Free is Good…Yet ANOTHER UPDATE November 27

Today’s the last day to download Past Lives: A Journey free. Tomorrow, November 24, we’ll have a complete change of pace, when Redeeming Stanley: Redeeming Stanley: A Savage Little Tale of True Love, Old Gods, Bitches, Bestiality, Burnout, and Above All, Payback becomes the free download. Stanley’s been popular since he first met the public way back in 2009 (and won Audiolark’s Best of the Best e-books award, incidentally). Stanley is, of course, available in paperback and Kindle (and for free from November 24 to 28!), but he’s also available as an audiobook from Audiolark. He’s not free there, regrettably, but he’s still a darned good deal. So go on, download…download…

Available in paperback and on Kindle from Amazon

November 19-23: Past Lives: A Journey
This is a tiny little collection of short stories that grew out of a series of past-life regression exercises. The stories are poetic, evocative, and thought-provoking, from the girl trapped in the desert to prove a point to the mistress who has discovered too late that relationships can be transforming to the milkmaid who lacks the courage to fight back to the woman who discovers that she has lost something she never realized she had–and in redeeming her present rewrites her past and her future, these are stories about love, what it means, and how we find it, lose it, and sometimes, if we’re lucky, discover it again within ourselves.
Reviews Download FREE November 19-23 (it’s always free to Amazon Prime members)

November 24-28: Redeeming Stanley: Redeeming Stanley: A Savage Little Tale of True Love, Old Gods, Bitches, Bestiality, Burnout, and Above All, Payback
This little book right here is the reason I sometimes am startled to find myself turning up on Alternative Porn Sites. I think it’s the “bestiality” in the title. Which is warranted, but it’s the sort of warm, fuzzy bestiality that sort of slips by, only later provoking a double-take and a “Whoa, did she really go there?” Why yes, this book does indeed go there. It’s a fun, unlikely story about a collection of characters who really should have mutual restraining orders–old gods, the born-again christians who try to Save them, self-described Babe Magnet and armchair explorer of the female psyche Weldon Frame, The Freak, Satan, the Whore of Babylon, the Coppess (body by Frigidaire) and some trucker in a Peterbilt and a gimme John Deere cap. It won a “best of the best e-books” award back in the day, and has continued to sell steadily ever since. Also, reviews keep popping up from time to time, so word on the street is that it’s still a fun, funky, “guilty pleasure” sort of book, ideal for anybody who has discovered that she’s been dating in the shallow end of the gene pool, decides to stop, and learns that sometimes things can get a little messy. But funny. Book clubs like this one. I think you will, too.
Reviews  Download FREE from November 24-28 (it’s always free to Amazon Prime members)

November 27-December 1 Good on Paper
Once upon a time, a king named David got the hots for a steamy little number named Bathsheba. Lucky for David, Mr. Bathsheba was busy being one of David’s best generals, so Bathsheba was home all by her lonesome…

See where this is heading? Of course you do.

So does Sarah Conrad, reluctant Bible scholar and unwilling paramour of televangelist Pastor Jimmy Jay Rayburn. It’s a destination she knows well. But the destination is only the beginning. Sarah doesn’t wind up sleeping with an aging “man of God” by accident. Eldest sister Elaine’s minister husband isn’t divorcing her on a whim. And middle sister Elizabeth doesn’t vanish in a fit of pique, leaving a dead dog, a roomful of blood, and Sarah and youngest Conrad DJ behind.

The Conrad children survive by keeping up appearances. But it costs them. When family patriarch Dan Conrad is diagnosed with terminal cancer and the children come home to help appearances are no longer enough, and tensions rise. When somebody winds up murdered the Conrads are forced to unravel their past in order to survive their present.

Set on a family farm in a fast-disappearing slice of America, Good on Paper is first and foremost a story in which to lose one’s self–readers consistently comment that they “couldn’t put it down.” But beyond that, the story raises questions. How do we determine who is “good?” How do we decide what is real? Do we respond to the victimization of others, and if so, how? How do we integrate a painful and abusive past into a vibrant and creative present and future? Above all, this story leaves readers wondering, with DJ Conrad, “…what it is about our family, our church, our society, that allows abusers to not only survive, but thrive.”

By turns infuriating, hilarious, magical, frightening, and lyrical, the Conrads’ story captures the paradox lying at the heart of abusive relationships, as well as the courage, honesty and humor that the Conrad children use to survive.

Tracing the Conrad children’s journey to healing and resolution makes for a powerful and haunting read, one that should appeal to a many, particularly those interested in understanding how the pain of an abusive past can become the fertile soil from which a rich, meaningful future can spring.

