Tag: Fran Lewis

Guest Post: Fran Lewis – POPULATION ZERO

Population Zero

by Fran Lewis

August 1-31, 2021 Tour

Hello, book divas and divos. I hope you’ve had a good start to the month of August and found time to get some reading done. Now that it seems like we may be entering another phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, aka “the pandemic that won’t die,” I’m beginning to stockpile reading material. Today, I’m pleased to welcome back author Fran Lewis, with the release of her latest book Population Zero. Ms. Lewis will be talking a little bit about Population Zero and the current pandemic. I hope you’ll enjoy what she has to say about this work of science fiction and follow along with the blog tour to learn more about the book and author. Thank you, Ms. Lewis for returning today, the blog is yours.

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Population Zero is a compilation of different worlds that have no people have no sun, just darkness, scorching desert heat, no sun, or even enclosed in glass.

Would you want to live in any of my worlds?

I invited someone that is no longer alive to come back and experience the world and explain what he endured.

Here is what one person says about the world of devastation and envision yourself living in it.

Each world is different each person explains what the world is like, the environment and allows the reader to reflect on our world today send start appreciating what we have, and embrace life in a more positive way.

With this pandemic, there are so many changes we have to experience including not being able to at times just enjoy the sunshine without having to cover your face. Imagine a world without people and then maybe we will learn to get along better and embrace our differences, enjoy the outdoors, parks, and more. Population Zero is supposed to awaken us to the possibilities of what works without people would look like.

Life is not the same in our present world and by creating the imaginary worlds in my book I hoped to awaken people to the beauty of the forests, the warmth of the sun, and the water that is so precious and vital to our lives. Inviting someone to come back and experience my worlds I hoped would make those in our present one embrace life and the world they live in even more.

I am a reading and writing specialist and I asked some of my students to read this book and they thought it really hit the mark. Some of the pre-release reviews were really on the mark and I hope that with this tour more people will want to read my work.

Walking in the street with my face covered in a mask I often wonder what it would be like to see a smile, a grin and even more to say hello to a neighbor. No one seems happy and yet there are restaurants, movie theaters, and outdoor venues that have a lot of people and I am still not sure whether it is safe to eat inside a crowded restaurant. Population Zero, I hope you will enjoy it.

This book is totally my imagination, but you never know. Thank you for the guest post. Fran Lewis

Synopsis:

Population Zero by Fran Lewis

Imagine a forest so dense and so filled with trees that you cannot see anything but darkness. The smell of the dead leaves, the creatures that lived there, and the stench they created.

Imagine smashed windows and abandoned satellite dishes and blocks of plaster all over the ground.

Imagine… What might the world be like if humans were suddenly to disappear?

In Population Zero by Fran Lewis, we experience several post-human worlds through the eyes of people who were allowed to visit for one day. A world covered in ice, a world in complete darkness, a world where deserts are plentiful, and others…

Get a glimpse of what our planet would look like if humans stopped existing. Get a glimpse of the future.

Book Praise:

“Fran Lewis’s newest offering is a polished, razor-sharp double-edged sword. On one hand, it is reminiscent of the old Twilight Zone series and just as chilling. On the other, it is a poignant reminder of just how precious and fragile human life on this planet truly is. A riveting read.”
— Vincent Zandri, New York Times and USA Today bestselling Thriller and Shamus Award winning author of The Girl Who Wasn’t There and the Dick Moonlight PI series.

“Population Zero creatively focuses on the damage being done by COVID-19 as it ravages the human race, and our inability to deal with climate change.”
— Allan Topol, national best selling author of The French Revenge

Book Details:

Genre: Science Fiction
Published by: Atmosphere Press
Publication Date: June 26th 2021
Number of Pages: 76
ISBN: 163752868X (ISBN13: 9781637528686)
Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Goodreads

Author Bio:

Fran Lewis

‪Fran worked in the NYC Public Schools as the Reading and Writing Staff Developer for over 36 years. She has three master’s degrees and a PD in Supervision and Administration. Currently, she is a member of Who’s Who of America’s Teachers and Who’s Who of America’s Executives from Cambridge. In addition, she is the author of three children’s books and a fourth that has just been published on Alzheimer’s disease in order to honor her mom and help create more awareness for a cure.‪

Fran is the author of 19 titles and completed by the titled A Daughter’s Promise. Fran has 6 titles in her Faces Behind the Stones series and her magazine is MJ magazine. She was the musical director for shows in her school and ran the school’s newspaper. Fran writes reviews for authors upon request and for several other sites.

