Unread Interview - Thomas Schwartz

Please welcome Tom Schwartz for this week's Unread Interview! Tom is promoting his latest book, Fourth Reich Rising! We have a Giveaway as well, so after you are done reading, click the button just below!

Unread Interview is a series where I feature authors whose books I couldn't accept for review because of time or logistics issues.

From Amazon: The descendents of Hitler's inner circle developed a plan for a Fourth Reich, like the Phoenix, rising from the ashes of the Third Reich. The key to success was to embroil the United States and Islamic countries in a major conflict, which would eventually drag in most of the world's nations. With the world in chaos, they would orchestrate their rise to power.

Tell us a bit about your book (s).

The Third Reich was supposed to be the New World order, a period lasting at least a millenium. It failed to achieve even a fraction of that time. Following the loss of World War II, the descendents of Hitler's inner circle developed a plan for a Fourth Reich, like the Phoenix, rising from the ashes of the Third Reich. The key to success was to embroil the United States and Islamic countries in a major conflict, which would eventually drag in most of the world's nations. With the world in chaos, they would orchestrate their rise to power.

The 9-11-2001 incident gave them the pathway to start the ball rolling. The plot was to detonate a nuclear warhead in New York City on the tenth anniversary of 911 (this year), laying the blame on the Islamic nations.  The ruling Mullahs in Iran, grasped the only straw that could to avert the disaster, the Israeli Mussad.  With a cooperative effort,  the plot was exposed. Saudi Arabia and Iran were found innocent, and the American retaliatory strike force against Iran and Saudi-Arabia was recalled. The emerging Fourth Reich was then squashed; however, the leaders of the movement escaped with sufficient resources to plot for another day.

Have you ever wanted to be a writer? When did you start writing "seriously"?

I decided to become a writer at the age of 70, when I was reading stories to my young grandchildren.  I felt that I could write better stories.  Being retired, I had the time--and wrote a children's environmental story , "How Mother Nature Flowered The Fields Of Earth And Mars."   This was published by Reagent Press (several editions), and can be purchased on-line through Amazon or Barnes & Noble.  This was followed with "How Mother Nature Dealt With Earth's Creatures", (print and ebook).  I then changed genres, and wrote a science fiction story, "Spaceship Earth", dealing with one cycle of the Big Bang (about a 70 billion year time span) and human kind's efforts to survive future Big Bangs (print and ebook).  Jumping genre's  again, I wrote an adult trilogy.  "Wrongly Accused, "  about an innocent man framed by police and imprisoned (in print and ebook), followed by "Fourth Reich Rising" (ebook only--publisher decided against print, as not cost-effective), and lastly, "Identity and Immortality" (again, only ebook)  which is about a brain transplant.

Do you read much? What kind of books do you usually read?

I read quite a bit, fiction and non-fiction.  I like historical novels best.  Subjects vary--American Civil War, world wars 1 and 2, science fiction, mysteries, etc.  I believe that my readings were instrumental in helping me develop a writing style--I'm convinced that you need to read many authors to become a good writer. Almost everyone has a story to tell, but lake the ability to write it.  I encourage young chilren to read.  I was a volunteer guest speaker at about 60 elementary schools and spoke to over 18,000 youngsters about the importance of reading and how I became an author.

What are your favorite or least favorite scenes to write?

My favorite scenes are the action ones.

Do you relate more to any of your characters? Why?

I relate to all of my characters.  I put myself in their position, and become each one in my stories.  Before I start writing, I have most of the plot and characters in my head.  After the first draft, I go over it and rework it all over again until I am satisfied.  I then have my wife look it over, and make changes that I agree with (a labor intensive process).

Which genre do you feel it would be a challenge to write?

Children's stories present the greatest challenge.  Setting the right tempo, and word construction is paramount to getting your story across, while keeping their interest.

What inspires you? And how's your writing environment - music, place, etc.?

I am inspired by the subjects I choose to write about.  All my stories carry messages that are important to me.  I use a word processor, in a quiet place.  Spell-check is most important, as is cutting and pasting.  I type with two fingers, slowly,  which matches my thought process.  I am in no rush to finish.

