Pump Up Your Book Presents A Session Director’s Guide to Commercial Acting in L.A. Book Blitz – Win $25 Amazon Gift Card

Pump Up Your Book is pleased to bring you Shaan Sharma’s A SESSION DIRECTOR’S GUIDE TO COMMERCIAL ACTING IN L.A. book blitz November 3 – 28!

Shaan Sharma’s A SESSION DIRECTOR’S GUIDE TO COMMERCIAL ACTING IN L.A. is the commercial acting industry’s most comprehensive book ever written – - giving readers a step-by-step guide to breaking into and prospering in the commercial acting business in the world’s entertainment center, Los Angeles. Fusing his experience, wisdom, vignettes and wit – Sharma is about to change the lives of those who thought big-picture acting was nothing but a fantasy, as well as those commercial veterans who could be even more successful.
Readers of this book will learn how to become successful working actors in TV commercials in Los Angeles in this fun step-by-step guide by top Casting Session Director and Commercial Actor Shaan Sharma. “This isn’t hype – it’s tangible advice I have gained from running auditions for over 400 commercial spots,” says Sharma. “Readers will hit the ground running as they discover how the business works and what to expect, how to find good acting classes, refine their look, get headshots, get representation, get in with the top commercial casting directors, navigate the audition and call-back process, life on set and even how to stay busy between acting jobs. There’s also a bonus chapter for parents interested in getting their children into acting. The commercial acting world is so different
than that of theater, TV and film that new students and veterans alike need to make the most of the time and money they invest in their careers.”
Shaan went on to say, “The kind of information in this book can only come from someone who has experience both in front of and behind the camera, who works with the top casting directors, directors, ad agencies and companies in the world. There are no other books out there like it. So, if you want to get into commercial acting in L.A. – this is your guidebook.”
Having directed audition sessions for over four hundred national commercial spots for dozens of L.A.’s top casting directors, Shaan Sharma is a well-known veteran of his industry. Now expanding his reach through a powerful new book, Shaan is looking to help thousands of actors better navigate their way through the commercial acting business by putting into practice the tips and information he has spent fifteen years discovering. Regardless of experience level, A SESSION DIRECTOR’S 



GUIDE TO COMMERCIAL ACTING IN L.A. contains insider knowledge that will help actors better understand the process and in turn be more successful.  Shaan’s book features compelling illustrations by Paul Loudon.
203 pages
E-book, $19.99; ISBN:  9780990408024
Softback, $29.99; ISBN: 9780990408000
Publication date:  September 22, 2014
Published by CreateSpace; Available at: Apple iBooks: http://bit.ly/VGv766; Amazon Kindle: http://amzn.to/1vFnTtK; Barnes and Noble Nook: http://bit.ly/1xjHmTv; Kobo: http://bit.ly/1magu4h

As an L.A. actor himself, Shaan Sharma has a string of impressive acting credits on network TV shows such as “Scandal,” “Ground Floor,”  “Growing Up Fisher,”  “Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street” and “The Thundermans.”   Shaan’s commercial acting credits  include spots for FedEx, Best Buy and Capital One  – -  but it’s his experience as a Session Director for hundreds of commercial castings that have given him unique insight into what it takes to be a working actor. He is also an acting teacher with regular scene study on-camera acting classes for film and TV as well as commercial acting workshops. For more information, visit Mr. Sharma’s official website: http://shaansharma.com and his book page at: http://shaansharma.com/Shaan_Sharma_Acting_Studio/shaans-book.php.  He is also a columnist for Back Stage, an actor’s news source at: http://www.backstage.com/experts/shaan-sharma/.

GIVEAWAY

Shaan is giving away one $25 Amazon Gift Card!

Terms & Conditions:

• By entering the giveaway, you are confirming you are at least 18 years old.
• One winner will be chosen via Rafflecopter.
• This giveaway begins November 3 and ends November 29.
• Winner will be contacted via email on Monday, December 1.
• Winner has 48 hours to reply.

Good luck everyone!

ENTER TO WIN!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Amish Bride of Ice Mountain by Kelly Long

Like most Mountain Amish girls, Mary King has always dreamed of her wedding day. But she never imagined that a sudden, irresistible kiss would result in marriage to the handsome Englischer professor studying her unique community. Or that doing the truly honorable thing means keeping their relationship chaste so both she and Dr. Jude Lyons can someday go their separate ways.

But when Mary accompanies her husband-in-name-only to Atlanta to meet his wealthy, overbearing family, she's tempted more than ever by Jude's kindness, humor--and vulnerability. And when a wrenching misunderstanding causes her to return heartbroken to her remote Appalachian home, she's certain she's lost the real love they have found...and the shared future she's come to want so much. But a crisis of more than faith will work surprising miracles--and show Mary that love is strong enough to make the impossible come true.


