FLASHING MY SHORTS

JUST RELEASED

FLASHING MY SHORTS
BY

SALVATORE BUTTACI

Writing stories under 1,000 words is certainly challenging. Called flash fiction, micro-fiction, sudden fiction, and postcard fiction, these quick writes have become quite popular today. They succeed in accommodating readers on the go who lack the luxury of sitting down for long periods of reading. Like patrons at a smorgasbord, they can taste a little of this fine dish and a little of that. They can leave the table without fear of being still hungry.
"With dry humor and a deep sense of irony, Salvatore Buttaci has delivered a book of sparkling gems. These quick stories make us laugh, think, and at times cry. They take us to the core of reality and at other times to the wonders of fantasy."

-Kenneth Weene author of Widow's Walk

SHAMAN CIRCUS

JUST RELEASED!

BY GAIL GRAY

In New Orleans following Katrina all bets are of; all masks dissolved. "Don't forget the sham in shaman," Jacob Laguerre lies to his new apprentice, Alex Hampton. When Alex, a twenty-eight year-old anthropology professor goes on field-study to post-Katrina New Orleans, he enters a chaotic and altered landscape where he's psychologically, physically and spiritually challenged by the sarcastic mentoring of the mulatto, Laguerre, a current day voudou shaman.
Both Laquerre's and Alex's psyches struggle through stages of transition and rebirth as their lives are enmeshed with a group of quirky fringe-dwellers, as colorful and eccentric as the New Orleans itself. Lily Hampton, a sculptor, torn between her love for both men; Mavis, an artist who spent nights in her attic, but survived the floods; Perry Laguerre, Jacob's hermaphroditic twin, and Bad Jacqui, lesbian owner of a French Quarter bar: are pulled together to form the cynical but ultimately idealistic team who vow to stay in post-Katrina New Orleans.
They all follow a taut path between madness and redemption in the no man's land of Refrigerator Town as they assist in the aftermath and healing of both the city and those who remain.

LILY'S ODYSSEY

JUST RELEASED!

BY CAROL SMALLWOOD

This psychological detective novel explores the once largely unacknowledged-not only soldiers get post-traumatic stress disorder: that child abuse whether it is overt or covert incest, is a time bomb. Lily's Odyssey unfolds with the inevitability, impact, and resolution of an ancient Greek play. The dialogue rings true, the journey conveyed with moods and half-tones, to portray fragmented Midwestern characters with poignancy. From child to grandmother, Lily's voyage is told with lyricism, humor, and irony through a poet's voice to distill American life in religion, marriage, and family. A contemporary odyssey without maps by a woman short listed for the 2009 Eric Hoffer Award for Best New Writing, a National Federation of State Poetry Societies Award Winner.

Political Analyst and Author Earl Ofari Hutchinson Dissects Obama’s First Year in Office

In keeping with our policy to promote books with a message, even if we did not publish them, we offer a look at the following great book that speaks on a timely topic.

How Obama Governed: The Year of Crisis and Challenge
(Middle Passage Press, Los Angeles, January 2010)
By Earl Ofari Hutchinson

Author and political analyst Earl Ofari Hutchinson takes a no-political holds barred look at Obama’s first year in office in his new book, How Obama Governed: The Year of Crisis and Challenge. He answers one compelling question: Did he fulfill the massive and sweeping promise he made to restore hope and effect change in America?

He examines the attacks and counterattacks from the GOP and the Democrats on Obama. He delineates the differences and similarities between Obama and Bush in waging the war on terrorism. He assesses the towering battles over health care, the economy, racial attacks, the GOP counterinsurgency, Afghanistan, and the Henry Louis Gates flap. He provides readers with a guide as to how Obama will continue to govern.

How Obama Governed: The Year of Crisis and Challenge offers a virtual political clinic on the crisis and challenges that the nation and its first African-American president faced his first year in the White House.

To book Earl Ofari Hutchinson for an interview and/or commentary on the promise and pitfalls of Obama’s first year in office. Call 1-323-383-6145 to schedule. Earl Ofari Hutchinson is a nationally acclaimed author and political analyst. Hutchinson is the author of ten books on race and politics in America.

His three most recent books are:

* How Obama Governed: The Year of Crisis and Challenge

* How Obama Won

* The Ethnic Presidency: How Race decides the Race to the White House

His featured interviews and comments on race and politics have appeared in: Time Newsweek New York Times ABC’s World News Tonight.

He has been a guest analyst on:

* Fox News John Gibson Show

* O’Reilly Show

* Hannity & Colmes

* Glenn Beck Show

* PBS Lehrer Report

* NPR’s Talk of the Nation

* CNN News Shows

He is the National Political Writer for New America Media and a regular contributor to: the Huffington Post

Order now from amazon at http://www.amazon.com/How-Obama-Governed-Crisis-Challenge/dp/1439259925

EMINENT MURDER

Eminent Murder
By Joe Crain

JUST RELEASED and now available at http://allthingsthatmatterpress.com

Clayton Longley, a successful businessman, has returned to his hometown when his family's small cattle ranch is threaten by a contrived eminent domain claim. The local political clique, former schoolmates of his, has a land grabbing heritage and the ensuing conflict degenerates to murder.

To complicate matters, Clay encounters his old love, now married to one of his adversaries. He fights back with his own defense or is it old-fashioned frontier justice? The Longleys are distant relatives of the famous Texas outlaw Wild Bill Longley and Clayton has to cope with the bad blood of his own heritage and a secret he can never share.

