First a belated look back at the services and apps on offer that I've tried and reviewed this year.
Let's start with the positives. Here are some of the posts that might be well worth revisiting:
How To Get Yourself Listed As A Kindle Author On Amazon - Most of you may know how to get listed as a Kindle author already but if you don't this post will show you how.
Get Yourself Heard - Great free tool for creating an audio book.
Google+ And Google Authorship - Get Your Face Out There - First of a 2 part blog about Google Authorship.
Get Yourself Covered- This is something no author can afford to ignore. Do so at your peril.
KindleGraph -Author Please Sign My eBook - A really cool tool that allows enables digital authors to sign their books on request.
Google+ Events - A Great Tool For Authors. - Another reason why Google+ is a great place for authors.Those are just some of the positives. Now for the not so positive.
The other service I am not going to mention by name. I didn't actually blog about but tried it to promote my book 'A Christmas Carol Revisited.' It was a PR News Release Service that was a total waste of money. I would have done far better using the free PR services available on the web. Be warned!
Now For A Completely New Feature . . .
"PRODUCTS YOU MAY FIND REALLY USEFUL . . "
I have not personally tried this products but it is reasonably priced, around $37, and may well be a very good investment.THIS WEEK: The Ultimate eBook Creator -Takes the angst out of Kindle/Nook/EPUB formatting.
Click Here! To Learn More. Well worth a peek!
Thanks to those of you who were very supportive when my Twitter account got suspended. You ensured there was no need for me to start the year looking back in anger! They included:
Tony Riches
A famous chess game brought to life, with a whole country for the board and each piece a very real person with hopes and fears, strengths - and weaknesses...
QUEEN SACRIFICE
10th Century Wales is a country divided, with the kingdom of the south becoming Saxon and the north violently defending the old ways. The inevitable civil war is brutal and savage in this tale of divided loyalty and revenge, treachery and love.
Kings and queens battle for control of the country, with wealth and glory for the victor and death and ruin for the loser. The bishops of Wales struggle to keep the faith while knights and war lords turn events to advantage and the lives of ordinary people are changed forever by the conflict.
Queen Sacrifice is also a legendary tactic in the ancient game of chess. Russian chess grand master Lakov Neishtadt describes the sacrifice of the queen for higher interests as "a source of continuing fascination for the chess novice and master alike."
The narrative faithfully follows EVERY move in the queen sacrifice game, known as "The Game of the Century" between Donald Byrne and 13-year-old Bobby Fischer in New York City on October 17th, 1956.
Debra Chapoton
SHELTERED
Living together unsupervised, five troubled teens confront demonic forces and are compelled to deal with their problems in distinctly different ways. Paranormal meets psycho meets Goth in this story of a supernatural haunting and budding love. High school junior, Ben, hacks into his step-father's real estate holdings and provides rooms in an old two-story house to various outcasts: the schizophrenic kid, the angry Goth girl, and the homeless girl who worships him.
When Megan needs a place to live she comes to the rooming house with a different set of problems and the ability to confuse and attract Ben. One by one strange and mysterious occurrences stretch the teens’ beliefs in the supernatural. How they deal with demons, real and imagined, has tragic as well as redeeming consequences.
Excerpts: There were two demons tormenting Chuck as he slid down the chute. They closed his ears, blinded his eyes, and stilled his vocal cords. They filled his thoughts with ridicule, contempt, and hatred. Their rage seethed with a pounding frenzy that held no relief for him until he hit the floor in his room and crumpled to a mental oblivion. Ben leaned forward and pressed a kiss to Megan’s lips, a tender kiss that wrapped around both their souls and made their talk of demons seem like nonsense. Nothing was real except this sweet moment.
Iron Fist (Author)
BATTLE FOR TARTARA
When Legend of the Tyrant was still a series without a title and clear direction there were three stories originally envisioned together and put on a paper within two weeks. The third one of them, Battle for Tartara, was as important as the previous two. While Paths of Civilization have set the tone and direction, Rise of the Tyrant explained the powers of the character, Battle for Tartara gave this series three very important details. All three of them will end up being crucial for the entire series. So what are the three details? They all deserved to be mentioned separately.
In almost all of my works prior to the third story in Legend of the Tyrant series female characters were literary non-existent. So, I'm not saying they were marginalized, just mere side kicks, or given less page time. I'm saying they did not exist. Why was that, you may ask? Well, I must admit I wasn't sure if I was capable of writing a viable female character, so I just avoided adding one to my stories. All that changed with Aella, a teenager from a poverty stricken family, with a special talent for writing poems. Aella is the second major character in the series, and appears in eight out of ten stories. Her importance grows as the series progress and reaches the climax in the last story.
Aella's appearance in the series comes after I decided on another major decision for the series. That decision being that all battles in the series will come in a poetic form. I think I regretted this decision several times since the spring of 2012. The logic behind the decision was flawless. What is the better way to romanticize the conquers and the conquerors than the poems? There is no better way to do it. In my case if a poem comes without being forced, it comes out great. If I needed to force it out... well that's why I regretted my decision sometimes. In some cases I also simplified the poems and make them less abstract. That decision of course may or may not be well received because complex battle scenes require much longer poems than the ones included in the series. Bear in mind that all of the stories within the set are less than ten pages long.
The third detail this story will be remembered as, is the first mentioning of the series' title. Officially, it is Aella that suggests to the Tyrant to record all of her poems under one collective title, that title being Legend of the Tyrant. In retrospect I believe no other title can come close to that one in any meaningful way.
Battle for Tartara is a simple story that was easy to write. I just followed the historical pattern a tyrant rises to power. That pattern played well with the overall goal of the main character. Battle for Tartara synopsis:
The Tyrant arrives at Tartara, the planet of endless dark pits, ruled by the Tar Lords and their king, Hengist. The Tyrant assesses the circumstances and devises a plan to defeat Hengist. But before any plan is put in motion, the Tyrant must find a poet whose poems will immortalize his battles.
Gaynor Madoc Leonard
THE CAMARTHEN UNDERGROUND
A humorous and whimsical spy novel written by Welsh-born author Gaynor
Madoc Leonard. The ancient market town of Carmarthen has become a hub of Welsh
Intelligence, a sophisticated organisation whose officers are dedicated to the
protection of Wales and its people from ruthless predators who are determined to
undermine the country, its language and its culture.
Once again guys thanks for your support.
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