Cover Reveal - And No, It's Not Mine (YET)

This is the first time I’ve ever helped another author with a cover reveal. But I’ve been following Jimmy’s BLOG for years now, and was excited to help. Then I found out Maria Zannini designed the cover, which made me doubly excited. So without further ado (**drum roll**):

 

“Seeing Ghosts” by James Garcia Jr. Blurb: Paul Herrera finds himself bequeathed a mysterious old house near the California central coast by a deceased aunt he never knew. The woman who shows it to him is the spitting image of his wife, taken from him three years before in a senseless car accident which also took his unborn son. While he deals with the ghosts of a past he cannot let go, there are new ghosts Paul must deal with - alone for the week in the expansive two-storey house that he will soon discover holds many secrets. Eventually, he will see that he is surrounded by ghosts as he struggles to hold onto the only thing that he has left in this world - his sanity.

Jimmy’s previous books are in the horror genre, but I guess the romance bug bit him (or something) and he decided to write a paranormal romance. I have not read the book, but I will because I am, you know, CURIOUS. Isn’t that what every writer hopes to instill in his readers? Here’s what Jimmy has to say about coming to write in this genre:

So, you ask, how in the world could a guy who started reading and writing horror fiction end up writing a romance? Well, it is a paranormal romance, so it really isn’t that big of a leap…

Truth be told, although I grew up reading The Amityville Horror and early works by Clive Barker and Mr. King, and watching films like The Thing, Poltergeist and the original Friday the 13^th films, my tastes have evolved with age. Now in my 40’s I find myself more comfortable with horror suspense than horror gore. If it’s splatter or torture porn, I’m really not interested. As one may excuse language and nudity when it’s necessary for the plot, I feel the same about violence. There’s certain rough aspects to The Exorcist, The Silence of the Lambs or more recently Let Me In, but the stories are so good that they work on every level.

Though I grew up with horror fiction and heavy metal music, my teenage years and a real lack of dating brought me to face issues of the heart. Even though my wife and I have been together now for twenty five years, I still remember those teenage years where every sad song seemed to be about me. Perhaps one might suggest that there is still a small part of me that wonders if love can be forever, and whether I might yet find myself alone once more? Only God knows. We have a wonderful life together, yet there’s still a part of me in touch with those feelings of love and loss.

My favorite novel is not scary in the least: “Beach Music” by Pat Conroy. It is a work of genius. It is not paranormal, and I never wanted to read it; however, a sister in law of mine coerced me into picking it up. All these years later I have yet to put it down, reading it or at least parts of it periodically over that time. It is great drama and has a bit of everything in it. I will go to my grave a happy man if I’m considered half as good a writer as Mr. Conroy. Couple this with the fact that I’m most comfortable with a romantic comedy on my television, and you will now begin to understand how it came about that I ended up writing “Seeing Ghosts.”

I always hoped to write a haunted house story before my writing days were finished, but I did not want to rush it. I had seen too many films or books begin with so much promise, but fall flat in the end. This is not to say that I have written the greatest haunted house story in the history of mankind. But I do think I have come up with something that is very special – it certainly is to me.

And I hope it is for you as well. You’ll have to let me know.

As I say over at my blog, we’ll talk soon.  

If you are interested in reading his horror works, you can find them on Amazon HERE. Oh, and Maria designed those covers, too. If you’re in the market for a cover artist, check her out HERE.

 

So what do you think? Isn’t the cover gorgeous? Has this book hit your reading radar?

 

Stacy

 

Social Media Overload

Gosh, is it Friday already?

Haven’t had a chance to try my new walking shoes yet. Why? Rain. Cold. You pick and you’ll be correct. Looks like the weather will be drying out and warming up this weekend, so I’m hoping to get more walking in next week.

I signed up for a free class with RWA regarding Social Media. Yikes! Too many people signed up for that. Frankly, I didn’t really learn anything new with what I’m doing already. I doubt I’ll ever tweet - not unless I owned a smart phone first anyway. And regarding an author page on Facebook, I think I’ll worry about that if I ever get close to 5000 friends. I’d be surprised if that ever happened, though. But don’t let that stop you from friending me (pick me! pick me!). My badge is located on the side panel, below all those blogs I follow!

The thing that gets me is that all these writers are setting up author pages and asking everyone to LIKE them. Why? I mean, if I had a page, I would want people who will read or have read my books to like my page. But to have likes just to have likes? It doesn’t make sense. Don’t you think it’s better to have 5 people like your page who have read your work and are willing to buy your next book than 100 likes of people who only liked you because you liked them back?

FYI: If I like your page, it’s because I like your work. I thought that’s how Facebook was supposed to work. Am I wrong?

Then there’s my blogging. In case you never noticed, I don’t do blog hops. Maybe they generate followers, but they’re time suckers. Not only do I have to come up with one or more postings, I’m kind of required to visit everyone else, too. Sometimes I feel like I spend TOO much time blogging as it is, but hey, it’s about the only time I’m actually interacting with other people. Besides, it’s fun now. Why turn it into work?

 

I'm hoping to see "Oblivion" this weekend. Anyone else interested in that? Don't know when we'll see it, though. We have tickets to a Dragons Game Saturday night. At least this Saturday night won't be as cold as last Saturday night, but I'll probably still need to bundle up.

