5 posts tagged “abna”
The Publisher's Weekly review of my novel (not just the excerpt) has been posted:
From Publishers Weekly
Every town has skeletons lining its closets, and Blooming Tree, Ga., is no exception. Set in the 1930s, this novel examines the dark past purposefully shrouded by those who live there. When young Baptist pastor Jacob Buchanan is sent to Blooming Tree, he faces the challenges of overseeing a parish (namely appeasing the First Redemption Parish Ladies’ Society) and ends up living on the same street as his former lover, Thaddea, and her family. Since the murder of popular Pastor Joseph in 1909, Blooming Tree’s parish office has had a revolving door. When the purported murderess, Maighdlin Baker, gives Jacob her diary, he is confronted with a conflicting appraisal — villainous, lecherous — of Pastor Joseph. At first doubtful, Jacob struggles to uncover the truth while confronting his own demons and complex feelings for Thaddea. Though the voice loses some clarity in the diary excerpt, it is more of a hiccup than a trend, and, overall, the narration is engrossing and the plot careful and suspenseful, culminating in some satisfying twists.
I need reviews, please. Review activity is important in this round apparently. So download the free excerpt (it's the first chapter), read it (it's a 10-20- min read, max) and treat it like you would any Amazon product, review-wise.
These are my favorite ABNA entries so far:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001UG39HO "Mapping the Wilderness" by Deanna Northrup (general lit)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001UG3A32 "Heart of the City" by Lisa Koosis (sci fi)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001UG3AJQ "Bedeviled Glass" by Shannon Schuren (mystery)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001UG39FG "Casper's Children" by Cheryl McCleery (general lit)
And this one is mine:
All of the excerpts are available as free Amazon downloads. I don't know if anything will happen to the entries after April 15 when the top 100 are announced so I recommend grabbing them now :)
My friend Lori and I are working on something new: a monologue. I've never written anything for stage/screen so I have a fair amount to learn. I've done theater in my day so I'm not completely green.
The piece is based on the true story of a local serial killer: a woman who killed her five children. No one knew about the crimes until she died at 76 and left a note instructing people to look "in an old trunk" in her attic for the bodies. Lori came by on Friday and we discussed the story, one of those lurid things everyone knows about but no one has all the details on. I've already used aspects of it in "Inheritance" but this would be 100% this story.
So I wrote about a page of monologue tonight b/c I got an idea of how to start. It's very hard to get inside the head of this character, and I do have to treat her as a character. Lori agreed, about how to get inside her. We're both trying to understand the psychology of someone who would commit this kind of a crime.
We want to work with the theme of "choice/choices" as a core to wrap the story around. My theory at this point is that this woman didn't have many choices in her life. This was a place where she had a choice and so she made one. Albeit the wrong one.
So that's what I've luckily been able to occupy my mind with while I wait for the ABNA top 100 announcement. I didn't think I was as eager for it as I am until I had a dream last week that the announcement was made via e-mail and I didn't make it. It was a horrible feeling.
When I woke up, I realized, "I want this. I really want this."
Stephanie,
Thank you for participating in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. We received thousands of submissions and were impressed with the incredible talent and creativity demonstrated by participating authors this year. We are happy to inform you that you have been selected to move forward in the contest.
Now that you're a Quarterfinalist, Amazon customers can read, rate and review your excerpt while your manuscript is being reviewed by Publishers Weekly. Last year, tens of thousands of reviews were written by customers and fellow contestants giving authors valuable feedback on their writing. You can find your excerpt on Amazon.com via the following link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001UG39YC, and access the main contest page where all entries are located at www.amazon.com/abna.
Good luck!
ABNA Admin
Stop by and read! Yay!
