Book Giveaway #6: A Thousand Days in Venice by Marlena De Blasi

The second-to-last in the series of book giveaways is A Thousand Days in Venice by Marlena De Blasi. National Bestseller. Random House trade paperback. 2002.

You know the drill: leave a comment in the trail and you're entered in the draw.

Lane and Flowerpot have confirmed receipt of their packages. If any other winners are reading please let me know whether you've received yours.

Interview with Eddie Tadross

"An outstanding artist" - Taxi A&R

"[A] gifted songwriter" - The Deli Magazine

WT: Welcome to the blog, Eddie. I'm honoured to have you as a guest on Wordtryst. I 'discovered' you when I created a promotional video for my novel, Café Au Lait, on the Animoto site. I remember going through hundreds of song clips, but the decision was easy: I wanted your music. Can you tell us a bit about your background?

Eddie: I grew up in the Long Island suburbs of New York City, started piano lessons around 11 and played open mics in the city as a teenager. I headed to New Orleans at 18 on a scholarship to Tulane University and got hooked up opening up for local bands at Jimmy's, a rock club uptown. After a year in the U.K. (I vaguely remember briefly singing for an Oasis cover band), I moved to southern California, where I fronted an alt-rock band in San Diego and played solo there and L.A. Now I'm back in New York City, where I've been performing solo/writing/recording, etc.

WT: What kind of music did you love growing up? Which artistes in particular inspired you to write your own music?

Eddie: I was very into some of the greats, such as Tom Petty, Eric Clapton, Billy Joel, Paul Simon. So I guess you could say "classic" rock.

WT: When did you begin creating your own music? What prompted you to start?

Eddie: At some point I switched piano teachers from a stuffy classical teacher to a vary cool jazz/rock musician. I was probably around 14 or so. I love classical, but I wanted to write my own music. So he taught me chords, and it all started from there.

WT: Tell us a bit about your process.

Eddie: Usually the basic idea and melody of a song will come out of me, most often when I'm not thinking about it (on a train, in a hotel room, taking a shower). Then I develop the lyrics and the rest of the song from that first idea. Sometimes it's easy, and sometimes I end up shelving an idea and returning to it later, if at all.

WT: Sounds a lot like the writing process! I love the You Without Me track that I used on my video, and when I found you on MySpace I listened to some others songs that were equally impressive. I thought: I want this! Where can a fan buy your music?

Eddie: For now there are some free downloads (including You Without Me) on my website. I am [currently writing] an album, which will be available on iTunes and everything when it comes about. Hopefully in 2010. Otherwise, there is an electro-pop EP I recorded back in 2004 available on iTunes; search "Governortea" to find it.

WT: How would you describe your genre? (pop, alternative, easy listening...?) Are there other genres you'd like to explore?

Eddie: That's a tough one. I guess it's a little of each of those, with a bit of indie thrown in. I've done electronic music (see above-mentioned Governortea EP), I also love country and jazz. I think there will always be elements of different genres in my music.

WT: Who are your favorite artistes currently? Have you met any of them?

Eddie: Tom Waits, Rufus Wainwright, Regina Spektor, Brazilian Girls. I ran into Regina on a flight to Chicago a while back, I'm sure she doesn't remember :)

WT: How do you fit family life into what must be a hectic schedule? Do you have a day job as well? I ask this because most of us writers cannot support ourselves by our writing, and I wonder if it's the same for the majority of musicians.

Eddie: I do have a day job and a family, so yes, it's not easy. Everybody is totally supportive of my music, at work and home, and it is just that I have to put things off until 11 at night or even for a few weeks...definitely requires patience.

WT: Hm. That scenario sounds familiar. I doubt it's ever easy balancing a creative life with the demands of everyday living. It was great having this chat with you, Eddie. I'm on your mailing list now, so when your album is released I'll be sure to mention it on the blog.

Eddie: Thanks for the interview opportunity and I wish you all the best with your writing.

WT: You're welcome, and thank you for the music!


Eddie's news:

• He is currently in Vienna, Austria writing an album.
• "You Without Me" is on the Best of SongHall CD, Vol 7, released June 2nd 2009. www.songhall.org/
• "You Without Me" appeared on Billboard's 12-song compilation CD for the inaugural Music & Advertising convention at the W Hotel in NYC, June 4th & 5th. http://www.billboardevents.com/billboardevents/ma/index.jsp

Eddie's website: www.eddietadross.com
Eddie on MySpace: www.myspace.com/eddietadross
You Without Me on YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdTnVxGLdS0

What's your word?

Your Word is "Think"

You see life as an amazing mix of possibilities, ideas, and fascinations. And sometimes you feel like you don't have enough time to take it all in. You love learning. Whether you're in school or not, you're probably immersed in several subjects right now. When you're not learning, you're busy reflecting. You think a lot about the people you know and the things you've experienced.

What's Your Word?

Those numbers again

Okay, I can see where this obsession can get really boring for everyone but the author involved, so I promise to stop posting search results after today. I'll even attempt to not check in with Amazon on a daily basis, but don't know if I have the required self-control. Consider that a work in progress. So here goes...

When I looked at the search rankings this morning Café Au Lait showed up as:

#1 of 1,659 in African-American romance
#1 of 201 in Caribbean romance
#9 of 1,676 in African American romance (no hyphen)
#29 of 32,003 in contemporary romance

This must surely signify something! Not sure what, though. Probably some anomaly in the Amazon algorithm.

