Do You Chase Your Dreams?

Chasing Prophecy

by James Moser

Just a few weeks ago, I featured Jim Moser on this blog. Today, he is releasing that fantastic novel we were talking about!! And I wanted to give him a shout out of support.

CHASING PROPHECY ON AMAZON

"A stellar read for teens and adults, full of hilarious growing pains, tenderness, and a few surprises.  Moser offers an irresistible narrator in Mo Kirkland.  Every page ripples with a controlled cleverness."  --Kirkus Reviews
Mo is a boy just trying to survive high school in Boulder Creek, a mysterious town proud of its reputation as the "Bigfoot Sighting Capital of the World."
He secretly loves Prophecy, a girl living with a group that some call a commune and others call a cult. Mo soon learns that real monsters don't always hide in the woods. Sometimes they turn out to be people we've known all our lives.
Chasing Prophecy is a heartwarming coming of age story about a boy who risks everything for one chance to save the girl of his dreams.

BUY CHASING PROPHECY ON AMAZON

Here's my review:

*****5 Stars for Chasing Prophecy

I'm a little skittish when it comes to reading stories about Bigfoot...always thought it was a bit of bunk. But Moser writes a believable tale that isn't necessarily about Bigfoot. It's about some ordinary kids who have the misfortune of falling into trouble and the fortune of having a Sasquatch guardian. I was very impressed with this well-told story. It's basic framework is structured like To Kill A Mockingbird...a clever concept. Moser is a captivating story teller. Definitely a 5 star hit!

 

Please show your support for this great indie author. Romance, Bigfoot, Suspense Fans will not be disappointed! Get your copy of James Moser's 'CHASING PROPHECY' today!!!

Don't just Dare to Dream.

Chase your Dream!!

Chasing Prophecy

WHY HAVEN'T YOU READ dEaDINBURGH YET?

OK. So I say it with every interview...

I always say how excited I am to have that week's author. And it's always true. When I find a great author, I just have to share them. And this week's pick is one of the best of the best. If you love zom stories, he's your man. If you like a good sci-fi suspense, he's got that too. But let me have him tell you all about it.

PRESENTING MARK WILSON!!!

Mark Wilson is a married father of two, born in Bellshill, Lanarkshire and currently living in Edinburgh with  his wife, their son, Patrick and baby daughter, Cara.

Mark left Bellshill Academy in 1991, qualification-free. And worked his way through a huge number of jobs including, window-cleaner, delivery driver, Levi’s salesman, a microbiologist and cinema usher.

Mark returned to full time education nine years later, earning his Highers and a degree in micro-biology before entering teaching.

Mark currently teaches Biology in a Fife secondary school and is founder of Paddy’s Daddy Publishing, a company he set up to assist Scottish authors. He writes in his spare time, in lieu of sleep.

 

Mark, thank you so much for being here. Let's dive right in. You used a rather different approach to entice me to read your book, dEaDINBURGH. Can you tell us a little about that? 

The YA genre is new to me and not one that I’d anticipated writing a book for, so I did my research.

I’d read and loved Jonathan Maberry’s amazing Rot and Ruin series and figured that his readers might connect with my book despite the obvious differences.

I contacted hundreds of people who had left a review for one of the Rot and Ruin books and offered each of them a free advance copy of dEaDINBURGH in exchange for an honest review. I tried very hard to ensure that I only contacted those people whom I genuinely felt would be interested in reading the book, I was very mindful of spamming people. I have to say, I’ve met some lovely people from that exercise but wouldn’t do the same for every book. 

That's a clever idea, and I was definitely one of those people who's very glad you wrote to me! I'm kinda kicking myself for not reading the book sooner. I absolutely LOVED dEaDINBURGH!!! Tell readers about dEaDINBURGH and the other books you have available. 

Thank you. dEaDINBURGH began as an image of a baby born onto the cobbles of the Royal Mile in Edinburgh and went from there. I wanted to set a book in the city I live in. It’s a stunningly beautiful place, very gothic with its alleys and underground streets and so rich with history. I figured that as cities go, it was a hugely atmospheric city to trap people in and started writing. dEaDINBURGH is a bit of a departure for me in terms of writing style and genre, but I haven’t stuck within a single genre yet and don’t intend to anytime soon. More on that later. 

