Interview - Rebecca Forster

Hello people! After a long time without posts, I bring you something really cool. Please welcome Rebecca Forster, an amazing author of thrillers, on an interview. She's worked on advertising, she's wrote traditionally published books and she's been publishing her books the indie way. She's achieved "bestselling" status, which is something all authors would want to and you can read all of her books digitally. Check it out on her E-thrillers page or her Early Books page.

More information: http://www.rebeccaforster.com

- After publishing traditionally, why go Indie? 

I could see traditional publishing changing. Book stores were closing, retail outlets were cutting back on space for books, and the costs of production were rising. That meant that traditional publishers were tightening up on what they were buying, distribution was limited, and retail costs were rising. Like any author, I want people to read my work (and hopefully love it) and with the new distribution channels, publishing independently seemed like a great opportunity. I love that my work will never be 'out of print', that I can price my novels so that even the most voracious reader can afford them, and that there is potential for readers in other countries. This is a very exciting time for writers.

- How many books do you have nowadays? Traditionally and independently published? 

I have written 25 books and am working on number 26. Of those, 3 are independently published: Expert Witness (book 4 of the legal thriller series), Before Her Eyes (a thriller with a fantasy edge), Wilde's Gamble (a fun, short, romantic suspense)

- Do you write more than one book at a time? 

 I have many books planned, but when I write I concentrate on one at a time. With the witness series, however, I pay close attention because a detail that appears in any of the books might have consequences on the next ones. Readers are very sharp and will notice.

- Do you have a favorite among your own books?

Each book is special at the time I write it, but there are two that stand out. Before Her Eyes was inspired by personal events - the passing of my father and father-in-law within three months of each other. I wondered what people would sacrifice to stay alive and what your last thoughts as death approaches. Those were the themes I explored in this thriller. Hostile Witness, the first in the witness series, is also a favorite because the characters are so real to me. I love the way they grow with each book, but I first 'met' them in Hostile Witness.

- What are your favorite or least favorite scenes to write? 

I am not very good at sex scenes. I love portraying relationships, but I get too embarrassed by anything graphic. I guess that's why I write thrillers.

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

Science fiction would be the most challenging. I would love to try my hand at dystopian literature.

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

I love Hannah. even though she's sixteen-years-old she is an old soul, a loner, but a person filled with incredible honor and courage. I tend to be a bit of a loner, and I hope I would be as honorable as Hannah if I were faced with a dire situation.

- Which writer/book would you mention as an inspiration? 

Stephen King. Scott Turow.I love those two authors. I think King is a master of characterization, and I love Turow's plots.

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

I don't read much when I'm working. When I'm between books, I read a ton. Lately, I've been reading indie authors. I am in awe of the talent that is out there. David Wisehart (Devil's Lair) was the first indie I read and it was beyond fantastic. I usually read thrillers but this was a historical fantasy based on Dante's inferno. Not only smartly written but incredibly exciting. Johnny Oops by Arthur Levine and The Santa Shop by Tim Greaton are some incredible indie novels I've read lately.

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

Funny you should ask. I just started doing Pintrest and the first board I put up was about things that inspire me. I am inspired by the small things people do - the way they look and sound, how they hold themselves. I'm inspired by my mom and my sons (one's in the Peace Corps and the other is striking out with his own business). I travel a lot and am inspired by destinations - city or country, land or sea. I used to try to work at home but I got too distracted. For the last 12 years I've gone to a small coffee shop near my home. It's very eclectic. I start to write about seven in the morning and leave around one or two in the afternoon. There are come regulars but there are always new people coming in. I plug into talk radio or music (country western, show tunes, classical). Then it's home to chores or to answer e-mails. There's always something to do. Writing is only part of the process. Every minute of the day is filled with something related the the current WIP or books that are already published.

- What are your plans for the future, writing-wise? 

New books, sequels, publishing deals, etc.I recently signed with Trident Media Group with the intent of exploring traditional opportunities while still pursuing indie publishing. I've been re-energized as an indie - pushing creative boundaries, being responsible for the total package, interacting more with readers - this is truly the Wild West of publishing and it's a thrill. I also have two screenplays in development - one based on my USA Today bestseller, Keeping Counsel - and another which is a sweet romantic comedy inspired by my grandfather. The witness series is in talks to become a television series. Fingers crossed. You just never know what can happen.

