Odyssey Reviews

More excuses...

2011-12-27T12:09:00.000-08:00

Sorry authors, I'm overwhelmed. I'm working through it tiny bit by tiny bit--I have your books, but it's going to be a while before I can actually sit and finish them. I'm the lone reviewer, trying to find time to write myself, to commute, to work at my job, and to deal with all the craptastic wonders of my life. But fear not... I will post again soon.

I hope you all had a delightful holiday. Let's hope this new year will bring something good for all of us.

Steph

Layton Green; "The Egyptian"

2011-09-29T09:36:00.000-07:00

Dominic Grey is at it again, hunting after the mysterious. In The Egyptian, a secretive substance connected to aging has been stolen from a lab, and Dominic has been hired to find it. Once more, Dominic is carried to all sorts of unexpected places around the globe, and once more, the author hints at the paranormal. He has a new lady-lead, and he is still a slick, modern-day gumshoe with the same demons and the same gritty past driving him forward.

I confess, I was not quite as absorbed in this book as I was in The Summoner. I’m not sure if it’s just my personal stress-levels lately, or it’s just that the suspense was quite as intense as it was in the previous book. That doesn’t mean this isn’t a good book. Layton Green did not disappoint me. He upholds his high standards as an independent author, and once again this book is as professional a package one could hope for. Edited beautifully, written beautifully, presented beautifully. Even the cover is better this time around.

Once more, his characters are creepy when they need to be creepy, they’re intriguing when they need to be intriguing, he leaves a great deal to the reader’s imagination, which is wonderful because it plays with the reader’s own demons; which makes it all the more compelling to read. His characters are motivated, written with depth and interest, and yes, sometimes a smidge cliché, but with paranormal gumshoe novels, you have to have a little of the traditional mixed in for good measure. Heh! I enjoyed this book, in spite of my taking forever to get through it (along with all the other books I’ve accepted for review recently).

As an independently published author, Layton Green is quickly establishing himself as a sure thing when it comes to producing a quality product for your bookshelf or your eReader. You can’t go wrong with this author. He cares about what he’s writing, he cares how he writes, he cares about how the manuscript is treated, and he cares that his readers, who he appreciates as his bread and butter, receive something of quality from him so they come back. That puts him in a special class of Self-Published author. These guys are few and far between, so if you find an independent author that does it right, stick with them. I can say that for all the five-medallion authors on Odyssey.

I give this book five medallions. I didn’t give it all the bells and whistles that The Summoner earned, because I just didn’t get quite as absorbed in this book as I did the Summoner. I blazed through that book and was watching the little progress bar move towards the last page with increasing sadness. But The Egyption still earned five Odyssey medallions nonetheless—and it comes highly recommended regardless of my own lack of enthusiasm these days.

Note to authors and readers:
I am slowly plugging my way through a short list of books as we speak, but things are slow-going these days when I don’t have backup reviewers nor the time to spend reading. But I am working on it, I promise. Authors who have submitted materials waiting, I do have your stuff, I am reading, but it’s going to be a bit before I can find my stride again. Life gets in the way sometimes. Sorry.

Marcia Colette; "Bittersweet"

2011-04-27T11:39:00.000-07:00

It can’t be said that Bittersweet lacks originality—because it certainly does not. With concepts like demon-like hags, demon-demons, psychokinetic powered-schizophrenics, voodoo priestesses and all number of other supernatural things, the book has its own flavor, for sure. A lot of the familiar, overly-covered stuff are just peripherals in this book on the most part. Vampires and werewolves are mere mentions. This book focuses on a whole new crowd of big bad.

Phaedra is a teenaged girl burdened with the responsibility of being the parent in her household, which is a difficult weight to bear on its own. She takes care of her little sister and her mother. However the challenges don’t end there. For this unfortunate girl, her mother is a crazed schizophrenic with psychokinetic powers who must be locked in the attic because consumed by her madness; she is bent on harming her children. In her brief moments of lucidity, she works with Phaedra to help arrange for finances and planning but leaves everything mostly up to her daughter. Phaedra too shares the same powers which she can barely control. She fears her future holds little more than succumbing to same madness as her mother and dismisses any hope for herself, moving forward only for the sake of her little sister.

The only thing that brings normality to the household and gives Phaedra a break are the Bittersweet leaves that she obtains from a magical healer. They bring her mother respite from her madness only temporarily, but Phaedra and her little sister can enjoy a brief taste of what life could be like were they normal. Abandoned by the eldest son and the father, the three women manage to scrape by on their own. This is largely due to Phaedra’s efforts to construct a façade of normality. They avoid raising too many eyebrows or attracting attention from the real world. But everything is tenuous at best.

But things get a lot worse when Phaedra’s brother reappears. He claims to know a cure for their mother’s illness and brings Phaedra a promise of a future she is to incredulous to hope for. Phaedra discovers that Kurt’s promises of positive change come with a price; for at his heels; an army of trouble and danger have followed in his wake threatening to destroy everything and everyone.

One thing I can say outright is that Miss Colette is an excellent writer. She is by far a better writer than Amanda Hocking or Lauren Burd. However, she is not always consistent and that is a bit of a bummer. It took me a while to work my way through this book. It had its moments where I couldn’t put it down, and moments when I could barely keep my interest engaged and found myself skipping pages of conversations and realizing that even doing that, I was still not losing any vital information in the progression of the story; which isn’t good. But she is not the first author to make this mistake.

It’s a lesson all indie authors should learn: scenes are deleted for a reason. Sometimes authors get too hung up on interactions between characters; they work too hard on the smoldering attractions, the exchange of witty banter or whatnot and they lose track of the story and often numb the reader’s brain and lose their interest. Authors who write for themselves rather than their readers often make this blunder. Edit yourselves! Read and cut out what isn’t immediately relevant to your story, cut out what has already been established, cut out the conversations and interactions that add nothing to the character’s personalities, story or the whole. If the story can live without it, and the characters lose nothing if it’s taken away, then it probably shouldn’t be here. That’s my advice.

In this book there are some editing issues, however they are fairly minor. Some misused words, some missing words; a couple sentences that look like chunks of them were accidentally cut out. But all in all, as packages go; this one is professional and the writing is quite high-quality. There’s a gritty quality to it that brings it down to the real world. Phaedra’s motives are believable, and the characters are who the author says they are and remain so throughout the book.

Don’t get me wrong, Bittersweet is not a bad book by any means, it just wasn’t a knock-your-socks-off excellent OMG I can’t believe this is an indie-book. But what I think does stand out is the author’s skill with language and description. I’m confident that the author’s future endeavors will only get better and better. I give this book 4 medallions.

Being a cry-baby will not sell books.

2011-04-01T14:54:00.000-07:00

In the past few weeks, I’ve been sent links to various negative review articles by other reviewers where the authors being reviewed popped a vein in reaction to it. This is a rare occurence at Odyssey Reviews, mostly because of our policy of not posting reviews for anything that earns only 2 medallions or lower. I'm sure if we panned the bad books in our posted reviews, we'd get more negative reactions from some authors. I usually just tell the author in the kindest way that their book was not readable. I did however have one author react like such a big baby to the review; I changed some of the ways we do things around here at Odyssey Reviews, starting by disabling comments and writing this rather harsh post:

Author Notice

The hard truth is this; if you write to publish, you are exposing yourself to opinion. Period. If you don’t like negative opinions, then you should either make sure that you write like Austen, Steinbeck, Twain, Shelley, Dickenson, Whitman, Keats (None of whom were immune to criticism and negative reviews, by the way), or don’t write at all. My point is... Criticism Happens people! You are giving your work to the public and they are going to read it. Some may love it, some may despise it; it is par for the course; and authors, if you are not prepared to take criticism, you shouldn’t be publishing your work! It’s as simple as that.

It does absolutely NOTHING for your credibility to send lengthy, whining emails to your reviewers listing all the wonderful things other readers said or trying to sway the opinion of your reviewer by imposing other views on them. It’s not going to happen; you can’t MAKE someone like your stuff. I can assure all authors that reviewers are not purposefully sitting about, wringing their hands and smacking their lips; delighting in the notion of tearing your book to shreds for no good reason. If a reviewer is making a criticism, it’s 99.99999999% likely they have been given a reason to. Some reviewers might be more finicky than others, granted, but they are not setting out to make you cry. They are setting out to give an objective, but still personal view of a book.

Posting lengthy diatribe-comments on blog-reviews, or writing novella-length blog posts in rebuttal, arguing with the reviewer’s final opinion makes you look like a huge, snotty-nosed, blubbering baby and the readers who come along will be doubly-convinced not to buy your book. I personally have been known to buy a book in spite of some harsh reviews.

Let’s face it, if everyone listened to negative reviews, would Stephanie Meyer be a successful as she is? I don’t think so. People are still downloading Jessica Black's 'Friday' song in spite of HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of well-deserved negative reviews.

If the author has sold the package to me correctly, then even with a few negative words about it, I will still take that extra step and decide for myself. Amanda Hocking’s troll books are a perfect example of that. I read a number of bad reviews before I got them. But buy them I did. I downloaded all three books and found them worthy of 4 medallions. But if one of those bad reviews had a personal response from Amanda Hocking in the comments, decrying the review and proclaiming that the reviewer is victimizing her by forming and declaring unjust opinions about her work, and following her comments with nine more comments which are pastes from other reviews that were positive... Yeah... I’d arch my brow and shake my head and NOT buy anything by her ever again.

By acting that way, the author is blatantly telling their potential readers that they don’t trust them to decide for themselves and what’s worse; they are telling the reader that if they don’t like the book and they think it was bad, then the reader is wrong, wrong, wrong... Not exactly the best weay to show respect one's readers, is it?

If someone gives your book a negative review, to coin a perfectly apt internet acronym... STFU. Let your book stand up for itself. One or two negative reviews isn't going to be its end. If it gets nothing but negative reviews... then maybe that is destiny telling you that you should take up some other form of creative art.

Bring 'em on, authors. :)

2011-03-15T13:59:00.000-07:00

Layton’s ‘The Summoner’ is certainly a hard act to follow; this I know. It was AMAZING. I *still* can’t believe that’s a self-published book, it was so excellent. I am now reading in tandem, ‘Blackroot’ by Miranda Mayer and ‘A Discovery of Witches’ byDeborah E. Harkness. Blackroot is short and I am almost finished with it. It’s a rush-job book, unedited (but still fairly decently written despite some glaring issues with timeline, some full-on name-errors and other things). The story is really raw and gory in places and quite erotic in others. It’s like an outline rather than a story—it needs padding and some character development. It’s also kind of all over the place. I plan to give the author a full report of this; she published it to Smashwords.com—but I think she needs to take it down and submit a revision. She didn’t submit it for general review to me, she talked about it with me during writing group. She said it was the source of many themes for Tinna’s Promise, a book reviewed by an Odyssey reviewer from Florida who gave it five medallions and an excellence award. MM and I got into a little tiff on Twitter about it being unedited, so I told her I’d read it and rip it to shreds. I'm still working on the reading part, the shreds bit might come later. Blackroot is no Tinna’s Promise by any means. It’s like a shadow of it. But I can’t deny that MM knows how to write compellingly. If you like dark fantasy mysteries with a touch of erotica, then go to Smashwords and find it. Even at in its rough form; 99¢ doesn’t seem so bad to spend on it. Besides, you’ll have access to any revised versions made by the author once you buy it. That goes for all Smashwords books you buy.

A Discovery of Witches is a commercially published book, and is just wonderful so far. Yes, it’s formula, yes it’s predictable, but yes, it is also well-written, gloriously edited and it is the package one expects from a traditional publisher. I can’t believe I paid $14.00 for it as an e-book, but what the hell... I had a gift card. I have a hard time putting it down at night, even though my eyelids are heavy with sleep and I have to be up for work in four hours. I’ve a ways to go to finish it, but so far, I’m delighted. So a recommended read in either format, for sure.

Other e-books I’ve been reading lately; I devoured the books by HP Mallory. This includes two books of the Jolie Wilkins series (Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble and Toil and Trouble) and the book To Kill a Warlock. The freakin’ brilliant covers aside (beyond excellent choice of cover artist on the author’s part) these self-published books are excellent. There are a few editing points here and there, but ultimately, they are wonderfully packaged. They sell off the ‘e-shelf’ and I can see why. They’re quirky, fun, well written and occasionally inappropriate in a good way. It’s not my usual genre... I do like Fantasy, and vampirey things can be fun to a point... but these books were so fun and campy it was a light and quick read. I recommend all three of these books quite highly. The first two-book series is about a witch named Jolie and her romantic trials between her hot warlock boss and a sexy vampire. Annoying love triangle! Oh, there’s a whole war thing over her as well, but that’s an aside. The second book is about a fairy detective named Dulcie. Really cute.

After that, I have Jean Auel’s final book in the Earth's Children series to read, once it’s fully released (I pre-purchased the e-book). I am hoping I’ll get something tasty from Odyssey Reviews to follow. Come on Authors... Bring ‘em on. Where are the good books to follow in Layton’s footsteps? I haven’t got any really compelling queries lately. If you think your book is good, and you know it can stand up for itself, then here I am, waiting to review it.

I’ve been told I’m the harshest of all the Odyssey Reviewers by certain authors. I’ve been told that I am cruel. I don’t think honesty is cruelty. I think criticism is an opportunity for improvement. If you fear it, then you probably shouldn’t be publishing your work. It’s as simple as that.

Anwyay... bring those queries on writers. I need reading material.

Oh, and by the way... I REALLY NEED REVIEWERS! Life has been a greedy hog and stolen all my reviewers from me by throwing a bunch of challenges their way. So if you like to read, and you can write a somewhat coherent sentence describing your opinion of a book, then please contact me at herodyssey (at) msn dot com. I can' t do it alone, even with a Nook.

Layton Green; "The Summoner"

2011-02-09T15:18:00.001-08:00

It isn’t often that I get really excited about doing a review. It isn’t often when doing reviews for Odyssey that I find myself forgetting that this is an independent author, that it’s an Odyssey review, and that it’s work. It isn’t often I get something of such quality; I truly believe it should be sitting on the shelf at any bookstore. But it happens, it does. Of all of the reviews I’ve done, I can count three or four books that are shining examples of independent publishing. The Summoner by Layton Green is one of those.

I’m going to be naughty and start with the not-so-good things, and that is one thing, and one thing alone... and that is the cover. I received the book in epub format and did not see the cover until I was preparing to post this review, and I was somewhat disappointed at the sight of it. It’s...well... self-publishy looking. Sorry. I imagined something quite sophisticated, based on the writing, and I was bummed. But hey, I’m here to tell you that you should not judge this book by its cover. The meat of this book is what makes it excellent.

By page 22, I knew this was going to be a five-medallion book. Editing aside (which was a marked win, by the way), the writing is unbelievably good. The description of characters for instance, is excellent... more than excellent. They paint three-dimensional images of characters with backgrounds, motivations, depth and significance. The book has that classic detective story feel to it. It has that mood... the jaded investigator, his complex and deliciously dark past, the dank and eerie places where the story and the clues lead him... Ugh, love it. But what makes this book really exceptional is the rugged African setting which is written with detail and vivid imagery. There are wonderful the cultural nuances. The author’s knowledge, experience and obvious careful and excellent research add interest and ‘texture’, bringing a new level of believability and realism. Of course, the paranormal side to it makes it all the more intriguing. I could hardly put the damned book down. I forced myself to leave my Nook at home so I wouldn’t be tempted to read on the clock at work. This book is going to stay in my Nook library.

The story is centered on the experiences of Dominic Grey, a dogged investigator for the Embassy/Consulate in Zimbabwe. He has been asked to look into the mysterious disappearance of an American diplomat. What Grey uncovers is a dark and terrible chain of clues and characters that lead him headlong into an encounter with the occult. From animal to human sacrifice, the Grey is drawn into a world of horrors he never knew existed. I will not elaborate more than that. The eerie tale aside, this story carries the reader smack into the meat of Zimbabwean culture, into the diplomatic communities, into the struggles between the privileged and the destitute. This book is a wonderful study of culture and anthropology alike, and this book is above and beyond in its narrative, its cohesiveness, the depth of its characters and the quality of the writing. This is one of the best books I've ever read for Odyssey Reviews. I didn't want it to end. This author should be on a big publishing house's frontlist. No doubt.

So naturally, and obviously, Layton Green gets five medallions for this book.

Oh, and also, to the author's editor I award him/her 5 medallions as well. That is top-of-the-line editing work.

In addition; a while back I began bestowing the Odyssey Reviews ‘Award of ‘Indie’ Excellence on books that were of exceptionally great quality and purchase-worthiness. Layton Green’s ‘The Summoner’ is a clear candidate for this award. This book is the kind of work that all self-published authors should strive to emulate—well, except maybe a little improvement on the cover. I truly look forward to more work by this excellent independent author.

Sandra R. Campbell; "Butterfly Harvest"

2011-01-30T20:51:00.000-08:00

Butterfly Harvest is admittedly not my cup of tea. It’s just not the kind of story I actively seek to read. BUT, I did read it, and I don’t have awful things to say about it.

The first thing that struck me, seeing that I am always looking at the whole package of a published book, was the cover. The design could have been distilled down to just the butterfly with the soft diffused glow on a black background with the title and it would have sufficed. There just seemed to be too many elements in the picture, the faded silhouette, the soft hit of a skeletal structure, the forest background, the foreground trees… I dunno… a little editing wouldn’t have hurt.

I honestly don’t know what to make of this book. Here are the positive points: It’s well written. The author is a good writer. The text is stunningly edited and it’s a clean, professional looking book. I didn’t find too many errors to halt my eye as I read. I was also compelled to read forward, even though the story itself wasn’t exactly the sort of thing I devour on a daily basis.

The story is about sixteen-year-old misfit Seanna. A product of a dysfunctional home, Seanna has a hard time fitting in with life. She spends time rescuing animals, skipping school to day-dream and avoiding her less-than-stellar life with her food-addicted mother, alcoholic and abusive father and slightly slutty sister. In a moment of crisis during a violent encounter with her abusive father, a handsome, powerfully attractive figure comes to her aid. The fellow named Samuel manages to insinuate himself into her life, and in doing so, turns it into a surreal succession of catastrophes. She seems powerless against this creature, and as those around her fall, she seems further and further enmeshed in this bleak destiny at the side of this mysterious Samuel.

