Tag Archives: Adventure

My novel MY PROBLEM WITH DOORS is back! Grab a copy today-

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My Problem With Doors MASTER TAKE 3

I am pleased to announce that my novel, My Problem With Doors is back!

Published by Dream’s Edge Publishing, Doors is an unpredictable time travel adventure including everything from Jack the Ripper to pirates to gladiators to even poets! Here is the cover description of the book.

This is a plea for help.

If you have found this manuscript and think it to be only a novel or an ancient piece of fiction, it is not. This is the story of my life and I hope in your reading you will be able to help me…

Jacob is lost in time.He has been lost ever since he walked through a door as a toddler and ended up in the office of a British officer in 1870. My Problem With Doors is the exciting story of Jacob’s life as a time traveler.Adventure, humor, romance, and surprises, Jacob never knows where he is going to end up or who he will meet next in his 30-year search for a home and purpose. From pirates to poets to even Jack the Ripper, Jacob will experience all of the best and worst of humanity in his journeys.

My Problem With Doors is a book like no other, filled with both literary and adventurous twists and turns.

“This is a most compelling book. It pulls you in to a fascinating concept from the beginning…. I give this book 5 stars.” –The Voracious Reader

You can currently find it on Amazon, available in both print and eBook format.

I hope you will check it out and grab a copy.

I’m very proud of the book and the twists and turns in it. It is truly very unique. I always like to think of it as the kind of book that I sometimes come across at a library that I have no idea what it is about, and it surprises me on every page. 

(Hey, by the way, if you are following my blog and my The Art of Being Alone novella, I know I have been lazy about putting up the latest post. It is done, it is just life is very busy right now. In other words- 2020.)

 

 

 

Available now! New novel for eBook and print! Grab your copy of My Problem With Doors…

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This is a plea for help.

If you have found this manuscript and think it to be only a novel or an ancient piece of fiction, it is not. This is the story of my life and I hope in your reading you will be able to help me…

My Problem With Doors MASTER TAKE 3

Yes, the world is in crisis but there is also the argument to be made that this is the perfect time to discover a new book. Okay, okay… I get that it is a bad and possibly insenitive joke, but we live in bad and possibly insensitive times.

My novel, My Problem With Doors, is now available on Amazon for eBook and print! Published by KGHH Publishing, this unpredictable time travel book might be just what you need to help pass the time and get your mind onto something other than the mad news. Here is the back cover description:

Jacob is lost in time.

He has been lost ever since he walked through a door as a toddler and ended up in the office of a British officer in 1870. My Problem With Doors is the exciting story of Jacob’s life as a time traveler.

Adventure, humor, romance, and surprises, Jacob never knows where he is going to end up or who he will meet next in his 30-year search for a home and purpose. From pirates to poets to even Jack the Ripper, Jacob will experience all of the best and worst of humanity in his journeys. My Problem With Doors is a book like no other, filled with both literary and adventurous twists and turns.

It is available in print for only $10.99 and ebook (perfect for those screens right now) for only $3.99, which is barely the price of three songs on iTunes. You can find it on Amazon here- https://www.amazon.com/dp/1912638746/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_3cYIEbQ00MWKY

I hope you enjoy it and if you do, please tell a friend or consider giving it a review on Amazon or Good Reads or share on social media. It is really the only way that books like this are found in the world today; you need that word of mouth.

I hope you enjoy My Problem With Doors!

“This is a most compelling book. It pulls you in to a fascinating concept from the beginning…. I give this book 5 stars.” –The Voracious Reader

My Problem With Doors to be released in April! Book cover reveal!

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Hello everyone… so a little bit of big news… 

I am pleased to announce that my novel My Problem With Doors is set to be released this April from KGHH Publishing!

My Problem With Doors is so many things and I can’t wait for you to discover it. It is unpredictable and in many ways the kind of book I love to discover when I go to the library. Here is the draft of the back cover description for the work. (I’ll share the cover after this bit, I promise).

This is a plea for help.

If you have found this manuscript and think it to be only a novel or an ancient piece of fiction, it is not. This is the story of my life and I hope in your reading you will be able to help me…

Jacob is lost in time.

