Showing posts with label Augustine Sam. Show all posts

Sunday, April 24, 2022

Author Spotlight

From Rene's Getaway Blog

Books by Augustine Sam #WomensFiction #Poetry #Suspense #Romance #Mystery #RenesGetaway

Take Back The Memory

Paige Lyman, an accomplished psychiatrist, is on the verge of madness but she doesn’t know it yet. The madness begins when she gets it into her head to write her memoir. As her brilliant mind assembles bits and pieces of her life for the book, ugly skeletons, long forgotten in the closet, rear their heads.

It all begins with a simple act of love. And love, for her, is a blond-haired Irish boy named Bill, so when Bill abandons her for priesthood, the world around her collapses. Seized by a different passion—vengeance—she seeks her proverbial pound of flesh in the beds of various priests. But that’s before she meets Stern W, a medical researcher, who sweeps into her life like a hurricane and marries her. And they live happily after until he dies in a helicopter crash and she discovers the startling truth about who he really was. Now, Paige, transformed from psychiatrist to patient, is saddled with a damning memory she must decipher to be free.

Take Back the Memory is the saga of her compelling backward journey through her own life on a psychotherapist’s couch.

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The Conspiracy of Silence

The conscience of a town steeped in sexism, vanity, and hypocrisy is pricked by the brutal murder of a mysterious woman in a park in Los Angeles. The shock is soon transformed into a steamy, seductive scandal when the victim turns out to be Susan Whitaker, the flamboyant wife of the governor of California. A dazzlingly intricate shuffle of volatile links leads the police to the delicate theory of secret lover/blackmailer, and the indictment of Benjamin Carlton, Hollywood’s most influential black celebrity.

Then curious things begin to happen when Carlton’s ambitious girlfriend, Rita Spencer suddenly unearths the shocking secret that Susan Whitaker did not, in fact, exist. She little realizes however that her discovery of this colossal fraud is a mere curtain-raiser to a chilling world of ugly skeletons dating back to the assassination of a U.S. senator in a Washington hotel sauna, skeletons connected to riveting sex scandals in high places, skeletons the FBI and political king-makers will kill for…

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Flashes of Emotion

An anthology of romantic poetry, this work is both timely and timeless. It allows the reader to tap into the poet’s insights on a wide variety of topics from life and love to death and drudgery. It is contemporary poetry with a classical edge, highlighting a lively, refreshing, and innovative style – a “must-have” for anyone who has ever experienced love, pain, defeat, or joy…

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Black Gold

They are young and carefree and broke…

Femi, a young, black graduate with a 1st class degree in Chemistry, has no long-term ambitions until he meets Jessica Rhodes, a blonde exchange student from San Diego. When they miraculously land two spectacular job offers within the first week of graduation, their bleak honeymoon is transformed into a dream. With a 30-day grace period to accept one offer and a free trip to New York to evaluate the other, they soon find themselves hopping from the skyscrapers of Manhattan to the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy, their once-uncertain future dangling over a multi-million dollar cliff-hanger. What they don’t know is that undisclosed details of the deal will drag them to the place where dreams end and nightmares begin.

Will their fragile marriage survive the greed, the captivating allure of Black Gold, and that vile, ancient tradition that seeks to determine who should be married and to whom?

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Meet Augustine Sam

Augustine Sam is a journalist by profession, a novelist by choice, and a poet by chance. A bilingual writer and an award-winning poet, he writes, not only hard news but literary works as well.

Journalists, they say, can be a pretty soul-less bunch at times, and while they are great at communicating hard facts they are generally less adept at expressing their feelings and their sensitivities. That’s not true of all journalists, according to Andy Smith, the editor of The Journal of the Chartered Institute of Journalists, U.K. “It certainly isn’t true of Augustine Sam who has somehow managed to combine a career in mainstream journalism with an equally successful career as a creative writer.”

It all began when he fell in love with poetry the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once. He was the winner of the Editors’ Choice Award in the North America Open Poetry Contest. His poems have been published in international anthologies, including “Measures of the Heart” & “Sounds of Silence.”

His poetry collection: “Flashes of Emotion” was the finalist in the International Book Award Contest.

Augustine Sam’s Social Media

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00QOREIB0
Website: https://www.augustinesam.com
Blog: https://authorsuite.blogspot.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/austin_sam001
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/austin.sam001
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/austin.sam001
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1 831067.Augustine_Sam
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/austinsam001

Wednesday, April 29, 2020

High Stakes & Scandals in High Places #MFRWhooks

The Conspiracy of Silence

#Mystery #Suspense #Thriller

A depiction of the life-and-death struggle of a gutsy female lawyer who goes to great lengths to save her lover from a murder rap.

