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Author David Wiley

~ Author of science fiction and fantasy stories, choosing to write the stories that he would love to read.

Author David Wiley

Category Archives: Indie Author Spotlight

Book Review: Bright Needles by Anais Chartschenko

19 Wednesday Apr 2017

Posted by David Wiley in Book Review, Books and Reading, Indie Author Spotlight, poetry

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Tags

Anais Chartschenko, Bright Needles, Emotion, Indie Author, poet, poetry

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Title: Bright Needles

Author: Anais Chartschenko

Published by: Self-Published on March 19, 2014

Pages: 58

Blurb: Bright Needles is uncompromising poetry. Myth is mixed in equal measure with gritty realism.

My Take: Uncompromising is right. The poetry in much of this collection is raw, unyielding, and is enough to break even the hardest of hearts for the young girl who experienced so much pain and hurt to the point where numbness set in.

My own expertise in poetry is not among modern poets, but this small collection is packed with what I found to be quality poetry. It evoked emotion, whether pain or rage or straight numbness. Raw talent drips through verse after verse, line after line. The reader also hopes, after reading this somber collection, that pouring these words out helped to provide a sense of healing and closure to the situations described.

It is clear, by the end, that Ms. Chartschenko is a poet to watch and her newest release, The Weightless One, should prove to be an excellent and unique read because it is a novel told in verse. Her talent in verse is apparent in this collection, and I fully expect the same talent shining through in that versified novel.

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Book Review: Priceless Treasures and Ghastly by Thomas Olivieri

05 Wednesday Apr 2017

Posted by David Wiley in Book Review, Books and Reading, Fantasy, Indie Author Spotlight

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Book Review, Halloween, Indie Author, Priceless Treasures and Ghastly, Thomas Olivieri

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Title: Priceless Treasures and Ghastly: A Slight Collection of Hallowe’en Tales and Miscellanea

Author: Thomas Olivieri

Published: October 25, 2016

42 Pages

Blurb: THESE days, Hallowe’en is a night of ghosts, celebrated by people who can longer believe in them, a day of tricks, treats, and twilight. A night when — sanctioned by custom — the proudest and most willful child politely begs for candy at strangers’ doors and the most docile child transforms in a monster. It is a day to celebrate neither the carven pumpkin nor the illuminating candle, but rather the shadows that they cast, and the unseen things that flit about them. Perhaps it won’t be this way for long — it is becoming increasingly commercialized and is losing its uncanniness as it moves away from the days of All Hallows and All Souls — but it promises to remain so for a while yet. The night of ghouls, the night of saints, and the night of penitents make an uncomfortable arc — they stand for three aspects of life that don’t fit in very well our society anymore, but will always remain part of us. The stories, poems, commentary, and images in this slight collection have been designed to return you to those strange old times. They are not particularly horrific or terrifying — rather, they are uneasy, uncanny, and gently unsettling, harkening back to the folklore of fairies and saints, knights and dragons, mead halls and castles, masquerades and Hallow-Mass gatherings. We hope that you find them whimsical and off-beat. We hope that you find them unusual and bizarre. We hope that you have a Happy Hallowe’en

My Take: This was a great little collection of flash fiction and poetry that revolves around a Halloween theme. Each addition in this volume, whether written or illustrated, helps to add to the theme that seeps through the collection. It is definitely a fitting volume to be read during the month of October, something I was unfortunately unable to do. However, it really evokes the holiday’s theme well.

As with every collection, some stories really shine more than others based upon each individual’s taste. They are all great to read and interesting in their own way. There are some darker tales, such as “Snakes and Cigarettes”, and there are those which dip into genre fiction, such as “Kings and Saints and Knights”. With such a small volume, and the short length of each inclusion, you will find yourself flipping the pages quickly until you reach the end. In fact, the biggest complaint I had was that it ended far too soon. A longer piece, or a few more shorter pieces, would have been a welcome inclusion.

This is definitely a volume worth reading through, and Thomas Olivieri is an author worth keeping your eye on. I am confident more great fiction will appear under his name in the future.

 

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Book Release: The Weightless One by Anais Chartschenko

31 Friday Mar 2017

Posted by David Wiley in Book Release, Books and Reading, Indie Author Spotlight

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Anais Chartschenko, Book Release, Indie Author, poetry, The Weightless One

The Weightless One by Anaïs Chartschenko is now available on Amazon!

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After a party changed everything, Miranda loses her appetite. She is placed in an eating disorder treatment program, where she must be brave enough to face the truth she was trying to bury.

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Anaïs Chartschenko is a poet, singer, and artist I’ve had the pleasure of knowing for some time now. The Weightless One is her third book of dark, gritty, and honest poetry.


Anaïs Chartschenko hails from the Canadian wilderness. She has come to enjoy such modern things as electric tea kettles. Her published works include two collections of poetry, Bright Needles and The Whisper Collector as well as a novel in verse, The Weightless One.

You can find her on several social media platforms, such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Amazon, and YouTube— and none of them are boring.

Additional places to wander:

Website: http://anaischartschenko.weebly.com/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15387157.Anais_Chartschenko

BEWARE: Anaïs is suspected of actually being a fairy-in-disguise.

Other Books By Anaïs:

The Whisper Collector

Buy Bright Needles

Interested in Anaïs music?

Buy Howling at the Moon: Live from my Living Room

Buy Immigration

Excerpt from The Weightless One

 Reasons I Have To Stay

I was signed in,

I have no choice.

They tell me

My heart is failing.

They tell me

When you starve

Long enough, your body

Starts to eat your muscles.

Your heart is a muscle. It becomes

Your unwilling dinner.

They show me charts with

Low iron, low this and low that.

They tell me I need to take this

Serious.

But it doesn’t seem real.

All that is real is my sudden

Total lack of control, total

Forced surrender, it feels

So broken it can never be

Fixed-

I can’t agree to any of these

Things. Not even when I

Feel my heart forget a beat.

Not even when I’m hooked

To machines.

Reasons I Should Get To Leave

I don’t count calories.

I don’t weigh myself.

I don’t obsess over models.

I don’t exercise.

I don’t take laxatives or

Diuretics.

I don’t make myself

Throw up.

I don’t care what you think.

I think for myself.

I’m not this, I still have

My period.

Okay?

 

Little Fish

 We lay in a tight row

Like sardines,

Wrapped tight in

Blankets and thick

Fuzzy pajamas

Getting our blood

Pressure checked

Lay down, and close

My eyes to the other

Girls’ gossip, they

Try to include me,

But I have nothing

To say in the morning

This is a strange torment,

Laying so close to the others

Trapped between laughter

And the talk of having to

Drink ensures or not,

Of having to go to an

Increased nutrition plan,

Of family therapy sessions

Coming at the end of the

Week.

 

Doll

 Kara began

Pulling out

Her hair

Extensions

Bundles of

Blonde lay

On the floor,

Her lion mane

Alopecia found

“I’m sick of

The lies!”  She

Twisted her

Face up her

Hands knotted

In hair

“Where did this

Come from?

