Lina Hansen's Blog, page 4

Fiction Review – The Meerkat Murders by R.J. Corgan

Book 2 in the Kea Wright Mysteries, this one works quite well as a standalone. I’m the living proof; I never read the first. It’s called “Cold Flood” and features a volcano erupting under an ice cap together a sneaky killer causing accidents on icy mountain slopes. As Mysteries go, that’s certainly an original idea, and I get the impression the author’s USP is knowledge about intriguing biological, geographical, and other scientific wonders he aptly presents to the readers. For me, that works.

Minor gripe – it might be good if reviewers were given the first novels of a series, just to get the general idea. But as I said, the Meerkat Murders work even without the first instalment, which is a definite plus.

First of all, it’s well written and the author takes a lot, and I mean a LOT of pain with the setting. How many cozies are out there based in the Kalahari? I could feel the heat of the sun on my skin, watch the meerkats mangle giant millipedes and cringe when the cobra slithered to the attack. Okay, sometimes there’s a bit much setting, and the pacing suffers. But in terms of atmosphere, this one really packs punch.

The story isn’t exactly fast-paced; it takes quite a while until the killer shows up (eeeek! No further spoilers….). But for what is essentially a cozy that’s okay. At the end, the speed picks up.

Unfortunately, there are quite a few typos and oddities a proofreader should have caught (ripple s, or internal thoughts not set in italics). But that doesn’t distract from the enjoyment of this original, and clever story.

How to compile with Scrivener 3

Compiling on Scrivener for me has always been a bit of a nightmare. The new Version 3 promised a much improved experience, so I upgraded. What can I say? The nightmare got worse? Hey, that describes the experience more or less accurately. The help function didn’t help much since it kept telling me how easy everything now was. Duh.

For IT savvy peeps, perhaps. But all I want to do is WRITE, EDIT and PUBLISH. I already have to maintain a website, conduct marketing campaigns etc etc. I so didn’t want to dig deeper into yet another IT mystery. But it had to be done – in order to edit, I need to get my texts out of Scrivener. Duh.

Sounds familiar? Perhaps, this article will facilitate the process for you. The important thing is to know there are two steps to take BEFORE the compiling process starts

A – assign sections to your document and B – assign layout to sections. And, yup, that was exactly what drove me crazy in the beginning.

How to assign a Section

I suggest to do this straightaway, i.e. when you start on a new manuscript (it can, of course, be applied to existing manuscripts afterwards). Open the inspector (by clicking on the little blue i in the top right), and then click on the metadata tab in the row below (see Image 1 below).

That gives you the option to not only include your block of text into compile (which is quite important and no longer done automatically), but it also allows you to define what your piece of text actually is. In this document, I only use two types of “sections” – chapters and scenes. Scrivener offers predefined categories (e.g Heading), but you can add your own definitions, like I did here. You might ask yourself “Why bother?”. Well, the reason becomes apparent as soon as you want to compile. Scrivener 3 offers a preselection of layouts (which you can edit and expand) to be assigned to your sections. In other words, chapter titles are formatted differently from blocks of text and you can select HOW exactly they are supposed to look, by assigning a layout to a section. This process is done via the compile window.

Assigning layouts to sections

Click on File, then on Compile. You will see a long list of different “output formats” on the left e.g. Manuscript Courier or Manuscript Times. Choose the one you want. The window next to it then offers you a list of different formats you can now assign to your sections. This can be achieved by pushing the “assign section layout button” at the bottom. Image 2 above shows you what you get once you’ve pushed that button. i.e. your two section types on the left, and the various layouts to choose from. Once you click on the one you want, it’s highlighted in blue (like in the image), and thereby assigned to your section. You do it for both all the sections you have, and – that’s it.

You can, of course, create your own layouts. For that, I would suggest to create a copy of a pre-designed layout and adjust it the way you want it e.g. by changing the font type and size, the spacing, indents etc. And that’s the gist of it!!!

Let me know if you found this helpful, and otherwise I wish you happy writing (and editing)

In My Attic wins first place in the Chanticleer International Book Awards!

