Friday, May 29, 2015

Release Day Freebie of Ghosts Among Men by Laura Del.

Samantha Davidson sees ghosts for a living. More specifically, she sees ghosts as a private investigator, working alongside the Chicago Police Department to put away killers and put troubled spirits to rest.
When the daughter of one of Chicago’s wealthiest families turns up dead, Samantha and her assistant Mark team up with homicide detective Lance MacDowell to get to the bottom of the crime.
Allison Allen is tall, blonde, beautiful–and very much dead. As Samantha interviews the girl, who doesn’t remember anything about the circumstances of her own murder, it’s clear that there’s more going on behind the walls of this manicured home than anyone wants to let on—and that Samantha has her work cut out for her this time.

Juggling her own love life, tracking down troubled spirits, and evading attempts to thwart her investigation keeps Samantha on her toes. Good thing Samantha knows how to keep her eyes open, her wits about her, and her sense of humor.


A paranormal mystery that is both dark and funny, Ghosts Among Men will cause chills to run down your back even while you’re laughing out loud at the lovable, strong, and supernaturally sighted private investigator Samantha Davidson.

Links: 




Laura Del earned a degree in radio, television, and film from Rowan University.
Del is the author of two other books,  Graveyard Shifts and  Dueling Moons, which are part of the Pat Wyatt series.
Del lives in New Jersey, where she runs the blogging website www.thefictionwriters.net.


Book 1 and Two of The Pat Wyatt Series is also free today. 

Pick up your copies here:
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Monday, May 25, 2015

#IndieSpotlight of Alex Apostol Author of The Kamlyn Paige Novels

Name: 
Alex Apostol

The Title of Your Work or Group: 
1st book- Earth Angel: A Kamlyn Paige novel (book #1)
2nd book- Hunted Angel: A Kamlyn Paige novel (book #2)

Currently Working On: A collection of short stories following the lifelong friendship of two young women as they travel across the country together. (Untitled as of right now)

Where are you from?
I’m originally from Valparaiso, Indiana but I’ve lived in Chicago, Illinois, Florida, Hawaii, California, Virginia, and now live in San Antonio, Texas.

In what genre do you write?
I don’t like to stick to just one genre of writing, because I don’t read just one genre either. The Kamlyn Paige series could be categorized under any of these genres- New Adult/Paranormal/Science-Fiction/Action & Adventure/Fantasy/Myth
The short story collection I’m working on is more Coming of Age/Women’s Fiction/Short Stories/American Literature/ChickLit
I realize that’s a lot of genres for both! But I don’t feel like books fit into just one genre anymore these days.

In your own words, what is your book about?
The Kamlyn Paige series is about a young woman who lost her son to a soul-devouring demon so she travels the country helping others fight off their paranormal threats while searching for her son’s killer. I’ve been told it’s Buffy meets Supernatural, which is a huge compliment because I love them both!
The short story collection is about two young women coming up on their 30’s. They are moving from Virginia to California. Each story takes place at a new state and stop in their roadtrip or is a story from their past. It’s got a very female heavy theme so I think this will be one for the ladies.

What is your writing style? Do you follow all guides and rules? Synopsis, outline etc. or do you just sit down at the computer and type to see what happens?
I’m very ADD when it comes to my writing. When I’m halfway done with my book, that’s usually when I get a great idea for another book and then that book is all I can think about. So while I’m writing one, I’m starting to organize the outline for the next one and getting to know my new characters. I have all these notes to refer to once I’m ready to start writing and then I keep taking notes as I’m writing as well. I try to follow all grammar rules while writing so my editing isn’t so daunting.

 Have you ever written anything and thought; " The world has got to see this!" ? 
I think every writer thinks that about their own work at some point, followed by “This is so stupid. No one’s going to want to read this!” Writers are so bi-polar over their own work.

Do you have an editor and Cover Designer or do you do this yourself? 

