Sunday, September 29, 2013

Michael Webb's "Infernal Gates" interview and book giveaway

Hello Everyone! Please join me in welcoming Michael Webb to my blog. He's going to share with us a little about himself and his book "Infernal Gates."

Congratulations goes to ... LINDA KISH

Tell us a little about yourself.
I’m a storyteller at heart.  I love making people gasp, cry, laugh, scratch their heads, and think about the world they live in--and the world they’re not quite certain is real.  I’m an eclectic reader, both fiction and non-fiction, and I’m fascinated by the intersection of the Biblical and scientific perspectives, especially as they relate to the study of Light.  I’m a history buff, including ancient, modern, and forbidden.  I love the mountains and enjoy the water.  I live in North Carolina with my wife, a Sun Conure, and our 120 gallon salt water reef tank.  My favorite food is Mexican, I never met a soft chocolate chip cookie I didn’t like, and my favorite music these days is either praise and worship songs or “oldies” from the ’50’s-’70’s.  My all-time favorite movie is a toss-up between Ben Hur and Jeremiah Johnson.  The one thing I fantasize most about is where I’d go first if Time Travel was real.                                                                                

Why do you write the kind of books you do?
 write what I like to read—great stories that leave me craving for more with fascinating, flawed characters, exotic locations around the world, lots of action and adventure, a sense of mystery and intrigue,  all woven together with a thread of interesting, sometimes little-known historical information topped off with a dash of romance.
 also want to engage my readers in ways they might not have been engaged in before by getting them to think about the world they live in from a very different perspective.  We are immersed in an unseen realm, the realm of the spirit, and it impacts our lives dramatically every minute of every hour of every day.  There is war going on in that realm, and it spills over into the physical world we occupy in ways that few people truly understand.  People perish every day because they lack knowledge about this ancient battle for the souls of men and women, children and adults, indeed, all of humanity.  I hope in some small way to get my readers thinking about “What if---” 

Besides writing, what are some of your favorite hobbies?
My wife and I love to travel and we have quite a “bucket list” of places we’d like to visit including Iceland, Chile, and Alaska.  Our favorite place to escape and unwind is St. Johns in the U.S. Virgin Islands.   We love hiking, snorkeling, horseback riding, and visiting museums.  We are also “foodies.”  We love trying new, different, and interesting places to eat and partaking of an eclectic variety of mouth-watering cuisines. 
Have you always wanted to be a writer?
I wrote poetry through high school and the first couple of years of college then tried my hand at short stories.  I realized that the stories I wanted to tell wouldn’t fit into either of those molds.  I started thinking about writing novels as a career in my late twenties, but didn’t begin working at the craft regularly until 1984.  I spent the next six years researching and writing a novel that was longer than Moby Dick, War and Peace, or Atlas Shrugged.  When I finished it, I proudly sent it off to an agent and received an eight page, single-spaced, typed rejection letter.  I had to pay this NY Agent a fee to read the darn thing, so the rejection letter cost me a little less than $100/page.  Anyway, that attempt at “The Great American Novel” eventually became a trilogy.  I recently re-issued the entire trilogy as E-books

 Oh, by the way, I still have the rejection letter, and no, I didn’t frame it.

 Too long—just like my first attempt at a novel!

What advice would you give to a beginning writer?
Writers write. We can’t help ourselves.  We have to write or we’ll explode.  If you have a story burning in you, put it down on paper.  If you decide it’s something others would enjoy, make certain you’ve done your very best to make it excellent.  Don’t be afraid to fail, and don’t wonder if you’ll ever become famous.  Just write--and repeat the process. 
Be clear about why you write and who your audience is.  Become knowledgeable about your craft and the market.  Be passionate about your writing.  Seek out those who can help you succeed whenever and wherever possible (writing is ultimately a very solitary habit).  Last, but not least, “Never, never, never, ever give up” (courtesy of Winston Churchill).
The rest is up to God.
What book are you currently working on?
’m finishing a follow-up story to Infernal Gates, titled Devils’ Cauldron.  It’s not really a sequel, however.  I fell in love with the characters while writing Infernal Gates and they kept clamoring inside my head to tell the world more about them.  So, I’m writing the story they’re dictating to me.  Much of the action is set in Antarctica, another place I’ve put on my “bucket list” to visit.  I’ve also started thriller #7 that I’m really excited about, tentatively titled Ghost Hunter.

Please tell us a little about your book.
Ethan Freeman wakes up one morning and discovers that he is the sole survivor of a commercial airline plane crash that killed everyone on board, including his wife and two teenage children.  He becomes the FBI’s number one suspect in what is believed to be an act of domestic terrorism and must find a way to prove his innocence.  The problem is, he was on the plane, sitting next to his wife, across the aisle from his children and blacked out the instant of the fiery crash.

