I must have done something Right

After I wrote The Mission I did nothing with it. I set it aside and worked on other ideas that were floating around in my head. Occasionally I would show the story to someone, my mother, my children, my wife and even a friend or two. Eventually I sent out query letters hoping to get someone interested but had no takers. When I found out I could publish The Mission on my own through Kindle Direct Publishing and Smashwords I wondered who would want to read it. I have to admit that I felt ridiculous putting it out there in front of the public.

With the first few reviews that I received for The Mission I thought people were just being kind or that I was somehow doing a great job of faking it. Ms. Tricia Kristufek has written the 11th review for The Mission and with that I am beginning to think that I must have done something Right.

Ms. Tricia Kristufek is an Editor and Reviewer. You can catch her Review for The Mission at Musings of a Writing Reader. Under the review you’ll find a link to “View all my Reviews”. Hit it and check out all of the other books Tricia has read and reviewed. She has been very busy.

Thank you very much Tricia Kristufek.

Reading away the Days

March 2nd through the 16th Megan McDade will be celebrating the 1 year anniversary of her blog, Reading Away the Days. I will be there to celebrate with Megan and all of her friends.  In honor of this 1 year anniversary, my eBook The Mission and I will be featured on March 3rd. I will also be giving away copies of The Mission. Hope to see everyone there.

 

Celebrate with Megan McDade March 2nd through the 16th

To End the Weekend

It was a big weekend for me. I used some promo days that Amazon gave me when I decided to sell my book through their select program. Basically, for two days I gave away my e-book, The Mission in an attempt to raise its rankings and to just get my story out there to the people. I’m sure that Amazon used the event to get customers to join their Prime program as well. I think it was probably a good deal for both Amazon and myself. If I have done at least a fair job of writing the book, I should see some halfway descent reviews come back. This in turn should help increase sales of my book in the future.

I have mixed feelings about this weekend. Being an author, an artist of sorts, I feel a real need to get my work out there to the people. And even though it would be nice to make some money doing it, it isn’t the most important thing. The most important thing is to get my story into the hands of those who want to read it. There is something in me, that for good or bad, needs to hear how someone else feels about my work. Did you enjoy it? did you hate it? Did it piss you off? Did it make you feel anything?

Well anyways, Amazon has always done a great job of helping people sell stuff, most of all books, for quite sometime now. Amazon’s Kindle select program is a powerful tool that can be used to help promote us authors in a good way. I have taken full advantage of it this weekend myself. But I can also see where it can be harmful to an industry that is currently changing if it is not used in the right way. I am just reminded of an old adage, “Competition is good for you, Good for us all,” and just hope that in the years to come, there will still be healthy competition.

Having said my piece, I just want to thank everyone who downloaded a copy of The Mission. With my book in the hands of so many people, I can honestly say that I now feel like a writer.

Thank You, Bill Talcott

Accountable to None

My first introduction to Ms Ashley Fontainne was at her Goodreads author page. I had just finished watching the trailer for her novel Accountable to None. Immediately, I left her a message. Being someone who has wanted to make a trailer for my own book, I felt compelled to let Ms Fontainne know that I thoroughly enjoyed watching it. Each frame was a chapter describing a book that I would be interested in reading. Accountable to None is a story of a woman who takes five years of her life planning her revenge on those who have brutalized her or let it happen. In the process, Audra discovers others who have suffered at the hands of the powerful and greedy, partners of Winscott & Associates and finds herself avenging them as well.

I downloaded a sample of Accountable to None and soon afterwards, learned that Ms Ashley Fontainne was giving away copies of the novel at The Kindle and Me; a blog hosted by Anjana Vasan. A couple of days after I registered to win, I received an e-mail announcing that I had won a signed copy. This was great, for I had finished the sample and was prepared to purchase the full copy. Not only that but upon winning a copy, I came to realize that I was meant to read this book.

Accountable to None was everything I had hoped it would be and more. It was compelling and entertaining. There were moments in the book that touched me. Moments that would put a lump in a lesser man’s throat. Who am I kidding? I damn near reached for the Kleenex a couple of times. And then the ending, this is where that fifth star comes into my rating of this story. I will not give it away, I can only say that it was quite fun and delicious.

Between the trailer she produced for the story and the story itself, it is clear that Ms Ashley Fontainne is nothing less than talented. I expect that we will be hearing from Ms Fontainne quite a bit in the future. I for one am looking forward to it.

Accountable to None has earned my five-star rating!

