Tag: Solstice Publishing

Posted in Writing

A Writer Seeks New Year’s Advice

Posted on by Debbie

I hope you all had a nice holiday and are looking forward to the New Year. At this time of year, people reflect on the past year and make plans or resolutions about what they would like to change or start. For writers, this usually concerns their output. I know that many of you who read this blog are authors like I am and that most of you are also readers, if not of my books then of different ones.

As I reflected on my writing this past year and those of the years before, I decided to devote this New Year’s blog to issues that concern me and that I believe concern most authors and to ask for feedback from both writers and readers. I created a survey that I will be sending to the subscribers of my author’s newsletter. If you don’t subscribe and would like to take the survey, please fill out the pop-up form on this website or send me a note that you would like me to subscribe you manually. You can unsubscribe afterwards if you prefer.

The reason for the survey is that I’ve been struggling to balance writing with my marketing work. I’ve been writing a long time but have been publishing steadily since 2015. During those three years, I’ve published 6 books, a novella, and 11 short stories. I also have two completed manuscripts and a half-finished novel. As I publish each book, I find that it’s harder to find time to write another because of the time I need to devote to promoting each one. I known I’m not alone facing this quandary. I’ve interviewed other authors on this blog during their book tours and have found that most cite marketing and promotion as their most difficult and time-consuming tasks related to their writing. Even those who publish with a large publisher or who can afford publicists, still need to promote their work.

Today’s book market is flooded with books, but less people are reading. As a librarian, I know there are still avid readers and those who still enjoy print books, but overall, this seems to be changing in a fast-paced and multi-tasking world. How does an author build an audience and stand out from the crowd or even hope to make back part of the money they spend on promotion and their time writing?

I know there are no simple answers. I’ve been lucky to see my books in print and that I’ve received some nice reviews and comments about them. I appreciate all the help and advice from my publisher, Solstice Publishing, and even though I still hope to find an agent and publish with a larger publisher one day to reach a larger audience, I’m glad that I was the given the opportunity to work with such  professional people.

Despite the fact that the market is overflowing with books, it’s great that there are so many options to publish. I have friends who self publish and know authors who publish traditionally with large publishers. There are also writers like myself who publish with small, Independent online publishers.  These groups all face various challenges.

I use several methods to promote my books. In addition to this blog that also serves as my website, I have a character blog and Facebook character chat group. I’ve appeared on podcasts and guest posted and done interviews on other blogs and on a local TV show. I also have a monthly author newsletter and share my books and author news on Facebook and Twitter. I do all of this in addition to working a full-time job and raising my teenage daughter. How do I fit in writing? It hasn’t been easy, and it’s getting harder — thus the survey to see who I’m reaching and how. What can I cut back without losing my fans?

Like most writers, I don’t write for the money. It would be nice, but it isn’t the main reason. I love to write, but it’s difficult to reach all the people who would enjoy my books. I can’t afford an assistant or publicist. I create all my graphics and content myself and haven’t yet mastered automated tweeting or FB sharing. I don’t have time to be on the computer 24/7 and aren’t young enough to know all the techno tricks and shortcuts.

I haven’t received my December royalty statement yet, but, so far, I’ve made $101.07 in royalties for 2018. That includes my sales from ebooks and paperbacks. That’s only $100 for a year of work, while I’ve spent way more than that on writing association memberships, graphics, book trailers, copies of my own books to sell at author events, free books and Amazon gift cards for contests I’ve sponsored in my newsletter and in other author events, writing supplies, etc. I don’t know what other authors make. However, I’ve read articles that author royalties have declined.

I’d love feedback from other authors as well as readers with any suggestions on changes I can make in 2019 that might increase my readership and help me balance my writing/promoting time. Please also take the survey that will be emailed on January 2 to my newsletter subscribers. Thank you for your support and any advice you can give. It means a lot. Happy New Year!

 

Posted in Freebies and Special Offers

Reason to Die on Kindle Countdown October 9 to 11

Posted on by Debbie

From October 9 to 11, my standalone mystery, Reason to Die, will be part of a Kindle countdown and be available for only 99 cents.

myBook.to/RTD

Someone is strangling disabled people in the small town of Baxter, Connecticut. Detective Courtney Lang and her ex-partner and ex-lover, wheelchair-bound Bill Thompson, are paired up again and put in charge of the investigation. During the course of their search, Courtney uncovers information that points toward a connection between the murders and an unsolved series of muggings by a masked man, the same man who shot and disabled Bill a year ago on the night he proposed marriage to her.

