Great Review from 21 Days

I wanted to send out a big thank you to book reviewer 21 Days for their kind words about Lost in the Bayou.

Here it is...

I'd heard a lot about this book and finally got to it on my TBR Kindle list. Well, I was not disappointed and ended up enjoying it a heck of a lot more than I even expected to! Uncle Conrad is the best villain to come down the pike in forever! I'd love to see him get his own book series in fact. This is a wonderful, thrilling, fast paced read and one that I recommend for sure to a YA/middle grade reader but kids of all ages will enjoy it. The bayou setting lends an air of mystery and danger as well! But watch out for Uncle Conrad.

Lost in the Bayou Trailer

I previously posted an article on how to make your own book trailer. Here's a LINK to that post. And here's a follow up showing a trailer that was done professionally. This is for my new YA thriller that was released in December 2, 2011 through the Euterpe imprint of Musa Publishing. It's been getting great reviews, so if you're into the thriller genre, with a touch of nostalgia, you may enjoy it. Especially if you're a Baby Boomer. If you're a Kindle user, or have the free Kindle for PC or Kindle for Mac, check it out HERE. If you have  NOOK, go HERE.

If the trailer makes you want to know more, there's also a mini website that has a lot more information to whet your appetite until you can get your hands on the book and join Robin and Andrew as they head toward the Voodoo Swamp to escape their crazy Uncle Conrad.

Enjoy it HERE.

Have you met Conrad?

Have you? If not, you probably don't know that he has a shiny metal claw where his left hand used to be. And you're probably not aware of his fixation with the Lone Ranger. If you haven't read Lost in the Bayou, you probably don't know who Uncle Conrad is, unless you've been paying attention on here or visited Amazon.com and read the blurb.

But even if you aren't familiar with him, you'll have to admit that both design are pretty cool for a t-shirt. And one of them can be yours if you want it. So just click that icon on the top right and that will take you to the right place where you can fill in your information. It ends tomorrow, so don't delay.

A New Contest - With a Prize!

We are going to have an activity designed to provide some additional exposure for Lost in the Bayou and result in a nice prize for one lucky winner. We're doing this prior to our big event that's coming up January 27th. I haven't posted that info yet, but it's coming, so be prepared for a BIG giveaway on that one.

This time, we're giving away a T-shirt. Obviously, it's a T-shirt based on Lost in the Bayou. I have created two designs. If you're named the winner, you can select either one. But, just out of curiosity, leave me a comment on which one you prefer. I may print some extras to have on hand, and I'd like to know which one you like better. So here they are. 


T-SHIRT NUMBER 1 is on top. 
T-SHIRT NUMBER 2 is on the bottom. 
You decide.

A little tease

I am so pleased that Lost in the Bayou has been getting such favorable reviews on Amazon and elsewhere. The video above is a book trailer that's currently on YouTube. In addition, I thought I would post a bit of the first chapter today (a slightly condensed version) to see if I could entice some of you into wanting more. (I'd like more please, sir.)

In the opening scene, we join Robin and her younger brother, Andy, as they wait on the veranda of their Louisiana mansion. Their parents have disappeared in the bayou a week earlier, and their only living relative, their Uncle Conrad, has been named their guardian. Robin hasn't seen him since she was a baby and has no memory of him whatsoever. Andy has never seen him. He's about to arrive at the Sherwood Estate.

* * * *

In Louisiana, summer wraps around you like molasses. Thick and sticky. July is hot and humid. Always. August is worse. And the summer of 1963 has been a record breaker so far.

This morning, the sky is cloudless. It’s muggy, and there’s no hint of a breeze to blow away the pestering flies or the lingering stench of whatever crawled under the porch and died a few days ago. The rhythmic buzz of locusts fills the air, but it stops suddenly as a deep rumble comes up the road. My heart races as the sound rolls across the terrace and toward the covered veranda where we’re waiting.

There’s an uncertain look in Andy’s eyes when he glances up at me, and his voice is thin as water when he speaks. “He’s coming.”

“It’s going to be all right.” I squeeze my younger brother’s narrow shoulders and give him a reassuring smile while trying to hide my own fear of what’s heading toward us. Since our house is quite a distance from the wrought-iron entrance gates of our estate, we have a minute or so before the car gets here.

Andy stares down the long driveway toward the entrance, waiting and watching. The sound is getting louder. And closer. The locusts have gotten used to it and started buzzing again, their cadence in time with the seconds ticking by. Andy and I stand side by side at the porch railing, waiting to face whatever the future has in store for us.

