Maria Savva's Blog - Posts Tagged "novella"

As many of you will already be aware, I recently wrote a murder/mystery novella with author Jason McIntyre.
This week, author Stacy Juba is featuring the lead character from that novella, the evil reviewer, Nestor Maronski, on her fictional online game show.
The game show is an ongoing contest on Stacy's blog to celebrate the release of her latest novel Sink or Swim which is a murder/mystery based on a reality TV show.

You can help support me and my co-author Jason, by leaving a comment on Stacy's blog interview with Nestor. The 3 fictional characters who get the highest number of unique commenters on their posts will win!

There is also a chance to enter to win a pdf copy of Cutting The Fat!

Click here to read the interview: Nestor Maronski Interview

Okay, so for the past few weeks I have been introducing you to some of my favourite authors, and will continue to do so in the coming weeks, but some of you (I hope) will have been wanting to hear more about what I have been getting up to recently.

I thought this would be a good time to update you with my news, just before the release of my new novel.

I have been working hard putting the finishing touches to my latest novel, 'The Dream'. It's not yet published, but will be soon. Look out for an announcement in the next few weeks. 'The Dream' is a romantic comedy, edged with a touch of the paranormal and featuring a time slip. It's my first paranormal novel, but I had so much fun writing it that I may well write some others in the future.

Here's a sneak preview of the cover, which I designed myself:




The final edits will take me a few more weeks, then I'll be announcing its publication with a couple of interviews.

In other news, I'm currently participating in author Stacy Juba's ebook spring sale: Stacyjuba.com

Take a look at Stacy's blog, she has four books on sale at just $0.99 until 8th May 2011. Take a look at the comments from other authors and you'll find lots of bargain ebooks!! I hope you'll find lots of books to read there.

My own short story collections Pieces of a Rainbow and Love and Loyalty, are also currently at $0.99 on kindle at Amazon. I'll keep them at that price throughout Stacy's sale, until 8th May, then the price will go up to $2.99.

Also, don't forget that Cutting The Fat, the murder/mystery novella I wrote with Jason McIntyre is available at $0.99 on kindle.

A reminder that you don't need to own a kindle to read kindle ebooks, as there are free apps you can download from Amazon, so you can read them on your computer or phone.

A recent interview I did with Jason McIntyre about 'Cutting The Fat', can be found on author R A Evans's blog: 7 Deadly Questions

That's about it for now. If you want to keep up with all the latest, visit my website for all the links to my networking sites.

My author interviews will resume on this blog on Friday, with the lovely Lisette Brodey, author of 'Crooked Moon'.

Today Jason McIntyre is taking over my blog while I go and make a cup of tea. He's a great guy, I'm sure he will entertain you.

Over to you Jason:




Why is blood so creepy?: discussing my new book ‘Bled’

There’s no denying that there’s blood in my new book. After all it’s front and centre: the title is Bled, after all. And there’s a big dab of it right on the cover, hot red against stark white.

So what’s with suspense and horror writers’ fascination with the stuff? It’s visceral, I suppose. It’s the stuff we are all made of. Pumping in all our veins is this common material. Without it we would die.

And if we see some of it (or lots of it, as the case may be) it probably means we’re on the very cusp of dying. Or hurting. Since suspense is often about what it is to hurt, and horror is often about what it’s like to have hurt inflicted, it makes sense that blood would be bound up in these kinds of fiction.

But how much blood is in my new book Bled, anyhow? Is there’s just gobs and gobs of it? If you read this story, will you have to get on your waders and dive in?

I can tell you that it’s not gory for the sake of it. There are some difficult scenes but my catalogue would never be called gratuitous. Nor would Bled. In fact, I would venture to say I’m not a horror writer at all. Bled is much more about the human condition, much more about facing imperious odds and seeing if one can come out alive. If there’s a lasting legacy with the story, if readers can remember something other than the bloody cover, I do hope it is this: people can push back when they’ve been pushed too far.

So, what do you think of the title and cover? Does blood make you squeamish? Does it excite you? If it does, I might be tempted say you do like horror. But I bet you’ll like this book anyway.







Bled: About the Novella

She only wanted to leave. But he took that option from her. Now she wants it back.

Set on the same island as the reader favorite Shed, the latest literary suspense novella from bestselling author Jason McIntyre picks up the Dovetail Cove saga with this story of one lonely woman...trapped.

Tina McLeod is on the cusp of a new life. Extraordinary change is rare in her world but this newsflash means she can finally leave her small island town for good. No more pouring coffee for townsfolk in Main Street’s greasy spoon, no more living under the weight of her born-again mother. That is, until Frank Moort comes in for his usual lunch and dessert on an ordinary Friday in May.

