Book Trib Reviews Lee Lindauer's New Novel The Sava Steps

Characters Find Themselves on Emotional Collision Course in Mountaintop Thriller

The Sava Steps by Lee Lindauer

What's It About?

Amidst desolate mountaintops, a cast of characters find their fates entwined in this pulse pounding thriller

“Where would one go to sell a kidney?” Hightower asked.

Vlad leaned back; his expression turned sour. “People get killed wanting to know.”

Author Lee Lindauer, an engineer by trade before turning to thriller novels, uses the tools and techniques of his original vocation to develop well-researched and tightly conceived stories and complex and well-defined characters, clearly evident in his most recent work, The Sava Steps.

Throw in a generous helping of history to get the narrative going. During the Bosnian War in 1995, in a period referred to as the Srebenica Genocide, a Dutch Battalion of the United Nations Protective Force, known as Dutchbat III, was charged with providing peacekeeping operations, protecting the “safe zone” and preventing the escalation of atrocities on local villagers. It is said that the Dutch did not live up to that responsibility.

The protagonist, Melika Zbanic, 17 at the time and one of those villagers, was forced into a long journey by foot with her younger brother against their will at the hands of armed soldiers. The battalion’s Dutch captain, Pieter Van Dere, made decisions and took actions that left lifelong scars on Melika – so hideous that she vows decades later to settle all scores and seek out revenge on Van Dere, regardless of the consequences.

Fast forward to present day, where Melika, a doctor, lives in a small village. On the grounds high above her clinic, there is a structure of a once-prominent hotel whose presence now is unclear. However, as she witnesses strange comings and goings, even the apparent nighttime burial of a body, she suspects something unsavory. Yet she is singularly focused to travel wherever she may to find Van Dere and bring about her personal justice.

THE PACE IS SWIFT, WRITING CRISP

Meanwhile, an analyst for Interpol in Lyon, France, is close to cracking a case and identifying a suspect in an apparent illegal kidney trafficking operation – the savage process of grabbing donors and taking vast sums from people in need of a transplant who can’t procure the organ through traditional means.

When the analyst is murdered, enter Thorne Hightower, a former disgraced FBI agent who happens to be the brother-in-law of the victim. Van Dere, whose current cover is a position at Interpol, now appears central to the kidney trafficking scheme.

Melika and Hightower, with seemingly different motives for seeking out Van Dere, become intertwined in the chase and subject to many dangerous twists, turns and circumstances in which they find themselves along the way.

The author introduces us to an intriguing cast of supporting characters representing both good and evil. Perhaps none is more curious than Melika’s daughter Valery, for the mere reason that she is stone deaf but also a virtuoso violinist. What role might she play close to home as her mother takes off in search of Van Dere and his accomplice?

INTRICATE PLOT WITH FINE DETAIL

Like many of the relationships, with that of Melika and Hightower at the forefront, the matter of trust is a constant theme. While some wavering confidences are apparent, even the two lead characters fail to easily establish what seems like a natural bond to work together. Perhaps Melika’s history, shrouded with shady characters and betrayal, forces her to question everything and anything.

Lindauer has truly taken to his new craft of writing thrillers: “They’re an easy way to escape, and someone is always in danger — it never is the reader. I was never a voracious reader growing up, but the books I did read were packed with adventure, thrills, and mayhem, with words and characters that got your blood flowing.”

The Sava Steps will indeed get readers’ blood flowing. The author has combined an intricate plot with fine detail and much to think about. He gives us complex, flawed characters for which we feel their anguish, fear, desperation and the focus on the specific objectives at hand.

Dare we say that Lindauer has “engineered” a masterful work with all the elements you’d hope for in a thriller. The pace is swift, the writing crisp, and the overall experience one that will encourage readers of this genre to proudly add this book to their shelves.

