Archive for January, 2012

Pump Up Your Book Announces Fantasy Author Stephanie Keyes on ‘The Star Child Virtual Book Tour 2012′

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Jan

Pump Up Your Book is pleased to announce Stephanie Keyes’ The Star Child Virtual Book Tour 2012 beginning February 6 and ending on February 29 2012. Stephanie will be on hand during this worldwide online book tour talking about her book in candid interviews and guest posts! Lots of fun along the way as Stephanie stops off at blogs around the world to give her fans a chance to ask her questions and to find out more about this talented author.

About Stephanie Keyes

For the past twelve years, Stephanie Keyes has worked full time as a Corporate Educator and Curriculum Designer. She holds a M.Ed. from Duquesne University and and a B.S. in Management information Systems from Robert Morris University. Stephanie is a clarinetist, saxophonist, and vocalist, and is always making music somewhere at sometime. She credits her loving husband of ten years and her two sons for the completion and publication of The Star Child.

Stephanie is a featured author on www.LoveaHappyEnding.com.

You can visit her website at http://www.stephaniekeyes.com.

About The Star Child

Kellen St. James is just your average seventeen-year-old prodigy, but with a Yale degree, a photographic memory, and an addiction to everything 80s.

But what’s not so average about Kellen is the girl who’s been haunting his dreams for the last eleven years. When the sudden death of his grandmother takes him from the East Coast to the Irish Coast, he finds himself face to face with his own personal ghost and finds out that she’s just as real as he is. Plus she’s come spinning a tale about an ancient prophecy in which Kellen plays a key role.

Together they will travel through an underworld of faeries and demons, angels and gods, not to mention a really ticked off pack of wild dogs, all in order to save the world from darkness. But will they make it in time?

About Pump Up Your Book

Pump Up Your Book handles all the aspects of virtual book touring from pre-buzzing your book before the tour starts to making sure buyers will find your book long after the tour is over. If you are the author of a newly published book, have an upcoming release or just want to give a previously published book new life, a virtual book tour with Pump Up Your Book is the answer. We welcome traditionally published, electronically published and self-published authors. Our esteem list of clients include Claire Cook, Caridad Pineiro, C.W. Gortner, Barbara Bretton, Cody McFayden, James Hayman, Karen White, Kathleen Willey, Lisa Daily, Lisa Jackson, Mary Burton, Nancy Thayer, Randy Sue Coburn, Ray Comfort, Sandi Kahn Shelton, Sheila Roberts, Therese Fowler, Hope Edelman, Wendy Wax, Jon Meacham, Shobhan Bantwal, Pat Williams, Jane Green, Judge Glenda Hatchett and cook show personality Paula Deen. We also represent Random House, Abingdon Press, Zumaya Publications, WND Books, Sheaf House Publishers, New Hope Publishers, Guardian Angel Publishers, Genesis Press, and Moody Publishing. Contact us to find out what we can do for you and your book!

If you’d like to interview Stephanie or review his book, contact Dorothy Thompson at thewriterslife(at)gmail.com. Pump Up Your Book is an innovative public relations agency specializing in online book promotion for authors. Visit us at www.pumpupyourbook.com.

Tags: authors, blog tour, book promotions, book publicity, book tour, books, fantasy, fantasy author, fantasy book, fantasy novel, Pump Up Your Book, Stephanie Keyes, The Star Child, virtual book tour, worldwide book tour

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The Story Behind Sea Turtle Summer by Nancy Stewart

Posted by: cherylmalandrinos

in The Story Behind the Book

Jan

The Story Behind the Book is one of Literarily Speaking’s most popular features. Here we find out either the inspiration behind authors’ books or how they got published. Today’s guest is Nancy Stewart, author of Sea Turtle Summer (Guardian Angel Publishing).

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Sea Turtle Summer came to me, not on a glorious beach with glimmering white sand, but in a stark utilitarian hospital room. Talk about being led by your muse. She had to work wonders with this one.

My husband was recovering from back surgery (happily, he’s fine now). I sat in his hospital room, net book on lap and waited for her to come calling. And she did, demanding another Bella and Britt book. About sea turtles.

So I began Sea Turtle Summer on a frigid February morning in St. Louis and was instantly transported to Clearwater Beach, where the weather was balmy and the beach was getting busy. A female Loggerhead sea turtle was heading back to the sea, but her nest was in trouble. Enter Bella and Britt, and the girls and I were off and running.

It’s a funny thing, inspiration. Sea Turtle Summer, I know, was a combination of my many early walks walks on Clearwater Beach, all the conversations about the plight of sea turtles and time on my hands that morning, willing my muse to conjure up a worthy story. She hardly ever fails.

Once it began, the book came quickly, and I was able to get the main story in place by the time my husband went home. Some books do that, I find. Some don’t. But whichever way they begin, the end game is the goal. Oh, that and something wonderful and magical in the pages between. Let’s hope my muse worked her magic in Sea Turtle Summer.

After having been both an elementary school teacher, a university professor of education and a consultant for New Options, Inc. in New York City, Nancy Stewart writes children’s books full time. She, her husband and three sons, lived in London for eight years, where she was a consultant to several universities, including Cambridge.

Her travels take her extensively throughout the world, most particularly Africa. Nancy is US chair of a charity in Lamu, Kenya, that places girls in intermediate schools to allow them to further their education.

Nancy is the author of the Bella and Britt picture book series, One Pelican at a Time, Sea Turtle Summer, Bella Saves the Beach and Mystery at Manatee Key. All are published by Guardian Angel Publishing. Pelican was nominated for a Global eBook Award and recently was awarded the Literary Classics Seal of Approval. Both books have been on the Amazon bestsellers list and Sea Turtle Summer appears on their Hot New Release and Most Wished for lists.

