The Story Behind the Book is Literarily Speaking’s newest feature. Here we find out either the inspiration behind authors’ books or how they got published. Today’s guest is Renee Hand, author of the children’s animal detective chapter book, Mineral Mischief, the second book in her award-winning Joe-Joe Nut and Biscuit Bill series.

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The idea for this story was simple and came to me easily. I’m an author who is all about education. I homeschool my children and always try to find ways to educate them and get them involved and interested in what they are learning, regardless of what it is. I have learned that if I show a passion for it, so do my children. My books being educational is important to me, so I wanted to make sure that whenever a child reads my books they will be learning something, not just be entertained. There are so many books out there that just entertain, I wanted to go beyond that. I wanted to make a connection with my readers and make the topic something that children will be learning about in school. Some children like rocks, some think their boring, and some love to collect them. This story appeals to every reader because I approach the topic of rocks and minerals from various angles. It’s not just my point of view, but various characters’ points of view. I include information about the rock cycle, various experiments, terminology, a ‘Did You Know’ section and much more. I also incorporate a discussion about bullying, which one of the characters is involved with. The character also finds a solution to this problem which all children can benefit from. The topic of rocks and minerals is interwoven in the mystery having the reader learn right along with the characters. Parents, librarians, teachers and children will love this series and the direction I’m taking it. The series is uniquely written and inspires children to look at rocks and minerals from a different perspective.  That is my goal in writing mysteries, it’s for the reader to look at things differently instead of rushing to a conclusion based upon what we see or know. We must learn all the facts before a decision can be made, and our personal feelings on the matter must be put aside in order to see the truth of the situation. In this case, regardless if the reader loves the topic of rocks and minerals or not, they will enjoy learning about various properties and myths that circulate around rocks and minerals. To learn what they can do and the process a particular rock or mineral undertook to be in their current form, can be appreciated. I took some great and interesting information to capture the reader’s attention. I hope everyone enjoys it.

Author Giveaway information:

Giveaway #1 is for those readers who comment on Renee’s blog stops during the tour. One comment per person, per blog, through the length of the tour. Giveaway #2 is for those who purchase a copy of Joe-Joe Nut and Biscuit Bill Adventures Case#2 Mineral Mischief, between June 1st  2011 and July 1st, 2011. Proof of purchase must be submitted to Renee via email at cdrahand@yahoo.com. If you prefer to mail or fax a copy of your proof of purchase, please contact Renee via email for that information. Additional rules and guidelines can be found at the end of this post.

GIVEAWAY #1 (for people who comment at every stop during the VBT)
An autographed copy of Case#2 Mineral Mischief
Earth Science Posters on identifying rocks and minerals
National Audubon Society Field Guide (800+ pages) of Rocks and Minerals
Retail value of Giveaway #1 is $60 (rounded to nearest dollar)
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GIVEAWAY #2 (for those who purchase a copy of Case# 2 Mineral Mischief between June 1st 2011 and June 1st, 2011)

An autographed copy of Case #1: The Great Pie Catastrophe
4 boxed sets of rock collections which include a box of each of: Igneous, Metamorphic, Sedimentary and Minerals. There are 12 specimens in each box. These learning sets are a great learning tool for kids to learn about various kinds of rocks and their properties.
Retail Value of Giveaway #2 is $100 (rounded to the nearest dollar)

Here are the rules and guidelines for these giveaways:
1) For Giveaway #1 you must leave a comment on the hosting blog and author’s blog with a working email address for the author to contact you if you win. Only the first comment with your working email address is used to determine eligibility (one comment, per blog). All comments will be checked and verified.
2) You must be a member of author’s blog and website at http://thecryptocapersseries.blogspot.com and www.reneeahand.com (This goes for entering both giveaways).
3) You are eligible to win Giveaway #2 if you purchase a copy of Case#2 Mineral Mischief between June 1st, 2011 and July 1st, 2011 and provide the author with proof of purchase via email, mail, or fax prior to July 1st, 2011. Case#2 is available through, Amazon, Barnesandnoble.com, and at various bookstores big and small, and various places on-line including author’s website. Kindle purchases of Renee’s books count towards this as well.
4) All giveaway winners will be selected using Random.org.
5) Prizes will be shipped via USPS with appropriate insurance.
6) Author, blog hosts, and tour group are not responsible for lost or damaged goods.
7)  The same person cannot win both giveaways.
Good luck to all who enter!

Renee Hand writes because it is a passion in her heart. She is a homeschool parent and likes to create books that educate and inspire the children of today. She was born in Michigan and still lives there with her husband and two children. She has a degree in Zoology with a minor in Chemistry. Renee is the author of the amazing mystery series known as the Crypto-Capers Series that encourages children to read by incorporating several topics of interest. The reader participates into the story by solving cryptograms and puzzles to solve the case. She is also the author of the Joe-Joe Nut and Biscuit Bill Series, which focuses on animal detectives. This series is a great way to teach children about animals in a fun and interesting way that captures the reader’s attention and yet fills them with knowledge they will be learning about in school. All books are great to use in a classroom setting to supplement various topics or to just enjoy. Renee is an award-winning author, receiving awards such as a Best Book Award, a National Literary Award and a Preferred Choice award for her children’s series and adult books. She has just recently won a Seal of Excellence award in Storytelling for her Joe-Joe Nut and Biscuit Bill Series. She has been writing for over twenty-five years and has nine books published. When she is not spending time with her family or participating in author events, she is coaching and playing tennis, as well as doing research for her books and many other things that keep her busy. Not quite sure what a cryptogram is and want to learn more?

Visit the author’s website at www.reneeahand.com to learn about cryptograms and how to solve the ones that are in the books. She also blogs at http://thecryptocapersseries.blogspot.com/

Tags: animal detective children's chapter book, author tour, blog tour, blog tours, book blog tour, book promotion online, book tour, book tours, children's books, Guest Blogger, Joe-Joe Nut and Biscuit Bill, literarily speaking, Mineral Mischief, online book promotion, online book tour, online book tours, Pump Up Your Book, Renee Hand, virtual author tour, virtual blog tour, virtual blog tours, virtual book tour, virtual book tours

The Story Behind the Book is Literarily Speaking’s newest feature. Here we find out either the inspiration behind authors’ books or how they got published. Today’s guest is Leonora Pruner, author of the historical gothic novel, In the Aerie of the Wolf.

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Composing fiction is, in a way, like composing music. It can be done almost any place and has its origins in the dreams and imagination of the composer. Both are inspirations given hopefully a lasting form

For a decade, my home was a rented room on an island slightly over a square mile in size, populated by about 80,000 other people (by census count) in the middle of the Indian Ocean, half a world away from my children and grandchildren. What began as collecting folk tales and getting them illustrated and published evolved into teaching economics to grades 8-10 and then to teaching computer science. In my room was a state-of-the-art dual drive laptop computer installed with Word Perfect, which I purchased shortly before leaving the States.

In my head was the results of about 5 years of research for my first published novel, Love’s Secret Storm, set in mid-18th century Sussex, England and London. Since this was in pre-Internet days, the only other reference resource available was the small, local library.

My second novel, Love’s Silent Gift, was in the galley stage when I arrived on this island, the capital of the Republic of Maldives. At the time, I was working on a contemporary novel, which took me to Maldives before being sidetracked into folk lore. That story has not yet been finished. Other stories developed in my mind and were then transferred to my computer’s disks. Over time, my computer graduated to a hard disk laptop and my stories continued to grow.

When I left the island, four or five stories were on my computer in various stages of completion. On encountering a difficulty, I would make a note in uppercase and continue writing what I did know. So these stories were a bit “holely”.

One of those became Close to His Heart and another became In the Aerie of the Wolf. It is hard to separate out just what was the inspiration of this particular book. Certainly my affection for the old story of Beauty and the Beast (I did not appreciate the way Disney butchered it) played a significant part. The many stories both historical and fictional of a young woman having to go to a strange place to marry a man she has never met were also intriguing.

Would the prospective bridegroom send someone or go himself? Usually a trusted emissary was sent. What if she was contented with her life at home and maybe even had already fallen in love with someone else before this arranged marriage? What would her new home be like? Surely a crenellated, old castle would work, with secret passages, of course. And someone would oppose them. A battle should ensue, with swords, naturally.

You might say this brew formed and was stirred and allowed to simmer in my mind. The pot containing it but not really part of it was the household of which I was a part.

Why didn’t I write about those dear people who were my Maldivian family and friends? Perhaps because I was too close to them. I did write some, using my computer to record oral stories told to me in English, then touching them up lightly for language and clarity, yet preserving local expressions to conserve distinctives of their culture and ways. Five 36-page “magazines” resulted from this effort. I did take a correspondence course on Folklore from the University of Indiana in order to understand what I was doing better. But, all that, interesting as it was, did not satisfy my deep compulsion to compose fiction. And so I wrote whenever I could.

Writing a novel and selling it are barely connected activities. Not even my earlier publisher was interested in my manuscripts when I returned to the States. I tried several things, without a positive response. Finally, I concluded that what had been a ministry at one time was not for now. The Lord had other things for me and I must set it aside and not continue this exercise in futility.

My Methodist church was burned down by an arsonist on Easter, 2000. It was rebuilt and dedicated on Easter, 2008 involving a month long celebration. As part of that, my friend Roger Nelson came to perform his one man play of “John Wesley”. Before leaving my home he asked to call his friend who was to give a reception for him. As he dialed, he commented, “Oh, and he is a publisher.” I replied, “Oh, and I am a writer. Ask him if he publishes fiction.”

So began the journey to publication first for Close to His Heart and then the latest, In The Aerie of the Wolf. Now it is available in book stores, at www.amazon.com, or   www.nordskogpublishing.com for your enjoyment.

While born in Dubuque, Iowa, Leonora Pruner was brought to California by her parents during the Second World War, which has since been her principal residence. In 1953, she graduated from Westmont College then earned an MBA from Pepperdine University in 1981. Having married in 1953, she has seen her family expand from two children to thirteen grandchildren and five great- grandchildren.

Writing has been an important activity since junior high. In the late ‘60s, an eighteenth-century English character on The Wonderful World of Disney, captivated her interest. The desire to create a variation of him, led to five years of extensive research, followed by the publication of two period novels in 1981 and 1987, Love’s Secret Storm, and Love’s Silent Gift. Feeling that all that research should be reused, eighteenth-century England continues as a setting for her work.

From 1987 to 1997, she lived in the Republic of Maldives collecting folklore and teaching economics and computer science. While there, she wrote the first drafts of Close to His Heart and The Aerie of the Wolf on her computer.

Visit Leonora online at http://nordskogpublishing.com/book-in-the-aerie-of-the-wolf.shtml

Tags: author tour, blog tour, blog tours, book blog tour, book promotion online, book tour, book tours, Guest Blogger, historical fiction, historical gothic novel, historical romance, In the Aerie of the Wolf, Leonora Pruner, literarily speaking, online book promotion, online book tour, online book tours, Pump Up Your Book, virtual author tour, virtual blog tour, virtual blog tours, virtual book tour, virtual book tours

L.L. Reaper is two multi-published, award-winning authors who decided to write under a pen name for their dangerously sexy suspense series, Black Widow and the Sandman. You can visit their website at www.llreaper.com or connect with them at Twitter at www.twitter.com/llreaper and Facebook at www.facebook.com/AuthorLLReaper.

