Bryce Moore's Blog, page 62

You Don’t Need Permission to Like Something

I’ve talked about this before on the blog, but it’s something I feel needs repeating. You don’t have to like what everyone else likes. Also, you don’t have to dislike what everyone else dislikes. You don’t need to research the social history of all the creators of the thing you like. They don’t have to all be perfect people. They don’t even all have to be good people. (Though you should always keep in mind that the persona of that artist you read about online or in print might well be very different than who that person actually is. Art can be very admirable. I tend to avoid admiring artists too much, simply because I don’t know them. For example, just because JK Rowling has done or said something you dislike doesn’t make Harry Potter a horrible person.)

Likewise, you don’t have to dislike something just because everyone else dislikes it. (Or like it because they all dislike it.) I try not to let my personal taste be swayed by what others like or don’t like, one way or the other. I can think Parasite was a terrible movie, and it can still win the Oscar for Best Picture. That doesn’t make me wrong. That’s the lovely thing about opinions. (Though it’s important to me to be able to support my opinion. If someone challenges me on my dislike of Parasite, I have plenty of reasons to back it up. Perhaps they have reasons to counter those. If those reasons are strong enough, you never know: maybe I’ll see something in the movie I didn’t see before, and that might make my opinion change.)

But what about spending money on works done by artists who you dislike? If you’re disappointed in who Johnny Depp seems to have become, can you still buy a Jack Sparrow t-shirt? For this, I’d encourage everyone to remember that unless the art is being sold directly by the artist, only a fraction of the money of each sale goes to the artist.

As an author, I get a small percentage of royalties on each book that’s sold. If you hate me as an individual but love my books, you deciding to not buy my books anymore just to spite me is really hurting you far more than it’s hurting me. It’s also hurting future artists. My publishers make money off my books. They then take that money and invest it in new books. And if you loved my books, odds are you’ll like other books that publisher comes out with. Editors each have a certain taste, after all. Buying my books supports copy editors, illustrators, marketing staffs, and more, and that’s with a book, which is generally looked on as a product of a sole individual. With movies and music, it’s only more complex.

I’m a big fan of Woody Allen movies. Something about the way he makes films really resonates with me. I’m still a big fan of many Michael Jackson songs. I love some of the old Bill Cosby standup routines. I might have trepidations of those artists as individuals, but I still love their art.

But this post isn’t just about questionable artists. It’s about giving yourself the permission to love or loathe whatever you want. There’s a book out that’s been hailed as one of the best YA fantasies to come out in the past two decades. I couldn’t stand it. That’s okay. I don’t need to get on a soap box and tell everyone else they’re wrong. I can let them love what they love, and it doesn’t need to impact me at all. If I’m reading or watching something I don’t like, I can (and should) stop reading or stop watching.

Life’s too short to bother with worrying about what the general consensus is about any one work of art. And that’s all I have to say about that.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. Thanks to all my Patrons who support me! It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out. I’ve posted the entirety of my book ICHABOD in installments, and I’m now putting up chapters from PAWN OF THE DEAD, another of my unreleased books. Where else are you going to get the undead and muppets all in the same YA package? Check it out.

If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking this PERFECT PLACE TO DIE Amazon link. It will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.

Movie Review: Gaslight

It’s not every day that you have a film that came out in 1944 that ends up defining a whole segment of abusive behavior, but when you watch Gaslight, you completely understand how it could fill that role. I assume you know, but gaslighting someone is when you manipulate someone so that they begin to question their own sanity, and George Cukor (director of My Fair Lady, The Philadelphia Story, Born Yesterday, and many other films) takes that technique to the extreme in this movie.

Ingrid Bergman won an Oscar for Best Actress (and the movie was nominated for Best Picture) for her turn as Paula, the woman in question. Despondent when her aunt, who raised her, dies, Paula flees as a teenager to Italy, where she tries to escape her past and does so successfully for 10 years. Then she meets a man who falls instantly in love with her. They marry in a matter of weeks, and he convinces her to return to her childhood home in London. There he quickly begins to pick her apart bit by bit, and Cukor does an excellent job of illustrating the technique.

