Roxanne Crouse's Blog, page 42
March 25, 2012
Roxanne Crouse's Reviews > Marco and the Red Granny
Marco and the Red Granny
by Mur Lafferty (Goodreads Author), Cheyenne Wright (Illustrator)
Roxanne Crouse's review
Mar 25, 12 · edit
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Mur Lafferty is the host on the podcast I should be writing If you're a writer and you're not listening to it, you should. The podcast is a wonderful resource for self-published and traditionally published authors alike.
Mur Lafferty also publishes her own books and Marco and the Red Granny is one I recommend reading.
Book description borrowed from Amazon: By bringing back the patronage system, a new alien species has transformed the moon into the new artistic center of the universe, and Sally Ride Lunar Base soon gains the nickname "Mollywood." These aliens can do amazing things with art and the senses, allowing a painting, for example, to stimulate other senses than simply sight. When someone asks a starlet, "Who are you wearing?" she could as easily say "J.K. Rowling" as she could "Gucci."
Every creative person in the world wishes for a patronage. It's quite competitive.
Marco wanted one, once. But then his girlfriend got one and shuttled off to Mollywood for fame and fortune, and Marco stayed home, waiting for his own patron. After several years, he gave up entirely. His career faltered. His agent dumped him. And then, one morning, he gets a call. At last he has a patron, at last the aliens want him. But he's about to find out that an artistic patronage isn't what it was in the good old days, and that the only friend he's made, a tiny old woman who's the star of a blood sports reality series called The Most Dangerous Game, has secrets of her own.
I enjoyed this book. It's a short, simple story that you can sit down and read in a day. Except for a few areas that could have used some editing, the book is written well with a style that's easy and flows naturally. The setting and world development are interesting. Everything is set on the moon with aliens that are patrons of the arts. The idea that you can put on a shirt and experience a novel from wearing it is unique.
The character Marco is likable and comes across real. The secondary character the red granny is also likable, I wish there was more of her in the story, more about her past and how she ended up in the Dangerous Game.
One gripe, it would seem to me that Marco would've had a harder time excepting Penelope's name change and in the narrative would have continued to call her Penelope.
I enjoyed the ending. I thought is was well plotted out and executed. The ending leads me to believe that there may be sequels to the story and I hope Mur Lafferty does write them.
March 20, 2012
A Fellow Bootcamper is Offering His Book, Mage Blood for FREE on Kindle
I met Edward McKeown at Orson Scott Card's boot camp back in 2010. I wish I would have had more time to get to know him better, but boot camp was a pretty busy time. I found as many of the boot campers as I could on Facebook after everything was over and from time to time, I check in on them and see what they've been up to. Today I noticed that Edward McKeown was offering his book, Mage Blood free on Kindle and I thought I'd spread the word. You can find it here: Mage Blood It should be free until March 23rd.
Since self-publishing my story, I've realized how important reviews and spreading the word really is to the author. I plan to start reviewing all self-published authors I read to help them out. In the past, I haven't written reviews, but I plan to start with the novels I've already read and work my way to the newer ones I'm reading now. I'm not the best review writer, yet, but I'm sure I'll improve as I get practice.
I've also decided to change the focus of this blog to self-publishing and to helping out other self-published writers. I plan to start reviewing self-published books and doing interviews of self-published writers. As soon as I can get it to work, I plan to start a podcast on the subject as well.
I don't think Edward McKeown is self-published. His books are through a smaller press, I believe, and I'm still thinking of going that route myself. We shall see. Whether I self-publish Saving Avalon or shop it around to publishers will depend on how well I can promote Fortune on my own. Fortune is the guinea pig to see how well I can do promoting my work and one thing I learned quickly is most people don't care, even when it's free.
I downloaded a copy of Mage Blood to my kindle and I can't wait to check out what my fellow boot camper has accomplished. I just have to finish the second book of Game of Thrones first, which is taking me forever to read, it's soooo long, yet so good.
March 19, 2012
March 18, 2012
'Fortune' Is Now Available At Amazon
The release of my story took a little longer than I thought it would, but now it's live and you can purchase it here.
