RELEASE DAY! The Un-Familiar: A Tale of Cats and Gods

It's here! It's here! The day has finally arrived! My third novel, the second book in the Chupacabra Trilogy, was officially released by Casperian Books today!

 The Un-Familiar: A Tale of Cats and Gods

To all of you who have followed along for the past 9 days leading up to this, reading the character interviews, and entering into the daily drawing to win a free book, THANK YOU! I sincerely appreciate your support and encouragement.

Congratulations to all the contest winners: Connie D, Bob S, Pat B, Jennifer K, Lori D, Phyllis G, Keith W, Julie N, and Henny H.  I hope you enjoy the story, whichever book you selected. And please consider writing an honest review on Amazon, Goodreads, or other online bookseller websites, and recommending the book to your friends. Word of mouth from satisfied readers is a writer's most effective marketing tool! And please click on Bob's name to check out his blog post about The Un-Familiar---and then read on for more of Bob's great writing.

To wrap up this lead up to the books unveiling, I'll leave you with this: some of the lyrics, and a link to the video, of Demons by Imagine Dragons. I first heard this song while writing an early draft of The Un-Familiar and then, like now, it gave me chills. If ever a song completely captured the essence of a story, this one does for The Un-Familiar. I played it every morning to inspire and motivate me to write. If you've read the character interviews over the past 9 days and/or the first book in the trilogy, Ye Gods!, you'll have some idea of why the words are such a perfect fit. If not, have a listen, read the lyrics, and check back after you've read The Un-Familiar and let me know what you think--is this the perfect theme song for the story, or what?

Demons by Imagine Dragons

(lyrics from http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/imaginedragons/demons.html)

When the days are cold

And the cards all fold
And the saints we see
Are all made of gold

...

I wanna hide the truth

I wanna shelter you
But with the beast inside
There’s nowhere we can hide

No matter what we breed

We still are made of greed
This is my kingdom come
This is my kingdom come

When you feel my heat

Look into my eyes
It’s where my demons hide
It’s where my demons hide

Don’t get too close

It’s dark inside
It’s where my demons hide
It’s where my demons hide

Take a look and listen on YouTube: DEMONS by Imagine Dragons and tell me what you think. Does it give you goosebumps too? If not, it just might after you read The Un-Familiar!

Thank you all again for stopping by to read, entering the contest, and being the supportive, wonderful readers and friends you are!

Interview with the Chupacabra!

Here we are, only ONE DAY TO GO until the release of The Un-Familiar: A Tale of Cats and Gods, and one chance left to win your FREE copy of the book (or of my other two titles, Marina Melee or Ye Gods! A Tale of Dogs and Demons.)

Congratulations to Wednesday's drawing winner, Julie N!

If you haven't won yet, be sure to give it one more go--head over to the Contact page on my website and send me a message to get your name in the hat.

 

Introducing The Star of the Story, the one, the only--

The Chupacabra!

 

Here we are, the day before the release of The Un-Familiar: A Tale of Cats and Gods, with our ninth and final character interview. Today, I'm talking with the character this all revolves around, the chupacabra, aka Chewy, formerly known as Muggle, and before that, Paco, and before that, Toby.  Or, as he's known in some circles, the dog-god of Mercy.

LMH: Welcome, Chewy! OMG, you are sooooo adorable!

Chewy: Yip, yip, yip!

The Chupacabra, aka Chewy, aka Muggle,
aka Paco, aka Toby, aka
the dog-god of Mercy.
 

LMH: Oh, and canine, too. Chewy, sit. Thank you. OK, can I speak to the god?
Chewy (in a play bow, growling): Grrrrrrr.

 

LMH: Chewy? Come on. This is an interview. I need to talk with the god. Can you let him speak?
Chewy: Arf! Arf-arf!

 

LMH: No, I didn't mean "speak" like that, I mean, can Mercy talk with us?
Chewy (runs around the room and grabs a tug-toy.)

 

LMH: Ok, I'll tug for a minute if you promise to settle down afterwards so I can talk with Mercy. Excuse me a moment, folks.

