Tag Archives: Wit

The new novel Permanent Spring Showers is out! Info, links, sample, first review and a giveaway! Grab a copy!

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Permanent Spring ShowersI’m pleased as punch to announce the release today of my latest novel, Permanent Spring Showers. Published by 5 Prince Books, Permanent Spring Showers is a work of literary fiction. Here is the back cover description of my new book:

Professor Rebecca Stanley-Wilson is having a very bad season. Her husband has just admitted to having an affair. And it was with one of her students.

Blame it on a desire for revenge (or way too much alcohol), she then has had one of her own. Unfortunately for her, her affair was with one of the great upcoming painters of his generation. The ramifications of that one torrid evening will not only be felt across her life but over the entire art world.

Sexy, funny, and very surprising, Permanent Spring Showers is the tale of one very memorable springtime and how it impacts a group of unique artists and dreamers. From the writer who is creating a new literary movement (through outright manipulation), to the hopeful Olympian with the failing marriage, to the romantic wondering what he did wrong to drive his love from him, each tale walks the line between reality and fantasy. And waiting at the end of the line is a very important painting… and possibly the revolver used in the Lincoln Assassination.

Need a sample? You can check out Chapter 1 below.

Permanent Spring Showers can be found on Amazon.com for the Kindle here. It is also available on many other online retailers in print and as an ebook (Barnes and Nobles, Smashwords, etc.), you can find a complete set of links via the page for the book on 5 Prince (here).

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Permanent Spring Showers by Scott D. Southard

Permanent Spring Showers

by Scott D. Southard

Giveaway ends February 26, 2015.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Green Spot Blue posted the first review of the new novel in an article called “The Music of Rain.”  Here is an excerpt:  “All in all, Permanent Spring Showers is a novel worth reading, one that has an optimism to it but without any Pollyannaism; it is in short something that is hard to find in the world: a good story.” You can read the rest of this wonderful review here.

Tell a friend! Grab a copy! Maybe two! But (most important) enjoy! Continue reading →

“Fresh, funny and wonderfully evocative” The Review takes on A JANE AUSTEN DAYDREAM

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EmmaWe all know that Sally Field moment when she won the Oscar. Yeah, it was over thirty years ago, but people still quote it and it appears on TV from time to time. There she is on screen happily declaring “You like me! You really like me!”

Well, that is how I feel after this new book review from the website The Review. It is a very well-crafted review and, for me the author, so very, very satisfying. Because, this reader obviously got everything I was attempting to do in the work. Yup, I went all Sally Field. Here is what the reviewer said about Jane:

Southard’s research is solid but not intrusive and he really succeeds in placing Jane in the story. He brings her into vibrant, appealing life, crafting a living, breathing woman of many dimensions and by populating her world with characters real and imagined, he creates a village rife with gossip, intrigue and quiet excitement.

I don’t want to share more from the review, just point you to the link. You need to check it out! Seriously, go— You can find it online here.

Audible Book Cover_A Jane Austen DaydreamPublished 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).

You can find the fantastic audiobook version on Audible and iTunes.

New audiobook! A JANE AUSTEN DAYDREAM is now available for your listening pleasure!

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Audible Book Cover_A Jane Austen DaydreamLike to listen to audiobooks while working out or on a walk? Planning a road trip, a flight, or just like listening while driving to work? No matter how you like to listen, well, I’ve got a new audiobook for you!

I’m proud to announce the release of A JANE AUSTEN DAYDREAM as an audiobook!

Read by the very talented narrator Louisa Gummer, A JANE AUSTEN DAYDREAM is available on Audible, iTunes, and Amazon right now. And on each of the sites you can hear a sample from the work.

  • You can find it on Audible.com here.  It is free for members, or it can be purchased for $24.95.
  • It is available on iTunes (here) for $21.95.
  • And on Amazon (here) where it is free to members, or $21.83.

Almost 12 hours long and it is worth it for every minute. I have had the pleasure of listening to the entire recording and Louisa really captures the wit and voice of Jane. This is more than a simple reading, this is a performance! I could not be more pleased and I look forward to hearing what each of you think! (Also, I hope to interview Louisa on this site in the near future, so stay tuned if you want to meet the voice behind Ms. Austen).

Comedy, scandalous wit, literary surprises, romantic entanglements, and shocking twists, check out the audiobook of A JANE AUSTEN DAYDREAM today!

Flashback Monday: “The Night I Stopped Being a Model” from ME STUFF

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ModelsThis is the fourth entry in Flashback Monday (you can check out the other entries here, here, and here). Each of these posts are part of my new collection ME STUFF.

Today, I am sharing “The Night I Stopped Being a Model” which includes everything from lingerie to Max Headroom.

Here is a bit from the beginning:

From around the age of 8 to about 13, I was a model. Yes, I once worked it.

Before anyone gets overwhelmed by images of catwalks, raining money, national commercials, and maybe bulimia, this was all local stuff; the work was not even unionized. And, to be honest, even locally I was not very popular. My brother was the popular one. He even had an agent before me. He is six-years younger than me, did a lot of local theater and had cute long curly hair.  He played the camera, I stared dumbly at it.

So in a way, I was the twofer. “If you need an older brother for the cute kid, we have one ready for you!”