March 16, 2012
Author as Puppeteer – Author Intrusion
An Easy Trap
In a previous Be A Novelist blog post entitled Story or Message, I alluded to the plotting problem of author intrusion. Author intrusion is an easy trap for the beginning novelist to slip into.
In that blog I stated that "the novelist's job is much like a puppeteer; if you can be seen the illusion is destroyed.
Excellent information!
March 15, 2012
My Anthology Story 'Fortune' Goes Live On Amazon Tomorrow
My writing group, The Western Maryland Writing Group, was putting together an anthology with the subject of December 32. Sadly, the anthology fell apart. For some, it became too much work. For others, I think it overwhelmed them. A few of us actually finished our stories and were eager to put them out there for the world to read. I was one who finished. It's not one of my best stories, mostly because I struggled with the subject, but I finished. I put a lot of time into it and didn't like the idea of it sitting on my hard drive doing nothing, so I decided to release it on Amazon. It will go live tomorrow for kindle. I'm not sure if I'm going to do a physical book of this one because the story is only about 35 pages. It would be a very small book. I finished the cover today. You can see it below.
The story will be a good introduction to my writing style so when I do get a novel out there, maybe someone will actually buy and read it. As soon as Amazon lets me, I'm going to offer the story for FREE on Kindle to hopefully get some reviews. I'll let everyone know when it's available for free.
March 8, 2012
Vague Words to Avoid
I'd like to thank Evil Author for this wonderful list of vague words to avoid: Vague Words List I'd never have the time to compile a list like this, nor would I know all the words to put on the list, but now I do. Vague and overused words can really make your work sound passive and boring. With this excellent list, you'll be able to improve any story. Below are some of the words on the list to avoid.
a little
close to
only
went
a lot
cold
out
were
about
community
perhaps
would
actually
considerable
practically
a bit
advantage
could
pretty up
adventure
creative
probably
was & *ing combo
March 2, 2012
Writing a British Character?
You would think writing a character with a British accent would be easy for me having a British grandmother and watching British shows and movies all the time, but I have found bring out he accent without writing with misspellings is hard. I did find a useful website called The Best of British Slang that has been very useful. Below is a sampling.
Ace – If something is ace it is awesome. I used to hear it a lot in Liverpool. Kids thought all cool stuff was ace, or brill.
Aggro – Short for aggravation, it's the sort of thing you might expect at a football match. In other words – trouble! There is sometimes aggro in the cities after the pubs shut!
All right? – This is used a lot around London and the south to mean, "Hello, how are you"? You would say it to a complete stranger or someone you knew. The normal response would be for them to say "All right"? back to you. It is said as a question. Sometimes it might get expanded to "all right mate"? Mostly used by blue collar workers but also common among younger people.
Anti-clockwise – The first time I said that something had gone anti-clockwise to someone in Texas I got this very funny look. It simply means counter-clockwise but must sound really strange to you chaps! I think he thought I had something against clocks!
Any road – Up north (where they talk funny!!) instead of saying anyway, they say "any road"! Weird huh?
Arse – This is a word that doesn't seem to exist in America. It basically means the same as ass, but is much ruder. It is used in phrases like "pain in the arse" (a nuisance) or I "can't be arsed" (I can't be bothered) or you might hear something was "a half arsed attempt" meaning that it was not done properly.
Arse about face – This means you are doing something back to front.
Arse over elbow – This is another way of saying head over heels but is a little more descriptive. Usually happens after 11pm on a Saturday night and too many lagers! Some Americans say ass over teakettle apparently!
Arse over tit – Another version of arse over elbow, but a bit more graphic!
Arsehole – Asshole to you. Not a nice word in either language.
Arseholed – Drunk! Usually in the advanced stages of drunken stupor, someone would be considered "completely arseholed". Never me, of course!
As well – You chaps say also when we would say "too" or "as well". For instance if my friend ordered a Miller Lite, I would say "I'll have one as well". I often heard people saying something like "I'll have one also". You'd be more likely to hear someone in England ordering a pint of lager!
Ass – Your backside, but mostly a donkey!
Au fait – Another one of those French expressions that have slipped into the English language. This one means to be familiar with something. I'd say at the end of reading all this you'd be au fait with the differences between American and English!
Baccy – Tobacco. The sort you use to roll your own.
