Dreaming in the Pages

Books ... where dreams are better than reality

Broken Pieces

Jack Canon's American Destiny

Thursday, March 13, 2014

Danny Wynn's #Excerpt from "Man from the Sky" #LitFiction #BookClub #AmReading

One morning, a couple of weeks after Stefan jumped from the plane, he and Jaime went down to the rocks together. Jaime waded in, and to Stefan’s surprise, swam lazily straight out for about a half mile and then back.
He clambered out and sat down next to Stefan on a big flat rock to recover his breath and dry off. He said, “The thing I hate about this goddamn affliction is the way it constantly rubs my face in my mortality. Human beings are the only animals who live with foreknowledge of their own death. But most people get to store that knowledge away in the back of their brain and don’t have to deal with it most of the time. Me, I almost always have one sensation or another in my body that reminds me of my mortality and swamps me with sadness and fear. Except when I’m sleeping or swimming.
- from Man from the Sky
manFromTheSky
How far would you go to add excitement to a life you felt was boring and meaningless?
For seventy-three-year-old Jaime, the answer takes him by surprise. Accustomed to a lonely life high up in the mountains on the western coast of Mallorca, his dull routine is suddenly shattered when a man parachutes from a plane and lands nearby. The plane crashes; the man lives.
It’s a drug smuggling operation gone bad. But Stefan, the man from the sky, has escaped with eight kilos of cocaine in a gym bag. Jaime brings Stefan home and is soon entangled in Stefan’s attempts to sell the cocaine and start a new life.
As they dodge Parisian drug dealers and corrupt Mallorcan police, Jaime’s search for excitement and Stefan’s resolve to find stability lead them both down dangerous paths.
Buy Now @ Amazon
Genre - Literary Fiction, Adventure
Rating – PG-13
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Connect with Danny Wynn on Facebook

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Write a #Book You Don’t Care About," Says Alinka Rutkowska #MayaFilippo #WriteTip

The key to traditional publishing success? Write a book you don’t care about! How? HOW is that possible, you ask? To do that you need to take the pressure off. The best way to do that is to self-publish first. I have my Maya & Filippo children’s books series and these titles are my darlings. I love and cherish them. I organize book tours for them, I get them into libraries, visitors’ centers and cruise ships. I market them daily. Why do I all that? Because I self-published them. I have full control and full responsibility. I believe in them greatly and I know that they deserve the best of treatments. So that’s what I give them.
On a totally different note, I just subscribed to a writers’ group and just started doing something I never have in my writing life - exchanging manuscript critiques. Of course the first manuscript I submitted was another of my Maya & Filippo episodes and the reactions were something like: this looks great BUT a picture book should only be 500 words long and it should be either fiction or non-fiction and not the two blended together and other similar remarks. These were followed by BUT I guess you can throw my comments away, they’re just one woman’s opinion. Obviously your books are successful and you are an accomplished author. Hell yeah!
But I wanted to play. And these writers can’t seem to play with my current beloved work. So I did something fresh. Actually I don’t think I did it, I just seemed to be the outlet of this story wanting to get to the world. One early morning I got up with the need to put on paper this idea I had. It’s a story about tomatoes. This is another thing. Many of the stories people write are about vegetables, animals or the weather. And I’m like “what the ***?” But since this is what’s trending, I can do it too.
So I wrote this story about tomatoes - these vegetables (or are they considered fruits?) have a very rich internal life. The story is solid, the idea is fresh, other writers’ comments are very promising. I am submitting it to an agent who I know likes stories about fruits and vegetables. And I don’t care. I really don’t. I’m doing this just for fun. Like a game. I see these authors on Facebook, crying over their rejections. Oh, come on! Move on and make your dreams come true. If they won’t open the door, knock it down with your foot, or get in through the window.
Self-publish that book you are so in love with. This will so take the pressure off. And in the meantime submit your new manuscripts to agents as a published author. This way you will broaden your horizons, gain self-confidence, grow as a writer and business person and make your dreams come true :)
maya_filippo
Alinka Rutkowska has created a tale that will appeal to children, which teaches about choices, and encourages communication and sharing. Rating: 5.0 stars from Readers’ Favorite Reviews.
Embark on a one-of-a-kind, unprecedented, breathtaking adventure with Maya and Filippo as they travel around the globe on board the “Fun Princess” — a cruise ship full of surprises. Discover their fascinating ports of call, find out what the local customs and traditions are, join the kids in activities at sea, and explore the remarkable world they create through the power of their positive outlook.
This time the kids spend a day on board the Fun Princess. They become junior chefs at sea and learn how to bake a cake. Maya and Filippo discover how trying out different recipes gets them closer to creating the perfect dessert. They also discover the power of sharing.
Buy Now @ Amazon
Genre - Children's Picture Book
Rating – G
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Connect with Alinka Rutkowska on Facebook & Twitter

Order of Earth (Elements of Ink) by Jennifer Cornet @J_Cornet

Book Excerpt: (Chapter 2)

The brass doors opened behind her bringing with it an unexpected guest.

“I knew you’d come home.”

Onyx’ heart sank hearing him speak in that gentle voice. He always used that voice when he knew he was wrong; when he was trying to make her forgive him. It felt repulsively sweet now.

“She was just leaving,” Jade said in a firm tone as she turned to face him.

“Nicky, you brought a bodyguard with you? That hurts,” he sounded genuinely insulted.

“Goodbye, Philip.” Onyx said softly, suddenly lacking the confidence she just had.

Philip reached out for her arm, but Jade intercepted the action, grabbing him by the wrist and twisting it until he let out an almost inaudible yelp.

“You will not lay a hand on her. Not now, not ever again. If you so much as brush against her in a way I don’t like, I will break every bone in your body, starting with your pinky toe and ending with your skull.” She twisted just a little further.

But he didn’t lose his composure. He looked Onyx dead in the eye, “Quite a lot of bark for your little Chihuahua of a friend here, huh? Nicky, we don’t need all of this. This running away, the muscle, the hiding out, we are better than this. You know I love you more than anything in the world. Just come home, baby. I need you. It’ll be different, I promise. I’ll start going to therapy like you always wanted. You can even hang out with that crayon haired one. No questions asked. Just come home. What do you say? Come on, I need you.”

“Onyx, don’t you listen to him. Put the bags in the elevator, we’re leaving.”

Onyx hesitated, switching her gaze back and forth between the two. He looked so hurt, so broken up, she just wanted to leap into his arms and console him. For a moment, she could feel her heart ripping in her chest; she believed him. She believed he meant he would change and things would be different. She believed it and she hated herself for it.

Onyx rolled her bags into the elevator before she lost her nerve.

“Goodbye, Philip.” She said again.

“If you love her even half as much as you say, you’ll let us leave here. You’ll leave her alone and move on with your life. But keep the therapy bit, you need it.” Jade winked at him before joining Onyx.

As Jade released his wrist, he noticed a small green marking on her arm; a very familiar mark that he knew all too well.

The girls disappeared down to the ground floor, leaving Philip alone in his flower filled living room. He pulled out his phone and hit speed dial.

“She’s with the Order of Earth. Find out what family, find out who their Protector is, and find out now.”

OrderOfEarth

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre - Urban Fantasy

Rating – PG – 13

More details about the author

Connect with Jennifer Cornet on Facebook & Twitter

Website http://www.jennifercornet.com/