He has been lost ever since he walked through a door as a toddler and ended up in the office of a British officer in 1870. My Problem With Doors is the exciting story of Jacob’s life as a time traveler.

Adventure, humor, romance, and surprises, Jacob never knows where he is going to end up or who he will meet next in his 30-year search for a home and purpose. From pirates to poets to even Jack the Ripper, Jacob will experience all of the best and worst of humanity in his journeys. My Problem With Doors is a book like no other, filled with both literary and adventurous twists and turns.

This is a most compelling book. It pulls you in to a fascinating concept from the beginning…. I give this book 5 stars. –The Voracious Reader

I will keep you updated as the publication date moves up. Until then, let me just add a “Yahoo!”

Only a little while left! Enter to win an autographed copy of MY PROBLEM WITH DOORS!

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On October 28, the giveaway for MY PROBLEM WITH DOORS ends on Goodreads.com. Two lucky readers will win an autographed copy of this surprising time-travel novel.

Jacob is lost in time. He has been that way ever since he was a child for doors don’t work for him like they do for the rest of us. A door can take him to the past or the future, into any house, into any country. MY PROBLEM WITH DOORS is Jacob’s plea for help. This novel is an unpredictable adventure filled with thrills, romance, horror, and even the occasional cameo from historical figures like Lord Byron and Jack the Ripper.

You can enter by clicking below.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

My Problem with Doors by Scott D. Southard

My Problem with Doors

by Scott D. Southard

Giveaway ends October 28, 2014.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

MY PROBLEM WITH DOORS was published by I Publish Press and was just recently released for the Kindle, with a brand new (and exclusive) afterword by me. You can find it on amazon here.

If you would like to learn more about the work you can check out a sample (here) or find more info via this page on the site.

“This is a most compelling book. It pulls you in to a fascinating concept from the beginning…. I give this book 5 stars.” -The Voracious Reader

New for Kindle! The Time-Travel Adventure MY PROBLEM WITH DOORS Now Available! Book Giveaway!

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My Problem With DoorsI’m really excited to announce that my novel MY PROBLEM WITH DOORS has just been released for the Kindle! I’ve always been very proud of this book and to celebrate this release an exclusive new afterword is included in the Kindle version.  Published by I Publish Press, you can find it on Amazon here (http://amzn.com/B00O6N32ZW). (And check out that cover! So 1950s sci-fi!)

“This is a most compelling book. It pulls you in to a fascinating concept from the beginning…. I give this book 5 stars.” -The Voracious Reader

Jacob is lost in time. He has been that way ever since he was a child for doors don’t work for him like they do for the rest of us. A door can take him to the past or the future, into any house, into any country. MY PROBLEM WITH DOORS  is Jacob’s plea for help. This novel is an unpredictable adventure filled with thrills, romance, horror, and even the occasional cameo from historical figures like Lord Byron and Jack the Ripper. You can check out an excerpt from the book here.

There is also a book giveaway going on for the work over at Goodreads.com. Two lucky readers will win an autographed copy of the novel. You can enter by clicking below.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

My Problem with Doors by Scott D. Southard

My Problem with Doors

by Scott D. Southard

Giveaway ends October 28, 2014.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

New for Kindle! MEGAN, a real-world fantasy adventure with a big imagination!

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MeganI’m proud to announce that my novel MEGAN was just released for the Kindle! It can be found on amazon via this link (http://amzn.com/B00MUEAW48).

I love the format of this book.  I’m sure most of us—as children or even now as adults—have made up worlds within our imaginations and spent hours daydreaming or play acting what occurs in our imaginary worlds.  Our protagonist, Megan, is stuck in a boring job, with coworkers she barely coexists with, with a boss she hates, and nothing interesting or exciting happening in her life.  She escapes this monotony and the dreary reality of her life by imagining the world of Prosperity. -Definitely Not For the Birds

Published by iPublish Press, MEGAN is the story of Megan Wane. To me and you, she is just a normal worker in a drab office, but in her imagination there exists an entire world, one she has escaped into ever since she was a child. It is the land of Prosperity and it is filled with dragons, castles, trolls, moon people, and wizards, And in Prosperity, Megan is a princess and a super hero. MEGAN is the story of her worst day and how Prosperity saved the real her.

