WINNERS!!!!

Show Me the Money Monday

I Like These Books

Sing You Home

Linda V

Congratulations to both winners. They have been notified via email. If I do not hear back from either one within 48 hrs a new winner will be chosen.

Guest Post ~ Laura Alden

Musings of a debut author

My first book came out in early October, making me what they call a debut author. Which is as close as I’ll ever get to being a debutante. Not that I mind; high heels were never my best friends and I’m not overly fond of being the center of attention. (More on that later.)

Being an writer is an odd thing. You sit in front of your computer for hundreds of hours, writing and editing and rewriting and then rewriting some more. You read your dialogue out loud. You make the movements your characters make and try to figure out how to describe them in a way that makes sense. You worry about plot arcs and character development and verisimilitude and wonder how on earth you could have written the snipe hunt into the same manuscript twice.

You do all this stuff in the privacy of your own home, and then your book is published. Hooray!! You’ve achieved a lifetime goal and it’s so incredibly cool that you can hardly believe it’s happening.

Acquaintances stop you on the street. “I hear you have a book out.”
Friends ask you to sign their copy. Family members wonder which character they are.

Then you go to your first conference as a published writer and things get ever weirder. You get an official author badge. You get to be on panels. Weirdest of all, people actually listen to what you have to say.

For someone who doesn’t even like to open birthday presents in front of her family for fear of saying the wrong thing -- “Oh, a new pair of slippers. Thanks. They’re just like the ones I bought last week,” -- having a roomful of people hanging on your every word is disconcerting.

Do they realize I have to take deep calming breaths before opening my mouth? Do they realize I have no clue what I’m talking about? Do they realize there’s no guarantee that anything I say will make sense? Do they realize I have a solid reputation for sounding like an idiot?

But you do the panels and people don’t point at you and laugh, so you go away thinking that maybe, just maybe, you didn’t make a complete fool of yourself.

Home again, you think about what you learned, the people you met, the shoes that hurt your feet, and all the books you bought. What you want to do most is flop on the couch and read for a week –bliss! – however, there’s the day job and a book contract to fulfill and laundry to do, so you sadly put all those luscious-looking books onto your To Be Read pile.

And start writing. Writing and editing and rewriting and then rewriting some more….

About the author ~ 

Short Version ~ I grew up in Grand Haven, Michigan, where I spent summers picking blueberries and winters falling down on skis. In the early 80's I graduated from Eastern Michigan University with a Bachelor of Science degree in geology. While my pursuit of the degree was interesting, a knowledge of how biaxial crystals behave in convergent polarized light has proven completely useless in my various careers. Ah, well.
Except for a year spent in Connecticut, I've lived in Michigan all my life. Currently, I live on a lake with my husband and two cats. Which means I now spend winters and summers falling down on skis.

My Life as a writer ~ Once upon a time, I won an elementary school poetry contest. The prize was getting up in front of the entire school to read my poem aloud. If the intention was to frighten me from publicly admitting I wrote, it worked like a charm.

The B minus in my college creative writing class didn’t help.

Despite a lifetime of rapacious reading, writing my own novel didn’t occur to me until the ripe old age of thirty seven. I’d just left a management job and taken a position in which I had very few responsibilities. Within two months, I was writing daily, devouring books on writing, soaking up Julia Cameron’s three pages a day advice and following Robert Ray’s schedule in The Weekend Novelist.

A year later, I had a novel in hand – a romance with elements of mysticism. I told the tale of Cinderella after the ball. I wrote of disparate cultures and loneliness and hard-won joy. I wrote and wrote and wrote.

And it was rotten. But, hey, I’d finished a novel! And I don’t read that many romances, anyway. I chose that genre only because I thought it would be easier (hah!) than writing what I love to read. Mysteries.

So I wrote book number 2. A mystery. That, too, sucked. Not as badly as my failed romance, but a sucky book is a sucky book. Next!

(For books number 3 and 4, see above paragraph.)

Numbers 5 and 6, a thriller and a mainstream novel, did not suck. However, I couldn't find an agent who agreed with that assessment. Onward!

Book 7 is Murder at the PTA, released in October of 2010, a mere twelve years after I started writing fiction seriously. Some might call me stubborn; I like to say I'm perseverant :)

Visit Laura's website 

Friend Laura on Facebook

Find Laura on Good Reads HERE

 Email Laura at lauraalden42 AT gmail DOT com

Her book ~

Murder at the PTA

A brand-new series in which murder is anything but elementary

After Tarver Elementary School's unpopular principal is murdered, PTA secretary and mother of two Beth Kennedy puts aside bake sales and class trip fund-raisers to catch a killer. And when members of the PTA become suspects, she realizes solving this murder will not be as easy as ABC...

MY THOUGHTS ~ 

Beth Kennedy, mother of Jenna and Oliver, has been divorced for a year now, and her BFF Marina thinks it’s about time she got off her butt and got out some more. It doesn’t seem to matter to Marina that Beth thinks she gets out plenty. Hello - she does own a children’s bookshop in town and has two children – all of which keep her plenty busy. Unfortunately for Beth, that is not what Marina has in mind. She thinks that Beth should run for secretary of the PTA. What Beth doesn’t know is that there are no other “candidates”. She’s it, and she has just volunteered for the position. There go her Wednesday nights alone while the kids are with her ex.


Granted the PTA meetings never go easy, but had Beth known what was about to happen at her very first meeting as secretary, she never would have “volunteered.” Agnes Mephisto, the much despised principal of Travers Elementary School, has decided that, thanks to a very anonymous and very large donation, there will be a new addition to the school. And not only has SHE made this decision, she already had the plans (they were hideous) and the builders are ready to start. Since it was a private donation, there needed to be no discussion about it, as there were no taxpayer dollars involved. WELL….let me tell you, this news did not sit well with the parents. And not to long after the meeting, Agnes ends up dead.