The first ad, I ever did was for a holiday commercial for Meijer. It was around GI Joe action figures, and for some reason they had me and this other boy dress in matching camouflage (because boys did that, coordinate their clothing with their toys). And for about 15 minutes, this stranger and I played with army toys on the ground (that was turned into less than five seconds on TV). Knowing me as a kid (and now), the image of me dressed like that playing with that kind of toy is kind of hilarious. That’s acting, that is!

You can read the rest of the article here.Me Stuff, front cover

Or, even better, you can grab a copy of ME STUFF which contains 40 editorials like this one and it is super cheap-o. The eBook version of the book is only $1.99 (here on Amazon) and in print for only $8.99 (here on Amazon).

“…an imaginative and entertaining escape” Historical-Fiction.com reviews A JANE AUSTEN DAYDREAM!

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persuasion_chapter6Recently, A Jane Austen Daydream was reviewed by Historical-Fiction.com! You can read it here. (You know you want to! Click away!) This is my favorite line from the review:

This marks the 35th Jane Austen variation I’ve read, and it stands out as one of the more well-written and thought provoking.

Here is a bigger excerpt from the review:

This novel, full of anecdotes, does not come across as a transparent retelling, but rather an emotional journey that fits in perfectly with the known facts of Jane Austen’s life. The inclusion of a completely fictional character, an American at that, ensures a uniqueness and the smart, humorous prose resonates the authors’ own beloved style. Jane’s experiences and thoughts are cleverly laced with phrases fans will recognize from her books, while character traits are obviously drawn from family and acquaintances unfortunate enough to make an impression on the young writer.

You can read the rest of the review on the site here. I hope you will check it out.

A Jane Austen DaydreamPublished 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).

 

 

Hello to my now 1200 subscribers! And now for something completely different…

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My heroesYesterday, my subscription list passed the 1200 mark!

So very cool! I hope each of you visiting this site continue to enjoy my writing. And I have a lot planned over the next few months, including a new book I hope to share over the summer.

I decided I wanted to do something different to celebrate this new milestone for my site. As some of my older followers know I used to do a lot of writing around radio drama. I’ve had quite a few radio comedy plays performed by different radio companies and I have even had a 10-episode radio comedy series produced. It was called The Dante Experience and was heard on a few NPR stations around this country. (You can learn more about the series and listen to all of the episodes on this page.)

One of my favorite comedies I have written for radio though has never been performed. It is called “The Classic Geography Club” and, as you will see, is VERY influenced by the work of Monty Python and Firesign Theatre. You can check it out exclusively below!

I hope you enjoy “The Classic Geography Club” and thank you for following my site!

Continue reading →

Need a book to read this weekend? Want to learn more about my new novel A JANE AUSTEN DAYDREAM?

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Jane Austen talking to agents and publishersRight now I am suffering from a literary internet addiction. With the release of my new book A JANE AUSTEN DAYDREAM I can’t stop looking at amazon.com and GoodReads.com. I want to know what people think of my new work. I know the book has only been out for a few days, but I can’t help myself. I want everyone to read this book! And I want everyone to like it. It’s kind of like the feeling of being dropped off at camp for the summer and wondering if you will have any friends.  Will you be my book’s friend? Please? I’m sure we have much in common.

Seriously though, if you would like to know more about my surprising, touching, and witty new book there are some great options out there for you.

  • Before the release of the novel, I gave an interview with the Jane Austen Centre in Bath. You can read that interview here.
  • Recently, author and book blogger Deborah Kalb interviewed me about the book on her site. You can check it out here.
  • I have written three different introductions to the book on this site over the last few weeks. The first dealt with having the courage to write the book (Braving Austen), the second was about finding the character of Jane (Visiting Austen), and the third was about how I wrote the book as a surprise for my wife (Austen in Stealth).
  • A Jane Austen DaydreamAlso, this week I shared an excerpt from it. It is from Volume II of the book and I think it introduces the character of Jane and the style of the book in a very fun way. You can read that here.

A JANE AUSTEN DAYDREAM is being sold exclusively through amazon.com. It is availale for $3.99 as an eBook and only $13.46 in print. You can buy the book via this link- http://amzn.com/0983671923

I hope you enjoy my new novel.

Three weeks until the release of A JANE AUSTEN DAYDREAM! A Book Giveaway!

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A Jane Austen DaydreamIn three weeks my latest novel, A JANE AUSTEN DAYDREAM, will be released by Madison Street Publishing. I can not wait to share this new book with you.

Over the next few weeks I hope to be able to discuss more about the work on this site and share many different things going on around the release from editorials on other sites to reviews to interviews. If I can promise my readers one thing around this moving and humourous novel it is that it is surprising with a few neat (and possibly new) literary tricks. I look forward to hearing what readers think of it!

To anticipate this release my publisher is having a book giveaway for the novel on GoodReads. Two copies will be given to two lucky entries. To enter, simply visit this page here (http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/48730-a-jane-austen-daydream) and click on the “Enter to Win” button.

A JANE AUSTEN DAYDREAM

All 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.

Again, you can enter the competition by just visiting this page. The competition runs through April 29.

Let the countdown begin!