Month: July 2012

Weekly Flash Fiction Poll

The time has arrived for Indies Unlimited readers to begin voting in this week’s Flash Fiction Competition.

On behalf of the IU staff, I want to thank all the entrants for doing such a great job with the writing prompt and the merciless constraints of the exercise.

You may review the entries here. Please spread the word and encourage your friends to vote by using the share buttons at the bottom of the post!

The poll will be open until 5:00 PM (Pacific Daylight Time) Thursday

Who is the author of your favorite entry for this week's Flash Fiction Poll?

  • Brian Beam (38%, 6 Votes)
  • Irina Serban (38%, 6 Votes)
  • A. L. Kaplan (19%, 3 Votes)
  • Dick Waters (6%, 1 Votes)

Total Voters: 16

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Tips from the Masters: John Gilstrap

Author Lin Robinson

John Gilstrap has an unusual characteristic for a multi NYT best-selling author: he’s known online as very approachable and forthcoming individual, open and willing to connect. Maybe that has something to do with his kind of thriller, the kind that are less about whizbang, agency name-dropping, and international scare-shows, and more about human beings coping with hairy situations.

He’s always shown up heavily in the audio book market, with major sales to listeners and bling like The Copper Bracelet being #1 at Audible.com, with Audiobook Of They Year and Audie Award honors for The Chopin Manuscript.

But my personal favorites of his books is an early one, Nathan’s Run, a excellent example of what I mean by his human scale. There’s no huge world-shaking threat, no blazing action sequences; just a 12 year-old boy on the run from death with nobody to protect or care for him. In fact, a scan of his work shows that many show similar themes, as much so as his more typical investigators and assassin thrillers: church camp teens held hostage, a son lost in a frozen wilderness, a couple protect a hunted waif, criminal parents fleeing capture with their teen-aged son. It’s suspense in the real world, the world you know and depend on–fear and action in your own size and idiom. Continue reading “Tips from the Masters: John Gilstrap”

H.C. Turk Announces New Release

Make The Modern WorldAuthor H.C. Turk is pleased to announce the release of Make The Modern World.

Connie Weston is 17, overweight, and wants to go home: America. She lives with her family in Balapasar, a nation near Indonesia filled with ancient customs. When nationalist forces begin killing foreigners, Connie and her family flee, traveling through the deadly rainforest. But Connie is kidnapped by murderous clansmen who consider her the reincarnation of a woman who ended the first war by killing herself. Connie is expected to follow history. Utilizing her modern sensibilities in a primitive land, Connie survives dynamite and spear attacks as she faces the nation’s conflicts of deadly history and future peace. If Connie cannot learn how to make the modern world, her world will end.

Make The Modern World was self-published by H.C. Turk in May 2012. It is available from Amazon.

The Wolf

So, I have to write a post. But posts are made of wood and they create fences! And fences keep people in. And keep people out. And possums. Someone think of the possums. Sure, they can climb fences, but they shouldn’t have to. You want me to build a fence, Mr. Hise?  How dare you? 

This is supposed to be about community. How many times do we have to talk about the gatekeepers and our newfound indie freedom? Well, you know what Hise, gates are made out of wood, too – just like posts. I see your agenda.

Continue reading “The Wolf”