"The Magic Shop" by Justin Swapp

Hi! Today I'd like to showcase author Justin Swapp.

Justin approached me so I would edit a work in progress titled "The Magic Shop". This story is pretty cool. As the name implies, there's magic involved. The surprising bit is that the main characters are kids! Boy, I cannot tell you all the drama and horrors these kids have to endure. Even their dog is not what it seems!

It's pretty awesome how the book has so many cool characters. I don't want to give too much away, but you'll get to read about an evil villain, magical beings, awesome magical artifacts, magical battles and duels, and all sorts of other adventures.

While "The Magic Shop" isn't out yet, you can visit his website to read about all the other books he has for sale, which all have really good reviews.

I'll be sure to link back to his book once it's out for sale so you guys can purchase and read the adventure for yourselves.

'The Realm: Discovery' by Kevin Moss

EDITED TO ADD- Hey, now you can visit the author's webpage! Click here. He has awesome cover art for his books, and the page should keep you updated on when the books are coming out.

Discovery (The Realm) is now available through Amazon!

Today I would like to introduce author Kevin Moss. I had the pleasure of editing his first book in The Realm Series, which is titled: 'The Realm: Discovery'.

Once you start reading the book, you're hooked right away. It's a scene near a portal, and one of the characters is dragging the bleeding body of a blonde woman. He leaves her for a wild animal to finish off, and then we start on to the next chapter, which introduces the main character, Ty. Ty is a hunk of a guy who's in his teens. In the book, he learns of his parents' unusual past, who he really is, and that Earth is not, in fact, the only place that's inhabited. He goes to another realm in search of some wrongdoers so he can find justice, and encounters all sorts of wild beasts intent on eating him. He even makes friends with a dog, who teams up with him and even saves his life.

I know I've been vague, but it's on purpose. There's many twists and turns, tragic pasts, lots of action, testosterone, and even some romance mixed in. The book will be coming out soon through Amazon. I encourage you to read it. It's a VERY good read! I'll be posting the link on where to purchase it from once it's out.

Oh, and just so you know, I'm working on the second book of the series this week. That means that the second book will be edited before soon and hopefully will be out and available for purchase by January. I can assure you that you'll want to jump from the first book to the next just to find out what happens and what the characters will face next!

'The Book of Deacon' by Joseph Lallo

Today I have the honor of introducing the sweetest, coolest author out there: Joseph Lallo.

As I mentioned before, Joseph was the one who gave me the opportunity to prove myself in the editing world. The first book I ever edited was the first book in a trilogy written by him, called 'The Book of Deacon'. The book chronicles the beginning of a series of events in which Myranda, the main character, becomes a magical prodigy and battles great evil to try to save this world. There's lots of action and lots of magic battles. There's even zombies (of a sort)!

I like fantasy, and I like magic, and I like action. Joseph's Book of Deacon Trilogy has all these plus a female hero, which is unusual in the fantasy world.

You can find Joseph's books via Smashwords, Barnes and Nobles, Amazon, iTunes, Sony, Kobo, and Diesel. You can visit his website through this link.

'Land of Shadows' by Jeff Gunzel

note: Please pardon the formatting issues. I'm completely new with this blogging thing, and I'm still in the process of figuring out how this works. Thanks for your patience!

'Land of Shadows' is the second book which I'd like to bring to your attention. It's written by author Jeff Gunzel.

Here's the book description:

The gorgeous lands of Tarmerria are full of magic and beauty. But the virtually lawless cities contain no shortage of darkness and greed. A land where daily survival in the harsh realm takes priority over all else. But the world is about to change. The ancient prophecies, written during a time long forgotten, just might be true after all.

Join in as unlikely companions from completely different worlds set out on the adventure of a lifetime. A search for answers. A search for the truth.
This book is intended for mature audiences.

My take on this book:

To be fair, at the beginning the book does start off a bit slowly. I was concerned when I didn't read anything about the prophecies mentioned in the book description until the first few chapters. You'll be rewarded if you do continue reading, though. Good things DO come to those who wait. Jeff's first book in The Legend of the Gate Keeper is well worth your time. Once you get past the lengthy beginning, you start to see how the seemingly irrelevant details start to join into a masterfully woven tale of magic and action. The scenes are so vivid that you can almost imagine seeing them on a movie screen. Once you're done with this book, I can assure you that you WILL want more. His second book, 'Siege of Night', is out already. I had the pleasure to edit that book as well. I'll be featuring that book soon in another post, but if you just can't wait to read about it, you can purchase it and view a preview here.

