Pete Sutton's Blog, page 49

Today Sarah Butland dropped by to talk about moneySarah B...

Today Sarah Butland dropped by to talk about money



Sarah Butland was born in Ontario, the year was 1982. She was moved to New Brunswick for over 15 years and now resides at home in Nova Scotia, Canada. Butland has been married to her high school sweetheart and has a superstar son named William, and a cat named Russ who all make her house a home.

BananaBoy and the Adventures of Sammy was born with Sending You Sammy, her first published children's book. Then came Brain Tales - Volume One, a collection of short stories and finally Arm Farm, her current literary pride and joy.

Butland has also won Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award.



Some Say it's All About the Money...
 
It's important to remember who you are without the need for money. We are more than paper currency and it's crucial to realize without that we are souls, hearts and pumping blood.
 
I often ask friends what they would love to do if all jobs/ careers paid the same. Some don't know what to say, often their minds are confused by the opportunity presented as it's always been so much about the money.
 
But opportunity speaks volumes too and we all create our own opportunities. People often wonder why all the drama happens in their life and it's no wonder – they dwell on it and what you focus on seems appreciated and keeps happening.
 
Instead let's focus on the essence of life and all we have to offer without concern for a paycheck. Feel the blood, life and soul flowing through us and celebrate all the good in the world.
 
Except for when it comes to Fantasy and Fiction
 
When you're a writer the possibilities are endless and as long as reader's can believe it or simply enjoy it, you've succeeded.
 
Most authors will say it's not about the money, it's about finding readers but they are always thinking of the sales. It's what our world has become accustomed to so a reprieve when reading a story focused more on life and essence of being is often welcomed.
 
My award winning short story, Blood Day, starts with the line:
 
I've always been told we all bleed red, take breaths, and die if poisoned so I often wondered why I wasn't dead yet.
The reader is then welcomed into the strange life of Veronica as she tries to discover who she is while not being the cliché of a coming of age story, this is more coming of human story.
 
What would you do without the need for money?
 
If you were told the most important thing was to cherish every tear drop, memory and celebrate drops of seeped blood, how would you spend your days? In happiness, I suspect.
 
Thanks for reading,
 
Sarah Butland
www.SarahButland.com   
 
Download Blood Day The Short Story today for free to escape your need for money. http://bookShow.me/B00J5NTC5W

Nexus review

Nexus by Ramez Naam


Good


This book has been nominated for several different awards and I can kind of see why. It is a very thought provoking read, dealing as it does with human evolution, transhumanism and post humanism, and is also a sometimes gripping action thriller.

I didn’t devour this book though and at 400+ pages it did actually feel a little long for an action book. The worldbuilding is mainly done via “briefings” scattered throughout which felt just a little like infodumps and the author spends a lot of time telling you how the characters feel.

In the near future there are transhumans and posthumans in a world where gene splicing and augmentation is available from governments and black markets. There is a nanobot drug called Nexus which allows mind to mind communication and the book revolves around Kaden Lane a hacker who has upgraded the nano drug by giving it an OS and making it a permanent upgrade to those who take his version. You can run some programs on it and the book opens with a vaguley amusing party at which Lane is running a “romantic” program to make him into a pick-up artist, which goes wrong. All is not drugs and parties though as the government is waging a war against “Emerging Threats” and Kade is dragged into an espionage plot against the Chinese when attending a conference in Thailand.

The main part of the is set in Bangkok and having visited there last year it was nice to see the city explored. The action is kind of comic book in places – people slammed into brick walls and the walls coming off worse etc. But a very imaginable world of semi-autonomous drones including spider-drones, augmented government agents, shoot-outs and fistfights and aerial dog fights. When Naam plays to his strengths it’s very, very good.


Overall – Entertaining & worth reading, if Naam’s writing ability matches his imagination in future books then they will be pretty special, a writer to watch.

Nexus by Ramez Naam Good This book has been nominated fo...

