The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Kingfisher is my new favorite author. I've been devouring her books for about a year now, and I can't get enough. Not only does she write insanely fun fantasy, but I haven't read a creepier horror novel in a decade. The Twisted Ones is not only creepy but also so much fun, with such terrific characters and narrative voice, that I lost sleep because I didn't want to stop reading it. I'm getting the Hollow Places immediately. There is just no end to Kingfisher's brilliance and panache.
View all my reviews
Book Review: Devolution by Max Brooks
Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre by Max Brooks
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Hands-down the best book I've read in 2020. I've never finished the last page of a book and considered immediately starting to re-read it, but I did with Devolution. Suspense, thrills, conspiracies, survival, horror—this book is a masterful portrait of surviving against the worst odds and the worst monsters. It's a modern-day John Carpenter's The Thing. I can't wait for a movie to be made (and I'd be shocked if one weren't already in the works). Max Brooks, please hit us with your next book in less time than what passed between World War Z and Devolution. So terrific!
Bonus: Kate Mulgrew and Nathan Fillion also appear in the audiobook.
View all my reviews
Book Review: Crime Rave by Sezín Koehler
FIVE GIANT STARS!In this dark, gritty follow-up novel to American Monsters, cutting-edge visionary Sezín Koehler brings readers back into an iconoclastic world of murder, mayhem, and revenge, where being a victim is merely a prelude to being an avenger. And what vengeance the characters who've returned from Monsters wreak! Crime Rave is not a novel to expect easy, comforting sequel-like closure from but a thrilling gut-punch to the psyche that'll keep you simultaneously hungry for justice and spooked about just what that might mean. If you like your morning coffee with a shot of whiskey and a filterless cigarette Irvine Welsh-style, you'll want to add Crime Rave to the alchemy.And don't forget to pick up your copy of the incredible prelude to Crime Rave, American Monsters. Here's my review.
Enjoy what you've seen so far? Bonus snark goes out to my newsletter tribe. Join to get novel news, including the first look at new stories, and invitations to contests and giveaways.
The Best I Read In 2014
Bloggdorites! I have been so super busy as the year ends with working and doing this simple little, totally mundane, non-time-consuming thing known as "writing a book or two"—you probably know what I mean—that I haven't had time to do any blogging. I'd love to share all the incredible books I've read this year with you all, but instead, let me just borrow this list from the great speculative fiction author Scott Whitmore. And by the way, his 2014 novella Green Zulu Five One is DEFINITELY one of the best I read this year. Check out my review, and enjoy this list of greats!
Book Review: Green Zulu Five One and other stories from the Vyptellian War
Green Zulu Five One and other stories from the Vyptellian War by Scott WhitmoreMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
If you want the short version of my review, here it is: I loved this story.
Now for more: The first line of Green Zulu 51’s jacket copy is “A war of millions is fought by individuals,” and this gets right to the center of the brilliance that is speculative fiction author and former US Navy officer Scott Whitmore’s military science fiction novella. I enjoy a good space battle—with fighters contesting not only enemies, sometimes aliens, and incredible futuristic weapons, but also the zero-g properties of outer space, the distance scales that ensure rescue from outside could never happen, and the uncertainties and unknowabilities of things like dark matter and wormholes—as much as the next person, but at the end of the day, no story can really keep my imagination occupied for long if the people living that story aren’t interesting, authentic, and "real." Whitmore is a master at painting the stories he tells with vivid clarity and attention to every little detail, as well as bringing the people within them to dramatic life. The characters in GZ51 are all people you'll feel like buying a drink for and spending hours with just listening to their war stories. They are each unique, interesting, surprising, and deeply substantive, which is a pleasant turn for a story that isn’t quite novel length about an intergalactic war.
GZ51 is told in a style that puts readers directly inside the minds and boots of its main characters, a hotshot fighter pilot who isn’t even old enough to drink legally, a grizzled war veteran with more survival instinct in her little finger than most platoons have in their full ranks, and a tired administrative clerk who faces a losing battle that has nothing to do with guns and tactics. Whitmore engages all the senses and brings his battle scenes flying off the page, while skillfully weaving in the psychology and histories of his characters, leaving readers feeling almost as if they’ve been there, done that right beside each of them.
For such a relatively short tale, GZ51 leaves no stone unturned in exposing the intricacies of war from its zoomed-out view of historical, political, and cultural genesis, to the zoomed-in and intimate view of the goals, hopes, and fears of each of its characters, who must fight it in their own ways. Incredibly entertaining and highly recommended. I wish I could give it 10 stars.
Side note: The Devil’s Harvest, the author's alternate steampunk history—with zombies!—of WWI is equally brilliant and a rollicking good read! And bonus, here's an interview I did of Scott talking about writing in steampunk and paranormal genres a while back, too.
