Tag: paper back

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Promotion Videos

WARS DO NOT START IN A DAY & a gift card #giveaway!

I’ll be the first to admit that most of what I know about WWII I’ve learned from movies and TV. Before you get the wrong idea, let me explain myself. I am an educated person. I always did well in school and paid attention to all my lessons, but that doesn’t mean it all stuck with me throughout the years. Aside from reading the Diary of Anne Frank in high school, I don’t really remember much of those history lessons. I know I was taught the basics of the war, from an obvious allied point of view, because I have a basic knowledge of the matter firmly planted in my brain, but what about all the details.

When it comes to details that’s where film and TV come into play. WWII seems to be a subject that just never grows old. There have been so many fictional and non-fictional accounts of this time in history that it is hard not to be influenced by it all. Not a huge fan of historical fiction, I’ve always relied on these audio-visual media to fulfill my informative and entertainment needs whenever I’ve wanted to delve into the past and tales of WWII, but then I was introduced to an author named M.C.V. Egan.

This author has written a compelling mystery novel that epitomizes the conspiracy and deviousness of the whole WWII issue. Her book, The Bridge of Deaths, actually tells a little known story of a real-life plane crash that occurred just days before the war broke out. Since this month marks the 75th anniversary of the beginning of that war and in keeping with this month-long celebration of awareness, I’m sharing my thoughts on this book and its author. I was asked to share little known facts about history, but that’s not really my area of expertise, but if you know some, I’d love to hear them.

Also, there are some fascinating things happening on this blog tour. Click here to see for yourself…and of course, there’s a giveaway! See below.

Book Title: The Bridge of Deaths

Author Name: M.C.V. Egan

Reading Level: Adult

Genre: Historical Fiction, Metaphysical Mystery

Content Rating: PG-13

Available Formats: hardcover, paperback, ebook

Number of Pages: 372

Purchase Links: AuthorHouse.com | Amazon.com | Barnesandnoble.com

See the title article of this post here: WARS DO NOT START IN A DAY; A historical journey through roots of WW II

See my review of this book here: Review: The Bridge of Deaths

See the trailer here:
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNe9psSjGio&w=320&h=240]

Meet the author:

M.C.V. Egan lives in South Florida. She is fluent in four languages; English, Spanish, French and Swedish. From a young age became determined to solve the ‘mystery’ of her grandfather’s death, she has researched this story for almost two decades. The story has taken her to Denmark, England and unconventional world of psychics. The Bridge of Deaths | 4covert2overt |
Is history the agreed upon lie?

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords

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AdventuresNBlogging

Adventures in Blogging: Word Count vs. Page Numbers

adventure

I’ll be writing about my adventures, from my point of view, while offering my opinion on whatever the current matter happens to be. I hope you will enjoy it, if for no other reason, because you’ll get to see just how crazy my mind and reactions can be sometimes.
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Word Count vs. Page Numbers

Aside from the fact that books have gone digital, I wonder whether there is any reason to have page numbers other than to distinguish one page from another in a print copy. It has become quite clear to me that page numbers are utterly insignificant to the actual length of the story. In this advanced age, what is the proper way to measure the length of a book?

Average reading time: Based on what as an average would this be viable? This concept actually works in terms of audio books because you know exactly how long the recording is (the listen time is given). That’s not to say that when you’re reading you read at the same pace as professional narrator, whether that be slower or faster.

Page Numbers: I’ve already stated that this doesn’t work, but here’s why. Not all books are formatted the same. Depending on page size, font type, font size, margins, bindings, etc…, there are just too many different variables for this to be a standard.

Word count: While this doesn’t take into the consideration the miniscule differences that would occur in formatting overall, the word count is probably the best way to determine or have an idea of how long or short a story really is- and pictures/graphics don’t confuse things.

Why isn’t the word count included in basic book stats on retail and social sites?

File size: I have no idea why file size is listed on retail and social sites. Let’s be honest, if you’re reading a digital copy of a book, you probably have an e-reader or compatible device that’s well equipped to contain that book and many more. If not, you could always delete some other stuff you’re finished with. Again, how does the file size really help to determine the length of the story? If there are images/graphics, intros and acknowledgements, plus extras (which most ebooks now have), the file size isn’t going to be indicative of the actual length of the title story you purchased or borrowed.

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So, what do these two books have in common? I haven’t given it much thought, but I know you can’t find a word count for either of them online (unless I’ve missed something, though Smashwords.com is on board with this)…

but more on these in a minute.

