J.B. Garner's Blog, page 16
February 22, 2016
Monday Musings: After Action Report! a.k.a. A Pensacon Post-mortem
Pensacon 2016 has come and gone. It was a fantastic time for me. I got to meet many interesting people, catch quite a few informative panels, and get some super smart advice from my fellow authors. So what are the takeaways from this past weekend?
Interviews are actually pretty damn fun! I sat down with three different podcast teams and, as those interviews come out, I’ll tell you about them, but it was enjoyable and interesting. Will Do Again!
All of the folks from WordFire Press are great. Dave Butler and Peter Wacks, in particular, were very supportive, fun, and full of advice for a Starving Author like myself.
I got to meet some great, legendary wrestlers, as well as the local promotion, Epic Championship Wrestling. Fantastic chance to meet some inspirations for my work!
All the local authors were just as great. Expect the next weeks to be a local author’s fest of reviews and interviews. I bought a stack of them and each author deserves a moment in the sun!
I walked way too much on way too hard concrete for 30 some hours these past few days. My feet hate me!
While I gave out a lot of business cards and got a lot of attention, that doesn’t turn into immediate sales. Naturally, I wasn’t actually selling books, as I hadn’t managed to get a full vendor’s table, so that makes sense. The week will tell if the attention turns into increased readership.
I *must* get tables at upcoming conventions. I think that’s the last real hurdle to go. People are interested in what I have to offer. They will buy it, as many asked if they could from me, despite my lack of table. If I can get them to read, I can get them to keep reading!
February 19, 2016
Why Review? Because it’s Easier not to.
Everything here said is oh-so-true!
People are scared to write reviews. It’s a fact.
Here are some of the fears:
Someone might disagree with me and I’ll feel stupid.
I’m not smart enough or don’t know enough to sound intelligent.
I’m not a good writer.
Nobody cares what I say.
My opinion doesn’t count for much.
There are many others, I’m sure, but these are the ones I’ve heard.
Because of these fears, people stay quiet instead of using their voices to help shape the world.
Here are some more facts:
Reviews don’t have to be more than a sentence. You can simply write “I loved it.” Or, “Meh.” You can even say you hated it.
You don’t have to sound smart, be highly educated about something, or convince anyone else that your opinion is valid. It’s your opinion. You’re entitled to it.
Reviews are a lifeline for creatives. Without them, great books never get read. Great…
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Convention News: Pensacon Day 1: A New Con Hope
Day one of Pensacon 2016 is a wrap for me! I talked to a lot of great people (big props to the always delightful S. Usher Evans, the ever tall Dave Butler, and all the great local authors that didn’t have their business cards so my poor memory doesn’t remember by name), had my picture taken a lot, and fought my newly (and poorly) designed straps.
Needless to say, the sandwich board is under repairs as we speak to get ready for day 2! There are still plenty of prizes left to hand out and the SPECIAL prize is still to be grabbed!
Hope to see you tomorrow!
February 18, 2016
Indie Review: Indomitable
Another interesting review for Indomitable!
J.B. Garner’s Indomitable – The Push Chronicles: Book 1, is a superhero story unlike any superhero story I’ve ever read before. That’s because it just doesn’t feel like a superhero story. It feels closer to sci-fi if anything.
Indomitable follows Irene Roman, a scientist who witnesses the birth of a new reality: A world of superheroes. She takes it upon herself to try an return reality back to the way it was. Saying anything more would spoil the book, I think, but it seems heavily inspired by my favorite issue of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman (issue #18, I think), A Dream of a Thousand Cats.
The novel plays with a lot of classic comic book tropes, such as monologue, with the main character being the only one aware of whats going on. It was very cleverly done, especially having the POV character being aware of the reality and tropes, but because she’s not a…
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Book News: A Third First Impression! a.k.a. Indomitable gets a new edition!
Never say that I am a man that does not take action in response to honest criticism.
