THE STAMP OF HEAVEN, JULIA ROBB'S LATEST NOVEL

Columbus, Ohio, USA, April 12, 2019...It is my great pleasure to join in on announcing author Julia Robb's new novel, THE STAMP OF HEAVEN. Robb writes historical fiction comprising the flavor and size of her beloved Texas. If you are looking for a great weekend read, this is one I highly recommend. ~ Linda Lee Greene

 
https://www.amazon.com/Stamp-Heaven-Julia-Robb-ebook/dp/B07NRHJGC6/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=The+Stamp+of+Heaven&qid=1554831780&s=gateway&sr=8-1

The Union Army wants former Confederate Army general Beau Kerry for alleged war crimes, but he’s hiding out where the Yankees least expect to find him: in the United States Cavalry. Beau is fighting Apaches out West and praying nobody recognizes his famous face. 

But Lieutenant Kerry's luck changes when he runs into Sergeant Ike Jefferson and says, "The last time I saw you, I had you bent over a barrel and I was whipping you.” Ike is not only Beau's best friend (or worst enemy, depending on the day), he's Beau's former slave -- and Ike knows there’s a $5000 price on Beau’s head.

Caroline Dietrich has vengeance on her mind. Married to Colonel Wesley Dietrich, the Union fort commander, Caroline believes the best path to getting revenge against the Yankees, her husband included, is seducing her husband’s officers. Especially Beau.

From the killing fields of the Civil War, to the savagery of the Indian wars, the characters are also battling each other and searching for what it means to be human.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Julia Robb was a reporter for twenty years and now sits home and writes novels. She lives in Marshall, Texas.

Why Should Readers Post Reviews of Books? By award-winning author Dana Wayne

The answer to that question is as varied as the people asking it. The bottom line is, a review is not only gold to an author, it is a valuable nugget for the reader as well. They provide the author with validation that someone besides friends and family appreciate their efforts. Even if the review is less than three stars, it is still beneficial, because, one, not everyone is going to like a specific book, and, two, maybe there is an area to improve upon.

There are literally thousands of new books released each month. When a reader wants something new, they typically start with authors they know, then move to someone they haven’t read before, relying on recommendations from friends, social media or suggestions from online retailers like Amazon to tempt readers with new selections.

Fine, but how do they know what selections to tempt them with? Simple: Algorithms. A fancy word for numbers. Numbers that are derived from multiple places, one is which is reviews. And it’s numbers only; not what you said or how many stars you rated it; just the fact that a review was posted. The more reviews a book receives, the higher up the food chain it goes and Amazon will then boost it with promotion.

While Amazon is not the only spot to place a review, it is the largest. Others like Barnes & Noble, Books a Million and Goodreads are also great places to post a review. Reviews don’t have to be a dissertation; they can be as simple or as in depth as you want them to be. Below are some tips to help you the next time you go to write a review:

1.      It is not necessary to purchase a book from Amazon (or any other retailer) to leave a book review.

2.      Reviews can be posted at any point, months or even years after you read it. There is no deadline to post.

3.      Reviews can be long or short; doesn’t matter. You can say something like “I loved the book and can’t wait for the next one” or go into detail about what you loved.

4.      By the same token, if you really didn’t like the book, take a moment to let the author know. Contact info is pretty much standard today and an email to say what you didn’t care for could help the author going forward.

5.      When leaving less than 3 stars, Please. Be kind, not hurtful. “I couldn’t get into the story” or maybe “didn’t care for this or that character” versus something like “this is crap.”

Writing is hard work. Rarely does it flow like a mountain stream. It takes months or even years to get a quality, finished product to market. And once it’s there, it takes more time and effort to promote. Most readers, myself included, rely on reviews to help us select our next favorite book. Are they the final determining factor? No, but they are extremely important.

So, the next time you reach ‘the end’ and sigh a contented breath because of the joy you found within those pages, take two minutes to post a review. Who knows? That may be the reason the next person picks up that book.

On behalf of writers everywhere, “thank you for your reviews.”

Awarding winning author Dana Wayne is a sixth generation Texan and resides in the Piney Woods with her husband of 39 years (and counting), a Calico cat named Katie, three children and four grandchildren. She routinely speaks at book clubs, writers groups and other organizations, and is a frequent guest on numerous writing blogs.

Her debut novel, Secrets of The Heart, was awarded Best in Texas, Contemporary Romance, 2017 by Texas Association of Authors, was a finalist for the 2017 Scéal Award for Contemporary Romance, a Reviewers Top Pick and on the Top 10 Books to Read This Winter from Books & Benches online magazine. Her second novel, Mail Order Groom was released in April, 2017, received 5-Star Reviews from Readers Favorite and Books & Benches online magazine.

Affiliations include Romance Writers of America, Texas Association of Authors, Writers League of Texas, East Texas Writers Guild, Northeast Texas Writers Organization, and East Texas Writers Association.

She can be reached through her website www.danawaye.com or via email at danawayne423@gmail.com.

Review of TO FAME’S PROUD CLIFF by Bob W. Dunbar

In the early decades of the nineteenth century, the United States of America was in its adolescence, comprised primarily of its Eastern Seaboard and easternmost Midwest regions. Other than bustling New Orleans, the Louisiana Purchase was “unorganized” land; the Oregon Country threatened to become another colony of the British Empire; and the Southwest, including California, was under Mexican rule, as was present-day Texas. The Caucasian population of the United States at the time, driven by its fierce sense of nationalism, rationalized its greed for expansion. Its burning desire was a nation of uninterrupted land from the east-to-west coasts, and north-to-south from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. Author Bob W. Dunbar, in his fine book TO FAME’S PROUD CLIFF, addresses a portion of America’s expansion story as it unfolded through the lives of two giants among men then, namely Andrew Jackson and Samuel Houston. Although deeply flawed in their separate personal aspects, as well as controversial, then as now, in their respective world-views, the two men were steadfast cohorts responsible in fundamental ways for much of the territorial growth of the United States.         

