James Hockley's Blog, page 8

Book Review: The Assiduous Quest of Tobias Hopkins

By James Faro

This is a nice mystery tale of a somewhat eccentric merchant captain called Tobias Hopkins. Fortune appears to be against our hero, but through this story, he manages to turn fortune back to his side – in part thanks to the guiding hand of his lost father. The writing is well constructed and cleverly toned to the 18th century (ish) where our novel is set. It was a bit slow for my liking, and I can’t say I ever felt overly attached to any of the characters, but it was an interest...

Editing your work

In this writing experience blog, I’m going to talk about a technique I’ve developed for editing my own work. Before we go any further,this is not suggesting that proper professional editorials can be avoided – indeed, I have established a newfound respect for the work that gets done in editorials. What this does do is to suggest a way that ‘self-editing’ can be completed in a more productive, albeit time-consuming (!), manner.

Well, it seemed to work for me in any case.

You’ve been a bit qu...

Book Review: Truth Unveiled

Book 2 of Daughter of Ravenswood Series By Kim Cleary

This is the first book in a while that’s really given me a buzz. I really liked it. That’s not to say that there aren’t a few challenges with the read, but ultimately I thought this was a great book – the finale is excellent.

I have read a lot of indie books recently, and the writing that gets put on the page can vary wildly – both in style and in rigour. It’s a very hard task to write great prose, so in my view, as long as the writing doe...

Book Review: Ship of Magic

By Robin Hobb

So – here’s my new book review format. Yes I’ve decided I need a structure. I think it works, but you can be the judge of that.

a brief synopsis of the story. I’m hoping that this is useful in a review, and also that it gives me some practise writing blurbs (which I’m very bad at!); a summary of my review thoughts; and the detail for those who are inclined to read on!

So, what about Robin Hobb’s Ship of Magic? Well, here goes. How to summarise a book as vast as this? Daunting…...

Author Newsletter August 2016

Wow – that was a busy month. As I mentioned last month, I may have suddenly realised that I had to get my skates on and get the novella sorted out pretty sharpish! I had been dragging my heels somewhat, and it turns out there was quite a lot to do. But I got there! Which is very exciting. So, in news of all thingsMandestroy, this is what’s happened:

Mandestroy book in a blog concluded; The final edit of Mandestroy was pulled together (including a sentence by sentence overhaul); It got a beta...

Beagle’s Blot 7 | Celestia

Two full cycles of Unthara I have been here now. Two full cycles. That is the best part of forty days and nights. Two full cycles.

But then, that may have been by design. I almost feel human again.

It is strange, readers, but I may have actually forgotten why I was doing this journey in the fist place. All the toil of the Adunas Mahija seemed to wipe my head of its purpose, draining me of the very reason for this voyage. I kept writing, yes I did, but that was almost mechanical. I have writte...

Book Review: Bridgefinders

By Joshua C Cook

This is a contemporary fantasy set on this here Earth, just as we know it. But there is actually more to our world than we think – there is an alternate world where magic reigns, and where a malicious enemy plots Earth’s downfall. See, this enemy wants to control Earth, but fortunately there is an underground group of heroes who fight off these unwanted attentions. These heroes are called the Bridgefinders.

And our protagonist is a Bridgefinder called Cendan Key. Only at outs...

Book in a Blog: Mandestroy 8

Will Kantal win over his king?

And will he get to fulfil his objective and become the master tactician to crack the Mandari puzzle? Well, if these questions are burning, then fortunately for you, there is an epilogue – the answer’s right here!

Maybe not all the answers you are hoping for, but something to whet the appetite. More on that below.

But in the meantime, let’s find out what became of Kantal’s plans.

Read on blog warrior.

A recap on the schedule

Here’s a recap on the dates that the...

Book Review: Delusional

By Scott Spotson

This is a crime novel; and a fantasy novel; and a thriller. And also a romance. A book of many genres, then. The fantasy aspect is small really, but it is important – adding a whole other challenge to the crime aspect (which itself is really a smaller part) and also the thriller aspect (which is the biggest part). But this is really a romantic story of love impeded by the barrier of a wife, and the retaliation of that wife against the burgeoning relationship. It’s a well-worn...

Book in a Blog: Mandestroy 7

So Kantal has survived…

…his scrape with death, and wasn’t that exciting! For those of you who are asking where the good ol’ fight scene was, I may be keeping that up my sleeve (or indeed I haven’t written it yet). I think I will write it and I’ll put it into a special version of Mandestroy that is only available from my website – for avid fans to enjoy. But we’ll have to wait for that I’m afraid.

But where can we go from here? Well, if you remember from the second blog, our general was invol...