The Taylor Street Gang files, part 7. Teresa Geering.

The Darling of Taylor, Teresa Geering, (Mad Tee to everyone there).

I've known Tee since I started trying to get my act together with writing. We used to "hang around" the Struggling Authors website like a pair of vultures, picking up information here, doling out bad info there and giggling about it like teenagers on crack.

It was Tee who dragged me kicking and screaming over to Night, (the forerunner of Taylor Street).

Known as one the most helpful people on Taylor, let's checkout the blurb for her two books and then head on into the questions.

The Eye of Erasmus.

'The Eye of Erasmus' is the first of a series of four inter-related fables about time and fate, told in Teresa Geering's characteristic hypnotic prose.

It tells of Erasmus, a baby born during a thunder storm, who is clearly destined to be special, with his flashing black eyes and haughty ways, until he finds love.

The trouble is that the girl literally ‘of his dreams’ hasn't actually been born yet.

No problem …… Oh, but there is ……. Danger lurks ……..

Shasta's Summer

'Shasta Summer' is an entrancing addition to Teresa Geering's romance / fantasy series 'Erasmus, Shasta & Merlin' in which the cunning and resourceful Erasmus continues his devilish attempts to secure the beautiful and enchanting Shasta as his own, while she and Merlin renew their enduring love for each other, impeded by the unfortunate fact that a spell from a previous century has transformed Merlin into a cat.

Written in seductive and mesmerising prose which gives it the feel of an authentic time-honoured fable, 'Shasta Summer' continues the tradition of the much-acclaimed 'The Eye of Erasmus' which records another such attempt by Erasmus when he espies Shasta across the centuries in a vision.

The books in the series can be read and enjoyed in any order and by readers of any age from six to ninety-six.

 1.)   Tell us about yourself

 Answer: I’m a complete nutcase who loves to write.

2.)  What genre do you specialise in?

Answer: Normally I time travel with my books and shove in a bit of fantasy here and there. I love a good bit of Romance as well though. Don’t you? My current work in progress is time travel interspersed with drug taking and crime. A new venture for me but I love a good crime if you can get away with it.

3.)   What's your inspiration.

Answer: I love to people watch and get inspiration that way. Some people call me a nosy ol’ bugger while others are convinced I’m a pervert! LOL They don’t know what I’m up to though, but when I tell them what I’m doing, they’re keen to know how I will use them as a character.

4.)  Who is your favourite author, why and did he/she inspire you to write in any way?

Answer: I don’t have a favourite author at all. If I’m attracted to a book cover I will investigate. If the first couple of pages grab me then that’s good enough for me to continue reading.

5.)  How do you feel about Taylor?

Answer: Taylor Street Publishing is probably one of the best publishing houses I have ever come across. Although new and a small company its prime consideration is always its authors and how they can best promote them. I do believe that with their combined vision it will become a publishing house of major repute.

6)  What are your plans?

 Answer: To settle down in front of the TV with a nice curry and several glassed of red wine… Oh did you mean my writing career? Well I plan to write many more books which will be of varied genre. Otherwise you can become stale I think. I will of course have endless money generated by the sale of my books!! I will buy Richard Branson’s island from him at a knock down price and invite all my author friends to join me as money will be no object. J

7.) Go for it, sell your work. (Links, reviews, what ever you want).

Answer: My first book The Eye of Erasmus was published in June 2010 followed a year later by Shasta Summer. Both books are published by Taylor Street Publishing House of San Francisco. I have been very lucky with sales and during June/July I sold 183 books and had 2300+ free downloads. This seems to have generated even more sales and I understand I have sold several more this month also.

                               

Links: Amazon UK - http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Eye-of-Erasmus-ebook/dp/B003VS0DR8/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1347120696&sr=1-1

              Amazon US - http://www.amazon.com/Eye-Erasmus-Omnipotent/dp/1453634754/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1347120795&sr=1-1&keywords=eye+of+erasmus

           Amazon UK - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Shasta-Summer-ebook/dp/B0054RWUKW/ref=pd_rhf_se_s_cp_1

            Amazon US - http://www.amazon.com/Shasta-Summer-Teresa-Geering/dp/1463574185/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1347120997&sr=1-1&keywords=shasta+summer

            Blog: http:// tgeering.blogspot.co.uk

Many thanks my friend xxx

No, thank you Tee ;-)

So now you know peeps!

Reggie.

The legendary Mike Church interview.

Mike Church, yes THE Mike Church, interviewed me the other day, (with the questions I sent him!!).
Anyway, here it is, enjoy dear reader. Enjoy...

The Mike Church water torture.

Feel free to comment :-)

Reggie.

The Taylor Street Gang files, part 6. Jillian Ward

Part 6 in our "Getting to know you" series for Taylor Street publishing.

