The Meritorium Tour: A Review of the Latest Novel by Joel Ohman

Everyone Has a Number

What's yours?

Charley swallowed hard, and then slowly stood upright from his crouch. He needed to get back to camp, and soon. He was being ridiculous, the bird had to be long –

A whump of pressure scraped Charley’s back and jolted him to the ground. He rolled sideways and, standing on one knee, looked up to see…

Wavy, knee-high grass brushed Charley’s legs as he trudged along. They had been traveling hard for about five hours since awakening in the morning, all without food or water. He licked his cracked lips. They hurt, but not as bad as the manacles digging in to his neck, ankles, and wrists, which were already chafed and raw.

Welcome to the Meritorium Tour

Author Joel Ohman

This book takes you on a wild ride from page one to the very end. It is thought provoking and the characters are well developed. Charley is an accessible character and you relate to his struggle against the system. Unlike many other dystopian novels, Meritorium is not predictable and has plenty of twists and turns to keep you engaged. As you can tell I really enjoyed Meritorium. Meritorium is the second book in the series, but it can be read as a stand alone novel. If you enjoy good writing, engaging characters, and a plot that really makes you think, I highly recommend Meritorium by Joel Ohman.

About the Book

Under the System everyone is assigned a numerical Score that decides their worth to society and whether they live or die.

Charley has escaped from Meritropolis...

but in his quest to take down the System that has taken his brother from him, he must go through Meritorium, a city where gladiatorial games of life or death combat are waged between High Scores and Low Scores, man and beast.

Charley and Sandy must face man-eating plants, religious zealots, slave traders, and the ever present mutant animal combinations that roam a dystopian Coliseum presided over by Emperor Titus, the one man standing between Charley and the answers he seeks. Man is not an animal, but if they are to make it through Meritorium, will they even be able to tell the difference?

The lines between man and beast, friend and foe, will blur in Meritorium, the riveting sequel to the best selling Meritropolis.

About the Author

Joel Ohman is the author of Meritropolis--"The Hunger Games meets The Village with a young Jack Reacher as a protagonist". He lives in Tampa, FL with his wife Angela and their three kids. His writing companion is Caesar, a slightly overweight Bull Mastiff who loves to eat the tops off of strawberries.

Learn more about Joel here:

JoelOhman.com

Get notified of new books here:

Meritropolis.com

Follow Joel on Twitter here:

Twitter.com/JoelOhman

Connect with Joel on Facebook here:

Facebook.com/joeljonathan

About the Prizes

Don’t forget to check out the rafflecopter for this tour here! The tour prize is a $75.00 gift card to Amazon! Think of all the books you can buy with that!

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Letting wedding cards beckon the grand moments in your life

Deciding to get hitched is no cakewalk. There can be no better way than celebrating this gala event than making it official to all your near and dear ones. And what better way than going for some extraordinary invitation techniques. Over the years, wedding concepts have undergone a drastic change and brought in new trends to make this milestone in one’s life all the more special.  Today you see a variety in tastes in nearly everything concerned with weddings. From exquisite décor themes to lip-smacking dishes, there is unending effort much before the D-day.

One thing that marks a suitable platform to display one’s creative skills is the wedding card. Whether you opt for something simple and handmade or prefer catering to the tastes of tech-savvy people by taking the email or online card route, there is always scope for going offbeat and unique. However, that does not mean one goes out all his or her way to burn a hole in the pocket and opt for cards that are way above the budget. Since there are other things to manage in a wedding, wooing people in innovative ways can be done easily by a careful selection of designs.

Since modernization has impacted wedding cards greatly, here’s taking a look into some effective tips and tricks for designing wedding invitations:

Get a clear idea about the design

It is only on the basis of the design that an event’s formality can be determined. Your wedding style should be underlined in the best way possible in the invitation card. Most guests remain confused if the wedding pertains to the classic period, i.e. the traditional style or something glam, elegant or modern wedding. You can think of using gorgeous fabric scrolls or get some cutouts and designs from the latest printing techniques. For those who are artsy can pick out few pictures and make a collage to attract guests.

