Ghosts of Aquinnah, Partners in Paranormya, NASA's Latest and Greatest, and Indiestructible

Ghosts of Aquinnah: Julie Flanders has released the cover art for Ghosts of Aquinnah. Release date: December 5, 2013. Good luck Julie with everything!

Author Bio: Julie Flanders is a novelist and freelance writer in Cincinnati, Ohio. She has a life-long love affair with the ocean and has spent more summer vacations than she can count on the island of Martha’s Vineyard. When not writing, Julie can be found reading, cheering on her favorite sports teams, and watching too much television. She is an animal lover and shares her home with her dog and cat. Find Julie at: Website ~ Blog ~ Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Pinterest ~ Goodreads.

Partners in Paranormya: Gwen Gardner and Angela Brown, Partners in Paranormya, have a month long Blog Tour. This tour will feature the sequels to our last books, Neverlove and Givin’ Up The Ghost.

They All Fall Down and A Guilty Ghost Surprised have the same casts of lovable characters (and some, not so much) as the last tour. And of course, a lot of cross-over action will be going on between the books, characters and authors on the tour.

 And there are lots of other fun Blogfest for the month of October, starting with Insecure Writers Support Group. Check out my left side bar and click a badge. Any badge. Or all of them.

 

Escalation Cover Release: Thanks to everyone helping with my cover release for Escalation the week of October 7th. If you volunteered to help, and you did not receive my email over the weekend, or you want to join in the party, email me at stephen.tremp@yahoo.com and I’ll get it right out to you.

Did You Know: A five-year test of NASA's latest ion drive for future spacecraft has set a new world record for the longest single space engine test.

The space agency's Evolutionary Xenon Thruster (NEXT) project completed a continuous test the ion engine for more than 48,000 hours — over five and a half years — longer than any other space propulsion system ever tested. With low fuel weight and long-running efficiency, ion engines have become strong contenders for deep space missions. Reference

Fun Fact: Once the staple of science fiction, ion propulsion engines have made a slow influx in military, commercial, and civilian space programs. An ion engine propelled NASA's Deep Space 1 mission, launched in October 1998, demonstrating the engine's long duration.

Yep. Once again, science fiction is the prophet of future science.

Author Of The Week: Actually, it’s 29 authors (I’m one), each contributing to Indiestructible: Inspiring Stories from the Publishing Jungle. Inspiring Stories from the Publishing Jungle" brings you the experiences of 29 indie authors—their passions, their insights, their successes—to help you make the leap into indie publishing.

100% of proceeds from "Indiestructible" purchases will be donated to BUILDON.org.

Celebrate The Small Things and Weekend Follies

Celebrate The Small Things: Today I'm celebrating the completion of the cover art my upcoming book ESCALATION. Thanks to everyone who offered to share in the Cover Art release Monday October 7th.

 

And if you still want to help with the release, just jump through your wormhole and leave a comment or email me at stephen.tremp@yahoo.com. I'll be sending out the cover art along with a short blurb to you this weekend.

And if you haven't joined Celebrate The Small Things, scroll down on my left side bar and click the badge.

 

Weekend Follies: I love culture clash. The Beverly Hillbillies or Green Acres are classic examples. In the classic movie What About Bob, Bill Murray's and Richard Dreyfuss's characters could not be any more different. And this is the conflict that provides 99 minutes of hilarity.

 

If you haven't seen What About Bob, it's definitely worth the rental this weekend.

 

Have a great weekend, and thanks again all for helping with the Cover Release for ESCALATION!

 

Banned Book Week, How To Date A Nerd Bloghop, And More!

Banned Book Week: It’s that time of year again. Readers from across the United States and around the world will demonstrate their support for free speech by participating in a Virtual Read Out of banned and challenged books during Banned Books Week, Sept. 22 – 28, a time when the nation celebrates the freedom to read and the American Library Association (ALA) brings attention to the censorship of books in schools and libraries.