What would you say about the book - your words, no blurbs! - to convince someone to read your book?

"Fourth Reich Rising" is a thought provoking fictional tale that can happen.  It deals with human emotions under stress, and accommodations between adversaries to avoid a disaster.  It is fast moving, suspenseful and logical.

What are your plans for the future, writing-wise? New books, sequels, publishing deals, etc.I recently obtained a literary agent to get my adult trilogy made into a series of movies.  The script for  "Wrongly Accused" has been written, the two follow-on stories are in the process of being scripted.

Thank you for your time and your generosity for our giveaway, Tom! Best of luck with Fourth Reich Rising and we're looking forward to seeing new novels and your movies - that should be interesting!

Giveaway - 5 copies of Tom Schwartz's books

How are you doing? Today I bring you a giveaway of one out of 5 copies of Tom Schwartz's books. A summary of the 5 books are below or you can find it at Amazon here. To participate, just fill in the form below. If you follow my blog, you will get an extra entry. The giveaway is International and runs from July 25th to August 12th.

Summaries:

Fourth Reich Rising - The descendents of Hitler's inner circle developed a plan for a Fourth Reich, like the Phoenix, rising from the ashes of the Third Reich. The key to success was to embroil the United States and Islamic countries in a major conflict, which would eventually drag in most of the world's nations. With the world in chaos, they would orchestrate their rise to power.

Wrongly Accused - When two New Jersey policemen mistake author Jack Shepherd for an underworld drug dealer as he drives home from a meeting with his publisher, they chase his truck on the New Jersey Turnpike and use an unauthorized procedure to stop him. The actions of the police backfire when they realize that Jack is not the notorious drug dealer, but by then it's too late to undo the damage and the only way out for the police is to suppress the evidence and fabricate a story that implicates Jack based on his drunkenness. Jack's attorney advises him to plead guilty to a lesser offense, which would result in a short stay at a minimum-security facility. The sentencing judge accepted the plea bargain, but uses Jack's case as an example and gives him to the maximum sentence. While in prison, a hardened criminal named Salvador Salinis thinks Jack is an acquaintance and yells the name "Parodi" before attacking him. This attack is the first clue as to whom the police thought he was and the first clue to Jack's freedom.

Identity & Immortality - Jack Shepherd, famous author of mystery novels, was diagnosed with hodgkins lymphoma, an aggressive cancer of the lymph system. He declined rapidly, and was told he would be dead within six months. His wife, Judi, and their close friends could not accept this; and if anything was possible to change his prognosis, they were going to find it. The human genome experimentation had come a long way in correcting disease through genetic modification in embryos and newborn. These boundaries were currently being stretched by the medical profession to treat toddlers, and maybe this kind of treatment could help Jack survive.

Spaceship Earth: A Beginning Without End - With the launch of Stephen Hawkings new book along with his headline seeking claim that "the concept of God is not needed to explain the existence of the universe", this book feels very topical. Spaceship Earth is a great book full of interesting ideas and works very well as both a gentle introduction to the "closed system" big bang theory and as a science fiction book in it's own right. This story is set on an absolutely epic scale and covers over 70 billion years, the whole cycle of the universe from big bang to big crunch and has to be the biggest scale story I have ever read - surpassing even Stephen Baxter's works (just about anyway).

Results - WINNER - Rats on String and Swag Pack

Hello all!

Yes I know, I didn't put the picture of the swag pack, but I promise, they're a few of my best ones *wink wink*

So, let's see, our winners were...

Rats on Strings Winner: James Coyne!

Swag Pack Winner: SusiSunshine!

You will both be contacted by email so I can deliver your prizes, congratulations!

Review: Nebador - Book one The Test - J. Z. Colby

I won this book on Goodreads First Reads program.

Ilika is a captain in need of a crew. He was sent to this place, this world, to find his crew. He's not from here, probably from another planet, although we are never really told where he is from. This is a semi-medieval world, where there are slaves and horses and all.