As Ethan struggles to find out what happened to him and the others on the plane and wrestles with his guilt and torment over the death of his entire family, he is drawn into an ever-deepening, epic, and millennia-old conspiracy.  An ancient evil has been released-- from the prison it was sealed into during the time of the pharaohs--by a mysterious and powerful cult of demonic monks known as The Nine.  The Nine have summoned the ancient evil with the intent of prematurely opening the angelic prison spoken about in the Book of Revelation and referred to as The Abyss.  They seek to steal the Key to the Abyss from The Guardians and use it to unleash a holocaust upon an unsuspecting world.
Ethan is thrown together with an eclectic mix of individuals, including the woman heading up the crash investigation for the NTSB, a Black FBI agent who is a descendant of Thomas Jefferson, a British astrophysicist, an orthodox rabbi who survived Auschwitz, a Hmong warrior who wields a mysterious and unusual weapon, and a South African wilderness guide who is a tenth generation shaman.  Together, the seven companions must stop The Nine and prevent the ancient evil from opening The Abyss, unleashing unimaginable evil and enslaving humanity.

How can readers find you on the Internet?
Connect with Michael J. Webb: Website: http://www.michaeljwebbfiction.com/, Amazon Author Page: http://amzn.to/P2CLn1, Facebook http://www.facebook.com/MichaelJWebbBooks

                                                                      Fiction
Infernal Gates:     Kindle
The Oldest Enemy:  Book Video Trailer http://bit.ly/WkK5dL, Kindle http://amzn.to/RWyv4c, Nook http://bit.ly/ZJhymL, Paperback http://amzn.to/Rolsf1
The Master’s Quilt:   Kindle http://amzn.to/Z2SJQS       Nook http://bit.ly/17K2Qx4
The Nephilim Parchments: Kindle http://amzn.to/10fON1N   Nook http://bit.ly/15qcOnZ
The Song of the Seraphim:    Kindle http://amzn.to/11gUNTD   Nook http://bit.ly/11mLqS8

                                                                  Non-fiction
In the Cleft of the Rock: Insights into the Blood of Jesus, Resurrection Power, and Saving the Soul             Kindle  http://amzn.to/17S6Aze   Paperback http://amzn.to/19V7CLM
 
Thanks so much, Michael, for visiting with us!
Drawing will be held Oct. 5
 

Sunday, September 22, 2013

Fay Lamb's "Stalking Willow & Better Than Revenge" Interview and Book giveaway

Hello Everyone! Please join me in welcoming Fay Lamb to my blog once again. She going to visit with us this week and share a little about herself and both of her books in the Amazing Grace series. "Stalking Willow & Better Than Revenge." And BOTH books goes to one winner!!

Congratulations goes to... KAYM

Tell us a little about yourself.
I’m a lifelong resident of a small town on the East Coast of Florida. Titusville is best known for the Kennedy Space Center. My husband and I are two of those rare individuals that can claim we are native Floridians. We have both lived in this town all of our lives. Both of our grandmothers were born in this town as well.
I’m a past-secretary for American Christian Fiction Writers. I also served for four years as the moderator for ACFW’s critique group, Scribes. I had to give up the moderation last year around this time to concentrate on my writing career, but I one of my joys in life is working with authors. I miss my Scribes’ friends, and I have every intention of getting back to work there as soon as I can.
                                                                                             
 Why do you write the kind of books you do?
This was asked of me in a previous interview for another story, and my answer then hasn’t changed, but there can be one answer to a question. Today, let me just say that I write the kind of books I do because I feel that the Lord has always been directing my path to write for Him. By His grace He has protected me from writing work that would not bring glory to His name. What I mean by that is that before I began to follow his leading, I would write stories that weren’t God-honoring or God-centered. They were just stories. I cannot think of any better reason to write than the fact that God created me to write. Of this I’m absolutely sure. Now, how many He intends to be reached with my stories—that’s entirely up to Him. I heeded the call. I’ve studied the craft, and I leave the outcome in His hands, which are must more capable than mine.
Besides writing, what are some of your favorite hobbies?            
I have two hobbies I feel are a bit unique. I tat—you know—tatted lace. I cannot crochet or knit. I couldn’t sew on a button to save my life, but I can use a ball of thread and a teeny little tatting shuttle and create beautiful little motifs by practicing an art that has almost vanished today.
     I also collect salt and pepper shakers. I got the love for the different types of shakers from my grandmother. I believe the count is currently at 500 and climbing. Yet, I use a Morton Salt box and a McCormick’s pepper tin for our meals—something that was pointed out to me by my mother-in-law during a big family dinner.
    As an aside, I’m also in love with music. Progress, alternative and mostly indie music are favorite.                                                                                                      

Have you always wanted to be a writer?
Definitely. I can’t imagine life without writing. Writing is the way that I deal with life’s difficulties. It’s the greatest distress formula in the world. I was writing stories on the wall of my brain even before I could write them on paper.

