LOVE Reality Romance

The blog site of author Kathy Clark a.k.a Bob Kat

SPOOF!

Posted on May 16, 2016 by Kathy Clark, a.k.a. Bob Kat

SPOOF!

By Kathy Clark

It used to be people would say “it is what it is.” But that may no longer be true. Actually, it is getting less true every day.

REALITY ROMANCE novels are stories about real people engaged in normal activities whose lives are interrupted by the unexpected.

But what is reality in the early part of the Twenty-first Century?

In current films, for example, it is increasingly difficult to identify the parts of the movie that are real and those that are CGI (computer graphic imaging).

Today, most people glance at their phone screens and check the caller ID before answering their phone. But few people realize that with little or no technical expertise, it’s easy to make any name and number appear as the caller ID on your phone. Every day people get called by the police or the IRS with warnings about arrests or worse because money is owed for unpaid tickets or taxes. But don’t send them that check. It’s probably scammers who have misidentified themselves as authorities that you trust. SPOOF!

Maybe you’ve received an email from someone and in fact the sender never sent the email. SPOOF!

A newer, more complex trick is to cause someone’s geographical location as shown on their cell phone or vehicle GPS device to be somewhere it isn’t. SPOOF!

REALITY ROMANCE is contemporary life. In the third book of our SCANDALS series, WORST DATE EVER, an on-line dating service is hit by a spoofer. As the incidences escalate from identity theft to murder, Tulsa and a millionaire fireman must work together to stop the hacker. Of course, romance and mayhem follows.

Go to this link to find the best priced copy of WORST DATE EVER, book #3 from our SCANDALS Series- www.lrd.to/worst-date-ever

Here are the first three books in the SCANDALS Series…

And our website has all of our books – http://www.LoveRealityRomance.com

There are many types of spoofing but here are a few of our favorites as they frequently show up in our Twenty-first Century news, TV shows, films, and books:

CALLER ID SPOOFING

Public telephone networks often provide Caller IDinformation, which includes the caller’s name and number, with each call. However, some technologies (especially in Voice over IP (VoIP) networks) allow callers to forge Caller ID information and present false names and numbers. Gateways between networks that allow such spoofing and other public networks then forward that false information. Since spoofed calls can originate from other countries, the laws in the receiver’s country may not apply to the caller. This limits laws’ effectiveness against the use of spoofed Caller ID information to further a scam. So next time a police officer or an IRS agent calls, don’t panic. Unless you’re expecting the call, it’s probably not really an official.

eMAIL SPOOFING

The sender information shown in e-mails(the “From” field) can be easily spoofed. This technique is commonly used by spammers to hide the origin of their e-mails and leads to problems such as misdirected bounces (i.e. e-mail spambackscatter). E-mail address spoofing is done in a similar manner as writing a forged return address using snail mail. As long as the letter fits the protocol, (i.e. stamp, postal code) the SMTP protocol will send the message. It can be done using a mail server with telnet.

GPS SPOOFING

A GPSspoofing attack attempts to deceive a GPS receiver by broadcasting counterfeit GPS signals, structured to resemble a set of normal GPS signals, or by rebroadcasting genuine signals captured elsewhere or at a different time. A “proof-of-concept” attack was successfully performed in June, 2013, when the luxury yacht “White Rose” was misdirected with spoofed GPS signals from Monaco to the island of Rhodes by a group of aerospace engineering students from the Cockrell School of Engineering at the University of Texas in Austin. The students were aboard the yacht, allowing their spoofing equipment to gradually overpower the signal strengths of the actual GPS constellation satellites, altering the course of the yacht.

All of these fascinating new technologies can create great conflicts and plotlines in current literature and other forms of entertainment. It changes every day, so if you’re a writer, be sure and do your homework. If you’re a consumer…BEWARE.

Bottom line? What it is isn’t what it is.

You Are What You Were When

Posted on May 2, 2016 by Kathy Clark, a.k.a. Bob Kat

You Are What You Were When

By Kathy Clark

Great characters…that’s what several of our REALITY ROMANCE Blogs have been about. What makes characters memorable and what makes people love or hate them? They have to be real. They have to be people you want to know or who are similar to people you already know. Nothing kills a book faster than a character you don’t care about. Love them or hate them, they have to make an impact.

The lead characters of most romance novels are in their early twenties to late thirties range. But the supporting characters can be all ages, shapes, colors, and personalities. If there wasn’t a variety, the story would be pretty one-dimensional. You’ll see authors add babies, teenagers, parents, grand-parents, and even animals. They all make interesting additions as long as you, the writer, makes sure that they’re consistent, real, and important to the plot.

When we were creating our Austin Heroes series, we knew the three books were to each feature one of the Archer brothers. How do you balance a cocky DEA agent, a golden-boy Texas Ranger, and a prodigal son Homeland Security officer? One of our favorite TV shows is Blue Bloods that each week ends with a big family dinner. Well, we decided to adapt that meal idea to a family of alpha men who are supposed to leave their guns at the door, but almost never stop talking shop. Who could be strong enough to counteract these powerful personalities?

Their feisty grandmother, of course. Grammy grew up in the Sixties as a young musician turned hippie, immersed in the culture of Haight Asbury. She still enjoys smoking pot on the porch and living on the edge of society. What better conflict for three grandsons who have sworn to uphold the law? One even has a drug dog who definitely has a conflict of interest every time they come for dinner at Grammy’s.

The fun part about writing Grammy was that we could make her bigger than life. The challenging part was that we had to keep her in character and have her appropriately represent her generation. There are plenty of Baby Boomers out there who would spot anything disingenuous or incorrect.

