Sunday, July 31, 2011

Townhouse Book Blog Tour is Coming!!

I'm excited to announce that my brand new horror novel TOWNHOUSE is going on a Book Blog Tour, from August 8 to August 27! There will be reviews, giveaways, and excerpts, from nearly a dozen book blogs all over the world. Check out the schedule by clicking on the link below!


TOWNHOUSE BOOK BLOG TOUR


Sara Crimson isn’t happy about moving into a shady apartment complex with a man she barely knows. But after discovering she’s pregnant with her first child, she decides to try to make a relationship work with the baby daddy Max, an up-and-coming talent agent.
An aspiring novelist, Sara at first is elated with the additional free time she has to focus on her writing. But as the days turn to weeks, she starts to suspect that something peculiar is happening in the Executive Townhouses of North Hollywood, California. People start disappearing, strange noises echo down the corridor, and an old, creepy tenant finds his entertainment value in staring at her from afar.
But what Sara doesn’t know is that the hidden horrors that lie inside the complex are far worse than anything her overactive imagination could have ever conceived...
TOWNHOUSE is on Sale at Amazon for just $2.99!
Buy Townhouse, by Brian Rowe

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Buried In Books Reviews Happy Birthday to Me!

As I wind down the newest draft of Happy Birthday to Me 2, and prepare to write the first draft of Happy Birthday to Me 3, it thrills me to see readers all over the world embracing the first installment! Here's an excerpt from a brand new review by Buried In Books!

I loved once again hearing a story from the male point of view.  I really enjoy getting to know how boys think because I still don't understand them after all this time!  The more I know, the better.  Cameron is very accepting of his condition.  He goes wild a little and then sets goals, the prom, the basketball game, graduation.  He's just looking to make it through the end of school.  But somewhere along the way, he starts learning life lessons, lessons that at seventeen I think he really shouldn't have to learn.  But he's dying so I guess lessons should be learned before you die.  Towards the end, it got very emotional and I actually started crying.  I wasn't expecting that from a book entitled "Happy Birthday to Me"! 


So, it's a great start for a debut author.  This is one of a trilogy so it should be interesting to see where the series heads.  I think the author has an easy writing style to read with humorous scenes sprinkled throughout. The one with his librarian was almost scary! 


You can read the full review by clicking here: Buried with Books. My thanks to this great blogger!

Monday, July 18, 2011

New Interview at Authors on Show!

Lori at Authors on Show was nice enough to do an interview with me about my debut novel Slate, literary influences, and lots more.

Here's an excerpt...


8. What do you think most characterizes your writing?
While many have been confused by the fact that I’ve written my first three books in three different genres, there’s plenty of similarities amongst my work that characterizes it all as my own. I try to move the story along at a fairly fast pace, and I like to flesh out my main characters as best I can. I’m a big fan of twist endings – check out my new horror novel Townhouse for an example of one of those! But the main underlying tone underneath all my work is one of darkness. Something I learned from Joss Whedon’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer was to make the audience/reader fall in love with the characters and then put them in dangerous, potentially fatal situations. Slate, while very funny at times, goes into a very dark place at the end. Happy Birthday to Me, my YA novel, is goofy and light at times, but is overall a very scary novel about mortality. And my horror novel Townhouse, of course, takes its characters in EXTREMELY dark, violent places in the end. I grew up on horror films, and while I don’t want to just focus on horror fiction, I like to throw in horrific situations in my work, even if I’m writing a book aimed at young teens.
9. What is the biggest thing that people THINK they know about your subject/genre, that isn’t so?
Well, people may THINK there will be a twist ending, and they may THINK mostly happy story of mine will transition into horror and suspense in the final fifty pages. But it may not be true 100 percent of the time. My newest short story 11:57 has been published in two national magazines; it’s a story about two young men who meet each other at New Year’s accidentally, and it begins happily and it ends happily, with no darkness in between. Expect the unexpected with me. I might surprise you.

You can read the full interview by clicking here: Authors on Show. Thanks, Lori!

Saturday, July 9, 2011

JULY UPDATE!

I thought at least once a month I’d give a thorough update regarding all my projects, so here’s my big update for July! Trust me… I’ve been VERY busy!