Her network if MJ network on Blog Talk Radio. You can also find her reviews on just reviews on WordPress. Her latest titles are Sisters : Two sisters from the Bronx, What If? and Silent Voices in her Faces Behind the Stones series and the present one Population Zero. ‬

Catch Up With Our Author:
Tillie49.wordpress.com
Goodreads
BookBub
Instagram – @berthatillie49
Twitter – @franellena
Facebook

Tour Participants:

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Guest Post: Fran Lewis – WHAT IF?


Happy Monday, my bookish peeps. I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. I spent most of the weekend mired in reading ebooks and listening to audiobooks, as well as attending virtual book festival events. I feel very fortunate in that I’ve been able to escape into books throughout this pandemic. This morning, I’m pleased to turn the blog over to Fran Lewis, author of What If?. Ms. Lewis will be sharing with us her inspiration for writing What If?. I hope you’ll sit back and spend a few minutes with her, add What If? to your TBR list, and follow along with the blog tour. Thank you, Ms. Lewis, for visiting with us today. My book divas and divos, I give you Ms. Fran Lewis.



The Inspiration For Writing What If?


With this pandemic and people having issues with wearing a mask I decided to create different worlds that might have those people realize we could live in a world that is even worse. What If you had to conform to a wearing a set uniform every day? What If your job was what someone placed you in and there was no advancement? What if your family just disappears and you spend your life wandering fur years to find them? What if we learned to deal with our situation now and try getting along and stopping the violence and protests? Because who knows what’s next!

I thought about this long and hard and ad I walk at times or just take a ride I realize the changes in people and it’s sad. No one smiles, says hello, or even opens doors. The world is filled with the unpredictable and unexpected and a sense of humor is no longer appreciated. What keeps me centered and focused: doing my reviews, my broadcasts, and trying to not think about the negatives and try to appreciate the positives.

Every morning I take a walk and can feel the silence around me. The world is so different that I decided to create ones that are unique, frightening, and hopeless. My next book is titled What’s Next and it will focus on what is left of the world, which cities and countries have people, and the different circumstances they have to endure every day. One city will be covered in a special glass that reaches high above the trees and has a special air filtration system because the air outside has too much Co2. There’s more but you have to wait for it to come out.

The sad thing is that there are people who refuse to wear masks and only think about the way they look and disregard the health issues. Some travel to different locations and bring the virus back. I hope my book What If? gets people to really think about what’s next.






What if?

by Fran Lewis

on Tour October 1-31, 2020





What if? by Fran Lewis


Synopsis:




With the pandemic that never seems to be leaving us anytime soon I’ve created worlds that might make you pause for thought. Dark stories told by the characters as they experienced their journeys into worlds that you might not want to live in a hopefully be happy in the one you’re in.





Book Details:


Genre: Time Travel/ Sci Fi
Published by: Fidelli
Publication Date: July 8, 2020
Number of Pages: 78
ISBN: B08CNKX3DT
Purchase Links: Amazon | Goodreads




Author Bio:


Fran Lewis

Fran Lewis is a reviewer, talk show host, mj network, reading and writing staff developer. She was the administrative assistant to the Principal and created original programs for students after school. She was the music director and created musical festivals along with other staff members. She’s a member of Marquis Who’s Who, Continental Who’s Who, and Who’s Who of America’s Professionals and Educators.


Catch Up With Fran Lewis On:


Website, Goodreads, BookBub, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook!



Tour Participants:

Visit these other great hosts on this tour for more great reviews, interviews, guest posts, and giveaways!







Book Showcase: SILENT VOICES by Fran Lewis

Silent Voices

by Fran Lewis

on Tour September 1-30, 2019


Synopsis:


Silent Voices by Fran Lewis


Driving down a rocky road I saw the overgrown grass, weeds, and poison ivy overtaking the outer perimeter of the bushes. The smell of mildew permeated the air, along with the stench of animals killed by cars coming up from the ground along this dirt road. I could see the sadness on the faces in the cars behind me; I could feel the pain and sorrow. As I looked inside the cars and saw the faces of the drivers, I began to wonder what they were thinking, their thoughts and feelings as they traveled down life’s highway, maybe for the very last time.

What stories lay behind the faces behind the wheel of each oncoming car?

What stories were hidden?

Whose voices are now silenced?



Reviews:



“Unique, haunting, terrifying, incredibly moving: Fran Lewis’ Silent Voices is all that and more as people tell spell-binding stories of their lives – and their deaths – from beyond the grave. You won’t forget this one!” – R.G. Belsky, award-winning author of the Clare Carlson mystery series.



“Silent Voices is a shrewd, sensitive and scintillating collection of short stories that make us feel and think. Noted talk show host Fran Lewis proves herself to be as skilled a storyteller as she is a listener, adept at both tugging on our heartstrings and exposing the raw emotion between the lines. Her tales reach beyond the grave in fashioning rich tapestries drawn on a sprawling landscape at once both rich in color and gray-toned. A can’t miss effort certain to live with you far beyond the turn of the final page.” – Jon Land, USA Today bestselling author



“Once again, Fran Lewis knocks it out of the park with the latest in the Silent Voices series. At once chilling, but also inspirational, these stories do not fail to entertain. They will also raise the goosebumps on your skin. Prepare to be thrilled.” – Vincent Zandri, New York Times bestselling Thriller Award-winning author of The Remains and The Caretaker’s Wife




Book Details:


Genre: Horror, Suspense
Published by: Southern Owl Publications, LLC
Publication Date: June 10th 2019
Number of Pages: 51
ASIN: B07S75JPQW
Series: Silent Voices
Purchase Links: Amazon | Goodreads



Author Bio:



Fran Lewis
Fran Lewis taught for 36 years as a staff developer in reading and writing and a dean. She is the author of the Bertha and Tillie series and the author of the Faces Behind The Stones series as well as her books for caregivers on Alzheimer’s and MJ magazine and MJ network.

Catch Up With Fran Lewis On:



tillie49.wordpress.com, Goodreads, BookBub, Twitter, & Facebook!


Tour Participants:



Visit these other great hosts on this tour for more great reviews, interviews, guest posts, and giveaways!








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Guest Post: Fran Lewis, author of HIDDEN TRUTHS AND LIES

I am always thrilled when an author decides to stop by The Book Diva’s Reads and share their thoughts. Today I welcome Fran Lewis, author of numerous books including Hidden Truth and Lies. This morning Ms. Lewis will be discussing steps to overcoming writer’s block as well as tips on starting the writing process. 



Every writer experiences this. This is not a permanent solution to the problem these are just suggestions. What do to when you have the DREADED
WRITER’S BLOCK!

Have you ever had a great idea for a short story or an article and sat down to write and could not think of one single thing to put on the paper? You know this idea is great and yet you have no idea how you want to begin your writing, the feature statement to start the article or the hook to get everyone reading. Well, you might have what many writers do, the dreaded Writer’s BLOCK! The good news it is definitely curable and only lasts as long you let it. 

Don’t fret. Here are some tips to cure this dreaded problem and get on with your life and your writing. Remember, these are my tips for overcoming this problem you might have your own that you might want to share with us too.

Step One: List all of your thought on the topic and your ideas on a piece of paper. You can create a graphic organizer, you can just list everything that you want to put in your article, and novel or just do a brief chapter outline, which is how I started by fourth children’s book. I decided to create the chapter titles and then go from there. You can always rearrange them and put them in a different order when you are finished writing. Remember, this is your book and you need to create it your way.

Step Two: Always have at least three pens and a pad or notebook with you so that if an idea, thought, word, sentence or anything comes to mind you can write it down. If you forget to bring these tools I often list ideas in the
notepad in my cell phone and add them to my pad or my outline on my computer later on.


Step Three: Always write about what you know. If you have no idea where to begin, ask yourself or write down some questions that you want answered in your article, or short story. What is it you are trying to say in your article? What is your theme or central thought? What is the message you want to convey to readers in your article? Do you need to research it first?

In a novel, who is your main character and what are the traits you might want this character to have? What problems will you create for this person? Who is the enemy or villain? Who are your minor characters and what role will they play in your book?

Here We Go! YOU CAN DO IT!

Step One: 

Choose one area that you want to begin with and start writing. Do not worry about the quality of your writing or think about editing. Decide whether you want to use dialogue, narrator or what voice you want to use when writing later on. Set aside a set amount of time daily to write. Write phrases, fragments, clauses anything to start writing. You can polish and edit later.

At least 15 minutes a day should be set aside to start your writing. IF you can work it up to 30 minutes that would be great. Do not overwhelm yourself with taking on too much too soon. Find your own starting point and just write. You do not even have to reread what you wrote. Add ideas each day until you have created your own design or plan for what you want to say and write.

Step Two:  Just start to write and free flow it as I call it. Just write whatever comes to mind and you want to say in your article or short story. If it is a novel, you might want to outline chapter one and go from there.

Step Three:  Take a break

Step Four: Read what you wrote and see what you want to use and what you might use in a different article or not at all.

Create your outline or paragraph plan. What do you want to say in you first paragraph and see if you can write your opening hook, feature statement or word that will capture the attention of the reader? Ask yourself if you were reading an article or short story with this beginning would you continue on or not bother?

Step Five: Write your rough draft of your article or your short story. Do not read it over. Walk away and come back to it later on in the day or the next day. Look at your outline and see whether what you wrote coincides. If not, decide if what you wrote is really what you want to say or use your original ideas in your outline.

YOU ARE ALMOST THERE!

Finish your short story or article. Take a break before reading it over.

When you are sure that you love and feel comfortable with your piece, edit it slowly. Do what I do, get another pair of eyes to read it. We all miss typos and another person might see something we did not.

When I wrote my first children’s book each chapter was really a separate short story. Read your article or story out loud and listen carefully. Tape it so that you can actually hear what you wrote and decide if you were listening to this piece being read would it keep your attention. Finally, complete it and decide where to get it published or posted. You might even share a chapter, section or piece of the article or story to get some feedback from other authors.

REMEMBER, there are many people who will give you negative feedback that is not constructive. IGNORE IT! I DO!

Feedback should deal with how to make your piece read and sound better and how you might develop the information you are writing about or your short story in a more meaningful way.

GO FOR IT! UNCLOG YOUR WRITING ARTERIES AND WRITE!

NO PRESCRIPTION NEEDED!


Fran Lewis



Author Bio:

Fran Lewis

Fran worked in the NYC Public Schools as the Reading and Writing Staff Developer for over 36 years. She has three masters Degrees and a PD in Supervision and Administration. Currently, she is a member of Who’s Who of America’s Teachers and Who’s Who of America’s Executives from Cambridge. In addition, she is the author of three children’s books and a fourth that has just been published on Alzheimer’s disease in order to honor her mom and help create more awareness for a cure. The title of my new Alzheimer’s book is Memories are Precious: Alzheimer’s Journey: Ruth’s Story and Sharp as a Tack or Scrambled Eggs: Which Describes Your Brain? Fran is the author of 13 titles.





Catch Up:



Fran Lewis's website Fran Lewis's twitter Fran Lewis's facebook


Hidden Truths and Lies by Fran Lewis

Each story in this series teaches a lesson the person behind the stone should have learned before committing crime, hurting someone else, or generally failing at life.


We’re about to enter Golden Stone Cemetery, where these unfortunate people are buried so deep you can barely find their markers. Their crimes are so heinous and their deeds so cruel that family members buried them here because they want to forget they ever existed.


