New competition! + TDX2 comments!

Just got to hear about a new competition, thought I's try it, the “Dear Lucky Agent” contest,for Young Adult and Sci-fi writers
http://tinyurl.com/a8msdw2
The prizes...
Top 3 winners all get:
1) A critique of the first 10 double-spaced pages of your work, by your agent judge.
2) A free one-year subscription to WritersMarket.com ($50 value)!

I'm not really entering for the prizes, just for the chance of winning...:-)

I also got a few comments on authonomy.com for TDX2 !

I find this fun and very easy on the eyes. You main characters are working well for you here and are going to continue to do so but you need to push the book. I do think you have a little gem here. Good narrative voice, good story line, nice flow and good pitch. Well done and I can score this high as I see good things ahead.

Lighter, smaller, but still great! And it's so short I can read it again and again! Watch out for my 'TT'! lol

Article and NEW interview!

Yes, Paul Dorset (John Cox) allowed me to add an article to his blog. It's about 'Good' literature and how to 'assess' it. I can't reproduce it here, so here's the link :-)
I also had an interview last night with Justin Bienvenue, he's put it on his website here...but I'm the 2nd of 3000 on the same page, which will change in a day or two, and he's spelt my name wrong (D.A. Caile)..so here it is...

Interview with D.A (??) Caile.

1. I haven’t come across many writers of Humor, what can you tell us about it and what it’s like for you to write about?

I didn't choose to write humor, it chose me. I wanted to write serious literature, full of prose and heart, so deep, so wonderful. But when I tried, I found myself laughing. It wasn't me, I'm sardonic, I can't write seriously. So I wrote sardonically, and this strange quirky corny style appeared. I felt proud of it, so I stuck to it.

2. Care to tell us about your recent novel and your other distinct works?

I have 3 books and a free novella out at the moment, all based on the same quirky universe using the same basic characters throughout the series, ie. Satan, God, hobgoblins, angels, monkeys…sorry, humans, and plenty of anti-heros. Due to interviews such as this one, people are starting to wake up to them. I'm also working on my 4th book at the moment, 'Manna-X', and it's going well. My free novella 'TDX2' is still available for download if anyone's interested :-)

3. What is it like to write about Fantasy Fiction?

You can create your own world in fantasy fiction, bend the rules. When I first wrote in my style, I got stuck but then I realised, it's fantasy, anything goes, use your imagination and ideas. So I did. Now the words 'unique, original, different' appear among comments made by my readers.

4. How has being an English teacher and proofreading come in handy and helped you in your writing as an author?

Teaching English helps with my own lousy use of grammar and lexicon, and it also gives me an opportunity to 'play' with the language. Sometimes a student says something strange and it sparks off a crazy idea. Proofreading hasn't helped, though, I can't seem to edit my own work!

5. What type of publishing do you usually go with and how has the experience been for you?

Self-publishing. I have no patience to wait until forever to get a rejection letter from those publishers who are open for submissions. I have a tiny reader base, which has a chance to grow…any day now…I'm sure of it…almost positive…, and I'm happy to self-publish and give them and myself the opportunity to read what I have written. Those who've read all my books can't wait for the next one.

6. Is there a certain trait or theme you always try to incorporate into your novels?

Perhaps that good wins over evil, not so believeable, I know. Ever heard of 'conceptual continuity'? It was a Zappa thing, and that's what I always try to incoporate, links between books, kind of inside jokes. Or using the same characters, ie. Sniff and Grint, the hobgoblins, or my favourite, Graham Reader, the Grim Reaper.

7. I noticed you keep track of votes and downloads of your books, I myself do the same sometimes, Why do you think this is important as an author to do?

As a small self-published author, I'm 'on my own', I don't have editors and agents and a large publishing firm behind me. Keeping up with any information about my writing 'career' allows myself and my readers to be in the picture about what's going on. Every download and vote is important to my 'well-being'.

8. Where do you get the inspiration for some of your humorous quirky stories?

From my environment, my surroundings, what I read, what I see, I experience. The best thing for me is to forget about writing and live. Then things happen. Strange things. Or is it just me?

