AllAuthor.com interviewed me about my background and how I got the ideas for my books. If you’re interested you can find the interview HERE.
Have a great Friday! ~Phil
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Tag Archives: The Sneaker Tree
Throwback Thursday! Who Are The Golden Boys? You May Never Really Know
(Aug. 3, 2014) Who are The Golden Boys? Are they men? Are they myth? Are they Minotaur? They’re two of those three, but I’m not saying which.
Have you ever wondered if authors base their characters on people they know? I don’t know if all of them do it, but I did. White Picket Prisons and The Sneaker Tree may be suspenseful, humorous, murder mysteries, but the real stories are about the close knit group of friends who refer to themselves as The Golden Boys. The picture above is of me, on the right, with two of the Golden Boys. I will not identify them by name to protect the innocent. I have known these two guys my entire life, literally since we were in diapers. The Golden Boys and I grew up on the same street in four consecutive houses. We all live in different cities now, but we still try to get together once a year. Today is that day.
There is one more Golden Boy, not pictured, with whom we have little contact. He is still in our hearts and if he were ever to make it back to our hometown we would welcome him with open arms. If or when you read either of my novels, know this: the murder mystery parts may be fiction but the characters are real people, just like the friends you grew up with. If, as in the Mitch Albom book The Five People You Meet in Heaven, you do meet people from your past in the afterlife, I hope that my five are the three other Golden Boys and the two people who leave the most comments on The Phil Factor.
My friends and I have a million stories, some that may appear here in the coming weeks and others that may never again be told. Some involve matching shirts, public nudity, wedding crashing, and/or fake musical abilities and the pretense that we may have been a ‘one hit wonder’ band from the late 80’s. If you want to read some of our stories, I’ll tell you that many of them are in my books, but I won’t tell you which are fact and which are fiction. If you follow me on Instagram at ThePhilFactor you may see some pictures from the next 24 hours. I hope you have a great weekend and more importantly I hope you have life-long friends as great as The Golden Boys.
As always, if you enjoy #ThePhilFactor feel free to share by the Facebook, Twitter or re-blog buttons below. Have a great Thursday! ~Phil
Posted in books, Humor, Relationships, Throwback Thursdays
Tagged Friends, The Golden Boys, The Phil Factor, The Sneaker Tree, White Picket Prisons
Sale! Sale! Sale!
Remember when you were a kid and you had that one magical summer that seemed to last a lifetime? Cooper and his friends don’t know it, but they are in the midst of a summer they will never forget. Their small town is paralyzed with fear as a serial killer preys upon children and The Golden Boys seem to be the only ones who have a chance to stop him. A life-long bond is forged between them as they confront each other, their worst fears and a killer that is more than anyone could possibly imagine. Filled with suspense, heart and humor, The Sneaker Tree has something for everyone.
That’s right, I’m having a sale. On my blog? No, that’s free until I get picked up for syndication. My book! The Sneaker Tree is on sale for only $2.99 for your Kindle, Nook, or iPad/iPhone! It really is a great story that I’m very proud of. (BTW the link in this paragraph will take you to the paperback. For the $2.99 e-book click on the book cover in the right sidebar)
Need a fun read during your time off around the holidays? Try The Sneaker Tree, also available in paperback!
If you’ve read my blog and enjoyed my writing, why not give one of my books a try? If you’ve read The Sneaker Tree and enjoyed it, I’d be thrilled if you share this post far and wide on Facebook, Twitter or by reblogging. Have a great Friday everyone! ~Phil
Introducing the Online Book Club!
Thank you to Emily of Nerd In the Brain for including my book, The Sneaker Tree, as one of the first choices for her online book club. Click the following link to read about the book club and how you can participate: Introducing the Online Book Club!. If you like to read and discuss books with others, give this a try! There’s going to be giveaways and whatnot!
If you have some other friends who are readers feel free to share this by Facebook, Twitter or re-blogging!
Posted in author, book review, books
Tagged Nerd in the Brain, Online Book Club, The Phil Factor, The Sneaker Tree
Who Are The Golden Boys? You May Never Really Know
Who are The Golden Boys? Are they men? Are they myth? Are they Minotaur? They’re two of those three, but I’m not saying which.
Have you ever wondered if authors base their characters on people they know? I don’t know if all of them do it, but I did. White Picket Prisons and The Sneaker Tree may be suspenseful, humorous, murder mysteries, but the real stories are about the close knit group of friends who refer to themselves as The Golden Boys. The picture above is of me, on the right, with two of the Golden Boys. I will not identify them by name to protect the innocent. I have known these two guys my entire life, literally since we were in diapers. The Golden Boys and I grew up on the same street in four consecutive houses. We all live in different cities now, but we still try to get together once a year. Today is that day.
There is one more Golden Boy, not pictured, with whom we have little contact. He is still in our hearts and if he were ever to make it back to our hometown we would welcome him with open arms. If or when you read either of my novels, know this: the murder mystery parts may be fiction but the characters are real people, just like the friends you grew up with. If, as in the Mitch Albom book The Five People You Meet in Heaven, you do meet people from your past in the afterlife, I hope that my five are the three other Golden Boys and the two people who leave the most comments on The Phil Factor.
