Guest Author Vincent Zandri

CMash October 29, 2011 2 Comments

Today I am so excited for so many reasons!!! If you have been a follower for a while, you know what I think of today’s guest. If you are new, then you are in for a treat!! Vincent Zandri, my favorite author, is back and this time he is on tour with Partners In Crime Tours. And not only that, there will be a giveaway of his latest book. Just a warning…if you happen to be the lucky winner….be prepared to have found your NEW favorite author. So please help me welcome back author and friend, Vincent Zandri !!

ABOUT VINCENT ZANDRI

Vincent Zandri is the No. 1 International Bestselling Amazon Kindle author of THE INNOCENT, GODCHILD, THE REMAINS, MOONLIGHT FALLS, CONCRETE PEARL and the forthcoming MOONLIGHT RISES. He is also the author of the bestselling digital shorts, PATHOLOGICAL and MOONLIGHT MAFIA. Harlan Coben has described his novels as “…gritty, fast-paced, lyrical and haunting,” while the New York Post called THE INNOCENT, “Sensational…Masterful…Brilliant!” In March, April and May of 2011, he sold more than 100,000 Kindle E-Books editions of his novels, and is rapidly closing in on the 200K mark all totaled. An MFA in Writing graduate of Vermont College, Zandri’s work is translated into many languages including the Dutch, Russian and Japanese. An adventurer, foreign correspondent, and freelance photo-journalist for RT, Globalspec, IBTimes and more, he divides his time between New York and Florence, Italy.

You can visit his website at www.vincentzandri.com or
Connect with Vincent on Twitter at www.twitter.com/VincentZandri,
on Facebook at www.facebooks.com/vincent.zandri?ref=profile
and Myspace at www.myspace.com/vincentzandri.

Read my reviews of his other books:
Scream Catcher
Concrete Pearl
Pathological
Godchild
The Remains
The Innocent

Purchase links for MOONLIGHT RISES or any of the above books:
Amazon
Barnes & Noble

GUEST INTERVIEW

After what you went through with the big name publishing house and your success now, do you feel that you have finally “made it”.

Well, I’m about to sign with another major publisher, so yes, I feel like I’ve made it to a certain degree. I make my living as a novelist and journalist right now. I could actually quit the journalism if I do choose, but I enjoy it so I keep my hand in it.

Do you feel secure and enjoying the success you so rightly deserve.

I’m actually never that secure, but then that keeps me hungry. Sure, I enjoy it and thank God everyday that I can wake up and do what I do for a living.

Does this recognition and success seem surreal or has it sunk in that you are in the same league as say, James Patterson, and other big names?

Well, I don’t really think of it like that. I meet some of the biggies like Harlan Coben at conferences and I’m awed by them. At the ITW this past July I shared an elevator with Meg Gardiner and Lisa Gardner and I was tempted to press the STOP button and just stare at them for a while…Ha!

You seem to be even writing like Patterson, churning out best sellers one after another, how many are in the wings?

Ummm, at last count, three new ones waiting to go…I need an assistant. You available???

What and where do you draw the ideas from for your book, some are dark and profound.

They just come to me, that is, unless I rip them off from friends who aren’t writers. I don’t write the ideas down because the good ones always pester you in the middle of the night.

How much actual research do you do for your books, example the jail in The Innocent?

I went to jail. I stayed in a prison cell inside Sing Sing prison for most of the night.

Who is Vincent Zandri the man?

You have to ask my sig other to answer that one…Or my parole officer.

Your hobbies?
Traveling, running, lifting weights, fly fishing, skiing, seedy bars, women, eating, cooking, living the way I want to.

Your favorite authors? What are you reading now?

Hemingway, Mailer, Meg Gardiner, Harlan Coben, Charlie Huston, and too many to mention here.
I’m reading a new book by Dave Zeltserman called The Hunted for a blurb Dave asked me to write. I’m a big fan so I am very honored.

