Throwing the Genres in a Mixer -- Mystery and What?

Energized isn't a witchie cozy, but Mary Behre took a little bit of mystery, a lot of suspense, a serial killer, romance, and the preternatural to construct her urban fantasy. You might say that most books in the genre do that. Maybe because writers and readers got bored with books with only one note. But the book didn't bore me with predictability even if it had a hunky former marine as the love interest. Yeah, she does the usual urban fantasy bit. Threw the ideas in the mixer.

It's no secret I read more mysteries than out and out fantasy. I read even less romance. The characters felt fresh to me. How many electricians are the heroes in urban fantasy? I know of one series with a carpenter mystery protagonist. Behre manages to round out all the important characters until they escape their clinches. One exception. The perp who was surprising mostly because she didn't give the character much of a spotlight. Still, the mystery held up quite well.

Best of all, Mary Behre gives you an example of how you can take a cliched genre book and make it totally fresh. The book didn't bore me with predictability even if a former hunky marine was the love interest. In fact I might expend a little effort and find the other two books [about the protagonist's long lost sisters] -- used, of course. You can read the sample of Energized to find out what you think on

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Other Reading Notes

Sometimes The New York Times Book Reviews yields little nuggets I hoard. Sharyn McCrumb has a new book out--The Unquiet Grave. Now I'm sitting here waiting. I find it hard to read hardbacks with my achy thumbs, so I'll hope the mass paperback will eventually appear. Sigh. I love the way she's been mixing historical fact and mystery lately.

Picked up another useless piece of information from the NYT Book Reviews. Who do you think are the four best sellers authors of all time? Shakespeare obviously since he had a few years to out-publish the competition. Danielle Steele is the fourth best selling writer. Agatha Christie and Barbara Cartland are the other two. Do you think romance writers get no respect?

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My Writing Rut

So comfortable to be back writing again. Still in Andor, but a much earlier time in its history--when the country was on its way to recovery after the "Disasters". I'm working trying to get Trapper out of the hills into a town. 

But I don't think you can call the stories dystopian. People have already learned to survive and are building larger communities and a central government again. Trial by Lies was the novella I was working on when I decided to drag There Be Demons out of the computer and publish it. The story has its own genre cliche--YA coming of age mixed with magic.

Not that its important, but I got a chuckle out of my one 2* review. The reviewer didn't like it. The beginning and ending grabbed her as well as some of the middle. The rest was just boring everyday stuff. Actually, that was one of the things I was trying to do...convey the "hurry up and wait" aspect of desperate fights, how Britt juggles her every day life with fighting demons.

Survivng Reading Doldrums

Yay! I finished a book I started -- E. J. Cooperman's Spouse on Haunted Hill. As always, the humor kept the mayhem churning even though the body remains off scene. Can't have a murder mystery without the body, even in a cozy.

Allison, the owner of a haunted guesthouse, must rescue her ex-husband's [The Swine] from gang-like collectors who are unhappy with an iffy investment deal. They want their money back or maybe an implied pound of flesh. While Allison would prefer to let The Swine reap his just desserts, the needs of her daughter for her father trumps her druthers. Of course, the resident ghosts help solve the mystery with their many talents. Sounds cut and dried, but Cooperman's a master of characterization and plot twists.

I've read many books in this series and was sort of dismayed when so many loose ends were neatly tied up at the end. Maxie, the truculent ghost, even got married to her ghostly boyfriend. Then, read that there are two more books in the series when I when looking for the links. With Maxie's off on her honeymoon, I'm wondering who'll provide the vinegar to counter the cozy sweetness in the next book.

See more reviews and comments.

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Am wondering why why I didn't laugh out loud when reading Berk Breathed's new Bloom County comic on Facebook. Am sure laughing while I read my Christmas present, a compilation of the strips. I snort and snurggle so much my old man keeps asking what's wrong with me.

If you missed the new series and/or miss the gang after a 25 year absence you can try this Facebook link.

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Writerly Stuff

Like covers? The Literary Hub just did a blog on the best book covers chosen by professional designers. If you write, you should take a look so see what professionals think. 

Personally, I thought some were "busy" and "hard to read". If I have time, I might go to Amazon and see what the sales figures were.  After all, "they" say: the quality of your cover influences your sales.

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Haven't been pushing on my writing. My critique group isn't going to meet until mid-month so Pissing at the Green Onion is sitting. Did get some 2000+ words on another Andor story started ... two disjointed segments in the computer and lots of sticky notes. Not going to worry about them until tomorrow.

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.

A Day Late, and More Than a Blog Review Short

Was so busy with stupid marketing and social media this weekend, I didn't finish either of the two books I'm reading. [How much I read depends on my mood and how tired I feel ... so I'm a review short.] Decided to dig under the pile of debris for something to review. Maybe I'll kill two reviews with one avalache?

Sandi Ault's mystery, Wild Indigo, has been festering on my desk, out of sight, for .... maybe .... a year???? I grabbed it because I remembered the main character and some of her dilemmas -- especially being a "white-eyes" being accepted by Native Americans, in this case one of the Pueblo groups. I think a New York Times article about AIM, Pine Ridge, and a murder also supplied a little motivation.

Anyway, a suspicion that a tribal death isn't an accident nags at BLM agent Jamaica Wild, a blond who finds hiding among an Indian population difficult. She has the misfortune to witness the death. She's warned off investigating by the tribal leaders who prefer suicide rather than murder as an explanation. Wild persists in her investigations ... and is suspended from her job and is in danger of losing it. After a wonderful chase, mystery is solved. I don't think it's a spoiler to say that Wild's suspicions were true.

