Books and Novels to Read Website - Terry Callister

Hi.
I want to share with you the incredible work that Terry is doing to progress authors who self p[ublish their work. He, like many of us, has been down the difficult (if not impossible) road of trying to find an agent/publisher that is even willing to give feedback on our hard work.
Not accepting failure as an option, he founded the website:
http://www.booksandnovelstoread.com/
His reasons he lays out clearly in the 'about BNR' on the website:
http://www.booksandnovelstoread.com/AboutBNR.html
The difference between Terry and most of the rest of us Indies is that he decided to do something about it and founded Books and novels to read, put in a ton of extremely hard work and the results are to be seen on this great website that will snowball into major proportions as a tool for us to get awareness and sell our books.
Terry, thanks so much on behalf of all of us Indies!
Stephen

A life spent waiting......................

OK everybody,
So I've been busy sending out books to bloggers to review, emails to newspapers and magazines, posting articles in the digital media and reaching out to anyone that could be of help in getting awareness for The Taba Convention.
And now.......................I wait. Waiting can drive you mad.
Will someone like the book? Will they post a good review?
Will someone contact me for an interview? Was I right to send the book to all these people?
Thoughts crowd your mind all the time............after all, it's your first book, your baby, and it has to succeed!
......and then you start the rollercoaster ride that takes you to the heights of exhilirating hope and dashes you to the ground of melancholic expectations.
The answer?   PATIENCE..............seldom in a woman and NEVER in a man! And yet I have to sit patiently and wait for results of my outreach, and believe that they will be good, because my baby is good, and deserves to be out there.
All the best,
Stephen
http://www.stephenwayers.com/

My Four Bucks Author interview

Hi everyone,
my author interview on the blogsite My Four Bucks went online yesterday, and I invite you all to read below:

13 September 2011

Interview with Stephen Ayers, author of The Taba Convention

Stephen Ayers

Stephen Ayers is the author of The Taba Convention, which is a fast paced thriller set in the Middle East.  I recently reviewed it giving it 4 stars and I thoroughly recommend it.  Stephen has taken some time out from his writing and busy hotel management career to participate in an interview with My Four Bucks.

Early on in the novel, the main character Jordan Kline listens to the music of Enigma.  I love Enigma, so I have to ask, do you listen to Enigma when you're writing?  

Do you have a favourite Album?

I love the music of Enigma, and listened to it for hours when we lived in Eilat. I love the album MCMXC A.D., amazingly soothing.  By the way, did you know that the wife of the founder of Enigma is a great singer called Sandra?  She also had a few hits way back.  However, when I write I just like to write surrounded by the sounds of everyday life, the street sounds.  When I write I am fortunate in that I am ‘transported’ to the place that I am writing about, so I travel the world on a free ticket while sitting at my desk!

Being in the hotel business yourself, how much of yourself do you draw on when writing the character of Jordan Kline?

Actually quite a lot.  The daily business of running a hotel is described in the book, and taken in large part from my experiences as a general manager.  The anecdotes, including ‘The Eiffel Tower’ story are true and happened in the hotels I managed.  I find that hotel life is fascinating and I wanted to create a ‘different’ kind of hero and convey his new, interesting life in contrast to his violent past.  I wanted to ‘paint’ a passive ‘hotelier’ Jordan opposite the ‘violent’ Jordan reluctantly drawn back into the world he wants so desperately to leave behind. 

How often do you review your work?

When I write I write.  I do not go back and check anything until I am through with the session.  I do not want to interrupt the flow of my thoughts while writing.  However, once I am done I will go over and over the draft text.  I review all of what I have written after each writing session.  I then review the whole book perhaps ten times before manuscript submission for editing, and then again after that a good few times.

Do you believe a peace agreement in the Middle East - like the Taba Convention - is possible?

I have always believed that a peace agreement is possible.  However, it must take into account the acute security interests of Israel.  Look at what is happening in the Arab world these days.  Israel does not want the occupied territories, but the borders must be defensible.  Look what happened after they gave back Gaza.  As one clever politician put it, “If the Arabs put down their arms there will be peace, if Israel puts down its arms there may be no Israel.”

Are you worried about any backlash from political or religious groups in regard to the content of The Taba Convention?  

Not at all. It is purely fiction. I wrote Taba to be purely a thrill action read. I do not think that there is any content that is abusive to any degree at all. It is not a book that is making any political statements.  If readers of Taba are entertained for a few hours, and it takes them away from the stress of daily life for a short while, I will have done my job.

What will Jordan Kline get up to next?

