June 1, 2000
Volume 1 No. 5
E-Book Ecstasy
Welcome
I hope all of you had a safe and fun Memorial Day. I would like to
take this opportunity to thank Eva and Tracy and to thank all our
new subscribers for joining.
If you have any comments on the newsletter or if there is
something that you would like to see, please e-mail me. I would
love to hear from you.
I would also like to announce that beginning September our
newsletter will become a monthly newsletter instead of bi-
monthly. Each issue will be released the 15th of the month.
This week we have:
Jeff Strand as the Featured E-Author...you haven't read comedy
until you have read Jeff's work.
Xina Marie Uhl is our Featured E-Publisher from XC Publishing.
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Content:
Special Announcement
Sponsors
Featured E-Author
Featured E-Publisher
Eva's Cooking with Passion
Tracy's Book Corner
Readers' View
New Release
Q & A
Advertisements
Classified
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SPECIAL ANNOUCEMENT:
Millennial Milestones: A Celebration of Change:
Eighteen celebrated authors have come together to
celebrate the changes of a century and to aid the cause of
diabetes education and research. (100% of the proceeds
of this book will be donated to that cause.)
(Available in download formats only)
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SPONSORS:
Subscribe to BEAMINGS!
"Beamings" is the official newsletter of Wordbeams, the
brightest star in electronic publishing. Our books offer
top-quality fiction and nonfiction in electronic format via
download (e-mail attachment) and on diskette.
Subscribers will learn all about our new releases; get the
latest news about Wordbeams authors; and find out about
Wordbeams contests, special offers, and promotions.
Beamings is free and is sent to subscribers approximately
once each month. Subscribe to our newsletter and
find out why we're beaming!
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URL to Beamings page at egroups:
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TracysBookReviews: Is a place where authors, publishers,
reviewers and readers can all get together to discuss
and promote books and things around books. Everyone is
free to post promotions, reviews, new releases, etc, as
long as it pertains to books. Authors and Publishers can
promote their sales or contests they may be having. We
can discuss books, reviews, how we feel things are going,
things we would like to see happen, help people network
with new ideas, share experiences and support each other.
Email volume changes on a daily basis, sometimes it is quiet
now, but on occasion we do post quite a bit. Everyone is
welcome to join by simply sending a blank email to:
TracysBookReviews-subscribe@egroups.com and if you need help
in changing from regular emails to digest format, please
email me and let me know. If you have any questions about
this group, please feel free to contact me at:
mailto:teastgate2@home.com and I will get back to you as
soon as I can. Thank you, Tracy.
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LOVE to read? Feel naked without a BOOK?
Subscribe to WORD OF MOUTH--free book review
newsletter! The place where regular people share their all-
time favorite reads and a little about themselves so that
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our website:
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FEATURED E-AUTHOR:
Tales of an Electronic Literary Comedian
By: Jeff Strand
I write comedy novels. And I love it.
I'm pretty sure my first published work was in my
elementary school's literary magazine, when I was in
second grade. The story involved a man who liked to act
weird. I hadn't yet perfected the "show don't tell" concept
yet, so you just had to take the narrator's word for it that the
guy acted weird. Well, one day the man decided to stop
acting weird (I neglected to give a reason for this change of
heart, but at least I knew the importance of a good
character arc). But when he stopped his unusual behavior,
he started growing a beard, and it WOULDN'T STOP
GROWING! Eventually, our hero saved himself from this
ghoulish fate by saying "Burp up your que, beard," which
was, as the narrator helpfully points out, a weird thing to
say. The fearsome beard halted its incessant growth, and I
assume the poor man went on to live a life of misery as a
social outcast. The story was my first mix of humor and
horror.
Between high school and college, I wrote nine motion
picture screenplays, evenly divided between comedy and
horror. The comedies all had "dark" elements, and the
horror scripts all had plenty of laughs. By my fifth script, I
finally decided that my work was ready to submit to
producers. I was, alas, totally delusional, but at least I was
ambitious!
