A fairly short story that definitely passed my standard test: can I put it down? This one took me away from my responsibilities for the better part of an hour, and I feel not one bit of regret. The review posted on Goodreads and Amazon is below, but I will repeat my one complaint with this work - I don't really consider it to be a short story. This is better labelled as a serial. It reads like a chapter in a larger work rather than a stand-alone. I caught this story when it was offered for free on Amazon, so I can't really complain, but I'll probably wait to see if all the stories are bundled into a single release before I make a purchase. IF I can wait!
Rated: 4 stars
Review posted at Goodreads and Amazon:
Even though this is the second in the series, I didn't have any trouble following it without reading the first. The story had a fast pace and was hard to put down. Actually, since it is a relatively short story, I didn't put it down until the end. The author packs a lot of good character development and plot into the pages without it feeling rushed.
My only complaint with this story is that it is obviously part of a larger work in progress. I would much rather have the entire story in my hands. As it stands now though, the author has my interest and I am compelled to get the rest of the installments for more of the story.
Well played, Mrs. Andrews. Well played.
Monday, May 4, 2015
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
Book Review - The Princess and the Fool by Paul Neafcy
Found this little jewel in an group for indie authors on Goodreads. I've pasted the review I left on Amazon and Goodreads below, but I wanted to add a few more things here.
I tend to judge books by how much I will neglect other things in order to keep returning to the story. In that respect, this book triumphed. The author was very successful in creating scene breaks that encouraged the reader to continue without being on a constant cliffhanger. There's a delicate balance there between keeping the reader interested and keeping them on edge. Being interested can be sustained without becoming irritating, but keeping your reader constantly dangling can become tiresome. At least that's my opinion. At any rate, he kept me wanting to come back for more.
I will not give away the ending, but will say it was my only complaint. I understand the ending, but it's not the way I would have preferred to see it. Still, it doesn't detract from my scoring of the book, nor does it dissuade me from recommending it to others.
The author promises more to come from this duo, and I am looking forward to more adventures.
Rated: 4 stars
The posted review follows below.
This was a fast and fun read. There was enough action that I had a hard time putting it down and I can't recall times where it dragged. It certainly delivered on the promise of humor as well, with several actual laugh out loud moments (one of which earned a scowl from my wife who was watching a movie).
Instead of using traditional chapters, the author uses scene breaks headed with the character whose PoV from which it will be told. This kept the story interesting and allowed the reader to see the same event from several different angles. I found only one or two instances where it seemed to create a strange verb tense scenario that tripped me up. Overall though, I enjoyed the effect.
The author does a good job of worldbuilding using excerpts from stories within his world, providing something much more interesting to read than the dreaded "infodump".The author suggests more to come from this dynamic duo and I am looking forward to seeing more adventures from them.
I tend to judge books by how much I will neglect other things in order to keep returning to the story. In that respect, this book triumphed. The author was very successful in creating scene breaks that encouraged the reader to continue without being on a constant cliffhanger. There's a delicate balance there between keeping the reader interested and keeping them on edge. Being interested can be sustained without becoming irritating, but keeping your reader constantly dangling can become tiresome. At least that's my opinion. At any rate, he kept me wanting to come back for more.
I will not give away the ending, but will say it was my only complaint. I understand the ending, but it's not the way I would have preferred to see it. Still, it doesn't detract from my scoring of the book, nor does it dissuade me from recommending it to others.
The author promises more to come from this duo, and I am looking forward to more adventures.
Rated: 4 stars
The posted review follows below.
This was a fast and fun read. There was enough action that I had a hard time putting it down and I can't recall times where it dragged. It certainly delivered on the promise of humor as well, with several actual laugh out loud moments (one of which earned a scowl from my wife who was watching a movie).
Instead of using traditional chapters, the author uses scene breaks headed with the character whose PoV from which it will be told. This kept the story interesting and allowed the reader to see the same event from several different angles. I found only one or two instances where it seemed to create a strange verb tense scenario that tripped me up. Overall though, I enjoyed the effect.
The author does a good job of worldbuilding using excerpts from stories within his world, providing something much more interesting to read than the dreaded "infodump".The author suggests more to come from this dynamic duo and I am looking forward to seeing more adventures from them.
Tuesday, April 7, 2015
Book Review: John Dies at the End by David Wong
It's an older book, I know, but I just got around to reading it. Below is the review I posted on Goodreads. Enjoy!