Thank you for this interview, L.L. Black Widow and the Sandman was written by two authors and that’s why you two came up with the pseudonym, L.L. Reaper.  How come you didn’t choose to just use both real names?

L.L. Reaper: I love a cold Pepsi. I look forward to popping open a can of Pepsi I’ve had in the freezer for 45 minutes (any longer and it freezes) and taking that first sip. Ahhh, refreshing. Now imagine I’m expecting Pepsi but someone replaced the soda inside the can with Coke? Trust me, it would not be pretty. My expectations would not be met.

The Black Widow and the Sandman series is written in a genre neither of us are known for. We didn’t want our reading base to purchase this series based on a name they were familiar but receive a different product.

How hard was this book to write with two different people being involved instead of one?

L.L. Reaper: Much easier than either of us expected. First we created character sketches, then we brainstormed on the general plot and wrote a detailed outlines. Up next was the first draft. One would write for a while, then we’d trade and the other would write for a while. We’d also go back and edit each other’s sections and ensure a consistent voice of characters, setting and such. It was exciting. We kept each other going.

We want the juicy gossip.  Did you two ever disagree on anything?

L.L. Reaper: I wish I had something juicy for you. Maybe because this is our first title together, we’re still in the honeymoon period. Catch us two, maybe three novels down the line and I’m sure we’ll have a few doozies for you.

How did you know the two of you would be a good fit?

L.L. Reaper: My writing partner and I just hit it off from day one. Our writing styles are similar. Our writing voices are similar. We like to read the same types of books. We became serious about writing around the same time. We can come up with plots in no time flat that we both love. We aren’t jealous of each other. My weakness in writing is his strength and vice versa, and we’ve learned from each other to make each of us better writers. We also have the same goals for this project. It just all worked out.

I understand there is going to be a big release party for this book on July 23, 2011.  Can you give us the details on that?

L.L. Reaper: Oh yes, Sacramento here we come! We’ll have the usual components of a release party: it’s free, door prizes for the first 100 guests, music, dancing… But we are doing the reading differently. We’ve hired two actors to perform a scene from Black Widow and the Sandman. Trust me when I say attendees are in for a real treat. Copies of Black Widow and the Sandman will also be available for the discounted price of $10. Visit the website and subscribe to the newsletter to stay informed this and upcoming Black Widow and the Sandman events.

And you are giving away a Kindle online?  Can you tell us more about this and give us the link?

L.L. Reaper:  We know everyone will not be able to attend the release party, but didn’t want anyone to miss out on the fun, so to celebrate the release of Black Widow and the Sandman, we are giving away a Kindle. No purchase is necessary. All you need to do is subscribe to our newsletter and you’ll be included in the Kindle Me! drawing.

On our website we interview authors, announce our reviews and appearances, will have short stories from the series that aren’t included in the novels and plan to have a good time and additional give a-ways. The newsletter will be released every month or two just to catch folks up on what’s happened on the website and to let you know what’s happening in Black Widow and the Sandman world. We’ll also have additional giveaways in the newsletter from time to time.

The last day to enter Kindle Me! is July 1, 2011. The winner will be announced 4^th of July weekend. For full details and to subscribe to our newsletter, visit http://www.LLReaper.net.

Back to Black Widow and the Sandman, how did you guys come up with the basic idea and where did you take it from there?

L.L. Reaper: In the evenings, we often IM each other about plots and whatever we are working on. One night we were bouncing ideas off each other and the next thing you know, we came up with the concept for the Black Widow and the Sandman series. We both loved the idea so much that we decided to write it together

Did one of you become Black Widow and the other the Sandman when writing this book?

L.L. Reaper: Yes and no. While we are outlining, each of us takes on the roles of certain characters in the book. Let’s say we each have two characters. I’m A, B and he’s 1, 2. Then when it’s time to write the novel, whoever’s perspective we are telling the scene from, A,B, 1 or 2, the author who is the keeper of that perspective character writes the entire scene. Now of course the characters I’m in charge of interact with the characters my partner are in charge of. But in the scenes I write, I write all of the parts. Same goes for my partner.

Now I must say that the final book is similar to the outline, but comes out quite different. When you write alone, your characters come to life and the book kind of writes itself. We were both worried this wouldn’t or couldn’t happen when writing as a team, but we were incorrect. The characters still came to life and helped us write the books.

So yes, we are each in charge of certain characters, but we both write major parts of all the characters.

Which part of your book would you say had the most wow factor?

L.L. Reaper: Oh now that’s a hard question. I truly can’t pick one. Going by the pre-release reviews—which have been quite positive—we kept the suspense a suspense yet added heat between the main characters that didn’t distract from the story line and were able to accomplish deeper character development than is usual for the genre without dragging the plot down to a crawl. So if you read suspense for the thrill of the chase, it’s in there along with high tech gadgets. If you are want the “who done it” angle. It’s in there. If you like some heat between characters, it’s in there.

Since it’s basically a “sexy” seductive suspense, what is one of most sexy parts of the book and were there any tender moments?

L.L. Reaper: We enjoyed writing this dangerously sexy suspense novel. Along with the murder and mayhem that usually goes along with a suspense, Black Widow and the Sandman are fighting against their attraction to each other, so there are plenty of sexy nuggets throughout the novel. Choosing a “most sexy” part just isn’t possible. When you all read it, you’ll see what I mean. But I really enjoyed when Jeanette and Roman (Black Widow and the Sandman) decided to take a break from the insanity that surrounded them and went to a Jazz club. They lower their ever present defensive shields and enjoy each other’s company. Slow dancing, Roman lowers his lips to Jeanette’s but just before they touch, shots ring out from a high powered rifle.

There are also tender moments a plenty—if your idea of “tender moment” is the same as mine.

Thank you so much for this interview, L.L.  Any final words?

L.L. Reaper: Thank you for the taking the time to interview us with such fantastic questions. And the readers for taking a chance on us. See you in the bookstore.

Tags: author interview, Black Widow and the Sandman, LL Reaper

The Literarily Speaking Book Panel talks to authors on different subjects regarding books, book industry topics, book selling, book promotions, and whatever catches our fancy.  Today we are talking about the latest rage in book promotion for authors – virtual book tours.  Is online promotion finally coming out of the closet and overshadowing offline promotion?

Our Distinguished Panel of Authors

Several of Hugh Aaron’s short stories have been published in national magazines and 18 of his essays on business management have appeared in The Wall Street Journal. He is the author of Business Not as Usual: How to Win Managing a Company through Hard and Easy Times. Currently he’s writing and producing plays. His latest book is a short story collection, Stories From a Lifetime. You can visit his website at www.stonespointbooks.com or his blog at www.businesswisdom.blogspot.com.

Barbara Conelli is an internationally published author and Chiquenist on the mission to bring Fantastic Fearless Feminine Fun into women’s lives. In her charming, delightful and humorous Chique Books filled with Italian passion, Barb invites women to explore Italy from the comfort of their home with elegance, grace and style, encouraging them to live their own Dolce Vita no matter where they are in the world.  Her latest book is Chique Secrets of Dolce Vita, a narrative travel nonfiction book full of charming, poetic, delightful and humorous travel and life stories about extraordinary Milanese women, men who have succumbed to their temptation and the art of living your own dolce vita no matter where in the world you are. You can visit her website at www.barbaraconelli.com or connect with her at Twitter at www.twitter.com/barbaraconelli or Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/barbaraconelli.

Steve DeWinter was born and grew up loving to read.  His goal as a writer is to transport you to fresh and exciting worlds that not only take you on a white-knuckle ride but leave you hungry for more when you finally turn that last page and reluctantly slam shut the back cover of the book. To find out more about Steve visit www.stevedw.com

Ray Ellis began his law enforcement career with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department in Orange County, California. After working for a number of years in the maximum security facility, he transferred to patrol working along Orange County’s coast as well as the inner canyons and barrios. After 8 years he moved to Idaho and continued his law enforcement career, serving as an instructor for the Idaho POST Council. Ray’s debut novel, a work of urban fiction, N.H.I.: No Humans Involved, was released in March of this year. You can visit Ray online at www.urbanfictionunleashed.webstarts.com or connect with him on twitter at www.twitter.com/RayEllisNHI or Facebook at www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Ray-Ellis-Author/116322698426928.

Patty Friedmann’s two latest books are a YA novel called Taken Away [TSP 2010] and a literary e-novel titled Too Jewish [booksBnimble 2010]. She also is the author of six darkly comic literary novels set in New Orleans: The Exact Image of Mother [Viking Penguin 1991]; Eleanor Rushing [1998], Odds [2000], Secondhand Smoke [2002], Side Effects [2006], and A Little Bit Ruined [2007] [all hardback and paperback from Counterpoint except paper edition of Secondhand Smoke from Berkley Penguin]; as well as the humor book Too Smart to Be Rich [New Chapter Press 1988]. You can visit her website at www.pattyfriedmann.com, her blog at www.pattyfriedmann.typepad.com or friend her at her Facebook at www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=527384281.

Home for Julia Madeleine is Mississauga, Canada, where she lives with her husband and teenaged (future tattoo artist) daughter. For a year she lived in the country on a 30-acre property in the middle of nowhere, which became the inspiration for her second novel, No One To Hear You Scream. Currently she is working on the sequel to her first thriller, Scarlet Rose (2008) which will be released sometime in the fall of 2011. You can visit her website at www.juliamadeleine.com or her blog at www.juliamadeleineauthor.blogspot.com.  Connect with Julia at Facebook at www.facebook.com/MadJulia!

Michael Scott Miller’s debut novel, Ladies and Gentlemen…The Redeemers, has been downloaded more than ten thousand times and has received tremendously positive reader feedback, earning 4-star to 5-star ratings at Amazon, barnesandnoble.com, Smashwords, and Kobo.  The complete set of reader reviews and comments can be accessed at http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/40309/ . Miller grew up in Cherry Hill, New Jersey and now lives in Lafayette Hill, Pennsylvania with his wife and three children. You can visit Michael Scott Miller’s website at www.ladiesandgentlementheredeemers.com or connect with him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MichaelScMiller or Facebook at www.facebook.com/home.php#!/profile.php?id=1206880325.

Aaron Patterson is the author of the bestselling WJA series as well as a  two Digital Shorts 19 and The Craigslist Killer. He was homeschooled and grew up in the west. Aaron loved to read from a small child and would often be found behind a book and would read 1-3 a day on average. This love drove him to want to write but never thought he had the talent. He wrote Sweet Dreams the first book in the WJA series in 2008. Airel is his first teen series and plans for more to come are already in the works. He lives in Boise Idaho with his family, Soleil, Kale and Klayton. His daughter had an imaginary friend named She. His latest book is Airel.  You can visit his website at StoneHouse Ink or connect with him on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1462837115.