•  
•  

LMH: There. No lay down. Down. Good girl. Mercy? Are you there?
Mercy (with a heavy sigh; his answer comes not in words, but in images and thoughts in my mind): I am here.

 

LMH: Welcome back. It must be rewarding to know so many animals believe in you.
Mercy: I am sad that so many still need to believe in me.

 

LMH: True. So, let's talk about some of the positive things in your life. How about Rafi?

Mercy: Unlike most of your species, Rafi is a good, good man. He deserves mercy and love more than most. He deserves the Captain.

LMH: How about the others: Kiki, Senora Milagros, Carmen?

Mercy: Ah, I love them all. They are remarkable and their life stories are meant to converge. I ensure that happens--with a bang. To find out how, read The Un-Familiar: A Tale of Cats and Gods. Now, I must rest. I will release Chewy. She is eager to play.

 

Confused? As the god said, read The Un-Familiar and you won't be! Available tomorrow, July 1, from Casperian Books, or pre-order now at Amazon.

Now go register HERE for your chance to win a copy!

Character Interview with Rafael Bishop Soto

Welcome to DAY 5 of my 10-day Count Down to the Release of The Un-Familiar: A Tale of Cats and Gods.  On each day for days 1-9, I'm posting an interview with one of the characters. For the listing of when and who will be in each interview, check HERE.

I'm also giving away one FREE BOOK each day until the July 1 release. To win, you have to enter the drawing. To enter, you have to go to my website and send me a message via the CONTACT page.

REMEMBER: Each day is a new contest, so you have to stop by and enter for a chance to win every day.

Congratulations to the winners to date: Connie Denison, Bob Sanchez, Jennifer Killby, and Pat Burke.

The Hubby drawing the name of today's winner from the hat.
Congratulations, Pat!

 

Introducing Rafael Bishop Soto

Rafael Bishop Soto is a newcomer to the trilogy's cast. He was mentioned as Eddie's "other partner" (non-work) in Ye Gods!, but we never met him. Rafi is an incredibly talented artist whose work has been shown in all the best galleries in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, LA, and, of course, Puerto Rico. Rafi has emerged from a tragic and traumatic past, to become a compassionate and caring man. In Ye Gods!, Señora Milagros explained that the god of Mercy takes the form of  a dog "because dogs represent the best of what humans could be...[showing] loyalty, love, perfect forgiveness." Rafi comes the closest of anyone I know to embodying those divine dogly qualities. Here he comes now...

LMH: Welcome, Rafi, it's a pleasure to have you here. Readers following these interviews have already heard quite a bit about you from Kiki. She's smitten.

Rafi: I just adore Kiki. Isn't she a hoot? Some crazy mix of Albert Einstein meets Dora the Explorer meets Elle Woods.

 

LMH: Now that's funny. I'd never thought of her that way, but it fits. I love that you two become such good friends, but let's talk about you. Yesterday, when I spoke with Eddie, he was reluctant to talk about your relationship.

Rafi: Oh, that's Eddie playing macho-cop. He really does do that whole man's-man thing well, doesn't he? You can understand why he has to, right? I mean, a gay guy, and a cop? In Puerto Rico? To get any respect, just to survive, he's always had to prove that he's tough enough. As a kid, and even at the police academy, the other kids would try to beat up on him. But Eddie's a big fella. His father was intent on toughening him up, so Eddie became a great boxer. You should see him. Talk about float like a butterfly! But he doesn't so much sting like a bee, it's more like knock you over like a bulldozer. Anyway, now, as an adult, it's the media and the politicians like former-Mayor Reyes that pick on him. He's had to grow a thick skin and set some firm boundaries between his personal and professional life. Really, a lot of that machismo is to keep everyone from finding out he's a big old softie.

 

LMH: You had a hard time growing up, too. Care to tell us about it? About your parents?

