Monday, 22 July 2013

A World Without #Angels - prequel #giveaway Before The Fall for Blogger Book Fair @Miss_Little_Jay #BBF



Thank you for the opportunity to speak on your blog, Emma, I appreciate it.

I was so excited to be part of the Book Blogger Fair, mainly because I get to discover so many good books as well as spread the word about my own. I have always been obsessed with books and stories that I feel so lucky to be able to make my own.



My latest release is called The Aron Angels series. It starts with A World Without Angels and continues on with Angel’s Uprising.



In the series, we follow guardian angel Jerome as he inadvertently falls to Earth in an attempt to save the angels against the demons waging war on them.

While on Earth, he falls in love with the human Leila and together they must solve the ancient prophecy and save the angels and humans alike.

Finding love in a forbidden place, Jerome and Leila find themselves fighting to be permitted to stay together as they take on the angel council.

A World Without Angels and Angel’s Uprising are available now for your kindle. The prequel Before The Fall is currently free now for you to download and get a feel for the series.

Thank you for having me, Emma. Readers of this blog can also find Emma’s post on my website at http://www.jamiecampbell.com.au



Author Links

Jamie Campbell Website:http://www.jamiecampbell.com.au

Computer genius and hacker on the run, banking collapse and vanishing funds. Real life or fiction? @caitlynnicholas #BBF

Today my guest from the Blogger Book Fair is Caitlyn Nicholas with details about her forthcoming book PURSUIT, which is published by Momentum Books and comes out on the 1st August this summer.





Blurb

Legendary hacker, Dimity Pond, is on the run from the law.  
Her landlord’s sold her home, her money has disappeared along with her two-timing husband, a cyber-terrorist named Nemesis is forcing her to wreak havoc with a nasty virus and she's developing a vile migraine.
Six years ago, Nemesis framed Dimity for the collapse of one of Europe's biggest banks. The money was never found, and the bank's failure caused untold damage to its customers. She's been living under the radar ever since. The only way she can clear her name and live a normal life is to uncover Nemesis's identity, but he's always one step ahead.
Since Lord Richard Summerhayes left the Special Forces he's built the best disaster-recovery network in the world, known as The Bunker. Banks, militaries, airports and other major systems around the world rely on him as the last unshakeable digital fortress in the face of disaster. Richard has been keeping an eye on his neighbor who has a dubious hacking past. He doesn't like hackers, and when someone nukes his network with an intriguing new virus he knows exactly who to blame. But when he confronts her, he gets a whole lot more than he bargained for.

When Nemesis commits an unthinkable act of terrorism, the last hope is an encrypted file that only Dimity can crack. Will Nemesis manipulate Dimity into helping him wipe out the world's biggest financial center? Or can Richard and Dimity take Nemesis down once and for all?

Excerpt from Pursuit

My name is Susan Kiffler.” The woman had a cultured English accent that perfectly matched her outfit. 

Kiffler? Dimity’s heart stopped.

So?”

The woman scrabbled around in her gigantic mauve handbag. 

This is a photo of me and my husband, Jake Kiffler, on our wedding day.” She held out a picture with a hand that shook. Not just trembling, but shaking, like an online gamer at the end of a forty-eight hour session, down to his last quart of caffeinated beverage.

Dimity took the photo from the trembling hand and stared at it, trying to make out what it meant. A stunned, sledgehammered feeling made it hard to concentrate. Thoughts skittered out of her grasp and fragmented, like the smashed mug.

One thing was certain.

Jake was the groom who smiled at her from the photo.

He said it was a disaster, that his first marriage only lasted a few months.” Dimity lifted her chin and narrowed her eyes. 

Jake knew her secrets. He’d helped her create a vague sort of life. Hiding. Isolated. 

Jake Kiffler and I have been married for eleven years.” The woman pulled out a piece of paper and waved it at Dimity. It was a wedding certificate. “We’re not divorced. He’s still my husband.” She pointed to his name on the paper, then put it carefully away.

Get away from my house.” Dimity reached forward and flicked the photograph back into the gaping bag. “Go away.”

Susan grabbed her wrist. “He’s disappeared. We’ve got two children.”


Author bio

Caitlyn Nicholas began writing in 2005. Exhausted, pregnant and coping with a demanding toddler, she decided the time was right to embark on a writing career.

To her family's eternal startlement she is now the author of five novels and a short story.

Her debut novel - and the first manuscript she had ever written - Running Scared, was published in 2007. This was followed by Secret Intentions in 2009, The Danger Game in 2012 and, Drive Me To Distraction, also in 2012. Her next novel, Pursuit, will be out in August 2013.

Author Links

You can find me online at: http://www.caitlynnicholas.com

Buy links



Thanks for coming to visit and best of luck with your book launch Caitlyn - it sounds like an intriguing read! 


