Magical Adventure Sparks Up the Heat on a Summer's Day

It's Summer Time

and the Living is Lazy

At least that's the way I'm feeling. So, I'm not always going to have a book review each week. In stead of taking a vacation, I'm just going to review when I finish a book...that isn't a reread.

Yeah, I'm itching to reread some books again, and there's a good chance I've already reviewed them once. The fact that my eyes prefer print to screen has a fair amount to do with this.

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Then, there's Naomi Novik's book Uprooted, which had me staying up late again. Really, liked the stolid, earthy [like soil and growing things] peasantness of the book. The story worked on so many different levels, including the enthralling adventure to defeat a devouing evil presence. Though I really enjoyed the depiction of the fumbling elite the most.

The Grimm-like tale traces hostage story much like Beauty and the Beast, only with Slavic overtones. All sorts of evil dangers lurk and emerge from the Woods. Agnieszka, the protagonist, is unexpectedly chosen as tribute to the wizard keeping the evil at bay from the peasants. The girl, then, becomes a witch in her own right. Together, the two take on the evil at the heart of the forest when a prince of the court stirs up an ant's nest of trouble. I loved out Angeieszka had no use for the pomposity of the court.

No, this isn't a political diatribe. Novik is too masterful a rival for that. Her descriptions are deep and involved. There's enough adventure and magic to satisfy even the most supeficial action reader. 

Best is the depth she gives to her characters. Many of the figures in the book are first presented as stereotypes, but Novik soon gives them a twist that make them three-dimensional. The twists and turns in the action keep the reader reading past the time they should be yawning as Agnieszka is forced to leave her beloved forest home, then to go to the court, and return again for the final showdown.

You can check things out for yourself on Amazon, B&N Nook, and kobo/Rakuten.

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Other Interesting Reading

Am I right in thinking there's a bias for reading among the readers of this blog? Whatever, I'm biased towards reading, especially to young children. Science even supports my bias. The Passive Guy posted a blog on what goes on in a kid's brain when they're told a story in different media. You can check it out here. 

Do you have problems getting pertinent answers to your research questions. I've been getting complaints from writer friends that their search results have too many ads. Know this is a big topic to argue about over a cup of coffee. Still, you might want to look at Kristine Pope's blog: Do Your Homework: How to Research Your Writing Topics.

An interesting take on the similarities of storylines. The BBC did a piece of the basic story plotlines. Take a look here. Writers will find some interesting takes on story arcs.

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My Writing Rut

The business stuff of writing is sticking in my craw at the moment. Sometimes it seems like I do nothing but support work, but I'm getting in 500 to 750 new words a day on Rendevous, even though some of that is addition/revision. Then, there are the few days when I get over a 1000 written. Think only a slow writer can appreciate the sweat that goes onto that grindstone. Still, it keeps me out of mischief.

Did get a new cover ordered for an old free short story: Cavern Between Worlds. 

It's a Far Isles Half-Elven story. The politics is at a minimum here as two Half-Elven warriors investigate why all the animal life is disappearing on an isolated island. Can't wait to see what the artist does with the concept. I'm wondering if I dare call it a romance. Anyone have an opinion? -- Think I have to rewrite the story too but you can check it out at Smashwords and Nook. I'm also working on gifs for my free stories.

Copyedits of On the Run are happenin, sort of.

The fun part? I'm exploring what Fivver artists can do with some illustrations of the characters. Maybe I'll have something to share for my next blog. Vetis for There Be Demons is my first trial.

Escaping the Bad Guys With a Spiritual Twist

Read Dorothy Gilman's Incident at Badamya this week, a very nice teen, coming of age suspense novel. Still, I got a big laugh out of it for a serious novel set in Asia just before the Korean War. The Communist Chinese are inciting revolt in Burma just as Gen Ferris' missionary father kills himself and tells her to find her way to America via Rangoon. The laugh came when I pulled the book from my to-read pile, a brand new novel with a price of $4.95 on the cover. I'm not even going to guess how long it was gathering dust on my shelf.

