Feature & Folllow

Feature & Follow

Q: What is the last book that kept you up late into the night just to finish it?

The Hunger Games series kept me up a little later than I usually read.

G. Gordon Dean - Scam Factory - Author Interview & Giveaway

Congratulations to our winner!
marypres [at] gmail [dot] com

About the Book

Whoever said 'white-collar crime doesn’t pay' never lived in Washington D.C. TierGroup is a business consultancy firm located in the heart of DC. Its Division Heads have a very cold and calculating unorthodox approach to conducting business. Protecting and serving their clients is the only thing that matters. Nevertheless, loyalty can swing both ways in this journey through greed, corruption, and absolute lack of accountability.

As a former Las Vegas Casino Surveillance Director, Michael Crayter, a straight shooter, becomes an unaware, almost, employee of TierGroup in mid-2001. His transformation takes many shapes from idea man to fraud guru. He embarks on a journey to Iraq, through Hurricane Katrina and eventually takes part in one of the biggest scams in the history of the United States - the TARP funding program. His boss, Charles “The Czar” Zarin, is the ultimate manipulation mentor. Michael Crayter’s experience will last for more than eight years and will make his old Vegas job seem like child’s play.

The investment opportunities the United States has to offer during this timeframe are seemingly endless and the public joins in on the greed. The whole country is riding high on the inflated value train with careless abandonment. There are no regulations followed or laws unbroken by the Mortgage Lenders, Stock Brokers, and Bankers. The bubble is getting bigger and the clock is ticking. It's every man for himself. Divide and conquer. Borrow and spend. No one sees the tsunami coming, except for Charles Zarin. Capitalism will be turned upside down and the money spigot will run dry.

By late 2007 the bubble bursts and our country’s economy is left in ruins. The Treasury is sent in to bail out the white-collar thieves. While losing most of its clients TierGroup and Michael Crayter are left to fend for themselves. The tables are turned on the fat-cat bankers who caused the meltdown. Michael Crayter uses his hard gained experience to get even with the fake bastards. Almost everyone loyal to TierGroup gets away with highway robbery and the American taxpayer is left holding the bag. Michael Crayter begins to tell his story, in this Four Part first-person narrative, during a 2005 interview at FBI headquarters in Washington D.C.

Author Interview

1. Please tell us about your current release.
SCAM FACTORY is a modern day White-Collar Crime Novel that begins in 2001 and continues into 2009. The 4-part story tells about the events that led to the U. S. Financial Crash that started in late 2007. The story’s main character, Michael Crayter, begins a new career, in mid-life, with an ultra-private Washington D.C. Consulting Firm. The Consulting Firm (TierGroup) represents seventeen of the worlds’ largest and most powerful industries who are making tremendous financial gains with no end in sight. SCAM FACTORY is also a story that takes its reader to Iraq, New Orleans, the Caribbean, and other major US cities. I believe I have described the story well in the Back Cover Copy and Prologue.

2. Can you tell us about the journey that led you to write your book?
The journey for writing SCAM FACTORY started with a dream I had one night about interviewing for an executive position at a major Consulting Firm. I landed the job in my dream, but after I woke up, I still had no idea what they did. I thought to myself: That was not a legitimate company, it was a Scam Factory. Then I further thought to myself that it might make an interesting book or even a movie. The war in Iraq, Hurricane Katrina, and the U.S. financial crash, which all occurred within the last 12 years, were also a perfect fit for this story.

3. Can you tell us about the story behind your book cover?
I designed and created the book cover with help of an associate. The title says it all: SCAM FACTORY. There is a silhouette of Washington D.C. in the background on the bottom of the cover, with the Washington Monument broadly standing out almost like a smoke stack from a factory, and sub tittles give the reader added information about the story. The font colors are also mean to stand out. I may add a light watermark of hurricane Katrina in the background later.

