Meet Matthew C. Martino!

Today we welcome Matthew Martino to Spinning Pearls. Matthew is a writer, actor and film producer based in the UK.

Q.1.  Hi, Matthew! I see you have worked as an author, an actor and a film producer. This is an impressive resume for anyone, let alone someone in his early twenties. Please tell me which you count as your main talent or field, and why?

A. Thank you, I wouldn’t know which one to call my main talent field but I do enjoy writing , although my books may not be novels as such I’ve always enjoyed the art of researching about something and putting it on pen and paper. It's obviously a bit hard to write and I never had respect for authors until I wrote "Let's Fly". I then realised that it's not all milk and honey. That having been said I feel my knowledge and talent within film production is growing day by day.

Q.2.  We'd love to hear a bit more about your book, "Let's Fly". What inspired you to write it? Who do you see as an ideal reader for this book?

A. "Let's Fly" was one of those things that I put my whole heart into.  I’ve had an interest in aviation since I was back in the streets of Africa. I felt inspired to write the book as I wanted to provide resources for aspiring pilots to be able to learn more about the field. I realised that most pilot books on the market were too complex so I simplified mine as much as possible. The ideal reader for "Let's Fly" could be anyone in essence; it does have a few physics and general knowledge facts embedded in it.

Q.3. Which of your production jobs has been the most challenging and why?

My most challenging role had to be my own "Let's Fly" Documentary. I never realised how it can be to get everything together all by yourself. I usually jump onto projects where a Director and most crew are already attached but having to create everything from scratch was a bit of a challenge. Still, I do love a challenge and I learnt so much from it and I know in future when I endeavour into my own production I will know what to look out for.

Q.4. You obviously enjoy a wide range of interests and talents. How do you see these developing as you progress through your twenties?

A. I do!  I’ve been told it's not a good thing to be a ‘Jack of all trades’ so I might have to stick to one thing sooner or later. In all honesty I don’t know what the rest of my twenties will bring, I have realised that towards the end of 2013 and going through to now I’ve not been spending too much time on set. I’ve gone from being on set every day to pre-production meeting, investor meetings and doing castings and location scouts. In an ideal world I’d love to continue to do a bit of everything and hopefully find a lucky lady to share the journey with me.

Q.5. Still looking into the future; do you have a specific project you’d like to tell us about?

A. Yes the future...I’m currently meant to be working on a film ‘Essex Crystal’ which will be directed by award winning director Azeem Khan. That will be an interesting venture and a challenge. I’m also in talks to bring back "Let's Fly" Documentary but I can't say too much at the minute. I’ll be signing someone on to pen the project then take it from there. I'm also looking to put a lot of time into my charity works this year and take a more hands on approach. Sadly my writing days are gone – I don’t think I can write anymore, I now tend to lose concentration quickly.

Thanks for your time, Matthew. I really admire multi-talented people.

 For those who'd like to find out a bit more about Matthew and his endeavours, here's a link to his Star Now page.

Kingdom of the Sun

Kingdom of the Sun, by Ariffa Bevin

Today I welcome author Ariffa Bevin to Spinning Pearls. Ariffa agreed to answer my curious questions about the intriguingly titled novel - The Kingdom of the Sun.

Q. "Kingdom of the Sun" is a splendid title for a book. How did you come up with it?

A. Out of all the questions that are asked about my book, I have to say that this one is my favorite. So, thank you for asking it! I came up with the title “Kingdom of the Sun” by thinking deeply about the book’s message and what I wanted the book itself to signify. The sun is an extremely significant theme in the novella for its representation of literal and figurative light, hope, and strength. 

You see, although Helena is the protagonist of the story, the book is really about the kingdom of Sooryan as it tries to regain all that was taken away from it in order to be seen as a country worthy of the name Sooryan, and I will leave it to my readers to decipher the true meaning of that word.

As an author, I want “Kingdom of the Sun” to be like the sun. I want it to not only tell the story of a nation fighting for truth, hope, honor, and happiness, but I want it to shed light on the unseen and ignored issues and perspectives of society and the world. I want my readers to feel the strength that comes from the sun in believing they have the strength to overcome anything. And like how the sun signifies hope, I want Kingdom of the Sun to represent the hope that change can and will happen for the better: in the world and in our own lives.

