Fun Book Launch for The Unhewn Stone

 

 

Here at last! The award winning  e-book is now available in PRINT! 

 

 

 

 

The three day book launch event, in Shellharbour, NSW, for my YA historical novel, The Unhewn Stone, was hectic and satisfying.

The SVES -Shellharbour Village Exhibition Space, venue for the book launch.

 

 

 

 

 Because the novel is a new take on the Wilhelm Tell legend, and my hero travels back to 1307 AD, I thought I should dress for the medieval era. So I made this costume and felt way too comfortable in it. I wondered if I'd actually been in the 13th and 14th centuries before.










 Bürglen, Altdorf, Lake Luzern and Hohle Gasse retain a medieval atmosphere and they certainly feel like home to me.   They are important settings in the modern world and the medieval world of the novel.

Medieval music in the background, and the twenty-five minute, on location, photo display at the book launch made it possible for the reader to walk in my fictional Stefan Gessler's footsteps as he attempts to prevent the Legend of Wilhelm Tell from happening.    

 

                                                    Bürglen                            

                                                                                                                            

 

             

Birthplace and home of my Stefan in The Unhewn Stone, and Wilhelm Tell, Switzerland's national hero of liberty.  The chapel marks the site of Will Tell's house.

 

 

This lovely old guesthouse in Bürglen, built in 1578, inspired the fictional 'Gessler Inn' owned by my Stefan's parents in The Unhewn Stone.

 

 

Altdorf

 

Altdorf -Fountain Square

The Wilhelm Tell monument marks the spot where Tell shot the apple off his son's head.

 

Lake Luzern

 

 

 



 

This chapel is on the rock Tell jumped onto when he escaped from Governor Gessler's boat on Lake Luzern




Hohle Gasse - The Hollow Way

 

 

 

the narrow path where, legend has it, Tell ambushed and killed the tyrant governor. The chapel marks the spot. 

 

Weeks of hard work and promotion  went into this event, but it was well worth it to be surrounded by so many smiling people and well wishers.

 

 

Spitzbuebe

 

We  danced to the medieval music and ate authentic Swiss cookies and meringues. 

 

Now my book is a tangible reality, thanks to MuseItUp Publishing.

 

The Unhewn Stone is available from all  online book stores including Angus & Robertson and Fishpond in Australia.

 

http://www.angusrobertson.com.au/books/the-unhewn-stone-wendy-laharnar/p/9781771275507 

 

also from The Book Depository http://www.bookdepository.com/Unhewn-Stone-Wendy-Laharnar/9781771275507 

 

 

Anticipating the arrival of The Unhewn Stone

My first copy of the paperback version of The Unhewn Stone has been shipped by Amazon and is expected to arrive on 16th July. Ironically this is the birthday of Peter, my late baby brother. So, if the book does arrive then, the date will have huge significance for me.

 

 

Cover Designer: Tiger Matthews

 

I'm also waiting for the pack of books from my publisher so I'll have them for sale and display at my exhibition/book launch in August.

 

This is a three-day, one-man showing, in the gallery organized by the City Council. So much planning and expense is required. I had no idea what I'd let myself in for when I registered, but I'm getting excited now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm trying to create a medieval world with a combination of music, some bought and some written by my son; a continuous widget of Swiss landscapes and medieval photos on one wall; wall posters,  a table display of items used in the book;  a medieval costume to be  worn  by my granddaughter on one of the days; an outside sandwich board. Door prizes, and the books to be signed, of course.

 

If I can organize to have a friend bake the Swiss cookies from the book, then they will be there as well.

 

No doubt more ideas will come to mind. I need plenty of items to create the genuine medieval atmosphere and interest, in this new take on the Wilhelm Tell legend, set in the Switzerland of 1307AD, seen through the eyes of a modern day time traveller.

 

Writing the Media Kit and Press Release for the book is underway but...that isn't easy. e.g. 'add a quote that is not a testimonial.' Just a small point among the many more difficult ones, for me.

Exciting but nerve-wracking. Oh well, at last this Aussie author is at work.

 

Amazon

Jolie Pethtel's new Romantic Cosy out today.

Congratulations to author Jolie Pethtel on the release, today, of her fascinating novel Poison Pens, Book 2 in her Jezebel Jinx mysteries, from MuseItUp Publishing.



Cover designer: Celairen

Because Jolie is unable to  relish this wonderful occasion today, I want to share this exciting time with the reading public on her behalf.

Set in the 1920s prohibition era,  Poison Pens has everything to keep the reader enthralled. The strong female character in Jezebel Jinx, aka Mrs Finn Mackenzie,  the feisty but agoraphobic mystery writer, takes us through twists and turns with murder, mystery, humour, romance and revenge. This is a fabulous cosy and much more.

We know from the blurb that suspense will be high:

‘Truth or die” is the name of the game, when a killer hijacks a murder mystery weekend for writers... One by one, [Jezebel's] fellow writers are being poisoned, and the only way to get the antidote in time is to discover the secrets that link them all together as victims, as well as potential murderers.

The post card which opens the novel, immediately sets the mood:

You are cordially invited to an exclusive gathering of the Poison Pens Society for a weekend of murder and mayhem, to commence on Friday, November 13th,  at the thirteenth hour. Suspects may bring an alibi.

Judging by the reviews of Ms Pethtel's earlier novel, Painted Jezebel -

...there is surely nothing that can pry it from a readers hands once they get started. A whirl wind from start to finish...

 Painted Jezebel is a hilarious adventure with more twists and turns than the most elaborate spiral staircase you'll ever find anywhere.

