The Readers' Favorite Book Contest announced the Award Winners on September 1st, 2016 and my book, Escape from Netherworld, won a Bronze Medal in the Fiction - Adventure Category.

I am sorry that I have not posted to my blog for so many months, I had some problems at my home. My living room ceiling collapsed due to a roof leak that I did not know about and my retaining wall holding up part of my front yard came down as well. It has been a long 8 months of replacing my roof, gutters, the living room ceiling, plastering, painting and rebuilding the retaining wall outside.  With work, it has not left much time for anything else.  

I hope that going forward that I will have more time for my blog, connecting with friends and fans on social media sites as well as getting my second book in the series finished so I can get it published when ready.

I also am looking forward to having some extra time to catch up on new books from my favorite authors as well as some lesser known but just as exciting and brilliant independent authors.

I will have a new update on my second book in the Netherworld Trilogy soon and hope that everyone will continue to check back, as I am looking forward to updating my book much more often  again.

I hope everyone had a great summer and I am looking forward to Football Season being back!

Thanks,

David Kuklis    

Escape from Netherworld

If my book ever became a movie, I would love Anna Kendrick to play Piper!

As I continue to work on the second book in the Netherworld Trilogy, I had a dream that I received a call from Hollywood about making my first book into a movie.  They asked me to decide who I would want to try and get to play Piper. The name that came to me over and over was Anna Kendrick!

After watching Anna over the years in her movies, she has show her ability to have a massive range and makes you believe she was born to play that part. Piper is a major character in the book and goes through a large change when they ultimately end up in the alternate realm.  She goes from being just a human female to a female elf fighter/magic user.  Her mindset has completely changed based on becoming and thinking like an elf.  Ms. Kendrick has the amazing ability to flip the switch and make both identities of the character believable to the audience.  

As I continue to work on the series, Piper will quickly become an even stronger character now that she has adapted to becoming and living the life of a female elf.  Piper was already one of the most dangerous people to the group's enemies and as she hones her craft as a magic user, she will only become more powerful in the realm that they now live in. 

Anna Kendrick is an exceptional actor and would fit the role of Piper perfectly.  I know I was only dreaming when the idea came to me, but stranger things have happened.  Escape from Netherworld is the type of story that would work well as a movie, at least that is what I believe and have been told by many people who have read the book. It has tons of action, humor, some romance and a wide audience that could go from young adults all the way up the scale to people who would be nostalgic about playing Dungeons and Dragons with their friends when they were younger. There are large battle scenes, wizards, ogres, orcs, druids and much more. 

The basic premise of a group of friends going from dressing up and playing their characters on a set of caves near their home to falling into an alternate realm and actually becoming the characters that they played would be a new idea for Hollywood.  If this dream would ever come true, the first person I would ask to be involved is the beautiful and talented Anna Kendrick! 

Wil Wheaton is an Inspiration to Many

Thinking back to my childhood, one of my favorite movies that my family watched over and over was Stand by Me. We also watched all the Star Trek series through the years.  One of my favorite collectibles I still have from when I was young is a set of walkie-talkies from the original Star Trek series.  They are in amazing condition and actually still work.  Now, over the last number of years, my favorite series on TV is The Big Bang Theory. The one thing that all of these have in common is that Wil Wheaton was a part of all of them.

Wil Wheaton has been a big inspiration to me over the years.  Not only is he an actor, but he is also a gamer, and as everyone knows,  likes to blog and tweet.  We are close to the same age and grew up with the same shows, movies and video games.  Two of the biggest things that I admire is that he is a writer and his motivation in life.  There are a lot of actors that just do their job and go home.  The reason I was inspired by Mr. Wheaton is that he was not satisfied doing one job and calling it a day.

I strive to have just a portion of the motivation that he has demonstrated.  I have an everyday 9-5 job, run a sportscards and collectibles store online and I had my first book published this past year.

