Guest Article: Historical Inspiration Peeked from Rough Riders to The Volunteers by John Nuckel

March 14, 2018 by Leave a Comment

Oh, for the HOOK of a BOOK!

I welcome John Nuckel to Oh, for the Hook of a Book! to talk about the inspiration for his latest book, Drive, which he found after reading about the Rough Riders and The Volunteers. I’m always intrigued by secret societies and this time period in NYC. John uses his research as the basis for a modern day crime thriller. I hope you enjoy the article as much as I did. Enjoy!

How I Found Historical Inspiration in The Volunteers

by John Nuckel, author of Drive

My latest book, Drive, is the first novel in The Volunteers series.

The idea for The Volunteers came to me as I was reading the history of Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders. I found that many of the men in that troop came from my hometown, New York City. It was especially compelling to find that many of the officers in the Rough Riders were…

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Amazon’s Hall of Spinning Knives

October 21, 2017 by Leave a Comment
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Mississippi Kid

October 14, 2017 by Leave a Comment
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Getting personal with Javan Bonds

September 30, 2017 by Leave a Comment

Amazing author, overcoming obstacles that most authors, and people in general, don’t deal with–and rising above it all with some of the best zompoc novels out there (“Still Alive” series). Live long and prosper, Javan!

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Griswold’s #xmasbracketmadness Champs!

December 28, 2014 by Leave a Comment

Go Griswolds!

jeffreybelanger

Congratulations to Clark, Ellen and the whole Griswold family for capturing the first #BracketMadness title in the category of Christmas Movies. A no brainer throughout the tournament as Christmas Vacation won handily over every opponent on their way to Title of “Best Christmas Movie”.

Scrooged my favorite movie made a great run to the Finals with some help from Jake Buck and his minions at Friendly Fire in Storrs, CT. I was rooting hard and voting on every IP address I could find but the legion of Christmas Vacation supporters was too much for even me to cheat a victory.

In January we will check in with William Russell from Book #2 in the Ali Armeni Series and see how he did with his football picks in the regular season. (Looks pretty good to this point.) William can give us some advice on who to pick for the playoffs.

Here…

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#xmasbracketmadness rules and Week 1 match ups

October 31, 2014 by Leave a Comment

jeffreybelanger

We are less than 24 hours away from our first match up in the Christmas Movie Bracket Madness 2014. Take a good look at the rules, how to vote, week 1 match ups and of course PRIZES.

Rules
1. Matchup will be posted in the morning at 7:00 AM EST via facebook at Daniel Belanger and http://www.jeffreybelanger.com
2. Each person can vote once on facebook and once on www.jeffreybelanger.com   (This way non facebook people can vote)
3. When voting on facebook only vote on the original facebook post that morning. The post will be shared again in the afternoon and evening just to fight through time line feeds of people that work during the day.
4. Voting will end at 7:00 PM EST and a winner will be announced at 9:00 PM EST.
6. Winner moves onto the next round.
7. Schedule for the week can be found at right here at www.jeffreybelanger.com
5. Votes for…

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#xmasbracketmadness the last two brackets

October 28, 2014 by Leave a Comment

#xmasbracketmadness — Play begins on November 1, with holiday movies instead of basketballs!

jeffreybelanger

The last two brackets in the Christmas Bracket Madness have been released. The first play in games will take place on November 1st also the last day of the $1 Code Blood Red Halloween special. Take a good look and prepare to vote for your favorite Christmas movie. The official rules and how to vote will be posted on Halloween.

