Today's my day to post over with my buddies at Paranormal Romantics. Come on down and chat books, recommendations and check out one of the best current shows that's finally come from the UK to US. You don't want to miss it!

I still have a call out to readers, authors and those in the publishing industry to form a dialogue for what you'd like to see as the industry goes through a major change with digital publishing and online bookstores. That post is here and I'm still looking for input and wishlists. Come on down and post with us!

My book reading usually goes in cycles as most readers' preferences do. One minute I'm into sci-fi the next paranormal, the next historical and so on. I usually switch when I've had too much of one or the other and I think my historical fix is about to swing right around again. Good thing because I need to do some major research and I'm hoping some of my fellow readers out there can help me.

I'd love to grab more historical fiction and/or romance reads that take place in Ancient Egypt. If they're pretty detailed that'd be awesome but I can't seem to find many that take place in this time period. I have one in my TBR pile that's next up to be loaded into my phone but I'd love to find more.

I'm also looking for French court historicals with scenes that were shown in Dragonfly in Amber. I love the detail of the architecture and the cultural norms back then. I'm still going to try to find some good recommendations along these lines but if anyone out there knows of any, please let me know!

As I'm writing this post, it's 93 degrees at midnight with a forecast low of 87 degrees by 8 am morning (and don't even ask about the highs)! To this Cali girl who's used to 90 degrees as the highest it gets during summers, it's still insanity. Thank goodness for A/Cs but sadly they can't get rid of the summer bugs which are eating me like an all you can eat buffet as we speak.

In between the heat and bites, I'm working to get some projects done. At the forefront is an audio book I'm working on. I did some price shopping a while back for some companies who do audio book production and the prices were enough to match a monthly payment for reasonable mid-size compact car for sale. It bummed me out so I decided not to do it.

A few weeks ago, I figured this was an audience I don't want to lose out in reaching. Time is becoming even more scarce and some people don't have time to sit down and read during their day or evening. I've come across many people who listen to audio books in their car as they go to and from work (some in my own family do this). Many author DIYs like Michael Stackpole do their own podcast novels and offer it up for Itunes. This looked like an awesome opportunity!

So I decided to dive in myself. I have a singer friend who also does narrating and we're diving into this together for the first time. From the audio books I've listened to (and the radio dramas I loved growing up), I'm getting an idea for what entails a good opening (some nice moody intro music) and the pacing of the reading. My favorite readers are James Marsters (of Buffy fame) who does the Dresden Files series and Davina Porter who does the Outlander series. What makes them my favorite is how they read they were a one man (or woman) show. Both narrators can swiftly change accents so well and give each character their own pattern of speech so they are each unique in their own way. The narrator changes their tone and gives the words life that sometimes even rivals the reading in my mind.

I'm a little nervous going for this but I'm definitely excited to see the end product and present it to readers. I'll probably make a special audio book cover and am thinking about offering the first chapter here on the blog. We'll see. One thing I know for sure is this is going to be a wonderful challenge and I'm excited to do it!

From Jane over at Dear Author:

Jane Friedman, former CEO of HarperCollins, who oversaw 10 years of growth for that publishing company, asks the question about what kind of middlemen will exist in the future of publishing. Unfortunately she provides little guidance. For myself, I see many smaller publishers because of the lower barriers to entry in the digital publishing world and I also see authors who are their own profit centers, contracting out the work that is done by a publisher. I also see freelance editors being curators of work as well as agents. It’s a changing world out there and in 10 years, I believe the face of publishing will be very different than it is today. I hope Dear Author is still around then.

Full link roundup blog post here.

Hello hello!

Today is Friday and we got some book winners from the June contest.

First a little bit o' background. On my former mailing list, I offered subscribers some books off my shelf that I had read and wanted to pass on to other readers. Some were order mishaps from online bookstores and others were ones that weren't quite my cup o' tea but I figured they might be someone else's so I offered them up for grabs to my subscribers.

Well, I've moved my news and updates here to my blog and to my Facebook and Twitter page since the news has been sparse and I didn't want to cloud folk's inboxes up. You can sign up for more recent updates here which has more goodies than the mailing list. My sidebar has a subscription via email or any reader you may be using for blogs.