I am in the process of writing the second book in the series (working title for the series as of now is The Netherworld Trilogy).  I entered three book contests and won an Honorable Mention at the 2015 Hollywood Book Festival and Two Bronze Medals in the Epic Fantasy Category at the 2015 IPPY Awards and the 2015 Readers' Favorite Awards.

Using the Motivation and Dedication that I saw Wil Wheaton have in everything he does inspired me to continue with everything I was trying to accomplish even when times were tough with family health issues and financial shortfalls.  I have continued to have a positive attitude over the last several years and I will not stop until I reach my goals that I put forth for myself.

One idea that I am excited about is looking into possibly investigating to see if my book and the continued series would fit the mold that Hollywood would deem worthy of making into a movie someday.  I know those are big dreams but if you don't set your goals high, you will never get to where you want to be. This is why Wil Wheaton has been a big inspiration to me.  He did not stop at being an actor, he continued to branch out and accomplish many more things in different fields.

I just hope to one day be able to look back on this journey and say to myself, I was able to accomplish my dreams because I never gave up on them even when times were tough, and someone like Wil Wheaton  inspired me to give it my all.

 

2015 Readers' Favorite Awards

The Readers' Favorite Book Contest announced the Award Winners on September 1st and my book, Escape from Netherworld, won a Bronze Medal in the Fiction - Epic Fantasy Category.

I was excited because past winners for a Readers' Favorite Award include James Patterson and Jim Carrey won a gold medal for a children's book that he wrote. The Award ceremony is going to be held in Miami, Florida and here is a link to the 2015 contest winners:

https://readersfavorite.com/2015-award-contest-winners.htm

I also received 5 reviews from their professional reviewers, who believe me, really go over every detail and have a point system for critiquing the book. I actually had one reviewer point out that I did not use contractions enough throughout the book.  My point is out of my 5 reviews, I received three 5-Star Reviews and two 4-Star Reviews on a scale of 1-5. Here is a link to my review page and further information about my book:

 https://readersfavorite.com/book-review/escape-from-netherworld

One of my favorite things is that they will be displaying my book at the upcoming Miami Book Fair. Ten of thousands of people will be there in Miami.  I am excited for the ceremony and the fair.

I am in the process of writing the second book in the series, not sure of the book title yet but the series will be called the Netherworld Trilogy.  It is thrilling to receive the Readers' Favorite Bronze Medal to go along with the bronze medal in Fantasy that i won at the 2015 Ippy Awards.  It gives me confirmation that it is the right thing to do and continue the next book in the series.

Thank you to everyone who has read the book and supported me this past year and for those who are interested in possibly reading the book, you can go to my website and it gives you options on where to buy or download it, including Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

http://www.escapefromnetherworld.com/

Steel City Con in Piitsburgh only a week away!!!

I apologize for the length of time since my last post to the blog.  It has been a long month for my family, medically and emotionally.

Since my last post about winning a Bronze Medal in the National Category for Best Fantasy Novel at the 2015 IPPY Awards,

I was able to receive an honorable mention for Escape from Netherworld in the Young Adult Category in the 2015 Hollywood Book Festival as well.  I was thrilled about the mention, but disappointed that I was not able to make it to Hollywood for the awards.  They were held at the same hotel where the first Oscars were presented.

I have also been working on the second book in the series.  During a second printing of the first book, I am going to add the embossed medal from the IPPY Awards as well as, at the bottom of the first book's cover, I am adding the words First Book in the Netherworld Trilogy.

I just wanted everyone to know that I am hard at work deciding on what is next for the group of friends that were thrust into this alternate realm.  I always catch myself overwriting, I want to explain so much that is in my mind, but I know that I need to let the readers imagine a good bit of what is happening for themselves.

I am also going to be selling my book and signing autographs at the Steel City Con in Pittsburgh (The Monroeville Convention Center) August 7th-9th.  I will be located in the Artist's Alley with some amazing Authors, Artists and Illustrators.   Some of the Unbelievable Celebrities in attendance will be Adam West, Burt Ward, Julie Newmar, Nichelle Nichols, Tricia Helfer, Ralph Macchio and a bunch more.  You can check out more details at www.steelcitycon.com and I hope to see some of you there.