My debut novel, “In My Attic”, first in the Magical Misfits series, has achieved a first place in the “Mystery and Mayhem Category” of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (CIBA).
Every year, CIB looks for the best books featuring “mystery and mayhem,” amateur sleuthing, light suspense, travel mystery, classic mystery, British cozy, not-so-cozy, hobby sleuths, senior sleuths, or historical mystery, perhaps with a touch of romance or humor. The novels in first place have advanced to the Premier Level of Achievement in the 2020 CIBAs.

Find out more: https://www.chantireviews.com/2021/06/10/m-m-book-awards-for-cozy-and-not-so-cozy-mystery-mayhem-fiction-2020-ciba-award-winners/

FREE NOVELLA AVAILABLE ON WATTPAD

Sex in the Cities meets Ghost Busters – for FREE. “Who Let The Ghosts OUT?” is longlisted in the 2021 Open Novella Contest on Wattpad. Check it out here. https://www.wattpad.com/myworks/257900204-who-let-the-ghosts-out

Author Event – March is Reading Month

Get ready for the Blissfield Literary Festival and the “March is Reading Month” – and especially 2 March.

March 2: Lina Hansen

Lina Hansen, a Germany-based author of paranormal cozy mysteries set in the UK and published with Denver-based indie press, Literary Wanderlust, talks about the challenges of cross-continental writing and publishing. She’ll explain her motivations for writing witch cozies and take you on a tour to the amazing village of Avebury, Wiltshire, UK, the setting for her Magical Misfits series. Hansen will also read a passage from her debut novel, In My Attic, the first in the Magical Misfits series.

For more information check out the Schultz-Holmes Memorial Library on Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/events/188403616405736

Start the new year with some great witch cozy mysteries! ...

Start the new year with some great witch cozy mysteries! “In My Attic – A Magical Misfits Cozy Mystery” is just one of a full set of great stories to help you slip into 2021.

More great news to come – this year, the sequel to “In My Attic” will come out. Aaand – I’m working on another series.

But one witch at a time. Let’s start with those we already have. Just click on the link to get more information

https://books.bookfunnel.com/cozynewyear/6e2gcq35w6

Christmas Goodreads Giveaway of “In My Attic

Get into the season mood and grab your FREE X-mas e-book copy of “In My Attic”, first in the Magical Misfits series of cozy mysteries

Sometimes all it takes is murder to discover who you truly are.

Grammar school teacher Myrtle Coldron has no patience to spare for Aunt Eve’s Wiccan shenanigans. Myrtle ignores auntie’s frantic plea for help—only to learn she has crashed from the attic to her death. The circumstances are suspicious; murder is on the cards. Riddled with guilt, Myrtle returns to the Witch’s Retreat, Eve’s beloved Bed and Breakfast, to sleuth for the truth.
No such luck.
The sleepy, historic village sheltering the B+B also hides a mystery. Soon enough, Myrtle is besieged by a zany posse of suspects, nightly visitors in the attic, threatening notes—and a zombie primula with a mind of its own.
Somebody is out to get her, and it will take all her skills—including those she doesn’t care for—to keep Myrtle alive.

Register for your copy here

https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/315924-in-my-attic

Review of B.T. Polcari “Against my Better Judgment”

B.T Polcari Against my Better Judgment

This is a lighthearted young adult mystery starring Sara Donovan, a slightly disorganised—nah, let’s be fair about it: super-dysfunctional college freshman with a mortal fear of germs who encounters a bunch of antiquities smugglers – just in time for finals.

Mauzzy to the rescue. Mauzzy is not the local sheriff, just in case you wondered. Nor is he a significant other of any form. That’s the privilege of the nicely-butted neighbour. No, Mauzzy’s a dachshund with extraordinary bladder control.

When Sara melts a fake Egyptian mask and finds real gold underneath, she’ll need all the support she can get. Smugglers, fitness-crazed old ladies and dodgy professors – and the dachshund — all form part of an extraordinary cast of characters that embark on a dizzying ride around campus and beyo d.

Fun was had by all. Or maybe not always.

