Thursday 29 November 2012

Author Showcase - Linn B Halton

Today I'm excited to showcase fabulous author Linn B Halton's cover reveal!

Never Alone is being released in January 2013 and it's a story of true love, but as we all know the path is never easy. Read on to find out how you can win an advance copy!

 

 

Linn says: I'm doing a fab splash around some wonderful blogs and websites to celebrate a brand new shiny cover, hot off the press. This story is full of heart and a young woman, Holly Atherton, who doesn't want to say 'yes' to having that wedding ring placed on her finger. Even though Will is the love of her life and absolutely gorgeous!

 
Before I tell you all about Holly's story I wanted to ask my host, fabulous author Janice Horton, whose books blend romance and a touch of Scotland so perfectly, what top tip she has for keeping a partner happy. Of course, I couldn't ask that question if I wasn't prepared to spill the beans myself....
 
Set aside 'together' time, whether that's an evening out or a short-break away, as long as it's romantic! Think of it as a date, or if you are going away together re-kindling your 'affair'. Don't let life get in the way!
 
So Janice, what's your little secret?
I think the way to keep your man happy is to appreciate him - and tell him so. Make him feel like a hero!
 
Ah, flatterly will get you everywhere ha! ha! But seriously, everyone has the need to feel wanted and valued so I think this is a great one for my master-list of top tips! Thank you Janice.
 
So what's going wrong with Holly's relationship in Never Alone?
 
 
 
 
Holly Atherton has a seemingly perfect life, until suddenly it all beings to unravel. She has spent her life living up to other people's expectations of her, trying to please them.
She has it all - the affluent family who dote on her, a job she loves in her father's business, and the perfect boyfriend. Will is a successful entrepreneur and they are about to start enjoying a lifestyle many can only dream about. His latest business deal will see them with homes in the UK and Los Angeles.
But what if you wake up one morning and find yourself wondering whether the path you are on is the one you are supposed to be taking? Is she too caught up in pleasing her parents and Will to take her future into her own hands?
 
 
 
When Holly's psychic sensitivity begins to surface she doesn't know how to handle it. Vivid dreams seem too real to ignore and she finds herself 'talking' to Nick, the recently deceased brother of her best friend, Celia.
Just having someone to whom she can offload what she's feeling helps and she feels happier moving forward with Will into their exciting new future and all seems well... the rest is coming soon!

 

 
 

 

TAKE PART - Thank you for helping me to celebrate this cover reveal. Simply leave your TOP TIP for keeping your man happy and 6 names will be randomly selected from the blogs taking part to receive an advance ecopy of Never Alone in December 2012.

Festive wishes to everyone!

To find out more about author Linn B Halton:Website 
Twitter: @LinnBHalton
Facebook: Linn B Halton


 

Thursday 22 November 2012

Celebrating Scotland - past, present & future


Author Showcase - introducing Ali Bacon and her debut novel: A Kettle of Fish

 



It’s fantastic to be here with Janice in her author showcase and from my home in Bristol, I’m trying to imagine I’m actually in glorious South West Scotland which I know a little, though not as well as I know the east coast where my novel A Kettle of Fish is set.

 
Is it a good idea to use real places in a novel? Major cities, I think are fine, because their buildings and views are in a sense public property. But the places I grew up feel more personal. What if I somehow offended the locals? What if readers mistook Ailsa’s life story for autobiography? (However unlikely that is!) In a last-minute panic I considered changing the location to a fictional town, but in the end, I left it as it was (and hopefully is). Fife in all its guises is very much the inspiration for this book, so why not celebrate it?  Here’s a quick tour of some of the places in the novel and what they mean to me – and my heroine!

Dunfermline
I was born and brought up in Dunfermline, now a fair-sized town with mix of industries and a football team whose moment of glory was in the nineteen sixties. As the ancient capital of Scotland, its history goes back to King Robert the Bruce (of spider fame!) and beyond. It was also the birth place of national benefactor Andrew Carnegie not to mention the constituency of a certain recent prime minister. (For more check out http://www.visitdunfermline.com/)
 
 
 
 
But what teenager really cares about history or politics when there’s a big world out there? One reviewer has described Alisa’s home town as a village. When I saw this I panicked – had I got the description all wrong? But on second thoughts I’m quite pleased, because that’s a bit how it felt to me in my school days, and how anywhere feels to someone like Ailsa Robertson who’s dying to get out!
 

Largo
Visiting Dunfermline a few years ago, I was struck by how much had changed, and while writing Kettle I did have to make sure that it’s described as it is today and not just as I remembered in my childhood (this is contemporary fiction after all!) But I was surprised and gratified to find that the sea-side village of Lower Largo, which plays such a big part in Ailsa’s memories, has barely changed at all. It’s still off the beaten track and has nothing to offer other than a tiny harbour and a never-ending beach.

 


In my early teens I spent several summers and winter weekends there and I admit to indulging in plenty of nostalgia in putting it on the page, safe in the knowledge it is still the perfect holiday retreat.


Edinburgh
About half way through the book my heroine moves to Edinburgh, a city I love but have never lived in. For many of the locations I plundered Google, Wikipedia and Flickr to refresh my memory, or in some places to augment it. In fact I had never been up Carlton Hill, the city’s famous viewpoint until after the book was written and resorted to Google maps to trace Ailsa’s route from Dean Park to the summit.




I was very pleased when I got there myself to discover I’d got it right.


Back to the future

Finally, Ailsa and I went to the same school, a four square brick construction of the 1930s with a concrete and glass extension which I thought would never change. But I’ve just learned that ‘The High’ has been completely rebuilt and now looks like this. I’m amazed – I think Ailsa would be too!
 