Bled sees things turn backwards and upside down for each of them. Their encounter is prolonged and grotesque, the sort of thing splashing the covers of big city newspapers. Both are changed. And neither will come out clean on the other side.

A story about taking what’s not yours, Bled explores pushing back when you’ve been pushed too far. It paints in red the horrors from our most commonplace of surroundings: right out in the open where nothing can hide behind closed doors and shut mouths.

About the Author

Jason McIntyre has lived and worked in varied places across the globe. His writing also meanders from the pastoral to the garish, from the fantastical to the morbid. Vibrant characters and vivid surroundings stay with him and coalesce into novels and stories. Before his time as an editor, writer and communications professional, he spent several years as a graphic designer and commercial artist.

McIntyre's writing has been called darkly noir and sophisticated, styled after the likes of Chuck Palahniuk but with the pacing and mass appeal of Stephen King. The books tackle the family life subject matter of Jonathan Franzen but also eerie discoveries one might find in a Ray Bradbury story or those of Rod Serling.

Jason McIntyre’s books include the #1 Kindle Suspense, The Night Walk Men, Bestsellers On The Gathering Storm and Shed, plus the multi-layered coming-of-age literary suspense Thalo Blue.


Bled: Link to buy at Amazon
http://to.ly/bano


Bled: Teaser Trailer

link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaSd5I...

That Last Summer by Susan M. Toy

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I enjoyed this story. It's an engrossing read. It's the tale of one family's summer spent away from home on holiday in 1965. The references to historic events of the time help to evoke a nostalgic feeling and make the story seem true to life. I found all the characters to be interesting and realistic and I'm sure many people will be able to relate to the ups and downs that many of the characters face in the book.

We mainly follow Rachel's story. She is away from home at the age of 15 with her younger sister and their parents. Rachel find's her younger sister annoying as they don't share the same interests. Rachel is also upset because she's been forced to spend the summer away from her boyfriend.

Things take an interesting turn when Rachel meets a group of teenagers who are also on holiday with their family nearby. They soon become friends.

There are just enough twists and turns to keep the story flowing nicely.

The main story revolves around the events of the summer of '65, however, the last part of the book takes us forward into the future so we see how Rachel's life has turned out. We meet her again at a time when she is looking back at that particular summer. The ending is quite poignant.

This is an insightful and captivating look at one family's story. Well written and well worth a read.





View all my reviews

Talented author Justin Bog has just released his first novel, Wake Me Up.



Those of you who follow my blog and reading recommendations will know that I have enjoyed Justin's books in the past. He has two wonderful short story collections and a brilliant novella.








Justin has been working on this crime fiction novel for many years. I am very much looking forward to reading it.




Justin says, "I write what disturbs me, what I seek answers to in the darkness of a life unknowable to me. I imagine how people cope with their own guilt, the secrets they think they need to keep. Justice is also important to me. It forms my name even. Social justice plays a part in my new upcoming crime novel, Wake Me Up.

Read more about the book on Justin's Website: http://justinbog.com/wake-me-up-first...


Get your copy from Amazon

US: Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Wake-Me-Up-Just...

Paperback: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1513706586

UK: Kindle: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wake-Me-Up-Ju...

Paperback: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1513706586

Terry Tyler has just published a new novella!

"Best Seller: A Tale Of Three Writers" is currently available on Amazon for just 99p/99c



About the book:

Three women, one dream: to become a successful author.

Eden Taylor has made it—big time. A twenty-three year old with model girl looks and a book deal with a major publisher, she's outselling the established names in her field and is fast becoming the darling of the media.

Becky Hunter has money problems. Can she earn enough from her light-hearted romance novels to counteract boyfriend Alex's extravagant spending habits, before their rocky world collapses?

Hard up factory worker Jan Chilver sees writing as an escape from her troubled, lonely life. She is offered a lifeline—but fails to read the small print...

In the competitive world of publishing, success can be merely a matter of who you know—and how ruthless you are prepared to be to get to the top.

BEST SELLER is a novella of 40k words (roughly half as long as an average length novel), a slightly dark, slightly edgy drama with a twist or three in the tale.


Get your copy:

UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0...
US: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01C...
CA: http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B01CX...
AU: http://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B...
ES: http://www.amazon.es/gp/product/B01CX...
FR: http://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/B01CX...
DE: http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B01CX...
NL: http://www.amazon.nl/gp/product/B01CX...
IN: http://www.amazon.in/gp/product/B01CX...
JP: http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/B0...
MX: http://www.amazon.com.mx/gp/product/B...
BR: http://www.amazon.com.br/gp/product/B...

