FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE!

Mohegan Sun
Justin Leslie
860.862.4106
jleslie@mohegansun.com

Mohegan Sun’s “Winning Authors” Series Presents #1 New York Times Best-selling Suspense Novelist Lisa Jackson in

Her Only Area Appearance

Lisa Jackson Plays Host to Readers in a Forum on Tuesday, April 7th

Discussing Her Novels, Suspense Fiction, Reading, Writing, Favorite Books, Authors and Her Rocky Road to Murder and Success

UNCASVILLE, CT ( March 9, 2009) – Mohegan Sun welcomes New York Times best-selling author Lisa Jackson as part of the exclusive “Winning Authors” series. The acclaimed author will host a live discussion on Tuesday, April 7th in The Cabaret Theatre at 6:30pm to be followed by a book signing in the Spring Gateway in The Shops concourse at 7:30pm.

The event is timed perfectly for the debut of the nationally best-selling author’s new hardcover novel, Malice. Lisa is back once again murdering her way into readers’ hearts and keeping them on the edge of their seats as she takes them through a tangle of suspicion, vengeance, emotion and violence. In Malice, she brings New Orleans Police Detective Rick Bentz to Los Angeles, back to the scene of his ex-wife Jennifer’s death. Within forty-eight hours of his return, a killer duplicates the double homicide that helped end his career with the LAPD. Then, a deadly spree begins with each victim tied to Jennifer, each corpse pointing to Bentz as the killer and each life stolen by a murderer determined to make him suffer for his sins.

As part of the “Winning Authors” event, a collaboration between Mohegan Sun and Spin Street, Jackson will host a forum at Mohegan Sun’s Cabaret Theatre. Included will be a question and answer session at 6:30pm where guests can ask Jackson questions about her books and career. A book signing of Malice will then follow in the Spring Gateway at 7:30pm in The Shops at Mohegan Sun concourse. Both events are free and open to the public. Malice is on sale and will be available for purchase at Spin Street beginning Tuesday, March 31st, leading up to the day of the event.

Lisa Jackson is well known for her gripping stories of suspense and for her fifteen consecutive bestselling novels, including Lost Souls, which has just been published as a paperback reprint. Mohegan Sun’s “Winning Authors” series is one of only two East Coast appearances she will be making for Malice.

Spin Street, located in The Shops at Mohegan Sun, is one of the nation’s premier high- end music, movies and memorabilia entertainment stores offering thousands of CDs spanning every genre imaginable from the roaring 20s through today and an unmatched selection of DVDs, books and video games. Spin Street carries an astounding array of personalized and one-of-a-kind pieces of autographed music, film and sports memorabilia and routinely hosts personal appearances by many of today’s musical heroes in intimate after-show CD signings.

Mohegan Sun, owned by the Mohegan Tribe, is one of the largest, most distinctive and spectacular entertainment, gaming, shopping and meeting destinations in the United States. Situated on 240 acres along the Thames River in scenic southeastern Connecticut, Mohegan Sun is within easy access of New York, Boston, Hartford and Providence and located 15 minutes from the museums, antique shops and waterfront of Mystic Country.

More information is available by calling 1.888.226.7711
or visiting http://www.mohegansun.com/

Guest: JOHN KNOERLE

Welcome to my guest John Knoerle. The book looks fabulous and I now have a copy that I'll review for you later, I promise! In the meantime, enjoy this great author and a book that I know will be great!! Great to have you with us today, John, and thank you for being my guest.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

John Knoerle’s first novel, “Crystal Meth Cowboys,” was optioned by Fox for a TV series. His second novel, “The Violin Player,” won the Mayhaven Award for Fiction. His new novel, “A Pure Double Cross,” is Book One of the American Spy Trilogy. John lives with his wife in Chicago. You can learn more about John Knoerle at http://www.bluesteelpress.com/.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Cleveland, Ohio, 1945. Hal Schroeder returns from a two-year stint behind German lines as an undercover agent for the OSS. The horrors of war have left him bitter and cynical. He is recruited by the FBI to infiltrate a local mob that is pulling bank heists. The feds have concocted a sting operation to capture the head of the gang and they want Hal to execute it. He agrees. But Hal Schroeder is no longer interested in being a hero. Hal Schroeder is interested in a fat payday.