She was featured in the PBS Tampa (WEDU) series, Gulfwatch. It concerned the writing of One Pelican at a Time: A Story of the Gulf Oil Spill.
She and her family live in St. Louis and Tampa.

Nancy’s web and blog sites are:

www.nancystewartbooks.com

www.nancystewartbooks.blogspot.com

Tags: author tour, author tours, Bella and Britt books, blog tour, blog tours, book blog tour, book promotion online, book tour, book tours, children's books, environmental issues, Guest Blogger, literarily speaking, Nancy Stewart, online book promotion, online book tour, online book tours, Pump Up Your Book, sea turtle preservation, Sea Turtle Summer, The Story Behind the Book, virtual author tour, virtual blog tour, virtual blog tours, virtual book tour, virtual book tours

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Pump Up Your Book Announces Richard Tillotson’s Acts of God While on Vacation Virtual Book Tour 2012

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in 5 Things You Should Know, Announcements, Guest Bloggers

Jan

Pump Up Your Book is pleased to announce Richard Tillotson’s Acts of God While on Vacation Virtual Book Tour 2012 beginning February 6 and ending on February 29 2012. Richard will be on hand during his worldwide tour talking about his book in candid interviews and guest posts! Lots of fun along the way as Richard stops off at blogs around the world to give his fans a chance to ask him questions and to find out more about this talented author.

About Richard Tillotson

Richard Tillotson has been a Peace Corps volunteer in Borneo, a playwright in New York, a copywriter in Hawaii, and is a relative of an English Lord, all of which helped him write Acts of God While on Vacation, a National Semi-Finalist for the 2009 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award and named “Hawaii’s best fiction book of 2011” by The Honolulu Star-Advertiser. He works in Honolulu and vacations in Washington DC.

About Acts of God While on Vacation

ACTS OF GOD WHILE ON VACATION begins with a death threat received by a philandering general manager of a lavish Hawaii resort, jumps to an anthropologist researching headhunters in the jungles of Borneo, then to a demonic, scandal-mongering paparazzo in New York, and on to a gorgeous, party-loving English aristocrat in London. Alternately desperate and hilarious adventures draw them all to Waikiki, where their arrival coincides with an international conference on shamanism and a catastrophic, force-five hurricane. ACTS OF GOD WHILE ON VACATION was a National Semi-Finalist for the AMAZON BREAKTHROUGH NOVEL AWARD.

“A rollicking page-turner … This is Hawaii’s best fiction book of 2011.”

- HONOLULU STAR-ADVERTISER

“A shamanically-skewed romp of brilliant insight and slapstick comedy”

- HAWAII PUBLIC RADIO

“As entertaining as it is enlightening”

- PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

“Laugh-out-loud funny, while also ringing true”

- HONOLULU WEEKLY

“It’s a comic novel with serious edges. Even more remarkable: It’s one of the few fictions set in Hawaii that gets all the details right.”

- HONOLULU MAGAZINE

About Pump Up Your Book

If you’d like to interview Richard or review his book, contact Dorothy Thompson at thewriterslife(at)gmail.com. Pump Up Your Book is an innovative public relations agency specializing in online book promotion for authors. Visit us at www.pumpupyourbook.com.

Tags: Acts of God While On Vacation, Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award, blog tour, book campaign, book promotion companies, book promotions, book publicists, book publicity, book publicity companies, book tour, borneo, death threat, English aristocrat, Hawaii, Hawaii author, Hawaii resort, Honolulu, hurricane, jungles of Borneo, literary comic fiction, literary comic fiction author, literary comic fiction book, London, promote your book, Pump Up Your Book, Richard Tillotson, sell your book, virtual book publicity, virtual book publicity tour, virtual book tour, Waikiki

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Pump Up Your Book Announces Selwyn Mills’ Confessions of a Color-Blind House Painter Blog Tour 2012

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in Announcements

Jan

Pump Up Your Book is pleased to announce Selwyn Mills’ Confessions of a Color-Blind House Painter Virtual Book Tour 2012 beginning February 6 and ending on February 29 2012. Selwyn will be on hand during his worldwide tour talking about his book in candid interviews and guest posts! Lots of fun along the way as Selwyn stops off at blogs around the world to give his fans a chance to ask him questions and to find out more about this talented author.

About Selwyn Mills

Selwyn Mills served an apprenticeship in decorative painting before starting his own business in 1956, which lasted until his retirement in 1992. He worked as a craftsman painter, wrote for the National Paint Journal, served as President of the National Painting Contractor Association in Nassau County, New York, and taught faux painting. While painting professionally, Mills earned his doctorate in psychology and operated a successful private psychotherapy practice.

Dr. Mills practiced psychotherapy in Great Neck N.Y. for twenty-five year, specializing in couples therapy, family reconciliation and Men in Transition groups. His psychotherapy practice overlapped his forty year career as a decorative painting contractor. He painted in the mornings and counseled patients in the afternoon and evenings. His research into the left/right brain phenomenon, and its impact of personality development, led to a unique discovery of why opposites attract. Active in live theater, he wrote and produced a musical comedy called, “Love Torment and Lollipops”. An accomplished photographer, his black and white prints are part of the permanent collection of the Bibliotech Nationale in Paris, France. He currently works at the Sugden Theater in Naples, Florida as director of faux painting. Mills married in 1949 at the age of 19 and has four children and four grandchildren.

His latest book is the autobiography, Confessions of a Color-Blind House Painter.

You can visit his website at www.selwynmills.com.

Website | Amazon | Amazon Kindle | Barnes & Noble l Official Tour Page

About Confessions of a Color-Blind House Painter

“Confessions of a Color-Blind House Painter” (ISBN 1466342013), a collection of autobiographical writings by Selwyn Mills, offers an account of the author’s life as well as his ruminations on painting, psychotherapy, friendship, romantic love, poetry, prison, philosophy, relationships and cats, among other topics.

