Book Review Scroll Back

GINGER'S SPICE
Flavored Reviews 

by Ginger Gelsheimer

Scroll Back

by Jay and Steven Stamatis

Click here to purchase Scroll Back!










5 Stars!!!!

Time Travel, Conspiracy and Murder! Scroll Back packs a suspenseful punch!

Brief synopsis: Scroll Back takes us on an epic journey through the eyes of anthropologist, Peter Mandes, who has been lucky enough to assist his mentor, Professor Alex Mostovolov, with what could be the most significant discovery in the history of the world. Alex comes upon a folio from the Thomas Gospel in an excavation site in Nag Hammadi, Egypt in 1945. Hidden coordinates lead him to the Dead Sea where he finds another scroll wrapped in animal skin. The painful deciphering process ultimately reveals Time Travel secrets imbedded in a Key Scroll hidden in Mexican pyramids.

The 20-year search culminates with a final journey to Mexico’s Pyramid of the Sun with Peter. Aware of the historic nature of Alex’s research, Nick Parseconis, an agent of a global brotherhood, is bent on acquiring the Scroll, and they will do anything, including murder in order to get it. Nick plays the good guy and funds Alex’s research, but reports his progress to the brotherhood, shaping his own agenda.

Steeped with intrigue, cruelty, deception and murder, the story delivers a heart-stopping succession of riveting scenes that cry out for a broader outcome: to reconnect people with their Creator.

Trapped between the unfolding tension for the priceless Scroll and his own spiritual struggle to discover God, Peter focuses on validating his faith as he uncovers the path to Time Travel. He launches a journey through Time that blends the unimagined with the real.

Characters: The writers did a great job with Peter Mandes, the main character who tells the story to his “nephew” Nelson, Jr., the son of a friend who had died in a terrible accident, but with time travel...could he still be alive? Because we travel through various times of Peter’s life, we really get to know him and understand him as he questions many things about his own religious beliefs versus the facts that he discovers though his travels, facts that many want to keep buried, including his former mentors from the Church, who refuse to believe the story of Jesus might have been different. I enjoyed the depth of the Nick Parseconis, a great bad guy who always manages to show up at the worst times for Peter and Alex, and who never works in their favor, throwing money at them only to beat them to the punch.

Originality: Though there are certainly other stories out there that feature time travel, scrolls, conspiracy and mystery, Scroll Back intertwines the elements into a highly original story! I enjoyed the adventure that Peter takes to find the truth of the origins, finding himself locked in a prison with John the Baptist, just before his execution; diving with man-eating sharks that disappear into the darkness of the Bermuda Triangle; and searching through the mysterious pyramids of Egypt, always seconds away from danger.

Recommendation: I would pare this with a glass of red wine for obvious reasons! Scroll Back is a fantastic story, with a concept so well written, one might even believe it. Highly recommend.

-Ginger

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Love my Nissan Juke!

I don’t normally blog about products, but I just have to spread the word! I just bought a 2015 Nissan Juke to replace my old friend Captain Jack – a 2005 black Volvo XC 90, which I loved dearly for a long time…. But Jack Black died. So now, welcome Al Capone! Why Al Capone? I think this car looks like a mafia bug, so seemed fitting!

It is so much fun to drive, and the more I drive it, the more I love it! It’s the easiest car to drive that I have ever owned-I think a five year old who’s ridden a big wheel could handle it! And driving isn’t really difficult, but I needed a football field to turn Jack Black around where this Juke can zip in and out of anywhere! Total breeze! It also gets fantastic gas mileage, claiming 28 mpg in the city and over 30 mpg on the highway!

Now, it isn’t the fastest car I’ve owned, and before I drove it, that was my main concern. Having had a Camaro, RX7, RX8 and turbo charged XC 90, I had to make sure it had enough pick up so I wouldn’t get creamed on an entrance ramp. Well, I am happy to report Al’s little turbo charge does just what it needs. No, I won’t be racing anyone off the line, but I’m too old for that anyway!

I love the blue tooth capability and hands free entry! It’s awesome not to have to grab my keys out of my purse when my hands are full coming out of the grocery store or Target! The interior is cute and fits with the style of the car and there is plenty of room for cargo when I put the back seats down.

So, if you are looking for something a little different, give it a Juke a try!

-Ginger

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Need some magic, paranormal or mystery in your life?

We've scrambled things up for the latest issue of the Authors' Cave Exclusive eZine and it's packed full of authors who will mystify, terrify and keep you on the edge of your seat!

Look inside for chapter excerpts, book trailers, audio clips and author videos!




One of my favorites is the Eno the Thracian series by C.B. Pratt. Look inside for her new release!

-Ginger

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Looking for a new love triangle, juicy affair or steamy romance to read about?

The new issue of the Authors' Cave Exclusive Romance eZine is full of authors who will satisfy your steamy desires!

Look inside for chapter excerpts, book trailers, audio clips and author videos! Maybe you'll find your next favorite love story!

Take a look inside!

-Ginger

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Looking to go out of this world, travel back in time or maybe into the future?

The new issue of the Authors' Cave Exclusive Science Fiction eZine is full of authors who will take you wherever you want to go!

Look inside for chapter excerpts, book trailers, audio clips and author videos! Maybe you'll find your next favorite adventure!





