Saving Clay Now Live on Amazon

 

This is the front and back cover of my new novel Saving Clay now available on Amazon.  Clay and Julianne fall in love but because of their globe trotting duties they can not spend much time together.  Clay journeys to far away places healing people with natural products from plants, trees and flowers.  Julianne is an ambassador at large bring world peace..  She becomes a target for an arms dealer and his terrorists.  Because of Clay's connection with her he is endangered too.  She proclaims in a public place that she doesn't love him anymore, hoping this will be a protection for him.  She still loves him but when he journeys to the inhospitable island of Nikumaroro and a storm sweeps the island and everyone but Clay escapes, he is presumed dead.  He is stranded there for almost four years.  Julianne suffers from hysterical amnesia because she thinks he is dead.  Can they ever be together again?

Saving Clay novel

This is the front cover of my new novel I have been calling my rescue novel but have changed the title to Saving Clay.  It is in the final stages in the KDP submission process.  It will be 360 pages in a 6 x 9 format.  The cover artist has already done the back cover and will add my blurb on it.  After that the template will be added for the cover and it will be finalized via KDP.  LDM Graphics has done the cover and she is very good and reasonable.  I will post the cover and info on Facebook and I plan to take out an expensive full page ad in RWR magazine, a publication of RWA of which I am a member.  This is a monster length nearly 92,000 words.  I will only give a brief description at this time.  Julianne saves Clay from certain death several times in their early years.  The prophetess, Lana tells Julianne when and where to be to save Clay's life.  The reason I will give in a later post.

News from the science fiction story I submitted

My science fiction story I resurrected was given a quick read by an editor and he had many things he did not like about the story, saying it had problems after the first few chapters.  He felt from that point on it was not good.  I have since withdrawn that submission and will publish it via KDP.  I spent  a lot of time on it and will not stand for it to be changed and deletions made.  So I will eventually get it through the hoops via KDP and see it in print after I come up with a cover.  I hasten to add the head lady at Champagne Books wants to have me revise an old story with them called Higher Mission.
I have agreed to do that since Cassie, the head lady at Champagne says it will only take a month and they will give me a new cover and it will come out in print as well as digital.  I'm all for that.

Final Segment of chapter entitled Uncle Charlie

I will post the second and the last segment of the chapter entitled Uncle Charlie from my novel The Vanishing Shed.  I want to thank the five of you who showed to comment on the first segment of that chapter.  My Mom's family was a large one.  Uncle Charlie shown above was the youngest, born in 1917.  Mom was second being born in 1913.  Of the many uncles and aunts I had, Uncle Charlie was my favorite.  My favorite aunt was Katie.  Okay, find below the last segment of my novel.  Remember to comment and you will be eligible for one of the two print copies.  Again thank you Hywela, Sonja, Danielle, Gail and Linore for commenting on the first segment.  Please comment again between now and next Saturday.  Then I will use a random number generator from the web to decide which two are the winners and then I will contact you for your address via my email.

“How’s college goin’, Buck?”

“Really tough subjects and hard-nosed professors, but that’s good.  It keeps me out of trouble,” Buddy answered.

“Kack told me about Mandy and Mitzy.  I saw Mandy when she was here, and everybody knows Mitzy.  Two really pretty girls.  Buck, I’m sorry things didn’t work out with them,” Uncle Charlie said, daubing the broom into the hot tar and spreading it near the top.

“Yeah, I was crazy about both of them,” Buddy said, positioning the tar bucket from his precarious perch.

“How about those Purdue college girls?  Surely there’s one of those you can cabbage onto.”

“I’m there to get a degree, not flirt with women, Uncle Charlie.”

“Are you acquainted with any women up there?”

“Well, yes.  I’ve been studying with the only three ladies in my physical chemistry class.  They’re really smart.”

“Are they pretty?”

“I know you. You want all the fine details of their looks.  Their names are Jenny, Gloria and Nina.  Let’s leave it at that.”

“Do you like one more than the other two?”  Uncle Charlie asked.

“I like them all.  If I mention one over the others, you’ll keep pumping me for info.”

“No, I won’t.”

“Promise?”

“Yep.”

“Okay.  The leader of the group is Nina.  She’s the smartest and had the say on whether I could join their study group or not. I’d better go get a fresh bucket of tar.  This one’s cooled off.”

Buddy carefully stepped from the roof ladder to the ground ladder and made his way slowly down to the ground. His dad had a hot tar bucket ready near the corn crib.  Buddy swapped buckets with his dad, and headed back to the ladder with the fresh bucket.  He scaled the ladder, stepping slowly onto the roof ladder and Uncle Charlie sunk his broom into the fresh tar and began smearing.  His uncle changed positions of the ladders while Buddy fetched another bucket of tar.