The story was a little all over the place. There were SO many characters that came and went it was hard to keep track of who was who and how they were significant to the story. There was also the fact that frankly, the heroine of this book is really not very likable. She is weak-willed, harsh and horrid about her mother's food addiction, self-absorbed and lacking some depth as a character. There were people who were crucial to the plot who I learned very little about, and some relationships that were suddenly remarkably close despite there being very little to motivate them to be so. The book seemed more like a framework rather than a completed work. The book could benefit from the author sitting down to pad it out some more with more descriptive writing, paring down her characters a bit, adding depth to those she does keep, and adding in some flesh around the bones of the characters' relationships.

In the end, it was still a really readable novel. For those who read King and Koontz, this thing might be right up their alley. I give this book a solid 4 medallions—I won’t dock it medallions just because I’m not a fan of thrillers/horrors. For a piece of independent work, it’s a professional, excellently presented package, and I recommend it to the fans of eerie books.

Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: lulu.com (September 28, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0557584671
ISBN-13: 978-0557584673

Amanda Hocking; "Switched", "Torn, "Ascend"

2011-01-16T15:23:00.000-08:00

In these three little novels, trolls exist (and we’re not talking the kind of troll you find on the internet trawling for attention…), they can pass for human except for their unique powers, and they are still switching out their babies for human ones as changelings where they are raised by rich families. The trolls are using humanity to sustain themselves. The troll changelings come of age and return to the Troll communities to bring their hefty inheritances home to fund the Troll communities that await them.

Wendy is such a changeling. She was raised by a mother that actually tried to kill her because she knew Wendy wasn’t hers. Sometime after her mother is placed in a mental institution and she becomes her aunt’s ward along with her brother, Wendy is astonished to discover she has a real mother who also happens to be Queen of the Troll ‘Trylle’ enclave. She discovers in book 1, that she is a princess and she has her own Tracker (protectors and servants of sort) named Finn with whom she finds herself enamoured., She also meets a human boy who turns out to be the foster-family’s child with whom she was switched. She also discovers that her new community over which she may reign someday is practicing traditions she’s ashamed of—and that she’s being hunted by another group of trolls from a different enclave known as the Vittra.

Wendy walks out of a difficult childhood into a confusing life with a mother who is cold and demanding, a future that is daunting and fraught with danger, and a bleak prospect for romance considering that trackers are untouchables to the royalty class.

These books are fun. I devoured them. I bought them with little hope for them being anything decent, but I was surprised. There is the taste of youth in the books, but they are not hideously written, and the writer has acquired the skill of drawing her readers in and keeping their attention. She does repeat phrases again and again sometimes, but her manuscripts are very well edited and clean, which is always a relief whenever I pick up an indie book. Thank you, Miss Hocking for being thoughtful and considerate to your readers.

The covers are wonderful in their simplicity and artfulness. I think they’re beautiful, and they don’t scream self-published like many others do. After a little poking about, it looks like Miss Hocking has a really great tact for being a prolific writer, for producing professional books, and for marketing herself nicely. She is actively managing a blog and website. It’s quite impressive, and I think a lot of indie authors could learn from what this young woman is doing. I think this girl has a strong chance of attracting attention from a traditional publisher.

There are some things about the books that do bother me, but that's likely because I'm not fourteen. The author's skill for description needs work, but that will come with more experience. These books read as very simple... the writing is basic. The stories are really fun and original... but these are definitely books for tweens and teens.

I give these books all a good, solid 4 medallions each -- I feel inclined to give one of them less than that, but I am rating them as a package. So 4 it is.

Lauren Burd; "Immortal"

2011-01-16T14:46:00.000-08:00

The gift of a B&N Nook has been both a gift and a bane, because I find myself reading fifty times more than I used to; and my free time is already so limited. ::sigh:: I also tend to browse the nookbooks and buy whatever suits my fancy, since the nookbooks are so cheap and so easy to breeze through.

Immortal is one of four books I’ve read by independent authors that I’ve decided to do non-queried reviews on. The next three books will be done in one post because they are all three in one series. I already had an idea that Immortal would be very closely aligned to the Twilight saga. The story reflected much of Bella’s story.

* Pale, seemingly complicated heroine who has no idea how incredibly beautiful and attractive she really is, and thinks herself quite ordinary and plain against her friends [check]

* Parental relationship problems [check]

* Irresistible to supernatural creatures. [check]

* Misunderstanding and lack of communication. [check]

* Rivals fighting over her (what girl in her late teens and early twenties doesn't fantasize about that?). [check]

* Sudden threat appears in middle of book. [check]

There are some efforts to make this story its own ‘being’ so to speak, to separate itself from the collection of what is essentially Twilight fan-fic flooding the nookbook and kindle lists. It’s a tolerable story that I was compelled to read, so it shows that the author knows how to tell a story… and she knows how to draw in a reader. As independent books go, it's really readable. Like the three books to follow this review, I devoured it. That’s good, especially coming from me, considering that if a book doesn’t draw me in by the first few pages, I’ll huck it aside and forget about it. I’ll sometimes grudgingly drag myself through some particularly bad books, but rarely. If I already feel like I’m going to rip it to shreds with a scathing review, I’ll forget about it.

But what Miss Hurd has done that does make me bristle, is that she published something that was not polished or ready for publication. And this is my usual gripe about independent books… Authors… GET AN EDITOR! God damn it! It can take a good book and bring it down to nothing if you don’t have it polished. I don’t care what you do, take it to an old professor, do SOMETHING, but have it proofread. I simply despise reading along and coming along a ridiculous error that immediately ruins the experience. The flow of the writing is instantly marred when I come across typos, bad grammar (this is really irritating to me… the use of apostrophes is really not so complex as it cannot be learned), misused words, overly-repeated phrases and descriptions, and inconsistencies. It is my biggest pet peeve and it should be one of the primary considerations before anyone decides to hit that ‘submit’ button on PubIt!.

As for the story… well, I think the author needs to work a bit harder on adding a smidge more sophistication to her work, but I really cannot find too much fault with her writing in general. Sure she repeats a lot, sure it’s simplistic, as is most YA material… but it can be simple and still have a tiny shred of maturity to it. Also she should go back and secure the services of a good, experienced editor… and she should work harder to try to keep her story original. I imagine if Miss Burd was writing something that wasn’t based on the standard framework of the vampire teeny-angsty book, her writing style with some originality could really take her places.

I also am feeling a bit cheated. Miss Burd showed some promise at the beginning of her book, hinting at a complex relationship between Alina and her mother. It was the sort of thing I hoped the whole thing would be framed around… her choices, her reactions, her behaviours, influenced by her mother’s abandonment of her. But I was very disappointed. She never expanded upon it once she hinted at it. I wanted to know why they were not getting along—and how that affected Alina’s choices. It's like as soon as Alina left she completely forgot about her except to mention her a bit during one conversation. It was not explained at all, and I think it would have added some serious depth to what is a fluffy story otherwise. Her relationship with her father also… very vague.

I know it’s hard to juggle a lot of characters… and that’s something all independent and new authors have to think about. If you connect people with too many relationships, it’s impossible to carry them all through the story. You have to just drop people, and keep the story going, and leave the reader wondering what the hell happened to them. You should not invest your readers in someone, and then just forget about them.

This could be an excellent story if she took it down from web-sale, and sat down on a nice, warm weekend, and started padding out some of the bones of the story, adding some complexity to her characters, giving them depth and motivations, and raising it a level from the rest of the chaff. She could also work on padding out the brief encounters with the hero, so that the love that they feel for one another is actually based on more than a few chance encounters and chemistry (which the heroine seems to share with more than one fellow through the story) She could really do it too, because her writing is actually quite good.

This is why I’m not going to give the book a bad rating. It isn’t a bad book… it just needs more work. Four medallions.

Wil Wheaton; "Dancing Barefoot"

2010-12-11T12:49:00.000-08:00

Since I have been bereft of queries to draw my interest, I decided to read Dancing Barefoot, a book written by Wil Wheaton; the young man who played Wesley in Star Trek the Next Generation. It was given to me by one of my prior-reviewed authors who’s become a good friend. She follows a lot of the geeky stuff on the web, because that’s what she does, and she brought me this small book when I complained about having nothing good to read.

I was dubious, to say the least. One, because it’s not the first time I’ve picked up a book by a celebrity. Many times I’ve been often disappointed by the product; most of which are usually ghost-written testaments to their amazingness, or a ‘woe-is-me, look what I’ve overcome to become the awesomeness I am today’ sort of diatribe. But what encouraged me to go ahead and read it was how thin the book was; I figured I’d have to suffer only a little.

I was astonished, to be honest. I was surprised by the honesty in the tone and the level to which Mr. Wheaton was willing to open up about his insecurities, his vulnerability and his humanity—all in a very short book. What a great guy. That’s what I came away thinking after devouring the 115 pages of font size 14 text in two hours. I have decided to post a quick review of the book on Odyssey because Wil is an independent author who published his own work, and so a review of his work is not out of place here. FYI: Wil apparently has a few more books on offer, which I now plan to purchase and enjoy.

Dancing Barefoot is a collection of five stories from Wil’s life. The stories include memories of his young life, starting with memories of a beloved aunt; which is an incredibly raw and touching piece, written in such a superb, heartfelt voice; and ending in a lengthy missive about a Star Trek convention, where he makes you laugh and then mists you up in the span of a few paragraphs.

Wil has a natural writing style that is incredibly readable and filled with warmth and vulnerability. There’s no pretence, no airs, it’s him in his most human state, including even his cutting sarcasm and unique perspective growing up on the set of a Sci-Fi show. His descriptions are excellent, and his wit and humour is wonderful. I’m now a fan. I recommend this book to anyone; trekkers or non-trekker alike. It’s a realistic glimpse into how difficult it can be to grow up in the public eye, and how hard the approval and disapproval of the famous and the fan alike can be life-changing.

Read this book. It’s great. Five medallions.

Yes, we are still alive. But barely.

2010-11-17T11:40:00.000-08:00

This is what I am doing when I am trying to keep sane.

Yes, it’s been forever since we’ve posted a review here on Odyssey. It doesn’t mean the site is inactive, it just means life has gotten rough for both me and the people who were kind enough to supply reviews. Seeing how the economy has been, adding to additional stressors and things you cannot control, it’s not surprising we haven’t had reviews in a while. Personally, I am hoping, after this year’s loss of my father, the subsequent illness of my mother and my assuming guardianship of my developmentally disabled adult brother, that things will settle down for me in this coming year enough so that I can focus on things like reading and recruiting new reviewers. Suffice it to say, I haven’t taken time to read a lot of mainstream books, let alone Indie review books lately. I barely have time to ride my cinnamon tank pictured above.

Please note that I am still receiving queries, many of which do not meet our already fairly strict criteria. A lot of authors are using promotional companies to do all the review requests, and it’s gotten so annoying that I’ve started deleting anything coming from certain promoters, because they blatantly send out blanket emails with our address amid a dozen others without regard to what we requested. So sorry, authors, but if you are relying on a promoter to get reviews for you, and they are contacting Odyssey, it’s likely I won’t even look at the query honestly. Their bulk emails are becoming seriously annoying to someone whose stress levels have been already pushed beyond capacity—I got tired of replying: ‘we are sorry, but this book does not meet our review criteria’ over and over again—so I’ve taken to just dismissing them as they come.

I may sound grumpy, but many reviewers can become so, it’s demanding for a voluntary task, and many times, it’s overwhelming and thankless. Most of the time, authors are never quite ready to hear the truth about their work or they think they’re special and deserve more attention than other authors. I’ve even had authors request that we change a review because it wasn’t what they expected it to be. Reviewing is hard work. We have all striven to provide honest reviews, and have been kind to those whose books were downright terrible and spared posting the harsh opinion.

I am now going to send out a tentative call for books to review. I am alone, and have little time, but I can do some reading each night before bed, and I want to read things that I like, Fantasy and Sci-Fi, and maybe the occasional mystery. I want to read something that is clean and edited… I don’t want to be distracted by hellacious typos and bad formatting. I want something that will make me smile, and make me look forward to more work from that author, like our 5-medallion books.

So if you truly believe your POD, Indie book meets the above criteria, please send a query as outlined on our submissions page, and please be patient with me if I do not review quickly.

If you’ve sent us a book already and it did not get reviewed, I apologize. It was for one or more reasons: 1) the reviewer flaked out on me (many do) and did not return the book to pass onto another reviewer or myself, or 2) the book was awful and we didn’t have the heart to tell you that’s why we didn’t post a review.

I intend to start afresh and start slowly. I am seeking new RELIABLE reviewers to assist me in the task, so if you think you can do this (it’s hard work, I am warning you) then please do feel free to petition me, I would be grateful for the help and infinitely less grumpy about the whole process. I will invite new reviewers to be contributors to this blog page, and they will be able to post their reviews freely, along with other articles and discussions as they please (as long as it’s not awful). :)

Have a lovely thanksgiving. Looking forward to new queries … I will sort through some of my old ones that I haven’t lost or deleted to see if there are any early contenders for review during the holidays; if possible.

Help!

2010-01-25T13:06:00.000-08:00

Odyssey Reviews was happily chugging along for a while there with two wonderful, reliable reviewers. But we've all run up against life... and lots of problems have cropped up that have taken out our little panel of reviewers, including me... Odyssey's owner.

My papa is dying, my life is crazy, my work is insane, and my other endeavors are not only taking over, but also being neglected. I need help. I need reviewers! Help keep this site up and running for the sake of the long list of queries sitting in my inbox... for the sake of authors who could use exposure. For the sake of books. :)

If you're interested in becoming a reviewer, please contact me via the email herodyssey at msn dot com. You will be much appreciated. :) All you need is a love of books and the ability to write an intelligible, well-rounded review. That's all there is to it.

An update...

2009-10-28T14:05:00.000-07:00

Yes, we are still alive here at Odyssey Reviews, however... barely. Two of our most active reviewers are 'down for the count'--personal matters and family emergencies can do that to people. Odyssey needs reviewers! Badly. If you are interested please contact us using the info from the submission guidelines.

If you have submitted a query and haven't gotten a reply, sorry, but we are doing our best to follow-up. Right now, manpower is so limited, I am only accepting submissions from books that are strictly in our preferred genres, and that have stellar queries. If you have non-fiction, bios, or self-help books, you're not going to be accepted for review. I am just being honest. So if you are contemplating submitting your work for review to Odyssey Reviews, just a warning, we are being extremely selective. Fantasy/Sci-Fi/Supernatural/Horror books are preferred. Your query must be coherent, not too blibber-blabby, and decently written. Keep it simple.

The Management. ;)

InStock Conference Features Successful Self-Published Authors

2009-06-29T13:32:00.000-07:00

The InStock Conference premieres July 18, 2009 in San Francisco and focuses on marketing and the business of self-publishing

SAN FRANCISCO, California - InStock, a one-day conference for authors and those interested in self-publishing, will premiere July 18, 2009 in San Francisco. The Instock Conference features panels on topics of interest to self-publishers, with a focus on marketing and the business of self-publishing books.

Speakers will include successful authors and self-publishers, independent publishers, and representatives from the traditional arm of the book industry. The panels and conversations will include information on marketing self-published books, finding an audience, publicity outreach and tactics, product pricing and more.

Speakers include Melinda Roberts, who runs the successful website The Mommy Blog and who has self-published the book Mommy Confidential: Adventures from the Wonderbelly of Motherhood. Ms. Roberts has been quoted in publications including The Washington Times, and recently appeared on Oprah. Also speaking is Deborrah Cooper, also known as “Ms. Heartbeat”, Editorial Director and Columnist for AskHeartBeat.com, who has self-published Sucka Free Love: How to Avoid Dating The Dumb, The Deceitful, The Dastardly, The Dysfunctional & The Deranged!

The “Getting The Word Out” panel features Micha Berman, author of Permanent Passenger: My Life on a Cruise Ship, which recently was the highest ranking book on Amazon for a title released through the popular self-publishing service Lulu.com; journalist Mark Curtis, who authored Age of Obama: A Reporter’s Journey with Clinton, McCain and Obama in the Making of the President 2008; and Patricia Volonakis Davis, Editor-in-Chief of harlotssauce.com, and author of Harlot's Sauce: A Memoir of Food, Family, Love, Loss, and Greece.

Panels will include "Do Judge A Book By Its Cover” which looks at the importance of design in book marketing; "Beyond The Sale" which discusses branding yourself; and "Successful Self-Publishers" which features authors who have effectively and successfully self-published.

A discount rate of $145 is available through June on the website. For further information about the conference schedule, sponsorship opportunities, or to register, please go to the website http://instockconference.com/.

CONTACT: Abuzz Productions
http://www.instockconference.com/
info@instockconference.com

R. Scot Johns‏; The "Saga of Beowulf"

2009-04-23T12:51:00.002-07:00

I have now had this book FOREVER! And finally made it through all 600+ pages. Did it take me this long because it was slow or boring? Not at all! It took me that long because it was simply too big to fit in my purse.

Beowulf has long been one of my favorite stories of all time. In eighth grade we had to read the original poem in old English. Even though the language made me want to cry, I still loved the story. I have read and re-read various translations, and stylizations of the tale over the years. There is nothing more thrilling to me then following Beowulf and his men as they face the beast Grendel, then have to do battle with the Sea Witch and finally at the end of his life, to do battle with the Dragon. But in this book there is so much more to the story, so many little gaps filled in, more back story and so much more life to it.

This book, though huge and daunting to look at - is FANTASTIC. If you have ever wanted to read Beowulf, but hated the idea of ancient English verse - THIS is the book you need to read. Honest to the source material, and simple to read and comprehend without a translation key. Even if you love the tale in verse, you should still pick up a copy of this book and re-read it, the story and the character are given a whole new life. Beowulf becomes what we imagined he was between the lines of the old poem.

I have one complaint - and it should give you an idea of how much I love this book - The cover does not do it justice. This book should at least have a faux-leather cover, an epic tale like this deserves better then the 1980's Dungeons and Dragons looking cover it currently has. I highly recommend this book to everyone!

5 of 5 medallions.

Paperback: 640 pages
Publisher: Fantasy Castle Books (October 1, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0982153805

Carl Wiley; "The Ring of Knowledge"

2009-04-23T10:05:00.000-07:00

Prince Corwin, who is without his parents due to their untimely death by the hands of an evil man, is living in a far away kingdom ruled by his Uncle and Aunt. He learns that he is the rightful [heir] to the throne in the kingdom where he was born and decides that he must return there despite possible danger to his own life. Corwin embarks on the return journey accompanied by two young citizens from Plyorth who assist him in overcoming wild obstacles, including coming face-to-face with horrid creatures, faeries and his parents' killer.