Color themes are in

Wedding themes are appropriate in making the auspicious occasion stand out to the rest. From invitations, save-the-dates and thank you cards, there are plenty of options to be thematic in outlook. It is not necessary you have to take a single colour as your pick but can balance it out with a cohesive look too. Just because you have chosen an ivory white shade for bringing alive the classic and formal look does not mean you will not throw in some colour.

Experimentation with the right sizes and shapes

Gone are the days when it was mandatory on your part to abide by the conventional shapes and sizes of invitation cards. This is no more the age of 4.5 inch by 6.25 inch rectangular card. As long as you know how to get shapes like squares or rounds or scalloped ones right, there’s no harm treading the not-so-followed route. Besides, online card creating applications have now become a more practical option for most bound by time factor.

Choice of legible fonts

There is every possibility that you go overboard with the invitations as regards patterns, colors and fonts are concerned. Obviously there are no set rules about these, but the most important aspect is that the text on the card is readable or on other words, must be legible. If online is what you swear by, select from fonts like Georgia or Times New Roman. Since the idea is to be decorative, it is quite natural that one will face difficulty in reading smaller sizes. For such reasons, it is always recommended you choose a large text size that does not forsake on clarity.

Bring in uniqueness

Your wedding must have something exclusive of yours. A wedding invitation card is the perfect platform for bringing in that desired uniqueness to the fore. It could be highlighting your love story through a short film or a video incorporating special matters in your life. Or you could also choose to add few quotes or photographs of yourself to bring in the necessary fun element. Whatever you choose, remember it’s all about getting that signature touch to your card, so you can customize it to your requirements.

Your wedding is not just the most special day in your life, but marks the onset of a fulfilling chapter in your life. By bringing something out of the box on the table in your invitation pattern, you are only laying the framework for cherishing something memorable throughout your lifetime.

For more information about the Indian wedding party planner, you can visit :Subhmuhurat.co.in Guest post written by Amoi Pall. 

Death in the Park

The wine and olives and Parmesan cheese were warm from the sun and the ants were just beginning to find them as Detective Slaughter looked down upon the victim. She had short gray hair cut into a bob, delicate features that had once been very beautiful but now were marred by the years. Her dress was simple and conservative but she was barefoot. As he looked at her lifeless corpse sitting on the park bench with her rotting lunch beside her he wondered what had brought her to this point. No signs of struggle were apparent and nothing seemed amiss. Could she just have met her fate this sunny afternoon in the park or was it something more sinister, he wondered.

Image by Flickr

As he investigated the scene he saw that there were two wines glasses and two napkins with food on them. That piqued his interest. Who had her dinner companion been and where had he or she spirited off to? Taking out his notebook, he despised Blackberries and stuck with an old fashioned notebook and pencil, he began to take notes of the scene. The wind was blowing gently and he could hear children playing in the background. Somewhere a dog was barking and a couple was laughing. Not a bad place to meet your fate, he thought as he continued to make his investigation.

Suddenly he spied a note clutched in the dead woman's hand. Carefully he used his tweezers to retrieve it and after he donned his gloves he read it. "I'm so sorry for everything, Love B" was all it said. Now he was curious.

How to Learn SEO

SEO, Search Engine Optimization, may seem like a concept that only the most technical minds can fathom. It really isn't, SEO is fairly easy to understand and it takes only a bit of research and study to grasp the concepts. One of the easiest ways to learn about SEO is to check out other blogs on the subject. There are many many blogs devoted to teaching you how to optimize your website and become an expert on SEO. Several websites even offer free courses on the subject as well as numerous videos on YouTube. I've found Google to be the best resource to learn SEO. Here's some of the links to get you started.

• Google's Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide has everything you need to know to get started with SEO.

• The Official Google Blog has everything tips and up to date information about optimizing your site for Google. Say what you may about the world's largest search engine, they lay it out for everyone free of charge to learn how to use their own tools to boost your page rank.
   
• Google Webmaster Guidelines gives you the basics of what Google expects from your website and how to make sure it is optimized correctly. This is a PDF file you can save on your hardrive for reference. There is so much information in this section of the Google website that there is no way I could describe it. This is where I've learned the bulk of my knowledge about SEO.

