Blog of scifi and thriller author Cliff Ball

Giveaway on Goodreads for Times of Trouble

2012-02-09T18:23:00.002-06:00

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Times of Trouble a Christian fiction novel

by Cliff Ball

Giveaway ends March 16, 2012.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Where to buy Times of Trouble

2012-02-09T18:20:00.000-06:00

ISBN-13: 978-1469964799
ISBN-10: 1469964791
BISAC: Fiction / Christian / General
Kindle ASIN: B0075CNFFI

Here are the current buy locations:
Createspace

US Kindle

UK Kindle

Germany, Spain, Italy, and France Kindle
B&N Nook
Smashwords

And it is available for $2.99 in e-book form and $8.99 for the paperback where currently available.

Times of Trouble, a new Christian fiction novel

2012-02-02T15:23:00.000-06:00

Times of Trouble is my sixth novel, which will I will upload to Smashwords, B&N, and Createspace sometime in the next few days. It’s a Christian speculative fiction thriller. I’m aiming for the group of Christian readers who read the Left Behind series back in the late 90′s, and I’m hoping they’ll enjoy reading this novel.

What it’s about:

In the near future, the U.S. government has turned into a tyranny as the government agencies known as the EPA and TSA grow with ever more power, taking away the liberty many Americans had known for over two hundred years. They’re joined by a government agency, the Health Administration, which was put together in the mid-2010′s to regulate healthcare.

Told in first person point of view, Brian Atwood, our main character, is a field agent for the FBI in Omaha. His work involves mostly cyber terrorism and actual cases of potential real world terrorism. Eventually, his wife gives birth to their third child, who has Down’s Syndrome, which does not please the Health Administration because there are rules and regulations set-up in cases like these to prevent “genetic freaks” as they like to call them, from sucking up a lot of Health Admin money. Because the Atwoods are born again Christians, they never considered aborting the baby, so now the Health people have to take him away to deal with the problem later.

Meanwhile, the Secret Service decides to recruit Brian to be the personal agent of POTUS due to his great work involving a case that dealt with terrorism that would’ve involved Offutt Air Force Base. Brian’s faith is tested every day as he deals with a man that has no morals from what Brian can see, and is tested even more when his wife finds out that she’s dying from a fast growing form of breast cancer. Trouble in the rest of the world occurs as Iran attempts to nuke Israel, which fails spectacularly, so Israel takes care of the problem. This brings condemnation from everyone, including the US, which takes the side of Iran.

When the re-election of POTUS doesn’t turn out the way he wanted it, he and his people declare the election nullified because of supposed “irregularities” with the ballots can be sorted out. The new President-elect may take the seat sometime in the middle of next year, if everything looks to be sorted out. POTUS purges his staff of what he considers unloyal people, including Brian. At the same time, he loses his wife, but regains the son he thought he had lost.

Brian moves back to his family home in Nebraska, where we follow what happens as the country slowly falls apart. Events play out as Brian and his family sees the End Times approach.

Stay tuned for news on when it can be purchased.

Sales for 2011

2012-01-22T09:39:00.000-06:00

Now that I'm pretty sure I have all the sales numbers in for all platforms, I'd like to share how many novels I sold or had downloaded last year as an independent author, to give encouragement to those that aren't sure they can do it. I've been doing this for about 4 years, 1 1/2 of which I've actually put any effort at trying to promote my novels, since I've written three in that time span. Last year, I sold or had D/L's of 24,151, in 2010 - 520, 2009 - 68, and in 2008 - 37. Here are the numbers for 2011 for each book and where, from first book or short story published in order to latest:

Amazon (which combines US & UK sales, link to US though)
Out of Time - 2238 (free and paid)
Don't Mess With Earth - 692
The Usurper - 13,310 (free and paid) (currently free to borrow in Lending Library)
Shattered Earth - 6637 (free and paid)
Voyager & The Aliens - 9
Dust Storm - 0
New Frontier (published December 20, 2011) - 4

Apple
Out of Time - 77
Don't Mess With Earth - 10
The Usurper - 3
Shattered Earth - 55
Voyager & The Aliens - 2

Barnes & Noble
Out of Time - 51
Don't Mess With Earth - 175
The Usurper - 180 (currently exclusive to amazon 'til March 7)
Shattered Earth - 81
Voyager & The Aliens -
Dust Storm -
New Frontier - 1

Createspace paperback (which were sold on Amazon or other bookstore sites)
Out of Time - 9
The Usurper - 48
Shattered Earth - 21
New Frontier -

iUniverse (original publisher of Out of Time paperback)
Out of Time - 5

Kobo
Out of Time - 30
Don't Mess With Earth - 1
The Usurper - 4
Shattered Earth - 7
Voyager & The Aliens
New Frontier

Smashwords (free and paid)
Out of Time - 25
Don't Mess With Earth - 27
The Usurper - 176
Shattered Earth - 239
Voyager & The Aliens - 151
Dust Storm - 2
New Frontier - 1

Sony
Out of Time - 8
Don't Mess With Earth - 1
The Usurper - 5
Shattered Earth - 16
Voyager & The Aliens - 18

Virtualbookworm.com (original publisher of Don't Mess With Earth paperback)
Don't Mess With Earth - 7

So, with a lot of hard work and determination, this is what I sold. I know, not the #'s of some of the bigger names in indie publishing, but I feel like I'm accomplishing something.

The Usurper on Amazon

2012-01-20T18:54:00.000-06:00

Currently, THE USURPER is available only on Amazon and all of its associate sites until March 7, 2012. Prime Members can get it for free or get it from the Lending Library, but still goes for $2.99 otherwise.

Kindle US
Kindle UK
Kindle Germany
Kindle France
Kindle Italy
Kindle Spain

New Frontier available

2012-01-20T18:46:00.000-06:00

In this speculative fiction novel, what-if Ronald Reagan became President in 1976 instead and the Space Race turned out differently? He continues with the moon landings, and declares that a moon base would be established by 1979, followed by a Mars Base by 1989. The Soviets decide to up the ante by building an interstellar starship, and send it on its way as the US establishes a permanent presence on the Moon. The US builds a space station, followed by a base on Mars, that will eventually be turned into a colony.

The rest of Earth follows the original timeline, so terrorism rears its ugly head, which will forever change American politics. Iran and its attempt at taking hostages is taken care of in 1979, but a new threat emerges because of it. The new POTUS has to pursue these enemies of the US to secure America's future. We follow America's progress from Moon to Mars, along with the Teacher in Space Program, to an eventual starship mission out of the solar system, which will continue in book two.

E-book $2.99, paperback $8.99

Amazon US, Amazon UK Amazon DE, Amazon FR, Amazon IT, Amazon ES, Apple, B&N Nook, and Smashwords.

New Frontier, a new novel

2011-12-15T21:13:00.001-06:00

I’m currently working on the last couple of chapters of my new speculative fiction novel, which I call New Frontier. I’m expecting to be done sometime between the end of December to the end of January, barring unforseen circumstances of course.

The story originally started off with a prologue with the whole speech given by President Kennedy at Rice University in 1962 about all of our technological advances and how we’ve managed to come so far in such a short amount of time. I decided to cut that down, to the one paragraph everyone remembers him saying, which is:

“We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too. It is for these reasons that I regard the decision last year to shift our efforts in space from low to high gear as among the most important decisions that will be made during my incumbency in the office of the Presidency…”

I’m not going to reveal any spoilers from this particular sub-plot, because I plan on having a 2nd book in this to make a series to explain why what happens in the prologue happens the way it does.

After this, I begin with a what-if Ronald Reagan became President in 1976 instead of 1980? Well, he has the US continue with the Moon landings and eventually building a Base on the moon, and even declaring that we’ll have people on Mars before 1989.

The Soviets decide to one-up the Americans, and decide to build a starship that would leave the solar system. Their attitude is basically, why do we need to piddle around the Sol System when there’s other solar systems out there to be conquered. The 2nd book will explore what happens to the Soviet ship, which, of course, will be after the Americans eventually send their own ship in the 2nd novel.

There is a storyline that follows the 1979 Iranian Hostage Crisis, but this time it ends in a completely different fashion. I have Osama bin Laden as a young apprentice to Khomeini, and he goes off on his own to form Al Qaeda (this is alternate history after all). In his first foray into terrorism, he makes a big statement that affects American politics in a big way. The US hunts him down and captures him (I was actually writing that when Osama was killed by the Seals, which de-railed my writing of this novel for a couple of weeks). He is taken care of in a way most ancient by people he hates.

In the meantime, we now have a base on the moon, a space station in orbit, and I re-write what happens with the Teacher in Space program by having Christa McAuliffe travel to the Moon to teach from there for a week. This time, the Challenger doesn’t blow up due to engineers discovering a problem, even though she’s not on that shuttle, and she gets to the Moon.

The US announces the team that will travel to Mars to establish a base there, and the Soviets use this opportunity to ask that two of their cosmonauts could go. The new POTUS tells the Soviet Premier no, as long as Eastern Europe was under the boot of communism. Weeks later, the Berlin Wall falls as does the Iron Curtain, and the US and USSR agree to let two cosmonauts go to Mars.

Terrorism raises its ugly head once again when the space station is attacked by remnants of Al Qaeda, and it also occurs to the Mars mission….

Near the end of the novel, colonists land on Mars, including Christa McAuliffe and her family. It’s the beginning of human colonization of the rest of the solar system.

At the end, the US and Russia announce a joint mission to explore the rest of the galaxy, and part of the mission is to find the missing Soviet starship. As those humans leave Earth, Ross Perot is elected POTUS in 1992…..

My Marketing Ideas

2011-10-21T19:00:00.001-05:00

I have been an independently published author now for nearly four years, and not until 2010 did I really do any kind of promoting/marketing for my novels, mostly because I had no idea where to start. Since about late 2009, there have been all sorts of assorted experts in the field all over the internet who have popped up with a book on the subject, and if you buy their book, they’ll tell you what the secret is to selling thousands, or millions even, of books. I think what works for one author doesn’t necessarily work for another, so if you’re willing to waste $2.99 or $4.99 or $6.99 for someone to make money off of your naïveté, then go right ahead, since I was one of those people who has done that more often than I’d like to admit.

When I first published in 2008, it was suggested by iUniverse (now I go through Createspace, best money I have ever saved!) that authors create a website to promote and market themselves. So, I found Geocities, created a very basic site, posted the novel cover, the description, and the link to purchase, then forgot about it. When I finally remembered I had it, Yahoo apparently had shut down Geocities, so I searched for another server. Eventually, I came across Freewebs.com, now known as Webs.com, and that’s where I now have my website hosted, and trying to build my “brand,” whatever that really means. Since then, I’ve gone from idea to idea, gimmick to gimmick trying to promote and market my novels. Some have worked, and some haven’t, but here are my top 10 ideas. Your experience may vary.

1) Websites/blogs — With a website, you should know some html, or you can plug in whatever others have built for such a need, and then you can customize it to your heart’s content. You can add videos, pictures, links, etc. The suggestion from across the vast wasteland of the internet is to do SEO (search engine optimization), build back links, trade links with others, or pay for thousands of hits so that your Google Ranking will bring people to you. Let me tell you, that’s mostly nonsense, your site will be listed in Google, Yahoo, and Bing within a matter of days, but you can submit to directories, but I’ve never actually seen a hit from one of those. Only hard work on your part in promoting yourself will people begin searching your name, names of your novels, or similar sounding names before you notice hits to your site. As for a blog, if you want to keep it updated every day, you can submit it to RSS feed sites and link up with others who have sites. With some blogs, like Blogger, your feed will be seen on the side panel of the blog (if they’re on Blogger) that you’ve linked to. A website/blog is good for having a place for readers to come to find out what you’re up to, or if you have a new novel on the market. Plus, if you’re in the market for a job, it’s something potential employers will see, showing them that you have some skills and creativity (or, so I’ve been told).

2) Social Networking — What did we do before Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, and all of those other social sites? To be honest, I don’t remember! ha ha. Anyway, I do know that if you join every forum involving writing, e-books, and marketing, you’ll never write, you’ll just be talking about writing, and getting to know other indie authors who are also talking about writing. Facebook is useful for authors in that they give us the ability to have a page for ourselves and our work. Thousands, and maybe even millions, of users can eventually come across your page, they can like it, and even share it with anyone in their social circle. Twitter used to be useful in my opinion, but there are way too many voices out there now, and one can get lost in the “noise.” My best advice for social networking is to do it in moderation, otherwise, you’ll never get that next book written.

3) Press releases — I use free sites like Prlog.org, which is good for visibility, but I really don’t know if it results in sales. Doesn’t hurt to try though, and it’s free. If you want to pay for high visibility, try PRWEB, but it’s really expensive if you’re on a tight budget.

4) Libraries — I used to work in a library, so I know something about this. A lot of indie books go almost directly to the Friends of the Library Bookstore, even though the Acquisitions Librarian “promised” that your books will get on the shelf, eventually. Although, it could’ve been just the one I worked with, because he wasn’t too particularly thrilled with putting my novels on the shelf. My suggestion is to get to know the library staff, usually the poor souls stuck at the Circulation Desk. Sometimes they get to sort through all the donations, so if you let them know that you really, really want your book in the library, they will mark your book for the acquisitions librarian, who will set it up for circulation. Be patient, books arrive at the library from B&T and Ingram every day, so it may take months for your book to show up in the catalog.

5) Book trailer — You can do it yourself by downloading Microsoft’s Live Movie Maker for free. It’s fairly easy to use once you get the hang of it. Of course, if you want something like the “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” trailer, then you’ll have to spend a lot of money for someone else to do it or have taken a video course in college yourself. Once you’re done with it, upload it to Youtube and a few other video sites. Very useful in the fact that the reader may get your book cover and the idea impressed into their heads, and then might eventually buy a copy of your novel.

6) Guerilla Marketing — Basically, this is putting bookmarks or business cards in books at stores like Walmart, B&N, and maybe Half Price Books (if you have one in your area), or even at the library. I have also put bookmarks in those envelopes that have the paid postage from the credit card companies and other spam mailers, and sent it back to them. You can do this for everything you mail out. You can also use Bookcrossing.com.

7) Bloggers — There are bloggers who will post your novel, review it, help with a blog tour, or give you an interview that will be posted on their site. Some require you to pay for the exposure, and some are free. Even if you get no returns on it as far as sales, it’ll be on Google and other search engines for as long as that post is available. So when someone does a search, that’s another impression you get, and it might even get you some sales out of it.

8 ) Paperback book giveaways — When you first finish your book, have it uploaded, and then available on Createspace, you can then contact some bloggers, or go to Goodreads and post your book giveaway. With bloggers, they can target specific readers who actually want to read your novel. I’ve received a couple of great reviews that way. With Goodreads, people will sign up for the giveaway just because it’s a freebie, not really caring about the genre. I had one person return a book because they thought it was something else, and others who reviewed, who didn’t like that genre, and thought Goodreads required a review. Remember to be choosy about doing paperback giveaways if you want specific readers that are looking for a specific genre.