The gossip blog, WisconSINS, starts printing not so nice information about the locals and soon Marina (the not so anonymous author of the blog) starts receiving death threats warning her to back off. With her friend’s life in jeopardy, and having gotten a better understanding of Agnes’s life after speaking with her sister, Beth sets off to track down the killer. With a list of parents/suspects a mile long, it takes some clever sleuthing on Beth’s part to whittle down the list. But will she find the killer before he/she finds her or Marina? Is it a parent hoping to put a stop to the ugly addition or someone that has nothing to do with the school itself? Or just maybe it’s the handsome, mysterious man that has reappeared in Beth’s life? A man she hasn’t seen since she was a little girl. While it was fairly easy to figure out who the mysterious donor was, it wasn’t so easy when it came to the killer. There are lots of hints that will have you thinking one thing, only to find out they mean something completely different, and those things having nothing to do with murder and mayhem. Laura Alden’s Murder at the PTA is a fun, fresh, and exciting addition to the cozy genre. It’s great start to a new series by a new author. Just don’t let the teacher catch you not reading it.

Gratitude Giveaway

Gratitude Giveaways - A Blog Follower Appreciation Hop - 

Just a small way to say THANK YOU for being a follower of Lori's Reading Corner.

Since this giveaway is being held around Thanksgiving, which is a busy time for many, we want to give you plenty of time to enter all the giveaways.


This Hop runs WEDNESDAY, November 17th to SUNDAY, November 28th. 

Each of the 180+ blogs listed below is hosting their own giveaway. Hopefully you can find time during the 12 days this hop runs to visit each blog and enter each giveaway.

A little HINT:  To keep track of which giveaways you have entered you can print off the linky list and cross them off as you enter them.

Check out the main hop page HERE 

To give thanks to all of my wonderful followers I'm giving away a fabulous four (4) pack of some hot, brand-new, must have mysteries.  One lucky winner will win all four (4) books.

Cross Fire (Alex Cross) by James Patterson ~ Wedding bells ring. Detective Alex Cross and Bree's wedding plans are put on hold when Alex is called to the scene of the perfectly executed assassination of two of Washington D.C.'s most corrupt: a dirty congressmen and an underhanded lobbyist. Next, the elusive gunman begins picking off other crooked politicians, sparking a blaze of theories--is the marksman a hero or a vigilante? A murderer returns. The case explodes, and the FBI assigns agent Max Siegel to the investigation. As Alex and Siegel battle over jurisdiction, the murders continue. It becomes clear that they are the work of a professional who has detailed knowledge of his victims' movements--information that only a Washington insider could possess.Caught in a lethal cross fire As Alex contends with the sniper, Siegel, and the wedding, he receives a call from his deadliest adversary, Kyle Craig. The Mastermind is in D.C. and will not relent until he has eliminated Cross and his family for good. With a supercharged blend of action, deception, and suspense, Cross Fire is James Patterson's most visceral and exciting Alex Cross novel ever

The Reversal by Michael Connelly ~ Longtime defense attorney Mickey Haller is recruited to change stripes and prosecute the high-profile retrial of a brutal child murder. After 24 years in prison, convicted killer Jason Jessup has been exonerated by new DNA evidence. Haller is convinced Jessup is guilty, and he takes the case on the condition that he gets to choose his investigator, LAPD Detective Harry Bosch.Together, Bosch and Haller set off on a case fraught with political and personal danger. Opposing them is Jessup, now out on bail, a defense attorney who excels at manipulating the media, and a runaway eyewitness reluctant to testify after so many years. With the odds and the evidence against them, Bosch and Haller must nail a sadistic killer once and for all. If Bosch is sure of anything, it is that Jason Jessup plans to kill again.

Worth Dying For  by Lee Child ~ Does Reacher survive the explosive ending of 61 HOURS? How could you doubt him? Now he's hoofing it through Nebraska to Virginia to see the new CO of the 110th Special Unit. She'll have to be patient because Reacher's just met victims of the Duncan family and before long he'll make up his mind to show those three badass brothers and wife-beating son just why you shouldn't interrupt a man on his way to meet an intriguing woman with a very sexy voice. 

Edge by Jeffrey Deaver ~ Thriller Award–winner Deaver (The Bodies Left Behind) unveils some nifty new tricks in this edge-of-your-seat thriller that pits two worthy antagonists against each other. Henry Loving, "a lifter," specializes in extracting information from human targets by any means necessary (i.e., torture). Corte, "a shepherd," is an agent in the Strategic Protection Department of a secret government agency normally assigned to protect high-profile targets. An intercepted communication identifies Loving as the lifter ordered to target Ryan Kessler, a Washington, D.C., metro detective. While Corte attempts to protect Kessler's family and identify the "primary," Loving's employer, Loving seeks the edge to get the information he needs to extract. Corte, a board game aficionado and game theory student, and Loving are well matched, sharing a history that ups the stakes and makes the contest personal. Deaver's first first-person narrator, Corte, is an exciting new weapon in the author's arsenal of memorable characters.

GIVEAWAY  Rules for entering:

• This contest is open to residents of USA  residents only!
• Please complete the form below - do not leave information in the comments - it will not count.
• The contest will end on November 28, 2010 at 11:59PM EST; 1 winners will be selected and contacted thereafter.
• Once the winner is contacted, they will have 48 hours to respond to my email or another winner will be chosen (make sure to check your spam filters!).
• Book will be shipped directly from theME.

 

 

Guest Post/Virtual Tour - Stephanie Vlahov

The active creative child is a prime candidate for an alternative school experience. When this book was published five years ago, we as a nation were in an educational fiscal crisis.. Fast forward to 2010, and it is much worse. The financial pressures on our public schools (and political /union expenditure-but that is the topic for another book) is greatly impacting how our kids are taught. "Teaching to the test" is rampant in the rat-race for great scores and the accompanying funding. Compliance and conformity add to an atmosphere where rote memorization is praised. The squirmy kid in the corner who wants to act out his book report instead of efficiently spitting out a report is oftentimes a nuisance. Teachers love him-but "Gee, there is no time.."