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Now, this whole idea came to me a while back when I read a book that seemed to be a fairly good length, but once I finished it, it seemed like a very quick read. It’s true that when you’re really into a book you can fly through it, but this was not the case. After reading a few more books thinking that they would either be longer than they were or shorter than they were, I began to look back at the books’ formats.

Most of the books I read range between 250 and 350 pages, but now and then I read an epic or scan a short story- I never considered that there could be a major difference in the length of what I was reading outside the two parameters I just mentioned.  After going back and looking at these books I realized that they all used different fonts, different font sizes, different paragraph and chapter spacing and more. While most of these books were in the 6 x 9 category, some were not, which again added to the deception…

Okay, maybe I’m getting a little carried away here. There’s no conspiracy to trick me into reading more or less than I want to, but surely you can understand why this issue has begun to slightly bother me.

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Here’s an example of why I think page numbers and file sizes are virtually worthless. Pay close attention to the differences in page numbers and file sizes.

Discovery of Witches– pages: 594, digital file: 1085 KB, listen time: 24 hours and 2 minutes, word count: unknown

Eternal Curse– pages: 272, digital file: 1529 KB, listen time: unknown, word count: 82,330 (provided by me, the author)

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What would be your guess as to what the word count for Discovery of Witches is? How long do you think the listen time would be for Eternal Curse? It’s not so easy to figure out; is it?

Is this solely my issue or does anyone else feel the way I do? Doesn’t anyone else wish the word count were offered up instead of or along with the page numbers or file sizes?

The books used in the example up top were chosen merely to show a contrast in the information publicly available. The information provided here came from Amazon.com and Audible.com.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords

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Guest Posts

Courage to Change: Guest Post: Ian Mathie

When there seems to be no way out you need Courage to Change.

A perspective on Sylvie Nickels’s book by author Ian Mathie.

Courage to Change, by Sylvie Nickels
Paperback: 232 pages, also available in ebook
Publisher: Oriel Press, UK (June 6, 2013)
Reading level:  Young Adult / Full Adult
Genre: Fiction
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1782995579 (paperback)
ISBN-13: 978-1782995579 (paperback)
Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.5 inches
Content Rating: General release

As an industrial psychologist I was accustomed to dealing with many problems people brought with them to the workplace every bit as much as with problems growing out of the working environment. A problem which raised its ugly head quite frequently had many faces yet in each case it was the same problem: addiction. Reaching well beyond the workplace, addiction is far from easy to deal with and its first and most difficult challenge is recognition and acceptance by the sufferer.

Often misunderstood is a subject the very thought of which turns most people off. As a result it is too often ignored. Nevertheless, we are all potentially vulnerable to it. We can all learn useful lessons about the pitfalls and what fuels different forms of addiction if only we take the time to listen or to read about them.

This is one of the benefits that books like Courage to Change, by Sylvie Nickels have to offer. The novel offers a great story wrapped a framework of relationships, situations and problems arising out of one form of addiction, alcoholism. As the story unfolds it explores all the human dilemmas faced not only by those addicted, but by their families, friends and those who seek to help them.

Sylvie Nickels has a great wealth of life experience. She understands human abilities, frailties and weaknesses so well. This gives her the capacity to express the emotions and mindset of people in all sorts of social, domestic and working situations in ways that make her characters so real you feel they could be your own relations, or you know them personally. Because of this, what seems at first like a lightweight story draws you in and carries you along, wanting to know what people will do next and how things will turn out. Her writing is not gripping in the conventional sense, but it is truly compelling and will keep you reading to the very last page.

Through the medium of a touching story she offers a subtle exploration of the many dilemmas and problems involved in addiction; offering insights that should be valuable to any parent or person who shares their life with an addictive personality. Whilst she offers no magic solution to the problems; there isn’t one anyway, she at least offers hope whilst leaving it to the reader to make their own final judgements.

Courage to Change is a most rewarding book that can teach one a lot about life and human interactions. It also offers a good lesson to writers in how to convey the feelings and emotions of one’s characters. Here the players are very ordinary people and yet we come to know them intimately. That only comes about through very skilful writing and a thorough understanding on the part of the author of both the subject and the people she is writing about.

Sylvie Nickels’s other works include an excellent trilogy based on the effects of conflict on families, using the Bosnian war as its backdrop. She has also written a mystery thriller based in Finland and a series of travel books during her long career. Publishing most of her books by her own efforts, she is an author whose work deserves to be much better known.

To see the rest of this article and learn more about the author of this book and the author, Ian Mathie, visit the ECS blog.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords