New Book for Review: Science Fiction ‘The Staff of Rahgorra’ by Mark Oetjens

Mark Oetjens will be touring in November ’10 with his science fiction novel, The Staff of Rahgorra. Another time, another galaxy. The mysterious crime lord Thrull has aspirations beyond controlling the underworld in a single corner of the galaxy.  Thrull wants to bring the galaxy under one rule and build a legitimate Galactic Empire.  For years he has been training an army of his followers and building his own private Armada.  But he knows he must also find the Staff of Rahgorra, a weapon of mythic power. To keep Thrull from finding the Staff the Galactic Security Bureau, peacekeepers of the galaxy, has pressed back into service a banished
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Pump Up Your Book’s September 2010 Authors on Virtual Book Tour – Day 8

Welcome to Day Eight of Pump Up Your Book’s September 2010 Authors on Virtual Book Tour! Follow along as these talented authors travel the blogosphere all month long to talk about their books, their lives and their future projects. Leave a comment at their blog stops and you could win a FREE virtual book tour if you’re a published author with a recent release or a $50 Amazon gift certificate if you are not published. So, pick your favorites, follow their tours, and make sure you leave them a note to tell them you stopped by! ________________________________________ Shobhan Bantwal, author of the women’s fiction book, The Unexpected Son, will be
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Wig Begone Virtual Book Tour October/November ’10

Join Robert Seymour (under the pseudonym of Charles Courtley), author of the humorous fiction novel, Wig Begone (Matador/Troubadour), as he virtually tours the blogosphere October 4 – November 26 ‘10 on his first virtual book tour with Pump Up Your Book! About Robert Seymour Robert Seymour, (under the pseudonym of Charles Courtley) is a retired judge who lives on the English coast with his wife, Jane, of 38 years, and a small dog called Phoebe. He is the author of Wig Begone, a tale of a young barrister’s triumphs and tragedies. As well as adapting his novel into a screenplay and writing a sequel, he contributes to legal newsletters
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New Book for Review: Children’s Middle Grade ‘Toto Tale’ by K.D. Hays & Meg Weidman

K.D. Hays and Meg Weidman will be touring in November and December with their children’s book, Toto’s Tale.  Everyone knows how Dorothy and Toto save Oz from the Wicked Witch of West…or do they? How will Dorothy survive in a land filled with haunted bags of straw, hollow metal men and giant smelly cats? How will she fight off killer bees, mad wolves and really annoying monkeys? How will she defeat a witch with mind control and an all-seeing eye? And how will Dorothy ever find the way home? The simple truth is that she won’t, at least not alone. Of course, she’s not alone–she has Toto, her best
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Pump Up Your Book’s September 2010 Authors on Virtual Book Tour – Day 7

Welcome to Day Seven of Pump Up Your Book’s September 2010 Authors on Virtual Book Tour! Follow along as these talented authors travel the blogosphere all month long to talk about their books, their lives and their future projects. Leave a comment at their blog stops and you could win a FREE virtual book tour if you’re a published author with a recent release or a $50 Amazon gift certificate if you are not published. So, pick your favorites, follow their tours, and make sure you leave them a note to tell them you stopped by! ________________________________________ Shobhan Bantwal, author of the women’s fiction book, The Unexpected Son, will
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Pump Up Your Book Chats with Patrick Brown

Patrick Brown was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He graduated Magna cum Laude from Georgetown University, where he won the Morris Medal for best senior history honors thesis. He currently teaches high school social studies in the Mississippi Delta through Teach for America. His latest book is Industrial Pioneers: Scranton, Pennsylvania and the Transformation of America, 1840-1902, a detailed history account of the town of Scranton, Pennsylvania. You can visit his website at http://www.industrialpioneers.com. Thank you for this interview, Patrick.  Do you remember writing stories as a child or did the writing bug come later?  Do you remember your first published piece? I have been writing stories since I learned
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Pump Up Your Book’s September 2010 Authors on Virtual Book Tour – Day 6

Welcome to Day Six of Pump Up Your Book’s September 2010 Authors on Virtual Book Tour! Follow along as these talented authors travel the blogosphere all month long to talk about their books, their lives and their future projects. Leave a comment at their blog stops and you could win a FREE virtual book tour if you’re a published author with a recent release or a $50 Amazon gift certificate if you are not published. So, pick your favorites, follow their tours, and make sure you leave them a note to tell them you stopped by! ________________________________________ Shobhan Bantwal, author of the women’s fiction book, The Unexpected Son, will
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Pump Up Your Book Chats with Biographer Steven Honigberg

