H.S. Stone's Blog, page 10

Spoilers, anyone?

Two of the most anticipated finales that I can remember recently aired: Avengers: Endgame and Game of Thrones. Despite the numerous fan theories about how both series would end, the studios kept the endings a secret. Even the casts weren't aware of how the finales would play out until near the end. Amazingly, in both cases, the veil of secrecy worked. I, for one, did not hear about what would happen in the finales until they aired.

Once Avengers: Endgame and the final episode of Game of Throne...

Visiting the world's largest independent bookstore

Powell's City of Books claims to be the "largest used and new bookstore in the world, occupying an entire city block and housing approximately one million books." I had the good fortune of visiting Powell's while passing through Portland, and it was by far the most impressively gigantic bookstore I've ever been in!


It's true that the store occupies an entire block. That's an awful lot of real estate. Not only that, but it's at least three floors tall. I say "at least" because there were lower...

I'm reading more thrillers

I'm a big believer that, to be a better writer, one should read more. As a corollary, reading in the genre that one intends to write is even better. For the last few months, I've been working on a thriller, which I'm in the midst of editing, so I've been reading more thrillers recently.

Thriller is a broad genre. According to Wikipedia, it encompasses stories that elicit feelings of suspense, excitement, surprise, anticipation, and anxiety. For me, when I think of thrillers, I think of authors...

Getting Older Isn't All Bad

Rarely does a day go by when I'm not reminded that I'm getting older. Whether it's forgetting little things, dealing with nagging injuries that used to heal in days when I was younger, or wishing I could still eat buffets without worrying about my expanding waistline, my body likes to make sure I'm aware of my age. However, when it comes to writing, my years on the earth have provided several benefits.

I've had lots of practice writing. I don't know if I've hit the 10,000-hour milestone yet, b...

Reading goals for 2019

Every year, I try to have some kind of reading goal or theme to complement the books I'd normally choose to read. In 2017 and 2018, it was to make an appreciable dent in the TBR books I already own, and I've been able to do that, completing 65 such books in the last two years.

This year, I'm planning to have two reading goals:
Re-reading my favorites: I rarely re-read a book, no matter how much I love it, because there are so many new books to read. However, this year, I'm going to do just that...

Favorite reads of 2018

Happy New Year! As we ring in the new year, let's take a look back at the top ten books I read last year.


1. Obsidio - Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff
Wow, what an awesome conclusion to an awesome trilogy! All three books in the Illuminae Files series ended up as my #1 favorite read in the year I read them. A great plot, great characters, engaging writing, and an unusual format make this an ideal combination for me. If you haven't read the Illuminae Files yet, go do it now!

2. Muse of Nightmares...

What I read in 2018

 Image courtesy of Goodreads
As we approach the end of another year, it's time to review the books I read in 2017. This year, I read 85 books, one more than the 84 books I read last year.

The average rating for the books I read was 4.07 (out of 5) stars per book, broken down as follows:
5 stars - 29 books4 stars - 33 books 3 stars - 23 books 
The 4.07 stars average was a slight increase from the 4.05 stars per book in 2017. It's also the highest average for a year since I started...

2018 holiday sale

It's hard to believe that Christmas is almost here! What better way to celebrate than with a book sale? Between now and the New Year, most of my e-books will be on sale for 99 cents or FREE on Amazon! Get these titles before prices go back up!

99 CENTS:
      Beneath
the Earth  All That
Remains of Me  Beyond
New Eden  Gifted
      Transmissions  In the Hands of
Children  Keep Your
Enemies Close  George and the
Galactic Games
    &nb...

NaNoWriMo 2018 recap

For the fifth year in a row, I participated in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), and for the second year in a row, I wrote fewer than 50K words in November. In fact, I wrote fewer words than last year's 30K. This year was particularly disappointing because I thought that 20K words was a realistic target, but I didn't even reach that goal. :-(

As you may be able to tell from the chart above, most of my progress came on the weekends. My word count barely budged during the work week. I at...

Preparing for NaNoWriMo 2018

It's almost November, which means NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is just around the corner. I've participated in NaNoWriMo the past four years, reaching the 50,000 word count goal my first three years before falling short last year.

This year, I plan to participate again but with a twist. Whereas I had always started working on a new novel for NaNoWriMo, I'm in the midst of a novel now and want to use the event to finish the first draft if I can. It's the thriller that I eluded to ba...