Month: June 2014

Book Brief: Fissured

FissuredFissured: Book Two of the Pipe Woman Chronicles
by Lynne Cantwell
Genre of this Book: urban fantasy/paranormal romance
Word count: 58,364

If anything can go wrong…

It’s not bad enough that Naomi Witherspoon is second-guessing her relationship with her new boyfriend, Ute shapeshifter Joseph Curtis. Now she’s been attacked by a jaguar in downtown Denver. And somebody has built a hydraulic fracturing operation down the road from their friend Charlie’s ranch. An independent filmmaker named Jack Rivers has conveniently appeared, and is documenting Charlie’s problems with the fracking operation. Naomi thinks Jack might be the Investigator – the fourth member of the team a Lakota Indian goddess set up to help Naomi broker peace between Jehovah and the pagan pantheons – but Jack seems more interested in causing trouble among Naomi, Joseph, and her best friend Shannon, than in helping out their team.

When the operator of the fracking facility turns out to be an old acquaintance, Naomi begins to wonder how many Tricksters it takes to make a divine deal….

This book is available from Amazon, Smashwords, and Barnes & Noble. Continue reading “Book Brief: Fissured”

Kenyon Ledford: I Submit!

Ken LedfordGuest post
by Kenyon Ledford

Submission is a hideous word. In the fight world, it means, “You just lost.” In other circles it means that someone is quitting, giving up, docile, meek, a loser. How wonderful for us writers that each time we want to send out a piece, we have to visit the magazine’s online site and click “submission.” It’s almost like being on the gallows after a long manhunt: “I give up. This is futile. I submit. Kill me now.”

Fortunately, some magazines make the effort to entertain us before they slaughter us. In fact, I’ve belted out some huge guffaws reading some magazines’ online submissions rules. Continue reading “Kenyon Ledford: I Submit!”

Comment Courtesy

Out of the frying pan into the fireMercury is in retrograde. I don’t know what that means, but that is what someone told me about why people seem to be a little touchier than usual.

Sure, there are always some dark alleyways on the internet where you can count on seeing or participating in some sort of cyber-brawl. Indies Unlimited is not one of those places.

We like civil, even-spirited debate, and there is no reason it can’t be respectful debate. We have a comment policy that spells it out pretty well. Nevertheless, I’ve seen a couple of weird things going on of late that I want to bring out in the open: Continue reading “Comment Courtesy”

Mail Call with Bob Hammond

mailboxI’m pleased that as part of my court-mandated community service, I have the opportunity to work with independent authors like Kay Esbrooks and Dave Hiseman, and the whole Indie Underdog crew.

As an internationally-renowned bestselling superstar author, I am happy to share from my vast reserve of experience and wisdom with those less talented. This week, I’ll be pitching in by answering a few of the many e-mail questions we receive.

Justin A. Tizzy writes: “I recently submitted a book for vetting by Indies Unlimited and was told I use too many exclamation marks in my writing! I see this as a style issue! I think exclamation marks add emphasis to what is written, and I want my writing to have emphasis! I am very disappointed! I hope you can shed some light on this issue!!!”

Justin, it is best to remember that when one emphasizes everything, one emphasizes nothing. The exclamation mark should be used sparsely in dialogue and probably never in narrative. Also, maybe you should consider switching to decaf.

Lotta Angst writes: “My friends always told me I should write a book, but now that I have, none of them seem to have the time to read it. Does anyone else have that problem, or do I just have crappy friends?”

Right. Lotta, m’dear, are you fresh off the turnip truck? You realize that friends lie, right? They’ve probably read your book, but were disappointed that they weren’t in it. Rather than own up to that, they’re telling you they haven’t read it. If you’re not sure how to handle this, you can check out my new book entitled, That’s Right Loser, You’re Not in My Book. I’m sure you’ll feel better after reading it.

Ivana Writewell asks: “What is the best way to improve my storycraft? I know there are a lot of books on writing out there. Is there one you recommend?”

Bob Hammond You Cant Write Like MeIvana, there are a lot of books on writing. Where these books all fall short is that up until now, none of them were written by me. But because of your letter, I’ve thrown together a book to help you learn storycraft. Since I’m such a prolific author, it only took me a couple of minutes to write what you will be in awe of for hours. Now available on Amazon: Sorry You Can’t Write Like Me. Of course, another way to learn is by reading good stories. I suggest you buy all my books and study them extensively. If you can’t afford my books (and you probably can’t) there are a few authors here at IU who I mentored. Their books should get you started on the right track.