Everyone has their own way of doing a book review and in a way that is how it should be. Always remember a book review is an opinion. That being said and out of the way, I do think there needs to be some common considerations taken.
I don’t believe published book reviews on volunteer sites should:
Be for tearing down an author and that author’s work.
Nor do I think a poorly written book should be praised.
And being paid for a review just doesn’t cut it, unless you work for a site that has ads and also gets paid for the service of book reviewing like major newspapers or magazines. But that’s a job, not a volunteer thing. And even then, honesty is the best policy. For most of us, receiving a good book to review is a nice perk of book reviewing.
Poorly Written Books
Yes, I’m beginning with the tough one. I’ve read books with a great idea, but poor execution. I’ve written books like that as well. We all have to learn and we get excited to get that book out and into hands. I’ve put my novels away, come back to them months later, and found so many mistakes that I didn’t realize were there before.
Personally, I offer the author an out up front. If I read the book and the review is less than a 3 out of 5 Rating, they can choose not to have it published or go forward with it. It’s up to them. If less than a 3 and published, I will make a note I have the consent of the author to do so. This consent is a question on the LWI site Book Request Submission Form. (Why do I give this out? I feel that by putting faith in me and providing a copy of the book to me, they at least deserve that option. If I buy the book myself…I have the option to post as I see fit.)
If the author says to publish, then make certain to be professional and do not write to destroy and tear down. Your Rating will give the reader one idea of what the book is, while your words explain things. Some people want to see a reviewer go off on an author and make fun of them. You won’t find that on LWI. We’re mature adults who are teachers, professors, doctors, lawyers, authors, and university students. We take our role in the career of an author seriously.
Great Books
You have to decide ahead of time what your idea of a great book is. Some may protest at this idea, but there needs to be some reference point to go by. If you are considering F. Scott Fitzgerald or Hemingway as the great, a 5 Star read, then a 4 may be an extremely great review from you. I tend to lean this way, but I do still let the book itself stand on its own merits. I do give a 5 or a round up to a 5 from something like a 4.8 at times. But for me to do that it MUST be a great book and MUST connect with me. As always, every review is an opinion. The more books you read in the genre areas you like with a reviewer mind the more you come to recognize great writing in those areas. But then you have entertaining writing as well. Book Reviewing is not easy when you are doing it seriously.
Keep in mind that even though the book is great there still might be that something you didn’t like or that bothered you. Is it something worth sharing? Did it stay with you? If if did, then you may want to refer to it. Why? Credibility. You want your review to mean something.
Book Information
For the LitWorldInterviews site we include the basic information for the book such as Author, Title, Publisher, Publication Date, ASIN and so on. You can look at any of our Book Reviews and see our basic layout. Many Book Review sites include this information. We do add some to it, such as Author, Title, Genre, sometimes formats available and pricing (If I remember to do it on mine). You can checkout Book Review of Dancing to an Irish Reel by Claire Fullerton to see how I put a book review together and how the Book Information looks.
Author Information
A Book Review, for me, is a way to advertise for an author. Therefore, I include as many of the online ways to connect to the author as I can, and I include a profile/bio of the author.
Writing the Review
Most likely if you are reading this you are wondering what you should include in the review. There isn’t a magical formula. Things I attempt (as always depending on my memory and excitement level) to include are:
At least the basic story idea and main characters.
Things that I connected to without giving away too much of the story.
How the flow of the book is.
How engaging and immersing the story is.
If the characters and voice are authentic.
If the setting is authentic, especially if describing an actual place. (You may not know this part but if there is something described that nags at you, such as a high-rise building in the middle of a swamp, then that may be an issue for you.)
What genres the book falls into as far as you feel. A book may be classified as a Romance by a publisher but in reality be Literary Fiction that has a relationship in it, but has very little to do with what people consider as Romance.
Comparison to any big ‘stars’ of the literary world that may help people connect to the feel of the story and thus prompt a person to purchase the book.
Is it a MUST to include all of the above, or even half of the above? No. Those are suggestions, and there are plenty of other things people include. Your goal as a Book Reviewer is to give your opinion of if the book is good or not and provide enough information to send a reader off to purchase the book.
One thing to remember about Book Reviewing is to find your voice. There are a great many reviewers out there and in order for you to convey what you are wanting to say you need to say it with honesty, and that will come out as your voice. You can look here on LitWorldInterviews and see we all have different styles and voices. My style is dictated by the book and my enjoyment of it and you can easily tell by a review I have done if I truly loved a book or not before you even get to the Rating at the bottom.
A Book Review isn’t all about proper sentence structure. Sure, you want to be professional, otherwise people will wonder what do you know about reviewing a book. But you are reviewing for story, engagement, flow, and things of that nature. You are telling a story of your own when you write a review, and as James Patterson says, “Focus on the story not the sentence.”
Ronovan is an author, and blogger who shares his life as an amnesiac and Chronic Pain sufferer though his blog RonovanWrites.WordPress.com. His love of poetry, authors and community through his online world has lead to a growing Weekly Haiku Challenge and the creation of LitWorldInterviews.WordPress.com, a site dedicated to book reviews, interviews and author resources. For those serious about book reviewing and interested in reviewing for the LWI site, email me at ronovanwrites (at) gmail (dot) com to begin a dialogue. It may not work out but then again it might.
I’ve been catching on some of the books I had pending, and as I’ve finally got around to reading one by our fantastic Jo Robinson, I had to share. Here it is:
Echoes of Narcissus in the Gardens of Delight by Jo Robinson
Title: Echoes of Narcissus in the Gardens of Delight
Author: Jo Robinson
ASIN: B00RBRYMD6
Published: 21st December 2014
Pages: 230
Genre: Spirituality, Personal development, genre fiction
Donna, the protagonist of this novel, has been married for over thirty years to Marco, a horrible man who has made her believe she’s unstable and unworthy of anybody’s love or attention. Their daughter, Shelley, was packed to boarding school and has avoided the family home ever since. Donna has managed to survive thanks to a huge garden (partly the land of an old farmhouse) and her renewed interest in Horticulture. Researching heritage tomatoes she stumbles upon information that makes her believe perhaps her disastrous and unhappy marriage (at least for her. Her husband seems to get all he needs from the relationship and other relationships) is not her fault. And her husband’s behaviour might not be unique either. She discovers malignant narcissistic personality disorder.
Jo Robinson creates a unique set of characters and a beautifully nuanced novel of sensations and feelings out of a story that might sound familiar (I think many people who read the novel will perceive similarities between the couple in the book and some people they know, if not in the detail, at least in the essence). Despite that familiarity, the immediacy of the story (although it is told in the third person, we see everything that happens from Donna’s point of view, live her anxieties, panic, feel her frustrations, and finally, her hopes and achievements), the elements of surprise (Donna keeps some cards under her sleeve), the sympathetic and likeable characters (except for Marco), and the overall optimism of a book that shows the positive effects of creativity (gardening in this instance) and friendship make it highly recommended.
The pace of the book changes from slow and meditative at the beginning (when, like the character, we live inside of her head, in fear of what might happen if we dare to tread outside of Donna’s house and insular life) to fast-paced and full of adventures, danger and varied characters at the end. The novel flows well and we engage and root for the main character. The ending is satisfying and the novel is a pleasurable read.
Although this is a work of fiction, it reminded me of Alice Walker’s In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens in its love for alternative ways of finding one’s calling and life-affirming creativity.
Having read the author’s blog and now one of her novels, I can’t wait to read more of her writing. I expect more fascinating topics and engrossing stories.
As a side note, I’m a psychiatrist, and narcissistic personality disorder is one of the well-described personality disorders in several psychiatric classifications. Most psychiatrists would distinguish between mental disorders and mental illnesses. Personality disorders manifest themselves as a series of traits of an individual’s personality (as such they appear from a young age, and continue to manifest themselves, in most cases, throughout the person’s life). They are considered disorders when they have a negative impact on the life of either the person, others who relate to them or often both, and in most cases are extreme manifestations of characteristics that a lot of people might share. Among other personality disorders are: borderline personality disorder, paranoid, obsessive, depressive, anxious, antisocial…Mental illnesses are mental disorders too, although those appear at a certain point in life and like other illnesses can last for a period of time and get better (with treatment in most cases, although some mental illnesses run a chronic course and it’s more difficult to be specific as to when they are “cured”. It is usually possible to recall a time before the illness became manifest). People suffering from personality disorders might present with short-lived pseudo-psychotic symptoms (delusions or hallucinations), although in the case of Marco there doesn’t seem to be any evidence of that (or at least Donna does not describe delusions or hallucinations). It is likely though that if we scored Marco using the PCL-R (Psychopathy Checklist-Revised) he would score above the cut-off point for psychopathy, although this is not a specific psychiatric diagnosis.
