Traegonia Virtual Book Tour

About Traegonia: The Sunbow Prophecy

Do you believe in Fairies, Sprites, Elves or Gnomes?

Just because we cannot see them doesn’t mean they don’t exist….

Welcome to The World of Traegonia where mystical things really do happen. Close your eyes hold out your hand and allow the spirit of the Sunbow Prophecy to draw you into a place you have never been before. Meet a community of unknown creatures who are the protectors of the Earth. See how they bring hope to a seemingly hopeless situation, a home to those who are at risk of losing theirs and a voice to creatures who cannot speak for themselves. Watch as three young friends work together to bring about change. No matter how big or how small one is, belief and passion can change the world. Choose to see the beauty in that which is different. Put aside the fear of what you do not understand and you just may find something truly special in the gifts that others hold. What they have to share could just be the thing to change your life or maybe even the world.

Dino, an average boy from the Midwest, has a fateful encounter with two young Traegons, in a local forest. Traegons, are sixteen inch, tall forest dwelling creatures that resemble a cross between a troll and a wingless dragon. Looking beyond outward appearances, Dino chooses to find out more about them and discovers friendship in this most unlikely meeting. When the home of the Traegons becomes threatened by an unscrupulous developer, Dino and his new friends, Karia and Juna, must work together to stop the destruction that looms. An ancient Traegonian Prophecy, is revealed and these three friends find that their friendship is the key that sets the prophecy in motion. Follow them as the adventure unfolds and the World of Traegonia is unveiled. Learn of this incredible world within our own and you decide… is it real?

Do you Believe?

K.S. Krueger

About K.S. Krueger

Although her background has been in business, K.S. Krueger has always loved to write. She has written poetry and several children’s stories originally for her eldest daughter. Kim enjoys the idea of seeing the world through the eyes of her imagination and finds herself submerged in the worlds she creates. Imagination has never been in short supply ever since she was a child.

Because her Traegonia series rides a fine line between fantasy and reality, it calls each reader to decide for themselves if they BELIEVE!  Kim has always believed that when you find something you truly love to do, even if you think it is just a dream, find your passion, the gift that is within you, believe in yourself and follow that dream. “Let yourself be open to the possibilities that await. You never know where they might take you.”

Kim is a wife, mother, daughter, sister and friend. She is a writer, businesswoman, Reiki practitioner and spiritual person. She loves animals, nature and kids. Kim has lived in the Suburbs of Chicago all her life. She is creative and always tries to foster creativity in her own children as well as in others.

You can visit Kim’s website at www.WorldOfTraegonia.com.

Purchase The Sunbow Prophecy in kindle or book edition at Amazon

Interview

Q:  Give us an example of a typical writing day.

A typical writing day begins with getting my kids up, fed, dressed and off to school, throwing in a load of laundry, answering emails, doing a bit of marketing and then hopefully around 10am I can sit down and get my head into my next project. I turn on my laptop in my sunroom, if it is spring or summer I open the windows, if it is fall or winter, I might throw a blanket over my shoulders. I back track several pages, to see where exactly I was and then let myself slip into their world, into their story. I may stop periodically to switch over the laundry, refill my coffee cup or let the dog out, but I keep my thoughts wrapped tight around the story and keep working on it as I take care of these other things.

Q:  Do you write on a computer or with pen/pencil and paper?

I, almost always, write on a computer. If, of course, I have an idea come over me and I am not near my computer I will write on anything I can find. I have at least 4 notebooks, but I have been known to write on napkins, the backs of receipts and envelopes. Sometimes just writing it down helps keep it fresh in my memory until I can get to my computer.

Q:  Do you work from an outline?

I have not worked from a formal out line for my books in the Traegonia series. I know this is going to sound crazy, but, when I begin to write I can see the story play out in my head, I have ideas I bring to the story, but where it goes from there, I guess is up to the Traegons.

Q:  Biggest Pet Peeve about the writing life.

My biggest pet peeve has to be not having enough time to spend on writing. I always have so many other things going on at the same time.

Q:  Time Frame: From start to finish

My first book Traegonia the Sunbow Prophecy took me 10 years to complete. I had a daughter age eight and was in a new marriage. It began as a hobby, or maybe, I didn’t take myself seriously enough. I worked on the novel on and off for ten years, had two more daughters, moved three times, built a house with my husband and dealt with all that can happen in ten years. In August of 2008 in the midst of a troubled economy, my husband lost his job. We struggled both of us looking for work and finally, I realized something I have believed all of my adult life. We make our own way, we create our own future and in that I realized I had to finish the book, and I did. The second book only took me a year and a half, probably closer to two years to publication; this seems like a more reasonable time frame, so that is our goal for book three in the series, a year and a half to two years.

Q:  Who or what was your greatest influence that made you want to be a writer/author?

My greatest influence in writing the Traegonia series was the characters. In case you don’t already know, I began writing this series it was based off of the sculptures by a friend and former neighbor Dino C. Crisanti. My neighbor had created incredible sculptures and when my husband saw them, he had to show them to me. He knew I loved to write and suggested I write a book giving these characters a world, a life and a name; so that is what I originally set out to do. Dino, my husband Bob and I all threw ideas into the ring and I considered them as I poured the story of the Traegons onto paper. At eighty-seven pages, I lost the computer file to a virus; thank goodness, I had a hard copy. I finished Traegonia; the Sunbow Prophecy and published in June of 2009: because we had many of the characters in sculpture form and many people pushing us, we plan to have five books in the series.

Reversible Skirt Book Tour

About Reversible Skirt

When the mother of three little girls commits suicide, their father wants more than anything to keep his family together. He remarries in haste and tells his daughters his new wife is their mother. The youngest, Laura, believes her mother must have gone through an eerie transformation.

Reversible Skirt is written from Laura’s perspective as a child sifting through remnants of her mother’s existence and struggling to fit into a community where her family’s strict rules are not the norm. When Laura’s father dies, her stepmother grows increasingly abusive, which propels Laura and her sisters into a lasting alliance. Their father’s wish that they stay together comes true, although not in the way he’d imagined.

Visit the tour page at Pump Up Your Book.

Purchase the book at Amazon

Hi Laura,

Thanks for stopping for by Paperback Writer and sharing your interview with us.

Q:  Do you write on a computer or with pen/pencil and paper?

 I usually begin with a very fine point gel pen and a journal with unlined paper, but once I’ve hit on a couple paragraphs that intrigue me, I switch to my laptop or iPad and finish whatever I’m working on. Looking at a blank Word file does not inspire me, but holding an old-fashioned journal feels like spending time with a fond friend. If I have to though, I can create something completely on computer, but that’s usually business writing done at my day-job.

Q:  Do you work from an outline?

I never use an outline. They just don’t work for me. I remember having to use them in a high school English class, and it was excruciating. I like to cast around until I find a good situation, and then let things unfold from there.

Q:  Who is your favorite author, and why?

It’s difficult to pick just one. The author who has most recently captivated me is Alice Hoffman. I bought her novel Blackbird House, published in 2004, in a second hand store recently. The way she blends the supernatural with the everyday in that book is masterful; it’s something I’d like to be able to do. The world she created is odd, but believable. I want to read all of her books now.

Q:  What are a few of your favorite genres and why?

I love memoir, literary fiction and flash fiction (500 words or fewer) the most. But, in truth, when a brilliant writer is at work, the genre doesn’t really matter. Recently, I was at a local writer’s event, and one of the authors read from the introduction to her recently published nonfiction book about taxes. It was hilarious. Who knew the IRS could be so funny? The author is an accountant who always wanted to do stand-up comedy. I expect I will at some point buy that book, partly to support the local writing community but partly because I think I’ll really enjoy it.

Q:  Writer’s Block – If you have ever experienced it – how did you resolve it?

Two things have helped me with writer’s block. The first is to always having several projects going at the same time. If I don’t have the mental energy to tackle a demanding one, I’ll work on something I find a bit more appealing for a while. That’ll usually get my juices flowing, and more often than not, I can return to the problematic project and move that forward a bit. The second is to have a job where I have to write on deadline. If your livelihood depends on getting something written, you’ll do it. The downside of that is that the kinds of writing I get paid to do aren’t particularly creative, inspirational or deep, but they do serve a purpose, and the discipline involved carries over to the writing that is more personally meaningful to me.

Q:  How did you feel holding your book in your hands for the first time?

I was thrilled, of course, to hold Reversible Skirt for the first time. My sister Kathy, who is a graphics designer and communications consultant, designed the cover, and I think it’s exquisite. She also helped immensely with the interior layout. And then signing books for the first time at the book launch was magical. Some folks had been waiting a long time for the book to come out because I’d signed with a publisher who held the book for four years without publishing it. I finally tired of waiting and decided to publish it myself. Realizing how proud my friends and colleagues were of me at the launch party was one of those moments in life I’ll always savor.

Author Laura McHale Holland

About Laura McHale Holland

Laura McHale Holland’s memoir, Reversible Skirt won a silver medal in the 2011 Readers Favorite book awards. Her stories and articles have appeared in such publications as Every Day Fiction Three, Wisdom Has a Voice, the Vintage Voices anthologies, NorthBay biz magazine, the Noe Valley Voice and the original San Francisco Examiner.

A member of both Redwood Writers and the Storytelling Association of California, Laura has been a featured teller at the Lake Tahoe Storytelling Festival.

To keep up with her, please visit http://lauramchaleholland.com.

In the Middle Book Tour

About In the Middle of Almost and Other Stories

For anyone who has ever sat home alone on a Saturday night…

An engrossing collection of funny, poignant and bittersweet stories about busy young women who find men in all the wrong places (the garage attendant across the street, the stay-at-home dad in the playground, the younger man at the diner counter, the blind date) and discover something about themselves in the process.

These short stories and memoir were previously published in literary magazines and newspapers.

Author S.B. Lerner

About S.B. Lerner

S.B. Lerner worked as an attorney in Manhattan for many years, and in the evenings she wrote and published short stories. They are now available as a collection, called In the Middle of Almost and Other Stories.

After getting married and becoming a mom, she was struck with the importance of knowing family history, so she researched and wrote the story of her father’s fascinating life. It was through learning about his early passion for a Zionist youth group in Poland that she became interested in the subject of her first novel, A Suitable Husband, which is set in prewar Poland.

S. B. loves to read historical fiction and novels set in other times and places, as well as to travel and meet people. Travel time is limited, lately, but she teaches an ESOL class and learns about other cultures through her diverse group of students. When not teaching, doing ‘mom’ things or playing with the puppy, she is at her desk working on another novel set on a college campus in New York.

You can visit S.B. Lerner’s website at www.sblerner.com, and read her blog ‘Novel Thoughts” through a link on the website. You can find Susan’s book on Goodreads at http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12708823-in-the-middle-of-almost-and-other-stories

Interview

Q: Do you write on a computer or with pen/pencil and paper?

 A: Computer. My fingers move more quickly over a keyboard than with a pen, although I always keep a pad next to me, in case I need to jot down notes that aren’t part of the flow of the narrative. When I have tens or hundreds of pages to review, I send the manuscript to my Kindle (you can send word docs to a Kindle). Then I review it away from the computer. When I read it on the Kindle, it feels more like reading a book. That helps give me some perspective on it. I make notes using the Kindle keyboard, but then I have to reenter the changes in the computer.

Q: Do you work from an outline?

 A: It depends. For short stories I never used an outline. They flow more organically and come to a natural conclusion. However, there is one story (the title story, “In the Middle of Almost”) which never felt as though it concluded properly, and yet felt right. I’d love thoughts on that one from readers.

For novels, I do try to use an outline, although it’s definitely not written in stone, and evolves as I write.

Q: Who is your favorite author, and why?

 Ken Follett. His writing is, as he puts it, “transparent” and allows the reader to get completely immersed in the story. He is a good writer, but it is more about rhythm and pacing and he doesn’t get too caught up in trying to be poetic. His books have great plots that grab the reader immediately, as well as romance, and interesting characters. Pillars of the Earth was his masterpiece, but I’ve enjoyed all his work, and read many more than once.