Here is a partial list of banned books:

• To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

• The entire Harry Potter Series

• 1984 by George Orwell

• Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

• The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

• The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

• The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

• The Bible

 

And far too many others to list. Sure, there are some real weird books out there with inappropriate material not suitable for schools and libraries. But the list of literary classics that are banned is ridiculous. So I encourage you to take a moment to select a book from the Banned Book List and put it on your TBR list.

 

ESCALATION Cover Art: My talented and graphic artist extraordinaire Jeremy Tremp is about finished with the cover art for ESCALATION.

 

If you would like to help with the cover art release, please leave a comment or email me at Stephen.tremp@yahoo.com. Monday October 7th is the cover release date. Many thanks in advance!!!

 

And check out Jeremy’s Web site. He’s a nationally known award winning director, cinematographer and editor. Often called a “Jack of all Trades” for his unique understanding and wide range of skills. Jeremy has worked on Hollywood feature films, broadcast commercials and major label music videos.

 

This is the first time I've seen both my books together at the library. Usually one or both are checked out. Soon I'll add Escalation to them.

How To Date A Nerd Bloghop: I’m a bit early for this, but I’m only posting twice a week as I’m working like crazy finishing ESCALATION.

 

What Is The Nerdiest Thing About You? Wow! That’s a hard question to answer as I’m one of the coolest guys I’ve ever met. In fact, I am the coolest guy I’ve ever met. There is simply nothing nerdy about me. Don’t believe me? Check out a picture of me in all of my total awesomeness! Ladies, please refrain yourself as I'm happily married.

 

Should We Return To The Moon: If you haven’t already, take a moment to check out my post at the Blogging A to Z from last Thursday. I expanded on a previous post on Should We Return To The Moon. Fascinating stuff! Just click on Einstein's face at the top of my right tool bar.

 

There is still time to sign up for How To Date A Nerd Bloghop. Get your nerd on and sign up below!

Weekend Follies and Return to Steve’s Science And Other Fun Stuff

Hi everyone, as always, thanks for stopping by and saying hello!

 

Steve’s Science and Other Fun Stuff series up and running again at the Blogging A to Z site every first and third Thursday of each month. I hope to see you there to check out the latest in physics, astronomy, biochemistry, nanotechnology, and other amazing breakthroughs that science is on the cusp of discovering.

 

Stop by and check out my latest post: Should We Return to the Moon? Just click on EINSTEIN’S FACE at the top of my right side bar. You’ll be glad you did!!!

 

Weekend Follies: First up is this Stephen King cartoon I saw circulating Facebook this week.

 

Next up: Sometimes you feel like you’re surrounded by @$$h0!e$. Admit it. It’s true. So I’ll revert back to one of the greatest movies ever made. Enjoy!

 

Oh, and don’t forget to click on Einstein’s image after viewing the Weekend Follies!

 

W4WS And CassaStorm

W4WS: Thanks again everyone for supporting a really amazing and awesome venture! Hosted by Mary Pax, Christine Raines, C.M. Brown, and myself. We are writers helping other writers to succeed. This month’s spotlighted writers are Helen Ginger and Cherie reich.

 

Our Mission:

• Help writers bring awareness of their book(s) to tens of thousands of new people

• Help writers reach Amazon Top 100 in at least one category (i.e., suspense, free, etc.)

• Increase sales of their book(s) after the promo is over

• Drive new traffic to their blog and increase following

• Create verbal and viral buzz

 

 

What To Do, You Ask? Simply stop by Carrie and Lee's Web sites and copy and paste their pre-written Tweets into your Twitter account. 

Or go to #W4WS on Twitter and Retweet something. You can do this once or all week long as much as you feel inspired.

Or click the W4WS Facebook Page and then share their links with your Facebook friends and writers groups. thus enabling Carrie and Lee to reach countless new people they could never before reach!
If you want more information, CLICK HERE and sign up. Then check in every third Monday of each month to help support and promote a brother or sister in the Blogosphere. Simple. Easy. Powerful.