Mills split his professional life between two concurrent careers – he worked as a decorative painter in the mornings and led psychotherapy sessions in the afternoon. Although these types of work might appear quite different, Mills describes how each profession deals with depression and renewal. He offers an eclectic collection of musings on various topics, each one weaving personal narrative with opinion and insight. “Confessions of a Color-Blind House Painter” reveals a portrait of a life made up of equal portions of intellectual, creative and emotional elements.

“Once the reader learns from the author’s examples of overcoming so much, the reader is prepared to take on any challenge. Thank you to the author for taking the time to write this truly unique and inspiring literary work!”

– D.C. Blackbird, author of Jekyll Says…Good Deeds Cats Do That You Should Too!

“I know Dr. Mills as a devoted friend, artist, writer, photographer and a psychotherapist and philosopher. I also know how difficult some of his challengers have been and how amazed I was at how deftly he overcame them. Dr. Mills “confessions” is good for the Soul.”

– Rev. Dr. Samuel O. Sewell

“A crazy life and if my own were not so bizarre and unusually full I would envy him, but I know him now as a friend and fellow traveler collecting riches for the end so we can smile as we pass to whatever comes after life, knowing we lived well.”

– William T. Greystone

About Pump Up Your Book

If you’d like to contact Selwyn for an interview or review his book, contact Dorothy Thompson at thewriterslife(at)gmail.com. Pump Up Your Book is an innovative public relations agency specializing in online book promotion for authors. Visit us at www.pumpupyourbook.com.

Tags: autobiography, Confessions of a Color-Blind House Painter, Selwyn Mills

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Book Review: Hollywood Stories: Entertaining Anecdotes About the Stars and Legends of the Movies! by Stephen Schochet

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in Book Reviews

Jan

Title: Hollywood Stories: Short Entertaining Anecdotes About the Stars and Legends of the Movies!
Author: Stephen Schochet
Genre: Nonfiction, Entertainment
Paperback: 324 pages
Publisher: BCH Fulfillment & Distribution
Language: English
ISBN-13: 978-0963897275

BOOK SUMMARY:

At high noon on a cold November day in 1974, sixty-seven-year-old John Wayne faced off with the staff of the Harvard Lampoon on the famous campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The students had issued their challenge by calling the beloved American icon a fraud. Wayne, who had his new movie McQ to promote, responded by saying he would be happy to show his film in the pseudo-intellectual swamps of Harvard Square. After the screening, without writers, the former USC footballer delivered a classic performance. When one smart young man asked where he got his phony toupee, Wayne insisted the hair was real. It wasn’t his, but it was real. The appreciative underclassmen loved him and after the Q and A session, they all sat down to dinner. Later Wayne, who was suffering greatly from both gout and the after effects of lung cancer (sadly the Duke only had five years to live), said that day at Harvard was the best time he ever had.

Just when you thought you’ve heard everything about Hollywood comes a totally original new book — a special blend of biography, history and lore.

Hollywood Stories is packed with wild, wonderful short tales about famous stars, movies, directors and many others who have been a part of the world’s most fascinating, unpredictable industry!

What makes the book unique is that the reader can go to any page and find a completely engaging and illuminating yarn. Sometimes people won’t realize that they are reading about The Three Stooges or Popeye the Sailor until they come to the end of the story. The Midwest Book Review says Hollywood Stories is, “packed from cover to cover with fascinating tales.” A professional tour guide in Hollywood, Stephen Schochet has researched and told thousands of entertaining anecdotes for over twenty years. He is also the author and narrator of two audiobooks Tales of Hollywood and Fascinating Walt Disney. Tim Sika, host of the radio show Celluloid Dreams on KSJS in San Jose has called Stephen,” The best storyteller about Hollywood we have ever heard.”Full of funny moments and twist endings, Hollywood Stories features an amazing, all-star cast of legendary characters and icons and will keep you totally entertained!

Watch the book video!

MY THOUGHTS:

Stephen Schochet is a man after my California lovin’ heart. When I found out I was going to review Hollywood Stories: Short Entertaining Anecdotes About the Stars and Legends of the Movies!, I thought I had died and gone to heaven. I used to live in Burbank, California, as a child. Burbank was a hop and a skip away from Hollywood and might I add my mother was so star struck, when she found out a talent scout was going to be at my school, Abraham Lincoln Elementary (now the Buena Vista Library), she grabbed me and off I went. I didn’t want to be a star. I just wanted to be a kid. So, I messed up on purpose which my Marilyn Monroe-lookalike mom never got over. She’s probably still turning over in her grave just remembering it. While in Burbank, I had the chance to “see” a few movie stars: I yelled “There’s Lassie’s mother!” when I saw June Lockhart walk past me at NBC Studios; I had Eddie Fontaine (Gallant Men) serenade me on the guitar with me in his lap (one of my mother’s friends) and I got to watch my idol, Jon Provost (Lassie’s master boy Timmy) in the Santa Claus Lane Parade in Hollywood. Ah, those were the days my friend.

Years and years later, I am honored to be revisiting my old stomping grounds. Hollywood Stories is a piece of history. It needs to go up in the Smithsonian because nowhere on earth is there a book like this one. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Not only does he talk about different stars but these stars are icons in the movie industry. I especially loved getting an inside glimpse of how they began their career and what I also loved about it was that not only did Schochet give us our Hollywood fix in telling us about the behind the scenes episodes in these stars lives, but there’s a little extra bonus after each one giving us even more juicy tidbits.

It’s entertaining and so needed if you’re a Hollywood movie bug like me.

