Contemporary Authors

• Pirate Queen: Book of the Navigator - 2018 Raven Rock,

• facebook - https://www.facebook.com/nickklett

  About Nick Klett
  Work

  H.N. Klett
  Author

  Favorites
  Music

  [Pink Floyd]
  Pink Floyd

  Books

  [Cheekypee reads and reviews]
  Cheekypee reads and reviews

  Movies

  [The Princess Bride]
  The Princess Bride

  Television

  [Wilfred]
  Wilfred

  Sports Teams

  [Holowesko Citadel Racing Team p/b Arapahoe Resources]
  Holowesko Citadel Racing Team p/b Arapahoe Resources

  Other

  North Carolina Chapter of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Richard Hammond, Brooklynne Arevalo Real Estate Agent- Keller Williams of Johnson City, Art of Kelly Yates, Greensboro SF Book Club, Lunarbaboon, Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing, Historic Beaufort, NC, Studio Ghibli, Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina, We Are Greensboro, John Stossel, Tex & Shirley's Pancake House, Friendly Center, Mast Woodworks, Draft2Digital, The Drabblecast: Strange Stories for Strange Listeners, Lee Child, Mark Dawson, James P. Sumner, Guilford Gears Composite, Returning The Favor, Blackbeard's Pirate Jamboree on Ocracoke Island, The Cannon Crew, Saunders Ace Hardware, The Loose Cannon Company / Mr. Willis, Rachel Aaron, Society19, Northwest Observer, William C. Tracy, Southeast German Shepherd Rescue, German Shepherd Rescue and Adoptions, Guilford County Animal Services, American Library Association, UNCG Sigma Phi Epsilon NC Omicron, Barnes & Noble (Greensboro, NC), Chick-fil-A Sudley Manor Drive, North Carolina Department of Agriculture, Nick Hollick - Realtor, Rachel J. Somer Author, Boyd Craven - Author, Ben Schenkman - Author, John Corwin - Author, Author A'Shanti Sanders, Ben Sanders - Author, Summerfield Scoop, Victoria Scott, Jeff Joseph - Author, The Library of America, The Lexile Framework for Reading, Public Libraries, Indie Author Book Club, Seagrass Whimsical Gifts, Page 158 Books, Books to be Red, Cultivator Bookstore, Sunrise Books, Books Unlimited, CityCenter GalleryandBooks, PAGE AFTER PAGE BOOKSTORE, The Regulator Bookshop, Duck's Cottage Coffee & Books, Main Street Books -- Davidson, NC, Buxton Village Books, Inc, Highland Books, Foggy Pine Books, Spellbound Children's Bookshop, Malaprop's Bookstore/Cafe, Scuttlebutt - Nautical Books and Bounty, Batdad, Dork Side Productions, Tom Cavanagh, Dewey's Bakery, Book Barbarian, Mike Rowe WORKS, Mike Rowe, Traditional Maps, The Alliance of Independent Authors, Vote Nobody 2020, Fayettevillecomiccon, Pikko's House, Neuse Sport Shop, Nathan Fillion, Harris Teeter, Danae Wulfe's Adventures of Captain Solaris, Kerrie Rose - Author, Cycle Star, Obvious Plant, Lana Kortchik, Irish Pirate Trading Co. & Pub, West Marine (Morehead City, NC), Emerald Isle Books, The Irish Pirate Trading Co., Marissa Meyer, YA Author, 李连杰 Jet Li, Barnes & Noble Educators, NOOK, Amazon Kindle, Alivia Anders, Author, Wake County Public Libraries, Chris Pratt, Our State Magazine, ReviewBuzz, BookBub, James May, Ward Black Law, Del Rey Books, Penguin Random House, Patrick Rothfuss, Kingdom Destinations - Sara Rohrbach, Chris Riddell, Adam Croft, Write and Publish Your Book: A Workshop, J. A. King Mountain Bike Team, Beaufort Pirate Invasion, Viking Books, Penguin Teen, Shelf Awareness, NPR Books, Book Riot, BookExpo, McKay's Winston-Salem, Books on Facebook, McKay's Greensboro, Richard Fox, Author, Tor Books, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Lightspeed Magazine, Dwayne The Rock Johnson, Nerds Raging, Self-Publishing Roundtable, The Russo Brothers, Marvel, The Oatmeal, Bored Panda, Benedict Cumberbatch, Robert Downey Jr, Jeremy Clarkson, Stan Lee, Image Comics, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, James Gunn, Amy Neill Wellness, Brian Ahern, Liberty Mutual Insurance Agent, Megan Bracy - Northside Realty, Your New Life - Health & Fitness with Jenn, Suzanne Jalot Radio, This Is Ground, BB&T Lighthouse Project, Ryan Reynolds, Geek & Sundry, Clarkesworld Magazine, Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Berkeley Breathed's Bloom County, H.N. Klett, Lore Podcast, EQUO, Publishers Weekly, Tor.com, Scribner Books, Simon & Schuster, Putnam Books, HarperCollins, William Morrow, Towel Day, Acme Comics Presents, Neil Gaiman, North Carolina Writers' Network, Quail Ridge Books, Downtown Greenway Greensboro, NC, Scuppernong Books, Acme Comics, Scrivener, Stephen King, Writers Helping Writers, Writer's Digest, The Creative Penn, K.M. Weiland, 360 REALTY, Ariel North America, Coffee Reading Writing, The Writer's Almanac, Kim Chance, Zig Ziglar, Neal Stephenson, Orson Scott Card, John Scalzi, Philip K. Dick, Isaac Asimov, Jim Rohn, Les Brown, Tony Robbins

• Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickklett

  Nick Klett ☆

  Author, Podcaster, Producer, Presenter

  Browns Summit, North Carolina
  Computer Software

  Current

  Raven Rock Press, Self Employed, Gate City Traders

  Previous

  SilkRoad technology, Buck Consultants LLC, A XEROX Company, SilkRoad Technology

  Education

  University of North Carolina at Greensboro

  Recommendations 4 people have recommended Nick Klett ☆
  Websites

  Company Website

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  Summary

  H.N.Klett is a writer, podcast producer, warrior poet and (possibly) a madman, who hails from Raleigh, North Carolina. A natural story teller, H.N. has been writing and telling tales since he was a little boy, inundating teachers, professors, and anyone who would listen with his poetry, plays, short stories and novels. He uses life experiences of creating and breaking things to weave stories of intrigue, fantasy, science fiction, and humor.

  He has been described as a maniac armed with a pen and has created a swath of destruction in his wake. In the process of creating his first book he successfully broke an unbreakable computer, shattered a shatterproof case, and annihilated several other machines much to the chagrin of his friends and loved ones. He is kept in Greensboro, North Carolina for your safety.

  Visit him at www.hnklett.com
  Experience

  Independent Business Owner
  Raven Rock Press
  January 2015 – Present (3 years 6 months)Greensboro/Winston-Salem, North Carolina Area

  Owner/ Founder of Raven Rock Press, a publishing Co-Op
  Consultant
  Self Employed
  September 2014 – Present (3 years 10 months)
  Owner
  Gate City Traders
  August 2014 – Present (3 years 11 months)Greensboro/Winston-Salem, North Carolina Area
  SilkRoad technology
  Business Development - Dedicated Administration
  SilkRoad technology
  June 2012 – August 2014 (2 years 3 months)

  "He who knows how
  will always work for
  he knows why."

  Heading up business development for the Dedicated Administration program, I specialized in the communication, collaboration, and co-ordination of efforts to help achieve clients goals of becoming proactive users of our solutions, especially when they are tasked to do more with less.

  I work with clients to better scope issues and review goals to see where they are and help plan to get to where they want to be. With the help of a dedicated resource, we can help to ensure success by tending to their administrative needs as well as helping to be that knowledge trust to drive adoption and understanding of the capabilities of our solutions in relation to their goals.
  SilkRoad technology
  Inside Sales, Consultant
  SilkRoad technology
  February 2011 – June 2012 (1 year 5 months)

  • Hit the ground running on a distressed territory and exceeded first active quarter goal by 14%.
  • Helped team jump from bottom of sales board to maintaining a dominant top 10% of company ranking.
  • Scripted, planned, and managed calls and campaigns for multi state territory.
  Buck Consultants LLC, A XEROX Company
  Inside Sales, Consultant
  Buck Consultants LLC, A XEROX Company
  April 2009 – February 2011 (1 year 11 months)

  • Successful record managing inside sales for 15 states and 4 regional offices setting two office records.
  • Spearheaded recent Salesforce overhaul to workflows, campaigns and reporting.
  • Designer and manager of department intranet site and interdepartmental communications.
  SilkRoad Technology
  Inside Sales - Regional Account Analyst
  SilkRoad Technology
  September 2007 – April 2009 (1 year 8 months)

