J.B. Garner's Blog, page 26

Starving Review: The Building by Ceri Beynon

The Building by Ceri Beynon (Amazon, Smashwords, Goodreads)

As the shadows grow longer outside the Starving Review Kitchens, what better luck could I have but to pull a meal promising horrors and an encounter with the Devil himself?  With Halloween just over a week away, we have the promise of the horrors of the 21st century set to mix and mingle with some old-school, ancient horrors.  Add to that what the blurb would suggest is partly a haunted house tale, a true classic recipe, and it looks to be a meal to relish.  But does The Building live up to the promise?

Before we find out, let’s set the Starving Review ground rules:

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

The Building shows some amazing potential.  There is some beautiful/horrific imagery mixed in to spice up some of the scenes of terror.  The core concept is elegant and refined in its simplicity.  The methodology of the supernatural elements, that is to say the ground rules by which they work, also work beautifully to present a tasty candy shell of horrors to fill up with fears, scares, and nail-biting catastrophe.

But that is where things start to go off balance.  I would say the core issue that The Building has is that it is comprised of at least two times as many courses as a meal with its recipes should.  There is a simple core cycle to how the plot flows, one that any reader will recognize quickly, and it adheres religiously to that cycle, repeating the same course over and over again.  There are minor additional elements slowly mixed in, but so many recounts of the same plot points and character beats adds bloat and weight to the whole affair.  If, for example, the key plot changes scattered throughout all these samey-same courses were pulled out, then recombined with the start, the main cycle repeated perhaps three times at most, then the ending, it would have gone down much smoother and kept its dramatic tension.

That’s really what the repeated cycles do: shatter the tension and sense of horror.  A key element of horror is suspense, that feeling of the unknown and the unknowable.  When the same course of actions repeats with similar consequences over and over, there is no longer suspense.  We, the readers, can now predict the course of the book, up to the end.  There was no last-minute twist, no surprise dessert whipped out to put the whole meal on its head or to justify the extended cycles it went through.  Just the ending I expected from the midpoint of the book on.

There is one last minor quibble, one I find more and more to be prevalent, and that is paragraphing.  Yes, that particular little form of style and formatting.  Extended tracts of the book are contained in mammoth multi-page paragraphs that blend into columns of inky darkness as I tried to read them.  It’s a fairly easy thing to fix and perhaps a nitpick, but as I see it more and more in books, it makes me all the more upset, especially as it is so easy to get right.

The Building has a recipe for horror greatness that has been turned into a bloated mess by unneeded repetition of its one-cycle story.  Cut down and remixed into a novella half its size or even a masterful short story, this could be really amazing.  Also, if more variety of horrors or more concepts about the mystery of the titular Building were explored to vary the repetition and preserve the suspense, a novel of this weight could be justified.  As it is though, this terrorizing souffle collapses under its own weight.

FINAL VERDICT: ** (A potentially-great horror souffle that collapses under the bloat of repetition!)

Starving Interview: Vanessa Wester, author of Hybrid

Good day, friends!  I’m just back from another sit-down in the Starving Kitchens with another review alumni, Vanessa Wester, author of Hybrid and the Evolution Trilogy.  Let’s waste no time and see how Ms. Wester whips up her literary recipes!

Please introduce yourself to my literary foodies!

I am a writer of paranormal romance, historical fiction, short stories for children & adults, and blogs! I have three children (who keep me very busy) and also teach mathematics! Since 2010, I have been juggling between writing, reading, teaching, parenting, etc, and find that time passes by so fast these days that I rarely know what the day is anymore!

Do you do any work outside of the writing kitchen? Any non-work interests?

I like to give up my time for charity and have volunteered at the local Foodbank, as well as helping out at my local primary school. I also spend a lot of time in the swimming pool (but not as much exercising as I would like to be honest!)

What is your latest dish to be served up? Are there any past pieces of literary cuisine you think we should take a bite out of?

I have completed my Trilogy & Prequel – visit my blog for more information! www.theevolutiontrilogy.blogspot.com

What made you want to put on the chef’s hat and whip up your own books?

I was tired of being at home looking after children and needed to use my brain for a change. It was escapism at its best. I used to love creative writing as a teen and had forgotten how much fun it was… I have to admit being inspired by Stephenie Meyer, who also has three children.

