Book Review: Buying Time by Pamela Samuels Young

A fast-paced, engaging mystery is what you'll find in Buying Time by Pamela Samuels Young.

Waverly Sloan's luck can't get much worse. His wife likes to live the lifestyle she grew up with, but he's just gotten disbarred. He's messed up big time and he's not too keen to let the queen of his castle know.

When a business associate turns him onto a new line of work that can help terminally ill people get their hands on some much needed cash, while also providing Sloan with a nice profit, things are looking up. That is until his clients start dying sooner than they should and Assistant U.S. Attorney Angela Evans begins investigating the viatical industry and Sloan's role in this business venture.

Buying Time is a superbly plotted, masterfully told legal thriller. From the first page I was drawn into this story whose Prologue gives you just a glimpse of the wild ride you're in for.

Young blends together a cast of complex characters, a riveting plot, a legal, though ethically questionable business, and a mystery to create a book you simply can't put down. As the investigation continues, Angela Evans and Waverly Sloan are pulled into something so sinister, you feel you have to go to confession just for reading about it.

The author manages to keep the pace quick, but still builds the suspense up to the dramatic conclusion. While I had some of the puzzle pieces placed before the ending, there were still surprises that came my way.

I highly recommend Buying Time by Pamela Samuels Young. I'll be checking out more of Young's books soon!

Title:  Buying Time
Author:  Pamela Samuels Young
Publisher: Goldman House Publishing

ISBN-10: 098156271X
ISBN-13: 978-0981562711
SRP:  $14.95

Guest Blogger: Rich Ticks by Robert Seymour, Author of Wig Begone

Today's special guest is Robert Seymour, who wrote the humorous novel, Wig Begone, under the pen name of Charles Courtley.

Charles, a newly qualified lawyer without a penny to his name, plunges into the archaic world of the Bar as it was thirty-five years ago. After a stroke of beginners’ luck – and a taste of good living – he soon becomes established in practice battling away in the criminal courts, conducting court-martials in Germany and on one horrifying occasion actually appearing in a commercial court, “winding up ” companies of which he knows nothing! He encounters a wide range of clients including an Italian motorist charged with assault, who claims to have been savagely attacked by an elderly lollipop man wielding his road sign. On top of that, there are instructing solicitors who never pay him and even one who has departed this world altogether yet still manages to operate on a shadowy basis from the vicinity of Bow Road in East London. Court-martials take Charles abroad where he encounters a German policeman’s dog whose canine expertise is deemed to be perfectly sound evidence and samples a night out on the other side of the infamous Berlin wall just making it back to the safety of the West. Wig Begone is an exhilarating tale of Charles’ early career with disaster often lurking round the corner and culminating in his own appearance in front of England’s most notorious judge!

Rich Ticks by Robert Seymour

“What is the difference between a tick and a lawyer?”

“A tick falls off when you die.”

Not very flattering, but probably an accurate assessment of most people’s attitude to lawyers. For they are popularly perceived to be rich and parasitical - never associated, like writers and artists, with living from hand to mouth or on the verge of poverty.

But that was exactly what life was like when I first began to practise as a barrister in the 1970s. My wife, Jane and I, lived in a damp-ridden basement flat so ill-equipped that we needed a hammer to turn up the gas taps on the cooker, used a one-bar electric fire which might burn your toes but warmed little else, and gazed at an ancient TV set which only worked if you encouraged it with a hefty swipe.

Not only were my earnings minimal in those early days, but , as a matter of course, solicitors delayed payment for months if not years - choosing to believe that we barristers all subsisted on private incomes.

Of course, as part of the ethos of being a barrister, I had to give the impression that I was successful, so outwardly at least, I dressed well. However, my one tailor-made pin-striped suit (bought second-hand from a clothes-hire shop) soon developed a large hole in the crutch of the trousers and fraying cuffs on the jacket. This latter item did survive in a patched-up state for some years, but the trousers soon became a source of embarrassment, requiring me to purchase another reasonably similar pair of trousers without delay. My shoes too, might be highly polished but the soles were riddled with holes which I blocked, as best I could, with plastic padding on the inside.

All this was very different from the dreams I’d enjoyed on passing the exams.

The barristers I met then, during a period of training, drove swanky cars to their chambers in the Inns of Court, lunched in venerable dining halls rich in splendour and after a modest day’s work drafting pleadings, enjoyed a quiet drink in one of the area’s many wine bars. The courts, frequented by these legal luminaries, were generally civilised ones like the Supreme Court of Judicature and House of Lords nearby. If they were ever forced to undertake criminal work, it would be at the Central Criminal Court situated in the Old Bailey only a short distance away.

Instead, after tedious Underground journeys, I trudged wearily to a variety of run-down police courts, built in Victorian times, which stank of sweat or worse, to find myself representing the very dregs of criminal low-life. My best advocacy was really reserved for the bank manager in persuading him to increase my overdraft limit time and time again.

I suppose, I was still a tick, but hardly one over-bloated by pecuniary gain or marked by any sort of glamour!

Robert Seymour, (under the pseudonym of Charles Courtley) is a retired judge who lives on the English coast with his wife, Jane, of 38 years, and a small dog called Phoebe.


He is the author of Wig Begone, a tale of a young barrister’s triumphs and tragedies. As well as adapting his novel into a screenplay and writing a sequel, he contributes to legal newsletters and blogs.


