Friday Blog Hop & Follow

FRIDAY BOOK BLOGGER HOP AND FOLLOW MY
BOOK BLOG FRIDAY

 Each site has a question we answer. I've posted them under the 
 appropriate button. Hops are a great way to network and for readers
 to find many sites that match their interests quickly.

1. Today's Question: What book influenced or changed your life? How did it influence/change you?

                            FEATURING:

2. Today's Question: What book(s) have you discovered lately from someone's book blog?

1.  Life Changing Book: There was one when I was 14  about comparative religion that helped me form my spiritual beliefs. I had recognized that I did not have faith in the Christian religion and looked to other traditions to guide me.

But, how helpful isn't that when I can't tell you what it was.

As an adult, Ken Follet's book: The Pillars of the Earth changed my understanding of history. It helped me see how vital the Engllish leaving the church and forming the Anglican church was to culture, history and law.  And, with the entire reformation how it freed artists to develop secular subjects. It was almost an epiphany.

2. Book  Blog Book Discovery.  Wow! There are so many, good and bad. Recently,  I read Beth Fantaskey's  Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side. There was some interesting story line going on and enjoyable writing—but I disagreed about the message. And I think a good set would be the Gail Carriger Parasol Protectorate series. And, through her comment on my blog I read Amanda Hocking's work which I admire a bunch.

Emma Michaels' own blog got me to her debut novel The Thirteen Chimes. I am pretty sure I discovered the Mercedes Thompson series from Pat Briggs, with which I fell in love, on a blog.

Often it is not ONE blog that gets me somewhere but the same title and author will pop up again and again. Chloe Neill was an author I discovered that way. And I am pretty sure that I read one of Gena Showalter's novels, which I did not like at all, Deepest Passion?

I get a lot more of my books from Net Galley though. But if I buy one I probably heard about it on a blog.

 In tomorrow's post: I review Chloe Neill's new book,   

 Hexbound!

 And Jan. 14 to 18 Laura K. Gilman will be hosting a    

 giveaway here to celebrate her new book: Pack of Lies.

Who Dunnit? The Mysterious Lady Law

The Mysterious Lady Law

By Robert Appleton  

Published by Carina Press  

Imprint: Carina Press

Publication Date January 31, 2011

Steampunk Mystery -- (Novella, 31000 words)

$3.19 only e-published

Provided by Publisher through NetGalley.com

In a time of grand airships and steam-powered cars, the death of a penniless young maid will hardly make the front page. But part-time airship waitress and music hall dancer Julia Bairstow is shattered by her sister's murder. When Lady Law, the most notorious private detective in Britain, offers to investigate the case pro bono, Julia jumps at the chance--even against the advice of Constable Al Grant, who takes her protection surprisingly to heart.

Lady Law puts Scotland Yard to shame. She's apprehended Jack the Ripper and solved countless other cold-case crimes. No one knows how she does it, but it's brought her fortune, renown, and even a title. But is she really what she claims to be--a genius at deducting? Or is Al right and she is not to be trusted?

Julia is determined to find out the truth, even if it means turning sleuth herself--and turning the tables on Lady Law... (http://www.robertappleton.co.uk/comingsoon.htm)

My Take

Steampunk is a fascinating genre; a world where there is plenty of science but it is the science of a different universe with ether, steam, magnetic forces, or some other overriding scientific factor which only authors could imagine being the unifying force in science, much as the laws of physics are ours the theory of.  It is the science of Jules Verne and his fantastic ships, submarines, and his worlds with worlds. It is a science that is almost our science, but which somehow went awry.  For some reason the steam punk world seems entirely stuck in the UK during the Victorian or Edwardian era.

This novella tells an interesting story of  of murder and plotting with a female Sherlockian type character, made a peer by the Queen for solving many crimes. Then we have a young woman, Julia, and her murdered sister Georgy, whose family was genteel but which had fallen on hard times and which resorted to domestic service, being a can-can dancer and air hostess to make a living.  There is also a constable, and an appropriately Colonel Pickering-esque, avuncular, British explorer and adventurer.

