Advanced warning, sale of Writer's Choice books.

Amazon Kindle Countdown Sale
‘Tizzie’ by p.d.r. lindsay
May 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th.
Price reduction from $3.99 to 99 cents or 99pence.
Kindle versions only.

The Soldier's Curse by Meg Keneally

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


A delightful surprise this novel. Set in Australia, in 1825, in a penal colony and told from a convict's view, these facts did not give me much hope for a dryly humorous tale so well written I was there in the colony as I read.

Full marks to the Keneallys for their excellent and detailed research and for their ability to create a character who was appealing. Hugh Llewellyn Monsarrat was a clever clerk, son of a clerk and with the brain and desire to be a lawyer. But that took money and birth. He had no chance of making it legally so he forged documents and became a successful small town solicitor. Alas when he was eventually discovered as a forger the full penalty of the law fell on him. Saved from the noose by the King's mercy he was transported to Australia.

In Port Macquarie penal settlement he is clerk to the commander, a civilised major, and finds himself trying to find out who killed the major's wife.

The plot is tight, well told and the pace excellent. What makes the book is the tone, the dry humour of Monsarrat. Most of the story is told through his thoughts and he is a clever gentle man with a dry intelligent wit. I haven't enjoyed a book as much for quite a while. Read it and see.



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The Wolf Border by Sarah Hall




Sarah Hall has an impressive set of credentials. Critical acclaim, big name authors writing book cover praise, writing prizes, and some rave reviews in 'the Guardian'.

Quote: Her first collection, (short stories) The Beautiful Indifference, came out in 2011 to rapturous reviews; the form proved the perfect vehicle for Hall’s particular brand of brawny artistry. Val McDermid said of the taut, brutal opening story, “Butcher’s Perfume”, that it exemplified “the power of fiction to get to the grim heart of things”

I wish I had read this before trying to read 'The Wolf Border'. Then I would have known not to bother.

Oh yes, Ms Hall can write, makes words dance. Her research is impeccable and must have taken some effort and time to pull together. She is a good writer and knows the best techniques.
BUT BUT BUT
why do almost all her characters live such degraded messy lives, this sort of untidy, post modern, black belief that the world is all as nasty as they are, and messy and uncontrollable. Yuk!

I fought through the 50s and 60s for equal rights for women. (And still do!) I fought to make the world a better place through equality and individual responsibility. (And still do) I did not expect the women following my generation to take the advantages we had struggled for and be as bad as the men. We fought so that we would be better than the men. We fought for the right not to be condemned or judged on our looks, our supposed sexuality or sexual behaviour. We fought for the right not to be regarded as a thing to be used and not to be a thing there for men's use. We fought for individual respect as human beings. Have the women following us thrown that away?

Are the women of the generations following mine all bitches on heat who drop their knickers whenever they fancy a man, have no qualms about seducing married men, or 'enjoying' one night stands every night? (All the things we feminists complained of about men's behaviour towards us!)

Rachel, the MC, is everything I despise about the so called 'post feminist' woman so the book was a waste of space for me. The 'deep and meaningful' parallel between wolves and humans was never going to work. I have more respect for wolves and none for humans who make stupid choices knowing they are stupid, or worse, just drift without making choices.

The plot is 'grim, gritty' and depressing, the same can be said for most of the characters. In my terms, 'dismal, sordid and nasty.' And what has the writer revealed to the reader? That the world can have a 'grim heart'. We know that, we see it on the news every night.

No. Books don't have to be sugar coated, but they do have to be honest. And for all the mess and muddle humanity creates each one of us has the ability to make choices and make small individual efforts to 'do things better.' It is dishonest to write only of the 'grim, gritty and depressing' and not show at least one character trying to 'get it right'.





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More triumphs for Writer's Choice Novels.

Cheers and celebrations for another Writer's Choice novel. G. J. Berger's new release 'Four Nails' has received a delightful review and boost in the online version of the Huffington Post

Read it at:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kim-michele-richardson/pack-your-suitcase-reads_b_9728746.html

Goodreads Review

Tracker by C.J. Cherryh

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I don't know how C.J. Cherryh does it. How does a writer keep a series running for so long without getting stale, losing the plot, and muddling up little details? Her planning and organising skills must be superb. I picture her writer's room with the walls covered in detailed timelines, character charts, notable incidents and an Atevi dictionary!

The novels follow on closely from each other yet could be read as a stand alone. In 'Tracker' we have the visit from the children from the space station, along with captain, Jason Graham, ending happily - it nearly didn't in the previous novel - and Bren settling down to get those agreements tied and made legal.

I love the way Cherryh does not forget loose ends and does so realistically. The humans rescued from the dying space station, and brought to the atevi planet space station, are now rebelling because for over a year there has been no work and limited food and no hope. Bren has to go and sort things out on behalf of the human and atevi governments and just as this rebellion seems about to explode the kyo spaceship arrives in the system.

The characters continue to grow older and surprise. The aiji's son and heir is developing nicely into a strong character, his human friends seem to foreshadow a different future for him and are emerging as people in their own right. Bren is steadily achieving his goal of no more fighting and trade agreements instead.

It's a satisfying read for those readers who have followed the series through. We can see the ends tying up and the new openings and problems possibly arising. As this novel leaves the reader knowing that the kyo are coming into the space station it seems a little mean to have to wait months for the next novel!!! Certainly I am impatient for the next book - 'Visitor' - to land in my post box.

And Cherryh never forgets to make the reader think. The whole series is about coping with alien cultures, respecting and living with them, not crushing them, or being crushed. Worth thinking about.






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The Kindle CountDown Sale.

It seems to me that this PR business is nearly as bad as chasing a literary agent! It took a full week to get the Kindle Countdown Sale set up. By the time I had struggled through the first day of setting up adverts I had a headache. Still I did get all the information need for each book advertising site. At least I have it all in a file ready to go. But every site had something unique to fill in as well. AskDavid.com refused to take the blurb as the main selling point, authors had to provide something unique and not seen elsewhere! Sigh!

Anyway around five to seven book promotion sites a day will be promoting our books.

This is an experiment to see if a five day push does boost sales and will I get my expenses back? Should be fun watching what happens.

Thus May 11th, May 12th, May 13th, May 14th and May 15th will be days when my fellow authors and I will be watching the sales and seeing which book news email site provides the best results. There will be much analysising of results and either cheers or sighs!

Let's hope for cheers.

Watch out for the book sale

We are holding a Writer's Choice author celebration. Look out for it next month, May 11,12,13,14,and 15th. There will be one of those Kindle Countdown price promotions on our Kindle books. That means a reduction in price of selected novels to 99cents, then $1.99. This includes, 'Tizzie', 'The Effects of Henry's Cage: Elean's Story', and South of Burnt Rocks West of the Sun'

More news later, nearer the time.