  • Department MVP multiple times in 2008.
  • Held two company records for sales performance.
  • Created, wrote, and maintained company’s sales resource wikipedia.
  Vice President of Small Balance Lending
  Burgess Funding Group
  February 2007 – September 2007 (8 months)

  • Managed outside sales of all lending relationships with loan amounts under $5,000,000.
  • Trained, mentored and managed success of remote staff of five.
  • Created and engineered company’s intranet and list serve system.
  Assistant Branch Manager
  Right Choice Mortgage
  December 2005 – February 2007 (1 year 3 months)

  • Outside Sales Manager responsible for day to day operations of the branch, sales training of a staff.
  • Lead trainer of product knowledge of over 60 lenders with multiple product lines for staff.
  • Created list serves, intranets, and communications systems for each individual branch (Greensboro,
  Raleigh, Charlotte NC).
  Senior Mortgage Planner
  Eagle Mortgage
  July 2004 – December 2005 (1 year 6 months)

  • Top 3% in sales production and volume for company.
  • Maintained consistent 1.3 million dollars in active loans in the pipeline.
  • Designed company list serve communications system and hosted and maintained company website.
  Senior Account Executive
  Beneficial Finance - a Division of HSBC
  January 2001 – July 2004 (3 years 7 months)

  • Ranked top 10% in district sales within first six months, consistent top 5% producer in multiple state
  sales district thereafter.
  • Consistently ranked #1 in supplemental insurance sales for the district.
  • Promoted to Senior Account Executive in first six months of selling and placed in management
  training program.

  Education

  University of North Carolina at Greensboro
  University of North Carolina at Greensboro
  BS, Psychology / English
  1993 – 1998

  Double Major - Psychology and English

  Activities and Societies: Sigma Phi Epsilon

  Skills

  Salesforce.comSaaSOnboardingApplicant Tracking SystemsPerformance ManagementCRMSales OperationsTrainingSales ProcessTalent ManagementBusiness DevelopmentRecruitingSellingSalesProgram ManagementSee 35+

  How's this translation?

  Great•Has errors

  Projects

  SilkRoad Dedicated Administration - Click for one page description
  Starting June 2012

  The SilkRoad Dedicated Administrator service provides a specialized and highly skilled "black belt" to help drive user adoption and maximize the value of your SilkRoad solution.

  Your SDA works as an extension of your team; offering strategic insight and assisting with any configuration or daily HR tasks within your SilkRoad solution.

  Team members:
  Nick Klett ☆

  Website design and Creation - GeneralGreenePTA.org
  October 2014 – October 2014

  Design, creation, content and administration for the General Greene Elementary school of Science and Technology website.

  Team members:
  Nick Klett ☆

  Co-Host / Producer/ Writer - Hank’s Garage podcast
  2007 – 2007

  It was a great call in show with master mechanic Henry Drury where he would answer questions from callers about their cars and their restoration projects. It was quite popular, but as his demand and expertise grew, his time shrank and we put the show on indefinite hiatus.

  Team members:
  Nick Klett ☆

  Host / Producer / Writer- The Loanfinder podcast
  2007 – 2007

  The podcast was for lending professionals and members of the industry showcasing new lending programs, discussing issues in the industry, and featured a call in segment with featured guests. The website and met of the content is gone, but a few episodes still remain on iTunes.

  Team members:
  Nick Klett ☆

  Publications

  Pirate Queen: Book of the Navigator
  Raven Rock Press
  January 2017

  Hailey Heartstone’s life is swept into a storm of peril after she stumbles upon an ancient talking book, the book of the legendary Pirate Queen. Once unlocked, its dangerous power thrusts her into a world full of deadly mists and phantom pirates intent on recovering what once was theirs.

  Kidnapped from her family, Hailey must face true fear as she is forced into a journey to protect the power that she found and seek out those willing to help her save all that she loves before it is too late.

  Authors:
  Nick Klett ☆

  Organizations

  Sigma Phi Epsilon
  Chapter Secretary, Alumni Board

  Past work:
  - Executive Board member, undergraduate chapter
  - Re-Chartering Board/ Aumni board for Duke University
  - Alumni Board UNC Greensboro
  - Creator of the NC Omicron Chapter Alumni List Serve

• Melville House - https://www.mhpbooks.com/a-fourteen-year-old-complained-to-her-parents-friend-that-theres-no-girl-indiana-jones-so-he-wrote-her-one/

  February 16, 2017
  A fourteen-year-old complained to her parents’ friend that there’s “no girl Indiana Jones,” so he wrote her one
  by Taylor Sperry

  When you’re editing a book, you generally try to temper criticism with praise, exercise some delicacy when it comes to suggestions. Kill the darlings gently. But fourteen-year-old Hailey Keller isn’t having any of that.

  When Hailey, an avid reader, complained to her parents’ friend Nick Klett that there weren’t enough action or adventure books for and about girls, Klett got to work writing one — and ran his drafts by Hailey.

  “It was a lot of, ‘This sucks,’” Klett told Kate Elizabeth Queram at the Greensboro News & Record. “So then it was just a matter of establishing, ‘OK, what exactly sucks?’ She was brutal. Absolutely brutal. But that’s what I needed, because she’s the target market.”

  She also inspired the book’s hero, Hailey Heartstone, and served as a model for the cover. The book is called Pirate Queen: Book of the Navigator, and the design “was drawn from dozens of photos of Keller, clad in a [pirate] costume handmade by her grandmother.”

  Pirate Queen was self-published on January 17, presumably without any of the parts that sucked.

• Author's site - http://hnklett.com/

  H.N.Klett is a writer, podcast producer, warrior poet and (possibly) a madman, who hails from Raleigh, North Carolina. A natural storyteller, H.N. has been writing and telling tales since he was a little boy, inundating teachers, professors, and anyone who would listen with his poetry, plays, short stories, and novels. He uses life experiences of creating and breaking things to weave stories of intrigue, fantasy, science fiction, and humor.

  He has been described as a maniac armed with a pen and has created a swath of destruction in his wake. In the process of creating his first book he successfully broke an unbreakable computer, shattered a shatterproof case, and annihilated several other machines much to the chagrin of his friends and loved ones. He is kept in Greensboro, North Carolina for your safety.

• News & Record - http://www.greensboro.com/news/local_news/guilford-girl-inspires-series-of-pirate-books-video/article_4491681a-2495-52e6-91cf-a40026f25b1b.html

  Guilford girl inspires series of pirate books (Video)

  By Kate Elizabeth Queram kate.queram@greensboro.com Feb 14, 2017 (…)

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  GREENSBORO — Hailey Heartstone’s life begins on a far-flung planet named Ephryae, in an undisclosed time period.

  But her life really began last year in Greensboro, when H.N. Klett arrived at Northern Guilford Middle School to drive Hailey Keller home from school.

  “We were talking in the car,” said Klett, a local author and longtime friend of Keller’s parents. “I asked what she was reading, and she said, ‘Nothing.’ ”

  But not really by choice.

  Keller, 14, likes to read, preferably a paperback, ideally while sitting high in the branches of a tree. But she prefers adventure books, and most of the young adult novels in that genre leave all the adventuring to the boys.

  “Most of the girls in the books I’d read would sit in a corner, or baby-sit a prince’s son,” she said. “And I just thought that was really boring. I told him there were no action or adventure books for girls. There’s no girl Indiana Jones.”

  Klett, who had been working on a science fiction book for adults, was inspired. The next day, he went to local bookstores to peruse the young adult section and found that Keller was right. So he decided to write the book she hadn’t been able to find — and to base the main character, in part, on her.

  “I have a 10-year-old daughter. I didn’t like the idea of her growing up in a world without a female hero,” Klett said. “They’re usually the damsel in distress, and I don’t think that’s OK. So I dropped what I was working on and decided to go do it.”

  The result — “Pirate Queen: Book of the Navigator” — was released Jan. 17. The self-published science fiction-fantasy novel, Klett’s first, follows the adventures of the aforementioned Hailey Heartstone, the teenage daughter of a merchant sailor who spends her childhood on ships, sailing the high seas.

  “Her mother died three years ago, and her grandma is trying to shove her up the social ladder to marry a noble,” Keller said. “And Hailey does not want to do that.”

  Keller helped Klett with the novel from the beginning. She and her mother, Robin, served as beta readers for the manuscript, providing feedback and editorial comments.

  Robin’s comments came in the form of scrupulous notes (a carryover from her full-time job as clerk for the Guilford County Board of Commissioners). Hailey’s suggestions were delivered in a somewhat less traditional format.

  “It was a lot of, ‘This sucks,’ ” Klett said. “So then it was just a matter of establishing, ‘OK, what exactly sucks?’ She was brutal. Absolutely brutal. But that’s what I needed, because she’s the target market.”

  Keller, not wanting to risk possible spoilers, was hesitant to give specific examples of things she disliked.

  “I can say that I didn’t like the fight scene,” she said. “I can’t tell you why, but let’s just say it wasn’t dramatic enough.”

  She was similarly vague about her favorite scene, saying only that at some point Hailey Heartstone “meets the queen in person, and then — well, things happen.”

  Keller also served as the novel’s cover model. The art — Heartstone, clad in a pirate outfit, clutching a ship’s rigging and gazing into the distance — was drawn from dozens of photos of Keller, clad in a costume handmade by her grandmother.

  And she’s in the process of lending her voice to a version of the audiobook. (Klett recorded the other.) Keller participates in theater at school but only behind the scenes as a crew member, so reading into a microphone and using different voices took some getting used to. It got easier, she said, once she kicked Klett out of the room.

  “He’s not allowed in there with me anymore,” she said. “Now before I read I normally take a couple of deep breaths and read the paragraph over a few times.”

  The easy part? Reading the material with enthusiasm. Despite her myriad critiques of the manuscript, Keller’s happy with the finished product. “Book of the Navigator” — the first in a planned series of at least four “Pirate Queen” adventure books — is a story she’d like even if she hadn’t contributed to it.

  “It’s really good,” she said. “I got into the story and read it a lot faster than what I would normally read.”

Pirate Queen: Book of the Navigator
Publishers Weekly. 265.4 (Jan. 22, 2018): p86.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Pirate Queen: Book of the Navigator

H.N. Klett. Raven Rock, $14.99 paper (264p)

ISBN 978-0-9979699-0-0

Klett confidently balances several genre elements--fantasy, SF, steampunk, and more--in his debut novel, first in a planned series. Hailey Heartstone is the daughter of a well-to-do merchant sea captain, and she spends most of her time with her father on the high seas, learning everything there is to know about shipboard life. Upon becoming a teenager, Hailey's usefulness as a navigator gives way to her family's desire for her to become a proper young lady and take her place in a society that preaches that the way to salvation is through bettering one's station, marrying well, and adhering to the doctrines espoused by the Church of the Ancients. Hailey's thirst for knowledge becomes her downfall after she discovers a powerful book that communicates with her--and that the Church and Crown are eager to possess. What follows is a perilous journey into the lands of pirates and a fated quest for the truth. Equal parts thought exercise, rollicking adventure, and cautionary tale, Klett's novel should captivate readers with its simple yet elegant language and the slow unspooling of mysteries and revelations. Ages 12-up. (BookLife)

Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Pirate Queen: Book of the Navigator." Publishers Weekly, 22 Jan. 2018, p. 86. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A525839864/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=0339eb34. Accessed 4 June 2018.

Gale Document Number: GALE|A525839864

• Koeur's Book Reviews
  https://koeur.wordpress.com/2017/01/21/review-pirate-queen-book-of-the-navigator-by-h-n-klett/
  Word count: 325

  Review: Pirate Queen: Book of the Navigator by H.N. Klett

  cover104652-medium

  Publisher: Raven Rock Press

  Publishing Date: January 2017

  ISBN: 9780997969917

  Genre: Fantasy/YA

  Rating: 3.7/5

  Publishers Description: Hailey Heartstone’s life is swept into a storm of peril after she stumbles upon an ancient talking book, the book of the legendary Pirate Queen. Once unlocked, its dangerous power thrusts her into a world full of deadly mists and phantom pirates intent on recovering what once was theirs. Kidnapped from her family, Hailey must face true fear as she is forced into a journey to protect the power that she found and seek out those willing to help her save all that she loves before it is too late.

  Review: I could have sworn that this novel was written by a woman as the perspective is spot on when viewed through Hailey’s eyes. Hailey is special, but that’s ok here because the pirate book tells her so and yet she still wanders around in disbelief. Hailey, like most heroines, are written as being at once really smart and dumber than a bag of hotdogs. Why this is so, is mainly to build the plot and embellish the story line. It really is not needed when you have a strong protagonist, yet some feel it is necessary in order to develop the supporting characters.

  This was a fun and imaginative romp through a world imbued with sinister royalty, good pirates, ancient tech and an airship! This novel was not only creative but highly entertaining. “So why you no give 5 stars!!”. You will know it when you read it, but Orin’s demise was not needed as it halted the movement and destroyed a good chunk of the plot. Additionally there were numerous grammatical errors.

  I will definitely get the next in the series.