9) Free e-books — One way to get your novels seen is to give away free copies of your e-books, usually with a coupon from Smashwords. If you want it free on Amazon, set the novel free on Smashwords, distribute it to B&N even if you’re using their publishing platform, and then wait for Amazon to price match. You’ll get a few thousand downloads for a week or two, copies into hands of people who normally wouldn’t have known about you and your work, and possibly some good reviews out of it. You may also get hit and run reviews that aren’t exactly glowing reviews of your work, mostly on Amazon. These are usually 1 star, they question your writing skills, and sometimes even your IQ. The advice to authors is never to respond, be above it all, and have a thick skin. There are instances of authors responding to their critics, and it developed into a clusterfark. Never ever a good thing.

10) Ads — Unless you have a lot of disposable income, creating ads on Google, Facebook, Yahoo, and other sites is a complete waste of your time and money. But, if you get a free coupon for one of those sites, then knock yourself out. I have also advertised on Craigslist and other classifieds all over the States from time to time, and I get the occasional hit to my website from those sites, but I don’t know if they actually result in sales. Mostly, it’s about being visible, and that’s not really a bad thing.

Finally, marketing your novels comes down to hard work, time, and sometimes spending money to make money. There are times you may want to give up, but being persistent will get you and your novels seen, and you’ll see success. These ideas are only some that indie authors may or may not try to promote their books, and it’s really an experience may vary kind of thing.

Please visit my author's site, http://www.cliffball.net for information about my books.

First Author Interviews: Cliff Ball

2011-10-06T14:12:00.000-05:00

Premium Interview with Cliff Ball Author of ‘The Usurper’

Brief summary:

Gary Jackson is raised to hate. Hate the United States, and everything it has ever stood for. His mission is to destroy the United States from within, allying himself with America’s enemies to accomplish the deed. He stops at nothing, and a small group of Americans decide they need to stop him. Will they succeed or will the US be relegated to the dustbin of history?

Excerpt:

“You know who is one of your enemies, Gary?” asked al Hussein.

“No, who?” the boy asked with a bewildered look on his face.

“One of your enemies is your mother. She doesn’t agree with the government controlling peoples’ lives, and she thinks terrorism to control the people is bad. What do you think we should do with her, Gary?” asked Putin.

“My mother is an enemy? But, she could be on our side,” Gary innocently protested.

“We’ve talked about this before, Gary, and you know what you must do,”

“But… but…. I don’t want to do this.”

“Yes, I know, but she will destroy all that we are working for, and all of your future hopes and dreams. Again, I ask you, what should we do to people like her?”

Gary sighed, gulped a couple of times, and said, “The enemy has to die as an example to others not to think for themselves to do what they want. If my mother is an enemy, she must die,”

“Correct response. We need to go visit your mother to see that she is no longer a threat. Let’s go, Gary.” ordered Putin.

A few minutes later, the trio arrived at the house Gary and his mother lived in. They went inside, where Ann was in the kitchen cooking dinner, she heard them come in, went to meet them, saw her son, and went to hug him, but, Gary didn’t hug her back, so she asked, “What’s wrong?”

“You are the enemy, you must be destroyed.” he said as coldly as possible.

Putin handed Gary a Russian made Tokarev TT-33 service pistol, and Gary aimed it at Ann, who was shocked, but knew that this day would come eventually, and thought about how her life had come to this in the brief moments she had left. Gary, who had no expression on his face, but did have hate in his eyes, aimed, and fired point blank at her forehead; giving his mother no time to react. Blood and brain matter spattered everywhere. Ann died instantly, her body falling to the floor with a thud. Gary handed the gun back to Putin, left the room, did his best to suppress any impulse he had to cry, and he was determined to leave this in his past, hopefully to never be dwelled on again.

THE INTERVIEW:

Why did you write this book?

I wanted to write a political thriller for a few years, and I’m into conspiracy theories, so I decided that around 2008 I would write a novel based on some of the conspiracy theories surrounding some of our politicians from about the mid-1960′s onwards. It includes such nutty conspiracies as truthers, birthers, and the idea that one all powerful man controls everything behind the scenes. I thought it would be interesting to see where the main character would go if given unlimited power to do what he wanted to the States.

How did you come up with the title?

I figured the main character pretty much usurps the idea of the American Constitutional Republic by becoming a petty dictator, so the title seemed to make sense.

How did you choose your genre?

Well, genre of Thriller makes sense for this particular novel.

What inspired you to be a writer?

When I was in elementary school, my parents bought me the whole Little House on the Prairie set (I guess because we watched the TV series), and I thought it was cool that Laura was a writer. So, when I was 10, I began writing.

Are you writing another book?

Yes, I am. It’s an alternate history, political thriller, science fiction novel. Basically, the US continues with the moon landings, and announces they’re going to Mars by the end of 1989. The Soviets decide to up the ante by building an interstellar starship of their own, but things go awry once they leave the solar system. In the meantime, terrorism against the US begins earlier than in our own timeline. Al Qaeda suicide bombs the State of the Union in early 80′s, and the new President sends an elite team of Green Berets to take out Osama bin Laden. That’s about as far as I’ve written, but I plan on having the US & Russians team up to launch a starship out of the solar system, where they find an anomaly, and find the long lost Soviet ship on a planet not previously known to humans. Unfortunately, the planet has some very dark secrets….. (vampires? zombies? ghosts? demons? dragons? I haven’t decided yet! lol)

Question usually asked from readers: Why should I read this? This sounds like what we’re going through now.

My answer: Sure there are similarities, but everyone only thinks they know this story. Sometimes, a book you normally wouldn’t read or are skeptical of, usually turns into something you enjoy a lot. Some of my reviews have reflected that. All I ask is that readers give it a chance.

Book Title: The Usurper

Publisher: CreateSpace

Author: Cliff Ball

Genre: Thriller

Amazon [Paperback]: The Usurper

Kindle: The Usurper

B&N: The Usurper

Smashwords: The Usurper

Author’s Website: http://cliffball.webs.com/

Author’s Blog: http://cliff1974.wordpress.com/

Author’s Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/cliff.ball.author

Author’s Twitter: http://twitter.com/cliff_ball

Sales so far this year

2011-09-22T18:27:00.000-05:00

When I started self-publishing in 2008, I didn't really have any kind of goals on how big of a number I wanted to reach. When I hit 100 sold by the end of 2009 without any promoting except for Facebook, I thought that was cool. When I managed to get a little over 500 sold last year, I thought that was awesome. Well, as of September 2011, I have now reached 2000 sold for the year so far, and I'm only 200 away from reaching 3000 sales. Earlier in the year, around March, for some inexplicable reason to me, my sales took off on both Amazon and B&N at 400 combined a month mostly for one title, but, just as inexplicably, two months later, I went back to selling maybe 30 a month. I can't explain that, but, boy, do I wish I knew how I manage to attract that many readers. Well, anyway, here's the totals as of right now, from 2008 until now, on each platform for each book. My paperback sales are listed under the publisher I used. Links to each novel are located at http://cliffball.webs.com.

Amazon Kindle, combo of US & UK
Out of Time - 317
Don't Mess With Earth - 703
The Usurper - 294
Shattered Earth - 260
Voyager and the Aliens short story - 1 (uploaded this week)

Barnes & Noble Nook
Out of Time - 53
Don't Mess With Earth - 163
The Usurper - 49
Shattered Earth - 33

Kobo
Out of Time - 32
Don't Mess With Earth - 5
The Usurper - 3
Shattered Earth - 5

Apple
Out of Time - 53
Don't Mess With Earth - 19
The Usurper - 2
Shattered Earth - 62

Sony Reader
Out of Time - 4
Don't Mess With Earth - 3
The Usurper - 0
Shattered Earth - 2

Smashwords
Out of Time - 32
Don't Mess With Earth - 97
The Usurper - 160
Shattered Earth - 173
Voyager and the Aliens - 98

iUniverse, the original publisher of Out of Time
Out of Time paperback or e-book - 55

Virtualbookworm.com, publisher of Don't Mess With Earth
Don't Mess With Earth paperback - 62

Createspace
Out of Time - 7
The Usurper - 24
Shattered Earth - 20

and when I used Lulu.com for a couple of months:
Out of Time - 3
The Usurper - 1

To re-cap the grand totals:
Out of Time: 551
Don't Mess With Earth - 1056
The Usurper - 532
Shattered Earth - 558
Voyager and the Aliens - 99

My novel, The Usurper, and 9-11-01

2011-09-11T10:02:00.000-05:00

In my newest novel, The Usurper, I explore terrorism as part of the novel and who in this fictional universe is actually responsible for starting it/financing it against the United States and everyone else in the world when it begins in the late 1960′s. I decided to have the KGB train various terrorist groups to undermine the western powers, no matter which side they were on, right wing, left wing, or religious terrorism, that way the Soviet Union thinks they can win against their main enemy, the United States.

Eventually, when the Soviet Union collapses in the novel, Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden takes up the training of their own terrorists, but are financed by a trillionare who can’t stand the Americans. I have the World Trade Center attacked in 1993 like they were originally, nothing changes in that regard. Then, I have Tim McVeigh attack the Murrah Building and I explain that he tries to side with Al Qaeda(in the novel), but because he was an American they wouldn’t help him.

On September 11, 2001, I do have the exact same thing happen to the WTC and the Pentagon, but, in my novel I have United Flight 93 turn out differently. The passengers(who have different names in this universe) on board take back control and land in Pittsburgh. Eventually, the President is blamed for the attacks and is accused of making up Osama bin Laden, so that the Department of Homeland Security can be created, and he can have his way. Eventually, that President is executed by forces of the new President. A few chapters later, one of the men who helped take back control of Flight 93, helps leads the resistance against the man who sides with Al Qaeda and is trying to turn the United States into a communist utopia.

In real life, it’s the 10th anniversary of the attacks of September 11th. We should remember who our enemies are and not eat each other(Americans) alive because of some stupid disagreements. Instead of attacking each other, we should be focused on defeating the enemy, and we all know who that is.

$.99 ebook sale

2011-08-23T07:47:00.000-05:00

Until September 5th, all four of my novels in e-book format are on sale for $.99 each.

THE USURPER: a political thriller

Gary Jackson is raised to hate. Hate the United States, its people, and everything they have ever stood for. His mission is to destroy the country from within, allying himself with the worst of America's enemies, and one very powerful and malevolent billionaire, to accomplish the deed. Once elected to the highest position in the land, Gary puts his lifelong goals to work, and puts the USA onto the path of ultimate destruction. He stops at nothing to rid the USA of his political and spiritual enemies, until a small group decide they've had enough, and they want to stop him. Will they succeed or will the United States be relegated to the dustbin of history?

Where to buy:
US Kindle, UK Kindle, B&N Nook, Smashwords for all e-book formats

DON'T MESS WITH EARTH - science fiction
Humans discover that two groups of aliens have been manipulating human history since the pre-historic days. One group does this by posing as historical figures such as King Arthur, Galileo, Amelia Earhart, among others. The other group causes all sorts of historical anomalies such as the Salem Witch Trials and the disappearance of the Roanoke colonists.

Centuries later, when the humans from the country called the United States get a chance to study the technology of a downed alien ship in Roswell, they decide to do something about both groups of aliens. Once the scientists of Earth start reverse engineering the downed spacecraft, President Truman issues an executive order that will forever change Earth history.

Where to buy:
US Kindle, UK Kindle B&N Nook, Smashwords

SHATTERED EARTH - science fiction

Advanced humans, called Terrans, leave Earth when its threatened by a massive meteor. The remaining humans on Earth fall back into primitiveness. The advanced humans, and a group of aliens, the Ragnor, involve Earth in an interstellar war. Thousands of years later, the humans of Earth decide to do something about this. Interstellar politics will never be the same again once Earth is done with their revenge.

These Terrans involve themselves throughout human history. Some play as King Arthur and Merlin. Another is a scientist, whose name is Galileo, and he gets into all sorts of trouble for challenging official orthodoxy about the sun, the Earth, and which one is revolving around the other. Then, we have Amelia Earhart, who has a very valid reason for disappearing. When an alien spaceship gets shot down over Roswell in 1947, President Truman orders the creation of Area 51, Project Blue Book and Sign, and has the United States embark on a plan that will culminate 60 years in the future. Nothing will ever be the same again when the United States gets involved in interstellar politics. But, the whole plan backfires when Earth ends up the worse for wear over it. Other species find out what Earth did, since no one else was bold enough to even try, so they want to help bring down the Ragnor once and for all. The new President of the United States imagines a galactic federation or a republic, but, none of the other species wants anything to do with it. Once they destroy the Ragnor's technology, they leave the Ragnor to ponder why all the other species hated them enough to attack them. Will the galaxy remain at peace?

Where to buy: US Kindle, UK Kindle, B&N Nook, and Smashwords

OUT OF TIME

Dr. John Hawking, a clone of famous 20th/21st century scientist Stephen Hawking, discovers time is actually fluid; past, present, and future all exist at the same time. What he doesn't know, is if the current timeline can change when something is changed in the past. The US government wants him to find out. The theme being to make right what once went wrong. The time travelers meet all sorts of 20th century icons, from the Titanic to Anne Frank to Roswell to the Apollo 13. However, someone is trying to stop them, and the future may never be the same again.

Where to buy: US Kindle, UK Kindle, B&N Nook, & Smashwords

Newest reviews for The Usurper and Shattered Earth

2011-03-22T19:44:00.000-05:00

Two new reviews for The Usurper, one from Goodreads and the other on B&N:

From Goodreads, from Heather, who won a copy of the paperback:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/126805727

This is the first Cliff Ball book I've read...and I'd have to say that if he writes another political thriller ... I'm in! "The Usurper" is a fast-paced fictional story that has non-fictional elements in it of events that really happened. Cliff makes you think 'could this really happen?' He makes it all seem possible...which is a scary thought! This book had lots of twists and turns that kept the reader on the edge of her seat throughout the book. I gave this book to my dad to read since he likes the same kind of books that I do. I'm sure he'll have a good review as well. Thank you Cliff for writing this book!

On B&N, from a reader named Linda:
http://my.barnesandnoble.com/communityportal/Review.aspx?page=Review&reviewid=1575412

I agree with the other reviewer's statement that it is Clancy like. The characters don't have as much depth as Clancy's, but Clancy has developed his over many books. This book was very similar to current events, with a frightening back story created. This back story was, unfortunately, plausible - at least in the goal if not the execution. It builds off of the fears of the cold war and moves into the role and power of government in our lives, as well as the battle of capitalism vs. socialism. This was filled with lots of symbolism and relations to actual current events. In summary, a very good read and I look forward to reading more by this author.

A new review for Shattered Earth, my science fiction novel, from Scottie, who won a copy of the paperback on Goodreads:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/149311972

Just finished this book. It was not at all what I thought it would be. The story line was was so imaginatively written, very interesting. I haven't read a sci-fi, fantasy book written in such a way to be so interesting. I really liked it. I don't want to spoil it for anyone, but it is obvious that a lot of thought went into the writing of this book. The story line and the history aspect of the story kept me involved in the story from the beginning and had some really fun and interesting twists. I really enjoyed this book and hope to read more from Mr. Ball.

