New Release -- ACROSS A SEA OF STARS (The Unborn Galaxy Book 3) by Michael E. Gonzales -- #firestarpress

Astronaut Cris Salazar is assigned to the Moon colony, JILL, for the study of an enigmatic singularity on the lunar surface. During an experiment within the crater Hohmann, Cris is captured in a peculiar gravitational field and is transported halfway across the universe.

His craft is wrecked in a strange world, and though he survives, he learns that his rough landing has accidently killed the son of the tyrannical ruler—and now, Cris must pay…or escape. But how can he leave innocents to face the chaos he’s inadvertently caused?

The inhabitants of this alien civilization come to Cris’s aid, and a wizard sets him on a quest that seems impossible to accomplish alone. But as he sets out on this dangerous mission, Cris is joined by a mystical and beautiful huntress, a near-giant, and a robotic intelligence.

Bloody battle and gut-wrenching loss in his own past have left Cris heartsore and reckless, but a journey that begins as a desperate bid for his own survival takes on new meaning as he finds something—and someone—to care about once more.

With billions of lives at stake—including those who have joined him in the deadly fight against advancing evil forces, Cris embraces a destiny he could never have anticipated from light years away ACROSS A SEA OF STARS...

EXCERPT:

     Cris dismounted his Eagle and had reached the side of the LPC, his internal coms set to the emergency freq. "Charlie, this is Eagle, I'm right outside—can you hear me?" There came no response. "Charlie, can you open the hatch? I'm right outside your hatch!"

     Cris saw the hatch quiver, and then it popped open a few centimeters at the top. This hatch was hinged at the bottom. Undamaged, this door would have come down and become a set of stairs allowing access to the interior, but the hull was now warped, jamming the hatch. Cris grabbed the door along the top and pulled with all his might. Inside, the one uninjured man and the wounded man with the still-intact suit were pushing with all their strength. The door held up well, but at last gave in and came crashing down to a surface now level with the bottom of the LPC.

     Cris looked up to see one of the men collapse and the other bend down to aid him. Cris rushed in and grabbed the standing man. He looked up into Cris's face, fear written in his expression. "Can you hear me?" Cris asked, mouthing the words as he spoke aloud. The other man shook his head.

     Cris rushed in beyond these two in order to locate the man with the damaged suit. There he was, unconscious on the floor, an emergency suit repair applied to his right leg. There was also a good amount of blood frozen to the deck. Cris again grabbed the uninjured man, pointed at the unconscious man and the floor, held up one finger, and mouthed, "First." 

     The other man nodded. They both grabbed the injured man and headed for the Eagle. Once there, Cris opened the airlock, and together they got the unconscious fellow inside. He indicated to the other man to get into the airlock with the injured man in order to operate the mechanism. As the man started climbing aboard, Cris went back to gather the man on the floor who showed no obvious wound, but was nonetheless dazed. He put his arm around him and aided him back toward the Eagle.

     As the Eagle's airlock door was opening, a familiar and aggravated voice came over his coms. "Hatchling Three, this is Mother Bird, what's your status? Over." 

     "Mother Bird, I am engaged in a rescue operation, I have three survivors, two are wounded, one severely, please notify medical, I will be inbound to Hotel Sierra in five mikes with an ETA of forty mikes. Over."

     The tone of the voice changed dramatically. "Roger, Hatchling Three, wilco. Keep us advised. Out."

     

KEEPING THE STORY STRAIGHT, by Mollie Hunt, cat writer

Writing fiction should be simple, right? After all, we’re just making it up as we go along.

Not really. As much as our story drives us, a writer needs to keep it within the realm of the believable, and nothing messes with believability as much as a mistake in continuity. Where we can be forgiven for taking our hero off to Mars in a pink, telepathic spaceship, we will be called out for switching out the breed of her cat.

It gets even more complex when writing a series. Yes, we really do have to remember Aunt Mae’s birthday is in September, that Joan’s favorite color is orange, and that the hero’s nemesis’ brother’s son (who only appeared briefly in book one) has a dog named Joe. These things are important, crucial even, because our readers remember details, sometimes consciously, sometimes subconsciously. Unless we want to risk pulling them out of the story (and losing them forever), we need to keep it straight.

There are probably as many ways to keep track of story specifics as there are authors. Besides the many organizational computer programs, there are paper and file folders, index cards, cork boards, white boards, and anything else that can form a list.  Here is what I do for my Crazy Cat Lady cozy mystery series:

Physical:

·       Vintage tray with notes I make on scraps of paper.

·       Plastic tray and file folders of things I’ll probably never look at again.

·       Cork board for same, only pretty.

Digital, general:

·       Excel and Word files on Desktop, in Documents, and hidden other places where I will never find them, should I remember to look.