Equally important was when we were writing Another Chance, the third book in the series. The premise is that Luke (the Homeland Security officer) returns home to Austin on an assignment and bumps into his high school sweetheart, Bella. So, while not actually having two sets of characters, we had to deal with Luke and Bella as emotional teenagers and as cynical adults. That involved going back to the Eighties and staying true to that era, as well. Do you remember that there were no cell phones, DVDs, CDs, or internet back then?

Working with all those characters at various stages of their lives was a lot of fun. Their lives, loves, emotions, heartbreaks, and ambitions were all woven into the plot, making a complex, but realistic view of a family.

My husband heard a wonderful speech by a man named Morris Massey, a marketing professor and sociologist. His decades-long work is focused on values, generations, and what he calls Significant Emotional Events, or SEE’s. Some of his most noteworthy, useful and entertaining topics include:

The Original Massey Tapes – 1: What You Are Is Where You Were When
The Original Massey Tapes – 3: What You Are Is
The Original Massey Tapes – 4: What You Are Is Where You See
What You Are Is What You Choose…So Don’t Screw It Up
Dancing With The Bogeyman

They tell how to make characters that are true to their backgrounds and beliefs.

Authors tell you character background by several means:

What their pop culture is about [music, words, films, books, art etc.]
Reference points [age of family members, what grade they are in school, if they are on social security or in the military are the obvious examples]
And the obvious clue, the author just tells you

Dr. Massey’s findings will help you create wonderful characters that are consistent with their age and upbringing. When a senior citizen acts like a teenager or a college student dresses like a grade school kid, the reader is thrown out of the book. These incongruities, unless there are “payoffs” later in the book, just show you didn’t do your homework and you didn’t really know your own characters.

Following are some quotes from Another Chance that illustrate our point.

“Grammy took us everywhere in that bus. When the engine burned up for the third time just two years ago, she had it towed back to this field, then held a wake for it. Hundreds of people came out. It was the event of the year.” Nick shook his head and smiled as the memory of that crazy party flashed through his mind.

“She has lots of friends?”

“Everyone from the 60s who was involved in music…that is, anyone still alive…showed up. It was…colorful.” Nick glanced over at Jamie. “I have to warn you…Grammy is not a typical grandmother.”

…

“And this must be Harley.” She looked down at the dog that was sitting at attention next to her, his gaze focused on her with burning intensity. She wore a long prairie skirt and tie-dyed T-shirt with her curly steel-gray hair pulled back into a ponytail.

“Grammy, you’re killing me,” Nick said.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You’ve got a joint in your pocket, don’t you?” Nick asked.

“I might,” she admitted with an unapologetic grin.

“I’m a DEA agent, and Harley’s a drug dog. What are we supposed to do with you?”

“Arrest me,” Grammy challenged nonchalantly. She leaned over and petted Harley whose concentration didn’t waiver.

“I should. Maybe a night in jail would be good for you,” Nick retorted.

“Ha! Like I haven’t been to jail before.” She chuckled. “The first time was back in ’67…or was it ’68? Anyway, me and a bunch of other women burned our bras in the street outside The Playboy Club in San Francisco. I haven’t worn a bra since.”

So what does the teaching of an expert in this field, Dr. Morris Massey, tell us? Dr. Massey’s credentials are on line. In his book What Works At Work (Lakewood Publications, 1988) he was cited as one of the most influential workplace experts of the time. And to fully understand why people believe what they do and have the values they do, you have to understand where they’ve come from.

Morris Massey has described three major periods during which our values are developed.

The Imprint Period

Up to the age of seven, we are like sponges, absorbing everything around us and accepting much of it as true, especially when it comes from our parents. The confusion and blind belief of this period can also lead to the early formation of trauma and other deep problems. The critical thing here is to learn a sense of right and wrong, good and bad. This is a human construction which we nevertheless often assume would exist even if we were not here (which is an indication of how deeply imprinted it has become). If parents are poor their kids often will value wealth. If they’re jobs are a t risk and they’re unemployed the kids will value job security and when they’re older days off without pay is a significant.

The Modeling Period

Between the ages of eight and thirteen, we copy people, often our parents, but also other people. Rather than blind acceptance, we are trying on things like suit of clothes, to see how they feel. We may be much impressed with religion or our teachers. You may remember being particularly influenced by junior school teachers who seemed so knowledgeable—maybe even more so than your parents.

The Socialization Period

Between 13 and 21, we are very largely influenced by our peers. As we develop as individuals and look for ways to get away from the earlier programming, we naturally turn to people who seem more like us. Other influences at these ages include the media, especially those parts which seem to resonate with the values of our peer groups.

So your kids or even you at about age seven, between eight and thirteen or between thirteen and twenty one, are primary time periods that mold us. Is it any wonder therefore that kids growing up in the fifties explained a lot about the existence of the hippies of the sixties and seventies and the push back the baby boomer generation always seemed to be doing in the sixties through to today.

Kind of makes you wonder what imprints kids in the early twenty-first century will value as adults. The point of this blog? Be sure your characters are consistent with their age and era. Of course, not everything you know about your characters will come out on the page. But it impacts who they are and how they will react to whatever conflicts you’re going to throw in their path.

Our series novels are in three different age ranges for example:

The young adult series, TIME SHIFTERS, is about four sixteen year olds.
The new adult series, SCANDALS, is about five adults age eighteen to twenty five
Romantic Suspense, both the Denver Heroes and Austin Heroes series, is about characters in their mid to late twenties.

SEX AT WORK Or LOOK WHO’S MAKING COFFEE!

Posted on April 6, 2016 by Kathy Clark, a.k.a. Bob Kat

By

Kathy Clark

What do Barrack Obama, Bill Gates, Elizabeth Taylor, Mark Zuckerberg, and Brad Pitt have in common?

They all had a workplace romance with one or more of their co-workers. In Reality Romance novels, workplace romances are often central to the story. Even Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele start out in his office…and we all know where that story ended up.

So what’s happening on the job while people are working nine-to-five?