$.99 ebook sale for the month of March

2011-03-01T08:35:00.001-06:00

First off, I have reduced the prices to all 4 of my novels to $.99 on all ebook formats for the month of March, Smashwords, B&N Nook, and Amazon US, and Amazon UK. I'm also happy to report that I'm nearing the 1000 sold overall mark, which, as of right this minute, I'm one away. So, a big thank you to anyone who has bought any of my novels.

Here are the sales stats for the month of February for each title and what platform:
THE USURPER
sold 3 paperbacks
Amazon US: 24
UK Kindle: 2
B&N Nook: 6
Smashwords: 45
Was also featured this month on: Daily Cheap Reads, No Trees Harmed, Karly Kirkpatrick's Bookaday, and Kindle in the Wind

OUT OF TIME
Amazon US: 14
Amazon UK: 15
B&N Nook: 9

DON'T MESS WITH EARTH
Amazon US: 21
Amazon UK: 8
B&N Nook: 10

SHATTERED EARTH
Amazon US: 7
Amazon UK: 1
B&N Nook: 4
Smashwords: 1

For a grand total of (drum roll please)... 174!

Thanks again to anyone who buys a copy, and please share with all your social networking pals... lol

The Usurper

2011-02-17T12:26:00.000-06:00

The Usurper: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"

Karly Kirkpatrick: Bookaday: The Usurper by Cliff Ball

2011-02-06T10:59:00.000-06:00

Karly Kirkpatrick: Bookaday: The Usurper by Cliff Ball: "The Usurper - Thriller Gary Jackson is raised to hate. Hate the United States, and everything it has ever stood for. His mission is to destroy..."

Kindle in the Wind: The Usurper by Cliff Ball

2011-02-02T13:57:00.000-06:00

Kindle in the Wind: The Usurper by Cliff Ball: "TITLE: The Usurper AUTHOR: Cliff Ball GENRE: Thriller PRICE: $2.99 AVAILABLE IN THE UK: Amazon UK IS THIS BOOK AVAILABLE IN PRINT....

Kindle Author: Kindle Author Sponsor: Cliff Ball

2011-01-31T15:20:00.000-06:00

Kindle Author: Kindle Author Sponsor: Cliff Ball: "Book Title: The Usurper Author: Cliff Ball Kindle Price: US: $2.99 UK: £2.21 Available from: Amazon (US) Amazon (UK) Smashwords (Ap..."

My novels on sale for $.99

2011-01-10T18:43:00.000-06:00

For a limited time, my three novels are on sale for $.99. Besides the link to Kindle, check below for more places to buy these novels.

A scientist discovers time is actually fluid; past, present, and future all exist at the same time. What he doesn’t know, is if the current timeline can change when something is changed in the past. The US government wants him to find out. The theme being to make right what once went wrong. The time travelers meet all sorts of 20th century icons, from the Titanic to Anne Frank to Roswell to the Apollo 13. However, someone is trying to stop them, and the future may never be the same again.

Advanced humans, called Terrans, leave Earth when its threatened by a massive meteor. The remaining humans on Earth fall back into primitiveness. The advanced humans, and a group of aliens, the Ragnor, involve Earth in an interstellar war. Thousands of years later, the humans of Earth decide to do something about this. Interstellar politics will never be the same again once Earth is done with their revenge.

Ever wonder what would happen if our worst fears were realized, and we elected someone who was willing to destroy the USA no matter the cost to him, his fellow Americans, or the rest of the world? The Usurper is that novel.

Gary Jackson is raised to hate. Hate the United States, and everything it has ever stood for. His mission is to destroy the country from within, allying himself with the worst of America's enemies, and one very powerful and malevolent billionaire, to accomplish the deed. Once elected to the highest position in the land, Gary puts his lifelong goals to work, and puts the USA onto the path of ultimate destruction. He stops at nothing to rid the USA of his political and spiritual enemies. Once his goals are met, he sets his eyes on the ultimate prize, control of the rest of the world. Will anyone stop this man before it's too late?

Nook and Smashwords for all other e-book formats.

Giveaway of The Usurper on Goodreads

2011-01-07T22:19:00.001-06:00

Goodreads Book Giveaway

The Usurper

by Cliff Ball

Giveaway ends February 07, 2011.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Shattered Earth

by Cliff Ball

Giveaway ends January 28, 2011.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Two Ends of the Pen Interview: Cliff Ball

2011-01-07T11:21:00.000-06:00

Briefly describe your journey in writing your first book.
My very first novel that I actually finished writing was the novella Out of Time, a time travel adventure story. I wrote it off and on for about 10 years, started from a couple pages long to where it’s at now, about 30k words.

Did you query agents or traditional publishers before publishing on Amazon? No. Back in the late 90’s when I was seriously thinking about publishing any of my writing, I decided I’d rather publish my own stuff. I looked into vanity press, but, that was way too expensive at the time, and I didn’t know enough about self-publishing like I do now with Createspace. In 2008, when I had money, I published Out of Time first through iUniverse with the basic package they had. I uploaded it to Kindle myself, mostly just to see what would happen, since at the time, I thought e-books might be a fad. Little did I know!

What factors influenced your decision to self-publish?
I prefer having control over my destiny, as it were. I figured self-publishing was faster, and preferable to receiving rejection letters six months later, with the generic reasons why they wouldn’t publish. I just happen to like doing everything myself, at least I can see tangible results.

Will you try to garner a traditional publishing contract for any future books? Probably not. Besides, I think traditional media is going the way of the dinosaurs.

Did you design your cover art? If not, would you care to share your graphic designer’s information?
My first two novels I published through iUniverse and Virtualbookworm, so I used what they gave me. Once I went to Createspace, I created my own covers. I did have help from another author who tweaked them for me though.

How did you feel when you got your first sale? Are you pleased with sales so far?
My very first sale was from a short story I wrote in high school back in the early 90’s that won in a contest that I wrote through Creative Writing class. I was thrilled with that, until my mom decided to use the money to create a frame for the check stub, and a little blurb about it that she mentioned to our newspaper. Anyway, in the here and now, I’m pleased with my sales so far, they could be more, but I just have to keep working at being seen.

What kinds of social media [twitter, facebook, webpage, blog, writing forums] are you involved with trying to garner attention for your book(s)?
I’m on places like Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, Goodreads, Shelfari, Linkedin, I have a blog and a website, forums such as Kindleboards, Nookboards, Mobilereads, eBookgab, and trying to promote on the Amazon message boards.
Author website: http://cliffball.webs.com
Author blog: http://cliff1974.wordpress.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/cliff_ball
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/cliff.ball.author

Besides Amazon, are there any other sites where your books are for sale? Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, Apple, Sony, Createspace, Diesel eBooks, Kobo, Borders for my e-books.

What’s next for you?
I’m actually trying to bring up my GPA by getting a 2nd BA so I can get an MA in Creative Writing from the University of North Texas, at least that’s the plan. I’m also trying to write an alternate history novel where the US establishes a moon base in 1979 when a different President is elected in 1976, and then he has the US set a goal of a Mars Base by 1989. The Russians see this, so they decide to create an interstellar starship so they can one-up the Americans. All sorts of real life events get in the way, like the Revolution in Iran, but that gets squashed by US Special Forces rescuing the hostages. The President in 1981 gets assassinated by those who take revenge for the failed Revolution. Al Qaeda comes along later, and blows up a cargo ship to the moon, tries to blow up the sealed habitat on Mars, and then blows up the space station in Earth orbit in the 2000’s, and so the US President orders Osama bin Laden to be taken out, and that’s the last of Al Qaeda. Eventually, US and Russia join forces to explore the galaxy, where they find the long lost Russian interstellar starship.

Kindle Nation Daily: Kindle Nation Daily Free Book Alert, Saturday, January 1: 12 Brand New Freebies to Begin 2011

2011-01-01T11:37:00.000-06:00

Kindle Nation Daily: Kindle Nation Daily Free Book Alert, Saturday, January 1: 12 Brand New Freebies to Begin 2011! plus ... A different ending for the Cold War in "a very accurate depiction of the power of indoctrination" with Cliff Ball's The Usurper (Today's Sponsor)

Two Ends of the Pen: Today's Sponsor: The Usurper by Cliff Ball

2010-12-17T18:38:00.000-06:00

Two Ends of the Pen: Today's Sponsor: The Usurper by Cliff Ball:

The Soviet Union and the KGB refuse to let the purging of communists in the United States as awhole by Senator Joe McCarthy, and the House Un-American Activities Committee, deter them. Soviet Premier Khrushchev authorizes the KGB to embark on an ambitious, decades long plan to destroy the United States from within through the corruption of American politicians, the American education system, terrorism, and environmental disasters. Gary Jackson, the main character, is the fulfillment of the KGB plan to destroy the United States from within. They raise him from birth to hate everything about the United States, indoctrinate him, and introduce him to terrorists across the world, where the KGB dictates all terrorist attacks. When Gary is a teenager, he is sent to the United States to assimilate and begin his mission. Nothing will deter his goals of completely and utterly destroying the United States.

When the Soviet Union dissolves, he is given a choice, and he decides to continue with the mission. A terrorist organization ends up filling in the gap left by the absent KGB, and they, together with Gary, conspire to destroy everyone in the United States who doesn't agree with them.

Links to buy:

https://www.createspace.com/3469577

http://www.amazon.com/The-Usurper-ebook/dp/B003VP9VVK

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Usurper/dp/B003VP9VVK

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/18734

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Usurper/Cliff-Ball/e/9781452429205

http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-usurper/id382529518?mt=11

Reviews/comments:

"A cold-blooded, Clancy-esque political thriller; The Usurper is sure to entertain." --Nurture Your Books - nurtureyourbooks.com/?p=919

"I just finished reading The Usurper and enjoyed the book. I love the concept of this book and the ending caught me totally off guard. The Usurper is a quick read. There are many correlations with the real world that most of us can relate to. If only they had turned out differently. The book smacks of conspiracy theories. Who knows, this book could possibly be one of those that, in a few years, will make us wonder, "How did the author get so close to the truth?" -- J.C. Phelps

"The Usurper is not usually my favourite type of novel but Cliff Ball really surprised me. This is a very fast-paced, action-packed book once you get past the first few chapters. I think what impressed me the most was Ball's very accurate depiction of the power of indoctrination. In many ways it was a rather chilling view of what 'could have been'. If you like political thrillers then I highly recommend it." -- Tracey Alley

Author Bio:

Cliff Ball, is 36, single, and lives in Texas. Has a BA in English, and is hoping to pursue a MA in Creative Writing from University of North Texas. Has three novels on the market, The Usurper, Out of Time, and Shattered Earth. Won 3rd in a short story contest through Creative Writing in high school. Works as a freelance copy-editor.

Relevant links:

Author website: http://cliffball.webs.com

Author blog: http://cliff1974.wordpress.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/cliff_ball

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/cliff.ball.author

Excerpt from Chapter 4:

"Do you know who else is enemy of the people?” asked Putin.

“The enemy is anyone who questions the word of the government. They must be destroyed; nobody can be spared if they disagree,”

“You know who is one of your enemies, Gary?” asked al Hussein.

“No, who?”

“One of your enemies is your mother. She doesn't agree with the government controlling peoples' lives, and she thinks terrorism to control the people is bad. What do you think we should do with her, Gary?” asked Putin.

“My mother is an enemy? But, she could be on our side,” Gary innocently said.

“We've talked about this before, Gary, and you know what you must do,”

“But… but…. I don‟t want to do this,”

“Yes, I know, but she will destroy all that we are working for, and all of your future hopes and dreams. Again, I ask you, what should we do to people like her?”

Gary sighed, gulped a couple of times, and said, “The enemy has to die as an example to others not to think for themselves and do what they want. If my mother is an enemy, she must die,”

“Correct response. We need to go visit your mother to see that she is no longer a threat. Let's go, Gary.” ordered Putin.

A few minutes later, the trio arrived at the house Gary and his mother lived in. They went inside, where Ann was in the kitchen cooking dinner, she heard them come in, went to meet them, saw her son, and went to hug him, but, Gary didn't hug her back, so she asked, “What‟s wrong?”

“You are the enemy, you must be destroyed.”

Spalding's Racket: Shattered Earth by Cliff Ball - Sci Fi

2010-12-08T10:45:00.000-06:00

Spalding's Racket: Shattered Earth by Cliff Ball - Sci Fi: "Advanced humans, called Terrans, leave Earth when its threatened by a massive meteor. The remaining humans on Earth fall back into primitiveness..."

Find it on Amazon, Smashwords, B & N, Apple...

Featured on The Indie Spotlight

2010-11-30T12:17:00.000-06:00

My novel is featured today on the Indie Spotlight, and here’s the information:

Title: The Usurper
Author: Cliff Ball
ISBN: 1453702725 or 978-1453702727
Page count: 184
Genre: Thriller
Price: $8.99 for Paperback, $2.99 for Kindle

Author Bio:

Cliff Ball currently lives in Texas, has a BA in English, currently pursuing a 2nd BA to eventually get an MA in Creative Writing. Cliff has published three novels, Out of Time, Don’t Mess With Earth, Shattered Earth, and now The Usurper. Cliff also works as a copy-editor.

Tell us about your book:
Ever wonder what would happen if our worst fears were realized and we elected someone who was willing to destroy the USA, even if he was destroyed himself? The Usurper is that novel. It is a fictional account of what would happen if the Soviet Union and KGB were given the chance to take down the United States from within. They use the American political system, education system, terrorism, and commit environmental disasters to achieve these goals.

The Soviet Union and the KGB refuse to let the purging of communists in the United States as awhole by Senator Joe McCarthy, and the House Un-American Activities Committee, deter them. Soviet Premier Khrushchev authorizes the KGB to embark on an ambitious, decades long plan to destroy the United States from within through the corruption of American politicians, the American education system, terrorism, and environmental disasters. Gary Jackson, the main character, is the fulfillment of the KGB plan to destroy the United States from within. They raise him from birth to hate everything about the United States, indoctrinate him, and introduce him to terrorists across the world, where the KGB dictates all terrorist attacks. When Gary is a teenager, he is sent to the United States to assimilate and begin his mission. Nothing will deter his goals of completely and utterly destroying the United States.

When the Soviet Union dissolves, he is given a choice, and he decides to continue with the mission. A terrorist organization ends up filling in the gap left by the absent KGB, and they, together with Gary, conspire to destroy everyone in the United States who doesn’t agree with them.

How long did it take to write the book?
It took it about six months to write.

What inspired you to write the book?
I’m into history and conspiracy theories, so I started with the quotation attributed to Soviet Premier Khrushchev where he said, “We will bury you!” in which he wanted to the people to overthrow the USA and other western powers, without the need of a military strike. I wove real terrorist attacks into the novel, and had the KGB actually responsible for it, no matter if the terrorists were right-wing or left-wing, as long as they were against the US, the KGB backed them. Originally, this novel was half written in the mid-1990’s, and included various conspiracy theories around at the time, so it was updated to include a few conspiracy theories, in a very fictional way and with names changed, for the past twenty years about President’s 41 through 44.

