C.V. Hunt's Blog, page 38

Another review coming soon.

When I dived head first into this publishing thing, I was sure that I was going to get eaten alive. I figured most other authors and reviewers would snub me for being a newbie. That has not been the case at all. There are a few hard asses out there that want nothing to do with self-published work, but for the most part I have found a lot of people in the same boat as me. The most understanding...other authors. They know how hard it is to break out and stand out in the sea of fiction that is continuously spewed out onto the net. With that I have found that most of them are willing to swap reviews.

So here is my offer. I am willing to review, honest reviews, any self-published work in exchange for a review of my work in return. Now with this there are a few limitation.

Accepted: Horror, Suspense, Thriller, Dark, Paranormal, Romance, Sci-fi, Fantasy, and any combination or sub genre of these topics.

Not Accepted: Christian or Westerns.

Case by Case: Non-fiction and YA

The reasons for the non accepted and case by case, I don't feel that I would be able to give a fair review on these subjects as they do not peak my interest. I am more interested in monsters, psychological thrillers, murder and gore, and magic.

If your not sure, send me a synopsis. I will read it and let you know if it is something that I would like to read. You can find out more about my novel by reading the preview.

Have pleasant vampire, werewolf, and zombie dreams. www.authorcvhunt.comwww.authorcvhunt.com

Roll of the die review.

ROLL OF THE DIE by Sean Bridges

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

An Ex-Con on the straight and narrow is pulled into a twisted game of Russian Roulette in Las Vegas to save his wife. 666. Six Contestants, six chambers in a revolver and six sides of a die.Riley Toback is at a crossroads. After serving a four year prison sentence for Armed Robbery, he's determined to make a fresh start in Atlantic City.Until his brother-in-law, drowning in gambling debt, convinces him to pull a heist at a Jersey Shore nightclub.In the aftermath of the botched robbery, Karim Rashid, a vicious Indian gangster, tracks them down. And he makes Riley an offer.Triple Six. One round is loaded into a revolver and the chamber is spun. The Contestant rolls a die, with the face value dictating how many times the weapon is fired. If you can survive three rounds, you win.With his wife and life on the line, Riley takes the deal.
MY REVIEWGripping. When you gamble in this game, the stakes are high. The action kept me turning the page and wanting more. I loved how each contestant of the game had their own chapter to tell their story. Personally, I loved the banter and found myself chuckling. I will be raving to friends to read this book. This was well written and the story line was great. It really keeps you on the edge of your seat.


View all my reviews


Have pleasant vampire, werewolf, and zombie dreams. www.authorcvhunt.comwww.authorcvhunt.com

Upcoming book reviews.

In a great case of authors helping authors, I will be posting some book reviews soon. I hope to have the first one up by the end of the weekend.

The first book that I am reviewing is:

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If you would like to take a look for yourself, click on the following link to be redirected to Amazon.
Roll of the die by Sean P. Bridges

Then I will be reading:

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Check out the link for more. Brash: The many lives of Salem and Lezlie by Daniel Spritka and Devion Jackson

Have some pleasant vampire, werewolf and zombie dreams.
www.authorcvhunt.comwww.authorcvhunt.com

This is why they call me "Scary Carrie".

I have always had a strange fascination with the mind and how it functions. When I was a senior in high school, (years ago) I had this grand idea that I was going to go to college and become a phycologist. Then I graduated, had very little money, a broken transmission in my car, and started working in a factory. The rest is a strange, twisted, morbid, tormented, struggling, resurfacing, climbing, self-resurrecting history that not many people know.

I was reminded of the Phycologist part the other day when I was talking to someone about "schizophrenia", now referred to as Multiple Personality Disorder. I recently bought two used (and very outdated) books on the disorder for character research. (yes you read that right) This area of phycology has always fascinated me the most. I've met two people with paranoid multiple personality disorder before. The person creates an alternate reality that they control. It is odd to watch them twist and bend the real reality into something that fits into their own.

With MPD it is an extreme case of the mind and its mis firings. But it had me asking strange questions about the mind and how a person processes thoughts. One is this. I read an article about a man that murdered his ex wife by stabbing her 84 times. This is my thought process upon reading that. Isn't there a point, if you are stabbing someone 84 times, that you say to yourself, I don't think this is right. I want you to really think about this. Grab a pillow and mimic the stabbing (84 times is going to take awhile even if you do it fast) when would you say to yourself, I shouldn't be doing this. I want to know why that person's mind was completely shut off to rationality.

This brings me to another scenairo. It is not as extreme as what I have just mentioned. As a women I can state that what I am about to write about does not always happen. I'm sure that there are situations out there that are completely fine, I have not come across them yet.