Here’s a neat excerpt titled “Welcome to Beverly Hills”:

Since the first movie stars moved into Beverly Hills, its citizens have always had an uneasy relationship with visitors. Drivers of oversized tour buses found it very difficult to navigate down the tiny street where Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston lived. The celebrity couple’s neighbors angrily called the police to complain they were trapped in their driveways while waiting for the lumbering vehicles to turn around. City officials considered a complete ban in 2004, then decided that commercial sightseeing on residential streets would still be allowed in small vans. Regulated drive-bys were preferred over the alternative of people coming on their own with movie-star maps. A few years earlier, the single Brad Pitt had gotten a scare when an overzealous female fan had found his house, got past his security, climbed through his window, undressed herself and was waiting in his bed when he got home.

Good grief! As long as movie and TV stars are put into the public’s eye, this sort of thing is bound to happen. Fascination with the private lives of stars will always be there; it just comes with the price of being a star. There are lots of tidbits like this included in Schochet’s book. I would highly recommend it if you’re a Hollywood freak like me. I would without a doubt give this 5 out of 5 stars.

Tags: book review, Book Reviews, Hollywood, Hollywood reviews, Hollywood stars, Hollywood Stories, Hollywood Stories: Short Entertaining Anecdotes About the Stars and Legends of the Movies!, Stephen Schochet

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AuthorVid: Literary Fiction Author Karen Glick Talks to Literarily Speaking

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in Author Vids

Jan

We have a treat for you today. Today is our fifth edition of Author Vids! So what is an Author Vid? An Author Vid is where we send questions to an author and they answer them in a video they have prepared themselves. Today’s guest author is Karen Glick, author of the wonderful literary fiction novel, Questions in the Silence. After watching the video, please check out her website and book information following the video. And don’t forget to follow Karen on her virtual book tour January 3 – 27. You can visit her official tour page here!

And now I’m happy to bring you Karen Glick, author of Questions in the Silence!

About Karen Glick

Karen Glick lives outside of Philadelphia. She is a clinical psychologist whose other interests include writing, painting, and acting. When not feverishly engaged in these pursuits, she enjoys spending time with her four children, husband, cavalier king charles spaniels and cats.

Karen has just published her first novel, Questions in the Silence.

About Questions in the Silence

Ari Rothman, born with psychic abilities, has a lifelong fascination with spiritual issues. Childhood visions and intuitions combine to make her a bit of an outsider in her peer group and she turns to religion to create meaning in her life.

Ari’s childhood experiences and her strong desire to help others make her a natural psychotherapist. However, the conflict between her intuitive abilities and a more rational approach to the human psyche intensifies when her first long-term client ends his sessions unexpectedly.

Tags: acting, authors, Authors on Tour, blog tour, book promotions, book publicity, book tour, books, cavalier king charles spaniels, childhood visions, clinical psychologist, human psyche, human psyche books, Karen Glick, literary fiction, literary fiction author, literary fiction book, literary fiction novel, online book promotion, online book publicity, painting, Pennsylvania authors, Philadelphia authors, promote your book, psychic abilities, psychic abilities book, publicity, Questions in the Silence, sell your book, spiritual, spiritual issues, spiritual issues book, virtual book publicity tour, virtual book tour, writing

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5 Things You Should Know About Kenny Walsh by author Vincent Tuckwood.

Posted by: admin

in 5 Things You Should Know

Jan

About Vincent Tuckwood

Vincent Tuckwood New Vincent Tuckwood is a story-teller working in fiction, song and verse. At any given point in time, he’s proud to be a father, husband, son, brother, cousin and friend to the people who mean the world to him.

He is the author of the novelsEscalation, Family Rules, Karaoke Criminals and Do Sparrows Eat Butterflies? as well as the 2010 poetry collection, Garbled Glittering Glamours. His screenplays are Team Building and the screen adaptation of Family Rules, Inventing Kenny.

Vince regularly connects with his audience at VinceT.net and at his story-teller page on Facebook, often writing poetry in response to their prompts, and encourages everyone to get in touch there.

You can find out more about him and his work at http://vincet.net.

5 Things You Should Know About Kenny Walsh, the main character in the novel Family Rules, by Vincent Tuckwood.

1. Kenny spent the first five years of his life on the UK comedy, ‘Family Rules!’ His television family is more real to him than his biological parents. These formative experiences leave Kenny with a distorted sense of his identity and a need to run away whenever reality comes too close.

2. On the set of ‘Family Rules!’, Kenny was given a spoon of Valium in honey to keep him calm between scenes. He grew to look forward to the gaps between scenes more than the scenes themselves.

3. By age 19, Kenny is on the streets of New York chasing any addiction that might help him avoid the emptiness. In Washington Square Park, he befriends, Ivvy, a junkie-cop lost in a similarly invented life.

4. Kenny turns to stealing cars for the immediate rush of the chase. This comes to an end when he steals a car in New Jersey only to find Bella, a two-year old child, in the back seat.

5. Panicking, and in desperate to avoid this new reality, Kenny decides that he will step into the role of the child’s father. For a lost, doomed weekend, Bella is his daughter and Kenny is her Dad.

About Family Rules

New York. In this city that never sleeps, anyone could make a brand new start of it. Or so the song goes.

For some people, starting again is no option.

Kenny is adrift in the city, tormented by the scars and memories of his unique upbringing as a child star in the UK, chasing any addiction that can fill the void he carries at his core.

Increasingly unable to paper over the cracks, to numb himself with street corner narcotics, or build an abiding relationship with his junkie soul-mate Ivvy, he turns to stealing cars to provide momentary escape from his increasingly desolate life.

Estranged from his parents, Kenny has no hope or vision of a better future.

Until one night he steals a car from a gas station in New Jersey and is offered an unexpected, final opportunity for redemption; a radically different role to play.

