Posts Tagged ‘blogger’

An Author Speaks

Posted by XanderRichards at 5 May 2012

Category: News

Diane Rapp is an author from Trinity, Texas.  She started writing as a cure for insomnia, but now enjoys vicariously traveling the world—and beyond—as she writes her characters’ adventures.  Diane is the author of the ‘Heirs To The Throne’ sci-fi trilogy and ‘High Seas Mystery’ series.  She very kindly offered to review ‘COAST: An Act Of Burial’ and here’s her review.

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James Bond Move Over For the COAST Team

When I think of the character James Bond, Sean Connery immediately comes to mind.  Then my brain flickers through other actors until it stops at Pierce Brosnan (sigh) and finally lands on the current actor, Daniel Craig.  (I’m still getting used to him.)  Why should readers settle for one secret agent when we can have three?  That’s what I thought as I read this exciting action/adventure novel.

COAST (Covert Operations And Surveillance Team) is a secret military organization filled with fifteen teams of gutsy secret agents.  Each three man team of the TDR (Tactical Deployment and Response) 1 through 15 is a highly trained group of specialists who perform covert operations.  This story follows the exploits of the TDR.12 team consisting of Ian McKinley, Chris Carter, and Martin Brook—flawed men filled with courage, intelligence, and deadly skills.

Testosterone nearly drips off the page as these men perform breathtaking acts of bravery.  True to the genre, readers are treated to submarine wreck diving, car, plane, and helicopter chases, plus organized military attacks.  The TDR.12 team must track down stolen nuclear warheads before a group bent on world domination destroys life as we know it.  They face bombings, murders, kidnapping, and a traitor within the COAST organization.  The intelligent, well-financed enemy keeps one step ahead whenever they discover a lead.  Unpredictability is the team’s secret asset but usually lands them in trouble.

The author peppers the entertaining narrative with military language, British slang, and an “alphabet soup” of organizations.  He explains a few immediately but also provides an interesting glossary at the end of the book.  I don’t know much about weaponry, but the characters describe their favorite weapons with enough detail to make a military aficionado swoon.  The author’s research on mining, high-tech gadgets, and military protocol brings reality to the storyline, and he explores the minds of his characters to make them believable.  Readers who enjoy military suspense, gutsy heroes, and action-packed adventures should buy this book.  There are heroes like these men protecting us every day, and this novel helps us appreciate their sacrifice.

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Love that last line!  Curiously, it’s very similar to the dedication in the printed version of ‘COAST: An Act Of Burial’.  Anyway, I want to express my appreciation for Diane’s kind words and great review.  As I’m a bit of a sci-fi user, I’m shortly going to be reading and reviewing her novel ‘Howl Of The Wolf‘, which is the first of Diane’s ‘Heirs To The Throne‘ trilogy.  So stay tuned folks!

Roger and out, X.

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Formatting

Posted by XanderRichards at 2 May 2012

Category: News

Oh blimey.

Yesterday I spent from 07:00 to about 8PM formatting ‘COAST: An Act Of Burial’ for the printed version.

First was the cover… oh wait, you can’t do that!  You have to calculate the number of pages first.  So, despite having the cover pretty much ready to go, I had to then go and format the text.  I used good old MS Word 97, which I really like, but which can be a bit idiosyncratic at times.  Does its own thing, you know?  And I absolutely hate the newer “software for dummies” versions.  Anyway, it was fairly easy to calculate the number of pages… three hundred and twenty six.  This, of course, affects the cover design by determining the width of the spine.  So, the spine width is 0.734152 inches.  Wow, we’re working at a resolution of a millionth of an inch here!  I like that kind of precision.

So after a few mishaps with the awful provided PDF template and resorting to my typical methodology of creating my own (which was more accurate and would have saved me tons of time had I done it in the first place), the cover was right.  Okay, let’s submit that.  Oh wait, you can’t do that!  You have to submit the text first.  Went back to Word, made sure everything was okay, corrected the mistake (sorry, ebook version readers), farted about for at least an hour sizing the text and getting all the headings right (the idiosyncrasies of Word having already been noted above) and submitted it, which took about 2 minutes for the upload and at least another ten for the processing.  And then… ARRGH!

Like a silly bugger I had forgotten to insert page numbers!  What’s the point of having a table of contents without page numbers?!  Having beaten myself up a bit for this glaring omission, I added the page numbers and faithfully submitted the document again.  Now all the formatting is out!  So I go back to Word, fix it, format it, upload it, switch on the television whilst I wait for the processing (oh, it’s mostly adverts.  Wait, this is Canada), run the Interior Reviewer application (a VERY handy little gadget, I might add) and once again find that the formatting is out… so it’s back to Word…

This process continued all day and some of the evening.  I went back and forth between Word and the Interior Reviewer more than twenty times.  Finally, shortly after Wife Team Six returned from assassinating a few drinkies, I had a version with which I was relatively happy.  I submitted it, it worked and I moved to the next stage of the process.  YES!

