M. K. Theodoratus, Fantasy Writer, blogs about the books she reads--mostly fantasy and mystery authors whose books catch her eye and keep her interest. Nothing so formal as a book review, just chats about what she liked. Theodoratus also mutters about her own writing progress or ... lack of it.

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Showing posts with label Lincoln Child. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lincoln Child. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 8, 2018

Shine On, Gibbous Moon Until the Monsters Rise

Took a creepy ride on the paranormal side with Lincoln Child's Full Wolf Moon, If you take one, you'll get a bit of a science fiction explanation for werewolfism.

Never read a Jeremy Logan book that I can remember, though I've read several Pendergasts. Logan, the protagonist in this book, felt flat, not quite unidimensional, but almost. 

Too many other suspense and thriller writers do a much better job of giving their main characters or sleuths more depth for Child to get top marks for this book. Not that Logan is unlikable. But all the descriptions of him feel like rehash. Example: as many times as I have read about Heather Graham's Krewe of Hunter characters, there always some little twist in their backgrounds that is new in most of the books.

What annoyed me the most? Child's secondary characters were often more interesting than Logan. Still am wondering what the heck worries the guy at the core.

At the same time, the book has enough hooks to keep the reader reading even though this book is easy to put down for another task, like going to sleep. There is a true puzzle wrapped in the plot, complete with a couple of red herrings. Problem: I prefer more twists and turns in the plots of the mystery suspense I read.

The descriptions of the Adirondacks' deep woods pleased me most. Never visited them though I've driven through the Catskills. [If they're part of the same mountain system, that last statement needs to be adjusted. I'm not an easterner, so I don't know.] I loved the descriptions of small isolated dwellings surrounded by dark forests. The location adds a scary dimension to the vacation ambiance usually associated with the place. If you enjoy well written atmospheres with adequate craftsmanship, Child's descriptions are worth the price of admission.

In the end, I found this an okay, entertaining read but found it very easy to find a bookmark when it was time to go to bed. If you want to read more reviews and/or a sample the book, you can look on



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Other Interesting Reading

Everyone can use tips on improving their writing. Came across one one by Mark Nichol about making lists that had me reading the whole thing. You might want to take a look at:
A Guide to In-Line Lists. This should be especially useful for those who write business or school reports.


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My Writing Rut

Have been worrying about what my climatic human vs demon fight would be for Rendezvous. How was I ever going to squeeze out enough words for a full length novel. I think the problem will solve itself. My chapter 4 just became five chapters by the time all the action was mapped out. It may be shorter than the first two, but it only has to be over 100 pages and I'm almost there already. 

I find it interesting at how my chapters grow. What I thought would be the middle of my book is now seeming to be the final confrontation. At first, I thought Rendezvous with Demons was going to by equally from Britt and Pillar's point of view. The first scene I thought of for the book was their meeting in Taddledon. Have a good 10 chapters written and/or mapped out before the first major demon fight--still in Pacifica. 

Guess the book's Britt's again. There Be Demons started out a mainly from Gillen's point of view because his problem training of the teen draftees is what motivated me to write the book i the first place.

The 99c special for There Be Demons went well in spite of glitches. I broke well into the top-100 in all three of my sub-categories. My author rank had never been higher either. Now everything is sinking. One odd result: had lots of downloads of the free Andor short stories. 

Got my Noticing Jamilla, a free Andor short story, cover photoshoped to make the cover image more demonic. It's subtle but I'm hoping it makes a difference. 

Monday, October 19, 2015

One Murder, Two Murders, Three Murders, More? Plus Protagonistcide.

    Yah gotta be remarkable to survive for fourteen books. Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child persevere by writing about murder most ingenious, so ingenious that their main sleuth, Aloysius Pendergast almost didn't survive this book. Yeah. Obviously, I kept reading Blue Labyrinth. It's a complex mystery filled with arcane lore by accomplished masters of the art.

   What's not to like, besides the chilling spook factor, common in most of the Pendergast books. It barely registers in this volume? The book concentrates on fast moving twists and turns between two interrelated murders of the mundane kind.

   Turns out Pendergast's fabulous fortune is based on a grandfather's lethal patent medicine, and the main villain seeks revenge on Pendergast. Sounds like a simple enough except for all those twists and turns. Plus, the secondary characters get to shine as they put the pieces of the puzzle together to save a cantankerous friend and mentor.

   Yeah, super sleuth Pendergast is brought low by an villain seeking revenge for crimes he didn't personally commit, but I thought the writers a little too coy. I felt they took too long to introduce the mastermind. You have a super obsessive behavior here, ready to carry revenge unto the third and fourth generations. I would have liked more details on the ultimate villain in this episode of Pendergast's dealings. The authors gave the villain way to short a shrift.