Talk about the writing process. Did you have a writing routine? Did you do any research, and if so, what did that involve?
I don’t have a writing routine. When I’m inspired, I’ll write. I did do some research, looked up the power structure of the Soviet Union and the KGB, where certain real-life Soviet leaders were at various points in the ‘60’s to the ‘90’s. I also have references to terrorist attacks and airplane hijackings, so I attempted to follow the original attacks but linked them to the fictional storyline of the novel. It involved doing a lot of searching online to find out about the TWA hijacking, the killing of Israeli athletes at the ’72 Olympics, both WTC attacks, and the Oklahoma City bombing, for example.

What do you hope your readers come away with after reading your book?
I would hope they’re entertained, and can see the alternate universe I created.

Where can we go to buy your book?
Amazon – http://www.amazon.com/Usurper-Cliff-Ball/dp/1453702725
Kindle – http://www.amazon.com/The-Usurper-ebook/dp/B003VP9VVK
Barnes and Noble – http://search.barnesandnoble.com/books/product.aspx?r=1&ISBN=1453702725&r=1
Nook – http://search.barnesandnoble.com/books/product.aspx?ean=9781452429205
Smashwords – http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/18734
CreateSpace – https://www.createspace.com/3469577
Borders – http://www.borders.com.au/ebook/the-usurper/12699340/
Apple - http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-usurper/id382529518?mt=11

Any other links or info you’d like to share?
Author website: http://cliffball.webs.com
Blog: http://cliffball.blogspot.com or http://cliff1974.wordpress.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/cliff_ball
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/cliff.ball.author

Excerpt from book:
From Chapter 4
For the next five years, by the time Gary was 10 years old, Agent Putin and John al Hussein had taught young Gary about their ideas of the evils of the world. They poured into his head all sorts of ideas about how the United States, in particular, had caused droughts in Africa, all the economic collapses in the world in the last two centuries, both world wars, and was a threat because of their use of nuclear weapons against Japan. They told him capitalism was evil and must be brought down.
“Can I ask why we use Comrade Bornos’ money for all of this if capitalism is so evil?” asked the 10 year old.
“Herr Bornos isn’t using his money for his gain. He is using it to fight the United States, that’s why he supplies us with everything we need monetarily. The KGB has the means, but, not the money. Does that make sense?” asked John.
“I guess. The United States is bad because the government doesn’t have total control and nobody is equal, while the Soviet Union is good because the government controls life and everyone is equal. Did I get it right?”
“Yes you did, very good Gary. We call that social and economic justice. Do you know who else is enemy of the people?” asked Putin.
“The enemy is anyone who questions the word of the government and the KGB. They must be destroyed; nobody can be spared if they disagree,”
“You know who is one of your enemies, Gary?” asked al Hussein.
“No, who?”
“One of your enemies is your mother. She doesn’t agree with the government controlling peoples’ lives, and she thinks terrorism to control the people is bad. What do you think we should do with her, Gary?” asked Putin.
“My mother is an enemy? But, she could be on our side,” Gary innocently said.
“We’ve talked about this before, Gary, and you know what you must do,”
“But… but…. I don’t want to do this,”
“Yes, I know, but she will destroy all that we are working for, and all of your future hopes and dreams. Again, I ask you, what should we do to people like her?”
Gary sighed, gulped a couple of times, and said, “The enemy has to die as an example to others not to think for themselves and do what they want. If my mother is an enemy, she must die,”
“Correct response. We need to go visit your mother and see that she is no longer a threat. Let’s go, Gary.” ordered Putin.
A few minutes later, the trio arrived at the house where Gary and his mother lived. They went inside, where Ann was in the kitchen cooking dinner, when she heard them come in. She went to meet them, saw her son, and went to hug him, but Gary didn’t hug her back, so she asked, “What’s wrong?”
“You are the enemy, you must be destroyed.”
Putin handed Gary a Russian-made Tokarev TT-33 service pistol, and Gary aimed it at Ann, who was shocked, and wasn’t sure what was happening. Gary, who had no expression on his face, aimed the gun, and fired point blank at her forehead, his mother had no time to react. Blood and brain matter spattered everywhere, Ann died instantly, and her body fell to the floor with a thud. Gary handed the gun back to Putin, left the room, and he was determined to leave this in his past, hopefully to never be dwelled on again. Putin checked to see if Ann was completely dead, which she was, and the three quietly left the house. Putin called for a clean-up and for the house to be destroyed.

Excuse Me, Miss: Featured Author Cliff Ball

2010-11-16T16:23:00.000-06:00

Excuse Me, Miss: Featured Author Cliff Ball: "-
Scene: The one aircraft that everyone was searching for was still in the air, and flying over Pennsylvania. Some of the passengers called their relatives from the jetliner, while the hijackers were still trying to turn Flight 93 around, so that the hijackers could fly into either the Capital, or the White House, the passengers on board were doing their best to take back the airplane with the help of the remaining flight crew. One of the men managed to get through to his wife in New Jersey, and said to her, “Hey, Diane, this is Jeff. Our plane has been hijacked; do you know what’s going on?”

“Thank God you’re all right. We had two terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and one on the Pentagon. There are reports that your plane is missing. What’s happening up there?”

“Some Arabic men killed the pilot and co-pilot, and then took over flying the plane. Those of us on board have decided to rush them, and try to wrestle control of the aircraft back from them. Can you call the City, or the State, to tell them what we’re doing and they can inform the Feds. Hopefully, the Air Force won’t shoot us down if they’re looking for us.”

“Ok, I can do that. I’ll pray for you. I love you. Good luck, Jeff.”

“Love you too.”

Jeff hung up his cell phone, and saw that the other men on board the plane were ready to take on the terrorists. They snuck up on the three that were guarding some of the passengers, smashed them on the head hard enough for the terrorists to pass out, and the three flight attendants helped to tie up, and gag the terrorists. Jeff and the others stormed the cabin. They began beating on the terrorists, pulling them out of their seats, while one of the Americans sat down in the pilot’s seat, and started flying the jet. Once they got the terrorists tied up, and gagged, Jeff sat in the co-pilot’s seat, and said to the new pilot while shaking his hand, “I’m glad that’s over with. My name is Jeff Harper by the way.”

“Nice to meet you too, Jeff. I’m Frank Childress, retired Air Force fighter jock. I have never actually flown a commercial airliner before, but, I’m certainly going to try. I turned the transponder back on, and Jeff, do you think you can work the radio?”

Jeff put on the earphones, and heard one of the control towers at one of the airports trying to contact them. He keyed the mike, and said, “This is United Flight 93. We have a situation here, over,”

“Flight 93? It’s good to hear your voice. This is Pittsburgh International Airport; I believe you’re just east of us. Is this the Captain?”

“No, this is Jeff Harper, I’m a passenger, and Frank Childress is currently flying the plane, but, he isn’t the pilot. We had some terrorists try to hijack this aircraft, but, we overpowered them, and now we’re in control. We’d like some instructions.”

“We were afraid that you guys had crashed. Have you heard about the terrorist attacks in New York and in Washington?”

“Yes, we have. Most of us called our loved ones before we took control of the airplane, and they told us. Are there any other hijacked airplanes out there we should know about?” asked Jeff.

“That’s a negative, Flight 93, all commercial aircraft in US airspace has been grounded. There are Air Force jets that are looking for you, and we’ll inform them that you’ve been found. We can guide you in for a landing here, there isn’t any airborne traffic now, so you’ll be able to land immediately. In ten minutes, you should be safely on the ground. We’ll have the FBI, Police, and whatever else we need, get here as fast as they can. Let me talk to Mr. Childress, so we can guide him in.”

The Usurper or available on the Nook, Apple, Smashwords

The Frugal eReader: The Usurper, Cliff Ball ~ $2.39

2010-11-10T15:20:00.000-06:00

The Frugal eReader: The Usurper, Cliff Ball ~ $2.39:

Ever wonder what would happen if our worst fears were realized and we elected someone who was willing to destroy the USA, even if he was destroyed himself? The Usurper is that novel. It is a fictional account of what would happen if the Soviet Union and KGB were given the chance to take down the United States from within. They use the American political system, education system, terrorism, and commit environmental disasters to achieve these goals.

The Soviet Union and the KGB refuse to let the purging of communists in the United States as awhole by Senator Joe McCarthy, and the House Un-American Activities Committee, deter them. Soviet Premier Khrushchev authorizes the KGB to embark on an ambitious, decades long plan to destroy the United States from within through the corruption of American politicians, the American education system, terrorism, and environmental disasters. Gary Jackson, the main character, is the fulfillment of the KGB plan to destroy the United States from within. They raise him from birth to hate everything about the United States, indoctrinate him, and introduce him to terrorists across the world, where the KGB dictates all terrorist attacks. When Gary is a teenager, he is sent to the United States to assimilate and begin his mission. Nothing will deter his goals of completely and utterly destroying the United States.

When the Soviet Union dissolves, he is given a choice, and he decides to continue with the mission. A terrorist organization ends up filling in the gap left by the absent KGB, and they, together with Gary, conspire to destroy everyone in the United States who doesn't agree with them

"A cold-blooded, Clancy-esque political thriller; The Usurper is sure to entertain." ~Nurture Your Books

The average customer review is currently 4 stars (4 reviews).

A Newbie's Guide to Publishing: With A Little Help

2010-11-04T17:45:00.000-05:00

A Newbie's Guide to Publishing: With A Little Help: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"

Check out these authors and their books. The Usurper, my novel is included in this list.

Closing my Eyes helps me to see Clearly: Cliff Ball Interview

2010-10-31T12:16:00.000-05:00

Closing my Eyes helps me to see Clearly: Cliff Ball Interview:

1: What is the most productive time of the day for you to write?

I would have to say that my most productive time of day to write is between 10 am and 3 pm. I don’t know why that is, but, it seems like that is when I’m at my most disciplined and focused.

2: Do you start your projects writing with paper and pen or is it all on the computer?

I usually start out with pen and paper, because I find it easier to sit with a spiral notebook on my couch just writing out by hand whatever idea I have. When I feel the story is established enough, I go on the computer to finish the project. This goes for novels, essays, research papers, pretty much anything I write.

3: What do you draw inspiration from?

I’m pretty much inspired by the fact that as an Indie author, I can write what I want, when I want, and I have no deadlines.

4: Do you set goals for yourself when you sit down to write such as word count?

I don’t really set a goal of word count when I sit down to write. Most of the time, I write for as long as I have that idea fresh in my mind for that day, and then I quit. Sometimes, that’s an hour, and other times, its three or four hours.

5: Are you a published or a self published author and how do you come up with your cover art?

Self published author. With my first two novels, I took whatever cover iUniverse and Virtualbookworm.com gave me, they gave me 4 templates to pick from. With The Usurper, I created my own cover with a combination of Gimp and Paint.net, since I was publishing that through Createspace. I took a picture of a fire from when I went camping earlier this year, then downloaded a US flag and a pair of eyes, and that’s that cover. I recently re-did Out of Time and downloaded a public domain picture from NASA, then just added the title and author name. Eventually, I plan on buying something like Book Cover Pro to come up with better covers.

6: What drives you to choose the career of being a writer?

It’s kind of something that I’ve always wanted to be involved in since I was in elementary school, but, as of right now, I’d say it was more of a hobby than a career.

7: Do you own an ebook reading device?

Not currently, but, I’d really like to have a Kindle.

8: Who are some of your favorite authors and What are you reading now?

Some of my favorite authors are Harry Turtledove, Eric Flint, S.M. Stirling, Michael Crichton, Tom Clancy, for example. I’m currently trying to read Color Me Grey by JC Phelps and Draculas by Konrath and his co-horts, when I don’t have to read college textbooks, since I’m pursuing a 2nd BA.

9: What do you think of book trailers and do you have any plans to have any?

I have two book trailers. One was done for me to advertise Out of Time and Don’t Mess With Earth, while I created my own with The Usurper. I think there are some pretty cool book trailers out there, like the Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter, for instance. But, I don’t think they improve sales all that much, at least not for me, and it’s probably just another gimmick someone came up with, and then convinced everyone it was a good idea.

10: How did you come up with the title of your latest book?

The Usurper is about the USSR wanting to take down the US from within no matter what, so, their inside man “usurps” the Constitution, Congress, and the States when he finally gets into power. So, the title “The Usurper” seemed to make sense to me, even though it was probably the third idea I had for the title, but, once I settled on it, it seemed to be a good title.

11: What are you working on now that you can talk about?

I’m working on another two science fiction novels. One is an almost total re-write of Don’t Mess With Earth, after a lot of feedback I had that it had too much exposition, and some complained about my version of history at the beginning. So, I re-wrote the beginning, added a lot more dialogue, and the sequel I had planned for it, is now part of the novel, which is making it a full length 80K novel now, instead of around 50K. It’ll be re-titled, since it’s practically a different novel now. The other novel is an alternate history novel that begins with the 1976 Presidential Election, where the new President declares the US will have a moon base by 1979 and a Mars Base by 1989. The Russians decide to one-up the Americans, so they build an interstellar starship. What happens beyond that, well, I’m still working on it.

Shattered Earth, a new science fiction novel

2010-10-28T12:55:00.000-05:00

Shattered Earth is my fourth novel, 3rd science fiction novel, and is currently only in e-book form.

What it's about:

Advanced humans, called Terrans, leave Earth when its threatened by a massive meteor. The remaining humans on Earth fall back into primitiveness. The advanced humans, and a group of aliens, the Ragnor, involve Earth in an interstellar war. Thousands of years later, the humans of Earth decide to do something about this. Interstellar politics will never be the same again once Earth is done with their revenge.

These Terrans involve themselves throughout human history. Some play as King Arthur and Merlin. Another is a scientist, whose name is Galileo, and he gets into all sorts of trouble for challenging official orthodoxy about the sun, the Earth, and which one is revolving around the other. Then, we have Amelia Earhart, who has a very valid reason for disappearing. When an alien spaceship gets shot down over Roswell in 1947, President Truman orders the creation of Area 51, Project Blue Book and Sign, and has the United States embark on a plan that will culminate 60 years in the future. Nothing will ever be the same again when the United States gets involved in interstellar politics. But, the whole plan backfires when Earth ends up the worse for wear over it. Other species find out what Earth did, since no one else was bold enough to even try, so they want to help bring down the Ragnor once and for all. The new President of the United States imagines a galactic federation or a republic, but, none of the other species wants anything to do with it. Once they destroy the Ragnor's technology, they leave the Ragnor to ponder why all the other species hated them enough to attack them. Will the galaxy remain at peace?

Where it can be bought:
Smashwords, The Nook

Bargain eBooks: Bargain eBook #5: 3 Novels From Cliff Ball

2010-10-23T19:34:00.000-05:00

Bargain eBooks: Bargain eBook #5: 3 Novels From Cliff Ball: "Out of Time by Cliff Ball Genre: Science Fiction, Novella Price: $0.99 Where to Get It: Amazon.com (for Kindle) Barnes and Noble (Nook, and other ebook readers)

JC Phelps: Winner Announced!

2010-10-20T16:20:00.000-05:00

JC Phelps: Winner Announced!: "Congratulations!We have a winner for the signed proof copy of The Usurper Cliff Ball First of all I'd like to thank everyone who..."

