Saturday, June 30, 2012

I DID IT!


For now, this is all I have to say, except that I'm taking the rest of the day off.


I will be back to update my blog and all her pages, sort through the 1035 emails that came out of nowhere and get back to the land of the living (after I tend to a few mosquito bites).

I did it :oD

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Who Knew, Letter Home From Camp NaNoWriMo

I am somewhere out in the woods, no, this time it has nothing to do with the army, but Camp NaNoWriMo. This is the first time I find myself amongst the ranks of countless authors attempting to put 50,000 words to paper during the month of June.

I am seriously beginning to question the alignment of the planets or fate or something, because since I have embarked on this adventure, EVERYTHING is getting in the way of my writing. Coincidence? I don’t know…but wow. I have had people in my house every day for the past 11 days. I guess the Cosmos needed the first week of NaNo to prepare its assault on me.

So, what do I think of Camp NaNo so far?

The concept is cool and the theme is fun. It’s just too bad people didn’t get into it. We are 4 girls in my ‘cabin’. Two of them must have been carried off by bears in the night, because the last comment they made on our board was13 days ago. My other bunkmate pops in and out, so there is a little chitchat. The camp counsellors send us messages and stories weekly, but thankfully the fb NaNo page is a little more active and a group of writers have connected through it.

In reality, I find myself spending every second possible, mostly in the form of stolen moments, trying to write, but everything around seems to suffer. I have lost any shred of efficacy I once owned. Things slide –I rush in and right it, then skip back to my computer.  In truth, I feel out of whack and don’t like it too much.

To add insult to injury, people around me don’t seem to get it. I am told, “well you shouldn’t be writing that much,” or “you have to take care of your daughter or the house work,” (Uh yeah…that’s WHY I’m behind in my writing, because I’m trying to fit it in an already full schedule). Do I hear things like: “Hey, let me play with Zoey a while, you go ahead and write,” or, “I’ll cook supper tonight,”? Do I really need to answer?

I cannot ignore my 4 yr old and still have to cook and clean. Fortunately I’m off work for the summer, but marketing my book and keeping up with all my emails and related internet activities has taken a back seat.

The fun side is that I am actually writing something coherent. I have tossed my outline and am letting my characters lead the way. I have yet to see where they are going, but they do seem to be keeping busy.

At this point I cannot say whether I will do this again, but I hope to be able to. Maybe next time the campers will get into it, and even better, maybe next time my entourage will at least pretend to be supportive.

Write on :o)

Going for a canoe ride now…in hopes of finding a quiet place to write.


Friday, June 15, 2012

Spotlight on Author Doug Lucas

Good morning, all!
Normally when I feature an author, I tend to focus on his or her current novel. Today we are going to talk with author Doug Lucas and go over all his works, so better put on a pot of coffee for this one.




Could you share a little about yourself and what led you to become a writer?

            I was bored...it's just as simple as that. I retired from the Marines and went to work for the state police in Pennsylvania and managed to retire again...I was bored to tears.
            If you consider my wife's tiny list of my unfinished household chores staring me in the face (with no escape in sight)...well the decision to write books becomes easy to understand.
            I understand my decision...she on the other hand takes a slightly different view of my driving desire to write. I've worked at something every day for longer than I can remember. I saw no reason for retirement to change my life style.
            Household chores assigned by your wife aren't work...they're punishment for crimes you may or may not have committed.


Do you write full time? How much of your life is set aside for writing? 

            For me, writing is a hobby. In the truest sense of the word, it's also an escape. The time spent writing allows me to just relax and forget the rest of the world...and the list.
            I write as much or as little as I want. If it isn't fun...then it must be work and I'm retired. There have been days when I never left the computer...there have also been days when I didn't even turn it on.

Could you tell us a little about your novels? 

            I've written a total of eight novels. Four are now on Amazon as kindle books...read my bio...go buy one...I need a pooper scooper.

The first novel I wrote was published by a different publisher than Great Minds Think Aloud Independent Publishing. I've pulled it off all the web sites and am in the process of reworking it. The second novel is a part of a two novel series and has never been released.

          
       
      What my publisher plans to do is release those two as a set sometime this year. The story for both novels is the same...I wanted the reader to see a life time of love and marriage from two different views. The man's story is called The Good Servant (his is the true version of course) and the wife's story is titled The Good Servant's Wife. Hopefully readers will watch as two very different people grow old together.