 

AUTHOR

Contrary to popular belief, Lee Lindauer, author of The Sava Steps and Irrational Fears, did not obtain an MFA in Creative Writing but did earn both BS and MS degrees in Architectural and Civil Engineering, respectively. From years of designing buildings and other structures, he now engineers fast-paced plots and creates intriguing characters in authentic technical and natural settings to produce emotional rollercoaster rides for the reader. A member of the International Thriller Writers, he and his wife, Teri, divide their time between Colorado and Nevada. Visit his website at www.leelindauer.com

Via Booktrib.

 

Jim Alkon

Jim Alkon is Editorial Director of BookTrib.com. Jim is a veteran of the business-to-business media and marketing worlds, with extensive experience in business development and content. Jim is a writer at heart – whether a book review, blog, white paper, corporate communication, marketing or sales piece, it really doesn’t matter as long as he is having fun and someone is benefitting from it.

Story Merchant E-Book Deal!

 AVAILABLE ON AMAZON

Original, entertaining, deftly scripted with memorable characters and a roller-coaster of a plot…
--Midwest Book Review

Twenty-five years after the Srebrenica Massacre, the worst genocide in Europe since World War II, survivor Melika Žbanić encounters two vicious men from her past. Intent on revenge, her plans are derailed by disgraced FBI agent Thorne Hightower, who has personal reasons to involve himself in her affairs.

Melika escapes Hightower’s pursuit only to be kidnapped and taken somewhere in the Balkans where a grim fate looms. With the clock ticking, a persistent Hightower follows clues to her whereabouts—and by chance meets Melika’s daughter Valery, a physically impaired but gifted young woman determined to confront her own existence—and soft-spoken Victor Alvarez, whose sole purpose in life is to keep his wife alive. Amid the splendor of a desolate mountaintop nouveau riche hotel, they find themselves locked on an emotional collision course between brutality, and the GIFT OF LIFE.

An Interview With Ken Atchity

Q: Could you provide our readers with a brief introduction to Story Merchant?

A: Story Merchant is a literary full-service set of companies that serves the every need of writers worldwide–from ghostwriting and editing, to coaching and tutorial, to marketing to publishers and the entertainment industry, and to producing their stories.

Q: What is your backstory?

A: In my first career, I was a tenured professor of comparative literature (Yale PhD), Fulbright professor of American Studies, senior reviewer for The Los Angeles Times Book Review, and distinguished instructor at the UCLA Writers Program. I’m the author of over 20 books (fiction and nonfiction) of my own, have sold over 200 books to publishers, made over 200 film-TV deals for clients, and through our Story Merchant Books imprint have direct-published nearly 300 books for writers whose profiles weren’t high enough to take to traditional publishers (as well as literary states).

Q: How did your company come into being?

A: It came into being as an extension of my teaching career, where I coached writers toward publishing and film careers; and as a response to hundreds of inquiries generated by my books on writing, starting with A WRITER’S TIME: GUIDE TO THE CRETIVE PROCESS FROM VISION THROUGH REVISION; WRITING TREATMENTS THAT SELL; HOW TO PUBLISH YOUR NOVEL; YOUR VIP AUTOBIOGRAPHY, and QUIT YOUR DAY JOB AND LIVE THE LIFE OF YOUR DREAMS.

Q: What’s the best thing about Story Merchant that people might not know about?

A: We were the development producers on THE MEG (starring Jason Statham) that grossed nearly $600million worldwide, and responsible for nearly 20 New York Times Bestsellers, including Governor Jesse Ventura’s I AIN’T GOT TIME TO BLEED, Clint Hill and Lisa McCubbin’s MRS. KENNEDY AND ME, Jerry Blaine’s THE KENNEDY DETAIL (which we then produced as an Emmy-nominated documentary for Discovery), and DRACULA: THE UN-DEAD.

Q: What are your plans for the future?

A: Doing bigger and bigger movies, and also distinguished smaller films in line with my lifelong literary interests. And finding a marketing partner for Story Merchant Books.