Blurb:

Soon, a dazzlingly intricate shuffle of volatile links lead the police to the delicate theory of a secret lover/blackmailer, and to the indictment of Benjamin Carlton, Hollywood’s most influential black celebrity.

Then curious things begin to happen when Carlton’s ambitious girlfriend, Rita Spencer suddenly unearths the shocking secret that Susan Whitaker did not, in fact, exist. She little realizes however that her discovery of this colossal fraud is a mere curtain-raiser to a chilling world of ugly skeletons dating back to the assassination of a U.S. senator in a Washington hotel sauna, skeletons connected to riveting sex scandals in high places, skeletons the FBI and political king-makers will kill for...

The Hook - {Book Excerpt}

The dim figure lurked in the dusking patch of tangled shrubbery until darkness enveloped him. Then he choked and swore and frothed at the mouth, and went down on all fours. After a while, he clambered out of the shrubbery like a ghost, picked himself up, and wiped his hand across his brow. Tall, with an athletic build, he covered his hands with fleeced gloves and masked his face with a hood. He had a definite presence in spite of the aura of repulsion that swelled around him like foul breath. For a moment, he stood in death-like silence in a navy hooded sweatshirt, a pair of matching pants, and black running shoes. His dark brown eyes studied his environment like a bloodhound determined to unearth a misplaced object without losing its sense of smell.

A short distance away, small cylindrical light bulbs cast an eerie glow over the lush greenery of Glennon Park, capturing its beauty in a halo of kaleidoscopic brilliance. And then a throng of men in fancy tee shirts and short pants intermixed with women in jeans and sleeveless tops whisked into view. The dim figure, hearing their muffled voices over the sound of the fountain’s cascading waters, stiffened. Like him, the fountain stood in an unlit area of the park. Surrounded by luxuriant shrubs, it was the place where randy youths who often exploited the shadows for romantic mischief loved to loiter.

But on this particular night, there were no lovers necking by the fountain, something else had taken their place. A black diamond Cadillac stood beside the fountain. The unusual sight caused the dim figure’s hands to shake with excitement. Cars were not allowed that far into the park, so whatever fantasies within the limits of human accomplishment the Cadillac’s driver had conceived, this was the wrong night for it, he mused. This will be my last murder, he decided, the climax of a long, enterprising career as the greatest hitman of all time. He was a killer so efficient and so elusive that even the FBI nicknamed him Shadow of Death for his uncanny ability to dissolve into a penumbra after every hit.

He looked up and recognized the wonderful head of hair and the slender, sensual neck as the lone occupant of the Cadillac appeared in silhouette against the fountain. His pulse quickened at once. He mopped his brow with a handkerchief and contemplated the lady’s mesmerizing beauty. Thinking of her now as a victim seemed odd to him. He had loved her once; in fact, he still loved her, a reality that put him in a quandary—a lethal clash between his obsession and his survival instinct. The survival instinct, he knew, had to win, for between them now stood the only thing that love could not subdue—a dark secret.

The Shadow of Death moved with stealth in the semi-darkness toward the Cadillac, his hands shaking with excitement with every step he took. His only accomplice was his own shadow, perceptible to no eye but his. It seemed innocuous even to him, like a specter, only there to see, not to arbitrate. It moved when the killer moved and stopped when he did, like a minion with no initiative of its own, an android programmed to repeat the action of its mentor, as only a ghost would, only to be saddled thereafter with the damning knowledge of the truth, a truth that would elude the rest of the world—an everlasting witness, a ghost that would never die.

There was deafening silence inside the Cadillac. All around it, darkness closed in as slowly and unfalteringly as the approaching evil. The killer’s face was impassive, his heartbeat regular, but his muscles were taut as he strained to open the driver’s door with his gloved hand.

She did not see him, could not see him, because she was leaning face downward on the steering wheel.

Gripped by a morbid fascination with death, he stared down at her, the roaring tension inside him silenced by his cold determination. Everything would depend on this moment, this act, he mulled over, staring around the fountain. He wanted no interruption and there was none. He reached for her throat, giving her no chance to react.

There must be no error, he steeled himself against the guilt he knew was coming. His pressure on her throat was fierce. Time, thoughts, fear, regrets, all ceased to exist as an eternity seemed to roll by in a matter of seconds. And then relief flooded his being.

It was over, he almost smiled. It bore the mark of his usual professional touch—smooth, fast, painless, and very peaceful...

Buy Links

eBook | Paperback | Add to your Goodreads TBR list!