Knowing that Indomitable never got a proper edit from outside sources and it was my very first full-length novel, I always knew it was unpolished. As several reviewers brought up to me the full extent of the problems, I started to seek a way to get a better review and edit done. Those efforts have finally born fruit, enhanced by my own expanded, professional editing experience, to produce a third edition of it.
Indomitable in its third edition is going live as we speak through Amazon, Smashwords, and Createspace (for the print edition). I believe it is already updated in Smashwords and should be ready through the other outlets over the next day or so.
Enjoy!
New Release: EXTINGUISHED
A new release from a colleague and friend of mine. Check it out!
Imani Simmons knows her mother was murdered. For fourteen years, she has collected evidence and had her mother’s spirit lurking in the back of her mind. But revenge isn’t so easy when the murderer is not only a powerful political figure and expert air manipulator, but your own step-mother. If Imani wants to expose her step-mother’s crimes, she must first come to terms with her own impotency as a non-manipulator and then spark the fire that will bring the truth to light.
*****
EXTINGUISHED is a short story at 7,300 words. Find it HERE in the Kindle store.
Starving Review: Unspeakable Things by Kathleen Spivack
Unspeakable Things by Kathleen Spivack (Amazon, Goodreads)
There is a temptation from the menu entry of Unspeakable Things to want to put it into certain categories, certain specific cuisines. A homefront war novel, perhaps? A coming-of-age historical novel? A Holocaust-themed book? What will this meal actually turn out to be when it gets to the table? Better yet, will it be any good?
Before we dig to the bottom of the dish, let’s recite the Starving Review motto:
I attempt to rate every book from the perspective of a fan of the genre
I attempt to make every review as spoiler-free as possible
Unspeakable is all of those things and much more. I would argue it defies easy genre classification outside of ‘historical fiction’. There are dashes of science-fiction, splashes of fantasy, spicy notes of pure horror, and a generous dash of the erotic, on top of everything I mentioned in the first paragraph, save the Holocaust theme. Not that the Holocaust isn’t touched on in several parts, but it does not dominate the theme like many Holocaust-related meals. This I particularly enjoyed, as the meal reveals in each escalating course, building up to a crescendo of overlapping, brilliant insanity that weaves together into a weirdly coherent whole.
The primary strengths of this meal are its characters and its theme. Unabashedly over-the-top, the cast of characters are deep and vibrant, strange and yet very relatable. As the primary narrative runs on this cast, it lends quite a bit of flavor to the entire book. Thematically, the emphasis on love, loss, and desire touches on primal desires that almost everyone shares and is handled with a strong but careful focus.
I think it’s a good point to bring up that Unspeakable Things does, indeed, include many unspeakably horrific ingredients. Evil deeds are in this mix, my foodies, and these deeds are not shied from one bit. This will no doubt be one of the big, divisive point over whether one will find this meal good or bad. If you have a strong tolerance for the evils of man, then you can dig deeper to explore the overall themes and narrative. If you don’t, you may simply be unable to go the distance of all the courses.
While so much of the book is properly cooked, there is one overall foible in the recipe that I would be remiss to not point out. Unspeakable may talk of things many may want to not speak of, but it doesn’t shy away from using many, many words to talk about them. What I mean to say is that the decorative spices, adjectives and adverbs, are sometimes dumped in rather than carefully mixed. This isn’t a constant. Often, the descriptions are quite lovely and evocative, but there are moments where the narrative hits a crawl under the burden of cloying, excessive spice. Fair warning!
To sum it up, Unspeakable Things mixes in a variety of spices and flavors, often to brilliant effect, but doesn’t shy away from its namesakes. If you find historical fiction with endless, strange twists appealing, you should definitely sample this dish. If there are certain limits you have to your reading sensibilities, especially sexual ones, or are adverse to prose that at times edges towards the purple, you might want to pass this one buy.
