Thursday, October 31, 2013

Sir Stan The Bogeyman by Stacie Morrell (Perfect for Christmas)



Sir Stan the Bogeyman
by Stacie Morrell
Illustrated by Elizabeth Berg



About Stacie:
Accomplishments: Started a used bookstore for the Friends of the Wilsonville Library, subject of Oregonian article, published in: Antiques and Collectibles Magazine, Bookman’s AB Magazine, Antique Trader, Writer’s Digest (writing clinic), Book Magazine. Started the E-Commerce collectibles department for Goodwill of the Columbia Willamette. Currently pursuing an Associates of Applied Science in Business and Management at Portland Community College, holding a 3.98 GPA, member of Phi Theta Kappa honor society, on Dean’s and President’s List.
Interests: Reading (pretty much anything even the cereal box if nothing else is available), writing (all genres), family (wife and mother), growing in and spreading my faith, learning (information geek), travel (but I rarely ever get to), volunteering, bargain hunting at garage sales, thrift stores, flea markets, etc.
In one sentence, who am I? Stacie Morrell is an eccentrically entertaining neurotic bibliophile who sells collectibles, tries to have patience with her precocious daughter, fearlessly tries to do everything, and writes because she is driven to as part of her genetic composition.
If I could go back and do one thing over: I would have figured out what I wanted from life way before now and gone back to school to get it (much, much sooner than I did).


Genre: Children's Picture Book
Publisher: Self-Published at CreateSpace
Release Date: September 1, 2013
Amazon - Coming Soon!

Book Description:


Do dark places bother you?
The space under your bed…
The closet, door slightly ajar…
Do you believe in the Boogey Man?
Who is he?
Where did he come from?
What does he want?
Maybe he has a story to tell,
And we should listen.





Excerpt:










Thursday, October 17, 2013

Anti-Theist by Chris Mallard (@VBTCafe Tour & #Giveaway)


Anti-Theist
by Christopher Mallard

Author Bio

The majority of my adult life was spent working in the oilfields of west Texas. In my spare time I taught myself how to work on computers and eventually turned it into a small business which I work from home. What does any of this have to do with religion? Nothing. Where are my degrees in theology, biology, astronomy and philosophy? I don’t have any. I am your common average Joe and that’s exactly the type of reader I’m trying to reach. Does it take a degree in theology to open the bible and see the stories told within as being immoral and violent? Can the common man not see how the religions of the world have done and are still doing immeasurable harm to society?

Author Links




Genre: Religion, Philosophy
Publisher: Amazon Digital Services
Release Date: 5/15/2013
Purchase On Amazon

Synopsis:

This book is the first in a series essentially arguing about the lack of abject morality of religion and its dangers. It’s broken down so each chapter is a topic on its own covering a variety subjects.


Excerpt #1

From Chapter 3 – Disproving God

It’s God’s lack of action, not his actions that disprove his existence. If prayer really worked there would be groups of theists (nuns, priests, imams, whatever) going from bed to bed in every hospital healing the sick. Of course there are religious people in hospitals going along praying for people but a doctor washing his hand before seeing his patients will do more for their survival rates than the prayers offered by their holy men. The evil God monster of Abraham is an all-powerful God and can do absolutely anything except give any type of viable proof of his existence.
Often times a theist will counter with the old ‘God works in mysterious ways’ or stammer on about how he’s not there for us to boss around and do our bidding in vain attempts to get him to prove himself to us but in reality it’s just a bunch of crap. Studies have shown that when sick people are prayed for by fervent believers they are more likely to be healed. Other, more scientific studies have shown that when you allow religious nutbags to carry out their own studies they tend to be skewed towards their religious beliefs. I’m absolutely confident that a prayer method of healing can never stand up to the simple rigors of repeatability.
It is absolutely amazing the wealth of proof to disprove God you can come up with when turning a keen eye upon the absence of God's presence. The millions of children who starve to death, are beaten to death or who are being raped throughout the world is each and every one a testament to the non-existence of a personal God, especially if those children and/ or their parents believe in one of the Abrahamic death cults. And to counter with the idea that God is calling those children who die such horrible deaths to heaven to be with him because he for whatever reason has suddenly decided heaven needs more children is disgusting and vile. If your God is able to ‘see all’ and watch these children die slow agonizing deaths over months or years due to starvation, malnutrition, rape and outright murder and do nothing or to be able to watch children be repeatedly raped by gangs of men and not smite the men on the spot then your God is either not real or quite malevolent. If you the reader were ever attacked by an adult as a child and an invisible hand didn’t swoop in to protect you then you know exactly what I mean. Many victims have often asked, ‘Where was god when x happened to me?’”

















