Category Archives: Books

#AtoZChallenge, Authors, Blog Tour, Book Tour, Books, Fun stuff, Novels, Publishing

CELTIC CONNEXIONS… Coming in MARCH…

March 1, 2015 Melanie 2 Comments

Celtic Connexions March Schedule

March is shaping up to be another busy month here at Celtic Connexions. Be sure to mark your calendars so you don’t miss a single thing. There are Book Tours, author interviews, a St Patrick’s Day party and more!

March 1st – The monthly calendar for the month of March

March 7th – A Spell in Provence by Marie Laval

March 11th – Brady’s Lost Blanket, a children’s book, by fellow 4RV Publishing author, Stephanie Burkhart

March 14th – Interview with Rosemary Gemmell, Scottish author of The Highland Lass (and more)

March 17th – Online St Patrick’s Day party with “virtual” Irish food, drink and traditions along with an interview with Irish author, Sharon Black

March 21st – Interview with Linda Gillard, Scottish author of Cauldstane (and more)

March 25th – A Matter of Temperance by Ichabod Temperance

March 31st – Introduction to April’s #AtoZChallenge month. You’ll find out what the challenge is all about and what I’ll be blogging about throughout the month of April.

I’m always happy to host fellow authors for interviews, cover reveals, or book launch parties.

If you’d like to be a guest here at Celtic Connexions, you can contact me at Celtic Connexions.

4RV Publishing, A Shadow in the Past, Books, calendar, Christmas, craft fair, King Park Press, Local Authors, The Consequences Collection

Christmas Craft Show~November 29, 2014

November 22, 2014 Melanie 1 Comment

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Join me and numerous other vendors in the village of Merrickville, Ontario for the 19th Annual Christmas Craft and Concession Show.

I’ll be there signing copies of A Shadow in the Past and The Consequences Collection. In addition, I’ll have my 2015 A Shadow in the Past companion calendar showing various locations throughout Scotland used in the book. And who doesn’t need a calendar to keep track of appointments and such?

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View Larger Map

I hope to see you there!

4RV Publishing, Authors, Beverly Stowe McClure, Books, middle grade, novella

Book spotlight ~ STAR OF THE TEAM by Beverly Stowe McClure

November 8, 2014 Melanie 9 Comments

STAR OF THE TEAM

MG contemporary

Blurb:

A girl.

A dream.

An accident.

A dream shattered.

Eleven-year-old Kate Taylor dreams of being the star of her basketball team, Angels. When Kate’s tooth is knocked out at one of the games and her mother, who is also her coach, says she can’t play until the tooth the dentist replants heals, Kate’s dreams are in jeopardy. Add Emily, the new girl at school who claims she’s the best, and Kate faces a challenge to prove that she is the star.

Will Kate succeed? Or will Emily ruin Kate’s plans?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My Review:

A great read at any age!

I loved this book. The characters are well developed, the action in the basketball scenes is authentic and the plot is strong. Shattered dreams, pre-teen angst and jealousy are portrayed in a way that the reader is pulled deeper into the story.

As an adult, I found the book short but for the middle grade audience it’s targeted, the length is perfect. Perhaps this could be the beginning of a series that follows Kate, Emily and the others through school, sports and beyond.

I can’t wait to read more of Beverly’s work.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Links:

Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/k5y1mky

Barnes and Noble: http://tinyurl.com/18r6ox4

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

About Beverly:

Most of the time, you’ll find Beverly in front of her computer, writing the stories little voices whisper in her ear. When she’s not writing, she takes long walks and snaps pictures of clouds, wild flowers, birds and deer. To some of her friends, she is affectionately known as the “Bug Lady” because she rescues butterflies, moths, walking sticks, and praying mantis from her cats.

For twenty-two years Beverly taught children in grades two through five how to read and write. They taught her patience. Now, she teaches a women’s Sunday school class at her church. To relax she plays the piano. Her cats don’t appreciate good music and run and hide when she tickles the ivories.

You can follow Beverly here:

http://beverlystowemcclure.blogspot.com

http://beverlystowemcclure.wordpress.com

#BookLoversDay, Agatha Christie, Authors, Books, Bram Stoker, Charles Dickens, George Orwell, Harper Lee, John Steinbech, Ray Bradbury, Wilkie Collins, William Peter Blatty, William Shakespeare

#BookLoversDay is Today!

