Charles W Jones

AUTHOR BIO: Jan Sikes is an award-winning Texas author who has been called a wordsmith by her peers. She openly admits that she never set out in life to be an author. But she had a story to tell. Not just any story, but a true story that rivals any fiction creation. You simply can’t make this stuff up. It all happened. She chose to create fictitious characters to tell the story through, and they bring the intricately woven tale to life in an entertaining way. She released a series of music CDs to accompany the four biographical fiction books and then published a book of poetry and art to complete the story circle. And now that the story is told, Jan Sikes can’t find a way to put down the pen. She continues to write fiction and has published many short stories with a series of novels waiting in the wings. She is a member of Authors Marketing Guild, The Writer’s League of Texas, the RAVE REVIEWS BOOK CLUB (RRBC), the RAVE WRITER’S INT’L SOCIETY OF AUTHOR (RWISA), and sits on the RWISA E

Today, I’m welcoming Karen Black, July’s RRBC Spotlight Author. She wrote Race Into Murder , which I absolutely loved. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been fascinated by ghosts, spirits, and anything unknown, and a lot of my plots lean toward the paranormal, sometimes obvious and other times subtle. The first eBook I published, as an Indie Author, was “A Candle in the Darkness.” It is a story of life after death. I wrote it to ask two questions. Do the dead still live? Can those mourning a death go on with their life? I wrote “Candle” after I lost a close friend and would like to believe that some who read it will find hope, or maybe a sense of comfort. It’s one of my favorites. A Candle in the Darkness Flashing and dancing, the lightning would have been beautiful, illuminating the sky like fireworks on the fourth of July, but the rain and the wind made it frightening. Its beauty was lost in the violence of the storm. Valerie was driving to Maryland. Her husband’s funeral had been

I’m happy to announce that The Road to Saratin is now available for pre-order. When I started writing this book, I had no idea that it would be a premonition of sorts of what would happen in our world…well, we haven’t turned that dark yet, and I hope we never do. The strangest part about this book is that I received the divine muse during a video meeting. At the beginning of the meeting, when everyone was entering the room (no, I didn’t go to meetings in person before) the sound coming through my headphones was maddening with everyone talking at the same time. Then Carl was born as a six-year-old boy laying in bed as the voices started chattering in his head. To read the first three chapters of The Road to Saratin , click here , and then click the book cover at the top of the page. If you’d like to pre-order a copy and have it on your Kindle by July 20, 2020, click the following button. About The Road To Saratin The world had already begun to change, in ways Carl had no idea were poss

Today, I would like to congratulate Harriet Hodgson (I’ve posted about her before) for winning the KCT Int’l Literary Award for her book So, You’re Raising Your Grandkids! You can find more information about her on her page at the Rave Reviews Book Club . HARRIET HODGSON BIO Rochester, Minnesota resident Harriet Hodgson has been a freelance writer for 38 years, is the author of thousands of articles, and 36 books. She has a BS from Wheelock College in Boston, an MA from the University of Minnesota, and additional graduate training. Hodgson is a member of the Association of Health Care Journalists and the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi). She is a contributing writer for the Open to Hope Foundation, The Grief Toolbox, and The Caregiver Space websites. Visit www.thecaregiverspace.org/authors/hhodgson to read her articles. Hodgson has appeared on more than 185 talk radio shows, including CBS Radio, dozens of television stations, including CNN, and dozens of blog talk radio progr

How Do You Keep Your Writing Different? Authors Breakfield and Burkey In writing The Enigma Series, TechnoThriller Fiction, we have technology as the backdrop. Technology changes so frequently as does the consumption by businesses and individuals. As a result, we are able to pick a different focus topic for each book and maintain common characters but also introduce new ones. Our stories are tales of cyber good guys versus cyber thugs. For example, we have focused on Identity Theft, Living Forever, Stealing the Future with AI (artificial intelligence), Gamification, distorting the data driving commodity markets, and Cryptocurrency. These are relevant topics often in the headlines and social media outlets which helps us keep our writing evolving. We also feel we have an advantage as co-authors. It is very effective when we review characters that are guys or gals because we tend to keep each other honest on what one might say over another. We can draw upon our professional experience and

How “Tanked” Evolved by Laurel McHargue “Laurel McHargue, how do you come up with such bizarre story ideas?” This is a question I’m frequently asked, along with, “And what were you on when you wrote that?” Truth be told, unless you consider crisp Colorado mountain air a drug, I’ve never been on anything when crazy ideas pop into my head! For instance, the vision of an orb floating above a friend’s head came from nowhere one day, inspiring my story “Orbs,” and my Waterwight trilogy emerged from a dream I shared with another author friend, Carol Bellhouse, who insisted I must write a story about it. Since I was a child I’ve dreamt in Technicolor, and I’ve never been shy about sharing my sleep world—often to the chagrin of whomever is the target of my sharing. My dreams are quite full of detail. They’re gifts, I believe, and once I started Chapter One of Book I of Waterwight, they continued to provide new characters and situations over the course of several years as my trilogy evolved. A