For example, Gregory (the husband, played by Charles Boyer, mentions to Paula that “she’s always losing things,” despite the fact that she’s never lost things. He says “she’s always forgetting things,” and again, this flies in the face of what she recalls. But when other people are making these observations, it plays into our own insecurities, and we begin to believe other people must be right, since we’re all too ready to believe the worst about ourselves.

I don’t want to give away too much of the movie, since it really is a fantastic film, and if you haven’t seen it you should, but into all of this background is layered the murder mystery of Paula’s aunt. It all plays together wonderfully (and dreadfully). You can’t help but feel so sorry for Bergman as she’s manipulated time and time again. It would be very easy to begin to be frustrated with a main character who is taken advantage of so seemingly easily, but Cukor does a good job establishing why that would be the case. The murder of her aunt really affected her as a child, she’s a woman in London at the turn of the century (so she’s already viewed by society as subservient to her husband), and the abuse doesn’t start all at once. It comes layer on layer in a steady stream. Gregory mixes it up as well, sometimes behaving beastly, and then suddenly switching to being effusively nice, all while telling his wife that he’s always nice.

The movie isn’t available for streaming on any of the platforms, but you can buy it digitally for all of $5. I had mentioned it to Daniela a few weeks ago, and she remembered it enough that she asked to watch it, and she really enjoyed it. It’s another excellent example of just how good old movies can be, and why dismissing something just because it’s in black and white is a huge mistake. (Especially when you consider this was done in 1944, well after colorized movies were a thing. I would love to see some more black and white films done today. The way the shadows and lights work on the screen is just different than color. Black and white photography is still a big thing. Why not the same for films?)

In any case, I give it a 9/10, even after having seen it three or four times. I do think it’s a bit slow paced in a couple of areas, but that’s simply a factor of thriller/suspense movies having come a long way since 1944. This was one of the movies my family had up at our cabin in Utah. My grandmother curated the collection, and it’s because of those VHS tapes that I ended up being introduced to many fantastic movies. I’m glad I can do the same for Daniela now.

If you haven’t seen this movie, you should really check it out. And if you haven’t seen it for a while, you should watch it again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. Thanks to all my Patrons who support me! It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out. I’ve posted the entirety of my book ICHABOD in installments, and I’m now putting up chapters from PAWN OF THE DEAD, another of my unreleased books. Where else are you going to get the undead and muppets all in the same YA package? Check it out.

If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking this PERFECT PLACE TO DIE Amazon link. It will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.

Television Review: Broadchurch Season One

Ah, the wonders of streaming. Where I can “discover” a “new show” 8 years after it first aired. Well, if you’re like me, and you haven’t watched Broadchurch (available to stream on Netflix), then let me bring it to your attention.

David Tennant (the tenth Doctor Who) stars as DI Hardy, the lead detective on a case of the murder of an 11 year old boy in Broadchurch, England. He’s assisted by Olivia Colman (Queen Elizabeth in the latest Crown seasons). Jodie Whitaker (the twelfth Doctor Who) plays the murdered boy’s mother. The show features great acting and the first season has a fantastic plot. 8 episodes, all of them well done.

I enjoyed the way the show delved into the impact an event like that can have on a relatively small town, as well as the impact the investigation of that event can have. You get to know the characters of the town because the investigation goes on for so long. True, there were a couple of plot developments that felt like a bit of a stretch to me (and they used practically the same plot device twice, which was a tad weak), but by and large the investigation doesn’t feel padded.

I also really enjoyed the interaction between Tennant and Colman. Tennant is brash and inconsiderate, a newcomer to Broadchurch. Colman is a lifelong resident. She knows all the people and thinks the best of everyone, but in a murder case, that’s not necessarily a good thing. Seeing the two of them argue about approaches and techniques set up a great dichotomy that plays out wonderfully.

The tensions rise with each episode, and the finale of the season was fantastic. Always a big plus for a television show. (Sadly, two episodes into the second season, it’s felt much more contrived. Hoping that changes soon.) The show is TV-MA for some harsh language, but there’s not much in the way of blood/violence and no sex I can recall. Overall, I gave it an 8.5/10. Very good television.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. Thanks to all my Patrons who support me! It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out. I’ve posted the entirety of my book ICHABOD in installments, and I’m now putting up chapters from PAWN OF THE DEAD, another of my unreleased books. Where else are you going to get the undead and muppets all in the same YA package? Check it out.

