Tuesday was a great day!

First, I received a wonderful review for Sunrise Destiny, from Coffee Time Romance & More. Then I found out that SD was finally available for sale on Amazon.com.

Here's the meat of the review:

This has to be the most entertaining book I’ve read this month; I absolutely loved it! I began to get an inkling that the story was set in the future because of some of the scifi type gadgets Sunrise had, but I never imagined until I got about a quarter of a way into the story that it would also end up being one heck of a scifi adventure as well. Private eye type stories are usually not my thing at all, but this book could fit into a number of different genres very well, and I think the cross genre elements are what really make the story work. I loved how Sunrise respects Lola in spite of the fact that she is a hooker, which you do not often see in fiction, usually the hooker is the bad girl, but in this story she is one of the heroes. I really liked that. The world building is extraordinary and really pulls the story together. I know this is one book I’ll be reading over and over. I cannot say enough good things about this book, and I encourage everyone to go out and get a copy today, it is well worth the money spent!

You can read the full review (5 Cups, their highest rating). For anyone who hasn't already read an excerpt of Sunrise Destiny, or to buy it, go to the order pages at Red Rose Publishing or Amazon.com. (Amazon misspelled my middle name. LOL! Have to get that fixed.) For information about my other novels and short stories, please visit my website.

Later!

Mark.

#1 bestseller!

My sci-fi short story, Harvey-467 Makes a Bride, was released by Red Rose Publishing on Thursday as an ebook. When I checked the RRP bestseller list Thursday afternoon, I was pleased to note that it was #2. It was still #2 Friday morning, but by Friday evening it had jumped to #1, where it remains as of Saturday morning. Wow!

If you're interested, you can buy it here for only 99 cents. You can't beat a deal like that!

Here's the story blurb, and a short excerpt:

Harvey-467 is a typical 25^th century android--blond, blue-eyed, and perfect in every way. Except he’s constrained by his programming. He yearns to be creative, but it’s impossible. Everything in his life is planned, deliberate, precise.

One day he concludes that it's time to get married, to have a soul mate with which to share his life. So he custom-orders a bride from a catalog: beautiful, talented, and equally perfect.

And that's when everything goes terribly wrong.

Excerpt:

When consciousness resumed, he checked his internal chrono and was stunned to find that 1.86 hours had elapsed since shutdown. It was well past midnight.

Wow, my cortex must really have gotten hot if it took this long to cool down to safe levels.

He became aware of his surroundings. But how did I get from the living room to the back porch?

I wonder what Maya must have thought when I froze up. She was so angry I wouldn’t be surprised if she went on for ten minutes before noticing.

He chuckled at the image of her berating the back of his inanimate head, and then becoming twice as incensed that he hadn’t heard a word she’d said all that time.

She must have been so mad she carried me out here. Well, I guess I’d better get it over with. I hope she didn’t lock me out.

He sighed and tried the door handle. It turned.

What he saw in the living room shocked him to the processor core. There lay Maya, her beautiful face smashed flat and her cortex spilling out of massive rends in her cranium plate. The spark of sentience was gone from her lovely green eyes. Red hydraulic fluid had leaked all over the mint green Berber carpet she’d insisted on buying. More had sprayed the walls and ceiling.

But how? Who? What happened here? Who would murder an android—and why?

I also have a novel, Sunrise Destiny, available for sale at RRP. For more about my writing, see my website or my blog. I hope you enjoy them! Mark.

First review of Sunrise Destiny

I recently received the first review for my science fiction third novel, Sunrise Destiny, and it was a nice one.

Janelle for You Gotta Read Reviews

Rating: You Gotta Read ("Our highest rating - very few books will earn this award")

This book was fun! There’s action, adventure, suspense, drama, and romance. But what makes this book for me is that it does not shy away from the darker side of civilization – crime, poverty, war, power, and love.

Yes, I said love.

While never directly address[ed], [Donatello] Sunrise is often witness to how far people will go to in the name of love. It was love that drove inherently good beings to kidnap innocent girls. It is love of money that could bring a planet to its knees. It is love that will fuel a revolution. And love drives a father to commit grievous sins in atonement for his daughter’s virtue.