The story proceeds predictably except for a few twists I did not expect. Lady Law is quite mysterious indeed as we only see her for a few chapters. The rest of the time it is Julia and the Constable. I wondered why it wasn’t called The Mystery of Julia’s Sister.  There is a nice progression of the romantic relationship, but Julia’s light attitude after her sister’s death and after some of the other events is dubious.  There is a climactic scene of what would have been termed “sexual depravity” which I felt was somewhat gratuitous, and I thought some bits were a bit glib. I did like that in the end Julia isn’t saved; she rescues herself more than once and understands the reality of the situation more quickly than others. She is not the dumb female, but also likes being treated like a lady.

This may sound terribly sexist, but I think during the past nine months I have only read three or four books written by men.  Strangely they often seem to write from a women’s Point of View.  Often I don’t feel they truly capture the female character, as variable as that character is. I think that Appleton misses his target with Julia’s emotions.  No book is perfect.

But it is an enjoyable read, with nicely flowing prose and a couple of surprises. It isn’t high literary fiction, but who cares?!

Third Sentence ThursdaysToday's Special "Weird!"

Third Sentence Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by Sniffly Kitty's Mostly Books which is actually a summit for third sentences in books!

This week's theme is Weirdest Sentence~~

1) Find a book with a weird third sentence!

2) Post a link to your sentence here or if you don't have a blog, just post it in the comments.

3) Prepare for next week's theme: Third sentence that best describes your mood.

.

This week's sentence comes from Chapter ONE of

Once A Witch

by Carolyn MacGullough

Imprint Clarion

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

2009

Excerpt

See my December 7, 2010 Review HERE

THE SENTENCE

He blinks once, then curls back into sleep, his tail covering his front paws.

When a sentence is taken out of context like this one is, it is easy to imagine how misunderstandings arise between humans. This could be a dog, a cat, a possum, or a myriad of animals people keep as pets. In fact I have seen some odd pets lately: at the vets the other week there was an Iguana on antibiotics,  and on the streets of a nearby town last summer there was a woman in a red sundress with white polka dots walking a pig. A P.I.G! I was so flabbergasted that I didn't even have the presence of mind to snap a photo.

And, how wonderful to be a bookstore pet, in this case a cat. Your only job to catch rodents and amuse customers. Hector is lucky to be able to wake up, yawn and go right back to sleep. 

Wish I could do the same!

With a Faery Hand in HandFaery Taleby Signe Pike

Faery Tale

One Woman's Search for Enchantment in a Modern World

by Signe Pike Signe's website includes a slide show from the trip and evidence
Penguin Group
Imprint Perigee
Nov 02, 2010
Hardcover 320 pages
18 - AND UP

Hardcover copy provided by Publisher with no expectation.
No remuneration was exchanged.
Non-fiction
Also available in e-book formats

Description & Short Excerpt from Penguin Website
Penguin Website

In search of something to believe in once more, Signe Pike left behind a career in Manhattan to undertake a magical journey-literally. In a sweeping tour through Mexico, England, Ireland, Scotland, and beyond, she takes readers to dark glens and abandoned forests, ancient sacred sites, and local pubs, seeking people who might still believe in the elusive beings we call faeries. As Pike attempts to connect with the spirit world-and reconnect with her sense of wonder and purpose-she comes to view both herself and the world around her in a profoundly new light.

Captivating, full of heart, and unabashedly whimsical, Faery Tale is more than a memoir-it's the story of rekindling that spark of belief that makes even the most skeptical among us feel like a child again.

I wake up every morning with a sense of purpose: I am a tastemaker. As a book editor in New York City, I think about it constantly: What do people want to read? What will they want to read in one year? What about two? Mostly I acquire books that entertain women, that engulf them. When I think about the reader, I think about you. I buy books that I hope will make you smile, make you believe in the magic of love at first sight—I buy books that I hope will heal your heartbreak. I read all the time, big, thick manuscripts. It’s part of the job. Each night I take home chunks of pages in an extra shoulder bag. I read on the treadmill. I read while I’m eating my take-out dinner. I read before bed, propped up with a pillow, my glasses slipping down toward the tip of my nose. I’m beginning to wonder if carrying all the paper is the reason my right shoulder feels like it’s filled with marbles.

