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| HarryG's blog |
| Aldric & Anneliese is now for sale for $5.50 as an e-book at both the Kindle Store at Amazon.com and at the Nook Store at Barnes and Noble. Aldric & Anneliese is an historical fiction, action-adventure, love story novel set in the sixth century in Eastern Europe. The e-book versions are not yet linked to the print version's page. You need to search either the Kindle Store or the Nook Store for "Aldric & Anneliese" to find the e-book version. Did I mention it only cost $5.50 for the e-book? LOL http://www.amazon.com/Aldric-Anneliese-ebook/dp/B0051UTX2U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=... http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Aldric-Anneliese/Harry-E-Gilleland-Jr/e/2940012... |
| The book trailer for Aldric and Anneliese is now ready: http://youtu.be/GlpzZKtsv9s It plays best, I think, going to U-tube and hitting 'Expand' button at bottom right. Check it out, and let me know what you think of it. Aidana Willowraven did a wonderful job with the three illustrations she created for the trailer, don't you think? Cheers! Harry |
| I paid the exorbitant $425 fee charged by Kirkus Indie for obtaining a review from them. I bought into their claim of a review from Kirkus being a high-quality and widely respected review, making it worthwhile to pay the excessive fee. Well, here are two salient points from their review of Aldric and Anneliese: 1. “There are no surprises in store for the reader, delightful or otherwise.”, according to the Kirkus Indie reviewer. This surprised me immensely since almost all other reviews that Aldric & Anneliese has received commented on the surprising twists and turns of the plot: Excerpts from reviews which you can read at Amazon.com at http://www.amazon.com/Aldric-Anneliese-Jr-Harry- Gilleland/dp/0982659407/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1299221085&sr=1-1 , stating they were surprised at the plot’s surprising twists and turns: "Gilleland throws us quite a curve ball, as the plot proceeds through a series of implausible twists, turns, and surprises, but we stay with it, leading us to an ending that I didn't expect and nor did I predict." Norm Goldman "The twists and turns are sometimes surprising, but always fun to follow." Ben Langhinrichs "Readers everywhere will be unable to let go of this adventure with its surprising (and sometimes quite tragic) twists and turns---and they will find a very satisfying end for seeing this tale through." C.Cuadro "It is an interesting book full of unexpected twists and turns!" Kim Aures "I did find myself captivated enough to keep reading to find out what would happen next. The plot has several twists and turns and I did not see the final twist coming at the end, which is always a good thing." Tyler Tichelaar “The author does well with the mystery, the love, the turmoil and the reactions of the audience. It is a quick read and because it is a page turner you will most likely read it over again … This is a real neat story, the details are wonderful and the author keeps you engaged.” J. Cormier “Read this book to see what happens next. This is a big surprise, … Believe me, however, it holds your interest and is a fascinating and unpredictable story. Wow. Read it.” By Donna Doyle of Romance Reviews, posted at Romance Reviews When I questioned the editor at Kirkus Indie about the fact their reviewer seemed to be the only one not surprised by the twists of plot, this reply was provided by the reviewer: “I have a long history of devouring romance books, especially historical romance, …written with no big surprises for a seasoned romance book reader." I invite you to read Aldric & Anneliese and see for yourself if you agree with the Kirkus Indie reviewer or with all the other reviewers about being surprised by the twists in the plot. You decide! 2. I wanted readers to have mixed feelings about several of the main characters and have to argue whether they were good or not. The reviewer seems to have not seen any of this. For one example, Aldric ordered all the wounded and captured enemy soldiers after one battle to be murdered instead of letting them survive as Edmund had always done in the same circumstances. Hardly the act of a "good guy". Yet the Kirkus Indie reviewer said, “Characters are predictable, yet likeable, and fall into either good guys or bad guys.” Aldric is considered your typical “good guy” no matter how many people he murders. Hmmm. I’ll leave it up to you readers to decide who is correct in this instance about the nature of the characters in Aldric & Anneliese, whether they are always predictably “good” or “bad”. You readers decide! Cheers! Harry |
| I spent the last several days mailing material to more than fifty-five library systems across the U.S. asking them to consider buying copies of Aldric and Anneliese for their library's book collection. The mailing was a cover letter, a two-page "Excerpts from Reviews Received" with excerpts from eight reviews received to date, and a press release for Aldric and Anneliese. Each letter (five pages) required a 61-cent stamp, which the Post office actually sells. I mailed materials to fourteen Louisiana public library systems, covering all the major cities in the state. I emphasized that I was a Louisiana author with them. Then I mailed letters to selected cities in Texas, Arkansas, and Oklahoma, emphasizing my being a regional author. Finally, I mailed materials to a variety of libraries in major cities across the country. I chose the ten most prosperous cities according to a Google search, along with random cities by size. It was a lot of mind-numbing busy work to get this accomplished. And, I'll probably not get any favorable results. But, if you don't at least try to market your book, then you know you'll get no sales. You gotta keep plugging away with marketing! Cheers! Harry --Published 2011: Aldric & Anneliese, an action/adventure/historical fiction short novel, 4RV Publishing. Now available! --Published 2008: "Poetic Musings of an Old, Fat Man". A collection of my poetry. |