The Ring of Knowledge adequately depicts the universal theme of good versus evil and affords young readers a chance to root for the underdog main character as he perseveres through many adversities in his quest to return to his kingdom of Plyorth. Unfortunately, readers may be quite unsettled by the similar nature this story has with the famous Harry Potter series. Specifically, both main characters have deceased parents who were killed by an evil character and both are on a quest to find a specific powerful object with their two friends (one male, one female) at their side through the adventure. Perhaps this was an honest coincidence not purposely intended to mimic the Harry Potter series and ride on it's successful coattails, but the strange similarities makes it hard to concentrate on the unique positive merits in the story.

I give this book 2.5 medallions.

Hardcover: 176 pages
Publisher: Eloquent Books (January 19, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1606933604

Odyssey Reviewers... Our Lessons Learned

2009-04-01T11:07:00.000-07:00

Once again, Odyssey Reviews is posting a 'harshicle'. Having read a good measure of self-published books for this review site, Odyssey reviewers have learned that there are several common mistakes that a self-published author makes when generating their product. These mistakes will affect your sales, your reviews and your marketability as an author. The more we read, the more compelled we are to note these issues. Gird your loins, authors--and read on. These may seem harsh, but they are helpful tips.

When submitting your book for review:

~ Your query summary should be as compelling as the copy on the cover. Don’t fill it up with character names and silly, irrelevant details that give the whole story away or hang out of context like dangling, freak-limbs. Hack them off.

~ Edited query: If you cannot submit a query that is somewhat free of grammatical errors, it’s likely we won’t want to read the book itself.

~ Please try to form a coherent sentence. Disjointed summaries don’t bode well for the book they’re pitching.

~ Follow the basic guidelines for submissions. We didn’t put the submission guidelines up there as suggestions. No attachments please. Ever.

When you’re hoping to sell your book:

~ Too Much Title
* No matter how much work you put into your book, your title can be an instant turn-on, or turn-off. Having a title that is an epic novel in and of itself is not a good choice. Generally, if you require punctuation in your title, your book either be self-help or probably be re-titled with something catchy and strong.

~ Ridiculous-sounding title that makes no sense...
* Bad idea. What might make 100% sense to you may sound like blather to someone else. Run your title by objective people before you settle on it.

~ Bad Cover Copy
* Not unlike your review submission summary, this is what is supposed to sell your book to the reader. If it’s badly written, you’re in trouble. Refer to this post for more details.

~ Bad Cover Art
* I’m sure it’s charming that you have a child or a friend who can do some basic graphic ‘art’ on Photoshop who you'd love to credit; or you have a low-resolution picture of something—you need to put a lot more thought into your cover than just throwing it together. Your cover is your ‘shop window’—it’s what’s supposed to draw your eye. If it looks pixilated, is a Photoshop hack-job, drawn by a second-rate artist or whatever, it will detract from your book more than you can possibly know. Don’t make it too busy, or too over-thought. It needs to make some sense in context of the book too.

There are examples of both really great, and really bad book covers on this review site. Browse away. I’m sure the design alone affects how many people will click the link through to Amazon from here. See these posts for more tips on cover design: Cover Art Article, Interview with a Cover-Art Designer.

~ Lack of editing
* Editing is an old song here at Odyssey Reviews. We are anti-unedited books here. Our belief is that since POD books are more expensive than standard commercial publications that authors owe it to their readers to insure that what they’re paying more for is a professional, well-presented package. MSWord is a fairly helpful tool for spelling, however it misses a lot. You need to come up with creative ways to clean up your manuscript before you publish. Here is a post with some suggestions. We also interviewed an editor who gave some very helpful tips.

~ Lastly, be realistic and objective about your own work—because if you don’t… the reviewers will.
* Ask yourself this: Are your friends and family just being nice? Is my book really any good? It could be like American Idol; where the singer sounds like a cross between a dying cat and a police siren, but their well-meaning family hurts them more than helps them with their encouragement and kindness. You need to know that there is a strong possibility your book just isn’t very good. It could be entertaining to you, but could be impossible to get through for another. Can you look at your book from a marketing perspective? Can you picture people resonating to it?

Be prepared. Reviews can be harsh. Sometimes we will receive a book and it’s so bad, we cannot review it. We’re not haters here at Odyssey; but we are realistic—and we are honest in our reviews, BUT we will not post a review with a less than a 2 medallion rating because we don’t want to be evil. Your book could be that unreadable, that is a distinct possibility. Sometimes, if authors send us a book, and don't see a review, it's probably because the book rated very low. No amount of money paid to marketing companies is going to make it good. It’s painful and harsh when you get bad reviews—but instead of taking it personally, you should take it as a reason to improve as a writer, and reevaluate your style and your voice.

Some people write entirely for themselves; and discover the hard way that other people can’t always sync with their imagination. We recommend all authors considering self-publishing to do a few test-reads with complete strangers; preferably people who know what they’re doing, and allow the readers to give you a strong, objective review. Take classes. Join a writer’s group. Subject yourself to growth—don’t ever assume that just because you wrote a story from the beginning to the end, that you are instantly qualified to publish your book. You owe your book-buyers a little more consideration than that—especially since you’re asking them to pay a lot more for your book than normal books cost.

Read this post to be aware of what's in store when you submit a query to this or any other review site.

Avery Dick; "Dick goes to the Bank"

2009-03-31T11:15:00.000-07:00

Avery Dick is a retired special agent who specializes in getting the bad guy and speaking in puns. He smokes, drinks and attempts to womanize... he speaks in bad puns and thinks in repetitive sentences. However he has a job to do, he has been enlisted by the World Bank to head off to Romania - land of vampires and witches - to determine the cause of a sudden epidemic that is killing the locals. Why does the World Bank care about a few Romanian peasants? Because they recently sent them a gift of grain and seed - and the superstitious peasants are blaming the bank for the sudden plague.

What starts out as fairly straight forward ends up a rather dangerous mission for Mr. Dick. Though he never seems overly concerned with his safety, and some of his decision making leaves a little to be desired. This is a short book, only 150 or so pages and can be read in a single sitting. On the whole it is well written, but it is written for a specific type of audience, though it is not laugh out loud funny, I imagine fans of "Ace Ventura" or "The Jerk" would enjoy this book. Not that the book is meant to be silly, it is sort of short attention span - light hearted with a dash of heroics thrown in for good measure. We don't spend a lot of time on description or intense action, the book is first person with Mr. Dick's mind speaking directly to the reader. If bad puns make you groan, steer clear... if you hate repetition - this in not the book for you, as the author ends each of the short chapters with a variation of the same line.

Final summary - read before giving this to the kiddies, as there is murder, profanity and some sexual innuendo. Those looking for a fast, straightforward read that won't take too much out of them or require a whole lot of effort - this is a great relaxing book to pick up. Only a few minor typos and a simple, but clean layout make this a fairly attractive book. 3.5 of 5 medallions.

Publisher: The Larson Agency (October 2, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0615209351
ISBN-13: 978-0615209357

J. Timothy King; "The Conscience of Abe's Turn:"

2009-01-22T19:23:00.000-08:00

Based off of the title of this book ending with "Volume 1, Season 1, episodes 1-4" I am led to believe that there are probably many more books to come in this series. To be honest I don't know if I will read any of the follow up novels.

Short Summary: In a small fictional town, a sheriff holds the town under his thumb by abusing his power and smiting his enemies with brute political and police force. Our four main characters, Ted, Clydene, Mira, and Michael, fight the sheriff's power through protests. They find themselves in a quagmire of trouble as one is falsely arrested. They encounter several individuals who need their help in fighting the Sheriff and his abuse of power.

The writing style in this book flows well and is very easy to read for the most part. At times the technical jargon and step by step wading through of the computer process that Clyde goes through becomes tedious and it becomes quite easy for the reader to tune out. However, on the whole this is a very simple book to get through, and I notice only one typo through the entire book. The cover and printing is attractive enough, and the writer is skilled. At the end of the book I did have trouble when we started leaping backward and forward in time, predominantly because the story had been linear up until the last 50 pages where we begin leaping backward and forward in time for no real discernable purpose. I didn't feel that the "back in time" bit added anything at all to the rest of the story. Perhaps this will become more important in a follow up book; however as a standalone, I felt that it should have been cut because it adds more confusion then important information.

I wish I could rate this book higher, because the writing style is very effective and the author has a wonderful flow of words. The tale itself however was a fairly overblown story that my mind could not completely wrap around. Perhaps it is supposed to be an allegory to other current world events, but for the life of me I can't understand why a group of professionals who are supposed to be so brilliant are holding protests and playing hippy saboteurs rather than just contacting the Feds and getting their problems solved. While I was reading I just kept shaking my head at how overblown the plot seemed to be, and at the same time how self-important the characters were that they were willing to break the law, and endanger themselves rather then just going to the proper authorities and letting them take care of it all. I almost felt that rather then fixing the problems in their little town, they were dragging it out in the attempt to make themselves saviors. Others may not read it that way, but to be honest, it's how it came across to me. As I said, this is a well written book, but in my opinion, it just was not a very interesting book.

3.5 of 5 medallions

The Conscience of Abe's Turn: The Birth of the Conscience, Volume 1 (Season 1, Episodes 1-4)
Paperback: 348 pages
Publisher: J. Timothy King (October 1, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0981692508

Ray Spengler; "Not a Good Time to Die"

2009-01-22T19:14:00.000-08:00

What is the worst thing about this book? The fact that the synopsis does no justice to the tale contained within. After reading the back of this book I thought to myself - "dear Lord I really don't want to read this" but once I opened it up and started reading, the book was wonderful. Sure the idea is very similar to the movie "The Butterfly Effect", but the story is different enough that there is very little comparison.

A more accurate summary: Douglas has just lost his wife; Jane, to Cancer... in his grief he considers taking his own life, and suddenly discovers that time has stopped... only its two hours before his wife's death. Now he has the ability to go back in time to different scenes in his life and relive them, can he find a way to save her? Or is there a deeper meaning to this sudden gift of time?

So as a reviewer I'm going to tell you, ignore the cover art which makes this look like a gothic horror - there's no horror here. Ignore the title, which sounds like a James Bond film - there's not much action here. And most of all, Ignore that little blurb on the back of the book that makes this sound like a bad sci-fi channel movie. What you DO have here is a story of a man who is very much in love, trying to go back and right the wrongs of his past, to save life of the woman he loves. As we go back in time with him (he's an old man now) there are 35 years of marriage, ups and downs, joy and pain. The readers relive all of this with him, hoping that this time he'll say the right thing, or make the right choice to change the course... or if nothing else to be a better husband. He never doubted his love for her... but when traveling through your life in high speed... your negatives glare out at you. And maybe this time he can to it? His time is running out, and his options are running thin... why would God give him this gift to relive if it wasn't to save her?

Douglas is a very human character... at times we love him, at times we want to slap the bejeezus out of him. Many times we'll wonder why Jane stayed with him at all. The story is very human... something that perhaps we all wish we could do after the loss of a loved one. For a first time author, this is a very good book. As far as an age rating - this one is not for the kiddies, minor instances of foul language, infidelity, a couple of lives lost, some bad behavior, alcohol abuse, basically think of bad things in your life that you wish you could change, and determine if you want your child reading about it. This book is NOT graphic, but the subject material might offend some parents. Also there are religious themes in this book that may upset non-Christians.
Either way, I recommend reading this book.

4.5 of 5 medallions

Not a Good Time to Die
Ray Spengler
Paperback: 305 pages
Publisher: Infinity Publishing (November 17, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0741449641

Robert G. Brown; "The Book of Lilith"

2009-01-22T18:57:00.000-08:00

I've come to think that author Robert G. Brown might be one of those guys who really likes to hear himself talk. This isn't said with any malice, of course. He’s invested a good deal of his wild ideas and ruminations into this work. It is the product of an active, imaginative and thoughtful mind; taking an existing mythos and making it his own. I normally dislike this genre of book; mostly because they just come off as a blatant show of the author’s brilliance and wit; smug and lofty. But I couldn’t bring myself to hate the Book of Lilith. Trust me, I tried. The truth is, I kind of liked it. I kind of really liked it actually. ::sigh:: I know… The horror!

It’s the dawn of days… and God’s a-creatin’… Contrary to popular belief, God creates Lilith first. Lilith is vastly intelligent, but the moment she opens her eyes she is full of questions and confusion… and then God gives her Adam, a narrow-minded, prideful man, and things just get more impossible for Lilith. Their new home, the Paradise of Eden is a ticking time bomb—and then boom, ground zero—it goes up in a mushroom cloud. The effects of Lilith and Adam’s stormy relationship balloon outwards like a shock wave across the known world and the fallout washes over unsuspecting and unenlightened people.

It really is elegantly written on the most part. A couple of duplicated duplicated words are the only grammatical issues I happened upon. The style and voice is really quite excellent. Lately, I’ve had a hard time keeping focused on reading, yet this book had my attention whenever I had it in my hands. I kept reading it; I wanted to keep reading it, despite the fact that I don’t even like books about spirituality or etudes related to religion beliefs. This book was far from mind-numbing.

Problems? As a mean, I tend to have an issue with men writing in the voice of a woman. Mostly because men tend to write masculine traits into them; including the male sexual being. That irritates me, because there is pretty much always a failure to make it believable. You see, apparently, all it takes is a glance at a ‘well-formed’ turkey neck and wattle to get her motor revving—she doesn’t need anything else. Pardon my crudeness, but it's a thing I find very common in books where men create heroines... They are pretty much men when it comes to the libido. I also found that Lilith's emotional being is a bit stunted. She experiences various moments of deep introspection, and is faced with tragedy and horrors that would break anyone, yet Lilith’s emotional essence just isn’t there save for the occasional breakdown. It is the thing that bugged me the most about this book. Lilith behaved much of the time like a man. Even her motherly instincts were weak. It's possible the author is trying to stay true to the frame of Lilith's various more unseemly incarnations in myth, but still, he could have padded her out a bit more. She is a woman after all; a highly emotional creature.

I confess that for me, the most entertaining part of the book was the introduction; an email supposedly received by the author from a much-molested Iraqi girl who had apparently stumbled across the most profound archaeological and spiritual discovery ever found… That bit had me giggling out loud. It drew me right into the book. It was an intelligent choice to open the book with it.

All in all the Book of Lilith is up there in the ranks of self-published books. The quality of writing, the style and voice of the author made the book quite compelling and a good read. It gets a bit preachy in some areas, but it’s not slathered on too thickly. It did also run on a bit at the end too. A nice neat, elegant exit would have done well to finish up what is in all, a very professional package.

I give this book 4.5 medallions

The Book of Lilith
Robert G. Brown
Paperback: 240 pages
Publisher: Lulu.com (July 31, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1430322454

Patrick M Garry; "A Bridge Back"

2009-01-22T18:45:00.000-08:00

Nate Morrissey has hidden from his life and his past amongst the millions of people in NYC. Now a high profile lawyer, Nate has been asked to take up a new case. This case will lead him back to his hometown of Mount Kelven, a sleepy town he has avoided for over 19 years. He has hidden from that town and everyone in it since the funeral, the accident that changed his life forever, and the event that he was never able to forgive himself for. Now Nate must go back, and dig into the accident that claimed his parent's lives, and destroyed his. But what will he find when he returns after a 19 year absence?

A Bridge Back is a very quick read, the prose flows smoothly allowing the reader to fly through page after page without even noticing it. The characters we encounter are fairly multidimensional, each of them with their little quirks and their own past. Garry (our author) spends much of this book focused on our characters and their inner selves, which I truly enjoy. I wish he had spent a little more time giving physical details about the people and places though that is only a minor complaint in the grand scheme of things.

In the end this is a very enjoyable book about dealing with the pains of our past, and getting through them. Forgiveness, love, charity, and trying to make a better future rather then running from previous hurts. Being an avid horror and thriller fan, I did not expect to truly enjoy this book, and I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised. I would consider it more of a Drama than anything else... I mean sure there is a bit of legal intrigue and some mystery in there, but the focus is on overcoming the past. And in the end who DOESN'T have pains from their past that they would rather just run away from? That is primarily why this book is so accessible.

As far as age ranges go I don't recall any undue profanity. Due to some of the themes involved I would probably hold off on the under 15 crew. This book is geared for adults but should be accessible to 15 and up. If you are a fan of redemption tales, then pick yourself up a copy of this. It is an excellent book with very few flaws. And the flaws it has are so minor that you probably won't even know they are there (example - missing closing parentheses). Again I highly recommend this book, enjoy!

4.5 of 5 medallions

A Bridge Back
Patrick M. Garry
Paperback: 232 pages
Publisher: Inkwater Press (February 15, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 159299332X

Dennis Dufour; "Child of Darkness Child of Light"

2009-01-22T18:22:00.000-08:00

I know there is another book with this same title, and no, I haven't read it. But I did read this one, cover to cover, in about 45 minutes.

"NO WAY" you say?

"Yes Way" I reply.

First of all, the book is only 171 pages, and it's not like they packed the text in there tightly. So is it good or bad that I read the whole book while waiting for a meatloaf to cook? I guess it depends on the reader... whoever they are, they will fly from beginning to end. The text flows well, the majority of the characters are stereotypes that we know (sure they are multifaceted stereotypes, but they are stereotypes none the less) so we don't have much trouble figuring out who is the good guy and why we like him.

Short Synopsis (but better than the back of the book): We have a nasty serial killer on the loose, and he has a very specific agenda... harming our hero - Simon Reynolds. Good thing Mr. Reynolds is a detective! We follow Simon through the investigation as the case gets personal, and he discovers that everyone he holds dear may be in jeopardy if he cannot catch the killer... a killer who knows him better than he should.

Ignore the back cover because it makes this book sound like a bad rehash of Law and Order. In a way this IS like most of the cop books/movies you've seen/read. You feel like you know all of the characters, you feel fairly comfortable that you know where this is headed, and right from the beginning you feel safe with how this book is going to turn out. For having a serial killer, the book is very low on the gore scale... though we see one of the murders, the truly disgusting aspects are kept from us. The focus of the book is instead on Simon and his search for the killer.

So is this a good book? I will say that this is a wonderful author capable of writing a very fast paced and fun novel. This book IS fun. Where is the problem? Well, from the second he walked across the page I knew who the killer was... but I thought - maybe he's a red herring... but... he wasn't. There WERE a few red herrings but none jumped out at me like the true killer... which kind of took a lot of the fun out of the ending for me. On the whole this book was very safe, it played it safe in every sense of the word, it never strayed out of it's genre, it never pushed the envelope, and it wrapped up just how the reader wanted it to. Sometimes you need a book like that. Lucky for me I was in the right mood for the book, on a different day I might have hated it. But as it stood, it was a very enjoyable 45 minutes spent reading.

If I could change anything about this book, I would cut out the paragraphs from the serial killer's point of view, and then smash this book together with another as a double feature having both run at about 120 pages or so. That would be in my ideal world. But even if that never happens, this is a fun bus read, or short plane trip read. I wouldn't mind checking out more from Mr. Dufour in the future.