Complicating matters for Courtney is her guilt about Thompson’s shooting, her affair with her new partner, Mark Farrell, and her unresolved feelings over the deaths of her mother and sister who perished in a fire while she was away from home.

As the deaths accrue and the “Handicapped Strangler” as the killer is coined by the press continues to rampage the town adding victims of different ages, sex, and disabilities to the murder count, Courtney discovers a clue that could crack open the case but may put her and Bill’s life in jeopardy.

Posted in Blog Tour

My Upcoming Fall Promotions, Giveaways, and Events

Posted on by Debbie

In case you don’t follow me on Facebook, twitter, or subscribe to my newsletter, here’s some important info about my current and upcoming book promotions and events.

My blog tour for my new release, Cloudy Rainbow, featuring a $10 Amazon gift card is ending on October 3. You can still read about the book and participate in the rafflecopter until that date. The tour is hosted by Silver Dagger Book Tours, and the dated stops are listed here.

From October 9 to 11, my standalone mystery, Reason to Die, will be part of a Kindle countdown and be available for only 99 cents.

I’m also on the final edits for my 4th Cobble Cove Mystery, Love on the Rocks. This book should be released within the next month or so.

This Fall, I’ll also be appearing at several local author fairs and other events on Long Island. Here is my upcoming calendar if any of you are in the area and can come by and see me. I’ll be happy to autograph copies of my books for you and as gifts for friends and relatives.

 

Posted in Books

An Update on my Book Projects: Something for Every Reader

Posted on by Debbie

For those who don’t subscribe to my author newsletter, I thought I’d post an update on my book projects. I believe my works-in-progress will appeal to readers of a variety of genres.

I’m currently editing a new version of my very first novel, a paranormal romance called Cloudy Rainbow.  This book was originally self-published but will now be reprinted in a new version by Solstice Publishing. I’m hoping it will be released by the end of the summer. The book was written after my 15-year old cat, Floppy, died and includes him as a character. It features themes of reincarnation, clairvoyance, and virutal reality and is told in alternating time periods from 1992 to 2008. It received an honorable mention in the Writer’s Digest Self-Published Books Contest. Although only printed originally in paperback, it will now be available as an eBook on Amazon.com and will be free for Kindle Unlimited subscribers.

Coming in the fall, I should be submitting my fourth Cobble Cove cozy mystery, Love on the Rocks, to Solstice. This book takes place near Valentine’s Day and features the Cobble Cove characters from the series with a few additions including a new kitty in town who keeps Sneaky on his toes.

I’m also working on a time-travel story that continues one that I wrote for an anthology called Cat Crimes Through Time nearly twenty years ago. The main character, Gina Garrett, now grown will once again travel back through time for two different reasons. I’m hoping this will evolve into the start of a new series.

I have two other completed novels that I hope to publish next year: The Case of the Cat Crazy Lady, the first of a new cozy series; and Sea Scope, a psychological thriller.

To view a video of my Cobble Cove cozy mystery series including the upcoming fourth volume and my new standalone mystery, Reason to Die, click this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1FmAW4U-jA

Posted in Anthology, New Releases

New Holiday Anthologies and Novellas

Posted on by Debbie

 

A Winter Holiday 2017

The winter holidays are fast approaching. Even the weather is cooperating, giving us cold days and nights, rain, sleet, snow, even icy roads. What better way to get into the spirit of the season than grabbing your very own copy of Solstice Publishing’s A Winter Holiday 2017, or one of the two standalone novellas: An Interrupted Holiday and Lost Soul Barren Holiday 1?

https://bookgoodies.com/a/B077J5FKJW

Text messages send Halia on a quest.

Can he capture wondrous enchantment?

An unusual stranger captivates Gina’s heart.

Time travel via Victorian mistletoe.

Will Sara Anne find a daddy by Christmas?

A rip-roaring ride through a Hawaiian Christmas.

Never Was Mrs. Claus Rocks!

What happened on your best New Year’s Eve?

Follow your heart, trust your instincts.

