Announcing Gateway to Reality

I figured I'd throw one more guest blogger at you before we head into National Poetry Month next week. Becca and I have known each other via twitter for about a year. When she asked me to edit her latest novel, Gateway to Reality, how could I resist?  This project was a treat for a number of reasons. First, it's a terrific book (no, I'm not obligated to say that just because I was its editor); second, Becca and I got to have dinner together and discuss the edits face to face. It's amazing what one-on-one time can do to get me to really enjoy a project. You see, most of my interaction with clients is via email, so I've only met two of them in person. I hope you enjoy meeting my favorite, purple-haired author, Becca J. Campbell.

Gateway to Reality: A Mind-Bending Urban Fantasy Tale by Becca J. Campbell

I’m thrilled to announce the publication of my second novel, Gateway to Reality, now available at Amazon US and Amazon UK. Keep reading for a chance to win one of three prize packs!

Gateway to Reality

Here’s a little more about the story:

Talented artists shouldn’t be waiting tables, scraping by, and living mediocre lives. But that’s exactly what art school graduate Wes Teague is doing.

Then he wakes from a bizarre dream, haunted by the sense that his life isn't real. A harrowing truth presents itself—the real world lies in his dreams, not when he's wide awake.

The dream world he enters each night is rich and vibrant. Chicago appears the same on the surface, but chaos runs rampant as gravity, physics, and other laws of nature become fluid, changing unexpectedly. There, Wes's parents, brother, and sister are strangers. His girlfriend Emily doesn’t recognize him. Wes longs to return, to unlearn the truth about his dual reality.

Wes would sacrifice almost anything to get back to blissful ignorance in a false world.

But now he has feelings for the real Emily.

The Matrix Meets Inception

This book explores ideas similar to two of my favorite movies, though it wasn’t directly inspired by either. Dreams are key in the story, as is the idea of two worlds—one that’s real and one that isn’t. Gateway to Reality merges the two concepts and fuses them together with good dose of romance in a way that is fresh and vibrant.

Genre-wise, Gateway to Reality is a New Adult novel that walks the line between Urban Fantasy and Science Fiction. It is a topsy-turvy, reality-bending, relationship-driven tale that explores the relationship between truth and fantasy.

Giveaway

I’m giving away several prizes to celebrate the book’s release. (Go here to have a look at the prizes.) The Grand Prize is a Chicago-theme prize pack and it will include:

·         An autographed paperback of Gateway to Reality

·         A journal with an artistic representation of Chicago on the cover

·         A Cloud Gate button

·         A Gateway to Reality button

·         Three postcards: Gateway to Reality, Cloud Gate, and Crown Fountain

The Second Prize is:

·         An autographed paperback of Gateway to Reality

·         Gateway to Reality postcard

The Third Prize is the full Becca J. Campbell ebook library (your choice of Kindle or ePub version):

·         Gateway to Reality ebook

·         Foreign Identity ebook

·         Not the Norm (Sub-Normal #1) ebook

·         Unmasked Alloy (Sub-Normal #2) ebook

Enter the giveaway here. Good luck!

Where to find Becca

Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Author Blog | Pinterest | Amazon

 

Gateway to Reality is already available and it's one heck of a read!

Just a side note: Next week's post will be on Monday, April 1 to kick off the beginning of National Poetry Month.

Happy Easter, y'all!

Better Late Than Never?

Farewell, Boston

Those of you who follow me in places other than this blog already know I've been a bit overwhelmed lately. Unfortunately, that has affected my blog posts. For those of you who only see me here, I offer a (not so) quick update.

On November 28, at approximately 9:20 a.m., I boarded a plane in Boston and headed west. Destination: Oklahoma City. This move has been in the planning stages for about nine months. It began as a joke, an offhand remark that suddenly sprang to life as a Good Idea. You see, my dear online friends, (authors) Joshua Unruh and Courtney Cantrell both work for, and publish through, a nonprofit known as The Consortium. I don't want to go into too much detail, but I will be working with them which was the major reason for my packing up and moving half way across the country.

The move itself wasn't as difficult as it may sound. I didn't have a ton of stuff I really wanted or needed to keep. Basically, I packed seven boxes and three bags. Two days before my flight, I ran to the post office and shipped those seven boxes to Josh, then I ran away on my Grand Adventure.

