Well, it's no secret that I admire Dean Koontz and his work (see below...or better yet, come and see how many of his books are on my shelves :) Today, I checked out his new web movie--ODD PASSENGER. It's actually not that bad. Okay, the acting may not win any awards, but the video has a suspenseful mix of special effects, music and narration.

I am calling this his ODD-cast.

Dean Koontz's "Odd Passenger" Webisode 1

Dean Koontz's "Odd Passenger" Webisode 2

Dean Koontz's "Odd Passenger" Webisode 3

I can't wait for webisode 4! I love Odd Thomas!

~Cheryl

I was asked this question recently and it really got me thinking about the authors I've been compared to and the authors who have inspired me in the past.

This was my answer:

Since each book I’ve written is different, it’s very interesting to see the variety of writers I am considered most like, but I have to agree with people who have made these comparisons.

For Whale Song, I have been compared mostly to Jodi Picoult, Luanne Rice, Sue Monk Kidd, and Madeleine L’Engle.

The River fans compare me mostly to Michael Crichton, Dean Koontz and Dan Brown.

Divine Intervention fans compare me to J.D. Robb (aka Nora Roberts), Kay Hooper, Iris Johansen, Tanya Huff and Michael Connelly.

If you asked me which authors have inspired me, I would say that two authors inspired me from the time I was a teen--Stephen King and Dean Koontz. I was always fascinated not just by their stories but by how they told them, the characters and their back stories, the vivid descriptions, foreshadowing, fast pace, red herrings and mounting suspense. I used to ask myself why they wrote something a certain way. I'd reread lines that I found particularly captivating. I saw every paragraph as part of a design, something magical, scary and all too real at times.

Over the years, other authors have inspired me. Nora Roberts (writing as J.D. Robb), Sandra Brown, Michael Crichton, Luanne Rice. They all write about situations that I've found fascinating. Some ask the 'what if this happened?' scenario, while others stick to real world happenings. Yet each of them showed me that all is possible in the world of fiction. So I suppose it is no wonder that my work is sometimes compared to these wonderful writers. And I am truly honored.

I do find it interesting that with Whale Song, a much softer, more emotional story, I am compared to women authors. With my grittier, crime-related, paranormal suspense Divine Intervention, I am compared mostly to women. But with The River, a fast-paced techno-thriller, I am compared mainly to men. I love it! And I look forward to the day I write something that makes readers think of Stephen King and Dean Koontz. Hmmm, maybe I should write something cold and creepy under the pen name of Stephanie Koontz or Deana King. ;-)

Please leave a comment and tell me which author I remind you of, for which of my books, and maybe why. I'd really appreciate this and it'll help keep me on track as to the kinds of stories I want to be writing. The comment button is below.

~Cheryl Kaye Tardif,

author of Whale Song, The River and Divine Intervention

For a change of pace, I thought I'd share my thoughts about the Final Rose ceremony of The Bachelor: London Calling.

The first international Bachelor, Matt Grant, a 27-year-old global financier from London, England, finds true love with a young American actress, Shayne Lamas from Toluka Lake, California. Shayne played Emily in the daytime soap General Hospital and is the daughter of actor Lorenzo Lamas, probably best known as Vince in the 1990's TV show Renegade.

Read my analysis of the Bachelor, his chosen love and the Final Rose ceremony on Film Clipz and TV Showz.

*THIS ARTICLE BY JEFFREY A. TRACHTENBERG HAS BEEN EXCERPTED. It recently appeared in Jerry D. Simmons' newsletter - TIPS for WRITERS from the PUBLISHING INSIDER. It has been reprinted here with permission from Jerry D. Simmons, http://www.writersreaders.com, and the author.

Borders Group Inc. has decided you can sell a book by its cover.

In a radical move aimed at jump-starting sales, the nation's second-largest book retailer is sharply increasing the number of titles it displays on shelves with the covers face-out. Because that takes up more room than the traditional spine-out style, the new approach will require a typical Borders superstore to shrink its number of titles by 5% to 10%.

Reducing inventory goes against the grain of booksellers' efforts over the past 25 years or so. Chains like Borders and Barnes & Noble Inc., the nation's largest book retailer, became household names with superstores that stocked as many as 150,000 titles or more. The rise of Amazon made it even more important for stores to offer deep inventories.

Borders has little choice but to experiment. Competition from the Internet, videogames and other electronic devices has flattened growth in book sales in recent years.