This may look like a commercial for Google, but the fact remains Google is the number one search engine. They don't hide how to make your page rank increase, as a matter of fact the more you learn from Google the better it is for both you and them. Take some time and explore their site. If you don't want to do your own SEO work, contact The Cutting Edge Pros. We have experts who can help you out and increase your website's page rank. We offer free consultations and our rates are extremely fair.

Do Regular Blog Posts Really Draw Readers?

In a word yes. Case in point: I own a few websites with my business partners and one of them has been blogging on hot topics everyday at iThinkRevolution. Our subscribers have jumped from just over 20 to almost 1,000! Granted the posts are on hot topics, but it would seem that everything we've been preaching about regular posts and intelligent backlinks is working. We're all stunned and delighted that our subscibers have grown so much in just the past week. As we were trying to manage the list it kept growing and even as I write this more people are registering.

So if you ever think you're just writing your wonderful prose for no one to see, fear not. If you write it, they will come. You don't have to write a lengthy tome, as you can see this blog post is short and sweet. If you don't want to write it, hire us to do it for you. Contact us at The Cutting Edge Web Pros and let us put a package together that works for you and your wallet.

Are We Just Talking to Ourselves?

I've been in the SEO business for about a year now. It occurred to me the other day as I was thinking about work in general if we're just talking to ourselves on the internet or is anyone reading what we put out there. What I mean by that is there's a lot of blogs and articles written about the best way to do SEO and how to design a killer website. But who's reading these articles? Is it the people who want to learn how to do this or is it those of us involved in the business? Are regular people being schooled or are we just making so much noise?

Image by Renoir Gallery

I'd like to believe that people who want to learn are reading all of this information we're churning out. Take this blog for instance. I have no idea if anyone reads it or not. I have yet to build a following, but I'm doing everything I can to get it noticed. I know of blogs with hundreds of followers and many many comments for each post. What makes them different from blogs that sit there and gather dust?

Consistent posting. This is what separates the people who are serious and those that just do it for the heck of it. You have to be passionate and post at least three times a week, if not every day. It does matter what you write about, but what is most important is to have a real fire lit under you about what you're writing about. Your content has to be well written and original. We've covered all of that in previous posts but it's worth saying again. Content is king and frequent posting is the ticket to developing a following.

So are we talking just to ourselves or not? Well your website statistics will tell you along with any comments you get. Don't give up and keep writing, keep posting and stay with it. If you write, they will come.

Need professional blog posts or website content? Contact the pros at The Cutting Edge Pros Web Service to set you up with a package you can afford.

How to Increase Your Web Presence Simply and Easily

To get noticed on the web you need to have a powerful web presence. But if you're like most site owners you're not sure how to do this. It's really quite simple and anyone can do it. One of the easiest ways it to have several incoming links to your site. You can do this with what is known as the "hub and spoke" method. Sounds sort of Western, right? Well what this refers to is having your main website (expertly SEO'd and glowing) and several spokes out on the web with links leading back to your main site.

http://ruttledge.se/category/car/

For example, I use this blog as a spoke for a web services site that I own with two partners. Each post has at least one link back to our site and a call to action to visit it. Shameless self promotion, well yeah, but also smart SEO. The more links you have pointing back to your site, the greater the network you build and the better Google's search algorithms will work for you and the higher your page rank will be. In other words, the more spokes the stronger your wheel. There we go back to the Old West again...

In his recent blog, Five Pillars of an Internet Marketing Strategy, Harvey Rivet uses this method as one of his pillars to increase your web presence. This is a great article by the way and worth a read. A Facebook page and a Twitter account are also great spokes as long as you keep them active and well maintained. You can use the other major blogging sites such as Squiddo, HubPages, Huddle and a new one called iThinkRevolution. (Shameless self promotion warning!) 

If you need some more spokes, get a free consultation from the experts at The Cutting Edge Pros. They can set up and maintain blogs, Facebook and Twitter accounts for your business that will draw visitors and get your page rank increased. Contact them today and become a force to be reckoned with on the web.