Photo Challenge Day 24: Path

Here is part of the PATH I talk on my way from the building to the parking lot each day.

Photo a Day Challenge is hosted by Fat Mum Slim

Friday Fun with Pavarti K. Tyler

It's again Friday. Yay! I've been sick this week so super glad it is almost the weekend. Today, Pavarti K. Tyler, author of Shadow on the Wall, Two Moons of Sera, and Consumed by Love, will introduce you to the fun of science fiction. Pavarti s an artist, wife, mother and number cruncher. She lives in the Washington DC area with her husband, two daughters and two terrible dogs. When not busy working as the Director of Marketing at Novel Publicity she spends her time penning her next novel.

Aliens Rock

 

Green skin and purple skies, the possibilities of alien worlds and cultures is never ending. You can have wild hair, extra rows of teeth, webbed toes, or even non- humanoid creatures beyond the average person’s imagination. Add in a little politics, an intergalactic war including aliens and maybe some religion and you have the makings of a sci-fi best seller.

What is it about aliens that makes us all go “Ohhhh cool”? I think it’s equal parts the unknown possibilities presented as reality and the opportunity for something really different. A lot of the best alien stories and movies are all kinds of gross. Take Steven King’s Dreamcatcher or Ridley Scott’s Alien Series, talk about icky! I mean you’ve got creatures popping out of all kinds of places they really shouldn’t! But we love that right? I mean, incubating nasty gremlins from outer space is the fodder of the best alien books. 

Cover of Battlefield Earth

For me, if you take anything having to do with a creepy crawly from outer space and pair it up with some kind of romance I’m in. Which is why what I’m about to tell you is going to come as a surprise. Battlefield Earth by L. Ron Hubbard is the best alien book ever. 

Now I don't mean the atrocity that John Travolta participated (Battlefield Earth Movie). I mean the old school Sci-Fi book that Hubbard wrote back in the day. I mean the book that deals with Earth in the year 3,000 where aliens are mining for their most precious metal - gold (who saw Cowboys and Aliens - I wonder where they got THAT idea!) I mean the saga that spans cultures, religions, the real and unreal worlds of Earth and Psychlo. I mean the saga of Jonnie Goodboy Tyler. 

I bought my copy of Battlefield Earth at a hospital fund- raiser for $0.25 because I thought it was funny. It sat on my shelf for a year before, much to my husband's mocking, I finally picked it up. This is the only book other than Twilight (shut up) that I stayed up over night just to finish one more chapter until it was done. Don't believe me? Galaxy Press has agreed to give away 3 paperback copies of Battlefield Earth to help me convert you. Not to Scientology, but to the purest of Science Fiction.

a Rafflecopter giveaway   

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• Battlefield Earth: Because Everyone Needs A Benchmark For Abysmal [Movie Night]
• Online Radio: Interview with Pavarti K Tyler

Photo Challenge Day 23: Pair

This has been my favorite PAIR of shoes this summer. My sister gave them to me.

Photo a Day Challenge is hosted by Fat Mum Slim

Tips on Thursday: Giveaways

Free place to sleep (Photo credit: Brad Stabler)

Everyone loves getting free stuff and bloggers love to host giveaways because of the traffic it can bring to the blog. However, many bloggers do not follow the laws governing giveaways and could catch some unwanted attention - the attention of the Attorney General's Office. With just a few rules & guidelines you can make your next giveaway kosher.

If you use Rafflecopter to collect entries then it is pretty easy to come in compliance. By adding a mandatory entry of agreeing to Terms & Conditions, you can notify participants of the rules governing your giveaway as well as providing a "no purchase necessary" entry. Here are statements to include in your terms & conditions:

1. The dates and time the contest opens and closes. Even if you are using Rafflecopter that shows how much time remains to enter, you must include it in the T&C.
2. Include "No Purchase Necessary" and "Void Where Prohibited" - Contests must have a "free" entry and it can be argued that time is a cost and therefore any actions to enter (following you on twitter, leaving a comment, etc.) might be considered a "purchase". Some states (i.e. New York and Florida) have more stringent laws governing contests for both the host and the entrant such as being bonded or registered with the state.
3. State the value of the prize. Most of our giveaways are small in value, but if a prize is worth $600 or more IRS paperwork must be filed. If you are doing a really BIG giveaway and the combined total of all prizes being offered is valued at $5,000 or more you must be bonded.
4. How are prizes award, winners contacted, length of time to respond, and what will happen to unclaimed prizes. It would be a good idea to include a statement about the odds of winning (typically based on the number of entrants, but with people assigning point values to different entry options the statement may need to be altered a bit). 24 - 48 hours may be considered too short of time for the winner to have to respond. Sweepstakes ran by major companies and organizations typically give 30 days. Choosing a new winner is the best option for unclaimed prizes, but you can also choose to offer a new contest.
5. You may also consider limiting entries to people 18 or older (or age of majority in the entrants location). Anyone under 18 would need parents' permission to enter.
6. To comply with with anti-spam and privacy laws, state that contact information will be used only to contact the winner and that the information will not be sold or shared. You can offer an entry for signing up for your newsletter. For more information on newsletters and anti-spam and privacy laws, see this article.

