Category: Book Review

Book Review: The Art of War for Writers

~ tahenryauthoress ~ 4 Comments

I can’t remember why this book made it’s way onto my list at the library. I put it on so stinking long ago. But just before I started off to Cali on my road trip with the kiddo, I got an email, come and get it. So I did.

Maybe I’m cynical but practically the first thing I did when I picked up The Art of War for Writers by James Scott Bell was check the publication date, 2009. Frowney face. This is out of date already. Bell has essentially applied Sun Tzu’s Art of War to the writing battle. I found a lot of his advice useful. He had lots of examples for each bit of concrete advice. For example, when detailing how to write a query letter, he wrote a query letter using a well known novel. When talking about how to create a tagline, he used well know movies. The extra effort made it easy to see how I might create these things for my novel.

Of course I wondered about a few things he said as well. For example, when looking to traditionally publish, having previously self published should not be revealed as it will be a debit against you in consideration by potential agents or editors. I think this is where the out of date comes in to play. Perhaps that was so back in 07 or 08 when he must have written it for 09 publication, but I think now, a good showing of quality work is generally considered a credit.

That said I still felt the book was an excellent investment of time.

℘℘℘℘ – Four Pages. Enjoyable book. Useful as well.

Book Review: Al Capone Shines My Shoes

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Remember an eon ago when I talked about buying a handful of books at a Scholastic Book Fair for 50 cents? I totally expected them to suck. I did. And the first one lived up to my expectations. (Review for that coming up at the end of the second quarter.) And then I hit upon Al Capone Shines My Shoes by Gennfier Choldenko.

I loved this book. It’s the second in her series on the children who lived on Alcatraz when it was a federal penitentiary. I haven’t read the first but had no trouble following along this one although there are some plot arcs that clearly carried over from book one. Gennifer blends it all well so I understood.

What do you do when Al Capone did you a favor and now he wants one in return? If you’re twelve year old Moose you get so nervous you have hives.  And since the favor was really for his sister, he has to figure out way to keep Capone happy. I felt for these kids. In the first page Gennifer made me like Moose and hate the antagonist, who honestly isn’t Capone. LOL.

I’ve said before I don’t usually read YA but it seems that just isn’t true anymore. And I’m enjoying it. Maybe if I had read more than Agatha Christie when I was a kid, I would have known what I was missing.

℘℘℘℘ – 4 pages. A solidly pleasant and entertaining read. Gennifer captures clearly what I remember as the turmoil of age 12. And I couldn’t fault her historical research. Bonus.

Book Review: The Last Condo Board of the Apocalypse

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Before I went to Norwescon this year I picked out a few authors whose readings I wanted to attend. Nina Post amused me with her title. Then she amused me with her reading. I saved her book for my vacation. I’m glad I did.

last-condo-board-cover-front-300

It’s easy to find a book amusing while on vacation, everything is so much more laid back. But I have to say Last Condo Board was fab, even by non vacation standards. It’s hard to explain exactly what I want this to mean, but I’ll try anyway. The Last Condo Board of the Apocalypse is complicated in a way that makes you not realize how complicated it is until you look back at it. While I was reading it was smooth and amusing and smartly written. And then when it was done, I was like damn, I have to think about all that, it was so incredibly well written.

I liked the characters. Liked the world. Liked the plot subplot complications.

Hated that she left me hanging. Yes, yes, I get that it’s a trilogy and Nina had to leave something unfinished or there wouldn’t have been a second and third book but I was in the middle of  the Pacific without an Internet connection and therefore could not immediately get book 2, The Last Donut Shop of the Apocalypse. I know, my bad. LOL

Luckily, ninapostauthor_picNina isn’t holding my lack of forethought against me and agreed to answers a few questions for you readers in blogging land.

Nina Post is the author of seven novels, including Danger Returns in Pairs, Danger in Cat World, Extra Credit Epidemic, The Last Condo Board of the Apocalypse, The Last Donut Shop of the Apocalypse, One Ghost Per Serving, and The Zaanics Deceit. She lives in Seattle.

I understand you used a publisher for the Apocalypse series, and you’ve done some self-publishing as well, what is the best part about being an indie and traditional author for you?

The best part of the indie side is that I can release books in between longer traditional publishing cycles (even if I’m not very good at marketing them). On the publisher side, especially with some experience self-publishing, I value having a team who can do some of the heavy lifting.

So if you don’t have a team to do the heavy lifting, how do you juggle it all. What’s a good writing secret or time management secret?