Wow! The next Jordan Kline in the series is The Righteous Within.  It is the story of a Nazi plot, hatched by German Generals long in their grave that threatens to bring annihilation to Israel at the beginning of this century.  The deadly plan was hatched towards the end of The Second World War, when Berlin burned and the Thousand Year Reich was crumbling with the approaching defeat. The plot even frightened me!

I wrote the series so that my readers can follow Jordan as he lives his life. By that I mean that in Taba he lives with Irit his girlfriend, in The Righteous Within he is married to her, and in The Kharta Conspiracy I introduce their young daughter Noah. I think that the ‘progression’ of their lives adds a different angle and lots of interest for those that will read all three, while they are also of course ‘stand alone’ novels too. Irit is very much involved in all three novels.

What are you reading at the moment?

I am reading A Prisoner of Birth by Jeffrey Archer.  He is a master storyteller, his books amazing, the read keeps you spellbound.  The book is a modern ‘remake’ of The Count of Monte Cristo………I strongly urge everyone to read it! 

Thanks so much for your time Stephen, it's been a pleasure having you on My Four Bucks!

My Four Bucks review of The Taba Convention

Hi everyone.
I was so pleased today to see the great review the 'My Four Bucks' gave to The Taba Convention!
It does make you feel elated that people enjoy what you wrote and praise it!!
Please take a look:

* From the author for review *


In the beginning of The Taba Convention, Jordan Kline rushes to the aid of a car accident victim, only to hear the dying words of ex-colleague Josh.  Jordan served with Josh in the Mossad 10 years ago, but left that life behind him long ago.  Jordan Kline is now the General Manager of the Sands Hotel and happily living with his girlfriend Irit in Eilat on the Red Sea.


Kline is troubled by Josh's last words and begins to dig a little into his death and begins to uncover a dangerous and deadly plot to upset the Taba Convention; an attempt to sign a peace agreement in the Middle East.


Author Stephen Ayers has taken a risk writing a political thriller with a peace convention in the Middle East at it's centre; but regardless of current events, his novel The Taba Convention still 'works'.


If you are the type to judge a book by its cover, you might assume this is a book geared towards engaging male readers. I can honestly tell you that Kline's occupation as General Manager of a Hotel makes him accessible to all readers and sets him apart from the main characters found in other action thriller novels on the market.


Ayers does a magnificent job transporting the reader to the dusty sands of the Middle East and in particular: Eilat, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, and I enjoyed seeing the landscape through Kline's eyes.  The Taba Convention sets a cracking pace and I enjoyed this novel immensely.  In fact, if I could have ordered room service from the Sands Hotel while reading, I would have!


My rating = ****


That's my four bucks!

Who do you believe in as a writer?

Hi.
I have spent many hours thinking about who I have to believe in as a writer, and I mean apart from myself!
You hvae spent days, weeks, months and maybe years slaving over your book, and finally you have the first manuscript. You are happy, delirious, proud and roaring to get the book out into the nworld so that everyone can nejoy it. But that is just when your troubles are beginning.
You send the manusrcipt for editing and editorial comments. You ask friends to read the manuscript.
Everyone comes back with comments and that is where you start wondering.
It happened to me too, do not worry!
Some readers said that the book was great, the plot intriguing and fast moving, the characters well developed, the dialogue good.....and the book very enjoyable.
Some said the opposite entirely, so who do you believe???
Well, I believed in my editors. They gave me timely advice on the plot, the flow, where I wrote too much, where too little. They gave me direction in character development, dialogue and sentence structure. They edited my whole manusrcipt. They told me that my writing is better than many well known writers, better grammatically, a better read.
So, weeks later, after undergoing changes, cuts, plot flow changes, dialogue and sentence structural changes, my book was ready for the world. I thought I had the ultimate product, ready for the world to enjoy, and...................WRONG!!!
OK, so many readers now really enjoy my book, but where did I come upo against it, you ask?
I sent my book to bloggers. They have followings and I wanted to tap into the followings, get my book out there!
Now, I wonder where these bloggers learned how to tell a good book? Are they majors in English? Have they written books? Who are they? Where do they come from and how did they learn their craft?
The answer is not known, but a blogger wrote abouit my book....the writing is "O.K", the dialogue flat, too much description of things "she could care less about", and more. Now, who do you believe? An editor who is professional at what he does, or someone you do not know who is criticising your work???
I guess that it all boils down to the one phrase; "Each unto his own", some will like the book and the way it is written, and some will not!
Do not take it to heart my fellow writers, that is the way it is, and many people will read your books and love them, but they not necessarily be the bloggers!!!
All the best, and enjoy The Taba Convention!!! Its a great suspenseful, thrilling read!! I believe in it!!
Stephen
http://www.stephenwayers.com/