"Today is a Good Day."

“Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”
~Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)



Today is a good day. Vice President Biden said so as he readied to introduce President Obama. President Obama also said it is a good day. As our President said, it has taken nearly two decades, and actually 200 years, to reach this good day.

And I say it is a good day. A day that has been long-time coming, long over due, but then again many important things in our United States history have been long-time coming such as freedom from slavery, women’s right to own property, to have the right to vote, the civil rights finally afforded to Black Americans, women’s abortion rights, women’s rights to equal pay, and gay and lesbian rights unfolding, with still more to come. But even despite the delay in reaching this goal, we did it, and it is an historic day of celebration for many. Very soon, those gays and lesbians serving our country should be treated with respect and equality. Finally.

Here are excerpts from President Obama’s speech today before his signing of the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

“Finally, I want to speak directly to the gay men and women currently serving in our military. For a long time your service has demanded a particular kind of sacrifice. You’ve been asked to carry the added burden of secrecy and isolation. And all the while, you’ve put your lives on the line for the freedoms and privileges of citizenship that are not fully granted to you.

“You’re not the first to have carried this burden, for while today marks the end of a particular struggle that has lasted almost two decades, this is a moment more than two centuries in the making.

“There will never be a full accounting of the heroism demonstrated by gay Americans in service to this country; their service has been obscured in history. It’s been lost to prejudices that have waned in our own lifetimes. But at every turn, every crossroads in our past, we know gay Americans fought just as hard, gave just as much to protect this nation and the ideals for which it stands.

“There can be little doubt there were gay soldiers who fought for American independence, who consecrated the ground at Gettysburg, who manned the trenches along the Western Front, who stormed the beaches of Iwo Jima. Their names are etched into the walls of our memorials. Their headstones dot the grounds at Arlington.”

“...For we are not a nation that says, “don’t ask, don’t tell.” We are a nation that says, “Out of many, we are one.” (Applause.) We are a nation that welcomes the service of every patriot. We are a nation that believes that all men and women are created equal. (Applause.) Those are the ideals that generations have fought for. Those are the ideals that we uphold today. And now, it is my honor to sign this bill into law. (Applause.)

[see full video and transcript of President Obama's Speech]

This video is LeAnn Rimes singing “The Rose,” with the Los Angeles Gay Men’s Chorus backing her up. Several years ago Don and I saw the L.A. Gay Men’s Chorus perform and they were excellent. Enjoy ...





~Linda

Don Pendleton's COPP ON ICE Book Trailer

Don Pendleton's Joe Copp Private Eye Thriller Series
Available in Print at Amazon, and ebooks, Kindle, Smashwords, and ebook stores.


~Linda

Max's First Christmas

This is why I won't have a Christmas tree this year. This is Max's first Christmas. He's six months old.






Linda

Ebook and POD Covers

If you have a need for ebook or POD covers, check out my cover designer. Judy has been doing my covers for ten years now. And she can do yours.

See samples of her work Here at her website Jaebee Creations. Her second page has many of my book covers and books of other authors.

~Linda

Our Multiple Device World

According to Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com, the Kindle is a “purpose-filled device where no trade-offs have been made, where every design decision as your walking down the process has been for optimized reading.”

Bezos refers to the Kindle as an electronic paper display, comfortable to the eyes, and for ease of reading. He stated, “Buy once—Read everywhere.” That might include buying a Kindle book and reading it on your PC, as I do, or on a Blackberry, iPhone, iPad, and other devices.

As of last July, Amazon had 630,000 Kindle books, and the large majority priced under $9.99. In addition, 8 million Public Domain books.

I believe it will be interesting to see how the sales of the Kindle and Kindle books increase over this next couple of months with holiday sales.

The visionary Jeff Bezos has also allowed for individual Kindle book titles to now be given directly as gifts, minus messing around with a general gift certificate.

It may be a multiply device world as Jeff Bezos refers to it, but darn looks like all you need is a Kindle to read your favorite books.

Jeff Bezos and Charlie Rose having this discussion.




~Linda

Amazon Built It And They Have Come

Build it and they will come, and Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com has done just that. Bezos had a dream, a dream to build the biggest bookstore in the world. Looks like he has achieved that. It is now said that about three quarters of book sales in the United States are at Amazon, and even publishers make about half of their sales through Amazon.

But Jeff Bezos wanted to build more. And he did so with the Amazon Kindle. The current popularity of ebooks now gives authors an excellent opportunity to self-publish. I have been publishing ebooks for a decade but the recent interest in ebooks, mainly due to Jeff Bezos’ Kindle and the nice royalty he pays authors, has nicely increased sales and acceptance of the ebook platform. Bezos’ did not stop at the Kindle reader alone, but has expanded that to include the Kindle in various applications including PCs, Blackberry, and other apps. I use my PC for Kindle reading, and especially for samples of books prior to purchase.

