Author: Ronovan

Ronovan Hester is an author/poet/blogger, with a debut historical adventure novel Amber Wake: Gabriel Falling now available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle. "5.0 out of 5 stars: Now, I want to warn you… this is not your typical pirate tale! It’s BETTER!" "5.0 out of 5 stars: Totally unpredictable and a real gem of a discovery - Highly Recommended" "5.0 out of 5 stars: An action packed journey to piracy and revenge – all in the name of the crown, queen and county – set in 1705." He shares his life of problems, triumphs, and writing through his blog RonovanWrites.com. His love of writing, authors and community through his online world has led to a growing Weekly Haiku Challenge and the creation of a site dedicated to book reviews and interviews known as LitWorldInterviews.com.

Dialogue Tags, Beats, and More. Are you using the right one?

As some of you know, I host a Fiction writing challenge on Fridays here on Ronovan Writes. It’s funny how I use Ronovan Writes as if it’s not me. Sometimes I shorten it to RW. That has nothing to do with this article, merely an aside.

Dialogue Tags and More by Ronovan Hester

One of the goals of the Friday Fiction with Ronovan Writes is to improve the writing of those who participate. At the moment my goal with the challenge is to encourage the improvement of the basics of writing Fiction. Some problems I see, not just in a few challenge entries, but in books I review, are the use of Dialogue Tags, Action Beats, and Dialogue Punctuation. Also today I’ll introduce some of you to Grammarly.

This piece today is not just for those doing the challenge. This is for anyone who:

Writes.
Writes short stories
Writes novellas, or novels.

What I have here will help you. For some of you it will be a reminder.

Let’s begin with Dialogue Tags. A Dialogue Tag is when you have a speaker identified along with the dialogue and a word such as ‘said’.

Example: “The dog jumped the fence,” Bob said. OR Bob said, “The dog jumped the fence.”

Example: “Did the dog jump the fence?” Sally asked.

Notice there are words used to show what kind of speaking Bob and Sally are doing. Let’s change one to see what happens.

“The dog jumped the fence.” Bob pointed to Fido racing across the field after the sheep.

We know who is speaking here, Bob because he is the only one mentioned and he is doing an action associated with the act of seeing the dog jump the fence. Now let’s see what happens with Sally.

“Did the dog jump the fence?” Sally pointed to Fido racing across the field after the sheep.

You’ll run into some people who despise Dialogue Tags, regardless of the situation. They would like you to use something like an Action Beat instead. What are Action Beats? An Action Beat is the actions taking place between the dialogues. The two examples above with Bob and Sally pointing are Action Beats. Notice there was no mention of the people speaking. You assumed who was speaking.

My personal opinion is you need a combination of Beats and Tags and nothing at all. Sticking to one and one tool only, in my opinion, would be boring.

Let’s take a look at passage using all three tools.

Example with Dialogue Tags and Action Beats.

“This class is crazy.” Billy ducked the dark rectangular object on its way toward his head.
Larry picked up the weapon, marker dust covered his hand. He threw the eraser back at the offender. “We’re not playing! Find someone else!”
“Thanks, Larry.” Billy’s muffled voice came from the floor.
“You can get up now, Billy.”
“Do you think Ms. Willett will be mad when she sees what they did to her notes on the board?”
“If I were you, I’d be reading a book when she comes in. Act as innocence as possible.”
“Will that work?”
“Did last year. This is my second year in the class. I failed by a point last time. She’s tough. They don’t call her hard butt because she works out so much.”
Billy laughed, and said, “Either way she’s my favorite teacher.”

The above is not the best example, but it gives you an idea of what I’m talking about. I used one dialogue tag, and then only to keep the reader on track. I didn’t want to throw in lots of Action Beats. Action Beats work great, but can be overdone.
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Then you might have a passage with only Dialogue Tags.

All Dialogue Tags:

“This class is crazy,” Billy said and ducked the dark rectangular object on its way toward his head.
“We’re not playing! Find someone else!” Larry said.
“Thanks, Larry,” Billy said.
“You can get up now, Billy,” Larry said.
“Do you think Ms. Willett will be mad when she sees what they did to her notes on the board?” Billy asked.
“If I were you, I’d be reading a book when she comes in. Act as innocence as possible,” Larry said.
“Will that work?” Billy asked.
“Did last year. This is my second year in the class. I failed by a point last time. She’s tough. They don’t call her hard butt because she works out so much,” Larry said.
“Either way she’s my favorite teacher,” Billy said.
How boring is that? Annoying? Except for the exclamation marks for Larry there is no personality or life to the scene. Now you see why you use dialogue tags as little as possible. You also use Action Beats only when you need to. Of course you can pep up the dialogue itself and accomplish a lot.
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One thing you need to do when writing is, give each character a distinctive voice. I always try to do that in every story I write. One character might speak in short sentences, another in long. This guy doesn’t use contractions, this guy uses them even when they don’t exist.

By giving distinctive voices, you can have a conversation without a lot of tags or beats. Beats are good. You do need them. However, if you can get as much as possible across in your dialogue you are a long way to being a success.

No Dialogue Tags and No Action Beats.

“Billy, duck!”
“These people are insane. That could’ve hit me in the eye. Thanks Larry.”
“We’re not playing! Find someone else!”
“Ooo, you nailed him with that eraser.”
“He shouldn’t’ve thrown it in the first place. Uh, Billy?”
“Yeah?”
“Stop hiding.”
“Oh, yeah. Thanks. Do you think Ms. Willett will be mad when she sees what they did to her notes on the board?”
“Put it this way, if I were you, I’d be reading a book when she comes in. Act like an angel.”
“Will that work? This place is a disaster area. There is no way she will think we didn’t do some of this.”
“Worked last year.”
“Last year?”
“Uh, Billy, I’m a year older than you, remember? I failed by one point last time. But as bad as my grades were, I never got in trouble with Ms. Willett.”
“Larry, you’re always getting into trouble.”
“I know, but every time something happened, I stuck my nose in a book. She’s tough but fair. They don’t call her hard—”
“Larry!”
“Okay, they don’t call her hard ‘butt’ because of how much she works out.”
“I don’t care why they call her that, she’s my favorite teacher.”
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Along with dialogue, one thing I notice in books I read and blogs I read is Dialogue Punctuation. I’ll only mention one form of punctuation at this time.

I’ll also make this as simple as I can. Where does the comma go?

Example: “The dog jumped the fence,” Bob said. OR Bob said, “The dog jumped the fence.”

In dialogue, we all know to use the quotation marks around the speech, the dialogue. Where does the comma go? Yes, there is a comma in most dialogue IF there is a normal expression of speech. Look at the example above. There is no exclamation nor a question mark, therefore you put a comma inside the quotation mark.

If you have an exclamation or question mark, then put the mark and close with the quotation, no comma is required.

Example: “The dog jumped the fence!” Bob said.

Example: “Did the dog jump the fence?” Sally asked.

No comma was required in the examples above.

You can do away with commas by not using Dialogue Tags and sticking with Action Beats. Yawn. Okay, not really yawn, if done correctly. When you have a scene with two people conversing, you can easily do away with Dialogue Tags and stick with Action Beats and no manner of denoting who is speaking at all based on the rhythm of the exchange.
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Grammar and Spelling

For those without Word to help catch spelling and grammar errors, I have a suggestion for you. However, first if you do have Word, I’m going to refer you to Using Proofing To Help Your Fiction Diction & More!, for how you can make the most of Word

Another TOOL to use, if you don’t have Word is Grammarly.com. It can be used inside of WordPress or any place you type, even comments on blogs. Also, they have a FREE version, which I use.
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If you found this helpful, you may also enjoy:

UNDERSTAND THE TOOLS OF YOUR TRADE by Jo Robinson of any of Jo’s articles on Self-Publishing by clicking HERE.

HOW TO AVOID MANUSCRIPT MENTAL FATIGUE. by Ronovan Hester.

Ronovan Hester is an author, with his debut historical adventure novel Amber Wake: Gabriel Falling due out in February 14, 2016. He shares his life through his blog RonovanWrites.WordPress.com. His love of poetry, authors and community through his online world has lead to the creation of a site dedicated to book reviews, interviews and author resources known as LitWorldInterviews.com.

Subscribe to Blog via Email

@RonovanWrites

HOW TO AVOID MANUSCRIPT MENTAL FATIGUE.

Why are the first few chapters of your book great and then the yawn sets in as you continue reading through your first draft? Did two people write it?

The problem is common, happens to us all, and is something rarely if ever discussed. I believe it is because we know. We. Just. Know.

I call it Manuscript Mental Fatigue (MMF). We put so much into those first few chapters, editing as we go, and you know we do, then we make it past perhaps chapter ten and it’s over. We just write. It’s not that our ideas are but we just aren’t executing them the way we did earlier. A rule given at every turn about something not to do it, but we spent all of that time on those first few chapters. Instead of letting the words flow, we edited and tried to make those first chapters excellent when it was only a first draft. Why?

If you are like me, then you might say to yourself, “I know once I am finished writing this I am going to hate going back and just doing it all over again, so I am going to make it perfect the first time through.”

We hate going back through it because we put so much effort into the first draft in polishing as we wrote it the first time.

NO!

Every time we go through a draft of the book we keep getting tired a few chapters in, and once again, we have poorly executed chapters as the book goes on and in truth, they need executed properly in the burn barrel in the backyard.

How To Avoid MMF.

The First Draft

First, don’t write when you are brain tired. When you feel the brain beginning to tire—STOP. Go ahead and stop. Nothing good will come from forcing water out of a dry sponge.

While resting do nothing regarding your novel other than simply jotting down an idea that comes to mind and make sure to reference when you came up with the idea, why, and where it should go in the book. If you don’t reference and have written a three-word idea, you’ll be lost.