Caitlyn was visiting from the Blogger Book Fair - I will be posting at her blog today and at other blogging locations between the 22nd-26th July (see links below)





22nd July    Caitlyn Nicholas http://www.caitlynnicholas.blogspot.com
                   Jamie Campbell http://jamiecampbell.com.au/blog/

23rd July     Emily Tippets http://www.emtippetts.com/search/label/Blog
                   Penelope Reece http://penelopereece.blogspot.co.uk/

24th July     Leslie R. Wright http://thebasementlevelfive.blogspot.co.uk/

25th July     Aria Glazki http://ariaglazki.blogspot.co.uk/ 
                   Barbara Billig http://www.thenuclearcatastrophe.blogspot.com/

26th July     Don Wooldridge http://www.donwooldridge.com



Sunday, 21 July 2013

Virtual Book Fairs - Do they work?



In answer to my title question - I have no response, as yet.  I am about to embark on the  first virtual book fair that I have ever done, so in a couple of weeks I may have some sort of answer.  

I would say, that it's a phenomenal amount of work... so I hope that there are positive outcomes.  What have you found?  Can you give any tips for getting the most out of this type of event?


As a break from my constant rabbiting on about my new book  (The Love in a Hopeless Place Collection - in case you missed all the hype ;-) ), I am going to be handing over my blog to fellow scribes from around the world and across genres, for the duration of the Blogger Book Fair (BBF) from the 22nd-26th July.

The Blogger Book Fair is a bi-annual event where authors celebrate and showcase each other's work. There are book bargains/freebies/competitions and general literary fun – just like a real book fair but without the travel.

For my own contribution, I have reduced ALL my books to 99c/76p/89€ for the duration of the event.  So, if you need to fill your e-reader for the holidays... now is the time!



Here are the bloggers who will be visiting and showing their wares - and who in return, will be hosting me, on the same dates, on their blogs:

22nd July    Caitlyn Nicholas http://www.caitlynnicholas.blogspot.com
                   Jamie Campbell http://jamiecampbell.com.au/blog/

23rd July     Emily Tippets http://www.emtippetts.com/search/label/Blog
                   Penelope Reece http://penelopereece.blogspot.co.uk/

24th July     Leslie R. Wright http://thebasementlevelfive.blogspot.co.uk/

25th July     Aria Glazki http://ariaglazki.blogspot.co.uk/ 
                   Barbara Billig http://www.thenuclearcatastrophe.blogspot.com/

26th July     Don Wooldridge http://www.donwooldridge.com


So, here we go - all the fun of the fair... enjoy and hope you enjoy my guests' posts.



Saturday, 20 July 2013

Absolutely Nothing To Do With Anything

I'd been writing most of the day. You know, hardcore romance about overwhelming immoral, wonderful, sexual, unmarried love and passion. We went to the shops and had a coffee at an outdoor bar. I sipped a cappuccino  - you know me being a modern sophistocrat and all. The waiters were young guys - students I guess. I was sitting with my lover poet man Oscar talking about character development in a novel. Just how much percentage can you give this stuff? It seemed important to me - but most things I want to say seem that way.

From inside the bar came a young man's pure voice singing Schubert's Ave Maria. I'm no Christian. I'm not anything at all but I know a neutral non sectarian angel of mother love and joy passed by and filled that young guy's heart. He passed it on and I was there. I was a conscious being in that moment and I was more than me.

Emma Thinx: Belief outlines. Disbelief defines.




Thursday, 18 July 2013

A Fanfare for the launch of The Love In A Hopeless Place Collection

Why blow your own trumpet if you can blow your own trombone? On Sunday I had the very chance to get up there and show the world my glissando. The clip shows me performing the Muppet Theme.


The trombone fanfare announces the launch of my 

There are five stories included in this 'boxed set'. The theme is that of life and love among folk at the poorer end of society. My impression has often been that working class life is less examined by fiction than higher income groups. The more beautiful and educated are more appealing. Suave heroes and elegant heroines tread the world in pursuit of high ambitions. All the while there's a guy pushing a broom and a woman packing boxes in a warehouse. Sadly these days the term "working class" often means those with no work or those clinging to marginal insecure jobs. There are the illegal immigrants who pick fruit, prepare meat, prop up the sex industry and rinse the rice for our gourmet restaurant dinners.

In my life I have been drawn to these situations. Seeking to be a writer I have chosen not to have a career path but to work in food processing plants, warehouses and as a bus driver. There is passion, colour and humour in these places. These stories represent what I feel has been the best of my experience. 


Here are just a couple of words about each title.


Sub Prime - This has been a successful prize winning piece for me. A guy down on his luck gets some casual work and encounters those far less fortunate. He has to examine his strength of character and is never the same again.

The Chosen - Two guys at the margins of society have very different ambitions. One is a cynical survivor. The other is a believer in the dream of wealth and success. They unite in a desperate throw of the dice. It's about luck, winners and losers.

Escape To Love - A woman faces a future bringing up her handicapped child alone. In her past lies an abusive relationship from which she has escaped. When her child is rescued by a man on the run, she has the chance of a new life and love. Can she trust her own judgement? Could a new lover entirely trust her?