Bang – Nothing to do with your hair – this is a rather unattractive way of describing having sex. Always gets a smile from Brits in American hair dressers when they are asked about their bangs.
Barmy – If someone tells you that you're barmy they mean you have gone mad or crazy. For example you'd have to be barmy to visit England without trying black pudding!
Beastly – You would call something or somebody beastly if they were really nasty or unpleasant. Most people would consider you a snob or an upper class git if you used this word. People like Fergie can get away with it though.
Bees Knees – This is the polite version of the dog's bollocks. So if you are in polite company and want to say that something was fabulous, this phrase might come in handy.
Belt up – For some reason I heard this quite a lot as a kid. It's the British for shut up.
Bender – I used to go out on a bender quite frequently when I was at university. Luckily bender doesn't only mean a gay man, it also means a pub crawl or a heavy drinking session.
Bespoke – We say something is bespoke if it has been created especially for someone, in the same way that you say custom. For example a computer program might be bespoken for a client, or you may order a bespoke holiday, where the travel agent creates an itinerary around your exact requirements.
Best of British – If someone says "The best of British to you" when you are visiting the UK, it simply means good luck. It is short for "best of British luck".
Biggie – This is unusual. A biggie is what a child calls his poo! Hence the reason Wendy's Hamburgers has never really taken off in England – who would buy "biggie fries"? Yuck – I'm sure you wouldn't buy poo fries! The other meaning of Biggie is erection. It just gets worse!
Bite your arm off – This is not aggressive behaviour that a football fan might engage in. In fact it just means that someone is over excited to get something. For instance you might say that kids would bite your arm off for an ice cream on a sunny day.
Bladdered – This rather ugly expression is another way of saying you are drunk. The link is fairly apparent I feel!
Blast – An exclamation of surprise. You may also hear someone shout "blast it", or even "bugger and blast"!
Blatant – We use this word a lot to mean something is really obvious.
Bleeding – An alternative to the word bloody. You'll hear people say "bleeding hell" or "not bleeding likely" for example.
Blimey – Another exclamation of surprise. My Dad used to say "Gawd Blimey" or "Gor Blimey" or even "Cor Blimey". It is all a corruption of the oath God Blind Me.
Blinding – If something is a blinding success – it does not mean that any eyes were poked out with sharp sticks – it means it was awesome.
Blinkered – Someone who is blinkered is narrow minded or narrow sighted – they only see one view on a subject. It comes from when horses that pulled carriages wore blinkers to stop them seeing to the side or behind them which stopped them from being startled and only let them see where they were going.
Bloody – One of the most useful swear words in English. Mostly used as an exclamation of surprise i.e. "bloody hell" or "bloody nora". Something may be "bloody marvellous" or "bloody awful". It is also used to emphasise almost anything, "you're bloody mad", "not bloody likely" and can also be used in the middle of other words to emphasise them. E.g. "Abso-bloody-lutely"! Americans should avoid saying "bloody" as they sound silly.
Blooming – Another alternative to the word bloody. You might hear someone say "not blooming likely" so that they don't have to swear.
Blow me – When an English colleague of mine exclaimed "Blow Me" in front of a large American audience, he brought the house down. It is simply an exclamation of surprise, short for "Blow me down", meaning something like I am so surprised you could knock me over just by blowing. Similar to "Well knock me down with a feather". It is not a request for services to be performed.
Blow off – Who blew off? Means who farted? Constant source of amusement to us Brits when you guys talk about blowing people off. Conjours up all sort of bizarre images!
Blunt – If a saw or a knife is not sharp we say it is blunt. It is also the way most of us speak! In America the knife would be dull.
Bob's your uncle – This is a well used phrase. It is added to the end of sentences a bit like and that's it! For example if you are telling someone how to make that fabulous banoffee pie you just served them, you would tell them to boil the condensed milk for three hours, spread it onto a basic cheesecake base, slice bananas on top, add some whipped double cream, another layer of banana and Bob's your uncle!
Bodge – We bodge things all the time here. I'm sure you do too! To do a bodge job means to do a quick and dirty. Make it look good for the next day or two and if it falls down after that – hey well we only bodged it! Applies to building, DIY, programming and most other things.
