Blog Meme: The Next Big Thing

I'm embarrassed to admit it, but I didn't know what a "meme" (pronounced meem) is. I looked it up. Second definition according to Dictionary.com is "an idea or element of social behavior passed on through generations in a culture, esp. by imitation."

I can live with that.

Kat Heckenbach tagged me as part of a string of authors promoting their Next Big Thing, so I get to return the favor. I'm linking back to Kat's original post so you can check out her Next Big Thing and I am to tag 5 other authors to continue the madness.

1) What is the title of your next book/work?

Price of Justice. It started as Justice for All, but as the story grew darker, this title took over.

2) Where did the idea come from for the book/work?

My head? I wrote Star of Justice to stand alone, but it contains a lot of consequences with no clear reasons. Price of Justice offers some explanations for otherwise random occurrences in Caissa's life.

3) What genre does your book/work fall under?

Adult fantasy. The sword and sorcery kind, not the bow-chicka-bow-bow kind. Yes, I say that to people.

4) What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?

Merritt was easy. Rufus Sewell. He's got that rumpled sexy thing going on. I don't even mind his age. Although, thanks to some FB questioning, I have to admit, there's a little Mandy Patinkin/ Inigo Montoya in there. Of course, Kevin Kline totally nailed the character in French Kiss. Why don't I know any young actors?

Caissa was harder, but Ellen Page could do it. She can present that innocent but determined air Caissa exudes. Have you seen Inception? 

While Kate Beckinsale and Scarlett Johansson seem to have cornered the market on kick-ass females (and Kate has the advantage of an English accent), I choose Milla Jovovich for Raven. She can pull off grace, elegance, height and a 1000 yard stare just fine. The transformed parts would be CGI anyway, but she could do the stunts in a pinch. Yes, she's impressed me with her Resident Evil franchise and her apparent agelessness.

Gamaliel has always been Terence Stamp. Always. When you read his dialogue, hear William Harcourt from Alien Nation. I would do a cartwheel on Youtube if he agreed to read the audio version of Star of Justice. Whoa, I just got sweaty palms thinking about that.

Price of Justice has a newbie joining the group, Keirbannan Rossamathalid, who could be admirably played by Ali Larter. OK, Resident Evil may be influencing me too much, but I know she would work with Milla.

Rhami Harvarkoset remains uncast at the moment. Benedict Cumberbatch could do it if he were two feet shorter. Maybe trick camera angles if Peter Jackson directed? My other thought is Simon Helberg, aka Howard Wolowitz, looking especially Jewish in that head shot. He's got the size, nose and sex drive, but I don't know if he could overcome, you know, being Howard Wolowitz. Little Sister suggested Eric Stoltz, and while he doesn't physically fit the image, he has the acting chops to pull it off and he may need the work.

Dear Galena. Grace Jones set the standard for bald black barbarians in Conan the Destroyer, and I haven't seen anyone do it better. I could cop out and choose Gina Torres, who has the screen presence, but, frankly, I need a berserker. I saw a photo of a supermodel on FB earlier this year that had the look but bless my soul if I can find it now. I guess a casting call is in order.

5) What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

No good deed goes unpunished.

6) Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

I have an indie publisher who seems interested.

7) How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?

Two years and counting.

8) What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

This is pretty standard epic fantasy fare.

9) Who or what inspired you to write this book?

The characters. Their lives go on after Star of Justice. My readers might want to know about that.

10) What else about the book might pique the reader’s interest? 

That isn't enough? Sheesh. What do you people want from me? Oooh! Somebody kisses Raven. You'll never guess who. Never. And I won't tell you you're right even if you do. 

Mwahahahahahaa! ehem.

I'll tag Keven Newsome, Katherine Coble, Fred Warren (not because he hasn't done it, but because he has and won't have to do it again), Cindy Koepp, and Kristen Stieffel. Get at it, boy and girls. I'll link to your actual posts once they're up. You have a week. Except for Fred, 'cause he's done it.

