“Kind Nepenthe”: You gotta love a good horror story
Posted: April 13, 2018 Filed under: Book Review, Books, Fiction, Horror | Tags: Book Review, horror, Kind Nepenthe, Matthew V. Brockmeyer 1 Comment
Anyone who knows me, knows that there’s nothing I love to read more than a really good, low-down scary horror story. For me, a good horror story is one that you can’t set down, even though it scares the bejesus out of you. I remember one night when when I was fifteen and I was baby sitting a couple of kids for a mother who worked nights, and I happened across a book called The Shining. After the kids were in bed, the dishes done, and the apartment picked up, I sat down to read the book I had found on the coffee table, and read it, I did. I called and woke my mother up at two a.m. and asked her to talk to me for a little while, because I was scared and hearing noises. My mom was the best, and she talked to me for almost twenty minutes, until I felt like I could once more keep it together. When we hung up, I went back to the couch, picked up The Shining again, and read the rest of the night away. I finished the book in one night, almost in one sitting. It scared the holy crap out of me, but I had to find out what happened. That, to me, is what a good horror story is all about.
Kind Nepenthe, by Matthew V. Brockmeyer turns the hills of Northern California into a place to be feared. This skillfully crafted story takes readers inside California’s drug culture, and behind the scenes of a marajuana grow to find more lurking there than sex, drugs, and rock and roll. A kind of darkeness falls deep in the forests of Humboldt County, a darkness that grabs ahold and doesn’t let go, a darkness that ends in murder, over and over again.
Looking for peace and sustainability for herself and her daughter, Rebecca goes along with her boyfriend, Calendula, in playing plant caretaker for the grow of her friend Coyote in order to get the needed money to buy them a place and live off the land. But, she gets so much more than she bargained for and in time, she doesn’t even recognize herself or Calendula as the evil of Homicide Hill grips them in clenched fists and won’t let go.
Brockmeyer does a good job of building suspense and allowing readers to feel the fear – one sign of a well-crafted horror story. He did an excellent job of keeping me focused and on track, except in one instance where he tried a method of re-direction that just didn’t work for me, but I found instead, a bit confusing. In spite of that, Kind Nepenthe is a kind of scary that is so believable, it might be the scariest of all. And I have to give him kudos for coming up with an original title that will stand out for search engines and may carry him to the top of the rankings. I give it four quills.
Kaye Lynne Booth does honest book reviews on Writing to be Read in exchange for ARCs at no charge. Have a book you’d like reviewed? Contact Kaye at kayebooth(at)yahoo(dot)com.
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“A Cat Came Back”: an unusual tale of transformation
Posted: April 6, 2018 Filed under: Book Review, Books, Fiction, Humor | Tags: A Cat Came Back, Book Review, Fiction, Humor, Simone Martel, Transformation Leave a comment
A Cat Came Back, by Simone Martel is a quirky little tale about a woman who finds herself in the body of a cat. Most of us, put in the same position, would panic and try to figure a way to get our own body back, but not Eliza. She accepts what has happened as a a matter of course. All she wants is for someone to see her for who she really is, and at first, it seems that being in this cat body might not be such a bad thing, since her boyfriend, Stu, takes one look at the cat and knows she’s in there. But, being recognized for who you are isn’t always easy, you have to keep working at it, especially when the only sounds that come out of your mouth are purrs, yowls and hisses.
A thoroughly entertaining story of transformation that offers a few surprises and the occasional chuckle. It’s light and quirky and funny. Not your typical body switching out of the bottle tale. I give A Cat Came Back four quills.
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Albatrose: An Odd Bird Indeed
Posted: March 30, 2018 Filed under: Action/Adventure, Book Review, Books, Thriller | Tags: action/thriller, Albatross, Book Review, Nancy L. Palmer, R.A. Macavoy Leave a comment
When I started Albatrose, by R.A. Macavoy and Nancy L. Palmer, I was reminded of the 1993 film, The Fugitive, starring Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones. Indeed, there are some similarities. Certainly it can be seen why I would associate Dr. Rob MacAuley of Albatross, with Dr. Richard Kimble of The Fugitive. Both men hold the title of doctor although Dr. MacAuley is a physicist, rather than a medical doctor, and both are fugitives from justice, framed for murders they didn’t commit. But that is where the similarities stop. Albatross is such a refreshingly different tale, filled with mystery and intrigue, that I hate to say too much here.