Nexus by Ramez Naam


Good


This book has been nominated for several different awards and I can kind of see why. It is a very thought provoking read, dealing as it does with human evolution, transhumanism and post humanism, and is also a sometimes gripping action thriller.

I didn’t devour this book though and at 400+ pages it did actually feel a little long for an action book. The worldbuilding is mainly done via “briefings” scattered throughout which felt just a little like infodumps and the author spends a lot of time telling you how the characters feel.

In the near future there are transhumans and posthumans in a world where gene splicing and augmentation is available from governments and black markets. There is a nanobot drug called Nexus which allows mind to mind communication and the book revolves around Kaden Lane a hacker who has upgraded the nano drug by giving it an OS and making it a permanent upgrade to those who take his version. You can run some programs on it and the book opens with a vaguley amusing party at which Lane is running a “romantic” program to make him into a pick-up artist, which goes wrong. All is not drugs and parties though as the government is waging a war against “Emerging Threats” and Kade is dragged into an espionage plot against the Chinese when attending a conference in Thailand.

The main part of the is set in Bangkok and having visited there last year it was nice to see the city explored. The action is kind of comic book in places – people slammed into brick walls and the walls coming off worse etc. But a very imaginable world of semi-autonomous drones including spider-drones, augmented government agents, shoot-outs and fistfights and aerial dog fights. When Naam plays to his strengths it’s very, very good.


Overall – Entertaining & worth reading, if Naam’s writing ability matches his imagination in future books then they will be pretty special, a writer to watch.

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Last night I was at the brilliant Novel Nights event...

Last night I was at the brilliant Novel Nights event in a packed room at the Lansdown in Clifton, Bristol.

Nathan Filer author of the Costa winning The shock of the fall was the guest of honour who spoke about plot and character, read a small excerpt from the book and genially answered the many questions from the room. As a bonus I won a copy of the book by knowing that Iain Baks's first novel was The Wasp Factory.

In the second half were six readers and we were treated to foul breathed detectives, crazy South American pilots and much more.

Readers details can be seen here: http://www.wordpoppy.com/readersatmarchnovelnights/

Next month will be "Comedy & YA" themed so make sure to get your tickets early.

Like their Facebook page to keep up with news https://www.facebook.com/novelnightsbristol?ref=stream&filter=3#!/novelnights

Book giveaway To celebrate the forthcoming release of J...

Book giveaway


To celebrate the forthcoming release of Jonathan Strahan's excellent The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year Bristol Book Blog is happy to have 3 copies to giveaway thanks to the guys at Solaris. We'll also be doing an interview with Jonathan & a review of the book nearer the launch date so check back then.
 The celebrated series comes to Solaris on 10th April (US and UK)
The list of contributors reads like a who's who of the SF&F community  including Neil Gaiman, Joe Abercrombie, Karin Tidbeck, An Owomoyela, Madeline Ashby, Lavie Tidhar, Charlie Jane Anders, Geoff Ryman, Caitlin R Kiernan and many more.

This essential book is an established series in the US but until now has only been found on import in the UK. It now joins Solaris’ high-profile anthology list.

The rules?

Well here at Bristol Book Blog we like reviewing books so we'd like you to tell us, in no more than 50 words, what the best short story you've ever read was. The most entertaining reviews win so be creative! All 50 word reviews will be posted on the blog. The title of the story and the author's name do not count towards the word total.

Entries should be mailed to brsbkblog at gmail dot com and have the words Best SF & F in the subject. All entries must be received by April 14th and winners will be announced, on the blog, on April 18th. Good luck!

ZoophiliaMy brother was killed by a giant clam, in Weston...

Zoophilia
My brother was killed by a giant clam, in Weston-Super-Mare.
My uncle started something with three gorillas that didn’t end well.
My cousin at Bristol Zoo? Well the less said about what happened to him the better.
Perhaps then I wasn’t the best person to volunteer to look after the giant squid. But he looked so lonesome and adorable.  I fell in love right then and there.
 I’m a sucker for tentacles.