About The Author 

Kelly Long was born and raised in North Central Pennsylvania. There was an Amish hitching post at the small grocery store in her town. She loves to write Amish romance and is the author of novel, Sarah's Garden, the novella Amish Christmas Expanded Edition with some other great Amish authors, Amish Love with Beth Wiseman and Kathy Fuller, and Lilly's Wedding Quilt--the sequel to Sarah's Garden. She lives in Atlanta with her husband and children. 

My Review: 


found this to be a different kind of Amish story, the Amisch of Ice Mountain, appear to be a more liberal sect in some ways, and yet up on a mountain they are really cut off from the real world.
The Bishop has allowed Dr Jude Lyons to live among them and study them, which I found very unusual. With an innocent kiss Jude ends up married to Mary King, ok, and he is currently engaged to another woman. He proceeds to take Mary to Atlanta and his family, whom we find out, is very wealthy.
What an insight we get into Jude’s life, and some of the heartbreak he has experienced. You will feel sorry for him. His mother is different, with her silver spoon in her mouth, and the Dad was very indifferent to his family. The saving grace was Grandpa, what a love and friend to Mary he turned out to be.
Jude has decided that he will bring Mary back to the mountain and get an annulment; he doesn’t realize that there is no such thing in Amish society.
This story does have quite a bit more sexual implications than other stories of this type that I have read. It is well done, but is more of a PG rating.
I did enjoy this read, and am really looking forward to the next two.

I received this book through Net Galley and the Publisher Kensington, and was not required to give a positive review. 

Pump Up Your Book Presents Dream in Color, Think in Black & White Virtual Book Publicity Tour

Pump Up Your Book is pleased to bring you Jonathan Bissell’s DREAM IN COLOR, THINK IN BLACK & WHITE virtual book tour November 3 – 28!

Title: Dream in Color, Think in Black & White: How to Get Unstuck and Fulfill Your Dreams
Author: Jonathan Bissell
Publisher: High Performance Impact, LLC
Pages: 108
Genre: Self-Help/Personal Growth
Format: Paperback/Kindle
Somewhere along the way, you had a dream that you let go of. But it hasn’t let go of you.  You’re the reason this book was written.  Because dreams matter. Dreams are powerful. And sometimes dreams just won’t go away – no matter how impractical, ill-timed or financially risky they are.
This is a book about getting unstuck in your life or career. It’s about learning to dream in COLOR and think in BLACK & WHITE. There are three parts to this book: Dreaming in Color, Thinking in Black & White, and Fulfilling Your Dreams. Each part contains practical “how to” steps and examples explaining how to get unstuck and move toward your dream. The rest is up to you.

For More Information

• Dream in Color, Think in Black & White: How to Get Unstuck and Fulfill Your Dreams is available at Amazon.
• Discuss this book at PUYB Virtual Book Club at Goodreads.

Jonathan Bissell is a coach, author, speaker and teacher, as well as the CEO of High Performance Impact, LLC, an executive coaching firm helping proven and emerging leaders to identify and consistently leverage patterns of high performance. He helps dreamers do and leaders excel.
Born in Liberia, Africa and raised in Upstate New York, Jonathan has lived and worked in Japan, New York City and the San Francisco Bay Area. He has a Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics from Teachers College, Columbia University, and a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from Le Moyne College. Jonathan enjoys reading, long coffee breaks with his wife, co-creating children’s stories with his daughters, writing poetry, and supporting couples in ministry.
If you’d like to stay current with what Jonathan is writing and doing, or get advance notice on new books or events, sign up for his mailing list at www.jonathanbissell.com. Jonathan can also be contacted for coaching, training, teaching or speaking engagements.
His latest book is the self-help/personal growth, Dream in Color, Think in Black & White: How to Get Unstuck and Fulfill Your Dreams.
For More Information

• Visit Jonathan Bissell’s website.
• Connect with Jonathan on Facebook and Twitter.
• Become a fan on Goodreads.                                                                                                                                     

Pump Up Your Book Presents The Straw That Broke Book Blitz – Win $25 Amazon Gift Card!

Pump Up Your Book is pleased to bring you Tom Whalen’s The Straw That Broke book blitz November 3 – 28!