How does Emlyn Goode celebrate Christmas? Food, friends… and murder.

The incredible talents of Eddie Edwards, Leigh Podgorski, E.B. Sullivan, Debbie De Louise, Jeannie Sharpe, Justin Herzog, Gloria Weber, A.F. Weeks, A.A. Schenna, and Susan Lynn Solomon combine in this holiday anthology. Be prepared to experience the winter holidays as you never have before, with tales that will make you laugh, cry, and remember what the spirit of these holidays is all about.

https://youtu.be/y07ee7a5oXA

And what about those standalone novellas? The first is a winner from Donna Alice Patton, set in her favorite time, those exhilarating days of the Wild West.

https://bookgoodies.com/a/B077J7WB74

In the icy crevices of a blizzard and his heart – James’ Montfort will learn that the invisible world is never too far away.

K.C. Sprayberry offers us her latest series of teens overcoming trouble and discovering that the winter holidays can be good with Lost Soul Barren Holiday 1.

https://bookgoodies.com/a/B077J3Q3C3

The neighborhood knew what Cody Allen Luther endured on a daily basis for five long years. Everyone except Brandy Mason turned their heads. After all, it was a parent’s right to discipline their child. On Christmas Eve, 1969, Cody finally can’t take the brutal abuse any longer, but not for himself—his mother turns her unreasonable anger on his younger stepsiblings and he makes a life changing decision, killing her instead of allowing her to keep hurting his family.

Only one person has ever understood the why Cody reacted as he did that Christmas Eve of 1969. Brandy Mason will do anything to protect Cody, even stand up against classmates willing to petition the governor to have Cody tried as an adult for murder once he is released from juvenile detention.

We at Solstice Publishing hope all of your holidays are wonderful and fun. If you’re stuck inside because of inclement weather, these stories will warm more than your heart.

 

Posted in Cats

After Oliver – Life Goes on but the Pain Lingers

Posted on by Debbie

It’s been a week of ups and downs for me. It started out on a heartbreaking note last Saturday when I had to say goodbye to my handsome 17-year-old cat, Oliver after only 4 1/2 short but wonderful years together. Oliver had been diagnosed with Chronic Kidney disease two years ago but had been leading a comfortable life up until August when a vet visit showed a weight loss of three pounds and some bloodwork revealed the progression of the disease to Stage 4. He remained asymptomatic, but cats are very adept at hiding their discomfort. I also noticed he continued to lose weight, especially in his hindquarters, despite eating well.

At the end of October, Oliver began acting very lethargic. He wasn’t mowing or purring and, while he still slept with me, he no longer came up by my pillow. He also had difficulty walking. His hind legs became weak, and he could no longer jump up on my bed but cried for me to lift him up. He become fussier with his food and would only eat boiled chicken or cat food heavy in sauce. Consulting a vet, we tried several days of fluid therapy, but there seemed to be no improvement in his condition. The last day of his life he hid on the floor behind my headboard, and I knew he was letting me know it was time for him to go to Rainbow Bridge.

After I said goodbye to Oliver, in my sorrow, I thought about a story I had written last year for the Solstice Publishing fantasy anthology, The Realms of Fantastic Stories. It was also published as an eBook. The story was a tale about Rainbow Bridge, a place where pets are supposed to be reunited with their loving human after they die. I asked my publisher if this book could be put up for free in memory of Oliver. I had not intended the book to become a bestseller and never imagined it would become an International one, but it ended up being #1 in the U.S. Amazon category for fantasy and science fiction short reads and also in the top 100 in the United Kingdom and Canada. Although I made no money off these sales, I received two 5-star verified reviews and made many new friends worldwide, some of whom sent me private messages about the loss of their own cats. Amid my sadness, I was happy to know that I’d helped others who were grieving for their special fur babies.

Something that most people don’t know about me is that, in addition to being a librarian and author, I also own and operate a pet memorial center in the virtual world of Second Life. I joined Second Life initially to meet librarians from around the world who were part of the Community Virtual Library group. However, a year after I joined, my cat Floppy passed away. With the help of a few other librarians, I created Rainbow Gardens Pet Memorial Center, a beautiful place that features a pet viewer with photos of real-life pets contributed by residents of Second Life. I’ve just added Oliver to the viewer. Although I’m not as active in Second Life as I used to be because of my writing and other offline commitments, I still maintain the memorial center by adding seasonal decorations and pet photos as requested.