Q. Please tell us a bit about the story. 

A. I would love to! Set in the modern-day kingdom of Sooryan, Kingdom of the Sun tells the story about a nation that became successful based solely on education and its Scholars as the foundation. However, the story opens with Sooryan in economic, political, educational turmoil. In a kingdom where Scholars and education were once top priority, the Royals of the past and present years favor competition, status, and money more. And although Sooryan’s people and Scholars are well aware of the nation’s decline, Helena is the only one who truly sees what needs to be done and has the courage and strength to do it.

Q. You know those "if you like this author, you might also like this one" lists? Please tell us a couple of authors that fit in with you and your book.

A. Well, there are two authors that come to mind. The first is George Orwell and his novel 1984. Kingdom of the Sun possesses many of 1984’s characteristics like literary symbolism, rebellion, and most importantly, its story pertains very much to what is happening in today’s countries. The second author that I believe has a similar style to mine is Margaret Duras and her beautiful novella The Lover. What I enjoyed most about this book, besides the touching true story, is that Duras uses very simplistic sentence structure that is extremely powerful and dense at the same time. I tried to do the same with Kingdom of the Sun.

To learn more about Ariffa and Kingdom of the Sun, please visit the sites below:

Website/Blog: http://hopehonorandhappiness.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorAriffaBevin

Goodreads: Book page

Thank you, Ariffa! If anyone has comments or questions, I'm sure Ariffa will be happy to respond.

Ascending the Spiral with Bob

I wanted to interview Bob Rich about his new book, Ascending Spiral, but since we've known one another a long time, I decided on a new approach. Here is what I asked him, and what he replied!

My Question:

I can interview you? Excellent. I could ask you questions, in the ordinary interview style, but I think I'll just go for one big question and it's THE big question. Your new book is called Ascending Spiral. Please suppose, for a moment, that it is an international best seller, fuelled by viral word-of-mouth marketing. What's the buzz? What do your readers take away from this book that prompts them to recommend it to others?

Bob's Response:

Thank you for the question, Sally... I think. I am not very good at blowing my own trumpet.

OK, first because it is entertaining. It’s a good read, and people have told me that once they start, they don’t want to put it down. It currently has 25 reviews, 17 of them 5 star, the rest 4 star. One reader posted a very critical review, but even he gave it 4 stars.

My publisher nominated “Ascending Spiral” for the Pushcart Prize http://www.pushcartprize.com because... well, because he enjoyed reading it.

Recently, a reader interviewed me (unusual, I know), and I posted the results at my brand new blog http://wp.me/p3Xihq-2a She told me she’d read it three times! No, not the interview, the book.

Second, because it is designed to change the world. I am a professional grandfather, and I love children. What kind of a future are they growing into? Let’s not worry about climate change for the moment, but there are many other things I don’t like.

We are in the middle of the sixth great extinction event of Earth’s history. Some of it is due to ocean acidification, but most is habitat destruction. Nearly half of over 7 billion people live in cities. Human structures now cover a significant area of what was once farmland, and before that part of nature. Add to this damage from mining, replacing rainforest with oil palms, land covered by transport infrastructure, and you can see that we are killing the natural world. And we are not apart from nature, but a part of it, and the beauty and diversity of life is a source of joy and wonder, as well as what keeps us alive.

A great advance of the 20th century over the 19th was the reduction of disparity between rich and poor. In most parts of the world, almost everyone could have a reasonably decent life. This is no longer the case. With the population explosion, there is less for everyone. And with a culture of greed, more and more ends up the exclusive property of fewer and fewer people.

Then there is pollution. We are poisoning ourselves, and every other living being. Combine this with all the radiation we have unleashed, and a chronically stressful lifestyle, and you have the epidemic of cancer that is rarely acknowledged, but is growing all the same. When I was young, cancer was an old person’s disease. Not any more. This is why one of my books is on cancer.

OK, enough gloom. The point is, I want to do something about it, and all my 15 books are tools for improving the world.

I could have written a nonfiction book advancing my philosophy -- but that would have only been read by people who already agree with me. Fiction is more effective at reaching people who are open to a change of viewpoint, but haven’t thought about the issues that have concerned me for over 40 years. So, by entertaining, I am recruiting: join my team!