MY REVIEW

MOONLIGHT RISES by Vincent Zandri

Published by StoneGate Ink

ASIN: B005HB16Y6
Genre:Adult Suspense, Mystery, Thriller
Publication Date: August 13,2011

At the request of the author, a PDF edition was sent, at no cost to me, for my honest opinion.

Synopsis (borrowed from Amazon):

“Life sucks. Then you die. Or, if you’re Dick Moonlight, first you die and then you live.”

Dick Moonlight is dead.

Really dead this time, now that three President Obama-masked thugs dressed all in black and communicating only with hand-held voice synthesizers pressed up against their voice boxes have beat the life right out of him inside a dark, downtown Albany alley. What are the thugs after? A box. Size, weight, description unknown. They also want him to stay away from his newest and only client: a handicapped nuclear engineer of dubious Russian heritage by the same of Peter Czech.

But then, now that they’ve killed him, Moonlight’s problems seem to be over. In fact, as he undergoes an out of body experience, his soul floating above his train-wreck of a corpse inside the Albany Medical Center I.C.U., he feels pretty damned good. Great in fact. To make death all the more sweeter, his one true love, Lola, is standing by his bedside. With her long dark hair draping her chiseled face and big round Jackie O sunglasses hiding tear-filled eyes, she appears every bit the grieving sig other. Nothing could make the dead-and-gone Moonlight prouder.

But then something happens. Something bad. A man enters into the I.C.U. Some young guy. He takes hold of Lola’s hand, and pulls her into him. Together, the two share a loving embrace over Moonlight’s dead body. Now, what seemed like a peaceful death is anything but. Moonlight wants back inside his body so he can face-off Some Young Guy and find out if his true love has in fact been cheating on him. At the same time, he wants to find out the true identity of those thugs who killed him so he can exact his revenge. No doubt about it, Moonlight needs to live if he’s going to uncover some pretty painful answers and take care of business.

Like a little kid dropping down a playground slide, Moonlight slides right back inside his bruised and broken body. Opening his eyes the white light blinds him. He feels the pain of his wounds and the pain of his breaking heart.

Life sucks, then you die.

But Moonlight rises.

My Thoughts and Opinion: If you follow my blog you already know what I think of this author. And you probably also know the two words that always come to mind when I finish one of his books are brilliant and genius!!! And you already know what the rating I will be giving this book….you got it….a 5!!!! Another winner!!!

But for those who are new followers, if you like mystery and suspense, this is the author that you HAVE to read!!! This is the sequel to Moonlight Falls, the one that grabbed me, hook, line and sinker. However, it can also stand on it’s own. Zandri. with his masterful writing, brings you up to speed with Moonlight Rises. The quirky P.I., Dick Moonlight is back with his unconventional investigations and sometimes outlandish one liners. Zandri, once again, takes you on a fast paced, action packed ride, filled with twists and turns that the reader never sees coming.

I have read every book that this highly talented author has written. Do I recommend him? ABSOLUTELY!!!!

THANKS TO AUTHOR, VINCENT ZANDRI, I HAVE

ONE (1) EBOOK EDITION TO GIVE AWAY.

CLICK HERE TO BRING YOU TO

THE GIVEAWAY ENTRY PAGE.

NEXT STOP: OCTOBER 30th~REVIEW @ TIDBITS FROM A MOM

DISCLAIMER

I received a copy of this book, at no charge to me,

in exchange for my honest review.

No items that I receive

are ever sold…they are kept by me,

or given to family and/or friends.

ADDENDUM

I do not have any affiliation with Amazon.com,

Barnes & Noble and/or any other retail/wholesale

outlets either online and/or elsewhere.

I am providing this link solely for visitors

that may be interested in purchasing this Book/EBook.