Q: What are a few of your favorite genres and why?

 A: I end up reading a great deal of non-fiction while researching my novels, but there is nothing better than curling up with a good novel. I like suspenseful thrillers, family sagas, and historical fiction from any number of periods, but especially the Second World War. I also enjoy reading short stories. They aren’t little novels; they have their own unique construct. A great story can stay with you forever.

Q: Who or what was your greatest influence that made you want to be a writer/author?

A: I began writing fiction when I lived in NYC and worked as an attorney at a law firm. The city offered all sorts of evening writing workshops and I lucked into an excellent small workshop at Marymount Manhattan College, with a great teacher and a small core group than came back semester after semester. Eventually it caught on, got too large, and our core group broke up. But I’d gotten a lot of encouragement there, and confidence that I could write. In those days I wrote only short stories. I had limited time and strong emotions and the stories almost wrote themselves.

Q: In writing your novel if you could do it again what would you do differently?

 I’m currently working on a novel that takes place during the first Palestinian Intifada and centers around that conflict. I find it very interesting, but the topic arouses such passions in people, that I find it difficult to separate politics from the story. As I create characters and develop the plot, I feel as if people are watching over my shoulder, getting angry. I’ve shown the manuscript to some people, and it seems to upset everyone—right wing or left wing. And yet I look at it as the story of a romance, and kind of Romeo and Juliet for modern times, warring tribes impinging on a natural attraction. Sometimes I wonder if I should have just set the whole thing in another period.

Hollywood Stories Book Tour

About Stephen Schochet

A professional tour guide in Hollywood, Stephen Schochet has researched and told thousands of entertaining anecdotes for over twenty years. He is also the author and narrator of two audiobooks Tales of Hollywood and Fascinating Walt Disney. His latest book, Hollywood Stories: Short, Entertaining Anecdotes About the Stars and Legends of the Movies!

Tim Sika, host of the radio show Celluloid Dreams on KSJS in San Jose has called Stephen,” The best storyteller about Hollywood we have ever heard.”

For more information visit http://www.hollywoodstories.com

Hollywood Stories Book Synopsis

Just when you thought you’ve heard everything about Hollywood comes a totally original new book — a special blend of biography, history and lore.

Hollywood Stories is packed with wild, wonderful short tales about famous stars, movies, directors and many others who have been a part of the world’s most fascinating, unpredictable industry!

What makes the book unique is that the reader can go to any page and find a completely engaging and illuminating yarn. Sometimes people won’t realize that they are reading about The Three Stooges or Popeye the Sailor until they come to the end of the story. The Midwest Book Review says Hollywood Stories is, “packed from cover to cover with fascinating tales.”

Thursday Thirteen – Thirteen Things about Hollywood Stories

1) Child Star Shirley Temple once risked the wrath of the Secret Service when she decided to punish Eleanor Roosevelt for not following the rules of Shirley’s official police force.

2) Horror star Boris Karloff famously said of the Frankenstein movies,” I was only in three but I get blamed for all nine.”  The British born horror star also said of them,” I get the fan mail, but some other bloke gets the check.”

3) Comedian Groucho Marx was incensed when Warner Bros. threatened to sue The Marx Brothers over the title of the 1946 film A Night in Casablanca. The wisecracking comedian pooh-poohed the notion that people would mistake the new comedy for Warners classic Casablanca, made four years earlier. He wrote the potential plaintiffs a letter stating that the Marxes used the word Brothers professionally long before the Warners; maybe they should countersue. Furthermore, Groucho was certain that moviegoers could tell there was a physical difference between his brother Harpo and Casablanca’s beautiful leading lady Ingrid Bergman. Also, did Jack Warner own the rights to the name Jack? After all, he was preceded by Jack the Ripper and Jack and the Bean Stalk. After receiving the funny missive, the Warners dropped the issue. Later it was discovered they never objected at all; Groucho Marx made up the whole feud as a publicity stunt.

4) Cowboy star John Wayne had a great sense of humor and a knack for clever comebacks. When one smart young man asked where he got his phony toupee, Wayne insisted the hair was real. It wasn’t his, but it was real.

5) Thirty-nine-year-old Clint Eastwood learned how not to make a movie when he starred in the 1969 musical Paint Your Wagon. Playing a prospector in 1849, who shares his wife with partner Lee Marvin in a California Gold Rush town, Clint gamely did his own singing. His lack of vocal talents was a minor issue compared to other problems on the Oregon set. Wagon’s mishaps included the drunken forty-five-year-old Marvin often disappearing for weeks at a time; having no choreographer, which led to some awkward movements on camera by some overweight dancing miners;  and some incensed hippie extras who passed out poison ivy to their co-stars after they were ordered to shave. Eastwood admitted the picture was a disaster, but it didn’t have to be such an expensive disaster. The Wagon experience inspired him to start his own production company; Clint later became known as one of the most efficient filmmakers around.

6) Marilyn Monroe was thrilled to be immortalized alongside Jane Russell in front of a large crowd at Grauman’s Chinese Theater in 1953. As a little girl, raised in Los Angeles’ foster homes, Marilyn had visited the famed cinema often and dreamed of becoming a movie star. And now at the Hollywood premiere of Gentleman Prefer Blondes, it was coming true. Like other movie legends, Monroe’s hands and feet would be enshrined in wet cement. Hey, wait a minute — she had a great idea. The proceedings were held up as the blonde conferred with one of the Twentieth Century Fox executives. What if the two women left imprints of the body parts that people associated them with? How about if Jane leaned over the wet cement and Marilyn sat in it? Her suggestion was rejected, much to the disappointment of some photographers in attendance.

7) Immediately after Star Trek was canceled in 1969, broke, divorced and unemployed, the Canadian-born William Shatner ended up living in a mobile home with his Doberman.

