Late May Self-Promotion Party!

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Hello everyone! It’s near the end of May, the weather is turning warmer, and it’s time for a self-promotion party!

Be proud of your writing!

Share your book(s) with the world!

Be your own best publicist!

To help as many as possible see your work, reblog, like, and follow others.

Available on Amazon

Get The Draft Done! is available here: Amazon.com

Gallows Hill can be found here in ebook.

Gallows Hill in paperback can be found here.

An interview about Gallows Hill can be found here.

Please follow the following links to find my novel:

My radio interview:

With Which Authors Would You Choose To Share A Meal?

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This idea of meeting with a few authors over a meal and having a conversation with them is something I have discussed before, and it was fun to consider. I have, therefore, decided to cover this scenario again. I was thinking about with whom I would like to dine and with whom I would enjoy having a conversation, among authors, both living and dead. Obviously, for the sake of this idea, if an author is dead, he/she will be resuscitated for the meal and conversation.

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I consider myself an author of speculative fiction, which can encompass many genres, but one of my areas in writing, in teaching, and in study is Gothic/Horror. Three of my novels, Maledicus: The Investigative Paranormal Society Book 1, Gallows Hill: The Investigative Paranormal Society Book 2, and Evil Lives After, The Investigative Paranormal Society, Book 3 are all of the Horror and Gothic genres. I have already written the first draft of two other horror novels. Horror and Gothic have interested me since I was a youngster, and it will the rest of my life.

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I would like, therefore, to have a meal with 3 masters of this field: Stephen King, Edgar Allan Poe, and Bram Stoker. I think this would be an enlightening, provoking, stimulating, and lively conversation. I would raise a glass with them and toast to their enduring brilliance.

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My question, then, to all of you is this: with what three authors would you like to have a meal and conversation?

What Is One Of Your Favorite Books–Revisited?

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I am a teacher, a writer, and a lover of books. I cannot remember a time when I could not read, and the simple act of reading a book is one of the best pleasures in life. So, I was thinking today about a book, one of my all time favorites: The Shadow Of The Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, that I have used in classes at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, PA. This novel is brilliant, funny, witty, Gothic, romantic, and deeply engaging. Can you tell I love it?

Here is a quotation from the back cover of the paperback:

“Wondrous . . . masterful . . . The Shadow Of The Wind is ultimately a love letter to literature, intended for readers as passionate about storytelling as its young hero.”

— Entertainment Weekly, Editor’s Choice

I love to ask this question of readers: What is one of your favorite books? (If you wish, offer more than one.)

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What Are You Currently Reading?

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Hello to everyone!

Here is a quick question for you–what book or books are you currently reading?

To answer my own question, I am reading:

Bruno, Chief Of Police by Martin Walker

Swan Peak by James Lee Burke

The Siberian Dilemma by Martin Cruz Smith

and Culture: The Story of Us From Cave Art to K-Pop by Martin Puchner.

It is an odd coincidence that three of the four books are written by authors with the first name of Martin.

So, I ask you–what are you reading?

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Some Reviews Of French On English: A Guide To Writing Better Essays Revised

I want to share a few reviews with you about my small essay writing book that I often use in my First Year Writing classes at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA and Muhlenberg College in Allentown, PA.

“Very helpful for writing professionally.”

“This guide offers valuable advice to sharpen writing skills. Whether you are in high school or college, this guide will make you a better writer. Reading this guide will give you the knowledge and confidence to take the next step in becoming a good writer. I highly recommend!”

“I do a lot of writing. This book is never far away. Good for study to keep your skills honed; good as a reference. A book everyone needs. If you want your work to look good, don’t skimp on English skills.”

“A must have, especially for students. A great tool for your arsenal of knowledge.”

“Great book on the overlooked basics of english. Really insightful for people of all ages to refine their writing, improve their grammar, and utilize different tenses.

French On English

Available on Amazon

Have A Blessed Beltane!

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Happy Beltane to all, a day to celebrate and wish all well!

And please do not worry–this pagan Wiccan/Druidic holiday does not have anything to do with the devil.

Rather, this holiday is one of nature and spirit and celebrates the renewal of life! It is closely connected to rituals of May Day and is observed in much of the world with an ancient Celtic influence.

So, please enjoy the natural world and life itself!

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An April Self-Promotion Party

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It’s Spring, and weather has become warmer, plants are beginning to grow, and trees and starting to bud.

This is also a good time to do some unashamed self-promotion!

Tell us about your book(s)!

Leave links and images.

Shout to the world about your work!

You are writers–be proud of what you create.

So as many as possible can see your work, please like, tweet, and reblog this post!

Available on Amazon

Get The Draft Done! is available here: Amazon.com

Gallows Hill can be found here in ebook.

Gallows Hill in paperback can be found here.

An interview about Gallows Hill can be found here.

Please follow the following links to find my novel:

ebook

Print book

Thank you!

My radio interview:

interview

Available on Amazon

Quotations On The Need For Questioning

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“The unexamined life is not worth living.”

Socrates

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“He explained to me with great insistence that every question possessed a power that did not lie in the answer.”

Elie Wiesel

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“Original thought, original artistic expression is by its very nature questioning, irreverent, iconoclastic.” Salman Rushdie

“One of the most important lessons we should teach is to always ask questions.” Charles F. French

Quotations On The Evil of Bigotry

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“What a sad era when it is easier to smash an atom than a prejudice.”

Albert Einstein

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“There is nothing more frightful than ignorance in action.”

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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“Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends.”

Maya Angelou

“Bigotry must never be accepted, must always be confronted, and must never become the way of our country. We must always recognize its past and the consequences of its present existence, and we should always strive to eliminate bigotry, in all forms, from the future.”

Charles F. French

Quotations On Gun Control–Again!

The familiar refrain of sending “thoughts and prayers” by congress people who then do nothing about gun control after another massacre of innocents is sickening. It is time to love children more than guns.

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Senate Chaplain Barry Black prayed for legislative action on gun violence Tuesday morning, a day after three children and three adults were shot and killed at a Christian school in Nashville.

Through his prayer, Black urged legislators to “move beyond thoughts and prayers.”

During his prayer, Black said, “Remind our lawmakers of the words of the British statesman Edmund Burke: All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing.” (https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-senate-chaplain-prays-for-lawmaker-action-after-nashville-shooting)

“When a country with less than five percent of the world’s population has nearly half of the world’s privately owned guns and makes up nearly a third of the world’s mass shootings, it’s time to stop saying guns make us safer.”

DaShanne Stokes

“I only wish the NRA and its jellyfish, well-paid supporters in legislatures both State and Federal would be careful to recite the whole of it, and then tell us how a heavily armed man, woman, or child, recruited by no official, led by no official, given no goals by any official, motivated or restrained only by his or her personality and perceptions of what is going on, can be considered a member of a well-regulated militia.”

Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

“It is time to start referring to those members of Congress who oppose gun control as what they are–Pro Death of Children and Innocents. They are the toadies of the NRA and the gun lobby, and they must be voted out of office. The time to act is now.”