Enjoy what you've seen so far? Click the follow button or enter your email to subscribe to new posts and sign up for the General Semantics newsletter to get my writing-only news, including first looks at new stories, and invitations to join contests and giveaways. Thank you!
All content copyright unless otherwise specified © 2014 by Tammy Salyer, writer. All rights reserved.
Book Review: Self-Publisher's Legal Handbook: The Step-By-Step Guide to the Legal Issues of Self-Publishing
Self-Publisher's Legal Handbook: The Step-By-Step Guide to the Legal Issues of Self-Publishing by Helen SedwickMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Few books on publishing that I've read have packed this much information into such a succinct and well-laid out guide. If you are indie or even traditionally published, a novelist, memoirist, or blogger, you will undoubtably find hunks of useful, even vital, information in this book. The author is a business lawyer as well as a novelist and has an engaging, easy-to-understand style packed with the authority of her trade. I consider this a must-read for all indies, which will give you a boost up in understanding the legal side of your craft. I found the section on collaboration particularly thought-provoking.
Book Review: Million Dollar Outlines
Million Dollar Outlines by David FarlandMy rating: 5 of 5 starsWhether you're a casual writer looking for ways to improve your craft, or a more serious writer wanting to strengthen skills you already have, this book is a must.I've been wanting to take a novel writing class from David Farland for years, and wanting to learn to be a more disciplined outliner for even longer than that, so finally reading his Million Dollar Outlines was a perfect synthesis. Not only did the book fit the bill for thinking through and outlining a story, it went far beyond that. David also includes an in-depth and well-explained look into all of the nuts and bolts of a good novel: from characterization, to million dollar plots, to creating winning conflict, to building emotional resonance into your story. All intensely important components of any tale that is meant to have expansive appeal to readers, and laid out in easily groked and understood chunks. Plus, it contains an added highlight: excerpts from a conversation recorded in the late 70s/early 80s between Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, and screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan as they hashed out the plot for Raiders of the Lost Ark. Pure gold!I am a heavy highlighter in almost every nonfiction book I read, and here are a few of the myriad great tidbits from Million Dollar Outlines. I'm sure I'll read it at least three more times, it's so full of great advice."Budrys points out: if the hero does not have to make three attempts to resolve a problem, then the problem was not difficult enough in the first place.""Every story should start with promises made—promises that you must keep."(On creating conflicts) "If a person is at the root of his own problem, it hints at secondary problems—internal conflicts.""Look at truly great stories and you will see this pattern emerge: The author often pulls off a complex resolution rather than working toward a simple resolution."View all my reviews
Book Review: Rogue Genesis by Ceri London
Rogue Genesis by Ceri LondonMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Rogue Genesis, the first novel in Ceri London's Shimmer in the Dark series, is an intricate and visionary science fiction novel that resembles a mash-up of notables like David Weber's Honor Harrington series and Peter Hamilton's The Dreaming Void. With a grand scope and intimate storytelling style, Rogue follows one man, a highly decorated and successful US special forces soldier, as he tries to save not only his family from a malevolent secret society of psychics, but also an entire alien civilization from the devastating cosmic forces that are set to destroy their home world.
Weaving political intrigue, scientific exploration, and elements of fantasy into a suspenseful narrative, London's story is highly ambitious in its vision, and she pulls it off with the kind of necessary plausibility that will appeal to many hard SF fans along with a look inside the intimacies of human nature and relationships that will appeal to those who prefer more character-driven novels.
Though the novel's initial pace is leisurely, London enhances long moments of slow narrative with superbly executed and exciting action that will definitely get your heart racing and your fingers turning the page. Rogue is a novel that is best consumed in large chunks, as its meandering and subtle reveals require a high level of concentration to fully grasp. It is the perfect novel for a weekend spent relaxing beachside or for filling time during a long overseas flight.
Author Spotlight: The Hiro Complex with Susan Spann
Dear Bloggolicious! I'm thrilled to bring back my marvelous friend, mystery writer Susan Spann, today to discuss her latest release in the Shinobi Mysteries and writing in general. Before diving in, I must say how much I love her books Claws of the Cat and Blade of the Samurai (read my reviews to know more about them); they're they kinds of stories that transport you, and have enough twists and intrigues that you want to read them more than once. Take it away, Susan!
1. What in the world made you want to write about 15th century Japan and samurai culture?
I’ve loved medieval Japan since I saw the Shogun miniseries in 1980 (the one starring Richard Chamberlain, for those old enough to remember). The following day I went to the library, got the book, and I’ve been hooked on Japanese culture and history ever since.
When it comes to the Shinobi Mysteries specifically, I had a slightly more dramatic experience. While standing in front of the bathroom mirror getting ready for work in 2011, a voice in my head said, “Most ninjas commit murders, but Hiro Hattori solves them.”
I was startled, but I also knew immediately that this was a series I had to write.
2. How much research do you do, and does most of it occur midstory or before you start writing?
Short answer: LOTS of research. And it happens both before and after I start writing.
