Moonlight City Drive by Brian Paone (VBT, guest post, excerpt, and GIVEAWAY) GFT

It is my pleasure to share a guest post from author Brian Paone, who shares his...

Advice for writers 

by

Brian Paone

-        My two pieces of advice for new or aspiring writers: 

1) hire a professional editor. Do not think you can edit your own novel (you can’t … forest for the trees and all that). Also, do not think a friend of family member (unless they ARE a professional editor) will do your book any justice either. A poorly edited (or not edited at all) novel is a disservice to the entire literary community and will most likely guarantee that you won’t have any return readers on your next release. 

2) Writing an engaging book is only 50% of your job as being a successful writer. The other 50% comes afterward: marketing. I see so many novice writers think that just by putting their book on Amazon, they can sit back and watch the sales come flying in. Then, six month later, they are complaining in my writing group why they have only sold 3 copies, and 2 of them were to Uncle Bob and their parents. Marketing should start early and happen on a consistent basis. At a minimum, do one thing a week to get your book in front of potential reader’s eyes.

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Moonlight City Drive

by Brian Paone

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GENRE: Crime/Thriller Romantic Paranormal

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BLURB:

11:18 p.m. Subject is checking into the Desert Palms Motel, accompanied by an unknown female.

Snapshot in the parking lot. Man and woman embrace. Betrayal, I see it every day, like my own reflection in the mirror staring back at me. Another case, another bottle of booze, life is no longer a mystery to me …

… Because I’m the private eye, hot on your trail; the top gun for hire. You’ll find me lurking in the shadows, always searching for a clue. I’m the bulletproof detective. I got my eye on you …

What’s a little sin under the covers, what’s a little blood between lovers? What’s a little death to be discovered, cold stiff body under the covers?

I’m digging you a desert grave, underneath the burning sun. You won’t be found by anyone. Vultures circle in the sky, and you, my dear, are the reason why.

… I was always easily influenced.

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EXCERPT

Smith spit out another peanut shell onto his Chevy’s floorboard as his gaze stayed trained on the Desert Palms Motel’s front entrance. His fingers instinctively found the opened bag in the complete darkness and pinched another nut. He squeezed his eyes closed to ward off the simmering residual headache from the most recent blackout. The sound of the rain pelting the windshield was soothing.

“Come on. Where are you? You took the last two nights off. I can’t imagine you being on vacation.”

Headlights turning into the parking lot diverted his attention from the motel’s front door. He squinted to decipher the make and model of the vehicle through the downpour. A Bentley. He sighed and returned his focus to the motel as he fingered the brim of his newly purchased replacement fedora and then tossed it next to him in frustration.

Smith removed his revolver from his shoulder holster and checked that all six chambers were loaded for the umpteenth time. He secured the weapon and grabbed the small notebook from underneath his discarded fedora, lying on the passenger seat, where Wynn should be sitting. But she had maintained radio silence throughout the past two days since storming from Hank’s office. He shook his head in disgust for letting Wynn’s drama distract him from the job at hand.

He swiped the Chevy’s dashboard with his palm to clean off the thick layer of dust that had collected from months of neglect. He wiped his hands on his pants, leaving a graying smear across the fabric covering his thighs. He reached into his trench coat’s inner pocket and removed a silver flask. He opened the top and looked at the engraved insignia on the front. His index finger traced the shining eyeball hanging freely in the cut-out middle of a pyramid. Taking a swig from the decorated flask, he grimaced as the brown liquid hit the back of his throat.

Smith retrieved the Polaroid from the dashboard and cleared his throat. “Let’s see what tricks you’re playing on me now.” He flicked the corner of the photograph as he sighed deeply in expected disappointment.

Amazon 

  

B&N

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Brian Paone was born and raised in the Salem, Massachusetts area. Brian has, thus far, published four novels: a memoir about being friends with a drug-addicted rock star, Dreams are Unfinished Thoughts; a macabre cerebral-horror novel, Welcome to Parkview; a time-travel romance novel, Yours Truly, 2095, (which was nominated for a Hugo Award, though it did not make the finalists); and a supernatural, crime-noir detective novel, Moonlight City Drive. Along with his four novels, Brian has published three short stories: Outside of Heaven, which is featured in the anthology, A Matter of Words; The Whaler’s Dues, which is featured in the anthology, A Journey of Words; and Anesthetize (or A Dream Played in Reverse on Piano Keys), which is featured in the anthology, A Haunting of Words. 

Brian is also a vocalist and has released seven albums with his four bands: Yellow #1, Drop Kick Jesus, The Grave Machine, and Transpose. He is married to a US Naval Officer, and they have four children. Brian is also a police officer and has been working in law enforcement since 2002. He is a self-proclaimed roller coaster junkie, a New England Patriots fanatic, and his favorite color is burnt orange. For more information on all his books and music, visit his website.

