Genre: Flash Fiction/Humor/Horror
Approximate word count: 5-6,000 words
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Author:
Australian Naomi Kramer is a technical writer by day and a fiction writer at night. She is the author of the popular DEAD(ish) series of novelettes and the YA novella Maisy May. Bad F*ck II, the follow up to this book, is also now available.
Description:
A collection of flash fiction built around the theme of sex gone awry.
Appraisal:
“What you need,” said the girl sitting next to him at the bar, “is a good fuck.”
And, so begins the first of many short tales that end up as anything but what is suggested by the girl at the bar. Some are funny. Some of the stories border on horror, others are science fiction, and many are hard to put a label on, although I wouldn’t call any of them erotica. Many imply much of the story, with the reader left to fill in the gaps based on what they do know.
What they all have in common is Naomi Kramer’s warped and twisted imagination, which those who have read any of her Dead (ish) books have come to expect, and either love or hate them because of it. Love her books, or hate them, you won’t find anything quite like Kramer anywhere else.
FYI:
If the title isn’t enough to make it clear, this book has adult language and sexual situations.
Kramer is Australian and consequently this book uses Australian spelling conventions and has a small amount of Australian slang.
Format/Typo Issues:
No significant issues.
Rating: **** Four stars
Reviewed by: BigAl
Genre: Romance
Approximate word count: 55-60,000 words
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Author:
A bestselling and award-winning author of romance and chick lit both under her own name and as Donna Clayton, Fasano has written over thirty novels and sold more than 3.5 million books in her twenty-some-odd year career. Fasano lives on the Atlantic seaboard, and loves to go to the beach whenever she can, although actually getting in the water where creatures live is a different story. For more, visit her website.
Description:
“I do,” they said, with fingers crossed. Thus begins a marriage of convenience for Jonas Winslow and Robin Hampstead. This was a temporary solution, an accommodation to ensure the court would appoint them co-guardians of their orphaned nephew. Simple and uncomplicated, until they began seeing each other differently.
Previously published by Harlequin ™ as Daddy Down the Aisle under Fasano’s pen name, Donna Clayton, An Accidental Family has been updated and expanded by almost 10,000 words for this independent reissue.
Appraisal:
There is an old Chinese proverb that says “the journey is the reward.” I’ve come to view romance novels the same way. The setup happens early. Start with two people –traditionally one man and one woman, although I think most states allow other combinations, at least in books– with at least one of the two not at all interested in the other, often actively disliking them. You know how the story is going to end. The entertainment, insight gained, or whatever reward the reader receives, is in the journey.
Working within the conventions of the Romance genre while keeping the story fresh and believable requires both creativity and a keen insight into human behavior. A good romance author needs to understand the range of emotions, inspirations, and reactions of both men and women in many situations. Fasano has this, and her success thus far demonstrates it. For example, in An Accidental Family, the man and woman don’t like each other, but their reasons are based on faulty first impressions and misunderstood motivations. Helping them make that journey from not-a-chance-in-hell to happy couple while maintaining credibility is a talent, amply demonstrated here. Fasano’s talent is the reader’s reward.
FYI:
This book contains some mild sexual content.
Format/Typo Issues:
The review is based on a Beta copy. I can’t evaluate the final product in this area.
Rating: **** Four stars
Reviewed by: BigAl
Genre: Thriller/Suspense
Approximate word count: 130-135,000 words
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Author:
Allan Mayer has a “first class honours degree in English Literature and Theology and a Master of Philosophy degree in Biblical Criticism.” He manages a service for people with “profound and multiple disabilities.” All of this figures into this book. (Okay, maybe not the Biblical Criticism part.) For more, visit Mayer’s website.
Description:
Martin Peach takes a job caring for people with disabilities, not because he cares, but because he needs the job. Starting at a hospital that is slated for closure, and then transferred with a handful of patients to a small community bungalow, Martin finds the job is more difficult than he’d imagined. In addition to taking care of the patients, no easy task, he also has a strange new manager who appears to have a history with some of the people in his care.