Rafi (He holds turns his arms palms up in front of me. White welts rise up across the wrists): It was hard enough having to retell all that in the book, so I'd rather not go through it again. I can tell you a bit about my parents and that might help you to understand why they did what they did. My father was a good ole boy from Mississippi, stationed here at Ramey Air Force Base, that's where he met my mother. He was southern Baptist and she was, of course, Catholic. That led to a stormy enough marriage. Both families opposed it---his because he was marrying a "brown-skinned foreign heathen" and hers because she was marrying a non-Catholic gringo. When it became clear that, as my father put it, there was something "funny" about me, his parents--I've never met that set of grands. They refused to have anything to do with me or my mother--said that I was God's revenge for the marriage. I was their worst nightmare come true, a gay, raised-Catholic, Latino in the family. Now, my mother's mother, mi abuelita--I called her Yaya--she came around. She did her best to take care of me and protect me. She was as pious as they come, mind you. Going to church every day, twice on Sunday, but she believed whatever God made, however he made it, was perfect, including me, just the way I am.

 

LMH: Have you reconciled with your parents?

Rafi: Yes. Maybe. No, not really. I've seen them and spoken with them, but I won't reconcile with them. I'm still working on the forgiveness part. I have a hard time with that because I know forgiveness doesn't mean accepting or condoning, but sometimes it feels that way. But, that's my issue to deal with, not yours. Let's talk about something a bit more cheerful, shall we?

 

LMH: OK, how about animals? You have quite a way with them, don't you?

Rafi:  I do! No one was more surprised by that than me. The only pet I ever had growing up was a goldfish. They inspired me. I was never more prolific than when they were all in the house. I've got a show coming up soon with my post-hurricane paintings of all the animals. I call it, "They Came Two-by-Two." They didn't, really. They came in droves.

 

LMH: Congratulations! Our time is up now. I know everyone will love meeting you in The Un-Familiar, and look forward to seeing even more of you ahead.  

Rafi: I'm so excited to see what's in store for me in the final book of the trilogy: Ye Goddess: A Tale of Girls and Gods so you had better go get writing!


LMH: Thank you all for stopping by! Now head over to my website to enter for your chance to win a FREE BOOK! You have your choice of books (Marina Melee, Ye Gods! or The Un-Familiar) in print or electronic versions. But you have to register each day to be entered anew each day!

OK, folks! You know the drill: head on over to my website and send me a message via the Contacts page to be entered into today's drawing for a free book! Today's winner will be announced tomorrow morning.

YE GODS! THE CHUPACABRA IS HELPING ANIMALS AGAIN!

The rescue organizations that are tentatively scheduled to receive the donations.
Subject to change based on response and approval by the organization.

 

Part of the plot in Ye Gods! A Tale of Dogs and Demons has to do with animals needing mercy from abuse. In the story, that abuse sometimes comes from neglect, but more often from the misuse of animals for "entertainment" like dogfighting or cockfighting.

As much as I love the Caribbean, and especially the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, one of the dark sides of the region is the prevalence of unwanted animals. Spay/neuter programs have limited success in cultures where emasculating a dog is seen as cruel, but dumping a litter of puppies alongside the road is acceptable. Even where dogfighting is illegal, authorities have a blasé attitude about enforcing those laws.

Needless to say, animal rescue organizations in the region have an uphill battle. The people involved in these operations are true heroes. My friend Guillie Castillo Oriard works with CARF--Curaçao Animal Rescue Foundation--and somehow, even seeing the horrors, she maintains her optimism and enthusiasm.  In this article, she discusses the plight of the animals eloquently. I admire her ability to not use many, many four-letter words regarding those who abuse animals, and to refrain from extracting a bit of "eye-for-an-eye" vengeance on behalf of the animals she works to protect. And she's not that different from all the many, wonderful, and brave individuals who volunteer their time, homes, money, and lives to this worthy cause.

I don't have the heart or the stomach. I know myself enough to know I'd be tempted to start exacting revenge. I'm a curmudgeon enough without seeing first-hand the horrors "humans" can bestow on man's best friend and other animals. So, I'm doing what I can, little as that may be, by donating 100% of the proceeds from e-book sales of Ye Gods! to different rescue organizations each month for the next year.