There are other virtual memorials. One where pets can be remembered in a variety of ways is online at https://www.rainbowsbridge.com/

Although you can purchase an annual Rainbow Residency for your pet, the Monday candle lighting services are free. I will be participating in one for Oliver this Monday, November 12, at 9 p.m. Anyone who has lost a pet either recently or in the past can also join in. Information on how to do this is included at the website.

On a brighter note, some nice things happened to me last week. My publisher sent me the date I would start working with an editor to prepare my recently signed mystery novel, Reason to Die, for publication.

Amazon also approved my Kindle Scout campaign for my psychological mystery/thriller, Sea Scope, that is running until December 8. I’ve had quite a few nominations for this book already and am hoping to be offered a publishing contract at the end of the campaign. If this happens, everyone who nominated the book will receive an e-copy. For more information and to vote for the book, click on this link: https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/2372SIVNZ28O0

 

Posted in Cats, Monday blogs, Older cats

Saying Goodbye to Oliver

Posted on by Debbie

Saturday was a very sad day for me. I had to say goodbye to my 17-year-old cat, Oliver, after a week of seeing him decline from kidney disease. Oliver was diagnosed two years ago with Chronic Kidney Disease. He held up well until August when his physical showed a weight loss of three pounds, down from fifteen pounds to eleven, and his blood work confirmed that he was now in Stage 4 of the disease. A few months before that, he had begun yowling early in the morning. I’ve heard that senior cats do that sometimes, but looking back, I think it was part of his illness.

Last week, Oliver began to lose weight even more rapidly especially in his hind legs that were now so weak he had difficulty walking down the hall to his water bowl, climbing up on my bed, or on the table in the outside enclosed room where he liked to sunbathe. I was boiling him chicken every day and feeding him in bed. He would meow to let me know when he needed to be lifted up. Otherwise, he was very quiet. He would hardly purr when I petted him and would no longer sleep near my pillow where he used to sleep every night. He appeared listless and depressed. His beautiful blue eyes had sunk into his face. His fur was dull, and he hardly cleaned himself. I recognized all these signs as the dehydration he was suffering from by his failing kidneys. It brought back memories of my cat, Benny, who at eight-years old suffered kidney failure and went into a coma. My mother and I had been treating him with sub-q fluid injections under the skin, but he was not responding. I raced home from work that day when she called me to tell me he was in a coma and carried him wrapped in a blanket on my lap to the vets where he was helped along to Rainbow Bridge. The vet told me he was on his way already, but at least I got to spend the end with him. I vowed to do the same with Oliver if it came to that, but I wouldn’t let it go that far.

I was lucky to have a vet come to my house to check Oliver. She was compassionate and visited us every day to give him fluids and help make him comfortable. Friday night, she explained to me that Oliver wasn’t going to recover and that it was up to me when I was ready to say goodbye to him. At this point, he was barely making it around the house. He was not having a quality of life. The following day, I had to work. A few hours after I started, my husband called to tell me that Oliver had gone behind the headboard of my bed. I knew that hiding in a dark place was a sign that a cat was preparing to die. I rushed home and contacted my vet. When she came over, she helped me take Oliver out of his hiding place. She told me he was letting me know he was ready, so it would be easier for me to make my decision to let him go in peace.

We placed Oliver on his cat bed outside on the patio where he’d loved to sit and sun himself, and the vet administered a sedative to relax him. I stood by him brushing, kissing, and talking to him. When she gave the dose that would send him to Rainbow Bridge, she let me have some moments alone with him and then took out a kit where she made a set of paw prints and clipped some fur. Although I’d buried my other cats, I’d decided to have Oliver cremated, and she said she would take care of this for us but that it would take about three weeks to get his ashes.  I had also purchased a pretty urn in which to store them because I knew the time was arriving when I would need it. I planned to keep it in my room where he always stayed waiting for me when I got home from work and when he slept with me with his paw on my pillow, and I would stroke his handsome chest.

That’s the story of how I said goodbye to Oliver, but there’s more to his story than that. Oliver was a special cat to many people, and he appeared in two articles I wrote for Catster.com. The following is how Oliver came to us as a senior cat of 13 and how he gave us four and a half wonderful years. http://www.catster.com/lifestyle/what-i-learned-senior-citizen-cat-adoption.