Bristol Book Blog review policy/criteriaI was at Br...

  Bristol Book Blog review policy/criteria



I was at BristCon fringe last night   - http://www.bristolcon.org/?page_id=2074 a really enjoyable monthly meet up that I highly recommend (and not just because I'm doing a reading at the next one!) and my friend Pat (@MrsHirez) asked me about my review ratings. I think it's worth me going through my review "policy"



I used to review on a 5 star rating scale but, although it offered good granularity, didn't really fit my needs. I then named the stars but dropped down to 4 categories a while ago (I used to have a "Bad" category but now I just drop bad books without finishing them)

My categories are:

Unfinished - self-explanatory really, a book so bad or so dull I can't be bothered to finish it, so many books, not enough time means that I use the Pearl Rule generally (based on Nancy Pearl Rule of 50)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Pearl)

Pearl's approach to enjoying reading is the Rule of 50 which states "If you still don't like a book after slogging through the first 50 pages, set it aside. If you're more than 50 years old, subtract your age from 100 and only grant it that many pages."

I supplement this - if someone I know (& respect their opinion of books) tells me it is a good book I'll probably give it 100 pages if it has a slow start (I abandoned Perdido Street Station the first time I read it but went back to it after prompting and really enjoyed it)


Average - also fairly self-explanatory, the book has done nothing to raise itself above the level of being an average example of the genre. I read it and it was OK but i doubt I'd recommend it. I didn't hate it but it didn't excite me either.

Good - Books that I rate Good are books that I've read and would say are a good example of the genre, ones that I'd be happy to recommend, ones that stand out somehow  - maybe with an excellent plot or excellent characters, or maybe really cool world building but, and for this category there is always a but, there is a flip side. I'm likely to say things like "I really enjoyed the plot but the characters were a bit 2-D", or "The world building was amazing but the plot didn't do anything for me". Always leave yourself somewhere to go though (that's why I have a Brilliant rating) - people who get a Good rating should be happy with that rating, I can be pretty scathing when I don't like something.

Brilliant - These are the books you put in other people's hands and say "you have to read this", these are the books that I buy for friends and families as presents, these are books I can't fault, or who's faults actually add to their charm. These are the books that remind you why you read. They are the world changers, they are the books that make you laugh out loud on public transport or make you blub into your cornflakes (what do you mean you don't read at breakfast what sort of freak are you?) These are books that touch you (and I don't mean in the "show me on the dolly where the naughty man touched you" sort of way)



Are my reviews always honest? Well depends really - I always try to accentuate the positive if I'm doing the review for an ARC (Advanced Reading Copy) or a friend/acquaintance but I will try to present my views honestly saying what I liked and didn't like about a book. If it's a random purchase then I'm more likely to "let loose" but I'm still more than aware that authors do actually have feelings so I'll try not to be "nasty" about it.

All reviews are my opinion only and are of course totally subjective. Reviews will be given a day or two after reading the book in general so are my immediate impressions. If I were to review after a week or so then it's entirely possible that the rating may be different. Some books I've rated as Brilliant in the past have faded later and didn't have as much of an impression as I thought they did at the time. Going back and changing ratings would be madness though!

What do I aim to do in a review? I try to give a sense of the book (but my reviews are pretty brief so it is only a sense) and some idea of why I liked or didn't like it. I may or may not give an overview of what the plot is, depends as I like to remain spoiler free and sometimes some books really reward you going in with no preconceptions at all or no knowledge of the plot.