Those numbers

I think all authors must be obsessed with numbers: sales rank, print runs, royalty percentages, etc. etc. etc. Then there are search rank numbers. I don't know what, if anything, these esoteric indices reveal about sales, but...

On current (as in today's) Amazon searches (search rank, not sales rank) CAFÉ AU LAIT comes up as:

#1 (out of 757) - African-American romance novels
#2 (out of 1,657) - African-American romance
#2 (out of 201) - Caribbean romance
#11 (out of 1,673) - African American romance (without the hyphen)
#32 (out of 31,963) - contemporary romance

This can't be bad. If you know otherwise, do NOT burst my bubble!

Giveaway burnout & Debs you're it!

Debs, blogger from Jersey and owner of an enviable writing shed, won the copy of Connie Mason's Caress and Conquer by default. Congrats, Debs! You should receive your copy sometime within the next month or so. I haven't heard from any of the winners so I'm wondering just how long it takes snail mail to get around these days. If any winners of the first four giveaways are reading this, let me know when/if you received your package.

The blog is suffering from giveaway burnout so I'm postponing the last two to sometime in June. Okay, Vaughn? Now you can stop complaining that I haven't posted any news in ages. Hullo! You want my news, there's e-mail, text message, telephone, smoke signal, talking drum...

Hacked!

...or phished, or whatever it's called. Yup, got a message in my Facebook inbox from a lovely friend, with a somewhat mysterious title: Look at this. When I opened the message there was a succinct instruction to click on the link given. Nothing else. I wondered why my friend was being so mysterious and, curiosity piqued, clicked on the link which took me to a blank page. Thinking the page hadn't loaded properly I went back and clicked again. Same result.

This morning I got a message from her - sent to all her Facebook contacts, I imagine - advising us that she hadn't sent us the link and that if we got it we shouldn't click on it. She also mentioned that Facebook had frozen her account while advising her to change her password.

Then the messages started coming in from some of my other FB friends: Hi, did you send a link to me? I clicked but nothing happened. One friend did not click because she got a phishing warning. Another friend told me her click opened a window that asked for her e-mail address and password - which she entered!

A flurry of messages followed, all from 'friends', all with the same title and invitation to click. I changed my password, posted a warning on my FB page and sent a warning message to everyone on my list. Then I ran my antivirus and spyware scans, hoping for the best. I had no idea what the hackers would do next so I painstakingly made a list of all my FB friends and their contact info. Wouldn't like to go over there and find everything had disappeared into the cybervoid. Minutes ago another friend - who had gotten the message to go click from 'me' earlier today - let me know that FB had frozen her account as well, pending her changing the password. Interesting, no?

Beware, beware, beware. These villains thrive on the trust we put in our friends. If something with, for example, my son's name in the sender field comes into my inbox, my defenses disappear without my even thinking about it, and I'm clicking away and following instructions before I'm even aware of what I'm doing. Hopefully this episode will serve as a warning to me, and to you. The Internet isn't the fuzzy friendly place we imagine it is sometimes. Let us not fall into complacency.

There's another angle to this. I've been hearing rumors about FB beginning to charge users for the privilege of using their services. Being a great fan of conspiracy theories, I've been wondering if they're engineering this rash of break-ins to convince us that we need a more secure, PAID version of their service? What think you?

Happy Birthday, Kim!

Kim, my blog buddy from It's a Maze aaand a Maraca, is celebrating a birthday today. So what does she do? She creates the lovely tissue box above for me! Bee-yootiful! For a 360 degree view, go here.

Isn't she something? Giving gifts away on her birthday! I think this trend should catch on! Thank you, Kim. And look what I got you!

No? Are you sure? Well, then, I'll take him off your hands!

Happy Birthday!

Book Giveaway #5: Caress and Conquer by Connie Mason

The winner of Book Giveaway #4 is akalol, that Trini humorist, satirist, reader, movie enthusiast, reviewer, photographer, engineer, provoker of security guards, and much more, I suspect, from This Beach Called Life. Congratulations! The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams is all yours!

This week's giveaway is Caress and Conquer by Connie Mason. Warning! If serial rape and ravishing of allegedly innocent maidens is not your cup of tea, opt out of this one. From the back cover:

"Lovely, young and poverty-stricken, Amanda Prescott was forced to support herself and her invalid mother any way she could. Cast into prison for stealing, she was horrified to learn that she would be transported to the American Colonies to serve her term as an indentured servant. Her master turned out to be none other than dashing plantation owner Tony Brandt, the very man who had unwittingly caused Amanda's downfall. Yet from their first passionate embrave, Amanda knew her heart would belong to him forever. Despite the difference in their stations, Tony was determined to wed her. But his jealous mistress had other plans..."

Love Spell, Dorchester Publishing, 1999. Mass market paperback.

Book Giveaway #4: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

The lovely Lane who blogs over at Lane's Write is the winner of last week's title, Wifey by Judy Blume. Congrats, Lane! Hope you don't have another encounter with crazies when you go to collect your package at the post office. Remember, avoiding eye contact is the key!

And now for #4: The NYT bestselling The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. Good condition. 2005 mass market edition. I have to admit, it's hard letting this one go!

The winner will be announced next Thursday when title #5 is posted. Good luck!