In the morning I get up and I flip on the radio. NPR and a cup of coffee. I’m always running late—I can never figure out what to wear.

I’m almost twenty-eight years old and I’m always trying to look older. I hate blazers and button-up shirts. I hate walking the streets of New York in high heels; the men gawk and the concrete wears them down until the metal pokes out the bottom. I lock the door and say goodbye to the cat, hoping for her that today, there will be pigeons.

I read on the subway, pressed up against a big man whose breath smells like rotten eggs and stale coffee. Next to me is a fat, middle-aged stockbroker, staring over the top of his Wall Street Journal at the gap between the taught fabric of a blond woman’s skirt. He has a slim gold wedding band on, and I wonder if the woman who gave it to him believed in love at first sight.

The train shoots underground and the faces around me look ashen in the yellow lights. I close my eyes for a moment, and everything, the lights, the people, the rapidly receding subway walls, slips away and I am rushing out into the bright sunshine. I walk up a long dune that leads to the beach, where I can hear the sound of the ocean. It sounds like a sigh. I open my eyes to see people looking back.

Has she fallen asleep?

I focus again on the pages in front of me. I tell myself, All I want is to heal some heartbreak. Upstairs in the glass-walled building, I flick on the desk lamp in my third-floor interior office. Without windows, the fluorescent lights give me a raucous headache, and I’m not usually a headache kind of girl. Glancing at my calendar, my eyes find the familiar photo pinned near the top of my bulletin board.

Have you ever looked at a photo so much that you can’t even truly see it anymore? I examine it again, trying to break it down into pieces. I see a man who looks far older than his sixty years, walking down a winding set of stone stairs. At his feet, a small brown-and-white dog is captured mid-movement, and he has turned to face the camera above him, his eyes gazing back at mine. The expression he wears is one of faux surprise: he hardly ever plays it straight for the camera. I know this, because neither do I. In a moment he’ll call out, Hey, you coming?

I see a flash of fabric breeze past my office door.

“Good morning, Signe,” my boss says.

“Good morning to you,” I say brightly. I flick on my computer and glance at the persistent blinking light on my phone.

You have five new messages.

I reach for the phone with one hand and my coffee with the other. Lately, I think, my face hurts from smiling.

“Hi, this is Signe Pike, returning a call . . .”

I am going to heal your heartbreak, because I have no idea how to heal my own.

Signe Pike, from her website.

My Take:
This book was part research into Faeries—almost a dissertation, part memoir and part spiritual journey.  When you have a sad childhood for whatever reason, part of adulthood is almost necessarily making peace with it. It can be even harder to overcome when the parent reforms or a situation improves. Part of Signe's journey in these pages is rediscovering that childhood ability we had to believe, in faeries, in magic, in our parents unconditional love.



Interspersed with great travel stories from Signe's three-month long trip to the British Isles are disturbing and moving stories of a childhood and a father who was encouraging in some ways and emotionally abusive much of the time. The journey starts about six-months after her father's death. I don't know if she realized, setting out, that the trip would be about her father as much as it was.   Of her travels on the Isle of Mann, she writes:

I'd heard people say that as a traveler , you have to be careful not to get attached. Now that I'd felt it, I say that's garbage . If you are lucky enough to find people worth getting attached to , attach yourself with nothing less than your whole heart. Because if you find a companion to walk a stretch of he road with you, a person whose warmth and kindness makes your journey feel that much brighter, you have no other choice—you are among the very, very fortunate. page 167

It is this intensely personal, openly emotional quality that brings us into Signe's travels. She has the kinds of experiences with people that are the stuff of every traveler's perfect trip: meeting strangers who become friends.

She is also very skilled at describing places—the cold, soaking mist on Mount Brandon, the still air in a fortress, the darkness of a forest.