Kat Heckenbach Interviews Angel Mason of The Toch Island Chronicles

Book 1: Finding Angel (Sept. 2011)

ISBN: 978-1927154137

Hi. My name is, um, Angel. Yeah, I know, odd name. I get that a lot. But it’s what my charm bracelet says, and since that’s the only thing I have from the past that I couldn’t remember when I was found by Mr. and Mrs. Mason when I was six…

Oh, sorry. That’s not why I’m here. I mean it is—my story is why I’m here. But I’m not here to tell you that story. The whole thing is written out in a book. Yep, Kat Heckenbach wrote a book all about me. And today I’m going to ask her some questions about it. I bet you’d have questions for someone if they wrote a whole book about your life, wouldn’t you? Yeah. So, here we go.

A: Miss Kat, I—

K: You can just call me Kat, Angel. “Miss Kat” makes me feel like a preschool teacher. ;)

A: Oh, okay then. Kat…what made you decide to write a book? And did you know it would be about me when you started?

K: Let me answer those the other way around, if that’s okay. I definitely didn’t know it would be about you, specifically. I knew it would be about a girl, somewhere around your age, but I didn’t have all the details. I remember that age well (although junior high feels like a long time ago!) and it was a time in my life when I really started getting into reading fantasy.

A: Ooh! I love fantasy! It’s my favorite genre!

K: Yeah, mine, too. I loved the whole idea of being magic and finding a hidden world or something.

(Angel gives Kat a strange look.)

K: You okay, Angel?

A: Yeah…it’s just that….well…for me, that pretty much came true.

(Kat smiles.) K: Yeah, I know. I, um, wrote it.

A: Oh, right. Duh. Go ahead.

K: Anyway, your name came from my daughter. She was on this kick about naming all her stuffed animals and such “Angel.” It was literally the first thing that popped into my head. So I started there.

A: Cool! But you still haven’t answered about what made you want to write.

K: Right. Sorry. Like I said, I really got into reading fantasy when I was your age. I read all the time. My favorite place was in this tree in my back yard.

A: A tree? Really? Mine too!

K: Well, mine was this cool tree that was kind of knocked over, so it stuck out of the ground at an angle. I could actually walk up it, and sit at the top where a big branch stuck straight up. I would lean against the branch like a chair back.

(Angel’s eyes widen.) A: That sounds just like my tree!

(Kat smiles again.) K: That’s an odd coincidence. Is yours way in the back? Like by the back fence?

A: Yeah!

K: I bet you like to look out across the neighbor’s yard, too. My neighbor had this big, open field—

A: Mine too! Whoa, that’s so cool! I wonder if we have anything else in common! Do you have any brothers? I have three! My youngest brother is really cool and loves bugs.

K: Well, I do have one brother, but he’s not very into bugs. My son is, though. He loves them. We even count his bug-hunting as part of his homeschooling sometimes.

A: My little brother, Zack, homeschools, too. Wow…I bet they’d get along great.

(Kat stifles a chuckle.) K: I bet they would.

Book 2: Seeking Unseen (Sept. 2012)

ISBN: 978-1927154298

(Angel nods and bites her lip.) A: So, Mis—I mean, Kat. What else do you like to do beside write and read fantasy?

K: I draw. Mostly with charcoal pencil.

(Angel gapes.) A: No. Way. I draw, too! And charcoal is totally my favorite medium. That’s just weird…

K: Yep, pretty weird.

A: But we can’t have everything in common. (*arches one eyebrow*)

K: Oh, surely not.

A: I mean, like…I bet you weren’t a nerd in school like me. And I bet you don’t like science, do you? Not many artsy types are into science. (*crosses arms and looks confidently*)

K: Total nerd. And my college degree is in Biology. 

(Angel shakes her head as if to clear it.) A: How tall are you?

K: Five-foot-nine.

A: Five-eight! Hah!

K: I was five-eight at your age, too, Angel.

(Angel eyes Kat’s hair and points.) A: You’re not a redhead. 