Find him online at http://courtleyprocedures.wordpress.com/

Guest Blogger: Alzheimer’s Disease, Clinic Trials, and the Novel Terminal Care by Christopher Stookey, Author of Terminal Care

Today's special guest is Christopher Stookey, author of the medical mystery thriller, Terminal Care.

Phil Pescoe, the 37-year-old emergency physician at Deaconess Hospital in San Francisco, becomes alarmed by a dramatic increase in the number of deaths on the East Annex (the Alzheimer’s Ward). The deaths coincide with the initiation of a new drug study on the annex where a team of neurologists have been administering “NAF”—an experimental and highly promising treatment for Alzheimer’s disease—to half of the patients on the ward.

Mysteriously, the hospital pushes forward with the study even though six patients have died since the start of the trial. Pescoe teams up with Clara Wong—a brilliant internist with a troubled past—to investigate the situation. Their inquiries lead them unwittingly into the cutthroat world of big-business pharmaceuticals, where they are threatened to be swept up and lost before they have the opportunity to discover the truth behind an elaborate cover-up.

With the death count mounting, Pescoe and Wong race against time to save the patients on the ward and to stop the drug manufacturer from unleashing a dangerous new drug on the general populace.

Alzheimer’s Disease, Clinic Trials, and the Novel Terminal Care by Christopher Stookey

 Alzheimer’s disease is a devastating brain disorder that leads to memory loss and a steady decline in intellectual functioning. For people under the age of fifty, the disease is fairly rare. However, as people age, the disease becomes much more common. One in twenty people between the age of 65 and 74 will develop Alzheimer’s. By age 85, about half of all people will have the disease.

The hallmark of Alzheimer’s is a gradual progression of memory impairment to the point where a patient can no longer even remember the names of family members and loved ones. The patient becomes completely unable to take care of him- or herself. The disease, ultimately, is fatal.

The underlying cause of Alzheimer’s is still not completely understand. However, one thing is certain: the end result of Alzheimer’s is the death of neurons—brain cells. The overall size of the brain shrinks dramatically as the neurons die off. In Alzheimer’s disease, the brain literally shrivels up.

There is no cure for Alzheimer’s. However, because Alzheimer’s disease is so common and so devastating, efforts towards finding a cure are underway at many research centers. Alzheimer’s research is one of the most active areas of medical inquiry.

Right now there are dozens of clinical trials underway to test new drugs as treatments for Alzheimer’s. A wide number of different types of drugs are being looked at. For example, some researchers believe inflammation might be the cause of brain cell death in Alzheimer’s; consequently, clinical trials are underway to test the efficacy of anti-inflammatory drugs in treating Alzheimer’s. Other clinical trials are testing cholesterol-lowering drugs because there are theoretical reasons to think there might be a link between cholesterol and Alzheimer’s. Researchers are also studying antioxidants, certain vitamins, and females hormones as possible treatments.

Most clinical trials are designed in basically the same way. A group of people—the subjects of the trial—are divided into two halves. One half of the subjects get the new, experimental drug that is being tested. The other half of the patients get a placebo, that is, either a sugar pill or some other inert substance such as a saline (salt water) injection. The two groups are then compared in terms of some specific parameter. Thus, in a study of a new drug treatment for Alzheimer’s, memory tests might be given. If the drug group scores better than the placebo group, this is evidence the drug is working to improve memory.

The best clinical trials are those which go by the fancy title “randomized, double-blinded” studies. “Randomized” means subjects are put in the drug group or the placebo group in a random way. A simple coin toss could be used. More commonly a computer randomly put subjects into one group or the other (using a sort of computer-generated coin toss).

“Double-blinded” means neither the researchers conducting the trial nor the subjects, themselves, know who is getting the real drug and who is getting placebo. This may seem odd at first. How could scientists conduct a trial where no one knows who is getting what? Ultimately, of course, someone does know which subjects get the drug and which get the sugar pill. But this “someone” might be a pharmacist who is not otherwise involved in the trial or even a computerized drug dispenser. The “blinding” is done in order to avoid bias. Researchers who know which subjects are getting the real drug might tend to look upon such subjects with a more favorable eye. Subjects who know they are just getting a sugar pill, on the other hand, might not try so hard on, say, a memory test.

Once all the test results are in, then the researchers “break the seals” and reveal who is getting what.

Terminal Care is a novel about exactly this sort of drug trial. Researchers at a hospital in San Francisco are conducting a clinical trial to determine if the new, experimental drug, “NAF,” is a safe and effective treatment for Alzheimer’s disease. Half the patients on the Alzheimer’s ward are getting NAF and half are getting a salt water injection.

In good, scientific fashion, the trial is randomized and blinded. Neither the researchers nor the patients know who is getting NAF and who is getting placebo. Everything seems to be going well for the first six months of the trial, and then a problem starts to show up. The problem is patients on the ward begin to die off at an alarming rate.

The “seals” are broken early on the patients who die in order to determine if the deaths are occurring exclusively in the NAF subjects. The surprising answer is the deaths are occurring in both NAF subjects and placebo subjects. What, then, is really causing the subjects to die? This, ultimately, is the key mystery of the novel, and it takes two physicians who are not directly involved in the clinical trial—Phil Pescoe, an emergency room physician, and Clara Wong, an internist—to find the startling answer.