4 of 5 medallions.

Child of Darkness Child of Light
Dennis DuFour
Paperback: 174 pages
Publisher: Trafford Publishing (June 30, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1425141056

G.R. Grove; "Flight of the Hawk"

2008-11-21T14:44:00.000-08:00

The tale of Gwernin the bard continues on in this next installment of the Storyteller series. Flight of the Hawk, a historical fiction book set in medieval Wales, brings back a cast of familiar faces, including the intrepid hero and Welsh bard, Gwernin. I likened the first book to the Canterbury Tales, and I will reiterate it for this one. Unlike the High School required reading, however, this is actually something you would enjoy.

Gwernin continues his travels through 6th century Wales, however in this installment, the political atmosphere is turning sour and there is the rumour of war simmering over the countryside. Gwernin and his companion and fellow-bard Neirin are sent to the northern Wales to discover what they can about the unrest. But as expected, that particular task becomes secondary against the myriad adventures they encounter along the way. And those adventures are the best bits.

Flight of the Hawk takes up very well where the first book left off--possibly even better; not just in the story, but in its quality of writing, its engaging nature and cohesiveness of the story. The style is delightful. As with storyteller, the story stands well on its own, but what sells this book best is the voice in which it is told--in the stories told within the story. There is a musical, lyrical quality to it, but it is not by any means a labour to read. You'll fly through this book and close it wishing for more. As I reread my prior review of "Storyteller", I realize how similar my views are on this new book nearly a full year after I reviewed the first. How's that for consistency?

What I feel obligated to point out, is that this author respects her readers. It is obvious by the professional appearance of the book itself, the simple but elegant cover design, the well-edited, well thought out content within. This is a quality book and I recommend it to any and all who enjoy a good medieval backdrop, and those who appreciate well-researched books that almost make you feel as if you're there. I must also confess to you that I tore through this book. I read it in 'gulps'. I have had it in my possession for a long time, and I let life get in the way, and I spent last night and a good part of today finishing it because I promised the author. I was able to 'gulp' it up without a problem.

The Storyteller books are a unique type of book. They are not typical by any means in their presentation, they are artful. You need to keep that in mind when you pick it up.

I give this book 5 medallions.

Flight of the Hawk
Author: GR Grove
Paperback: 296 pages
Publisher: Lulu.com (September 19, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1430328517

Michael J Sullivan; The Crown Conspiracy

2008-11-19T11:36:00.000-08:00

I will admit, that over the last few years I have grown away from the fantasy genre, so this book sat in my "to be read" pile a bit longer than it should have. However once I opened it up, I was thrilled with the story. What we have here is a very well thought out tale of intrigue... regicide, battles over the throne, conspiracy, and two thieves thrown into the mix keep the story line moving at a rapid pace.

A short summary: To expert thieves are commissioned to steal something from the castle, little do they know that they are to take the fall for the murder of the king. When faced with the executioner's block, they are approached by an unlikely person to commit another crime which will possibly save their lives and possibly the kingdom. I hate to tell you any more than that lest the story be spoiled. The author has gone to such great care to weave this tale with just the right amount of suspense as to keep the reader glued to the book. As far as the fantasy aspect of this novel, I was thrilled that true fantasy was very rarely employed. Sure there is a bit of magic, and an elf or two, but they are simply background to an excellent tale about a kingdom in trouble that seeks help from the unlikeliest of its subjects.

The characters are almost instantly loveable, they are all stereotypes but I wouldn't really hold that against the author. Sometimes a good stereotype is what a book needs. We have the benevolent thieves, the whore with the heart of gold, the reluctant prince, the evil nobleman... so much of this book will be very familiar to the reader, but for some reason this really didn't bother me. I did feel that there were are few areas which could have used a little more umph, or a bit more follow through, however I feel that this is probably the first of at least 3 novels following our new king and his thieving friends. If that is the case, then there is still plenty of time to wrap up these dangling ends.

Would I read these follow up novels? It is highly likely. This is by far one of the most well written independent novels I have had the pleasure of reading. I highly recommend it to both lovers of fantasy, and also those who like stories along the lines of the King Arthur legends, and the tales of the Green Knight.

As far as age appropriateness, there is violence however it is not overly descriptive, there are prostitutes but their job is never detailed and then there are the questionable jobs of our heroes. I would say that this is probably readable by the 12 and up crew, however I would read it first to determine if it would be okay for your specific 12 year old. I would guess that by 15-16 they would be capable of fully enjoying the intrigue that is entailed. Again I highly recommend this book.

5 of 5 medallions

The Crown Conspiracy
Author: Michael J. Sullivan
Paperback: 310 pages
Publisher: Aspirations Media Inc (October 1, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0980003431

Additional notation from reviewer Stephanie J: The cover art is exceptionally well done.

Kurt L. Kamm; One Foot In The Black

2008-11-19T11:30:00.000-08:00

I'll be honest; I wasn't exactly excited to read a book about Firefighting in the California wilderness... I'm not firefighter material, and I'm a strictly East Coast resident... though when I lived in FL it seemed liked I-95 burned from Jax to Orlando every year, and that every year it was the "Worst fire in Florida History."

Short Summary: At the tender age of 19 our young man, Kowalski travels from Saginaw, Michigan out to Auburn, California to learn to be a firefighter. Kowalski comes from a troubled home, and brings more mental baggage with him than physical baggage. Once he arrives in California he trains as a wild-lands firefighter, learns what it is to become part of a brotherhood, and deals with the emotional pains of his past.

This book is set up in alternating chapters, one from the present where
Kowalski is learning to be a firefighter, followed by one from his traumatic childhood. I'm not entirely sure that this was the most effective way to get the story across... and the biggest problem I had with this book is that I'm not sure what story the author was trying to tell. He did an excellent job with the technical aspect of training camp, firefighting, and the frat-like camaraderie of the firefighters. Kamm also did an excellent job with making the reader despise the boy's home life, particularly his father. There were other areas however, that felt very weak to me, and a chapter or two that were unnecessary in my mind.

For example, the character of TB is supposed to be a surrogate father figure to our lead, however as readers, this relationship is never fully shown or developed. I felt that for the effect of the relationship on the book, more time should have been spent on their relationship than some of the training they were going through. I also felt that the hotel scene, as well as much of the bus ride could have been cut and replaced with more relationship building chapters. Our lead character is a hothead, and it's easy to see why he would be... but as a reader, his choices in dealing with others make him difficult to connect with. We read dialogue, and we see them train to be firefighters, but there are no truly defined relationships in the book other than proximity.

This is by no means a bad book... where it is strong, it is very strong. If the weaker portions could be brought up to the rest of the book, then this could probably land on Oprah's book club. For Firefighters or those that love firefighting in general, this is a must read already, because that is the true strength of this book.

Parent Rating: Not for the kiddies - sex, domestic violence, some profanity, forest fire victims. Probably okay for 15 and up.

I give it 4 of 5 medallions

One Foot in the Black
Author: Kurt Kamm
Paperback: 261 pages
Publisher: Lulu.com (December 18, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 143570626

Jennifer Swanson; Penny & Rio: The Mysterious Backyard Meeting

2008-10-30T08:24:00.000-07:00

Penny & Rio: The Mysterious Backyard Meeting, is a very cute children's book. The illustrations are adorable and the story is both a mystery and a very sweet tale about two dogs, an Owl, a Squirrel, a Groundhog, and a Cat. Penny is a very rambunctious dog who loves adventure. Rio, is a lazy dog who would rather sleep the day away. Penny discovers that there are several animals having a meeting in her back yard at night and is determined to unravel the mystery of what they are up to.

Three of us have read through this book, the first to read it was my 10 year old son. His response was that he liked the pictures, but was confused by the underlined text and the use of italics. He also pointed out a typo that had him baffled for a bit. In the end he liked the story but didn't want to take it to school because it "Looked like a baby book" by which I am assuming he means the shape of the book which is 8x8 inches.

My youngest son is 7, at first he was very excited about the book (he is considered an advanced reader per his teacher). Once he started reading however, he was confused by the underlining and italics and started skipping pages. When I asked him if he liked the story he said there were too many words and not enough pictures, because the pictures didn't go with the words.

When I read the book aloud to him, I discovered what he meant, there is a lot of text per page for the little ones. A lot happens on each page, so in a sense he is right, the pictures can only show one of the many things that happen on the page. I thought the story was good, but suffered in the execution of the book. The book looks like a 5-7 year old book, but the writing is geared more for the 8-10 crew. Had the book either had more pictures and the text broken up more, I think my youngest son would have liked it. Or had the book been shaped more like a regular book my older son would have liked it more. I did find that the most successful way for us to enjoy this book is for me to read it aloud, this prevents the confusion with the underlined and italicized words.

As a parent I did find that there was a lot of negativity in this book, Penny is punished for trying to go outside, the animals break into the neighbors house (granted it was to stage a rescue), there are accusations of theft and lying, and mentioning mean people who send animals to the pound and how terrible it is. Though I see where the author was going with this, I think it's a bit much for the younger group to take all of those negative events in. Still this is a cute little book that I wouldn't mind my kids reading again.

Reading level: Ages 4-8
Paperback: 52 pages Publisher: Mirror Publishing (February 28, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0981590411

Diane Dean Epps; Kill TV

2008-09-24T18:29:00.000-07:00

Leslie Loyd has had a bad day. her boss is dead, it's tax day, she's missed her hair appointment and she's the prime murder suspect. Her bad day becomes a bad week as the rest of her news crew team start to become the news. She tries to hold it all together with caffeine and a possible new love interest while trying to solve a new and very close to home string of deaths.

Kill-TV is written in the internal dialogue of Leslie, we follow her most intimate thoughts as her mind wanders while her body blunders through life. Leslie's voice is what truly carries this book, every woman is a little like her, and we all have a friend she will remind us of. Her honest voice makes reading this book similar to listening to a hilarious and yet disturbing story being related to you over coffee by one of your girlfriends. Leslie is constantly having very entertaining mental battles with herself she has to come to terms with disturbing event after disturbing event. Written much like a murder mystery, the candid mind of Leslie never lets the reader sink too deeply into the tension of the plot. We all know she's innocent, but then who among
the lively crew of news people she works with - isn't so innocent? Who is it with blood on their hands, and are they gunning for Leslie next? The assembled cast of characters is for the most part very believable and fairly well fleshed out. The dialogue is spot on, even when Leslie places her foot in her mouth time and time again, the reader cringes with her.

This is one of the most well written indy-authored books that I have read, and with it being from a small press there are only minor printing issues that may or may not annoy the reader. One is that the font is small with wide spacing between the lines, I had no problem with it, but I cannot see anyone in the 50 and up crew reading it without the aid of a pair of readers. The second is simply that the justification used makes the final sentences of some of the paragraphs space way out. Nothing major, and if these are the only complaints I
have about the book then you know the author is doing something right.

Though I wouldn't say this book is for everyone, the audience it is for has a lot to look forward to. This book is geared more toward female readers, specifically those that like a little humor and a little mystery and have had their fair share of ups and downs in life. I can honestly say that I hope a large publishing house picks this book up and gives it the physical polish that the tale contained within deserves. So if you don't mind a few typesetting issues, pick up a copy of this to read while relaxing and enjoying a cappuccino.

Author: Diane Dean Epps
Perfect Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: Hope Springs Eternal Press; 1st edition (April 14, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0981482902

A.K. Kuykendall; Conspirator's Odyssey

2008-09-19T11:15:00.000-07:00

The government is evil, they are sneaky, they are hiding things and we had all better beware. Starting in the future, and then leaping back and forth through the past, we follow Kalista Flaker, a special Ops soldier who has risen in rank due to her ferocious demeanor and obsessive nature. When she and her team are deliberately sent on a suicide mission, Kalista begins to dig into the nature of the government beast that has been controlling her for all of those years, and uncovers a disturbing truth. Determined to bring down the system and expose the lies, she makes it her mission to obtain proof of the vast conspiracy.

Kuykendall has a very distinct voice and an excellent writing style. For conspiracy theorists that border on obsessive, this book will be a goldmine. Beginning with the Area 51 cover up, to the Bay of Pigs, to the tragedy of 9/11, it almost feels as though the author was determined to cover every conspiracy known to man. The author has done their historical research, and much of this book does read as though you are in a history class, giving you almost too much background on events like the Bay of Pigs, or the History of different military groups. But the author weaves his own take on the events into the tale, giving the "truth behind the conspiracy" that he has invented, some times they are intriguing, other times they seem to go a bit overboard.

The opening of the book is a bit muddled in that we leap around in time so much that if you don't carefully read the dates at the top of thechapters, it will be easy to find yourself perplexed. When you get past the initial history lesson, and into the story of Kalista and her team,the book really gets moving. I flew through the middle of the book, which reads like a military espionage tale. I was a very happy readeruntil about the last 30 pages of the book, when the tale went a bit sideways in my mind. Truly, the Sci-fi aspect had been there from thebeginning, we are reading about an alternate reality... the government has created a serum from alien DNA to create super soldiers... I boughtit all, but when we came to the end my suspension of disbelief wouldn't stretch that far. I don't want to spoil it, but it seemed almost as ifit was a throwaway ending that dumped way too many new conspiracies and sci-fi aspects on the reader out of nowhere.

Now I'm not saying that it's a bad ending, it just wasn't to my taste. I can probably name a handful of people who will absolutely love theending of this book. Also the book leaves the ending open enough to imply that this may be the beginning of a series, following Kalista andher brother in their attempts to save mankind from ultimate destruction. I would be interested in reading additional entries in this series, the author's writing style is very fluid, and apart from a few lines that irked me this is a very well written book (on of my biggest pet peevesin reading is when siblings address each other as "Brother" or "Sister", I've never in my life heard anyone calling their sibling that).

Final summary: Though I would not recommend this book across the board, I would recommend it to the military/sci-fi crew and to the fans ofconspiracy theories. If this becomes a series I can see this book developing a small but rabid fanbase.

3.5 of 5 Medallions

Conspirator's Odyssey: The Evolution of the Patron Saint (Paperback)
227 pages
Publisher: PublishAmerica (March 3, 2008)
Language: English ISBN-10: 1604742755

Bernard Steele; Death in Small Doses

2008-09-16T16:26:00.001-07:00

Steele is a first time author who has developed a very entertaining and complicated plot involving terrorist, the DEA, Cocaine and a nasty terrorist plot. Though the concept of drugs being smuggled next to bomb making materials and becoming irradiated has been done before in several other novels (see "Atomic Lobster" by Tim Dorsey for a comedic example) it is only a small trigger piece to a much more involving plot.

The Good: The plot is engaging and well thought out. The terrorists are once again planning to harm the residents of NY and we have all of the government agencies working to stop them. There are a few fire fights for those of you who enjoy a bit of action in your books and we also have a kidnapping, a poisoning or two, and a handful of drug dealers.

The Bad: Steele has difficulty in truly fleshing out his characters and making them believable personas. We have a lot of "he said" and "she said" but no real description of physical characteristics, character traits, tics, or even differentiating speech. The dialogue is extremely forced and often reads similar to a technical manual rather than individuals having a conversation. Often one individual will make a speech stating events then we cut to another chapter. There is very little true human interest, though it is obvious that the attempt to
interject some romance was made, because the reader is not able to "see" the characters through the writing it comes across as effective as simply writing "they went on a date". Still there is a lot of promise in this writer once he has delved more deeply into the human state of affairs rather than the technical side. A different issue that many readers will have is that the book comes across as preachy; several characters have paragraph or longer dialogue simply to put the author's opinions on drugs, evolution, racism, education, Muslims, or terrorism
on the table. No one argues with them and the dialogue reads as more of a thesis argument rather than people truly having a philosophical discussion or debate.

The Ugly: I am assuming that this is not the fault of the writer, but the editing of this book is non-existent. There are misspellings, bad grammar, words in the incorrect order, apostrophes used incorrectly, strange usage of italics, chapter breaks where there shouldn't be, and chapter breaks missing from where they should be. In the beginning of the book, there is a chapter break almost every two pages, towards the end of the book the focus shifts from the terrorists to the DEA agents, and back to the terrorists with no break or notification to the reader that we are shifting to a completely different location and group of people. It is not until the names change that the reader is able to catch on that the focus has shifted again.

It is my suggestion (and a humble one at that) that the author would be benefited by a very strong editor who is willing to work with him to clean up the printing issues and to assist him with cutting some of the unnecessary chapters in order to make room for fleshing out the main characters more. I cannot in good faith, with the grammar and printing issues in this edition, suggest it for purchase as is. I truly hope to see this book re-worked and edited because it is a strong story at it's
core.

2 of 5 medallions.

Death in Small Doses
Paperback: 308 pages
Publisher: Trafford Publishing (September 20, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1425139108

Keith Knapp; Moonlight

2008-09-09T08:58:00.000-07:00

Though Keith Knapp's debut novel Moonlight is almost 500 pages long, don't let that deter you from reading it. There is a lot of space and the font is large. If "Moonlight" had been printed by most of the mass market crew this book would probably be in the 330-350 page range. Beyond that...the almost 500 pages of this book are very good and the author managesto entertain from beginning to end.

Short Plot Summary: The power goes out, and along with it everything else stops working from cars to watches to anything you depend on formodern civilization. As if that isn't enough, suddenly people aren't acting right... in fact they have become downright homicidal, and for some reason when you knock them down, they just keep getting back up,alive or not. We follow a band of survivors as they try to figure out what is going on and how they are going to live through the madness.

Meanwhile we have the dark man in the trench coat who isn't thrilled about our crew of scrappy survivors. With echoes of "The Stand" and "The Rising" this novel takes off quickly.

"Moonlight" is a very easy read, it flows well and although at first it appears that this might end up being something we've all read before, it quickly turns down a different path. The author does a good job of keeping the tension up and not spoon feeding the reader all of the truth as to what is going on too quickly. I also really appreciated that no-one in the book immediately had the answer.

There were guesses all over the ball park, which is far more realistic than many other horror novels where someone always seems to know exactly what the problem is right from the get go. Knapp also does a wonderful job with his characters. Though I won't say they were all multi-dimensional, the ones we needed to care about, he was able to evoke enough emotion for.

The reader will be concerned for many of them, and not all of them will make it. Though for the most part it is pretty clear who is going to live and die, there were a few stray deaths in there that I wasn't expecting (which is always good). As far as the ending... It could haveu sed a little more umph and fireworks but other than that, I closed the book and felt satisfied with what I had read. My only real issue with the book was the title, which really didn't have anything at all to do with the story. In fact many readers may be confused at the lack of werewolves in the story.