A white sports car comes into view with a cloud of gravel dust following closely behind it. The morning sun reflects off the polished chrome in a brilliant silver flash. The car continues up the long driveway until it reaches the circle. It makes a slow turn around the big fountain in the center before coming to a stop.

We wait for the driver to emerge, but nothing happens for what seems like a very long time. Finally, the car door opens slowly, and a tall man wearing sunglasses and a serous expression steps out. As we watch, he turns his back on us and removes a couple of bags from inside the car. He’s heading toward the veranda now and getting closer with each step. I force a smile as he walks toward us.

He’s almost to the porch now. As he gets nearer, my smile starts to fade when something confuses me. The sun is reflecting from a strange object at the end of Uncle Conrad’s arm. It looks like metal. Large. Silver. Shiny, like the chrome on his car. What is that thing? As he gets closer, a flurry of horror rushes through me as I realize what it is.

Oh, God!

It’s a claw.

Interview with Warner McCorkle

Today, we’re at the Sherwood Estate in Louisiana, and we’re speaking with Mr. Warner McCorkle. He’s agreed to give us an interview regarding the events at the estate after the children left. So, let’s begin.

Warner, it's obvious that the things Miss Sherwood describes in Lost in the Bayou were unusual, to say the least. Her narrative gives us a good idea of what happened with her and Andy on their trip to the bayou and the Voodoo Swamp. However, I’m certain there were some things that occurred here at the house with Conrad after they left. Can you tell us a little about that?

Yes, sir, I can. Before they left that morning, Miss Robin gave me the cellar key. She told me to lock Mister Conrad down there so she and Andy could get away from him. Or at least get a good head start on him. Well, that’s exactly what I did.

How did you get him to go down in the cellar in the first place?

Well, that was Missus Deffenbaugh’s doing actually. She told Mister Conrad that the children were hiding in the cellar. And that’s because Miss Robin told her to tell him that. So that was one of the first places he looked. And when he went down there, I slammed the door and locked him in. And I made pretend that the children had done it. I even hollered at them. They weren’t there, of course, but it made him think they were.

How long did you keep Conrad locked in there?

Oh, most of the day. Like Miss Robin asked me to. I let him out around suppertime. I can tell you, he wasn’t very pleased about being stuck in there all day. Especially without his whiskey. It scared me a bit when I let him out and he waved that hooky hand of his at me. He was using some language that his mother would be mighty ashamed to hear.

So, you locked him in the cellar for the day, and you let him out that evening. What happened next?

Well, he got pretty drunk that night. I could still hear him in the wee hours of the morning, slamming doors and cussing like a sailor. He was searching for the children. The next morning he told me he was going to take Beau Diddly, that’s my mule, into the bayou and find the children. I told him my mule didn’t take kindly to strangers riding him. He said that didn’t matter a hoot. He was already drinking at breakfast that morning.

Drinking?

Oh, yes, sir. Mister Conrad was a drinker all right. He had a bottle with him every minute of the day. And night. Anyway, he said he was taking Beau Diddly to the bayou and find the children. I knew there wasn’t no way I could stop him. I’m an old man. I knew I was gonna have to outthink him. So I made up a little story about the old cypress tree down there.

What kind of story did you make up?

I told him there was limbless cypress tree on a little island where the creek forks. That part was true. I told him it was hollow. That part was true, too. And I told him the children said they were gonna hide inside it. That part wasn’t true, but I wanted to lead him to that tree.

Why? What was so special about that particular tree?

Well, it wasn’t the tree I was leading him to, actually. In order to get to the tree, you have to get past the quicksand. There’s a big pool of it, and that’s what I was leading him to.

Weren’t you afraid Beau Diddly would get stuck in it?

A little. But I figured Beau is a pretty smart old mule. Animals can sense danger. He would balk before he got to it.  And when that mule balks, there ain’t no way of getting him to move. That would force Conrad to get off and walk the rest of the way. Right into that old big pool of quicksand. And that would be the end of that.

Is that what happened?

Well, sir, I don’t think I should say anything more about that. Miss Robin might be unhappy with me if I told any more and spoiled her story for anyone who’s reading it.

You’re absolutely right, Warner. Let’s stop at that point. And thanks for spending the time with us. To get a little more info on the story, visit the mini website HERE. To find out everything that happened, our readers can order their own copy. Lost in the Bayou will be available everywhere ebooks are sold this Friday, December 2.

Or you can pre-order it right now by clicking HERE.