L.L. Reaper is two multi-published, award-winning authors who decided to write under a pen name for their dangerously sexy suspense series, Black Widow and the Sandman. You can visit their website at www.llreaper.com or connect with them at Twitter at www.twitter.com/llreaper and Facebook at www.facebook.com/AuthorLLReaper.

Lynda Simmons is a writer by day, college instructor by night and a late sleeper on weekends. She grew up in Toronto reading Greek mythology, bringing home stray cats and making up stories about bodies in the basement. From an early age, her family knew she would either end up as a writer or the old lady with a hundred cats. As luck would have it, she married a man with allergies so writing it was. Her latest book is Island Girl. You can visit her website at www.lyndasimmons.com or connect with her on Twitter at https://twitter.com/#!/LyndaMSimmons and Facebook at www.facebook.com/pages/Lynda-Simmons-Author/149740745067442?.

Alexandrea Weis’ most recent book is Recovery, the second novel in the Nicci Beauvoir series which takes readers on a Big Easy thrill ride when a lover’s murder is solved and a spy with a bulletproof bravado quickens Nicci’s broken heart. Alexandrea is also a permitted wildlife rehabber and works rescuing orphaned and injured animals. She recently has been working to aid oil soaked birds in the Gulf disaster. You can visit Alexandrea’s website at www.alexandreaweis.com or connect with her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/alexandreaweis.com and Facebook at www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/To-My-Senses/113609858681394.

A creative writing professor at California University of Pennsylvania, Carole Waterhouse is the author of two novels, The Tapestry Baby and Without Wings, and a collection of short stories, The Paradise Ranch.  Her fiction has appeared in Arnazella, Artful Dodge, Baybury Review, Ceilidh, Eureka Literary Magazine, Forum, Half Tones to Jubilee, Massachusetts Review, Minnetonka Review, Oracle: The Brewton-Parker College Review, Parting Gifts, Pointed Circle, Potpourri, Seems, Spout, The Armchair Aesthete, The Griffin, The Styles, Tucumari Literary Review, Turnrow, and X-Connect. A previous newspaper reporter, she has published essays in an anthology, Horse Crazy: Women and the Horses They Love, and Equus Spirit Magazine. Her book reviews have appeared in The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, The Pittsburgh Press, and The New York Times Book Review. You can visit Carole’s website at www.Carolewaterhouse.com.  Visit her Facebook page at www.facebook.com/carolewaterhouse.author!

Wayne Zurl began writing crime fiction in 2006. Seven of his Sam Jenkins mysteries have been produced as audio books and simultaneously published as eBooks. His first full-length novel, A New Prospect, traditionally published by Black Rose Writing, debuted in January 2011. Zurl left New York to live in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee with his wife, Barbara. For more information about Zurl or his writing, visit www.waynezurlbooks.net. Follow his book signing tour at www.booktour.com/authors/show/31206. Connect with Wayne at Twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/waynezurl or Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001483038544.

June Book Panel Discussions:

Thank you everyone for participating in our Literarily Speaking June Panel!  Can you tell us how you found out about virtual book tours and why you decided to have one set up for you?

Hugh Aaron: “I learned about them through Dorothy Thompson who has set one up for me.”

Barbara Conelli: “I’ve known about virtual book tours for quite a while, and I believe they are the best way an author can promote her books and get closer to her readers. I love Dorothy and her Pump Up Your Book team, because they are dedicated, smart, resourceful and fun to work with. Although I have actively participated on my book tour getting my own stops, putting it all together is lots of hard work and very time-consuming. I believe that it’s something to leave up to professionals – and Dorothy is a fabulous professional.”

Steve DeWinter:  “The most important thing an author can do once they have a book published is to tell readers about it. While researching how to promote my book, I came across tons of book promotion websites who all told me the same thing; start a blog. And of course, they each had an eBook for purchase giving me the magic formula to writing a blog that everyone will want to read. My biggest problem with that advice is – I’m lazy. If I were to start a blog, it would have one post on it that says: “I have nothing to say.” But then I thought to myself, with this advice being offered to writers wanting to promote their work, there must be plenty of bloggers out there who have gone through the trials and tribulations of creating a successful blog and have already built up a vast readership. So how do I crash their party rather than try to start my own? A Virtual Book Tour was my answer. My next question became how to contact the owners of these blogs and convince them to let me be a guest on their blog. Sending queries to blog owners brought back painful memories of the query-denial cycle with agents that prompted me to become an indie-author in the first place. I had a book to promote and I needed someone who knew all about author and book promotions. I needed an expert. Pump Up Your Book! was my new answer. A public relations company who specialized in helping authors (just like me!) promote themselves, and their books, online. After meeting the PUYB staff during a couple of online chat sessions with other authors, I knew that these were people who enjoyed what they did. And if you don’t enjoy what you do, you don’t do it well. It was a no-brainer decision to hire PUYB to work with me to promote my debut novel.”

Ray Ellis: “I first became aware of the Virtual Book Tours at an author’s meeting sponsored by my publisher.  I was then made aware of a couple of my friends who had used the service and found it to be quite helpful.”

Patty Friedmann:  “My novel came into existence because an e-publisher friend asked me to write it. So in every stage of its life, I’ve had to rely on her superior “cyber-intelligence.” Promotion is no exception. She is the one who told me about PumpUpYourBook, though she left the choice up to me whether I would invest the cash in a virtual book tour. All I needed to do was look at the website to know that even a Luddite like me would be insane not to set up a blog tour.”

Julia Madeleine: “I believe I just caught onto the buzz about virtual book tours after researching book publicity. I checked out a few different tour companies and researched what they did and how it benefits authors and realized it was a fantastic idea that I needed to get in on. The intense exposure it gives you on the net I think is definitely worth it.”

Michael Scott Miller: “I first came across the concept of a virtual book tour a few months ago when Amanda Hocking was hyping J.L. Bryan’s blog tour, which he set up himself.  I immediately became intrigued by the idea, but with the demands of my day job, I realized that I would need someone else, an expert, to set up the tour.  Through some research and social networking, I discovered that Pump Up Your Book was the premier virtual book tour company, so I contacted Dorothy Thompson who runs the organization. The virtual book tour is a fantastic way for authors and readers to connect and interact.  For authors, the virtual tour removes the burden of physically traveling from bookstore to bookstore across the country.  For readers, the virtual tour allows them to participate on their own schedules, popping onto the blogs when they want, posting comments, and then checking back later.  They aren’t forced into a narrow time window at a specific location.”

Aaron Patterson: “I want to be able to reach readers and in the social media of today it seems that bloggers are the best way to go.”

LL Reaper: “I’ve worked in the industry for over ten years so knew about them through working with authors and in marketing novels. I usually set up my own blog tour, but decided to take a break this time and pay someone else to do it.”

Lynda Simmons: “A friend had arranged one and I was following her progress through the tour and thought it would be a good idea to try one for myself.”

Alexandrea Wise: “Several of the reviewers I have worked with the past belonged to a virtual book tour group and recommended it.”

Carole Waterhouse: “Liz Burton, the owner of Zumaya, strongly encouraged me to do a virtual book tour.  I was intrigued by the idea, then happened to go to a conference the following week where a session was offered discussing virtual book tours.  The session was actually intended for publishers, but about half of the audience was made up of authors interested in finding out more about them.  In the first few minutes of the session, it became clear that this was the best way of reaching an audience.   Originally I thought a virtual book tour sounded like a cold way of discussing my work.  From my previous books, I was accustomed to talking to readers in person.  I’m just beginning to find out just how “social” social media is.  I’m engaging in far more conversations with people than I ever would have imagined.”

Wayne Zurl:  “I belong to a crime writer’s group at Linkedin.com. A man who has published several books—I’m not sure if they are all eBooks or traditionally published—wrote in mentioning his upcoming VBT. What he had to say sounded interesting, possibly helpful, and certainly worth checking into. Since I’m technologically challenged and only a step above clueless about finding legitimate reviewers, interviewers with intelligent questions and large audiences, and bloggers willing to host guest authors, I decided to look closely at his publicist and a few others. Oh, hell, I’ll be honest and say I didn’t even know what a blogger did or why they did it. I try to be honest with myself, but my egomania shows when I ask myself, “Who’s the best investigator or police supervisor in the world?” I’ve solved many difficult cases. And as a supervisor, I may not have had all the answers, but I usually knew where to look for them. So, since I was a new kid on the block when it came to book marketing and the business of shameless self-promotion, and I lacked the contacts necessary to do a competent job with those things, I decided to use my investigative skills to find someone I could hire who had those contacts and knew how to exploit them. In short, I’d find the best person for the job—and the best bang for my buck. I was no longer spending taxpayer’s money.”

Now that you’ve had a first hand experience of preparing for a virtual book tour, how has the experience been for you so far?  Did you find out things about your book you never realized before and what about all that hard work?  Was it exhausting?

Hugh Aaron: “The experience has been beneficial and not at all exhausting.”

Barbara Conelli: “It’s hard work, but lots of fun! I love writing guest posts and answering interviews because they give you a chance to look at yourself, your book and your writing career through different eyes. It’s also very interesting to see how your book is being perceived by your audience, and I love the opportunity to actually chat with my readers during the book tour at every stop. I think feedback is the most wonderful thing for every author, and a virtual book tour allows you to experience this without having to travel the country.”

Steve DeWinter:  “While I wait for my two-month virtual tour to begin, I am excited about the prospects of finally climbing out of my lonely writing hole and getting out there to meet with readers; some of whom just might like to read what I have written. I am still very early in my touring process and have not yet experienced the full impact. But feel free to ask me again in August, if I have time to respond.  ;)”

Ray Ellis: “A lot of what I have to say has to be screen through the fact that this is my first time going around this block. So it is all fascinating to me. Is it exhausting? At times, but then I remember the dream and it all seems so worth it. As for rediscovery my book, oh yes. I am always seeing little things that strike me and I have to stop and say yesssss. “

Patty Friedmann: “The experience has been fashioned to within a fraction of an inch to fit the personality of a writer. At least this writer. By nature I am reclusive, preferring to sit at a keyboard all day and communicate with the big world by stroking the keys with my poor index fingers. (I never learned to type: I didn’t want to get pigeonholed into an office job!)  I loved being able to tell the world about myself and my book without seeing other people or opening my mouth or having to speak off the cuff. I had time to think, to delight myself by finding answers that were more nuanced than those that would have come in spoken interviews. It was one day of intensive, thoroughly self-indulgent (me! me! me! me! me!) work, that left me smiling because I was so happily tired.”

Julia Madeleine: “It’s been a great experience so far and I’m really just getting started. My tour guide, Dorothy Thompson is amazing. Yes, about that hard work, who would have thought answering questions could be anything but easy, but in truth it is quite time consuming and requires a lot of creative energy to come up with answers about yourself and your writing that would hold people’s interest. And that’s what I find challenging because I want to keep it fresh and entertaining for readers, so it takes a bit of sweat.”