Of course, Dorothy Gillman isn't known for her YA books. I've only seen her marketed as adult fiction...with ladies of a "certain" age as her main characters. The adventures of Mrs. Pollifax is her most famous series. I prefer Madam Karitska, the Clarvoyent Countess mysteries. Incident at Badamya is one of her several stand alone novels. Of course, they are all mostly out of print and not in e-format. I think they're worth a little time in digging up a couple if you're looking for well-crafted mystery/suspense/adventure/light romance novel. Not many other books measure up to Gilman's writing.

After her father kills himself, Gen Ferris must find her way through insurgent lines to return to her aunt in America, but she is captured on her way to the river ferry that'd take her to Rangoon. The river ferry doesn't land in her village as usual, but when she tries to catch it coming back down the river, she's captured by the Red Chinese. She is trapped behind enemy lines with some other European captives. Suspense builds as she and her bickering fellow prisoners figured out how to escape. Of course, nothing goes as planned.

The book gives the reader a sense of traditional Burmese country life, before the place became Myanmar. The Buddist mysticisim, though different from her usual European turn, gives a thought provoking and educational aura to the book. You'll also get a feel for the rhythms of Burmese life from her multi-sense descriptions.

Unfortunately, Gilman can't be found in e-format. You can read more about the book on Amazon. Used paperbacks are still available.

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My Writing Rut

Rendezvous surprised me again. Couldn't wait for Britt Kelly and Gillen, the gargoyle, to meet again. Dreamed of this big emotional scene of gore oozing every where. Got it written. Three pages of matter of fact back story, explanation of why Gillen is wounded, and some emotion, but not much. What a let down. But then, Britt's rather stern of purpose, when she isn't mad. 

Today shot down my chance of a big demon fight, but I'm going back to the chapter tomorrow. To see if, the Markham's from Docket's Diggings can fit into the flow. [Noticing Jamilla. Cassy Mae is long gone from the town, and I assume her grandmother is too. Nothing like having life-force sucking demons controlling your town.]

Got another Five Star Review for There Be Demons:

starsThere are no Elf kind here!

ByDavid A Foucheyon May 1, 2018

Format: Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase

Whats not to like about a rollicking good story involving Teens teaming with Gargoyles to fight invading Demons? It was fun to see her use Gargoyles as the supernatural helpers of mortals in protecting the Mortal Lands from Demon-kind instead of the usual Elves, Fairies and Dwarves. Was a nice change of pace.

The review kind of made me sad. I'm still thinking of revising one of my Far Isles Half-Elven manuscripts--Dark Solstice. Mariah is still my second-favorite character, and she's been sitting in my computer since I published Vengeance.

A Clausterphobic Tangle of Hardships to Be Endured

Last week I tried to find something different in my reading pile. I discovered Judy Fong Bates' Midnight at the Dragon Cafe. Lots of good things have been said about this book since it was published in 2005, but the book had surprisingly weak reviews. All the mechanics of good writing a novel were there, but it felt flat to me too.

In one sense, a Chinese iimmigrant family's struggle in small Canadian company town town provides a powerful insight into social isolation and self repression. The family--father, mother, and Su-Jenn/"Annie"--escaped from Chinese Communist rule, only to live in one room above a small greasy spoon diner that catered to working class customers. The parents are estranged, and their main point of interaction is their pride and love for their daughter, who becomes more and more Canadian over the course of the book.

At the same time, the book is more than a routine immigrant rags to relative riches story. The books reads like a tale of peasant endurance, though the mother was originally rich by Chinese standards of the 1950s. It's a coming of age story were the M/C's childhood blinders fray under disappointments and tragedies to grow into understanding and acceptance. The clear, uncomplicated writing style reinforced Su-Jen's growing awareness of the secrets around her.

This fictional memoir had me in a bind. I don't think of myself as an emotional person, but I found the story hiding behind a polite, yet tearful mask. Yet, the story felt one dimentional to me. Yeah, I know all about cultural differences and the importance of "face" in Chinese culture. I realize the book was written from a kid's point of view. But. But. But. I couldn't accept that there wasn't some greater depth to the inherent tragedies of the story line. 

In short, I found this a non-engrossing book. I appreciated it. But, I had to force myself to finish it, almost like a school assignment. Like I was doing something for "the good of my soul" rather than reading for pleasure and/or insight.

You can read more about the book on Amazon. Sorry, but there isn't an ebook.