If you gave a beginning writer advice about the one most important thing to remember or do, what would that advice be? 

Above all, don’t expect to make money. Do it because you love to. Don’t ever write for a genre or a demographic. For me, I never have a genre in mind when I begin a book. I tend to start with a concept and one or two main characters, then start writing. As the story unfolds, the business part of my head starts to pick marketing areas and strategies around three-quarters of the way through. I don’t ever want to write for a certain market of demographic and feel that just going with whatever story is itching my brain the most is best for my writing.  

 

So far I’ve written a very adult, coming of age, in Bobby’s Boy, an international YA thriller with a superhero protagonist in Naebody’s Hero; a psychological thriller with a sociopathic schoolboy as lead, in Head Boy; an autobiography written for a mental health charity titled Paddy’s Daddy; and a YA Dystopian zombie book in dEaDINBURGH. I’ve just completed a techno-thriller titled The Man Who Sold His Son. 

Having said that, although I don’t write to a genre, Scottish writers tend to have a certain voice in their novels, an irreverence and passion; there’s no escaping that for me. As writers, Scots seem to love and loathe their home towns in equal measures but defend those communities to the end. All but one of my books is set, initially at least, in my hometown of Bellshill, Lanarkshire. These books will be collected in an omnibus titled Lanarkshire Strays in July 2014 and available on Amazon, US and Amazon, UK[mw1] 

Have you found any great sites online that have helped you as an indie author? 

I’ve been fortunate to meet with a lot of like-minded British writers and have formed a tight support network with them. I honestly don’t know what I’d do without their input and support. It also helps that they’re top writers who I’m learning loads from. I’ve recently been hooked up with a group called ASMSG who I really like. Still learning the ropes but I’ll update you in future. 

Are there any upcoming events for you? 

Yeah, I do a lot of talks for mental health charities, the next one is for a Scottish mental health and film festival in October. Before that, I’m launching The Man Who Sold His Son in July, as well as the Lanarkshire Strays series. 

What's your next project? 

Having just completed my fifth novel, The Man Who Sold His Son, I’ve started on dEaDINBURGH: 2 whist I’m awaiting the editing of TMWSHS. As well as that, I’ve just contributed a short story to Ryan Bracha’s project, a novel of shorts titled Twelve Mad Men, which has twelve writers from that support group I mentioned earlier, writing an inmate each. Bracha is pulling the twelve tales into a narrative, crazy stuff and very ambitious, but he’s the man to pull it off. 

Being an indie author is a lot about self promotion. What has been your best source for promoting your books? 

Aye. It’s the part of the role I don’t like much. I’m good at marketing, that is placing the books in the most visible places and making them as discoverable within the UK market as possible, but promoting can sometimes be a little extreme and over-enthusiastic from Indie-authors. I try to market properly and get other people to promote for me by running competitions and sharing links etc so as to keep the brand I’m building visible but not sicken people with constant promo. 

I LOVE the cover of dEaDINBURGH, and I noticed your author pic appears to be in the same location. Can you fill us in on the story behind that? And maybe give a shout out if you had a cover designer? Also, is there a story behind how you got the title? 

Thanks. I’m really lucky in that an old friend, Paul McGuigan, is a top-notch photographer and one of those people who make themselves available for a friend despite being incredibly busy.

When I was around three-quarters of the way completed on the novel, I asked Paul to tour the various location I’d used in the city and shoot some pics for possible covers and promo material. We had a great day and more than a few drinks en-route and despite the heavy rain and bitter cold (which in hindsight was perfect), he managed to get me to pose for some author shots also. I’m delighted with Paul’s images and have most of them on display at the dEaDINBURGH site.

The cover itself, I designed with assistance from a German manga artist named Yuramei who did the awesome title graphic. 

Now for a little fun! Tell us one quirky, weird or downright eccentric about yourself. Any author pet peeves? 

I have to put my right sock on before the left one or I’ll itch all day. I can’t go to sleep without seeing my kids faces. 