The information she provides about the fae is also instrumental in, if not pushing your belief about the wee folk up a notch, at least demonstrating they are an intercultural, and nearly universal experience. We have all had some of the experiences she describes. But what is amazing is that people around the globe have also had those experiences. Whether we chalk them up to the fae, or to a evolutionary mental construct or to our brain filling in a gap, we all have those experiences. Sadly, as we get older we start to apply "commonsense," and evidence-based explanations to finding a lost item or asking for something and having that something, or another something, show-up. She writes in several places that sometimes there are too many coincidences to be a coincidence. Signe's search, it seems to me is to not only understand faeries as a spiritual and cultural phenomenon, but also to regain that part of her childhood that was lost through growing up and through having to block her emotions as a means to survive her father's emotional abuse.

The Faeries went from the world dear
Because men's hearts grew cold:
And only the eyes of children see
What's hidden from the old.
Kathleen Foyle quoted on page 174

Not only personal, Signe examines our treatment of the earth as a reason for faeries disappearing. Not believing in the sacred nature of a space, small as a molecule or large as the earth, gives us leave to treat it with less than reverential behavior.

It took me a while to get into the book, but once I understood that it was a personal journey as well as an investigation into our collective and individual loss of innocence or belief.There is a good amount of examination of the paranormal, but Signe's overcoming her relationship with her Dad with love and forgiveness is a true miracle.

I recommend Fairy Tale as a book for anyone who has loved and lost—in other words, everyone.

EXTRA True Blood Makeup Spills the Deets

Ever felt compelled to wear a white T shirt and short-shorts while carrying a tray and smiling at jerks? Then you may want to sport Sookie's look. From True Blood.Net via You Tube the makeup artist at True Blood tells how to get that right off the Bayou look.

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The Telepathic Waitress



There is lot of stuff on this site so it is worth checking out!

Hunger is the Best Sauce and Hunger Aroused is Saucy!

Hunger Aroused

by Dee Carney
Carina Press

Pub. Date 11-08-2010
Excerpt from Carina Press
E-Galley provided by Publisher through Net Galley
No Remuneration was exchanged

From NetGalley.com
Jasmine is sick in bed when a sexy stranger breaks in and reveals she's suffering an irreversible case of vampirism. And because her turning wasn't approved by the Council, he must kill her once the transition is complete. In the meantime, the executioner offers to ease her torment with chocolate, hot peppers or sexual release. Fortunately for them both, Jasmine's kitchen is bare...

Image via Wikipedia

Corin's honor demands he do his duty, but he cannot execute the lovely woman while any part of her humanity remains. He must also find-and kill-her sire. Jasmine denies ever having contact with a vampire, causing Corin to question the justice of his orders. Sensing his hesitation, the Council dispatches [reinforcements], forcing the pair to make a run for it.

Every hour they spend together-every sensual encounter they share-finds them growing closer. Now Corin will have to choose: kill the woman he loves, or go against everything he believes to set her free.

Book Type: Paranormal Romance/Erotica
Length/File Size Kindle Edition 361KB
Paranormal Species: Vampires and 1 Unknown Other

Characters: 
Jasmine George, RN:  Has been turned by unknown means, a loner, thinks she has the flu
Corin: Executioner for the Vampire Council, Formerly a Gladiator, Sire raped/enslaved him for 30 years.
Councilman Sage: Corin's contact on the council
Ezra: Unknown supernatural species, bar owner
Gregory: Gay bartender with a decade long crush on Corin
Cartius Primus: Corin's Domina to whom he has been blood bonded

Sex: F/M and M/M, rape
Plot line: The synopsis above is pretty much on target.

I thought the process through which her executioner becomes her lover and her love was interesting. The Council's justice was bizarre. How could you justify killing an innocent who had been turned, in order to, I assume for it is not said, protect humans and thus protect Vampires? Since at the very beginning it is implied that this mysterious turning is serial, there is obviously something going around. You would think the Council would come up with something else.

There is a new twist on the vampire turning, with the process taking three days and occurring in waves of fever and abdominal pain requiring first, some sort of catharsis and then, once the teeth start to form, blood.


Jasmine meets Corin in the worst condition. After giving her the female version of a happy ending, he tells her he has to kill her in three days, not now, but after she has turned. Until then he will provide her with sex so she isn't in pain.  Problem is that he starts to doubt the Council's meting out of the death sentence. An issue he has had before.  In a sort of reverse Stockholm Syndrome he gets too attached to and protective of Jasmine. As is the way of PNR/E they fall in love.


