Scott Spotson's Blog, page 10
July 19, 2014
New Series “My Wizard Buddy”
Check them out on all three websites:
http://www.amazon.com/My-Wizard-Buddy...
http://www.amazon.com/My-Wizard-Buddy...
http://www.amazon.com/My-Wizard-Buddy...
http://donnamurillo.wordpress.com/201...
#childrensbooks #fantasy #middlegrade
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July 3, 2014
Well-Developed Story… 5 Stars
Book Review Spotlight – Seeking Dr. Magic by Scott Spotson
“Seeking Dr. Magic” by Scott Spotson is an urban detective fantasy that delivers a well-developed story full of suspense and a good amount of “magic”.
The story opens with Ninjas effortlessly performing stunts on a high-rise building in New York City, only to disappear in front of the large crowd of on-lookers. Former FBI agent, Tony Hetfield is now a detective who is tasked with solving the mystery of the Phantam Ninjas, only to be taken from his office in Chicago and dropped thirty stories off the Morgan Stanley building in New York within a matter of minutes. Hetfield is then caught inches from the ground by Dr. Magic – all is recorded and the media is in a frenzy about it.
Throughout the book, both Dr. Magic and Detective Hetfield reveal more and more “human” characteristics, not just the surface traits initially portrayed in the beginning of the book. Hetfield becomes more likable as a character as he develops a bond with Dr. Magic. Hetfield has a gut feeling that Dr. Magic is not evil, just misunderstood. Dr. Magic realizes that he is just a kid in need of a friend that he can trust.
The only thing that bothered me while reading this was that the ending felt a bit rushed, but not to the point of detracting too much from the story line.
If you are looking for a quick read this summer, “Seeking Dr. Magic” certainly fits the bill!
The post Well-Developed Story… 5 Stars appeared first on Scott Spotson.
July 2, 2014
New Series — “My Wizard Buddy”
New book series coming out mid-July… “My Wizard Buddy” suitable for ages 7-12… Tyler finds a new wizard buddy, but is this what he wants? Explore his adventures in this series, released together all at once.
#fantasy #mg #ya #ebook #kindlebooks #middlegrade
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June 30, 2014
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June 15, 2014
“The Four Kings” — Shortlisted for a Book Award!
See this website:
http://www.indie-book-bargains.co.uk/awards/shortList.php
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June 2, 2014
Dedicated Review of The Four Kings
http://www.amazon.com/gp/cdp/member-reviews/A3DJHXIODYF1MJ
3.0 out of 5 stars Good, but needs focus, June 1, 2014
By
Pamela L Estes
This review is from: The Four Kings (Kindle Edition)
The opening chapter really gets your attention and sets the hook. Wizards instantly take over the United States and soon after dispose of almost every nuclear weapon in the world. The story is unpredictable – the wizards forcefully and illegally seized power, yet they did so without killing anyone and seem benevolent. Of course, they’re benevolent now, but they hold absolute power and proclaim they will for another three years. There is plenty of time for their power to corrupt them… but will it? I have degrees in social studies education and history, so it was interesting for me to see the references to political and economic theory, and the author has done due research into those topics.
There are some typographical errors, such as having the word “now” when it was obvious “not” was intended, and some formatting errors. There was an extra space between each paragraph and a blank page between each chapter. I’m an arms and armor geek, so I’ll notice an error like the phrase “semiautomatic machine guns,” which is an oxymoron. If a gun is semiautomatic, it’s not a machine gun.
My main issue is that there are a lot of resources that are never made full use of. Scott Spotson has some very good stuff here. It just needs a little focus and polishing, some loose ends tied up. If he does that, he’ll have a five star novel, easily. For example, when the wizards opened things up for debate with humans, some of the human debaters asked good questions and made good points. I thought some of those debaters would’ve made good foils for the wizards – perhaps some wizards could agree with the points the humans had made while other wizards wouldn’t, thus creating dissention within their ranks that the resistance movement could’ve exploited – but that never happened. The resistance movement was somewhat cartoonish. After seeing what the wizards can do, engaging them in open battle would obviously be suicide, yet that’s what the resistance does. And they get their clocks cleaned. Humans are nothing if not resourceful and adaptable. I kept expecting the resistance would find a weakness in the wizards and exploit it, but again, that doesn’t happen. The wizards mop the floor with them and that’s that.