Oh and a warning for those of you who are not familiar with the horror genre, there is a good bit of gore in this book and there IS profanity, though I didn't personally find it excessive or out of place. I would suggest this book to the standard horror fans (King, Koontz, Matheson), I don't know that the extreme horror crew will find enough of the truly disgusting moments to keep them satisfied. Also this book is PG rated when it comes to the nudity and sex aspect (which I was completely happy with) but if that's what you are looking for, head for some Laymon or Lee rather than this novel. I really enjoyed this read and will pick up others by this author when they come out. Highly recommended.

Publisher: Outskirts Press (October 30, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1432715658
ISBN-13: 978-1432715656

Judith Copek; The Shadow Warriors

2008-06-20T08:20:00.000-07:00

The Shadow Warriors, by Judith Copek, tells the story of Emma Lee Davis -- a vibrant character from the start -- as she works with an information security team to crack a series of computer agents for a secretive client. While the subject is slanted towards nerd-dom, Emma is first and foremost a woman, which is a refreshing change of pace from male-dominated thrillers.

Emma, nicknamed "Emmental" by her hacker buddies, is a busy woman. She must complete her job; balance two repressed romances while attempting to repair a marriage; protect herself and her friends from terrorists; decode a series of intricately interconnected computer agents; and all while (hopefully) wearing the right outfit to present herself correctly to her friends and peers. Don't be misled into thinking this is just another chick-lit thriller, however. Emmental's femininity is used to augment a fast-paced plot full of murder and intrigue, and her empathy strengthens the plot, rather than detracting from it. All of the characters are believable and richly crafted, and the plot is something you might find in an Ian Fleming novel: taking us to foreign cities and cultures, rich with language and cuisine that are reflected delightfully within the prose.

Unlike Tom Clancy's novel of the same name, Judith Copek's book is independently published: a point only worth mentioning because the production seems amateurish. Copek's The Shadow Warriors presents a potential reader with pixelated photos on the back of a poorly designed cover: a poor first impression. Yet it would be a pity to overlook Copek, as her story is robust, entertaining, and terrifyingly prophetic. As is often the case with self-published books, there are a few typographical errors tucked away inside this 476 page adventure--but only a few, and nothing that detracts from the enjoyability of the book.

I suspect that the author is not an expert on the rather sophisticated topics of computer hacking and information security, and yet the hacker lingo and technical terms are used correctly, both to further the plot and also to define the colorful cast of computer cryptics. Only small portions of this rather intricate tale seemed forced: the relationship between Emma and her distant husband was lacking, and I found myself not caring whether or not they reunited; also, as the story progressed, I found myself wishing for more detail of the events of the apocalyptic Info War, and less of the detail leading up to it. Overall, The Shadow Warriors, by Judith Copek, was well written, complex and entertaining.

Eric D. Knapp; Cluck: Murder Most Fowl

2008-05-28T15:34:00.000-07:00

Eric D. Knapp’s “Cluck: Murder Most Fowl” is one of the best books we’ve reviewed so far on Odyssey Reviews. This tongue-in-cheek (or beak) work of brilliance will surely make you laugh. The writing is on par with the likes of Terry Pratchett. The story is brilliant, the writing unbelievably good; and a nearly 100% spotless manuscript peppered with delightful egg-shaped illustrations by Ian Miller. The sheer professional sheen of the book itself, down to the artwork on the cover – is the standard all independent/self-published authors should strive for.

You will find yourself in a bizarre world of zombie chickens, Poultry Exorcists, hicks, an ancient secret organization of frauds, and a car with a bit of an attitude. There is a restless house, and something else, another force thrown into the mix just to keep it interesting.

Armand/Arnold, who is the first true “Exorciste de Volaille” in generations, discovers, after years of ridding the world of pesky undead fowl, that he’s possibly met his match. A convergence of mystical forces brings together a massive rooster who’s been to Hell and back, his flock of subordinate ghoulish chicken zombies; a mysterious, vengeful force; a fidgety house and a less-than-intelligent hick by the name of Bobby—and Arnold has just stepped into the filthy thick of it.

Rotten eggs, tomatoes and stumbling, rotting chickens… this bizarre world is waiting for you to discover it. I think it should be an obligation for all independent authors to add this book to their library as an example of a professional, self-published product.

This book has effortlessly earned its five medallions.

This book has inspired me to create a new award for books that raise the bar of excellence for independent works.

Paperback: 340 pages
Publisher: BookSurge Publishing (December 10, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1419682644
ISBN-13: 978-1419682643

David Talon; The Last Guardian of Mosh Chaltun

2008-04-14T08:00:00.000-07:00

The Last Guardian of Mosh Chaltun is an interesting amalgam of mythology, mystery, action, and romance. The story is told from the point of view of Juan Guerro, a boy who is given the huge responsibility of guarding an ancient Mayan site in order to prevent the release of an unstoppable evil force. Juan has the potential to succeed, possessing the spirit of a Wolf that he can call up to lend him power in battle, but he lacks the knowledge required to control that power. Our anti-hero simply isn't sure what he's supposed to do, or why; his grandfather dies early in the story, before he can fully prepare Juan for what lies ahead. Juan is brave enough that he never falters from his duty, although as he grows into a young man he's more inclined take a detour from his destiny to flirt with the red-headed heroine, Kat. There is so much time spent on the sexual tension between the various characters, that Mosh Chaltun often reads like the halloween episode of a Spanish soap opera.

The book holds a complex maze (or is that maize?) of plots and subplots concerning who loves who, who is going to sleep with who, who is simply trying to advance their careers, and who is making a pact with the Lord of Death, Ah-Puch, to take over the world and destroy all that is good. Although on the whole the complexity of the characters adds welcome depth to the story, there are times in Mosh Chaltun where the soap-opera intrigue is at risk of overpowering the main plot, leaving the reader to wonder why everyone isn't more concerned about the impending onslaught of evil.

Author David Talon is obviously comfortable with archaeology, Mayan mythology, and both Mayan and Spanish culture, making Mosh Chaltun an interesting setting for the various dramas to unfold. You are immediately immersed in a broth of Mayan culture, floating about with the kind of richly detailed temples, mysterious artifacts, and ancient lore that would make Indiana Jones drool like pavlov's dog. To continue the soup metaphor, The Last Guardian of Mosh Chaltun is a stew that doesn't seem completely cooked: the writing is raw, with an abundance of grammatical, typographical and formatting errors that should have been caught in editing; the plot is involved, but not always believable; and some of the characters taste, well, flat. I can't help but draw a parallel between the main character, Juan, and the book itself: both are rough creations, uncertain of their potential. Left to simmer on the stove a bit longer, this could be a four-medallion book. As it stands, The Last Guardian of Mosh Chaltun earns 2.5 medallions for it's intriguing and detailed exploration of Mayan mythology.

The Last Guardian of Mosh Chaltun, by David Talon
Paperback: 464 pages
Publisher: Cold Tree Press (November 5, 2007)
ISBN: 1583852212

Ten Questions for an Author

2008-03-16T16:07:00.000-07:00

Considering that we've reviewed two of John Lawson's books; "Witch Ember" and "The Raven", both of which received our coveted five-medallion rating, we figured it was only right to get some feedback from the author for the Odyssey site. We threw ten questions at him, and here is what he said:

Q: Both Witch Ember and The Raven have some pretty out-there imagery and situations in them and there is a darkness to these books that makes us wonder What’s going on inside your head; where does it all come from?

JL: Generally speaking, I derive events and images from the real world, either from historical texts, classical literature, case studies in psychology, or the nightly news. Sometimes, I glean inspiration from other books or movies, frequently in the form of “Wouldn’t it be cool if *** happens?” or “Gosh, it would have been better if…” I know I’m in the presence of a really good book or movie when my mind starts to wander and I start thinking up my own ideas. You know you’re in trouble when you have my rapt attention, because that means I’m bored.

More often than not, my darkest imagery comes from the real world.

Q: How long have you been writing creatively?

I’ve written creatively for nearly 30 years, although I’ve never had anything published before Witch Ember. Back in 7th grade, a teacher must have seen something in me, because she recommended my attendance at a weekend writing retreat at some college. I don’t remember much about the day other than how much older all the other attendees were and how bad the food was they gave us.

In 8th grade, we were given the assignment to conceive, write, and bind our own books. I spent a great deal of time on the details, striving to make it look as professional as possible. After I turned it in, the teacher actually suggested that I had my parents help me do it. My parents were outraged, but I was actually somewhat flattered.

But that was pretty much it. I really didn’t take my writing very seriously and even actively avoided doing anything that could result in any visibility or credit. I focused instead on developing my inner geek through trivial efforts like role-playing games, comic books, and computers until college, where I finally attended another creative writing class. This class turned out to be extremely damaging (the professor was completely out of control), so damaging in fact, that I literally refused to do any creative writing for nearly 10 year.

And then one day, I just sat down and started writing Witch Ember.

Q: I understand that writing is also a large part of your profession; can you describe a bit of what you do?

JL: I am a Principle Technical Writer for Oracle Corporation. I’ve been a technical writer for approximately 15 years. I was also the Submissions Editor for the somewhat successful webzine TenThousandMonkeys.com, which is currently on a semi-permanent hiatus while the webmaster gets his flippin’ act together.

Q: What authors, personalities or fellow artists influence you the most?

JL: From a book aspect, I have always admired David Brin’s ability to convey true alienness in his extraterrestrials. They weren’t just human beings with funny-looking foreheads. You could easily believe that his creatures possessed completely different physiologies, cultures, and thought patterns, and mere humans could never comprehend them. The Uplift War series is some of the best science fiction ever written. I endeavored to try to capture a taste of that in my own creatures, and it is why I’ll never write a story from the point of view of an alf or paqa.

Neal Stephenson is a master of characterization. His characters become real people, saying and doing real things. His work is my model for dialog and personalization. Esmeree never would have existed without Diamond Age’s Nell.

With a simple description of a grove of trees or an old ruin, Robert Holdstock can capture a sense of mythic power and deep time. Read Mythago Wood and be amazed. In my legends and lore and scenic descriptions, I tried to capture a mere shade of his genius.

Aside from his obvious accomplishments, Steven King showed in his Dark Tower series that you don’t need a medieval setting to make fantasy work.

Lastly, there is Gene Wolfe’s New Sun series. If I didn’t happen to know better, I’d assume my writing was derivative of his. His settings and themes were so similar to mine, at times I wanted to correct his work because he wasn’t using the right terminology. As it is, I consider the similarities a happy coincidence, and if he wasn’t an influence at first, he is now.

In artists, I’ve always admired Olivia De Berardinis, HR Geiger, Micheal Parks, and Bethalynne Bajema. And, of course, the three artists who did the artwork for my books: Jason Nunes, Jon “Bean” Hastings, and Walt Moore.

Q: Will the world that Esmeree and Guiromélans inhabit continue on or are you thinking of newer, darker places?

JL: I have lots of plans for the world of Esmeree and Guiromélans; it’s a matter of if I have time to write it all. I currently have a prequel finished and am currently working on another sequel. While The Raven is the chronological sequel to Witch Ember, my current work-in-progress will be my first return to telling Esmeree’s story. It’s like coming home to an old friend.

I also have a fourth book completed that takes place in the same Seven Kingdoms world, but follows the path of different characters.

I am currently seeking representation for both finished manuscripts.

Ultimately, I hope all the threads will come together, but whether or not I have the patience to write all the necessary books remains to be seen.

I currently have no interest in writing creatively about anything else.

Q: What tips would you offer any new authors who are considering the self-publishing route?

JL: There are many options nowadays open to authors who are looking to self-publish. Some publishers are better than others. I believe the key is to go into the relationship with your eyes open. Do your research. Go to "Predators & Editors" and "Writers Beware" and other author advocacy sites. Find out what publishers are scams and what are legit. Protect yourself, and choose your self-publisher carefully. And if you are an author that hopes to one day be part of the mainstream publishing community, you need to come to terms with some hard facts:

There are probably very good reasons why your book wasn't picked up a publisher or agent. Until you address those issues, you'll continue to run into the same problems.

Only vanity or subsidy publishers charge their authors fees. If a publisher claims they are "traditional" but tries to charge "reading fees," "processing fees," "editing fees," or any other kind of fee, run awaaaaay.

No matter how many sales you earn, self-published books do not count as publishing credit in the eyes of publishers.

There IS a stigma attached to self-published books. So if you seek a mainstream publishing career, you need to be aware of that. The agent, Nathan Bransford, wrote a very good blog post on the subject: http://nathanbransford.blogspot.com/2007/08/self-publishing-and-your-writing-career.html

Q: For our fellow authors out there, who are always looking for tips on improving their writing, what would you tell them? How would they overcome writer’s block, for instance, or make their work more professional? Do you write on a schedule, or other discipline?

JL: I don’t recommend people follow my writing methodology. I’m a mess, and I’m mental.

I rarely do rewrites (and critics of mine might point and say, “Ah-HAH!”). The words I type into the word processor are frequently the final version, or very close to it, and I’ve almost never deleted large chunks of text and had to start over because I had written myself into a corner or because it just wasn’t working. For the most part, I don’t do much exploring as I type. When I sit down to write, I already know what is going to happen, and it’s just a matter of transcribing it onto the screen.

Creative writing instructors (including my much-loathed professor) would say this is exactly the WRONG thing to do. The process of free-flow writing and rewriting is part of the creative process. The reiteration and rearrangement of thoughts is what helps the author’s imagination massage and digest their thoughts. Like sifting wheat from chaff, it helps you bring what works to the top and to discard the rest.

I think I do that to a degree, but I have internalized the process. I am always thinking about the next scene. I roll it over and over in my head constantly. While driving, while showering, while watching TV, during important conversations with my wife. I explore the scene, play it out and see what happens. Then I do it again but change something and see how that changes the outcome. Over and over I do it, and I know when I’m done because my subconscious won’t let me move on until it is.

As I said, I’m mental, and I don’t recommend this process for anyone.

So in a sense, my writing might appear very stream-of-consciousness. But in another way, it is very meticulous. My books are long by intent. Their structure is by design, not by accident (or due to lack of plot control by a junior author, ahem). Three parts of 10 chapters each, with a prologue and epilogue, for a total of 32 chapters. I conceive of each chapter as a mini-event, with its own arc, its own climax. Each part of 10 can stand alone as well, and the 3 parts combined consist of the story as a whole. It is within that maze-like structure that my unconscious is allowed to run like a rat. So far, it’s worked out pretty well for me.

Q: How long did it take for you to complete each of your books?

JL: Witch Ember and The Raven each took about a year to write. The publishing process took a little while longer. Now that I have children, it’s become harder and harder to find time to write, but I still hope to have about a 1-2 year turnaround for new books.

Q: Both Witch Ember and The Raven are outstanding examples of a well-edited, self-published book. What is your editing/proofreading process?

JL: First off, I got a degree in Career Writing and a certificate in technical writing. I am a professional technical writer and editor (careers quite popular among the author set, so I know I’m in good company).

I am a compulsive editor. Upon completion of a new chapter, I proofread and edit it before starting the next one. Upon completion of a part of 10, I proofread and edit it as well. And finally, once the book is complete, I copy-edit it twice: once forwards, and once backwards. Editing a book backwards, line-by-line, is a great way to proofread because it removes all context from the reading and helps you focus only on the grammar, syntax, and punctuation.

Q: Finally, tell us more about your future projects, ideas and inspirations. What new John Lawson works can we look forward to?

JL: I intend to explore as much of Esmeree’s world and story as I can without becoming tiresome. I appear to be establishing a pattern where each book explores a different piece of geography. Maybe once I’ve visited all the interesting places, I’ll consider doing something different.

One thing I considered would be traveling 1000 years into the future and checking out how things have changed.

Thanks John Lawson! We can't wait to see you publish next!

Still Here, Albeit Occupied and Harried.

2008-03-04T11:16:00.000-08:00

I am still here, I am still reading (although slowly) and I took a break from Self-Published works to read "Good Omens"; and another work by SM Stirling. I will resume reviews soon.

An author interview is possibly forthcoming; barring the *Outlook Express Disaster has taken that away permanently as well. Speaking of the Outlook Express disaster; I lost a good 26 previous queries which I had stored in a special folder... so if you submitted a query for a review, please resubmit just in case.

*Something mysterious happened with my Outlook Express where it simply decided it wasn't going to bear the burden of my huge mail storage a moment longer, and it completely crashed; taking the whole archive with it. Of course, I had it set to clean up my msn mailbox every time it downloaded mail, so there's nothing stored on hotmail. ::eep::

I learned my lesson and my apologies for the inconvenience. Please direct your anger towards Microsoft.

Steph

Odyssey Reviews in "The Writer" Magazine

2008-01-25T08:30:00.000-08:00

Odyssey Reviews appeared in February's "The Writer" magazine in an article by Jocelyn Maeve Kelley. In her article "GET YOUR self-published book NOTICED" Jocelyn offers tips to self-published authors on how to best gain exposure for their work using internet resources and services, like online reviewers.

The article featured PODdy Mouth, PODler, and Darryl's Library, as well as Lulu's partnership with Kirkus Reviews. The issue can be found of the shelves of your local Barnes & Noble store. The article is on page 27. It is our hope that perhaps it might encourage readers to come to our review sites and to buy the books we raved about.

John Lawson; The Raven

2008-01-23T15:59:00.000-08:00

John Lawson’s book “Witch Ember” made an impression on my sister. Only two fantasy books have done so, and she reviewed them both (self-published books) here. I read both of the books my sister said were amazing, and I have to agree with my sister. They are indeed amazing. So, I cannot deny that “Witch Ember” is a work of excellence. Now I am reviewing the sequel to “Witch Ember”, John Lawson’s “The Raven”.

I can only start by saying that I am floored. In my mind, there is no reason why this author should not be published through a major publisher. His work is without a doubt on my part, beyond exceptional. The scope of his imagination surpasses most of the commercial Fantasy books I’ve read.

What makes this book stand out is the sheer magnitude of the world that the author has created; the attention to detail, the originality of the characters and the world, even with the strong influences from our own cultures, norms and religions. His skill at world-building was brushed on in “Witch Ember”; here, it is in your face. John Lawson also plays with language, and context and adds to the mood and the expressiveness of his characters using dialect. It’s brilliant, despite the need for a glossary (which the author thoughtfully marked with a post-it flag for me).

“The Raven” is a dark adult fantasy, which like its prequel, has situations and bleakness in it that are not suitable for everyone. This book’s stories are harsh and in some cases, graphic and gory. The visuals the writing produces sometimes make you wonder what the heck could possibly be going on inside the author’s head. But don’t be mistaken, this isn’t just a gore-filled blood-fest; there’s depth, substance and turmoil here; a violently tormented knight and a journey where you perceive growth and discovery, and perhaps even redemption.