How to Write Good

I stole that title from an early ‘70s article in the “National Lampoon” by Michael O’Donahue, the long-dead founding member. The article was a satirical primer on cheap tricks that writers can fall back on when they haven’t done their homework. Need to inject some tension into a flabby story? Have the protagonist be threatened by “roving bands of surly youths.”

I wrote screenplays for a low-budget film company in Burbank years later. And, sure enough, whenever the action sagged the director would have the hero walk around a corner and find a young ingénue or a little old lady being assaulted by “surly youths,” of whom the hero would make short work. It didn’t have anything to do with the storyline but it kept the audience in their seats a little while longer.

My favorite bit of acerbic advice from Mr. O’Donahue, however, was what to do if you have written your central character into a corner from which there is no logical escape. All you need do is trot out the trusty phrase, “Suddenly, he was run over by a truck.” Works every time!

He was referring of course to the cheesy gambit known by its Latin name “Deus ex Machina,” or machine of the gods. This is where fate descends decisively from above because the writer is too lazy or witless to craft a way for the central character to solve his or her dilemma individually.

This technique was especially popular in old b&w Westerns where the cavalry would ride to the rescue with bugle blaring just as the settlers were about to lose their hair. Other examples abound in film and literature and I’m sure I’ll remember many of them, given time.

But, suddenly, I am run over by a truck.

-- John Knoerle

Coming Soon....

My next book, coming soon from Firedrakes Weyr Publishing

The cover model is the guy I love in real-life...

Flash Fiction Competition!

Are You Up for a Challenge?


Homer was able to write about the Trojan War in ten epic novels, The Iliad being one of them. He covered it all: religion, love, war, fantasy, myth, and horror. Now it’s your turn to carry on the tradition and create your own epic story; but there’s a catch… It must be done in 1,000 words or less. That’s roughly 2 pages, which is 3/1000 of the size of the entire Homeric collection!

Where the traditional Iliad is 1.8 pounds in weight, your submission will be a weightless email sent to submissions@absolute-x-press.com with the subject: Flash Fiction Challenge – YOUR NAME, TITLE. Before pasting your story, please indicate the following information:

Name
Title of Work
Word Length
Genre

The theme is posted on the Flash Fiction page of the Absolute XPress website.

Deadline for the Flash Fiction Challenge is August 1st, 2009 at Midnight. The top twenty epically brief stories will be determined by our panel of judges and announced the following week. Selected entries will be published in the September Flash Fiction Challenge Anthology and receive a paid contract.

Sincerely,
Justyn Perry

Guest: R. SCOT JOHNS

Welcome to an adventure of mythic proportions! Have seen the trailers and the incredible things that are on the Fantasy Castle Books website for this book, I'm enchanted! It is my great privilege to introduce you to a grand, epic tale that I think you'll love - and a really great author, too!! So, enjoy....

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

R. Scot Johns is a life-long student of ancient and medieval literature, with an enduring fascination for Norse mythology and epic fantasy. He first came to Beowulf through his love of J. R. R. Tolkien, a leading scholar on the subject. As an Honors Medieval Literature major he has given lectures on such topics as the historical King Arthur and the construction of Stonehenge. He owns and operates Fantasy Castle Books, his own publishing imprint, and writes the blog Adventures of an Independent Author, where you can follow his progress as he writes The Jester’s Quest, his second novel.

You can visit his website at http://www.fantasycastlebooks.com/

ABOUT THE BOOK:

The Saga of Beowulf is the first complete and accurate novelization of the epic Old English poem Beowulf, chronicling the tragic wars of the rising Nordic nations, the endless blood-feuds of their clans, battles with mythic creatures in an ancient heroic age, and the final, futile struggle of one man against the will of Fate that made of him a Legend.