Reviews  Download FREE November 27-December 1 (it’s always free to Amazon Prime members)

So that’s what’s happening–don’t be shy about downloading, and if you like the books, we’d love it if you’d post a review or response on Amazon–or even write about it here! I’ll be reposting this from time to time, to just keep everybody updated on what’s going on, free-wise. Happy holidays!

Read Full Post »

Zack’s Very Own Blog Post from Red Tash

• 

  Red Tash–buy her books!

  Hi, Zack.

  I’ve heard about you.  Yeah, you.  The teenaged boy with the wisecracks, right?

  Your friend’s mom, Sherry, told me about you.  You with the snarky comments & the funny retorts.  Sherry said you’re a really great kid.  But why did she mention it, you ask?  She said you noticed one of my books on her Kindle.  She said you thought it was a horror novel.

  Well, kudos to you, Zack.  First of all, for being interested in books.  I’m not being a smart aleck at all, either.  That’s a lifelong habit that’ll only continue to serve you.  Even if you go through periods of being more interested in video games or girls or beer, eventually you always come back to books.  I mean, when was the last time you looked up cheat codes on twitter?  How to meet girls on Pinterest?  Maybe you’re too young to be researching beer, but someday, kid, you might want to learn how to brew your own.  Oh, the places that Kindle can take you.

  But enough about you, let’s talk about me.    Let’s talk about the Wizard.  Remember him?  This guy?

  

  Meet the wizard–he’s free! Click here to download.

  Kinda scary?  Good.  He’s not a bad guy, this wizard, but he’s sure wrangled a few.  He’s a bit aloof, an observer of men, more than a participant of our culture.

  Who is he?  What does he want?

  Well, in the first Wizard Tale, The Wizard Takes a Holiday, he just wants to kick back and watch a movie.  There’s a whole horror film fest going on, and he wants to take it in.  Instead, he ends up herding magical toddlers and dealing with misplaced trolls.  Such is life in rural Indiana, my friend.  Such is life.

  

  Click here for more of the Wizard.

  The second wizard tale is quite a bit longer, but it’s still a short story, not a full-fledged novel, and definitely not even a novella.  It’s called “The Wizard Takes a Fitness Class.”  Scary, huh?  What, are you telling me you enjoy gym class?  What kind of sicko are you?  Of course the story’s scary, I mean, it’s got zombies in it.  Demons, even.

  Okay, okay, so it’s really not that scary of a story.  More of an ironic zombie story.  Did you know those existed?  No?  Me, neither.  Not until this very moment, but I think it’s a fair label.

  And it’s only fair that there’s a good balance between humor and horror in every tall tale, isn’t there?  I mean, there’s the thrill of fear, and the comfort of a good laugh.  Too much of one or the other, and story just won’t fly.  Pure terror gets boring without anything to bump off of, doesn’t it?  And we’ve all seen a comedy jump the shark as the bits attempt to go more and more over the top.  By the end of the show, it’s not funny anymore, just absurd—maybe so absurd it is funny, but unless you’re aiming for absurdism, you should probably always keep that balance in mind.

  Now don’t let me tell you what to like, Zack.  If you want to like the absurdist, then go for it.  I like it a bit, myself. There’s nothing like a zany madcap romp.  I love a story with heart, though.  A nice, big, squishy, bleeding, torn-apart-and-staining-the-carpets-as-it’s-tossed-by-the-mouths-of-dogs heart.

  Ewwwww…squishy…

  Sorry, Zack, I couldn’t help myself.

  I hope you enjoyed “The Wizard Takes a Holiday.”  It’s only 1500 words, so in the time it took me to write this post, I could have written a whole ‘nother Wizard Tale.  A short one, anyway.  “The Wizard Takes a Holiday” is a freebie, and the sequel is only $.99 on Amazon, or free via Smashwords with a coupon code through the end of July.

  

  Meet Roller Deb–

  And if you liked those, let’s talk about a little gal named Deb who’s about your age.  She skates away from home and joins a fairy/troll roller derby league.  Sure, it might sound like a “chick book” to a fella like you, but plenty of guys have liked it.

  (If I can wrench the keyboard out of Red’s grubby little mitts for one minute, Zack, I’ll give you a link where you can read more about Roller Deb here.)

  Axel Howerton calls it a “tale of rockin’, rollin’ and full metal fantasy! I love this damn book.” Scott of Indie Book Blogger gives it five stars, and reader John Hundley also gives it five stars, noting that “this is an action book.”

  But enough about that, Zack.  I’ll let you get back to your reading.  Have a great summer, man!  I hope to hear from you.