The active creative child receives a lot of negative comments merely because he is well,,..active. He is alternately praised and punished for his precocious ways. It is imperative that he be able to wrap his creativity into an academic environ. A teacher who embraces innovation and enthusiasm is essential. If home-schooled, there needs to be an element of cooperative work between this child and others. Because the active creative child is additionally praised by many for his innovative and creative output, he can become narcissistic in possession of a gargantuan ego. Stressing to him that we all need to cooperate and conform to rules in most settings is important-because oftentimes he is wrapped up in his personal flights of fancy.

About the author ~ 

Stephanie Vlahov has her Masters Degree in Therapy/Counseling, in addition to a year of clinical internship in psychiatric settings. . However, her “day job” is that of corporate recruiter. She is married and has two sons-one of whom (Alex) was the impetus for the book “The Active Creative Child.” Now 21, he attends the prestigious London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts (LAMDA ) after attending two years at UCLA in the theatre dept. Stephanie’s passion is writing and painting. Through years in community theatre and school involvement, she has drawn upon her well of professional insight and “gut level” parental intuition to draw up one conclusion: We are over diagnosing and labeling some of our most creative minds. While not discounting the validity of a real disorder, ADHD has become a catch all “diagnosis” for children who march to the beat of a different drummer. One of her goals is to empower parents to question the oft heard need to diagnose their child-from educational systems that often hamper creativity at the expense of test scores.” If Einstein were alive today, he would be put on Ritalin.” 

Visit Stephanie at her website 

About the book ~ 

 

The Active, Creative Child: Parenting in Perpetual Motion 

The Active Creative Child was born out of the need to validate and celebrate the boundless energy oftentimes negated in a highly active child. In these current economic times of budget shortfalls within our educational institutions, there is more emphasis now than ever on “teaching to the test” to obtain high test scores. This translates to more funding. Children who are disruptive are considered a nuisance and distraction. Teachers “routinely” suggest to parents to have their child “evaluated” for ADHD. Oftentimes these comments stem from frustration with normal developmental activity (i.e. a wiggly 1st grade boy) or, a child who may wish to color the sky purple instead of blue. Yes. children need parameters and they need to conform in a group setting. This issue goes beyond that. We are stifling some of our most brilliant minds.
“ADHD – like” behavior has been linked neurologically to “out of the box” and creative thought process(es.) While I am not a physician, I can see that this is the case in the children that I have known over the years through my activity in childrens theatre. Alex was a questioning whirling dervish of activity-obsessed with the world of imagination and theatre. I saw in him the incessant pulse of activity and the need to create. If channeled correctly while working within the educational system, an active creative child can and will enrich the lives of those around him.

Guest Post & Giveaway ~ Leon Gildin ~ The Polski Affair

The sequel

There are few events in history that have been so thoroughly written about and dissected as the Holocaust. So when one comes across a little piece of this historic tragedy, attention must paid and credit must be given.

"The Polski Affair" is the winner of the 2010 International Book Awards for historic fiction. It is a story about just such a little-known piece of the Holocaust and is based upon a research work written some thirty years ago by Abraham Shulman. Published by the Holocaust Press and distributed by Schocken Books, Shulman's work tells a story about a small group of people who survived an incomprehensible (and to this day, not understood) scheme put in place by the Nazis in an attempt to repatriate Germans held in foreign countries.

The historic portion of "The Polski Affair" tells the story of not only what the Nazis planned in order to accomplish their goal, it speaks of existing sites such as the Hotel Polski; Pawiak, a prison built by the czar of Russia in the 19th Century which was located in the center of the Warsaw ghetto; the Jewish cemetery on the outskirts of the ghetto; the city of Vittel in France where foreigners were confined, etc. The characters, their relationship to each other and their experiences in the Hotel Polski and elsewhere are fiction.

Well received and well reviewed, the book gave me the opportunity to speak before book clubs and at book signings. Some of the people before whom I spoke had already read the book and some had not. From those who had read the book I received a surprising reaction. They told me that they could not put it down and then asked me a question which I, at first, took as a joke. "What became of the people, of their families, of their problems, of their guilt at having survived?" I say I took it as a joke only because I had made up the story of these people and never considered what would happen to them after the book had ended.

After the question was asked more than once I decided that they were entitled to an answer. I wrote the sequel which carried on the story of the principal characters and introduced new characters and situations. The hint I will give you is the working title, "The Family Affair."

I had no contractual obligation to go back to my original publisher with the sequel. Here is where it stands: I have the sequel with a major publisher in New York who has been very complimentary of "The Polski Affair" and who has expressed interest in representing the sequel. I took this as promising, considering I am acting as my own agent. Publishers who will read material not submitted by an agent tell you that they are so overwhelmed by submissions that if you send them one chapter you have to wait anywhere from three to six months for a reply. So I continue to wait on this, as I continue to query other publishers.

It's a tough businesses. I understand it doesn't matter that this is a sequel to an award-winning novel. At the end of the day, all you can ask for is that the agents to whom you have sent letters of inquiry have the business courtesy to respond. Those people who are close to me and have read the sequel love it. It carries you away from the Holocaust and into the world of family life, love, unexpected happiness and unexpected tragedy. It is my hope to get it into the hands of a literary agent or a publisher who wants to read a good story. The rest will tell itself.

It is my hope that upon reading "The Polski Affair," you too will be interested in what becomes of the characters. How strong do you think are the ties that bind them?

 About the author ~ 

Leon H. Gildin is an award-winning author, producer and retired entertainment attorney. While practicing law in New York for more than 40 years, Mr. Gildin served as general counsel to actors, writers and composers, produced on and off-Broadway, and collaborated with authors and musicians in the development of scripts and musical material for the stage.

He also served as both an attorney and principal in the development of optioning of properties for major motion pictures, having worked with 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros. and individual producers.

During his years of practice, Mr. Gildin was counsel to various New York community organizations, including the Bronx Overall Economic Development Committee, a branch of the Bronx Borough President’s Office. He also served on a number of boards, including Chairman of the Board of the New Federal Theatre, a minority theater company, and of the Great Neck Symphony Society.