Family Rules is an intense personal account of an invented life, where all the rules of family life are inverted, and of the damage done when the boundary between reality and television is truly no boundary at all.

Tags: Family Rules, Family Rules by Vincent Tuckwood, Vincent Tuckwood

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AuthorVid: Mystery Author Michael Craft Talks to Literarily Speaking

Posted by: admin

in Author Vids

Jan

We have a treat for you today. Today is our fourth edition of Author Vids! So what is an Author Vid? An Author Vid is where we send questions to an author and they answer them in a video they have prepared themselves. Today’s guest author is Michael Craft, author of the wonderful mystery novel, The MacGuffin. After watching the video, please check out his website and book information following the video. And don’t forget to follow Michael on his virtual book tour January 3 – 27. You can visit his official tour page here!

And now I’m happy to bring you Michael Craft, author of The MacGuffin!

About Michael Craft

Michael Craft is the author of a dozen prior novels and three stage plays. As a mystery writer he has been known for many years as the author of the popular “Mark Manning” series, set in the Midwest, as well as the “Claire Gray” series, set in California. Three of his novels have been honored as national finalists for Lambda Literary Awards. His latest mystery novel, The MacGuffin, features a new protagonist, architect Cooper Brant. In recent years, Michael Craft has broadened his creative focus to include playwriting and screenwriting. He lives in Rancho Mirage, California.

You can visit his website at www.michaelcraft.com.

About The MacGuffin

A cold-case murder fifteen years ago halted promising developments in the quest for clean energy when the rumored prototype of a groundbreaking water engine was stolen or destroyed. Now the race is on to repower America, and Cooper Brant, still grieving that long-ago murder of his father, suddenly finds his family visited by a second violent death, raising the stakes to unearth lost secrets. When Coop discovers how the two crimes are linked, a grim message becomes clear. He’s next.

Read an excerpt here!

Tags: architect, authors, blog tour, book promotions, book publicity, book publicity tour, book tour, books, California, California author, Califronia, Claire Gray, clean energy, cold-case murder, Lambda Literary Awards, Mark Manning, Mark Manning series, Michael Craft, Midwest, murder, mystery author, mystery books, mystery novels, mystery writer, online book promotion, online book tour, playwriting, promote your books, Pump Up Your Book, Rancho Mirage, screenwriting, sell your books, stage plays, The MacGuffin, virtual book tour

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in Blogs

Jan

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Chris Shella’s Best Advice Ever for Writing Urban Fiction Legal Thriller Novels

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in Guest Bloggers

Jan

Chris Shella’s Best Advice Ever for Writing Urban Fiction Legal Thriller Novels

By Chris Shella

Advice, Advice Advice…. What advice could I give new writers on how to write Urban Fiction Legal Thrillers? HMMMM. Well you do know as a lawyer I’m allergic to giving free advice. So instead of charging my usual 500 hour fee rate, I will let you, gentle reader, in on how to do this.

There are three keys to writing this type of book.

The first key to writing an urban fiction legal thriller is that you have to know something about the legal system. I cannot tell you how many books, by some of the most famous authors in the world I have thrown down in disgust because they are so wrong on the law and how the criminal justice system works. Legal thrillers work only when they have a basis in reality and how the law operates. Now you don’t have to be a lawyer for this to be in your story. All you have to do is to sit in a courtroom anywhere in the country and watch cases (pleas and trials)for about a month and you will be surprised how much legal jargon and how much of the legal process you will pick up that way. DO NOT,I repeat DO NOT watch movies like “The Firm” or “Legal Eagles”. They are Hollywood’s idea of trial work. If you want Hollywood’s idea of trial work you might as well make the Judge an elf and the prosecutor a demon. It will have just as much of a basis in reality as that stuff does

The second key is to actually put trial work into your novel. I know as a criminal trial lawyer, I’m prejudice against non-trial lawyers but I find that all the people who have read my work love the insights into the justice system that my book gives them. So if you truly want to write a legal thriller, you have to have more than a protagonist who is a lawyer. You have to insert legal work into the book, which should be easy since you have spent a month in a courthouse observing how lawyers work. People are always curious about the lawyers and law and if you put that element in your book you already have quite a few readers hooked.

Lastly, the most important key to writing an Urban Fiction Legal thriller is sitting your butt in a chair and actually writing. You can read all the books in the world about how to be a writer but you will never be one until you are one. Sit at a computer or put pen to paper but you just have to do it. Writing isn’t easy and can be very daunting. But just realize no one is going to shoot you or put you in jail if they don’t like your writing, but no one will ever like your work if you never create it.

Author Chris Shella is a graduate of Morehouse College and the University of Texas Law School and started his legal career in Long Island, New York at the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office. He is admitted to the practice of law in New York, Maryland, the District of Columbia, and North Carolina. Shella is also admitted to the federal court in the Eastern District of North Carolina, the Middle District of North Carolina, U.S. District of Columbia, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals, the Eastern District of New York, and the Southern District of New York.He is also admitted to the Bar Of The United States Supreme Court. He and his cases have been covered on Court TV, CNN, and in the New York Times, and other media outlets across the globe. He has represented everyone from lawyers to major drug traffickers to a serial killer in Baltimore. His two most famous case are the Vegan Baby Case and his defense of the Duke Lacrosse Case accuser for the alleged murder of her boyfriend.

Chris now resides in Durham, North Carolina, with his wife and son.

His latest book is the legal thriller, Reasonable Facsimile.

