little girl in BLIND CONSENT and SHADOW OF GUILT were based on things my GD was doing at the time or activities she and I were sharing together. At my stage of life I’m clever enough to grasp that each passing year reduces my changes of seeing her into adulthood. What better way to let a young woman know how important she is, that she was loved so much to always be in the thoughts of her father and Pa Pa, and what a gift she is to bring comfort into the lives of so many.

I never considered these intangible benefits when I starting writing, but now when I think about it, what more could you what?

Michael Davis (Davisstories.com)
Author of the year, 2008

Excerpt - Killer Dolls by Angelica Hart & Zi

EXCERPT THREE

Letti gasped at the unexpected behavior but she wasn't adverse to it. After all, he did something similar when he had kissed her so suddenly in her apartment. It felt like one of those fantasy moments, something right out of an old-fashioned bodice ripper. Yet, the moment wasn't quite right. There were those guys. Shouldn't they be a bit prudent, or did the possibility of danger turn Taut…well…taut.

She struggled but he refused to release her. He couldn't let her do anything that might spread the ricin. Gallagher had provided photos of ricin victims. He would not allow this to harm Letti. No one was to be hurt. Not again. Not on his watch. That imperative directed his next decisions.

His hold was an aphrodisiac, animalistic, driven, homogeneous with her want, placated only by submission to it, and her body began to respond. Shallow short breaths followed the intense heat smoldering in her groin, incinerating any resistance, and guaranteeing conflagration of raging flames of lust. The tight, pucker of her nipples signaled her growing arousal, and heaviness attached itself to her breasts, having that need to be touched. She surrendered to his authority, submitted, and urged him with her acquiesces to take more.

Once she stopped thrashing about, in the dark veil of silence still at her back, he grabbed her blouse, hand over one breast; she reacted to his touch as he balled the cloth in a huge hand, recalled the words, cut over-the-head garments away, and with one violent motion foreshadowing tremendous strength, tore it from her. In silence, he held it at arm’s length and disposed of it in an adjacent plastic-lined trash basket.

ABOUT AUTHORS

Their combined accomplishments include book publications in print and/or electronic versions of twenty-four titles, fifteen romance specific, ten manuscripts pending, EPPIE finalist for three books, Cecil Whig award, Hob-Nob Reader's Choice Award, written over 500 shorts with numerous published in both nationwide and small press magazines, articles published in various local, city and statewide newspapers, including four as a Guest Columnist in addition to trade articles. Both are members of various writing groups.

KILLER DOLLS IS AVAILABLE: Unaware that bio-terrorists are using her handcrafted dolls to attack the innocent, Letti Noel finds herself falling for Taut Johnson, an undercover FBI agent. Even as deceit is a growing barrier to their love, it's the stalking terrorists that are a threat to their lives.

We love to hear from anyone interested in what we do. Anyone who writes us and leaves an s-mail address, we will send you a gift and add you to any future mailings.

Angelica Hart and Zi
KILLER DOLLS ~ September 2009

SNAKE DANCE ~ February 2010
CHASING GRAVITAS ~ July 2010
angelicahartandzi@yahoo.com
angelicahartandzi.com
Champagne Books



KILLER DOLLS can be purchased at
Champagne Books
http://www.champagnebooks.com/

Rogue Dancer by K.M. Tolan

ROGUE DANCER

     Book Two in the BLADE DANCER series.

Available this December from Champagne Books

The last time Mikial's civilization turned on a savior, they were destroyed. Now Mikial is faced with repeating a disastrous history or defying it. Her people thought the humans had left for good. She believed otherwise. They were both wrong.

Not everyone is eager to embrace a leader with mixed blood who promises to reunite her divided race. To some, Mikial is a mistake that needs correcting. To others, she is the answer to a growing threat from beyond her world. Mikial must find a way to prove her legitimacy, even if it means resurrecting an ancient horror in lands laid to waste by a civil war she is desperate not to repeat. What she finds in the ruins of Min Saja will not be the salvation she expects.

Rogue Dancer continues the story of Mikial Haran, bringing with it all the traditions and strife of an alien people facing the challenges of first contact.

Creating a Productive Book Trailer by Suzannah Safi

Creating a book trailer is one way to promote a book to readers. This type of promotion can make a sale, or hurt it.

When making the trailer, it’s very important to keep in mind a book trailer is like any marketing strategy, it should be carefully planned. The artistic skills and marketing talent are the foundation of creating a successful video that will present your book in a fascinating style.

Few points you should consider as you create your trailer:

While I create book trailers, it is important to make the trailer short, not more than two minutes, so the trailer won’t bore the viewers.

Words used are so crucial to the success of your video; it shouldn’t be more than one short sentence per frame, to be able to read it comfortably. I work with authors to come up with tweaked sentences or words to convey the right amount of information, enough to capture the reader’s interest.

How you construct your video is essential when you are marketing your book. If your video isn’t fascinating enough, it can hurt you more than help you sell your story.

The use of suitable video effects/pictures is essential part in making your trailer more professional, it’s not how many effects/pictures you use, but what and how you use these effects/pictures.

The trailer should give a different peek into the story, and compliment the blurb, not repeat it. One of the mistakes I see, in my opinion of course, is that some authors use the trailer as a blurb, and the mistake in using a blurb in the trailer is that you are giving the readers one chance in liking what they are watching, and if they didn’t find it intriguing, you lost them. From your trailer readers need to get to the blurb to learn more, then to your story to know the answers.

Using the trailer as stage one, and the blurb as stage two that’s two chances the reader may comeback and buy your book, which is the final stage you want the readers to reach. Just like a book cover, some readers if they were not attracted to it, they leave the book, some go to the blurb, and from there they will buy the book or not.