The author has got he young voice down pat, and the writing is rich, descriptive and incredibly detailed. So detailed, that at times the plot gets lost in an extra layer of marshmellow special on top of the caramel biscuit coating that sneakily hides the chocolate fudge underneath.

At times I got a bit lost, nor was I totally clear why on Earth Sara doesn’t involve the cops. Never mind, this isn’t an academic discourse, nor is it the real world. Instead “Against my better Judgment” is a fun, light, tongue-in-cheek comedy. As such, it works very well.

“Consumed” by Justin Alcala

I received a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

What a great story premise. Set in the seedier side of Victorian London, the novel introduces Detective Nathanial Brannick. His wife having died from consumption, he’s given the case of a young Irishwoman who suffered from the same wasting disease that is now ravaging Brannick himself.  To ease the pain, he’s consuming opium – the archetypal flawed detective. There’s more to it. Like a bloody birthmark on his wrist and an eerie gift he calls the “echo”, a gift that allows him to “see” what occurred to the recently deceased in the moments before their death. Add to that a strange emaciated dark chap popping into Brannick’s bedroom one night, and you get the beginnings of a grand tale about vampires, vampire hunters, and even ghosts. Think Sherlock Holmes, Nosferatu, and Van Helsing all rolled into one.

The story is rich, and over-opulent in its setting, bursting at the seams not with aspidistra, lace doilies, and antimacassars, but instead the sharp reek of November fog, the mud banks of the Thames, and a world where all is lost, including lives. As Brannick and his police chum plod on, the investigation spins out of control, carried across into a paranormal world that might well be born of an opium dream.

As I said, I loved the premise, enjoyed the setting – but there were so many serious punctuation and grammar issues, I kept getting bumped out of the reading experience time and time again. In addition, I see stylistic issues. The voice as such works (three cheers for somebody who can actually generate voice), but it isn’t stable, and in an effort to create the Victorian look and feel the author strays into over-descriptiveness, spikes his narrative with adverbs, and has his characters “burble”, where a simple “he said” would have done a far better job.

Plus, the novel switches perspective after the first few chapters, and that came as a big surprise. Not a pleasant one, I have to say.

So, all in all, while there is a lot to be loved about “Consumed” (and I so wanted to love it), there are also issues which prevent me from giving this the higher ranking I had in mind at the outset.

I give this novel *** out of *****

The novel is available on Amazon: www.amazon.com/Consumed-Justin-Alcala-ebook/dp/B07WLVR9QN

In My Attic is published – interview with the author – Part 2

If you could spend time with a character from your book, which character would it be? And what would you do during that day?

That would be either Myrtle—I would try to reassure her that everything will turn out all right—or Petty, the primula. She is so optimistic and cheerful, something I really am not and a good dose of that will go a long way.

Tell us about the conflict in this book. What is at stake for your characters?

The conflict centers on self-discovery. If Myrtle doesn’t accept who she is, i.e. a witch (bumbling yes, but still a magical being) she will never be whole. Of course, having finally acknowledged that part of herself, other challenges brew on the horizon. Magic is dangerous, more so if it is flawed, it can be lethal as Aunt Eve has unfortunately demonstrated ….

What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating In My Attic?

Romance is important. The story wouldn’t be the same without Chris, the mysterious dark man, rogue witch hunter, Myrtle’s love interest and future sidekick (in the sequels). He too had a minor role in the beginning, and it grew as I wrote. Try to keep romance out of a story. It just doesn’t work… .

How do you choose which genre to write in?

Oh, that’s easy. I write what I love to read, i.e. cozies. Not the standard ones, which I find too treacly and trite, but novels from writers like Susan Wittig Albert, Juliet Blackwell, Ann Granger, Jodie Taylor and of course the original Christie novels.

What makes your book different from other books in your genre?

In My Attic can be read on two levels—as a cozy mystery and as a novel touching upon more serious themes such as climate change, political upheavals etc. The second level is (hopefully) subtle, but it is there. I want to give readers a good escape, but that doesn’t mean I try to paint everything in rosy hues, which unfortunately too many cozies do these days. 

To be continued next week