"This book, and the trilogy, were excellent. It actually brought a few tears. Great balance of action and personal sacrifice. I can't say enough so just get this book and read the series.
Book 1 is now only .99 cents!
4.5 Kindle Stars
GET IT NOW!
Thursday, February 18, 2016
Military SciFi Novel on Sale
THE LAST HERO Trilogy
"This book, and the trilogy, were excellent. It actually brought a few tears. Great balance of action and personal sacrifice. I can't say enough so just get this book and read the series.
Book 1 is now only .99 cents!
4.5 Kindle Stars
GET IT NOW!
Contact with a race of pacifists convinces mankind to lay down its weapons and keep the peace. The last Medal of Honor recipient, Trent Maxwell, trades glory for the comforts of a family after the U.S. Army disbands. All that ends when an alien menace attacks the New Earth colony, which forces a crash mobilization. Trent finds himself reactivated and traveling through space to distant worlds, in order to stop this new enemy. During the century long journey of death, love, and loss, he also deals with the law of relativity that wreaks havoc with his daughter.
"This book, and the trilogy, were excellent. It actually brought a few tears. Great balance of action and personal sacrifice. I can't say enough so just get this book and read the series.
Book 1 is now only .99 cents!
4.5 Kindle Stars
GET IT NOW!
Sunday, February 14, 2016
Author Interview with K.C. Sprayberry
Author Bio
Born and raised in Southern California's Los Angeles basin, K.C. Sprayberry spent years traveling the United States and Europe while in the Air Force before settling in Northwest Georgia. A new empty nester with her husband of more than twenty years, she spends her days figuring out new ways to torment her characters and coming up with innovative tales from the South and beyond. (Twitter: @kcsowriter.)
Amazon Author Page
Where did the idea for your novel come from?
The Canoples Investigations books were born during the horrifying hours after the attacks on 9/11. Not only was I horrified by what I witnessed but my then kindergarten age son wanted answers about why bad people would do such things. This child, now twenty, was my active one—creating stairs out of dresser drawers and climbing them, peeking at his daddy working on a computer and asking the hard questions, always into some kind of hijinks. Four days after those attacks, BD Bradford came to mind with his friends, Carl and Cassie Wills, and Terry Ashley. These were kids unafraid to try what others said was too dangerous. They leapt into trouble and sought answers without thinking. Canoples Investigations was a book for kids to seek their own answers to the bad people in the world.
How did you start writing?
I started writing in my teens, with a diary my brothers loved to steal and tease me unmercifully after they read what I’d written. My love of the story was taken further when my Advanced Creative Writing teacher in high school, Mr. Frank Jansson, encouraged me to run with what he saw as an awesome talent. Even during my time in the military, I was jotting down stories in notebooks, finding ideas no matter where I was.
What does your writing process look like?
Usually, I make notes about character names and locations, to reference later. However, with the Canoples Investigations books, I’m keeping a spreadsheet with all kinds of information so I don’t get a detail wrong later.
Where is your book set?
Canoples Station orbits Jupiter, in the year 2364.
Are your characters based on real people?
They’re based on kids I’ve known who will fearlessly leap off the top bunk bed, roll down a snowy hill, and dive into a pond during the summer. This is about doing the right thing despite restrictions.
Did you always want to write?
I’m fairly certain I did. Writing was a quiet fun retreat for me, when I wasn’t reading.
7. Which character is your favorite and why?
BD Bradford, mostly for his plucky, “I could care less” attitude and the fact that he readily admits he doesn’t get girls.
What authors do you enjoy reading? Why?
Robert Heinlein is pretty much at the top of my list, but Frank Herbert (Dune series) and Robert Jordan (Wheel of Time) aren’t far behind. Oh, and any of the authors in the Star Wars universe. I understand they’re calling those books the “Legacy” line now. Awesome adventures.
What are you reading right now?
All I Have by Felicia Rogers – one of the many books on my TBR list that I need to finish.
10. Dog or Cats?
Both but I’m more of a cat person.
What’s next for you?
Hmmm? Well, that particular project is still very much in development. Haven’t even got a title for it yet. It’s going to be a romantic suspense. That’s pretty much all I can say now.
Born and raised in Southern California's Los Angeles basin, K.C. Sprayberry spent years traveling the United States and Europe while in the Air Force before settling in Northwest Georgia. A new empty nester with her husband of more than twenty years, she spends her days figuring out new ways to torment her characters and coming up with innovative tales from the South and beyond. (Twitter: @kcsowriter.)
Amazon Author Page
Where did the idea for your novel come from?
The Canoples Investigations books were born during the horrifying hours after the attacks on 9/11. Not only was I horrified by what I witnessed but my then kindergarten age son wanted answers about why bad people would do such things. This child, now twenty, was my active one—creating stairs out of dresser drawers and climbing them, peeking at his daddy working on a computer and asking the hard questions, always into some kind of hijinks. Four days after those attacks, BD Bradford came to mind with his friends, Carl and Cassie Wills, and Terry Ashley. These were kids unafraid to try what others said was too dangerous. They leapt into trouble and sought answers without thinking. Canoples Investigations was a book for kids to seek their own answers to the bad people in the world.
