Ahhh, the unreliable narrator. Paula Hawkins gives you plenty of point of views to puzzle over in her new book Into the Water. Her multiple narrators almost give you too many characters to keep track of. But then, instead of a who-dun-it, this book is a why-dun-it.

While I felt the book got tedious at times, it wasn't for the usual reasons. I thought her character development tended to be shallow. Lots of good stuff was hinted at, but all too often, interesting developments and/or insights were glossed over. This is especially true of the perp who moved from the periphery to front and center in a lackadaisical manner. Oh, the motivation was there, but I didn't feel like the potential conflict was well developed.

The troubled sort-of primary character returns to her childhood home when her sister commits suicide by jumping off a cliff. Like some villages have Saxon churches as their claim to fame, Beckford has deaths by drowning. The book describes a troubled village's attempts to confront two interrelated drownings, the most recent of many deaths haunting the village. While I appreciate the exercise in viewpoint, I think Hawkins spread her writing too thin.

More confusing, the "death pool" is also a teen hang-out. The book is filled with factoids rather than an insights into human nature. Comments are thrown on the table but I thought were never fleshed out. Did enjoy the book, though. You can check it out on

Amazon     Barnes & Noble     kobo/Rakuten

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My Writing Rut

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

Which do you like? 

?????

Email: kkaytheod at yahoo com

Am getting ready to start the new year on a slightly different tack than the old one. I decided
to switch to my Far Isles Half-Elven for my next published book: Dark Stoltice Turning Point. Have my slot reserved with my content editor. Still working on Rendezvous with Demons, mostly adding character complications to the chapters I've drafted.

Soon I will be publishing an updated free short story, Cavern Between Worlds. Haven't decided on a cover yet. Do you have a preference?

There Be Demons was on a 99c special last month. Even sold some though didn't make much money at the discount. The fun promo was the one I did for Recognizing Jamilla, a free Andor story. It reached #1 in its category for a couple days. The story is probably the first, chronologically, in The Demon Wars series. The others are Showdown at Crossings, There Be Demons, and Running from Demons. 

Conflict Among Allies, When do the Ends Justify the Means

Louise Penny's recent Superintendent Gamache novel, Glass Houses, is a tale ripped from the opiod headlines. More important, Penny gives writers a wonderful example of how to mine the backstory of an enduring series to create depth in her latest book.

Penny has already characterized the small hamlet of Three Pines as an idyllic hideaway from the bustle of the wider world, in this case Montreal, Quebec, Canada. I even think I remembered that bootleggers in the 1920s used Three Pines to smuggle booze into the Prohibition US. Or, maybe I'm just reading info into a previous crime. The deep woods on both sides of the Vermont/Quebec border are the perfect place to hide all sorts of nefarious activities.

In Glass Houses, opiods are the cargo most terrible, and the hidie-hole in the church has been resurected. But illegal drugs aren't the only problem the book contends with. Penny is an adept at spinning several plotlines at once and makes head-hopping among various characters seem the best way to share plot points and feelings. No movie/tv paradigms here. Just a thick juicy mystery novel set inside a courtroom procedural--with a touch of creepiesness.

Penny is a masterful weaver of plot points and emotions. More intriguing for a writer, she works with several communities who touch each other much like a Venn diagram--the Surety, the villagers, and occassional outsiders. Penny creates characters with so many dimensions, readers seem to return to Three Pines to find out what the secondary characters are doing as well as trying to solve the crime before the big reaveal. Am thinking that many readers wonder why more communities aren't as caring as Three Pines.

If you like to read a sample and/or other reviews, you can check

Amazon       B&N/Nook       kobo/Rakuten

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Other Interesting Reading

The Passive Guy published an interesting take on why Barnes & Noble and other brick & mortar book stores are losing out to Amazon, the main reason. 

I slowly duck my head. We go to Barnes and Noble for coffee about once a month. They really have some good desserts even if they serve Starbucks coffee....But, we usually spend between $50 and $100 between the two of us. [Yes, it's nice to be truely middle class.]

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My Writing Rut

I really admire mystery/suspense writers who manage to write an enthralling book like Glass Houses. I feel envious. I have some short stories that I once hoped would be the start of mystery short story series, sort of like Isaac Asimov's sleuth club where the waiter mostly solved the puzzle: 

      --- Dumdie Swartz [The Ghostcrow and The Ghost in the Closet]

     --- the Highgrim/Allsdipp duo [Doom Comes for a Sold Soul] whose meeting with Britt's [There Be Demons] Granny Nan has grown mold in my computer. 