Appraisal:
Tasting the Wind has two things going for it. The first, and most obvious, is the thriller storyline. Were it not for blurbs and occasional glimmers in the actions and dialogue of a couple of the patients, you might not realize for a good portion of the book that this is a thriller. The mystery slowly builds. Coming down the stretch, however, the action and suspense pick up and it becomes very apparent.
The other thing I liked is more subtle. One is the exposure to what it is like working with people who have what the author describes on his website (talking about his day job) as “profound and multiple disabilities.” (I’m sure there is a term some would deem more politically correct, but I’ll stick to the old standby here.) It takes a special kind of person to do well working in this environment. Those who don’t care about their patients (or clients) won’t do well.
FYI:
The author lives in the UK and uses spelling and slang appropriate to his native country.
Format/Typo Issues:
No significant issues
Rating: **** Four stars
Genre: Thriller
Approximate word count: 70-75,000
Availability
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Author:
With her first novel, the mystery thriller Thin Blood, Vicki Tyley became one of only two independent authors to have a book on Amazon’s list of the top 100 selling Kindle books of 2010. Her second book, also released in 2010, is Sleight Malice. She followed this with Brittle Shadows early this year, which was also the first book reviewed on this blog. Although a native of New Zealand, Tyley and her husband have lived in Australia since the early ‘80s.
Description:
Megan Brighton joins a dating service, Dinner for Twelve, at the insistence of her best friend, Brenda. Greg Jenkins does the same because he thinks the company or one of its clients holds the key to finding his sister, who has disappeared. When Brenda disappears, Megan and Greg join forces.
Appraisal:
I’ve read all of Vicki Tyley’s books, and all have several qualities in common. All are thrillers or mysteries with multiple suspects or potential resolutions. I’ve always been convinced each of the primary suspects was guilty at some point, yet the ending still catches me off guard. Tyley’s ability to plot a story is the envy of many of her peers. Fatal Liaison keeps this streak alive.
I thought the premise of the story, that someone is targeting women using the dating service, was clever and unique. The service is one of those that brings many people together in a bar or restaurant to mingle and, potentially, follow up by actually dating. The large number of people each woman might have met or been targeted by, all of whom are potential suspects, meant the story had many directions it could go. If you’ve read and liked Tyley’s previous books, you’re sure to feel the same about this one. If you haven’t, Fatal Liaison would make an excellent first read.
FYI:
The author is Australian and uses spelling, word choices, and slang appropriate to her native country.
Format/Typo Issues:
The review is based on an advance copy. I can’t evaluate the final product in this area.
Rating: ***** Five stars
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Approximate word count: 70-75,000 words
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Author:
A former documentary researcher and producer for the BBC, Stephanie Zia has also written for a variety of publications. She was the long-time “cleaning guru” for The Guardian newspaper’s Space Solves column. Zia has written several books, fiction and non-fiction, although only this book and a couple of her non-fiction books are available for your eReader. For more information, visit Zia’s blog.
Description:
Suddenly widowed, Sally Lightfoot’s life seems without direction or purpose. Her husband is gone and she is no longer helping him run the business he owned, a music studio. Her kids are grown and living on their own. After years of work and parenting, Sally is adrift, with no idea what comes next.
Appraisal:
Most definitions of the “coming of age” story involve a youth’s transformation into adulthood. Although not as dramatic, there are other changes later in life that are equally , and often more, traumatic. For some, retirement is like this. I could tell you some horror stories about former significant others and empty nest syndrome. For Sally Lightfoot it is primarily widowhood at a relatively young age.
The struggles Sally goes through are not unlike those of a young person in the typical coming of age story. There are issues of sex and romance. Is she ready? Will she ever be ready? There are concerns with finances and what she’ll do for a job.