Coral of Alchemy of Scrawl has a good example to follow for T&C:

By clicking 'enter' I agree to these terms and conditions:

• I am at least 18 years old or older.
• I understand my information will not be shared with anyone and I will only be contacted if I am a winner.
• I understand my entry may be verified and if the entry cannot be verified it may be removed.
• Void where prohibited.
• Physical copies can only be shipped to US/CAN. eBooks and/or Gift Cards can be emailed internationally unless prohibited by that country.
• No purchase necessary to win.

You can get more information on what you need to do to make your next giveaway legal with this article.

Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer and this information should not be considered legal advice. If you have questions or concerns it would be best to contact a lawyer to address your specific situations.

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Photo Challenge Day 22: Home

When I moved out of my parents' house into my own, people thought it was odd that I did not refer to it as HOME. It didn't feel like home. No one was there but me. With the addition of 2 dogs and 2 cats, I do now call it home. However, in my head it isn't really home, except on when my niece and nephew visit then it feels like home.

Photo a Day Challenge is hosted by Fat Mum Slim

Gary Kassay: Where does it all come from? (guest post)

Today, Gary Kassay, author of Murder in Silence, stops by Girl Who Reads. Gary is a retired law enforcement officer who currently resides in Casper, Wyoming. Have you ever wondered how an author gets an idea for a story? This questions intrigues Gary and he shares how he came up with the story for Murder in Silence.

Where does it all come from?

I would like to thank Girl Who Reads for inviting me to write down a few thoughts. Sapphire Star Publishing released the first of the Duke Becker Series, Murder in Silence this past July and Girl Who Reads will be reviewing it shortly.

Today I would like to ask you to think about a subject that intrigues me a great deal. How do authors write about, well, what they write about? To be more succinct, does an author that writes about romance need to have had steamy affairs, been swept off their feet by a male or female god or goddess, be a beautiful sexy woman or man for that matter? What about the action adventure writer? Must that person have had a life filled with narrow escapes, running from criminal gangs, discovering treasure maps and saving a beautiful heroine…at least once a week to write their novel? Does the horror author live in a haunted house, see ghosts everywhere, been the target of a voodoo king or witch?

Then we come to those who write in my genre, murder mysteries. Being a retired Police Officer from New York City definitely helped me in creating a realistic setting and of course many stories, some closer to the truth than you might imagine. But as an officer of the law, I was sworn to uphold it, to protect and serve, to run in the opposite direction of everyone else at times of an emergency. My thoughts were never criminal in nature and as far from homicidal as possible.

So I ask you, how is it that I can write about cruel and unusual murders. How do I get into the mind of a killer and realistically portray his or her every thought and diabolical action? Is there a killer buried deep within my soul and writing a form of exorcising that particular demon? Does the written word release the evil thoughts within so as to keep me from actually carrying them out? Is it what we all simply call…imagination?

Imagination is something that is solely attributed to humans, or at least that is what we believe. But what is imagination really? Is it a compilation of past events, mixed and tossed about in our subconscious mind until finally, one day, one moment in time, we have a thought, what we think of as a new idea? Or is it truly a new thought, possibly something that no one on this planet has ever thought before.

To tell you the truth, I don’t know. I know that for me it isn’t a demon waiting deep inside of me. I have served the law for too many years and have seen what evil looks like. And yet at times I wonder where the plots, the characters and the things that they do come from. Perhaps it is a mixture of all of these things and then again, maybe it is simply…none of them. As a writer my job is to entertain you, make you ponder things, scare you a little and possibly take you to a new world that you can revisit at any time by simply reading and rereading a favorite story. I sincerely hope that this short writing and of course, my novels if you should choose to read them, will do just that.

Find Murder in Silence at Goodreads, IndieBound, and Amazon.