The Why of Bad Apple 1: Sweet Cider

Some years ago, a man I knew was murdered.  It's an event that shocks you into numbness, horror and fear.  Then comes reflection.  You need to answer the question "why?" so draw immediate conclusions.  Life must regain its equilibrium, so you grab for anything that makes sense.  That's comfort.

Unfortunately many murders are not random happenstances where people snapped and committed a terrible act.  There are years and incidents leading up to the moment.  If you are fortunate, you get all the information you need to understand.

It took a number of years for me to come to a place where I could explain the murder of the man I knew to myself.  Then I wrote Bad Apple so I could present the important elements to others. 

These books are not the only way it could have been done.  I could have told about the ring of men who found the young boys to molest, how they were groomed to submit, how the man in the book enjoyed the life he lived and was anything but ashamed or regretful, but I chose to tell the story through Neal, who was collateral damage of the lifestyle choices of the pedophile.

I wanted to tell Neal's story because she survived and no one else did.

Persistent or Obsessed?

Probably both and it's not a bad thing.

I want Bad Apple to find its audience so I've been learning about Facebook ads this week.  Here's the image I think will run

I've been getting some mentoring help from Dave Chesson, who has been smart and generous, because this process is more complicated than I could have imagined.

There was an article about pedophiles in Germany this week.  Everything seems to make so much sense when it's theoretical. When it isn't personal, you can have detached involvement.  You can mouth all the platitudes and say these people need to be understood and given treatment and then you can go on to the next thing in your life.

Unfortunately, real people have emotions, drives and instincts that are primitive rather than reasoned.  Most people can't control themselves.  They know they shouldn't reach for the Doritos and then they polish off a whole bag.  They know they shouldn't do many things but once that idea is lodged in their minds, it's like they've been hit by a tractor beam and are pulled closer and closer until they act on the idea.

I suppose this issue of pedophilia could have been featured more prominently in the book.  Maybe it should have been.  Maybe it will someday.  It wasn't appropriate for the audience I was writing for at the time.  But I did explain it as I saw it then.

When it happened, when the police told me my friend had been murdered, everything was so clear, so comprehensible.  He was a victim.  Someone had taken his life.  Then when I found out the killer had been molested by my friend as a child, suddenly he became a victim and nothing was clear.  It still isn't.  The killer is in prison doing 45 years.  They were both smarter than to end up like this but there were irresistible dark passions working on them.

Bad Apple 1 Freebie Final Days

All things, good and bad, must come to an end and since Bad Apple has been free for quite a while, it needs a revamping and perhaps a category change.

What's great about digital is that books aren't stuck in a pigeonhole and forgotten there.  You can change anything.  The Bad Apple series is probably not really for young adults.  It doesn't fit well into New Adult, so there just isn't a named category for it.  Crossover someone said.  Ok.  But that's still not a real category.

I want to thank all of you for your sincere appreciation and affection for Neal and Tru.  I think we had a blast on the journey.

Here's the new cover and, yes, it gets its original title back!

Thanks go to Maggie Dana for doing the titling for me--she's a genius at it.

Why I Won't Be Around And What You Can Do About It

Well, nothing, really.  But I do hit and run on my Facebook pages real well, so go there if you want the latest news on things like Bad Apple, Bittersweet Farm and all the politically incorrect news items the mainstream media ignores.

I promised I would do Bad Apple 4 after Bittersweet 2 and I am being good to my word.  Parked isn't parked any longer and it's making slow progress toward the conclusion.

If you read a book and like it, try to leave a review.  Tell your friends how much you enjoyed it.  Not just for me, for any author.  We're all in this together.

Winter Is A Reality, Spring Is An Illusion

I have to start tomato seeds in another 2 weeks, the ground is covered with snow and some parts of the country are having a blizzard.  No season holds on like winter does.

I grow heirloom tomatoes.  These are seeds passed from one person to another, one generation to another.  Generally, the variety is at least  50 years old.  A good example of this is the Grandfather Ashlock.  These were first grown in Kentucky around 1900.  At some point a few years ago, Carl Ashlock decided to share these seeds with a tomato forum I'm with.  They didn't have a name, they were just the tomatoes his grandfather grew.  He called them the obvious thing.  I've grown this variety each year to great success.

