S.J. Reisner's Blog, page 112
September 30, 2010
Book Review: Domme By Default
Domme By Default
by Tymber Dalton: This is actually an erotica (bdsm) novella rather than a novel. However, the quality of writing is there, which I've come to expect from Tymber Dalton. Tymber also wrote The Reluctant Dom, which you should definitely Kindle - grab a box of tissue before you do because it's brilliantly wonderful and sad!
While Domme By Default was a short story it was still long enough to make me care about the characters and made me want to see them through their difficulties.
{SPOILERS} Basically the story follows a married couple into their exploration of bdsm after the husband decides he wants his wife to dominate him. The problem? She wants to be dominated, too, but she loves him so much she's willing to give it a go.
One criticism - the entire first chapter is redundant, but once you get into the story it's a lot of fun. I enjoyed how the chapters alternate from his point of view to hers. Nicely done and another fun read if you don't want something too long or committal.
by Tymber Dalton: This is actually an erotica (bdsm) novella rather than a novel. However, the quality of writing is there, which I've come to expect from Tymber Dalton. Tymber also wrote The Reluctant Dom, which you should definitely Kindle - grab a box of tissue before you do because it's brilliantly wonderful and sad! While Domme By Default was a short story it was still long enough to make me care about the characters and made me want to see them through their difficulties.
{SPOILERS} Basically the story follows a married couple into their exploration of bdsm after the husband decides he wants his wife to dominate him. The problem? She wants to be dominated, too, but she loves him so much she's willing to give it a go.
One criticism - the entire first chapter is redundant, but once you get into the story it's a lot of fun. I enjoyed how the chapters alternate from his point of view to hers. Nicely done and another fun read if you don't want something too long or committal.
September 29, 2010
Happy Hump Day!
I am in a much better mood today. ::sigh:: There are just days some people really strike my last nerve. Of course a bad day makes that so much easier.
Confession time! I still have a day job. What can I say? I like the steady income. Sure, I make enough writing that I could probably quit the day job and maybe take on something part time, but really - book sales fluctuate month to month so writing income just isn't guaranteed enough. I mean, there's a monthly average I usually reach, but of course you have to remember that you don't get paid instantly on book sales. Some publishers pay quarterly and even on my Indie stuff I get paid at the end of each month for the previous month's sales. ::shrug::
I'm really busy at the day job this week. This is hampering my writing work flow since I've had to bring day-job work home to finish. Not to mention I need to squeeze some time for my hubby in there somewhere. I have edits on two shorts due the 30th, but plan on talking to my editor at MF to see if we can extend that, just in case I need it.
That's why this week I'm focusing on short fiction, which is a nice change.
I really want to finish the novel I'm reading, too. So many fun things to do and only so many hours in my day.
Confession time! I still have a day job. What can I say? I like the steady income. Sure, I make enough writing that I could probably quit the day job and maybe take on something part time, but really - book sales fluctuate month to month so writing income just isn't guaranteed enough. I mean, there's a monthly average I usually reach, but of course you have to remember that you don't get paid instantly on book sales. Some publishers pay quarterly and even on my Indie stuff I get paid at the end of each month for the previous month's sales. ::shrug::
I'm really busy at the day job this week. This is hampering my writing work flow since I've had to bring day-job work home to finish. Not to mention I need to squeeze some time for my hubby in there somewhere. I have edits on two shorts due the 30th, but plan on talking to my editor at MF to see if we can extend that, just in case I need it.
That's why this week I'm focusing on short fiction, which is a nice change.
I really want to finish the novel I'm reading, too. So many fun things to do and only so many hours in my day.
September 28, 2010
Tuesday's Thoughts
1. If you've written a novel, why stick "A Novel" after the title? It's really annoying. The fact that the book is likely listed as fiction or on the shelves with the fiction should be the reader's first clue, shouldn't it? I mean -are the majority of readers so stupid that we need to be told it's a novel? Just asking...
2. If you have comprehension problems you shouldn't be allowed to call yourself a literary writer. It always amazes me how many alleged writers have a hard time comprehending the written word. This is often demonstrated by the inability to follow clearly written instructions and the inability to read something and take it at face value instead of throwing one's own supposition and assumption into the mix.
3. Stop acting like the only "quality" writing can be found in "literary" fiction. Just because you own a thesaurus doesn't mean you have to constantly use it, nor does use of words like loquacious or misanthropic make you literary. Oh - and same thing with all the pretty metaphors that go nowhere.
4. Don't knock "genre fiction" and exalt "literary fiction". It only makes it obvious that you've never studied literature. For if you had you'd realize a lot of the great literary classics would be considered "genre fiction" by today's standards.
5. Don't get all huffy and say "me, me me!" in your response to something I've said, then when I say it wasn't about you, try to tell me you never thought it was about you. Did you not understand the definition of "me" when you used it ten times in your one paragraph post?
6. Don't use words like "Dear" and "Sweetie" when addressing the person you're responding to, then pretend like you weren't trying to be dismissive, chiding, or superior.
7. Making pot-shots at genre authors, using the excuse that the only reason they're popular is due to advertising dollars, only proves that you're an obscure literary novelist who no one wants to read and who is jealous of the writers who actually have an audience and actually make a living writing.
Umm, yeah - that's about it. Have a great Tuesday!
2. If you have comprehension problems you shouldn't be allowed to call yourself a literary writer. It always amazes me how many alleged writers have a hard time comprehending the written word. This is often demonstrated by the inability to follow clearly written instructions and the inability to read something and take it at face value instead of throwing one's own supposition and assumption into the mix.