Ilika tries to find young people who want and are willing to learn, who also would like to travel far away. He seeks for them among the educated and the smart, but they all are a "kind" of smart he doesn't actually want... So the solution comes up, in a conversation with the baker: slaves. He needs people who are willing to fight for their survival and yet, are free thinkers and are eager to learn and take whatever they can, also improving their lives.

After a while paying for people to hunt down the proper kind of slaves for him, the ones that seem to question or to be uneasy for the slave-like work, he decides that he can't possibly take them all or without some sort of knowledge and inclination and decides that they must pass a test, both of logical thinking and personality, so he can get to know them and choose the ones that will fit best what he needs.

The tests were entertaining, I tried to solve them myself and it wasn't easy but it wasn't hard either, logically, we are all much more educated than the poor slaves, so it has to be easier for us. The personality tests obviously got no right answer, but then again, they're not meant to have.

Ilika eventually chooses some students, but's more than he can take or even needs to take on his ship, so he decides to take them all, teach them and then choose the most fit ones to his ship crew, the others, he would give enough gold and knowledge as for them to be able to live a very comfortable life.

I don't want to tell you more of the story, as I feel like I already fell into some spoilery, although nothing serious in my opinion. The one thing that I disliked the book was the names. All of the characters have similar names: Ilika, Kibi, Sata, Boro, Mati, Rini, Miko, Neti, Buna, Kodi and Misa. So that makes things a bit hard, you have to keep going back and try to remember who is that one and what did they do. Also I mixed up boys and girls more than once - with names like that you can't be too sure...

The positive points, though, are much more interesting than the bad - the educational part is very interesting for any young adult out there, the stories of the slaves are very interesting for us to understand them and the world around them and Ilika is also so raw, so fresh, he isn't sure about himself or others, he must learn as he go, aswell, like the students.

I'm looking forward to the day I'll be able to buy the rest of the series, unfortunatly it won't be happening anytime soon - even though I'm dying to buy more books, my list is long and I have to wait a few months.

You can buy Nebador: The Test at Amazon on Paperback, Kindle Edition and at the Book Depository.

Unread Interview - Stephanie Zia

Hello! Before we start, we have a giveaway up and running, click on the button to the left and participate, it is worth it! The swag pack is beautiful, even though my camera died and I can't put the picture on...

Please welcome Stephanie Zia for this week's Unread Interview! Stephanie is promoting her latest book, Ten Good Reasons to Lie About Your Age!
Unread Interview is a series where I feature authors whose books I couldn't accept for review because of time or logistics issues.

From Amazon: When Sally Lightfoot’s music producer husband is suddenly killed in an accident, Sally has to put her life back together from scratch. But what life? Her kids have grown up and now she’s no longer a wife. Or a backing singer. Or even a caterer to the endless turnover of rock bands passing through Strawberry Hill Studios’ kitchen. To make matters worse her caring but interfering neighbour, Val, appoints herself as Principal Grieving Companion. One year on and harmonising and blending in threaten to become Sally’s undoing. Her old rock chick mate Ramone’s suggestion that she should get back out there and lose her ‘wididity’, her born-again virginity, before it’s too late falls on deaf ears. Her husband is irreplaceable. Until, on a much-needed holiday to the romantic Greek island of Hydra, spiritual home of the affluent hippie, Sally meets Loro, a Leonard Cohen tribute artist who bears more of a resemblance to Cat Stevens circa 1972. Cupid’s challenge to sensible Sally’s decision to age gracefully forces silly Sally into making a move. Will she win a short, sweet romance or merely add humiliation and rejection to her long list of woes?.

Paperback Version at Create Space.

Tell us a bit about your book (s).