Each book in the series is set in or around a different aspect of medieval Japanese culture—for example, the murder in Blade of the Samurai takes place in the shogun’s palace. Before I start writing, I usually read at least two books (and lots of articles) on the subjects that form the “sets” for the mystery. In this case, that meant the Ashikaga shogunate and samurai in Kyoto.
While writing, I always come across finer details I need to research—for example, the precise location and layout of the shogun’s palace in 1565. I don’t stop drafting—I’ll usually just insert a note, like ***find location of palace*** and keep on writing. If the scene or detail is still in the story by the time I reach Draft 4, I stop and find the answer through research.
A lot of the background “research” comes from things I already know, because my undergraduate degree is in Asian Studies, with a concentration in Chinese and Japanese history—so fortunately I wasn’t flying blind when I started out!
3. Now that the first two books are released, what's next for the series?
The third Shinobi Mystery, Flask of the Drunken Master, will release in July 2015, and I’m already working on book 4, working title Blood of the Outcast. I’ve got a series outline that continues beyond that, and I’m hoping to have the chance to write more books in the series.
4. Do you have any side projects, either in the Shinobi series setting or extraneous to it?
I do! But if I told you…I’d have to kill you….
Kidding aside, I just finished a new novel in what might become a second mystery series. I can’t say much about it now, except that it’s also set in feudal Japan. Hopefully I’ll be able to say more about it soon.
The Publishing Paradigm
5. You and I do a lot of cross comparison of indie vs. trad. Have you ever considered the indie route? Why or why not?
I considered all of the options before deciding to take the traditional publishing route with my mystery series. I think it’s important for every author to handle his or her writing career like a business (a value you and I share!) and to consider all the options and make the business decision that best fits the author’s business needs.
For me, the decision to pursue traditional publishing relates to my desire for business partners to handle certain aspects of the publishing process, allowing me to split my time between writing/promotion and my other day job, where I’m a publishing lawyer.
Writing, and the author’s side of promotion, take lots of time. Editing, cover design, and distribution are also time-intensive. The best way for me to operate my business was to obtain “partners”—in the form of a traditional publisher—who would take on some of the heavy-lifting for me, without me needing to keep an eye on that part of the process. In that way, I could work both “jobs”—writer and attorney—without sacrificing the quality of either. However, that also required me to finding a publisher I trusted, with a good reputation, so I could have confidence in the other part of my “business team.” (Fortunately, I’ve found a great partner in Minotaur Books.)
6. What are your thoughts on the hybrid model? Relates to the side-project question. In other words, would you ever consider publishing something unrelated to your Shinobi series on your own?
Short answer: I consider all the options for every project on an individual basis. For me, it’s all about what works best for the project and how it fits in my business model.
The hybrid model (some traditionally-published works and others self- or indie-published) offers great opportunities for authors to reach an audience through different channels. Smart authors are always looking for new and effective ways to deliver high-quality content and reach readers, so I’d never shut an option down without considering how it might work for the project at hand and for my career as a whole.
For the moment, I’m focusing on the Shinobi series, and haven’t really had time to think about much else!
7. You do a lot to give back to the writing community, things like PubLaw and legal advice. What's your motivation for this and what can other authors learn from your example?
My father used to say that every morning, each of us has a choice: we can help make someone’s life a little better, or we can make the decision to make the lives of those we meet a little worse. He also said he hoped I’d always go with option 1.
Dad passed away suddenly in 2009. He never saw my books in print. I like to think that my work with #PubLaw and offering legal advice to authors and editors in need is a way of honoring his life and creating a legacy for those important words. I also hope that people will “pay it forward.”
It really is true that we have that vital choice to make every morning, and also that it doesn’t take a heroic act to improve a life you touch. Sometimes, even little things like a smile or an unexpected kindness makes a far bigger difference than people know.
8. Do you have any upcoming appearances?
I do! Here are my signing dates for the rest of July and August:
Pleasanton, CA: Tuesday, July 29, 2014: 11:00 AM Reading & Signing: Towne Center Books 555 Main Street Pleasanton, CA 94566
San Diego, CA: Saturday, August 2, 2014: 2:00 PM Reading & Signing: Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore 7051 Clairemont Mesa Blvd San Diego, CA 92111
Citrus Heights, CA: Saturday, August 16, 2014: 1:00 PM Reading & Signing: Barnes & Noble, Birdcage 6111 Sunrise Boulevard Citrus Heights, CA 95610
I’ll be in Denver, Colorado at the Tattered Cover on September 3, and also at the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers’ Conference the weekend of September 5-7.
Thank you so much for hosting me!
