People often ask me how I decided
to self-publish my own novels. The answer is simple, and yet there is some
complexity to it. I wanted my work to be read right away. If I had gone the
traditional publishing route, DEADLY EYES would still be somewhere along the
lengthy publishing route, lying there not yet ready to be put into readers’
hands. It takes months, sometimes years, to get one’s work published the
traditional way. I am so delighted that Amazon Direct Publishing came onto the
scene. DEADLY EYES has already sold hundreds of copies since its birth at its
new home on Amazon Kindle in March of 2012. And in that short time, this
international thriller has made me an international author. Copies of it have
already been bought in England, Germany, France, Australia, and Singapore, in
addition to wide distribution throughout the United States and Canada. In
addition, DEADLY EYES is also now available in paperback on Amazon. None of
this would have been possible, in such a short time, if I had chosen to pursue
the traditional publishing route.
F. Scott
Fitzgerald, the highly acclaimed international author, often complained of
having to change parts of his books, especially endings, to satisfy his
publishers. He is not, by far, the only author who has had to adhere to someone
else’s editing in order to be published. In my case, the case of a
self-published novelist on Amazon Kindle, I have complete control over every
single aspect of my book, every word, every punctuation mark, and even to the
appearance of the cover. It is my choice, and mine alone, how to begin and how
to end my own book. I have complete control over all of my characters’ actions,
thoughts, and words. In a nutshell, as a self-published author, I am the true
writer of my own work. No editor has had a hand in changing even a single word
of my original work. The book is mine, and mine alone, and it is presented to
the reading public exactly as I want it to be, nothing changed to satisfy a
publisher’s whim.
Yes, Amazon
Kindle Direct Publishing has been a real godsend to me, and my Caribbean
thriller DEADLY EYES is proof of that.
Title: Deadly Eyes
Title: Deadly Eyes
Author:
Michael Meyer
Publisher:
Self/Amazon Kindle
Length:
225 Pages
Genres:
Mystery/Thrillers/Suspense (Non-Romance)
Available at:
“DEADLY EYES” is a
semifinalist for The Kindle Book Review Best Indie Books of 2012!!
Blurb:
A HAUNTING CARIBBEAN MYSTERY
James Cuffy,
better known as Cuff, is living in paradise with his girlfriend, on the small
Caribbean island of St. Croix, where the sky is as blue as Cuff's eyes, the
ocean as pretty as Rosie's cheeks, where the gentle lapping of the waves is a
lullaby, and the swaying of the palm trees is a dance. The sandy beaches are as
white as sugar, and the horizon is a world away. St. Croix indeed is paradise,
the perfect place for living, laughing, and loving.
But the sandy
beaches and the turquoise sea can provide no cover from the deadly eyes of the
unknown stalker pursuing Cuff. Murder leads to murder as he attempts to
untangle the terrible web in which he has suddenly become entangled.
The twists and
turns are relentless, the roads of the fast action leading in all directions,
but time is running out, and Cuff, his faithful Rosie at his side, knows it.
Excerpt:
These were not naked eyes, for the distance
between these eyes and the beach bar at Cathy’s Fancy was too great for the
naked eye to discern who was who. No, these eyes had planned meticulously. The
eyes were glued to a pair of terribly expensive and unbelievably powerful
Swarovski Optik binoculars. The balcony on which they now worked, taking in the
scene before them, was the perfect place to see but not be seen. The powerful
binoculars saw to that.
The distance, the palm trees, and the rays of
the sun all helped. The position had been hand picked, after careful
consideration. Every angle had been considered, and, one by one, they had all
been discarded for one reason or another until this very spot, the perfect
place to observe while not being observed, had been selected.
Yes, the eyes had seen it all. The eyes had
seen precisely what they had hoped to see. They were like a master
puppeteer. They planned, controlled, and
observed, but from a safe distance. They did not miss a trick.
The eyes. The deadly eyes of St. Croix.
About
the Author:
I have resided in and have visited many places in
the world, all of which have contributed in some way to my own published
writing. I have literally traveled throughout the world, on numerous occasions.
I have lived in Finland, Germany, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, and the U.S. Virgin
Islands, on the island of St. Croix, where DEADLY EYES is set. I gained the
wanderlust to see the world, to experience other cultures, at an early age, and
this desire has never left me. If anything, it has only gained in intensity as
I have aged. I try to travel internationally at least once a year. In the
interim, I spend lots of time traveling around both my home state of California
and other nearby states.
I spent my early years in the small town of Lone
Pine, California, the home of almost every western movie, in addition to a wide
variety of other genres, made in the 30’s, 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s. In fact,
Hollywood still films parts of big-time movies there today. My dad, the town’s
lifeguard at the time, personally knew John Wayne, Lloyd Bridges, and Lee
Marvin, all of whom came to the town’s pool, the Memorial Plunge, at times to
cool off after a hectic day of working in the sun. I was even an extra in a
movie filmed there in 1957, MONOLITH MONSTERS, a B-cult favorite even today. I
was ten years old at the time. Even though I resided in a small town hours from
the big city, I was exposed to the excitement of action and heroes at a
formative age, and, thus, my interest in writing novels of suspense such as
DEADLY EYES was born.
As a recent retiree from a forty-year career as a
professor of writing, I now live in Southern California wine country with my
wife, Kitty, and our two other cats.
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