***

Scam Factory can be purchased at:
Kindle, Nook


Price: $4.99 ebook
Pages: 263
Release: October 15, 2012


About the Author

G. Gordon Dean is a Real Estate agent and Business Consultant currently living in Arizona. He has been a media buff for over two decades. As a media buff he has kept himself well aware of past and current events in business, government, and politics. He lived in Las Vegas, Nevada for over 30 years. This is his first novel.

Links to connect with G. Gordon:
Facebook
Goodreads
Blog Tour Site


About the Giveaway

Leave a comment with your email address to enter to win an ebook of Scam Factory. 
Ends January 31, 2013.

Cassietta Jefferson - Be Still and Know - Author Interview

Author Interview

1) Who is your favorite character?
At this point, I think Kai is my favorite character.

2) Why is he/she your favorite?
I love that she’s flawed; she’s not perfect at all, she’s made mistakes and poor choices like we all have and I think it makes her more relatable. I also love that there’s an innocence and vulnerability about her but at the same time, she’s quite confident.

3) How did you come to create him/her?
Kai is a combination of me, my friends, some of my family, and young women that I’ve met along the way.

4) When did he/she first enter your mind?
I first “met” Kai about 12 years ago. I was struggling to get over something and I was meeting different young women who were struggling with some of the same things. Kai was developed as a way for me to address some of the issues that we were all struggling with.

5) Where was he/she given life in the creative process?
She was actually the center of the creative process. Kai was born as a result of me wanting to speak to certain issues and struggles that women face. The book was actually written around her story.

6) What do like the most about him/her and what do you dislike the most about him/her?
What I like most about Kai is that somewhere between the first and the last pages, she grows and matures. She has a way of pulling the reader in and just when they’re ready to dislike her, she does something that changes their minds. I think I may dislike the fact that she’s doesn’t have any quirks. I happen to like a quirky, kind of funny character.


About the Book

Bitterness and deception always manage to find their way to the surface. Be Still & Know is a novel about finding love after devastating heartbreak and the challenges of learning to trust again.

Kai Bennett never believed that she was worthy of love. Too many years of being mistreated left her bitter and uncertain of her own self-worth. Finding validation in men, money, and trinkets, she has little use for a man becoming a permanent fixture in her life. That was until she met Alvin. What starts as a game of cat and mouse quickly develops into something Kai is unsure she is ready to handle.

Alvin Reigns discovered long ago that in love, there were no happy endings. He had fallen in love once, and vowed to never again allow any woman that much control over his heart. Kai Bennett was an unexpected surprise who made him want to believe in the possibility of a happy ending. After many years of self-preservation, Alvin is unsure if he should trust Kai with his heart. How will Alvin and Kai learn to trust and create their own happy ending?

Buy Links: Ebook, Paperback


About the Author

Cassietta Jefferson is a contemporary Christian author, publisher, and blogger. She is the newest Editor in Chief for Journey, the For My Sister Friends newsletter, and the founder of Virtuous Ink Publishing. She has a passion for reading and writing, and seeks to provide her readers with the best in contemporary Christian literature. Cassietta is currently preparing for the release of a collection of short stories as well as the much anticipated follow up to her first novel.

Link to connect with Cassietta:
Web Site

Malve von Hassell - Rennefarre - Author Interview & Giveaway

Unfortunately, we did not have any giveaway entries, so there is no winner.

About the Book

Imagine riding on the back of a blue heron across time and space. Imagine befriending crows, being kidnapped by magpies, and being given a lift on the back of a kindly stag. Imagine experiencing life as an outcast from human society, encountering spirits and mythical creatures from the world of legends, experiencing the plague in Dresden, and being chased through Berlin by Frederick the Great.

Dott is a twelve-year old girl. She lives in the countryside east of Berlin in an unspecified time between the two world wars. When Dott sneaks out to see the bonfire at the edge of her village on the evening of the midsummer night festival, she has no idea what will happen next. In the dark of night, the magical Rennefarre flower falls into her shoe. It not only makes her invisible, but also allows her to see things no one else could see. No longer able to stay with her parents and her young brother and sister, she begins her search to find a way out of her predicament.