These aren’t secrets. But here are five:

1) Always finish your projects, even if it’s just a crappy first draft.

2) Some writers don’t consciously think about theme, but I like to thread it into the characters and settings from day one. I think it makes for a harmonious, coherent, and layered story. I don’t always succeed at this. 

3) If you need to improve at a specific aspect of writing — suspense, cliffhangers, pacing; whatever — then make a short self-directed course for yourself with a reading/watching list, and make notes on what you’re learning.

4) As for time management, my husband (who is a Time Lord) suggests always having a list of everything you need or want to work on next. Include the tasks that take very little time, too. Then you have a good set of tasks to pull from when deciding what to work on.

5) Read!

Um, I have to say you did a marvelous job of layering things in The Last Condo Board. I loved Kelly, she was an amazing multi dimensional character who kicked ass and cared. If you could be any one of your favourite characters (your own or others you’ve read) for one day, who and why?

Claudia Kincaid, From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, because I love museums, and we both like comfortable, beautiful places.

Hang on while I google that. Oooh, now I have a new book to read. Claudia sounds super resourceful from what I read online. She’s definitely a hero. But in general, do you like villains or heroes better? Which are more fun to write?

If you’re writing a complicated hero, one with pain and flaws, and who has enough that’s good about them to make loving them worth it, then the hero is fun to write. If they’re funny and struggle and sometimes fail, and if it’s interesting to see the choices they make, then the hero should be fun to write. You run into problems when the hero is too good, too bland, not active enough, and makes predictable choices.

If your villain is weird, and thinks he’s absolutely doing the right thing and that everyone else is woefully misguided, then he should be fun to write. If he’s got the edge over the hero — is more determined, more clever, and/or has more resources or power, but has serious flaws of his own — then he’s fun to write. If his methods are contemptible and his motivations strong, then he’s fun to write.

With some of my projects, I’ve had more or just as much fun writing the hero, but I’ll give the edge to the villain in general. Even so, they’re closely intertwined.

Thanks Nina for spending the time with my readers.

The third book in the series, The Last Death Worm of the Apocalypse comes out May 1st next year but the first two in the series will be reprinted early next year with new covers. 2017 should be quite a year for Apocalypses.

Wed No Cafe Suprise

~ tahenryauthoress ~ 4 Comments
mmmmm…Donuts….I don’t care where they build a donut shop….if they’re gluten free I’ll drive there. My favorite donut shop is actually about three hours away from where I live and I do indeed drive all the way there for the incredible quality of gluten free donuts several times a year…does that make me a freak? Maybe…it definitely Donuts_Covermakes me a foodie though. As a foodie I have to tell you about Donuts in an Empty Field by Rachel Barnard because the only thing better than food is reading about food (no calories that way.)
Launching on National Donut Day, June 3rd if you don’t know, Donuts in an Empty Field is a young adult novel about two best friends, the local food challenge, and a mysterious bucket list. The more main character Vanessa fails the food challenge, the more she takes it out on the boy she blames for her father’s death because letting go of anger is life’s greatest challenge.
Let’s talk to Rachel a bit and then an excerpt from the book….

 

An easy one… What would you do if you were the last person on this earth?
How would I know I was the last person on earth? I would probably cry and then go searching for chocolate.
ummmm, chocolate….er….sorry got distracted there, If you could eliminate one thing from your daily schedule, I’m guess it wouldn’t be chocolate, but what would it be and why?
I would eliminate sleep if I could get away with it, because even though I dearly love my sleep, if I didn’t need to I wouldn’t. I would have seven or more hours every day to do more things! I always want more time in the day to get things done.
author photo
Don’t we all. Ok Let’s get it over with,  What made you decide to start writing? Was this something you always thought you’d do? 
Ever since I learned how to read and write, I’ve been writing. I’ve written my autobiography many times over, even though I’ve only just started stacking up life events worthy of being told. I always knew I was going to write, the question was whether I could rely on it as a career. That is still the question and I have yet to quit my day job to write full time. I like not having to rely on my creative outlet to support me and to not feel like I have to finish within a certain time frame for any of my writing projects.

Does not having the pressure help you avoid writers block?

Unlike most writers I know or have read about, I don’t write every day. When the particular story that I’m thinking about is pressing to get out, I write it until it’s finished. That’s the easy part. The part that usually gives me writer’s block is editing and fixing up the manuscript until it’s ready for public consumption. To get through this writer’s block, I write out a detailed schedule (that I don’t always stick with) to complete the writing/editing and try to tell people my goals so that I feel compelled to reach them. I also make the time to write so I don’t have as many excuses to not write. Doing anything writer-reader related usually kicks up my inspiration to continue and thinking about the story itself helps me get past any stickler writer’s block moments when I’m not sure where to go next.

