March 23, 2017

Tell Me Again How a Hyped Book Is Born

My precious dears,
please allow this seasoned (and middle-aged) blogger to be naive for a while. It won't be a difficult task for me, because after blogging for 4 years and a half, I still have basic questions I can't find the answers to.

Yes, I managed to stumble on a Who-Tennant gif for this, too 😂

In these 53 months, I've reviewed an almost equal share of traditionally published and indie/small press books. Not all the books in the first category were good (you can argue that it's a matter of taste, but that aside, what about books that predate on old, stale ideas/tropes? or reinforce equally old stereotypes? or simply are not that well-written? and so on), while I found a few hidden gems in the second. So I tried to tell the world that said hidden gems needed to be dug and polished and admired and LOVED. And more often than not, I found myself shouting into a void.


March 08, 2017

Waiting on Wednesday (One Shot): "The Art of Escaping" by Erin Callahan (Plus the Story of How I Was Involved in It)

Lookie! Roberta is doing a WoW post (*ooooohhhhh*).
Haha, really, don't get used to it - this is a special occasion, and since today is Wednesday, and I wanted this book to get special attention, I told myself - why not?
So, my dearest darlings...
...remember the post in which I explained why I try not to cross the boundary between fan and friend when talking to authors? because I need to be able to promote their work without sounding biased?
That is still relevant to this day. I'm still trying. And I've been blessed with meeting a few intelligent writers who can take criticism if needed, so I'm not afraid to speak my little mind if they ask my opinion on their books (as in, beta-reading) or even if they don't (as in, reviewing).


That being said, I'll admit that this lady called Erin Callahan is the closest thing I have to a friend in the author department. I (virtually) met her in 2013, when she asked me if I was interested in reviewing the first two books in the Mad World series, that she had (and still has) in progress along with her writing partner Troy H. Gardner. Erin had actually taken the time to peruse my blog and to pay attention to my reading preferences, which is SO rare. So, I reviewed her and Troy's first two collaborative novels (and later the third). I thought they showed promise, though I had some reservations about said books that both Erin and Troy received very graciously. The two of them were still rather new at the writing game, so they were eager to learn from any criticism their readers might throw at them. I don't know if they learned anything from me (I don't know if anyone can learn anything from me, period), but what I mean is, it was a pleasure to work with them.
I have stayed in contact with both Erin and Troy - if sporadically - since...especially with Erin, because she was (I think) in charge of what you would call the book marketing. Like I said, I reviewed the third installment of their series. I interviewed them. I befriended them on Twitter.