When a Great Idea Misses the Mark - Book Review of Ghostseer by Robin D. Owens

One of the premises for this blog: I review books that I discover on book shelves -- new book stores, used book stores, and supermarkets. In this case, I found Robin D. Owens' Ghost Seer.

Why did I decide to buy it? First was a nice cover with a picture of Denver in the background. [My eyes latched onto Denver's iconic Quest building in the circle. You can barely see it in the cover I lifted from Barnes & Noble, but I thought I saw it.] Second, Owens is a RITA Award-Winning Author -- who I had never heard of. Third, Ghost Seer is the first in a new series.

After Clare Cermak's eccentric, but very rich, great-aunt dies, Clare inherits more than her money -- her great-aunt's obligation to help ghosts leave this plane for the next comes to plague her. Accountant-minded Cermak finds the transition from normalcy to seer difficult. But all isn't bad. She finds her hunk [aka love interest], a former cop suffering from a similar problem -- trying to deny a supernatural gift of his own, plus he must seek a new career because he was disabled during an arrest-gone-bad. The two are thrown together as they help the shade of Jack Slade, a notorious local character, find the severed ears he wrongly removed, so he can pass on to the arms of his waiting wife.

Promising premise. I settled in, looking forward to a comfortable read ... even though I knew a happy-ever-after loomed in my future. The promise of ghosts causing trouble made me willing to take the ride. Owens does build a well defined plot based on the premise that ghosts sometimes need a living, helping hand to make restitution before they can pass onto the next world.

But the gremlins soon appeared. While I don't visit Denver often now, we used to travel there every month to buy ethnic foods we couldn't get in the small town we moved to. The lightly sketched for Denver had me wondering: What the heck? 

One example. The public library and Denver Art Museum are two of the most distinctive buildings in Denver. Even though Owens has Cermak helping a ghost pass on in the plaza between the two buildings, the she creates no sense of a unique place. Just gives a generic description of a paved area. Being told that Cermak is eating lunch in the plaza which could be one of the spaces in New York City or a hundred other US towns or cities. Virgina Dale, which is a real place on the Colorado-Wyoming border, didn't fare any better.

The characters didn't escape the sterotypes either. While I realize the romance formulas generated a huge following, I want a more complex read. I want my characters to be unique people. Oh, both Cermak and the hunk are pleasant enough. Sadly, I'd met Owens' characters before.

The only character that escaped its stereotypical confines, was Enzo, a ghostly labrador housing something Other who acts as a spirit guide on Cermack's journey to accept her new talents.

A competently written book which held my interest with only one interruption, but offers no special wonder besides the idea of ghostly restitution. I give it three ***.

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When I proofed this blog, I realized my age is showing like the proverbial slip below my hem. I basically read print ... and mostly mass paperback. Yet all my stories are e-published, mainly because I can't see any economic sense in publishing a short novella in print.

As far as I can tell, everyone e-publishes now ... even the humongous five. But I'm wondering what people read. I know I make most of my sales on Nook. But what do you read? Care to share a comment anyone? I'm curious.

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  What have I been doing this week? ... I know I did something...if only because I sit in the chair in front of my laptop so many hours without getting bored. [If I played Mah Jong all the time, I would of given up and gone elsewhere.] 
 
Basically, I've been reorganizing the files on my desktop in the lull between waiting for comments on Crossings from my critique group and waiting for the copy edits on The Ignoble Nobel Prize Winner.

My critique group slammed me up the side of the head again -- for being stupid. What I thought was the ending of the novella is now the end of the middle turning point. I still have another third of the story to write.

Did get book trailers -- in my case story trailers -- up on You Tube. The only good I can see so far is that I have two channels and can't figure 

out how to merge them into one. Need to go to my video-smart daughter for some hand holding. Anyway, I would appreciate you taking a look at them so the numbers aren't so pitifully small: The Ghost in the Closet and Noticing Jamilla.

Might I make a promotion tip ... if you are a writer working to publicize a book? You might look at the various gigs on Fiverr. Not only did I find someone to do my videos

under marketing but Fiverr people did the above book covers too. The covers are cheap enough that you can even have two or three people do covers for you, and you can then pick the best one. Then, there's the promo posting help. I won't mention you can hire reviews too.

Oh, did I say something I shouldn't? Of course, writers pay for reviews. What do you think a blog tour is?
 