Alex J. Cavanaugh has just released CassaStorm! Comment on Alex’s blog this week for a chance to win a Cassa mug, mousepad, magnet, and swag! Darn, no wormholes though.

Hey Alex, speaking of wormholes, are there any in your trilogy?

Alex: No, I didn’t insert any wormholes. All of the races live within a large cluster of solar systems, so no need to jump across the galaxy. And their teleporters are a different technology than wormholes. Just hoping there aren’t any plotholes…

CassaStorm By Alex J Cavanaugh From the Amazon Best Selling Series!

A storm gathers across the galaxy…

Commanding the Cassan base on Tgren, Byron thought he’d put the days of battle behind him. As a galaxy-wide war encroaches upon the desert planet, Byron’s ideal life is threatened and he’s caught between the Tgrens and the Cassans.

After enemy ships attack the desert planet, Byron discovers another battle within his own family. The declaration of war between all ten races triggers nightmares in his son, threatening to destroy the boy’s mind.

Meanwhile the ancient alien ship is transmitting a code that might signal the end of all life in the galaxy. And the mysterious probe that almost destroyed Tgren twenty years ago could return. As his world begins to crumble, Byron suspects a connection. The storm is about to break, and Byron is caught in the middle…

“CassaStorm is a touching and mesmerizing space opera full of action and emotion with strong characters and a cosmic mystery.”
– Edi’s Book Lighhouse "

Cavanaugh makes world building on the galactic scale look easy. The stakes affect the entire known universe and yet Cavanaugh makes it intensely personal for our hero. The final installment of this series will break your heart and put it back together."
- Charity Bradford, science fantasy author of The Magic Wakes

$16.95 USA, 6x9 Trade paperback, 268 pages, Dancing Lemur Press, L.L.C.

Science fiction/adventure and science fiction/space opera Print ISBN 9781939844002 eBook ISBN 9781939844019 $4.99 EBook available in all formats

Here are all the pertinent links to find CassaStorm:
Barnes & Noble
Amazon
Amazon Kindle
Goodreads
Book Trailer

Alex J. Cavanaugh has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and works in web design and graphics. He is experienced in technical editing and worked with an adult literacy program for several years. A fan of all things science fiction, his interests range from books and movies to music and games. Online he is the Ninja Captain and founder of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group. The author of the Amazon bestsellers, CassaStar and CassaFire, he lives in the Carolinas with his wife.

You can hook up with Alex here:
Website
Twitter
Goodreads

Good luck Alex with everything!!!

Guest Author Eugenia Oganova, Sheena-kay Graham Cover Reveal, And The Moon!

Today we welcome Author Eugenia Oganova as she discusses Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People?

 

Encountering an uncomfortable, or difficult, or even painful internal or external situation is part of the awakening journey – it is our resistance to that event that creates a detour. Detours are painful – not only because we prolong the painful situation, but also because they generate confusion and lost-ness, further distracting us from our journey (life’s purpose!)

 

If one resists the challenging situation, which has arrived into one’s life, one becomes entangled in it – and attracts negativity that matches the problem, instead of the Light that matches the solution.

We resist our lessons by:

 

• Believing the literal meaning of the events – trying to solve the situation, rather than to learn about life.

• Allowing the emotional response to the event to take over – that is the “fluid overwhelm”, the over-focusing on the emotion which only amplifies the difficulty.

• Freezing up – hiding from emotion, avoiding it, attempting to stoically not feel.

• Pushing against the event by becoming frustrated or angry – that is an attempt to create distance from the event, a separation of Self and its’ creation.

• Judging and blaming others – a victim mentality of “It’s all their fault! This is an attempt to put responsibility for the difficulty onto someone else.

