Escaping Psychiatry in audio. Sample and possibility of a FREE copy!

Hi all:

I know I’ve been talking about the audio for my book Escaping Psychiatry for a long time. That is because although the recording took place last year (go and meet great actor, writer, and director Alan Cooke (Wild Irish Poet) http://on.fb.me/17fv3IL I nearly forgot to add he won an Emmy) the distribution proved a bit complicated, although now that ACX is accepting audios from the UK I finally managed to get it out there and available.

Let me tell  you a bit about it:

Escaping Psychiatry (audiobook) by Olga Núñez Miret. Narrated by Alan Cooke

‘Escaping Psychiatry’ has it all: intriguing characters, noir style, thrilling pursuits, dangerous situations, crime, serial killers, religion, family secrets, murder, psychological insights, mental illness, trauma, debates about prejudice and morality, heated trials, police investigations, corruption, and mystery. If you enjoy ‘Wire in the Blood’, ‘Cracker’ and ‘Lie to Me’ and you are not scared of going deeper and darker, dare to keep listening.

Narrated by Emmy Award Winner Actor, Writer and Director Alan Cooke (a.k.a. Wild Irish Poet http://on.fb.me/151c1Js) this audio version makes the character live and will hook you from the very beginning.
‘Escaping Psychiatry’ is a collection of three stories with the same protagonist, Mary, a psychiatrist and writer. She is trying to develop her literary career but circumstances and friends conspire to keep dragging her back to psychiatry.
In ‘Cannon Fodder’, Phil, a lawyer who and Mary’s friend asks her to provide a report on one of his clients, a young African-American man called Cain White. Cain is a very religious man and has been accused of inciting a riot at a religious meeting. He says he can hear God’s voice. He insists that God is black and his appears to be a Black Nationalist message. Is Cain insane, deluded, misguided, looking for media-attention, or a Saint? To find an answer to these questions Mary talks to his family and friends. Although she concludes he is sane,Mary’s investigation uncovers some very damaging revelations about his family life, beliefs and local attitudes. Who is a saint and who is a sinner is a matter for debate. The more Mary gets involved in the lives of Cain and those close to him the more she realises how dangerous secrets are. Like time-bombs ready to set off any minute.
‘Teamwork’: Captain Tom McLeod, from the San Francisco Police Department, invites Mary for a meal at home with his wife. When she meets their other guest, a young detective called Justin, she quickly realises there is an agenda well beyond a friendly meal. Justin’s partner, mentor and father figure, Sgt David Leaman, was killed a couple of months earlier during a routine investigation. Justin witnessed the event but he insists in going back to work and refusing any therapy or counselling. Tom and others at the department are concerned about his mental state but have failed to convince him to accept professional help. Both Mary and Justin are reluctant to engage in the ambush/informal consultation organised, but eventually decide to give it a try. At first sight it appears to be a straight forward case of unresolved grief, but things aren’t as clear-cut as they appear and Mary ends up getting too personally involved with the case, to the detriment of her professional objectivity.
In ‘Memory’, Mary runs out of her apartment after a difficult encounter with her friend Phil, and goes missing. When she is found it seems that she was hit in the head, abducted, raped and she is suffering from amnesia. She never recovers memory for the assault and finds it difficult to come to terms with something she cannot recall.  The clues point towards a serial killer who could not finish his job in her case. But some things do not fit in. Who disturbed the killer? Why was she left there? The crime and the investigation surrounding it have a profound impact on Mary who decides that she needs to reconsider her life and start anew.
The epilogue revisits Mary at the point of the trial of her abductor and sees what changes have taken place in her life. Will she finally manage to Escape Psychiatry?
Although these stories are fictional, the author, a forensic psychiatrist, brings her expertise and insight to the material, lifting it above a standard crime caper.

Oh, you’re asking me where can you get it? I thought you’d never ask!

In ACX:

https://www.acx.com/titleview/A3BFLIDHTMBKVI

In Audible UK:

http://bit.ly/Tn1KUv

 

In Audible.com

http://bit.ly/TBE1Af

In Amazon (everywhere):

Short:

http://bit.ly/1rMoqtz

ACX very kindly offered me a number (not telling you how many) codes that can be used to download a free copy of Escaping Psychiatry. I have codes for Audible. co.uk and Audible.com. At the moment I’m trying to coordinate some joint promotions with other authors who have also published audiobooks but wandered if you had any ideas of what would be the best way to use these codes. Any thoughts?

