You Don't Have to Own A Kindle

Did you know you don't have to own a Kindle to read Kindle books? There are now free downloads for PC, Blackberry, iPhone, iPad, and Android available from Amazon. That means people who prefer to read e-book versions of novels can do so without the added cost of the Kindle.

I was interested to know that because my first e-book, Dangerous Hearts, has been released and I'm learning about a whole new market. Many people, especially the younger generation that has grown up with the Internet and a multitude of electronic devices, actually prefer e-books. While most authors still want a book to hold in their hands, before long we may see e-books overtaking print books in the marketplace.

You don't have to own a Kindle. That's a good thing for the Amazon market and a good thing for authors, as well.

Passenger to Paradise Logo

My publisher has created a logo for the Passenger to Paradise series, and I am thrilled with it. On Wednesday, I received a box with Passenger to Paradise business cards that Billie created--both front and back. She has a descriptive line for each book.

Hearts Across Forever - Jamaica...The white witch of Rose Hall, past lives, present day voodoo

Eagle Rising- Sedona's powerful vortexes and burnished landscapes

Secrets by the Sea - A sprawling mansion overlooking the shores of Antigua...tour every room--exquisite ones, charming ones and the secret ones

Night Watch - For tropical intrigue and treachery, choose Trinidad

I also have a T-shirt with the new logo. Now I have to decide how to best use these devices in my promotion of Night Watch, but that's another post.

Any suggestions other authors have for use of a logo are welcome.

Monti

IsThis Artist a Walk-In?

A segment on the CBS Early Show this morning caught my attention. Before a double brain aneurysm put him into a coma, Tommy McHugh, a handyman from Liverpool, England, never exhibited much interest in art. However, as documented in the Early Show, when McHugh awakened from his week-long coma, he suddenly became a compulsive artist. Now, he paints for up 18 hours a day. His whole life has changed.

The story made me wonder, is McHugh now a walk-in? Is he like Lily, the heroine in my soon-to-be-released book, Night Watch? Lily's life changes and her interests shift when trauma strikes her life. Lily changes her job and her life goals. And she starts having different memories as well. Now nothing was said about McHugh having unusual memories, but they said he is now more emotional than he was in the past.

In my book, following her traumatic event, Lily appears different to her friends. She doesn’t like the things she once liked, and she withdraws from her friends of the past.

Is McHugh a walk-in? Is Lily?

Please look for my new book coming out shortly from Oak Tree. It will be available from Amazon and on www.oaktreebooks.com.

Monti
Night Watch, coming soon from Oak Tree Books

A Snapshot in Time

A snapshot in time. That's all a travel book or a book about hotels can be. Things change too quickly for anything to last very long in our fast-paced, fluid society. When I wrote my book, Hotels to Remember, I had no idea some of the hotels I included would change in a short period of time. My book is indeed a "snapshot in time."

Soon after publication, one of the 20 hotels included in my coffee table book underwent massive renovations. Another I learned recently is now closed and may be demolished. Sad, because it had become an historic landmark for the area where it stands.

Another hotel, the Adam's Mark St. Louis has undergone a $63 million transformation
to the 910-room Hyatt Regency St. Louis Riverfront. The building is still within the shadow of the Arch, but the internet photos show no evidence of the beautiful and amazing art work that made the hotel so special that I selected it for my book. Where is all the gorgeous art that filled the lobby? Where is the outdoor art that formed the unique view from windows on one side of the hotel? Where is Faust's Restaurant now?

I have not been to St. Louis to see the transformed hotel, but I'd like to visit it in the future. Perhaps I'll stay in that hotel, visit the new Busch Stadium, and watch my beloved Cardinals play.

The Hyatt Regency Union Station is also part of my book. It is usually among the views shown as I watch the Cardinals on Direct TV. Since it is an historical landmark for the city, I hope that hotel will not change too much nor disappear.

Things change. We have only a snapshot in time.

Mary Montague Sikes, Author Hotels to Remember http://www.oaktreebooks.com/bargainbookshop.htm

Past Life Regressions

Past Life is the name of the new series on Fox. I realized the title mistake as I watched a preview for another episode. In the last program that aired February 11, the word regression was used often to describe what happened when the girl in the story experienced a flash back into the previous life.

Past life regression is the term I associate with the hypnotic regression a hypnotherapist does with a client to help him/her uncover the source of a problem that may be associated with a past life. In the TV program, it appears the regression depicted is of the spontaneous type since no hypnotherapist is involved. In regressions with a hypnotherapist, the individual is taken back to a point in time associated with a current life situation. I have not read the latest research on hypnotic regression nor anything written recently about spontaneous regressions. I'd like to know more about scientific research into the subject. I'd also like to know of documented cases of actual spontaneous regression. Is there such a thing?

I used regression in my reincarnation story, Hearts Across Foreverhttp://www.amazon.com/Hearts-Across-Forever-Montague-Sikes/dp/1892343207/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=126611. It works in fiction. I'll be watching and maybe taking notes during the next episode of Past Life.

Mary Montague Sikes
www.marymontaguesikes.com