"Virtual Book Tour: RUBY HEART BY CRISTELLE COMBY"

Critters at the Keyboard 

Welcomes

 RUBY HEART 

BY CRISTELLE COMBY

Cristelle will be awarding a signed paperback of Ruby Heart plus a signed copy of book 1, Russian Dolls, to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour. (US ONLY)Follow the tour and comment; the more you comment, the better your chances of winning. The tour dates can be found here: 

http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2013/11/virtual-book-tour-ruby-heart-by.html

Some thoughts on Writing from Cristelle Comby

Now, in the present tense

Writing in present tense is the reality TV of literature. You can tune into Big Brother at any time and begin watching the action. People like action, so why not tell a reader what is happening, as it is happening? You see it real time, you are in the thick of the action. But what happens if this is the first time you have watched Big Brother and its half way through a series? Who are these people? What are they arguing about? What was the big event yesterday that has resulted in two people trying to escape from the Big Brother house? This is precisely the reason why so few books written in the present tense and why the ones at do, rarely succeed in achieving what they set out to achieve.

The challenges to the author when writing in the present tense are numerous. How do you introduce prior events, maintain perspective and filter the stream of consciousness? I’m not trying to say that any fiction written in present tense cannot have its merits. I am just concerned about the growing trend of “trash” literature which uses the present tense and by doing so, seems to feel like it was written with half an eye on something other than writing.

I will detail some of the problems that someone might and people often do, encounter when writing in the present tense.

If a scene is well written it should have only one perspective. Readers focus on one character and the scene is described through that characters experience in the novel. By definition the focus is often on the protagonist. Through the protagonist we experience the scene. In the past tense, if the author wishes, that same scene can be depicted again from a different characters perspective. The author can do this because the scene is written in the past tense. We know what has happened.

Present tense writing has an immediacy which makes writing about events very difficult. We read about what is happening as it is happening, not about what has happened. Therefore there are obvious limits to the author showing a scene from multiple perspectives. The author can “lose” the reader by shifting focus into a different perspective as the scene becomes disjointed and less believable. When it has been achieved, this is a powerful tool, but it is rarely achieved. Some Science Fiction novelists, who often write in the present tense, have mastered this art.

As I mentioned, introducing prior events is always going to be tricky in the present tense. There will always be an experience before the current experience, but in order to describe them in a present day story, the author must shift to the past tense. If the author did that, it would no longer be a present tense narration. A character can look entirely without motive in their actions if the author hasn’t adequately described something in the past, motivating them to perform in the present. It is very difficult to accomplish as the reader can begin to wonder when the previous event being described actually happened. The author must separate the present and past, without it becoming disjointed, losing flow and therefore affecting the readers’ engagement with the present events.

The human brain is always thinking. If the author tells us everything a character is thinking it could very

repetitious and boring very quickly. The challenge to a writer is filtering the narrators’ stream of consciousness to include only the details necessary to the plot. Shifting between thoughts and actual action will be the biggest challenge to a writer as they have to weigh up the inner and outer at the same time, as it is happening. Once the narrator has finished thinking about something, they then can’t relate the action that was happening whilst that was going on. To make the prose flow, the writer needs to make it clear that the narrator doesn’t think something important, be involved in an important event, in a repetition of thought then action. It won’t feel very believable to the reader and therefore won’t hold any appeal.

Good examples of present tense writing can be found in the Science Fiction genre. My advice is to go to any book stop, find the darkest deepest corner. Look at the science fiction section, which will no doubt be found there, and spend some time looking at a couple of chapters from some different novels. There will definitely be an author using the present tense. It is a difficult skill, but those that have mastered it, grip the reader through the journey of the novel.

Blurb for Ruby Heart

When elderly client Doris Hargrave informs private investigator Alexandra Neve that her beloved antique ruby heart necklace has gone missing for the second time in a period of over sixty years, Alexandra knows this is no ordinary jewellery theft. The ruby heart is a family heirloom and the only thing that connects an ailing Mrs. Hargrave to her parents, who were murdered during the Holocaust.

