L.J. Holmes

L.J. Holmes
In her many Guises.

Monday, February 28, 2011

FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS...OKAY WHO STOLE MY BELL

What the FRAG is going on with

Twitter? I have been trying for two days to call up my Twitter page yet nothing...sometimes I get

an empty page, other times it won't even connect.

I mentioned in another posting how much I loathe changes being sadistically and routinely made by these sights just as soon as I get to where I have them figured out.

I want to grow gracefully into

my senility without having it challenged before it has even set in by the continuous changes every time I

blink here on the Internet.

So who the FRAG stole my

frigging bell? I want to toll my Twitter, but can't corale that blasted bird and make it tweet! When I first signed onto Twitter, Glenn Kleier told me I was doing fine with the structured social site...boy am I so NOT sure!

Sunday, February 27, 2011

TO TWEET OR NOT TO TWEET THAT IS THE QUESTION

Do you love Face Book as much as




I love Face Book? Just when I get used to how Face Book works, what do they do? They up and change it on me.

I went in to check out my book covers album, I only have five covers so far, so we're not talking about a HUGE album here, but what do I get? This weird manual slide show. I LIKED the old way of doing things...and I'm not alone.

Everyone I have talked with agrees with me and loathes the new system as much as I do.

I haven't asked

Glenn Kleier about this yet. I think h must be knee deep in edits.


I am heartstoppingly disappointed his second book has been pushed back, since I am on a pre-order list for THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL by Glenn Kleier at

Amazon.com. Should I Twitter...I mean TWEET about my disappointment?

TWEETING? As much as I loathe Face Book, I am really bad at Twittering...How is someone who doesn't know how to talk

in Morse Code supposed to narrow my long-windedness down to a few words?


There is a rumor out there circulating too, but the way that there may be a THIRD Glenn Kleier book will be out, not nearly THIRTEEN years from now, but maybe MONTHS from now? Is it possible,
Fairies 35 Myspace Layout 2.0
Good Fairies exist? It would certainly take the magic of good fairies to get a third Glenn Kleier book out and about THIS year.

I'm not sure my old heart can stand so much anticipation, but my reading eyes are beside themselves...don't giggle...

I KNOW they're ALWAYS beside themselves...but they are METAPHORICALLY beside themselves with enthusiasm just at the HINT they might be able to immerse themselves in not just one, but TWO new Glenn Kleier novels.

I'm not sure I can contain myself...Hmmm, do you think I might have the adult version of ADHD? Is there a GKADHD...you know Glenn Kleier Attention Deficit, Hyperactivity Disorder?

Either that or I have ants in my Depends.

Saturday, February 26, 2011

HOW MUSE HAS SPICED UP THE E-WORLD

There is so much going on at

Muse Publishing, sometimes we miss it, or worse, take it for granted.

Muse

was not supposed to OFFICIALLY open it's launching doors until December 1st, 2010, but everyone at Muse...every component that brings excellence in e-pubbing to you the audience worked with excitement and due diligence throughout the Spring and Summer of 2010.

At first

Muse moved their debut date forward by an amazing TWO months to October 1, 2010.

Those of us eagerly awaiting our ORIGINAL orientation date, were jaw droppingly amazed. We hear so often in the publishing industry about book dates being moved BACK, much like the new book by Glenn Kleier.

THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL that was due for a February release date.


As a card carrying Glenn Kleier groupie, I was more than just disappointed. But this is not the first time a BIG publisher has delayed release of one of my favorite authors...But Glenn Kleier isn't just one of my favorites, he is my absolute MOST favorite author.

Imagine my surprise though when Lea Schizas, the head honcho at Muse Publishing, Inc., and her co-captain, Marketing Director Litsa Kamateros informed us that our release date has not moved up to JUST October 1st, but was now moving even closer to September 10, 2010.

Do we ROCK at

Muse It Publishing, Inc. or what?

The debut sales numbers were fantastic for a brand new company, plus

Lea and Litsa were on a roll.





Muse's Month Long Octoberfest was inaugurated. We, the authors, were challenged to come up with tales about Halloween, and each of us was assigned a full day on the innovative Muse Blogspot.

What none of us knew until the first of October dawned was

Lea's creation of our main October Hostess...

Bonella...a scary skeleton in a huge fashion-forward hat was going to spend the month heckling us one and all.What fun that was for authors, readers, and guests drawing more and more buzz our way.