Ratings: Realistic Characterization: 4/5 Made Me Think: 5/5 Overall enjoyment: 4.5/5 Readability: 5/5 Recommended: 5/5 Overall Rating: 5/5
Buy it at: Amazon Format & Pricing: Paperback: $8.99
Unless you’ve been hiding under a CPU and working on your own book, then you know how much I’ve enjoyed a book called Dancing to an Irish Reel by Award Winning author Claire Fullerton. But I made a mistake with that book review. And I want to correct that up front. I wrote the review too soon after reading the book and failed to give time for reflection and full comprehension to take place. I didn’t take it all in and examine all the nuances hidden within the story. Every day since then I’ve been working on some aspect of the Claire Fullerton Experience. Yes, I call time spent working with an author an Experience like that because it does not normally end with a review and/or an interview. There is a lot more going on in the background than anyone other than one of my authors knows.
During the Experience I realized just how much Claire put in her book and how much she put in to her book. The more I think about it, the more I love the book. I don’t normally dwell very long after a review and interview, I always have the next to go to and I have since. But this would had a truth about it, a realness that one connects with and it stays with you. But before I get too carried away, unless I’m already too late, let’s get to my discussion with Claire Fullerton, Award Winning author and #1 GoodReads Irish Romance.
Claire, for a book that finds itself at times falling into the category of Romance, I have to say I was surprised by what I found with keeping that genre in mind. Did you set out to write a Romance? Was that your goal?
I’m so glad you asked this question, Ronovan. Actually, “Dancing to an Irish Reel” is literary fiction, which is a genre that means true to life. It’s a story about those near misses people experience on the road to a love that endures. I can’t think of anyone I know who hasn’t been in this situation before; where all the variables of attraction are in play, while two people are coming to know each other, yet for one reason or another, they can’t seem to get it together. But there is always such hope, and I think new love is typically replete with uncertainty. There is excitement and high hopes, yet on the flip side there is unpredictability and attendant fears. Extending oneself in new love can be risky and can leave one feeling vulnerable. It’s my belief that most people experience uncertainty and doubt when in the throes of new love, it’s just a question of to what degree they’re going to admit it! This is what “Dancing to an Irish Reel” is about. This is also why this book does not fall into the romance genre, but it does explore the subject.
Actually when I was thinking about this interview and the book I thought of real life with those moments of almost romance, or more relationship to tell the truth.
I think so as well. This is why I gave the reader Hailey’s thoughts throughout this book. I’m fascinated by the way people will say and do things in order to project a certain appearance, while thinking something completely at variance with their words and actions. I wanted the reader to know Hailey’s personality as she made her way in rural Ireland; that she saw things from an American frame of reference for much of this book, yet as the story progresses, that frame of reference was changed as she came to understand the Irish culture. I think this is what people do in life: they tend to resist what is new because their mind is already made up, but if one allows themselves to be influenced, there is much to learn!
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The role of Hailey Crossan is a strong woman who knows who she is and what she wants. Where did those characteristics come from, as far as a model for her?
I love your use of the word role! I, too, see this book as a movie! You’ve just made my day! But seriously, and to your astute point, I know more women like Hailey Crossan than otherwise. When I consider all the close girlfriends, with whom I was lucky enough to grow up in Memphis, I realize they are all nobody’s fool. My mother was the same way. The women in my life have always been self-confident and self-reliant. They have a savvy, keen eye with regard to sizing people up. And the thing I’ve found with many of my friends is they rarely let on. They prefer to keep things close to the vest, so you have to know them for a while before you realize how aware they really are. This is how I wanted to write the character of Hailey. It was necessary that she was self- sufficient and sure of herself in order to move to another country without fear. She had to be able to hold her own in her new environment because she was a fish-out-of-water, so to speak.
I think your description of close to the vest fits Hailey well, now that I think about her. Cautious is another word that comes to mind. Recently I became a fan of a young man named Hozier, an Irish blues singer/musician/songwriter of about 26. I couldn’t help but picture him during my reading of Dancing to an Irish Reel. Did you have any images in mind, anyone in particular when you were writing Liam Hennessey?
Generally yes, but no one specifically. But I’ll use Hozier to make a point because the look of him is a good example; it is common in Ireland. There are many with dark hair and fair skin. And having lived in Ireland myself, I found the men to be subtle and beautiful, almost with a graceful, feminine quality. And those artistically attuned are the sensitive sort. This is what I had in mind when I created Liam Hennessey.
Oh, and one other thing before we move on, why that name, why Dancing to an Irish Reel?
Spiddal Pier Shore Galway Bay, Ireland
In Irish traditional music, a reel is a tune that is circular; it goes back and forth and in and out in its execution, and to the listener it may seem unstable, but it is not. A reel has a plan! The title “Dancing to an Irish Reel” is meant to evoke this concept. It refers to the push and pull of the story and the search for stability. Hailey’s navigation of Ireland as an outsider and her sometimes off, sometimes on relationship with Liam Hennessey left her in the position of having to artfully manage a shifting tide, so to speak. She had to learn the ways of the Irish culture in order to live there inconspicuously, and the unpredictability of Liam Hennessey’s actions left her constantly searching for solid ground!
I’ve seen your handling of Ireland compared to that of one of Ireland’s most famous and beloved authors the late Maeve Binchy. When you see comparisons like that what comes to mind?
With regard to Maeve Binchy, because she was Irish, she handled Irish nuances effortlessly, as a matter of course. They were not unusual to her at all, but she reveled in their specific, unique quality. With regard to Ireland, she was in it as well as of it, yet able to stand back and observe the islands peculiarity in a way that celebrated its facets. I sought to do exactly this in “Dancing to an Irish Reel” because I carry a love and appreciation for the land and its culture. I find the Irish people earthy and authentic, unpretentious and in possession of a good perspective with regard to what is important in life. They place importance on quality of life and seem to me to accept life on life’s terms, as opposed to trying to manipulate their way through it.
When you were writing the book, was it an organic experience or did you have a specific outline in mind first? And whichever way, is that the same way you wrote A Portal in Time, your previous release?
Spanish Arch Galway, Ireland
For both books, I had a point to make, as in something to say. I started with a premise as a statement then set about getting there via a story that unfolded. As for an outline, my process is very loose. I leave room for the story to tell itself, which is something best exemplified as I write dialogue. I never know ahead of time what the dialogue will be, yet I aim for information to be revealed. We learn about characters through what they say and what other characters say about them. In both books, I was mindful of the spirit of intention and had a loose outline of what was going to happen with regard to turning points. I simply held a firm impression of who the characters were to make the events in both books plausible.
Reading your book and the description of A Portal in Time, I get the feeling of your enjoyment of writing about past lives, mystical and spiritual elements. Is this something that comes natural to you, I mean as in the aspects of writing?
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My introspection must be showing! In truth, I’m not completely decisive on the subject of past lives one way or the other, but I do love the mystery. Perhaps the idea of past lives shares a blurred line with genetic memory, who’s to say? If you consider the idea of genetic memory, what it basically proposes is that we carry the impressions and experiences of our forebears because they are past down to us through genetics like imprints. This explains inherited talents and proclivities in an understandable way. And if you look at, say, the Druids, they didn’t believe so much in past lives as they did in the transmigration of the soul, meaning we are souls gathering wisdom in this business of living on earth, but it takes many incarnations to accumulate something with staying power. We can’t just get it all in one lifetime, if the aim is enlightenment, i.e, perfection. And because it is an ongoing endeavor, the idea is we return to this earthly plane repeatedly, where we try on different hats. I think there is confusion over the idea of past-lives because it places importance on the experience of the human as opposed to the experience of the soul as it seeks alignment with the divine, however you choose to define the divine. But this subject is important, and it’s enough for me to be mindful of the question. I think Sting touched upon something beautiful when he proclaimed we are spirits in the material world, and I know he wasn’t the first to posit this, but he did make a proclamation that brought it to the public fore.
Everyone that’s read my review of your book knows I loved it, and that I suggested a sequel. We’ve talked about it and it hadn’t come to you as an idea until then. But you set it up so well with the tarot card reading of Hailey. Do you think maybe some of those outside forces were guiding your story during certain parts? Maybe they want you to take another trip to Ireland.
Actually, I have been back to Ireland since I wrote “Dancing to an Irish Reel,” and I plan on going again! As for going back to Ireland in a sequel, I never thought along those lines because “Dancing to an Irish Reel” is a self-contained story with a point to it, which is to say we make our choices in life and from them our lives are set on a consequential course. As of this interview, I am not ruling a sequel out. I’ll let Hailey decide.
Now let’s get something a little more personal. We have a lot in common. Southern. Music business. Location of living for a time. How does your time in the South influence your writing, and is that part of your heritage something that you think might have drawn you to Ireland?
Ireland and the American South share something in common, but do keep in mind that much of the American South was settled by the Scotch-Irish, so perhaps it is something inherent in the area. Both areas spawn terrific communicators in possession of the gift of the entertaining story. It is a cultural way of being in the world, and therefore something passed down to each generation. In both the South and Ireland, I’ve found extremely colorful characters, completely unabashed in personality. As for the South influencing my writing, all I can say is that I write as I think, from the internal monologue I have in my head as well as how I see the world. The South has clearly influenced this as an environment because it is my frame of reference.
What’s the most satisfying thing that has happened to you so far while you’ve been an author?
