Category Archives: MY BOOKS

Support Your Local Indie Store

May 21, 2014 Rebecca Nolen 2 Comments

This is a note about independent book stores otherwise known as: Indie Book Stores. These stores have flourished recently with news articles about them, and a new surge of folks wanting to “buy local”. Despite the big box books stores, and mega-mouth-(that’s the name of a shark, too)-Amazon, indie bookstores are getting by. I predict they will do more than get by in the future.

A lot of the big-box book stores have bitten the proverbial dust with Barnes and Noble struggling to stay open all over the country. There are probably many reasons for this. One reason I believe B & N is struggling now is because I’m not sure most of the B & N’s have plans in place for coping with Amazon’s cut price sales tactics. I’ve heard it said that Amazon will continue to slash their prices on books until its competitors are gone and then they will raise prices. I don’t know, seems alarmist.

Some Barnes and Nobles do good things like run specials and encourage local authors, such as myself, to set up book signings in their stores. I say some. Apparently there are B & N stores that just don’t get it. Barnes & Nobles are often autonomous machines, run by machinist managers who perhaps don’t have a pulse on their local community. My local Barnes & Nobles is not one of these. The manager there is always looking for local authors to give presentations and signings. She is at present setting up a “meet & greet” for local authors. The Barnes & Nobles in Pasadena employs one of the most amazing people in the world. Shawna (the Zombie Queen) Stringer is a champion for writers. Kudos, Shawna!

This past week I had my first official book signing at a book store. River Oaks Bookstore has been in continuous business for 35 years. Jeanne Jard is one of the most knowledgeable book people around. If you walk into River Oaks Bookstore you’ll see cushiony couches and cookies. If you get there between 5 and 7 in the evening there is wine available. And look at all the books!! The store is classy, timeless, and has just the right touch of southern hospitality. Plus, if you go now you can get a signed copy of my book Deadly Thyme. It’s right there for you! (buy it. you know you want to)

My book signing was a huge success. I sold out of The Dry within the first hour and I have very few copies of Deadly Thyme left. That’s a good thing, no, that’s a fantastic thing! Go NOW and pick up a copy for you or for that hard-to-shop-for relative who just loves British murder mysteries.

MY BOOKS

Happy Hour with the Author!

May 7, 2014 Rebecca Nolen 3 Comments

Announcing a book signing on May 15th at River Oaks Book Store at 3270 Westheimer. That’s across the street from Lamar High School and almost next door to the Baskin Robins Ice Cream store on the corner of River Oaks Blvd and Westheimer. There’s a light there, and St. Johns Episcopal Church.

I’m so thrilled to announce this. I am having a book club discussion of Deadly Thyme that morning at 11:00 at River Oaks Book Store and everyone is welcome to come and listen in, but then I’m having a book signing of Deadly Thyme at River Oaks Book Store between 5 and 7. Wine, and refreshments will be available. It’s happy hour with the author time! Yes, I’m going to be at River Oaks Book Store two times, possibly ALL DAY if you show up!!

Deadly Thyme takes place in a sleepy coastal village on the West coast of Cornwall, England. A girl disappears. The village is full of people keeping secrets. One secret is deadly!

Note the new cover of Deadly Thyme. I still have a few of the old postcards to give away so I’ll bring them and you can compare pictures.

MY BOOKS

Review of ‘The Dry’

March 9, 2014 Rebecca Nolen Leave a comment

I love to read great reviews and especially when I find them about my book!! The funny thing about the review below is that I love what he said about The Dry but then I realized he gave me four stars. It doesn’t matter because to me this is a five star review. I thank him for putting the review on his blog, on Amazon, and on Goodreads.

Review of ‘The Dry’.

MY BOOKS, The Writing Life

Time to announce the Novel

December 22, 2013 Rebecca Nolen Leave a comment

The time has come, the time is now… to announce the novel. TA DA!

I began this novel in 2004. Originally, the opening scenes included a fight between two men witnessed by a child and a mine collapse. These two events are not in the present novel. Sometimes an author must delete the best scenes in order for the story to move forward in a timely manner.

Don’t worry, the novel is full of things that will keep the reader turning pages.

The story is much like a Wizard of Oz story with a little boy as protagonist. He is sent on a quest (as Dorothy had to retrieve the witch’s broom), one that he does not want to go on. He does. All the plot elements are there. There are no flying monkeys. I don’t want you to be disappointed so there are giant insects. “For good or evil who is to say?”

Here is what the back cover says to explain in less than 200 words what the book is about:

West Virginia, 1895.

A deadly dry spell has left the earth parched and souls desperate. Crops are failing. Cities are starving. A missing newspaper man doesn’t account for much in times so terrible, except to the twelve-year-old son he left behind. When Elliot Sweeney discovers the search for his father has been called off, he boards a train alone to find him.

His quest leads Elliot into the depths of an abandoned mine, with a peculiar pocket watch, a blind burro, and a gutsy girl at his side. He discovers a world he never dreamed of, even in his worst nightmares, and lands smack in the middle of a war between two kingdoms. Monstrous insects, smiling villains, and dark riddles are everywhere. Deciding who to trust may prove to be his greatest challenge, while the fate of the world above hangs on Elliot’s choice.

Here is the link to Amazon where you can buy a book for yourself or a loved one for the New Year. May it be a happy one full of good reading!

An illustration by W. W. Denslow from The Wond... — An illustration by W. W. Denslow from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, also known as The Wizard of Oz, a 1900 children’s novel by L. Frank Baum. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Jay Scarfone: 10 Things You Never Noticed About The Wizard of Oz (huffingtonpost.com)
“Story as psychological journey” (gointothestory.blcklst.com)
No Place Like Home (earth-rider.com)

MY BOOKS

The Newest Button

November 5, 2013 Rebecca Nolen 6 Comments

Today I pressed a button that will change my world.

We all press buttons daily. The microwave has buttons, the computer has buttons, the cellphone has buttons, the TV remote has buttons, the newer car locks have buttons and the older ones have remotes with buttons. Some things we have all learned? The red button is to be avoided until there is an emergency. Don’t lose the button thingey because it’s a pain to replace.

We’ve been surrounded by buttons for centuries, but only in this past century do the buttons actually do something. So what does my latest button push have to do with anything?

The button I pushed this morning uploaded my manuscript to Create Space.

I’ve been working on this story for probably ten years. (If you’ve been keeping up with my blog you know I’ve been rather busy the last three years and so haven’t had much time to spawn new books. I haven’t stopped editing what I have.) I’ve grown tired of the roulette/lotto game of traditional publishing. I hired a professional editor and a professional book cover designer.

After I get Advanced Readers Copies proofed, then the book will be available to YOU!

Here is what THE DRY is about:

West Virginia, 1895.

A deadly dry spell has left the earth parched and souls desperate. Crops are failing. Cities are starving. A missing newspaper man doesn’t account for much in times so terrible, except to the twelve-year-old son he left behind. When Elliot Sweeney discovers the search for his father has been called off, he boards a train alone to find him.

His quest leads Elliot into the depths of an abandoned mine, with a peculiar pocket watch, a blind burro, and a gutsy girl at his side. He discovers a world he never dreamed of, even in his worst nightmares, and lands smack in the middle of a war between two kingdoms. Monstrous insects, smiling villains, and dark riddles are everywhere. Deciding who to trust may prove to be his greatest challenge, while the fate of the world above hangs on Elliot’s choice.

This is a story like Wizard of Oz only underground with a boy protagonist.

The Dry, a novel by Rebecca Nolen

I’ll let you know the moment it is available.

Thank you for reading.