Patrick Todoroff's Blog, page 29

War Child International

As a father and grandfather, one of the most heart-rending aspects of writing Shift Tense was researching the tragedy of child soldiers in Africa. Consider for sixty seconds the notion of kidnapped children drugged, brutalized and brainwashed into front line combat. War, starvation, killing, death at age 8, or 10, or 12. Then if they live long enough, to grow into adulthood deformed and scarred by that savagery. I think about my sons and now my grandsons… how can I not give at least something to people who are actively trying to alleviate this kind of suffering?

I mentioned before I would donate a portion of Shift Tense sales to a related charity. After a bit of research, I selected War Child. They’re an international organization dedicated helping children affected by war. If you can, please give. If you can’t give money, then pray.

thank you

p. todoroff

Soldier Dreams Release

The second installment of Shift Tense – Soldier Dreams - is now available at Amazon for Kindle.

Soldier Dreams at Amazon It’s got Somali pirates, killer robots, mad dictators, child soldiers, and plenty of action. What more do you need?

To mark the occasion, Part One – RED FLAGS – will be free for download starting tomorrow, Sept 27th through the 28th. RED FLAGS at AMAZON

A thousand thanks to everyone who’s taken their hard-earned cash and purchased my books, then taken their time to actually read them. I’m eternally grateful.

Soldier Dreams final cover

Coming soon

What’s in a Number – Update

Wherein I’m on the receiving end of justifiable criticism…

Latest “Running Black” Review addresses the exact questions I raised in an earlier post in Amazon Ratings and Reviews.

In my defense, I’m fully aware I’m not William Gibson and my debut novel isn’t going to win the Hugo, Nebula and PKD. Not in a million years. Neither would I assert the Eshu International world is a credible extrapolation of Middle Eastern politics or corporate hegemony. Any more than “Live Free or Die Hard” was a realistic depiction of a cyberattack on American infrastructure or “The 300” caught the historical reality of Thermopylae. But Mr. Durkey is well read with broader, higher points of reference, and the fact is my work doesn’t attain to elite levels. End of the day, I’m fine with Three Stars and ‘well-written’, ‘solid action, good airport book.’

Thank you Mr. Durkey, for taking the time to read and review my book.

TED Talk on Writing and Creativity

I’ve never read “Eat, Pray, Love” but Elizabeth Gilbert’s TED Talk is worth your time.

Top Ten Indie/funky movies.

On a lighter side: Movies

Is there anyone you can have a complete conversation with entirely in movie quotes? I’m curious if it’s just me.

Anyway…

I had a movie flashback driving to the Post Office the other day, specifically the Waffle Hut scene from (the remade) Ladykillers, which had me cackling at random, inappropriate times all morning, then trolling YouTube for clips during lunch. I realized it’s definitely on my Top Ten Quirky list. (Action flicks get a separate list.)

So in no real order:

Oh Brother Where Art Thou?

I used to sing “Man of Constant Sorrow” at the top of my lungs when my teenage kids’ friends were visiting.

Ladykillers

“Sometimes it’s the only way!”

Shaun of the Dead

The whole movie is quotable

The Incredibles

Edna Mode. Period

Wristcutters- a love story

“If there is trap, set up for you…”

Away we go

The various friends are classic.

Henry Poole was here

Great little movie.

Mirror Mask

A Neil Gaiman story

Cold Souls

Paul Giamatti as… Paul Giamatti

Good Will Hunting

Best thing either of them has ever done, IMO

Honorable Mentions: Ink, Everything is Illuminated, the British version of Death at a Funeral, and Dr. Horrible’s Sing-along-Blog.

When the Dark Matter hits the fan

Thoughts on Christian faith here.

***

“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver; “don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”

― C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

I want to be real with God. I want Him to be real with me. I am so all done with perpetually effervescent charismatic caricatures gushing the latest gift or revelation. I can’t comply with the rank and file of brittle, painted saints, stuffed with a thousand minor pieties and doctrinal dissections. Perfection is and never rally was an option. Best I can muster is honesty and a constant diet of repentance.

I think there are phases of growth in our personal understanding of God. Stages to practical theology, if you will. To use a contested term, I think we evolve in our understanding of him, his Word, and how to implement His reality in our lives. Truth and Reality are Objective, but we view them through the lens of our worldview. The clearer, deeper, more accurate, the better we can comprehend and conform to his will and his image. I parallel this to Astronomy and Mankind’s expanding understanding of the universe.

1. Primitive Phase: new convert stage. We think it all really revolves around us. Like newborns. We experience the love, the sense of purpose, personal intimacy, assistance, grace… That’s all true and real, but we filter it through an immature selfishness. We acknowledge God’s Sovereignty, but in practice, we get upset when it’s not all about us.

2. Copernicus Strikes: Given some time and disappointments, we bump into enough hard facts to recognize we are not the center of the universe, God is. What do you know, Rick W was right: It really isn’t all about us – it’s about Him. We admit God might love us but doesn’t spoil us. He truly is the Eternal and Sovereign God, far above all Principality and Power, dwelling in unapproachable light. Amen.

That said, we still demand order, structure, certainty in our religion. And not just confidence in the Person, Principles, and Promises of God, but in our day-to-day values, attitudes and applications. The cloister or gated-community mind-set, we expect perfect spheres to revolve around our faith in perfect circles. As Christians, we insist our marriage, our jobs, our kids, health, family, church, ministry… all move from glory to glory in an ever-escalating testimony to the Abundant Life. (TM)

Here’s where Classic confirmation bias kicks in. We tailor everything those expectations, discarding what doesn’t conform. It’s safe, predictable, certain… but it’s also small and inherently false.