Updated Cover to Out of Time

2010-10-15T22:18:00.000-05:00

I decided to update the paperback, and uploaded it to Createspace, which should be available soon. The original was published through iUniverse in 2008, but, I’ve updated it since then, and its been the newer version in e-book form for a little over a year. Here is the brand new cover. Stay tuned for updates!

As of October 16th, the 2nd edition is now available on Nook, Smashwords, and eventually, Amazon, for $.99 for the foreseeable future. That is, until time travelers come visit me and tell me to increase the price. ha ha

JC Phelps: The Usurper & Giveaway

2010-10-13T18:23:00.000-05:00

JC Phelps: The Usurper & Giveaway

The Perfect Blurb for The Usurper

2010-10-10T17:07:00.000-05:00

I've been struggling with coming up with the perfect blurb for The Usurper. My other two novels, since they were science fiction, were fairly easy to come up with a description. I've gone through 4, maybe 5 different product descriptions/blurbs for this novel, mainly because I'm not really happy with any of them. I'm posting the ones I've put up, and if anyone who reads this has a suggestion, or a favorite blurb, then please leave a comment.

First Blurb, which has had three different variations of this, but is essentially the same as this one below:
Ever wonder what would happen if our worst fears were realized and we elected someone who was willing to destroy the USA, even if he was destroyed himself? The Usurper is that novel.

The Usurper is a fictional account of what would happen if the Soviet Union and KGB were given the chance to take down the United States from within. They use the American political system, education system, terrorism, and commit environmental disasters to achieve these goals.

The Soviet Union and the KGB refuse to let the purging of communists in the United States government by Senator Joe McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities Committee deter them. Soviet Premier Khrushchev authorizes the KGB to embark on an ambitious, decades long plan to destroy the United States from within through the corruption of American politicians, the American education system, terrorism, and environmental disasters.

Gary Jackson, the main character, is the fulfillment of the KGB plan to destroy the United States from within. They raise him from birth to hate everything about the United States, indoctrinate him, and introduce him to terrorists across the world, where the KGB dictates all terrorist attacks. When Gary is a teenager, he is sent to the United States, with his fake birth certificate, to assimilate and begin his mission. Nothing will deter his goals of completely and utterly destroying the United States. When the Soviet Union dissolves, he is given a choice, and he decides to continue with the mission. A terrorist organization ends up filling in the gap left by the absent KGB, and they, together with Gary, conspire to destroy everyone in the United States who doesn't agree with them.

2nd Blurb, which was done by http://www.conservativemonitor.com/blog/?p=220
A new novel by Cliff Ball, The Usurper has an interesting premise. What if the Soviet KGB had been undermining American society for years by destroying our education system, creating environmental disasters, and corrupting our politicians?

Sounds like communist conspiracy theory? Well, it does make good fiction. It is interesting that fiction, in order to hold our interest must have a viable, tangible plot that relates well with reality. It is kind of like the old saw that a good joke must contain a grain of truth.

Cliff Ball’s premise contains a whole lot of possibility for conjecture. There is little doubt that the Soviets were actively working for years to affect U.S. politics. Perhaps they succeeded better than they knew. Exporting communist ideology has definitely had a negative effect on Western society, undermining the work ethic and destroying free markets – resulting in a decline in prosperity for the majority. It is like the Rush used to say, the best way to defeat our economic enemies is to export liberalism to them. The Soviets did that to us.

Yes, the Soviets were defeated by the U.S. economic juggernaut. However, the old Soviets may get the last laugh yet.

3rd blurb:
The KGB and the USSR embarks on a plan to take down the US from within through the use of terrorism. No matter what the terrorists believe, as long as they have a problem with the Western powers and the United States, the KGB backs them, along with a super rich Spaniard who can't stand the USA. Once the Soviet Union dissolves, Al Qaeda fills in that power vacuum and the inside man that the KGB has who will eventually bring down the US, sides with them, and the US ends up never being the same again. A small group of resistance fighters, led by one of the passengers of United Flight 93(who survive in this novel), aim to take down the now President of the United States.

4th blurb, and the most current version:
The USSR embarks on a plan to destroy the US through the use of terrorism, by backing anyone who has a beef with the USA. Eventually, Al Qaeda fills the power vacuum left by the disappearance of the USSR, and they help the Soviets' inside man to completely destroy the US. A small group of resistance, led by a survivor of Flight 93, tries to bring down the now terrorist backed President of the US.

What do you think? Which one is the best? Any good suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!

The sample of The Usurper on Amazon

2010-10-09T22:57:00.000-05:00

Book Review of The Usurper

2010-09-21T19:08:00.000-05:00

Newest book review of my new novel, The Usurper, taken directly from Nurtureyourbooks.com

The Usurper by Cliff Ball

“A cold-blooded, Clancy-esque political thriller; The Usurper is sure to entertain.”

As decades of meticulous scheming and planning finally come together, the KGB, an under-appreciated threat, takes the final steps towards the ultimate coup. The terrorist faction exploits idealistic volunteers to do some of the dirty work and utilizes educated individuals, in positions of power, who are more than willing to die for their belief in ultimate control by the government. When a mixed group of terrorists and extremists spend years training for the eventual downfall of the western world, collateral damage and the loss of life isn’t given consideration.

The Usurper starts off slowly, but quickly picks up momentum as the plot thickens and the story unfolds. There are multiple themes in this fictional novel, not the least of which is terrorism, persecution and indoctrinated loyalties; this story painstakingly illustrates a plan for world domination that requires countless willing and blackmailed participants. The main characters are written with the most depth, while supporting characters have very little in the way of a back story. More internal dialog would enhance the reader’s ability to connect with the characters and pull them deeper into the story itself. Some structure and grammatical errors, while few and far between, need to be addressed to ensure a smoothly-flowing story that every reader will be able to enjoy.

Despite the minor issues mentioned, The Usurper is a very fast-paced, political thriller that will keep readers on their toes and offer some thought-provoking twists on historic and future possibilities in the political arena.

The Usurper by Cliff Ball
Fiction
CreateSpace (July 14, 2010)
ISBN 978-1453702727
e-Book
184 Pages

For more on Cliff Ball and his novels, please visit his website.

For a list of places where you can buy my novel, please check out the previous post.

List of where my novels can be bought

2010-09-19T18:48:00.000-05:00

Dear reader, if you'd like to know where you can buy my novels, here is a comprehensive list:

Out of Time, published through iUniverse in 2008 in paperback and a 2nd edition uploaded as e-book this year.

Paperback:
iUniverse
Amazon
Amazon UK
Barnes and Noble
Books a Million
Borders
Independent Bookstores

e-Book locations
Amazon Kindle
UK Kindle
Apple iBooks
Borders
Lulu
Sony Reader
Smashwords

Don't Mess With Earth, published in 2009 by Virtualbookworm.com

Paperback:
Amazon
Amazon UK
Barnes and Noble
Books a Million
Borders
Indie Bookstores
Hastings

E-book
Amazon Kindle
UK Kindle
Apple iBooks
Barnes and Noble Nook
Borders
Smashwords
Sony Reader

The Usurper, published 2010, through CreateSpace

Paperback:
Amazon
Amazon UK
Amazon Canada
Barnes and Noble
Books a Million
Borders
Indie bookstores
Lulu

E-book
Amazon Kindle
Kindle UK
Apple iBooks
Barnes and Noble Nook
Borders
Diesel E-books
Kobo
Smashwords
Sony Reader

There you go, good luck and thanks for buying!

The Usurper novel and 9/11

2010-09-10T15:51:00.000-05:00

In my newest novel, The Usurper, I explore terrorism as part of the novel and who in this fictional universe is actually responsible for starting it/financing it against the United States and everyone else in the world when it begins in the late 1960′s. I decided to have the KGB train various terrorist groups to undermine the western powers, no matter which side they were on, right wing, left wing, or religious terrorism, that way the Soviet Union thinks they can win against their main enemy, the United States.

Eventually, when the Soviet Union collapses in the novel, Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden takes up the training of their own terrorists, but are financed by a trillionare who can’t stand the Americans. I have the World Trade Center attacked in 1993 like they were originally, nothing changes in that regard. Then, I have Tim McVeigh attack the Murrah Building and I explain that he tries to side with Al Qaeda(in the novel), but because he was an American they wouldn’t help him.

On September 11, 2001, I do have the exact same thing happen to the WTC and the Pentagon, but, in my novel I have United Flight 93 turn out differently. The passengers(who have different names in this universe) on board take back control and land in Pittsburgh. Eventually, the President is blamed for the attacks and is accused of making up Osama bin Laden, so that the Department of Homeland Security can be created, and he can have his way. Eventually, that President is executed by forces of the new President. A few chapters later, one of the men who helped take back control of Flight 93, helps leads the resistance against the man who sides with Al Qaeda and turns the United States into a communist utopia.

In real life, it’s the 9th anniversary of the attacks of September 11th. We should remember who our enemies are and not eat each other(Americans) alive because of some stupid disagreements. Instead of attacking each other, we should be focused on defeating the enemy, and we all know who that is. I say we drop a few nukes on those enemies, and that would be that.

Goodreads Book Giveway Winners and other info

2010-08-25T11:09:00.000-05:00

The contest has finally ended for readers to win one of two copies of The Usurper on Goodreads.com. I had it go for a month, and ended up with 646 people signing up for the contest. Thank you to everyone who participated, it exceeded my expectations.

The winners that were chosen were: Dan Halperin and Lynnda Ell. I sent out the two copies this morning.

For everyone else, I’m offering a coupon to download the novel for $1, using coupon code FG36V, it’s good until September 4th. Just go here: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/18734

The paperback is priced at $8.99 on CreateSpace, but, with coupon code JKJLG2YW, the paperback can be bought for $3.99, since it’s $5 off. I will let everyone know when its available. Otherwise, please visit: https://www.createspace.com/3469577

Also check out the group for me on Goodreads

Thanks!

Spalding's Racket: The Usurper by Cliff Ball - Thriller

2010-08-15T08:37:00.000-05:00

Spalding's Racket: The Usurper by Cliff Ball - Thriller: "Ever wonder what would happen if our worst fears were realized and we elected someone who was willing to destroy the USA, even if he destroyed himself?"

Kindle Author interview

2010-08-14T22:33:00.000-05:00

I had an interview done on the Kindle Author blog, and here it is:

http://kindle-author.blogspot.com/2010/08/interview-cliff-ball.html

I asked Cliff Ball, author of The Usurper, about his novel, his influences, and self-publishing on Kindle.

DAVID WISEHART: What can you tell us about your political thriller, The Usuper?

CLIFF BALL: Here is what a blog, not owned by me, wrote up about it, that I find to be more precise than a description I can give:

“What if the Soviet KGB had been undermining American society for years by destroying our education system, creating environmental disasters, and corrupting our politicians?

Sounds like communist conspiracy theory? Well, it does make good fiction. It is interesting that fiction, in order to hold our interest must have a viable, tangible plot that relates well with reality. It is kind of like the old saw that a good joke must contain a grain of truth.

Cliff Ball’s premise contains a whole lot of possibility for conjecture. There is little doubt that the Soviets were actively working for years to affect U.S. politics. Perhaps they succeeded better than they knew. Exporting communist ideology has definitely had a negative effect on Western society, undermining the work ethic and destroying free markets—resulting in a decline in prosperity for the majority. It is like the Rush used to say, the best way to defeat our economic enemies is to export liberalism to them. The Soviets did that to us.

Yes, the Soviets were defeated by the U.S. economic juggernaut. However, the old Soviets may get the last laugh yet.”

DAVID WISEHART: What kind of research did you do for your novel?

CLIFF BALL: I researched the leaders of the Soviet Union, mainly Khrushchev. He really did want to bury the United States by undermining our society, by using the people to do it. They were doing a good job too, at least at the government level, until Joe McCarthy went on his witch-hunts of communists. I mention the peaceful coup done on Khrushchev by Brezhnev and Andropov, and I have an appearance by Putin and Gorbachev. I tried to be accurate with what they might have been doing at the time and place I have them in the novel. Gorbachev was in the agriculture ministry in the ’60s, so, in my novel, he meets up with one of the characters in Mexico as they go to Moscow. Gorbachev, in the novel, was researching farming techniques, but wants to be a powerful figure one day in the Communist Party. Putin is a intern of sorts for the KGB in my novel, as he trains the main character to undermine the US. I also researched various terrrorist attacks in the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s, and tried to tie them to the greater story of the KGB doing whatever it took to bring down the US. Whether it was right-wingers or left-wingers that wanted to destroy the US, it didn’t matter to the KGB, as long as the US was brought down.

DAVID WISEHART: The Russians are still trying to infiltrate the West through covert operations. What’s your take on the recent Anna Chapman spy case?

CLIFF BALL: My take is that it was a rather pathetic attempt, like they were trying to copy a Bond movie, or something. If they want to know what’s going on, all they have to do is read the New York Times or Washington Post, search on Google, or ask one of our politicians what we’re doing. I’m sure they’d all be more than happy to tell the spies. They thought they could spy by living like actual Americans? If they really wanted secrets, they should’ve probably lived near Los Alamos, or in any of the cities with high tech labs, not New York City living the high life. I had actually finished my novel when this whole thing popped up, and I really wasn’t surprised by it.

DAVID WISEHART: Who do you imagine is your ideal reader?

CLIFF BALL: Anyone who enjoys a political thriller and historical fiction, since the novel has the history between the US and the USSR as the basic theme of then novel. If you’re also into conspiracy theories, this novel will be for you too.

DAVID WISEHART: What was your journey as a writer?

CLIFF BALL: I started to write in junior high, but I was a lousy writer back then. I have worked on it for the past 20 years, entered a couple of short story contests, won one for a short story I wrote as a senior in high school. I continued to work a little at a time on my writing in my 20s to polish it, have my writing make sense, but didn’t submit anything anywhere until my 30s. I finally decided to publish my first novella, Out of Time, in 2008, after researching ways to do it myself. I chose iUniverse, but after spending so much money and not getting a whole lot out of it, I tried another POD for Don’t Mess With Earth, didn’t get much from that either. With The Usurper, for much cheaper, I went through CreateSpace and I also did Lulu, mostly to see which one works better for me. Since it’s only been a month, I’ll have to wait and see.

DAVID WISEHART: How has your work as an editor helped your own writing?

CLIFF BALL: I think it has helped me a great deal, along with working for my BA in English. I’ve taken Creative Writing, Technical Writing, and tons of classes about various eras in writing and novelization. Having edited a wide range of things from novels to church newsletters to business reports, I can see how to improve my own writing, just by seeing the wide range of how people write, and improving my style based on what I’ve learned from others. I’ve gone from a rather stiff writing style, to one that is starting to flow.

DAVID WISEHART: What is your writing process?

CLIFF BALL: It really depends. I don’t write outlines, but I am finding that I should probably start. I usually write in a notebook by hand, and then transition to typing it and finishing it on the computer. I only write when I have inspiration. So, some days, I can write for three or four hours, others, sometimes only for twenty minutes. The Usurper, for example, is the only novel I’ve ever written completely on the computer.

DAVID WISEHART: What authors most inspire you?