I didn’t grow it!”

We watched

In horror

We watched

Unable to

Look away

From her

Transformation

Underneath she

Was so small

Like a fragile glass

Doll,

Her features too

Large for her head

Her hair was only

A few inches long

Thin dirty dishwater

Blonde strands like

Weeds dried out

In the sun

She smiled

She laughed

She burrowed

Her face in

Borrowed hair

And

Cried.

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Urban Mythology by Eric Keizer

28 Tuesday Mar 2017

Posted by David Wiley in Book Release, Books and Reading, Indie Author Spotlight, OWS Ink, LLC.

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Book Release, Eric Keizer, LLC., OWS Ink, poetry, Urban Mythology

Coming soon from OWS Ink, a poetry collection by debut author Eric Keizer. Read on for a few sneak peeks at the contents, a link to preorder, and links to a Headtalker and a Thunderclap campaign.

Consider taking a few minutes to, at the very least, sign up for those two campaigns. It takes a few minutes and costs nothing, but can go a long way toward helping this author’s first publication become a success.

Headtalker Link: https://headtalker.com/campaigns/urban-mythology-book-release/

Thunderclap Link: https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/54029-urban-mythology-debut

Preorder on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Urban-Mythology-Eric-Keizer-ebook/dp/B06XSHVDQ8/

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Author Interview: D.I. Jolly

12 Monday Dec 2016

Posted by David Wiley in Books and Reading, Guest Post, Indie Author Spotlight

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Author Interview, D.I. Jolly, Guest Post, Mostly Human, TinPot Publishing

**Note: The author is currently running a Goodreads giveaway for 5 copies of his book, Mostly Human, through January 7th. Be sure to hop on over and enter for a chance to win: https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/213914-mostly-human

Welcome! Please tell us your name and a little bit about yourself.

profile

Born and raised in South African, I wanted to be a writer since I was seven years old after I found a fictional character in a video game who was a writer and I wanted to be him, more than anything else. I didn’t actually start writing things down right away, but I always had a whole different world in my head I would spend a lot of time in. I’ve never been much of a sleeper so I used to say that I’d tell myself bedtime stories until I fell asleep.

What motivates you to write?

It makes sense to me, stories fit the way I think and really I love doing it. Escaping to my own world and exploring by write stories about it.

What is the title of your most recent book? Give us a brief overview on what the book is about.

‘Mostly Human’ is the coming of age story of Alex Harris, as he goes from an adventures ten year old to the lead singer of the world famous band the WaterDogs. But he has a secret that he and his family have painstakingly kept since he was ten years old.

While playing in the woods on his grandparent’s farm, Alex stumbles across the body of a giant wolf. Driven by a naive love for all things dog and believing the animal dead he approaches the beast and quickly realises it wasn’t as dead as he though, nor was it a normal wolf.

What makes it unique from the other books out there?

cover-art

There are a few simple ideas in ‘Mostly Human’ which I’ve never come across in other books of this genre. The main one being though that, wolves are very nurturing creatures who live in close knit families. They mate for life, raise their young and even collect food for the elderly when they are too old to hunt for themselves. Equally humans (mostly) do the same, so the idea that a creature that is part man part wolf being a murderous monster never really sat well with me. So I decided to do something about it.

What is the title of your current work-in-progress or the most recent manuscript you’ve completed apart from your most recent book? Would you mind sharing what it is about?

I’m currently working on a couple of things. One being Mostly Human 2 (working title) which is a sequel following on just a few months after the end of the first book.

The other is Poetry Club Vol. 1, an anthology of short stories and poems with some friends of mine, who I started a writing group with. Once a week we meet in a bar and read out the short story or poem we’ve written based on that weeks theme.

How often do you write?

At least once a week for Poetry Club either Sunday afternoon or Monday night, frantically on the train on my way there.

What famous author would you compare your own writing style with?

I’d really like to think Robert Rankin, just because it was after reading The Armageddon Trilogy that I realised that you really are allowed to write what every your heart and imagination desires.

Who are five of your favorite authors?

Anne Rice

Robert Rankin

Jim Butcher

Oscar Wilde

Jane Jensen

What are you currently reading?

Ready Player-One

Fight Club

Esper Files

Time for some quick questions:

  • Favorite Quote?

 

Groovy – Ash from Evil Dead

  • Favorite Book?

 

Frankenstein right now, but that might change

  • Favorite Book Series?
    Dresden Files – Jim Butcher

 

Vampire Chronical – Anne Rice

Armageddon Trilogy – Robert Rankin

I love them all equally but differently.

  • Favorite Movie?

 

Dark Knight (Probably)

  • Favorite TV Show?

 

90s Batman Cartoon

  • Coffee or Tea?

 

Coffee

  • If you could have one superpower what would it be?

 

The Force

If you could be one character from your own writing, who would it be and why?

My knee jerk reaction is Jones P.I. from A guy a girl and a voodoo monkey hand. But when I think about it he is a fairly under developed character written by a teenager (me at 19), and I believe it shows. So I think really it’s Alex Harris from Mostly Human, his life isn’t close to perfect or easy, but he’s smart and capable, and doesn’t always get things right but has come out the other side of his mistakes smarter and more capable.

Finally, what advice would you give to other writers?

Practise and don’t accept unconstructive criticism. Anyone who says “Oh it’s just ****” or “I didn’t like it.” or “Yeah it’s great.” Without a follow on explanation, isn’t helping. Any comments on your work, good or bad, should come with an explanation so that you can learn what to grow and what to cut away.

And keep at it, the more you do something and get feedback from people, the better you’ll become at it. I know there is the desire to be perfect at something right away, or get it spot on in the first draft but almost all the time, that isn’t how it works, and that’s fine. A painting isn’t a single layer of paint, and a novel isn’t a first draft.

*****

Links:

Good Reads
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30847240-mostly-human
Amazon (Book)
https://www.amazon.com/Mostly-Human-D-I-Jolly-ebook/dp/B01FYRHSOY/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1478871584&sr=1-1&keywords=mostly+human
Amazon (me)
https://www.amazon.com/D.I.-Jolly/e/B00MCITL5S/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1
Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/Voodoo.Monkey.Hand/
 
 

Bio:

Born and raised in South African, I wanted to be a writer since I was seven years old after I found a fictional character in a video game who was a writer and I wanted to be him, more than anything else. I didn’t actually start writing things down right away, but I always had a whole different world in my head I would spend a lot of time in. I’ve never been much of a sleeper so I used to say that I’d tell myself bedtime stories until I fell asleep.

As I got older I started to write these stories out but always found I’d lose the plot and couldn’t finish anything, until A Guy, A Girl and A Voodoo Monkey Hand that is, which actually started as a joke e-mail to a friend.

Finishing that story was a revelation in my mind, I finally felt justified to really start concentrating on my writing and started writing short stories, poems and setting about on the next novel, and the one after that. Since then I have always been writing something, and I never want to stop.

One day someone will find me lying dead on my keyboard, probably smiling.

