Oddities, Profundities, Profanities and Dad Stuff

Tag: Amazon Kindle

Cyber Monday?!? The Holiday Horror Continues…

SWANSEA, WALES - NOVEMBER 24:  Staff at the Am...

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Today is now known as Cyber Monday.  It sounds ominous and it probably should, you couldn’t possibly shop online any other time of the year.  So why do they insist on getting your cash today??  The only explanation I can think of is so the online retailers can get in on some of that Black Friday cash.

It is not like anyone shops online for Black Friday anyway.  You should, many of the same deals in the stores are available online at the same time.  And you don’t have to stand out in the cold or deal with crowds, out of stock items and people in general.

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Part of the Blog tour, a book review of Foreign Identity!

Hello folks.  Today I am bringing you a review of a new book that has just been released.  For those who have been around a while, you may have heard me talk about a little site called the Creative Copy Challenge.  Well, it was through participation in the weekly challenges that this book, Foreign Identity, was spawned.

I was writing away with my own story (that really should be a book too if I wasn’t so lazy about it) when I started reading the other submissions.  One that caught me up in the story was Foreign Identity by Becca Campbell.  I got caught up in the story and became internet friends with Becca and was more than a little bummed when life got in the way and she didn’t finish the story.

Little did I know then, that she was working hard to make this story a novel.  And it is good.  Becca sent me a review copy of Foreign Identity (for free FTC, I know you are listening) and asked me to read it.  I was excited to really find out what happened to the main characters, Jax and Kel.  But more about that in a minute.

I don’t think that anyone knows (becasue I have never told anyone) that I actually cut and copied the entries from the CCC into a Word file so that I could either read it again or just finish what I missed.  At the last count in Word, Foreign Identity was 36,700 words long.  Not too shabby, but not a novel.  Now it is fleshed out and it is fun to see wha thas been added and what finishes the story.

Now for the review.  The book, I loved it.  The marketing and publishing through The Consortium (Oklahoma City based with some other people you have heard me talk about, Aaron Pogue, Courtney Cantrell, (I love to be able to actually name drop)) is just independent genius.  It gives me hope for my novels if I ever get them finished.

Ok, the book.

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Again with the book reviews: Gateway to Reality

Greetings and Salutations my fine friends!  Today I bring you yet another review of yet another book by my friend Becca J. Campbell.  This one is a wild ride I have to tell you.  Hint: if you click on the picture there, you can go to Amazon.com and pick up a copy for yourself.

GtR-kindle-cover-final-websize-225x300
And now for the critical review part.  Becca has written yet another world of mystery while challenging reality.  Becca sent me this book as a reviewer copy so that I can give you all the good word and force ask you to go and buy it.  For the sake of an honest review: here goes.

This book was Becca’s most confusing book yet. At least at first, it took me a while to figure out where the characters were and who they were. The story began to make better sense and really pick up on the action a ways into it.

I particularly liked the small inside jokes that were throughout the story, movie references etc.

I did get a little distraught in the middle though.  It started to drag but I pushed through it and it picked up again finishing strong, and I was satisfied.  She didn’t however, finish up everything, setting up a sequel perfectly.

It seems as though Becca wants to write epics, and each book is just a bite sized chunk to make you hungry for the next.

All in all, this book is great. It is well worth reading and well worth waiting for the next one in the series, if there is one. If you are trying to decide if you should buy this book, right now, I mean RIGHT now, just do it, you won’t be sorry. (Just click the picture up there and you can get a copy for yourself.)

Now, I haven’t asked her directly yet, but I am still trying to figure out how she can find time to write fiction and pump out all of the books that she is doing.  She has young boys, one is just older than my 2 1/2 year old  and I can’t seem to get much of anything written with the kids running around and the house needing cleaning.  Kudos to her.

You can learn more about Becca at her website: BeccaJCampbell.com as well as see her contest for Gateway to Reality as well as unique insights into the twisted mind of a writer.  Seriously, she is great.  Other places to find her:

Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Pinterest | Amazon

She is also having a Rafflecopter giveaway: check out what you can win:a Rafflecopter giveaway

(I highly recommend the books.  Go buy them if you don’t win).

 

And as if that were not enough, she is doing something that I think is way cool.  A blog scavenger hunt.  Visit each site, each day, and get a clue.  Collect all 15 clues and you can get an additional 10 entries in the giveaway!  A good prize for reading some cool blogs that you may have not heard of before.  Go check them out.

The Scavenger Hunt Blog Tour

You can enter the giveaway now, but to really amp up your odds at snatching one of these prize packs, check out each site along the blog tour.

April 1st     Paranormal and Urban Fantasy Reviews

April 2nd     The Peasants Revolt

April 3rd     Catharsis of the Bogue

April 4th     The Pen and Whisk

April 5th     Write for Life

April 6th     S.M. Boyce

April 8th     Paranormal Lounge

April 9th     Lisa Is a Bookworm

April 10th     Jade Kerrion

April 11th     Paper Book Princess

April 12th     Now is Gone

April 13th     Worlds Away Book Blog

April 15th     FU Only Knew

April 17th     Sarcasm and Lemons

April 18th     Brandon R. Luffman

Your Third Clue

Wes visits many worlds in the Existence. Here’s your challenge in this scavenger hunt:

Collect the names of the fifteen worlds in Gateway to Reality (one will be revealed each day).

Following the schedule above, collect a world name at each stop, and when you have them all, plug that list of 15 worlds into the giveaway below to win a BONUS TEN ENTRIES.

HERE’S YOUR THIRD WORLD:  Emily Donovan World

Continue with your hunt tomorrow at The Pen and Whisk. Good luck!

 

and if you missed it, here is the Amazon link again:GtR-kindle-cover-final-websize-225x300

 

Thanks for reading and supporting your Indie writers.  I am currently working on a book with pirates and a twist on the popular myths.  I am going to hire Becca to promote it she is doing such a good job on here stuff.

Until later, go buy an ebook and relax for a while.

-Justin Continue reading

You are a writer…I am too!

Today I am reviewing a new ebook by my new friend, Jeff Goins.  He is a writer.  He wants to bring out the writer in all of us.  Check him out at goinswriter.com, subscribe to his email, read his blog, he is infectious!

Anyway, I volunteered to review his new book because I thought we would help each other.  I want to get back into the groove and write like I did before, and Jeff’s book is jut the thing to do it with.  Besides, he is looking to sell his book, and if I can help a brother make some coin, I will!

For full disclosure and all of that, I received a free review copy of the book from Jeff to write this review with.  You know, in the past, I used to think that review copies of books meant that the book was an excerpt or unfinished.  I have been proven wrong over the years.  Especially with this book.  I found it well thought out, organized and full of the information that I need for me right now. Continue reading