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E-reading? ↗️Make It Better For Your Brain!

E-reading? ↗️Make It Better For Your Brain!

Raise your hand if you're an e-reader reader 🙋🏼‍♀️🙋🏼‍♀️🙋🏼‍♀️

I wasn't. I was committed to paper. Until my family gifted me a Kindle for Christmas one year. I have since moved to Kobo and Kobo Plus. I will not be caught without my e-reader app now. You can carry it anywhere and take your full library right in your bag. But I also have a degree in human physiology and neuroscience. So grab your e-reader and go to your settings. Let's make it better for your eyes, your brain, and your reading speed!

It doesn't matter which e-reader app you're using, they'll all have most of these. Go to any full page in your book and get set. If you normally read with glasses or contacts in, grab those, too.

↗️ Margins - A bigger screen means fewer page turns and more reading before you loop a line. I put my margins as small as I can make them. Both my kindle and my ipad have edges already. A visual margin already exists
↗️Font Size - Honestly, just play with this until it feels right. There's no magic number here, but it's important to set it where you don't squint or have to hold your e-reader too close or too far. It's simply one of those things most of us set only when it's a problem. Set it now while you're actively choosing the right size!
↗️Brightness - This is a biggie! Set it as low as you can still be comfortable. My computer screen is under 25% brightness. This helps reduce eye strain and you probably already know that eye strain is bad and also interferes with your reading!
↗️Color - I recommend anything except black text on white screen (which is, of course, the default.) Sepia, green, even white on black should give you less eyestrain issues!

🌟🌟🌟 I don't know if you did what I did and tried turning my e-reader sideways to see if more text fit on the screen! Yeah. That made sense. The text would have to loop far less often. Oh, massive fail. Most text settings in the books have spaces and this kills it. I keep my e-reader oriented upright now. You don't have to try that, I did. 🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️

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Are You Ready For TEAR US APART?

Are You Ready For TEAR US APART?

TEAR US APART will be here tomorrow!

IF you pre-ordered from me you'll see it in your ebooks TOMORROW. Want to get in on that (Thursday Sept 4th)? Get TEAR US APART here!

Click that GET IT EARLY button.

If you're reading this after Sept 4th, and you click that button, the book will drop immediately to your ereader! WHOOO HOOO

More from TEAR US APART:

Some days Cindy felt like she'd become an emotional trash can for everyone she touched. Only it didn't lessen the burden for those people either. A burden shared was a burden halved, but a memory shared was bullshit doubled, it seemed.

Sadly, this was just another day that ended in Y, and that bothered her. She shouldn't be so inured to the being murdered. Yet here she was, being brutally stabbed and she was busy trying to catch landmarks around her. Think about seeing the face of the perpetrator. Trying to find evidence they could use, while she was experiencing what felt like her own murder. Good times.

TEAR US APART releases on all retailers on Sept 11th

Grab those here:    KOBO          APPLE           AMAZON          GOOGLE BOOKS          NOOK

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Paranormal Crime Thrillers for Smart Readers

Paranormal Crime Thrillers for Smart Readers

What should you read once you've finished The Cold Moon by Jeffery Deaver

If you're ready for another suspenseful crime thriller with a mix of forensic science and dark mysteries, the you should read...

The Graveyard Queen series by Amanda Stevens - The Restorer (Bk #1)
A paranormal thriller featuring a protagonist who communicates with the dead to solve mysteries. 

The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting
A young woman with supernatural abilities helps find murder victims, blending paranormal and mystery. 

Under Dark Skies by AJ Scudiere - The NightShade Forensic FBI Files #1
Two new FBI agents struggle to solve their first case together while still hiding their own odd secrets. Grab your copy for FREE!

Stolen by Kelley Armstrong - The Women of the Otherworld #1
A young woman with supernatural abilities helps find murder victims, blending paranormal and mystery.


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Who are the RESURRECTION MEN?

Who are the RESURRECTION MEN?

My husband and I traveled parts of the UK last September. We toured Wrexham (ifyouknowyouknow). Headed to Liverpool (which felt a LOT like Nashville!) We ate our way through every pub and alehouse. I tried mushy peas. And we took every tour we could.

We were in Nottingham (yes, that Nottingham) when our fabulously knowledgeable tour guide told us about dastardly deeds at the end of the 18th century.

You may have heard me talk about the books in my head. At one time I counted 17 - any of which I had enough character knowledge and had plotted out enough that I was ready to sit down and start writing. I've become a faster writer these days, so I tend to keep about...(let me count)... damn. It was 13. So not that much lower. Oh well.