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Author Interview: Clayton Graham

07 Wednesday Dec 2016

Posted by David Wiley in Books and Reading, Guest Post, Indie Author Spotlight, Sci-Fi

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Alien, Graham Clayton, Indie Author, Interview, Milijun, Paranormal, Saving Paludis, Sci-Fi

Welcome! Please tell us your name and a little bit about yourself.

Hello. Thanks for the invitation.  My name is Graham Clayton but I write under the pen name of Clayton Graham. I was born at Stockport in the UK and settled in Victoria, Australia in 1982. A retired aerospace engineer, I am married with two daughters and five grandsons.

MILIJUN is my debut novel.

milijun

What motivates you to write?

I guess I’m from what used to be called a ‘working class’ family in the UK, growing up immediately after World War 2. Reading the Science Fiction of H G Wells and Jules Verne was no doubt an escape into different worlds, somewhere to forget the poverty and hardship left by war – at least for a while.

My childhood was spent among cobbled streets, rations books,  two rooms up, two rooms down terraced houses, milkman’s horses, coal dumped in the cellar, fish and chips [on good days], bread and dripping [on bad days], and low-paid footballers. We survived on the basics.

In a nutshell, my early environment encouraged reading, and from that sprung the urge to write. I don’t think it’s anything more than that, other than perhaps having an innate creative urge.

What is the title of your most recent book? Give us a brief overview on what the book is about.

The title of the book is ‘MILIJUN’, which is a Science Fiction story with a hint of the paranormal. The action takes place primarily in the Australian outback in the year 2179.

The heroine, Laura Sinclair and teenage son, Jason, witness aliens descend to Earth. They are the primary characters in the novel, and everything revolves around them.

The extra-terrestrials are trying to form a symbiotic relationship with humankind, the critical part of which is a spiritual connection. So the adventure begins.

The novel explores the deep relationship between a mother and son. How far can it be stretched before the links break? How far would a mother go to save her son? Would she be prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice, or undertake actions she would never have deemed possible prior to the alien incursion?

Laura finds herself surrounded by a relentless web of frightening new technologies, human weaponry and alien mystery, but forged by the undying love of her son, she gains a strength of character she never thought possible. She and Jason become different people. They have to, really, or they would not survive.

What makes it unique from the other books out there?

I would say the spirituality of the aliens. They possess advanced technology, but it is tempered by a mysterious sanctity. That being said, they can make mistakes, too.

Also the difference in Laura and Jason’s personalities – the interaction between them, which is a catalyst spurring many events in the novel.

What is the title of your current work-in-progress or the most recent manuscript you’ve completed apart from your most recent book? Would you mind sharing what it is about?

I am working on ‘SAVING PALUDIS’ at the moment, which is set in the year 3898 AD, some one hundred and forty light years from Earth. It explores the conflict and the links between an alien culture and mankind, interplanetary economics, military force and ultimate power. It also asks the question: what happens when a culture concentrates on a single purpose-driven technology over a period of hundreds of years?

There are several subplots, but as a swift share − when the bottom drops out of the Paludis economy, desperation is seeded as the planet begins to suffer. However, the discovery of a new technology that can dramatically change the way humans explore the universe looks like it will save the day. The mother planet, however, does not see it that way, especially when several savage attacks on Earth appear to emanate from Paludis.

Inevitable conflict results, and it is only the combined efforts of a group of renegade humans and their alien allies which can ensure the survival of Paludis. But can they overcome the military might of the mother planet?

Are your characters pure fiction, or did you draw from people you know?

My characters are definitely pure fiction. I do know people [male and female] who would behave like Laura does when she first comes across the aliens, but I cannot guarantee that those people would react to later events like she does.

The same goes for Jason. My grandsons are not teenagers yet, so there are no clues there. My own teenage years were a mix of study and play, and I certainly did not come across anything unusual in the form of extraterrestrial events.

When all is said and done, Laura and Jason behave like many people would do when faced with the unknown. Run away or walk forward – take your pick.

Having said that I do have two daughters who have five sons between them, so maybe something rubbed off there.

Who should buy this book?

I believe MILIJUN would appeal to readers who enjoy alien-based action set primarily on Earth, or any other planet for that matter; people who don’t necessarily want space wars or battling stellar craft with super weapons in a Sci-Fi Novel, but are interested in technology and where it can take us, for better or worse.

It would also greatly appeal to mystery, thriller and paranormal genre readers, and people who enjoyed the movies Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Contact, and going back a bit, 2001: A Space Odyssey.

In addition, it would most certainly captivate people who cherish their mother and son relationship. Laura and Jason, I feel, have the connection which most mothers and sons would want – full of love, strong and unbreakable. It would be wonderful if all relationships were like that!

If you had to choose, what would you say are the most important ideas you’re sharing in your book that is really going to add value to the reader’s life?

The idea that, like humans, intelligent alien life will more than likely have a spiritual side. Humans have developed their spirituality through thousands of years. We are growing closer to understanding it, and where our place is in the universe. An advanced alien society will have progressed much further – for example, maybe they will have proven the existence of the afterlife, or maybe they will have entered other dimensions. Anything is possible – we should not deride anything even if it’s outside our comfort zone.

I wanted Milijun to explore how humanity would react when faced with an intelligence it cannot comprehend. It’s a good question, for it may happen someday. We are not currently prepared, of course, we are light years away from understanding how we should behave in such a circumstance.

Basically, Milijun challenges the reader’s mindsets through the eyes of a mother and son, and as such is perhaps more powerful and meaningful than if that challenge was through the eyes of the United Nations or the President of the United States.

How often do you write?

Whenever spare time and the urge to create combine. Sometimes it’s frequently; on other occasions there may be powerful conflicting forces – like holidays or grandchildren.

What famous author would you compare your own writing style with?

Probably Dean Koontz, who just happens to be my favorite scribe. I enjoy short chapters and I employ them a lot. Koontz is a master of the paranormal, making it almost seem like an everyday occurrence.

Who are five of your favorite authors?

Five is not a lot, but I enjoy:

Dean Koontz

Three of the old masters – H G Wells, Isaac Asimov and John Wyndham

Also Kate Atkinson [for the grittiness] and Agatha Christie [for the flow of the mystery]

What are you currently reading?

Rainbow Mars by Larry Niven. A revisit, and how Mars should be, or perhaps was!!

Time for some quick questions:

  • Favorite Quote?

 

One I used towards the end of Milijun – The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep. And miles to go before I sleep. And miles to go before I sleep.  [Robert Lee Frost, (American Poet), 1874 – 1963]

  • Favorite Book?

 

Midnight by Dean Koontz

  • Favorite Book Series?

 

Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz

  • Favorite Movie?

 

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

  • Favorite TV Show?

 

Midsomer Murders

  • Coffee or Tea?

 

Definitely Tea, usually green

  • If you could have one superpower what would it be?

 

Time Travel, which may eventually become a non-super power.

If you could be one character from your own writing, who would it be and why?