To solve the case, Alexandra and her business partner, blind history professor Ashford Egan, must sift through obscure Holocaust documents to find out the truth. It’s that way that they learn of a secret World War II-era love affair which could hold the key to all the answers they are looking for. Meanwhile, Egan is under immense pressure from the university to quit his private investigating business, and Alexandra is afraid that a man she trusts will leave her. Again.

When Alexandra begins to receive anonymous threats and her flat is vandalised, this all becomes personal. Knowing that there is someone out there to hurt her, Alexandra vows to find that elusive ruby heart if it’s the last thing she ever does.

About the Author:

Cristelle Comby was born and raised in the French-speaking area of Switzerland, in Greater Geneva, where she still resides.

Thanks to her insatiable thirst for American and British action films and television dramas, her English is fluent.

She attributes to her origins her ever-peaceful nature and her undying love for chocolate. She has a passion for art, which also includes an interest in drawing and acting. 

Ruby Heart is her second new-adult novel, and she’s hard at work on the next titles in the Neve & Egan series.

Website: http://cristelle-comby.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/cristelle.comby
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Cristelle,br> Amazon:http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&field-author=Cristelle%20Comby&search-alias=digital-text&sort=relevancerank
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/CristelleComby

"Virtual Book Tour: CINDERELLA SPINDERELLA BY MARK BINDER"

Critters at the Keyboard Welcomes 

MARK BINDER 

author of 

CINDERELLA SPINDERELLA

Mark will be awarding a signed eBook gift card (ePub, Mobi or MP3 audio book) to a randomly drawn commenter at each stop and a Grand Prize of not only the ebook giftcard signed by Mark, but a limited edition cover poster autographed by both the author and the illustrator will be awarded to one randomly drawn commenter during the tour. The more you comment, the better your chances of winning. The tour dates can be found here: 

http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2013/11/virtual-book-tour-cinderella.html

Classic Stories are Color Blind

By Mark Binder

When Netflix in the USA first began running the updated Dr. Who, I was amazed that Rose Tyler, the Doctor’s companion-to-be, had a black boyfriend. I don’t mean that in a bad way, either. Here in the USA, there’s no way that a major television series would portray a blonde ex-cheerleader in a loving and non-racially charged relationship with a 20 something black man named only “Mickey.”

It was a thrilling reality check. The United States has a black President and that’s huge news, and about all in the way of progress. In the UK, diverse colors have become part of the fabric of society. We are definitely lagging.

For more than a decade, I performed my spoken-word stories for a racially diverse mix of kids in inner city Boston. Black, White, Asian, Hispanic, Indian Subcontinent, they were all there. The same summers I was traveling to Newport, Rhode Island, to share my work with a program for severely handicapped children. I wanted a story that would connect both groups (even though they weren’t in the same wibbly-wobbly space-time continuum).

Jack and the Beanchair didn’t work. (Hard to get a chair up and down the beanstalk.) Little Red Riding Chair almost worked, but the wheels kept getting stuck on tree roots in the woods.

Cinderella Spinderella was a perfect hit because, as the fairy godmother says, “You can’t dance in glass slippers, but a girl in a wheelchair can rock those shoes!”

When I performed the story (imagine a comedian doing a routine, except the point is the story and not getting every laugh – there’s a link to the video at http://cinderellaspinderella.com) I never described what Cinderella looked like. I seriously doubted they would see me, a white male, as Cinderella. I always hoped that in the minds of the listeners they would see themselves.

When it came time to make the book, we went straight to ebook, not because it was less expensive to distribute (it really isn’t), but because we could have five princes and five Cinderellas. Readers could pick what their royal pair would look like. A school could buy one book and anyone in the classroom could find his or her family.

And it works. At the beginning of the tale, you pick. Then you read the story. Later on, if you pick something different, Cinderella, the Prince and the seasons change, but the story and most of the pictures remain the same.

Maybe if we’d had the budget of Pixar or Disney, we’d have changed up every single version, but I like to think that the book that we produced reinforces the fairy godmother’s truism:

“It doesn’t matter what you look like, what matters is who you are.”