9. Since you’re a man of humor got any good jokes or a funny tale to share with us?

Ha! A tale? I don't know about funny, but typical, and it's real. A couple's internet goes on the blink, it takes the service provider 4 months to send out an engineer. Engineers come out but can't find the manhole cover for the cable. The council dig a hole in the pavement for the engineer to sort out the cable. After one week, the council fill the hole up again. One hour later, the service provider engineer comes to sort out the cable and finds no hole, so he leaves. Months go by with lots of calls and finally another engineer appears. He climbs the electricity pylon.
"Where ya goin'?"
"Up the pole. The cable's up here."

10. What have you found to be a solid factor in the writing and making of a quality novel?

Ooo, tricky. First, stick to Freytag's pyramid, it's a winner. And second, write from your own experience, make it real, all your dialogues, actions, descriptions. No pretending, no 'fakeness'. Other than that, in my opinion it's all subjective. Thanks for questions :-)


Links:

TDX2 free download
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view...

Books on Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_nos...

Blog
http://danijcaile.blogspot.hu/

Update on Everything! TDX2, Not Me, books, articles, intervierws...

Update on everything :-)
My new little free novella 'TDX2' on Smashwords.com is now on...
TDX2 - 92 downloads, 4 libraries, 60 'Likes'
Francine, a devil of a reviewer on Goodreads (174 reviews, all VERY honest) wrote...
I read the novella I told you I would, TDX2, I put it up under my reviews. I loved it, was funny. I'll add it to my blog later tonight or tomorrow. Thanks for letting me read it!
Her review was 4 out of 5 stars...
A humourous romp through the afterlife! A lot of fun to read, had me laughing out loud a lot of times and other times wondering if I'd end up like the main character, too dull to die!
I also got 1 review from Anita (thanks) 5 out of 5 stars...
Good story, worth to read it. Dani's books are smart, funny and give you a new perspective. I've read them all, can't wait for the next one.
But I got 2 out 5 stars from a Goodreads member :-( ...then I saw how she (I'm guessing) rated other books, lots of 2s and 3s. She gave 'Catch 22'  3 stars...how can you do that?? Anyway, this is going to happen, not everyone's going to like it.

My 99 cents Kindles are rated like this now...
Rage - Amazon.com Kindle rating : 515,539
Beth - Amazon. com Kindle rating: 627,689
MBAT Amazon. com Kindle rating: 995,550
Trilogy Amazon. com Kindle rating:1,284,612

And my 55 word story on Austin Briggs website has: +65 from 71 votes (3 voted minus) with 2 comments...
Akos commented: How can you be sure it was you? What if it wasn’t? Funny short one. Make more:-)))
Carl commented: That was a funny story

I'm also waiting on 1 article and 1 new interview from Paul Dorset's website :-) The article is about 'good' literature and how subjective it all is, and the interview is about...me :-)

Sniff and Grint are back!

Yes, not only is Graham Reader, the anti-hero Grim Reaper, in my next book, but Sniff and Grint are back!
Check out the first draft of their first scene :-)

No matter how many times Ekron hit the 'reset' button, the radar still showed the abnormalites. Slumped over his bench, he gazed into the bleeping screen.

"Okay, guys. Compared to you, I'm new here. Just what exactly is this?" Ekron looked over to his two workmates. They were both sitting on deckchairs, lying in the rays of three large neon signs they'd stolen from a local chain of pizzerias, sipping on their homemade Mai Tais.

"Eh?"

"I said, what is this?"

"Can't you see we're busy?" Sniff spat his straw out and punched Grint in the side. "Go and see what he wants."

"Eh?"

"I said...never mind." Sniff recognised Grint's 'eh?' routine. He could play it all day. He got off his deckchair and dragged his ugly little hobgoblin body over to the radar while cursing Ekron under his breath.

"Look." Ekron pointed to the 4 abnormalites. Sniff tried to wipe them off the screen with his soggy booger-ridden sleeve, adding some abnormalities of his own. "Thanks a lot." Ekron cleaned the screen with a rag.

"Mmm. What are they?"

"You tell me. Monkeys, souls, dogs, cats, and any other animal you can think of, it's all there, but those...the system doesn't recognise them."

"Oh, is that why they're flashing red?"

"I guess so, I don't know." Ekron had been stationed here at Outpost 452 for only a few months, he hadn't seen much action in that time. Pick up a soul or two, go investigate the occasional do-badder, but nothing like this. Sniff tapped the screen a few times.