November 1, 2014 Melanie Leave a comment

Today is Book Lovers Day! It always falls on the first Saturday in November and this year coincidentally falls on the 1st.

Books, I love them all. Hard cover, paperback (trade or mass market) or ebook (kindle or epub format) I just love books! And then there are the genres – crime, romance, chicklit, memoirs, science fiction, fantasy. Perhaps I should preface the rest of this post with…

“My name is Melanie and I’m a bookaholic.”

Recently there was a meme making the rounds on Facebook wanting to know the ten books that have stuck with you. Some of these were secondary school reading, others just because I wanted to, and some I’ve read more than once.

The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins
1984 – George Orwell
A Tale of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
Romeo and Juliet – William Shakespeare
Halloween Party – Agatha Christie
The Exorcist – William Peter Blatty
To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
Of Mice and Men – John Steinbech
Farenheit 451 – Ray Bradbury
Dracula – Bram Stoker

Can a person ever have too many books? I think not. As I was creating the hyperlinks for the books on my list, I even scored three FREE ones!

Perhaps I’m in need of an intervention?

4RV Publishing, A Shadow in the Past, Aberdeenshire, Books, England, Kindle, kobo, nook, Novels, readers, Scotland, Writing, YA fiction

It’s Tell a Story Day

October 27, 2014 Melanie Leave a comment

It’s “Tell A Story Day”!

Well, in Scotland and England it is. And since my heart belongs to Scotland, and I have family and friends in both countries, need I say more?

Okay, so in keeping with the day, here’s my story…

tell a story

Blurb:

Nineteen-year-old Sarah Shand finds herself thrust back into the past. There she struggles to keep her real identity from a society that finds her comments and ideas strange and her speech and actions forward, unlike Victorian women. When Sarah verbally confronts confining social practices, including arranged marriages; powerful enemies commit her to a lunatic asylum. After falling in love with the handsome Laird of Weetshill, Robert Robertson, she must decide whether to find her way back to her own time or to remain in the past with him.

Now isn’t that a great story? I think so, but then I’m biased.

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You can buy A Shadow from the Past in print or ebook from:

Publisher: http://www.4rvpublishingcatalog.com/robertson-king.php
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Past-Melanie-Robertson-King-ebook/dp/B00IGLS692/
Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-shadow-in-the-past-melanie-robertson-king/1112348992?ean=9780983801887
Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-CA/ebook/a-shadow-in-the-past-1

You can follow me here at Celtic Connexions or at:

Website: http://www.melanierobertson-king.com/
Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Melanie-Robertson-King/221018701298979
Twitter Account: @RobertsoKing https://twitter.com/RobertsoKing
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6543072.Melanie_Robertson_King

Authors, Books, Novels, Publicity, Writing

Writers’ Corner at the Turkey Fair

September 21, 2014 Melanie 1 Comment

Writers’ Corner

September 20th meant the Turkey Fair returned to Lyndhurst.

View Larger Map

Thankfully, we had no rain unlike last year when it teemed all day. The good weather brought out even more people and we had a steady stream coming through the community room of the local library.

Every author sold at least one physical copy of their book(s) and many of the customers passing through were thrilled to hear that some of us had e-book versions, too, with kobo being the e-reader of choice it seemed. – See more at: http://www.melanierobertson-king.com/wp02/?m=201309#sthash.OxjV5DmS.dpuf

I sold four copies of A Shadow in the Past, doubling last year’s sales.

Other Eastern Ontario authors participating yesterday were:

Jeanne Patric

I first met Violette by attending one of her writing workshops and Vicki through attending the Scene of the Crime Mystery Festival on Wolfe Island. She, too, gives workshops and I’ve been to them when she’s come to the Thousand Islands Writers Festival.

I enjoyed myself immensely and I’ll be back for a third time next year (that is if they’ll have me). I’ve already marked the date in my calendar – September 19, 2015.

Since kobo seemed to be the e-reader of choice, does anyone know if there’s a way of tracking your sales through them similar to how novel rank works for amazon?