So, without further ado, here are the G For June Contest winners!

Last month we had two contests to illustrate the title: one for a mass market edition of Diana Gabaldon's Drums of Autumn and another for a mass market edition Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere.

The random number generator has spoken! Congrats to Jo Ann White who won Neverwhere and Carol Luciano who won Drums!! Woo hoo! I think you guys included your addys in the emails so I'll pop those in the mail as soon as I can! If anyone from the previous contest hasn't received their books yet, hang tight because they should be on their way! I haven't forgotten about ya. :-)

My giveaway stash has sorta depleted so I'm going to hold off this month's contest until I get a little more in to share with you guys. I do have a special book giveaway for the month of September to commence Diana Gabaldon's current release in the Outlander series. I bought this book especially to give away to my readers because I love it so much and wanted to share an awesome book with you guys. I would give away my own shelf copy but that version is what I call a 'cold dead hands' book. Like some folks have desert island keepers. With me the only way I'll part with my fave copies if they're pried from my cold, dead hands. ;-) So check back in September for that goodie book.

In the meantime, I have some of my own goodies to offer for the month of August so there won't be any book giveaways then but everyone will have a chance at a freebie from yours truly!

Stay tuned!

Small news update for my mailing list readers, the winners of the G for... contests will be announced Friday so stay tuned! I'll be picking winners between now and then and will be announcing it here on this blog so be sure to check back for the announcing post!

It's been a slow news day for the past few months so I haven't dug up much in the way of publishing news. That always unnerves me because the moment there IS some news, it's usually some heavy duty one. Besides the fact that we lost Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett and Ed McMahon just last week alone is trippy in itself. I loved me some MJ tunes because they always got you right down to the bone and even if you KNOW you can't dance you would get up and shake it to his music cause it feels so good. But I digress.

Weber Books linked an article via Twitter regarding the evolving role of agents over at the Shatzkin Files blog site. This comes on the heels of my almost written article dealing with the hunt for agents in this climate so it's especially interesting to me. As more aspiring and current authors are having problems landing a good agent, so are agents having problems selling.

Compounding the problem for agents is the changing nature of publishing opportunity. While the sales and royalty potential of the book through the publisher is declining, other opportunities are opening up. There is a multiplicity of ebook channels that in the aggregate do not replace the revenue that print used to provide and doesn’t anymore. Chunks of books and material too short to be published as a book can be sold through them. Agents have for years been trying to split off audio rights to sell to Audible or Brilliance or Tantor Media. The opportunity to sell content to web sites seems to be emerging. But all of these deals require conceiving, pitching, closing, negotiating, and contract reviewing. For fifteen percent of what?

And further complicating things is the ubiquitous self-publishing option. As self-publishing becomes part of the strategic approach to getting a “real” publisher (and it is), it adds a further complication to the business relationship between agent and writer. Is it fair for an agent to work with a writer on developing a proposal or a manuscript and then, when it fails to sell to a publisher, see that writer self-publish what amounts to a collaborative effort without owing anything to the agent? I think most agents would say, “NO!”

The whole article is worth checking out but make sure you have a glass of wine nearby (or maybe something stronger?) to get you through. On the positive note there's some more opportunities opening up where there were none before and this article may give you an idea of obstacles you can tackle for the future. Full blog article is here.

There's also an interesting article on the publishing industry reshuffle that will look much different than the way business has been done before. Really good read for those interested in industry studies. Full blog article is here.

In Kindle news, the ereading device continues to soar as it gains news, both positive and negative.

The Wall Street Journal reports that "Two groups representing the interests of the blind sued Arizona State University to stop it from using Amazon.com Inc.'s (AMZN) Kindle DX electronic reading device as a means of distributing electronic textbooks to its students." Eeek. Full article is here.

On the other hand, there happens to be Library Leadership Network Wiki (which I hadn't heard about until Twitter) . Under the ebook/Kindle news section there's a yes/no going on whether or not Amazon will allow Kindles to be checked out on loan. Apparently the answer is both depending on which library you ask. The entire article is interesting especially if you're looking to buy a Kindle so you can weigh the good and bad before plunking down all that cash.