His award-winning production credits include Appear and Show Cause, a story inspired by the desegregation of the U.S. Army at which time Mr. Gildin was serving oversees. Appear and Show Cause opened the season at the Cleveland Playhouse in 1982, and he then co-produced the same off-Broadway, winning the Audelco Award. In addition, he is the executive producer of a number of TV documentaries. This includes The Secret Army, a documentary about the religious conflict in Ireland, purchased by Viacom for international distribution. Also to his credit is Theresienstadt, Gateway to Auschwitz: Recollections from Childhood, which received a Blue Ribbon Award from the American Film and Video Festival.

In 2000, Mr. Gildin authored a non-fiction work entitled “You Can’t Do Business (or Most Anything Else) Without Yiddish,” published in both hard and soft cover by Hippocrene Books, New York. The book discusses the amount of Yiddish spoken in contemporary English by both Jews and non-Jews alike resulting from Eastern European immigration at the start of the 20th Century.

Mr. Gildin is the 2010 International Book Awards winner in the Historical Fiction category for his book, “The Polski Affair,” published by Diamond River Books, Canada. According to Professor Hava Tirosh-Samuelson, the Head of Jewish Studies at Arizona State University, “‘The Polski Affair’ is a gripping tale that illustrates the moral ambiguity of the Holocaust and the struggle of ordinary people to retain their humanity under extraordinary circumstances.”

“The Polski Affair” is scheduled for release in Hebrew translation by a major Israeli publisher in February 2011.

Mr. Gildin is not quite retired, having completed a sequel to “The Polski Affair.” He resides in Paradise Valley, Arizona, with his wife, Gloria.

Visit Leon at his website

His book ~ 

 

 The Polski Affair 

The Polski Affair is the story of Rosa Feurmann and others who found themselves as "guests" of the Hotel Polski during the Nazi occupation of Warsaw. The Hotel mysteriously drew in Jewish survivors who wished to buy their way to freedom. Rosa, a Jewish partisan infiltrates the hotel. She is detected and comes under the personal control of the Hotel's Nazi Commandant. What she did to survive continues to haunt Rosa's life. She is called as a witness at the Commandant's War Crimes Trial in Heidelberg and years later, she attends a reunion of the surviving hotel `guests'. It is only upon her return to Israel that Rosa ultimately reconciles her inner conflicts.  

Read an excerpt ~

“But let me tell you the difference between life and research. You know that before I met your father, who is God’s gift to me, I was married to Peter Feurmann, a professor at the university in Warsaw. You have heard the story more than once. When I first met the colonel, he was respectful to me but did not permit me to ask any questions. I was his clerk and he gave me orders. On occasion he asked me to dine with him, and on one such occasion, he suggested that I call him, in private only, by his first name. As you now know, his first name is Peter. I became hysterical and accused him of having given the order to take my Peter and my two boys into the transport. My husband’s name was Peter and I could never call the colonel by that name. At that moment, I hated him, and despite the fact that he saved our lives, your father’s and mine, I continued to hate him, not for what he was, but for what he might have been. My testimony was true. I knew nothing about his sending people to Pawiak to be executed or taken to the death camps. Was he responsible? I don’t know. But, Sholom, as you said, he was a Gestapo colonel; handsome in his black boots. Did he save our lives? Yes, but it must come to an end. Your father had a wife and four children–gone; while he was out on a work detail for the Nazis … those animals. It is almost thirty year; a half of a lifetime and this bastard is still in my life. He comes to visit my son. For you, it is research. For me, it is the Holocaust. It is my husband and my children; it is Avram’s wife and it is Feygl’s entire family. You have heard of these stories. Put them into context, and perhaps you will understand my anger.”

Thanks to the publicist, I have one (1) copy of this book to giveaway 

GIVEAWAY  Rules for entering:

• This contest is open to residents of USA & Canada residents only!
• Please complete the form below - do not leave information in the comments - it will not count.
• The contest will end on November 30, 2010 at 11:59PM EST; 1 winners will be selected and contacted thereafter.
• Once the winner is contacted, they will have 48 hours to respond to my email or another winner will be chosen (make sure to check your spam filters!).
• Book will be shipped directly from the publicist.

Show Me The Money Monday Giveaway ~ Nov 15th-19th.

About Show Me The $$$$ Monday ~

Welcome back to Show Me The $$$ Monday.  Each week I'll be giving away either a $10Amazon Gift Card (if you're a resident of the US) or a book worth up to $10 from the Book Depository (if you live outside of the US).  

The contest will run from Monday ~ Friday each week with the winner announced on Saturday.  Then the following Monday a new contest will start.

This isn't just about entering a contest for a chance to win. (Although of course who wouldn't want to win?) It's also a chance to get to know other bloggers and blog followers out there.  Most of us have one "type" of blog that we typically visit all the time - book blogs, product review blogs, mommy type blogs, etc. This will be a way for us to all come together and take the chance to explore other types of blogs we may not have checked out before. Who knows - you might even find a new restaurant in your area to try, a way to make homemade baby food or a review for a book you've been dying to read. 

The RULES for entering are simple.

1.  Enter your blog OR email address in the Linky List below.
 

Put the name of your blog and what type of blog you have.  Ex ~ Lori's Book Blog (book reviews, contests).  Then the link to the home page of your blog. You don't have to list everything that your blog covers, just one or two items so that other bloggers will get a chance to know what you're about.  You don't need to post about this on your blog, but it would be a nice way of spreading the word.  If you don't have a blog, you can still enter, but there must be a way in which I can get in touch with you left in the link in case you win. You can enter your email address in the top line and then any website address in the linky line (amazon, yahoo, etc)

2.  You must post your info in the Linky Form. If you post it in the comments, it will not count.

 

Visit other blogs on the list to find new sites and meet new friends.

The winner will be chosen by Random.org. Whatever number the randomizer picks will be matched up to the number on the linky list and VIOLA - a winner is chosen :)

It's as simple as that.

Guest Post/Virtual Tour - Rolf Hitzer

Seven things I didn’t know when writing a novel.

