C. Lee McKenzie

Young Adult and Middle Grade Author

Sandra Cox Shares and Tara Tyler’s Newest Book. Check Out These #InkRipples Covers

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[Note: Since I have so much going on this week, I won’t include Let Me Tell You A Story until next week. Otherwise, this will be one long blog post!]
#InkRipples is a monthly meme created by Kai Strand, Mary Waibel, and Katie L. Carroll. They post on the first Monday of every month with a new topic. They’re all authors, but you don’t have to be to participate.
This month’s #InkRipples is Covers, and today we have two great covers, each distinct and each eye-catching. So hold on to your eyeballs and take a look at these.

My Featured Follower for January is Sandra Cox. 

She’s giving one of the peeps on my list a chance to win a copy of her book! She’s also answering a couple of questions.

Me: Hey, Sandra. Where did the idea for Love, Lattes and Mutants come from?

Sandra: Love, Lattes and Mutants evolved out of a completely different WIP I was working on at the time.  Aliens turned to mutants and adults to teenagers, only the ocean remained the same.*:) 

Me: This is the kind of serendipity I love. And one more question: What’s been the most exciting/daunting part of becoming a published author?

Sandra: The most exciting part of becoming a published author was getting my first contract. I had written for a number of years before I got an offer.  
The most daunting part is when I rubbed  the stardust out of my eyes and realized it didn’t automatically mean people were going to be lined up to buy my book. I think most of us are surprised, when we first start out, to learn just how much self-promotion is involved  in a writing career. 

Me: You have told it like it is, and you have told it so well! Thanks so much.

And now welcome Tara Tyler and her new book with that kid-amazing cover!
 

Kids and teens are usually in a big rush to grow up. But adults know it’s not all staying up late partying or playing games with friends once you’re there. Sure, there’s more freedom when you’re an adult, but with independence comes responsibility. Some people mature, making good decisions, and some don’t. And a few adults seem like they’re still in high school, which brings me to my topic.

Adult Stereotypes. I’d say the majority of people grow up into decent adults and put away the pettiness and drama of high school. But we all slip up sometimes, letting a bad habit show once in a while. It’s tough being “adult” about everything all the time. Thank goodness for reality TV, giving us a quick reminder of how NOT to behave!

And so, here’s a fun list of Adult Stereotypes that you mostly only read about or see on TV or in movies for a laugh or for drama… They’re funnier or more dastardly because adults should know better.

Gossips - These sweethearts are syrup and sugar on the outside, but live for finding out and spreading juicy stories about you behind your back. Adult bullies who make others feel bad so they feel superior. I love it when they get their just desserts! (ha ha)

Nerds - I split these into two groups - the innocent rule-followers and helpers OR the super smarties who know they’re smarter than most and are condescending to the peons below them, they enjoy pointing out the mistakes of others. It’s fun to see the first type become heroes or the second type get shown up.
Jocks - There are three groups of this type - health nuts, muscle heads, or couch potatoes - and they’re all pretty selfish in extreme ways caring only about their bodies whether good or bad.
Partiers - They love to host or go out and drink and dance, etc. This is the worst group because they’re deceptively glamorized and don’t show the true consequences like alcoholism, addiction, and crime - unless it’s a serious movie, then it’s usually depressing.

There are more specific stereotypes, but I didn’t have room to list them all, like overprotective or oblivious parents, super strict or lazy teachers, etc. Irony sells. But the great part about books and movies with these outlandish characters is they usually get what’s coming to them or are taught a lesson for us to learn as well.

Do you ever use adult stereotypes to teach a lesson in your writing?

Thanks so much for having me here, Lee! This release party is making me go visit folks I haven’t seen in a long time - it’s been great!

WELCOME BACK TO THE FOREST!

CRADLE ROCK, Beast World Book Two

by Tara Tyler

Gabe the goblin just saved his town Broken Branch Falls from splitting apart. He also revealed that humans-horrible creatures of myth and legend-may actually be part of their history! But seriously? Nah!

Now Ona, Gabe’s girlfriend, is headed thousands of miles away to Camp Cradle Rock for Spring Break seeking evidence of humans. Gabe knows better than to tell a stubborn ogress she’s crazy, so he’s letting her go and spending the break at the beach like a normal teenage beast. And he’s determined to have a good time without her, whether he likes it or not.