Cinderella Spinderella is a book that is fun to read, beautifully illustrated, and behind all that is the story of a young woman coming to terms with her own identity.

I hope that you and your family enjoy it.

- Mark Binder, Providence, RI, USA

BLURB: 

Cinderella Spinderella is an illustrated ebook (and audio book) for families 

More than the dress or the shoes, Cinderella Spinderella tells the story about a young woman powerfully asserting her identity. 

"It doesn't matter what you look like… It's who you are that counts."

—The Fairy Godmother 

Winner: Moonbeam Award for Best Multicultural eBook for Children! 

The classic story of Cinderella has been modernized and urbanized in this beautifully illustrated edition, written with delightful humor and a surprising twist. 

Cinderella Spinderella uses ebook technology to allow readers to choose how Cinderella looks. Is she Black, White, Asian, Hispanic, or from the Indian subcontinent? …You can pick! 

Check out some screenshots and images at the following links! 

http://lightpublications.com/images/screenshots/

http://lightpublications.com/cinderella_images/

Buy links:

Kindle edition: http://www.amazon.com/Cinderella-Spinderella-ebook/dp/B00EIHEPN4/

iBooks Edition: http://georiot.co/2KDN

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Mark_Binder_Cinderella_Spinderella?id=CSteAAAAQBAJ

Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/books/cinderella-spinderella/wpbyU7rxY0-cxMlT89G9rA

Nook: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/cinderella-spinderella-mark-binder/1116518295

Audio Book 

iTunes: http://georiot.co/3VlL

Audible.Com: http://www.audible.com/pd/Kids/Cinderella-Spinderella-Audiobook/B00F4DMLWI/

Amazon.Com: http://www.amazon.com/Cinderella-Spinderella/dp/B00DPZ5I36/

Google Play Audio: https://play.google.com/store/music/album/Mark_Binder_Cinderella_Spinderella_Single?id=Bwhmzetkkfqrkyxzpvyodhu7i5m

AUTHOR Bio and Links: 

Mark Binder is an award-winning author and story performer and a parent. Over the past twenty years he has shared his Bed Time Story Book series with tens of thousands of readers and listeners around the world live, in print and in audio recordings. His most recent book is Cinderella Spinderella. 

Detailed bio at: http://lightpublications.com/about_mark/

Website: http://cinderellaspinderella.com

Twitter: @barkminder

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CinderellaSpinderella

Welcome to my authors

Critters at the Keyboard Welcomes Promo Saturday!

Check out these great reads, click on the ads to learn more and to buy.

It's Promo Saturday on my blog. Stop by and check out this week's books. If you want your book featured next week, leave a comment on the blog post, with a buy link for your book, and a link to your ad. Click on the promotional banner you use, and right click, copy image URL, that's the one I need to add your promotion to next Saturdays Promo blog! And of course don't forget to check out this week's books. I don't know how popular this will get, but I may have to limit the number of ads, so first come first serve. Please keep the banners PG-13 and below, thanks! 

Virtual Book Tour for Dangerous Waters by C M Michaels

Critters at the Keyboard Welcomes

C.M. Michaels

Author of Dangerous Waters

C.M. Michaels will award a $50 Amazon or BN GC to a randomly drawn commenter

Follow the tour for more chances to win, the more comments you leave the more chances you get to win!

BLURB:

For Emily Waters, a nature-loving, small-town girl with an overprotective father, heading off to Boston University to study conservation biology is a dream come true—until a chance encounter catapults her into a mythical world she’d do anything to escape.

The latest victim in a rash of abductions near campus, Emily is brutally attacked before being rescued by a powerful new friend. She survives the ordeal, only to find herself held captive and presented with an impossible choice. While preparing for the unimaginable life she must now embrace clues soon emerge that Emily may not be entirely human, and her physical transformation awakens goddess-like powers that her new family cannot begin to explain. Dealing with her human first love, the not-so-platonic relationship with her coven “sister,” and her new vampire sort-of-boyfriend further complicates matters, not to mention being secretly hunted by the psychopaths who attacked her. And as the only known offspring of a once all-powerful race, the climactic battle is only the beginning of her journey.

