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Cassastorm: Biggest take away in writing a trilogy.

By on September 18, 2013 in guest posts

Congrats to Alex on the release of the last book of his space opera trilogy! Here’s the question I asked him.

Looking back, what’s the biggest lesson or take-away you learned writing a trilogy?

Alex: Plan ahead! This would’ve been easier had I intended for it to be a series. I might have written the other two books much sooner and been ready.

CassaStorm

By Alex J Cavanaugh

 From the Amazon Best Selling Series!

 A storm gathers across the galaxy…

Commanding the Cassan base on Tgren, Byron thought he’d put the days of battle behind him. As a galaxy-wide war encroaches upon the desert planet, Byron’s ideal life is threatened and he’s caught between the Tgrens and the Cassans.

After enemy ships attack the desert planet, Byron discovers another battle within his own family. The declaration of war between all ten races triggers nightmares in his son, threatening to destroy the boy’s mind.

Meanwhile the ancient alien ship is transmitting a code that might signal the end of all life in the galaxy. And the mysterious probe that almost destroyed Tgren twenty years ago could return. As his world begins to crumble, Byron suspects a connection. The storm is about to break, and Byron is caught in the middle…

“CassaStorM is a touching and mesmerizing space opera full of action and emotion with strong characters and a cosmic mystery.”– Edi’s Book Lighhouse

“Cavanaugh makes world building on the galactic scale look easy. The stakes affect the entire known universe and yet Cavanaugh makes it intensely personal for our hero. The final installment of this series will break your heart and put it back together.”
– Charity Bradford, science fantasy author of The Magic Wakes

Find CassaStorm:

Barnes and Noble ~ Amazon Kindle ~ paperback

Watch the Book trailer !


Alex J. Cavanaugh has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and works in web design and graphics. He is experienced in technical editing and worked with an adult literacy program for several years. A fan of all things science fiction, his interests range from books and movies to music and games. Online he is the Ninja Captain and founder of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group. The author of the Amazon bestsellers, CassaStar and CassaFire, he lives in the Carolinas with his wife.

Website ~Goodreads 

 

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Indie Life – We all need encouragement!

By on September 11, 2013 in guest posts

Welcome to Indie Life, a blog hop, started by the Indelibles where Indie authors share a bit on the life of being a self published author!

It doesn’t matter what road to publishing you travel or how you decide to publish. All authors and writers are in this together. We all want to feel encouraged during the down times, to keep pushing through and writing regardless of bad news. We all need to stay realistic even after we’ve reached our goals. In a total contradictory way, we need to keep dreaming and putting out hearts into our stories. We need to love writing and continue to with every story premise we decide to write.

My short and simple message is – be encouraged! Wherever you are on the journey, you can do this!

On that note: Indiestructable is a compilation of essays from Indie authors, sharing their tips, their thoughts and their encouragement. All the profits go to the charity, Build On.

Here’s a guest post by Jessica Bell, the editor.

The day I realized I’d been obsessing over my sales figures way too much was the day I closed my eyes and tried to think about the real reason I am an indie author.

Is my primary goal to make money? No. So why do I keep obsessing over my sales stats? I realized it’s because more sales means more people reading my work. What I really really want is to be read. I want to share the one thing in this world I would cut my fingers off for. I know. If I didn’t have any fingers, I wouldn’t be able to physically write, but you know what I mean.

My passion for writing comes with a perpetual replacement button, attached to my side seam, just in case it becomes unraveled, and falls off, after a day gallivanting through the publishing jungle. It can be tough in there, but in the end, being an indie author is OH SO WORTH IT.

This made me wonder …  what’s everybody else’s story?

Then Indiestructible was born.

 

This is not a how-to guide. This is the best of the indie tradition of experienced authors paying forward what they’ve learned, giving you information to help you on your journey. The personal essays in this book will leave you itching to get your work into the hands of readers and experience, first-hand, all the rewards indie publishing has to offer.

Not only is this anthology packed full of interesting, unique, and genuinely helpful information, and totally worth the 99c (only 99c!!!), 100% of proceeds will be donated to BUILDON.org, a movement which breaks the cycle of poverty, illiteracy, and low expectations through service and education.

Pretty amazing, huh?

