Month: May 2012

Missing Mader?

If you are used to getting your dose of JD Mader on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 2 PM PDT, you’re probably going through withdrawal by now. He is either being held for ransom or is going fishing. It was hard to understand him when he had that handkerchief over the phone trying to disguise his voice.

However, I am almost certain that he said he would be returned safely if people bought enough Indies Unlimited gear. Or, maybe he said something about “The Biker.” Hard to tell. I’d play it safe if I were you.

Meet the Author: Chris James

Author Chris James
Author Chris James

Chris James is an English science fiction writer who was born in Hampton Hill near London in 1967. In 1998 he moved to Warsaw, Poland, where he lives with his wife and three children. He published his first novel in 2010, a futuristic court-room thriller called Class Action, and his second in 2011, called The Second Internet Café, Part 1: The Dimension Researcher, which takes the sub-genre of Alternative Realities to its logical conclusion. He is currently writing the second part of The Second Internet Café trilogy.

Chris says when he writes, he concentrates on replicating what he enjoys most as a reader: a fast pace in the story, emotional involvement with the characters, and action, as well as story continuity that works. “Many things can take me out of a story that I’m reading: bad writing, bad editing, plot points that don’t make sense, clunky and dull exposition. These are all the things I try very hard to avoid when I write.”

Originalty and an interesting premise are important to Chris in his work. “Class Action came from one thought: what would happen if there was a technology that could see into the brain and extract everything, which made it impossible for suspects to lie under oath? The Second Internet Café came from: wouldn’t it be cool if there was a place where scientists knew where every single alternative reality was, and sent special researchers to go and investigate them?” Continue reading “Meet the Author: Chris James”

The Fighting in Writing by Mark Jacobs

The Principles of Unarmed CombatAfter recently participating in a thread on a book discussion group regarding great literary action scenes, it got me to thinking of what are the best written fight scenes in literature and just what it is that makes a great fight scene on the written page.

The latter questions is, perhaps, the more difficult one to answer. A sense of knowledgeability on the part of the author leading to some realism in the scene is obviously helpful. A great example of a writer who has “walked the walk” is Thom Jones. A former U.S. Marine and amateur boxer, Jones has written some brilliant short fiction, a few revolving around the dark places of human experience that combat can lead to. His story, The Pugilist at Rest, contains a short but memorable description of what it’s like to engage in a boxing match you’re not quite prepared for:

“He put me down almost immediately, and when I got up I was terribly afraid. I was tight and I could not breath. It felt like he was hitting me in the face with a ball-peen hammer. It felt like he was busting light bulbs in my face.”

Unfortunately, most authors are not known for their pugilistic skills. As a group, they often tend to be observers and thinkers, rather than doers and brawlers (Besides Jones, there are a few other odd exceptions to this rule. Hemingway was known to step into the ring on occasion but, sadly, “Papa” did not depict that many fight scenes in his work). Consequently, most written fight scenes, at least to the expert observer, lack a sense of veritas. However, there are exceptions to the rule in which even unrealistic fight scenes have been portrayed in gripping passages. Continue reading “The Fighting in Writing by Mark Jacobs”

Featured Author: Hayley Rose

Author Hayley Rose

Multi-award-winning author, Hayley Rose, grew up in the beach side town of Pacific Palisades, California, to a family of visual artists. In the early 1990’s she traveled the U.S. with her band Crush Violet.

In 1994, after a family reunion, she was inspired to write a children’s book. Looking for a cute and catchy name for a main character, she kept hearing “first in, first out”. Hence, the name Fifo was born. Hayley’s mother would often ask her what she wanted to be when she grew up, so Hayley decided to start her series of “Fifo” books with that very question. Her first book, Fifo “When I Grow Up” was published in 2002.

Her love of travel inspired her second book in the Fifo series, Fifo “50 States”, published in 2010. Stepping outside the Fifo series, “Do’s and Don’ts, Lessons in Etiquette” will be out at the end of 2012. Continue reading “Featured Author: Hayley Rose”