The Elf Bracket The Elf Bracket

Elf Bracket

1.Elf (2003)…
2.How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)
3.I’ll Be Home for Christmas (1998)
4. Jingle All The Way (1996)
5. How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966)
6. Deck the Halls (2006)
7. Four Christmases (2008)
8. Garfield Christmas (1987)
9. Surviving Christmas (2004)
10. Love Actually (2008)
11. Very Harold and Kumar 3D Christmas (2011)
12. Lethal Weapon (1987)
13. Arthurs Christmas (2011)
14. The Night they Christmas (1984)
15. Santa Claus is Coming to Town (1970)
16. The Christmas Caper (2007)
17. The…

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Christmas Bracket Madness…it’s not just hoops anymore

October 17, 2014 by Leave a Comment

Christmas Bracket Madness — like March Madness, but with Christmas Movies! What fun!! Join in!

jeffreybelanger

What’s better than sports, movies and Christmas? Not much so with the help of my brother Dan, actually all his doing, we have combined all those favorites into one. THE CHRISTMAS BRACKET MADNESS TOURNAMENT!!!!

Here is how it works. There are 76 Christmas movies that have been seeded into 4 tournament brackets (Elf, Griswold, Scrooged and Ralphie), much like the college basketball tournament. The movies will be in head to head competition according to seeding with the movies getting the most votes earning the right to survive and advance. (You can vote by leaving a comment with your picks or somehow getting on my brother Daniel Belanger facebook page and liking the movie match up of the day)

Here is the schedule and location of events from November 1st until Christmas in the battle for the Christmas Bracket Madness Championship of 2014.

November 1st through the 7th play in matches will take place to get the…

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What Would Cyril Landry Do? #hardreturn

October 2, 2014 by Leave a Comment

As is the case with most all of J. Carson Black’s main characters, they’re tough and determined — they mean business. CyrilBlack-HardReturn-16446-CV-FT-V3b Landry of Hard Return is no exception; in fact, he may be the bar. But as tough as these characters are, they have a soft heart. Again, Cyril Landry is no expection. A protector through and through. That’s what makes this book so great — you just never know what Cyril will decide to do or think about, because he vacillates between his head and his heart, often uneasily. Hard to do whatcha gotta do when you wanna do what you wanna do. Tension-filled tale as a result.

Would have loved to understand his wife better, maybe see her character fleshed out more. She confused me sometimes in why she does what she does . . . I’ll stop there on that subject, lest I give away the kitchen sink.JCarsonBlack

J. Carson Black’s writing style is primo as always: kind of a “just the facts, ma’am” sort of style, which she delivers in a seemingly effortless fashion. I recommend any book by J. Carson Black to date. Always a winner.

Visit her on www.jcarsonblack.com to learn more.

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“Under a Colder Sun” . . . You Can Feel It

August 24, 2014 by Leave a Comment

Book Review by Janet Fix10513394_10152170948392352_4419452928868424247_n

Under a Colder Sun is the fourth book I’ve enjoyed by Greg James (London), and there’s a reason I keep coming back for more: his mind is a crazy place, and I love walking around in there. As a writer of #fantasylit, this “crazy place” works well for him . . . and for his readers.

The eBook will officially be released on August 28.. The print book is currently available for purchase at Amazon. 

Under a Colder Sun speaks of a man who defies death, a woman who defies her father, and a king who defies his kingdom. Of particular interest is the first, Khale the Wanderer, who is both distasteful and heroic; hideous and handsome. I despised him, adored him, and mourned for his soul. So seamlessly tiered was this character, I literally fell into his heart, for better or for worse. Our woman warrior Leste is equally multidimensional but in different ways . . . I will say no more for fear of giving away the cow.

Better than all this are the plot line (solid, smooth, and intense) and descriptions of the lay of the land (I could smell, see, and breathe the desolate domain . . . WOW).

I enjoyed every moment of this book, wouldn’t change a thing. And kudos to James’ editor—for whatever polishing he/she may have done to bring the book to this level—and to his cover designer for a chilling, spot-on portrayal of this “otherworld.”

With enough chit-chat and sharing, I can easily see this #mythicfiction book being the impetus for much literary success for the young Greg James. Oh, and he’s quite the comic as well: Get to know him on Facebook under his release page for Under a Colder Sun, where he has all sorts of nutty stuff going on.

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