Her quest to return home to her family winds its way through the cities and countryside of 20th century Germany—and beyond. As she befriends the local animals, they help her on her way with gifts of food, shelter, and—through the help of a kind spirit—a magical cup which allows her to become small and ride on the backs of the birds.

Flying across the country on the backs of crows and herons, Dott finds herself seeing the country not only as it is, but also as it used to be. She lives through moments in history others can only read about—meeting historical kings and fanciful spirits along the way. But, even with all of the excitement of her travels, she always has one goal in mind: returning home to her family.

Part coming-of-age story, part fantasy, and part social-cultural portrait of Eastern Germany in the early part of the 20th century, the book covers real ground. That is, one could follow Dott's travels on a map of the area. Seamlessly blending elements of fantasy and history, the book contains a fascinating array of details of day-to-day life in rural and urban areas in eastern Germany. Dott’s adventures are interwoven with folklore and myths as well as vivid accounts of different eras and the diverse cultural and ethnic strains that have formed the basis for a rich and complex history of Germany and Eastern Europe. Written on the eve of World War II, the book offers a sobering perspective on the human potential for causing devastation. At the same time it is filled with hope. In one scene, Dott gets a glimpse of the future — an utterly destroyed cityscape; it inspires her to look to her own responsibilities and actions in life.

Author Interview

1. Please tell us about your current release.
The first English edition of Rennefarre is the culmination of a dream of mine—a perfect storm of things that I love: a wonderful original text, the challenge of translation, the thrill of research, and the joy of assembling everything into a finished product. I am excited that it is now in print and available to an English reading audience.

2. Can you tell us about the journey that led you to write your book?
I have loved Rennefarre since I was a child. I read it over and over, fascinated and charmed by the adventures of Dott, the main character—described in such a tangible and immediate fashion. I loved the voices of the animals that Dott encounters. The descriptions and scenes are so real that it is easy to imagine oneself following along in Dott’s footsteps. Dott, impulsive, stubborn, and passionate, was real and believable to me as a child. As an adult returning to this book, I decided that it was a treasure that should be made available to English readers.

3. Can you tell us about the story behind your book cover?
The cover depicts a scene in the book where Dott seeks out a place to sleep for the night. When she stands in front of this building, she feels very much alone and is grateful for the company of Ardea, the young heron next to her. She ends up sleeping in the abbey, sheltered and kept warm by the heron’s wing. The image conveys many elements of the story, the thrill of discovery, the charm of nature, a multi-layered and complex history, the importance of friendship, and the feeling of being alone.

***

Rennefarre can be purchased at:
MyBookOrders.com


Price: $13.99 paperback
ISBN: 9781938690389
Pages: 297
Publisher: Two Harbors Press
Release: December 11, 2012


About the Author

Malve von Hassell is a freelance writer, researcher, and translator. She holds a Ph. D. in anthropology from the New School for Social Research. Working as an independent scholar, she published several books and journal articles, in particular, The Struggle for Eden: Community Gardens in New York City (Bergin & Garvey 2002) and Homesteading in New York City 1978-1993: The Divided Heart of Loisaida (Bergin & Garvey 1996). She has also edited her grandfather Ulrich von Hassell's memoirs written in prison in 1944, Der Kreis schließt sich - Aufzeichnungen aus der Haft 1944 (Propylaen Verlag 1994). She has taught at Queens College, Baruch College, Pace University, and Suffolk County Community College, while continuing her work as a translator and writer. She has published a children’s picture book, Letters from the Tooth Fairy (Mill City Press, 2012), and completed a manuscript for a historical fiction book set in the 13th century for young adults, Falconello. She is working on a historical fiction novel set in Jerusalem in the time of the crusades.

Links to connect with Malve:
Web Site
Facebook
Goodreads
Blog Tour Site

About the Giveaway

Leave a comment with your email address to enter to win a PDF ebook of Rennefarre. Ends January 31, 2013.

