Day: November 29, 2012

John Barlow Announces New Release

ISLANDERS by John BarlowAuthor John Barlow is pleased to announce the release of his new young adult action-adventure novel: ISLANDERS.

ISLANDERS is a full-length novel for mid-graders and young adults. Set in a post-war dystopia, it follows thirteen-year-old Ben Brewer as he goes in search of his dad.

Thirteen years ago the Mainland was torn apart by war and contaminated by biological weapons. Ben’s parents–leaders of the Resistance–moved all their friends and comrades to the safety of an island. Then his dad went back, never to return.

When news arrives that Ben’s dad might not be dead, Ben sets out on a journey through a mutant-infested industrial wasteland to find him.

“5/5 Stars. I spent all day reading this book and didn’t get bored once! It is full of adventure and gets crazy at the end!” – Courtney Bauman at BaumanBookReviews

Islanders was released on November 16th, 2012 by Storm Books and is available through Amazon.com, Amazon UK and Smashwords. 

Be Prepared… by Dick C. Waters

Give some thought to any fine print connected to the publication of your novel. You need to make sure you, and you alone, own the ‘rights’ to your novel.

Stephen asked me to write this article because several authors have voiced concern over taking back their rights. My own story might help put this in perspective. Continue reading “Be Prepared… by Dick C. Waters”

Sooo Phisticated

Photo copyright Stuart Miles
via freedigitalphotos.net

In October 2009, I received my first one-star review. The rating didn’t bother me much, because the reviewer’s other one-star reads included two of my favorite books plus an Oprah club pick. But a particular line in the text of the review haunted me for nearly three years: “The writing was so unsophisticated.”

After I read that line, it hardly registered when other strangers described my book with words like “compelling”, “important”, “heart-wrenching”, and “superbly written”, because my brain kept going back to so unsophisticated. I had never in my life strived to be sophisticated–I’m not even sure what it means–but suddenly it became the measure by which I judged every passage I wrote. Continue reading “Sooo Phisticated”