But when Gabe hears Ona went missing, he and his friends set out for the wilds of the west to find her, no matter what dangerous creatures get in his way. Not even humans.

Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble ~ Goodreads

Check out the Book Trailer!

Tara Tyler has had a hand in everything from waitressing to rocket engineering. After moving all over, she now writes and teaches math in Ohio with her three active boys and Coach Husband. Currently she has two series, Pop Travel (techno-thriller detective capers) and Beast World (fantasy adventures). To squeeze in writing, she economizes her time aka the Lazy Housewife. Make every day an adventure!

Talk to me!
Author Blog ~~ @taratylertalks ~~ Facebook ~~ Housewives Blog

Sign up for my quarterly newsletter if you’d like to find out more and you could win something!

Quote of the Week: “The book designer’s responsibility is threefold: to the reader, to the publisher and, most of all, to the author. I want you to look at the author’s book and say, ‘Wow! I need to read that.'” Chip Kidd, Cover Designer

Holiday Kick Off with Lisa Cocca, #InkRipples, and Cookies

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Well this is the last Featured Follower of 2016. I can’t believe that the year is close to being over, but it will be an exciting end because Lisa Cocca is a good storyteller. I’m so happy to have her here for the month of December. 

Her book is Providence, and I’ve already read and reviewed it. If you want to find out more about Lisa, here’s her WEBSITE. If you want buy her most excellent book, it’s available on Amazon. With KindleUnlimited, you can read her story for free.  Email Connect peeps, she’s offering a FREE signed paperback. 

Connect with Lisa on Facebook and Twitter 

#InkRipples is a monthly meme created by Kai Strand, Mary Waibel, and Katie L. Carroll. They post on the first Monday of every month with a new topic. They’re all authors, but you don’t have to be to participate.
For about two decades, neighborhood did a spectacular Cookie Bake. I know what you’re thinking. Everybody comes bearing a dozen or so special holiday cookies, and then swaps with everyone else-and a good time was had by all. Nope. Not even close.

Everyone came with three cookie recipes and all the ingredients. We started about 4 in the afternoon and wound up the last batches about midnight. In between, we drank wine, nibbled on a pot luck buffet and exchanged Cookie Bake stories. “Remember in ’90 when we forgot the sugar cookies in the oven next door and smoke poured out the windows?”

Flour and sugar was involved in every part of the evening. And at the end we produced over 2,000 cookies and at least 30 different kinds. With the graying of the cookie bakers, the kids took over for a while, but then it was time to retire the tireless Cookie Bake. Now we have the memories, and each one is perfect, even the burnt sugar cookie night. 
Here I am ready to roll. It must be early in the evening because I’m not dusted with flour yet.

My neighbor and I are deep into the mixing here, and we’re still smiling, so it’s not midnight yet!


Quote of the Week:
 

November Featured Follower & Our Heritage, #InkRipples

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Meet Suzanne Kamata
The Write Game’s Amazin Featured Follower for November
Buy on Amazon
Add to your TBR list on Goodreads

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Aiko Cassidy is fourteen and lives with her sculptor mother in a small Midwestern town. For most of her young life Aiko, who has cerebral palsy, has been her mother’s muse. But now, she no longer wants to pose for the sculptures that have made her mother famous and have put food on the table. Aiko works hard on her own dream of becoming a great manga artist with a secret identity. 
When Aiko’s mother invites her to Paris for a major exhibition of her work, Aiko at first resists. She’d much rather go to Japan, Manga Capital of the World, where she might be able to finally meet her father,the indigo farmer. When she gets to France, however, a hot waiter with a passion for manga and an interest in Aiko makes her wonder if being invisible is such a great thing after all. And a side trip to Lourdes, ridiculous as it seems to her, might just change her life. 

And here’s Suzanne

Suzanne Kamata was born and raised in Grand Haven, Michigan. She is most recently from Lexington, South Carolina, and now lives in Tokushima Prefecture, Japan with her husband and two children.

