L.R. Braden's Blog, page 17
January 14, 2020
January 13, 2020
Faerie Forged : Giveaway
Today marks the start of my COUNTDOWN TO LAUNCH for Faerie Forged, the third book in my Magicsmith series! To kick things off, I'm giving away three free copies of the book to three lucky people. Just fill out the form below by January 17th for your chance to win. I will select the winners at random and announce the results on release day: January 17th! If you don't see the entry form displayed in this post, or it doesn't display properly, you can find it HERE, or by copying and pasting this link: https://forms.gle/7Fa87KhrkKGTKmKs6 Loading…
December 22, 2019
Faerie Forged: Cover Reveal!
New world, new rules . . . Alex is screwed. She’s due at the fae Court of Enchantment in less than twenty-four hours, but she’s not even close to being ready. Her job is hanging by a fraying thread. There’s a new vampire master in town. And several of her werewolf friends have been captured by the Paranatural Task Force.
She’s their best chance for release before the full moon reveals their secret, but the Lord of Enchantment is not someone you keep waiting—even when he happens to be your grandfather. All Alex can do is call in a favor, hope to hell she can survive the plots of the fae court, and hightail it home to salvage her life.
But one mistake at court could change everything . . . . Faerie Forged, the third book in my Magicsmith series, will be released on January 17, 2020. I'll be posting pre-order links as they go live. In the meantime, you can get a sneak peek at chapter one here.
December 4, 2019
Book Signing Event
❄️❄️HOLIDAY BOOK SIGNING!❄️❄️ Join me and 11 other awesome local authors at Barnes & Noble in Glendale, CO on Friday, December 13th for a holiday book signing event!
We'll be taking turns from 9am-9pm. I'll be signing A DROP OF MAGIC from 4-6 that afternoon, so please stop by and say hello. :)
Here's the complete schedule of attending authors: 9am-11am.....Stephanie Kane
10am-12pm....Bernadette Marie
11am-1pm.....Melissa Payne
12pm-2pm.....Helen Hardt
1pm-3pm......J.v.L. Bell
2pm-4pm......Michaela Mills
3pm-5pm......TH Leatherman
4pm-6pm......L.R. Braden
5pm-7pm......Shannon Baker
6pm-8pm......Lisa Brown Roberts
7pm-9pm......Jennifer Kincheloe
8pm-9pm......Dacia M Arnold Barnes & Noble
960 S Colorado Blvd
Glendale, CO 80246 For more information, visit the facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/14633...
November 21, 2019
Wimsi Design Winter Sale!
November 15, 2019
GIVEAWAY: COURTING DARKNESS
To show my appreciation for all the support I've received in launching my writing career, I'm giving away three paperback copies of COURTING DARKNESS, book 2 in my Magicsmith series. Simply fill out the form below for a chance to win. On November 30th, I'll draw three random entries and email the winners. I'll also post the results of "Who's your favorite character?" so everyone can see the results. :) GOOD LUCK!! Loading…
October 22, 2019
Giveaway: A Drop of Magic
Because the story events in A Drop of Magic begin just before Halloween, I've decided to give away some free copies this week! I've created a short survey (only 5 questions) to learn more about your reading preferences. Fill out the form below between now and October 30th to enter for a chance to win a free Kindle editions of A Drop of Magic. I'll draw four emails at random from the forms submitted and contact the winners on Halloween (October 31st).
Thanks, and good luck! Loading…
October 21, 2019
Review: The Running Man
The Running Man by Richard BachmanMy rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Overview:
In some ways this book felt like a precursor to Ready Player One. We've got a nobody character with the odds stacked against him trying to avoid being snuffed out by a soulless corporate entity. In both books the protagonist is in a race to earn a fortune, and in both cases there is a desperate despair to the state of the world. The Running Man was a quick read full of tension and social commentary. Be forewarned however that racism and misogyny abound.
Character & Voice:
The main character is a man named Ben Richards. He's unemployed, his wife prostitutes herself for cash, and their infant daughter is sick with the flu. Desperate, he agrees to run for his life for 30 days as part of a game show in exchange for money for his family. The longer he stays alive, the more money his family gets. Richards' personality and plight are easy to empathize with. He lives in despair, but hasn't let it break him. He's a fighter.
The narration of the story is from an omniscient viewpoint, but the tone is gritty, crude, cynical, like Richards himself.
Language & Mechanics:
The overall writing of this book was excellent. While I did come across a number of typos, the flow of the story was enough to keep me reading. King did a great job keeping tension on the page, even when there wasn't much happening in the plot.