Michael Scott Miller: “I never really stopped to analyze what made my writing effective, but doing the guest blogs for the virtual book tour made me do just that.  For example, I wrote a blog on making characters believable and it was really interesting for me to analyze what I did, after-the-fact, and come up with the three or four keys. The tour has definitely been exhausting.  I have spent many late nights and early mornings responding to the interview questions and writing guest blogs, but it’s been a labor of love.”

Aaron Patterson: “It has been fun, Pump Up Your Book is amazing and takes all the work out of it.  I am excited to see how it goes.”

LL Reaper: “I’ve enjoyed not having to book the locations myself. It left time for me to do other things and think of other ways of promoting. This go around I’m giving away a Kindle or a Nook (the winner chooses) so getting the word out about that has been my priority. “

Lynda Simmons:  “Very positive experience. The reviews so far have been wonderful, I’ve reached readers from Alaska to Florida and the bloggers have been lovely to deal with, all of them love books and want to do what they can to promote them. When I arrange a tour for a future book I’ll be sure to have guest posts ready before we start. For me that was the hardest part because I don’t blog on a regular basis.”

Alexandrea Weis: “It was more than I expected as far as preparing for the tour, but it also helped me to connect with readers on a more personal level. I think the interviews and guest posts, that are part of the tour, allow a writer to show another side of themselves that readers might not discover from just reading their novels.”

Carole Waterhouse:  “The experience has been very positive, but yes, it has been exhausting at times, too.  The virtual book tour is a wonderful way of reaching an audience, but because that audience can be so widespread and comments can reach so many people, I feel compelled to write thoughtful and hopefully insightful comments for each blog and interview.  If people are willing to take the time to read my comments, then I feel I should have something meaningful to say.  I do find that answering all these questions has given me insight into my own work.  A question as basic as what is your novel about can be perplexing even for its author.  Like a person, a book can have many different sides and be about many different things.  It can be challenging but insightful to have to explain this in a sentence or two and I find that I’ve start to understand the layers of my own writing more effectively in the process.”

Wayne Zurl: “My VBT was scheduled for June and July, but the publicist I hired, Dorothy Thompson of Pump Up Your Book, began her work in May. Once she started dropping posts on Facebook, I started spreading her publicity around. That all takes time, but apparently is very important in today’s world. Anyone can write “the Great American Novel,” but it may not sell more than a few copies unless someone gets the word out there. Since the tour officially started, I’ve been very busy writing guest blog posts, answering interview questionnaires, and arranging for my publisher’s PR people to send copies of A NEW PROSPECT to all the reviewers who requested them. I take care of the reviewers who want eBook versions and that represents more time. Occasionally the interview questions or blog topics are the same or similar to those I’ve encountered previously. Another writer may feel the urge to just copy and paste an answer prepared for an earlier assignment, but I think that’s a bad idea. We may only get one shot at hooking a potential reader over to our side. Why turn them off by presenting the same opening paragraph they may have read before?  Make use of the halo effect. Put your best foot forward. Make that initial approach your best. It’s like the photo you submit. If you scowl or stand there looking like a moron, who will want to read what you’ve written? Smile, look personable, and maybe the reader will say, “Hey, I might like this guy. I might want to read his book.” I think I had a good handle on what A NEW PROSPECT was all about. And I learned what agents and a few editors thought early on. My big question was, will the readers like something which didn’t exactly fit the latest “cookie-cutter” template the conventional publisher wants to safely market. So far, I’m pleased with what individual readers have said and thrilled when experienced reviewers say things like, “Sam Jenkins is my favorite new character.” And I wanted to jump up and kick my heels when the book was named best mystery at the 2011 Indie Book Awards. I was lucky to find a publisher who wasn’t afraid to publish outside the box.”

What words of wisdom can you give others who are thinking about going on a virtual book tour?

Hugh Aaron:  “Make sure you have all the answers to the many questions about you and your book that may come up.”

Barbara Conelli: “Invest your writer’s heart, promote the tour, and do as much as you can to enjoy this opportunity. Being on a virtual book tour is amazing, it encourages you to continue writing, and it helps you to see and understand that your writing brings joy into the lives of so many people – the best cure for author’s block!”

Steve DeWinter:  “Promoting a book is still a lot of hard work, whether it be done virtually or traditionally. I would even say that, in the long run, a virtual tour has the potential to demand more of the writer’s time and energy than a traditional tour. Especially if the writer wants it to be as successful as possible. In a traditional tour, once you have left that tiny, but cozy, bookstore in Boise, Idaho, your visit slowly fades into history as you move on to the next stop. At the end of the traditional book tour, you finally collapse onto your bed at home and hope for the best; both in author exposure and the resulting book sales.But with the virtual tour, you can return to the blogs you toured and maintain the relationships you formed with the blog owner and the readers. The impact of being able to return effortlessly to places you visited while on tour puts virtual book touring light years ahead of the traditional sit-at-a-table-in-the-back-of-the-store-ignored-by-everyone-who-walks-by-no-matter-how-much-you-smile tour.A Virtual Book Tour is the clear winner in my book; and for my book. Especially because it continues to work for you long after you have visited the blog. Remember Boise, Idaho? That’s okay, they really don’t remember you either. But every blog you visit has a memory that would put an elephant’s to shame. Every detail and nuance of your virtual tour has been etched into the collective, and eternal, memory of the internet. That is something you just can’t say for the traditional book tour.”

Ray Ellis: “So far all I could say is good.  So far it has been another step along the dream for me, but worth it.  I would tell them however that it can be expensive.  Smile.”

Patty Friedmann: “Answering this question is like being a bride who’s asked, “What advice can you give young women about marriage?” I’m about to embark on what I think is going to be an amazing experience in which my novel will get incredible exposure and recognition, and I will live happily ever after. I think this because I’ve been working with Dorothy Thompson, and she is through and through knowledgeable, savvy, punctual, reassuring, funny, sharp…in short, everything a person could want in the person who will implement a book tour. Will she be all she seems? Her record says she will. Can I, the (twice-divorced in real life) bride be 100 percent sure? All I can say right now to others thinking about a virtual book tour is to choose a service you trust. I hope my instincts about people have improved since I picked my last husband. Besides, he was a man. “

Julia Madeleine:  “Stay organized, be aware of deadlines and make sure to spell check your content because you’re responsible for that, not the blog hosts. And most importantly have fun with it.”

Michael Scott Miller: “First, schedule your tour a couple of months in advance so that you have ample time to write all the guest blogs and interviews while keeping up with whatever writing and other marketing activities you are doing.  Second, write guest blogs that invite interaction with the readers.  Third, just do it!  It’s great fun.”

Aaron Patterson: “Find someone to do the work for you, setting up one on your own is hard and the money speant VS. the time you save is so worth it.”

LL Reaper:  “Ask authors who have used the service you want the pros and cons. View the list of blog stops others in your genre have been booked for by the companies you consider to be sure they can market you to the correct audience. Look at the web presence of the blog stops to see how much exposure you will receive.”

Lynda Simmons: “Be sure to include a giveaway.  Readers love a giveaway!”

Alexandrea Weis:  “Be prepared for some interesting and unexpected interview questions. Some I really had to think about, but the self-reflection was stimulating and fun. Also, be prepared to meet your readers on a whole new, and more intimate, level. I think, in the end, such opportunities allow us to become better writers becasue we have a clearer understanding of our audience and what they love about our books. Any writer should never pass up on the ability to get to know their readers. After all, the readers are the ultimate judges of our work. When we please them, we have accomplished our primary goal of creating a memorable book.”

Carole Waterhouse: “As in using any form of social networking, always remember that these are real people you are talking, not just anonymous readers.  Treat each blog with the respect it is due and try to offer each one something different, even if the questions sometimes seem similar.  I’d like to think that readers could go to every stop on my book tour and find out something new about me each time.”

Wayne Zurl: “Participating as the subject of a VBT does not require a graduate degree in rocket science. Everything you do while on tour makes good sense. And, actually, there is nothing new under the sun. So, take a look at how the last guy who got there before you acted. Read what other people said. Read lots of responses. You’ll quickly pick up on how to figuratively speak in public. Some authors who can knock out 100,000 word novels give only limited or even monosyllabic responses to interesting questions. Saying too little may make you sound like a dolt. Other people ramble on aimlessly off topic or just offering inane thoughts. They’re boring. Find a happy medium. Be like the candidate who won the debate. Give your work 110% effort. We pay good money for a well orchestrated VBT. It requires your full attention and participation. Do it well, and your book should prosper. Or so I’m told. If A NEW PROSPECT sells, all the exhausting work will be worth it.”

Do you have any questions for our panel?  Let your comments or questions below!

Tags: Aaron Patterson, Alexandrea Weis, Barbara Conelli, blog tours, Carol Waterhouse, Hugh Aaron, Julia Madeleine, Linda Simmons, LL Reaper, Michael Scott Miller, Patty Friedmann, promote your book, Ray Ellis, sell your book, Steve DeWinter, virtual book tours, Wayne Zurl

Patty Friedman very well remembers August 2005 when Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and surrounding communities.  It was the costliest hurricane on record and one of the worst natural disasters in U.S. history. The death toll was over 1,000, yet Patty survived. This is her story.  Please check out her bio below to find out where you can pick up your copy of her latest book, Too Jewish.

LEAVING MOTHER

By Patty Friedman, author of Too Jewish

No one remembers Hurricane Ivan. I remember him because he was so forgettable.  It was September of 2004, and I was in Houston. I’d been invited to speak at a women’s group about my latest book, and I’d gone despite the threat of a storm. When hints of Ivan turning toward New Orleans became more like threats, I hurried to the airport, only to learn all flights had been canceled.

I was not about to be trapped in Houston. I ran from car-rental office to car-rental office until Enterprise agreed to let me drive a car into the pathway of a storm. Then I got onto the I-10 and headed east, eventually becoming the only vehicle going that way, zipping along at 85 while I watched bumper-to-bumper traffic going west. I actually got a speeding ticket just east of Lafayette. The officer should have been ashamed of himself, I thought. There were so many more stupid people going the other way.

My neighborhood was wonderful when I got home. All New Orleans neighborhoods are alike in some measure: whites with varying degrees of money and blacks who are in varying degrees of struggling. When I parked my rental car on the neutral ground (the half-block wide median strip) a few blocks from my house and walked home after I arrived in town, I was delighted by what I found. All the white people except me and two neighbors were gone, and all the black kids were getting an unexpected day off from school, so they were playing ball in the street, free from passing cars. We all would ride out the non-arrival of Ivan, not having to drive home after the total miss.

Katrina was coming the same way a year later, but I had the advantage this time of not being stuck in Houston. I was right at home. I could ride her out without a trip. This is going to be just like Ivan, I said to myself. And then I began having to say it to everyone who kept telling me to pack up and get moving. Including my two neighbors who usually stayed put with me. There was a low-grade panic in the air about this storm, but I thought it had to do with the inability of Mayor Ray Nagin to call for a mandatory evacuation. B.F. Skinner effect. If the mayor had decided one way or the other, nobody would have been so jittery. That was my reasoning. Katrina was toning down and veering slightly east. A lot of wind, a lot of rain, but my house had stood for a hundred years. No problem.