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Other Interesting Reading

Amazon has been getting an increasing amount of flack for their arbitrary review policy--mostly, deleting all accounts which their bots thinks are taking payment for book reviews. Anne R. Allen wrote a recent blog detailing this review policy: Authors Beware: Amazon Gets Medieval on Paid and Traded Reviews. Included is a huge warning about paying for book reviews. More important, if you want to safe-guard your reviews [and maybe your account] you might check out the link.

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My Writing Rut

I actually got new writing added to the third book in my Demon War trilogy. While I'm not doing a "happy dance", it still feels good. I have two chapters after splitting the long first chapter so I could have backstory from both Britt and Cahal from There Be Demons. I also added some action to both of them.

The original chapter is now Chapter 4 and is in need of some major editing. Can't wait for a badly wounded Gillen falling through Britt's old apartment door. 

The next big decision is what happens when Britt hauls Gillen off to Crossings ,where her Granny Nan's house is located. I think I've already decided in the back of my mind that most of the chapters will be from a grown up Britt's point of view.

Oh, yeah. Vetis and Grylerrque have prominent places in the story line. Basically, I'm going to have three romatic couples. How I'm going to write that I don't have the slightest idea. I don't do relationships easily, especially when they turn "smoochie".

The picture above was in some stock art I bought rights to. One of the busy-work things I've got to do next week is to find the contract to see if I can have the pic photoshopped to reflect the image I described for Vetis who is one of my brief viewpoint characters in Rendezvous.

Oh, a heads up. Wooden Pants is doing a 99c special on the There Be Demons ebook on 27-8 April and 1 May. I know it's going to be on Amazon. You might see if the price also changed on kobo/Rakuten and iTunes/iBooks.

Magical Murder Most Fluffy--A Cozy Mystery Shines

Murders needing to be solved isn't the only reason to read cozy mysteries. It's all the people surrounding the mystery solver. Yeah, I love the way Bailey Cates builds her characters. Potions and Patries gives several members of Katie Lightfoot's coven and friends moments in the sun with life changing information. Even the mystery solving protagonist gets life changing moment when she figures out what her foretold "sacrifice" is to be.

All satisfying, well, and good. But, how does Cates put her mystery together?

The book starts out with the promise of a "sacrifice" Lightfoot must make, the Traveler fortune teller dies before she can elaborate on her message. With character growth Cates' strong suit, Katie spends the book solving the mystery while wondering what sacrifice she's going to have to make as she and her fiance look look for a larger house than her beloved carriage house. Other characters are face other life changes, which is good for series readers. It reduces the chances they'll get bored.

The book may be feel-good and fluffy, but proving the fortune teller's "suicide" is really murder is the point of the book. All the clues are subtly there as Lightfoot pursues her witchy intuition that murder was committed. Danger follows with several attempts on Lightfoot's life when the perp tries to stop her.  All good clean fun for a mystery reader.

Read a sample and look at other reviews of Potions and Pastries on

Amazon       Nook        kobo    

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Other Interesting Stuff

New York Times Book Review section gave me pause again: a review of Jessica Buder's Nomadland: Surviving in America in the Twenty First Century by Arlee Russell Hochschild. 

Reminded me that real poverty doesn't appear often in the genre fiction I read. There Be Demons touches on it. But my characters don't really suffer physically from poverty, inconvenience abounds but the true pain of living in sub-existential conditions doesn't. With few counties in the US able to offer a one-bedroom apartment affordable by a single, full-time minimum wage earner, you'd think real poverty -- rather than the wanting-mores -- would get more "press" in fiction.

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My Writing Rut

Am trying to get Rondezvous with Demon jump-started. Tried doing NaNoWriMo for the first  time since 2010 when my back gave out. Failed again. My writing style, psychi just doesn't respond to competition. Plodding plodder, that's me. One step at a time gets me where I'm going, provided I have fun along the way. Any one else think fun is important?

Am making progess on all the stickey notes I've accumulated. Think half of them have been attached to chapters as notes. Today, I got a bunch of pages from a small spirel binder transferred. Have 20,000-plus words, and I haven't even started writing.