The story follows the young Norse warrior Beowulf as he embarks upon a fateful quest for vengeance against the creature that slew his father, setting in motion a sequence of events that will bring about the downfall of a nation, all the while fleeing from the woman he has sworn to love. Based on extensive historical research and steeped in Nordic myth and lore, the saga unfolds across the frozen fields of Sweden and the fetid fens of Denmark, ranging from the rocky heights of Geatland to the sprawling battlefields of ancient France, as our hero battles men and demons in a quest to conquer his own fears.

"An epic adventure 1500 years in the making," this classic tale now comes to life once more in a bold new retelling for a modern audience.

Do you have any particular types of blogs that you would like us to query? For example, a book about baseball might be “baseball blogs.”

This is a work of epic fantasy, so sites specific to that genre are a must. Fantasy book blogs, fantasy gamer sites, and even medieval-themed or historical fiction webs that might like tales of Viking days are a possibility. However, please bear in mind this is not a book geared toward young adults - not that they should particularly be discounted (there is a fair amount of violence, but little sex or language), but it is a lengthy and fairly serious read (at 640 pages) written in a college-level prose.

GUEST POST:

On Romance In Fantasy

When Hæreth says to Beowulf, “I will love you always and forever,” the young Norse warrior takes her at her word. But when she weds the hero’s aging uncle to become the Queen of Geats, the brooding youth boards ship and sails away as fast as churning oars can bear him. So begins the epic adventure that will turn a boy into a man, a warrior into a king, and bring about the downfall of a nation.

Romance in fantasy is often tragic, an unattainable ideal, whose consequences loom so large that entire kingdoms are destroyed as a result. Few examples are so poignant as the love of Lancelot for Guinevere, whose adulterous affair behind the back of her husband King Arthur would bring about the fall of Camelot and plunge Britain into the Dark Ages for some three hundred years. Likewise, Greek mythology is fraught with examples of tragic love, in which abducted maidens are changed into birds or flowers, and bold heroes brave the dangers of the underworld to rescue them, only to be doomed themselves.

But ideal love can overcome as well, and in romantic fantasy the obstacles and perils loom far larger than real life. Maidens must be rescued from dragon-guarded grottos or the towers of enchanted castles, all for the hope of a second date. Don Quixote traipses up and down the countryside in hopes of proving his love of Dulcinea, a woman to whom he has never even spoken. But no lengths are too great, no trials too much to suffer for this ideal love, the mere idea of which is enough to sustain the smitten Knight when food runs short.

Often in modern romantic fantasy it is the women that take matters into their own hands, or evoke an innate power previously unknown. But even in the oldest tales this is not uncommon. Scheherazade, for example, in the Thousand and One Arabian Nights has no intention of sitting idly by as the sultan has his way with her then takes her head. Brünhild in the Nordic sagas is a Valkyrie shieldmaiden of renown, and not to be trifled with. Likewise, Hæreth, in The Saga of Beowulf, is no idle maiden, but holds her ground and fights with a broadsword as well as any man, even when her hands are tied.

When Beowulf returns again to Geatland, his first action is to rescue the missing Queen Hæreth from the vile clutches of her abductor, for her marriage to the King he learns was not by her free choice, and she is in grave danger. “I knew that you’d come back for me,” the Queen intones as they embrace. “Then you know me better than I know myself,” the repentant hero replies. Standing atop the rocky Trollhight, awash in the passion of their reunion, they kiss amid the aftermath of battle, in full view of Hæreth’s husband, the uncle of Beowulf, and King of all Geatland. The battle may be over, but the war has just begun.

Authors Promoting Authors....

This is the exciting new venture created by author Kadian Tracey - a variation on the Virtual Blog Tour in which authors promote authors as a group....

If you'd like to participate, and become one of the authors/hosts/participants, check out the Yahoo group, and the blog - the debut is tomorrow, and the guest to launch it all is me!! My topic will be Defining Romance, and I'd love to see you there!! We're giving away some goodies, too! So, do drop by, ok?