Susan Spann writes the Shinobi Mysteries, featuring ninja detective Hiro Hattori and his Portuguese Jesuit sidekick, Father Mateo. Her debut novel, CLAWS OF THE CAT (Minotaur Books, 2013), was named a Library Journal Mystery Debut of the Month. The second Shinobi Mystery, BLADE OF THE SAMURAI, releases on July 15, 2014. Susan is also a transactional attorney whose practice focuses on publishing law and business. When not writing or practicing law, she raises seahorses and rare corals in her marine aquarium. You can find her online at her website and on Twitter (@SusanSpann).
Book Review: Blade of the Samurai by Susan Spann
Blade of the Samurai by Susan SpannMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Having only read one or two mysteries prior to beginning Susan Spann's Shinobi series, I had no idea what to expect. Now, I am a huge fan! Masterfully interweaving the deeply textured 16th century Japanese culture with the subtly and intrigue of a murder mystery, Blade of the Samurai draws readers in from page one and holds on relentlessly until the last page is turned. The first book in Susan's series, Claws of the Cat, hooked me instantly with its marvelous characters and rich world, and Blade of the Samurai kept me on the line. With a promise of more to come in next year's release of Flask of the Drunken Master, I am truly a diehard fan.
Exciting news! Susan will be here on Monday to tell us what it's like to be a master of mysterium tremendum and share a little about her Hiro Complex. Don't miss it!
Book Review: Claws of the Cat by Susan Spann
Claws of the Cat by Susan SpannMy rating: 5 of 5 starsAdmittedly, it’s been over a year since I read Susan Spann’s debut novel, Claws of the Cat. The biggest side effect (I know of, at least) of being a reader and writer for a living is that the constant Victoria Falls of new stories, characters, plots, and worlds that submerge my brain tend to make them all jumble and slosh into sometimes indistinguishable tales.Not so with Claws of the Cat.Set in Kyoto, Japan in the fifteen hundreds, Claws of the Cat is a crime fiction mystery and the story of two men, a shinobi in disguise, and his ward, whom he is sworn to protect, a Portugeuse-born Jesuit priest, both drawn into investigating the brutal murder of a samurai in a local teahouse. If the mystery remains unsolved, the price is the Jesuit’s life.Now, you may be saying to yourself, But I don’t know a thing about fifteenth-century Japan. The beauty of Susan’s storytelling is her talent for drawing readers into this rich and culturally intriguing world with delicacy and subtlety, and her stripped-down, dry-witted style is the perfect complement to her equally sharp-as-a-tack and canny main characters, Hiro Hattori and Father Matteo. When you’ve finished reading Claws of the Cat, you will feel as if you’ve taken a minivacation, both in time and place, to old-world Kyoto, sipped tea in the local teahouses of the Pontocho District, felt mud from the streets squishing beneath your getas, barely dodged the lethal swipe of neko-tes wielded by an adept and dangerous kunoichi, and plotted conspiratorially over cups of sake against the shogunate with other rulerless, wild ronin. In short, this is a whodunnit mystery that will paint your imagination vivid, rare, and intoxicating colors. Don’t miss it! And most exciting of all, the follow-up novel, Blade of the Samurai, is coming soon.View all my reviews
Book Review: Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass
Being a writer is probably 80 percent instinct and 20 percent skill. Most writers have amazing, subversive, expansive imaginations, yet we also seem to have an innate, unharnessable quality that allows us to translate those swirling worlds that exist within our brainmeats to comprehensible, accessible, and (if we're doing it right) entertaining stories for our readers.Despite the innateness of this quality, or perhaps because of it, we do ourselves a favor by taking the occasional class or seminar, or reading the occasional book, that helps us further develop and refine our craft. Writing the Breakout Novel by literary agent Donald Maass is one such book.In WtBN, Maass does a great job of breaking down and describing the many elements that go into writing a novel (premise, theme, conflict , etc.). The real gem of this book though is the well-structured information dump of the differences between fiction that soars above the average and ordinary and fiction that, to readers, may come off as dull and uninspired. Maass includes tons of examples of both mainstream literary and genre fiction to help illustrate his points (and provoke a sense of eye-rolling self-satisfaction depending on how many of the examples you've already read), and if you're the analytical type or an avid reader, you'll identify right off what he's describing. After learning what makes a novel breakout the next step is learning how, and I think Maass has actually created an exercise book as companion to this one.I highly recommend this for writers. Even if you're comfortable and confident in your skills, there is almost a certainty that this book will inspire you to think of your current or future novels in new and exciting ways.***
A One-Shot Kill – In Half a Million Rounds
Readers, please welcome guest poster and mystery author Susan Spann to the halls of blogdom today. Many of you know Susan as a multi-featured guest here, and the reason is obvious. She's just so darn awesome. Join me in congratulating her on the recent release of her debut novel, Claws of the Cat. And there's two more on the way!
All it takes is fortitude and the will to put enough words on the page.