Christopher Stookey, MD, is a practicing emergency physician, and he is passionate about medicine and health care. However, his other great interests are literature and writing, and he has steadily published a number of short stories and essays over the past ten years. His most recent essay, “First in My Class,” appears in the book BECOMING A DOCTOR (published by W. W. Norton & Co, March 2010); the essay describes Dr. Stookey’s wrenching involvement in a malpractice lawsuit when he was a new resident, fresh out of medical school. TERMINAL CARE, a medical mystery thriller, is his first novel. The book, set in San Francisco, explores the unsavory world of big-business pharmaceuticals as well as the sad and tragic world of the Alzheimer’s ward at a medical research hospital. Stookey’s other interests include jogging in the greenbelts near his home and surfing (he promises his next novel will feature a surfer as a main character). He lives in Laguna Beach, California with his wife and three dogs.


To find out more about Chris, visit his Amazon’s author page at http://www.amazon.com/Christopher-Stookey/e/B003UVLDI4/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0.

Guest Blogger: Self Publishing, Bone of the Dead Cookies and Winston Churchill by Elle Newmark, Author of The Book of Unholy Mischief

Today's special guest is Elle Newmark, author of the Renaissance mystery novel, The Book of Unholy Mischief.

The issue of my age came up shortly after Simon and Schuster bought The Book of Unholy Mischief. After I sent my new agent an overly-excited email, she asked, "How old are you?"

OMG, should I lie? No.

I shot back, "I'm sixty. Is that a problem?"

My agent is younger than my children. I considered emergency plastic surgery. I panicked because, frankly, I'm shocked to be over sixty. I feel like I'm thirty-five, only smarter.

I'm smarter, because I've lived. I've had jobs, marriages, lovers, friends, children and grandchildren. I've visited every continent and lived on two of them. I've survived divorce, single parenthood, life-threatening illness, and even teenagers. And through all those heaving life experiences, I kept writing without ever publishing a word.

By fifty-five I had an epic collection of rejection letters, but I needed to write. At fifty-six, I finished my third novel, and I remember the surge of elation when that book caught the attention of a reputable agent who said, "This is a gold mine." It was finally happening!

Then it didn't.

One black day, I accepted that my work would never be published. It was crushing, and I spent weeks wallowing in the tragedy of my crucified ego. On my 60th birthday, I sulked on the sofa in rumpled pajamas and ate cold pizza.

Then I got angry. I'd given away control of my destiny, and the world had shrugged and given it back.

Fine. I'd do it myself. I took the humble route of self-publishing, because I thought just holding my book in my hands would be enough. I risked money and went through endless edits, and then my literary baby made its debut to a shrieking silence and a riot of apathy.

The book languished on Amazon, and that's when I decided that it wasn't only about holding a book but knowing that people were reading it.

One night, slumped in front of the TV, watching a glitzy book launch party on Sex in the City, I got an idea.

I gambled on a do-it-yourself website, took on an Internet marketing course, and threw a virtual book launch party. It was designed to generate a surge of sales on Amazon and catapult me onto the bestseller list.

I brazenly asked droves of website owners to help me. I sent letters, homemade cookies, and signed books marked on the page where those cookies appear in the novel. The cookies are called Bones of the Dead and so, with an aching back, I spent long days in the kitchen, shaping bone cookies -fifteen hundred of them.

Two days before my virtual party, my son said, "Mom, why not invite agents to your party?" Well, that would be a ballsy move indeed, but I figured I had nothing to lose. The night before the launch, I wrote personal invitations with a link to the party site to 400 agents.

By noon the next day agents were clamoring to read my masterpiece, asking me to overnight books to New York. Within 24 hours, I had offers from several impressive agencies-including William Morris, with whom I made an agreement at whiplash speed.

I did hit the Amazon bestseller list. Not that it mattered anymore.

Two weeks after my virtual party, my book went to auction. Bidding was due to start at 11:00 a.m. EST, but at 8:00 a.m. the phone rang. My agent said, "Are you sitting down?" I said yes, though I wasn't. She said, "Two book deal, Simon and Schuster." Then I sat down.

In the following heady days, the foreign sales started. It was a global feeding frenzy. As of this writing The Book of Unholy Mischief will be published in a dozen languages.

In all the excitement, I remembered a famous quote from Winston Churchill-with the sky over London littered with falling bombs and the city in rubble, the sixty-eight year old Churchill growled, "Never, never, never, never give up."

I didn't give up. That's really all I did. I have spent my life pursuing what I love, and every word I wrote was necessary to find my voice as a writer. And success is better later than early. Can you think of anything more depressing than peaking at the age of 25? Then what? Also, I feel profound gratitude, which I probably wasn't capable of twenty or thirty years ago. Being older makes it sweeter.

But here's the ironic part: Now that I'm published, I finally understand that the deepest satisfaction is in the writing itself. The best part is not holding my book or having other people read it-the best part was writing it. Writing is my passion, and passion is our consolation for mortality. Real success is finding something you love, and then doing the hell out of it.

My new book, The Sandalwood Tree, will be out in April 2011, and then I get to write another. And I am old enough to appreciate the hell out of that.

Elle Newmark is an award winning writer whose books are inspired by her travels. She prowled the back streets of Venice to cook up The Book of Unholy Mischief and explored India by car and elephant to conjure The Devil’s Wind. She calls California home.



For more information on Elle or her work visit http://www.ellenewmark.com/

Guest Blogger: Believability in Fiction by Dean DeLuke, Author of Shedrow

Today's special guest is Dean DeLuke, author of Shedrow.