I'm the type of writer who finishes everything he begins,
unless he's distracted by something like a mosquito or a
patch of dirt. So despite literally thousands of pages
written, I did not end up with a completed novel until after
I graduated from college. It had lots of cool stuff, and
plenty of sick humor mixed with the horror, but it was
pretty seriously flawed and never sold. I still have it, but
nobody is allowed to read it.
A few more unsold projects later, I completed my first all-
out comedy novel, a fantasy spoof called POINTLESS
QUEST. I started sending it out, and suddenly the tone of
my rejection letters changed. They still didn't want to
publish it, but plenty of people DID like it. An editor at St.
Martin's Press came right out and said "I think this book
should be published." But it was a comedy novel, a really
wacky one, that existed ONLY to make you laugh. How
many of those do you see on the shelves?
After that I wrote OUT OF WHACK. This one had an
occasional serious moment, but overall it was even more
outrageous than POINTLESS QUEST. Several editors
thought it was hilarious, but none of them saw any way to
squeeze it in their list. The overall opinion? It was
something they'd love to read on their own time, but not
something they could market well.
I signed with an agent who absolutely loved my work and
knew it was going to be a tough sell. And he was right, he
couldn't sell it, even after I changed the title of
POINTLESS QUEST to HOW TO RESCUE A DEAD
PRINCESS. He told me that I had to write something
different, something that fit in with a specific genre and
played by all the rules, and had only occasional moments of
humor. I was far too obstinate for something like that, but I
did try to "tone it down" a bit.
I tried. Really. I began writing a lighthearted romantic
comedy, but somehow it mutated into DRENCHED WITH
AFFECTION, an extremely demented story of wackos in
love. I began writing a lighthearted mystery that mutated
into GRAVEROBBERS WANTED (NO EXPERIENCE
NECESSARY), a seriously sick, ghoulish novel. I wrote a
lighthearted kid's book that mutated into ELROD
McBUGLE ON THE LOOSE, an outrageous tale that
concludes with an axe-wielding English teacher (which I
truly feel is the kind of book any self-respecting kid wants
to read, but that's beside the point).
They didn't sell, of course.
Then my friend Pauline B. Jones, who I'd met through a
screenplay critique group, suggested I try electronic
publishers. My reaction was, of course, "What a stupid
idea!" The only e-publisher sites I'd ever visited were of the
"Gimme 400 bucks and I'll slap your Microsoft Word file
up on my typo-laden site" variety. But I checked out the
two links she sent me, and they both looked like, well, real
publishers. So I put HOW TO RESCUE A DEAD
PRINCESS into the requested formats, and sent it off.
Three months later, within two days of each other, both of
the publishers said they wanted it! And they wanted it
because it made them laugh! I accepted the offer from Hard
Shell Word Factory, did gobs of research on e-publishing,
and realized that this was exactly the realm where my silly,
over-the-top fiction would be appreciated. I immediately
began submitting my other novels.
Wordbeams instantly snatched up GRAVEROBBERS
WANTED (NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY and the
book was published May 1st. And based on reviews and
initial reader reactions, my strong belief that there was an
audience of weirdos out there longing for such a twisted
comedy/mystery has been confirmed! Street Saint
Publications came to me, rather than vice-versa, asking
if I had any other comedies available. I sent them OUT OF
WHACK, and it's now set for a release sometime around
August. After years and years of writing and submitting, I
suddenly had three novels set to come out only months
apart!
Okay, so, my stuff can still be a bit much for some
publishers. DRENCHED WITH AFFECTION was recently
rejected, but the letter said that if I met them halfway and
revised the book to meet "more of the norm fr a romantic
comedy," they'd be happy to consider it.
I could do that, I suppose.
But naaaaaaaaahhhhhhh.
I'm having too much fun abusing the freedom of electronic
publishing!
