From the Desk of J.M. Poole

Many thanks goes to Raphyel Jordan for illustrating the guur for me! Turned out great, didn’t it? I love the texturing he did to it. Wouldn’t want to see one of these creepy suckers coming out of the shadows, would you? 🙂

You’ll find this image and quite a few others I’ve used in the Art page.

Hello everyone! The Lyndsey Roughton Anthology has been released, officially titled “Sweet Dreams“.

There are a total of 17 short stories, including one of my own, entitled Bakkian Chronicles – The Disneyland Debacle. It takes place right between books II and III, so if you’d like to experience Steve and Sarah’s first trip to Disneyland with everyone (Mikal, Annie, and Tristan), then be sure to pick up a copy. You’ll find some wonderful stories by some very gifted authors! I’ve picked up my copy and I encourage you to pick one up, too. All proceeds will go to benefit Lyndsey Roughton and hopefully send her on her dream vacation.

Once more, here’s the link to Sweet Dreams. Thanks for helping us out!

I was contacted by JHSked,, a friend of mine who is the author of Wolfsong (Tales from the Crescent), about possibly donating a story to help out a woman by the name of Lyndsey Roughton.

Lyndsey, sadly, is dying of brain cancer. The doctors have not given her much longer to live, so what JH is doing is collecting short stories from authors willing to donate them for an anthology to be sold in the Amazon Kindle store, with all proceeds going towards helping Lyndsey go on the vacation of her dreams before it’s too late.

So, when approached, I thought to myself, I haven’t ever written a short story before, but I sure as hell will give it a try. Therefore, Bakkian Chronicles – The Disneyland Debacle was born. It’s checks in at just under 5,000 words and takes place right between book II and book III. Let’s just say that it’s the first time everyone visits Disneyland in southern California together.

Take one fire thrower, one introverted ex-Lentarian soldier and one rambunctious kid. Picture a high-speed roller coaster, one reluctant rider and two willing accomplices. Did you know Disneyland has its own fire department? 🙂

The collection of stories should be under the name “Sweet Dreams” and we’re hoping to have it in the Amazon store at the end of June.

Here are a list of authors who have so far contributed to the collection:

Chris Fraser
Edward Larel
Mia Darien
Joseph Garrety
Jason McKinney
Naomi Clark
Jana Hill
Nicholas Ordinans
Leanne Fitzpatrick
B. Throwsnaill
J.H.Sked
Renee Hall
Sky Corbelli
Jeffrey Poole
Joe Occhipinti

For more on Lyndsey and her story, click here. Stay tuned for further updates. As soon as the anthology is released I’ll post links to it in here. I hope you’ll be interested in picking up a copy.

J.

It only took a few days to create, and a few more days to make a couple of minor changes to the text that I had noticed a while ago, but my first book has been officially rereleased from CreateSpace using the gorgeous new cover that Rachel created for it. For those of you that don’t know, she’s the very gifted artist who created the cover for Book II. Her husband, Richard, once again did the title graphics so that it’d be a wonderfully matching set. I put the two books side by side, and trust me, it blows that f-ugly gray thing that PublishAmerica created right out of the water.

So to celebrate, I put a copy of the first book (third edition!) up on a Goodreads giveaway, open to residents of the USA, Canada, Great Britain, Ireland, and Australia. If you’d like a chance to win a signed copy, stop by the Goodreads giveaway and enter! If you’re not a member of Goodreads, that’s ok. Membership is free!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Bakkian Chronicles, Book I – The Prophecy

by Jeffrey Poole

Giveaway ends June 30, 2012.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Bakkian Chronicles, Book II – Insurrection

by Jeffrey Poole

Giveaway ends June 30, 2012.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Good luck to all who enter!

When everyone out there, and I do mean everyone advises against doing something, then perhaps the wisest move would be to pay heed to their advice.

Yep, I signed with PublishAmerica. That was in late 2010. Why? ‘Cause they said they take care of everything. I read the bad press. I saw the myriad of pages all damning the foolish for trusting PA with their books. In order to justify my agreeing to sign with them, I kept telling myself they will be able to market my book to more people than I ever could.

My logic was sound, only PA wanted $$$ for everything. “We have a book expo in Portugal. Pay us $$$ and your book will be included. Next week we will be at another expo where our booth is right next to Disney. Pay us $99 and we’ll bring your book to their attention!”

Bring to their attention? They word their services in such a way that it keeps them safe in case nothing happens. Royalties are horrible. 8% of a super-overpriced paperback book (mine was set to $29.95). Same royalties for their ebooks, which they wanted $69 to “convert” your book to ebook so that they could set a minimum price of $9.95, guaranteeing no sales. Thankfully I didn’t fall for that.

So how does PA manage to stay in business? How do they avoid getting their keesters thrown in jail? Simple. They know how far they can push the system. They have good lawyers. They simply know what they can get away with.

I had more than 5 years to go on my contract (which would auto-renew unless you told them otherwise – I informed them I wouldn’t renew within one month of them receiving my signed contract). I couldn’t handle another day of them let alone 5 years. And, much to my (mock) horror, sales of book I and book II took off! I was afraid PA would see the increased sales of the books and then hold my book even further in ransom. So now I had to get out of my contract and do so immediately.