From rolling pastures in Lexington, KY to darkened alleyways in Newark, NJ, from Manhattan’s posh ‘21’ Club to a peculiar and mysterious landfill in Eastern Kentucky, and from Saratoga Springs, NY to the tiny island of St. Lucia, Shedrow portrays a collision of characters from many divergent worlds. High society and the racing elite, medical and veterinary specialists, mob figures, and Kentucky hill folk become entangled in this unique twist on the medical thriller.

Dr. Anthony Gianni, a prominent Manhattan surgeon, becomes involved in a racing partnership as a diversion from a thriving surgical practice and an ailing marriage. The excitement builds when the partnership acquires Chiefly Endeavor, a two-year-old colt with the breeding, the spirit, and enough early racing success to qualify for the Kentucky Derby.

When a new partner with an unsavory background appears and a breeder’s nightmare becomes real, Dr. Gianni and a dedicated veterinarian must confront organized crime and solve a complex mystery that threatens to destroy both of their careers, and possibly a great deal more.

Believability in Fiction Writing: Write What You Know and Research the Rest! by Dean DeLuke

It is an old adage, perhaps even a cliché in fiction writing: write what you know. And while it certainly provides an author with a good starting point, there will always be a need for additional research, and that research will be a key factor in making the story believable, the characters real, and the plot an engaging one.

In the novel Shedrow, the principal character is a surgeon who becomes involved in a thoroughbred racing partnership as a diversion from a thriving practice and an ailing marriage. It was not a stretch for me to create true-to-life drama from the operating room and the racetrack. I have, after all, been a surgeon for nearly thirty years, and my experience with thoroughbred horses dates back to my high school and college years when I was a farm hand on a thoroughbred farm in upstate New York. More recently, I have been a partner with Dogwood Stable. So I had a long history of hands-on involvement at all levels.

That combined experience in the medical and racing arenas did not mean that I had no research to do—only that there would be less of it. For the research that I did perform, I used a variety of the standard techniques: site or field research, internet-based research, and one-on one interviews.

Most of my field research related to visiting sites I was already somewhat familiar with, in order to give my setting descriptions absolute authenticity. I wanted readers to be able to see, hear, feel, even smell the surroundings—whether on the backstretch at Saratoga or in the paddock at Gulfstream. So I would sit quietly and record what I experienced, from the smell of manure alongside the barn to the feel of a cooling mist carried by the wind from the fountains near the paddock at Gulfstream. The visual description is only one component; good writers always advise us to use as many of our five senses as possible throughout our story.

Of course, the internet has made the life of the writer infinitely easier. There are innumerable things that can be researched without ever leaving our computer screens: a myriad of facts and figures, even photographs or satellite views of settings, etc. The internet can augment but should never totally replace the other methods of research.

For some things, nothing can take the place of a face-to-face interview with a real expert or an insider. So for certain details about how a particular disease might present in horses, I asked a vet. And even though I had spent plenty of time around horses, I asked a real racing insider—one who had spent her entire lifetime with thoroughbreds—to read my story. She let me know where the potential shortcomings were.

A key point in writing believable fiction is to know where you don’t require any help, and where the story might be made better with some additional research. So in the case of my novel Shedrow, I knew I didn’t need anyone to tell me what it was like in an Operating Room. But I didn’t hesitate to ask a veterinarian or a horse trainer for assistance if I had an equine medicine question.

Despite our best efforts, there will undoubtedly be some instances where an author gets a particular detail or fact wrong. It happens even to the best authors, and when it does, one thing is certain: it may get by our editors, but our readers will surely let us know.

Dean M. DeLuke is the author of Shedrow, a new thriller dubbed a cross between Dick Francis and Robin Cook. He is an oral and maxillofacial surgeon, a graduate of St. Michael’s College, Columbia University (DMD) and Union Graduate College (MBA). Currently, he divides his time between the practice of oral and maxillofacial surgery and a variety of business consulting activities. You can read excerpts and reviews, view a book trailer and photo gallery, and see details of upcoming contest offerings at http://www.shedrow1.com/.

Book Review: Arsenic and Clam Chowder by James Livingston

On August 30, 1895, Mary Alice Livingston Fleming purchased clam chowder and a piece of lemon meringue pie from the Colonial Hotel Restaurant. Mary Alice lived in the hotel, which was also home to her stepfather, Henry H. Bliss. Though Mr. Bliss and Mary's mother, Evelina Bliss were now separated, her mother and step-father remained on good terms. Mr. Bliss even paid Mary Alice's bills.

Mary Alice had been alone in her apartment that day. When her children returned home, she asked her daughter Gracie and the girl's friend, Florence, to carry the clam chowder in a small tin pail and the pie wrapped in paper to Gracie's grandmother, Evelina.

Hours later, Evelina Bliss was dead. Mary Alice would soon be accused of her murder.

Arsenic and Clam Chowder: Murder in Gilded Age New York recounts the sensational 1896 murder trial of Mary Alice Livingston, a member of one of the most prestigious families in New York. Livingston was accused of murdering her mother with a lethal dose of arsenic found in the clam chowder that had been delivered by Mary Alice's daughter and her friend. Her motive: to gain access to the inheritance left by her father, which would become hers only after her mother's death.

By the time of Evelina's demise, Mary Alice had three children by three different men and was six months pregnant. Although she had never married, she took the name Fleming, which was the family name of the father of her first child. Mary Alice was no stranger to the court system. She had accused two of the fathers of her children with a breech of contract, claiming they agreed to marry her.

