Time for a Change

by Karen DeLabar

Hello friends!

In the last issue of Writ­ing on the Rocks we men­tioned that there will be some changes to this site. We’ve decided to close down Writ­ing on the Rocks as an online mag­a­zine that show­cases break­ing and indie authors.

The site will remain live for the sake of our pre­vi­ously fea­tured authors.

Both Susi and Karen will con­tinue to do reviews and inter­views, as well as blog­ging, from our own per­sonal sites, respectfully.

Hope to see you there and thank you for your sup­port in our little experiment!

Excerpt from Ghost Dog of Roanoke Island by C.K. Volnek

by CK Volnek

Heavy foot­steps pounded across the ground, the earth quak­ing with each step.

Jack peered into the gloomy dark, pray­ing it was the dog. But he knew it wasn’t.

The sound grew louder and quicker. It was run­ning straight for him. He stepped back, his mus­cles taut, hands twitch­ing, star­ing into the shad­ows. A hor­rid stench filled the air, and a pair of yel­low eyes emerged, seem­ing to float in the black­ness of the woods. Jack gasped and backed up, press­ing against a tree, try­ing to hide as best he could. His heart pounded. The tree bark dug into his arms, but he stayed quiet. Con­tinue the Article »

Review of Ann Simon’s Jaguar Sees: The Lacquer Box

by Sheila Lamb

Claire Mil­ton has a spe­cial tal­ent. Instead of relax­ing by get­ting a pedi­cure at the spa or drink­ing a glass of wine, she embarks on a spirit jour­ney, a form of Native Amer­i­can medi­a­tion she and her hus­band Jack learned in a col­lege class. By meet­ing with her ani­mal spirit guide, Jaguar, she dis­misses the stresses of the day, focuses inward and unwinds.

After a fate­ful pur­chase at a Russ­ian market, her spirit ani­mal, along with sev­eral oth­ers, seem to become real. As Claire dodges unknown assailants, Jaguar pro­tects her in both realms of real­ity. Con­tinue the Review »

Interview with D.C. McMillen author of the Nauti-​Lust series

by Karen DeLabar

Hello ladies and gents of the Writ­ing on the Rocks pub! Today I have a very spe­cial guest join­ing me for a San­gria, the won­der­fully deli­cious DC McMillen author of the Nauti-​Lust series. So gen­tle­men loosen your ties, ladies let down your hair, every­one sit back, relax and enjoy the conversation.

WotR: What inspired the Nauti-​Lust series? 

DCM: I spend most of my sum­mers on a sail­boat on Toronto Island. We have a pretty eclec­tic group of mem­bers and vis­i­tors hang­ing around at our club so I do not have to look far for inspi­ra­tion. Con­tinue the Interview »

Interview with C.K. Volnek, author of Ghost Dog of Roanoke Island

by Sheila Lamb

Good day, fel­low patrons! Wel­come back to the Writ­ing on the Rocks bar! Today Sheila Lamb inter­views author C.K. Vol­nek about her novel Ghost Dog of Roanoke Island. After spend­ing 2 weeks in Ire­land I think I’ll join CK and have a Diet Coke, feel free to order your favorite drink and lis­ten in!

SL: How did you become inter­ested in the Lost Colony?

CKV: I love watch­ing for bits of unusual news arti­cles as they scroll across the web. One arti­cle cap­tured my muse a few years ago, a news piece dis­cussing some­thing found in the water off Roanoke Island and researchers won­der­ing if it was a rem­nant of the Lost Colony. This piece of his­tory really intrigued me. How do 117 peo­ple just van­ish? What could have hap­pened to them? I love a good mys­tery, espe­cially an unsolved mys­tery. Cou­ple that with my love of ghost sto­ries, and the story blos­somed. Con­tinue the Interview »

Review of D.C. McMillen’s Nauti-​Lust Series

by Karen DeLabar

McMillen’s Nauti-​Lust series fea­tures funny, hot reads for any­one inter­ested in a lit­tle light-​hearted fun. What­ever your fla­vor (M/​F, M/​M, F/​M/​F) you can find it in a Nauti-​Lust short. The Islander (F/​M/​F) the first in the series, is about Frank, his new friend Frankie, the les­bian neigh­bor on the dock and mar­gar­i­tas. After Frank shares a BDSM expe­ri­ence gone wrong, Tess and Frankie are deter­mined show him how good an expe­ri­ence it can be. In The Blind Date (M/​F) Deb­o­rah is lucky enough to be kept in com­pany of a sexy bar­tender Con­tinue the Review »

Why I Chose to be a Writer

by Jonathan Gould

Decid­ing to be a writer was not some­thing that came quickly to me. I con­sid­ered a bunch of other career options before finally set­tling on the writ­ten word. But through this whole career selec­tion process, there was always one thing dri­ving me – the fact that I’m actu­ally quite fright­en­ingly shy.

The first career I con­sid­ered was as a rock star. Sure I’m not the great­est at hold­ing a tune. My fam­ily always cov­ers their ears when­ever I start a song. Hell, the water turns itself off in protest when­ever I sing in the shower. Con­tinue the Article »

Excerpt of HUNTER by Robert Bidinotto

by Robert Bidinotto

ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA

Mon­day, Sep­tem­ber 1, 6:45 p.m. 

They stood in the hall­way of the funeral home. Susanne Copeland, clutch­ing a tissue, stared at the open door of the par­lor just ahead of them, on the left. Her eyes were red-​rimmed and swollen; her dark-​red, shoulder-​length hair bor­dered a pretty face now lined with pain and fatigue, a face that seemed to have aged ten years in the past three days.

She breathed deeply. Con­tinue the Article »

Review of The Ghost Dog of Roanoke Island by CK Volnek

by Sheila Lamb

The Ghost Dog of Roanoke Island by C.K. Vol­nek is a fast-​paced story for middle-​grade read­ers. They will iden­tify with the hero, Jack, who feels out­cast from his fam­ily after his sister’s acci­dent. Jack blames him­self for Kimmy’s fall and it seems that his stoic father does as well.

As a hur­ri­cane approaches the Outer Banks, Jack goes out­side to search for his father then gets caught in the storm. This leads him to super­nat­ural encoun­ters, first in a cave where he finds a mys­te­ri­ous satchel and then a hor­ri­ble beast. Jack is led from the cave by a dog that later dis­ap­pears. Con­tinue the Review »

Interview with Doodling author, Jonathan Gould

by Lucy Daniel Raby

Hello patrons of the Writ­ing on the Rocks pub! Today we have Jonathan Gould, author of Doo­dling, join­ing us at the bar. We’re just about to indulge in some Har­vey Wall­bangers so hop on a barstool and set­tle in for a WOTR inter­view! We’d like to thank Lucy Daniel Raby, our reviewer of Doo­dling, for sup­ply­ing some of the questions. 

WOTR: Tell us a lit­tle bit about Doo­dling.

JG: Doo­dling is pretty much exactly what its title reflects. It’s me sit­ting at my com­puter and doo­dling, but this doo­dling refers to words rather than pic­tures. The inspi­ra­tion came after a ran­dom com­ment from my wife say­ing that she found the world was mov­ing really fast. I just had one of those “Eureka” moments, think­ing about what might hap­pen if the world was mov­ing so quickly some­one actu­ally fell off. Con­tinue the Interview »

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