I hope to be able to post more often again since everything has started to get back to normal in my usually chaotic life.  I also would like to hear from some readers and get their opinions on what they thought of the first book in the Netherworld Trilogy. I wanted to share some artwork that I have been putting together with some of my characters or the book's cover. I will include one below and hope to have more posted in the future.

Thanks again for following along on this amazing and sometimes bumpy adventure as an author!

 

2015 IPPY Awards

The Independent Publisher Book Awards Ceremony is May 27th in New York.  I am proud to announce that Escape from Netherworld, my first published book, has won the bronze medal for best fantasy novel by an indie author in the national category. I am very excited and want to thank everyone that helped make this book possible. 

I am working on the second book in the series now and hope to be considered again when it is published. This award will motivate me further to make the 2nd book in the series even better than the first.

2015 Independent Publisher Book Awards Results

Here is the links to the results: http://www.independentpublisher.com/article.php?page=1936

11. FANTASY - Bronze

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Product Description

Escape from Netherworld, a thrilling tale of a group of friends whosesimulated war games go awry one weekend, sending them into an alternate realm from which there appears to be no escape.  The friends go from playing the game to living the game, as they become the characters that they created.

Travel along with these friends as they embark upon one harrowing adventure after another, befriending druids along the way and battling ogres and orcs with the help of an array of magic weapons. Watch them try to outwit the evil wizard who seems determined to keep them in this alternate world.

The battle scenes are vividly drawn and charged with suspense.

Will the group ever escape from this alternate world? 

You will find yourself rooting for them until the final outcome!

For David Kuklis the love of science fiction and fantasy began at an early age, when he and his brother, inspired by the game Dungeons and DragonsTM, staged similar games in their backyard and nearby woods. His uncle, a marine paralyzed from the neck down in Vietnam, usually ran the indoor games around the table, and his father was the inspiration for Twiggy, a major character in this book.

Draft Day is coming!!!!

NFL Draft day is closing in, which is basically my Christmas!!  I get everything ready in advance, make sure all the food is in the house for the weekend and prepare to enjoy four days of nothing but football and analysis of the draft.  

Along with my brother Joe, we have worked on the AFC North draft analysis for the OurLads draft magazine for a number of years now.  The cool part, which is included in the picture below, is the Steelers organization at the draft actually uses the draft magazine which is in his hands.  

We have actually been correct with a number of draft choices, including Jarvis Jones and David Decastro, among others picks throughout the seven rounds.  My choice last year was Mosley but the Steelers took Shazier, which we will need time to see him play healthy before really rating him as a player.

On to this year's draft.  The Steelers have a number of needs with legends retiring and players leaving via free agency.  The main needs are Cornerback(several actually), Linebacker(preferably outside), Safety with future Hall of Famer Troy Polamalu retiring and Depth at Tight end as Heath Miller adds another year to his stellar career.

I wanted to throw some names out there as possible 1st round picks for the Steelers, who have multiple needs and filling anyone of them will help tremendously.

The Steelers could take a cornerback first, someone like Trae Waynes or Marcus Peters if one drops to them, but with a deep corner draft, they may choose to fill the linebacker or safety need in round one. The only safety worth drafting in round one is Landon Collins. He may fall, but it is a long shot. The Steelers did trade up with the Chiefs years ago to secure Polamalu in the first round and we all see how that turned out.

The Steelers could go for the outside linebacker, as they are thin at the position and James Harrison is finishing up his huge career soon. Shane Ray out of Missouri would be big, but i don't think he will fall that far.  A solid option and a good chance of being there is Bud Dupree out of Kentucky. He would add instant pressure on the quarterback, helping the Steelers secondary in the process.

Well, the countdown is running and Christmas Day is almost here for me.  I hope you all enjoy Draft time and Go Steelers!!!!