Mary Alice's trial would last months, providing fodder and sensational headlines for Joseph Pulitzer's World and Randolph Hurst's Journal. If convicted, Mary Alice would face the death penalty. During the time of her trial, juries were made up of men, so in order to provide her with a jury of her peers, Pulitzer formed a jury of "twelve well-known, brainy New York women" who would follow the case and pronounce a verdict. An all-out circulation war was on.

Witnesses from well-known experts to Mary Alice's daughter Gracie and her friend Florence would be examined and re-examined to discover the truth. The truth, however, remains elusive.

In this intriguing account of Mary Alice's trial, author James D. Livingston brings Mary Alice and the days in which she lived, up close and personal. So engaging that it reads more like a novel, Arsenic and Clam Chowder, is an impartial true crime story that brings the reader from that fateful day in August 1895, through Mary Alice's trial, and into a discussion of reasonable doubt. A distant cousin of Mary Alice and her family, Livingston's account is well-researched and throughly detailed, providing the reader with a glimpse into the Gilded Age in New York, capturing the headlines of the day, the industrial advances, and the society into which Mary Alice was born and lived. In the end, the reader must decide if the outcome of the trial was fair and right, based upon the facts provided. The author also provides his thoughts on the matter.

The Afterwards section follows the major players in Mary Alice's trial after the verdict; nicely wrapping up the story for readers. Also included are historical photographs of buildings, evidence, and sketches drawn during the trial.

If you love true crime novels, you'll definitely want to pick up a copy of Arsenic and Clam Chowder by James D. Livingston!



Title: Arsenic and Clam Chowder
Author: James D. Livingston
Publisher: Excelsior Editions/State University of New York
ISBN-10: 1438431791
ISBN-13: 978-1438431796
SRP: $19.95

Interview with Jon Katz, Author of Rose in a Storm

Joining us today is author Jon Katz. Jon lives on a farm in upstate New York with his wife Maria Wulf, the artist, four dogs – Izzy, Lenore, Rose and Frieda – and two donkeys, Lulu and Fanny and a couple of barn cats. Rose In A Storm is his nineteenth book. He is an author, a photographer and is at work on a series of children’s books.

Where did you grow up?

Providence, R.I.

What is your fondest childhood memory?

The beach.



When did you begin writing?

I began writing at a local library, where the librarian encouraged me to tell stories, and put them down on paper.

What is Rose in a Storm about?

It’s about a border collie abandoned on a farm during an awful blizzard, narrated from the dog’s point of view. I talked to many behaviorists over a long period of time to figure out how a dog thinks and to try and capture it in a narrative. It was tough.

What inspired you to write it?

My border collie, who is also named Rose, and who helps me run the farm I love on in upstate New York, Bedlam Farm.
Who is your biggest supporter?

My wife, Maria.

Are you a member of a critique group? If no, who provides feedback on your work?

I don’t really like writing groups. They often become therapy groups. I have feedback from my editors, which is quick, clear and challenging.

Who is your favorite author?
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Do you have an agent or are you looking for one?

I have one.

Was the road to publication smooth sailing or a bumpy ride?

It’s always a bit bumpy to write a book and get it published. Part of the process.

If you knew then, what you know now, is there anything you would have done differently?
No, I always feel as if I could use more time, but I’m very happy with the book.

Where can readers purchase a copy of your book?

Anywhere books are sold, online or in bookstores.

Do you have a website and/or blog where readers can find out more?
www.bedlamfarm.com
Do you have a video trailer to promote your book? If yes, where can readers find it?

On my website, www.bedlamfarm.com

What is the best investment you have made in promoting your book?

My blog has been by far the most valuable investment in getting my work out there.

What is one piece of advice you would like to share with aspiring authors everywhere?

Writing is a job like any other. Keep writing, show it to people, take criticism as if it were all true.

What is up next for you?

My next book is a short story collection, “Dancing Dogs.” And a book on animal grieving, both to be published by Random House.

Is there anything you would like to add?

Rose In A Storm is my first novel in a decade, and I think (I hope) it achieves what is a daunting goal – to bring us into the mind of a dog, and show us some of the emotional landscape there, from a dog, not a human perspective. From the early reviews, I see I’m hitting that nerve. I appreciate feedback. See my dogs and farm on bedlamfarm.com. We are considering a sequel.

"How Do You Spell 'Write' Anyway?" An Article from Suthep Srikureja, Author of The Traveler

Today's special guest is Suthep Srikureja, author of the children's spiritual novel, The Traveler.

The Traveler is about Dreams and Wishes…it’s about Expressions and Wonder and about Hope and Trust.

It is a Story of the Stars and it seeks to inspire awe in our everyday existence and optimism about the future.

"How Do You Spell 'Write' Anyway?" by Suthep Srikureja

Thank you for having me here today.

Do you think writing is hard? What should you write about? Do you want to be a Writer one day?

How do you spell "Write" anyway?

Let me tell you how I spell it...''W R I I T E'.... Now before you say that my spelling sucks, let me tell you what I mean, and let's start with:

W : Write

The best way to be a writer is to simply Write. Sit down, pull out a sheet of paper and pen, or turn on your computers and simply...start. I often hear people saying things like "Oh, I would like to write one day but I am so busy. I can never find the time..." or "I used to be pretty good at this. I'm sure I can do it." or " I would like to write but I think I would totally suck" ...and so on. Yes, these arguments may make sense but it really does not matter. Good or bad, talented or not, if you want to do it, you have to DO it.