There are also several inconsistencies. As the story progresses, we find out the wizards are human. One of them acted like he’d never seen a political cartoon before. This struck me as odd since the wizard was human and grew up in the human world. He should know what a political cartoon is. They welcomed debate, yet some of them got impatient rather quickly when human debaters asked difficult questions. I took this to be a crack in their benevolent façade, foreshadowing them becoming tyrants, but that never happened. So what was the point? To show the wizards are human? If so, what right did they have to seize power? If the author’s purpose was to raise that question, he never answers it. The wizards were supposed to be highly educated, yet their actions didn’t demonstrate that. At first they come off as good debaters, but their debating technique consisted almost entirely of quoting others. They didn’t seem to have many original arguments which, for people who are supposed to be skilled at debating, seemed a little inconsistent. They were surprised by criticism and resistance, yet someone well educated in history or political science would know that, no matter how well you lead or improve people’s lives, there will always be dissenters. This is a normal feature of any political or social landscape. Why do ostensibly well educated wizards seem to be completely ignorant of this? The wizards were very secretive about themselves and magic, something else I took as a sign of something sinister to come, but again, that didn’t happen. The wizards were totally oblivious to the idea that Amanda might be playing them for information that would be of use to the humans. How could people so powerful and intelligent and supposedly knowledgeable in politics overlook something so obvious? I thought perhaps this naiveté would be the weakness the humans would exploit but, like so many other things, this was never expanded, used or explained. Each wizard takes Amanda on a tour of a little slice of their personal lives so she, as the liason between the wizards and the humans, can learn more about them. In the case of Demus and Regi, it serves a purpose to the rest of the story. In the case of Indie and Justica, I don’t know why it was done. The scenes were interesting and well written, I just don’t see how they contributed anything to the plot. Justica did many things that left me scratching my head and wondering why. Her motives, like so much else in the story, are never really explained.
I found many of the characters difficult to relate to, the notable exception being Regi. Demus’ mercurial personality came across to me as, at best, bipolar, if not downright psychopathic, and I couldn’t sympathize with Amanda forgiving him. I liked Indie at first, but as the story progressed she went from being a strong female character to an ice queen. Towards the end of the book she attends Amanda’s wedding and is all smiles, something completely at odds with the cold, aloof, impatient person she had been throughout the rest of the book. Again, I was left scratching my head, wondering why this person who had been so cold for four hundred plus pages was suddenly so nice and expressive.
There is a huge amount of unused potential in this story. The flaws noted notwithstanding, the story flowed well. I wanted to know what happened. I read it in about four days. I would’ve finished it sooner if I didn’t have life rudely intruding! The author made me want to know what was going to happen. He kept my attention. The author did exceptionally well in his conceptions of the wizards’ world and Amanda’s forbidden tours through it. He did well placing the reader into the setting, and it’s obvious a great deal of thought went into it. He scored a bull’s eye in the fantasy writer’s goal of creating a new world and making it real for the reader. The opening chapter makes it sound like a political thriller, but then it becomes a fantasy tale and, as I’ve noted, does a very good job of setting the hook. On the one hand, nothing I expected to happen happened. The points I noticed didn’t turn out the way I anticipated, and no one wants a story that’s predictable. On the other hand, they didn’t really turn out at all. It wasn’t, “Whoa, I didn’t see that coming!” It was more like, “Well, okay, so why did this happen?” That’s the major issue. That and I think the author has a rosier outlook than I do – I think if a small number of people seize power, they will be corrupted, if they weren’t corrupt to begin with. Scott Spotson has some very good stuff here. It just needs a little focus and polishing, some loose ends tied up. If he does that, he’ll have a five star novel, easily.
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May 28, 2014
Brilliant Novel Idea — Life II
A wish we’ve all had becomes a brilliant novel idea
May 26, 2014
This review is from: Life II (Paperback)
A wish we’ve all had, becomes a brilliant idea in Life II
As human beings, we’ve all wished we could do it: go back to our youth, knowing what we know now. As authors, some of us have no doubt wondered how this wish might become an idea for a book. In “Life II”, Scott Spotson takes hold of the idea, runs with it, and scores quite the touchdown, in my opinion.