I have diagnosed the problem: it is a culture of conflict and greed. The path to survival, to a decent, humane, equitable life for all of us, is culture change, to one of compassion and cooperation. This is what Ascending Spiral is about, and this is why I want it read by millions.

So, that's what Bob has to say when I corner him with an outrageous (for a modest man) suggestion. I found it fascinating and thought-provoking. Who wouldn't want his or her book to improve the world?

Below is a picture of Bob in one of his favourite roles, and below again, his bio.

Bob's Bio

Dr Bob Rich   is the author of 15 books, 4 of them award winners. He and his wife chose to live below the official Australian poverty level, and raised 3 wonderful children while doing so. This was not on welfare benefits, but by working part time, and replacing paid work with directly providing for their own needs. A byproduct was an interesting, meaningful, stimulating, contented life. You can read about the reason for this crazy behaviour in Bob’s essay ;. His motto for today’s world is, “Live simply so you may simply live.”

Okay, so that's Bob Rich and this is his new book. Thanks to everyone who visits Spinning Pearls. Please leave a comment. If you have any questions for Bob, I'm sure he'll answer them.

THE STORY OF CHARMS Part 1 (Concerning Clovie)

In May 2013, overwhelmed as usual by work, I decided to start a new little project just for fun. It all started before that though, with the series The Fairies of Farholt, which I am developing with an illustrator. I thought it would be good if my young fae protagonists had signature necklaces or charms, which could possibly be marketed with the books. I looked on eBay for inspiration, searching specifically for four-leaved clover or shamrock charms for Clovie, the protagonist of the first book. I didn't find what I was looking for (they were all too big, too crude, too fancy or just too expensive) but I found a lot of wonderful charms- a much wider variety than I'd known existed. Right away, my brain concluded this was exactly what I needed for a project for my grandchildren... to read about that, tune in to the next installment of this blog-serial. (You can do that by subscribing to this blog. Don't worry... you can always unsub if I waffle on too much.)

In the meantime, here are some links to check out. (Please do!)
The Fairies of Farholt project is at http://www.thefairiesoffarholt.com  Yes I know... my son would click his tongue and tell me that url is too long. I tend to go for long descriptive urls, partly because they are intuitive and partly because the shorter simpler ones usually belong to someone else already! Here's the tinyurl version. http://tinyurl.com/lgkde6q which is just about as long as the other one. Hmmmm.

To see CHARMS, visit http://www.printscharmingbooks.com or, http://tinyurl.com/pjf9tyz

The Charms project is out there now, but two other projects, KEEPSAKES and LUCKY DRAW are still open for contributors. If you're interested, pop along to KEEPSAKES or LUCKY DRAW Aha! Those are short! Short, I tell you! SHORT!

Websites- How to LOSE Customers.

I get newsletters from three people in the fitness/diet/exercise/lifestyle area. Just lately I’ve had cause to write to all three of them about things they’ve done that are a MAJOR turnoff for me when clicking on their links. 

One of them offers a freebie item for only postage. Now, I get his other product semi-regularly and it’s excellent, so I assume the new one would be too. However, he had a sneaky clause that meant the product would keep arriving at the full price after that freebie. I think there was a box to uncheck, but it was wayyy down. I wrote to him and said that was not the way to get happy customers (I’d read a lot of snaky comments about it) and he fixed the problem. Now you opt-in rather than having to opt-out.

One of them talked happily about “my f***y would thank me”. I told him that is not the thing to say to an international audience that will include Australians. He meant my behind would be smaller…

The third one had a link to click that promised a piece of information. Clicking the link took me to an unrelated page. He does this a lot, so I think it’s a deliberate ploy. He offers something we might want to know (which veg has the highest carb for example) and that link goes to a hard-sell page. As far as I could tell the info I wanted and was promised wasn’t there at all.

Also – there are the ones who offer information we want and then make us click through screen after screen of video and testimonial. The videos are soooo slowwww. I can read the info in 30 secs but the dude doing the audio takes 2 minutes. So, having wasted about 9 mins waiting for the screens to advance I click off that site. I will never willingly go back. And I still don’t have the info I was offered.

So- mini-rant over. Sometimes, the bait/switch techniques and testimonials tricks can backfire big time. You might pick up a few customers, but you WILL lose a lot like me.

