Currently…

Reading:   The international Greek book of Marriage by Kate Papas
Writing: Sebastian (English and Dutch), Lily Marin-the book, Hilda 12
Promoting: Hilda – Magic on the Rocks, Green Haven
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A wickedly witching update

Dear reader,

Hilda The Wicked Witch

 

You may like to know that edits on the new Hilda the Wicked Witch book (the 11th already) are going well. My editor, Carol, is taking good care of the crappedy crap that I put in the texts, so many thanks to her and her patient work!

More news from the same witch is that I have started writing the 12th book. It’s not far, fast and furious – although the latter might happen sooner than I expect, after all this is about Hilda – but every beginning is a good one. And despite all that Hilda’s done so far, the new book might be called “Extreme”. I hope this promises something good!

 

Reminder: don’t forget the first anniversary celebration we have at the Alexandria Publishing Group where you can win wonderful prizes!


APG Indie Promotion – Deception

Dear reader,

Here we are, on a Monday again. They keep coming. Allow me to present to you: today’s Indie Promotion!

Deception

Deception
by Alexandria Publishing Group author Stephen King

Ebook Short Description: The powerful King of Atlantis, beloved by his warrior followers, has been kidnapped. Every sign points to the God of War as the culprit and heavenly outrage is the result. As East prepares to meet West in a war of the pantheons, Crystal, wife of the God of War and newly-ascended goddess, finds herself in the surprising role of lead investigator. Unlikely allies come to her aid as she searches to find the king—and his real abductor—before battle is joined by the most powerful forces in the universe.

 

Where to find: this e-book is available from Amazon.com.

 


Book review – Games of Adversaries

Title: Games of Adversaries
Author: Susan Elizabeth Curnow
Genre: Scifi/Fantasy crossover
Rating: starhalf

games of adversaries

Games of Adversaries was quite a surprise for me. In the beginning it seemed to jump from one type of reality to something so completely different that I wondered if I had missed something. Not in the least though, as reading on showed me.

This story deals with a coming together of cultures so different that it’s amazing. I don’t want to spoil anything for you but that is difficult. There are two main characters, one from each world, and they need to work out a mutual problem, but before they are ready to do that they first need to find a commonplace where they understand each other’s background. This, of course, goes with plenty of problems.

The story flows well, moves along swiftly and yet brings enough information and background to understand the implications of most actions. I appreciated this book very much.


The bilingual story of Sebastian

Dear reader,

As I mentioned before in this post, I have started writing a story in two languages simultaneously. Time has progressed, and so has the story. Both stories are on chapter 35 so far and have grown to over 81,000 words each. To my unrelenting surprise the difference in word-counts is still something to neglect: the difference between the two has not been over 150 words!

Progress

progress-bar

The story is progressing well. I refer to it in singular on purpose as it is the same story, whichever the language. I even managed to keep most names identical, be it that some are the English counterpart of the Dutch one (for example Sebastian and Sebastiaan.) The characters are very much alive now, the environment gets more colour and shape, and the dangers that are around are getting worse and more depressing as well. I am very happy that I found people who want to check the Dutch writing as well. I know my Dutch isn’t awful (I have some 50 years practice in it), but typos happen, especially in the parts where writing takes off as I try to keep up with characters and events. It’s fascinating to do this. It also hurts a lot at times.

Hurts? Yes. I already killed several characters and with one in particular that hurt more than usual, as I had to kill that person twice, in each language. Luckily this is balanced by the fun facts that also happen twice then.

Pitfalls and things to think of

Something I had to fix was that I had no Dutch spell checker on my writer’s software, so I had to go after that. Luckily that proved to be a very simple operation, thanks to the brilliant support and website for Writer’s Café. That hurdle taken, I noticed that I had to straighten out my texts. At times I had added Dutch paragraphs to the English file and vice versa. Not very clever, I know, but things happen. They still do, so I shall rely on my test-readers to catch blunders like that.