You can visit his website at www.reasonablefacs.com.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn | YouTube | Amazon | Amazon Kindle | Barnes & Noble | Lulu | Borders

Tags: author promotions, author publicity, authors, bestselling books, blog tour, book campaign, book promotions, book publicity, book tour, books, Chris Shella, CNN, Court TV, criminal case, criminal trial lawyer, DEA, DEA agent, drug dealer book, Drug Dealers, Duke Lacrosse, law books, law practice, lawyer, lawyer author, legal thriller, lowlifes, Nassau County District Attorney's Office, online book tour, promote your book, Pump Up Your Book, Reasonable Facsimile, sell your book, The New York Times, Urban fiction, urban fiction author, urban fiction book, urban fiction legal thriller author, urban fiction legal thriller book, urban fiction legal thriller novel, urban fiction novel, Vegan Baby Case, virtual book tour

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A Day in the Life with Fiction Author Greg Messel

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in 5 Things You Should Know, A Day in the Life, The First Page

Jan

A Day in the Life is Literarily Speaking’s newest feature. Here we get a glimpse into our favorite author’s day-to-day life! Today’s guest is Greg Messel, author of the novel, The Illusion of Certainty (Yorkshire Publishing).

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

A Day in the Life of Greg Messel
by Greg Messel

I live in Seattle, which is a beautiful, wonderful place to live. I live two blocks from the beach of the Puget Sound and I love to be outside enjoying it all.

However, it is now November and most days it’s rainy, blustery and cool. This is why cups of coffee are very important to Seattlelites. It’s that kind of vibe and that kind of weather. Put on your sweater, grab a good cup of coffee.

Maybe go cozy up to a good book or go see a movie–two other favorite past times of people who live in Seattle.

As the leaves turn in the fall and the rains move in, that’s when I get some serious writing done. I usually spend the summer contemplating and planning my next novel.

Then as the weather turns cool and rainy, I become immersed in the new world I’m creating in my novel. This is my favorite part of the entire journey as an author.

Marketing not so much, but when I’m creating a new world and new characters it is a magical high. I can live in a time and place where I’ve never been.

The world which now exists in my mind is 1957 in San Francisco. As I research what life was like in that time and place,it’s amazing to realize how much the world has changed.

I did live in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1957 but I was eight years old.

In my new novel I’m attempting my first detective story. It’s a mystery than unfolds on foggy nights in San Francisco of the 1950s.

I’m about halfway through the first draft. I expect to spend the rest of the winter finishing it and polishing the story. I love that process, especially where the story starts evolving and starts writing itself.

I’ve heard writers describe the development of their book as somewhat “organic.” I was always a little puzzled by that term in regards to writing but this time around I have discovered what that means.

I started with a basic outline of where I thought I wanted to go with the story and characters. However, now I’m off the outline and the chapters are tumbling out. The story and characters are going places I did not imagine.

It is hard to describe how that happens to someone who is not a writer. I heard a story about a wood carver. He was asked by an admirer how he made these wonderful carvings. The wood carver simply explained, “I take a piece of wood and just start making some chips.”

I’m at the point where the chips are flying on my new novel. Ultimately, I hope it will be the best thing I’ve ever written. Next summer, I hope it’s finds an audience and readers enjoy it.

However, for now, it’s that wonderful time in the process of writing, when the story and characters live only in my imagination. They are my private property for a few months this winter. Then they will become public and everyone will start giving their opinion of my story and the characters.

This process is what keeps urging me on to write on these rainy fall and winter days in Seattle. It’s magic.

Greg Messel has written three novels and three unpublished memoirs. He published his premiere novel “Sunbreaks” in 2009, followed by “Expiation” in 2010 and “The Illusion of Certainty” in 2011. Greg has had a newspaper career as a columnist, sportswriter and news editor. He won a Wyoming Press Association Award as a columnist. Greg also spent many years in the corporate world as a Financial Manager. He now devotes his energies to writing at his home in Edmonds, Washington on the Puget Sound just north of Seattle, where he lives with his wife, Carol.

You can visit his website at www.gregmessel.com. Connect with Greg on Twitter at www.twitter.com/gregmessel or Facebook at www.facebook.com/greg.messel.

About The Illusion of Certainty

The Illusion of Certainty follows two parallel storylines. Marc is a successful businessman who seems to have everything—a great job, a beautiful wife, a house in an upscale neighborhood of Portland, Oregon and two great kids who are preparing for college. But something is not right. Marc is unsettled by the sudden change in his wife, Aimee, who seems distant and unhappy. What’s going on with her?

The second storyline involves a successful young attorney, Alexandra Mattson. Alex, as she is called by her friends, meets a handsome young cop, Sean, during an unexpected crisis in her neighborhood. Sean and Alex seem made for each other and begin to merge their futures in a world of uncertainty.

The only certainty in life is that we will face uncertainty. Despite all fo the technology and controls available in the modern world, sometimes the only comfort comes from the human touch.

Tags: A Day in the Life, Greg Messel, Guest Blogger, The Illusion of Certainty

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YA Science Fiction Author Braxton Cosby Appearing at Pump Up Your Book Live! Chat Room Tonight

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in Announcements

Jan

Braxton A. Cosby, author of the YA science fiction novel, Protostar, is stopping off at Pump Up Your Book Live! Chat Room on Day 11 of his virtual book tour with Pump Up Your Book!

Chat with Braxton about his book, his uncle Bill Cosby, writing YA science fiction books and whatever else you’d like to ask at Pump Up Your Book Live! 8 p.m. eastern! Join us at http://www.pumpupyourbook.com/2011/11/26/the-cosby-kid-braxton-a-cosby-at-pump-up-your-book-live-chat-room-january-4-2012/!

ABOUT THE BOOK:

It Starts With Choice! What would you choose: love or irrefutable duty?