FINAL VERDICT: **** (A variety of spices and flavors, often to brilliant effect, but doesn’t shy away from its namesakes!)
February 17, 2016
Writing Is A Bad Habit: This Is Just Like Budapest a.k.a. The Noodle Incident
It’s been a while since we’ve sat back and talked about a writing trope or two. With that in mind, let’s take a casual day today and talk about an interesting bit of trope-y-ness: the Noodle Incident. Sometimes known as the Throwaway Backstory Event, a Noodle Incident (NI for the remainder of this article) is some piece of past history a character in a piece refers to, but never elaborates on, usually with the implication that the event was too ridiculous, unbelievable, or over the top to need to be elaborated on. Whatever the reason for doing so, the NI remains a point of untouched history and, in a long series, may be referenced multiple times.
In its most basic form, if not overused, the NI can serve as a point of off-handed humor, as it is usually used in reaction to some other mind-blowing event happening in the work itself, in a sort of ‘Oh no, not again’ fashion. It also helps invest the reader’s imagination, as a well-timed NI makes them go on flights of fancy, trying to figure out what exactly the NI was. The primary danger in using a NI like this is the one that most tropes suffer from, simple overuse.
Unless shooting for absolute absurdity (which can be done well, of course), you can only invoke NIs so many times. Go to the well too many times and the reader will stop wondering about the NIs themselves and wonder if you, the author, has any actual story to tell. Remember, this trope requires that suspension of disbelief to work. The reader likely knows that you have no concrete idea of what the NI actually was, but part of the fun is in them thinking that you do and thus guessing at it, investing them in your narrative and characters.
Another interesting use of the NI that is less often talked about is the sense of history a NI can invoke, especially common history among characters. We’ve talked about the need to instill history in narratives before, the feel that two friends, for instance, have actually known each other for a long time. The best way to do this is, of course, well-written characterization, but a NI that is in their common history can help as well. It can provide another point of commonality to link them, as well as providing a mutual incident that they can both react to in the past, showing how they react either similarly or differently to an identical situation.
Most of all, it just feels natural. Don’t most friends and families have things that happened, mutual stories, that they don’t have to retell in whole to understand? A quick reference and everyone is nodding about the inside incident, while the rest of the room is scratching their heads. That’s a real life NI!
So consider adding some noodles to your pot in your next story! It might just make the soup that much more flavorful! As always, if you have critiques, comments, or questions, leave them below. Until next time, good reading, good writing, and good luck!
February 16, 2016
Convention News: The Weapons of Convention War! a.k.a. The Pensacon Sandwich Boards!
Without further ado, in all of their sidewalk-stumbling, doomsday-saying, dive-bar-advertising glory are the new and improved (for 2016!) Pensacon sandwich boards:
Beautiful, right? It is by these boards you will know me as I walk among the people and, by recognizing me and then approaching me with word of this blog, my reviews, or my books, you will be sown with the finest prizes a Starving Author can bestow.
Well, it sounded great until the end, right?
Seriously, though, I do have some nifty little things to give out and the first truly special soul who impresses me with their wit, charm, or slavish fanpersonism, will get something pretty nifty on top of the usual stuff.
Expect regular updates during the con and also at least one Starving Review on Thursday!
I hope to see you there!
February 15, 2016
Monday Musings: Countdown to Convention! a.k.a. Pensacon Rising!
So the materials have been bought and the grand sandwich board construction begins tomorrow. For those of you who haven’t caught wind yet, Pensacon 2016 begins on Friday and you can find yours truly there for all three wonderful days. There are tons of great guests, an expansive vendor floor, and everything you’d expect from a top-notch event.
Now, in the next day or so, I’ll post up a picture of the completed board and my planned outfit. If you seek me out during Pensacon and bring up the Starving Author blog or any of my books, I’ve got some special gifts to hand out. There’s even a small chance you could be the one to win a very special prize, so impress me with your knowledge, slavish devotion, or raw humor!
See you there!
