Getting to "brag" on NavPress a little... it was fun. They are a dynamite publisher!

I received an association inquiry about the credibility-status of the publisher of Trident's Flame. Apparently authors must "rank" nationally in order to be considered for their listing. 

This is what I sent them:

Trident's Flame was published in 2012 by NavPress (Colorado Springs).

NavPress paired up with Thomas Nelson back in 2009.
See their PR announcement at http://www.navpress.com/landing/content.aspx?id=1780

Thomas Nelson was recently identified among the nation's top ten trade publishers (2009), and captured the largest market share among Christian publishers (32%), leading Zondervan (16%), and Tyndale House (9%). http://michaelhyatt.com/top-ten-u-s-book-publishers-for-2009.html

 =====================================

So it was fun to lift up NavPress for a moment. They really are a fine publishing house. I'm so pleased they accepted TF.

A favorite spy movie line...

Spencer Trilby, spymaster of Omega Sector:

"Then perhaps you better get some 
(hard evidence)... before 
somebody parks a car in front of the White House 
with a nuclear weapon in the trunk!"

Trident's Flame is sold in South Africa!

Price Check of South Africa is selling the first Jake Sloan Adventure!

The current asking price is around 37 Rands.  Interesting.  I'm completely unfamiliar with South Africa so this is facinating. 

 

Price Check's link:
http://www.pricecheck.co.za/offers/42574643/Trident's+Flame+A+Jake+Sloan+Adventure+(ebook)/

ZAR, or South African (ZA) Rand HISTORY:

As a trading center, multiple currencies circulated throughout South Africa. The first official currency used was the Guilder. During the late 17th century, the Rixdollar was used and was the first South African currency to include paper notes. During British occupation, in 1826, the Cape Colony was put on a sterling basis, though other currencies, including Spanish Dollars, US Dollars, French Francs, and Indian Rupees continued to circulate. In 1921, the Reserve Bank of South Africa was established as the central bank. In 1961, the South African Rand replaced the Pound under a decimalized system. The ratio was 2 ZAR to 1 GBP.  (source: http://www.xe.com/currency/zar-south-african-rand?r=3)

Trident's Flame Sold Down Under!

Hey Trident's Flame is being sold in the Land Down Under! 

Those wonderful Aussies might get a chance to read it.  How cool is that?!

One distributor is called Fish Pond.

Here's their link:
http://www.fishpond.com.au/Books/Tridents-Flame-Dr-Daniel-S-Fox/9781481258159


Another book store is called Booktopia.

http://www.booktopia.com.au/trident-s-flame-dr-daniel-s-fox/prod9781481258159.html


And in New Zealand!  Mighty Ape is the seller.

http://www.mightyape.co.nz/product/Book/Tridents-Flame-A-Jake-Sloan-Adventure/21610354/

Novel Crossing, a website devoted to Christian novelists (just found it!)

I just came across Novel Crossing.  Very interesting. 

They placed Trident's Flame among their novels and even gave me an author site:

Here is the write-up about Novel Crossing on their About page:


Let’s say you are an avid fan of crafting with felt fabric (guys, if felt fabric isn't your thing, and we assume it's probably not, than replace this analogy with the analogy of your preference). You love the diversity of felt, how it can be transformed into anything from a hair doodad to a Christmas ornament. You are ready to start your next felting project, and you learn that a large hotel is hosting a crafting convention, CraftCon 2012. You know that felt crafts will be a part of this gathering—but you aren’t sure where in the Sherahyiott Hotel to find your beloved art form. You spend hours popping in and out of rooms, coming across needlework, knitting, chainsaw art, and origami.

You even encounter several rooms where fabric arts are featured, but your beloved felt plays a small role. The Sherahyiott employees are good intentioned, but host big conventions like this every week and are unable to help you find what you are looking for. Finally, you come across the felt crafts room at CraftCon, but it somehow seems lacking and thin, a poor imitation of the art you embrace. Where is your community?