We have finished our first draft!

The Walk Away

Now we need to walk away and:

Begin our next novel.
Work on the second draft of a novel.
Beta Read for an author friend.
Do anything that will get our minds off that first draft. You need to give the brain and the story a rest, a time to refresh and see each other anew. I personally love doing research for books.

Time goes by; let’s say a couple of months. I know; I am being optimistic with saying two months, some people say three months to a year. (I also know I have used two semicolons together in as many sentences.) Then there is the optimism we will stay away from our work for even two months.

I have run across things I wrote years ago and had no idea it was I that wrote them. They just didn’t sound like me, but were! That’s what you want to achieve. Put your all in other things and put that book out of your mind.

Set some type of alarm, maybe on the computer or in the cell phone that goes off on the date to start the next draft.
Don’t have it marked on a calendar somewhere that will remind you of it.

The Return Part I

Now we are back to the second draft. We are reading it and making notes along the way, not corrections, just notes. If we make corrections now, we will become brain mush. Just read and take notes.

Why?

If we began corrections, we will begin to tire out during those first chapters, just as we would if we did editing as we wrote the first draft.

The Return Part II

Divide the book into three parts. Beginning, middle, and end. We will first work on the beginning, making updates/changes to the story according to notes.

Take a break of a few days to a week. Rest that brain.

Continue the same process through the middle and end parts of the book.

Walk away from the book and work on something else. No, we don’t have to be away forever, but we do want a bit of fresh eyes.

The Return Part III

Now it is time to read the book with the changes in place. We can do a few things at this time.

Take notes of problem areas.
Highlight problem areas.
Print the draft and mark problem areas.

The Third Draft

Work on the problem areas.

Use Word, or something like Grammarly to check grammar, spellings, word usage, and passive sentence structure, if passive sentences are something to be avoided which they normally are.

This is the time to become happy with the manuscript, happy enough for others to read it. We need to make a decision at this point to either have the manuscript edited or sent to beta-readers. There are different thoughts on which to do first, the editor or the beta-readers.

Some believe not to let beta-readers see the manuscript until it is as close to publishable as possible, with minor changes to take place at their suggestion.

I do see the merit of beta-reader last idea. If you have several beta-readers giving feedback then make the changes, send to the editor, and then publish, there may be changes made the beta-readers might like or dislike that would affect a review or recommendation.

The Book

Give it up to the reader fairies of the world.

Rinse and Repeat for the next project, that book you were working on while this one was at rest back up there after that first draft.

If you have ideas of how to avoid MMF, leave them in the comments below for others to learn from your wisdom. Appreciation in advance to anyone who comments below.

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10 Writing Commitments for 2016 (Guest Post by Author Claire Fullerton)

Commit to being a Full-Time Writer.

3 FOR #FREE #FRIDAYREADS!

Design on a Crime
Ginna Aiken
“Sometimes decorating can be deadly serious

Haley Farrell is taking a chance on herself. After earning her interior design certificate, she quits her retail job and opens a decorating business. But starting her own company may be tougher than she first thought. Just as Haley’s first assignment gets underway, she suddenly finds herself as the prime suspect in a murder investigation. What’s worse, the victim is Haley’s best friend and mentor, Marge Norwalk.

Reeling from Marge’s death, Haley soon realizes that the only way to prove her innocence is to find the real murderer. Before long, Haley is collecting clues and suspects like other designers collect paint chips and fabric samples. But will contractor Dutch Merrill and detective Lila Tsu be swayed by her investigative talents? Or will she be the one punished for this perfectly designed crime?”`-Amazon

Forbidden Mind
Karpov Kinrade
“From USA Today bestselling author Karpov Kinrade comes an award-winning series full of romance and page-turning suspense.
She reads minds. He controls minds. Together, they might get out alive.
I’ve seen into the minds of killers and have crawled into the darkest mental corners of humanity, but even I wasn’t prepared for this.
I thought that when I turned 18 I would be released from my secret school of paranormal spies and free to follow my dreams and make my own life. That’s what we all thought. Until I met Drake.
Everything changed when I linked minds with the blond-haired boy strapped to that gurney. In my wildest dreams I couldn’t have imagined the dangerous truth behind my life.
And now time is running out. We must work together to save ourselves and everyone we love. Before it’s too late.
“…a thrilling, dark and deeply romantic read that had me sitting on the edge of my seat and eagerly awaiting the next installment.” ~ Refracted Light Young Adult Book Reviews
Winner of 2011 Forward National Literature Award”-Amazon

Samson’s Deal
Shelley Singer
“Library Journal said: “Great bar scenes, a wonderfully wry narrative, and the obvious affection between Jake and Rosie will have readers clamoring for more.”
MURDER, POLITICS, AND STRANGE BEDFELLOWS…
Samson’s Deal is the FIRST cozy mystery in the Jake Samson and Rosie Vicente detective series by award-winning author Shelley Singer.

“Singer has a good ear for dialogue among the witless … It’s fun to watch [Jake and Rosie] work together, and the bad guys eventually get their satisfying comeuppance, after an interesting plot twist that keeps things hopping till the very end.” —San Francisco Bay Guardian

Ex-Chicago-cop Jake Samson is tired of the rat race. He’s living in laid back Oakland, California with a couple of cats and just enough savings to eat canned oysters and accept collect calls from his bemused parents, when an old friend–a progressive political science professor–calls with an enticing offer. Seems the professor’s wife was found dead in the backyard of their Berkeley home, and he wants to pay Jake ten thousand dollars (plus expenses) to figure out whodunit.

The police pick up the usual leads; jealousy, dirty politics, and an estate worth killing for. Naturally, since the professor is the dead woman’s spouse, he’s the primary suspect. Samson doesn’t like the guy much, but the case heats up—quite literally—when the professor’s office is set afire by a radical right wing activist group, of which, it turns out, the wife was a member.

With his good friend Rosie, and her justice-dispensing two-by-four, Samson follows a twisted trail that leads through the Bay Area’s bizarre cultural labyrinth, from pop meditation ashrams to neo-Nazi rallies, to the startling but all too human truth.

“A fast-paced and often frightening look at the insidious attraction of the extreme right. Even though most of those drawn to the group may be on the lower end of any IQ chart, their sense of dedication to the mistaken idea that they possess a genetic and racial superiority is enough to make them very dangerous. This Shelley Singer novel is recommended.” -Bookbrowser

“…one of the nicer guys in the private eye business, who operates in a relaxed, casual style without need for macho posturing.” -Washington Post

WHO WILL LIKE IT: Fans of Parnell Hall’s Stanley Hastings series, Tony Dunbar’s Tubby Dubonnet series, Bill Pronzini’s “Nameless” Detective series, Marcia Muller’s Sharon McCone series, Susan Dunlap’s Jill Smith series, Julie Smith’s Rebecca Schwartz series … and vintage TV series like COLUMBO, THE ROCKFORD FILES, HARRY O, MAGNUM, and HAWAII FIVE-O.

Shelley Singer is the author of ten mysteries, two science fiction novels, one mainstream fiction, and many short stories.”-Amazon

#NEW #BOOK PROMO SITE! Check out the #FREE opportunity NOW!

THE FREE SPACES HAVE BEEN FILLED!

Thank you to those that participated.

Authors, do you want to get in on the ground floor of a NEW BOOK ADVERTISING SITE about to launch?

LWI’s own Dr. Jason Royle contacted me with this proposal;

Email and offer removed due to spots filled.

There is also a “Author in the Spotlight” spots. To be featured simply email me an “author photo” and “title of book” on Amazon and they will be listed on the site, (with a link to their book) permanently.

The title of the site is eBook Christian, but you do not have to be Christian to submit a book. The only requirement is that your book does not contain vulgar language, graphic violence, or sexual/erotic content.

Children’s books, poetry, self-help, fiction, non-fiction, suspense, romance, etc. all genres welcome.

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The Donor by @StevieTurner6. Excerpt and a 5 Star #Review.

Stevie Turner’s new women’s fiction novel ‘The Donor’ was recently published on December 14^th, and has a sibling rivalry / rockstar theme. Stevie usually writes about peculiar subjects that are not often covered by mainstream authors, and adds in a touch of humour here and there. To find out more about Stevie, please visit her website and check out her ‘About Me’ page by clicking on the link below:

http://www.stevie-turner-author.co.uk/about-me

Synopsis of The Donor:

When you know you have met the love of your life, the last thing you expect is for your sister to lure him away. Clare Ronson is faced with this scenario when her sister Isabel marries singer and guitarist Ross Tyler. To compound Clare’s jealousy and bitterness, Ross hits the big time and becomes a wealthy tax exile, relocating to France with his family. Clare cannot bring herself to speak to Isabel or Ross for the next 30 years. However, when tragedy occurs in 2002 causing Ross to arrive back in England at Clare’s doorstep, Clare must try to put the past behind her for her sister’s sake.

http://bookShow.me/B016MJ9W0Q

Goodreads review by LaDonna

LaDonna rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: arr, blog, backstage-books, rockstar-romance

The author provided me an ARC of this book for a honest review and to see if I felt it fit the criteria for “rockstar romance” for a blog I run dedicated to that genre. I felt it did, though it isn’t your typical rockstar romance. This book will take you on an emotional rollercoaster, and admittedly most of those emotions will be of the darker kind.

Once upon a time, Clare is very close to her older sister Izzy, and adores/idolized her in that way that only little sisters can. As a very naïve youThe author provided me an ARC of this book for a honest review and to see if I felt it fit the criteria for “rockstar romance” for a blog I run dedicated to that genre. I felt it did, though it isn’t your typical rockstar romance. This book will take you on an emotional rollercoaster, and admittedly most of those emotions will be of the darker kind.