I’ve always personally admired Jeff Bezos. Not only do I enjoy his “weird” sense of humor (he makes me laugh) but how he puts his visionary ideas and business sense into action. Authors and readers alike are benefiting from one man’s dream. Yes, Jeff Bezos built it and look how they have come.

Those authors who are visionary and decide to “build it” and follow their dreams will discover, “they will come.”

It’s exciting. And fun, too.

I have reduced prices on our ebooks at Kindle for the holidays. That includes Don Pendleton’s Ashton Ford Psychic Detective series and his Joe Copp Private Eye Thrillers.

~Linda

Dancing

Thank goodness!





Linda

Kevin Spacey on Being Successful

~Linda

"Average Hardworking Author"

For quite a long time I have heard comments by writers that the midlist author is being pushed aside by the NY Six—that is not a typo of Sex but I refer to the NY corporate publishers which currently number Six, while not too many years ago, the number was at least twice that.

Apparently NY publishers for some time have been pulling away from supporting the midlist author who was once considered a consistent, yet moderate seller. They seem also to have given up a vision (if they ever had one) of taking a chance on a new author or an author who has broken through the midlist category into a possible BIG book.

So where does that put the average hardworking author who is marketing his or her new quality manuscript? When publishers are not acquiring new manuscripts where does that put the average hardworking author? When literary agents are not taking on additional authors because they cannot sell the material they already represent, where does that put the average hardworking author? When publishers offer small advances, much smaller than in previous years, and expect to do a small number press run, where does that put the average hardworking author?

It may have the average hardworking author looking at small independent presses, and considering low advances and low print runs. Expectations may not be as high at a small press—so a successful publication of an average hardworking author’s book may just be that: successful.

But that average hardworking author may look beyond tying their manuscript up with even a small press, and look to other publishing opportunities.

And what might those opportunities be for the average hardworking author?

Ebooks and Print on Demand may be exactly what that average hardworking author is looking for.

One place for the average hardworking author to look to publish the quality book he or she has created, is at Amazon’s Kindle and Createspace, and Smashwords.

And that average hardworking author will reap the benefits of excellent royalty rates and enjoy a sense of freedom, which may make the lack of an advance paid against royalties a good thing.

All stories come to an end, but for this average hardworking author who now has a new book published, can do what he or she does best: write the next book.

~Linda

Kindle Sale Now on Don Pendleton's Ashton Ford, Psychic Detective Series

Meet Ashton Ford...Psychic Detective...

I’ve dropped the Kindle Price on the six Ashton Ford books by Don Pendleton.

Private Investigator Ashton Ford has special powers, powers that some call supernatural. A former naval intelligence officer, highly knowledgeable in cryptology and philosophy, Ford will shatter your ideas of reality and take you into a mystical world of vision, intuition, and psychic truth. A phenomenal psychic, unparalleled lover, and a true Renaissance man, Ashton Ford can see into the future and even into the distant past using his psychic powers to assist special clients who are in crisis.

By the creator of The Executioner Series and the Joe Copp Private Eye Series.

~Linda

Janet Evanovich on ebooks and self-publishing

"If you are a guy and you make a lot of money, you are a success. If you are a woman and you make a lot of money, you are a bitch." ~Janet Evanovich, author

Jeff Rivera interviewed Janet Evanovich for mediabistro.com. Here is his question to Janet in regards to ebooks and self-publishing.:

“With the eBook revolution threatening to overtake print books permanently, what are your thoughts about how this could affect your revenue?”

Janet: “Yeah, I love eBooks. I think they're great, and I'm not sure how they are going to affect my revenue. I'm not sure anybody knows. I think we're going to have to wait and see how it shakes out. What I know is that they are not going to go away. The kids have come up being so comfortable on the screen, and now even all ages are buying into the Kindle and iPad. eBooks are here to stay. I think that anything that expands the market, anything that encourages people to read, anything that enhances the reading experience, makes it easier, makes it cheaper, makes it more interesting -- fabulous, I just love it. I think we haven't even seen the beginning of eBooks. All kinds of great things are going to come out of it.”

“Today's authors stand to make dramatically more income by self-publishing and publishing directly on formats such as Amazon's Kindle. Have you given any thought to doing the same for your future titles?”