As a writer of historical fiction, I am well-aware of an author’s challenge in taking the two-dimensional historical figures as written in school books and expanding them into three-dimensional characters for a novel. In TO FAME’S PROUD CLIFF, Dunbar has created flesh-and-blood characters that are so real they practically jump off the page. As portrayed in this book, Houston’s yearning for a “big” life captures the imagination of the reader and recruits him/her to that epic endeavor. Houston’s uncompromising commitment to his mentor and surrogate father-figure Andrew Jackson also bends the reader’s will to the same cause. And the reader gets drunk, depressed, discouraged, wounded, sober, energized, renewed, and healed in tandem with Houston by way of Dunbar’s capable hand.

In addition, a writer’s job is to create sympathetic protagonists, and despite my ingrained prejudice against Andrew Jackson, wrought by the Cherokee blood coursing my veins, after reading TO FAME’S PROUD CLIFF, although not willing to give him the benefit of the doubt exactly, I am willing to entertain the notion that alongside his quest for glory and immortality in enlarging his country, a smidgen of altruism existed in Jackson’s Indian Removal policies, if for no other reason than to save the indigenous people from total extinction at the hands of individual whites. That too, is the rationale Dunbar gave me in response to my Facebook Private Message to him on the issue of Jackson vs Native Americans. Maybe Dunbar’s speculation on this matter fills the gap in what reasonably should have been irreconcilable differences between Jackson and Houston, that of Jackson’s seeming inhumane attitude toward Native Americans and Houston’s love of, and devotion to, them. For a time in his youth, and again in later years, Houston actually lived among the Cherokee—was an adopted son of the Cherokee Chief Oolooteka (Ahuludegi), also called “John Jolly” by European Americans. And among Jackson’s three children, all of whom were adopted, two of them were Native Americans. Of course, altruism does not necessarily explain his choice of progeny. I guess, one of my points here is that this book has caused me to ponder, and to consider searching for more information on its topic.          

                That Dunbar engaged in meticulous research of the historical period depicted in this book is apparent. His rendition of that history is couched in a well-written story that is informative and engaging. It held my interest from its opening page to its last. TO FAME’S PROUD CLIFF is a valuable addition to the bookshelves and eReaders of lovers of historical fiction and/or biographies.

http://www.amazon.com/Fames-Proud-Cliff-Bob-Dunbar/dp/0741476428/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1357319234&sr=1-1&keywords=to+fame%27s+proud+cliff

https://www.facebook.com/BobWDunbar

Linda Lee Greene’s novel “Guardians and Other Angels” is at http://goo.gl/imUwKO

Linda Lee Greene’s novel “Jesus Gandhi Oma Mae Adams,” co-authored with Debra Shiveley Welch, is at http://amzn.to/VazHFG

Linda Lee Greene’s artwork is on view online at www.gallery-llgreene.com

Linda Lee Greene’s Twitter handle is @LLGreeneAuthor.

Fateful Night, a New Book by Authors K R Hughes & T L Burns

My good and supportive writing friends, authors K R Hughes and T L Burns will be releasing their new ebook Fateful Night on May 10^th, a continuation of the alternative history of the life and death of actress Marilyn Monroe that the writing duo proposed in their initial book on the subject What She Knew.  My understanding is that Fateful Night is book two of a trilogy of books on the subject.  Book three of the trilogy, Darkest Day is scheduled for release next summer.  The following are brief biographies of the prolific writing team, as well as links to them and their work.  I hope you check it out.  It should be a lot of fun to travel down the road of speculation once more with Hughes and Burns:    

 

K.R. Hughes

Hughes is an English major from Amarillo, Texas. She now resides near Atlanta, Georgia. She enjoys writing with her co-author T.L. Burns. 

Hughes enjoys working with budding writers and tutoring English. Her passion is for at-risk teens. She volunteers to help teens realize their potential and find their passion. Hughes has two grown children, Justin and Kayti, and two four legged girls, MayZee and Ruthie.

Find other works by this author in the Historical Romance section, pen name is Kymber Lee, Treasured Love and Lord Tristan's True Love are both a fun romp written in Regency England in 1811. Lee (Hughes) wrote these novels for her grandmother who is a huge supporter of her work.

T.L. Burns

As Burns' co-author puts it, "She is the foremost researcher and historical guru for our What She Knew trilogy."

Burns is originally from California (desert region, with mountains), spent nearly twenty years in the panhandle of Texas (again, desert region only without the mountains) and now resides near Atlanta, Georgia. In her words, "Trees and flowers everywhere!! Even the weeds are green and lush! I feel like I'm living in a postcard!! And, no wind! The desert regions are sooooo windy."

Burns passion is for at-risk families. She volunteers her time to help the needy, not with a hand-out but with a hand-up. She is married and has two grown sons (best sons in the whole world) and two 4 legged sons, Binford and Digby.

Connect with us:

Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/cylt9nw

Website: http://www.kandtproductions.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/WhatSheKnewBook

Fateful Night will be available on Amazon as an ebook May 10th!!  In a few short weeks, you will also be able to purchase the paperback.  Follow the authors for the latest details and how to obtain a copy for yourself.

What She Knew - An alternate history - What if Marilyn had lived and JFK saved?  http://tinyurl.com/8e59eyq

Live simply. Love seriously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. Leave the rest to God.