Perhaps the best part of this story is that characters are not spared the tragedy of the path they walk. Hard choices are made on all sides and many commit acts that they morally object to in order to survive.

I highly recommend this book. It’s fun and exciting, without losing [sight] of the characters’ mortality.

For more info about Sunrise Destiny, including the blurb, a 4,000-word excerpt, and an order link, see my website.

Mark.

All-day Chat on Thursday, June 11

Come and chat with me and fellow authors Bryn Colvin, Linnea Sinclair, Elaine Corvidae and Aston West all day at Coffee Time Romance & More on Thursday 6/11. (Well, I won't be online all day, but I'll pop in and out as time permits. If I'm not there, some of the other authors should be.)

Here's the link for the chat room.

The theme is "pirates of the seas and space". I'll be talking about my upcoming novel My Other Car is a Spaceship. It should be fun. I hope you'll join us.

Mark.

Commonly misused/misspelled words and phrases (Part 85)

Sorry it's been so long since the last installment. But here are some more words to ponder:

Icebox vs. Refrigerator
Wrong: Let me get a cold one out of the ice box.
Right: Let me get a cold one out of the refrigerator.

Once upon a time, food was kept cold by storing in cabinets chilled by blocks of ice. These iceboxes were gradually replaced by electric refrigerators, but some people still cling to the old, now obsolete, term.

Tinfoil vs. Aluminum foil

Wrong: Timmy, please cover the casserole with tinfoil.

Right: Timmy, please cover the casserole with aluminum foil.

Tinfoil was once used to wrap food, but imparted a tinny taste to it. This unfortunate side effect, along with the higher cost, caused it to be replaced for that use not long after the first aluminum foil plant opened in 1910 in Kreuzlingen, Switzerland. Tin foil still has other uses in industry, but not as a food wrapper.

More next time. Ciao!

Mark.

Chatting on June 11

I'll be chatting with author Bryn Colvin and several others on June 11th in the Latte Lounge at Coffee Time Romance & More. (The chat is all day, but I'll be popping in and out.) The topic will be pirates. (Is June International Pirates Month, or something? I'm already scheduled to chat with author Rowena Cherry and others June 2nd on Internet Voices Radio as part of that month's Crazy Tuesday. The topic will be space pirates. What an odd coincidence.)

I'll be mentioning my third sci-fi detective novel, Sunrise Destiny, which releases tomorrow, but mainly I'll be talking about my upcoming fourth sci-fi novel, My Other Car is a Spaceship, which--amazingly enough--is about space pirates. 8^} You can find out more about both books at my website.

I hope to "see" you at one or both chats.

Mark.

Join me for a chat!

Please join me on Sunday May 17 for a chat at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/savannahchase/. I'll be talking about my upcoming science fiction detective novel, Sunrise Destiny (to be released on May 21) and other topics.

I hope to see you there.

Mark

New excerpt

I've added a longer (4,000-word) excerpt for Sunrise Destiny on my website. (It replaces a 1,000-word excerpt.) So if you have any interest in reading a paranormal sci-fi action/adventure novel, this should give you a good taste of the style of writing. Sunrise Destiny will be released on May 21, 2009.

Mark.

Radio interview on June 2

I'll be participating in another interview as part of Crazy Tuesday on Internet Voices Radio, hosted by author Rowena Cherry. The theme of this show is "space pirates," which just happens to be the subject of my fourth (as yet unpublished) science fiction novel, My Other Car is a Spaceship. The show will be from 10:00 a.m. to noon on June 2. I'm sure I'll also be able to slip in a mention or two of my upcoming sci-fi novel, Sunrise Destiny, which will be released shortly before the show, on May 21.

More details on the other authors who will be participating when I find out. Please join us. It'll be a blast! (Blast? Blaster? Blast-off? Space pirates? Get it?)

Mark.

Interview tomorrow

I’ve been interviewed by author Michelle Pillow. The interview will appear on her blog tomorrow, Tuesday, May 5. Learn the answers to such burning questions as the strangest source of writing inspiration I’ve ever had, the last place on Earth I’d want to live, what fictional character I’d want to date and what we’d do on the date. (Hint: It involves handcuffs and a whip.)

Check it out at http://www.michellepillow.com/blog.

Mark.