Do you have a genre of speciality or do you dabble? Why?

Dabble! Why not? This is not a job for me, it is fun! Why limit myself? Although, I doubt I’ll ever write a gory book.

Style! Every literary chef aspires to have their own unique one! What do you think sets yours apart and why?

I like to make the reader feel like they are seeing the story through the eyes of the character. I want to make you think, feel, and aspire to be where that character is. Make fantasy a reality…

Even the best of us find inspiration is the dishes of others. Do you have any literary inspirations, heroes, and influences?

Agatha Christie, Stephenie Meyer, Ken Follett, John Grisham, Sarra Manning, Jeffrey Archer, etc, etc, etc…

Let’s get into the meat and potatoes: the art and craft of writing itself! Do you have a preference of points-of-view when you write?

Yes. I like to write from the point of view of the character. To see the world through their eyes.

Sparse or wordy, how do you like your descriptions served up? Are you a Hemmingway man or do you like some saucy adjectives with your nouns?

Not really thought a lot about this. I am a mathematician not a literary genius! (Hmmm… I could be both?) Let’s just say I write as it feels natural. But, I liken my story-telling craft to the human body. First I get the skeleton down, then add the muscles and fibres, then the skin, and finally the clothing & extras!

Picking off the menu of base literary conflicts, what’s your favorite and why?

I honestly have no opinion on this. But, if I have to add something I’d say that sometimes books that are extremely dull end up winning awards for some bizarre reason! Ha!

What do you think is more important to your recipes, plot or characterization? Why?

This is a tough one… I honestly think both are equally important. I love to cheer for a character, but I also want to know the point of reading a book in the first place. I want it all!

We all know that the first taste means the most! What do you do to get that first bite hook with your readers?

This is something that I think develops as you write more books. An element of suspense is important though… why read on if I don’t care?

The most important of questions: Cake or pie?

CAKE! Definitely… (There goes my waist-line again!)

Finally, if you could give one piece of advice to aspiring literary chefs out there, what would it be?

Don’t just think that when you’ve finished a book it is done. The truth is, it is only the beginning! Most of the work happens after you write the book. But, get it down first – then worry!

Writing Is A Bad Habit: Super Troperiffic Sterrotype GO! a.k.a. Embracing the Archetypical

Tropes are bad.  Archetypes are hackneyed.  Stereotypes are horrible.

Except when tropes are great, archetypes resonate with our souls, and stereotypes have that hard kernel of truth.

Look, let’s face facts: that entire extended statement is the reality of writing.  The well-worn roads of tropes and archetypes can indeed be such old hat to make your works tired and uninteresting.  However, there’s a reason these literary devices, characters, and plots have been around for so long.  They touch on elements deep in the human psyche.  Hopes, fears, desires, and despair, whether the source of those feelings are ancestral, genetic, or modern.  These feelings, that resonance is what makes tropes and archetypes such powerful tools for writers to use.

To put it in culinary terms, as is my nature, there is a reason that chocolate cake exists after all of these centuries.  It is a recipe that the vast majority finds delicious and so it is recreated again and again.  We often experiment with that recipe, adding new ingredients and flavors and removing others, yet in the end, we are still making chocolate cake.

In fact, that culinary experimentation is a perfect figure of speech to describe the ways to make the old tropes into something fresh.  While never getting rid of the core premise, we can add new elements to the mix, new character traits or plot elements, while eliminating others.  I’m not talking about just deconstruction and reconstruction, just using a trope relatively straight while altering some aspects of it can be sufficient.  Most readers still want their chocolate cake, you see, but they want it in some new way, something to spice it up to stand out from every other chocolate cake.  That necessary spice comes from you, the author, and how you play with your tropes and archetypes to bring about something wonderful.

Until next time, good reading, good writing, and good luck!

Legacy of Hunger is LIVE! Buy it now!!

jbgarner58:

As I have said a lot recently, I’m trying to pay it forward to more fellow writers out there, so here’s a fresh book release for you!

Originally posted on Green Dragon's Cave, Author and Artist:

After much ado, several years, and lots of pain, sweat and tears, my first novel is now ready to purchase! Release date is today, October 21, 2015.