When I had made the decision to pen my first book, several things happened during the process I hadn’t expected. During this journey I was enlightened by these seven:

1.) Discipline – each day I made an appointment with myself for two
hours to write. At first this seemed simple enough to do. As the months rolled along, I was tested often by the temptation of skipping a day here or there. Being focused to the task became paramount.
2.) Loneliness – the isolation from the people I loved the most when I locked myself away to write became one of the demons I fought each day. I wasn’t prepared for this feeling.
3.) Interruption – every writing session while working on the novel was a different experience. There were days the words flowed faster than I could put onto paper. Contrary, there were days where more time was spent staring at a blank page. It didn’t matter how my writing was progressing during any specific session, if the phone rang or someone in the household needed to ask a question, I was surprised how annoyed I became of the disturbance.
4.)Mental Exhaustion – after struggling with words, or racing to keep up with my thoughts, when I had finished for the day, often I found myself mentally bankrupt.
5.)Consumed – the deeper I was in the book, the more I became possessed by the story. Each night while lying in bed plots would begin to take shape. Chapters were born. I couldn’t hide; the novel would find and consume my thoughts.
6.) Fear – this emotional monster constantly toyed with me. Would I ever finish? Was I capable enough to write? Will anyone like what I had written? Oh, there are more. Fear became a scary beast and also a terrific motivator.
7.) Thrill – euphoria overwhelmed me when the last word was scribbled down. I had just scaled the highest mountain, swam the deepest ocean. I danced the Red River Jig. In reality, I celebrated by going out for a nice dinner with my wife.

About the author ~ 

Rolf Hitzer was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada in 1959 and raised by his parents, Erna and Julius Hitzer.

Rolf attended Princess Margaret Elementary School, John Pritchard Junior High and Graduated from Kildonan East Regional Secondary School where he had majored in Culinary Arts.

Rolf is married to his wife Irma since 1997. Together they have a wonderful blended family with Rita and Clark Bodoano and Grand children, Alexandria, Patrick and Braeden. Jason and Leah Tutlies, and Grandson Easton. Mandel Hitzer, and the youngest Jessica Hitzer. Clearly the growth of his family is still a work in progress.

Rolf Hitzer has several passions besides writing, they include being at the log cabin on weekends. Spending time on the water with a fishing pole in hand. Wildlife viewing and especially Moose calling during the fall rut. Playing a range of Poker card games and a variety of board games.

Rolf is a Member of the Winnipeg Real Estate Board, The Manitoba Real Estate Association and the Canadian Real Estate Association. He is currently working on his second novel.

Check out the website for Hoodoo Sea

Visit Rolf's blog

Friend Rolf on Facebook

The Book ~ 

 

Hoodoo Sea 

The government of the United States of America is on the verge of startling the world.

Billions of dollars had been invested in its space program.

And now, the moment of truth has arrived...

Scott Reed is the man for the historic mission.  He is the Wing Commander chosen by the elite brass at NASA.  The assignment to test flight the first speed of light craft, held top secret, was about to shock the world.  The risk?  Utter and complete failure.  The reward?  Being a part of the greatest human accomplishment ever known to mankind.

Major James Harrow, second in command of the four person crew, despised his Wing Commander. Harrow was a proud and patriotic American.  What was NASA thinking when they selected a Canadian to pilot the voyage?  There was no comparison as to who was the better skilled aviator.  This was his time, his moment.  Major James Harrow was about to prove to everybody they were wrong to bypass him as Commander.

The weather conditions were perfect and lift-off for the test flight was text book.  The triumphant cheers from Mission Control in Houston were echoed all the way to Cape Canaveral.  The silent fear of the first hurdle of the flight had been succumbed.  All systems were go!  That is, until the crew and SOLT-X1 entered the Bermuda Triangle...

 Read an excerpt ~ 

White.
The room was a sterile, monotonous white. Had you been standing there blindfolded and then had the blind removed, you’d be convinced this was the cell of an asylum. But there was no padding on these walls. This was the briefing room at the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Florida. Even the uniforms were white – with the exception of the bright blue NASA crests just below the left shoulder.
Wing Commander Scott Reed wiped a bead of sweat from his brow. His crew was at his side. Everyone stared at the white walls in complete silence as they awaited their final instructions. As a unit they had never been this quiet for so long. The hours, days and months of training drills were now over. They were ready for the adventure of a lifetime.
The mission they’d prepared for would be historic. These astronauts were about to perform the first test flight ever at the speed of light. “Warp speed” was the language they used at NASA. At the time of the selection protocol, there had been thirty potential recruits. After each training module and testing round came the elimination stage. Scott and his crew were the final four left standing.
Scott had absolute confidence in his team. They were disciplined and tough. Each member had a particular area of expertise that would contribute to the success of the mission.
Scott was the only Canadian. Considering the recent political mood since the Iraq War, he’d been surprised when NASA had called upon him to lead the mission. Not bad for a kid from Winnipeg, Manitoba, where he still lived when he wasn’t on duty. The years he had dedicated himself in the Aeronautics and Astronautics program at MIT were now worth every minute.

Show Me The Money Monday - WINNER

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Teresa's Reading Corner

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Book Giveaway ~ Love You More by Lisa Gardner (ARC)

Love You More: A Novel (D. D. Warren)

The crime appears open-and-shut:  Pushed to the brink by an abusive husband, state police trooper Tessa Leoni finally snapped and shot him in self-defense.  But Tessa isn’t talking–not about her dead husband, her battered face, or her missing six-year old daughter.  Now, Detective D.D. Warren will have to race against the clock to unearth family secrets, solve a murder and save a child.

I'll be giving away one (1) copy of this book.  

GIVEAWAY  Rules for entering:

• This contest is open to residents of USA  residents only!
• Please complete the form below - do not leave information in the comments - it will not count.
• The contest will end on November 26, 2010 at 11:59PM EST; 1 winners will be selected and contacted thereafter.
• Once the winner is contacted, they will have 48 hours to respond to my email or another winner will be chosen (make sure to check your spam filters!).
• Book will be shipped directly from me.

