Nessie Strange's Blog, page 6

The Zombie Apocalypse is Coming July 4th!!!!

(Well, in book form, anyway!)

Definitely check this out if you're into the whole zombie apocalypse thing. And if you're having Walking Dead withdrawals, why not find something else for your brain to chew on? {insert horribly cliched zombie brain-eating joke here}Anyway, haven't read it yet, but it's now on my TBR pile. Question is, is it on yours? :)





When a deadly virus sweeps the country, Vivian Thomas sets out for California in hopes of seeing the daughter she gave up for adoption. Then her car breaks down and she’s faced with a choice. Give up, or accept a ride from redneck brothers, Angus and Axl. Vivian knows the offer has more to do with her double D’s than kindness, but she’s prepared to do whatever it takes to reach her daughter.

The virus is spreading, and by the time the group makes it to California, most of the population has been wiped out. When the dead start coming back, Vivian and the others realize that no electricity or running water are the least of their concerns. Now Vivian has to figure out how to be a mother under the most frightening circumstances, cope with Angus’s aggressive mood swings, and sort out her growing attraction to his brooding younger brother, Axl.

While searching for a safe place to go, they pick up a pompous billionaire who may be the answer to all their problems. Trusting him means going into the middle of the Mojave Desert and possibly risking their lives, but with the streets overrun and nowhere else to turn, it seems he might be their only chance for survival.

Here's the Goodreads link

Check out the author:

http://KateLMary.com

https://facebook.com/KateLMaryauthor

https://twitter.com/kmary0622

Now in Paperback!!!

Living Dead Girl, which was released as an e-book first, is now also available in paperback. In honor of that, I decided to do a giveaway on Goodreads. It's going on for an entire month, so if you're interested, hop on over and enter!



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Goodreads Book Giveaway Living Dead Girl by Nessie Strange Giveaway ends July 09, 2014.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads. Enter to win

A Little Perspective?

I rarely post anything serious or profound on my blog. My purpose here has never been to provide deep, thought provoking insight or earth shattering social commentary. To be honest, this blog has been little more than a scrapbook outlining various aspects of my book publishing journey, with a few random subject posts thrown in for good measure. And you know what? I'm OK with that for now, because it provides a landing spot for my author persona that says YAY I exist here's some stuff I've done!

Anyway, since the #YesAllWomen hashtag appeared, I've seen a whole slew of tweets, posts, articles and essays on the subject. I've also seen a great number of arguments crop up surrounding the various related topics, many of them quite heated, some of them downright hostile. And in a way, I can see why--when we see phrases like 'rape culture' and 'misogyny' and 'gender double standards' tossed around, they evoke powerful emotions. They're negative things that nobody wants to associate themselves with. And they exist everywhere to varying degrees.

Relax, I'm not here to preach. I have no statistics to share. I'm not an activist. And I've never, thankfully, been beaten, raped, or otherwise assaulted. I can only offer the experience as being a white, American, college-educated female and how it has shaped my perspective.

I grew up believing that I could do most anything a man could do--gender never entered the equation for me when thinking about school, jobs, or things that interested me. To be honest, I've never spent much time worrying about whether or not I was taken seriously in any of these things, or whether I should be comparing myself to my male counterparts or not. If I wanted to pursue something I did. If I lost interest, I dropped it. One door closes another one opens, and all that. In that sense, being resilient and persistent are great traits to have.

I've found, over the years, that I happen to enjoy a lot of things that are considered male dominated interests--like watching ice hockey, for example. And I've learned to laugh at the inevitable surprise when a male acquaintance first finds this out, because I can acknowledge that I am in the minority with this. I'm OK with that. I don't expect any pats on the back, or an all-access pass to MANTOWN--I simply enjoy watching the sport. And when another hockey fan is around, it's a great topic for friendly conversation. I like putting other people at ease. I feel good about myself when I'm genuinely nice.

So you must be thinking, well...where is she going with this? I'm not going to address the extremes within our society, or the truly horrific things that happen to people. There are bad people out there. Bad things that happen. What I'm going to talk about is more subtle. It starts with the realization that it's very difficult, as a woman, to just be 'one of the guys'.