© Copyright 2000 Jeff Strand
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FEATURED E-PUBLISHER:
Xina Marie Uhl of XC Publishing
Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Xina Marie Uhl and
I'm half of the publishing team of XC Publishing. Cheryl Dyson-
writer, editor, artist, and awesome web master--makes up the other
half. We've both been writing since high school, when we first
met, and have experienced all the typical pitfalls of the writer's
life: critique groups, rejection slips, writer's block, boring, yucky
day jobs. We knew that our books were good, and we knew from
reading other writers' work that there were many, many other great
books out there from unpublished writers that just sit in a drawer
after making the rounds at traditional publishing houses. All the
hours of work, blood, sweat and tears spent on those manuscripts
seemed like an incredible waste if no one ever got to read them,
and if the authors were never recognized for their work. In
addition, we've always been avid readers, and were often frustrated
by the quality of the work being published in traditional print
market. So one day last summer we were emailing each other our
frustrations when we made the joint decision that we were going to
be proactive instead of reactive and start our own publishing
company to give those writers the recognition they deserve-and to
publish our own works, of course!
We recently released our first title, my fantasy adventure
Necropolis. Necropolis is the story of a prison guard bribed into
saving the life of an enemy priest. It's set in an ancient desert city,
and, if I don't say so myself (after all, if I don't say it who will ;-) it
is full of political rivalries, sorcerous intrigues, headlong adventure
and deep emotion.
While Cheryl and I are both fantasy authors, we certainly won't
limit our titles at XC Publishing just to fantasy and science fiction.
One of the advantages of the new e-publishing industry is that we
are able to offer titles that transcend the traditional genres of
fantasy, science fiction, romance, mystery and so on, that many
traditional publishers have shied away from because the marketing
departments didn't know how to classify them. Genre limitations
are not our concern; publishing great stories that are well-written
is.
There are many great electronic publishing companies out there-
and many more entering the market seemingly daily. We have
several strategies to set ourselves apart: one is that we'll offer many
novel-related extras on our website such as maps, screen savers,
artwork, puzzles, games and even trading cards. Authors such as
ourselves spend a lot of energy on world-building in their fiction,
and we're excited to offer activities to complement our titles.
Another strategy is that we will offer our titles in all available
formats-not just ebooks, but also, a little farther down the line,
print and audio. We currently offer our ebooks in: PDF, HTML,
RTF, PRC for Palm Pilots, and others, such as TXT as requested.
We are so excited to be a part of the electronic publishing
revolution- we look forward to seeing you in cyberspace!
Xina Marie Uhl
XC Publishing- Your Source for XC-lent Fiction!
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EVA'S COOKING WITH PASSION:
By: Eva Kende
The main course of your special dinner has to be selected very
carefully. While real men do eat quiche now days, deep down most
of them prefer traditional food.
You can, if you wish, introduce something new and different in a
side dish or sauce, but keep the main dish conventional. Choose a
tried and true recipe. You can always dress it up a bit for the event
with clever garnish. Never experiment with new recipes on
important occasions.
Just for some ideas a good stew, roast chicken or pork, lasagna,
spaghetti with meat sauce are good dishes to choose, because they
take care of themselves and require little last minute preparation.
You could serve an elegant sauce and some interesting seasonal
vegetables with the roast. You can add fresh grapes, orange
sections or cherry tomatoes to your every day stew for the last 10
minutes of cooking to add interest and a bit of gourmet flair. You
can substitute some of the interesting and colorful pasta shapes for
the spaghetti with your usual sauce and offer hand-grated Romano
or Parmesan cheese in a nice little dish on the side.
Salad is where you can get really creative. To the usual lettuce,
tomato, cucumber combination, you can add, chopped pickles, a
little feta cheese, olives, capers, spring onions or pickled beets .
For garnish, a grated hard boiled egg sprinkled over the top can
make a statement.
Don't forget to visualize the dishes side by side. A cheerful color
combination goes a long way in creating the illusion of great food.
If it pleases the eye you are more than halfway there!
