Nick Earls – E-Books, Audio & Kindle…

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/may/02/nick-earls-author-rise-of-novella-ebook-revolution

 

http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2013/sep/05/amazon-kindle-singles-short

 

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/aug/17/audiobooks-booming-chart-bookseller-top-20

 

#FrancesMForde  #FrancesMacForde  #NickEarls  #E-BOOK-Gotham  #KINDLESingles  #StephenKing  #AUDIOBooks  #Writing  #Writers    #ShortStories  #E-Books

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BOOK: Remnants of Empire

This should be an interesting read.

Although the paperback is available, I’ve just purchased the Kindle version of  Remnants of Empire  ~ Memory and Northern Rhodesia’s white diaspora by Pamela Shurmer-Smith.  

The hard copy was published to coincide with the recent ’50 years of Independence’ celebrations but I have far too many books on my shelves, so this time, Kindle will do.

I absolutely agree about the metal Baobab tree design, as explained in Pamela’s cover notes.

There’s also an interesting music video by Pamela’s very talented musician son, which brought back many memories of my childhood.

@FrancesMForde   #FrancesMacForde  #BOOK:RemnantsOfEmpire  #PamelaSchurmerSmith #NorthernRhodesia  #WhiteDiaspora  #AfricanMemories

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Kindle no more…

Just to let everyone know, I’m busy taking my e-books off Kindle but leaving a couple of print versions of poetry books available on Amazon.

Soon after they were published on Amazon/Kindle, I found the mss available for free download (elsewhere) on the net.    I reported it to Amazon who said they had been copied illegally…  (?)  Not happy, Jan!

I want to try another publishing vehicle to see what their service is like and will let you know as soon as I have set it up.

#FrancesMForde  #E-BOOK:E-males  #E-BOOK:MeetingMrX  #E-BOOK:LoveYouMum  #E-BOOK:Overtime

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New Pages

Just in case no-one noticed, I’ve added two pages to this Blog:  “I’m Available” for workshops, talks etc and where you can purchase or read my (sometimes for FREE) “Books etc…”.

#FrancesMacaulayFordeBOOKS  #FrancesMacaulayFordeAVAILABLE

Two musical interpretations which also made me smile when I needed to this week, are different versions of the same song by very different artists – both of which I loved.

Royals – Cover By Sarah Stone (Cup Song Version)

Royals – (“Sad Clown With The Golden Voice” Version) – Lorde Cover

#SadClownWithGoldenVoice  #SarahStoneCupVersion #Books  #KINDLEBooks  #Music  #Workshops  #Writers  #Writing  #WritingInWA  #FrancesMacaulayForde

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Perfect (Novelist) Skin

Random House Books.

Here’s to the amazing, the wonderful, the supremely talented and very kind – not to mention could-have-been-an-actor handsome  Mr Nick Earls!  

OK, that’s a bit over the top but that’s how I’m feeling about him right now.  I will explain.

His newest novel is ‘Analogue Men’ and I wanted it.   On the 17th, I emailed Nick to ask how I can get hold of a signed copy for my daughter – we’re both huge fans.

This doctor turned novelist and most wonderful Nick, remembered he had met us way back in 2000 when he was the Writer in Residence at PCWC and we were his chauffeurs… (Chuffed at his memory!)

Needless to say my then 24 year old daughter and I were both very impressed with Mr Charm himself.  She still reads anything she can get her hands on and lists him as one of her top ten authors – so do I.

He suggested I purchase one from a bookshop in Brisbane, QLD for a tour event on Monday night; let the staff know I needed it signed and they would post it out to me.

I emailed, the staff said yes they’d do it but unfortunately although Monday came and went, so (seemingly) did the piece of paper the instruction was written on.

Monday following, I received the book – unsigned 😦 and let them know straight away how disappointed I was, copying the email to Nick as a courtesy.

The kind, caring and conscientious Nick came straight back and said he would send one from his own stash, signed, in the mail forthwith!

Much as I appreciated his offer, I didn’t want him out of pocket so offered to send the copy I had to him to replenish his stocks.

Nick would not have any of it – he said and I quote:  ” The book is on its way.  If you’re in the habit of occasionally giving my books as gifts, then I’m coming out of this pretty well, so please keep the spare copy for someone who you think might like it, rather than incurring another mailing fee.”  