As author and professional cellist, Steven Honigberg, complements his biography’s subject with a musician’s ear for language and the highest technical expertise. He currently plays on a 1732 Stradivarius (the “Stuart”), holds degrees from The Juilliard School, and combined with experience writing about legendary cellists, has produced a comprehensive first biography of America’s “first cellist.” In 1984, the author was handpicked by cellist-conductor Msistlav Rostropovich to join the National Symphony Orchestra, a position he holds to this day. Within months, he graduated from college, presented his New York recital debut, appeared as soloist in Alice Tully Hall, and accepted the Washington job. And Leonard Rose died. The author’s writing
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Daughters of Dracula Virtual Book Tour October ’10

Join Kailin Gow, author of the young adult paranormal novel, Daughters of Dracula (The Stoker Sisters #1) (The EDGE), as she virtually tours the blogosphere in October on her fourth virtual book tour with Pump Up Your Book! About Kailin Gow Kailin Gow is the author of over 40 books. She has traveled all over the world, conducting research, and collecting stories. Some of the more interesting places she’s been to are: Dracula’s Castle in Transylvania where she was presented with a sketch of Dracula, The Stanley Hotel in Colorado where she saw something quite odd, the lost city of Pompeii where both her cameras were drained of battery,
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Pump Up Your Book’s September 2010 Authors on Virtual Book Tour – Day 5

Welcome to Day Five of Pump Up Your Book’s September 2010 Authors on Virtual Book Tour! Follow along as these talented authors travel the blogosphere all month long to talk about their books, their lives and their future projects. Leave a comment at their blog stops and you could win a FREE virtual book tour if you’re a published author with a recent release or a $50 Amazon gift certificate if you are not published. So, pick your favorites, follow their tours, and make sure you leave them a note to tell them you stopped by! ________________________________________ Shobhan Bantwal, author of the women’s fiction book, The Unexpected Son, will
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Pump Up Chats with Donna McDine

Donna McDine is an award-winning children’s author, Honorable Mention in the 77th and two Honorable Mentions in the 78th Annual Writer’s Digest Writing Competitions. Donna’s stories and features have been published in many print and online publications and her interest in American History resulted in writing and publishing The Golden Pathway. Her second book, The Hockey Agony is under contract and will be published by Guardian Angel Publishing. She writes, moms and is the Publicist Intern for The National Writing for Children Center and Children’s Writers’ Coaching Club from her home in the historical hamlet Tappan, NY. McDine is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers &
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Pump Up Your Book Chats with Kathryn Shay

Kathryn Shay is a lifelong writer. At fifteen, she penned her first ‘romance,’ a short story about a female newspaper reporter in New York City and her fight to make a name for herself in a world of male journalists – and with one hardheaded editor in particular. Looking back, Kathryn says she should have known then that writing was in her future. But as so often happens, fate sent her detouring down another path. Fully intending to pursue her dream of big city lights and success in the literary world, Kathryn took every creative writing class available at the small private women’s college she attended in upstate New
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Synarchy Book 2: The Ascension Virtual Book Tour Oct & Nov 2010

Join DCS, author of the science fiction thriller, Synarchy Book 2: The Ascension (SVT Publishing), as she virtually tours the blogosphere in October and November ‘10 on her second virtual book tour with Pump Up Your Book! About DCS DCS was born in Alexandria, Virginia. She graduated high school in Huntersville, NC and attended the University of North Carolina at Charlotte intent on earning a degree in Political Science and becoming a lawyer. She instead eventually turned to writing. DCS is currently attending the American Institute of Holistic Theology to earn her PhD in Metaphysical Spirituality. You can also hear her live every Saturday evening on BlogTalkRadio’s In the
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New Book for Review: Memoir ‘Everything I Never Wanted to Be’ by Dina Kucera

Dina Kucera will be touring in November with her memoir, Everything I Never Wanted to Be.  Everything I Never Wanted to Be is the true story of a family’s battle with alcoholism and drug addiction. Dina’s grandfather and father were alcoholics. Her grandmother was a pill addict. Dina is an alcoholic and pill addict, and all three of her daughters struggle with alcohol and drug addiction—including her youngest daughter, who started using heroin at age fourteen. Dina’s household also includes her husband and his unemployed identical twin, her mother who has Parkinson’s Disease, and her grandson who has cerebral palsy. On top of all that, Dina is trying to make
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New Book for Review: Literary Fiction ‘God’s Poor’ by Mike Manos

Mike Manos will be touring in November with his literary fiction novel, God’s Poor.  The sudden deaths of pregnant women rock the world. A deadly virus causes world panic. A dangerous heresy reemerges from the misty past. The Catholic and Orthodox Christian Churches face an unknown enemy. Mossant reveals dangerous secrets that threaten religious foundations. The quest for immortality leads to the first Jerusalem and incredible revelations. Finally an earthquake produced by HAARP gives a temporary solution. 307 pages ONLY PDF COPIES AVAILABLE FOR REVIEW If you would like to review God’s Poor, email us by clicking here or email Dorothy Thompson at thewriterslife@yahoo.com.  Deadline for inquiries end October
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New Book for Review: Science Fiction ‘Forbidden the Stars’ by Valmore Daniels

