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Cara Lumen, nicknamed the Vision Distiller, will present three teleclasses beginning October 9, on writing articles that attract attention.

As an author myself, I know how important it is to provide excellent and free content for your website visitors, and Cara’s class focuses on teaching writers of all genres how to use articles to increase website traffic . . . the Holy Grail of most authors Continue reading »

by Robin Duncan

Remember the scene in the movie, Pay it Forward when the stranger tosses the keys to his brand-new Jaguar to a man stranded without a car?

For aspiring writers, the La Jolla Writers Conference is a different set of keys. Instead this conference offers bestselling authors Lisa Jackson, David Morrell, and Stephen J. Cannell and many other experts in the field of publishing, donating their time, experience and knowledge, as well as good fortune, to writers of all levels.

Inspired by the book Pay it Forward by Catherine Ryan Hyde (later a movie of the same name), Antoinette Kuritz, the founder and director of the LJWC, created a conference centered on successful authors giving back in an atmosphere of collegiality and camaraderie. Continue reading »

Harriet Klausner is Amazon’s #1 Reviewer

Dr. Kay Scarpetta and her long time lover Benton Wesley are called to Rome to work with a team investigating the death of sixteen-year-old tennis star Drew Martin.

Her body was left in a prominent location so that her mutilated corpse would be found quickly; huge chunks were cut out of her body and her eyes are gouged out and sand was placed in them before they were glued shut. The killer who will come to be known as the Sandman thinks he is doing the victim a favor by putting her out of her misery.

Before they fly home Benton gives Scarpetta a ring and then she returns home to South Carolina where she has opened up her own pathology practice Coastal Forensic Pathology Associates. Continue reading »

Harriet Klausner is Amazon’s #1 Reviewer

When Julia Bakker was nine years old, her mom left her and her dad; no big deal as she had deserted them mentally long before she finally packed her bags.

When she was fifteen, her father died after a long illness slowly debilitated him. Julia is left with her grandmother on the family farm. A year later Julia falls in love with Thomas, but he has a girlfriend at college. Soon after that Julia leaves for college, but though she plans to reinvent herself, she makes bad decisions that force her to return home where her loving grandma offers hope. Continue reading »

Reviewed by Betty Jo Tucker

Francine Silverman, who operates an online publicity service for authors and hosted Book Marketing with Fran on Achieve Internet Radio, deserves kudos for her latest book, Talk Radio for Authors: Getting Interviews Across the U.S. and Canada .

In this extensive guidebook for writers interested in discussing their work on the airwaves, Silverman offers descriptions of current shows grouped according to over 30 topics of interest such as Addiction & Recovery, Art, Cars, Food, Health, Law, Paranormal, Pop Culture, History, Relationships, Sports, Technology, Travel, and Writing.

She also presents information concerning shows that welcome guest authors as well as those which actually respond to emails and telephone calls.

One of my favorite sections of the book features host profiles of “The Best and Worst Kind of Guests.” Anyone thinking about doing a radio interview should read what these candid hosts have to say right away! In another revealing section, guests discuss their experiences on various radio shows.

Authors who want to promote their books on radio owe a debt of gratitude to Silverman for this valuable resource. Reading Talk Radio for Authors: Getting Interviews Across the U.S. and Canada will point them in the right direction and should help them become ideal guests.

Grady Harp is an Amazon Top 10 Reviewer

Lynn Hoffman, a highly regarded food and drink writer from Philadelphia, tops his 1997 fiction debut of ‘The Bachelor’s Cat’ with a fully mature novel bang BANG: A Novel, a book so well conceived and stylishly written that it places Hoffman in the realm of top American writers.

And while many readers may know him form his books on food, beer, and wine (terrific tomes of culinary skill admixed with humor and wit), few will be prepared for the impact of this superb new work.

Paula Sherman is a waitperson in a stylish restaurant Odetta, a wannabe singer simple girl whose best friend Tom is killed as she watches by a foolish gunman with little apparent reason for the deed. On the scene a reporter quotes the distraught Paula’s comment ‘It wasn’t the gun, it’s that man’, a slogan picked up quickly and twisted by a senator who is backed by the UGA (United Gun Association) to campaign against gun control. Continue reading »

Harriet Klausner is Amazon #1 Reviewer

Staunch Stalinist Peter Nampo lives in North Korea; he wants to make it a power to be reckoned with and a moneymaker for its satellite weapon system that he is developing. Once in geo-orbit, it can knock out other countries satellites and spread radiation on its enemies; he plans to sell it to terrorists and rogue nations for hard cash to feed the population that is on the verge of starvation.

Nampo is such a VIP that he is a never in the open unless it is with his three doubles; a North Korean assassin is killing all the scientists around the globe that are near completion on the weapons system.

Rear Admiral Julius Krowl of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is aware of the situation and sends Reserve Colonel Will Parker, the only western man who knows what Nampo looks like to get inside North Korea and figure out which of the doppelgangers is the real Nampo in order to take a picture. He prepares for the mission under grueling conditions but he also makes preparation to make sure his back is covered if he is successful. Continue reading »

Grady Harp is an Amazon Top 10 Reviewer

Dave Gray (AKA Alabama Fats) takes the confessional platform in this excellent book Telling It All - My Life As A Con Man , a reflection of a life of crime as shared by an 80-year-old African American to writer Steven Levi, and what makes this book even better than the rather sensational aspect of its con man content is a survey of social history from 1927 to 2007, a period of great change in the status of African American position in the culture of the USA. It is a terrifically entertaining and informative brief read, but it is also a reflection of change we all need to remember.

Alabama Fats is the child of a poverty stricken family who at age 19 met up with a con artist who introduced him to the profession of taking money from people by means of card games (Three Card Molly) and money scams such as Bank Agents. Continue reading »

Harriet Klausner is Amazon’s #1 Reviewer

In The Last Secret of the Temple, hotel owner Jan Weiss is found dead at the archeological site at Malqata, Egypt. Luxor Police Inspector Yusuf Khalifa leads the official inquiry.

As he digs into the victim’s history, Yusaf sees an eerie similarity to the vicious murder of an Israeli woman at Karnak years ago. His gut told him the wrong person was executed for that homicide, but until now he had no proof.

His superiors tell Yusaf to back off from the Israeli angle while he also has doubts about cooperation with Israeli officials. Still he goes with his stomach and reopens the previously solved case. No nonsense Jerusalem detective Arieh Ben Roi is assigned to work with the Egyptian.

Meanwhile in Jerusalem journalist Eva Town still glows from her recent interview of Palestinian extremist “Al-Mulassam” when she receives a note offering her a scoop in exchange for arranging a meeting with Al-Mulassam. There separate investigations soon converge over a biblical artifact dating back to Holy Temple, circa AD 70, that could lead to World War III starting in the Middle East where symbolism supersedes substance. Continue reading »

Harriet Klausner is Amazon’s #1 Reviewer

Seven years ago on prom night Sherry suddenly sprouted hair all over her body for the first time. When she returned to normal she feared she killed her date Tom Dawson so she vanished and became supermodel Lou Kinipski.

Over the years, Lou assumed prom night was a bad dream until a PMS bout led to another furry conversion. Now as her hair germinates during a photo shoot, Lou knows she is a werewolf; only her best friend Cindy knows the truth about her other essence. Welcome to the world of  Confessions of a Werewolf Supermodel Continue reading »