On Monday I hope you’ll stop by. I’m helping James Garcia Jr. in revealing the cover to his new novel, and it’s pretty cool!

Have a great weekend!

 

Stacy

 

Wednesday Reads and Other Stuff

I did it! I bought new shoes. After walking 6.5 miles (round trip) on Monday (destination: lunch with my husband), my feet said, “Enough!” That’s what I get for using older shoes (which are still fine for bumming around the house). So I gave my feet a break on Tuesday and stayed inside. I wore the new shoes only to get used to them. It was hard, too. Tuesday morning was warm enough to walk and today it’s raining (figures). Oh well…I did enjoy that Monday walk, though. It was an absolutely BEAUTIFUL day!!!

Now on to what I’ve read in the past week:

Apr 19: “Hunted” by Rebecca Zanetti. This is book three in the Protector series, a paranormal romance. Blurb on back: Moira Dunne is a witch--the quantum physics kind. Time and space are her playthings. Which might explain why her one-night stand from a hundred years ago has burned up to “claim” her--and request her family’s assistance with the war he’s brewing. But the more she learns about Connlan Kayrs, the more she comes to think this is normal behavior for him… When Conn and Moira tumbled on the moonlit grass, Conn hadn’t meant to mark her as his mate for all time. She was only twenty! But it wasn’t easy to wait for her. It was even harder to forget her. So when he finally returns for his wicked-hot witch, he’s ready to let the sparks fly. Even if he burns up in flames… Funny thing: I had this book on my shelf to read and was given it to judge! I enjoyed the previous two books (there is a novelette out there, too--book 2.5--but I haven’t read it), even though the heroes in those books were a bit on the mean side. Alpha bad boy to the extreme, I guess. However, I didn’t get that same vibe from Conn and I liked him a lot more. And the couple for the next book has been featured a bit in the past two, so I won’t have any problems picking up the next one in the series. Once I own it, that is. I gave this book 4 stars on Goodreads.

I’m now in round 3 of my content edits. Doesn’t appear to be anything major, so I expect to get it done in the next day or so. Still puts a hold on my revision project, and ultimately my writing project, since the edits aren’t all that taxing to my brain. At least, not YET.

 

Happy Reading!

 

Stacy

 

Baseball, Websites and Writing

I spent Saturday night at the Dragons game freezing. Okay, maybe it wasn’t snowflake weather, but still, 36 degrees is close enough. Do I like to exaggerate? You betcha! At least the Dragons won, so it made sitting out there a little more bearable.

And even though I was shivering, I had some fun with my honey. In what he claims was a rush to get ready (I did NOT rush him!), he wore his summer slip-on shoes instead of the warmer athletic ones. He realized this after we parked that his feet would probably get cold. Then later, he had given his friend’s daughter his gloves and mentioned about getting some hot chocolate. I told him that sounded good. He tried to get me to go get it. I said I could wait until he got cold enough to go. He said I’d get cold before him. I leaned over and whispered, “Well, I didn’t give my gloves away or wear the wrong shoes.” Got a good laugh out of that. Turns out, neither one of us got up and got hot chocolate. I wasn’t about to leave the blanket!

One of the things that killed me was watching these young girls in front of us eating ice cream. Really? I guess they didn’t have to worry about it melting. But still… Brrrr!

I spent Sunday helping my husband update my website, and by helping, I mean telling him whether or not I liked what he was doing and then actually making decisions - THAT is not easy, at least not for MY brain. I can’t tell you what color goes best, I’m not a decorator/designer/whatever.

There will be changes, though. Hopefully GOOD ones. I’ll let you know when it’s live. Then maybe you can be kind and visit, and then let me know your opinion. There sure is a lot involved with websites, though. Yikes! Glad I’m not in that business. It would drive me nuts.

Writing stats from last week: I kept 2286 words in Book 6 (I probably wrote more than that, but I also deleted a lot), while I added 903 words to Book 5. Not too shabby. If not for the editing/revision, I would have probably written more of Book 6, but Book 5 comes first. One chapter a day (M-F), that’s my goal, and so far I’ve been doing pretty decent. Only 7 more chapters to go and then it’s on to my next editing project: Book 1.

So, how was your weekend? Do anything fun? Was it warm? You can tell me. I won’t hate you TOO much! J

 

Stacy

 

Spring Pictures

I remembered to take pictures! Lame pictures, but pictures all the same. Whoo hoo!

Yep, spring has finally arrived on our street. The blossoming pear trees are in blossom. We don't have any in front of our house (we like to park in front of our house and I've seen what a tree can do to a car!), but many of the neighbors planted them. I love driving down our street when the trees look like this. Unfortunately, it never lasts long. At least, it never seems to. A storm usually comes through shortly after they bloom and blows all the petals away.

It was only a couple of weeks ago this street was covered in snow! Nice that it didn't take that long for the grass to green up.

Anyway, hope you enjoy the pictures. Maybe they'll cheer me up, too. It stinks when you think you have a project ready to query and then find out it still needs works. Ah, but what can you do but go back and fix it. Still stinks, though.

Have a great weekend!

Stacy