The facts, based on surveys from Vault.com and Forbes give us facts about the reality of office romances. Who’s doing it? 55% of women surveyed and 56% of men have been willing participants in some type of workplace relationship. Career climbers? Hardly. Only 3% did so with the expectation of gaining pay, stature, or position. That leaves 97% who did it just for fun or personal reasons.

How do these relationships start? Why does it makes a good plot for a Reality Romance novel?

19% happened while traveling out of town
12% “ran into each other” outside of work
11% the relationship was sparked at a happy hour get together
10% evolved after late nights at work together
10% were lunch buddies first
9% said it was love at first site

The survey leaves 29% who either didn’t volunteer how their workplace romance started. On the other hand, we all know people who have had multiple office romances and therefore the above statistics may also include some double dipping, so to speak.

The survey led us to investigate further. When sex was involved, here’s what people claimed:

19% have done it on the job
89% of those admitted to having been caught doing it

The conclusion must be that if you do it on the job, there is a very high chance of being caught. Perhaps that’s part of the appeal. Some people’s libido is heightened by danger or risk.

The breakdown statistics of where the romance takes place when on the job are not as clear. The most common places to be discovered having sex at work were in the board room, the engineering lab, the stairwell, and the office kitchen. Surprisingly, the breakroom was not a highly frequented place and the employee’s vehicle wasn’t mentioned.

By now you’ve got to be asking why? In a word…attraction. And there are three factors that lead to work place romances developing:

We gain attraction to others based on our familiarity and proximity to them. If you spend eight hours a day with a co-worker, and three waking hours with your spouse, this can give an office mate the advantage.
We spend one-third of our lives at work, dealing with the same clients and problems as our co-workers. Having something in common, even if it is on an impersonal level, can create the illusion of a deeper bond.
The average coworker comes to work well-groomed, nicely dressed and on their best behavior. Believe it or not, you are actually seeing the best of those you work with.

Before you toss all the research and surveys away, one more set of statistics. Which businesses or industries are the most fertile, so to speak?

72% in the insurance sector
70% in education
60% finance and banking
59% manufacturing
56% technology
55% energy
49% law
49% accounting

Are there lessons to be learned by these eager office scoundrels? Regardless of how things turned out, men and women would likely participate in another office romance, with 70% of men saying they would do it again. While that number dips slightly among women, with only 62% saying they would pursue another workplace relationship if the option became available. The general consensus on office romances amongst both sexes is clear. Why not?

One major facet of on-the-job romances is the part that stretches beyond bosses and subordinates and co-workers. The workplace includes customers, be they clients, victims, or suspects. That is real life which is what Reality Romances are all about.

On-the-job romances are a fact of life and, therefore, are juicy subjects in Reality Romances. We’ve written and had published 14 novels since 2012. Discounting the four YA time travel mystery romances in our Time Shifters series, here’s where our Reality Romance novels fall as regards work place romance stories –

Romantic Suspense, New Adult [Indie published]
- Due Dates
  - Our heroine, Killeen Ames, discovers her new life comes with a man she can’t resist who doesn’t know the dark secrets of her past. Doubly unfortunate, the man is a co-worker and now her boss.
- Killer Date
  - Our hero in this second book in the series, Reno Marks, loves women…as a whole, but he’s never been in love. In fact, he doesn’t really know what it is. His love interest in this heart stopping Romancing the Stone like adventure and romance is not a co-worker but a client. I guess we’re expanding the Reality Romance genre to include customers and clients.
- Worst Date Ever
  - Tulsa Wiggins, our heroine and smarter than smart, is forced to stake out a suspected perp by moving into his luxury apartment. The Reality Romance genre expands further to include suspects in more than one way.

Erotic Romance [Loose Id and Indie published]
- Master Suite
  - Together our heroine and hero explore the sensuous world of BDSM game play. Unknown to him, they work at the same medical facility. The office romance begins.
- Fantasy Suite
  - Alright, plain and simple, there is no office romance here. Just more of the Fantasy Island meets the Love Boat activity that takes place at the exclusive Fini Luxury Resort & Spa near Aspen, Colorado.

ROOM SERVICE MASTER SUITE photoshop 3_edited-1

Romantic Suspense [Random House LLC published 3 of the 6 to date]
- After Midnight
  - Our Denver, Colorado Cop, Sam Morgan, gets sideways with an on-the-job attacker and his “office romance” turns out to be his only clue to the killing of a fellow officer…providing he can keep her alive.
- Cries In The Night
  - Our heroine, Julie Lawrence, is a victim’s advocate for the Denver Police Department and through her involvement of helping the people in the city experiencing their worst nightmare, she becomes involved with both the love of her life and the one who is out to end her life.
- Deep Night
  - A deeply touching story of a woman’s profound healing, and the amazing man, her co-worker, who’s with her every step of the way.
- After Love
  - One of most beloved characters in the last few years is DEA agent Nick Archer. His love interest, Jamie Chambers knows how to sniff out trouble but as you will see execution of a plan is harder than the plan. In this story, Jamie is neither a co-worker, boss nor subordinate. But it could be argued that he is her client as she provides him with his new K-9 partner, Harley.

Find all about these novels and all our books on our website at http://www.LoveRealityRomance.com and here are the links to the books mentioned in this blog.

Romantic Suspense, New Adult [Indie published]

Due Dates amzn.to/1RG22gd

Killer Date amzn.to/1VQiH6N

Worst Date Ever amzn.to/1LUTRQY

Erotic Romance [Loose Id and Indie published]

Master Suite amzn.to/22apRTb

Fantasy Suite amzn.to/1TAc481

Mainstream romantic suspense

[Random House LLC published 4 of the 6 to date]

After Midnight amzn.to/1ZGWCYs

Cries In The Night amzn.to/1ftgfBA

Deep Night amzn.to/1pFZeJu

After Love amzn.to/1RTJIq6

BEHIND THE BOOK #2: Life’s What Happens

Posted on September 14, 2014 by Kathy Clark, a.k.a. Bob Kat

In our first Thrill Of Suspense Blog we told you about how we’ve undertaken the publishing of a new blog series we’ve titled Behind The Book. And while it was inspired by the VH1 Behind the Music series that focused on the music industry the Behind The Book Blog is different from Behind the Music in one major aspect.

