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Grady Harp is an Amazon Top 10 Reviewer

Diana Abu-Jaber continues to polish her craft as a storyteller par excellence.

Writing with artful prose, well-integrated scientific facts, an understanding of criminology details, and a gift for creating fascinating characters, she has, in Origin: A Novel, created a story that is not only a superb novel, but also one that is bound to please a wide readership. ORIGIN is a winner at every level, a novel that exercises the brain while exploring the heart.

Lena Dawson is a young woman who despite minimal formal education has become a successful interpreter of fingerprints with the criminal investigation unit in Syracuse, NY. As the novel begins she is separated from a fractured marriage with police officer Charlie, a raucous womanizer who continues to ’stalk’ Lena despite their obvious incompatibility.

Lena now lives a lone Spartan life, one more committed to her job than to a social existence. Her knowledge and sharp intuition in breaking a case of criminal implications in an apparent SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) case has sharpened her interest in other unexplained cases, and her extraordinary investigative gifts fall into place with the rather sudden onset of multiple SIDS cases. Continue reading »

Great article on 100 tools and resources for making money online - - almost all are for people who love to write and blog.

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Grady Harp is an Amazon Top 10 reviewer

Talking to the Moon, Noel Alumit has succeeded in producing another fine novel - his second after the award winning ‘Letters to Montgomery Clift’.For a young novelist to produce such quality of consistency is indeed a good omen for longevity.

The reason for the continued interest in Alumit’s work can be attributed to his unique technique of storytelling - a technique that successfully mixes ‘progressive’ story development as divided into chapters named for each of the chief characters, and blending these chapters in a manner that fleshes out the current motif with detailed history and motivation from the past.

Add to this propelling non-linear fascinating plot his particular brand of magical realism and presto! - a story that is innately interesting becomes a kaleidoscope of language, human foibles, while exploring touchy issues such as racism, same sex love, and familial healing. Continue reading »

Harriet Klausner is Amazon’s #1 Reviewer

After two years together as the perfect couple, Texan Jack Davis dumps Manhattanite Jane Laine. Before she can rebound from the shock, she makes a horrendous error at work.

She ordered the wrong size Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups for her boss Dick Reese, owner of Reese’s Art Gallery. To punish her for her transgression, the odious Dick exiles Jane by sending her on a barnstorming Art Tour of four cities in under five months. Continue reading »

According to the Cape Town newspaper, the sales for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7) smashed all records worldwide.

While sales in the U.K. topped 2.5 million copies in the first 24 hours of sales, they were obliterated by U.S. sales that topped 8.3 million copies during the first 24 hours the book was available. The first printing of this 7th and final book in the Harry Potter series was 12 million books.

Amazon.com, the online bookseller, reported it delivered 2.2 million copies of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7) on the release date of July 21, 2007.

It’s been estimated that Potter author J.K. Rowling is now worth more than 1 billion dollars–more than Queen Elizabeth.

Thank you to author Sandra Wilson for providing this excerpt from her new book Taj.

Although Nur Jahan had always been determined to have her own way, Khurram was only now fully aware of his stepmother’s fierce intention to have everything as she wanted. 

Because she no longer needed to weave her web of charm around him, Nur Jahan met him with a straightforward stance.  Momentarily stunned by the force she emitted, Khurram took a deep breath and prepared himself for a verbal battle with his father’s wife.  He knew he had to wrest himself from the security of her support if he were to sit comfortably on the throne as he intended.

Nur Jahan raised her eyebrows slightly, waiting for his response to her initial words.  At exactly the same moment, Khurram swept his arm to offer her his place on the stone bench.  She did not move.  Rather, she folded her hands together at her waist, looked at him, and frowned.

“As Your Majesty pleases”, remarked Khurram smoothly, accepting  that their conversation would take place between standing participants. Continue reading »

The anti-apartheid activist and Constitutional Court judge Albie Sachs once said, “Humour is one of the great solvents of democracy … It is an elixir of constitutional health”.

The Art of the South African Insult is an exploration of South Africa through the prism of the insult. The chapters cover everything from our history to ethnic insults, sport, politics, religion and other aspects of life. South Africa may not possess an Oscar Wilde of our own, but our insults measure up to the most devastating the world has to offer.

We have a rich vocabulary of rude words; our public life is filled with moegoes and foot-in-mouth disease rages through the land. Our languages are rich and expressive. Zulu and Afrikaans are the best languages to use for insulting, says the popular columnist Fred Khumalo. “Only in Zulu (and possibly in Afrikaans) can you swear in a manner that drives the fear of God into your adversary’s heart.” Continue reading »

Hell on Earth starts here!

Jezebel’s not your average exotic dancer. For one thing, she’s a 4,000-year-old succubus. For another, she’s on the run from Hell (which isn’t easy to do in high heels).

Hiding on the mortal coil as a human doesn’t protect her from muggers, lactose intolerance…or having feelings for Paul Hamilton, a man haunted by his past.

Demons are closing in, which is enough to make Jezebel shiver in her G-string. But it’s her love for Paul that’s going to have deadly consequences. (Humans, she laments, really should come with instruction manuals.)

In its 4.5-star review of Hell’s Belles , Romantic Times said that “Kessler’s debut novel will captivate fans of Sherrilyn Kenyon and Laurell K. Hamilton from the very first page.”

And Romance Reader At Heart said that “Jackie Kessler is an author whose originality, style, and flair for creating such wonderfully devious and intriguingly devilish characters is sure to propel her to the top.”

See why bestselling author MaryJanice Davidson says the book had her “hooked from the first sentence”. (Excerpt below)

Jackie Kessler’s novel is Winner of the Coffee Time Reviewer Recommend Award.

About the Author
Jackie Kessler is the author of Hell’s Belles (Kensington/Zebra Books, January 2007) and The Road to Hell (Kensington/Zebra Books, November 2007). A third HELL novel and a novella will be published in 2008.

Jackie has also written a number of short stories, which have appeared in publications including REALMS OF FANTASY, FARTHING, and the charity anthology DREAMS AND DESIRES (Freya’s Bower, February 2007). She lives in Upstate NY with her Loving Husband, two precious little Tax Deductions, two cats, and 8,000 comic books. Visit her site to learn more, or e-mail her today: jax (at) jackiekessler (dot) com

Read an excerpt from Jackie’s newest book, Hell’s Belles Continue reading »

Welcome to the July 22, 2007 edition of promote and sell your book Carnival.

Ted Demopoulos presents 3 Reasons why Authors and Wannabe Authors Should Blog posted at Blogging for Business, saying, “Blogging has helped sell more books for me than just about anything else!”

Alex Shalman presents Announcing The Personal Development Bootcamp posted at Self Help.

Tracy Coenen presents Book Publishing: Deciding what to write posted at FRAUDfiles. Continue reading »

Grady Harp is an Amazon Top 10 Reviewer

Jeff Cook pounces onto the literary scene with a fascinating first novel, Woe to the Hunted, that is one of the more interesting concepts in storytelling to grace the bookshelves in some time.

Cook is a writer, a composer, an inventor, a painter, a mathematician fascinated with physics, and while that may sound like a man who is a bit unfocused, for this his first literary adventure Jeff Cook employs all of these interests in an informed and polished manner. Continue reading »