Ed Drury Wins Flash Fiction Challenge

Congrats to Ed Drury, the readers’ choice in this week’s Indies Unlimited Flash Fiction Challenge.

The winning entry is recognized 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 story:

Continue reading “Ed Drury Wins Flash Fiction Challenge”

Book Brief: The Witch of Leper Cove

The Witch of Leper CoveThe Witch of Leper Cove
by Deborah Bogen
Genre of the Book: YA Historical Novel, Medieval
Length: 353 pages

Early in the 13th century Pope Honorius launched the Holy Inquisition sending his Hounds of Gods, into Christendom to root out heresy.

In the English village of Aldinoch, sixteen-year-old Lily and her younger twin brothers have finally accepted their parents’ disappearance and are adjusting to new lives. Separated from each other and their childhood home, grappling with grief, fear, loneliness and guilt, each is sure nothing more can threaten them.

Lily is apprenticed to the local healer, Alice, who takes care of Aldinoch’s sick and gives aid to the colony of lepers living downstream from the village. Her knowledge of the local herbs and illness is the only thing standing between Aldinoch’s villagers and the fevers and agues afflicting them.

But when the Church is infected with worldly ambition not even such a force for good is safe. Bishop Hugo, one of the Pope’s Inquisitors, is called to the nearby town of Guildford to hold hearings and investigate heresy. When Alice is officially accused of witchcraft and imprisoned in Guildford’s ancient dungeon the siblings are forced into action.

In The Witch of Leper Cove we meet not the knights and ladies who so often populate historical novels, but common people caught in the cross-fire of the ruthless and striving. Lily and her brothers are forced to take on a monolithic institution and the powerful men within it. What they discover about the Church and themselves will change them forever.

This book is available from Amazon. Continue reading “Book Brief: The Witch of Leper Cove”

Title Twins: What Happens When Your Book has the Same Title as Another Book?

Authors want their books to have a unique and memorable title. I know a lot of authors who will not even tell anyone the name of a work in progress until it is published because they don’t want anyone to steal their title.

It’s easy to understand why authors would feel that way. You can’t copyright a title and sometimes finding a good one is harder than writing the freaking book. That causes two things to happen:

1. A lot of books have the same title as at least one other book; and

2. A lot of books have bizarre titles that are hard to remember, like The Return of the Revenge of the Curse of the Son of the Bride of Vampire Ninja vs. Robot Space Monkeys, Part II.

So it is not that terribly surprising that Stephen King has a book with the same title as that of another author.  Emily Schultz published her debut novel, Joyland, in 2006. Stephen King’s Joyland was released in 2013.

What I do find surprising is that the coincidence seemed to result in a sales spike for Ms. Schultz. According to The Telegraph article, a lot of those purchases were made by people who thought they were buying the King book. I guess I can see how someone might make that mistake. Still, the author’s name on the cover should be a clue. Continue reading “Title Twins: What Happens When Your Book has the Same Title as Another Book?”

Backing Up Your Digital Media

damaged-computer-cd-442363_960_720
Fried to a crisp….

One of my first jobs that didn’t require asking, “would you like fries with that?” was as a computer operator for a bank. I know, you kids say “everyone operates a computer, what does that even mean?” This was in ancient times (roughly eleventy-bazillion years ago) when to actually touch a computer you had to clear two (sometimes three) levels of security to get into a large air conditioned room where only very special people were allowed. (I’m ignoring the fact that most of these VSPs knew how to ask if you’d like fries twenty different ways.)

I dealt with a lot of data backups in that job where losing everything would cost someone a lot more money than I had. I figured out a few rules about backups and what was really needed if you truly care about not losing your data. Continue reading “Backing Up Your Digital Media”