Now imagine that you love Christian fiction, the beloved “felt” in this story. And CraftCon is the Internet, an all-powerful tool that carries a number of shallow buckets but doesn’t always offer the well of depth and engagement we fanatics are searching for. This is why Novel Crossing, the Intersection of Fiction and Faith, was built.

Publisher websites are excellent for featuring their titles and authors. Book retailers have good, up-to-date, thorough book data and include reader reviews. Christian Fiction Online Magazine, Family Fiction, Title Trakk and others have features and interviews of favorite authors. Shelfari and Goodreads offer reader community options but cover all books and all genres. So where can an avid reader of Christian fiction go to find all that, across all publishers, at one Website? That’s Novel Crossing’s goal. Put yourself into any of the following scenarios and see what Novel Crossing has for you:

• Want to find your favorite Christian fiction author?

 Currently 800+ novelists can be found on the Website, including favorites Francine Rivers, Karen Kingsbury, Jerry Jenkins, Ted Dekker, and hundreds of others. More are being added each day. By visiting your Novel Crossing author pages, you will find bios, photographs, and links to their presence in the digital world, including Websites, Facebook, and Twitter options. Authors are able to customize their own pages as well, giving them ability to leave messages for readers, upload videos or new photos.

• Looking for a particular novel? Around 4,000 individual book listings are available to browse on Novel Crossing, including titles both new and old, their authors, and their descriptions. These books are published by Christian publishing companies, and we exercise caution when adding self-published books so that the Novel Crossing catalog will remain a trusted source of faith-based fiction.
• Don’t have a particular book in mind? All titles are categorized into genres, and featured titles can be found in those categories as well as through book searches. Looking for romantic suspense that isn’t thriller-heavy? Come take a look!
• Looking for Christian fiction news and entertainment? Check out any of our featured book reviews, unique-to-Novel Crossing author interviews, devotionals from favorite authors, features introducing readers to new books, by genre or topic, book club and librarian-specific elements.
• Want to create of bookshelf of your favorite authors or get a recommendation for a next fantastic read? Novel Crossing allows community members the opportunity to build “Read,” “Reading,” and “To Read” virtual bookshelves, and offers suggestions of similar books on the book item pages. As you add books to your shelf, review books, and comment on features, Novel Crossing is better able to connect you with authors and books you may love.
• Looking for the latest in book trailers or author interview videos? Novel Crossing features new videos weekly, drawing widely from the book trailers and author videos that help connect a reader to a beloved author or series.
• Hoping to purchase a new novel? Novel Crossing is not a retail site, but on any of the book pages there is a Buy Now link that will take you to a variety of retail options.
• Can I write for Novel Crossing? Check out our writer's guidelines, where writers and reviewers can learn more about contributing to the Website.

We may not be as colorful as avid felt crafters, but those who love Christian fiction are passionate about books and authors that find ways of combining story with the message of the gospel. Novel Crossing hopes to give that community of fans a place to gather, encounter others with similar passion, explore fantastic books and authors with tremendous servant hearts, and much more.

An Eleventh Review of Trident's Flame!

I missed a reviewer, our 11th!  It was posted over on CBD (Christian Book Distributors) back in July.

Here it is: 

What an exciting book. My 3 boys thoroughly enjoyed reading these adventures. I read the book and it was hard for me to put it down and go to bed. I appreciated the godly values and life struggles the main characters faced. It is so refreshing to read something that gives young people a different way of viewing life than what our culture and Hollywood put out. And what an adventure young Jake encounters. A note worthy addition to the book is the questions section at the end of the book. Excellent for group book discussions and individual reflection.

Reviewer:  Misty

Gender: Female

Location:Ca

Age:45-54

http://www.christianbook.com/tridents-flame-jake-sloan-adventure-ebook/daniel-fox/9781612913407/pd/30737EB

Ian Fleming Memo in Critique of a Bond film in-process

Check this out.  The International Spy Museum recently posted this memo from Ian Fleming wherein he critiques a recent idea for a Bond film.  It looks to be a follow-up commentary on a previous Treatment.  Very interesting.

