Here's Johnny!!

Yep, it's been 40 years since Stephen King published The Shining, making his carrier take a durable pathway to universal success.
Happy anniversary to Jack, Wendy, Danny, Halloran and the others!


picture from https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2013/02/stephen-king-reveals-new-details-of-the-shining-se.html

Save the Date: Story of ABBA for Young Readers Promotional Blog Tour!

A bit of information and "promotion"

Copyright to Becky Laine aka ABBAfan456 and Allison Rose aka The Writer

Dear viewers,

From November 15th to December 16th, we're inviting people across the literary blogosphere and the online ABBA fan community to participate in a blog tour leading up the book's release.  And we'd like to invite you to join us! It's a great way to help new authors gain exposure, and as a stop on the tour, your blog will be visited by all kinds of new readers.

If you'd like to take part, we have a few different posting options, depending on how many reservations we've received and Becky's availability:

• a standardized pre-written blog tour post;
• an original interview (text-based) with the author/illustrator, Becky Laine;
• a book review (advance digital copy of the book will be provided);
• a unique, original post of your choice - feel free to use your imagination, we're open to ideas!

All blogging participants will receive a standardized post outlining the information we'd like circulated during the tour.  Feel free to customize it to match your personal style!  Following the tour, all participants will receive a 25% off discount code for a print version of the book in return for your kind help.

Depending on availability, we may also be able to offer a giveaway for you to host on your website, as Becky hopes to be giving away a few autographed print copies of the new book.

If you're interested in participating, please reply to this message, or contact us at storyofabbablogtour2016[at]gmail[dot]com by October 31st with the following information:

• The name and URL of your blog/website
• Available dates between November 15th and December 16th
• Desired post format (e.g. standard prewritten, interview, book review, etc.)

We encourage you to reserve a spot early, especially if you are looking to make an original or interactive post involving Becky.  Allison Rose (allisonthewriter.wordpress.com) is organizing this tour, and will be happy to help you out if you have any questions or comments.  We encourage people under the age of 13 (aka minors) to get a parent or guardian's permission prior to participating.

If you know any other bloggers who would be interested in participating, would you please help us out by passing this message along?

Thank you!

Sincerely,
Becky Laine and Allison Rose

Secret in Seaport

So as to go on in the thanks serie, I would like to thank very much my writing friend Allison, from Allison The Writer, for the time we spent together during our meeting and for dedicating me this copy of her "debut novelette, Secret in Seaport:

 

Nice!!

 

 

Well, this time I won't do a review of it, but I have to say, maybe it "isn't her best writing", but I kinda have enjoyed it. Anyway, all of us writers know we can't dash a damn good book at our very beginning... Myself I find that my writing sucks during those days.

Back to the novelette, it has many good aspects, such as the main characters and the suspense due to their lives on the road and the fact their father is never home, the suspense and mystery due to the mansion, treasure hunt and disappearing objects... The end isn't the one I had imagined and it seemed a bit weird and flicked-on-the-page to me, but this hasn't prevent me from appreciating the story. And, finally, I find it kinda well-written for a debut novelette - even though I am not a specialist in the matter - others could have made worse. 



My text about Jean-Marie Potiez and his book "ABBA Les coulisses du succès"

 

With ABBA Les coulisses du succès, published in March 2014 at the Renaissance du livre editions, Jean-Marie Potiez enlarges once again his book list about the mythical Swedish group whose story has been told many times by lots of writers or fans, for example Carl-Magnus Palm, Frédéric Courcier, Mikory Anderson (fan), Becky Laine (fan) and others or the ABBA members themselves. "Encore un livre sur ABBA!" (A book about ABBA, again!) has said André Torrent (RTL animator) in the preface he wrote for Jean-Marie. Yes, that's true, once again a book about the four Swedes, but written by THE specialist Jean-Marie Potiez, adds the animator.

As usual, the writer tells us what he knows while making a kind of "update" of his old incomplete works (see ABBA The Book, ABBA La légende, ABBA The Scrapbook and ABBA Une Légende nordique) but adds his personal opinions, his experiences with the group and the story of his books, too. In the opposite of ABBA Une Légende nordique (his previous book about ABBA), there are less illustrations, even if there is a pictures corner (including rare or ordinary ones). ABBA Les coulisses de succès is about the swedish group up and down, from Benny's, Bjorn's, Agnetha's and Frida's births to their lives nowadays, without giving too much informations about their "too" private life.

This book is very well written, full of details (I'd never have imagined some of them!) and anecdotes about the group and Jean-Marie Potiez himself who talks about him as a big fan, and that's why he is one of my favorite writers (Yes, I'm a fan of a fan of a music group whose I'm myself fan!) even if I don't share all the time his opinion about some songs or the four Swedes' other "products" (videoclips, etc) or their reunion. Really, you should read this book which was written by one of the people who know the most things about ABBA, in equality with Carl-Magnus Palm, and that nodoby overtook, except Agnetha, Bjorn, Benny and Frida themselves (and maybe their families, friends and colleagues). Rune Soderqvist, ABBA's art director and creator of their official logo,  even said once Jean-Marie knows more about him [Rune] than himself! Thanks Jean-Marie Potiez and thanks ABBA! If you're an ABBA fan, you'll certainly like or even love it!

Written by ABBAfan Seventies.
Translated from French by ABBAfan Seventies.




Jean-Marie Potiez is great! :)

Now, let's introduce the best, the most perfect writer and one of the people who know almost absolutely all about ABBA, our author Jean-Marie Potiez (I'm French)! :)


He became an ABBA fan after he saw ABBA win the ESC in 1974. He says now it has been a revelation for him, and you can see that through his books (especially ABBA Les coulisses du succès, his last one) where he writes the ABBA's songs are really wonderful (I've the same opinion). Also, he's a soooo great writer and I really admire him because of all the things he knows about ABBA! :D Actually, he's one of my favorite writers.:)

He already published ABBA The Book, ABBA La légende, A Tribute to Frida, ABBA The Scapbook, ABBA Une légende nordique (the one he's holding on the picture), La Suède à table (it's about swedish food), Le dico du disco and ABBA Les coulisses du succès.


Thank you for all these wonderful books, even if I've read only three of them! :D
I'm looking forward to meet you, as we livein the same country! :)