So let me offer this little pearl of wisdom to any budding author out there:  REMEMBER YOUR PAGE NUMBERS!  And that is all for now.

Roger and out, X.

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It’s Out!

Posted by XanderRichards at 1 May 2012

Category: News

‘COAST: An Act Of Burial’ is now available online!!  Here are the retailer sites which are on-stream at time of writing:

Kobo,  Amazon,  Barnes & Noble, Sony Store.  We’re still waiting for Copia and EbookPie but no worries; they’ll arrive when they arrive.  As I don’t use Apple gear (well, I have a Mac, but I never switch it on) I can’t tell you whether the novel’s out on their iBookstore yet, but I’m sure it will be soon if it isn’t already.

Yesterday—release day—was somewhat mental.  It was decided that I’d drive ‘She who must be obeyed’ to work, and go by the bank to get some cash for all the stuff I needed to do.  However, just as we turned onto the main drag, the serpentine belt which powers the A/C, the alternator and the power steering decided to jump its tracks, leaving me without any of them.  With the wheel feeling like trying to force your fist through slightly moist clay, I wrestled the truck into a store car park and the missers got herself a cab.  Great start to the day!

So I called up the garage, who had only just replaced the serpentine belt, the tensioner and the jockey wheel and assured them that, whilst I was definitely not casting aspersions, it did look a little bit coincidental.  So they kindly sent a tow truck and off went mine.  A short while later they ‘phoned up having discovered that the bearing in the A/C was on its way out and every time the A/C compressor was engaged the fault manifested.  So it was back off to the garage to collect the truck and drive it around with the A/C disconnected.  Thankfully it performed admirably and I was able to complete all my errands.

Only trouble being, I had shed-loads of work to do at home as well, all book-related.  And that’s why I was still farting about late into the night formatting the print version of ‘COAST: An Act Of Burial’ (more news on this soon!).  All in all, a mildly stressful day but no matter; the book’s out, the truck’s running and insured, our bills are paid and the diet’s going well.  Also, Steve and I figured out all the bananas for our Read The Prologue page so that readers can preview the novel.  If you haven’t signed up yet, go there now and I’ll be able to send you a free copy of the prologue which, of course, I hope you enjoy enormously!

So there you go: an idea which was first conceived in 1987 has finally come to fruition twenty-five years later with the release of the book.  What a remarkable journey it’s been.

Roger and out, X.

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Anticipation

Posted by XanderRichards at 27 April 2012

Category: News

Just three days to go.

I’m trepidatious because I’m starting to worry that the retailers won’t have the spy novel online on the 30th.  It is highly illogical that I should worry like this, as there is little to indicate that they won’t.  But my daft brain seems to concern itself regardless with the fact that none of the retailers have it online yet, but why should they?  It’s still three days until they’re supposed to!

As it goes though, the only casualty from a late release will be my self-esteem after having plugged the date so enthusiastically.  Some of the reviewers can’t even get to it until later on this year, but that’s okay.  It’s not as though I could realistically expect everyone who’s ever going to buy the novel to do so on one day, right?  Sales will more than likely ramp up over a period of time (at least, I hope they will!)

Having looked at the figures from Bookbaby, it appears that Apple iBookstore will almost definitely have it on time and there’s also a fair chance that Amazon, Baker & Taylor and Kobo will as well.  Or not; we will see.  Either way we’ll be posting the sales links here as soon as they become available.  I must again write of my gratitude to Jon; I have had several people comment that the cover’s going to sell it.  I agree; it has 100% more badassery than any book cover I’ve seen for a long time!  It really is a privilege to have such a great artist create my cover.  To my author friends who are reading, please consider getting Jon to do your next cover.  He’ll kick it out of the park.

‘COAST: An Act Of Burial’ now has its own page at Goodreads.  Go check it out!  Got a couple of favorable reviews already, for which I am very grateful.

Just three days to go … I hope.

Roger and out, X.

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Spy Video

Posted by XanderRichards at 19 April 2012

Category: News

Eleven days to go!

Today’s video shoot went very well indeed.  First I want to offer a huge THANK YOU to Ryley Konechny and Nick Betancourt for being co-directors and cameramen, and Joel Dietrich of Evan Hardy Collegiate Media School for making their facilities available.  So anyway, I turned up at Media School and they were already setting up.  It was all very professional: lights, cameras, microphones, make-up; all that sort of stuff.  It was a three camera shoot, although a fourth was used to record the audio tracks.  There was this neat set built like the room of a house, which I suppose could be used for anything like a bedroom, a lounge, maybe even a cafe or something.  But in this case it was pretty much a bare room with a chair in the center.  Yes, I felt like I was being interrogated—but not so brutally as to force me into ‘gray man’ mode.