Author links:

Blog: http://www.terrytyler59.blogspot.co.uk/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TerryTyler4
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Terry-Tyler-...

Redhead by Jason McIntyre

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


The fun thing about this series of books is that they're all set on the same island, Dovetail Cove, and you meet some new characters in each book but also learn a bit more about other characters that you may have met in previous books. Redhead is the third in the series, I think, but the order doesn't really matter because the novellas can be read in any order and can be read alone without reading any of the others. So far I've read three of the stories and they are all dark, mysterious, and intriguing. I'm looking forward to reading more.

In Redhead we meet Fanny, the town prostitute. The story is told from her point of view; at the beginning we're told that she killed two men and this story is her confession. That is a great way to start. It really caught my interest. We follow Fanny's story, which tells of murder, betrayal, lust, regret, and how one person's actions can affect a whole community. This is a tragic tale but is told in a very entertaining way. Fanny is a very believable character and all of the players in the story are larger than life. It kept me interested and, like all of Jason McIntyre's fiction, it is multi-layered and engaging.



View all my reviews

Quite a few years ago, Darcia Helle and I used to run an online writers' forum with our fellow writer Stacy Juba. It was called BestsellerBound.com - The name was thought up by Stacy, and the idea behind it was that we were all going to be bestselling authors one day :)

The site attracted a lot of members and was always buzzing with online chat about the highs and lows of writing.

I look back on the BestsellerBound years as some of the most enjoyable of my writing journey so far. It was great to interact with so many different independent authors. We all learned so much from each other. I think it helped to chat about our writing and editing/publishing problems, and it helped us all to develop our skills.

Over the 2-3 years (maybe more) that we ran the site, we also produced a few publications. Jason McIntyre and I wrote an online novella, "Cutting the Fat", which was available at Amazon for a while. That was a cool writing experiment where we wrote a chapter each, alternately. It was a lot of fun and the story turned out to be very popular.

The BestsellerBound Anthologies that we published are still available at Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_no...). They include short stories from many of the talented writers that were members of BestsellerBound.






I still keep in touch with many of the former BestsellerBound members. I made some really good friends on that site.

One of my friends from the BestsellerBound days contacted me recently about his exciting new project. Marty Beaudet, is about to shoot the film adaptation of his novella, "Losing Addison". He wrote the book online, on his blog, during the BestsellerBound days. He named a few of his characters after some of the authors from Bestsellerbound :)

One of the characters in the book was named after me. For legal reasons, he's changed the names of the characters for the film version, but the character he named after me is still called Maria, but is now Maria Sanchez.

I read the book back in 2011 and loved it. Here's the review I wrote after I'd read it:

I was hooked on this story from the start. I find the way it was written fascinating. The author literally dreamt this book, and then wrote it all out from his memory, without editing it. It's just perfect as it is! I heard about Marty Beaudet's experimental writing and, although curious, I didn't have time to go and read the serial as it was developing online. I finally found time to visit the blog and read the free online version when the author had already written 16 chapters. I read the whole thing in one sitting because it was that gripping!
Losing Addison is a psychological thriller exploring schizophrenia and the unexplained bond between twins. It's a story that will have you glued to the page. The suspense is well constructed and made me want to continue reading until I found out what was happening. The story unravels bit by bit, slowly revealing the reasons behind the characters' behaviour. Beaudet drip feeds the information in the most effective way, with flashback scenes and high drama. A wonderfully entertaining story. I'd recommend it to everyone who likes a good suspenseful thriller. And I am thrilled that the author chose to name one of the characters after me! My namesake appears in chapter 13!




The film crew have launched a Kickstarter campaign to help with production costs for "Losing Addison".

Check out the Kickstarter page here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...

There are many awesome 'rewards' that you can claim for pledging towards the film costs, for example if you pledge $50 you could spend a day with the cast and crew during filming. If you pledge $25 or more, you get a thank you in the film credits along with a print copy of the book. Check out the page for full details and the list of rewards.

Excerpt from the Kickstarter Campaign description:

"Losing Addison is a psychological thriller that came from a nightmare in 2011. Marty woke up from the nightmare early one morning, with every detail fresh in his mind, as though it were dictated to him so specifically and completely that he was able to write and subsequently publish it in novella form just fifteen days later.

We optioned the rights to Marty's nightmare and he adapted it for the screen in 2015. We have since developed the feature, and are ready to begin principal photography on October 16th of this year, 2017.

Losing Addison is a film about human nature, the different sides of every person, and how every human being has a good side, and a bad side."

Read more about it on the Kickstarter page: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...

Follow the Facebook page to keep up with the news: https://www.facebook.com/LosingAddiso...

The official website for the film: https://www.losingaddisonmovie.com/