Digital, working:

Some files I keep open all the time, referring and updating them constantly. When I finish the book, these get condensed or retired, but saved… forever.

·       Outline: This is not an outline in the usual sense but one I create as I write. In it, I note each chapter, page, characters, and a brief plot description. This is useful for finding things later. Plus it lets me tell people I really do work from an outline.

·       Cast of current characters: I have a master list of all characters wo have ever appeared in a story, but this one lists only the characters in the current book. It is broken down into 2 sections: New characters and recurring characters. This is also where I note features of important places such as Lynley’s house. When I finish the book, this info will be incorporated into the master list.

·       Notes: In this document, I make note of anything that comes to mind, from overused words to details I need to check in the previous books. Sometimes I get inspired, and the color-coding begins.

·       Lynley’s injuries and catastrophic incidents: Because the hero of my series is always hurting herself, I keep a list. I mean, how many times can a sixty-year-old cat shelter volunteer break her left arm and still have it come off convincingly?

·       Extra: It kills me to eliminate any text I’ve worked so hard to write, but it’s required. Some sentences are superfluous; some paragraphs misleading. I may need to switch things around. The extra file is where I paste everything I cut so I can get it back if I change my mind. I never do, but it makes me feel better to know nothing is lost. This file gets deleted once I finish the book and have forgotten what was so damned important about those snippets in the first place.

So though fiction may seem like it should write itself, the work and organization that goes into it makes the difference between creating chaos and a real, believable world. How important is detail? Just ask a Trekkie.

How do you keep your story straight?

*The lovely cover model is my foster cat Jenny, who is not such a great help when it comes to organization.

Check out more blogs by Mollie Hunt, Cat Writer at:

Mollie Hunt: Crazy Cat Lady Mysteries and more

Happy reading!

New Release -- It’s Only Make Believe by Sarah J. McNeal

x

Beautiful June Wingate’s perfect marriage is in shambles—and she hasn’t even left the wedding reception! When she overhears two gossips discussing the real reason Kit Wilding married her, June believes there must be some truth to it—after all, things have happened just the way they said.  Is her marriage only make believe? Trust is hard for June to accept, and now, her faith in her husband has been broken—along with her fragile heart.

Kit Wilding has loved June since the moment he laid eyes on her—a vision in pink that he couldn’t get out of his mind. Now that he’s married her, he can’t understand the changes that have suddenly turned her secretive and distant. How can he make things right between them when he doesn’t know what he’s up against?

But the tables are turned when June’s father, a pillar of the community, is accused of a crime that brings shame on the Wingate family—along with prison time. Kit Wilding’s not the kind of man to give up easily, but with his budding political career at stake, will he be able to hold his marriage together? Or will he be forced to admit IT’S ONLY MAKE BELIEVE…

EXCERPT

     A loud slap echoed through the house. June’s hand stung as she placed it back in the pocket of her dressing gown, part of her vast trousseau paid for by her parents.

     Kit stepped back and rubbed his reddened cheek with his left hand while Snort, Kit’s dog, barked. June couldn’t help but notice the flash of his golden wedding band in the light of the dressing room. Her heart clenched at the sight of it. They’d been married only a few hours, and now this…

     “Hush that barking, Snort.” The dog quieted, but kept a sharp eye on June, just in case. Kit glanced from the dog to June. “What the hell was that for, June? Did I do something wrong by trying to kiss my wife?”

     “You bet you did. I thought you loved me, and now…” 

      

New Year's (Writing) Resolutions

Happy New Year!

I don't make a lot of New Year's Resolutions but I do look back at the events of the previous year to see if there are any trends that I want to change. (Well, the ones that I have control over any way.) The biggest change that I need to make involves my writing. If you've been keeping track of my posts you know that the past couple of years have been an emotional roller coaster which has taken a toll on my writing. This roller coaster continued right up until the end of 2017 when my mother-in-law, the last of our parents, passed away in November. 

If I'm being honest, and I always strive to be, I'll admit that I have seriously considered just giving up writing altogether. I mean, it seems that I pretty much have - albeit unintentionally. However, I'm hard-headed (somewhere my husband is muttering "That's an understatement."). I'm not willing to just throw in the towel; I still have stories to tell.

