Welcome to Ami Blackwelder

Good Morning. The sun is shining today and I can see the first buds begining to emerge in the garden. To make the day pefect, I have Ami Blackwelder taking breakfast tea with me today. Before we start, here is a bit about her. Ami Blackwelder is a forbidden romance writer in the paranormal and historical romance genre. Growing up in Florida, she went to UCf and in 1997 received her BA in English and teaching credentials. She travelled overseas to teach in Thailand, Nepal, Tibet, China and Korea. Thailand is considered her second home now. She has always loved writing and wrote poems and short stores since childhood; however, her novels began when she was in Thailand. Having won the Best Fiction Award from the University of Central Florida (Yes, The Blair Witch Project University;), her fiction From Joy We Come, Unto Joy We Return was published in the on campus literary magazine: Cypress Dome and remains to this day in University libraries around the country. Later, she achieved the Semi-Finals in a Laurel Hemingway contest and published a few poems in the Thailand’s Expat magazine, and an article in the Thailand’s People newspaper. Additionally, she has published poetry in the Korea’s AIM magazine, the American Poetic Monthly magazine and Twisted Dreams Magazine. So, you have read a bit about her. Fab, isn't she! Here is here new book, Shifters. The cover is so striking it made me look twice. Good news for Ami!! Click cover to buy this really good book. America 2040. Three Species. Divided Lovers. The Race is on for Planet Earth. Set in Alaska in 2040, Melissa Marn and Bruce Wilder must work under the iron fist of the SCM, while still trying to maintain humanity. Discovering a world of shifters and hybrids, the scientists must struggle with human prejudice and betrayal. With the original ancestors, dubbed shifters, still living on earth, humans are in the midst of a fifteen year old war. As the eldest hybrids, Unseen and Diamond, learn about humans the hard way, with the loss of loved ones and sacrifices, love on planet earth proves challenging. With underlining themes of how prejudice breaks human connections and animal/wildlife conservation, this novel which has received rave reviews will leave the reader flipping through the pages. View her trailer. Here is her take on What makes a good pitch. Great idea's here, so do read it and digest. What makes a good pitch? When you send your query out to agents and publishers, you want to sound professional and draw them in from the first line. Check out my sample below for my book The Shifters of 2040. Notice the gripping first line followed by information and confidence. Make sure you address the character, plot lines, and what differentiates your books from others as well as what genre and marketing might be useful behind the book. A pitch is different from a query though. Underneath my pitch, is a sample of my query for The Shifters of 2040. A pitch draws you in like a commercial, but a query gives all the needed information for the agent to make his/her decision. A synopsis goes from beginning to middle to end telling the agent what your story is, with exciting details, character descriptions and more. But I won't include my synopsis here or else your readers will know how my book ends. However, the agent wants to know you can seal the deal with the synopsis, the good ending. But enjoy my pitch and query! Alaska 2040 Three Species. Divided Lovers. The Race is on for Planet Earth. Book three in a six part saga, the author chose to first engage the reader by beginning in the middle of the series, allowing the reader to then chose between reading the past or the future. Set in Anchorage, Alaska 2040, the story begins with Melissa Marn, a dedicated and methodical scientists, working under the iron fist of General Raul for the SCM. The Shifter Counterinsurgency Military formed in 2030 and has been in charge, with bases all over the world, of eradicating the shifters from Earth. Since alien invasion in 2020, fear and panic has gripped the heart of many humans. A sentient form of light, this species fled their crumbling home planet in search of a viable one. Able to morph into animals of Earth, including the human species, the aliens were dubbed shifters. After Melissa Marn has one guiltless night with a man she picks up at a bar, she realizes she has become pregnant by a shifter and must confront her own prejudice of the species in wake of the two baby girls growing inside of her. Discovering the shifters can and most likely have mated with other humans to produce hybrids, offspring which will better survive the conditions of Earth, and yet growing a sympathy for the alien race, the scientist and her peer Bruce Wilder, struggle with what to do next. The future of her twins and the future of the Earth waver in the balance. As the eldest hybrids, Unseen and Diamond, guide the other hybrids, they learn about humans the hard way, with the loss of loved ones and sacrifices. When Diamond falls in love with Keenan, a military soldier, the two break all the rules, drawing danger to each of their lives. With a few of the younger hybrids caught by SCM, the escape proves to show them that life on the streets is as difficult as in the forest, and the reader is drawn into the plight of the shifters. As the SCM draws closer to the location of the shifters, the reader follows this thrill ride to the culminating end where the annihilation of the shifter ancestors leaves a devastating mark on the remaining hybrids. With only two elder shifters left to watch over the children, their future appears bleak. And with Melissa finally coming to terms with who the shifters really are, she realizes too late that her twins are forever out of her reach. With underlining themes of how prejudice breaks human connections and animal/wildlife conservation, this novel which has received rave reviews will leave the reader flipping through the pages. The Invasion of 2020 The SCM of 2030 The Shifters of 2040 The Hybrids of 2050 The Hunted of 2060 The Revolution of 2060 As with Star Wars, the novels do not have to be read in order to be enjoyed or understood and readers may engage the stories in any sequence, with exception to Hybrids and Revolution.