If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking this PERFECT PLACE TO DIE Amazon link. It will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.

Fun with TMD

Perhaps you’ve heard of TMD (also called TMJ). Maybe you even know what it is, or maybe you’re like I was: aware of the concept, but kind of fuzzy on the details. TMJ stands for your temporomandibular joint: the joint at the base of your jaw. Thus, saying you have TMJ is kind of like saying “I’ve got elbow” or “I’ve got knee.” Everybody has TMJ. TMD, on the other hand, stands for temporomandibular joint disorder.

I, unfortunately, have both.

I’ve always been a teeth grinder. I had one special night guard made, and I actually ground right through it, so I had to have a second one made that’s much more durable. I wear it every night, and it’s helped keep me from grinding my teeth to nubs. However, with the stress of the pandemic and everything around it, I think my teeth grinding really kicked it up a few notches. This is incredibly frustrating, since it happens while I’m asleep, so it’s kind of difficult to just force myself to stop it.

Because of all that grinding, I’ve developed TMJ. It’s been here for the last couple of months. At first it was much more severe, kind of like an ear ache that wouldn’t go away. Chewing anything hurt a lot. Initially I tried to deal with it through medication and rest. A doctor prescribed a muscle relaxant, which seemed to help, but it was just going on and on still, and I wasn’t a huge fan of the medication. (It really zonked me out and had other side effects that were no fun.) So I stopped that.

Now I’ve decided to try physical therapy. The debate was seeing a dentist vs. PT. I have a good friends who’s a physical therapist, so I had him evaluate me to see if it might be some muscular things that are causing it. The result? It seems the whole right side of my face and neck is one big bundle of tension. He also observed that a lot of the problem can be exacerbated by bad posture and poor sleeping habits. I typically sleep on my stomach, which I’ve now learned is the worst possible position for your neck. And while I’ve been consistently striving to have better posture, I can definitely still do more.

So now I’m trying to train myself to sleep on my back (ideally) or my side (if the back doesn’t work). You wouldn’t think a minor change like that would be a big issue. I seem to be able to fall asleep in long meetings, regardless of the position I’m in. But it’s been harder than I thought it would be.

Still, it feels good to be trying to take more steps to solve the problem, and it was a good reminder to me that often the things you think are causing the problem have many more roots than you initially suspect. (Either that, or my physical therapist just thinks everything in life is due to bad posture. The sad thing is, he’s probably more right than I’d like to believe . . .)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. Thanks to all my Patrons who support me! It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out. I’ve posted the entirety of my book ICHABOD in installments, and I’m now putting up chapters from PAWN OF THE DEAD, another of my unreleased books. Where else are you going to get the undead and muppets all in the same YA package? Check it out.

If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking this PERFECT PLACE TO DIE Amazon link. It will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.

COVID Then and COVID Now

Yay. Another COVID topic. I know that’s just what you all want to read. (Not really. I know from my blog statistics that these COVID posts don’t get many views these days. And yet I persist.) However, I was looking at COVID numbers today and thinking back on where we were a year ago. The contrast was surprising, and (unfortunately) disheartening.

Come with me, back to Maine in mid-August of 2020.

The university was ramping up for a return to in-person classes. Masks were required everywhere (indoors and outside on campus), we had strict social distancing caps on all indoor spaces, we had a testing plan to test all on-campus students and 10% of everyone else every week, and the popular bet was that we weren’t going to last longer than the beginning of October before we had to go fully online. I was feeling quite discouraged. You probably were too. After all, we’d just gotten through our second big spike of COVID a few weeks before: cases had been up to 40 per day on average, almost as bad as May, when it was in the 50s. The current 7 day average was 21 cases per day in the state, but our hospitalizations had been steadily falling, down from 97 people hospitalized in May to 34 hospitalized now. The two spikes had resulted in death rates of 2 people per 100k per day. Yes, the current rate was .1/100k, but I was still very worried about what might happen when we all started getting back together in person.

