Deborah Jay's Blog, page 63
February 11, 2016
#BookReview – ONE WAY FARE by Barb Taub #UrbanFantasy #IndieThursday
One Way Fare by Barb Taub
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
There was so much to like about this book I really, really wanted to be wowed by it as much as all the other reviewers, but there were just too many blips for me. Let me explain.
This book has a cracking good start – as a character, Gaby bounces off the page. Her Gift, or harmonia, is that of order – absolutely perfect for an accountant. Her boundless enthusiasm for her profession defies all that we – normal people, that is – assume about accountants. And she gets to work for a wickedly handsome rock star, although his figures (and I do mean numbers) are more fascinating to her than he is. If that sounds plain weird, well, it isn’t. There’s humour, great mystery, awesomely brilliant dialogue, terrific momentum, and I was totally hooked.
Then we are introduced to Leila. She’s one fun character, with her own clear personality and dialogue – to re-iterate, the dialogue in this whole book just superb – BUT I was totally bounced out of the narrative at the point where Thomas announces that his grandfather is several hundred years old, and then starts warning Leila about pitchfork-wielding peasants just before he grabs her and takes her on the run – AND SHE JUST ACCEPTS IT. No effort to rationalise, nor does she think Thomas might be insane (and probably dangerous), she just accepts it hook, line and sinker and off they go. Nor does she question the assertion that the Metro will take them to 1890 (the year, not the time).
Now, the Metro is a brilliant invention – it carries people between not only places, but also time. And ‘Mind the Gap’ is hilarious. I did, however, find it difficult to visualise this specific passage: ‘she fell asleep bolt upright on the floor, wedged into the corner’. Hmmm – let’s try that one, shall we?
Sticking for a while with the (for me) negatives:
• point of view is variable – most of the time with a single character, but then randomly head hopping, and sometimes authorial.
• The characters are fabulously well drawn, but I didn’t notice much growth through the course of the book. Yes, they endured a lot, but it didn’t seem to change them all that much.
• At one point Gaby and Luic die. Then they are on the Metro station. The fact they are dead doesn’t actually seem to make much difference to them, or anyone around them. Yes, there is a bit of explanation later, but too late for my suspension of disbelief.
• At around the 50% mark, we get a fair sized info dump on the various factions, which only served to confuse me even more. We have Heaven, Hell, Haven, Gifts, Watcher Court, Fallen Court, Raquia, Nephilim, and Angels, plus a book that appears to be made out of jewellery, not to mention Null City (or several Null Cities). Too much to get my head around, sorry.
• The story jumps around in time quite a lot. Aside from the 1890s, where there is an obvious difference in the way women are treated, I could really have done with more time-specific details to ‘place’ the different eras. The characters continue with what they are doing pretty much regardless of when they are, which is no help in anchoring the reader in the various time zones.
• At around 75%, I began to struggle. Having lost Luic, Gaby falls for Thomas’s hundreds-of-years-old grandfather, Sebastian, who she insists of calling Max. As far as I could tell, she fell for him simply because there were no other candidates available. I didn’t find him at all engaging, and wondered what the hell she saw in him.
I apologise again for sounding so negative, because there was an awful lot to like as well: I absolutely loved the interlude in Fallen Court, where Gaby brings order to chaos with clever incentives for imps, who are totally self-motivated, and Leila starts an infernal coffee shop chain.
And the ending is excellent. I’m so glad I stuck it out – all the pieces slotted into place, and everything became clear, leaving just the right amount of threads dangling for the next book.
I suspect other readers may not be as bothered by the stumbling points I encountered, but this was my honest experience, hence the 3 stars.
February 9, 2016
The Times A-Changing For Kindle
Really useful to know about this BEFORE it happens!
Change is coming to Kindle! This is particularly big news for romance readers and writers, because damn, we get through so many books that most of us are eReader addicts.
I know, change is scary, but I think these are genuinely exciting! For one thing, it’s linking to your Goodreads and Amazon wishlist. So you might actually get through that enormous TBR list. (However slow the process may be…)
Here’s what those wishlists will look like
You can also get recommendations from what your Goodreads buddies are reading, as well as bestsellers in the genres you read. It refreshes every time you turn on the Kindle from sleep mode.
Fun!
The last change I’m most excited for is the ease of sharing favourite quotes – because let’s face it, I’m reeeally lazy about that on Goodreads currently. Now it can be as simple as highlighting!
So. Easy.
I promise this isn’t…
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February 8, 2016
Did you know horses’ teeth never stop growing? #Horse tips for #writers
Now there’s a fact I’ll bet few of you knew.
I stopped writing these horse info posts a while ago, when I discovered the huge differences between US and UK terminology and other issues, which involved spending too much time on research.
Then again, I thought I might do a few like this one, that aren’t going to run into major differences.