Jason Sinclair in Milijun. For one thing he is a teenager! He also possesses an insatiable thirst for the unknown and is seldom phased by anything. He doesn’t mind challenging what he sees as nonsense, and voicing his opinion accordingly. Perhaps like most teenagers?

Finally, what advice would you give to other writers?

We can start with the obvious one – read your genre. Don’t start to write before reading, that’s like running before you can walk. If you have done your reading, and you have the urge to write, just write and see what comes out. Never throw anything away – a lot easier now with the advent of computers.

Also keep a pencil and pad on your bedside table. Quite often you will wake up with an idea, a thought, maybe just a sentence or phrase, or even a piece of dialogue. Scribble it down, file it somewhere safe.

Also don’t release your book too soon. Check out marketing options and get some reviews.

*****

clayton

Clayton Graham was born and raised in the cobbled streets of Stockport, near Manchester UK. He graduated with a degree in Aerospace Engineering from Salford University in 1966 having attained a Student Apprenticeship with English Electric Aviation.

He settled in Victoria, Australia in 1982. He is a retired aerospace engineer who enjoyed working in the field of efficient lightweight structures and watching them fly around the world. He has always had an interest in Science Fiction and where it places humankind within the universe we know and love. He loves the ‘old school’ science fiction written by authors such as HG Wells, Jules Verne and John Wyndham. Also the works of Isaac Asimov.

Milijun is his debut novel, but there are further adventures to come.

Clayton loves animals, including well behaved pets, and all the natural world, and is a member of Australian Geographic.

When he is not writing, walking, travelling, or gardening, Clayton enjoys fine food with family, friends and five energetic grandchildren.

Web Site: http://claytongraham.com.au/

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/claytongrahamauthor/

Authors Show Radio Interview: http://claytongraham.com.au/authors-show-interview/

BOOK LINKS:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28525954-milijun?from_search=true

https://www.amazon.com/milijun-would-alien-interaction-really-ebook/dp/B01A4XY0UI/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1478232229&sr=1-1&keywords=milijun

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Author Spotlight: Harini Chakrapani

30 Wednesday Nov 2016

Posted by David Wiley in Books and Reading, Guest Post, Indie Author Spotlight

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Tags

A Rebel is Born, Avon Etcetera, Harini Chakrapani, Indie Author, short story, The Secret of the Mantle

Welcome to a spotlight on Harini Chakrapani, author of The Secret of the Mantle. For today’s post she has offered to share a short story which is a prequel to her novel, so read on about this author and enjoy the short story!
Author Bio: 
apr.jpg
Harini Chakrapani wrote her first novel at 13, 

A Perilous Vacation.

At 21, she packed her bags to become a Bollywood reporter in Dubai.

She enjoys reading sci-fi, fantasy, thrillers, video gaming,and browsing dictionary.com

She is currently pursuing Master’s in Journalism in New York. 

The Secret of the Mantle cover.jpg

The Secret of the Mantle is her first published book.

Where to buy the book from:

https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Mantle-Harini-Chakrapani/dp/9385609386/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1477945787&sr=8-1&keywords=the+secret+of+the+mantle 

Social media: https://www.facebook.com/Harini-Chakrapani-214611125536899/

Twitter: @secretofmantle 

****

A rebel is born

By Harini Chakrapani

The snow lay thick upon the ground, the high trees, the hills and homes. All was white. White was all— the color of his robes, his boots, his disheveled mane. Even his eyes, were lacklustre, pale, just a shade darker than his cloudy, rice water colored skin.

His parents were so happy. They had borne the perfect specimen, an obscure little thing that blended with the snow. Unremarkable. He was the apple of their eye. The rest of the 14 that made their brood wasn’t given as much as a second glance. They were so proud, even though they would never admit it, as it was against the law, the signs were clear.

Every birthday, he was given new robes while the rest of his brothers and sisters wore old, ragged ones with mice chewed holes, just like all the other children in Utopia. Of course, his parents would never let him parade around in his fine, silkware, for the fear that their brood would find out it was less loved and harbor blasphemous dark feelings of jealousy and hate.

So, they would beckon him to a special room downstairs on his birthday. They called it the Witch’s lair, for it was black evil, had a mirror inside (mirrors were forbidden), with which he could stare at his reflection and find out how different he was from the others.

They would make him stand in front of the mirror, and coo over how his whitewashed appearance had made them a respectable family in town, privileged them to deliver sermons, moral rectitude, granted them access to the temple’s treasury and residence in a palatial house within the temple complex.

His great grandfather was the only one who despised him. Whenever his parents left him at his house to babysit, he would call him by a blasphemous word. ALBINO.

When Avon Etcetera was eight-years old, and saw it the first time, etched across the whiteboard he had cried till his throat was sore.  Back then, he didn’t know what it meant, but his great grandfather seemed to be filled with such hate, revulsion as he wrote the letters on the whiteboard and show them to him. Something within him told him the word was a reference to his existence and that his great grandfather wanted to rip him apart for it.

His great grandfather kept flashing the word at him, taunting him, until he learnt to run away from his room and hide in the closet out of fear that his great grandfather would kill him.

Of course, that had been six years ago. Now, the word didn’t hurt him anymore. In fact, it had made him curious to find out what it meant. He was certain it bore some significance, that it could provide a glimpse to Utopia’s past and empower him.

This overwhelming curiosity had made him sneak out of his haveli and brought him here to his great grandfather’s house, a thousand kilometers away from his home.

It was an igloo. Four fifths of Utopia’s population lived in these ice houses. His great grandfather, Avon Geld, didn’t call it that. He said his house was a morgue, a place where the dead lay frozen, devoid of thoughts, feelings, life. Exactly, what Utopia’s ruling class, the Enlightened wanted. They would never publicly admit there were the rulers, but that was the truth. They controlled everything.

Avon Geld was in front of him, slouched in his polar bear pelt wrapped chair. He looked different today. Well, he was older by six years since he had met him last. But it wasn’t that. It wasn’t even the black woolen robes he wore that brought out the violet in his eyes, for he always wore these robes. There was something else.

A twinkle, a spark in his eyes, a wisp of a smile. He had never seen that. His face was always hard, tensed up, contorted by years of bitterness. Many, many years. For he was 120 years-old.

Did he sense something, perhaps his rebellion. And was that why he was happy?

He could ask.

“Where do you keep…the?”

Avon Geld smiled wider. The lines of his mouth reached his sunken, withered cheeks.

It seemed he didn’t even have to say the word. He knew. He pointed to an inner chamber, the sanctum.

Avon Etcetera wanted to know how his great grandfather sensed his vice—the pursuit of knowledge. But he didn’t ask this time around. The purpose of his visit was more important.

He turned around and with quick, nervous steps walked into the sacred space.

And…it lay in ruin.

The pictures of the Holy Hundred were either torn or scribbled upon. The hand carved gilded oak frames they were kept in lay chipped and broken upon the floor. Violence was meted out to the Vespian ivory statuettes as well. They were either beheaded or belegged.