• Judging and blaming self – a collapse response of “It’s all my fault! I can’t do anything right!” This is an attempt to relinquish self-responsibility by proclaiming yourself to be incapable.    

 

When one’s not-wanting-to-experience what one is experiencing becomes habitual, one grows stuck in the resistance. Any and all resistance is futile – it only leads to more pain. Thus a great life is not about “never experiencing pain, difficulties, discomfort, etc.” but about facing what we attract to ourselves (internally and externally) without resistance – this generates wisdom and awakens the Soul within us.

 

Thank You Eugenia For Stopping By! For more information about Eugenia Oganova and her work – visit her Website Here . For a copy of Awakening the Harmony Within: How to Create with Spirit Click Here .

 

Cover Reveal: Congrats! To Sheena-kay Graham and her cover release for Sacrifice Her. Due December 2013. Best wishes to you Sheena-kay!

 

Did You Know: There are good reasons to return to the moon. The moon could hold secrets regarding our world. Lower gravity means it’s easier to launch ships to other planets and moons. Telescopes would have a better view to see deep into our universe as there is no atmosphere to interfere with observations. And the moon holds vital resources. We know there is water on the moon in the form of ice. And the hydrogen and oxygen atoms could be used as rocket fuel. Reference

 

At least seven major potential lunar construction materials have been identified. These include:

 

• concrete

• sulfur concrete

• cast basalt

• sintered basalt

• fiberglass

• cast glass

• metals Reference

 

Fun Fact: The U.S. does not have concrete plans to return to the moon any time soon. China plans to land an unmanned exploratory rover on the moon by the end of this year.

 

The question is, will private industry beat governments to the punch?

Bob Sanchez: 100 Amazon Reader Reviews!

The Man. The Myth. The Legend.

Steve asked me to write a few words about When Pigs Fly receiving 100 Amazon reviews. How did it happen? And (Steve is too polite to ask) so what?

It took patience and persistence. When Pigs Fly came out as a paperback in late 2006, and the first volley of reviews came from close friends from my writers’ group. Just one relative posted a review, which he only wrote because he could honestly be positive. Generally, it’s best to leave your relatives alone. For many reasons, don’t put them on the spot.

 

There weren’t that many reviews until the $2.99 Kindle versions came out at the beginning of 2012. KDP (Kindle Desktop Publishing) offered a great platform to distribute my three novels widely—over 100,000 e-copies, including of course a ton of freebies, assuming you can measure e-books by the ton.

But It Isn’t Enough To Publish An E-book: People need to know it’s out there. Twitter is a great tool for getting the word out about your book. The bad news is that it takes time and effort. The good news is that it’s free and reaches lots of potential readers. How to effectively use Twitter is a separate subject, but learning isn’t hard.

 

If you’re giving away copies, tweet about it. If you need reviews, tweet about it. Ask for honest opinions. And if you’re asking a specific person, say by email or face to face, just ask once and move on. Don’t nag. It’s not worth it. A friend of mine said she liked all of my books but wouldn’t write reviews. That’s fine. Friendships trump reviews every time.

Anyway, you should quickly get to the point where you’re leaving your friends alone. (Mostly.)  You really, really want to hear from strangers, people who owe you nothing, never mind four or five stars. Two of my reviews wrote “Not worth my time” and “Big disappointment.” Another says the author must have a lot of friends and relatives to have so many reviews for such a mediocre book!

 

But My Favorite 1-star Review Said, “The best part of this book was putting it away for good.” Comments like that just lend credibility to the many good ones. And just so you know, 89 of the 102 reviews are at least four stars.  So there, “Terrible, just terrible.”

Get used to the fact that every book has its critics. If you get a bad review that’s unfair, others will see it for what it is. Never let it ruin your day. And if it’s fair, then maybe it’s feedback you need anyway.