Janet: “Actually, I have given it some thought, and then I've said, "What? Are you nuts?" It's not that simple. I think that there are a lot of people out there self-publishing and who have the ability to get their work out now because of the Internet, but it has lots of limitations: distribution, publicity, marketing. There are just many, many components that for me, at least at my level, just don't work for me. I am actually really happy to have help from a publisher. It's enough to keep my ass in the chair and keep writing without taking on that also. And I mean, I have my whole family working for me and they're all doing their own jobs, and I can't imagine one more job added to the list.”
© WebMediaBrands Inc. 2010. All Rights Reserved

Read the interview here.

Two Books are EPIC Award Finalist

It was nearly 10 years ago that I began publishing books electronically. In 2002, my nonfiction book Three Principles of Angelic Wisdom won a Finalist ebook Award from EPIC (now known as the Electronically Published Internet Coalition™), and in the previous year, the crime novel, Roulette by my husband Don Pendleton and me (then titled One Dark and Stormy Night) was also chosen as an EPIC ebook Award Finalist. This year I decided to enter the 2011 EPIC eBook Awards Competition™. And again, two of my books have been chosen as Award Finalist! The winners will be announced at the EPIC annual conference, held in historical Williamsburg, Virginia, March 10-13, 2011.

The popularity of ebooks has increased tremendously and will continue to do so now with the Kindle, iPad, Nook, and numerous electronic devices. Looking back over the decade, I knew back then it would be the technology of our future, and although it has happened a little slow, it is taking off and is becoming more popular month by month. I hope Amazon’s Jeff Bezos is prepared for Kindle sales this Christmas as I believe they will go through the roof. That means many of our books will sell as well. And for those of us who have chosen to publish with Kindle, Smashwords, and other distributors, we now have the opportunity to publish, have control of our work, and enjoy a sense of freedom. I am a self-published author and am proud of my work. It is also nice that the stigma of self-publishing is dropping by the wayside. Works of quality are being self-published, electronically and in print.

Jon Guenther and I (and a few other authors) for many months have protested among ourselves (and at times publicly) about the uncalled for attitude of writer’s groups, other successful authors, who were or are against those of us who have chosen alternative ways to publish. In other words, to self-publish, without agents, or the NY Biggies. I’m reminded of the Paul Anka song, My Way. And yeah, we are doing it our way. Good for us.

Shattered Lens: Catherine Winter, Private Investigator by Linda Pendleton

2011 EPIC Award Finalist, Mystery and/or Suspense Novel Category

The Cosmic Breath: Metaphysical Essays of Don Pendleton, Introduction by Linda Pendleton
2011 EPIC Award Finalist, Non-fiction Category

I’m delighted. Both books are available at Amazon Kindle and at Amazon in print.

Interview with Stephen Tremp, Author of the Suspense Thriller, BREAKTHROUGH

Interview with Stephen Tremp, Author of the Suspense Thriller, Breakthrough Blogs.

I’ve invited author, Stephen Tremp to answer a few questions about his new thriller, Breakthrough.

Linda: Hi Stephen. Your suspense thrillers sound fascinating. Tell us a little about the Breakthrough trilogy and what motivated you to write the stories.

Stephen: Breakthrough, Opening, and Escalation are basically a “What If …” scenario. I have taken this premise and developed a trilogy that incorporates mainstream and proposed theories of physics. This includes Einstein-Rosen Bridges, or wormholes as they are commonly known. Wormholes are only the beginning and open a Pandora’s box of breakthrough discoveries that threaten our world as we know it.

Conflict drives a story. I introduce conflict based on breakthroughs mankind may be on the cusp of discovering but not yet ready for. The discovering party wants to use these breakthroughs for the advancement of mankind. However, greed rears its ugly head, and a group of misguided zealots steal the breakthrough and use it to kill important global figures. The protagonist, Chase Manhattan, understands he needs to stop more murders and destroy the breakthrough before he himself is killed. The setting is M.I.T. in Cambridge, MA and Orange County, CA.

Linda: When did you first decide you would become a writer or at least dream about being a writer?

Stephen: Although I wrote a lot as a kid, art was my first love. I loved drawing and painting. It wasn't until shortly after high school I knew I wanted to be a writer.

Linda: While growing up what book or books inspired you?

Stephen: Mysteries, especially suspense thrillers. I remember my first book report was Mystery by Moonlight, a YA novel by Mary C. Jane. This stirred something inside me to write, but art was still my first love.

Linda: Who has inspired you most in life? And what books have influenced your life and world view?

Stephen: This would be a blog all its own. The Bible has inspired me. Think of all the crazy events that happened, or are prophesied to happen. What if they can be explained scientifically? Jacob’s Ladder, Jesus appearing in the center of a room after his resurrection, angels and demons appearing and disappearing at will, the events of the book of Revelation?