What advice would you give to a beginning writer?
I love this question. I have a lot of answers. Let me just say that studying the craft is a necessity in the art of fiction. A musician cannot sit down and play a difficult piece of music without practice. Yet, some writers believe they can create masterful prose without so much as practicing the art of storytelling. That simply can’t be done..

What book are you currently working on?
I’m working on the third book in my The Ties that Bind Series. That book is Hope, and it will follow Charisse and Liberty.
Please tell us a little about your books in the Amazing Grace series.
Stalking Willow was released in May of this year. The second story in this series, which is romantic suspense and set in the mountains of Western North Carolina, is entitled Better than Revenge, which is actually a rerelease of my first novel, Because of Me. My first publisher is no longer in business, and my current publisher contracted it. Better than Revenge has what I think of as the “extra” like you’d seen in a DVD of a movie. The extra with Better than Revenge is a closer look at one of the antagonist and learning just how devious the old biddy really was.
Here’s a little about each novel:
Stalking Willow: Bitterness, a stalker, and a neighbor to die for. What's a girl to do? Trailed by a stalker in New York City, Willow Thomas, a young ad executive, scurries back to her small North Carolina hometown and the lake house where ten years earlier a scandal revealed her entire life had been a lie, and a seed of bitterness took root in her soul. The cocoon of safety Willow feels upon her arrival home soon unravels when she meets opposition from her and the stalker reveals he is close on her heels.
Can Willow learn to trust God to tear out her roots of resentment, reunite her family, ferret out a deadly stalker, and to rekindle the love she left behind?
Better than Revenge:
Michael’s fiancĂ©e, Issie Putnam, was brutally attacked and Michael was imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit. Now he’s home to set things right.
Two people stand in his way: Issie’s son, Cole, and a madman.
Can Michael learn to love the child Issie holds so close to her heart and protect him from the man who took everything from Michael so long ago?

How can readers find you on the Internet?
I truly hope your readers will connect with me online. My website is www.faylamb.com. There you’ll see my blog Inner Source, which provides writers the opportunity to write about the issues God brought to them in the writing of their novels and books.

I’m also The Tactical Editor on Facebook. I offer daily editing advice and writing how-tos Monday through Friday at www.facebook.com/TacticalEd. And I love to connect personally with friends on my page: www.facebook.com/fay.lamb. This is where I have lots of fun.

I use Twitter for a lot of promo, and sometimes I try to slip something funny into a post, and I can be found there at www.twitter.com/FayLamb.

Thanks so much, Fay!
Drawing will be held September 28

Saturday, September 14, 2013

Emma Right "Keeper of Reign" interview & book giveaway

Hey All! Please join me in welcoming Emma Right to my blog. She's here to tell us a little about herself and her book "Keeper of Reign"

Tell us a little about yourself.

Right after college and before I had kids I worked in advertising writing print and Tv ads. Some of my ads actually won awards. I don't even know where I kept those dust collectors! But that was ages ago. Now I live in the Pacific West, and have five children, ages nine to nineteen. I have four at home now whom I homeschool. It gets really hectic at our home. We also have many pets, so something is always happening. If it wasn't for the Lord I wonder how I ever get anything accomplished! He is my constant source of strength and hope.

Why do you write the kind of books you do?
I like the Young Adult and Middle Grade Age range. Maybe it's because I've done so many read-aloud with my kids throughout our seventeen years of homeschooling. I remember I sometimes read to them till I was hoarse. As for genre, I enjoy anything from mysteries to fantasy to thrillers to historical sagas. I like to write stories with a subtle message.
                                                                                                   
Besides writing, what are some of your favorite hobbies?
When I have time, I like to go for walks, bike, go horse back riding, exercise, read all sorts of books sitting on my rocking chair, drink coffee, watch movies, ahh…so many thing I'd love to do, but alas, there are not enough hours in a day.
Have you always wanted to be a writer?

I've always like to tell stories even as a young girl of eight. I  remember how my neighbor friends would sit around by our front porch and keep pestering me to tell them one tale after another. I also recall being sometimes annoyed by this--I mean how was a girl going to think up all the stories if she had to keep spewing these out each time she had any moment away from school work, right? As for writing, I joined an ad agency after college and was posted to the copywriting department where I had to write print ads, radio and even some 30 second TV blurbs. It was fun and I even won a few awards.

What advice would you give to a beginning writer?

Write a million words, then, read, read, read, and write a great story that's been trying to bust out of you. Read as many books as you can on crafting great fiction that deals with all the elements of a great book. Writer's Digest has plenty and I practically spent thousands of dollars trying to educate myself and soak in as much  as I could when I had to re-revise Keeper of Reign--about 17 times.
And never give up on your dream no matter how many problems life throws at you! If a person is called to write she will know this in her bones, even if it's something she has been pushing aside due to life's commitments. Don't give up. You'll eventually get published if you keep trying.

