Thanks to contributing author Joseph Carrabis giving us a taste of the stories in the new Visions anthology from WordCrafter Press. Follow the link to learn more.
Pre-order now: https://books2read.com/u/49Lk28
https://josephcarrabis.com/2022/10/03/stephanie-kraners-here-now-wherever-now-in-visions-anthology/
Thanks to contributing author Joseph Carrabis giving us a taste of the stories in the new Visions anthology from WordCrafter Press. Follow the link to learn more.
Pre-order now: https://books2read.com/u/49Lk28
Welcome to the WordCrafter Haunted Halloween Holiday Book Blog Tour, in celebration of this delightful new children’s Halloween adventure by Robbie and Michael Cheadle. This is going to be a wonderful tour with a guest post from author Robbie Cheadle and a review at every stop. Today will be a real treat with not one, but two tour stops, but you may comment on either stop here. Instead of making Robbie sit through another tedious interview, we will have each tour stop host ask her two questions, so you can learn more about her at every stop if you follow the tour, and she also has a great giveaway.
Tour Schedule
(Links won’t work until the post goes live.)
Monday – October 3 – Double Stop Day! – Guest Post & Review – Writing to be Read
– Guest Post & Review – Undawnted
Tuesday – October 4 – The Showers of Blessings
Wednesday – October 5 – Patty’s World
Thursday – October 6 – Carla Loves to Read
Friday – October 7 – Zigler’s News
Saturday – October 8 – Annette Rochel Aben
Give Away
For a chance to win one of three US$10 Amazon vouchers or one of three paperback copies of Haunted Halloween Holiday just leave a comment to show you were here.
Follow the tour and comment at each stop for more chances to win.
The prizes will be given away in a random drawing.
About Haunted Halloween Holiday
Count Sugular is delighted when the Sugarpop Bats invite his family to a Halloween party at the Haunted House. He and his wife, Witch Honey, decide to hire a caravan and enjoy a weekend away with their family.
Includes some fun limericks to introduce the various characters.
You can find the book trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fr5OxyUfd4
Purchase links:
TSL Publications: https://tslbooks.uk/product/haunted-halloween-holiday-robbie-and-michael-cheadle/
Robbie’s Questions
Question: You illustrate your children’s books with elaborate fondant scenes, with buildings and characters which are very detailed. How long does it take you to create a whole fondant scene for illustration in one of your stories?
Answer: The fondant and cake illustrations are time consuming. The amount of time required depends on the number of flowers and figurines I include and their complexity.
Each figurine takes, on average, between 4 and 5 hours to complete. I always start with the heads. Some of the figurines have detailed facial features including teeth, lip detail, and layered eyes and these take a lot of time and effort to make.
Hair is also time consuming, especially curly hair, as each strand is wound around a cocktail stick and allowed to partially dry before it can be attached to the head. Timing is important because if the fondant hair strand dries to much, it wont stick to the head.
My next step is usually the body and shoes, and that is followed by the arms and legs. Attaching arms and legs can be tricky as you have to keep them in the correct positions until they dry. Standing figurines are much more difficult to make than seated ones. The legs have to dry completely before you can attach the weight of the head and body to a standing figurine or the legs collapse.
Flowers are also made in layers. I start with the centres and leave them to firm up before adding the second layer of petals. Flowers are also tricky from a timing perspective as the petals must firm up enough to hold their shape but not dry so much they crack or break.
From a cake perspective, sponge cake assembly is not that difficult for me. The carving and assembly of shaped cakes isn’t that difficult if you have an eye for proportions which I do.
The gingerbread caravan that features in Haunted Halloween Holiday was difficult to make because I had to bend the gingerbread to make it harden in a curved shape. I did have to make adaptions to my initial plan and I created the sides and top of the caravan in two parts instead of one as I’d originally planned. I did have to redo that piece of gingerbread. You have to bend it while it is still hot but not so hot it collapses (or burns you) but before it starts to harden or it cracks. Another tricky timing situation.