It is currently ON SALE for $0.99 on Amazon. The price will go up to $4.99 on Sunday, October 25th, so get your copy now!

You can order it here!

For other formats in the future, please see my author page at Tirgearr Publishing

And please, if you read the book and enjoy it, do leave a review on Amazon, Goodreads, your own blog, whatever you’ve got. It is greatly appreciated!

*******

I’m having a Facebook Release Party on October 24th at 7pm EST. There will be guests, prizes, excerpts and fun, so please come join us!

I shall have a prize packet giveaway with stuff from Ireland, a signed, limited edition print of a photo I took in Ireland near where the…

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Monday Musings: The Day Job a.k.a. What I Learned From Going Back to Work

So I picked up a part-time job to get a war chest for con trips, stocking up on physical books to sell, that sort of thing (also bills!  Food!  All that kind of thing!).  It’s been two or three years since the last time I had an actual employer and did this kind of core retail/manual work.  Boy, did I learn a lot!

I’m not twenty-four anymore … but I’m not totally decrepit.  I’m sore, my left knee is janky, and I certainly didn’t expect to be hit like that.  However, I also realized that I wasn’t so far gone that I couldn’t keep up.  Each day has been a little bit easier and, hopefully, in another week or so, I’ll be back in my stride.
Working with people is kind of fun.  Not that I haven’t worked alongside others in certain aspects during my writing, but there’s a difference between that long-distance collaboration and working hand-in-hand with other people.
Even a part-time job eats up more time than you’d expect.  Twenty hours a week isn’t twenty hours.  There’s transportation time, there’s online training, there’s all the extra chores that come up, and so on.  It puts a kink in my style.
The ‘time to think’ concept does have some truth to it.  You do have to pay attention at any job you work at, but there’s almost always a chance to focus your higher brain functions on things outside of work.  I just wish there was more time for that.
I ultimately look forward to the time I can get back to full-time writing.  No matter what other ups and downs there are, I just want to write, end of story.

Well, enough of my noodling!  I have a day off, so it’s time to write.  Until next time, good reading, good writing, and good luck!

Review: The Young Elites by Marie Lu

jbgarner58:

Time for a Saturday Book Review Reblog! Enjoy the critical fruits of others!

Originally posted on astrangersguidetonovels:

 

Title: The Young Elites
Author: Marie Lu
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult

My Rating:  4 stars
Goodreads rating: 3.96

 Summary ( Goodreads ): 

Adelina Amouteru is a survivor of the blood fever. A decade ago, the deadly illness swept through her nation. Most of the infected perished, while many of the children who survived were left with strange markings. Adelina’s black hair turned silver, her lashes went pale, and now she has only a jagged scar where her left eye once was. Her cruel father believes she is a malfetto, an abomination, ruining their family’s good name and standing in the way of their fortune. But some of the fever’s survivors are rumored to possess more than just scars—they are believed to have mysterious and powerful gifts, and though their identities remain secret, they have come to be called the Young Elites.

Teren Santoro works for the king. As Leader…

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Starving Review: Beneath the Blast by Jeff Rorik

Beneath the Blast by Jeff Rorik (Amazon, Smashwords, Goodreads)

One of the great things about digging through my pantry is the great variety of dishes that are contributed to it.  There’s always something new, something innovative, some creative new take on an old dish out there to be found.  Today’s meal is one of those creative dishes, combining some classic aspects of conventional thrillers, a dash of Lord of the Flies, and reality television.  Will this be good, bad, or just ‘meh’?

Before we find out, let’s unfurl the ancient scrolls and consult the Starving Review laws:

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

It turns out that reality television is a lot easier on my creative palate when it’s wrapped in a layer of meaty thriller.  Mr. Rorik finds an interesting way to use the stilted, often manufactured environment of your average reality TV show to both set the stage and heighten the tension of the plot to come.  When you have a group of people who are not only in competition, but chosen specifically to create a dramatic situation for television, the amount of dramatic tension to be milked to spice up the recipe multiplies.

Of course, that drama sets down squarely on the shoulders of the characters.  If those core ingredients don’t pan out, the entire drama souffle will collapse.  Overall, Blast brings a varied and fleshed-out cast of characters.  Interestingly, this is accomplished with rapidly-shifting swirls of characterization, sliding from character to character for short scenes before moving on to the next.