Sometimes, a thought or an article or a bit of knowledge comes along and I JUST KNOW. (The 2nd and 3rd Vendetta Trifecta books dropped on me that way. BOOM... suddenly, 2 complete books ready to go.) And this was like that. I turned to my husband (I was working on NightShade book 12? maybe?) And I said: "I know what book 15 is!" NightShade #15 will be built on this real, historical group/idea/illegal activity.

So if you want to learn more about the REAL Resurrection Men, you can follow the link or even just search the term. They were a real thing!

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How To Learn About Blowing Shit Up

How To Learn About Blowing Shit Up

I love learning. If there are explosions involved, all the better. Let's discuss Cage and Joule using leftover fireworks to blast their snowmen come late January. Or to blow up the rotting pumpkins come December. (That one set the yard on fire..in multiple places!!! Do not ask me how handy I am with the fire extinguisher)

But this one is about REAL explosions. The kind you can't buy in a Sad Sam's tent in the summer. I've done them myself. Gotten demos just for me. And then, there are ones like this. A full demo by the bomb squad and I'm so grateful to have gotten to attend at a writer's conference.
I've watched (and taken copious notes!) the robot check a suspicious backpack, then detonate it for good measure. I've seen the team blast up everything from flashpaper to C4 to improvised devices. They all make different booms. And I learned how to set them off too. (I do love some det cord! It burns an orange sine wave on your retina as it lights up!)

So here is where I managed to catch the explosion as it was happening! I will say, an author's life is never dull. And if you've read FRACTURE FIVE, some of the things I learned from the blasts are in there!

If you need me, I'll be over here, blowing shit up. You know, for research!

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Grab it while you can – normally $7.99

Right now and for a short while - THE SURFACE IS FREE

The Black Carbon series is now complete at 7 full books. If you're a reader who doesn't want to start unless you know you can get all the way to the end, this is the series for you.

If you hate zombies or just wish the apocalypse was more... apocalypsey and not as evil or undead (but still mostly an apocalypse) I've got you! If you want smart characters making their best decisions (mostly) that's here too.

The Surface is book 2 in the series and it's usually $7.99. But this week, it's free. (And so is The Hunted - book 1. So you can get the first TWO books right now for $0!!!)

All links available here >> BLACK CARBON 

get it while you can, bc it will be $7.99 soon.

Happy reading! - AJ

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Snake in the Grave will be here in JUNE!

Snake in the Grave will be here in JUNE!

My next newsletter will give you the release date. If you're on the ARC team you will be getting your copy VERY soon. Early readers will get it soon after that (Those people who ordered direct from me.)

When Donovan chases his history to another continent, Eleri knows she has to follow. Besides that, there's an ominous text from Stacey that she and Lindsay are already in Kolkata... but why? And what does she want to give to Eleri so badly?

 

 

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How to Dispose of a Body…

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but most of you are doing it wrong!
I personally hate to read historical fiction... Why? Because I'm afraid I'll learn something and it's not right! not real!

So, when I write my books, I do my very best to make sure I'm getting it right! And that means I know I a lot of ways to dispose of a dead body.

Planting endangered plants on top won't generally save you. The plants themselves are a dead giveaway.

Burying a dead dog over the body will only help if your lead investigator is dumb and doesn't understand that cadaver dogs don't sniff for any dead flesh, only human.

Yes, you can still get tried for murder if there's no body.

And I'm pretty sure that carpet in her yard WAS part of a murder.

Feel free to ask me about any of these!

😉   :O   AJ

 

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CONFERENCES!

BEING AN AUTHOR means you have to MAN your booth at the conferences.
We've gone to Fan Days in Plano, ComicCon San Diego, Dragon Con, MysticCon and several ComicCons around the country - and oh so many more. One year we did 17 conferences!
It's so cool meeting all the readers, but as you can see: I have backup! It takes at least two people in the booth at any given time. If I have panels to be on, then 2 extra people to cover while I'm gone.
DragonCon requires a team of _FOUR_ to run that booth well! 😲 I have so many fun and funny conference stories! But in recent years, I haven't done as many. I know it's fantastic to get out and meet readers, but we did the math. DragonCon eats two weeks of time! We calculated that books weren't getting written because of conference time. Ouch.
Comment here and tell me what you think! Cons or more books? I don't think there's really a clear answer. I can do more if that's what you want.

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Second Survey (Discounts!)

Second Survey (Discounts!)

Did you know you can get 20% off if you buy from the website?*

Did you know you can get 20% off if you buy from the website?*

What can you get 20% off of?

What can you get 20% off of?

What's the discount on paperbacks?

What's the discount on paperbacks?

What retailers can you get to from the website?

What retailers can you get to from the website?

What other place can you likely get AJ books?

What other place can you likely get AJ books?

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A.J. Scudiere - Book news so fresh the body isn't even cold yet

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