James Michener is one of my favorite authors.
When I was a kid, I remember my mother reading Hawaii. That was a time when I was reading everything I could get my hands on and so I read Hawaii, and eventually Centennial, The Source, Texas and I forget–probably others. One of the aspects that I really enjoyed was the way Michener married the stories of everyone who lived there to the land. Not just everyone, but animals as well. I still remember the story of a little buffalo and he was as layered a character as many of the humans. I see Michener’s influence in my first book. Many stories are woven together over a span of time. What’s not like Michener is my “tossed salad” (as one reviewer describes it) structure.
Link to used paperback: http://www.amazon.com/Hawaii-by-James-A-Michener/dp/B004HSS12K/ref=sr_1_46?ie=UTF8&qid=1334679176&sr=8-46
Devil’s Fire is Marjorie Kaye’s neglected step-child-novel
I have to be honest.
This is my second blog. The purpose of this second blog is to promote my first book, Devil‘s Fire, a novel that deals with demons, Druids, identity theft and retail. Devil’s Fire is a new title. The first title was A Servant’s Child. It didn’t sell and it seems that in this new world of self-publishing, you better be able to sell as well as write.
So I changed the title and did a new cover.
This helped, but only a little. I had created my first blog to promote my second book, a science fiction novel, Virtual Enterprises, Inc. That’s a re-title; it used to be Babylon Dreams. I’m proud of this blog. It doesn’t get a lot of traffic, but what it does get is steady and I have fun with it. The result of all that fun? My first book, which is more genre with some literary aspects, was sorely neglected–maybe because from start to finish with rewrites and research it took over three years to get to where it is now. In contrast, the second book, which is more literary than genre, was finished in six months and almost wrote itself. We often favor the easy child. In an effort to correct this neglect, I decided to give Devil’s Fire its due. During the process I realized how important it is to get the word out and tell people about the book–a very challenging and delicate enterprise. As I explore the book threads and forums, I’ve learned a lot and have encountered many sophisticated well-read people. Some, like me, are writers. I enjoy the discussions and the getting-to-know-yous. Some people like to shoot you down, but most are kind and supportive.
One piece of advice I hear repeatedly is to have a blog.
At first, I assumed, I had this covered by my first blog. Okay, I’m an idiot. I haven’t decided yet if I will self-publish my second book. It’s still out to a couple of publishers and I’m waiting to see. Until I either get a publisher, or take the plunge again and self-publish, there’s nothing really to sell or promote. At the moment, much of this blog deals with what’s happening now in science that supports my premise of a future where companies hawk highly profitable after-death virtual environments to the public, a kind of immortality via mind-uploading.
So back to Devil’s Fire.
It’s a good book. That’s my opinion, I know. Devil’s Fire is scary, funny and entertaining–a good read for a vacation, a sick day, or to take your mind off of the distance between you and the ground as you sit on that 737 jet. But one book does not a blog make. Again–my opinion. So I plan to post more of my opinions on books and movies, especially horror and science fiction. Some are well known and some maybe written or recommended by my new forum friends. Please feel free to offer suggestions and comments. I’m playing this all by ear, but at least I’m playing, and Devil’s Firewill get the ball rolling.//
Here’s the link to Devil’s Fire : http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007A562FK
Here’s the link to my first blog: marjoriekayesbabylondreams.com
About Marjorie Kaye (me)
I graduated from UCLA, worked briefly as an actress before raising a family in Reno, Nevada. I spent several years casting film and television projects, and later taught English in the Los Angeles public school system. Needing to escape from the daily swirl of paper airplanes, gum wads and students texting while ignoring my threats, I decided to write a horror novel.
The result is “Devil‘s Fire,”a tale inspired by a family story. “Virtual Enterprises, Inc., my second novel is science fiction. Social satire, soap opera and morality tale, it deals with life after death in a virtual reality computer program. My sci fi blog is marjoriekayesbabylondreams.com. Currently, I’m writing a third novel, “Six Tourists Who Were Not Human.” 
Here’s the link to Devil’s Fire : http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007A562FK
Here’s the link to my first blog: marjoriekayesbabylondreams.com
Here’s a link to the prologue for Babylon Dreams: http://marjoriekayesbabylondreams.com/prologue/
Since I first wrote this page, I decided to rewrite Babylon and change the first person into third. I plan to post a prologue soon on my babylondreams site. The process has put me behind on posts for both blogs. They won’t be as frequent but I will continue to post.
For more information on Devil’s Fire check out my April 13 post, Devil’s Fire is Marjorie Kaye’s neglected step-child-novel
I’m very interested in what inspires writers in terms of books, background experiences–what they read as kids–etc. And also readers–what moves them and makes them want to keep reading. If anyone has anything to share on this, please let me know and perhaps you’ll consider letting me post it. My favorite genres are sci fi and horror but I like anything that’s a good read. I’m of course using my blog to promote my book but also because we’re all here for the reason that we love the written word. It reaches across time and connects us to hearts and minds. My email is marjorienbl15@gmail.com
I subscribe to Netflix. It seemed like a good idea, all those movies available for ten dollars a month, but have you noticed how few really good films you can access? I have a number of books I’m reading but my attention span being what it is, I decided to scroll through Netflix offerings; I explored both the horror and the science fiction sections. There’s not very many good ones I haven’t already seen, however I did select some for my instant queue. In filling my queue I used the Netflix rating. When they say something’s less than two stars, trust me, you need to take that seriously. Everything I picked is at least a two starrer. In the interest of keeping this blog current, with new posts once or twice a week, I plan to take a look at the horror and science fiction offerings from Netflix and post my subjective opinion. Of course when there’s something new, that’s even better.
