Tonight is the night and the offer is still open, looking for a book for tonight. Iceline for free with the code NL36S here and Control: Escape with 50% discount code VK56T here.
Tuesday, 23 April 2013
Monday, 22 April 2013
Not Without My Cat (when fish is not enough)
Science fiction adventure. When is a crime scene not a crime scene? When it hasn't happened yet, or has it or will it? Time travel and intrigue in equal measure. An entertaining read, good outlines, realistic characters, a brilliant techie-medical partnership. Read it once and then it again to savour the flavour. I keep picking it up, drawn into the world inhabited by the characters, even the thumbnail sketch of a minor player reminds you of someone. Available at Feedbooks.com here for free
The book went up a week ago and notched a hundred and fifty downloads in seven days. Readers spread across the globe, taking an adventure with an unknown writer with a fantastic imagination. Adventurous independent minded readers for an independent author, is that what you see in the mirror? Prepared to venture into unknown territory. A M Russell is the writer and Not Without My Cat is the book.
The book went up a week ago and notched a hundred and fifty downloads in seven days. Readers spread across the globe, taking an adventure with an unknown writer with a fantastic imagination. Adventurous independent minded readers for an independent author, is that what you see in the mirror? Prepared to venture into unknown territory. A M Russell is the writer and Not Without My Cat is the book.
So what are you going to do? Play it safe and go with a big name, or step into the unknown, download it for free or if you believe in independent authors you can buy a copy at smashwords.com here.
The biggest name was an unknown once, I know where my money is, and Not Without My Cat is where I put it!
Sunday, 21 April 2013
Two days to World Book Night.
Tuesday, 16 April 2013
World Book Night - an army marches forward!
Books are precious, they absorb time; to plot, to write, to re-write, and work out the subtle twists and turns. The minutiae of structure ,plot and sub-plot that must hang together like the threads of a tapestry. Later when they reach out to the reader, the individual for whom all books are written, there is more time spent on deciding, is the cover enticing enough, does the first page grab you and drag you through the portal into a world you don't want to escape and your feet drift inexorably towards the bookseller and the cash till to make the purchase.
Next Tuesday World Book Night night books will be moving by the case, box upon box, stacked and packed with crisp fresh pages and newly printed ink. Thousands of people will savour that moment when you open the covers for the first time and the smell of the book reaches your nostrils. A perfume, and a promise, the scent of imagination and an invitation to intrigue, adventure and romance, brought by an army of volunteers
Will you have a date with the Girl with a Pearl Earring, play the high stakes at Casino Royale, be entertained by The Reader, or be summoned to an audience with The White Queen.
Are you to be investigated by the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency, or will the encroaching night bring the sober news that Last Night, Another Soldier...
A selection of some of the books available on World Book Night,
Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracey Chevalier
Casino Royale by Ian Fleming
The Reader by Bernard Schlink
The White Queen by Philippa Gregory
The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
Last Night, Another Soldier by Andy McNab,
See what's available here and what's happening near you on the events page
Whichever one is given to you on World Book Night, I hope you enjoy it, savour it and add your time to that spent writing, producing and delivering it.
The Big One - World Book Night
One week to go, seven nights from tonight World Book Night will be with us!
Have you anything lined up yet?
To celebrate; Iceline, the first Grange novel is free to anyone who wants to offer it a good home here with NL36S for a 100% discount. Bag Control Escape for half price with VK56T here and take both home. Two thrillers for a dollar and a half, Have a good read.
Saturday, 13 April 2013
Coincidence and Chain Reaction?
A few days ago I wrote a review for a terrific thriller, Coincidence Theory by Steven Allinson, a fresh look at the stories of the Biblical story of the Exodus, jammed with detail and edge of the seat tension. The chain reaction was a tumbling effect through the old grey matter to some stuff I read years ago.
Erich Von Daniken made a name with his ideas regarding the origin of some of the more elaborate and puzzling structures and artefacts strewn across our planet, Mayan, Aztec, Egyptian, Minoan, and the most exotic of all; the Atlantean elements, sunken buildings and a myriad of other things. The theory and the subject of his books; Chariots of the Gods, Gold of the Gods, was that earth had been visited in the distant past by space travellers who brought knowledge and technology to the primitive population, and thereby lifted us out of the mud and pointed us towards the stars.