Once upon a time, Clare is very close to her older sister Izzy, and adores/idolized her in that way that only little sisters can. As a very naïve young woman in 1970, Clare goes to a big rock festival. This American reader could really only tie it to the endless stories of Woodstock I have heard, being just slightly younger than that generation, but I realize festivals of the like were going on across the pond as well. Anyway, that is the picture I have in my mind of the festival she attended, and at the end of several days, Clare has lost her friends and is dirty, exhausted, hungry and broke. An Adonis of a man steps in and offers her an apple, and companionship back home. He is quite fond of the waif, and calls upon her to date whilst he is determined to make it in his band. He puts up with the obvious dislike of her father, and her virginal antics. She has quickly fallen in love with him, and he is quite smitten with her as well, until one night her sister decides to join them for one of his gigs.

To Ross’ credit, he never had any intention of hurting Clare, but when he met Izzy, the stars aligned and he knew he had met his soulmate. Likewise, Izzy had never meant to upset her sister, but who can deny true love. No one expected Clare to be as hurt as she was, or to hold a grudge for so long.

Life goes on as it is apt to do; tragedies, joys, and all the other little moments that make up a life pass by. Ross’ band hits the big time very quickly, as well as Izzy’s first pregnancy and their marriage. Clare refuses to have anything to do with any of it, hanging on to hatred for her sister for having the life she was sure was destined to be hers. Clare does go on to marry a perfectly suitable man, has 2 children with him, and by all accounts a pretty nice life with him. She tells him early on that she has an irreparable rift with her sister, but never tells him the reason why.

Izzy has always tried to keep tabs on her sister but Clare simply has not allowed it, even turning away when they once ran into one another and Izzy tried to introduce her to her niece. 30 years go by, and tragedy forces Izzy to contact Clare. Clare’s husband reads the note and encourages Clare to acknowledge Izzy’s plea, but Clare tears up the letter and ignores it. Not until Ross arrives at her door does she consider listening and doing what her sister needs. Here is where the story really came together for me. The senselessness of hate and holding on to a grudge, not to mention basically a teenage dream, for all those years, to finally realized how quickly life passes us by and how many precious moments simply cannot ever be replaced. There are so many unexpected twists and turns after Ross arrives, and so much depth to the amount of lives touched by this rift that seems so silly in retrospect. This story touched me on so many levels, and I hope that you will give it a chance to soak into your heart and mind as well.

Very highly recommended for anyone that realizes life doesn’t always hand us a happily ever after, at least not in the way we think it should.

EXCERPT FROM ‘THE DONOR’ BY STEVIE TURNER

COPYRIGHT STEVIE TURNER 2015

CHAPTER 1 – 1970

CLARE

Life as I know it is definitely starting to be a bit of a drag, due to the fact that I’ve been awake now for 3 days and nights on Desolation Hill. I am finished, kaput. Thank God it’s the last day, that’s all I can say.

I yawn for the umpteenth time and watch in a kind of stupor as the fences are torn down. Ruth jumps up excitedly and decides that she wants to try and get nearer the stage. I watch her treading unconcerned over zombie-like bodies lying comatose and frying in the heat of the late August afternoon, and try to summon up enough strength to follow her. But by then, hungrier and more tired than I have ever been, I am faced with the certainty that all I really want to do is to go home. Bands have started to merge one into the other, but I know I’ll have to face a ribbing from Ruth if I set off without first having tried to get nearer the stage if only to feast one weary eye on the hunk of masculinity that is Paul Rogers while there is still some good daylight left.

I force my body to move, performing a quick recce around what has transformed in three days from arable farmland into a nuclear fallout zone contained in some kind of human landfill site. I cannot see Ruth, but I stumble on regardless. Somewhere out there my friend has become lost in a sea of 500,000 faces; just another flower-bedecked hippie indistinguishable from the masses.

Far away on the horizon I can see a speck holding a microphone stand up above his head; Paul Rogers is holding the crowd in the palm of his hand, and I am missing it. Behind him on the low stage, long hair flying in the sultry air, Paul Kossoff, six string shredder extraordinaire, is ripping into the solo for ‘All Right Now.’

I cannot make my legs walk another step. I yawn. Infuriatingly I still seem to be on Desolation Hill as far as I can make out. Sighing with fatigue, I slump down on the grass where I stand, close my eyes, and listen to the hubbub around me. My long hair feels like a heavy blanket on my back; I desperately want something to eat, I need a bath, and I ache for my mum to be fussing around me like she does when I am sick.

“Hey babe, have some of this.”

I am startled by a voice very close to my ear. I open my eyes again and look to my left to see what only can be described as a bronzed, blond Adonis, with long fair curls stretching down over his shoulders. He is stripped to the waist apart from a small rucksack on his back, and wears frayed pale-blue Levi shorts and a pair of well-worn ‘Jesus creeper’ sandals. He squats down beside me and holds out a lighted spliff.

“It’ll take away the pain.”

I consider myself to be in extremis, soon to be engulfed in the Grim Reaper’s arms. There is no way out except death. I take a huge drag and retch as the sweet fumes of cannabis grab the back of my throat.

“Thanks.” I cough. “I think.”

“Woh!” Adonis laughs into the sun. “Easy! You’re not used to it, I can tell.”

“Is it that obvious?” I want my head to stop spinning. “I’ve come to the end of my rope. A spliff won’t do any harm now.” I take another drag.

“I think I’ll take it back actually.” Adonis prises the joint from my fingers. “Are you hungry?”

“Starving.” I nod, with eyes trying to close. “All I’ve got left is my hovercraft ticket back to Southsea.”

“And you can’t eat that.” Adonis attacks the spliff with expertise, puffing out a cloud of aromatic smoke. “I’ll see what I’ve got left in my rucksack.”

Keeping the spliff between the index and middle finger of his left hand, with one poetic swoop of his right shoulder he dislodges the rucksack’s straps, opens it up and looks inside, bringing out a slightly dented but still crisp-looking Golden Delicious apple and handing it to me.

“My mum’s always on at me to eat more roughage.”

Laughing, I feast my eyes on the apple, which in my famished state seems to have taken on the proportions of a gargantuan banquet.

“If you’re sure.” I cannot help but take it. “I’ve eaten nothing since yesterday. Somebody stole what was left of my food. It’s too far to walk to try and buy some, and anyway, I’ve no money left.”

“It’s every man for himself, here.” Adonis nods. “What’s your name?”

“Clare.” I bite into pure nectar. “Clare Ronson. How about you?”

“Hi Clare, I’m Ross Tyler.” Adonis holds out his hand. “I hitchhiked from Ryde on Friday with a mate from college, who was last seen yesterday trying to find somewhere private to take a crap.”

Juice from the apple runs down my chin and I wipe it away with my left hand, shake Ross’s hand with the other, and smile up at him.

“You’re a lifesaver, Ross. I came here with a friend as well, but maybe she met up with your mate. I haven’t seen her for a few hours now.”

“Looks like it’s us two against the world then.” Ross slings the rucksack back over his shoulder. “I’m on my way up the hill; going to hitchhike back to Ryde and get a chance on the hovercraft before this lot set off. Coming?”

I’ve had enough. My knight in Jesus creepers has materialised and is standing right in front of me. Not one for wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth, and fortified by the sweet fruit, I nod and get to my feet.

“Yes; I want to go home.”

Paul Rogers is giving it all he’s got. Taking one last look at the stage and wondering if we would ever see the like of it again, I grab my saviour’s outstretched hand and we begin to thread our way between the bodies and mounds of detritus, back up Desolation Hill and over Afton Down, eventually descending onto the Military Road. Crowds of young people have the same idea, and we all saunter along amiably in the late afternoon heat, in no rush to get off the Island, and unaware that we are part of history in the making. In front of us are two girls holding hands; one is naked except for a pair of pink knickers, and the other is bare from the waist down.

“Looks like those two have fared worse than you.” Ross smirks.

I am stoned on cannabis fumes, lack of sleep, hunger, and a definite animal attraction for my new-found friend. It matters to me not one jot that female flesh usually kept under wraps is now exposed to the stares of all and sundry. Presently the girls slope off and join many other festival-goers, washing off the dirt from Desolation Hill in the choppy waters of Freshwater Bay. I smile at Ross as we trudge along Military Road, copying him and raising my thumb some time later as crowds begin to thin out and the odd car can be seen driving past us on the way to maybe Brook Green or further on into Niton or Newport.

“Who in their right mind is going to give us a lift?” I panic while wondering just how much further I can walk. “Look at the state of us. How many miles is it to Ryde from here? Can’t we wait for a bus?”

“About twenty.” Comes the cheerful reply. “I’m skint, the same as you. It’s hitching or Shanks’s pony.”

My affable, blond Adonis is prepared to traipse into the night to reach his destination. It’s all I can do to keep up with his long, loping strides. The buzz from the apple wears off around Compton Bay, and I want to cry.

“Cheer up, babe.”

Ross winks and puts his arm around me. The effect is galvanising and instantly spurs me on. I gaze up into his pale blue eyes, and his nearness causes a pleasant throbbing sensation in my groin. I have never seen such beauty in a man before. I am certain I haven’t seen him at Uni.

“Which University are you at?” I find myself looking down in the direction of his groin as we walk.

“Not Uni; Portsmouth Art College.” Ross holds his fist up and jerks his thumb at passing cars. “How about you?”

“The Uni; not far from there though. Reading English; I want to be a teacher. Do you think you’ll be a famous painter then?”

“Don’t know.” Ross shrugs and fondles the hair at the back of my neck. “But I’m having a ball finding out.”