Wow – at least three friends names came immediately to mind, I know would love it!

To be fair to the bookshop, they’ve said they will make sure Nick isn’t out of pocket, too.

But see –  what a wonderfully kind and patient man this abundantly talented writer is!  

His Amazon Page has lots of his books available in print, digital media and I’ve linked the covers (above) to where you can buy.

Many of the new ones,  I haven’t read so Jess and I will be buying and playing catch up over the next few months.

(Anyone who knows Jess, keep this a secret until her birthday, please – I know she doesn’t read every blog post I do.)

Two of his books have been adapted to film and 5 to stage plays so far – impressive or what!

If you haven’t read Zig Zag Street, Batchelor Kisses, Perfect Skin, Headgames and many more.… get one now!

Be warned, his writing can make you laugh out loud and sudden bursts of laughter on the train can make fellow passengers very nervous.

Also for my overseas readers, if you want to experience the charm of Australian men, Nick Earls is the very best I can offer you, right now.

 

#FrancesMacaulayForde  #NickEarls  #ZigZagStreet  #BatchelorKisses  #PerfectSkin  #Headgames  $RandomHouse  #Amazon  #Gifts  #Authors  #Novelist

 

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Bar of Grief

Upturned bottles once lined with military order

on dusty, termite-rotten shelves. Fingerprints,

clear spaces of use, caught by the shafts of daylight

through pin-holes where nails have been.

 

A puddle of spilt pain, beneath an upturned bench.

Life, wasted in boozy stench lies forgotten,

punished for excess, while determined creatures

march with hunger towards rotten snacks.

Dirt’s secret world survives in semi-darkness.

 

Corrugated walls, rusting-red and brown. Drips

where rain had been, left tracks as if guiding

to the next place. A dark, dank, mud-bed

suitable for long soft round things

to slither and slide through eyes now closed.

Still focused on nightmare dreams, gone before.

 

Frances Macaulay Forde © 1998

 

#FrancesMacaulayForde  #POEMBarOfGrief  #BOOKHiddenCapacity  #eBOOKReturnOfRainbows

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Distracted

I feel I’ve neglected my blog lately and I do sincerely apologize; work, life, writing, challenges and ambition have totally distracted me.

But am I getting anything done?   Yes – although how effective I’m being remains to be seen…

There are now 5 short story and 3 poetry chapbook KINDLES on Amazon and I’m proud of myself for putting them up for the world to judge.

Disappointingly I’ve only had two bites so far and will admit, I expected more – but it’s early days. The first rookie mistake was being all excited and talking about my books too early.

I kept adjusting them and while they were being re-published they weren’t available, so anyone who may have initially had an interest, soon lost it.  My bad. But I’m learning, so the next challenge is to make my books stand out from all those millions already on there.

I’m also going to add some children’s stories which haven’t been illustrated yet as soon as I’ve painted covers for them. (KINDLE is not recommended for books which contain lots of pictures.)

As I mention in my books, most of the Short Stories have also been adapted to scripts and one (Love You Mum) has even been filmed, winning awards here in Oz, in the USA and Canada.

I’ve also been busy at work – covering my bills is a priority although I do resent the time away from my current writing challenges, particularly my 12 x 12 Picture Book Challenge.

June was taken up with my 30-day KINDLE Book Challenge which actually ends next week and I have a lot of catching up to do even though I have published books within the challenge.

And poetry always distracts me but I keep hoping a LOTTO ticket will save me 🙂

LOTTO LIFE

 

It unites us.

This dream

  to have choices.

Whether to work or laze.

Decide our futures

  instead of waiting for opportunity.

 

The universal language of need

–       not greed.

 

We’ve lost control.

Caught up in the flow

   of magazine lifestyle.

The one we desire and reality.

 

To walk through town

  not asking the price.

Carrying the labels

  which define our success.

Purchases we don’t need.

 

It’s universal

  the conviction that money

  will right all our wrongs

  and make the world spin

  in our direction.,

 

When we buy a ticket

  we’ve planted the seed.

 

The seed of our fantasies.