This has been trial and error for me. I hired a cover designer for Earth Angel to custom design it for me and it cost me an arm and a leg. Then I hired an editor who I felt didn’t do anything I couldn’t have done as a student of English. That cost me my other arm and leg. So for Hunted Angel and the collection of short stories I used pre-made cover designs and edited myself with help from beta readers. I love the pre-made designers “The Cover Collection” and “Go On Write”.
Who is your favorite author. Not just someone that you read allot. I wanna know whose book you read that made you suddenly know that if you didn't do this for the rest of your life then you would never be happy. 
J.K. Rowling has been a huge inspiration for me. Not only because the Harry Potter series is the best series in the world, as well as the biggest earning series, but because I think she’s a beautiful, strong, independent woman too. I didn’t plan it, but all of my books so far definitely have woman power in them. My characters tend to be headstrong and independent women, though they definitely learn their lessons and sometimes the hard way. I want women who read my books to know they can do anything they want to do.

Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?
Sticking to a daily word count or a deadline. I get better with every book, but life gets in the way all the time…not that I regret that at all! I have a fiancé and a four-month-old daughter and an annoying attention hogging cat and I love spending time with all of them.

Do you write your characters or do they write themselves through you? 
That’s a tough question. I think the basis of who that person is, their core, I write it out in my outlining and notes, but then the little things they do and some of their other values come out as a surprise during my writing.

Do you ever write yourself into the characters? 
There are certain aspects of me I find I veer more towards with my characters. For example, my female characters tend to be shorter because I’m short. And a good majority of them have brown wild hair because I do. With my collection of short stories, I’ve written it based (very loosely) on things me and my friends did as kids and teenagers and adults. This book has forced me to take a good look at myself and everything I've done, even if those things didn't make it into the book.

Is writing your full time job or are you "Keeping your day job"? So to speak.
I’m a full-time stay-at-home mom. I write while my daughter is napping so I get a good 4 hours done during the day here and there. That’s more than enough to stick to my deadlines and have weekends off. I also have a writing/reading blog call FLOURISH & BLOG. (and yes, it's a play on Harry Potter’s Flourish & Blott’s for you die hard HP fans like me.) I’ve also recently gotten into knitting and will be opening a Harry Potter Winter Store on FLOURISH & BLOG where I’ll be selling House scarves, hats, socks, mittens, bookmarks, sweaters, plush toys, and more! 

If you could go back in time and meet one famous person or legend in history, who would it be? 
Severus Snape, because I just want to give him a hug? haha no, that’s something, believe it or not, that I really haven't thought about. There’s still plenty of people alive I would like to meet.

There are millions of new books released every year. What in your mind makes yours stand out from all those millions in your genre? 
I think the strong woman factor is something that makes the books somewhat unique. It seems like every book I read is from the point-of-view of the man. If it’s from the woman's viewpoint then it's a romance novel or a teen novel. I like that my books are for adults, but still strongly speak to women and their abilities.

In the world of Indie, marketing is very difficult, especially if you don't have the funds to pay for it. Have you found a great free way to market your work that you think other Indies will benefit from? 
I’ve been playing around with marketing for over a year now. I can tell you now that social media advertising is a waste of money. Don't pay for Facebook ads, Twitter ads, Goodreads ads, or even Amazon ads unless you already are pretty big and on the top 100s list. Don’t post sales ads for your books all the time either, because it's annoying to most people. The things that have worked best for me honestly has been participating in the Harry Potter community on Google + and actually connecting with people on Twitter and posting about things I like, not about my book. Just by doing those two things my blog traffic has doubled.