Language is a bit of an issue in this book.
I think it's important to read books through the lens of the time frame in which they were written. In this case, the book was first published in 1982. As such, misogyny and racial epithets occur with high frequency. If you are easily offended by mention of racism or gender inequality you might not enjoy this story.
There were also some very peculiar turns of phrase that were hard for me to follow, such as a person's face becoming "Chinese with disappointment." Personally, I have no idea what that means, and there were several other such descriptions that were equally mysterious to me, many involving some kind of racial remark.
World Building:
Ben Richards' world is a terrible future version of our own. Air pollution is out of control to the point where if you don't have an air filter at all times you're going to get sick. Poverty runs rampant, though there is of course still the 1%--the privileged few. Most people zone out in front of the Free-Vees to forget about their shitty lives, and the programs on those Free-Vees are extreme survival games in which people desperate for cash risk their lives for a paycheck. The game Richards is chosen for, Running Man, has a 100% death rate. The game is rigged so no one survives.
King did a great job portraying the desperation of the lower class citizens and the dangers of media brainwashing where those who control the Network control people's perceptions. (Because the book was written before on-demand streaming became a reality, it is set in a world where the population has no control over the constant bombardment of the media. The Free-Vees play what they play, people can only control whether they are on or off.)
Parting Thoughts:
While I enjoyed the majority of this story, the ending felt a little anti-climactic to me. I don't want to give anything away, so I won't go into detail, but suffice it to say the tension King had built up through the story fell flat at the end.
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October 14, 2019
Review: The Knights of Crystallia
The Knights of Crystallia by Brandon SandersonMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I'm reading this series with my seven-year-old daughter, and she loves it so much she can't wait for bedtime reading. Almost every day she tells me how excited she is to see what happens next. In my opinion, any book that gets a kid that excited about reading is doing something very right.
Seeing as how this is the fourth book in the series, I don't have a whole lot to add to this review. I assume, if you've made it this far, you're already familiar with Alcatraz, his wacky Talent, and the Hushland/Free Kingdoms world.
The major arc in this installation is that Alcatraz has finally arrived in Nalhalla, just in time to stop the Council of Kings from surrendering Mokia to the Librarians. To do this, he'll need the help of his friend Bastille, his Grandpa, and a few new acquaintances and relatives.
As with the previous volumes, the story is peppered with dry humor and interjections from the author (The author being Alcatraz as Narrator). These tend to be either funny or irritating depending on your mood and personality.
If you enjoyed the other books in the series, you'll likely enjoy this one too. ;)
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October 4, 2019
Review: Lake Silence
Lake Silence by Anne BishopMy rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
Overview:
If you were sad to say goodbye to to Meg Cabot and Simon Wolfgard, I strongly recommend you pick up this book. While this story is not directly related to the original books, the world of the Others continues to be intriguing and engaging, and Bishop's writing is top-notch.
World building:
This book is set in the world of the other slightly after the end of the original series. The brief human rebellion against the others has been crushed and things are pretty much back to normal except that the elders are paying more attention to the two-legged predators who share their land than they did before. The majority of this story takes place in a place called The Jumbles, which is a lakeside resort at the edge of a small human city called Sproing. The city is small enough that there is little to no separation from the wild country, but somehow the humans manage to delude themselves that they are removed from the influence of the Others, or perhaps beneath their notice. But when a group of self-important city folk stir up trouble, we get to see that line between civilization and the wild country disappear.
Language and mechanics:
Ann Bishop remains a masterful storyteller. Her writing is both detailed and concise, and flows with a grace that pulls a reader in and takes them for an immersive ride.
This book's chapters are divided by POV, with a heading at the beginning of each that tells you which character you will be following. Most of the book is written in third person, the one exception being Vicki's chapters, which are written in first.
Character and voice:
I love most of the characters in this story, especially Aggie, one of the Crowgard, and Grimshaw, the gruff police officer who take his oath to serve and protect very seriously.
Probably the only character I didn't care much for was Vicki, which was disappointing since she was the primary protagonist and the only character written in the first person. There was nothing wrong with her character per se. She's an emotionally-damaged woman with low self esteem and serious body image issues. She's written well. But she never really did anything. She was like an object other characters would move around so that they could make interesting things happen. The police move her to town, the Sanguinati move her to Silent Lodge, the bad guys move her back to the Jumble. People tell her where to go and what to do through the whole book, right up until the very end. I kept waiting for her to come into her own, but she never really did. My ambivalence to Vicki is the only reason I don't consider this a five star book.
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