Top-notch snipers always hit the bulls-eye when it counts.One shot, one kill, one mission accomplished.Watching a sniper in action, it’s easy to think that every shot a sniper fires always strikes the target. The observer doesn’t see the ten thousand rounds that sniper put down range in practice, many of which went wide of the bulls-eye mark. But every good sniper knows the way to make a one-shot kill is half a million rounds of practice time.The same applies to success in the publishing world.My debut Shinobi mystery, Claws of the Cat, required only one conference pitch to land an agent, and sold in a three-book deal two months after that agent sent it on submission. To outside eyes, that looks a lot like a sniper making a thousand-yard kill with a single bullet. It’s almost a miracle—even to me, and even now.But what most people don’t see are the four completed manuscripts (five, if you count the 80,000-word epic fantasy novel I wrote in high school) lurking in my digital “trunk.” They don’t see the seven years of daily writing and polishing craft that it took for me to write those other manuscripts—or the dozens of rejections those novels earned along the way.Today, I’m shining a light on those dark corners of my road.I’ve wanted to be an author since my preschool days—essentially from the moment I learned to read. Stories buzzed incessantly in my head, and by high school, I believed myself “good to go.” In 1986 I penned a full-length novel set in the fantasy world of Terinthia—basically “Generic_Fantasy_001 [With Dragons].” It took two years to write and five to edit, and I never showed it to anyone but my high school English teachers.In retrospect, that’s a good thing—the story sucked like a Dyson.Flash forward to 2004. By then, I’d graduated from law school and spent almost a decade practicing law, but publication remained a distant dream. That year I made a commitment to write “as often as I could.” I attended the Maui Writers Conference, and my historical fiction manuscript was a finalist in the writing competition. I was psyched! My time had come!Or maybe not ...I queried agents about that manuscript and received some requests for reads, but every one of them ended in rejection. I had to face a difficult truth. My writing wasn’t ready.I mourned my beloved novel, and wrote another one. I queried it. Again, I faced rejection.I kept on writing.By 2011, I’d written four more novels—a total of 500,000 words. All four manuscripts were rejected, multiple times, by dozens of agents. Many of those agents wrote me encouraging notes or emails, but at the end of the day, they rejected me, along with my manuscripts, more than once.I kept on writing.Early in 2011, inspiration struck again, this time for a mystery novel about a ninja detective. Writing a mystery sounded hard, but I figured I couldn’t do any worse than I’d already done with historical fiction.I wrote my ninja mystery under the working title SHINOBI (an alternate word for “ninja”). In the process, I fell in love with mystery writing. I finished the novel in record time. That September, I attended the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers’ Colorado Gold conference and pitched SHINOBI to literary agent Sandra Bond. What happened from there it looks a lot like a one-shot kill.Except that it wasn’t really, and now you know that too.Publishing success, like a sniper’s skill, is achieved through and many, many hours of work—which means many words on a page. It took me seven years of focused study to do it right. Some people succeed much faster than I did. Others take longer. But one thing my journey has taught me, without a doubt, is this: I didn’t succeed because I am any brighter or any better than anyone else. I succeeded because I was just too stubborn and too determined to fail.It took me half a million words to learn to write Claws of the Cat (which, if you’re wondering, contains just over 62,000 words), but I did it. I succeeded. And if I can, anyone else can, too. All it takes is fortitude and the will to put enough words on the page.Bio: Susan Spann is a transactional attorney and former law school professor whose practice focuses on publishing law and business. She has a deep interest in Asian culture and has studied Mandarin and Japanese. Her hobbies include Asian cooking, fencing, traditional archery, martial arts, rock climbing, and horseback riding. She keeps a marine aquarium where she raises seahorses and rare corals. You can find Susan online at http://www.susanspann.com, or on Twitter @SusanSpann. Her debut Shinobi mystery, Claws of the Cat (Minotaur Books) released on July 16, 2013.
The Domino's Pizza Approach: Promote Your Book in 30 Minutes or Less
For many indie authors, marketing and self-promotion, I think, can make our guts squirm like too many dyspeptic squid inside a fishbowl. For some it is merely daunting, for others it is a billboard-sized map without a legend or north arrow and written in a language we don’t speak. We all know there is a ton to do, but few of us have a game plan for how to do it, and even fewer of us have much desire to cut into our valuable and hard-fought-for writing time to actually make it happen.Remember when you were a kid and the only way to get through a horrible side dish that your parent prepared was by cutting it into the smallest bites possible so that you could swallow it without it ever touching your tongue? That is the same approach you can take to marketing and self-promotion. Small, digestible chunks that require minimal exposure.Below I have compiled a list of small bites for the discerning and finicky palettes of non-marketing-oriented writers. Putting in a half hour a day to tackle each is an easy and mostly painless strategy for plugging your books. I can’t guarantee you that each will net you the kind of exposure and sales you’re hoping for, but the aggregate of each day’s efforts will certainly get you farther down that path than the familiar comfort of procrastination.