Ten Good Reasons to Lie About Your Age got off to a slow start for me. As the story progressed and Sally started interacting more with people beyond her children and a small number of others, the story picked up steam. As this happened, her story also became more humorous, rather than just sad, and I began rooting for her to find her new equilibrium and, hopefully, happiness. As with a coming of age story, those who are going through a similar situation can take comfort in the fact that the difficulties are universal. Those who have already been there (and those convinced they never will) can laugh at Sally’s foibles.
FYI:
The author is British and uses UK spellings and slang. Although I read many books by UK and Aussie writers and, as those who frequent Books and Pals know, don’t have issues with that, I found this book harder to understand. It felt like the author used less slang than many and it isn’t a problem with grammar. The best explanation I can give is that it is one of style, with words put together correctly, but maybe how they were put together and some word choices felt unnatural to me. I am almost certain this is not a problem with the writing, but with the reader. If this book appeals to you, sampling first might be a good idea.
This book contains some sexual content that might not be suitable for younger readers.
Format/Typo Issues:
No significant issues.
Rating: **** Four stars
Genre: Thriller/Suspense
Approximate word count: 80-85,000 words
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Author:
Journalist Mike McIntyre has worked as a travel and theatre columnist, and a feature writer, for major newspapers including the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times, as well as contributing articles to many magazines. He has published two travel narratives, The Kindness of Strangers: Penniless Across America and The Wander Year: One Couple’s Journey Around the World. McIntyre currently lives in San Diego.
Description:
Suspended by the San Diego Sun, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Tyler West is desperate for a career-saving scoop. After the murders of several powerful people in what the police call “unrelated” cases, Tyler investigates.
Appraisal:
The protagonist of The Scavenger’s Daughter, Tyler West, is convinced that a series of murders are the work of the same person. Frustrated by police and city leaders who insist the murders aren’t related, Tyler digs deeper and uncovers the common thread that nobody expects. A killer, who calls himself Friar Tom in tribute to the first Grand Inquisitor of the Spanish Inquisition, is committing each of the murders with a medieval torture device.
I found The Scavenger’s Daughter to be one of those books I didn’t want to put down. It was fast-paced and never apparent what was coming next. At times, it seemed everyone was working against Tyler, which brought out my natural instinct to root for the underdog. A secondary story thread, offering the possibility for Tyler to redeem a past mistake by rekindling a romance, also helps make Tyler a sympathetic character and ties in well with the main story line. Thrillers don’t get much more intense than this.
Format/Typo Issues:
No significant issues.
Rating: ***** Five stars
Reviewed by: BigAl
Genre: Non-fiction
Approximate word count: 60-65,000 words
Availability
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Author:
David Gaughran is an Irishman who lives in Sweden. (I wonder if he and Susanne O’Leary are involved in some kind of exchange program.) He has two short stories, If You Go into the Woods and Transfection, available for the eReader of your choice. His first novel, A Storm Hits Valparaiso, is an epic historical adventure he hopes to have ready for release this fall. For more information, visit his blog, where, if you’d like, you can download a PDF version of this book.
Description:
The internet has revolutionized many industries. Travel agents are (almost) no more. The music and newspaper businesses are both vastly different than they were a few decades ago and are still rapidly changing. Now we’re seeing the same in the publishing business with self-publishing becoming a viable, some would say preferable, way for authors to reach readers. The subtitle, How to Self-Publish and Why You Should, summarizes the contents.
Appraisal:
When I read this book, it wasn’t with the intention of reviewing it. It didn’t seem like a good fit for our readership. Then I considered that many of our followers are authors and many who are readers like me might be interested in the mechanics of self-publishing. So, I decided to give it a go.
Any potential reader’s first question about a how-to book should be, does the author know what he is talking about? In David Gaughran’s case, it might be reasonable to wonder. He’s published a few short stories and this book. While that might not seem like much in the way of experience, it also proves one of his contentions, that self-publishing is something that anyone is capable of doing.