Kathleen Gerard - In Transit: A Novel - Guest Post & Giveaway

About the Book

WINNER!
Best Romantic Fiction
New York Book Festival 2011

Can a rookie cop survive the men who cross her path in the NYPD?

When a psychic in a shopping mall tells Rita Del Vecchio that she is "destined for greatness," and she will "marry a man in uniform," the restless, wet-behind-the-ears, 22 year-old decides to finally take control of her life. Rita sets out on a quest to become a New York City Police Officer. But can a spry, feisty, single woman thrive in the gritty world of New York's Finest?

Leaving behind the suburbs of New Jersey and a job as an under-tipped waitress, Rita Del Vecchio hangs up her apron and ballet slippers for a bullet-proof vest. But will she wear it? And if she does, will it protect her on the mean streets of Manhattan? Can it also protect her from Cupid’s arrows if they should land amiss?

Rita is assigned to the New York City Transit Police Squad and gets more than she bargained for. Riding the Lexington Avenue Subway Line, Rita winds up meeting not one man in uniform, but many. Whom will she love?

In Transit is a woman-in-jeopardy story, a post 9-11 novel, that delves into the ordinary lives of NYPD career cops and how their fates are often determined by people who hold secrets as dark and as labyrinth-like as the New York City Subway System.

Reviews

"Rita Del Vecchio is a great, fresh character; vulnerable yet tough . . . In Transit is suspenseful and rings with authenticity. Ordinary citizens are usually unaware of the role of the transit police and seeing Rita work against the very real backdrop of New York City is a real treat."
–Barbara D'Amato, Agatha, Anthony and Mystery Writers of America award-winning author of Authorized Personnel Only and Death of a Thousand Cuts

"The characters are as big as real life and the story realistic and dramatic...IN TRANSIT is a winner!"
-Romance Reviews Today

"You get involved with (these characters) and want to know what happens...The development of Rita and Billy was believable, well-constructed and covered their complex relationship very well."
-The GenReview

"A dark and dangerous story . . .The police work and interactions are well done . . . If you enjoy suspense and danger with romance and great characters, you will enjoy this book. It is quick paced and full of action, with an eye to realism and human emotions."
-Seattle Post Intelligencer


Excerpt

It was a blood bath at Grand Central. By the time Franko and Rita arrived on the scene, commuters were scrambling, trying to get away from the pandemonium. The victim was flat on his back, face up and unconscious on the cold tile platform. It was obvious that life was quickly draining from him. The tails of his tie were flung back over his shoulder, and the lapels of his suit jacket were parted like a curtain that revealed a bull’s-eye of blood right at the center of his starched white business shirt. Papers that had spilled from a leather briefcase were strewn around the lifeless-looking body and sopping up the growing pool of blood.

“Freeze! Freeze!” came the shouts of Rita and Franko, who raised their weapons in order to corner three Latino men wearing leather jackets and holding switchblade knives.

“Drop your weapons. Now!” The commanding shrill of Franko’s voice echoed in the terminal. The two men in the rear of the group did as they were told. They threw down their knives. But there was one holdout—the pack leader, the guy heading up the trio. He waved a bloody knife in front of him, itching for a fight.

A spike of fear rose up in Franko. He stared into the man’s face. The image of those wild eyes, his thick nose and taut lips seared into Franko’s brain as he firmed his grip on his weapon, tight and damp, and ordered, “C’mon, man. I said drop it. Drop your weapon and put up your hands.”

“But I ain’t done nothing,” the pack leader said. He had a well-defined V-shape to his body that made him appear the most muscular-looking of the three. He kept his feet firmly planted. He didn’t blink. Perspiration was raining down from beneath the fringe of his black hair.

“Don’t be stupid,” one of the other men said, his voice rising from behind the group. “Just give ’em what they want. It’s over.”

The pack leader yelled something incoherent in Spanish that sounded like a bark.

