UK Amazon Kindle Forum discussion
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Michael Diack
Hi Michael. I come from Manchester and I studied Geology at Durham. W're practically twins!Have an Amazon link http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Super-Spu...
Whoops, I forgot the Amazon link. Thanks for that.Nice to meet you Ignite. I've actually forgotten most of my university studies now, as I don't really use geology for my job but I see you grow potatoes (among other things) and I write about them...so perhaps we are twins hehe. I would have liked to have gone to Durham but I love Manchester.
Ignite, we better keep him away from Cornelius!
If Cornelius gets hold of the idea of magic packets of crips he'll never write any more Words to the Wise!
I'm intrigued about Cornelius now ;)As for a suitable twin name, I'm sure there is some geology/potato play on words...my brain is just not functioning right now.
He's writing a fantastic dark fantasy Saga (Words to the Wise) with which I have fallen hopelessly in love. He has fallen hopelessly in love with crisps!
Awesome, just checking it out now on my Kindle.
I just remembered, I actually have a crisp packet character called Cornelius in the book...
How weird is that? He'll want Royalties!
I actually have two great competitions up now. Win a $30 Amazon Kindle gift card, a paperback copy of The Super Spud Trilogy and the winning new crisp packet flavour suggestion will be featured as a cameo in book 4!enter here: http://beyondthehourglassbridge.blogs...
Erm.How's about we share this here bag of sour cream n onion?
Oops. Don't think that's a 'Brit' flavour.
Never mind.
My favourite is dill pickle.
I think it's only available in Canada. I've not seen it anywhere else yet, anyway.
Excellent choice. We do have it in Britain, it is quite popular actually and usually has a green colour packet. Super Spuds are worldwide so you can choose any flavour or think of a brand new one, in fact, a country specific one is better as it broadens the story more.
Dill pickle is a good one too! It is fine for people to enter here as well. The key thing is you must think of a personality to go with the flavour!
Dill pickle would have to a sour puss, I reckon.Country specific, you say?
Maple flavour then.
Or moose. ;)
It is just that in the story the Super Spuds like to travel and meet new Super Spuds. So if they went to Canada, it would not be full of boring Brit flavours like ready salted, but unique country specific flavours like maple and moose perhaps...flavours can be mixed and unconventional.
Hi Michael,I too am from Lancaster. I went to what was then Sketon Boys School AND I once took a wicked blow to my right hand from a cricet ball bowled by, yes, one Melrose Diack. As soon as I spotted your surname in the authors thread here I wondered.. cld it be?
I've been writing most of my life and worked as a advertising copywriter and then a reporter. I am now an editor with a news agency in London. And I am punting a novella on amazon.
I will certainly check out your crisp wit and give you a review. I look fwd to hearing from you.
Ron Askew
Thanks to everyone who has participated in the competition so far, just a few hours left. Most new Super Spud suggestions seem to be alcohol related...whiskey flavour, vodka flavour.
Competition is now over.Italian Meatball flavour, a stereotypical mobster type personality featuring 'The Spudfather', is the winning flavour and will feature in Book 4!
Had some great drawings but don't know how to upload them here...
I'm off to work tomorrow in Oman, and my internet is somewhat slow so might not be able to get on Goodreads as much, but great to interact with everyone this last week :)
Good morning everybody. I wish everyone in this group a wonderful Christmas. Just a quick message to say I have a new book out if anyone was interested.http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Super-Spu...#
Thanks!
In the spirit of Christmas, the new book is now free. Thanks.http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Super-Spu...
After an initial slight cock-up making the sequel free, at last, the first three books are free today! The Super Spud Trilogy!Reviews:
“I'm in absolute awe at the distance to which a person's imagination can travel! This book is so incredibly original”
“It's a fun and unpredictable world with everything inside that you could possible wish for. Every human activity, myth and past-time, seems to have its own Super Spud variant.”