How did you start writing?
I started writing in my teens, with a diary my brothers loved to steal and tease me unmercifully after they read what I’d written. My love of the story was taken further when my Advanced Creative Writing teacher in high school, Mr. Frank Jansson, encouraged me to run with what he saw as an awesome talent. Even during my time in the military, I was jotting down stories in notebooks, finding ideas no matter where I was.
What does your writing process look like?
Usually, I make notes about character names and locations, to reference later. However, with the Canoples Investigations books, I’m keeping a spreadsheet with all kinds of information so I don’t get a detail wrong later.
Where is your book set?
Canoples Station orbits Jupiter, in the year 2364.
Are your characters based on real people?
They’re based on kids I’ve known who will fearlessly leap off the top bunk bed, roll down a snowy hill, and dive into a pond during the summer. This is about doing the right thing despite restrictions.
Did you always want to write?
I’m fairly certain I did. Writing was a quiet fun retreat for me, when I wasn’t reading.
7. Which character is your favorite and why?
BD Bradford, mostly for his plucky, “I could care less” attitude and the fact that he readily admits he doesn’t get girls.
What authors do you enjoy reading? Why?
Robert Heinlein is pretty much at the top of my list, but Frank Herbert (Dune series) and Robert Jordan (Wheel of Time) aren’t far behind. Oh, and any of the authors in the Star Wars universe. I understand they’re calling those books the “Legacy” line now. Awesome adventures.
What are you reading right now?
All I Have by Felicia Rogers – one of the many books on my TBR list that I need to finish.
10. Dog or Cats?
Both but I’m more of a cat person.
What’s next for you?
Hmmm? Well, that particular project is still very much in development. Haven’t even got a title for it yet. It’s going to be a romantic suspense. That’s pretty much all I can say now.
Saturday, February 6, 2016
Author Interview with Margaret Egrot
Where did the idea for your novel come from?
I was writing a play for radio about a woman falling apart when her husband left her. I just couldn’t get it to come alive – apart, I felt, from the scenes between her son and his best friend, Alex. Once I decided to forget about the play and concentrate on the boys’ stories instead, the novel – And Alex Still Has Acne - came together quickly. I decided to go for the young adult reader on this occasion, with the hope that teenage boys in particular, would enjoy reading it. Some do! I spent a lot of my working life dealing with that age-group.
How did you start writing?
A lot of people thought what I said was funny. So a few years ago I decided to try writing it down. Comedy sketches for the stage mostly. And Alex Still Has Acne is my first novel to be published.
What does your writing process look like?
I usually do an outline of the story and character pen pictures first. Nothing too detailed; the only novel I worked out completely before writing is still on Chapter one at the back of my desk drawer. Once I get going I write quickly, often revising the story outline as I go.
Where is your book set?
In the Midlands UK. The only place mentioned specifically is Birmingham.
Are your characters based on real people? No. “All names and characters are the work of the author’s imagination.’ Though of course, like most writers, little bits of character and ways of speaking that we have observed in other people creep in.
Did you always want to write?
I won a prize (postal order for £2.00) for a story in the Brownie magazine when I was eight, and thought after that I’d become a writer and make loads of money. But the need to earn a living, and bringing up a family, took up a few decades before I had the time and resources to try my hand seriously.
Which character is your favorite and why?
I like all three teenagers in the book: Alex, his sister Nicky, and best friend Sam. But as I wrote it Alex became my favorite. He is a great best friend and brother, especially when things are going wrong, without being a pain.
What authors do you enjoy reading? Why?
I run a second hand bookstall for a charity once a month. When it’s quiet I often start reading a book we have on sale without checking the cover, and if I’m enjoying it I keep on reading. Recently I have been reading books by Kate Atkinson and Mark Haddon.
Classics I like reading include Jane Austen and George Eliot – both have wise but funny things to say about human nature.
What are you reading right now?
Bill Bryson’s A short History of Nearly Everything. And lined up on my bedside table I have Anne Tyler’s A Spool of Blue Thread – a Christmas present to myself.
10. Dog or Cats?
Dogs, definitely.
What’s next for you?
I have a play being performed locally in February so I am just putting the finishing touches to the script. As And Alex Still Has Acne is set partly in Birmingham I have been asked to contribute to an anthology of Birmingham writers. I have a nearly completed manuscript of another YA novel to send to a publisher, and a full length play I am looking to place somewhere.
Author Amazon Page
Bio: Margaret Egrot has worked in the Probation Service, Police Authority, Social Services, and the charity sector. She has written several prizewinning plays and short stories. Her first novel for young adults, And Alex Still Has Acne, was published by Solstice in January 2015. She has short stories in all the Solstice anthologies for 2015: Chains of Magic in The Food of Love, Love in Waiting in Summer Thrills, Summer Chills, and Journey to the Fair Mountain in The Winter Holiday Anthology. The stories are also available separately from Amazon.
Margaret lives in the UK with her husband and Cairn terrier, and has one grown up son who is married and lives in Thailand. She aims to walk five miles, swim one mile, and write 1,000 words every day. On a good day she manages two out of three.
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