AUTHOR NEWSLETTER
Herb Hughes
Summer/Fall, 2023
WHAT IS KINDLE VELLA?
I am excited about the release of my latest novel, The Crystal Shell, on a relatively new service for readers, Kindle Vella. (See the next section.) If you’re old enough, you might remember the serialized movies at the theatres back in the 40s and 50s. (Of course, a baby like me had to be told about them. ☺)
Kindle Vella is a reading service for serialized novels. You can read the first three episodes for free. If you like what you read and want to go further, you can buy tokens and use them to unlock later episodes. The cost varies depending on how many tokens you buy. The more you buy, the cheaper they are.
Anyone can read books on Kindle Vella. You do not need a subscription or a membership, and you do not have to pay a fee. You simply buy tokens to unlock later episodes after the first three. For instance, The Crystal Shell has 17 episodes. You read 1 through 3 for free. Just click on the link in the next section and start reading. If you want to read further, episodes 4 through 17 would require tokens to “unlock” them. The number of tokens varies depending on how many words are in the episode.
It’s also interactive. You can communicate with the author in the comment boxes at the end of each episode. You can also give a thumbs-up and/or rate the story, which authors greatly appreciate. Give it a try. If you like the format, use Vella as much or as little as you want. If it’s not for you, there is no fee and no need to cancel. You just don’t use it anymore.
THE CRYSTAL SHELL IS RELEASED ON KINDLE VELLA!!!
I am thrilled to announce my latest novel, The Crystal Shell, has been released on Kindle Vella. The Crystal Shell is science fiction, a story that takes place on an imaginary world named Levari. Here is the book description:
Before he goes to prison on a trumped-up drug charge, Joey, a former high school wrestling champion, finds himself transported to the planet Levari by a strange purple alien named Fursdohr. A great war between multiple sentient species is on the verge of exploding on this new planet, and Fursdohr drags Joey into the middle of it. Facing a horrible, painful death at almost every turn, Joey is led into life-threatening situations that make prison look like a cakewalk. Will he get back to Earth? Will he even survive his time on Levari?
The link to The Crystal Shell on Amazon’s Kindle Vella is:
https://www.amazon.com/kindle-vella/story/B0CM7KPS51
As always, thank you for reading one of my novels. I hope you enjoy it. Please let me know what you thought at:
POUNDING THE KEYS – THE WEDDING
[Pounding The Keys is a regular feature about my current novel in progress.]
About forty years ago, I co-wrote a few dozen songs with a gentleman named Tim Lewis. Tim had co-written songs with a couple of major songwriters in Nashville and had enjoyed a few chart hits. We managed to get several songs recorded by unknown artists, but nothing charted higher than #84. I found the songwriting business very much akin to pounding your head against a well-cured brick wall, so I decided to stick with my day job.
One of the songs we co-wrote was titled “The Wedding.” It was a story about a couple, an American reporter and a Polish lady, who had set their wedding day for September 1, 1939. Of course, that was the day Germany invaded Poland. (The lyrics are attached at the end of this section.)
I have always intended to write The Wedding when the time was right. Most of my nine novels (to date) are science fiction, but my two Civil War novels, written earlier in my career, have done well. Conecuh won the Historical Fiction Bronze Medal in the eLit Awards for Literary Excellence. It has received many 5-star reviews from book bloggers who have urged me to return to historical fiction. What better story to do that on than The Wedding?
I am currently knee-deep (perhaps deeper) in research, but the first third of the book is already outlined. Brian Hampton, an American reporter, is assigned to Poland during the summer of 1939 to track the developments that appear to be leading Europe toward another war. While in Poland, Brian falls in love with a beautiful young Polish lady named Marta. (Marta has no last name and no occupation at the moment, but I’ll try to get her employed soon. It’s a bit more difficult for a woman to find a job in 1939 Poland.)
In the hours before sunrise on their wedding day, German bombs begin dropping on Wieluń, Marta’s hometown. The town is 80% destroyed and almost a thousand people lose their lives. Brian and Marta, along with Marta’s mother, flee toward Warsaw, seeing many horrors and atrocities as they travel. Things go awry, but I’ll stop here. No spoilers. ☺
In doing the research, I have been stunned and appalled by the level of brutality during this invasion. German, Russian, and, yes, even Polish soldiers did unthinkable things during the war. I have friends in both Germany and Poland, and they are some of the nicest people you would want to meet. But 1939 was a different time and a different situation. (There is a significant reason for that difference, but the explanation is too long for this venue. One day, when I get on my soapbox, I’ll get into it.)
The Wedding
INTRO:
It was on our wedding day;
We heard the guns from miles away.
Our wedding vows were left unsaid,
And with war our souls were wed.
1
Our friends all went away
to far and distant lands.
The few of us who stayed
fought tanks with empty hands.
I tried to make you go,
as fire burst round our heads;
And when they captured you,
they left me there for dead.
CHORUS:
And I swear by the blood in my eyes,
As I pass behind their lines,
That I won’t come back alive
Unless you’re standing by my side,
I love you…. I love you.
2
Our tiny nation fell
in just a few short days.
We lost our countryside,
we lost tradition’s ways.
The freedom in our hearts
someday will live again.
But ‘til I’m holding you,
this war will never end.
REPEAT CHORUS
And I wonder where you are…. I love you.
JUST FOR FUN
[Writer’s jokes. Something to help you smile.]
I wrote a few children’s books. Not on purpose.
– Steven Wright
The dubious privilege of a freelance writer is he’s given the freedom to starve anywhere.
– S.J. Perelman
A linguistics professor was lecturing to his English class one day. “In English,” he said, “a double negative forms a positive. In some languages, though, such as Russian, a double negative is still a negative. However, there is no language wherein a double positive can form a negative.”
A voice from the back of the room piped up, “Yeah, right.”
Asking a working writer what he thinks about critics is like asking a lamppost how it feels about dogs.
– Christopher Hampton
If Moses were alive today, he’d come down from the mountain with the Ten Commandments and spend the next five years trying to get them published.
– Anonymous
I can’t understand why a person will take a year to write a novel when he can easily buy one for a few dollars.
– Fred Allen
The art of writing is the art of applying the seat of the pants to the seat of the chair.
– Mary Heaton Vorse
My apologies for any repeats.
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