Same works for the book trailer, you must attract readers enough to get them to your story, and if the book trailer failed to attract readers, and wasn’t up to their standers, then you lost the sell.

Book trailers and book covers fascinate me, and graphic design always drew my attention. And as an artist, I started one day and never stopped. To me, creating Book Covers and Trailers is an art, a passion. I created Book Trailer Design in 2009. Please visit wwww.design.suzannahsafi.com and check the book trailers, I hope you enjoy your visit.

I always welcome any comments, suggestions, or questions; please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Thanksgiving 'Author Feast' Grand Prize Winner

Congrats to Martha E. who has been selected as our grand prize winner for Tuesday night's chat! Thank you for coming and participating in a fun and 'interesting' evening.

Ebook winners will be notified by email....please make sure to check today!

Thank you,
Champagne Books

Excerpt - Killer Dolls by Angelica Hart & Zi

EXCERPT TWO

They got a room, asked to use the phone, storm had the lines down, asked about a cell phone and the clerk, a man of advanced age, looked at Taut as if he were an alien, paid in cash, parked out of view, and entered a nice but tacky cabin room.

“I see that shabby-chic is nouveau. The guest towels say… well used. Look, a bottle of shampoo. I used this stuff when I was a kid. It bubbles." Letti was rambling and gently ranting to cover her fear. She now understood the gravity of the situation; it was real, though she did not know why two very evil men were chasing them. Nor why they had her dolls. Why? The dual whys came out in unattractive rumbling, its blasphemy a cruel sacrilege.

“I am sleeping where?” asked Taut. The room had one bed.

“Between me and the door… and that window.”

ABOUT AUTHORS

Their combined accomplishments include book publications in print and/or electronic versions of twenty-four titles, fifteen romance specific, ten manuscripts pending, EPPIE finalist for three books, Cecil Whig award, Hob-Nob Reader's Choice Award, written over 500 shorts with numerous published in both nationwide and small press magazines, articles published in various local, city and statewide newspapers, including four as a Guest Columnist in addition to trade articles. Both are members of various writing groups.

KILLER DOLLS IS AVAILABLE: Unaware that bio-terrorists are using her handcrafted dolls to attack the innocent, Letti Noel finds herself falling for Taut Johnson, an undercover FBI agent. Even as deceit is a growing barrier to their love, it's the stalking terrorists that are a threat to their lives.

We love to hear from anyone interested in what we do. Anyone who writes us and leaves an s-mail address, we will send you a gift and add you to any future mailings.

Angelica Hart and Zi

KILLER DOLLS ~ September 2009

SNAKE DANCE ~ February 2010

CHASING GRAVITAS ~ July 2010

angelicahartandzi@yahoo.com

angelicahartandzi.com

Champagne Books

KILLER DOLLS can be purchased at

Champagne Books

http://www.champagnebooks.com/

Perspectives - by Michael Davis

Bear with me on this post and read to the end because it’s not what you first expect.

When my boys hit their teen years I wanted to help them establish proper perspective with the true nature of life. I explained that our journey from birth to dead was a series of hills and valleys. It’s easy when you’re at the top of a mountain to gaze out and feel positive about things. The trick is to remember when you’re down in a valley it’s just part of the journey and shortly you’ll climb up again and see the sunshine. Hopefully each of us has more mountain tops then valleys in our path but if we keep perspective about those days up on the peaks then the pits wouldn’t seem so bad. I know they listened because I’ve heard them reflect such thoughts in conversations with friends and other family members.

I find lately that, for some reason, I’ve lost that perspective. There are more dark days then light, which is odd seeing I’ve arrived in that stage referred to as the golden years. Being analytical by nature, I’ve tried to assess the cause, and I’ve come up with many possibilities:

1. Could be the nature of retired life. I don’t have the accomplishments and challenges when I struggled with complex problems in my job to support the military. I’ve talked to other retired men and many sense that lose of challenge they used to have in their work.
2. Could be the change in hormones. As men advance in years our testosterone levels decrease. Besides the obvious change in drives and strength, I’ve always felt clarity of purpose and zest for my existences being a man.
3. Maybe it’s all the aches and pains I seem to have now. I remember when I was a teenager hearing my dad moan and groan each morning as he got out of bed to go to work. Now I sound just like him. Takes two Ibuprofen to kick in before I can move without pain. And I get sore so quickly now. Ten years ago I could perform hard physical labor for 10 hours and just fell fatigue. Now it’s like someone ripping a rake through the muscles in my body. I just finished rebuilding the deck on my house by myself and had to stop every 2 hours for a rest. Man I’m getting old.
4. Or it could just be the state of affairs in America today. The country I struggled for and worked to help evolve and progress has changed so drastically, I don’t recognize it anymore. I’m sure our forefathers are shaking their heads in disbelieve for where we’re headed. No, I’m not worried about myself. I don’t have that long to watch things decline. But the nation, and the life of my children and granddaughter, will not offer the reward and happiness I experienced in my journey. The boobs in DC are doing everything to drag us over the waterfall socially, economically and in terms of the security of our populace. And the media just covers it up. Problem is I’ve always been one to attack problems, solve them, do everything in my power to protect and help my family and friends, but not this time. The mistakes of the past few years are beyond anything the real people in the country can fix. Our leaders are lost or just care about politics and not the true course of our nation. So many in this country are suffering because of the selfish blind ambitions of Washington, so many more will suffer in five years, and yet no one wants to see what’s coming over the horizon. I race to the tip of the mountain and there is no sunlight. Everything in the distance is bleak for the nation that once stood so proud, for the people that mean so much to me, and I can do nothing but watch. I am powerless to stop the insane path we’re on.