The story goes through a period that reminds me of the Harrison Ford film, The Fugitive in that at some point the situation is so hopeless you believe he will be forced to kill her. That point had me a bit verklempt—I always have a tough time with hopelessness. I personally found the intimate scenes very sexy.  I did find how she completely trusted him to find a way out for them a bit silly as was her acceptance that he would kill her in three days. She only tries to get away one time.

This is a short read and it took me about two hours. If I had to give a grade I would say it is a B as the characters were a bit on the typical side or conveniently complacent.

Taking a Bite out of Typical Vampire Sex

The Bite of Silence

Mary Hughes

Format: Kindle Edition

File Size: 417 KB

Publisher: Samhain Publishing, Ltd. (December 29, 2009)

Currently a free e-book at Amazon.com

From Mary Hughes website

Times Square on New Year's Eve. A million partiers chanting the final seconds. This year, it's a countdown to death.

My name is Twyla Tafel and I've uncovered an insane plot to unleash berserk vampires on those unsuspecting revelers. I have to stop it, armed only with my great admin skills, my useless art degree—and Nikos, a severely hot vampire who I'd love to photograph as a Spartan king roaring his muscular challenge at the Persians.

But Nikos has issues, if you know what I mean. Roadblocks in his psyche that say stop when all I want is go-go-go. See "severely hot", above.

Although if I finally break through Nikos's reserve, I may get more than I bargained for. He's seriously big, seriously built, and more than just a tad dominant. Still, it's time to push my limits and find out who I really am, so I'm willing to try...I think. I'm sure. I'm mostly sure. Until he starts stalking me with those sable bedroom eyes and long, sharp fangs?!
Material Safety Warning: Contains 50% high-voltage sex by volume. 10g seriously hot Greek vampire, 4g curvy, competent heroine, 7g explosive action and gritty language. Made on equipment used to process snarky comments. Some light bondage may occur during handling.

for an Excerpt

A few days ago I ranted about writing love scenes in a bland, cliche fashion—throbbing members, cream, tight sheaths, etc. Well in Bite of Silence you won't be getting that. Indeed  Hughes writes scintillating, love making scenes, with a light touch.  There is no typical nookie here! If there is any issue with the book it is the titanic dimensions of the immortal Spartan in Twyla's dreams. his hand spanned her entire back.  And, the size of certain parts of his anatomy defy all logic (In Young Frankenstein, Inga, played by Teri Garr,  calls it a Scwann Schtucker).

There is quite a bit of character development, and both Twyla and Nikos have been dealt a surprising depth and in Nikos' case an unexpected degree of sensitivity. The plot is improbable, maybe a bit silly. But for a light, lively read I recommend this. I know I had been debating over the past year  whether to get Biting Nixie, from the same author.  Bite of Silence helped me decide to download that book!

Feature Blog on Blogging Women!

Blogging Women has chosen Fangs Wands and Fairy Dust as one of their January Feature Blogs! Thanks Fay and the other great women there!

TRON TANKS

Cover via Amazon

TRON LEGACY
127 Minutes
LivePlanet
Walt Disney Pictures
Release 12/17/2010

When I saw that a sequel to Tron was being made a few months ago, I wrote TRON LEGACY Speculative Fiction Film Gets a Sequel. I was hopeful because for the original 1982 TRON SciFi fans were excited about it and it was about as advanced as it could get, with people saying it had pushed the envelope. Yet the dramatic film critics didn't given it much in the way of good reviews. At that time SciFi really wasn't considered to be a medium for serious acting and drama. Only rare instances like Close Encounters starring Richard Dreyfus and with François Truffaut were considered "reall" drama.