Gaughran had been writing for years, attempting to follow the traditional route to publication. While he’d had agents that were interested, he had not yet broken through. Then he heard some stories about authors who had found success through self-publishing and others, previously traditionally published, who decided to spurn traditional-publishing to go it on their own. He began researching self-publishing, and shortly after starting blogging about what he had found. His blog quickly became one of the go-to sites on the subject. Many of his popular blog posts were reworked for inclusion in Let’s Get Digital.
The book has three parts. The first and the last are of potential interest to any reader, even one who knows they’ll never want to publish anything.
Part I makes the case for self-publishing –the “why you should” portion of the subtitle. It gives an even-handed view of where the publishing industry is today, where it is going, and makes the case for self-publishing. While acknowledging that everyone has different goals in their writing, Gaughran makes a solid case with ample facts, figures, and research as support for his contentions.
Part II covers the details of self-publishing. Along with appendices, this section tells you what you need to know to produce your book. Among other subjects, he explains those things many self-publishers skip, almost guaranteeing failure. Why the cover matters and the reasons you need an editor along with formatting and promotion are among the subjects covered.
Part III are a series of short success stories from thirty-three different authors who are happy with their self-publishing experience and tell about their route to success. These serve as inspiration and, if you pay attention to what they say, validation of all the things Gaughran has said previously. I imagine this section could also serve as a great starting point for readers to find new authors that interest them.
Lately several books on the subject of self-publishing have hit the virtual bookshelves. While many of them have good ideas, Let’s Get Digital is the first I’ve seen, that I felt was both credible and comprehensive. I’d recommend it to any writer who is considering self-publishing or anyone interested in the current state of publishing.
Format/Typo Issues:
No significant issues.
Rating: ***** Five stars
Reviewed by: BigAl
Genre: Thriller
Approximate word count: 55-60,000 words
Availability
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Author:
Tommy Garrison is a poet with two self-published poetry collections available, Imagination Celebration and Lover Erotica. This is his first novel. Garrison lives in the beautiful Pacific Northwest of the United States. For more on Garrison, visit his website.
Co-author Kristen James is a full time author. Along with ghostwriting for others, James has published several novels and short stories including a Native American historical novel, The River People, and the romance novel, A Cowboy for Christmas. James lives in central Oregon. For more, visit her website.
Description:
Life isn’t fair. Matthew Baker has done everything right. He’s a good person. A great husband and father, yet he’s just been told he has cancer. This brings back memories of when he was a high school student who had it all, including Destiny, his first love. When Matthew wished he could take Destiny’s cancer away from her those many years ago, did it work?
Appraisal:
Suspension of disbelief required if you want to become fully immersed in a story with an unrealistic element. Books in some genres, horror and science fiction for example, are chock full of unrealistic items while many books have none. I’ve found the times I have a hard time suspending disbelief are when everything about the book is true-to-life except for one element that is both unrealistic and unlike any premise I’ve seen in the past. Time travel? No problem. The ability to see the future in photographs? I can handle it.
I had a hard time convincing myself to believe the one unrealistic part of A Miraculous Fate, that someone could take on another person’s cancer. I’m glad I was eventually able to overcome my doubts, because once I accepted that as a hypothetical possibility, the book became, not just an entertaining read, but thought provoking. What would the ethics and obligations be for each person? How might this make the world a better place?
A large portion of A Miraculous Fate is devoted to a thriller type storyline with protagonist Matthew’s wife, Victoria, searching for Destiny, his high school girlfriend, hoping she holds the key to his survival. What makes this story unique from most thrillers is that, while you want Matthew to live, the apparent solution, convincing Destiny to take the cancer back or somehow foisting it upon her, isn’t that great either. That Garrison and James find their way to an ending that is not only satisfying, but leaves you liking all the main characters – an ending that seems unlikely for much of the story – is quite a feat.