So take action. There is no substitute.

R: Relax

All right kids, take a deep breath in. Now breathe out. Again. And again. How do you feel?

The thing is if you are tense or stressed out about anything you do, whether it is your school work, or sports or even your social life, your performance will suffer. Or you will suffer. OR both. And that doesn't make sense. It's the same with writing. Don't go crazy and don't be scared. If you relax into the process of writing, you will be more effective. And you will enjoy yourself too.

I: Ideas

What to write about? Where do ideas come from? The answer is from Everywhere. From your mind, from other people, from books, from movies, your pets, from nature. There are stories all around us. Try to be observant, try to notice things. The way someone walks, the way the cat hides and pounces, the way your friend's shoe laces keep getting undone, the way the moon and the sun play hide and seek with one another...Keep doing this and pretty soon you discover that you now have way too many ideas. What do you do? How do you manage them? The best way is to write them down. They don't have to mean anything and they don't have to lead anywhere. You may never use these ideas. But you have to catch them. For if you don't they will pop like bubbles and they will be lost forever. I have a little note book that I carry with me everywhere and I call it my bubble catcher. I write everything down. If nothing else, I take it out and read it when I'm bored. It's a real fun thing to do.

I: Inspiration

Some days I find myself looking for inspiration. So what I do is I open my note book, my bubble catcher, and I look through it. I read it slowly and suddenly one of the bubbles starts to try to catch my attention. Some are nice and polite and they say 'please' and some are a little aggressive and they catch hold of me. Either way, I start with one or more of these ideas and then see where they lead me.

T : Trust

Some writers know exactly the type of story they are going to write. Everyone has their style, everyone has their method. I can only tell you my way. For me everything I write is an adventure. It might be a funny sort of a journey or it might be a magical mystery tour or it may be a discovery trip. It could be a short story or it could be a long book. While I do know what end result I am looking for, I don't force it too much. I know that my stories want to be written as much as I want to write them, and so I often let them be the driver. In that sense we are like partners and we create the stories together. That takes a lot of Trust. Trust in myself and Trust in my story.

E: Expression

You must express yourself sincerely. If you try to copy someone else, or you try to write about some topic simply because it is the fashionable thing to do, you might not be able to do as a good a job. But if you express your story in your own way, you develop something that writers call "Voice" which the reader will be able to "Hear". It may be a little hard at the beginning to find what style you're most comfortable with but it comes with time. So write and express what's in your heart and you cannot go wrong.

And that's how I WRIITE.

How about you?

Thank you.


Suthep Srikureja lives in Bangkok with his wife and three children. An entrepreneur and a writer, he can often be found immersed in various bodies of water. The Traveler is his first book.


You can find out about Suthep and his book at http://www.mettavisions.com/

Guest Blogger: DCS, Author of Synarchy Book 2: The Ascension

Today's guest blogger is DCS, author of Synarchy Book 2: The Ascension.

A lifetime ago, Stefano Vasco Terenzio saw one way to maneuver his family into a game of betrayal against an unbeatable enemy; walking into a bullet.

A generation later, what started with one man’s ego will determine the fate of the whole word.

For centuries The Brotherhood and their Gods, the Anunnaki have hidden in plain sight among us. For centuries they have lied, sacrificed man by the thousands, and manipulated humanity into their service.

As the clock ticks closer to December 21st, 2012, they will stop at nothing to keep their control of planet Earth.

In the thrilling sequel to Synarchy Book 1: The Awakening, the end is only the beginning. Secrets emerge that will challenge the core of everything you think you believe.

All the while a team of scientists must make sense out of the fantastical, and the tenuous link holding together the one family that can save humankind, shatters.

Writing is a Business, Period by DCS

Writing is a business, period. Sure, it’s our creative release, our artistic genius, but when all is said and done, unless you’re writing solely for your journal most authors have the goal of seeing their works sustain them financially. Even just a little. Most of us have what I call our “fake” jobs, the ones that pay the bills but don’t light us up the way putting fingers to keys, or pen to paper does. If we want to get rid of those big wastes of our creative time, we can’t ignore the business side of our craft. Even if you do get signed with a publisher, there will be work to do on your end. But if you’re a writer who’s done their research (and you better be) you know this already. We self-published authors should know this better than most. So, I want to encourage you not to forget the business side, and when those moments of writers block hit and you’ve just spent the last thirty minutes watching your cursor blink, waiting for inspiration to strike, remember two words: time-management. As a business owner (and you are, your work is your business) there is always something you could be doing instead of sitting there frustrated because your creativity is off today.

I know, I know, they say write everyday. I say, work on your dream every day, no matter what that entails. If you’re not feeling inspired, if that paragraph just won’t come, I say, don’t force it. There are about a million other things you could be doing. Get your fan page up. Update it, if only to let your fans know that you’ve got writers block. Maybe they can help give you some tips to get the creative juices going. Jump over to marketing and refresh your knowledge about search engine optimization and keyword tracking. Draft the letter you’re going to send to the agent pitching your story. Head over to writers digest and check out the free articles and tips to improve your craft. The Writer Magazine is a great source of inspiration and information too.

Bottom line, as authors we are also our own CEO’s. At some point, we’re going to have to step outside of our creative bubble, and play the business game. In the moments that our creativity has failed us, let’s engage another part of our brain and tackle another aspect of our creation. Our time is precious and we’ve got a big niche to carve out for ourselves. Your inspiration will return to you, and when it does you’ll be glad you didn’t waste your down time.

