Review: On Dark Shores 2: The Other Nereia

My Book Review of On Dark Shores 2: The Other Nereia:

The second volume in the On Dark Shores series, The Other Nereia, lives up to the promise of the first book and expands the story in an ever-twisting spiral of strange and secretive happenings.  Like the first book, it is a plethora of sparkling language and delicately woven story.

The Other Nereia begins where the first book ended, with the immediate gathering of the dangling plot threads from The Lady.   From there we see the consequences of Nereia’s recovery, Copeland’s continued descent into madness, Blakey’s worsening addiction, and more on Vansel, Jack, Mickel and their secrets.  Also, we see other characters, such as Madam, begin their rise to the forefront.

As I stated in my review of On Dark Shores: The Lady, JA Clement’s prose is enchanting, and her subtle touching at twisting the plotlines is just as marvellous in Book Two.  Layer by layer her characters get more complex and her story more intriguing.  As a reader I was engrossed, speculating at where Nereia’s fate journeyed, feeling sympathy for Blakey, despite his thuggish actions and wondering what fortunes would befall the rest as dangers loom.

I can’t say enough good things about the On Dark Shores series, and I highly recommend The Other Nereia.  Of course, now I have to wait patiently for the remainder of the story.

On Dark Shores 2: The Other Nereia is available on Amazon,  Kobo, B&N Nook and Smashwords

What's in a Name?

Today another guest stops by the blog.  Fellow writer Jane Smith is here to chat about why authors may use a pseudonym...

What's in a Name—Writing Under a Pseudonym

              

As writers we are constantly considering our craft. There is rarely a moment that goes by without us thinking about our work in some way or another. We perpetually consider what the best and most effective voice is for our writing, what words we use, what imagery we employ, our sentence structure, our titles, and so much more. But, for many, the name that they will publish their work under just isn't something that typically comes to mind. Interestingly, however, authors of all genres have a long history of writing under pen names or pseudonyms. Even some of our most treasured and well-known works may require a bit of a background check to learn who the true author is. So, why do authors write under pen names and what is the benefit of this?

In some cases, authors write under pen names simply because they would prefer to remain anonymous with their writing. However, in history, authors would often write under pseudonyms for somewhat more complicated reasons. Women would often publish their work under male pseudonyms, so that they could be published in actual publications and receive more widespread success. In the past, authors have used pen names and pseudonyms for more political reasons. If an author wrote something that was politically charged or that criticized the government, they would often publish their works under pen names to avoid heavy criticism. While either of these things can still happen today, the use of pen names and pseudonyms in today's society is much different. Authors working in various genres today may write under different names for each genre so as to keep consistency to their "brand". It can be damaging for a writer's reputation if they always write romance novels and then decide to publish a mystery novel under the same name. The romance readers may go to the mystery novel looking for that author's typical writing and be sourly disappointed by the change in genre.

Pen Names and the Blogosphere

Using a pseudonym in the blogosphere is also a fairly popular endeavor. While the reasons for using a pseudonym online today vary, there are some things to carefully take into consideration. Many people suggest using a pseudonym online simply because of the nature of the online world. With the influx of social media, social networking, and everything else online, online threats have become more palpable in recent years. Many bloggers will write under pen names or initials to avoid threats of identity theft or stalking. While this isn't necessarily common throughout the blogosphere, it does happen and is something to consider. Furthermore, much as it did for famous authors working in different social climates, pseudonyms can protect bloggers from direct criticism.

Some Famous Pen Names

George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans): Born in 1819, George Eliot was an extremely prolific author in the 1800s, who published under a male pseudonym. Born Mary Anne Evans, Eliot wrote about her controversial views on faith, religion, marriage, and the government. At the time, women authors were basically unheard of and were never actually taken seriously. Under her male pen name, Eliot gained much success as an intelligent and challenging writer.

Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson): As the author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, Carroll was an extremely successful author during his time and remained one of the most renowned authors in our history. It is believed that Carroll, born Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, wrote under a pseudonym both because he was unattracted to the spotlight and fame and because he desired a more neutral name that would be widely appreciated at the time.

J.K. Rowling (Joanne Rowling): As a more current example, J.K. Rowling author of the Harry Potter series used a pseudonym for her hugely successful work. While this pseudonym is not completely masking her identity, it does serve a purpose. Rowling believed the wizard series would see more success with her target audience if it was published under a gender neutral name. Because the primary target originally for the series was adolescent boys, she worried that an overly feminine name would turn them off the books. By using initials, Rowling made the books easily marketable to young boys and young girls.