The writer’s life style. I write daily for one reason or another. It has transpired that with two books in the world and the dynamic that promotion brings therefore, that I am always writing something, and this is due to the affiliations my books have given me. Take for instance the Irish online community “The Wild Geese.” They’re a group of the most erudite, Ireland loving writers I’ve ever come across, all with the desire to communicate and share their love of the island. I contribute to this community regularly by writing pieces that appear as blog posts, but what they really are is a way to celebrate the business of what it means to be Irish! So there is that gift, but I have also spent the last two years writing my third novel, which has been a joyous process. Then, of course, I contribute to magazines. It seems I’m always writing something and sharing it, which to me is simply the high art of communication for its own sake. All this is my idea of fulfilling days with a purpose. Can’t get more satisfying than this!
Do you have a favorite line in Dancing to an Irish Reel?
Yes, it is this: “There’s a feel about Galway that you can wear around your shoulders like a cloak.” It is very true.
Thank you, Ronovan. This has been big fun! Thank you for supporting writers through your exceptional blog.
About Claire
Claire Fullerton grew up in Memphis, TN and now lives in Malibu, CA. She is the author of literary fiction, “Dancing to an Irish Reel,” which is set in Connemara, Ireland, where she once lived. She is also the author of “A Portal in Time”: A paranormal mystery that unfolds in two time periods set on California’s hauntingly beautiful Monterey Peninsula, in a little village called Carmel-by-the-Sea. Both of Claire’s novels are published by Vinspire Publishing. Claire is a three- time award winning essayist, a former newspaper columnist, a contributor to magazines including Celtic Life International and Southern Writers Magazine. She is a five-time contributor to the “Chicken Soup for the Soul” book series and can be found on Goodreads as well as the website under her name. Currently, Claire is writing her third novel, which is a Southern family saga based on her award winning essay in the 2013 San Francisco Writer’s Conference.
What is a book? Is it the paper that it’s printed on? Would it still be a book if all its pages were blank? Technically – yes it would, but it would be a book to write in rather than a book to be read. An eBook is a book. Even one day in the far future when we read by hologram or crystal brain implant, books will always be books. To some, the pleasure of reading a book includes the feel of it in their hands, and the pleasure of turning an actual page. These days I find reading eBooks a lot more pleasant, although I still enjoy paper now and then. Paper books cost more than eBooks because of the production costs, but at the end of the day what we are selling isn’t paper, it is the stories within. We need to look at eBooks for what they are – books, and give them the same love when we publish them as we would our paper books. They need everything in them that you would put in or on a paper book, and that includes a blurb. About This Book.
I’ve mentioned this before in passing, but I think it deserves its own conversation. When you buy a paper book, you look on the back to see what it’s about. If it’s by an author that you recognise and love there will be the familiar titles that you’ve read in the first pages of it to nudge your memory. When you take that book home and put it on your bookshelf to read later, it will still have those things many months later when you’ve forgotten all about buying it amongst your other pile of book purchases if you’re a voracious reader, as most writers are. If for some reason the book description were to completely disappear, possibly it’s not written by an author you know, you’ve totally forgotten what it was about, and all you’re left with is cover art, would you choose to read it straight away rather than another book with all that about the book information still there?
We need to stop thinking of eBooks as not real because they’re not physical in the real sense of the word. I actually think that they are physical in the real sense of the word. A book isn’t about the packaging it comes in. Whether it’s hardback, paperback, or written in flowing longhand on individual toilet paper sheets smuggled out of a prison, a book is the story. It’s the reading of it that counts. I love reading on my Kindle – I love reading on my Kindle for PC more – such a lovely big page with lovely non-eye straining print. I don’t love eBooks not having About This Book pages, and because of my book hoarding tendencies I’m pretty sure that I’m missing out on some fabulous reads, not to mention wasting a pile of money buying books that I know I’ll love at the time, but don’t have the time to invest in finding out about what they’re about when I’m looking for a read months later. Fair enough, I do have over a thousand books downloaded, and a thousand odd more on my cloud reader, but I’m sure so do a lot of other avid readers.
When I open an interesting looking read on my Kindle, I want to know what it’s about. I also want future readers of my own books not passing over them because they’ve forgotten why they bought them. It’s a simple matter of copying and pasting your book blurb into a dedicated page of your front matter with the heading About This Book that might give you a better chance of your books being read, especially if you have it on free or discounted promotions. That’s when we hit the download button to keep for later. I’m always finding books that I’ve bought a couple of years ago at full price that I have to go back to their Amazon pages to read the blurb before I know if I feel like reading them at the time, and most of the time when I’m looking for a new read I don’t do that – I just move on to the next book. It might be well worth your while to head over to Amazon and reload your eBooks with their blurbs added if you don’t already do this.
Genres: Women’s Fiction, Romance, Drama, Young Adult Fiction, Young Adult Romance
The boxed set of The Crater Lake Series is comprised of three full-length novels. I will give a brief review of all three books in sequence order.
*The author provided me a copy of the series in exchange for an honest review which follows.*
“Disappearing in Plain Sight” Book One
Sixteen-year-old Lisa Marie has a dark past in Ontario that she would like to get away from, so when she is forced to visit her aunt in Crater Lake on Vancouver Island off the coast of British Columbia for the summer, she jumps at the chance.
Aunt Bethany and her partner, Beulah aren’t sure what to do with a teenager who has emotional issues. The running of their bread business is time consuming enough. In no time, Lisa Marie has her own agenda, and when she meets Justin Roberts, one of the troubled teens who resides at Camp Micah, a refuge for troubled teens who have been in the system, Lisa Marie is forced to grapple with her teenage past.
With the help of Izzy Montgomery, a trauma counsellor at Camp Micah, and owner of the Crater Lake Community, and Liam Collins, an employee of the camp, Lisa Marie attempts to deal with her own secrets and guilt from the past. Unaware that the entire community is dealing with the loss of one of their own, Lisa Marie spirals into adult situations and consequences that come to affect her entire life.
Within the tight-knit community swirl the stories of the troubled teens and the legacy of Caleb Montgomery, the man larger than life, whose dreams became a reality at Crater Lake.
“The Light Never Lies” Book Two
Lisa Marie’s story continues and she finds herself frantic to return to Crater Lake once she knows that Justin will be working at the sawmill for the summer. In typical self-centered teenage fashion, Lisa Marie is worried about herself and her needs only. However, all is not as it seems in this quiet idyllic lakeside community.
During Lisa’s school year, Izzy Montgomery and Liam Collins advanced their relationship once they realized their love and passion for each other. Liam and Izzy find their love tested with the appearance of Lisa Marie as she complicates matters further for the couple with the announcement of her pregnancy.
To add further stress to their relationship, Izzy and Liam find themselves suddenly surrounded by family. Izzy’s elderly father has come for a visit from England. In addition, Liam’s father, Alex appears with a brother named Bobby that Liam has never met. Bobby is a lovable child with a supernatural ability that bodes watching.
At Crater Lake, life is messy and never just black and white. This entire volume is dedicated to relationships, changes, new beginnings, and the realization that family comes from those you choose to let into your life.
“Chasing Down the Night” Book Three
A cougar lurks in the hills surrounding Crater Lake bringing disturbing empathic visions to Bobby Collins that usher in further changes to the residents of this small community. Bobby’s mystical qualities strengthen and he begins to associate with his spirit animal, the cougar, in an unhealthy way.
Izzy and Liam continue to grapple with home life, family, and Izzy’s challenges at work as the administrator of Micah Camp. Lisa Marie deals with the challenges of motherhood and an advancing photographic career, all the while seeking balance in her relationship with Justin.
Meanwhile, Liam’s sister, Fiona accepts an internship with Micah Camp’s local physician and arrives carrying the baggage of her Native American heritage and bringing additional upheaval to the family.
The final volume of the Crater Lake series deals with building a family, respect for tradition, and embracing the new things in life. Caleb Montgomery’s legacy at Crater Lake is secure in the community of family that meant the world to him. Recommendation:
Have you ever read a book or a series where you become emotionally bonded to the characters? This is what I did with Francis Guenette’s Crater Lake series. At the end of the last book, I was heartbroken that I would not encounter the beauty that surrounds Crater Lake and the cast of characters anymore.
Yes, I was going to miss my new friends and their lives. In fact, I had to stop reading for a few days so that I could adjust to my life without them. I had a book hangover, one of which I have not experienced in a long time!
The complexity of the characters and the realistic relationships shared between them are what propel this saga forward. Pair that with the beautiful descriptions of the surrounding area and Crater Lake comes alive in magnificent colors much like a rainbow which spreads hope in the darkest times.
There is something here for everyone. Love, sex, lust, greed, spirituality, sacrifice, death, murder, life… the list goes on and on. Each book in the series leads you on to a different life lesson much like the lessons you learn within your own family unit.
There was a kinship found within these pages where I as the reader was drawn along, all the while given permission to become part of the family. I feel my life has been enriched for having shared their lives. I will reread these books numerous times because it will feel like coming home.