The windmill was complex to make because of the blades which I made separately from fondant and attached to wooden kebab sticks. The entire bladed structure had to then be attached to the gingerbread windmill structure. It was a great challenge and I was delighted at how both of these structures came out.
Question: You have done many collaborations for anthologies, and you also co-wrote a book with your mother. Do you have more fun collaborating with your son Michael on the children’s books than you do with your adult collaborators on adult themed works? Why or why not?
Answer: The children’s books are fun to write and illustrate. The text for the Sir Chocolate and other children’s books is much less, 600 words or less for the Sir Chocolate picture books in line with the industry standard, than books for older children or adults.
My collaboration with Michael involves conversations and chats about characters and ideas for story lines as well as the illustrations. This makes the entire process fairly easy and companionable.
Writing While the Bombs Fell was a more difficult collaboration because I was writing my mother’s memories. I had to coax the memories from her, research the details and historical context of the time period and lay them over her personal timeline. It was an interesting and rewarding process and I learned a lot more about my mom’s early life and my own family.
There were some difficulties, especially around the structuring of the story and the fictionalised elements. My mom didn’t always agree when I filled gaps in her memory with information based on historical research to give the book a little more meat. In the end, we came to a meeting of minds and were both happy with the book. The difficulties with writing someone else’s memories is one of the reasons why the sequel, After the Bombs Fell, is not finished. My own writing process has changed and it’s more difficult for me to work with someone else now.
Thank you, Kaye, for these great questions and for hosting my post.
About the Authors
Michael Cheadle is a student at a high school in South Africa. His favourite subjects are IT, and History and he enjoys creative writing, especially writing poetry. In his spare time Michael enjoys computer games, boxing, tennis, and sleeping.
Robbie Cheadle is a South African children’s author and poet with eleven children’s books and two poetry books.
The eight Sir Chocolate children’s picture books, co-authored by Robbie and Michael Cheadle, are written in sweet, short rhymes which are easy for young children to follow and are illustrated with pictures of delicious cakes and cake decorations. Each book also includes simple recipes or biscuit art directions which children can make under adult supervision.
Robbie and Michael have also written Haunted Halloween Holiday, a delightful fantasy story for children aged 5 to 9. Count Sugular and his family hire a caravan to attend a Halloween party at the Haunted House in Ghost Valley. This story is beautifully illustrated with Robbie’s fondant and cake art creations.
Robbie and Michael have also written Haunted Halloween Holiday, a delightful fantasy story for children aged 5 to 9. Count Sugular and his family hire a caravan to attend a Halloween party at the Haunted House in Ghost Valley. This story is beautifully illustrated with Robbie’s fondant and cake art creations.
Robbie has also published two books for older children which incorporate recipes that are relevant to the storylines.
Robbie has two adult novels in the paranormal historical and supernatural fantasy genres published under the name Roberta Eaton Cheadle. She also has short stories, in the horror and paranormal genre, and poems included in several anthologies.
Robbie Cheadle contributes two monthly posts to https://writingtoberead.com, namely, Growing Bookworms, a series providing advice to caregivers on how to encourage children to read and write, and Treasuring Poetry, a series aimed at introducing poetry lovers to new poets and poetry books.
In addition, Roberta Eaton Cheadle contributes one monthly post to https://writingtoberead.com called Dark Origins: African Myths and Legends which shares information about the cultures, myths and legends of the indigenous people of southern Africa.
Robbie Cheadle Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Robbie-Cheadle/e/B01N9J62GQ
Robbie Cheadle Goodreads Author Page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15584446.Robbie_Cheadle
TSL Publications Robbie Cheadle Author Page: https://tslbooks.uk/product-tag/robbie-cheadle/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/bakeandwrite
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SirChocolateBooks
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVyFo_OJLPqFa9ZhHnCfHUA
My Review
Haunted Halloween Holiday is a ‘just a little scary but lots and lots of fun’ kind of story. Fans of the Sir Chocolate books by Robbie and Michael Cheadle will not be disappointed as the mother and son duo write and bake their way into reader’s hearts with this delightfully delicious story. Stuffed full of delectable fondant illustrations, highlighted with lovely rhyming verse to tell the story of an unique holiday celebration.
