So I’m continuing with the projected book buying hiatus this month, and will possibly carry it on through the summer–however, I am reserving the right to still buy the most important, critical, vital books that I ABSOLUTELY CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT, those which I wish to buy on their release dates so’s to properly support their authors. And in some cases, books I must read IMMEDIATELY just because I have to know what happens in them RIGHT NOW.
These books are:
seanan_mcguiredesperancejimbutcherkatatomicmizkitThat’s five projected vital books across an entire summer, which by my standards is still a veritable famine of book purchasing. I think this still counts!
However, if anybody out there thinks there are other vital books that I MUST ABSOLUTELY HAVE lest the entirety of the publishing industry collapse and a whole swath of imaginary characters look at me with piteous eyes, tell me in the comments. I will accept bribes. Especially if they involve pretty pictures of Alan Doyle.
My fellow Drollerie author Joely Sue Burkhart is running her Maynowrimo thing again this year–by which we mean, it’s a lot like Nanowrimo, only with a self-selected goal, in a much smaller group of authors trying to get some formal projects done.
I’m taking this as impetus to get edits on Lament of the Dove done, dammit. My goal: get the sixth and hopefully final draft finished by end of May. I’d really, REALLY like to get it back into Carina’s hands by mid-June, so consider this a preliminary call: anybody out there willing to beta read Draft Six? Beta reading previous drafts of Lament is not absolutely required, although anybody who has is more than welcome to jump in and tell me whether the changes I’m making generally overall improve things.
Note also to those of you who took a spin through the last draft: I’m not going line-by-line through changes, though I know some of you went above and beyond the call of duty and provided that level of detail in your feedback. I am however on the lookout for general commentary y’all made to me, such as watching out for overuse of semi-colons and such. Draft Six’s all about the bigger picture edits, and laying down a better ending to lead into Book Two.
FINALLY finished off Chapter 5 today–which was a hard one–and blew through all of Chapter 6. The next major changes are projected to fall in Chapter 12, so I’m hoping to charge through to that point in short order this week.
Here goes nothing. Wish me luck, folks.
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I had a bit of a time getting into Sea of Suspicion, one of Carina Press’ romantic suspense titles. Toni Anderson did draw me in nicely with the setup: rugged coast of Scotland, marine biologist stumbling across a murder, investigating detective on a quest for vengeance and locked squarely on the biologist heroine’s boss as his primary suspect. By and large, it is a decent story. It’s just that various aspects of characterization never quite clicked in for me.
Part of this had to do with the obligatory Troubled Pasts for both the heroine and the hero. While I acknowledge that it’s a bit of a nice change of pace to see the hero as well as the heroine having to deal with sexual abuse in the past, that’s a particular plot point I’ve seen too much of, both in fiction and among people I know in real life. Which is about all I can say about that, really, and it has less to do with this particular book and way more with just my personal tastes as a reader.
More pertinent to the book was that at least for a good stretch in the beginning, I was actively disliking the hero. He pulls one stunt in particular at the heroine’s expense that made me cranky at him, and which was not entirely ameliorated by his owning up to it later.
I had better luck with liking the heroine as a character, even given my aforementioned weariness with sexual abuse as backstory. Plot-wise, the story’s decent, and to its credit, it did come together more strongly for me towards the end. Props too for Anderson doing a nice job keeping me from figuring out the actual killer until suitably close to the end. Three stars.
As I mentioned a couple nights ago on Twitter and Facebook, spazzkat
Spoiler-free picoreview: fairly silly overall, and not nearly as much substance and gravitas (for such values of ‘gravitas’ as you get in a Marvel superhero flick) as the Iron Man flicks, especially the first one.
And oh god the 3D was a bad idea. If you’re interested in seeing this flick–and it’s a perfectly acceptable even if silly popcorn flick–see it in 2D. The 3D added absolutely nothing and in most of the scenes set in Asgard, it actively distracted from what looked like some otherwise beautiful imagery.
Spoilers behind the cut!
Drollerie Press’ current acting head editor, Selena Green, has relayed to us Drollerie authors that our head editor, serasempre
We’re very much hoping for Deena to have a nice peaceful recovery, but in the meantime, Selena has asked us Drollerie authors to spread the word that we do need a new cover artist. So if you or someone you know has experience in the realm of cover art for ebooks, talk to me and I’ll get you in touch with Selena. Thanks all.