 

Frances Macaulay Forde © 1999

(Appears in my ‘Return of Rainbows’ KINDLE edition)

#FrancesMacaulayForde  #KINDLE:ReturnOfRainbows  #POEM:LottoLife

#KINDLE:LoveYouMum

 

 

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‘My Car’ video

 

Do you ego-search on the net?  You should.  It’s amazing what you find.

Just put your name like this: “Sarah Smith” into Google search and check where your name appears on the World Wide Web.

I’ve just discovered this reading of ‘My Car’ from ‘Hidden Capacity ~ a poet’s journey’ done some time ago which I had completely forgotten about.

I also discovered that Poemhunter.com seems to be doing really well out of the 52 poems I uploaded there years ago.

My poems seem to get a reasonable number of visitors and the site haven’t missed a trick in using them without formal permission.

Although perhaps their Terms & Conditions when I uploaded them originally, covered that – and who reads them properly?

Without my consent, there’s an e-book of the poems available for free.

Now that I’m selling my own e-books, it sort of clashes and makes me wonder if I should leave the poems on there for the publicity or take them down.

I decided to add the link to my KINDLE books on each page instead and hope it brings some sales.

Also each has been converted to a (questionable) ‘video’ some with automated voices reading the poems.  Here’s their version of my ‘All Stops’.

Amazing what you find…

 

#francesmacaulayforde  #VideoPoems   #VideoReadings

 

P.S. I’ve just realized I started the month with this poem…

 

 

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“E-Males”

Book 2 in my Short Stories series is “E-Males”   Meet ‘Anna Karenina’ of the Australian suburbs:

After seven years of marriage, Michelle began to question her love ~ not her husband Barry’s ~ his adoration was as solid and steady as a rock.  No, she questioned her state. 

Was this all she could expect?  She yearned for more  ~ or perhaps a different ethereal mist of feeling which engulfs like a warm blanket of bright colours, flapping every now and then in the breeze of life. 

“Damn those blasted fairy tales! Where’s my prince?  Why doesn’t Barry come home in the middle of the day and whisk me off to Paris for coffee?” 

She day-dreams he’s sitting in his high rise office, gazing out across the Swan River, thinking of her in a flowing white peignoir, hair carefully styled, just risen from their marriage bed to meet her love. 

Full lips ready to receive his kiss, his embrace strong but gentle he smiles down at her, with one arm to support her swooning, body trembling with unspoken ardor. 

Frances Macaulay Forde © 2014

If you’d care to read the rest, you’re welcome to buy or lend a KINDLE copy of  “E-Males”  or Book 1:  “Meeting Mr X”  directly from Amazon.

(Hope you do…)

 

#FrancesMacaulayForde  #McAlpineBellPublishing  #MeetingMrX  #KINDLEbooks  #E-Males”

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“Meeting Mr X.”

Book 1 in my Short Stories series is “Meeting Mr X”  ‘Middlemarch’ re-imagined as an Australian Suburban story…

Ms Brown certainly lived up to her name in an unremarkable brown brick, unappealing brown-roofed house, amongst similar unprepossessing dwellings, surrounded by shrubbery rooted in brown mulch, found in a commonly named street that looked like many suburban others, indistinguishable from her neighbors. 

Consequently, she lived a quiet life not wishing to stand out like the man she observed from her back patio whom she had named Mr. X.

Because her land sloped down the hill from the back, she often watched those in other similarly quiet, ordered avenues nearby.  Mr X lived across the street behind her block, down the hill – the front of his house facing her backyard. 

Music blared, lights blazed and many people visited making Ms Brown wonder if he was one of those drug dealers or even a manufacturer, referred to in the local papers.  

She repeatedly heard doors banging, the screech of tyres on tarmac or horns blasted in farewell.   These inconsiderate ruffians frequently left the house which Mr. X occupied at all hours of the day and night, disturbing those who may be sleeping or, like herself, wishing for quietude.  

Frances Macaulay Forde © 2014

If you’d care to read the rest, you’re welcome to lend or buy a KINDLE copy of  “Meeting Mr X.”  directly from Amazon.

(Hope you do…)

 

#FrancesMacaulayForde  #McAlpineBellPublishing  #MeetingMrX  #KINDLEbooks

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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