After shifting through the pages to check my memory, I give Wild Indigo 5***** Hey, Ault deserved it if I can remember as much about the book as I do. I'm thinking I should reread it ... but that'd delay reviews of the other two books more.

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Have I been writing? ... I can't think of writing anything new. Did finish the draft of The Ignoble Nobel Prize Winner to send to the beta readers.

Did get a nice review of The Ghost in the Closet: "The Ghost in the Closet is a fresh approach to the classic ghost story, with a touch of urban fantasy."... Ghost is still free on Smashwords and Nook for a few days.

It's a three star review because they wanted more info about my characters, but I don't think 3-star reviews are bad.

Looking for Readers and Reviews in All the Wrong Places?

Blurb for The Ghost in the Closet:

Dumdie Swartz sees things other people can’t. Her weird habits have caused her nothing but problems since she was a child. Even her sisters teased her mercilessly.

When her boss fired her because he thought her trances were TIAs, Dumdie became homeless. Though Dumdie was lucky to find a room in a homeless shelter, just as winter was setting in, she discovers that not only does a ghost haunt her room, but her safe haven is threatened by a lost will. Dumdie must conquer her fear of upsetting people if she's to keep her room in the homeless shelter.

Now available for Free at Smashwords in several e-reading formats.

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Heaved a huge sigh of relief last night. 

Got another self-published novella up. Now I have to promote it and find someone willing to do a review. It's sort of like shooting yourself in the foot. The best places I should do this are on Amazon and Goodreads. I know it. But, I'm such a populist that I get squeamish about limiting distribution to Amazon. 

How I'm trying to build a platform without making me snarl.

I'm offering The Ghost in the Closet for free on Smashwords for a short time. That allows this hermit to offer it free to people without using the computer skills I don't have. Hope I can get a free good review lines to use in Tweets. So I hope you at least click the link and read a piece. If I did my job, you'll read it to the end.

More important I'm giving you a case study in marketing. I'm trying to mesh the limited amounts of time I can spend on the computer, my natural inclination to avoid social media, and come up with a way to promote successfully. All before I put the book up for sale on Amazon -- that's when I raise the price to 99c.

You think that's too much to charge? 

Well, that means I'll get about 10-35c a sale. Remember I'm cheap and have a natural inclination towards thinking writers should get paid for their creations . Yeah, I think I'm competent enough not to disgrace myself.

What's your position on giving books away for free?

Economical World Building: Can Your Readers See Action or Do Your Characters Act in the Dark?

One fact of the writing life: all writers build worlds ... whether in the past, present, and future. Some bloggers even think the setting or world of a story is the equivalent of a character, something your protagonist, antagonist, and secondary characters must react to. Adding depth to my settings is one of my main chores when I revise.

Got a good demonstration on why I write fantasy rather than science-fiction when I read Peter F. Hamilton's gut-busting Great North Road. I don't much participate in the world around me ... and that include futuristic extrapolations. I'd never make a Millennial except for politics. I really don't want to be connected with the world around me. Hamilton's detailed extrapolation of your current mess makes me want to bury my head deeper.

Had another bone to pick with the book. I can't imagine holding the 900 page, gorilla-sized, thumb-busting hard back up to read. My thumbs would be catatonic. Even the paperback made them sore. Yeah, I could of used an e-reader, but the battery would of probably expired, not to be revived.

Yeah, you got it in one. I think the book is waaaaaaay too long. Remove the extra padding, and I think there's a great 4-500 page futuristic mystery in there with multiple plot lines and well-fleshed characters with vendettas rather than grievances. The tech is also an inventive extrapolation of current cyber connectivity, political oligarchies, and government surveillance. I also loved the way he solved the problem of space travel.

Short summary:  Set in Britain of the future, the story begins with the murder of one of a world-class oligarch's several hundred clones [all of which are involved in his business empire]. Detective Sidney Hurst gets the unwelcome task of solving the mystery which is soon linked to plots to the control of bio-oil produced on a distant planet which is transported via a type of space-portal. The source of bio-oil is plant-based from a planet that had no animal life until humans arrive. Evidence soon suggests that an alien being from that planet might have been responsible for the earth-side murder, which calls in the interference of governmental agencies.

The plot soon entwines with the mystery of whether or not Angela Trammel actually murdered another North clone years earlier, a crime for which she was imprisoned but released when the second murder occurred. Trammel claims an alien being killed North and members of his entourage. She is included in the expedition to find evidence of the alien on the bio-oil planet. Then, more mysterious deaths occur with lots of hints that Trammel isn't what she claims to be, including innocent. 

By this time, I'm around page 400 and skimming. Soon I'm skimming so fast, I'm losing track of the storyline. I'm giving the book three stars *** because it didn't hold my interest,  and I didn't finish the book though I did peek at the ending.

Granted monster books are an acquired taste like monster trucks. In my defense I say: I read the Lord of the Rings at least once a year. It keeps my interest though I've been reading the book since the 1960s. Guess I'm not a candidate for marketers of time travel.

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My own writing isn't doing much new. I'm cleaning up stuff in my computer ... and groaning because the computer store when I bought my lapstop did NOT transfer ALL my files.  I've discovered I'm missing several short stories, and yeah, I shouted.

Did get a festering short story, revised to be set in Andor of the There Be Demons world, expanded. I'll be offering it free when I get it all set up. Need something different for the marketing lures. Use the free story links on Twitter to lure people to my author website.

Then, it's back to drafting the end of Crossings from the scattered thoughts currently hanging from the draft. And, did I say I've got revisions that must be transfered for The Ghost in the Closet so it can get copyedited and formatted? 

Then it's back to my Half-Elven revisions and writing.  Wheeww. Give me a moment while I stop panting.

Now I'm wondering if you can concentrate on one writing project at a time or do you take the shotgun approach?