           



      
        Conversations With a Dead Man is a blending of historical fiction and a dead man's life. Years ago I read an inscription on the head stone of a man who died in the 1840's . The inscription carved on his head stone stuck with me. I did some research and was able to learn a little about the old boy. I decided I'd tell a story and weave a history lesson into the story line at the same time.

           



  

      Man In The Mountain was written because I'm sick and tired of action heroes who are always men, mostly larger than life and don't have a clue how folks react when threatened by someone with a weapon. I made my main heroes women with flaws, took humor and forced the "action heroes" to conform to reality. I wanted the women to have some of the same courage and reactions I've seen over the years.

           






       Forgotten is based on the bombing of the Marine Barracks in Beirut, Lebanon. I wrote a work of fiction in an effort to show there are more people injured than those on the battlefield. I want the reader to not only enjoy a work of fiction...but see some of what happened at the same time...both in Beirut and at home.

             






      Buzz Words was partly written as an act of revenge aimed at my wife for her reaction to crimes I may or may not have committed. I'm sick and tired of detectives who are lone wolf police officers. I wanted the reader to understand crimes are solved by a lot of folks working their hearts out to get the right person arrested. The lead detective leads by example and she gets the very best out of her people in the shortest amount of time.





Where does the inspiration for your main character and story come from? 

            Each of the main characters I write about are a combination of some really super folks I've worked with over the years. I want them to have all the warts and flaws real people have. 
What is the message behind the story? Was it something you specifically wrote a story around or did it develop as your characters came to life?
            Each book is different, and I really don't have much more of a message other than what I've talked about.
 

Do you work from an outline or just go with the flow?
If you use an outline, how detailed is it? 

            I have a time line for events and characters before I start a book. Before I ever type the first word I've planned the most of the book out in my mind. I vary from the plan if I must. But the time line of the plot is in stone...so far.


What is the time span in your novel, weeks, months, years? 

            Depends on the book. I'll cover as much of a time span as I feel is necessary to tell the story.



Could you tell us how you go about your research, how you ‘catalogue’ information to make it all work? 

            My whole life has been research. I use what I know to accomplish what I intend to do. If I'm not sure of a fact...there is always the library with whole books full of facts. I love diaries folks have left behind. If you want to know what life was really like, in say 1790...you can find the truth written in those memories.


How long have you been awaiting the release of your novel? How much time has elapsed between having typed the last word, through the editing phase and to print? 

            If you can convince Great Minds Think Aloud Publishing to take your work...not long.


How do you handle marketing? Do you have a plan, a publicist or just take one day at a time?

            My publisher does all that for me. I wouldn't even know how to go about marketing a book.


Do you have any advice for aspiring authors? 

            Yes I do...do your own work.

            Don't let someone else tell you any of your story line must be changed to make your book work the way they see it.
            If you wrote it the way you wanted to tell the story...it will be enough. You are the most important reader you'll ever have
            You're always going to have readers who find fault with what you wrote. There are a ton of folks who only want to make your work stronger (writers groups as an example) and will tell you to change this or that in your book.
            If their advice makes sense to you...then by all means use it. If it changes the way you wanted to tell your story...then by all means tell them to write their own book.
            Let the editor correct as much of your grammar, spelling or punctuation as needed. When everything is said and done, even if you don't sell one book, you'll still have written your book. There aren't that many folks can make that claim.  

Could you tell us what you’re working on now?  

            I just finished a book about Teachers and our school system. I'm not real sure what I want to do with it, so it may just die a graceful death on my computer. I would like to see if I could pull off writing a story about time travel and history. But that's in the "what if " stage of planning. So I don't know yet.


I just want to thank Doug for taking the time to stop by. Thanks Doug!

This is a link to the DOUG LUCAS page on Amazon, so if you are interested in any of his books, click on his name and visit his page.

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

The Power to Create

One of the things I love about being an author is the ability (or at least the freedom) to create new worlds. Aside from the main character and his/her conflict/obstacle to overcome (essential to any story), you have a blank canvas to work with. You can take the same MC/conflict and create totally different results just by changing the setting. Think about it. Take any one of your favourite stories…how would it fare in a futuristic/space setting, back in medieval times, in a fantasy world, or just by having it play out today, but in a different country?

This freedom was something I relished in when I wrote Amethyst Eyes. There is a lot of work involved when trying to validate a new piece of technology or explain the philosophy behind a belief, but well worth it in the end. I always try to base my creations on reality and go from there.

