Category: Suicide By Everest

Have you ever done it on train tracks?

Mystery LDS Millionaire Turns Out To Be Brigham Young VIII

Posted on by Scott Thurman in Brigham Young, Mormonism, Religion

By now you may have heard the story about the Latter-Day Saint Millionaire who is looking for a wife through a matchmaking business for followers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

I’m sorry to have had to stoop to “click bait”, but times are tough and traffic is down. Turns out it isn’t Brigham Young VIII after all. But you have to admit it, it sure sounds like him. Erin Schurtz, the dating coach from the LDS Matchmaking service described the eligible bachelor as 1) a practicing member of the LDS church – Check, 2) Male – Check, 3) from a big family – check, 4) Between the ages of 30 and 45 years old – check, 5) 6 foot, 1 inches tall and a millionaire – check and check. Well, technically Brigham Young VIII is a billionaire, but if you’re a billionaire you’re necessarily a millionaire as well.

I went to the event website (LDSMillionaireMatchmaker.com) and completed an application for my daughter. (Don’t judge. I would’ve applied myself, but I’m married and male. It ain’t fair, but them’s the rules). Apparently she will have a lot of competition, as 326 women have already applied. On June 7th, up to 20 lucky Sisters, selected by the event organizers will gather to meet the mystery bachelor and 2 of those 20 will be chosen to go on a private date the next day.

I guess praying to find to find his eternal companion didn’t work… God works in mysterious ways.

“I’ll Buy Your Book and You Buy Mine” Program

Posted on by Scott Thurman in Suicide By Everest, Uncategorized

Authors on Twitter seem to be an engaged and loyal group.

I’ve been tweeting for years now, under many different handles, but my tweeting has been very sporadic.  Today, I have two Twitter accounts that I am actively using; one for my day job, and one for my writing (@ScottJThurman).   As I’ve started using Twitter more, I’ve noticed that the more engaged you are, the faster your “followers” grow, and you actually start forming friendships, and having interesting conversations!  Maybe even a nemesis or two.

I’ve also noticed how eager the author twitter community is to help and support each other.  I’ve already bought several books, that I wouldn’t have otherwise, just because the author and I shared a few “likes” on Twitter.  Hence, I am proposing a “You Buy My Book and I’ll Buy Yours” program, which is a list of people that will buy your book, on the assumption that you will buy theirs. It’s an honor system, at least until I can figure out how to correlate sales to participation. 🙂

Here are the rules:

  1. Join the list.  I’ve started a list on my Twitter Account (@ScottJThurman) called “Buy My Book”.  You are welcome to subscribe.
  2. Follow all of the Authors on the list and watch for their book promotions.  My book, Suicide By Everest comes out on Amazon on October 28th!
  3. Buy a book, and let the author know that you bought it, and provide a link to the book you would like them to buy in return.
  4. Preference should be given to an author that just published.  According to Amazon, those first few days are critical for future sales. As well as…
  5. Review: Give an honest review of the book.  I plan on blogging about the books I read, and I will always give my honest review.

If you are interested in joining let me know. If you have a book you want me to buy and review let me know.   If you have any ideas on the program itself, please comment, I am interested in hearing from you.

Thanks!  Scott

Religious Undertones

Posted on by Scott Thurman in Suicide By Everest

As I enter the marketing phase of authorpreneurship, one of the concepts I struggle with is how to communicate that Mormonism is an influence on the book’s protagonist (Brig), but it is not a religious book by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, I also worry about the opposite… that friends/family will be displeased by some of the more salacious sections of the book (rape, S&M, prostitution).

Suicide By Everest is fiction, but I draw heavily from my own life and experiences.  I was born and raised in Salt Lake City, UT, baptized in the Mormon Church when I turned eight and served a church mission in Hong Kong.  I no longer consider myself a Mormon, but I am not anti.  If anything, I’m anti-organized religion.   I hope that readers will be pleasantly surprised by the twists and turns of Brig’s journey.

img_0147This picture was painted by my wife, Jackie Chang.  It’s a picture of the Angel Moroni.  For non-Mormons, Moroni was the last ancient American prophet to write his story in the Book of Mormon and buried the golden plates in a hill where Joseph Smith would find them hundreds of years later.  The image of the angel Moroni blowing a trumpet is commonly used as an unofficial symbol of the LDS Church. Moroni appears on the cover of some editions of the Book of Mormon. Statues of the angel stand atop many LDS temples with most statues facing eastward.

 

(Reference: Wikipedia – Angel Moroni)

 

The Laughing Buddha

Posted on by Scott Thurman in Suicide By Everest

The Laughing BuddhaOne of my favorite characters in my book is nicknamed The Laughing Buddha (aka Danny Wong Wai Man).  The Laughing Buddha is a beloved Buddhist deity that is associated with laughter, happiness, and good fortune. To the left, is a picture that my wife painted.

In Suicide by Everest, Buddha plays a pivotal role.  He corrupts and deceives Brig while serving as his missionary companion, and introduces him to Happy Ho.  He leads a double life, one as a church leader in the local community, and two, as a drug smuggler.

Creating a Community

Posted on by Scott Thurman in Suicide By Everest, Uncategorized

I am now slowly beginning to unveil Suicide by Everest and develop a community of people interested in my writing.  So far that’s a very small, but fiercely loyal group. 🙂  I am moving from the writing phase of being an authorpreneur and moving to the marketing phase, which I also really enjoy. Some of the things that I did today.

  • Verified my website on Google, and set-up Google analytics
  • Rewrote the books Introduction after receiving excellent input/feedback from Haydn, Pete, and April.
  • Received my first book quote/comment from the novel’s Editor extraordinaire Andrew Wooddell
  • Changed the book cover to include my middle initial…some more good input from my fan base.
  • A few Tweets and added Twitter analytics.  I’m up to 324 Followers.
  • Received my first preorder!!! (Thanks AV)
  • Received notice from Amazon that they shipped out 5 copies/proofs of my novel.
  • Still tweaking, and editing a few things.  Want to get all of my ducks in a row before I hit the publish button on KDP