I love the smell of lavender. It has been associated with calming and soothing effects for probably centuries. When I was suffering from a slight cold, my wife suggested a little lavender oil to help me sleep, and I readily agreed. It was then I discovered the darker side of this sneaky flower. While it does promote a deep and more restful sleep in most people, it can also cause vivid and bizarre dreams. I don't remember the dreams now, only the feeling of them. So real I felt for days like there was some task or job I desperately needed to do, but couldn't remember. The strangest part - I kinda want to try it again.
Why do I mention this? Simple. The first two days I spent a decent amount of time reading this book, my nights were like those of my lavender trip. Bizarre and surreal dreams. It was awesome.
Now, the actual review. Does this book overuse juvenile words like "retarded" and "stupid"? Yes. Did those words fit the situation in which they were used? Absolutely. Could the author have come up with better alternatives? I would certainly hope so. Would the narrator the author created have bothered with trying to find different words to describe the situation he was in? Hell no. Does this book contain too many penis jokes? Define "too many". Look, if you can't laugh at a few dozen penis jokes and references then you should probably just move on to another book.
I actually watched (and enjoyed) the movie before I read the book. If you liked the movie, then I would highly recommend the book. It won't necessarily make anything clearer, but it's an even wilder ride.
I love the smell of lavender. It has been associated with calming and soothing effects for probably centuries. When I was suffering from a slight cold, my wife suggested a little lavender oil to help me sleep, and I readily agreed. It was then I discovered the darker side of this sneaky flower. While it does promote a deep and more restful sleep in most people, it can also cause vivid and bizarre dreams. I don't remember the dreams now, only the feeling of them. So real I felt for days like there was some task or job I desperately needed to do, but couldn't remember. The strangest part - I kinda want to try it again.
Why do I mention this? Simple. The first two days I spent a decent amount of time reading this book, my nights were like those of my lavender trip. Bizarre and surreal dreams. It was awesome.
Now, the actual review. Does this book overuse juvenile words like "retarded" and "stupid"? Yes. Did those words fit the situation in which they were used? Absolutely. Could the author have come up with better alternatives? I would certainly hope so. Would the narrator the author created have bothered with trying to find different words to describe the situation he was in? Hell no. Does this book contain too many penis jokes? Define "too many". Look, if you can't laugh at a few dozen penis jokes and references then you should probably just move on to another book.
I actually watched (and enjoyed) the movie before I read the book. If you liked the movie, then I would highly recommend the book. It won't necessarily make anything clearer, but it's an even wilder ride.
Wednesday, March 18, 2015
If you could have any superpower...
The question any geek or nerd should be able to answer. No, more than that, should be able to explain why they picked that specific power. For me, this was a dreaded question.
When I was young it was no big deal - flight. Sure, that's an easy one, and no one is really going to fight you over it. But it's so lazy. I also never really "felt" it either. Know what I mean? Like I picked it because I had to pick something, not because I wanted to pick it.
Then puberty hit and the power changed to invisibility. One reason - girl's locker room. High fives all around. Of course, it's still a lazy choice, and was mainly just for the laughs.
After that came adulthood, and the problem went away. Wrong! Any geek/nerd knows this question is fair game at any time, and if you don't have an answer by this point in your life, then who are you really? The pressure was just becoming too much.
Enter the book Jumper by Steven Gould (my hero). It's the story of a boy who discovers he has the ability to teleport to any location he has seen, and by the end of the novel I knew what power I would pick. My choice was cemented with the sequel - Reflex.
Flight? Forget about it. This is potentially faster than light travel we're talking about. Invisibility? Hey is that someone over there? Poof! Nope, don't see anything. Superpower choice made - check.
Did you see the movie? I did. It was entertaining and the reason I decided to read the books, BUT it was the books that made me decide to pick teleportation. The movie isn't much like the books at all, taking just a piece of the story here and there. Gould actually wrote another book after the movie that more closely resembles it called Jumper: Griffin's Story. It was not nearly as fun to read as the first two books.
Well, that's it, a huge weight lifted from my shoulders. Now I can focus on other important questions, like which Batman do I like best, or in what way would I most enjoy seeing Jar Jar meet his demise?