Jane Smith's informative blog posts can help you make sense of any personal history situation. Whether you are pursuing a tenant background check or pulling an employee's criminal record, feel free to email her at janesmith161@gmail.com.

3 Things to Consider When Creating a Book Cover

Today we have a guest blogger with us, writer Mariana Ashley, who brings her insights on creating that perfect book cover:

3 Things to Consider When Creating a Book Cover

People tend to say "don’t judge a book by its cover," but unfortunately that's exactly what happens—especially if you're an "unknown" author. If you just graduated and want to get your creative writing thesis published, or perhaps you just want to make sure that your first book is produced the right way, then it's important to carefully ask yourself all of the questions below when meeting with your creative director. These questions will help ensure that once your book goes to press (or goes online), your book cover has enough pizzazz to attract readers.

Does it Help Summarize the Book?

First and foremost, you need to make sure that the book cover actually helps the reader easily identify the genre as well as helps give some sort of clue of what the book is about. All too often, publishers are so concerned with stamping the book with raving reviews from critics that there really isn't much said of what the book is actually about. It can become quite frustrating for a customer blindly picking up your book. If he or she can't grasp the concept, the book will most likely stay on the shelf. So does your book cover help summarize what the book is about? Or is it too conceptual and misleading? For example, drawing crosses for a sci-fi book could make it look like a religious book instead.

Is it Gender Neutral?

If you want to appeal to a larger audience, then it's best to create a book cover that can appeal to both men and women. Although The Hunger Games is a young adult novel, it's one of the best examples on how to accomplish this. The book cover has only one central color and only one motif to represent the book. It did not appear too "manly" or too "girlish" and adults were not embarrassed to have the book cover showing when reading it in public. That’s the trick— you want both genders to feel comfortable reading your book in public.

Does it Look Good as a ThumbNail?

Last but not least, you also have to consider how it will look online. A good majority of your book sales will be generated online. If you choose to self-publish your book then of course naturally your sales will be generated 100% online. Because readers choose to surf their iPads and tiny smartphones when looking through book galleries, you need to make sure that your book cover still seems appealing even as a small little thumbnail. Otherwise, no one will click to see what your book is about and you won't make any sales.

Hopefully the tips above will be able to move in a smarter direction when formulating a design for your book cover.

Mariana Ashley is a professional writer and blogger with a penchant for researching and writing about personal growth, education, and how technology changes the way we communicate. Mariana is technically retired after years of teaching middle school creative writing in Nebraska. However, she still devotes some of her time to professional projects that involve online colleges in Nebraska. Please send your questions and comments to mariana.ashley031@gmail.com. Any feedback is welcome!

Interview with author Chris Rakunas

Today I have a fascinating interview with author Chris Rakunas, who has written a non-fiction book about his experiences with the Haitian relief effort after the 2010 earthquake.  He talks about the book, his publishing experiences and his upcoming novel, The 8th Doll.  Enjoy...

Interview with author Chris Rakunas

1. Why don’t you begin by sharing a little about yourself. 

My wife and I just moved to a small town in Western Oklahoma called Clinton (pop. 9,000), and I grew up west of here in another small town called Los Angeles, CA (pop. 18,000,000). I grew up body surfing on the beach, and I still have a love for the ocean that comes out whenever I get to scuba dive.
Most of my career has been spent in various healthcare roles, including time as a COO and CEO of hospitals, which I think gave me a unique look at the world. When you get to meet with people who are dying and their families, you get a good perspective on what is really important in life. I never once met a patient who said, “You know, I wish I had spent more time at work.”
I have been very fortunate in life to have traveled a great deal as well, and I try to tie that into my writing. I have spent time in some out-of-the-way places like Lithuania, Mongolia, and Siberia. I just love the little gems you get from travel because it’s a gift that stays with you forever.


2. Please tell us about your book, Tears for the Mountain.  

Tears for the Mountain is a non-fiction book about a medical mission trip to Haiti following the devastating earthquake there in 2010. Over 200,000 people died, and over 1,000,000 were made homeless in the blink of an eye, and the need for medical help was immense. I was involved with a team whose job was to deliver 20,000 pounds of medical supplies to local hospitals.
The book goes through how I became involved with the project and ends with the first day back from the trip. It’s partly a chronicle of the trip, but partly meant to give people an idea of what medical mission work is really like. There are funny moments, heartbreaking moments, confusion, passion, terror, and every emotion in between flying at you because that’s truly what the situation was like. One moment you would want to cry because of story someone told you, then you’d be laughing at something hilarious a child did, and then you’d be wondering if you were going to be safe.
There is a nice promotional video that people can watch about the book as well. It’s a nice video to watch after reading the book as well because those photos are all from moments that are mentioned in the book.