That had my thoughts trailing along the line, did the astronauts who inspired our ancestors, for the sake of the discussion, get their knowledge from an earlier race of travellers and they in turn get it from someone else, you get the drift? So on and so forth back to the beginning of time and the first space faring population. in a universe with a known starting point there has to be a first, right at the beginning of the line.
What if we are the first and not the latest in a line of hand-me-down technologies, then the story of the ancient astronauts is not a memory but a briefing of the task we have yet to fulfil. We may not be alone in the universe but we might the top of the heap regarding technology and invention, and the others out there are waiting for us to boldly go.
I know there is a school of thought that suggests all the space stuff of the sixties was done in the dry and dusty bits of the US, but I can't subscribe to that. Why would anyone want to pretend when we have the imagination and the incentive to do it for real?
The imagination has been there for years, decades, by now centuries, writers, artists and film-makers have explored the idea of travelling off planet, to the moon and beyond as much as they have ventured to the bottom of the sea with their imaginary explorations, and so many of those have become reality. Jules Verne and HG Wells stared at the Moon, Edgar Rice Burroughs went further and went to Mars, Arthur C Clarke wrote his Space Odyssey, where the monolith drew us out from our moon towards Jupiter and engineered the Jovian moon Europa into an evolving planet. He took humanity across the stars to a new home with The Songs Of Distant Earth and leaving this blue jewel behind was part of life, of growing and exploring.
The incentive is because we can, we can imagine it, and by that do it!
Where will yours take you tonight?
Erich Von Daniken made a name with his ideas regarding the origin of some of the more elaborate and puzzling structures and artefacts strewn across our planet, Mayan, Aztec, Egyptian, Minoan, and the most exotic of all; the Atlantean elements, sunken buildings and a myriad of other things. The theory and the subject of his books; Chariots of the Gods, Gold of the Gods, was that earth had been visited in the distant past by space travellers who brought knowledge and technology to the primitive population, and thereby lifted us out of the mud and pointed us towards the stars.
That had my thoughts trailing along the line, did the astronauts who inspired our ancestors, for the sake of the discussion, get their knowledge from an earlier race of travellers and they in turn get it from someone else, you get the drift? So on and so forth back to the beginning of time and the first space faring population. in a universe with a known starting point there has to be a first, right at the beginning of the line.
What if we are the first and not the latest in a line of hand-me-down technologies, then the story of the ancient astronauts is not a memory but a briefing of the task we have yet to fulfil. We may not be alone in the universe but we might the top of the heap regarding technology and invention, and the others out there are waiting for us to boldly go.
I know there is a school of thought that suggests all the space stuff of the sixties was done in the dry and dusty bits of the US, but I can't subscribe to that. Why would anyone want to pretend when we have the imagination and the incentive to do it for real?
The imagination has been there for years, decades, by now centuries, writers, artists and film-makers have explored the idea of travelling off planet, to the moon and beyond as much as they have ventured to the bottom of the sea with their imaginary explorations, and so many of those have become reality. Jules Verne and HG Wells stared at the Moon, Edgar Rice Burroughs went further and went to Mars, Arthur C Clarke wrote his Space Odyssey, where the monolith drew us out from our moon towards Jupiter and engineered the Jovian moon Europa into an evolving planet. He took humanity across the stars to a new home with The Songs Of Distant Earth and leaving this blue jewel behind was part of life, of growing and exploring.
The incentive is because we can, we can imagine it, and by that do it!
Where will yours take you tonight?
Sunday, 7 April 2013
Edge of your seat stuff - Coincidence Theory
Coincidence Theory by Steven Allinson, $1,99 at Smashwords.com.
I gave it four stars and said this at Smashwords.com.
"Fast, tightly paced and intricately plotted, packed with historic detail and descriptions that put you in the thick of the action as the plot drags you by the scruff of the neck. Dazzling, I couldn't put it down. A real page turner. Read it, you will not be disappointed.
I picked it up during Read An Ebook Week, along with a few others and tucked them away to read later, but curiosity crooked its finger and hooked me.
This is one of the best thrillers I've read in a long time written by anyone, published anywhere, and this one's at Smashwords.com
Two linked stories, thousands of years apart, unfolded in parallel.
Wednesday, 3 April 2013
Update - What You Ask For
Just posted the latest version of the Nanowrimo 2012 winner,
What You Ask For, still free and still available at Smashwords.com. The story continues, and Jessica makes her move. follow this as it progresses and pick up the first two Grange novels at 50% discount through Smashwords Iceline (code SG33N) and Control Escape (code VK65T).
Is there anybody there?
