Blaze

THE BIG THRILL Interviews Kristina Stanley

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 7 Comments

For an exciting start to the new year, exciting for me anyway, THE BIG THRILL magazine published an interview of me.

THE BIG THRILL is published by The International Thriller Writers. It is an honorary society of authors, both fiction and nonfiction, who write books broadly classified as “thrillers.” This would include (but isn’t limited to) such subjects as murder mystery, detective, suspense, horror, supernatural, action, espionage, true crime, war, adventure, and myriad similar subject areas.

Here’s the start….

Blaze by Kristina Stanley

BLAZE CoverKristina Stanley, former director of security at a ski resort, is the author of the Stone Mountain Mystery Series.

She loves to write about remote locations, and living in North America, Europe, Asia and the Caribbean fired up her imagination, but it was after she moved to a small resort town that the transient community, consisting of people from all over the world, inspired her to write about the day-to-day drama of living in an isolated mountain resort.

In July 2015, Stanley published Descent, introducing readers to Kalin Thompson, a big-city woman who moves to Stone Mountain Resort hoping a drastic change to her life will help her recover from the death of her husband. She gets more change than she expected. Kalin arrives as the human resources manager and after only months on the job she’s thrown into the role of security director.

BLAZE is the second book in this series…

For the rest of the review head to THE BIG THRILL The online publication of international thriller writers.

For one more day only, DESCENT is on sale for 0.99 USD and BLAZE is on sale for 1.99 USD.

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Happy Holidays.

 

 

OTTAWA REVIEW OF BOOKS: DESCENT

~ Kristina Stanley ~ Leave a comment

The Ottawa Review of Books is dedicated to posting reviews on the best in established and emerging Canadian fiction writers. So lucky me, they reviewed DESCENT. Here’s a sneak peak of what Jim Napier had to say…

December 31, 2015

Reviewed by Jim Napier

Canadian writer Kristina Stanley has drawn on her personal experience for the latest in her Stone Mountain Mystery Series, Descent. The story follows Kalin Thompson, the head of human resources at a ski resort high in the mountains of British Columbia. Only four days earlier Tom Bennett, the director of security, had suffered a heart attack, and despite immediate medical care he died shortly afterwards. Impressed with Kalin’s handling of the situation the owner of the resort, Gavin Reed, calls her into his office and asks her to take over Bennett’s role.

Several world-class racing teams are at Stone Mountain training for upcoming competitions. A racer on one team, Steve McKenzie, ascends the hill to take a practice run. The surface is hard, making the speeds intentionally fast.  But on his way down one of his boots releases from its binding, and McKenzie crashes, his head slamming hard into the ice-packed surface…

For the rest of the review see:  The Ottawa Review of Books 

DESCENT is on sale for 0.99 USD for a short time only. BLAZE is on sale for 1.99 USD.

And don’t forget Imajin Books as all their books on sale for the holiday week.

paperback ebook sale 2015

Thanks for reading…

Holiday #Book #Sale

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 4 Comments

Happy Holidays. I’m spending my time skiing and reading.

Imajin Books has their books on sale until January 4th, 2016.

paperback ebook sale 2015

DESCENT is on sale 0.99 USD and BLAZE is on sale for $1.99. Paperbacks are on sale for %15 off regular price.

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Happy reading…

A Day in the Life of Kalin Thompson

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 2 Comments

Find out what happened in Kaln’s life on the day Jack died and in the process you have a chance to win a copy of DESCENT. I’m guest blogging at: http://drusbookmusing.com/2015/12/10/kalin-thompson/ and there is a contest…

Thanks to Dru Ann for hosting me!

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If you’ve read Descent, you can alway get a copy of BLAZE at  myBook.to/BLAZEbyKristinaStanley

Descent & Blaze

Thanks for reading…

 

BLAZE Available At The General Store, Panorama, BC

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 7 Comments

Locally owned businesses love to support local artists. The General Store in Panorama is now selling both DESCENT and BLAZE.

General Store Sign

The wonderful employees placed both books right at the register where every person who enters the store sees them.

BLAZE Geneal Store 2
DESCENT and BLAZE at the register.

Billy, the manager, listened to my blurb about the books and what he might say to customers who ask about them, and he put up sign in case more was needed to drive a customer’s eyes to the books .

The General Store and Panorama Mountain Resort Rock!

Skiers and snowboarders: check out the snow. My gear is ready. My warm woolies are out. Lifts open December 11th. It’s going to be an awesome season.

Snow Falling at Panorama
Snow Falling at Panorama

Thanks for reading.

BLAZE is Published, and Thanks Are in Order

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 10 Comments

Amazing people. That’s who helped me with BLAZE. Every time I read this list, I smile. I think of all the questions I asked, all the discussion we had, all the critiquing on the manuscript and am truly thankful.