The new display strategy is the brainchild of CEO George Jones, who says he learned when he was a buyer at Dillard's Inc. early in his career that dresses sell better when the entire garment is shown rather than hung sleeve-out. So he recently decided to test sales of books shown with the cover visible at a newly built prototype store in Ann Arbor, Mich., where the company has its headquarters. Results were so encouraging after the first two weeks -- sales of individual titles were 9% higher than at similar Borders stores -- that all of the retailer's superstores have been told to adopt the new strategy.

The retailer says customers throughout the country should be able to see the difference in displays within six weeks. While books shown face-out will still be in the overall minority, as many as three times the titles as in the past will be shelved with covers showing. Certain categories, such as books about food, cooking, travel, art and photography -- and children's books in particular -- lend themselves to the new approach.

Shoppers in the Borders store where the new face-out display was tested Borders says customers visiting its prototype store said their impression was that more books were available. Even so, its new strategy -- which at a typical superstore will mean a reduction of anywhere from 4,675 to 9,350 titles from the former total of around 93,500 -- could make Borders vulnerable to a marketing campaign from Barnes & Noble that promotes its own vast selection. The average 25,000 square-foot Barnes & Noble superstore stocks approximately 125,000 to 150,000 book titles, and the chain says it has no intention of cutting back.

The Borders push may affect small publishing houses, which can often place a debut novel in Borders because it has such a broad selection. Whether that will be more difficult in the future is unclear.

From Cheryl:

I have always bought books that are facing out, unless I've gone in for a specific title. It is always the cover that grabs me first, then the author's name, then the title and back cover or inside flap text. This is how I pick a book.

What about you? What makes you buy a book? Does it matter to you if it's facing out?

If you're an author, have you ever gone into a store and turned your books face out? :)

~Cheryl Kaye Tardif, bestselling author

I've always been an avid reader and for the past few months I've been reading novels by Canadian authors as part of The Canadian Book Challenge. Yesterday, I finished reading The Girls by Lori Lansens and I decided to share my review of her book with you here.

The Girls by Lori Lansens

4 solid stars!

ISBN 13: 978-0316066341
Publish date: April 2007
Trade paperback; 368 pages; $13.99
Fiction; Family Drama
Recommended for: Anyone who enjoys an emotional tale of love, loss and life.

Unbelievably believable!

Lyrical, poetic prose opens this heartwarming and unique story of conjoined twins Rose and Ruby and the lives they led, both separately as two individuals with different likes and dislikes and together as sisters who must rely on each other solely for their very existence. Joined at the head, ‘The Girls’―as they are known as in their small Ontario town―are raised by loving adoptive parents Aunt Lovey and Uncle Stash, after their birth mother disappears shortly after giving birth. The conjoined twins are considered the pride of the town, not an oddity, and they rise above what most of us would think of as a handicap or disability and love each other unconditionally.

The Girls is a diary told in two voices―Rose’s and Ruby’s. Rose encourages her sister to contribute to what will become their life story and although she does most of the writing, both characters come to life as they observe the lives of everyone they meet, sharing their innermost thoughts, hopes, fears and dreams with the reader. I found myself so connected to Rose and Ruby that I didn’t want their story to end, and when it did, I was left with a bittersweet ache for more.

The first paragraph reads like pure, sweet poetry that is sure to haunt any reader; it is what first grabbed me and pulled at my heart. The Girls opens like this:

“I have never looked into my sister’s eyes. I have never bathed alone. I have never stood in the grass at night and raised my arms to a beguiling moon. I’ve never used an airplane bathroom. Or worn a hat. Or been kissed like that…So many things I’ve never done, but oh, how I’ve been loved. And, if such things were to be, I’d live a thousand lives as me, to be loved so exponentially.”

Lori Lansens is an extraordinary Canadian author who paints a picture of rural Ontario farm life and two distinct lives with a magic wand of effortlessness, vividly colorful description and heartfelt compassion. At times you’ll forget you’re reading a novel because it reads with such clarity and believability. In fact, this novel is so full of realism, you may find yourself flipping to the author’s photograph at the back of the book to see if she is a conjoined twin. Instead, you’ll find her sitting alone at one end of a sofa, as if waiting for someone to join her.

The Girls: A Novel is a MUST READ for anyone who enjoys an emotional tale of love, loss and the challenges of life. Other books of comparable emotional impact: The Lovely Bones: A Novel and Mothering Mother: A Daughter's Humorous and Heartbreaking Memoir .

~ Cheryl Kaye Tardif is TV, film and book critic, freelance journalist, plus bestselling author of Whale Song: A Novel , "a compelling story of love and family and the mysteries of the human heart."