~^.^~^.^~^.^~^.^~^.^~^.^~^.^
Eva Kende
visit me and my cookbooks at
~^.^~^.^~^.^~^.^~^.^~^.^~^.^
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TRACY'S BOOK CORNER:
By: Tracy Eastgate
Glass House
by Ariana Overton
Publisher: Clocktower Fiction
Genre: Paranormal Action/Adventure
ISBN: 0743300173
Release date: May 2000
Cost: Not Yet Released
**** Excellent
Dr. James Hay, a scientist at the James Cook University at
Townsville, Australia, is one of the leading experts in the
field of paranormal activity although he denies being so. He
also specializes in Cryptozoology and is well respected.
The discovery of a towering black obelisk is just the
beginning for him. He is suddenly thrown into a quest for
the truth and answers for something that he has yet no idea
of or what. All he knows is that he is suppose to and that it
is his destiny.
Ms. Samantha 'Sam' Louis is an award-winning journalist
from the United States. She travels half way around the
world to Australia for a story that could be one of the
biggest in her life and her career. What she doesn't plan on
though, is risking her life on the far-fetched things that Dr.
Hay is trying to convince her of. That is, until she sees
some of these things herself.
The dangerous journey begins. One that none of the small
group of people are sure why they are going there together
and why they have been chosen other than the fact that
James' grandfather, an Aborigine elder, said they needed
too and it felt right. But would they survive? The dangers to
their lives are great and real, both from the known and the
unknown. When one of James' enemies and his group
suddenly shows up, James fears even more for their safety
and whether or not they will survive the journey. But there
is nothing they can do; the other group must travel with
them.
This author has once again created a book that fires the
imagination, pulls at your emotions and captures you with
its magic. It grips you within its pages and brings you along
as it unfolds and develops. To give you a peek at this book,
it takes mystery and fantasy, love and hate, joy and anger
and then blends them together to create a wonderful book.
GLASS HOUSE is a book that you will find very hard to
put down until you have turned the last page, and even then
it will have you reaching for the next book in the series.
Review by:
Tracy Eastgate
Tracy's Book Reviews
Copyright © 2000 by Tracy Eastgate
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READERS VIEW:
If there is something that you would like to see, please
email me at: ebooksecstasy@yahoo.com
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NEW RELEASES:
From Wordbeams:
Four New Titles for June 1 Release:
Title: A WOMAN OF VALOR
Author: Janelle Benham
ISBN: 1-58785-012-5
Genre: Time-Travel Romance
Formats: PDF & HTML
Price: Disk $7.35 (includes s&h) Download $4.55
Publisher: Wordbeams
Book Page: www.wordbeams.com/valor.html
Short Description:
The discovery of an ancient chalice at an archeological dig in
Jerusalem catapults a man and woman back to the Jerusalem of 69
AD. As they battle seemingly insurmountable obstacles and fight
for their lives, their love for each other becomes so intense it defies
time.
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Title: 'TIL TIME DO US PART
Author: Rose Murray
ISBN: 1-58785-010-9
Genre: Paranormal/Time-Travel Romance
Formats: PDF & HTML
Price: $Disk $7.35 (s&h incl.) Download$ 4.55
Publisher: Wordbeams
Book Page: www.wordbeams.com/til-time.html
Short Description:
Rose Murray deftly draws readers into this rich, haunting tale of a
love so powerful that it reaches through the centuries to conquer
time. Can two unsuspecting strangers who collide in an airport find
the key to their timeless destiny together before it's too late?
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Title: A CHANCE WORTH TAKING
Author: Kimberly Roberts
ISBN: 1-58785-016-8
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Formats: PDF & HTML
Price: Disk $6.55 (s&h incl) Download $3.75
Publisher: Wordbeams
Book Page: www.wordbeams.com/a-chance.html
Short Description:
In this enchanting sequel to Everlasting (now available at DiskUs),
a long awaited trip to London proves to be the catalyst for a
scintillating romantic encounter. When friends arrange for Catarina
to be escorted around London by an irresistibly sexy Englishman,
her life is changed forever.