Albatross takes us to a future world where the government is confused, or corrupt, or maybe just crazy, and Dr. Rob MacAuley is on the run for crimes he did not commit. He’s on the run until the government elects to legalize slavery for conficted criminals. Then, Thomas Hiediman, an independently wealthy American, uses the new law against those who made it, when he convinces McAuley to turn himself in and become his slave. To say more here would require a spoiler alert. As I said, a very different type of story, where it’s hard to tell who to trust, for characters as well as readers.
Even with the mild head hopping, (my pet peeve), which occurred, I found myself compelled to learn what happens next. I found myself thinking about the story when I wasn’t reading it, which are all the hallmarks of a truly good tale. I give Albatross four quills.
Kaye Lynne Booth does honest book reviews on Writing to be Read in exchange for ARCs at no charge. Have a book you’d like reviewed? Contact Kaye at kayebooth(at)yahoo(dot)com.
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“Strange Attractors”: a strange attractor in its own right
Posted: March 9, 2018 Filed under: Book Review, Books, Fiction, Science Fiction | Tags: Aliens, Book Review, Mark Todd, Roswell, Science Fiction, Strange Attractors 2 Comments
I’m not sure how to classify Strange Attractors by Mark Todd. It is science fiction, but it doesn’t feel like science fiction. It feels like a story with well-developed characters you want to care about and an intricate plot, filled with irony, which keeps you guessing until the very last pages. Most of all, I think Strange Attractors is simply an interesting and entertaining read, a good, old fashioned, well crafted story that keeps the pages turning.
Conti is Morgan’s boss, but when she learns that the project she’s been working on has the potential to wipe out world populations, and has potential military applications, she wonders if her boss is losing his mind. And perhaps he is. Conti has seen little gray men near Roswell, but they aren’t what he thinks. Morgan is seeing one too, in the form of a little boy who looks strangely like her little brother. Although he shows her many things, including a strange craft, Morgan doesn’t believe in aliens, so she gives these things a different interpretation. When Morgan confronts her boss about her suspicions on the project, he seems to give her the brush off, and before all is through, Morgan doesn’t know who to trust. She’s sure the little boy who appears both in and out of her dreams is trying to tell her something, and it could be something that could change the fate of the world, but can she figure out his message while there is still time to avert disaster?
I enjoyed every page of this story. I was drawn to it as if to a strange attractor, something attractive and compelling. I give Strange Attractors five quills.
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“Blood in the Water”: A Crazy Crime Novel
Posted: March 2, 2018 Filed under: Book Review, Books, Fiction | Tags: Blood in the Water, Book Review, Fiction, Tim Baker 1 Comment
Author Tim Baker has done it again and Flagler Beach is the setting for another crazy crime caper, Blood in the Water. Ike helps a friend with a seach for sunken treasure that leads to a thirty year old cold case, which strangely enough is tied to a murder investigation his girlfriend, Val, has undertaken. Can they bring done the killer and solve the cold case before he learns they are on his trail and puts a stop to their plans? No spoilers here. You’ll have to read the book to find out.
As usual, Tim Baker has turned out a fun and extremely entertaining read. Readers will root for the good guys and boo whenever the villian appears. Hidden identities, missing persons, sunken treasure and lots of danger. This book has it all.
I give Blood in the Water five quills.
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Our New World: An enigma filled with paradox
Posted: February 23, 2018 Filed under: Book Review, Books, Dark Fantasy, Fantasy, Fiction, Speculative Fiction | Tags: Book Review, Dark Fantasy, Desiree King, Our New World, Speculative Fiction Leave a comment
Our New World, by Desiree King is the story of a diverse world united at last. Human, Vampire, Magi, Shapeshifters and Fae are all able to dwell in harmony at last, and Sidney and Darien the Dark Prince are both anticipating comeing into their own. But the laws of this new world require they must be wed to assume their rightful places, and they forbid them to marry one another. This is a problem because these two childhood sweethearts are all grown up and hopelessly in love. All the odds are against their ever being together, but Darien has a plan and Sidney is determined, and love conquers all.
The title causes a problem in logic because the characters are calling this “our new world”, but Sidney and Darien share a birthdate, and are both just coming of age, and it seems this new world structure has been in place for much longer than their brief lifespans to date. For me, it seems as if the characters would not be looking at this as their new world, but as the only world they have ever known.
Also my suspension of disbelief could have used more sensory details, to make me smell, hear and feel this world that the author has plunged me into. In spite of the fact that the characters felt stereotyped and lacked depth, I liked them and found myself anticipating when I would be able to learn what happened next.
