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Dear Reader,
Today's guest author, Michael Jecks, has published 40 titles including the Templar series and the Jack Blackjack series. Mike has been Chair of the Crime Writers' Association, founder of Medieval Murderers and helped create the Historical Writers' Association. He has tutored at Exeter University for two years with the Royal Literary Fund, and Michael is a keen moor walker and dog owner. His latest release in the Jack Blackjack series is Rebellion's Message.
Michael enjoys hearing from readers and would like to hear from you. He replies to readers and when you send an email, you're entered in a drawing for one of five e-copies of Rebellion's Message. Email: [email protected]
Please do welcome author Michael Jecks...
There are many dangers associated with writing.
A good friend, also a writer, once succumbed to an industrial injury; he broke his leg. He was sitting at his keyboard for so long that his leg went to sleep, and when he stood to make a cup of tea, he fell and broke it.
So, while most readers may not realise it, writing is dangerous. Even life-threatening.
Some years ago, my family and I went for a day out. When we got home, my eight-year-old daughter was tired, and I suggested she might want to sit in front of the TV for a while. All was well until I heard her crying, and asked what was wrong.
"The ceiling's falling down!" she wailed.
"Don't worry about that. Come and tell me what's happening," I said boldly.
Luckily she came straight out. And yes, the ceiling was falling. It took six props to save it that night.
Why was it coming down?
Well, I'm an author. I've written forty odd novels. You may not realise, but publishers tend to give the author twenty or more copies of each title. In every imprint. At that time I had written only, perhaps, twenty five books, but each of those had been published, and each time the publishers gave me twenty odd copies of the hardback, and more of the paperback.
That's not the end of it. Each of the books was sold abroad, so my German, Italian, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, and other publishers sent me copies. The Spanish company reprinted it two or three times, and each time I received another twenty books in the new format, as per contract.
Then I won a US deal with HarperCollins, who duly sent me twenty five of each title, and then another twenty five in error. So I had fifty of each.
What does this have to do with the sitting room? Well, where do you store things? In the attic, obviously. So that's where I put it. Above the sitting room.
That room was an extension built by a DIY enthusiast twenty years ago who didn't comply with building regulations to save cash. The rafters were half the thickness and depth they should have been. Since the room is long, he had nailed the rafters together in the middle to make them reach--but then he had the ends resting not on the walls, but on the plasterboard. It was a miracle that the whole ceiling didn't come down.
As I said, writing is a dangerous pastime.
--Michael Jecks
Say hello and enter to win an e-book copy of Rebellion's Message.
Email, [email protected]
Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.
Suzanne Beecher
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AUTHORBUZZ: WHEN DARKNESS COMES (Fiction) by John Anthony Miller
Three lives intertwined in Nazi-occupied Paris: Paul, a brooding banker, Rachel, a teenage Jew, Claire, a bookstore owner--all confronted by an infamous Nazi collaborator. They hide thousands of Jewish refugees, leading them to safety--until an innocent bystander notices something amiss and their entire world collapses around them.
Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader click on WHEN DARKNESS COMES to find out more about the book and the author, John Anthony Miller. Send him an email, he'd love to hear from you.
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