Bill Talcott

Get Accountable to None as either an e-book or in print

At its Roughest

Just thought I would put a little something out there from the second volume in the Remnants of the Past series. It is a little rough, I have yet to finish the story and do any editing. I do intend to post an entire chapter from the story in the not too distant future.

Swimming in the Well of Despair

The weeks had passed in darkness for David. After losing his parents, he spent most of his time alone in the mansion, upstairs in the room that Mack gave him. The sun was shining and a light summer breeze gently swayed the trees outside, but David saw none of that. Instead, he had kept the heavy dark curtains closed tight over the windows in his room.

While he sat on the edge of his bed alone, brooding in the darkness, there was a light rap on his door. Without answering, it slowly opened. Like Banshee had many times before, Mack stuck his head inside but rather than ask permission to enter like she had, he let the door swing open and went in.

“So, this is how it’s going to be?”

David watched as the mercenary moved across the room and to the window. “What do you mean?”

Mack parted the curtains and let in a little sunlight so he could see the boy while talking to him. “I mean, are you going to sit in this dark and gloomy room for the rest of your life?” He then looked through the opening in the curtains. “It is a big world out there and the way I understand it, it’ll be yours someday, when you become of age.” Mack turned from the window and looked at the young prince. “Hell, the whole damn Solar Empire will be yours and this is where you want to hang out?”

David said nothing. He just merely looked at the bare, hardwood floor.

Mack just shook his head. Not knowing what else to do or say he started for the door. “Look, Kid. You don’t have to stay up here. You are free to wander the compound and check things out. I hear there is even a stream somewhere out back.” When he reached the door, Mack stopped and took one last look at the boy. And then, just as he was about to leave and pull the door shut he changed his mind and decided to leave it open instead.

David listened until he heard Mack’s footsteps move further down the hall. He then got up from the edge of the bed and went to the open door. He placed his hand on it and was about to push it shut when he glanced back at the slight opening in the curtain. It was bright outside and he hadn’t seen daylight in weeks. He turned back to the open door and pulled it open even more, and then, he cautiously stepped through it.

Dusting off the Old Blog

It has been too long since I have entered anything into this blog. After crushing my finger I spent whatever energy I had for typing working on or editing my story. And of course, the story I have been working on is one of the reasons I am posting this today. There have been some changes. When I wrote Remnants of the Past, I had no real intention of adding to the story. I wasn’t even sure that I would write anything else at all. I had written a story from beginning to end and my only real goal was to see if I could even do it. But there were things I didn’t count on. While writing the story I found myself becoming attached to the characters I developed. I even had a difficult time letting go of characters I killed off. I made sure they lived on in the hearts of the characters that made it to the end of my story. Like Darkblood, I made an effort to show that characters he was close to in the story, helped him develop as a person. But then, just like the characters in my stories, we are all a sum of the people we have known and cared about.

I have a lot of things I want to enter into my blog but for now I’m going to get down to business. I have found it difficult to let go of Remnants of the Past, and because work on the second book in the series is well under way, I thought it would be practical to give the first volume in the series its own working title. I have reissued the first book and made it the first in the series, Remnants of the Past. Its title is now, The Mission.

Not only can you find The Mission at Amazon and Barnes & Noble, You can now find it at Lulu as well in the PDF format, readable on most e-book readers. My next goal is to get The Mission up for sale at Smashwords and as many other places as possible.

And now that my lil finger is feeling a little better, and as long as I’m careful with it, I’ll try to keep this old blog up to date.

Welcome to my new Blog

I’ve decided to start a new blog, one where we can discuss not only my stories but other stories that have influence over our lives as well. Welcome to Bill Talcott’s Blog

I have finally started the first chapter of the Shield of Health.  It is the story of Don Grisio and Vince Jacobs otherwise know as the Preacher and Grim Reaper, and the different directions their lives take after a terrible accident. The Shield of Health will take us right into the Remnants of the Past. I have to be honest, I’m not really good at projecting when I will finish a story but I promise to stay on it and do the best I can to get it out as soon as I can. In the mean time, get your copy of Remnants of the past. It is available as an e-book @ Amazon for the Kindle.  It is also available @ Barnes&Noble for the Nook. Remember, if you don’t have a Nook or Kindle, you can get the free apps for your computers or smartphones at their sites. I read stuff on my Android Phone all of the time. It’s great! Keep reading and writing.

Go to the bottom of the page and visit the World Food Programme.