I do not receive any monetary compensation from any parties

Guest Author

Guest Author M.J. Rose

CMash October 27, 2011 Leave a Comment

Hi all!! I sure hope you are sitting down because you won’t believe who is stopping by today!! Not only is she an International Best Selling Author and Publishing Innovator, she can now add to the list, the Creator of the First E-Fan Fiction Book to Have Been Written by Published Author. So without further ado, Ms. M.J. Rose!!

M.J. ROSE HAS DONE IT AGAIN!

The first e-fan fiction book written by a published author!

International bestselling author M.J. Rose, a publishing pioneer who wrote the first e-book to be published by a mainstream New York publishing house, is once again thrilling the book world with another innovation – the first ever e-fan fiction written by an accomplished author called, IN SESSION where characters from major thriller writers’ bestselling novels are psychoanalyzed by one of Rose’s most unforgettable characters, the sex therapist Dr. Morgan Snow.

Fan fiction stories, usually written by fans of an original work, rather than by the author, are rarely commissioned or authorized by the author and almost never published professionally. This is the first time a well-known published author like Rose has sought and received permission to include popular characters of bestselling writers from the thriller genre, in three short stories tied together through one of her most popular heroines.

“With this fan fiction, you don’t just write it, you get it published,” said Rose. This is also a philanthropic effort on Rose’s part as proceeds from the audio book and a share of the proceeds from the e-book will be donated to David Baldacci’s Wish You Well Foundation, supporting

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

M.J. Rose, is the international bestselling authorof 11 novels;Lip Service, In Fidelity, Flesh Tones, Sheet Music, Lying in Bed, TheHalo Effect, TheDelilah Complex, The Venus Fix,The Reincarnationist, TheMemorist and The Hypnotist.

Rose is also the co-author with Angela Adair Hoyof How to Publish and Promote Online,and with Doug Clegg of Buzz Your Book.

She is a founding member and board member ofInternational Thriller Writers and the founder of the first marketing companyfor authors: AuthorBuzz.com. She runs two popular blogs; Buzz, Balls & Hype and Backstory.

Getting published has been an adventure for Rose who self-published LipService late in 1998 after several traditional publishers turned it down.Editors had loved it, but didn’t know how to position it or market it since itdidn’t fit into any one genre.

Frustrated, but curious and convinced that there was a readership for herwork, she set up a web site where readers could download her book for $9.95 andbegan to seriously market the novel on the Internet.
After selling over 2500 copies (in both electronic and trade paper format) Lip Service became the first e-book andthe first self-published novel chosen by the LiteraryGuild/Doubleday Book Clubas well as being the first e-book to go on to be published by a mainstream NewYork publishing house.

Rose has been profiled in Time magazine, Forbes, The New York Times,Business 2.0, Working Woman, Newsweek and New York Magazine.

Rose has appeared on The Today Show, Fox News, The Jim Lehrer NewsHour, andfeatures on her have appeared in dozens of magazines and newspapers in the U.S.and abroad, including USAToday, Stern, L’Official, Poets and Writers andPublishers Weekly.

Rose graduated from Syracuse University and spent the ’80s in advertising.She was the Creative Director of Rosenfeld Sirowitz and Lawson and she has acommercial in the Museum of Modern Art in NYC.

She lives in Connecticut with Doug Scofield, a composer, and their veryspoiled dog, Winka.

GUEST POST

What’s the worst that can happen?

One day I started to fantasize what would happen if my character from The Butterfield Institute series (http://www.mjrose.com/content/books_butterfield.asp) , Dr. Morgan Snow got some of my favorite tough guys in suspense on her couch. What twisted pasts, what traumas, what mysteries would she discover?

How much fun would it be to try it, was my first thought.

What a crazy creative challenge, was my second.

But could I ever get up the nerve to ask Lee Child Steve Barry or Barry Eisler to let me borrow their bestselling characters? No less put them in compromising positions.

And even if I could pull it off and write in their voices, what possible reason would any of them have for saying yes?

