Posts Tagged ‘iBooks’

Character Interview: Zahara Bakur from “Video Rage”

Posted: May 22, 2016 in Character Interviews, Novel, Writing
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
5

VR CS front cover

Hey all! How are you this fine weekend?

With Video Rage coming out in ten days, it’s time to do something I do every time I have a new book coming out: interview my characters. And who best to interview first than the protagonist, Zahara Bakur? After all, she was my first interviewee for Reborn City, so it makes sense that she would be the first for Video Rage as well. She’s also one of my favorite characters, which is even more reason for me to interview her first.

So without further ado, let’s get started!

Notes and Stats:
Sex: Female
Age: 15
Race/Ethnicity: Arab
Birthday: August 31
Eye color: Brown
Hair color: Brown (used to be dyed blonde, but she’s gone back to her natural color lately)
Religion: Sunni Muslim
Affiliation: West Reborn Hydras
Special Abilities/Powers: No special superpowers, but she is a prodigy when it comes to riding hoverbikes.
Notes from the Author: In the first book, Zahara was very timid and unsure of herself. She was also very adverse to violence. She’s still very adverse to violence, but having survived several violent events, she’s better able to keep it together when there’s trouble. Add in the fact that she’s a natural hoverbike rider, and she’s gained some confidence. I think part of the fun of Zahara is that you do get to see her grow in confidence throughout the series, and that affects her role in the story. At first she’s scared often and usually gets relegated to the sidelines, but as time goes on she becomes braver and takes center stage more and more. That, if you ask me, is my favorite type of protagonist.

RU: Hello again, Zahara. It’s been a while.

ZB: You again! Where am I now?

RU: Zahara, you left Reborn City a few weeks ago. Please tell us what’s happened to you since then.

ZB: Well, we’ve been screwed over, that’s what!

RU: Whoa, temper!

ZB: Well, sorry! I’m just upset, okay? Parthenon tried to have us all killed, and when their plans–and their building!–go kaboom, they turn us into terrorists! Just because I’m a Muslim, they make us into the new al-Qaida and send the whole world after us! Seriously!

RU: Oh yeah, the world you live in isn’t exactly nice to Muslims, is it?

ZB: No, it’s not. We thought before we could get to New York and find some safety, but with the whole “terrorist” label, that plan’s out. We’re just trying to find a safe place now. We don’t know where that is, so we’re just going, and hoping by the time we’ve put enough distance between us and Parthenon, we’ll know where a safe place is.

RU: What are you guys doing to keep yourselves from getting caught?

ZB: A lot. We’ve changed our appearances, for one thing. My hair’s back to its natural color for the first time in years–

RU: I’ve noticed. It’s very nice.

ZB: Thank you. Rip’s also changed his hair, he dyed it back to what he says was its original color. It looks very nice. And Owl wears sunglasses, and we’ve all stopped wearing black clothes, and we’ve even removed our tattoos! Those last two were huge giveaways, so they had to go. Still, it was a big deal for the other Hydras. The clothes and the tattoos were an important part of their identities.

RU: Not yours?

ZB: Well, I’m glad to be rid of the tattoo, and the clothes did make me warmer than is good during the summer. But…

RU: But?

ZB: I may not have the tattoos or the clothes, but I’m hunted. I’m hated. And people expect the worse of me without even knowing me. I’m just like the other Hydras, in that way. And I’m with them till the end, good or bad. Inshaallah, it’ll be a good one.

RU: I wish you the best of luck with that one.

Well, that’s all for now. Remember, Video Rage will be available June 1st from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Smashwords, and Kobo. You can also get the first book, Reborn City, from those same sites.

Join us next Sunday when we meet Rip again. I seriously hope he doesn’t try to kill me. He didn’t seem to like me the last time we met. But then again, if he does kill me, there goes the Anno Bombus universe, which means the end of his existence…and I’m thinking about this too much.

Have a good one, my Followers of Fear!

Two Weeks Till Video Rage is Released!!!

Posted: May 18, 2016 in Novel, Progress Report, Writing
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

VR CS front cover

Hello Internet! How are you these days? I’m awfully busy! In between filling out the final requirements so I can take up this new job, and prepping to move into a new apartment nearby (I got a sweet deal on a new one-bedroom pad. It’s going to be awesome!), I’ve been up to something or other at most hours. And when I’m not doing either of those, I’ve been trying to enter into a contract with demonic entities to ensure I rise to power working on making sure Video Rage gets out on time and that everybody knows about it.

Now in two weeks we will see the release of Video Rage, the epic sequel to my first novel Reborn City. If you’re unfamiliar with Reborn City (which would surprise me, because I seem to talk about nothing else lately), it’s a science fiction story about street gangs in a dystopian city-state in humanity’s future, and the connection between the leaders of a rising gang known as the Hydras, the leaders’ amazing powers and abilities, and the shadowy corporation that rules over Reborn City. The first book contains themes of gang violence, prejudice, drug addiction, and overcoming negative perceptions of oneself.

The second book will continue soon after where the first book left off, as the Hydras try to escape old enemies and deal with tensions within the group, trying to find hope within the most unlikely of places and people. If you liked the first book, I think you’ll get plenty out of Video Rage.