3. Why did you write this book? 

The book actually started off as a bit of therapy when I returned from the trip. I had a hard time dealing with some of the images and things I had witnessed when I was in Haiti, and a physician friend of mine suggested I write some of it down.
About a year later some people I know suggested that I put it down in a book, so I began writing seriously. The project was never meant to be something that I personally profited from, but instead something that could benefit the orphans at New Life Children’s Home. Once I had made the decision to donate the proceeds to them, I really felt a sense of passion about getting it published and promoting it.


4. What was your goal in publishing your book? 

There are two things that I wanted to accomplish. First was to remind people about Haiti. When the earthquake happened, it seemed to be in the news everywhere. People were starting drives to collect goods and money to ship over there, and then suddenly the next week a new reality TV show started, and everyone forgot. The kids who were orphaned by this earthquake are still there. The people who were made homeless are still there. They didn’t go away just because a new season of The Bachelor started.
The other goal I have is to fund-raise. When I got to see Miriam Frederick in action first hand, I knew I needed to do something to support her. Lots of people talk about doing good in the world; Miriam just goes out there and does it. She holds orphans in her arms, she touches mothers who are living in the streets, and she never loses an opportunity to let a child know that he or she is loved. It’s amazing.
I have been thankful that some major news sources like CBS news have picked up the story about the book, and I am always thankful when people tweet about the book or post something on Facebook.


5. What would you like your intended readers to take away from reading your book? 

Probably the first thing is to let them know that you don’t have to be some sort of superhero to make a difference in the world. I’m just a regular Joe, but I decided that I was going to ensure that those supplies got to their destinations no matter what, and that’s what happened.
I also want people to get a sense of what things were really like on the ground there. There were a lot of people ‘assessing the situation,’ which ended up being a phrase I hated. I think some people like the drama of disasters, and they’re almost like disaster tourists. It’s ok to be involved with a crisis, but just make sure that you’re focusing your time and efforts on affecting a positive change.
When someone puts down Tears for the Mountain, I hope that they feel compelled to tell others about the story. Whether it’s posting reviews on Goodreads or simply telling a co-worker, every little bit helps.


6. Did anything surprise you about the process of writing Tears for the Mountain?

There were two surprises. One was just how different memories can be. When we were in Haiti, it’s not like we had planned to write a book and kept copious notes and photographs of everything. We went, we did our thing, and then we came home. But when I started writing the book, I shared the manuscript with Dr. Schroering and he and I had some different recollections. (He recalls me saying, “Dude…!” quite often during the trip)
The other thing I learned was that publishing really is a business. I received lots of praise from agents and publishers that said things like, “Wow, this sounds great and reads well, but we don’t do non-fiction right now.” But I received one email from a publisher that said they only did paranormal teen romance, and they’d love it if I could put a vampire into the story somewhere. At first I blew my top because…well, you can’t just add things to non-fiction, and you really can’t add a vampire to non-fiction. But then I realized that that’s just the nature of publishing. Publishers want to have books that sell, and if vampires help a book sell, then they’re going to ask for a vampire in everything.
I was very fortunate to start working with Divertir Publishing because we really had our goals aligned for this project. I try to thank Dr. Ken Tupper, the publisher, every time I speak with him for not making me add a werewolf.


7. I know you currently have a novel in the works. Tell us a bit about it. 

I spent the back half of 2011 trying to figure out what I was going to write next. I felt such a strong connection with Tears for the Mountain that I didn’t want to jump into another non-fiction unless it was something I could really stand behind.
For the New Year, my wife and I were down in Mexico with some friends (Melanie Wilderman was one of them, for you Paranormal YA fans), and I was standing in front of the Temple of the 7 Dolls, a major Mayan temple in Dzibilchaltun. I was staring up in awe of it, and suddenly this story popped into my head. I wandered around the ruins for the next few hours, looking at all the different buildings and aspects of the area, and I couldn’t get the story out of my head for the rest of the week.
The 8th Doll ties together aspects of Mayan culture and architecture to weave a fast-paced story about the 2012 apocalyptic prophecy. It is fiction, and it’s the first of a four book series that follows the main character, Alex Guidry, to various places around the world, almost all of which are places I’ve spent time in. I find that the writing is much more interesting when you can describe the smell of the room and the way the air tastes. The mysteries and twists in the book are all factual.
The book will be out by 31 July worldwide, in both paperback and e-book formats.