CLIFF BALL: I read a lot of Harry Turtledove, because I enjoy his what-if novels. What-if the US and the CSA split, but was at continual war with each other all the way to WW2? What-if the prime time-line of World War 2 was interrupted by an alien invasion. I also like Eric Flint and his Ring of Fire series. I think it’s cool that he managed to work in 20th century West Virginians and 16th century Europeans, and had various historical characters have to work around these intruders from the future. I also like S.M. Stirling and his novels of The Change. While I’m not usually into the whole Middle Ages Renaissance Faire kind of thing, he makes it entertaining, since 20th century people get their technology taken away, and some of them become witches, lords, and maidens, etc. Then, throughout the series, there’s rumors of some kind of presence on Nantucket, along with some dark, mysterious forces in Montana. The main character goes on the classic hero journey to find out why all of this technology was taken away 20 years earlier. So, in essence, I inspire to be as entertaining of a writer as these three men, and weave history into a great fictional tale.

DAVID WISEHART: What have you done to market and promote your work?

CLIFF BALL: I’ve promoted on Myspace, Facebook, Goodreads, Kindleboards, Twitter, my own website, Authors Den, and as many other places as I can find online that has readers and other authors. I have created free press releases online, but I should probably also send them to newspapers. I’ve done Facebook Ads, Google Ads, and Myspace Ads. Unfortunately, with a rather limited budget, I can’t promote my works as much as I’d like to.

DAVID WISEHART: Why publish on Kindle?

CLIFF BALL: My straight to the point answer is: because Amazon sells a lot, almost everyone buys ebooks through Amazon, and it makes sense to be on Kindle.

DAVID WISEHART: What advice would you give to a first-time author thinking of self-publishing on Kindle?

CLIFF BALL: Make absolutely sure you set up your Word or PDF file to format right on Kindle, because it comes out looking much differently than you would think. Since I set-up The Usurper completely myself, it took me three times before I finally managed to get it to format properly, and not look like I had huge blank spots between paragraphs, or weird starts to paragraphs. I would suggest formatting it following the Smashwords style guide, but don’t format it completely that way, unless you use Smashwords too.

DAVID WISEHART: Thanks, and best of luck with your books.

My next novel(s)

2010-08-12T22:36:00.001-05:00

I’m in the process of writing my fourth novel, this will be science fiction, starts in 1976, and diverges from the original timeline with the election of someone else as President of the United States, who declares the US will establish a moon base and Mars base before 1990.

I had this idea back when I was in high school, which was 20 years ago, and I wrote a whole novel, but it was total crap. I go back and read it now, and I can’t make heads or tails of it. So, I decided that now was the time to re-visit the concept. Of course, it WILL be written to make sense! lol

When I wrote the original version, the Soviet Union was still in existence, for the most part, so I had them competing with the United States when it came to leaving the solar system for the first time, but this was centuries from now. They had a couple wars over it, and nobody would have been considered the winner. The two countries continue their battle in space with their starships, both crash land on a planet, and find a lost colony of humans. Of course, the humans from Earth try to involve the colonists in their little spate, but are not successful. That was about as far as I would get before stopping and tossing the notebook into the nearest storage box.

In my new and improved version, history diverges around 1972. Nixon doesn’t have Watergate, the US actually beats the communists in Vietnam and wins, and the moon missions are not stopped. Up comes the 1976 Presidential Elections, and Ronald Reagan faces Jimmy Carter. Reagan makes a bold statement declaring that the US will have a Moon Base by 1979 and a Mars Base by 1989. Reagan wins the election, mostly because the voters see Carter as too depressing. The new President begins the push for the new space shuttle program to being delivering supplies to the moon.

The Soviet Union, under the leadership of Leonid Brezhnev, sees this bold new direction the US is taking and decides he wants to have the USSR do something even bolder. He visits Star City, and his scientists and engineers declare that they can build an interstellar, nuclear powered starship that will leave the solar system before the US can finish the Moon Base. The race is on.

Stay tuned for more updates for this novel.

The other novel will be a sequel to Don’t Mess With Earth. I’ve been pondering the direction of this novel for the past year, and I’m still not sure where to go with it. Having had some really good constructive feedback from some of my readers, I could just go back and re-write Don’t Mess With Earth, and just add what I’m considering for the sequel. However, I would prefer to write a sequel, since I already have the major characters figured out, most of whom were introduced at the end of the novel, assuming everyone who read it got that far, they’ll know which characters I’m talking about. As with the other story idea, stay tuned for news.

The Usurper mentioned in a conservative blog

2010-08-12T12:12:00.000-05:00

Repost and linked from Conservative Monitor blog and their bookstore:

A new novel by Cliff Ball, The Usurper, has an interesting premise. What if the Soviet KGB had been undermining American society for years by destroying our education system, creating environmental disasters, and corrupting our politicians?

Sounds like communist conspiracy theory? Well, it does make good fiction. It is interesting that fiction, in order to hold our interest must have a viable, tangible plot that relates well with reality. It is kind of like the old saw that a good joke must contain a grain of truth.

Cliff Ball’s premise contains a whole lot of possibility for conjecture. There is little doubt that the Soviets were actively working for years to affect U.S. politics. Perhaps they succeeded better than they knew. Exporting communist ideology has definitely had a negative effect on Western society, undermining the work ethic and destroying free markets – resulting in a decline in prosperity for the majority. It is like the Rush used to say, the best way to defeat our economic enemies is to export liberalism to them. The Soviets did that to us.
Yes, the Soviets were defeated by the U.S. economic juggernaut. However, the old Soviets may get the last laugh yet.

Goodreads Book giveaway

2010-08-11T12:51:00.001-05:00

Goodreads Book Giveaway

          The Usurper

          by Cliff Ball

            Giveaway ends August 25, 2010.



            See the giveaway details
            at Goodreads.

      Enter to win

Where to find The Usurper

2010-07-30T08:46:00.000-05:00

*Updated August 5th*

Ok, as of right now(July 30), here is the list of stores online that The Usurper can be bought:

The Usurper
Paperback: 310 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace (July 14, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1453702725
ISBN-13: 978-1453702727

The Paperback
CreateSpace
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Barnes and Noble
Books a Million
Powells
and on Lulu with a separate ISBN

E-book Version
Kindle
Kindle UK
Smashwords
Sony Reader
Kobo for your mobile phone
Scribd
Lebrary
Myebook
Available at the Apple iBookstore (I'm told), search for ISBN 978-1-4524-2920-5

If you’re on Goodreads, Shelfari, FiledBy, Facebook, or Myspace, Twitter, then click on the links to find me or my books or go to my personal website for more information on all my novels.

The book trailer for The Usurper

2010-07-22T17:35:00.001-05:00

This is my first attempt at making a book trailer. I avoided watching others so I wouldn't copy anyone, so this is uniquely my own creation.

The Usurper, my newest novel

2010-07-11T21:25:00.000-05:00

My third novel, now available.
ISBN: 1453702725

Summary:

The Soviet Union and the KGB refuse to let the purging of communists in the United States government by Senator Joe McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities Committee deter them. Soviet Premier Khrushchev authorizes the KGB to embark on an ambitious, decades long plan to destroy the United States from within through the corruption of American politicians and the American education system.

Gary Jackson is the fulfillment of the KGB plan to destroy the United States from within. They raise him from birth to hate everything about the United States, indoctrinate him, and introduce him to terrorists across the world, where the KGB dictates all terrorist attacks. When Gary is a teenager, he is sent to the United States to assimilate and begin his mission. Nothing will deter his goals of completely and utterly destroying the United States. When the Soviet Union dissolves, he is given a choice, and he decides to continue with the mission.

Find out what happens next, as a select few try to stop Gary Jackson.

Business card and Logo for Digital Writing Services

2010-06-26T08:12:00.000-05:00

Feel free to share with anyone who needs affordable editing done for their publications.

and here is the logo for Digital Writing Services. I'm not sure this what I'm going to use from now on, but, this is it for now.

Free evaluation of copy editing service

2010-06-08T21:23:00.000-05:00

Digital Writing Services is now offering a free, up to 15 pages, edit of publications so that the potential customer can evaluate whether or not they want to use the editing services, and if you like what you see, the service is $1 per page. If you would like to evaluate our services, then please e-mail me and we can get started.

Remember, not only do I offer proofreading for authors, but for college students, small business, and anyone who wants something proofread or edited, like websites for example.

Word Cloud of Don't Mess with Earth

2010-05-11T16:59:00.000-05:00

To get a word cloud, visit Wordle.net

Welcome Blog Jog Joggers!

2010-05-08T23:00:00.000-05:00

Thank you for stopping by my Blog! Please explore all this Blog has to offer, then jog on over to http://insidetheshrink-psychobabble.blogspot.com/. If you would like to visit a different Blog in the jog, go to http://blogjogday.blogspot.com.

For all of you who are part of the blog tour, I'm offering a couple of things. I'm giving everyone a coupon to download my two novels for free from Smashwords . Don't Mess With Earth: coupon code KY53K and Out of Time: coupon code XN74Q.

If you're an author, and if you read some of my posts below, then you'll know about my new proofreading business. If you have anything coming up, please enter to win a free proofread and edit for your novel. Also, every author on this Blog tour can also get their novels listed for free on my website too. Just go to the Digital Writing Services website and check it out, then e-mail me at cliffball@digitalwritingservice.com or just leave a comment if you wish to participate in both offers.

Feel free to leave comments. Have a great Blog Jog!

Cliff

More info on Digital Writing Services

2010-05-05T22:54:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to go into more detail about my new venture, Digital Writing Services.

Having done some research of my own, mostly as an Independent, self-published author myself, I’ve seen what I think are some massively over-priced services for proofreading and editing. I decided on $1 a page because it makes sense to me, anything over $3 just seems like price gouging to me. Then, you get all these convoluted prices when it comes to word count plus page count, with me, it’s straightforward, especially since I suck at math. I also enjoy proofreading and editing, which might be weird, but that’s just how I am. You will know that I’m passionate about what I’m doing and will do my best to offer you the best service possible.

Secondly, for $10 a year, an author can get their novels posted on my website, the link in the website is Author Showcase. You will have a main page, with links to your website, social networks, and bio. It will then link to another page with your novels posted there. You just provide blurbs/summaries, any reviews you may have, and where the novel can be bought online of offline. If you choose to not continue with this after a year, you can unsubscribe through Paypal, since all purchases will be through Paypal. I wanted to have readers looking for undiscovered authors or semi-discovered authors and they can find something new and exciting to read. I am also offering PDF conversion for $10 per book if you need the service, so that you can upload to Kindle, Smashwords, or wherever you want your book as an e-book.

Third, if you know anyone who is a college student that needs essays and research papers proofread and edited, I offer that for $5 per paper. My requirements will be that those essays should already be formatted to MLA, APA, Chicago, or Turabian style.

The site also has forums that anyone who signs up to be a member, which is free, can go to talk about books, publishing, or anything within reason. The blog has a feature to where anyone who is a member can post their own blog posts. Post about your latest review, talk about what inspires you, etc. Check out the links page where I have compiled a big list of useful websites. Feel free to suggest any I may have missed. I will also offer book reviews at a future date, with the price set at $50. This includes posting the review on blogs, social networking sites, press releases, every online bookstore where your book is sold, and bookmarked on Digg, Stumbleupon, etc

I wanted a website that was interactive, but due to my lack of programming skills, patience, and open content stuff is just above my head, this is about as interactive as it gets for now. Once I think this venture is successful, I’ll get someone to build something on WordPress or Joomla, and hopefully realize exactly what I want. Remember that Digital Writing Services opens for business on May 17th. Hope to see you there!

Digital Writing Services

2010-05-04T00:09:00.000-05:00

I am going into business for myself to edit and proofread books and novels for new and Independent authors, for a reasonable fee. I created a website called Digital Writing Services to advertise my services. The website is not entirely functional yet in regards to Paypal, so any purchase you may want to do now will not work. I enjoy proofreading and editing, and I thought that I should finally do something I'm passionate about, instead of trying to find another office job that I'll probably end up hating anyway, so here is my attempt at doing something I'm passionate about. I will eventually offer affordable book reviews when this is fully up and running smoothly, so please look for that in the future.

Now, I won't begin doing business until May 17, because I'm graduating with a BA in English on the 15th from Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls and I wish to concentrate fully on finals for the next week and a half. I'm also offering an author showcase for authors to showcase their works, along with various links to the stores their products can be bought from, and where they, as authors, are located as far as myspace or facebook is concerned. This is for a low yearly price. I'm also offering proofreading/editing services for college essay and research papers for a low price. Another feature is converting an authors' word document into PDF for a small fee. Please check out the website if you're interested in finding out more. The website is about 95% finished, but, all the important areas are all there, and you should have no problems navigating the website.

Writer’s Digest Self-Published Awards

2010-04-25T00:49:00.000-05:00

Last year, I submitted Don’t Mess with Earth to the “Writer’s Digest 17th Annual Self-Published Book Awards” and a couple of weeks ago, I received in the mail, the results of entering into the competition. I know it was almost a month ago, but, I’m busy with finishing up my last semester of college. I have to type in the Commentary Sheet because there is no digital copy, which I wish they had, so here goes:

Author: Cliff Ball
Title: Don’t Mess With Earth
Category: Genre
Judge: 57

On a scale of 1 to 5 , with 1 meaning “poor” and 5 meaning “excellent,” please evaluate the following:

Plot: 3
Grammar: 4
Character Development: 2
Cover Design: 3

Judge’s commentary:

What did you like best about this book?
Ball covers a long period of time in the book, from biblical times to present day. He does a nice job weaving all of this human history into a sci-fi story.

The opening scene is compelling and draws readers right into the story. The author does a great job creating interest from the start.

The author’s passion for the story creates a story that entices the reader to keep reading to find out what events he will next tie into the story.

It can be difficult to remain consistent with the point of view. Third-person was the only plausible point of view for this story. This made for a richer story.

The author’s grammar and spelling make for an easy read.

How can the author improve this book?

It’s obvious the author spent time working on the plot. However, covering such a large expanse of time made it difficult to create a protagonist with whom the reader identifies. Readers need a character or group of characters to root for — someone to tie the story together.

The Terrans and Ragnor seem extremely forthright when talking with the humans. They seem extremely trusting of a planet they want to conquer.

The cover image portrays the essence of the story. With a few tweaks or the help of a professional designer, it could easily sit on the fiction shelves with other covers.

http://www.writersdigest.com/article/self_pub_genre17/
Check out the link, and you can find me near the bottom if you do a search/find on your web explorer.

Location of Don’t Mess With Earth
Kindle
Barnes and Noble
Smashwords all E-book formats

Poland's Leadership and Russia

2010-04-25T00:46:00.000-05:00

As a writer, when something happens in the world, I tend to see possibilities of what might actually be happening behind the scenes. Well, the top brass of Poland was on an airplane, a Tupelov, approaching a Russian airstrip in the fog when it crashed and their were no survivors. Here is a list of leadership and what their equivalent is in US leadership:

The President and his wife
The Chief of Staff
A former President
The Secretary of State
The Secretary of the Interior
The Secretary of the Homeland Security
13 congressmen, including the Majority Leader
3 senators, one of whom is the president pro tempore
Army and Navy chiefs of staff
Chairman of the Federal Reserve
President of the US Olympic Committee
and a number of associated staff.