IMDB.com Olivia Wilde and Garrett Hedlund

On New Years Day, we went to our local stadium theater to see TRON LEGACY. We don't really enjoy the 3-D experience, partly because of the disgustingly dubious hygiene of the glasses they hand out, so we opted to see it in 2-D.  Even then, the motion in the first few scenes after the poignant opening scene was great and a bit dizzying as the camera zoomed in to follow some action. The opening scene features a young boy, Tom Flynn, the son of a very, very creepy animated young Jeff Bridges playing Kevin Flynn, the hero of the original Tron, is told a story and sees his dad speed off on this Ducati only to disappear from his life. This much we know from the advertising so it is not a spoiler. The animated face of Young Jeff appears again and again throughout the movie.  It is almost as creepy as the maniacal face of Michael Sheen's character, Castor costumed as if his character were ticked off over not getting Johnny Dep's part as Willie Wonka.

Jeff Bridges as Kevin Flynn, the Creator

Animated Young Jeff B. as Clu

As promised, the film is visually arresting, at least through the game sequence. It also expands from plain Sci Fi to esoteric fantasy as current day Jeff Bridges, old Jeff Bridges, has become the peaceful balance of his invention gone awry; spends most of his life mediating now (sort of a cross between Yoda and Obi Wan).  Able to fix some of the events by direct manipulation of program code (all of the beings in this world are "programs," digitally generated beings, or "users," humans) he is considered the "creator."

However the visual arrest leads to an arrest of interest as the story unfolds at a remarkably slow rate and the visuals just become set dressing.  I confess that I am not sure what role Michael Sheen's character performed because it was about then that I fell asleep, waking up around the end of his cameo.  I do know that Kevin Flynn's (Bridges) disc, the giant computer disc on everyone's back, a dinner-plate sized item attached everyone's back, is desired by the evil forces, the leader of which is creepy animated young Jeff Bridges/Clu (We paid for the creepy animation we have to use it!) as with the "creators" disc he feels he can rule the world because it has all t he information. The acting is off the mark, never quite striking the emotional chord you want. Jeff Bridges, riding the high of his come-back, slides along on this break between actual acting jobs. Everyone else seems detached.  Even Michael Sheen's performance is off and grating.

There are lots of transport devices, that look like moving stage platforms. The Flynn's and their girl sidekick Quora, Olivia Wilde) desperately need to escape and shut the game down before the young creepy Jeff Bridges character, Clue, hatches his evil plot to take over the world. They board a transport , something you would imagine to be fast as everything else in the movie, vehicle-wise is fast. But, nope, they decide to hope a slow boat!

By the end of the movie, I was really bored and glad to leave the theater.  I did see some previews for exciting new movies, Thor and Cowboys VS Aliens.

IMDB.com Frain as jarvis

One high point in the movie for True Blood fans, Clu's sycophantic assistant, Jarvis is played by a very oddly costumed James Frain who we will remember as Tara's kidnapper, Franlkin Mott.

If you are looking for a  movie with interesting graphics and a schmaltzy predictable story, Tron is a great movie, otherwise it is mediocre. Wait for the DVD.

 

These are good articles.

• The Power List: 20 people who rocked science fiction and fantasy in 2010 [Power List] (io9.com)
• Tron Legacy was dumb - but also quite fun in spite of its dumbness (jimayson.wordpress.com)
•  
• 'Tron: Legacy' Review: A Thrilling, Evocative, and Utterly Satisfying Piece of Entertainment (moviefone.com) "But its story has a deceptive denseness that is at once legitimately complex and spectacularly flimsy, which will no doubt engender a significant and perhaps deserved dislike from folks who are insufficiently inspired to probe deeper - much less watch it again"
• Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Tron and Tron Legacy [Tron] (io9.com)

COMMENTARY Likes/Dislikes, A Bit of A New Year's Rant!

Image via Wikipedia

I have been floundering about, trying to think of something brilliant that will change people's lives, possibly even my own.  All I could come up with was a snarky list of things I do and do not like.

