How Many #Books Do You Read At One Time? #amreading

Do you read more than one book at a time? In addition to the time I spend writing, the time I spend reading is some of the most satisfying in my day. And I have a confession: I've become a polygamist when it comes to reading. I read multiple books with abandon, and for the most part, keep the characters and plots straight in my head.



I haven't always been promiscuous when it comes to books. When I was a kid in Englewood, Ohio and had the utter joy of stocking up on books at the library on Saturday, I'd read (eat) them one at a time, back to back, almost without drawing breath. If I finished my stack of library books before Saturday rolled around again, I'd start over with the first book and continue on in linear fashion. But with the advent of e-readers and the portability of audio books, I had no problem giving up monogamous reading. At the moment, there are five books in the rotation, as follows:

On the Kindle: THE BLACK WIDOW by Daniel Silva (not the most action-oriented novel he's written, but interesting and timely)

On my Overdrive audio book app: BIG MAGIC: CREATIVE LIVING BEYOND FEAR by Elizabeth Gilbert (an excellent listen for anyone who lives or is considering living a creative life of any sort)

On my nightstand in paperback: CRIMINAL by Karin Slaughter (I'm barely into this one, but I love Karin Slaughter and expect great things)

I'm using the Bible In One Year app, and I'll probably stretch that year into two years, maybe a little more, before I can claim having read the Bible from cover to cover (try as I might, I can't get into a regular enough routine to guarantee solid progress on this one - thankfully, the app didn't force me to start over when we rolled into the new year)

Also active on the Kindle: A YEAR TO CLEAR: A DAILY GUIDE TO CREATING SPACIOUSNESS IN YOUR HOME AND HEART by Stephanie Bennett Vogt (this also will take more than a year to finish, but I think whatever time I give this book will be worthwhile)

Although I love all forms of reading, they don't all get equal attention. Given that we live on a farm and spend a good deal of time outside, my Overdrive app gets lots of use. The second most used is probably the paperback on the nightstand because I can work in a few minutes of reading before turning out the light. Last is the Kindle, but one of the things I love most about it is that it's with me as long as my phone is with me, which is most of the time.


I'm curious to know if others are of the same promiscuous bent and honestly, I'd like to know if there are other ways I can work an additional book into my reading time.

So back to the original question: how many books do you read at one time? Is there one form of reading you prefer over others?


photo credit: Lester Public Library My Problem With Books via photopin (license)
photo credit: Sweet Carolina Photography 7/365 via photopin (license)

On the Loss of #Indie #Author Kathleen Valentine #amreading

The indie publishing world comes together today to celebrate the life and grieve the loss of fellow indie author Kathleen Valentine. She left this world on Saturday, October 29, 2016. Along with her family and friends, her fellow authors and her readers will miss her very much. Funny, forthright, and passionate, she was a generous contributor to the indie publishing and other creative communities.

To honor her, we're spreading the word about Kathleen and hope to keep her with us a little longer through the books she left behind.


Kathleen was a prolific writer. On Amazon you'll find her mysteries, psychological suspense, ghost stories, folklore inspired fiction, romance, and her cookbooks and knitting books. Please visit her Amazon author page to discover the many stories Kathleen leaves for us.

#Quote of the Day: Paul Sweeney on Turning the Last Page of a #Book

Some books truly are so good, I hate to see them end...

#Quote of the Day: Holbrook Jackson on #Books and #Reading

#Quote of the Day: Destiny vs. Fate #HenryMiller #amwriting

UNDER THE NAZI HEEL - New #Historical #Fiction from Scott Bury (@ScottTheWriter)

New historical fiction release coming February 29 - UNDER THE NAZI HEEL by my friend Scott Bury!

UNDER THE NAZI HEEL is the second book in the Walking Out of War series, which is a memoir in novel form. The books are based on the experiences of Scott's father-in-law, Maurice Bury. From 1942 to 1944, Maurice Bury was a member of the Ukrainian underground resistance and fought against the German occupation of Ukraine.

Read on for a sneak peek of Book 2, and get a copy of Book 1, ARMY OF WORN SOLES, on Amazon.

UNDER THE NAZI HEEL
Walking Out of War, Book 2

About the Book

For Ukrainians in 1942, the occupying Germans were not the only enemy.