This book is a bit longer than previous Sir Chocolate formats, and contains less verse, but it’s a delightfully fun adventure to please readers both young and old. Who could resist all the colorful characters who attend this festive holiday party? Count Sugular; Baby Howler; Skelly the Skeleton; Teddy the posessed teddy bear; the Trolls – Tar and Liquorice; Toot, the clown who smiles upside; Witch Goody; and Jack Frost all help to make this Halloween celebration one to be remebered, and enjoyed over and over, every time you pick up the book.
I give Haunted Halloween Holiday five quills.
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That wraps up this stop on the WordCrafter Haunted Halloween Holiday Book Blog Tour, but be sure to drop in to Undawnted for another great review of the book. Join us tomorrow over at The Showers of Blessings, for another guest post by Robbie and a review by Miriam Hurdle.
https://josephcarrabis.com/2022/10/02/michaele-jordans-farewell-my-miko-now-in-visions-anthology/
Thanks to contributing author Joseph Carrabis giving us a taste of the stories in the new Visions anthology from WordCrafter Press. Follow the link to learn more.
Pre-order now: https://books2read.com/u/49Lk28
https://josephcarrabis.com/2022/10/01/janet-garbers-the-treatment-now-in-visions-anthology/
Thanks to contributing author Joseph Carrabis giving us a taste of the stories in the new Visions anthology from WordCrafter Press. Follow the link to learn more.
Pre-order now: https://books2read.com/u/49Lk28
Where can you find publishing industry experts willing to share their secrets?
Ask the Authors 2022 is the ultimate writer’s reference, with tips and advice on craft, publishing and marketing. Eleven experienced and successful authors share what works for them and offer their keys to success in traditional publishing, hybrid, and indie. You’ll learn industry wisdom from Mark Leslie Lefebvre, Kevin Killiany, L. Jagi Lamplighter, Bobby Nash, Paul Kane, Nancy Oswald, Chris Barili, Jeff Bowles, Roberta Eaton Cheadle, Mario Acevedo and Kaye Lynne Booth.
This book offers up-to-date and tried-and-true ways to improve your craft, explores current publishing and book marketing worlds. Take a peek inside and find out what works for you.
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Every year, Kevin J. Anderson curates a Writer’s Career Toolkit Bundle in coincidence with NaNoWriMo, because we all know that those crazy writers who knock themselves out at this time of year to produce 50,000 words in 30 days, need all the help they can get.
This year, Ask the Authors 2022 is one of those books to be included in this useful bundle of books for writers! We are in great company. L. Jagi Lamplighter has a book of her own in the bundle, The Art and Craft of Writing and Mark Leslie Lefebrve has a book co-authored with D.F. Hart, MBA, Accounting for Authors. Also included are books by big name authors such as Joshua Essoe, Joanna Penn, Kevin J. Anderson, and David Farland. There’s even a book by one of my cohorts, Aisley Oliphant, Booked to the Gills, which is aimed at writers of 30 day writing challenges, and will be helpful to those preparing to participate in NaNoWriMo. (You can see my “Review in Practice” for Booked to the Gills, here.)
The Writer’s Career Toolkit Bundle – Curated by Kevin J. Anderson
This is the time of year when a lot of people turn their thoughts to writing. Challenges such as the National Novel Writing Month (November) and other writing groups and workshops encourage you to push your craft and productivity. So, each year I put together a big writing StoryBundle packed with insightful books on a wide range of topics relevant to writers, both newbies and old pros. I include craft books, basic advice, time management and productivity, careers planning, publishing, and marketing—the complete bag of tricks!
This year we have fifteen titles, enough to keep you busy planning your next project and your entire writing career.
For basics, I’ve included Kaye Lynne Booth’s comprehensive Ask the Authors 2022, the ultimate writing reference anthology, with writing tips and advice from eleven different authors on everything from pre-writing rituals, to character development and world building, editing and revision, publishing, book marketing and more.
