Ingrid Hall's Blog, page 3
March 4, 2016
Review of The Unsure Male by J.T.
Reviewed by Carlton Rolle
JT took to writing after retirement from the Indian Navy in 2013 after a lengthy career. During the time he had the good luck to come across colleagues, subordinates and superiors, in a wide cross section of India. Around that time, every second person encountered, one had to do business with. Being from entirely different backgrounds, it consequently opened up a kaleidoscopic view of society. JT couldn’t help but to reflect on human transactions in different colors. Each of them leading to a horde of imponderables, human or non-human, living or non-living.
The Unsure Male is written by a man named referred to as JT. While living with his wife, they noticed that the animals around their house acted differently. They were able to categorize them into two levels; those that caught prey or escaped danger and those who were slow moving or got caught by a predator. Upon looking further, JT noticed that the groups were separated mostly by gender with female and males respectively. JT became engrossed by the topic and wanted to study the evolutionary developments of life.
Animals such as lions, spiders, dogs, and bees have gender roles to support procreation. Leading up to the act of sex, males use bursts of energy to survive. Females use their energy in a more balanced state (this ensures survival and longevity). Sex happens as a method of procreation and in many instances nature has different ways to promote timing and growth. After sex though, many species of female have an anti-male ambiance. In many cases the males die or are attacked by the courted females. While describing various behaviors for animals, these were the basis for humans.
JT states that in an attempt to get away from the ‘performance deficiency’, males invest energy into others areas of life. In this manner, males were able to hide from their sex encounters. The act of leading to procreation came under heavy control. This also created many avenues to suppress women.
While the author writes his understanding of humans and his logic behind it is based on the sexual deficiency of males, he doesn’t actually explain what that looks like in humans. While a common theme for female aggression in animals, I’m not sure where that occurs in people. Or at least enough occurrences of female aggression post-sex for males to develop such a deep response against it. The closest idea to that was females being unhappy with the males for not being great at sex. At the end, JT states that with the invention of Viagra, men will be successful at every instance of sex. This further made me think it was solely based on reaching the climax.
Another thing that is difficult to understand is the narrator’s point of reference. While speaking from a singular present tense, he referenced people (human’s distant ancestors and human’s early forefathers) from the past who thought in terms of the future. It made it seem as though the ancestors were reflecting on the current state of affairs with humans.
The essence of the book is that males are generally more hostile towards females because females are disgusted by male’s sexual performance. Subconscious thoughts that are functioning on an observable basis through actions of males in society. While I didn’t completely agree with all the topics presented in the book, there were several areas that made complete sense. The Unsure Male presents topics that should be further discussed. In other ways, it also helps to explain how people act in different ways.
February 21, 2016
Ghosts, deadly judges, and the hanging of cousin Charlotte
Our Day of Passing – An Anthology of Short Stories, Poems and Essays
Complied by Ingrid Hall and Franco Esposito
King Death
Illustration from Chapter 6: ‘Ghosts’; Our Day of Passing.
Death is a subject that most of us are at least mildly curious about. The fact that it is inevitable and that there is no hiding from it adds to its macabre appeal. I have always had a strange relationship with death and rather than becoming increasingly afraid of it in my middle-age, if anything, I have come to respect the power that it has over us all. You can be the sweetest person ever to walk the earth or a twisted, psychopathic serial-killer…but ultimately that great leveler, Death, will come for you.
The beauty of Our Day of Passing – An Anthology of Short Stories, Poems and Essays is that it has been written from…
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February 19, 2016
Free KINDLE download 19th-23rd February
Our Day of Passing – An Anthology of Short Stories, Poems and Essays is FREE to download for the next 5 x days. (19th-23rd February) Don’t miss your chance to download this amazing, thought-provoking collection from over 30 talented artists from around the globe.
The anthology has been written by:
Ingrid Hall, Franco Esposito, Dennis Higgins, Virginia Wright, Candida Spillard, Valeri Beers, Dada Vedaprajinananda, Strider Marcus Jones, Adam E. Morrison, Allyson Lima, D. B. Mauldin, David A. Slater, David King, Dee Thompson, Donald Illich, Edward Meiman, Eileen Hugo, Emily Olson, Joan McNerney, J.S. Little, Kin Asdi, Madison Meadows, Malobi Sinha, Marianne Szlyk, Mark Aspa, Mark David McClure, Megan Caito, Michael Brookes, Michael Burke, Pijush Kanti Deb, Prince Adewale Oreshade, Rafeeq O. McGiveron, Robin Reiss, Sasha Kasoff, Stephanie Buosi, Talia Haven
Watch this space for details of the release date for the paperback version.
Follow this link to download your FREE copy. Please share!
February 17, 2016
Does anyone know where I can find the self-publishing fairy?
Okay, so the title of this blog post is a little tongue-in-cheek. However, I am increasingly beginning to wonder whether there is a magical self-publishing fairy that is hell-bent on playing hide-n-seek with me. There seems to be an awful lot of authors out there that seem to think that they don’t need:
A sales and marketing platform (website/blog etc.)