Recent Barnes and Noble NOOK EVENT

Here are some shots of the recent Nook Event put on by Barnes and Noble.

Trident's Flame was the featured book,
but Sanctum Threat was also highlighted as COMING SOON.

 

 

The event was listed in several venues, such this one from Barnes & Noble:  http://store-locator.barnesandnoble.com/event/4626053

 

Other venues included:

 

KRON-4 in the San Francisco Bay Area

http://events.kron4.com/Author_D_S_Fox_Discusses_His_NOOK_Book_Trident_s_Flame/285090377.html

 

Eventful, Monterey Area

http://eventful.com/gilroy/events/author-ds-fox-discusses-his-nook-book-tridents-flame-/E0-001-062851441-0

 

KTVU-2 

http://www.ktvu.com/events/detail/4322666/

 

Book Forum

http://bookforum.com/events/from=20131123&cc=US&place=Gilroy

 

 

Some thoughts about the narrative of God's story and those of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien

I'm always interested in ways to connect with a post-modern, pop-culture mindset, and I recently came across an interview with a Father Barron on how C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien sought to prepare the imaginations of those in their generation to hear the story of Christianity.

 

Fa. Barron described Christianity primarily in terms of its narrative, not its theology; that we derive theology as a kind of distillation process FROM the narrative. It is primarily the story of how God created things in a perfect state (think of Narnia before the Witch, Middle Earth before Sauron), how that was damaged and corrupted through sin, and how God sent His Son to redeem it, and ultimately to restore the entire thing to newness.  That's the narrative.   That's what the world needs to hear.

Barron said, "They were trying to evangelize the imagination. They wanted to prepare the imaginations of their readers for the reception of this great story of Christianity."

Here is the link to that interview with Fa. Robert Barron:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlQuYXtkx0g&feature=youtu.be

New Cover for the newest JSA book!

NEW ARTWORK FOR Sanctum Threat (book 2 in the Jake Sloan Adventures)!  

Look closely and you'll notice a Fox kid jumping for the train... whose name is Sloan!  Guess who?

Jared Fox took the figure photo, and Jannelli Quintero-Roper is my cover designer.  She will be doing the back cover and spine of the book as well.

Went to see the film Captain Phillips with my eldest son recently! It was excellent.

I'd give the film a 9.5 or 10. It is of the same quality as Act of Valor, but with greater intensity and investment in the main character. A nice retelling of Captain Phillips' ordeal back in 2009. A solid testament to the US Navy's role in the piratical waters off the African coast, and the US Navy SEALs, who train constantly for these kinds of hostile takeovers. Excellent.

Here is the Wikipedia write-up, from two separate pages:

On April 7, 2009 the US Maritime Administration, following NATO advisories, released a Somalia Gulf of Aden advisory to Mariners recommending ships to stay at least 600 nmi (1,100 km) off the coast of Somalia. 

With these advisories well in effect, on April 8, 2009, four Somali pirates boarded the Maersk Alabama when it was located 240 nautical miles (440 km; 280 mi) southeast of the Somalia port city of Eyl. With a crew of 20, the ship was en route to Mombasa, Kenya. The ship was carrying 17,000 metric tons of cargo, of which 5,000 metric tons were relief supplies bound for Somalia, Uganda, and Kenya.  (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Maersk_Alabama)

Richard Phillips was captain of the MV Maersk Alabama at the time it was held hostage by Somali pirates during the cargo ship's hijacking in April 2009. His actions during the incident have been described as heroic, although some crew members have considered him as reckless.