“What does Nina look like?  Does she have meat on her bones, all in the right places?”

“You promised not to dig for information.”

“Come on, Buck.  You’re dyin’ to talk about her.”

“I’m really confused at this point after Mandy and Mitzy left, but I think I like Nina.  Well, I like the other two, Jenny and Gloria too,” Buddy said.  He carefully moved the tar bucket up a few rungs on the roof ladder.

“Sounds like Nina is the one you like most.  Is she built like a movie star?”

“She’s tall, slender, steel-framed glasses, short red hair and rarely ever smiles.”

“Ugh, what do you see in her?”

“I look at women differently than you do, Uncle Charlie.”

“True, but what’s important are your feelings and I can tell you really like her.  Let your feelings out, Buck.  Don’t hold them back for this woman.”

“I don’t think she likes me that well.”

“She let you study with them didn’t she?”

“Yeah, but she wasn’t happy about it,” Buddy said.

The time came for the dreaded work on the high end of the barn. The ladder leaned almost straight up to reach the roof and even then it came a few inches short of touching the edge of the roof.  Moving slowly and carefully, Buddy and his uncle managed to reach the dangerous spot.  With the last of the tar applied, Buddy carefully stepped from the roof ladder onto the ground ladder.  As he hooked the tar bucket to a ladder rung, the ground ladder suddenly tilted away from the barn.  Buddy struggled to make the ladder lean back toward the barn.  Spotting Buddy’s peril, his uncle thrust his foot out while hanging onto the roof ladder.  Charlie’s foot managed to snag the top rung of the ladder to keep it from falling away from the barn.  Buddy barely held on when the ladder jerked to come back to the barn. He looked behind him and wondered how smashed up he’d been, had Uncle Charlie not prevented his ladder continuing its outward tilt.  The hard ground and perhaps the closeness of the corn crib would have finished Buddy off.

“You saved me, Uncle Charlie,” Buddy said, his frightening breath coming in gasps.

“Be careful going down.  I’ll bring the tar bucket.  You just get yourself down.”

They did the other side of the roof without incident since the slope of the ground made it much easier.  They skipped lunch in order to finish without dropping into the following day for just a few hours of work.  Buddy’s mom had supper ready for them.  As Buddy and his uncle followed Buddy’s dad to the house, Uncle Charlie had another comment.

“That girl knows you’re the type guy who isn’t after her body so I’m betting she will come around.”

“I need to focus on my studies, but I hope you’re right,” Buddy said, trying to pick dried tar off his fingers.

“Buck, I really like workin’ with you.  I think Ham wants your basement made bigger so you and I may be wading in concrete after you dig it out.”

“That would be a hard job to finish up the summer with,” Buddy said.

“Yeah, we don’t want you to miss getting back to that girl,” he said, slapping Buddy on the shoulder, showing his toothless smile.

“Ahh, Uncle Charlie.”

Uncle Charlie chapter Vanishing Shed

I will be posting portions of my story The Vanishing Shed specifically all of chapter fifteen, Uncle Charlie. I will mail a print copy of my book to two lucky winners. Requirements are to show up to this blog and leave a comment any time before the next segment.  I will post once a week on Saturday until I finish the chapter.  I know two of you have read and reviewed this story on Amazon and I thank you for that.  It would be nice if the winners would review it but that is not a requirement.  If you decide to just make a statement that you won the copy in a contest and Amazon should accept it.  The original publisher has closed their doors and I have self-published it so it is available again.  I am giving away the original publisher copies I still have but the self-published version is identical but without the publisher logo.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN - UNCLE CHARLIE

Buddy spent the summer working on the farm doing the chores his dad couldn’t handle. He worried how they would manage taking care of the farm when he returned to school. His mom could do the milking, feed the pigs and take care of other things. With Jeff’s occasional help they would be able to keep things going on the farm, just barely. Buddy put up the hay, a slow job since Buddy handled all the bales while his dad drove the tractor which pulled the wagon. Unfortunately, the corn wouldn’t be ready until after he returned to college.





Buddy’s dad said the barn roof needed a coat of tar. They stood in the barnyard looking up at the steep barn roof with its metal covering. The sweat poured despite the early morning hour. It dripped off Buddy’s forehead, making its way down to his eyes stinging them. He wiped the drops from his eyes and just above his upper lip.