How far we decide to take our creation is entirely up to us. Where we differ from someone with an overactive imagination is in our ability to draw the reader into our world, without him having noticed and lose him in the adventure. You don’t want your reader wondering if the technology works, you want him to accept that it does. Think about the magical world created by J.K. Rowling when she wrote about Harry Potter’s trials. That brings up another point…whether we have an ordinary human being or one with magical powers or special abilities.

Once we decide on a rough story outline, we can begin to create. Personally, this is where I make up a chart. Use your computer, a notebook, whatever, just so long as you keep track of things. I have a chart for characters, with name, physical description, personality traits, and relationship to others, etc. I have one for food and drink with their description, taste, benefits, and origin, etc. I do the same thing with technology.

Each time I call on an item, I can make sure I am able to respect what was said about it in the past, and if I add to it, then I add to the chart. This is quite a time saver.

            Let your imagination go, and ride the wave…in the end, there’s nothing other than the limits of your own imagination to stop you.

            Once you have created it, test it out. First, you have to make sure it ‘looks’ like something, and then you have to be able to explain how it works. I have a friend who reads all my work, and if she can describe the ship, setting or object as I had pictured it, then I know my description is good. So that’s one step in the right direction…but is it believable?

            To answer that question, well, it all depends on you. If you believe in it, and your characters believe in it, then your reader will most likely believe in it as well.         



OK, I have to get back to writing…I signed up for Camp NaNoWriMo and we’re all going canoeing later…just as soon as I make today’s word count. I'm still waiting for my t-shirt!



Monday, June 11, 2012

DESCRIBE WHAT YOU SEE AND REPEAT WHAT YOU HEAR….

I want to thank Gray for taking time to write this article for us. Having published his first book in 1981, he has not only watched, but experienced first hand the changes in publishing.
Take a moment to see how a writer's life has changed.

DESCRIBE WHAT YOU SEE AND REPEAT WHAT YOU HEAR….

by Gray Dourman

Longevity in a writing career is hard to achieve.  What worked in the 1970s certainly doesn’t work today.  Writing follows fashion and fashions change, constantly. 

One response to change is to monitor the market and adjust style, subject and approach to address the new trends as they arise.  Another is to stick with what you do, what you believe in and what you know in the hope that nostalgia or the natural cycle of events will bring you, your style and your insight back into fashion. 

Forty years ago my first editor said, ‘I don’t pay you for what you think.  I pay you to tell me what you know.  Describe what you see and repeat what you hear.  Leave the rest in the wastepaper basket.’

Of course my first editor ran a newspaper.  What he said was fundamental to journalism and served me well throughout my career as a journalist and technical writer but didn’t work particularly well when I started writing fiction.  Yet over the years even that journalistic ethos has changed.  Journalists today include a great deal more opinion than would have been tolerated three or four decades ago, a fact that is neither to be celebrated nor regretted.  It is futile to resist change.

I started writing on a second hand portable typewriter and using carbon paper to keep copies of my work.  It is hard to explain to my children that my career predates electronic reproduction such as typewriters, computers and copiers.  Therein lies an important skill in the process of change management.  Survivors take a keen in interest in the technical process of publishing and adapt working practices to it as fast as they can. 

As a young writer, living in British Columbia, Canada, many of my publishers were located in Toronto or the United States, a very long way away.  I awoke every morning listening for the footsteps of the postman, in the hopes that he would deliver and assignment or a payment.  The fax machine was a brilliant development and I delivered my first copy to a publisher via email in 1995.    I was there ahead of many of my colleagues and it gave me an edge, an edge that I needed.   

When I started writing, it was not only poorly paid but it was also poorly respected.  Unless you were an acclaimed author or a Pulitzer prize winner, you were a hack, pure and simple.  The glamorisation of the profession started with Peyton Place and All The President’s Men.  The momentum really started rolling in the seventies but got up a head of steam a decade later. 

Writing became sexy, right up there with being in the movies or being a pop star.  Its popularity brought problems to lazy writers like myself.  Now, everybody and everybody else wanted to be a writer.  Everybody had a book in them and with computers and electric typewriters an easy means of production was at hand. 

Universities ramped up media studies to meet demand. Writing gurus like Robert Mckee have sold millions of books revealing key skills and tricks of the trade that meant the quality of output escalated dramatically over a very short period.  More output of higher quality meant that competition intensified.  Hard drinking, seasoned veterans like myself found it more and more difficult to get through to our agents on the phone.  Phrases such as ‘Why can’t you give me something more like…’ were repeated more frequently.

When I started writing, Science Fiction and Fantasy were a tiny, irrelevant genre in the market.  Children’s books were just that…and not much more important than comic books.  Now…well.   Now, well, the market has changed.