Ten Good Reasons To Lie About Your Age is a romantic comedy about a woman of 50 back on the dating scene. Sally Lightfoot is a funky backing singer who's seen the raunchier side life. She's lived fast and loose. Touring with David Bowie and Queen in the 70s, she met her sound engineer turned music producer husband, Dom, and settled down. But, when she doesn't know which way to turn after his sudden death, her skills at harmonising becomes her undoing. One year on and she still doesn't know what to do with herself. Should she age gracefully like her dull, interfering but kind neighbor Val? Or should she follow her feisty rock chick singer friend Ramone's advice and get herself out there again and lose her 'wididity' her born-again virginity, before it's too late? At first she dismisses Ramone's advice. Dom was/IS her one and only true love. And, besides, what chance is there of a stray, suddenly-single Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall type rocking up, all sexy salty hair and rubber wellies, who'd be interested in HER? Even if by some fluke George Clooney himself were to leap on her from behind a bush she wouldn't be up for it. The thought of dating again is gross. And why would she want all that fuss, bother and trauma that her poor daughter Ami was going through with her wayward charity hero Oxfam Pete? With added flabby bits? No, gardening, chocolate and sudoku is the way to go. But she didn't reckon on meeting Loro, a Leonard Cohen tribute artist who sings to the tourists on the gorgeous Greek island of Hyrda, Cohen's old stomping ground. They're the same age and get on well but he only has eyes for the girls and doesn't, she know, see her 'in that way'. Egged on by Ramone's wididity challenge and bar owner Barry's insistence that if she wants something she has to ask for it, Sally finally plucks up courage to leave her comfort zone to face the possibility of humiliation and rejection square on.

Have you ever wanted to be a writer? When did you start writing "seriously"?

No. I used to work on BBC documentaries about writers, have always loved reading and was fascinated by their lives but didn't for a second think it was something I could do. The turnabout came when I won a BBC staff competition to make a short 10' documentary for primetime TV. My film 'Applause'about why people clap, was repeated 4 times and shown at a special screening at an arts centre. I was hooked on the creative process! But I couldn't get my foot in the documentary door, I had the ideas but was too shy to network. I gave up TV when my daughter was born and, in 1996, took a beginner's evening class in writing to get out of the flat for a couple of hours a week. I went to the class for 3 years, writing short stories and entering competitions and completely loved it. I love film-making but it was so refreshing to be able to create without having to get a budget and a film crew together! My first novel, Baby on Board (Piatkus) was published in 2003.

Do you read much? What kind of books do you usually read?

I've always read a lot. I love libraries, the randomness of not knowing what you'll find, the kindness of librarians. everything about them and have been going since a small child. I read all sorts of books. Early favourites were Enid Blyton, George Orwell, Graham Greene, Paramhansa Yogananda. Then came Richard Brautigan, Russell Hoban, Kurt Vonnegut, Jonathan Raban. Books I read over and over are Sybille Bedford's Jigsaw, John Steinbeck's Cannery Row and Eckhart Tolle's A New Earth. Heading the list of contemporary authors I love are Marian Keyes and Lisa Jewell and I've just discovered Jennifer Egan's A Visit From the Goon Squad. My favourite poets are Ted Hughes and Philip Larkin.

What are your favorite or least favorite scenes to write?

When characters are talking to each other and something develops I didn't expect. To me it's usually the story itself that takes on a life of its own rather than the characters. That's when I know something's happening, when the stuff arises from the subconscious without me knowing it. That's the drug!

Do you relate more to any of your characters? Why?

For all of my 3 published novels, and the several partial unpublished ones, I've always written in the third person from the close perspective of the main character's viewpoint. So, usually, it's just that. But sometimes another character threatens to take over. In Ten Good Reasons, Ramone is such a strong, feisty type I had to keep her in check. She kept butting in, and had an affair with Sally's son at one point. That had to come out as Ramone was pulling the story up a blind alley, trying to make it all about her rather than all about Sally.

Which genre do you feel it would be a challenge to write?

Probably a crime thriller, I wouldn't like to have to deal with evil and gore in my day job. I'd like to write historical fiction one day, to immerse myself and feel the wind of another time, another age. That must be thrilling.

What inspires you? And how's your writing environment - music, place, etc.?