After all, a horse, is a horse, is a horse. Or at least I hope that’s so ;)
So. Teeth.
Although horses have the same start in life as we do, with milk teeth, later replaced by adult teeth, unlike us, their adult teeth never stop growing.
That’s essential, because they use them for hours and hours a day, to grind down the hard cellulose of grass (in the wild), which continually wears the teeth down. If those teeth didn’t keep on growing, they’d pretty soon wear them right out!
By Vassil – Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1748825
They use the front incisors in a pinching manner, to nip off the grass stalks, and then transfer the food to the back of the mouth for side-to-side grinding with those big teeth. Just look at the size of those jaw bones, and then imagine the muscles over the top! That’s power, people.
So powerful, they are continually wearing away layers of teeth.
Problems come when, as you can imagine if you look at the way the top teeth overlap the lower set, they don’t wear evenly. Then they end up with sharp edges, which can lacerate the inside of the cheeks. This problem is compounded by the unnatural diets we feed to stabled horses, requiring that we have their teeth regularly ‘rasped’, to remove those sharp edges. If not done, this can result in major behavioural issues when we put a bit inside the mouth and try to ride them – can you imagine the potential for pain?
So here we have the inspiration for today’s blog – this morning’s visit by the equine dentist!
The apparent torture-implement holding Charger’s mouth open, is called a gag, but there’s no force or pain involved – it just keeps his mouth from closing on the dentist’s hand or his rasp. You can also see, no one is holding him (and that’s one big horse, believe me), as this is a routine they really are not fussed by, thank goodness!
We now have a yard full of horses with comfortable mouths :)
Do those teeth really never stop growing?
Well, they do have a finite length. Eventually, in very old horses, there is no more tooth to grow down, and in the wild they would probably starve to death. We have, of course, developed soft alternatives that can be gummed instead of chewed, for the senior citizens in our stables, but first, you have to persuade them to eat it!
Was this a new fact for you?
February 5, 2016
Wouldn’t It Be Great to Have a Magic Button on Your Keyboard That Corrects Everything? But #Editing and #Proofreading Need to be Done by a Human Being. Here’s Why!
Words of wisdom on the editing process – great information, especially if you haven’t yet embarked on this essential step.
BowmanAuthor and Writer/Editor
It would be wonderful to have a special button on your keyboard that would read your writing and correct every error, typo, wrong word, omitted word, added word, or verb tense. It would be really amazing if the “edit key” would automatically rewrite awkward sentences, paragraphs, or chapters. There are software packages that attempt to go beyond the rigidity of spell/grammar-check, but do they do a better job?
No, not really, or only marginally. The computer or software package would have to comprehend the content, distinguish whether the entire piece has a theme, rewrite sentences and paragraphs to support that theme, and draw a convincing conclusion.
How can the basic rules of grammar or spelling downloaded into a software package cover all the exceptions to the rules in language and enhance the quality of the writing? It is not possible. Technology cannot grasp ideas and concepts; nor can it recognize the effectiveness of an argument to convince someone to buy, sell, invest, fund a grant, or use your company. There is…
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February 4, 2016
#Amwriting – I’ve FINISHED!!! Plus, #ThorsDaySmile
If this blog is a little quiet just now, I apologise.
For those of you who’ve been pestering me with the same question: “when’s the next book coming out?” – well that’s why!
The first draft of Prince’s Man Book 2 is FINISHED – yay!!!
I still have tons of editing, and the cover to sort, and – oops – the title to decide, but the main hard graft is done. I love editing – my biggest problem is knowing when to stop – but I guess I will set myself a launch date soon-ish, and that will give me an incentive to cease tinkering.
More on the title later – I’m going to write the blurb and start asking around for opinions – so expect to be canvassed on the subject soon.
In the meantime, I thought I’d join The Write Stuff blog in their hashtagged Thursday post: #ThorsDaySmile by sharing a photo of this T-shirt that sums up one of authordom’s biggest challenges. And yes, folks, I am wearing this exact t-shirt right now ;)
February 1, 2016
January 28, 2016
#BookReview – SWAMP GHOSTS by Marcia Meara #RomanticSuspense #MurderMystery #IndieThursday
I was fortunate enough to win a copy of this book in paperback – something I haven’t read for a while, and it reminded me why I should return to reading on paper at times, instead of on screen.
Swamp Ghosts by Marcia Meara
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
There’s nothing quite like reading a book that successfully blends genres, and this one does it extremely well. I’m not sure if you’d class it as a ‘romantic murder mystery’, or a ‘murder mystery with romance’, but hey, you get the picture.