Book Blogger Hop ~ Nov 12th - 15th

In the spirit of the Friday Follow, the Book Blogger Hop is a place just for book bloggers and readers to connect and find new blogs that we may be missing out on!  This weekly BOOK PARTY is an awesome opportunity for book bloggers to connect with other book lovers, make new friends, support each other, and generally just share our love of books!  It will also give blog readers a chance to find other book blogs that they may not know existed!  So, grab the logo, post about the Hop on your blog, and start HOPPING through the list of blogs that are posted in the Linky at Crazy-For-Books!!

The Hop lasts Friday-Monday every week, so if you don't have time to Hop today, come back later and join the fun!  This is a weekly event!

This week's question comes from Christina who blogs at All About YA Books:

"If you find a book that looks interesting but is part of a series, do you always start with the first title?"

 

Absolutely. I can't read a series out of order. I am very particular like that. I need to know what happened to the characters before hand, how they got to the place they are at now.  I don't want to miss out on something - no  matter how small it might be. 

Guest Post/Virtual Tour - Sheila Roberts

SNOW GLOBE MOMENTS

The idea to write a book about a magical snow globe that impacted people’s lives came to me out of the blue. Or maybe I should say out of a blizzard! I love Christmas and I really wanted to write a Christmas story that would be both fun and encouraging to people. I hope I’ve done that with The Snow Globe. I certainly love the premise. Who wouldn’t want to find a snow globe that could show her the possibilities for a new and improved future? 

I think each of the characters in the book represents where most of us find ourselves at some time or other in our lives. Kiley is coping with rejection and wondering if she’ll ever find true love. Her friend Suzanne, who she passes the snow globe on to after it’s worked it’s holiday miracle for her, needs to slow down and see the snowflakes. Suzanne may not like what she sees in the snow globe at first, but it’s going to show her exactly what she needs in her overscheduled, oh-so-perfect life. As for their friend Allison, her family holiday experience isn’t exactly the Norman Rockwell or Thomas Kinkaide variety. She longs for a real family connection. Any of those stories feel familiar? Have you ever been disappointed in love or got so busy you met your frazzled self coming and going? And then there’s the whole family dynamic thing. For many of us, gathering with family for those holiday celebrations can lead to jangled nerves rather than jingle bells. I think most of us have times in our lives when we’d just like to crawl inside a snow globe with its peaceful scene and stay there where everything is perfect. (I know if I could crawl inside a snow globe I’d be thirty pounds lighter!) 

But the good news is, no matter what’s going on in the present there’s always hope for the future. At least that’s what I believe. And in this season of celebration and miracles I hope you all find hope and joy . . .  and maybe even a lovely snow globe under your tree. 

About the author ~  Sheila Roberts lives on a lake in the Pacific Northwest. She’s happily married and has three children. She’s been writing since 1989, but she did lots of things before settling in to her writing career, including owning a singing telegram company and playing in a band. Her band days are over, but she still enjoys writing songs. When she’s not speaking to women’s groups or at conferences or hanging out with her girlfriends she can be found writing about those things near and dear to women’s hearts: family, friends, and chocolate.

You can visit Sheila at her website 

Follow her on Twitter

Friend her on Facebook

Her book ~

The Snow Globe

Discover an unforgettable holiday treasure in Sheila Roberts’ heartwarming tale of love and laughter, magic and miracles, friendship and coming home…

 

On a blustery afternoon, Kylie Gray wanders into an antique shop and buys an enchanting snow globe.  “There’s a story behind that snow globe,” the antique dealer tells her.  The original owner, he explains, was a German toymaker who lost his wife and son right before Christmas.  When the grieving widower received the handcrafted snow globe as a Christmas gift, he saw the image of a beautiful woman beneath the glass—a woman who would come into his life, mend his broken heart and bring him back to the world of the living.  For years, the snow globe has passed from generation to generation, somehow always landing in the hands of a person in special need of a Christmas miracle.

Kiley could use a miracle herself.  This year, all she wants for Christmas is someone to love.  A hopeful shake leads her on an adventure that makes a believer out of her. When Kylie shares the story of the snow globe with her best friends—two women with problems of their own—they don’t believe it.  But they’re about to discover that at Christmastime, sometimes the impossible becomes possible and miracles really do come true.

Read an excerpt ~ 

Fawn Island, Pacific Northwest
Something drew Kiley Gray to the antique shop. It could have been the carousel horse in the window or the sight of tables and shelves beyond, crammed with cast-off treasures. Whatever was in there calling to her, she knew she had to go in. She was a big believer in that sort of thing.
Actually, Kiley was a big believer. Period. She’d been sure Santa was real until she was ten and even after waking up on Christmas Eve to discover her father hanging her filled stocking on the mantel, she kept pretending for another two years. She’d believed in Prince Charming and Mr. Right clear through college. She’d even believed in happy endings until just this October when her boyfriend Jeremy Horne dumped her at her own Halloween party (how was that for tacky?), announcing that he couldn’t fight his attraction for her sister any longer.
It had been a very scary Halloween.
A bell chimed over the door as Kiley entered the shop and her nose twitched as she caught a whiff of dust.
Another shopper, a portly older woman in a stylish wool coat, stood at the counter, raving over the pink Depression glass pitcher she’d found. “And just in the nick of time,” she added. “I’m going to have to dash to make that ferry.” With hurried thanks, she took the piece the shop owner had carefully wrapped and hurried to the door, stuffing bills in her wallet as she went.
One fluttered to the floor and Kiley scooped it up. It was a fifty, maybe not a lot for this woman, who was well dressed and obviously had money to burn, but to Kiley it was a fortune. “Wait. You dropped this.”
“Oh. Thanks,” said the woman, barely looking at it. She stuffed it in her purse and hurried out the door.
The shopkeeper smiled at Kiley. “People get in too big of a hurry.”
“I can’t afford to be in that big of a hurry,” she said. She probably couldn’t afford to be in here at all. But browsing didn’t cost anything, she told herself as she drifted to where the carousel horse stood frozen in mid-prance. Who had owned this and how did it end up languishing here? Kiley gave it a comforting pat; then wandered away to the far side of the shop.
That was when she saw the snow globe. Tucked behind a clock with a brass horse and a chipped crystal vase, she might never have noticed it except for a stray sunbeam that managed to slip past the gray clouds outside and in through the window.
She picked up the snow globe and shook it, creating a blizzard around a scene of a toyshop in the center of an Alpine village. The storm swirled around the little angel standing guard in front of the shop. It was simply too charming not to buy. Anyway, purchasing treasures was an integral part of any girls’ getaway weekend so in a way, she was almost obligated.
She took it up to where the shop owner sat behind his cash register, now reading a book. “I didn’t see a price tag on this. I’m just wondering what you want for it.”
She gulped when he told her. Not exactly the kind of inexpensive purchase for a girl who was now unemployed. Maybe purchasing treasure wasn’t such an integral part of a girls’ getaway weekend. At least not this treasure, not this weekend.
The man was somewhere in his fifties, with gray hair and the beginnings of a paunch. He looked over his reading glasses at her and smiled. “But, I think, for the right buyer, I could come down in price a little.”
“Oh? What does the right buyer look like?” Hopefully, a skinny woman about to turn thirty with long, brown hair, hazel colored eyes, a fashionably full mouth, and a nose she hated.
“It’s not exactly about looks,” the shop owner said. “It’s more about where you are in life. You see, this little snow globe has quite a story to tell.”
“I like stories,” said Kiley, leaning her elbows on the counter.
“This one starts back when snow globes were first being made. Nobody knows the exact date, but the first one appeared at the Paris Exposition in 1878, and by 1879 at least five companies were producing snow globes and selling them throughout Europe. This was one of them, so you can see it’s very valuable. But its age isn’t the real reason why.” He removed his glasses and set aside his book. “Would you like to hear more?”

