Showing posts with label fiction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fiction. Show all posts

Saturday, November 1, 2014

Awesome Indies Relaunch: Gorgeous New Site, Gargantuan Sale, Great Giveaway

Awesome Indies is launching a brand new and beautiful website this weekend with a gigantic book sale and a Kindle giveaway. 70 books by some of the best indie authors, all for under $3, and the chance to win a Kindle.

http://awesomeindies.net/welcome-to-the-new-awesome-indies/
 
 
To celebrate, the Kindle edition of On the Soul of a Vampire is only $0.99 and its prequel, Pro Luce Habere Combined Edition (two full-length novels combined into one) is on sale for $1.99, alongside numerous other exciting works at awesome prices in a huge variety of genres.
 
Check out the all new site, find a new favorite author, enjoy the Halloween weekend with a wonderful book for a great deal - plus enter for a chance to win a free Kindle. Just click on the relaunch icon to visit!
 

Friday, July 13, 2012

The Next Big Thing: Part 3


Today it’s two more questions in The Next Big Thing (TNBT), a blog event consisting of 10 questions about an author’s current WIP (work in progress) and links to more awesome authors.  My big thanks again to authors Karin Kaufman, for inviting me, and Gail M. Baugniet, for the event.

Question #4:  Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

As far as the translated story I’m working on, The Red Bridge Murder, I haven’t really had any time at all to consider that, but the characters in the story are fairly young, so I think it would need to be actors in the under 30s group, with whom I’m a bit less familiar.

With Genesis, despite that I actually played out the first book, On the Soul of a Vampire, in my head as a movie before writing the story down, I truly can’t imagine any well-known actor portraying ValĂ©ry.  I think it would be a difficult role to play, considering he’s emotionally and intellectually 800 years old, has both witnessed and experienced a lot of suffering, but still has quite a bit of the youthful scamp aura about him and he’s physically still 19 years old.  There’s also the matter of bringing across what it would be like to have the complete empathy with and intimate understanding of another that would come from knowing human souls and his conflicted, seeker type personality.  Very similar challenges would be involved with playing Angelina and a number of the other characters in the story, so it would be quite interesting to see what an actor or actress would do with that.



Question #5:  What is the one sentence synopsis of your book?

 Oh boy, brief is not my strong suit.  Sometimes it seems like the synopses and tag lines take longer to come up with than the writing of the books.  But, I’ll give it a try.

The Red Bridge Murder:  A man who denies the existence of God, the afterlife, good and evil, discovers you need neither faith nor death to suffer the consuming agony of hell spawned by a tormented conscience.

Genesis:  Fallen angels don’t fall to earth, though in them resides the clue to why the incarnate were sent, and a sublime truth hidden for centuries within a suffering soul could well be the key to long-misunderstood and love-filled divine intent.

Some more awesome authors to keep an eye on:

LeAnn Neal Reilly:  http://www.nealreilly.com/


For those who would like to participate or follow along, here is the full list of 10 questions:

1.  What is the title of your book/WIP?
2.  Where did the idea for the book come from?
3.  What genre would your book fall under?
4.  Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
5.  What is the one sentence synopsis of your book?
6.  Is your book published or represented?
7.  How long did it take you to write?
8.  What other books within your genre would you compare it to?
9.  Which authors inspired you to write the book?
10. Tell us anything else that might pique our interest in your book?

A very happy Friday to all!

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Book Review: Saint Sebastian's Head by LeAnn Neal Reilly




Saint Sebastian’s Head is an incredibly moving novel about one woman’s journey from a childhood of dark tragedy to the light of healing that can come from love.

When Weeble, an engineer training for a triathlon, meets artist Tom Paul as she runs by him one night while he’s dumpster-diving, the pretend okay world she’s constructed for herself begins to crumble, forcing her to face the traumatic past that still haunts her subconscious, ruling her life and relationships despite how hard she’s tried to bury it.  Revealing the inner demons that torment Weeble through flashes to her childhood, author LeAnn Neal Reilly slowly introduces readers to a harrowing tale of neglect, abuse and, ultimately, horror, while the present-day relationship between Weeble and Tom Paul and the intricate interplay of mysticism and harsh reality, faith and doubt, light and darkness, underlies her journey to healing.

Beautiful prose, wonderful character development and a fairy tale-like symbolism make what could have otherwise been only a painfully dark story into a poetic and spiritual read about the human strength we don’t always realize we possess, even when crippled by tragedy, as well as a touching, light-filled love story.  Because there was quite a bit of emphasis on Tom Paul’s Orthodox spirituality and the mystic nature he brought out in his art, I would have been interested in a bit more understanding of his past relationships, as these do play a part in the story but sometimes left me wondering about his desire for a deeper relationship with Weeble before a physical one, while it seemed he might not have required or found this with past romantic relationships.  However, this could be simply due to my own interest in theology and how one’s worldview impacts every part of one’s life, and the sense that maybe I didn’t have as much insight into his character as I might have liked, in this particular regard, didn’t in any way take from the story.  In the end, I found it extremely well-written and a fascinating and meaningful novel with much to reflect on long after reading.  Highly recommended for outstanding writing and its emotional and spiritual complexity, I look forward to reading more by this talented author.