Helen Fielding's Bridget Jones' Diary inspired me to break away from short stories and write my first novel. Like countless millions of others I felt I WAS her! I'd just had a baby and so wrote about that in a Bridget Jones type of way. I do lay claim a bit though. I worked in the same TV department as Bridget did, lived in Notting Hill Gate and drank in the same bar - 192 - with my girlfriends. Frequently falling off stools, too, after too much Chardonnay and getting involved in wrong relationships. I've moved back to this area recently and am sad to see that 192 is no longer there.

What would you say about the book - your words, no blurbs! - to convince someone to read your book?

I hope I've conveyed that feeling of identity with the main character. That's what gets readers hooked in I think. And there's a real shortage of good, raunchy up to date fiction for older women. I'm thrilled with the first reviews just coming in which would confirm that. The Huffington Post says: "Sally feels real, like a neighbor or a friend and that makes the story take on a presence of its own. It is a story of hope and learning to love yourself, to find that inner you that sometimes is lost when we make other's lives more important than our own."

What are your plans for the future, writing-wise? New books, sequels, publishing deals, etc.

Too many projects! I am looking forward to getting back to writing my epic children's novel, a fantasy journey with an ecological, environmental edge. I got about half way before stopping, overwhelmed by the myriad avenues it was going down. The characters, idea and main story are all there but I need to take a firm hold of them and pull the storyline into shape before starting again. I'm excited by the new ePub3.0 Acrobat Adobe system that's slated to come out later this year. I found out all about this at my first visit to the London Book Fair last week. The Russian crime author superstar Boris Akunin demonstrated how his new novel will embrace this new technology. You'll have to pay attention to the story, listen out for clues as well as looking in embedded video and audio. It's completely mind-blowing and I will have these new author tools in mind when I restructure! But before the children's novel I have another commercial women's fiction novel shaped and started and I really, really want to start on this literary novel idea that's just a germ at the moment but it's a powerful one that won't leave me alone!

Thank you Stephanie, for your time and success in your future projects!

Review: The Opera Ghost Lives - Ann M. Kraft

Hello everyone!

First off, don't forget we have a giveaway up, click the button below and go participate!

Summary for The Opera Ghost Lives at Goodreads: A promised gesture of love that is never kept turns to heartbreak. A plan to recapture Christine is never realized. Erik, the Opera Ghost, makes plans to leave his lake house. 

On his way to freedom he encounters an angel of mercy who was sent to protect and help him but from where this angel came he doesn’t know. His angel has been given the responsibility of keeping him safe and presenting him with an “arrangement” that will give him the opportunity to change his life. However, his protector is skeptical that change is possible.

Ann Kraft, on "The Opera Ghost Lives", delivers a new story of a beloved character - the loved and hated Phantom of the Opera. It shows Erik, the Phantom of the Opera, after the happenings on the Paris Opera House and the whole "Christine thing", when she is supposed to come back and bury him, when he is dead, but even if he makes them believe he is dead, she never comes.

Erik must run away, there are people coming to check if he is really dead and he just can't possibly be alive to them, so he runs and, on the way, finds Amalie Girault, an Angel of Mercy, even though she claims that the Angel of Mercy is him.

She takes him to her house, at her father's request. He has passed away 3 years before, but on his deathbed he asked his daughter to take care of Erik, who saved his life so many years ago. Erik is a true friend, Mr. Girault says.

Amalie knows of all of Erik's missdeeds and has a hard time accepting him and seeing him as her father did, but she will, eventually, learn that people can change and, as so many songs said before, "all he needed was love".

The Opera Ghost Lives is a beautiful love story. Amalie and Erik are both smart, witty, fun and loving people, who'd had a complicated life, Erik more than Amalie, obviously, and they fight, argue, trust, distrust, hug and love. Not necessarily on this order.

We come to understand Erik, and love him too, even those who thought him to be so bad on The Phantom of the Opera, may come to understand, pity and even forgive and love him. We learn more of his history (at least a lot more than is shown on the movie, which, I will never forgive, changed the intended ending), his way of seeing the world, of thinking about people and why he acts in such a creepy, stalker-ish, crazy manner.

