Gareth S. Young - - 1000 Trillion Suns

My good friend, and editor, Regina West has a new romance novel - "The Long Way Home" - coming out in 3 days time (July 31st). Regina West The Long Way Home is Regina's debut as a romance writer and, to whet your appetite, I've been allowed to give you a sneak peek of the cover! Drum roll... Twilah Dunn has it all—an exciting life in Los Angeles and a thriving ad agency she owns with her fiancé. Then she learns that her estranged father has died and her business partner is sleeping with her best friend. In one day, her perfect life unravels and the city she calls home is now anything but. She returns to her hometown in North Carolina determined to sell her father's horse farm in order to buy back her business from her cheating fiancé. But when she sees the farm’s dilapidated state, she can’t bear the thought of selling it that way. Against all reason, she puts her fast-paced, metropolitan life on hold and hires local cowboy Aidan Perry to help...

Today, I'm pleased to take part in the COVER REVEAL for indy author Chad A. Clark's new short story collection. Check out the cover, read the blurb, visit the website, buy the book, review the book, tell your friends...that's all I ask. :) Borrowed Time is a collection of six tales bridging the chilling world of horror and the mind-bending realms of science-fiction. Join a young man searching for answers in the wake of a friend’s suicide, who uncovers an evil that proves some questions are best left unasked. Journey with a young artist along haunted back-country highways, hoping to make it home while re-discovering herself in the process. Travel to the distant future where one man breaks free from the safe isolation of his existence and risks everything so that he might learn what lies beyond the confines of his reality. Read these and more in the debut book from this new author. Storytelling has always been one of Chad A. Clark’s passions. A Midwestern ...

After a 9 month hiatus, the Bright Lights author interviews are back. Once again, I'll have a wide range of authors stopping by to share their thoughts on writing and offer some insight into what it means to be a writer. So, without further ado, the first head on the chopping block is... Alex Kimmell Who is Alex Kimmell? ... alex kimmell (the squirrel whisperer/twodoggarage/daddy not-so-much-bucks) is an accidental novelist, anti-rhyme-ologist, oxygen inhaler, carbon dioxide exhaler who often generates harmonious sounds with various instruments of different historical importance. his work has appeared on cool places around the 1’s and 0’s like Dumb White Husband, Black Lantern Press, Front Row Lit and The Wordcount Podcast. His novel “the Key to everything” and collection of short, horrific tales “A Chorus of Wolves” were released by Booktrope Publishing. come and join the neurosis at  alexkimmell.com For dessert, I urge you all to check out Alex's links belo...

Every summer, the movie studios release what they call "tentpole" movies. Normally, these are big-budget, effects-driven franchise movies, designed to prop up the studios and make them their profits for the year. I call them programmed franchises because they're not acquired with one movie in mind. The philosophy from the start is to produce at least a trilogy. So much money is invested in these movies that failure can cripple a studio. Trivia Blast!! - New Line Cinema had to merge with its parent company Warner Bros after the (relative) failure of  The Golden Compass:   Budget: $180M  Box Office: $70M ( The Golden Compass  was intended to follow the trilogy of His Dark Materials books by Phillip Pullman) Jaws   Stephen Spielberg is sometimes credited with creating the first summer "Blockbuster" movie with  Jaws .  Jaws  was the first movie to be distributed with a "wide release," meaning that it opene...

In recent years, yearning for a bigger slice of the money pie, movie studios have poured more resources into fewer films. Trivia Blast! - In 2012, 135 films made up 95% of the total Box Office in the United States. So, despite a huge increase in accessibility for fans (more theaters, online vendors), fear of losing profit dictates the movie slate and opportunities are dwindling to get an original idea made into a movie. Franchises Franchises are nothing new. When a studio hits on a money-making idea, they are not shy about green-lighting a sequel almost immediately. Generally, there are two types of franchise: "programmed" and "opportunistic". A programmed franchise example would be Harry Potter - a successful line of books purchased with the intent to make the entire series. Of course, if the first of these movies tanks, or even if it struggles later in the series, the franchise can be quietly buried and forgotten. (see: John Carter or The Lone Ranger) ...

"...to hold as 'twere the mirror up to nature: to show virtue her feature, scorn her own image, and the very age and body of the time his form and pressure." - Hamlet Act 3, Scene 2 Why am I quoting Shakespeare? Well, I think as writers we would be remiss if we didn't take every opportunity to hold our mirror up to nature. Our characters should not only reflect aspects of our own inner lives, but readers should be able to look and see something of themselves in them too. Writers must weave their tales with effective literary devices: metaphor, simile, allegory, analogy, imagery, and mood, painting a picture with depth. And even when the stories are set in distant futures or long forgotten pasts, the reflection in the mirror is something the reader recognizes instantly.  Recently, I read “The Forever War” by Joe Haldeman. A classic of sci-fi storytelling, it follows one soldier’s journey from the first battle of a long war, all the way to the last...

Hello, Little Spartans, it's been a while hasn't it? I'm not going to sit here and give you the reasons I've not been around, but let's just say that I was taking a sabbatical and I wasn't at all kidnapped by aliens and experimented on. *WINK* But seriously, TAKE ME TO YOUR LEADER! lol. No, just kidding. We can do that later. First of all, I'd like to talk about my book - MONSTERS. Hold on, stop shaking your heads. I know you know I wrote this one a while ago. In fact, some of you have even bought it.  Best of all, everyone seemed to like it.  I got great reviews and a terrific response from everyone who read the book. "Doyle was a great character..."  "...the story was well paced..."  "...unique..." "...a twisting thrill ride..." However, a few of the negative comments all hit on the same thing: head-hopping (POV ping-ponging between characters during a scene instead of shifting at a nat...