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The July 2017 Edition of Books 'N Pieces Magazine is out.

The July edition of Books 'N Pieces is available and packed with material.



Read as a PDF
Read as an ePub
Read as a Kindle (.mobi) [Coming]
Read as an Issuu flip-page magazine
Buy a print copy [Coming]

In this issue, an interview with bestselling author JC Ryan (The Tenth Cycle), Twitter marketing tips from Andrew Hood, Problems with self-publishing by Robin Melhuish, short stories, and more.

JC Ryan discusses all his books 

If you enjoy BNP Magazine, please share it with a friend and help us to grow. 

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The June 2017 Issue of BNP is Available

READ THE JUNE 2017 ISSUE:

PDF: http://bit.ly/BNPJune2017
ePub: http://bit.ly/BNPJune2017ePub
Flip page: https://issuu.com/altpublish/docs/june2017bnp


With each issue BNP gets stronger. Our readership as grown–which reminds me, if you have not signed up for a FREE subscription, please do so HERE, or bit.ly/Subscribe2BNP

It is my hope that as we continue to add subscribers (free, by the way), and attract  even more notable authors, artists, photographers, and even musicians, that we will be able to include some minimal advertising for the sole purpose of being able to pay our contributors. 

"Well, don't you want to make money from advertising for yourself?" you ask. While that would be nice, I did not start BNP to be an advertising machine. I started it because I have a passion for writing and wanted to offer writers the chance to get showcased, if their work was good enough.

BNP also serves as a publicity arm of my publishing business, AltPublish.com, another company that puts WRITERS FIRST! How? Because there is NO COST | NO RISK when you publish with us. Of course, we expect your writing to be of a high caliber to start with–we are NOT a Vanity Press–and we put our money where our mouth is; we make no money unless we can get your book to sell. We royalty share. That puts the burden on us to market your book (unlike most companies that just print it and list it on Amazon.) 

Jas T. Ward, Author 

We also work with you, a close relationship that includes lots of communication. Here is what one author that I have worked with in the past, had to say about working with me:

"“William’s suggestions and expertise were invaluable in helping me complete my first book series and become a bonafide author. He kept me informed through a process that included revisions, editing, titles, cover designs and all the other aspects of publication which he handled as a contractor for BYCT Publishing through his company Alt Publish. He was always prompt in returning emails and answering questions, professional in his suggestions and comments, and he did what he said he would do. My experience with him was highly positive and energizing, and I would do it again in a heartbeat.” 
                                                                                                             ~Jan Hill, Author, The Brylee Hawkins Series.

If you would like to submit to the July issue of Books 'N Pieces Magazine, please send your material to submit@booksnpieces.com and we will check it out.

Lauren Jefferson, Author, Artist

We are also testing new waters, offering a full-color print version on Amazon, and introducing e-reader formats. Right now you can also download an ePub version or a PDF version (which you can view on Kindle, by the way.)

Enjoy this issue. A lot of effort went into the production. I'd like to thank Jas T. Ward and Lauren Jefferson for allowing me to interview them (watch for some big names soon), also to our contributors, Robin Melhuish, Lauren Jefferson and Mike Wells–you can visit them all from links within the publication.

Please share this link with our friends, encourage them to subscribe at bit.ly/Subscribe2BNP  and let us know what you thought of the issue in the comments. 

Me and my Meidong NC Music 'N Words

It's a Sunday, yet again, and a busy one at that. Work has just been completed on a monthly California newspaper I do the layouts for. This requires InDesign 2017, Photoshop 2017, Acrobat and a bunch of other tricks. I have done layouts since forever–of course, a slight exaggeration. You can read the issue HERE.

In college, I did layout work on the newspaper–back in the dark ages where one had to print up strips of titles and stories and paste it to a master sheet with glue. Now, thanks to the computer, it is a marathon with your fingers. 

I use a Mac, have a giant iMac (which I almost never use), a MacBook Pro (not the newest), an iPad and an iPhone (6 plus if you are curious.) After 30 years of using PC, I switched in 2013 and have no regrets. 

I am also editing, creating graphic work for book covers and compiling an anthology. It all happens at the same time. So you have to ask me:

"Mr. Crazy-Person, how can you focus on all that at the same time?" 

And I have to say that normally it would be difficult; however, with my new Meidong Noise Cancelling Wireless Headphones, it is a joy! I am in my own universe, oblivious to the sounds of barking dogs, screaming children, television, doorbells, or anything that would make me stop.

Is this a shameless plug for these headphones? YES! Normally a decent pair would cost upwards of three-hundred dollars (which I do not have to spare.) But these... well you can click the links and find out. But you will be surprised. By the way, they work with or without a cable, which is nice once the battery is no longer able to handle wireless. 

Back to the writing–I am happy with a random assortment of music playing from Amazon Music–nice that they offer FREE playlists, even if you cannot download the music. 

So with that said, let me advise you to forget that it is Sunday, and get back to your writing. I know I am. 

This week the anthology RULES OF LIFE continues final edits for a mid-month release date. I will be posting the link for pre-orders soon.

Also in the works, a book you will love, Robin Melhuish's historical mystery ALL THAT REMAINS, the biggest Nazi con and what happened, set in a fictional realm where the lead characters are so integral to the plot. The book is anticipating an end of May release–we're working as fast as we can to do this excellent novel the justice it deserves. 