Well it clearly works for you. Donuts is your third published work, Can you tell us about your other works?

My first novel, Ataxia and the Ravine of Lost Dreams, is about a young girl who thinks that she can overthrow the government and goes to great lengths to put herself in the right position to do so, but is thwarted by both the new transfer student and her own self-centered view of the world. The story centers on her time at an elite Academy and how the students there are trained to become world leaders.

My second novel is a young adult low-magic fantasy – fairy tale adaptation. It is loosely based on Beauty and the Beast and is about learning to accept yourself and others. It’s called At One’s Beast, a play on the words ‘at one’s best’ and is told from the point of view of the three main characters, Alcina (the sacrifice), Zos (the beast), and Aethon (the third wheel).

I have to confess I haven’t read either but my husband loved Ataxia. So tell us a little about Donuts in an Empty Field, Why would someone pick up and read this book?
Donuts in an Empty Field is for a young adult audience, specifically teenagers or emerging adults who want to read about a protagonist who’s working through grief and how to be a best friend amidst personal issues. This book is also a fun insight into the teenage mind and what really goes on after school.
Sounds like that would scare a few parents, LOL. Were there any alternate endings you considered?
No, actually, the ending was always clear to me in my mind. Only the details changed.
I love that. Only the details changed. Last quick question before you read an excerpt, Song that fits the book for theme song?
Raspberry Beret by Prince.
Awesome
An excerpt from Chapter 3:
Becky and Anja, Nichole’s other friends sit down with us. I turn away so Nichole won’t see my disgruntled look as I resettle on the bench to make room. Anja is more overweight than I am, but it only adds to her beauty. She has the most inviting heart shaped face I’ve ever seen and she carries her weight in womanly curves. It helps that she’s taller than I am so the weight is better distributed. Becky is the powerhouse tanned white girl that nobody
wants to piss off. She is so athletic she almost joined the football team, but opted for jujitsu instead when there was a scheduling conflict. Nichole turns to talk with Becky and I fidget.“Aren’t you going to eat?” Anja asks me.I sit on my hands to stop them from moving and shake my head.

“I’m not really hungry,” I lie.

She nods like she understands, but she doesn’t. None of them do. If I start eating right now I might never stop. Another thank you to Dad. If I’m not angry, I’m hungry and I have to be careful with my self-control. Not that I never eat… I just don’t want to eat junk in front of Nichole’s judgmental friends.

Nichole offers me her other slice of pizza.

“No thanks, I’m good,” I say, trying not to lick my lips at the hint of fresh dough scent that lingers in the air.

Becky waves to someone walking up to the table. He steps forward, and suddenly all my attention is on him. With burn scars bubbling up his neck and cheeks, everybody at the table pays attention to the new guy. He looks down at the table and scuffs a toe in the pavement, his tray of cafeteria food wobbling in his hands. I try to figure out what’s wrong with his left hand and it takes me a moment to realize that he’s missing two fingers. The remaining fingers are misshapen and swollen-looking.

Nichole gets up beside me. “Becky,” she says, her voice trailing off, as she just stands there. She glances beside Becky pointedly and wrinkles her nose slightly, before turning back to Becky.

“This is my younger brother, Ben,” Becky says.

Book Review: In the Woods

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A girl friend of mine suggest In The Woods by Tana French right as I was leaving for Hawaii. I popped over to the library website and got the last e-copy. I took that as a good sign, a fortuitous sign that I should read this while on vacation.

What can I say about this book? It’s 560 odd pages long. At least a third of them could have been cut without the plot or character development losing anything. The books details essentially two different cases. The current, present day murder which is being worked on by three detectives and the cold case disappearance of one of the detective’s two friends, which occurred when he was 12 in the same housing development as the present day murder.

The present day murder is obscenely obvious. I knew exactly what was going down from the get go. The long ago disappearance was intriguing. They don’t solve the old cold case. Which bugs. After 560 pages I wanted closure on that. And since the present day case was so stinking obvious it was really irritating to have the intriguing case just left hanging. I am tempted to read the next book just to see if the author ever clears it all up but since the detective who lost his friends is off the force and likely not in the second book, what’s the point exactly?

℘℘℘ – Three Pages. I read it but only cause I was on vaca. Otherwise I would have tossed it’s long winded babble to the side and moved on.