Compare that to today. An indoor mask mandate just returned to campus, but there are currently no social distancing measures in place, and I would say people feel generally positive about the prospects. After all, there’s a vaccine mandate in place for students (and one in discussion for staff), and Maine is already at 65% of its population being fully vaccinated. Better yet, Maine right now has the lowest number of COVID cases (per 100k people) of any place in the country. We made it through last year, we can make it through this year. Right?

Not to be the bearer of bad news, but let’s just take a look at the actual numbers right now. Last year we were at 21 cases per day on this date. This year? 172. Last year we were at 34 hospitalized on average, but right now we’re at 98. Last year we were at .1 deaths per day per 100k. This year we’re at 1.1.

When you look at the actual data, we are in a much, much worse position now than we were a year ago. And that’s in Maine, with one of the highest vaccination rates and lowest COVID rates in the country right now.

I understand why it feels so much better now than then. Maine went through January, after all, when we peaked at 625 cases/day, 248 people in the hospital, and 12 people dying per day. It’s all relative, and we’re far off from where our numbers were at their worst. But then I remember that we’re still in the summer, and we’ve got that lovely stretch of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s on the horizon, when everything went crazy.

The good news is that we do have more experience with the virus. We know how effective wearing masks can be, when everyone does it. We’re not worrying about fumigating our mail or our groceries anymore. The vaccines really are helping, particularly with the death and hospitalization rates, but the Delta variant is not messing around.

I really (REALLY) do not want to go back to being at home 24/7. I want my kids in school in person. I want what normalcy we can scrounge up. But to get there, we need to be following basic common sense precautions. My church’s leadership recently came out with a statement on masks and vaccines:

To limit exposure to these viruses, we urge the use of face masks in public meetings whenever social distancing is not possible. To provide personal protection from such severe infections, we urge individuals to be vaccinated. Available vaccines have proven to be both safe and effective.

It is perhaps telling of our times that this statement, given by the group church members believe are literal prophets of God, has resulted in . . . less than enthusiastic responses. It appears to vary by location and local leadership, according to this article in the Salt Lake Tribune. I’ve read some of the justifications members are giving for not wearing masks and not getting vaccinated. Typically they’re falling into the “if the Prophet really wanted me to do it, he’d make it a commandment and not a suggestion.” (To which, if you’re a devout church member, I’d simply remind you of D&C 58:26–“For behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things; for he that is compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant; wherefore he receiveth no reward.”) Personally, I read it and decided to mask up when I can’t socially distance. Even in Maine, where the rates are “so low.”

To hear some people talk, masks must be made out of acid or something. For me, the question shouldn’t be “do I want to wear a mask and vaccinate or not?” It should be “do I want to go to another home quarantine or not?” I would also remind even those who have already had COVID that getting the vaccine is still recommended for them as well, as the protection it gives is stronger than the natural protection they have. (Again, sort of like saying “I don’t need a seat belt because I’ve got air bags in my car.” I’ll take both, thanks.)

Anyway. I’ll get off my soap box now. I know half of you agree with me, and half of you don’t, and I also realize practically nothing I say will make a difference. The main point of this post was to share the realization I had when I compared the COVID stats today with those from a year ago. I’m very grateful for the vaccine, as I believe those numbers would be much, much worse than they are without our high vaccination rate.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. Thanks to all my Patrons who support me! It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out. I’ve posted the entirety of my book ICHABOD in installments, and I’m now putting up chapters from PAWN OF THE DEAD, another of my unreleased books. Where else are you going to get the undead and muppets all in the same YA package? Check it out.

If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking this PERFECT PLACE TO DIE Amazon link. It will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.

Book Review: Boy’s Life

Boy’s Life came out back in 1991, so I realize it might be old news to some of you, but I came across it recently due to a sale that was running on Kindle. As usual, I jaunted over to Goodreads to check out the reviews, and this one just seemed like a home run, so I bought it. Finally got around to reading it, and I absolutely adored it. The best comparison I can think of is that it’s a light horror version of To Kill a Mockingbird. Yes, I realize that’s setting this book up against one of the most beloved American novels of the last ever, but I don’t think that’s too big of a stretch.