Perhaps the state of our existence is the true wound that plaques my thoughts, causes nightmares, washes away the smile and humor that once accompanied my spirits everywhere I went, no matter how windy and dark the storm outside. Or maybe I should just fake it, like so many. Maybe that is the new perspective I seek, a return to the matrix and ensuing fantasy world where things make sense and we imagine control over our destiny. That’s it. I’ll just have them plug me back into the machine. Yes, yes, that is much easier, much less painful. It’s not real, but who cares. The truth is so ugly, why deal with it. Ah, I feel better now. Forgive my excursion into the reality outside the matrix. Thanks for listening. I don’t know what got into me. Must have been something I ate last night. Oh, one more thing. If a bald black guy wearing dark glasses and a leather jacket offers you two pills, be sure to take the red one so you can stay in here with me where all is well.

OMG, what just happened in the post above? Has the big guy gone off the deep end? No, relax, I’m not going postal. I just shared the process I use to evolve the flaws and reality in the main characters in my stories. I’ve been fortunate in many of my 5 star reviews to be cited for the realism and relationship readers develop with my characters. The way I do it is to select an internal conflict or defect for the main characters that relates somehow to the premise or theme of the story.

For example in TAINTED HERO the premise was sometimes good people do bad things. The struggle for Eric (the hero) was his ability to deconflict between good and bad from a social and a personal level. In FORGOTTEN CHILDREN the premise was Greed is blind to human suffering. The defect in the hero Mark, an investigative reporter, was his willingness to ignore the slippery slope. When Mark discovers a crime, he doesn’t share with the authorities because he sees them as a bureaucracy that will only encumber solving the case. The ends justify his means because he will solve the crime sooner, at least that’s the self induced motive he uses to justify his actions. In the end he comes to grip with the repercussions of the villain’s willingness to do what Mark did under the guise of the greater good of mankind, and the fact that his flawed judgment may have cost lives. I know, seems complicated to create a story to accomplish linkage between the story premise and the characters personality, and it is, but I enjoy doing it.

In the illustration above with my discussion of “perspective” I was actually evolving the conflict within the hero for a new story I’m currently working on with my coauthor budette, Candace Morehouse, called WHISPERS OF INNOCENCES. Over the past few years the hero, Drake Elliot, has lost perspective on his life, who he is as a man, his relationship with his family; and that detachment from the true relevance of what’s important has cost him dearly. Now, how do I create that struggle and realism with Drake and all my other characters? I use myself as a guinea pig. With most of us, to varying degrees at some point in our existence, we have been confused or struggled with specters and demons of all kinds. Well so have I, a lot of them. So, I select the conflict (in this case perspective) and evolve what it would be like for me on a personal level, and I do it completely, like it is real. I take my struggles with that condition from memory and expound on it, then I mold and convert it to my character. If I haven’t experienced that particular conflict I become absorbed in how I would react and struggle to such conditions.

Like I said, it is involved, but I thing it helps to derive realistic characters, and there’s a little of me in each hero or heroine. If you want to see how things work out for Drake and the heroine in WHISPERS OF INNOCENCES, come back in about a year and a half, that’s how long the writing/publishing process takes for the story to be released.

Tell next time.
Michael Davis (Davisstories.com)
Author of the year, 2008

“Take My Publisher, Please”

“Take My Publisher, Please”

An actual phone conversation I had earlier today....

“Hello, is this Ed?”

“Uh, yes it is.”

“Ed Williams, the writer guy?”

“Uh, yeah, Ed Williams the writer guy.”

“How are you? My name is Sam Filbert, and I’m a big fan.”

“Hey Sam, it’s nice to meet you, what can I do for you?”

“It’s really you, isn’t it?”

“Yeah Sam, last time me and my mirror met, it was me.”

“What? Oh, okay! I see what you’re meaning. That could even be funny, you know. Did you mean for it to be?”

“Just horsin‘ around. What can I do for you?”

“I was given your name and number by your dad, Fred Williams, Jr. He seems like a really nice guy. We talked for a long time, and then he gave me your phone number so that I could call you. What a great guy!”

“Great isn‘t even close to how I‘d describe him right now, Sam. Old Fred is quite a guy, and then some. Now look, I have some work I have to get done, and I know you didn’t call just to tell me just how much you like sweet old Fred. What can I do for you?”

“Ed, I wanted to know if you’d like to help America’s next humor writing superstar!”

“Well, tell me the name of the person and what they’ve done, and then we can talk more.”

“Ed, with all due respect, I’m talkin’ about myself!”

“Sam, you write?”

“I sure do, Ed. Let me tell you a little about what I’ve written. For the last six months I’ve written something every day, in fact, I write at least two pages each day no matter what!”

“Sam, that’s very impressive. What kind of stuff do you write?”

“Well, I love to write stories about growing up in a small Southern town. I grew up in Shady Dale, Georgia, so my manuscript is a bunch of funny stories about all the crazy things we did when I was growing up there.”

“That’s great, Sam, I give you a lot of credit for being persistent enough to complete an entire manuscript. That’s quite an accomplishment. What’s next for you?”

“That’s where you come in, Ed.”

“That’s where I come in? What’re you talking about?”

“Ed, look. I know getting a book published is hard. Real hard. And I’m sitting here with all these great stories about growing up in Shady Dale - I have no doubt that they’ll be popular and sell tons of books. That’s where you come in, and that’s where you can help me. You can get me in front of a publisher in no time, and then I’ll convince them that they need to publish my book!”

“I can do that? How?”

“Just introduce me to the people over at Champagne Books, your publisher. I’ll take it from there. Once they see my stories, I guarantee you they’ll want to do a book.”