Image courtesy of www.123rf.com

Continuing the honesty trend, I also had no idea how to fix a process that is currently broken. Getting from where I am now to where I used to be when I spent at least an hour and a half every night writing seems overwhelming. Then, I came across a tweet by an author friend that took my breath away. This friend and I have never met, yet we have encouraged each other through the ups and downs of elder care and the death of our parents - her mother died about a month before mine. What I didn't realize is that her writing had also suffered as a result of the events in her life. What a relief to find out that I'm not the only one who hasn't been able to "write through the pain!" So, what did her tweet say that impacted me so? In her tweet she was rejoicing having written a couple of thousand words in a days time because she hadn't done that in months. But, that wasn't the part that took my breath away. In her tweet she stated that her daily word count goal is only 250 words and that most days she doesn't make that. *insert angelic choir here*

That's when I realized - I don't have to go from 0 to 60 in 3 seconds. I'm not a race car, I'm a writer. I don't have to go from only writing maybe once a week to writing an hour and a half a day. All I have to do is take baby steps. So, for now, my goal is to write 500 words a day. If I can write more than that, great. If not, I'm going to try something different and not beat myself up about it. (Wish me luck!) Baby steps will help me remember how to walk. Once I'm walking, then I can learn to run again.

I've also set myself a couple of goals as far as writing projects go - but no where near as many as I planned last year. First, I want to finish and submit DANCES WITH WEREWOLVES, the next entry in my Kudzu Korners sweet paranormal romance series. I wanted to submit it last year but, unfortunately, it's still not much more than a rough draft. Once that's done, I want to write the next entry in my Paws and Effect short story series. After that, who knows? I have any number of stories vying for my attention.

So, here's to new years, new goals, and baby steps!

Do you make resolutions?


Let's stay in touch!

Sign up for my newsletter here:  http://madmimi.com/signups/112968/join

Amazon Author Page:  http://amazon.com/author/isabellanorse

Website:  http://www.isabellanorse.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IsabellaNorseAuthor/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AuthorIzzy

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/isabellanorse/

Happy, Marketing, New Year! by Michael Gonzales

HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone!

Wow, 2018, and still no flying cars.

I missed posting last month, I was celebrating my twenty-fifth wedding anniversary with my beautiful bride, Katie.

We went east to lovely Cape May, New Jersey, where we stayed in a B&B that was built in 1863!

Cape May is right on the beach, and is better known as a summer vacation spot. But in December they decorate the nineteenth century village to look like a Christmas Card. It was magical!

I want to talk briefly about marketing. I’m new to this so, I’ll not be offering a silver bullet that will bring your work to the attention of millions. Sorry, but if you know where the Lone Ranger

may have dropped some of his precious ammo, please, let me know.

What I have learned thus far is that marketing is difficult, expensive, and dangerous.  

“Dangerous?” you ask, “Mike, how is it dangerous?”

Being expensive, marketing has its charlatans. There are people out there who will offer you thousands of book buyers, and hundreds of positive reviews, for a given price.

Some will even openly sell you reviews. The more you pay, the better the review. Then they publish it to their website, which, they claim, is seen daily by tens of thousands.

Sound to good to be true? Well, just remember grandma’s advice, “If it sounds too good to be true…”

Thankfully, Cheryl, of PRP, has steered me away from a bunch of these.

I am sure there are legitimate individuals, and companies, out there who will effectively market for you.

I am also sure it will not be cheap.

The trick is to avoid the bogus, and then select from the real marketers, those that will provide the best bang for the buck.

I’m sure that, like me, you get dozens of unsolicited emails daily with marketing offers, and other writing/publishing related deals that are guaranteed to put you and your book at the top of the NYT best seller list, and keep it there for weeks.

My guess is that 99.99% of all that is garbage.

After giving this problem considerable thought, I have figured out how to actually accomplish all that; thousands buying your book, hundreds of positive reviews, and eventually, weeks at the top of the bestseller list.

That’s right, a jewel of wisdom for certain success…and for only $29.95!

No, just kidding.

But there is a method, it’s not easy, in fact it may be the hardest way of all.

The secret is…write a good book.

                               Be the best writer.

To do this you have to go back to school, you have to learn the art, the trade, the techniques. For many of us this means a return to basic English. Not all of us, mind you, I am well aware that some of you are masters of the English language, to rival Winston Churchill himself.

Anyway, that’s my advice, gleaned from my limited experience thus far.

I would dearly love to hear from others. What have been your experiences, have you had success marketing your work, if so, how, who did you go with, if you went with anyone?

Did you attend any seminars on writing that other might seek out? How about online courses?

Well, there’s my rant. I hope it starts a discussion. Post your comments here so that we might all help one another.

Speaking of marketing, I would be remiss were I to fail to mention the pending release of my third novel, Across a Sea of Stars. If you like action, adventure, space opera, and romance, I believe you’ll love number III in The Unborn Galaxy series ― Across a Sea of Stars.

Again, HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Read books I and II of The Unborn Galaxy -- before the release of book III, Across a Sea of Stars.

https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Moon-Rising-Unborn-Galaxy-ebook/dp/B01CBNSAEG/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

https://www.amazon.com/Battle-Broken-Moon-Unborn-Galaxy/dp/1540645681/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

Web site:  http://www.mikegonzalesauthor.com/home.html

Follow me on Face Book:  https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100010275572869