What is tetanus? Tentanus is an acute infectious disease caused by spores of bacteria. These spores are found everywhere in the environment, particularly in soil, ash, intestinal tracts/feces of animals and humans, and on the surfaces of skin and rusty tools like nails, needles, barbed wire, etc. Being very resistant to heat and most antiseptics, the spores can survive for years. Symptoms of tetanus Tetanus is often called lockjaw due to one of its common symptoms being spasms of the jaw muscles. Other symptoms of tetanus include: Muscle spasms (often in the stomach) Muscle stiffness all over the body Trouble swallowing Jerking or staring (seizures) Headache Fever and sweating Changes in blood pressure and heart rate Symptoms of tetanus can appear anywhere from 3 to 21 days after exposure. The further the injury site is from the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord), the longer it will take to see symptoms in an infected person. The quicker the symptoms present after an injury

Stumbling into the Interesting I have a thing about research. To say that I love it would not be an overstatement. It might be safe to assume that almost all writers could make such a claim, and especially writers of historical fiction who tend to get lost in the pulling together of another time and place. Usually we wind up choosing to tell the stories we stumbled upon while lost in the library stacks—the unexpected, delightful little tidbits that made us say, “That’s so interesting!” My newest release is certainly one of those. The project came about because my family and I had recently moved into a new neighborhood in Salem, Oregon where we felt immediately and warmly welcomed by our new neighbors. My sons, then ages three and five, quickly made friends with all the other littles running around. It was a wonderful place to be, with a small grade school at one end of the subdivision and a Latter-Day Saints church at the other. I soon came to realize that most of our wonderful new nei

American Agony Blog Tour Post #06 This is a special communication meant to honor some very special Americans, so I’m very grateful to my host and you readers for this opportunity to speak out. It’s more than likely that you have a relative or friend who has served in the military, or is serving our country as we speak. These special souls have been assured they’d be well-cared-for when they return from battle, that when they are sick or get old and infirm, our Veterans Administration (VA) hospitals and doctors will take good care of them. Moreso, those who come back alive but severely injured—brain damage, amputations, paralyses, unrelenting pain, and post-service injuries and illnesses—these people deserve to be cared for with the empathy and medicines required to keep them healing and comfortable. Unfathomably, even before the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) began their attacks on the opioid treatment of pain in the general population, VA mis-manager

Happy New Year, followers! I’d like to invite you to visit the ALL-NEW RAVE REVIEWS BOOK CLUB at our new location RaveReviewsBookClub.wordpress.com . -If you are an author looking for amazing support, #RRBC is the place for you! -If you are looking to grow as a writer, #RRBC is the place for you! -If you are looking for a community where your peers push for your success just as hard as they push for their own, #RRBC is the place for you! When visiting, we ask that you #follow our site so that you’re kept up-to-date with all the awesome news that we’ll be sharing in 2020. If you like what you see after looking around the site, then please, JOIN US ! We’d love to have you!

Welcome to my stop on the Rave Reviews Book Club’s BOOK, BLOG & TRAILER BLOCK PARTY at Charles W. Jones, Author!   Here’s What I’m Giving Away Today: $5 Amazon Gift Card # of Winners for this stop: 1 Leave a comment to be entered into the giveaway. Good luck! Congratulations to Jan Sikes for winning at this stop! Read a Sample Behind the scenes look at Daughter of Illusion During my research for Home , I learned about the hierarchy of Angels, which was something that I’d never considered. But as I read, I discovered more than I’d ever dreamed to be possible, and it stood to reason that the Fallen remained in the hierarchy no matter their status. Of course, I’ve always known and believed that there were more than one Fallen Angel besides Lucifer. However, with the reference of the devil or Satan in other text, I thought t

Today, I welcome Steven Neil to the stage with an excerpt from The Merest Loss. Steven is giving away (3) Signed Paperback copies of “THE MEREST LOSS.”  For your chance to win, be sure to leave him a comment below. EXTRACT THREE From Steven Neil, the author of THE MEREST LOSS A story of love and political intrigue, set against the backdrop of the English hunting shires and the streets of Victorian London and post-revolutionary Paris. Critical plot turn and a character emerges In chapter seven of The Merest Loss a critical plot turn occurs, when Nicholas Sly enters the narrative and changes the direction of travel of the novel. Not only does the personality of Sly show itself, but the way Harriet responds shows how her own character has developed. Chapter Seven The Proposition London, England 1841 In Nicholas Sly’s wood-panelled office, two people sit across from each other at a large, plain desk. There is a fire laid in the fire grate, but it has not been lit. The room is chill. There