People that I refer to as "friends" are more along the line of "acquaintances". I think a friend is someone that you still hang out with, even outside of the evrionment that combines you. I don't have many of those. It only takes to have one thing in common to make a friend. With this being stated, all of my friends are male. The male mind truly does function a lot differently than a females. I feel that the female mind is more impulsive and runs on emotion. (Again, this is not all females but the majority.) A male is more rational, and quick on their feet, able to connect the dots faster and more efficiently.

When I am working with a team of people, I don't care for it if there is more than one other girl. I can't comprehend this whole scenario but I have seen it over and over. Two girls will find a common denominator and typically get along. For some reason when another female is added it goes off track. I'm not sure if it is a competitive thing, but when one is not present, another will talk ill of the other.

This brings me to another question of the mind. Why can't the ill talker see what they are saying? They generally do not even realize that they are retaliating against the absent person, unless you point it out. Then they become more defensive of their statements. They try to rationalize what they have said, but deep in their mind, they realize that what they had said was inappropriate. Then the sting on shame will hit them. Why didn't their mind rationalize the behavior before? And where is the justification in their statements that are usually unfounded? I truly believe that 90% of statements that people (not just woman) make, that attack another person's character, is stemmed from jealousy.

These mental impulses that I write about, made me want to challenge myself in writing. When I wrote Endlessly, I was dead set that I wanted to write in first person, because I enjoy first person books the most. The challenge; I did not want to write from a females point of view. I thought to myself that females are too emotional. I didn't want it to be another sappy love story as a girl falls head over heels for a dark, mysterious, attractive guy. Why is this always the scenario in a vampire novel? I have not read a book where it is narrated by a man as he falls for a girl. If anyone has let me know about, I would love to read it.

When Endlessly was a rough draft, I handed it over to three females, and the question was always the same? Why didn't you write it from Ashley's point of view?

This became my second challenge. Writing from a females point of view even though I resisted the thought of it. It was like a hate book before I started. I didn't want to write it, but I made a promise to those three women that I would write sequel from a females point of view. I went into it trying to make myself think with more emotion and less rationality. When I wrote Endlessly, I want to hear people chuckle when they read certain parts. I know that I have accomplished this by first hand witness. The challenge for Legacy was to make them fell the emotion of the story.

Jason's story came easy. Too easy. I told someone the other day the foundation for Jason's character. They laughed. Each of the three have a foundation in the personality. All three stem from me. I took traits of myself and pushed them to an extreme to make them. It was sometimes confusing because I found that their emotions and thought processes were interchangeable. Their reactions, statements, and decisions would essentially be the same if I swapped one character out for another.

I tell people now that the three characters are my alter egos and laugh about it. But this stirred the pot on Multiple Personality Disorder. (We come full circle on this passage.) What would it be like to write first person from a person with this disorder? Another challenge and one to keep you thinking.


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That was a little unsettling.

You know that you have stepped over a strange line when you refer to yourslef as "we". (shivers) I tried to correct myself, but I think it only made me look all that more crazy. I was having a discussion with someone about Verloren's name and its origins, my exact words, "Yeah, we had a hard time coming up with names." (co-co)

Moving on. I mailed out a copy for review this morning and received an offer to review a book. It looked like a great story and I had sent a message to the author. I told him that I was adding it to my list of to-read. He offered to send me a copy to review. I've been running around trying to find reviewer and never gave much thought of doing in myself. Maybe I should. I read all the time. Sometime I will read two different books at the same time. I will leave one in my locker at work for break times and I will keep another at home. I've read up to three at once.

This blog is dedicated to my writing, the things that inspire it, and other authors and readers. I tend to update any progress with my book and my wirting. Adding little events and everyday things. I am going to start adding book reviews to this. I think it only fair that I repay the favor that I ask of others.


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Switch's non-progress.

Writing Switch has almost turned into a burden. The character that is narrating it is so complex and I've lost myself in her. It's scary.

The writing process engulfs me. Since the books are first person; I become that person to tell their story. This story is...disturbing in some ways. There was a moment when I was writing, and was taken back, because I realized that the inner dialog was not from the character, it was from me. I struggled with the decision of deleting the couple pages or not. In the end I left them. Even though they shine a light on the internal working of my mind, I felt that it was from the heart, and that is where I was told fiction comes from.

I'm playing tug of war with this story. I want to finish it but I feel torn. The first three were finished when Endlessly was released and I was 1/3 of the way finished with Switch. Now I'm sitting on the sidelines waiting for a reaction from Endlessly. I can't find any reasoning with finishing the story if the first book doesn't make it. If I can't get it off the ground, Legacy will never make it to publishing. Then there is no reason to continue this story if it goes no where but in a folder on my computer to collect dust.

I hope to see something promising. Even if it only pushes me to finish Switch.

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That's right...another giveaway.

Here is another chance for you to win the book. You have plenty of time to sign up this time. 4/22/2011

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Goodreads Book Giveaway







Endlessly

by C.V. Hunt


Giveaway ends April 22, 2011.
See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.