***

It’s not until we walk past Compton Bay and head towards Brook Green that a van stops next to us. Ross is still pointing his thumb in the vague direction of Newport, but I have long ago given up, and am just concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other. I hear Ross speak to the driver who is on his way to Bembridge, and to my great delight he beckons us into the cab and agrees to drop us off along the seafront at Ryde. The van has three seats at the front. I let Ross go in first, who chats amiably to the driver most of the way I think. Me, I put my head on Ross’s shoulder and am asleep before the van has even pulled away.

#Interview with H. Schussman of El Tiburon. @RonovanWrites

Today I’m interviewing H. Schussman, author of El Tiburon, an action/thriller due to release on Dec. 31, 2015 and available for pre-order NOW! I’m not wasting time with my words, let’s get to hers.

The first thing I would like to do is ask, why the CIA and an action thriller?

Gee, that’s a hard question. I don’t know why I picked the CIA. It was a toss-up between them and the FBI. I’m glad I chose them though because the CIA has so many covert sub-groups. As for being an action thriller… well, that’s just how Sean and Sport are. Never a dull moment with those two. (I do have a book on the back burner, which is more of a family generational saga, so I have other genres.) I seem to be attracted to the intense fast-paced genre. I write like I’m creating a movie script.

In my review of El Tiburon, I talk about your creation of legitimate women roles, was there a conscious effort to make certain these woman remained women and not men with women’s names?

It wasn’t a conscious effort, no. Until you pointed it out, I hadn’t realized I was unique that way. I was raised in a police family. When I was in my teens I wanted to be a California Highway Patrolman like my father. I still remember my father telling me that men and women are heroes in different ways, but equally heroic. I guess I let my heroines be women, because they are.

You do hands on research. What does your husband think of a woman that knows how to handle guns and goes into crazy parts of the world?

As I answer this, my husband is at the shooting range. He asked me if I wanted go, but I need to stay focused on this book release. I learned to shoot when I was five, and have always enjoyed researching firearms. I will go down to the range, and get brochures and handle guns to make sure I have a good feel for them. As for the traveling, he’s the ring-leader there. You’d be amazed at the crazy places he’s dragged me to. Both times we went to Guatemala, we stayed with local families in their homes for a month each time. We wandered the streets aimlessly looking for wine bars and new friends.

I’ve read that you and Sport McGee would be great buddies, what life experiences of your adulthood are found in Sport’s creation?

I suppose the fact that I work in a hospital as a physical therapist would put me in contact with the ‘Dr. McGees’ of the world. Maybe that’s why I de-glamorize her… make her more human.

I’m not quite as feisty as she is, but I’m not exactly a softy either. Like her, I like to work out and stay fit. As I stated earlier, I was a bit of a rough and tumble teen. My brother and I would physically fight fairly often while growing up, which endowed me with quick reflexes and a mean kidney punch. Her fight scenes are not far from my personal experiences.

On the intellectual level, I guess my mother and my mother-in-law both influenced my view of womanhood. They were both very intelligent and interested in politics and business. All in all, I think Sport would be fun to hang around with. I love her compassion and humor.

From what I can tell, you’re a seat-of-pants writer. You have a basic idea of what you want but the characters take over at some point. Can you give an example of a corner the characters wrote you into that you escaped?

Too many to count! I’m the ultimate scene critic. I can’t tell you how many times I just threw up my hands and said, “Come on you guys! Just kill the dude!” So then, I have to back up and justify why they didn’t kill off so-and-so while they had the chance. Or I just kill ‘em off myself and make Sport and Sean figure out what to do from there.

Who would you say is the one most influential person from your childhood that has an impact on your writing today? In that question, I mean as in your character development and interest, not so much writing style.

From my childhood, I’d have to say my father, Leo Schussman. He was my hero, but he’s really not any of my characters, oddly enough. I think he had a keen eye for crime. My Mom impacted my insight into character. She was incredibly creative and constantly made up stories. We called her, “Little Miss Adjective.” She would ask us to make up a story about some stranger at a diner to keep us entertained.

I mentioned in my review about the relationships in El Tiburon, are those aspects you were hoping for or side effects of the story itself?

They were natural side effects and often surprised me.

You mention the Guajeros* in El Tiburon, and in fact, they are a central part of it, are there things you are doing now, or ways you know of for people to help them? Also, tell our readers a little about them.

We have a church family in Guatemala City. I choose not to tell you who they are, as it could place them in danger with their government. The people group living inside the Guatemala City garbage dump are called Guajeros, or nicknamed the Cockroaches. Most third world countries have their ‘Guajeros’. This dump has over 11,000 people living there, inside the dump. 6,000 of those are children. At one point many years ago, a magazine article was written about them and their horrible living conditions. The humanitarian groups decried the situation, and the Guatemalan Government shut down all visitation from churches and relief organizations. They also built a wall between the garbage-homes and the garbage, so they could say the people didn’t live in the dump. Now outsiders need permission and an escort to go there.

The ways to help them are limited because of government suppression. One organization helping the Guajeros is http://www.safepassage.org/, A website describing the scenery is http://www.vice.com/read/the-basurero-is-burning-life-at-the-gates-of-hell-in-guatemala-city.

In this book, I allow them to come forth as strong characters, not pathetic wimps. I wanted to let the characteristics of ethics, honesty, and anger come forth in a real way. My desire isn’t to change them, but to allow ourselves to be changed by them.

How did you go from e-author to Vinspire Publishing author?

Smashwords is a great platform for getting your name out there. I made the decision to let my first novel, Counterpart (Sean and Sport’s debut), be a financial wash. I felt that having my book read was more important for a long-term career in writing. For that reason, I made it free for several years. I’ve had over 700 downloads, and 42 reviews at Barnes & Noble. I used that success to sell El Tiburon. I shopped around for a publishing company and loved Vinspire’s slogan; ‘Your Travel Guide To Adventure’. I researched the company and felt they would be a good match. I put a few of my reviews with my query and they accepted me. They are using my book to launch a new genre—Ethnic Romance.

I read where you used Operation eBook Drop** for promotion; can you tell us about how that worked for you with book promotion and audience reach?

Operation eBook Drop was proposed by Smashwords to its authors. I liked it because it helped our active duty military. They get books for free from any author who signs up for it. At that time, my book was a couple of bucks. I think it helped with sales. My books have a pretty strong military angle. There is no way for me to know who buys my book, but my blog ( dashingboldadventure.blogspot.com ) had a huge increase in foreign country page views. To this day, it will occasionally have more views outside of the US than inside. I have a strong readership in Russia and the Middle East.

You’ve written two books with these characters, the first being Counterpart, what are you working on now?

Pirates! Sean and Sport take a lesser role to Craig and a new character, Dan. Pirates is about modern day pirating starting off the west coast of Costa Rica and traveling to Italy. Right now, they are misbehaving and I can’t figure out what they’re doing. I may have to take over and rein them in for a tighter read. It looks as though this one is going to be my first non-conspiracy theory book… just good old-fashioned organized crime. But who knows?

One of the things I found surprising about El Tiburon was the story was different to me than what the book cover gave me the impression of. I ended up with a well paced thriller, squarely focused on the mission and not a man-saves-woman-and-then-sex or that chauvinistic vein of thriller.~Ronovan

Ms. Schussman is asking everyone possible to pre-order the book before the release date of December 31. All those orders will show up for that date and help make her book do great on the best seller’s list. (That’s what we all wish readers would do. It’s nice to have the best seller label to attach to a book.)

Connect with H. Schussman:

http://hschussman.blogspot.com/

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6430632.H_Schussman

*https://youtu.be/O6SPy9qV1M4

**According to Smashwords, Operation eBook Drop has ended, although you may find articles out there which say to the contrary and do similar things.

About the Reviewer

Ronovan Hester is an author, with his debut historical adventure novel Amber Wake: Gabriel Falling due out in Valentine’s Day of 2016. He shares his life through his blog RonovanWrites.WordPress.com. His love of poetry, authors and community through his online world led to the creation of a site dedicated to book reviews, interviews and author resources known as LitWorldInterviews.com.

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@RonovanWrites

10 #Books for #Christmas from my #Reviews.

Looking for a last minute present for Christmas?

Want a great book?

Need a gift to put you into that FREE Shipping range?

Here are my suggestions from my reviews this year. Click the links for the reviews. Or click the book image to go to Amazon.

Literary Fiction, Ireland, Contemporary

#Book Review of Dancing to an Irish Reel by @cfullerton3

“You might at times want to hit Liam over the head with something, like his accordion, but then, he is a man, it’s love, and he’s young, so what else would you expect? And that is one thing that makes this book real and allows the reader to connect with it. No one is perfect in the book. “

Historical Fiction, Adventure, Archaeology, WWII

The Judas Apocalypse by @DanMcNeil888 “At times his encounters are humorous, deadly, and explosive.”

“He’s been referred to as the new Dan on the block of historical fiction conspiracy theories. I don’t agree. Dan McNeil handles his subject with a better hand than Brown ever has. Yeah, sure, you want to knock him across the room at times but who doesn’t want to read something that gets them on an emotional level at times? If you want a fluff read, skip this review. McNeil isn’t about fluff.”

Marriage, Relationships, Humor, Self Discovery

#Book Review by @RonovanWrites of Sex & Samosas by Author @JasmineAziz

“Nothing is perfect. Sex isn’t perfect like a scripted movie. Things happen, and man, I am still dying over the what I call ‘on fire’ part of the book.”

Christian, Inspiration, and Parenting.

Jesus vs. Santa: Christmas Misunderstood by @JERoyle #Book Review by @RonovanWrites

“You’ll learn where the answer to how we handle the issue of Santa with our kids begins. A great deal of what you find in Jesus vs. Santa you can use in everyday life with not only your children, but yourself as well.”