Well, that’s enough plugging for now. I’ll be releasing a character interview soon, so keep your eyes out for that. If you would like to pre-order Video Rage, or if you would like to check out Reborn City before it comes out, the links are down below. I’m off to make sure that the release goes off without a hitch. Wish me luck, my Followers of Fear!

Links for Reborn City:  Amazon, Createspace, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Smashwords, and Kobo

Links for Video Rage:  Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks,Smashwords, and Kobo.

All the Links For My Books Are Up!!!

Posted: May 14, 2016 in Living and Life, Novel, Progress Report, Writing
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
3

It’s finally happened, my Followers of Fear. My books are on all the platforms I meant to get them on. It took longer than I wanted or expected, but it’s happened.

To be honest, all it really required was to fix and format the books I had on Smashwords. They have such strict standards, so strict it can be difficult to get it right. I had to actually hire someone to format the books for me, and only then could I get Premium status for those books and then get them distributed to the other sites. It was worth it, though. I realize there are plenty of people who don’t use Amazon or Smashwords, and maybe a few of them want to read my books. I should’ve gotten my books onto those other platforms much because of that much earlier than that, but I guess now’s as good a time as ever.

I also got The Quiet Game and Reborn City on Barnes & Noble in paperback. However, I was unable to get Snake and Video Rage on that site though. The latter is because Createspace doesn’t do pre-orders, on Amazon or on the sites it distributes to. However, Snake I could get on B&N but didn’t. The reason for that is because when you use the distribution options on Createspace, it brings up the cost of the book. And in the case of Snake, which is already a pretty expensive paperback (at least on my budget), if I used the distribution options the price would be too expensive. So expensive that I don’t think anyone would buy a copy.

So I would rather Snake‘s paperback version be available only on the one platform but be affordable rather than have it on multiple platforms but nobody could afford the book. Call me crazy, but I want my readers to be able to get their hands on my books and not pay an arm and a leg for them.

So now The Quiet Game, Reborn City, Snake, and Video Rage are all available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Smashwords, and Kobo, with Video Rage available for preorder in e-book format from all of them. I’m listing them below by book, as well as on each book’s entry on their various pages. If you want to check them out, please do so. And if you decide to download a book, then thank you. And if you want to let me know what you think of the books, please do. Positive or negative, I love feedback from readers.

Without further ado, here are the links:

The Quiet Game: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Smashwords, Kobo

Reborn City: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Smashwords, Kobo

Snake: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Smashwords, Kobo

Video Rage (preorder now, available June 1st): Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Smashwords, Kobo

That’s all for now. I hope plenty of you get to read your books in the format you prefer. And please, let me know what you think when you finish the books. Until next time, my Followers of Fear! Happy reading.

#FirstLineFriday

Posted: April 15, 2016 in Novel, Writing
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
6

It’s Friday again, so you know what that means. It’s #FirstLineFriday!

Now, if you’re new here and don’t know what I’m talking about at all, let me break it down for you. On Fridays, you:

  1. Create a post on your blog titled “#FirstLineFriday”, hashtag and all.
  2. Explain the rules like I’m doing now.
  3. Post the first one or two lines of a potential story, a story in progress, or a completed or published work.
  4. Ask your readers for feedback and then encourage them to do #FirstLineFriday, tagging them if necessary.

This week, you can probably guess what lines I’m posting. That’s right, the first two lines from Video Rage, my new novel, coming out this June 1st. Enjoy:

The sunbaked concrete and metal in the hundred-plus degree heat, the many cars and trucks reflected light off their chrome bodies like blinding beasts zooming down the highway. As truckers listened to country and rock music and children played video games on the backs of their parents’ car seats, some occasionally looked out to see a marvel of the modern world on the road.

Thoughts? Errors? Does this get you excited in any way for the new book? Let’s discuss in the comments below.

And while you’re at it, why not try #FirstLineFriday yourself? It’s a lot of fun, and it’s great practice for openings in stories.

That’s all for now. I’ve got a big weekend ahead of me, so I’m going to get right into it. If anything happens in the meantime, I’ll let you know. Have a good one, my Followers of Fear!

And make sure to check out Reborn City, available on Amazon, Createspace, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords, and soon on iBooks and Kobo, before Video Rage comes out. Trust me, you don’t want to miss the new book when it comes out, so why not check out the one that came before?

Video Rage: Cover Art and Release Date

Posted: April 12, 2016 in Novel, Progress Report, Writing
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
1

I’ve been dying to make this announcement since last week. Well, better now than never. As many of you know, I’ve been working on getting out Video Rage, the sequel to my science fiction novel Reborn City, out some time this year. I recently finished the final draft, and at last update I said a friend of mine was working on the cover art for VR. Well, today I finally got the art that will be gracing the cover of VR. Even better, I now have a release date!

Yes indeed, very exciting. Now before you scroll down and check out the amazing cover art, let me tell you about how it was created. My friend Joleene Naylor (check out her blog here) does covers on occasion, and when she does she does amazing work. After carefully describing what I wanted for the cover, she did a couple of drafts and sent me the mock-ups, adjusting with my feedback. When she gave me the final draft, it was like it was something right out of my imagination. I was so amazed with Joleene’s work, which was compiled using the works of artjazz, welcomia, Maltaguy1, kirstypargeter, and Joleene herself.