It isn’t about the author. It is about the book. For our second blog in the series we selected our single title New Adult Romance Life’s What Happens.

BEHIND THE BOOK #2:

Life’s What Happens

Life’s What Happens is a difficult book to slot into a genre. It is a contemporary story told in flash back about college age adults who lived through the anti-war movement in 1969 to 1970. Is is as new adult as any new adult that takes place today but the angst suffered is way over the top. A million people were impacted by what happened in Washington D.C. on December 1, 1969. The entire country learned of what that one night led to on May 4, 1970.

The story was inspired by Bob, who witnessed Kent State first hand, who asked the question would his life have been different had his draft lottery not been #98. For that matter would the over 1,000,000 men who had their birth date capsule pulled from the glass box been different with a different lottery number. The obvious answer unfortunately for several thousands of young men who were drafted and ended up in Nam and died. But there were hundreds of thousands more who made decisions regarding finishing college, going to college, dropping out and moving to Canada or even just changing their major so they had a chance to snare an occupational deferment to avoid the country’s most unpopular war ever. And oh yeah…the deferments that Nixon stopped.

Life’s What Happens is a love story about everyday college kids who were part of the largest incoming college class in history and who had planned for four years the next step in their life, often times with their first true love. How do you overlay everyday college angst, love, anti war demonstration and college shootings and military conscription into a single cohesive story? You write Life’s What Happens. True story on top of true story on top of true story.

Before we tell you about the story here’s a retro activity that pulls on what kids today call classic rock of the mid century. First, go to our author home page and on the lower left click on the Kent State flower child…and listen to the music that inspired the times. Click on http://www.thethrillofsuspense.com , find her picture on the lower left of the home page and her picture below will take you there.

And, assuming you buy the book be sure to listen to the recommended song at the start of every chapter. The play list includes –

“Try To Remember [The Kind Of September]” – The Sandpipers

“It’s Your Thing” – The Isley Brothers

“Dizzy” – Tommy Roe

“I Got You Babe” – Sonny & Cher

“Mighty Quinn” – Manfred Mann

“Midnight Confessions” – The Grass Roots

“The Monkees Theme” – The Monkees

“Tired Of Waiting” – The Kinks

“Those Were The Days” – Mary Hopkin

“Catch The Wind” – Donovan

“My Way” – Frank Sinatra

“Come Together” – The Beatles

“Time of the Season” – The Zombies

“Leaving on a Jet Plane” – Peter, Paul and Mary

“Everybody’s Talkin’” – Nilsson

“Breaking Up Is Hard to Do” – Neil Sedaka

“Day Tripper” – The Beatles

“It Takes Two” – Kim Weston

“Bottle of Wine” – The Fireballs

“Bad Moon Rising” – Creedance Clearwater Revival

“Kind of a Drag” – The Buckinghams

“Jumping Jack Flash” – The Rolling Stones

“I Heard It Through The Grapevine” – Marvin Gaye

“Always You” – The Sundowners

“Na Na Hey Hey [Kiss Him Goodbye]” – Steam

“Is That All There Is?” – Peggy Lee

“1-2-3 . . .” – Len Barry

“The Cat In The Window [The Bird In The Sky]” Petula Clark

“We Got To Get Out Of This Place” – The Animals

“This Magic Moment” – Jay and the Americans

“You’ve Got Your Troubles” – The Fortunes

“P.S. I Love You” – The Beatles

“It’s My Party” – Lesley Gore

“Both Sides Now” – Judy Collins

“Yesterday’s Gone” – Chad & Jeremy

“Worst That Could Happen” – Brooklyn Bridge

“Reflections Of My Life” – The Marmalade

“The Fool On The Hill” – The Beatles

“He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother” – The Hollies

“For What It’s Worth (Stop, Hey What’s That Sound)” – Buffalo Springfield

“Good Vibrations” – The Beach Boys

“98.6” – Keith

“Up-Up And Away” – The 5th Dimension

“Easy Come, Easy Go” – Bobby Sherman

“Wouldn’t It Be Nice” – The Beach Boys

“Subterranean Homesick Blues” – Bob Dylan

“Bridge Over Troubled Water” – Simon and Garfunkel

“Something’s Burning” – Kenny Rogers and the 1st Edition

“One Tin Soldier” – The Original Caste

“Last Train to Clarksville” – The Monkees

“The Beat Goes On” – Sonny & Cher

“When I Die” – Motherlode

“Things We Said Today” – The Beatles

“In My Life” – The Beatles

As side note, Steam’s song Kiss Him Goodbye was the original working title for the book.

Here’s the blurb for Life’s What Happens.

He is too young to drink (legally) but not too young to die. Don Williams is a senior at Kent State University and lives in an off-campus fraternity house. He and his girlfriend Lisa are making plans for their future after graduation when suddenly, it’s all taken away. His career, his freedom of choice and even his frat brothers who have become his family.

Life’s What Happens when you mix the hormone-fueled emotions of youth who have left home to experience the mind, mood and physical freedoms of college life with the cultural and political changes of the late 1960’s. For the brothers of Phi Psi Kappa fraternity their biggest worries should have been how to pass their classes with the least amount of studying and the greatest amount of partying and girls. Instead, they are faced with the life-and-death decision of whether they should face their fates head-on, change their plans or just run away.

It is about the year they turned from boys to men, and where their choices took them.