Jeff Gunzel's book can be purchased through Amazon. 

'The Mistress's Black Veil' by M.K. Baxley

M.K. Baxley's "The Mistress's Black Veil" was my first paid job. I advertised my services through Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing forums, and she was kind enough to hire me based on the little experienced I had acquired editing Joseph Lallo's books.

Here's the book description:

In this new twist to Jane Austen's favorite romance, M. K. Baxley explores the road that might have been taken had one small alteration occurred in the original plot. Instead of Lydia Bennet going to Brighton while Lizzy toured the Lakes, what if she had gone instead while Elizabeth visited Charlotte in Kent?

In this tale of Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth was called home immediately after receiving Mr. Darcy's letter. Her father, while searching for his youngest daughter in London, succumbed to a cold and later died of heart failure. The subsequent events that follow are told in the narrative fashion of Henry Fielding's Tom Jones and within the manner of Jane Austen.

The Mistress's Black Veil begins five years after that fateful day at Hunsford Parsonage when Mr. Darcy proposed to Elizabeth Bennet. The Bennets, now reduced to poverty after the death of Mr. Bennet, are barely surviving, having been thrown into the hedgerow by their cousin, Mr. Collins, at the directive of his noble patroness Lady Catherine de Bourgh. As the situation becomes even more desperate, Elizabeth makes a difficult and irrevocable choice that will forever change her life and the lives of the ones she loves. In the end will she and Fitzwilliam Darcy find their way to their happily ever after?

The Mistress's Black Veil, influenced by Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story, "The Minister's Black Veil", is for mature readers only.

My take on the book:

I never read 'Pride and Prejudice', but since the book is of such literary importance, I had heard of the characters and knew what it was about. It came as a surprise to me how much I liked the style of writing used in the period, which M.K. Baxley recreated faithfully. The characters are endearing and tender. Elizabeth's hardships touched my heart and even moved me to tears sometimes. This book is surprisingly sweet, and makes for a moving love story.

You can purchase her book through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords. 

I hope you give this superbly written book a try. If you like 'Pride and Prejudice', I'm sure you'll enjoy this book.

Introducing the newest editing blog out there...

Hi folks.

I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Claudette. I started editing books this year. I never thought I'd end up doing this. The idea of starting up a business offering up my editing services came after I purchased a Kindle Fire at the beginning of the year. After Borders went bankrupt, there were no big bookstores left in my area, so I fell out of touch with my favorite authors. Once I bought the kindle, I purchased all the books they'd released and went through them. Within a few months I had read them all, and was left with no reading material. That's where I turned to the top 100 free list on Amazon.com, and I started downloading free books like crazy.

I found many new books by authors whom I'd never heard of, but I also found that many of these books had not been thoroughly edited before being published online. In fact, upon reading the reviews on the books with an obvious lack of proofreading, it became clear that most of the bad reviews came from readers who were angry about the lack of editing, claiming it made the reading experience unpleasant. I was able to detect the mistakes myself, and I wished I could do something about them, but I was too shy to contact the authors. One day, however, I came upon Joseph Lallo's 'Book of Deacon'. I downloaded it for free from my kindle and started reading it. I put it down less than one day later, having read basically nonstop for about 20 hours. Needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. However, it was riddled with errors. I thought it was an absolute shame that such a good story was getting bad reviews because of these mistakes which could've been easily fixed, so I decided to contact the author and offer my insight.

 I was not expecting to hear back from him, but Joseph quickly replied. He said he'd allow me to prove my worth, and to go ahead and send him whatever mistakes I could find. I helped him out with that first book, then, with his approval, I went through the rest of his books, finding countless mistakes and pointing them out. With his endorsement, I posted my story on an online forum offering my services, and the rest is history. Many independent authors gave me the chance to prove myself and hired me, and I am happy to say I have not failed them. They're very happy with my work and they help spread the word about me. I thought I'd return the favor through this blog. It will be my place to post about the books I've worked on, as well as a place where future clients can view my résumé and find my contact info.