Excerpt Two:

Fight or flight excerpt

“Would you stop already?” Teresa grumbled, glaring at her ever-pacing brother. “No one’s following us. Relax.”

Travis finished scanning Beacon Street and ducked back into the alleyway. “God damn it! Do you ever listen? I told you we had to cool it for a while. What the hell were you thinking?”

“The bitch spilled her drink on me.”

He sighed and tiredly rubbed his eyes. Arguing with her was like trying to reason with a bratty three-year-old grabbing candy in a grocery checkout line. “So we’re homeless because someone accidentally got diet coke on your shirt?”

“Quit being such a queen,” Teresa said with a huff. “You know Stefan thinks of us as his kids, which is totally weird by the way. All he’ll do is make us listen to his rules again. If you wouldn’t have talked me into running, we’d probably be watching TV by now.”

“If Stefan and Alexander just wanted to talk, they would’ve waited until we got back, not raided our feeding room like a two-man S.W.A.T. team. This is serious, Terr. If they find us, they’re going to kill us.”

For the first time in as long as he could remember, his snarky, narcissistic sister looked vulnerable. She crossed her arms to conceal her jittery hands and looked into his eyes. “So what do we do? I’m not living on the street again, or in the skuzzy-ass hotels we used to stay in.”

Travis placed a comforting hand on his baby sister’s shoulder. “Things aren’t like they used to be, sis. Even you have to admit that Stefan taught us a hell of a lot. Once we get out of town, we can trance a bank manager and get all the money we need. I thought we’d head south—you always wanted to see Orlando.”

Acting as if he hadn’t even spoken, Teresa shrugged off his hand and headed further down the dimly lit alley, veering around overflowing dumpsters and piles of loose garbage before slumping back against the brick wall behind her. “And what about the skank who started all this? We just leave her to her fairy-tale life, sipping wine in her mansion?”

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

C.M Michaels grew up in a small town in northern Michigan as the youngest child of a close-knit family of seven. He met his wife, Teresa, while attending Saginaw Valley State University. Together they’ve provided a loving home for several four-legged “kids”, including Sophie, their eternally young at heart, hopelessly spoiled Spaniel.

He has always enjoyed writing, and still has fond memories of reading his first book, a children’s novella, to local grade schools when he was 14. Dangerous Waters, the first book in the Sisters in Blood series, is being published by Freya’s Bower on September 5th, 2013. C.M. is currently working on the second book in the Sisters in Blood series along with a Fantasy romance.

When he’s not writing, C.M. can be found curled up with a good book, watching movies or hitting the hiking trails with his wife. An avid reader since discovering Jim Kjelgaard novels in early childhood, his favorite authors include Kelley Armstrong, Peter V. Brett, Richelle Mead, Rachel Caine, Cassandra Claire, J.R. Ward, Laini Taylor and Tessa Dawn.

C.M. currently resides in Louisville, Kentucky.

Social Media links:

Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/UFAuthorCMMichaels

Twitter - https://twitter.com/UFAuthor

Blog - http://cmmichaels.blogspot.com/

Website - http://cmmichaels.com/

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/user/authorcmmichaels

Book trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7Q7m0MrwlQ

Buy links:

Buy links:

Freya’s Bower (Paperback): http://www.freyasbower.com/books-c-3/dangerous-waters-p-290.html

Freya’s Bower (eBook): http://www.freyasbower.com/urban-fantasy-c-46/dangerous-waters-p-289.html

Amazon (Paperback): http://www.amazon.com/Dangerous-Waters-C-M-Michaels/dp/1617981044/ref=sr_1_27_title_0_main?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1378349287&sr=1-27&keywords=dangerous+waters

Amazon (Kindle): http://www.amazon.com/Dangerous-Waters-Sisters-Blood-ebook/dp/B00EZY2046/ref=sr_1_28_title_0_main?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1378511032&sr=1-28&keywords=dangerous+waters

