Blog Posts - E. PUBLISHING

Here's to 2016!

1/1/2016

Image: Hooverlibrary.org

First, it has been an exciting six month ride for the European Geeks Publishing Family - having only launched in the late Summer of 2015. We managed to bring seven unique titles to you, such as By the Stars, Mr. Edmund Goat and the Elusive Clover, Heaven's Forgotten, Strange, Five College Dialogues, Five More College Dialogues, and The Multiverse of Max Tovey and introduce you to exciting first time authors like Elisha Neubauer, Alastair Swinnerton, and Branden Johnson, as well as some seasoned authors such as Ian Thomas Malone, Jessica Marie Baumgartner, and Mark Taylor.

Now we are looking to our first full year in operation and cannot be more excited for what is to come! 2016 already holds some amazing titles such as Five High School Dialogues and Dead Batteries Tell No Tales: A Prequel to Five High School Dialogues, Witches: Tea Party, The Kids' Guide to Werewolves, and the final installments in the Embracing Entropy series.

With the 2016 #Pit2Pub event coming in February, we are sure to have many more exciting titles coming this year as well!

Thank you for growing along with us over these past six months. We hope you have a Happy New Year and remember - a New Year means New Books!

Don't forget to sign up for our email newsletter in order to keep up to date with our new releases and events!

European Geeks Publishing welcomes author Mark Taylor

12/28/2015

European Geeks Publishing is pleased to announce that it welcomes author Mark Taylor to the EGP family. Taylor is the author of several novels, including Strange, Small Cuts to the Psyche, the Human Condition, and Shutter Speed.

You can find Taylor on his European Geeks author page or on his website.

Taylor brings his dark blend of fantasy and twisted fiction to European Geeks with his upcoming release Witches: Tea Party. Look for more regarding on Taylor and his work to be announced within the next few weeks.

Author Ian Thomas Malone talks Books

12/18/2015

Ian Thomas Malone is an author and a yogi from Greenwich, CT. He is a graduate of Boston College, where he founded The Rock at Boston College. He is the grandson of noted Sherlockian scholar Colonel John Linsenmeyer. Ian has published thousands of articles on diverse subjects such as popular culture, baseball, and social commentary. His favorite things to post on social media are pictures of his golden retriever Georgie and his collection of stuffed animals.

Ian believes firmly that "there's more to life than books you know, but not much more," a quote from his hero Morrissey. When he's not reading, writing, or teaching yoga, he can probably be found in a pool playing water polo. He aspires to move to the Hundred Acre Wood someday, though he hopes it has wi-fi by then.

Ian is the author of Five College Dialogues, Five More College Dialogues, and the upcoming Five High School Dialogues. He stopped by the European Geeks Blog to chat with us a little bit about his series - and what makes it unique.

How (and when) did you discover Socratic Dialogue?
Freshman philosophy. Plato’s Five Dialogues is one of the most commonly assigned books in all of academia.
What drew you to it?
The style resonates well with modern day students. Socratic Dialogue doesn’t shove answers down your throat. It tries to challenge you to think for yourself and to reach your own carefully thought out conclusions.
Most writers use descriptive paragraphs to help move the story forward and create additional information for the readers. Did you find it challenging to write without them?
It did make the reader/character connection difficult. I always say the subject matter of each Dialogue is what’s important, but you also need to be able to identify with the characters in order to fully engage with the text. The setting wasn’t particularly important to what I was trying to do, so in a way it was fun to do away with that.
Which character do you feel the most attachment to? Why?
I enjoy writing The Chief the most. I suppose that’s natural since he’s one of only a handful of characters in the Dialogues who appears more than once, but there’s more to it than that. In most of the Dialogues, he’s the one steering the discussion, but he’s far from perfect. Plato never tried to paint Socrates as a strictly altruistic person and I knew George had to have a bit of an edge to him to make him enjoyable.
You started FCD not long after you graduated – what about being college caused you to write The Dialogues Series?
I wanted to write a resource that had the information I wish I’d had. When you get to college, your RA, if you have a good one, tells you to come and see them if you have any questions. That’s not really true though. There are plenty of questions you’re not supposed to ask them. Hence, Five College Dialogues, which isn’t at all influenced by campus politics.
According to the back page of FCD and FMCD, we can expect Five High School Dialogues. What’s the major difference between FCD and FHSD? The similarities?
The major difference for FHSD is the teacher/student relationship. George is still called The Chief and he still likes his oft-kilter remarks, but he’s the teacher and not the grad student TA. What a college professor can get away with telling a student is much different from what a high school teacher can, which isn’t to say that he betrays his rebellious inclinations entirely. It’s a different side of George that I think people will appreciate.
Did you start out with a plan to write a full series on the subject matter or did it just take wind on its own?
I was comfortable leaving FCD where it ended, but I didn’t shut the door on a sequel. The fifth Dialogue is meant to be an adaptation of Socrates’ Trial, but if you look at where George is left at the end of the book, you’ll see how the seeds for a return were planted.
I hear you like to hide Easter eggs inside of your books. Are there any in The Dialogues?
Yes, fans of the series will see a few in FHSD.
The cover of FCD says “A Must-Read for Students & Alum”. What is it about the series that you feel is important for students?
Finding impartial advice on campus is practically impossible. It’s much easier to just read FCD.
Can we expect more from George, the main character in FCD and FMCD?
Oh yes. We haven’t seen the last of George.

