Month: November 2013

Book Brief: Cairo Caper

Cairo Caper
by Barbara Silkstone
Genre: Comedy Adventure
Word count: 52K
Part-time tomb raider and full-time real estate broker, Wendy Darlin joins her lover, archaeologist Roger Jolley, in a quest for Cleopatra’s tomb. All they have to do is get from Cairo to the Temple of Taporisi Magna alive. Armed only with a couple of hijacked ashtrays and faced with a trek across the blazing Sahara desert can Wendy out-maneuver Russian oligarchs, a dozen Dark Force mercenaries, and Roger’s chubby ex-girlfriend in time to find the tomb and seal it before chaos erupts in Egypt?

This book is available from Amazon.com and Amazon UK. Continue reading “Book Brief: Cairo Caper”

Flash Fiction Challenge: Watching the Watcher

Photo by K.S. Brooks

Kit Rivers, celebrated wildlife photographer, watched and waited from her vantage point on the low, wooded ridge near the water.

It had been a good outing. She’d gotten great pics of bear, elk, foxes, and wolves. This moose was a bonus shot. Unfortunately, her camera’s batteries were running low.

It was unfortunate because this was the last picture she snapped before she turned around to realize the whole time she was watching the wildlife, she was also being watched.

In 250 words or less, tell us a story incorporating the elements in the picture. The 250 word limit will be strictly enforced.

Please keep language and subject matter to a PG-13 level.

Use the comment section below to submit your entry. Entries will be accepted until Tuesday at 5:00 PM Pacific Time. Continue reading “Flash Fiction Challenge: Watching the Watcher”

Congrats to Ed Drury

Flash fiction veteran Ed Drury returns to the winner’s circle as the readers’ choice in this week’s Indies Unlimited Flash Fiction Challenge.

The winning entry is rewarded with a special feature here today and a place in our collection of winners which will be published as an e-book at year end.

Without further ado, here’s the winning entry:

Continue reading “Congrats to Ed Drury”

Are Hardcover Books on Life Support?

One of the reasons writers give for wanting a real, live, honest-to-goodness contract with a traditional publisher is that they want to see their work in hardcover. Paperbacks are all very fine, but there’s nothing like the heft of a hardcover to make you feel like you’ve arrived. Or so I hear.

Anyway, the point is that it used to be a given: if you got an agent and signed on with one of the Big Five, you were guaranteed that your book would be in print in some form or fashion, usually hardcover followed by paperback. But Publishers Weekly reported this week that as the number of brick-and-mortar bookstores dwindle, and as e-books become more popular, agents are beginning to see this change – to the point that eventually, a dead-tree edition may not be guaranteed. Continue reading “Are Hardcover Books on Life Support?”