Monthly Archives: October 2011
Reading ADD; Or My Inability To Pick My Next Read
Maybe it’s the fact that I’m disgraced trying to plan my daughters belated Birthday/ Halloween party. Or maybe it’s the staggering amount of books loaded into my Kindle, Nook and iBooks apps. Or maybe, just maybe there are too many books out there to choose from, stalling my selection of the perfect book to spend the next several hours of my life with.
Wait, did I just utter the phrase “too many books” for real? Ye, Gods! I didn’t mean it, I swear!
But back to my dilemma at hand. What to read next? In keeping with the season, I’d love to read something spooky. Bonus points if the book is witchy, original and an exceptional read. So tell me, do you know any good books that fit the bill? I’d love to hear your suggestions. Let me have ‘em!
Perhaps something along the lines of one of these:
Book Review – Diary of The Displaced by Glynn James
I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect when I downloaded this book, but whatever my preconceived notions were, Mr. James blew them out of the water.
Reading this novel felt a bit like falling down Alice’s portal. Given the nature of the plot, it couldn’t have been written any other way. As the main character, James Halldon, wakes up in a strange foreign place, the story begins. We learn more about his predicament as he does. Of course I had to keep reading to figure out where he was and if he’d ever escape.
Diary of The Displaced is a well-written, uniquely crafted, one-of-a-kind book. Part horror, part sci-fi; totally entertaining. On a side note, I’m already reading book two of the series, Chasing Spirits now!
It’s Almost Time For NaNoWriMo!
The time is near for writers everywhere (or wanna-be’s) to cast off their daily responsibilities, shun family and friends, and do the unthinkable- write a complete novel in just 30 days. Not possible, you say? Of course it is, and thousands of writers prove it every November!
What is this organized chaos I speak of? Why it’s NaNoWriMo of course. For those not in the know, that quirky little abbreviation stands for National Novel Writing Month. Every Novemeber writers pledge to write a novel, which in this case is defined as having at least 50,000 words. That’s actually a “thin” novel by traditional publishing standards, but it will give you solid bones to work with when the edits start later.
The sponsoring site, NaNoWriMo.org let’s you create a free account, input a little info about yourself and effectively gives you a novel page where you can update your word count ticker, view the progress of your friends and scour the forums for support, inspiration, or answers to the ever-cropping-up plot problems along the way.
I’ve participated in NaNo two years, one of which I “won” or crossed the 50,000 word mark and the other (my first year) it never really got off the ground. That’s probably because I tried to write as I normally do, from the seat of my pants and lost steam quickly. My second attempt went much better because I had an outline of sorts.
For my second attempt at NaNo I used Scrivener, which let me draft index cards for tentative chapters so that when I sat down to write each evening I had a clear path charted ahead. That was extremely helpful considering that I always have family up to visit from South Carolina for the first two weeks of the month. And then there’s the distraction of Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Christmas prep. Yes, I know. That sounds like a lot to cope with.
It is. And it also isn’t.
To reach your goal of 50,000 words you must churn out 1,667 words per day. I have emails that are longer than that. The trick is to meet that daily goal each and every day, lest you find yourself like I was last time- with three days left and still short almost 20,000 words. I barely remember that weekend.
But I made it! And there’s really nothing like pulling it off. Who knows, you might even get a marketable novel out of it! Now, time to start plotting my NaNo project 
Book Review – Cage Life by Karin Cox
I snagged this book while it was offered for free over on Amazon, mainly because I’ve seen the author around on a few boards and I was curious about her work. After reading Cage Life, I felt a little girl-crush coming on. Cox writes with such beauty and insight that I found myself jealous. She writes like I aspire to. She writes like people think, even when they don’t realize it.
Evocative. Haunting. Powerful. – I could be describing the story collection or the author’s gift for the written word. In fact, I am describing both.
You should scoot on over to Amazon now, check out Cage Life and Karin Cox’s other works. Maybe you can still snag it for free!
Product Description From Amazon:
What happens when life doesn’t turn out as planned? This collection of two evocative stories (each with a surprising twist) explores the choices and compromises we make in life and in love, and how they can trap or liberate us, depending on our mindset. Each story comes with an unexpected twist that makes reading all the way to the end imperative.
In “Cage Life,” first published by [untitled] in 2010 as “Still Life”, a young mum feels like a prisoner in her own home. Her decision to escape the bonds of marriage and motherhood, just for a few hours, has unexpected consequences that force her to a re-evaluate what it really means to be loved, to be married, and to be free.
In “The Usurper,” unconditional love is explored within the boundaries of age and longing. Basil is in his eighties, with an illustrious career in law enforcement behind him, when he meets Carla — a beautiful, energetic and much younger mistress. But when Simon appears on the scene, can Basil keep her or does she, in fact, keep him?