Barnes & Noble (Paperback): http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dangerous-waters-c-m-michaels/1116827370?ean=9781617981043

Barnes & Noble (Nook): http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dangerous-waters-c-m-michaels/1116827370?ean=2940148669821

All Romance eBooks: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-dangerouswaters-1280168-349.html

Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/dangerous-waters-14

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Matt Campbell

Critters at the Keyboard

Welcomes

Matt Campbell Author of

Spirit Summoner

Spirit Summoner: The Chosen of the Light: Book One

Darr has the ability to hear the disembodied voices of the spirits. Unfortunately, the spirits have nothing useful to say. A young, inexperienced Spirit Summoner, Darr often wonders at the purpose of such a useless ability. When an unnatural fire sweeps through his village, Darr sets out on a mission of self-discovery and curiosity.

As a Spirit Summoner, Darr learns he can enter the spirit realm. There he has access to the elemental magic contained within the Sephirs, legendary artifacts that once promised balance for a world turning towards chaos. Now, the Sephirs’ powers are dwindling since their untimely disappearance, and Darr is at the center of the quest to find and recover them. Suddenly, Darr’s curiosity is a whirlpool threatening to drown him, but his compulsion to see things through locks him into a journey attracted to disaster.

For the Sephirs do more than restrain the primal forces of magic. The Devoid, an evil long caged and hungry, has begun to loosen the bars of its prison. If the Sephirs fail, the Devoid will escape and feed on the Light of the living until nothing remains.

And the Devoid knows Darr’s lack of confidence is the key needed to free itself completely.

Excerpt

For a moment, Darr lay in the mud in disbelief, letting the rain wash over him. Everything had gone wrong, leaving him lost, cold, and wet. He tried to sit up, but the weight of his pack pulled him down. In a moment of hoarded frustration, he yelled. He didn’t yell at anyone in particular. The Summoner howled in pure annoyance of his situation, his voice carrying over the sound of the storm itself.

His voice cracked, and the small moment of silence allowed the spirits to come flooding into his mind. The spirits snapped Darr to attention, instantly making him aware of their presence.

Then they were gone.

Darr blinked in surprise against the downpour of rain. What had just happened? It was like a door to the Currents had been opened long enough to feel the presence of the spirits, then closed.

The Summoner lifted his head and looked down the slope. A black shape approached through the torrent of rain. Startled, Darr writhed in the mud, attempting to regain his feet. He managed to roll over and get up on one knee. The black form was right on top of him, a massive, frightening shape. Lightning flashed across the sky, and Darr saw it clearly, shaped like a man, robed and hooded. Soul Seekers!

Without a second thought, Darr leapt to his feet, clawing his way up the high slope. A massive hand clamped down on his shoulder and pulled him back.

Spirit Summoner is available on Kindle, Nook, and most other ebook formats:

WILD CHILD PUBLISHING

AMAZON

NOOK

iTUNES

About the Author:

Over the last twenty years, Matt Campbell has been putting his love for fantasy down on paper. He began writing at the age of 11, but he has been telling stories long before then. With interests in writing, woodworking, parenting, comic books, movies, and video games, Matt always has something new to write about and to inspire him. 

Matt’s passion for love for the fantastic inspired him to write his debut novel, The Chosen of the Light. At a staggering 400,000 words, Matt was forced to split his novel up into three books, the first of which,Spirit Summoner, is due later in 2013.

He lives in Western Washington with his wife, Jen, and son, Jacobi.

For more information, please check out the links below:

www.blogbyimagine.com/spirit-summoner/html

www.facebook.com/mattcampbellauthor

www.twitter.com/chosen_archon

The Lady of Corpsewood Manor

Critters at the Keyboard welcomes

Hawk MacKinney

Author of 

The Lady of Corpsewood Manor, book 4 of the Craige Ingram Mystery Series

Hawk will be awarding a $20 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour.

To see the open spots available go here: Visit these sites for more chances to win!

