Songster and Wordsmith

The CIA has revealed that Area 51 is real. About time. But before you get too excited, a newly declassified CIA document confirmed the existence of famed Area 51 in Nevada, but offered no proof of alien spaceship landings at the site. Full story here I love conspiracy theories. And conspiracies feature often in fiction. The best known novels are perhaps The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson, The Bourne Identify by Robert Ludlum...the list goes on and so do the conspiracies. Goodreads has a great list of conspiracy books. Full list here Here is a list of conspiracies I tracked down while researching for my spy/thriller Feedback.       FOO FIGHTERS Foo fighters - a cool grunge band headed up by ex-Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl, or mysterious balls of light seen by pilots in war torn Europe? Seen flying beside bombers during World War II, the Allieds thought these mysterious balls of lights were German aircraft. Afte

Today on Smashwords, interview with author D L Richardson was published. You can read the full interview HERE . Extract of Interview: Where did you grow up, and how did this influence your writing? I grew up in the western suburbs of Sydney, Australia. I have three brothers and one sister. At one time in our house there were five kids, two parents, three dogs, three mice, one bird, and one cat. My house was always noisy, messy, crowded, and there was no privacy. These factors are a huge influence on why I jumped feet first into the world of fiction, first as a reader and then as a writer.   What do your fans mean to you? A lot, fans mean a lot. Without fans I would be a person who sits in front of a computer and plays with her imaginary friends. When I create a fantasy world or a bizarre situation for my characters to overcome, fans accept the world and all its layers, they accept the quirks of the characters, they want to know what happens. And when a fan gets in touch wit

PLEASE SHARE Scavenger hunt begins 3 Sep 2013. Sign up to play to win Feedback in ebook format. The theme for the hunt will be "Back to School." http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1455948-september-scavenger-hunt-sign-ups Read sample chapter here . Here's a look at what you'll be playing to win... Listening to your inner voice can get you killed. Ethan James, Florida Bowman, and Jake Inala are three teenagers who receive much-needed organ transplants. Two weeks later they are inadvertently recruited by the CIA when a spy dies halfway through his mission. Three bacteria bombs are set to detonate, spreading illness and death across the planet, and it’s up to Ethan, Florida, and Jake to deactivate them. Except that they have no idea where the bombs are located. Kidnapped for information they can’t possibly know, and fuelled by the spirit of a dead CIA agent, Ethan, Florida, and Jake must look deep inside themselves if they are to finish the mission and save

Today's writer's tip Check the links on your website. You need to do this periodically because stuff happens and links drop off or are moved or sites shut down. You readers must always be able to find your books. Pick a day and spend a few minutes in the morning checking the links. This allows you to also check prices, images, rankings, etc. While you're there  select a few sites to click Like on and/or Tweet about your book. I wouldn't recommend doing this at every site because you'll just annoy people. Should you put the links to every retailer on your website? It's up to you. I do this for two reasons. One: To ensure that readers can purchase from their favourite online retailer. Two: because this becomes my database of where all my books are sold and I don't have to store this information on a separate document. Checking your links also gives you the chance to check for recent reviews. If there are any new reviews, add them to your websit

Writers are masters of language. Illustrators are masters of images. Publishers have always kept the two  masteries separate because writing and illustrating require separate skills, and probably because we never played well together, who knows. Writing on it's own has a certain power. Images on their own have a certain power. Together they can  help a reader really fall in love with a book. Readers associate fantasy with illustrations vs photos, dark colours vs light, mythical creatures. vs real humans (though not always).  Readers associate romance with flowers, bright colours, human couples. Readers now associate YA paranormal romance with a girl in a gown. So many writers these days are doing both writing and illustration as part of the publishing and marketing program. Self-published authors who can't afford to hire a creative artist have to create their own book cover. Authors who can't afford a publicity company have to create their own i mages for marke

Books From You To Review: Book Review #2: The Bird With Broken Wings By: D L... :     Hello people of the world! Guess what? I have a new book review brought to you by the lovely D L Richardson. Drum roll please! And the b... ABOUT THE AUTHOR D L Richardson is the author of speculative fiction. She has three teen novels and one short story anthology published. Her first novel reached number 2 at OmniLit and number 38 at Kobo Books. Her second reached number 1 at OmniLit. Little Red Gem is her third novel and recently won 2 nd place Best Books of 2013 Paranormal Cravings. She lives in Australia on the NSW south coast with her husband and dog. Contact information Email                    dlrichardsonbooks@bigpond.com   Blog           www. dlrichardsonwrites.blogspot.com Website            www. dlrichardson.com Facebook      http://goo.gl/560JXl   Twitter                 www. twitter.com/#!/DLRichardson1