If you will like to learn more about this novel you can do so on this site. There is an excerpt as well as a post about the writing of it (here). And, as AN EXCLUSIVE for the Kindle version, it contains a brand-new preface to the book written by… well… me.

I am very impressed with how Mr. Southard has interwoven the two world’s of Megan. It is very artfully crafted with vivid descriptions. I enjoyed it! -S. M. Nystoriak, Writer’s Block

Grab a copy today, tell a friend, tell a dozen! You can get your copy on amazon here. I hope you like the book!

In Defense of JUMANJI

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JumanjiWhen you visit rottentomatoes.com, they only give Jumanji a score of 50%. Ouch. Roger Ebert called it “gloomy” and Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave it only a C+ implying that the story did not live up to the special effects. Double Ouch.

Yes, Jumanji is not a perfect film. There are moments that make me squirm, like when Robin Williams is attacking some wild vines with a sword and shouts “Harvest time!” That is not the only embarrassing shout in the film, later Judy (played by a young Kirsten Dunst) holds a checkout lane gun up at a person’s eyes and shouts “Price check!” To help emphasize the bad joke, the camera cuts to the cash register where it declares “no sale.”

Not to be a grinch, but many of the classics we love aren’t perfect. I’ll even give you a cherished example. In The Wizard of Oz, when the witch orders out her monkey army to get Dorothy she references a scene that was edited from the film. She explains to her monkeys that she had sent out bugs to tire them out first. Of course, we don’t see the fabled “jitterbug” scene happen (and probably for very good reason, it sounds incredibly cheesy). But, unless you know the history of the film, this really doesn’t make any sense at all. What bugs? What did the bugs do to them? How does a bug bother a scarecrow and a man made of tin?

Now in saying all that, I’m not comparing The Wizard of Oz to Jumanji, even though they both have many similar themes (returning to a home, forging a new family, friendship, etc.) and buy into the great myth that underlines most children stories (a normal child swept away into an adventure to find they are special). The Wizard of Oz is a classic and will never disappear. I can’t say the same for Jumanji in the future, and that makes me a little sad. There is a good chance that over time it might become nothing more than another chapter in all those future biographies of Robin Williams that are certainly being planned right now.

I love the film Jumanji. It is comfort food on the screen for me. And since the tragic death of Robin Williams (our hero Alan Parrish) I have watched it three times… and there is a good chance I might be watching it again soon.

– Continue reading →

Putting Away My Disneyland Stuff

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25_forwebWhen you get home from a trip, sometimes you slowly, slowly empty your suitcases as if a part of you doesn’t want to admit that the trip is over. It’s a thankless task as you have to decide what to keep as a treasure, a memory, or what would be better left thrown away. This decision is especially difficult after a trip to the Happiest Place on Earth, especially if it dares to have the name “Disneyland” printed someplace on it.

That is where I am right now, doing my best to get back to normal life. Just look at last week on the site! To prove everything is back I wrote two articles on the art of writing. Two!

(By the way the art of writing is something I worked hard at NOT thinking about when I was on the trip.)

So… now that I am home and the suitcases are empty, as a final little bit of goodbye to that time, I thought I would share the links to some of the articles I have written on Walt’s park below. After this I am going to take a break from the mouse and Fantasyland (even though normal life can sometimes feel so boring without rides and jungle cruises).  I hope you enjoy them.

“Gladiators and Lions!” Discover MY PROBLEM WITH DOORS

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My Problem With Doors“This is a most compelling book. It pulls you in to a fascinating concept from the beginning…. I give this book 5 stars.” -The Voracious Reader

Just finished A Jane Austen Daydream? Do you enjoy my blog? Curious to learn what else I have written?

Time travel! Thrills! Adventure! Romance!

After winning a writing competition, My Problem With Doors was  published by the new press IPublish. It is the story of Jacob who is lost in time. When he steps through a door he has no idea where he will turn up. It is an unpredictable book filled with twists and turns and excitement, and the occasional surprise cameo like Jack the Ripper. Below is one of my favorite moments in the novel. I hope you will check it out.