Ah, and there’s is another option to get it for free. If you’ve never downloaded any audiobooks in Audible, they offer you the first title for free (and what’s more, they’re so happy they offer me a bonus). So…you have no excuse not to listen.

In case you need more convincing, I leave you a video in YouTube showcasing a sample of the book, from the first story, Cannon Fodder. (Sorry. It’s my first attempt at one of these things but the sample is good. The visuals are all my fault, I’m afraid.)

http://youtu.be/oZyVpOdgqtc

Thanks very much for reading, and watching, and listening, and if you’ve liked it, you know, like, comment, share, and CLICK!

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Autor invitado. Luís Hernanz Burrezo y ‘El evangelio del traidor’

Como suelo hacer los viernes os traigo un autor invitado, otro de los escritores a los que he conocido a través de uno de los grupos en Facebook, Luís Hernanz Burrezo. Luís ha creado una obra histórica, con mucha intriga, y además, para conseguir hacerla accesible a todo el mundo, la ha publicado no solo en formato electrónico y en papel, sino también en audio.

El evangelio del traidor de Luís Hernanz Burrezo

Sinopsis

Nada vi de lo que conté. Yo no estuve allí… Así comienza un anciano el epílogo de sus recuerdos. Epílogo porque su mundo, el de Platón o Pitágoras, muere aunque aún no lo sabe. El nuevo tendrá al Christos y la fe como ejes, y él ha contribuido decisivamente a su alumbramiento.

Ve con los ojos del pasado, con los ojos de Marco Marcio, un centurión que, desde la cima del Monte de los Olivos, contempla la agonía de una Jerusalén cercada por las legiones de Tito. Marco es romano, griego y judío, y aún no sabe que su participación será determinante para la caída de la ciudad. No conoce los hechos que tuvieron lugar allí y en el arrasado huerto de Getsemaní, hace menos de cuarenta años. Está lejos de suponer que escribirá el Evanghelion de Jesús el Nazoreno. Ignora que pronto la muerte pasará rozándolo.

Recuerda, con la claridad de los ancianos, cuándo deja de ser dueño de sus días para ser el juguete de dioses crueles. Cómo en su camino se cruza una niña que crece en el templo de Isis en Alejandría y que lo llevará por el camino de la gnosis; y también recuerda a un niño, que entrega el Ynis Dywill, la Isla Oscura de los druidas, al gobernador romano de Britania, convirtiéndose, cuando sea un hombre, en el prisma que reflejará la luz oscura del mundo.

Vuelven a él el rastro de sangre y cadáveres que deja su paso por Cesarea, la deslumbrante estela del faro de Alejandría y de su biblioteca, los días de luz de la redacción del evangelio, la felicidad de los años junto a Sofía en el Didaskalion, la escuela catequista, cuando sólo es Markos. Hasta que un oscuro día de diciembre el viento del fatum lo lleva a Roma. Allí presencia y padece las disputas teológicas con una ecclesia romana que antepone la fe a todo y busca ser la cabeza de todas las iglesias con la mortífera lucha por la sucesión imperial como telón de fondo.

Y al final de todo siempre le espera Obriénicus, su alter ego. El joven britano, con la dignidad de prefecto del pretorio, cercano al emperador Domiciano, es el único capaz de entender la enorme herramienta de poder que es, en realidad, la nueva religión de los cristianos. En la lucha que estalla para salvar lo que queda de su mundo, habrá una traición que no podrá evitar cometer, un inmenso tesoro que no existe y todos buscan y una victoria que, de alcanzar, lo destruirá.

Luís tiene una página de web, donde además de la información sobre su obra y enlaces para obtenerla en varios formatos, también da consejos, ofrece muestras del audio, y de todo un poco. Aquí os la dejo para que podáis explorarla a vuestro gusto:

www.elevangeliodeltraidor.com

Gracias a Luís por venir de invitado, gracias a todos vosotros por leer, y si os ha gustado, ya sabéis, comentad, compartid y haced CLIC!

Coctail of reviews: ‘A Plague of Dissent’, ‘A Year of Book Marketing Part 1’, ‘Naked in New York’ and ‘The Key to Success’.

As you know I usually tend to write about…well, writing, on Tuesdays’ posts. I had an ‘interesting’ week last week (I got stranded in Charles de Gaulle airport due to the snow and ended up spending most of two days there. I didn’t sleep there thanks to my friend Iman and her family, and the RER [train line], but otherwise…). The change of plans gave me time to finish reading some books I had pending and I’ve done a number of reviews. I thought I’d post them here too, all together, for your enjoyment. I’ve also included the translation of the review of a book in Spanish ‘La llave del éxito’. They are all five star reviews, but very different books. I’ve also included links and hope you feel interested enough to have a look at them. And on Friday I have a guest author: Nicole Fergusson…Really looking forward to her post.