Format/Typo Issues:
No significant issues
Rating: **** Four stars
Reviewed by: BigAl
Genre: Humor/Satire
Approximate word count: 40-45,000 words
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Author:
A long-time radio personality, Corey Deitz now lives in Arkansas and is the morning DJ on KDJE-FM (100.3) in Little Rock. Deitz has written three other books: The Cash Cage, which explores the radio business from the inside, Lessons from Camp: Life in the Past Tents, which is a humorous look at his childhood experiences at Boy Scout Camp, and Vilified, a political satire. For more visit his website or the website for this book.
Description:
Subtitled The Last Book You’ll Ever Need, the premise of this book is that, as we all know, the world is ending in 2012. It must be true because the Mayan calendar says so. Because the Mayans left us guessing exactly what the final straw will be, Dietz explores the possibilities.
Appraisal:
Other than erotica, I think humor is the genre where personal taste drives an individual’s reaction the most. Overall, I liked the way Dietz approached his concept. He chose various ways the world might come to an end that ranged from ridiculous (a Zombie invasion) to controversial (melting of the polar ice caps) and on to a long shot – possible although not probable (being sucked into a black hole). He then riffed on the subject, looking at what others have said (who would have guessed the University of Florida would include a zombie invasion in their Disaster Preparedness plans?) and offering his own humorous take. Other sections target potential ways to prepare for the end; for example, how to “develop a bunker mentality” discusses building an underground bunker and satirizes those who have. The book was a little hit-and-miss with me. I found some sections much funnier than I did others, although I could see the humor in most.
A satirical book will sometimes take swipes at politicians, which this one does. It is only natural that those are more likely to be aimed at the party in power. However, it felt to me as though the author chose targets from the left much more than those from the right and made the swipes much more personal. Although this is a relatively small percentage of the book, it is enough that those whose political leanings are left-of-center might find it to be offensive. Those who lean the other way are more likely to enjoy those portions.
Format/Typo Issues:
A small number of typos, wrong words, and other editing and proofing oversights.
Rating: *** Three stars
Reviewed by: BigAl
Genre: Thriller
Approximate word count: 80-85,000 words
Availability
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Author:
Originally a California Boy, Eric Christopherson has lived throughout the US and, for a short time, in Asia. The former police officer now lives with his wife and son in Ohio. Christopherson has one other book, Crack Up, that was named the “Best Mystery Novel” in Red Adept Reviews Annual Indie Awards in 2010.
Description:
John Richetti spent part of his childhood inside the People’s Temple cult and lost both parents during their mass suicide. Now a San Francisco Homicide detective, John and police psychologist Marilyn Michaelsen have infiltrated another cult with members that have died; maybe it was suicide, but John suspects murder.
Appraisal:
Previously I read Christopherson’s novel Crack Up, and loved it. The Prophet Motive is at least as good, if not better. Since the main character is a homicide detective, the book has many of the qualities of a police procedural in the beginning and of a murder mystery throughout. However, what elevates the book beyond just another okay murder mystery are the story threads that make the book as a whole more of a psychological thriller.
The People’s Temple is an infamous cult, best known for the “Jonestown Massacre” in Guyana and subsequent mass suicide by many of the members. Those who are too young to remember this (it happened in 1978) might have heard the expression, “don’t drink the Kool-Aid,” which is a pop-culture reference to that mass suicide.
John Richetti, the protagonist of The Prophet Motive, was a member of The People’s Temple as a child and his parents both died in Guyana. As he investigates Earthbound, the cult in this book, the similarities between the two cults provide additional motivation for John. At times, he seems to view uncovering the truth behind the suspected murders of Earthbound members as revenge for his parent’s deaths, possibly causing him to become too personally involved with the case. The memories of his time with The People’s Temple and the obvious parallels with Earthbound serve to ratchet up the tension. What could easily have been a predictable resolution takes a sinister twist when John uncovers something unexpected, The Prophet Motive.
Format/Typo Issues:
No significant issues
Rating: ***** Five stars
