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
Availability
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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
Reviewed by: BigAl
Genre: Memoir
Approximate word count: 8,000 words
Availability
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Author:
Shana Hammaker is the author of the Twelve Terrifying Tales for 2011 series, where a different short thriller is released each month. We have reviewed the first three of these. Follow Hammaker on Twitter.
Description:
At seventeen, Shana Hammaker was a street kid named Denise.
During the time she spent homeless, living on the streets of Santa Cruz, California, Denise experienced a rough and wild life. Longing for the comfort of home, she found it, in the dumpster at Pacific Cookie Company.
Appraisal:
There’s nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein. – Walter Wellesley “Red” Smith
Although an overused quote, to the point of becoming clichéd, anyone who has tried writing of any kind also recognizes its truth. It applies to almost any kind of writing. Red Smith was a sportswriter, which doesn’t seem that personal, yet all writing, even something as easy as a review, can still feel this way. It is one reason authors sometimes react emotionally when someone doesn’t like what they’ve written.
In The Cookie Dumpster, it feels like Shana Hammaker sat down at her new-fangled typewriter and opened an artery instead. She gives us a glimpse into the people and culture of the homeless, a situation most of us can barely imagine. Hammaker’s writing voice or tone seemed different from her fiction, somehow more personal. Maybe this is something I imagined, or possibly that she is telling her own story rather than acting as a go-between for her characters made the voice more authentic. In many ways, this is a story of contradictions, of highs and lows. It is a story of freedom from many of society’s norms and of slavery to the requirements of survival. Ultimately, it is a story of overcoming obstacles.
If The Cookie Dumpster has any faults, it is that I wanted more. The period covered starts and ends at logical and natural points for the story Hammaker wanted to tell. But I can’t help thinking there is a prequel and possibly a sequel with much different, although just as compelling, stories to tell.
Format/Typo Issues:
No significant issues.
Rating: ***** Five stars
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Genre: Mystery/Romantic Suspense
Approximate word count: 75-80,000 words
Availability
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Author:
Former newspaper reporter Stacy Juba is the winner of over a dozen writing awards. She is the author of several books, including Sink or Swim, another romantic suspense novel available for your Kindle, and some children’s picture books. She also has multiple young adult novels slated for publication over the next year. For more, see the author's website.
Description:
Editorial assistant Kris Langley’s duties for the Fremont Daily News are all of the assignments the regular reporters don’t want- things like writing obituaries and putting together the daily Twenty-Five Years Ago Today column. When Kris reads about an unsolved murder that happened twenty-five years before, she decides to investigate.
Appraisal:
I thought the concept of solving an old murder, instigated by the research for the newspaper column, was original. The character of Kris shows a lot of initiative and follow-through for someone so young. Although some of her motivation is professional advancement, a piece of her back-story lends credibility to her continued resolve when the going gets tough and also gets the reader more invested in the story.
This book is a good mystery with a resolution that should come as a surprise. The secondary romance storyline enhances the mystery storyline and gives the book a little spice (although not with anything explicit that should keep anyone away). Twenty-Five Years Ago Today has everything I look for in a romantic suspense; a mystery that keeps me guessing, a romance storyline that ends well, and characters that I like enough to care about what happens to them.
Format/Typo Issues:
No typos. The copy I reviewed (obtained from Smashwords) did have some formatting issues with the spaces between words sporadically missing.
Rating: **** Four stars
Reviewed by: BigAl
Genre: Thriller
Approximate word count: 50-55,000 words
Availability
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Author:
William Esmont and his wife live in Tucson, Arizona with a menagerie of cats and dogs. He has two additional books currently available, Fire (Elements of the Undead) (Volume 1) and Self Arrest. For more, visit Esmont’s blog.
Description:
What happens when ex-CIA analyst Kurt Vetter detects something fishy about his brother Mike’s murder? Assisted by Amanda Carter, a hard-to-nail-down agent from his brother’s past, Vetter starts digging and uncovers the unexpected in this spy thriller. This is the first book of a planned series featuring Kurt and Amanda.