I loved our October celebration, avidly followed Bonella's acerbic interactions, and looked forward to the debut of my first book,

SANTA IS A LADY on December 1st.









It is true your nerves are strung tighter than a

German clock when your release is mere hours away? Anticipation of good and fear of falling flat on your face, co-mingle.

In the days that follow, you are like this rabid, tightly wound

squirrel, checking the stats each day, hoping, praying someone will buy your book...afraid you will fall flat on your face and let everyone who has placed their faith in you down...

Until you are notified by your leader, Lea, that

Glenn Kleier bought your book, and wonder of wonders, has given you a glowing review.

I don't know how typical it is to have someone of the caliber of Glenn Kleier reviewing your first book, but to have someone you idolize taking the time from HIS busy schedule to do this...well if I hadn't already been a huge Glenn Kleier fan, this would have made me one.

From my Muse leader, Lea, I learned she planned to place my Glenn Kleier review up on the Muse Bookstore page for SANTA IS A LADY for everyone to read his glowing words.

December morphed into January. My surprises were far from over. SANTA IS A LADY claimed fifth place in the 2010

Predators and Editors Readers Poll.










But I am not here to claim Muse's glory. Krista D. Ball, fellow Muse author debuted her first book,

HARVEST MOON back on September 10th and ever since then it has tenaciously held onto the top place in our Best Selling list. (Yeah, she's a Top place hog....)





Muse was making HUGE waves, and I was gearing up for the release of my second story,

FOREVER WITH YOU on February 1st. The world was truly spinning right on its axis.








Ground Hog's day...

I've never understood why we celebrate a pudgy rodent leaving its lair and predicting the coming season

based on its shadow. Who came up with that idea? How ridiculous they all look, in their top hats and gloves lifting Puxatawny Phil and praising him for his meteorological prowess...Now I know I may not be seeing the spirit of things, but hello, how many

Puxatawny Phils can there be? That's one long living over-sized rat...or, I fear a fraud.




Can you picture it, a bunch of waddling ground hogs sidling into the offices of the official Puxatawny Phil recruiting station hoping their long held aspiration to be ground-hog handled by some weirdly dressed dude for

the flashing bulbs of a bunch of camera bugs for all of five minutes each year?

This Ground Hog's Day, for me, was more obnoxious than most. It was around this time that I learned THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL had been pushed back from May to July 2011.


The inconsistency of the REGULAR publishing world and how many times they have moved Glenn Kleier and his new book's release date back, has made me inordinately proud I am with

Muse...the Gold standard in the e-pub world.


And that brings me to Muse's latest, as in yesterday's announcement.

FALLON O'REILLY AND THE ICE QUEEN'S LAIR, by Debra K. Dunlap, America's answer to Harry Potter, is now available IN PAPERBACK! WOOHOO!






I am beyond proud to be a member of the


Muse Publishing Family.




I have a total of TWELVE (12) contracts so far, coming out over the months an years ahead, so it is going to be a LONG-TERM familial relationship with more thrills and excitement to come.

Friday, February 25, 2011

MUSE'S MARCH COVER ROUND-UP




It's hard for me to believe we are about to step into
the THIRD month of 2011. Muse Publishing, Inc., has been open for business now since Sept. 10, 2010. That's a mere five months...but what is so INCREDIBLE is just what a HUGE wave Muse is making.

The awards started rolling in before Muse had officially opened its doors when our extraordinary

Cover Art Goddess, the incomparable DELILAH K. STEPHANS won 



THE NEW COVEY AWARD for the cover she created for EMILY PIKKASSO'S




The Oak King's Daughter in July 2010.

What makes this award especially rewarding for Delilah is it comes about because OTHER artists voted for it. That means her PEERS recognize her as one of their best! How HUGE is that? Nothing like having your fellow artists telling you, you're the best!

At the end of each year, PREDATORS & EDITORS an industry standard opens up its website for votes in just about every category you can imagine.

Now keep in mind, Muse only opened its doors on September 10th, but MUSE PUBLISHING, INC. took a total of 22 top ten placements. TWENTY-TWO! My own book, Santa is a Lady debuted on December 1st, yet it took FIFTH PLACE in it's category ALONE!

Delilah took THIRD PLACE and Muse claimed several SECOND PLACE awards.
 
