Someone suggested to me recently that I should write a blog post about book reviews. It’s a great idea and I’m glad the person suggested it, because I’m always gently nudging (read: badgering, pestering) people to leave online reviews of my books and any other books they read.
Here’s why: especially on Amazon, the algorithm used to determine which books to promote is heavily based on the number of reviews a book has. In other words, the more reviews a book has, the more likely readers are to see it promoted by Amazon say, under “Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought…” or “Products Related To This Item…”
The reviews don’t have to be good, they just have to be there. Quantity over quality, if you will.
Quantity over quality is not generally a good thing, but it is a good thing for people who are hesitant to leave reviews…
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This is probably going to be more of a conversation in the comments than the posts. At least that’s what I hope. Feel free to comment on the statements of others and keep things civil if this topic interests you.
So, Charms of the Feykin has an undertone of forgiveness. More that if it’s possible when a hero makes a horrible mistake. Delvin and Sari are not themselves, which means they risk crossing some major lines with the others. Now, you might say that it’s forgivable if the person is under a spell, mind control, body swap, I’m not telling you what’s going on with them, etc. Others will think that the decision was still their own or they will feel responsible because they had awareness of it. This is a delicate situation that changes from person to person.
Another reason I bring this up is because I think forgiveness is harder to come by in the real world. For some reason, we as a society seem big on the ‘one strike’ method. A person makes a mistake, no matter how small, and they are never allowed to move beyond it and better themselves. It’s a stigma that our social media world makes sure you remember and even adopt as the core of your existence. Now, I will say there are unforgivable acts, so don’t think I’m giving a pass to everything. Let’s get back to fiction.
There will be some acts that the heroes will need to come to terms with. It might easy for some and hard for others depending on how it turns out. Something we might not always remember is that there are two pieces to the forgiveness puzzle. One is that the person hurt needs to give forgiveness and the other is that the person who did the hurting needs to accept it. Guilt is connected to this because a character or real human can decide that they’re unworthy of forgiveness. This creates a path of self-loathing that will alter the dynamic of a team-based story. Will this happen in Legends of Windemere? Have to read and find out.
Before I hand it over, there is one more piece of the puzzle that the characters and author have no control over. If a hero or villain does something horrific, the reader is supposed to hate them. In the case of a hero, it becomes very hard for them to recover. All of their actions to gain forgiveness will be aimed at the other characters, so it is up to the reader to make the decision. Here is where inference is essential because some people will never get over the ‘betrayal’ and even stop reading if a hero is the culprit. So, an author needs to be careful when having a character commit a horrible act. Wish I had more advice on this, but it seems to be a case by case thing.
So, what do you think about in regards to forgiveness in fiction?
I’m still trying to get back on schedule here since things happened. My son went back to school, so early wake ups combined with breakfast issues and fine-tuning the bus pick up schedule. The wife started a new temp job on the same day, so I’m wrangling both on some days. I start the day saying ‘No more, Wild Kratts’ and end it saying ‘No Daily Show for you’. Between those events, I’m trying to write Book 14 of Legends of Windemere and get stuff done around the house.
I’ve noticed a trend with my energy levels. Monday through Wednesday are strong ones where I get 3 chapter sections done along with the daily stuff. Thursday gets shaky and filled with yawns, but it’s not a biking day, so I make it. Friday is a limp to the finish and a promise that I’ll make up time on the weekend. Don’t even get me started on the weekend though. Can never predict that along with the multiple holidays that are between now and December 31st. Finishing the last two Windemere books might not happen, especially with everything else going on.
Here is where I should talk about Charms of the Feykin, which I promised in September. My hope is that it will be out by the end of the week. I admit to being worried right now. Tribe of the Snow Tiger had a good debut, but every book does a little worse than the last one because it’s a series. Not to mention Amazon rankings seem to plummet much quicker than they used to. I have no idea why. If it depends more on reviews than sales then I’m in trouble because I find it very hard to get reviews. This is where I falter because I don’t know if asking for reviews is allowed. The whole thing feels like such a mire of rules and traps that I’m rather scared to make a public request. I just focus on getting the next one ready and writing the one that is next on my list.