I also felt like I was on a film set and of course, technically, I was.  But I confess that I’m neither actor nor media-friendly personality.  Obviously this video is me being interviewed about my spy novel ‘COAST: An Act Of Burial’ but, due to the sensitive nature of some of the questions, I’ve had to give rather ambiguous answers.  Honestly I’ve never done anything like this before and it felt strange, although I wasn’t really very nervous.  I confess to have developed a whole new respect for actors, who do this sort of thing all the time.  I mean, how on EARTH do you remember lines, be in character and act naturally all at the same time?  I couldn’t even get being ME right!  It must require some serious talent to be able to do this stuff on a daily basis, whether you’re an actor, an interviewer or a public figure.  Much as I want the novel to sell brilliantly well, I’m really hoping to avoid fame.  I just don’t want that.

For a moment, I must return to Joel Dietrich, who I’ve known for several years as the main man at Media School.  We frequently collaborate on video projects and the students get to come round my work to do their thing.  I sometimes compose music for their videos.  It’s been a productive few years, but Joel shocked me today.  He’s one of the few people I’ve let read ‘COAST: An Act Of Burial’ ahead of release and so, upon learning that he’d finished the book, I asked him what he reckoned to it.  Well, the comments he gave me back were so kind and complimentary that I was actually speechless for a few seconds.  Turns out he REALLY enjoyed it and—in his own words—wanted to punch me at the end because he couldn’t wait for the next one!  Coming from an intelligent, well-read man like Joel, his comments were high praise indeed and I feel very humbled by them.  Now, if a million more feel the same way, I will perhaps consider myself a writer.

And that is all for now.

Roger and out, X.

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Definite Articles – 13 days to go!

Posted by XanderRichards at 17 April 2012

Category: News

I’ve been writing espionage articles for Steve, my internet marketing guru and tech-whizz.  I know they’re something to do with his marketing efforts, but I’m not sure what just yet.  All will become clear in the fullness of time, no doubt.  He is a cunning one, that Steve.  I’m also hoping to see him again before long; can’t say too much about that.

Just thirteen more days until ‘COAST: An Act Of Burial‘ is released.  I hope the retailers get it onto their sites promptly.  It would be a bit daft to stir up all this buzz and then have to say “sorry lads, just a few more days”.  Things being as they are, I’m sure some will be late and I’ll just have to deal with it.  The annoying thing is that the URLs to buy the book won’t become available until then, but as soon as they do you can bet we’ll be throwing them on our Buy The Novel page right here.  We’re taking care of compatibility with all the popular e-reader platforms and many that aren’t so popular.  Yes, even if you have a five year old Palm Treo like I do, you can read ‘COAST: An Act Of Burial‘ on it.

On that point; if its application version for Windows is anything to go by, I’d get a B&N Nook.  It was by far the best looking of all the e-reader apps I tried, but Calibre was definitely the most configurable and I like that too.  I suppose sometime I’ll have to take the plunge and actually get myself a physical e-reader or tablet, but I’m not much of a gadget guy (you may have ascertained that from the previous paragraph.  Who on earth has a five year old cellphone?  Seriously).

A big thank you now to everyone who’s following me on Twitter.  You know, you are some seriously brilliant people and I’m very grateful to you for your interest in what I’m doing.  Hint; tell all your friends to buy the book!  But seriously, I really am thankful for all the people who are showing interest in COAST.

Something else to look forward to, but a little later than the release of the novel; Marvel’s ‘The Avengers’ is opening here on May 4th.  Man, am I excited to see that movie!

Roger and out, X.

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It Plans To Escape On The 30th…

Posted by XanderRichards at 12 April 2012

Category: News

I’m talking about my spy novel, of course.  Using the word ‘release’ always brings to mind a picture of a wild animal being let out of a cage in a countryside location, something like what you’d see at the end of a Billy The Exterminator episode.  So maybe I’m releasing it . . . or maybe it was planning to escape all along!

So, after a little back-and-forth, I finally accepted the proof epub file a couple of days ago and Bookbaby can therefore commence sending it out to their retail partners.  In testing though, I learned quite a profound lesson; all e-readers are not created equal!  Now, I don’t own a physical e-reader yet.  The closest I got was trying it out on a friend’s wife’s Sony Reader.  At home, however, I dutifully downloaded and installed Mobipocket, Sony Reader for PC, Kindle PC, Calibre, Adobe Digital Editions and Nook for PC.  Well, I gotta say that the results varied wildly.  There was different formatting, different fonts (although that can be changed on some), different aspect ratios for the cover image, different indents, different spacing… the list goes on.  After some pretty exhaustive searching through the text for oddities and idiosyncrasies, I have concluded that Nook for PC and Sony Reader for PC definitely look the best and offer the most accurate display, with the Nook having a slight edge over its Japanese cousin.  Now, remember, these are computer applications, not physical e-readers.  But if I was to base a choice on what I’ve seen of the apps, I’d buy a Nook.