The holiest book of the Utopians, the Ignorantia had been profaned. There was writing in its blank, white pages now.

The word was everywhere. ALBINO. Not just in the book, but the walls, the photos, the floor. All dripping with the black paint that had been used to write.

An outrage! Avon Etcetera froze. He couldn’t breathe. Moments later, he looked around for the Corestone. It was a white stone that every Utopian was expected to keep in the sanctum. It was imbued with white magic, used by the Enlightened to tap into the minds of Utopians and perceive their thoughts and actions. If ever a thought of rebellion popped up in a Utopian’s mind, the Enlightened began to surveil the dissident. If the thought converted to action, the dissident was buried alive.

The Corestone was nowhere to be found. Had his great grandfather disposed of it? That was a crime, punishable by live burying at the hands of the Carcerem.

His bowels turned to water. With trembling hands, he unrolled the raw, rubbery seal skin door flap*, shutting him out from the rest of the world, leaving him in complete darkness.

That’s when he found it. The Encyclopedia. It was called the Black Book in Utopia.

He gasped in horror. Black Books were forbidden. There were only 8 known copies, that the Enlightened was trying to track down and burn. The knowledge it contained was evil. It explained what words meant and provided historical information. It stirred the mind, made it think, question, reason, challenge the way of life in Utopia compared to the pre Utopia period, when the planet was called Sprabodh.

To think that Avon Geld had one, marked, not only him as a rebel, an insurgent, a threat to Utopia, but also his great grandson, Avon Etcetera, his parents, his siblings, by virtue of kinship. It was just outrageous.

He was drawn to the book. It glowed with a blue light. On the cover was the image of a hollow brain filled with gears, their teeth cutting into each other. Surrounding the brain were balls of different shapes and colors. Planets.

A word was embossed. Bodhbal. Knowledge is power.

Avon Etcetera felt something within him. The feeling was old, familiar — a hole, an emptiness swirling within him, that made him lightheaded, weak, everyday of his life in Utopia. There was only one thing that could fill this emptiness and it was right in front of him. With that he opened the book. The light shone in his eyes.

At length, he saw them — the Lūx, the founders of Utopia. There were seven of them seated in a row on wooden benches, clothed in white robes. They had white faces, white hair. The book named them as the Albinos. One of them had dry, coarse strands poking out of his head just like him. He could see the resemblance. They were namesakes. That he had known. But he had never before seen this picture. A picture in motion.

The Enlightened distributed very different pictures across Utopia. The representations showcased brawny, barrel-chested bodies with square jaws and narrow tipped noses. Symbols of strength.

Here, the Lūx looked weak and emaciated, with bones poking out of flesh, sunken cheeks, bulbous noses, fragile skulls. The eyes were horrid. Phenol colored pupils empty of any expression. They simply stared.

Shortly, a bearded figure wearing a long pointed cap and worn out black robes came upon the scene.

He made symbols with his hands and called upon strange verses. They had a hint of music with its ebb and flow. At once, his hands transformed into black, vaporous masses that began scratching the air and the ground. The demonstration required sizeable effort, for the figure gave out deep, guttural sounds as if his abdomen were being squeezed.

At length, a golden tower with its polished gleaming surface carrying the reflections of the sky, clouds, and other buildings  began to materialize,  spiralling all the way up to the clouds. It was a spectacle! Avon Etcetera hadn’t seen anything like it before.  Text flashed underneath the picture.

“This is CREATION, making something out of nothing.” The words jolted the fibre of his being. He kept repeating them over and over again, savoring them, drawing their essence.

Next, he learned that the robed figure was apparently a builder named Ojman Pratap.

The Lūx simply stared. Their eyebrows were flat against their foreheads. They stared as though, they could see right through the tower, as if it didn’t exist at all. That became clear, when his namesake mouthed, “sisa raghlone,” and the text flashed underneath the picture.

The language was Lapitis. Avon Etcetera knew the words. It was the tongue used by his forebears. Of course, the Enlightened forbade it in schools or anywhere in public. They believed it was full-fledged. Every thought, every emotion, every signal in the brain could be expressed with just the right words. It didn’t just stop there. The words had the power to draw other minds, make empathic connections. That’s what encouraged rebellion and led to the fall of Sprabodh according to the Enlightened. They didn’t want history to repeat itself and lead to the downfall of Utopia.

Still, his parents had books in the house and wanted their children to learn Lapitis. It was a part of their lineage, who they were. More than that, it was the language of the Lūx, helped them see right from wrong in building the perfect society for Utopians. It could not be forgotten.

Avon Etcetera loathed the expression on his namesake’s face. He, then studied the face of the builder, Ojman Pratap only to realize they both shared a look of pain, anguish. His mind felt heavy.

There was an upswell of thoughts….thoughts that needed to pour out of him with a great roar and crash…like a storm. So everyone around him could hear, feel the words…be touched…overwhelmed by them.

Avon Etcetera was desperate. He groped for the right words in Utopian to acknowledge his thought. But there were none. The only other language he knew was Lapitis…but he hadn’t practiced in so long because of school work and other house chores. Still, he knew he had to try with the limited knowledge he had of Lapitis. The thought had to be shared.

Thus, he began aloud a haphazard speech lacking verbs sometimes, or jumbled up verbs and nouns. But every word he uttered was pregnant with emotion.

Midway, he stopped. He couldn’t go on. The thought was still there, but he didn’t know the right words. He could still get it out but what was the point, if no one could understand what he was saying. The right words would move people, impel them to action. Perhaps, that was the builder’s intent.  No effort should go in vain.

His anger fomented. His face burned, showing color. It wasn’t the first time he was angry. But then again, he hadn’t ever been angry this way out of frustration…feeling helpless, constrained, shackled.

He gave a start. There was someone creeping up on him. His great grandfather. There was a smile on his face. This was the second time. It was a wide, gaping smile. He noticed gold teeth and a tongue cut in half that made him a mute.

Avon Geld hadn’t a reason to be happy in six decades. All those years of hiding, leading a double life, knowing the truth, but still denying knowledge of it, living in fear of losing his life….like a coward. No more. He had the strength to unveil that disguise. The cost would be death, but he was willing to pay it.

This was the moment he had been waiting for. Of course, he had never thought his great grandson could be a part of it. It seemed so unlikely given his remarkable resemblance to one of the Lūx… the one who had cut his tongue in half and robbed him of speech. Avon Etcetera.

No more. He would speak now. He would give his great grandson, the words. Words that would nourish his anger, set him on the path to find the truth and redeem Utopians. That was all that mattered. Many had undertaken to lead this journey before, but returned halfway. Perhaps, his great grandson was just like them.  A quitter. Perhaps he was not. But Avon Geld knew he had to try, when there was a flicker of hope. He could taste his great grandson’s anger. It was what made him confront the Lūx sixty years ago.

He closed his eyes, watched a few breaths, made a cross with his index fingers, touched his lips, feeling a soothing comfort as if he had been taking a warm shower, and chanted.