Book Review: The Man Who Never Was

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I don’t what it is about me and cruises. I can’t just read fluff and be done with it. LOL. The Man Who Never Was: World War II’s Boldest Counterintelligence Operation by Ewan Montagu is one of the books that had been hanging around my to be read list at the library for a while. I got a notification that an e copy was available just in time to be downloaded for the trip.

It’s a short read and written as a crony might tell you a complicated story over a glass of scotch and cigars. A number of chapters are devoted to a straight forward telling of how the mission came to be, how it was carried out, and how they got all the materials they used. Several more chapters detail what was uncovered after Germany lost the war and the allies had access to their papers.

If you don’t know the details, I’ll give you a brief and you can decide to invest in the 150 page long explanation. Essentially in an effort to convince the German High Command that the allies were not going to attack Sicily, a plan was hatched to fake up an officer and have his dead body discovered somewhere the Germans were likely to get hold of the papers this officer might be carrying. It worked in case you didn’t know. LOL.

℘℘℘℘ – Four Pages. I read it in a quick day on ship with a cocktail or two. Dry British humor abounds.

Book Review: Luke Skywalker Can’t Read

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I picked up Luke Skywalker Can’t Read and Other Geeky Truths by Ryan Britt for my husband at the library one afternoon. He wasn’t particularly interested but thanked me. The book sat on the library shelf for a couple of weeks until I picked it up and thought, I’ll read ten pages while I lay down with the sick kiddo and when it sucks I’ll return it. yeah….It didn’t suck. LOL

Luke Skywalker… is a collection of essays on the nature of SciFi/Fantasy in books and film. A large portion of the book explains how the writer came to be an expert on this particular subject in an amusing manner. It did garner a number of laughs I then had to try to explain to my kiddo who always wants to know what’s so funny. There is some middle slump that made me consider returning it unfinished but I think that had more to do with the subject matter, Doctor Who and Sherlock Holmes and Frodo, not my favorite topics, than the quality of Britt’s writing.

Mostly what I took away is the Britt really wants you to think about why you think what you do about SciFi/Fantasy be it position or negative. He brings up some interesting ideas about why certain films and books and cults work or don’t. He does espouse some strong opinions I totally disagree with but that’s ok. LOL

℘℘℘℘ – A solid Four Pages. It’s a short read, a couple of 100 pages, and not overly complicated in it’s terminology. Coming off Norwescon it was an interesting take on things I had heard argued so recently, in person. And I do have a soft spot in my heart for books that footnote.

Book Review: Title Withheld

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No, I didn’t read a book called Title Withheld, but I wanted to give you the set up before I named the book. So work with me here…

I take my kiddo and my friend’s three kiddos to the library where we are set to meet up with said friend and then go to the pool. Oldest kiddo has research to do so he goes over to one side of the library to get those books. Sits down at a table there. The other three flock to the library pc to play educational computer games(all three have their own kindles and PC access, so they could play the same games at home but something about the library just makes PBS kids so enticing). I find books for me, some for what I want to school the kiddo in the upcoming week, grab one for the hubby, and then take up a position near the front door with eye lines on both sets of kids and to watch for the friend. There I stand. sigh. I wait. I wait some more. I finally step two or three steps to the left and glance down at the “Reader’s Choice” shelf. There I see it. The most ridiculous book ever.

You know what’s coming right? I pick it up. I start to read. I am laughing out loud in the library. My friend arrives 18 pages later. I quickly check it out. Shove it in my bag before anyone sees me. I continue to laugh out loud every where I read the damn book for days.

The book is FUNNY. It makes fun of the actor. It makes fun of hollywood. It makes fun of the film industry. It makes fun of the awards system. Yes, he used a collaborator. But seriously, I don’t even care. It was hysterical.  And to top it all off, it’s a choose your own autobiography. Yep, he wrote multiple paths describing where you could have done things differently than he did. He dies a lot. Er, well, you die a lot?

So while I don’t like the actor any better than I did before. Not that I disliked him, he was just non existent in my world. Now I think he’s funny. And I even went to netflix and added his most recent show to my instant queue. I might even watch it some day. LOL

℘℘℘℘℘ – Five Pages. Ok I didn’t read it one sitting, but it was funny enough I got over my embarrassment and read it in public and I added the show to my netflix queue. I’ll tell you the name of the book if you promise not to tell anyone…promise? No, I mean really promise. Uncross your fingers. No take backs.