Bogey – Booger. Any variety, crusty dragons included!
Bollocks – This is a great English word with many excellent uses. Technically speaking it means testicles but is typically used to describe something that is no good (that's bollocks) or that someone is talking rubbish (he's talking bollocks). Surprisingly it is also used in a positive manner to describe something that is the best, in which case you would describe it as being "the dog's bollocks". Englishmen who live in America take great delight in ordering specialised registration plates for their cars using the letters B.O.L.L.O.X. Good eh?
Bomb – If something costs a bomb it means that it is really expensive. We say it when we see the price of insurance in the US, you could try saying it when you see how much jeans or petrol cost over here!
Bomb – If something goes like a bomb it means it is going really well or really fast. Or you could say an event went down like a bomb and it would mean that the people really enjoyed it. In the US the meaning would be almost exactly the reverse.
Bonk – Same meaning as shag. Means to have sex. E.g. "Did you bonk him/her?".
Botch – There are two expressions here – to botch something up or to do a botch job. They both mean that the work done was not of a high standard or was a clumsy patch. My Dad used to always tell me that workmen had botched it up and that he should have done the work properly himself.
Bottle – Something you have after twenty pints of lager and a curry. A lotta bottle! This means courage. If you have a lotta bottle you have no fear.
Box your ears – Many young chaps heard their dads threaten to box their ears when I was a littlun. Generally meant a slap around the head for misbehaving. Probably illegal these days!!
Brassed off – If you are brassed off with something or someone, you are fed up. Pissed perhaps.
Brill – Short for "brilliant". Used by kids to mean cool.
Budge up – If you want to sit down and someone is taking up too much space, you'd ask them to budge up – move and make some space.
Bugger – This is another fairly unique word with no real American equivalent. Like bloody it has many uses apart from the obvious dictionary one pertaining to rather unusual sexual habits. My father was always shouting "bugger" when he was working in the garage or garden. Usually when he hit his thumb or dropped a nail or lost something. Today we might use the sh** or the f*** words but bugger is still as common. The fuller version of this would be "bugger it". It can also be used to tell someone to get lost (bugger off), or to admit defeat (we're buggered) or if you were tired or exhausted you would be buggered. You can also call someone a bugger. When I won £10 on the lottery my mate called me a "lucky bugger".
To read more go to the following link British Slang I thought Bugger was a great place to stop as I have always loved that word. I hope the site helps bring life to your British character.
March 1, 2012
The NaNoEdMo Challenge
Reblogged from Write a Book with Me:
Only a writer could be excited about something like this. I've just discovered National Novel Editing Month!
NaNoEdMo, a little known sibling of the fabled NaNoWriMo, is a small but dedicated group of writers making a commitment to spend fifty hours in the month of March editing their novels. I was immediately struck by the fact that the commitment was to a number of hours and not to a specific word count or finished product.
February 28, 2012
I Just Got Back From Mysticon
I had a great time at Mysticon this past weekend. If you're a writer and you're not going to cons, you're making a big mistake. Not only can you find inspiration and have fun, you can learn a lot about writing at the many panels. I brought my fifteen year old son along with me so I didn't get to go to as many of the writing panels as I would have liked, but I did manage to make it to a few. One of my favorites was Allen Wold's Writing Workshop. If you're at a convention and Allen Wold is giving a workshop, go to it. His workshops are awesome. I went to his plot development workshop at Ravencon last year (I am going to Ravencon again this year, if you're there say Hi). I wanted to go again this year, but my son wanted mom around. He's a strange fifteen year old who actually likes his parents. Perhaps it's because his parents are so awesomely cool. How many parents take their kids to cons.
I also went to a panel about designing book covers. With all my photoshop skills and photography skills, it's something I'm thinking about getting into. A lot of authors are deciding to self publish and know nothing about graphic designing. There is a niche to be filled that I think will be fun to do.
I wanted to go to self publishing vs traditional publishing, but I ended up playing Zombies the board game with my son and two others we met at the con. The game was fun and worth missing the panel. I even bought it from a dealer at the con.
I had a great time and can't wait for Ravencon in a month. I'm hoping my husband will come along to the next one. If you've never been to a con, go to one. You won't regret it.
