Saturday, December 29, 2012

5-star review for "Corporate Takeover" on Amazon.com!

 




This review is from: Master's Dungeon: Corporate Takeover (Kindle Edition)
To get the most enjoyment from this novel read the other novels in the Master's Dungeon series. Mutt loves himself some Master Mike to accept being sold to a rich crazy older man. It was a joy to read how Mutt triumphs in the end.

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

"Harvested" released by JMS Books!


My post-apocalyptic novel has been published and made available from JMS Books!

Blurb: 

In the twenty-second century, Earth has been ‘harvested’ by a race of aliens known as the Xini.  In the aftermath, all of the planet’s resources have been stripped.  Dakota sets out from Dallas in search of his lover, Grayson who vanished on his way to St. Louis after the invading fleet departed.

Dakota faces unknown dangers in the devastated plains of northern Texas and southern Oklahoma as scavengers, human beings reduced to shells after the Harvesting roam the earth attacking anything that moves in a base effort to survive.

He finds a group of survivors struggling to survive in what little remains of Oklahoma City, led by the tough, handsome Colonel Welch.  While Mother Nature unleashes a fury of natural disasters to purge herself of the Xini rape, Dakota must decide whether to stay with the colonel and help him make the colony viable, or continue on to St. Louis to find Grayson.

 
Excerpt:

Dakota increased his pace, reaching the column of smoke in just over an hour. He circled the hilltop where the fire burned, giving it a wide berth and keeping aware of his surroundings. Fortunately, none of the other rises were high enough to conceal any threat.

As he had approached the inferno from a distance, he couldn't identify the twisted metal on fire. But on closer inspection, he recognized enough components to tell it was a Xinian contraption.

A scout ship maybe?  It's too small to be one of those fucking Harvesters.

He could see no indication of what started the fire. It couldn't have been burning since the aliens left. It would’ve long since burned out by now.

Best not stick around to figure it out. I need to keep moving, get to Oklahoma City if it's still there. And then onto St. Louis to find Grayson, if he's even alive.

He turned and continued on his previous heading. The weight of his backpack slowed his progress and breathing through the filter made his situation worse but he persevered, pressing through the brown haze that sometimes obstructed his view, limiting it to under a mile. Such conditions could be hazardous not only for the possible poison in the fog, but it could also conceal scavengers.

Darkness fell just as he reached a ridge on the southern edge of the Arbuckles. In the fading light, he found an outcropping to serve as shelter for the night. With no signs of pursuit, he made himself as comfortable on the ground beneath the rock as he could. He had enough range of vision that he could prepare to defend himself if necessary.

The wind stirred up foul odors, permeating his air filter with a pungent sulfurous odor but it didn’t dampen his mood.   He shoved the mask tighter to his face and squeezed his stinging eyes closed. The breeze lasted only a few minutes and Dakota relaxed.

He jerked back from semi-consciousness. How long he'd been asleep he wasn't sure but something must've disturbed his slumber. He could see nothing in the complete darkness.

A scavenger?
 
    He heard a soft scuffle, a scattering of pebbles in the distance. He realized that the location of the clean water source may not be a secret.


Thursday, October 4, 2012

Kon-Tiki Museum - Oslo, Norway

  Across the street from the Viking Ship Museum is the Kon-Tiki Musuem, presenting some of the boats used in the high seas experiments. 
 
 





The documentary won an Oscar.


 From the museum, we took a ferry back to the center of the city.
 

The Prinsendam looks small compared to the ship in front of it. 

A very pink boat.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Day at sea with Celebrity Chef Angelo Sosa!

"Top Chef" contestant Angelo Sosa was on board to host some cooking demonstrations.  We missed the first one but took in the second.  He's as friendly and down-to-earth as he seemed on television.  It was great to meet him!


Fuzzy and I were sooooo excited to meet him! 




Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Interesting thread on 1-Star reviews on Amazon.com

I'm following a thread in the Published Author's Network at LinkedIn.com about people posting 1-star reviews for books on Amazon.com. 

http://lnkd.in/iPijz6

The complaint is many 'reviewers' will post low ratings and bad reviews for books they will admit they never read, or only read part of the book before ranking it. 

My story "Snow Blind" received such a low score and the reviewer confessed to reading only the first part.  So what was her issue?  She didn't say anything other than it wasn't what she expected.  How is an author supposed to respond to that?  According to many of the authors in this thread, not at all.  I like their advice about letting the bad reviewers post their venom and ignore them. 



David K. Crabtree posted:  Let us not worry about what others may say, but let us tell the stories that are within us and share them with the world.     

Great advice. 

I've rarely received an unsolicited review that contained constructive criticism so the destructive  comments tend to sting more.  You've put your heart and soul into a book/story, just to have someone rip it apart.  It's like having someone attack your children.    For that reason, I do not submit my stories to reviewing websites or such, letting my publisher do that for me, if they so desire.  It is an unexpected pleasure when I get a notification that one of my works has received a great review.  Much better than continually looking to see what readers have posted only to be disappointed in their comments.

An author on Goodreads.com, a site in which I no longer participate, stated that reviews are for readers and not authors.  Good point, but if people read negative reviews from someone who hasn't read the book or has other issues, more readers may pass on it.  Not good for the author.

When posting a review of a book that I didn't like, I try to be more objective than "This books sucks!"  Just because I didn't care for it, doesn't mean the next person won't either.  Of the books, I've posted on here, very few have been disappointing.  Recently, I read a book that I did not enjoy for a number of reasons but I opted not to post a review because there wasn't a nice way of stating my point of view in a positive way.  I'm sure I'm not the only one who didn't like it, but I'm sure there are just as many who did. 

At writing.com, where I got my start, the goal for reviewing was to correct and critique each other's work but to encourage.  That's the main point, I feel, for reviewing a work.  State what did or did not work for the reader without trashing their hard work.

Saturday, June 30, 2012

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Baltimore Gay Pride Festival, Druid Hill Park, 2012

Babs impersonator.

Live music.


A perfect day for picnicking in the park.






Saint.



Oklahoma-born and raised emcee Karl Marks.



Druid Hill Lake



Sam.

Baltimore Gay Pride Parade 2012

 Baltimore PD leads the parade.


 Dykes on bikes

Local leathermen


Bar on wheels.  We first saw one in Amsterdam!

PFLAG!!





LGBT Caucus

Marylanders for Marriage Equality



















Lesbian Grandmothers


Our favorite bar - P.W's!

and the assorted band of misfits.



Mike

Jackie the manager