Ed’s Casual Friday: How not to sell (me) a book.

Let me start by outlining my own history of involvement in the wacky world of online everything. Before March of 2011, my presence in Virtual World consisted of an e-mail account I checked once a week or so. If I remembered. I usually didn’t. March 2011, however, was when I first hit that “Publish” button over at KDP, and I figured I had better dive into the digital world, seeing as I was trying to sell digital books. Continue reading “Ed’s Casual Friday: How not to sell (me) a book.”

Featured Author: Stephanie Osborn

Stephanie Osborn is a former payload flight controller, a veteran of over twenty years of working in the civilian space program, as well as various military space defense programs. She has worked on numerous Space Shuttle flights and the International Space Station, and counts the training of astronauts on her resumé. Of those astronauts she trained, one was Kalpana Chawla, a member of the crew lost in the Columbia disaster.

She holds graduate and undergraduate degrees in four sciences: Astronomy, Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics, and she is “fluent” in several more, including Geology and Anatomy. She obtained her various degrees from Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, TN and Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN. In addition she possesses a license of ministry in the Protestant faith; has been a duly sworn, certified police officer, and is a National Weather Service certified storm spotter. Her space experience includes Spacelab and ISS operations, variable star astrophysics, Martian aeolian geophysics, radiation physics, and nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons effects. Her travels have

taken her to the volcanos of the Cascade Range in the Pacific Northwest, where she explored any number of such volcanos, including being present for several phreatic eruptions of Mt. St. Helens. Her broad knowledge base and experience led the LibertyCon 2011 programmers to invite her to describe what it takes to be a polymath.

Stephanie is currently retired from space work. She now happily “passes it forward, ” teaching math and science via numerous media including radio, podcasting, and public speaking, as well as working with SIGMA, the science fiction think tank, while writing science fiction mysteries based on her knowledge, experience, and travels. Continue reading “Featured Author: Stephanie Osborn”

New Release: The Lady Astronomer

Lucretia’s life as an astronomer is quickly turned on its head by her eldest brother when he is commanded by the king to build the grandest telescope in the land.

Her nights spent on rooftops gazing at the stars are replaced by adventure as the family move to be nearer the king. In a race to build the Forty-foot telescope on time, misfortunes take their toll. The lady astronomer finds court life to be more dangerous than she could have ever imagined. Can she find the strength inside to overcome the obstacles threatening her destiny? Only the stars will tell.

The Lady Astronomer was released by Untold Press on 26th September 2012.  It is available on Amazon US and Amazon UK.

Video Trailer: Killer in Sight

Killer in Sight
by Sandra Carrington-Smith
Available from Amazon.

When a young woman is found murdered in a public park, it is up to RPD detective Lt. Tom Lackey to locate her killer. With the help of his longtime girlfriend and professional photographer, Kathy Spencer, Lackey unravels a mystery laden with psychosis and unexpected revelations. While Tom is busy following the multiple clues pouring in from different directions, Kathy gets to work to prove her own theory: The last image viewed by the dying person can be lifted from the eyes of the victim to identify the murderer. Using her background in photography and her passion for iridology, Kathy enlists the help of Dr. Greer, a snow-haired medical examiner who allows her to take shots of Tracey Newman’s eyes. Her findings are puzzling, but they are supported by Alexis Howard, the dead girl’s ten-year-old half sister who volunteers information she claims was delivered to her by her imaginary friend Lily. With multiple suspects floating up to the surface and skeletons yanked out of unlikely closets, Tom must rely on his methodical expertise and on Kathy’s insight to find the killer before tragedy strikes again.