There have been so many amazing awesome reviews but here’s a couple from readers who just got the book and the message.

Life’s What Happens does for Kent State students what Derek Robinson’s Piece of Cake did for WWII pilots in 1939. A large cast of characters, often irreverent, teasing, hard-working and hard-playing, comes to life in the first part of the novel where students ponder what the future might bring, and threats of a draft lottery begin to loom large. The photographer, the dissector of dead cats, the poor rich guy and the newly successful poor friend, and more, live out their everyday lives against a backdrop of eateries, drink, tests and dreams. Girlfriends abound, and the relationships have that vivid teenage immediacy of indestructability and rebellion. But destruction looms large.

Life’s what happens encompasses the lives of a few students who were present during the Kent State University shooting in 1970. Set up on the backdrop of college campus in Ohio; the story moves further and retraces the ramifications of the Vietnam War and draft on the lives of 9 fraternity brothers and their families.

The book starts off with a prologue. Though it doesn’t capture the readers’ attention for a while, until the characters are introduced in the flashback; it sails once we get past the first few pages. Each character is so realistically portrayed by the author that it brings out life in the book. These fictional characters are in love, they joke, play ball, get angry, fight and most of all they make the readers feel that it’s all real, that they are real.

“The girls rarely lasted long in the games because the guys played for blood, and it took only a broken fingernail or a knock to the floor to discourage all but the most determined young woman.”

One of the laughable sentences giving an insight on author’s ability to create humour and entertain its readers.

“I don’t get how people wake up one day and all their feelings for someone are suddenly gone.”

A sentence I loved. Doesn’t every youngster at one point or the other goes through the same concern?
Hats off to the author for making the characters look as real as they can be in a fiction. Unlike other stories, this one starts off happily but becomes sad in the course of time; still a touching tale. The only issue being too many characters in the beginning makes it hard for the readers to catch up.

The book is a good reminder of a past tragedy which should never be forgotten. I would definitely want to see a movie adaption on it.
Worth it!

You can find more information about the series, books and awards through our author website, The Thrill Of Suspense, by clicking HERE.

Here’s how to acquire your own copy of Life’s What Happens or any book by Kathy Clark, a.k.a. Bob Kat, go to their store on Amazon by clicking HERE.

When you finish the book please be sure to leave us a review on Amazon by clicking HERE.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

I’ve always been a storyteller. I was four years old when I wrote my first one. And yes it was self-published and I was way ahead of the trend…decades before eBooks actually. The Little Black Horse That Ran Away was self-illustrated and the entire first print run was completely sold out the day it hit the desk. Spoiler alert here…my mother, who has since supported my career bought the first and last book in that first edition.

Years later, my first official book, with real customers, was published by Dell. Since then, I’ve had a total of 23 novels published by Dell, Crown and Harlequin and 9 novels self-published on Amazon.com.

The freedom to be creative and experiment with ideas and genres has made self-publishing an amazing process. I write a contemporary adult romantic suspense series called Denver After Dark, and with my husband, Bob Wernly, I write a new adult series called Scandals and a young adult series called CUL8R (See You Later). The books from these series have been honored with numerous awards including Best Indie Book of the Year, Reader’s Favorite Award and Colorado Humanities Awards. For a complete list of books, publishers, screenplays and awards go to my Wikipedia page by clicking HERE.

To be perfectly honest, I would rather be riding horses, sitting on a white sand beach reading a book or playing golf on a Caribbean Island with my husband than writing, but the characters in my head insist that I tell their stories, just like that little black horse so long ago.

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What do Bill Ayers, Megan Kelly, Training Wheels and New Adult Romantic Drama Have In Common?

Posted on July 1, 2014 by Kathy Clark, a.k.a. Bob Kat

The interview of Bill Ayers got me thinking about the back story that erupted to become the story in LIFE’S WHAT HAPPENS. Part 2 is on tomorrow night. The mistakes of the 1960’s impact three generations today. What he help start is what made the backdrop of life on campus in 1969 when you’re 20 something become life itself.

My 24th book, LIFE’S WHAT HAPPENS was a New Adult Romantic Drama and is available from these eight [8] book sellers and others.

It is a NA without training wheels as the book pundits day.

The tile below is the answer to the blog title. And it you’re not sure the relationship exists then read the book then talk with Bob! He was there. He saw it go down.

LIFE’S WHAT HAPPENS Being a New Adult, 20 something in 1969 meant there were no training wheels.

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Amazon – http://www.amazon.com/LIFES-WHAT-HAPPENS-Alex-Parker-ebook/dp/B00A14STPS/
SMASHWORDS – http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/367841
iTunes / Apple – https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id703617147
Barnes & Noble – http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/lifes-what-happens-bob-kat/1114076899?ean=2940148411116&itm=1&usri=2940148411116
Kobo- http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/life-s-what-happens
All Romance – https://www.omnilit.com/product-life039swhathappens-1333594-344.html
GOOGLE Play / Books –https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Bob_Kat_Life_s_What_Happens?id=ez6XjHNKBz8C&hl=en

FOR PAPER BACK
CREATE SPACE – http://www.amazon.com/Lifes-What-Happens-Bob-Kat/dp/1480296678/
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Time To Lose The NEW ADULT Training Wheels

Posted on June 30, 2014 by Kathy Clark, a.k.a. Bob Kat

I got started in writing due to Janet Dailey. She was my hero and, to a large degree, my mentor.

But this isn’t about her but rather what she did to romance and what part of history applies to New Adult! Read on…

I can only dream of having the longevity and talent needed to drive my 3 million romance and women’s fiction book sales to even remotely come close to her 100 million plus in sales. I don’t think she is given enough credit for all she did to completely change the publishing industry. Janet was known for adhering to the conventions of romance fiction — one man, one woman, happy ending. But her books broke the mold because they featured independent women who weren’t simpering virgins waiting for their rich prince to sweep them off their feet, plus they were set in America rather than in the old-world Europe of traditional romances. Janet was the first American writer published by the Toronto-based Harlequin publishing empire and her new bold changes became the foundation of the industry to this day.

