Monday, December 03, 2012

Dark Summer by Lizzy Ford

Summer is an orphan who's been kicked out of every school she's attended. When she gets to her new boarding school, she figures it will be the same.  But the school was created for people like her -- people who can channel one or more of the five elements.  And when she meets Decker, future Master of Night and Fire, the connection is strong and dangerous, because Summer will be forced to choose between the dark and light, and fight for her soul.

Dark Summer is strongly plotted with vividly drawn characters. I was bowled over by the ending, which came as a total surprise.  It left me waiting impatiently for the next book, though at least Lizzy Ford had the mercy to write a novella that answers a question or two from the cliffhanger ending!

Saturday, November 17, 2012

PRESS RELEASE: FORGOTTEN SON BY WARREN MURPHY AND GERALD WELCH

It’s the second coming of Warren Murphy and Gerald Welch is riding shotgun!

Forgotten Son is the first book in the new Destroyer spin-off series, Legacy. Violence is escalating at the US/Mexico border. Smugglers run rampant while decapitated heads decorate billboards like Christmas tree lights. But the cartels choose the wrong place to conduct their business when they decide to cross the Arizona border belonging to the Sinanju tribe.

That’s where Ex-Mossad agent Benjamin Cole comes in. Ben has just been tapped to head a secret new government agency responsible for stopping terrorist acts. He is only given two field agents, but fortunately for him, Freya Williams and Stone Smith are the daughter and son of a certain Remo Williams.

This is old-school Murphy at his best, with explosive action, biting satire and engaging characters. Welch, coming off strong from the first five books in his Last Witness series, brings a spark of magic to the mix, but you kind of expect that from someone who has an honest-to-God lightning bolt scar on his forehead.

Fans of the Destroyer are going to love Forgotten Son and if you’re one of the four people on Earth who have never heard of the Destroyer, then buckle your seat belt, because you’re in for a ride. If this book is any indication of what we can expect from future Legacy books, then Forgotten Son will be long remembered.

Monday, November 12, 2012

Friendship

"I simply mean to say that truly close friendships are often very difficult to find, no matter who you are, and if I were counseling someone with AS, I think I would be very honest and objective about that possibility. I would try to explain that sometimes, no matter what we do and no matter how wonderful we might be, things happen to interfere with friendships. I would lead them, for example, through elaborated stories that illustrate people moving to far away towns, people getting wrapped up in their busy schedules, following different routines, having different interests, enjoying different kinds of play, and having their own set of difficulties and responsibilities.  I would try to explain that sometimes time and place and sets of circumstances work against real friendships."

From Pretending to be Normal, but I think it's something we all have to remind ourselves about from time to time, those of us who resist change and don't understand change and so fear it.

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Destroyer Author News

Lesson One and Lesson Two are up on Warren Murphy's blog.  If you've ever wanted to write a novel or if you're just curious how an author creates, check them out.

Also, Jerry Welch's short story "War in Heaven," set in his The Last Witness universe, is being made into an audio book. You can listen to the sample here.

Tuesday, October 09, 2012

Warren Murphy's Site...

has been updated.  Go to warrenmurphy.com.  He has a new writing class page, where he will shortly begin posting "how to write a novel that doesn't suck" blogs.

And when my novella goes live in a few days, it will be posted there (and here, of course).  And also when Warren (and Jerry Welch's) Legacy is published and later the full-length novel.  Here of course also.

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Update on my life (so far)

It's been a long time. Not that I have any readers, but still, as long as I'm only blogging to hear myself talk, I feel I've been giving myself the silent treatment.

So what's new?

Since 2010, my horrible job folded when my boss got fired by her bosses.  My so-so part time job became my (almost) full time job.  I kept reading, I kept writing (but not nearly enough).

Some good changes.

Former Destroyer ghost and  co-writer James Mullaney decided to launch not one but two series -- The Red Menace and the Crag Banyon Mysteries.  I've been trying to help him get the word out that these exist.  There are so many ebooks out there, competing for attention. But Moonstone has picked up Jim's first Red Menace book, Red and Buried, and are issuing a paperback copy, due out next spring.  You can pre-order it through the link.

Warren Murphy and his sons Devin and Brian have decided to bring back the Destroyer series.  They have a publisher who is going to be re-issuing the first twenty five Destroyers as e-books, replacing the ones that the Murphys put up on their own.  Warren has a new agent, who is trying to get the back catalog of Destroyers out to the foreign market again which will give the books a bigger audience overseas.  That market had dried up when the books were at Gold Eagle back in the mid nineties to 2006.

Warren is co-writing Destroyers again.  He has two new Destroyers and one spin-0ff series written and ready to launch soon.

The first book on Kindle will be Take Two, a novella written by Warren Murphy and Donna Courtois. Yes, me.  Warren approached me last July about writing some Destroyer novellas.  My online friend and Destroyer Club creator Jerry Welch was tapped at the same time to outline and write the first book of a spin-off series featuring Remo's children, Freya and Stone (formerly known as Winner) Smith.  It's called Forgotten Son and should be out shortly after Take Two.  And last -- but definitely not least -- Warren and Molly Cochran have written a new, novel length Destroyer, which should be out shortly after Forgotten Son.  I've seen the first two chapters and they're terrific.

I'm very excited and happy to be a part of reviving the series.  The characters are as fresh and timeless as ever, and as long as there are pompous people or idiot trends and unbelievable beliefs to target, there will always be room for more books.

Right now I'm working on the plot and outline of the second novella. So I'd better close this up and get back to that.