Guiromélans is a holy warrior; a tainted paladin; a man whose faith has been put into question, and whose identity is so steeped in faith that his entire being is thrown into turmoil by his doubt and confusion. You will follow him as he tries to make himself right with God again, and as he travels and adventures through a world of creatures and images fresh and gloomy. The three-dimensional characters that accompany him, who pass through his stories, whose lives he affects are as rich and complex as the world they live in.

The book is as clean as a whistle with only occasional blips here and there; it is quite decently edited. It’s a thick book, and luckily, fairly self-contained, so you can pick it up without having read “Witch Ember” and not feel lost or overwhelmed.

Obviously, John Lawson has earned another five medallions from Odyssey Reviews for “The Raven”. I highly recommend this book to any serious Fantasy reader--it's a solid investment for your library. You will be refreshed by its scope and originality. You will also enjoy the collection of illustrations peppered throughout the pages.

Publisher: PublishAmerica (July 24, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1424143802

Fun Poll

2008-01-09T12:49:00.000-08:00

Preditors & Editors is doing a series of polls for books, review sites, short stories, etc., and I've added Odyssey Reviews into the running. Please vote for Odyssey Reviews:

http://www.critters.org/predpoll/reviewsite.shtml

Also, a number of the books that I have reviewed are also on the other polls. Support our POD authors and pick (or enter) the books that have received five medallions from Odyssey Reviews!

Thank you!

Michael A. Heald; A Rumor of Dragons

2008-01-02T14:32:00.000-08:00

Marc is a Prince of Cathgar, and he seems to have little control of his own life. He is beloved by his father, and closely watched over by a Wizard named Kili. Marc has been betrothed to a Princess in Farling, a small kingdom some ways away. His future bride Alisse does not know that Marc was born without hands; and Marc’s insecurities about this betrothal are only part of his worries. Cathgar is under siege, his family endangered, and his own life in peril. He must escape to safety into a world he has been sheltered from; and learn truths that his lifelong teachings conflict with.

These characters reside on the world of Ganus. This planet is stretched to its limits every few thousand years by the passing of another planetary object. This last passing has left it scarred; and with a permanent dayside and nightside. There is a new passing to occur soon, and the world, both magical and physical is in turmoil. There are hints that dragons may be returning; after an absence so long that they’ve become myth. They are somehow linked to this planetary event; whether as part of the cause or part of the cure remains to be seen.

A Rumor of Dragons is an interesting work. There is a gritty bleakness to this world; and the characters are not the glossy, superhuman heroes of traditional fantasy, but flawed and insecure souls, with all the issues and baggage we have and more. The reader is taken chapter to chapter, switching back and forth from various character stories, as they slowly wend their way towards one another. This story ingeniously blends the forces of physics with metaphysics; magic and sorcery to tell the tale of Ganus and its people. It was artfully done.

I have a few criticisms of this book. First, there are chapters that stand out as ‘rough’ against the others. This is generally a polished work, however every once in a while, I ran into a chapter that was overly simplistic; short sentences, limited description, undeveloped conversation and motivations, and it would then segue into a chapter that is the complete opposite. It was disconcerting; as if I were reading chapters done by different authors, or done years apart. The second criticism I have is the use of the much-abused and overused device of the ‘wait-and-see’ ending. It is obvious the author intends to have a chronicle of stories based on this world, however even with closure of the main story, I felt extremely unsatisfied after following two particular characters to find that I would not know what happens until the next book. There is also a bit of a predictable nature to some aspects of the story. As a final nitpicking, the cover is beautiful, but it reminds me of 2001: A Space Odyssey. I understand how it correlates with the story; however I am not sure how well it will work in attracting Fantasy Readers. I could be wrong, but nevertheless, I’m a reviewer, so I must say these things. In general, the editing for this book was very good; I found only a few mishaps here and there.

All in all, A Rumor of Dragons is the beginning of an excellent chronicle of the world Ganus. I really resonated to the whole idea of introducing this delicious blend of science and the supernatural; I thought it was one of the most compelling elements of the story. I also reveled in each character’s flaws, weaknesses and imperfections; I found them extremely realistic and believable. To me, that’s refreshing in a Fantasy novel.

I have a lot to say about this book, but I am really torn about the rating. Despite my going through a very stressful time, I managed to finish the book. I carried it with me on multiple flights to the east coast and back, and it is dog-eared and roughed up by constant interruptions. The fact that I wanted to finish it says something. Despite my large paragraph of criticisms, I still believe this is a notable book. I think this author can go nowhere else but up from here, and so I am giving this book the full five medallions for bringing such a gripping, and unique perspective to the Fantasy Genre.

Paperback: 396 pages
Publisher: Lulu.com (January 10, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1430325097

G.R. Grove; Storyteller

2007-12-31T09:54:00.000-08:00

G.R. Grove’s book “Storyteller” is sort of difficult to categorize. It’s historical fiction, but a sort of whimsical fiction which is told in the tradition of the Canterbury tales. The book is a collection of individual tales, wound by the bard Gwernin. As he travels about telling his stories chapter by chapter, the wider story is revealed of his travels around Wales during the middle ages. You are introduced to an evolving, colourful cast of characters that Gwernin meets along the way, as well as those who accompany him on various adventures. As they travel, the reader hears stories of legendary England, including tales of King Arthur. You follow Gwernin through various life-experiences, and even as he falls in love.

I sort of expected this book to be much like the required reading of my High School AP English class; a chore to read and hard to retain. However it was not. It was a pleasure to read this book. Storyteller is an extremely friendly read, with a well-researched foundation, and a light-hearted tone. There is no doubt of the author’s knowledge and expertise on the historical material in this book; however it is not presented in a burdensome or pretentious manner.

I confess that this style of book would not normally attract me as a reader. I tend to shy away from historical fiction. I find that more often than not, this genre is simply written as a means for an erudite author to show off his/her knowledge of historical subject matter, and the story, no matter how good, can be completely obliterated by the profusion of archaic terms and facts. Storyteller has shown me that this isn’t always the case, and that sometimes a good book is just a good book. G. R. Grove is clearly an excellent writer. I can’t find anything to criticize about the author’s style or voice. The first paragraph will snag you and you will be engaged throughout. Then you will be dropped off at the last paragraph wanting more. Luckily, the author has provided us with a sequel, which I will be reviewing soon.

I have been given no choice but to give “Storyteller” a full five medallions. It is not run-of-the-mill work by any means. It isn’t what I normally read, but it has me looking forward to the next installment. I recommend this book to anyone who just loves a good story; for there are plenty of those to be had in “Storyteller.”

Paperback: 252 pages
Publisher: Lulu.com (January 3, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 143030524X
ISBN-13: 978-1430305248

Your Promotional Copy

2007-11-16T16:57:00.000-08:00

Reading some of the descriptions sent to us for review submissions, I’ve realized how important it is to have good promotional copy on your work. Let’s face it; it’s probably harder to summarize your book in two paragraphs, make it engaging and bold, than it was to write your book. It's not easy to grab your reader.

The problem is, that aside from your book cover art; your promo description is probably the thing that’s going to make or break the sale of your book. The cover catches the eye, it makes the buyer pick up your book, and flip it over. Those buyers will have to like what they read to make them take the next step(s); which can be 1) to open the book up to the first page to read the first paragraph or two; 2) to flip to the last page and read the last paragraph or two; or 3) to carry that book up to the cashier and buy it. Of course, that process might be slightly different on Amazon, but you get my point.

When you are writing the copy for our book jacket description; there are a few things you should keep in mind.

Don’t go into the description as if the reader knows what’s going on and inundate your reader with too much unnecessary information. Here’s an example of this:

Reeta is a Princess who falls in love with a peasant. His name is Fralik. He is an orphan who was raised on a farm by an old peasant farmer named Olik in a tiny village called Arrine. Fralik knows nothing about his past; or who his parents are. Reeta and Fralik know their love is doomed if they stay in Jakreth. They decide to run away; but Reeta’s father Askelor, King of Jakreth, is infuriated; and he sends Kotrioth out after them. Kotrioth is a ruthless killer. Askelor wants Fralik dead so Reeta can return home and so her title and her birthright remains untarnished. But the killer Kotrioth is in for a surprise. Fralik is a Dathrekoor… a person in possession of tremendous powers. And Fralik is in for a surprise too, because he doesn’t know he’s a Dathrekoor either. Can Fralik learn to use his power to protect himself and Reeta?

You can’t summarize the plot and identify and describe everyone in the book too. It can’t just be a play-by play description of the plot leaving the end out. You should inspire questions in the reader’s mind. Take the above example, and here it is redone:

Reeta’s gone and done it this time. She’s run away with a peasant boy; and she is the daughter of a powerful King. Determined to protect his daughter from shame and misfortune and to keep her title intact, King Askelor dispatches an unrelenting hunter after the couple; aiming to eliminate the boy who has ruined everything.

Fralik loves Reeta. A questionable past and a magical power he doesn’t even know he has are all that he can offer her. Fralik understands what Reeta has given up to be with him; and he knows he has endangered himself because of this decision; he has no idea how direly in danger they both are. With an unremitting killer at their heels and a mystical power Fralik knows nothing about, can the young lovers prevail?

If you are not sure about how to do this; try these tips:

Do some research. Go to your bookstore, find shelf that sells your genre, and read copy from other books. This copy you read is likely written by the marketing department as much as it was by anyone else. You can take a lot from seeing how it's done. Think of it from a marketing perspective. What is it that makes your book sales worthy? What sells other books and movies?
Keep it brief and simple. The more elaborate and involved, the less appealing it will be.
Have some of your friends and family read the manuscript and write down the things that really resonated with them. Use what they wrote as a backbone for your copy. Other readers may take away something completely different than you would as the writer.
Don’t pepper the copy with character names and places; it can be confusing. Use them minimally.
Use a casual voice; one that relates to your reader and is easy to read.
Only brush on the main story-- focus on a gripping side-story; let your reader be surprised.
Proofread it, have it edited, clean it up; it is the first impression someone will get of your writing. If it’s full of flaws, they’ll assume your book is.
Be sure to add something about yourself so readers can identify with the author.
Be objective about how you look at your work. Look at it with a practical eye and figure out what sets your book apart from others. Use that.

On temporary Haitus

2007-10-29T16:23:00.000-07:00

Readers/Authors;

I have ~~sixteen~~ seventeen pending query emails that I have yet to respond to; sorry guys, I'm truly working on it.

However, my parental unit has fallen gravely ill again; and I've got to make arrangements for a developmentally disabled sibling. I'll be back reading as soon as humanly possible, but it wont' be immediate.

[Update] I'm back reading; sorry for the delay. I'm working on a set; and Robert is reading two as well. Aside from parental issues, I've also had a large event to worry about and attend and now things have calmed down sufficiently that I can look at books again... As for all of you awaiting a response on your query; please be patient, I have four more books to burn through before I request more.

I will however make this statement; a number of the review requests are ... uh ... questionable to say the least. It's unlikely I'll consider reviewing a book by someone who cannot follow the simple guidelines for submission; and please make your description more than just a few words. You are in essence selling a book to us; just as you would your readers. We currently have seventeen queries to choose from; so you really need to make yours stand out! :)

Steph

Henry Baum; North of Sunset

2007-10-18T08:46:00.000-07:00

North of Sunset is one of those books that sort of creeps up on you. You’re reading along, and suddenly you realize that you are reading something amazingly well written. I really enjoy being wowed by a self-published book. It doesn’t happen often, but when it happens, I want to make sure every book I come across that’s of excellent quality gets the credit it deserves.

Michael Sennet is a world famous Hollywood actor. Gifted and gorgeous, women swoon over him, people automatically respect him; and he floats through his world as if everything orbits around him; and to some degree, it does. He’s used to getting his way, so much so he is bored by it; Michael is not emotionally equipped to deal with anything disrupting his universe, with anyone telling him ‘no’. Two significant things happen to Michael… two things that come out of line with his universe; two things that bring Michael to cross paths with a cold-blooded killer, but only after becoming one himself.

Curt is the “Vanity Plate Killer”. His M.O. is to go after people with vanity license plates. He has is own motivations, his own ideas. Curt is writing a book about his exploits. He’s proud of his accomplishments. And then he discovers that someone is copycatting his killings. Michael and Curt are two characters from opposite, but oddly similar, pitiless worlds; both vain and superior, both essentially the same.

The characters of North of Sunset are extremely well portrayed; from Michael’s quiet slip into insanity—his foibles and his flaws, to the studies of his wife Cheryl and her selfish blindness, to the careful descriptions of the other broken souls that populate Michael’s unforgiving universe. There are no random, unmotivated actions in this book. There is a depth to each character; a believability that is rarely found in any writing these days.

Truth be told, this is quality writing. This is an experienced author, who knows his stuff; understands how to present a book, and does so professionally and with significant skill. I think you should go out and buy this book and read it. It is extremely good.

Five Medallions, hands-down.

Author: Henry Baum

Publisher: Lulu.com (February 23, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1411656563
ISBN-13: 978-1411656567

Erik Hare; Downriver

2007-10-17T12:15:00.000-07:00

Popey is a Hopneg. A Hopneg, in the book Downriver by Eric Hare, is a small gnome. Popey has been rudely awakened by the powerful influence the Giants (we humans) have on his world and over the welfare of his people. We ‘Giants’ keep spreading out, and the Hopnegs have to keep moving… Popey wants to find a way to fight the giants so his people are not consistently at their mercy; but his people are resigned to the traditions, and follow the ways they’ve always followed ~ subject to ancient rules imposed upon them by their ‘book’.

Popey defies this paradigm of tradition imposed by the ‘book’; he feels it necessary to expand his horizons, and to find ways to help his people by exploring the world beyond his own. So he sets out to find a way to fight the blundering Giants, who uproot his people again and again.

He finds a wise traveling companion on his journey, Shajee. Shajee has a myriad of lessons to teach Popey; helping him to better understand the Giants and their world, teaching him about his journey and ultimately to better understand himself.

Downriver is a less a young person’s fantasy as it is a book of life-lessons. It doesn’t preach, the lessons it provides are subtle and wise; and it applies to a broad audience of young people.

It took a while for me to get into the flow of the book, and it is not because of the writing. The writing was quite good. The problem was the formatting. This is a perfect example of how a good book can be brought down by questionable formatting and a lack of editing. I very nearly put the book down—but I did not. Why? Because ultimately, the story carried itself.

Given a thorough editing, and having the book reformatted, this book would be more than exceptional for its category. It’s a heartwarming, whimsical, but true-to-life fantasy. It takes a setting and characters that are charming and sweet; and then blends in the realities of life that we are faced with; from our most basic priorities, our decision-making, to taking responsibility for our choices.

I give Downriver 4 medallions.

Author: Erik Hare

Publisher: AuthorHouse (October 10, 2005)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1420887165
ISBN-13: 978-1420887167

Ten Questions for a Cover Designer

2007-10-06T10:54:00.000-07:00

Odyssey Reviews caught up with cover designer Cathi Stevenson and we lobbed our ten questions at her:

Odyssey Reviews: Please tell us a bit about yourself and your background, and what compelled you to become a book cover designer?
I've always been interested in design and advertising and it seemed no matter what careers I embarked upon, I always ended up back in this industry.

Odyssey Reviews: What genre of book do you enjoy designing for most?
I like non-fiction because I like the structure that is usually involved in the design of non-fiction, although it competes with my love of grunge, that I rarely get to do.

Odyssey Reviews: What are, in your opinion, the most important qualities for a great book cover?
There are just so many things that can contribute to a good, strong design and it's not always possible to employ every one on the same cover. Ultimately, it's what works for the market. While a brooding, artistic painting might get rave reviews and be the perfect design choice for one book, the same design could hurt the sales of the book beside it. Sometimes, just a plain cover with the title grabbing the browser's eye is the recipe for success. It depends on the market and on the book. It's often a balance, but the main thing is that the cover looks professional. Nothing will do more harm to a publisher's image than something that looks like it should be on the front of a fourth-grader's history project.

A good case study in this is with The Little Book That Beats the Market (Wiley, 2005). It wasn't doing very well at all until they redesigned the cover and coordinated it with their marketing efforts. After the redesign, the book became a hit and much of the credit has been given to the new look.

Odyssey Reviews: In your opinion, what are the worst mistakes an author can make in designing his or her book?
Using clip-art, or 3d images in the wrong way; unprofessional fonts; layouts that don't work and colors that cause "visual vibration," making it impossible to look at the book for more than a second or two. And clichés! I'd like to start a petition to encourage self-publishers not to use any more handshakes, keys, chess pieces or puzzle pieces on their book covers. They were fine a few years ago, but the market is flooded with them, now. Unless of course the designer can come up with a fresh approach to using them.

Odyssey Reviews: How do you come up with a cover concept?
It's usually a collaborative effort between myself and the publisher. I read the book's synopsis, we discuss the target audience and I often spend hours studying book covers in bookstores and online.

Odyssey Reviews: What is the weirdest book cover you’ve done?
I didn't do it, but one guy wanted me to create a cover with no title or author name.

Odyssey Reviews: What is the best way for an author to choose a cover artist?
Take a look at the designer's samples. With digital technology where it's at today, usually an online portfolio or website is adequate. And study what's in the marketplace for your particular genre so you know what you're looking for in terms of design.

Odyssey Reviews: Hiring a cover artist can be an investment. What tips do you have for authors to keep the cost manageable?
Some designers charge a flat rate, so that's something to look for, but the number one thing that causes projects to go over budget and take longer than they should is disorganizing. Get your ducks in a row before you get the designer to begin working on the project. It might seem easy to change a title, add a quote, make editing changes after layout, create new barcodes or adjust a spine, but it's time consuming and most designers will charge you for these things. Not to mention the fact that it could cause you to miss deadlines, and add a lot of unnecessary stress on everyone.

Odyssey Reviews: What are the three most common problems you see in other book designs?
Mostly amateur issues. People not kerning the titles (kerning is the spacing between the letters). Sometimes you'll see the letter W or Y and it looks like it belongs to a different word it's so far from the next letter.

Too many fonts or badly chosen fonts. Stick with one or two font families for the entire project. If you study books produced by the larger publishing houses you'll see they rarely break this rule.

Poser. I'm sorry, but unless the Poser elements are taken into another program such as PhotoShop and given a new life, Poser characters should stay in the gaming world, unless your book is a gaming book for teens.