Due to the delay in my acceptance of the… err… e-proof, not all the retailers may have it up on their websites for the 30th, but no worries.  All the appropriate links will go up on this site as soon as they become available.  There should be reviews coming out soon, and I’ll link to those as well.  Only eighteen days to go!

And talking of momentous dates, this weekend marks the hundredth anniversary of the famous Titanic disaster as you have doubtless gathered from pretty much any media, all of which seem obsessed with the subject right now.  It does hold a fascination for us for some reason.  Must have been a ghastly, horrible night.  My dad would’ve been two years old at the time.  I think it’s lesson to us all never to tempt calamity by saying “even God Himself couldn’t…”

Roger and out, X.

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It’s Done!

Posted by XanderRichards at 26 March 2012

Category: News

Today I sent Bookbaby my spy novel ‘COAST: An Act Of Burial’ for publication!!

I’ve set a provisional release date of Monday, April 30th.  Can anyone tell me the significant event which happened on that date in 1945?  Of course there’s no connection; it’s just coincidence.

I’ve been assigned an ISBN already (that was quick) and conversion to the appropriate e-reader formats is ongoing.  We’re on the way, folks!

Roger and out, X.

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Finally! Here Is The Title!

Posted by XanderRichards at 20 March 2012

Category: News

Dear friends, readers, interested parties and random websurfers, I received confirmation today that my copyright registration is all clear and I can therefore announce the title of my spy novel.

COAST: An Act Of Burial

What’s all this about, I hear you ask, so let me explain.  The narrative revolves around a highly secret ‘black ops’ unit who are tasked with the retrieval of two hijacked tactical thermonuclear warheads.  Their unit is called the Covert Operations And Surveillance Team or COAST for short.  COAST hovers between the military and a civilian agency in terms of administration and organisation.  Thus its agents operate comfortably in both the gritty world of bombs and bullets and the sleeker, somewhat more civilised but nonetheless sinister world of international espionage.  Think of it like James Bond meets the SAS.

As to the meaning of ‘An Act Of Burial’, well, you’ll have to read the novel and find out for yourself.

Also check out the final version of the cover image.  Hasn’t Jon done a brilliant job?

With the copyrighting in place I can now proceed with publication.  Expect more news within the week!

Roger and out, X.

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Spy Gadgets Now Include Rifles

Posted by XanderRichards at 15 March 2012

Category: News

Today—which is, by the way, the Ides of March—I had news from a friend in the United Kingdom from whom I sought advice when writing the action for the finale of my spy novel.  I needed to know what would be a good rifle to feature in the book and Guy Wood was incredibly helpful.  He also kindly made sure that I knew how to delineate between what is a bullet, a cartridge and so forth, commenting to me at the time that a book he’d read was somewhat spoiled by the author’s lack of knowledge in this area.  So no worries, we got it sorted and one of Guy’s favorite rifles makes a brief but definitely significant appearance in the finale.

Now, Guy’s website is a brilliant tech resource for firearm enthusiasts, target shooters, hunters and the like.  But upon visiting it recently I discovered that he now does book reviews.  I therefore asked if he would be kind enough to review my novel when it’s published and guess what?  He said yes!  I therefore think that the least he deserves is a mention in my blogger postings and I plan to include his website in a Resources page which will go live after the novel becomes available.  But for now, here’s Guy’s awesome website, Rifles In The UK.  Please go and check it out!

I met with Jon the artist today and he kindly gave me a whole bunch of materials he’d worked on to ‘rehearse’, if you like, for the cover painting.  Now, I find this stuff absolutely fascinating, so I think what I might do at some point is to make a video of the ‘evolution of the cover’ and morph between the different iterations.  I think it would be fascinating to watch how it changes.

If you’re new to my website but not social media, why don’t you go and befriend me on Facebook or follow my inane ramblings on Twitter?  Both of them now get my Question Of The Day, a little feature I’ve started doing for fun.  Each day a new (and hopefully challenging) espionage-related question is posted.  There are no prizes right now, it’s just a bit of fun.  But why don’t you have a go?

Finally, did you hear that the Encyclopedia Britannica is to cease of publication as a piece of printed literature?  That’s tragic!  I suppose like most things the online revolution has affected it, because it’ll only be available in future via that outlet.  Shame but, hey, they call it progress.  I’m not entirely sure I agree.

Roger and out, X.

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