3. When the Dark Matter hits the Fan: Given a peculiar combination of time and circumstances, everyone gets Black Hole and Hubble Revelations. Light gets sucked in. Gravity hits like a runaway freight train. Your conceptions get shattered. The Universe is a big, scary place – Really big and really scary. It’s not at all what we thought and we’re very, very uncomfortable.

We discover yes, there are laws and principles. Yes, there is a vast, complex harmony that keeps it spinning. But there are ellipses, apogees, perigees, anomalies, deformities. Gravity, light, time actually change in strange relationships to mass and each other. They aren’t constant and perfect and uniform. The universe is mind-blowing, frightening, so much bigger and stranger than any one, or all of us.

But this is actually the God who saved me in the first place. This vast, complex, confusing, Creator, Sustainer, Sovereign and Savior. He hasn’t changed. I have. Even more humbling; he’s been waiting for me to get to this precipice. After all, He brought me here. He is the Author and Finisher of my faith.

Time to start believing that.

Yet this is no cause for shame, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day. – 2 Tim. 1:12

What’s in a number?

Review Numbers, that is.

My puzzlement has been brewing sometime, not only over inflated ratings but the sheer volume of reviews. I’m looking at Amazon, specifically here.

Now before anyone accuses me of whining, of course I want my books rated and reviewed. This isn’t a ‘cry for help’; I straight up ask for reviews. They make a difference. And no shill and gush, please. Every honest rating adds value and provides information to potential readers/buyers. (I have a review to write for a fellow writer, in fact.)

That said, if you go by the flood of Five-Stars floating around Amazon these days, you’d think we’d entered a new Golden Age of Literature. Either that, or there’s serious fan-boy/fan-girl (fan-person? person of fandom?) inflation going on.

Congrats to anyone who writes and finishes a novel. It’s a serious accomplishment. I applaud your courage in publishing it too. Really.

But I think a lot of readers have lost points of reference. Does anyone read great literature anymore? Scratch that, does anyone even read the classic, defining works in their preferred genre? In my experience, most books are competent, coherent, exhibiting a working knowledge of plot, character, and the fundamentals of grammar – in other words, Three-Star books. It’s the minimum requirement for a decent, solid story. It’s the median, the AVERAGE.

A One-Star equates to treachery: the author should re-take Freshman English Comp, and return the purchase price along with some recompense for pain and suffering. Five-Star means not only does it exhibit exceptional literary skill, but had a profound impact on my life. Two and Four-Star ratings fall below and above average, respectively. It’s not rocket surgery. Yes, much of the process is subjective, but there are benchmarks. Objective Standards have to enter the equation somewhere.

I get daily BookBub alerts – notice of new releases, deals, freebies – and the descriptions always tout phrases like “over seven-hundred 5-star reviews on Amazon!” and “Highest rated in xyz category” Seriously? For “Shaniqua – Elven VampireHuntress of the Lycan Wars, Part 7“*

Three-quarters of the offerings are like that. It’s gotten so bad, I don’t believe any of it. Worse, I’m auto-hitting ‘Delete’ about half the time.

Even allowing for passionate fans, a new generation of readers, a failing educational system, what’s up with the atmospheric review numbers?

For example, William Gibson’s Neuromancer, the book that popularized, even defined the Cyberpunk genre, currently has 625 reviews and is holding steady at Four Stars. The author’s debut novel won the Hugo, Nebula and PKD Awards in 1984. The archetype, it represents a tectonic shift in science fiction and is counted among the top 100 english books of the last century.

Contrast that with Hugh Howey’s “Wool Onmibus” at six-thousand plus reviews and Four and a half Stars as of this writing. Now I’m not slagging HH. All props to him. I bought the W:O ebook. Yes, I want those sales numbers. But Wool is a stock, serialized Post-apoc tale. It’s derivative. It’s average. Those numbers are Marketing fluff, not indicative of quality.

More:

Cyberstorm by Mathew Mather: Pubbed this year in 2013, 1,808 ratings at Four and a Half Stars.

John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War (Hugo Nominee, btw. Pubbed in 2005) Only 861 at 4.5 Stars.

Patrick Rothfuss’ very excellent Kingkiller** novels Name of the Wind and Wise Man’s Fear have 2,000 odd and 1,000 plus ratings respectively, whereas Ilona Andrews’ brand new Magic Bites is already rocking 426 at 4.5 Stars.

Jason Hough’s The Darwin Elevator (Dire Earth Cycle, book 1) is my most recent disappointment. Heavily Suggested, it had 48, 4 and 5-star reviews prior to being released, via something known as the “Amazon Vine Program.” We’re at one-hundred eleventy solid Four-Stars at the moment, and they’re already pimping books 2 and 3. Which aren’t even out yet. I slogged through to 80% and finally deleted it from my Kindle. It was steaming pile of tedious pedestrian trope.

We could go on and on, finding more extreme examples, but my real questions are (aside from how can I legitimately boost my own numbers) how to sift the wheat from the chaff, and how to counter-act loss of credibility due to Rampant Review Inflation?

Any ideas?

*not a real book. Names have been changed to protect the clueless

** Him and Joe Abercrombie restored my faith in contemporary fantasy.

Music to write by.

Close the door, hit Play, open up a new Word doc…