Excerpt from "The Hanukkah Time Capsule"

While we're waiting, here is an excerpt from "The Hanukkah Time Capsule" by Yvonne Walus, about to be published by Echelon Press:

“Get on with it,” snarled the Anti-Knowledge Warden. “Open the damned time capsule! Let’s see what precious information your Grandmother has left for you to abuse.”

Esther chewed the end of her dark braid. The fear which she had learnt to accept in the last few years, burnt sour in her stomach. Escape, she needed to escape from it all. Briefly, she wondered which of her so-called friends had reported the legacy her Grandmama had left -

The mind stunner glinted in the Warden’s hand. “Do it now, or -”

“Yes, sir,” muttered Esther. The words scratched her suddenly constricted throat, got muffled by the nibbled braid. She would do anything to avoid being zapped. Mind stunners left permanent marks: gaps in memory, holes in the logical processing. Some people claimed they could even alter the victim’s personality. Judging by Nathaniel’s latest behaviour, she wouldn’t be surprised… after his encounter with a mind stunner, he was simply not the same person she had married.

Esther turned her eyes to the Warden, trying to hold the fear back. “If you allow me, sir, I need to switch on the computer, please.”

Buy link: please purchase here

Counting down to my new release....

"The Hanukkah Time Capsule" will be released today as part of the "12 Days of Christmas" ebook drive at Echelon Press Shorts. I'm blogging and tweeting about it while waiting for the Buy Link and book cover.

I'm so excited! I keep going back to the site and checking for updates, as though this were my first publication, LOL.

Watch this space for details! (update: the book is out!!!)

True Blood, continued

I really don't get the current vampire craze. Blood is gross, and while "living forever" seems like a plan, vampires are dead, right, so they are more like "being dead forever", which is no big deal when you stop to think about it.

Anne Rice? The witch series yes, the vampire series - eh.

"Twilight?" Can't comment, I'm afraid. Haven't read it, haven't seen it. I mean, just like the Harry Potter argument, it's good to see people on the bus or in a coffee shop with a big fat book, so I guess it's a good thing in the greater scheme of things.

Which brings me to True Blood, the TV series. In May, I was two episodes into it and not sure whether I'd be watching more. The uncertainty continued as I watched episode three, then four... I'm now on Season 2 Episode 3 and I like the series well enough to watch the next instalment, but I'm still not committed one way or the other. :-)

Win great holiday ebooks!

Ready for great holiday ebooks? Join Echelon Shorts between December 1-December 12 as they celebrate 12 Days of Great Reads!

During this celebration, Echelon Shorts will be brining you the best new holiday releases and posts each day from the authors. Find mystery and romance, mainstream and fantasy, thrillers and young adult stories. The release schedule includes short stories from Carl Brookins, Austin Camacho, Mary Cunningham, Lois Carroll, Christine Verstraete, Michelle D. Sonnier, Lance Zarimba, Karen Syed, Yvonne Walus (yes, my own "Hanukkah Time Capsule" is one of the books), Jeffrey Martin, Vonnie Winslow Crist, and Regan Black.

Stop by http://echelonshorts.com to find these posts and stories and for your chance to win free ebooks!

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Building Believable Book People

On one of my loops, I found a link to an interesting article about letting past experiences shape your book people. It looks a bit long-winded, but it's written well, so take a look.

What experiences have shaped your personality? What are you afraid of and why? Why do you dream the ambitions you do?

Tell me. (WARNING: I'm not promising not to use it in a book....)

Here are some random musings about some of my quirks:

• My parents moved house, city and even country on a regular basis. Is it a coincidence that I get stressed by change in my surroundings?
• Here is a factor that shaped me in its contrast: my father led a nomadic life style and was a more of a guest in our household than a family member. I expect the father of my children to participate 50-50 in the nitty-gritty of child-raising.
• Food for thought: I come from a culture which shows friendliness through gifts and hospitality. My husband comes from a culture of saving every penny. Hands up who can see a potential for conflict?

From BBC Archives: Enid Blyton

Excuse this long quote, but it really shook me. Before you dig into it, ask yourselves:

• When you were a child, did you enjoy Enid Blyton's books?
• Do you know a child today who likes The Secret Seven and The Famous Five? (I own one, LOL, who wants the entire Secret Seven series for her 7th birthday!)
• Do you think Enid Blyton's work lacks "literary value"? Compared to, say, the works of J.K. Rowling?

Now read the excerpt:

*** Popular children's author Enid Blyton was banned from the BBC for nearly 30 years because officials thought her work "lacked literary value", letters from the broadcaster's archives showed.

BBC executives turned down the chance to broadcast the plays and books of the creator of Noddy, the Famous Five and the Secret Seven because they were "such small beer" and had been produced by a "second rater".

In an internal memo dated 1938, Jean Sutcliffe, head of the BBC Schools department, dismissed the work of the woman who went on to become one of the best-selling authors of her era.

"My impression of her stories is that they might do for Children's Hour but certainly not for Schools Dept. They haven't much literary value," she wrote but conceded they were "competently written".

Two years later, the daily radio programme "Children's Hour" rejected Blyton's play "The Monkey and the Barrel Organ" because producers found its dialogue "both stilted and long winded".

One team member wrote: "It really is odd to think that this woman is a best-seller."

The released letters show Blyton realised she had been blacklisted.

After being invited to speak on a children's programme in May 1949, Blyton replied to the producer: "I and my stories are completely banned by the BBC as far as children are concerned -- not one story has ever been broadcast, and, so it is said, not one ever will be."

In 1954, Sutcliffe explained that Blyton should not appear on the popular "Woman's Hour" programme because the BBC risked becoming "just another victim of the amazing advertising campaign which has raised this competent and tenacious second-rater to such astronomical heights of success."

Blyton finally appeared on "Woman's Hour" in 1963, almost three decades after she first pitched ideas to the BBC.

She died in 1968 at the age of 71, but her books remain best-sellers today.***

Yvonne again: I wonder whether Ms Blyton ever felt like a success, despite all the books he'd written and sold....

My Publishing Adventure

This week, I'm blogging Behind the Scenes about how I got published. It's a one-long-post-a-day-for-5-days kind of blog, so please come and read the first 3 installments!

Excerpt:

Hi there, my name is Yvonne Walus (pen name for erotic romances: Eve Summers) and I’m a Polish South African New Zealander, which at least gives me something to talk about at parties (when I'm not talking about erotic romances).

My love affair with language began when I was four and composed my first poem. I didn’t understand why my parents made such a fuss: it was just some rhyming words about “the flower of white dew”, and I was willing to create many more, if it made my mom happy. Over the years, I must have made my mom very happy indeed, with self-made poems for every birthday and Christmas.

My road to publication was somewhat trickier, though. For a very, very long time, publishers did not make a fuss over my manuscripts, and I didn’t make them happy at all when I sent anything more. I suppose my heart wasn’t really in it, anyway, because at the time I was a shy person who valued her privacy and would suffer embarrassment to see her name in print. I kid you not!

I will never forget my first publication....

(To read more, please click here.)