Monday, April 15, 2019

Drone Strike: An Anthony Provati Thriller by Joe Giordano (Book Spotlight, Author Guest Post and Giveaway!)


Today, I'm spotlighting Joe Giordano's latest release, the second book in the Anthony Provati Thriller series. My review will be posted later this month on Library of Clean Reads. I asked Giordano how he created realistic settings for his novels. Scroll down for his guest post on this topic and then enter to win a copy of the book!

Book Details:

Book Title: Drone Strike: An Anthony Provati Thriller by Joe Giordano
Category: Adult Fiction, 290 pages
Genre: Thriller
Publisher: Rogue Phoenix Press
Release date: April 15, 2019
Format available for review: ebook (mobi, ePub, PDF)
Tour dates: April 15 to 26, 2019
Content Rating: PG-13 + M (for graphic violent terrorist scenes, no sex, no f-words.)

Book Description:

Karim’s family is killed by a U.S. drone strike in Iraq, collateral damage. The Islamic State in the Levant exploits his rage, recruiting him for a terrorist attack on the U.S., and only Anthony Provati can stop him. Drone Strike takes you on a fast-paced adventure across the Mediterranean, into Mexico, finally arriving in the States. Drone Strike explores the psychological realities that seduce Karim to commit an act of terror, includes a love story between Moslem Karim and Miriam, a Christian woman he defends in Turkey and highlights the plight of Middle Eastern and Central American refugees.

To read reviews, please follow Joe Giordano's page on Italy Book Tours.


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Guest Post:

How I Create Realistic Settings for My Novels
by Joe Giordano

Realistic settings spring from both personal experience and research.

As a retired International Executive Vice President of 3M, I lived in Greece, Brazil, Belgium, and the Netherlands and traveled extensively, experiencing the cultures and locations around the world that appear in my writing. For example, my first foreign assignment had been as Managing Director, running a business in Greece, Turkey, the Middle East, and North Africa out of Athens. giving me first-hand experience with Mediterranean and Middle-Eastern people and most of the locations in Drone Strike.

With both Appointment with ISIL, An Anthony Provati Thriller, and Drone Strike, the just-published, second book in the series, a University of Texas class on Islamic history provided me with additional background.

Regarding Birds of Passage, An Italian Immigrant Coming of Age Story, my first novel, an historical fiction set around the turn of the twentieth-century, all my grandparents and my father were immigrants from Naples. They entered the United States during the Progressive Era. To learn about the environment they encountered, I took a graduate course on the period at the University of Texas and my research interest and term paper topic was Italian immigration. While Birds of Passage was not about my family, my experience growing up with immigrants allowed me to capture how they thought and acted.

Library research and the Internet are excellent sources for accurate details on settings without needing to visit or revisit a location. For example, I’ve toured both the San Gennaro Cathedral in Naples and St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York, two sites in Drone Strike, and through Internet images, I refreshed my memory on features inside both churches. Street level Internet map applications allowed me to virtually walk around Bodrum, a Turkish city I hadn’t visited in years, another locale featured in Drone Strike.
Meet the Author:

As a former International Executive Vice President of 3M, Joe Giordano’s experience included running a business in the Middle East out of Athens, Greece. Born in New York, he’s had first-hand experience with the cultures and most of the locations in Drone Strike.

Joe's stories have appeared in more than one hundred magazines including The Saturday Evening Post and Shenandoah. His novels, Birds of Passage: An Italian Immigrant Coming of Age Story (2015) and Appointment with ISIL: An Anthony Provati Thriller (2017) were published by Harvard Square Editions. Read the first chapters and sign up for his blog at http://joe-giordano.com/

Joe was among one hundred Italian-American authors honored by Barnes & Noble Chairman Len Riggio to march in the 2017 Manhattan, Columbus Day Parade.

Connect with the author: Website ~ Twitter ~ Facebook ~ Pinterest

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Ends May 3, 2019

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Sunday, April 7, 2019

Writer Get Noticed! A Strengths-Based Approach to Creating a Standout Author Platform by Colleen M. Story


I'm kicking off the tour for Colleen M. Story's latest resource book for writers. My review will be up on my Library of Clean Reads later this week. Check it out!

Book Details:

Book Title: Writer Get Noticed! A Strengths-Based Approach to Creating a Standout Author Platform by Colleen M. Story
Category: Adult Non-Fiction, 310 pages
Genre: Non-fiction Writing/Publishing
Publisher: Midchannel Press
Release date: March 2019
Tour dates: April 8 to 19, 2019
Content Rating: G

Book Description:

Stop feeling invisible and start attracting the attention you deserve!

Have you been writing for years, but feel like no one notices? Have you published your stories, only to gain a handful of readers? Do your marketing efforts feel like shouting into a void?

Veteran writer and motivational coach Colleen M. Story helps you break the spell of invisibility to reveal the author platform that will finally draw readers your way.

There are more books out there than ever before, and readers have many other things vying for their attention. A writer can feel like a needle in a haystack, and throwing money at the problem rarely helps. What does work is creating a platform that stands out, but in a sea of a million platforms, how is one to do that?

Writer Get Noticed! takes a new approach, dispelling the notion that fixing your writing flaws and expanding your social media reach will get you the readers you deserve. Instead, discover a myriad of strengths you didn’t know you had, then use them to find your author theme, power up your platform, and create a new author business blueprint, all while gaining insight into what sets you apart as a writer and creative artist.

Writers need readers to achieve their highest potential. Find your way to stand out, and let it lead you to the writing career that fulfills all your expectations and more.

In this motivational and inspiring book, you’ll learn:
  • Why simply improving your writing skills won’t take you where you want to go.
  • How discovering your strengths makes you a more effective writer and entrepreneur.
  • What you really want from writing and why that matters.
  • How to use the three-brain decision-making system to build a more successful author platform.
  • What truly motivates you and how to use that to propel yourself forward.
  • How to use the “find your author theme formula” to write a theme that fits your creative style.
  • How imposter syndrome can stall your progress, and how to overcome it.
  • Why risk-taking is critical to writing success, and how to make better decisions about the risks you take.
When you find the treasure that’s been inside you all along, don’t be surprised if it opens new doors you never thought possible.

To read reviews, please visit Colleen M. Story's page on iRead Book Tours.

Buy the Book:





Meet the Author:



Colleen M. Story is on a mission to inspire people from all walks of life to overcome modern-day challenges and find creative fulfillment. Her latest release, "Writer Get Noticed!," is a strengths-based guide to help writers break the spell of invisibility and discover unique author platforms that will draw readers their way. Her prior nonfiction release, "Overwhelmed Writer Rescue," was named Solo Medalist in the New Apple Book Awards, Book by Book Publicity’s Best Writing/Publishing Book, and first place in the 2018 Reader Views Literary Awards.

With over 20 years as a professional in the creative industry, Colleen has authored thousands of articles for publications like “Healthline” and “Women's Health;” worked with high-profile clients like Gerber Baby Products and Kellogg's; and ghostwritten books on back pain, nutrition, and cancer recovery. Her literary novel, Loreena’s Gift, was a Foreword Reviews' INDIES Book of the Year Awards winner, an Idaho Author Awards first place winner, and New Apple Solo Medalist winner, among others.

Colleen frequently serves as a workshop leader and motivational speaker, where she helps attendees remove mental and emotional blocks and tap into their unique creative powers.

Find more at her motivational sites, Writing and Wellness and Writer CEO, on her author website, or follow her on Twitter.


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Ends April 26, 2019


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