Maurice Bury was drafted into the Red Army just in time to be thrown against the invading Germans in 1941. Captured and starved in a POW camp, he escaped and made his way home to western Ukraine, where the Nazi occupiers pursued a policy of starving the locals to make more “living space” for Germans.

To protect his family, Maurice joins the secret resistance. He soon finds the Germans are not the only enemy. Maurice and his men are up against Soviet spies, the Polish Home Army and enemies even closer to home.

Experience this seldom seen phase of World War 2 through the eyes of a man who fought and survived Under the Nazi Heel.


UNDER THE NAZI HEEL
EXCERPT 4: RECRUITED

Komorski could not hope to keep his pathetic café warm. Ice built up around the windows and at the threshold, where the cold slithered under the door. Like the rest of the patrons, Maurice kept his hat and coat on as they sipped lightly tinted water and exchanged what little news they had. “My poor cows are suffering in this weather,” said one, when the door opened and a blast of winter air slapped Maurice’s cheek and threw newspapers off the tables. Hrech Zazulak, nearly swallowed by a fur coat and hat, stepped inside and struggled against the wind to pull the door closed again. He shook the snow off himself as he scanned the room. Apparently satisfied with the people he found in the café, he opened his coat and laid it over the back of a chair.

Out of the coat, Zazulak was a tall, thin man with thinning black hair and thick eyebrows. His cheeks were hollow and always covered with black stubble, no matter how recently he had shaved. The day that Maurice had returned home after nine months of fighting in the Red Army, and weeks starving in a German prison camp, Zazulak had tried to recruit Maurice into a secret underground struggle against the German occupation.

He reached inside the fur coat and took out a broadsheet. “Latest edition, boys.” He spread it across the nearest table—Free Ukraine, only two days old. “Fritz is taking heavy losses in Tula, and Ivan recaptured Klin to the north weeks ago.”

The men gathered around the newspaper, craning their necks to read about German losses across the front, about underdressed soldiers freezing to death. There was a story about a siege of Leningrad, starvation in the streets and cannibalism.

Germany and the USSR had frozen together in a death-grip. “Can you trust this?” Maurice asked Zazulak.

“More than Pravda or the shit the Germans spew out,” Zazulak said. “But Pravda corroborates the OUN. Read it well, boys, then burn it.”

Maurice scanned the rest of the paper as well as he could, sharing it with a half-dozen men. When he looked out the window, he felt a shock at how dark it was. He pulled his scarf up higher on his neck, waved a farewell to Komorski and stepped out, careful to push the door shut.

It opened again and Zazulak stepped out, grabbing for his hat when the wind tore it off his head. He followed Maurice down the road. “You were a member, before the war,” he said.

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Maurice felt his pulse in his neck. “The Communists killed all of OUN in 1939.” He sped up, but walking against the wind, in snow half-way to his knees, made for slow going.

Zazulak put his hand on Maurice’s shoulder and stopped him. “The Soviets didn’t kill all of OUN, and neither have the Germans. And there are other organizations, too. Don’t worry, Maurice. I’m not here to betray you.”

“It’s too cold to stand here. If you want to talk to me, walk with me.” Maurice struggled through the snow, head down. The wind stung his face and snowflakes kept landing on his eyelashes.

“Ukraine needs men like you, Maurice,” Zazulak said, his voice muffled by his fur coat.

“What do you mean, men like me?” But he knew the answer.

“Men with military experience. Smart men. Able men.”

Maurice shivered and pulled his scarf over his nose. He tried to walk faster, but that just made his feet slip back with every step forward.

“Men are building an army for Ukraine,” Zazulak continued. “You’ve heard of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.”

“Never,” Maurice lied.


About the Author
Scott Bury just cannot stay in one genre.

After a three-decade career in journalism, his first published fiction was a children’s story, followed by an occult spy thriller. The Bones of the Earth, his first novel, crossed the boundaries between historical fiction and magic realism. He has also published spy thrillers and two police procedurals set in Hawaii.

Under the Nazi Heel is the sequel to Army of Worn Soles. They describe the real life experiences of Maurice Bury, a Canadian living in Ukraine during World War 2.


You can find Scott’s books and other writings at his website, The Written Word, and connect with him at:

•    His blog, Written Words
•    On Facebook at Scott Bury Author
•    His Amazon Author page
•    Or on Twitter @ScottTheWriter.

