Autumn arrived...can Halloween be far behind?

cj Sez; Boo! The Mobile Writers Guild Halloween Pieces Anthology is still available:

Here’s your link: Halloween Pieces on Amazon

Amazon blurb: In this fourth installment of the Mobile Writers Guild anthology series, our members celebrate the season of witches, jack-o-lanterns, black cats, spiders and ghosts that is Halloween. As always in our Pieces series, we have an eclectic selection of stories, poems, and one play that explores the chills, thrills, and giggles that fill the streets as well as our ghoulish little hearts every October.

Writers, check out this call for submissions: 

https://www.levelbestbooks.us/anthologysubmissions

A CALL FOR STORIES about CRIME WITHOUT CORPSES

 “No dead bodies. Not one. We want stories where the tension, the stakes, and the fallout hinge on crimes other than murder.” 

       

(cj Sez: I like to write action/adventure and consider myself a “pathfinder” author; i.e., I keep throwing roadblocks in my character’s path and writing her/his way around them. Because of that, I am now in the slow process (for me) of trying to plot a mystery for this call for submissions.)

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AI Scammer-Spammers

  For me, all of those AI-generated scam-spam solicitations that endlessly arrive in my author’s email have an obvious “tell”. They almost always start with “Hi (insert author’s name), I recently . . . ” came across, had the chance to review, was drawn to, etcetera. etcetera.

  The one I got the other day described my latest novel, A Time To Die. The scammer said I should have plugged it heavily on Amazon as “Stephanie Plum of the Gulf Coast.” I’m presuming AI picked up on that because I had made a Stephanie Plum inference in one of my FB early ads.

  I also recently got an AI email from an alleged Random House editor—the scammer used the name of a real publisher and a real editor, but, as exciting as the thought was that this could be a real inquiry, there’s no way a major big publisher like Random House is interested in one of my books. Writer Beware warns of these big name fakes.

  Now, I automatically block and delete all such emails. I may be missing an opportunity (doubt it), but I’m not interested in starting a conversation with a cold-call email when there’s a very good chance it’s fake news.

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Reader Teaser

  cj Sez: Here’s an Amazon reader review of my novel A Time to Die: 

“cj petterson's mysteries offer a unique blend of time, place, and atmosphere. A Time to Die continues that balance. Private Investigator Janika 'Jake' Konnor and Attorney Taggerty Patrick are tossed into a maelstrom when a classic 'tail my cheating wife' case ends in murder. The clues are deftly laid, and the light romance is kept in its place. 

   Fans of historic Mobile will appreciate the homage paid to local cuisine and the famous establishments that serve it. This reader says, 'nicely done.”

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  Thank you to the readers of my books and other authors' books! Thank you to book groups, book reviewers, too. THANK YOU.

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  That’s it for this month’s post. Hope you have a wonderful October. You-all guys keep on keeping on, and I’ll try to do the same.

cj

  My novels are available at these ebook sites:  https://books2read.com/u/bxL9xv

And in paperback wherever books are sold.

  (By the way, you can support independent bookstores by ordering from bookshop.org.)

  Stop by my Amazon author page for a listing of all my books: Amazon Central Author Page

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  Just a reminder: Lyrical Pens blog for readers and writers is a monthly issue, kind of like a newsletter. I’m aiming for the first of the month, whatever day that is, so watch for it please. That said, thank you for stopping by Lyrical Pens today. I really do appreciate every one of my visitors. Drop me a comment or a question, and we’ll talk.

 ➜ Follow me on:

➜ Amazon:    Amazon Central Author Page

➜ Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/CjPettersonAuthor

➜ BookBub:   https://www.bookbub.com/authors/cj-petterson

➜ Goodreads: https://bit.ly/3fcN3h6