We took off on time (9:40) and landed in Dallas/Fort Worth about thirty minutes early. If you know me and my travel history, you know this is crazy. I'm always the one who gets pulled out of line by the TSA. I'm the one who gets patted down, bags checked. And I'm the one you should blame when your flight is delayed. I have yet to complete a journey without incident. So I was floored, after purposely making sure I had a four-hour stopover in Dallas, to find that I didn't need to build in that extra time.

Of course, my flight from DFW to OKC was delayed by ten minutes. Had it been longer than that, I may have been really annoyed. Why? Total cruising time on that flight is only thirty minutes. It takes longer to take off and land than to actually fly from Dallas to Oklahoma City. So why did I bother? Because I couldn't find a nonstop flight from BOS to OKC and my other option was to fly through Chicago. (Heck no. Not at this time of year.)

Anyhow, Court and Josh, along with their kids and Josh's wife (aka his "Senior Partner"), met me at the Will Rogers airport and helped make that day my best birthday ever. (Thanks again, gang!)

The Boston good-bye was tearful, but I'm settling in pretty well here and finally beginning to find more of a routine. As grateful as I am to the friends with whom I've lived for the past three years, I needed this change. I really need to live alone again for at least a little while. And I'm already enjoying the change of scenery. Of course, I've been way too busy to really miss anyone or anything yet. It still feels as though I'm on a working vacation or something. That reminds me; I've got work to do.

So that's why you haven't seen my regular post for the past few weeks. As I settle in further, the blog will get back to normal. 

Meanwhile, I've begun a new blog feature: Wednesday morning Pinterest recipes.

Namaste.

Hello, Oklahoma City

Courtney Cantrell

What more can I say about Courtney that I didn't tell you in her last post? How about The final book in her Demons of Saltmarch trilogy will be available very soon? Or she's the acquisitions editor for The Consortium, a group of writing professionals that is reinventing the way writers get published? Or, and this one's my favorite, her favorite exclamation is, "Cramazing!"

blueberry beer, u2, and a fedora

Find Shadows after Midnight
right now on Amazon

i stand at the bar 
a lifetime away from the stage as 
thoughts about my identity flood through me 

but i do not struggle to remember who i am

this time, i don’t need to know
because a brown fedora rests on the end of the keyboard. 

the singer claims he still hasn’t found
what he’s looking for 
but i say he’s discovered a rhythm to 
move my blood 
pulse my heart and
throb my core. 

i step forward 
into the open space at the foot of the stage
where the crowd does not dare tread 
in spite of their weizen, their vodka, 
their long island ice tea. 

to my name i have only blueberry beer
it hasn’t replaced my blood 
only infused me with delight 

no eyes on me
i walk on strains of melody 
and my toes tap a syncopated beat. 

at the foot of the stage
i look up 
into the keyboard player’s soul-questioning eyes
i reach up 
and do not blink as i pluck his brown fedora
from where it waits 

with his smile and nod in time to the song
he answers his own question as i step back 
yes 
behind me i feel the crowd’s shocked anticipation 
yes 
and i slide that fedora onto my head 

i let go

and i dance

my hands sweep down my every curve
my lips part to exhale joy 
my body undulates, intoxicated 
by nothing but passion. 

oh release.
how i have missed you. 

with the wondering eyes of the crowd on me
at the foot of the stage 
i dance 
i dance shake rattle and hum

i make love to life
wearing the keyboard player’s brown fedora 

that is how i think it could happen anyway 
as i stand a lifetime away at the bar 
and imagine. 


Courtney Cantrell is a writer of high fantasy, low sci-fi, and medium horror. The making of things and the sharing of those things with others is her passion. She enjoys chocolate and coffee and tries to keep these from making her sentences unnecessarily complicated. http://courtcan.com

TEEN Agents -- Guest Post by Joshua Unruh (contest closed)

I've been looking forward to this post for weeks! I'm so excited to finally bring it to you that I'm not even going to write a lengthy introduction. I've already told you a few things about my good friend, and fellow Kindle All-Star, Joshua Unruh. I'll let him tell you the rest and then explain how you can win a signed paperback copy of his latest book:  TEEN Agents in The Plundered Parent Protocol.