During a recent negotiation over a piece of writing I was pitching, the commissioning editor asked me, ‘Where’s the magic?’

‘The magic?’ I said. ‘Do you find the idea mundane?’

‘No,’ she said.  ‘I mean the magic.  What special power does your central character possess?’

‘None,’ I responded. ‘She is very human, very flawed, very insignificant.  That’s the story.’

‘That’s not a story,’ she said.  ‘That’s what I wake up to every morning.  I live with human, flawed and insignificant.’

As old and cranky as I am, I was not about to write about ‘magic’ people, not least because I don’t know any.  It was at that moment I decided to look seriously at self-publishing.  Self-publishing used to be considered vanity publishing and relentlessly ridiculed by professional writers.  Thanks to Amazon and other open access platforms it has gained in legitimacy.  It is becoming an exciting and innovative marketplace where the relationship between reader and writer isn’t be disintermediated by commercial interests that by their very nature must shape the work according to budgetary considerations rather than artistic interests.  

The independent author lacks the marketing muscle and budget that the big houses have at their disposal but viral marketing techniques mitigate that disadvantage to some extent.   While Kindle and other reading devices have not dislocated words on paper yet, they will.  It is only a matter of time.  The electronic market will gyrate.  Quality will emerge.  Some of us will prosper, some of us will go back to waiting tables, tending children or whatever else we can find to keep body and soul together.

In the large proportion of cases, writing is still not a well-paid profession.  But it can be challenging and rewarding.  The longer a career lasts the greater the chance of writing the breakthrough piece, of finding the right agent, the right publisher, the right publicist, the right personal assistant.  The chances of extending a career are improved by adapting, persisting, finding the strategy that works, enjoying the work and a big chunk of pure luck.  I wouldn’t have it any other way. 

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Interview with author Gray Dourman

Today we are quite lucky, because Gray Dourman, author of Woman of the Century, has taken the time to chat with us. His experience as an author spans decades. He has an interesting story to tell, and in a few days will be following up with a little something on the changes in publishing.



For now, I suggest you grab a cup of tea, coffee or whatever pleases you, so that you may fully enjoy this interview. Relax and read on.


Could you share a little about yourself and what led you to become a writer?

As the Summer of Love had turned to a Canadian Fall,  I left Vancouver and rented a farm near a small town in the Cascade Mountains of British Columbia called Grand Forks.  I was born a few miles up the road but had spent my teen years just outside the ‘big’ city.

The editor of the local newspaper took a liking to me and asked me to write a small piece explaining why I chose to return to the valley when so many young people were leaving.  The piece was a success and became a regular column.  I have made a living from writing in one form or another ever since.

According to your Bio, you now write full time, but just how much of your life is set aside for writing?

I write three hours a day.  No more, no less.  The most important tool in my portfolio is discipline. 

I must admit that I am surprised, because there are days I can't seem to get away from the computer. I think I will use this as an example to aim for.

A long time ago someone told me, ‘If you want to be a cowboy you have to wear a cowboy hat.’ 

If you want to be a writer you have to write, day in and day out.  But writing is a physical business and it is important for a writer to understand his or her physical limits.

I know you have other novels out, but today I want to focus on Woman of the Century.

Could you tell us a little about your novel? Would you take us on a brief tour of your novel and the world you’ve created?

The Twentieth Century was a period of particularly dramatic transition both socially and technologically.  Those who lived through it witnessed dramatic political progress, ordinary people were offered new opportunities and the means to travel and migrate. 

Nowhere did this transformation express itself with more vigour than the arts, especially painting.  It was an exciting, fraught and challenging time for all who lived through it and offered unlimited possibilities for dramatic tension and moral dilemma.

Where does the inspiration for you main character and her story come from?

My mother arrived in Canada from London as a war Bride in 1944 but never let go of the old country.  She yearned for the city of her childhood and the family she left behind.  She talked of little else. 

When she touched on stories of her mother her eyes always filled with tears.  I never met nor knew my Grandmother. Woman of the Century is my imagining of her life.

What is the message behind the story? Was it something you specifically wrote a story around or did it develop as your characters came to life?

The most innocuous person you might pass on the street may have lived an extraordinary life.  Not all greatness results in celebrity or notoriety. 

I knew what I wanted to write about long before I started the book.  All in all it took me more than thirty years to finish it.  I had to wait for my mother to pass and she hung on for a very long time. 

Over the years the characters taught me things I didn’t know and told me things I had not heard before.