A lot of it probably boils down to biology and how both sexes interact. I don't have an explanation, only that I know what it's like to feel vulnerable. Let's face it--in most cases, men are physically stronger and more powerful than women. This doesn't make men monsters, it's nature. What this means, however, is that I, as a woman, need to be aware of my limitations. I recognize that a six foot, two hundred pound guy could easily overpower me, and I have to always consider that the potential for this to happen is out there. Screw statistics--I don't know what the odds are that I would ever be attacked in my lifetime; probably pretty low. I only know that I'd be a fool to think it could never happen. That, in its very essence, is what it means to be a woman.

It means I need to be aware of my surroundings at all times. I need to be sure my friendliness hasn't been misinterpreted as romantic interest. I need to be on guard, constantly, because I don't want to to be forced into the uncomfortable situation of having to turn a man down, or worse, fend off his advances. I've been there. I've lost friendships because of it. I'm not a flirty gal. I'm not touchy feely. I don't dress provocatively. I've always purposely avoided all of these things when I'm around guys I don't have romantic feelings for, or that I don't know, because I don't want to give off the wrong impression. It doesn't change the fact that, despite making an effort to avoid these so-called triggers, I still managed to get myself in some hairy situations when I was younger. Thankfully the men involved did back off when I made it clear I wasn't interested, but what if they hadn't?

So what did I do to make any of these guys believe I was interested? Friendly conversation? Take a ride home that was offered? Who knows. I guarantee I wasn't flashing cleavage or telling him I wanted to hook up. And this is something that has always bothered me. Why couldn't I just shoot the shit with a guy and not have it mean anything special? After all, a group of guys can do that. They don't have to get paranoid that their buddy is going to pull the car over on the way home and try to make a move.

Yet, if I told you, when I was 18 or 19 I left a party alone with a guy I knew, because I'd wanted to leave and he'd offered to take me, you'd say I  was stupid, right? I should've never gotten in the car with him alone, right? Because saying I don't want to be at this lame-ass party anymore to the person you happen to be chatting with actually means the same thing as I'm interested and want to be alone with you, right? Not all men will make this assumption, but you know what? I guarantee I'm not the only woman this has happened to.

This is why women can't afford to be naive. Why they become frustrated with double standards. Why so many have found a sense of solidarity in #YesAllWomen and used it as an outlet to vent their frustrations. Because we are told on one hand that we are equals to men, while on the other, taught that we should avoid certain behavior, habits, or choices to keep ourselves safe from them. It's something that most women have accepted as a fact of life, but it doesn't make it any less frustrating.

Worth checking out!

As reviewed on Goodreads:


Hewhay Hall by Susan Roebuck
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow...that's my first impression after finishing story. I wasn't quite sure what to expect coming into this--it sounded interesting, for sure, but after reading, I really don't think the blurb does this book any justice. This is dark and gritty, with one foot planted in a very sobering, real world, while the other rests in the darkest corners of the imagination. Jude, a firefighter who is at the lowest point in his life following the loss of his leg in a horrific accident, goes off in search of hope, something that will give him back his life--a mysterious place called Hewhay Hall. The problem is, the place doesn't seem to exist. Or does it? The answer lies with someone named Verity Slater, or so he's led to believe. What follows is both unexpected and terrifying. I will not spoil what happens, but I will say that nothing is quite what it seems (and in some cases, they are much worse). The characters are well drawn, the imagination top notch, and I think that anyone who reads Neil Gaiman, or even Stephen King would appreciate this story. I hope that this author continues to write in this genre, because I truly think she has a gift for it.



View all my reviews

Welcome to my Living Dead World...Ms. A.J. Locke!