Linda: As most writers, I have read books on writing. Are there any you found helpful and would recommend to aspiring writers?

Stephen: Yes. I refer often to You Can Write A Great Mystery by Gillian Roberts . I even wrote a blog from her book called The Seven Cs of Writing.

Linda: Of the elements that go into a novel such as characterizations, dialogue, action scenes, plotting, sex scenes, and setting, among other things, which do you find easiest for you personally in your art of writing? In other words, what do you consider your strength to be?

Stephen: One of my strengths is research. I like to use Google and Google Earth a lot. I also research Web sites and articles from renowned people like physicists. If I’m using a Starbucks location in Cambridge MA (I live in Southern California), I need to be accurate down to the intersecting street names, if there’s a crosswalk in front of it, and if the sun is shining through the front windows at 11:00 a.m. I also visit the same establishments my characters frequent and eat the same meals and drink the same beer and wine they eat and drink in the story. It's a tough job but somebody has to do it.

Linda: The publishing industry is going through a change and currently there is a lot of controversy about ebooks and self-publishing. And many of us welcome that change. What made you decide to self-publish rather than go the traditional route?

Stephen: Believe me, I’m diligently searching for a New York publisher. And a reputable agent. Until then, I’ll do the best I can via self-publishing.

Linda: What is your favorite quote?

Stephen: "We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them." - Albert Einstein

Linda: Are you currently working on your next book and if so, what can we expect?

Stephen: Breakthrough is the first book in a trilogy. I currently have Opening and Escalation, the next two installments, over half finished. I’m excited to start working with my editor in a couple months.

Linda: Thanks for taking the time to share more about your book and I wish you much success with it and the ones to follow.

You can visit Stephen at Breakthrough Blogs. Breakthrough is available at Barnes and Noble and for download to Kindle and other eReaders .

~Linda

Don Pendleton's EYE TO EYE, Ashton Ford, Psychic Detective

I have put videos up at my new youtube channel. Here is a book trailer on Don Pendleton's EYE TO EYE, Ashton Ford, Psychic Detective




At Amazon in print and Amazon Kindle

~Linda

SHATTERED LENS: Catherine Winter, Private Investigator Novel

I spent the weekend making book trailers to post at my new youtube channel.

Kindle and the California Gold Rush

Tonight I was wandering around Amazon.com and checking on a few of my Kindle books, ones I did Introductions for and recently published. Books on California History and on the California Gold Rush.

I was delighted to see several of mine on their best seller lists tonight:
California History # 16 and # 19 and # 40.
California Gold Rush, I have three: # 7, # 10, # 14.

Prospecting and Mining # 9
Gold Rush # 4, #15 and # 21.

See all Linda Pendleton's Kindle Books

All of these are Kindle only, with the exception of Gold Hunters of Early California, which is also available in print. Of course, the positions can change hour by hour at Kindle, but it feels good right now. Out of over 700,000 Kindle books, that ain't too bad.

~Linda

Mark Twain Autobiography Release

"It's no wonder that truth is stranger than fiction. Fiction has to make sense."
~Mark Twain

The Mark Twain Motherlode Festival in Angels Camp, Calaveras County, California, will be the first to offer and display the much anticipated autobiography of Mark Twain.

He published his first book in 1867 - "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County."

Twain asked that the autobiography be suppressed and not published for 100 years following his death. The 737 page book is the is the result of the work of the Mark Twain Project conducted by UC Berkeley's Bancroft Library and University Press.

During the Twain Motherlode Festival several of the scholars and editors who worked on the project will take part in a symposium, and for the first time ever, the complete, authoritative and uncensored autobiography of Mark Twain.

The festival is scheduled for October 15-17th.

Born as Samuel Langhorne Clemens, November 30, 1835,.he wrote under the pen name of Mark Twain until his death April 21, 1910. Several of his manuscripts were published posthumously.

The book will be released November 15 and is available for pre-order at Amazon.

~Linda

"We're Going To Drink Vodka Gimlets." -In honor of Raymond Chandler and wife

"We had three gimlets, not doubles, and it didn't do a thing to him. That much would just get a real souse started. So I guess maybe he was cured at that." ~Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlow in The Long Goodbye.

This is a love story of sorts. It is about best-selling novelist, screenwriter, Raymond Chandler, author of The Big Sleep, The Long Goodbye, Farewell, my Lovely, and other novels, short stories, and screenplays.