Other books by Sheila ~ 

 

Visit Sheila on the rest of her tour ~

Friday, November 12
Book reviewed and interviewed at Paperback Dolls
Monday, November 15
Book reviewed at Peeking Between the Pages
Tuesday, November 16
Book reviewed at Sharon’s Garden of Book Reviews
Wednesday, November 17
Book reviewed at Romancing the Book
Thursday, November 18
Book reviewed at Chick with Books
Friday, November 19
Book reviewed at Book Journey
Monday, November 22
Interviewed at Pump Up Your Book
Tuesday, November 23
Book reviewed at Cafe of Dreams
Wednesday, November 24
Guest blogging at The Book Faery Reviews
Thursday, November 25
CLOSED FOR THANKSGIVING
Friday, November 26
Book reviewed at Pump Up Your Book

Book Giveaway ~ Suck on This Year: LYFAO @ 140 Characters or Less by Denis Leary

Suck On This Year: LYFAO @ 140 Characters or Less

On December 2nd, Denis Leary—one of America’s most original and biting comic satirists—will turn his irreverent eye and scathing humor on everything you love and cherish with a hilarious, illustrated collection of Tweets.  Like a quiver of arrows, SUCK ON THIS YEAR: LYFAO @ 140 Characters or Less will hit you where it hurts—and you’ll love it

Leary’s first reaction to the Twitter universe was to run the other direction.  But then he realized that all of the jokes he was making casually to friends were going to waste unless he had a stand-up comedy tour coming up.  The jokes just came and then disappeared.  So he decided to give Twitter a try, and once he started, he couldn’t stop.  Thus—this book.  Or mini-book. Or celebrity coaster. 

Here’s a sampling for your reading pleasure:

● This just in: Vatican acquires Neverland Ranch.

● Arizona residents: “We’re sick of being called racists.” That’s the thing about Arizona: it’s a  dry hate.

● Lindsay Lohan to play Linda Lovelace in pornstar biopic.  Exactly whose reputation is at stake here?

● Lettuce recalled in 23 states: Experts fear it could affect up to 5 Americans.

● New Jersey worried about oil residue on beaches.  Not from Gulf spill.  From cast of Jersey Shore.

A portion of the proceeds from this book will go towards Leary’s charity—The Leary Firefighters Foundation—so not only are readers improving their own lives by reading this and laughing out loud, they’re also helping a firefighter somewhere in America gain some invaluable training.   Plus, SUCK ON THIS YEAR will make the perfect gift book this holiday season, and let’s be honest, it’s a lot more fun than those winter socks or hand-knit sweater or most of your relatives.

Thanks to  Penguin, I have one (1) copy of this book to give away. Please note that the contest will end on November 29th, but the book will not be mailed until the release date - December 2nd.

GIVEAWAY  Rules for entering:

• This contest is open to residents of USA  residents only!
• Please complete the form below - do not leave information in the comments - it will not count.
• The contest will end on November 29, 2010 at 11:59PM EST; 1 winners will be selected and contacted thereafter.
• Once the winner is contacted, they will have 48 hours to respond to my email or another winner will be chosen (make sure to check your spam filters!).
• Book will be shipped directly from Penguin.

Debbie Mack's 20 Question Blog Tour

Question 7: Why do you have five blogs? (And how do you keep them updated while writing?)

Thank you, Lori, for asking that question. And thanks for hosting me here at your blog, Lori's Reading Corner.

Yes, five blogs is a quite a few. I didn't really plan to have this many, but like so many other things about my writing career, they came about almost by accident.

My first blog (or actually my second – the first was a blog about legal issues pertaining to artists, musicians, writers, etc., which I sort of lost interest in updating after a while) was Random and Sundry Things. I started this blog because I couldn't think of a specific topic I wanted to focus on. I was so interested in a little bit of everything that I just couldn't choose. This went completely against conventional wisdom about blogging. You were supposed to identify an audience. You were supposed to focus in on one narrow subject. But I didn't. I didn't want to. So I just blogged whatever I wanted that day. I ran (and still run) the gamut of topics from movies to books to politics to environmental issues to dystonia (a rare movement disorder that affects me) or any other interesting thing.

I blogged daily. I (very) slowly picked up a few readers. I did it mainly for myself, but I hoped that others might appreciate it.