Valmore Daniels will be touring in November with his science fiction novel, Forbidden the Stars. At the end of the 21st century, a catastrophic accident in the asteroid belt has left two surveyors dead, but the asteroid itself is completely missing, along with their young son, Alex Manez, who was accompanying them. On the outer edge of the solar system, the first manned mission to Pluto, led by the youngest female astronaut in NASA history, has led to an historic discovery: there is a marker left there by an alien race for humankind to find. We are not alone! While studying the alien marker, it begins to react and,
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New Book for Review: Historical Fiction ‘The Sixth Surrender’ by Hana Samek Norton

Hana Samek Norton is touring in November with her historical fiction novel, The Sixth Surrender. In the last years of her eventful life, queen-duchess Aliénor of Aquitaine launches a deadly dynastic chess game to safeguard the crowns of Normandy and England for John Plantagenet, her last surviving son.  To that end, Aliénor coerces into matrimony two pawns-Juliana de Charnais, a plain and pious novice determined to regain her inheritance, and Guérin de lasalle, a cynical, war-worn mercenary equally resolved to renounce his.  The womanizing Lasalle and the proud Juliana are perfectly matched for battle not love-until spies and assassins conspire to reverse their romantic fortunes. Populated by spirited and
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New Book for Review: Thriller/Suspense ‘The Remains’ by Vincent Zandri

Vincent Zandri will be touring in November and December ’10 with his thriller/suspense novel, The Remains. Thirty years ago, teenager Rebecca Underhill and her twin sister Molly were abducted by a man who lived in a house in the woods behind their upstate New York farm. They were held inside that house for three horrifying hours, until making their daring escape. Vowing to keep their terrifying experience a secret in order to protect their mother and father, the girls tried to put the past behind them. And when their attacker was hunted down by police and sent to prison, they believed he was as good as dead. Now, it’s
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New Book for Review: Horror ‘The Black Chronicles: Cry of the Fallen’ by Joel M. Andre

Joel M. Andre will be touring in October and November with his horror novel, The Black Chronicles: Cry of the Fallen.  All around her Lauren Bruni is faced with destruction. Her marriage has ended, and her professional life is at the breaking point. For Lauren, this is only the beginning of her pain. In the small town of Cottonwood, AZ everything seems to be headed in the same direction. A serial killer is on the loose, and his trail of victims holds no connection. His rampage escalates and becomes far more brutal with each murder he commits. As Lauren attempts to prevent her own life from collapsing down around
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The Black Chronicles: Cry of the Fallen Virtual Book Tour October & November ’10

Join Joel M. Andre, author of the horror novel, The Black Chronicles: Cry of the Fallen, as he virtually tours the blogosphere October 4 – November 26 ‘10 on his second virtual book tour with Pump Up Your Book! About Joel M. Andre Joel M. Andre was born January 13, 1981. At a young age he was fascinated with the written word. It was at fourteen that Poe blew his mind, and Andre began to dabble with darker poetry. Between the years of 1999 and 2007 Joel was featured in various poetry anthologies and publications. In 2008 he released his first collection, Pray the Rain Never Ends. Knowing there
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  • September 10, 2010
  • Featured, Staff Articles
  • Comments Off on What Your Readers and Book Buyers Want to Know About You and What You Need to Know About Them

What Your Readers and Book Buyers Want to Know About You and What You Need to Know About Them

Every now and then, I’ll have an author ask me what they should write about when asked to write guest posts or what emphasis they should concentrate on when answering questions in interviews or just what they should do to create the most impact on their book buying public without becoming overbearing, pompous or downright horn-tooting obnoxious. The first thing I tell them is get out of the mindset that you’ll be getting on peoples’ nerves with all this horn blowing and get on with the matter at hand.  You are out to sell your book.  Without you tooting or someone else you pay to toot for you, you
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Pump Up Your Book’s September Authors on Virtual Book Tour – Day 4

Welcome to Day Four of Pump Up Your Book’s September 2010 Authors on Virtual Book Tour! Follow along as these talented authors travel the blogosphere all month long to talk about their books, their lives and their future projects. Leave a comment at their blog stops and you could win a FREE virtual book tour if you’re a published author with a recent release or a $50 Amazon gift certificate if you are not published. So, pick your favorites, follow their tours, and make sure you leave them a note to tell them you stopped by! ________________________________________ Shobhan Bantwal, author of the women’s fiction book, The Unexpected Son, will
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New Book for Review: Regency Romance ‘The Portrait’ by Hazel Statham