The myth about writing being lonely is just a myth. How could I be lonely with all these friends to assist me? Near the beginning of BLAZE you can find the acknowledgements.

***

Mathew, the love of my life, is the person I need to thank first.

 A heartfelt thanks goes to my friends for life who read, reread, commented and commented again: Liliana Conn, Michael Conn, Adrienne Cristelli-Stewart, Janice Janczyn, Sue Kreiling, Debi Sarandrea and Libby Simon.

A burning thank you to Calgary firefighters extraordinaire, Chris Ganzewinkel, Billy Stewart.

For expert advice in their fields, thank you to Dr. Rama Behki, Jeff Dodge, George Duncan, Derrick Francis, and Tony Trimble.

I would like to thank Humber School for Writers through which I received feedback from Joan Barfoot and Mary Gaitskill, and Garry Ryan for his support and mentorship through Crime Writers of Canada.

And of course, thank you to Cheryl Kaye Tardif and Imajin Books for believing in me.

Do you want to be part of the INNER CIRCLE?

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 2 Comments

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Imajin Books, publisher of DESCENT and BLAZE, has unveiled a new website.

As part of the fun, you can join the Imajin Books Inner Circle (IBIC).

How do you do that? Just click here.

You’ll be taken to their website. Enter your email address and receive a free book from one of the Imajin Books authors. Then you’ll receive their newsletter and be the first to find out what they are up to.

Some of their books include:

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There are many more books and authors on their list, so be sure to check them out.

Enjoy reading…

TOP TIPS FOR A BOOK READING EVENT

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 10 Comments

In the modern world of publishing, whether you choose the traditional route or self-publishing, much is expected from an author. Writing a great novel is only the beginning of the journey if you want your work to have a public audience.

BLAZE will be released on Sunday, October 25th, but that doesn’t mean I’m ignoring DESCENT. It’s just as exciting to talk about DESCENT as it is BLAZE, and to be asked to do a reading is an honor I appreciate.

DESCENT is on sale ($0.99 USD) until the end of today, and then it’s back to regular price. You can find it on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.

Last week I did a reading at a senior residence in Vancouver, Canada.

Vancouver Event (2)

Farley came with me and did his bit to warm up the audience. The big brown eyes and wagging tail did a lot to make people smile. He was pretty happy about the number of cookies he ate.

Vancouver Event (1)

Now to the tips for delivering a great reading:

The advice is split into  4 sections.

Practice before the event:

  • Don’t leave practicing to the last-minute. Practice every day even for short periods of time. If you can, read to an audience.
  • Practice pausing for commas, periods, paragraph breaks, and starting new scenes.
  • Practice until you can take your eyes away from the words and make eye contact with the audience. This will engage them in your reading. Reading to a mirror will allow you to see if you’re looking up.

Technical preparation:

  • Don’t staple the pages. Stapled pages are noisy when turned and are awkward to hold in place.
  • Number your free pages in case you drop them.
  • Ask how many minutes you have to read. Then prepare for a few minutes less, the exact amount of time and a few minutes more. If other readers don’t show up, you  might be given more time. If the proceedings are running long, you might be given less time, Be ready so you can end with a cliff hanger or a dramatic spot that will leave people wanting more.
  • If you’re reading from printed pages, print in a font large enough to read. Remember the lighting could be dark or there could be glare from other lights. If the font in your printed books is small, you can always print the pages you want to read and place your book in front of you while you’re reading.
  • Ask what the setup will be. Is there a podium where you can set your pages? Will you be holding a mic? Will you be standing or sitting?

At the event, before you read:

  • If you’re not first, watch the other readers for what works and doesn’t work. Standing with the mic too close to the sound system can cause feedback, having the mic too far or too close to you mic can make understanding your words difficult.
  • Have your material ready. Don’t start looking for the section you want to read after you’re at the podium. This distracts the audience.

During your reading:

  • Once you are on stage, thank the hosts of the event. This will make you look professional and give you time to let your voice and your nerves settle before you start reading your story.
  • Breathe. This sounds obvious, but breathing will make your speech clear. During the reading, I was so nervous at first, I couldn’t bring air into my lungs. At the end of the first page, when I had to flip to the next page, I moved the mic away from my mouth and took a deep breath. This helped me calm down.
  • Don’t explain your work in the middle of reading. Let your words speak for themselves.
  • Only brief the audience about the story if you’re not starting at the beginning.
  • Speak slowly.

Remember: the audience came to hear you and they want you to succeed, so smile and have fun.

If you have any tips on reading aloud, please share 🙂 I’m always looking for ways to improve.

Thanks for reading . . .