Who do I review for? I get sent review copies from a few publishers and also use NetGalley to grab review copies of books that look like they'll be up my street. I don't get paid to review and I get nothing in return apart from the book generally. I review pretty much everything I read, including shop bought stuff but don't differentiate in the reviews (i.e. I don't identify ARCs as ARCs in 100% of cases). If you like my reviews and would like me to review your book then feel free to contact me at BRSBKBLOG@GMAIL.COM. I'm happy to review indie authors as well as books from the largest publishing houses and everything in-between but won't review on spec, please do contact me before sending anything!

The Blackbirder by Dorothy B Hughes Good We sta...

The Blackbirder by Dorothy B Hughes
 
Good
 
We start the book in New York, in the company of Julie Guille, an escapee from Nazi occupied Paris. She bumps into an old acquaintance from her Paris days and when he is murdered outside her apartment she goes on the run rather than get mixed up in any investigation. Julie entered the USA illegally, via Cuba, and is a habituated fugitive. What follows is her trying to cross the country to meet with the one man she feels can help her whilst pursuit is always a possibility, from the law and from the Gestapo. This is a book that from page one is tense with a goodly dollop of suspense and paranoia & it has an utterly believable and sympathetic female protagonist. Recommended for pulp & noir fans.
 
Overall – Good WW2 drama from the Femmes Fatales: Women write pulp series
 
Blackbirds by Chuck Wendig
 
Good
 
Miriam Black can see how someone dies just by touching flesh to flesh. Obviously this has turned her into a pretty damaged character. From trying to stop the deaths she soon becomes fatalistic and takes what she needs from those destined to die soon in a peripatetic existence rattling round the USA. When she is targeted by a con man and gets involved with an organised criminal gang things start to go awry. This is a dark and bleak story but is blackly amusing with some great turns of phrase, it’s what you’d expect from Wendig really if you follow his blog or twitter. I enjoyed it but think it may not be for everyone, there is also a strange lack of women populating the world of Blackbirds, 90% of the people Miriam meets are men and Miriam and the other main woman character are basically men with breasts which could piss you off. I’m willing, based on the writing to forgive it some but this drop its rating.
 
 She puts her hands on her hips and cocks them this way, then that. With the back of her hand, she wipes away a smear of lipstick from where Del kissed her.
“The lights need to be on,” she says to nobody, foretelling the future.
She clicks the lamp by the bed. Piss-yellow light illumines the ratty room.
A roach sits paralyzed in the middle of the floor.
“Shoo,” she says. “Fuck off. You’re free to go.”
The roach does as it’s told. It boogies under the pull-down bed, relieved.
Back to the mirror, then.
“They always said you were an old soul,” she mutters. Tonight she’s really feeling it.
 Overall – Smart, sassy first book in an interesting series, I will read the sequels despite problems with the first
 
And God created zombies by Andrew Hook
 
Good
 
John has just been dumped by his girlfriend because he’s too self-obsessed. He has few friends. Worked in finance, until the meltdown and is now basically sat on his bum with nothing to do. When he does a favour for a someone and they drive to his house they accidently run over a man in an alleyway. When they discover that he is both already dead and also still moving John is drawn into the usual zombie apocalypse story development. However that is all well-trodden so Hook decides to go off-piste and treats us to something a little different, something a bit more intelligent and interesting. This is a very brief book, novella length really, and effective because it doesn’t feel the need to belabour the point.
 
Overall – Interestingly philosophical take on the zombie genre, something a little different
 
Soul Screams by Sara Jayne Townsend
 
Thirteen stories from crime and horror writer Townsend covering 20+ years of published and unpublished stories. As with all short collections there are stories that work for you, and ones that don’t. The first story, the 13th floor is one of the better stories, although does have a couple of flaws. I also really liked Blue eyes, a story about passion and obsession as well asJimi Hendrix eyes, about betrayal and cigarette burns about abuse. Mainly because I prefer psychological to overt supernatural there were a couple of stories that didn’t gel with me, especiallythe guitar (about a haunted guitar, I just found that concept a bit silly really), but thankfully the stories that were good far outweigh those I didn’t get on with. 