Appraisal:
Like most genre fiction, spy thrillers have their tried and true formulas, generally involving a conspiracy to uncover that left unchecked will mean, if not the end of the world, a disastrous outcome of some kind. Suspension of disbelief is required; is there any James Bond plot anyone truly believes could happen? I’m sure there are plot elements that push individual readers beyond what they’re willing to believe, but readers prone to object to this probably stay away from the genre.
Although spy thrillers are plot driven, my contention is that what differentiates one of the genre from another is how invested the reader gets in the main characters. If we care about them, we care about the story. The Patriot Paradox has three characters who are our potential heroes – Amanda Carter, and the brothers Kurt and Mike Vetter. Amanda is a riddle. We never learn much about her, and I only became invested in her because she was helping Kurt and appeared to be on his side. I suspect as we get to know her better in future books in the series this might change.
It is the two brothers whom we identify with and want to see succeed. It might seem strange that Mike, who is murdered in the first chapter, is a character we’re pulling for. However, Mike’s shadow is always present. His example is constantly pushing Kurt to succeed so that his death won’t have been in vain. This is something the reader will also want. The character of Kurt is a good person who has made mistakes and been through hell. His success is a kind of redemption we want him to achieve. Now I’m eager to see what is in store next for Kurt and Amanda.
FYI:
If you’re offended by the infamous word that starts with the sixth letter of the alphabet, be aware that you’ll find it here.
Format/Typo Issues:
No significant issues.
Rating: **** Four stars
Reviewed by: BigAl
Genre: Thriller/Suspense
Approximate word count: 50-55,000 words
Availability
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Author:
Sarah L. Rose is the pen name of a former social worker and award-winning journalist. Rose lives in rural Oregon. This is her first novel. You can follow Rose on Twitter.
Description:
One Bad Mother is based on a real case the author encountered as a reporter.
Irwin Griggs is One Bad Mother. A dysfunctional childhood eventually led to a adult who is a drain on society. Irwin has killed more than once and has made a game of impregnating and leaving women whenever he has had the chance. Irwin believes he is the way he is because he grew up without his father and decides the way to atone for what he has done is to kidnap and raise the five children he has fathered.
By some standards Layla Philips is One Bad Mother. Her child is in danger of being taken away by social services. Her childhood wasn’t much better than Irwin’s and this is often reflected in her choices. But Layla wants to keep and provide for her child and does the best she can, even if this means taking advantage of a well-to-do couple who want a child of their own.
Irwin quickly gathers his first four children, but when he comes for the fifth, Layla’s son Kurt, it doesn’t go as smoothly.
Appraisal:
The high level concept of this book, a father who attempts to kidnap his children, each conceived with a different woman, and runs into one mother who fights back, is based on a true story. Had I not known this, suspension of disbelief might have been difficult.
Layla, the mother who fights back, is not an especially sympathetic character in the beginning. Were it not for two things, I would have had a hard time investing emotionally in Layla’s plight. The first is that, although Layla makes what seem like bad decisions, they are the most viable choices available. That she makes choices based on the best way of meeting her goal of keeping and providing for her son Kurt is never in doubt. The other reason I was able to pull for Layla is that the other alternatives for her son Kurt – a foster home, living with Layla’s father, or Irwin successfully kidnapping him – were much worse. As the story progresses, Irwin becomes crazier while Layla learns to make better decisions. As the tension built, my emotional investment in Layla’s plight did too.
One Bad Mother’s weakness is also its strength. That the story and the protagonist are both so much different from what I’m accustomed to seeing in a thriller made it tougher to get invested in the story, but also resulted in a unique story. In the end, the positives of this far outweighed the negatives.
FYI:
The book contains a lot of adult language and some sexual situations.
Format/Typo Issues:
The book contains no significant issues with typos or other copy editing flaws. However, the version I reviewed (obtained from Amazon) had a formatting problem that sometimes caused what should have been hyphens (as in the word slip-ons) to display an incorrect character on my Kindle. This issue was sporadic, but happened enough to notice. If the book interests you, don’t let this minor issue keep you away.