You might be concerned that this could cause a breakdown of the plot.  After all, if every character gets their swirls in the mix, doesn’t that tells us all about our antagonists’ plans?  Again, credit the chef here for providing an expert hand here.  While there are character scenes that foreshadow things to come, it stops there at foreshadowing.  I can’t remember a single scene ruined by the characters revealing the menu too early.

The flaws in Blast are minor, but do leave their sourness on the cake.  Firstly, the start of the tale is a bit clunky.  As the cast is rather sizable, it takes some time before the story really gets going to let us get a bead on each of them and that leads to a bit of early fatigue from such a heavy first course.  Once Blast gets to the main course, though, it goes down quite smoothly, but the early pacing is still off.

My other bit of critique would be in the plot device to get the whole ball rolling to start with.  As this is a very early occurance, I don’t think this is SPOILERS, so let me extrapolate: The main premise is a reality show cast that winds up trapped in the bunker their show is set in.  Part of the explanation for being trapped makes sense, the part that happens in the first few chapters, but the final explanation given stretched the bounds of my suspension of disbelief.  As it happens right at the very end and didn’t QUITE break it, I was able to swallow it down, mainly as it really didn’t affect the resolution of the plot, but it was still a sour note at the end.

However, let me sum up by saying that the real, actual dramatic plot resolution is actually quite good.  Overall, Beneath the Blast is a spicy, tasty mix of thriller and reality television, with just a few minor flaws marring the recipe.  I’d suggest anyone who enjoys thrillers or reality television to give this one a read.  Anyone else who would just enjoy a good read might also want to give this one a go, as it is a solid, tasty treat.  Enjoy and good reading, good writing, and good luck!

FINAL VERDICT: **** (A spicy, tasty mix of thriller and reality television, with just a few minor flaws marring the recipe!)

Starving Interview: Jeff Rorik, Author of Beneath the Blast

It’s a beautiful Friday here at the Starving Reviews LLC corporate headquarters!  As you likely know, fellow foodies, that means it’s time for some fresh reviews and interviews.  Today, we bring in Jeff Rorik, author of Beneath the Blast, today’s Starving Review subject.  Let’s see what this chef brings to the table!

Please introduce yourself to my literary foodies!

My name’s Jeff Rorik, and as a Canadian, I put the letter U in a lot of places that spellcheckers don’t think it should be. I live in the middle of a forest in British Columbia, and these days split my time between there and my wonderful girlfriend’s house in Washington, a place where people actually take the spellchecker’s side.

Do you do any work outside of the writing kitchen? Any non-work interests?

Cooking up literary meals is my primary focus at this point, but when I do manage to drag myself away from the kitchen I enjoy getting away from the taste of words entirely (am I doing this analogy right?). In the last few years I’ve been falling deeper down the musical rabbit hole of progressive rock. And if you’ve read the description of Beneath the Blast, it probably won’t come as a shock that I’m more than a little obsessed with Survivor, and am trying catch up with fifteen years of the show.

What is your latest dish to be served up? Are there any past pieces of literary cuisine you think we should take a bite out of?

While Beneath the Blast is the only dish I’ve served to the public just yet, a second course is not too far off. It’s out of the oven, and just waiting on the cutting board for me to trim off those crispy, overbaked edges.

What made you want to put on the chef’s hat and whip up your own books?

Like a lot of kids, I grew up devouring this stuff. Maybe it’s a cliché to say I’ve always wanted to do this, and maybe that’s not accurate—I did go through a phase when I was six where I wanted to be a waiter, because I was impressed with how they balanced full plates—but it’s been the most common refrain in my ambitions. After years of half-baked scripts and stories that never made it out of the mixing bowl, I set all that aside, distracted by the rest of life. A few years ago, however, an opportunity to spend a good chunk of time chasing that dream fell into my lap and reignited my passion. I knew it would be a long shot to finish a dish and even more so to give the world a taste, but I couldn’t pass up the chance to try.

Do you have a genre of specialty or do you dabble? Why?

I suppose I dabble, though if you want to get technical everything I serve up falls under the horribly vague category of “thriller.” But within that, the genre does vary—Beneath the Blast is more suspenseful and psychological, while my upcoming creation leans towards mysterious with a light sprinkling of sci-fi.