List of Marketing and Promotion Tools for the Indie Author
Hone your elevator pitch.
Search for upcoming writer’s conferences to attend. I’ve participated and thoroughly enjoyed both the Willamette Writers Conference and the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers Conference, but there are gads more. Conferences are a superb way of meeting like-minded people, making wonderful friends, and connecting with others in the industry from whom you can learn.
Write a template for making a book review request. Remember to customize this for each individual person you’ll make a request to. Here’s a good starting place on Stephanie Loree’s blog. And another article on Amazon.
Search for a book reviewer on Twitter, Wordpress, Blogger, or Amazon, then send them your request. Here are my Twitter lists of reviewers. List one. List two.
Enter a contest. Here are just a few. (Note: I’m not endorsing any of these as I’m not familiar with all of them. Just food for thought.)
The Kindle Book Review Best Indie Book Contest (my favorite because my first novel, Contract of Defiance, was a finalist last year, and my second, Contract of Betrayal, was just announced as a semi-finalist today).
A list from the San Francisco Book Review.
Step one: Join Unbound, Pubslush, or Kickstarter to raise money and hire a PR manager. Unbound and Pubslush are like Kickstarter, but for writers only.
Step two: Write/develop an Unbound pitch and/or Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for hiring a PR manager.
Enter your books (if they are science fiction), on ScifiKindle for some free social networking promotion.
Send a personal tweet on Twitter to fans of your genre. Make requests of your writer friends to tweet your book.
Create a letter to successful writers in your genre to request a book blurb/endorsement. Remember to customize this for each individual person you’ll send your request to.
Search for writers in your genre (if you don’t already have a list), and send them your personalized request.
Update your LinkedIn profile with your publications, and search the site for promotional groups to learn how others are doing it and gain/give support. Here’s my LinkedIn profile.
Make book cards/coupons to give away whenever the opportunity presents itself. Try Livrada, Greenerside Digital, or review this list at MediaBistro.
Join message boards of fans in your genre to engage and, when the time is right, introduce your books.
Update your blog with a new post about what you’re working on.
Create an email newsletter. Molly Greene has a few excellent posts about this on her blog. And here's another from author Steena Holmes on the Writers in the Storm blog.
Design a contest or giveaway that focuses on increasing your readership and find a date on your calendar to run it.
Invite writer friends to join a blog hop.
Suggest writing a guest post for someone else who's blog you follow or relates to your genre.
Submit a book to BookBub or StoryBundle.
Find out how to organize a book reading at your local library, bohemian coffee shop, or bookstore.
Create bookmarks or business cards to promote your book.
Search for Facebook groups where authors are free to plug their books, then plug yours. And create a Facebook page.
Join Goodreads and list your books.
And this is just for starters. Navigating the promo planet is tricky, but not impossible, and every small step forward will eventually lead you to your destination. If you’re also an indie author, please feel free to share your wisdom. What other methods and techniques have you tried? What’s worked and what hasn’t?Here's another great post on the subject over at David Gaughran's blog.
Book Review: Bypass Gemini by Joseph Lallo
I had the pleasure of being a finalist in the Kindle Book Review Best Indie Books Contest in 2012 with author Joseph Lallo. Both of us were in the science fiction/fantasy category (and we both lost to Hugh Howey, which is kind of like losing to Spartacus at Flanders—which is to say, you're a little overwhelmed by the company and just excited to be in the same contest/race). Joseph and I traded books, and now, over a year later, Bypass Gemini finally made it to the top of my stack of must-reads.Folks, I am positively bursting to tell you how incredible this book is!Excitement? You got it. Protagonist Trevor "Lex" Alexander, a down-on-his-luck delivery boy who also happens to be the most hotshot pilot in the galaxy, is hired by a nervous, no-name client to courier a package of top-secret data to a similarly ambiguous point. Problem is, VectorCorp, the largest trans-galaxy corporation in the universe, prefers it not get couriered, and the kind of no-holds-barred flying we haven't seen since Luke Skywalker took out the Death Star ensues. Along the way, there are some crashes, bruises, passive-aggressive arguments with a computer, death threats, shoot outs, black holes, lovable rodents, sorely slacking hygeine, asteroid wreckers, and stroke-inducing gadgets of all kinds to keep Lex from getting too comfortable with his skills.Fun? Check. Lallo's turn of phrase and quirky imagination create some of the most memorable characters and hijinks you've ever read. When it comes to Lex, think Neal Stephenson's Y.T. from Snow Crash meets Adam Young from Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett's Good Omens. And that is just for starters. Throw in a mercurial but lovable artificially intelligent supercomputer named Ma, an evil genius/sociopath, who happens to love his pet funk, named Karteroketraskin "Karter" Dee (also the initials of Krispy Kreme Donuts. Coincidence?), a few intergalactic hotties, mob bosses, and douchey wet-work handlers for the corporate entity, and Gemini offers a crazy carnival of non-stop action and adventure. Every page will leave you chuckling.If you enjoy lighthearted space opera with a twist of detective noir, wry humor similar to the writing of John Scalzi, and surprising and fun characters much like you find in Stephenson's, Pratchett's, and Gaiman's novels, you will be in great hands with Lallo's Bypass Gemini and it's followup, Unstable Prototypes.About author Joseph Lallo from Amazon.A resident of Bayonne, NJ - the fabled birthplace of George R. R. Martin - Joseph Lallo is an unlikely entry into the world of literature. After a childhood spent daydreaming and reading, he fully intended to pursue a career in the tech sector. He received a Master's Degree in Computer Engineering from NJIT, and subsequently got a job working IT for a large healthcare corporation. Things changed when, in January 2010, his friends finally convinced him to publish the story that had accumulated over the course of a decade of spare time. That story, now known as the Book of Deacon Trilogy, was a surprise hit, and once he got a taste of the world of indie writing, he was hooked. Now he splits his time between crunching numbers at his day job, writing novels at night, and writing articles and reviews for BrainLazy.com, a group blog he helps run. His latest novels are Bypass Gemini and Unstable Prototypes, the first two books of a science fiction series.
