Tag Archives: Goodreads

Quantum Crystal by Rob Shackleford

Quantum Crystal

Is humanity evolving?

Today, millions suffer from Traumatic Brain Injury and Post-Traumatic Stress due to warfare, car accidents and violence.

In response to this global epidemic, pioneering medical researchers develop a new treatment that is seen to produce outstanding results. Dubbed the ‘Quantum Crystal’, the treatment is soon rolled out for many of the maladies that affect modern humanity.

But is this treatment all it is purported to be, or are deeper changes under way?

‘Quantum Crystal’ examines the efforts of victim support group, The Staff, to rollout the Quantum Crystal to a deeply divided humanity and the inevitable violent opposition to change.

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Author Bio Two

An English-born Australian, Rob Shackleford has lived in New Zealand and Papua New Guinea, with a varied career that has included Customs Officer, Scuba Instructor, College Teacher and management roles in too many places.

With degrees in the Arts and Business, he is mad keen on travel, Scuba diving, Family History, martial arts, astronomy, and playing Djembe and Congas. Despite that, he is actually not that boring. Rob is father of two and has made his green escape with his lovely lady into Australia’s Gold Coast hinterland.   

Other Books by Rob Shackleford

Traveller Trilogy

Traveller Inceptio

If you were sent a thousand years into the past, would you survive?

After the accidental development of the Transporter, university researchers determine that the device sends any subject one thousand years into the past.

Or is it into a possible past?

The enigmatic Transporter soon becomes known as a Time Machine, but with limitations.

An audacious research project is devised to use the Transporter to investigate Medieval Saxon England, when a crack international team of Special Services soldiers undergo intensive training for their role as historical researchers.

The special researchers, called Travellers, are to be sent into what is a very dangerous period in England’s turbulent past.

From the beaches of Australia to the forests of Saxon England, Traveller – Inceptio reveals how Travellers soon learn that they need more than refined combat skills and modern technology to survive the trails of early 11th Century life. First Two Chapters here …

Writing “Traveller – Inceptio”

“Traveller – Inceptio” is my first novel and, like any first novel, is the result of years of writing, rewriting, editing, and then leaving it to sit and mature, or rather for me to mature, so I could go back and write new chapters and make adjustments. Originally titles “Traveller”, Traveller – Inceptio was rebranded to make the book name stand out more.

To keep the historical components accurate I had to engage in considerable research. In so doing I have tried not to become too engrossed in the historical minutiae of Saxon or Gabi Gabi Aboriginal life but have attempted to look at what it was like to be a person living there and then. If I have made errors, these are a lapse in my research or understanding and are not meant to be malicious or lazy. I welcome scholarly and cultural input and corrections so I can better understand the rich tapestry of human history where I dip my toes on occasion.

While writing Traveller I have the deepest gratitude for friends and family for their encouragement, input, and correcting my many spelling and grammatical errors. The inspiration for Traveller came when I was sitting on a beach one day and observing the many resorts that proliferate around Australian beaches. Thinking how the world has changed over twenty years then led to speculation of changes over the past two hundred years since the European settlement of Australia. So – why not 1000 years? The world was such a different place.

The cover is an image of a Saxon saex or knife as created by Artist Blacksmith and Bladesmith Owen Bush of Kent in England. I am grateful for his generosity in permitting the use of his image. View his impressive work at http://owenbush.co.uk/  

To describe the attempt to professionalise the writing process, this book has been physically published, professionally edited, rewritten and shortened, republished in electronic format, and recently proofread. Phew!

I hope you find Traveller Inceptio to be an enjoyable read. 

Traveller Inceptio eBook Links:

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Traveller Probo 

Traveller – Probo is the inevitable sequel to Traveller Inceptio and the second of the Traveller series.

Traveller Probo

Would you survive if sent one-thousand years into the past?

Development of the Transporter saw highly trained researchers, called Travellers, successfully sent one-thousand years back in time to early medieval Saxon England.

Traveller Missions now mean enormous national prestige and the recovery of valuable lost artefacts and knowledge, so nations vie for the use of the Transporter and more daring Traveller missions are planned.

As the study of History becomes hotly contested, politics and power soon come into play.

To study lost peoples and civilizations, Special Forces researchers have to be even better trained, better equipped, and prepared to put their lives on the line.

While Michael Hunter continues to build a life in Saxon England, the tragically injured Tony Osborne finds his resurgence in a mission to ancient Turkey, and Professor Adrian Taylor seeks to better outmanoeuvre his contentious colleagues.

From the misty shores of New Zealand to the shining splendour of the ancient Byzantine Empire, it is soon learned that sending modern researchers into the past is not without its rewards, and pitfalls.

Traveller Probo eBook Links:

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Traveller Manifesto 

Traveller – Manifesto is the final novel for the Traveller Series.

Traveller Manifesto

Traveller Manifesto is Book 3 of the Traveller Trilogy, the explosive final sequel to Traveller Inceptio and Traveller Probo.

To use the enigmatic Transporter and send Special Forces trained Researchers back a thousand years is now the biggest game in world politics.

But not only politics, as academics scramble to outdo each other and harness prestige in the increasingly influential field of History.

As Professor Taylor is rescued from Byzantine Rome, a heavily-armed US Traveller team explores Mississippian Cahokia to experience a situation beyond even their control. Michael Hunter and Tatae flee Giolgrave in the hope of finding safety from modern interference. But at a terrible cost.

And something seems to be happening in Israel, resulting in the creation of a high-profile investigation team to uncover if there is a clandestine Traveller mission operated by the US and Israel.

From the windswept mountains of Wales, to the hills of Cahokia and the dusty wadis of the Negev, researchers find that to visit the past may not necessarily provide the answers they seek.