     --- I could also include Trapper Tremaine who's stuck after getting captured because I couldn't figure out how he could prove his worth and be accepted by the village. Nothing published here yet... or, maybe, ever.

That's not all. I think if I double checked, I'd find starts of Half-Elven stories that lack an executed mystery. Yeah, I think books should not only solve a characters' problems but provide a puzzle too.

Rendezvous continues to progress, though slowly. My outline's first skirmish is turning out to be the turning point battle with Britt feeling terribly alone and isolated, similar feelings but very different. But...I'm sort of a third of the way through [pushing halfway through, depending on how useful my notes are], and the first big battle is coming up, and Cahal hasn't even joined Britt yet...

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.

Was the Pirate King Intentionally So Funny?

Oh, for the days of yesteryear, when meglomaniacs made movies with scant crews. Such is the setting of Pirate King by Lauire R. King, a Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes novel. Not much space is devoted to Holmes in this book, which is fine with me. I consider Sherlock Holms a meglomaniac. [Nice to have him on our side, though.] The play on a Gilbert and Sullivan play adds seasoning for Mary Russell's sardonic commentary.

In short, all bets are off when Mary Russell agrees to go undercover, solo, on the set of a new British movie [ala 1920's] filmed in Portugal and Morocco. Goal: to find out why the film company is connected to crimes similar to those featured in their movies. Oh, there was some other doggerel about a missing person which appeared briefly at the beginning and end.

Though King uses first person narrative well, the last couple of books I've read in the series came across as ponderous, without the enjoyable, sacastic wit. The Pirates of Penzance gave King a broad canvas to work with, especially when combined with Valentino imagery. Nothing like a little abuse to make the heart grow fonder. But it does give some plot twists a target as well as pratfalls.

Okay, not the best of the series. But I enjoyed it as light reading after working on all the writerly things that have nothing do with creating a readable story. Sometimes this story became just plain boring. Granted there were lots of opportunities wasted, like one of the thirteen blond bells containing an adolescent male with a stage mommy. Guess I have an appetite for pratfalls.

Other episodes rose high on the just plain silly stage, like Russell dangling by a rope outside Holmes' cell. Still, if you're not a mystery fanatic, you can find a decent amount of entertainment in the book.

Granted, this may seem like damming with faint praise. You can read a sample and read other reviews on:

Amazon          Barnes & Noble [Nook]         kobo/Rakuten

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More Reading

Did get my three Tortall, women warriors quartets read and enjoyed to the fullest. Then, with all the hype surrounding the release of the Wrinkle in Time movie, I read the first three books in L'Engle's Meg series. Surprising how the Dell glue doesn't stand up to time like the Ace paperback glue. Hard to read when pages are coming loose.

The stories don't stand the test of a novel quite as well as I remembered. The three [including A Wind in the Door and A Swiftly Tilting Planet] read more like novellas than novels. But by the time an aspiring world dictator got his comeupance, I felt like I'd finished a novel. Many of Madeleine L'Engle's ideas in the books still felt fresh, though. Who says fantasy is pure entertainment?

One of the interesting things was I found out how much my copies are worth...at least the one where the glue held.

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My Writing Rut

Still in the middle of revising/editing on On The Run. My editior didn't have too many changes to recommend, but I find I must reread every page word for word. The worse part is

thinking about it.

Here's a sample of my "false resolution" in editor speak:

...Swirling yellowish darts swarmed towards Gracie’s wall of light. Next to Pillar, Gracie’s body waxed into a pillar of warmth. The darts stuck into the wall of power like arrows in a target until they evaporated with soft pops. The bright wall grew thicker, longer until it arced back around to protect the house. Pillar’s ears fill with Gracie’s chanting voice.

“You’re doing fine, girl. Keep it up. Keep it up. Keep feeding the energy to me.”

“Huh?”

Pillar hadn’t realized she was treating Gracie like her pinkie ring. She rested both hands, glowing with blue light, on Gracie’s shoulders as the old lady crouched to the ground.

“Good, girl. Keep it up.”