Author, Frances Guenette
Character Believability: 5 Flow and Pace: 5 Reader Engagement: 5 Reader Enrichment: 5 Reader Enjoyment: 5 Overall Rate:5 About Frances Guenette:
Francis Guenette has spent most of her life on the west coast of British Columbia. She finds inspiration for writing in the beauty and drama of a lakeshore cabin and garden on the Northern end of Vancouver Island. She shares an off-the-grid home that employs a combination of micro-hydro and solar power with her husband Bruce.
Between May and September, Billy Bob the Bear drops over to graze and eat huckleberries and salal. Now and then cougar tracks are spotted meandering across the property. Life is good in the hinterlands, but Francis warns – you have to keep your eyes open and know where you are.
Francis has a daughter and a son – both happily married and pursuing interesting careers. She also has two beautiful and wildly funny granddaughters who provide her with inspiration for writing and living.
For most of her working life, Francis has been an educator. She has worked with special needs children and youth and taught at the undergrad level at the University of Victoria. She has a graduate degree in counselling psychology and very nearly completed her Ph.D. There was that pesky matter of the doctoral dissertation, but enough said on that score! She has worked as a trauma counsellor, a researcher, and a graduate student supervisor.
During her academic life Francis published (on her own and with others) several articles that were accepted to peer-reviewed journals as well as contributing to chapters in two published books.
Please connect with Francis Guenette through her Twitter @FrancisGuenette
As you know I’ve been sharing interviews with writers who usually publish their books in Spanish but who have now had one or several or their novels translated to English. Today I have as a guest Armando Rodera one of the authors who first discovered the possibilities of self-publishing his work, and who has lived through many changes in publishing. But I’ll let him tell us all about it.
Author Armando Rodera
I was born in Madrid in 1972, and I became a voracious reader from a very young age. I studied Telecommunications and IT, and worked for a decade in the technological sector until I decided to go into literature.
Pioneer of digital publishing in Spain, I landed in Amazon in 2011. Since then and in the last four years, I’ve become the published author of El color de la maldad (Color of Evil), a bestseller police-thriller that was my first publication, La rebeldía del alma (The Rebellion of the Soul), an intimate thriller that has been global number 1 in Amazon Spain, Juego de Identidades (Game of Identities), novel of action and adventures, and Caos absoluto (Absolute Chaos), a dystopian police thriller. I also have a non-fiction work, La llave del éxito (The Key to Success). I’ve published all these titles independently in Amazon.
My first traditionally published work was El enigma de los vencidos (The enigma of the defeated), a mystery novel with a historical background that was published by Ediciones B in 2012. In 2014 Thomas & Mercer published the English version of El color de la maldad, which has been very successful in the USA, UK and Canada.
I’m also editorial reader, manager of content and freelance consultor in projects of marketing online and new technologies applied to the publishing sector.
When and how did you start writing?
I’ve been writing since I was a small child, either handwritten letters or short tales. When I was 11 or 12 I won a writing competition at school. After that, once at college, I dared to write some nonsense that was soon forgotten. It wasn’t until the end of 2003, a period with numerous changes in my life, not only personal, but also with regards to my family and my profession, that I decided to take the plunge and I started on my first novel, El enigma de los vencidos. An inflection point that was also greatly influenced by my reading the fantastic La sombra del viento (The Shadow of the Wind), by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. I told myself that someday I also wanted to write a great work and if I could ever managed to make one of my possible future readers feel even a tenth of what I had felt when reading that novel I’d be more than satisfied.
Describe your experience as an independent writer.
I wrote my first two novels between 2004 and 2007. After that I went through all the stages that any new writer has tried in order to get his works published: submit to book awards, send the manuscripts to agencies and publishing companies, etc. I even had a contract signed with a company that self-published books in paper, but finally that was rescinded for a variety of reasons. Finally I gave up trying to follow the usual routes of the sector and decided to publish in Amazon in July 2011, when a lot of people didn’t even know of the existence of the KDP platform for authors.
In a few months my life changed completely. El color de la maldadvery soon became a bestseller in America and El enigma de los vencidos did the same in the Brand-new Kindle store in Spain. That novel was then taken up by Ediciones B, but I continued to publish on my own, and I even manage to reach the global number one in Amazon.es with La rebeldía del alma and many successes with my other works.
Then came the launching in the Anglo-Saxon market of Color of Evil and that was the fulfilment of another dream of any writer. Digital technology and Amazon Kindle Store have allowed me to reach dozens of thousands of readers all over the world and this is something that I could never have imagined when I started writing my first book.
What has been the best moment of your career as a writer so far?
At the beginning of 2012, Ediciones B and B de Books pushed for a new model, and trusted authors that were practically unknown to the great public, but who had been successful with their digital novels. That group of authors that I was a part of appeared in several national newspapers and magazines in Spain (El País, El Mundo, El Periódico de Cataluña, Tiempo, Interviú, etc) and we had great media repercusion.
Shortly after that, our novels were presented in an incomparable setting, the Feria del Libro de Madrid (The Book Fair of Madrid), in the well-known Parque del Retiro (Retiro Park) of Madrid. In my case I was lucky enough to be signing books for two days at that Book Fair, some memorable afternoons I’ll remember forever. Also, the book was distributed throughout the whole of Spain and some American countries with a great reception. Of course, it’s a wonderful feeling to find your own novel on the new books exhibits in the bookshops. I’ll always have a wonderful memory of that experience and I hope to repeat it again in the near future.
What’s your favourite genre (both as reader and as writer).
When I was a young child I fell in love with the novels of Alexandre Dumas and Jules Verne, adventures that have marked me forever. After that, already at high school, I became familiar with the works of Stephen King, who has become one of my favourite authors. Among the writers of detective stories I can’t forget Conan Doyle and his wonderful Sherlock Holmes. And much later I lost myself in Daniel Sempere’s stories, and his Cementerio de los libros olvidados (Cemetery of Forgotten Books), a crucial moment in deciding to dedicate myself to writing.
In general I enjoy thrillers, detective and police stories, adventures, intrigue and also historical novels or even horror novels. I’m an avid reader and I devour between 60 and 80 books per year. I love to read. I can mention many names: John Grisham, F. Forsyth, Ken Follet, Preston & Child, S. King, David Baldacci or Dean Koontz, among others. And of course, Spanish authors as popular as: Pérez Reverte, Almudena Grandes or Matilde Asensi, although in the last few years I’ve had the pleasure of personally meeting and enjoying the books of a new batch of Spanish writers creating new works today, in paper as well as in digital formats, that perhaps aren’t quite as well known to the big public.
That as a reader. As a writer I also tend to write in the same genres. Definitely, action and intrigue novels, thrillers, if we want to define them that way, but always with something else: drama, mystery, police procedural elements, some romance, a historical or suspenseful background. I like to fuse genres.
What made you decide to translate your work? And how did you find a translator?
My novels have been very well received in the States from the moment I started on my digital adventure, and that was why I wanted to reach the Anglo-Saxon market. I studied the possibility of getting one of my books translated independently, but the costs were prohibitive for me or the quality of the work offered for me to sample did not convince me, and I parked the project for a while.
Then I heard about the possibility of sending a proposal to Amazon Publishing, the editorial arm of Amazon. That’s what I did with my novel El color de la maldad, and to my surprise, in less than two months they decided to send me a contract for the book. They got it translated and published it in 2014 under Thomas & Mercer’s company, the publisher of the group specialising in thrillers and mystery novels.
Color of Evil has been number 1 for several weeks in the Police procedural category in the Canada Kindle Store, and also Top 20 in the category of International thrillers in the United Kingdom. It was also a prominent thriller in that category in Amazon.com, staying in the podium of ‘Mystery and International Crimes’ for several weeks.
Tell us something about your book
Color of Evil by Armando Rodera. Transl. Simon Bruni
The genesis of this novel came in the spring of 2007, when after visiting as an occasional tourist several rural areas in our country; I had the inspiration that they could be the perfect opening point for an unconventional police procedural novel. From then on I began to build up a plot that became more and more similar to the Anglo-Saxon thriller, becoming somewhat detached from the usual canons of the classical noir Spanish crime novel.
What I found more difficult to create was the character of Jason, the psychopath around whom the whole plot revolves. He was the most complex of all the protagonists, due to the complexity of his psyche. I wanted to narrate what the psychopath felt and thought from his own point of view, and it was hard work, and that was why I also explained his childhood and adolescence, the main triggers, but not the only ones that lead him to become a blood-thirsty assassin.
When I started writing I knew the novel would revolve around a serial killer that leaves a trail of crimes throughout the whole of the Spanish geography, but I didn’t have his leitmotif. I had in mind the film Seven or Harris’s novels with Doctor Hannibal Lecter as protagonist, but I had no idea which path the novel would lead me into until I started writing. Later I found a solution that might surprise readers quite a lot.
In the first draft I didn’t name the assassin and the narration became quite complicated at times, especially during his interactions with other characters. I wanted to give him a name he chose himself, Jason, although we don’t get to know the real one until the end, to help with the plot building and to embody on someone concrete the brutality of those criminal acts.