Blog: http://romanceblogtour.blogspot.com/
Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Authors_Virtual_Blog_Tour/

The Amazing KADIAN TRACEY!

First off, many thanks to Kadian for being my guest today - she's an incredible lady, with so much talent!! I hope you'll all enjoy chatting with her today. Apart from writing, Kadian does fabulous graphics and books trailers... she's really IS amazing!!! Enjoy meeting her... I just love her!!!

The Intro – Kadian Style!

Hi Guys! I’m Kadian Tracey. First I want to thank Denyse for letting me take over her home for a bit. I promise I will try not to burn the joint down. I won't let anyone upstairs in the bedroom areas - the party will stay downstairs. Lol – don’t worry I’ll be good! But I have to warn you, I’ve been sick – the flu is a horrible thing to have – so I hope things doesn’t come out all garbled. I am here to rant a little, promote a little, and hopefully teach you something, make you laugh and give you one of those things that make you go “erm....”

A little about me, my name is Kadian Tracey (Found out recently that my first name is also a drug for chronic pain and causes erectile dysfunction! Lol fun fact.). I was born in Jamaica, moved to Canada when I was in my teens. I’ve been writing since I was about eight years old but started out with poems and song lyrics (that I never really did anything with). I graduated to romance when I was about seventeen. My first short The Scottish Lord’s Destiny was released with Dark Castle Lords. Then a second and third short African Chocolate and Desert Protector were released with Red Rose Publishing. My first novel length novel I had to self published is titled Broken Wings It is about a girl who was brought up in such an abusive home that when she was forced to stand by up by herself and decided between loneliness and love she had no idea what she was doing. It’s not your typical romance (it’s not erotica its sweet romance). Its a bit darker and not your regular formula. I got the idea while I was in church and even though a few publishers would have taken it had I changed a few things, I did not feel it would be right. I wanted this story to prove a point, to teach a couple of lessons about life, hardships and love and changing it would have defeated that purpose. I would have felt guilty afterwards. You can find Broken Wings on Lulu.com.

When A Man Needs to Grow Up

Ok, so what I am here for. As you can see, my topic is kind of something that I am just learning. I am twenty five years old, turning twenty six so most of these things about men needing to grow up is slowly sinking in for me. First let me start by saying that I am not a partier. I was brought up so sheltered that partying is somewhat of a new concept for me. I mean I have fun, I spend WAY too much of my time reading to even care but lately, I realised I am getting older. The older I get is the more my friends keep telling me that I need to get out of my box, do fun stuff, dress like a girl (I’m a Tom Boy. Always have been...). But I digress. So last Saturday night, my friend and I had horrible weeks. She had exams and assignments – I had exams and assignments and work driving me nuts. Let’s just say by Friday night we’re both laying on my bed, heads hanging off, tongue out the side of our mouths too tired and bored out of our skulls to even get up to drink the glass of white wine we just pored out.

Anyways, we decided that we were too tired on Friday night so on Saturday we decided at like ten that we were going to take showers, get all dressed up and head on down town to see which one of the clubs we could get into. We tried our favourite but the line was so long and we live in Canada, so it was FREEZING! Oh god heavens, how can it get so cold in Canada? So we walked down the street, around a corner and stopped at another. The girl at the door told us it was cheap tequila shots all night, no money to get in, great DJ. We went in, had a good night. I actually had tequila for the second time in my life! That was excited too. The DJ was great.

Now here the men comes in. I never realised how much grown men are like grade school or high school boys! That night, the men all come in, stand against the bar or holding up the wall with a beer in their hands watching the women. The women are all dancing with each other in the middle. Don’t that just remind you of the days when boys thought girls had the cooties so at school dances the boys are in one section and the girls in the other? I thought the way it worked was that they were supposed to come over, ask you to dance? Did I mis-read that?

