"A job well done! " --- Book Review by Cyrus A. Webb, Conversations Book Club President

"One thing I have come to believe with a book penned by author Darden North is that you should expect the unexpected. In Fresh Frozen he pushes the envelope further in his career with a novel that takes us into the most intimate experience a couple could experience together and shows what happens when the gifted hands of man try to replace the all-powerful hands of God. Rife with conflicts that cross moral decisions and emotional rollercosters that travel all imaginable feelings, this is one that will be read throughout the South with pride but across the world with respect and enjoyment. A job well done!" --- Cyrus A. Webb, Conversations Book Club President http://www.thebestbookclub.info

Friday, November 28, 2008
Conversations Reviews FRESH FROZEN by Bestselling Author Darden North

"One thing I have come to believe with a book penned by author Darden North is that you should expect the unexpected. In Fresh Frozen he pushes the envelope further in his career with a novel that takes us into the most intimate experience a couple could experience together and shows what happens when the gifted hands of man try to replace the all-powerful hands of God.

"Rife with conflicts that cross moral decisions and emotional rollercosters that travel all imaginable feelings, this is one that will be read throughout the South with pride but across the world with respect and enjoyment.

"Fresh Frozen succssfully blurs the line of what is considered right and wrong by some and puts the ability of free will into the hands and hearts of individuals. There is much in the book that can be dissected as to what dialogue the author is trying to encourage with his readers, but one thing is for certain and that is a dialogue will definitely be opened up.

"North's third title was chosen as one of Conversations Book Club's '25 Best Kept Literary Secrets of 2008.' Simply put, the book is a job well done from an author of whom nothing less is expected. Can't wait to read the next chapter in his literary career." --- Reviewed by Cyrus A. Webb, Conversations Book Club President

Book Trailer - FRESH FROZEN, new medical thriller by Darden North, MD

Darden North to appear in "Thriller Author Panel" - Southern Independent Book Association Trade Show

Darden North, MD, author of Fresh Frozenwill paricipate in the four-member "Thriller Author Panel" at the annual Southern Independent Book Association Trade Show Friday, September 26, 2008, from 4:00 until 5:00 p.m. This year the event is being held at the Arthur R. Outlaw Convention Center in Mobile, Alabama. Darden will be joined by F. Paul Wilson,Jack: Secret Histories; Kirk Curnutt, Breathing Out the Chost; and Erica Spindler, Breakneck.

The moderator of the panel is Molly Weston,the Mystery Maven.

Molly Weston
Meritorious Mysteries

Mystery Reviews) http://mysteryheel.blogspot.com/

http://web.mac.com/mysteryheel

A Novel Every Three Months Would Do It

9/1/2008 11:01:10 AM
To celebrate the completion and upcoming release of his third medical thriller, FRESH FROZEN hardcover, October 2008), author Darden North, MD blogs again.

After two years of tapping on laptop keys, enduring multiple edits, working through some research, and waiting for divine inspiration, the manuscript of my third novel, FRESH FROZEN, is finally complete and headed for publication. The urgency imposed by its October 2008 release helped me shed five needed pounds (not from the manuscript, that is, but from my torso), so I figure that completing a novel every three months would squeeze me into some clothes now ignored in my closet. However, the impossibility of writing that efficiently has instead pushed me into expensive new tennis shoes and into walking a couple of miles or so a day with my wife. The dusty treadmill stands ready for inclement weather.

The completion of FRESH FROZEN not only entailed the gain of physical weight but there were emotional burdens as well to shed along the way. For example, imagine learning that your wife has accidentally run over your laptop with the rear tire of your car but then intentionally blames you for her actions because you were the one who asked her to put the laptop in the car in the first place on the same day that you departed for a book signing in Memphis, leaving her alone to care for our two small, active dogs that also needed to be placed in the sedan along with her luggage and other multiple items – all in preparation for departing our getaway place in Oxford, MS, to return to our home in Jackson -- once she had been forced to clean-up single-handedly that getaway place and gather-up our treasured Chihuahua and Pomerat (that is, a Pomeranian/Rat terrier mix.) BLOG NOTE … To counter any literary criticism for the preceding rambling statement – a review to be shunned by any evolving or even veteran author, the structure of that sentence was an intentional effort to recreate the short-circuiting of my brain at the time as well as to relive my wife Sally’s own frustrated dissertation regarding my crime of abandonment for a book signing.

