Tag Team in Space... Episode 6

And the beat goes on...

Read the latest installment of Tag Team in Space the collaborative saga from J. Naomi Ay (The Two Moons of Rehnor) & Ahmad Taylor (Dark Side of the Moon)

Check out Episode 5 on J. Naomi's Blog here: Jerry (Episode 5)

Episode 6

Derrick:

 “I can’t believe this shit is happening on a day like today. Why am I always getting stuck in situations like this?” I asked emptily. I should have known better than to mutter even a single word out loud.

Doctor guy and smelly head couldn’t resist chiming in; “This is a rough day for me too. I’m supposed to start my new assignment today and I need to be there pretty soon. This is certainly not how I expected my day to go either” Jerry added.

“Fogwat like Jerry. Fogwat like Derrick. They like Fogwat?” the creature asked.

I had neither the energy nor the inclination to make new friends, especially with these two, but it appeared they were not going to play the quiet game too well, so I reluctantly responded.

“Okay Fogwat, you got that glow coming out of that big head of yours and you got the three eyes to see better, so you lead the way for us, got it?”

“Fogwat see. Fogwat show the way” the Martian said, walking up the tube ahead of us. Doctor guy looked over at me as if he needed my approval to move forward so I turned and began to follow Fogwat.

“So, Derrick… Tell me about yourself. Who are you, where you from, what brings you to Mars?” doctor Jerry asked me. It was very hot in the tube, my head was pounding and the stench from the thing walking ahead of us was nauseating, I did my best to ignore Jerry’s questions and forge on.

“You seem pretty wound up, anything you wanna’ talk about buddy?” he continued, obviously not taking the hint to shut the hell up.

I spun around and placed my hand against his chest. His heart was beating pretty rapidly which meant he was nervous, which let me know I was in control, which I liked; “Listen up Jerry. I am not your buddy by any means. Not your friend, not your pal and certainly not your buddy, so let’s be super clear on that point” I finished, trying to look into his eyes through the darkness.

“Hey Derrick, take it easy man. I know this is a stressful situation but you have to relax. We are going to get out of here soon and make our way to our individual destinations shortly, I promise. Now, if you need another pill or something for your anxiety, I’m a doctor so I have…” I quickly cut him off; “A doctor, I know Jerry. You mentioned that before. I don’t need any pills, or any new friends, or any of this conversation. Quite frankly, what I need from you is some silence so that I can think a bit and figure out how we are going to get out of this stupid tube before I lose my breakfast all over the place. No you and what’s his face…” I turned to gesture over to the Martian thing leading the way, but it was completely dark around us. I turned toward the direction it walked in but saw nothing. I turned the other way but again saw nothing. I could not see the dim glow of his huge head anywhere.

“Argh! What the hell? Now we lost the smelly thing, son of a bitch. You gotta’ stop nagging me Jerry, ‘cause I need to get the hell out of here, and that thing is our only source of light, so we gotta’ find it and use it to find our way, you understand me?” I yelled at Jerry, keeping my hand on his chest just to know where he was.

Episode 6 from J. Naomi Ay now available

Tag Team in Space... Episode 4

Tag Team in Space
And the story continues...

Follow the collaborative tales of Dr. Jerry Waldman and Sgt. Derrick Thomas
An interactive tale by: J. Naomi Ay (The Two Moons of Rehnor) & Ahmad Taylor (Dark Side of the Moon)

Read Chapter 3 by J. Naomi Ay here: Chapter 3 (Jerry)

Chapter 4 (Derrick):

You have got to be kidding me. What the hell is going on this freakin’ planet? I can’t catch a break at all today.

I’m sleep deprived and hung over, and besides being stuck here in this hell-hole for an extra few hours, now I’ve been soaked in this nasty blue liquid and slammed in the crotch by some crazy blue lady. Accident she claims. Ha! It’s like when she started to slip she made a bee line right for my crotch and tackled me right out of the lift. I’ve been through some pretty gnarly fights in my time, but the last person I thought would be able to take me down was some overage Martian grandmother.

Man, I’m losing it. I gotta’ get the hell off this planet.

“Hey, what the hell man? What’d you push all the buttons for? It’s gonna’ take an hour to get to my terminal now!” I screamed at the annoying guy who spilled his blue goo all over everyone and everything.

“Probably a bit longer than that” the geek responded, gesturing with his misshapen head over to the creature in the corner with the even stranger looking head.

“Oh, what the hell man! I hate this freakin’ planet!”

I took a couple deep breathes and tried to calm down but my head was pounding and this stupid thing was staring at me with its three enormous eyes. “What the heck do they call these things?” I questioned the geek.