Overall – Mixed collection of shorts from 20+ years’ worth of writing
 
Lost Cat by Jason
 

A private eye finds a lost cat and returns it to its owner only to be drawn into a deeper mystery. Typical Jason art & odd story. Very odd.
 
Overall – another wtf from Jason, this is one of his more weird pieces, which is saying something
 
Shanghai Sparrow by Gaie Sebold
 
 Good
Eveline Duchen  - Evvie Duchen, sharp Evvie, Evvie the sparrow, a spry little fringe-dweller alone in the crowd of them, always scraping for a crumb, always with one eye open for a bigger bird, or a cat, or a cruel boy with a stone is introduced to us whilst she is casing a posh house for a possible burglary. She is working for a female Fagin figure and feels it is much better to con and steal than it would be to sell her body. How she ended up  being an orphan and street urchin means that certain gentlemen in the British government have taken an interest in her, and her education, and how she can affect the fate of the British empire, and the world.
 
A good blend of Dickens (you can’t help but compare to Oliver Twist), Folk tales (always nice to see Chinese trickster foxes), spy schools and a light steampunkness  - there are steam hansoms, airships (of course) and the plot revolves around “Etheric science”. However the steampunk is very much a background, a plot device for sure, but this story is much more a character journey and the character is really engaging. What was really refreshing for me was that there were poor people in this & Sebold manages to turn a story that is basically about a 15 year old girl going to boarding school into an enthralling read. There are few off notes (although I think the ending felt a little too neat) and I’d really recommend this to anyone, whether you’re a fan of steampunk or not. There are hints that this is a world that the author may visit again in the future and if she does I’d be willing to revisit too even though I’m still hoping for another Babylon Steel book….
 
Overall – Intelligent & fun steampunk. Worth a visit.

Most secret by Nevil ShuteGoodThis is one of Shute’s boa...

Most secret by Nevil Shute

Good

This is one of Shute’s boat novels (he really, really likes boats and airplanes, especially airplanes) set in WW2 with a cast of characters who all want revenge against the Germans for one reason or another. An Englishman raised in France is put in charge of a boat of Free French, Danish and odd English characters in a series of daring raids on the French Coast. Since it’s Shute you know it’s not going to end well although it was a better ending for some of the characters than I expected. It’s a bit of a slow burner as Shute spends over half the book setting up the characters, and plot. He also uses an interesting technique which serves to distance you from the action as the narrator stays in Britain whilst the action happens and then there’s a report of how the action went followed by a personal account by one of the men. It’s a bit odd and I’m not sure it worked all that well. Still this is a WW2 adventure story that ticks all the Shute boxes - engineering as hero, affection for transport (in this case boat), romantic involvement, manly men, action, pathos, a downbeat ending. Shute is one of my go to authors who seems to be consistently good but is a bit of a comfort read. Although this is perhaps not the best place to start with his catalogue.

Overall – Stiff upper lips and derring do in one of Shute’s boat novels

Born Weird by Andrew Kauffman

Good

The five siblings of the Weird family have all been given a blursing (should be a blessing but has turned into a curse) by their grandmother when they were born. The blursings give the Weirds particular capabilities or predispositions; Lucy never gets lost, Abba never loses hope, Richard always keeps safe, Kent will win any physical fight, and Angie always forgives.. These have pushed the sibling’s lives in strange directions and the grandmother realises that she can remove these blursings upon her deathbed, which she accurately predicts to be on her birthday. She charges Angie to gather the Weirds together and bring them to her bedside at the moment of her death. What follows is a strange family dysfunctional road trip across Canada and beyond which skirts whimsy and plays with weird. This is a much better novel than the waterproof bible which had put me off his books, but someone I trust a lot recommended this. I’m still not 100% sure I’m a Kauffman fan but I did read this straight after watching Wes Anderson’s latest film and I think that helped put me in the right frame of mind.

Overall – Off the wall slice of gentle weirdness