My friends and I have a million stories, some that may appear here in the coming weeks and others that may never again be told. Some involve matching shirts, public nudity, wedding crashing, and/or fake musical abilities and the pretense that we may have been a one hit wonder band from the late 80’s. If you want to read some of our stories, I’ll tell you that many of them are in my books, but I won’t tell you which are fact and which are fiction. If you follow me on Instagram at ThePhilFactor you may see some pictures from the next 24 hours. I hope you have a great weekend and more importantly I hope you have life-long friends as great as The Golden Boys.
As always, if you enjoy #ThePhilFactor feel free to share by the Facebook, Twitter or re-blog buttons below. Have a great weekend. ~Phil
Happy Independence Day!
That may or may not be my mustache. To my friends in the States, I hope you have a fun, injury-free Independence Day and enjoy the long weekend. To be honest, I love writing The Phil Factor. I’ve been doing it since 2005. I don’t just do it for the fun of it though. I’m sure you’ve noticed the banner at the top of my page and the book covers in the sidebar. Part of the reason I write The Phil Factor is I’m hoping that if you like me enough in small bites you might want to try one of my books. Since it’s a long weekend in the States, many of you may have some reading time on your hands, whether it’s at the beach or indoors as you wait for Hurricane Arthur to pass. If you’ve got an e-reader or an iPad, why not try one of my books? They are definitely weekend beach read kind of novels. Like a blind date, they’re funny,suspenseful and short. Here’s the synopses:
White Picket Prisons: A group of friends with a penchant for goofy nicknames return to their hometown for a funeral and what had been a melancholy, reunion quickly escalates into a fight for their lives with an enemy they didn’t know they had. Putting up with each others quirks with good humor they try to unravel a mystery that started thirty years ago. They unwittingly stumble and fumble their way into a life or death showdown that could kill them all. The question is not whether they will survive the bad guys, but will they survive each other? One reader likened the characters to “the kids from Stephen King’s classic ‘Stand By Me’ but grown up.” Amazon $2.99
The Sneaker Tree: Remember when you were a kid and you had that one magical summer that seemed to last a lifetime? Cooper and his friends don’t know it, but they are in the midst of a summer they will never forget. Their small town is paralyzed with fear as a serial killer preys upon children and The Golden Boys seem to be the only ones who have a chance to stop him. A life-long bond is forged between them as they confront each other, their worst fears and a killer that is more than anyone could possibly imagine. One reader said, “We need a 10-Star button. The Sneaker Tree is wonderful. I laughed, my heart was touched, and was treated to a little roller coaster of suspense.” Amazon $3.99
I try not to push my books too much, but on the day that America celebrates our in-de-pen-dence (In my head I always say that like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer) what’s more American than advertising? #ThePhilFactor will return to its usual nonsense tomorrow. If you wanted to share this by re-blogging or hitting the Facebook or Twitter buttons below I certainly wouldn’t mind. Have a great Friday! ~Phil
A Bad Review for My Book: How Great is That ?
A few weeks ago the unthinkable happened. I got a bad review for my book on Amazon. Guess what? I L-O-V-E it. My thoughts are this; I’m not writing books for everyone. I’m writing books for me and for people who like to read the same kind of stuff that I do.
In my life philosophy, if people don’t get mad at you sometimes then you are obviously never taking risks with your thoughts, words, and actions. Don’t get me wrong; I don’t want a lot of people to disagree with me or criticize my books, but if I occasionally get someone’s undies in a bunch then I think I’ve probably done something noteworthy
The reader, whom I shall not name, gave the book three stars and started her review by saying, “Not what I expected. I did not finish the book. I stopped about 1/3 of the way through.” Really lady? You decided not to finish the book because it was too scary and then gave it a 3 star rating anyway? Maybe it would have gotten all five stars if she had read the other two thirds.
She also said, “There is some swearing in this book. The usual words may not be used but you know what is intended.” What? Characters in a book acting like normal human beings? I can’t believe it. Hide your children! Contact the authorities!
Furthermore she added, “The boys frequently ignore rule for their safety, climb out their windows when they are supposed to be in their rooms.” Oh no! Fictional characters having fun and acting age appropriate? Get this on a banned books list somewhere immediately!
What really cheesed me off, and I do not say that lightly because I’ve never been cheesed off before, is that she gave away three crucial plot elements that occur in the first third of the book. If you don’t like my book, fine. We all have different tastes. Apparently she was searching for a book for small children and thought that the synopsis mentioning a serial killer wasn’t clear enough. If you don’t like it, I don’t care, but don’t ruin surprises in the book for others.
All in all, I’m pleased that someone read part of my book, hated it, and thinks it should be at least PG-13. I’m not suggesting any of you go write bad reviews just to please me, but if you clicked on the book in the right sidebar and read it I wouldn’t mind a bit.