So Muse is sailing right along. January 1st, Kat Holmes' debut Muse Novel, THE LIGHTHOUSE was released and has already been nominated for the prestigious

PEARL AWARD.

Muse Publishing, Inc., has only just begun.

And now that brings me to a preview of the glorious titles about to make their way onto the E-Pub stage for all you fans to devour.

I have already done COVER BLOGS for most of these books that you will find in the archives here or at the other two Muse Exclusive Blogspots. Check the end of this posting for the links to those two spots.

Let's begin.

MARCH 2011 is going to be HUGE, but then that's hardly a surprise, here at Muse Publishing, Inc.

1.)Dioscuri by Chrystalla Thoma. Zeus, as we all know was a randy old soul. Ever wondered about his multi-mixed breed progeny?


All of us have heard of Hercules, but hey, Zeus had so much trouble keeping his wandering eye from leading him to wander with more than his eye...so he HAS to have offspring we know nothing about.

At least we didn't until Chrystalla Thoma broke through the wall of silence up there on Mount Olympus. What she learned is SHOCKING!

Imagine Daddy-O fathered TWIN sons, AND the rules say only one can be a godling, the other pure mortal. What happens when the godling knows he's a cute little godling, but also knows his brother, who is his best friend, is not?

AND suppose events lead to the death of the non-godling.

Chrystalla Thoma gives us DIOSCURI. If we didn't already know it never pays to make bargains with Daddy's other relatives we learn it here...or do we?

2.) The future is going to be perfect, right? By the time we have harnessed the ability to travel the Universe, mankind will have figured out all of Nature's AND the artist responsible for the rich tapestry of the entire Universe's secrets.


Trade will be managed with finesse, and the worlds out there will be inhabited by enriching creatures all too eager to let us incorporate them into our way of life.

But what if the creatures aren't so much sentient beings like us, what if the WORLDS, the planets are the sentient life-forms just waiting for us to bring new blood infusions for their continuing existence? Are we ready to sacrifice our shells to become part of something bigger?

Those are some of the questions posed by MORE STATELY MANSIONS by John B. Rosenman. Look into the clouds and ask yourselves are there eyes looking back at you? And if there are:Why?

3.) College can be an amazing time and having a best friend to share it with, well that is just icing on the freedom cake.


There is much to learn and experiment with when you cross over the threshold that separates the youthfulness we live while still in the homes of our parents, and all the wondrous and bizarre choices we have once we pack our bags for the "grown-up" world of college.

Bungee jumping no longer seems insane...it seems, adventurous, and alien visitors, why would they limit themselves to JUST dropping in on mankind out in some boring old desert?

But when you have your eyes glued to what's zipping across the night sky, you never know what you might trip over right here beneath your very own feet.

NUDE DESCENDING STAIRCASE by Joyce Richardson. The title alone should make you want to rush to the Muse Bookstore the minute this book releases on March 1st and buy yourself a copy. I can't say I blame you, in fact I'll probably pass you in the Muse Bookstore hallways.

4.) Waking up and not being able to recognize your hand is pretty intense, not to mention scary, but it gets worse. In walks this gorgeous hunk who looks down at you like he absolutely wants to glare the skin right off your soul. You have no idea who he is, why he hates you, or why he calls you by a name you are pretty sure isn't yours.

Amnesia...at first you have no clue what that word means, but as your memory begins to spread across the fabric inside your head, amnesia becomes a haven.


See you're DEAD, AND about 2100 years in the future from where you were, just moments ago.

THE PENDULUM SWINGS by L.J. Holmes, yeah that's me.


Will Glenn Kleier review this book too? I sure hope so. Having Glenn Kleier review my books then advertise them on his website is such a gift for me. And my debut story, SANTA IS A LADY received an amazing review by Glenn Kleier. 

5.)I've never seen a demon enforcer, and hope I never see one, but I'd rather never see one than think I'd rather be one. I know, a bad play on an old rhyme, but the sentiment fits with the next March 1st Muse Publishing, Inc. Release.

Derek Blain is a demon enforcer. It's his job to eliminate those that would give you and me a bad case of the screaming meemies. He's on the trail of one of the darkest.

Her name is Caroline Montgomery and she doesn't need any enforcer to end her miserable existence. She hates being a blood sucking animal...the blood that is an obsession controlling every waking moment of her pathetic existence.