It follows a year in the life of a 12 year-old boy in Alabama in 1964. The big plot arc is focused on a murder that happens at the start of the book, as the boy wonders who did it and why something like that would happen in his small hometown. But interspersed throughout all the murder mystery are slice-of-life elements about school, work, small town life, and growing up. McCammon does a fantastic job with his prose, describing it all in a way that’s both beautiful and engrossing. (Two things that don’t always pair up in books.)

Despite the POV of the main character, it’s important to note this is definitely not a YA book. Not that the content in it would be bad for kids, but the style is much more mature. Think of it as the literary equivalent of the Christmas Story movie. It’s told by the main character when he’s already much older, looking back on the events from that year of his childhood. As a result, there’s much more reflection and idealization of the plot, and McCammon definitely indulges in many asides and mini soap boxes. Some have objected to that, but once I got used to the device, I didn’t mind it. The point of view is so consistent, those asides ended up only making it richer, in my opinion.

Additionally, the extra space away from those events makes it so the narrator can add context to what was happening historically. Having written my fair share of first person novels, it can be hard sometimes to hold back from going on side tangents–but you have to, because those are tangents a 16-year-old would make. Having an adult looking back on it makes some things strong and some weaker. It’s less immediate, but this isn’t that sort of a book. I really enjoyed seeing how much life could change in that one year, as the narrator went from being a boy to a young man, the nation wrestled with racial tensions and changing technologies, and the town struggled to stay relevant in a world that was already beginning to leave little towns behind.

In the end, it’s a lovely book. Well-written, accessible, engrossing, and just plain fun to read. I’m really glad I finally had a chance to get to it, and if you haven’t read it, I encourage you to give it a shot. 10/10

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. Thanks to all my Patrons who support me! It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out. I’ve posted the entirety of my book ICHABOD in installments, and I’m now putting up chapters from PAWN OF THE DEAD, another of my unreleased books. Where else are you going to get the undead and muppets all in the same YA package? Check it out.

If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking this PERFECT PLACE TO DIE Amazon link. It will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.

It’s Not Just Cabinets

Helpful PSA for all you would-be home renovation folks out there. I went to order my new windows and doors for the (hoped-for) kitchen remodel that will be coming in late September. We don’t need them for 7 or 8 weeks, so that felt like it should be plenty of time. For the doors, it didn’t appear to be. For the windows? The first brand I wanted to get was going to take a while to get here. How long?

20 weeks. That’s a 2 with a 0 after it. Five months. 140 days. We’re talking, they’d be here in January.

Perhaps that’s not really a surprise for some of you. Maybe it shouldn’t be for me, either. The pandemic has caused all sorts of chaos in all sorts of different areas. I can definitely understand why some people would like to pretend it’s no longer “a thing.” I would love to get back to the point we used to be at, where I could get practically anything I wanted, whenever I wanted it.

(ASIDE: Perhaps this can also be a good reminder that there’s a cost for that “whatever/whenever” luxury. It relies on many different people being available, hard at work to keep all the different cogs that run that machine going. I’ve reflected multiple times how we’ve taken prices and products for granted. When the first cell phones came out in 1984, they cost over $10,000 in today’s dollars. True, some of that price has gone down because technology has advanced in leaps and bounds. But then again, the cell phones then didn’t do anything like what the smart phones do now.

Cheap technology is possible because of cheap labor. There’s been no small amount of debate around what “essential services” really means today. If we value having readily available goods and services, it’s important to remind ourselves that those are a luxury, not a right. RANT OVER)

In any case, the good news is that they had other windows that will work fine, and they’ll be here in only 8 weeks, which should be in time for the job to get done. But I’m glad I ordered them now, and didn’t wait until the end of the month, like I was thinking would be sufficient. I wonder what other pleasant surprises this renovation has in store . . .

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. Thanks to all my Patrons who support me! It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out. I’ve posted the entirety of my book ICHABOD in installments, and I’m now putting up chapters from PAWN OF THE DEAD, another of my unreleased books. Where else are you going to get the undead and muppets all in the same YA package? Check it out.

If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking this PERFECT PLACE TO DIE Amazon link. It will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.

“How’s the Book Doing?”

