YvonneThis week’s addition to the shelves here at Fiction Books, once again comes courtesy of the lovely Kelsey McBride at Book Publicity Services.
I always enjoy receiving Kelsey’s emails, as I know that she will have discovered a great new novel for promotion and matched it exactly to the genres she knows I enjoy reading.
Thanks also to Kelsey, for the complimentary Kindle download and to author Roy A. Teel, Jr. for this great guest post … Over To You, Roy!
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This is the book! … ‘RISE OF THE IRON EAGLE’
The city of Los Angeles is no stranger to violence. It has both a colorful and grotesque history with it. Sheriff’s Homicide Detective Jim O’Brian and FBI Profiler Special Agent Steve Hoffman are also no strangers to the violence of the sprawling metropolis, but in the past decade something has changed. There’s a serial killer preying on other serial killers – some known by law enforcement, others well off radar. “The Iron Eagle,” a vigilante, extracts vengeance for the victims of Los Angeles’ serial killers. His methods are meticulous and his killings brutal. With each passing day, “The Iron Eagle” moves with impunity through the streets of Los Angeles in search of his prey. O’Brian and Hoffman create an elite task force with the sole purpose of catching “The Eagle” and bringing him to justice. But the deeper they delve, the more apparent it is that he may very well be one of their own. As the two men stare into the abyss of their search, the eyes of “The Iron Eagle” stare back.
Or a new breed of Justice?
I am a proud cancer survivor and have refused to let MS (Multiple Sclerosis), define my life.
I battled Multiple Sclerosis for nearly 16 years after being diagnosed, by participating in human subjects research at UCLA, spending 12 years as a human research subject. My experience gave me a unique look behind the scenes of medicine and the processes that are required to get drugs through the research chain, from the animal research phase to using those drugs in humans in clinical trials, and, if successful, on to the FDA for approval. I participated in four major experimental drug trials, and one of those ended up giving me thyroid cancer, which was diagnosed in January 2001.
Although I am no longer able to work in a high stress executive environment, my life has taken on a new mission: to inform and entertain. My disability has brought with it an unforeseen blessing. I can finally take medications to alleviate some of the pain from my MS and focus on the pleasures of character creation and the joys of putting words to paper, devoting my energies and passions to the full-time art of storytelling.
My dedication to my work and to human subject research, both inspired my writing, as well as showing the real human condition when laid bare. As an author, I am very diverse and my works include both fiction and nonfiction.
Writing fiction requires research. For instance, in each of my novels, my readers can fact-check subject matter or locations, and they’ll find verifiable information and actual places. Why is this important? Readers not only want to engage with the plot, characters, and places in your writing, but they also want to know that the things you write about have a basis in reality.
One of the biggest mistakes new writers make is not fact-checking and doing their research. If the storyline is not believable, and your readers can’t look up something that you are claiming or using in your writing as a fact, your credibility will take a hit (and it’ll show up on the review pages of Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads, and other review sites). It is paramount that new and established writers do their homework. For the Iron Eagle series, I have consulted with medical professionals, lawyers, medical examiners, local and federal authorities, and prison officials – most of whom are friends, but all are people I trust to confirm my facts. Authors must ensure that they are not only writing a compelling story, but that everything can be verified (which lends credibility to both the story and the author).
On several occasions, a reader or reviewer has said to me, “I couldn’t put your novel down. The places you write about are so vivid. I can see them in my mind’s eye.” I have also received email messages from readers who were impressed with the fact that they looked up some of my terminology, or a place in Los Angeles, and learned that it was a real place or something even scarier than fiction because it was true. Facts make my novels much more real, which has been known to terrify readers (and simultaneously make them crave the next installment).
So, remember, just because you’re writing fiction doesn’t mean that you can ignore facts. It is those details that make fiction compelling and, in many cases, very real for the reader.
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…Mailbox Monday is a gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house during the last week. Be warned that Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.
Mailbox Monday now has a permanent home, where links may be added each week. So why not stop by, leave a link to your own Mailbox Monday post, oh! and don’t forget to leave a comment for our three new joint administrators, after all, we all like to receive them … ‘Mailbox Monday’
Leslie of ‘Under My Apple Tree’
Serena of ‘Savvy Verse & Wit’
Vicki of ‘I’d Rather Be At The Beach’
This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well… you never know where that next “must read” book will come from!
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This is an excellent post, addressing a very important issue. As a great fan of historical fiction, I always appreciate novels being factual… I just hadn’t thought about it as much outside that particular genre. But, yes, I can see that it’s important in any genre where the facts can be checked.