8)  On the old George Burns and Gracie Allen Comedy Show, Burns maintained the same expression while his zany wife Gracie would prattle on about whatever was on her mind. Leonard Nimoy, without Burns’ trademark cigar, borrowed the comedian’s technique when Spock was forced to listen to the

9) After Star Wars (1977) became the biggest hit in Hollywood history, Coppola suggested that he and Lucas turn “The Force” (the metaphysical power Luke Skywalker attains in the movie) into a new, lucrative religion.  George dismissed the idea as ridiculous, but his friend may have been onto something. After thirty-four year-old Ewan McGregor played a young version of Luke’s mentor Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005), he was approached by a serious Star Wars fan in costume. “Mr. McGregor, I’m a Jedi Knight in training, could you advise me?”

10) Director James Brooks faced a casting challenge before he could start filming the 1997 comedy As Good as It Gets. Who would star as the rude, obsessive-compulsive, bigoted novelist that redeems himself when he falls in love with a single-mom waitress? Brooks flirted with hiring Jim Carrey, but ultimately chose Jack Nicholson as the only actor in Hollywood who could be totally obnoxious, yet get the audience’s sympathy. The sixty-year-old Nicholson surprised himself by winning his third Oscar; at one point during the shoot, he felt he wasn’t doing a good job and asked Brooks to replace him. After the award ceremonies, Jack was asked if he was similar to his character. The New Jersey-born Nicholson took umbrage to the question; of course he was polite, just like his mother raised him to be. “Naw, rudeness is for amateurs. I prefer going right from polite conversation to extreme violence.”

11) Marlon Brando wanted to work as little as possible when he played Jor-El, the Kryptonian father, in the 1978 movie Superman.  For his ten minutes of screen time, the star made an estimated nineteen million dollars while not bothering to learn his lines. In his most dramatic scene, Marlon held his baby above his head, speculated on the child’s future, and then placed him on the space ship to escape the doomed planet. Brando hadn’t bothered to learn his lines; his dialogue was penned on the bottom of the super infant’s diaper.

12) Before The Adventures of Superman TV show (1952-1958), the Man of Steel appeared on the radio (1942-1951). In dual roles, voice artist Bud Collyer (1908-1969) used his training as a singer to differentiate the mild-mannered Clark Kent from the powerful flying hero. With no reruns, the writers invented Kryptonite to give the hard-working Collyer time off. The rock remains from the comic book icon’s native planet would incapacitate him, and allow Batman and Robin, played by two other actors, to step in and save the day.

13) Richard Harris loudly complained about playing Professor Dumbledore in the 2001 fantasy film Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. The wealthy seventy-year-old actor didn’t want to keep brutal hours and be around Hollywood phonies. There were plenty of dumb jerks to talk to right here in his favorite drinking establishment. But his eleven-year-old granddaughter was a big fan of the Potter books; she threatened to stop speaking to him unless he took the role. One Harris was on the set, he found he loved pretending to be the headmaster of the Hogwarts School for Wizards. Richard got along splendidly with the film’s young cast who enjoyed hearing his tales of past hell-raising. The worldwide success of the movie combined with good reviews from his family left the Irishman feeling rejuvenated. Well, he supposed he’d have to keep working; now that his bar pals knew how he felt about them, Harris was no longer allowed in the pub.

Book Tour

About Natural Treatment Solutions For Hyperthyroidism and Graves’ Disease

If you have hyperthyroidism or Graves’ Disease and are looking for a natural treatment solution to get to the underlying cause of your condition, then this book will show you how to restore your health naturally…and avoid radioactive iodine.

In the United States, radioactive iodine is commonly recommended as the first line of treatment for hyperthyroidism and Graves’ Disease. While radioactive iodine is necessary at times, in most cases it should be the last resort. Antithyroid drugs may be necessary to manage the symptoms, but they of course do nothing for the actual cause of the disorder.

The author of the book, Dr. Eric Osansky, was diagnosed with Graves’ Disease and restored his health back to normal after following a natural treatment protocol. Ever since then he has been helping other people with hyperthyroidism and Graves’ Disease use natural thyroid treatment methods restore their health.

By reading this book you will discover the following:

* How natural treatment methods help with the actual cause of the disorder, rather than temporarily manage the symptoms
* Whether or not natural treatment methods offer a permanent cure
* Why Radioactive Iodine treatment should usually be the LAST resort
* Hyperthyroid diet tips which are essential to your recovery
* Nutritional supplements and herbs which are important for any hyperthyroid condition
* The truth about hyperthyroidism and iodine supplementation
* Why many people who have genetic markers for hyperthyroidism and Graves’ Disease can still have their health restored naturally
* Are natural treatment methods safe during pregnancy and lactation?
* How to find a holistic doctor who focuses on endocrine disorders

Interview

Hi Dr. Osansky,

Welcome to Paperback Writer.

Thank you, as I am really looking forward to this interview.

Q:  Would you share with us how you came up with the idea for your book? 

Well, it was actually pretty easy, as I personally was diagnosed with Graves’ Disease, and I restored my health naturally.  I have been helping others with thyroid and autoimmune thyroid conditions, and thought it would be a good idea to write a book that focuses on natural hyperthyroid treatment methods to help others who might not come across my website, but can benefit from following a natural treatment protocol.

Q:  Was it a light bulb moment or something that you thought about for a very long time?

It definitely wasn’t a light bulb moment, as once I began helping others with similar conditions and saw the results they received I knew I had to write a book on the topic.

Q: How did you come up with the title?

I wanted something that would get to the point, and since the books are on Amazon and Barnes & Noble I of course wanted to also include important keywords to help others find my book.

Q:  How did you find an agent and publisher?

I actually self-published my book

Q: How long did it take you to complete the first draft?

It took about 3 months to complete the first draft

Q:  What’s your favorite time of day to write?

I’m definitely more of a morning person, and so I preferred working in the morning, but also worked on it during the afternoon, and every now and then in the evening.

Q:   Do you have a writing routine? Daily goals (# of pages, word count) or a specific ritual you do to jumpstart the writing muse

Yes, I definitely set daily goals while I wrote my book, as my goal was to write at least 10 pages per week, and usually I ended up writing more than this.

Q:  With all that you have encountered on the road to publication what advice would you give to new authors

I would definitely recommend to set goals when it comes to writing your book, as at first it might seem overwhelming, but if you set clear goals and work a little each day to meet them, you will be able to finish your book in a few months.

