There are lots of books for sale on eBay, so what makes this a little different? They are mainly all pocketbook novellas that come with a personal letter from the author as well as a free bookmark.
Prices are low and most of them, if not all, come with free post and packing as well.
As book lovers, getting a paperback book at Christmas is wonderful, so please come over and take a look.
The Magic of Stories supports Indie authors and small publishers.
This means you will find Electric Eclectic books and Crimson Cloak Books.
You can support them too. Give a book this Christmas!
November 19th is, believe it or not is World Toilet Day. Who’d have thought that was a thing?
How often do you nip to the toilet?
No, don’t answer that, it was one of those rhetorical questions. Just think about it for a moment. It’s a normal part of our day. We all talk about it to each other and it’s as natural as talking about what you are going eat.
Has it ever occurred to you that your favourite TV characters rarely goes for that natural break? Neither do the book characters. Why? How many times do you say to the person you are with, “I just got to wee.”? Or whatever terminology you use.
I read a book where the hot male lead eventually finds the female he’d been searching all day for. Does he say something worthy when he finally locates her? No, the first thing out of his mouth was: “I gotta take a piss.” He then disappears into the bathroom as she waits with bated breath for why he has come. I loved him for that. Considering this man had travelled a long way, this was likely outcome. Yet normally its a fact generally ignored. Well done to that author for bringing in a little realism.
In another book, the women is and escaping her lover’s bed went to sit on the toilet to contemplate for a while. That works. That’s normal, too.
Having thought about this, I went into overdrive as a scene played out in my mind. It went like this:
The beautiful girl lies across the bed in her bra and briefs. Her hair cascades over the side, flowing to the floor. She is waiting for her lover to return.
He opens the bathroom door, his hair falling slightly over his chiselled features. He’s wearing a white vest which is pulling taut over his ripped torso. Boxers show off his strong sturdy legs.
The toilet is still flushing behind him. He’s been in there at least five minutes. A smell follows him out…..
What? It’s natural. It’s what happens, except it doesn’t really work. It’s not necessary. It’s what our boyfriends and husbands do in real life. We want escape, not normality!
So yes, it’s okay for our characters to nip to the toilet. It’s real.
Now, I’m going take it one step further. How many times do you or someone around you fart? No, don’t answer that either.
I’ve read hundreds of books and only in one did it happen – The girl lay under a tree with her boyfriend. They were talking and laughing together. Suddenly she let out a little lady fart (is there such a thing?) And that was it. Never was it mentioned again.
Have you ever read erotica? All the wet slapping sounds make me wonder what’s the difference? Anything and everything goes these days, so it’s only a matter of time before natural functions are included.
So let’s keep our writing real and know our own boundaries. How far would you go to keep realism alive? How far does a reader expect an author to go?
I wanted to make an example and use a ‘toilet scene’ in one of my books and make it real. It isn’t crude, but everyone farts, right?
In The Ghost on the Stairs, I experimented and wrote a scary book, but I couldn’t help myself. My stories tend to be a mixture of things, just as life is. Life might be scary, but its also humorous. So my toilet scene is very funny because there is nothing better than to embarrass your main character!
Am I wicked? Yes!
When a good-looking guy walks into a café and asks for you by name, you sit up and take notice. Cassie is instantly attracted to Damien Mathers, who is also a World Super Bike Champion. He needs her help to banish a ghost. That is not what Cassie does but Damien is very persuasive!
The Ghost on the Stairs takes clairvoyant Cassie on a journey she won’t forget. It leaves her unnerved and scared—not because of it, but what it unleashes within her.
Damien doesn’t believe in the paranormal until he witnesses something he can’t explain. He is falling for Cassie but how can he love her dark side, too?
Can Cassie hold on to Damien? Can she banish the ghosts and save her relationship?
Today, as its Electric Eclectics third birthday, (hip hip hooray), rather than post about books, or writing, or authorship, or ‘being Indie’, I thought I would share a useful tool with you.