L. Jagi Lamplighter’s sharply insightful The Art and Craft of Writing delves into the nature of storytelling itself to discover simple and practical steps that can bring our writing to the next level.
And if today’s most successful publishers, editors, and writers wanted to share the lessons they’ve learned, would you listen? Here’s your chance in Titans Rising: The Business of Writing Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror in the 21st Century by William Alan Webb and Chris Kennedy.
Next, if you’re ready to write that novel, Joanna Penn will get you started with How to Write a Novel, everything you need to write your book from idea to finished final draft.
David Farland’s Million Dollar Outlines is the seminal writing manual on outlining and structuring a book to make it reach the largest audience, written by well-known master and teacher.
And Kevin Ikenberry’s Mercenary Guide to Story Structure gives a great overview of your story: All stories have structure—learn the ins and outs of the most common modern structures and how they enhance your characters and thestories they inhabit.
And you can’t get anything done unless you learn how to find and organize your writing time. Booked to the Gills: How to Crush Thirty-Day Writing Challenges for Busy People teaches time management, workload distribution, and other skills for writers who feel they have no time to participate in writing challenges such as National Novel Writing Month. Now to more specific skills, depending on what you’re writing.
Joshua Essoe continues his series of Guides with Worldbuilding, written by an editor from the perspective of tackling all the most-common issues writers struggle with when creating worlds.
On Writing (and Reading!) Short by Ron Collins is a celebration of writing, reading, and living short fiction.
Interested in writing scripts? My own book of Clockwork Angels: The Comic Scripts contains nitty-gritty inside examples of how to write a comic script, all six complete scripts for the BOOM! Studios comic series from bestelling author and award-winning comic writer.
In The Non-User-Friendly Guide for Aspiring TV Writers by Steven L. Sears, a veteran successful TV writer shares tips and inside knowledge on how to break in to writing for TV.
Once you have your masterpiece completed, you need to turn your mind to the business. If you decide to go the indie publishing route, a vital guidebook is Chris Kennedy’s Indie Publishing for Profit: How to Get Your Book Out of Your Head and Into the Stores, which teaches both the craftand business of writing.
Sarah Painter’s Stop Worrying; Start Selling:The Introvert Author’s Guide to Marketing shows you how to take control of your success as an author and build your readership through authentic, low-stress marketing.
Christopher D. Schmitz sells thousands of paperbacks every year by identifying his fanbase and targeting where those folks go… and he shows you how to replicate his success in Sell More Books at Live Events.
And finally, you can’t forget about the numbers. Read Accounting for Authors by D.F. Hart and Mark Leslie Lefebvre. Regardless of how you are publishing, having a solid understanding of basic accounting principles allows you to make the most out of your author earnings and calculate your
pathways to success. With this StoryBundle, you’ll be well equipped for your writing and
publishing journey. – Kevin J. Anderson
For StoryBundle, you decide what price you want to pay. For $5 (or more, if you’re feeling generous), you’ll get the basic bundle of five books in any ebook format—WORLDWIDE.
On Writing (and Reading!) Short by Ron Collins
The Art and Craft of Writing by L. Jagi Lamplighter
Essoe’s Guides to Writing: Worldbuilding by Joshua Essoe
Indie Publishing for Profit by Chris Kennedy
Booked to the Gills by Aisley Oliphant
If you pay at least the bonus price of just $20, you get all five of the regular books, plus ten more books for a total of 15!
Million Dollar Outlines by David Farland
Clockwork Angels – The Comic Scripts by Kevin J. Anderson
The Non-User-Friendly Guide for Aspiring TV Writers by Steven L. Sears
Stop Worrying; Start Selling by Sarah Painter
Accounting for Authors by D.F. Hart, MBA and Mark Leslie Lefebvre
The Mercenary Guide to Story Structure by Kevin Ikenberry
Ask the Authors 2022 edited by Kaye Lynne Booth
How to Write a Novel – From Idea to Book by Joanna Penn
Sell More Books at Live Events by Christopher D. Schmitz
Titans Rising edited by William Alan Webb and Chris Kennedy
This bundle is available only for a limited time via http://www.storybundle.com .