Max is a bit north of 40, and unhappy with his career and marriage, though he has two children he loves. When a book he finds by chance turns out to contain intriguing codes and clues to possible time travel, Max follows the hints halfway round the globe, where he meets… an alien, the female Dr. Time, who has taken human shape in order to conduct an experiment. And because he has found his way here, Max gets to be the guinea pig, and travel back in time to 1987, when he was sixteen!
Now, this is where the book begins to impress me. The theory of time travel it presents is an intriguing idea, making the book legitimate science fiction, rather than just a simple fantasy that goes, “Oh, the aliens have magic, so they can do this.” No, we are given a real explanation of how it works, and a thought provoking one at that.
So Max goes back in time, with the intention of becoming a doctor like he always wished he had done, but to still marry his wife Abby and have their two children. But before long, he finds that things are turning out differently in Life II. Completely differently!
Without giving too much away, let’s just say that there are quite a few twists and turns. Even though it tops 600 pages, my interest was never lost. The only fault I could find is the periodic typos that should have been found with a thorough spelling/grammar check. But the book’s narrative voice never falters, and the amount of thought that was put into it is evident all the way through. Rather than being a simple adventure story in which the hero sees some action on the way to a life lesson learned, we are taken through Max’s do-over of his life just as though we are re-living it along with him.
“Life II” dares to be different. Bravo.
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May 22, 2014
No turning back… 5-star review of Life II
http://steampunksparrow.blogspot.com/2014/05/life-ii.html
5.0 out of 5 stars
A unique take on time-travel that’s not just focused on the sci-fi,
May 19, 2014
By
Mati Raine (Idaho)
This review is from: Life II (Kindle Edition)
Of all the stories I’ve read about time travel, Life II beats them in my opinion. It has a somewhat realistic, heartfelt, and unique look at all the “what-ifs” you would face if you suddenly had the chance to go back in time. Rather than following a renegade time-traveler, and focusing entirely on an action packed plot, Life II follows one man as he gives up his old life for a chance to start again, and then lives with the consequences of that experience.
What I like about Life II is there is no returning to the future: once you go into the past, there is no turning back. This gives a sense of finality and commitment to time travel I think many stories are missing. I also like that this story focuses not just the science-fiction aspects of time, but on the reality of time itself. Max is left distinctly aware of the value of every minute, and regardless of the consequences, it emphasizes the need to embracing the time we’re given. While the book may be slower to some people, I found it refreshing. It’s not going to fill your need for action, but leave you looking at your own life and wondering what you would have done in Max’s shoes.
I like that Max isn’t perfect, and he does go off the rails for a while. He doesn’t relive his second life perfectly, but he learns and grows in his own way. The book is long, but filled with different characters and a rather well rounded plot. This is a book that makes you sit back and consider your own life as a whole, and learn to embrace it, good and bad. I appreciate a book that lets me think a little, and Life II certainly delivered.
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Plenty of twists, turns, and double agents
http://lauraoflurkng.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/the-four-kings-by-scott-spotson.html
Sunday progress
Monday debate day
Tuesday game
Wednesday progress
Thursday game
Friday petition
Saturday progress
Sunday—a Progress Day
Above I have listed the days of the week with what kind of day they were next to them. I liked this idea used in the story and wanted to incorporate it into my review. Each “day” will cover an aspect of the story.
This novel starts out slowly in the first few pages, just a normal presidential conference for a country obviously not doing so hot, then BANG, we have wizards! From there it swings into a faster-paced couple of chapters as they take over the government and all money production with the army trying to fight back.
At first the wizards came across brash and uncompromising, seeming to be the out and out bad guys of the novel—“Greetings, Mortals of North America. We are proud to be your Liberators. We are all now entering a new world order.”
Monday—a Debate Day
The theory of this novel, splitting the world into five segments to be ruled, removing government, and implementing their own currency (they used Bitcoins) was an interesting one. This was completely 180 degrees off of how most countries are currently run. As well as enjoying the story I was also curious as to how feasible it would be in real life.
One critical thing I think was missing was the response of the public. You have a “supreme liaison,” a.k.a. Amanda, who is human, but otherwise you don’t get to really see how the average Joe is coping. I’d particularly have like to see less tech savvy people trying to work out the Bitcoins for themselves as opposed to over-long explanations of the system.
