K.M. Frontain's Blog, page 12

My tweets

Sat, 14:20 : Smashwords: Read an Ebook Week Kicks off at Smashwords Sunday ... http://t.co/Ez71KtrTQZ

My tweets

Wed, 08:37 : First bad review of Bound in Stone One http://t.co/wzlOrf5gcR Wed, 08:47 : Bad review of Bound in Stone One… http://t.co/wmvuz8d4C4

Bad review of Bound in Stone One

I have been expecting this and pretty much as it was written. A reader left a review early this morning for Bound in Stone: Volume One and was thoroughly disgusted and accused me of writing/including kiddie porn in my novel.


Why use pedophilia as part of the conflict? Why not just use the usual simple threat of death or bodily harm? To both questions I would answer with another. Why would anyone expect me to avoid using it? Yes, sure, in the current climate of censorship in North America, it is very difficult for a writer to use this concept. Some people would like to have pedophilia swept into a crevice where it can be ignored. Publishing houses lately have rule where any character involved in a sex act must be eighteen or up in age. Is this good for art or is it an attempt to again hide from the truth? I think it's bad for art and bad for the truth. It is never good to hide from the truth.

Pedophilia exists. It is dangerous. It is insidious. It is horrible and it is not something that should be swept from view.

So yes, I did use pedophilia as part of my story conflict. Other than threat of death or bodily harm to oneself and one's family, what else is there that could harm a child? Threat to physical and mental integrity come quickly to mind. In Bound in Stone: Volume One, I have the worst possible outcome of pedophilia, the brutal abuse and murder of a child. I also have the worst possible outcome for a pedophile, his brutal mutilation and murder. So what is the reader objecting to? Where's the porn?

Perhaps this reader objects to the more sordid aspect of pedophilia: that children aren't always forcibly taken, but seduced. Yeah, you read that correctly. Children are seduced. Sure, they are coerced, but it is naive to believe seduction isn't a weapon in the pedophile's arsenal. Look it up. It's called grooming. In my story, seduction is part of the conflict the youngest main character must surmount. Not only must he survive possible murder, he must survive and resist coercion and seduction. And of course, he must eventually escape.

Is that kiddie porn? Or is it a form of realism?

The reader, any reader, should find pedophilia reprehensible, because it is. I am grateful for the review, not angry. Questioning pedophilia should be encouraged, not repressed.

However I do not write kiddie porn, and I will not change the content of Bound in Stone One for any reason involving censorship. Fantasy settings with fantasy characters are ideal for exploring harsh questions, including pedophilia. It's better than sweeping it into a corner like it doesn't exist.

My tweets

Mon, 15:34 : I did not want to stop reading this story. After the least interruption, I was back reading it… http://t.co/RMD2qgUAQt Tue, 01:48 : Review of The Between… http://t.co/GQBlG1N0LD

Review of The Between

I did not want to stop reading this story. After the least interruption, I was back reading it again. I loved this story.


I don't write reviews for just any book. For me to read a story, it must first of all be decently written; not perfectly, just decently. Then it has to have characters I want to stick with. After that, if the author wove the tale about those characters in an engaging manner, I'll finish reading. But to leave a review, I have to at least see something done with a story that isn't typical, such as an unexpected take on a theme, or a twist that left my mouth dropping open, or basically just awesome writing that really engaged me in the lives of the characters--writing that made me want to read an old theme like it was new again. The best writers can take the oldest idea and make you feel like you're walking the path for the first time.


This story has all of that. If I could give it a six star review, I would.


Underneath the fantasy story of a girl who is dragged into the world of the fae unwillingly, you discover a deeper story of soullessness, of lost compassion, of love abandoned as something useless. This is a story of what happens when you lose your spiritual roots, when you decide status is more important than what is right. It's about the selfish decisions and lack of empathy that lead to warfare. It's about the outsider looking at the powers in control of her life and deciding it's just not right.


I really, really loved this book. Fantasy can entertain, but it an also explore really tough themes in the most brilliant, illuminating manner, and this one does that. Very much hoping for more from this author.


This book can be purchased on Amazon and Smashwords.

My tweets

Sun, 20:45 : A couple of reviews and an anecdote. http://t.co/rWplLG0q Sun, 20:54 : New reviews and an anecdote.… http://t.co/rR92DR1J

New reviews and an anecdote.

Character from Bound in Stone (The Soulstone Chronicles) Fan art by Ambra, first posted on Goodreads.

I did a silly thing not long ago You want to know how bad my eyesight is? This is how it is:

I need glasses to see clearly anything beyond one foot, but I don't see the computer screen properly if I do wear my distance glasses. So I end up hunching as close as possible.

But when I don't hunch as close as possible, this is what I read in a book blurb while browsing Smashwords:

"Despite falling for aloof manga artist Kai Tashiro, Hornicide Detective Ryo Miller is ... (clip)"

Yeah. Now that would be some book.

You'd think I'd immediately translate the muzzy letters to homicide, but no..., no, somehow I did not.

And two reviews today! :)

A very nice five star review was left on Bound in Stone 2 on Amazon. Thank you, reviewer.

Another was left on Omos of the Ether, also on Amazon. This is the second novel in Gods of Faith and Destruction, just republished under my own steam. I am working on the third installment of this series right now.

Thank you, both reviewers.

And just in case you missed it, I have another novel under a different author name, The Grace Murders: Caspar's Run. I hope you will check it out.

My books are also on Smashwords.

My tweets

Thu, 14:33 : Print version questions… http://t.co/HSaM0Dyt Thu, 14:38 : Will I have print versions? http://t.co/qzG9uTzd

Print version questions

Just had a couple of reader questions this morning on print versions. Possibly same reader, but here are the links and the answers.

LiveJournal

Amazon

My tweets

Wed, 19:11 : Omos of the Ether available http://t.co/hB8lDAEw Wed, 19:16 : Second novel of Gods of Faith and Destruction available.… http://t.co/ff8fl8Lg