Book Review: The Forever Gate - Part One by Isaac Hooke
I'm a reader who likes my serial fiction the way I like my single-malt scotch—complex, unpredictable, and which leaves a long, lingering hint of things to come on the palate. With this in mind, the Forever Gate - Part One is easily comparable to an Aberlour 12 Year Old, Double Cask. In other words, one of the finest drams of serial fiction you'll ever stick your nose in. As I mentioned to author Isaac Hooke, few things are more gripping as a story opener than a good [SPOILER ALERT] beheading, and it doesn't slow down from there. With a well-developed mix of fantasy and far-future inferences, Hooke drops readers into a world that is deeply foreign, gritty, and chilling and sets up such arresting nuances of conflict between his group of Users and Gols that we instantly have a side to route for. But, much like Hooke's leading protagonist's name, Hoodwink, there is much more going on than readers will grok at first. With the dystopian backdrop and quirky characters that never come close to having a wooden "finish," the Forever Gate will grab ahold of you and not let go. The question readers are left with is not will they read Forever Gate - Part Two, but how soon can they get a copy.
Enjoy what you've seen so far? Subscribe by using the 'Click to Follow' button or enter your email near the top of the page, and never miss a post.
All content copyright unless otherwise specified © 2008-2013 by Tammy Salyer, writer. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to use short quotes provided proper attribution is given.
New Contract of Defiance Review
Props for Contract of Defiance from a man who knows his military scifi. Nice! Thanks, Scott.
Enjoy what you've seen so far? Subscribe by using the 'Click to Follow' button or enter your email near the top of the page, and never miss a post.
All content copyright unless otherwise specified © 2008-2013 by Tammy Salyer, writer. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to use short quotes provided proper attribution is given.
Book Review: American Monsters by Sezín Koehler
5 FLYING STARS!For a truly unique and in-depth look at the myriad faces culturally entrenched misogyny wears, American Monsters pulls no punches. Author Sezín Koehler digs deeply into the collective consciousness of women across America and flips pile after pile of dirt off the coffins of rape and abuse survivors' fear, shame, guilt, and horror, allowing those ugly and emaciated skeletons to dance again and bare their shunned stories for all to see. And that type of storytelling is what is needed in a culture that still treats the subject of rape as a thing for entertainment and titillation.And this is only part one of American Monsters.In part two, Sezín provides a series of nonfiction analytical essays that unpack a variety of theories on the horror genre in American culture, arguing convincingly that the genre itself is rooted on the victimization and otherizing of women. Using examples from works by the King of Horror himself, Stephen King, as well as many popular movies, Sezín's understanding and explanation of the roots and impact of the genre on women and societal attitudes in general gives readers a fascinating and thought-provoking range of ideas to digest.This book will take you through a roller coaster of emotions—ferocious anger, divine celebration, and marveling thoughtfulness. I highly recommend it to anyone with a uterus, an interest in those with a uterus, and a hunger for a more thorough look at our society's trends and attitudes toward women, specifically as it relates to the horror genre. If you're a fan of the book Cunt by Inga Muscio, American Monsters needs to take the place of honor right beside it on your library shelf.Other recommended reading on feminist, art, film, and the horror genre.
- Imagining the Worst: Stephen King and the Representation of Women by Kathleen Lant and Theresa Thompson
- The Monstrous-Feminine: Film, Feminism, Psychoanalysis by Barbara Creed
- Film, Horror, and the Body Fantastic by Linda Badley
- Delusions of Gender: How Our Minds, Society, and Neurosexism Create Difference by Cordelia Fine
- Fields of Vision: Essays in Film Studies, Visual Anthropology, and Photography by Leslie Devereaux and Roger Hillman
Besides being a fascinating, complex, marvelous, talented, friend and feminist, who is Sezín Koehler? Learn more here.
