I read on a Kindleboards post that one reader gives the books that he is interested in purchasing the Page 99 Test. He flips to page 99 of the book and if he is interested enough to flip to page 100, he buys it. Well, it got me thinking how would my books fare under the same test. Well here is page 99 from my book Eden, you be the judge:
I went home to change after the cartoons winded down after
eleven. I was tempted to take another shower, but fought the urge; the
line had to be drawn somewhere. I changed into jeans and a sweater and
hurried downstairs eager to see Eden again.
“How was your breakfast?” my mother teased.
“It was awesome,” I told her honestly.
“You’d
better stop that,” she said, “you’re going to give me a complex. I
don’t want to think that some little girl can cook better than me.”
I
wanted to laugh, to tell my mother that although Eden looked like a
teenager, she wasn’t; but how could I say anything like that to her
without her thinking that I was crazy? Instead I told her something
along the lines of how no one could match the cooking of my mother. It
seemed to appease her and she smiled.
“Do you need money for the fair?” she asked.
I had money saved up for this, but who was I to look a gift horse in the mouth?
“I could use some,” I said hopefully.
My
mother gave me fifty dollars to use for the fair! I was amazed, never
had my mother been so generous. If I would have known this would
happen, I would have started dating years ago. Then again, maybe it was
only because I was dating Eden that my mother was being so benevolent.
“Make sure Eden has a good time,” my mother pressed.
“What about me?” I asked.
“With
that beautiful girl on your arm and all the jealous stares you are
going to be getting, I’m not at all worried about you having a good
time,” she replied with a wink.
“True dat, mom,” I laughed as I slipped out the door.
Eden
was already dressed and waiting for me on her front porch when I left
my house. She looked more beautiful to me everyday. What had I done to
deserve such a wonderful girlfriend? I silently prayed that I never
screwed this up. I wanted to spend my short life with this girl.
“Are you all set?” she asked when I reached her porch.
“I sure am,” I assured her, “and I’m bankrolling this whole affair.”
“You are too kind,” she laughed.
“I’m serious, Eden,” I said, “Today, the world is yours.”
“But I don’t want the world,” Eden answered, “All I want is you.”
My heart melted at her reply. I took her into my arms and kissed her gently on the lips.
And how about we give that same test to my other book, The Abnorms?
Forgotten Treasures was like a cross between the Salvation Army and TJ
Maxx. It carried second hands clothes but tried its hardest to look
like a fashionable clothing store; it didn’t succeed but at least there
were no sensors.
Entering the store we all immediately split up,
searching for our own sizes and styles of clothing. I quickly found
myself in the women’s jean section scoping out the selection of jeans in
my size. I was looking for pairs that looked sort of new, I wasn’t
into the whole ripped-jeans scene. I soon noticed one of the other
customers staring at me. I did my best to ignore her.
“Do I know you?” the woman asked walking over to me.
“I don’t think so,” I replied uncomfortably.
“I must be mistaken,” she muttered, still looking at me like she was trying to place my face.
I
didn’t wait for her to come to any conclusions, I took the jeans I had
picked out and made my way over to the blouses. I wanted to get out of
here ASAP. I quickly picked out some shirts and underwear and made my
way over to the others.
“What’s up?” Kurt asked detecting the anxiety in my face.
“Some lady recognized me,” I told him, “I think our breakout made the news or something.”
“Seriously?” he asked with surprise.
“We better finish up quick and get out of here,” I ordered, “I don’t want us to be anywhere near here when her memory kicks in.”
“I’ll go get Creepy,” he said, “meet you at the register.”
“Ok,” I agreed turning to look for Abby.
Scanning the store, I quickly located the young girl. She was picking out some cute shirts.
“Abby,”
I whispered as I approached her, “we have to finish up quick. I think
someone recognizes us. We have to get out before they call the police.”
Fear
registered in her face. I immediately regretted informing her of our
predicament, but it was too late now and we really did have to get a
move on.
“I’m done,” she told me, “I was just browsing.”
We made our way to the register. Kurt and Leslie were already there waiting for us.
“Check it,” Kurt whispered laughing, “Jennie picked out a bunch of cartoon t-shirts.”
“They’re not cartoons,” he argued, “they’re anime t-shirts.”
“Who cares?” Kurt continued, still laughing, “Dude has a frog on his shirt with an army helmet. I mean what the hell?”
“And my name is not Jennie,” Leslie added as if it had just occurred to him that Kurt keeps calling him by the wrong name.
“Can I help you?” the cashier broke in.
“Yeah, we’re all set,” I told her, “could you ring everything together?”
“Sure,” she said looking at us strangely as she slowly rang up our purchases.
I
didn’t like it. It seemed like she was taking extra long to ring us up
on purpose; I was getting a bad vibe from this place. We had to get
out of here.
The cashier threw everything into a big bag and handed
it to Kurt and I was about to hand her the money when all of a sudden I
saw a police car pull up in front of the store.
Now keep in mind that these samples are taken from the Word.doc I originally wrote the books from, so I'm not sure how the actual page count breaks down on the nook or Kindle, but you get the general idea.
Please let me know if the Page 99 Test convinced you to purchase either book, I'm sure the author of that Kindleboards thread would be interested and so would I.
Friday, May 25, 2012
Friday, May 18, 2012
The Abnorms is up for sale!
My second novel The Abnorms is up for sale right now on Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.com. Here is a brief synopsis of the story:
The world thinks they are useless.
Society thinks they are freaks.
They are Abnorms, people born with special powers that set
them apart from normal humans. Abnorms
with useful or dangerous powers are snatched up by the government and never
seen again, those with powers deemed useless are set free, back into a
population that hates and shuns them. This is a story about a group of
so-called useless Abnorms, they are:
Lindsay – with the power to float
Kurt – with the power to spontaneously drop dead
Leslie – with the power to change the color of objects
Abby – with the power to create flashes of light
But these teens must do their best to make their useless
powers useful as they try to rescue Lindsay’s twin brother from the clutches of
the government, and maybe fall in love along the way.
Does it sound good to you? Well, how about all that adventure, romance and hilarity (yes, hilarity) for the low, low price of only $0.99? Come on, what are you waiting for?
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
New Cover Art for Eden
Check out the new cover for my book Eden! I hope that you like it. It's still only $0.99! So if you haven't already, give it a try! What have you got to lose?
Still putting the final polishes on The Abnorms and adding a preview to the end for my third book, Return to Eden (Book Two in the Deva Chronicles)!
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