#Gratitude in a Time of Loss

This has been a year of loss for my family. A year of agonizing choices and heartbreak we simply weren't prepared to handle. At least not so soon. Although it was a painful decision, we chose to move my father to a nursing home in May 2015. We've been losing him for years thanks to a slowly advancing case of Alzheimer's, but keeping him at home any longer was too dangerous for my mother.


And then, completely unexpectedly, my mother died in September 2015. We're still in a a state of disbelief that she's gone, and here we are, at Thanksgiving. While I've come face-to-face with many of the firsts I'll have without her, this is the first holiday. It's been a hard one.

Grief is the price we pay for loving someone, and even knowing that, I'll choose to love. We are only one of too many families who are hurting right now, and who will struggle through this holiday season. My heart breaks for them, too. But there is no going back, so I'm moving forward and remembering the many things I'm grateful for this Thanksgiving.

My husband has been a rock solid support as we've moved through the changes in my dad's Alzheimer's and my mother's death. He handles my grief with grace and patience, bolsters me when I don't think I can bear to go to the nursing home, and makes my dad laugh. He's a beautiful human, and I'm grateful to have him.

One of my mother's greatest fears was that she would live long enough to experience severe dementia, as her mother and husband have. As much as I hate losing her, I am so thankful that she died lightning fast, and that her fear of a lingering death will never be realized.

 

I am grateful to be a Christian, and know that my mom is at home with her Heavenly Father. She's having a great time in heaven, setting up bridge games and singing in the angelic choir. (If cards were banned in heaven before September 12, 2015, you can bet they're allowed now. She's persuasive that way, and we're talking bridge, folks.)

From what I've seen, Alzheimer's manifests itself differently for each person. In my dad's case, he's lost his knowledge of who he is, where he is, who we are, and how to do so many simple things. But his fundamental personality, the 'who' of him, is the same. He's funny and sweet and forgiving. I'm so grateful that even though he can't speak clearly any longer, his smile and his laugh make him my dad again.

One of the best things that's come from my mom's death is that my brothers and I are closer than we've been in many, many years. Like most families, we've moved in and out of each others orbits as our lives have changed. We're working through the business of mom's death and dad's stay in the nursing home together, which greatly lightens the load.

I'm also grateful that at last, my writing mojo is coming back. It's been a slow process, but the words are there again, and this next Cass Elliot book? Hold on to your hats - there are some great twists coming.

Last, but definitely not least, I'm grateful to the many readers who have picked up a Cass Elliot novel and loved it, then demanded more.

To each of you, have a wonderful holiday season and when the turkey and family togetherness are just too much, go escape into a book!



photo credit: Grief via photopin (license)
photo credit: Unidentified women playing bridge in Tallahassee, Florida via photopin (license)
photo credit: The Fox via photopin (license)

#Interview Part 1: #Banker Turned #Crime Author. How Does THAT Happen? Find out on @NChristie_OH 's blog!

Join me for Part 1 of an interview on speaker and author Nancy Christie's blog where we talk my transition from international banking to crime fiction; the event that triggered my desire to write; the writing process; some of my favorite authors; writer's block; and more. She's an inquisitive gal and her questions were unique and a blast to answer!


Haven't met Nancy? She's a full-time author, speaker, and instructor, teaching at conferences and in classrooms across the country. (A busy woman indeed, and a lovely person to know.)




You can find her on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, or on her website where you'll find links to her writing blogs and upcoming speaking gigs.

(Part 2 of this interview is now live! You can find it here.)

#Book Launch Party at Los Pinos Ranch Vineyards is a Success! #wine #murder

Thanks to everyone who joined us at Los Pinos Ranch Vineyards in Pittsburg, TX to celebrate the release of A CASE OF SOUR GRAPES. We had a fabulous time with wine, food, books, solo jazz guitar from Martyn Popey, a reading, and cupcakes!

The mystery in A CASE OF SOUR GRAPES revolves around a winery in East Texas, and Los Pinos gave the crowd a chance to experience the novel's setting first hand (and sample the wine, of course). I couldn't have asked for a better evening for a party, or a better group of wine and book lovers to celebrate with!

The wine was a big hit.