Links to find and follow Alex:


Amazon: Earth Angel
Hunted Angel
Pre-order my short stories collection

B&N:
Earth Angel
Hunted Angel


I also have a Kamlyn Paige novels Exclusive Content site which goes further into the series- kind of a behind-the-pages site.
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Monday, May 18, 2015

#IndieSpotlight of Jacky Lang Author of The Book Club

Name: 
Jacky Lang

The Title of Your Work or Group: 
Passion Shorts (free short stories): PassionCon, Passion Streaming, Passion’s Probability, Paint by Numbers, Passion Symbiotic
Novellas: Love & Money, The Book Club

Where are you from?  
Pacific North West

In what genre do you write? 
Modern romance/erotica

In your own words, what is your book about? If you were not the author and trying to explain this awesome book you just read to a friend, what would you say about it? 
My first Novella, Love & Money tells the story of a smart girl who makes some questionable choices. She, and many of her acquaintances are driven into the world of high end escorts by student loan debt. This story was inspired by the real news stories of young men and women selling themselves to pay for higher education. Since it is fiction, my story is much more romantic and less brutal than the news items. 

What is your writing style? Do you follow all guides and rules? Synopsis, outline etc. or do you just sit down at the computer and type to see what happens?
 I’ve only been writing a few years, and I’ve tried a few methods to see which one serves me the best. A general outline really helps me get started; I don’t do well with blank screen syndrome. 

Have you ever written anything and thought; " The world has got to see this!" ? 
Every once in a while a passage just flows and I think, “Wow, I might really be a writer.” However, my partner who is also one of my beta readers can usually find something to criticize that gets my ego back under control right away. 

Do you have an editor and Cover Designer or do you do this yourself? 
I do the covers for my free short stories myself, due to time and budget constraints. The novellas have covers by http://coversbykaren.com/. She was super wonderful to work with and I love the results.

Who is your favorite author? Not just someone that you read allot. I wanna know whose book you read that made you suddenly know that if you didn't do this for the rest of your life then you would never be happy.
 For someone who reads as much as I do, it would be hard to have a favorite. Moods change and so does my reading pile. Frankly, seeing the commercial success of not-so-great authors gave me the courage to try my hand.

Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?
 I started playing with fiction on the side and so I’ve learned everything on my own. It can be terribly difficult to stick to a writing schedule for the “fun” part of my career. The more I write and learn the more I realize how all-consuming the calling can be. 

Do you write your characters or do they write themselves through you?
 I create them and then they grow and develop in ways that often surprise me. 

Do you ever write yourself into the characters?
 It happens, but my goal has been to give my characters their own voices. I rewrote a huge section of The Book Club when I realized all the women sounded like me. Ugh, how boring.

Is writing your full time job or are you "Keeping your day job"? So to speak.
 I do have a day job and that is the source of many scheduling problems. However, I’ve found my work as a fiction writer greatly improves my performance in the “real world.” 

If you could go back in time and meet one famous person or legend in history, who would it be?
 I think that’s a lovely fantasy that writers play with all the time and the person probably changes as we grow and change as writers. At this point, I’d love to meet Catherine the Great of Russia. She was a survivor, smart and sexually empowered in a repressed age. I’d love to know how she managed all that. 

There are millions of new books released every year. What in your mind makes yours stand out from all those millions in your genre? 
I stumbled upon the difference in my writing by accident—I write about geeks. Well, not just geeks…I write about all the people who usually don’t get a lot of print in the world of romance or erotica. Not all my romantic leads are twentyish models and all my male characters are not white, billionaires. I want the bookish, quiet, diverse readers of the world to see themselves in a romantic or sexy plot line. 

In the world of Indie, marketing is very difficult, especially if you don't have the funds to pay for it. Have you found a great free way to market your work that you think other Indies will benefit from?
 Because I’m doing the dual life thing, I haven’t done a ton of marketing. So far, Twitter has been really good to me. I try to carve out scheduled times and really engage there and it seems to be (slowly) working. 


Links to find and follow Jacky's work:



Smashwords (the only place to get the freebies): https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/JackyLang




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Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Ever heard of Camelot? What about Avalon? Do you believe they were real? What if I told you they were? Book 2 is Free.