Another thing to remember is changes. When I adjust something in one version, I have to remember to immediately change that in the other one as well, otherwise things go very wrong. This is something I have to keep in my own hands, as the test-readers for both languages only read that particular language. It’s something I had not realised at first, and it accidentally came to me when I was tracing something back in the Dutch story, knowing I had changed something – after which I discovered that I had only made the change in English!


Alexandria Publishing Group is having a party!

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Indie Promotion – Buck & Tangee: Things that Happened

Dear reader,

Monday comes around again too soon after a weekend. Today’s Indie Promotion may make you feel a bit better.

Buck & Tangee: Things that Happened

jon zech
by author Jon Zech

Ebook Short Description: I thought when I finished this book, I was through writing. My editor thought otherwise and said I had to write something for the back cover to sort of sum up what the book was about. I guess that makes sense, and I figured it would be easy. It wasn’t. Every time I tried to chop a forty page section down to two or three sentenses, it sounded stupid. Look:
The first section is about how my brother, Roy, and I tried to start a men’s only, beer allowed, version of one of those PlastiQueen kitchenware parties. It didn’t go well. There. See? Does that sound like a story you’d want to read? Maybe.

And the second part, about how four buddies and I took a trip out to Vegas in a reconditioned, forty-year-old school bus. Lots of things happened, but I can’t cut any of them down to just a few words. Okay, here’s one: When we pulled in to our very first overnight campsite, we had no idea we’d wake up in the morning, axle deep in…. No. I’m just not going to spoil it.

Then in the third section, Tangee got a job and I wrote this book.

Where to find. You can find the e-book on Amazon.com.


Silent for a while

Dear reader,

I’ll be silent here for a few weeks. I’m off to enjoy the glorious sunshine and semi-tropical temperatures in Great Britain. Well, I hope they’ll be there then, as for now prospects are identical as here in the Netherlands. That means I need to take boots and an umbrella.

Oh well, I’ll survive, and I’ll see you on the other side of my vacation.

All the best to you, from Paul, Hilda, William, Babs and of course Obsi and Grim.


Study: 30 Percent of Flyers Have Left on their Electronic Devices

Dear reader,

Recently I posted about the problems e-reading devices might cause in aeroplanes. There is a new study now that shows most fears apparently are unfounded, because many people don’t take the trouble to switch off their devices at all. I found this article on Teleread:

Ever reach into your pocket at the end of a long flight to turn on your phone, only to realize it was on all along? You’re not alone. A study released Thursday found that 30 percent of U.S. airplane passengers have accidentally left a personal electronic device turned on while on a plane.

According to the “Portable Electronic Devices on Aircraft” study, jointly conducted by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) and Airline Passenger Experience Association (APEX),  69 percent of respondents say they have used an electronic device in-flight.

The study comes as the federal government is considering relaxing restrictions on in-flight use of electronics, and the FCC is pushing for stronger in-air Wi-Fi signals.

“Airline passengers have come to rely on their smartphones, tablets and e-readers as essential travel companions,”  Doug Johnson, vice president of technology policy at CEA, said in the survey. “Understanding the attitudes and behaviors of passengers that are using electronic devices while traveling will help the FAA make informed decisions.”

Editor’s Note:  The complete study is available free only to APEX members and CEA member companies at members.CE.org.

• This article originally appeared on GadgeTell, a TeleRead sister site.


There is news about Hilda the Wicked Witch.

Dear reader and especially fans of Hilda the Wicked Witch.

There is news. You may already suspect what this is about. Of course, as I have been affected by Hilda, I’m going to drag out the actual news. For instance by showing you this pretty picture of a rock:

Stone

Isn’t that pretty? Well, I can hear most of you say crappedy crap. Okay, okay, I get the point, let’s hasten on before someone brings along suckable elves!

Yes. Book 11 of the Wicked Witch is written. It’s not “all done” yet, as there is still work for the ‘correctional facilities’ ahead, but most of the writing is done. So the book number is eleven. There’s also a title for it already, and I think I have the cover-art reasonably in order as well.


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