Sunday, January 26, 2020

Quotes To Live By

“If you are lucky enough to find a way of life you love, you have to find the courage to live it.”

- John Irving

“Without wearing any mask we are conscious of, we have a special face for each friend.”

- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”

- Oscar Wilde

“Obstacles are things a person sees when he takes his eyes off his goal.”

- E. Joseph Cossman

“The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work.”

- Emile Zola

“The future is like heaven, everyone exalts it, but no one wants to go there now.”

- James Baldwin

“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”

- Maya Angelou

“It’s easy to sit up & take notice. What’s difficult is getting up & taking action.”

- Honore de Balzac

“A great artist is always before his time or behind it.”

- George Edward Moore

“If you judge a book by the cover you might miss an amazing story”

Sunday, March 3, 2019

Indie Publishing

Freedom vs Quality

These days, debates are rife about the qualities inherent in good writing or the presumed lack thereof in some indie literature. Following a digital revolution which saw decision-making power slip from the hands of literary agents/trade publishers to individual writers, these debates have triggered a craving for the authentication of readers and the public at large.

And this craving for authentication has sparked a kind of rat race given that the literary marketplace is congested. It, therefore, comes as no surprise that owing to the desire to stand out in the crowded marketplace, demand for book reviews have surged. Overnight, on book blogs and review sites, opinion leaders have risen to the challenge, some even charging a fee for their thoughts and ‘professional opinions.’

Interestingly, for many of the self-proclaimed experts, the huge demand for book reviews which sometimes borders on desperation seems to give them “a right” to heap praise and/or criticism, often undeservedly, on the ever-increasing output of indie publications.

No matter, one fact remains unaltered - in a digital era where anyone can become a published author and a single eBook can be seen as a momentous achievement, little attention is paid to depth, quality, and technique. That’s partly because in this day and age, stardom - including literary renown - is social media-driven, and many readers, usually friends and family members tend to lap up whatever their beloved new author throws at them.

In the past, a good piece of literature was recognized both for its timelessness and the power of the message it conveyed, which affected thoughts and feelings no matter what era or place it was set in. Not so today. Frivolity seeps through every fabric of society the way water seeps through the soles of boots, and this, as some believe, has permeated the arts and literature as well.

It is therefore not out of place to hold the view that not everything that goes through someone's mind ought to end up as a book, after all, a written work should have a keen aesthetic sense. It should be distinguished as a literary culture of value. Many say there is a difference between a writer and a storyteller. Marianne Moore puts it this way, “If technique is of no interest to a writer, I doubt that the writer is an artist.”

Therein lies the difference, not only between a storyteller and a writer but also between a professional book and an amateurish one, for, while a writer uses written words in various styles and techniques to tell a story, a storyteller merely narrates events in words, sometimes in images and sounds as well. Of course, this is fine if the output is of tolerable quality. But what's the benefit of an indie revolution if the quality of literature is sacrificed for publishing freedom? While everyone can tell a story, not everyone can be a writer. According to Carlos Ruiz Zafón, “The only way you can truly get to know an author is through the trail of ink he leaves behind him. The person you think you see is only an empty character: truth is always hidden in fiction.” So, quality vs freedom, where does the indie publishing lean?

Quotes To Live By

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“All great truths begin as blasphemies.”
- George Bernard Shaw

“Art is either plagiarism or revolution” - Paul Gauguin

“Stories of imagination tend to upset those without one.” - Terry Pratchett

“Start with what is right rather than what is acceptable” - Franz Kafka

“I think you can leave the arts, superior or inferior, to the conscience of mankind.” - William Butler Yeats

Sunday, January 6, 2019

Coffee Chat

Welcome,

Booklovers!

By Ally Shields

Grab that much-needed coffee this morning and join me in meeting mystery/thriller writer, Augustine Sam

Ally: Good morning, Augustine. How do you take your coffee?

AS: I like my coffee extra-strong with a smidgen of sugar. Normally, I drink espresso - the traditional Italian coffee - now and then, depending on my mood, I like to have it ‘corrected’ with a shot of grappa (the grape-based brandy of Italian origin), which is the kind of coffee Italians call “caffè corretto”).

Ally: Ah, I see. Like I occasionally "correct" with Baileys! :)

Author bio:

Augustine Sam

Augustine Sam is a journalist by profession, a novelist by choice, and a poet by chance. A member of the U.K. Chartered Institute of Journalists, he was formerly Special Desk editor at THISDAY newspapers, an authoritative Third World daily, first published with the Financial Times of London. He later became a correspondent for central Europe. In addition to pursuing hard news, he fell in love with poetry the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once. He was the winner of the Editors’ Choice Award in the North America Open Poetry Contest organized by the National Library of Poetry, USA. And his poetry collection, Flashes of Emotion, was a finalist in the International Book Award Contest.

