Building Relationships Around Books' Best Male Author 2014

When I got nominated for "Best Male Author" in Atlanta a few weeks back, I was honored but I didn't expect to win. It's good to know that you SEE me, you read my work & that you recognize what I do. I love y'all & I SEE you too. 

First, I’d like to thank everyone that voted for me. I really do love you guys. Since I released my first novel independently, it has seemed like a constant uphill battle to be seen and heard. It is truly heartbreaking to pour so much of my heart and soul into my work but, to not be able to reach enough readers. I quit my job in 2010, with almost NO savings and took a leap of faith. I had about enough money to print copies of my second... novel, “Open Spaces,” and that was about it. To people on the outside, it seemed as if I had lost my mind and jumped out a window but I believed in my talent. I didn’t have any kind of budget for marketing and when I saw what it cost, I knew I probably wasn’t going to be able to afford it. I became a one-man marketing team and hit these streets with books packed in a black bag, determination, and faith. I’ve gone broke…had to start back from the bottom, only able to buy 10 or 15 books at a time until I built myself back up…had rough Christmas after rough Christmas and birthdays went by when I couldn’t really treat my kids to anything at all. Through it all, they never complained and with each setback, I became more determined. (I bend but I’m from Brooklyn so you know I’ll never break. Lol) I tell you guys these things not to make myself seem like a superhero but to show you the struggle and to express to you how much the recognition and the award means to me. I usually don’t talk about the tough times because, in order for me not to quit, I need to focus on the good things….the beautiful, positive things that come with sharing my words and thoughts with others. Since I started this journey, I’ve been doing almost everything on my own. I’m not a part of any cliques. I LOVE my independence. There are readers that have become my team, my friends, my confidants and my biggest supporters because they believe in me. I just want to say that I love you all. Real talk. Since I’ve started this thing that I do, this is one of my proudest moments. Thank you. You all inspire me to be great! (Sorry if it sounds like I'm rambling. I kinda was because I typed this off the top of my head)

WRITER WEDNESDAY - Denise Hill

Good afternoon folks. Welcome to another installment of "WRITER WEDNESDAY" here on the chronicles blog. Enjoy and please, show some love and support for the authors I feature weekly. This week, I'm going to introduce you to Denise Hill.

Denise Hill was born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana where she resides with her son Daniel and her daughter Devin.  Denise works at one of the largest financial institution in Indianapolis as a Sales and Marketing Associate and had been employed there for over 27 1/2 years.  Denise graduated from Thomas Carr Howe High School and earned her Business degree from the University of Phoenix.  Denise has always enjoyed writing and decided to try her hand at writing her first romance and suspense novel.  Denise is currently working on her second novel and hopes to see this novel on film in the near future.

Love of a Lifetime is a romance and suspense novel about Jordan Daniels.

Jordan Daniels has spent years in and out of worthless relationships and is just about to give up on love when he learns that someone special, someone that has occupied a place in his heart for years has moved back to his hometown of Indianapolis.

Jasmine Smith walks away from her marriage after years of  physical and verbal abuse.  She returns home to Indianapolis where she lands her dream job.  Jasmine never expects to work for the man who has held a piece of her heart since her childhood years, but when the opportunity presents itself she jumps for it not knowing the affect Jordan will have on her.

Jordan and Jasmine have an encounter that neither one will ever forget, but what they don't know is that the person who is out to destroy Jordan's company is also threatening to destroy what they could ever have together.

Love of a Lifetime can be purchased on Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble,  dhpublishingco.com and is available on Kindle.

CRIME NOIR is...

"Blood & Vengeance" is...CRIME NOIR: fiction is a literary genre that shares to some degree its characters and settings with crime fiction (especially detective stories). Although deriving from romantic tradition which emphasized the emotions of apprehension, horror and terror, and awe, the hardboiled fiction deviates from the tradition in the detective's cynical attitude towards those emotions. Other common characteristics include the self-destructive qualities of the protagonist.[2] A typical protagonist of the Noir fiction is dealing with the legal, political or other system that is no less corrupt than the perpetrator by whom the protagonist is either victimized and/or has to victimize others on a daily basis, leading to Lose-lose situation.
Kindle Edition
Paperback Edition

Nominated twice in Atlanta

As some of you already know, I was recently in Atlanta for "The Building Relationships Around Books" Book Group's Southern Retreat as a guest/featured author. At the nominations dinner, I was honored to be nominated in two literary categories, Best Male Author as well as Best Urban. Now, if you've read and enjoyed my work, please cast your vote. You also have to vote for ALL categories for it to go through and also, make sure that you vote for Keith "WILLIAMS" (There are two different Keith's on the ballot) Thanks for the love and support. You guys keep believing in me and I'll keep doing what I do. Love y'all!!!!!!!

CAST YOUR VOTE HERE

Blood & Vengeance- Chapter 18 "Spiders & Flies"

Keith Gaston and I are FINALLY finished with our first, fill-length collaboration titled, "Blood & Vengeance." As soon as it gets the stamp of approval from our test readers, it will be available for purchase on Kindle and in paperback. It's been an amazing experience working together and blending our different writing styles so seamlessly that I don't think that our own readership with be able to tell who wrote what. In the meantime, here's a sample.

18

SPIDERS & FLIES

The blood-red beams of the failing, evening, sunlight found their way into the room, even through the fabric of the deep pink of the Pretty Princess cartoon curtains that Will had drawn shut to protect him from unwanted, prying eyes. Aside from yellow police tape, the man bleeding profusely and tied down to her bed, the room was exactly how Will’s little sister had left it.

The dolls were still on the dresser and the cartoon posters still decorated the walls. He shuddered to think of what those walls had witnessed the night she had been butchered and he hoped that he had given them something equally as terrible to see that day. He sighed wearily as he sat down in a giant, yellow, bean bag chair.

His face was slick with a mixture of sweat and blood that was not his own. In his left hand he held his murdered sister’s favorite, oversized, fuzzy teddy bear, its light-brown fur still matted with her dried blood. In his right hand, he held an icepick, wet with Jeffrey Rogers’ blood. It had taken him all day and well into the afternoon to get the blue-eyed stranger to tell him his name. Poking so many holes in the man’s left leg that it looked like Swiss cheese had loosened his tongue. After that first breakthrough, the information had flowed a little more fluidly.

At first, even after being walked into the house at gunpoint, tied up in just his underwear, beaten and tortured, the man had refused to break. Even after losing an eye he refused to talk. It was a few hours later that he lost a testicle and began to tell Will everything he wanted to know. It had been a long day. Nearly satisfied, Will wiped his face with the stuffed bear as if it was a towel and stood up.

Jeffrey Rogers wept with the one good eye he had left when he saw Will drop the icepick on the floor, believing that his torment was coming to an end. In great pain and ashamed, he had no more information to share.

“Well, you can’t say that I didn’t warn you not to choose the hard way, even though I’m glad that you did,” Will told him coldly, monotone and emotionless. “Now, it’s time to set you free.”

With his left hand, Will pressed the Teddy bear violently against Jeffrey Rogers’ face and with his right, he pressed his gun against it. The stuffing from the bear flew everywhere and muffled the sound of the gun firing, over and over again until the clip was empty.

Copyright © 2014 Keith Gaston & Keith Kareem Williams

All rights reserved.

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