Style! Every literary chef aspires to have their own unique one! What do you think sets yours apart and why?

I try to keep everything straight-forward, since I don’t cook to show off my technical prowess. Every meal I prepare has a few core goals: I want it to be quick to consume. I want to keep people enthralled from the first bite to the last. And I want them to crave one more bite. Then another, and another, until they’ve overstuffed themselves and realized a whole evening is gone.

Even the best of us find inspiration is the dishes of others. Do you have any literary inspirations, heroes, and influences?

While I’m sure someone more analytical than me could pull apart my creations and see all the individual ingredients I brought together, there’s really just one other chef I’d consider a main influence. When I was younger, Eoin Colfer’s Artemis Fowl books were my one series that I went back to over and over. I definitely see his impact when I throw a little humor into the mix, even in my darker stories.

Let’s get into the meat and potatoes: the art and craft of writing itself! Do you have a preference of points-of-view when you write?

I work almost exclusively in third person. It’s always been my preference as a reader, and I’m sure that’s partly why, but to me it just feels a little more open. I still tend to lock my narration inside one character’s head (or in cases like Beneath the Blast, a different character for each chapter), but it gives me the freedom to provide just that little bit of extra explanation about realities rather than a character’s perception when I need to. Plus, I put a lot of work into naming my characters, so I want to use those names way more often than first person allows!

Sparse or wordy, how do you like your descriptions served up? Are you a Hemmingway man or do you like some saucy adjectives with your nouns?

Most of the time I like to keep things fast and snappy, but there’s always a time and place to fit in some good, meaty descriptions. I tend to write really detailed first drafts, and then cut away the excess as I go, carving it down to more easily digested sentences.

Picking off the menu of base literary conflicts, what’s your favorite and why?

I’m a fan of good, old fashioned conflicts with people clashing with other people, especially in situations where it’s a bit tough to decide who’s in the “right.” That said, I’m not adverse to a proper villain when the story calls for it. Internal, personal struggles are also really interesting to write and great when they’re pulled off well, and I think my work always has an element of characters fighting against something within themselves, to one degree or another.

What do you think is more important to your recipes, plot or characterization? Why?

It’s a really difficult choice… when I’m writing up the basic recipe I plan to follow, I usually go plot first, and figure out what characters I need to accommodate that story. I’m not one of those people who are lucky enough to just have endless characters bouncing around in their head. Each one takes a concentrated effort to put together, and I think as a result I focus more on the plot initially. But when we get to the nitty-gritty of it, I want characters that make sense, obviously, and that readers can engage with. Really, it changes from dish to dish—I always have a story I want to tell, but it can vary whether that’s a story about a series of events or about the personal growth of a character.

We all know that the first taste means the most! What do you do to get that first bite hook with your readers?

I’m not a fan of long, rambling introductions before the main course. Prologues have their place, but it’s not usually in my kitchen. I’d much prefer to launch right into the story. Not necessarily starting with a bang or some crazy excitement in the first page, but I don’t want to leave my readers wondering when the real story is going to show up. After all, if the first page can’t hold their attention, it doesn’t matter how good the last page is. Nobody will get to it.

The most important of questions: Cake or pie?

I hope this confession doesn’t undermine everything else I’ve said here, but I know a lot of people will hold it against me: I’m not a fan of pie. Love cake, I’ll take whatever cakes you give me, but pie? Man, I don’t know. I like apples, and I like pie crusts, but the two together? It just doesn’t work for me.

Finally, if you could give one piece of advice to aspiring literary chefs out there, what would it be?

The classic advice is “write every day,” but I don’t think that’s the way to go about it. That’s a great way to get burnt out on a project, overdo it, and make yourself hate it. So I would say write most days. Write days when you’re inspired, and write days when you’re not, but let yourself take a break and recharge on some other days. So take a day off, read, or watch TV, or go work on that chore you’ve been putting off. Everything you do, whether it’s a big adventure or a mundane annoyance, is fuel. It’s too easy to get cooped up and stuck in your echo chamber, only writing what you already know. So just do things, enjoy some media that you didn’t create, enjoy life, and get yourself some good fuel for when you do get back to the literary kitchen. It’s a lot easier to write relatable stories when you can relate to them yourself.