Rating: **** Four stars
Reviewed by: BigAl
Genre: Satire
Approximate word count: 85-90,000 words
Availability
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Author:
Dr. Who fan Nick Griffiths largely supports himself as a journalist. Griffiths has written for many magazines and newspapers in the UK. He has several books available, including two inspired by his love of Dr. Who and the sequel to this book, Looking for Mrs. Dextrose. For more, visit the author’s website.
Description:
This is the story of Alexander Grey, who, after a less than thrilling childhood, turns into a not-very-motivated young adult. This changes when the object of his teenage lust, Suzy Goodenough, promises fulfillment of his fantasies. The catch is that he first must repeat the trip made in his favorite book, Harrison Dextroxe’s The Lost Incompetent: A Bible for the Inept Traveller, and do this in less time than it took to complete Dextrose’s original journey.
Appraisal:
In the Footsteps of Harrison Dextrose reminds me of William Goldman’s classic The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern’s Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure. This comparison might seem tenuous, especially for anyone only familiar with the movie. Both contain portions of an imaginary book interspersed with contemporary tales from the narrator. Each has a story that is larger-than-life, at least in the eyes of the narrator when imagining the main character of the make-believe book. Last, both have a sense of humor. Newsweek described The Princess Bride as “nutball funny.” The same goes for Harrison Dextrose.
Taken too far, my comparison falls apart. The Princess Bride is fantasy. Harrison Dextrose isn’t, although it does largely happen in countries and among cultures that don’t actually exist. Maybe it could be called fanciful instead. Although Harrison Dextrose’s original trip was purported to have happened in the 1970s and Alexander’s ten years later, both feel as though they are happening much earlier and satirize accounts of explorers from long ago.
The humor is sometimes subtle; what would you make of a boat named the “Unsmoked Haddock” or someone who counted the bullets from a machine gun? There are sly pop cultural references- for example, a dwarf who expects Alexander to know the next line in a quote from The Blues Brothers movie or describing a ship as “held together by barnacles; if they joined a barnacle cult and committed mass suicide, we’d be left clinging to planks.”
Overall, I found In the Footsteps of Harrison Dextrose a fun and entertaining read. The mix of action-adventure and “nutball” humor might not be for everyone, but I enjoyed it.
FYI:
The author is from the UK and uses UK spelling and a ton (or maybe I should say tonne) of UK slang.
Despite using the word mink as the stand-in for many words, those easily offended by language should consider yourselves warned. (Given that Griffiths’ website has a Q&A where he answers that his favorite word is fuck, I would say he was very restrained in his book, although you’ll still find that word many times. I agree with his explanation- it is a very versatile word.)
Format/Typo Issues:
No significant issues.
Rating: **** Four stars
Reviewed by: Corina
Genre: Technothriller
Approximate word count: 50-55,00 words
Availability
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Author:
Ian Hocking is a British writer and psychologist with an interest in experimental psycholinguistics. Déjà Vu was his first novel, which was well-received in 2005, when it was released in paperback, and it has recently been released for electronic readers. Hocking also wrote another novel with the same main character, Saskia Brandt, titled Flashback.
Description:
In the year 2023, David Proctor finds himself on the run from Saskia Brandt, European FIB operative. As he finds help from unexpected sources, Brandt is working to solve a different mystery altogether as she pursues Proctor; one that is of vital importance to her future.
Appraisal:
Déjà Vu is a science fiction novel set in the fairly near future, and it introduces technology that I can already see myself using and keeping in my pocket. I found the mechanical wonders a lot of fun, and I think the characters are well-drawn, as one might expect from a psychologist who writes novels. There were twists and turns, surprises and character shifts. On the whole, I found this a well-crafted, interesting tale of technology and hot pursuit.
The one drawback is that I found it relatively easy to put the book down. I did come back to it until I finished it, but I can’t say I read it in one sitting, which is one of my highest accolades. Don’t let that deter you if you love technothrillers. Give it a try!
Format/Typo Issues:
No significant issues.
Rating: Four Stars ****