My work in progress is Eyewitness, book 5 of the series. I hope to publish it in November or early December. There is one more witness book planned after that. Then I would like to take Before Her Eyes and create a series based on the sheriff, Dove Connelly. I love the overlay of fantasy in the forest town in which he works. There is always a real explanation for what happens but following the fantasy path was such an exciting thing for me as a writer.

Review - Prologue - Greg Ahlgren

Hello you all!

I bring you today a book called Prologue, which falls perfectly into two of my favorite genres - History and Sci fi.

Greg Ahlgren brings us a world where the Soviet Union has won the Cold War (which wasn't so cold after all) and the United States is now part of it. Actually, half the world is Communist.

Our heroes, Paul DeVere and former Special Operations Officer Lewis Ginter have discovered a way of working with wormholes and going back in time. With that, they develop a plan to go to the past and change the course of history. But the soviets are on to them, Igor Rostov and Natasha Nikitin are watching them to find out what they are doing and how can they stop them.

I absolutely loved the story. Sci fi and history mixed up, both genres get this girl moving and in love.

We also have Amanda, to complicate the story, who is Paul's ex-girlfriend from years ago, who was shipped to the most soviet part of the soviet countries to study and be taught just how to be a good comrade.

The questions asked are important: if we change the future, what happens to us and the ones we love? Why are some people supporting the soviet system if even them are crazy to go to the not-so-soviet parts of the USA? And could that really have happened?

I think Greg has painted a very well done picture, considering several alternatives, several pieces, that put together avoided the advance of communism, but if apart, might have let open the frontiers.

The explanation to how the USA becomes part of the soviet union is perfect and it makes sense - conquer and fear, so instead of a cold war, we get a war war, and a dirty one at it.

Our characters here have fears and ambitions, they want revenge, love, friendship and are suspicious of each other, they are real people. They choose their paths, not always the best one, not always the right one, not always the easy one either, but they choose and work the best they can.

I think one of the most interesting things, aside form the human drama that surprises us around the end of the book and is, because of that, a spoiler, it's how we can see that changing the past isn't so easy. Who would believe you? How can you choose one moment, one definite point of time that can be changed and that will result on whatever you want? Are there such things?

I mean, if you wanted to change the world today, what would you do? When would you go back and what would you do there? And how?!

You can't talk people out of what they wanted, how would you prove you are from the future? Wouldn't they just lock you up? Because if someone came to me today saying they were from the future, I very much doubt they'd stay out of the mental institution...

Either way, I don't want to tell much about the story, because I don't want to spoil it. Parts of it I thought a bit predictable, like what they were going to do to change history, but a major part I could not discover before it was happening and, I must say, the signs were there, but so well placed that I couldn't see - that's a major thing to say.

Recommended to: Sci fi fans, history fans and everyone who likes a good "what if".

Available at Amazon Kindle or Nook, Amazon paperback.

Review: Heartless - Gail Carriger

Hello there.

Heartless was called, by some, a passage novel. That it was there to fill the blank between Blameless and Timeless. I agree partially.

From here on, there will be spoilers of Soulless, Changeless and Blameless. Be warned!



So, after our beloved Alexia manages to get back with her Lord Maccon, they go back to England, she gets her position back and they end up with still more problems, of course.

Because the vampires that wanted her dead on the previous book, well, they still do. And they send undead porcupines to do the trick of luring her husband out while some vampire finishes her off. I mean, really, undead porcupines? How cool is that?

Either way, Professor Lyall, the genious on the bunch, finds a solution - one that Alexia doesn't exactly love, that Lord Maccon doesn't like at all, but that will have to do. Alexia and Conall's baby will have to be adopted out. The vampires are worried that such a powerful and important being will be dangerous if raised by werewolves. So the Woolsey Pack Beta believes that it can be countered if a vampire adopts the child - and who better than Lord Akeldama to do it? Trustworthy and not tied to any hive, a friend of the family and always well informed, with an army of dandy drones, he'll be perfect to raise the baby in all the niceties of England's society.

