The Stories of Scott D. Southard

August 27, 2014

A JANE AUSTEN DAYDREAM in the virtual world! The blog tour starts on September 1!
From September 1 through 12, my novel A JANE AUSTEN DAYDREAM will be taking part in a blog tour sponsored by Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tour (more info here). There will be reviews, interviews, and even a giveaway. Here is the itinerary (with links):
- Monday, September 1- Review at Bookish
- Tuesday, September 2- Spotlight at I’d So Rather Be Reading
- Monday, September 8- Review at WTF Are You Reading?, Review at Diary of an Eccentric, and Review & Giveaway at To Read or Not to Read
- Wednesday, September 10- Review at What Is That Book About and Interview at Jorie Loves a Story
- Thursday, September 11– Excerpt & Giveaway at Romantic Historical Reviews
- Friday, September 12- Spotlight & Giveaway at Passages to the Past
On each of the days, I will share links and updates on the experience. I hope you will follow along (or maybe even read along)!

Published by Madison Street Publishing, A JANE AUSTEN DAYDREAM can be purchased in print ($13.46) or as an eBook for the outrageously low price of $3.99 for Kindle. You can find it on Amazon here (http://amzn.com/B00CH3HQUU).
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August 22, 2014

New for Kindle! MEGAN, a real-world fantasy adventure with a big imagination!
I’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!
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August 14, 2014

New WKAR Book Review: Andrew’s Brain by E.L. Doctorow
I am back on WKAR’s Current State with a new book review, this time looking at the new novel by E.L. Doctorow, Andrew’s Brain.

You can listen to my book review here: http://wkar.org/post/book-review-andrews-brain-el-dotorow

You can also read my book review below.

Andrew’s Brain can be found on Amazon here. If you would be interested in hearing/reading more of my NPR book reviews, you can do so via links on this page.

I hope you enjoy my new book review!

(more…)
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July 12, 2014

Only a few days left to win an autographed copy of ME STUFF (the new book)!
On July 15, two readers will win an autographed copy of my new book, ME STUFF. Have you signed up yet? What are you waiting for? Click on the link below; it is just calling to you, man!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Me Stuff

by Scott D. Southard

Giveaway ends July 15, 2014.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

ME STUFF is a collection of 40 personal and fun posts from this site. Here is the description from the back cover:

Thieves, psychics, evil poets, mad men, car companies, literary greats, tornadoes, models, vasectomies, bankers, children, Satanists, princesses, truckers, comics, rock stars, strippers, superheroes…

Me Stuff is a collection of some of the most popular blogposts from Scott Southard’s writing site “The Musings & Artful Blunders of Scott D. Southard.” Made for both the fan and the newbie, Me Stuff has something for everyone… Well, except for those who don’t like entertaining stories. This book can’t help those people.

Since I created it for my followers on this site, I made it extra-affordable, only $1.99 as an eBook (here) and $8.99 in print (here). If you want to know more first (kick the literary tires), I shared an excerpt from the book recently, this link. It is called “Poisoning the Genius.” It’s about that awkward moment we all have experienced… when you poison a professor who is also a literary legend. (Oh wait, was that just me?)

Good luck to all of the entries!
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June 27, 2014

“Read this book” A cool new review for MAXIMILIAN STANDFORTH…
As an author I’m not sure if I am supposed to admit this or not, but a review can make my day. A good review can raise me out of a bad mood, turn me into something like Gene Kelly in Singing in the Rain.

Yesterday, I got such a review for my novel Maximilian Standforth and the Case of the Dangerous Dare from author Renee Reynolds. You can check out the review on GoodReads here.

Reynolds begins the review by talking about how she discovered the book via my other novel A Jane Austen Daydream.

First, let me state that if you sit down to read this book after reading A Jane Austen Daydream, prepare yourself for something completely different (but in a good way). Maximilian Standforth and the Case of the Dangerous Dare is nothing like Mr. Southard’s other novel, save the facts that the writing is excellent and the plot and characters are attention-keepers.

She then goes on to talk about what makes the book standout in her opinion. I particularly loved this bit:

And speaking of twists, there are plenty of them, somewhat dizzying in number. Rare is the novel that manages to fool you to the end, but here be that story. I was left guessing to the “whoa” moment at the climax. To think one mind came up with all these ideas….

So what was the bit that gave me my true “Gene Kelly” moment? Well, it would be how she ended the review with this:

If you like a good mystery – read this book. If you like intelligent writing and witty observations and banter – read this book. If you like strong characterization, to the point that you can picture an individual from the page completely in your mind – read this book. If you like the eccentric, the odd, and the compelling – read this book. Really – just read this book.

You see what I mean?

Maximilian Standforth and the Case of the Dangerous Dare is exclusively available via amazon.com. The paperback is only $8.99, and the eBook is just $3.99! You can find both here. If you would like to learn more about our intrepid hero and his loyal servant Bob, you can do so via this page on my site.
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June 26, 2014

New WKAR Book Review: Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s Love in the Time of Cholera
I am back on WKAR’s Current State with a new book review! In honor of the great Gabriel Garcia Marquez I decided to review and discuss his classic Love in the Time of Cholera.

You can listen to my review here: http://wkar.org/post/book-review-love-time-cholera-gabriel-garc-m-rquez

You can also read my book review below.