Judas: Hero Misunderstood by @JERoyle

“The style he chose to use is contemporary in the use of language and symbolism in order for anyone today to relate and connect to the story. Unlike many other takes that are similar to what Royle has done you don’t get a preachy style. At the very end, after the story is all done and over with, you receive a look at passages from the Bible to show you what may or may not bring credence to what Royle has written.”

Fantasy, Vampires, WWII, Magic, Wizards, Adult

#Book #Review of The Tower’s Alchemist The Gray Tower Trilogy Book 1 by Alesha Escobar @The_GrayTower

“Isabella George is not your typical spy. For one she’s a female spy in WWII sneaking in to German occupied France. Yes, there were female spies but not the norm in literature of this type. And for another thing, she’s a wizard. Her mission in this first book of the Gray Tower Trilogy is to find and bring home the wizard creating a chemical weapon for the Nazis. But would it be a book worth a Trilogy if it were that simple?”

Action, Adventure, Terroists

Levant Mirage by @OliverFChase “It’s so possible, it’s scary.” #Book Review

“Levant Mirage takes snapshots from the headlines of the past few years to build a character and combines it with frighteningly realistic possibilities to give a story you pray never happens.”

Mystery, Suspense

Close Up on Murder by Linda Townsdin @ltownsdin. A #BookReview.

“Levant Mirage takes snapshots from the headlines of the past few years to build a character and combines it with frighteningly realistic possibilities to give a story you pray never happens.”

Irish Mythology, Folklore, Short Story Collection

#BookWorm @RonovanWrites Review Grá mo Chroí Love Stories from Irish Myth @aliisaac_ & @MJDougherty33

“The stories are of love and tragedy and more. I felt while reading the stories I was reading not about people in a book, or about love between two people and what befalls them but the love of a people for their homeland and their culture and the tragedies they faced throughout the ages. Yes, it hit me where it hurt, or it felt. Got me in the heart. “

Poetry, Haiku

New Book! A Haiku Perspective by Annette Rochelle Aben @YouAreTheExpert

“Welcome to my haiku perspective on life. It is easy to enjoy this book because haiku flows, which means it can be experienced effortlessly. Perhaps reading this book will open up some creative energy within you and if so, you will share your haiku as well. Those who live to express themselves with words, craft a world using the alphabet, are giving life to imagination and thought.”

Jesus vs. Santa: Christmas Misunderstood by @JERoyle #Book Review by @RonovanWrites

In Jesus vs. Santa: Christmas Misunderstood, Jason Royle tackles THE big question of Christmas; Is Santa evil? Okay, maybe he doesn’t quite put it that way, but you know a lot of Christians have issues with Santa.

After reading, enjoying, and reviewing Judas: Hero Misunderstood (click HERE for the review of that one), and then bringing Jason onboard LWI as our Christian and Inspirational book reviewer, there was no doubt I was going to read this new one.

One thing about both Jason and I, we are Christians. We are by choice, living it Christians. That means even though Jason works here, he gets an honest review from me. He expects one as well. If his book was so bad I couldn’t finish it, I would do like I do with other books like that, I send an email explaining things instead of putting it out there to the world my opinion that it was bad. The fact there is a review here should give you an idea if I liked the book or not.

In Jesus vs. Santa: Christmas Misunderstood, Royle takes you through the history of Christmas, from the real Saint Nicholas to the daddy of Thor, in a brief and painless way. (I was a History teacher, so I know about painful history lessons.) You’ll learn where the answer to how we handle the issue of Santa with our kids begins. A great deal of what you find in Jesus vs. Santa you can use in everyday life with not only your children, but yourself as well.

As a minister and a father, Jason has to balance the question we all face as parents each Christmas with even more pressure than the rest of us. You might think he’s going to go full force in one direction on this subject, but read. If the answer is as clear as that, why would I read it and review it? If the answer is as simple as No More Santa, I would not waste my novel writing time reading the book and then even more of that time writing a review.

As an ordained Deacon, former Youth Minister, and Sunday School Director, I feel the pains Jason goes through in a family moment he shares. My son is 11 now, and the question of Santa is a big thing at the moment. He’s not asking, but you can see how realization is setting in. Fortunately, I’ve done some of the things Jason mentions in his book, so my hope is things transition well.

If you are about to enter the Santa zone with your kids, are in the middle of it, or coming to the end of it, read this book to find out how to handle things in a way that keeps your kids on the right path of Jesus not only at Christmas, but year around.

5 out of 5 Stars

Bet it at Amazon by clicking HERE NOW for Kindle/Paperback for $2.99/$5.99.

ABOUT JASON E. ROYLE

“Writing, for Jason, is a way to express the ongoing story of theology. With every book or article, he hopes readers get a sense of the complexity of God and the necessity of faith. Captivated by the spiritual component of life, Jason loves to read everything from the Greek classics to the Sunday comics. While serving as pastor of a congregation near Memphis, TN, Jason wrote a weekly column in a local newspaper called Sermon in a Nutshell and has had devotions published in The Secret Place, among others.”

Click the image to follow the latest from Jason on Twitter!

About the Reviewer

Ronovan Hester is an author, with his debut historical adventure novel Amber Wake: Gabriel Falling due out in Valentine’s Day of 2016. He shares his life as an amnesiac and Chronic Pain sufferer through his blog RonovanWrites.WordPress.com. His love of poetry, authors and community through his online world has lead to a growing Weekly Haiku Challenge, a Weekly Fiction Prompt Challenge, and the creation of a site dedicated to book reviews, interviews and author resources known as LitWorldInterviews.com.

Subscribe to Blog via Email

@RonovanWrites

El Tiburon by H. Schussman #Book #Review by @RonovanWrites

I received a preview copy of this book from the author for an honest review. Here it is.

CIA Agent Sean McGee is normally a laid-back guy. Even on a mission, he takes things in stride and does his job. His latest mission is to set up cameras in the compound of a drug lord in Guatemala. It sounds simple. Then El Jefe, the drug lord of all drug lords in Guatemala, decides to kidnap Sean’s wife, Sport, to use against him. Sean changes his plans.

Read that paragraph and you miss the real story of El Tiburon.

Thriller-YES
CIA Agents-YES
Covert Marines-YES
Drug Lords and Double Agents-Check Check

One thing you also get is the inclusion of fleshed out roles for women as integral parts of the story, the mission, and more, not a plot device for the macho man to rescue.

Why do I make a point about women?

In many books, the writer throws a woman into a role that the reader can tell was written for a male, and the name was changed for some reason. The writer doesn’t do anything to make the character a woman except for that name change. Schussman goes through the process of creating parts and roles for each woman involved. Believe me; women are essential to the success or failure of McGee’s mission. (Writers, it’s not that difficult to write women. Even I can do it. If I can, anyone can.)

A thriller needs to have three qualities to make me happy.

Relationships

With any book I enjoy, it must have relationships. In a thriller, the action serves as the setting to relationships, and that is what H. Schussman does with El Tiburon.

This book isn’t about taking down a drug lord, it’s not even about taking down the king of the drug business of the Americas, El Tiburon, The Shark himself. This book is about not messing with family, friends, and loved ones.

Not only is their Sean’s wife Sport being put in danger, but his partner Gary develops feelings for a change. Dr. Janet McGee, Sport, ends up caring for a people group that no one else seems to bother with, ignores, or doesn’t even know exists.

Realism/Research

Two of my favorite authors are John Gardner and Clive Cussler: the first for his realistic handling of the spy genre of James Bond, Herbie Kruger, and Secret Generations, and the second for his research and attention to details. With El Tiburon all three of those aspects come together.

Learning

Schussman also does the third thing I enjoy in a book; she teaches or reveals something that I didn’t know about before in a culture or society. She’s definitely done her homework for this novel. There were certain parts I went to the search engines and did my own searching. She hadn’t made things up.

Recommendation

Given time I’ll read this book again. As I started to read I had a difficult time getting into the book. The prologue and the first few paragraphs of the first chapter are only a couple of pages long, so when you begin reading, keep reading. But once past those couple of pages and reading where the main characters begin I started enjoying things in a big way. The prologue does give some information that’s useful and maybe gives a sense of immediacy to the book, and the beginning of the first chapter lets you know about one of the characters involved.

RATING

Character Believability: 3.5
Flow and Pace: 4.5
Reader Engagement: 4
Reader Enrichment: 4.5
Reader Enjoyment: 4
Overall Rate: 4.1

Author: H. Schussman
Title: El Tiburon
File Size: 618 KB
Print Length: 315 pages
Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
Publisher: Vinspire Publishing (Dec. 31, 2015)
Publication Date: December 31, 2015
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
Language: English
ASIN: B018ZVID8Q
Text-to-Speech: Enabled
Format: Kindle
Price: PRE ORDER $3.99
Lending: Enabled

ABOUT H. SCHUSSMAN

I am a writer living in Northern California. My husband and I travel about 8 weeks a year, and during that time I try to hunt down an internet cafe to tell my story. Usually twice a week . . . depends on where I am. I also am a physical therapist specializing in brain disorders and brain injuries . . . challenging! Anyway, I like to write, so if you like to read (and comment if you like) this is the blog for you. Check out my new espionage, full size novel titled ‘Counterpart’ available at http://www.smashwords.com. My newest novel, El Tiburon is now being published with Vinspire Publishing. It should be available next year sometime.

About the Reviewer

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@RonovanWrites

Thom Tate Spear Garden @ThomasATate #BookLaunch

How would you like a chance at a signed copy of the first FULL-LENGTH Blake MacKay Spy Thriller by Thom Tate?

“A coup is brewing inside the last dictatorship in Europe. Belarusian Prime Minister, Oleg Shorets is devising the ultimate assassination, using a devastating new weapon to fake a terrorist attack and kill the Belarusian President, Vladimir Solonovich. With plans to blame it on Al Qaeda, the more collateral damage, the better. Thousands will die.