Since Russia is helping de-stabilize Kyrgyzstan, it makes one wonder if Vladimir Putin had Polands’ leadership taken out, with the convenient excuse of fog making landing difficult. Now, I won’t comment on our own leadership, but, lets just say that in my previous post about my next novel, KGB infiltrating American leadership doesn’t seem that far fetched, even if the USSR no longer exists in its former form. Of course, that is just the writer in me, so I’m just exploring possibilities.

The link to CNN story

Updates on what I'm writing

2010-04-23T16:52:00.001-05:00

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything, mostly because I’m concentrating on finishing up college, which will be this May if everything goes as planned. I have two stories in the works, one a sequel to Don’t Mess With Earth and the other one is a political thriller, not science fiction at all.

I take a comment made by Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev back in the 1960′s about how the Soviet Union would, in so many words “Bury us.” What he meant by that was that he thought the American working class would overthrow the powers that be and install communism. Well, my take on this has him getting the KGB to recruit an American girl who is a dedicated communist and having her give birth to a son, who will be trained in all things Marxist and Lenin. Included in this is how the Soviets also have someone who the boy will marry at the appropriate time also being raised as a KGB infiltrator. The goal here is complete and total infiltration of American society from the White House on down. The boy will be tutored by American KGB agents who want to bring down the USA and they have very high positions in government and academia.

This story takes place from the 1960′s all the way to present day. When the Soviet Union collapses in the early 1990′s, the now grown man is given the choice of abandoning the plan of destroying the USA from within. He decides to go for it. He goes from State Senate, to US Senate, to the White House in less than 15 years, never giving his political position and always voting present. He has a big financial backer who in this story has taken down countries and its leaders through manipulating the financial markets, and the backer does the same thing to the USA shortly before the Presidential elections, thus turning the tide for the KGB infiltrator to become the next President of the United States. He becomes the POTUS, disbands the military and creates a Civilian Defense Force, abandons all overseas military posts and bases, enacts a Fairness Doctrine to silence mostly his critics, and begins throwing all dissenters in jail. There is one man who doesn’t keep silent, much to the Presidents’ chagrin, because he is difficult to find and silence.

The next half of the book is about a soldier who comes home from Iraq and joins this new Civilian Defense Forces, only because he has to. The very first thing they do, is try to bring the former POTUS and his family in for treason charges. The former POTUS has some back-up from loyal US military and doesn’t go down without a fight. The man in charge of the CDF unit ends up killing the ex-POTUS and his family when they’re captured. Then the soldier has to help attack Texas when the State secedes from the Union. The President orders a nuclear strike from Barksdale AFB on Dallas, but the remaining US Air Force airmen on the base decide to detonate one of the nukes, leaving Barksdale, Bossier City, and Shreveport a smoking, radioactive ruin, pretty much ruining the Presidents’ plan. So, the President orders all of the sleeper cells ran by the KGB to activate and they help.

Later on, the solider realizes he’s on the wrong side when American churches are raided, some of the congregations are killed, including his parents. He makes it his mission to stop the President. I will stop there, because I also plan on having a somewhat surprise ending.

Stay tuned!

Second review of Don't Mess With Earth

2009-06-13T18:40:00.000-05:00

Author Cliff Ball draws on his considerable knowledge of history, folklore and Christianity to craft a convincing retelling of humanity’s time on Earth.

Told mostly from the point of view of a newly sworn-in U.S. President, we learn that Earth has existed under the shadow of secrets and lies for thousands of years. As Noah was building his wooden ark to escape the flood, a highly developed race of people called Terrans was designing starships and planning to leave the earth entirely.

The Terrans travel to an Earth-like planet and set up a colony, naming it Terra. They explore their new system and meet many friendly cultures. They also meet the Ragnor, a race obsessed with military conquest. The Ragnor attack Terran ships relentlessly and without cause.

Soon the Terrans return to Earth to see if their human cousins have advanced. They find Egypt at the time of the Pharaohs and decide the earth humans are far too primitive to help Terra fight the Ragnor.

Some Terrans decide to interfere with human development and pose as Earth people. From the times of King Arthur to Genghis Khan, Terrans make their mark on history.

Centuries later, a spy base is set up on Mars. From Mars, the Terrans watch as the Great War explodes in Europe and later as World War Two engulfs the entire planet.

The Ragnor visit Earth in cloaked ships and begin abducting and experimenting on humans. Tales of abduction and UFOs spread around the globe. A Ragnor scout ship crashes in New Mexico in 1947. The Americans develop the Area 51 program at Roswell. The project’s mandate is to use the technology from the downed alien craft to defend the United States against her enemies.

Sixty years later, a secret starship is ready, the crew trained, and the newly elected Present must address the nation and the world. He orders the ship to attack Earth’s alien foe. Is one advanced ship enough to match the combined fleets of both Terra and Ragnor? Is America on the brink of its greatest military victory since D-Day? Or is it doomed to fail like no other combat mission in history?

Ball has written an intriguing new take on history. He keeps the pages turning, explaining historical events in his own unique style. The story builds to an explosive climax that won’t leave you disappointed.

I recommend Don’t Mess With Earth to Sci-Fi and alternative history fans.

Reviewed by WR Potter for Reader’s Choice Reviews.

Review of Don't Mess With Earth - Free-Press-Release.com

2009-06-11T10:50:00.001-05:00

Review of Don't Mess With Earth - Free-Press-Release.com

Shared via AddThis

The Lights Went Out

2009-06-07T12:27:00.000-05:00

Short story by Cliff

I woke up. I realized that my digital clock-radio hadn’t gone off, and it must be around 9 or 10 in the morning. I glanced over at the clock, but it seemed to be dead, so I tried the radio, but nothing came through. I got up, looked for my pre-digital watch, and the time said that it was 10:30. Since I was off today, it wasn’t that big of a deal, but it was disconcerting to say the least.

I got dressed and went into the kitchen, and that was when I noticed that it was eerily quiet. I heard no buzzing of electricity, the refrigerator wasn’t running, and my computer, which is usually on standby, was silent. Finding my cell phone, I realized that it too wasn’t working, it was dead. I still had a land line, so I tried that; nothing but silence. Just to make sure I wasn’t dreaming, I went to the sink and washed my face, at least the water was still working. I don’t think the water pipes in my house are all that technologically advanced. I wonder what the
outside world looks like?

Stepping outside, the only noises I hear are from the various dogs barking and the neighbors who are all outside wondering what to do. It was then that I looked up at the sky…. it was a weird shade of reddish-blue. I thought I’d try to start my car, since it was at least 15 years old and had only had a little bit of electronics in it, but I realized the starter was probably an electronic piece and the car probably wouldn’t start. My next door neighbor, Dave, came over while I was mulling on what to do next. I asked him what he thought was going on, and he said, “I’m not
sure. Somebody told me they saw a weird flash in the sky a little after 4 am, and then that’s when everything electronic quit working. I had a 1964 Mustang, and it works fine, but my current car won’t start at all. Do you think NASA or the government has anything to do with this?”

“I haven’t the slightest idea,” I responded, “we’re only about 20 miles from Lackland Air Force Base, maybe we should go over there and find out.”

“We can take my car, but it has only half a tank of gas in it. As far as I know, there are no manual gas pumps in this city any longer, so we’ll have to be careful on where we go.” responded Dave.

We walked to his car, when I saw a few teenagers sitting on the sidewalk, acting like the world had come to an end. I guess in their view it would have, they couldn’t play their video games, couldn’t text message on their cells, couldn’t listen to music on their music players, I guess some of them will just have to learn to talk to each other in person. We got into Dave’s car, he started it up, and we were about to leave the driveway, when a few of the neighbors began approaching,
prompting Dave to floor the accelerator and peel out onto the street and drive off. I looked back and saw really angry neighbors shouting and shaking their fists at us, I’m just glad Dave had the sense to get out of there quickly.

On our way to Lackland, we saw a few antique cars on the road, a few bicyclists, and some people just walking, all towards the military base. I wasn’t sure what we would find, but I was thinking it may not be good. Did China attack us without warning? Did an EM weapon accidently explode and take out all the electronics? I wasn’t sure, but we were about to find out. Fifteen minutes after we left our neighborhood, we arrived at the gates of Lackland Air Force Base, but something wasn’t right, and I just couldn’t figure out what it was. However, at the gate, an airman was trying to keep back about a dozen people who were arguing with him. I calmly went up to the airman and asked, “What happened for our electronics to not be working?”

“Sir, as I’ve been trying to tell these people, I don’t know. I know about as much as you, nobody in command has seen fit to tell me, and with the radio not working, I can’t get any information. You’ll just have to wait here until an officer decides to come out here.”

I was about to protest, but, an explosion rocked the base. A huge fireball appeared and seemed to come from the center of the base. I heard gunfire, apparently our weapons that had no electronics worked, and the gunfire sounded like it was coming closer. The other civilians around me started running away; the airman checked his rifle and made sure it was loaded. Dave and I decided to stay and find out what happens next. More explosions rocked the base, and I noticed that the other military installations around Lackland sounded like a war was going on, even though it was in the background and some miles away, I could still hear it. I saw some Air Force personnel running our way; they were all geared up for a battle it appeared. An officer stopped and told the airman who was the guard to fall back; I managed to get the officers’ attention.

“Sir, what’s happening here? Why did our electronics quit working?” I asked.
“A war is what is happening, and they,” the officer pointed in the distance, “are the ones who made our electronics quit working. You need to go with us if you want to live.”

I was going to question who “they” were, when something came screaming out of the sky, hit near us, causing a massive explosion. I never did find out who “they” were.

What I'm writing next

2009-05-20T20:16:00.000-05:00

I just thought I’d take the time to post what I’m writing about next, since I don’t blog as much as I should. I’m currently working on a re-write of my novella Out of Time. Since I published it last year, after working on it for what seemed like an eternity, so I had it published even though it wasn’t what it should have been. After about a year or so, I realize it needs more in depth characterization of more than one character, and a lot more details. Those that have read it have told me it’s a good story, but, I it could be so much more. So, watch for a re-release some day after I write the next two that I’m also working on.

The next novel I working on is a sequel to my science fiction novel Don’t Mess With Earth. I always intended Don’t Mess With Earth to have a sequel, because I intentionally made a misleading title because while you’re reading this current novel, you think Earth is going to win in the end. Once you get to the ending, I hope everyone wonders what happens next, so the next title is tentatively called Shattered Earth . *Spoilers ahead* So far, those survivors on Earth who the Ragnor didn’t find, decide to build a fleet of starships with Area 51 technology, armed to the teeth with every conceivable weapon available. They also get aided by another alien species who have tried to stay out of the conflict between the Terrans, Ragnor, and Earthlings, but the remaining Ragnor go on a rampage throughout the Milky Way. An epic battle will ensue, but, who remains standing will be currently undecided.

The third novel I’m writing isn’t science fiction at all. It’s about the United States being taken over by a dictator(I leave the political persuasion up to the reader), who dissolves the military, creates a Civilian Defense Force, has them assassinate the previous president, try to silence through the Fairness Doctrine and then try to kill the main opposition who happens to be a talk radio show host. The president decides that Christians, the 3+ day a week kind, are also the enemy(along with members of the opposition party), and he creates “Re-Education Centers.” States like Texas and Oklahoma secede, taking over the old military bases and the weapons on those bases, while the President tries to force those States back into the Union, causing a civil war in the process. The main character is part of the CDF, is really apathetic about politics and everything in general, that is until his family is rounded up and sent to re-education centers. Once he learns the truth, he makes it his mission to stop the President. Will it be too late?

My review of the Star Trek movie

2009-05-14T18:34:00.000-05:00

I just saw the new Star Trek movie, and I was expecting it to be kind of like “Cloverfield,” which was a total crappy monster movie. Now, I’m a major nitpicker with all things Trek, I prefer them to stick with the canon, so, even though I watched all 5 series and 10 movies, I was expecting this to be like most other re-boots, a total disaster. It wasn’t, it was kind of like Batmans’ reboot, a pleasant surprise. The alternate universe idea was done right, in my opinion.

First off my nitpicks. I’d say the first fifteen minutes of the movie(I checked my watch) after the prologue, I was disappointed or annoyed with, because it just made no sense to me that anyone would have a Corvette 200+ years after it was made; but, if we’re supposed to see that Kirk is a rebel even as a kid, well I guess it makes some sense. What’s up with the cop robot by the way? The whole bar scene thing, well, it reminded me of Star Wars a little bit. Plus, aren’t Orion slave girls supposed to be just that, Orion Slave Girls? Why is one in the Academy? Plus, they never explained why a starship was being built on Earth in Iowa, what happened to Utopia Planitia? In the books and in the original series, wasn’t the Enterprise something like 15 years old by the time Kirk took command? Isn’t there supposed to be at least one or two starships or some kind of fighter craft protecting Earth and Vulcan? What about those space stations? Isn’t the universe supposed to explode when young Spock meets old Spock? At least that’s what Doc Brown always said!

Now, what I liked. This movie had all sorts of references to TOS, TNG, Voyager, Enterprise, and a couple of the movies. Scotty said something about Admiral Archer when he was younger(wouldn’t he have been way too old by then?), the scorpion thingee reminded me a lot of the Wrath of Khan, but this time you just assumed Captain Pike told them everything. Then, when Nero yelled “Spooock!!!” it flashed me back to “Khaaannn!!” The whole time travel revenge thing kind of reminded me of the Voyager episode “Year of Hell” where the scientist kept making changes to history and kept ruining it and taking it further and further from where it was originally. Too bad destroying the Romulan ship didn’t reset history. When Kirk first meets older Spock, I thought it was cool when he told Kirk that he would always be his friend, referencing Trek 2 and 3. I found it funny when they explained away Chekov being there by having him be 17 years old, which would make him at least 4 or 5 years younger than everyone else. At the end, when Leonard Nimoy as Spock spoke the “These are the missions of the starship Enterprise…” plus the TOS music, that was awesome!

I thought everyone had their characters down pat. I thought I would see Sylar instead of Spock, but he was close to mirroring Nimoy almost exactly. Chris Pine, I thought, is a good replacement for Shatner, the guy playing Scotty was funny, the new guy playing Chekov had a little too thick of a Russian accent though, Sulu was good, and Uhura seemed more like a copy of Lieutenant Hoshi from Enterprise than the original. Even the guy who played Sarek reminded me a lot of Mark Lenards’ Sarek.

Overall, I thought this was a good movie and I hope J.J. Abrams doesn’t disappoint in the future. As long as one person is the director instead of more than one for a movie series, then it should do really well. Live Long and Prosper, Star Trek.