 Hey urban fantasy readers...looking for your next read? Fellow Etopia author A.J. Locke has a new releas and it sounds pretty awesome! I nabbed her for a few questions recently. Read what she has to say and find out about her new book. Don't worry, no authors were harmed in the making of this blog post ;P
     First off, tell me about your most recent release.
Black Widow Witch is about a witch named Malachi who was cursed to butcher any many she falls for because she had an affair with Knave, who was the favorite lover of the sadistic witch queen of the Aeverneath, the realm of witches. Banished to live among humans, Malachi runs a bar, keeps up with her closest witch friends, who also carry curses (one of them is just a head in a box!) and faces prejudice from witch hating humans. The story revolves around a dangerous plot to assassinate the witch queen, which would break all curses, which Malachi unwillingly becomes a central part of. All the while she has to fight her attraction to Julian, an officer assigned to monitor her, since that attraction could lead her to kill him. And there’s also the guilt she feels over falling for someone after Knave since he is still in the Aeverneath at the mercy of the queen’s wrath.
As a genre, what does ‘urban fantasy’ mean to you? How does it differ from paranormal romance? Which do you prefer to write?
 To me urban fantasy can encompass more than paranormal romance since PNR focuses on the romantic relationship between the main characters and should lead to a happily ever after. With Urban Fantasy there’s more space to develop a complex plot, have more action, mystery, and suspense while also including a romantic angle that doesn’t necessarily have to end happily. I prefer to write urban fantasy even though I have written a paranormal novella called Elemental Inferno and I had a lot of fun writing that.
What attracted you to writing in this genre?
I really loved the ability there is to overlay supernatural elements into a non supernatural world. So being able to write about vampires, ghosts, necromancers, witches, etc is a lot of fun because there are so many stories you build.
 Do you read a lot of UF/PNR?
Not as much as I’d like, especially since I have a new baby on my hands, but I absolutely love reading both UF and PNR. 
Zombies, vampires, wolves, witches…they’ve all been done before, and many times. How do you as a writer keep your stories fresh and interesting?
I try to put a unique aspect into my stories. It can be hard coming up with a new concept, but I don’t try to overwhelm myself with coming up with something completely unique. I think if you have an interesting, strong plot and strong characters, you can write a successful story. But there definitely needs to be something standout about your story. When you think about witches you would definitely think about casting curses, but with Black Widow Witch, I tried to take a different approach by making it so that the witches were the ones who were afflicted with being cursed.  What are you working on right now?
Right now I am trying to finish the sequel to my first published novel,Affairs of the Dead.
For someone who isn’t familiar with your work, how would you describe your writing style?
Fast paced, strong, witty and full of surprises.
Thanks so much, A.J.! Now, check out her book:






Book Description:
A deadly curse, a deadly assassin, and one shot to save everyone she loves…Malachi Erami can’t fall in love. After she’s caught with Knave, the witch Queen’s favorite lover, she’s cursed to savagely butcher any man she falls for. Exiled to live among humans, Malachi runs a bar that serves magic-laced drinks, but since her curse labels her high risk, she’s also closely monitored. Julian Vira is her latest babysitter, but he’s also the first man since Knave that she’s been attracted to. Good-looking and nonjudgmental of her horrible curse? Yeah, he’s hard to resist.
But when Malachi finds a body behind her bar, she knows she’s in trouble. If the Witches Control Council gets wind of it, she’ll be accused of murder and sent to her death. And when her friends start getting framed for murder, she realizes she’s not the only target. Malachi and Julian dig into the evidence to clear her name, but the closer they get to answers, the closer the curse comes to taking over. So when Malachi uncovers a plot to kill the witch Queen, she finds herself suddenly recruited into service, with the promise of having her curse lifted and a reunion with Knave as well. But if she fails, Knave will die. And she and Julian might not live long enough to see that happen.
Excerpt:
Chapter One
Today was the anniversary of the worst day of my life, and I’d been trying to forget about it by consuming a vast amount of booze. The fact that I owned a bar greatly helped with that endeavor, and the fact that I was drunk was an accomplishment, since witches weren’t easily susceptible to alcohol. Humans were onto something with this whole drinking-to-forget-one’s-crappy-life thing.Behind the bar, I poured a shot for an eager customer. Amaretto, Southern Comfort peach liqueur, and sweet-and-sour mix went into the glass, then I held my hand over the drink and let a stream of purple magic, the same color as my eyes, flow into it. The drink glowed purple for a few seconds, then I handed it to the customer, who drank it with no hesitation. After slamming the glass down, he grabbed the tipsy woman who’d been hanging on him and gave her a sloppy kiss, then led her out of the bar. I smiled and shook my head. The magic I’d put into the shot, aptly named Piece of Ass, would ensure they didn’t leave the bedroom tonight. Somewhere in the room I heard riotous laughter, and above that the voice eliciting that laughter. Xiune was having a good night for a change and wasn’t holed up in my office. Though since she was just a head inside a clear acrylic box, it was understandable that sometimes all she wanted to do was hide.“Malachi, darling!” Xiune called. “Seven handsome young men have requested the Challenge!” I smiled slyly. I loved administering the Challenge.“It’s time for the Seven Deadly Sins Challenge!” I announced, filling up eight shot glasses with vodka, one of which I downed. “Which sin will it be and what will its victim do?” People shouted their guesses while I sent tendrils of magic into the shots. My magic sparked like tiny bolts of lightning, and like the shot I had just made, the liquid briefly glowed purple. I focused on one of the glasses and started whispering a spell, channeling the essence of one of the seven deadly sins through my body. For a brief moment, my body became flushed with a feeling of ravenous desire, then it flowed out of me into the shot glass. I felt rather charged and wondered if this had been the right sin to choose tonight. But hey, I was drunk, and I kind of wanted to see someone suffer. Misery loves company right?I levitated the shot glasses onto a tray and sauntered over to the table where Xiune was entertaining the men who thought they were up for the Challenge. With her flawless complexion, golden eyes, and vibrant red hair, Xiune didn’t need a body to be beautiful. I’d known her when she had one though, and if she’d been sitting there in all her glory, she’d have every man kneeling at her feet. Her allure was only heightened by the fact that she was a bodiless beauty who used her magic to float herself around in a box. The box wasn’t necessary for Xiune to move around, but she felt safer inside it when she was out in public. That way if a witch hater spat on her, she’d have a shield. It also prevented those on the other end of the spectrum, people who were fascinated by witches, from getting too close. I set the shot glasses down and motioned for the men to stand around the table. They looked like your typical college fare: unkempt hair, sagging pants, and some sort of ironic or sports themed T-shirt. High-fives and shit talking all around.“Now boys,” I said, leaning forward on my forearms, giving my cleavage time to shine. “Are you sure you’re ready for this? One of you is moments away from experiencing a sin you may or may not enjoy.” They assured me they were man enough to handle any sin, and I smiled. The fun thing about the Challenge was that everyone handled it differently. One man caught with gluttony had run across the street to McDonalds, spent over a hundred dollars on food, then sat on the floor and gorged himself. A woman under the same gluttony spell had tried to eat her friend’s purse.“Let’s hope it’s lust and let’s hope it’s me,” one of the men said, winking at me. He stood a couple of inches over six feet, had brown hair and a lanky physique. If he started spending time at the gym, maybe his lame come-ons would give him more luck getting laid.“Honey, I would eat you up,” I said with a slow smile. Normally I would never have said such a line, but all the alcohol I had consumed was speaking for me. He probably had no idea how true those words were though, because his smile never wavered. However, for a moment after I spoke, I saw another face in place of his, and it cut through my drunken haze like a knife. I gasped, and he must have thought that was a sign he had a chance with me, because his smile became more lascivious. Lucky for him, he did nothing for me.“Malachi, let’s get this show going.” Xiune slid her box over to nudge me, and I shook my head and turned back to the waiting crowd.“All right, it’s about to go down!” I yelled. “For anyone who hasn’t witnessed the Challenge before, I’ll explain how it works. One of these shot glasses is infused with the essence of one of the seven deadly sins, and the recipient will be overcome with that sin for the next half hour, while the others will experience the most euphoric feeling they’ve ever experienced from a shot of alcohol.” I motioned for the men to pick up a glass, and Mister Flirtatious had one more wink for me.“Gentlemen, take your shot of sin!” They took their shots to the head. When they slammed their glasses down, every eye in the room was on them. After about twenty seconds, one of the men—not Winky—suddenly gasped, whipped his head around, and bolted from among his friends to accost a mildly attractive woman standing nearby.“Fuck me! Fuck me, please!” He shook her by the upper arms while she stared at him, mortified, as his friends tried to pry him off her. I brayed with laughter, as did Xiune and everyone else in the bar.“Oh god, I’m so horny. Someone please, fuck me!” He struggled against his laughing friends, trying to reach any female in sight, with his erection leading the way. Lust had been the winner tonight, and for the next thirty minutes this poor sap would be lusting after every woman he saw, whether she was twenty-eight or eighty-two. He even lurched toward Xiune, but she floated out of the way. Xiune was one sexy head in a box and had a mouth she could work wonders with. She often came out of her box to work those wonders on any willing man. There were more than you’d think.“Right sin, wrong guy, right?” brown-haired dude said to me.I rolled my eyes. “You and your friends will have your hands full for the next half hour. I suggest you hold on to him real good and don’t be surprised if he turns to one of you when it starts to look like he won’t be getting any women.”He laughed and pulled out his cell phone. “I’ll call his girlfriend, though she’ll probably be too pissed at him for doing this to alleviate his lust.” He left the bar to make the call, while the other five continued to hold on to their friend, laughing like they’d never experienced anything so hilarious in their lives. Some of the more mischievous or drunk women teased the guy by parading in front of him and doing dirty little stripper moves. Only his friends’ hold stopped him from tackling one of them and trying to rip her clothes off.I wasn’t afraid of things getting out of hand because I could break the spell any time I wanted. There was always a point where things stopped being amusing and started getting annoying. I left them and headed back behind the bar, while Xiune found another table of people to entertain. She was a wonderful songstress, and soon her melodic voice filled the bar as I went back to making magicked drinks. I glanced at my watch, noting that it was almost midnight, which meant the day was almost over. That didn’t actually mean anything though. The day passing didn’t mean I would forget the curse that was hanging over my life.“Hey, Malachi, can you pass me a knife?”“Knave?” I quickly turned to the busboy, James, who was bent over a box behind the bar.“No, I said knife,” he said. My throat was suddenly tight, but I reached under the bar, got a knife, and handed it to him. I stood back and ran my hands through my short black curls, blowing out a slow breath as I tried to rein in my reaction to thinking I had heard the name Knave. That was the name attached to the face I did not like to think about, but no amount of alcohol and rowdy college boys taking the Challenge could truly put him from my mind. I didn’t want to see Knave’s face, didn’t want to think about the hard muscles my hands used to slide over, following the planes of his body to his waist and not stopping until I touched something that arched his back and made him whisper my name. I didn’t want to think about the nights we’d spent wrapped in each other’s arms, feeling our hearts beating against each other. But of course, since his name crossed my lips, he was all I could think about.Falling in love with Knave was why I was cursed. And I could only blame myself. I should have known better than to take someone else’s lover to my bed. Especially if the woman crossed was a witch queen who was powerful, sadistic, and known to curse people just for sneezing out of place.“Malachi? Excuse me, Malachi?” I blinked and brought myself out of my thoughts, turning to see that one of the other busboys, Dan, was trying to get my attention. He held a box of empty liquor bottles and needed me to move so he could pass. I shuffled out of the way, but thinking of Knave and my curse, along with all the beer and shots I’d drunk tonight, made me feel slightly unstable. Suddenly, the rowdiness in my bar wasn’t fun; it was obnoxious, and I wanted to get away from it. I headed through the door Dan had passed through, into the hallway that led to my office and the Dumpster out back. Halfway down the hallway, I heard a crash, followed by a scream. I ran through the back door, taking in several things at once that left me rooted to the spot. One, the revolting stench that went far beyond what our single Dumpster could give off. Two, Dan standing rigidly a few feet away with broken bottles scattered at his feet. And three, the thing that had caused him to drop the bottles and scream. Behind the Dumpster was a dead body.
Purchase Links:
Amazon All Romance E-books Barnes & Noble Kobo
Other books:
Affairs of the Dead Elemental Inferno