Happily, the laptop was safely housed in my black computer bag as it waited behind the right rear tire and was cushioned somewhat from the weight of the car by a hardcover copy of my second novel, POINTS OF ORIGIN. When I returned from the book signing at the Mid-South Air Show in Memphis after sharing an exhibition booth with the Delta State School of Nursing (yes, one can have a successful book signing at an air show), I found the hard drive of my Latitude/D630 still intact, although the screen was shattered beyond use and the computer overall worthless to repair. Still, without the loss of a single document, I was temporarily able to connect the laptop to a lonely old desktop and continue to write until a replacement laptop arrived.

The other chapter to the story’s happy ending was that at the time of purchase of the soon-to-be-mortally-wounded computer, I had subscribed to the optional 100 percent computer replacement insurance. That plan would ship a brand new Dell every time the wife runs over the old one. (Incidentally, I have not been compensated by the electronics company for my endorsement.)

One of the other distractions to my writing over the last year was babysitting my yellow lab granddog for two months and dealing with the ailments of the younger of the aforementioned two small dogs. The beautiful Pomerat developed a ferocious flea allergy and required surgery to correct a congenital problem with her right knee joint. Of course, there was no connection between the two canine issues, but it is noteworthy that the total of the “designer” dog’s breeder cost, doggie supplies, and medical bills could have purchased a new laptop regardless.

Fortunately, our beloved Foxy survived the surgery to her right leg and doesn’t persist with the incessant scratching of her sensitive skin as long as she gets her flea-repellant medication. Of course, now and then, we have to chase her down to spray her for such. (I have also not been compensated for this indirect endorsement of the Mississippi Annual Rescue League and other adopt-a-pet or adopt-a-stray programs!)

While there were other diversions to my completing FRESH FROZEN and eventually being able to celebrate, of sorts, with this treatise, I should mention the interruption provided by a tornado that surprised my Jackson, MS, neighborhood. Days of electrical power outage resulted from the storm that sadly felled two eighty-plus-year-old-trees in my front yard. No doubt, removal of the huge oak and pine trees funded a year of college for one of the tree surgeon’s children. (My family and close friends were physically lucky. Our home and vehicles were not severely damaged, and we were not injured. Definitely, things could have been a lot worse and were in no way as monumental as that happening as this moment to those affected by Hurricane Gustav.)

My career as a husband, father, and obstetrician-gynecologist has, of course, been time-consuming and a joyous privilege. While those activities cannot be considered a distraction to the advancement of my writing career, they nonetheless have kept the ol’ mind sharp. I appreciate the response to my first effort at blogging and hope that this effort will be enjoyed as well. (Losing My Blogging Virginity – June 2006 -- www.dardennorth.com, http://www.authorsden.com/visit/viewblog.asp?AuthorID=80958)

I look forward to your comments and hope readers will
enjoy FRESH FROZEN. -----Darden
©2008 by Darden North,MD All Rights Reserved


Darden North, MD, is a board-certified obstetrician/gynecologist who lives in Jackson, Mississippi, where he practices medicine at Jackson Healthcare for Women, PA. North’s first novel House Call (hardcover 2005, paperback 2008) was awarded Finalist in Mystery/Suspense by the 2008 Next Generation Indie Book Awards. His second novel Points of Origin (hardcover 2006) was recognized in Southern Fiction by the 2007 Independent Publishers Book Awards. Both House Call and Points of Origin were nominated in Fiction by the Mississippi Institute for Art and Letters and by the Southern Independent Book Association. His third novel, Fresh Frozen, is scheduled for release in October 2008. North is a member of Mystery Writers of America, the Mississippi Writer’s Guild, Sisters in Crime, and the Independent Book Publishers Association. He has participated as an author panelist in such literary presentations as “Murder in the Magic City” (Birmingham, AL), "Author! Author! Celebration of the Written Word" (Shreveport, LA), “Murder on the Menu” (Wetumpka, AL), and “Thriller Author Panel – 2008 SIBA Trade Show” (Mobile, AL).