“Ummmmm, Sam, I don’t quite know quite how to say this, but my own stuff happens to be “growing up in the country” stories set in Juliette. If I bring Champagne your stories, which also seem to be “growing up in the country” stories set in Shady Dale, then I’m competing with myself. And that’s a not a very smart thing for me to do.”

“Ed, you’re being a little selfish here, aren’t you? I know my stories are better, but I’ll bet you could still find someone to continue publishing yours. Champagne is just one publisher, I’ll sure you could find another one.”

“Exactly, Sam, which is why you should take the initiative and go out and find your own publisher. I wish you the best in your search.”

“You’re not gonna help me? Don’t you think you’re being a little selfish here, Ed?”

“No, Sam, I don‘t. I wish you the best of luck.”

“Man, this isn’t how your dad Fred said it would go. I trusted him, especially after reading so much about him. Mr. Fred said you like helping new writers, and here I am asking you for help, and you don’t wanna help me.”

“Sam, tell you what, I’ll make a deal with you. I’ll help you out with Champagne if you’ll go out first and find me another publisher. Then we’d be even, you’ll have a publisher and I’ll have a publisher. Whatcha think?”

“I gotta run, Ed. The wife is hollering for me. Tell Fred hello!”

*click*........................

Blogging on Rebecca, a Ghost, by Stacey Coverstone

Blogging on Rebecca, a Ghost, by Stacey Coverstone

            I thought I’d tell you about one particular ghost who haunts a beautiful inn, located in the mountains of Cloudcroft, New Mexico.  Originally constructed in 1899 by the Alamogordo and Sacramento Mountain Railway as a by-product of the railroad’s search for timber and railway ties, the resort area of Cloudcroft became an immediate mountain retreat, and a vacation hotel was built.  The Lodge, as it was called, was owned and operated by the railroad, and was a cool reprieve to thousands of overheated Texans—as it still is today.

            On June 13, 1909, a disastrous fire destroyed the Lodge, but by 1911, it had been rebuilt and reopened on its current, more scenic site.  The Lodge has entertained and hosted politicians, artists, entertainers, astronauts and business leaders, including Poncho Villa, Judy Garland, and Clark Gable.

            Rebecca was a gorgeous red-haired chambermaid with striking blue eyes, who worked and lived at the Lodge in the 1930’s.  Her room was located in the basement at the time.  She was a very friendly and flirtatious young lady, and unforgettably beautiful.  According to legend, Rebecca may have moonlighted as a prostitute.  Whatever the case, Rebecca’s jealous lumberjack boyfriend caught her in the arms of another man and she disappeared, never to be seen again.  Well, not alive…anyway.  Soon after her disappearance, people began to report strange experiences and ghostly phenomena.

            Even today, many employees and guests have reported seeing the apparition of a beautiful, red-haired woman wandering the halls wearing a long dress, arranging flowers in a vase, and whispering in the ears of male guests.           

            Rebecca’s manifestations and playful pranks are many.  One of her favorite hangouts is the Red Dog Saloon, an old-west style saloon with rough-hewn walls, which is located in the basement of the Lodge.  Lights have been known to go on and off randomly there.  Piles of 1930’s-era poker chips have been mysteriously found in the middle of the floor, which had been cleaned only minutes before.  Lodge patrons have called the front desk complaining about the loud music coming from the saloon at times when the bar is closed.  Workers cleaning up after the saloon closes have seen her twirling apparition on the dance floor. Ashtrays move by themselves and flames appear in the fireplace with no logs or other fuel source.  Bartenders have often seen a reflection of a pretty, red-haired woman in the bar mirror, but when one turns to look at her, she disappears.

            Rebecca’s body was found near what is now the Lodge golf course.  It was determined she was murdered, but the crime was never solved.  There are some who believe she is in search of a new lover who appreciates her flirtatious and mischievous ways.

            The Lodge is a three-story, Victorian style, elegant European mountain inn that is surrounded by huge pine trees and mountain scenery. Its fine-dining onsite restaurant is called “Rebecca’s”, named after the legendary resident ghost. 

            I travel to New Mexico often and have visited The Lodge several times.  Having made an impression on me, I wrote a scene in my contemporary western romance, Lucky in Love, which takes place at the Lodge and in Rebecca’s restaurant.  This novel will be released in June 2010.  To read an excerpt, please visit my website.

            Although I, unfortunately, never witnessed Rebecca’s apparition during my visits to the Lodge, I have had other ghostly encounters in my lifetime, but I’ll save those stories for another time…  Until then, happy ghost hunting.

Stacey

http://www.staceycoverstone.com

           

November New Releases

The attraction by Michael Davis

What pulls a man to the ladies, latches onto his heart and makes him lose all control over his logical mind? What specifically attracts us to the opposite gender and why is it relevant to writing fiction with a romantic slate? Would it be a surprise that much of the romantic elements in a fiction deal with attraction between the male and female? No, we all know that’s important, so let’s discuss the differences. I know as a man what attracts me to a woman, but as far as women’s attraction to men, the ladies will have to reflect on that one.







Physically, men are clearly attracted to the area women focus a lot of their concerns, that’s right, boobs and butt, but there is more. I melt when I see a woman with perfectly shaped legs, no knee, and nylons, love the nylons. I also adore well formed fingers and hands with polished tapered nails. Doesn’t have to be red polish, clear or French nails make my heart stop. I become mesmerized in a woman’s eyes, their elongated shape, arced eyebrows, OMG. And without being a fetish, I enjoy a woman’s tiny feet. In terms of dimensions, I know a lot of time is spent discussing big breasts and large butts, but I think that’s Hollywood fantasy, not mine. I’ve seen women with small breasts and a tiny rear still drive men nuts, including me. It’s the shape of a woman, both in profile and straight on. The curves at her waist, the way they walk, even the way they twist side ways when they bend. Then there’s the dimples above her butt cheeks, the faint line running down from her chest to her naval and below, oh man. Now this may come as a shock, and I’ll try not to be too explicit, but we all love the visual appeal of the nether region; ladies it is the ultimate turn on. Of course the natural scent of a female, especially when making love, can drive our hunger over the edge. Sends a charge down my spine every time. And I don’t mean the shampoos, body washes, and colognes; I mean her natural aroma. It is what turns the fire from a small flame to an inferno.