 So Let's Wrap This Up by answering the “So what?” question. Most people don’t read through every review of a book, or even any review. If you get a good comment, use it for leverage. Here’s a Twitter example with a phrase from the latest Amazon review:

 102 reviews 4.4 stars for When Pigs Fly bitly.com/bobsanchez #kindle "hysterically funny" #humor #crime Not for kids

 You can use an especially nice comment for signs and posters, such as the one in the photo. Don’t let great feedback go to waste!

Let's Give It Up For Bob: 100 Amazon reader reviews is an amazing milestone to reach! Congrats Bob, thanks for stopping by, and here's to another 100 reviews. You can check out Bob's blog HERE.

Steve's Science News and Other Fun Stuff: Once again I'll be at the Blogging A to Z Challenge every first and third Thursday of each month beginning September 19th! You'll want to tune in for that as we will be covering the awesome and amazing latest and greatest in physics, science, and other fields of science.

Who: On December 9, 2013 One person will be roasted via popular vote. This someone is a constant presence, is positive, possesses integrity, is involved in the online community (participating and hosting), is supportive of others and is a major force in the blogging community.

How: Once launched, each host has seven days to review comments and the selections made via their comments and pick one. We then present our selections and the co-hosts vote from that point. The recipient (Roastee) is announced at least two weeks out and folks can join a Linky ahead of their roasting posting. Details to follow!

W4WS: This month W4WS will spotlight Helen Ginger and Cherie Reich. Mark it on your calendars for Monday September 16th. And feel free to give a shout out for these two awesome writers and W4WS if you feel so inspired.

Author Of The Week:  Yolanda Renee and her recent release Murder Madness & Love. Just click on the icon at the top of my right side bar.   

 

 

Travels in Elysium, A Dazzling Bright Fireball, and Weekend Follies

Hi everyone, as always, thanks for stopping by! Well, it’s finally here. The Salem’s Daughters Blog Tour. Just look at this star-studded, All-star lineup of incredible writers and bloggers. I have some great topics lined up and hope you stop by to say hello. So with no further ado, here they are: 

Monday October 5th – The ninja himself Alex Cavanaugh. Introducing the Ladies. The thirteen cats, errr …. witches, erm, rather the disembodied souls inhabiting cats and their unique abilities which they use to work together and terrorize a modern day bed and breakfast called Murcat Manor. 

Friday October 9th - Susan Swiderski at I Think Therefore I Yam and Dark and Snarky Humor. 

Monday October 12th - Susan Gourley at Susan Says where I Spotlight one individual cat named Madelyn. 

Tuesday October 13th - Stephanie Faris at Children’s Author and Children In My Novels. I never kill children to make bad guy badder or further the plot. But I still need to make the kids bad. Good kids are boring. Here’s how I do it. 

Wednesday October 14th - Crystal Collier at Unleashing the Dreamworld and Strong Female Kick-ass Characters. 

Friday October 16th – Lexa Cain at L.X. Cain and Ancient Time Traveling Curses. 

Monday October 19th – L. Diane Wolfe at Spunk On A Stick’s Tip and Marketing and Promoting Outside the U.S. 

Wednesday October 21st – Jo Wake at Life and a Scent of Chocolate and Food. I use food as an inanimate character in all my books. 

Thursday October 22 – Barbara at Life and Faith in the Caneyland and Bad Girls of the Bible. Inspiration for characters can come from anywhere. 

Monday October 26th – Arlee Bird at Arlee Bird and Using real events from your family's history in novels. 

Friday October 30th - Chrys Fey at Write With Fey and Dreams. I find dreams and their interpretations fascinating and dreams have a special place in Salem’s Daughters. 

Monday November 2nd – Hilary Melton-Butcher at Positive Letters and Inspirational Stories and Setting. Where better than Hilary’s website to post about the setting of a story. Hilary researches and writes about places and their history better than anyone I know. 

Wednesday November 4th – Lynda R. Young at W.I.P. It and Character Development. When I write a story, my characters fight for face time. They are ruthless and cut throat and some minor characters become major ones as they elbow, bite, scratch and kick each other competing for a larger role. 