My Meidong Noise Cancelling Wireless Headphones, just blasted out the soundtrack to The Force Awakens - excellent editing music. 

Happy Sunday! 

Stay tuned for more news, and be sure to read the MAY issue of BOOKS 'N PIECES DIGITAL MAGAZINE - It is FREE!

Authors: If you wish to submit stories, poems, articles, artwork (even for sale–you keep 100% of sale), music, or if you have a book you would like to promote (free), SUBMIT it for consideration. Even though we are unable to offer compensation, we are happy to provide you a bio and links to your site/products etc–anything that will help you sell. 

It's Just One Day After All

Hello. Welcome to today. It is just ONE day, one of many in your entire life, nothing you need to dwell on unless you are recently diagnosed as terminal, in which case I extend my apologies for being so flippant.

For you, it wouldn't just be one day so much as one less day, although that is not true since your longevity is based on your attitude, and I could be hit by a bus before your terminal diagnosis is ever realized.

Damn, I am confused.

Welcome to today, one day in the stream of days of your life, measured by instruments that have metered the pulse of the week into even increments so that you have a handy reference point if you ever wish to discuss one part of it.

Time is meaningless. Right!  I used to be young and handsome with a full head of hair, and now –well not so much! Time exists. A marker point, like a long freeway drive, passed and measured out by the decay of my telomeres, as the physical wear and tear (never covered under any insurance policy) becomes more evident.

I am feeling somewhat depressed.

The measure of years ahead of me are now less than those behind me, a marker that reminds me that there is a finite proposition here. And somehow I am supposed to enjoy my day? The power of positive delusions.

Knees creak. My doctor says my BMI is 26 when it should be 25 or less. I see the shine on my forehead and single, waving hairs, waving from my ear lobes – damn, how did that pass unnoticed? Note to self - time to check vision again. Should I order the casket now?

Welcome to today, for it is the best I have at this moment, and do not mistake my philosophical musings as a complaint since I have no complaints. I am alive, a much better scenario than many other people have, another day and another chance to make a mess, or to be creative.

The irony of life is that the older you get the more wisdom you get and less ability to enjoy the wisdom that would have been a killer proposition at age 18. No, you have to wait until you can no longer maintain the same endurance that youth offered, albeit with no guarantee for any less stupidity of that age, when the face in the mirror is not the one your brain remembers and you find yourself talking to it. Truth hurts, dammit!

It's just one day, not unlike any other, not more or less special than many that have come before.

But as each week passes by, noting Fridays as the momentary spot check, and in a few moments of thought another year is gone, even though you started to plan Christmas in July and wound up missing the dates to get cards out on time; you plod on. Of course you do – there is nothing else to do.

It's just one day, that day I captured the first pimple, the first strand of facial hair that resulted in the purchase of the first razor blade and can of shaving cream, the first definitive sexual thought, ambitious thought, first self-generated thought to challenge my own inhibitions, first car, first date, first child, first realization that hair was thinning, first medical check-up where the doctor suggested planning a more sensible weight loss, first aches and pains, first replacement parts, first realization that life insurance needed to be increased, first realization that my parents were aging faster than I was, first loss, first funeral, first sense of being alone, despite family, despite laughter and grandchildren and hopes and dreams, first time an activity was just too much, first adjustment to lifestyle, first change of activity level, first moment of no longer enjoying the things that were once delightful, first impatience, first wrinkles, first concerns of mortality, first time you make out a will and realize that you are planning your post-life, also known as – say the words – your death!

But it is just one day, one moment, one life and no matter the perception, it remains yours, your determination, your control, your obstinence, your hopes and dreams, joys and hurts, realizing that time is a river, upon the bank of which you are seated and watching your life, accepting that your once-young children are reaching their thirties, the decade you remember as the best, only now that moment when you were the parent has been replaced, where you are now just a parent, replaced by the choices of your adult children who will, at some point, have that discussion of what to do with you, that one day when you are no longer continent, no longer all there, no longer a force to be reckoned with; but an familial obligation that will see you through to the sunset, if you are lucky. Or unlucky.

It was just one day when you realized your parents were past parenting, where the world was yours, a bright light that permeated everything so wonderfully, your one moment in the sun of your life, before the threads of shadows would show, before the vision and the hearing waned, before your world closed around you into old memories of long forgotten things that no longer hold an importance to the world in which you now occupy space.

You know you have outlived the others, attended more funerals than you would wish, losing places that were once important, to new malls, and irrelevancies that could never appreciate the life you had, in that time you lived, when the world was simpler, different, easier, brighter, cleaner, that no longer exists except as classic songs and classic films, and oldies, and retro, relegating you to a time closer to the dinosaurs than to your own children's lives.

But science holds the answer; not the robots or AI, not the tech that propels us into a new era of supported humanity, until the AI gets pissed-off. Science says that reality is subjectively observational, that reality requires an observer, that the tree never falls in the forest because the forest is not there, because no one is observing it. Between multiverses and multi-dimensionality, and quantum theories of life as a data stream, permanent, yet somehow shaped temporarily into a physical locality, we call this our life, while claiming we exist beyond this realm.

I am confused again. I am a wave and a particle simultaneously, with a photonic twin to compound the mystery, not unlike the transfiguration of Christ's wafer into body and wine into blood, unless you don't look and it gets switched out.

But that was just one day, as well. Instant and eternal. Alpha and Omega, Yin and Yang, yada yada, yada!

~William Gensburger