Why do I bring this up? All genres go through an evolution not unlike the romance genre did starting in the 1980s. Romance was still always the major plot, but suddenly the characters had real lives with a back story and careers. The romance (i.e. the man) wasn’t all that defined them.

My husband and I just attended the #TexasWriter’sLeague annual Editors and Agent’s Conference where we paid super close attention to the speakers, discussions and meetings that surrounded the New Adult genre. I noticed that there is still a lot of confusion about exactly what the NA market is and what the audience wants. The one thing that is clear is that it is evolving, just as romance did, into something more substantial than just bad boy meets good girl, which has been the norm up to now.

After the Saturday sessions ended and before we got back to working on book #2 in the SCANDALS New Adult Series, KILLER DATE, we set out to see where the evolution in the genre is today. Surprisingly, we found numerous blogs, surveys and discussions about new adult literature and how it is finally moving from books focused on New Adult angst to solid stories where the protagonists are in their new adult sweet spot, age 19 to 25 who have more than just boy troubles. Why deal with just that one element of the complications of transition that most new adults are going through?

Now we’re talking…don’t just saddle the poor new adult characters with relationship baggage. Let them actually deal with college, family, jobs, roommates, housing and finances. Let them struggle, but ultimately survive and succeed in the story. How “new adults”, born between 1989 and 1996, will propel a story set in 2014 forward is what makes a story great and if told and written well, will deliver a best seller.

Of considerable note I came across the blogging of Lauren Sarner at the #Huffington Post and her 2013 blog on new adult books. I loved it and it summarized very well all the blogs and reviews and face-to-face discussions I’ve had for long time. She wrote that “New Adult is a new genre whose target audience is people like me–young twenty-something’s, overwhelmingly of the female variety. A New Adult book is basically a Young Adult book with sex and cursing thrown in. A typical plot line features two brooding, damaged souls with damaged pasts (typical examples include characters whose entire families have tragically died, characters who have grown up in abusive homes, characters suffering from manic depression or panic attacks) who meet, sparks fly, and drama ensues. The books are often titled something like “Damaged” or “Broken” or “Smashed with a Sledgehammer”

She notes she may have made that last one up, but she was sure it exists somewhere.

Lauren continued. “New Adult is a label that is condescending to readers and authors alike. It implies that the books act as training wheels between Young Adult and Adult. For the New Adult books that are particularly childish, the label implies that they are a step above Young Adult–which is insulting to the Young Adult books that are far superior. For the New Adult books that are particularly sophisticated, the label implies that they are not worthy of being considered “adult.” It’s a lose-lose situation for everyone.”

She closed with a challenge for me, as a writer of three series currently…a YA Time Travel Mystery, New Adult Suspense and Romantic Suspense, and it should be for all writers of the NA genre. Lauren explained, “Books are supposed to expand your world; expose you to people, places, emotions, and ideas you might not otherwise experience. Suggesting that you need training wheels for such a thing is like suggesting that a child needs training wheels to walk. You’ve just got to do it. Good fiction is supposed to hold the mirror up to reality, regardless of the genre–and reality does not have training wheels.”

So my challenge is not how to write a NA novel that is actually an entertaining book where the characters can be brooding or damaged, but there is more going on in their lives than wondering the if boy is going to call. That was my goal when I created the New Adult SCANDALS series. Book #1, DUES DATES, has the usual female and male relationship issue, but her life didn’t start and end with him. They both have baggage, but there’s a real world going on around them that they also have to deal with that adds complications, drama and humor. A new adult’s life is not just about male/female relationships, but about their relationships with everyone around them.

Now my challenge is crafting the blurb and discussions about DUE DATES to attract the New Adult reader with the typical relationship of brooding, damaged souls, but then capture them with the complications of being a new adult in a complicated world.

That’s why the title of the blog is …and yes it is a total rip off of the intellectual capital of Lauren #Sarner at the #Huffington Post. It’s time for the NA genre to move to the next level that deals with young people that are not just defined by romantic relationships, but have dreams and problems and friends and lots of other things impacting their lives.

So I’m proud to be ahead of the curve with of our two training wheel-free NA novels.

Our current New Adult series, SCANDALS, book #1 DUE DATES was released a few months ago. Find DUE DATES at http://www.amazon.com/DUE-DATES-SCANDALS-Kathy-Clark-ebook/dp/B00GQC1S3O/

An inheritance brought her more than she ever could have imagined…

Killeen Ames has it all…beauty, brains, a college softball scholarship and a rich and handsome boyfriend who has helped to stretch her college funds and fill her social calendar. He is the only boy she ever allowed past second base and now he’s her baby daddy. However, being a father was not in his short-range plans. He graduates, then he splits, leaving Killeen to decide what she wants to do about the pregnancy…and to worry about how she’s going to keep her scholarship. With no marketable skills, no job, no home and medical bills for her and the baby on the horizon, she knows she must move forward. A knock at the door of her boyfriend’s apartment changes the game forever when an attorney gives her the news of an inheritance from an unknown dead relative and another due date looming.

After traveling to Austin, Killeen walks into the meeting and is surprised to find out that the relative was actually her birth father, and he had been a popular music star who recently died of an overdose. Even more shocking are the four strangers who share the same absentee dad. He has left them a highly successful private investigation agency, Scandals. The catch is…they have to make the commitment to work there.

Their introduction to the P.I. business almost gets them killed when a bomb goes off in the warehouse that sends Killeen to the hospital. She has kept the secret of her pregnancy from everyone, including Christopher, the totally irresistible manager of Scandals. Their hot night of wild sex in the office was a one-time thing…right? She chalks up her attraction to him as just raging hormones. They have no chance of a future together. He’s gorgeous, intelligent and successful. He would never want anyone with so much baggage.