Second, my friend and I were dancing and all of a sudden I got barrelled into from behind. I turn around and there was this guy, drunk as a skunk, shoving at me and a few others to get out or in or whatever he was trying to go. Now, what a grown man would have done, was stop drinking when he realised he was getting toasted – or if he wanted to get drunk for whatever emotional or psychological reason it was – would stop, apologise then went on his merry way. Not this punk. He stopped and had the nerve to argue with me. See, I don’t do drama and if it was when I was younger, I would have given him something to cus about but I am older/wise (I hope) so I grabbed my friend’s hand and walked away. Wasn’t going to make one jerk ruin my night - Right?

So long story short, the night draws to an end at two in the morning and I wanted to leave. My friend stopped to speak to these guys from USA and then we exited the club, trying to get a cab home. We walked up to the nearest McDonalds where we hoped it would be as crowded for people trying to get home as well. These two men from Detroit ran across the street almost getting hit by a speeding car going the opposite direction to speak to us. One took my hand and one took my friend’s hand.

Wait, let me stop there and explain, my friend was drunk. I am WAY too paranoid to get drunk because I have been told that I have control issues. Getting drunk is the absolute WRONG thing to do in public these days and after I finish writing you will see why I said that. These guys, apparently saw me leading my friend who was walking funny and thought we were both drunk because as soon as he started asking me questions I knew exactly why he and his friend came over. He was asking me questions like “are you drunk?” and saying things like “you should come to our hotel.”

This punk (keeping it PG here - really hard but I'm good) and his loser friend came across to walk with us because they thought my friend and I were both drunk and would agree to anything they said. Everything like going to their hotel rooms so they can take advantage of us. He even had the nerve to ask me if I was “the responsible one.” I lifted my chin proudly and told him “of course!” The other guy tried to lead my friend away and I started yelling at her in Spanish because I was NOT having it (We speak Spanish she more fluently than I do but I can carry my own).

Now comes my rant – I think that today, we should let others learn from our mistakes, our experiences and our regrets. Most of you aren’t my age anymore but you have children that are my age. I know that they may moan and whine when you bring up lectures like this but because they don’t want to hear it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t tell them all the same. Men need to grow up. They need to stop acting like horny teenagers and stop trying to take advantage of drunk girls. Ones like the jerks we met Saturday prove that. They troll bars and take advantage of drunk and or naive young women and then they are gone. It is not a mistake on their parts, they know exactly what they are doing – especially when they ask questions to feel out if the girl is drunk or not. Then it is no longer sex but rape. When are these boys (because men would never do something that dumb) – when will these boys think that they shouldn’t do to other women what they wouldn’t want done to their mothers and sisters? What if someone did that to any female members of their family – I’m sure they would be beyond MAD and would go after this creep with all they got. So why then would they go out and do that to women

And another thing, don’t blame these boy’s parents. Sometimes the parents are good, law abiding people who tried their best to raise respectable men – something just went wrong somewhere...

So What did We Learn Today?

Grown men has a bad habit of acting like immature, immoral morons that doesn't have the sense the good lord gave them. When you as a woman go out, watch over your friends and make sure they do the same to you. Because there are creeps out there wh are only too willing to pounce. So please, warn your children to be careful – no matter how old they are and how much they think they know. Not all men in the club that speaks to them are trustworthy.

My Works in Progress

My works in progress is a short list at the moment because I am also an University Student but I am working on a novel titled “Wish Upon a Banyan Tree.” It is interracial and most of it takes place in China. It is giving me some headaches now because I feel as if I’m missing something but don’t know what. I’m trying to get friends to take a look at it and tell me what they think I’m missing or if I’m on the right path.

Graphics

As though I didn’t have enough to do as it is, I also do graphics. Mostly covers, trailers and the odd banner. I have a website: not sure if I’m allowed to post it here but I’m sure Denyse will let you know it if you ask her.

The End

Any who I will be giving away a copy of Broken Wings (ebook) to one of the participants today and I hope who ever win will enjoy it. Thanks to Denyse for letting me crash at her place. You rock!

Kadian's Website: http://kadiantracey.webs.com/index.htm

Exciting new project in the works....