Archer - the book trailer

Phew. What an intensely busy couple of weeks, trying to sort everything out for the auction and create a book trailer for Archer. Good fun though. I now have the first attempt at the trailer - hopefully you can watch it here. It's by no means the finished version, just something quick and dirty to see how it all works.

Check it out and leave any comments/suggestions.

Cheers
    Jacky

Amazing Authors Auction

Huge thanks to  Dawn White, Brandy Schaefer Dull and Catherine Mahoney for all their amazing efforts in support of the victims of hurricane Sandy.

I hope that people will respond by bidding for these book bundles. Find out more about it at the following sites: 



http://www.facebook.com/events/172034662936585/ 

and https://www.facebook.com/AuthorsCharityAuctions

Cheers
     Jacky

Virginia Lori Jennings - Guest Writer

Who's in the chair today?

I'm really hoping this will take off and I'll be able to interview more and more talented authors about their methods and what motivates them.


Virginia has written a thought-provoking sci-fi book "The Alien Mind" (as mentioned in my last post) - to find out more about how she writes, click here.

A trio of talented ladies

One of the things I love most about my new life is how I get to meet so many amazingly talented and creative people. On my adventures around the UK, I meet them in person, but I also have a bunch of virtual friends - we just seem to connect and pick up where we left off a lifetime or two ago. These three ladies cover some of my favourite genres - check out the links and see what you think.

First for the sci-fi (with a twist) fans and younger readers, there is the exciting Alien Mind by Virginia Lori Jennings. 

Aimed primarily at middle graders (junior school), her books are enjoyed by all ages and her writing is described by one reviewer as a   "Spielberg movie in print."

Then for the young adults and young-at-heart who like their romance with a spice of magic and ritual, Wendy Steele writes with sensitivity and passion - check out the beautiful Destiny of Angels.

One of the reviewers said "Destiny of Angels is unique. Wendy Steel writes without flaw."

I'm not sure what the lower age limit is, but Ella writes with a lean, almost masculine voice that lends itself equally to action adventure and quirky humour. I finally found an author who's style and subject matter seems to match my own.

Don't just take my word about what a cool hero Nick Hunter is - or the reviewer that said he is a "likeable, strong male lead you will be rooting for" - take a look for yourself.

Universal Lessons

What a crazy few weeks! First the loss of all the latest versions of all my books and 8,000 brand new words (that I hadn't backed up on a memory stick). Basically, to write Aurora, I was referring to stuff that went on the other five books so they were all open while I made minor tweaks to assure continuity. So even though I saved each file individually, word reached a limit with it's little temporary files and decided to take a walk all over my lap-top's operating system, bringing everything to its knees. When I finally restored it, all of the files in that directory had been well and truly splattered - I tried to knife-and-fork the data from the tmp files into the previous backups (from July) but it was comparative small beer.

     Green Goddess                          Midnight Blue

So methinks, I will repair to a quiet hostelry on the bank of a beautiful Welsh lake and spend 5 days trying to remember the new stuff. Except that I spent 60% of the time trying to recover from the killing blow dealt to my trusty steed by two Welsh ladies who were in too much of a hurry to get home to bother looking round blind bends in the pouring rain. So I had to let go of my faithful companion of 10 years and 72,000 miles - my Green Goddess drove me to Paris and Edinburgh, and shared hundreds of adventures all over England and Wales. Her replacement, Midnight Blue had spent many years being mistreated and neglected by many previous owners, but thanks to the wonderful mechanics at KNS is now starting to respond to some TLC.

It's been a tad fraught, but the lessons have been painfully learnt and clearly understood. And there was me thinking that when Saturn moved out of Libra (taking all his restrictions and limitations with him), it would all be plain sailing. Ho hum. Thanks to the ministrations of family and friends, I am almost whole again, but the green goddess lives on - I have taken her registration plate (with the powerful numbers 813) and put that on Midnight Blue so he can learn from her courage and spirit.

RIP Green Goddess - your spirit lives on and you will never be forgotten.