| My new short novel "Aldric & Anneliese" is now available on Amazon. It is a tale of nation building, kings, knights, fair ladies, battles won and lost, triumph, betrayal, tragedy, revenge, redemption, and great loves It is a story for the ages. It is an action/adventure, historical fiction, love story. It was published by 4RV Publishing. Check it out on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Aldric-Anneliese-Jr-Harry-Gilleland/dp/0982659407/ref=sr_1... I will send a complimentary copy of my Aldric & Anneliese paperback book to anyone interested in reading it in exchange for a commitment/promise by him/her to post a review on Amazon.com within two months of receiving the book. A free book for a review of it posted on Amazon! If interested, please let me know. Cheers! Harry --Published 2011: Aldric & Anneliese, an action/adventure/historical fiction short novel, 4RV Publishing. Now available! --Published 2008: "Poetic Musings of an Old, Fat Man". A collection of my poetry. |
| Background Source: The Progressive, February, 2011 issue, "The Rule of the Rich" by Bill Moyers, pp 20 - 23. (It is well worth the read.) I received my copy of The Progressive today. One article struck a chord with me. Below I offer information from and inspired by that article by Bill Moyers. America has become a Plutocracy, where the rich rule, where political power is controlled by the rich, and where the richest ten percent, especially the top one percent, benefit disproportionately from globalization and productivity at the expense of the majority of workers. Between 2001 and 2008, about 40,000 U.S. factories were closed and their jobs sent overseas. Six million factory jobs disappeared, about one-third of all the manufacturing jobs in America. These high-paying jobs have been replaced with low-paying, minimum wage service jobs in most cases paying one-third to one-half as much. Just recently Harley-Davidson announced soaring profits for the company even though sales are falling. How was this profit achieved? The company cut 2,000 jobs in 2009 and plans to cut 1,500 more jobs in 2011. But the company executives are still doing well. The rich CEOs, executives, Wall Street financiers, bankers all continue to prosper. In fact, they're making a killing. Not the workers: From 1950 to 1980, the average income for American workers (the middle class) grew from $17,719 to $30,941. But then it stopped growing! From 1980 to 2008, the average income of American workers increased from $30, 941 to $31,244 -- an increase in average income of a mere $303 in twenty-eight years. Meanwhile, the top 10 percent now control more wealth than the bottom 90 percent of Americans combined and continue to take in more than 50 percent of America's wealth each year. And we all know how much the cost of everything from cars, houses, clothes, medicine and health care, food, gas, college tuition, etc has risen in cost over the same twenty-eight year period. The middle class has been squeezed downward. For the first time in American history, the average American expects his children will have less success than his generation enjoyed ... lower earnings, smaller house, cheaper car, less spending money. The situation was made worse in 2010 when the five members of the Supreme Court ruled that corporations are "persons" with the right to flood elections with millions of dollars of campaign ads. They now can sway elections to do the most corporate good ... and they do. Their dollars are spent convincing the middle class to vote for an agenda that aids only the richest ten percent of Americans. Why does the working class support tax breaks for the millionaires/billionaires? Why does the working class support no "death"/estate taxes that only the wealthiest of all Americans are affected by? How do the rich controlling leaders -- the Roves, the Cheneys, The Koch brothers, the Bushes -- convince the middle class to vote for policies against their own interests but put even more money in the rich's pockets? Millions and millions of dollars spent on political advertising and spent on lobbying political leaders gets their will done and leads to a misinformed public. Face it, America. Our government has been bought and paid for by international corporations that only care about making bigger profits by hiring cheap labor overseas even if it is killing America's middle class. Anything goes just as long as the richest top ten percent keeps getting richer and richer. America is now a plutocracy. Soon the average American family will live in poverty, while the top richest Americans stay millionaires. America is heading toward becoming like a third world country in that regard -- a country of the privileged, elite rich and the poor working class. Let's hope you are one of the elite rich! --Due to be published in early, 2011: Aldric & Anneliese, an action/adventure/romance novel, 4RV Publishing. Look for it soon! --Published 2008: "Poetic Musings of an Old, Fat Man". A collection of my poetry. |