My son and daughter didn’t buy my attitude. They were leaving. It was my son whose story affects me to this day.

On the morning he was leaving, he fluctuated between treating me like dirt and panicking about my fate. I asked if he would go up the ladder and tie down my awnings. His entire focus in life at the time—in fact his entire reason for leaving—was his tricked out Nissan Xterra. He didn’t have time for my stupid awnings. I asked him, whose room surely had every electronic device known to man, if he could leave me a radio. He handed me an ancient piece of equipment and said, “It’ll work if you get the batteries out of the smoke detector.” I asked if he could follow me downtown so I could leave my little Mercedes C230 in a high-rise garage; he definitely didn’t have time for that. Surely if I parked it at my sister’s five blocks away it’d be on the highest ground in all of uptown. And yet he found time to say, “Mom, you’re crazy not to leave. You and Nookie can come with me. Please?” Ah, yes, Nookie. His cat. His cat that he was leaving with me. His beloved cat Nookie who wasn’t socialized because he found her at age three weeks, so she was a vicious biter. There was a subliminal message that he expected I would risk my life for this sociopathic cat.

Then he left, dry-eyed. And I went on to learn I was right, that Katrina was no big deal as a natural disaster.

Katrina was a terrible man-made disaster, and I was trapped for a week, with no outside communication. After four days in my house with no radio—he was wrong about those batteries—I hitched a rowboat ride to my sister’s house and learned why the dry ground on Monday after the storm became a four-foot flood by Tuesday, filling the first level of my house. I lived without fresh food, water, electricity, phone, outside contact—all in 95 degrees. I watched helicopters fly over. I developed a golf-ball-sized lump develop in my neck with no means to treat it, yet my sister sent a “We’re fine” message to the helicopters. When rescuers finally came, I waded out in chest-deep filth, pushing Nookie in a plastic bin, and ultimately I made it to Houston, where my children had been for a week. My daughter said I had a thousand-yard stare.

This is where I learned something I’d needed to learn my entire life.

My son had been crying nonstop since he arrived in Houston. He’d seen the television images of New Orleans, and he’d been convinced I was dead. All he knew was that he’d asked me to come with him, and he’d left me behind, and now I surely was dead.

My son’s name is Werner.

I named him after my father, Werner Friedmann. Werner my son had been named Werner Holden Skinner at birth, but when he turned 18 he changed his name to Werner Friedmann II, so he truly bears the name of his grandfather. And now he bore another legacy. My father’s legacy was more profound, of course, but I finally understood a little of my own grandmother’s legacy.

My father, known now in my family as Werner the First, grew up Jewish in Germany, having been born in 1916. In 1939 he knew it was absolutely imperative that he and his widowed mother leave Germany or they would fall victim to the Nazis. He told this to his mother.

And she refused to leave.

My father did the only thing he could do. He packed up a few of his belongings and left for the United States. He told his mother goodbye. She died in Thereisenstadt. He never saw her again, and the survivor guilt that plagued him was transformed into a depression he carried until the end of his life. I always ached for him.

My staying for Katrina in no way equals my grandmother’s staying in Germany during the Holocaust. Except in one crucial way. Both of us were mothers making decisions about our own lives while sending off our sons to save themselves. Never once while I was trapped in New Orleans did I think, Well, damn, I’m stuck here, and it’s all Werner’s fault. I didn’t even blame him for my having responsibility for Nookie. In fact, when I made the first phone call to my brother to let him know my sister and I were all right, I said to him, “Tell Werner that I was rescued and went out with Nookie on top of my head,” and my brother said, “I’m afraid Werner doesn’t have any sense of humor right now; he hasn’t stopped crying since he got to Houston.”

I needed to get to Houston to tell him he didn’t need to feel bad. I wish Werner the first had had such luck.

# # #

Patty Friedmann’s two latest books are a YA novel called Taken Away [TSP 2010] and a literary e-novel titled Too Jewish [booksBnimble 2010]. She also is the author of six darkly comic literary novels set in New Orleans: The Exact Image of Mother [Viking Penguin 1991]; Eleanor Rushing [1998], Odds [2000], Secondhand Smoke [2002], Side Effects [2006], and A Little Bit Ruined [2007] [all hardback and paperback from Counterpoint except paper edition of Secondhand Smoke from Berkley Penguin]; as well as the humor book Too Smart to Be Rich [New Chapter Press 1988]. Her novels have been chosen as Discover Great New Writers, Original Voices, and Book Sense 76 selections, and her humor book was syndicated by the New York Times. She has published reviews, essays, and short stories in Publishers Weekly, Newsweek, Oxford American, Speakeasy, Horn Gallery, Short Story, LA LIT, Brightleaf, New Orleans Review, and The Times-Picayune and in anthologies The Great New American Writers Cookbook, Above Ground, Christmas Stories from Louisiana, My New Orleans, New Orleans Noir, and Life in the Wake. Her stage pieces have been part of Native Tongues.

In a special 2009 edition, Oxford American listed Secondhand Smoke with 29 titles that included Gone with the Wind, Deliverance, and A Lesson Before Dying as the greatest Underrated Southern Books. With slight interruptions for education and natural disasters, she always has lived in New Orleans.

You can visit her website at www.pattyfriedmann.com, her blog at www.pattyfriedmann.typepad.com or friend her at her Facebook at www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=527384281.

Tags: Guest Blogger, Hurricane Katrina, Patty Friedmann, Too Jewish

Dr. Frederick N. Lukash, M.D.,FACS, FAAP, has consistently been voted one of “America’s Top Doctors,” by the Castle Connolly guide, and by the Consumer Research Council of America (www.bestdoctors.com). A board-certified cosmetic and reconstructive plastic surgeon in practice in Manhattan and Long Island since 1981, he is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Surgery at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

Dr. Lukash achieved board certification by both the American Board of Surgery and the American Board of Plastic Surgery. He is a Fellow in the American College of Surgeons and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

A strong sense of service to the community here and worldwide has motivated Dr. Lukash to volunteer his expertise to organizations such as Surgical Aid to Children of the World and Operation Smile.  He has been honored by the Chief Executive of Nassau County for his service in reconstructing children from war torn Afghanistan. His giving also includes surgical service to local adoption agencies where correction of physical deformities has enabled unplaceable children to find homes.  The United States Olympic Committee has recognized Dr. Lukash for his volunteer service at the summer Olympic Games.

In addition to writing and speaking, Dr. Lukash has an exhibit called “Operation Art” that has been featured at many Children’s Museums around the country. This exhibit depicts emotions through non verbal medium of art in children before and after undergoing plastic surgery.

Dr. Lukash holds staff appointments at Long Island Jewish Medical Center / Schneider Children’s Hospital, North Shore University Hospital, Winthrop University Hospital, St. Francis Hospital and Lenox Hill Hospital. He has also served as a plastic surgical consultant to the New York Islanders hockey team and the New York Jets football team.

His latest book is The Safe and Sane Guide to Teenage Plastic Surgery.

You can visit his websites at www.drlukash.com and www.teenageplasticsurgery.com.

Dos and Don’ts for Teenagers Thinking About Plastic Surgery

By Dr. Frederick Lukash

Plastic Surgery is REAL SURGERY not beauty parlor treatments! Think twice before acting once.

DO: 1. Carefully evaluate your reasons for wanting to change a physical structure on your body

2. Discuss it with your parents – their opinion counts – dialogue is very important

3. As a family seek out a plastic surgeon who is knowledgeable with your issue and can offer a valuable consultation without pressuring you into surgery

4.Make sure your chosen surgeon shows you before and after results and lets you speak to other patients who had your “operation”

5. Make sure the surgery is to be performed in a safe facility with reputable staff and anesthesia

DONT: 1. Do not Make a rash decision – you live with the outcome

2  Do not assume that surgeon because of media spotlight can be ideal for you – do homework

3. Do not assume plastic surgery is without risk – it is real surgery

4. Do not go forward until your research is complete about your reasons, the surgeon and the facility

5. Do not assume you will immediately be able to jump back into your life – you need time to recover

6 Do not rely on the internet for your info – it is unfiltered and not always accurate

7. Avoid using doctor web sites as your source guidefor choosing a surgeon

Tags: Frederick Lukash, plastic surgery, teenagers, The Safe and Sane Guide to Teenage Plastic Surgery

Pump Up Your Book is proud to announce LL Reaper’s Black Widow and the Sandman Virtual Book Tour which begins June 20 and ends August 12 2011.

L.L. Reaper is two multi-published, award-winning authors who decided to write under a pen name for their dangerously sexy suspense series, Black Widow and the Sandman.  Black Widow and the Sandman begins with children in Cuba suffering an agonizing death. The cause, a toxin released by a terrorist organization hell bent on genocide. The scientific community is at a loss, and the Cuban government can no longer hide the truth from its citizens. Cuba’s only chance lies in the capable hands of a reclusive scientist from the country they believe is behind this terrorist attack, the United States of America. Roman “The Sandman ” Tate is the most sought after mercenary in the world. When he is ordered to protect scientist Jeanette “Black Widow ” Mason, he finds she is much more than scientific equations. The two join forces to create an antidote and stop those responsible for the mysterious illness before more children die and Cuba follows through on its promise to retaliate.

Midwest Book Reviews says, “As genocide looms, hope may come in what you believe to be the enemy. “Black Widow and the Sandman” follows Roman Tate, a mercenary called the Sandman, as he protects Cuba’s only hope against a deadly biological weapon, an American scientist Jeanette Mason. A riveting novel of action, adventure and terrorism, “Black Widow and the Sandman” is a fun read that will be hard to pit down.”

Join the writing team as they tour the blogosphere June 20 through August 12 promoting their book.  You’ll be able to find out more about the authors as well as winning free copies of their thriller suspense novel, Black Widow and the Sandman.  Don’t forget to stop by and chat with them personally at the Facebook party at the end of the month.  To find out where they’ll be heading, check out their tour schedule at www.pumpupyourbook.com/2011/05/28/black-widow-and-the-sandman-virtual-book-tour-june-july-august-2011. Stop by and say hello.  They love their fans as well as hearing from them!

You can visit L.L. Reaper’s official website at www.llreaper.com or connect with them at Twitter at www.twitter.com/llreaper and Facebook at www.facebook.com/AuthorLLReaper.

Pump Up Your Book is an innovative public relations agency specializing in online book publicity for authors looking for maximum online promotion to sell their books.  Visit our website at www.pumpupyourbook.com to find out how we can take your book to the virtual level!

Tags: author blog tours, author tours, Black Widow and the Sandman, blog tours, book publicity, book publicity tours, Hourglass Unlimited, L.L. Reaper, online book promotions, online book publicity, online book tours, online tours, suspense thriller, suspense thriller author, suspense thriller book, virtual book tours

Wayne Zurl grew up on Long Island and retired after working for twenty years with the Suffolk County Police Department, one of the largest municipal law enforcement agencies in New York and the nation. For thirteen of those years he served as a section commander supervising investigators.

