K.M. Frontain's Blog, page 11
March 18, 2013
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The Vampire's Boy (review)
Quick review because it’s late at night, or rather very early in the morning, and I should be sleeping, but here’s another story I read and discovered to be a good read.
I gave this a four star over on Amazon.
I really liked The Vampire’s Boy for the atypical vampire, as compared to the modern treatment of vampires we usually see, the romanticized one that’s sexy. In this story, the vampire is tragic and scary. Brilliant story. I knocked off a star solely for some slow parts that made me start skimming to get through them. Overall, very decent read. The characters were easy to relate to, and the vampire was creepy, and no matter when not present, he seemed like he was. Creepy indeed.
There are some hot scenes between guys, three of them, but the love story between the main character and his best friend is sweet and brave and really made this story special, most especially because of that vampire.
Really enjoyed it. Recommended.
March 17, 2013
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March 16, 2013
Captive Prince by S.U. Pacat, four stars
This review contains big plot spoilers and plot guessing (shame on me), and should be considered as a review for books one and two.
First off, because I like to be upfront where I got/purchased a book, I read both books in this series on LiveJournal. Why? Because a recent reviewer abandoned the first story. I noticed when I received my Goodreads email.
Of course an abandonment always makes me curious when so many others shove a five star rating on the same book. Curiosity led me to look at Amazon reviews, especially the bad ones, and then I found a mention that the entire first novel was over on LJ and off I went. To be honest, the title did not encourage me to want to read (because it sounded like an erotica novel) and nor did the sample. When it all comes down to it, bad or good, the reviews never help me decide. It’s the sample.
The sample wasn’t all that great. I didn’t get enough clues to know if the book would be worthwhile. Rather, I was given a bad impression. But I was still curious and so began reading on LJ.
So why the four star? Well, I knocked off a star for the sample. I should probably knock off another for poor punctuation in the LJ versions, but perhaps the author fixed those in the eBook; I don’t know. Doesn’t matter really. I gave the four star for the remaining content after the poor beginning.
Why do I feel the beginning is poor? We have a prince who is assaulted, coming out of a sound sleep to witness his sex slave butchered before his eyes and then he is beaten, chained and placed in the slave quarters prior to becoming a slave to an enemy prince.
What are his reactions? Anger. Sure. Fear…? Well, the impression is dim. Panic? Dim again. Murderous outrage? Ok, sure. There was that. Caution? Too much, probably, considering there should have been more panic. Shock? Not enough shown. Denial? Yeah, but it was naive, a bit too naive since the POV character (and there is only one for this story) didn’t show the shock necessary to make it plausible. Basically what I’m saying here is that the first chapters glossed the reality of the captive prince’s situation. Panic is mentioned. Naivety is mentioned. But did I feel it like one does when fully engaged with a character? No, not really.
But perhaps the writer had good reason to do it. Perhaps the story would have been too grim if the more realistic aspects were shown. This is a prince–raised to believe he was all but sacrosanct–getting torn from his bed and having a full social reversal. He becomes a nobody, a slave, a sex slave. There should have been a hell of a lot more emotional upheaval, but I didn’t see any real depths emotionally until after the sample, when the captive confronts the possibility of a violent rape. Actually, just a bit before, he confronts that someone inserted an oiled finger into him to prepare him. His absolute unthinking shock was the first intimation of realism for me.
Oh, yeah. Not much sex in the first novel, btw. There is some groping and a semi-faked rape. This is not an erotica novel. And there’s why the title put me off. I didn’t want to read an erotica novel. Most of those have no plot. I like plot. This story has plot and not much sex at all, though it doesn’t shy away from sexuality.
But back to the glossed-over first chapters. I would have liked them to be more realistic in terms of the POV character’s feelings if he were a real man in a real situation, but perhaps that would have bogged the story and perhaps it would also have turned away readers who wouldn’t want to confront circumstances that grim. Many readers balk if the story gets too real in some aspects.
But for me, the story is very worth reading for what follows. Get underneath the politics and the warfare in this story, and you find love at the roots, a false love, a fetish that pretended love, and there at the end of that love, the broken young man who still hasn’t fully accepted a rejection that occurred because of a change in his body. He grew up. And now he is unloved.
Now place this burden on a man destined to be a king and you have what I feel is a really engaging story and I really do want to read to the end to see Laurent rise above his early trauma and win at everything he sets his mind to.