Also, I didn’t realize until late in the story who the antagonist was. We don’t see how really bad he is until well into the story, so appears as more of an obstacle to be overcome, rather than an adversary, right up until the scene where Henry punishes Sidney because his previous punishments have had no effect and it ticks him off. Only then, are we allowed a glimpse of his cold cruelty, and I have to say, the realization was a shock.
My biggest problem with this story was the fact that although the protagonist is reputed to be a deadly combat fighter and carries the blood lines of not only magi, but a powerful fire fae, it seems someone else is always coming to her rescue, either Darien the Dark Prince, or her bff and P.A., or her Fae grandfather, Eldon. I had difficulty buying into the idea that this spoiled little rich girl with status, was ready to step up and take a council seat or run her city, when she continuously put her own selfish desires ahead of what was best for her city or their new world. Oh, they talked about the possible consequences, but then she presses forward and does as she pleases without a second thought.
Despite this story’s many problems, I found the storyline to be one which held my interest and I found myself wanting to know what happens next. And after all, that’s what is important, isn’t it? I give Our New World three quills.
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Leaving Eva/Losing Eva: A story of loss and seperation
Posted: February 16, 2018 Filed under: Book Review, Books, Fiction, romance | Tags: Book Review, Drama, Fiction, Jenifer Sivec, Leaving Eva, Losing Eva Leave a comment
Leaving Eva and its sequel Losing Eva, by Jennifer Sivec, are a sad and tragic tale that evokes strong emotional response in the telling. This touching story may be true to life, covering the lives of not one, but several dysfunctional generations of women and the men in their lives, over the course of time. It is a tale where one tragic action by one self-centered girl dominoes into many heart-wrenching losses in a saga where nobody wins. While each book easily stands alone, together they tell a story of loss and tragedy that will bring all but those with hearts of stone to their knees. There is so much heartbreak within these two stories that they left me longing for a sequel, one titled Loving Eva, where at least one woman of the Harper family might finally find happiness.
One spoiled rich girl, Ellie, and a series of poor choices, leads to a life of abuse and neglect for her daughter, Eva, whom she abandons at a very young age. Losing Eva is the story of that young girl’s life, spent searching for love that seems to be just beyond her grasp. Losing Eva is the story of how once found, she constantly struggles to keep that love, and how it always seems to slip through her fingers. In addition, these books tell the story of all the others who are effected, both directly and indirectly, by Ellie’s initial decisions and the lessons, both learned and missed, from them.
This is a story you won’t want to put down. Sivec’s characters are well developed and she makes you care about them. You will hope for positive life experiences for them and root for them when they succeed, especially for the main character, Brynn. The plot is full of surprises and rivets you to your seat to find out what will happen next.
My only problem is the head hopping. In places it gets to be so bad that I had to stop and go back to figure out who’s POV I was in. At times the viewpoint changed mid-paragraph, which really made me have to stop and reread. Regardless of the recurring confusions that this caused, and the fact that it is one of my biggest pet peeves, this story was so powerfully told that it brought me to tears on more than one occasion. The Harper generational saga is woven like an intricate narative tapestry through the lifetime of one hauntingly tragic Harper woman.
Grab a box of tissue when you settle in to read Leaving Eva and Losing Eva. I give this story set four quills.
Kaye Lynne Booth does honest book reviews on Writing to be Read in exchange for ARCs at no charge. Have a book you’d like reviewed? Contact Kaye at kayebooth(at)yahoo(dot)com.
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“Pangaea: Eden’s Planet”- A Science Fiction Odyssey
Posted: February 9, 2018 Filed under: Book Review, Books, Fiction, Science Fiction | Tags: Book Review, Books, Pangaea: Eden's Planet, Science Fiction, Tom Johnson Leave a comment
Pangaea: Eden’s Planet, by Tom Johnson is a science fiction story that engaged me through to the last page, offering me food for thought in some of my own writings. It is well crafted with an entertaining plot and characters that I grew to like in the brief time it took me to read it.
On a routine mission to ready Mars for colonization, a space anomoly sends their spaceship back to prehistoric Earth instead. Stuck in a hostile land before the existence of man or dinosaurs, the crew does their best to make the best of things. But faced with poisonous plants and animals, along with huge and vicious carnivores, the crew is dwindling. How can they survive?
