Alliance of Independent Authors Members’ Showcase. Bulletin #40

Every Wednesday ALLi will tell the world about our members' latest book launches, news, awards, freebies, workshops and updates on the writing life and take a look at the projects and businesses of our partner members.

Pamela Fagan Hutchins

In honor of the launch of Leaving Annalise, book 2 in my Katie & Annalise romantic mystery series (ebook, paperback, and audio), I am running a one-week sale of book 1, Saving Grace, from November 8th-15th, 99 cents (regularly $2.99).

Fiona Ingram

Children’s author Fiona Ingram is a passionate advocate for animal rights. Her love for saving animals led her to create Caladrius Books, dedicated to various animal rescue sites and their amazing stories. She is working with organisations as far-flung as the USA, Fiji, and Indonesia. Her first animal rescue story is Champ: My Story of Survival.

Champ: My Story of Survival.

When Fiona Ingram (living in South Africa) read about an abused little dog in California called Champ, she was inspired to document his story for several reasons. The first was to help raise funds for S.A.F.E. Rescue, the non-profit rescue site that took Champ in. The second was to raise awareness about animal abuse, and offer advice on the many ways people can help.

“If you ever wondered about miracles, Champ’s story is proof they do still happen. And Champ believes in guardian angels because his angel was working overtime the day his previous owners decided to drop him off at an animal shelter, instead of throwing his seemingly lifeless body into a dumpster.”

News of Fiona’s book has met with a huge response from Champ’s Facebook fans and animal lovers worldwide. This is a must for readers who enjoy heart-warming animal stories and want to do more for animals.

Champ: My Story of Survival is soon available on Amazon, B&N, and other online book sites.

Gina Fava

Gina Fava debuts her suspense novel, The Race: A HELL Ranger Thriller, at the height of auto racing season, rolling out a story that draws from Fava's time spent living in Rome, her passion for car racing, and her love for steering complex characters through gritty, fast-paced plot lines.

In The Race, Formula One champion Devlin “Lucky” Lucchesi's life is torn apart in a terror attack.  Devlin vows revenge against Ishmael Zaid, a villain from his past, whose “Race” of followers have set a dozen bombs to wipe Rome off the map.

When Ishmael abducts Devlin's son and violates the sanctity of the Vatican, Devlin and his covert HELL Ranger crew must race against time to beat Ishmael at his own game.

The Race is available in eBook on Kindle, Nook, Kobo, Smashwords, and Libiro, and in print on Amazon.com and at many fine independent booksellers.

Jessica Bell

After much effort by Libby Hathorn to promote the poetry anthology, Women's Work, far and wide, it has been taken up by Australia's ABC Radio National’s much admired poetry program Poetica.

It will air on Saturday 9th November at 3 pm, and again on the following Thursday night at 9 pm.

Twenty poems will be read by actors and with original music composed and performed by Melbourne pianist Andrea Keller.

One of the poems being read is Sugar, by ALLi member, Jessica Bell. She is extremely excited and honoured to have been selected.

Linda Gillard

Linda Gillard has sold Large Print rights of House of Silence to Ulverscroft who have previously bought two of Linda's traditionally published novels. This will be her first indie book to have a Large Print edition.

House of Silence was selected for Amazon UK's Top Ten Best of 2011 in the Indie Author category.

Elaine Russel

I’m very pleased to announce that my novel, Across the Mekong River, just won bronze (cultural fiction) from Reader’s Favorite 2013 awards.

This is the fourth 2013 indie book award for the book. It also was: Winner Next Generation Indie Book Award; Silver ForeWord Reviews Book of the Year Award, and Bronze Independent Publishers Book Award.

Elaine became inspired and actively involved with the Hmong immigrant community after meeting Hmong children in her son's school in Sacramento and reading Anne Fadiman's The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. Since then, she has visited Laos many times to research her first adult novel, Across the Mekong River, and as a member of the non-profit organization Legacies of War.

Ruth Heald

R J Heald is donating all profits from her book, 27: Six Friends, One Year to Children in Need in November.

The novel is available in paperback and eBook from Amazon. 27: Six Friends, One Year was a quarter-finalist in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award in 2012 and the author was a winner of the Next Big Author Competition in 2011.

Children in Need provides grants to projects in the UK which focus on children and young people who are disadvantaged. They work across all corners of the UK to empower children and give them new opportunities to make the best of their lives.

You can buy 27: Six Friends, One Year from Amazon.co.uk here
Or Amazon.com here

Zoe Sharp

Seeley James

I’ve just kicked off a series of interviews that was more popular than I expected. The series launched with Zoë Sharp. This week’s guest is Lance Charnes, next week will be Hugh Howey followed by AG Riddle.