Do you work from an outline or just go with the flow? If you use an outline, how detailed is it?

As with most of my work I outlined first, built a foundation timeline, added the broad historical details, then, let the characters loose in the framework, pushing them back when they strayed too far out of context and disciplining them when they didn’t behave in a manner that was true to their background and beliefs.

Your novel spans a century and I am curious about the amount of research involved in such an undertaking.

Could you tell us how you go about it, how you ‘catalogue’ information to make it all work, (since everything from language to clothing changes as well as technology, values, traditions etc.)?

Every day, whatever I’m doing, I collect information about whatever I’m interested in, especially when it bisects specific project that I’m working on.  I have notebooks filled with bits and pieces of this, that and the other. 

When it comes time to insert a given detail into a current work, I acquire as much additional insight as I can, shying away from the well known to the minor facets of an issue. 

It is the fleshing out of the minor that brings the major into focus.

Interesting, that gives us something to think about. 

How does this book differ from what you have written in the past?

Woman of the Century was a much bigger, far more personal story than I have ever told before.  Through most of my career I have written to brief.  With this book, I owned it, from inception to completion.

How long have you been awaiting the release of your novel? How much time has elapsed between having typed the last word, through the editing phase and to print?

About four months.  Waiting for the final edit was the hardest part of the whole process.

How have the changes in present day publishing impacted your schedule as a writer?

Not much.  Writing is writing.  Writing on a computer is very much easier than a manual portable and carbon paper but that also means more people can do it.  In many ways it was sheer physical effort of writing that gave me the edge over the writers who wanted to do it but didn’t have the strength.

How do you handle marketing? Do you have a plan, a publicist or just take one day at a time?

Now, I have to rely on word of mouth and social networking.  The strategy is to find a champion for the book who knows the market and believes in the project.  Someone with whom I can share the critical and financial rewards.

Do you have any advice for aspiring authors?

Write.  Write whatever you can, whenever you can.  Writing is much more important than research or marketing.  It is a skill that comes from practice.  Clattering away on the keyboard is equivalent to doing scales on the piano.  However good the research or the marketing, it will all come to nothing if the product doesn’t deliver. 

Could you tell us what you’re working on now?

A piece of non-fiction based on the idea that we carry belief within us, like we carry our genetic code, but we cannot locate where.  I’m looking for that location.

Well I do hope you find it because it sounds fascinating. 

Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule for this. I truly enjoyed talking with you today, and I am looking forward to your post on publishing.

For more info, just look to the previous post. All of Gray's links can be found there.

Monday, June 4, 2012

Author Gray Dourman, and Woman of the Century

I have had the pleasure of meeting many authors over the past few months. Each one uniquely different, yet in some way, sharing the same path as we make our way down the writing/publishing/marketing path.

Recently I met author Gray Dourman, author of Woman of the Century. Take a moment and come meet him, you won’t be disappointed.



Gray Dourman, the pen and performing name of Graham Wallace, was born in a British Columbia, Canada in 1948.

Throughout the 1970s he wrote articles for West Coast magazines and newspapers covering travel and human interest in Latin America and South East Asia. In 1976 he published his first fiction, a short story in a popular magazine.

In 1981 his debut novel, The Bhudda Stone, was published during his move to London, England.

Over the next twenty-five years, he developed a career in the City of London, writing about banking and technology while continuing to publish in international glossies.

He is currently writing fiction full time.

Review copies available on request in various formats: email: gray@magichelix.com

Biography and publishing credits:

Now let's take a moment to get a better glimpse at his novel Woman of the Century

WOMAN OF THE CENTURY
BY GRAY DOURMAN

genre: Historical Fiction, Romance word count: 140,500

WHEN YOU RUN OUT OF LOVERS...
YOU HAVE TO LEARN TO LOVE YOURSELF.

A woman dies on the river Thames celebrating the arrival of the twenty-first century beneath a spectacular fireworks display. It is the end of a story that spans one hundred years of poverty; war and peace; the support and deceit of friends and family; sudden wealth and the joy and betrayal of lovers, husbands, and children.
Her story plays out against a backdrop of the little understood world of painting and the emergence of modern art, crossing three continents, from London to Paris to the Orient, Canada, New York and back again.
Spanning a century of extraordinary transformation, we share the journey of a woman who makes her own choices and pays for her own mistakes. In doing so she learns that time provides the opportunity for redemption, allowing her to repent of, correct and compensate for her all too human life choices.
It unlocks doors to the secret world of flappers, bohemians, beatniks and hippies; booze, drugs, sex and dysfunctional families. Here we can share the hope of growing up, the dissatisfaction of youth, the responsibilities of middle age, the fear of growing old and the inevitability of death. Somewhere in the mess of getting on with life, we all hope to find something to believe in, some reason to endure.