According to Chief Engineer Mike Perry, the crew sank the pirate speedboat shortly after the boarding by continuously swinging the rudder of the Maersk Alabama, thus scuttling the smaller boat.[11] As the pirates were boarding the ship, the crew members locked themselves in the engine room[12] while the captain and two other crew members remained on the bridge.[citation needed]

The crew then took control of the ship from the steering gear room.[citation needed] The pirates were thus unable to control the ship. The crew later used "brute force" to overpower one of the pirates,[12] Abduwali Muse, and free one of the hostages, Abu Thair Mohd Zahid Reza.[citation needed] Frustrated, the pirates decided to leave the ship, and took Phillips with them to a lifeboat as their bargaining chip.[citation needed] The crew attempted to exchange this captured pirate, whom they had kept tied up for twelve hours,[13] for Phillips. The captured pirate was released but the pirates refused to release Phillips.[14] After running out of fuel in the ship's man overboard boat, they transferred and left in the ship's covered lifeboat, taking Phillips with them. The lifeboat carried ten days of food rations, water and basic survival supplies.[14]

On April 8, the destroyer USS Bainbridge and the frigate USS Halyburton were dispatched to the Gulf of Aden in response to a hostage situation, and reached Maersk Alabama early on April 9.[15] Maersk Alabama then departed from the area with an armed escort, towards its original destination of the port of Mombasa. On Saturday, April 11, Maersk Alabama arrived in Mombasa, still under U.S. military escort.

Captain Larry Aasheim then assumed command. Aasheim had previously been captain of the Maersk Alabama until Richard Phillips relieved him eight days prior to the pirate attack. An 18-man marine security team was on board.[15] The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation secured the ship as a crime scene.[16]

On April 9, a standoff began between the Bainbridge and the pirates in the Maersk Alabama's lifeboat, where they continued to hold Phillips hostage.[17] [18][19]

Three days later, on Sunday, April 12, U.S. Navy marksmen from SEAL Team 6 opened fire with .30 caliber SR-25 precision rifles and killed the three pirates on the lifeboat, and Phillips was rescued in good condition.[20][21] The Bainbridge captain Commander Frank Castellano ordered the action after determining that Phillips' life was in immediate danger, based on reports that a pirate was pointing an AK-47 automatic rifle at his back.[22][23][24] Navy SEAL snipers on Bainbridge's fantail opened fire, killing the three pirates with bullets to the head,[25] one of whom was named Ali Aden Elmi, another whose last name was Hamac, and the third unidentified.[26] A fourth pirate, Abduwali Muse, aboard the Bainbridge and negotiating for Phillips' release while being treated for an injury sustained in the takeover of Maersk Alabama, surrendered and was taken into custody.[20][21] 

Muse's parents asked that he be pardoned because he was either 16 or 17 years old at the time of the incident, but at court it was ruled that he was not a juvenile and would be tried as an adult.[27] He later pled guilty to piracy charges and was sentenced to over 33 years in prison.
(source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Phillips_%28merchant_mariner%29) 

For the Superhero in you! -----> HERO FACTORY!

Visit this cool site and try your hand at creating your own, customized superhero! 

It's called Hero Factory. 

Here's the website.  http://cpbherofactory.com/

Below is a sample I created... and then added some things of my own, such as the cross logo and my wife's hero next to mine.


You end up with your own comic book cover.  Check it out and have fun!

Christmas gift ideas!

Christmas is just around the corner. If you know of any Young Adult readers who enjoy the action/adventure/romance genre, Trident's Flame is available in ebook and paperback. The second book in the series, Sanctum Threat, will be making its debut in a month or two.

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/tridents-flame-daniel-fox/1112205917

Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Tridents-Flame-Jake-Sloan-Adventure-ebook/dp/B008DM2RCG

NavPress: http://www.navpress.com/product/9781612913407/Tridents-Flame-Daniel-S-Fox-PhD

CBD: http://www.christianbook.com/tridents-flame-jake-sloan-adventure-ebook/daniel-fox/9781612913407/pd/30737EB

Mardel Christian & Education: http://www.mardel.com/Tridents-Flame-A-Jake-Sloan-Adventure-2858462.aspx

Creative art and concept work for Sanctum Threat (JSA book 2, to be published in Oct, 2013)

Here is a concept piece for the cover of Sanctum Threat.
It's Thomas doing a leap near a train for the graphic designer, Jannelli Roper of Designs by Jannelli.

And here is Jannelli's first sketch of the Sanctum Threat cover!  (part of it, anyway)

A huge thank you to Pastor Geoff Buck for his review of Trident's Flame.