Her short stories, essays, articles and book reviews have appeared in over 100 publications including Real Simple, Brain, Child, Cicada, and The Japan Times. Her work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize five times, and received a Special Mention in 2006. She is also a two-time winner of the All Nippon Airways/​Wingspan Fiction Contest, winner of the Paris Book Festival, and winner of a SCBWI Magazine Merit Award

This is how Gadget Girl begins. 
My father has blue hands. Or at least that’s what Mom tells me–one of the few facts I’ve been able to wring out of her. See, he’s the eldest sone of one of the last indigo producers in his village on the Japanese island of Shikoku His family has been growing indigo for generations–cuter, even–since back in the time of the shoguns.
“You were named after that plant,” Mom told me. “Ai means indigo. Ko means child.”

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Indigo is my destiny.
Her next book arrives in 2017. The Mermaids of Lake Michigan.

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pre-order from powells.
pre-order from barnes and noble.


Heritage is the #InkRipples topic for November


#InkRipples:a monthly meme created by Kai Strand, Mary Waibel, and Katie L. Carroll. 
Post on the first Monday of every month with a new topic. 
Thanks for the great gift, Mom and Dad.
And thanks for the heritage you passed on to me: the love of good food.

This is a cookbook filled with history and heritage of foods from the early immigrants to the U.S. Every time I make a dish, using this book, I learn more about the people who have helped shape our nation. 

Here’s why pumpkins are so much a part of our Thanksgiving feasts. “For the early colonists pumpkin was often the difference between survival and starvation. It was fit for only the peasants, said Europe. But the Colonists soon overcame this prejudice, and pumpkin became an almost daily staple in the New World.” 

Quote of the Week: “So long as you have food in your mouth,  you have solved all questions for the time being.” Franz Kafka

My September Featured Follower is… And Don’t Miss #InkRipples

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 Barnes and Noble. Amazon. Indiebound
. . . Steve Parlato, author of The Namesake. I first met Steve in the UncommonYa group and came to appreciate his hard work and generous nature. He always chimed in during discussions, tweeted and re-tweeted author news, and posted regularly on the blog. Then I read his book and was drawn into his story by some seriously good writing and a story that touched my heart. I reviewed it just recently. This an example of a young adult story that can be devoured by a more mature reader and truly appreciated by them. My Review.
BLURB: The Namesake ~ (Adapted from Merit’s dustjacket copy)
For his teenage son, Evan Sr.’s decision to end his life is a deep betrayal. Evan was named for his father, and looks eerily like him, but the suicide proves the father he thought he knew was just a myth. A locked trunk may hold answers, and, thanks to his grandmother, the key is literally in Evan’s hand. Will his quest for answers help Evan find peace, or will he merely follow his father’s path to despair?  
In a voice that resonates with the authenticity of grief, Steven Parlato tells a different coming-of-age story, about a boy thrust into adulthood too soon, through the corridor of shame, disbelief, and finally…compassion. 

Kirkus Reviews: 
Evan Galloway, in his third year at Saint Sebastian’s Catholic High School, is told to “write what you know” for his college-application essays. But it’s what he doesn’t know that is haunting him.
“It’s funny how perfectly life splits into before and after,” Evan says. Before his father killed himself, home life was pretty normal—Now there’s a hole in that life that can’t be filled or explained. Evan takes on a quest…and the story becomes compelling, as answers to questions slowly surface…His digging… “let[s] the dragon out of the cave,” though, as troubling information unfolds about his father… Parlato’s debut novel, many years in the making, is a painstaking dissection of a father’s past and its reverberations in his son’s life.

A memorable, disturbing story, carefully wrought. (Fiction. 14 & up)
Blog. Twitter. Facebook

Steven Parlato, novelist, poet, and illustrator, is Associate Professor of English at Naugatuck Valley Community College, where he serves as advisor to the student newspaper, The Tamarack. Parlato’s played roles ranging from the Scarecrow to Macbeth; his poetry appears in Freshwater, MARGIE, Borderlands, Pirene’s Fountain, and Peregrine. Steven’s YA manuscript won a 2011 CT Shoreline Arts Alliance Tassy Walden Award. Upon The Namesake’s 2013 release, Kirkus called Parlato’s novel “a memorable, disturbing story, carefully wrought.”  