In his rollicking new novel, THE STRAW THAT BROKE, author Tom Whalen continues his ENCYCLOPEDIA MOUSE series, a challenging and funny roller-coaster ride through the outer margins of science-fiction, philosophy, and word play. Readers who reveled in previous books in the series, such as THE CAMEL’S BACK (called “the Moby-Dick of mice” by poet and critic R.H.W. Dillard) and ROITHAMER’S UNIVERSE (which science-fiction writer Rudy Rucker termed “giddy fun”), are sure to greet the arrival of THE STRAW THAT BROKE with anticipation and joy. Lovers of such visionary writers as Kafka, Borges, Vonnegut, Lewis Carroll, and Douglas Adams (THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE series) also will find a kindred spirit in Tom Whalen, as will readers of all tastes who are looking for a thrilling literary adventure.
The main “character” in THE STRAW THAT BROKE is the Encyclopedia Mouse, who, according to the author, “is the one creature who can save the multiverse.”  In Whalen’s synopsis of THE STRAW THAT BROKE, “Bulwer Zetford’s work-in-progress, The Cosmic Messenger, is about to take a strange turn, and the multiverse with it, when Roithamer of Relix “beads” once again and brings swirling into Zetford’s Kaduza M-mon processor the Encyclopedia Mouse … Tale twines tale as the mouse battles his Doppelgänger in cyberspace, Heidegger, in his Black Forest hut, and a hyper-crazed Roithamer. Death is everywhere, but the mouse, birling (if only barely) in his Binding Nexus Drive, is determined to narrate the universes away from their demise.”
Whalen describes his style as “playful, parodic, philosophical, lyrical. I wanted THE STRAW THAT BROKE to be thick with character and plot and at the same time alive with language.”
“The word play is part of the novel’s texture, as well as being embedded into the plot and character of the mouse,” Whalen also explains. “No need for the reader to pick up all the formal play. It’s enough that this exists on a subliminal level.”
Whalen’s ultimate goal, he says, is to have the Encyclopedia Mouse books published in one volume “and eventually turned into a wide-screen baroque masterwork of cinema.”
In the meantime, THE STRAW THAT BROKE is available in print, ready to delight all readers.
What the critics are saying about the ENCYCLOPEDIA MOUSE series:
“Pollinates post-cyber-punk with headier poetry than the genre has yet known.”
Andrei Codrescu
Author and NPR commentator
“Storytelling which is subtly, wickedly funny.”
The New Orleans Times-Picayune
“Tom Whalen is one of the most gifted and prolific of contemporary American avant-garde writers … a master of this genre.”
George Garrett
Dictionary of Literary Biography
“Tom Whalen twists our notions of what is real.”
Christine Spivey
New Orleans Review
172 pages.
Softcover, $13.46; ISBN:  13-978-0692259436
Publication date: August 1, 2014
Published by Black Scat Books
Available at amazon.com, Black Scat Books.
Website: www.tomwhalen.com

Tom Whalen is a novelist, short story writer, poet and critic who has written for Agni, Asymptote, Bookforum, Brooklyn Rail, Chicago Review, The Iowa Review, Film Quarterly, The Literary Review, the Washington Post and other publications. His books include Dolls, Elongated Figures, The Birth of Death and Other Comedies: The Novels of Russell H. Greenan, and the novels Roithamer’s Universe and The President in Her Towers. Whalen currently lives in Stuttgart, Germany, where he teaches film at the State Academy of Art and Design. See author on You Tube at: http://youtu.be/DIpaGoH4mJg.
His latest book is the science fiction, The Straw That Broke.
Visit his website at www.tomwhalen.com.

GIVEAWAY

Tom is giving away one $25 Amazon Gift Card!

Terms & Conditions:

• By entering the giveaway, you are confirming you are at least 18 years old.
• One winner will be chosen via Rafflecopter.
• This giveaway begins November 3 and ends November 29.
• Winner will be contacted via email on Monday, December 1.
• Winner has 48 hours to reply.

Good luck everyone!

ENTER TO WIN!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

At Bluebonnet Lake (Texas Crossroads, #1) by Amanda Cabot

Marketing maven Kate Sherwood’s world is fast-paced, challenging, and always changing. The last thing she wants to do is slow down to a crawl at Rainbow’s End, a dilapidated resort in the Texas Hill Country. But she cannot deny her ailing grandmother’s request to visit the place where she and her deceased husband spent one glorious week (albeit fifty years ago). There Kate meets Greg Vange, the resort’s handyman. But there’s more to Greg than meets the eye–billions more, in fact, as he recently sold his successful software company and is at the resort in search of what’s next for his life.
Kate isn’t looking for romance, but she can’t deny the sparks of attraction that fly every time she and Greg are together. She even starts to see potential in the rundown resort. Could there be a future there? Or will Kate’s long-sought promotion take her back to the big city?