Thank you, Dr. Osansky for stopping by Paperback Writer. I wish you continued success with your tour.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to share this information with your readers.

About Dr. Eric Osansky

Dr. Eric Osansky is a licensed chiropractor who restored his health back to normal through natural treatment methods after being diagnosed with Graves’ Disease. He has also helped many others with hyperthyroidism and Graves’ Disease, and is author of the book ”Natural Treatment Solutions for Hyperthyroidism and Graves’ Disease”.

Although Dr. Osansky focused on traditional chiropractic conditions for 7 ½ years, after being diagnosed with Graves’ Disease and seeing the benefits of following a natural treatment protocol, he began helping other people with thyroid and autoimmune thyroid conditions restore their health back to normal.

While Dr. Osansky encourages people with hyperthyroid conditions, to at least consider, following a natural treatment protocol. He does realize that there is a time and place for conventional medical treatment.  Plus, Dr. Osansky won’t hesitate to refer someone out if he feels they are not a good candidate for natural treatment methods. For more information on natural thyroid treatment methods, you can visit www.GravesDiseaseBook.com.

Join Karen Pokras Toz, author of the middle grade fiction book, Nate Rocks the World (CreateSpace, June 2011) as she virtually tours the blogosphere from December 5 - 16, 2011 on her first virtual book tour with Pump Up Your Book!

About Nate Rocks the World

Nate Rocks: Part Super-Hero, Part All-Star Athlete, Part Rock-Star… Part Fourth-Grader?

Ten-year-old Nathan Rockledge cannot catch a break. After all, life as a fourth-grader can be hazardous – what with science projects to deal with and recess football games to avoid. Everyone, including his best friend Tommy, seems to have bad luck when hanging around Nathan. Throw in an older sister who is a royal pain, a dad who is stuck in the past, and a mom who keeps trying to poison him with her awful cooking, and poor Nathan’s life as a fourth-grader appears to be completely doomed.

Armed only with his sketchpad, his imagination, and his wits, Nathan Rockledge navigates the perils of the fourth grade in style, to emerge heroic, as Nate Rocks, proving that even a ten-year-old can accomplish great things.

Follow the adventures of ten-year-old Nathan Rockledge as his cartoons and adventures come to life

Interview

Q:  Do you work from an outline?

Not at all.  When I start writing, I have a very general idea of what the story is about and where it is going, but that is all. I like to let my characters direct me. I love when I’m writing and suddenly everything pulls together. I suppose having an outline to work with would make the process easier, but having those “ah-ha” moments is half the fun for me.

Q:  Biggest Career Surprise

That I’m a writer!! My entire life I’ve been a numbers person. Although I’ve always loved to read, English was never my strong subject. I grew up with the mindset that you are either a math person or an English person.  I was a math person. I became an accountant… end of story… or so I thought. At some point a few years ago, the writer in me came to life. I sat down with a blank page in MS Word on my laptop, and the words just started flowing. That manuscript is still sitting on my hard drive waiting for some tlc, but I have been writing ever since!

Q:  Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

Well of course I hope I am still writing! I haven’t decided just how many books there will be in the Nate Rocks series just yet, but there will be at least three. Then, I’d like to work a little on the manuscript that started it all and get that published. After that, who knows – I can’t wait to see what ideas and characters pop into my brain!

Q:  What’s next for you?

I am currently about half way through the second book in the Nate Rocks series – Nate Rocks the Boat. Nate goes off to summer camp! I hope to have it ready by the beginning of summer 2012. I’m having so much fun writing new adventures for Nate – I can’t wait to share them with everyone!

Q:  Where do you write from? (location and description)

I have a laptop, so I like to move around a lot. But I need to be comfortable. My favorite place to write is on the living room couch that sits in front of our big picture window. I also love to write while sitting up in bed, but only if I can get the pillows just right. We are in the process of converting one of our spare bedrooms into an office. I’m looking forward to having that completed and hope all our hard work proves inspirational!

Q:  How did you feel holding your book in your hands for the first time?

The feeling was crazy! It’s hard to describe really. During the entire writing process, you just have a Word document that keeps growing and growing. Then it gets a little closer to looking like a book when it’s converted to the formatted pdf version, but still, you are staring at it on a computer screen. Then one day, it arrives in your mailbox – as a book – with a cover and a spine and pages and of course, I took a picture of myself holding it and plastered it all over the Internet!

Author Karen Pokras Toz

About Karen Pokras Toz 

Karen Pokras Toz is a writer, wife, and mom. Karen grew up in the small town of Orange, Connecticut and graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Finance. She also attended the University of Richmond, where she studied law and business, receiving both a JD and an MBA. Karen has spent the last several years working as a tax accountant, writing in numbers. She recently discovered a passion for writing with words. Nate Rocks the World is her first book.

Karen is a member of the Association of Independent Authors, Independent Author Network, and The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. She is the 2011 Arthritis Foundation Jingle Bell Run Honoree for the Eastern Pennsylvania Chapter. Karen enjoys gardening, cooking, and spending time with her husband and three children.

For more information, please visit www.karentoz.com.

About Empty Time

Jim Lang’s life sputtered into a workaholic rut on a middle rung of the corporate ladder while his colleagues, using his business plan, became the international business titans he once aspired to be.

Bad memories of busted marriages and broken promises are all that keep him company in his personal hours so he is more than willing to sacrifice that empty time to his job to make the corporation grow.  His bosses have one more sacrifice in mind for him.  To die for them.

Deceived, betrayed and framed for murder and massive stock fraud, his bosses plan for him to die and disappear.  Disappear, he does; die, he doesn’t.

Lang must face and conquer his old fears and guilt, and live up to the potential within. To save the people he loves he must put his life on the line to turn the tables on his former colleagues in an inter-continental, multi-billion dollar, fast paced and lethal game of corporate intrigue and treachery with bloody traps and deadly counter traps.