Any form of sales and marketing support
Their books to be fully edited and polished
Am I doing something wrong? Am I working my backside off for twelve to fourteen hours each and every day, often seven days each week when there is a magical sprite that will take care of all the hard, grunt work for me? If so, will someone please tell me where to find him/her?
The bottom line is that unless you are slaving away at writing your books purely for pleasure or for the thrill of seeing your name in print, then you DO need ALL of the above and MORE. I also hear a lot of authors saying that they have zero marketing budget/zero budget for editing/zero budget to build their platform. Well, this might make me lose a few followers but so be it, IF YOU ARE SERIOUS ABOUT YOUR WRITING THEN YOU WILL FIND THE MONEY. YOU WILL DO WHATEVER IT TAKES.
Now, I am not saying this from the perspective of someone who is out of touch with reality, far from it. You wouldn’t believe the amount of juggling that I have had to do over the last couple of years to pay for my own marketing/book covers/websites. However, I made a commitment to myself and my husband that I will do whatever it takes to succeed in this business. Not only that, but I should also point out that my husband frequently works overtime to help pay for MY business expenses. He does that because he believes in me/in us and because we are a team. Can you HONESTLY say the same thing? Are you really serious? Or are you just playing at this? Treating it like a hobby rather than the business that it is?
Yes, of course, I have a vested interest in saying all of this. I am not going to lie. I want you jump on board and work with me. However, it is the truth. So, whether you choose to take me up on:
* FREE Skype consultations to discuss how you can begin to market your business effectively
* Web design for just £125 – If you want to see a site we have designed visit www.kinasdi.com
* Detailed manuscript assessments to help identify issues and keep you on track
* Low-cost blurb and synopsis writing to help sell your book
* Affordable editing that you can pay for in instalments! How many other editors do you know that will break your payments down into manageable chunks for you?
Or whether you choose to work with someone else, the question is can you really afford not to go that extra mile? Can you really afford to sit on your backside and wait for the self-publishing fairy to come along and catapult you to success?
IF you are serious about taking your writing career/business to the next level contact me and we will put together a tailored, affordable plan.
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February 7, 2016
February 5, 2016
Need more book reviews?
Happy Saturday indies!
All right. So here’s the deal! Following on from the incredibly successful FREE Skype consultations that I have been conducting, the one issue that seems to be keeping you all awake at night is a lack of reviews. SO, with that in mind, I am going to start working with my team to put in place some services around this.
This blog post is a shout out to:
Any author looking to generate more HONEST reviews.
Please note, HONESTY will be at the forefront of any service that I provide. I have no time for sock puppets, and I will NOT put my name to a service that encourages them! So, you need to be clear upfront, that any reviews that you do receive will be constructive, but 100% honest. This could span the entire range of 1-5 stars.
I obviously need to flesh this out further and work out the practicalities. However, for now, I am simply looking for people to contact me who would be interested in:
* Receiving regular, honest reviews for their books
* Be willing to provide regular, honest reviews for other indie authors.
I will be honest and admit that it kind of bugs me that a lot of indie authors cry about the lack of reviews…but are unwilling to help fellow indie authors out by reading and reviewing…You will get out of this what you put into it.
However, I am aware that Amazon have strict policies about “Review Swaps” – This service will, therefore, be designed in such a way that:
* You don’t receive a review from an author that you have reviewed a book for
* You don’t review a book and then receive a reciprocal review from that author
You will simply be:
In a regular reviewing pool
Your book will regularly be reviewed by members of that pool
Again, I reiterate, I am only looking for people that are thick-skinned enough to take constructive criticism of their work. If you only want to see 5-star reviews of your work, then this service will not be for you.
Interested in principle? Have additional questions? Contact me using the contact form:
[contact-form]
Review of Molly Lee by Don Sloan
Molly Lee by Andrew Joyce
Andrew Joyce left high school at seventeen to hitchhike throughout the US, Canada and Mexico. He wouldn’t return from his journey until decades later when he decided to become a writer. Joyce has written three books, and a collection of almost one hundred forty short stories that is comprised of his hitching adventures called BEDTIME STORIES FOR GROWN-UPS. He lives on a boat in Fort Lauderdale, Florida with his dog, Danny. MOLLY LEE is a followup novel to the best-selling REDEMPTION: The Further Adventures of Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer.
Molly Lee is just the kind of strong, resourceful female protagonist you’ve been looking for. In this good old-fashioned western, she shines through as both the most feminine and yet the baddest of the bad. It’s a combination that, in the hands of a lesser author, would come across as too complex to handle. But that’s not the case here.
Molly goes from wide-eyed, lovestruck teenager to middle aged rancher in this saga that follows her through one harrowing situation after another. But getting there is half the fun, and the worst mistake you can make about Molly Lee is to underestimate her.