Paddy's Daddy

While writing, music or silence? (if music, what do you listen to?) 

Music, every time. Depends what I’m writing. Sometimes I want Amy Winehouse soothing me, mostly I want heavy rock. Rage Against the Machine and Hopeless Heroic are ever-present. 

If I gave you a rabbit's foot, a lantern and a box, what kind of story would you write? You can give it a title too, if you want. 

Depends if I have my YA head on or not. If I did, probably a time-travelling rabbit who loses a piece of himself every time he time-leaps. The lantern gives him his abilities. The foot’s all that’s left. We’ll call it Timehopper.

If non-YA, it’d probably be the leftovers from a mammoth alcohol-fueled Greenpeace coupe.

Oh my gosh! I love it. Thank you so much, Mark, for visiting with us today! I think readers have gotten an idea of your voice in your writing. 

Here's Mark's contact information

Mark Wilson Books on Facebook

@bellshillwilson on Twitter  

Mark's Website

Paddy's Daddy Publishing

Buy Links for Mark's Books
The Man Who Sold His Son on Amazon, US or UK

dEaDINBURGH on Amazon, US and Amazon, UK

Naebody's Hero on Amazon, US and Amazon, UK

Bobby’s Boy on Amazon: UK or US

Head Boy on Amazon: US or UK 

The Lanarkshire Strays collection on Amazon, US and UK 

And thank you to all of you who take the time to come and visit. I hope you're enjoying these interviews with great indie authors...and an occasional NYT Best-Seller...and I hope you're showing them some love and checking out their books. The featured author always has links to their books in the interview. As well, they're on the slideshow to right of the post. If you've absolutely fallen in love with them like me, the contact links are also available for you (as seen above). Indie authors especially love to hear from fans and readers.

As always...

Dare to Dream!!

Su

IS JENNY ALIVE...OR UNDEAD?

Hello everyone! I'm so happy to have you here this week, and truly honored that you've taken time out to come visit. So I hope this week's guest will WOW you as much she WoW'ed me.

This week, my guest is JL Murray, aka Jessica Leigh Murray, or just plain Jesse. I don't remember how I happened upon her book Jenny Undead, but I was so thrilled when I finished it that I just had to find her and thank her for such a great book. So sit back with a coffee, or a glass of ice tea, and meet this fantastic indie author!

JL MURRAY

Jesse, welcome to Dream Weaver Novels on Blogger! Would you introduce yourself to my readers? Tell us where you're from, your day job, how you got into writing...

Hi Su. I'm a full-time indie writer. 

I am originally from Montana, having grown up in a tiny lumber mill town. I began writing at an early age, which isn't unusual. I know a lot of writers say that. It's true, though. I have books from when I was seven or eight years old which I wrote, illustrated and bound with yarn. Maybe a precursor to being an indie writer. My first real writing, though, came when I bought an electric typewriter at a school auction when I was twelve. I was obsessed with Sherlock Holmes at the time, and I started writing mystery stories. It was all downhill from there. I never really stopped.

I am a HUGE fan of your novel JENNY UNDEAD (a truly unique take on the

I LOVE THIS COVER!!!

zombie apocalypse). What was your inspiration for the book?

Originally, I was going to write Jenny Undead as a comedy about a cheerleader that finds herself zombified. But as I started fleshing out the world and the characters, it became very apparent that this was not a comedy. And Jenny was anything but a cheerleader. 

I didn't really have a specific inspiration for the book. I've always sort of wanted to write about a zombie antihero. And I wanted a world that was full of chaos and anarchy. You see so many zombie books where it's all about rape and killing other survivors. I didn't want that. I wanted to show how humanity would find a shaky sense of order no matter what happened in the world, no matter how devolved society became. I may touch on some of the darker survivors later in the series, but it will never be the focus. 

As an indie author, is there one website or tool you've found that you just can't live without? What site has been most helpful to you?

You know, I used to read anything I could get my mitts on about the indie scene. J.A. Konrath, Hugh Howey, whatever I could find for inspiration. But I've come to realize that these sites are not what is important. They're the golden feather. The writing always needs to come first. Before martketing, before social media, before blogging. The best advertising is the next book, so I try to just keep my nose to the grindstone and write as much as possible. In the past three years I've written eight books, so I guess it's working. 