I would never have imagined the reception my novel got, especially in America. “El color de la maldad” was published on Amazon.com in July 2011 and for over three years it has been the best-selling police procedural in Spanish in the American continent, becoming a longseller in América. The reviews and comments about this novel, in both sides of the Atlantic, have been almost unanimous throughout its trajectory, something I’m very proud of. The icing on the cake was a joint reading organised on the net, where 16 blogs agreed to write very positive reviews about this book.
Any advice for your colleague writers (especially new writers)
I don’t feel qualified to give advice; I’m still fighting and learning every day. But to any new writer I would tell him or her that this is a long-distance race, that one must fight for the things one believes in, but also make sacrifices. Read and write every day, learn from those who know more than us and try and improve every day. And above all, to have a polished and as perfect as possible manuscript if they want to publish it through Amazon, with the right formatting and an attractive cover. After that one can do as much promotion as one likes but the readers have the final word and if they don’t like a work, it will all be in vain. We are all different and so are our challenges, but we have the right to fight for our dreams.
Thanks so much to Armando Rodera for his interview and for sharing his book with us, thanks to all of you for reading, and you know what to do, like, share, comment and CLICK!
Beta Readers needed by author Viv Drewa for the following. Please contact her at the-owl-lady(at)att(dot)net with interest. She is a great supporter of Indie Authors.
MIDNIGHT OWL
(A Joe Leverette Mystery)
Book 1
By Viv Drewa
When the dismembered body of a young woman is found Detectives Joe Leverette and Philip
Marsden are assigned the case. After investigating the Port Huron, Michigan area where the six body
parts were found there’s a twist in the case: The murderer goes after each individual who found the parts,
Leverette becomes interested in one of the women, Carole Sage, a sensitive, but because of the
case he’s not able to take it any further. Everyone on the police force sees his infatuation, but Carole
Each of the six witnesses has a dream about the murderer removing the particular body part they
found the night. They are startled awake and hear an owl hoot three times. None of them want to reveal
Carole sees the actual murder and each murder as it happens to the witnesses. The police chief,
Billingsley, understands her ‘gift’ and sets up a sting to catch him. It fails and they have to regroup to think
of something else. Two witnesses are dead and they don’t want a third to die.
Author: Claire Fullerton Title: Dancing to an Irish Reel File Size: 373 KB Print Length: 237 pages Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0990304256 Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited Publisher: Vinspire Publishing (March 6, 2015) Publication Date: March 6, 2015 Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc. Language: English ASIN: B00UCOZJXM Text-to-Speech: Enabled Word Wise: Enabled Lending: Enabled Genres: Romance, Contemporary, Fiction, Literary Fiction Kindle: $1.99 Paperback: $13.99 Audible: $17.95
I received a copy of this book from the author for an honest review. And of course with me, you know that’s what you get. Good or bad. Here we go!
What happens when an L.A. music exec goes on sabbatical to Ireland? Well this is a romance, so I’ll say romance, along with love, music, and most of all confusion—caused by love, language, and longing. You might think a Southern girl who moved to L.A. might be accustomed to culture shock and speaking a different language, but Ireland is an island unto itself.
Dancing to an Irish Reel is about American Hailey meeting real Ireland and new-to-love Liam Hennessey. What you get is a story of Hailey learning about the place she comes to call home and as she learns about it and begins to understand it, she also begins to understand the man she falls for.
I like the character of Hailey. She is not your stereotype romantic leading lady that people like to think of. She is strong, knows what she wants, has common sense, and above all—she doesn’t do the typical damsel in distress routines.
Men, you will like this book. I say that because men need to realize that a great deal of books with Romance in the genre are not exactly what you may think. Movies men seem to like have romance in them and could be labeled as such in genre. So get a clue.
In other words this will hit with all people.
I found this book a bit of a surprise in some ways. Things don’t happen the way you expect, which to me is good. You want to be surprised these days. I do want to say that the character of Liam, well—Fullerton does a great job of explaining the Irish male in several places from different viewpoints. Very interesting, I thought.
You might at times want to hit Liam over the head with something, like his accordion, but then, he is a man, it’s love, and he’s young, so what else would you expect? And that is one thing that makes this book real and allows the reader to connect with it. No one is perfect in the book. Even those thought to be perfect are flawed deeply, and not entirely due to their own doing. And as for the accordion, it’s a loved instrument in Ireland and makes Liam somewhat of a local celebrity.
I loved the description of Ireland, the people, how the language works and the culture itself works in so many different ways. Those parts alone make you think you have read a much larger book because you learn so much. I view the romance part of the story as a side by side symbolic representation of Hailey’s coming to terms and coming to understanding Ireland itself.
How does the book end? Is it a happy ending? That’s something you have to find out for yourself. Does Fullerton leave things open for a sequel? Could there be a trilogy or even a series of Hailey books? Personally, I would like to see more of Hailey in Ireland. How Fullerton uses Hailey to teach us about the real Ireland is something that needs to be revisited.
Recommendations:
I recommend this book to lovers of Ireland, real people, common sense romance, and reality.
Character Believability: 5 Flow and Pace: 5 Reader Engagement: 5 Reader Enrichment: 5 Reader Enjoyment: 4 Overall Rate:4.8
You may be looking at that Reader Enjoyment number and wondering why. There were certain characteristics of Liam that somewhat annoyed me at times. I think maybe it was because I’m American and he’s Irish and as Claire Fullerton explains in the book, those two types of men are different. But Liam is real to the Irish male character. Perhaps being of Scottish background, maybe it’s just me.
Claire Fullerton grew up in Memphis, TN and now lives in Malibu, CA. She is the author of literary fiction, “Dancing to an Irish Reel,” which is set in Connemara, Ireland, where she once lived. She is also the author of “A Portal in Time”: A paranormal mystery that unfolds in two time periods set on California’s hauntingly beautiful Monterey Peninsula, in a little village called Carmel-by-the-Sea. Both of Claire’s novels are published by Vinspire Publishing. Claire is a three- time award winning essayist, a former newspaper columnist, a contributor to magazines including Celtic Life International and Southern Writers Magazine. She is a five-time contributor to the “Chicken Soup for the Soul” book series and can be found on Goodreads as well as the website under her name. Currently, Claire is writing her third novel, which is a Southern family saga based on her award winning essay in the 2013 San Francisco Writer’s Conference.
Ronovan is an author, and blogger who shares his life as an amnesiac and Chronic Pain sufferer though his blog RonovanWrites.WordPress.com. His love of poetry, authors and community through his online world has lead to a growing Weekly Haiku Challenge and the creation of a site dedicated to book reviews, interviews and author resources known as LitWorldInterviews.WordPress.com.
For those of you scribblers just joining Twitter for the very first time, there are a couple of tips and tools to know about that will make your tweeting life a little more fun. First the basics. Once you’ve signed up with Twitter and replaced that old egg with your author photo, it’s time to start socialising. You can only see the tweets of people who you follow, and likewise, only people who follow you will see your tweets. The way to get followers when you’re new to Twitter is to start following others. Search for people to follow by name or by putting things like writer, author, photographer, gardener, or any other thing that you are interested in, and follow away. I don’t follow many Twitter sites that don’t follow me back, but that is up to you. As a newbie this is important though, because when you are finally following two thousand people, you can’t follow any more until your follower count matches that, which generally means a lot of time spent trying to unfollow quite a lot of people.
This is where the Crowdfire app comes in useful. Log on to it every few days and see who you are following that is not also following you, and unfollow them easily from there. If you’re a busy Indie working on promoting your books, unless you really are interested in certain accounts regardless like Nigella or J K Rowling, there is no point in clogging up your timeline with tweets from people who aren’t interested in yours. Also sign up for Hootesuite to easily see what’s been happening all on one page. Check out popular hashtags to add to your tweets such as the #amwriting or #amreading ones. Check out the trending hashtags on any given day to see if you have anything to add to the conversations.
You’re not obligated to follow back everyone who follows you. I do follow back mostly unless a new follower is obviously a bot. These are often spottable by their continuous stream of generic tweets with no retweets in between. Also if someone has tens of thousands of followers and is only following a few themselves, it’s a fair bet that they will unfollow you once you’ve followed them. If anyone retweets your tweet it’s good Twitter etiquette to head on over to their profile and see if there’s anything you can retweet for them to return the favour. Retweet others anyway, and soon you’ll have a fine flock of Twitter friends ready to retweet for you when you have book news or any other important thing to share.
Go to Tinyurl to shorten any links that you want to tweet to twenty six characters. One hundred and forty isn’t a lot to work with when you have a lot to say. Another way of getting more than a hundred and forty per tweet is to create them as images using Canva or Picmonkey or any design software that you might have available. You can also shorten your links with Hootesuite if you plan on using that.
Make sure that when anyone tweets any posts from your blog site that your Twitter name gets included when they do, so that you know when anyone is sharing your work, and then you can return that favour too. You can also make certain quotes or sentences within your posts tweetable by using the Click To Tweet app. All of these apps are free so there’s no reason to have to struggle with Twitter.
Finally, to include an actual tweet in your WordPress blog, all you have to do is find the tweet you want to share on your blog. Click on the date, which will take you the tweet itself.
