Announcing the debut of Alex J. Cavanaugh’s first novel, CassaStar!

And judging from the outstanding reviews and buzz, it’s going to be huge!
(I also get to host Alex next Wednesday during his blog tour.)

CassaStar

To pilot the fleet’s finest ship…

Few options remain for Byron. A talented but stubborn young man with a troubled past and rebellious attitude, his cockpit skills are his only hope. Slated to train as a Cosbolt fighter pilot, Byron is determined to prove his worth and begin a new life as he sets off for the moon base of Guaard.

Much to Byron’s chagrin, the toughest instructor in the fleet takes notice of the young pilot. Haunted by a past tragedy, Bassa eventually sees through Byron's tough exterior and insolence. When a secret talent is revealed during training, Bassa feels compelled to help Byron achieve his full potential.

As war brews on the edge of space, time is running short. Byron requires a navigator of exceptional quality to survive, and Bassa must make a decision that could well decide the fate of both men. Will their skills be enough as they embark on a mission that may stretch their abilities to the limit?

“…calls to mind the youthful focus of Robert Heinlein’s early military sf, as well as the excitement of space opera epitomized by the many Star Wars novels. Fast-paced military action and a youthful protagonist make this a good choice for both young adult and adult fans of space wars.” - Library Journal

ISBN 9780981621067, Science fiction/adventure/space opera
Available at:
AMAZON
BARNES and NOBLE
BAM
AMAZON UK
AMAZON KINDLE
Also available in eBook format for iPad, Nook, and others

Find out more about Alex J. Cavanaugh on his BLOG and follow his tour!

Images From Book 'Em

Another great weekend! Exhausted from the weekend, but spoke to almost 300 students and met up with several author friends. Thanks to everyone who commented while I was gone...

Next year's Waynesboro event is the third weekend in October! If you are an author, you don't want to miss it. Trish and I were talking and since there's so few venues now for authors, we both feel this is one of the best opportunities for an author to expose their work to readers. And sell books for a great cause, too! Rumour has it someone with the last name of Grisham might attend in 2012, too...

Sorry, I was going to post more, but the photo upload is acting up!

On to Book 'Em and the GO AWAY Award!

I'm off today for the Book 'Em Festival.

Friday is a full day of school visits, teaching kids how to design their own character. It's tiring but a lot of fun - some of the kids come up with great characters.

Saturday is the main event and I'm also scheduled to do a talk at 11am. It'll be a blast to catch up with my author friends!

Several of us are getting together for dinner Friday night, including my buddy Trish (p.m. terrell) and Dirk Robinson. (From Scotland! I could listen to Dirk talk for hours.)

And I'm wrapping up my week with The Muse Online Writers Conference. The forum discussion has been fun and informative (I'll post about it next week) but I'm hoping the two events don't coincide again next year. Just a little too much for Spunky to handle!

I also recieved an award from Yvonne at Welcome to my World of Poetry Thanks so much! She is just the sweetest lady.

I'm passing the Go Away! I'm Writing Award to three writers at various stages in the writing process:
Tara McClendon
Creepy Query Girl
Nancy J Parra

And I wrapped up with part II of my professional speaking series at Breakthrough Blogs on Wednesday. Thanks again, Stephen!

I'll be offline until next week, so see you when I return. Weekend Sillies will post as usual though!

Stirring up Some Book Cover Controversy!

Arlee Bird occasionally tosses out topics to spark a conversation. Today, I’m throwing out book covers.

A cover needs to grab people. It’s often a reader’s first impression of a book. It needs to appeal to its target audience and enough people to make the book a success. Fads in book design come and go as well.

Now, everyone has different tastes. No cover appeals to everyone. So, below I have selected some really great covers and some really lame covers - and stated why. Please feel free to state your opinion in the comments!

Great Covers:



The above books all share gorgeous cover art, and that attracts me to a book first.

Halo's art is simple but pleasing. And soft, which is good, because the title makes me think of the video game first! (It's probably riding on the coattails a bit, too.)

Any book with an animal on cover gets my attention. (And I really want this book!!!)

Now for the cover styles I don't like - remember, this is just my opinion of the covers!

Too plain and too cheap in appearance.

Wow, way too plain!!! Might as well be just text.

Go ahead and hate me now - but the first time I ever saw this book on a blog, I thought "Wow, that's some sad self-published book art." Then I saw a ton of her books in the bookstore and realized she was big time - and they all shared the same horrible cover design. Sorry, but it looks cheap.

And now for my least favorite style of cover art, most popular with YA books. I called these covers "Body Parts"

That's right - "Body Parts.' You don't get the whole person. And there's a MILLION books that look like this on the market!
I'm also not a fan of people photos on books. And don't get me started on "Betrayed" above - the photographer in me screams "It's out of focus!!!!!!"

Feel free to disagree or agree. As you can see, I like gorgeous cover art and I like it to fill the cover as well. Plain just doesn't do it for me. Not for my fiction, that's for sure!