Friday, May 30, 2014

Samantha Geary Jones: Heroes of Phenomena

Today please welcome, from the famous Team Damyanti, Samantha Geary Jones! She has some news about her latest project. She's one busy lady, so it's a real privilege to have her guest today!



Heroes of PHENOMENA

Where epic music, captivating tales and visionary art inspire the HERO in all of us!

FREE ebook Launching June 2nd!

Heroes of Phenomena_Jennifer Redstreake Geary.jpg


Welcome to Heroes of Phenomena, with my favorite composer gang over in Hollywood and leaders of the film music advertising industry, audiomachine! As part of a global, cross-industry promotional project for audiomachine’s upcoming public release, PHENOMENA—by celebrated composer, Paul Dinletir—we’re introducing a groundbreaking campaign to encourage the next generation of authors, artists & musicians! With each download of the upcoming FREE PHENOMENA companion ebook, audiomachine will make a donation to the LA Youth Orchestra. The ebook will also feature a dedicated YOUTH section, showcasing the talents of aspiring artists and authors from the gifted students of Elevate’s Life & Art Studios!


Winning authors & artists of PHENOMENA’s EPIC HEROES CONTEST will be joining our innovative & inspiring event, alongside these amazing industry professionals: Authors Susan Kaye Quinn, M. Pax, Amy Willoughby-Burle, Jessica Bell, Alex J. Cavanaugh, Ruth Long, Darynda Jones, Crystal Collier, Samantha Redstreake Geary & C.Lee McKenzie!


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PHENOMENA Available NOW!

Itunes

Amazon

CD Baby


Samantha blogs at Writerly Sam, and can be found at facebook, and Twitter.

Thursday, May 29, 2014

Gary Pennick Guest Reflection from the Alphabark Challenge

Today we have the amazing privilege of having one of the most infamous A-Z affiliated bloggers (and I say affiliated since he has never really, though that's up for debate... participated in any of the A-Z Challenges)  graciously allowing us to use his satirical Reflection Pawst.


To really understand how special this is, you need to know that Gary does the Challenge in his own way.  One year it was backwards through the alphabet, this year he had his Alphabark Challenge, run by Penny, the Jack Russell dog and modest internet superstar.

Despite his "disdain" for a month long Challenge which "hogs the blogosphere" he probably does more to promote our endeavors than most.  We love our Gary and his trusty sidekick, and graciously thank him for all he does behind the scenes for us.  Take it away Gary and Penny!

The Alphabark Challenge, 2014! Reflection Pawst.

"A" if for "Arf!"
I'm having a laugh

"B" if for "Bark"
Sometimes I snark

"C" is for "Chihuahua"
Hello, how are ya? 

"D" is for "Dog"
A pawblished blog

"E" is for "eekPawblishing"
If that's your thing

"F" is for "Feline"
Having a whine

"G" is for "Gary"
How very scary

"H" is for "Howl"
Without a scowl

"I" is for "Insect"
A bug I detect

"J" is for "Jack Russell"
The dogs that hustle

"K" is for "Klahanie"
Pawmoting I see

"L" is for "Loon"
A Canadian tune

"M" is for "Metrosexual"
Such a transport ball 
On all things Metro
Didn't you know.

"N" is for "Noodles"
Oodles of noodles
You stick them in water
Just like you ought ta
And what have you got
One silly noodle stuck to the pot

"O" is for "Ogopogo"
Way to go, go, go
Canadian lake creature
Is what we feature
Ogopogo can kick Nessie's rear
Take that, you Loch Ness dear

"P" is for "Poodle"
Which rhymes with noodle
Doggy jumps through hoops
And you scoop its poops

"Q" is for "Query"
Hi pawblisher, deary

"R" is for "Rivet"
Don't you forget
The noise of a frog
Over there on a log
There you go
I toad you so

"S" is for "Sasquatch"
Go have a watch
Don't say, "Big Foot"
Or you might be kaput

"T" is for "Toadstool"
How very cool
No, not that load
Not a stool from a toad

"U" is for "Unread"
Start over, instead

"V" is for "Vacuum" 
Instead of a broom
Knowing my luck
My vacuum wont suck

"W" is for "Weird"
Oh, how they cheered
For the Alphabark
That's having a lark
Not lark as in bird
Haven't you heard

"X" is for "Xerox"
Photocopy your cocks
Place your butt on the screen
How very obscene

"Y" is for "Y am I doing this?"
Am I taking the p**s?
Look below
And you will know

"Z" is for "Zest"
My good-natured jest
I did this with Zeal
How do you feel? 

The above, a recap
That makes you clap.
Sadly, my friend
We've come to the end
That sums it up
From this lovable pup
Just one last thing
I do bring.
The reflection pawst
From your cordial host
The Alphabark Challenge
My friendly revenge. 

Gary blogs at Klahanie, where his goal is to take away the stigma of mental illness and to spread kindness, love and peace to all who visit.  Please go say hi.  You'll make a great new friend!

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

#atozchallenge #roadtrip - Stormy is on the move!


Yeah, keep your eyes on the road, your hands upon the wheel
Keep your eyes on the road, your hands upon the wheel
Yeah, we're goin' to the Roadhouse
We're gonna have a real
Good time

(Roadhouse Blues by The Doors)

So, welcome to our second leg of the Post A-to-Z Road Trip!