SLATE: My debut novel Slate is now available for just 99 cents on Amazon and Barnes & Noble! The book has received many positive reviews by book bloggers all over the world, and Larissa’s Book Blog, one of the most popular book blogs on the web, will be publishing a four-star review of my rip-roaring Hollywood novel in the coming two weeks!


HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME (Birthday Trilogy, Book 1): With an average rating of 3.86 on Goodreads and 4.5 on Amazon, Happy Birthday to Me, the first installment in my first-ever young adult trilogy, is a book readers of all ages have really enjoyed! I’m glad, because I’m currently at work on the sequel, as well as the third and final installment. Happy Birthday to Me is now available for just $2.99 on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Read it before the sequels come out! And look for Happy Birthday to Me to go on a major book blogger tour from the end of August to mid September. I’ll provide more details in the coming weeks!


TOWNHOUSE: My horror debut has just recently gone live on Amazon and Barnes & Noble, and I couldn’t be happier with the end result! This is a super creepy novel that is not for the weak of heart!! The book is currently being read by a handful of book bloggers, and from August 8 to August 22, Townhouse will be featured daily on a book blog tour, with reviews, interviews, excerpts, guest posts, and lots more! The book is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble for just $2.99, and look for the softcover version, on sale for just $10.99, in the coming two weeks.


HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME AGAIN (Birthday Trilogy, Book 2): The book I’m currently hard at work on every day is Book 2 in the Birthday trilogy, titled, appropriately, Happy Birthday to Me Again. I’ll be revealing the synopsis of this novel in August, but for now, just know this: Cameron, Liesel, Kimber, and Wesley are all back! The sequel is in every way a richer, deeper, more complex read than the first one, and I promise that you’re going to want to see this story all the way through to the end! I’m looking to publish Book 2 in mid-September.

TOP SECRET NOVELLA PROJECT: For the last month I’ve been tinkering with a new top secret novella project, one set around the Christmas holiday, and one that brings back a handful of major characters from one of my first three novels. It’s kind of a sequel, but not really. It’ll be short and unique, and a perfect companion to one of my previous novels. The novella will be published in November, and I’ll give you all the details in October!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU (Birthday Trilogy, Book 3): And finally, there’s the third and final book in the Birthday trilogy, coming in early to mid December. But don’t worry: you won’t have to wait until November to find out what this one’s about. You’ll get a glimpse in the final pages of Book 2 what to expect in Cameron Martin’s final adventure!

And that’s not all! By the end of 2011 I will have published six writing projects, and I’m hoping for another six more in 2012! Things can change at any moment, but for now I have planned one adult suspense novel, a young adult vampire trilogy, a young adult stand-alone time travel novel, and a novella prequel to one of my first three novels. I hope you all like to read, because LOTS MORE from Brian Rowe is coming!!!

Friday, July 8, 2011

The First Review of TOWNHOUSE!

My horror debut TOWNHOUSE has been available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble for about two weeks now, and tonight I received the first book blogger review! Here's an excerpt...

Mr. Rowe has a knack for writing convincing characters, that’s what always stands out from his novels. He is able to create a balance of hero/ine with someone who has as many faults as a “regular” person. 

The plot is fast-paced, never boring the reader. We follow Sara until the shocking conclusion, and never, not once, did the plot reveal itself prematurely. It’s one of those books that make you want to keep reading well into the night.

I can easily recommend it to anyone who likes a good scare, but I do suggest not to eat while you read the last fourth of the book.


Haha, she makes a good point about the final 60 pages of the book!! Read the full review here: Carabosse's Library. My thanks to Valentina!

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

One More HBTM Review Before a Big Update!

Look for an update on all my writing projects in the next day or so, but until then, here's a brand new review of Happy Birthday to Me, hot off the presses! Four out of five!! Here's an excerpt...

I loved that I didn't know how it would all end, and I must admit that I was a bit surprised with how the story concluded. Actually, I was a lot surprised, and it left me with lots of questions. I know the second book in the trilogy will be released in just a few months, but I cannot wait to read what happens next. The authors writing was great, and the book held a combination of humor and seriousness, that keeps the reader flipping through the pages until the end. I definitely recommend this book to YA and paranormal lovers; this is a fun, unique read that I'm sure many will enjoy. 


Click here to read the full, insightful review: Oodles of Books. Thanks Cindy!