As for the other elements of attraction, I enjoy intelligence, humor, an eternal smile that lights my crazy day when ever I’m around, her attention to appearance, the way they fill the air with talk, and especially when I know they like men. I don’t just mean for sexual purposes, I mean when they broadcast an attraction and appreciation for what men are, what they bring to their world. The way women can rush around in the kitchen cooking or the bathroom fixing their makeup, chat with their girl friends, worry about pillows stacked up three feet high on the bed, put all sorts of things I don’t even understand in the bathroom to spruce it up. And that just scratches the surface. I know there are “Player” males out there that are only into the B&B components, but most of my buds reflect the same attraction that I do.


In terms of why women are attracted to men, I’m not sure I even have a clue, so I’ll leave that to one of the ladies.

Michael Davis (Davisstories.com)

Author of the year, 2008

Accepting Submissions

Champagne Books

We are accepting submissions from all genres, specifically steam punk,
science fiction, fantasy, and mystery/thrillers.

Romance -- we are looking for fast-paced, character driven novels where
romance is integral to the storyline. Novels can be in any era, any
location and can have fantasy/paranormal elements, however our
historical line is limited to the 19 century or earlier. Sensuality
levels should be on the higher end of steamy, while remaining tasteful.

We are also actively acquiring the following novella length stories for
an upcoming series: Vintage Volumes

* Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
* Science Fiction/Fantasy
* Romance
Please visit us online at http://www.champagnebooks.com/submissions.htm
for our current needs and submission guidelines.

“Nude Butt Cheeks On A Wooden Chair Doth Not A Writer Make”

“Nude Butt Cheeks On A Wooden Chair Doth Not A Writer Make”

I know ya’ll are gonna think I’m pulling your legs, but I swear on a stack of BTO CDs that I received the following email just a couple of days ago....

Ed,

I just wanted to drop you a quick note and tell you how much I enjoy reading your various writings. I enjoy your Gather articles, and after reading some of them I went and purchased your first book. I’m also pleased to learn that you have another coming out soon. Congratulations on your writing successes.

My name is Peggy, and I live in Tampa, Florida. To be more precise, I live in a nudist resort just outside of Tampa called “Eye Full City.” I find the lifestyle to be exhilerating, and I actually find that it stimulates my creativity. My hobby is painting landscapes, and I always do my best work when my mind is free of stress and my body is free of clothing.

I was wondering if the same thing might be true of writing. Have you ever written anything while in the nude? If not, would you consider doing it if you felt it would help your creativity?

Looking forward to your answer,

Peggy Pinkapples

Let me first go on the record and state that I didn’t write Peggy back. Didn’t even think about it, to be honest. A woman that paints in the nude and asks a stranger if he writes his stuff while naked is not a woman I want to know. Frankly, the only flakes I want to become acquainted with are in my favorite cereal, Post Raisin Bran - not naked female ones from Florida. Plus, I’ll bet you anything and a dollar that there are mops in my closet more attractive than this woman is. There’s no doubt about it in my mind at all - let’s face it, if she was a fox, no self respecting husband/boyfriend would let her go prancing around naked all the time.

Even though I won‘t be getting to know her, let me be sure and answer her two questions. If I don’t, there are guys out there like Rob Douglas, Randy Green, and Greg Berryhill who might be tempted to get all sorts of rumors started about what my answers might be. Her first question was,

“Have you ever written anything while in the nude?”

The answer to that is an unequivocable NO! I write in an old wood chair, and most of the time it’s a cold wood chair. Make that a very cold wood chair. There’s a better chance of me writing in a pink tu-tu than there is of me writing naked.

The next, and thankfully last one,

“If not, would you consider it if you felt it would help your creativity?

NO! Being naked, cold, and embarrassed would not help my creativity in the least.

You know, stuff like this makes me wonder what’s the world coming to? Why’s there all this hooplah about being naked in public places? Last night, they had someone on Entertainment Tonight who’s starting a nude airline! I kid you not! You buy a ticket to fly somewhere with them, and as soon as the plane is in the sky and the pilot turns off the “fasten seatbelt” sign, you’re free to drop your drawers! Can you imagine it? People walking up and down the aisles of the plane naked as jaybirds. What if the plane happened to hit some turbulence, and some eighty year old guy with a flabby gut was headed down the aisle? It’s too horrible to even think about. Or what if some nudist spills a cup of hot coffee in their lap? The one positive thing about that would be the creative cussing that would slip from the scalded person’s lips, but the rest would not be pretty.

Frankly, not everyone is meant to run around naked, and I’ll freely admit to being one of those that needs to stay clothed. Being naked needs to be confined to just two activities, and let’s face it - we all know what they are, and I’ll keep my editors happy by not going into detail about them here. Other than that, we ought to keep our clothes on at all times. May as well keep some level of mystery going about things as the vast majority of us aren‘t candidates for centerfolds when we’re naked. As Ed Jr. told me one time years ago, it’s one thing for people to think you’re a haint, but it’s a whole ’nother thing to go out of your way to prove it to them...