This month we have a new author spotlight and this is a hot one to enter the month of July and welcome some great summer reads.

A Writer's Dream would like to welcome author Michael H. Hanson. recently published his first volume of poetry, "Autumn Blush" (under the imprint "YaYe Books"). During the past eight years he has written and published over fifty short stories in the fantasy, horror and science fiction genres.

A transplanted New Yorker, he recently acquired dual-citizenship with his name being entered into Ireland's Foreign Births Entry Book. A haunted Sagittarian, he presently reside sin New Jersey where he edits engineering society journals for a living, and occasionally dabbles in genealogy research and collection impressionist oil paintings.

Sha'Daa: Tales of the Apocalypse is his first foray into novel-length fiction and he's stopped by to share info about his release and his entry as a speculative author.

Q: How would you describe the genre in which you do most of your writing?

Saving my Poetry (both rhyming and free verse) for another interview, my Fictional work tends to fall within the categories of sci-fi, fantasy, and horror writing. Sha’Daa: Tales of the Apocalypse might best be described as modern fantasy, and depending on the particular chapter within, urban fantasy with strong horror elements.

Q: What motivated you to start writing in this genre?

I’ve always had a fascination with the world of the fantastic. As an army brat growing up on military bases around the world (and being one of five kids in my family) I was raised in a rough and tumble environment where the familiar TV sets and TV shows in your average American house were not available to us. The local movie theatres became a second home for me and afterwards reenacting said adventures in nearby playgrounds and parks seemed like the most natural thing in the world. I’d say this encouraged me to develop a healthy imagination, one which I’ve been able to put to good use over the past couple of decades.

Q: How many books have you written so far? (Please include titles, publisher, date of publication and a brief description of the book/books.)

My first collection of poetry “Autumn Blush” was published in 2008 by YaYe Books. It contains 60 poems altogether (1 free verse and 59 rhyming poems).

I created and co-wrote “Sha’Daa: Tales of the Apocalypse,” a shared-world anthology published by Altered Dimensions Press on May 1, 2009.

My second collection of poetry “Jubilant Whispers” was just picked up by Diminuendo Press for publication in October 2009. It contains 66 poems (both free verse and rhyming) and 4 short essays.

I created and co-wrote “Sha’Daa: Last Call,” a sister book to “Sha’Daa: Tales of the Apocalypse.” Last Call will go on sale some time in 2010.

Q: What would you say has been your most significant achievement as a writer?

Right now, I would have to say it is the publication of “Sha’Daa: Tales of the Apocalypse.” This is the first of two books in a massive project where I had to coordinate the work of 15 authors, overseeing the implementation of a complex outline I had created for an epic tale that takes place over a forty-eight hour period of time in the near future. This book took five years to travel from conception to actual publication. It was a long, difficult journey that often left me depressed and apathetic at days end, however, with perseverance and hard work of many people, we were finally able to see Sha’Daa get into print. Sometimes, dreams really do come true.

Q: When did you decide you wanted to be a writer?

I suppose I fantasized about being a writer in my mid teens, as I became a big fan of science-fiction and fantasy paperbacks. I would say I started taking the prospect seriously my sophomore year of college, during a scriptwriting class I was taking at Syracuse University (I graduated in 1989). I was a film production major in the Newhouse School of Public Communications and I found a real thrill in the creation of fictional characters and make believe scenarios. At this same time I also started a long, slow parallel road to my scriptwriting (which I mostly gave up by 2000) turning out short stories as the muse hit me over the years. I’d say I took the big plunge around 1999 when my output of short fiction increased dramatically as I embraced the world of Webzines and E-Zines that had started spreading like wildfire across the world-wide web. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Q: Who would you say has influenced you the most?