  Ever heard of Camelot? What about Avalon? Do you believe they were real? What if I told you they were? What if I told you that King Arthur, Merlin, Lancelot, Guinevere, Morgan Le fey and the lady of the lake were nothing more than a very powerful, very dysfunctional family? At this point, you are probably imagining every version of Arthur and his famed sword you have ever seen, read or heard. You are wondering which version this one is based on. Anyone who is familiar with the various Arthur/Merlin based legends Will have their own views on who they think was good and who they think was evil. They will have their own beliefs on what they think actually happened.

  To those people I say; Forget everything you think you know right now. I'm serious. Whatever you have seen, heard or read is probably way off base. The Avalon Legacies is the story of one infamously powerful family that made one devastating mistake after another. A family that fell so epically from grace with The Goddess that she cursed their entire race, cast them out of their magical home in Avalon and slammed it's gates closed to earth until the day that they are able to redeem themselves. With no one left to continue the Fey teachings and the Christian Crusades spreading across Europe, mankind's ability to wield magic on this planet slowly disappeared. The histories of a once great King, noble family and wondrously magical race were slowly reduced to nothing more than legends and fairy tales. So much so, that most of the descendants of this great family don't even know who they are or that they are supposed to be redeeming themselves and the ones who do know have either hidden it, faked their death or have been on this fruitless quest for so long that they have lost the ability to think rationally.

  The Avalon Legacies is not your everyday tale of good and evil. There is no straight black and white but instead, an everlasting gray area. Those you think are evil, may not be. Those you think are good, may not be and those who started off good may change due to their experience and vice versa. There are five legacies. Each one follows this family as they are tasked with each step toward redemption. With every step forward, they see only more steps. Behind every door, there always seems to be another and don't think that this path to redemption only leads back to Arthur and his family. Each legacy goes deeper and deeper into the past. Every creation was the direct result of something that happened to the creator. ( God or Goddess)  Whatever creator that may be.

  The events that lead up to earth's first and forgotten Apocalypse, were set into motion long before God ever created earth. This family discovers that not only are they tasked with fixing the mistakes of their forefathers that lead to the death of magic on this planet but that some of those mistakes may have been manipulated by other creators. They discover that the creation of their race was directly related to a many century old feud between two of what the family finds out are many, many, many creators. The secrets that this family unearths during their quest will one day re write all that ever was and all that ever will be. If they can survive standing up to even the most stubborn and pigheaded creators in existence. That is.

Get Book 1 for $1.00 Now
Ailis has spent her life pretending she didn't have powers and that things did not go bump in the night. Ailis is now a homicide detective. She is very good at her job and she's pretty sure the serial murders her unit is investigating aren't being committed by a human. In walks the most gorgeous man she's ever seen. What’s wrong with that? Ailis not only knows he's a vampire. she also knows he's the one draining child molesters and murderers and leaving an empty carcass for her to find. Her investigation unearths secrets about her ancestors that take her back to Camelot and the time of King Arthur and Merlin so she can right a wrong committed by her family hundreds of years ago. Can she trust this strange, lonely vampire to help her solve a mystery that could very well end up with her being life challenged herself? 

  Dangerously attractive vampire, Kenneth has been around long enough to know there are no such things as coincidences. When he meets the undeniably strong willed homicide detective Ailis, he knows there's a good explanation as to why she looks identical to his long dead fiance. He just has to figure out what that might be. When his one hundred year nemesis shows up in Miami and tries to force Ailis to join him, Kenneth realizes her powers are worth something to even the worst of his kind. He pledges to protect her as long as he is still breathing. If those trying to keep her from fulfilling her destiny have anything to do about it, that won’t be long at all.




Reviewers Thoughts.











Mama Dukes 


Buy from Amazon
Legacy Foretold Book 2 is Free today.