Here is what he posted on Amazon:

===========================
By  Geoffrey P. Buck

This review is from: Trident's Flame: A Jake Sloan Adventure (Kindle Edition)

Everyone looks at a book through the lenses of one's own life and experience. My own background is that of a long-time pastor, husband and father. I am always looking for a book that is both exciting and family-friendly. That is a hard combination to find! Trident's Flame is all that! Adventure....romance.... interesting glimpses into the world of spies and ships!

I recommend it highly. You won't be able to put it down! Incredibly detailed, great dialogue, lots of "color" in the imagery.

Geoff Buck
===========================

Link to Amazon's hard copy and digital copies of Trident's Flame

http://www.amazon.com/Tridents-Flame-Sloan-Adventure-ebook/dp/B008DM2RCG

My idea of a writing office... yes, the entire four-masted square-rigged sailing ship. My office.

My dream office... for writing, creating, traveling.

Trident's Flame offered in hard copy!! Yeas!

Here is the link to the Amazon site for both hard copy and the digital!

http://www.amazon.com/Tridents-Flame-Adventure-Adventures-Volume/dp/148125815X/ref=sr_1_fkmr2_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1376357481&sr=1-1-fkmr2&keywords=trident%27s+flame+d+s+fox

By clicking on the Look Inside tab on the book cover you get access to the digital copy (Kindle).

Doing some writing down on Cannery Row, Monterey, Ca.

Full front and back cover of the hard-copy

Here's the cover, minus the ISBN bar code area.

Trident's Flame now in print, available in hard copy!

It finally happened!  Trident's Flame in paper copy!  Yeas!

Office of the Director of National Intelligence

This graphic was recently posted on the International Spy Museum site as a commemoration of the 2005 inception of the position of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. It made me wonder how long the idea had been in the works before they decided to implement it.  What a great contribution to our national security. 

Where you do some serious reading... and thinking.

Writing cabins in the woods... seeking out the Muse with his burnt stogie and little bag of dust.

My writing cabin in the woods... newbie author by the word-processor stood... watched the cool story idea floating by, then knocking at my door. "Breathe life into me," he said....

I like Stephen King's version of the Muse... his inspiration for some of his best ideas. He describes him as a big, rough-cut, lumberjack-looking guy with a stogie popping out of one side of his mouth... and bag a magic dust.

I just pulled his quote off of Goodreads (no guarantee it's perfectly accurate):

“There is a muse, but he’s not going to come fluttering down into your writing room and scatter creative fairy-dust all over your typewriter or computer. He lives in the ground. He’s a basement kind of guy. You have to descend to his level, and once you get down there you have to furnish an apartment for him to live in. You have to do all the grunt labor, in other words, while the muse sits and smokes cigars and admires his bowling trophies and pretends to ignore you. Do you think it’s fair? I think it’s fair. He may not be much to look at, that muse-guy, and he may not be much of a conversationalist, but he’s got inspiration. It’s right that you should do all the work and burn all the mid-night oil, because the guy with the cigar and the little wings has got a bag of magic. There’s stuff in there that can change your life. Believe me, I know.”

Not that I'm a fan of King's novels... the horror genre isn't my thing.  But I respect his insight into writing a great deal.  The man has done some SERIOUS listening to the Muse.

New Review of Trident's Flame (2012), Kindle edition

A big THANK YOU to another reviewer, Bridget L. Ferguson - she bought Trident's Flame: A Jake Sloan Adventure (Kindle Edition) for her daughter recently (reviewed on 1Apr13).

She gave it 5 out of 5 stars.

Comments:

"Daughter loved it and wants to read more from this author. That is saying a lot since she is not fond of reading. She chose this book and finished it within the week. Never has she not put a book down. This book was purchased as a kindle read."

THAT is encouraging to hear.  It is the exact reason I wrote Trident's Flame (along with a desire to see readers encouraged in the Lord along the way). 