Meanwhile, when the CIA discovers that weapons used to kill two U.S. border guards are from a former Cuban general turned gun dealer, Hector Vasquez, they decide to send their most lethal weapon, covert operative Blake MacKay to take him out.

Blake uses his charms on the general’s daughter, Adriana, to get close to complete his mission. After being discovered, he makes a daring escape with more questions than answers. Blake uncovers a deeper plot involving an Al Qaeda weapons dealer, a corrupt European prime minister, and a traitor inside his own organization.

After a disastrous raid on an Al Qaeda safe house, Blake finds the key to start unraveling the mystery. It forces him back to Cuba where only one person can help him decipher what he’s discovered; the daughter of the man he recently murdered.

Take a ride with Blake from Cuba, to Afghanistan, Belarus and Eastern Europe in this non-stop action thriller.”

Click HERE to visit Thom Tate’s Facebook Page-Covert World by Thom Tate for all the updates, contests, and surprises that may be associated with this and other book releases.

The BIG announcement is:

Spear Garden is being released Friday, December 18 on Amazon. And the first 15 who purchase the book and write a review on Amazon, get a FREE copy, signed and sent to them. That way you have the signed copy, and can give the other copy to a friend and share the work of Thom Tate.

AND

If you visit his facebook page you get a discount code from his update dated 12/17/15 that’s good through the end of the year for 15% off!!!

Visit his facebook page to get all the details HERE.

A Dream for Love by Lisa Belcastro @VineyardRomance #BookReview by @JERoyle

I want to begin by saying, I need to stop passing these great books on to Jason and read them myself! I believe this so much so I went and bought the author’s award winning Christmas novella as soon as I read this review.–Ronovan

To be honest, I am typically not a Christian romance reader. But A Dream for Love by Lisa Belcastro took me by surprise. This is my first book by Belcastro and I enjoyed her wholesome approach. To some extent, at first, the story seemed like it was going to be highly predictable, but it wasn’t; it had just the right amount of “I wonder what is going to happen next” in the air to keep me guessing and reading. An attractive story-line, foreshadowing, subtle humor, and good grammatical flow are several of the qualities which kept my attention.

Even though it is a story of relationships and romance, I still found myself taking out my pencil and underlining several thought provoking statements here and there. In chapter ten, for example, I underlined the quote “God doesn’t leave us in one place.”

In short, if you are in the mood for an emotional love story with a Godly message, then this book is for you. Fate will bring your dreams to life in A Dream for Love.

Get the book by clicking the book title or click HERE for her Amazon Author Page for all her selections. Including her award winning creations. Visit http://lisabelcastro.com/ and follow Lisa on Twitter @VineyardRomance

ABOUT LISA BELCASTRO

Lisa Belcastro lives with her family on Martha’s Vineyard, the ideal setting for her novels with the ocean, sandy beaches, rolling hills, and ancient cliffs. Lisa has published five books to date, with her Christmas novella, A Christmas: A Novella (Winds of Change) released November 17, 2015 has already won the SELAH Award for Best Novella. Lisa’s debut novel, Shenandoah Nights, won the Christian Small Publishers Association’s Romance Book of the Year in 2014, and also won the RWA New England Chapter’s Reader’s Choice Award in 2014.

She loves time with her family and friends, running, gardening, outdoor activities, cooking, chocolate, reading, traveling, a healthy dose of adventure, and her cat, Ben, who keeps her company while she creates fictional lives for the numerous characters living inside her head.

Lisa runs as an ambassador for TEAM 413 (www.team413.org), and has completed a marathon (26.2 miles) in all fifty states.

Writing, for Jason Royle, is a way to express the ongoing story of theology. With every book or article, he hopes readers get a sense of the complexity of God and the necessity of faith. Captivated by the spiritual component of life, Jason loves to read everything from the Greek classics to the Sunday comics. Amazon Author Page. @jeroyle

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Close Up on Murder by Linda Townsdin @ltownsdin. A #BookReview.

As always with any Book Review, these are one person’s opinions. That includes the great, the good, and the bad. This book was provided by the author for an honest review.

A Pulitzer Prize winning photojournalist stuck in a vacation lake town without her man? Combine that with a deadline to leave town for an assignment and murder threats against her family and what do you get?

Close Up on Murder by Linda Townsdin is the second in her Spirit Lake Mystery Series with her main character Britt Johansson, a magnet for trouble. She doesn’t go looking for it, it finds her, then she finds it back. Townsdin takes the cozy mystery genre feel of Lilian Jackson Braun and kicks it up to the next level with a touch of realism and a bit of 21^st Century whacked out criminal elements. I do think I noticed a homage to Lilian Jackson Braun and her mythical Moose County in a restaurant of importance. I won’t tell you what it is so you can look for it.

For those of you who are fans of Jackson Braun, you will get the same development and connection with Townsdin’s characters but with a higher energy and more sense of urgency. There are dozens of writers out there trying to achieve this and Townsdin has done it.

Don’t get me wrong, the town of Spirit Lake is NOT Pickaxe City. Townsdin has created an edgier world reflecting the reality of today, influenced, I imagine, from her time spent as a writer and editor for a criminal justice consortium. Not only do you get a mystery of who murdered a gentle and kindly old neighbor, much beloved in the town, but you get the continued challenge of cat and mouse being played by the brutal murderer.

Britt Johansson is only the main character of the cast. But much like any series the supporting cast adds a lot. Her brother Little, yes he is little, and his restaurant business and life partner Lars, are the reality check and family Britt needs to keep her grounded and always coming back from her assignments in war and famine.

Sheriff Wilcox is the local law who spends all of his time and resources to protect Britt, her family, and the town while trying to keep the photojournalist from getting herself in hot water or worse.

The rest of the supporting cast is varied and needed to flesh out a close knit community. But Britt’s many supporting cast member is Ben Winter, a Forest Ranger along the US and Canadian border who spends most of his time hunting down and stopping anything from people attempting to make their way into the country to human trafficking. His work and Britt’s don’t combine for a traditional or easy relationship.

You will fly through this book. Not because of an ease of read so much as a need to read. You will want to know the who, what, and why. Will you be surprised? I don’t know. Linda Townsdin does a great job of giving you what you need to get the answers. Are they the obvious or is she being sneaky? You would think sneaky or I wouldn’t ask, right?

Recommendations

I would recommend this book to those who like that cozy mystery hometown community feel but want a dose of reality in the mystery itself taken from the headlines at times. How much do I recommend this book? I have to get the first one now.

Character Believability: 4.5
Flow and Pace: 4.5
Reader Engagement: 4.5
Reader Enrichment: 4
Reader Enjoyment: 4.5
Overall Rate: 4.4

Author: Linda Townsdin
Title: Close Up on Murder
Print Length: 262 pages
Publication Date: June 1, 2015
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
Language: English
ASIN: B00YQ3UIKE
Formats: Kindle/Paperback
Price: $2.99/$12.52
Genres: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Linda Townsdin writes mysteries, short stories and poetic fiction. Published in 2014, Focused on Murder is the first book in her Spirit Lake Mystery series, inspired by her wonderful childhood in Northern Minnesota. Close Up on Murder is the second in the series. She lives in California with her husband. For much more information visit lindatownsdin.com. and follow her on Twitter @ltownsdin.

Ronovan Hester is an author, with his debut historical adventure novel Amber Wake: Gabriel Falling due out in December of 2015. He shares his life as an amnesiac and Chronic Pain sufferer through his blog RonovanWrites.WordPress.com. His love of poetry, authors and community through his online world has lead to a growing Weekly Haiku Challenge, a Weekly Fiction Prompt Challenge, and the creation of a site dedicated to book reviews, interviews and author resources known as LitWorldInterviews.com.

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@RonovanWrites

LET LWI HELP YOU WIN!

14 days left of National Novel Writing Month. As a famous New Yorker that had some FRIENDS used to ask:

“How You Doin’?”

If you haven’t achieved your goal yet, then let LWI help you.

I’ll get that help out of the way first.

ASK TO JOIN OUR BRAND NEW TODAY FACEBOOK WRITERS GROUP:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/LitWorldInterviewsWritersGroup/

I will be there as often as I can to help you with:

Writing Sprints: Timed writing periods where you write as much as you can without editing or worrying about anything. Then you rest and we start again. I let rest happen or you tire out and give up.
Plot Needs: Do you need help with what a profession might do or a business practice is? I can help look it up quickly. I have even helped with what does a gun sound like to draw attention without it being fired or cocked or a bullet put in the chamber.
Encouragement: Sometimes you need someone to talk to. No, I won’t be there every moment, as I do have blogging and writing to do as well, but I will be there to do what I can.

I won’t tell you my word count but I’ll say this, you can’t base anything on the word count of someone else.

How can you get from where you are to 50,000 words?

I will tell you this, I hit 50,000 words in 8 days. A lot of that came on a day on the weekend. That means you can do it in 14. Did I write every minute of the day? No. Did I write some of every hour? No.

I’ll repeat some of what I’ve advised before:

Don’t get bogged down in the details of what you are doing. Since this is a first draft and your goal is speed and word count, it isn’t about quality. In fact even if you were going for quality in a first draft, you would still end up doing at least drafts 2 and 3.

What does that mean?

WRITE!!!

Keep writing even if it doesn’t make sense. I wrote myself down paths I had no idea I was heading in and ended up using those directions to the story’s benefit.

LET THE CHARACTERS AND STORY WRITE THE STORY!!!

I’ll tell you one thing I did and still do, because I’m actually going through my novel and doing some detail work and research.

I like a certain show that has a lot of episodes on YouTube. So what I do is write for a while until I get a little tired and then I watch a YouTube episode. Then I return to writing.