Every muscle in Franko’s body was tense, but he could feel his hand, his fingers wrapped around the gun, beginning to quake. Locked in this standoff, Franko couldn’t see a way out of this, but he tightened his bicep so that his arm might feel stronger.

You’re the one in control here, spouted Franko’s internal dialogue. Keep your hand steady and your mind even. Finger on the trigger. Be cool. You’ve got this guy.

With his piece still aimed on the defiant pack leader, Franko took a step closer and said, “Get against the wall.” Franko could feel his adrenaline rushing, even through his eyes. “I said, put your hands up and drop your weapon.”

The two men in the rear backed up toward the wall of the terminal. But brazenly, the pack leader stood his ground. He brandished the knife in front of him like a shield, ready for Franko’s attack.

Franko kept his aim on the leader and again moved closer. One step… Then another. The perpetrator moved from side to side. He wouldn’t back down. Rita, creeping alongside Franko, kept her own weapon drawn and followed Franko’s lead. But as Franko took his fourth step toward the perp, Rita’s and Franko’s police radios hissed and crackled with static. The sound must’ve jarred the man with the outstretched knife. He lunged for Franko.

Pop!

A bullet, a single shot, released from the chamber of Franko’s gun. It echoed like the roar of a cannon. The assailant collapsed onto the platform. Franko had lodged a bullet in the man’s leg.

The perpetrator looked stunned, and so was Franko. His arm was outstretched, and he kept the gun pointed straightaway. For a terrifying instant, a light, gauzy feeling filled Franko’s head. Everything in the cold, desolate terminal looked and sounded muted, except for the bloodied knife-edge. The shiny part of the blade glimmered on the ground next to the perpetrator, and Franko saw it as clear as if he were holding it in his own hand.

“Franko, you all right?” Rita asked.

He couldn’t speak. Have I imagined this? Have I really just shot a man? Franko could feel his face flush. He felt as though he’d just showered with his clothes on.

When the back-up team arrived, along with paramedics, the adrenaline of the scene finally began to drain from Franko. And on he went, business as usual.

The injured businessman, who’d been lying unconscious, was quickly put on a stretcher and rushed out of the terminal. After the victim’s wallet was recovered from the pack leader, Rita and Franko discovered there was only one hundred dollars inside.

The two other assailants were handcuffed. They were read their rights and whisked away. As the wounded aggressor was being carted off on a stretcher, the medical crew worked hard to restrain him. But what they couldn’t restrain were his words.

“I’ll be back to get you, you fat pig,” he wailed.

“Aw, I bet you say that to all your arresting officers,” Franko chimed, trying to act nonchalant while a sick feeling shivered through him.

Through the barrage of paramedics and police, the aggressor defiantly craned his neck. When he found Franko through the crowd, he raised his hand in a gesture of an imaginary gun.

“Bang, bang,” he said, taking aim and firing a make-believe shot in the direction of Franko’s head.

When Franko turned away, his gaze landed on Rita. He saw his own horror reflected in her pale face.

Guest Post
Strong Women: Defining Character - Warts and All

What makes a strong hero or heroine in fiction? Is it looks or personality - maybe a combination of both? Is it blatant courage or quiet resolve? Is it whom the protagonist loves - and who loves him/her? Or maybe it's simply the situations the protagonist finds him/herself embroiled and how he/she responds to those situations?

When you think of strong women protagonists in storytelling/literature, who comes to mind? Do you have a favorite?

Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
Mrs. Dalloway (To the Lighthouse - Virginia Woolf)
Jo March (Little Women - Louisa May Alcott)
Elizabeth Bennet (Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen)
Scarlett O'Hara (Gone With the Wind - Margaret Mitchell)
Bridget Jones (Helen Fielding)
Stephanie Plum (Janet Evanovich)
Lucky Santangelo (Jackie Collins)

I love a flawed character, because we're all, as human beings, greatly flawed. That's what makes each of us unique and resonate distinctly from one another. The more flawed, the more unique - and all the better when it comes to writing a story with multi-faceted characters. After all, how can you not root for someone with insecurities and weaknesses, someone who, over the course of a story, will need to tap into their strengths and work around those flaws in order to change and to grow?