On the brink of Civil War, the Torrian Alliance continues with its mission to obliterate Star-children across the universe in order to suppress an intergalactic evil. Following the recommendations of his Council, King Gregorio Derry has agreed to send his only son on a mission to restore honor to his family. Bounty Hunter Prince William Derry has crossed thousands of light-years to planet Earth, in order to fulfill this age old prophetic practice. The quiet days of Madisonburg, Tennessee are officially over as Sydney Elaine now knows the full meaning of the phrase Be careful what you wish for when she is confronted by this strange visitor. As an unforeseeable event delays his assassination, William decides to study his target more closely and begins to form a connection with Sydney that challenges his inner being. But this conflict is the least of his problems, as a conspiracy back on his home planet Fabricius threatens the lives of those he loves and his father s royal legacy. Along with that, he must unravel a hidden menace here on Earth that seeks to secure a vested interest that threatens both his and Sydney s safety. Will William be able to complete his mission or will he choose love, sacrificing everything he stands for?

You can visit Braxton’s website at www.braxtonacosbygodson.com or connect with him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/cosbykid84 or Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000215860223.

Tags: book promotions, book publicity, Braxton Cosby, Protostar, Pump Up Your Book, YA Science Fiction Author

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Author Vids: Memoirist Alexia Fraser Talks to Literarily Speaking

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in Author Vids

Jan

We have a treat for you today. Today is our third edition of Author Vids! So what is an Author Vid? An Author Vid is where we send questions to an author and they answer them in a video they have prepared themselves. Today’s guest author is Alexia Fraser, author of the wonderful memoir, Memories of Mom. After watching the video, please check out her website and book information following the video. And don’t forget to follow Alexia on her virtual book tour January 3 – 27. You can visit her official tour page here!

And now I’m happy to bring you Alexia Fraser, author of Memories of Mom!

About Alexia E. Fraser

Alexia Elizabeth Smart-Fraser was born in the beautiful island of Jamaica. After marrying her high school sweetheart Edward, she migrated to the United States. She is the proud and loving mother of two children, son Sean and daughter Paige. Alexia studied acting at H.B. Studio. She worked as an extra on the set of “Cosby Mysteries” with Bill Cosby, “New York Undercover” with Malik Yubo, “Central Park West” with Lauren Hutton, and the series “Prince Street” with Mariska Hargitay. As well, Alexia Fraser has written and produced three original non-fiction one act plays both off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway. “The Ryans,” “Dope the Endeavor” and “Blind Trust.” Her fourth play “Our God is Awesome” is not yet produced, but will be in the near future. Alexia is the original founder and partner of her production company, Paige Unlimited, LLC (www.paigeunlimitedllc) of which she is the Creative Arts VP. Memories of Mom is Alexia Fraser’s first published book. She was driven to share her story after seeing her mom suffered unacceptable nursing home and hospital care. Her second book is already partially scripted. “Write what you know” is what she believes.

* * * * *

About Memories of Mom

Memories of Mom (M.O.M.) is a poignant story about an extraordinary mother, written by a daughter who loved and cared for her during her last lap of life. This story is written from the heart, and will inspire love and affection in millions of daughters and sons who will someday be caring for their elderly parents or loved ones. It is about undying love, unyielding sacrifices and compassionate role reversal. The circle of life.

Tags: Alexia Fraser, Author Vid, Bill Cosby, blog tour, book promotions, book publicity, book publicity tour, book tour, Central Park West, Cosby Mysteries, creative arts, elderly parents, extra, H.B. Studio, hospital abuse, Jamaica, Lauren Hutton, memoir, Memories of Mom, New York Undercover, nursing home abuse, nursing home care, one act plays, online book promotion, online book tour, Paige Unlimited, Prince Street, promote your book, Pump Up Your Book, sell your book, the circle of life, The Ryans, virtual book tour

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Pump Up Your Book Announces Middle Grade Adventure Series Author Fiona Ingram’s ‘The Secret of the Sacred Scarab Virtual Book Tour 2012′

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in Announcements

Jan

Pump Up Your Book is pleased to announce Fiona Ingram’s The Secret of the Sacred Scarab Virtual Book Tour 2012 beginning on January 3 and ending on February 29 2012. Fiona will be on hand during her worldwide tour talking about her book in candid interviews, you’ll be able to read her first ever Twitterview, and she will be giving away copies of her book along the way! Lots of fun as Fiona stops off at blogs around the world to give her fans a chance to ask her questions and to find out more about this beautiful and talented author.

About Fiona Ingram

Although Fiona Ingram has been a journalist for the last fifteen years, writing a children’s book—The Secret of the Sacred Scarab—was an unexpected step, inspired by a recent trip to Egypt. The tale of the sacred scarab began life as a little anecdotal tale for her 2 nephews (then 10 and 12), who had accompanied her on the Egyptian trip. This short story grew into an award-winning children’s book, the first in the adventure series Chronicles of the Stone. The author has already completed the next book in the series—The Search for the Stone of Excalibur—a huge treat for young King Arthur fans.

Although Fiona Ingram does not have children of her own, she has an adopted teenage foster child, from an underprivileged background who is just discovering the joys of reading for pleasure. Fiona’s experiences in teaching her daughter to read has resulted in her interest in child literacy and in creating ways to get kids more interested in reading, as well as helping parents to instil a love of reading in their children.

Naturally, Fiona is a voracious reader and has been from early childhood. Her interests include literature, art, theatre, collecting antiques, animals, music, and films. She loves travel and has been fortunate to have lived in Europe (while studying) and America (for work). She has travelled widely and fulfilled many of her travel goals.

Fiona’s latest book is the middle grade adventure novel, The Secret of the Sacred Scarab – Book 1 in the Chronicles of the Stone series.

Visit her website at www.fionaingram.com.