Angela - This is a true short story. What we believe in often affects what we see or how we interpret what we have experienced. A chauffeur encounters an enigmatic client at a point of indecision in his life.

Love In A Hopeless Place - A working class woman has settled into a resigned acceptance of the second half of her life. Suddenly she learns something about herself and of her true possibilities. Change can often engender passion and violenceA chance moment brings everything down around her and brings even further surprises.



The Love in a Hopeless Place Collection is available on Amazon Worldwide.



And of course, there is a competition. All you have to do is spot the differences...




1)How many differences are there between the first and second pictures?
2) Who is the elegant sophisticated glamour model posing in the third picture?

Enter your answers here to win your own copy of the collection and a customised iphone 5 case.


Hear some more tunes from the band as the  'Blowing My Own Trombone Blog Tour Continues'....



20th July Sheryl Browne
21st July Nicky Wells
23rd July Miriam Wakerly
26th July Patricia Sands
 

Monday, 15 July 2013

Robert Galbraith - First Pictures ;-)

The author and close friend Bob Galbraith after the publisher's party
Oooh - I've been listening to posh BBC radio over breakfast. The main subject has been that wizard of an author Robert Galbraith. This red headed porridge gobbler has fooled the world for the last sixteen years or so by masquerading as a female novelist using the pseudonym JK Rowling. Those of us industry insiders who know Robert (or Bobby to his mates) Galbraith personally are not surprised. I'll never forget his appearance in drag at the Random Penguin Christmas party two years ago. It was only the haggis fragments in his stubble that gave him away. Bob Galbraith - I salute you. You never fooled me of course, but it was great while it lasted. Who knows what other secrets lie undiscovered in the mysterious hyper- murk of the super-scribes? 


And NOW......The prize winners in my 'Love In A Hopeless Place' launch competition. All winners were selected by Rafflecopter. In addition all winners will receive a Kindle copy of the soon-to-be launched 'Love In A Hopeless Place Collection' featuring all five stories.


Linn Halton wins a large tattoo.
Petra Rovere wins a Seahorse Club pin.
Carol Wyer wins a pack of Pleasuremax ribbed condoms
Nicky Wells wins a glitterball key ring
Barbara Brannon White wins a copy of Love In A Hopeless

Place (Now upgraded to the whole collection!).

Regulars on here may recall that all of these items feature in the story. If any TV producer out there wants an idea for a  celebrity vehicle show how about this? You get a couple of famous scribblers such as Robert (Bobby) Galbraith and Emma Calin. You give them each a team of coked-up celebs and a bag of props. They write a story based on them which is then performed by celebrity chefs. You could call it "Ready Steady Book". Wow - I'm gonna be rich.


And finally, my latest book, a 'boxed set' of five novelettes and short stories: 
 "Love In A Hopeless Place Collection" 
launches on Thursday 18th July. 
I'm gonna be on all kinds of blogs blowing my own trumpet trombone...






17th July Anneli Purchase
20th July Sheryl Browne
21st July Nicky Wells
23rd July Miriam Wakerly
26th July Patricia Sands



Emma Thinx: Identities are easy. Finding yourself is tough.






Sunday, 14 July 2013

Limp? You Can Stick That.

Novelist on location exposes her crutch
If you poke my dear companion in literature, Oscar Sparrow, he will usually refer you to the Vagrancy Act of 1824. As a cop in modern London, this piece of legislation was never out of his tool box. So it was when he picked me up from the hospital following my leg operation. He immediately advised that the exposure of wounds with intent to obtain pity was an offence for which I could be arrested.




The lovers cavort in this fine setting in my latest Romance

Since absolutely nobody wants to know about surgical procedures, I have attacked my work. And what incredible fun I've had! I've been writing and researching. Yes, please note tax man, I've been out there sucking up the ambiance of all kinds of novelist stuff.  Stately homes, country cottages and long haired cattle. Can a novelist claim for dung cleaning bills? Well, at least it prepared me for the one star Amazon review circus. 

And now for a plug. Next week sees the release of my Love In A Hopeless Place collection. There are five stories. Many novels can come down to ten thousand words. Most of mine should have been reduced to zero.  This collection is my last bow/curtsy/grovel at the shrine of brine. These are serious stories about the life I've lived and seen up close. It's all a bit gritty but how joyfully that salt stings in the wound. I know it's not real fiction mainstream/vampire/sado-masochistic/werewolf fashion photographer stuff - but I've done it now and I'm free. 

Romance is a joy when you come up for air. I've been out there and at it. Do any of you fellow scribes need to go to locations to feel the heat? I sure do. That is why I've written so much real life contemporary stuff. How I admire folks who can "feel" English Regency minuet dancing and werewolf/vampire/alien identity angst. 



Next up is the Blogger Book Fair. This is a five day event where all manner of authors advertise their art on each other's blogs. There are prizes of all sizes. Fun and games and books books books. I will be hosting ten authors. Surprises are certain......


Emma Thinx:  Fame - what the unloved call love.