Copy and paste the tweet’s URL on its own line wherever you want it to appear in your post and have a look on Preview to see what it will look like, and then publish.
It’s been one year since I opened the doors of LitWorldInterviews. An idea that was to be for me to share the few and random interviews I did of my Indie Author friends and those I happened upon who needed them has turned into something a bit more.
That was in part due to meeting Jo Robinson who I instantly saw as a person sharing my interest in Indie Authors and their support. Once she agreed to join things snowballed.
60+ Interviews, around 100 Book Reviews (and those are just the ones we published) and 10 Team Members later, here we are.
I am hoping we have helped some authors, created a good reputation as a quality site for tips for Indie Authors about Self-Publishing, and are known for being a place the author can trust to put their work in the best light (if it deserves it). We sometimes run across a book that doesn’t quite work, but those books we don’t publish a review of. We would rather give the author our opinion and let them decide. An opinion is an opinion after all. How many movies have you loved the critics hated?
To all of you have trusted us, I say thank you. To those I have let down due to my health not allowing me to read books, do interviews all because I’ve forgotten (pesky concussion/amnesia thing), my apologies.
I stated recently a desire to add Book Reviewers. I reiterate that at this time. Mature in thinking, passionate in heart, and professional in manner about the written word is what I am looking for.
Email me at ronovanwrites(at)gmail(dot)com with your interest, your site if you have one (I’m just mentioning one, you don’t have to have one at all, not a big deal), and background. Include your genre preferences.
Do you have a book available for us to review? Click the Book Review Submissions tab below the header photo or click here to go there. Some of our Team have forms on their own blogs to fill out but if you fill the one out here it will reach that Reviewer.
Maddison Wood is a Watcher, a mercenary warrior, appointed by the Race Alliance to serve within a specific hunter cell after the Demonic War in which the mortal realm was destroyed. Demons, part of the Fractured, are a group of lost souls who continue to roam the earth and refuse to leave. The Fractured are the ones responsible for the Demonic War. They have one goal and that is to destroy those that belong to the higher realms.
London has lost its appeal and people are afraid to leave the inner confines of the city. Maddison’s responsibilities are to protect and serve the Fallen; guardian angels who have fallen to Earth to prepare for the next insurrection. Maddison Wood is a witch, the first of her kind appointed to such an honor.
An unlikely alliance forms with a Witch, a Hympe, a Guardian Angel, and a Prime
Maddison, along with her side-kick, Donovan, a mercenary warrior Hympe whose gifts are that of an empath, has been assigned a new mission. Donovan is a formidable ally to Maddison’s team. Once he opens up to a connection through his sense of touch he can find out everything they needed to know about an entity. A rare gift, indeed.
Zara, one of the select guardian angels, who also possesses empathic powers, has taken the fall and Maddison and Donovan are sworn to protect her and guide her through her transition. Her soul must be protected at all costs. With the help of Obadiah, a Prime who is a “God” of epic proportions who has also fallen, the group takes on Draco, the leader of the Fractured, and the original lost soul.
Recommendation:
“The Fallen,” is an action-packed journey into a post-apocalyptic alternate reality where angels and demons clash in an age-old battle between good and evil. I was immediately caught up in the lore of the creatures and of the detailed society of the Race Alliance that fought against the tyranny of The Fractured.
I found the battle scenes to be completely realistic and believable. A few times, I think I caught the glint of steel in my eyes from the knife wielding Maddison, as she battled the demons that pursued the group. Having served in the military myself, I could identify with the character of Maddison, portrayed as a strong, confident and capable woman fulfilling her destiny as a soldier. Maddison is full of rich humor and a true delight as a character.
This was my first experience with Melissa Barker-Simpson’s writing. I was not disappointed. She weaves a tale of suspense and intrigue that leaves you wanting more of this story and the characters she has crafted. Subtle hints are left as to the future direction of the story line, spread like breadcrumbs along a path, urging the reader to continue on the mysterious trek with the characters in the hope of winning the war. I look forward to the next book in the Fractured Series because I suspect, there is more excitement lurking in the dark recesses of this author’s mind.
Author, Melissa Barker-Simpson
Character Believability: 4.5 Flow and Pace: 5 Reader Engagement: 4.5 Reader Enrichment: 4.5 Reader Enjoyment: 4.5 Overall Rate:4.5 About Melissa Barker-Simpson:
I’ve been writing since, well…since I was knee-high to a grasshopper. I often look back on those earlier stories, and apart from laughing at the heavy-handed drama, or cringing at my inexperience, I am reminded that I have always lived in other worlds.
My first novel was published in 2008, and I love nothing more than working on a new project. The voices inside my head invariably pull me in different directions, so although I try to work on one thing at a time, those who know me would tell you it doesn’t always work!
I have a full-time job which, though does not involve writing per se, incorporates my love of language. As a British Sign Language Interpreter, I get to translate information between two languages which is (mostly) fun.
I have two beautiful daughters who bring me great joy. They also keep me grounded, because otherwise I would have my head in the clouds permanently!
Make certain to connect with Melissa Barker-Simpson through her Twitter @mbarkersimpson
I always like repeat offenders. I mean that as in previously interviewed authors by LWI who come back for more punishment. Today I have the amazing honor of Jeanne Bannon joining me. You may have read my review of her short story Today’s the Day to be released September 15, 2015 but pre-order now. At .99 it’s more than worth it. Bargain time! It may not be my usual fare but she handles the story so well I enjoyed it and you can read about it by clicking here.
Since I’ve interviewed Jeanne before when her book Nowhere to Run was released, I thought I would simply ask a couple of questions to go along with the previous interview and give you a bit of a mix about her.
One thing about Jeanne’s writing the shocks me is you first take a look at her, the author, and then think “She writes this stuff? What is going on inside the wonderful head of hers?” I mean I see a nice, pleasant person who would write beautiful Romances or Mysteries and I get make-me-want-to-pee-my-pants evil stuff. Still trying to figure that one out.
How different is it for you to write a short story, the difficulties or ease as opposed to a full length novel?
In some respects, writing a short story is much more difficult than crafting a novel. It’s more difficult to develop characters and a storyline with a limited number of words/pages. With a short story, details have to be left out, in other words, it’s more of a cut to the chase scenario. I think it’s more difficult to write a satisfying ending to a short story than a novel since there’s not the luxury of time to build the believability factor of your story. However, I do enjoy writing short stories and novellas after completing a novel. It keeps me writing and it’s still satisfying to see a project come to fruition.
The story set to be released on September 15th, Today’s the Day, is an extended version of a story I wrote a few years back titled The Search for Trisha Campbell. It’s about a girl who goes missing on Halloween and the unfortunate police officer who finds her. I’d often thought of that story and wondered about the protagonist, officer John Galloway. What kind of man was he? These thoughts led to my doubling the length of the original and when a call for submissions for short stories was put out by my publisher,Solstice Publishing, I thought Today’s the Day would be a perfect fit. And it’s great timing – scary stuff with Halloween around the corner.
Who would you say, as in the commonly known superstar authors, your writing might be compared to?
Dare I say Stephen King? I’m not worthy of the comparison but he is my greatest influence. Today’s the Day is not for the YA crowd. There’s blood and gore along with a big of mystery. It was fun to write. I love to craft gut wrenching scenes – ala Stephen King, I suppose.
I want to say that the Stephen King comparison may just be about right. She is not overboard with the horror in her story, but gives just enough for you to get freaked out at the right times and keeps you a bit uncomfortable as well. So Stephen King? Yeah, I see it.
Maybe explaining how you came to be a writer might help explain where the ‘pleasant-not-Stephen-King-crazed-looking-woman’ turned the corner to write what you do.
I’ve always written. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t. I remember writing a bunch of poems in grade one and my teacher graciously transforming it into a book by stapling the pages into a folder and letting me decorate the front cover. Then she put it in our classroom library. I believe that was the time when I decided I wanted to keep writing. I’d gotten attention and some accolades. It was pretty nice. I do have a degree in journalism, but I’m not sure that makes me a writer. I’ve also worked in the publishing industry as an editor for over twenty years. Perhaps I’m a writer because I’m a reader first and foremost. My parents were readers and would leave paperbacks sitting around the house. I remember being curious about the books and started to read them. I was hooked after reading Cain and Abel by Jeffery Archer at the ripe old age of eleven. Then I moved on to Sidney Sheldon novels, lol.
I think how your book Nowhere to Run got its name would be interesting to our readers as well as to aspiring authors.
The title Nowhere to Run was not the original title. I’d titled it Love, Lies, and Redemption but the publisher decided the story needed a title that would better reflect the suspenseful elements of the novel and asked me to come up with a list of five alternatives. Nowhere to Run was on that list and that was the one they chose.
You have another venture outside of writing your books. Tell us about it.
I’ve recently begun actively seeking out freelance editing/proofreading work.
And if I understand correctly that’s something you have over 25 years experience doing and now want more clients?
That’s right.
I think you are insane but I checked out your Editorial Services page. Very nice. I may be looking your way sooner than later. Here are a few testimonials about her services.