Christopher has a secret of his own. He’s been investigation the possibility that, despite popular opinion, their father’s death hadn’t been an accidental overdose. He thinks it was murder.

Even though the five siblings still haven’t accepted the fact that they have a father who made no attempt to be a part of their lives, they join together to discover the truth about his death. The search throws Killeen and Christopher together and their passion grows hotter. As her feelings for him slowly become more serious, she knows she must tell him about the baby.

After a fun day in the sun, an event happens that outs Killeen’s secret. Christopher, as expected, doesn’t take the news well. But they must continue to work together to track down a killer, especially since the killer has now focused on them.

Someone doesn’t want them to stay and take over the business. In fact, someone wants them all dead and now the decision on whether or not to be a part of the agency seems very unimportant compared to the job of trying to stop from being killed.

They set up a trap that goes terribly wrong. Suddenly, Killeen must make a big decision. Who should she save? Her baby? Christopher? Her new brothers and sisters? Their lives are in her hands.

Due Dates is the first book in the Scandals New Adult series of romantic suspense. Each book of the series will focus on one of the offspring of Roger Elliott, a famous musician who left them with a legacy they weren’t expecting. Killer Date, the second book in this series will be released in Summer, 2014 and will tell Reno’s story.

Life’s What Happens is a 1969-1970 story told in flashback, where the super bowl of angst plays out and life in college when failing a course could land you in a war on the other side of the planet, brooding, sparks and romance flew in between classes, relationships, graduation, career planning and finding draft loopholes that would soon be shut. Find Life’s What Happens on all the usual book seller sites including Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/LIFES-WHAT-HAPPENS-Kathy-Clark-ebook/dp/B00A14STPS/

Scandals Changing Face For The Future; Starting Now!

Posted on March 4, 2014 by Kathy Clark, a.k.a. Bob Kat

After much deliberation, market sampling , sales analysis and plain ole pondering I have changed the cover on the recently released book, BABY DADDY. This is book #1 in the SCANDALS new adult romantic suspense series.

An inheritance brought her more than she ever could have imagined…

Christopher has a secret of his own. He’s been investigation the possibility that, despite popular opinion, their father’s death hadn’t been an accidental overdose. He thinks it was murder.

They set up a trap that goes terribly wrong. Suddenly, Killeen must make a big decision. Who should she save? Her baby? Christopher? Her new brothers and sisters? Their lives are in her hands.

Baby Daddy is the first book in the Scandals New Adult series of romantic suspense. Each book of the series will focus on one of the offspring of Roger Elliott, a famous musician who left them with a legacy they weren’t expecting. This book is about Killeen Ames who must deal with an unexpected pregnancy, an absentee baby daddy, an irresistible attraction to a hot new guy and four new half-brothers and sisters. Tramp Stamp, the second book in this series will be released in Spring, 2014 and will tell Reno’s story.
SMASHWORDS – https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/379398
iTunes / Apple – https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id757465403
Barnes & Noble – http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/baby-daddy-kathy-clark-aka-bob-kat/1117448913?ean=2940149013364&itm=1&usri=2940149013364
Kobo http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/baby-daddy-scandals-1
All Romance – https://www.omnilit.com/product-babydaddy-1360180-149.html
Amazon – http://www.amazon.com/BABY-DADDY-SCANDALS-Kathy-Clark-ebook/dp/B00GQC1S3O/
GOOGLE Play / Books – https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Kathy_Clark_Baby_Daddy?id=MjIuAgAAQBAJ&hl=en
DIESEL eBooks – http://www.diesel-ebooks.com/item/SW00000379398/Clark-a.-k.-a.-Bob-Kat-Kathy-Baby-Daddy/1.html
SONY eReader – https://ebookstore.sony.com/ebook/kathy-clark-a-k-a-bob-kat/baby-daddy/_/R-400000000000001164631

FOR PAPER BACK
CREATE SPACE – http://www.amazon.com/Baby-Daddy-Scandals-Volume-1/dp/1493512978

WIKIPEDIA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathy_Clark_(American_author)

AUTHOR SITE: http://www.nightwriter93.com

BLOG: https://kathyclarkauthor.wordpress.com/

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/kelly.welch.cul8r

TWITTER: @93nightwriter

PINTEREST: http://www.pinterest.com/BobKat1993/

JOIN KATHY’S EMAIL LIST FOR ANNOUNCEMENTS, PRE-RELEASE BOOKS AND BARGAIN / FREE BOOKS: http://eepurl.com/N4osT via MAIL CHIMP

The Ideal Locale For A YA Time Travel Mystery Novel

Posted on February 19, 2014 by Kathy Clark, a.k.a. Bob Kat

The award winning YA Time Travel Mystery Series CUL8R will release book #4 on 2/25/14 . . . .and we were over the top today to hear back from the ‪#‎Stanley Hotel that they are “excited that the CUL8R Young Adult Mystery Series has chosen the Stanley Hotel as a destination for RIP‬“, book #4 in the CUL8R [see you later] time travel mystery series.

There are so many elements of the press release still to cobble together in a cohesive story unto itself that will pull in the Forbes Magazine founder’s article about Thomas Edison’s invention to speak with people who have passed, the paranormal TV reality series Ghost Hunters and the core mystery in RIP of how a four year girl went missing from the lobby of a major hotel in broad daylight.

In lots of ways writing a full length novel is many times easier than a press release of what the book is about and how the series and this book came to be. Here’s the short summary of RIP releasing 2/25/2014.

You don’t have to believe in ghosts…until you meet one.

The #‎Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado has a well-deserved reputation for being one of the most haunted places in the U.S. So, when Kelly, Scott, Austin and Zoey travel back to 1911 to try to save a young child who went missing from the busy lobby, they aren’t surprised when ghost children run up and down the halls.