Tuesday—a Game Day
The game days were more important to the wizards than some of the policies they had to deal with. It seemed games were a critical part of their lifestyle, but, rather than computer or board games, these were real life adventures where they couldn’t get killed. They were fun and interesting to read, generally a good light-hearted break from the realities or walking into the Oval Office and saying “We’ll take over from here, thanks!”
Wednesday—a Progress Day
I think one of the biggest disconnects I had with this book, one that would come on strong in times of trouble, but then be forgotten for a while as things went smoothly, was the lack of insight into the average citizen. On Friday, a Petition Day, people had a chance to speak to the wizards directly, watched by the rest of the country on large screens that broadcast all of this. Yet most of these were people willing to take on supreme beings and confident, or desperate, enough in their cause to do this in front of the millions in the nation. Therefore these were not John and Jill Doe with 3 kid speaking out.
This meant that you thought in some places things were going differently than how they actually were. All you had to go on was the wizards, one human who had hundreds of employees to help her organise data and forms that had been filled in, truthfully or not, by the general public. In the first half of the book, only the occasional meetings with her family enlightened you to how things really were on the ground.
Thursday—a Game Day
I don’t think there’s really anything to say about game days except I wish school Physical Education was more like that!
Instead I want to talk about the two male wizards, Regi and Demus, who both formed attachments to Amanda, who became an increasingly important role as the story went on. They were a fun break, and often took her on days out, such as swimming with dolphins, then relaxing on a desert island…or if you prefer, the moon! These scenes were written really well, I wanted to be out there.
Friday—a Petition Day
As I already mentioned, petition days are days where the public got a chance to speak up for themselves. I liked these days, it showed many sides to the upper classes, although the general population had far less to add. I particularly liked the debates with Professors, something I thought would be tedious filler. They covered many aspects of government, but in a way the standard reader would follow, and using many quotes. I spoke to the author, as I am English so not ingrained with American politics, and was impressed to find that all the quotes, up to the take over anyway, were real. That’s a lot of research!
Saturday—a Progress Day
I felt overall the plot of this novel moved at a good clip with plenty of twists, turns, double agents, and red herrings to keep me guessing. The writing itself got bogged down occasionally in history or debates, but overall was an easy read, with the first few chapters being the hardest to acclimatise to—but well worth it.
The ending was left fairly open, and I think the author should progress to a sequel!
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May 16, 2014
Scott Spotson Featured on Litpick
Today, Scott Spotson, author of Seeking Dr. Magic, and several other books, joins LitPick for Six Minutes with an Author.
How did you get started writing?
I’ve been writing ever since I was a child. I was one of these children who wrote for fun. I entered a local writing contest for children in my town and won. In my 20s, I wrote a complete novel based upon a love triangle, but these were still the days where you had to have a publishing house, and I wasn’t successful. With the advent of digital publishing, I once more stepped in, with my first book “Life II” and since then, haven’t looked back.
Who influenced you?
You can probably tell my age from this answer, but I loved to read The Chronicles of Narnia, The Famous Five, any Judy Blume book, and later in life, the Harry Potter series.
Do you have a favorite book/subject/character/setting?
Yes. I love speculative fiction. You know, when you’re walking along a sidewalk, or going to the office, or attending school, and something happens out of the ordinary that makes your eyes pop out. Like Doctor Who. That’s why I love writing urban fantasy. You’ll find elements of speculative fiction in my works.
What advice do you have for someone who wants to be an author?
I think imagination is more important than knowledge. I think Einstein said that, and that’s certainly true for creative writing. Then, you need the discipline to pull it all together into a terrific story. Make sure that there are no logical gaps in your story, and that it reads well.
Where is your favorite place to write?
Nothing exciting currently, but I’d love to have a chalet on a ski resort, with a cool swimming pool and a hot tub, and a wood-burning fireplace, and write there after getting some exercise. One can always dream.
What else would you like to tell us?
I’m excited about my sequel to my first book, “Life II,” coming out soon, perhaps in May. It’ll involve dangerous aliens and loads of time traveling. For my other books, check out The Four Kings, Seeking Dr. Magic, and Delusional on www.scottspotson.com.
Scott, thank you so much for joining LitPick for six minutes!
https://twitter.com/ScottSpotson
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