The third person omnicient P.O.V. is always a little off-putting for me, but Tom Johnson crafts the story well and really does a nice job of pulling this viewpoint off. While there were a few logic problems, they weren’t so severe that I couldn’t buy in to this excellent plot and story line. The only thing I couldn’t overlook was the use of varied dialog tags, some which were distracting, actually pulling me out of the story.
Pangaea: Eden’s Planet is an engaging tale crafted with thought and skill. I give it four quills.
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Join Me In My Protest Against Facebook
Posted: February 5, 2018 Filed under: Books, marketing, Promotion | Tags: Book Promotion, Facebook, Protest, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Promotion 7 Comments
There are changes for Facebook on the horizon, and they aren’t beneficial to struggling authors or small business owners. Many are already going into effect. I’ve already seen an impact on my Facebook activities and I’m not liking it at all.
Some of the expected changes are explained in the K-lytics article, How the New Facebook Algorithms Affect Authors, by Alex Newton,
“In other words, if you write a post promoting your most recent book, only a fraction of your page fans or friends will see it. If your fans do not follow your page, your post is going to end up in the alternative news feed, not the main feed, if it shows up at all….”
Social Media Examiner founder Michael Stelzner claims these changes are already occuring, including video getting less watch time and links to external pages getting less visibility, and he claims these changes will impact all people and pages. And I think he’s right. Just because someone follows you, doesn’t mean that they are seeing your posts in their news feed.
In the K-lytics article, Alex Newton claims Facebook is really after your money, trying to push you to pay for your promotions because starving artists and start-up businesses are taking advantage of their free promotion features and they aren’t making any money off of you,
“Remember, organic reach is the total number of unique people who were shown your post through unpaid distribution. If you had 3,000 fans on your page and you reached 300 (10%) with a post, you could consider yourself lucky. And these days, the percentage is so much lower.
The fact is, Facebook wants you to pay for your reach. Facebook wants you to run ads and “boost” your posts.”
This algorithm and Facebook’s effort to bully people into paying for what we used to get on their site for free has already had an impact. I have made a practice of being a member of many writing, author, and book groups, where I post each time I publish a new blog post and promote my books, short stories and poetry. I try to keep track of which groups allow promotional posts and the ones that allow them only on certain days, and I try to follow all of the rules. But because I share my posts in so many different groups, the Facebook algorithm has been known to tag my posts as spam, especially if I’m short on time and rushing through my promotional tasks. Facebook has cut me off for going too fast or for making too many shares. It’s not people reporting me, it’s their algorithms deciding that I’ve been a bad girl.
Most recently, Facebook has banned me for twenty-four hours and then as soon as I did three shares the next day, all to the “Writing Contacts” group that I started, they banned me again. And they don’t just ban me from sharing posts, they ban me from all group activities. I couldn’t even comment on someone else’s posts or contribute to the group in any way, so it looks like all I do there is promote. I try to be a contributing member to most of the groups I belong to and not just promote my work, but my time is often limited and I have to combine the two activities in order to get them both done. I have been doing things this way for at least eight years, but now they are slapping my hands for it.
Michael Stelzner suggests measures to increase the chances of getting your posts seen, such as posting less often, create content that promotes people to talk to each other instead of just you, increase your live video use, avoid posts that encourage people to comment (engagement bait), and pay for your ads and use Messenger chatbots. (If you are interested in learning more about this, you won’t want to miss the Social Media Marketing 2018 Conference).
To my thinking, if I play Facebook’s game and change my marketing strategy on their site, or pay for their advertising to make sure my posts are seen, especially when the majority of my posts are for Writing to be Read which I’m not making any money off of, then they win. Why should Facebook decide who gets to see my posts. If I’ve followed someone, I want to see their posts. That’s why I followed them in the first place. Those who have followed me should by rights, be able to see my posts. That’s the way it’s supposed to work, but that’s not the way it does work with these new algorithms.
So, I have a different solution. I created a “Westerns” page here on the Writing to be Read site, to replace my Delilah Facebook page and I hope to drive traffic to it, instead of promoting the Facebook page. I plan to do the same with my Playground for the Gods page. I have a cool idea for marketing of the second book, but you’ll have to check in to my Westerns page to learn what it is. If I’m ever fluid enough to pay for Facebook ads, I’ll use them to drive to my website pages, here, rather than their Facebook counterparts.