The second article is one that won me an award from Hartz in the Cat Writers Association contest. http://www.catster.com/lifestyle/brush-your-cat-for-bonding-beauty-and-better-health

I also wrote a story last year called, The Path to Rainbow Bridge, in which a Siamese cat is the one of the main characters. Many of my cats are featured in this tale, and I am offering the eBook copy free from Monday, November 6 to Friday, November 10, to those who have lost their own beloved pets.

In addition to these articles and that story, I also feature a Siamese cat in my Cobble Cove mystery series. Sneaky the library cat is based on Oliver. I have also included a Siamese of the same name in my upcoming standalone mystery, Reason to Die, which will be published by Solstice Publishing and am currently writing the first book of another cozy mystery series that I plan to dedicate to Oliver.

To end this post, here’s a poem I wrote for my sweet Oliver:

Ode to Oliver

There’s a spot next to my pillow that’s bare.

Oliver always used to sleep there.

He loved me to stroke his chest.

Of all my cats, he was one of the best.

He was a handsome Siamese cat.

There was no doubt about that.

Although we only had him four years,

I can’t help shedding so many tears.

His favorite spot was his cat bed.

It’s so hard to believe he’s dead.

He did such cute things in the past,

like fishing in his water bowl where he made quite a splash.

He loved to be brushed,

and his fur was so lush.

His loud voice in the morning was my alarm clock,

Losing him is still a shock.

But he’s out of pain now on Rainbow Bridge waiting for me

with my other special cats who one day I will see.

Posted in New Releases

Announcing A.B. Funkhauser’s New Release, Shell Game

Posted on by Debbie

Book Description:

Carlos the Wonder Cat lives free, traveling from house to house in a quiet suburban neighborhood. Known by everyone, his idyllic existence is jeopardized when a snarky letter from animal control threatens to punish kitty owners who fail to keep their pets indoors. The $5,000 fine/loss of kitty to THE MAN is draconian and mean, but before Team Carlos can take steps, he is kidnapped by a feline fetishist sex cult obsessed with the films of eccentric Pilsen Güdderammerüng. Stakes are high. Even if Carlos escapes their clutches, can he ever go home?

 

The third novel in the UNAPOLOGETIC LIVES series, SHELL GAME follows SCOOTER NATION (2016) and HEUER LOST AND FOUND (2015) this time, with an eye on a seemingly pastoral community with a lot to hide. More than a cat and mouse story, Shell Game is an examination of community—who we are and how we relate to one another in a questioning world. Written with tongue firmly in cheek, it asks us to open our eyes, see better, and have a little more patience.

 Excerpt:

 Escorted with force up creaky wooden stairs into a passageway straight out of Kafka, the cat squirmed as the space opened into a large windowless room. There, light from tall lamps shot white hot from floor to ceiling, their beams reminiscent of Nuremberg on its worst day. These, uniform in design, were placed with deliberate care every six feet or so, like the stations of the cross in a Catholic cathedral. The lack of adornments on the walls and in the cornices, however, made this place anything but holy, the ecclesiastical taking a back seat to amateur theatrical.

Kitty growled a thousand growls, all unheard.

Unlike their hooded counterparts from down below, the humans upstairs concealed their identities not with comic book capes, but with papier mâché masks, obscuring what were probably facial features of little worth. Their bodies once unshrouded, offered an array of tattoos and piercings. Many were on the heavy side, their adipose jiggling with the multitudes that tried to copulate in interesting ways. Nothing at all like Güdderammerüng’s Blod av Däggdjur, which supported an aesthete both elegant and worshipful, this sexy orgy party tried way too hard to be what it clearly was not.

Large cat statues in the Egyptian fashion added to the absurdity of the occasion. Eight feet tall, the polystyrene golden statues came by way of a prop wrangler and his girlfriend, who had purloined them from a storage locker after a film wrap in Vancouver. Under red-pink lights, the cat sentinels were positioned in equal numbers on either side of a large altar, marked by numerous fetish objects and eschatological symbols. In line with the forced revelry that abounded, their uses gained currency with the rather strange choice of Seventies-era rock music that assaulted the senses.