About The Author 

With both parents avid readers, it's no surprise that Amanda Cabot learned to read at an early age. From there it was only a small step to deciding to become a writer. Of course, deciding and becoming are two different things, as she soon discovered. Fortunately for the world, her first attempts at fiction were not published, but she did meet her goal of selling a novel by her thirtieth birthday. Since then she’s sold more than thirty novels under a variety of pseudonyms. When she’s not writing, Amanda enjoys sewing, cooking and – of course – reading.  

http://www.amandacabot.com 

 

 

My Review: 

 

How I hated this book to end, but I rejoiced when I read the author’s notes at the end, and there are to be two more books.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder is more than true when Sally and her Granddaughter Kate arrive at Rainbow’s End Lodge. Sally had spent a loving time there years ago with her husband Larry, and had finally convinced Kate to take some time off and enjoy this place with her.
Of course you can picture what it looks like after several years of neglect, and of course new owners, who have removed the Christian aspect of the place. The saving grace of the place appears to be the cook Carmen, and several of the other visitors, and local people.
What a gift Kate appears to have to help people, but can she help herself. Her main goal in life, above everything is to become a partner in her firm. Will she succeed? Or will she lose everything she has always wanted, or are their trade ups.
One thing neither woman has any inkling of, or a desire for is a bit of romance, but lo and behold, there appears to be some on the horizon, not for one of them, but both. When we travel into the countryside in Texas, in April, the place is filled with the beauty of the blue bonnets, oh how I would love to see this, and I felt like I was on the ground lying in them. Amanda Cabot’s way with words put me right in the meadows, along with the Indian Paintbrush, oh how I loved it.
There is another major character in Greg, his problem; he is extremely bright, and very wealthy. To most of the woman who have crossed his path they are interested in his being their meal ticket. Will he find peace and happiness? He does have a strong faith in God, as do most of the people at the lodge, but will they make the right decisions, and turn to Him for help, or forge their own way?
I highly recommend this great read, and cannot wait for the next book in this series.

I received this book through Revell’s Book Bloggers Tour, and was not required to give a positive review

To Everything a Season (Song of Blessing, #1) by Lauraine Snelling

Lauraine Snelling Launches New Red River Valley Series
Trygve Knutson has been promoted from well drilling to heading a construction crew for the fast growing town of Blessing, North Dakota. Though devoted to the land and his family, he sometimes dreams of other horizons. But is he willing to leave Blessing permanently?
Miriam Francini hopes to become an accredited nurse in a large city hospital. She is simply tolerating her assignment at the hospital in rural Blessing because it will give her the experience she needs to accomplish her goal. She can't wait to finish her training and head to New York to begin a nursing career.
Then Miriam meets Trygve Knutson and all her plans are suddenly in a jumble. She quickly realizes she doesn't want to live without him, yet she's a smart, independent woman--she's even a suffragette. She can't let anything get in the way of her own plans, even if she's in love. Or can she?

About The Author

 
Lauraine Snelling is the award-winning author of over seventy books, with sales of more than 2 million copies.

She also writes for a wide range of magazines, and helps others reach their writing dreams by teaching at writers’ conferences across the country.

Lauraine and her husband, Wayne, have two grown sons, and live in the Tehachapi Mountains with a watchdog Basset named Winston.

They love to travel, most especially in their forty-foot motor coach, which they affectionately deem “a work in progress”.

ttp://www.laurainesnelling.com


My Review:  

A glimpse at what life was like in Blessing ND in 1905, where life was simple, and air was clean. People were very hard working, and it seemed that neighbors were there whenever there was a need. This is a predominately Norwegian community, and most have immigrated, and are helping others to come over, to where they can own land.
We have a young man, Trygve Knutson, who has decided he is tired of traveling and come what may he wants to stay in one place, and that is Blessing. I loved the interaction he has with his Ante and Uncle, and would love to be in that family.
Then we have a nursing student from Chicago who is being requested to go to Blessing to finish up her training. She is so torn, her father has died and her mother is very ill. She wants to be in two places at once, but her heart tells her that her family needs her. Her younger siblings were working, and helping bring in their meager earnings.
The town of Blessing is expanding so much that they are running out of housing. With the expansion, there are a lot of new people and nationalities that end up there. Was really surprised, and yet shouldn’t have been, how some of the natives of the town didn’t support anyone else to have a freedom of religion.
Will Miriam be able to come and take training? Will Trygve be able to leave the traveling job, when he is offered twice his salary to stay? These are just a few of the questions that will be answered beneath the covers of this great book.
I received this book through Net Galley and the Publisher Bethany House, and was not required to give a positive review.