“Rohati.” He waited, breathing in and out for several minutes until he felt a sting in his tongue as though somebody had pinched it.

The wet moist thing began to grow, hitting the roof of his mouth and then his teeth. He had healed. He had been afraid to try this for sixty years and for good reason.

As soon as the flesh had materialised, he felt a searing pain in his heart.

As though a knife had cleaved out a fragment and his life energy or udarat were leaking out. The punishment didn’t stop just there.

He could feel a hail of stabs, rending several holes through vein and tissue and the udarat bleeding out. That was the price for channeling Dark Magic as designed by the Lūx. The fuel for Dark Magic was one’s own life energy. Every time a dark spell was chanted, one had to be prepared to expend his own life energy. Building especially was fatally draining. Do and die trying.

His face contorted, teeth bit into his lip, making it bleed. If he wanted, he could dwell in the pain, cry and feel weak. But his practice taught him otherwise. He breathed in and out. It didn’t help as much as he had hoped. His mind was distracted. He was yet to learn the Dark Way. Of course, there was the easy way out, designed for the more distracted monkey minds like his. So, he parted his mouth and sucked in the cold air, calming down his mind.

He had to give his great grandson the words to spark his mind, spark a rebellion in Utopia.

“You hate to see Avon Etcetera’s face don’t you? It’s just as how I had felt that day. Look at his eyes, they are blank. The lips are pressed against each other and the facial muscles are taut as if all the blood had congealed. There is no acknowledgement of the builder…no acknowledgement of what he has built…no acknowledgment of the blood, sweat and tears that had gone into his creation…no acknowledgement of that ambition that had driven the creation…as if all life was futile…as if life had no purpose…as if living was death,” he said in a mix of Lapitis and Utopian, certain that his great grandson couldn’t figure out the message otherwise.

Avon Etcetera looked flabbergasted. Clearly, he had processed most of the message.

“How can you speak Avon Geld?” he asked. But as his great grandfather began to reply, he interrupted.

“It doesn’t matter…what you said…is exactly what was on my mind. The thought was there but I just couldn’t put it in words. I feel so relieved now. It’s as if I have wanted to say these words ever since I learned how to speak. Is this what the Lūx thought of creation…that it was a wasted effort?”

His great grandfather nodded. His skin prickled with excitement.

Avon Etcetera felt his anger return, and with it the thought of strangling his namesake.

“Easy my child. And now I want you to remember this for the rest of your life.”

The words struck Avon Etcetera. His great grandfather had never before called him his own blood. And how had he been able to read his mind today?

Avon Geld lay down photo frames of the Enlightened wearing their neon white robes and masks with one roving pupiless eye.    He then tried to summon Dark Magic, watching his breath, rapidly making strange symbols with his hands and calling upon musical verses.

The scene was new yet seemed so very familiar. Moments later, a struggle followed. His great grandfather was in pain, yelling and crying.

The golden tower that he had seen in the Black Book began to shape up right in front of his eyes, breaking through the photo frames of the Enlightened and moments later, the roof of the house and bringing in a blast of cold air.

Could it be that his great grandfather was the builder Ojman Pratap himself? The revelation was astonishing.

Something told him Avon Geld was dying. His breathing was growing more laborious with every passing second. And then blood began to seep from his chest, coloring his clothes and then the ice.

Despite, his struggles, Avon Geld held his calm for one final demonstration. He would take a bow only after that. He would not go easily. In dying too there would be purpose. He wanted the Enlightened to realize that and reel in their graves remembering him when the time came.

The blood pooled around him. He could feel his nearly severed heart hanging by a limp vein. He kept trying to heal it with the aura of the Dark Magic, while feeling more of his life slip away in the process. He could envision the Enlightened rejoicing this travesty of Dark Magic that they had helped perpetuate.

But, he wouldn’t let them have the last laugh.

He staggered to his feet, defiantely pulled out the Corestone that he had been wearing around his neck, rubbed it against the golden tower  and pressed his palms together.

Then, he turned toward Avon Etcetera and said, “Find Yayavar Gen Vatra and tell him, “Cinotiham tarhi aham.” He will teach you the Dark Way.”

Before taking the final fall to his death, he stuck out the Corestone against his great grandson’s face making sure the Enlightened who monitored the Corestone knew what was coming their way. If his great grandson were indeed the prophesied hero destined to bring down the regime, then he would survive all the odds and pursue the darkness.

Avon Etcetera felt his heart throbbing in his chest. The Corestone had perceived it all. Now, it was buzzing with strange voices. Voices that sounded heavy and breathy.

They were coming for him. Coming for the rebel. He ran for his life.

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Author Interview: Werner Stejskal

15 Tuesday Nov 2016

Posted by David Wiley in Books and Reading, Guest Post, Indie Author Spotlight

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Children's Book, Indie Author, Interview, Oliver and Jumpy, Werner Stejskal

Here is a chance to check out an author via an interview. You never know, reading an interview could lead you to finding your next favorite author. In this case, Werner is the author of children’s books that I am confident you will find to be very interesting. Be sure to check out his work, and his links at the bottom of the interview.

werner

Welcome! Please tell us your name and a little bit about yourself.

My name is Werner Stejskal. I was born in Vienna, Austria and live with my wife and married two children in Perth, Australia since 28 years. I started off in the Printing Industry, worked later for the UNO in Vienna for many years before making the fundamental decision to move to Australia. After retiring from my online export business I was blessed one sleepless night with the idea for my series ‘Oliver and Jumpy’, giving me a new purpose in life.

What motivates you to write?

I have always been reading a lot and it was a short step to develop an interest in writing. I never considered myself capable to write novels though. It was more just for myself. I loved to create an alternative kind of children’s books to all the current ones being sold. I am more a business man than writer, so my current setup suits me well. I write the stories, find illustrators, translators and editors by myself and also produce my own books using various softwares.

What is the title of your most recent book? Give us a brief overview on what the book is about.

There are lots of fairy tales and bedtime stories around and many of them quite violent. This made me decide to write something different. On a flight from Europe to Australia I watched the movie Magic on Belle Island with Morgan Freeman, where Freeman teaches a little girl to have imagination and write her first story. This inspired me as well and the first stories with the two characters Oliver, the elegant tomcat, and Jumpy, his kangaroo lady friend, made their appearance.

I do things very differently to most authors. There is actually no last book, but a whole series of 20 ebooks or 10 POD’s with 62 stories which I finished off before publishing them all at once within a short time. ‘Oliver and Jumpy’ is now four years in the making. English, Chinese, Spanish is ready and German coming up.

jumpy

What makes it unique from the other books out there?

I found that a lot of picture books have very simple and few illustrations, little text and are for a very small age range. I decided on Walt Disney style drawings because they can be quite complex and the characters have, well, character. Most of my illustrators managed to create that image. The stories all started out with 1000 each, which is far too many for picture books. I had to keep reducing the text, but there is still more to read than in most picture books. There is usually a lesson to be learned, even though it is a very subtle one and quite well hidden in the story. I tried to keep the text with the illustration, rather than use a separate page for the text and have only half the book illustrated. I am self-published and do not worry about page restrictions of various printers. My books can be between 33-50 pages.

