M. Louis's Blog, page 3
March 7, 2016
Review: Ochoco Reach
Ochoco Reach by J.R. Stewart
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Ochoco Reach, by Jim Stewart, is the tale of half-brothers that battle dirty feds, banditos, and the elements. Set in the wilds of Mexico, spectacular Central Oregon, and Portland, Oregon, the brothers rely on more than just their experiences as special force veterans who served in Vietnam. They also draw heavily on their experiences growing up on a ranch with a rich native American influence. In fact Daniel is half Nimi’ipuu, or Nez Perce tribe. Both brothers are connected to the land and hear and rely upon the songs and battle cries of their shared heritage.
But it’s more than just a modern day battle between good and evil. Elements of the book reach back to the old west, reminding us of all of the movies and stories we’ve heard growing up. Plus, as all good books do, there’s a very enticing romance element to contrast against the stark violence.
Very enjoyable, 5 stars!
Filed under: Book Reviews Tagged: crime novel, Crime Thriller, Detective Story, Good Books, Mystery, Portland, Reading, thriller
March 4, 2016
The Keys to Writing a Novel
Key number 1 – Read! A lot. Read other authors to see how they style things. How do they set up a scene? How do they create characters? How do they create an emotional response; any response – love, hate, fear, joy, humor, bad humor, a desire to go to a book burning.
Read different genres. If you’re writing a detective book read sci fi. If you’re writing romance read about zombies. Actually those two are pretty close to the same. In romance two people try to consume each other emotionally, physically, and intellectually. Zombies want to eat brains. See? The same.
Key number B -Write every day. The easiest way to start a book is to write something. It doesn’t matter what it is. It can be a shopping list, a recollection of a past event, or anything that hits your brain. Just write. If you don’t shop, there are exercises on line to help you think out side the box (ie your skull). Eventually something will click. You’ll create a character you love. Or you’ll come up with a unique phrase. I mean pretty much every country song starts with a hook phrase.
And do it every day. It isn’t important how long you sit and write. It is important that you do it every day. Writing is a muscle that needs to be exercised. Pen up, pen down, pen up…
Key number III – Bring in the most talented team you can find. I was a terrible writer (maybe still am but for my great team) but I have a very visual brain. I can see scenes and think I can convert them into black and white marks on a piece of paper. It doesn’t always translate. A team that gets to know you helps interprut your mush and helps to convert it into a fine dining.
Oh and trust your team. They can do lots of good stuff like help create something that will be read by a customer, or keep you from being sued for libel, or protect you from embarrassing yourself. That’s been my biggest fear. Writing something so offensive that I become the target of a social media hate campaign.
Of course letting others in means you have to be willing to delete chunks of work or witty (to you only) phrases. It gets harder the farther you go into the process. You’ll start to see your characters as real people. Changing the color of their eyes can be emotionally challenging.
Key number four – Invest yourself. I mean if you can’t feel it, a reader definitely isn’t going to. If you’re writing a scene about a first kiss think about yours. Describe what you saw, felt, smelled, heard. Involve all of the senses. This means puting on paper for the world to read how you really feel about things. It’s like running naked on a really dark night. People know you’re exposing yourself, but they can’t quite pick out the real you. You’ve disguised you with half truths and things that have nothing to do with the real you.
Key number Z – Don’t sweat it. Don’t worry about how many copies you’ll sell. If it’s one it’s a blessing. Everybody has different goals when they write. My original goal was to finish a book so I could say I had. With that accomplished I set a new goal, sell a copy. Nailed it. Next, sell one in a foreign market. Been there done that. Next, make money. Workin on that one. And my next one? An appearance on the Ellen show. Why not? Why not me? Got to always have a dream.
M. Louis is the author of the Jake Brand PI series. Sign up and get a free copy of book 1, Angel’s Devil rated 4.6 stars on Amazon. Secondhand Smoke (Book 2) is now available. It’s free for Kindle Unlimited subscribers / 2.99 for ebook.