Prior to his police career, Zurl served on active duty in the US Army during the Vietnam War and later in the reserves.

In 2006 he began writing crime fiction. Seven of his Sam Jenkins mysteries have been produced as audio books and simultaneously published as eBooks. His first full-length novel, A New Prospect, traditionally published by Black Rose Writing, debuted in January 2011.

Zurl left New York to live in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee with his wife, Barbara.

For more information about Zurl or his writing, visit www.waynezurlbooks.net. Follow his book signing tour at www.booktour.com/authors/show/31206.

Connect with Wayne at Twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/waynezurl or Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001483038544.

Q: Thank you for this interview, Wayne. Can you tell everyone what your latest book, A New Prospect, is all about?

Wayne: I think the book jacket summary capsulizes the story nicely:

Sam Jenkins never thought about being a fish out of water during the twenty years he spent solving crimes in New York. But things change, and after retiring to Tennessee, he gets that feeling. Jenkins becomes a cop again and is thrown headlong into a murder investigation and a steaming kettle of fish, down-home style.

The victim, Cecil Lovejoy, couldn’t have deserved it more. His death was the inexorable result of years misspent and appears to be no great loss, except the prime suspect is Sam’s personal friend.

Jenkins’ abilities are attacked when Lovejoy’s influential widow urges politicians to reassign the case to state investigators.

Feeling like “a pork chop at a bar mitzvah” in his new workplace, Sam suspects something isn’t kosher when the family tries to force him out of the picture.

In true Jenkins style, Sam turns common police practice on its ear to insure an innocent man doesn’t fall prey to an imperfect system and the guilty party receives appropriate justice.

A NEW PROSPECT takes the reader through a New South resolutely clinging to its past and its traditional way of keeping family business strictly within the family.

The story not only shows how the protagonist solves a murder, but asks: Can a middle-aged man come out of retirement and effectively lead a small police department and can a life-long northerner who relocates to the south function professionally in an unfamiliar culture?

Q:  Is this your first book?

Wayne: A NEW PROSPECT is my first full-length novel in the Sam Jenkins mystery series and is the prequel to the eight novelettes which are currently being produced as audio books and published as eBooks.

Q: Why did you decide to write a police detective novel?

Wayne: Under the author’s rule of “write about what you know” I had no choice. I worked as a cop for twenty years in New York and now I live in Tennessee. I can cover both bases.

Q: Can you tell us all about your main character?

Wayne: Sam Jenkins is a middle-aged retired detective lieutenant from New York who moved to east Tennessee. He’s a veteran of active and reserve duty in the Army and amazingly (for a cop) has been married to the same woman for many years.

When buying a restored 1967 Austin-Healy doesn’t exactly satisfy his mid-life crisis, Sam learns about an available police chief’s job in nearby Prospect, Tennessee, he applies and with his credentials is hired immediately.

Sam has a unique sense of humor that most readers seem to love, but many of the local people he deals with just don’t  understand. And he’s a throwback to the days of cinema cowboy heroes–he’s uncontrollably compelled to do the right thing.

Q: Interesting that you live in the mountains of Tennessee.  Would you like to tell us what you love the most about the area?

Wayne: The Great Smoky Mountains are a popular tourist attraction. The National Park here is the most visited park in the country. It’s like being on vacation all year long. But Tennessee contrasts drastically with New York and Long Island where I lived and worked for much of my life. The slower pace and unique atmosphere makes retirement enjoyable.

Q: In your opinion, what is the key ingredient for writing great police detective novels?

Wayne: I have to use several words to identify that ingredient, but they all boil down to one concept. Here they are with brief descriptions:

Authenticity. You have to construct your characters carefully and realistically. You can’t have a twenty-six year-old person with only 2 1/2 years on the job cast as a detective sergeant in a homicide unit. That could never happen. Give your cops realistic crimes to investigate. Local cops don’t get involved with espionage or political intelligence cases. Likewise, federal agencies do not investigate state penal law violations.

Believability. I heard four experienced screen writers discussing what makes a good story and script. The consensus was that an author should stop just short of going over the top to maintain the believability of their story. I agree. Don’t have a 120 pound female cop kick the stuffing out of a 250 pound motorcycle outlaw unless she’s a well practiced self-defense expert. Her limited defensive tactics training in the police academy does not make her invincible.

Reality. Be sure your story could really happen. Police/detective/crime stories are not fantasies. Sure, I know some fans love all the James Bond-like over the top action, but I believe that belongs in a thriller where a vast amount of suspension of disbelief is needed. I’ve seen good cops do outrageous things to get the job done, but I’d rather not have my detective pop open the crystal of his watch, deploy a parachute canopy attached to his wrist, and leap off a twenty story building to catch a fleeing felon.

I think those three words equal credibility. It’s easy to write a police mystery that’s fast paced, interesting, surprising, exciting, and still be down to earth. Look at guys like James Lee Burke, Robert B. Parker, Joe Wambaugh, and Elmore Leonard.

Q: Finally, I like to ask authors this question.  What is your passion?  What is it that you’re more passionate about than anything else?

Wayne: I hate questions like this. They make me look too far into my head for an answer. I guess you should read a few Sam Jenkins stories to see what principles or causes he and I hold dearly. And I hate to get overly serious so, I’ll say I can really get passionate about good food and I think the three most emotionally stimulating things in the world are vintage British sports cars, classic wooden sailboats, and good-looking women over forty.

Q: Thanks for the interview, Wayne.  Do you have any final words?

Wayne: Sure. I love to have the last word. I’d like to invite all your readers to try a Sam Jenkins mystery. It’s unrealistic to say, “If you don’t like it I’ll give you your money back.” But I can tell you reviewers have said things from, “Sam Jenkins is my new favorite character.” to “I didn’t know a police mystery could have so many genuinely funny moments.”

Tags: A New Prospect, author interview, book promotions, Wayne Zurl

The Story Behind the Book is Literarily Speaking’s newest feature. Here we find out either the inspiration behind authors’ books or how they got published. Today’s guest is Jane Rowan, author of the memoir, The River of Forgetting: A Memoir of Healing from Sexual Abuse.

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It may seem strange, but my book was inspired by pure gratitude and joy. Yes, The River of Forgetting is a story about childhood abuse and healing, but it’s also a story of deep transformation and the miraculous nature of what happens inside the therapist’s office. I haven’t found many books that speak honestly about this process, which I believe is our modern equivalent of the Iliad and Odyssey. Every week, many millions of people enter their therapists’ offices and bravely undertake this inner voyage, returning to the daunting waves and rocks, the monsters from their childhoods and the ghosts of their families.

We don’t spend enough energy honoring the courage it takes to come face to face with ourselves. I wanted to celebrate this process and show both the amazing connections that are formed and the nasty bits. I didn’t hold back from showing the times that I became irrationally enraged at my therapist. Learning to trust and rely on her was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.

Of course the story shows some of my everyday life as well, and how the inner drama of doubt, mistrust, anger, and change played out at work and in friendships. But unlike most books about childhood trauma, this one focuses on the adult’s transformation rather than the details of what happened to me as a child. I believe that this inner confrontation is far more important than any face-to-face with the abuser.

The inspiration to write came in an instant, as I was driving on the highway. I’d been an avid journal-keeper for several decades, and I also had written some poetry, as well as dozens of professional articles in my scientific field, so I already had an affinity for the word, especially the precise, glowing word to describe an inner state. With a blaze of gratitude towards my therapist and our work together, I knew had to at least try to write my story.

Along the way I had both many helpers and a few difficult interactions. One of my writing teachers could not accept that my memories were fuzzy; she urged me to make up details if I had to, in order to get clarity. “No,” I said, “this is my story, my story of fogs and dizziness, my story of coming to believe myself despite the lack of concrete evidence.” (After all, how often is there concrete evidence about childhood abuse?) Another writer in a critique group told me she thought I really shouldn’t dwell on the past, but should get over it and move on.

But many more times I found people who supported me in the writing. Even at the book’s incoherent early stages, friends and writing peers generously read multiple drafts and helped me to find my true voice and decide how to shape and tell the story.

I found, as I wrote, that such a story requires a lot of shaping. I endeavored to be as honest as possible, leaving in the parts that didn’t make me look good—the over-reactions, the irrational fears and rages. But honesty is not the same as blurting it all out. Through writing and revising, I found out more about the story and the themes that make so much sense now: first doubt, then grief, then confusion. As I got in touch with the spirit of the little girl who lived through this trauma at such a young age, more memories surfaced. Then moral outrage came in, anger, and then acceptance, love, and the opening of my heart and soul. I think that showing this progression in an intimate voice is one of my gifts to the reader as well as to myself.

Jane Rowan is a New England poet and writer. After teaching science for three decades in a private college, she retired to pursue the creative life. She has published numerous articles and the self-help booklet Caring for the Child Within—A Manual for Grownups, available through her website and through Amazon (Kindle). An excerpt from The River of Forgetting appeared in Women Reinvented: True Stories of Empowerment and Change. Visit Jane at www.janerowan.com and find out more about her memoir at www.riverofforgetting.com.

Tags: author tour, blog tour, blog tours, book blog tour, book promotion online, childhood sexual abuse, Guest Blogger, healing from sexual abuse, Jane Rowan, literarily speaking, memoir, memoirs, online book promotion, online book tour, online book tours, Pump Up Your Book, The River of Forgetting, virtual author tour, virtual blog tour, virtual blog tours, virtual book tour, virtual book tours

Michael Scott Miller works with numbers by day in the business world and with words by night. He began writing shortly after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania and has had his work published in the Welcomat (now Philadelphia Weekly) and wrote music reviews for the Wharton Journal while his wife was getting her degree there.

Miller’s debut novel, Ladies and Gentlemen…The Redeemers, has been downloaded more than ten thousand times and has received tremendously positive reader feedback, earning 4-star to 5-star ratings at Amazon, barnesandnoble.com, Smashwords, and Kobo. The complete set of reader reviews and comments can be accessed at http://feeds.rapidfeeds.com/40309/ .

Miller grew up in Cherry Hill, New Jersey and now lives in Lafayette Hill, Pennsylvania with his wife and three children.

You can visit Michael Scott Miller’s website at www.ladiesandgentlementheredeemers.com or connect with him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MichaelScMiller or Facebook at www.facebook.com/home.php#!/profile.php?id=1206880325.

Q: Thank you for this interview, Michael. Can you tell everyone what your latest book, Ladies and Gentlemen… The Redeemers, is all about?

Michael: Ladies and Gentlemen…The Redeemers tells the story of Bert Ingram, once a successful rep in the music industry, who has lost his way.  Desperate for redemption, he decides to put together a band and begins recruiting musicians who have only one thing in common:  the need to overcome a significant obstacle in their lives.  As the story unfolds, the volatile mix of the musicians’ personalities and backgrounds threatens to derail the band, but they eventually begin to realize they have more to gain from one another than they ever could have imagined. 