Book Review – Craved by Stephanie Nelson
I won this book through a LibraryThing giveaway and read it promptly. The cover is beyond gorgeous and the blurb compelling, so I thought, “Why not sign up for the drawing?” I’m glad I did. Craved by Stephanie Nelson is a perfectly tasty morsel of paranormal goodness, and I do hope the book manages to garner the attention it deserves.
As far a paranormal books go it’s withing the genre norms so as not to be off-putting to die hard fans. This book does have several nuggets of originality and quirkiness and we all know I like things with the big “Q”. Imagine, a town solely inhabited by Supernaturals. What fun! I can’t wait to see where the author takes the town and the characters within its invisible boundaries in further books of the series.
The writing is tight througout, though the first page or so felt a little overly descriptive. Once the author found her sea legs the book clipped along nicely. So nicely, in fact, I gave myself a stiff neck from hunching over my ipad to finish it There’s a host of compelling characters and hunky love interests and the main character Gwen has some unusual abilities that end up making her a hot commodity. Fabulous first start to a series, and I’m sure the series will become one that I have to read in entirity. Sigh –> That list is getting long! But I guess a girl could have much worse problems on hand…
Book Review – Whispers In The Sand by Barbara Erskine
My daughter calls me a “word nerd” often, and unlike other choice things she has to say about me, with this I am not offended. I freely admit I’m addicted to books. It’s an addiction, like many others that can lead to financial ruin if left unchecked. Which is why I adore signing up to win free books on sites like LibraryThing and GoodReads. I’ve kept food on the table by feeding my addiction with many won books. This book, Whispers In The Sand is one of them.
As an American, I had a little trouble getting into the book, since it’s written from the viewpoint of an English woman. But looking at that gorgeous cover I just couldn’t give up. And I’m glad I hung in there, for the book totally sucked me in. I completely missed my kids bedtime, so oblivious was I. Thank goodness my husband was on the ball. But I digress.
Cloaked within a modern mystery is an ancient one, and the two story lines are melded expertly and with finesse. Erskine ramped up the tension steadily until I just had to know what happened next – with both the present line and the historical one. Ancient Egypt, cursed relics, rampant madness and evil-afoot. How could I not have loved it?
Now on to my few, minor nitpicks… Several times a few of the characters irritated me and I found myself wondering if someone would really respond to such obnoxious behavior with meek and proper manners. But then I remembered I’m American and social graces are not the same here as they are “across the pond” in many ways.
Also, I’m a little chaffed at the ending. I can still feel myself dangling just a little and I hate that. Perhaps there will be a sequel? One can hope.
Overall, Whispers In The Sand is potent, mystical, in some ways tragic and has a healthy dose of suspense and mystery. Erskine is a lyrical writer who is able to imbue genre fiction with literary flavor. I’d recommend the book whole-heartedly despite my minor complaints.
If you’ve read this book I’d love to hear your comments!
Book Review – Haunted On Bourbon Street
It’s that time of year again; the season that ushers in the spooky, the magical, the otherworldly. Not that there’s a big difference in my year-round reading, but I do find myself devouring paranormal books this time of year at a particularly gruesome rate. So I was glad to get my hands on a copy of Haunted on Bourbon Street by Deanna Chase.
This book has a little bit of everything to appease the para-fanatic: ghosts, witches, angels, dream-trespassing… even angels. The story is original and captivating, and I found myself pulled into the book in no-time. My one little nit-pick is this: I don’t feel like I was able to get *really* invested in the main characters like I wanted to. But with the fast paced plot, it’s hardly noticed. And this book is the first of a series, so there’s still time for further investment.
Overall, Haunted on Bourbon Street is an enjoyable, engrossing paranormal book with quirky characters, a compelling plot. It is very well written and I look forward to reading the next book in the series. Hope it comes out soon!
Earn a Free Copy of SKIN by Alex Owens
As a special thank you for everyone who joins our mailing list to receive infrequent updates, we are giving away copies of the short story collection SKIN, by Alex Owens!
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For the entire month of October, to honor the spooky, strange and downright creepy, all you have to do is sign up through our mailing list. Once the month has ended, expect an email with the download code for a FREE copy of SKIN! See, easy-peasy!
To Sign up: http://eepurl.com/eaOhH
Or, you can capture the QR code and sign up that way!
What Readers are Saying About Skin:
“SKIN features three short stories, all well-written. The author has a definite talent … I predict great success for Alex Owens, a genuine storyteller in the best traditions of the art form.” from Karen Wodke on LibraryThing.com
“…definitely interesting and unusual-not found in any other book that this reader knows of. This book is recommend to adults who enjoy the odd side of genres…“ from Krystal on GoodReads About SKIN: Short Fiction
“Well written book with dark twisty tales. I recommend this book.” from KarenW on GoodReads.com