Lee, I’m so honored to be September’s Featured Follower. It’s been a summer of deep personal loss—my dad passed in July after a long cancer battle—and I’ve been in a bit of a creative slump. But the chance to share with your readers is inspiring. And it couldn’t come at a better time: I’m excited to share the news that Brilliance Audio’s new CD version of The Namesake audiobook releases September 6. It’s available for pre-order now on Amazon and Barnes and Noble

And stay tuned because Steve has more news about his next book. I’ll be posting all about it next week! The Precious Dreadful! is the title. Can’t wait to find out more.

#InkRipples is a monthly meme created by Kai Strand, Mary Waibel, and Katie L. Carroll. They post on the first Monday of every month with a new topic. They’re all authors, but you don’t have to be to participate.

The idea of #InkRipples is to toss a word, idea, image, whatever into the inkwell and see what kind of ripples it makes. They provide the topics and will be blogging about them on the first Monday of the month. You can spread your own ripples by blogging about the topic any day of the month that fits your schedule, just be sure to include links back to Katie, Kai, and Mary.

My favorite banned book is Catch 22. I still have a torn and marked up paperback of my first copy, and I wouldn’t part with it. Every time I run into situations that seem to have no solutions or are totally insane, I hear Heller’s words in my head. 



So here are 3 Quotes for the Week from Joseph Heller’s Catch-22:


“Insanity is contagious.” 
“[They] agreed that it was neither possible nor necessary to educate people who never questioned anything.”
“Why are they going to ‘disappear him?'”
“I don’t know.”
“It doesn’t make sense. It isn’t even good grammar.”

I’m Guilty and I Don’t Care!

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#InkRipples is a monthly meme created by Kai Strand, Mary Waibel, and Katie L. Carroll. We post on the first Monday of every month with a new topic. The brains behind this meme are all authors, but you don’t have to be to participate.
You can also spread your own ripples by blogging about the topic any day of the month that fits your schedule, just be sure to include links back to Katie, Kai, and Mary.



This month’s topic is Guilty Pleasures.

I have one Guilty Pleasure that I will confess to. I love books and everything about them. So when people say, “Hey, guess what? I’m publishing a new book,” I have no choice but to indulge that GP and tell everyone who will listen that there’s another book for them.
So without more twiddle-twaddle on my part, here’s my Featured Follower for August. Mark Noce and his debut book. Keep reading. There’s a special Cover Reveal, too.

Saxon barbarians threaten to destroy medieval Wales. Lady Branwen becomes Wales’ last hope to unite their divided kingdoms when her father betroths her to a powerful Welsh warlord, the Hammer King. But the fledgling alliance is fraught with enemies from within and without as Branwen becomes the target of assassination attempts and courtly intrigue. A young woman in a world of fierce warriors, she seeks to assert her own authority and preserve Wales against the barbarians. But when she falls for a young hedge knight named Artagan, her world threatens to tear itself apart.

Caught between her duty to her people and her love of a man she cannot have, Branwen must choose whether to preserve her royal marriage or to follow her heart. Somehow she must save her people and remain true to herself, before Saxon invaders and a mysterious traitor try to destroy her.

Branwen’s story combines elements of mystery and romance with Noce’s gift for storytelling.

Amazon/ Amazon Kindle/ Barnes & Noble/ Barnes & Noble Nook/ iTunes/ IndieBound/ Thomas Dunne Books

I’ll be posting more about Mark and his book August 15. My review for his book is coming soon.

What does Featured Follower mean?
It means that I:
  • buy, read and review the book.
  • post about the book on my blog.
  • post on facebook with a link to my review.
  • post three tweets each Wed. for the month.
  • add the cover to my Pinterest folder: Covers that Catch My Eye.

Sign up on my Email Connect (top right margin) to have a shot at being featured, receiving gifts for followers, news about my copywriting class and what I’m learning about how to sell more books. This month, Effective Book Descriptions.


Bish Denham’s cover for her next story from the island paradise of St. John.


The Bowl and the Stone Cover Reveal
Book Blurb

Pirates. Explorers. And spooky ghost hunters.