Have a great Monday! ~Phil
Thank You from Me and The Sneaker Tree
My third book, The Sneaker Tree, made it’s debut yesterday and I have a lot of great people to thank. First, I’d like to thank every single person that downloaded my book. Whether you be a friend who downloaded my book to be supportive or a stranger who took a chance on an indie author because the cover looked great or the book synopsis was interesting, thank you. My book isn’t on any top 100 list on Amazon and probably won’t make it to the New York Times best seller list, but when I woke up this morning The Sneaker Tree had made it up to #24,689. That may not sound all that impressive, but there are at least 2 million books in the Amazon.com store and, if only for a day, mine was in the top 5% of all of those. That feels pretty good. Thank you.
Until I started publishing my own books I had no idea what an Editor did. From now on when you read a book and you see an editors name listed, in your head give them some credit as well. No matter how brilliant an authors story may be, it isn’t nearly what it can be until a skilled editor painstakingly goes through it and polishes off the rough edges, corrects grammar and punctuation, and suggests a little nip here and a tuck there. I’m lucky enough to have found Cynthia Shepp, who is very patient with my books and my almost daily e-mail questions.
A great book is nothing without a great cover. The image is what draws you in and is in your head while you’re reading. Look at my first novel, White Picket Prisons, over there on the right. The cover is a snoozefest right? Not the artists fault. He rendered exactly what I described. If I had to do it over I’d put some blood on the fence posts and make the shadowy figure in the upper right window a little more obvious. But look at the cover of The Sneaker Tree! I’ve gotten a ton of compliments on it. I can’t take credit however. The wonderfully talented Rene Folsom (who is also an author) took my description and put it on steroids. A great cover is the best first impression that a book makes and for that I have Rene to thank.
I work hard at my blog, writing 3-4 times a week, but I’m not a website designer. The reason that The Sneaker Tree cover showed up with live links on the exact day the book was released is due to my wonderful friends Paul and Shelley of Webessentials.com . They help me change or fix things on this page at moments notice. To be honest, my website/blog here would look a whole lot better if I let them really have at it. For an author that wants people to be able to read my book easily, the fact that a live link is in my right sidebar exactly at the right time I need it is absolutely amazing. Thank you Paul and Shelley.
Lastly, I want to thank all my regular blog readers. I started The Phil Factor 8 1/2 years ago with no intention of writing books. After awhile I started to get some positive feedback from readers that made me believe that maybe I could write a little bit. If you’re just a casual blogger and blog reader, don’t underestimate the impact your “likes” and comments make. You too helped make The Sneaker Tree and helped make my day today. Thank you.
As always, if you enjoy #ThePhilFactor, thank you for sharing it on Facebook, Twitter and everywhere else. Without your help us indie authors would be lost.
New Novel Release! The Sneaker Tree
Remember when you were a kid and you had that one magical summer that seemed to last a lifetime?
Cooper, Gooby, Chuck, Cliff and Bolo don’t know it, but they are in the midst of a summer they will never forget. Their small town is paralyzed with fear as a serial killer preys upon children and The Golden Boys seem to be the only ones who have a chance to stop him. A life-long bond is forged between them as they confront each other, their worst fears and a killer that is more than anyone could possibly imagine.
From the first review that I swear I did not pay for: “This book had it all, great characters, humor and suspense. If you like Dean Koontz…characters you will like this book as well.” ~ Karen
If you read my first novel White Picket Prisons this is the perfect prequel. If you didn’t read White Picket Prisons don’t worry about it it! This is the prequel, so it happened before the other story. This is better to read first anyway. It was a fun write and I hope you find it to be a fun read. It’s not an 800 page long Stephen King kind of novel either. It’s the kind of book you can read in a weekend when you’re bundled up on the couch because it’s too cold to go out.
It’s now available for only $3.99 on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and in the iTunes bookstore as well as all the other online e-book retailers.
Yes, for my regular Phil Factor readers, I apologize that I didn’t do my usual Saturday post, but I promise I’ll get back to sarcasm as usual after today and I thank you for your wonderful support. As always, I love it when you do that social media thing that makes all this media social by sharing #ThePhilFactor on Facebook, Twitter, and anywhere else you’d like.
Posted in author, book review, books
Tagged Phil Taylor, The Golden Boys, The Phil Factor, The Sneaker Tree, White Picket Prisons
The Boys are Back! Cover Reveal for The Sneaker Tree
The Golden Boys are back! Or is it the Golden Boys are here? This is the epic prequel to White Picket Prisons. Find out how The Golden Boys became The Golden Boys, if they can survive this. If you haven’t read White Picket Prisons yet, don’t worry. You can start the series with either.
The Sneaker Tree is coming very soon to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, the iTunes bookstore and other online e-book retailers. Trust me, I’ll let you know the release date. As always, and especially in this case please share #ThePhilFactor by Facebook, Twitter or any other way you like.
Cover art by Rene Folsom