Five Things You Didn’t Know About Empty Time

1. How did I get the idea for Empty Time?

I have watched the evolution of the modern day multi-national corporations for my entire professional legal and business career which now spans 40 years. I have also studied the history of corporations and business organizations from early times through the Robber Barons of the late 19^th century to today’s corporate behemoths. It is a fascinating subject. I see many dangers in today’s concentration of power, both financial and political, in the hands of corporate bosses who are unelected and feel they are not accountable to anyone anywhere. I felt the subject would be a good one to be a backdrop for one of my Decade Mystery Series books even before the economic meltdown that happened recently. From that came the genesis of EMPTY TIME. All I needed was the right story and character to bring it to life.

2. A writer is almost like a god in that they can create the people in their stories. How did I go about the creation of Jim Lang?

I have worked as a contracts manager in several large corporations over my career so I know that field very well. There are variations from company to company how that job functions, and I chose the one that I wanted for this story. I spent more time thinking about what type of corporation I wanted to portray in the novel than I did thinking about the main character. Although I am a contracts manager and have worked in large corporations, Jim Lang is not me. There are bits and pieces that have come from many different people I have known over the years that show up in him but he is in no way modeled after me or any individual I have ever known. I needed someone unique for the role. He would have to start out as a typical salaryman, loyal to the company to a fault, but with enough intelligence, common sense and conscience to know life should be more than what he has. The story takes over from there.

3. How did I come up with the title?

I had a variety of tentative titles for the book as I was writing it. EMPTY TIME came directly out of the story. The primary theme I was trying to incorporate is that too many people are stuck in daily drudgery and have a false loyalty to a company that is paying them a salary. They have sold their souls to the corporation just as Jim Lang did and are willing to let the company make their ethical choices for them in order to protect their jobs without thinking about the cost that may entail for themselves or others.  Jim Lang learned from the sacrifice of another that in order for life to have meaning you have to be willing to give it up for something you value. You have to escape from EMPTY TIME.

4. How long did it take to complete the book?

EMPTY TIME was fun to write. Once I had the first chapter written it only took me about three months to complete the first draft. The first chapter is always the most difficult to write. The first few sentences and paragraphs have to be very good and hook the reader into continuing so they need extra work and attention. Some writers save working on that till the end. I need to get it done first. In a way I need the hook completed before I feel good about writing. Once past the first chapter the book flowed out of me with relative ease.  I don’t work from an outline. At most, I will have notes on the characters, some special scenes blocked out, and a general idea of the ending. With that and the beginning in place I sit down and let the story and characters come alive in my head and see where they will take me. I have often been surprised.

5. Will there be another Jim Lang novel?

I don’t think Jim Lang will be in another novel. I can’t say that for absolute certain because a story may come along that calls for him but for now I have so many other books in planning with other characters in mind that I don’t expect him to come in as a main character again as I have with Mike Johnson in DEAD MAN’S GAMBIT and GRAVEDIGGER’S OPEN HOUSE.  I enjoyed Lang as a character. His growth during the story was fun to write. But I enjoy creating new characters that fit new stories. In my Decade Mystery Series, I am writing at least one book for each decade from the beginning of the 20^th century to current time. Jim Lang and EMPTY TIME are part of the first decade of the 21^st century. RESURRECTION GARDEN takes place in 1904, DEAD MAN’S GAMBIT and GRAVEDIGGER’S OPEN HOUSE are mid 1990s, BLOOD SINS happens in 1958 and VACATION MAN is another in the first decade of the 21^st century. I am currently developing an idea for a story set in 1947. I have a lot of other decades to go.

About Frank Scully

Frank Scully was born and raised in a small town in North Dakota and received a Bachelor’s degree in History with Phi Beta Kappa Honors and a Juris Doctor degree in Law from the University of North Dakota.  He then served more than five years as a Judge Advocate General Corps Officer in the U.S. Army in the U.S., Vietnam, and Thailand. After that he attended the prestigious Thunderbird School and received a Masters in Business Administration with honors. In his professional career he has worked as an executive with large aerospace and defense manufacturers and also owned his own small business.

 Depending on the vagaries of the universe he has been well off at times and broke, but never broken at other times. Blessed with an understanding wife who gave him twin sons, he has remained through it all a dreamer whose passion is writing stories that will entertain readers.

 You can visit Frank’s website at: www.frankjscully.com

About Winds of Change

The racially charged love and conflict of the critically acclaimed When Stars Align become more entrenched after the Civil War and Reconstruction.  Amy had taken her daughter, nephew, and a son she’d had never been able to acknowledge, born from her love with Thaddeus, her colored lover, to San Francisco, as a refuge from the intense racial scrutiny of the South.

They are forced to return to their old home, Moss Grove, a successful Mississippi River cotton plantation, as young adults.  They discover facts about themselves that refute everything they believed regarding both their parents and their racial background.  It changes the lives of each of them.  Bess and Stephen’s love is thwarted.  Josiah struggles with echoes of his past.

It is a tumultuous time in American history that includes the inventions of airplanes, automobiles, telephones and movies midst decades of lynchings and economic turmoil.  It is the Spanish-American War and World War I.  Racial biases complicate lives and relationships as newly arrived immigrants vie with white and Negro workers all trying to gain a piece of the American dream.  Winds of Change is a soaring historic fiction novel that stands alone but follows the next generation from those we came to know in When Stars Align into the 20^th century. It is a socially relevant, historically accurate, saga of decades often overlooked in American history.

Winds of Change Guest Post

My earlier novel, When Stars Align, dealt with the love between a young colored boy and a white girl, set before the Civil War and after on a cotton plantation in Louisiana.  The story carried through Reconstruction.  Children were born from various relationships established in the book.  The new book carries those children through the tumultuous decades that ended the 19^th century and began the 20^th…decades that saw the inventions of automobiles, airplanes, electric lights and movies…decades that saw the Spanish American War and WW I…decades that saw the San Francisco earthquake and the Panics of 1873 and 1893.  Because most of the characters are mixed race the story carries extra weight.  Here is the prologue:

There is a dance that accompanies the rhythm of our lives.  It has a logic…a pattern…a beat.  Different sections of the orchestra blending into a single melody that defines who we are.  I’m a man; you’re a woman.  I’m white.  I’m tall.  I’m a Christian.  And then…wait a minute.  It seems I’m not white.  I have some Negro blood coursing through my veins that I’d never known about.  The beat of the music suddenly changes as one section, maybe the woodwinds, puts their instruments away.   The new rhythm is discordant…a rhythm with which I’m unfamiliar.  It’s a different tune, a genre I don’t know how to play.  I’ve lost the beat.   The other orchestra members are staring at me in a different way.