“Jeanne is a very careful, precise copy editor who knows Word backwards. She is excellent at formatting and has years of experience. She also excels at evaluating mss., and structural editing of fiction.” –Sheila Dalton, author
“I have known and shared writing experiences with Jeanne Bannon for over seven years. She always impresses me with her dedication and professional work ethics. I prize her skills as an editor and proofreader. I have personally relied upon her talent and good nature in assisting me in preparing short stories from a variety of authors for inclusion in an anthology called Storyhole. I strongly endorse her to anyone seeking copy edit or proofreading help for their publication.”–C. Lee Brown, sci-fi/fantasy author
“I have been a published author since 2010. English and I have never been friends. I’m not a good editor/proofreader and I am always guilty of head hopping and verb usage, just to name a few. Jeanne Bannon is a person who has saved my stories. She has the eye and the knowledge to spot any incorrect usage of the English language.
Jeanne is a true professional and gets my work back to me in a timely manner. Because I am thankful to have found such an experienced editor/proofreader, I would recommend her to anybody!”–P.A. Estelle, author
And with that we end our visit with Jeanne Bannon, Author, Editorial Goddess and more. Click her book covers below and get her books. Varied in genre, just like when you see Jeanne, you’ll be surprised at what you get. Go NOW and BUY!!!
I’ve worked in the publishing industry for over twenty-five years, first as a freelance journalist, then as an in-house editor for LexisNexis. I currently work as a freelance editor and writer and am represented by the Serendipity Literary Agency.
My debut novel, Invisible, a young adult paranormal romance, was published by Solstice Publishing in 2011 and was subsequently optioned for film. Invisible is an Amazon bestseller both domestically and internationally.
In 2014, Nowhere to Run, a romantic thriller was published by Etopia Press. This past winter, I tried my hand at self-publishing with a paranormal romance novella, Beautiful Monster, The Exchange (Book One). I had a lot of fun writing and promoting my novella and am currently finishing up work on the second in the Beautiful Monster series.
Ronovan is an author, and blogger who shares his life as an amnesiac and Chronic Pain sufferer though his blog RonovanWrites.WordPress.com. His love of poetry, authors and community through his online world has lead to a growing Weekly Haiku Challenge and the creation of a site dedicated to book reviews, interviews and author resources known as LitWorldInterviews.WordPress.com.
It’s time to welcome our newest member to the LitWorldInterviews Team and Family. Sierra Boone! @SierraJBoone
Unlike the rest of the team, who I met online, Sierra and I actually know each other personally. A former student in the school system I worked in, until I had an in-home accident and suffered a concussion and severe complications, she’s now a friend, in college student for some time now, a genius since birth, and lover of all things literature probably since someone began reading to her or she tasted her first book cover in the crib, as in baby crib, not celebrity homes.
LitWorldInterviews has become something I never expected. People actually request we review their books and we needed help. Me being the one who created the site and recruited everyone else, am the one recruiting now. Sierra is the beginning of that process. I am wanting more.
It dawned on me what better way to serve a great deal of the authors out there than to introduce a young Book Reviewer who loves;
YA
SciFi
Fantasy
Poetry
Oh, and of course she loves the Classics.
Why is Sierra my first to ask to join in this new round of recruitment to expand our services and take us to a new level? I know who she is and what she is. I know she is the young woman I saw immersing herself in those acting roles on the stage. She was the one people knew had it when it came to the classes. She took the hard courses, not the easy outs to keep a good Grade Point Average. She attained that GPA with the hard courses.
Why is she here and the first I asked? Because I respect and admire her. She works for everything she has as a student. (And I saw her update her status on facebook and thought, hey why not Sierra.)
When I asked her and we discussed it a bit she said it was funny how in school when I covered a class she was in, we had conversations and some of those were about books. I guess I was setting her up then before I even knew what WordPress was. She is mature beyond her years with an appreciation for the Classics in all aspects, not just literature, but movies, acting, everything.
To request a Review from Sierra click here to go to her Author page here on the LWI site and fill out the form. For other team members go to their Author pages (In the black box on the left of the site and in white text.) and either follow to their sites for forms or fill out the Book Review Submissions form here.
As I said, I am still looking for Book Reviewers. Why? My health is not the best. I can’t keep up with what I have now, and I hate saying no to people. Rather than damage the reputation of this site the Team has worked so hard to build, I decided to bite the bullet and ask for help. If you know me, you know I can’t stand asking for help. I feel as though it is a burden I am putting on others. But the authors, the Indie Authors, come first, not my pride. If you have read the book reviews here, you know what I am looking for in maturity and professionalism. Email me at ronovanwrites @ gmail.com if you know me and are interested or you have someone you know very well and can vouch for.
Share this post however you are able to, in order to spread the word about this great new Book Reviewer.
I’m back after my few weeks away and I hope to be contributing fairly regularly again. I am waiting on some interviews in translation and I’ve been reading a fair bit, so I hope to keep the reviews coming. But first, this book was submitted for review a while back and for a variety of reasons it took me some time to get around to reading it, but finally, it’s here.
To the Survivors: One Man’s Journey as a Rape Crisis Counselor with True Stories of Sexual Violence by Robert Uttaro
Title: To the Survivors: One Man’s Journey as a Rape Crisis Counselor with True Stories of Sexual Violence Author: Robert Uttaro ISBN: 149093166X
ISBN13: 978-1490931661 ASIN: Published: October 23rd 2013 Pages: 268 Genre: Non-fiction, social issues, sexual abuse
Thanks to the author and to Lit World Interviews for offering me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Robert Uttaro’s book is part memoir, part manual, part collection of testimonies, part panegyric, and part call to action.
It is undeniable that Mr Uttaro, a volunteer with an organisation that helps survivors of sexual assault, is dedicated, enthusiastic, well-informed and keen to spread the word and give a voice to those who have suffered this most horrible of attacks.
The book is a combination of the narration of how he became involved with the organisation (that is never directly named. I’m not clear if it is due to a wish for keeping the focus on the issue at hand rather than on one organisation in particular or due to confidentiality, or both), his training, the different roles he has partaken in throughout his years of work, and his attempts at collecting a number of testimonies of survivors.
By the nature of the material and the experiences of those who agreed to take part, there is some repetition of points (issues like blaming the victim, blocking memories, the devastating consequences of such abuse) that is totally understandable. The testimonies don’t seem to have been heavily edited, although interestingly enough sometimes we get different versions of the stories (and one of the survivors contributing to the book explains that part of the training of those survivors who agree to share their experience is advising them on how to bring the main points home and how to keep the attention of listeners) and more detailed explanations, not so much of the abuse (this is not a scarily graphic book or even one that could cause easy titillation and reproduce the abuse in hands of certain individuals), but of the feelings it engendered on the survivors.
Even with that, there are editorial decisions that could be questioned. Would a different ordering of materials be more effective? Would illustrating specific points with testimonies work better? Would it be best to give the voice directly to the survivors rather than have an intermediary? There are quite a few memoirs and direct accounts of survivors, is this book different enough? The combination of both, the experience of a volunteer who has not himself suffered abuse (or at least he is not aware of it, although he and others have questioned that possibility) and the testimonies of survivors, is perhaps the most distinctive aspect of the project. In a way, the book is personal for Mr Uttaro, and his level of involvement and emotional investment is clear. At the same time, the book is not personal enough, and I wasn’t sure I got to know Mr Uttaro other than through his involvement in the cause and some comments by the survivors (but these might have been minimised). As happens in documentaries, a decision is usually made of either including the person doing the documentary in the story, or letting events talk for themselves, trying to make narration invisible. I did not feel we fully get to understand Mr Uttaro’s journey or where he is coming from. He and the book have the heart in the right place and offer information and useful points, but I am not sure this is a book for general reading. It might benefit from adding links to organisations helping people who have suffered sexual abuse/assaults, including a section on general advice that could be used no matter the location, and perhaps, if the focus was going to be the methods and the ethos of the organisation (or others working on similar topics), adding a section about the history of the project, how it came about, and interviewing other people who are also part of the project: therapists, organisers, etc. I feel there might be the makings of several books here that could further deepen people’s understanding of the issues at hand, but perhaps that is a project for the future, and this book is a great start.
(I have not included the usual rating system as it didn’t seem appropriate to the book and it is not always relevant to non-fiction projects).
Before I get to the money talk, I’ve updated the post on Creating NCX Table of Contents because in Amazon’s acceptable eBook files to upload, they now say that only MOBI files generated using their own software will be accepted. This is just as easy to do now – easier in fact, so I’ve changed the instructions, and will change the screenshots as quickly as I can.
Yesterday saw Amazon announce that the Kindle Scout programme will be available to writers worldwide and not only in the US. This means that anyone can now submit a previously unpublished novel for voting on by readers for a chance at a $1 500 advance and a fifty percent royalty rate, with a five year publishing contract and Amazon advertising. With readers voting rather than trying to storm the mostly unread traditional slush piles, this is a great way for Indies to spread their publishing wings.