Yin and Yang by Angelica Hart & Zi

YIN AND YANG

While at the airport one of the eastern religious sects whose doctrine and tenet had roots in reincarnation approached and solicited a donation. I smiled and stated, "Sorry... I gave in a previous life."

To continue, a door-to-door religious peddler once told me that if I became one of the army we could save a million souls from going to hell. I retorted without a moment of hesitation and possibly stunning conviction, "No thanks... I shan't give a cent... not enough go there already."

The afore humor that we shared, shows that religion is a very risky place to play. Whereas, we are both spiritual, we have made a sincere effort to not allow it to overtly infest our work. Preachy is left to the pulpit, altar, soapbox, hilltop, and mom when a teen is caught sneaking in way over curfew. Yes, spiritually is a covert agent and it does touch our work on occasion with a timid stroke of a thin artistic brush, but we try to make our pieces more neutral. There are far more superior authors who understand these subjects and can do a good job. We on the other hand do what we think we can do well... that is dance with the draws of love and lust from the everyman and everywoman point of view.

In KILLER DOLLS our heroine is so much the everywoman, in that she delayed making that relationship choice, because Mister Right had not arrived and she was not about to settle for Mister Right-now. We wanted her to find love... and with that... lust... and with that... every possibility of that yin and yang where the two compliment the life of the other. Happy ending stuff... We just adore it.




EXCERPT SEVEN
Tease v. Concern

Taut was quite aware of the danger that was just unvialed and reacted with quick and keen moves. Approaching her from her rear, he placed one huge powerful hand over her mouth so she would not inhale any toxins and his other arm about her waist. Lifting her from the floor, he retreated from the danger. He kept focus. Reviewing what he had memorized from Charles Gallagher's e-mail.

Letti gasped at the unexpected behavior but she wasn't adverse to it. After all, he did something similar when he had kissed her so suddenly in her apartment. It felt like
one of those fantasy moments, something right out of an old-fashioned bodice ripper. Yet, the moment wasn't quite right. There were those guys. Shouldn't they be a bit prudent, or did the possibility of danger turn Taut…well…taut.

She struggled but he refused to release her. He couldn't let her do anything that might spread the ricin. Gallagher had provided photos of ricin victims. He would not allow this to harm Letti. No one was to be hurt. Not again. Not on his watch. That imperative directed his next decisions.

His hold was an aphrodisiac, animalistic, driven, homogeneous with her want, placated only by submission to it, and her body began to respond. Shallow short breaths followed the intense heat smoldering in her groin, incinerating any resistance, and guaranteeing conflagration of raging flames of lust. The tight, pucker of her nipples signaled her growing arousal, and heaviness attached itself to her breasts, having that need to be touched. She surrendered to his authority, submitted, and urged him with her acquiesces to take more.



KILLER DOLLS IS AVAILABLE: Unaware that bio-terrorist are using her handcrafted dolls to attack the innocent, Letti Noel finds herself falling for Taut Johnson, an undercover FBI agent. Even as deceit is a growing barrier to their love, it's the stalking terrorists that are a threat to their lives.

We love to hear from anyone interested in what we do. Anyone who writes us and leaves an s-mail address, we will send you a gift and add you to any future mailings.

Angelica Hart and Zi
KILLER DOLLS ~ September 2009



SNAKE DANCE ~ February 2010
CHASING GRAVITAS ~ July 2010
angelicahartandzi@yahoo.com
angelicahartandzi.com
Champagne Books



KILLER DOLLS can be purchased at
Champagne Books
http://www.champagnebooks.com/

Citizens of the World - You Write by Jim Woods

CITIZENS OF THE WORLD—YOU WRITE

By Jim Woods

Most of us in audience to this Blog write in English. It may Canadian English, Australian English, American English or The Queen’s English, all of which are somewhat confusingly similar. However, absolute foreign words and phrases, particularly Mexican/Spanish ones for those of us who reside in the Southwest region of the United States, or European phrases for writers who set their work in other exotic milieu, increasingly work into our English writing. Speaking for myself and my locale, many Spanish words have become commonplace, such that they don’t get recognized as anything but Spanglish. But you don’t have to be a linguist to insert occasional foreign words into your English writing for special effect, just dare with a bit of savoir-faire.

Many of us intentionally place a foreign word or phrase into our short stories or novels because they fit the mood or scene. I make appropriate use of languages other than English in my novels set in South Africa. With the interaction between several different cultures in that multilingual country, my characters occasionally are addressed by one who speaks a different language. An Englishman may converse with an Afrikaner or a Zulu, and it helps to have the non-English speaker identified by words common to his other-than-English language. It’s a way to identify the speaker without all the “He saids.” For instance, if one character addresses another one with the subservient, “Baas,” the reader will know that a black man is addressing a white, and probably an Afrikaner and not an Englishman. By the same token, if one character refers to another as a verdoem rooinek (damn red-neck), you can be sure that the speaker is Afrikaner and the object of his insult is English.

Assuming that all who read this are writing in English, use italics when a foreign language word or phrase is necessary to the text–but only if that foreign word or phrase has not become familiar to the English-speaking world. For instance, in writing in the Southwest for a southwestern readership, “tortilla” need not be italicized but “galleta” (cookie) probably should be. Make the determination on a word-by-word-case basis. Never italicize foreign proper names.

Whether you write romances or military adventure, you almost always can make use of “rendezvous,” and you don’t have to italicize it, the French word having become universal in its use. However, should you want your lovers to rendezvous in the garden, you could arrange the tryst under the tonnelle rather than the arbor.

I got that education from the packaging on my arbor kit. These days you can almost learn a second or third language from such commercial packaging. My arbor kit instructions were repeated in French and Spanish; and the legend on the carton noted that the product itself was Made in Canada, Fabrique Au Canada, and Hecho En Canada.