| The first review for my upcoming short novel (46,000 words) is posted now at The One Hundred Romances blog ( http://onehundredromances.blogspot.com/?zx=f0cbf8d14aea1135 ). I think the review is fair and accurate. The reviewer liked the book, while noting it is not your typical romance story. This is true; the story is filled with action and adventure but has a couple of love stories also. The reviewer found Aldrich and Anneliese to be "...very satisfying. I liked it, and would recommend it to fans of medieval intrigue and chivalry." Thanks for the honest review, Ben! Aldric and Anneliese should be published mid-February by 4RV Publishing ( http://4rvpublishingllc.com/ ). Please make a note to check out the book then. Cheers! Harry |
My wife, Linda, has been in overdrive Christmas mode since the first of December (a couple of days after Thanksgivings actually, but I won't agree to setting up & decorating the Christmas tree until at least after December 1st  ). We got the tree up and all decorated, the outdoor lights strung in the bushes, the Christmas cards mailed early; all her shopping was finished early -- except, of course, for that late idea for another present for someone that she now needs to find. LOL (Is a woman's shopping ever really done or does she just have to quit because Christmas Day arrives?) All this was accomplished by the 7th. Then Linda cooked for and hosted four dinner parties for friends & neighbors over the next ten days. Last Saturday we went to White Lightning Road to Uncle Travis's country home for the Christmas gathering of her side of the family (the Barhams, Hoods, Dosses, Houcks). Huge buffet lunch and presents all around. This month Linda also has made a ton of various candies, cookies, muffins, and cakes -- in her spare time!Today our kids and grandkids start arriving. Our daughter, Ginny, and our oldest son, Geoff, with his wife, Rebecca, and three of our grandchildren -- Emma & Elle (twins) plus Jacob are driving over from Dallas, where Geoff & family flew in from Rock Hill, SC. They stayed a couple of nights at Ginny's Allen home. Then on Friday, our middle son, Greg, & his wife, Susan, arrive from Belle Chasse with our other two grandchildren, Wyatt & Sydney (a girl). We will have our youngest son, Jason, & his wife, Hannah, dropping in frequently since they live about 10 minutes away from us. Christmas we will have fourteen people here. This is the first Christmas ever for all the kids & grandkids to be together for Christmas Day. It will be great! I am now ready for Christmas to arrive. I hope everyone has a tremendous Christmas! Holiday Cheer! Harry --Due to be published in early, 2011: Aldric & Anneliese, an action/adventure/romance novel, 4RV Publishing. Look for it soon! --Published 2008: "Poetic Musings of an Old, Fat Man". A collection of my poetry. |
| Today is the first of December, and Linda is decorating the house for all she is worth! We got our tree out of its storage box in the garage, got it assembled, put the extra colored lights on it since Linda doesn't like just the white lights that came with it. Jason & Hannah are coming over tonight for supper (Sweet & sour chicken, Kung Pao pork, egg rolls) and then decorating the tree. We have many, many special decorations from trips, special occasions, etc so that decorating is always a trip down memory lane. We got four or five new decorations for the tree last month on our NYC trip. Besides the tree, Linda also puts out dozens of Christmas decorations of all sorts in the den, front hallway, living room, and front bathroom. She loves Christmas decorations! We have been collecting them for twenty-five years. Linda has about finished all her shopping for presents, and we have wrapped almost all the gifts. (I guess I'll have to think about doing my shopping for her presents in another week or two.) By late tonight the tree will be all decorated with gifts piled high around it. Bring on Christmas! This year's Christmas holidays will be especially good since all the children (four plus three wives) and the grandchildren (five all together) will be here this year (which is a rarity!). Plus we have four dinner parties for friends scheduled. The holidays will be busy but quite fun. I hope all of you have a great Christmas holiday season as well! Holiday Cheer! Harry |
| We had our daughter, Ginny, & her friend Clifford plus our son Jason & Hannah here for supper last night. Afterward Linda opened her 60th B'day presents. She received a very nice Waterford dish from Ginny & a beautiful Waterford Xmas ornament from Jason & Hannah. We had agreed our trip to NYC would be my b'day present to her, but I had to have something she could open. So I got her favorite perfume. When I had asked her what she wanted for her b'day weeks back, Linda said she would like two green thumbs so her plants would thrive. I bought some green vinyl gloves, cut the thumbs off, & wrapped the two thumbs as a present. Let's say she was somewhat bemused when she opened them ... until she realized what they were (and what they weren't!) and then broke out laughing. Never a dull moment ... |
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