Odyssey Reviews: Do you have any other special tips, anecdotes or advice for first time authors?
Keep an open mind and study book covers before you begin. With the Internet you can find covers designed back in the 1800s right up to ones not even released yet. Look at hundreds of them. Visit the sites of Random House and Time Warner Books and Simon and Schuster and all the bigger companies and then check the New York Time's best sellers' lists for the past few years. Get a feel for what the public is buying. Take the job of project manager seriously, because essentially, that's what a self-publishing author is.

Cathi Stevenson is from bookcoverexpress.com. You can find samples of her work there. Thanks Cathi, those are great answers!

Author Notice

2007-10-06T10:40:00.000-07:00

Odyssey Reviews is not a service to provide positive blurbs for the back of a book cover.

Odyssey Reviews is a review service for the people who buy self-published books.

Self-published books are significantly costlier than traditionally published books. We, as authors, have an obligation to our buyers and readers to make sure that what we are asking them to pay more money for is worth it. It is unprofessional and even an insult to expect a reader to pay good money for something that isn't up to par. There are a lot of bad books out there, and the Odyssey Reviewers are here to sift through them and review them for exactly what they are. If your book is good, it will stand up for itself, if it has flaws, we will point them out. We don't sugarcoat it, unless there is a good reason to.

If you are unhappy with your review, then we will keep it here on the site alone. We will most certainly not retract an honest review.. We only post on Amazon or other booksellers upon request of the author or if they are 5-medallion books. As of today, we will no longer edit our reviews once they've been posted. Our reviews are based on what we read, nothing more. We react to the book as any reader might. So, please keep that in mind before you submit. If you are seeking only raving reviews, you need to be sure that your book merits them; especially when submitting to Odyssey Reviews, because you can expect only honesty from us.

We don't ask for money for our reviews. We hold all authors to the same standards; and we all have similar expectations when we accept a book for review; 1) some effort to edit and prepare the work for general distribution; 2) a cohesive, decently written story; 3) a professional package (cover, content, etc). These are not unrealistic expectations; they are the same expectations any reader would have when they're looking for a book to buy. Those are the basic things any author should strive for.

An author should understand that submitting their work for review anywhere may expose their work to reactions that they may not expect. Getting negative reviews and comments is part and parcel of the publishing world. You either have to learn to take the criticism and grow from it as an author, or perhaps rethink exposing any more of your work in the public eye.

Thank you.

D.A. Welch; Flashback: A Low Country Novel

2007-10-01T09:49:00.000-07:00

In D.A. Welch’s Flashback: A Low Country Novel, Navy SEAL Nate Dunlevy comes home to South Carolina a tormented man; suffering from vivid flashbacks of a traumatic event during the war. He meets Eve and falls in love, however Eve comes with a troubled background as well; namely an obsessive religious fanatic ex-boyfriend who seems hell-bent on objectifying and hurting her. Nate’s desire to protect his lady from this misguided, dangerous man leads him into a hornet’s nest; a religious extremist group that has hate-listed Nate, and the three other people who’ve become embroiled in the consequences of Eve’s bad judgment.

In truth, this is a romance novel. Instead of the existing attractive photo on the cover, it could have done just as well with the well-known image of the shirtless man embracing a swooning woman with a heaving bosom. It fits right into the formula of a romance novel; flawless beautiful people who come together (figuratively, literally and always simultaneously) with the pat set of challenges that keep them just slightly apart enough to keep the reader turning the page. The side-story of the militant, questionably motivated killer religious group was entertaining, it did help pad out the expected romantic dance between the four main characters, and provide a platform for Nate’s stealthy skills.

Nate is the Sensitive SEAL, the specimen of a perfect man, chiseled, beautiful, and tormented. All of the characters are torn from the pages of magazines, dressed in fashionable clothes, plopped into trendy homes and careers, conveniently blessed with the requisite issues to hinder them just that little bit. --this portion removed per author's preferences--

As for flashbacks; this book has little to do with them. In fact, as far as Nate’s trauma and personal torment go; there is little follow-up besides a couple of physical episodes and some therapy sessions that focus more on Nate’s sexual issues [edit] than dealing with the flashbacks themselves.

It’s not that this book isn’t enjoyable. Flashback: a Low Country Novel is an easy, rainy-weekend read. It is well written, decently edited, with some stunning visuals of the low country topping each new chapter. The problem is that it was never quite believable, and as a reader, I could never quite feel fully absorbed into the story. Being someone who doesn’t care for this genre of book, I feel like I would be wrong to give it the 3.5 medallions I’d like to give it. So I give the book 4 medallions for all those romance-book addicts out there.

Author: D.A. Welch
Publisher: iUniverse, Inc. (April 25, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0595412718

Author Notice

2007-09-27T11:49:00.000-07:00

Yes, I *am* still alive and kicking. Unfortunately I'm down to just ME for reviewers. My sister just called in "Not Interested" because of the issues affecting our family right now, and my other reviewer Kris has been overwhelmed with work. So I've now taken on a new reviewer, my friend Robert, who is about to receive a couple of thick, backlogged books, and hopefully we'll get the momentum going again.

I apologize for the delay, I am working through the stack as best I can considering the time constraints. I will resume submissions when I am through this pile of books, I promise. A number of you have yet to get a response from me at all, but please know I am not ignoring you out of cruelty; it's out of necessity. :)

Odyssey Reviews is still reviewing; albeit slowly.

Michelle LeBlanc; Belt Buckles & Pajamas

2007-09-17T09:58:00.000-07:00

In the book Belt Buckles & Pajamas, you are introduced to the main character Daphne and you learn very quickly where she is and why she is there. Daphne’s universe is a mental institution. Daphne’s friends and fellow patients orbit around her—each one with their own demons and inner-turmoil haunting them. Their universe is disrupted by the arrival of a new Therapist. Andie is a stark contrast to her stoic and regimented predecessor, Martin, and she has a way of reaching these lost, harrowed souls that he never had.

There are the archetypes one expects in an institution like this; the sex-addict, the paranoid, the nearly catatonic, the one who sees invisible things; telling from the title; one can easily surmise Daphne’s issues. The author touches on this sensitive issue with finesse, while exploring the madness of the others with a humorous eye.

You begin to discover the depth of Daphne’s pain, and the events that brought it to her. As you read, you watch her; under Andie’s careful guidance begin the process of healing and coming to terms with her past. Daphne’s growing self-acceptance alters her perspective about her universe; including the people who surround her.

Belt Buckles & Pajamas in my eyes is the beginning of an insightful book. The first draft which needs to be fleshed out into something greater. I was a bit put off by the pat characters; the seemingly stereotypical nature of each patient. They seemed sometimes only two-dimensional and lacked depth to be truly believable. I feel like not enough time was spent further exploring Daphne’s healing process, and that it was too easily resolved.

It is still a good read; and easy one as well; no flourish or wordiness complicates the book; it still communicates volumes in far too few pages. I give this book 3.5 medallions.

Author: Michelle LeBlanc
Paperback: 180 pages
Publisher: Kanapolis Fog Publishing Emporium (May 31, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN: 0615147143

An Invitation and a Heads-up.

2007-09-13T11:06:00.000-07:00

Greetings readers/writers/reviewers.

I wanted to drop a quick note to reassure everyone that we are indeed still at it here at Odyssey Reviews. One of our reviewers is down for the count, and we siblings have been preoccupied with some private family matters that have just begun to settle down, so we will be reading furiously to catch up. We ask the submitting authors who haven't received any reply from us to allow us some more patience at this time--we have been waylaid by at least a week and a half by impromptu flights across the country.

In the meantime, I've set up a "Reviewer Ring' (see below) and I invite my fellow review sites to please submit their site(s) to the ring. I've spent some time following the footsteps of some of our authors, and direct-linked some of the review sites I found on my hunt, but I would like to see those in the web-ring as well. It will help the authors to find us better.

A new review is coming soon; maybe two plus an interview with a book-cover designer. Thank you.

Note to Submitting Authors

2007-09-04T11:41:00.000-07:00

Odyssey Reviews is not going to be accepting further submissions until we have worked through the majority of our current pending reviews. You may submit your work to our site following the usual guidelines, however you will not receive an answer for up to a week or more. If you have any questions, feel free to submit those to our submission email, and those we can answer immediately.

Thank you for your patience.

John Lawson; "Witch Ember"

2007-09-04T11:29:00.001-07:00

Author John Lawson brings us “Witch Ember”; a gritty, dark fantasy set in a creatively crafted world where people are born with tiny shards or ‘embers’ which lend them magical powers. Esmeree, the primary character is born with a large piece of this ember, and unknowingly possesses tremendous powers; however she is also unfortunately an orphaned child of ‘the Mill’ where she grows up knowing only the horrors of prostitution, drugs and violence. Her role models are an assortment of unsavory adults, with only one or two creditable souls to help her survive. She is also surrounded by a collection of youths who are also part of this dismal, dirty world. Her greatest aspiration is to become a more refined, personal prostitute/concubine for the city’s richest; it is her sheltered view of the world and her ignorance of her own power and potential that makes her ambition so limited. You watch her grow, and with it, her world as well. It starts focused on the mill and its scurrying, grimy inhabitants and broadens slowly as the story goes along. You learn as Esmeree learns.

You will find that Esmeree is a plucky character, and she successfully carries the reader through this very thick novel as she overcomes each terrible experience, and slowly begins to discover who she is, where she must go, and the extent of her ‘ember’s power’. She is thoroughly likable, and despite how casually she perceives the trauma of her daily life, she has an honourable sort of soul, and she makes others around her better as well.

The author did a commendable job showing Esmeree's personal growth, and wrote a believable world imbued with the same political and faith-based upheavals as our own. The detail in this book is broad and you can get lost in it occasionally. It is a dark, coarse sort of book, I will not fail to mention that. The sexual content is explicit and without sugar-coating, and the violence is graphic and vivid. Those of you that are squeamish may not care for the content of Witch Ember.

As a reviewer, I do have some criticisms of this unusually tidy, well-put together novel. The author obviously enjoyed interspersing his many invented words into the book. He definitely took his time to create a world complete with its own dialects and slang. You can’t miss these words; they are all italicized and infused with a přöfůsĭŏn of šỳmboŀś to make them appear exotic. Frankly, as a reader, all it did was make it distracting. This was really unnecessary and it does nothing for the flow of the book when you constantly have to stop, flip through the index, find the word and its meaning, and then find where you left off. And doing it again and again (for it is a sizable index) really just made me want to put the book down and go read something less arduous, like War and Peace. It nearly ruined the book for me, and that is a lot considering that this is a really good book. I think the language was overdone, and unnecessary for a story that can carry itself perfectly well without it.

This is definitely the neat, seamless work of a technical writer. I usually tend to look for errors and such when reading, as do the other reviewers here at Odyssey, and despite the symbols and the distracting language, I could find little to pick apart when it came to the quality of the writing, the cleanliness of the manuscript, and the author’s ability to keep you riveted even through the slow bits and the index references.

I have to give Witch Ember five medallions. ONLY because I think it’s a notable work of self-published writing, BUT if I were feeling less generous, I’d take a half or whole medallion away just for the time I had to spend looking up words.

Paperback: 489 pages
Publisher: PublishAmerica (May 2002)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1591290384
ISBN-13: 978-1591290384

Ten Questions for an Editor:

2007-08-29T09:08:00.000-07:00

Odyssey Reviews caught up with editor William Greenleaf. We asked him ten questions:

Odyssey Reviews: Please tell us a bit about yourself and your background, and what compelled you to become an editor.
William: My career as an editor evolved from my career as a novelist. My first novel was published in 1980. When I started writing full time in 1987, I also began helping other writers through workshops. I discovered that I loved helping new writers break into print. I can think of nothing in life more satisfying than helping another writer bring out the best in his or her manuscript.

Odyssey Reviews: What type of book do you enjoy working with most?
William: I work primarily with novels (all genres) and story-oriented nonfiction such as memoirs and autobiographies.

Odyssey Reviews: What are the most common mistakes you find in the manuscripts you edit?
William: Many newer writers fail to employ writing techniques that pull the reader into the story and maintain a sense of anticipation. If the reader doesn’t care what happens next, he or she won’t keep turning pages. So I would have to say that the most common problem is lack of sufficient development in the central conflict. Viewpoint errors are also very common. Newer writers will be more successful at writing vivid, compelling scenes if they stick to the viewpoint of one character through each scene. When it comes to mechanics (grammar, punctuation, etc.), the most common error is in paragraph structure. Paragraph breaks can become dramatic spotlights when handled correctly. A good editor can often turn a confusing manuscript into a gripping story simply by combining and splitting paragraphs at the right points. Of course, a good editor must also fix other common mechanical problems such as misplaced commas, capitalization errors, and the overuse of passive voice.

Odyssey Reviews: In your opinion, what are the worst mistakes an author can make with a manuscript?
William: The worst mistakes are: 1) failing to spend enough time with the manuscript to make it as good as it can be, and 2) sending it to the publisher before it’s ready. If your story deserves to be told, it deserves to be told well so it will hold the reader’s interest from first page to last.

Odyssey Reviews: In your opinion, what are the most important qualities of a good, marketable manuscript?
William: It must appeal to a wide audience of readers, it must respect the reader’s intelligence by living up to the promises made in the cover blurbs, and it must build and maintain a sense of anticipation in the reader.

Odyssey Reviews: What is the oddest editing experience you’ve ever had?
William: I was once given the task of turning an academic treatise on chaos theory into a romance novel. It turned out to be easier than it sounds, and it launched my client’s novel writing career, which is still going strong.

Odyssey Reviews: What is the best way for an author to choose an editor?
William: Find an editor who has genuine credentials such as verifiable writing success and membership in professional organizations like the Authors Guild. Have a heart-to-heart talk with the editor and make sure he or she has a real interest in your book and feels positive about it. Make sure your editor is easily reachable via email and telephone.

Odyssey Reviews: Having a manuscript edited can be an expensive endeavor for some authors. Do you have any advice for authors on how to keep the cost down?
William: First of all, don’t spend money for something you don’t need. If you’ve decided to use a specific editor, look closely at the various literary services offered by the editor. After the editor has read your manuscript, ask for his or her advice about which services would be of most benefit for you. When I evaluate a manuscript, one of my goals is to determine how I can be of most help to my client. If the client is on a limited budget, then my decision becomes: How can I best serve this author within that budget?

If you can’t afford to hire a professional editor, take stock of your circle of friends and family members. Getting feedback from several avid readers can help, though it’s often difficult for friends and relatives to be objective. You may want to consider checking with your local college or university. Graduate students often moonlight as editors. If you do this, don’t assume that the person is qualified just because he or she is a graduate student in English or literature. Ask to see samples of the editor’s work. If you’ve written a novel, don’t hire someone who hasn’t had experience with novels. If you’ve written your memoirs, make sure the editor has experience with memoirs or autobiographies. In other words, no matter how much you spend, make sure you’re getting your money’s worth.

Odyssey Reviews: What are the three most misused words you've noticed in your editing work?
William: Alright (not yet accepted, should be all right), misusing to and too, and misusing there and their.

Odyssey Reviews: Do you have any other special tips, anecdotes or advice for first time authors?
William: Take time to learn about the book publishing business. If you decide to self-publish your book, consider your options. Should you go with a print-on-demand publisher, or a traditional publisher? Will you retain the rights to your book? Be aware that printing your book is the easy part; selling it is quite another matter. What will the publisher do to promote your book? Does the publisher have a solid (and verifiable) track record for book sales? Take time to educate yourself before you sign on the dotted line.

Thank you Mr. Greenleaf; your insights are extremely valuable.

Here is William's website: http://www.williamgreenleaf.com/
Greenleaf Literary Services: http://greenleafliteraryservices.com/
Contact information:
William Greenleaf
2717 La Luz Circle NE
Rio Rancho, NM 87144

Phone: 505-796-6895

Email: william@wgreenleaf.com

Our next interview: A book cover designer.

Keith Rowley; "The Aquarius Key"

2007-08-28T09:46:00.000-07:00

Sue and Bill Williams live normal contented lives: Sue is a handsome woman in love with her husband, and Bill, a successful, hard-driving businessman. In the blink of an eye, everything changes. They are thrown into a reality where they come face-to-face with true evil. People they’ve known and trusted for years suddenly become their greatest peril—and neither of them would have ever guessed that they would play an integral role in bringing evil into their world. Bill not only discovers that an occult group is responsible for this madness, but that his brother Peter is part of it all.

I never give the 5-medallion rating easily; however every blue moon you come across a book that just knocks your socks off for the quality of writing and the complexity and magnetism of the story. I’ve stumbled onto one right here. The Aquarius Key is in my opinion, the technical standard to which all self-published authors should aspire. The writing is clean and as sharp as a blade and the story tight and cohesive, with that incredible pull that makes you wish your day would go faster so you can go home and read it some more.

There are some scenes of a violent sexual nature in this book, as well as other themes that are appropriate for adult readers only. This book touches on the darker nature of the occult and esoteric practices that may not be palatable to certain people. I will openly admit that many parts of this book just screeched right over the top of my head; I claim no great knowledge of the esoteric practices, nor do I pretend to understand it all in great depth; however the well-researched glimpses Mr. Rowley paints of the ceremonies and teachings of Kabbalah and magic were vivid and enlightening. He showed with credibility what a fine line it can be between good and evil, using fiction, history, science and fact in a graceful dance of words.

Keith Rowley introduces the reader to the dark history of Aleister Crowley, to the Thelemic texts, and to the darker side of the practices. He follows the spiritual schooling of a young Peter throughout the book, giving his reader a cursory edification into the practices of magic. It was fascinating but the flow of information was a bit overwhelming at times, which is the only criticism I have of this book.

I give The Aquarius Key five medallions. It is an excellent read; and I recommend it to anyone who likes an intelligently presented novel and a thrilling, hair-raising story.

Author: Keith Rowley
Genre: Fiction/Occult
Publisher: iUniverse, Inc. (August 24, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN: 0595393732

To Edit or Not To Edit?

2007-08-16T12:23:00.000-07:00

Okay; so it costs money. As my father said; you have to spend money to make money. And if you want your book to sell, or be noticed, or to have some credibility, it needs to be a clean manuscript. Period. That’s a hard truth, and it’s probably why many, many authors get their manuscripts and query packages hucked into the slush pile.

But editors are expensive you say. Yes they are. And they are not foolproof. I personally had my book edited, and I still found little things here and there after publication. It happens—even with the best books. You also need to keep in mind that when you work on Word, with auto-formatting, that when iUniverse, or whatever other self-publishing company takes your work, and drops it into their page setting software, that those little auto formatting doodads will vanish, and leave some sentences with no period at the end, and various other little quirks. Those are excusable and easily preventable.