When I was young it was no big deal - flight. Sure, that's an easy one, and no one is really going to fight you over it. But it's so lazy. I also never really "felt" it either. Know what I mean? Like I picked it because I had to pick something, not because I wanted to pick it.
Then puberty hit and the power changed to invisibility. One reason - girl's locker room. High fives all around. Of course, it's still a lazy choice, and was mainly just for the laughs.
After that came adulthood, and the problem went away. Wrong! Any geek/nerd knows this question is fair game at any time, and if you don't have an answer by this point in your life, then who are you really? The pressure was just becoming too much.
Enter the book Jumper by Steven Gould (my hero). It's the story of a boy who discovers he has the ability to teleport to any location he has seen, and by the end of the novel I knew what power I would pick. My choice was cemented with the sequel - Reflex.
Flight? Forget about it. This is potentially faster than light travel we're talking about. Invisibility? Hey is that someone over there? Poof! Nope, don't see anything. Superpower choice made - check.
Did you see the movie? I did. It was entertaining and the reason I decided to read the books, BUT it was the books that made me decide to pick teleportation. The movie isn't much like the books at all, taking just a piece of the story here and there. Gould actually wrote another book after the movie that more closely resembles it called Jumper: Griffin's Story. It was not nearly as fun to read as the first two books.
Well, that's it, a huge weight lifted from my shoulders. Now I can focus on other important questions, like which Batman do I like best, or in what way would I most enjoy seeing Jar Jar meet his demise?
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics
So, in my quest to become a traditionally published author I stumbled upon a rather disturbing statistic - the average book published today will sell less than 200 copies. That's it. Am I the only one who finds this crazy?
Granted, the number of books published each year has exploded to well over a million titles, which has no doubt been a factor, but let's look at some numbers.
Let's start with the biggest pool we can - seven billion people on this planet. Now we start filtering it. Even if you just limit it to the number of people in the US (assuming you are an English writing author, and excluding other predominately English speaking countries), you've got 316 million potentials. Literacy rates are arguable, but I've seen around 186 million with at least a basic literacy rate.
There's your number - 186 million. Yet, my book will most likely only land in the hands of 200 of them. That's less than 0.0001%. One in 930,000. I haven't done the math, but my feeling is there's a better chance someone will win the lottery while being attacked by a shark than they will purchase my book.
I think I'm going to throw up.
Granted, the number of books published each year has exploded to well over a million titles, which has no doubt been a factor, but let's look at some numbers.
Let's start with the biggest pool we can - seven billion people on this planet. Now we start filtering it. Even if you just limit it to the number of people in the US (assuming you are an English writing author, and excluding other predominately English speaking countries), you've got 316 million potentials. Literacy rates are arguable, but I've seen around 186 million with at least a basic literacy rate.
There's your number - 186 million. Yet, my book will most likely only land in the hands of 200 of them. That's less than 0.0001%. One in 930,000. I haven't done the math, but my feeling is there's a better chance someone will win the lottery while being attacked by a shark than they will purchase my book.
I think I'm going to throw up.
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Are you any good at chess?
I'm not. I completely suck at it. Despite the fact that I have known how to play since I was in elementary school, I still am consistently trounced by the computer set on Easy skill level. My problem? (Because obviously there is one) I don't think far enough ahead to beat my opponent. Recognizing this should have made me feel better, after all "knowing is half the battle", but it didn't. If you're not willing to fight the other half then knowing doesn't do jack squat for you.
For a long time this particularfault quality of my personality worried me as it applies to my aspirations for becoming a writer. How can I write a well planned and cohesive novel if I don't think ahead? But, much like I play a game of chess, I plowed forward, making the moves I felt like and dealing with consequences as they came. When I finished that first novel I was pleasantly surprised to find myself NOT defeated. There was a complete novel in my hands - it had a beginning and an end with characters, plot, conflict, and resolution. So, I wrote another. I am now writing a third, and nothing has changed about how I approach writing them, except perhaps I'm a little more comfortable with my ways.
What changed? I read a little book by Stephen King called "On Writing". He was the first "adult" author I ever read, and I've definitely read more books by him than any other single author, so I dare say his writing has influenced my own more than any other. I don't know why it took me so long to read his book about the craft of writing, but I'm kicking myself now for not reading it sooner. Reading about his own process for writing a novel made me think that he doesn't plan too far ahead either. One part I remember clearly is a comment he made about the joy (and shock) of seeing your characters come to life while you are writing them. I immediately thought, "That's happened to me!" I had a specific phrase I wanted a character to utter in order to move the conversation in a certain direction, but no matter how many times I tried to get them to say it, they did their own thing. In the end it was either force the phrase or go with what came out when I wrote it (for the tenth time). I went with what I wrote and just moved on.