As an author, I suppose it shouldn’t surprise me that people will periodically ask me how my books are selling. You would think if anyone would know, it would be the author. And yet you’d be surprised to find out how little we actually do know. It feels in many ways like I’m interpreting tea leaves more than having any real idea of what’s going on.

With Vodník, the sales were hard to see at all. Its release failed to make much of a splash, and I would say that ultimately the book underperformed. That said, it was published by a new, small imprint (at the time) that was still getting its feet under it, and it was a first book, so it already had a number of obstacles it would have needed to overcome. I’m proud of the book, and I always hope that people will come back around to it, but no one would argue it was a glowing success.

With The Memory Thief, things were murky for a different reason. The book was exclusive to Barnes & Noble for the first 6 months, and B&N basically bought a slew of copies in one fell swoop, and they weren’t allowed to return them. This meant there were tons of copies in B&N, but I never found out how well they sold. (On the plus side, I got royalties on all of them, so . . . win?)

Which brings us to The Perfect Place to Die. It’s from a larger house, it has no B&N exclusive, and so I should be able to have a better idea how it’s doing. Right? Well, sort of. I can see Bookscan numbers week by week. They capture roughly 50% of sales. (They’re the sales figures from many, but not all, bookstores. For example, many indy stores are left out, as well as all library sales.) But knowing they’re roughly 50% of sales, I can roughly figure out the total number of books sold.

However, “success” vs. “failure” for a book is heavily dependent on how many books the publisher expected to sell. Say a book sells 1,000 copies its first week. If the publisher expected the book to sell 500 copies that first week, then it’s a home run. If they expected it to sell 10,000 copies, then it’s a dismal failure. (Say I give something 3 stars. That only has meaning if you know how many stars the maximum is. 3/5 is much better than 3/10 . . .)

The good news for Perfect Place is that’s available for purchase in many different places. Walmart put in a significant order, so it’s available in many (most?) Walmarts. That’s actually a pretty big deal. People generally don’t buy what they don’t know about. While some people think the cover is disturbing, it’s definitely eye catching. To have the book sitting on shelves across the country where so many people shop inevitably helps sales. The more copies a book sells, the more it’s read. The more it’s read, the better the odds are of people recommending it to others.

There are other metrics I can look at to see (kind of) how the book is doing. What’s its’ Amazon sales rank? How many libraries have a copy of the book? How many people have reviewed it on Goodreads? 152 libraries have added a copy so far (a number I can see through Worldcat.) For a comparison, 162 libraries have a copy of Vodnik (9 years after publication) and 177 have a copy of Memory Thief (5 years after publication). On Goodreads, it has 87 ratings. Vodnik has 297 and Memory Thief has 101.

Add it all together, and I’m feeling pretty good right now. The first week of Bookscan numbers (the only number I know so far) look very promising. It feels like many people are discovering the book and (by and large) having a good time reading it. So I suppose the short answer to “How’s the book doing” would be “great.” That’s a good feeling.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. Thanks to all my Patrons who support me! It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out. I’ve posted the entirety of my book ICHABOD in installments, and I’m now putting up chapters from PAWN OF THE DEAD, another of my unreleased books. Where else are you going to get the undead and muppets all in the same YA package? Check it out.

If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking this PERFECT PLACE TO DIE Amazon link. It will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.

Book Review: The House of Salt and Sorrows

I just finished this retelling of the fairy tale “The Twelve Dancing Princesses,” and it made me think of a number of things that I wanted to go into a longer discussion of. It was an interesting read for a number of reasons. On the one hand, I really dig creepy gothic horror, and Craig does a fantastic job of upping the creep factor throughout the book. But at the same time, I really dislike romance subplots. I know this is probably a weakness of mine, not those plots. I mean, as an author, I realize there are many many people out there who love romance, so it would probably be in my best interest to throw some more passion into my books.

But I just can’t bring myself to do it, or at least, I haven’t been able to so far. The simple truth is that almost any book with a heavy romance plot is going to fall somewhat flat for me. So the fact that I’m still giving House of Salt and Sorrows four out of five stars should tell you just how much I loved the creepy.