  It's been over twenty years since Ailis began her tedious quest to right the terrible wrongs her ancestors mistakes caused to not just earth but Avalon. Just when she and Kenneth are back in Avalon and it's gates are once again open to their people, they get wind of a Legacy. It seems there is to be a final test from their goddess. It seems she will need proof that they have learned from the terrible mistakes of Merlin, King Arthur and Morgaine. If the test is failed, they will lose their home forever. Only this time, it is their children that will be tested. Ailis and Kenneth can only prepare them and then stand by, knowing they cannot interfere while their home, people's lives and the lives of one or both of their children are at stake. Will Ailis and her family finally make up for the atrocities of her ancestors or will they lose it all and be forced out of their home with no hope of ever being one with their maker again? 

  Karma has a very important job. A job that comes with the gift of Excalibur. A job she never wanted. Karma is the Assassin of the Goddess and is charged with hunting supernatural beings that don't follow the rules. She is becoming more and more convinced that Excalibur has powers of his own. Karma and X, as she calls him, are a team. Together, they are invincible. 
She also has a family legacy that consumes her every waking thought. Karma is supposed to be watching for a deceiver. Someone she will want to trust but shouldn't and is in a constant state of confusion. She does not know what the right choice is and is terrified of failing her entire species. Her parent's risked everything to save Avalon and if she makes one false move according to her legacy, she will undue all that they have accomplished. This time however; it will be permanent. The goddess has given her family one last chance to right their wrongs. 

  Can Karma control her infamous temper or will she succumb to the same fate as her ancestor, Morgaine?
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Review of Revenge of the Pumpkins by Lacey Lane

   This little short story caught me by surprise. At first, I was thinking how cute it was and was wondering when the revenge part would go down but I didn't have to wait long. Once the pumpkins start in, there is little time to even think before you are thrust into everyone worst Halloween nightmare. This is not normally the type of story I like to read but it was short so I figured I's give it a try. I'm so glad that I did. Lacey has succeed in writing about a scenario that I'd never even thought of which rarely happens. It was a welcomed change and I would give any other Short story or novel that Lacey writes a chance just to see if they are as unique as this one. Also, its free an you can't beat free.
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Monday, May 11, 2015

#IndieSpotlight of Alice de Sturler Author of Short Stories and Flash Fiction


Name: 
Alice de Sturler

The Title of Your Work:
 "Short Stories & Flash Fiction" 

Where are you from? 
New River Valley, Virginia but originally from the Netherlands.

In what genre do you write?
 Crime/Flash Fiction 

In your own words, what is your book about? 
In this book you will find the first pieces of flash fiction that I ever wrote and two (long) short stories. All deal with crime, regrets, redemption, anxiety, and justice. Not necessarily in that order though. This book shows you what goes on in my mind when I hear or see something. Sounds, smells, and scenes can quickly morph into stories.

What is your writing style? 
I am a writer-in-learning so everything is "write it down as soon as inspiration hits me before I forget." I save it and come back to it later to edit or delete. I am working on getting into a writing routine and having a structure for my next book.

Have you ever written anything and thought; "The world has got to see this!"? 
Yes but that mostly involved unsolved homicide case reviews which are posted on my blog.

Do you have an editor and Cover Designer or do you do this yourself? 
It is all me so you will find mistakes.

Who is your favorite author? Not just someone that you read allot. I wanna know whose book you read that made you suddenly know that if you didn't do this for the rest of your life then you would never be happy. 
I do not have one favorite author. I read a lot of books from various authors whose stories are set in Victorian London before it had a proper sewage system with forensic science in its infancy. So it is pretty much barehanded autopsies and slipping on feces.

Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing? 
Yes, the POV. When I write it down it makes sense to me as I see who is talking in my head. Making that clear to the reader is a real challenge.

Do you write your characters or do they write themselves through you? 
I am not there yet where the character takes over. For the flash fiction and short stories, there were too many different ones in too short a setting. My next book is a full length crime fiction novel and there the characters have started to emerge. For example, the butler didn't want to be the killer so he is one of the good guys.

Do you ever write yourself into the characters? 
Most likely all the characters have something from me but none is a carbon copy of me.