Love in the Time of Cholera can be found on Amazon here. If you would be interested in hearing/reading more of my NPR book reviews, you can do so via links on this page.

I hope you enjoy my new book review! (more…)
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June 23, 2014

BLOG HOP! The whats, whys, and hows of my writing!
Recently, author Kelly Hand asked me to take part in a “blog hop.” She had already included an entry (which you can read here). Thanks for thinking of me Kelly!

To be part of this shindig, I just need to answer the same questions as the other writers out there taking part in this hop. Cool! It’s like an international meet-and-greet for authors and readers. Everything but the little snack foods and punch bowl.

I hope you enjoy my entry below:

What are you working on?

Right now I am busy working on the editing of my novel Permanent Spring Showers, which is set for publication this October by 5 Prince Books. We are about halfway through the editing process now. I really love this book and I hope you will check it out when it is released.

One of the side projects I have going on is I am publishing a book collecting some of my personal posts from my blog “The Musings & Artful Blunders of Scott D. Southard.” (Yeah, the site you are on now.)That book is called Me Stuff. Should be a lot of fun (at least I hope so). I plan to have it out sometime before the end of the month. I try to write two to three things a week on this blog; it’s really amusing for me and great practice since I can write whatever I want on the site. There are no limitations. Hopefully, the fact that there is such freedom and possibility, readers will return to it from time to time to check out what is going on with me. For me, it always feels like it is evolving.

On the new fiction front I am kind of between a few things. I have a book called My Days as a Thief, which I consider the first part of a trilogy that I’ve been working on for almost a decade. The draft is done, I just got to get around to fine-tuning it. What is distracting that is this new novel idea I have. I’m writing it long hand which I think adds to the flavor of it, but will delay anyone seeing anything new from me for a bit. It kind of has a Douglas Adams, Wes Anderson, and Kurt Vonnegut vibe to it. I’m really having a lot of fun discovering it. (more…)
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June 4, 2014

If I was… (part 2)
1 of 4

If I was a chef I would have cheap macaroni-and-cheese dreams. My kitchen would never hold a single box of it. Heaven forbid! That kitchen would be photographed for magazines and analyzed by other chefs, debating the ingredients and items in it (Oh, he uses that product, I need one too!). One hint of such a box could ruin my reputation, make me a laughing stock. And, yet at 2 AM when everyone else is asleep and I am staring out my window I would think of that little quick dinner my grand-mama would make me so long ago. I would sit on the counter as she did it, and she would sing me songs in French, now and then taking a moment to rustle my hair. In the morning, my master chef days would return: arguing with my maitre d over the menu, yelling at my assistants, and cursing at the delivery boys who always seem to arrive a little later each day (even though in my heart I know it is the same). Yet, through all of that, I would be reciting in my mind over and over again, “packet of cheese powder, little bit of butter, three tablespoons of milk and pasta…. maybe even with funny shapes.” (more…)
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May 20, 2014

Want to finish that book? Need some experienced help?
“Scott was a gift I gave my book. He led me on a wild and wonderful expedition, where I was expected to do all the work. By the end of journey, I had discovered that I was no longer satisfied with just scratching the surface. I trusted my guide as he pointed out danger zones and to places he thought I needed to explore further. I dug, and I dug and I dug…and lo and behold, there was my treasure. Right where I’d buried it. Hire this man, your book, will thank you for it.” -Terri Lee, terrileeauthor.com

One of the things I love to do from time to time is work as a freelance editor with authors. For me, editing is not just about finding those little mistakes (that is the easy bit), it is about finding the better book.

If you are a new writer and want an experienced eye to review your book, sadly you won’t get that through most editing services. They will focus mainly on grammar and then point you to their publishing services and charges. My goal is the same as yours, to make the best book possible. The kind of book that sweeps a reader off their feet and takes them someplace they were not expecting.

I contract my editing services through Rebecca T. Dickson (editor and founder of Write Raw and author of the book The Definitive Guide to Writing on Your Terms), you can find her and her writing services at her website here. If you would like to learn more about hiring my services or availability, you can reach her directly at beckster7219 (at) gmail (dot) com. And you can learn more about my editing, my writing and editing philosophy, and my experiences on my page for editing here.

I hope to work with you soon!
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May 17, 2014

“The game is afoot!” Some comedy for my now 1300 followers!
This is a few days late, but I wanted to write and thank my now 1300 blog subscribers. (Which is at 1306 or so now.)

Thank you!

Over the next few months I have a lot of new things planned, including sharing the release of the audiobook version of A Jane Austen Daydream (which sounds awesome), a new book, and a collection of my blogposts entitled Me Stuff. So stay tuned!

To celebrate this milestone for my little site, below you will find some comedy. (Man, this really makes me smile.) I think you will really like it, especially if you are a fan of the inhabitants of 221B Baker Street.

It is a Sherlock Holmes parody I wrote, which was recorded by Mind’s Ear Audio Productions (the same good people who produced my radio series The Dante Experience, which you can listen to for free on this page).

I hope you enjoy “Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Dating Dilemma.”
https://sdsouthard.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/01-track-01-track-02-track-03.mp3
Thank you again for following my site!
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