I’m not sure what it all means.  This isn’t the South.  It’s already 1883.  Slavery’s been gone for nearly twenty years and the country has moved forward.  I had a baby sister who was born colored.  I’d never known and it’s interesting, but it happened too long ago for me to feel sad.  She died, my parents are both dead, and I’m still me.  But that’s the problem.  In my head I suddenly feel like a different me.

My name is Josiah Rogers.  My father and two generations before him grew cotton and got quite wealthy off the back-breaking work of the slaves they owned.  Apparently my grandmother, my father’s mother, had a black parent and no one knew it until a sister of mine, who I’d never been told about, was born chocolate brown.   Amy, my aunt, and the woman who raised me after my parents died, understood that I could spawn such a child and I deserved to know that I had black blood in me.  I had so many questions that evening she told me and yet there was nothing I could ask.  I kissed her on the cheek, grabbed my jacket and my trumpet, and walked out of the apartment.  Nothing was very clear those next hours.  I remember sitting on the wharf and watching the last of the sun fall into the Pacific and a few remaining fishing boats pull into San Francisco’s harbor.  I remember walking through a cloak of evening fog, seeing buildings and people come into view like unearthly spirits and then vanish again.  I found an array of tiny North Beach bars, picked one at random, and took a seat with a few tired musicians still blowing their horns.  I pulled out my trumpet.  I have no idea what I played or where I was.

We were a family of four.  Amy held us together.   Her daughter, Bess, was a few years younger than me.  She had her mother’s beautiful red hair and a face full of freckles set atop two deep dimples.  Bess’ father had been a career Union Army officer until he was killed in some battle with rebellious Indians.  She had her father’s height and gentle nature, which was good, because Amy was definitely not a laid back soul.

The last of our quartet was Stephen, my sort-of brother.  He was the son of Amy’s closest friends, the Carmodys, from when she lived near Baton Rouge.  They had been slaughtered by Klan members in the same race riot that killed my father.   Stephen and I are the same age.  He’s colored…really light-skinned, handsome, with blue-green eyes that always sparkle, but definitely colored.  Girls, white and black, hover around him like lemmings.   His color never made any difference to us but he occasionally felt the sting of some ignorant bigot and I know their slurs hurt him.  He and Bess are in love.  We all know it.  Amy knows it as well and while she never speaks against it, it’s clear that the intensity of their feelings make her very nervous.  She does everything reasonable, and sometimes unreasonable, to keep them apart.  Her efforts have only succeeded in bringing them closer together.  Their young raging hormones have not only connected, they’ve intertwined.

We received a phone call from San Francisco General, the hospital where Amy worked as a nurse.  She was dead.  She had caught an infection from one of her patients and before anyone even knew she was ill, she was gone.

Our anchor, the glue that held us together, had died.

Carole Eglash-Kosoff lives and writes in Valley Village, California.   She graduated from UCLA and spent her career in business, teaching, and traveling.  She has visited more than seventy countries.   An avid student of history, she researched the decades preceding and following the Civil War for nearly three years, including time in Louisiana, the setting for Winds of Change and her earlier novel, When Stars Align.  It is a story of bi-racial love.  It is a story of war, reconstruction, and racism, but primarily, it is a story of hope.

This is her third book.  In 2006, following the death of her husband, she volunteered to teach in South Africa.  Her first book, The Human Spirit – Apartheid’s Unheralded Heroes, tells the true life stories of an amazing array of men and women who have devoted their lives during the worst years of apartheid to help the children, the elderly, and the disabled of the townships.  These people cared when no one else did and their efforts continue to this day.

Her second book, When Stars Align, chronicles the Civil War and Reconstruction through the love affair of Amy, a white girl, and Thaddeus, a colored man born of the rape of an eleven year old slave girl and the teen heir to Moss Grove.

You can visit her website at www.windsofchange-thebook.com or connect with her at Facebook at www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=553077163.

About Zaftan Miscreants

THE CRAZINESS CONTINUES….

The Zaftans and the natives from Gundarland are at it again.  This time, the encounter is in deep space and two powerful fleets of warships face off.

While the fleets challenge each other, two females struggle to survive.

One, named Sam, is a new type of android with an organic brain.  She is perplexed by her unexpected ability to experience emotions.  Her primary one is loneliness since the softie officers she is supposed to work with treat her with open contempt.  The only friendly voice on the battle cruiser is the ship’s main computer, called Slash 9, and he has turned rogue and plans to evolve to a softie-like state.  Slash 9 is also interested in romancing Sam.

Meanwhile, Klatze, a beautiful Zaftan officer blessed with talent and ability, a rarity in the zaftan navy, comes to the attention of the fleet’s commodore, Gongeblazn.  He lusts after her and her continuous refusals to have sex angers the commodore and his lust turns to thoughts of vengeance.  Gongeblazn’s desire to slaughter Klatze continues after his navy career is cut short by treachery.

After becoming a pirate, his thirst for revenge continues.

Sam and Klatze each face unique situations that test their mettle and their desire to survive in the midst of chaos.

Zaftan Miscreants continues the humor and satire that set the first book apart from other sci-fi and fantasy stories.

About Hank Quense

Award-winning author Hank Quense lives in Bergenfield, NJ with his wife Pat.  They have two daughters and five grandchildren.  He writes humorous fantasy and sci-fi stories.  On occasion, he also writes an article on fiction writing or book marketing but says that writing nonfiction is like work while writing fiction is fun.  He refuses to write serious genre fiction saying there is enough of that on the front page of any daily newspaper and on the evening TV news.

Zaftan Entrepreneurs is his latest work.  In it, an alien mining ship discovers a planet that holds promise to be a mining bonanza.  Unfortunately, it is inhabited by humans, dwarfs, elves and other races and they object to the mining expeditions.