Happy Mother's Day to all of you wonderful moms out there!

-Ginger

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New Author Ezines!

We've been quite busy in the Cave revamping things! We have formed the Authors' Cave Exclusive for our premium members where we collaborate in all things publishing: marketing, cover designs, hook writing, book trailers, author videos and story telling. We aim to bring you more of what you want! Great stories!

Let us know what you think!

-Ginger

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Yay! Super Excited! Dark Days 5!

So, I just have to share how excited I am because last night was one of those wonderful nights in a writer's life when the idea juice is flowing like the Nile. When ideas pop into your head so fast, you can hardly write them down and keep up.

My main resolution this year is to finish the entire series of Dark Days. Last night, the story line came to me... I'm thinking spies... South American explorers and Chileansoh and who is the stranger that Ben will meet in the woods?

Time to get 'er done!

Ginger

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New Year - New Authors' Cave!

Year of Change – BACK TO THE ROOTS

We hope everyone’s New Year is starting off fantastic—maybe like March McCarron’s! Fantastic results with ENT and Book Bub! It is with this New Year, that we must now make some changes to BRD and Authors’ Cave 1) because of time constraints, and most importantly 2) to get us back to our ROOTS!

How do we all sell more books?

What are the most effective marketing avenues?

What is so ridiculous is that for nearly 2 years as I have managed the group, I have hardly marketed my own books at all! I want to get back to that—ROOTS! …and help you guys by sharing what works for me, and in return, learn what has worked for you.

As many of you in the group know, I have returned to a full time job. I am happy to be back at work, but unfortunately, there are not enough hours in the day to maintain the stuff required by the Authors’ Cave site and also the social interaction at BRD, as well as feed my family, take care of the house and the garden, oh and write on my own books…I want to get back to that—ROOTS! Additionally, the group is now being managed by only 2 of us—Chameleon and I.

So… ROOTS

Our goal has always been to create a collaborative community in the hopes that marketing as a group effort versus individually would generate more book sales for all of us. Since the launch in July, we have put forth several free venues for collaboration opportunities in which you could generate additional sales and reviews through higher visibility, including greater exposure through our eZine. Despite the free factor, only a fraction of the membership has taken advantage of these venues.

In light of these things... 

we are restructuring Authors' Cave and streamlining our purpose

What we have found is that it has been Premium Members who typically participate and are open to our ideas and we believe we can do more with a smaller focused group. We have created the Authors’ Cave Exclusive which will be made up of the 36 Premium Members we currently have. The group will be capped at 50 for now, so we have 14 positions open to fill.

With these 50 authors, we plan to collaborate, hold workshops, share experiences in marketing, and co-market for each other. The group is only for people who want to actively participate, so if you are not willing to work together, please do not sign up. The eZine will be revamped to feature a profile page for each member of the Authors’ Cave. Members are encouraged to write columns, share poetry, chapter excerpts, videos, trailers, etc on their page. The eZine can be used as a group marketing piece and assist in co-marketing, without much effort.

Finally…Workshops! 

We want to focus our time in areas that have been a complaint of members for a long time. We will go step by step in helping each premium member build the perfect, effective Author's Toolkit. Beginning March 1st we'll be covering the following topics, in-depth, as a group and individually.

• Plot: holes, unresolved issues, characters, world, etc.
• Writing: pace, info dumps, descriptive text, how to show and not tell
• Presentation: cover, how to easily make a digital table of contents, how to properly format your ebook
• Media: video trailers and media presentations – easier than you think! You'll end up with a professional media presentation (a $150.00 value) you'll be able to post around that people will enjoy reading and looking at!
• Marketing: effective marketing tools and strategies that will get you noticed!

How will this affect BRD?

We will still run the BRD group and have the BRD review process but will be making some changes to that as well, including the following:

Book Review Depot Process

• Books on the list 1 year or more will be removed immediately (after Mar 30, 2015, books on the list over 9 months will be removed).
• A book can only be posted to the list 2 times in a 1-year period.
• It will now take 7 reviews to earn a spot on the list to get 10 reviews in return.
• The genre of the month is no longer in play for double review credits, it's too hard to track and we need to balance the post to review ratio. 

We will be removing some of the genre categories that are not read as much and combine those into one “Miscellaneous” category. These include Non-fiction, and Children’s for now. There are a couple other categories that may be combined at a later date. We think it's only fair that authors understand the limited interest we've been able to generate for these before they do their reviews.

We will still participate in the ever-fun conversations because those are great entertainment!

Book Club

Authors’ Cave will no longer manage the book club. Participation simply wasn't enough for the amount of time it took to organize.

Authors’ Cave Services

Chameleon and I are going to focus on more of the services for the marketing side of the selling books going forward meaning we will not be doing express reviews, the Grind (editing and redlining). We will be offering book covers, book trailers, media kits and formatting.

Check out our new website! Authors' Cave

We wish you all the best for the new year and invite you to join our new collaboration efforts at Authors’ Cave Exclusive!

-Ginger and Chameleon

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January Edition Authors' Cave eZine

Welcome to the January edition of the Authors' Cave eZine! 
How do you feel about 3 star reviews? See what your peers thought...





-Ginger

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