Author Bio:
A.J. Locke is an author and artist, originally from Trinidad, now residing in New York City. Black Widow Witch is her second published novel, and other than writing she enjoys reading, drawing, painting, graphic design, and watching too much television.
Author web links: Blog: http://iqurae.blogspot.com/
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/pages/AJ-Locke/522250584507699
Twitter:  @maqueripe
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20643885-black-widow-witch

Tag, you're it! (Blog Hop)

Happy Friday, everyone! I've been tagged to participate in this blog hop by the lovely Kirsty over at Mischief, Magic and Mayhem. We originally met through an online critique website a couple years back (Scribophile) and Kirsty was an early reader for Living Dead Girl. That being said, she's also an awesome and highly imaginative writer, and I would love to see her stories shared with the world. Her work has a fantasy edge to it, with a lot of influence coming from mythology, folk & fairy tales. Pretty cool stuff!

And, on to the questions:

What am I working on?

I've got a couple projects in the pot right now. There's the sequel to Living Dead Girl, which is probably halfway though the rough draft. This story is turning out much more different than I'd anticipated. Sam will have a much larger role. In fact, the dynamic between him and Jen has changed in a way that I hadn't originally planned. And poor Jack...he's having a tough time again. I didn't plan that either, but I suppose if everything is hunky dory and perfect with no conflict, there wouldn't be much of a story, would there?So for now, that's all I'll reveal about what is going to happen.Here's a tiny snippet, though, taken from a scene where Jen comes home to find Sam already waiting for her:
“Pet,” he said, with a grin.I narrowed my eyes. “Why do you always let yourself in?”He shrugged. “I did knock.”“But you knew I wouldn’t be here.” I hooked my toe under the lip of the coffee table and yanked it toward me so his feet dropped to the floor. Since I love Jack, though, I'm also working on a novella from his POV. It spans the time before he meets Jen and overlaps into the Living Dead Girl story.
How does my work differ from others of its genre?