 

What is your writing process like? Do you make goals? Create outlines? Or are you a pantser? 

Me too!

I don't really have a process. I do like to make rudimentary timelines, and sometimes I do in-depth outlines if the book calls for it. I wrote After the Fire without an outline, and I tried to outline Jenny Undead but it kept jumping the fence, so to speak. I often just do an outline to get started and then let the characters take the story in all kinds of crazy directions. 

I drink a lot of coffee. When I finish a book my husband and I usually drink a fancy bottle of champagne. Mostly my process is to just have fun. If I'm not having fun, what's the point? I think readers can tell when the writer stops having fun, too, so I try to keep life interesting.

I generally write three books a year, which is a good goal for me. My books are fairly short compared to some in the genre, so this is doable.  

 

We'd love to know more about other books by you. What else can we get our hands on?

I mainly write in the dark fantasy genre, but I also write sci-fi and horror. My most popular series is the Niki Slobodian series which is sort of a dark, twisty urban fantasy. After the Fire is the first book in a fantasy series about a group of gods in a world that has been largely destroyed. And Jenny Undead is, of course, the first book in The Thirteen series, which is about a group of people that survived horrific experiments as children which enables them to survive the zombie apocalypse. 

Currently I'm working on a standalone (I think) about a society where vampires have taken over the governments of the world. If it works out, that one will be available before the end of the year. Then I can start work on book two of The Thirteen, tentatively entitled Jenny Alive.

While writing, music or silence? (if music, what do you listen to?) 

I listen to music a lot when writing. I'm a big fan of Spotify, and I make a playlist for each book I write, which I then listen to over and over while writing. Much of my plotting or the big, intense climaxes are written to classical or intense instrumental music. But the actual writing is to a lot of rock and roll usually. The playlist for Jenny Undead naturally had a lot of punk rock music, where my Niki Slobodian series generally has slower, more intense music. 

Tell us something unique, quirky, or different about you. Any author pet peeves? 

I have a checkered past. I used to go to a lot of punk rock shows before I cleaned up and went back to school. I studied Forensic Anthropology for a long time before settling on Creative Writing. My family and I live in Hawaii now, which can be fun, though I find myself complaining about the sun way too much. I'm a rainy day and cup of tea kind of girl when you get right down to it.

My pet peeve is people putting out books that are not ready for public consumption. As indies we have to be careful, and despite popular opinion there is still a stigma attached. We need to be putting really amazing fiction out there. When someone reads a terrible book with plot holes and spelling errors and bad formatting, it can sour them for indie writers permanently. Don't do this. Hire an editor, a proofreader, and a formatter. Find some beta readers that aren't related to you. It can be expensive, but it will be worth it in the long run. I've tended to run my career like a small business. You wouldn't open a store that had insulation sticking out of the walls. Don't publish a book that isn't ready. 

 

I wholeheartedly agree. Is there anything you'd like readers to know about that's coming up for you? Book Launch?... 

Yes. My fifth and final book in the Niki Slobodian series, The Devil's Backbone, is currently out at the editor's. My beta readers will be reading it this week and I'm going to have a book release party on Facebook sometime soon. I'll be making an announcement on the date on my fan page, but it will probably be pretty soon. 

If I gave you a marble, a feather and a skull, what kind of story would you write? Give it a title if you want. 

Birdman Loses his Marbles: A Love Story.

JL, I'm so happy you came to visit today! And I'm very excited to share you with my visitors. Thank you for your jewels of wisdom and sharing your work with us!!

And thank you, as always to the great readers and fans that stop by each week to meet a new author. I fell in love with Jenny Undead and then the author. I hope you'll take a few minutes to check out Jesse and her books. Here's how to find them:

J.L. Murray on Facebook

@jlmurraywriter on Twitter

J.L.'s Website 

 

All of her books are on Amazon!

Jenny Undead

Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

 The Devil Is a Gentleman

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

The Devil Was an Angel

After the Fire

 
I'm on my way now to check out some new reading. How about you?
As always...
Dare to Dream!
Su