Today we have a lady in the house, (finally). Jill Ward is a writer of numerous books, but "Saving Nathaniel" she published with Taylor. 

Let's check out the blurb for "Saving Nathaniel" and then go straight in with the questions.

Saving Nathaniel

Nathaniel Mackie is treading an emotional knife-edge, and the abyss is beckoning. Following the deaths of his wife and baby, he has lived with unresolved guilt and grief, and it is tearing him apart.

One rainy day, Megan Thomas literally bursts into his kitchen - and into his life.

Before long, their relationship becomes more than employer and housekeeper. Under her gentle, compassionate influence things begin to change, and he starts to come to terms with his past.

When Megan's temporary secondment is over, the extent of his dependence and affection becomes apparent. He loves her and wants her back.

But will she want him and all his accumulated baggage cluttering up her life? If not, what then? The prospect of living the rest of his life without her is a prospect he cannot contemplate.

He would rather die.

Okay, nice one Jill, that sounds very heavy, so how about you...

1.) Tell us about yourself

I'm as plain and ordinary as they come, in every sense of the word;  former medical secretary who gave up the 9-5 rat race to settle in pastures new and is now living it large(!) in a village on Royal Deeside in Scotland (Note the *Royal* bit - the akshual Queen is a neighbour (as is Billy Connolly)). Got a family, got a dog, got a best friend, got a car, got hot water, got a flushing loo. What more could I ask for? Oh yeah, a few quid in the bank wouldn't go amiss. Basically if I don't write I'm a headcase, so I'm saving my sanity one word at a time.

2.) What genre do you specialise in?

Romance is my bag, because lovers gotta love, even if they have to walk over hot coals to do it, so I would say that might qualify as *specialise*. However, I've also tried my hand at a saucy riverbank romp, a psychological revenge drama and at the moment my toe is dipped in paranormal romance. Next stop - horror. I truly am a Jill of all trades, yet sadly at the moment, mistress of none. I'm sure I'll fall into my niche sooner or later.

3.) What's your inspiration?

People, places, my dear muse (a real sweetheart - see THREE WAY STREET for how we met). It's not the cash that's for certain.

4.) Who is your favourite author, why and did he/she inspire you to write in any way?

I love to read the classic authors - Hardy, Thackeray, Austen, etc, and I rather enjoy Stephen Kind and Clive Barker, but I don't think they inspire me to write 'like' them. I want to create my own voice, although a friend from back in the Autho days said she could spot my style a mile off and using a pseudonym would be pointless. Bugger - busted, but I'm still trying, pseudonym and all (Lucy Pepperdine for those who didn't know).

5.) How do you feel about Taylor?

If it hadn't been for the wonderful peeps at Taylor St and the support of fellow Taylor St authors and readers, Saving Nathaniel would either still be languishing in the bowels of my lappy, dusty and neglected, or else I would have gone down the route of self pubbing and all the pitfalls therein. Taylor took a chance on a complete novice unknown, gave the work a spit and a polish and got it 'out there' and so far, so good. Seeing my work on Amazon and Smashwords for all the world to see fills me with unimaginable pride and gratitude to Taylor St, which in turn has given me confidence to continue writing.  For the majority, having their work published is nothing but a pipe dream. For me Taylor made a dream come true, and the pipe is just for smoking.

6.) What are your plans?

To write more, and to write better. With each subsequent book, I feel I am honing my voice, my technique, and my craft to a standard equal to any professional writer and would hope that Taylor would take a chance on those too *none too subtle hint*

7.) Go for it, sell your work. (Links, reviews, what ever you want).

SAVING NATHANIEL (Taylor St)  http://goo.gl/N1IWb

LINDA LOVES...? (Indie)   http://goo.gl/G8haH

WATCH YOUR BACK! (Indie)  http://goo.gl/G8haH

THREE WAY STREET (Indie)  http://goo.gl/HE0Dc

ON THE FLY (Indie)  http://goo.gl/cZtpi

ANIMA MEA (Indie)  http://goo.gl/rrS1J

More info at www.bluequilbooks.com

Jill's a lovely lady who actively supports Help for Heroes, a fact I find extremely endearing and I, for one, think she ROCKS !!

Thanks Jill :-)

Right peeps, that's all for now.

Reggie :-)

The Big Fangtastic Books interview.

I'll be honest, if you've been reading my blog, or my Facebook page, then there'll be nothing in here that will be new.
However, I'm duty-bound by my own vanity to reproduce it here. Sorry, I don't want to, b ut ego demands and ego gets, you know the score. And there's a pretty girl on here as well, which does make up for it.
The Fangtastic Books interview.
Have a read if you're bored.
Thanks.
Reggie.

The Taylor Street Gang files, part 5. Robert Craven.

