Authors Share Their Self-Promotion Tips!
Best-selling authors share their tips (and embarassing moments!) in my new story on self-promotion in the 8/09 Women on Writing
New Searching for a Starry Night Ebook at B&N.com!
July 2009: New ebook format of Searching for a Starry Night now at Barnes&Noble.com. ** See blog for contest! Win a mini room in a bag!!
2009 Eppie Award Finalist!
Searching For A Starry Night in ebook format was named a FINALIST in the children's/YA category for the 2009 Eppie Awards from the Epic Ebook Foundation.
NEW REVIEW!!
Chris Speakman, ChrisChat Reviews gives Searching For A Starry Night 3 roses and says "...I grew up reading Trixie, Nancy, Hardy Boys, and the Famous Five and I look forward to my daughter reading 'Searching for a Starry Night.' Ms. Verstraete maintains the same level of interest and mystery that my childhood favourites contained.
...A fun way to spend time reading with any child and also introduce them to new hobbies."
The Latest:
* Read my Mystery Books Gift List in the Dec. '08 Mystery Scene Magazine. My book essay was in the Fall issue.
Blog News
* See latest at Candid Canine.
Read my writing tips during my Daily Writing Blog
Rated A+ By Grandmas!
Searching For A Starry Night gets Grandma Approved!
Read an Excerpt, Chapter 1: Searching For A Starry Night:
Samantha Ann Carlton tilted her head back and tried to see all the way to the top of the old three-story Victorian. Funny, it looked much bigger than she remembered. Creepier, too.
A shiver slithered down her back as she stared at the house, its siding and trim painted in gloomy shades of blue and gray. Maybe it'd look better in the morning, she hoped.
To thirteen-year-old Sam, the tall, thick elm trees planted in the yard loomed over the house like arms. The sun hung low. Faint wisps of pink light peeking out from between the gray clouds gave Aunt Hilda's home an eerie, deserted feel. The whole scene made Sam think of those spooky movies she liked, the ones that gave Lita Jackson, her best friend since she was seven, nightmares.
Sam watched Lita raise a thick eyebrow and look around, her expression unsure. "Wow, big house. You sure it's only gonna take a few days to search for that miniature painting? Not that I mind helpin', ya know."
Sam gulped and tried to sound convincing. "Sure, we'll be done in no time. Mom thinks the painting got mixed up with some other stuff. I still wish we were going to my mom's friend's cottage in Lake Geneva, but there's a nice lake here. Maybe we can go fishing and sit on the beach or something..."
Reviews & Chapter 1
* Other Reviews, Read/Download Chapter 1 of SEARCHING FOR A STARRY NIGHT in PDF or DOC HERE.
Excerpt, THE WITCH TREE, by C.A. Verstraete, Echelon Press.
With a sigh, Jimmy pulled the shade, cringing at the eerie black shadows writhing across the plastic. He rested his cheek against the cool plastic of the shade and prayed for silence. The barely muffled screeching still made his head throb.
He rubbed his temple and headed for the bathroom to grab the first two aspirin of the day. As he choked down the pills, he envisioned his thick hands choking the life out of that woman, nice knees or not, who'd sold him this winged version of hell.
At first, Jimmy thought the arrival of the blackbirds was a freak of nature thing, like the seventeen-year cicadas. He was working on the house, painting the porch and repairing the front steps, when he initially noticed what was happening.
It started with a few birds landing in the massive box elder that hulked in front of the house. First, five birds flew in, then there were ten. Next time he looked, there were twenty. He went inside to get a cold one. When he came back, he glanced up, surprised to find at least forty birds nestled among the freshly sprouted leaves of the ancient old tree.
More amazed than alarmed, he sat on the still unpainted step to sip his beer and watch. The ranks grew by the hour. The tree's limbs disappeared under the writhing, shifting mass of dark scaly feet and inky black wings.
It was almost creepy.
He wiped his forehead, wondering if the hotter than usual temperatures had triggered it. A minute later, he questioned if the heat was getting to him. Since when did heat have anything to do with a flock of birds-a flock, he noticed, was getting larger by the minute?
By noon, he tried to ignore the uneasiness he felt at having a hundred birds staring at him with their dead-black, beady eyes. Whatever warm feelings he had held before towards birds were now gone, replaced by a quiet horror. Those eyes, inspecting him; the chatter, it made his skin crawl.
As the sun went down, the bird-laden tree quieted. Nothing stirred, but Jimmy knew that they weren't asleep.Oh, no. He knew it. He could feel them, eyeing him, watching, waiting....
The thought made him scurry inside where he locked the door and pulled down every shade in the house. Then he took out a glass and the bottle of Jim Beam, and proceeded to get good and stinking drunk.
The newspapers the next day said something about the jet stream causing birds to stray from their usual migration patterns, blah, blah, blah. Jimmy scoffed. Bull, pure and simple. He knew it was more than that... Buy at FICTIONWISE
See the ACTUAL MINIATURE of VAN GOGH'S Starry Night - the painting featured in SEARCHING FOR A STARRY NIGHT, A Miniature Art Mystery. It's amazing! See pix at my Candid Canine blog.
NEW Anthology!
THE HEAT OF THE MOMENT features 21 stories related to fire. PROCEEDS go to the Fire Safe Council of San Diego County to benefit survivors of the CA wildfires. **Order from Echelon Press or see website. ASK your local library to order a copy!**
In my story, "Fire and Magic," Sam and her mother (from SEARCHING FOR A STARRY NIGHT) face a menace from the past. This time, even magic might not be able to save them. Read an excerpt.
Besides writing, I collect and create miniature scenes, houses and rooms. My interests often intersect as I also enjoy writing about collectors and collecting.
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I'm an award-winning journalist published in magazines and newspapers. I enjoy children's books, fantasy, horror, this and that...
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