Trembling, Pillar concentrated harder. A flurry of blue spears flew from Gracie’s hands, passing through the expanse of putrid light to hit the demons’ personal shields. The sparks flew higher than the barn.

The next round of spears Gracie sent rolled into flaming balls that exploded above the demons, knocking them to the ground.

The demons staggered back to their knees.  ...

Midnight Lines: Reaching for a Simple Stopping Point

I can just imagine it. Hundreds and hundreads of people staying up past midnight, searching for a dull spot to place a bookmark until tomorrow. Finding stopping spots is hard to do with a Lee Child Reacher novel, and the newest, The Midnight Line, is no exception.

Child's minimilist writing style is fascinating. You read one line sentence after one line sentence. Yet, he creates images that stick in your mind for days afterwards. He also doesn't loose you as the plot twists in and out, and round about. Oh, Child writes paragraphs too, but all his writing is as spare as a long-distance runner. He gets from the starting blocks to the finish line with few or any loose-ends dangling.

Complicated things can happen by doing simple things. In this case, Reacher finds a West Pointer's ring in a pawn shop and decides to return it to the officer. He soon gets a target on his back for being a "complication". He also lands in the middle of our opiod crisis and the lousy treatment our wounded veterans all too often get. The reader gets a lovely roller coaster ride along some back country roads.

Remember the Shadow who was always asking: "What evil lurks in the hearts of men?"

Well, Child keeps asking what evil can Reacher find along US highways and roads. This time he explores back-country, dirt roads, not the highways. That the setting was over the mountains from me was a added bonus. I always wondered what might happen up in the hills away from the firewords emporium. Used to hike in the mountains on the other side of the ridge, and Child's descriptions felt real.

Child made his name dishing out action and more action. If you're an action junkie, this may not be the book for you. As Reacher grows older, he's thinking more and more, even philosophizing. Read a sample and more reviews:

Amazon          Barnes & Noble          Rankuten kobo

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Other Interesting Reading

The local writing group, Northern Colorado Writers, has an interesting blog, The Writing Bug. I like it because writing usually bugs me. Besides, I know many of the writers. Any way, David Sharp recently wrote of blog on the importance of a writer's voice. You can check it out here: In search of Voice.

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My Writing Rut

Rendezvous with Demons is finally lurching forward. Have be writing around 750 new words a day, an improvement on the old 500 words a day if I was lucky. Another plus, is I haven't yet reached the episodic descriptions I wrote during NaNoWriMo. Am guessing that's a good thing.

Here's a sample--my tentative opening:

            A party. A party? You're going to a stupid party?
            An invitation to a post-exam party from a future Kingscourt flunky had goaded Britt Kelly to visit the posh northern neighborhood where she now stood, hands on her narrow hips and shaking her head in disbelief.  The dark morning silence the suburban river-bend park rang in her ears. Empty swings drifted back and forth on the early morning breeze as mist rose from the river that flowed through Trebridge.

            The banks of the river in her neighborhood were more likely to be filled with warehouses or garbage strewn lots than groomed grass and trees. That's where she belonged. Not among the neat rows of single houses, separated by groomed yards, that surrounded the park.

            But she had been invited, and she was curious. Mostly, about how her life might have been if her father hadn't abandoned his family for another woman when she was a teen.

            Not that I'm unhappy about how my life turned out. Wish Cahal had stayed in Trebridge, but you can't have everything you wish for.

There Be Demons is still getting decent Amazon and GoodReads reviews, but I'm rewriting and rewriting the book blurb. Effort so far: [Any body have any comments?]

Britt Kelly doesn't have time to be a demon fighter. After her parents' divorce, Britt Kelly's posh suburban life turns upside down. Not only must she cope with a new high school. But she learns she's an Angeli Chosen--picked to fight invading demons at the side Trebridge's four Gargoyle Guardians. Her family's main babysitter, Britt just wants to get grades good enough to escape the projects. Dreaming about her new crush, Cahal, takes even more of her time.

.

Gillen, the leader of the gargoyles, races to teach the four teens under his command enough magic to survive the coming demon battles. But he soon learns that teaching the four teens is like herding cats.

 Britt must learn to follow orders if her loved ones are to survive the coming fight between good vs evil.

You can see the old stuff at Amazon and Rakuten kobo.