Walking into to the sun...that's her plan, until she hears Derek and his partner Max whisper a name that might give her a purpose to continue, for now, her undead existence...Her Sire...she loathes that creature. Will she remain alive long enough to help the enforcers destroy the creature that destroyed her?


PASSION BITES by Chastity Bush is being released from the Muse it HOT side of Muse Publishing, Inc. You are not going to want to miss this spine-tingling, edge of your seat story.






6.)Enter the world of insecurity and teenage torment. What if you are born beautiful, but with an imperfection? An imperfection that cannot be hidden from the nasty torment of the IN-CROWD?

You are smart, pretty, but "deformed"...one leg shorter than the other. All your life you are pointed at, talked about, made to feel inferior.

When the most popular boy asks YOU to the dance, you know in your heart it must be a joke, some kind of a cruel bet he's made at your expense. What other reason could be there?

SHORTCOMINGS by Ginger Simpson is being released from the YA wing of Muse Publishing, Inc. Who hasn't felt as if they were the cynosure of all the eyes of our betters? This is a story for ALL of us, whether a Young Adult or beyond.







Do best selling authors ever feel inadequate? Would someone with the success rate of Glenn Kleier ever experience such lack of self-worth?

Glenn Kleier is an author. Is there any author who has not experienced that sense of self-doubting?

7.) A storm is coming...one of the HUGE mercurial storms that are infamous here on the Great Lakes. Living alone when a BIG storm is coming means it is totally YOUR job to batten down the hatches.

Outside, the winds are swirling up enough of the dried earth, visibility is questionable. But that's okay. You only need to see well enough to secure your porch furniture...or at least you did until through those shifting scenes of eerie promise of the violence to come, you see, there on the edge of your shoreline a mound...can it be...& lt;gulp> a body?



STRANGER ON THE SHORE by multi-published author Roseanne Dowell, is a powerful romance from the Muse It UP side of Muse Publishing, Inc. Is it a body? A DEAD body? She so does not want to spend the storm with a dead body staring back at her, but she just cannot leave it there...can she?


8.)Snow birds flock to sunny Florida from the colder North every year like lemmings heading for that fatal cliff-drop and why not? What's not to love about sunny Florida when the North is digging itself out of a fifty inch blizzard?

Year after year...but something is different this year. Nothing more so than the naked body lying in the Chrysanthemum patch...is it...heaven help them...dead? And why does her husband have that look in his eyes that says they are about to step into things better left alone?

SUNSHINE BOULEVARD by J.Q. Rose is another great release about to make its debut from the Muse It UP side of Muse Publishing, Inc.

9.)

RAST by Christopher Hoare is coming to you, directly from the Muse It Up side of Muse Publishing, Inc.

Imagine the worst possible time, the interregnum while rebelling magic forces slowly kill the reigning Drogar. Prince Egon has to take up the succession as the new sorcerer-king of Rast, and admit the deadly magic into himself in a manner he can control.


Yet Offrangs arrive on the coast, imperialists whose power comes from steam and iron, and who disbelieve in magic. Commander Antar seeks to conquer Rast. Egon has no time for caution, he must act at once.


He also has to help Jady, Guardian of the Silent Forest, escape from the evil Deepning Pools whose resurgence she has thwarted. Even more troubling, he must send his sweetheart away, for she is not from the magic lineage who can bear him an heir. She goes to meet the Princess destined to supplant her, with anger in her heart.


The oracle given by the Pythian, living beneath the Palace of Rast, predicts the crisis can only be resolved by everyone’s efforts – even the actions of enemies – until the Prince is established securely and able to turn the magic’s fury upon itself.
Conflict between materialists and a magic based society; between love and ambition; between magic forces residing within the world itself and the one man destined to control them. Rast leads fantasy into new dimensions


March from MUSE is going to be chart busting. You so do not want to miss these wonderful stories.

 
Visit the Second Place P&E Winning MUSE BOOKSTORE for one of the easiest buying experiences you will ever enjoy. And keep checking back...Muse has games, surprises, give-a-ways and more in the months ahead with your name on them.

The links to the other blogs as promised are:

For Muse It Hot  http://linsownfirebrand.blogspot.com
Muse It Young  http://linsownbooklounge.blogspot.com
For the New not yet presented http://linsowngraymatter.blogspot.com