Wednesday, October 9, 2013

The Sweet Revenge of Rejection with Mark Rybczyk - The Travis Club (Book Tour & Giveaway)



The Sweet Revenge of Rejection

You’ve spent years writing your manuscript. You’ve gone back through, edited, deleted, changed, made it perfect.

You send it off to an agent or a publisher. Weeks later, a letter arrives. Your hand shakes as you open it. You read it so fast, that you convince yourself you must have read it incorrectly. Surely this can’t be a rejection letter.

If you write, chances are you’ve had this happen to you. Getting a rejection letter after years of work can be crushing.

Ask J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series. She was rejected by a dozen publishers. Only a small London house accepted her work at the request of the CEO’s 8 year old daughter.

Stephen King was rejected dozens of times. As was William Golding’s Lord of the Rings, John le Carre’s The Spy Who Came in From the Cold and Joseph Heller’s Catch 22.
Even The Diary of Anne Frank was rejected 15 times.


If you are a writer, you will be rejected. It is inevitable. Consider it a badge of honor. You are in great company! 


Radio listeners in Dallas/Fort Worth may know Mark Louis Rybczyk better as 'Hawkeye,' the long time morning host on heritage country station, 96.3 FM KSCS. An award-winning disc jockey, Mark, along with his partner Terry Dorsey, have the longest-running morning show in Dallas. Mark is an avid skier, windsurfer and traveler. He is also the host of 'Travel With Hawkeye' a radio and television adventure feature that airs across the country. The Travis Club is the third book from Mark Louis Rybczyk.










Publisher: Self Published

Genre: Mystery
Release Date: June 17, 2013

In a cathedral in downtown San Antonio, just a few blocks from the Alamo, sits the tomb of Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie and the other Alamo Defenders. Or so we have been led to believe. What secrets really lie inside the tomb and what has a group of misguided activists known as The Travis Club stumbled upon? How far will the city's power brokers go to protect those secrets?

What would happen if a group of slackers discovered San Antonio's DaVinci Code? Find out in the new book by Mark Louis Rybczyk, The Travis Club.







Excerpt One Short:

Chapter 1

Noel Black sharpened a pencil and placed it neatly back in the top drawer of his glass-topped
desk, right next to the other sharpened pencils. He glanced at the clock then straightened a few
paper clips and a calculator on the stark, polished surface.

11:08 p.m.

He knew he’d be leaving soon. So important to stay on schedule. Especially on a night like
tonight, when a life would come to an end.

Among the abstract paintings of his office was one unframed black and white print. A picture
of her. Not a picture of sentiment, but simply of record. A photo that would soon belong in a file.
Black fingered the yellowed photograph and could not help but think of childhood visits to
his mother’s father, his abuelo. He remembered spending the hot San Antonio summers at a
rickety west-side duplex much different than his parents’ ranch house in Dallas. Abuelo’s home
was filled with people, music, food and love.

As a child, Black would spend summer afternoons within earshot of the front window,
waiting for the rumble of his grandfather’s old diesel engine. Then the home would fill with
other workers, workers who were grateful to the old lady. All immigrants, they had left Mexico
hoping for a better life. The old lady offered them higher wages than the pecan shellers received.

With the promise of steady income came the chance to move into a house with plumbing, to send money home, and to send for other relatives. His grandfather loved the old lady and he did too.

More recently, Noel Black’s feelings about her had changed. She was a relic, an icon of a
past era. Now in her final years of the 20th century, the old lady had outlived her usefulness and
had no place in the modern San Antonio that he envisioned. She was in his way. She needed to be eliminated.

Of course, this kind of work had to be contracted out. He usually relied on a local contact
who understood the procedures. Anytime a life was extinguished, it must be done with precision in Noel Black’s world.













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