“Good hot August day. Just right for tarring the barn roof,” Buddy said.


“Yeah. Jiggs will be here any minute,” his dad said, removing his hat, wiping sweat on his sleeve. He replaced his hat at his usual cocked angle.


His dad and mom called Uncle Charlie, Jiggs. Charlie, the youngest one in the large Beasley family, always kidded his mom because of him being younger. Charlie could lay concrete blocks better than anyone around. Buddy looked forward to working with his favorite uncle. His uncle used different names for the people in his life, a story behind each name. He called Buddy’s dad, “Ham,” his mom, “Kack,” and Buddy he always called, “Buck.”


Buddy saw him walking down the road toward the barn from the direction of the house. With his thumb and one finger, his Uncle removed the stub of a cigarette from his lips, flipped it onto the gravel road, tromping it without missing a step. His deep tan skin and bulging biceps came from years of work with heavy concrete blocks. His pleasant smile revealed empty spaces where two front upper and lower teeth used to be. Black wavy hair, prominent handsome nose completed his six-foot frame. He spotted Buddy.


“Buck, ready to get on that roof?” he said, his bass voice resounding.





“Yeah. Dad has the brooms ready and the tar is almost boiling,” Buddy answered.


“I’m mighty glad you’re working with me. I checked with Kack before I came just to make sure.”


“You don’t have a fifth of whiskey hidden on you do you? High barn roofs and liquor would be a bad combination,” Buddy said. Besides smoking, a drinking habit plagued Uncle Charlie.


“No, Buck. I know you’re always on my case to give up drinking. Don’t ever stop getting after me about it. I think you’re the only one who cares whether I give it up or not.”


Uncle Charlie hauled out the long, wooden ground ladder and placed it against the upper end of the barn where the ground sloped upward. The ladder reached the metal roof overhang without being at such a steep angle. Buddy dreaded when they reached the other end where the ground sloped down. The ground ladder would have to be at a dangerously steep angle in order to reach the roof.


Once Uncle Charlie had the ground ladder in place, he grabbed the roof ladder. Quickly climbing up to the roof, he used one strong arm to give a mighty thrust to hook the roof ladder over the cone of the barn roof. The big metal hook made a loud clank as it lapped over the top.





Buddy’s dad brought the bucket of steaming, bubbling hot tar. Uncle Charlie got one of the brushes. Buddy sat near the bottom of the roof ladder holding the bucket of hot tar, while Uncle Charlie, standing on the ladder higher up the roof, reached to soak the brush and spread the tar. They wasted no time getting started. While Buddy held the tar bucket, Uncle Charlie started smearing the tar. As always, he liked to talk.

News on the publishing front.

For some reason my Mary Magdalene cover disappeared from the last post.  I hope it appears in this short post.  I have one review from a dear author friend, Gail Pallotta. Thank you, Gail.  I do have some good news and it could be very good news forthcoming.  I submitted my science fiction novel query and first three chapters to Champagne Books, the publisher who accepted and published my first science fiction novel Higher Mission back in October 2013.  A couple of days later they asked for the entire manuscript expressing an interest in it.  We will see what happens.  Unless they have changed they only publish in digital form but at least it will be published if they are interested.  The recent submission is entitled Meeting the Challenge.  This is a very old story which I received numerous rejections on.  I wrote it almost twenty years ago.  I am still awaiting on another agent to answer about my Rescuing Clay story.

Mary Magdalene is published

My story Mary Magdalene is 10,000 words long and is now available both in print and Kindle format.  I found what I feel is the perfect image from istockphoto.com.  Here is the front cover.  I had to download it again above because the image disappeared from the original post.  I don't know why.

Lisa MacDonald of LDM Graphics formatted the image for uploading to the KDP for self-publishing.  It is formatted to a 5x8 size in trying for 100 pages but it fell short so there wasn't room for a title on the spine.  It numbers 93 pages double spaced.  It is available via Amazon and I will have to check but think it is at Smashwords too.

I am still undecided about the rescue novel which is entitled Rescuing Clay.

Mary Magdalene story

I have finished the fiction/nonfiction story about Mary Magdalene.  There have been lots of stories about this New Testament character but I have not read any of them.  The fictional part is mainly about her early life.  The nonfictional part is about her being present at the cross of Jesus and at His tomb to be the first to witness His resurrection.  I consulted several biblical references in the four Gospels and a website and a book entitled The Fourfold Gospel to place the sequence of happenings of Mary at the end of the books Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
I will self-publish this via KDP and either come up with my own cover front and back or hire it done.
I have done no more on my Rescue novel at this time.