My Worst Writing Fear -- Lori Lucero

How I Cope with The Fear of  Revealing Myself in My Writing 

by

Lori Lucero

My greatest writing fear is confronting my own vulnerability. It’s scary to put yourself out there through your writing. So scary that if I contemplate it too much I want to curl up into a fetal position. If you’re doing it right, you’re putting your innermost self into your work, even if it’s under the guise of fiction. The inevitable rejection seems very personal. As it is, I have a hard time accepting criticism gracefully for things that matter far less to me than my writing. I worry that this fear of criticism/rejection will stop me from digging deep into my own emotions when I write. That I’ll only be able to skim the surface of my thoughts and feelings so that criticism and rejection will hurt less. 

My writing will suffer as a result.

I remember my first writing critique group meeting. It was a fairly large group of around ten people. I would describe the group as being supportive in general, but everyone was very honest. At that first meeting, I listened, wide-eyed, to people taking a sledgehammer to each other’s work. I knew it was all to help the others improve their writing, which I do think everyone was genuinely trying to do. 

Still, I felt emotionally scarred by proxy. I broke out into a cold sweat at the thought of sharing my work. The group leader suggested that for the first critique of my own writing, I should share something I wasn’t as emotionally attached to. However, I didn’t want to share my grocery list, my only option as far as emotional detachment, so I gave everyone a chapter of my novel to critique. And—I survived. The criticism didn’t kill me on the spot, or even make me burst into tears (a much more mundane and likely scenario). And I do think the feedback helped me improve my writing.

This leads me to how I attempt to work through this fear. To cope, sometimes you just have to plow through. You have to make yourself do scary things. 

Plowing through isn’t my only coping strategy, though. I have recently taken up meditation, which helps me cope with stress in general. 

My other coping mechanism is rather perverse. I go on Amazon and read one-star reviews of authors and books I love. I don’t normally engage in schadenfreude, and it isn’t that I enjoy seeing other people’s work getting torn down. So why do I do it? For reassurance, I guess. It helps me realize that no matter how awesome you are, someone, somewhere, will think you suck. Somehow, this twisted little task makes criticism in general seem less potent, like just background noise with which everyone has to cope.

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Parallel Lives Blurb

If Jen can't get back to her usual self, she'll have to do everything all over again. Jen is thirty-seven-year-old middle-school teacher in 2012. Overweight, underpaid, in debt, and with a bitter divorce pending, Jen wants to start over. 
Then Jen is hit by a car. When she awakens, it is still 2012, but she is a thirteen-year-old, with her same parents and siblings. Initially Jen resists accepting her new reality. However, faced with the threat of confinement to a mental health ward, she is forced to play along. 

Jen struggles to understand her situation. She jumps on every possible source of information, finally stumbling upon theoretical physics discussions regarding parallel universes. A quantum physics professor says he can send her "home", leaving her with a decision. Should she stay, relive adolescence, and possibly make better life choices? Or should she return to her flawed but familiar life?

Buy Link on Amazon


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Lori Lucero Author Bio:

Lori Lucero, a school psychologist, has been honing her writing craft for many years. She has a master’s degree in psychology as well as an Education Specialist degree (Ed.S.). She has published articles for various online venues and is a member of the Pacific Northwest Writers' Association. Her first book, Parallel Lives, a light science-fiction novel, is available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble.com, and Smashwords. Originally from Montana, she now lives in Auburn, WA, with her very spoiled cat.

Follow her on Twitter and Quora.

Quest or Thriller: Does Genre Call the Shots? Review: Jack McDevitt's Seeker

 
Dug an interesting Science Fiction novel out of my to-read pile -- Jack McDevitt's Seeker. Took me a while to finish it, but I did. But while I was reading I kept thinking that if the book was fantasy, the main character would be on a quest -- only using space-ships-with-faster-than-light-drives-instead-of-horses...with no explanations. They just do it...like turning the key in your car's ignition.

And no. The book hadn't been festering there since 2005; I recently picked it up at a used book store.

I don't know why I picked it up. Until I read this book, I had never heard of Jack McDevitt. 

Maybe the reason I picked it up was the author recommendations. Both Harlan Ellison and Stephen King praised McDivett. King going to far to say: "The logical heir to Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clark."