“Michael Diack has the sort of warped perception of reality I enjoy and his writing puts me in mind of a slightly blacker Terry Pratchett. This is nicely original writing divided into three stories with different heroes and I found many laugh out loud passages I will remember forever.”
“5 STARS!!...... for creativity, originality, laugh-out-loud funniness, and pure, raw, awesome-ness!”
UK Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Super-Spu...
Hi everyone, hope you all had a great time last night and not too sore a head for the first day of 2013. But if you do, my book is free again today for some light-hearted humour - a perfect hangover cure.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Super-Spu...
Free again on 5th, 12th and 19th :)
Now I better start rattling my brain for an idea for writing competition #10...
Just had a little punt on that one Michael. Don't know quite when I'll get around to it as I'm reading the Christmas Gift Freebies at the moment. Good luck with the promotion.
Hi,Thank you Ignite :) Much appreciated. Trying not to over do it with the promotion...but got to try my best.
Have a nice week.
It's a difficult line to tread - you're doing ok ;)
Today I am the grand old age of 27, I can feel my back starting to go and my knees crack every time I bend down... As a birthday gift to you, this is the last day The Super Spud Trilogy is free:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Super-Spu...
And the best birthday present in the world I could possibly get, would be a download of Super Spuds Book 4:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Super-Spu...
Thanks :) Looking forward to seeing the writing competition entries soon.
Once you hit 24, it's all downhill from there.
Oh just thinking, you should put your free book in the daily free book thread to get it more exposure (if you haven't done it already)
I did it for the previous days, don't want to over do it...but seeing as it's the last freebie day I will. Thanks for the reminder. I think it was downhill for me from the age of 22, that's when I started noticing my hair line receding.
You can't over do it. If it's free put it in there!
Hey everybody,I've branched out from writing about crisp packets to something with a bit more substance.
Shadows in the Sand (Empyria, Book 1) is a fantasy novel set in a desert landscape, inspired by my time in the Middle East.
Blurb:
The deathly Sanghouls have escaped from the Empty Province and, from within their golden dunes, they seek to wipe out all life in Empyria. Unaware of this, the last surviving humans continue going about their daily routine in the city of Nimar. But when the city’s water pool stops refilling, the Nimerians are forced to move into lands of myth and legend.
Only when Prince Viro, an elf of the southern lands, arrives in Nimar do the humans truly understand the threat to their existence. The two races must unite and reclaim the lost seven stones of light – the only weapon that can defeat the demonic shadow enclosing them.
As four of the city’s most talented young men and women, Athmane, Faria, Bayoud and Mary will be critical to Nimar enduring the perils, both natural and unnatural, that await them.
It's essentially a story of friendship, love, survival and lots of action and adventure.
I did set the price to 99p (this is my first time using KDP) but for some reason's it's priced £1.02...
I'd love feedback and will happily chat about the novel.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Shadows-Sand-...
Thanks everyone.
Good luck with that! I'm a bit backed up (so to speak) at the moment but it sounds good. :)
Thanks Ignite, I'm hoping people enjoy it. Had some positive feedback but that was only my girlfriend and my mum.
Welcome on board. I've never been to Manchester or Lancaster! :)
Looks like a fun read, will add it to the stupidly high virtual pile. I believe that the weird pricing thing on Amazon is down to them adding 3% VAT to e-books (the Luxembourg).
Thanks. Lancaster is a lovely little city and a great castle too to visit. We also have a butterfly house and a great hilltop park which does outdoor plays during the summer. Robin Hood is currently on now, although it's a weird mix of Robin Hood meets George Orwell 1984 society. Cheers for the advice Andy, maybe I'm being silly but I think it reflects badly or looks less professional if an e-book price is £1.02. I think a book price should always be ending in 0,5 or 9. Be nice if the KDP pricing included the VAT so you know what you type in is what you get out.
FREE today again if anyone is interested. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Shadows-Sand-...
And I had my first review, a good one, thank goodness...