It’s impossible to buy electronics without being exposed to several world languages in print, including Asian ones in characters that don’t spring from my keyboard at all. The other languages that do use our same alphabet though, can be translated simply by comparison to the English version of the claims and instructions. Not only do the individual words become clear in translation, but sentence structure can be studied as well.

In our misplaced but unintentional superiority, we tend to think of those packaging labels and assembly instructions as being translated primarily from English to whatever other secondary languages that may be involved. However, when I purchased a roll-bar kit from the BMW factory, the primary installation instructions, not too strangely, were in German. Not only that but I had to thumb through several pages of other dialects of the world, including some I assumed to be Arabic, before locating English embedded amongst the world’s “secondary” languages. I suppose Germans and others have the same right as the English-speaking peoples to take pride in their native languages.

We are not alone in this world, and writing for the electronic markets certainly will cause even more blending of the world’s languages. In the meantime, and even for local consumption, toss a foreign word into your written stories or articles now and then, just for worldly effect. Explain it though, and if it’s very unusual, italicize it too. However, make sure of your translation.

In the grocery market recently, a floor under mopping maintenance was adorned with a cautionary sign in both English and Spanish. I assumed “piso” to mean “wet”– think about it– until later at a hardware store, I understood from reading a tile package that “piso” is “floor.” I was floored.

Errors and misunderstandings caused by language translations work both ways. Acting in my capacity as contract editor on a manuscript by an East European author, I changed her written phrase in the scene where her character in hiding was about to be discovered, “He retained his respiration” to “He held his breath.” It’s not that the author had selected individual words from her American dictionary that were incorrect, or even that the combination of words did not, with a little study, convey her character’s dilemma, but a part of my commission was to Americanize the language of the author’s novel. She made a special point in our initial contact to let me know that English was not her native tongue, as if I couldn’t have guessed. Some of the more blatant misuses by my European author client include interchanging subject and verb, a condition we do see in languages other than our own English. It’s not entirely wrong but hers gave the dialogue a rather stilted read, and as I say, a stipulation from my client was to Americanize her writing.

Her book is structured around the Berlin Airlift of the post WWII era, so military references are used throughout. She talks of soldiers “at the first lines” which I changed to “on the front line.” We all try to be civil but my author, in differentiating military characters from non-military ones, refers to the nonmilitary as “civil people,” a phrase I changed, repeatedly, to simply “civilians.” Because the background is the airlift, flight and aircraft terminology comes up in her writing. She writes of the “bombardments” dropped on Berlin, which I changed to simply “bombs.”

The occasional use of a foreign word or phrase can be very effective in the right places in your story or novel, but like my East European client, Hungarian actually, if we depend on a dictionary of the language we really cannot handle, we should run the copy by someone who is familiar and fluent in the language. Otherwise, we could quite likely select the wrong word, and thereby end up quedar en ridiculo (looking ridiculous).

* ~ *

Contributed by Jim Woods, author of Champagne Books:

Gunshot Echoes; Assassination Safari; and Parting Shot

Champagne Books Announces Release of Use By Date by Helen Ravell

Champagne Books Announces Release of Use By Date by Helen Ravell

By Tami with Champagne Books Dated: Nov 02, 2009

Helen Ravell lives in Australia with her husband & two children, overlooking Lake Macquarie & the ocean. A keen skier & sailor, her love of the water is a constant source of inspiration when she can drag her eyes from the view & back to her computer.

Use By Date

Taylor Elliott has spent her whole life being good. Being a good teacher, a good wife, a good mother. And where has it gotten her? Absolutely nowhere. At forty-six, she might as well be invisible.

The world is passing her by, and she has had enough. Taylor doesn’t want to be invisible any more. She’ll do whatever it takes to make the world open its eyes and see a strong, independent individual, who refuses to be defined by her age or gender.

Read Use By Date by Helen Ravell to find out how Taylor learned that in life and love—you can’t win from the sidelines.

Use By Date can be purchased in electronic format today at (http://www.champagnebooks.com/books/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=19_10&products_id=327). 

Please contact Tami for any questions regarding this press release publicity@champagnebooks.com.

###

Champagne Books is an independent small press located in Calgary, AB Canada. Our books are available in electronic and trade paperback formats. With only the best authors, you can be guaranteed of the highest quality fiction at the best possible price.

Champagne Books Announces Release of Noella’s Gift by Donica Covey

Champagne Books Announces Release of Noella’s Gift by Donica Covey

By Tami with Champagne Books Dated: Nov 02, 2009

Donica Covey spent most of her childhood making up stories starring herself & hunky actors. From there blossomed a love of fiction. She lives in a suburb of St. Louis with her large loving family; a teenage daughter, a grown son & daughter-in-law.

Noella's Gift

Holly Harper has hated Christmas for years. The season full of commercialism has left her feeling cold and bitter. When she finds a little girl freezing and alone she feels warmth spark in her heart. She's determined to keep the child until Christmas is over. Jaxon Cole is a police detective whose Christmas spirit left a long time ago. He knows the season brings an increase in drunk driving accidents and suicides. But when a dark haired woman shows up in his office with a little waif in tow he sees that there is some good in the holiday.

Will they find joy in the season or will their hearts be as cold as the winter winds? Read Noella's Gift to find out if a little girl can take the bah-humbug out of the holiday for a disillusioned cop, and a bitter woman.

Noella's Gift can be purchased in electronic format here (http://www.champagnebooks.com/books/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=19_15&products_id=329) 

Please contact Tami for any questions regarding this press release publicity@champagnebooks.com

###

Champagne Books is an independent small press located in Calgary, AB Canada. Our books are available in electronic and trade paperback formats. With only the best authors, you can be guaranteed of the highest quality fiction at the best possible price.

