Let’s Go Audio-Books

Audio BooksPerhaps you are one of the folks out there who just love the kinesthetic feel of your books, and I’d agree with you–most of the time. (I love the feel of those books, too.) In the four years since we left Idaho, however, our print book library has taken a major hit. Indeed, we finally had to sift through even our old college books and decide whether we really needed to store or lug those poor things around–again. (We didn’t.)

In all the miles we shared on the road either in our car or the RV, one of the things we enjoyed most (after heart-to-heart conversations, of course) was to fill some of those open roads with borrowed audio books or those gleaned from a thrift store for a couple bucks. We listened to a wide variety of genres, and they were as exciting and remarkable for the distracted-free driver as the passenger. Continue reading “Let’s Go Audio-Books”

Stone Song-A Novel of the Life of Crazy Horse – Review

stone-songTitle: Stone Song by Win Blevins

Genre: Currently Best Seller’s Rank #34 in Kindle Store, Literature & Fiction, Native American

Publisher: WordWorx

Publication Date: December, 2016

Stone Song

 Amazon introduction: “Nominee for the Pulitzer and winner of the Spur Award, ‘Stone Song’ is the classic, and extraordinarily told, story of the Lakota Sioux mystic warrior, Crazy Horse. Of all the iconic figures of Native American history, Crazy Horse remains the most enigmatic. To this day he strides across American history as a man who lived—and died—on his own terms.” This is the 20th Century anniversary edition of a book originally published in 1995.

You don’t have to own a horse to get on this one for a wild ride in history. While “Stone Song” by Win Blevins combined a lot of fact with the fiction, it is to Blevins credit that you’d swear he was personally there to share the story (some 553 pages long), intimately involved in an individual so deeply spiritual that it governed his entire life to a tragic end.

Continue reading “Stone Song-A Novel of the Life of Crazy Horse – Review”

Five Novel Writing Contests to Enter This Year

Writing Competitions
Writing Competitions-nothingintherulebook.com

Ah, the first of the year holds such promise! After you completed the manuscript you began during NaNoWriMo, you’ve probably been wondering where to go from there. You’ve been through the editing process–several times–or had it reviewed by your beta readers, editors, and anyone who would be willing to read an ARC. Next step? Whether or not you’ve proceeded with publishing, have you considered one of the many contests out there?

 

Winning a book award or badge is an effective method to help thrust your work in front of readers–or beyond that–to agents and publishers! I’ve previously written regarding the ATAI 2017 Book Award Contest. The winners were to be awarded prizes which included:

  • Promotion across social media
  • Featured on homepage
  • Featured on sidebar

Enter to WinThat seems to be pretty standard stuff, and the badge for a winning entry may be very useful, either for your website or tacked on your front cover. It is something to help your book pop when readers are sweeping book covers. Also, a winning entry subtly passes a quality and readability test–further conveying saleable credibility. Most contests judge on several levels such as first in category, genre prize, and grand prize. Continue reading “Five Novel Writing Contests to Enter This Year”

What State Are These Authors From?

crown-point-courthouseI’ve spoken before of the “Grand Ole Lady” (the Lake County Courthouse), resplendent with the striking brick red facade (love this building!), but probably not The John Dillinger Museum, a focus of the 1930’s with Dillinger memorabilia enclosed within the building in Crown Point. If you recognized that as being in northwest Indiana, you’d be correct.

LaToya JacksonAdmitted to the union in 1816, Indiana can claim a number of authors, many of whom hail out of Gary, about as far north as you can go without wading out into Lake Michigan. Of the well-known Jackson family born in Gary, Janet gained fame as a singer/songwriter and LaToya as both author and songwriter.

Alex KarrasAlex Karras, who gained fame as a pro-ball player, wrote a journal that was published in the Detroit Free Press and much later, a novel entitled “Tuesday Night Football.”

Kurt Vonnegut Jr.Kurt Vonnegut Jr, born 1922 in Indianapolis, wrote for more than 50 years and although he published many novels, plays, short stories, and non-fiction, was probably most famous for the dark “Slaughterhouse-Five.”

Vonnegut dropped out of Cornell University to enlist in the army and was deployed to Europe to fight in WWII. Captured by the Germans during the Battle of the Bulge, he survived the Allied bombing by seeking safety in the meat locker of the slaughterhouse in which he was imprisoned.

Of course, there are whole alphabetized lists of authors from Indianapolis from Charles W. Akers, also a (WWII–navy) veteran, wrote what is called one of the three best books about Abigail Adams, “Abigail Adams, an American Woman,” Marguerite V. Young, American writer and academic and Dan Quayle, former VP, who wrote his memoir, “Standing Firm” in 1994.