  Here are some links, if you’re interested:
  http://RedTash.com

  Amazon profile
  Barnes & Noble
  Other platforms/paperbacks
  Facebook
  Twitter
  Pinterest
  Goodreads

   

Read Full Post »

Past Lives, Reviewed

It’s hard to know quite what to do with a headline like that. I wrote it, and realized it evoked images of Judgment Day, and in my case, the sorts of images that make me jump up and bump the AC setting down by about ten degrees. I thought of changing the title, but really, what else could I call this post? Past Lives, Reviewed is exactly what I’m going to be talking about. Yes, gentle readers, the little collection of short stories that grew out of my foray into past-life regression, the little collection that somehow leapfrogged my more ambitious memoir about being a single mother that has been trapped in the doldrums of Final Revisions for, lo, these many months … where was I?

Oh, yes. Past Lives: A Journey has been on Amazon for a few months now. There’s been absolutely no fanfare. I approved the final proof. It hit Amazon. I’m still waiting for the Kindle edition to get finished. That little book has just been sitting there quietly, waiting for me to get off my sit-upon and actually do some marketing, or at the very least a signing. Imagine my delight to discover that, in spite of my sloth, Past Lives has gotten its first review, and a very nice one it is, by one of my favorite writers, Marian Allen. You can learn more about her here. And you should. Go. But finish reading this first.

I mean, this is a woman who is entitled to an opinion. Here’s what she said:

To be fair, I think I would have given this five stars if the author hadn’t been so honest.

This book is a series of stories written in response to past-life regression exercises. As a matter of full disclosure, I hereby state that, although I bought the book, I did so because I had read a couple of the stories on Bodie’s blog, and knew they were beautiful.

Heartbreaking to joyful, it’s cleansing and healing to follow this writer’s journey through these vicarious (or allegorical?) explorations of experiences of one person’s oppression by another.

The experience and the catharsis are valid for persons of either gender, although the stories of “the woman in the red dress” speak most clearly to female readers.

Highly recommended. Oh–the problem with the honesty? I wanted more stories. I didn’t CARE if this was all there actually were in the set, I wasn’t ready for them to be over! Again: Highly recommended.

Thank you, Marian. Thank you ever so much.

Now, about the “more stories” thing. You’ll be pleased to know, Marian, that Benchmarks: A Single Mother’s Illustrated Journal should have cleared the last of the editing shoals and be ready to set sail by around the end of this week. It should be on Amazon by the end of next week. One of the reasons this book is taking so long is because I’ve made the decision to produce it in several ways in order to appeal to a broader audience. The illustrated version is the Cadillac of the series. It’s 8.5 x 8.5 inches, full color, and it includes numerous paintings done by yours truly. It’s truly lovely, but all that lovely carries with it a price. And in times like these I understand that it’s a price some might find prohibitive. So I’m also producing the book as a small, trade paperback, suitable for tucking into a purse, briefcase, or diaper bag—think of it as the Hyundai version. It doesn’t have all the lovely paintings, the rich color, and the abundant size, but it’s priced within just about anyone’s budget. And, since I’m finding that e-books are playing an increasingly significant role in my sales, I’m also going to be producing Benchmarks on Kindle, as well as in a color, graphic e-book format, if all goes well. These will be the razor skateboards of the group, so to speak.

But that’s not all. I’m also developing a line of related products through CafePress. The idea is to provide a number of sales alternatives designed to appeal to a broad range of readers. I can do this, of course, because I do my own design and because I make use of the online tools available. You should try it; it takes time, but very little money.

And since we’re being honest here, I should probably say that I had tucked a few more stories into Past Lives, but ultimately decided to remove them to preserve the integrity of the collection. Removed they may have been, but those stories have been neither discarded nor forgotten. I’m beginning work on a less exclusive collection of stories even now, one that I think will include “The Girl Who Could Fly,” and “The Fattest Woman in the World,” The story that provided the germ that is even now growing into my first Young Adult novel, The Flying Walinskis. When they’ll see the light of day I couldn’t possibly guess, since one of the things publishing has taught me is that everything takes longer than you expect, but it’ll happen. It’ll happen … it’ll happen … Stay tuned.