European Geeks Publishing reveals new Children's Series

12/1/2015

European Geeks Publishing is proud to announce a new children's series from the team that brought you Mr. Edmund Goat and the Elusive Clover! Author Elisha Neubauer and Illustrator Alyssa Savery have paired up again to release their next children's book, titled The Kid's Guide to Werewolves, coming in the Spring of 2016.

The Kid's Guide to Werewolves will be the first book in the Mythology for Little Ones Series.

Keep an eye out for more updates as this project unfolds!

Ian Thomas Malone gets real about his Influences

11/20/2015

Reading a book you really enjoy is already a treat, but finding out more about the influences behind the writing tends to add layers and dimensions to an already fantastic text. If you haven't read Five College Dialogues or/and Five More College Dialogues by Ian Thomas Malone yet, you're missing out. Unlike most books on the market today, The Dialogues Series is written in Socratic Dialogue - something that is unfamiliar to the majority of modern texts currently adorning the shelves of bookstores.

The text draws you in immediately - moving forward at a speedy pace, while digesting relevant issues that all college students inevitably face. Great for current students, future college students, or even alumni - the most unique identifier in this series is that they contain little to no arbitrary descriptions - the books rely solely on discussions to propel the story forward.

Find out more about what Influenced Malone to write his stand-out series in Socratic Dialogue on his blog, here.

The first two books in The Dialogue series are available through Amazon in ebook, and where ever books are sold in print format. The ebook versions are currently on-sale for .99 cents each for a limited time alone!

Second Edition on the Way!

11/18/2015

The #1 Best-Selling YA Time Travel book (in the UK) is on its way with a second edition!

You read that right! The Multiverse of Max Tovey, the number one time travel book in the YA Genre in the UK is on its way with a revised edition. The soon-to-be-released edition contains an updated cover, revised prologue, author's note, a glossary, and will be available in a larger format.

The second edition will be available before the Holidays.

Here is a sneak peek at the updated cover! We hope you like it!

STRANGE - Launch Week

11/14/2015

Monday, November 16th, kicks off a week long celebration of the launch of STRANGE: A Dark and Surreal Collection.

To celebrate, European Geeks Publishing's general fiction imprint - Eleventh Hour Literary Press - will be hosting a virtual launch party on their Facebook page as well as a 7-day blog tour campaign. The Blog Tour schedule will be posted on Eleventh Hour's Events tab on Sunday, November 15th.

Click Here to Join the Facebook Launch Party

We hope to see you there!

Halloween Fun with Mark Taylor

10/31/2015

In honor of Halloween, we've taken a moment to sit down with our resident horror author, Mark Taylor, and discussed all things spooky!

Read through, enjoy, and leave a few of your answers in the comments!

1. What drove you towards the horror genre as a writer?

I’ve always been a fan. I saw Hellraiser several (many) years before I was supposed to. I was a massive fan of the Angela Sommer-Bodenburg Little Vampire novels when I was small. Hell, I still have them. But the spectacle of horror has always been…attractive. Yeah, let’s say attractive. I mean, what, you’re NOT supposed to love blood spurting from a throat twelve feet across the room?

2. What is your favorite scary movie?

Nope. Too many times I have been asked. I’ll start with my most treasured. That’s In The Mouth of Madness. I love me some Sam Neill. John Carpenter’s hidden masterpiece. Of course, there’s the Elm Street vs. Friday 13 question. I’m full on Elm Street. But modern horror has taken a new twist. It’s become good again. The 90’s pretty much sucked. Horror film was trapped in a merry-go-round of, well, bullshit. Some people credit Craven for fixing that with Scream. I love Scream, it’s a great movie. As for the change of perspective from the makers? Who knows. But lately some films have been leaping from the screen. The Conjuring. Man, that was great, but the list goes on, Insidious, The Babadook, Unfriended… I think we’re on the boundary of a new age of horror.

