H.S. Stone's Blog, page 36

What some fresh air can do

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I decided on the story that I want to write next but there were some problems with the plot. It turned out that those problems were more nagging than I thought. For days, I couldn't get the story to make sense end to end. I tried re-working it and changing the backstory that it relied on, but I never felt satisfied.

Then one day, I decided to take a walk outside. Maybe it was the fresh air or just being away from my notebook, but during the walk, I though...

Book review: Rex Rising by Chrystalla Thoma

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Description:
In a world where parasites create new human races, Elei leads a peaceful life -- until a mysterious attack on his boss sends him fleeing with a bullet in his side. Pursued for a secret he does not possess and with the fleet at his heels, he has but one thought: to stay alive. His pursuers aren't inclined to sit down and talk, although that's not the end of Elei's troubles. The two powerful parasites inhabiting his body, at a balance until now, choose this moment to...

What next?

It's been two weeks since In the Hands of Children first became available for sale. What have I been doing since then? Kicking back and basking in my accomplishment? I wish!

First, I've been doing some marketing and promotion for the book. I suck at marketing and freely admit to it. So far, the extent of my marketing efforts have been to email my friends and relatives, post about the book in this blog and on Facebook and Twitter, and sending queries to some book bloggers asking if they want to...

In the Hands of Children print version

One thing I learned from publishing my first novel, George and the Galactic Games, was that I should make my books available in print version. I got lots of messages from friends and relatives who didn't want to buy George and the Galactic Games in e-book format because they didn't have a e-reader or they didn't like to read books electronically. After looking around, I wound up using Createspace to publish a print version of the book.

With In the Hands of Children, I prepared a print version...

Book review: The Declaration by Gemma Malley

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Description:
It’s the year 2140 and Anna shouldn’t be alive. Nor should any of the children she lives with at Grange Hall. The facility is full of kids like her, kids whose parents chose to recklessly abuse Mother Nature and have children despite a law forbidding them from doing so as long as they took longevity drugs. To pay back her parents’ debt to Mother Nature, Anna will have to work for the rest of her life. But then Peter appears at the hall, and he tells...

In the Hands of Children

My second novel, In the Hands of Children, has been published!
It's currently available on Amazon and Smashwords in e-book format. Other retailers will be added in the near future, as well as a printed version.


Here's the description of the book:

The H5N1 virus was the deadliest disease in the history of mankind. Not only did it spread rapidly, reaching every corner of the globe, but it also resulted in an inconceivable 100% mortality rate among adults. Within a month, almost every human being b...

Title and cover reveal

Things have progressed quickly with my second novel in the last month, and I'm happy to say that I'm in the process of putting the finishing touches on it. I plan to submit it to the various publishing platforms this week, and hopefully it will be available for purchase on at least one retailer's site this weekend!

In the meantime, here's a sneak peak at the cover of my new book, titled In the Hands of Children.


Someone on Fiverr created the image for me. I hope you like it, and I hope you'll l...

Characters making stupid decisions

I recently finished a book that was very well written and could have rated 4 or 5 stars if not for the fact that the story hinged on the stupid decisions made by the main character. The character made one major bad decision early on in the book, and I kept waiting for her to fix it, but whenever an opportunity came up, she decided not to and just made things worse. In the end, her decisions damaged her life and the lives of those who love her. What was the point? Why did the author write a ch...

Zombies update

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about my love of zombie books. Since then, I've read two other zombie stories, one that's a short story and the other a full length novel. The short story, Deadlocked by A.R. Wise, was great. I'd give it 5 stars out of 5. The zombie novel, on the other hand, was a disappointment. I won't mention the name of the book, but I'm glad I didn't have to pay for it (I picked it up when it was free on Amazon). Despite its high ratings, I found the story to be aimless and...

What stars mean in my reviews

In March, I began reviewing books. My intention was never to become a full time book reviewer, but I wanted to share some of the books I read. So far, I've only reviewed books that I thought warranted 4 or 5 stars. This is because there seems to be a stigma against 3 star reviews (or God forbid, 2 and 1 star reviews). From what I've been reading in forums and on blogs, some authors freak out when someone gives their book a 3 star review. It's as if 3 stars means the book is horrible. Not so!...