"Is it a bug?"

"I told you, I don't know. I'm going to have to report this."

"What?" Sniff had already covered the communication switch with his hand. "Do you know what'll happen if you do?"

"What?"

"Something."

"Something? What do you mean?"

"Something will happen. Why d'ya wanna go and do a thing like that? We're all nice and peaceful here."

"You are. Look, it's not going away. There's a problem, we have to report it."

After a short staring match, Sniff let go of the communication switch.

"Okay, but I warned you. Remember that." Ekron hit the switch and contacted Headquarters.

New book, new ideas

TDX2 Free ebook still going strong, 84 downloads, 3 libraries and 38 likes, and I'm still waiting for Premium status to be sent out to all places. I also have 58+ votes for my 55 word story, let's see what Mr. Briggs thinks of that at the end of the month. I'm thinking 1 of 2 things, either nothing or something.
New book! New ideas! This one has been rattling around in my head for a while now, and finally I have some actual words written down, about 3000 or so.
It's amazing how writing works. I have a pen that seems to help me bring out quirky ideas, and once one idea is down, more appear, maybe 2 or 3, so you write them down, then a few more appear... Need a bit more research for this one, too. I'll finally get Moses in on the act, and the Overlords, too, cunningly (not) disguised as Men in Black, and Graham Reader (Yeh!) is back, with a female monkey...sorry...human sidekick. Oh, it's coming along nicely :-) Slowly, but nicely...

4th book Extract 1...

Now 80 downloads for TDX2, I was hoping for 100+, who knows, but I've really squeezed the networks I know to get that.
I now have 55 + votes from 59 for Austin Briggs 55 word story competition, thanks to my friends. Unfortunately, the votes aren't the only thing which he judges by. The judgement criteria includes votes BUT the final decision comes from how awesome he thinks your story is. Maybe no 55 dollars. I really needed the money. It's a good story, so much back-story to it. The guy thinks the baby is his, but who knows? Only the girl. But he's so big-headed he thinks it must be him. Anyway, fingers crossed.
The 4th book...based in Budapest, with a ton of historical facts behind it. Read an extract from Chapter 1...

If this wasn't far enough, then he didn't know what was. Out in the middle of nowhere, far from any living man, creature or tree, days from his last encounter with any kind of settlement, Rihat began to dig. Stopping only to listen to the faint sounds on the breeze, he dug deeper under the light of the moon and the stars. With a distant howl of a wolf, Rihat protected his precious cargo, an instinct bordering on paranoia. His Master had told him to run like the wind, run as far and as fast as he could, allow no one to take or touch the item which he carried, and hide it for all eternity, away from the imminent destruction of the temple in the holy city, away from the hearts and minds of all humanity...

"Szia."

Rihat abruptly stood up in his now 3-foot deep hole. He looked around, scanning the open plain lit up by the moon and saw no one. After some moments of silence, he began digging in earnest once again, thinking it was only his mind playing tricks.

"Ahoj."

A second sound. Someone was here, or were they? Was that a word he'd heard? It was from no language he knew. He'd been roaming north now for well over 3 weeks, it could be anything.

"Yassou.”

Rihat was sure that was Greek. He knew a little Greek, Stavros was his name.

"Hello."

That was Rihat's language.

"Hello?"

"Hello! What ya doing?"

There was someone else in this open plain. Jumping out of his hole, Rihat grabbed the sack containing his heavy burden, started running into the night, and tripped into another larger and much deeper hole. On landing, he heard the snapping of wood and knew it wasn't.

"Argh!"

"You wanna watch that. Oh dear. Are you alright?"

55 word contest + TDX2 Update 2

Austin Briggs, a fine chap, has a 55 word story competition online. If you have the most Votes at the end of the month, you win 55 dollars. Please click, read and if you like it, vote!! :-) I need 55 dollars.
http://austinbriggs.com/flash-fiction-contest/not-me/
Update on TDX2...10 days online for free AT Smashwords...https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/273975... 74 downloads, 18 Likes and in 3 libraries (I really don't know what the libraries are, but hey). Awaiting a review, perhaps more will come. It's a nice little story, just an advert to my style of writing, really, but a nice little romp in itself.