I'd read the previous two books by this author and this new one, although a different genre, didn't disappoint. Diack has certainly developed as a writer and the descriptions of the desert landscapes and epic battles were excellent. One of the strongest aspects of the novel was the suspense which built throughout and I found myself constantly wanting to read the next chapter. As well as being an action-adventure fantasy, it's also laced with moments of light romance and humour which helped to punctuate the battles and sense of impending doom. I eagerly await book 2!
Ooh, I'll have a go at that. I only have a short TBR list - or I'd drown! Should read it in a week or two.
Yay, thanks Ignite. Any reviews will be most welcome, so thank you and I'm in no rush so a week or two or three sounds fantastic.
I remember you said from your last review of my Super Spud book that you'd like to see me try my hand at something with more substance, so I hope you enjoy this. Don't worry - no crazy crisps in this one!
Free today and the weekend: 13th to 15th Septhttp://www.amazon.co.uk/Shadows-Sand-...
http://www.amazon.com/Shadows-Sand-Em...
New reviews just in:
****
After reading a million and one fantasy books, this one is much different. The end half of the story has been well thought out and has been planted well in the first half, also having perspective from several characters gives much more depth to the whole story rather than just your typical one point of view.
More please, I need to know what happens !!!
*****
A very intricate and thought-provoking fantasy story. It is very well written and had me gripped from the first page. It's not the first book I have read by this author and it certainly won't be the last. I look forward to the next book in the series.
***
This is the imaginative fantasy tale of a race hard pressed by a desert land and a lack of water. Recent geological activity has greatly reduced the city's water supply and has allowed a fearsome race of sand-dwelling creatures to encroach. The people of the city are divided into four groups, hunters, medics, craft workers and soldiers and the story follows a group of four who grew up together.
The author has created a great set-up here which is very promising but it is marred by some clunky sentences and rather wooden dialogue at times. I found these rather distracting. Michael Diack is a young author and I think experience will make his writing flow better. I hope he continues to write and on the basis of this book I think fantasy is his genre.
Hello all, I've had a few issues recently with readers stating they don't like prologues, nor being given a history lesson. So I decided to listen and remove the prologue entirely - the wonderful, flexible aspect of KDP!
I feel this is the better way to go about the story, and I want to thank everyone for their honest feedback and critiques. Less waffle, more action!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Shadows-Sand-...
Happy Halloween everyone, although I much prefer bonfire night.
Anyone else's uncle or granddad ever take an old wheelbarrow, stick an oil drum on it and start a fire in it? I used to love prepping the drum with paper and kindling.
So Michael, how close are you to being Indiana Jones?I used ot havea bullwhip but it disappeared when I went to college and I haven't seen it since.
I also ahd a prologue in my book and got the same (or similar) response and moved it further into the book and did a bit of literary timetravel by turning it into a character's remembrance.
My granddad never did that in a wheelbarrow but we did use to carve turnips and stick candles in them before pumpkins invaded England. Much harder carving turnips!
Hi Peter, My apologies I just saw this post...need to switch the 'email me when people comment' notification back on!
Well, in my head I'm exactly like Indiana Jones, but in reality I'm exploring the sand dunes in my flip-flops, there's no snakes, nor Nazi's chasing me and I don't have a cool whip.
Interesting to read about your prologue, personally I don't mind them but some people prefer, from my recent exchanges, to have a first chapter with action straight away. Which I can understand.
Also,My new book is out today, the conclusion to my fantasy series.
Hello all,
The concluding part of my fantasy series Empyria is now out!
The Light and The Glass:
The elves and humans know that their fate is intertwined as they seek to survive the threat of enemies known and new. The seven stones of light, hidden by the wicked Mayer, hold the key to victory. But can they trust the renegade dragon brothers, Gorlyx and Brelyx, who offer their only hope of recovering the lost stones?
