Nashville

A Book for Christmas

My new book, Treasure of the Diary, seventh in the Mark Rollins Adventure series, has arrived just in time for Christmas

In the tradition of a rags-to-riches story, three Belmont college students find a one hundred and fifty year old diary written during the Civil War. Using their wit and modern technology, they discover the diary’s secret and their find sends them to Asheville and the western North Carolina mountains in search of buried treasure.

I think you will find Treasure of the Diary an enjoyable family friendly mystery. It is both educational and entertaining, weaving historical fiction and familiar places into a seemingly realistic adventure mystery.

And it would be a good choice for this year’s Christmas gifts!

And I ask a favor. After reading Treasure of the Diary , please post a review on the website where you made your purchase or on https://www.goodreads.com/.

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All my books are available from your favorite neighborhood bookstore or online source. Ebook and print editions are also available on Amazon, Google Play, Apple iBooks,  Smashwords, and other online bookstores. Audio editions are available on Amazon, iTunes and directly from Audible.com. For signed copies go to my website, tomcollinsauthor.com. Exploring Asheville was the 2022 winner of the Independent Press Award and the NYC Big Book Award for its literary category. My novel, Beyond Visual Range, was NYC Big Book 2022 Award’s Distinguished Favorite in Military Fiction.

Tale of Two Cities

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Nashville son in-law, Tom Davis, was just named Art Director of the year 2020 by the American Advertising Federation Nashville for the pro-bono design work on the We Are Nashville campaign which was awarded 19 Gold and 41 Silver Addys.

We Are Nashville is a privately funded, multi-year exploration of the New Nashville designed to foster understanding of who we are, inspire conversations that help us get to know one another, and take simple but meaningful actions that help our neighbors and preserve the special character of the city. For the story go to https://www.wearenashville.com/about/.

Nashville has many monikers that provide a clue to its complex character—Music City, Smashville, Buckle of the Bible Belt, Nashvegas, Cashville,The Protestant Vatican, and with over 20 Universities and colleges it has also earned the title Athens of the South.

Asheville son and daughter in-law, Stephen and Robin Collins, report they are on schedule to reopen Applewood Manor Bed and Breakfast Inn after major remodeling and upgrading. Part of the upgrade includes Applewood’s website, https://www.applewoodmanor.com, with a section devoted to stories about that unique city. Just as Nashville has a story to tell that Tom Davis and team put into the We are Nashville campaign, so does Asheville, North Carolina have its own story to tell and I just posted story number seventy-eight in that series and there are more are on the way. These are stories about things to do and see in Asheville, about people and events in the life of the city, its mysteries, ghost stories and tall tales. Asheville has been called many things—weirdest, happiest, quirkiest place in America, Santa Fe of the East, New Age Capital of the World, Paris of the South, Beer City USA, Most Haunted, Sky City and others. It has many secrets, mysteries, and legends—some factual, some alleged, some exaggerated and some just plain lies. Writing about the stories to put Asheville character on display has been a fun project.

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 For signed copies of books by Tom Collins, go to TomCollinsAuthor.com. Unsigned print and eBook editions are available on Amazon, Google Play, Apple iBooks, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, and other online bookstores. Audio editions are available on Amazon, iTunes and directly from Audible.com. Be sure to check out the latest Tom Collins Novel, Beyond Visual Range on Amazon.
Published by I-65 North, Inc.

The X-37B Returns to Space

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According to an article in Science Alert the mysterious X-37B space plane is returning to orbit, And for once we are being told why. Are you really sure about that? You can read the May 7, 2020 article by Christopher Wood by clicking on Science alert.  Or, you could just read about the X-37B in the fictional work Beyond Visual Range,  and  let your imagination run wild.

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For signed copies of books by Tom Collins, go to TomCollinsAuthor.com. Unsigned print and eBook editions are available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other online bookstores. Audio versions of The Claret Murders and  Diversion are available from iTunes, Audibles and Amazon. eBook editions are also available through Apple iTunes’ iBook’s Store and Smashwords.com.
 Be sure to check out the latest Tom Collins Novel, Beyond Visual Range on Amazon.
Published by I-65 North, Inc.

The Book is on the Printing Press!

Ingram has the print editions of Beyond Visual Range in the print queue. Unfortunately, the company just sent out the following notice:

“Please note that we are extending our current print turnaround times for some U.S. order types as we work diligently to uphold our commitment to the publishing industry while also protecting the health and well-being of our associates.”