Of course, Lady and Lord Maccon want to keep up with the baby so they rent the house next door and end up living on Lord Akeldama's second best closet. Secretly, of course.

Biffy, who is now a werewolf, because of the "accidents" of the previous book is having a hard time to adapt, so he's taken to the city along with Lady Maccon, Floote and some others, so to make everyone more comfortable.

At the same time, we have Alexia's sister Felicity joining the sufragette movement (le gasp!) and showing up to live with Alexia, since she's been kicked out, aparently.

Madame Lefoux is a rare show on this book, but she has a great part and a great reason to be away. We find more about Professor Lyall's past and it's simply heartbreaking, we find out more about the Woolsey Pack's past, how was the previous Alpha, we find out more about the treason that made Maccon leave -specially since Alexia decides it is important for a current problem and she must find out. We also find out more about Madame Lefoux and Former Lefoux, Genevieve's late aunt and a thing or two about ghosts, who seem to form some sort of... Whispernet... To talk to people who are away from where they are thetered.

Back to my first statement, this book does feel like an in between thing - it's there to show Alexia pregnant and to hold space for Timeless - but, at the same time, it's got a decent story in it and it explains so much about the past that I just loved to hear, specially Lyall's story and a lot of Lord Akeldama.

There're the food talks, the dress and hat talks, the setting of the real Parasol Protectorate - finally! - where Ivy Tunstell is nominated a member of a secret society and reveals herself to be not as shallow and silly as we first thought.

There is that one moment where you are screaming at the book "don't do that you fool, don't you know vampires??" but then again, you must forgive Alexia, she's enormous, she's in pain and she's trying to help while her husband and the whole pack is, well, locked up.

All in all, another one of Gail Carriger's masterpieces. Totally worth it, even if not her best work, simply because it leads to Timeless.

Oh, and I must say, it is NOT my favorite cover, right along with Soulless. My favorites would be Blameless and Timeless, definitely.

Review: Blameless - Gail Carriger

Hello all!

Today I bring you another review of this series I love so badly, The Parassol Protectorate. You can read the previous reviews of Soulless and Changeless, before we start.

Also, be aware, there will be spoilers of both Soulless and Changeless, since they are needed to better talk about Blameless.

You've been warned.

We begin the book with Alexia Maccon unfortunately stuck at the Loontwill's home. Again. Not as a spinster, but as a married woman with, well, problems. When one's husband is a werewolf and one's pregnant, well, something must be explained - this is not Twilight, after all and Werewolves just don't have children. It's not done!

So Alexia is casted out from the Shadow Council, from her home and marriage, from the Woolsey Pack, from society, since she must've been "indiscreet". Well that's absurd, Alexia would never do such thing - she finds most people impossible to even talk to, why would she do that when her husband is, well, such a big piece of man...

Gail Carriger delivers another one of her masterpieces, with witty comments and steampunk fantasy goodyness.

I just adore the setting of the story, with Alexia, who is a wonderful main character, with the vampires and werewolves, who are amazingly well written and the whole steampunk thing which is amazing. I mean, really, killing clockwork-ish ladybugs? Just a-may-zing. Ah, and the dresses and the parasol, of course.

So Alexia is cast out of everything she found on book 1 and everything she loves. Along with that, the only one who can really help her understand, our favorite fashionable vampire, is gone. Poof, possibly turned into glitter. Ok, not really glitter, he swarmed, which means he was in immediate danger and he ran away.

Professor Lyall is left to investigate the dissappearance of Lord Akeldama and Lord Maccon getting drunk on any kind of alcohol he can find (which is very hard for a werewolf), while Alexia decides that a trip to Italy to talk with the Templars, the only people who may possibly know anything about her "delicate condition". She takes Floote and Madame Lefoux, as help and protection, and travels to Italy in a "not so swift" travel, as anything Alexia does.