3. Do you prefer psychological thrillers or slasher films/books.

For books, it has to be psychological thrillers. I do like slasher-y books, even maybe wrote one or two, but for the page I prefer something a little more “thinky”. Film? Slasher. Gore. Beer. Take-out. Hold on, that’s my Friday night.

4. What is the scariest thing you've ever read?

The check at the local Indian? No? Okay, Clive Barker. I was reading The Books of Blood in an airport terminal. *pooped*

5. Do you dress up for Halloween?

No, I always look like this.

6. The writing community is a pretty tight-knit world. Is the horror community as welcoming and supportive as the rest of the literary community or do you guys keep to yourselves?

More so. Horror writers are the best people in the world. Yeah, think that people that write about fairies and candles are fine? They’re thinking about murdering someone, right? Horror writers? Yeah it’s all killing this, and castrating that, but secretly we’re all about the cupcakes. But don’t tell, yeah?

7. When most people think of horror authors/screenwriters, they think of a creepy, sadistic loner in a dark room writing. Is there any truth to this stereotype or are horror writers just like everyone else?

Well, yes, I am creepy, sadistic, and write in a dark room. But I’m not a loner! Nah. We’re just like everyone else. I met David Prowess (Darth Vader OT) and amazingly he’s not actually a Dark Lord of the Sith. I have a family, a kitten, I eat fried chicken. Yep, pretty much the same as everyone else.

8. Do you ever write outside of the Horror genre?

I do. I write for charity on occasion (Like a Girl Anthology coming November 14!!) and that can be in any genre. I write science fiction and fantasy, both magical and dark, within the Devil’s Hand/Witches series. I read outside of the genre a lot, so I think that has bias me towards writing in other genres. Besides, man cannot live on bread lone, right?

9. There are phobias and fears of everything these days, from clowns (Okay, those are pretty creepy) to crowds. Do you have any silly phobias or fears? If not, what are you scared of?

I’m scared of the usual things. No, not clowns. I don’t like spiders but I don’t worry about them. I suppose in the soul baring sense I’m afraid of death, being alone, failing my family. Sorry, got a bit deep there. Um, monkey’s?

10. What's the best thing about Halloween?

I don’t have kids, and being in England, we’re only just catching on to the whole Halloween’s a massive thing, thing. But since I was young it’s always been a night of horror movies on television. Up until around eight, maybe nine, years ago we only had four channels here (I don’t know how we coped). But every year one of the channels would show a horror movie. It was unheard of. TV here just didn’t show that sort of thing.

Mark Taylor's upcoming novel Strange: A Dark and Surreal Collection will be available on November 16th, 2015.

Official Release Date Announced for Strange: A Dark & Surreal Collection

10/30/2015

Eleventh Hour Literary Press is pleased to announce an official release date for Strange: A Dark & Surreal Collection by author Mark Taylor. The collection will be released in eBook format on November 16th, 2015. We are currently accepting advanced reviewers and blog tour participants for the week of release. If interested, please fill out the form here.

Are dreams made of jello or of blackened hearts? What are the four shadows? From a career defined by darkness comes the unexplained, the unbelievable and the shocking.

Mark Taylor’s Strange is a collection of six. Six tales of woe, six tales of terror, six layers of hate. But more, so much more, they are the answers in the darkness, the shades no longer grey...or are they?

Within the trials of Networking and the totalitarian Total Entertainment are the terrifying consequences of technology, and Eternal Light sees the world extinct. Inside and Elizabeth toy with the mind, and that just leaves Dead Game where you might like what you find.

Come, come and visit...come and play...where we are all a little...Strange.

Cover Reveal: STRANGE

10/23/2015

Eleventh Hour Literary Press is proud to officially reveal the cover for the upcoming Dark & Surreal Collection:

STRANGE

Are dreams made of jello or of blackened hearts? What are the four shadows? From a career defined by darkness comes the unexplained, the unbelievable and the shocking.

Mark Taylor’s Strange is a collection of six. Six tales of woe, six tales of terror, six layers of hate. But more, so much more, they are the answers in the darkness, the shades no longer grey...or are they?

Within the trials of Networking and the totalitarian Total Entertainment are the terrifying consequences of technology, and Eternal Light sees the world extinct. Inside and Elizabeth toy with the mind, and that just leaves Dead Game where you might like what you find.

Come, come and visit...come and play...where we are all a little...Strange.

Keep an eye out for a release date and blog tour info!