Darden North can be contacted through his website at www.dardennorth.com and remains available for book signings and appearances.

FRESH FROZEN - New Novel by Darden North

FRESH FROZEN

ISBN-10 0977112632 ISBN-13 9780977112630

By Darden North, MD
coming in hardcover, October 2008, 344 pages

Ponder House Press

Description

In this third medical thriller by award-winning author and practicing physician Darden North, human reproductive tissue becomes an unexpected commodity. In Fresh Frozen, a fictional young policeman and his tormented wife fail miserably to produce a family, finding themselves outcasts of the renewed baby boom sweeping the United States.

Yet, there is one last hope for them: a catalogue of human embryo and egg donors peddled by a woman whose standards are easily dismissed for the right price. Pursuing their futile attempts to become parents has nearly cost the wife her life and pushed the couple to the brink of bankruptcy. This seemingly last chance for Wesley and Carey Sarbeck to satisfy their place as parents in Middle America unknowingly tosses them in the midst of a grisly murder, the world of Hollywood celebrities, and a heist of freshly frozen human embryos.

The lives of Carey Sarbeck and two other women unknowingly collide at the Van Deman Institute, once a decaying brick building complex just north of Jackson, Mississippi, but now a state-of-the-art center for the treatment of infertility. While an internet voyeur and thief looks on, each of the three women, including Allyn Saxton an internationally-known entertainer, has her own reason for entering the Institute.

However, as a result of subjecting herself to a concoction of hormones and surgical procedures, one of the three is gruesomely murdered in an intriguing twist of human greed, mental torment, and medical science.

Revealing how medical ethics can easily be challenged in this fast-paced, suspense novel, North allows even comical, endearing characters to meet tragedy --- tragedy necessary to keep alive the secrets of the Van Deman Institute of Reproductive Technology.

copyright 2008 Darden North, MD

www.dardennorth.com

LINK TO PURCHASE:
http://www.lemuriabooks.com/index.php?show=author&id=2410

http://www.authorsden.com/visit/author.asp?authorid=80958

copyright 2008 by Darden North, MD.

Losing My Blogging Virginity --- Trip to his 2008 Book Expo America book signing sparks author's personal interest in blogging.

6/1/2008 7:53:30 AM

This morning I noticed with much appreciation that a visitor to my AuthorsDen website http://www.authorsden.com/dardennorthmd had clicked on the My Blog link sometime between midnight last night and eight o'clock this morning. However, I must confess that the unfortunate Internet night owl was gravely disappointed (at least I hope that he or she was disappointed, or maybe even just a little bit) by the blank space found there. Hopefully, she or he then went on to reference the many other listings on the site that I try to keep updated on a regular basis.

You see, I have never blogged. I am a forty-plus year-old blogging virgin. My excuse has been that every spare writing moment is needed to complete my third mystery/suspense/medical thriller manuscript FRESH FROZEN, due for release in hardcover later in 2008. But the truth is that I simply have never known how to blog ... but then I have never tried until now. (Well, like most virgins, I have blogged one time before, but only one time, and I was very young.)

There I have pleaded guilty! I feel so much better.