K: Nope...not anymore. My hair has gotten darker as I got older.

A: Oh…this is just too bizarre. Even weirder than finding out magic is real…

(Kat smiles and leans forward, lowers her voice.) K: Maybe it is magic…

Kat Heckenbach grew up in the small town of Riverview, Florida, where she spent most of her time either drawing or sitting in her "reading tree" with her nose buried in a fantasy novel...except for the hours pretending her back yard was an enchanted forest that could only be reached through the secret passage in her closet...

She never could give up on the idea that maybe she really was magic, mistakenly placed in a world not her own...but as the years passed, and no elves or fairies carted her away...she realized she was just going to have to create the life of her fantasies.

Now she shares that life with her husband and two kids. Ok, maybe "share" isn't the right word--more like lives that life in her writing and tries her best to be normal the rest of the time...

Kat is a graduate of the University of Tampa, Magna Cum Laude, B.S. in Biology. She spent several years teaching, but never in a traditional classroom—everything from Art to Algebra II—and now homeschools her children.

Author Website: http://www.katheckenbach.com/

Blog Tour Links: 

Grace Bridges 

R. L. Copple  

Ryan Grabow    

Travis Perry     

Paul Baines   

Caprice Hokstad

Keven Newsome 

Greg Mitchell      

Frank Creed   
Fred Warren 

The Faith Awakened Video Campaign

Having seen a number of other authors’ successes with viral video collections, I decided to give it a go myself. The videos didn’t need to have anything much to do with the book – as long as they were funny, watchable and shareable and included the book details somewhere. I lived in Germany at the time and roped in lots of my friends to play parts. So you have a bunch of people holding my book who don’t even understand English. They were pretty good sports about it! Remember this was way back in 2007, with my first video camera, and judge accordingly...

Book Causes Spy to Change Sides

Find Grace:

http://grace.splashdownbooks.com

http://www.facebook.com/gracebridges1

http://pinterest.com/splashdown

Info on Faith Awakened

 

Blog Tour Sites:

R. L. Copple                      

Kat Heckenbach               

Diane M. Graham          

Travis Perry                       

Caprice Hokstad         

Keven Newsome    

Frank Creed                       

Fred Warren      
Ryan Grabow     

Greg Mitchell   

Rift Jump by Greg Mitchell

 Rift Jump by Greg Mitchell

The day Michael Morrison died was the day his life began.

A sinister threat is growing in the void between realities, and Michael has been recruited to stop it. Ripped from his own violent life, he is sent rift jumping to other worlds seeking out the agents of the Dark and putting them to an end by any means necessary. The love of his life, Sara, joins him as he battles Civil War space ships, sea serpents, superpowered humans, and even his own duplicate from a parallel timeline.

But the darkness he fights is growing within him too, calling him to the same destiny as every other Michael from every other world. If he is to change his fate, he must learn to love, to forgive, to trust, and to let the man in the Stetson guide him to become the warrior of the Light he was always meant to be.

Interview with Greg Mitchell

How did you get started writing fiction?

Because I find non-fiction boring. :p As a child, I actually wanted to be a Disney animator (back when they still drew their cartoons), then I wanted to write and draw comic books. My art was never quite up to my standard, though, and I felt really limited in the stories I could tell. Then I set my sights on making movies, but then I was also limited. I had these really huge concepts, but couldn’t find the money to finance the films. I began taking my silver screen stories to prose, where there is no budget. The sky’s the limit. I think in writing fiction, I’ve finally found a way to tell stories where there are no boundaries.

Why did you choose to sign on with Splashdown Books?

I’ve known Grace for awhile and had always wanted to work with her on a project. Have a little jam session. I admire and respect her and what she’s done with Splashdown a great deal. When I started writing Rift Jump, I knew that there was no way a traditional or “typical” Christian publisher would ever take it. It’s very strange, kinda gritty, and a hard genre to nail down (even I have trouble describing it!) and I feared none of the mainstream types would know what to do with it, marketing-wise. Heck, I wasn’t even sure Grace would know what to do with it, but I sent it to her nonetheless and, to my joy, she readily accepted it.