The Iron Eagle series sounds quite interesting. I enjoy stories about vigilantes, the Death Wish movies as a good example.
Thanks for this informative post.
Hi Kelly,
We have also watched the entire Death Wish series … several times … and although they are definitely looking a little jaded now, I think they were actually quite violent for their time!
I don’t actually mind the inferred explicit sexual reference, violence and torture as indicated in the premise of this story, so long as it is written in context with and as an integral part of the storyline. Given the nature and values indicated in Ron’s excellent guest post, I have no doubt that will be the case, which is why I decided to accept ‘Rise Of The Iron Eagle’ for review.
I really enjoyed putting this post together and thank you for all the lovely comments, I really appreciate and value them all 🙂
What a great post, interesting, insightful and thought provoking.
Hi Tracy,
I really enjoy putting together a good quality guest post, very satisfying.
Roy really came up with a completely unique take on fiction writing, which is interesting, informative and well considered.
It made me realize, as a reader of fiction, just how much I value and need, good quality factual information, around which a strong, believable story can be built.
Thanks for taking the time to comment, I appreciate it 🙂
ENJOY your book and your reading week.
Thanks for sharing.
Elizabeth
Silver’s Reviews
My Mailbox Monday
Hi Elizabeth,
This book may take me a little out of my comfort zone, however it is from a genre which I enjoy reading, so I am more than willing to ‘take a punt’ on it, especially if the writing is as informative and descriptive as I would hope!
We haven’t spoken for a while, so I hope that all is well with you and have a good week 🙂
Thanks for sharing this post.
Congrats to Roy on being a survivor and fighting MS.
Roy has an interesting background. His comments about facts are to the point – it may be fantasy but we like some realism and accuracy. 🙂
I have been on an action genre binge so this sounds really good to me.
Have a good week Yvonne.
Hi Martha,
I think that the ‘Rise Of The Iron Eagle’ series, is going to be Action with a capital A!
Also, if you check out the speed with which the series is being released (which is great for anyone who likes to keep continuity with their favourite protagonists), then either Roy has been saving ideas for each storyline for some time, or once he began writing the ideas flowed so quickly that he simply couldn’t stop!
The subject Roy chose for his guest post has certainly provoked some conversation this week and although it raised a subject which is dear to my heart, that of still being able to ‘learn’ something from reading fiction, I could never have got that message across so succinctly as Roy has managed to do!
We haven’t spoken for an age, so thanks very much for taking the time to check out this week’s post and leave comments, I appreciate that 🙂
This is a new-to-me author and book. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Serena,
Roy is certainly on a roll with his writing, as the books in the ‘Iron Eagle’ series, are being published thick and fast.
My aim is therefore to read ‘Rise Of the Iron Eagle’, which is book one in the series, in the knowledge that if I really enjoy its gritty, down-to-earth action and storyline, then I won’t have to wait to carry on with the series, thus maintaining my momentum and interest in the characters and their lives!
Thanks for taking the time to stop by, I hope that all is well with you and that you are reading some great books 🙂
Hi Yvonne,
I want to thank you and your blog readers for all of the wonderful comments on my article on fiction writing. I also wanted to comment on the pace of the series and its development.
As an author facts are paramount to my craft. I write both fiction and nonfiction and have a back list of five other titles that can be reviewed on Amazon.com as well as Barnes and Noble, Smashwords, narrowaypress.com and of course ironeagleseries.com. Several of my nonfiction books are taught in secular and religious universities across the US and around the world so fact checking and research are second nature to me.
I am currently in the process of completing book fourteen in the Eagle series, “Equality in Mercy” for release September 5, 2017 as well as writing book fifteen in the Eagle series, “Metro” for release December 5, 2017. The whole of the series is to span thirty novels ending September 5, 2021.
How do I write so fast and keep the subject matter fresh? The Iron Eagle series while fiction, is a Los Angeles based noir mystery, suspense, thriller series. There is no lack of fodder for the series as the things that happen to people in the novels (while fiction) can and do happen to people in real life. The series also deals with societal situations that affect us all each and every day. One of the things that I work hard to do is to not only make my novels believable and engaging but socially and politically relevant. I average a novel every month to month and a half, with an average word count of 75,000 words.
One of the things that my readers and reviewers love about the series is that as an author I get right to the point. One of my personal pet peeves as a reader is authors who spend half a books content describing unnecessary detail. For example, we don’t need twenty pages per chapter describing a dress, a room, the odors, colors, or detail of the interior or exterior. What I want for my readers is a novel they can sink their teeth into and it bites back… thus the novel is engaged with the reader as much as the reader is engaged with the novel.