My Problem With Doors is available in print from Amazon via this link. The eBook is exclusively available via Google Play but it can work on any eBook reader, you can find it here (you can also read a sample). It is even available as an audiobook via the publisher’s website.

In this exclusive excerpt below, Jacob finds himself… well… in a very, very, very bad situation with swords and sharp lion claws. (Did I mention this chapter is all in second person?) Enjoy! Continue reading →

Jane Austen! Demonic Castles! Time Travel! Dragons! This Black Friday Consider a Southard Novel…

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When I sit down to write a book, my first goal is always to give my readers something new. So much of what you find on bookstore shelves can feel like a cookie-cutter recipe for a tale. Add a twist here, build to a love story here, sprinkle some comedy… That is not what you will find in one of my novels.

This Black Friday, and in your holiday shopping, consider one of my novels for your readers. You can find excerpts, reviews, interviews, and more information on each of the books via their pages on this site.

A JANE AUSTEN DAYDREAM
Available in print ($13.46) and eBook ($3.99) from Madison Street Publishing via Amazon.com here.

A Jane Austen DaydreamAll her heroines find love in the end–but is there love waiting for Jane?

Jane Austen spends her days writing and matchmaking in the small countryside village of Steventon, until a ball at Godmersham Park propels her into a new world where she yearns for a romance of her own. But whether her heart will settle on a young lawyer, a clever Reverend, a wealthy childhood friend, or a mysterious stranger is anyone’s guess.

Written in the style of Jane herself, this novel ponders the question faced by many devoted readers over the years–did she ever find love? Weaving fact with fiction, it re-imagines her life, using her own stories to fill in the gaps left by history and showing that all of us–to a greater or lesser degree–are head over heels for Jane.

“I consider this novel one of the best not only in regency era literature, but also in mainstream fiction.” -NovelTravelist.com

MAXIMILIAN STANDFORTH AND THE CASE OF THE DANGEROUS DARE
Available in print ($9.71) and as an eBook ($3.99) via Amazon.com here.

Maximilian Standforth and the Case of the Dangerous Dare, CoverThe cursed and foreboding McGregor Castle is the most terrifying and haunted location in all of the British Empire. Only a brave (or foolish) soul would consider visiting it, let alone staying within its walls for five days. In other words, a perfect dare for a man like Maximilian Standforth!

Maximilian Standforth, famed playboy aristocrat and private detective, is a genius with dangerous tastes. With Bob (his trusty carriage driver, biographer, and body guard) and Maggie Collins (actress, spy, and maid) by his side, Maximilian will experience horrors and madness unlike any seen before. For it is at McGregor Castle that the team will discover more than they ever could imagine in this very experimental and genre-breaking thriller.

“Playing with traditional style and plot ingredients but introducing enough surprises and originality this book was great fun to read.” -Christoph  Fischer Books

MY PROBLEM WITH DOORS
Available in print ($15.38) on Amazon.com here and as an eBook via Google Play ($9.99) here.

My Problem With DoorsJacob’s life changed in a single moment when, as a toddler, he walked through his bedroom door only to find himself in the office of a British officer in Capetown, 1870. This would begin a thirty-year journey which would take him from ancient to future civilizations, and innumerable places and times in between. Through all of his travels, Jacob seeks for the purpose of his predicament, the significance of his life with all of its joys and suffering, loneliness and impermanence.

“This is a most compelling book. It pulls you in to a fascinating concept from the beginning…. I give this book 5 stars.” -The Voracious Reader

MEGAN
Available in print ($15.51) on Amazon.com here and as an eBook via Google Play ($9.99) here.

MeganMegan Wane is caught in a life of dull dreariness. She goes to work in a dead end job with a boss she can’t stand, and comes home to a silent apartment with only a standoffish cat for company. She can only get away through her imagination. And there, in her thoughts, there exists a fairy-tale kingdom with wizards and dragons. A place called Prosperity, where she is both a princess and a hero. On this day, both Megan’s external reality and her interior world will suffer tragedy that will turn her life upsidedown and shake her to the foundation. Can Megan turn disaster into deliverance?

“I am very impressed with how Mr. Southard has interwoven the two world’s of Megan. It is very artfully crafted with vivid descriptions. ” -S. M. Nystoriak, Writer’s Block