What is the title of your current work-in-progress or the most recent manuscript you’ve completed apart from your most recent book? Would you mind sharing what it is about?

I am working on the German version of my series. After this I may tackle Japanese and Hindi. The final goal is to produce a TV series with ‘Oliver and Jumpy’.

What do you find most useful during your writing process?

My Ipad. I practically live with it. I do everything with it. Write, produce my books and YouTube clips, Social Networking and finding reviewers.

What are you doing for promotion?

Promotions are all encompassing. There is no one thing that works by itself. I spend a lot of time finding reviewers. Now I try to get into local papers, TV stations, podcasts, author interviews. My aggregator helps to get the books into promotions on all ebook platforms. The social media is important.

How often do you write?

I wrote the whole series within two months. Now is time for production and promotion. No more writing until the next series.

What famous author would you compare your own writing style with?

I would not dare!

Who are five of your favorite authors?

Jefferey Deaver, Nora Roberts, James Michener, Michael Connelly, Maragret Mitchell

What are you currently reading?

Jeffery Deaver – The Twelfth Card

Time for some quick questions:

  • Favorite Quote?

 

Never stop learning.

  • Favorite Book?

 

Gone with the Wind

  • Favorite Book Series?

 

All Nora Robert series

  • Favorite Movie?

 

I repeat myself, Gone with the Wind.

  • Favorite TV Show?

 

Yes, there was a time I watched TV. Long time ago.

  • Coffee or Tea?

 

Very weak coffee.

  • If you could have one superpower what would it be?

 

Write novels!

If you could be one character from your own writing, who would it be and why?

Why, that’s obvious – Oliver is me and I am Oliver.

Finally, what advice would you give to other writers?

Treat your writing as a business right from the beginning. There are tax benefits! Start building a relevant social media presence to build your own audience. You can feed them the progress of your work and they may be receptive when you finally have a finished product!

award

Social media links

http://www.facebook.com/werner.stejskal

@Oliver And Jumpy

https://plus.google.com/+WernerStejskal

Instagram: Werner.Stejskal

https://au.linkedin.com/in/oliverandjumpy

Amazon Author’s page with free books:

https://www.amazon.com/Werner-Stejskal/e/B00NFANG58/

Website: www.bedtimestory4you.com

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Indie Author Spotlight: Marie Lavender

31 Monday Oct 2016

Posted by David Wiley in Books and Reading, Guest Post, Indie Author Spotlight

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Blue Vision, Indie Author, Interview, Marie Lavendar, Romance, Sci-Fi

Welcome! Please tell us your name and a little bit about yourself.

 

Hello! My name is Marie Lavender. I am a multi-genre author from the Midwest. I live with my family and three cats, though there will probably be eight when I get married to my fiancé.

I have been writing stories for years, since I was a child. At the age of nine is when I really started to plan on being an author. Stories always played out in my head, and it just made sense to write them all down. So, I pursued the dream, and even majored in Creative Writing in College. About five years after I graduated, I decided to really get into publishing my work. In 2012, I was discovered by Solstice Publishing, and I’ve been with them ever since.

 

What motivates you to write?

 

I can be inspired by anything really – current events, conversations, observations. Mainly, I guess I just let the muse take me wherever it wants. More often than not, characters come to me, demanding for their stories to be told. I follow them down the nutty path of writing.

 

What is the title of your most recent book? Give us a brief overview on what the book is about.

 

blue-vision-final-coverMy latest book, which releases on November 15th, is called Blue Vision. The novel is about a young woman who comes across a strange man in the middle of a Montana winter. But what happens next is totally unexpected…

 

Here is the blurb:

Brooke Sanders just wants to get away from her life for awhile. A remote cabin in Montana fits the bill. She doesn’t expect to encounter a mysterious stranger with unusual blue eyes, or events that cannot be explained…

Colin Fielding is on a mission – scout a planet and return home to Endhivar. Simple really. What he doesn’t anticipate is that fate has a pretty twisted sense of humor. Suddenly, this human calls to him, every part of him, like the call of a true mate, and he can’t deny the connection as he gets closer to her.

Little do they know, someone is out to do them harm, as well as the world Brooke holds so dear. Can they stop what’s coming before it’s too late? Or will the universe lose a perfect gem?

 

blue-vision-promo1What makes it unique from the other books out there?

 

I think Endhivar is what makes it different. Also Colin, the Code, and, of course, the connection between the two characters.

 

What is the title of your current work-in-progress or the most recent manuscript you’ve completed apart from your most recent book? Would you mind sharing what it is about?

 The project I’m currently editing is called Directions of the Heart. It’s a contemporary romance/romantic drama collection of four stories. The best way to describe the book is that it’s comprised of eight different people on a journey of loss, growth, redemption, healing and romance.

I see that you’ve also self-published in the past. Which do you like better, publishing on your own or using a traditional publisher?

 

I like both. I enjoy the community of authors at the publishing company, knowing we’re all in the same place and we can learn from each other, learn from the publisher too. But I also tend to favor having some control over the various aspects of publishing (book cover art, release date, et cetera). Being an indie author, I get to experience both sides.

 

You consider yourself a multi-genre author. Did you always plan to go in different directions?

 

No, not really. Originally, I only planned to be a romance author. But the muse had different ideas. When I wised up, I realized I had to leave my mind completely open for stories. That’s when the best things come to you, right? The ones you don’t expect. Heck, last year, I even published a children’s fantasy novella. That definitely wasn’t planned! But I wouldn’t undo it either. It was a fun experience.

 

I had a professor once who gave me some really great advice. She told me not to limit myself to one genre, and she was right. Besides, I’m not a great conformist. I never liked boxing myself in with anything. Why should I do that with writing?

 

Your author tagline on your site is ‘exploring worlds one page at a time’. Could you expand a bit on that? What made you decide to pick that for your author brand?

 

It made an eerie kind of sense. Going along with the theme of being a multi-genre author, I took a good look at my 117+ works in progress, and I saw a trend forming. The stories were all over the place, just like I am in my likes and dislikes in life. Fiction is about building a world for the reader to become absorbed in. And my books are about different worlds.

 

Who are five of your favorite authors?

 

Five of my favorites are J.R. Ward, Chloe Neill, P.C. Cast, Kris Tualla and Nora Roberts.

 

How often do you write?

 

Well, it depends on the project, and whether I’m focused on it. If I’m editing, that can slow down progress on other story ideas. Mostly I write random scenes until I’m ready to start plotting and really get down to writing the bulk of the novel. After I’ve done all the research I can, and learned everything about the characters, I start making a timeline of the book and filling in the gaps. Of course, the characters still surprise me now and then. As for how often I write, once I’m heavily focused on a project, I try to work on the book a little every day, even if I’m only writing a paragraph, a whole scene or a chapter. Anything gets you closer to that goal.

 

What famous author would you compare your own writing style with?