Is writing your full time job or are you "Keeping your day job"? So to speak. 
I am keeping the day job, yes. Being a freelance writer and blog coach is not just a job. It is exciting to see others put their thoughts on virtual paper. I like to help others by proofreading their work or by helping them with plot development. 

If you could go back in time and meet one famous person or legend in history, who would it be? 
There's quite a number of people I'd like to talk to if that was possible. I guess I'd pick King Richard III and ask him what happened to his nephews and whose bones were found under the stairs in the Tower of London. A close second would be the prisoner in the iron mask as described by Alexandre Dumas. What did you do or observe that got the Minister of War all worked up? 

There are millions of new books released every year. What in your mind makes yours stand out from all those millions in your genre? 
Wow, not a clue to be honest. I am an unpolished author. English isn't my first language (Dutch is), I did not study English (I studied Law), and I have no formal training as a writer. The only field training I have comes from my blog about unsolved homicides: Defrosting Cold Cases. I guess that I am a "project" for a reader to keep an eye on and to observe if there is any improvement in later works. 

In the world of Indie, marketing is very difficult, especially if you don't have the funds to pay for it. Have you found a great free way to market your work that you think other Indies will benefit from? 
If I find it I will let you know, promise.


Links to find, follow and generally stalk Alice's writing:
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Monday, May 4, 2015

#IndieSpotlight of Raymond Clarke Author of Equivocal Destines

Name: 
Raymond Clarke



The Title of Your Work or Group: 
Equivocal Destines (book 1 of the Upheaving Nidola series)

Where are you from?
Born in Perth, Western Australia. Choosing to live in Warsaw, Poland. Even I don't know why. It's probably Chutney, my dog. Maybe my fiance. Who knows...

In what genre do you write?
I'm indie published in fantasy (the book above) and 20% of the way through book 2 but I'm also 40% of the way through a Y.A. fantasy and in pre-planning for a sci-fi. I'll probably stick to these 3 genres for the most part.

In your own words, what is your book about?
Book 1 of my series is very much an open, fantasy/adventure tale about a boy - Taal - who does the very boyish thing of following the pretty girl and ends up a long way from home and in a lot of trouble. It's a world ruled by elemental magic and devastated by hordes of magically-transformed creatures that seem to be hell-bent on humanity's destruction. Taal though is just looking for a way to improve his crappy life and ends up changing the world.

I really don't like comparing books, but strictly to get an idea of the context, think LOTR but with a significantly different magical focus and style.

It's hard for me to tell you what the book's about, or even what it's like, because Equivocal Destines is a fairly open fantasy/adventure tale and it gets more layered and complex in book 2, but I shouldn't give away any spoliers.

What is your writing style?
I think that anyone who just sits down and starts writing will end up with an incoherent mess that they'll have to constantly rewrite as they have new ideas. Well, at least in my genre and if they're writing complex tomes with multi-layered plots to keep it interesting.

My style is a mix between no planning and thorough planning. I have a 50-page outline document for the series (with character profiles, magic profiles, 10 pages of plot outline bullet points, etc) but 75% of it is filled in as I write. I plan the outline at a high level, add in all of the critical sections/scenes and enough of the plot that I know how to proceed to the end. Then, when writing, I fill in all of the details, highlight anything that's not in my plan and go back later to add the details I invent on the fly to my plan. I wrote a blog post about my method actually: https://raymondclarkeauthor.wordpress.com/2015/02/15/on-literary-markup-languages/

I think planning too much restricts creativity (which I like to think I have in abundance) but planning nothing would just create a meandering mess (which I could easily do too, unfortunately).


Have you ever written anything and thought; "The world has got to see this!"?
Not so much. I'm not that type of person. I have written a bunch of scenes, and even 1-liners, into Equivocal Destines that made me laugh out loud in the cafe when I wrote it, and I'm really proud of myself for being that funny/creative. There's a few scenes in there that make me laugh, and even surprise me, every time I rediscover them.