When my first novel HOUSE CALL (fiction/murder mystery/medical thriller) was first released in hardcover in October 2005, blogging was not such a big thing, or at least if it was, I didn’t know it. Later, when my second book came along, POINTS OF ORIGIN (fiction/mystery/suspense/medical thriller), in hardcover in October 2007, I asked my webmaster to include blog capacity on my website www.dardennorth.com. He then incorporated into my homepage an icon or widget (or whatever we call them now) entitled RECENT MUSING. My webmaster, The Gibbes Company, intended that to be a blog outlet, although not an interactive one. However, I have only used that venue as a method to make announcements, list recent reviews, or post awards or other recognition of my writing and publishing. I have never simply "mused" there.

My primary excuse for not blogging is the lack of time. However, it is notable that I do find time to eat between being a fulltime husband, father of two grown children, and feeder and bather of two small dogs --- all while maintaining an active obstetrics/gynecology medical and surgical practice. My wife and I do socialize with friends, and I maintain an interest in gardening and hunting. My tennis racket and golf clubs are gathering dust, unfortunately. Since, as I have learned, most authors (except the really big ones of whom we are all familiar) keep other money-earning jobs that keep the writing of books, short stories, poems, etc., afloat, I feel completely at home in the field.

Another recent first for me was attending Book Expo America. As the guest of my book distributor, AtlasBooks/BookMasters, Incorporated, I was scheduled for an individual book signing featuring my current novel, POINTS OF ORIGIN. POINTS OF ORIGIN is set in a charming, but greedy, Mississippi town. The contemporary plot centers on the death of a 19-year-old patient in the hands of Dr. Dan Foxworth which costs him his reputation, his fortune, his plastic surgery dynasty, and ultimately his own life.

My informal course in Book Writing 101 and the follow-up, Being an Author (and a Good One) 102, have taught me that, given the opportunity, one tells any person even remotely interested about one's writing, particularly when traveling. The lengthy air flight between my home in Jackson, Mississippi, and the 2008 Book Expo America in Los Angeles afforded that chance on several occasions. Sitting next to someone reading a hardcover or paperback in a crowded airplane or airport creates the ideal opportunity ... not to mention the prospect of broaching the subject of being a mystery/medical thriller writer with a taxi driver who leaves a novel on the front seat next to him.

Sadly, during my trip to and from LA, I broke the rule I learned in Book Promotion 103 that one should always have a copy of one's book on hand to show-off or present as a gift in those instances but at least I had some of my bookmarks to hand out. A very nice lady from Hawaii and headed to Houston for a family visit with her husband asked me for six personally autographed Darden North bookmarks, and, of course, I was happy to give them to her. She said she planned to order copies of HOUSE CALL and POINTS OF ORIGIN for her children and real estate clients and include the bookmarks.

While the 2008 BEA was my first Book Expo America, I definitely plan to return in the future and truly wish that I had allowed more than one day on this recent outing. In fact, I never made it to the south end of the convention before the 5:00 PM closing time on Day 1. As I mentioned above, I was there at the invitation of my book distributor, who scheduled a book signing featuring my second mystery/suspense hardcover POINTS OF ORIGIN for Day 1 on the convention (Friday afternoon, May 30, from 2:30 until 3:15 PM.)

I am proud to announce that my book signing resulted in a sell-out, or should we say a giveaway-out? The appearance was a wonderful publicity opportunity for me. I would like to think that most of the people who came by to get a personalized, signed, free copy of POINTS OF ORIGIN had sought me out. But, I'm sure, most merely stumbled upon me, but then expressed genuine delight in having done so. One book was going to an English library in northern Israel, others to the extremes of North America, some staying right there in LA. Hopefully, one or two copies find their way to a movie, TV, or cable producer. (That’s a fun thought, isn’t it?)

The turnout for my signing of POINTS OF ORIGIN (including a few copies of the paperback of HOUSE CALL) was particularly gratifying when I learned later that I was competing with simultaneous personal appearances by Barbara Walters, Michael Connelly, R.A. Salvatore, and Mario Lopez, to name a few, all autographing their books as well at Book Expo America. Fortunately, after my "sell-out," I made it to Michael Connelly's and Bob Salvatore's signings and was afforded the opportunity to exchange signed books with them. Both seemed like nice guys.