Well, I think my work doesn't neatly fit into Urban Fantasy, that's for sure. For Living Dead Girl, it takes a while for the supernatural stuff to happen. I tried to make up for that in other ways by using Jen's profession (as a mortician!) as well as some of the the character's interests to help establish a mood or tone. The story still has a disconcerting element to it, because it really does spend a lot of time building up this developing relationship between Jen and Jack before ripping it all away.

Why do I write what I do?

I think I'm just drawn to things that are aren't quite normal, haha. I enjoy horror and fantasy and finding ways to blend it into the real world. That's a real challenge to me with writing--to make these things that, no matter how farfetched they are, seem believable.

How does my writing process work?

I have a very unorganized way of writing. All of the planning aspect of it goes on in my head at random times, and I don't outline or anything. I'll usually just sit down and start writing a scene and go from there. Sometimes, if I get stuck, I'll skip ahead and write a later scene just so I don't kill my forward progression. I'm a bit of a perfectionist, so I've found that it's very easy for me to get hung up and frustrated when something isn't going the way I want (with my writing). That is a challenge that I'm working really hard to overcome. I'm one of those writers that thrives with revisions, once I've already got that skeleton of a story down. When I'm first writing a rough draft, I feel sort of lost and sometimes that trips me up.


Well, it's time to pass on the favor! I'm handing the torch to two lovely ladies from Coffee Talk Writers--Ms. Renea Mason (who just released a new book!) and Ms Kishan Paul (who has a couple great stories she's currently pitching). Both are currently in NOLA for the Romance Times Convention, but they'll catch up when they return. Ladies, YOU have both been TAGGED!!!!!

Free Comic Book Day !!!!

Yes, there is such a thing...the first Saturday in May. Check it out here. What a great excuse to go out and support a small local business. Our local shop also had a storewide sale going on, so we picked up a few...

Worth a Watch? Yup.

*Disclaimer* (Dude, do I really need this?) I got into watching anime a few years ago--a little late in the game considering my college major was animation-- so you may occasionally hear me get a nerd-on for it And this is one of those times. Fair warning, I don't gush (ew, gross) but I will applaud a well made story, no matter what format it comes in. 
So ANYWAY...Not all animation is meant for the kiddos (and there's a fair amount of anime that definitely isn't!). I started watching Psycho Pass because I thought the blurb sounded interesting. Not earth shattering in that I was like OMG I have to watch this, because I'm not huge into futuristic/sci-fi/tech type stuff, but it definitely piqued my interest.

"In the future, even just thinking about a crime is enough to make you guilty – and justice is dispensed from the barrel of a gun. Detectives work in teams made up of Enforcers and Inspectors. Enforcers take out the bad guys, and Inspectors make sure their partners don’t cross the fine line between good and evil. The great equalizer in the war against thugs is the Dominator, a futuristic weapon that can read minds and assess the probability that a citizen will turn criminal. There are no trials. Only Enforcers, Inspectors, and the Dominator. Commit a crime in your mind – and the Dominator will make sure you pay the ultimate price." (Blurb/graphic courtesy of www.funimation.com)
Well, I went into this show not expecting much, just curiosity, and wound up hooked from the first episode. This isn't cutesy, funny anime. This is a dark, moody, make you think about the state of humanity type story. Can you imagine relying on technology to decide whether a person deserves to walk free? Where your thoughts and emotions can flag you as a potential criminal, even if you've never done anything wrong? Crazy.

 This series follows the main character, a rookie inspector named Akane who is immediately thrust into a difficult case her first night on the job. Her subordinates are a group of latent criminals called Enforcers (people who have a high psycho pass, which is basically their crime probability reading) and she's immediately told that these people are less than human and she's to treat them as such. They're supposed be the ones handling all the dirty work. Over the course of the series, however, we find out that things aren't so black and white. Akane grows from an almost timid, naive young woman into a strong, admirable Inspector. She bonds with her team, and as they delve further into each case (as well as trail a particularly heinous criminal) we begin to see the mutual respect between all of them.