8. Did you find it more difficult writing a non-fiction book or a fiction book? 

This is an easy one. Non-fiction is way harder to write because you can’t change the story! In a fictional account, you can add whatever you want. If you suddenly think of a neat twist that requires a Mercedes Benz and a pile of rubber bands, you just go back 5 pages and mention that there happens to be an SL-500 with office supplies in it.
With non-fiction, you’re bound by the truth, which can sometimes be exciting, but sometimes boring. (Notice that there aren’t any bestsellers about getting your teeth cleaned at the dentist or trimming your toenails)


9. Are there any more upcoming projects for you?

I just finished the second book in the Alex Guidry series, The Eye of Siam. It’s about a jewel heist in Thailand, and I’m about to start the third book, which will take place in Lithuania. I visited an amazing 15th century castle there about 10 years ago, and I have never been able to get it out of my mind.
For anyone who wants to hear about release dates for The 8th Doll and what I’m writing next, I have a page with pretty regular updates.  I also love interacting with fans, so I will respond to all emails and messages sent. One thing I have really enjoyed about writing is talking with people all around the globe. On any given day I can be emailing with people in Europe, India, Canada, and Australia. It is very humbling to have someone take the time to let you know that they’ve read your work.

Guest Post: 8 Golden Bits Of Wisdom From Successful Authors

Today we have a guest with us,  Patrick Del Rosario, and he brings with him a little sage wisdom from  famous authors...

8 Golden Bits Of Wisdom From Successful Authors

The world of writing is unique. Those who are successful with it often times learn very valuable lessons along the way, including some bits of wisdom that are applicable to more than just authoring a book. Here are 8 quotes from successful authors to encourage you to write and live better.

1. “Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.” – This golden tip comes from Kurt Vonnegut Jr., a successful science fiction writer and short story author. Whether it is entertainment value, an escape to fantasy from reality, or factual information, the job of any author is to deliver on what the reader is expecting when they pick up your book.

2. When writing, put "a group of characters in some sort of predicament and then watch them try to work themselves free." – This comes from the well-known and widely respected author, Stephen King. In his book “On Writing”, Stephen King reveals that when he is planning a book, he does not plot out the entire storyline first. Instead, he himself engages with each character and their own struggle, and develops the plot as he writes to help them break free from the challenges they face. This method of writing gives less structure to the story and delivers more of an impact to the reader because you are just as curious as they are how it will all turn out, which transforms the way you author the piece.

3. “Write what you want bottomless from bottom of the mind” – From the masterful mind of Jack Kerouac, author of On The Road, this tip talks to the person behind the writing. Being an author is a very personal job. You display your most inner thoughts, and to be successful at it, you must follow this tip and put yourself on the line.

4. “Have self-confidence” – This one comes from Ian Rankin, a Scottish crime novelist. He has lived the author life of being put through the ringer, experiencing rejection, and yet he has still managed to keep his confidence alive and pick himself up, dust himself off, and keep writing. This is important for any author. Rejection is natural in the publishing industry, but knowing how to overcome it by remaining confident and true to yourself will ultimately make you a success.

5. “Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.” – This quote comes from one of the world’s greatest children book authors, Shel Silverstein. It is a great piece of wisdom from one successful author to those who are striving to achieve their dreams. Push forward and do not listen to what you should not do, or what people are telling you not to do at all. Instead, follow your heart and you can achieve whatever you set out to achieve.

6. “Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.” – This famous sentiment from Dr. Seuss shows again the true importance of being you not only in writing but in life as a whole. Do not listen to the naysayers and the people who will inevitably try to bring you down, but instead, trust who you are and you will succeed.

7. “Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.” Famous children’s book author Roald Dahl encourages people and authors in particular to have a fantasy and believe in the magic. Without this, creating a story and living a full life beyond what you can dream will be impossible.

8. “There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” Ernest Hemingway sums it up with this quote. Writing is easy but the process is never over. From revisions to new ideas, authors are constantly refining their craft and developing their skill.

What are your favorite quotes from a successful author?

About the Author: 
Patrick Del Rosario is part of the team behind Open Colleges, one of Australia’s pioneer and leading providers of management degrees and certificate iv in training and assessment. When not working, Patrick enjoys blogging about career and business. Patrick is also a photography enthusiast and is currently running a photography studio in the Philippines. If you have a blog and would like free content, you can find him on Google+.