It allows easy reading on computers, smartphones, and tablets as well as Kindle and other ereaders via file
transfer, email, and other methods. You get multiple DRM-free formats (.epub, .mobi) for all books! It’s also super easy to give the gift of reading with StoryBundle, thanks to our gift cards – which allow you to send someone a code that they can redeem for any future StoryBundle bundle – and timed delivery, which allows you to control exactly when your recipient will get the gift of StoryBundle.
Why StoryBundle? Here are just a few benefits StoryBundle provides.
• Get quality reads: We’ve chosen works from excellent authors to bundle together in one convenient package.
• Pay what you want (minimum $5): You decide how much these fantastic books are worth. If you can only spare a little, that’s fine! You’ll still get access to a batch of exceptional titles.
• Support authors who support DRM-free books: StoryBundle is a platform for authors to get exposure for their works, both for the titles featured in the bundle and for the rest of their catalog. Supporting
authors who let you read their books on any device you want—restriction free—will show everyone there’s nothing wrong with ditching DRM.
• Give to worthy causes: Bundle buyers have a chance to donate a portion of their proceeds to the Challenger Center for Space Education!
• Receive extra books: If you beat the bonus price, you’ll get the bonus books!
StoryBundle was created to give a platform for independent authors to showcase their work, and a source of quality titles for thirsty readers. StoryBundle works with authors to create bundles of ebooks that can be purchased by readers at their desired price. Before starting StoryBundle, Founder Jason Chen covered technology and software as an editor for Gizmodo.com and Lifehacker.com.
For more information, visit our website at storybundle.com, tweet us
at @storybundle and like us on Facebook . For press inquiries, please
email press@storybundle.com .
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The 2022 Writer’s Career Toolkit Bundle launched on September 29th and will be available thorugh the end of November. So, before you sharpen your pencils and limber up your fingers for the upcoming writing challenge, grab you bundle and warm up your brain cells to do your best writing ever!
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In celebration of this momentus event, eight of the contributing authors to Ask the Authors 2022 are getting together to tell us more about this great bundle and offer more writing tips and advice. Contributing author Mark Leslie LeFebrve will host myself, Bobby Nash, L. Jagi Lamplighter, Kevin Killiany, Roberta Eaton Cheadle, Nancy Oswald, and Mario Acevedo, on his Stark Reflections podcast. I’ll keep you posted as to when that podcast session will air.
Good things happening with WordCrafter Press in October.
And the winners are:
We had a great tour last week for Refracted Reflections including a fantastic giveaway for, not one, but three digital copies of the anthology. Congratulations to Kay Castenada, Christy B., and Mae Clair!
If your name appears above, please contact me at kayebooth@yahoo.com and let me know if you prefer PDF or epub. (Amazon will no longer convert mobi files.) Thank you all for joining in on the tour.
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Visions is up for pre-order now!
The Visions anthology will be released on October 18 and is available for pre-order now.
Purchase and pre-order link: https://books2read.com/u/49Lk28
An author’s visions are revealed through their stories. Many authors have strange and unusual stories, indeed. Within these pages, you will find the stories of eighteen different authors, each unique and thought provoking. These are the fantasy, science fiction, paranormal, and horror stories that will keep you awake long into the night.
What happens when:
An inexplicable monster plagues a town for generations, taking people… and souvenirs?
A post-apocalyptic band of travelers finds their salvation in an archaic machine?
The prey turns out to be the predator for a band of human traffickers?
Someone chooses to be happy in a world where emotions are regulated and controlled?
A village girl is chosen to be the spider queen?
Grab your copy today and find out. Let authors such as W.T. Paterson, Joseph Carabis, Kaye Lynne Booth, Michaele Jordan, Stephanie Kraner, and others, including the author of the winning story in the WordCrafter 2022 Short Fiction Contest, Roberta Eaton Cheadle, tantalize your thoughts and share their
Visions
From Kaye Lynne Booth, editor of Once Upon an Ever After: Modern Fairy Tales & Folklore, Refracted Reflections: Twisted Tales of Duality & Deception and Gilded Glass: Twisted Myths & Shattered Fairy Tales.