Though there are many writers who entertained me greatly as a teenager, and later a young man in my twenties (Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Robert Heinlein, J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Anne McCaffrey, A.E. van Vogt, Poul Anderson, Samuel R. Delaney, Andre Norton, Philip Jose Farmer, Keith Laumer, Robert E. Howard, Richard Matheson, Arthur C. Clarke, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., Ursula Le Guin) I would have to say that it was hands down the late great ROGER ZELAZNY whose work inspired me on a regular basis. His mixing of genres, fantasy, sci-fi, and mythology, his clean prose, his lean plots and stripped down characterizations. The man’s writing sang to me. If ever I felt a moment of depression or writer’s block, I found reading one of Zelazny’s books was the jolt I needed to kick my muse back into gear. There’s nothing original about this confession, as so very many professional writers in their 20’s, 30’s, and 40’s have admitted in interviews the profound effect Zelazny’s excellent prose had on their writing careers. When Mr. Zelazny passed away unexpectedly in 1995, it was not only a shock to his family and friends, but to millions of his devoted readers and fans around the world. Roger Zelazny’s work inspired me to become a better writer.

Q: How have your personal experiences influenced the direction of your writing?

In ways both subtle and obvious. Though I never battled monsters, flew through outer space, traveled through time, field stripped a blaster in an alien army, moved between dimensions, cast curses on elves, and teleported myself over light years of distance, I have lived enough of life to appreciate and embrace the basic nature of humanity that is the backbone of any good story or book. I was married for 12 years, and then divorced. I was a cross country and track runner in high school. I served in the U.S. Air Force. I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in film production. As a U.S. Army Brat (from birth to the age of ten) I lived in both Germany and Taiwan. I’ve lived long enough to witness and grieve the death of my parents, both taken much too early in life, in their 60’s (heart attack and pancreatic cancer). I spent my summers during my college years as a lifeguard and swimming instructor at summer camps. I dug the graves for two long-lived, beloved family pets (purebred dachshunds) when I was 18 and 20. My experiences are admittedly commonplace, and shared by millions, but my point is that it is the commonality of life, death, love, heartbreak, fear, pleasure, and journeying that drive the direction a story takes.

I write both poetry and fictional prose. Often, my poetry is a direct extension of what I experience and feel on a daily basis. My fiction, as outrageous as it can get in various genres, is always infused with characters that share many of the experiences, whether painful or pleasurable, that I have had throughout my life.

In one manner or another, I am my writing.

Q: Which aspects of the work that you put into the book did you find most difficult?

As creator of this shared-world anthology, probably the most strenuous act of creativity for me was conceiving and fleshing out the basic background mythology of the once every ten thousand year event known as The Sha’Daa. Certainly influenced by the works of H.P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, and many others, I found it a real challenge to step into the ring and start punching out a new and hopefully compelling take on the ancient, time-worn concept of the apocalypse.

I cannot speak for my 10 fellow authors of “Sha’Daa: Tales of the Apocalypse,” but for myself, I found the research needed to guarantee a decent level of realism to be time-consuming and tedious (but absolutely necessary). I know, you’re thinking, just how much realism does one need in a book about the end of days? Quite a bit if you want every aspect of your story and characters to be set in the real world, in well-known locales, and subject to all the rules and laws of nature and physics that we all experience on a day to day basis. The worlds of the fantastic may appear to have no boundaries or rules, however, in the end, structure, storyline, plot, and characterization demand the foundations of logic and reason. Writing good genre fiction is a challenge, one demanding exacting attention to detail.

Q: What will your next book be about?

It is a collection of 70 poems (both rhyming and free verse) titled “Jubilant Whispers.” Published by Diminuendo Press (an imprint of Cyberwizard productions) it is tentatively scheduled to go on sale in October 2009. This is my second book of poetry (the first being a limited print run hardcover titled “Autumn Blush” which contains 60 poems).

Unlike Blush, which contains poems written over a 3-4 year span of time, at least 45 of the poems in “Jubilant Whispers” where written during a six month stretch of time in 2008. In fact, many of them were work-shopped on the poetry board at Zoetrope.com, a locale where I found my verse and prose subject to intense scrutiny and critique, a grueling process that had me rewriting and polishing my work extensively. I am very proud of this collection.

You can win a copy of "Sha'Daa Tales of the Apocalypse by joining in the scavenger hunt going on now until July 4th! Click here to begin.

Check out a special half-hour live program of The Dark Fiction Show tonight (Wednesday, July 1, 2009) from 6:00 pm to 6:30 pm for a special broadcast about the "SHA'DAA Scavenger Hunt at BlogTalkRadio.com!!!