Rob Craven wrote one of my favourite books from last year, "Get Lenin", and if you're a Facebook friend of mine you've probably seen his link on my page a couple of thousand times.

 A really good bloke, a fan of Guinness, (which puts him in the "Good Bloke" category straight away in my eyes) and also a talented story teller. Here's the blurb for Rob's latest book, "Zinnman" and then we'll squeeze some info out of him.

Zinnman.

In this assured and compelling sequel to 'Get LENIN', it is 1941, and the Allied intelligence team of Henry Chainbridge, Peter De Witte and Eva Molenaar are tasked by Winston Churchill and Anthony Eden personally with destroying a terrifying new weapon of mass destruction being developed jointly by Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, using Chinese prisoners of war as guinea-pigs before giving it its first full test on the Russian Front.

As ever, Eva is the sultry Polish-born spy putting her body on the line at the heart of the enemy, Chainbridge is the reserved master strategist and De Witte is the suave, blind intelligence gatherer in love with Eva Molenaar, but does she still love him back or has she fallen for a German agent?

Thanks very much for the interview Reg, and congratulations on ‘The Division of the Damned’, it's a wonderful read!

                My name is Robert Craven and I have 2 novels published by Taylor Street Publishing ‘Get Lenin’ released June 2011 and its sequel ‘Zinnman’, released August 2012. I live in the seaside town of Rush, north of Dublin, Ireland and I’ve been living there for nearly 12 years. I work full-time near Dublin Airport and in my free time write. I prefer to keep my private life private, so I’m married and a family man and that’s it.

How I got here as an author started when I was a journey man bass player in Dublin between 1986 and 1997. Over those years, I kept ‘gig’ diaries, and around them, I built a novella titled ‘‘Vocals preferred, own transport essential’’ and touted it around a few publishers. Though I got a few rejections, I also got some encouraging remarks, I learned the ropes and when I started writing Get Lenin in January 2005, had a plan.

Genre:

    The genre I specialise in is action/adventure. I think a book should be among other things entertaining and I hope with both Get Lenin and Zinnman they are good old fashioned page-turners.  The kind of books I imagine you see in an airport, while you’re waiting for the boarding call and thinking ‘‘this will do to pass the time.’’

What’s my inspiration?

    Now that is a good question! Good writing inspires me – well written novels, historical biographies or even a concise piece of journalism. I’m currently reading Richard Kadrey’s Sandman Slim books, and it’s like discovering a new band you want to jam along with – the way he writes dialogue and use of frags is really, really well done. Sometimes a photograph, painting or piece of music might give the few remaining brain cells a good kick and have me back at the computer typing.

My favourite author?

    Again a tough one – I suppose the biggest influence on me has been Stephen King; ‘The Stand’, ‘Salem’s Lot’ and ‘Dolores Claiborne’ stand out for me. Andrew Miller’s ‘Ingenious Pain’ is another exceptional book.  My all time favorite book though is ‘1984’ by George Orwell; there isn’t a wasted syllable in it.

On TSP

    Taylor Steet Publishing has been very good to me. After 5 years of grinding out rejection slips and no responses to my pitches for Get Lenin, Tim took a chance on it and published it last year. Then when I received the contract for Zinnman, it was the icing on the cake! Taylor Street to me is more of a family as a good few of the authors here were friends and rivals all jockeying for position on the Authonomy peer-review site. There’s a good community feel which both Tim and Kathleen have worked hard to foster and everyone has their sleeves rolled up and pitching and helping their fellow authors. It’s easy to forget that Tim’s passionate about the books TS produces, whatever the author’s style, and that’s the extra touch; you don’t get the sense that you have to adapt your work to a ‘house style’.

My plans 

     At the moment I don’t have any plan other than to complete the 3rd installment of Eva Molenaar’s adventures, it’s titled ‘A Finger of night’. I have the first draft down, but won’t go back to it properly for a few months, let it settle for a bit and also re-check the research.

    I’m also in the great position at the moment of reviewing new music for Musicians Together magazine – an on-line magazine and network for Irish & International musicians. It makes my day seeing a new CD come through the letter box!

Eva Molenaar; Ingenue, muse, model, assassin – she’s uncovered a plan, and she’s the only one who can stop it... see the links below:

Get Lenin:

http://www.amazon.com/Get-LENIN-ebook/dp/B0054EX4XW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1347015245&sr=8-2&keywords=Get+Lenin

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Get-LENIN-ebook/dp/B0054EX4XW/ref=pd_rhf_se_p_img_1

Zinnman:

http://www.amazon.com/Zinnman-ebook/dp/B0094WYC0E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1347015339&sr=8-1&keywords=Zinnman

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Zinnman-ebook/dp/B0094WYC0E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1347015375&sr=8-1

thanks again Reg!

Rob

Nice one mate.

So peeps, now you know.

Reggie ;-)