ABNA Books Online Newsletter April 2008
ABNA Books currently has over 80 authors participating on the site, 55 authors on the forum, over 69 published books and 75 not-yet-published books.
This month we bring you the first column by ABNA Books feature columnist Ian Thomas Healy, as well as new columns by ABNA authors Rebecca Crandell and Tom Maremaa. We have several other “firsts,” as we feature an author interview with April L. Hamilton, who is paving new ground with her IndieAuthor movement. We also have Leah Davidson’s Book Review of 78 Reasons Why Your Book May Never Be Published And 14 Reasons Why It Just Might, by Pat Walsh.
Be sure to check out the newest featured published and not-yet-published books by ABNA authors, and stay tuned for the latest news.
Zen & the
Art of Writing, by Rebecca Crandell.
"When I conceived
the idea of the 7th Moon
Chronicles, most of us relied on
dot-matrix printers. I still have a stack of
yellowing sheets with holes along the edges, but
the story and its author have undergone so many
transformations that it’s impossible to connect
the initial concept with what exists now, on my
flash drive or in my heart." (more)
Running the
Gauntlet,
Ian Thomas Healy. "Hello, my name is Ian, and I’m
a self-published author.
'Hi Ian,' you all chorus.
A lot of people are curious about self-publishing.
What is it? How is it different from conventional
publishing? And, of course, can you make any money
with it?
To answer those questions, I’d like to share some of
my own experiences with dodging the pitfalls of the
self-publishing industry." (more)
Featured Book
Review,
by Leah Davidson. "December 31, 2004,
eleven-o-something PM. After one last read-through
of my first email query for my first completed
novel, I hit the "send" button. It took nine
months of late nights writing, time snatched
proof-reading and note-making on every lunch hour,
but I'd done it. I'd actually written a novel. I'd
read the first chapters of the latest Writer's
Digest Guide to Literary Agents (so of course I
knew how to write a query letter) and picked a
dozen agents I was sure would be thrilled to read
my manuscript. Now I was ready to barrage the
publishing industry with brilliant queries."
(more)
The Next
Step, by
Thomas Maremaa. "It was not an easy decision: I
had written both books with the intention of
placing them with a New York agent and a
conventional print publisher. Both works came to
me spontaneously and wrote themselves over a
period of time, working long nights and weekends,
as I channelled the voices of each narrator
emotionally and through some creative process I
can't describe. Both works, modesty aside, are
originals; nobody's done before. So what happened?
"(more)
Author
Interview with April L.
Hamilton. "I’m trying a different approach
with one of my works in progress, but every other
novel, short story or screenplay I’ve ever written
has followed the same process. I begin with a
protagonist and a general challenge or life
situation. Next I think about the likely people
who would populate the protagonist’s world: family
members, friends, co-workers and so on."
(more)
Featured Published
Books
Read great fiction and nonfiction by ABNA
Authors!
Browse through our published books to read
works already available by these breakthrough
authors. These books are all available for purchase!
Here are few examples of what's available:
SNOW BALL
by April L.
Hamilton
Cinder
Torley is an intelligent young woman who yearns to
escape the stifling yoke imposed by her small town
upbringing and unhappy marriage, but that doesn't
mean she killed her husband. When he goes missing
one night, Cinder quickly learns who---and how
few---her friends really are in this darkly comic
tale of dueling schemers and incompetents. The
sheriff thinks this might be his only ticket out
of back-country law enforcement. Coffee house
barista Clark Norris knows a sordid, true-crime
story could jumpstart his stalled writing career.
Glamorous correspondent Bailey Weems sees a
ratings bonanza that can make her a cable news
star. And as for Velma and Naomi, who may or may
not be part of the notorious Manitoba Six Canadian
crime ring, they're only in it for the black
market Phen-Fen. The surprising truth about what
happened to Cinder's husband will lay waste to all
these agendas, but will it prove Cinder's
innocence?
THE LOTTERY TICKET
by Tom
Maremaa
The
Lottery Ticket, set in the sleepy yet vibrant town
of Palo Alto, California, takes the conventional
murder mystery and turns it flat on its head. One
day Luke Cherry finds his mother hanging from the
living room rafters, an apparent suicide, but this
is far from the truth. When Luke's father, the
Ur-Geek of Silicon Valley, is arrested and charged
with assisting in his wife's suicide, all hell
breaks loose in the Cherry family. A stormy trial
ensues, shaking up the community. Dad looks sure
to be convicted, until Luke, his wily, loving son,
is able to connect with Dad's motley crew of
friends, including a tribe of Afghan refugees who
challenge the natural order of things and come
heroically to his rescue. The story is told in the
cool, unflappable voice of its youthful narrator.
CROSSING WITH THE LIGHT
by Dwight Okita
It
was a labor of love. Thanks to the fantastic and
multicultural Tia Chucha Press for being the first to
publish a book of my poems. Some of these poems have
been reprinted in the Norton Introduction to
Literature, the Smithsonian, an array of anthologies,
and textbooks from publishers such as Holt Rinehart
Winston, Penguin, and Milkweed. And they have
appeared on the NPR show This American Life hosted by
Ira Glass, as well as on Chicago buses and trains.