Find the new paperback on Amazon
or pick up the e-book!

I love Young Adult fiction. Most of the time that looks like guys in capes fighting would-be world beaters instead of boy wizards or, God deliver us, sparkly vampires.


But I’m also a lover of a wide variety of genre fiction. One of my favorites is Spy Fi, the genre best exemplified in the past by The Avengers or The Man from UNCLE and, more recently, by shows like Alias and the Middle Man. These two things, YA fiction and Spy Fi, come together in my latest novel.

TEEN Agents in The Plundered Parent Protocol is a novel about three girls, best friends, whose fathers are kidnapped by an evil genius...one who just happens to be ten years old. This is how Elly Mourning, Hea Jung Noone, and Saturday Knight discover the existence of the Teenage Extranormal Emergency Network and how they join its ranks as agents.

There’s plenty of weird gadgets, exciting espionage, and plots for world domination in TEEN Agents. But at its heart, it’s a story about three girls who want to save their dads but have to grow up quite a bit to do it.

Right now, I’m the father of just one kid, a little boy. He and I watch all kinds of adventure cartoons, read comic books, and I continue to take in all that genre fiction I’ve always loved. But now I have an eye as to when I can share it with him.

I’d also like to be the father of a little girl someday. I don’t want to climb a soapbox, but it’s pretty hard to find stuff to excite and empower my hypothetical little girl.

But it shouldn’t be that way.

I should have as much strange and exciting genre fiction with young heroines as I have with heroes. Since I don’t, I decided to do something about that.

So that brings me to Elly, Hea, and Saturday. Elly is sharp and together, a born leader. Hea is a free spirit and incredibly athletic. Saturday has a brilliant scientific mind.

Click here to visit Joshua Unruh's blog.

I wrote them to be  the kinds of girls I’d like my future little girl to look up to. They aren’t perfect, but they are as accomplished and secure in who they are as thirteen year old girls can be. And they’re learning and growing as they go.

But I didn’t want to write a “girl’s story.” I wanted to write a spy fi story that starred girls. One that would be exciting for girls...and for their brothers and dads. Which is why I can assure you that the genius is evil, the enemy agent is suave and debonair, the traps are deadly, the lairs are secret, and the plan is diabolical.

This book is for girls looking for exciting fiction that makes them feel good about being girls because it's a book about heroic girls. Not to mention it's a fun read.

I loved writing this novel for so many reasons. And my beta readers have absolutely loved reading it. I hope you can contribute something to the project. Trust me, if you enjoy reading it half as much as I enjoyed writing it, you won't be sorry you did.


PS: Laurie tells me that a lot of her readers are moms. Moms, if you're going to dig my point of view, you're going to dig it on my main blog. Sometimes, though, I'm a bit...unvarnished on that one. For the kiddos who just want to know more about the TEEN Agents series, you might want to direct them to www.teenagents.net. Thanks!

Agents, here are your rules of engagement. You'll have up to six opportunities to fulfill your mission. For each of the following, you will receive one entry:

1.  Stop by Josh’s blog, follow it, and leave a comment on any post except the one that describes this contest. If you're already a follower, just leave your comment.

and/or

2.  Stop by Laurie's blog, Big Girl Blog, follow it, and leave a comment on any post except the one that describes this contest. If you're already a follower, just leave your comment.

and/or

3.  Tweet the link to the contest with a cc to Josh @JoshuaUnruh or Laurie @LaliberteLaurie. It doesn't matter which blog you link to in your tweet. If you're not on twitter, then post on facebook or Google+.

AFTER ACTION REPORT:  After you've done one or more of the above, return here and leave one comment telling us what you did. At the end of the contest, each of us will pull one name.

BONUS OBJECTIVE:  If you tell both of us what you did, you double your chances of winning.

Don't forget we'll need your email so we can notify you that you've won and deliver your prize. Each of the two winners will receive an email from kindleallstars[at]gmail[dot]com explaining how to claim their prize.

The contest begins at 8:00 a.m. GMT on Sunday, February 26, 2012. (That's 3:00 a.m. on the east coast and midnight on the west coast.) It ends at 8:00 a.m. GMT on Sunday, March 4. (Again, that's 3:00 a.m. on the east coast and midnight on the west coast.