Pretty sure I’m legally or at least ethically obligated to list all that.

So without further ado, here is the cover art of Video Rage!

VIDEO RAGE - HIGH RES

Pretty cool, huh? And if you look closely at the image, you might see a familiar American monument. Yeah, that’s what you think it is. And something’s happening to it. What? I will say that it involves events that occur near the climax of the novel. Want to know what exact events? You’ll have to read the book to find out.

And speaking of which, I promised a release date for Video Rage, didn’t I? Well, there’s good news on that front. I’ll be releasing VR on June 1st. Yes, in one month and nineteen days, Video Rage will be available from as many platforms as possible, paperback and e-book. I’m sending the manuscript off to the US Copyright office tonight for the extra added protection. Then I’ll finish up getting all my other books onto other platforms, and then I think I’ll do a great big blog tour. I’ve never done one, so it should be interesting. I hope it’ll get people interested in reading Reborn City and Video Rage.

Reborn City, the book prior to Video Rage. Available now.

Speaking of which, if you’re interested in reading Reborn City before Video Rage comes out, I’ve lowered the price on the e-books. The paperback costs the same as ever, can’t change that much, but it’s now available on Barnes & Noble as well as Amazon, Nook, and Smashwords. And I plan to add it to iBooks and Kobo as soon as possible, so if you use those platforms I should have some updates on that soon.

That’s all for now. I’m going to get to work on making sure the book is ready for June 1st. If there are any updates, I’ll make sure you all know it. Get excited, my Followers of Fear. I know I am.

My Books Are Now Available on Nook

Posted: April 10, 2016 in Living and Life, Novel, Progress Report, short story, Writing
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

As many of you know, up till now my books were only available from Amazon and Smashwords. I didn’t do other platforms for a number of reasons. One was that Amazon and Smashwords are two major retailers (though the majority of my sales come from the former), so I thought that they were all that I needed. Heck, I even thought that I could be successful using those platforms.

Mostly though, I’m just lazy. I didn’t want to go through the extra trouble of uploading books onto so many platforms. Yeah, I admit it. But recently I realized that if I really want to get as many books out to as many people as possible, I really should diversify the platforms my books are on. For all I know, there could be a lot of people who want to read my books but can’t because they are not on their preferred shopping site or e-book platform. That is something, as an author, I can no longer allow. Not if I’m serious about being an author.

So, before Video Rage comes out (more on that in a future post), I’m making sure my books are available on as many different platforms as possible. Starting with Nook, Barnes & Noble’s answer to the Kindle and one of the most popular brands of e-reader. And as of today, The Quiet Game, Reborn City, and Snake are available to readers through Nook.

And if you’re unfamiliar with my books, here are some short summaries and the links:

The Quiet Game: Five Tales To Chill Your Bones

tqg cover

In his publishing debut, Rami Ungar brings us five terrifying stories of darkness in magic. You can experience the strange visions of a man battling sex addiction in “Addict”. Or feel the wrath of an enraged dybbuk in “Samson Weiss’s Curse”. Face your fears in Gene Adkin’s Murder House in “I’m Going To Be The Next James Bond” and then journey with a young autistic “In The Lady Ogre’s Den”. But most of all, prepare to play the most insidious game of all: The Quiet Game.

Now Available on Amazon, Createspace, Barnes & Noble, Nook, and Smashwords

Reborn City

Zahara Bakur is a Muslim teenager recently moved into the gambling town of Reborn City. After her parents are killed by gang violence, Zahara is forced to join the Hydras, an interracial gang whose leaders have supernatural abilities. As the violence in Reborn City escalates and Zahara becomes closer to the Hydras, including the quiet but stern Rip, she finds herself drawn into a dark conspiracy involving the origins of the leaders and the shadowy corporation that rules over Reborn City.

Available on Amazon, Createspace, Nook, and Smashwords

Snake

Cover of Snake by Rami Ungar

How far will you go for love and revenge? When a young man’s girlfriend is kidnapped by the powerful Camerlengo Family, he becomes the Snake, a serial killer who takes his methods from the worst of the Russian mafia. Tracking down members of the Camerlengo Family one by one for clues, the Snake will go to any lengths to see the love of his life again…even if it means becoming a worse monster than any of the monsters he is hunting.

Available from Amazon, Createspace, Nook, and Smashwords

My next mission–besides getting VR ready for publication some time in the next couple of months–is to get Reborn City and Snake available in print through Barnes & Noble (The Quiet Game is already available on that platform, a story for another time). After that, I’ll work on getting all three onto iBooks and then on Kobo. After that…well, if there are any other platforms I should know about, I hope you will remind me.

That’s all for now. I’ve got a meditation class to prepare for, so I’ve got to go. I hope you all have a great day, and I hope that the new platforms help you enjoy a new story that maybe you’ve been looking forward to for quite some time. Until next time, my Followers of Fear. Happy reading.

Newer Entries