Writing a good creepy scene, in my opinion, takes a number of elements to pull off. First, you need to be quite present in the scene itself. You have to take the time as an author to dwell on the details, and you have to take the time to think about just why those details would be so off-putting. There’s a scene in this book where the main character confronts an animal’s corpse. She feels terrible for it, but then she notices that it’s still moving. That’s pretty terrible to imagine: something that’s so hurt it looks like it’s dead, but it hasn’t passed yet?

And then Craig shows why the critter is still moving: it’s almost bursting with maggots. When they all explode, raining down the corpse . . . that’s an image that’s going to stick with you for a while. Yes, I realize to some of you that just sounds disgusting and makes you want to never read the book, but I was seriously impressed, especially because in-scene it’s much, much better executed.

The book has so many scenes like that, and Craig deftly weaves in the other necessity to make something really creepy: give the scene time to unfold. I suppose that goes hand in hand with providing plenty of details, but I think it’s more than that. A scene can move as quickly or as slowly as an author wants. Imagine a scene where a character goes into a room for the first time. It could be fast: she goes in, glances around, and leaves. Or it could be slow: she goes in and is awed by the parquet flooring and the crystal chandeliers. She sits down at the piano in the room and plinks out a few notes, noticing it’s out of tune. She can stay in that room for hours, if the author really wanted her to. There are all sorts of actions a character can take that prolong the action of the scene.

Details don’t do that. You can inundate a reader with tons of detail, spending four pages to describe the piano and its history. While that might take a while to read, it doesn’t do much (in my opinion) to extend the scene itself. It just stops the action while you take a long digression.

So to be really creepy, a scene has to have enough action to justify its length, and enough detail to hit home. It’s a balance you need to walk, and I was seriously impressed with how well Craig did it.

In any case, if you love romance and creep, then do I have the book for you. If you just love romance and not creep, then I’d steer clear. If you just love creep and not romance, then you’ll still have a great time with this one. 8/10

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. Thanks to all my Patrons who support me! It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out. I’ve posted the entirety of my book ICHABOD in installments, and I’m now putting up chapters from PAWN OF THE DEAD, another of my unreleased books. Where else are you going to get the undead and muppets all in the same YA package? Check it out.

If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking this PERFECT PLACE TO DIE Amazon link. It will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.

Suing Google

That’s right, people. I finally decided to take on The Man. Back in 2018, Google came under fire for having had some flaws in their Google Plus platform that allowed app developers access to personal information that they shouldn’t have had access to. A class action lawsuit was brought forward, and ultimately succeeded. When I heard about it, I realized, “Hey! I had a Google Plus account, too!” So I joined up with the suit, because justice.

In 2020, Google was found liable. Not only that, but I was awarded $7.5 million in damages! That’s a 7.5 with six zeros at the end. Think of the wonderful things I could do with all that money. First, I would build a Scrooge McDuck sized vault to keep it in. Then I’d go swimming every morning for at least ten laps. Not being one to make hasty decisions, however, I decided against quitting my day job until that juicy paycheck arrived in my bank account. True, I had to split the $7.5 million with the rest of the class action peoples, but surely that much money would still get me something good, right?

Today, I’m pleased to announce that my ship has finally come in. Google actually paid up, and I got a PayPal credit of $2.15. True, it’s a bit lower than I was initially hoping for, but at the time, my other options were to either opt out of the lawsuit, object to the settlement amount, or do nothing. Think about what would have happened if I had just done nothing! I wouldn’t be able to buy that Snickers bar I’ve had my eye on for the last couple of years. And anyway, it’s really just missing those 6 zeros, and when you think about it, zeros mean nothing, so it isn’t missing anything at all, right?

I’m still not entirely certain how I’m going to spend my windfall. I need to make sure I get the most out of it, after all. It’s not every day that a big company sends you money to apologize for their misdeeds. I’m open to suggestions. I suppose I could give it all to charity. Or I could buy chocolate pudding. Or put a downpayment on a Hotwheels.

Decisions, decisions . . .

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. Thanks to all my Patrons who support me! It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out. I’ve posted the entirety of my book ICHABOD in installments, and I’m now putting up chapters from PAWN OF THE DEAD, another of my unreleased books. Where else are you going to get the undead and muppets all in the same YA package? Check it out.

If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking this PERFECT PLACE TO DIE Amazon link. It will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.