Filed under: Jake Brand Private Investigator, M. Louis Author, Plot Sub Plot Tagged: crime novel, Crime Thriller, Detective Story, Good Books, Reading, writing
March 1, 2016
Review: Looking For Rachel Wallace
Looking For Rachel Wallace by Robert B. Parker
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is easily my favorite Spenser book so far. Spenser feels more rounded and approachable then some of his other stories. In Looking for Rachel Wallace, Spenser is hired to act as a body guard for Rachel. Rachel is a very vocal feminist speaker and writer and regularly puts herself in harm’s way to advance her cause. Spenser, being a guy, struggles to stand idly by while protesters treat Rachel with disrespect. He acts in the way he knows best, with his fists. This male ego driven answer to conflict angers Rachel, who promptly fires Spenser. Shortly after having been fired, Rachel disappears and Spenser feels duty bound to find her and return her to safety.
The dichotomy of the story is that Spenser’s ego creates problems for Rachel, causing her to fire him. But the same drive causes him to feel guilty about having acted out initially and putting Rachel in danger. He will do anything to find her. And if he doesn’t return her to safety, he will regret his actions forever.
Filed under: Book Reviews
February 22, 2016
Review: The Judas Goat
The Judas Goat by Robert B. Parker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The Judas Goat by Robert B. Parker, part of the Spenser series, is a cross continental thriller. Spenser is hired to find terrorists that randomly killed an American family. The door survivor, the wealthy family patriarch hired Spencer to track them down and bring them to justice our kill them.
Spenser sets himself up as a target in London and the group takes the bait and tried to kill him. But they’re amateurs consisted to Spencer.
Fast paced, on the edge of flipping to the next page suspense. Littered with social references of the times, it engrosses you in both its energy and past memories.
Filed under: Plot Sub Plot
February 15, 2016
Review: Mr. Mercedes
Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King is a very entertaining detective thriller novel. No sci fi aliens or goblins, the plot is driven by a simple twisted human bent on hurting and killing as many people as he possibly can. Ramped up to kill dozens, the villain finds pleasure in pushing emotionally troubled targets to kill themselves.
One of his personal targets is a retired detective who, while still a cop, investigated the villains first known crime where he crashed a mercedes into a crowd of people, killing and injuring dozens and somehow escaping.
Retired detective Bill Hodges takes Mr. Mercedes action personally and decided to pursue him inspite of laws clearly prohibiting him from doing so.
The story keeps the reader engaged to the end. The characters are crisp and unique. The plot and story are strong, though a few of the clues seem a bit concocted.
I highly recommend, four stars.
Filed under: Plot Sub Plot
February 8, 2016
What’s harder than writing a book?
How are big important decisions made at Team Jake Brand HQ? Rock, paper, scissors naturally.
After losing a 2 out of 3 match with Hallie, Team Jake Brand member Julienne was tasked with cajoling author M. Louis into writing more blog posts. To make it a little less tortuous for him, she started with an interview style piece. Below are the hilarious results.
Team Jake Brand: What’s harder than writing a book?
M. Louis: Writing a blog. Ugh.
Team Jake Brand: Quit whining. I’m just trying to help, so let’s start at the beginning. Why did you start writing? Had you always wanted to write? Are you one of those people who always felt he had a book in him? Are you in fact, a masochist?
M. Louis: I started writing as a result of the occurrence of several events at the same time. First, I was trying to tweet for my day job….and hated it. Second, I read two books by two best selling authors that were so flawed that I spent more time critiquing then intriguing. Third, I was interested in a new intellectual challenge, and writing is nothing if not intellectually challenging. In fact here’s the recipe; blank paper, pen poised, no name for the book, no plot, no protagonist, antagonist, location, conflict, and best of all no clue about how to write a book. But I made up for it by having bad grammatical skills. What the hell, it was kismet!
Team Jake Brand: Yeah, your grammar does kinda suck, but you hired some great editors so no one but us will know. Oh oops – sorry I guess the cat is out of the bag now huh?
M Louis: Yeah well, moving on… I did write stuff occasionally; technical papers for my work as a tax geek, Christmas letters bragging on my fake family (the truth was just too average or brag-a-docious), and filthy dirty birthday limericks for friends (lots of fun, but not shareable). Also my friends and family didn’t give me grief over my poor grammatical skills.