When I started the Eagle Series with book one, Rise of The Iron Eagle the series was slated to go three novels, however, the characters became so compelling and the story lines and inspiration so insatiable to me that by May of of last year I had written the first six books in the series and was starting book seven.
Why the fast paced release schedule? I want to cater to both the casual reader as well as the binge reader. Another one of my pet peeves is when an author writes a series and the books are releasing every year or two. A lot can happen in a readers world in that span of time and for the self published author or independently published author (which I am) there is a tremendous amount of competition in the market and lets face it a lot of really, really poor writing.
I have a professional editor who holds her MFA from the University of California Irvine in English and creative writing and who taught English and creative writing from Irvine to Berkley and schools in between, who also happens to be my lovely wife, Tract Teel. Having such a seasoned professorial at my disposal and who has edited ALL of my books fiction and nonfiction for over ten years we have a great working relationship.She is also my toughest critic and really, really presses me to raise the bar, novel after novel. I also have several beta readers who are boldly honest and give great feedback and no novel is released until it has had full editing and then several beta reads and a final pass before going to print. I then work with a professional graphic artists who designs each cover using the Iron Eagle trademark for each book. While it is a painstaking process I want my readers to have the opportunity to read the Eagle novels at their pace fast or slow and not have to wait months or years for the next installment.
Then there is the physical reality, I retired on disability in March of 2011 due to my MS becoming progressive. Now in my twentieth year with this wasting disease, I know that what I can do today does not mean that I will be able to do it tomorrow. Which brings more urgency to my writing and works as a catalyst or muse if you will for my writing. I have learned through my life both in business and in disability retirement, don’t put off anything for there are no tomorrows.
Well ,I am sorry if I was long winded I was very moved by all of the comments here and I wanted to say thank you to everyone who has weighed in. A few notes for your readers, book one, Rise of The Iron Eagle is now FREE for all ereaders and will remain FREE to ereaders for the life of the series. The ebook can be downloaded for Kindle, Nook, IBooks, or any other ereader FREE at the Iron Eagle Series website. Also, Amazon is currently running a FREE giveaway of book one for Kindle as I write so if any of your readers would like to read the book that started it all it is FREE on almost all sites. Also, I will be appearing at Mysterious Galaxy Book Store in San Diego, CA on Sunday September 20th 2015 from 2-3PM. I will be doing a brief reading from book one and the latest release book six “Devil’s Chair” in the Eagle Series followed by a Q&A and then a book signing. So to any of your readers in the San Diego area please stop by and visit with me, I will also have the first six books at the signing in hardcover and a limited number of book seven, “Death’s Valley” in hardcover that will be available at the signing… that title will not release to the general public until December 5, 2015… but!
Some great comments and questions I’m glad I was able to stir up some conversation. I want to thank you and all of your readers for their feedback. I am happy to answer any questions that anyone has about my thirty novel Iron Eagle Series. Your readers can feel free to drop me an email at rteel@narrowaypress.com with questions about the series.
Thank you all for your feedback I wish you all the best.
Peace,
Dr. Roy A. Teel Jr., Author
The Iron Eagle Series
Hi Roy,
Thank you so much for your kind words.
It always means so much when an author takes the time and trouble to respond to comments and engage with readers and potential readers … and in such a personal way!
This was almost akin to having a ‘second bite of the cherry’, a whole second mini guest post, which was as interesting and informative as the original 🙂
My own mother lived with MS for over 40 years, some of which time was during the period both myself and my younger brother were growing up, so I can relate to some of the both physical and mental challenges you must be dealing with. Sadly my mother’s fight ended almost 3 years ago, so I totally agree with what you say about living life for the moment!
Once again, I can only thank you for being such a gracious guest and wish you all the best for the future.
It sounds like the author has been through so much battling MS. His strength and drive are inspiring.
I find that the best authors put alot of facts into their writing. He is right about the credibility part.
The series sounds good, best of luck! Happy reading Yvonne.
Hi Naida,
To have battled MS and Cancer, yet still have the motivation to write professionally, is truly inspirational. To have a definite plan in place to complete a 30 book series is even more amazing, although given the speed with which each new installment is being released, it sounds as though Roy has no shortage of ideas for storylines and is committing them to print just as quickly as he can!
I also enjoy stories with as much factual information as can comfortably be incorporated. It is satisfying to know that I am actually learning something new, whilst I am reading fiction!
Thanks for taking the time to add your comments to the post, I really appreciate the time and trouble you take 🙂