Speaking of writing and going back to Book 14, I did have trouble about mid-week with this one. A challenge here is that it follows an adventure going alongside the final book, but equally important to what the champions are doing. This means I don’t have my usual relationships and connections to depend on. I still have the humor and action, but there’s a meanness to some of it due to one of the characters involved. This has led to me realizing that several of the ‘character chat’ scenes simply don’t work because it would be brief or not happen at all. Guess a plus side here is that it means I’m condensing the story and chopping out the fat before it’s in there. For example, I’m up to what my outline says is chapter 6 of 21. Yet, I’ve already combined the original 2 and 3 as well as the original 5 and 6. That means I’m looking at a nineteen chapter book instead of a twenty-one, but that could get even lower. Honestly, this gives me hope for the final book, which the old outline has at a whopping 26 chapters.
By the way, does anybody remember what I named the final book? I keep forgetting and the post-its I keep writing it down on seem to always disappear. Not the injury/fate list or the cool quote for future story lists that I have. Those always turn up. The title for Book 15 seems to always vanish. I keep thinking it’s ‘The Forgotten Baron’ since it involves the final battle with Kernaghan who was erased from history.
Final thing before the goal list. I noticed earlier that I was unsubscribed from a few blogs and I tried to fix all of that. Not sure when it happened or why. Pretty sure most of us have had it happen at some point. I’m having enough trouble keeping up with everything and adding blog wandering on top of it. Usually I only get to do it in the morning because I’m sprinting once the kid wakes up and zombie-like by the evening. Seriously, I’m surprised I haven’t drooled on my keyboard yet.
What am I setting out to do this week?
(Today, I have a special guest who is promoting a new collection of short stories that are well worth the read. Lisa Burton the Robot Girl is here to talk about pulp fiction, so let’s hand the blog over to get the party going. Give a friendly welcome to Lisa.)
Hi again, Charles. Thanks for inviting me back to talk about Craig’s newest book. It’s called The Experimental Notebook of C. S. Boyack II. It’s being released because the first one did so well.
You read the first one, and were a beta reader on this book, so you know what they’re like. For your readers, they cover a broad slice of the speculative arena. This time they cover more science fiction and paranormal, but there is one that might pass for fantasy.
Let’s deal with the book here. This Notebook is a collection of short stories and micro-fiction. It’s pretty easy to read a whole story on your coffee break, or on your commuter bus.
The artwork doubles the alchemy wheel on the first book to stay with a kind of theme.
You asked me to discuss the appeal of the pulp angle Craig has on some of these stories. Pulp was an age of fast, cheap, publication. They tell me there was no internet back then, and as a robot girl, that sounds like the stone age to me. People read more. In many cases there was only one production run, and the ink was likely to smear under your fingers.
Many of the stories saw the same character repeating over and over again, and this era influenced all genres. For Craig, this comes out as science fiction, and paranormal. Two of them might even drift into horror.
This is the era where science fiction didn’t always follow scientific rules. Imagine heroes with ray guns rescuing damsels from creepy aliens and you’ve got the picture. Modern science has proven that many of the ideas from this era are not possible. At this time, an author has to make a choice. Stick with science, or just have fun anyway. Craig chose to have fun, and that’s the thing about the pulp era. The stories may not have changed the world, but they were fun. They sold like crazy with the intent they would be discarded after reading them. By then the publisher would have something new on the stands.
These artificial science choices still go on today, it’s just after the pulp era. Light sabers might be a good example.
Many of the authors in that era “borrowed” from each other. Many of them were contract writers and wrote whatever the publisher told them to write. More than a few mad scientists created a horde of monsters. Damsels were rescued, and heroes flexed muscles. There is no formal stamp of what makes a pulp story, but Perry Mason, Conan, and Flash Gordon come to mind.