I remember not reading very much as a kid... even when my buddies were "eating up" sci-fi left and right, books and books, week after week.  For me, it was a book by Kin Platt, The Boy Who Could Make Himself Disappear, that hooked me.  It was one of the first real stories that caught my attention (it was probably the title that did it... something I could relate to, I imagine).  Platt did a great job of it.  And ever since then I've been more of a reader.  I'm happy Miss Ferguson enjoyed Trident's Flame so much.

 

Well, thank you Mrs. Ferguson, and Miss Ferugson!  I may just get back to volume 2 (Sanctum Threat) and vol 3 (Choke Point) in the near future.  (I've been rather tied up with the efforts to get Trident's Flame into hard copy on CreateSpace... and a little discouraged along the way.  This is just the sort of feedback I needed.  Thank you both.)

Link for the review: http://www.amazon.com/Tridents-Flame-Sloan-Adventure-ebook/product-reviews/B008DM2RCG/ref=sr_1_1_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

 

 Here is the Amazon link for Kin Platt's book:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Could-Make-Himself-Disappear/dp/044090837X

I had no idea that Mr. Platt passed away as recently as 2003 (or so is says in the short bio I found).

Intel Gathering of Your Internet Use

Check out this article on how the public is being tracked.

Tuesday, 19 March 2013 12:17

The Internet is a surveillance state - March 19

http://www.olivetreeviews.org/news/headlines/item/3015-the-internet-is-a-surveillance-state-march-19

Recently finished The Perfect Assassin (Ward, 2008)

I bought the Kindle version of The Perfect Assassin by Ward Larsen.  It's in my favorite genre.  Turned out to be excellent.  Really like it.  Larsen does an excellent job of pulling the reader in, making the characters likeable and interesting, and he moves the plot forward in leaps, changing the pace with the story, and finally pushing it right through to the end.  Among the best action-espionage novels I've read, and I'd have to say he does a better job of it than Patrick Robinson.  Certainly on par with Brad Taylor. 

Here is the Amazon summary of the book:
One perfect shot will change the course of history. Christine Palmer, a young American doctor sailing solo across the Atlantic, makes an incredible discovery - a man narrowly clinging to his life in the frigid waters. But there is much more to this desperate survivor than meets the eye.David Slaton is a Kidon - a highly-trained, highly-precise, and highly-dangerous assassin. The Kidon is both the hunter and the hunted, and he and Christine are in grave danger. Will they win in this race against time?With the precision of a sharpshooter, author Ward Larsen weaves an intricate tale of espionage and intrigue.

And Larsen's bio from Amazon:
Bestselling author Ward Larsen is a two-time winner of the Florida Book Award. His first thriller, The Perfect Assassin, is currently being adapted into a major motion picture by Amber Entertainment. His work has been nominated for both the Edgar and Macavity Awards. A former U.S. Air Force fighter pilot, Larsen flew over twenty missions in Operation Desert Storm. He has also served as a federal law enforcement officer, airline captain, and is a trained aircraft accident investigator.

These are two newer novels of his, both about flight.  Don't think I'll read them as I'm not into aviation, but I'll check them out for sure.  I'll post their ads.

Reading for pleasure, to learn, to improve one's craft

Reading... goes with writing.  

I really like reading, and wish I did more of it.  It seems to come down to the number of available hours in a day.  Sadly, my reading often gets pushed out of the way by other things.  

(I like this recent photo I found... it communicates the theme of loving the written word, the power of words, the experience of reading.)

Over the past couple years I've been reading through three different books on writing.  These authors have become my writing instructors.  Stephen King, Larry Beinhart, and the pair, Irwin & Eyerly.

The books include: Stephen King's On Writing (2010), Larry Beinhart's How to Write a Mystery (1996), and Hadley Irwin & Jeanette Eyerly's 25-year-old Writing Young Adult Novels (1988).  Each of them recommend lots of reading.  Clive Cussler is another whom I pay attention to whenever I hear snippets of his method; he reads quite a bit as well.  

Breaks from writing...

Enough of this means one needs to take a break.

So that's what I've been doing recently.