In the beginning, this is almost like a typical crime drama type show in format, where a new case is approached each episode. Once the main villain is introduced, however, the plot begins to focus more on his pursuit. There are so many interwoven threads to this story, though. Roles are questioned, society is questioned, and there's this constant paranoia among all the characters about the levels of their 'psycho-pass' readings.

For the most part I found the characters to be well drawn. Akane is a likeable heroine, but she comes across as very human at the same time. She makes mistakes, she questions things, she's both vulnerable and strong. Shinya Kogami, an Enforcer on Akane's team,  is at first your typical serious, almost stoic male lead, type but shows surprising depth (and even a sense of humor) as the story progresses. Shōgo Makishima is definitely a psycho, messed in the head villain.

Despite the heavy tone, and the lingering questions with a future society that relies a little too much on technology (yup, there's some definite social commentary going on here) there were a few light moments that helped keep this from being a total downer. The human element is very apparent throughout the story, which I think is what drew me in, because you really see how these characters are affected and how different incidents influence them.

Not for the faint of heart, but overall, I'd definitely recommend this series!

Facebook Page Conundrum

I'll admit it, I prefer having a Facebook page much better than an actual account. I mean, it's nice to see what friends and family are up to on my 'real life' account, but for business purposes, a page is perfect. What I've noticed, however, is a mass of invites to 'like' other pages. Among the author/writer community, this has almost become an 'you scratch my back I'll scratch yours' type of deal. As in, let's trade likes. Authors will post things such as 'I've liked your page, will you please like mine?' And 99% of the time I will do it. Not necessarily because I'm interested in the page, but because it seemed like the polite thing to do. After all, they asked nicely. Isn't this, essentially, what social networking is all about? The more people that know about you and your work the better? In theory, yes. If we're talking quantity in numbers, participating in one of those Facebook page-like-swapping parties, for example, is a good bet. Actually, it's quite easy to boost your page likes that way. 
But I wonder...
Are these likes doing any of us any good? See my comment 'not necessarily interested'. What good is liking a page if I'm not interested in the content? Chances are, if I'm not interested in a page, I won't pay any attention to it. That does neither me nor the page owner any good. True, he or she has my 'number', but if I'm not engaged in their page in any way, that number is pretty useless. Isn't it? With that in mind, what could authors (or anyone, for that matter) do to find the right people who will be interested in their page? Is it like the lottery? Do we keep tossing our invites out, in the hopes that we'll hit a bulls-eye along the way? Is there a better strategy?
For what it's worth, I don't think it's wrong to reciprocate a like, or to help boost someone's page like numbers. As I said before, I have no issues clicking a like button (unless it's something I really can't stand, or completely disagree with). Ideally, however, I would want everyone who liked my page to be genuinely interested in me and my books. I guess this is just one of those random things I think about that has no right or wrong answer. 

A Brief Thought on Blog Tours

So Living Dead Girl hits its last set of tour stops tomorrow, and I just wanted to share a few thoughts on book blog tours in general. Would I recommend one? Yes, absolutely...as long as you go into it with realistic expectations. Obviously the first thing is to research who you're handing your money to before you do it--that should go without saying, but as I've discovered there are TONS of tour companies out there, and I'm not sure they're all worth the cash. So a bit of research definitely goes a long way. I chose Bewitching because I had other other friends who used their services and were pleased. What I found was a well organized tour company, and for the money I spent ($75 I think??) I got a fair amount of exposure and a few reviews. On a whole, I'm very happy with what I got and I'll definitely go back for book two.

I think the real key to remember is this--a book tour isn't a magic formula to zillions of sales. I have no idea if I even gained any readers. What I did get is exposure. That's twenty-plus blogs who posted about my book, and my feeling is, the more people who talk about it or even just know about it, the better. Another big thing is reviews. Sure, the publisher sends out copies to reviewers, but they're a small independent publisher with limited resources. There's only so much they can do, so a lot of that falls on me.

ANY indie author will tell you that it can be extremely difficult to find people to review your book, particularly when you're approaching review sites on your own. They're inundated with requests, so many never get back to you...and all that time spent sending requests, I could be doing other more productive things. Plus, I'm kind of lazy. It's like querying all over again, because you've got to research the sites you're approaching, then send them info with your request. VERY time consuming, and I don't have much of that to spare. But I'm babbling...

With the book tour I signed up for, I was guaranteed at least some reviews, which I got. And no, you're not paying for reviews, you're paying for the tour company to find the bloggers willing to do it. So there you go :)

Happy Sunday, everyone!