What book are you currently working on?
I am finishing up preparing my marketing strategy for Dead Dreams, a young adult psychological thriller mystery--putting the marketing plan together is hard.
Also, I am writing Keeper of Reign Book 2 which hopefully can be out Spring of 2014.
No precise title for that Book 2 yet.

Please tell us a little about your book..

Keeper of Reign is an allegorical fantasy, a story of struggles set in a fantastical setting in the Kingdom of Reign. One of the things that helped me to hone in on the theme for Keeper of Reign is the song from Switchfoot. When I first heard their song , "Meant to Live" (for so much more) it got me thinking about how far short so many of us fall from our true potential. The trials and troubles of this world reduce us, and, at least for me, it feels that our troubled world is so big. This is just like how it was for the Elfies living in the Kingdom of Reign.
How can readers find you on the Internet?

Connect with Emma Right
        http://www.emmaright.com/Home.aspx
        Blog: http://www.emmaright.com/Blog.aspx
        https://www.facebook.com/emma.right.author
        https://www.facebook.com/KeeperOfReign
        https://plus.google.com/u/0/111644513292318573575/posts
 Thank you so much, Emma!!
Drawing will be held, September 21

Sunday, September 1, 2013

Tara Randel's "Orange Blossom Brides" interview & book giveaway

Hello, All! Please join me in welcoming Tara Randel to my blog. She's here to tell us a little about herself and her book "Orange Blossom Brides."

It's time to announce the winner. Congratulations goes to . . .  MARY L. BALL

Tell us a little about yourself.

I’ve been writing for many years and finally got published in 2000. In between projects, I helped my husband with our business and raised our two daughters. I still work for the business, but have concentrated more on my writing career. I’ve had seven books published, including my new Harlequin Heartwarming release and have an upcoming release next year for the Quilts of Love series by Abingdon Press. I also just picked up another contract with Harlequin to continue in the Heartwarming line.
                                                                                                      
Why do you write the kind of books you do?
I write wholesome romance. The type of love story that can be read by young adults all the way up to grandmothers. The love story is always the focal point, the attraction between the hero and heroine that is the readers journey. I believe love is the greatest gift of all. I couldn’t imagine writing any other type of story.                                                                                      

Besides writing, what are some of your favorite hobbies?
I love to read. My husband thinks it’s funny that I can spend the day on the computer working on my WIP, then relax at night with a good book. My TBR pile is huge, so I have no choice but to keep reading. It’s a tough job but someone has to do it!

Have you always wanted to be a writer?
Not really. LOL. When I was in high school, I didn’t like creative writing and when it came time for college I went to school to be a dental hygienist. Since I’ve always been an avid reader, I jumped at the chance to try writing when a co-worker expressed an interest in working on a story idea together  many, many years ago. I took her up on it and although that first story is still hidden away in my closet, I couldn’t ignore the story ideas that would pop into my head so I kept learning the craft and years later became published.

What advice would you give to a beginning writer?
Learn the craft of writing. All the focus on publicity and getting your name out there is great, but if you don’t learn the basics you never evolve as a writer. I still attend workshops and read books about craft. There are certain books I pull out every time I start a new project to help me get into the zone.

What book are you currently working on?
I just received the okay from Harlequin to start work on the proposals they’d been considering. My current Heartwarming is set in a small town in Florida. The other books will also take place there. I love small town settings and bumping into characters from previous books. I’m nosy, so I like to find out what they’ve been up to. Writing for Heartwarming allows me to create new characters while catching up with others. I’m having a blast.

Please tell us a little about your book.
In my August Heartwarming release, Orange Blossom Brides, Lilli Barclay needs a groom—and she needs one now.  Not for herself, of course, but for her mother's glamorous wedding-themed benefit. Then Lilli can get back to what really matters, earning a promotion at work. Just her luck that Max Sanders, the ideal candidate, still holds a grudge against her for an incident that happened twelve years ago.

Persuading Max to volunteer will take longer than Lilli thought. Much longer. And the more time she spends with him, the further she ventures down Memory Lane. Pretty soon Lilli can't help wondering if Max could be more than a pretend groom. He still makes her heart race. But will he ever be able to forgive the past and consider a future…with her?

How can readers find you on the Internet?
There are a few ways to find me. For the list of  my previous books, notices about upcoming releases and current news, please visit http://www.tararandel.com/

 I blog at http://tararandel.blogspot.com/, http://heartwarmingauthors.blogspot.com/, and http://christiansread.wordpress.com/. Come visit!
As always, if you mention in with your comment that you're a new or old follower your name will be added a second time to the drawing!
Drawing will be held, September 7