What are you waiting for?

Buy Indiestructible—support the indie author and an amazing charity—TODAY!

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE INDIESTRUCTIBLE

 Thanks everyone! Click back to the Indelibles blog for more Indie Life posts!

 

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INDIE-pendence Day – 15 Minutes by Jill Cooper.

By on July 2, 2013 in book reviews, guest posts, murder and mystery

It’s that time of year! We get to celebrate our country with cook outs and fireworks…and all this week you can celebrate fantastic self published books.

 

I’d like to introduce you to Jill Cooper, author of a fantastic time travel thriller, 15 Minutes.

I couldn’t put this book down. I read it one day. Honestly? That doesn’t happen to me all that often that I truly can’t put a book down. Each chapter leads us to another clue, another twist as the main character, Lara, deals with the consequences of trying to change the past.

Fantastic. Thrilling. You can read my Goodreads reviews here.

 

I invited Jill to tell us a little bit about her book. And then stay tuned for a giveaway!

********

Fast paced. High Energy.  Full on emotion assault.

That’s what I wanted 15 Minutes to be when I first started writing it and when I finished, I was not disappointed.

A roller coaster ride for the writer, main character, and hopefully readers, I wanted  people to feel what Lara feels as she struggles to discover the rules to the new world that is now her life.

There is no going back. There is no undoing the damage that she’s done.

What is it she’s done? She’s changed the past and in doing so, unleashed a can of worms that cannot be contained.

In 15 Minutes Lara Crane uses time travel to save her mother in a mugging gone wrong. In the distant future, time travel hasn’t just been discovered, it’s been regulated by the government.

Break the time travel laws and you face jail time, or worse, death.

Interacting with the past is a crime and as such you will appear as a hologram in the past, the people you see, will not notice you. You are an observer only and are not allowed to interfere with the course of history.

There are rumors that there are some who can break this rule and can in fact touch and talk with those in the past. But it is strictly forbidden to try. To do so might destroy not only time, but your mind.

The knowledge of several time lines at the same time, in the same brain, causes it to overload. What follows are painful headaches and nose bleeds that grow worse over time as memories assault you.  The brain will eventually hemorrhage and will bleed out. No time traveler has ever changed time and successfully lived to tell about it.

Lara Crane. Rebellious. Defiant. Doesn’t take no for an answer. She’s about to change the course of history.

What would you risk to save someone you love?

**********

Thanks, Jill!

I could write this in the third person. I could tell you what I like, where I was born, and what my    favorite things are.

But instead, I’ll say I don’t want to write like everyone else. I don’t want to craft stories you’ve read a thousand times before. I want my novels to be a cinematic experience, blending themes, genres, and situations unlike any you’ve ever read.

I want to break the rules. I want you to break out in a cold sweat as you read my books out of fear, love, and excitement. I want my books to be an experience. When you finish, I want you to feel something. Good or bad.

If you do, then I’ll have succeeded. If not, I’ll keep trying.

http://www.jillacooper.com
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jill-Cooper/319251368110396
http://www.twitter.com/jillybug
http://www.amazon.com/15-Minutes-Travel-Thriller-ebook/dp/B00DB7RV60/ref=pd_sim_kstore_2

 

For this INDIE-pendence event I was thrilled to find a story similar to HEIST – my time travel thriller releasing in August. Similar, yet very different. So to celebrate, I’m giving away an ecopy of 15 Minutes and HEIST !

1. Comment below to enter. LEAVE YOUR EMAIL!! (please)

2. If you’d like to tweet or share on Facebook, use the Share options at the bottom of this post, and then comment and leave the links.

Next, head on over to the Indelible blog to discover all the Indie books other authors are celebrating this week.

 

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What’s your life worth on the open market?

By on March 22, 2013 in guest posts

Have you heard of this fantastic new serial? I read it, loved it. Check it out!

The Debt Collector by Susan Kaye Quinn

From the author of the bestselling Mindjack series comes a new future-noir serial, The Debt Collector. The first episode, Delirium, launches today (3/20).

What’s your life worth on the open market?

A debt collector can tell you precisely.