The most important thing my mother taught me was not to be afraid of trying something out of my comfort zone. “What’s the worst thing that can happen?” she’d ask when something made me nervous. Together we’d go through all the possible results. Talking them out one by one- they never seemed as bad as they did in my imagination.

So I took a really deep breath and asked Lee Child first. He said he couldn’t imagine Reacher ever going to see a sex therapist but if I could pull it off, it sounded like fun. Steve Berry was next. He said pretty much the same thing. Eisler was no different.

The stakes got higher when Phil Gigante – who along with Natalie Ross –said they’d narrate the stories if the project came to fruition came up with a marvelous idea. What about asking Dick Hill – Reacher’s Voice, Scott Brick – Malone’s voice, and Eisler – who does Rain – to do their own dialog in the audio version?

I spent a good part of the summer writing the stories. Alternating enjoying the hell out the challenge, agonizing and cursing my hubris. Why had I thought I could do this? These are well established heroes. They have their unique ways of talking, thinking and acting. Not to mention the possible really awful rejection.

When it was time to send them off, have the authors read my efforts, do some editing if they wanted and hopefully give their blessing, I totally froze.

I’d written 11 novels. Had my share of nice accolades and reviews. Felt fairly good about my career. But suddenly I was as nervous as a the proverbial (and virginal) bride on her wedding night.

Why was I actively courting rejection and embarrassment? Why was I putting three writers who I respect and admire in the uncomfortable position of having to tell me I’d failed?

For an entire week I thought about scrapping the whole idea and not showing any of them the stories.

Finally I got to the core question. Really, what was the worst thing that could happen?

Amazingly, I never found out. And boy, did I have fun!

You can visit M.J. Rose here.

ABOUT THE BOOK

INTERNATIONALBESTSELLING AUTHOR M.J. ROSE

GETSJACK REACHER, COTTON MALONE, JOHN RAIN

ONTHE SEX THERAPIST’S COUCH

How doyou get a stoic drifter, a former covert agent and an international assassin tosee a sex therapist? That was the challenge faced by international bestsellingauthor M.J. Rose when she proposed setting up appointments for Jack Reacher,Cotton Malone and John Rain with Dr. Morgan Snow of the Butterfield Institutein her new e-book IN SESSION (October17, 2011, Kindle e-book, $1.99).

Theprotagonists’ of New York Timesbestselling authors – Lee Child, Steve Berry and Barry Eisler – swore thattheir men of mystery would never agree to therapy – unless Rose found a way toget them there. By slipping Dr. Snow out of her office, Rose delivered some ofAmerica’s favorite male characters to a place they’ve never been before – intherapy.

IN SESSION contains three racy andrevealing short stories by M.J. Rose:

· KNOWING YOU’RE ALIVE with LeeChild’s Jack Reacher resultsin revelations for the injured Dr. Snow and her unexpected savior/patient. Whatsecrets from the past are contained in an unexpected gift?

· EXTENUATING CIRCUMSTANCES withSteve Berry’s Cotton Malone features a woman who seeks help for her lover,and sends Dr. Snow overseas on a most unusual house call. Can a rare book in a plainbrown wrapper be the medicine her patient needs?

· DECISIONS, DECISIONS with BarryEisler’s John Rain forcesDr. Snow out of her own comfort zone, and into the world of a former patient’sworst nightmare. Does protecting what she loves most require a dance withdarkness?

Theaudio version, narrated by award winners Phil Gigante and Natalie Ross willfeature Dick Hill, Scott Brick and Barry Eisler reprising their roles Reacher,Malone and Rain.

In honor of these amazingly generous authors who shared their heroes with me a share of the e-book proceeds and all the audio proceeds of In Session will be donated to David Baldacci’s Wish You Well Foundation, supporting family literacy. (wishyouwellfoundation.org/)

The e-book and audio book will go on sale Oct 17 but the e-book is available to pre-order at Amazon now. http://www.amazon.com/Session-Morgan-Reacher-Eislers-ebook/dp/B005OLJ3VC