BLURB:

In the spacious den of Moccasin Hollow, his ancestral South Carolina home, part-time PI, exNavy SEAL Craige Ingram examines a platinum brooch designed like a dragonfly inside a jeweler’s box that he has discovered at the crime scene of Corpsewood Manor.  It is a remarkable piece of art…its wings and body worked in exceptional detail. Focusing toward the expected bulbous round eyes, his suspicions jar full throttle. Instead of a head, the empty sockets of a skull leer at him. His gut feelin’s tell him his SEAL buddy Grayson MacGerald’s investigation is considerably more than arson and a double murder trying to hide the theft of classic automobiles. The smoldering rubble of secluded Corpsewood Manor leads Ingram and another of their SEAL Team, Colorado Aspen ski buddy Spinner Krespinak, into a seedy tangle of smuggling crisscrossed and an unexpected encounter with a dead assassin from one of Spinner’s “closed” cases.

Please enjoy this excerpt:

“You been told to stay away from Corpsewood.”

           

Kenyon said, “Ain’t got no other place ‘cept them leaky sheds out behind the garage.  They don’t leak much.  Least before the fire I had a place to sleep.  Got kicked out of my other place.  They let me sleep here.”

           

“I’ll just bet they let your sweet cheeks sleep-over.  You’re just the kind of meat they liked to sucker in.”

           

“Now I got no place, an’ nights are gettin’ colder.”

           

“They the ones that hooked you on crystal?”

           

“I told you.  I don’t do drugs.”

           

“Cut the crap…I heard all the stories.  Nothing out’a your mouth ever made sense—only a bunch of your twisted whining.”  Somewhere between a snarl and a chuckle, “I’m suppose to believe you never done meth,” raven-black stab of a look.  “Sure…you’re clean all right except for pushing crank or whatever up your nose or stoking it in your arms,” glanced at the needle tracks on both arms.  “Got a problem?  Run out’a veins in your arms?  Using the ones in your ankles?  Clean yourself up.  Wash your greasy stringy hair and get it cut.  Stop acting like some fool animal that needs to be caged.  Take a bath.  Get a job.  Quit blowing your money, you’d have a place of your own.”

           

“I don’t snort crystal or Nazi dope,” Kenyon griped.  “You’re like ever’body else, judging someone by the way we live.”

           

“I don’t care what you’re on, but anyone fool enough to supply you is askin’ for trouble.  We got enough trouble with the Corpsewood fire and that goddamn homicide Lieutenant MacGerald nosing around with his friggin’ PI SEALmate Ingram helpin’ him dig.”

About the Author

With postgraduate degrees and faculty appointments in several medical universities, Hawk MacKinney has taught graduate courses in both the United States and Jerusalem. In addition to professional articles and texts on chordate neuroembryology, Hawk has authored several works of fiction.

Hawk began writing mysteries for his school newspaper. His works of fiction, historical love stories, science fiction and mystery-thrillers are not genre-centered, but plot-character driven, and reflect his southwest upbringing in Arkansas, Texas and Oklahoma. Moccasin Trace, a historical novel nominated for the prestigious Michael Shaara Award for Excellence in Civil War Fiction and the Writers Notes Book Award, details the family bloodlines of his serial protagonist in the Craige Ingram Mystery Series… murder and mayhem with a touch of romance. Vault of Secrets, the first book in the Ingram series, was followed by Nymrod Resurrection, Blood and Gold, and The Lady of Corpsewood Manor. All have received national attention.  Hawk’s latest release in the Ingram series is due out this fall with another mystery-thriller work out in 2014. The Bleikovat Event, the first volume in The Cairns of Sainctuarie science fiction series, was released in 2012.

"Without question, Hawk is one of the most gifted and imaginative writers I have had the pleasure to represent. His reading fans have something special to look forward to in the Craige Ingram Mystery Series. Intrigue, murder, deception and conspiracy--these are the things that take Hawk's main character, Navy ex-SEAL/part-time private investigator Craige Ingram, from his South Carolina ancestral home of Moccasin Hollow to the dirty backrooms of the nation's capital and across Europe and the Middle East."

Barbara Casey, President

Barbara Casey Literary Agency

Author links and where to buy

Author Web Site

Amazon

Barnes and Noble