The Gamadin Book Series Accepted!!

The Gamadin Crew learned yesterday they were accepted by the USMC Miramar Air Show Committee to have a booth at next year's event. (Oct.12-14, 2012) This is a great honor and a privilege for the Crew, because as most of you know who have read the series, Harlowe was raised by a mother and father who were both "former" Marines! OOOH-RAH! Honor, Courage, Gamadin!

Gama Van Lookin' Good

One of the best Gama sighting photos taken to date was by "Driven to Capture 2" at the recent La Mesa, California Christmas in the Village. Go to the link above to see more great photos.

9 Steps to Writing a Novel

>Nine Steps to Writing a Novel You Can Sell

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1) Be a story teller. You would be amazed at the number of writers who do everything but. Often novels come as character portraits or memoirs written as fiction. Absent is any attempt at suspense, any motivation for the reader to turn those pages. As the novel unfolds, the story invariably begins to tread water and then sinks beneath the waves. The reader does not sit on the edge of his or her chair, but instead retreats into a glassy-eyed coma.

2) An oversimplified definition of a good story. Not two cats on a mat meowing at each other or two dogs yawning but a cat and dog growling and spitting and about to launch into heated combat. Conflict, suspense keep the reader reading. Again so often ignored by writers.

3) Premise. You should be able to sum up the story in one sentence A woman police lieutenant and hostage negotiator must establish contact and overcome a faceless tormentor who is determined to make her a hostage of fear.-Nora Roberts, High Noon. An act of violence shatters a small town and the daughter of the judge sitting on the case should be the state's witness but cannot remember what happened-or could she.-Jodi Picoult, Nineteen Minutes.

4) Sympathetic character. You want to portray a character the reader roots for.

5) Equally important, it helps if you can devise a character who is villainous, evil, bad, someone the reader hates but cannot get enough of. My favorite was Hannibal Lecter. When he arrived on the page, I was always hooked.

6) A love story always helps. They do not have to go off into the sunset but we all like hope. So if they don't, it's kinda nice that some day the possibility is there they just might link up.

7) Surgeons go to medical school, lawyers go to law school. All you need to do is go to Amazon or the bookstore or the library. Read, read, read and think about what you are reading and why the novel works for you.

8) Writing is not something most people can dash off. Morris West, a best-selling novelist, could and did write his novels in his head but most people need paper and pen or a computer. It is an arduous but an enormously satisfying task.

9) Before you begin, write a multi-page outline of the novel. A great example of a superb story teller and novelist who does just that is Ken Follett. Read WRITING THE BLOCKBUSTER NOVEL by ALBERT ZUCKERMAN, his esteemed editor and agent. You will learn how Follett does it.

Reprinted from "The Book Marketing Expert newsletter," a free ezine offering book promotion and publicity tips and techniques. http://www.amarketingexpert.com

Gamadin Book Jacket

Many of you have asked what the final book jacket will look like. This is pretty much it, except that what you can't see in the photo is the starburst will be gold . The entire logo, including the starburst, will be embossed along with the ship. A big thanks goes to the book designers at Greenleaf Publishers who helped me put the cover design together.

Welcome!!

Hi Everyone! Harlowe, Riverstone, Wiz, Lu, Simon, Monday, the robobs, Mowgi, and yes, even the Dakadudes welcome you all to the Gamadin Blog site. Have fun and enjoy the ride. You're about to travel in a new, high adventure sci-fi series with a couple of seemingly ordinary surfer dudes who rise up to do some extraordinary things. We would love to hear from you. So drop by often and join our heroes as they go INTERGALACTIC, fighting for justice!