She leaves her home, her parents, and the relative security of her childhood home to go in search of Huck Finn (yes, THAT Huck Finn, all grown up and a soldier in the Civil War). Inexplicably, he leaves Molly one morning after promising to take her with him. And so, she lights out after him, beginning her wide-ranging quest to consummate her true love.
Along the way, she becomes a prostitute, a wife to an Indian chief, a saloon owner, and a murderer, twice over. Don’t get me wrong; Molly was roundly justified in both these killings. But, eventually, the law catches up to her, and she goes to prison for five years.
The writing in this book is terse, but very descriptive. In one scene, Molly, as owner of the Spicy Lady saloon in Denver City, has designs on her well-built, handsome bouncer, John Stone:
“I started to imagine John and me spending the rest of our lives together. However, whenever I brought up the subject of us living together in San Francisco, he would grunt and pull his hat down a little lower, so I couldn’t see his eyes.”
About halfway through the book, she meets and marries Jeff McMasters, who owns a 10,000-acre cattle ranch in Montana. Through a series of circumstances beyond her control, Molly becomes owner of the Bar M ranch and organizes an epic cattle drive in which she, her adopted daughter Betty, and 40 cowhands herd 12,000 steers from Montana to Abilene, Kansas.
And what would a good western be without cowboys, Indians, cattle rustlers, horse thieves and harsh frontier justice that leaves more than a few outlaws shot dead in Molly’s wake. Even the cattle become characters in this excellent book reminiscent of Lonesome Dove.
“A few of their steers made their way to the front, but our steer held his lead position. Lem had named him Caesar, because, like Julius Caesar, he was leading his legions into battle. A battle of searing heat, swollen rivers and miles and miles of dust. The Great Herd was now complete.”
Whether Molly and her daughter make it back to the ranch in one piece, and whether Molly ever finds Huck Finn, I leave to you, as the reader to find out. I certainly recommend Molly Lee highly to anyone wanting a good, fast-paced piece of fiction. And I, like many others, look forward to reading the third book in this Old West trilogy.
February 4, 2016
Is your book FREE on Kindle?
Hey everyone.
Just a quick post! If you are planning on offering a FREE Kindle giveaway then I would be happy to promote it free of charge over at my Indie and Proud Facebook Page
Simply:
Contact me using the contact form at the bottom of this post
Include Title of the book, free kindle period, image of book, and a link to Amazon. I would prefer a universal link if possible. However, will accept .com or .co.uk
“Like” and “Share” the Indie and Proud Facebook page.
Do NOT send these to me more than 7 days in advance!
The following book is currently FREE on Kindle. (Correct as of 04th Feb, 2016) You can if you wish, download it here:
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January 29, 2016
Review of Burn For Home Starlight by Don Sloan
Review of Burn for home starlight (part one) by Ash Elko
When not writing, Ash Elko can be found either under an umbrella at the beaches of Southern California or in the Sierra Nevada Mountains on skis carving turns into the snow. Born and raised in California, Ash lives in San Diego with the cats Fritz and Mikey, whose contributions are questionable at best but whose support is highly valued.
Imagine being trapped in a burning spacecraft a very long way from Earth. Then, imagine being newly pregnant and trapped in a burning spacecraft a very long way from Earth. This is the storyline that drives Part One of the serial Burn for Home. And it’s a great one.
Space traveler Theresa can’t wait to get back to her husband Andrew, who is on Percy Station, awaiting her arrival. They have been apart for two long months, while Theresa performed a lengthy exploration project in the tiny spacecraft Salvatore — nicknamed Sally for short.
The story starts with Theresa remembering in vivid, erotic detail the moment she got pregnant. The memory is sweet as she shoots through space toward home.
“His tensed muscles relaxed like a spring, slowly uncoiling. I pulled him closer. I felt the weight of his body collapse onto me. I pulled him close. I held him tight. In that moment our pasts and our futures melted away. They didn’t matter. All that mattered was the constant: our love.”
Then, the unthinkable happens and a fire breaks out, quickly consuming a goodly portion of Theresa’s oxygen. Quickly, she gets into a pressurized exo suit. But, as she does the mental math on the number of hours remaining in her oxygen supply, she keeps coming up short.
Very short. Too short.
The space station devises a rescue option, but it’s a long shot. Does Theresa make it, and get to birth and raise the Little One growing inside her?
You’ll just have to read the first installment of this excellent serial to find out.
Congratulations to author Ash Elko for creating — in a very short space — two characters with whom the reader can quickly identify and care about. I look forward to succeeding installments.
January 27, 2016
Struggling to market your book?
As part of my ongoing commitment to helping indie authors, I am now offering a FREE 60 minute Skype consultation to help you overcome any barriers to either publishing or selling your book!
In addition to having access to a marketing expert, I have also joined forces with a sales professional with a PROVEN track record of helping authors achieve higher sales rankings.
There is NO obligation on your part during our consultation. So, what have you got to lose?
I have blocked out a limited amount of spaces in my diary for the next month. To take advantage of this FREE, NO OBLIGATION offer, contact me today!
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