Blogging can feel like shouting in the dark, hurling your words into the void and wondering if anyone is listening, or reading. The page view stats; are they real people or search engine bots crawling through the pathways of the Internet, devouring fragments of code as they go?
I suppose they must be a combination of both, and what and who am I?
We all carry tags and labels, a name for this and a description for that, simpler than lumping everything as a thingummy or a whatsit.
My tag cloud, the labels attached to this blog, the metadata for my website, all say something about the medium being used and reasonably would say it about me, so who, what am I.
I write, therefore I am a writer - there, I said it, wrote it; I AM A WRITER! (Are capitals loud enough or is that the internet equivalent of screaming?)
I tell stories, so I am a storyteller, I like the sound of that too, and I live in Yorkshire, which is in England and part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, so I am also English, and British. That gives a choice of options for the tag cloud, my writing is fiction, but not entirely, I enjoy a good bit of factual research but the freedom of fiction is more immediate and fun. Novelist, my books are novels, or at least variations on a theme (Source Material, posted 23.03.13)
I self publish, via Smashwords, who are my distributors, which makes me an independent author, or an Indie Author to see the tag on Diesel ebooks, and the constant chatter about traditional, hybrid, legacy,vanity, indie, self published, privately published or whatever I personally find quite fascinating, confusing and irritating.
I like being independent, I gives me the freedom to explore what works, and what doesn't; that's where the exploration begins the personal trek to boldly go, or tentatively dip a toe to check the temperature.
Seriously, it is an adventure in whatever guise you step out on to the road, and it may be long and arduous, but it will be worth it.
So who am I, what's my tag cloud today?
Martyn Taylor, Writer, Indie Author, British Writer, Yorkshire, England, Self-published, distributed by Smashwords, storyteller, independent, novelist
I suppose they must be a combination of both, and what and who am I?
We all carry tags and labels, a name for this and a description for that, simpler than lumping everything as a thingummy or a whatsit.
My tag cloud, the labels attached to this blog, the metadata for my website, all say something about the medium being used and reasonably would say it about me, so who, what am I.
I write, therefore I am a writer - there, I said it, wrote it; I AM A WRITER! (Are capitals loud enough or is that the internet equivalent of screaming?)
I tell stories, so I am a storyteller, I like the sound of that too, and I live in Yorkshire, which is in England and part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, so I am also English, and British. That gives a choice of options for the tag cloud, my writing is fiction, but not entirely, I enjoy a good bit of factual research but the freedom of fiction is more immediate and fun. Novelist, my books are novels, or at least variations on a theme (Source Material, posted 23.03.13)
I self publish, via Smashwords, who are my distributors, which makes me an independent author, or an Indie Author to see the tag on Diesel ebooks, and the constant chatter about traditional, hybrid, legacy,vanity, indie, self published, privately published or whatever I personally find quite fascinating, confusing and irritating.
I like being independent, I gives me the freedom to explore what works, and what doesn't; that's where the exploration begins the personal trek to boldly go, or tentatively dip a toe to check the temperature.
Seriously, it is an adventure in whatever guise you step out on to the road, and it may be long and arduous, but it will be worth it.
So who am I, what's my tag cloud today?
Martyn Taylor, Writer, Indie Author, British Writer, Yorkshire, England, Self-published, distributed by Smashwords, storyteller, independent, novelist
Monday, 1 April 2013
Something for the week-end, Sir?
The old style Barbers with the traditional red and white pole outside the door, dark wood panelling stained with age and Brylcreem, and the smell of oil, shampoo and the other unctions and ointments, the alchemy of hair dressing There was a padded plank that rested on the chair arms to lift you to the right level, because you were small and the seats were made for grown men, where you went with your Dad or Grandad, and the question was an overheard fragment of a conversation from another customer, in a language you didn't quite understand.
Something for the weekend Sir? What's on offer? Tickets to the match on Saturday, the winning numbers for the lottery (don't you wish), or that something with a bit of a nudge nudge wink wink say no more, by the way how is your good lady? Most of it floats straight over your head. You're thoughts of the week end are about plunging through the comics and magazines at WHSmith while trying to ignore the itchy bits of hair that sneaked past your collar, or maybe even a book, something for the weekend and into the week beyond.
Something for the weekend, Sir, or Madam, What's on offer, a discount code for Iceline (SG33N) and Control Escape (VK56T), 50℅ off using the codes, until the end of May, pick them up now and hang on to them for Summer reading.
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