Introducing the crowd to Maxine Leverrman.

Talking technology with Kathy Shelton and Rylee Woods

Beautiful flowers from beautiful friends.

Mini cupcakes for Maxine. Shoes and handbags? But of course.

There are some perks to being a musician's wife.

With friends Johnna and Kevin Fullen.

Book Signing and Jazz with @VivraPatricia in Henderson TX Friday, June 26

Join fellow East Texas author Vivra Beene and myself on Friday night, June 26 at MoJoe's Coffee Cafe in downtown Henderson, Texas. We'll be signing books, reading a few passages, and enjoying live jazz by guitarist Martyn Popey. (You want to hear Vivra read. She's Welsh. Her paranormal stories are spooky. Enough said. And you want to hear Martyn play. He's phenomenal. And my husband. Enough said.)

Our event starts at six o'clock and ends at eight, when a live band takes the stage from Martyn. You can find MoJoe's on Facebook for details and directions.

We hope to see you there!

#NewRelease A CASE OF SOUR GRAPES is only #99cents thru May 31! #mystery

Wine, women, and song. What could possibly go wrong?

Meet Maxine Leverman, lover of expensive shoes, beautiful handbags, and her lingerie wearing ex-husband's hush money. When she pleads her way into a job at family run Lost and Found Investigations, Maxine's only goal is to gain the concealed carry license and PI skills she needs to find the man who attacked her, and then kill him. (Or maybe just put him in jail. That decision can wait.)

But when she secretly takes a missing husband case on her first day at the agency, she stumbles into a high-stakes game of blackmail and murder. Maxine must unravel the links between a forgotten folk punk band, an international drug cartel, and the tangled history of the missing husband to keep the women in his life alive.

__________________

Celebrate the release of the new Cass Elliot Companion novel! Click on the cover above to get your copy for only 99 cents through Sunday, May 31.

Escape into Forney County with characters you love, and those you love to hate!

Going to a Book Signing with no #Books to Sign! What's an #author to do?

I received an invitation Wednesday night to attend another author's book signing Thursday evening, along with an offer to sign my books, too. (Yes, the other author is a generous gal.) There's only one problem: I have no books to sign.

Head. Desk.

Bad Gae-Lynn. Very bad.

But I'm not one to surrender easily, and in this instance, PowerPoint and sugar are my friends. Here's what I pulled together Thursday morning:

• Bowls of hard candy and chocolate. Everybody loves sugar. Right?

• A PowerPoint slideshow promoting my new book, A CASE OF SOUR GRAPES, due out this month. I set the slideshow to cycle for 15 seconds on the first slide and 45 seconds on the second slide. I folded my keyboard back and set my computer up vertically, creating an automated poster from the slides. Small, but effective.

• I used PowerPoint again to whip up some bookmarks...

• ...and an email sign up sheet.

• I packed up the two hard copy books I have (one of THE DEVIL OF LIGHT and one of AVENGERS OF BLOOD), a bottle of water, pens, and a pad of paper in my nifty Union Jack bag, and headed off.

The result? Thunderstorms and flood warnings aside, all in all, it was a great evening. I spent a few hours with my wonderful niece and toured the historic Rusk County Library in downtown Henderson, Texas; met local author Vivra Beene (an absolute hoot and a joy to talk to) and purchased a copy of her book (click on Vivra's name above to go to Amazon and check out her short story collection); met several new readers; gave away a few bookmarks and picked up new names for my email list; saw THE DEVIL OF LIGHT on its first library shelf; and took an order for ten more books for the Rusk County libraries.

Not a bad evening at all. The good news? (Once I order books,) I'm ready for the next book signing!

Now please, tell me I'm not the only one. Do you have any advice for the unprepared author?

ARMY OF WORN SOLES by Scott Bury - #bookexcerpt and #giveaway @ScottTheWriter

Excerpt fifteen from Army of Worn Soles

The Army of Worn Soles launch blog tour continues! Read to the end for the clue that will help you win the Grand Prize of a signed paperback copy of Army of Worn Soles plus a $50 Amazon gift card. If you collect all the clues and put them in the right order, they’ll make a sentence. Send the sentence to the author (Scott Bury - see below for contact details) for a chance to win an autographed paperback copy of Army of Worn Soles plus a gift certificate from Amazon.