I'm not going into detail as to how things go, since that would be bad, mean, ugly spoilers, but I simply love how Alexia conducts things. Since she is soulless, her answers are what we would call sceptical. When asked what she thinks of "this lovely city" she goes "well, it's orange", since it was all so orange and, aparently, she is soulless and can't see the beauty and magic of things. I happen to disagree, I think she sees the beauty of things, just not the futile things, futile ideas and, well, maybe I am soulless too ;)

Floote is one interesting guy and I like how he shows up more here and on the following books. I also adore Lyall and I think he makes everything more interesting, such a perfect gentleman, so impecable and a perfect Beta.

I have so much more to talk about the characters, but I will wait to tell on my review for the next book. I strongly advise everyone to read these books, they are lovable, unbearably cute, amazingly fun and just all around awesomeness. Stay tuned for reviews of Heartless and Timeless.

Review: Nebador #5 - Back to the Stars - J. Z. Colby

There is no way out. Now, they're part of the Manessa crew, they're out in space and they just won't be able to run away anymore.

Rini, again, makes a bad decision. He's a good boy, he's just what we'd call airheaded. But that's not exactly that: he's contemplative. He can meditate for years and never reach the edge of his patience, he jumped into adventure more than anyone else, simply because he wants to see what else is there and that's how he gets into trouble right at the first page of the book, he contemplates so much, he stays there, staring at the stars and forgets that he must get inside before he runs out of air.

The rest of the crew ends up saving him, but he learns the lesson - there are times to let yourself get lost in thoughts and watch the universe and there are moments when you need to be aware or you and other people might get hurt.

This is the fifth book of the Nebador Series, called "Back to the Stars", it shows how 4 former slaves and  one innkeeper's daughter end up flying an intergalactic ship. This specific book shows our lovely ones flying away from their planet and into the stars, into experiences that they can't even imagine. If the previous books show them learning things way beyond their rank on that planet, their possibilities and more than anyone on that planet would know for ages, this book shows them growing up. It shows them becoming more adult, more developed, than most adults on Earth, nowadays.

We watch our crew get too close to the Sun, explore new worlds, solve puzzles - oh I love a good puzzle! - and meeting new people! They stumble into another ship and it's crew, but they have this interesting feature: they are birds! And Manessa's crew must get used to talking to people of different "buildings", not only the kind they know, that is monkey-human like.

Also, they get, accidentally, into a desperate situation and neither Ilika, with all his experience, nor Manessa can help them out. They are trapped and they must ready themselves to die. Some are ready faster than others, some are more reluctant, but they all learn the lesson - and move on with the flight, as this will not be the last on the series and no reader would think they would trully die, right? I guess that's the negative part of knowing there are many more books on the series, it's almost impossible to imagine the author "killing" all of the characters.

Ilika himself has been learning so much. He's experienced as a crew member, but not as a captain, so he, too, must learn how to work with his crew, even if he's had this training before. Specially, he must learn about his feelings and how they'll work there, how not to push or expect things these people may not give him and yet, train them to be real people from Nebador, with a smile on the face while the universe is trying to crush you.

The crew gets to meet one of the big people from Nebador, the "golden light" that's helped them before, on the fires of Lumber Town and that made the lights dance during Miko's funeral. The power that had to make sure they were ready. That was probably the best part of the book to me, she was beautiful and the whole part was very interesting, with love and devotion, acceptance and guidance.

At the end, we see our crew getting ready to travel beyond their solar system, having to use much of what they've learnt and learning the secret and the why, why wouldn't their people ever leave their solar system unless they change so much - and maybe never leave at all - but I won't spoil that for you. ;)

This book also has two short stories, Buna's New World and First Taste of Freedom, but I admit it, I wasn't too fond of them. You see, they are set on the time of the first book and I just can't relate to that anymore. I would feel much more connected to them if they were set with those characters, the ones we left behind, but after the Selection, it would be much more interesting.


I'm looking forward to Book 6: Star Station, dying to know what's there and what kind of people they will meet. Summer 2012 can't come fast enough!


You can buy Nebador: Back to the Stars here or click here to see all the places where you can find it.
You can also read my reviews for books One, Two, Three and Four.