Here is what I have learned about my preferences in 9 months of blogging:

Things I like and don't like:

• I don't like badly written books and that which constitutes "bad" or "good" is highly subjective,
• I don't like books that are entirely expository in their writing. Nor do I like books written mostly in dialogue or interior monologue; it's show AND tell not Show OR tell!
• I don't like a world having to learn a new language, invented or "real" to read a book. Every tree and animal doesn't need a name. Unless it is an important part of the plot, a "babatui" bush can be a green bush with pink flowers, or there could be a field of sweetly scented flowers that remind the character of daisies back on earth. And, if I cannot pronounce the lead characters' names I won't enjoy the book much. The same goes for "real" language, if you want to write in Esperanto write the whole book in Esperanto and have someone translate it. There was a book about Mary, Queen of Scots who was raised at the French court. The writer put a bunch of French phrases without translation into the dialogue,
• I don't like pretentious or insincere writing, off-handed or glib writing,
• 
  
• I am not fond of "typical" characters, the smart female who still needs a man to rescue her or the "perfect specimen" male,
• I am a bit tired of slick, tight sheathes and swollen, throbbing members—If in writing a love scene that's what you've got then don't write it. You may as well say "they screwed and both had orgasms galore." We'll fill in the blanks.
• I am tired of a young woman learning she is a ______ and having to come to terms with it. Usually, there is a boy who helps her and absent, stupid, or neglectful parents who usually don't know the boy has been sleeping in the same room (mostly chastely) for months. What parent doesn't look in to see if a kid got home safely?
• I do  like something new! A unique story with some flawed writing is better than reading the same thing over and over,
• I don't like writing a bad review.  Someone has worked very hard and put their heart out there in paper or in bytes for us to read.  Unfortunately, the ease of e-publishing and vanity presses have made everyone a writer. It is like back in the eighties when someone was a good family cook and decided to open a restaurant (how hard can it be?). I am not saying there aren't some very talented unknowns out there who just want to do it their way. I have run across a few,
• Unless something is truly putrid I will attempt to find something good in it. Just in case, I reserve the right to neither read or review a book. Asking me about it will not help. If the writer has sent me something and wants it back they are welcome to prepay shipping. I have decided to no longer accept vanity or self-e-pubs without a reference or prior knowledge, 

Trojan horse. Istambul Museum of Archaeology -
Picture taken by deror avi on July 2005.

• Having had a near death experience doesn't make a writer a good writer, nor does it give you a ticket on the I-know-what-happens-when-we-die express. What you think was profound could have been anoxia.  Do not send me a thinly veiled philosophy Sunday school class, in the guise of a book. I know what a Trojan Horse is. I have had a few white-light in-the-tunnel experiences myself. And all I can say is that once I was unconscious it was fine and I was both ticked-off and grateful to be resuscitated,
• I don't like e-galleys where the reading license expires well before the "please do not post a review before" date.
• Poor editing, typos, the wrong words in finished texts. At least spell checker would be useful.If you can't afford more staff get some interns.

What I like is essentially the other side of my dislike. 

• Balance, 
• Well drawn characters that are not  cookie cutter heroes, heroines or villains,
• Interesting stories that are not capitalizing on the same plot upon which everyone else is capitalizing,
• Sincere writing,
• Of course truly talented writers are a pleasure to find and read,
• Books that do not attempt a conversion,
• Non-ridiculous naming and invented, or other language use, as needed and sparingly,
• Consistency in a drawn world or universe, unless you are writing of a world or universe with constantly altering laws of physics,
• A good editor or agent can truly save a book. I like that,
• Hot, spicy and realistic sex that is inventively written without resorting to over blown exposition,

Oh yeah, like I could do it better. I can't. I don't wish to. I prefer to be the test subject, the reader, the "critic." My job is to help readers find books they will enjoy for some reason, and not to waste money on crappy books. I am also telling readers, publishers and writers what I think of books. If a  reader identifies with what I say, and does or does not read a book,  I have prevented an unhappy reader.
This goes for film and TV as well. Thanks for my New Years Day rant, written on New Years Eve.

By the way, the new young writers with whom I have communicated through the year! Keep up the good work. I hope the "experienced" writers do the same and keep up their enthusiasm.

And, I wish everyone a bonanza of health, happiness, peace and prosperity in the New Year!

Related articles

• effort v. output: the second of several posts on writing. (infomational.wordpress.com)
• Write that novel or not, but treat readers right (shannonturlington.com)
• Putting a Character Arc in Your Novel (advancedfictionwriting.com)