Now to the cash problem. Only authors in the United States and certain other countries are eligible for royalty payments by electronic funds transfer. This means that those not eligible get their royalties in the form of paper cheques every time they have one hundred dollars in their Amazon accounts. Bank charges on cashing these are high, and they take ages to clear. Rather than getting paid that way, why not get yourself a Payoneer account instead? It’s very easy to do.
Go to the Payoneer site and register. They then post you a pay as you go credit card. Once you get this card in the mail, you activate it online following their step by step instructions. You will be issued with your own US cheque account details. Next, you click on the button to request that you be allowed to receive payments in the US. Payoneer will request that you upload your identification. Load up a PDF copy of your passport or identity document, and after a short wait you’ll be approved.
Log on to your Amazon account and select EFT as the method for you to receive your royalties. Fill in the exact details that you have for your US account and click save. Within a few days you’ll start getting emails from Amazon letting you know that payment has been made, and Payoneer email you too when the funds arrive.
To draw your cash just use the card at any ATM in your country, or use it the same as you would any other credit card online or in stores – as long as you have money in it that is. Payoneer charges are just under thirty dollars a year, although once your balance reaches a hundred dollars they gift you with twenty five dollars, so your first year comes cheap. The cash withdrawal fee is three dollars, but these charges are still way below what the bank will take converting the paper cheque.
Any other US companies that pay by EFT can pay you this way too. So if you sell art or anything else online in America your earnings are easy and convenient to get to like this.
This is a story of love lost and found, of second chances.
Emma and Corbin – teenage sweethearts, first loves. Corbin finally found someone who believed in and supported him, despite his somewhat cavalier attitude to life and the sadness that permeated it. In Corbin, Emma experienced what it was to have someone truly see her, her ‘wildness’. Their love seemed impenetrable, that is until disaster struck on the eve of Corbin’s marriage proposal to Emma.
The lovers are separated by time and space yet they are never far from each other even as they moved on with their lives, or at least Emma appeared to have. When another twist of fate caused them to confront the reality of their love.
This is not YA romance. It is much more as I am taken from Emma’s and Corbin’s teen to mature years – their voices sounding through the years as they wrestle with the dilemmas of,
Does true love exist? Can one ever know for certain? Is it worth sacrificing a life for? Does one follow one’s heart or mind? Does one stay true to oneself yet betray another? Is it impulsive to abandon a happy comfortable life for a dream? Is it too late for second chances?
Ultimately, what price truth, peace or love?
Would I recommend it?
‘Voice of Innocence’ is a book with mature themes yet handled skilfully. Once began, it was hard to put down as I was hooked into discovering ‘why’.
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel as it moves from moments of fairytale-like happiness and joy to harsh realities and great despair. Detwiler’s deft hands in portraying characters with depth made connecting with them easy.
I wonder, will there be another book for Emma and Corbin? If there is, I most certainly will not miss it.
Highly recommended.
Ratings: Realistic Characterization: 3.5/5 Made Me Think: 3.5/5 Overall enjoyment: 4/5 Readability: 4/5 Recommended: 4/5 Overall Rating:4/5
Other than reading the journal itself, reading editor interviews is a great way to understand what types of work they like to accept. Read the full interview here:
“Rivet: The Journal of Writing That Risks is based in San Francisco and is moving into its fourth issue. Rivet wants poetry, fiction, and non-fiction that is mindful of craft, but is experimental in spirit. Rivet looks for work that questions genre boundaries, blurs convention, and approaches ordinary subjects in extraordinary ways.”
Author: Jeanne Bannon Title: Today’s the Day File Size: 499 KB Print Length: 20 pages Publisher: Solstice Shadows (September 15, 2015) Publication Date: September 15, 2015 Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc. Language: English ASIN: B014TJUWXC Text-to-Speech: Enabled Amazon:Kindle Pre-order: .99 Genres: Paranormal, Fiction, Suspense, Thriller, Short Story
I was provided a copy of this book for an honest review. The honest review follows.
John Galloway is a man. A man deep in a world so dark that you’re not quite sure what is real and what is not.
In Today’s the Day by International Bestselling Author Jeanne Bannon, the coping life of a policeman who has nothing to live for any longer is explored in a single day. Bannon gives you everything about John Galloway’s life in the constraints of a short story while you don’t even realize it.
Thriller, suspense, and paranormal or psychological? The truth is, I don’t know exactly what you might call it, perhaps all of them. Bannon takes you inside the mind and thoughts of officer Galloway as he tries to find a missing girl on Halloween. He’s the last man on the force who should go looking for little Trisha. But he’s also the best one available to do the job.
I don’t use the word riveting often, but I might throw it out here. I have to admit this isn’t my subject matter. But Jeanne Bannon handles the theme well, a theme that actually turns out a bit differently than I thought, and gives an ending you aren’t expecting, but makes sense.
Bannon touches on the emotions of a father who has lost—badly—and does so without going over the line to go for the cheap emotional tricks. Well done.
The book is well proofed and edited making for a full immersion into the story without being jerked out by the surprise typo or snafu of wording.
Recommendation:
I would recommend this for audiences who are into the paranormal, somewhat horror genres. It’s a short story available for pre-order now, out on September 15, 2015.
Character Believability: 4 Flow and Pace: 4 Reader Engagement: 4 Reader Enrichment: 4 Reader Enjoyment: 4 Overall Rate: 4
Now go and pre-order by clicking hereor the book cover images.
Jeanne Bannon: I’ve worked in the publishing industry for over twenty years, first as a freelance journalist, then as an in-house editor for LexisNexis Canada. I currently work as a freelance editor and writer and am represented by the Serendipity Literary Agency.
My debut novel, Invisible, is a young adult paranormal romance, published by Solstice Publishing and has been optioned for film. Invisible is an Amazon bestseller both domestically and internationally and continues to receive wonderful reviews.
Currently, I’m finishing up work on a paranormal thriller titled, Dark Angel.
Click herefor her website. And here for her Amazon Author Page and her other books such as Nowhere to Run. @JeanneBannon
About the Reviwer: Ronovan is an author, and blogger who shares his life as an amnesiac and Chronic Pain sufferer though his blog RonovanWrites.WordPress.com. His love of poetry, authors and community through his online world has lead to a growing Weekly Haiku Challenge and the creation of a site dedicated to book reviews, interviews and author resources known as LitWorldInterviews.WordPress.com.
It’s easy to get daunted by the vast quantities of books published on Amazon every day, and also by some successful author’s suggestions that you shouldn’t be trying to charge for your books if your work has not been approved by legitimate traditional gatekeepers. Why bother putting in all the hard work of writing books if they’re just going to be buried by the millions, or trashed by the literati?
Why you should definitely bother is because of what self-publishing is. People who buy books from Amazon are fully aware that the vast majority of them are by Indie authors, and they’re going to be pretty sure that they want any given book before they pay for it. Not every book you write is going to be great. I never figured out what the point was to Stephen King’s The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, so writing every book that you write that everyone will love is not something that even the greats can do.
The rules are that anyone can publish on Amazon and nobody has the right to try and prevent you from doing just that. Obviously we’re not going to purposely publish a book that is going to get trashed, because when we write books we’re doing it to make for pleasurable reading. If we do slip up and readers hate what we’ve written we can unpublish that book and try harder to get it right next time.
Before the advent of self-publishing, I would say that I absolutely loved about twenty percent of the traditionally published books that I bought. Some I liked. Some were just so-so, and some I disliked so much I never finished reading them. I paid for all of those books, but I never once thought I was entitled to a refund. If they’d been totally full of typos and illegible I would have though, so that’s not what I’m talking about here. I’m talking about the actual stories.
Of the Indie books I’ve bought I’ve actually loved more than twenty percent and liked most of them. Only a small percentage have been typo riddled or illegible. Indies try harder to perfect their end product, and should not be discouraged by negative talk from any author, no matter how popular their own books are. Fair is fair, and every single writer fresh out of the gates is just as entitled to their own publishing journey.
Don’t let this sort of thing put you off Indie scribblers, and don’t feel that you have to submit your book for years and receive a hundred rejection slips before you share your tales with the world. Produce the best book that you can, and let your readers decide. This is a great time to be a self-published writer, and everyone has to start somewhere. Keep your eye on the prize, and write on. Never let the naysayers steal your mojo.
Yesterday there was a Book Review put out by this LWI Team Member. I failed to do something and today I will correct that error.
I failed to mention the art work for the three book series by Olga Núñez Miret, Angelic Business. I had every intention of it but in the excitement of writing the review it completely slipped my mind. I was wanting so badly to get the review out for Olga’s usual Monday spot.
The artist/illustrator is Lourdes Vidal. Click each image to go to its individual Amazon page. The first is FREE and the other two are .99 each. Also available in Spanish.
Ronovan is an author, and blogger who shares his life as an amnesiac and Chronic Pain sufferer though his blog RonovanWrites.WordPress.com. His love of poetry, authors and community through his online world has lead to a growing Weekly Haiku Challenge and the creation of LitWorldInterviews.WordPress.com, a site dedicated to book reviews, interviews and author resources. For those serious about book reviewing and interested in reviewing for the LWI site, email me at ronovanwrites (at) gmail (dot) com to begin a dialogue. It may not work out but then again it might.