Eminent Murder is a thriller set in Byar County, Texas, complete with longhorns, a Texas Ranger, modern outlaws, guns, aircraft and the men who wear white hats.

About the author:
Joe Crain has a B.A and a MEd. He's a retired Navy pilot and aerospace contractor. Joe and wife Donna live on Lake Livingston in East Texas where they enjoy family, boating and RVing.

Eminent Murder is a second novel. The first, Wind Ahead of the Wing, relied heavily upon Joe's flying experience in the Navy Hurricane Hunters.

ONCE UPON WISCONSIN

Please check out our newest release, ONCE UPON WISCONSIN, from author Dennis McKay.

After the death of a wife who never loved him and son who meant everything, Bill Ennis travels to Wisconsin in pursuit of a vague yet stirring memory of his long dead father somewhere near the Dells. He forms ties with a small community of people while falling in love with the beautiful Trudy Pas’cal and bonding with her son. The arrival of Trudy’s rogue ex-lover and father of her only child shatters this new beginning. The ensuing turmoil and tragedy leads to a poignant and profound discovery from the past that determines a new course in Bill’s life journey.

"A beautifully written story about the power of memory to take us back to understanding."

Barbara Esstman
Author of THE OTHER ANNA and NIGHT RIDE HOME

“The dying art of scenic description is on shining display here. It's an adventure that kept me scooting forward to see where the road was going.”

Peter Brown, Author of Ruthie Black and Gone With the Gin.

- Dennis McKay resides in Chevy Chase, Maryland and has been a member of The Writer’s Center in Bethesda, Maryland since 1998

http://www.amazon.com/Once-Upon-Wisconsin-Dennis-McKay/dp/0984259449/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262184179&sr=1-1

A great debut position on Amazon: Amazon.com Sales Rank: #63,399 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Ten Ways to Sell Books on Amazon

From SharingwithWriters, Patricia Dischler and Mindy Lawrence Sharing, 10 Ways to Sell Books on Amazon, http://www.AuthorsDen.com/adstorage/1713/SharingwithWriters_Dec_28_2009.pdf




You can use Amazon to improve your ratings and your ratings don't get
better until you sell books.

So, telling you how to get better ratings on Amazon is tantamount to
telling you how to sell books. Many of you know that I rarely talk sales
when I can talk more important things like cross promotion and branding.
You may know that I believe if you network well, you won't have to sell
anything, ever. Not in the traditional sense.

That is my disclaimer. I'm going to tell you how to let Amazon help you
sell more books anyway!

A promotional drop in the bucket can move Amazon ratings drastically!
Especially if you keep dripping promotion into the pail. Use the perks
that Amazon provides for you (see the list below), and you'll find your
book selling. Especially if you don't give up. Just keep dribbling little
bits of information into these Amazon tools. It's about frequency and
longevity. Here they are. Pick one (or more) and keep at it:

1. Use Listmanias on Amazon and, along with your own book, sprinkle in the
titles of your author - friends. Let these authors know you did it. That's
a way to make a new promotion friend. There is a chapter in The Frugal
Book Promoter: How to Do What Your Publisher Won't that tells you how to
use this free promotional perk along with tips for making Listmanias more
effective. It also includes information on other free tools on Amazon.

2. When you read a book by an author you know (or even one you don't) do
yourself and them a favor by adding a review to Amazon. It takes but a
minute and YOU and your book get exposed too, if you use a promotion -
savvy signature. Simply type in a couple of dashes and then add "Reviewed
by xxxxx and your book title." Don't link to your own sales page on
Amazon, though. Amazon cops don't like that!

3. Tell other people about what you're doing, how your book relates to
current events and more by posting on your Amazon plog. Another name for
it is AuthorConnect ™, and it's really a blog provided by Amazon. You do
have one don't you? Spread the word about your fellow authors' books, too,
and then ask them to pass on the word about your plog, complete with URL.
This is viral marketing and it works.

4. Flesh out your book's page on Amazon by using Wiki (or Amapedia) to add
information on your awards or other publishing you've done.

5. Add to the tags, too. Use keywords from you book. As an example, for
This Is the Place, I use Big Love, Mormons, polygamy, Utah, western
history, women's fiction, coming - of - age story, New York, Latter Day
Saint, and a whole lots more.

6. Ask your friends and professional associates to review your book on
Amazon. See that word "ask?" They will be happy to do it. They just need a
nudge!

7. If you have a book suited to it, you add pictures to your book's page.
Check out my "Promote or Perish" picture on The Frugal Book Promoter page.
Here's the URL: http://www.budurl.com/FrugalBkPromo .

8. Don't avoid Amazon because you're mad at them. Getting caught up in the
idea of trying to sell your book only on your own Web site is
counterproductive. You may make more per book, but you'll make less over
all and your overall promotion will suffer. Read that word "promotion" as
"readership." Read it as "exposure." Read it as "credibility." You and
your book need to be seen more than you need a couple of extra dollars
profit on any given book.

9. Look into the So You'd Like To's . . . on Amazon. They will allow you to
rant or write essays to your hearts content and gather readers as you do
it. They work similarly to Listmanias but they're lots more work.

10. Make friends. When someone adds a review to your page, invite them to
be an Amazon Friend. Include a thank you in the message. Nose around a
bit. You'll find all kinds of ways to let Amazon Friends know about your
next book . . . and your next. And keep in mind that when someone is your
friend, your book or picture may show up on their profile page. Their
friends buy books, too!
CHJ