England 1812 Severely injured at the battle of Salamanca, Edward Thurston, the new Earl of Sinclair, returns home to his beloved Fly Hall. Determined not to present his prospective bride with the wreck he believes himself to have become, he decides to end his betrothal, unaware that Lady Jennifer, for vastly differing reasons, has reached the selfsame decision. Throughout the campaigns, Edward was often seen relying greatly on a miniature he carried, and it is to this token he clings upon his return. Will he eventually find happiness with the girl in the portrait, or will he remain firm in his resolve not to wed? Reason dictates one course,
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New Book for Review: Murder Mystery Novel ‘Invisible Path’ by Marilyn Meredith

While Tempe’s son, Blair is home from Christmas break, he and his roommate from college do a bit of snooping to find out about the para-military group who’ve been seen driving through town. When a young popular Indian is found dead near the recovery center on the reservation, Tempe is called in to help with the investigation. Another Native American but a newcomer to the rez, Jesus Running Bear, is the only suspect. A hidden pregnancy, a quest to find the Hairy Man, and a visit to the pseudo soldiers compound put Jesus and Tempe in jeopardy. This is the latest installment in Meredith’s Deputy Tempe Crabtree series. You
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New Book for Review: Dog Adventure Book ‘Rose in a Storm’ by Jon Katz

From New York Times bestselling author Jon Katz comes a moving and powerful novel, the first one inspired by life on his celebrated Bedlam Farm—and perceptively told from the point of view of Rose, a dedicated working dog.   Rose is determined and focused, keeping the sheep out of danger and protecting the other creatures on the farm she calls home. But of all those she’s looked after since coming to the farm as a puppy, it is Sam, the farmer, whom she watches most carefully.      Awoken one cold midwinter night during lambing season, Rose and Sam struggle into the snowy dark to do their work. The ever
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Pump Up Your Book Chats with Dean DeLuke

Dr. Dean DeLuke is a graduate of St. Michael’s College, Columbia University (DMD) and Union Graduate College (MBA). He completed residency training at Long Island Jewish Medical Center and also participated in a fellowship in maxillofacial surgery at the Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead, England. He currently divides his time between the practice of oral and maxillofacial surgery and a variety of business consulting activities with Millennium Business Communications, LLC, a boutique marketing, communications and business consulting firm. An active volunteer, he has served on the Boards of the St. Clare’s Hospital Foundation, the Kidney Foundation of Northeast New York, and the Albany Academy for Girls. He has
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New Book for Review: Spiritual/Religion ‘Finding God: To Believe or Not to Believe’ by Nicholas Oliva

Nicholas  Oliva will be touring in November and December ’10 with his nonfiction/spiritual/religion/philosophy book, Finding God: To Believe or Not to Believe. Along the relatively short path of human existence our species has embraced religion, atheism, and science. Few will undertake the difficulty in understanding the history of their own particular religion and to be able to find truth and objectivity in published material about this subject is a monumental task unto itself. Then, if one tries to integrate orthodox religious dogma with the aspects of Twentieth and Twenty-first Century physics it is no wonder that many have chosen to step backwards and reinforce the beliefs of a time
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New Book for Review: Fantasy/Horror ‘A Death at the North Pole’ by Joel M. Andre

Joel M. Andre will be touring in December ‘10 with his fantasy/horror novel, A Death at the North Pole. Detective Lauren Bruni has dealt with death for her entire life. She has watched it ruin lives, and brought people closer together. Her job taught her to separate fact from fiction. But on a cold December day, all Lauren had believed in would be shattered and tossed aside. Thrust in a world unlike any she has seen before, she investigates a prominent figure’s grisly murder, and searches for answers along a strange new set of people.  All while a killer watchers her every movement from the background. He waits in
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New Book for Review: Thriller ‘Final Vector’ by Allan Leverone

Allan Leverone will be touring in February and March ‘11 with his thriller novel, Final Vector.  Air traffic controller Nick Jensen’s life is in a shambles.  His wife Lisa has died following a horrific automobile wreck and the authorities suspect foul play.  He finds evidence suggesting Lisa, a Pentagon auditor, had discovered potentially treasonous material on a fellow employee’s computer, a man who also winds up dead.  Desperate to escape the pain, Nick throws himself into his work and is on duty at the radar ATC facility serving Boston’s Logan Airport on the night U.S. President Robert Cartwright is scheduled to fly into Boston.  Armed terrorists storm the facility,
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Pump Up Your Book’s September Authors on Virtual Book Tour – Day 3

Welcome to Day Three of Pump Up Your Book’s September 2010 Authors on Virtual Book Tour! Follow along as these talented authors travel the blogosphere all month long to talk about their books, their lives and their future projects. Leave a comment at their blog stops and you could win a FREE virtual book tour if you’re a published author with a recent release or a $50 Amazon gift certificate if you are not published. So, pick your favorites, follow their tours, and make sure you leave them a note to tell them you stopped by! ________________________________________ Shobhan Bantwal, author of the women’s fiction book, The Unexpected Son, will
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