 

I’m not sure I could compare my style to a specific author. But if a fan would like to venture a guess, I’m open to finding out. Personally, I feel more like I’m an unruly blend of different authors when it comes to my writing style.

 

What are you currently reading?

 

I’m reading Lover Enshrined by J.R. Ward. I’ve read it before, but sometimes I find myself reading the Black Dagger Brotherhood Series all over again. It doesn’t help when one of your favorite authors keeps adding to an already lengthy series. At the same time, I wouldn’t want her to stop writing.

 

 Time for some quick questions:

 

  • Favorite Quote? “You don’t love someone for their looks, or their clothes, or for their fancy car, but because they sing a song only you can hear.” ― Oscar Wilde
  • Favorite Book? Dark Lover by J.R. Ward
  • Favorite Book Series? Chicagoland Vampires by Chloe Neill
  • Favorite Movie? Kate & Leopold
  • Favorite TV Show? Arrow
  • Coffee or Tea? Decaf French Vanilla Coffee
  • If you could have one superpower what would it be? Mindreading

 

 

If you could be one character from your own writing, who would it be and why?

 

Oh, I might choose Adrienne Bellamont Hill from the Heiresses in Love Series. The final book in the series, Upon Your Love, should be out sometime in 2017. Talk about someone fearless. I’d like to step into her shoes for a day!

 

Finally, what advice would you give to other writers?

 

Oh my God, please be patient! It will save you in so many situations. Just do the best you can, and don’t try to push too hard for everything to go faster. You’ll just run into roadblocks that you’ll wish you didn’t bother with in the first place.

blue-vision-promo2

Author Bio and Links

 

Bestselling multi-genre author of UPON YOUR RETURN and 21 other books. March 2016 Empress of the Universe title – winner of the “Broken Heart” themed contest and the “I Love You” themed contest on Poetry Universe. SECOND CHANCE HEART and A LITTLE MAGICK placed in the TOP 10 on the 2015 P&E Readers’ Poll. Nominated in the TRR Readers’ Choice Awards for Winter 2015. Poetry winner of the 2015 PnPAuthors Contest. The Versatile Blogger Award for 2015. Honorable Mention in the 2014 BTS Red Carpet Book Awards. Finalist and Runner-up in the 2014 MARSocial’s Author of the Year Competition. Honorable mention in the January 2014 Reader’s Choice Award. Liebster Blogger Award for 2013 and 2014. Top 10 Authors on AuthorsDB.com. Winner of the Great One Liners Contest on the Directory of Published Authors.

mariealternate-400Marie Lavender lives in the Midwest with her family and three cats. She has been writing for over twenty years. She has more works in progress than she can count on two hands. Since 2010, Marie has published 22 books in the genres of historical romance, contemporary romance, romantic suspense, paranormal romance, fantasy, mystery/thriller, literary fiction and poetry. Blue Vision will be book 23, where she breaks into the science fiction genre. She has also contributed to several anthologies. Her current series are The Heiresses in Love Series, The Magick Series, The Code of Endhivar Series and The Blood at First Sight Series.

 

http://marielavender.com/ Blogs: http://iloveromanceblog.wordpress.com/ http://marielavenderbooks.blogspot.com/ http://marielavender.blogspot.com/ Graphic design company: http://www.ambrosiainnovations.com/ https://www.facebook.com/marie.lavender.58 https://www.facebook.com/MarieAnnLavender https://twitter.com/marielavender1 https://plus.google.com/u/0/+MarieLavender/posts http://www.linkedin.com/pub/marie-lavender/27/187/10a Amazon author page: Author.to/MarieLavender https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6938764.Marie_Lavender http://authorsdb.com/authors-directory/1578-marie-lavender http://www.pw.org/content/marie_lavender http://manicreaders.com/marielavender/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJu8HjRVYCFOqcIoX6ZxdqQ/videos

 

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Guest Post: EPIC by Dane Cobain

05 Wednesday Oct 2016

Posted by David Wiley in Guest Post, Indie Author Spotlight, Vikings

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Dane Cobain, Epic, Guest Post, Indie Author, poetry

So I was contacted by poet and author Dane Cobain and, while I did not have the time to take on reading and reviewing one of his books, I was intrigued by his offer to write an exclusive poem based off five words I would provide. Being a bit of a fan of the Icelandic Sagas and Norse Mythology, I gave him this list of words: Saga, Shieldmaiden, Berserker, Valhalla, and Viking. So here is what he came up with, the poem that you won’t find anywhere else:

 

Epic

 

THIS.

IS.

EPIC.

 

Come on,

you act like you’ve never

met Thor before,

like you’re a berserker

without a purpose,

pillaging parishes

and pushing priests

over the sides

of a longship.

 

When I die,

they’ll burn me

in the back of a Volkswagen

Passat,

along with my

belongings;

Valhalla was made

for men like me,

maybe.

 

I once knew a Viking,

his meme was Stig

and he could drink more mead

than a Viking needs;

Stig died

when we were still

at university,

but I still miss him

when I go pillaging.

 

These days,

my shieldmaiden

is a little old lady,

an ageing Asian

who sharpens her tongue

on a whetstone.

 

And my saga

is set

to continue…

 

So there you have it. What did you think? Be sure to check out Dane’s work, which is listed below:

No Rest for the Wicked

(supernatural thriller)

When the Angels attack, there’s NO REST FOR THE WICKED.

Father Montgomery, an elderly priest with a secret past, begins to investigate after his parishioners come under attack, and with the help of Jones, a young businessman with an estranged child, Montgomery begins to track down the origin of the Angels.

When Jones himself is attacked, Father Montgomery knows he has to act fast. He speaks to the Angels and organises a final showdown where he’s asked to make the ultimate sacrifice.

Find out more.

 

Eyes Like Lighthouses When the Boats Come Home

(poetry)

Eyes Like Lighthouses is Dane Cobain’s first book of poetry, distilled from the sweat of a thousand memorised performances in this reality and others. It’s not for the faint-hearted.

“I’ve never seen anyone do a stream of consciousness piece as talented as that. Very impressed.” – Mark Allard-Will, author of Saskatch-A-Man and co-founder of Cuckoo’s Nest Press

Find out more.

 

Former.ly: The Rise and Fall of a Social Network

(literary fiction)

When Dan Roberts starts his new job at Former.ly, he has no idea what he’s getting into. The site deals in death – its users share their innermost thoughts, which are stored privately until they die. Then, their posts are shared with the world, often with unexpected consequences.

But something strange is going on, and the site’s two erratic founders share a dark secret. A secret that people are willing to kill for.

Find out more.

 

Social Paranoia: How Consumers and Brands Can Stay Safe in a Connected World

(non-fiction)

Social Paranoia: How Consumers and Brands Can Stay Safe in a Connected World is the true story of how sometimes the updates that you post come back to haunt you. Filled with real case studies and practical advice, it’s a guidebook for everyone who has an online presence from consumers to massive corporations.

Sometimes, people really are out to get you. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Find out more.

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