Each author gives his/her insights into how they create a character, outline a story, or decide on description.

Rohan Quine

I’m pleased to report the arrival of Jane Dixon-Smith’s cool cover design for my upcoming novella The Platinum Raven.

This is the first of four covers she’ll be designing, for four novellas that’ll be published during the next few months—as four separate ebooks, and in a paperback comprising all four together. As a fan of skyscrapers I’m glad to see a couple of fine ones on the cover there, in addition to the Platinum Raven herself: the Burj Khalifa in Dubai (the world’s tallest); and London’s Shard.

The Platinum Raven is a triple convulsion whereby our heroine Raven escalates herself into the Chocolate Raven and then the Platinum Raven, from London to Dubai to the tower in the hills in the desert—then back down again, forever changed. More info soon, but meanwhile a few tasters are on my website.

Also glad to say that my newbie foray into this brave new world of ebooks, the novel The Imagination Thief from earlier this year, has been added to the Awesome Indies site. Thanks to A.I.’s Tahlia Newland and Intisar Khanani for taking me on board, and to Dan Holloway in whose A.I. category I’ve been added.

Joe Cawley

Tuesday, November 5th saw the launch of Joe Cawley’s Even More Ketchup than Salsa: The Final Dollop.

This sequel to the award-winning Kindle bestseller, More Ketchup than Salsa: Confessions of a Tenerife Barman, continues the hilarious tale of swapping a career in fish giblets on a cold British market for life as a bar owner abroad.

“If the first six months of running the Smugglers Tavern had been a baptism of fire, the subsequent years were about as much fun as bobbing for apples in a vat of acid,” says Joe.

Having swapped the tin roof of a cold British fish market for the sunny skies of a Spanish holiday island, Joe and Joy succeeded in thwarting the first wave of attacks from bungling bureaucrats, bewildered holidaymakers and their own spectacular ineptitude.

“This book is darker than the first Ketchup,” says Joe, “but still has lots of laughs, plus a couple of jaw-dropping surprises too.”

Even More Ketchup than Salsa: The Final Dollop is available through Amazon here.

Joe would be more than happy to be interviewed or write a guest blog. Please contact him via [email protected]

Dan Holloway

Dan Holloway will be a panelist at the Self-publishing Summit at King's College, London on November 9th, and a member of a round table panel being hosted by self-publishing platform Blurb at the Arts Club in London on November 12th.

On November 16th he will be MCing and performing with his touring spoken word show The New Libertines at Woodstock Poetry Festival.

Michael J Daugherty

The Devil Inside the Beltway is riveting. It begins when an aggressive cyber security company, with retired General Wesley Clark on its advisory board, downloads the private health information of thousands of LabMD's patients.

The company, Tiversa, campaigns for LabMD to hire them. After numerous failed attempts to procure LabMD's business, Tiversa's lawyer informs LabMD that Tiversa will be handing the downloaded file to the FTC. Within this page turner, Daugherty unveils that Tiversa was already working with Dartmouth, having received a significant portion of a $24,000,000 grant from Homeland Security to monitor for files.

The reason for the investigation was this: Peer to peer software companies build back doors into their technology that allows for illicit and unapproved file sharing. When individual files are accessed, as in the case of LabMD, proprietary information can be taken. Tiversa, as part of its assignment, downloaded over 13 million files, many containing financial, medical and top secret military data.

Daugherty's book exposes a systematic and alarming investigation by one of the US Government's most important agencies. The consequences of their actions will plague Americans and their businesses for years.

Karen Inglis

ALLi member and children’s’ author Karen Inglis has donated 50 copies of her book, Eeek! The Runaway Alien to Beanstalk, a UK national literacy charity that trains volunteers to work in primary schools with children who have fallen behind with their reading.

Here she is handing over the books at the Inner London Branch of Beanstalk last week. Beanstalk volunteers will now be taking Eeek! into London schools as part of the London Evening Standard’s Get London Reading campaign.

Eeek! also appears on the respected LoveReading4KidsUK website’s Reluctant Readers’ list, which is curated by the UK’s Literacy Trust. and Julia Eccleshare, Children’s Books Editor at The Guardian newspaper.

With England through to the World Cup and the prospect of months of football action between now and July 2014, what better way to encourage 7-10 year-olds to get reading?

Ellen Kagan

Ellen Kagan's medical memoir, Ellen in Medicaland: True Stories of How I Fell Down Medicine's Black Hole and Still Lived After All, is now on Kindle.

It tells of her wild and crazy experiences at a Harvard-teaching hospital as a patient and her mother's caregiver.

You will be with her in this Twilight Zone as she deals with our crazy health system.

Ellen has also written her one-woman show based on Ellen in Medicaland, which she plans to perform in 2014.