Read more

Let me help you make your career take off!

Whether you're a novelist seeking to break into publishing or film, a screenwriter seeking to be discovered in a volatile marketplace, an expert in your field ready for the global stage, or a published author in need of a smarter strategy, Story Merchant Dr. Ken Atchity provides dynamic personally-tailored coaching (and representation, in select cases) to take your career to the next level. 

 Visit www.StoryMerchant.com

The E-book as a Starting Point to Print Publishing? - article

Many authors see an e-book as a starting place for their publishing dreams. Their ultimate goal is to publish their book as a print book. This is certainly possible, as illustrated by the story of Amanda Hocking’s self-published e-books that caught fire through the following she built through her platform of networked blogs. Her efforts ultimately led to sales of over a million dollars and then to a traditional publishing contract.

Other authors have also found their way from e-book to print success. Author Victorine E. Lieske e-published and found her way onto the New York Times Best Sellers list with her suspense romances. She now offers paperback covers of her novels on her website. Yet another success story is Aaron Patterson’s. He achieved a No. 1 Amazon Kindle Best Selling Book status with his e-Book and now also sells print books. For more success e-book stories, check out Novlr , a website dedicated to reading, writing, and Internet fiction. Generally, successful e-Book authors redistribute with indie-published print books.

Heady stuff, but don’t go crazy with excitement because only relatively few authors are achieving this kind of success. Proceed with the idea that you might succeed if you work hard, your content is excellent, and you educate yourself. There are a myriad of print-on-demand publishing (POD) options available to successful e-book authors.  Be aware that print options continue to evolve. Author Solutions has partnered with several traditional publishing companies to provide a hybrid-platform for self-published authors.

Finally, no one can guarantee that your book will be a hit. All publishing is a risk. The beauty of e-publishing is you have a chance to test the waters before trying paper copies. The low production costs and the ability to test the popularity of a book in the market helps self-published authors make informed decisions. Research the success stories. If your e-books achieve significant sales, educating yourself will put you a step ahead of the competition, if you should later decide to print books.

Read more

by Molly Blaisdell

Book News: Apple Enters A New Round In E-Book Price-Fixing Fight

In its attempt to obtain a foothold in a market long dominated by Amazon, Apple ran afoul of antitrust law.

Apple is sliding back under the judicial microscope Monday in a legal challenge that could bear big implications for the e-book market. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is slated to hear the company's appeal of a verdict that found it guilty of violating antitrust law.

Last year, a federal judge ruled that Apple had knowingly facilitated a price-fixing conspiracy with the five major publishing companies: Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin and Simon & Schuster. In a bid to pressure Amazon — then and now a goliath of the e-book market — Apple and these publishers had agreed to set the price of e-books higher than Amazon's preferred price. The judge denounced these agreements as collusion, rendering her verdict in no uncertain terms.

 "The evidence is overwhelming that Apple knew of the unlawful aims of the conspiracy," U.S. District Judge Denise Cote wrote in her opinion. To believe Apple's case, she continued, "a fact-finder would be confronted with the herculean task of explaining away reams of documents and blinking at the obvious."

While the publishers settled their side of the case early on, Apple has vowed repeatedly to keep fighting. The latest round is expected to help clarify the legal line drawn between friendly business agreements and outright collusion.

As Philip Elmer-DeWitt notes in Fortune:

    "When the Department of Justice charged Apple with conspiring to fix the price of e-books, the case was widely seen in both Silicon Valley and New York publishing circles as an error of enforcement.

    "Why was Apple, a giant in its own right but a new entrant in the e-book market, being prosecuted and not that other giant, Amazon? ...

    "But when District Judge Denise Cote sided with the DOJ and ruled that Apple had violated the Sherman Antitrust Act, what had been a question of enforcement became a question of law."

Although Monday's hearing is expected to last about an hour, a ruling won't be rendered for several months more. And Elmer-De Witt says a verdict against Apple could very well mean this case is headed to the Supreme Court.