I contacted them. Told them I wanted to terminate my contract. They responded (with a snarky message) that the only way they’d even consider this if I could prove that I had grounds for termination. Hoo boy, where do I start? I gave em:

1. Book price too high; no sales.
2. Constant barrage of daily emails trying to get me to buy my own book.
3. Lousy royalties
4. No marketing unless I pay for it.
5. Horrible customer service.
6. Lousy book cover.

Trust me, I could go on, and that’s what I told them. They responded with, “We’d prefer to keep your book under contract because we feel it is marketable.” Long story short, I was finally able to get them to terminate the contract. From what I read on the Internet, I’m one of the lucky few. It was finaiized yesterday when I received the final termination paperwork informing me my book was no longer available to online retailers and I had “lost my published author status”. LOL. Nice try, paco, but I’ve already published and released book II. Still a published author. So there! (gives rasperry sound)

No more f-ugly grey cover. The gorgeous picture of an open portal has become the new cover. I’ve already created the book with CreateSpace and have ordered a proof. Should get it today. Might have to make a few more minor tweaks, but I’m all ready to go! As soon as it is officially available I’ll list one or two copies on a Goodreads giveaway!!!

Woo-hoo! Suck it, PublishAmerica!!!!

Hello fans of Lentari! As work progresses on the third and final installment of the Bakkian Chronicles, I started wondering about what should be depicted on the book cover. So I have a question for fans of fantasy:

What do you think are elements of a good fantasy cover? Something eye-catching, or colorful, or whimsical?

With regards to the other covers, the first book conveyed what I thought was a gorgeous scene of a forest through the open portal in the mansion. The second was a whimsical scene where Pryllan and Peanut meet face to face for the first time. Granted, without disclosing details on what will happen with Amulet of Aria, all I will say that the final confrontation with Celestia, the sister, will take place. And let’s just say that she really, really, and I do mean really wants Mikal. There will be battles, dragon riding on multiple dragons (gasp!), and accidental teleportations, just to name a few. Oh, did I mention that the battle finds its way to our world?? 🙂

Suggestions? Let me know what you guys feel makes a good cover for a fantasy story!

I was sorting through my graphics files the other day and saw the multitude of covers I’ve used for book I. Thought I’d post all the various covers in case you’d like to see what has been used.

I’ll also be posting some pics my bro-in-law is making of the guurs (Bugs of Nightmarish Proportions). Just as soon as I get ’em. 🙂

Printed with permission from the High Court of R’Tal…

Official Application Questionnaire for Citizenship into Lentari

Name of Applicant:  Scott Poe

List any aliases:  Indie Book Blogger, Fabled Reviewer o’ Tales

Occupation:  Overseer over imports at Sears Hardware

Current place of residence:  The land of the erratic climate also known as Columbus Ohio

Ye have expressed interest in the title of Fabled Reviewer o’ Tales. What qualifications do ye possess for this esteemed position?   I maintain a site where reviews can be seen by all who are looking for a quality piece of literature outside of the traditional publishing box.  I plan on adding at least 100 stories to my list per year and look at a variety of genres.

If granted citizenship, and ye are deemed worthy of an audience with Kre’Mikal so that a jhorun may be bestowed unto ye, what jhorun would ye desire? Why?  I think an elemental control of earth would be a good one to have.  Being able to pull stone from the ground to build walls or structures plus being able to excavate caves for emergency shelter or storage.

Wyverians. Are ye pro or against co-habitation?  Pro for sure.

Trolls. Leave them be or drive them away?   Internet trolls need to be driven away and imprisoned or executed.  Under the bridge kind of trolls can actually contribute to society in some way so let them be.

If employment is not granted within R’Tal, which village would ye seek out? What occupation would ye excel at that would benefit the village?   I think that I could benefit any village as a historian/storyteller.  My mind is fairly well trained from all of the reading I do.  If that fails me I can go to my background for my day job “I may not be smart, but I can lift heavy things.”

Finally, if ye had to undergo weapons training, what would the weapon of choice be for ye?  I’ve always loved ranged weapons so I would have to go with the bow or crossbow.  When I was 12 I went to Japan for a week and we spent a little time at an archery range and it was a lot of fun to me.

Upon completion of crossbow demonstration, to be performed at applicant’s earliest convenience, said applicant is hereby granted Lentarian citizenship and will assume full responsibilities as Fabled Reviewer o’ Tales.  Applicant will report to the royal library to begin new responsibilities in one fortnight.  A permanent residence will be assigned at that time.

 Signed –

Cmdr. Rhenyon, 1st Battalion

Castle R’Tal, Lentari

I’m temporarily making Bakkian Chronicles, Book I – The Prophecy free for anyone that’d like a copy! It’s available at Smashwords for free as well as Amazon!

Get this. As of right now, at 6:45 pm on Wednesday, 10/19/11, Bakkian Chronicles, Book I – The Prophecy is currently ranked #58 in the free section of the Kindle store, as well as it’s ranked #1 in Kindle’s Science Fiction section. #1!! Hot damn! Just learned it’s #4 in the Kindle free fantasy rankings!

As a result, sales of the sequel, Bakkian Chronicles, Book II – Insurrection, have picked up considerably!

It’s gonna be a good day, tater!!