Working up a large hairball, Carlos barely caught his breath for all the hookah vapors filling the room. Humans of all genders did what they did together, separately and severally. Many appeared older, their sagging midsections reminding him of the old Tom’s that lived out their lives in the Banford barn outside Cavan.

Claiming to want something more, something more in line with Güdderammerüng’s vision, their attempts at consciousness raising from the “darkness to the light” fell flat. These humans, for all their writhing and hookah smoking, fundamentally lacked what the cats had: that state of grace that comes with knowing who you are and what you’re here for.

PRAISE

 “…writes with a take-no-prisoners style of prose.”

  • Steve Cronin, AMERICAN FUNERAL DIRECTOR MAGAZINE

 “Funkhauser digs down deep into each character and shatters the lines of morality, showing us the darkness and light within all of them…”

  • Angela D’Onofrio, Author FROM THE DESK OF BUSTER HEYWOOD

“Funny, quirky, and sooooo different.”

—Jo Michaels, JO MICHAELS BLOG

Author Biography:

Toronto born author A.B. Funkhauser is a funeral director, classic car nut and wildlife enthusiast living in Ontario, Canada. Like most funeral directors, she is governed by a strong sense of altruism fueled by the belief that life chooses us, not we it.

Her debut novel Heuer Lost and Found, released in April 2015, examines the day to day workings of a funeral home and the people who staff it. Winner of the Preditors & Editors Reader’s Poll for Best Horror 2015, and the New Apple EBook Award 2016 for Horror, Heuer Lost and Found is the first installment in Funkhauser’s Unapologetic Lives series. Her sophomore effort, Scooter Nation, released March 11, 2016 through Solstice Publishing. Winner of the New Apple Ebook Award 2016 for Humor, and Winner Best Humor Summer Indie Book Awards 2016, Scooter picks up where Heuer left off, this time with the lens on the funeral home as it falls into the hands of a woeful sybarite.

A devotee of the gonzo style pioneered by the late Hunter S. Thompson, Funkhauser attempts to shine a light on difficult subjects by aid of humorous storytelling. “In gonzo, characters operate without filters which means they say and do the kinds of things we cannot in an ordered society. Results are often comic but, hopefully, instructive.”

SHELL GAME, tapped as a psycho-social cat dramedy with death and laughs, is the third book in the series and takes aim at a pastoral community with a lot to hide. “With so much of the world currently up for debate, I thought it would be useful to question—again—the motives and machinations championed by the morally flexible, and then let the arbiter be a cat.”

Funkhauser is currently working on THE HEUER EFFECT, the prequel to HEUER LOST AND FOUND.

Other Books by A.B. Funkhauser:

HEUER LOST AND FOUND (2015)

Unrepentant cooze hound lawyer Jürgen Heuer dies suddenly and unexpectedly in his litter-strewn home. Undiscovered, he rages against God, Nazis, deep fryers and analogous women who disappoint him.

At last found, he is delivered to Weibigand Brothers Funeral Home, a ramshackle establishment peopled with above average eccentrics, including boozy Enid, a former girlfriend with serious denial issues. With her help and the help of a wise cracking spirit guide, Heuer will try to move on to the next plane. But before he can do this, he must endure an inept embalming, feral whispers, and Enid’s flawed recollections of their murky past.

Geo Buy Link: http://myBook.to/heuerlostandfound

Book Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llaBBPQIcoc

SCOOTER NATION (2016)

Aging managing director Charlie Forsythe begins his work day with a phone call to Jocasta Binns, the unacknowledged illegitimate daughter of Weibigand Funeral Home founder Karl Heinz Sr. Alma Wurtz, a scooter bound sextenarian, community activist, and neighborhood pain in the ass is emptying her urine into the flower beds, killing the petunias. Jocasta cuts him off, reminding him that a staff meeting has been called. Charlie, silenced, is taken aback: he has had no prior input into the meeting and that, on its own, makes it sinister.

The second novel in the UNAPOLOGETIC LIVES series, SCOOTER NATION takes place two years after HEUER LOST AND FOUND. This time, funeral directors Scooter Creighton and Carla Moretto Salinger Blue take center stage as they battle conflicting values, draconian city by-laws, a mendacious neighborhood gang bent on havoc and a self-absorbed fitness guru whose presence shines an unwanted light on their quiet Michigan neighborhood.

Geo Buy Link: http://myBook.to/ScooterNation

Book Trailer: https://youtu.be/oqmrW_t92jc

LINKS

Geo Buy Link: http://myBook.to/ScooterNation

Geo Buy Link: http://myBook.to/heuerlostandfound

Walmart:  http://www.walmart.com/ip/Scooter-Nation/53281677

Website: www.abfunkhauser.com

Amazon Author Page: www.amazon.com/author/abfunkhauser

Twitter: https://twitter.com/iamfunkhauser

Facebook: www.facebook.com/heuerlostandfound

Branded: https://branded.me/abfunkhauser

Google Plus: https://plus.google.com/u/0/118051627869017397678

Publisher: http://solsticepublishing.com/

Goodreads: http://bit.ly/1FPJXcO

Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/unapologeticadult

FAQ’s: http://abfunkhauser.com/faqs/

Interview Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2yhaXfh-ns

Interview Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoPthI1Hvmo

Podcast:  http://mhefferman.ca/author/podcasts/episode-3-an-interview-with-a-b-funkhauser/

Email: a.b.funkhauser@rogers.com

Awards

New Apple E-Book Award 2016 “Humor” SCOOTER NATION

New Apple E-Book Award 2016 “Horror” HEUER LOST AND FOUND

http://www.newappleliterary.com/awardsWinner Summer Indie Book Award (SIBA) 2016 “Humor” SCOOTER NATION

https://metamorphpublishing.com/summer-indie-book-awards/

Winner Preditors & Editors Readers’ Poll 2015 “Horror” HEUER LOST AND FOUND

http://critters.org/predpoll/

 

 

 

 

Posted in Contest, Solstice Publishing

What’s New with this Pussycat?

Posted on by Debbie

I may be dating myself with that Tom Jones song title as a subject, but I wanted to post some updates for those of you who don’t subscribe to my newsletter (and I  hope some of you will consider doing that to keep up with my books and to enter my monthly contests).

Speaking of contests, I’m running a special end of summer one that started on August 1st and will end on September 15th when I choose a winner for an autographed paperback copy of my next Cobble Cove mystery and a $5 Amazon gift card. The winner will also have his or her name listed in the book along with the name they choose for the new female kitten who will be introduced in that book. To enter, email me the name and description for a female kitten. She can be one of your own cats or just one you make up. You should email the entry to debbiewriter@yahoo.com with the subject line: Name That Kitten Contest. The winner will be announced in my newsletter and on this blog, but you must be a subscriber to my newsletter to participate. To subscribe, complete the pop-up form on my website at https://debbiedelouise.com or email me your request to subscribe.

In writing news, my short New Adult Romance, Saving Snow White, will be released on Tuesday, August 22nd. It will be available for only 99 cents on Amazon.com as an eBook. Below is an excerpt from that book:

As I pulled into the driveway, I saw a young girl
sitting on her front step next door. She was holding
something white on her lap. I learned that our neighbors
had moved when I came home for the holidays, but I hadn’t
yet met the new people who’d bought their house. I decided
it might be nice to go over and introduce myself.
I walked to the fence that separated our yards and
called over. “Hi, there. You must be my new neighbor.”
The girl, who looked to be about seven or eight,
came over to the fence carrying what I now realized was a
cat.
“Hello. My name is Jenny, and this is Snow White.
She moved with us from New Jersey when Dad got a job in
Denver.”
“What a pretty cat.” I remembered Tinkerbell and
sadness washed over me.
“Thanks. Can you come over and pet her? You can
meet my mom, too. She’s friends with Mrs. Palmer already.
Are you her daughter?”
“Yes. I’ve been away at school. I’m studying to be a
vet.”
The girl’s big brown eyes lit up. “That’s what I want
to be. I love animals.”
I took her up on her invitation and went around the
fence to meet her at the gate. She handed me the big white
ball of fur, and the cat purred as I stroked its head.
“You’ll make a great vet.” The girl smiled showing
two missing baby teeth.
“I hope so. This summer, I’m getting some
experience by assisting Dr. Carter at the animal hospital.”

For Long Island folks or those who may be in the area on Friday, August 18, I will be appearing at the Hicksville Library for an author talk at 1:30 pm. No registration is necessary

On August 18, my publisher, Solstice Publishing, is also holding a big pre-Eclipse Party. My fellow authors and I will be participating with Q & A’s, giveaways, freebies, and some other fun activities. I will be posting further details and the link to join in closer to the date.

 

Posted in Books, Monday blogs

My Author Talk at the Plainview-Old Bethpage Library

Posted on by Debbie

On Thursday night, June 22, I presented an author talk at the Plainview-Old Bethpage Library on Long Island. The program, sponsored by their Friends of the Library group, was part of their summer reading events. It was my eighth library appearance, and I will be speaking again at my home library, Hicksville, on August 18.

After being introduced by Jeannine Sharkey, a librarian at Plainview, I further introduced myself and spoke about how I started writing, my books including my Cobble Cove mystery series that include A Stone’s Throw, Between a Rock and a Hard Place, and my latest, Written in Stone, published April 2017 by Solstice Publishing.

The Lawrence C. Lobaugh, Jr. Memorial Award for Journalism Award I received for my writing on the Post Pioneer.

I explained that since I was a young girl, I’d always loved reading, writing, telling stories, and cats. My love of books brought me to the field of librarianship in which I’ve worked for 25 years. My love of cats started me writing articles for pet magazines such as Cat Fancy after I graduated from the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island where I majored in English and Library and Information Science and also wrote for the student newspaper, The Pioneer, for which I received a journalism award for my feature writing.

I shared the history of my first published story and novel. My first published story was a mystery in the Cat Crimes Through Time anthology called Stitches in Time and was a time travel tale that involved Betsy Ross’s cat. In 2008, I self-published Cloudy Rainbow, my first novel, that was a romance with some paranormal elements and a cat named after my beloved Floppy who passed away that year at 15.

After Cloudy Rainbow, I told the audience that I stopped writing for a time while my daughter was young and I focused on my full-time library position. In 2015, after a patron who’d read my book persuaded me to write another, I took advantage of my library’s new Gale Courses online database to take several publishing courses and ease my way back into writing. Two months later, writing in the early morning before work, I had completed the first draft of what was to become the first Cobble Cove mystery, A Stone’s Throw. I sold that book to a small publisher, Limitless Publishing, and it was published in November 2015.

Not initially intending A Stone’s Throw to become a series or a cozy mystery, I decided to continue the story of a librarian, Alicia and a newspaper reporter, John McKinney, in the small, fictional upstate town of Cobble Cove, New York with a second book, Between a Rock and a Hard Place. I changed publishers at this time to Solstice Publishing who now have published the three books in the series and also several of my short stories in anthologies of various genres including fantasy, science fiction, horror, and romance.

In February 2017, I related that I also published a romantic comedy novella, When Jack Trumps Ace, and my story, Saving Snow White, appears in the latest anthology from Solstice, That Summer Day, that was published just a few days before my talk on June 21.

I pointed out that all my books and stories include at least one cat and sometimes a dog. The Cobble Cove mysteries feature a Siamese library cat, Sneaky, and Fido, a golden retriever.  The audience found it amusing when I explained that Sneaky has his own blog where he “scoops the shelves of cat litterature” and where he has interviewed a variety of other cat characters. His blog can be found at https://sneakylibrarycat.wordpress.com. I also created a Facebook group called Cobble Cove Character Chat that is hosted by a different character from the series each month and where group members can enter a monthly contest for prizes that range from Amazon gift certificates to copies of books.

Although I had some technical difficulties with my Powerpoint slideshow, I was able to display some of my book covers and the newspaper articles that were written upon their releases. I also read some excerpts from my mysteries and the blurbs of my stories. In addition, I played the book trailers, short clips, to each of the Cobble Cove novels.

I ended my talk with information about my future publishing plans. I am currently querying agents for my psychological thriller, Sea Scope, and have completed a standalone mystery, Reason to Die, that I hope to edit and submit for publication in a few months. I may also start the fourth Cobble Cove mystery soon.

When I asked for audience questions, one guest wanted to know why I like cats so much. I explained that I like other animals but am especially fond of cats because they have unique natures, are quite intelligent, and can intuitively sense when you are sad and need comforting. I am far from alone in this interest for felines, as they are often characters in books, art, and online videos that go viral.

The evening wrapped up with a raffle for an autographed copy of Written in Stone. The winner posed for a photo with me.