To learn more about her and Ellen in Medicaland, go to her blog.

Catriona Troth

I'm delighted to say that both print and ebook editions of my novel, Ghost Town, are now on sale.

1981. Coventry is riven with battles between skinheads and young Asians. Baz—‘too Paki to be white, too gora to be desi’—is capturing the conflict on film. Maia—serial champion of liberal causes—is pregnant with a mixed-race child. Neither can afford to let the racists win. They must take a stand. A stand that will cost lives.

“Transported me back to a time when I was young and found my life shaped by events around me. Catriona Troth captures those young hearts, full of hope and love and fight.”Sudha Bhuchar, Artistic Director, Tamasha Theatre

In the run up to the official launch on 16th November, I am posting a series of interviews in my blog with people who were involved with the real events that form a backdrop to the novel.

I also have a new Facebook Author Page

Along with my fellow members of the Triskele Books Author Collective, I'll be at the Chorleywood Literary Festival on 16th November to talk about our three new titles and about author publishing – please do join us if you can.

Liza Perrat

In conjunction with the upcoming France Book Tours of my second historical novel, Wolfsangel.

A podcast is now available at Words with Jam magazine.

Terri Reid

I just released my newest book, Eochaidh – Legend of the Horsemen (Book One).

Over a thousand years ago a brave band of Knights of the Round Table agreed to enter Morganna’s castle and remove an ancient spell that allowed the sorceress the ability to travel in time.  But they had been betrayed, Morganna caught the young men and despite Merlin’s protection, cast a spell upon them that would age them a year for every day they lived as men.

Merlin did the only thing he could; he changed the men to horses so they could roam as immortals until someone could break the spell.

For more than one thousand years, the Herdin family was charged with the duty to help the horses and break the spell.  Once every hundred years, the signs aligned and another Herdin risked their life to free the knights. This time, Meaghan Herdin’s father, Lord John, is the last surviving male heir in the Herdin line.  Will he be able to break the spell or will Morganna and her followers destroy Meaghan’s family?

Set in Ireland in the 18th century, Eochaidh – The Legend of the Horseman, is filled with love, adventure, loyalty and magic.

Eochaidh is available in print and electronically.

Libby O'Loghlin

“A coming-of-age adventure with attitude. And snowboards.”

This week, Libby O'Loghlin (Rowing Girl Productions) launches her Young Adult/Teen fiction, Charlotte Aimes: The Great Alpine Adventure, paperback and digital.

As part of the transmedia fun, Libby has collaborated with many creative people (including ALLi's very own Jane Dixon-Smith) to bring the Aimes storyworld to life. Libby has produced a trailer and blooper reel — both on the Charlotte Aimes website — as well as a strong presence on Tumblr, where she has housed a pop-up blog for the Charlotte Aimes Extras.

A heads-up: You'll need a code to get your eyeballs on the pop-up Tumblr, as it will contain spoilers. (Actually, the code isn't hard to find if you look for it, or you can sign up for Libby's mailing list.)

Read an Indie Author: ALLi launches Book of the Month awards

Non-profit professional association The Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi) has created a new monthly award for great indie reads, offering greater exposure for author-publishers and their books.

(LONDON, NOVEMBER 2013) The Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi) today announced a new monthly award for independent writers, the ALLi Book of the Month Awards.

Run in partnership with Amy Edelman of Indie Reader, Joni Rodgers of I’ll Have What She’s Reading and Kathy Meis of Bublish, the awards will champion the best indie writers and books, allowing authors to gain greater exposure and helping readers seek out great new reads.

From today, anyone will be able to nominate books through the ALLi Self-Publishing Advice Blog. Authors cannot enter their own works, but are free to nominate other writers for consideration via https://selfpublishingadvice.org/read-an-indie-author-alli-book-of-the-month-awards

Following the monthly nomination process, the ALLi Book of the Month panel will choose eleven books each month as “ALLi Monthly Picks”. The panel will shortlist three titles from the list, to be put forward to a public vote.

The book with the greatest number of votes will receive ALLi’s Book of the Month award.

Winning books will be featured on the ALLi website and receive an ALLi Book of the Month badge as a marker of quality, independent writing. The competition will also run in conjunction with Kobo, who will provide winning writers (and nominating readers) with a Kobo Aura Reader

Orna Ross, ALLi director, said “So many of our members are writing amazing books and we want to take them to a wider readership. We hope this process will engage readers and motivate self-publishing writers to produce works of outstanding quality.”

If you are a member of The Alliance of Independent Authors and you would like to showcase your work on our ALLi Showcase, please send it to [email protected] to reach me no later than the Friday preceding the Wednesday you would like it published.