Q:  How does it feel to be a published author for the first time?

Michael: Exhilarating!  This has been one of the top experiences of my life.  What’s funny to me, looking back, is that I was very secretive about the book when I was writing it, not telling anyone outside my immediate family.  It took some courage to finally tell my friends about it, but now I have the confidence to tell anyone and everyone about it.

Q: Why did you decide to go ebook with this?

Michael: As a relatively unknown author, going with an ebook allowed me to first test the market by publishing the book for free, and later set the price at a very low $0.99.  I do have a paperback version on Amazon at $7.95 which is really as low as I can price it, but it’s unrealistic to expect readers to take a chance on it at that price.

Q: Can you tell us all about your main character?

Michael: Bert Ingram is a music industry veteran who has fallen on hard times.  After years of merely surviving on the streets, Bert decides to pull himself together and climb back into society.  He is an eternal optimist, an essential trait that he uses to keep pushing through and around the obstacles that get in his path.  Through his warm personality, his intelligence, his street smarts, and some thick skin, Bert is able to marshal the resources he needs to set himself on a successful path.

Q: Interesting that you have chose to write about the music industry.  Is music a passion for you?

Michael: Definitely.  I have an extensive music collection and I can’t even begin to count the number of concerts that I’ve attended.   I had fun writing about the industry and deciding which songs best fit the mood of the scenes in the book.

Q: If you could live one day of your character’s life, what would be the most fun?

Michael:  Undoubtedly, the best part of Bert Ingram’s life for me is his connection to the music industry.  It would be great fun going to shows and meeting the musicians.

Q: What wouldn’t be so much fun about living a day in your character’s life?

Michael: For a period of time, Bert lives on the streets of San Francisco.  I don’t imagine that would be so great.

Q: Thanks for the interview, Michael.  Do you have any final words?

Michael: Thank you so much for hosting me!  I’ve enjoyed the interview and would welcome any feedback or questions.  I will check in here throughout the day and over the next couple days.

Tags: Author Interviews, Ladies and Gentlemen The Redeemers, Michael Scott Miller

The Story Behind the Book is Literarily Speaking’s newest feature. Here we find out either the inspiration behind authors’ books or how they got published. Today’s guest is Garasamo Maccagnone, author of the literary fiction short story collection, Sentiments of Blue.

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Thirty years ago, I wrote Sentiments of Blue while attending Western Michigan University. Back in those ancient times, a writer couldn’t store a story on a computer file. I left the manuscript somewhere in the basement of my first house, and over time, it seemed to vanish.

The story received decent reviews from my classmates, and my professor. Years after graduating, a roommate of mine while at WMU, who was a graphic artist, created a poster around the title of the story. For twenty some years, his depiction has occupied walls of his friends, or customers, without any of them being able to read the actual story.

Knowing that all my stories are fixed in my mind, my wife challenged me to rewrite Sentiments of Blue. To do so, she goaded me, claiming she didn’t think I had it in me anymore. “You’re getting too old to pull that off,” were her exact words. Being competitive, and of course, cognizant of her good intentions, I accepted the challenge. Sentiments of Blue was written and finished in three days.( Take that Mrs. Vicki Maccagnone)!

In the story, the narrator recalls his last day working in a Michigan factory. As he yearns to escape the mundane world of his father’s legacy, he is immersed in a world controlled by ruthless characters.

Garasamo Maccagnone is a writer and entrepreneur. The founder of a successful airfreight business, Maccagnone now focuses on his literary career. He is the author of the novel St. John of the Midfield, the novella, For the Love of St. Nick, a collection of short stories entitled, My Dog Tim and Other Stories, and a children’s book titled, The Suburban Dragon. Sentiments of Blue is his latest short story collection. Maccagnone currently lives in Shelby Township where he is working on his second novel, The Sorrows of Pebble Creek.

Find the author online at http://garasamomaccagnone.com/.

Tags: author tour, blog tour, blog tours, book blog tour, book promotions, book tour, book tours, Garasamo Maccagnone, Guest Blogger, literarily speaking, literary fiction, online book promotion, online book tour, online book tours, Pump Up Your Book, Sentiments of Blue, short story collection, virtual author tour, virtual blog tour, virtual blog tours, virtual book tour, virtual book tours

The First Page is one of Literarily Speaking’s newest features. Here we get a glimpse into an author’s work and what better place to begin than the first page? Authors share their first pages and answer a few questions about why they started their books off the way they did. Today we welcome Dave Zeltserman, author of the thriller, Julius Katz and Archie (Top Suspense).

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Julius Katz and Archie
by Dave Zeltserman
THE FIRST PAGE

“What do I want from you? Simple. Find out who’s planning to kill me.”

These words were spoken by one Kenneth J. Kingston as he sat across from Julius, his voice having a thick nasal quality that bordered on whining. Kingston’s legs were crossed, his manner seemingly casual and unconcerned, his mouth compressed into a curious smile that seemed at odds with what he had just told Julius.

Kingston was a well-known Boston-area crime writer. I’d say he was a bestselling writer, but he wasn’t, at least not with his last several books. He was forty-nine and physically almost the exact opposite of his fictional private eye, and he certainly had no resemblance to tough guy crime writers like Mickey Spillane or Robert B. Parker. Dressed in an Armani suit and wearing expensive Italian loafers, he was five feet eight inches tall, and thin with a slight build. I had seen his publicity photos, so I thought I knew what to expect, but those must’ve been carefully posed because in real-life he didn’t resemble them very much. From his demeanor you could tell that he believed himself to be good-looking, but he wasn’t. Even if his tight curly hair hadn’t begun receding up his forehead, he wouldn’t have been. Not with his thin nose being as pointy as it was, and not with his chin being even pointier, and certainly not with that mouth of his being too big and wide for his angular face when it wasn’t compressed into a curious smile. If I had olfactory senses, I would have been able to describe the cologne he was wearing, but since I don’t, I could only guess it was some sort of dense musk. Of course it was possible he wasn’t wearing any cologne, but he seemed like the type that would.

Welcome Dave. Can you tell us what your book is about?

I had written several Julius Katz mystery stories which appeared in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. The first, ‘Julius Katz’, won last year’s Shamus Award, the second, ‘Archie’s Been Framed’ won the most recent Ellery Queen’s Readers Choice Award. ‘Julius Katz and Archie’ is the first full-length mystery featuring these characters, and is a charming and fun mystery appropriate for any reader.

The first page is perhaps one of the most important pages in the whole book. It’s what draws the reader into the story. Why did you choose to begin your book this way?

As I wrote it, it starts with a bit of a bombshell with a prospective client, Kenneth Kingston, telling Julius he wants him to find out who’s planning to kill him, but these words seeming to contradict Kingston’s manner.

In the course of writing your book, how many times would you say that first page changed and for what reasons?

The first book I wrote, Fast Lane, on the advice of several early readers, I ended up adding 50 pages to the front of the book, and starting the book earlier. The same with my second book, Bad Thoughts, although this was the advice of an editor at Warner Books. Since then my books have been published pretty much as I originally wrote them, with editors only asking for minor changes. With ‘Julius Katz and Archie’ no substantial changes were made, and the first page was only written once.

Was there ever a time after the book went to print you wished you had changed something on the first page?

No.

What advice can you give to aspiring authors to stress how important the first page is?

You want to draw the reader in from the very first line. And keep building momentum from there.

You can visit Dave’s website at www.davezeltserman.com. Connect with him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/people/Dave-Zeltserman/1434849193.

Tags: Dave Zeltserman, Julius Katz and Archie, The First Page, thriller author, thriller book, thriller novel

Hugh Aaron, a native of Worcester, Massachusetts, received a Liberal Arts degree in the Humanities at The University of Chicago. For three years as a Seabee he served in the South Pacific during WWII. He was CEO of his own plastics manufacturing business for 20 years before selling it to write full time. Several of his short stories have been published in national magazines and 18 of his essays on business management have appeared in The Wall Street Journal. He is the author of Business Not as Usual: How to Win Managing a Company through Hard and Easy Times. Currently he’s writing and producing plays.

His latest book is a short story collection, Stories From a Lifetime.

You can visit his website at www.stonespointbooks.com or his blog at www.businesswisdom.blogspot.com.

Thank you for this interview, Hugh.  Can you tell us briefly what your latest book, Stories from a Lifetime, is all about?

Stories from a Lifetime carries readers through a widely diverse series of life’s peaks and valleys with poignant, clear-eyed vision and understanding that is only gradually gained across the course of a lifetime through endurance and honest appraisal of the emotional rollercoaster that we all ride.

Hugh Aaron delicately reveals the world through the innocent eyes of a young boy, through those of a soldier far from home during wartime, and those of a struggling businessman and faltering husband. He is unafraid to reveal panic beneath a façade of success, the deep and hollow sadness that may exist in an outwardly happy marriage, the yearning we feel to make a break for freedom from the rat race, the unexpected emotional responses that shift lives far beyond the expected course of events.

These stories form a welcome, and increasingly rare, honest, grounded, and beautifully written collection that will touch nerves while sympathizing with what it means to be human.

Can you tell us who or what was the inspiration behind your book?

Each story, written at a different period of my life, was inspired by what issues were most on my mind at the time. In a sense, the totality of the collection is a disguised autobiography.

Is this your first published book and if so, can you tell us your experiences in finding a publisher for it?

Stories from a Lifetime is my eleventh published book.

How has Stones Point Press been to work with?

Quite well, especially its editor who was most helpful in honing the stories.

Do you have an agent?

Not currently.

Can you tell us how long it took you to write your book and also how long it took from the time Stones Point Press sent the contract and the time it was released?

SFAL was written over a period 55 years, thus the entire short story collection took years to write. The stories range in length from a single page to fifty pages. The publisher has accepted my books as soon as I submit them provided I agreed to a thorough editing.

Do you have any words of inspiration from other writers who would like to be wearing your shoes?

Write for your own sake, first. Forget having a best seller and becoming famous.

I understand that you are touring with Pump Up Your Book Promotion in June and July via a virtual book tour.  Can you tell us all why you chose a virtual book tour to promote your book online?

I am convinced that this can be both an economical and effective way of promoting my book.

What’s next for you?

I’m currently working on a collection of essays on a variety of subjects from American foreign policy to the act of writing fiction.

Thank you for this interview, Hugh. Can you tell us how we can find out more about you and your new book?

Go to www.StonesPointBooks. com where you’ll find reviews and reader comments.

Tags: Author Interviews, book interviews, Hugh Aaron, Stories From a Lifetime, talking books

Why I Love (and Write) Teen Romantic Thrillers

By Aaron Patterson

I love teen fiction because of the way it breaks some of the boundaries. I mean where else can you get a cool vampire or a game where starvation and crazy tests are all the norm? I think it is so much more interesting and above all, I love writing YA because of these same reasons.