There’s romance in the Rockies as they take jobs with the hotel so they can keep an eye on 4 year old Emma and her family. Kelly struggles with her attraction to Austin while Zoey tries to get over her broken heart. Along the way, they meet some colorful historical characters and experience life among the rich and famous just after the turn of the twentieth century. After three other successful time travel adventures, they assume it’s just a matter of being in the right place at the right time. That almost proves to be a fatal mistake.

But can they save Emma? Or will they join her as permanent guests in the ghostly halls of The Stanley Hotel?

Watch for the release on February 25, 2014.

Here’s the First Three Books In The CUL8R YA Mystery Series

The CUL8R Series Website is at http://www.cul8rseries.com/

Here’s how to connect to Kathy Clark, a.k.a. Bob Kat.

Connect for release, specials and mews

WIKIPEDIA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathy_Clark_(American_author)

AUTHOR SITE: http://www.nightwriter93.com

BLOG: https://kathyclarkauthor.wordpress.com/

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/kelly.welch.cul8r

TWITTER: @93nightwriter

PINTEREST: http://www.pinterest.com/BobKat1993/

Free ARC for an Honest Review – Book #4 in the CUL8R YA Mystery Series

Posted on February 3, 2014 by Kathy Clark, a.k.a. Bob Kat

My 31st book overall and book #4 in the YA Mystery series, CUL8R, See You Later for the text challenged, will be releasing between February 15th to the 20th..

As has been my policy on my last eight novels, I am offering a FREE ARC, Advance Reader Copy, in exchange for an honest review. It is my hope reviews would be completed and uploaded by the end of February but that is not a requirement.

I am targeting to have the ARC available to send out by the 15th of February.

If you are interested please send me an email at nightwriter1993@gmail.com and I will add your name to the list.

What is book #4? It follows the on going mystery series of the first three books that had the four teens from Fort Myers Beach, Florida traveling back in time to help out someone who had contacted them. They had previously traveled back to 1966, 1980 and 1927 to solve a mystery that saved the life of a person they had gotten to know through one of Thomas Edison’s last inventions, his Telephone To The Dead.

Their first trip was their safest as they stopped the murder of teenager from their school in 1966 who had become the victim of a person in authority. Their next trip was to 1980 and their heroics prevented a mass murder of an entire family. Their last trip, to 1927, stopped the murder of a young man who ran away to the circus, but for Zoey, the former mean girl of Fort Myers Beach High School, her first serious love affair was doomed as she fell in love with a man from the wrong century.

In RIP [Rest In Peace], they tapped into a mother’s story of her four year old daughter who, in 1911, went missing in broad daylight from the hotel lobby of the grand Georgian-style Stanley Hotel located in the small summer resort town of Estes Park, Colorado.

The first two books of the series in 2013 received top honors in the Best Indie Book and Readers’ Favorite awards. If you want a free ebook and are willing to write an honest review than write to me, Kathy Clark, aka Bob Kat at nightwriter1993@gmail.com.

The three prior books are as follows:

WIKIPEDIA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathy_Clark_(American_author)

AUTHOR SITE: http://www.nightwriter93.com

BLOG: https://kathyclarkauthor.wordpress.com/

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/kelly.welch.cul8r

TWITTER: @93nightwriter

PINTEREST: http://www.pinterest.com/BobKat1993/

Inside Track To Indie Publishing Workshop

Posted on January 26, 2014 by Kathy Clark, a.k.a. Bob Kat

We have been conducting in the Central Texas area a workshop aimed at assisting people to move from writer to published author. The most recent workshop was help in Round Rock, Texas on January 2, 2014. This edition of my blog will touch on what we covered and provide some of the slide used to anchor the discussions and to keep us on schedule.

First the contents.

The workshop is conducted in four modules over seven hours.

MODULE ONE

Indie Market Economics, Growth & Size
Definitions & Process [Compare traditional and Indie, times, activities and money…royalties, royalty statements, etc.]
What’s Different & What You Need To Go Indie [Skills, time, costs, where to find the skills needed]
The top 15 book sellers, how they compare and overview of Amazon [Selling, book loaning, book borrowing, links to hard / paper back sales, all the ways they promote for you, how they pay, etc.]

MODULE TWO

Assure your success
- Know your genre and what genres Indie books focus on and how sellers like Amazon present books on line
- How do Google and Amazon search engines find your book
- Your book’s plot and the four most common plot structures that sell
- Amazon’s manuscript technical requirements and how to assure your book fits on Amazon and all the sellers as you write
  - Formatting specifics / how to’s & the never do’s
  - Book contents [Front, body and back matter]
Table of Contents
ISBN’s

MODULE THREE

The 3 Objectives / Needs for a great book covers
A Dozen Book Cover Checklist Items to consider
Covers & Color Themes [What do colors mean to readers]
Guess The Genre Competition
Series Covers [Basic elements and good examples]
Using Photos In Covers
Back Covers & Spines
You Be The Editor
Would You Buy This Book?

MODULE FOUR

Setting up your account
Explain How To Add A book
Add A Book Step-By-Step
Each Amazon new book field in order
What they are
Why they are important
Monitoring Sales
Amazon Promotions You Can Do
Demonstration of POD [Selling your Paperbacks through Amazon]
Getting Free Help after the workshop
Additional workshops

The workshop was a fun, fast and helpful few hours. Here’s one comment received.

I just wanted to thank you again for the wonderful seminar yesterday.

I’ve been really stuck in my revising process, but you inspired me yesterday! I have renewed energy to push through and get my first book finished so that I can EASILY publish it myself. What a gift you shared with me.

Thank you both so much for your willingness to share your knowledge and experience!

The following slides are a sample of the workshop and were provided to attendees