The e-book cover for
Ye Gods! A Tale of Dogs and Demons

You may ask, "Why donate the profits from ebooks instead of print?" The ebook cost ($4.95, a little higher than the norm for ebooks, but it's for a worthy cause!) is 1/3 that of the print book ($15.00) so wouldn't that be better? The math of book publishing means, from that $15, the printers costs have to be paid, then the publishers costs, then I get my share from that. I actually make less per print book than I do on ebook sales, even at 1/3 the price. That means the recipient organizations get more, too. That doesn't mean I don't want people to buy the print book. I hope those who do purchase the ebook because it's for a good cause will enjoy it so much they'll want the print book for themselves, too. (Or am I the only one who does that?) The second consideration is that many of the organizations who will benefit from the ebook sales are in the Caribbean where shipping costs can make the purchase of print books exorbitant so ebook sales might do better.

The tentative schedule of what organizations will benefit when is below. Ye Gods! is available as an ebook through online book sellers like Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords.

MONTH       ORGANIZATION (*indicates the date/month for this organization to receive proceeds has not been finalized and may change)

May              CARF-Curaçao Animal Rescue Foundation

June              Charleston Animal Society

July               St. John Animal Care Center

August          St. Thomas Humane Society

September     St. Croix Animal Welfare Center

October         Tazewell Animal Rescue Coalition

November      Charleston Animal Society

December       Morningstar Animal Rescue

January           *Pet Helpers, Charleston, SC

February          Animal Rescue Foundation of Rincon

March              St. Croix Animal Welfare Center

April                Broome County Humane Society

It's My Party and I'll Blog If I Want To!

I wrote a guest blog post on Where Writers Win about my Ye Gods! Book Release Party that I held on Facebook on April 1. Hopefully, by sharing my experience, other authors can throw equally (or more) successful online book launch parties!

For authors looking for helpful resources for marketing, take a look at The Winner Circle at Where Writers Win. Members have access to

• Our vetted and RATED directory of the Best Book Review sites for your genre
• Connections to LIVE Book Clubs
• Indie BOOKSTORES in every state
• Indie and Hybrid PUBLISHER resources
• Private WWW Club Forum
• Free online author marketing TOOLS
• DEALS and STEALS on services and conferences
• TEMPLATES and TUTORIALS

...and much more!

Today is the big day--YE GODS! is here!!

That day has finally come! Ye Gods! A Tale of Dogs and Demons is officially released by Casperian Books today!

Stop by the Facebook Virtual Party celebrating the release and discover some amazing authors who will be joining me to discuss their writing, and be entered to win their books!

The schedule of authors and links to their bios and books is in the previous post, so scroll down to see that.

Ye Gods! Book Release Party On Facebook: Details on the Schedule, Authors, and Books

Only ten more days until the release of Ye Gods! A Tale of Dogs and Demons -- and the big Virtual Release Party on Facebook! You're all invited, so stop in and add it to your Facebook Events calendar by clicking HERE.  

 To help you plan your day around the authors you want to chat with and books you'd like a chance to win, here's the Author Appearance Schedule." Click on their names to read about them and their books.

SCHEDULE OF AUTHORS
 Click on the author's name to get to their website and on the book title to see it on Amazon.

TIME	AUTHOR	BOOKS
12-1 pm	Lynne M. Hinkey	Ye Gods! A Tale of Dogs and Demons
		Marina Melee
1-2 pm	Normandie Fischer	Sailing Out of Darkness
		Becalmed
2-3 pm	Peter Bernhardt	The Stasi File
		Kiss of the Shaman's Daughter
3-4 pm	Amy Biddle	The Atheist's Prayer
4-5 pm	Tom Mahony	Pacific Offering
		Flooding Granite
		Imperfect Solitude
5-6 pm	Jo Anne V. Simson	Korea, Are You at Peace?
		The God that Says I Am
6-7 pm	Bob Sanchez	Getting Lucky
		Little Mountain
		When Pigs Fly
7-8 pm	Lynne Hinkey	Ye Gods! A Tale of Dogs and Demons Marina Melee