Lest you think the famous authors of Indiana were only from the big cities, there are also lists of writers from Anderson to Terra Haute. Disappointed though, I didn’t see any from Crown Point. Do you know the authors of your area? ©2017 Virginia Williams Resource Box

Dear Willy, The Story of a Life Well Lived – Review

Dear Willy, The Story of a Life Well LivedDear Willy, The Story of a Life Well Lived

Genre: Currently #54032 in Best Sellers Rank for Books, Biographies & Memoirs, Historical

Publisher: Geheb

Publication Date: December, 2015

Submitted by author for review

Dear Willy-The Story of a Life Well Lived-Attractive cover conveys content

An example of a real labor of love is the book “Dear Willy, The True Story of a Life Well Lived” by Claire Ohlsson Geheb, the primary editor compiling the letters written by Willy Oswald Geheb to family back home and painstakingly translated from old German script to English. Continue reading “Dear Willy, The Story of a Life Well Lived – Review”

The Stunning Effort of a Blog Tour

Blog Tour Ahead!Some things just naturally go the way of the dodo, but apparently what appeared to be a gradual waning in the popularity of book blog tours was just a small lag in the industry. While there are certainly many blog tour companies out there, Indie and self-published authors have discovered this marketing strategy can be an effective tool in the promotion of a new publication that doesn’t have to be simultaneous with the book launch.

You already know that a blog tour is the virtual visit of a number of willing host blogs in a pre-set time period, whether one or two weeks to a month, on a pre-set date. Each of the tour stops results in a unique promotion of your book through an:

  • Interview
  • Review
  • Excerpt

When it comes to blog tours, however, there are two sides to it–isn’t there always?

The Blog Hosting the Tour Stop

The Author Looking for a Blog Tour Stop

Continue reading “The Stunning Effort of a Blog Tour”

Are Blog Tours On Their Way Out?

Choices and Illusions by Eldon TaylorI reviewed a book earlier this month called “Choices and Illusions” by Eldon Taylor that was part of a book blog tour that began the end of this month. I’ve been curious about book tours anyway and took the plunge as there were several incentives, and don’t we all love freebies!

While the book was not quite the new revelation I expected, the blog tour was definitely the introduction I’d been looking for. Of course, there are two sides to blog tours:

  1. Those who host
  2. Those looking for hosts

Blog tourI’m interested in both sides as I wanted to look into another promo for one of my grandfather’s books and also with the book reviews I’ve been doing lately thought it would be no problem to continue to accept other authors looking for willing book blog hosts.

Blog tours will be the subject of my blog post this Sunday, when I expect to complete my research into the subject and hopefully bring you information you may have been looking for as well. Stay tuned…see you back here on Sunday! ©2017 Virginia Williams Resource Box

After You’re Dead – Review

After You're DeadTitle: After You’re Dead by Cary Allen Stone

Genre: Currently #4469 Best Sellers Rank for Mystery, Thriller & Suspense, Thrillers & Suspense, Crime, Serial Killers

Publisher: CreateSpace

Publication Date: November 2016

Submitted by author for review

After You’re Dead – Cover Says It All–(Should Have Been My Clue–some how I missed it.)

I’m handicapped in that this is the first Jake Roberts book I’ve read, although “After You’re Dead” is the fifth in the series. Cary Allen Stone is an Amazon #1 Best Selling Author, and 2016 Readers’ Favorite Finalist Award for Crime Fiction and Psychological Thrillers. So when he requested a review, I downloaded and got plunked into the middle of hard-core Hannibal without realizing that was where I was going. Boy did I ever step over my line on this one!! Besides the graphic violence, there is language associated with the narcotrafficking culture!

The tension starts from the first chapter where antagonist #1 is introduced. As the rest of the story unfolds, Richard Graham hangs over your head, turning the screws.

Jake is an ex-cop coming off the death of his beloved Caitland and slowly coming to terms with the help of Katy, his dog (who proves to be an over the top anthropomorphized canine). After he left the APD, he founded a company which has gone widely successful, reaping him some insane levels of discretionary funds, which he freely uses to work his cases.

While a detective in the Atlanta PD, he’d made a LOT of contacts, some borne of grudging mutual respect and one is Pablo, leader of the MexiKings, who seeks his help when there is no one else he can think of who might be able to tackle the rescue of his wife Alana from El Chapo’s successor’s clutches in Mexico. El Mencho is worse–much worse. He gets off with the use of Richard Graham, a psychiatric escapee from the UK who would give the worst cannibalistic, necrophiliast sadist a challenge.

The plot doesn’t lag or stagnate, except perhaps in the exchanges between Jake’s plans for rescue with Pablo–Pablo getting cold feet. The characters are strong–heaven knows the author does a major job of fleshing out (oops–wrong word for this book?) his protagonist and most especially his two antagonists. Several twists are thrown in as the plot develops, not the least of which is Richard’s sideways offer in the climax or the role of Katy in his recovery.

I suspect I might have been able to appreciate Jake more had I read one of the previous in the series, though he does not come across as sympathetic for me. I managed to get through this book, as I promised I would, but this is an extreme type of serial killer, crime thriller and is not my thing.

Four StarI was given this book in exchange for an honest review. The book is well written, I’ll grant you that; just too much for me.

Rosepoint rating: Four of five stars

Cary Allen StoneAuthor Description: Cary Allen Stone flew inside the cockpits of corporate jets and airlines where he met a man who became a mentor. He’s worked in LA doing feature films and Phoenix in Indie films, as well stand-up comedy and voice-overs for radio commercials. He achieved the endorsements of Clive Cussler and Tim Dorsey and is a proud member of the Phoenix Writer’s Club begun in the 1920s by women reporters. ©2017 Virginia Williams Resource Box

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