I recognize the four other names listed, even have read many books by them. This has me wondering why I never heard of McDevitt, especially since he's known for his xeno-archaeology stories. To make matters worse for me, his Google listing says he's won both the Hugo and Nebula awards.

Feel like I should wash the sleep out of my eyes.

 , 
Seeker's the third book in McDevitt's Alex Benedict series about an antique dealer who scours the known universe in search of rarities. In archaeological parlance, he's a "pot hunter" who destroys scientific information. The narrator is Chase Kolpath, Benedict's girl-friday-space-pilot with gumption, who I found appealing until about half-way through the book. 

I realized none of the characters were growing.

The plot kept hitting the same, repetitive notes too

Kolpath's hopping from planet to planet, seeking clues to a space ship, missing for thousands of years. If they find it first, Benedict and she can clean up financially. The excitement comes from the people trying to stop them, but that became repetitive too ... since all the settings/rections of the various cultures were our current one roughly transplanted into a space opera. Even the emotional level remains static -- even when they are in danger of "sinking" into a dwarf star. 

About half-way through, I was ready to give this space opera a 3*** rating. Then, McDevitt redeemed himself with a neat solution to being marooned in space. 4****. 

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Did a little exercise after I googled Jack McDevitt and learned
he's won the Nebula and Hugo awards...
when I stopped chuckling about a D-list writer almost giving him 3***.

I googled myself and learned something about marketing on social media.

A Google+ page is probably worth the effort to cultivate. Used to be when I did a search for myself, my name/links were scattered among listings for other relatives ... including a real estate agent. Now a page dedicated to me which shows my picture and a bunch of pitiful links pops up. Ahhh, the glories of being a D-list  Writer.

Goal for this week: Finish the story edits for The Ignoble Nobel Prize Winner. -- Then, there's the copy editing and formatting. Of course, that's after I get my section of Crossings edited for my critique group -- first.

Do you set writing goals for yourself?

Or, any other type of goals each week. Of, should I ask if you accomplish your goals.

I'll say up front: sometimes I do.

Oh. Did you notice the cover at the top of the page? While -- unsuccessfully -- trying to get some buttons up on my Facebook author page, I figured out how to transfer cover pics to my blog.

Lose some. Win some.

Dateline April: My Writing Life, Good and Bad

The Endless Working the the Social Media,
the Pain of My Existence.

This time it's Guest Blogs.

Another Thursday ... without a guest blog. Sometimes I feel there aren't any indie writers out there wanting a little publicity. But I guess it's not too bad; the rest of May is booked with some interesting books ... though there are a couple dates in June open. Anybody interested?

It's even a form of free book marketing ... even if I am a pip-squeak.

The Bad News

 

Britt's Eyes by Ellorien

For all those wondering -- okay, maybe the three of you -- about the publication date of There Be Demons, it has been delayed due to the illness of the editor/publisher. No new date has been set yet. Watch my Facebook page or here to learn when the project goes active again.

Some Good News

Someone finally reviewed The Ghost in the Closet -- “a fresh approach to the classic ghost story, with a touch of urban fantasy” 

The review was only three stars [on Smashwords], but someone who understood the story wrote it. -- What didn't they like? They wanted it to include more of Dumdie's life. [The parts I deleted because my critique group thought slowed the story down.] As a friend consoled, "you can't please everyone."

Anyway, I love the review, maybe, especially because I was afraid to publish the story. I feared it was a cliche. Didn't think there was anything new to write about ghosts.

The bad news? When I loaded it onto Amazon, two copies of the cover appeared. Went back to my formatter to get it fixed, but it'll take a while. So, I'll sit here with egg-on-my-face ... not that I worry about that. It's just another "fire" to put out.

And there is,

Ta-da,

Progress on the 

The Ignoble Nobel Prize Winner

I'll be doing final edits this weekend.
Even have sort of a blurb for it. 

Whatcha think?

 

Down on his luck reporter, Grant Highgrim, stumbles over the story of his life when his publisher bets him he can’t interview the oldest man alive, a reclusive Nobel prize winner. Highgrim’s chance to become a real reporter again is on the line.

Only the assignment isn’t as simple as interviewing a cranky old man for his secrets to a long life. Highgrim arrives at the nursing home on the day a legion of beetle-demons come to claim the soul of Dr. Henry Allsdipp’s, a Nobel Prize winner in economics. Highgrim must overcome his horror of creepy-crawlies if he’s to save both his interview and his interviewee.