The title poem appears on a bronze plaque in San
Francisco along the Embarcadero.
Much of the poetic voice of my novel grows out of my
days as a poet.
BAREFOOT IN THE DARK
by Lynne Barrett-lee
Do you believe in
fairytales?
When Hope Shepherd loses her trainer while boarding
the 8.42 into Cardiff, Cinderella couldn't be further
from her thoughts. Painfully divorced, she's all out
of daydreams - and it's not a glass slipper, after
all. It's picked up, however, by a Prince Charming of
sorts - DJ Jack Valentine, who's just been divorced
too. He appeals on his show for the owner to come
forward; a latterday princess being just what he
needs... Hope works as a publicist for the charity,
Heartbeat, and is encouraged by her boss to get Jack
on board. A celebrity endorsement is exactly what
they're after, to raise the profile of their upcoming
fun run. So far, so good; a fairytale beginning -
their mutual attraction's just too strong to ignore.
But this is the real world, and these are two damaged
people. With both of them determined not to risk
another heartbreak, is a happy-ever-after an
impossible dream?
THE MILKMAN
by Ian Healy
One question has plagued UFO
researchers for sixty years: What's the deal with
aliens and anal probes?
Blake, a milkman with a penchant for sword fighting,
and Liza, a reporter who needs a hot story, discover
the answer to this question when they are abducted:
aliens are clouds of sentient gas that require a
specific intestinal environment in which to live.
Blake and Liza are the first humans ever found to
possess the correct qualities. They will have only
one chance to save the world, their friends, and
themselves...
Featured
Not-Yet-Published
Books
Discover
the next great novel!
Browse through unpublished books to read
the synopses of great novels from a variety of
genres. Download and review your favorites. Here are
few examples of what's available:
SWIMMING IN THE
RAINBOW
by Rebecca Crandell
Following a devastating attack on her home that kills
her only friend, young Zoé is torn from her solitary,
fantasy-filled life in pastoral Germany. With help
from an extraordinary man of poetry and courage, she
flees deep into the Mediterranean archipelago, barely
a step ahead of the soldiers who relentlessly pursue
her. Magic and realism collide as she discovers why
she is so important, why governments are fighting
over her. When the soldiers catch up to Zoé, they
force her into a world wounded by the loss of dream
and myth. Ultimately, she alone must choose between
life and final obliteration. (Read
excerpt)
SOLDIERS OF ORANGE
by Tom Maremaa
Soldiers of Orange is a
powerful, heartbreaking novel about veterans of the
Iraq war coming home and being treated for their
wounds in a California hospital. The story is told by
Jeremy Witherspoon, an ex-Marine who knows all the
soldiers on the ward, a collection of oddball, yet
heroic characters. Spoon, as he is called, witnessed
a brutal crime of war in Ramadi, did nothing about
it, and covered up the details. His fear is one of
discovery. One day a private contractor named Skank
shows up at the hospital, realizing Spoon's worst
fear. Critics have hailed Soldiers of Orange as the
Catch-22 of the Iraq war. (Read
excerpt)
A LIGHT IN THE CANE
FIELDS
by Enrico Antiporda
This coming-of-age story chronicling a
Filipino boy's wrenching passage from son of
privilege to guerilla fighter is a stylistic
tour-de-force. From its first lines, the saga of
Jando Flores seizes readers with the same chilling
intensity as the cold water that wraps around Jando's
chest as he hides in a river to escape a gang of
pillaging cutthroats. Mountain bandits, sugar
warlords, Peace Corps volunteers, dignitaries, and
revolutionaries all jostle beneath "mango-colored"
skies in this riveting epic of loss and
transformation, but it is a masterful and delicate
choreography--Publishers Weekly (Read
excerpt)
OF TWO MINDS, A STORY OF THE ALLIANCE
CHRONICLES
by Leah Davidson
Timu Maarinen, the worst slacker in Vaaseli's school
for diplomats, enjoys telepathic gifts so great, and
a family so prominent, he can't contrive to get
himself expelled. Stubbornly devoted to natural
history rather than politics, he falls under the
influence of three compelling women. His schoolmate,
Aulia, offers to help him academically, hoping to
spark his romantic interest; his sister Elian,
progressive scholar betrothed to the heir to the
throne, enlists him in her political causes; and Lady
Rilsa Karula decides to further his diplomatic career
while teaching him the arts of pleasure.
When these forces converge, they propel Timu into
dangers that threaten to destroy his family and all
progressives and jeopardize the international
Alliance made possible by the Peace of Alidor.
(Read
excerpt)
DEEP
SIX: A JUST CAUSE NOVEL
by Ian Thomas
Healy
How is it possible to contain a prisoner who has the
ability to fly or walk through walls? In answer to
this question, the underground prison Deep Six was
built. It is the most secure prison in the world from
which nobody has ever escaped that is until a
brilliant psychopath engineers a mass breakout of the
entire prison population leaving it up to two guards
to thwart the escape. The underground prison quickly
becomes a battleground for a deadly war of attrition.
The two guards must devise a plan to overcome the
super-powered criminals and save the hostages.
(Read
excerpt)
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