Something unique/unusual that isn’t in your regular bio:

I’m fascinated by ancient architecture. By that I mean I have a somewhat childlike excitement about it. In fact, the sight of those magnificent, primal constructions, and tales of ancient civilizations always fill me with awe. I don’t know about other people but I find the mathematical precision by which measurements, structural dimensions, and space were figured out in an era where there were no computers to be inspiring. Not surprisingly, therefore, my travel destinations are often determined by the prospect of such relics-themed sightseeing.

The Coffee Chat:

Ally: Where do you get your story ideas?

AS: I sometimes get story ideas from events I have witnessed or from bizarre stories I’ve heard and sometimes my story ideas are figments of my imagination. But the idea for The Conspiracy of Silence came from a radio play I wrote when I was a student. It was a half-hour radio drama that revolved around a murder that threatened the career of a very successful musician. As it turned out, his sister who was the only one that knew of his innocence could not, due to an intricate chain of events, prove it. When the play was aired, I felt it was too short to convey the kind of emotion that should naturally accompany a tense plot such as that. So, years later, I developed the plot into a mystery/thriller novel complete with legal intrigues and all the accompanying drama that was missing in the radio play.

Ally: How did you get that first book or story published?

AS: My debut novel, Take Back the Memory, was rejected by several literary agents and big-name publishers because, as one of them told me, “I had no name.” For someone who didn’t understand the industry, it was very unsettling for me because I had no idea how to go about “getting a name,” and it shattered the notion I had in my head that writers were published because they had a talent and their books had potential, not because they had a name. After years of querying agents and publishers, I decided to take a break and concentrate on my day job - journalism. Eventually, a small press in the state of Minnesota accepted the book and published it without fanfare and, consequently, without the commercial success I had hoped for. But the process opened my eyes to the possibility of self-publishing. I haven’t looked back since.

Ally: Why did you start writing? Why fiction? What keeps you writing?

AS: I started writing because I love storytelling and because it offers me a unique opportunity to reach people, which is a big deal for an introvert like me. Actually, I had a passion for writing even as a kid. I remember that while some of my friends kept toys, I kept piles of notebooks where I created stories mainly for the pleasure of my two sisters who, by the way, were my first real fans and readers. Why fiction? Well, sometimes we read fiction to ‘escape’ and sometimes we do so to be entertained and to be informed because fiction, in manifold ways, gives us valuable insights into many of life’s realities. What keeps me writing is the desire to tap into that reality.

Ally: What three books in your genre would you recommend to fans (after they’ve read your books, of course!)

AS: I would recommend (1) Presumed Innocent by Scott Turow (2) Split Second by David Baldacci & (3) Tears of God by Steven F. Freeman

Ally: What is your next writing project? Anticipated release date?

AS: My next writing project is a trilogy - a literary thriller with romantic elements. I can’t say more at this time. Though the first part is now in the editing stage, I’m unable to proffer an anticipated release date because I haven’t laid the groundwork for it yet.

Ally: Are you ready for some quick answer questions?

favorite book: The Collected Oscar Wilde
an author (living or dead) you’d love to take to lunch: Agatha Christie
favorite tv show: Breaking Bad
favorite song: “Dignity” by Bob Dylan
favorite quote: “Be yourself; everyone else is taken.” - Oscar Wilde

Ally: It has been a pleasure chatting with you, Augustine. Before you go, please show us your featured book, The Conspiracy of Silence.

A ‘hypnotic’ political thriller…with an epic courtroom showdown.

The conscience of a town steeped in sexism, vanity, and hypocrisy is pricked by the brutal murder of a mysterious woman in a park in Los Angeles. But the shock is transformed into a steamy, seductive scandal when the corpse turns out to be Susan Whitaker, the flamboyant wife of the governor of California. An intricate shuffle of accumulating leaks soon lead the police to the delicate theory of secret lover/blackmailer, and to the indictment of Benjamin Carlton, Hollywood’s most influential celebrity.

Then curious things begin to happen when Carlton’s ambitious girlfriend, Rita Spencer inadvertently unearths the shocking secret that Susan Whitaker did not, in fact, exist. She little realizes however that her discovery of this colossal fraud is a mere curtain raiser to a chilling world of ugly skeletons dating back to the assassination of a U.S. senator in a Washington hotel sauna, skeletons connected to riveting scandals in high places, skeletons the FBI and political king-makers will kill for...