3. Stop acting like the only "quality" writing can be found in "literary" fiction. Just because you own a thesaurus doesn't mean you have to constantly use it, nor does use of words like loquacious or misanthropic make you literary. Oh - and same thing with all the pretty metaphors that go nowhere.
4. Don't knock "genre fiction" and exalt "literary fiction". It only makes it obvious that you've never studied literature. For if you had you'd realize a lot of the great literary classics would be considered "genre fiction" by today's standards.
5. Don't get all huffy and say "me, me me!" in your response to something I've said, then when I say it wasn't about you, try to tell me you never thought it was about you. Did you not understand the definition of "me" when you used it ten times in your one paragraph post?
6. Don't use words like "Dear" and "Sweetie" when addressing the person you're responding to, then pretend like you weren't trying to be dismissive, chiding, or superior.
7. Making pot-shots at genre authors, using the excuse that the only reason they're popular is due to advertising dollars, only proves that you're an obscure literary novelist who no one wants to read and who is jealous of the writers who actually have an audience and actually make a living writing.
Umm, yeah - that's about it. Have a great Tuesday!
September 27, 2010
Book Release, Books on Sale, and More!
The book release party was well attended. I'd like to thank everyone who stopped by. I enjoyed seeing all of you and you made the book's release a joy! I had a great time and I hope all of you did, too.
On that note, Outer Darkness is currently on sale at Amazon for the low price of $7.91!!! So now there's really no reason to not snag yourself a copy.
:)
In other news Into Darkness is well on its way to a first draft being done. I expect to have a first draft of that book before years' end. ...
On that note, Outer Darkness is currently on sale at Amazon for the low price of $7.91!!! So now there's really no reason to not snag yourself a copy.
:) In other news Into Darkness is well on its way to a first draft being done. I expect to have a first draft of that book before years' end. ...
September 24, 2010
Reviews: Erotica Shorts
Now that I have a Kindle I've been enjoying reading short fiction as well. Here are a few erotica shorts I've read recently.
At the Dungeon Master's Hand - (Jennifer Cole) Okay - so this one is about three adventurous young women who venture out for a night at the bdsm club for the experience. While there, the women experience some pretty hot sex that ends up developing into something more. This is actually the first story. There are three of these books. I've only read the first. I will...
At the Dungeon Master's Hand - (Jennifer Cole) Okay - so this one is about three adventurous young women who venture out for a night at the bdsm club for the experience. While there, the women experience some pretty hot sex that ends up developing into something more. This is actually the first story. There are three of these books. I've only read the first. I will...
September 23, 2010
Thoughtful Thursday: Discipline
Yeah - I missed Wednesday's post. I was just too busy yesterday.
So let's see what I have to report today. I haven't been reading this week, I wrote almost 10,000 words Tuesday. I got some edits and cover art back from one of my editors (Midnight Fantasy baby!). Should be an interesting experiment. And no - I didn't make a lot for the novella's ($50 advance each), but I will be getting royalties after that at 1.94 per copy sold.
This weekend I'm going to be exploring more cover art options on I...
So let's see what I have to report today. I haven't been reading this week, I wrote almost 10,000 words Tuesday. I got some edits and cover art back from one of my editors (Midnight Fantasy baby!). Should be an interesting experiment. And no - I didn't make a lot for the novella's ($50 advance each), but I will be getting royalties after that at 1.94 per copy sold.
This weekend I'm going to be exploring more cover art options on I...
September 21, 2010
Time-Bomb Tuesday!
I finally have excerpts of ALL the current novels up on the website at sjreisner.com. So check it out! If you like what you see, please buy a copy of one of my novels. Don't forget they're all available on Kindle, too. And if you want ePub copies -- conact me! I have them, I just haven't found a good sales outlet for them yet. Still working out how to sell them directly off my website using Paypal. Sadly the major ePub outlets aren't friendly to small press or Indie authors unless you count ...
September 20, 2010
Professional or Not? Legitimately Published or Not?
A conversation between me and a friend:
Friend: "Steph, I just got a publishing contract with XX publishing company and I got a $4000 advance!"
Steph: "Awesome! That's so cool."
Friend: "I have edits due by this date and covers will be out this date. It's so stressful. Lucky you don't have this sort of thing."
Steph: ::raises eyebrows::: "Howso?"
Friend: "Well, you're not professionally or legitimately published so you don't have things like real deadlines and all that."
Steph: "What do you mean?"
F...
Friend: "Steph, I just got a publishing contract with XX publishing company and I got a $4000 advance!"
Steph: "Awesome! That's so cool."
Friend: "I have edits due by this date and covers will be out this date. It's so stressful. Lucky you don't have this sort of thing."
Steph: ::raises eyebrows::: "Howso?"
Friend: "Well, you're not professionally or legitimately published so you don't have things like real deadlines and all that."
Steph: "What do you mean?"
F...
Monday Magick
So one of my more recent guilty pleasures is reading erotica fiction. I've been reading a lot of short fiction by Jennifer Cole. I thought it might be fun, at some point, to try my hand at writing some erotica for Kindle release only. Perhaps short stories. I'd use yet a fourth pen-name for that. Or perhaps I could just keep the Audrey Brice since she is my over 18 pen name. Then again, do I really want friends and family to know I'd be writing such naughty things? LOL!
Who am I trying to kid...
Who am I trying to kid...
