Good afternoon from Eric, with one down and more on the way!

[ehbowen]

Hello. I'm Eric H. Bowen, and I publish (and post) under my real name. I came to the considered decision, back in the days of CompuServe and VICmodems, that I was not going to conceal my identity online and, with very few exceptions (for sites like CruiseCritic which require that you not use your real name), I never have.

Well, it took me forty years (not a typo!) to put together my first novel, Guardian Angel, self-published in 2024. You haven't seen it (NO one has seen it!), but I'm still kind of proud of it. While I'm dragging my feet on the promised sequel, I've also been taken with another speculative fiction/fantasy concept, which I'm calling Powers That Be. I have a good draft of the first installment in beta (if anyone's curious), but I'm trying to expand the worldbuilding and the plot. Mr. Google recommended this site, so I hope that you don't mind a party crasher!

 

[ThinkerX]

Welcome!

Congrats on the book!

There are over a dozen other published authors in your position here at MS...and six or eight successful authors as well, including a name or three you might recognize. The rest, including me, fall somewhere in between.

That said, one of the things I do here is to read and review a book or two by our published authors. I'll add yours to the list, though it might take me a while to get to it.

Amazon.com: Guardian Angel: 9798989512959: Bowen, Mr Eric H: Books

Amazon.com: Guardian Angel: 9798989512959: Bowen, Mr Eric H: Books

www.amazon.com

 

[ehbowen]

Well, I should NOT have done this, if I wanted to make sales...but I always remember that Charles M. Sheldon failed to register a good copyright on In His Steps, and it came to be the most widely read book of its time. I uploaded a copy to the Internet Archive, with the intent that they would host that single copy as one of their "Books To Borrow"...you know, one at a time. Instead, they hosted it and made it available for download.

Well, that horse is already out of the barn (as all the SPAM emails I get from bots telling me how many sales I could make if only I pay them for promotions makes clear), and I understand that one strategy which works is to let readers pick up the first one free, so...I haven't sent them a takedown notice (although I'll be VERY clear if I ever do that again!) But, since it's up there, and at this stage of my writing career good feedback is more important than sales, here's the free link: Guardian Angel Ebook : Eric H. Bowen : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Please note that I do not discourage you from purchasing a hard or legitimate electronic copy, at all!

 

[skip.knox]

There's a forum for promotions, cleverly titled Promotions, where you can drop a link to the place(s) where we can purchase your book.

That to one side, welcome to Scribes, and hearty congratulations on completing that first novel. It's the biggest of accomplishments.

 

[Romy]

I also prefer my real name again. There have been exceptions and now only reserved for topics that are not allowed in here. Most stupid things I did and do in my own name.
It is not only online, I stem from a line of "fox hunters" and one of the descendants of Cauliflower and Lady Jetta... Way before the internet got popular.

 

[ehbowen]

Thanks, Romy; a pleasure to make your acquaintance!

My front-burner project right now is Powers That Be, but (if I live long enough!) I'm going to make George Lucas look like a piker. For Arc 1, I have the following plot lines laid out:

• Powers That Be: Kevin is a 14-year-old genius with an eidetic memory, on the run from the Deep State with his mother Pam, a former Marine, after his CIA officer father was whisked off to a black site prison overseas after trying to blow the whistle on official malfeasance. Emma is a 13-year-old psionic prodigy who, after being bullied in school, was attacked by a town mob as a witch, until her grandmother rescued her and ran with her back to moonshiner country in western North Carolina. Now, Kevin and Emma are about to run into each other....
• Power Tools: The corrupt sheriff of Vermilion County is providing official protection and support to an industrial "chop shop" operation, which steals heavy equipment from job sites all through the region, obscures its origins with new markings and serial numbers, and illegally transports it at night, with the corrupt deputies running interference, to a barge terminal across the state line where it is shipped down to Central America for resale. Can a superpowered girl in hiding and a teenaged fugitive from the Deep State break this ring up?
• Power Girl: Emma is becoming stronger and more powerful...but she can't sing; she may be the first female voice ever (politely) asked to leave a Baptist church choir. Be that as it may, Kevin's parents along with other stalwart citizens of the small hamlet of Nance's Corner at the far south end of Vermilion County have had enough. They want to persuade now-retired deputy Waylon Doyle, a benevolent peace officer banished to the far reaches of the jurisdiction as a threat to the local machine, to challenge the corrupt "King Roy" for the office of Sheriff...even though he'll have to change parties, and persuade a local political machine who has no reason to trust him. Meanwhile, the high school drama department is putting on The Music Man....
• Power Ballad: Kevin, on the other hand, can sing...beautifully. The drama teacher, emboldened by the success of Music Man, taps him as Motel for Fiddler on the Roof. But, when the Tevye actor breaks his leg (for real) when a Halloween prank goes awry, the production seems to be in big trouble...until a couple of stranded actors from a bankrupt troupe volunteer to help out. Are they angels...or something even higher? Meanwhile, though, Waylon Doyle has cleared the hurdle of the primary in a party which he's never voted for before, and now must challenge corrupt King Roy in the general election...with deadly results to at least one of the conspirators.

I think that this one is going to be fun, when it's done!