This is a story full of dilemma and heroic action providing a breathless conclusion to the Empyria fantasy adventure. Strewn with battles against the tightening grip of evil adversaries, thousands must die – but who will survive?
---------------------------
This book was great fun to write and features huge, epic battles, a very annoyed war demon, a fire dragon, an ice dragon, cannibal warriors, elves, humans and even T-Rex like predators. It was much easier - and enjoyable - to write not having to concentrate on world-building and setting the storyline up.
Only 80p!
Amazon UK:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Light-Glass-f...
Amazon US:
http://www.amazon.com/Light-Glass-fan...
Hi all,I paid 20 pounds to promote Shadows in the Sand for its free day and I've seen amazing results, in America at least - over 1400 downloads! I'm one happy geologist.
http://www.amazon.com/Shadows-Sand-Em...
Happy New Year everyone. Only 77p for this weekend!
Recent reviews:
I should start with a spoiler alert – 'Shadows in the Sand' ends at a perilous point, requiring the next book in the series. If you don't want want to read a gripping novel that is the first of a series, then you shouldn't start 'Shadows in the Sand'.
While most fantasy novels are set in worlds resembling medieval Europe, Empyria is much more primitive. Humans only exist in very small clusters of hunter-gathers, with very limited technology. Almost everything they encounter thinks that men are nothing more than another food item. When an earthquake shuts off the communities water supply, everyone must begin a process of moving to a new refuge … that is far from safe.
The world Micheal Diack has created is continually fascinating. The environment is so threatening, and mankinds technology so limited that I continually asked myself – would anyone actually be able to survive this?
Well worth reading for an adventure in a world unlike any other.
---
First, I love Athmane and Faria. I really like that they, Mary and Bayoud have known each other basically all their lives. It gives their bonds to each other a very lived in feel and the reader is able to focus more on the story unraveling than on the building of the characters relationships.
With a larger cast of characters like this it's easy for an author to loose a someone's place in the plot. To not mention them for too long and suddenly they're back in the story and we're all left scratching our heads trying to remember who this person is and what they mean to us. Michael didn't do that. He did a great job of giving us glimpses of the characters, creating tension around them and leaving us wanting more when he moved on to the next one. It creates that feel of a story within a story. My only complaint would be that the characters are a little bit flat. They're dialogue is stunted sometimes which leaves it feeling a little unnatural. I think Michael was more focused on the story unfolding and it's unique and exciting enough that one can forgive slightly flat characters.
If you're a fan of epic fantasy, this is a book you need to read.
-----
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Shadows-Sand-...
I also decided to spruce up my cover a bit, I just don't know how to change it on Goodreads without being a librarian. any tips?
I've just written a post about my experiences of self-publishing and some tips - not that I'm successful, but I can share thoughts on what not to do!http://michaeldiack.blogspot.co.uk/
Hope it offers some good advice to anyone just starting out. Maybe it's a touch too gloomy...
I'm Michael, I'm from Lancaster and went to the University of Manchester to study geology. I'm currently working in Oman as a QC (quality control for field data), it's basically just computers,camels and sand. I work on 6 weeks on and 3 off rotation, but I always come back to the UK as I miss family, friends and home comforts (especially bacon and beer).
I wrote The Super Spud Trilogy in university and I recently published it through Pen Press base din Brighton. It's about magical crisp packets who come alive if not eaten by their use-by date, and their personality is determined by the flavour of the crisp packet. The reviews so far have been positive, praising its originality and humour. I think it's gone down better with UK audiences as they understand the style of humour better and the quirky content.
At the moment, marketing and promoting the book is taking up a lot of time and it's certainly a mixed bag of emotions. Sometimes I make a sale completely out of the blue, while I don't make any after working hard for days. Still, I believe patience, persistence and ultimately, a collection of honest reviews will lead to the book receiving greater exposure over time.
As an author, and one who writes humour, it's very rewarding to read that someone actually laughed out loud at your book. Looking forward to interacting with everyone. Thanks for reading this post.
Mike