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More about writing the Traveller Series

When we examine the history of humanity one thousand years in the past we find many human populations were experiencing massive change and population migration. Migration meant populations coming into contact and the inevitability of violent conflict. This resulted in the extinction of cultures and races.

The people of the time were often not people we of the 21st Century would like to visit. Over a surprisingly wide segment of the globe, any strangers risked becoming victims of cannibalism or ritual sacrifice. The Pacific, the Americas, Africa, and indeed many locations would be just too dangerous for a 21st Century researcher to visit.

 

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Goodreads

 

 

Goodreads Ransom Scam by Alina Leonova

 

Goodreads Ransom Scam And The Platform’s Astonishing Indifference

January 13th, 2021
 

A number of authors are being attacked by scammers who first post multiple fake 1-star reviews and ratings on Goodreads and then demand ransom to take them down.

If you are not a book geek, you might not be familiar with Goodreads. They are ‘the largest site for readers and book recommendations’ as they claim on Twitter. They are, essentially, a social network built around books. People track their reading, write reviews, discuss books, etc.

A lot of folks have criticized Goodreads because the website is obsolete and unituitive and hasn’t been improved in years. It was also bought by Amazon several years ago, which is viewed by many as a conflict of interest. All of it is true, but despite that, it still has millions of users who create all the value the website provides. It has a vibrant community of book geeks, a wealth of reviews that have been gathered for over 10 years (!) and book lists for every taste and whim. I’ve found some amazing books there just asking people for recommendations, connected with other authors and had a lot of fun discussing books. Until…

I stumbled upon a thread that was initially about something else, but quickly turned into several authors complaining about falling victim to the same scam. Dozens of 1-star ratings and reviews appeared under their books at the same time. They were all one-liners from private accounts without photos and said things like ‘Full Misogyny’ (always capitalized and this exact wording :D), racism, sexism, religious bigotry, etc. A few days later, someone contacted the authors saying they noticed they had a lot of bad reviews and offered to fix that for a fee and provide good ratings.

No need to be a detective to see a criminal pattern here.

It got even more interesting when within the next day everyone on the thread was attacked by the same scammers, including me. It was the first time for some of us, while others just got hit again.

 

Read More Here

Partner in Crime Book Services

I’d like to introduce you to one of my Contractors for Editing. Partners In Crime Book Services. They do a lot more than Editing, and they are excellent with their work. What they do shows a top business you can trust, it highlights a wonderful Mother and Daughter team.


Partners in Crime Book Services is a family-owned and operated small business, run by longtime promoter Annie Smith and her daughter, USA Today bestselling author Lily Luchesi.

Founded in 2019, PIC has grown from promotion to offering a myriad of services for authors and publishers, including:

The aforementioned book promotion (which includes blog posts, groups, pages, and Twitter)

Editing (proofing, developmental, and line included for a single price)

Formatting

Graphic design (covers, banners, teasers, and logos)

Newsletter management

Social media management (Facebook pages and groups as well as Twitter)

Facebook event management

Giveaway management

ARC reader management

And special bundles for new releases or publishing packages.

One could say PIC was formed back in the 1970s when Annie and her late mother would promote musicians. Her mother, Mary, founded the first fan club for The Black Crowes, alongside another fan, when they were starting out in the industry. From there, the two women did local PR in Chicago and West Hollywood for bands such as Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, Guns N’ Roses, Cinderella, Poison, RATT, Enuff Z’Nuff, and more.

Annie also ran Aerosmith’s fan club; her job was drawing and making up the puzzles for their newsletter, which was some of the earliest newsletter marketing.

Promotion ceased in the early 1990s when Annie had her daughter. Then it picked back up with a new crop of bands beginning in 2005, with bands like My Chemical Romance, The Used, Aiden, Kill Hannah, Vampires Everywhere!, New Years Day, Falling in Reverse, Street Drum Corps, and Stitched Up Heart, Pretty Awkward, as well as others.

Annie and Lily were first on board with Hollywood Waste Records, an imprint of Century Media Records, as their Trainwrecks (the name of their street team). After a few active and entertaining years in the music scene, the duo took a break as Lily began to focus on her writing career.

Applying what she knew firsthand and from Annie’s past, Lily took to marketing her books right away, using Annie as an unofficial PA to find readers across all forms of social media, as well as ARC readers and street team members.

With advice taken from others who were in the industry longer than she, Lily began learning newer marketing techniques, such as Facebook events and newsletter swaps, and how to brand herself as an author. She also began teaching herself graphic design to create teasers eye-catching enough to garner reader attention online.

In 2011, while still working in the music industry, Lily also ran a successful book blog under her birth name, and via those reviews, she built a rapport with authors, even giving advice on their ARCs and how to improve them. That was how she began editing when one of them asked her if she would look over his short story before publication.

Lily edited for three years before quitting to focus solely on her books and improve her craft, as well as did blurb doctoring and critique.

In 2019, during a time of personal change in their lives, it was brought to Annie and Lily’s attention that they could begin offering their services for a fee to authors in need. From there, Partners in Crime Book Services began to blossom. (The name for the company came from Carson Cole Allen a musician in the bands Escape the Fate and Me Vs. Myself, when he called them partners in crime while they were doing music promo.)

Their first clients came from Lily’s former publisher, and from there the business grew and grew, taking off from extremely humble beginnings to garnering clients from around the world, in various genres and with varying needs.

The duo love what they do; seeing their clients succeed brings them joy beyond words.

Find PIC online via:

 Facebook – Partners in Crime

Website: Website – Partners in Crime

Twitter: Annie Smith, PA