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WordCrafter Visions Book Blog Tour – October 17 – 24
The WordCrafter Visions Book Blog Tour will run from October 17 – 24 with guest posts from eight contributing authors, two double stop days featuring an interview by me with the author of the winning story in the 2022 WordCrafter Short Fiction Contest, Roberta Eaton Cheadle and contributing author Sara Wesley McBride interviews me. So join us here on the 17th to follow the tour to enter the giveaway, or pre-order your copy today.
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WordCrafter Haunted Halloween Holiday Book Blog Tour
The WordCrafter Haunted Halloween Holiday Book Blog Tour will run October 3 – 7, featuring the latest children’s story in the Sir Chocolate series by Robbie and Michael Cheadle. Meet Robbie through her guest posts and a tour wide Q & A, when she answers two questions at each stop, and learn more about the book with five different reviews.
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Book your WordCrafter Book Blog Tour today!
Digital Giveaway
For a chance to win a free digital copy of Refracted Reflections, just leave a comment to show you were here. Follow the tour and comment at each stop for more chances to win. Three copies will be given away in a random drawing.
On today’s tour stop, we have a guest post by contributing author Elisabeth Caldwell, who talks about the inspiration for her story. Her’s is a unique tale about that starts off the anthology with a bang. So, without further ado, I’ll let her tell you about the inspiration behind “The Mirror Guardian”.
“Mirror Guardian” Inspirations
Several years ago, I was in the shower washing my hair and noticed multiple dark strands of hair wrapped around my hands and fingers. Everyone loses hair when they wash it. But this was too much hair. And it kept happening. After multiple visits to various doctors, a dermatologist declared I had female pattern baldness. I would never recover the hair I had lost, but minoxidil would, hopefully, help slow the balding process.
Terror struck me, and my mind raced. What if the medicine didn’t work? How much hair would I lose? How fast would it fall out? If I lost too much hair, what would I do? Would I shave my head?
Night after night these thoughts kept me awake, and I started to try to envision what it might be like to be bald. How would people see me? Would they look at me or avert their eyes? How would I see myself? Would I be afraid to look in the mirror? Would I bravely go out in the world? Or would I hide myself away like a princess in a tower? Would a prince come to save me? Or would I be strong enough to save the prince?
I was organizing my bookshelves right around the time a friend forwarded me the call for submissions for mirror-themed short stories, and I came upon my favorite fairytale book that I had saved from my childhood. These were the same fairytales I had read to my daughters – daughters who are now teenagers barraged by social media full of air-brushed beauty. My girls scroll through image after image of seemingly perfect people leading seemingly perfect lives and are saddened by their own imperfections.
I am old enough to know that no person and no life are perfect.
Sitting with that worn and weathered book in my hand thinking of Maid Maleen who sat for seven years in a tower waiting to be rescued, I realized my girls deserved a fairytale of female strength. I wanted to give them a heroine who didn’t fit the traditional mold of beauty. Who didn’t let everyday conceptions of what she should be and how she should act define her. A heroine whose beauty shone like moonlight on her bare head. A heroine who didn’t sacrifice her happiness because it was expected of her.
And from this came Kella. I hope you enjoy her story!
About the Author
Elizabeth Caldwell grew up a Philly (and suburban Philly) girl with thick glasses and her nose buried in a book. When she was 12, she fell into the yellowed pages of one of her grandmother’s Mary Stewart novels and has been obsessed with reading and writing ever since. She sees fairies in the trees, mermaids in the ocean, ghosts peeking out the windows of sprawling Victorians in Cape May, and a story behind every couple that walks by holding hands. She writes poetry, short stories and novels.
Elizabeth lives in Bucks County, PA with her three vibrant children, a husband who is her soulmate and best friend, and one very sweet, albino corn snake. She practices law by day, writes by night and daydreams every chance she can get.