It’s 1962. Sam and her best friend, Nick, have the whole island of St. John, in the U. S. Virgin Islands, as their playground. They’ve got a 240-year-old sugar plantation ruins to explore, beaches to swim, and trails to hike.


But when a man disappears like a vapor right in front of them, they must confront a scary new reality. They’re being haunted. By whom? And why? He’s even creeping into Nick’s dreams.


They need help, but the one who might be able to give it is Trumps, a reclusive hunchback who doesn’t like people, especially kids. Are Sam and Nick brave enough to face him? And if they do, will he listen to them? 


Their carefree summer games turn into eerie hauntings, and Sam and Nick learn more about themselves and life than they could ever have imagined.

Pre-order today and enter the ghostly tale as soon as it releases.

Bish Denham


About the Author

Bish Denham, whose mother’s side of the family has been in the Caribbean for over one hundred years, was raised in the U. S. Virgin Islands. She still has lots of family living there whom she visits regularly.
She says, “Growing up in the islands was like living inside a history book. Columbus named the islands, Sir Francis Drake sailed through the area, and Alexander Hamilton was raised on St. Croix. The ruins of hundreds of sugar plantations, built with the sweat and blood of slave labor, litter the islands. Then there were the pirates who plied the waters. It is within this atmosphere of wonder and mystery that I grew up. Life for me was magical, and through my writing I hope to pass on some of that magic.”
The Bowl and the Stone: A Haunting Tale from the Virgin Islands, is her third book and second novel. You can find Anansi and Company: Retold Jamaican Tales and A Lizard’s Tail, at Amazon.com.
To learn more about Bish, visit her blog, Random Thoughts
She can also be found on Facebook
Twitter @BishDenham

And Goodreads





Sign of the Green Dragon is about to poke its nose into the world. August 3!
Still time to pre-order for only .99 if you haven’t already. And if you want to lend a hand with this birth, send up some smoke. I can use all the help I can get. To those who’ve already held up their hands, thanks so much.

I’ll be at Robert Kent’s super Middle Grade Ninja blog today, so stop by and read how I feel about being a hybrid author.

So there you have it. My Guilty Pleasure and a few of new books, too. Now for the Quote of the Week: “Poor is the man whose pleasure depends on the permission of another.” Madonna

Reflection on #atozChallenge 2016 and #InkRipples

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Find out more HERE.

This is the perfect week to combine two hops into a single post: Reflections on the #atozChallenge for 2016 and Memories for the May #InkRipples.
The idea people: Katie, Kai, and Mary

The idea of #InkRipples is to toss a word, idea, image, whatever into the inkwell and see what kind of ripples it makes. We provide the topics and will be blogging about them on the first Monday of the month. You can spread your own ripples by blogging about the topic any day of the month that fits your schedule. 

Memories is the topic for May’s #InkRipples. And what better memory than the newly concluded #atozChallenge. Here are some of my favorite memories from this year’s AtoZ. And they’re alphabetical. Once I’ve mastered a theme, I stick with it.

I loved Alex Cavanaugh’s Origins of Science Fiction Terms. Some of these terms have been around for quite a long time. The X Gun (X-Beam Projector) 1937!


Bish Denham’s Shakespearean Insults and Compliments had me in stitches and sometimes scratching my head.  “WARTHOGS bow to the pond scum of your passage way.” That’s a compliment BTW.

 Mvh. Janus Kramer Møller, Wikimedia Commons

Damhyanti Biswas posted about a remarkable project called Project Why. Such amazing and touching stories about helping kids out of poverty and giving them a chance to succeed.

Pat Garcia took us on a beautiful journey with a Child and a Prophet in her blog, Everything Must Change. 

I felt as if I’d traveled to some of the most gorgeous places in India after visiting kalapanaawrites every day. 

Writing in the Crosshairs never failed to make me either laugh or think or both at the same time. Roland, Freud and Twain were unbeatable conversationalists.

Yvonne Ventresca kept me sane with excellent ideas for being productive while writing. 


There are more, but I’ll have to post about them another time or this will be one long post.

Quote for the Week: “Storytelling is the best way we have of coming up with new ideas.” Richard Branson. This was quoted in Forbes.