DCS is the author of Synarchy Book 1: The Awakening and Synarchy Book 2: The Ascension. When not writing you can listen to her radio show, In The Mind of DCS every Saturday evening at 7pm CST on the Paranormal Soup Network. Currently sucking up the creative energy of New Orleans, she is attending the American Institute of Holistic Theology to earn a PhD in Metaphysical Spirituality while being hard at work at the next book in the Synarchy Series, and an upcoming webisode series called The Fallen. Visit her website at http://www.themindofdcs.com/ to learn more.

Author Interview: Philip Stott, Author of Another World

Philip Stott was born in England in 1943. In 1967 he moved to Nigeria to lecture at Ahmadu Bello University and from there he moved to South Africa to lecture at Wits. University. In 1976, while an ardent atheist, he met the Lord Jesus Christ and his perspective on life changed completely. For many years he has been passionately concerned with the relationship between Scripture and Science. He has been an invited guest lecturer at The Russian Accademy of Sciences, the European Centre for Nuclear Research, a UNESCO conference on the teaching of Physics, the State University of St. Petersburg and many other places of learning in Europe, Africa, USA and Canada. We'll talk to Philip about his youth, his writing, and his future plans.


Welcome to The Book Connection, Philip. Can you tell us a bit about yourself?

I am a very fortunate person. I grew up in a loving home and was encouraged to work towards a sound education. I have had the opportunity to do many exciting things, go to many interesting places, meet many outstanding people, marry a very special wife, have wonderful children and most fortunate of all, to experience the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Where did you grow up?

I grew up in a small sea-side town in England. It was just after the Second World War and England was in a devastated state. Everyone was struggling with the same difficulties so it was a time when people were sympathetic, cared about each other and were more than willing to help with each others problems. In many ways I think it was a better environment for growing up than the ease and affluence of today. Those were the days before television, and most of us read avidly. I used to read about five books a week.

What is your fondest childhood memory?

One which I treasure is from the end of the war. My father came home on leave from France (where he was an interpreter with an American bomb-disposal team). He brought a French toy train set with him. I remember my elder brother sitting on the sofa and my mother holding me in her arms. We watched the train go round and round its little track. The locomotive had a battery-powered headlamp which was brighter than the dim gas lamps which lit the room. It was pure magic.

When did you begin writing?

I began serious technical writing in 1965. I only began writing fiction in 1973 - just for fun. I wrote short stories and a novel without really thinking of getting them published, I just shared them with friends. The first time I wrote actually intending to reach a wider public (in anything other than technical journals) was in 1994 when “Vital Questions” was published.

Do you write during the day, at night or whenever you can sneak a few moments?

Quite a bit of my working day is spent on technical writing. My non-technical stuff is done whenever I can find a quiet opportunity. I usually get up at 4am - sometimes even earlier – when everyone else is still asleep. I am at my most creative, and enjoy writing the most, when the only sound is the distant crowing of cocks.

What is Another World about?

Another World is about the count-down to the flood. The main character is Noah's son, Japheth. We travel with him through a world that has become rotten to the core. He has to contend with gangs of robbers, corrupt police, dishonest businessmen and human traffickers. But he does come across a few honest, upright people and has some great experiences as well as many scary ones on the way to his family's earth-shattering date with destiny.

What inspired you to write it?

I have done a lot of research into the flood. It is one of the topics I have lectured on throughout Europe, Africa the USA and Canada for about twenty years. The events of the flood itself, and the condition of the world just before it struck, were almost certainly very different from most people's conception of them. The evidence suggests a highly developed civilization with advanced scientific knowledge and stunning technology. I can't think of a more exciting setting for a novel ... it cries out for a special genre which could be called “Scriptural Science Fiction”.

Who is your biggest supporter?

My daughter, Angela, who is, among other things, a talented and successful author. She has always been a great encouragement. She often seems to have an inflated opinion of my abilities. That can be a bit embarrassing when I fail to live up to them, but she never seems to lose faith in me anyway.

Are you a member of a critique group? If no, who provides feedback on your work?

I have been a member of a local writers guild “Die Bleomfontein Skrywersvereniging” for a few years. Amost all of the members are Afrikaans speaking, and all the presentations are in Afrikaans, but the members can all speak English fluently. I have learned a great deal from the guild and one of the members is a “fan” of my work, always ready to give advice and to critique my writing.

Where can readers purchase a copy of your book?

If the local bookstore does not have it in stock they could order from Nordskog Publishing Inc, Ventura California. In South Africa it is available from Christian Liberty Books, Cape Town. It is also available at Amazon.

Do you have a website and/or blog where readers can find out more?

I have a web site Scripture and Science. It is part of the Reformation Christian Ministries web site (which is going through a major re-organisation at the moment). There is a lot of information about the interaction of science and scripture, including the flood.

What is one piece of advice you would like to share with aspiring authors everywhere?

Enjoy your writing. I think it is better to aim for a piece which gives you a lot of joy in the making, rather than just to get it published. If it gets accepted for publication take that as an added bonus. If it does not, it will have been a valuable part of developing your writing skills. If you did not enjoy writing it, then it's not very likely that others will enjoy reading it.

What is up next for you?

I am working on a book about cancer – its causes and cure. Some early-bird readers of Another World have suggested a sequel, and I might think about that when the cancer book is finished.

Is there anything you would like to add?