About the Book
Refracted Reflections: Twisted Tales of Duality & Deception
Refractions and Reflections…
A reflection can be revealing or deceptive. What stares back at you when you glance into the mirror?
A prison, designed to trap you and take away all that is dear to you?
A portal to another dimension? Another time?
An evil twin, luring you to the other side?
Your loved ones with a fond farewell?
A distorted version of yourself? A person you no longer even recognize?
A protective savior?
Do you dare to gaze into the looking glass?
Will what you see save you…, or haunt you forever?
If you liked Gilded Glass and Once Upon an Ever After, you’ll like Refracted Reflections: Tales of Duality & Deception.
Purchase Refracted Reflections at your favorite book distributor here: https://books2read.com/u/3kPyxn
Thanks for joining us today for Day 3 of the WordCrafter Refracted Reflections Book Blog Tour. I hope you enjoyed meeting Elizabeth and learning more about her outstanding story. Follow the tour for a chance for a free digital copy of this exceptional anthology, Refracted Reflections: Twisted Tales of Duality & Deception, or pick up your copy at the link above. Below are the links to the previous stops, in case you missed them:
Monday – September 19 – Introductory post on Writing to be Read
Tuesday – September 20 – Guest Post by author Ligia de Wit & a review on Carla Loves to Read
I hope you’ll join us again tomorrow on Roberta Writes, with a guest post from Valerie B. Williams about the inspiration behind her story, “The Tinker’s Gift”. Until then, Happy Reading!
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Book your WordCrafter Book Blog Tour today!
Welcome to the WordCrafter Refracted Reflections Book Blog Tour, where we will have reviews and guest posts from a few of the awesome authors who contributed to this unique and unsual fantasy & science fiction anthology. This is the second of three WordCrafter anthologies to include stories handpicked by me, mostly from the submissions which caught my eye when on the editorial team for Guilded Glass. This anthology was by invitation only and the stories contained within are exceptional. Today is the last day it will be available for pre-order, because the release is tomorrow!
Reflections and Refractions…
One reveals truths, while the other bends light into varying shapes of deception.
Does a small camp mirror reveal hope… or death?
Is the warrior in the mirror a monster… or a protector?
Does a glimpse in the mirror reveal a young woman’s true self… or what someone else has shaped her into?
Does the mysterious portal to the future reflect what could be… or what must be left behind?
Are the dancers reflected in the water’s depth things of beauty… or evil?
This unique and imaginative collection of nine mind tantalizing fantasy and science fiction stories will appeal to readers who enjoy thought provoking tales with hidden meanings resting deep below the surface. These stories will keep you pondering long into the night.
If you liked Gilded Glass or Once Upon an Ever After, you’ll love Refracted Reflections.
We have a great tour planned for this week and I hope you will stick with us and follow the tour. We have a great giveaway, where you could get a free digital copy of the anthology, just by leaving comments. Today is a double tour stop day, with this post and a review by DL Mullan on Undawnted, so be sure to click the link below and check out her review. You may leave comments for her review here, as well.
(Note: Links in the schedule below will not work until the post goes live.)
Tour Schedule
Refracted Reflections – September 19 – 23
Monday – September 19 – Introductory post on Writing to be Read & Review on Undawnted
Tuesday – September 20 – Guest Post & Review – Ligia de Wit on Carla Loves to Read
Wednesday – September 21 – Guest Post – Elisabeth Caldwell on Writing to be Read
Thursday – September 22 – Guest Post – Valerie B. Williams on Roberta Writes
Friday – September 23 – Review & Guest Post – Roberta Eaton Cheadle on Zigler’s News
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Digital Giveaway
For a chance to win a free digital copy of Refracted Reflections, just leave a comment to show you were here. Follow the tour and comment at each stop for more chances to win. Three copies will be given away in a random drawing.
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About The Book
Each of the stories included in Refracted Reflections feature a mirror or reflection in some significant way. The reflections given are sometimes surprising, often fooling those who gaze upon them, because things aren’t often as they seem.