Read more

RANDOM HOUSE’S CENTURY ACQUIRES NEW SELF-PUBLISHED TITLE

RANDOM HOUSE’S CENTURY ACQUIRES NEW SELF-PUBLISHED PHENOMENON HUGH HOWEY WITH FILMS RIGHTS SNAPPED UP BY RIDLEY SCOTT AND STEVE ZAILLIAN FOR 20th CENTURY FOX

 

After a fierce bidding war reminiscent of Fifty Shades of Grey, 20th Century Fox has just acquired the film rights. Ridley and Tony Scott’s Scott Free are partnering on the deal with Film Rites’ Steve Zaillian and Garrett Basch. Kassie Evashevski at United Talent Agency brokered the deal on behalf of Kristin Nelson at NLA.

In the spirit of The Hunger Games, Wool is a high-concept novel set in a stark future; the air outside is no longer breathable, so the last community on Earth lives underground in an enormous silo. Survival is everything, and some will do anything to ensure it. The upcoming Shift Trilogy is a prequel to the story of Wool.

After a hotly contested 5-way auction, Jack Fogg, Editorial Director at Century has acquired UK and Commonwealth rights to Wool and The Shift Trilogy by Hugh Howey from Jenny Meyer at Jenny Meyer Literary Agency on behalf of Kristin Nelson, president of The Nelson Literary Agency (NLA).

Much like EL James’s Fifty Shades trilogy, Wool has become a word-of-mouth sensation since the author self-published on Amazon.com, garnering over 600 five-star reviews and selling over 140,000 copies through e-book in just under six months. Century is the author’s only English-language publisher as the author will continue to self-publish in the US. Century will publish in hardback in January 2013 with an Arrow paperback in August. Ebook will be available immediately.

Foreign rights deals have also been struck in Spain, Brazil, Taiwan, Poland and China and offers are pending in Germany and other territories.
Hugh Howey says ‘I couldn’t be more thrilled and honoured to find a home with Century and Random House. And I hope I spelled honoured right.’

Jack Fogg says, ‘Wool drew me in from the first page. It’s such an intricately realised world – both incredibly visceral and visual – but for me, and for the many fans here at Random House, what really captivated was the book’s compassion and care for its characters. Wool is many things, but at its core it is a novel about relationships and therein lays its brilliance.’

Kristin Nelson says, ‘We did have conversations with US publishers and although we received several six-figure offers, we decided that the partnership didn’t make sense yet given the current electronic royalty rate being offered. We certainly have not closed the door to interested US parties.’

Hugh Howey spent eight years living on boats and working as a yacht captain for the rich and famous. It wasn’t until the love of his life carried him away from these vagabond ways that he began to pursue literary adventures, rather than literal ones. Hugh also wrote and self-published his first young adult novel, Molly Fyde and the Parsona Rescue.

Apple's mind-bogglingly greedy and evil license agreement [via Brett Battles]

Ed Bott is an award-winning technology writer with more than two decades' experience writing for mainstream media outlets and online publications.

By Ed Bott |

Summary: Over the years, I have read hundreds of license agreements, looking for little gotchas and clear descriptions of rights. But I have never, ever seen a legal document like the one Apple has attached to its new iBooks Author program.

Update: This post is part of a series. If you find this topic interesting, I recommend you read these follow-ups as well:

• How Apple is sabotaging an open standard for digital books
• Some standards are more open than others
• Closing thoughts on Apple’s greedy, “crazy evil” iBooks license

I read EULAs so you don’t have to. I’ve spent years reading end user license agreements, EULAs, looking for little gotchas or just trying to figure out what the agreement allows and doesn’t allow.
I have never seen a EULA as mind-bogglingly greedy and evil as Apple’s EULA for its new ebook authoring program.
Dan Wineman calls it “unprecedented audacity” on Apple’s part. For people like me, who write and sell books, access to multiple markets is essential. But that’s prohibited:

Apple, in this EULA, is claiming a right not just to its software, but to its software’s output. It’s akin to Microsoft trying to restrict what people can do with Word documents, or Adobe declaring that if you use Photoshop to export a JPEG, you can’t freely sell it to Getty. As far as I know, in the consumer software industry, this practice is unprecedented.