Enjoy what you've seen so far? Bonus snark goes out to my newsletter tribe. Join to get novel news, including the first look at new stories, and invitations to contests and giveaways.All content copyright unless otherwise specified © 2008–2015 by Tammy Salyer, writer. All rights reserved.
Contract of Defiance is a Finalist!
Great news to wake up to this morning. Contract of Defiance is named a top 5 Finalist in the 2012 Kindle Book Review Best Indie Book Contest for Science Fiction/Fantasy. Yay! Nothing makes writing more gratifying than getting a good review and being highly ranked in a contest. It's incredibly validating. My friend and stellar contemporary fiction/mystery writer, Molly Greene, recently did a two-part blog series on how and why to enter contests that are well worth the read, here and here.So hats off to myself and the four other finalists! The winner will be announced in October, but as far as I am concerned, we were all winners when we entered the contest.SCI-FI/FANTASY…Bypass Gemini by Joseph LalloContract of Defiance by Tammy SalyerDremiks by Cassandra DavisThe Darkening Dream by Andy GavinWool Omnibus by Hugh Howey
Enjoy what you've seen so far? Subscribe by using the 'Click to Follow' button or enter your email near the top of the page, and never miss a post.
All content copyright unless otherwise specified © 2008-2013 by Tammy Salyer, writer. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to use short quotes provided proper attribution is given.
Book Review: Mystic River by Dennis Lehane
Have you ever picked up a volume of something, whether a novel, a historical study, even a cookbook, and after reading just a few words became so wrapped up in it that the rest of the world completely disappeared? OK, maybe this doesn't happen much with cookbooks, unless you're a chef and cooking is your thing. As a dedicated reader, I have sunk my fangs into untold books and have become very good at spotting something that will turn my knob within the first few paragraphs. And I'm definitely not the kind of person who will force myself to sit through an entire story, ten or so hours of my life, if those first sentences don't do it for me. There are so many wonderful books out there, there's no reason to make them wait on the less wonderful books (and by less wonderful, I just mean the ones that don't work for me personally, it doesn't necessarily mean there's anything wrong with the writing).Mystic River is one of those books that stripped the outside world away and made me want to stay on the couch until I'd read the entire 500 or so pages. A lot of you probably saw the movie by the same name starring Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, and Kevin Bacon that won quite a number of awards a few years ago, and deservedly so. When I saw the movie, I was quite moved by the entire story. The plot, the dramatic turns, and the heartwrenching emotional impact of it all was profound. It seemed that if a movie, which is often a poorly modified version of the original story when coming from a book, could be so well done, the book must be an amazing piece of work. And in the case of Mystic River, that's true times ten.Dennis Lehane has drawn the three main characters and all of his supporting characters with a pen made of part gold and part brilliance. It's not often that I read a book where at least at some point I feel like the author has to resort to at least a little bit of a laundry list to get across all the character details s/he wants. Not so with Mystic River. The story Lehane tells is so viscerally and subtly powerful that it's almost as if you're there, not reading about these people and the tragedy that befalls them, but witnessing it, a passer-by on the sidewalk.For those who don't know, here's just a quick synopsis of the story. In the mid-seventies, three boys, Sean Devine, Jimmy Marcus, and Dave Boyle are just typical kids growing up in a blue collar neighborhood in Boston. One day, Dave is abducted and sexually abused for four days by unknown men. When he escapes, his life and the lives of his friends are forever changed.They grow up and fulfill what could be argued are sadly unavoidable twists of destiny: Sean becoming a State Trooper, Jimmy becoming a criminal, and Dave living a marginal blue collar life. They lose touch with each other beyond an occasional nod in a neighborhood bar, but their lives come into collision again when Jimmy's oldest daughter is found brutally killed the night before she planned to elope with her boyfriend. Sean is assigned to the case and Jimmy makes it clear that Sean either finds the killer soon, or he will. Jimmy's wife is cousins with Dave's wife, and they begin to grow close again as Dave and Celeste help Jimmy and Annabeth work through their grief.The cruel twist of fate, however, is this question: on the night Jimmy's daughter is killed, Dave returns home covered in blood with no strong alibi for what happened. He admits to having seen Katie, Jimmy's daughter, minutes before she died, but claims not to know what became of her. Is Dave lying? Did he kill Katie?The story uncovers the deepest secrets of the human heart and studies what it is that makes a person do what they do. It asks the questions of whether or not fate can be challenged, and how, and if there's any way to avoid your own. It's a beautifully written novel and I highly recommend it.Dennis Lehane has a new book out now called Moonlight Mile. I picked it up at the grocery store and read the first couple of pages yesterday--I could tell right away that it's going to be just as fantastic. He's also the author of Shutter Island, and many others.