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New York Night by Stephen Leather (VNBtM, guest post, excerpt and GIVEAWAY) GFT

It is my pleasure to share a guest post from author Stephen Leather, who shares his answer to my question...


 

ELF:  What is your writing process?

SL:  I’ve never been one for writing in silence – in fact I often do my best work as I sit in airport lounges waiting for a flight.  When I’m working at home you’ll find me in front of the TV with my Mac on a coffee table. I watch TV as I write and always have done.  I did most of my homework at school and university with the TV on, and most of my working life was spent in busy newspaper offices so I need a buzz around me as I write. Working with the TV on helps when I need to describe a character’s clothing and the credits are always a good source of names! I drink a cup of coffee pretty much every half hour and my cat Peanut Butter sits on the sofa next to me to keep me company.

Early on in a book I probably write about a thousand words a day, and I do it haphazardly, writing the scenes that I have in my head no matter where in the book they are! It’s not unusual for me to start writing scenes that eventually appear right at the end of the book!  After about a month of doing that I become more methodical and start at the beginning and link in the scenes I have already written. At that point I am probably writing fifteen hundred words a day.

Readers say that I’m very productive, but if you think about it, 1,000 words a day is more then 350,000 words a year, which is four novels, pretty much. So it seems to me that a writer producing just one book a year isn’t really trying!

When I first began writing full time, publishers generally only wanted one book a year from a writer. They would publish in hardback – often a year after delivery – then the following year they would publish that book as a paperback, along with a new hardback. There are still a lot of writers who work that way.

But eBooks have changed all that and now readers seem to prefer – even expect – a writer to be more prolific. So while I write one Spider Shepherd novel for my publisher each year, I also self-publish books, such as the Jack Nightingale supernatural detective series.

As I near the end my word count starts to accelerate and over the last ten days I probably write thirty thousand words! I always think of it as a roller coaster, with a long lead up followed by a dash to the finish!  It’s the part of writing that I really enjoy, where I am so caught up in the writing that the real world no longer seems to exist. It’s sometimes a shock to reach the end and to jerk back into reality. But that doesn’t last for long because I’m soon on to the next one, and the roller coaster begins again!

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New York Night
by Stephen Leather

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GENRE: Horror/Supernatural

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BLURB:

Teenagers are being possessed and turning into sadistic murderers. Priests can’t help, nor can psychiatrists. So who is behind the demonic possessions? Jack Nightingale is called in to investigate, and finds his own soul is on the line. New York Night is the seventh novel in the Jack Nightingale supernatural detective series.

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EXCERPT

The yellow cab driver was from Sierra Leone originally and during the drive he told Dee-anne how his family had been hacked to death by teenagers with machetes and that he had been lucky to escape with his life. Dee-anne had listened to the man’s story and had nodded and made encouraging noises at the right places but there was something definitely off about what the man was saying. It sounded too rehearsed as if he’d gone over it time and time again to make sure it had the ring of authenticity. Her fingers touched his as she handed over the fare and she instantly knew the truth. The man had been one of the attackers, he had killed and mutilated hundreds of men, women and children and had used the money he had stolen from his victims to pay for his passage to the United States.

‘I know what you did, Emmanuel,’ she said as she took her change. ‘You should keep up the good work here in America, Get yourself a big knife and have some fun.’

His mouth opened and he nodded slowly. ‘I will, mistress’ he said.

‘Enjoy yourself,’ said Dee-anne. She climbed out of the taxi and slammed the door.




Buy links 

Amazon
Kobo
iBooks
Smashwords

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Stephen Leather is one of the UK's most successful thriller writers, an eBook and Sunday Times bestseller and author of the critically acclaimed Dan "Spider' Shepherd series and the Jack Nightingale supernatural detective novels.


Before becoming a novelist he was a journalist for more than ten years on newspapers such as The Times, the Daily Mirror, the Glasgow Herald, the Daily Mail and the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong. He is one of the country's most successful eBook authors and his eBooks have topped the Amazon Kindle charts in the UK and the US. In 2011 alone he sold more than 500,000 eBooks and was voted by The Bookseller magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the UK publishing world.

Born in Manchester, he began writing full time in 1992. His bestsellers have been translated into fifteen languages. He has also written for television shows such as London's Burning, The Knock and the BBC's Murder in Mind series and two of his books, The Stretch and The Bombmaker, were filmed for TV. You can find out more from his website and you can follow him on Twitter 



Jack Nightingale has his own website



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The tour dates can be found here