In my novel, IN TRANSIT, I introduce the character of Rita Del Vecchio as a naive and wet-behind-ears 20-something. I wanted to skirt the story away from being a traditional police procedural novel, the stereotypical portrayal of hard-boiled crime fighters with hard-edges and super-tough exteriors. Yes, Rita is tough - how else could she survive training in the police academy or in her work with the NYPD? But I didn't want her to be a lone wolf - a workaholic or a love-him-and-leave-him-type. I wanted her to be strong, yet sensitive - to be able to retain some innocence and remain uniquely feminine. Therefore, I rooted her characterization in the fact that she loves romance novels (and the implied idea of her belief in happy endings), and she has an affinity for ballet and dance...I felt the redemptive-nature of love and the gracefulness of ballet might temper the gritty realities she faced while walking her beat In NYC. And while Rita thinks that meeting and marrying a man in uniform is what she needs in order to feel fulfilled, it is that very quest--and the nature of her personal strengths and weaknesses in the face of adversity--which ultimately teaches her hard lessons about the meaning of life and love.

***

In Transit: A Novel buy links:

Hardcover (U.S.):
Amazon U.S.
Barnes and Noble

Hardcover International:
Amazon Canada
Amazon UK

eBook:
Kindle
Nook
Untreed Reads

Price: $4.99 ebook, $25.95 hardcover
Pages: 246 ebook, 284 hardcover
ISBN: 9781594149665
ASIN: B009RR815S
Hardcover Publisher: Five Star (Gale-Cengage-Thorndike Press)
eBook Publisher: Untreed Reads
Hardcover Release: May 2011
eBook Release: October 2012


About the Author

Kathleen Gerard writes across genres. Her fiction has been awarded The Perillo Prize, The Eric Hoffer Prose Award and was nominated for Best New American Voices, all national prizes in literature. Her prose and poetry have been widely published in magazines, literary journals, anthologies and broadcast on National Public Radio (NPR). Several of her plays have been staged and performed regionally and off-Broadway.

Links to connect with Kathleen:
Web site
Blog
Twitter
Goodreads
Blog Tour Site


About the Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

What I'm Reading Now - Sykosa by Justin Ordonez

Buy Link: Amazon

Sykosa (that’s “sy”-as-in-“my” ko-sa) is a junior in high school. She belongs to an exclusive clique of girls called the “Queens.” The leader is her best friend Niko. Their friendship has been strained lately because Tom—Sykosa's first boyfriend—has gotten all serious about making her his pretty Prom princess. That is if he ever gets around to asking her. Before Prom, there’s a party at Niko’s cottage where parental supervision will be nil. He wants to have sex. She doesn’t. He sometimes acts like that doesn’t matter.

It matters.

Sykosa has a secret she has never told anyone about. Although, some people—Tom included—know anyway. It happened last year and it was big and she’ll cry if she talks about it so she’s done talking about it, okay? Never mind, it’s nobody's business. Except it keeps happening, and it never stops. She doesn’t want to deal with it. He does. She sometimes acts like that doesn’t matter.

It matters.

Al Moe - Nevada's Golden Years of Gambling - Guest Post

Guest Post
Writing for a Niche Market

Every book has a number of niche markets that a successful marketing campaign can target, although the author may not realize it at first. Sometimes it’s not until the work is done that an obvious market emerges, but when it does, take advantage of it! John Grisham is one of the finest and most successful authors of our time. He writes about lawyers, a subject he knows well after practicing law himself. He has practically manufactured his own “lawyer” niche, but there are plenty of other groups his publisher markets to.