There's something very nice in growing tomatoes with a history and tradition.  If you have an imagination, you can envision back through the years of the enjoyment, perhaps disappointment, certainly hard work.  This is something quite different than a modern tomato created at a commercial seed company and probably produced in Thailand.  Yes, that's true.

I do have a tomato variety that was developed within the past 10 years or so by a botanist of some fame and regard in the tomato community.  It's called Purple Haze.  Keith was experimenting and created this very fine tomato.  I don't know what happened but he lost interest in this one and went on to create other tomato varieties which are spectacular in their own way.  I was fortunate enough to receive some of the Purple Haze seeds from Keith and set about over the course of the last 6 years to dehybridize them.  Now I have Purple Haze tomatoes that are hybrids no longer and forever after, this is the way Purple Haze tomatoes are for me.  The fun part is other people were doing the same thing but because of the way dehybridization works, they don't have quite the same tomato I do.  In my own stumbling fashion I think mine are very like the original Purple Haze.

Bad Apple has been very fortunate for the last few weeks in finding readers who are taking the time to savor it.  Thank you if wind up here.

New Review For Bad Apple

I thoroughly loved this book! I felt like Barbara Morgenroth tricks the reader into thinking after the initial shock, that the book was going to be happy and go lucky and everything would be fine and dandy. This story very quickly unravels as you fall deeper into the book.--Shelves of Books

Isn't that so true?  Everything unravels.

I wonder what the initial shock was.  I should ask Justine, shouldn't I?

So it's a very good day even though I had to go to town and the roads were barely plowed.  I wished I had my trusty Bronco as I was going over the mountain and met a big truck coming from the other direction.  When I left the modem had been dead for about 10 hours.  My provider is sending a replacement but it won't arrive until Friday, so I was getting withdrawals already.  Then the modem decided it had a little life left so I was able to quickly do what I needed to and now I'm doing the odds and ends that I should until it decides to truly expire.  At some point I will find a backup modem to have in the house.

I met a woman who works in glass and she's going to see if she can make an apple.  That would be so fantastic as she's very talented.

Discoverability

That is the word du jour.  How does a book get found with new books being published by the hour burying it.

I don't know.

There are more books than is humanly possible to read.  Readers can't keep up.  Book bloggers can't keep up as they attempt to sort the good from the bad with reviews.  Some people insist the search engines are the key.  If you just have the magical words in your metadata, people will find you.  The question I have is how do they know they're looking for you.  If I know to search for something specific, I will probably find it.  If I'm unsure about the criteria then a search engine will be minimal help.

Over the last weeks I've been seeking out book bloggers.  They've never heard of me.  For all the time they spend with books, I'm unknown.  When they hear about Bad Apple, for instance, then they're enthusiastic about reading it.  If it weren't for me, the chance of them finding it seems very slim.

All I can say is that if you find a book you love, tell your friends.  Comment on your Facebook page or Twitter or on a forum.  Let people know.

Bad Apple Starts the Month

Promo is the word.  Or is it "Accio Readers!"  http://bit.ly/XdbVpm is where Bad Apple will be found today.

I met a couple of terrific young women who are each doing their own Bad Apple promotions this month so that's very exciting and one is on Valentine's day.  Here's the banner I made for that blog.  Perhaps more spartan than most.

I thought about trying to do a fake cover the way so many of these banners do but that's seems to be a waste of design space.  Better to get just the point across.

It's a busy month and on Feb. 9 there will be an author hunt with clues hidden around this blog.

Bad Apple Book Tour's Final Day

And it really ended on a high note.

"Haunting story, it had a poetic feel to it. Neal and Truly are opposites in every way, but Truly sees something behind the surface in Neal and he wants to let her see it to.  Intense plot line, an excellent read."

Musings From an Addicted Reader

It's Just A Ride

Bad Apple Book Tour

Yes, this is a new year and we're going to be changing things up which means getting Bad Apple in front of readers in an improved and coordinated way.   If you have a chance, stop by and add your support to our efforts to help Bad Apple.  You'd show up for a concert Neal and Tru gave, right?  (I would!  Wait, is it going to be at night?)