Don’t want to get to that tired point?

Set a timer. if your computer doesn’t have one then use one online.

http://onlineclock.net/

Do sprints using the alarm clock with or without friends. Sprints? Yes, Do about 23 minutes and take 7 off, or you can do 26 minutes. You are thinking that is a lot of wasted time. Let me tell you something. If you do sprints where you take only 5 minute breaks your fingers are going to get so tired you will either end up having to quit OR you will be making so many mistakes you will get frustrated with your typing. I got to the point during sprints with a facebook group, which helped me get my word count, that my fingers didn’t want to move off of the keys to the other keys. It was awful.

I CAN ALSO POINT YOU TO OUR:

NaNoWriMo Support Category.

There you will find some NaNoWriMo Tips articles. One of which is:

5 WAYS TO MOVE AHEAD IN YOUR NOVEL.

Remember to ask to join the group and I’ll do what I can to help you win.

Much Respect

Ronovan

Ronovan Hester is an author, with his debut historical adventure novel Amber Wake: Gabriel Falling due out in December of 2015. He shares his life as an amnesiac and Chronic Pain sufferer through his blog RonovanWrites.WordPress.com. His love of poetry, authors and community through his online world has lead to a growing Weekly Haiku Challenge and the creation of a site dedicated to book reviews, interviews and author resources known as LitWorldInterviews.com.

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@RonovanWrites

#FREE JUST ADD WATER by @jinxschwartz A SASSY BOOK BY A SASSY AUTHOR!

FREE THROUGH NOVEMBER 18th!

This one doesn’t come up for free ever! Get it now. I got mine.

HETTA COFFEY IS A SASSY TEXAN WITH A SNAZZY YACHT, AND SHE’S NOT AFRAID TO USE IT!
Just Add Water, winner of the National EPPIE Award for BEST MYSTERY.

LitWorldInterviews.com-The Week-In Review. 11/9-11/14

BOOK REVIEWS

‘The Blue Crimes’ by Enrique Laso
by Olga Núñez Miret

The Blue Crimes by Enrique Laso. An intriguing case and an even more intriguing investigator.

The Blue Crimes is the first book in Enrique Laso’s collection of Ethan Bush Thrillers. Ethan Bush is a young FBI agent, one of the most promising, top of his Psychology class at Stanford and self-assured, or so he seems. He arrives to Jefferson County fresh from solving a serial murder case in Detroit and expectations are running high. Read The Complete Review.

The Judas Apocalypse by Dan McNeil “At times his encounters are humorous, deadly, and explosive.”
by Ronovan Hester

McNeil gives us a story that spans two thousand years, not year by year or hanging out in that distant past for so long you want to skip pages, and that story threatens to devastate a world, a way of life, and rewrite history. And he does so by piecing together historical facts with bits of legends and myths that are most familiar and some not so to the average layman. He brings some new twists to the saying “everything old is new again”.

There are times when you completely lose yourself in Dan McNeil’s world. You see and hear things. You feel remorse at times, even surprisingly for characters you can’t stand. McNeil makes you have emotions and thoughts, or perhaps maybe I should say he has you examine things about yourself at times that may make you wonder. Read The Complete Review.

Fort Applegate & The Battle of Wounded Knee by Brian Wu.
by Jason Royle

Brian Wu’s approach to teaching children about the immune system in his book, Fort Applegate & The Battle of Wounded Knee, was informative and effective. As Wu states in his opening “tips” section, Fort Applegate & The Battle of Wounded Kneeone of the primary goals in the writing of this book is for it to be used as a means of getting children interested in their immune system, and as a teaching tool. I found this to be true. Read The Complete Review.

FEATURE ARTICLES

Are You A Published Author? Then I Have A Question For You.
by Hugh Roberts

When Ronovan initially started Lit World Interviews, his idea was that it would be a place where authors could promote themselves as well as their work. It’s also a place where authors come to seek help and advice from others. Of course there’s the book reviews as well.

I don’t know about you, but I often find that my pride gets in the way when I want to ask for some help. That’s where blogs like this can really help because I don’t feel as afraid to ask for advice especially as many of the readers here are published authors. I am sure that all of them will have been in a similar situation to where I find myself today. Read The Complete Article and Comments.

Promoting Your Books on Amazon
by Jo Robinson

I’ve only just discovered, too late, that when you run a Kindle Countdown deal it either happens at Amazon.com or Amazon.UK, and not all regions at the same time. So while this time I’ve managed to put different books on Countdowns for the different regions, I’ll know better for next time.

The thing to do if you want your deal to be available to both regions is to set up two separate promotions for the same book on the same dates – one for UK and another for the USA. Read The Complete Article.

The Judas Apocalypse by @DanMcNeil888 “At times his encounters are humorous, deadly, and explosive.”

He’s been referred to as the new Dan on the block of historical fiction conspiracy theories. I don’t agree. Dan McNeil handles his subject with a better hand than Brown ever has. Yeah, sure, you want to knock him across the room at times but who doesn’t want to read something that gets them on an emotional level at times? If you want a fluff read, skip this review. McNeil isn’t about fluff.

Dan McNeil? You know, I normally have a few ideas to start off with for a review. The problem today is—McNeil throws numerous things into The Judas Apocalypse that are intriguing and varied. And they appeal to me on a DNA level. That meaning he has inclusions which spark my interests.

I’ll tell you this, I know the legends, the history, and the names of the real people mentioned in The Judas Apocalypse. And McNeil gets them right AND he brings some to life in a most interesting way. Why do I know these things? I was a world history expert and teacher with special courses in Nazi and European History under my belt. I taught delinquents to the point they blew the national average in World History testing away.

History is still a major love of my life. This is why one day, not so long ago, I chose to pick up this book and begin reading for pleasure, yes, a Book Reviewer was going to read for pleasure with no intent on reviewing. But my motto is “Read a Book, Write a Review”.

Then I got either interested or ticked off because McNeil was writing about the same characters I used in a YA book I had written a few years ago. (It’s still in one of the draft stages on my computer.)

Dr. Gerhard Denninger, a Jewish Archaeologist in Nazi Germany is spending his years in of all places the Ahnenerbe, the Heritage Bureau of the Third Reich, headed by Heinrich Himmler himself. This is the department that searches for religious relics in the hopes their power will bring victory to the Third Reich.

He comes in contact with a fellow member of the Bureau, one Otto Rahn and off we go on the adventure of a life time. Denninger’s love of the legend of the Cathars and their missing treasure has consumed his life and now he finds himself doing whatever it takes to find it. This includes lying, cheating, and risking death at the hands of the Nazi regime as he makes his way closer and closer to his dream come true. At times his encounters are humorous, deadly, and explosive.

But what happens when he stumbles across four US Army soldiers, who make modern day Reality Shows look like the cast of My Three Sons, wandering France in search of their unit? It gets even stranger and more nerve racking.

McNeil unites four soldiers that represent a broad range of US culture and forces them to be a close knit unit to survive.

Who is good?
Who is bad?
Who is nuts?
Who can be trusted?

Honestly, the answers may not be as clear as you think, not even to Dr. Denninger who gets a ringside seat to the soap opera that occurs as they all continue on the hunt for the Cathar Treasure.

This is one well researched piece of fiction and you don’t feel like you’re reading a research article like you do in some novels who get lost and forget they are writing a story to entertain. There are times when you completely lose yourself in Dan McNeil’s world. You see and hear things. You feel remorse at times, even surprisingly for characters you can’t stand. McNeil makes you have emotions and thoughts, or perhaps maybe I should say he has you examine things about yourself at times that may make you wonder.

Dan McNeil makes mention at the beginning about the religious content of The Judas Apocalypse. For those on either side of the hill about their faith, this book need not worry you. Read as it was intended, a good, fun time to let your imagination flow from a man who obviously has some obsession with history and loves to piece together the pieces from different puzzles to make a new picture. I personally was able to read it with no problems and knew enough and felt enough about what I believe to enjoy the story.

Personally, I believe a book that gives one pause at times is a good book. I like to have a think as a result of something I have read rather than have my time and thoughts filled with something I won’t get anything out of. Dan McNeil’s The Judas Apocalypse is a book that will make you think. And at times some of you will shout at him. Don’t worry, he won’t hear you, and if he did, he would laugh and applaud, for that’s what he was hoping for, I’m sure.

Dan Brown? Indiana Jones? Neither. This is a unique story with characters not fitting nicely into anyone else’s pigeon hole. Similarities of feel? Maybe, just so you have that frame of reference where this might genre might fall, and find yourself comfortable in, but the story is its own story.

RECOMMENDATION

I recommend this book for lovers of history, WWII fiction, and some of those archaeological adventure stories.

Character Believability: 4
Flow and Pace: 4
Reader Engagement: 4
Reader Enrichment: 4.5
Reader Enjoyment: 4.5
Overall Rate: 4.2

GET THE JUDAS APOCALYPSE

Amazon.com Amazon.ca Amazon.co.uk

Visit http://www.danmcneil.ca/ for other outlets.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dan McNeil is a born, raised and currently residing Canadian and proud to say so. After a song-writing partnership brought some fame and continued own into a music career, Dan spent many years behind the scenes of television as a camera operator learning the art of storytelling, whether it be good or bad. He became senior editor of the station and often composed the music for many of the local productions. Then it happened.

His first book, “The Judas Apocalypse” was published in 2008. He fully enjoyed the experience and decided to write another. His latest offering is “Can’t Buy Me Love,” a light hearted romp about a heist during the Beatle’s first visit to the United States in 1964, to be released in the summer of 2012. He currently is fending off his friends and fans constant clamoring for more. As if there isn’t more in the works.