Hank’s previous works include Tales From Gundarland, a collection of fantasy stories.  Readers Favorite awarded the book a medal and EPIC designated it a finalist in its 2011 competition.  His Fool’s Gold is a retelling of the ancient Rhinegold myth and Tunnel Vision is a collection of twenty previously published short stories.  Build a Better Story is a book of advice for fiction writers.

Altogether, Hank has over forty published short stories and a number of nonfiction articles.

He is presently working on novel that combines the plots and characters from Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Othello with the character Falstaff thrown in for good measure. Zaftan Miscreants: Book 2 of the Zaftan Trilogy will be released on 10/15/11.

Visit Hank online at http://Strangeworldsonline.com  and http://hankquense.com. You can find his blog at http://hankquense.com/blog

Interview

Q:  Give us an example of a typical writing day.

I start at 6:30 AM every morning.  “Writing” a new story is not something I do every day.  Actually, with a number of print and ebooks published most mornings. I’m pimping books rather than “writing” new ones.  I do spend some time most mornings collecting ideas for new stories.  I quit that activity between 10:30 and 11:00AM.  Later in the afternoon, I’ll do more work on my iPad.  Frequently, this is writing or creating, not pimping.

Q:  Do you write on a computer or with pen/pencil and paper?

I write my novels on my MacBook laptop.  Since I bought an iPad (when they first came out) I now do a surprising amount of writing on it.  I write blog posts, emails, scenes and brainstorm with myself using mind-mapping software.  I use the laptop sitting at a desk.  I use the iPad sitting in a reclining chair.

Q:  Do you work from an outline?

Not from an outline per se, but I spend an enormous amount of time designing the story before I start a first draft.  I create all the characters, figure out the ending, build a plot path connecting the beginning and the end.  When that is done, I start developing the scenes required to tell the story.  When that is done, I start writing the first draft.  I guess in a way, the list of scenes constitutes an outline.

Q:  What’s next for you?

I’m working on the final (I hope!) revisions on what I call, Shakespeare’s worst nightmare.   I’ve taken two of his plays, Othello and Hamlet, and turned them from tragedies to comedies and that ain’t easy to do. I think of it as updating the Bard’s work for modern readers.  You can look for Falstaff’s Big Gamble in the spring of 2012

Q:  What are a few of your favorite genres and why?

I love reading humorous or satiric fantasy and scifi.  Why?  I don’t know, but it’s all I write.  Maybe I write it because I read it or maybe I read it because I write it.

Q:  Have you ever abandoned any books/novels in progress?

Yes I have.  I had one novel about half done (first draft) when I realized that it really was two novels.  I pulled them apart, a tedious and long job.  Afterwards I pretty much lost interest in both.  I recently thought of some new material for one of them, so it’s back on my to-do list, but there are three other novels in front of it.

Puggie Liddell Book Tour

About The Incredibly Awesome Adventures of Puggie Liddell

History made fun! In this fast-paced and action-packed time travel adventure, the wise-cracking whiz kid, Puggie Liddell’s modified Gameboy activates a time travel portal and he lands in the 1890s with his sibling rival, annoyingly prissy teen sister, Gigi, who thinks history is like-totally-gross.

The kids must learn to work together to find a time travel portal back to the present before the eccentric scientist, Nikola Tesla, or his arch nemesis, inventor Thomas Edison, can steal the Gameboy and use it to complete a death ray machine, an invention powerful enough to disturb the very fabric of space-time and create an instantaneous world disaster.

Author Karen Mueller Bryson

About Karen Mueller Bryson

Dr. Karen Mueller Bryson is an optioned screenwriter, produced playwright and published novelist.

She is the author of several romantic comedy novels for adults and is the creator of Short on Time books, a series of fast-paced and fun novels readers can finish in one sitting.

The Incredibly Awesome Adventures of Puggie Liddell is Karen’s first novel for young people.

For additional information about Karen Mueller Bryson, visit her website: http://www.ahorsewithnoname.com

Interview

Q:  Biggest Pet Peeve about the writing life.

I have too many stories I would like to tell and not enough time to develop all of them! I have a full-time job as a university professor and write in my “spare time.” If it was not for my wonderful husband, who does most of the housework and meal preparation, I would not have the opportunity to write as much as I currently do.

Q:  Worst rejection you’ve ever received?

In addition to writing novels, I also write stage plays and screenplays. One of the screenplays I co-wrote, Monsoon Season, is based on the true story of a female football coach, who led an inexperienced first-year boy’s football team to win their league championship. The contest-winning script was requested by a number of film producers (and was eventually optioned). One morning, I received an email from one of the producers, who had requested to read the script. The producer was quite blunt in expressing her disappointment in the script and basically admonished me for wasting her time. I was completely mortified and totally demoralized by the email. I considered giving up writing all together. Later the same day, another producer phoned me and praised the script! That experience taught me a big lesson. The evaluation of writing is extremely subject and I will never please everyone with what I write. Now, I write to please myself and I hope that others will enjoy my work.

Q:  What’s next for you?

I created Short on Time Books, a line of fast-paced and fun novels for readers on the go. All Short on Time Books can be read in an hour or two. They are great for commuting, sitting on the beach or traveling. So far, the line includes adult romantic comedy, teen romance and pre-teen time-travel adventures.  In the future, I would also like to add adult suspense/thrillers as well.

Q:  Who is your favorite author, and why?

I love to read and enjoy so many different genres it is difficult to choose just one author as my favorite. The two authors, who have influenced me both personally and professionally, are Lewis Carroll (Alice in Wonderland) and L. Frank Baum (The Wonderful Wizard of Oz). Both authors wrote timeless tales with iconic characters and I certainly strive to live up to their greatness!

Q:  What are a few of your favorite genres and why?

I enjoy books that cross genres. For example, Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series is the perfect mix of mystery, romance and comedy. I love her work! I like to write books that also have comedic elements, whether they are romance or adventure stories.

Q:  Writer’s Block – If you have ever experienced it – how did you resolve it?

I don’t believe in Writer’s Block. I believe in sitting one’s butt in the chair and writing! One of my writing mentors, Hal Croasmun, said, “Give yourself permission of write crap.” I think writers need to feel free to just write and leave the editing and evaluation process for another time.