January 7 Reviewing in Chaos   

http://reviewinginchaos.blogspot.com 

January 7 Zone Out Mode 

http://zoneoutmode.blogspot.com/

January 8 Books in the Hall 

http://www.booksinthehall.blogspot.com/

January 8 Bookishly Devoted

http://www.bookishlydevoted.blogspot.com/

January 9 Lunar Haven Reviews & Designs

http://lunarhavenrd.blogspot.com

January 10 Bex 'n' Books 

http://bexnbooks.blogspot.com.au

January 11 A Bibliophiles Thoughts on Books

http://bibliophilesthoughtsonbooks.blogspot.com/

January 12 JeanzBookReadNReview         

http://jeanzbookreadnreview.blogspot.co.uk/

January 12 Sapphyria's Book Reviews

saphsbookblog.blogspot.com

January 13 Books & Tales

http://www.booksandtales.blogspot.co.uk/

January 13 Buffy's Ramblings

http://buffy-kennedy.blogspot.com/

January 13 Boekie's Book Reviews

www.BoekiesBookReviews.com

January 14 Books & Other Spells. 

nightskydarkstar.blogspot.com

January 14 Musings From An Addicted Reader

http://musingsfromanaddictedreader.blogspot.com/ 

Bad Apple Review

Bad Apple received a very nice review from Kate at YA Book Crazy.

"Filled with touching moments, funny dialogue, and a touch of intrigue, Bad Apple is a compelling story about a broken girl slowly rebuilding herself again with the help of a family she never thought she'd have...

Barbara Morgenroth skillfully weaves a story where all these people have a place and purpose. Bad Apple also has a bit of mystery. You never really know all the answers, even when you've read the final page."

Murder and Murderers

For those of your going on the journey of Bad Apple with me know how complicated life can be.  I became an archeologist into the lives of the murderer and the victim in the incident in my life.  I can tell you that even today I'm not sure which is which.

It's not so easily explainable. 

 

Bad Apple Author Interview & Giveaway

Very good questions and nicely done!  By Pretty In Fiction who are extremely, way over the top generous and I highly recommend the site.

Pretty In Fiction

Bad Apple Review

We have another convert to Maisie and The Boys' Night Out!

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing, believable, the best apple I have ever encountered! November 25, 2012

By Aka

Format:Kindle Edition

Its hard to put into words the feeling you get when you come across a real treasure. This book is sensational, believable, unique and the writing is beautiful. This is work of a true talent. Be prepared to be surprised. I love this book and recommend it for everyone who is looking for something unique and captivating. 

 

 

Thank you, Aka.  We all thank you.  Tell your friends!

Bad Apple On The Slow Rise

And I mean slow but it's going in the right direction.  So thank you to everyone who has taken an interest in it.
Tell your friends if you like it.  Leave a review if you enjoyed Neal and Truly.

Hopefully over the next few weeks more readers will become aware of it.

Yes, Bittersweet 2 is still in progress. Then BA 4, I promise.  Then perhaps HHH.  No, I'm not telling you the title other than that.  No, it's not Hazy Hot and Humid but that actually could be the weather during the span of the story.  Not it's not about Hubert H. Humphrey the politician who if I barely remember, most of you certainly don't know.

How about that Lindsay Lohan trying to look like Liz Taylor?  Is that miscasting or what.

Bad Apple 1 New Cover

What do you think?  No, no, you can't hurt my feelings by telling me the truth on this one.

Kobo, a Canadian/Japanese Amazon I guess is how to describe it, will be opening up to indie publishers in a few weeks and I'm thinking about tweaking some of the covers.

Bad Apple Has A Facebook Page

And I'm going to tell you how I came to start the series.  Grim piece of business.  Like with Neal, it started with a murder.

Bad Apple on Facebook

Bad Apple 1 New Cover

Someone far more clever than I about writing books that vast (vast vast) numbers of people want to buy gave me some advice on Bad Apple.  I, being me, didn't take any of it.  I thought it was not the story I wanted to tell or that I had told.  It was exactly the story he would tell.  The Bad Apple books are not about revenge.  They're not about getting back or getting even.  Doing well is the best revenge and Neal is given an opportunity to become who she truly (wink) is.  She takes it and trying to be a sensible person moves on with her life.  It's not an easy book, or an easy trilogy.  The violence is real, the situations are real and the pain is real.

As I was rethinking a cover I did for someone else, I thought about Bad Apple and all the aspects that come into play maybe I could change the cover and see if Brian's advice was right.  Then after it was created I wondered if anyone would recognize what it's a picture of.

For the 3rd time this week I changed the cover on a book, Amazon congratulated me on being successfully published and the cover is still the old one.  So I'm sorry (really sorry) about that.  But if you recognize what this is, please leave a comment.