I have included two of my own stories, “The Devil Made Her Do It”, which is a reprinted story about a woman blinded by love and deceived by a man who just might be the devil, which first appeared in Relationship Add Vice, from Zombie Pirates Publishing; and an original fairy tale, The Not So Perfect Prince, about a prince who is so full of himself that he can’t see who he truly is.
But mine are only two among nine outstanding stories by eight talented authors, and we’ll be introducing five of the contributing authors on this tour: Valerie B. Williams, Roberta Eaton Cheadle, Ligia de Wit, Elisabeth Caldwell, and of course me, Kaye Lynne Booth.
Follow the tour to learn more about Refracted Reflections: Twisted Tales of Duality & Deceptions, and for more chances to win a digital copy of your very own. Don’t forget to stop by Undawnted for DL Mullan’s review today, and you’ll find us over at Carla Loves to Read with a guest post from contributing author, Ligia de Wit and a review by Carla Johnson-Hicks.
About Kaye Lynne Booth
For Kaye Lynne Booth, writing is a passion. Kaye Lynne is an author with published short fiction and poetry, both online and in print, including her short story collection, Last Call and Other Short Fiction; and her paranormal mystery novella, Hidden Secrets. Kaye holds a dual M.F.A. degree in Creative Writing with emphasis in genre fiction and screenwriting, and an M.A. in publishing. Kaye Lynne is the founder of WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services and WordCrafter Press. She also maintains an authors’ blog and website, Writing to be Read, where she publishes content of interest in the literary world.
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Fearless Author, by Ashley Emma, is a self-publishingbook launch Plan and checklist, which was not as valuable to me as I had hoped, because nowhere did it say that this was an Amazon author exclusively, so I did not realize what I was getting. Don’t get me wrong. This was a free book, so I’ve wasted nothing but my time, and it was not a total waste. For those who don’t understand why the advice of an exclusive author might be of lesser value to a wide author, such as myself, let me paint a word picture of the state of the independent publishing industry currently, as I see it.
In order to be a KDP author and have your books featured in Kindle Unlimited, Amazon requires an author to download directly to thier site, (you can’t use a third party aggregator to publish your book and they demand exclusivity. Kindle Unlimited can be a substatial income stream for authors, because page reads add up to comprable sales, and some authors, in genres with voracious readers, earn more from page reads than they do from actual sales. I can see why some authors might feel that to be a fair trade for exclusivity, but that exclusivity means that you can’t sell your book anywhere else, including on your own website. That’s why I chose to publish wide. I didn’t want to give up that much control over my books. It is up to me where my books will be sold, which allows me more opportunities to reach more potential readers.
And tactics like rapid release, or free or .99 cent first in series, may not be as effective with other distributors as they are on Amazon, because other distributors don’t use the same algorythyms that Amazon does. For example, Ms. Emma recommends utilizing Amazon’s free days, which are only available to KDP exclusive authors. That is why I didn’t find Ashley Emma’s Fearless Author to be of more value. While her advice for launching and taking a book quickly up to bestseller status may be quite valuable to an Amazon author, but many options are only available to exclusive authors.
All of that to say that Fearless Author might have been more helpful by indicating in the description the fact that Ashley Emma is an Amazon author, offering useful tip to be used with KDP and Kindle Unlimited. At least then I would have known what to expect when I downloaded the free book. There were some tactics which could be of value to all authors, even those who publish wide, like myself.
The lesson learned from this experience: the importance of accurate book descriptions which don’t mislead potential readers. Although I may use some of the advice found in Fearless Author, I would probably not download more of Ashley Emma’s books, even though I might find portions of it useful and I found no fault with her writing.
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For Kaye Lynne Booth, writing is a passion. Kaye Lynne is an author with published short fiction and poetry, both online and in print, including her short story collection, Last Call and Other Short Fiction; and her paranormal mystery novella, Hidden Secrets. Kaye holds a dual M.F.A. degree in Creative Writing with emphasis in genre fiction and screenwriting, and an M.A. in publishing. Kaye Lynne is the founder of WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services and WordCrafter Press. She also maintains an authors’ blog and website, Writing to be Read, where she publishes content of interest in the literary world.
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