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: White Picket Prisons
The Perfect Weekend Beach Read
With summer upon us many of you are going to the beach or just relaxing outside. In case you only access The Phil Factor from your phone, I know you’d hate to miss all the spectacular content in my sidebars. One piece of this incredible sidebar content is my books. Yes, some of you may not even be aware that I’ve written a few books. Nothing serious, just some fun, suspenseful weekend beach read type books that are available as e-books or in paperback.
A group of friends with a penchant for goofy nicknames return to their hometown for a funeral and what had been a pleasant, albeit 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 must unravel a mystery that may have 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 and on crack.” (No one does drugs in the story. I think she was referring to the humor in the novel)
The e-book is only $2.99 and is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and all the other e-book outlets. It’s also available in paperback for $8.23 on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
Have a great Friday! ~Phil
Posted in author, books, Humor
Tagged author Phil Taylor, authors, books, The Phil Factor, White Picket Prisons
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
White Picket Prisons: A New Review!
Woo Hoo! A good review for my first novel just appeared on Readers Favorite, a completely legit, impartial website that I didn’t pay. Here it is:
Reviewed by Trudi LoPreto for Readers’ Favorite
White Picket Prisons by Phil Taylor is located in the suspense book category, but it is so much more. Cooper, Dave, Chuck, and Cliff have been best friends since childhood when they had dubbed themselves The Golden Boys. They are now adults and have remained close friends through marriages, careers, life, and deaths. As the story begins, they have gathered for the funeral of Dave’s dad. We are quickly drawn into their reunion which consists of all the things they did as kids, picking on one another, taking the neighborhood walk and hanging out. The good time they are having quickly takes a turn for the worst and suddenly they find themselves in danger. The plot takes several twists and turns and we and the Golden Boys are unsure who and why the bad guys are suddenly after them. Is it something from their childhood, did one of them do something awful, are all four marked for death, we wonder, and until the very end there is no sure answer. Each of them reveals surprising new facts about themselves as they work together to survive and find the answers they so desperately seek.
White Picket Prisons is a book about lasting friendship that spans many years. It is a book filled with suspense and excitement, strong characters and an engaging plot. Phil Taylor has given us 173 pages that will keep you glued from start to finish. This may be Phil Taylor’s first work but I truly hope it isn’t his last. White Picket Prisons is a winner for everyone. Don’t pass up reading this book.
It is available in both e-book and paperback from Amazon and Barnes & Noble. It is also available in the iTunes bookstore. Have a great Friday! ~Phil
Posted in author, book review, book reviewers, books
Tagged book review, Phil Taylor, Readers Favorite, White Picket Prisons
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
Throwback Thursdays! Who is the Next Host of Jeopardy Alex?
This was originally posted on March 21, 2013 when no one was reading me.
Don’t know what I was thinkin’ of
I guess I just wasn’t too bright
Well, I sure hope I do better
Next weekend on The Price Is Right, -ight, -ight
I lost on Jeopardy, baby (oooh) ~ Weird Al Yankovic
The answer is Phil Taylor for $500. After all these years my dream job is finally available! Rumor is that if Alex Trebek lives long enough to complete the 2014-2015 season he will finally retire. From blogger to Jeopardy host! My ascension to the throne is near. Admit it; if you’re being perfectly honest with yourself, once Alex shaved off his porn moustache he completely lost his game show host mojo. That is not a mistake I will make. I am in fact working on a handlebar moustache as we speak.
What is jumping to conclusions Alex? Not so fast my little pretty. I’m not going to be happy just hosting Jeopardy! I’m going to revamp and revitalize that tired old game show to return it to its rightful place as an American institution as respected as the Presidency itself. How am I going to do that you ask? Please state your answer in the form of a question. What is, introducing new categories Alex? For a while Jeopardy was fun, but eventually the common man (me) got tired of Alex and all the smug little contestants and their snooty little answers to Potent Potables and Potpourri.
Categories I would introduce would include Beer Pong Rules, Lindsay Lohan arrests, and Crazy Celebrity Quotes. Oddly, the correct answer to every question in all three categories is “Who is Alec Baldwin?”. The Visual Daily Double will be Name that Roadkill. Which brings me to the next change I would make to the show.
Enough with the “I’m sorry; the answer must be in the form of a question.” If it’s in the form of a question, it’s not an answer, it’s a question! That idea had to be some weird Canadian voodoo Alex brought across the border from our neighbors to the North. On Phil Taylor’s Jeopardy! if you get an answer right I don’t care how you say it, as long as you don’t say it in Canadian. I can’t believe Alex Trebek didn’t get punched in the face more often over this rule.
On Phil Taylor’s Jeopardy! there will also be no more High School Week or College Week either. All of us grown adults who have navigated the universe successfully enough to get where we are do not need any snot nosed little punks acting all superior because they know a word that rhymes with orange.
Right now the talk is that Matt Lauer has the inside track on the job. Puh-leeze! His popularity is receding faster than his hairline. If you’d like to support my bid for Jeopardy! host, after Alex retires or is the victim of an unfortunate accident, you can follow me on Facebook or try my humorous murder mystery novel, White Picket Prisons, available for just $2.99 on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and iTunes. I also want to say a quick welcome to all those who came to The Phil Factor from Candy’s Raves after reading my guest post this week.
Something Free for My Blogging Friends
You know how you write your blog because you like to be read? I’m the same way. We value our thoughts and believe that some of our thoughts have value to others, whether it’s educational, thought provoking, or merely entertainment. Some of you may have noticed but never clicked on those book covers there on the right. I wrote those and I’m pretty proud of them.
Stephen King was once a school teacher sending stories to magazines. E.L. James of Fifty Shades of Grey fame originally self-published Fifty Shades as an e-book. Hugh Howey, whom I interviewed here back in July was unknown just a couple years ago until his independently published stories caught fire by internet word of mouth. I’m not saying I’m as great as those three are, what I am saying is maybe my books have merit, but it’s hard to know unless people read them. There was a time in every authors life that they didn’t have an agent and a publisher. This is mine.
I’m an “indie” author. If I chose to I could pursue some small publishing house that would take me on and I’d have the validation of having a publisher’s name inside the front cover. I’d have validation, but I’d also have someone telling me what my cover would look like. I’d have an editor telling me to develop a character more or to add another secondary story line to the plot. I’d have someone telling me how much to charge my readers for my books. Raise your hand, how many of you have ever bought a book because of the name of the publisher? I didn’t think so.
Ok, so here’s the FREE part. If you’re a fellow blogger I’ll give you a FREE Kindle, Nook, or Ipad copy of my book White Picket Prisons in exchange for an honest review posted on your blog. The story is a humorous murder mystery about a close knit group of friends. Click on the link if you want to read the full synopsis. It’s a relatively short, weekend beach read type of book. If you’re interested, in the comments leave your e-mail that is connected to Kindle, Nook or iPad account and which e-reader you have. Or if you want a little more privacy about your e-mail you can e-mail me directly at authorphiltaylor@gmail.com
Feel free to share or re-blog if you like. In fact please re-blog. I want you to make me give away so many that I’ll regret this. I’ll give away as many copies as are asked for. Have a great Sunday. ~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