“Buttons are fun. Look, doors open, doors close. Fun” the creature said, attempting to engage me in a meaningless conversation.

“We don’t have a word for word translation of their language, and there are at least thirty eight known dialects, so we don’t knew exactly what they call themselves, but we just call them big heads.”

Ugh, I was already regretting asking this guy anything. “Sheesh, do all you nerds speak in long, drawn out sentences? It’s like talking to my dad or my sister Jeanie.”

I could see it in his eyes, the words were bubbling up again. I tried a preemptive strike by telling him to shut the hell up, but I was cut off by the lift coming to a sudden halt and slamming me into the wall in the process. 

“Now what” I exclaimed, rubbing the side of my head and checking for any cuts or blood.

As the lights began to flicker and the air conditioning began to sputter on and off I knew this day was only going to get worse...

Author Interview: Lynn Hardy - Prophecy of the Flame

Hey Folks.

We've been pretty busy lately, but busy is very good.

Today we have a treat for you.

Please welcome Lynn Hardy who is kind enough to share a bit of her life and work with us.

Hey there Lynn, how are you today?

Doing well Ahmad, thanks for asking. How about yourself?

I'm well thank you, excited about delving into the inner workings of you... If you don't mind I'm gonna' get right to it.

I'm game...


What inspired you to begin writing?

I’ve loved writing since I was in high school. In college, I majored in Journalism. One of my professors told me, “You don’t seem to have the ability to catch your own typos. No editor will ever hire you. You should change your major. (This was back before the days of Microsoft Word)

I was pretty tender-hearted, so I did what the teacher suggested. Without writing, college lost its appeal. When I dropped out because I caught walking pneumonia, I stayed out to support my husband through his senior year.

As newlyweds, my husband Tony and I went through marriage counseling. Christine asked me to write my autobiography starting with my earliest memories with as much detail as I could manage. Working full time, I would come in for my appointment, twice a week, an hand her ten pages, single-spaced, typed. After several months Christine told me, “I’ve asked my patients to write for me, for over 20 years. This is the first time I want to sit down with a cup of tea and see what happens next. You have a way of bringing a story to life. Have you ever considered something in that field of work.”
 
A few months after we finished the counseling, I had this amazing set of dreams. I noticed that you could extend the story, swap the order, and create a beautiful story. Some nights I would wake up laughing, other, crying. It was so captivating that I knew it had to be written.

I kept thinking about what author I should send it to: It had romance, maybe Melanie Rawn. But it was definitely fantasy, with magic, swords, elves, and even dwarfs, so perhaps Terry Brooks. And it’s got a definite steak of humor, so maybe Piers Anthony would be best. But Christine’s words kept ringing in my ears.

I sat down at my computer and created a file, “Second Job.” With no further ado, I began the journey of a writer.

Tell us about your latest novel in 20 words or less:

My books are a series, so how about I start with the first?
 

Prophecy of the Flame – Book One
Five strangers are zapped into a magical world and changed into the characters they were playing.

What has been the most exciting part of being a published author?

I wrote the stories because they moved me so much I really felt they had to be written. I never really thought they would have the same effect on my readers. I mean, I hoped they’d like them, but I never really thought about what that would mean. One day, I got this email from a fan saying they tracked me down through my Amazon account. They wanted to know when the next book would be out.

Since then I’ve gotten tons of support from my readers. It has been so wonderful to know that others were touched by my words. I feel greatly blessed each time someone takes the time to contact me with an email or leave a review of my books.

What has been the worst part of being a published author?

Being in the spotlight. I am a quiet person. I never wanted to be the center of attention. Frankly, I’m not that socially adept. I have this way of drawing fire.

Half of my bad reviews are from people I met personally or met in forums and managed to totally piss off. Don’t get me wrong, I know not everyone is going to “get” my books, but when you put yourself out there, mean and spiteful people find you to be an easy target. I’ve never understood that part of humanity: why people want to tear others down.

Thank God for all the other people who have shown such support and encouragement.
Amen to that!

You were #1 on Amazon in 2010. Can you tell our readers what that experience was like and the work that it took to get there?

I was only #1 for less than a week. The day I hit #1 was amazing, exhilarating. I couldn’t pry myself away from the computer. My book just kept climbing and climbing.

How did it come about? That is a long story. Let’s just say that I really pissed off someone in a forum – It earned me at least one bad review (a one star), but it also made me #1. I suggest you tread carefully in forums – since then they have become much more dangerous for authors.

Is there an Author that you would really like to meet?