A Shadow in the Past, Appearances, Books, Canada Day, Canadian Flag, celebrations, Holidays, The Consequences Collection

Canada Day 2014

July 2, 2014 Melanie 2 Comments

Happy Canada Day!

This year, I spent the day at the Canada Day Morrisburg Market. The heat was oppressive as was the humidity. I think it felt like 41C outside – and that was even under a canopy in the shade. Thankfully, there was a breeze coming in off the river, but that also posed a few problems.

My little table (while it looks very nice decked out in red and tartan looks so small under the 10’x10′ canopy. And because there was so much room in the tent, people took the short cut through the one end to go to and from other parts of the park.

I rearranged the table after this photo was taken and put the easel with the “what people are saying about A Shadow in the Past” in the middle behind the calendars and moved the stacks of A Shadow in the Past to the edge of the table.

I had a few people ask if we had T-shirts for sale but I only ordered the two – one for hubby and one for me to wear to assorted signings (unless more formal attire is required).

The militia reenactors scared most of the people (me included) when they started firing their guns… without warning I might add. Still I managed to get a couple of pictures of them.

Early in the afternoon, the wind changed and my easel became a sail, so it spent most of the afternoon under the table, although I did manage to get it back on display a few times. It meant having to hang on to it and even then there was no guarantee it would remain upright.

By the end of the day, I had sold 4 copies of A Shadow in the Past and 2 copies of The Consequences Collection. In addition, a number of people took my postcards and were quite pleased that both books are available as ebooks. Now we’ll see if that interest translates into sales.

How did you spend your Canada Day?

#AtoZChallenge, 4RV Publishing, A Shadow in the Past, Aberdeenshire, Books, Brand, characters, Novels, Paranormal YA, Shadows from Her Past, stone circle, Writing, YA fiction

#AtoZChallenge – S is for SHADOWS FROM HER PAST

April 22, 2014 Melanie Leave a comment

Shadows from Her Past

I’m currently sitting at just over 62,000 words in my first draft and my target length is 85,000. This book hasn’t progressed as quickly as I had hoped but I’ve not totally thrown in the towel yet, either.

I don’t have a cover to show you but as the book hasn’t progressed to that stage, I can’t.

Here is the cover image for my first book. I see my name and the title Shadows from Her Past exactly how they are here. Keep the ‘author brand’ continuity if you will.

I also see the past and present being represented much as they are here but, shall we say, in a more modest setting. Present looking into the past and the two characters who are most important to the heroine appearing with her in the mirror’s reflection.

What do you think of my vision?

Blurb for Shadows from Her Past:

Sarah finds herself back in her time without her husband, Robert, and adopted daughter, Jenny. When she sees visions of them appear, Sarah doesn’t know if it’s her imagination or if they’re really there trying to break through the constraints of time and space.

David Robb, a student doctor at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary who has been assigned to her case, bears a familial resemblance to Robert. Sarah develops feelings for him but also feels like she is betraying her husband, despite them being centuries apart.

Will Sarah make a new life with David in the present, or will she find her way back to her husband and daughter in the past?

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Keep coming back for news regarding Shadows from her Past. In the meantime, you can purchase book one in the series – A Shadow in the Past in paperback from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Chapters, and local bricks ‘n mortar bookstores.

If you’d prefer to buy it as an ebook, all you have to do is click on the logo of your choice to download it. The link for all the amazon domains is the same, you just have to change the .co.uk to your own.

#AtoZChallenge, Books, bookstore, characters, ebooks

#AtoZChallenge – R is for Reading

April 21, 2014 Melanie 1 Comment

Reading

Whatever your genre, or preferred medium, curling up and reading a good book on a cold wintry day is fab and in my corner of the world, there have been a pile of them this season.

There are loads of genres to choose from – crime, romance, paranormal, Young Adult, New Adult, non-fiction, memoirs and literary fiction.

A great place to get your reading material is at your local independent bookstore. Mine is Leeds County Books. If I find a book whilst shopping elsewhere, I take down the details and then go here and order my copy, if it isn’t already on the shelf.

I also have a great collection of ebooks on my ipad in the Kindle app.

And I’m going to do a wee bit of shameless, self-promotion here. If you’re looking for a great read, check out A Shadow in the Past and The Consequences Collection, written by yours truly.