Krista Tibbs Announces New Release and Goodreads Giveaway

Reflections and TailsAuthor Krista Tibbs is pleased to announce her latest title, Reflections and Tails, a book of short stories illustrated by Clint Sattler. In celebration of this recent release, five paperback copies will be given away on Goodreads.com on October 19th.

From moose and mental illness to cat rhymes and an ode by sheep, this illustrated collection reflects human hearts through the animals that touch them. A service puppy, a medical lab, two friends and a seagull, dads, and a dude ranch are some of the pieces of life inside these animal stories for grown-ups.

Reflections and Tails was released in July of 2012. It is available in print and Kindle format on Amazon.com and Amazon UK and in additional e-book formats on Smashwords and BarnesandNoble.com. You can enter the Goodreads give-away here.


How to Make a Quick But Usable Cover in Publisher

For an updated article on this subject, please check out How to Make an eBook Cover in Publisher.

The Cult of Koo Kway by Jay Mims

The Cult of Koo Kway
by Jay Mims

Dan, Abbey, and Doc are all back and so is trouble in this second novel by cozy mystery author, Jay Mims.

Dan’s sister Jules, high profile criminal defense attorney, has asked for his help with a very dangerous client.

Just as soon as Dan takes the case, Doc shows up poisoned on Dan’s doorstep and the only clue is a reference to an old movie, The Cult of Koo Kway.

This book is available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Smashwords. Be sure to check out Jay’s blog as well. Here is an excerpt from The Cult of Koo Kway, by Jay Mims: Continue reading “The Cult of Koo Kway by Jay Mims”

Book Formula

Until I was about thirteen years old, I had regarded reading as something of a chore. Then, one summer, while visiting family, my cousin gave me some books to take home with me. On the ride backI cracked one of them open – and ended up reading all four during our 800 mile drive. These books really lit me up against all of my own expectations.

The Bantam editions of the Doc Savage series are the books that really got me interested in exploring the possibilities of becoming an author. Over the next few years, I read seventy-two of these books. Bantam published over 180 of them, at one time putting out one title a month.

Lester Dent (1904 – 1959)

There is a complicated backstory about the Doc Savage books. The stories were originally published in pulp magazines in the 1930s and 40s. The author of the stories was listed as Kenneth Robeson, but that was actually just a house name. Though the preponderance of the stories were written by an author named Lester Dent, a number of other writers were involved and contributed to titles in the series.

Dent developed a master fiction plot, called the Lester Dent Formula. Essentially, his approach for producing highly salable 6,000 word stories was to divide the story into four 1500 word parts, each with steps for building the suspense and sense of menace to keep the reader engaged. Ironically, it was likely that formulaic approach that made it possible for other authors to step in and write additional Doc Savage adventures so seamlessly that the reader would never guess there was no Kenneth Robeson. Continue reading “Book Formula”