I had the honor of meeting one of my all time favorites, L.E. Modesitt at a Science Fiction convention. That was such a thrill. We did panels together on writing. After hanging out all weekend, Lee took one of my books home with him. When he sent me an email saying that my book was “very enjoyable and fun,” I asked if I could quote him on that. Now his words grace the cover of Prophecy of the Flame – Book One.

Doing a convention on panels with Melanie Rawn and Terry Brooks is now on my bucket list.

If you could talk to your former self, what advice would you give her?

My wonderful husband, Tony, has helped me so very much. I only wish we’d met earlier in life. He taught me the Ten Year Rule: If it’s not going to matter in ten years then it’s not worth getting upset about.

What has been the harshest critique you have ever received concerning your writing?

You mean besides the college professor…lol.
Fair enough...

As a writer, it is considered unprofessional and inappropriate to give a retort to a critic or criticism. Were it “politically correct” to address your critics personally, what would be the one thing you would say to them?

When I wrote the screenplay for Book One, I changed the book a bit, so that it would reflect the movie better. Although my books were professionally edited by someone who has worked in the SFF industry for years and even has a bestseller to her credit, I created a tiny bit of a mess – right in the beginning. One of the forum people I pissed off was the first one to discover the typos I created. I would love to respond to her mean spirited hatchet job with: “You said in the forum thread that you’d read and review my novel and ‘not be kind.’ You were true to your word – I have a new 1 star review. I see you took time to read the first twenty pages and point out the typos I created when I changed the book to match the screenplay I just finished. Thank you for pointing those out. I have fixed the areas you had a problem with.” I’d probably leave off with: I hope life is as kind to you as you are to others.”

To other reviewers, I’m truly grateful when they point out issues and would love to be able to say, “Thanks for taking the time to give an honest review. I’ve have revised and edited the novel.”

Are you currently working on any other projects?

Book 2.5 (a companion novel) will release this month. Book Three is the series is due out this winter.

You have written a screenplay of your work as well. Please tell us the differences in writing a novel and a screenplay, and which you prefer better?

I didn’t want to write the screenplay. I’m not a screen writer. But push came to shove and I did it.

It was the most challenging thing I’ve ever written. It’s like taking the Mona Lisa, cutting away two thirds of it and still having a work of art. (not that my books are the Michael Angelo’s of the written word…)

Writing a screenplay is so different from writing a novel – it’s visual, not wordy. I’ve always been wordy – just look at this interview…lol

But it taught me to look at words a different way. I think it will reflect in my future work – hopefully in a good way.

Where can readers find your works and follow you?

I’ve just started this new tweeting thing. I’ve decided to break Book One down into tweets. Thanks to the screenplay writing I can tweak it to fit into that blasted 140 word format J. I think it loses a little of the grace, but people can get the stories a paragraph or two at a time.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ArchMageReba

Website is under construction: LynnHardy.com

Blog: http://lynnhardy.blogspot.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ProphecyOfTheFlame?ref=hl

Google + page:  https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/101946962852133939073/101946962852133939073/posts

My books are at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Prophecy-Flame-Loves-Dawning-ebook/product-reviews/B004KKXSNC/ref=cm_cr_dp_qt_hist_two?ie=UTF8&filterBy=addTwoStar&showViewpoints=0

Thank you for stopping by to chat with us today Lynn. You certainly have a lot going on, and I'm sure we're all interested to hear about how things progress for you. Maybe you can stop by again in the future and update us all?

Absolutely Ahmad, that would be a lot of fun. Thank you for having me, and thank you to your readers for their interest.

Tag Team in Space – An Interactive Blog Story

Tag Team in Space: Chapter 1 (J. Naomi Ay) - (Episode Begins Here)...

Featuring Dr. Jerry Waldman, The Two Moons of Rehnor series by J. Naomi Ay and Sgt. Derrick Thomas, The Dark Side of the Moon by Ahmad Taylor:

Chapter 2- Derrick
 
“You’ve got to be shitting me with all these delays. I am not in the mood for this shit at all,” was all I could get out of my mouth as I punched the lift button for Terminal 4. Was this really how my day was beginning?

I’m four hours late for my shuttle to the Moon and now I’m delayed another three hours because of these stupid Martian dust storms. You’d think with all the brains at ARCA, the organization with hundreds of the best minds on Earth, one of their genius scientists would have come up with some simple invention to help navigate the launch of a shuttle off this dust-ball even if the wind was kicking up a little bit of sand.