For a chance to enter the early-bird draw, enter the clue at the bottom of the post in the Comments section.

To see where the blog tour stops next, and to find the next clue, visit the author’s blog, Written Words.

Chapter 11: Fighting on the Dnipro

Central Ukraine, September 1941

Maurice and his men grew more and more nervous as the clouds approached the riverbank. By afternoon, they saw refugees approaching the bridges, streams of people on horse-drawn carts or on foot, a few rickety trucks. Behind them were the remnants of the 6th Army, mostly foot soldiers, a few battered tanks and hundreds of horse-drawn carts. From their vantage point, Maurice and his boys watched the sorry parade stream across the Dnipro bridges.

Then they heard the distant thunder of approaching war. And the Germans were upon them.

The airplanes were first. Maurice could never forget the buzzing sound of the Messerschmidts and the screaming Stuka bombers. They filled the sky, bombing and strafing, easily dodging Soviet anti-aircraft fire from the eastern riverbank. 

“Where are our planes?” someone yelled after a bomb shook the bunkers. 

There wasn’t a Soviet aircraft to be seen—just panic on the ground as the guards blocked the bridges. 

The Wehrmacht tore apart the ragged Soviet columns still on the western bank. Then Maurice and his men saw the dreaded Panzers. Some raced along the roads. Others crossed the deserted farmlands more slowly. It seemed only minutes before they were at the edge of the river, even though Maurice knew it had to have been hours. 

Charges under the bridges detonated before the Germans got there, stranding thousands of refugees.

“The idiots,” said Danylo, the lieutenant of the unit to Maurice’s right. “They should have waited until the first tanks were halfway across and taken some of them down.” 

But Maurice and everyone else knew that was too risky.

Behind them, the Soviet heavy artillery started firing. Maurice saw plumes of dust rising as the shells struck among the German tanks but never actually hit one.

Behind the tanks came the infantry in squat armoured cars, and horses hauling cannons and wagons. By nightfall, the Germans had dug in behind the riverbank, and even though the Soviets kept firing cannons and mortars at them, the Germans didn’t seem bothered. “They’re indestructible,” Private Yuri said. “We can’t even touch them.”

“Don’t be stupid,” Big Eugene said. He was a broad-shouldered youth who stood more than six feet tall. “Our gunners just have to get the range.”

“Well, they sure seem to be having trouble doing that,” Yuri said.

The Red Army settled into a new routine, hunkered down in the trenches during most of the day as each side’s artillery duelled. Sometimes, the riflemen would take long shots at their opponents, but never hit anything. Overhead, the cannons and mortars roared and coughed and below the bluff, the shells exploded among the trucks and tanks. Occasionally, they hit something, but usually did no more than send dirt high into the air.

The Germans’ heavy guns would answer, spitting death overhead to crash down behind them. Usually they missed, but sometimes they smashed apart stores of food or ammunition, sometimes ripping apart men and horses. Once, Maurice and his men rushed up the bank to help douse a fire burning close to an ammunition store.

Days dragged. Maurice and his unit spent as much time away from the trench as the officers would tolerate. They hid in the bunker, playing cards and smoking. While on duty, watching the enemy across the river, they felt useless. 

“Why don’t we attack them?” Corporal Orest said. “We’re doing nothing. We have the higher ground. We could destroy them.” 

“Let’s keep our heads down, Corporal,” Maurice said. “There’s no use in making ourselves into target practice for Fritz.” 

Or being cannon fodder for the Russians, he thought.

About the book:

 

1941: Their retreat across Ukraine wore their boots out—and they kept going. 

Three months after drafting him, the Soviet Red Army throws Maurice Bury, along with millions of other under-trained men, against the juggernaut of Nazi Germany's Operation Barbarossa, the assault on the USSR. 

Army of Worn Soles tells the true story of a Canadian who had to find in himself a way to keep himself alive—and the men who followed him.

It is available in e-book form exclusively on Amazon.

About the author:

Scott Bury is a journalist, editor and novelist based in Ottawa, Canada. He has written for magazines in Canada, the US, the UK and Australia. He is author of The Bones of the Earth, a fantasy set in the real time and place of eastern Europe of the sixth century; One Shade of Red, a humorous erotic romance;a children’s short story, Sam, the Strawb Part (proceeds of which are donated to an autism charity), and other stories.