Maggie Devlin is a strong woman, running her own river boat tour business with confidence and a genuine desire to give her clients the best possible eco experience on the St Johns River in Central Florida. When the over-large and impossibly good-looking man with more than a passing resemblance to the Viking god Thor makes his uneasy way down the pier to her boat, she takes immediate affront at his opening words, and has to clamp a firm control on her desire to tell him to get lost when he outlines his lucrative business proposition. Unfortunately, Maggie needs the money.
Swamp Ghosts was a real treat to read; characters with depth and convincing backgrounds, relationships that unfurled in a beautiful and believable manner, fabulous setting, delightful dialogue, humour, animals, and great writing throughout. The serial killer thread develops naturally out of the romantic story, and the author skilfully weaves in more than one plausible red herring to keep you guessing.
Like Maggie, I don’t always have great trust in men, and like her, I was shocked as hell when I discovered the identity of the killer – very well done, Mrs Meara!
The other aspect of this book that added enjoyment for me, was learning more about the wildlife of the area, and in particular the reptiles. In my youth, I used to keep a variety of snakes, and once in a while I might just forget to warn a visitor that if they used the bathroom, they would be sharing it with a 6 foot python having her weekly swim in the bath. Go read the book, then you’ll understand why that resonated with me…
I have only one reservation about this story – I find it hard to believe that men like Gunn really exist. I am, however, willing to be proven wrong…
Highly recommended if you like romance, suspense, and especially wild life.
About the author
Marcia Meara lives in central Florida, just north of Orlando, with her husband of 29 years, four cats, and two dachshunds. When not working on her writing or blogs, she spends her time gardening, and enjoying the surprising amount of wildlife that manages to make a home in her suburban yard. At the age of five, Marcia declared she wanted to be an author, and is ecstatic that a mere 65 years later, she is finally pursuing that dream. She has published five books to date:
Swamp Ghosts: A Riverbend Novel
Finding Hunter: Riverbend Book 2
Summer Magic: Poems of Life & Love
Marcia keeps two blogs:
Bookin’ It: http://marciameara.wordpress.com
And she hosts the multi-author blog: The Write Stuff: http://marciamearawrites.com/
You can reach Marcia via email at mmeara@cfl.rr.com or on the following social media sites:
Twitter: @marciameara
Facebook: www.facebook.com/marcia.meara.writer
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/marciameara/
January 25, 2016
#Writing and selling magazine features #MondayBlogs
Would you like to earn regular money from your writing? Are you an ‘expert’ at anything? And I do mean, absolutely anything.
Because if you look out there, almost certainly you will find magazines, websites or some other form of publication dedicated to what might be your hobby, your passion, or even your work.
And they all need content.
All you have to know is how to go about providing content that they might want to purchase. It may not bring in much,but it might make a nice little addition to your monthly income. I’m not suggesting you pursue this as a profession (unless you want to, but believe me, it’s hard going), but a bit of extra income never goes amiss, does it?
I make, on average, £100 a month for less than 2 hours work, and I’ve been doing that for close on 20 years now. At times, it’s been double that, and occasionally less, but it keeps trickling in, and I’m not complaining.
So how to go about it?
Search out magazines and websites relevant to your area of expertise, be it quilt making, fire eating, or breeding goldfish; there will be something out there related to it.
Take a look at submission details. You’ll often find this somewhere on the contents page on a magazine, or you might need to root around in the site map of a website.
Don’t panic if you don’t find anything specific; there’s bound to be an editor listed somewhere that you can contact with a polite enquiry.
Some publications will save you time and effort, stating up front that they either don’t accept outside submissions, or else state terms, including payment usually expressed in £ (or $) per so many words. Some don’t pay at all (or at least, they don’t pay external contributors), so you may wish to discount them. On the other hand, if you are just starting up, building a portfolio of published work can be worth the unpaid time.
Once you’ve whittled your choices down to those you’d like to submit to, take the time to study the publication in depth.
What sort of articles do they publish? Who are those pieces aimed at?
Have they recently published any that are similar to what you have in mind? If so, they are unlikely to be interested in your idea – come up with something fresh, or a fresh angle on an old topic.
Are there any relevant holidays or special days coming up that you might want to slant a piece towards? DO bear in mind that you probably need to plan at least 4-6 months ahead, as the print industry, at least, does not move fast.
Having identified the publication/s you think might be interested in your work, contact the relevant editor with a query letter. Make sure you are sending to the right person, and use the correct form of address; these days with internet search engines, there is little excuse for getting this wrong. Alternatively a quick phone call to ascertain the correct person (by name), shouldn’t go amiss.
Querying
Do not write your piece until it has been commissioned. Editors will have their own specific requirements, and you will only be wasting your time if you write a piece before you know what they want.
Mention how you’ve been reading their publication, and ask if they’d be interested in a piece you think would be of interest to their readers (show you’ve done your homework).
Say why you are the right person to write this article – credentials might include years of involvement, special prizes you’ve won, etc. Be inventive but not outrageous.