...some scenes will make you laugh like a loon - 

So, Poison Pens promises to be a very entertaining read.

Available from MuseItUp Publishing and Discounted for a short time for a crazy $2.99.

and at Amazon Kindle and the other online book stores.

So raise your glasses and wish Jolie much success with her new novel and may she write many more.

Cheers, Jolie!!

Book Review, A Horse Called Trouble

                                             
A Horse Called Trouble
by C.K. Volnek 
            
                        My rating: 5  stars

Perfect read for teens

This is a lovely uplifting book about a troubled girl and a troublesome horse who find love and trust in each other. The ranch setting is appealing and provides a great contrast for the dark, internal and external conflicts which drive the story.




In A Horse Called Trouble, Ms Volnek explores the sensitive issues in childhood and adolescence of ‘the haves’ and ‘have nots’, of friendships and jealousies, of rejection and bullying, and shows us a strong central character who fights on, and grows, in spite of the odds. We are drawn into the story from the start, and held there, feeling we are participants in 13-year-old Tara’s life. How we love Tara and Trouble.

Beautifully written, evoking a gamut of emotions, A Horse Called Trouble is a lesson for bullies and encouragement for those who are treated unfairly. But more than this, the book is a gripping adventure to be loved and passed on from generation to generation. A Horse Called Trouble is up there with the classics. I loved it.

Good Music Climbing the Charts.

Informed Planet's Music - is currently Number 1 in Australia in the Reverb Nation's Charts in World music genre.
 Globally  its Position #119  in World music. Now #113


Listen to the haunting melody and message
              
                Mr Earthling_Sleeping Beauty





                                                  and break free

Writing Paranormal - A Writing Tip.

Multi published author, poet and painter, JoAnne Myers, lives in the famous Hocking Hills, in South Eastern Ohio. Surrounded be thick forests, cascading waterfalls, deep rocky gorges and amazing rock formations, it is little wonder all this natural beauty should draw out her creativity.

JoAnne writes in the fantasy, paranormal, mystery and true crime genres. She has recently  released her paranormal mystery anthology containing seven long and short stories,

Wicked Intentions.



Cover Artist: Caroline Andrus

Today, JoAnne talks about writing the paranormal story.

When it comes to fiction writing, almost anything goes. That is why I love writing paranormal and fantasy stories. The author can go completely over the edge and make something unbelievable seem believable.

For my ghost stories, I get a lot of my inspiration from real life experiences. Not necessarily my own, either. I watch television programs with the supernatural and paranormal flare; documentaries from ordinary people who claim they experienced either an afterlife experience, or a haunting.

Some of the stories from my anthology, Wicked Intentions, are based on actual hauntings.  In The Legend of Lake Manor, I placed my young psychic, Cassandra Lopez, in a haunted mansion I fashioned on my knowledge of a three-story mansion in my hometown and information from television about a restaurant/bar in Ohio, supposedly ruled by demons so violent that the local police are constantly closing it down.

 

A television documentary about a young mother plagued by ghost sightings since childhood, inspired The Haunting of Barb Marie and her gift/curse. And The Apartment, in which my newlyweds, Bill and Gayle, are plagued by sightings of evil ghosts that threaten their marriage and theirs lives, originated from a real apartment haunted by the ghosts of two homosexual lovers who died violently. The legend says no tenant is able to stay there until the spirits are chased off by a paranormal investigation team.

 

On the Discovery Channel, I learned of the colonial explorer Jonathon Carver who lived during the 1700s and whose ghost is believed to be haunting the Summerwind estate, built in the early 20^th century. Carver’s ghost is, supposedly, searching the house’s foundations for deeds to a vast tract of land (10,000 square miles) given to him by Sioux Indian chiefs as a reward for the peace treaty he created between two warring tribes. In my Summer Wind, 29 year-old Ginger is mysteriously drawn to the old mansion, and like the many owners of the real mansion, the haunting had a negative and profound effect on Ginger and her family.

 

Another investigative program concerned one sister’s psychic premonitions about her twin’s murder. This led to my story, Blood Ties, and my heroine, Audra Roper’s dark, disturbing visions of her sister’s disappearance and the roller coaster of risks, heartbreak, and intrigue that followed.

 

Dark Visions came from reading a newspaper story while sitting in a diner. A young woman began having visions of her father's disappearance that was actually his murder from years earlier. So, my Carrie Reynolds starts having nightmares on her twenty-sixth birthday and believes these ‘dark visions’ can solve the twenty year disappearance of her father.

 

I set my murder mystery, Truth Behind the Lies, on Norfolk Island after following a three year long murder investigation on that island from 2003. In my story, Federal Police Inspector Ian Christian faces attacks, more murders and ghostly occurrences, and the killer is closer than anyone realizes.

So, the next time you get Writer’s Block, or need a new idea, try switching on the television, open a newspaper, delve into history or simply look and listen. You will find something to stimulate your muse. #

 

Learn more about JoAnne  at
her website Books and Painting by JoAnne
                   Amazon - JoAnne Myers
                   JoAnne's Author  Page
                   Smashwords

Wicked Intentions is available in print and ebook at

   Amazon
Melange Books
Lulu

    
 Other book by JoAnne Myers include,  Murder Most Foul;  Loves, Myths, and Monsters; The Crime of the Century; Twisted Love; Flagitious; Poems About Life, Love, And Everything In Between

And the Winners Are...

Congratulations to the lucky winners from the Book Launch Party.

To Pat McDermott






goes Book Two, Exiled: Winter's Curse
by Rosalie Skinner







To Karen Cote

goes Book One, The Bowdancer
by Janie Franz