What are your contact links: web sites, blogs, Facebook, Twitter links, your book's page, etc.?

I’m everywhere!

Website: http://www.thecomingevil.blogspot.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/thecomingevil

Twitter: http://twitter.com/TCEauthor

To order Rift Jump: http://www.splashdownbooks.com/darkwater/rift-jump

Visit the following blogs on this Splashdown Blog Tour for Rift Jump by Greg Mitchell.

Grace Bridges            

Fred Warren               

Caprice Hokstad       

Paul Baines                

Travis Perry               

R. L. Copple               

Keven Newsome         

Kat Heckenbach        

Ryan Grabow              

Frank Creed                

Speculative Faith and Kat Heckenbach

My good friend and vicious editor Kat Heckenbach guested over at Speculative Faith yesterday about mixed messages and preachy fiction.

While I would normally give her inordinate amounts of compost for suggesting opposing ideas can be equally true, she makes a good case for balanced presentation of opposing ideas. Check her out over there, and if you like what you read, check out her book Finding Angel (I helped edit) to see how she uses balance in her own writing.

You won't be disappointed.

She also mentions the Iguana's Winter, another excellent read for YA and adult. If you think the name is familiar, Iguana designed the cover for Star of Justice. He also just produced Winter as an audio book, so if you prefer your reading in the "out loud" category, Winter audio is for you.

Hello!

I just noticed I've added a couple of "followers" to this blog. Howdy, folks! Here's hoping you'll find some entertainment value here.

There's still a chance to win a free ebook of Star of Justice at Melissa Finnegan's blog. Just leave a comment there and you're entered. You don't have to have a Kindle to make use of an ebook. Kindle has a free download program for your mac or PC that allows you read on your computer. We also have a straight .pdf file version that you can read with Adobe. We probably have other versions, too. Can't have too many ways to read an ebook.

Wow. I sound like I know what I'm talking about, don't I? It's really just "blah blah, Adobe" to me. I'm throwing words out and hoping they land in some kind of rational order.

Anyhoo... Welcome. God's blessings on you and yours.

Write to the Point with Robynn Tolbert

I'm guesting at Melissa Finnegan's Genesis 50:20 blog today. If you're interested in a free ebook of Star of Justice, stop by and leave a comment to enter her giveaway (and make me look less friendless).

Thanks!

PS: This is the potentially sarcastic interview I agonized over, but Mom's wisdom ruled out and I toned it down a bit. *evil grin*

P.A. Baines Talks About Alpha Redemption

Not here. I suppose I should ask him, but then I'd have to ask other people, and it would become this whole big thing. Sigh.

Anyway, read his interview here and read my review of his book here (if you're interested). I compared it to cauliflower soup, which, if you've ever had cauliflower soup, you know to be high praise indeed. Anything I compare to food is good.

Enjoy!

My First Guest Post - I Think?

Sure feels like my first. Maybe my first since publishing. Yeah, let's say that.

Anyhoo, hop over and leave a comment or two. Love to see ya.

Thanks! 

Write to the Point with Caprice Hokstad

I think I have a guest blog post somewhere out there today, but I'm not seeing it yet.

In the meanwhile...

One of my favorite authors gets interviewed about one of my favorite fantasy series on a blog I will visit as a guest myself next month.

Check it out, and if you haven't yet, check out Caprice's newest book, Blood and Brine, also available from Splashdown Books in print and ebook formats.

Interview with My Publisher

Grace Bridges of Splashdown Books - my publisher - conducted a little interview over at Rambles of the Literary Equine. God willing, Grace will be visiting Kansas this Fall. Perhaps some of you will meet her in person. The rest can meet her this way. 

Go check it out.

Two of My Favorite People

Two of my favorite authors - P.A. Baines and Diane M. Graham - get together for a chat over at Diane's blog.

Go check it out.