Wednesday, October 31, 2007 

Re-Launch of Darrell Bain's Latest Delight!

November has on tap a lot of excellent writing for those of us hungry to consume it. None, more superb than Darrell Bain, and if you’re into reading science fiction, and you should be, this one is mandatory for your list.

As I’ve mentioned before in a previous blog, Darrell and I were both published by Double Dragon Ebooks, easily the largest electronic publisher of science fiction, fantasy and horror. I came to enjoy Darrell’s writing as a fellow author, but more importantly as a sf reader. Tight plots, witty and above all, creative, Darrell’s writing is fast paced and crisp. One of my biggest complaints about science fiction is the unlimited information dumping authors put into their tales, as if validating they can write sf by how much science they put into the story.

Don’t get me wrong. Science is an important aspect of science fiction. Yet information dumping can toss the reader right out of the story. Well, you won’t find that with Darrell’s work. His stories are always geared for fun, action, and excitement with the science offering the support for the tales.

The release of his latest novel, Savage Survival, is sure to be another top seller.
You can even get it in the special edition hardcover. Amazon has it listed for $35.00. However, they also have copies listed under the "New and used copies" for $28.00. They are all new, not used since the book just came out. Snag an autographed one from Darrell's website for even less than that! Just $26.95.

Here’s a brief blurb about Savage Survival to wet your appetite!

SAVAGE SURVIVAL is not just another testosterone driven science fiction novel. At the basic level, it explores the personalities and attitudes of men, women and children when stripped of the comforting insulation of organized society. Invulnerable aliens have captured millions of humans and are subjecting them to the most brutal and horrible environments ever encountered, in essence a survival test of a magnitude heretofore undreamed of.

Lyda Brightner is an eleven year old girl when she is suddenly and without warning separated from her parents and thrown into the midst of undisciplined humans in a harsh desert environment. Food and water and clothing are fought over. Those who control it can do as they wish—and their wishes are terrible.

Lyda is weaponless and alone, like almost everyone. Raped at eleven. Forced to kill. Grieving for her parents. All that stands between Lyda and death is her own innate bravery, her quick mind, her unwavering integrity and ultimately, her belief that someday she will find someone to love.

Lyda's strength of character and fighting spirit make her a leader, even at a very young age. Over the next six years she must constantly fight the ever changing and ever more dangerous environments the aliens subject them to. But she must fight other humans as well, those who have survived by brute strength and ruthless plundering of the weak.

But even if she lives through all this, Lyda must still face the final question: What do the aliens have in mind for the few hundred remaining humans, those few left of all the millions who died?

SAVAGE SURVIVAL is a coming of age novel like no other and Lyda Brightner is a character you'll never forget.

So go enjoy it!


Nicole

8:06 PM | | 0 comments

Friday, October 12, 2007 

Friday Night's in Short Supply

It's Friday! I've worked a long week and now it's time to relax.
Except I can't.
See I'm supposed to be editing the next Cybil Lewis novel, and I have done a big chunk on paper. Now it's time for me to put those edits into the computer word doc. That takes time and it takes a LOT of time. Time that one tiny Friday night won't be able to afford me. It's terribly inadequate.

So, what's writer to do?

Well, slug it out like its the bottom of the ninth inning and with two outs. I mean it's a horrific scene. We with a mass of red inked pages and a blinking laptop screen, demanding ever more attention and threatening to slap on the standard-but-boring Windows screen savor...yeah.

Best stop the procrastinating here with this blog (*snigger) and hop onto the limited amount of time I have to finish the next great sf hybrid.

Cybil bears watching and she's quite impatient...as you'll soon learn.

Best,

Nicole

7:20 PM | | 0 comments

Monday, October 01, 2007 

Launch for Darrell Bain's Latest Literary Luxury!


Unless you've been hanging out on the moon, you've heard of Darrell Bain. I was lucky enough to be published with him at Double Dragon Ebooks. He, of course, exploded well beyond DDP and on to brilliant things. You've heard of him, especially if you're into tight plots, fun humor and a rolling good time. The multi-award winning author is back with another jewel of a story. This one's title, Savage Survival available from Twilight Times Books.


Here's a brief blurb about the story: An eleven year old girl grows up as a captive of aliens in the most brutal and horrible conditions possible, with no parents or guardian to help. Only her innate bravery, her quick mind and her unwavering belief in the goodness of most humans, sustains her until she reaches maturity and discovers the purpose of all the suffering.


I was even so lucky as to be able to interview this maverick and writing magican. Read on for insight and revelations from a successful sf writer.


1. You were the 2005 Fictionwise Author of the Year. Do you believe electronic books will eventually be the standard mode of reading? Why or why not?

DB:In the far future, yes. Not in the near future, though. The E-book reading public is growing faster than print readers at present though, just not fast enough to suit me.

2. What research or personal experience did you draw upon to write THE SEX GATES?

DB:The original novel, which I wrote without a collaborator, was simply an attempt to show what it might be like from the other side of the fence, so to speak. I had some help from my wife but most of it was done singly. It did require a LOT of thinking, for sure! Most people wonder occasionally what it would be like to be the opposite sex, but very few really try to consider all the implications. I did, as much as possible. Sex change wasn't an original idea, of course, but I think I was the first to come up with instantaneous sex change on a mass scale. The idea formed from somewhere in my subconscious, like any other idea for a story. I tried it first in third person but that didn't work well and I abandoned that manuscript after about 20,000 words and started over in first person and finished the novel in a month. By the way, the original novel is now available in print, updated and re-edited under the title "The Original Sex Gates". It has more characters and a much different outcome than the collaboration.

3. Where do your ideas come from?

DB:I think any writer's ideas come from the sum of their experience, then anything at all might spark an idea for a story from them. A good habit to get into is to write your ideas down when they occur to you or some of them will escape!

4. What in your opinion is the biggest problem with science fiction titles currently on the market?
DB: I personally like the kind of novel that leans more on action and characters than on detail. Too many science fiction novels spend way too much time going into descriptions that many readers are going to skip over. Fans have told me this, too, by the way.

5. You've written scores of novels. Who is your favorite character and why?

DB:Lyda, in Savage Survival, is my favorite. I've always liked coming of age novels but this is the only one which used a young female character. Lyda has so much courage and integrity that anyone has to love her, especially given the horrible environments she has to grow up in. She never loses hope.

6. If you were a color, which would it be and why?
DB: Red, for action and adventure.

7. For my readers who are aspiring writers, what is the best writing advice
you've ever received?
DB: Robert A. Heinlein said it best. Finish what you write! I could add that to become a good writer you need to write and write and write and….


I couldn't agree more. Get out there and snag this wonderful book!

4:03 PM | | 0 comments