Stormy the Weather Gnome and I are going to try to hit at least 20 new blogs a week from the Challenge list and tell you about a few of them in each of my posts.

When you go visit these awesome blogs, please make sure you tell them that you're visiting on the Post A to Z Road Trip!

No trip would be any fun at all without visiting Alex J. Cavanaugh!

Ninja Captain. Rock Guitar enthusiast. Science Fiction Adventure Author extraordinaire. Blog Genius. Music and movie connoisseur. IWSG creator.

Need we say more?

If you're not visiting his blog regularly, you are missing out.

Tara Tyler Talks
Tara Tyler

Stormy and I LOVE Tara and we always have a great time visiting her blog. She is a mom, a teacher, an author, and a lazy housewife (her words, not mine). She has a new book coming out soon and I'm so proud of her and excited to see what she comes up with next.


The future's uncertain
And the end is always near.

Let it roll, baby, roll.
Let it roll, baby, roll.
Let it roll, baby, roll.
Let it roll, all night long.



Christine Rains-Paranormal Romance Author
Christine Rains

Christine's 13th Floor Series is one of my very favorites and I'm looking forward to what she's got up her sleeve. She always adds a twist to a tale you think you know and proves you, oh so, wrong.


DL Hammons


One day, DL put up a few paragraphs of his writing for all of us to read on his blog. I can still remember my heart pounding while I read it and the premise still haunts me today. I really want to finish reading that story and I hope that we all get the chance to do just that.

Have you heard about Write Club? Well, DL is the founder of the Club and he really wants you to go visit his blog and check it out, maybe even sign up! There's only a few days left.


Thanks for visiting with us today!
Are you finding any great blogs on your trip?

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Two Rewarding Results of Writing in Response to Blogs You Visit

Did you know that writing responses on your blog is of the quickest ways to feature a blogger in one of your posts? 

There are many ways to use the topic of another blogger’s writings as a springboard for your own blog’s content. Consider posting content that elaborates on a comment that you left, if any, on his or her original post. You can also forego commenting altogether, and write a response on your blog, making sure to link the post that sparked this subject you’re covering.  

No matter how you approach this method of responding to blogs you visit, it’s a win-win situation for all parties involved because it comes in handy where marketing and content creation is concerned.

Writing in response to the blogs you visit helps to cure writer’s block. Reading someone else’s perspective on a topic, or learning about certain experiences he or she had, is likely all it takes to revive your creative juices when you find yourself coming up short of blogging ideas.

Writing in response to the blogs you visit fosters interaction between bloggers. There is a good chance that bloggers whose post you’re responding to will visit your blog if you leave a comment on what they originally wrote with the permalink to your reaction. This might even lead to a mention and link in their latest blog post, which is one of the easiest ways for you to gain new readers. In the same breadth, linking to their post in the body of the content you write also helps to send your visitors their way – helping both blogs to build a network within the blogging community.

Have YOU ever written a comment that ended up being as long as the average blog post?

Nicole Ayers hosts the 'Monday Movie Meme' while also writing about independent film directors and their work at The Madlab Post. When she’s not keeping up with Jack Bauer, she also tweets.

Monday, May 26, 2014

Themes That Rocked! Challenge Participant Lanise Brown and Libraries From Around the World


Please welcome book reviewer, Lanise Brown!

Your theme was libraries around the world. What made you choose that for the Challenge?

My idea for the challenge sort of came last minute. While I was thinking up a theme and searching for cool bookish things online, I came across an article about the amazing libraries of the world. And I had my theme.

Which one was your favorite?

It’s difficult to pick just one, but I think the Rijksmuseum Research Library in Amsterdam and the José Vasconcelos Library in Mexico top my list.

They were all very unique – which one was the most unique or even odd?

The most unique and unusual was Mexico’s José Vasconcelos Library because of the building’s size, the painted whale skeleton that’s on display in the main hall, and the fact that the library’s been nicknamed the Megabiblioteca (megalibrary).

Which letter was the most difficult?

All of the letters towards the end of the alphabet were challenging, but the letter X was the toughest by far. No states or countries in the world begin with the letter X, so I had to resort to cities. Eventually, I found the Zhangzhou Campus University Library in Xiamen, China. There weren’t many pictures of the library though.

Have you ever visited any of the libraries you featured?

Sadly, no. But I hope I’ll get to visit a few of the locations some day.

Which one is the oldest?

The oldest is the National Library of France, which was founded in the 14th century. I featured the library’s Richelieu Reading Room that houses the library’s rare and antique collections.

If someone let you loose in one of those libraries, what would you do and how long would you stay?

Oh my goodness. I’d be like a kid in a candy shop. I’d probably grab more books than I could possibly read, and take a lot of pictures of the architecture. I’d make it a daylong event of course.

If you do the Challenge again next year, do you have a theme in mind?

I’ve been thinking about next year’s challenge. I suppose I’ll go with the rarest books from around the world, or I might even continue the library theme. There are so many more libraries to share.



Co-host Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh is the author of Amazon Best-sellers CassaStar, CassaFire, and CassaStorm, and his blog can be found HERE