At some point, since I was working as a freelance writer, it seemed to make sense to write a blog aimed at freelance writing. So I created Writing for Hire. This blog was intended to provide news and information for writers about the business side of writing. However (since I was working on fiction, too), I made the scope expansive. I wrote about the business of fiction and freelance writing. I included news and observations about not only journalism, copywriting and business writing of various kinds, but also book publishing, screenwriting, short story writing and other kinds of creative writing. This blog was clearly more focused, yet still quite inclusive. I have a tendency to take a broad perspective on things and often see parallels between the business of non-fiction freelancing and fiction writing. In any case, I like to write about both subjects. I use to post to both blogs every day.

One day, I finished a book by Twist Phelan. The book impressed me so much, I thought, "I really want to review this book! I simply have to tell the world about it!" So I posted a review on Random and Sundry Things. Needless to say, this started a new line of writing. I started reading with an eye toward what I liked about the book I was into, writing a summary of my thoughts and posting them.

Eventually, I realized that I should start another blog for these reviews. So I started The Book Grrl and posted my reviews there. It seemed only appropriate, since I was reading, anyhow. Since I was enjoying the book (and learning good writing technique, as I did), I wanted to pay something forward. I wanted the world to know about the great authors they might not otherwise know about.

Keeping my reviews on Random and Sundry Ideas would have buried them beneath a lot of unrelated stuff. By starting The Book Grrl, I'd created a whole platform for my reviews. I'd found a focus subject-wise. However, even though I tend to read crime fiction, my attention tends to wander into other areas. Science fiction, historical or mainstream fiction. Memoirs and non-fiction. Whatever seems fun, interesting, and/or educational.

During this time, I realized that daily blogging on three blogs was a bit much. So I cut back to blogging three times a week on Random and Sundry Things and twice weekly on the other two blogs.

However, since I was still freelancing, I wanted to come up with a blog that would reach potential clients. I'd been giving serious thought to focusing on environmental writing. (I'd previously worked at EPA as an attorney, as well as a land use attorney at a private firm.) I knew there were "green" blogs out there, but I wanted mine to be different. What could I say that wasn't what everyone else was saying? How could I be distinctive?

One of the things I learned while blogging was about my blogging "voice." I learned that I had one. I also learned that I had opinions (and quite a lot of them LOL). This came as something of a shocker, frankly. I learned it was okay to let loose a little and go a bit nuts with my blogging. I also learned that sardonic wit tended to work for me.

With that in mind, I created my blog Green Reality Check. I wanted to blog about what it really meant to be "green" and sustainable. I wanted to open people's eyes to both sides of various issues. I wanted people to think before they assumed that a certain practice or lifestyle was actually green.

Now, this seemed like a rather lofty goal. However, I've run across SO many stories that challenge our assumptions on these matters, I've actually accumulated more material than I can post about. I try to keep up as best I can with this blog, posting to it once or twice a week.

Finally, my author blog. I seized upon that idea while watching Kathy Griffin's show My Life on the D-List. I thought, "Wow, she's doing the kinds of stuff most midlist authors do to get noticed." Suddenly – light bulb moment! Hello? The minute I got on a list (in this case, Wildside Press for my contribution to CHESAPEAKE CRIMES: They Had It Comin' – and, yeah, I know it's an anthology, not a novel, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it) I created the blog, before anyone could grab that brilliant name.

I blog on My Life on the Mid-List whenever I have a spare moment. I blog about what I'm doing, the events I attend (often with photos), my success stories, my reviews, as well as my thoughts about the writing life and the publishing world, in general.

How do I do all this and write? Two words: time management.

Make sure to stop by Fiction for Dessert and visit Debbie at her other stop today.

 About the author ~ 

Debbi Mack is the author of IDENTITY CRISIS, a hardboiled mystery and the first in a series featuring lawyer Stephanie Ann "Sam" McRae. She's also a short story writer whose ebook anthology, FIVE UNEASY PIECES, includes the Derringer-nominated "The Right to Remain Silent," originally published in The Back Alley Webzine. Debbi's work has also appeared in two of the CHESAPEAKE CRIMES anthologies.

Be on the lookout for her next Sam McRae novel, LEAST WANTED, which will be published soon (in print and ebook versions).

Debbi practiced law for nine years before becoming a freelance writer/researcher and fiction author. She's also worked as a news wire reporter covering the legal beat in Washington, D.C. and as a reference librarian at the Federal Trade Commission. She lives in Maryland with her husband and three cats.

You can find out more about Debbi on her Web site and her blog My Life on the Mid-List. Her books are available on Amazon, BN.com, Lulu.com, Smashwords and other sites around the Web, and by order at stores. You can also buy autographed copies of her novel from her Web site at http://www.debbimack.com/identitycrisis.

Like Debbie on Facebook

Follow Debbie on Twitter

The Book ( Best Mystery in the Preditors & Editors Readers' Poll 2009)

 

Identity Crisis 

A domestic abuse case turns deadly, when the alleged abuser is killed and Sam McRae's client disappears. When a friend asks Sam to find Melanie Hayes, the Maryland attorney is drawn into a complex case of murder and identity theft, that has her running from the mob, breaking into a strip club and forming a shaky alliance with an offbeat private investigator to get to the truth about Melanie and her boyfriend. With her career and life on the line, Sam's search takes her from the blue-collar Baltimore suburbs to the mansions of Gibson Island. Along the way, she learns that false identities can hide dark secrets, and those secrets can destroy lives.

Thanks for reading, everyone! Don't forget to leave a comment with your email address if you'd like to enter the drawing for the 10 autographed copies of IDENTITY CRISIS I'm giving away. (One entry per person, but comment as often as you like.)

The drawing will be held on my blog My Life on the Mid-List after the tour is finished. Check my blog for the entire tour schedule.

And please join me at my next stop tomorrow: Indie Publishing on the Cheap

Don't miss out on ~

Five Uneasy Pieces

The short stories in this novella-length collection share the theme of having an odd twist or edginess that makes them gritty, slightly off-balance or unusual. They represent a range of genres from hardboiled mystery to noir to parody. Altogether, this collection has something for everyone who enjoys dark or edgy crime fiction.

Includes the first three chapters of Least Wanted, the sequel to Identity Crisis.