I never thought there was a book in me, but I’m a passionate reader. Reading has taught me everything I don’t know about writing. Seriously, read, read, read.
Team Jake Brand: Well, I must say you do read quite a lot. Kudos for posting your book reviews. Think we can get you to post some real blogs? This having to trap you in your office and forcing you to answer questions could seriously become a drag for good ole Team Jake Brand.
M. Louis: Ok, ok. Masochist is my middle name. Hmmmm, I think I’ll share some of me, mixed in with some fiction, and throw it out there for complete strangers to critique or praise.
Bring…It…on.
Team Jake Brand: Good on you M! I’ll tell Hallie to put away the thumbscrews.
Get a free ebook copy of Angel’s Devil, Jake Brand book 1 here http://mlouisbooks.com/free/
Filed under: Jake Brand Private Investigator, M. Louis Author, Plot Sub Plot Tagged: Author Interview, Detective Story, Jake Brand, Rock Paper Scissors, Team Jake Brand, writing
January 29, 2016
Review: The Touch
The Touch by Colleen McCullough
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Colleen McCullough’s The Touch: A Novel is not her best. But it’s still great. A sequel to Morgan’s Run which chronicles fictional characters at the time of the initial settlement of Australia, this book looks at Australia at the end of the 1800’s.
As always Ms. McCullogh describes the times; the advent of the steam engine and the hint of the coming gasoline engine; the rise of labor as a political force; the life styles and challenges of the poor, working class, and the wealthy; and white male suppression of women and minorities.
Layered over the historical dissertation is a flawed family that provides emotional flesh and bones to the story.
Alexander hates his step father and the local clergyman who try to beat him down. He leaves home at a young age to find his fortune. He finds gold in Australia and sends money to his hated uncle to buy his cousin Elizabeths hand in marriage. He treats Elizabeth like a possession and ruins any possibility that she will ever love him.
Rejected by his wife, he continues a pre existing relationship with Ruby who runs a bar and house of ill repute. Elizabeth and Ruby become best friends in spite of what others think. In Ruby’s son Lee, Alexander sees the son and heir that he wants.
As complicated as it sounds, it is far more complex in actuality. The family finds itself challenged by a disabled daughter, a second daughter is brilliant but considered flawed because of her sex, unwanted pregnancies, adultery, conflicting family politics and secrets. It is the secrets that seem to rule them, causing them to take actions that are both selfish and self sacrificing.
Filed under: Plot Sub Plot
January 22, 2016
Can’t Get Enough Free Books
We just can’t get enough of this giving away books thing! A few digital copies of Angel’s Devil are still available on the website and now we’ve gone and set up another giveaway on Goodreads too! From now until February 15th, you can enter to win a paperback copy of Secondhand Smoke. (For US addresses only – if you think we should do a giveaway that includes your country, Tweet to M. or post on his Facebook page.)
If you like: Robert Crais, Janet Evanovich, Robert B. Parker, Carl Hiassen and/or Robert Galbraith (aka JK Rowling), you’ll enjoy the Jake Brand PI series.
Enter here: https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/169766-secondhand-smoke
Every time you share this post, and Angel gets her wings and a Devil gets peeved.
Filed under: Jake Brand Private Investigator Tagged: Angel's Devil, crime novel, free books, Good Books, Goodreads, Jake Brand
January 5, 2016
Review: Career of Evil
Robert Galbraith’s (JK Rowling) third novel in the Cormoran Strike series, Career Of Evil, delivers the same high quality and suspenseful entertainment as the first two novels. Galbraith continues to develop the characters by sharing more of their past and expands upon the push / pull relationship between Cormoran and his office mate, Robin.
Faced with the shock of an unwanted delivery that sends Cormoran into the spotlight and his business into a tailspin, he is forced to involve himself in solving a crime, despite warnings from the police and the danger particularly to Robin.
Great read from a great artist!
5 stars
Filed under: Book Reviews Tagged: crime novel, Crime Thriller, Detective Story, Good Books, Reading, thriller
January 4, 2016
Something unexpected about author M. Louis
An Interview with M. Louis, author of Secondhand Smoke from BooksGoSocial
Today we’re chatting with M. Louis, author of Secondhand Smoke
Tell us something unexpected about yourself!