One of the ways I save ideas is to write tthem down on sticky notes. My computer is stacked with piles of them, in all collors, right and left. Started out with enough sticky notes to cover almost a fourth of my desk over an inch high. I decided gettig my ideas posting an approximate chapter a higher priority than just poundinng out words. Do have over 10,000 words connected to Reondezvous, about half coherent writing and the rest jotttings. Still have a 10x7x2 inches deep pile of pink, yellow, green, and blue bits of paper to place.

Not all the pieces of paper are connected to Rendezvous. Some a political tweets, that soothed my growls plus tweets promoting There Be Demons. Yeah, promoting a book takes lots of time. 

Next project is to work the list of review places I've discovered. So far, only have one 2*...because I included too much mundane stuff in the book. Don't know who she is or where she posted but it's not showing up on Amazon or GoodReads. Other readers appreciate my "magical realism".

A Heads Up

There's a giveaway of There Be Demons on Amazon for US readers. To win a chance for a free copy just follow this link.

Good Vampires Save Doomed Boy from Evil Vampires

Please, Don't Run Away

from the Cliche

   Maybe I should have said: former hell-raiser must save her little brother from evil vampires...and not add 'with the help of the good vampires'. Whatever.  Add in a few Gullahs plus a spooky Savannah, a goth underground--and Elle Jaspar delivers a fascinating story in Afterlight.

   Picked up Afterlight in a used book store so the book has been around for a while. In fact it's the start of a series. Still, it's a rousing story with lots of novel twists on the vampire motif that makes its so-so plot interesting. In fact, Jaspar provides enough twists throughout her story line to shatter the cliche of Savannah dripping in Spanish moss and Southern gentility.

   Most of the fun comes from the Jaspar's reformed hell-raiser main character, Riley Poe. Her first person viewpoint limits the depth of the story, but the Goth ink-master [like tattoo parlor operator] makes up for it. Her snappy narrative adds sparkle to the dark story line.

   Want colorful characters with clear motivations? Jaspar delivers.  First, she gives us Riley, a kick-ass female who dumped her dark past to care for her little brother after her mother's death. Ho-Hum? Not quite. Jaspar knows the goth lingo and scene enough to make it breathe [at least enough to fool me].

   Her vampires jump way beyond the usual hunkie, blood-sucking motif. Like, did you know that vampires have pissing contests when they drink too much beer? Well, her vampires do all sorts of unexpected things...including the hot one that Riley lusts for but refuses to tumble for for most of the book.

   Yeah, there is romantic sizzling with semi-hot sex scenes that fall far short of erotica. The book falls squarely in the paranormal romance thriller genre. But, to tell the truth, I'm somewhat saddened by flamboyant sex scenes with hot hunks. Can't dumpy guys have enough imagination to give creative sex? At least, most authors I've read haven't had the imagination to create that twist.

   Afterlight's fast paced, good vs evil plot will keep its images galloping across your mind. Jaspar has a knack for giving just enough detail to create a comprehensive picture without belaboring its elements. The book is tightly written in the sense that the plot doesn't wander or tread water either. The plot felt a little simplistic to me, but it's speed more than made up for it. This is a thriller, not a who-dun-it.

Afterlight turned out to be the first in a series called The Dark Ink Chronicles, detailing inker extraordinaire Riley Poe's adventures with vampire-kind and other preternaturals. I'll recommend the series for vampire fans. But this book stands alone. I think most paranormal readers of many genres will like the elegance of the world Jaspar created. You can read excerpts and more reviews on

Amazon      and     Barnes & Noble.

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My Writing Rut

Hallelujah.

   The beginning of my novel is finally taking shape. Pillar has made On the Run her own with a different, more complete take on my Andor world. Only one problem. It's a novel. While I've some 35,000 words drafted, I've still a long ways to go. About half of the draft needs a strong revisions which include added chapters, from different viewpoints...including the viewpoint of the demons who lusts for Pillar.

   We'll see what happens. I'm going back and rewriting all the beginning chapters to lay the new platform now that I know what I think I need to do. Next on the docket, writing a new chapter from the viewpoint of Thelma, Pillar's kin who drove Pillar's mother away from the Bittermount mages. Gotta get back my Southern twang.

   No. I'm not from the south. I grew up in northern California in a blue collar neighborhood with a lot of transplanted "Arkies".