Don’t forget to click!

Nic Taylor’s A Plague of Dissent

‘Be Scared, Be Very Scared’

Don’t let the title of my review put you off. No, Nic Taylor’s A Plague of Dissent is not a horror book (although I love horror books). At least not a horror genre book. What the title refers to is the slow realisation – whilst reading the novel – that it is not only topical and the socio/historical events described very close to the bone, but the fictional elements are more than plausible. Although one might have a different opinion as to some of the premises (who organises the terrorist attacks and their reasons, for example), the actual details and planning of it sound incredibly convincing and the more horrifying for it.

The author is well versed in British current affairs and he uses them to create a multilayered background to his fictional (? we hope) story. Recent big news items (phone hacking scandal and enquiry, riots, allegations of child pornography, coalition government…) are not only part of the setting of the novel but become an integral part of the plot, and they are seamlessly woven together to create a complex and realistic tapestry. I live in the UK and must say some of the incidents and situations made me chuckle.

The novel is extremely well plotted and even minor incidents that at first sight might appear insignificant are eventually relevant and their significance revealed. A woman accidentally ran over by a car, a man caught up in the riots and injured, a rugby training session…everything falls into place like a well-oiled machine.

We get to know the main characters gradually, and they reveal themselves to be not only likeable, but also true heroes. Adam is a fantastic protagonist, who goes from being maligned by the media; in an attempt at revenge by a jealous husband, to risking his life to save…well, everybody. His brother, Dan, Ron, his friend and special agent, Isobel, his love interest, the few honest detectives and policemen, are all real people you can relate to but make a larger than life cast who can take on any situation. You would want them by your side in a moment of crisis.

‘A Plague’ is cinematic in its style, moving with ease from sweeping takes that quickly provide a general view of the national and international situation and the consequences of the events narrated, to minute takes of details such as weaponry, computer files and medication. The pace accelerates and you become gripped by the events, at once thrilled and worried as to what would happen if it were real. Would there be enough honest members of the police, and concerned citizens (like Adam and friends) to halt such a terrorist ploy?

I don’t want to give away too many of the details of the novel as not to spoil the many surprises, but I won’t hesitate in recommending it to anybody who enjoys well plotted thrillers, conspiracy theory based stories, current affairs (not only British but international), spy novels…In summary, anybody who loves a good book. I was pleased to read that Nic Taylor is planning to follow ‘A Plague’ with at least two more novels. I for one can’t wait.

Here is the link to the book in Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/A-Plague-Of-Dissent-ebook/dp/B00BRI7YMQ/

A Year of Book Marketing Part 1. Marketing Your Book One Day At A Time by Heather Hart.

I was familiar with Mrs. Hart’s work from some of the publications she has co-authored like ‘Book Marketing 101: Marketing Your Book on a Shoestring’ and the writers’ group of same name in LinkedIn. I asked for a copy of her book when I read her reply to another author who was after novel ways of marketing his book, and a bit tired of ‘same-old, same-old’. She kindly offered me a free copy in exchange for a review and I’m pleased to be able to respond in kind.

The idea behind the book is that it can be used (after reading the first three chapters that contain general advice on marketing, particularly useful to the novice writer) as a daily prompt/calendar, that instead of only having quotations for the day, contains an idea or marketing prompt for each day. The idea is explored in some detail and follows a quotation. Some of the quotations were familiar already (not less useful because of that), some less so, but all were at once reflective and encouraging. The clear message (if it can be simplified into one) is: work hard, consistently, focus on what works for you and you enjoy, but don’t be afraid to try new things. And Rome wasn’t built in a day.

I’m fairly new to self-publishing and marketing, although I have been trying my hand at it for a few months. I found reading Ms. Hart’s book that I’d tried some of the ideas suggested, some would not be workable for me at the moment (I’ve only published e-books so far and some of the ideas require a physical book), and some…Well, I should try. I’ve left notes to myself, and even before I read the whole book I checked the appendix and started listing my book on some of the free sites I hadn’t tried yet.

Ms. Hart’s style is easy to follow, engaging, and I particularly liked her sharing her own experiences and insights, including things she did not feel comfortable doing, and her less than successful efforts. I also liked the pace of the book, the encouragement it offers, and its emphasis on having a long-term plan, checking what one is doing and trying to maximise that, rather than frantically trying everything at once.