Lirium plays the part of the grim reaper well, with his dark trenchcoat, jackboots, and the black marks on his soul that every debt collector carries. He’s just in it for his cut, the ten percent of the life energy he collects before he transfers it on to the high potentials, the people who will make the world a better place with their brains, their work, and their lives. That hit of life energy, a bottle of vodka, and a visit from one of Madam Anastazja’s sex workers keep him alive, stable, and mostly sane… until he collects again. But when his recovery ritual is disrupted by a sex worker who isn’t what she seems, he has to choose between doing an illegal hit for a girl whose story has more holes than his soul or facing the bottle alone—a dark pit he’s not sure he’ll be able to climb out of again.

Contains mature content and themes. For YA-appropriate thrills, see Susan’s Mindjack series.

Delirium is approximately 12,000 words or 48 pages and is one of nine episodes in the first season of The Debt Collector serial. This dark and gritty future-noir is about a world where your life-worth is tabulated on the open market and going into debt risks a lot more than your credit rating. You can find out more about the series at the Debt Collector website and facebook page. The Debt Collector newsletter is a special list just for episode releases.

Early Praise

 “The street-smart science of LOOPER meets the cold, just-the-facts voice of DOUBLE INDEMNITY in this edgy, future-noir thriller that will have you holding your breath, looking over your shoulder, and begging for more.” —Leigh Talbert Moore, author of The Truth About Faking, The Truth About Letting Go, and Rouge


“Do you owe more than your life is worth? No worries. A more deserving person than you can benefit from that excess life—and someone else will get paid with it. Enter the Debt Collector.” —Dianne Salerni, author of We Hear the Dead, The Caged Graves, and The Eighth Day (HarperCollins 2014)

The first three episodes of Debt Collector will be released a week apart, starting Wednesday 3/20. The remaining episodes will release every two weeks. Delirium can be found on Amazon, Barnes&Noble, iTunes, Kobo. Or add it to your TBR on Goodreads.

***

Susan Kaye Quinn is the author of the bestselling YA SF Mindjack series. Debt Collector is her more grown-up SF. Her steampunk fantasy romance is temporarily on hold while she madly writes episodes to keep Lirium happy. Plus she needs to leave time to play on Facebook. Susan has a lot of degrees in engineering, which come in handy when dreaming up dangerous mind powers, future dystopias, and slightly plausible steampunk inventions. Mostly she sits around in her pajamas in awe that she gets make stuff up full-time.

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A fantastic networking opportunity…The Writer’s Dojo.

By on January 28, 2013 in guest posts

Community is so important in this day and age.

We blog, we tweet, we email, we attend conferences all to connect with other writers, people who get the craziness that comes with writing and publishing.

Welcome Ali Cross, friend and fellow author, as she tells you about the awesomeness that is the Writer’s Dojo.

The Writer’s Dojo is returning to its roots and invites you to join in on the fun! 

When I first started the writer’s dojo in 2008, I did it as a way to keep the glory of National Novel Writing Month alive all year long. I loved the camaraderie and support I received during the month of November and desired that same feeling of community every month of the year, in every aspect of writing–not just the drafting.

Beginning February 1st, 2013, the writer’s dojo returns to its roots and ushers in a new age of ninjawesomeness.

Each month we will open three training rooms at the writer’s dojo website. A room for drafters (Writing Month, aka WriMo), a room for revisers (Revising Month, aka ReMo) and a room for those querying (Querying Month, aka QuMo).

 

We invite you to set your own goals, whether it’s to write a thousand words a day, revise ten pages a week, or submit twenty queries in a month, and register your goal in the appropriate training room.

Every Monday we’ll post the leaderboard for the previous week, and at the end of each month those who met their goal will be able to post the coveted Writing Ninja Warrior badge on their blog or website.

To help you reach your goals, we have a number of ways to support you:

CHATS: At the dojo every Thursday at 4:00 p.m. Eastern time.

TWITTER: Anytime, day or night, at #writingninja.

GOOGLE+: Join our community for random write-ins and sprints.

NEWSLETTER: Subscribe to our Ninja News and once a month you’ll receive an email with an encouraging note and a list of the top performers for the previous month. There will also be opportunities for giveaways, starting with February’s newsletter!

We hope to see you at the dojo as you reach for–and achieve–your goals!

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