Forcing your characters to do one thing when they want so badly to do something else is NEVER a good thing. I still jot down little notes or phrases I think I want to see in the next few sentences, but I no longer try to force them. My characters will let me know if I'm on the right track (if I let them). So, when I try to explain to people that I have a general idea of how I want things to start and end, but not much about the middle, I don't worry so much about their doubtful expressions.
So, if I ever am so fortunate as to meet Mr. King, I think that will be on my list of questions I'd like to ask him: "Are you any good at chess?"
For a long time this particular
What changed? I read a little book by Stephen King called "On Writing". He was the first "adult" author I ever read, and I've definitely read more books by him than any other single author, so I dare say his writing has influenced my own more than any other. I don't know why it took me so long to read his book about the craft of writing, but I'm kicking myself now for not reading it sooner. Reading about his own process for writing a novel made me think that he doesn't plan too far ahead either. One part I remember clearly is a comment he made about the joy (and shock) of seeing your characters come to life while you are writing them. I immediately thought, "That's happened to me!" I had a specific phrase I wanted a character to utter in order to move the conversation in a certain direction, but no matter how many times I tried to get them to say it, they did their own thing. In the end it was either force the phrase or go with what came out when I wrote it (for the tenth time). I went with what I wrote and just moved on.
Forcing your characters to do one thing when they want so badly to do something else is NEVER a good thing. I still jot down little notes or phrases I think I want to see in the next few sentences, but I no longer try to force them. My characters will let me know if I'm on the right track (if I let them). So, when I try to explain to people that I have a general idea of how I want things to start and end, but not much about the middle, I don't worry so much about their doubtful expressions.
So, if I ever am so fortunate as to meet Mr. King, I think that will be on my list of questions I'd like to ask him: "Are you any good at chess?"
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
The movie was better
I should probably be publicly shunned for admitting this, especially considering I'm trying to encourage people to read my own work, but there's no way I can deny the fact: on the rare occasion, I have actually enjoyed the movie more than the book. I can hear the screams already, but please hear me out.
First of all, this is VERY rare - so much so that I only have two examples right now. Secondly, in both cases I saw the movie before I read the book, so I already had a vision of how the story should unfold. Things may have turned out differently had I done it the other way around, but we'll never know for sure. My two entries are below and I'll add to it if I run across any others.
Bladerunner
I'm going to go ahead and draw as much scorn as I can on this one because I'm admitting that I like the theatrical version of this film the best. Ok, that's not exactly fair as I haven't even seen the director's cut, but when I read they had cut Deckard's internal monologue I lost all desire to see the other version. I saw the movie when I was a teenager, but read the novel within the past couple of years, and I was disappointed. The world and its inhabitants just didn't come to life for me in the book. Again, I might feel differently if I had read the book first, but I'm not so sure.
Stardust
The movie actually followed the book pretty closely...until the end. That's what ruined it for me. Match the endings and I'm a happy camper, but as is, I'd rather watch the movie again.
Has this happened to anyone else...or am I on my own here?
First of all, this is VERY rare - so much so that I only have two examples right now. Secondly, in both cases I saw the movie before I read the book, so I already had a vision of how the story should unfold. Things may have turned out differently had I done it the other way around, but we'll never know for sure. My two entries are below and I'll add to it if I run across any others.
Bladerunner
I'm going to go ahead and draw as much scorn as I can on this one because I'm admitting that I like the theatrical version of this film the best. Ok, that's not exactly fair as I haven't even seen the director's cut, but when I read they had cut Deckard's internal monologue I lost all desire to see the other version. I saw the movie when I was a teenager, but read the novel within the past couple of years, and I was disappointed. The world and its inhabitants just didn't come to life for me in the book. Again, I might feel differently if I had read the book first, but I'm not so sure.
Stardust
The movie actually followed the book pretty closely...until the end. That's what ruined it for me. Match the endings and I'm a happy camper, but as is, I'd rather watch the movie again.
Has this happened to anyone else...or am I on my own here?
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