I actually had to watch the Phantom movie before reading, as I hadn't read the Phantom of the Opera book or watched any show/movie before, and I fell in love with it. But it wasn't until I read "The Opera Ghost Lives" that I became obsessed. I downloaded all the songs to the movie, the play, the old play versions, the new play versions, several different interpreters, etc., and listened to them over and over again for 3 or 4 days. 

The Opera Ghost Lives swoons you. It captures you and makes you love Erik. Sure, ithe plot isn't exactly unpredictable, some parts are, but, well, the love story was obvious - that's not a criticism to the book overall, but we expect them to fall for each other - I mean, I hope I don't spoil it for anyone, but it's clear that Amalie and Erik are together on this story to learn and love. The journey, however is what makes this so exciting, they both have things to learn, things to forgive and things to forget.

I highly recommend the book, I also have already started The Red Diamond of Nadirijna, which is a sequel to The Ghost Opera Lives and I read on Ann Kraft's facebook that she is writing another book, which is set more to the present but with flashbacks, also related to the Phantom's story and that there may be a new sequel to the Ghost Opera Lives, making it a trilogy. I would love to read more about it, I think Ann made it a wonderful story, finally complete, with Erik's redemption.

You can buy The Opera Ghost Lives at Amazon (The Opera Ghost Lives ) or The Book Depository (currently unavailable, but I'm sure they'll stock back soon).

Below, I leave you with probably my favorite version of the main "Phantom" song, with Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman as Christine and Erik.

Is It Like Listening To You Talk?

Is It Like Listening To You Talk?

As you probably know, to become an internationally best-selling author, you need to sell three books. This is not an easy task, but once you’ve managed to rack up these three sales, the rest is more or less a done deal.

Now, these sales themselves will not put you on the best-seller lists. They won’t even put you within a million spots of the bottom of the lists, but what they will do, and what they do every time, is spark a slowly growing buying frenzy that will get you there.

These three people will love your book, they will tell another five people, who in turn tell another seven. Within roughly four-and-a-half weeks, you finally make your first million.

That’s how it happens. Every single time.

But, how does an author tackle this monumental task? Where does he find these three readers?

I myself was quite lucky. When my novel appeared on Amazon I already knew over five people! What’s more, some of these people even liked me... somewhat. So I set out to become an internationally best-selling author by convincing at least three of these five people to buy my novel.

I started with my mother. Of all the five people I knew, I probably knew her the longest. I showed her my Amazon page and she nodded approvingly. She did not, however, make any attempts to buy a copy. So I logged on for her, navigated back to my novel’s page, and left the mouse pointer conveniently positioned over the BUY button.

She read the novel description again, searched-inside-this-book, and nodded some more. When I asked her if she’d like to buy a copy, she scrunched up her nose and said;

‘But what if I don’t like it?’

I told her not to worry. ‘It’s a really good book,’ I said. ‘I should know. I’ve re-written it like 50 times. It’s really funny and interesting.’

My mother wasn’t convinced. ‘I’m not really into comedy writing, though,’ she said.

‘It’s not just a comedy,’ I pointed out. ‘It has a real story; it’s a mystery. And it has twists and turns and believable characters.’

My mother hesitated. ‘Maybe I should just play it safe and buy another Stephen King novel…’

I ended up having to offer a personal money-back guarantee, and purchase a copy using my own credit card for the time being, but she finally cracked. I’d made my first sale!

Next, I prodded my wife. Although she did like words in general, she wasn’t sure she was up for reading and entire book full of them. ‘Is this like your usual stuff?’ she wanted to know.

‘What usual stuff?’

She shrugged. ‘I don’t know. Is it like listening to you talk?’

‘What’s wrong with they way I talk?’

‘Nothing. It’s just, well, sometimes you talk a lot of nonsense.’

I waved it away. ‘Don’t worry,’ I said. ‘I am much more interesting and ‘telligible’ on paper.’