It is one I often use when communicating ‘overseas’ via the ‘net’.
I am sure you will find it as useful and as helpful as I…
As the founder of Electric Eclectic, part of my job is to keep in contact with our authors, which is not as easy as it might appear.
One of the main reasons is, Electric Eclectic authors are dispersed around the world, from the USA, through Europe, right to the Antipodes, which means there is no suitable panoptic time to engage with everyone simultaneously.
Okay, there is UTC – Universal Time Coordinated, which is another term for GMT – Greenwich Mean Time. It has nothing to do with Greenwich village and everything to do with Greenwich in the UK, which is on the Zero Meridian, that’s 0° longitude meridian, also known, unsurprisingly as the Greenwich Meridian.
Now, to have a standardised time the whole world can utilize when communicating, especially when using the internet or worldwide web sounds a great idea… but for a few issues.
One is DST – Daylight Saving Time, or in the UK, BST – British Summer Time, (Other countries have various terms for the same thing), it is where the clocks are advanced for one hour in the spring.
The other is Local Time. Knowing which Local Time Zone you are in.
Considering the USA has 9 time zones, Canada 6, Europe 7, Asia 11, Russia 11, China 5, Australia 3 and New Zealand 2, you can see arranging an inclusive scheduled event on a global scale is not as easy as it may first appear.
I often query those who create Facebook events without considering the above. Those who do so are surely naïve if they do not understand the importance of looking further afield than their backyards?
Therefore, to schedule a live global meeting between, say, seventeen authors, who reside over four continents needs to be planned carefully.
One tool I have found to be immensely helpful is World Time Buddy https://www.worldtimebuddy.com/ Here you can see your time and those of locations you select so you are in no doubt of what time it is, anywhere.
The ‘Event Widget’ is an excellent tool, schedule your event using the Widget and all those using World Time Buddy will have the time automatically displayed in your time AND there local time… you need do nothing, its automatic.
Bookmark ‘World Time Buddy’ now. There is even a mobile/cell app for Android and Apple.
Better still, the basic mode is FREE. (Paid upgrades available).
Three years ago Paul White approached me with an idea. Why not turn our short stories into novellas and publish them as a brand?
My first love was short stories and over the years I had collected hundreds. I was never sure exactly what to do them and it never occurred to me to make ebooks. When Paul explained the concept, I jumped in with both feet, and have never looked back since.
Little by little I am expanding my shorts into a reasonable length, which generally works out at about between 7 and 10K words. Since then, I have published four novels too, and being an Indie author is sometimes lonely as you work on your own trying to sell your books in saturated market.
Now I am not alone, I am part of something; something I have grown passionate about. We are seventeen authors who all published under the Electric Eclectic brand. We work together and enjoy being part of something special.
I’m proud of my books, and proud to belong somewhere. I still have many short stories to publish. In the mean time these are my stories:
Electric Eclectic is celebrating its third birthday this week. So, as an avid reader and book blogger, I have always supported my fellow writers. Plus, I love novellas. I prefer to read them than a full book.
So as a celebration of all those entertaining words, I am not only sharing the books, but sharing the reviews I did on The Magic of Stories.
The first thing that draws me to a book is the cover. So which one stands out for you? Click on it, and it will take you to the review.
When a good looking guy walks into a café and asks for you by name, you sit up and take notice. Cassie is instantly attracted to Damien Mathers, who is also a World Super Bike Champion. He needs her help to banish a ghost. That is not what Cassie does but Damien is very persuasive!
The Ghost on the Stairs takes clairvoyant Cassie on a journey she won’t forget. It leaves her un-nerved and scared – not because of it, but what it unleashes within her.
Damien doesn’t believe in the paranormal, until he witnesses something he can’t explain. He is falling for Cassie but how can he love her dark side, too?
Can Cassie hold on to Damien? Can she banish the ghosts and save her relationship?
‘Karen J Mossman manages something quite unique. This is a story that will make you laugh and scare you.
Electric Eclectic's Blog 