CONNECT WITH DAN

@DanMcNeil888

http://www.danmcneil.ca/

https://www.facebook.com/judasapocalypse

ALWAYS SHARE LITWORLDINTERVIEWS.COM BOOK REVIEWS AND ARTICLES!

Ronovan Hester is an author, with his debut historical adventure novel Amber Wake: Gabriel Falling due out in December of 2015. He shares his life as an amnesiac and Chronic Pain sufferer through his blog RonovanWrites.WordPress.com. His love of poetry, authors and community through his online world has lead to a growing Weekly Haiku Challenge and the creation of a site dedicated to book reviews, interviews and author resources known as LitWorldInterviews.com.

Subscribe to Blog via Email

@RonovanWrites

5 WAYS TO MOVE AHEAD IN YOUR NOVEL.

It’s the end of the ‘work’ week and I thought before we hit the weekend and more easily accessible writing time, I would do a little bit of NaNoWriMo talk.

As of the writing of this post, I am over 25,000 words on my NaNoWriMo book, Honor Bound: Monsters. Crazy, right? The thing is I wrote 13,000 of that on Wednesday. How?

Actually it took me a while to find that groove. I was stuck in research limbo over wanting a fact to bridge one scene of the book to the next scene. Yes, I hear some of you now, “Dude, that is stoopid!”

And yes, it was not quite intelligent. I got caught in a trap. A trap I knew to look out for and to avoid during a first draft of a work of FICTION.

My advice has been “Just write the freaking story.”

And I was “Stalling on a freaking point.”

Now to the how to get in to your groove.

Don’t get stuck on the finer details at this point. It is just a first draft.
- How did I move from stuck to the next scene. I just went to the next scene. I knew where I was going, and I knew all I wanted was a simple dialogue scene with a touch of information in it, but I was too brain tired to get that part done, so I went on to where the ground was fertile, while making a HUGE note there was a need for a scene addition. And the great thing is, by the time I get back to that scene, I will know the characters even better and very likely have the information that I need to use in that scene. Or maybe, I will find I don’t need the bridge at all.
Take a break. If you write and push through exhaustion you end up burning out and for some they end up in pain. I do this too often, pushing. I did it Wednesday and suffered for it most of Thursday. I finally kicked back into the groove late in the day and put in a good number of words. I think begin half way to the NaNo goal isn’t bad. And when you do take a break what should you do?
Leave your writing in the middle of a sentence or scene. This way you know what to pick up with next time. Walking away at the end of a scene or chapter is one of the worst things you can do.
A big thing that helped me get my word count moving was being part of the facebook group for my NaNoWriMo Region. A bunch of strangers, or some are friends of each other, joining in and doing sprints. Sprints are when you write for 15 minutes as focused as you can and then time is called. You share your word count and people encourage and the like. It seriously helped me late last night. It got to the point my hands were so tired my fingers didn’t want to lift off the keys and move.
A challenge buddy is also pushing me. I have one particular friend that is as competitive if not more so than I am about this. I’m not overly competitive but I like to use competition to help encourage others to push onward, and you get caught up in it.

I find it odd that last year only about 17% of those who signed up for NaNoWriMo actually finished it. I think most of those not finishing never started, at least that’s my opinion. And if you don’t finish, at least get a habit going of writing.

Writing around 2000 words a day, writing a story that isn’t supposed to be read yet, isn’t that difficult. You keep writing and get yourself out of whatever you got yourself into.

Author and LWI Team Member Jo Robinson has a great article about Writer’s Block called Dodge Around the Blocks. Make sure to check it out for some more advice. Also the other helpful tips in the NaNoWriMo Support section might give you an idea to get you to where you want to be.

Ronovan Hester is an author, with his debut historical adventure novel Amber Wake: Gabriel Falling due out in December of 2015. He shares his life as an amnesiac and Chronic Pain sufferer through his blog RonovanWrites.WordPress.com. His love of poetry, authors and community through his online world has lead to a growing Weekly Haiku Challenge and the creation of a site dedicated to book reviews, interviews and author resources known as LitWorldInterviews.com.

Subscribe to Blog via Email

@RonovanWrites

New Book! A Haiku Perspective by Annette Rochelle Aben @YouAreTheExpert

A book just out makes me a bit proud.

A Haiku Perspective by best selling author Annette Rochelle Aben hits a bit close to the heart for me.

“If not for the prompting of Ronovan Hester and his
Weekly Haiku Challenges via his blog
http://www.ronovanwrites.wordpress.com I may not have fallen in love with writing Haiku. There is an entire section of this book filled with my offerings to some of these weekly challenges, for this is where it all started. Check out his blog, follow and receive the announcement each week of the challenge. I look forward to being inspired by what you write.”

But it’s not the mentioning of my name or my personal blog that is what touches my heart, it is also part of what Annette is trying to accomplish with her book.

The Storybook Project of Iowa

This program allows for people to purchase a book and send it to a mother in an Iowa prison who then reads the book and records it for her children to hear her voice. The book and the recording are then sent to the child. Annette can tell you more about it and I believe she even offers a way to have the books autographed when they are sent to the women. You basically would send it to her and she would then send it onward. You can contact Annette for the full details.

Some people think of people in prison as criminals, but sometimes they are there because of situations. A mother wanting to read to her child is a sign of a wonderful character to me.

From Annette

“Here is an address if anyone wishes to send THEIR BOOKS directly to them. The Storybook Project of Iowa 1111 9th Ste 320 Des Moines, IA 50314 Attn: Tabby K. Originally, the project was geared toward authors who wrote children’s books, as many of these women have small children. However they did accept my books and found that some of the older children really appreciated them. So please author friends, gift these families one of your books, it will mean so much!”

The book was in the top 25 upon release and I would review it but I don’t think that is a good idea. I’ve already reviewed most of the individual Haiku that were for my challenge. I will tell you that Annette has fun with her poetry. You will find humor, history, and heart.

Ronovan Hester is an author, with his debut historical adventure novel Amber Wake: Gabriel Falling due out in December of 2015. He shares his life as an amnesiac and Chronic Pain sufferer through his blog RonovanWrites.WordPress.com. His love of poetry, authors and community through his online world has lead to a growing Weekly Haiku Challenge and the creation of a site dedicated to book reviews, interviews and author resources known as LitWorldInterviews.com.

Subscribe to Blog via Email

@RonovanWrites

New LitWorldInterviews.com Team Member-Elizabeth Tyree!

Everyone welcome our newest Team Member here at LitWordInterviews.com.

ELIZABETH S. TYREE

Some of you may know Beth from Here there Be Dragons, her blog where she currently shares her own writing and book reviews.

Colleen, you all know the Silver One, led me to Beth after reading her reviews and thought she would make a great addition to the team. After reading some of her reviews, noting her unique voice and her professionalism, I immediately emailed her. And here we are. And I’ve already thrown some reviews her way that were waiting in line.

We get a lot more books than we are able to handle as fast as I like, but the authors have been patient, understanding the great demand for Book Reviewers. And demand good book reviewers who are fair and professional is even greater. That is something I hope LitWorldInterviews has a reputation for.

ABOUT BETH:
In addition to her blog link above you can visit her Gravatar page for her other sites to follow, including facebook.

Bio: “I am a mother, an author, a musician, a crafter, a teacher and a seer of dragons! This blog will be focused on sharing my experiences and, hopefully, helping you through book reviews, short articles on family and home life, crafting, and writing, and the occasional off topic ramble just for funsies. Feel free to comment, ask questions, and lurk! Welcome to the Whimsical World of ESTyree!”

When asked her favorite quote she responded with;

“Ronovan Rocks!”

No, sorry, I had to do that. When you’re the one writing these things you have to throw some self promotion in where you can.

I am hard pressed to choose a favorite quote but one of my favorites is “Everyone wants some magical solution for their problem ad everyone refuses to believe in magic.” The Mad Hatter.

BETH’S GENRE INTERESTS
My main genre interests are ficiton, fantasy, fairy tale/folk tale/mythology retellings, teaching, picture books, children’s books, middle grade books, young adult books, mysteries, etc.

I am honestly up for reading just about anything. My typical genres are children’s, middle grade, and young adult because I write my own books in those areas and like to keep up with what is popular at the moment. However, I have no problem reading and reviewing the gamut of items.

BETH’S HOBBIES

My hobbies include writing, blogging, reading, adding to my TBR list, playing the flute, crocheting, obsessively watching Netflix or movies while I color (Adult coloring books are AMAZING), and playing with my daughter (who I’m teaching to love the finer things in life, like superheros, comics, and 80s cartoons!). *Side Note* Halloween is my favorite holiday, I love semi-creepy things, and I believe that fairy tales exist somewhere and that’s why we can write them in so many forms and still have them feel relevant today.

BETH’S BACKGROUND

I have a teaching degree and certificate for 1st-8th grades with a strong background in English, Literature, Music, and Learning Types. I like to partake in continuing education so I’m starting to also have a strong background in Brain Based Learning, Sciences, Autism, and Jewelry Making.

BETH’S AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE

Elizabeth S. Tyree

I’m very excited to have Beth as part of the team. I am constantly on the lookout for an original voice and professionalism to help stay up with our demand here, and this time Colleen came through for me AND for you, the author, with Elizabeth Tyree.

I look forward to a long association with Beth and many reviews AND interviews from her. Follow her blog(s) and she will have her own page here you can submit a request to soon you can get to through our About page, that is if you don’t want to use the regular Book Review Request form.

*All requests for signed copies of Beth’s bio photograph must be made to her directly. Our site cannot handle that amount of traffic at this time.

*Humor intended, perhaps.

Much Respect

Ronovan (Writes) Hester

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*All requests for signed copies of Beth’s bio photograph must be made to her directly. Our site cannot handle that amount of traffic at this time.

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