Enter at your own risk.



Book Details:


Genre:  Horror; Paranormal Suspense
Published by:   Fideli Publishing Inc.
Publication Date:   April 7th 2016
Number of Pages:  98
ISBN:   1604149124 (ISBN13: 9781604149128)
Series: Hidden Truths and Lies is the 4th book in Fran Lewis’s FACES BEHIND THE STONES series of stand alone novellas.

Purchase Links: Amazon  Barnes & Noble Smashwords Goodreads



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Book Showcase: HIDDEN TRUTHS AND LIES by Fran Lewis


Hidden Truths and Lies


by Fran Lewis


on Tour June 13 – July 31, 2016





Synopsis:

Hidden Truths and Lies by Fran Lewis

Each story in this series teaches a lesson the person behind the stone should have learned before committing crime, hurting someone else, or generally failing at life.


We’re about to enter Golden Stone Cemetery, where these unfortunate people are buried so deep you can barely find their markers. Their crimes are so heinous and their deeds so cruel that family members buried them here because they want to forget they ever existed.

Enter at your own risk.




Reviews:

“The stories in this collection by Fran Lewis are gripping in suspense and demonstrate a vivid imagination. I picked them up planning to read for a few minutes and couldn’t stop until I had finished the last story. Fran understands well and expresses the dark side that many people have. Motivated by greed or self-interest, some in these stories who seem like people we encounter every day are willing to undertake terrifying actions. It makes for an excellent read.” — Allan Topol, author of The Italian Divide and The Washington Lawyer

“Hidden Truths and Lies is a compilation of stories told from beyond the grave each one filled with terror as the character faces his or her own fate. The final two stories are pure science fiction and will hopefully allow readers to see the magnitude of this talented writer.” — Susan Ross, Board Of Education, NYC




Book Details:


Genre:  Horror; Paranormal Suspense
Published by:   Fideli Publishing Inc.
Publication Date:   April 7th 2016
Number of Pages:  98
ISBN:   1604149124 (ISBN13: 9781604149128)
Series: Hidden Truths and Lies is the 4th book in Fran Lewis’s FACES BEHIND THE STONES series of stand alone novellas.
Purchase Links: Amazon  Barnes & Noble Smashwords Goodreads


Read an excerpt:



Introduction


Each story in this series teaches a lesson the person behind the stone should have learned before committing crime, hurting someone else, or generally failing at life. We’re about to enter Golden Stone Cemetery, where these unfortunate people are buried so deep you can barely find their markers. Their crimes are so heinous and their deeds so cruel that family members buried them here because they want to forget they ever existed.

Welcome to Golden Stone Cemetery, where the voices of these unfortunates can be heard loud and clear. Learning what they did and what their fates became will make you shudder. When you find out just how cruel they were in life, you’ll be glad they’re gone. You’ll be relieved that their families made sure the spirits of each of these nefarious characters will never rise again.

Who lies behind these unmarked stones? Let their stories unfold…


© Copyright 2016 Fran Lewis All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the author.


Author Bio:

Fran LewisFran worked in the NYC Public Schools as the Reading and Writing Staff Developer for over 36 years. She has three masters Degrees and a PD in Supervision and Administration. Currently, she is a member of Who’s Who of America’s Teachers and Who’s Who of America’s Executives from Cambridge. In addition, she is the author of three children’s books and a fourth that has just been published on Alzheimer’s disease in order to honor her mom and help create more awareness for a cure. The title of my new Alzheimer’s book is Memories are Precious: Alzheimer’s Journey: Ruth’s Story and Sharp as a Tack or Scrambled Eggs: Which Describes Your Brain? Fran is the author of 13 titles.



Catch Up:



Fran Lewis's website Fran Lewis's twitter Fran Lewis's facebook


Tour Participants:







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This is a rafflecopter giveaway hosted by Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tours for Fran Lewis. There will be 3 US winners of one (1) eBook copy of Hidden Truths and Lies by Fran Lewis. The giveaway begins on June 13th and runs through July 31st, 2016.

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