During my hurried, one-day experience at the 2008 BEA, I made several other contacts including learning about opportunities publishing with e-books and audio books as well as talking briefly with a few reps with the major publishing houses. Of course, I supplied them with concise written information about my novels and writing. (Well, you never know.)

I do hope that this blog will be only one of many to come and hope that anyone who has read through this first effort has not regretted the experience. If so, please give me another chance.

Sometimes things get better with practice.

All the continued best in health and happiness,
Darden North

HOUSE CALL Wins International Writing Award

HOUSE CALL, a non-stop suspense novel by Dr. Darden North, is awarded Finalist in the 2008 Next Generation Indie Book Awards
Doctor by Day, Author by Night, Darden North's HOUSE CALL wins a National Writing Award.

Jackson, Mississippi (PRWEB) May 19, 2008 -- HOUSE CALL by Mississippi obstetrician/gynecologist Darden North, MD, has been named a Finalist in the Mystery/Suspense category of the 2008 Next Generation Indie Book Awards according to C. Goulet, Awards Administrator.

The novel was previously nominated in Fiction by the 2006Southern Independent Book Association Awards.

As young Dr. Knox Chamblee struggles in HOUSE CALL to establish a medical practice in a southern town, both his social and professional conquests are derailed by a psychotic killer. However, no one connects the first victim, an attractive hospital nurse discovered floating in a bloody bathtub, to the near-frozen body of Dr. Cullen Gwinn, Chamblee’s mentor and chief proponent, found at the base of a deer stand. The primary police suspect is Dr. Aslyn Hawes, Chamblee’s female senior partner and overbearing nemesis, whose jealousy of the victims cloaks her in suspicion. In fact, Hawes resents virtually every non-patient resident of the town with the exception of the teenage ambulance driver who becomes a fixture in her Jacuzzi. That same young man sexually tempts Jay Rutledge, the conniving hospital administrator and the killer’s next target. As the murder investigation unfolds around him, Knox Chamblee evolves from potential suspect in the nurse’s murder to victim of a totally different crime – career sabotage due to reverse sexual discrimination. By squelching his own resentment and fulfilling his medical obligations, Dr. Chamblee overcomes his mentor’s death and the resulting career threat caused by a killer who has slaughtered out of mistaken identity

The Indie Book Awards were established to recognize and honor the most exceptional independently published books in 70 different categories for the year and is presented by the Independent Book Publishing Professionals Group in cooperation with Marilyn Allen of Allen O'Shea Literary Agency.

Author Darden North's achievement will be published at www.IndieBookAwards.com along with the other Finalists. Additionally, HOUSE CALL will be listed as a Finalist in the 2008 Next Generation Indie Book Awards catalog which will be distributed at the 2008 Book Expo America in Los Angeles. The Indie Book Awards is open to all national and international publishers in the English language.

Both HOUSE CALL and Dr. North's second novel, POINTS OF ORIGIN, were nominated in fiction by the Mississippi Institute for Art and Letters and by the Southern Independent Book Association.

After selling over 12,000 copies of his work, North is writing his third novel, Fresh Frozen, as he continues to deliver babies and maintain a full gynecology practice in Jackson, Mississippi. Fresh Frozen is scheduled for release later in fall of 2008.

HOUSE CALL (hardcover 2005, paperback 2007)GENRE: FICTION, MYSTERY, MEDICAL THRILLER
AUTHOR: DARDEN NORTH, MD
BRIEF SYNOPSIS Murder investigation of hospital nurse weaves through Southern self-indulgence, diverse sexuality, reverse discrimination and more death


Darden North has appeared at over 100 book signings or public speaking engagements throughout the country and remains available for additional appearances.

For more information, go to www.dardennorth.com . For media inquiries, contact Nanette Noffsinger at nanette@burkehollowmedia.com or 615-776-4230.