There is an old, but true saying that if you do not know the past you will not be prepared for the future. The flood was a judgment from God. The Bible tells us there will be another judgment. Jesus said that it will be “just as it was in the days of Noah” – most people will be totally unprepared. I hope Another World will inspire readers to be prepared for what I believe is coming sooner than most people expect.

Thank you for spending time with us today, Philip. Good luck with your book.

Author Interview: Lars Walker, Author of West Oversea

Lars Walker is a native of southeastern Minnesota, where he grew up on a small farm. He is a graduate of Augsburg College in Minneapolis and has worked over the years as a crab meat packer in Alaska, a radio announcer, a gas station attendant, and an administrative assistant. He currently lives in the northwest suburbs of Minneapolis, where he works as librarian and bookstore manager for the Association of Free Lutheran Congregations. In his spare time, when not writing, he can often be found playing Viking with a local reenactment group. We'll talk to Lars today about his youth, his writing, and his plans for the future.


Welcome to The Book Connection, Lars. Can you tell us a bit about yourself?

Very quiet, very, very shy (although, oddly, I have no stage fright, and am a pretty good public speaker and actor). The shyness is a kind of backhanded blessing, though. It keeps me at home, where my writing laptop is.

Where did you grow up?

I was raised on my parents’ farm, southwest of Kenyon, Minnesota. I lived in the same house from my birth until I left for college at 18. I expect that’s a pretty rare experience nowadays. My novel Wolf Time is in part a tribute to my home town, a pretty Lake Woebegonesque place. And yes, I am Norwegian. And Lutheran.

When did you begin writing?

When I was a kid, I actually thought I’d be an artist when I grew up. I drew obsessively—“action” pictures that would get me in all kinds of trouble if I were a school kid today. I was never entirely happy with my drawing, though. I didn’t like the way I handled proportion, and I never really mastered perspective. Then, sometime in high school, I started experimenting with writing stories. Over the course of a couple years, I found I’d given up drawing almost completely. Writing turned out to be a much more satisfying instrument for whatever music I was trying play. It scratched my itch better.

Do you write during the day, at night or whenever you can sneak a few moments?

I generally write in the evenings, after work and supper. I often have the TV on while I write; I find a little distraction stirs the broth for me. Or, when I’m in the zone, I find Bach or Grieg are conducive to my work. I also write on Saturdays, as much as I can, but I take Sundays off. I believe in a day of rest.

What is West Oversea about?

West Oversea is a historical fantasy. The hero is an actual 11th century figure, Erling Skjalgsson of Sola, a Norwegian chieftain who became the most powerful man in Norway. In this installment in his saga, he gives up his property and power in order to avoid doing a shameful deed, and embarks with his friends and family on a voyage to Greenland, to visit Leif Eriksson (this isn’t historical name-dropping; Erling probably did know him). It’s a stormy voyage, and they end up stopping over in Iceland, and then getting blown to the strange new land recently discovered by Leif. There are plenty of opportunities for fights, and (this being historical fantasy) there’s a good deal of magical trouble too.

What inspired you to write it?

I’ve been a nut about Vikings since I was a kid (probably because nobody’d invented video games at that point in time). I started reading all I could get my hands on the subject, so I’ve been essentially doing my research ever since.

Are you a member of a critique group? If no, who provides feedback on your work?

I have some friends who are discerning readers, whose advice I’ve come to rely on. They get the unpublished text files when they’re finished (or I think so), and they tell me what they think.

Who is your favorite author?

C. S. Lewis. I love the science fiction trilogy, the Narnia books, and the apologetics. Screwtape and The Great Divorce too, of course. He was interested in Norse myth, as I am, but never did much in that field; I like to think he’d have enjoyed my stuff.

Was the road to publication smooth sailing or a bumpy ride?

I started my first novel (as a short story) around 1970, and gave it up because it wasn’t working and I really didn’t know what I was doing at that point. Around 1980, I sat down and finished the thing. It was rubbish and I knew it, but I wanted to be able to say I’d written a novel all the way through. I reasoned that someday I’d be ready to craft a book, and it would help me to know I’d done the physical work once already.

Around 1990, I figured out what I wanted to do with it, and wrote it again from scratch, without a glance at the first version.

By that time I’d gotten a few short stories published in a national magazine. The editor quit to become an agent, and asked me if I had anything he could offer to publishers. He then started shopping the book around, and he eventually sold my first published novel (a different one, as it happened) to Baen Books. It was published in 1997.

So it was a snap; it only took a little over 25 years.

Where can readers purchase a copy of your book?

Amazon carries it, and you can also get it from my current publisher, Nordskog Publishing, by going to http://www.sendmethatbook.com/.

Do you have a website and/or blog where readers can find out more?

Absolutely. My web site is http://www.larswalker.com/, and I share a blog at http://www.brandywinebooks.net/. I post there generally about five times a week.

Do you have a video trailer to promote your book? If yes, where can readers find it?

I’m working on that. As they say in the industry, it’s in development.

What is one piece of advice you would like to share with aspiring authors everywhere?

All things being equal, the prize goes to the persistent. If you have a modicum of talent, and are able to take advice, the main thing is to keep doing the thing, and to see your failures (you will have many) as learning experiences. This is easier to say than practice, but that doesn’t make it less true.

What is up next for you?

I’ve got another Erling book finished, plus a couple modern fantasies.

Is there anything you would like to add?

Thanks for your time and space.

Thanks for spending time with us today, Lars. We wish you much success.