I didn’t know if this was going to be something I could enjoy, a mystery surrounding race horses. I know absolutely nothing about horse racing or horses in general other than the fact that they have four legs,

consume food, and it comes out the other end in large steaming piles. Fortunately

for me this novel was not a big steaming pile.

I was as shocked as anyone that I got a groove on this. I would say the reason was that Dean…

Last Sunday, I shared with you a series of novels I thought would make you laugh and cringe at the same time. This week I have a novel for you that have recently been released in paperback, Joseph Finder’s Vanished. To

say I am a fan is an understatement. I have read all his novels and always look

forward to the next. So, if you wish, click off here, thinking I am a homer, see

you tomorrow, maybe. Me being the

Yankees fan I was raised to be, always can…

Please before you come after me to explain how this fits into the category of digital shorts, it’s very simple. Carla Rene has put together a novel of short digital shorts that in total has a word count of

16,580 words. I am not going to go into each and every short she has. Instead I

am going to focus on one, the cute little diddy she put together that has the

childhood reading characters, Dick & Jane, and Jack & Jill in a race. I

like the…

I find that many things are true in this world, one of which is that I have quickly become a big fan of Zandri’s. He penned another digital short available from StoneHouse Ink- True Stories. The digital short is 4560

words of pure emotion; I was totally wiped out when I was done reading it. The

naked emotion he is able to convey in his brief narrative is nothing short of

amazing.

The cover has…

Saturday is upon us and here we go again, Digital Short Saturday. Each week that I investigate this new tool authors are using to help us see into their creative process, the more I am getting sucked into the

enjoyment of it. I happened upon this digital short because I became friends of

the author on Goodreads. We exchanged messages and he said as a side note, I

have some novels written but I don’t know if they are your thing, having

checked out my…

Are you a Batman fan of any kind? I am and this is just the graphic novel for any size Batman fan: passive /aggressive or in the middle. Frank Tieri along with J. Calafiore as Penciller and Jack Purcell/ Inker make

an amazzing team (this is so good I had to use two z’s).You want villains:

Biff, Pow, Wham, you have almost all of them in these pages.

I give no spoilers but here is the synopsis from the back page: ”Gotham City may be…

I made some new friends over at Linkedin and they have been amazing finds. The latest one is Manoj Rao and his new graphic novel series WMDs The Weapons Are Coming. I love the concept. I enjoyed the plotline,

artwork, dialogue and premise. Wait, did I tell you how much I enjoyed all this?

The whole experience was another first for me, reading and experiencing a

graphic novel on an iphone , my son’s.…

Goodreads for me has been a fun and exciting place. Shane Briant was nice enough to friend me there, and because of that I learned of his novel. I have to admit right from the

get go I was a bit taken aback by the whole thing. It is an unusual novel

filled with so many different elements; it is difficult for me to tell you it

fits this genre or that. That I think is the beauty of the novel.

Worst Nightmares is a major roller…

I have read one of your novels, what made you get into the paranormal genre?

I have always had a fascination for things that go bump in the night. Whether its ghosts, werewolves, vampires or the far-scarier real things human beings do to one another, fear is an element of life that

fascinates me, along with obsession. I guess those two things led me into

writing horror/paranormal fiction. Plus, I spent my childhood watching…

When did the light bulb go on for you that held the Smashwords idea?

I don't recall it as a single light bulb moment. More like one of those dimmer lights that slowly gets brighter and brighter. In my case, the light got brighter as I realized how broken the traditional book

publishing industry had become from the perspective of authors who wanted to

publish, and readers who wanted the freedom to read the greatest diversity…

I have read so many novels that involve Los Angeles’s Parker Center that I feel as if I have been there many times. Boulevard is another one of those detective stories that revolves around it and all the infighting and

politics that go along with it. Before you click away though, understand that

Stephen Jay Schwartz has penned a very good debut novel that has a very warped

twist to it. For some reason the novels that I have posted on for this week

seem…

Not a fancy title, but sometimes less is more, and in this case I think we get more. I am not going to be giving anyone a news flash that is a regular follower of my rants here @ The Scoop. I like James Patterson’s

work. I read almost all of his work from his graphic novels (see our archives),

young adult (Daniel X), and just about all his regular material. I got excited

when I saw that he had this new series coming out: Private.…

I think that everyone has a set of novels they like to read on occasion that are just offbeat, a bit of a different flav, something that is going to shake up the usual mix to help keep everything fresh and provide added

perspective. The Mighty Kinkster is just the thing. Kinky Freidman , a former

Jewish Country music star, Texas Monthly columnist, and former candidate for the

governship of the great state of Texas 2006, has…

Today’s triple header of digital shorts has run a gambit of emotions for me, was read in less than 17,000 words, and arrived at a total cost of $1.98. The time invested was minimal, the joy gained much. I like that,

the min for the max, who doesn’t enjoy that type of thing. It was delivered in

seconds to my laptop, I read it in the color, size, and font I wanted, and if I

so chose I could have as easily read it via another form such as my Droid…

I was fortunate enough to find three excellent digital shorts to read and post on this week. Personally I have fallen in love with many things about the ereader platform and what is just being discovered can be

done with it. The place that the digital short has in my week for me is an

important one now. I get the enjoyment of full length novels, the fun and

escapism of the graphic novels and then at any time anywhere I am I can pop up

the digital short…

Each week as I hunt for a digital short to present for you, I learn something new about the process that these authors go through to bring their hard work, their soul, and dedication to their craft to you in ways that

are imaginative and for me in many ways amazing. Sara Morningsky is a free

download on Smashwords and available on a few other carriers. You can down load

it from Smashwords to any device that you are able to read a story. My choice

was the…

Happy Friday to everybody!! I don’t know if it is just me or what, but this week seems to have an extra day or two in it. My Hawaiian shirt has been ready to be worn since Wednesday but I digress. The reason I mention

my general funk is that I was lucky enough to run into Leonardo Ramirez here in

cyberspace. He energized my day and week. I already had a post ready for today,

you can see that later on today, but his enthusiasm…

I have to say right from the get go that I am a huge fan of David Rollin’s work. You may want to read what I am going to write with a grain of salt. Vin Cooper is one of my favorite fictional characters. David Rollins

doesn’t have a dozen novels with the character under his belt like some in the

genre, but that has been part of the ride for me; I got in on the ground floor.

The other novels in the series are A Knife Edge, and…

My name is S.W. Barger, and I’m fortunate to be featured on this week’s blog. I’m currently writing two series, and introducing the characters and plotlines in multiple media platforms. Jack Carlyle is a

Miami-based PI. A literate pugilist,

Jack faces the culturally shallow depths of the Central American Republic of

South Florida with partner Joe Rodriguez and a cast of quirky characters. There

are currently three Jack…

Oh, the books of summer fun. The 13^th Hour is a very unique and satisfying novel for many reasons. Can I say this is a thriller, a paranormal novel, romance, who-done-it, action /adventure? Why

bother to categorize it? Let’s just call it fun and imaginative. If your spouse

was killed would you go back in time and save them if you could? Rarely do I

like to do things backward, but Richard Doetsch has us do just that, one hour

at a…