Briefly outline the piece you have in mind, and the slant you think relevant to their specific readership. If you own photographs that might be used for illustration (and this is a publication that uses such media), offer those too, but only if you own them outright. Some publications will pay extra for photographs – this will probably be mentioned in the submission terms.
Finish up with a short resume of other places your work can be found. This is why it can be worth writing some unpaid articles first, to get print credits.
Above all, keep it brief!
Rinse, and repeat.
You may not get an answer from every publication you query, but if you don’t ask, you won’t get that commission.
You may also get turned down for the specific piece you’ve suggested (they may already have something similar in the works), but be invited to send in something else. Quick – put your thinking cap on and get back to them while your name is fresh in the editor’s mind.
Write your article
Once you have your commission, its back to homework. Study the features in recent copies of the publication and note the style they are written in. They may even provide you with ‘House Style’ notes, but even so, take the time to dissect some already published pieces. Look at:
Overall style: do pieces all have a similar structure, with similar style/information in opening and closing paragraphs?
Does the body of the piece use sentences only, or include bullet point or numbered lists?
How long are the sentences? Take a word count.
How many sentences in a paragraph?
If people’s names are used, is it first name, surname, or the entire thing?
What level of vocabulary is used?
Are there headings and subheadings?
Now COPY what you’ve just learned.
You should already have agreed a total word count, so map the information out using the house style, and then write your piece.
DO NOT be tempted to change or try to use any style that is markedly different to what you discovered in your analysis – you’ll be wasting your time because, best scenario, you’ll be asked to re-write. More likely, your piece will simply be discarded.
Submit
If this is your first piece for a publication, send the piece in with a ‘here is the article you commissioned’ type of subtle reminder in your covering note.
Hit your deadline (or be early). NO excuses. Ever.
If alterations are requested, deal with them by return. You are trying to create a professional impression, assuming you’d like to work with this publication again. Don’t forget, editors move around, and many have long memories for writers who are either good or terrible to work with.
Wait patiently for payment
Payment details should have been discussed/determined at the commissioning stage. Most publications have set time scales for paying contributors, but don’t be overly surprised if they don’t rigorously meet them.
For print publications, the norm is payment after publication. So your piece may have been delivered 3 months before publication, but you will have to wait up to a month after it comes out to be paid for your work. Only after that sort of delay should you politely make a query if no money has arrived. In bigger publications, the finance department is totally separate from the editing office, so make sure you are querying the right person.
Writing for websites tends to be faster, but whichever you decide to do, your income will only roll onto an ongoing monthly payment if you keep contributing.
My credentials
As it says at the top of the page, I am known here as fantasy author Deborah Jay. In the ‘real world’, I am professional horse rider, trainer and judge, Debby Lush.
I began submitting letters (a great way to start) and then short (unpaid) features to local horse magazine and papers 30 years ago. Once I had a few published pieces, I sold a feature to the national magazine ‘HORSE’, (monthly sister to the weekly, ‘Horse and Hound’), which generated more positive reader response than they’d ever previously received for a single article.
More features followed, and then a 12 year tenure as HORSE magazine’s ‘dressage expert’, writing and answering Q&As. I have also contributed International show reports to the US magazine, ‘The Chronicle of the Horse’, and more recently have become a regular feature writer for the website ‘E-Dressage’.
January 24, 2016
January 19, 2016
Book Blast & #Giveaway – DREAM OF ME – by A. Star #steampunk #fantasy #romance #DoMBlast
Glory St. Pierre never thought so many lies could hold so much truth, especially when her entire life has been one of those lies. Now that she knows who she really is, she must find a way to come to terms with it before the Djinn sorcerer Rasputin and his steel army descend down upon the human and Djinn realms, wielding magic so dark even her own Djinn lover, Irving, is wary of it.
Their only hope to save the realms are a couple of hunters and the Lords of the Djinn Order, four powerful Djinn who have remained elusive for centuries. Armed with her only granted wish, a fabulous airship, and the Djinn she loves by her side, Glory will embark on a quest to find the four lords and enlist their help. But there is a reason the lords have been in hiding, and once this tiny band of adventurers awakens them from their slumber, they will set off a chain of events that has been in the making since the beginning of time.
There is no turning back now.
Series: The Djinn Order, Act Two
Publication Date: January 19, 2016
Genre: Steampunk Fantasy/Romance
Amazon | B&N | Kobo | iTunes | Goodreads
Amazon | B&N | Kobo | iTunes | Goodreads
You can find my review of the first book – WISH FOR ME – here
A. Star is a fan of dirty passion. She loves to read it, and she damn sure loves to write it. She is the author of the Mythos: Gods & Lovers series and the Djinn Order series. She is a night-owl and a coffee junkie, and the only sneaker she would be caught dead wearing are Converses.
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