Stephen King admits to loving horror pictures, having been drawn to them at a local theatre during his youth. He too, knows and loves his subject. That love is what sends those novels into the sales stratosphere. Well, that and great stories told in the best possible manner, but again, although his books are in the horror and fiction genre’, other reading groups are attracted to his work.

For mere mortal authors, an audience can still be found by figuring out who benefits or wants the kind of book you have produced. As I mentioned at Author Book Marketing, identifying your niche is the key, and it’s not that tough to do.

Just as blogs appeal to certain readers, so do books, obviously, but targeting your work to the right group not only focuses your marketing dollars, but uses your valuable time in a productive manner.

My book, “Nevada’s Golden Age of Gambling,” is about the first 50 years of legalized gambling in Nevada (1931 to 1981). So, who’s interested in that subject? Well, your first thought might be gamblers. People that go and play blackjack might be my best bet (sorry for the pun). I wish that was true because my audience would be much larger.

However, I’ve found that gamblers are only a small part of my audience. Most slot players don’t care that “Bugsy” Siegel was the front man for the Mob in Las Vegas and built the Flamingo casino. They do seem more interested in the fact that he was gunned down at his girlfriend’s (Virginia Hill) house in Beverly Hills in 1947.

That’s a clue.

So what niches do I target? Sure, Las Vegas, casinos and gambling – but how about Hollywood, and gangsters. Let’s add The Mob to that list, and people interested in Nevada, history, casino chips, dice collectors, post card collectors (specializing in Nevada, Las Vegas, Hollywood, and casinos). Add the 1940’s now we’re cooking. With those dozen niches I’ve got plenty to start with. The internet connects me with plenty of blogs about every single one of those groups.

What’s Your Niche?

So, think about your latest book. Say it’s a novel, set in a US submarine during the 1970s. What are your niches? To start with, submarines, and the ‘70’s, and the Navy. Let’s add where the submarine was deployed – did it leave San Diego? Now add California, and the genre’, action adventure perhaps. Is there a murder, a physician on board (yes), are US Seals attached to this sub, and what about the sonar equipment and some sub history? Can you think of a few other niches to round out a dozen avenues to market? Yes, you can.

By using niche marketing you help target your dollars and solidify your audience, but you also do something a novelist must always do to be successful: differentiate their work from the 4.5 million other novels that were published in the last year. Yes, the odds are that steep!

If you start with a great story, tell it well, edit your words, and have a great cover, you are already ahead of 90% of your competition. Then, keep up with the remaining authors by making sure your words get seen by your niche market. Do that and you can eventually attract the masses. Don’t believe me? Just ask John Grisham and Stephen King!


Book Blurb:

Before "Bugsy" Siegel" opened the Flamingo casino and created the Las Vegas Strip, the Mob was hard at work stealing Downtown casinos like the Las Vegas Club and the El Cortez from their original owners. Reno casino owners resorted to arson and murder to keep their money flowing, and they had Lake Tahoe casinos in their pocket too!

Nevada's Golden Age of Gambling is a photo-rich history of the casinos from 1931 to 1981. All about the building of empires from Reno and Lake Tahoe to Las Vegas and a dozen other Nevada casino towns.

Stories detail how the casinos were built, who the major gaming pioneers were, and how they managed to build Nevada from a agriculture and mining based economy into the greatest gaming empire in the world.

Chapters include the history of casinos and their founders from Bill Harrah and "Pappy" Smith, to Moe Dalitz, "Bugsy" Siegel, and dozens of others.

Author Bio:

I'm a lucky guy. My family traveled through Nevada most summers and I got to see the towns and casinos changing like the color of the leaves in the trees. Casinos came and went. So did we.

I started taking pictures of the casinos and researching their owners and name changes in the 1980's. I collected chips and dice, and since then I've had a great time working at properties like Harrah's and Harold's Club, and writing about everything I've learned.

I also write a Nevada Casino History blog and discuss Casino Gambling at About.com Please drop by and leave me a note - I'll respond.

Links:

Amazon.com buy link

Twitter

Goodreads