Enter to win




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The vampire shields its eyes to the broader horizon.

Endlessly has been available for over a month now. I have received some enlightening remarks. I'm glad that most people are anxious for the sequel to be released. I want to give it to you all too. Believe me; you don't know how hard it is to bite my tongue when people talk to me about the story. The only information that I can give you is: If you liked Endlessly, you might not be so happy with Legacy, but…the story isn't over until Phantom. I will warn you in advance…huge cliff hanger with Legacy. This is all purely speculation. And that is all due to the fact that I know how much the story bent after the editor took a look at Endlessly the first time. I look back at my first draft of Endlessly and laugh…what was I thinking. But, even though there were well over 10,000 words worth of change in rewrite and edit, the story (for the most part) and outcome stayed the same. It was only the steps that were taken to get there that changed the most. I wonder if Legacy will become much like that. I would love to hand it to the editor today and get it out there ASAP but, ($$$...sigh) you know how life can be.I swear; I am working as much overtime that I can, and I am not splurging so that this story can be told. (And I really want another tattoo people; I've been itching for one for a while. Especially with the release of Endlessly-I think it deserves something monumental to have accomplished something like this in my life.)Marketing has been a nightmare. It's almost impossible to find reviewers. There seems to be this huge window for YA; which my book is not. I think Jason would have to clean up his language for that…and that's not going to happen. So with the marketing nightmare that has become all my waking moments, I have been toying with the idea of being bombarded with rejection again. That is what caused me to self-publish in the first place. I think that I will go the same route as before (which was-get rejected by five different agencies then give up) then go back to the waiting game.I try to reach out to other authors but I don't want upset them. I know they are having a hard enough time getting their own stories out there. Me, I would be more than willing to post information for a fellow author. Or even do a review. Some don't quite see the whole-you scratch my back I scratch yours-as an effective marketing strategy-and especially from a newbie. So until next time, cheers to sacrificing sleep, R&R, and free time to the birthing pains of vampires and werewolves. Happy zombie dreams. (To answer someone's question: When I dream of the zombies and they talk to me and do not harm me, I do feel a little like I am their queenJ. Sorry about your head J.S. but you need to stick with me when the zombies attack and not jump off of buildings.)www.authorcvhunt.comwww.authorcvhunt.com

Zombie and vampire dreams.

I went to the big name monster book store today to see if my book was on their shelf. I had looked at their website and found it, so I thought it might be worth the time to look. Of course it wasn't there. I'm not a big name or a high seller. No one has ever heard of me. So I headed over to my normal used book store. (I'm cheap, yes I know.) I think I scored pretty well. Right now I am reading World War Z by Max Brooks. I just started it so I can't really comment on it. I saw New York Best-Seller (which I know doesn't really mean anything) and zombie so I thought I would give it a crack. But at the store I stumbled across a set of books by David Wellington. There were four different vampire books under his name and I picked all of them up. (I didn't know if they were a series or not.) When I got home I looked him up on the net. Wow! It was a series and I had gotten all of them. Not only does he have this vampire series but a zombie series and a newly started werewolf series. They all look really good. Now I'm hoping I cruise through the zombie book so I can read the vampire set. I keep picking through the net, trying to find people to review my book Endlessly. I finally signed up for Google alerts. I submitted the PDF to a review site and they suggested it since they no longer inform the author when they release a review of the book. It actually works pretty well. It let me know that my giveaway had ended. The second giveaway went well. Over 900 people requested it again and some more people added it to their to-be-read list. I went ahead and set up another giveaway, but this time I made it worldwide and it will run for one month. I did it worldwide because I was contacted by someone in the UK that was curious about Legacy. With that I decided that I needed to set up a mailing list. I will not mail anyone on this list until Legacy is released and they will only be mailed when each book is released. I figured this would be the best way to keep people informed without them having to check in all the time to see if there has been any change. I got a bunch of writing done on Switch today. I finished up two chapters that are the turning point in the story, and I know that they are far from perfect, but I laid it all out and got it out of my head. I know that these are the two chapters that I will pick to death to get them just right. When I am done with switch I will step away from this story. I haven't quite made up my mind what and if I will write anything beyond this. After all I have already accomplished what I had set out to do. All I wanted was to publish a book. And with that I will leave you with zombie and vampire dreams. Good night.

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Letters to Verloren.

I have gotten quite a few questions about Legacy and when it will be released. The best answer I can give is, I HOPE that it will be available by the end of the year. It's tricky when you self-publish. I couldn't even nail down an exact date for Endlessly.

So I have decided to create a mailing list for those who want to be informed of Legacy's release. The mailing list will only be used to let you know when the next book has been released. I do not spam. Go to the contact page and send me a message with MAILING LIST in the subject line.

If you want to keep updated on the progress of my work you can follow this blog, check in on my site periodically, add me on Facebook or Goodreads.

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