Monday, March 17, 2014


You’re never too old to have one more adventure 

Brought to life by Steve Ferchaud’s vibrant drawings, this story for all ages by Dan O’Brien lets us know that it is never too late to have one more adventure. 


An Excerpt:


Robert Pendleton opened one eye as the light of a passing car flashed over the window, shattering the darkness into prisms. He rolled onto his back on the beat-up couch and yawned as he reached his hands up and rubbed his eyes unceremoniously. 

He looked out over the darkness at the digital clock. The red digits spelled out a quarter ‘til midnight––nearly fourteen hours of sleep. He smiled and grabbed one of the cushions of the couch, burying his head in it. Just enough sleep, he reminded himself. Robert felt that anything less than twelve hours of sleep was very nearly too little. 

He grasped blindly for the TV remote. 

Groaning as he lifted his head, he looked at the empty table––his eyes drawn by another flash of a passing car. He couldn’t see clearly, but he knew that the remote had been there before he had fallen asleep nearly half a day ago. 

“Could have sworn….” he mumbled as he pushed himself up and brushed his hand around the top of the table, finding nothing. “Where did….”

Another groan escaped his lips as he lifted his body to a sitting position and threw aside the cluster of pillows that he had gathered around himself. He reached out for the lamp, but instead knocked it to the floor with a resounding thud. 

Robert muttered as he stood up from the couch, and then sank to his knees to search around in the darkness for the fallen lamp. Reaching around on the shadowed floor, shards of the broken lamp scattered like pieces of light. 

He turned his head, peering beneath the large space underneath the couch and saw the reflection of the buttons on the remote. The off-gray piece of machinery was underneath the couch––only darkness lingered beyond it. He reached out as he spoke again. 

“How did it get all the way down there?” 

Robert flexed his hand and strained as he twisted his back to reach farther; yet, the remote remained just out of reach. He pulled his arm away with a huff and craned his neck to the side, staring underneath into the darkness below the couch. 

His eyes widened as he saw the impossible: there was something beyond the remote. He shook his head and closed his eyes, whispering to himself that he didn’t see what he thought he had.

“I saw a little man,” he whispered to himself as he opened his eyes once more and nearly gasped as he did so. 

The figure was closer now and he could make out the outline clearly. A tiny man rested just beyond the remote. 

“What in the name of…?”

“Not here in the name of nobody, laddie. I be a friend though,” crooned the miniscule figure as he interrupted Robert and stepped forward, placing a hand on the darkened and slick surface of the remote. 

A tam-o’-shanter crested his bright red hair, the shaggy mane blending perfectly into his equally crimson, neatly trimmed, beard. 

A billow of whitish smoke drifted from the long-stemmed pipe that he held clenched between his lips. 

Robert fell back and knocked aside the adjacent table. Rubbing his eyes, he spoke a single word: “Leprechaun.”



About the Author:


Dan O’Brien, founder and editor-in-chief of The Northern California Perspective, has written over 20 books––including the bestselling Bitten, which was featured on Conversations Book Club’s Top 100 novels of 2012. Before starting Amalgam, he was the senior editor and marketing director for an international magazine. In addition, he has spent over a decade in the publishing industry as a freelance editor. You can learn more about his literary and publishing consulting business by visiting his website at: www.amalgamconsulting.com. Contact him today to order copies of the book or have them stocked at your local bookstore. He can he reached by email at amalgamconsulting@gmail.com



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Simply follow the author here and here and a few winners will be randomly selected on March 20th!

Wednesday, March 12, 2014



Today, I  am happy to share my blog space with Elaine Burroughs (writing under the name of Elaine Calloway), author of Earthbound - Book Three of her The Elemental Clans series.

So without further ado...
I'll turn this blog over to Elaine!

Don’t Forget the Details in Your Setting
By Elaine Burroughs


There are various quotes about details that have been modified over the years, but I think James McBride said it best: “As a journalist, the details always tell the story.”

How true. Details matter, whether you’re a writer trying to incorporate senses (sight, smell, touch, sound) into your manuscript, or whether you’re trying to tell a friend about a movie they should see. The details are what make the subject come alive.

In many ways, details are the difference between telling and showing. Consider the following examples and which ones offer more information for your audience.

Telling: She was tired.

Showing: Kayla let out a long yawn before turning off the light.

Don’t you “see” more in the showing sentence above?

Let’s try another one, just to get your taste buds going!

Telling: Lunch looks good.

Showing: Alex folded the rice into the mound of crawfish etouffee on his plate, and the sizzling spices teased his nostrils. 

With showing (or giving details) the reader can picture the scene easier. It lets each person envision something specific, versus saying “she was tired” which doesn’t offer much visual, audible, or sensory detail.

So remember that as you’re writing that manuscript or describing a TV show, book, or movie to a friend…details count, so be sure to use them!

More about the book and Elaine herself.

BLURB:
Some say history repeats itself, but for Terran, an Earth Elemental, history has returned and slapped him in the face. Along the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon, the Acobi Fallen Angels have decided to go underground–literally. They are resurrecting an old legend, shanghaiing innocent people into slavery. Underage girls are trapped and kept in holding cells, ready to be sold into the sex trade. Terran must stop the Acobi and keep the public away from the Shanghai tunnels, all while keeping his supernatural powers hidden.

Kelly Habersham, overachieving real estate developer, has finally convinced her father and brothers to give her the Portland condo project, which would require extensive construction near the tunnels. Determined to impress her father and make a name for herself in the family business, she is not about to let a Save-the-Earth guy get in her way.

Terran and Kelly must work together and come to a truce–or they may be the next shanghai victims.

Elaine Calloway

Crafting Stories of the Living, the Dead, and the Eerie In Between.
Elaine Calloway grew up in New Orleans with a love of cemeteries, gothic architecture, and all things
paranormal. She is currently writing The Elemental Clan Series, a good vs. evil
set of tales involving Elementals and Fallen Angels. 

For more information and
to connect with Elaine online, visit her website at http://www.elainecalloway.com.

Follow Her!
Goodreads –http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/13256243-elaine-calloway

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