I have three adult novels (The WJA Series) and after I discovered teen liked what I wrote I decided to write some YA for myself. Airel was born and I must say this was the most fun I ever had writing a book. Not only is it super fun to write from a teen point of view, but as a guy to write from a female teen POV is so much more fun.

I grew up and all my best friends were girls. I just thought they were so much more interesting. All my guy friends were boring and all they talked about were sports or ego laced dumb guy stuff. Girls on the other hand were a mystery and I liked to hang if you will.

This did not serve me well in the girlfriend department as I was eternally in “The Friend Zone.” But I learned a ton about how they acted and thought. So, writing from this POV was not too hard and I had a great editor that kept me in the mindset. If I started getting to Guy-ish I would do something unexpected and a little over the top, problem solved.

As to the romance part, well… I am a big sap when it comes to that. Yeah, I admit it. I love a good gripping story and I tried to add in this element to the story. Love is a messy and heartbreaking game and I wanted to capture this emotion in Airel. She falls for Michael, and falls hard and fast. To some this may seem fake but I am here to tell you it can and does happen. If you don’t believe me go into any High School and watch.

The hardest part of writing this novel was the High School part of Airel’s life. I was home schooled and have never even been in a High School so trying to get the feel and how a normal day might have been I had to do research. I interviewed some teens and went into a few schools to see how it was. For most, the memory of High School is not hard to call up but I didn’t have any of this so I had to learn it all for the first time.

I really hope you all enjoy this series and feel free to shoot me an email if you like Airel. Here is to the first love and a wild exciting life!

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Aaron Patterson is the author of the bestselling WJA series as well as a  two Digital Shorts 19 and The Craigslist Killer. He was homeschooled and grew up in the west. Aaron loved to read from a small child and would often be found behind a book and would read 1-3 a day on average. This love drove him to want to write but never thought he had the talent. He wrote Sweet Dreams the first book in the WJA series in 2008. Airel is his first teen series and plans for more to come are already in the works. He lives in Boise Idaho with his family, Soleil, Kale and Klayton. His daughter had an imaginary friend named She.

His latest book is Airel.  You can visit his website at StoneHouse Ink or connect with him on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1462837115.

Tags: Aaron Patterson, Airel, Guest Blogger, teen books, teen romantic thrillers, YA

A creative writing professor at California University of Pennsylvania, Carole Waterhouse is the author of two novels, The Tapestry Baby and Without Wings, and a collection of short stories, The Paradise Ranch.

Her fiction has appeared in Arnazella, Artful Dodge, Baybury Review, Ceilidh, Eureka Literary Magazine, Forum, Half Tones to Jubilee, Massachusetts Review, Minnetonka Review, Oracle: The Brewton-Parker College Review, Parting Gifts, Pointed Circle, Potpourri, Seems, Spout, The Armchair Aesthete, The Griffin, The Styles, Tucumari Literary Review, Turnrow, and X-Connect.

A previous newspaper reporter, she has published essays in an anthology, Horse Crazy: Women and the Horses They Love, and Equus Spirit Magazine. Her book reviews have appeared in The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, The Pittsburgh Press, and The New York Times Book Review.

Her latest novel is The Tapestry Baby, a novel depicting a mother who believes her child is born to fulfill some special destiny and discovers her life is intertwined with six other people, raising the question of whether any of us really control our own decisions, and through the process learns that greatness can be defined in the simplest of gestures.

You can visit Carole’s website at www.Carolewaterhouse.com.

Thank you for this interview, Carole. Can you tell us what your new book, The Tapestry Baby, is all about?

It focuses on a woman named Karin who, after becoming pregnant following a one night stand with a mysterious tattooed man, becomes convinced her child will be born with skin that is a myriad of colors.  When her baby, Anna, is born normal instead, Karin still remains convinced her child is meant to fulfill some special destiny and begins to doubt whether she will be able to help Anna achieve her full potential.   She engages on a trip across Pennsylvania, where relatives are waiting who are willing to take Anna in, hoping for a sign along the way that will tell her what to do. Along the way, it becomes clear that her life is intertwined with six other people who will influence her in unexpected ways.  The novel focuses on the ways that even when making what we think are crucial  decisions, we have only partial control over our own destinies.  It also addresses the fears that all parents have, especially their concern that they may somehow fail in their attempts at raising their children.

I know authors have a certain liking for one genre over the other.  Why literary fiction for you?

Most writers are influenced more significantly by what they read than any other factor, and since I fell in love with literary fiction early on and ended up studying it from the bachelor level up through my doctoral work, I suppose it’s not surprising that it’s what I’ve wanted to write my entire life.

What do you believe was the most challenging part of writing The Tapestry Baby?

The Tapestry Baby focuses on the unexpected influences people have on each others’  lives, often in ways they never really understand.  While the novel leads up to a pivotal moment, it looks at several different characters’ experiences over a long period of time and the subtle ways their lives are intertwined, even in cases where they never even knew each other.  Organizing their story was like putting together a very intricate puzzle.  That was the most challenging part of writing it, but also the most exhilarating.

Can you pick out a part of your book that most definitely has the wow factor?

I’d like to think there are lots of parts that have a “wow” factor. One of my favorite sections is the description of Ned, a piano teacher who conjures up images of ideal woman  through his piano playing, falling in love with them in the process. When the keys begin breaking on his piano, the images of the women start to deteriorate and he ends up falling in love with the dowdy librarian, Mrs. Brown.  The sections describing Ned’s playing encouraged a lyrical style of writing where the words and rhythm of the language reflected the sound of his playing. I wanted the sections about him to sing themselves rather than merely be read.

Have you ever shaped your fictional characters from people in real life?

There’s a little bit of real life in all of my characters.  My initial inspiration almost always comes from people I meet or hear about, details from several of them usually put together in composite form.  At that point, I simply allow my imagination to take off and the character defines his or her own personality.   While my initial inspiration often comes from real people, I have a tremendous respect for other people’s privacy, so someone who inspired a character may recognize a detail here or there but would never see this person I’ve created as him or herself.

Where are you from?

I live in a rural part of Western Pennsylvania, an area I’ve lived in all my life, although I travel extensively.  As I’ve grown older, I’ve become more and more fond of my home area and Western Pennsylvania has appeared more prominently as a locale in my writing.

Do you see writing as a career?

Oh yes!  As a writer and a creative writing professor, fiction is both my career and lifestyle.  I feel extremely fortunate to have a career where I can do what I love and especially enjoy sharing my enthusiasm for writing with students who are just beginning their own careers.  The release of this novel has been especially fun since one of my former students, Cindy Speer, had a novel also published by Zumaya Embraces at the same time.  There have been quite a few newspaper stories featuring the two of us and we’ve been able to support each other emotionally through the “post-publication jitters” phase.

Aside from writing, what other talents do you have?

I have many interests, but perhaps limited talent.  I have a strong interest in photography, one I was able to write about in The Tapestry Baby, and have been told by people who instructed me that my creativity in writing seems to carry over into visual work, too.  I suppose that’s not surprising because I tend to be very visual in my writing, often imaging scenes as though they are being filmed.  Other personal interests are my horses–I’m a very low level dressage rider–and Scottish Country Dancing, which has become one of my main social outlets.

If you could choose a talent that you don’t possess (yet), what would that be?

I would love to be a first rate musician, (or even a second or third rate one!), but I know that will never happen.  I love musical instruments, especially unusual ones, and am fascinated by both their sound and appearance. I especially like folk instruments for their primitive beauty.  I play the hammered dulcimer and had an instrument custom made with a jumping horse carved into the sound hole. I recently bought a student harpsichord and have been teaching myself to play.

If you could change one thing about your writing career, what would that be?

Probably the same thing every writer would like to change.  I’d simply like to have more time to focus on my own work.  Writing is rewarding, but extremely time consuming, and with everything else that has to be done in life, it is often very hard to make time.

One final question.  If someone were to walk into a bookstore and pull any book off the shelf, why would they choose yours?

I absolutely love the cover Zumaya came up with for this book.  It suits the novel perfectly and the design, with that very realistic-looking baby at the bottom, is very enticing.  The cover, after all, does end up being the first impression, and I think this is one that will make people stop and look inside.

Thank you so much for this interview, Carole.  Any final words?

I just want to thank you for taking the time to interview me.  Anyone who is interested in finding out more about me is welcome to visit my website at carolewaterhouse.com.  If there are any writers reading this, I would simply like to wish them the best of luck with their own work.

Tags: Carole Waterhouse, literary fiction, The Tapestry Baby

Join Julia Madeleine, author of the thriller novel, No One to Hear You Scream (Black Heart Books), as she virtually tours the blogosphere June 6 – July 29 2011 on her first virtual book tour with Pump Up Your Book!

Julia Madeleine is the youngest daughter of Irish immigrant parents from Belfast, Northern Ireland. Born in Canada and raised in a small town in southern-western Ontario on the shores of Lake Huron, Julia honed her duel passions for art and fiction writng from the time she was old enough to hold a crayon. As a teenager she moved to Toronto and graduated in Media Writing from Sheridan College. She wrote for a number of entertainment magazines, while spending all her free time writing fiction, and then in 2000, her passion for art led her, quite by accident, into a career in the tattoo industry.

Home for Julia is Mississauga, where she lives with her husband and teenaged (future tattoo artist) daughter. For a year she lived in the country on a 30-acre property in the middle of nowhere, which became the inspiration for her second novel, No One To Hear You Scream. Currently she is working on the sequel to her first thriller, Scarlet Rose (2008) which will be released sometime in the fall of 2011.

In the quiet environs of upstate New York, a family can get a great deal of land, a beautiful home, and a chance to live in the throw-back, bucolic world of small town America. For Brett and Pamela Jameson of No One to Hear You Scream, that opportunity arose when a house they loved went into foreclosure. What they didn’t know was that this dream home was about to turn into their worst nightmare. Former owner, Irish emigrant and violent ex-gang memeber Rory Madden, is out of incarceration and wants his house back, and he will stop at nothing to get it. Rory unearths the secrets hidden within the Jameson family, and begins to leverage his knowledge to slowly drive wedges between them. When their seventeen year-old, mentally unstable daughter Justine falls for Rory’s advances, the devious mind of a career criminal turns her against her own parents, setting off a series of increasingly treacherous events that culminates into a charged climactic moment. At once a classic noir and a modern cautionary tale about the roiling truth lurking within the depths of twenty-first century suburban America, No One to Hear You Scream is a freight train to the heart of an unspoken terror inside everyone who has ever dreamed of a bright future, while nevertheless wary of what the dark past may one day bring to their door.

You can visit Julia’s website at www.juliamadeleine.com or her blog at www.juliamadeleineauthor.blogspot.com.

For more information on her virtual book tour, you can visit Julia’s official tour page here.

Pump Up Your Book is an innovative public relations agency specializing in online book publicity for authors looking for maximum online promotion to sell their books.  Visit our website at www.pumpupyourbook.com to find out how we can take your book to the virtual level!

Tags: book announcements, book news, book promotions, Julia Madeleine, No One to Hear You Scream, Pump Up Your Book, virtual book tour