 

 
Thanks to John Burrel of Dunfermline for this image. Also to Flickr users dugspr-homeforgood for Dunfermline High Street  and chattygirl for Lower Largo beach (http://www.flickr.com)
 

A Kettle of Fish by Ali Bacon



Ali's Links
Kindle edition from Thornberry Publishing
Paperback: Feedaread.com
Twitter @AliBacon
Amazon UK Author Page
Loveahappyending.com Author Page

Friday 16 November 2012

Pindies United on The Bookshelf


I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I was involved in a an exciting new initiative with loveahappyending.com - a magazine style website with energy and zing that has been around for less than two years and which continues to forge ahead with innovative ideas to support its authors in an everchanging publishing climate.

The latest feature on the site is called The Bookshelf. The common thread with The Bookshelf is that the books presented are being actively marketed. This means either a traditional publisher, or a media-aware author, is behind each title with an unwavering campaign to get that title noticed.


So on the site you will find exciting new authors and the publishers who support them, together with independent authors like myself, who are trying to make their mark. This innovative idea to bring Pindies together in support of each other – both traditionally published and independently published authors – is ground breaking in its synergy.


The Loveahappyending Bookshelf is all about inviting YOU to be instrumental in discovering the next ‘hot’ author, and so helping to spread the word!


 

 

To keep in step with this new development and my involvement with loveahappyending as an associate editor as well as a featured author – I have launched a new venture of my own in connection with the website and am now editing a twice monthly brand new and tartantastic  ‘Bookshelf Reviews’ feature to support the authors and publishers involved. Check out my November features below and why not follow Loveahappyending.com on Twitter and catch all the tweets by using hashtag #lahe

 



I’d be very interested to hear your thoughts about the website, the collaborate support venture between authors and publishers, and the magazine style posts featured on Loveahappyending.com

So please do feel free to leave a comment.

Janice xx

 

Friday 9 November 2012

Kicking back….


This week I’ve been kicking back and relaxing after the launch of How Do You Voodoo?


Mr JH and I took ourselves off to the cinema in Glasgow to see Skyfall and both of us remarked how the scene with Bond and M standing beside the Aston Martin in the remote Scottish countryside - looked as though it had been filmed at the Dalveen Pass – an area very close to our cottage. I got quite excited at the thought that Daniel Craig might have popped in for a cup of tea!

 

I also caught the BBC Scotland programme ‘Imagine’ featuring Edinburgh author Ian Rankin. It’s up on the iPlayer just now here and is really worth watching. It follows Ian over the course of writing his new novel ‘Standing in Another Man’s Grave’ and it was fascinating to see how he worked. I also found it reassuring that he gets stuck (in his case usually at page 68) and that he doesn’t plot his stories beforehand. Indeed, with this particular novel, he got almost to the end without knowing himself who the killer was!  The interviews with his editor and his wife were also illuminating from a writerly perspective and I enjoyed seeing how he researched the details in his stories.
This weekend is Mr JH’s birthday and we are having our friends over to celebrate with us. So, this afternoon, I’m not writing or going anywhere near my laptop - I'm making birthday cake!
 
Happy Birthday to my real life hero - Mr JH!
 

So until next week (when I’ll be back to work on my WIP) I’m wondering if you like to take a break and kick back a little after completing a writing project - or are you a writer that gets straight into the next book without a single pause?

Love, Janice xx
 

Friday 2 November 2012

What a Voodoo Week!


Thank you to everyone who took part in the Spellbindingly Fun Blog Party last Friday – it was great fun! Lots and lots of party peeps took part and I was amazed at how imaginative and clever you all were with casting your spells.

In the prize draw for Spellbinding Bloggers – Caroline James won the Highland scented candle in the exact purple tartan to match the cover of How Do You Voodoo?



Caroline kindly uploaded this photo to Facebook and wrote: So thrilled - I won this lovely candle at Janice Horton's Spellbinding Fun Blog Party!

Sheryl Browne and Nicky Wells were the Twitter draw winners and each now have a Voodoo Love Doll complete with pins!
How Do You Voodoo? was free on launch day and downloaded over 500 times – reaching number 20 in an Amazon Top 100 Chart. Amazing!
 
 
 
 
Over the past week, I’ve been on tour promoting How Do You Voodoo? I’ve been interviewed on some fabulous blogs about my writing, my research, where I get my story ideas from and I have also been fortunate that several very well respected Book Bloggers have pulled out all the stops to read and review How Do You Voodoo?  during my promotional week. So if you have a few moments in your coffee break - do pop over to each of the blog links below to visit these fabulous blogs and see what I’ve been up to on my Voodoo-tastic blog tour!

And as if that wasn’t all fabulous enough this week More Than A Review.Com included How Do You Voodoo? in their list of Recommended Halloween Reads!


And Kim The Bookworm discussed How Do You Voodoo? on her Stafford FM Radio Show Book Club slot last Thursday. Thanks Kim! I’ll add the podcast link as soon as I have it.

The Dumfries and Galloway Standardmy local newspaper is running an article on the launch of How Do You Voodoo? today (Friday 2nd Nov) I’ll post a link to the online version of this article as soon as I have it.

And, last but not least, this week I launched my brand new Bookshelf Reviews feature on the innovative magazine style website loveahappyending.com. I’ll be presenting this feature twice monthly to bring you the latest reviews and reader opinions on one of the loveahappyending.com’s featured author’s books – helping you to discover an outstanding new book, an exciting new author and a fabulous new writing talent!

That’s it for this week (I think I need to lie down now!) See you all next Friday!