BUT, I digress; editing is really a necessary evil. Some publishers are willing to take on that cost, but us wee little self-published folks cannot always afford the expense. However, it can never hurt to find out how much it could cost you. Maybe it is affordable; you just haven’t found the right editor. Allow me to recommend this site: http://www.book-editing.com/.

This lovely site has a network of editors. You submit to the general site for a quote; a simple process where you sent an excerpt of your work, and the site will broadcast it to their network of editors. It’s like lending-tree for authors! You get all these bids. The editors will do a sample edit of your work and quote you a cost per word. I didn’t choose the cheapest one, I chose the one whose editing resonated best with me, but at least it gives you something to shoot for. It may not get you in with a traditional publishing house, but at least when and if you self-publish, it will be a nice, clean book that looks and sounds professional. So simply; getting your book professionally edited can never hurt.

So, they cost is still too much! What to do?

Well, there are alternatives; which will not be as good as a thorough editing, but maybe at least enough to make your book as professional as it can be.

Do you still have access to your old English teacher/professor? Perhaps they can be prevailed upon to assist you in this regard.
Line up six friends or relatives, and have them pass the manuscript on, each marking up what they find and initialing the work of the prior ‘editor’ if they agree with the edit. Leave the back side of each page blank so that your ‘editors’ can write questions about the plot, continuity, consistency… notes that there are probably research of factual errors, character flaws that are gaping wide.
The little red and green lines under your text on MSWord. Yeah. Those are trying to tell you something. No MSWord? Find somewhere where you can use it, but Word may not be the dream editor, but it will help you tremendously.
Get a homonym dictionary. Figure out the difference between their/they’re/there, you’re/your/yore; horse/hoarse, bridle, bridal, mantel, mantle… and all the similar little gaffs that can make a reader’s eye come to a screeching halt.
Figure out what apostrophes signify. You may think you know these things, but you really might not… What’s plural, what’s contraction, what is possessive? What’s right? Pies or Pie’s? Hers or Her’s, CDs or CD’s? These may seem like innocuous mistakes, but to many readers they are maddening, and they can be an instant turn-off.
Get a Roget’s Thesaurus. You might not see that repeated word until it’s too late.
Get a dictionary. Don't use $10 words without knowing their full meaning.

In summary: You may think your story will stand on its own. It might. Chances are; what you might perceive as superficial things like spelling, grammar, flow and continuity are really pulling it down. You could have the next Harry Potter series, but if it looks like a third grader wrote it, well… how far do you think your readers are going to get before they toss it aside?

You have to be honest with yourself about your work. No matter how confident you are in how good it is, you need to be objective about how it is presented on paper. And if it takes extra work or extra dollars to make it worthy, then do it.

Dwayne G. Anderson; "Partially Human"

2007-08-07T16:30:00.000-07:00

Joshua Plofard grows up in 1980's Los Angeles, polite and kind, popular, loved, and respected -- and, the unwitting incubator of alien DNA. His mother is contemplating the right moment to share this with Joshua when he is wounded and the secret is prematurely revealed. When the citizens of LA discover what flows in Joshua's blood, everything changes. Those who once sought Joshua now shun him. He is ridiculed, taunted, and targeted. Joshua launches a crusade to convince the now intolerant community that he is still just Joshua and not the freak they have come to see him as. With the support of a few friends and his mother, Joshua valiantly opposes the small mindedness of the ignorant, eludes The Prejudice (a cold-blooded eliminator), and saves an alien race on the verge of extinction.

Mr. Anderson's words are delivered entirely sans pretense. No smoke and screens; no circuitous plot. What remains is a simple tale of goodness versus the evil of intolerance. His characters are compelled to be unguardedly honest and straight to the point. If you are looking for an intricate, word-woven story, this may not be the book for you. But, if you are interested in writing that dispenses with the fluff and unabashedly contends with the age old struggle of discrimination, then you can curl up on the couch with a cup of tea and this soft cover for a nice afternoon read. The author says "the theme of the story is that of friendship, love, compassion, and loyalty triumphing over human ignorance and prejudice." Toward that end, his delivery is unfailing.

Odyssey Reviews gives “Partially Human” 2.5 medallions.
Genre: Science Fiction
Reading Level: Child to Young Adult
Author Blog

Scott Allen; "Survival Op: The Fear in the Wilderness"

2007-08-02T12:11:00.001-07:00

Author Scott Allen brings us the story of Marcus; an orphaned, homeless pre-teen who is abducted off the streets and taken to a mysterious island in the enigmatic Bermuda Triangle, and subjected to an existence of harsh survival for the experimentation of a covert government agency. Marcus is joined by Lynn, a young girl who is also orphaned, and the two young people struggle together to find the basic necessities that will keep them alive in a bizarre jungle wilderness replete with creeping, shadowy, carnivorous beasts and government hunters who are hell-bent on destroying them.

The reader will follow these two characters as they struggle to find the things they need to subsist in this harsh wilderness, and as they fight to stay alive. The characters use their smarts and their wits, developing creative weaponry with found and salvaged items; obtaining food, finding and furnishing a hidden shelter; and offer an array of crucial skills anyone could benefit from knowing. These characters must accomplish all these things while simultaneously dealing with the constant threat of being murdered by the assassins dispatched to hunt them down, not to mention the mysterious monster that gobbles up the aftermath of each bloody battle with these child-hunters.

There are some scenes of significant violence and gore depicted in this novel, and perceived by an adult, it might take away from the concept and message. There is also the question of the dialogue, which sounds a little stiff and un-teen-like. The author could benefit from consulting with members of this age group in order to make the dialogue more real. Those issues aside, this is undeniably an exciting, suspenseful read, with lots of action and mystery to compel the reader to keep reading.

Survival Op: The Fear in the Wilderness is a commendable endeavor by the author for his debut book in this genre and age-group, and doubtless, as Scott Allen adds more volumes to this series, they will only get better.

Odyssey Reviews gives Survival Op: The Fear in the Wilderness 4 medallions.

Reading level: Ages 9-12 (Young Adult Fiction)
Paperback: 156 pages
Publisher: iUniverse, Inc. (March 1, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0595420621

Miranda Mayer; "Tinna's Promise"

2007-07-24T11:23:00.000-07:00

Tinna’s Promise is a story of change and determination; and keeping a promise above all. The story revolves around Tinna, an assassin from a matriarchal society; ostracized for her heritage, she wanders northwards to find somewhere to belong. She finds Taneth, an awkward, somewhat nerdy, even a bit arrogant man, who is Wiseman for a village of horse-worshippers. Tinna is immediately drawn in to their simple way of life, and drawn to the clumsy Taneth. Part of this world is a boy named Hanru whose own life is rife with troubles and abuse. Both Tinna and Taneth take the boy under their wings, and Tinna makes the boy a promise.

Unfortunately, Tinna is derailed on her attempt to fulfill this promise, and somehow brought into the middle of a seemingly unexplained battle between dragons and the human races. Tinna is now faced with finding her way home from a great distance, contending with this violent war with dragonkind, keeping her promise to Hanru. She also has to begin coming to terms with her own feelings about Taneth, and possibly a new life amongst the Horse-Worshippers. But none of that will matter unless she and her companion Rhoa survive the ordeal.

First-time author Miranda Mayer takes an ambitious leap into creating an original fantasy world. Her characters have realistic flaws, and the story has a gritty, human quality to it that makes it one of the more exceptional fantasy books I’ve read this year. The author makes the bold step of starting the book off with characters that might not be as likable as one would expect; she writes selfishness, arrogance and pride into them. She touches on subject matter not many fantasy authors care to, and keeps the interactions among the most realistic I’ve read in a long time. I particularly enjoyed the quiet conversations between Tinna and Taneth as they get to know one another in the beginning of the book.

As you read along, the characters grow on you; you watch their characters change and develop. It is a very well written story, which perhaps could have been padded a little more with descriptions. I was left wanting for descriptions of the forests of giant trees where the Nimrath live, and perhaps a closer study of Tinna’s homeland and heritage. Despite these missing elements, they did not take away from the story. I especially enjoyed the way she painted the Araki graveyards. Beautiful.

I highly recommend this book to all fantasy readers. Especially the lady readers. The book does have some minor sexual content, so I recommend it for more mature readers. Odyssey Reviews gives five medallions for this book.

Tinna's Promise

Miranda Mayer

iUniverse (2007)

ISBN 0595431461

Ann-Marie Zakos; "First Class Ticket"

2007-07-23T12:18:00.000-07:00

Ann-Marie Zakos takes an inspirational approach to presenting a work of spiritual and philosophical questions in her novel “First Class Ticket”. She presents nine truths of life, which she cleverly intermingled into a work of fiction; where three students are challenged by their philosophy professor with an assignment to unravel these nine truths.

The reader will follow these students as they realize, learn, ponder and grow. They are guided by various people into new epiphanies and a deeper understanding of their own individual being; making them look into themselves, and to reflect on their own choices.

These truths are discussed from various perspectives by the diverse characters, and the students use their personal experiences and perceptions to approach, digest and interpret each truth in their own way; at their own pace. The author was careful to give each character a distinct set of personality traits; and to bring them from various walks of life and belief systems to exhibit how each one might perceive each challenge. Any reader can find someone to relate to in these wonderful, three-dimensional characters.

Ann-Marie Zakos takes a collection of ideas and philosophies that would normally read as something dry and abstract by most standard presentations, and delivers them in a conversational, informal manner which makes these deeply relevant ideas easy to digest. She puts them into the context of real life, and fleshes these truths out into malleable ideas that are relevant to all of her readers.

This book is a refreshing change for its genre. The characters are fun and realistic, the challenges and ideas strong and meaningful, and the author’s writing style is engaging and descriptive, mixing ideas of depth and significance with beautiful visuals through the eyes of her main character. It is an easy, yet enlightening read. Odyssey Reviews gives it four medallions.

Paperback: 176 pages
Publisher: Magnum Veritas Publishing; 1st edition (August 1, 2006)
ISBN-10: 0976452332

S.M. Stirling; "The Sky People"

2007-07-16T09:55:00.000-07:00

Mr. Stirling is a prolific writer. His works range from exceptional to wordy and anticlimactic. However the ‘The Sky People’ was an extremely satisfying read; and once again, Mr. Stirling does an excellent job describing an alternate history that is believable and three-dimensional.

The author does fall into his usual habits of creating characters that are based on the common stereotype of their nationality; the hickish swamp-dwelling Cajun, the African-American chick with attitude, the Brit with the stiff upper lip. The author tends to pour his characters into these molds instead of just exploring their own personalities, and the stereotypes can sometimes be tiresome.

The story follows an alternate timeline, where humanity discovers that the planets Venus and Mars are populated with humans, Neanderthals, dinosaurs and all manner of other beasts. It doesn’t take long for Humanity to create a foothold on the planets, and for the rivals America and the USSR to pursue their own agendas in doing so.

The main character, a brash and quick-witted Cajun by the name of Marc Vitrac, is embroiled in a heroic rescue effort that takes him deep into the wilds of Venus, and into a war between the Venus native humans, and their Neanderthal enemies. Marc faces a powerful alien intelligence, an army of cavemen armed with Kalashnikovs, the untamed, dangerous wilderness of Venus, and the captivating eyes of a beautiful Shamaness.

This book is an easy read. It’s hard to put down, and once you do, you spend the day hearing that little voice in the back of your head compelling you to find out what’s going to happen next. Despite some similarities to his other works, it is a singular story, with incredible visuals and a wonderful flow. Odyssey Reviews gives ‘The Sky People’ a four and a half medallion rating, and recommends it to anyone who enjoys a good Science Fiction/Alternate History read. Odyssey Reviews also recommends you seek out other titles by this author, including “Dies the Fire” and “Conquistador”.

Publisher: Tor Books (November 14, 2006)
ISBN: 0765314886

Author: S.M. Stirling

(This is a general review, not from an author-submission)

The Cover is Crucial

2007-07-13T13:04:00.000-07:00

Your book cover is the catalyst. It is the thing that will make a browsing reader decide whether or not to reach onto the shelf (or click on the link) and to read the little blurb on the back. The blurb is important, but it comes a close second. It's the image that will catch the eye.

Picking someone to build your cover is also a challenge. Some POD companies offer artistic services; however in my own experience as a POD author, their services are without a doubt, questionable. It is hard to work with someone who hasn't read your story, or who hasn't sat across from you to understand your vision better.

But there are solutions out there that are affordable and professional looking. I personally saw what my POD publisher provided and got green around the gills. Here I was, ten days away from final print, and I had nothing. I turned to an artist who rendered beautiful images using special software. Gorgeous 3-D figures that are still illustrative and intricate. What worked well too was that she also happened to be a friend of 17 years. That certainly didn't hurt; but with someone who can render artwork via computer, revisions are much easier to complete.

You can find a ton of these artists at Renderosity.com and DeviantArt. The wonderful thing about these sites are that you can peruse through the works to find the artist that most represents your style. And many of these folks are quite affordable. They can also create content of any kind, from serious landscapes, stylized imagery, to Fantasy and Science Fiction scenes. There really is no limit to their abilities, and they look extremely professional.

You have to take into account the importance of the cover of your book--because the truth is, people *do* judge a book by its cover. It's up to you to figure out the best way to make them like what they see.

Welcome to Odyssey Reviews

2007-06-25T09:48:00.000-07:00

Who is behind Odyssey Reviews?
I'm a self-published author, a small-press publisher and an avid reader. I have had some on-again-off-again reviewers who've done some reading for this site, including KD Payne, Kris S, and Anna C. I expect (and hope) our number of reliable reviewers will grow over time. Other people have offered and then flaked out. It happens. Even I've been known to flake out sometimes.

As a self-published author, I have discovered how difficult it can be to find good, helpful review sites that provide earnest review services to self-published authors. I do not believe that one should pay for approval or good words for your book jacket; and I am not pleased at the disdain self-published authors receive from some services. I understand that there are many bad self-published authors, but I also believe there are some exceptional ones out there, and I believe they all deserve the chance to be recognized for what they are by the readers they are trying to reach.

Our reviews are performed for the purpose of quantifying the value of the book we have read. In essence, is this book worth buying? We try to be objective about every book we read, hence the limited genres we read. If we read a book with subject matter that doesn't appeal to our personal tastes, but we see that it is a good book, well written, professionally presented, we will rate it based on that; assuming that someone who likes that subject matter would enjoy it more than we did. We might pick on various parts of the subject matter, but our final medallion rating will reflect the overall package. We are reviewing as readers, not as authors. Remember that, and be sure to click on the link in the red text below to fully understand our policy when it comes to reactions from the author.

We also understand that not all authors can afford an editor. But even the most basic tools, like spell-check, or having someone proofread your manuscript for you are available options to just about everyone. In part we do not have any tolerance for someone who submits a book with glaring flaws of that type. There's no excuse for that.
Yes, we specialize in reviews for Self-Published, POD books. If we're having a lull, however, we may just review whatever commercial book we happen to be reading at the time.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Before you submit, read this post. You must understand completely how this review process works before you bother to send a query. We want you to be fully aware of our methods before you move forward and submit your work for our review.

Basic Guidelines:
Any queries submitted that do not meet our guidelines will not be accepted. Our guidelines are as follows:

We do not review erotica. We accept stories with tame sexual content that is in context, however books with detailed sexual descriptions, written expressly as erotica will be refused.
Our preferred genres: paranormal, science-fiction, fantasy and mystery. We don't review these exclusively, however you do want your reviewer to like the genre they're reading; it may effect their final review and rating--so if your book isn't one of these genres, you might wish to find another review service.
We also prefer books that have received at least some basic editing. If the book arrives, and it is outright unreadable for the spelling and grammatical errors, we will refuse the review. You need to know this before you send us your work.
If your work is simply so unreadable that we cannot read it, or can only flame it with a horrible review, we will donate it to the library, and post nothing about it. Any books that rate 2 medallions or lower will not be posted.
[UPDATE] ~~We will only review hard-copy books. No .pdf submittals will be accepted.~~ With the convenience of the e-reader now so readily available (Kindle, Nook, etc.) some of our reviewers might offer the option to email a manuscript in epub or .pdf format. Otherwise, a hard copy finished book is preferred, we do not accept raw manuscripts except on very rare occasions for authors we've already reviewed.
All books must have an ISBN number, and be available for purchase through Amazon or another major bookseller site.
All submissions must first go through the query process. Do not email us your manuscript, it will immediately be rejected.

Submitting your query:
Please submit the following information if you would like your book reviewed, and if your book is chosen for review, you will receive an email with a mailing address where you can send your book.
Please provide the following with your submission:
1. Author Name
2. Book Title
3. ISBN
4. Genre
5. Brief summary
6. Amazon link, or Author's Page Link
7. Additional (brief) notes you think I should know about your book and story.
Please submit this by email to herodyssey (at) msn (dot) com.

So my book is accepted; what happens then?

All submitted books are donated to Reviewers' Local Libary system after reviewed. The submitted book will not be returned to the author.
You can expect to receive an honest and fair review based on the opinion of the reader. We will provide a concise, summary review as well as a medallion rating.
All reviews will be posted on the book's Amazon page upon request by the author.
You may also place the reviews on the book's Authors' Den page under Professional Reviews.
Self-Published Books receiving 5 medallions will be added to our Listmania List of "Notable Self-Published Books".
Even books we're not crazy about will get an objective review; however our medallion ratings will always reflect the readability of the book in the eyes of the reviewer.

What do the Medallions mean?:
We've sat down together and summarized what a medallion rating means on Odyssey Reviews, however there are grey areas, and sometimes other factors may affect a rating. We also do half-medallion ratings, but this list should offer some clarification. Please note that half-ratings do not apply on Amazon, so we will round up to the next whole star--however the medallion rating is the true rating by Odyssey Reviews.

1 medallion: This book is barely readable--it needs serious revision by the author. It is likely that Odyssey Reviews would simply set the book aside rather than submit a scathing review.
2 medallions: This book is not very good; but it has good 'bones'. Requires revision by author. We will not post a review for a book of this rating.
3 medallions: This book is neither great nor terrible. It is forgettable; the style, draw and originality of the story leave more to be desired. Revision could improve it significantly.
4 medallions: This is a good book. There are some flaws here and there that affect the whole.
5 medallions: This book is above standard; and kept our reviewers reading. Earning five medallions also gets a book on our "Notable Self-Published Fiction" list on Amazon's Listmania.

The Indie Award of Excellence is earned by select books (5-medallion earners only) that are particularly excellent. I and other Odyssey reviewers only award this distinction to books we think belong on the shelves of commercial bookstores alongside other traditionally published work. We think these authors deserve an agent, a brick-and-mortar publisher and a marketing department behind them because they're *that* good.