Vocal Expressions

When the going gets tough, how far would you be willing to go to stay afloat? Well, the Langstons have hit a rough financial spot and temptation was right around the corner with an offer from Shay-Shaunté, Evia Langston’s boss.  This was more of an indecent proposal with a five million dollar string attached to it. The deal was for Evia to agree to have her husband, her own Adonis to spend a weekend with Shay-Shaunté in celebration of her 50 th birthday. Evia balked at the thought but then her husband had to go through with it creating a chasm in their marriage. The dance was whether the Langstons could stand up to Shay-Shaunté who now sued them for breach of contract. Go figure. Then again they were dealing with the devil. Great dialogue. Great story. Great read. Some of my favorite lines: SILENCE. THE QUIET THAT WAS BETWEEN us was like our fourth child. It was always there, and over the past weeks, we’d nutured silence, allowed it to live, allowed it to grow. ...

Author’s Bio: Annie Rose Alexander is the author of two published novels, Retribution and Evil In High Places. Her short stories are Murder In The Courthouse, and Eternally Yours. She won, the LOVEY Award for Best PI Novel at the Love Is Murder XIV Mystery Writers Conference in Chicago in 2015, for her novel Retribution. Annie earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Howard University, and a Juris Doctorate from Howard University School of Law.  She is admitted to the Maryland and DC Bars. She has fifteen years of experience litigating criminal and civil cases. She is working on her third Mystery/Thriller, The President's Assassin. What inspired you to write your book? When I read in the news about famous athletes being killed I started wondering what if the same person or persons were responsible and what if the deaths weren't accidents but murders. My imagination took over from there. Is there any particular author or book that influenced you in any way either gro...

Author’s Bio: Author Chris Stevenson, originally born and raised on the beaches of southern California, moved to Sylvania, Alabama in 2009 and settled in with his twin sister. His occupations have included newspaper reporter, front-line mechanic and federal police officer. He has been writing off and on for 36 years, having officially published books beginning in 1988. Today he writes science fiction, fantasy, paranormal romance, young adult, adult thrillers and horror. He has a total of 10 titles appearing on Amazon with nine more in reserve with his agent. He was a finalist in the L. Ron. Hubbard Writers of the Future contest, and just recently took the first place grand prize in a YA novel writing contest for The Girl They Sold to the Moon . He writes the popular blog, Guerrilla Warfare for Writers (special weapons and tactics), hoping to inform and educate writers all over the world about the high points and pitfalls of publishing. He continues to write because he can...

If you are a self-published author and you are looking for a step-by-step guide on how to navigate the public relations (“PR”) arena, then you need not look any further than this book authored by PR guru, Cherrie Woods.  Cherrie’s book is a great resource that tackles the 10 most frequently asked questions by authors about book publicity and how to increase their book sales. The book is practical and includes questions related to how to identify your book genre, how to choose the right book cover, how to build a platform, how to get reading opportunities and much more. I really liked how the book was formatted with each section beginning with a quote from “authors at varying points in their careers and from a variety of genres.” In addition, there is a notes section at the end of each question so authors can make a note of things that jump out at them.   I have been an author for several years and while I know how to do a lot of the things covered in this book, I defi...

Author’s Bio:  Jeff Markowitz is the author of the Cassie O'Malley mysteries, an amateur sleuth series set deep in the NJ Pine Barrens. After penning three books in the series, Jeff decided to embrace his dark side. His most recent book is the award-winning black comedy,  Death and White Diamonds . Jeff currently serves on the Regional Board of Directors of the New York Chapter of the Mystery Writers of America. He lives in Monmouth Junction, NJ with his wife, Carol. You can usually find him at his computer at 5:30 in the morning, plotting someone's murder. What inspired you to write your book? I “found” a dead body on the beach in Cape May. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say I “imagined” the dead body on the beach. You see, I have a writing exercise…I refer to it as finding the dead body. It’s an exercise in finding story ideas. When I find a body, I write a couple of sentences to capture the scene. But this time, the dead woman kept bugging ...

Speaking is a great way to grow your audience or your platform. Some of us are born orators while others of us must hone this skill. Some of us thrive on getting in front of an audience while others freak out before they do. Whichever category you fall into, there are some foundational questions to ask yourself if you want to dive into the public speaking arena. Here are some foundational steps to get you started: Speaking is a great way to grow your audience or your platform. Some of us are born orators while others of us must hone this skill. Some of us thrive on getting in front of an audience while others freak out before they do. Whichever category you fall into, there are some foundational questions to ask yourself if you want to dive into the public speaking arena. Here are some foundational steps to get you started: 1.          Define your target audience. This will help to ensure you are speaking in front of the ...