Monday November 9th – C. Lee McKenzie at The Write Game and Magic. There are many ways writers have their characters use magic. This post is how the cats perform their craft. 

Wednesday November 11th – Michael Di Gesu at In Time and the dreaded To Be Determined. 

Wednesday November 18th – Betty at A Bench With A View and Science, the Bible, and the Supernatural. Much of the crazy stuff that goes on in my books are taken straight out of the Bible, a great source of inspiration for any writer. 

Monday December 7 – Carole Kilgore at Under The Tiki Hut and Getting Away From It All. For my protagonists Bob and Debbie Stevens, Murcat Manor is their Tiki Hut, a place to get away from the hustle and bustle of a back-stabbing corporate life. Unfortunately, thirteen cats have different plans for them and their guests. 

A big round of thanks to these awesome and amazing bloggers for helping me! There hail from all around the world representing various genres. I’m looking forward to a great time. Salem’s Daughters is definitely a Fall-themed book and with Halloween right around the corner it's a perfect creepy fun read. 

Evil Cat from Murcat Manor

Short Blurb: A four hundred year old evil is unleashed when the daughters of those killed during the Salem Witch Trials find a new generation of people to murder at a popular modern-day bed and breakfast. 

I writes Speculative Fiction and embrace science and the supernatural to help explain the universe, our place in it, and write one of a kind thrillers. 

You can read a full synopsis and download Salem’s Daughters by Clicking Here.

IWSG, Rippln, And A The Life List Book Review!

IWSG: It’s that time of month for Alex J. Cavanaugh’s IWSG. My challenge these days is finishing my current book Escalation. Seems like the Good Lord above has His own timing for the release, which is different from mine. I would have had it out by now. I sometimes struggle with doing things my way. But I understand He has a better idea in mind, so I’ll have to be patient, which I’m sometimes not very good at.

On the upside, I just sent off a large chunk to my editor and finally finished a difficult battle scene that really rocks. This was definitely worth the wait as I added some really cool stuff that would not have been included had I rushed the time table according to my schedule.

Rippln: Has anyone heard of this? Just what the heck is it all about? I received a request to join and did. Not sure why. Could have been the Labor Day wine. But I'm curious if anyone else is on board for this new mystery thing-a-ma-jig.

Review: The Life List Every year I like to read a few books outside of my genre of Action, Suspense, and Science Fiction. I found a real winner in Lori Nelson Spielman’s The Life List. What stood out was the character arc: Will the character grow and overcome in order to solve her challenges?

The conflict in the story is immediate. Brett Bohlinger is at a crossroads. Her recently deceased and beloved mother, patriarch of a successful global cosmetics company in Chicago, has passed. In order to receive her inheritance, Brett’s mother has legally willed her only daughter to fulfill the improbable Life List Brett naively made at the innocent age of fourteen.

Fast forward twenty years: Brett’s didn’t choose her life challenges and she didn’t adapt easily. But she didn’t give up under excruciating circumstances. Her journey was a painful one of fear and incompetence to courage competence. Along the way, Brett had to decide which of her friends were there to help and who would hold her back. We see Brett evolve through her personal trials and the decisions when confronted with choices she must make.

I laughed much through The Life List. And there was an excellent and unexpected ending. The character arc was complete. I can definitely see The Life List being made into a movie.

Take a moment to visit Lori Spielman’s Guest Post earlier this summer. It’s worth your time. Trust me!

Looking Forward: Check back Monday as author Bob Sanchez visits. Bob recently received his 100th Amazon review. That’s huge! I need to start writing more book reviews. Its good karma too.

Question: Did you have a fun and safe holiday weekend? Did you obey the Lava Lamp? What's your IWSG this month? Have you heard of Rippln? Do you write book reviews for Amazon and Kindle?