Prior to college, I was a football, basketball and baseball competitor and fan. At the beginning of my sophomore year at Oregon State University, having played one year of intra-murals, I was dared by friends to try out for the OSU soccer team. I did, made the team, and lettered for two years. Of course I was a goalie, so many might argue I wasn’t truly a soccer player.
Jake Brand PI book 2
What kind of books do you write?
I write books that attempt to be witty, romantic and exhilarating. I want the reader to be able to relate to the characters. That requires that the characters be flawed and change with events and the passage of time. I want the reader to be engaged; to find it hard not to turn the page and read the next; or to finish one book and be anxious to begin the sequel.
What inspired you to write?
I love to read. As I do, I often find myself critiquing books and I’ve noticed that even seasoned authors occasionally struggle with their craft. After reading a couple of books by acclaimed authors that weren’t up to their past standards, I concluded I could do just as well. I decided to challenge myself to write a single novel so that I could say I had. In the process of completing the first book, which was the second book published, Secondhand Smoke, I discovered that writing was cathartic. I am incredibly entertained by the journey of starting off with a blank white page and marking it with characters in an organized fashion. And I enjoy the intellectual challenge of crafting something that others might enjoy.
What makes your writing stand out from the crowd?
I am very fortunate to be married to my best friend. I see others that aren’t so lucky and are constantly looking for happiness, comfort, security, passion, etc., sometimes in all the wrong places. I think my characters are on the same path we all take. They make mistakes with the wrong people, but they keep looking and keep trying to find their partner. This is the story thread in my books that I enjoy the most and personally feel is the most important.
Author M. Louis even surprises himself sometimes.
What is the hardest part of writing – for you?
I have to take care to share the right balance of me. I believe every book contains a bit of the soul of its writer. Successful writers include enough, but not too much, of themselves in each of their characters. Recognizing that line can be very difficult at times. Particularly if challenging events are happening in my everyday life.
Where do you like to write – what is your routine?
I like to write in the mornings in my office. I tend to get into the office early, before anyone else. It’s quiet, the phone isn’t ringing and my mind is free to roam. That having been said, when I’m in the middle of the heart of a book, I’ll dream about it. Sometimes my connection to the story is so close, that I’ll dream in enough detail that the next morning I’m just writing down what I dreamt the night before.
What do you do when you are not writing – do you have a day job?
I’m a CPA and own a public accounting company. I employ 13 fantastic professionals and together we provide tax and financial solutions.
Do you work with an outline or just write?
I tend not to write out an outline, though I always have one in my head. As a manuscript increases in length I begin to create an outline of sorts, but not much more than a table of contents. I find I want to flow, and an outline feels confining to me. An outline can feel like a required direction.
With enough copies of your book, you can build a fort.
What advice would you have for other writers?
I imagine that every writer does so for very unique reasons. Each writer’s particular reasons would influence what I might say to them. For me, it is all about the experience. At first the experience was just about creating a single novel. The greatest advice I received at this point was to write every day and write to please myself. The second stage was to publish and market. The greatest advice has been to trust the professionals and to engage with potential readers. But at all stages, a writer should embrace criticism, constantly evolve, and take risks.
How important is marketing and social media for you?
I’m new to marketing and social media. My public accounting practice advances almost entirely by word of mouth. But the books are a different animal. I’m excited to learn how to succeed using modern technology and communication methods to sell my books. I’m so very new to it that each step is an intriguing learning opportunity. One that I’m enjoying.
What’s your next step?
I believe my first two books honestly advance the main characters. I’m currently working on a manuscript that will continue that trend and experiment with different methods of storytelling. I want to evolve as a writer and engage readers more so with each book. Each book needs to be better than the last. I don’t think there will ever be a “best”, but every book is an attempt at that.
Secondhand Smoke by M. Louis is available here It’s free on Kindle Unlimited.
Filed under: Jake Brand Private Investigator, M. Louis Author Tagged: Angel's Devil, Author Interview, crime novel, Detective Story, Jake Brand, Mystery, Reading, writing