Pump Up Your Book Presents It’s This Monkey’s Business Virtual Book Publicity Tour & Review

Pump Up Your Book is pleased to bring you Debra Mares’ IT’S THIS MONKEY’S BUSINESS virtual book tour November 3 – 28!

Title: It’s This Monkey’s Business
Author: Debra Postil
Publisher: Justicia House
Pages: 32
Genre: Children’s Books
Format: Hardback/Kindle
“Cabana,” a young spider monkey is brought to life to tell her story It’s This Monkey’s Business to help children who are affected by domestic violence and divorce. Cabana, who lives with her parents in a treehouse high up in a rainforest canopy, becomes startled one day from her Mama’s scream, when she is waiting atop a tree branch for her Papa to teach her how to swing. After falling to the forest floor, Cabana frustrated from her parents’ fighting, decides she will search for a new family to be part of. Her persistence is cut short when she braves the river to play with a pink dolphin, unaware she cannot swim. The tragedy brings her parents together to realize they can no longer live together. Cabana reconnects with her Papa, realizing he is the only one that can teach her how to swing.
It’s This Monkey’s Business is an approximately 756 word children’s book targeting ages 4-8, which is set in a rainforest and featuring “Cabana,” a young female Spider Monkey, her parents and rainforest animals. The book is approximately 30 pages long and features full spread color illustrations.

For More Information

• It’s This Monkey’s Business is available at Amazon.
• Discuss this book at PUYB Virtual Book Club at Goodreads.

For Independent Author Debra Mares, violence against women is not only a topic in today’s news, it’s a topic in her crime novels, cases she handled as a county prosecutor, and now it will be the topic in her first children’s book It’s This Monkey’s Business.  Debra is a veteran county prosecutor in Riverside currently specializing in community prosecution, juvenile delinquency and truancy.  Her office has one of the highest conviction rates in California and is the fifteenth largest in the country. You name it – she’s prosecuted it – homicides, gang murders, domestic violence, sex cases, political corruption, major fraud and parole hearings for convicted murderers. She is a two-time recipient of the County Prosecutor of the Year Award and 2012 recipient of the Community Hero Award.
Debra is the granddaughter of a Mexican migrant farm worker and factory seamstress, was born and raised in Los Angeles, was the first to graduate college in my family, and grew up dancing Ballet Folklorico and Salsa. Her own family story includes struggles with immigration, domestic violence, mental health, substance abuse and teen pregnancy, which she addresses in her novels. She followed a calling at 11 years old to be an attorney and voice for women, and appreciates international travel and culture. Her life’s mission is to break the cycle of victimization and domestic violence.
Debra is also the co-founding Executive Director of Women Wonder Writers, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization implementing creative intervention and mentoring programs for at-risk youth.  In 2012, Debra self-published Volume 1 of her debut legal thriller series, The Mamacita Murders featuring Gaby Ruiz, a sex crimes prosecutor haunted by her mother’s death at the hands of an abusive boyfriend. In 2013, Debra released her second crime novel, The Suburban Seduccion, featuring “The White Picket Fence” killer Lloyd Gil, who unleashes his neonatal domestic violence-related trauma on young women around his neighborhood.
To bring to life “Cabana,” Debra partnered with 16-year-old Creative Director Olivia Garcia and Los Angeles based professional illustrator Taylor Christensen.
16-year-old Creative Director Olivia Garcia attends high school in Panorama City, California, is the Los Angeles youth delegate for the Anti-Defamation League’s National Youth Leadership Mission in Washington D.C., an ASB member and AP student and enjoys reading, crafting and knitting.
Taylor Christensen is a Los Angeles-based illustrator holding a BFA from Otis College of Art & Design, focuses on fantastical creatures and surreal imagery, and produces artwork for illustration, character and concept design.

Her latest book is the children’s picture book, It’s This Monkey’s Business.

 For More Information

• Visit Debra Mares’ website.
• Connect with Debra on Facebook and Twitter.
• Visit Debra’s blog.
• More books by Debra Mares.
• Contact Debra. 

My Review:

A little colorful paperback book for a little child, particularly a child from a broken home, or one parent home.
The book is beautifully illustrated, and shows the little monkey trying to find the perfect home, where she can learn to swing. Of course, some of her choice could get her eaten, but she doesn’t like the fighting.
A sweet lesson is ahead for the little one, who does get hurt while looking. There is a solution at the end, and should help to reassure a youngster. The book would be great to use to illustrate how things are better when parents are apart, and that life will go on for the little monkey.
This sure will make a great gift for the little person in your life.

I received this book through Pump Up Your Book Bloggers Tour, and the author, and was not required to give a positive review.