Category: What’s New

These were some fun times

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

Maybe you remember your first year or two after college and trying to get your feet on the ground.

My wild novel Pit-a-Pat High Jinks relates, more or less, how it went for me way back when. It wasn’t always high, either, despite the stereotypes. These days, I see the episodes extending into the forties for many younger adults and their friends. Do check it out and see how it relates to your own experiences.

It’s of five ebooks I’m making available to you for FREE during Smashword’s annual end-of-the-year sale. You can pick yours out in the digital platform of your choice. Do note that it includes adult content, so you may have to adjust your filters when ordering.

Think of this as my Christmas present to you. In the meantime, be cool and stay warm.

For details, go to the book at Smashwords.com.

Of housemates, lovers, and friends

 

Pick up your free copy now

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

Celebrity writer Tom Wolfe lamented that nobody had written the big hippie novel, something akin to the Great American Novel, but he was wrong. I’ve said so in some previous postings here.

For my part, let me invite you to Daffodil, Indiana, as its tranquil – some might even say dopy – campus goes radical. No outside agitators are needed in the face of the ongoing repression. The Revolution of Peace & Love is its own calling.

Daffodil Uprising is one of five novels I’m making available to you for FREE during Smashword’s annual end-of-the-year sale. The ebook is available to you in the platform of your choice.

Think of this as my Christmas present to you. Or, as we used to say, If it feels good, do it!

For details, go to the book at Smashwords.com.

The making of a hippie

I’ve never done this before

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

This may seem crazy, but for Smashword’s annual End-of-the-Year sale, I’ve decided to offer five of my novels to you FREE.

It’s your chance to pick up these ebooks at no risk. If you like the stories, perhaps you’ll leave a brief review and five stars at the website, just to encourage other readers who come along in the future.

The titles are Daffodil Uprising, when youth across the country went freaky; Pit-a-Pat High Jinks, with lovers and friends setting forth in premature adulthood; Subway Visions, with wild rides through the Underground; What’s Left, as a bereft daughter tries to make sense of her bohemian parents and close-knit Greek family; and Yoga Bootcamp, where Asian spirituality sizzles in a back-to-the-earth funky farm not far from the Big Apple.

Think of it as my Christmas present to you. I hope you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

The sale starts today and ends January first. Please don’t delay! Go to Smashwords.com for more.

Cruise ships on way

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

Eastport is preparing to welcome eight cruise ships for visits after Labor Day. That’s about half as many as last year’s record but could top it in the number of passengers. Four others were slated to visit but had to change plans when Customs could not provide agents to clear passengers and crews into the United States.

So far, I’ve found seven of the expected ships.

  • September 3: Enchanted Princess, 1,083 feet length, 18 decks, 4,500 maximum passengers, 1,346 crew.
  • September 17: Roald Amundsen, 459 feet, 530 maximum passengers, 160 crew.
  • October 5: Zuiderdam, 936 feet, 1,964 maximum passengers, 817 crew.
  • October 13: Volendam, 778 feet, 1,718 maximum passengers, 647 crew.
  • October 14: Azamara Journey, 594 feet, 781 maximum passengers, 408 crew.
  • October 15: Viking Mars, 748 feet, 938 maximum passengers, 465 crew.
  • October 27: Le Champlain, 430 feet, 264 maximum passengers, 112 crew.
  • Next year is already shaping up to be more active.

The visits have boosted the local retail season for many merchants, especially after the Summer People have retreated to their usual haunts.

 

An author’s real hope in offering books for free?

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

Besides fame and fortune? The fact remains that writers – at least the ones I know – really want to engage with readers. The kind who will then post short reviews and tell their friends they really should read this.

That won’t happen, of course, unless we get our writings in the hands and eyes of readers.

Well, I would love for that to happen here.

Remember, you still have time to pick up two of my ebooks for free as well as two others at half-price during Smashwords big July-long sale. Just visit my Jnana Hodson author page. Pretty please?

If these were paper books …

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

Discounted “sale” prices would be used to move a backlog of volumes, either at the bookstore itself or at the publisher’s warehouse. It was rarely a good sign.

With ebooks, there are no stacks of boxes or precious book-shelving problems.

Maybe you remember the “remaindered bin” with its cheapo prices. What you likely don’t remember was that authors didn’t get paid royalties on those.

Still, they got books moving into readers’ hands.

Events like Smashwords’ big July-long ebook sale exist to stir things up a bit.

Check out my four selected entries at my Jnana Hodson author page at Smashwords.com to pick up some real deals.

What a deal! This month only, it’s half-price

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

My book has been seen as an alternative take on New England history itself, from the perspective of the region’s third-oldest settlement. By extension, the spin is seen from the town’s significant oldest minority. Quaking Dover challenges all of what you were taught. You know, the big turkey dinner with the Pilgrims, the tea party in Boston Harbor, Paul Revere’s midnight ride, and those infamous witch trials.

Tiny Dover up in New Hampshire was different from the start, as you’ll discover.

Check it out at my Jnana Hodson author page at Smashwords.com.

Think of it as an ‘advance reading copy,’ after the fact

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

Many of the books in my personal library arrived in the newsroom as advance reading copies, intended for reviews or perhaps mention in a column, except that we rarely printed one of those. Instead, the freebies went out on a shelf for first-come to be first-served.

For the book publishers and authors, it was a huge waste of money.

In addition to the two books I’m offering for free at Smashword’s big July-long sale, you can pick up a copy of my new Hamlet: A Village of Gargoyles poetry collection at just half-price.

It really is worth a visit.

As a counterpoint to the political conventions

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

The poems in this rant aren’t in my usual voice, but they do address today’s political precipice, only from a slightly earlier historical perspective. And yes, that’s scary.

For this month only, I’m offering the ebook for free at Smashwords.com during its annual July sales sweep. What do you have to lose? Remember, it’s free.

Just go to my Jnana Hodson author page at Smashwords.com.

 

Here’s your chance to get my newest book for free

~ Jnana Hodson ~ 2 Comments

It’s not just a whole different way of looking at religion. It’s about intense life experiences and the ways we talk about them, hoping someone else will understand.

Quite simply, I believe everyone has a “religion,” even atheists. Just listen to ardent sports fans for examples from the secular side of the equation.

My book embraces that universal situation and then turns to the unique spirituality of early Quakers and the ways they used metaphor to guide each other in a revolutionary social transformation. Many of their advances you take for granted, no matter your labels.

Do take a look at my ebook Light Seed Truth at Smashwords.com during its annual July sales sweep. What do you have to lose? Remember, it’s free.