Don't Wake the Troll!

Don't Wake the Troll! is a wonderful new picture book by Ben Kitchin, illustrated by Ben Redlich and published by Koala Books. The lively story tells of a group of dwarves whose treasure is stolen by a troll, so off they go to steal it back. The writing style is lively with plenty of word play and the illustrations are the perfect complement to the text.
This is one of those picture books that has wide appeal. Very young children would enjoy the rhythmic text while older ones would find the story exciting. Reading-aloud adults will appreciate the themes of overcoming fear, solidarity and crime definitely not paying off...I especially love the last page!

I'd love to see another collaboration between these talented creators. Let's hear it for The Two Bens!
To follow the Don't Wake the Troll! celebrations and bloghop, pop along to Jackie Hosking's blog HERE  Before you go, though, here's a contest. Leave a comment to be in the running for your choice of the following three prizes:
Ten Picture Book Mistakes (PDF)
50% off an assessment of your own picture book text from Affordable Manuscript Assessments
(Giving Our Kids) a Reason to Write (PDF)

Meet Donna Smith!

Today Spinning Pearls is delighted to host a stop in Donna Smith's Jazmine Montgomery tour.

Hi Donna- thanks for visiting!

Hi Sally Thank you for inviting me along today to Spinning Pearls. 

I thought today we could enjoy a chat somewhat a little different.  When am I talking to children about writing,  I am often asked about Verbs. So, today I thought I might talk about Verbs. 

Understanding Verbs:

Verbs are so exciting as they not only describe a type of action but they also tell us when things are happening in the text. These include tense (past, present and future tense). A verb is also defined as a state of being. Every sentence must have a verb. Identifying the verb will give the reader greater understanding of the sentence.

The cat ate the rat. In this example ‘ate‘ is the verb as it is the action word within the sentence. In the sentence The monkey is smart there is no action word, however there is a ‘state of being’ which is ‘is‘. Therefore ‘is‘ is the verb of this sentence. Sometimes, this can be a little tricky.  You can always ask your teacher for help if you are unsure.

Sometimes the verb can be changed by adding an ending. This occurs with Tense Verbs. Tense verbs have an ending added to the base verb to show the reader when things occur in the text. Such as past, present and future. The most common endings include:

1) ing – This is added to the verb to show the reader the text is ‘present’ tense. When using this type of tense verb, changing the base word always needs a little helper such as words like: were, was, are, is.

For example:

Timmy was kicking the ball.

Jazmine is going to music lessons.

Ben's kindy friends are reading books.

In each of these examples the base verb  has been changed to include ing (reading) and a helper has been included (are).

2) es – This is the easiest to remember. ‘es‘ is added to a base verb which ends in ‘y‘. The ‘y‘ is dropped in most cases and ‘i’ is added, then ‘es‘ becomes the new ending.

For example:

Fly becomes flies

Spy becomes spies

Cry becomes cries

Try becomes tries

3) s – is added to a base verb to show present tense IF the subject in the sentence is a single person/ thing. ‘S’ is also added when text is written in the third person.

For example:

Timmy eats pears.

Jazmine swims fast.

Benjamin likes trucks.

Sometimes the word may also change completely such as:

I teach poetry to I taught poetry. In this example teach becomes taught – the word changes completely

I hope Sally  this provides your readers some insight to what Verbs are and how they are used.   I will pop by for a visit too. 

Regards,

Donna

Thank YOU Donna! 

Donna is the author of Jazmine Montgomery: Toy Detective. For more information, visit http://jellibeanzbooks.wordpress.com/tag/jazmine-montgomery-toy-detective/

If you have missed any tour stops so far, you can catch up on the following links:

Boomerang Books – Dimity Powell
http://blog.boomerangbooks.com.au/doodles-and-drafts-searching-for-magic-with-donna-smith-and-jazmine-montgomery-the-magic-glasses-blog-tour/2013/09

Helen Ross Writes blog – Helen Ross

http://misshelenwrites.wordpress.com/2013/09/03/jazmine-montgomery-toy-detective-blog-tour/

Di Bates
http://diannedibates.blogspot.com.au/2013/09/welcome-to-literacy-ladder-by.html

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