Starving Interview: H. L. Cherryholmes, author of This Shrinking World

Happy Thursday, friends!  As you have come to expect, this is the day where we open the kitchen door and invite in some of our alumni Starving Reviewees, to give them a chance to have a parley about their recipes, their future dishes, and all of that.  Today, we welcome back H. L. Cherryholmes, author of This Shrinking World!

Please introduce yourself to my literary foodies!

H.L. Cherryholmes and the flavor is right there in my name!

Do you do any work outside of the writing kitchen? Any non-work interests?

I can stand the heat, so I stay in the kitchen. My other interests are film-viewing, photo-taking, and food-eating. Also, vodka.

What is your latest dish to be served up? Are there any past pieces of literary cuisine you think we should take a bite out of?

My menu is entirely taken up with my nine book fantasy series, The Lizard Queen. The first six books are out and ready to be devoured. The final three are out of the oven but cooling on the windowsill. They’ll be available for consumption by the beginning of next year. I also have two non-fantasy books published.

What made you want to put on the chef’s hat and whip up your own books?

I’ve always loved stories and storytelling. I believe it began with sitting at the kitchen table listening to my grandmother tell me stories about her life. Since I was very young, I didn’t have many life stories to tell so I started making things up as I played with my toys. Books soon became my favorite way to ingest the stories I wasn’t telling myself. Eventually, all this whipped up the desire to see my tales come to life and I got an MFA in playwriting. But I longed for a way to tell bigger tales and found that writing novels was the best way to create a story stew.

Do you have a genre of specialty or do you dabble? Why?

Although I’ve been focusing on fantasy for the past few years, I would say that I’m a dabbler. Again, it’s just about finding the right fixings to create the right story. One ingredient that I’m particularly fond of, which I’ve stirred into many of my works, is magic realism. That’s what led me to write an epic fantasy.

Style! Every literary chef aspires to have their own unique one! What do you think sets yours apart and why?

It’s all about the spices I’ve chosen for each dish, which makes every course unique.

Even the best of us find inspiration is the dishes of others. Do you have any literary inspirations, heroes, and influences?

E.B. White was my first favorite author and inspired my imagination like no one else. I’m also a big fan of Gregory Maguire in how he’s taken a tale we’ve been consuming for years and altered the recipe to make something familiar but with an entirely new flavor. Also a huge fan of Steven King, Neil Gaiman, Anne Rice, Gabriel Garcia Márquez, and Margaret Atwood.

Let’s get into the meat and potatoes: the art and craft of writing itself! Do you have a preference of points-of-view when you write?

Third person limited, mostly. But, depending on the story I’m telling, I also like third person multiple.

Sparse or wordy, how do you like your descriptions served up? Are you a Hemmingway man or do you like some saucy adjectives with your nouns?

I suppose I’m more of a Hemmingway chef because I’ve often found that too many ingredients muddles the flavor.

Picking off the menu of base literary conflicts, what’s your favorite and why?

Internal conflict is the first thing I’d choose, but without external conflict it tends to be a tad bland so I’d also order that on the side.

What do you think is more important to your recipes, plot or characterization? Why?

I don’t think you can have one without the other; however, I believe you first need a character that you want to follow on the journey, even if you don’t know what that journey is going to be.

We all know that the first taste means the most! What do you do to get that first bite hook with your readers?

See #11

The most important of questions: Cake or pie?

Cake! But only if it has buttercream frosting. Not a fan of cream cheese frosting and whipped cream frosting is an abomination.

Finally, if you could give one piece of advice to aspiring literary chefs out there, what would it be?

That old adage of too many cooks is applicable in this, but the cooks in this case tend to be the voices in your head. Don’t edit yourself until you’ve reached the end. Don’t go back and fix something. Jot down a note and continue on. You’ve can’t know what it’s going to taste like unless it’s done.

Free!

jbgarner58:

Because free books are good!

Originally posted on susannevalenti:

Tomorrow, my second book Linked is going to be released and in celebration my first book Chained is going to be free for the day!

And if you feel like really helping me out, I’ll be doing a post about this tomorrow on my Facebook page and a like and share would really help me get the word out!