Some of the tales in the second Notebook reflect this era. Call them tribute pieces. Which brings me to your poster. I always bring posters when people host me, and this is a good one. It loosely reflects one of the pulpy stories in the book, Last Flight of the Rocket men. It’s me getting ready to fly the rocket-pack in zero-gravity. We wanted to have a real space background, but it turns out the artist needs actual oxygen to breathe. Robot girls don’t worry about such things.
Lisa Burton
Your fans should feel free to use it as a background on their PCs, iPads, phones, or whatever. It’s a gift.
Craig wants me to remind everyone The Experimental Notebook of C. S. Boyack II is only 99¢. At that price, there is bound to be at least one story that gives you your money’s worth. Thanks for inviting me again, and we’re looking forward to hosting your next release.
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Book Link- http://a-fwd.com/asin=B01KENADN6
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As of yesterday, book 4 of the Hell Bent series has been completed and it is now available on Amazon! To celebrate that, I’m also offering the full arc 1 volume for absolutely FREE!
Blurb: Sick of being the universe’s punching bag, Dr. Spencer Abbot begins to look into self-defense training. His search leads him to Slade McManus, a powerful mage who is more than willing to teach Spencer the way’s of magic.
But there is something very off about this mage, and before he knows it, Spencer and Travis find themselves in trouble yet again.
Can they keep their lives from being ruined by McManus?
Deception is the 4th book of the series overall, and the 1st installment of Arc 2. While Arc 1 was more horror-oriented and primarily from Travis’ POV, Arc 2 is more urban fantasy-based and is mainly from Spencer’s POV.
Full Paperback/Kindle Cover Image
First Meeting…
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Fullmetal Alchemist Chimera
Be with you in a moment! Removing an elephant trunk with all the muscles and blood vessels isn’t easy. Especially when you’re replacing it with a rhino horn that fires lightning. Okay, what can we make for you?
We get that first concern a lot, which is where since we’re basically playing god and this isn’t a respected field. Wait, I mean legal. So, asking about the treatment of the animals is rather strange. To put your screwy sensitivities at ease, all of our resources are kept in a vast habitat out back. This is why you had to take a helicopter to this island that possesses every biome on the planet and a few that you’ve never heard of before. We don’t kill animals and use every part, which includes organ transplants and feeding unused meat to the predators and melting all protesters into a juice that we serve in the cafeteria. What what? Never mind. We’ll get back to that if things go wrong.
Now, we’re out of shamans, so we have to do a stitch job. This means you have to pick the parts and maybe an element if you want powers. We highly advise that you not go beyond one element due to the risk of explosion. No element? That makes this a little easier. Let’s start with choosing a main body, which will determine what else we can put in there. As you heard, I have an elephant that’s ready to go. Of course you want something else since that would make my job easier. Why do people always do the opposite of what I suggest? Fine, the body of a large weasel and the tail of a beaver. Uh, you’re describing a platypus. Try again.
Okay, that’s much better. Body of a wolverine gives you some power and the head of an anteater is rather interesting. We’re out of skunk tails, but we have a surplus of spider monkey. There was an incident when somebody put wings on a tiger and it got loose in the rainforest section. So all the parts it didn’t eat are on ice. Still viable and at a great discount to you. Where’s the flying tiger now? Somewhere in Buffalo, but I don’t follow up on products. If you want your chimera to fly then I’d recommend some back muscle enhancement and either condor or albatross wings.
Good to see you’re listening now. Let’s work on a few nuances. You have land, air, and climbing capability, which is useful. Water is difficult with the wings and the anteater head is useless once submerged. I guess we can make it stickier and switch the wolverine fur for sea otter. Sorry, but the wings pulling into the body is entirely fiction. There is an experimental idea where we give your chimera regeneration and the ability to separate from body parts. So it can detach the wings, land in the water, and swim to shore. Takes a few wings for things to grow back and there is a risk of it rejecting its own head. Yes, that would be covered under the warranty.
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Don Massenzio For today’s edition of 20 Questions, I have the pleasure of welcoming Judy Penz Sheluk. Judy has just released a book, Skeletons in the Attic, on August 16th. She is going to tell us about that work and about … Continue reading