So, I am asking for your help. You, dear reader, can help support my Facebook protest by liking my “Westerns” page, subscribing to email, (up below the Red Quill logo and the search box in the top right side of the page), or follow Writing to be Read on WordPress. Remember, authors count on you, not just to buy their books, but to like their posts and write reviews. These days, these are things that matter in the rankings. Also, watch for a new way to sign up for my email list to recieve news and updates on my work, and when you see it, please sign up. I need your support. And if you are an author, I call upon you to move your pages to a different platform and stand in unification against the big conglomerates who believe they have us by the short hairs.
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“Undercurrents”: More Than Just a Collection of Tales From the Deep
Posted: February 2, 2018 Filed under: Book Review, Books, Horror, Stories | Tags: Book Review, Monsters, Sea Monsters, Short Fiction, Short Stories, The Deep, Undercurrents Leave a comment
The twenty-three stories in Undercurrents are all about the mysteries of the deep, but beyond that they are as varied as it gets. Master story telling weves tales about monsters who dwell in the ocean depths and send chills down your spine. The monsters featured range from those of legendary status to those of the fantasy realm: krackens; sea dragons in Guardian of the Sea, by Kristin Luna; sirens in The Old Man and the Sea Siren, by Steve Pantazis; fairy horses in In the Water, by Jessica Guernsey; mermonsters in All Yours, by Melissa Koons; and the underwater cat in Underwater Cats, by Mary Pletsch – to those that are unidentified, as in Cold, Silent, and Dark, by Kary English; or spring from the recesses of the human mind, to inanimate objects as innocent as a pair of bookends in Bookend, by Chris Mandeville.
The points of view presented are varied, as well. As a reader, I was allowed to glimpse through the eyes of both hunted and hunter, getting the unusual P.O.V.s of things like a kracken in The Kraken’s Story, by Robert J. McCarter, a siren in The Siren’s Song, by Aubrey Pratt, a dragon in The Sea Dragon’s Tale, by Nancy D. DiMauro and a puffer fish in Mandala, by Jody Lynn Nye.
The stories in this collection explore more than just the waters of the deep. Sea Wind, by Kevin J. Anderson explores the idea of losing a brother to the sea. Four Billion Years of Solitude, by Alex P. Berg explores the oceans of distant planets. Eat Me, by Lauren Lang explores a revelutionary weight loss system involving antipods harvested from the sea. Songs to Sing and Stories to Tell, by L.D. Colter explores saying good-bye, and Lure, by Joy Dawn Johnson explores the connection between twins, and Sea Dreams, by Rebecca Moesta and Kevin J. Anderson explores the ties between friends. To Become, by C.J. Erick explores facing the unknown, while In the Garden of the Coral King, by C.H. Hung explores facing one’s own fears, and A Marsh Called Solitude, by Gregory D. Little explores self-sacrifice and altruism.
My personal favorites include Teens Teach Tech, by Terry Madden, where a teen tries to help an old woman face her fears of the past; Heroes of the Russian Federation, by Chris Barili, where an experimental bio-weapon escapes and goes out of control; and High Seas Burning, by Lee French, where the real monsters are of the human variety.
Best of all, all proceeds from this anthology go to the Don Hodge Memorial Scholarship to help students without the financial means to attend the Superstar Writing Seminar, a seminaar that addresses the business end of writing. The Superstars have been putting together anthologies, along with seminar attendees since 2015. Undercurrents is the fourth anthology to result from the Superstar Writing Seminar. In more ways than one, the Superstar Writing Seminar is quite special and the recipient of a scholarship is fortunate indeed.
News of this seminar was exciting to me because so many writing courses or workshops focus on the craft of writing and ignore the fact that there are some business skills required in order to be a successful writer. I’ve heard many authors gripe about not realizing they had to have marketing skills as well as writing skills, or complaining about the time they must put into marketing that could be used to write instead. The line-up of Superstars who offer their expertise include Kevin J. Anderson, David Farland, Eric Flint, Rebecca Moesta, James A. Owen and Brandon Sanderson. Each year they have additional guest instructors, chosen from the creme de la creme of the publishing industry. They all share their knowledge and expertise during the annual seminar, which is held in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Well-crafted stories fill this anthology exploring the ocean depths and the depths of the human mind in Undercurrents, an anthology created by master story tellers. I give it four quills.
Kaye Lynne Booth does honest book reviews on Writing to be Read in exchange for ARCs at no charge. Have a book you’d like reviewed? Contact Kaye at kayebooth(at)yahoo(dot)com.