I have to give major kudos to this author. The first two books of my series has pedophilia as a theme, but I set it up as a situation provoked by strange circumstances and unusual reasons. Captive Prince is a non-magical fantasy world in which the pedophilia is realistic (but not at all graphic). My use of the theme was never intended to mimic reality. If you look closely, I just shoved my characters in a really messed up situation, but Pacat actually grabbed the details of pedophilia that truly ruin lives, the details that haunt a victim long afterward. The author has, in this series, grasped the depths of what a victim goes through who was seduced to love his victimizer, and also the depths of manipulation and control a pedophile levies on his victims. And it’s all set in a world where few question the rights of high born men who do this, yet the story questions it very thoroughly.
Four stars for book one. Five for book two. Highly recommended.
P.S. Purchased as an ebook after.
March 13, 2013
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March 6, 2013
My tweets
March 5, 2013
Reloading all Soulstone novels onto Lulu
Fan art of city of Durgven and neighbouring Turamen monastery. Skulky figure in foreground may be Kehfrey/Herfod. I like to think it is. Fan art by Ambra.
I have noticed a problem with my Lulu version ebooks. It occurs on some readers and not others. The reader acts as if the ebook is DRM protected when it is not.
I am reloading the Word docs onto Lulu. Sorry for any inconveniences to readers out there who may have trouble with the files if they purchased them from Lulu. Also, if anyone on iTunes has been having trouble with them, please let me know. Lulu sends the epub to iTunes and Nook for me.
The new versions will take up to a month to show up on iTunes and Nook.
Lot of nice reviews and an update
This is, from left to right, Kehfrey Ihmel, Tehlm Sevet a.k.a. Marun, and Vik Ihmel, as they would appear in The Bound in Stone set in The Soulstone Chronicles. Fan art by Tressa Green.
Last few days, multiple reviews were posted on Amazon for various books, both forThe Soulstone Chronicles and for Gods of Faith and Destruction. I believe there were four reviewers total and more than fifteen five star ratings accorded.
Thank you, all reviewers. 
I wanted to let everyone know that I have been considering not acknowledging reviews via comments on Amazon. I posted about this concern earlier on my blogs but wasn’t sure until now if I should stop, when I should stop or even if I could stop. I like interacting with my readers, but then I thought, ‘What if that makes a reader nervous about leaving a review?’
After that I thought, ‘But what if I don’t leave a thank-you and the next reviewer is disappointed that I didn’t?’
After that I was stuck in a should-I-shouldn’t-I worry knot, and since I have enough trouble with anxiety as it is, I decided I should stop leaving personal thank-you notes on Amazon and just say thank you on my blogs.
So! Big, huge, massive thank you to the latest reviewers. Really big. I needed the encouragement, and your reviews arrived with impeccable timing. You’re all angels.
Next, the update. Showers are great! I get all sorts of ideas in the shower. And then I wonder if I remembered to wash my hair, but that’ not important here. Thing is, I had a great scene idea pop into my head for Redemption 4 yesterday, so I wrote a note to remember it. I’m not physically writing R4 right now, but I’m still working on it up in the noggin.
Currently physically writing Gods of Faith and Destruction 3. I told a friend that I had a better idea for how it should run (Shower! Bless the shower!) and therefore changed the old ending of the last chapter I wrote five years ago (a matter of a few paras only) and now I’m working on entirely new stuff. Vaal is about to go on a sulking rampage. Yeah, because, like, he thinks he’s in charge but… ha, ha, no, not telling.
This morning’s shower idea: I didn’t know what I could offer in the way of rewards if I did a crowd funder to get individual cover art for every book in my Soulstone series. What have I got after I give away all my stories as ebooks or signed copies of the final print versions? I thought nothing. Until this morning.
That’s when I remembered, ‘Oh, yeah. I can edit.’ I decided I should offer a very simple service to funders who might also be fellow writers. Basically, it would be a personal edit of someone’s story, up to a certain number of words, which would give the writer an example of how I would go about strengthening prose in their story. This is something I can do for first person or third person (single or mulitple POV, strict or flowing POV), because I have experience with those POV types.
So yes, I do have something I can offer aside from an ebook back list and signed print copies. I shall look into crowd funding more after I get the family income tax filing done.
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March 4, 2013
Read an eBook Week on Smashwords
Look on the right side bar for the coupon code to make this ebook free.
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/279437