Long story short; my second sale is almost in the bag. Now I just need to find one more person to buy my novel, and I’ll be set for life!

Check out the Summer of Gomez!

Get free books and win a Kindle or iPod.

As reviewers have been calling “No Hope for Gomez!” the perfect summer read - light, fast, fun - I decided to give this summer's Gomez readers some exclusive content and the chance to win prizes.

Unread Interview - Guy James

Please welcome Guy James for this week's Unread Interview! Guy is promoting his latest book, Rats on Strings! We have a Giveaway as well, so after you are done reading, click the button just below!

Unread Interview is a series where I feature authors whose books I couldn't accept for review because of time or logistics issues.

From Amazon: Just as he is in the midst of being dumped by his girlfriend, a miserable New York lawyer is struck by an idea: an idea that he believes might be his escape from the soul-sucking practice of law. He embarks on a quest to fulfill his bizarre vision, and finds himself the unlikely hero of a very strange adventure.

Paperback Version at Amazon.

Tell us a bit about your book (s).

"Rats on Strings" is the story of a down-on-his-luck New York lawyer who is trying to escape his firm job. 

The book is very much an outgrowth of my own experience as a lawyer, and of my own desire to escape the practice.

Have you ever wanted to be a writer? When did you start writing "seriously"?

I never really wanted to be a writer until two years ago, after I got the idea for the premise of "Rats on Strings." Until then, ficting writing as something I would do had never crossed my mind. Since then I've been writing some every day, and I find that I enjoy it very much.

Do you read much? What kind of books do you usually read?

I read all the time. My favorite genres include horror, fantasy, and dystopian fiction...but I'll read just about anything.

What are your favorite or least favorite scenes to write?

The scenes I enjoy most are the ones that take on a life of their own--they practically write themselves. Those are the most interesting because writing them is a matter of sitting back and watching the scenes develop.

Do you relate more to any of your characters? Why?

In "Rats on Strings," the viewpoint character is based, at least loosely, on me.

Which genre do you feel it would be a challenge to write?

I couldn't write romance, or high octane crime thrillers. I don't relate to them much and wouldn't know where to start...but I'm not saying I will never try.

What inspires you? And how's your writing environment - music, place, etc.?

Books inspire me when they communicate ideas that stay with me, leaving me with something that I remember or think about.

I do my best writing in silence or with light music, and alone, but I find the flow of writing to vary unpredictably--sometimes it's easy and sometimes it's near impossible to get the words out, regardless of setting.

What would you say about the book - your words, no blurbs! - to convince someone to read your book?

I think the plot of my first book is strange and unique, and there's something in it for everyone. I strove for a deeper meaning, one that is memorable, and (I hope) entertaining in its delivery.

What are your plans for the future, writing-wise? New books, sequels, publishing deals, etc.

I am currently writing the first book in each of two separate series. The book getting most of my attention right now is a zombie novel with some twists to the usual theme. I hope to have both complete by year-end.

Thank you, Guy, for your time and feel free to come back anytime :)

Giveaway! Rats on Strings + Swag Pack!

Hello there!
Welcome to my humble blog. Today I bring you... A Giveaway! (yay)
Today I bring you twoooo prizes! Author Guy James offered a digital copy of Rats on Strings and I'm adding an international Swag Pack!
Yes girls and boys. I still don't have the pictures, since my camera's batteries are dead, but I will try to provide them ASAP and update this post - just be sure, we have some signed and some not, most are brazilian bookmarks, a lovely addition to any collection!

So, the giveaway runs from July 1st to July 22nd and it's INTERNATIONAL. You can go for the book, the swag pack or both, but you can't win both, since that would be a bit depressive for others, don't you think? :)

PS: Summary for Rats on Strings:  

Just as he is in the midst of being dumped by his girlfriend, a miserable New York lawyer is struck by an idea: an idea that he believes might be his escape from the soul-sucking practice of law. He embarks on a quest to fulfill his bizarre vision, and finds himself the unlikely hero of a very strange adventure.