Read Full Post »

A Note From Mainstreet

OK, I just ripped off the name of one of my pretty-much-abandoned blogs–one I started during the 2008 presidential election, continued until things got too crazy with the GOP, and finally abandoned, pretty much in despair. In fairness to me, I was in despair because my biggest clients were hard hit by the recession, which meant I was hard hit, the credit card companies decided to secure their hefty earnings and unearned bonuses by raising my interest rates (even though at the time I hadn’t missed a payment), I was struggling to get my mortgage modified to reflect my new circumstances (and like millions of others, discovered after going through a bizarre and frighteningly arcane process that I had been lied to, unfairly rejected–and that I could do absolutely nothing about it), was dealing with one credit card company simply helping itself to one of my bank accounts without authorization, and in the end, declaring bankruptcy. I was Busy. Listening to Mitch “Touché Turtle” McConnell prattle about how his major goal was ensuring that President Obama was a one-term president was not helpful. Nor was watching Messrs. Boehner (which is invariably pronounced “Boner” at our house) and Cantor, holding sleek, tanned, and well-fed press conferences about how thwarting every piece of legislation to come down the pike–even their own–was serving to prevent “job-killing legislation.” I wish I had a nickel for every time they used that particular bit of meaningless jargon. It wasn’t even helpful to watch the Democrats, led by President Obama, bending over backwards to accommodate a pack of dogs in the manger whose openly stated goal was to destroy the country in their insane quest for power. It just all seemed so senseless, I stopped watching.

I knew the folks in Washington were a)actively bent on my destruction since I didn’t have enough to afford my own personal lobbyist, or b) too frightened to take any meaningful action to help. About the time the nice man at the Consumer Credit Counseling Center was telling me that my only realistic option was bankruptcy purely because my credit card interest rates had gone so high I no longer had a hope of paying even the interest, I realized that all the well-meaning ineptitude and fiery, self-justifying rhetoric aside, I was On My Own.

Years ago I wrote a book about a woman whose car breaks down. When she discovers she can’t get replacement parts from the dealer (or even Detroit), she goes to the junkyard–and discovers that there are better things than simply re-establishing the status quo. She sees in the junkyard more than just the means to restore her ailing car. She sees an opportunity to turn it into the car of her dreams.

So how does that apply to me, and my own personal financial disaster? Well, I took my own character’s advice. I took a hard look at what I know, what I can do, and how I can do it better, less expensively, and for more people. In my case, that meant making some changes in where I seek work.

I pay my bills by designing, illustrating, and writing all sorts of things. Before the crash the vast majority of my work came from national, and international, corporations, as well as well-established businesses. Like me, those clients found themselves dealing with a financial and business world which had changed overnight. Some no longer exist. Some exist in altered forms. All have significantly changed the way they do business.

So have I. For one thing, during those first terrifying months when I found myself with far too much time and far too little work, I did some serious research into alternative ways to produce the kinds of things I had been doing for my clients for years. I discovered online book production sites that can produce quality books for niche markets at affordable prices.

And suddenly the national disaster revealed a silver lining. Before 2008, one of the most common complaints I read on writers’ message boards was that good books were too often sidelined or edited to their detriment based purely on publishers’ need to draw a certain number of buyers in order to cover the costs of book production. Basically, good books weren’t seeing the light of day because they dealt with a subject that only appeals to a niche market.

A second complaint that cropped up nearly as often was that even books that were published often were not marketed and distributed broadly enough to provide a meaningful return for the writer.

Online publishing, the proliferation of e-books and Kindle, and online sales and distribution outlets like Amazon now mean that anyone can now produce a book, and its success or failure is more likely to stem from the quality of the book than ever before. This is not to say that every self-published book is good–far from it. But a good writer who cares enough to hire quality editing and design, and who actively involves herself in promoting a book in which she believes, can enjoy reasonable success. While we have watched the nation being systematically destroyed by special interest groups and those beholden to them, the world of books and publishing has quietly become what the world of desktop publishing and graphics were twenty years ago–a place where someone committed to using the new technology to its fullest to produce the best product possible at the best rate for everyone can enjoy success.  In short, it has become a place where the American Dream is still within reach. And that, no matter what horrible, infuriating circumstances created it, is a very good thing.

Especially for me. As my corporate work has waned, I built a business helping everyday people who wanted to write a good book achieve a dream. I offer my editing, design, and illustration skills, access to other quality designers and editors, and my knowledge of the publishing process to help people produce a book of which they can be proud.

What started out as an emergency measure has turned into a viable publishing alternative–so much so that the “real” publisher for whom I have designed books for years and I now consider whether a book and author will be best served by the traditional publishing process, or by the print on demand services the online sites offer.

And the wonder of it is that we’ve both discovered that we have new enthusiasm for the work we do–competitively priced print on demand and electronic publishing alternatives mean that we can produce quality books for smaller markets and still offer authors the design, editing, and distribution outlets they need to produce a quality book and make it easily available to their audience.

I am appalled at the way our nation’s elected leaders and the mega banks and corporations are functioning–or not functioning, rather, except in their own self-interests. But when I look at what has happened in my own life I find that I still have hope. As long as we as a people can find creative, innovative ways to meet the challenges that come to us, we will probably be all right–in spite of those we have entrusted with our national well-being.

Read Full Post »