Don't Mess With Earth, new novel, now available

2009-04-01T21:47:00.000-05:00

My second novel, "Don't Mess With Earth" is now available for purchase. Can be found here: Amazon or here: Barnes and Noble. Here is a quick summary:

Advanced humans, calling themselves Terrans, leave a highly corrupt and mostly primitive Earth to search out a new planet to inhabit. Once on a new planet, they begin exploring the rest of the galaxy and begin watching over their more primitive human cousins back on Earth. Some Terrans are well known in human history, people such as King Arthur, Galileo, Genghis Khan, and Amelia Earhart. The Terrans come across an alien species, called the Ragnor, that experiment on other species for no reason other than that they can. The Ragnor discover Earth by accident and start their abductions and experiments on the first set of humans they come across, the colonists on Roanoke Island. The Ragnor continue to cause mayhem and mischief on Earth, eventually getting shot down over Roswell, New Mexico. Once the humans on Earth figure out they're being manipulated by both sides, President Truman has the United States embark on a plan to pay back both the Terrans and the Ragnor with the technology created by Area 51. Once the plan is initiated, will Earth succeed in its payback or fail gloriously?

Obsessing over sales rankings

2008-05-08T21:39:00.001-05:00

I don't know about any other authors, but I'm somewhat obsessed with the sales rankings of my book on both Amazon and Barnes and Noble.com. I find myself looking at it at least twice a day, I guess because I bored or something. I watch how, at least on Amazon, my sales ranking goes up to a few thousand(around 100,000) and for a few days sinks into the millions, then out of the blue, jumps all the way up to like 70,000 or so. BN.com doesn't seem to fluctuate as much as Amazon, I don't know if their sales figures are more accurate or they have a different way of calculating the rankings. I'm sure I'll find out once Iuniverse posts what I sold in March in the next few days, which I'm am definitely looking forward to since I set a very modest goal of 100 sales.

Anyway, I was searching for a way to watch the figures and stumbled on rankforest.com, which keeps track of figures from both websites. I added my book and I watch the graph go up and down throughout the week, which is cool or not, depending on your mood at the time. I don't know how Out of Time compares to other book sales because I really don't want to get discouraged. I just wonder if authors like Stephen King or James Patterson ever obsess over sales anymore or now that they're rich they don't have to or need to?

Writing and author sites

2008-04-27T11:13:00.000-05:00

If you're a new writer and looking for websites to market your work or yourself as an author, searching for those places online takes a really long time, especially if you don't type in the right keywords on google or other search engines. I thought I'd post sites all in one place so you can find what you're looking for without searching for days on end.

http://www.writersmarket.com Online version of the book

http://www.writersdigest.com

http://www.helium.com Where writers can post articles, stories, opinions

http://www.writing.com Writing site

http://bookmarket.com/index.html This is John Kremer's website where there are supposed to be "1001 Ways to Market Your Books"

http://authornation.com/ A community for authors and readers

http://www.bookreview.com/$spindb.query.bottom.booknew This is where you can get interviewed, post your book, or even get it reviewed.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/ Where you can post short stories, articles, or other kinds of content

http://www.oncewritten.com/

http://www.sffworld.com/ if you write SF, then take a look at this site

http://www.bibliophil.org/ a website you can have a customized library

http://www.ibookdb.net/ an internet database for books

http://ebookscafe.writergazette.com/addbook.php where you can list your e-books

http://www.published.com/ a free directory of writers and artists

http://thewriterslife.homestead.com/promotion.html book promotion links

http://www.writing-world.com/ articles about writing, or post your work

http://wordpress.com/ a blogging network

http://www.blogger.com a blog site

http://www.writermag.com a writing magazine

http://anotherealm.com/prededitors/pepb.htm a website that tells you which sites are real or not real

http://www.bookcrossing.com/ If you ever want to see if people read a book you just leave around, then come here

http://www.goodreads.com/ a social network for book lovers

http://www.librarything.com/ your personal library online

http://www.facebook.com You can do an advertising campaign for your website or book

http://www.authortree.com/ build your own author website

http://bookmarket.ning.com/ social network on Ning.com

http://www.authorsden.com/ Author community

http://www.authorzone.com/index.php another community for authors

http://www.shelfari.com/ List your library online

http://www.writerscafe.org/

http://www.squidoo.com/browse/homepage

http://www.editred.com/ Writing community

http://www.myspace.com this is obvious

http://www.redroom.com/ Author community

http://www.booktour.com/readers If you feel like going on a tour for your book, this is a place to post it

Well, these are most of the sites I have on my favorites list. Hope these links are helpful to the beginning writer. Have fun surfing!

My experiences with self-publishing so far

2008-04-24T08:41:00.000-05:00

I just thought I would take the time to post my experience with self-publishing so far. Since I published through Iuniverse.com, they post sales 2 months after the fact, so I just recently found out I only sold 7 of my novellas in February, making all of $2.34 in royalties. I guess I shouldn't go wild and spend it all! ha ha. I have to wait until the end of May to know how many novellas I've sold off of Barnes and Noble.com or Amazon.com, or any other online store that is selling it. I'm learning the art of patience when it comes to waiting to find out my book sales.

I know I've sold my novellas on BN.com and Amazon because I used to watch, almost daily, the sales ranking on Amazon. The highest I got to was around 180,000 out of who knows how many million, but its dropped since I'm not advertising Amazon anymore, since I get more royalties off of Barnes and Noble, at least according to Iuniverse.

I have my novella at the library I work at and quite a number of people have put it on hold and have read it. None of them know me, other than the fact that I work there, so they were unbiased. So far, three of them have told me it was a really good story and told me things they liked about it. Two of my co-workers read it and thought it needed a little more work, which I will do eventually, but overall, they liked it too. I recently found out that a 12 year old cousin of mine in California really enjoyed it and thought it needed to be made into a movie. I wouldn't go that far, but I'm glad it's enjoyable for all ages.

As far as marketing goes, I've done it all online, which is far easier, but still requires a lot of money. Since I self-published, I had to get the coypright for my work copyrighted myself, because I would really like to get it into libraries with a Library of Congress number, but, being the federal government, it's taking them a really long time to approve it. So far, doing it myself, I've managed to get Wichita Falls Public Library and Midwestern States' Moffett Library to carry my work, so I'm hoping with a LOC number, more libraries will buy my book through Ingram(the supplier to most libraries).

I've actually enjoyed this whole process so far, but, next time, I might try the whole sending in queries to big publishers or sci-fi magazines like Asmiov's or Analog, but I don't know if I'll do that.

Preview of opening scene in new novel

2008-04-08T19:24:00.001-05:00

I'm going to post the opening scene to my next novel, and I'm not sure if its weak or what. So, if a reader of this has an opinion on how it needs fixed or if it works, then please post! Anyway, the jist of my novel is about advanced humans leaving Earth around the time of Noah's Flood and coming back a thousand years later, leaving, then coming back a few thousand years more, because they need help fighting aliens. Some of the "Terrans" take the place of actual humans in history and have adventures of their own, sort of inline with what actually happened. Anyway, the aliens, called the Ragnor, cause chaos at Roanoke, Salem, and Roswell, and abduct humans and experiment on them. The US government spends the next 60 years figuring out the alien technology after the crash at Roswell, then decide to pay back both sides. This is the President introducing the story to the world....

The President was not looking forward to this press conference, especially in the White House Press Room in front of all those scowling reporters. He had wanted to do it in the safety of the Oval Office, sitting behind his desk, with no one around but the TV people and the Secret Service. In the end, he felt it was necessary and the right thing to give this press conference in person, because he was the one who ordered the strike on the planet. What he was about to tell the people of not only the United States, but also the rest of the world, filled him with anxiety, mostly because it could anger enough people to get him impeached. The United States government had kept this secret now for more than sixty years, and now was time to tell the world. The President walked into the Press Room as his press secretary was introducing him, feeling as if the whole world was on his shoulders. He stationed himself behind the podium, took a deep breath, and began, "Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen of the Press and those of you at home watching on TV or the Internet. I am here to inform you of an action we, the United States, have taken no other government on eArth would have known about until shortly before this press conference. I suggest all of you sit back, relax, and listen to the whole story, because this may take a while. It all started a few thousand years ago...."

Marketing and all that Jazz

2008-04-07T23:20:00.001-05:00

Since having my novella published, I've discovered just how hard it is to get noticed by readers. There are so many science fiction authors out there and just authors in general that the market is probably saturated with un-read books. I've done the whole online marketing thing, since that is where everybody seems to be these days. I have a profile on myspace, created an ad on facebook to get people here, and I've created a profile on every site that I can find that has readers on it, like goodreads.com or librarything.com, places like that. I'm trying to up my presence on Amazon.com where my novella is being sold, since Barnes and Noble doesn't really have any kind of features that Amazon has.

I've tried google adwords for marketing myself and my novel, but I actually found that all you're doing is wasting money and not making any, so I stopped that particular campaign and tried doing a facebook campaign. I've had more people visit my site in the last two weeks than I had in the previous month. I decided to target everyone on facebook, not just a particular reader of a particular genre, I've had quite a few people click on one of the links for my novella. I really don't like the idea of having to spend money to make money, but that's the culture we live in, what are you going to do.

I created a forums page, like other author websites, so people can discuss what they think I'm doing wrong with my novella or what they liked about it. I even have a thread for a Q&A with me, along with favorite movie and book threads. So, if you've read my novella, please don't hesitate to post there, or just post for the heck of it.

You can find some of my other short stories, poetry, and articles here: http://www.helium.com/users/360400

The Process

2008-04-07T23:19:00.001-05:00

So, you're probably wondering how I came up with the story of Out of Time, at least that's what I'm hoping you're thinking ha ha.

I started out with thinking the whole US government-alien UFO landing conspiracy theories would make a good story. Then, I saw the movie Titanic in 1997 and thought it would be cool if I could include it, so it turned into a time travel story. My villain, at first, was a guy who turned traitor and sold technology secrets to a terrorist organization. I had him hijack the timeship, but he thought he was going to 1941 to help Japan attack Pearl Harbor, instead he ends up in Roswell 1947. I didn't think this character worked too well as the main antagonist, so I created a bigger bad guy, who pulled the strings from 50 years further in the future.

This antagonist ends up going back in time himself and impersonates J. Edgar Hoover. I have Hoover stay in control of the FBI because he knows where all the bodies are buried and what skeletons all the politicians have in their closets since he is from the future. He uses his knowledge to try and stop the time travelers, by sending teams of his own to where Hawking and the others are supposed to be. Eventually, it's discovered that this Hoover had a hand in trying to assassinate JFK. At the end, you find out just why Hoover is determined to stop Hawking.

Other chapters deal with Anne Frank and the time travelers attempt to keep her from dying in the Concentration Camp she ends up in. I have my time travelers visit JFK because I was into the whole conspiracy about there being more than one shooter in Dallas that November day. I still think there is more to the whole assassination of the President than the government will ever let us know, but then again, maybe it was Oswald by himself who did it.

I have my time travelers even attempt to fix Apollo 13 and the Challenger shuttle. The only problem is, that when they return to their present, they discover changes they never imagined. I have them debate about whether they should fix the mistakes or just leave it alone. The message here being, should time travel ever be attempted and what about the grandfather paradox?

I'm really into American history, so that's why I chose certain times in US history to start with. One of these days, when I'm a much better novelist, I will add more chapters or just add more to the chapters that are in the novella already, because I think it needs more meat to the story. Of course, I could just write a bunch of sequels, I don't know yet. I just know that my next novel won't take me ten plus years to finish, because I just nitpicked this one to death, and decided to publish it because I was just tired of looking at it and messing with it. From the various people who have read it so far, who knew how I wrote in high school, have been pleasently surprised by how well the story flows and how interesting it is. Hopefully, that translates into a lot of people wanting to buy a copy.

I'm currently working on another novel that I once submitted to the Writer's of the Future contest as a short story. Stay tuned for that, once I have it completely written, I will post what that novel is about.

Why I write

2008-04-07T23:18:00.000-05:00

I just thought I'd take the opportunity to post why/when I started writing.

I started around 10 years old. I found that I enjoyed writing short stories, you know, the stories you have to write for English class in elementary school. I even wrote sarastic little surveys for people to fill out. Here's an example:

Where were you born? A) Pluto B) Romulus C) Tatooine D) I'm not born yet E) other

Favorite movie? A) Back to the Past B) Wars Trek: The Wrath of Max Headroom C) False Grit D) other

I'm sure you get the idea. Being nearly 20 years since I actually made up a survey, my imagination for making up that isn't what it used to be. I'm sure I have copies somewhere in all the Rubbermaid boxes I have, since I usually keep all my writing.

I also found I enjoyed being a proofreader and editor, especially when the teacher had everyone pass around their essays and have others edit it, I enjoyed taking a red pen to someones' essay and correcting their errors. I know it sounds mean, but I'm a major nitpicker, its what I do. ha ha. This whole phenomenon in cyberspace for shorthanding everything drives me nuts, I had to figure out what "idk" meant. I really want to put it all in a Word document and spell everything out.

In high school, I took mass communications, Science Fiction, and Creative Writing classes, which ended up being the same teacher, Mr. Saggio at Mountain View High School in Mesa, AZ. He was an interesting teacher to say the least. Mass Comm showed me how all these corporations try to mass market to the masses, I've learned over the years that I don't generally fall for the crap they advertise, I guess I'm a bit of cynic with everything. Science Fiction class is learning about various sci-fi books, in this case, books written by Aldoux Huxley, Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, and sometimes more radical SF genres. When it came to creative writing, Saggio had us write for contests in magazines like Reader's Digest. Well, one I wrote, called "Role Reversal" won 3rd in the nation for a magazine published by the Methodist church, called Youth! I had never heard of it, and when I try to google it now, I can't seem to find it. Anyway, the story was about what if a white racist teen ended up in a parallel world where he was in the minority, does he learn that racism hurts? You bet he does. Anyway, I received $35 for it, which my mom used to buy a picture frame to frame the check stubb along with my senior picture and an article about it she managed to get in the Mesa Tribune.

I even wrote, or attempted to write at least two novels in high school. One was about world war 3, or at least my attempt to make it a war novel. I used actors as the main characters, people like Alyssa Milano or Kirk Cameron(they were popular at the time). I ran out of ideas 150 pages into it and I wasn't even remotely done, and this was on a typewriter. I usually hand-write everything, not this one. I even attempted to re-write it a few years later, but it was so bad, I gave up. Another one, was purely science fiction. I used everyone I knew in high school, but I made the mistake of letting those people read it, they all had different ideas on how to make it "better." There is definitely no structure to it, you can't tell who is speaking, and it mostly rambles, so as with the other one, I gave up trying to fix it.

For a time, when I lived in Amarillo, I went to Amarillo College. I signed up for their Creative Writing class thinking it was the same kind of class from high school. I was wrong. All that class did was analyze short stories and poetry, which I ended up dropping because I want to get into print. I even submitted a short story to the Star Trek New Worlds contest, it was about Voyager. After re-reading it years later, it was really sub-par. I even tried that L Ron Hubbard Writer's of the Future contest, playing on their idea that aliens came to Earth and messed with our history, or whatever it is they believe. Well, that was rejected. However, I'm turning it into a novel, and this time the aliens are humans who left Earth around the time of Noah's Flood and come back every thousand years or so to see if we're advanced enough to help them fight little brown aliens, who just happen to crash land at Roswell....

I will post my saga of writing, editing, and self- publishing Out of Time at a later date.