Neil Patrick Harris Choose Your Own Autobiography

PS. I’m still in Hawaii so go ahead and make fun of me…nah nah nah nah

Book Review: The 5th Wave

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I have to be honest, this is not my usual type of book. It’s not. It’s YA. It’s dystopian. There’s a love affair between human and non human. It’s whiny, in parts. But for all that The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey is pretty kick ass.

I started it yesterday. Finished it this afternoon and still did everything I was supposed to do, play dates, home schooling, dishes, laundry, etc. So that pins it as pretty fascinating.

I don’t want to give too much away. But in case you haven’t heard of it, seen the movie trailer, or have been living under a rock…Aliens have come to planet earth and they want the extinction of the human race, so they can have our planet to themselves. They’ve thought ahead and came up with a few different ideas on how to kill us off and been very effective so far.

The majority of this book focuses on Cassie’s promise to her brother that she would come for him, say 60%. There are also substantial chapters from the point of view a male human who is taken to a military base and trained as a solider in response to the alien invasion. Say another 30% on him. The rest…I’ll leave for you to find out.

The book is fun. The book does twist. The twists are predictable, however. But they still please like that walk through the woods I’ve taken a million times and still enjoy because the path, while totally known to me, is still enjoyable to experience.

I liked the multiple points of view. I found Cassie’s incessant poor me mental diatribe a bit wearing at times. But the other characters were intriguing. I wanted to know more about them. In fact, I already logged on to the library and got in line for the second book in the trilogy.

℘℘℘℘℘ -Solid five pages, part of me wants to say six but I did actually put the book down while reading it and I’m not on my way to the library, not that it would do me any good since the wait lists for this series are obscene. Ok let’s compromise and say five and a half. LOL.

Quick update: I got and read The Infinite Sea before this post even came out. So much better than the first one. Yes I know I have the Fifth Wave five pages, Infinite Sea gets 6. Very little Cassie, a lot more of awesome characters introduced but not focused on in the first book. In line for the third one. Cannot wait. In fact when I saw I was 251 in line, I actually said, if this doesn’t kick in before vacation, I’m buying it on Kindle for the trip.

2016 First Quarter One Page Reviews

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January, February, and March the following book fell supremely short:

I picked up A Beggining, A Muddle, and an End by Avi on my craft book binge. I was looking for things to include in weekend workshops or help with my workshop series at the library or even for use next year in teaching. It sounded so cute. An ant and a snail talk about writing. Lots of interesting little nuggets in a funny little comedy, perfect.

Yeah, no. I was wrong. It was tired. In fact, reading it made me tired. According to the cover it’s philosophical. ROFL. That alone is funnier than the entire book. Let me share jst a few “highlights.”

“…but instead write a book about my life. I’m hoping that writing will allow me to find myself.” “I had no idea you were lost.”

“I’m afraid I don’t have a way with words.” “Avon, by now you should know that words don’t really weigh anything.”

“Because my father always told me not to be thoughtless.” “And my father always taught me that it’s the thought that counts.” “I’d much prefer that.” “Why?” “Because I’ve always been good at mathematics.”

The whole book is this way. But at least it’s short, so my torture did not extend too tall, because extending yourself is dangerous, as the book would have said.

Lost for Words – Edward St. Aubyn

Oh god, this book. I couldn’t even finish it. I tried I really did, as you know I have issues with leaving a book unfinished no matter how bad it is but this one…

The idea behind the book: a satire of literary works and the competitions that judge them. Ha- ha, how funny this will be. Um, no.

The book is so busy being what it makes fun of that it was unreadable for me. Sentences go on for half a page, filled with words of four syllables or more. Let me give you an example of one of the more readable sentences that goes on for half a page.

“… the substitution of a slightly resistant adjective to engender a moment’s reflection, in short, the joys of editing, all carried out without forgetting the art that disguises art, giving the appearance of ease to the greatest difficulty and bringing clarity to tangled and obscure ideas.”

Yeah and that was just the last quarter of that sentence. What ever happened to say what you mean and mean what you say and don’t say it mean?

Grey – E.L. James

I gave this one 20 pages. Seriously, it opened with a dream. There are not even words.

Why was I even reading this travesty? Ok so my oldest friend in the world begged me to. She loves the Grey series. And she swore that Christian Grey’s business partner was me incarnate, so please please would I just try it?

I tried. I failed. It went back to the library.

I’m posting this one a smidge early, I know it’s still March, but with the beginning of April begins A to Z Challenge and I will be blogging about lessons learned at Norwescon in the A to Z format.