All Blog Posts (5,816)

The sweetness of reggae music was experienced in Africa in the early sixties, even though the seed of reggae was taken from Africa to the Caribbean. On the radio daily, was the music of artists such as John Holt, Jimmy Cliff and Desmond Decker, but the emergence of Jimmy Cliff, stole the heart of reggae lovers in African.

From many rivers to cross, house of exile, born to win, my friends wife, synthetic world, sitting in limbo, music maker, you can…

This week, my featured author said, “We're going on a cruise.”

I was excited. A cruise. The Bahamas, Hawaii, Fiji. Warm sunshine, sandy beaches...

“No, we're going to travel the Bosporus,” she said.

“But I want to go to Tahiti. Come on, you'll love it.”

However, as with some of the more insistent authors I interview, in the end, I don't get a say in…

So I will be off now for Christmas and the New Year and I would just like to wish everyone a Happy Christmas and a wonderful New Year. I hope that the New Year brings joy and success to everyone and peace as well. April   

I was recently invited to Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, CA, to speak to aspiring writers about the world of publishing. Mt. SAC, as it is commonly called, is the largest community college in the United States. I wasn't there just to lecture at the weekend writers' conference, but also to represent Oak Tree Press in my role as acquisitions editor and scout for talent.

To be 60 and sitting in a classroom with people barely in their 20's listening to teachers half my age was really…

As the frigid temps continue to winterize Iowa, I'm so glad for this week's featured author who gave me directions for the transporter and soon we're basking in the warm sunshine of Tisa Barefoot Bar in American Samoa. Leaves of palm trees moving lazily in the warm breeze, white sand and a spectacular view of the blue Pacific. She says this place makes the best pina coladas and I must…

It is no easier to promote sales of e-books than it was 4 years ago.  Personally I still like to browse bookshops, charity shops, flea markets and libraries for books I want to read and only go to e-books when I know what I want. I heard someone recently saying that the internet is a good place to get books you know you want but bookshops etc are the best places to get books you didn't know you wanted. I don't know the answer to this except that it appears that i am probably in a minority…

This is my first visit to Authors.com for several months for various reasons. Mirador have now published the last in the series of 3 books about Charlie Bristle. I am now working on something completely different but I am toying with the idea of a Charlie Bristle prequel, a popular trend these days. Charlie has now sadly lost his wife, as he always knew he would but then met again his first love from his college days, Carol who was by now the head of a primary school in East Sussex. He is…

“Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray? I don't want to have to restart my collection...again.”

And I don't even have a DVD collection. I have VCR tapes. I also have movies I download. Yes, folks, I admit, I download movies from the Internet. Illegal, you say? Let's not get into that particular issue. And let's totally stay away from my downloading television shows, about…

Next week sees the start of my epic book tour for The Darkness of Love, and to celebrate the festivities, I am hosting a virtual Vampire Christmas Party over on Facebook.

Join me there from 9:00am GMT…

(This was written a few months back. I've since moved on and hope I can avoid this kind of experience in the future)

I know. Everybody has bad days but don't you feel some people have more than their fair share? You may even think this about yourself.

As writers, bad days can turn into opportunities for story content. So, feel free to use any of my experiences in one of your…

     "The Phantoms of Rockwood is excellent and an original idea. The cover photo is good. Your characterizations were excellent. I like the fact that Coach Jones LOVED his players. He was smart, sweet, and a super good coach coming off a 30 game-losing streak. He and team members were well drawn. The actual inhabiting of living bodies in…

• I'm holding a Giveaway at Goodreads for ten copies of Memory's Curse. Enter now before you can't (last day is Dec. 15).



• The film treatment for Finding Balance is in the works, and I have a screenwriter looking it over for me as we speak. I want it the best it can be before giving it to 490 Entertainment.



• Book two of the Task Force: Gaea series,…

Well, I have to admit that winter has arrived. It snowed last night and when I went out for dinner the roads were slickery...is that a word? Anyway blech! to winter. I'm ready for spring.

That's why I was so happy to get away from the cold Midwest with this week's featured author. I picked her up in my transporter, set the controls and soon we're enjoying an evening in…

Written By: Ralph Hawk

            I think most mortals will agree that whenever one begins to do a task, the repetition of which

will now surely become a part of that one’s life for some length of time, that one will “learn”

how to complete that task more easily, and most likely more efficiently with each performance of it.

And that’s certainly been the case…

After a cool week and a dusting of snow (blech!) this weekend is back up into the high 50s. This morning, however, I'm off to pick up this week's featured author who say he has the perfect spot for our interview. Soon we're relaxing in a clearing on Mt. Shasta in California. The sky is blue and a snow-capped peak rises above…

Right now I have the matron of the house standing guard by the computer making sure I write positive things about the tribe. Gemini, who entered my life on my birthday, allows me to tap at the computer keys for just so long, then reminds me to take a break by crawling into my lap for a few strokes of her own.

The other four are off doing their own thing: Kitler is asleep on a cardboard box, a favorite spot of all cats (along with the step stool, the…

(reposted from my guest blog at World Weaver Press: http://worldweaverpress.com/2013/10/14/when-vampires-came-to-england/)

Much has been written lately about the sudden explosion of vampires onto the literary and popular-culture scene, from Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Saga, to Charlaine Harris’s Southern Vampire Mysteries and their HBO television version True Blood, to the hundreds of…

The number one rule for authors is to network with other authors.  I have been informed numerous times that authors who resist others in the field, often disappear.  What’s the best way to network?  Find someone smarter than you. It's the only way we will learn and/or grow.…