Scott Bury lives in Ottawa with his lovely, supportive and long-suffering wife, two mighty sons and two pesky cats. He can be found online at www.writtenword.ca, on his blog, Written Words, on Amazon, on Twitter @ScottTheWriter, and on Facebook.

Today’s clue: sequel

Cover Reveal - ARMY OF WORN SOLES by Scott Bury @ScottTheWriter

ARMY OF WORN SOLES by the amazing Scott Bury is coming to Amazon June 22, 2014!

1941: Their retreat across Ukraine wore their boots out—and they kept going.

Three months after drafting him, the Soviet Red Army throws Maurice Bury, along with millions of other under-trained men, against the juggernaut of the biggest invasion in the history of warfare: Nazi Germany’s Operation Barbarossa, the assault on the USSR.

Maurice sees that his job as Lieutenant is to keep his “boys”—the men of his anti-tank unit—alive as they retreat from the unstoppable Panzers and German infantry. When they’re captured, survival becomes impossible. Their captors starve them.

Then a miracle: Maurice gets a chance to escape. He cannot leave his boys to starve. But how can twelve Red Army soldiers cross German-occupied Ukraine without being shot?

For more on ARMY OF WORN SOLES, visit Scott’s blog, Written Words - and follow him on Twitter at @ScottTheWriter or on Facebook.

Death by Description (#amwriting)

Goodness. We all know that every scene has to move your story forward by either developing plot or character. But I didn't realize how important that concept is until I read two very different books - it's literally a crucial part of keeping the reader reading.

Have you ever opened a book you really wanted to love only to find yourself drowning in description? You plug in those earphones good and tight, set out for the garden with your favorite shovel in hand, and wouldn't you know it: the crime thriller you hoped to enjoy while hilling the potatoes turns into a boring recitation of what kind of watch the main character's niece is wearing, the brand of espresso machine in the office, where to find the various types of coffee in the cupboard, and musings by the main character about how grateful she is to find a male assistant with fashion sense who selects appropriate clothes for her day. All sprinkled with back-story details that knock the reader (me) right out of the current story.


A crime novel by a big bestselling author with no murder, kidnapping, or any kind of violence in the first CD-and-a-half of the audio book. *yawn* All I know at this point is that someone is missing. Maybe on purpose, maybe not. Maybe it has something to do with dinosaur bones. I don't care. I'm just grateful I borrowed the book from the library rather than buying it.

 
Thankfully, relief was at hand. After turning off the CDs and finishing with the potatoes, I opened The Last Detective by Robert Crais. Yeowza. We start off with Joe Pike facing a brown bear up in the Alaskan wilderness. Pike is struggling to recover from gunshot wounds and is uncertain about how to reclaim his emotional serenity. Then BAM! we're at Elvis Cole's house and within the first five pages, his girlfriend's son (who Cole is babysitting) goes missing. From that point on, the book is bare bones on description and it absolutely blazes. I cared so much about the spunky kidnapped kid, who snatched him, and why they might've done it that I had to put the book in another room so I wouldn't burn dinner.


A crime novel by a big bestselling author with kidnapping, relationship stress, a manipulative ex-husband, and a nasty revenge scheme going back decades all in the first few chapters. Roughly equivalent to one audio CD. I was breathless from trying to help find the kid! This is the reason I read - I want to care, I want my heart to pound as the plot thickens, I want to have to turn that next page at the peril of a stovetop fire.

What was the difference between the two books? Pace. Detail. And character development. Crais laid down a plot that moves and trusted his readers to get the Cole / Pike back-story with only a few details. His characters (other than Cole and Pike) are sketches. I can barely describe them, but I know the role they played in the whole nasty affair. Maybe the first author was easing into her story and all the details would eventually matter. I think it's more likely that she was finding the story as she wrote and didn't take the time to go back and edit out the unimportant descriptions. I don't know. I stopped caring. And then I stopped reading.

It's a risk every writer faces - falling in love with our words to the point that we lose the reader, or not being diligent enough to ensure we rip out what doesn't matter.


What about you? How much detail is too much, how little is too little? Does your preference vary based on genre, or are you a patient reader no matter the level of description?


 


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