Woman of the Century is available in UK from
amazon.co.uk

or in the U.S. (ASIN: B007QVAPS8) amazon.com

If you would like to contact/follow the author:
Twitter Facebook Website
 
 I just want to say "thank you, Gray," for taking a moment to stop by and share your info.

Friday, June 1, 2012

Shadow on the Wall

Welcome to the Shadow on the Wall Blog Tour



I would like to introduce you to the author,
the lovely Pavarti K Tyler.


Pavarti K Tyler is an artist, wife, mother and number cruncher. She graduated Smith College in 1999 with a degree in Theatre. After graduation, she moved to New York, where she worked as a Dramaturge, Assistant Director and Production Manager on productions both on and off Broadway.

Later, Pavarti went to work in the finance industry as a freelance accountant for several international law firms.  She now operates her own accounting firm in the Washington DC area, where she lives with her husband, two daughters and two terrible dogs.  When not preparing taxes, she is hard at work as the Director of Publicity at Novel Publicity and penning her next novel.


Shadow on tthe Wall


Recai Osman: Muslim, philosopher, billionaire and Superhero?

Controversial and daring, Shadow on the Wall details the transformation of Recai Osman from complicated man to Superhero. Forced to witness the cruelty of the Morality Police in his home city of Elih, Turkey, Recai is called upon by the power of the desert to be the vehicle of change. Does he have the strength to answer Allah's call or will his dark past and self doubt stand in his way?




Here is a little excerpt from the novel

Recai walked for what seemed like miles, resisting the instinct to second-guess his direction. The sand moved between his toes but soon he found his footing, and his body responded to the landscape as if from some genetic memory. He remembered his father’s words from a trip he took to the Oman desert as a child: Never take your shoes off; the sand will eat away at your feet. Recai had done it anyway, then and now, feeling more in control with that connection to the ground, its movements speaking to his flesh directly.
His father had always been full of surprises: one moment the strict disciplinarian, the next, he would wake Recai in the middle of the night to see a falling star. Recai had never had the chance to get to know him as an adult. Instead, he lived with the enigmatic memory of a great man lost.
Recai stood in the middle of the desert—every direction would eventually lead to Elih or one of the smaller villages scattered around the city. But who would take in a stranger? A stranger with a Hugo Boss turban and a bruised and bloodied face? In’shallah, he would be delivered to safety.


Now if any of this has peaked your curiosity, let's see what some of the people who have read it had to say: (from reviews posted about the book)

"I am glad I read it. While the topics are traditionally taboo, this book provides great insight and understanding that people are people no matter what their religion or political views."

"The author has to be thoroughly commended for her research and background details in several Islamic sayings and fashion which she has described in the book, from the spellings to the greetings and customs, the author manages to get all her ducks in a row and this adds to the richness of the culture showcased within."

"I will say that this book is not for the weak of stomach or the faint of heart. It's a very realistic peek into what some people deal with as a daily part of their life. This isn't the stuff we see plastered on the news. This is real, and gritty, and wonderful. I encourage everyone to read this book, because in this day of media mania the only picture of Islam we get is a violent one. It's so important to remember that the vast majority of Muslims aren't violent, and dislike the twisted nature of their religion that the jihadists throw in the world's face."

"This book has everything, any fiction reader would want. Excellent story-telling and emotional start makes this a success with me. Strong plot, deep characters.. This novel is definitely not your 'Happily Ever After' kind. But, this is more of realism, right? Not everyone gets their HEA..THE FACT! This was heart-wrenchingly sad in the beginning and as the story moved on, I was still sad. And even when I finished the book, I was sad...still."

"Though the plot is very segregated (allowing the reader insight through several different perspectives) it is fluid, well thought out, and intricate enough to engage ALL of your senses. Tyler does a wonderful job of incorporating Turkey's cultural aspects (and language) without drowning the reader, and though some might feel (initially) turned off by it's religious connotations, I assure you that by 50% your mind will be focused on a bigger picture. Live it, love it, pass it on."


To purchase this book, click on the link below:
Amazon

To visit the author's blog, click on the link below:
Blog

I want to thank you for stopping by to learn a little more about Shadow on the Wall. The next step in this blog tour can be found here:

Blog Tour