Champagne Books Announces Release of The Chat Pack by Kris Condi

Champagne Books Announces Release of The Chat Pack by Kris Condi

By Tami with Champagne Books Dated: Nov 02, 2009

Since 1992 Dr. Condi has had over sixty-five stories & articles in newspapers & magazines. Two previously published books precede The Chat Pack; Fakin’ It ('08) and 4Cam.Us ('04). They alternate living at their lake home in MI & the IL countryside.

The Chat Pack

From Italy to the United States to Tahiti, five women, five cultures and five globally diverse lives find solace in a chat room. Each is looking to fulfill a need. Ellen strives to regain empowerment. Luana longs to leave that secluded tropical island for a California adventure. New York executive Dava is looking for a shoulder to cry on since she and her husband were unsuccessful in conceiving. After struggling through the Michigan welfare system Irene joins chat with hopes of finding her long-lost daughter and employment. Former runway model, Petrice, is intrigued by the anonymity of chat. Through instant messaging, these five women discover not only friendship but that each of them is linked to the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa

The Chat Pack by Kris Condi covers the issues that people want to read about; women, diversity and mystery.

The Chat Pack can be purchased in electronic format at http://www.champagnebooks.com/books/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=19_12&products_id=328. 

Please contact Tami for any questions regarding this press release publicity@champagnebooks.com.

###

Champagne Books is an independent small press located in Calgary, AB Canada. Our books are available in electronic and trade paperback formats. With only the best authors, you can be guaranteed of the highest quality fiction at the best possible price.

Champagne Books Announces Release of ChristmaSin' by Ed Williams

Champagne Books Announces Release of ChristmaSin' by Ed Williams

By Tami with Champagne Books Dated: Nov 02, 2009

Ed Williams is a true Southern Outlaw Author who hails from Juliette, Georgia. He's the author of the books Sex, Dead Dogs, and Me: The Juliette Journals, and Rough As A Cob: More From The Juliette Journals.

ChristmaSin'

Tired of sugar plums and sit-com Christmases? Ready for something real, wild, and kickin'? Try reading ChristmaSin', a deeply Southern Christmas Epistle that will have you wishing Christmas really was every day! Christmas isn't just about sugar plum fairies and reindeer dancing across the sky. It can also be about red clay chunk wars, cock fighting, dead people who may really not be, and more! Get set for a wild, wild Christmas ride when you read ChristmaSin', Southern Outlaw Author Ed Williams' take on what a true Christmas in a small, rural Southern town is really all about! Learn about Christmas miracles happening in the most unlikely of settings, the early '70s in tiny Juliette, Georgia. It's a novel that could be true, in some places actually is, and one that will both warm the heart and tickle the funny bone!

ChristmaSin' can be purchased in print and in electronic format November 2, 2009 (http://www.champagnebooks.com/books/)

Please contact Tami for any questions regarding this press release publicity@champagnebooks.com

###

Champagne Books is an independent small press located in Calgary, AB Canada. Our books are available in electronic and trade paperback formats. With only the best authors, you can be guaranteed of the highest quality fiction at the best possible price.

April Foolery by Angelica Hart & Zi

APRIL FOOLERY

We are Angelica Hart and Zi, authors who have been writing romantic thrillers and fantasy for Champagne Books. We have discovered that life can provide experiences that easily if reflected upon can enhance our writing.

I once found my car in the lobby of the building in which I worked. Was paged to immediately come to that lobby, and subsequently told to get it out of there. My friends as an act of April Foolery had carried it there. It was a Triumph Spitfire. Small.

The building management was displaying an extreme lack of any sense of humor. And my friends were nowhere to be found. One hour later fearing the threat of police intervention I considered contacting the fire company, figuring I'd have to make a nice donation.

Yes, from the corners came my jokester-buds, laughing thinking themselves clever.

Well, the story did not end there. The building called the authorities. They arrived as this lighthearted group of hooligans, were caught in mid-shenanigans, asked if they did it, confessed amidst deep male laughter, and were charged with misdemeanors. I was asked if I wanted felony grand thief auto charges to be levied. I him-n-hawed but eventually after seeing them squirm told the officer not to so charge them.

The moral is that we should all consider our April Foolery in part because a future author may use it.

When writing KILLER DOLLS the antiheroes Vench and Vilgal were toned with some of the perception of the aforementioned cleverness and they like my jokester-buds did not expect the outcome. I think the word picturing of the fruition of our book may be enjoyable. Let us know.

EXCERPT FIVE

She saw his tearing and felt her own flow.

“Jenny had fallen asleep with Hank. They shot them both. I need to believe they never even knew. Mitter kept me from killing them when we caught them, but something

inside me died, and I promised myself I’d never let that happen again. Then I met you and the danger was already there, and with all that every ounce of fear flooded on me,

again. Fresh yet as if an old friend was that ache.”

“I’m so sorry.” She wished not having to say those words and if they were said, to have shared them as a sycophant flattering him somehow, comforting, though the horridness altered that, and she was saddled by the truth, there was pain, his and she felt it, it now theirs.

KILLER DOLLS IS AVAILABLE: Unaware that bio-terrorists are using her handcrafted dolls to attack the innocent, Letti Noel finds herself falling for Taut Johnson, an undercover FBI agent. Even as deceit is a growing barrier to their love, it's the stalking terrorists that are a threat to their lives.

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Angelica Hart and Zi

KILLER DOLLS ~ September 2009

SNAKE DANCE ~ February 2010

CHASING GRAVITAS ~ July 2010

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Champagne Books

KILLER DOLLS can be purchased at

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http://www.champagnebooks.com/