Raymond Chandler was born in 1888 in Chicago. At the age of seven years, he relocated to London with his divorced mother. In 1917 he enlisted in the Canadian Army. After the war he returned to the states and in 1919 was in Los Angeles. It was there he met Cissy Pascal, a married woman. They began an affair and shortly thereafter her divorce was final.

But Chandler's mother did not want him to marry Cissy and the couple did not marry until 1924, only weeks after his mother's death. Cissy died in 1954 after a long illness.

A heavy drinker, Chandler also suffered from bouts of depression. A year after his wife's death he apparently attempted suicide. His career suffered from his drinking and depression, although his books and movies are classics. He died at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, CA in 1959. He was buried at Mount Hope Cemetery in San Diego. He had wanted to be cremated like his wife, according to Frank MacShane, literary biographer, but without instructions in a will, he was buried.

But that is not the end of the love story. A dedicated fan and historian Loren Latker, who for years has researched Raymond Chandler had discovered that Cissy Chandler's ashes have been sitting on a mausoleum warehouse shelf a block away from her husband's grave. But it would take a court order to reunite the couple.

I quote the A/P article by John Rogers: "Latker's wife, Annie Thiel, is Internet talk radio psychologist Dr. Annie. She approached an attorney friend, Aissa Wayne, for advice. Wayne, the daughter of John Wayne, was so captivated by what she called "a wonderful love story" that she decided to take the case on pro bono."

Although the judge admitted he was inclined to deny the request, when he heard Cissy Chandler's ashes were sitting on a shelf in the warehouse, he ruled in favor of reuniting the couple.

So a scheduled celebration will take place Valentine's Day, 2011 at the writer's grave in San Diego's Mount Hope Cemetery when the two will once more be together after more than 50 years.

Historian Loren Latker states, "We're going to have a toast at the grave. We're going to drink vodka gimlets."

Read more about Raymond Chandler at Loren Latker's site.

~Linda

Early California History Ebooks, Gold Rush

I'm a native Californian and have always had an interest in California history including the 1849 gold rush and the founding of the California missions. That interest has led me into research and then the writing of Introductions to several books written one hundred years ago or so about that history of California and publishing those books at Kindle. Here is the newest one of mine and because I liked the book so much, including the photograph I found for the cover, along with the design by my web designer Judy Bullard, I decided to not only publish at Kindle but to put it in print through Amazon's Createspace:

These others are doing well at Kindle, so I am not alone in having the interest in the pioneer days, the gold rush, the missions, and the settlement of California.

~Linda

Bookstores: A Sign of the Times

The New York Times is reporting that Barnes and Noble will close there Manhattan Upper West Side store at Broadway and 66th Street, near Lincoln Center in January 2011.

Company spokeswoman, Mary Ellen Keating stated: “Barnes & Noble regrets to announce that we will be closing our Lincoln Triangle Store at 1972 Broadway at 66th Street in Manhattan at the end of January 2011. We recognize that this store has been an important part of the fabric of the Upper West Side community since we opened our doors on October 20, 1995, however, the current lease is at its end of term, and the increased rent that would be required to stay in the location makes it economically impossible for us to extend the lease. We want our loyal customers and booksellers to know that we are ever committed to continuing our search for a new location on the Upper West Side.”

The NY Times article added: "While Barnes & Noble has recently suffered declining foot traffic, it still has a store at the corner of 82nd and Broadway on the Upper West Side, and in July 2009, it opened a 50,000-square-foot superstore at 86th Street and Lexington Avenue.

"Two other Barnes & Noble stores in Manhattan, one on Astor Place and one in Chelsea, have closed in the last three years.

"Barnes & Noble, which put itself up for sale this month, is in the midst of a proxy fight for control of the company."

But the upcoming closing of Barnes and Noble is also affecting another local bookstore, a sidewalk bookstore that belongs to Charles Mysak. For more than a decade, beginning at 7:00 a.m., Mysak sets up his sidewalk bookstore on an old folding table and has sold hundreds of used books from his table and a few crates and boxes. Most books sell for under $5, but he, too, is feeling the impact of the downturn in paper book buying. He does not see it as business failure but as a "reflection of society." He refers to the many customers of the local Apple store who walk out with expensive items and walk out "as if they are in ecstasy."

The NY Times quotes Mysak: “It is apparent that we have a real serious issue, that the life of the mind has been in decline for some time now. Ignorance and indolence is the primary problem. If you take care of the mind, everything else follows.”

I wonder, is the mind in decline? Or, is the mind moving forward to explore and experiment with new ways to read, ways to save a few bucks, and is the mind just enjoying the latest technology that comes along?

Ebooks have found their place, and it appears they don't need four walls and brick and mortar or a folding table on a sidewalk.

~Linda