I read the whole book at once, rather than using it as it is intended (and that’s a limitation of my review), but will definitely be taking her advice at heart and trying some of the ideas I hadn’t considered (and some I’ve been thinking about but haven’t quite got around to…).

In conclusion I would recommend it to anybody who is into the publishing business, no matter the genre, and who feels they could benefit from encouragement and not heavy-handed expertise. And I will be looking forward to part 2.

Click on the link to buy it in Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Year-Book-Marketing-Part-ebook/dp/B00AVGUSVO/

Naked in New York. A Memoir by Emmy Winning Writer Alan Cooke

Naked in New York is one of those books that we might never have come across unless circumstances conspired to bring them to our attention, but once they do we feel fortunate because they enrich our lives.

Although I love poetry (or some poetry at least) I don’t regularly read it. I came across the author’s YouTube video where he reads an excerpt of this book (that at that point was not yet published) in Facebook. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoVOnxcdJjg

Alan Cooke is an actor, writer (poet), filmmaker, and hearing him read ‘Naked in New York’ is an experience that I can recommend wholeheartedly. It’s mesmerising, emotional and ravishing. (His audiobook is available in his website).

The memoir describes the five years the author spent in New York, shortly after the 9/11 attack. He is not only an observer but also a participant that immerses himself in the city, its people, and its atmosphere that had been hardly shaken by the incident, an open wound that has left an indelible scar. His is not a story of the American Dream come true (at times quite the opposite), but even if it was just a necessary condition to get to write this book, it would have been more than worth it.

I have had the advantage of listening to a copy of the audiobook read by the author. It has made me stop on my tracks more than once, left me speechless because of the beauty of a sentence or a moment, made me sad at times (like when he reflects upon 9/11 or on the fate of the less fortunate inhabitants of the city), made me smile (a small gesture noted, a deep shared moment with a stranger, the bird having a bath and smiling), and made me reflect and think back to moments and experiences I could identify with. I might have thought it, but he says it much better.

Naked in New York is beautiful, heartfelt, insightful, self-reflective, personal and universal at the same time. It is truly human. I can’t think of anybody who would not like this book, and I would be worried about anybody who does not. Please read it and tell others about it. There isn’t enough beauty around. We must promote it.

Click on the link to buy the book it on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Naked-In-New-York-ebook/dp/B00BMCWR88/

Click on the webpage to buy the audiobook:

http://www.wildirishpoet.com

The Key to Success. Be noticed in Amazon: Marketing for writers by Armando Rodera

I am a writer and started to publish e-books a few months ago. From that moment on (although now I know I should have started well before that, but we can always learn something new) I’ve been reading a fair amount about book marketing. I have watched podcasts, I have read how to guides, books, YouTube videos, I have taken part in groups and discussions…What I mean is this is not the first book I read about it.

What makes Armando Rodera’s book different to all the others? (Because I can assure you it’s very different). Although the majority of these book have personal examples to share about what worked or did not work for the person writing the book in their efforts at marketing, The Key to Success is something other than just a marketing book, it is the story (or as we’ve heard so often these days the ‘journey’) of the path that Mr Rodera has followed since he discovered his vocation and love for writing up to now when he’s a world renown author.

The author offers advice, but it’s based on personal experience, rather than on strategies, plans and boring formulae that might or might not apply to the personal circumstances and taste of each reader. It is a publishing business’s (independent publishing mostly) guide , but one of this annotated guides, where one pauses to read about the typical dishes of the area, the customs and habits of the people, and the folklore of the region. It’s a guide for the traveller of discerning taste and good palate.

Another thing that makes the book exceptional (in my opinion the most important one) is the sheer quality of the writing. The majority of the marketing books I’ve read are written in a fairly simple and practical way, and that’s it. The Key to Success is different. When I was reading it there came a moment when I was no longer focused on the advice and I just concentrated on the pleasure of reading the book. I can assure you that any person who reads the book and has not read any of the author’s novels will feel compelled to read them.

Read The Key to Success. Use the good advice, but most of all, enjoy the prose and style of Armando Rodera. I believe this is the real key to his success.

Click to buy it (in Spanish) here:

http://www.amazon.com/LLAVE-%C3%89XITO-Spanish-Edition-ebook/dp/B00ARJUSFQ/

Thanks for reading and don’t forget to CLICK. I’m checking!