Nevertheless, I would expect to see the print editions on Amazon within ten days and the eBook editions within two to three weeks. I must admit that my predictions on turnaround times have not been exactly accurate to date.  However, I think you will find this sixth book in the Mark Rollins Adventure series worth waiting for. To remind you about the story check out the video below:

One of the interesting things about the content of this and other videos is in the background. Check out the artwork and the bookcase contents—I always do when seeing interviews on TV or watching other video presentations.  

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For signed copies of books by Tom Collins, go to TomCollinsAuthor.com. Unsigned print and eBook editions are available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other online bookstores. Audio versions of The Claret Murders and  Diversion are available from iTunes, Audibles and Amazon. eBook editions are also available through Apple iTunes’ iBook’s Store and Smashwords.com.  Look for book number six in the Mark Rollins Adventure series coming soon.
Published by I-65 North, Inc.

End to Amazon's Exclusive Rights & Other Updates

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Until two weeks ago, Amazon had the exclusive right to market the eBook edition of my latest Mark Rollins mystery, Diversion. That exclusive period ended January 21, 2018. The eBook edition is now available for Barnes & Noble’s Nook, and the ePub edition is available from most eBook retailers and online book services including Smashwords. Within days it should become available, like my other five books, in Apple’s iBooks.

Speaking of iBooks, if you are among the many people who use The Language of Excellence as a management guide, download the book on your iPhone for an easy to use and always available reference tool.

Work is also underway for an audio edition of Diversion. I had the opportunity on January 28th, to listen to some of the completed chapters. I was impressed with the clarity and professionalism of the reader’s voice. If you prefer to listen to your books as your drive, you’ll be happy to know that within a few weeks Diversion with join The Claret Murders on Audible. Depending on demand, I may add the other three Mark Rollins mysters to Audible. 

On January 23th, I spoke at the breakfast meeting of the Exchange Club in Brentwood. The topic was my book, Diversion. Of course, that also included discussing the opioid crisis. Diversion is a fictional story, but that doesn’t mean that the opioid problem isn’t real. I was recently interviewed for the website Serious Reading. One of the interview questions was “How realistic are your books?” – and this was my answer. "I particularly like the disclaimer that my lawyers came up with. It has been on the copyright page of every one of my novels.

This is a work of fiction. While some of the names, character, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination and some are real, the events depicted herein are entirely fictitious and should not be considered real or factual.

That is a completely accurate description of my mysteries. They deal with real places, real events, and conditions to tell a fictional story. The Claret Murders uses the real-life Nashville flood as its canvas. Diversion uses the opioid crisis as the backdrop for its story.” 

Diversion is now available in eBook, paperback and hard cover editions soon to be follow by an audio version. ForewordClarion Reviews recently gave the book three stars and wrote,

This dramatic thriller reveals many dark truths about the opioid crisis. Fueled by a murder mystery and a missing girl, Tom Collins's page-turning thriller Diversion explores the opioid crisis and illegal drugs through myriad plotlines.... The book's many antagonists add intrigue and excitement. Lena and Carlos, two drug-dealing crime lords in Florida's pill mill enterprise, are crooked and manipulative, and their scheming creates constant uncertainty as to what will happen next. Tom Lewis and Rocco, two other corrupt adversaries, are sleazy and dishonest, and their role in the story results in astonishing developments." ForewordClarion Reviews

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For signed copies of books by Tom Collins, go to the TomCollinsAuthor.com. Unsigned print and eBook editions are available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other online bookstores. For Amazon go to www.amazon.com/Tom-Collins. For an audio edition of The Claret Murders go to http://amzn.com/B00IV5ZJEI. eBook editions are also available through Apple iTunes’ iBook’s Store and Smashwords.com. For the new adventure novel on Amazon go to Diversion: a Mark Rollins Adventure.
Published by I-65 North, Inc.

Stocking Stuffers



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 a 30% savings go to www.tomcollinsauthor.com and enter coupon code C214 when ordering signed copies of books by Tom Collins.


"The Language of Excellence just may be the only guide book to personal and business excellence you will ever need to read. A must-read for achievers."—Robert Hicks, New York Times 

Regarding his mysteries "Collins has a knack for painting a picture in the minds eye of the reader, using the history of Nashville and consistency of the characters leaving you wanting more."