Do you have an editor and Cover Designer or do you do this yourself?
Do it myself? Hell no! You never find your own mistakes. I'm lucky enough to have friends who are really good at these things. I know 2 excellent artists (a friend and my fiance's brother actually) who did the map and cover art (respectively). If not, I would have had to just pay someone to do them. I also sent out my book to 4 informal editors, 2 of whom actually did their jobs properly, and on time. They found soooo many typos and tiny errors that I believe proper editing is simply a necessity. I was lucky enough to not have to pay for it, but my book would have been junk without it.

Who is your favorite author? Not just someone that you read allot. I wanna know whose book you read that made you suddenly know that if you didn't do this for the rest of your life then you would never be happy.
Oh, an easy one:
* David Farland's Daily Kick in the Pants emails are a necessity for any author to read. That came later, but it can't be understated.
* Terry Pratchett. Because - der
* Peter V. Brett. I once read about how he wrote his first book mostly on a laptop (I think) on the metro. Slowly and painfully, but he got it done, and it's an excellent book.

Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?
Well, time to write, as everyone says. Also, writing short, strangely. I can be wordy. 110k words is easier for me that keeping it concise, which I probably should try harder at. I like to think those are 110k mostly-good words, but still. Dialog, apparently. I don't have a problem writing believable, natural dialog. I just don't do it enough. Apparently.

Do you write your characters or do they write themselves through you?
Most definitely #2. Half of my characters in Equivocal Destines literally named themselves even. My character Gruff, for example. I wrote "Their instructor, like most of his practice weapons, had seen better days. Everyone just called him", without knowing what his name would be. Then, without even pausing, I wrote "Gruff, because he was". And so the character was named Gruff. I stopped in the cafe and wondered where it'd even come from. My fans like Gruff though. He's gruff. That happened a number of times. I've seen my characters develop in ways I wasn't planning, and I've had to go back and update my planning document to accommodate their unexpected growth. I think it makes for a more natural, believable tale.

Do you ever write yourself into the characters?
I think this is a common trap for authors, so I did it deliberately, but I spread parts of myself across 3 characters, and not Taal, the main protagonist. I figured, I can't beat it, so join it, but channel it away from the main story arc.

Is writing your full time job or are you "Keeping your day job"? So to speak.
Back in Australia I worked as a network administrator for a bank. Here in Poland I teach business English. They're polar opposites, but I think both are really helpful to my writing. If I became wildly successful as an author I think I'd continue teaching English, but with fewer lessons. It gives me much-needed, daily structure.

If you could go back in time and meet one famous person or legend in history, who would it be? 
You know, I'm more of a forward thinker. There's a thousand people I'd love to meet who are all still alive today. Speculating on those who've already done isn't as helpful to me as Twitter-stalking people who I could actually annoy in real life :p

There are millions of new books released every year. What in your mind makes yours stand out from all those millions in your genre? 
Before indie publishing my book I would have been frank and said "Probably nothing. I just have to hope for the best". Now I know better. There's millions of books out there but I've been reading a bunch of the indie books published on the same day as mine (Amazon groups them together initially, for lack of a better grouping system for unknown works) and 75% of them are illiterate junk. Don't get me wrong, a few of those other books were really good, but most aren't worth paying for. What makes mine better? I'll be rude and say, a modest talent for words, the ability to spell and various mechanical things like that. That, however, isn't a reason to buy my book, it's only a reason to be careful what you buy in more general terms.

So what sets my book apart? My feedback so far says I've written a book that's really entertaining, flows well and keeps people interested. My book's new, so I'm happy with that for now. I hope it's enough to convince others to give it a try.


In the world of Indie, marketing is very difficult, especially if you don't have the funds to pay for it. Have you found a great free way to market your work that you think other Indies will benefit from? 
nope :( Ideas?

Well, my blog's slowly, grudgingly, picking up steam. Apparently I write very honestly on it, which people seem to appreciate. I doubt it's leading to sales (yet) though.


Links to find, follow and generally stalk Raymond's writing: ;P 


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