Exactly: Imagine if Microsoft said you had to pay them 30% of your speaking fees if you used a PowerPoint deck in a speech.
I’ve downloaded the software and had a chance to skim the EULA. Much of it is boilerplate, but I’ve read and re-read Section 2B, and it does indeed go far beyond any license agreement I’ve ever seen:

B. Distribution of your Work. As a condition of this License and provided you are in compliance with its terms, your Work may be distributed as follows:

• (i) if your Work is provided for free (at no charge), you may distribute the Work by any available means;
• (ii) if your Work is provided for a fee (including as part of any subscription-based product or
  service), you may only distribute the Work through Apple and such distribution is subject to the following limitations and conditions: (a) you will be required to enter into a separate written agreement with Apple (or an Apple affiliate or subsidiary) before any commercial distribution of your Work may take place; and (b) Apple may determine for any reason and in its sole discretion not to select your Work for distribution.

And then the next paragraph is bold-faced, just so you don’t miss it:

Apple will not be responsible for any costs, expenses, damages, losses (including
without limitation lost business opportunities or lost profits) or other liabilities you may incur as a result of your use of this Apple Software, including without limitation the fact that your Work may not be selected for distribution by Apple.

The nightmare scenario under this agreement? You create a great work of staggering literary genius that you think you can sell for 5 or 10 bucks per copy. You craft it carefully in iBooks Author. You submit it to Apple. They reject it.
Under this license agreement, you are out of luck. They won’t sell it, and you can’t legally sell it elsewhere. You can give it away, but you can’t sell it. Updated to add: By “it,” I am referring to the book, not the content. The program allows you to export your work as plain text, with all formatting stripped. So you do have the option to take the formatting work you did in iBooks Author, throw it away, and start over. That is a devastating potential limitation for an author/publisher. Outputting as PDF would preserve the formatting, but again the license would appear to prohibit you from selling that work, because it was generated by iBooks Author.
One oddity I noticed in the agreement is that the term Work is not defined. [Update: Yes, it is, as I noticed on a fourth reading. It's in an "Important Note" above the agreement itself: "any book or other work you generate using this software (a 'Work')." Of course, that uses the term "work" recursively.] It’s capitalized in the relevant sections of the EULA, and it clearly is the thing of value that Apple wants from an author. Leaving that term so poorly defined is not exactly malpractice, but it’s sloppy lawyering.
I’m also hearing, but have not been able to confirm, that the program’s output is not compatible with the industry-standard EPUB format. Updated: An Apple support document notes that “¦iBooks uses the ePub file format” and later refers to it as “the industry-leading ePub digital book file type.” But iBooks Author will not export its output to that industry-leading format.
My longtime friend Giesbert Damaschke, a German author who has written numerous Apple-related books, says via Twitter that “iBA generates Epub (sort of): save as .ibooks, rename to .epub (won’t work with complex layouts, cover will be lost).” Even if that workaround produces a usable EPUB file, however, the license agreement would seem to explicitly prohibit using the resulting file for commercial purposes outside Apple’s store.
As a publisher and an author, I obviously have a dog in this hunt. But what I see so far makes this program and its output an absolute nonstarter for me.
I’ll be writing more fully on this issue after I’ve had a chance to use the program and to inspect the EULA under a microscope.
Oh, and let’s just stipulate that I could send an e-mail to Apple asking for comment, or I could hand-write my request on a sheet of paper and then put it in a shredder. Both actions would produce the same response from Cupertino. But if anyone from Apple would care to comment, you know where to find me.

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