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Title: THEY NEVER DRINK ... WINE
Author: Daisy Dexter Dobbs
ISBN: 1-58785-013-3
Genre: Children's fiction/nonfiction
Formats: PDF & HTML (HTML includes animation & sound clips)
Price: Disk $6.55 (s&h incl.) Download $3.75
Publisher: Book Page: www.wordbeams.com/never-drink.html
Short Description:
Billy has no idea what kind of treat Grandpa has in store for him!
A lively mix of fiction and nonfiction focusing on vampire lore
and classic horror. The HTML version has animated pictures and
sound clips. This delightfully quirky book is for "non-squeamish"
children of all ages)
Susan Bodendorfer, Publisher
Wordbeams
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Our fears are all the same, only the monsters
change...Book One AKA "The Fears Trilogy" Written by
Bob Gunner and published by Cyber-Pulp Houston/USA
Electronic Publishing. © Copyright 1994-2000 by Cyber-
Pulp Houston/USA® Electronic publishing and software
development services. ISBN number not yet assigned.
This e-Book features eight Horror /Fantasy short stories
written by Gunner and revised from earlier versions for this
book. Some were published in high school and college, and
one was originally written in the second grade and updated
for the times. Several won creative writing awards in
contests and competitions. This book is currently available
in a web- compiled format (a self-executable Microsoft
Windows format file) that requires Internet Explorer 4.0 or
5.0 to be installed also on your computer. It is also
compatible with Microsoft Pocket Internet Explorer
software on Microsoft Pocket Computers.
After purchasing from a secured site
http://come.to/cyberpulp for a $5 charge to your credit or
debit card, this file can be immediately downloaded to the
users Microsoft Windows compatible PC for reading or
printing on your laser or bubble- jet personal printer (for
those preferring a printed copy). You can also copy the file
to your Microsoft Pocket Computer utilizing the sync
cable, and read it anywhere you can carry your device.
Rocketbook/Softbook, Microsoft Reader, and Palm Pilot versions
of this file will be made available soon at the same price. A full
online version is available for review at: http://gonow.to/darkdreams.
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JennaKay Francis:
The Guardians of Glede - is due out in June. It will all be on one
CD. The books are:
The Triskelion
The Dark Prince
The Sorcerer's Pool
No ISBN yet though.
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Q & A
If you have any questions that you would like to ask
about E-Author's or E-Publishing, please submit
questions to: ebooksecstasy@yahoo.com
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ADVERTISMENT:
For a Good Novel to read, check out Luther Butler's Bookstore
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FREE ANGEL: Online Entertainment: E-Books, Music 2000
Halloween and Free Angel's Christmas store. With MP3 Music
samples that you don't want to miss.
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Jim Farris: The Last God (Book I of the Oerth Cycle):
"Merle Mousefinder, the little Mustie of the Wild Wood,
didn't know what she was getting into when she followed
the strange noise through the forest andfound Xaa, an
enormous carnivorous mouse. Soon, her curiosity would< see
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Pandora's Box: By Jim Farris
"Join ancient storyteller Aesop as he weaves a tale of
humanity and inhumanity, organic and inorganic
intelligence ..... each reaching for something greater than
itself in a story that spans two millennia of time. Pandora's
Box is a novel in the grand tradition of science-fiction,
telling the epic future of the humans of Mars Colony and
their robotic companions. For more information,
including book excerpts, reviews and a synopsis of the
novel, see http://come.to/xaa The novel is available from
Ebooks, at http://www.ebooksonthe.net/horrorscifi.html
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CLASSIFIEDS:
Rita Hestand: Pretend Mom is on sale now at:
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From the creator of lbiza Loud (Club Dance):
Comes the erotic/ romantic musical story:
WATER & ICE-THE SPIRIT LOVERS. A story of
two lovers destined to be together from the beginning of
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Storyteller is now open for submissions of short stories
etc. We are a non-paying forum for your work. Teen
works welcome. Take a look at: "Only someone who
loves a child..."
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© Copyright 2000 Glenda D. Tudor
All rights reserved
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(c) Copyright 2000