   On the plus side, I didn't get annoyed that the book was 500+ pages. I'm guessing that super-short chapters do speed up the reading of a book. Granted you still read in information-arcs, but they seem to speed along, helped by action and questions and unsuspected murders and with the clues buried in the vaults of the New York Museum of Natural History. [It's inspiration is one of our must-sees when we go to New York City.] Anthropology gets as good of PR from Preston & Child as Aaron Elkins gives forensics.

   This story is character driven with the secondary characters given important roles in the sleuthing. Granted I always feel that Pendergast is a little too invincible to be true, but the team makes the "hero" super vulnerable in Labyrinth, leaving the other characters to solve the conundrums of fast-paced, twisting plot.

    Highly recommended. Make sure you block out good-sized reading sessions because the odds are this book won't have you reading "one more chapter" past your bedtime, but five or six or more. The time adds up even if the chapters are short.

Read excerpts and more reviews of Blue Labyrinth on Amazon and B&N Nook.
There's also sample chapters of Crimson Shore, the next book in the series.


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My Writing Rut

Ta Dah!

    Would you believe I got my demon attack on the Beccon Academy first-drafted? Heh. Heh. I'm not going to tell you what happened, other than Pillar survived. Soon she'll be on the road again. Excuse me while I enjoy the feeling of accomplishment.

   May have to change the cover for On the Run. Found this lovely picture of a house that's almost perfect for the book's middle. Just thought I'd share it to show how I waste time on the internet. Need to get an ending on the book before I try to fiddle with anything else. Yeah it's going to be another demon fight, but she soon meets an ally.

Monday, September 1, 2014

Do Your Characters Advance Your Plot? One Excellent Example.

Don't know which pulls me into a story more. Different, Interesting characters or a fast-paced plot with loads of suspense. Then, there are the books that give you both. White Fire, featuring their FBI Special Agent Pendergast, by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child does just that.

Pendergast has landed in my to-read pile several times. Have always enjoyed the fast moving plots. But this time around, I noticed something different: how Preston and Child used their characters to squeeze the most out of their plot.

The book proceeds in a linear fashion, using very short chapters to feature each bit of action. More important, the chapters are told from different viewpoints. Not only do the chapters present important information within the action sequences, but they also flesh out both main and secondary characters. The reader not only gets to know who they are but sympathize for their problems too.

My favorite example in this book was Pendergast's encounter with a survivalist who has his whole community scared of him. Pendergast goes to his cabin deep into the high mountains of Colorado in spite of all the advice to the contrary, and then, squeezes the information out of the gun nut in a tense show down. The readers already know Pendergast has nerves of titanium but must wonder if a stronger metaphor is needed.

Another 5***** rating, for general, edge-of-the-chair excellence. Oh, the growth of Pendergast's somewhat clueless protege also deserves kudos.
 
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Absolute Write Water Cooler has been one of my favorite go-to places for information about the publishing world. Next on my list is Writer Beware, now written by Victoria Strauss and connected with the SFWA for years. The Writer Beware blog recently discussed a troll campaign against the Cooler -- mostly because commentators tend to be a little rough when they think someone isn't being quite honest or isn't a good bet to effectively deliver on the services the offer.Take a look at Strauss' blog: Haters Gonna Hate.

I've read the forums for years, mostly as a lurker because I don't think I have much expertise to offer. In my readings, I've thought the most of the comments are right on. If a discussion starts chasing its tails over the same ground, the moderator has usually stepped in to calm things down.

My biggest piece of wisdom from the forums: Give a new publisher a couple years to prove they know what they're doing before you trust your manuscript to them. They tend to go belly-up for many reasons -- even though their prinicpals have the noblest of intentions when they start their publishing enterprise. It's not just publishing. All start-ups fail at astonishing rates.


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Crossings: A Tale of Andor
is now #free
[at least until 15 Sep 2014]

You can download the enovella at Amazon, Nook, KOBO, and Smashwords.
It's also up on the iBookstore, but I couldn't find where they hid the price.

Special review exchange offer: 
If you download and review #Crossings, let me know. [You can contact me at mkkaytheod-at-yahoo-dot-com.] I'll return the favor if you send me a PDF or code for a free copy. Just be warned, I'll give three star ratings if your formatting, grammar, and spelling are off. I'll also say if you don't hold my interest. Whatever, I'll share my comments before I post them if the rating is less than four-star, and you can decide whether they go public or not. Think of this as being a one-time critique partner.

Guess you could also comment here if your book/story is a free download. It might give you a little publicity.