About The Secret of the Sacred Scarab

A 5000-year-old mystery comes to life when a scruffy peddler gives Adam and Justin Sinclair an old Egyptian scarab on their very first day in Egypt. Only when the evil Dr. Faisal Khalid shows a particular interest in the cousins and their scarab, do the boys realise they are in terrible danger. Dr. Khalid wants the relic at all costs. Justin and Adam embark upon the adventure of a lifetime, taking them down the Nile and across the harsh desert in their search for the legendary tomb of the Scarab King, an ancient Egyptian ruler. They are plunged into a whirlpool of hazardous and mysterious events when Dr. Khalid kidnaps them. They survive terrifying dangers in a hostile environment (such as a giant cobra, as well as sinking sand), pursued by enemies in their quest to solve the secret of the sacred scarab. They must translate the hieroglyphic clues on the underside of the scarab, as well as rescue the missing archaeologist James Kinnaird, and their friend, the Egyptologist Ebrahim Faza, before time runs out. They must also learn more about the ancient Seven Stones of Power and the mysterious Shemsu-Hor. With just their wits, courage, and each other, the boys manage to survive … only to find that the end of one journey is the beginning of another!

Young explorers will enjoy an interactive journey through Egypt, following Justin and Adam’s exciting adventure on www.secretofthesacredscarab.com. Readers can also browse the first chapter of the book. Those who survive the journey and manage to translate the Curse of Thoth will be able to read the first chapter in Adam and Justin’s next adventure—The Search for the Stone of Excalibur—as they hunt for the Scroll of the Ancients.

The Secret of the Sacred Scarab has received the following awards:

Book Award Nominations & Wins:
Finalist Children’s Fiction USA Next Generation 2009 Indie Book Awards
Finalist Juvenile Fiction USA National Best Books 2009 Awards
Winner Pre-Teen USA 2009 Readers’ Favorites Awards
Number 2 in the USA Children’s & Teens Book Connection Top Ten Favourite Books of 2009 for Kids, Tweens & Teens
Winner Silver Medal Teen Fiction 2010 Nautilus Book Awards
Finalist Children’s Fiction 2010 International Book Awards
Winner Bronze Medal Pre-Teen Fiction 2010 Moonbeam Book Awards
Finalist 2011 Rubery Book Awards
Winner Gold Award Mystery Pre-Teen 2011 Children’s Literary Classics Awards

You can visit her official tour page at www.pumpupyourbook.com/2011/12/12/the-secret-of-the-sacred-scarab-virtual-book-publicity-tour-januaryfebruary-2012/.

About Pump Up Your Book

If you’d like to contact Alexia for an interview or review her book, contact Dorothy Thompson at thewriterslife(at)gmail.com. Pump Up Your Book is an innovative public relations agency specializing in online book promotion for authors. Visit us at www.pumpupyourbook.com.

Tags: blog tour, Fiona Ingram, juvenile fiction, middle grade adventure author, middle grade adventure author series, Pump Up Your Book, The Secret of the Sacred Scarab, virtual book tour

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Pump Up Your Book Announces Memoirist Alexia Fraser’s Memories of Mom Virtual Book Tour 2012

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in 5 Things You Should Know, Announcements, Guest Bloggers

Jan

Pump Up Your Book is pleased to announce Alexia Fraser’s Memories of Mom Virtual Book Tour 2012 beginning on January 3 and ending on January 27 2012. Alexia will be on hand during her worldwide tour talking about her book in candid interviews, you’ll be able to watch her first AuthorVid, and do stop off at Pump Up Your Book’s live chat room on January 27 where she will be giving away a copy of her book to one lucky attendee! Lots of fun along the way as Alexia stops off at blogs around the world to give her fans a chance to ask her questions and to find out more about this beautiful and talented author.

About Alexia E. Fraser

About Memories of Mom

For more information on Alexia’s blog tour, visit her official tour page at www.pumpupyourbook.com/2011/12/18/memories-of-mom-virtual-book-publicity-tour-january-2012/.

About Pump Up Your Book

If you’d like to contact Alexia for an interview or review her book, contact Dorothy Thompson at thewriterslife(at)gmail.com. Pump Up Your Book is an innovative public relations agency specializing in online book promotion for authors. Visit us at www.pumpupyourbook.com.

Tags: Alexia Fraser, Bill Cosby, blog tour, book promotions, book publicity, book publicity tour, book tour, Central Park West, Cosby Mysteries, creative arts, elderly parents, extra, H.B. Studio, Jamaica, Lauren Hutton, memoir, Memories of Mom, New York Undercover, nursing home care, one act plays, online book promotion, online book tour, Paige Unlimited, Prince Street, promote your book, Pump Up Your Book, sell your book, the circle of life, The Ryans, virtual book tour

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Who am I?

Welcome to Literarily Speaking! I am a book blogger, book reviewer, author and CEO/Founder of Pump Up Your Book. Literarily Speaking is a smorgasbord of anything literary. I talk about books as well as host author interviews, guest posts and reviews. While my time is very limited running a business, I have little time to review so most of my reviews are from books I request although that might change. I am open to guest posts as long as the post pertains to anything literary - whether it be the publishing or the promoting process. If you want to be featured here with a guest post, email me at thewriterslife (at) gmail.com.

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Archive for January, 2012

About Stephanie Keyes

About The Star Child

About Pump Up Your Book

About Richard Tillotson

About Acts of God While on Vacation

About Pump Up Your Book

About Selwyn Mills

About Confessions of a Color-Blind House Painter

About Pump Up Your Book

About Karen Glick

About Questions in the Silence

About Vincent Tuckwood

About Family Rules

About Michael Craft

About The MacGuffin

About The Illusion of Certainty

About Alexia E. Fraser

About Memories of Mom

About Fiona Ingram

About The Secret of the Sacred Scarab

About Pump Up Your Book

About Alexia E. Fraser

About Memories of Mom

About Pump Up Your Book

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