As the lift began traversing to my terminal I felt something annoying on my leg. I looked down to see the gnarled hand of some little old blue lady punching me in the thigh. “Watch your damn mouth boy,” was the best she could mumble as she began coughing violently. These Martians must have been breathing that sand in their lungs, or whatever they had in place of lungs, their whole lives because they all seemed to have that same cough no matter what age they were.

“I’m sorry mam. I didn’t mean to curse like that,” I replied to her, hoping my insincere apology would be enough to cease her incessant pawing of my leg.

“It looks like we’re all stuck here for a bit, doesn’t it?” came from the peanut gallery on the lift. Some geeky looking guy who was rubbing his hand decided to chime in all of a sudden. 

I wasn’t in the mood for any further conversation with any of these people so I grunted a dismissive retort and pretend to look for something in my gear bag. How did I know this guy wasn’t going to let that be the end of it though? It was almost like something inside of him was forcing him to start a conversation with me when I had a thousand other things on my mind. I hit the button for Terminal 4 repeatedly, hoping to end this encounter as quickly as possible, but it was too late, he spoke again.

(Chapter 3 in this new episodic interactive adventure...)

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Check out the lead-in novella from author J. Naomi Ay: Cassia's Favor (Two Moons of Rehnor) FREE Today ONLY!!! Grab your copy now!!!

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Author Interview with Susan Noble

Morning Folks.

Today we welcome author Susan Noble author of The Search.

 Susan, thanks much for coming to chat with us.

Thank you Ahmad for having me. I'm happy to share a bit about me with your audience.

Glad to hear it. Can you tell us:

 

Where do you currently reside, and why did you choose this place?

I live in San Antonio, Texas. After my husband graduated law school, we moved to a smaller town in Texas but didn’t enjoy it. We decided to move to San Antonio because it was large enough to offer many different things to do - theme parks, professional sports, theatre, museums, restaurants. We have been here for just over 10 years and love it. 

Tell us about your latest novel in 20 words or less:

Tosh, a telepathic cat, questions whether he should abandon the search for the one foretold to save the Land.  

So it's non-fiction then?

Exactly!

 

Does writing get easier with each project?

I am currently working on book three of The Elemental trilogy so in this case each novel has been easier to write as the characters are already developed. Even with my latest short story, The Search, I took one of the main characters from my trilogy and wrote a story just about him, which was easy to do since I knew him well.

What has been the most exciting part of being a published author?

I think the most exciting thing is to have people read your work and actually comment that they liked it.

I agree, that is a treat for authors.

 

What has been the worst part of being a published author?

I think the worst (and hardest) part of being a self-published author is the amount of marketing you have to do. There are so many books out there, and you have to work hard to get readers to notice your book. Even after a year, I am still figuring out which marketing strategies work.  

Yes, it can certainly be a struggle.

 

If you could talk to your former self, what advice would you give her?

I started writing my first novel after college and over the years took some breaks from working on it either due to becoming busy with other things or after receiving rejection letters from publishers. If I could go back and visit the young writer, I would tell my former self not to get discouraged and keep on writing no matter what.

Wise words indeed.

 

As a writer, it is considered unprofessional and inappropriate to give a retort to a critic or criticism. Were it “politically correct” to address your critics personally, what would be the one thing you would say to them?

I would probably demand to know what was wrong with them. I mean really, who couldn’t like my novel.  J/K

 

Are you currently working on any other projects?

I am currently editing the third book in my The Elemental trilogy. I am hoping to have Destiny released this fall. 

Where can readers find your works and follow you?

Readers can follow me on:

My Blog (Into Another World) - http://susanleighnoble.wordpress.com/

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/pages/Susan-Leigh-Noble/200225396700412

Twitter - https://twitter.com/SusanLeighNoble

And they can purchase my work on Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/Susan-Leigh-Noble/e/B005HDMM4W/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1

Well Susan, it has been nice talking with you. Thank you for stopping by and giving us a little taste of what we can expect from your work.

Thank you for having me Ahmad, and thank you to your readers for their attention.

My latest interview w/ Joyce Strand of "Strand's Simply Tips"

Q What do you like to do in your non-work, aka, spare time?

In theory I write with any and all of my spare time. But in reality, I love watching movies and sports, and the weekend beverage with my compatriots.

Q Are there any other genres you can imagine yourself writing in?

I don’t think I am going to write any one specific genre exclusively for my career. I like to read and watch all genres and I would like to write in them all as well.

The toughest but most exciting would be comedy. I have always dreamt of doing comedic writing so when I eventually tackle that it will be exciting and fun for me.

Read rest of my fun interview w/ Joyce Strand: Ahmad Interview on Simply Tips