Facebook Launch Party Tips and Party Invitation

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 4 Comments

Four more days until BLAZE is released by Imajin Books, and I can hardly wait. My stomach is in knots. I don’t know why the launch party makes me nervous, but it does.

The post below was one of my most popular, so it seems appropriate to share it again as I lead up to my next launch party. I’ll be hosting on October 25th from 4 to 6 PM EST. (Click here to sign up)

BLAZE is being released on the 3 month anniversary of DESCENT. What a great excuse to have a party!

You may notice I shortened the party this time. The first party was 3 hours, and I found that a bit long. This time, I’ll try two.

If you’re interested, you can buy or download a sample of DESCENT at:  myBook.to/Descent. It’s still on SALE until midnight at Amazon.co.uk and  Amazon.com  for $0.99 USD.

This is a two-way street, as they say in cliché land, so please invite me to your Facebook launch party if you plan to have one. It’s a great way to make new connections.

Below is the story of how I created and hosted my first launch party. We’ll see how I do with my second…

Preparation for the event.

  • Create a banner to announce your event. I used Canva.com. It’s free. You can see both banners I created. Click the BLAZE banner to sign up for the upcoming party.

Facebook Launch Party-4

Release  Day Party

  • Set up event on Facebook. Remember to make the event public or only your friends can see it.
  • Put the back description of your novel at the top of the page with a link to where your book is sold. You can use booklinker.net to create a link that will take the person to the amazon site of their home country.
  • Invite all your friends and ask them to share your post.
  • Send a reminder the day before and the morning of the event.
  • Have something to give away. I had 14 books donated by other authors. My publisher recommended not to give away DESCENT as it is a new release. I limited each winner to two books. During the first party, I didn’t have time to give away all of the donated books. This time around, I only asked for 6 contributions. Again, my publisher recommended not to give away BLAZE.
  • Create trivia questions. My questions were all related to the books being given away by other authors, but you ask anything really. I created questions  from the Amazon site for the books donated so people could look up the answers and there would be no confusion about the correct answer.
  • Have winners direct message you with their email address. I only gave away eBooks to make the process easy and less costly for donating authors. People could attend your event from different countries and mailing a paperback could get expensive.
  • If books are being given away, take a screen shot of the book cover from Amazon and post it with the trivia question. Don’t add the link to Amazon as the answer to your question might show up too.
  • Keep the trivia questions and answers in a word document so you can cut and paste them instead of having to type them as you go. Things move fast in a launch.
  • Create a list of pre-posts in word in case things get slow. I only used a couple of the ones I created. This could be a question about reading, your books or anything your guests might be interested in.
Here are a couple of sample threads you can post about 10 minutes before the event starts.
Pin the first thread to the top, otherwise people won’t be able to follows what’s going on.
Welcome Guests (other than authors giving away books): Please check in here. Tell us your name, where you’re from and how you know me ☺ This is our main chat thread.
Have a thread where authors can sign in.
Authors check in: Can donating authors please check in here. Tell us your name, location and the name of the title you are donating. Thank you.
After the launch:
  • send an email to donating authors with email of person who won their book. The donating author will send their book directly to the winner.
  • Watch the site in the days following the launch. Sometimes people come on later just to comment or ask a question.
  • Update your Facebook banner to remove the banner announcing the launch and replace with new banner.

FB Cover

  • Once you add the updated banner, remember to add the shop now button. Again I used the Booklinker.net link so the reader could be taken to their relevant amazon site.
You can sign up of my event (to be held October 25th, 2015) at: https://www.facebook.com/events/1630121803934943/ 
Feel free to copy any of the threads to use for your event.
Let me know in the comments below if you have any questions or suggestions to improve a Facebook launch party.
Thanks for reading…

BLAZE FACEBOOK LAUNCH PARTY OCTOBER 25th

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 2 Comments

It’s time to celebrate again. BLAZE will be released on October 25th, 2015. I can hardly believe the time has gone by so quickly.

Facebook Launch Party-4

For the Facebook launch party, I’ve an awesome line up of authors who will be giving away a short story and books to the lucky winners.

The prizes are:

Solon Hosophos: Short Story: I Do Not Fear

Debra Purdy Kong: DEAD MAN FLOATING

Kathleen Duhamel: DEEP BLUE

Keith Edwards-English: FRAGMENTS OF THE COIL

Cathy Astolfo: LEGACY

Luke Murphy: KISS & TELL

I’d love to have you there to share in the celebration. Just click here to sign on. All you have to do win is be the first to answer a simple trivia question.

If you haven’t read DESCENT yet, Imajin Books has put it on sale until October 22nd on http://bit.ly/DESCENTUSA and http://bit.ly/DESCENTUK for $0.99 USD.  This is their gift to readers.

Thanks for stopping by.