Back in February, I had the privilege of eating waffles and frites with Ben Ireland at the LTUE Writers Symposium. As a friend, I wanted to know more about his writing style and complicated mind. We share space in the Fantasy Anthology MOMENTS IN MILLENNIA, but his gentle story FAIRYKIN did not prepare me for the action-packed adrenaline high I would receive with KINGDOM CITY: RESURRECTION.
This book is a lot of fun! It read like anime, like I was reading Miyazaki or binge-watching Full Metal Alchemist – so visual in description I could see it when I closed my eyes. It’s Urban, Dystopian, Super-Hero Action, Horror, Zombie lit – all packed into one series. But at its core, it is tender – about love and trust amid a world in chaos.
A terrorist attack buries most of the police force, including the Chief of Police, killing them all – six months later they all return with no memory of what happened. Now the mystery of what happens begins to be reveals in intense layered action.
Awesome. And the sequence of events after kept me awake at night, effecting my dreams, until I got up and finished the book.
Characters rule RESURRECTION. Plenty of rich, complex characters, sub-cultured within their surrounding mountain city, where no one leaves or questions, just co-exist.
I love that the main character is a bad-ass chick, Autumn Stevens, Kingdom City’s Whisper, which makes her the toughest ninja assassin on the planet – total Linda Hamilton type from Terminator 2. I’m all in for tough women leads. Her hollowness at the beginning grasps me with both hands. I was immediately drawn to her. She only bugged me when she was too motherly. Me, “Stop worrying about their veggies and go kill some bad guys.” But, how can she help it? She’s there to protect her family in every way – EVERY WAY.
Really enjoyed the pace. It’s sliced into scenes, revealing like a graphic novel, so the reader gets more of the plot than the players. I love reads like this. When the story wound back to the planning in the gymnasium, I thought of screaming at the characters, blowing the whole plot… “Listen, guys, stop talking about it. The city is in riots. There are hostages. Stop being so smart and go ninja kick them in the face!”
The tone and emotion is vital to the story. Through out there is a crafted balance of emotion is every scene, playing delicately with the environment, so to not overwhelm the reader, which is not easy for a writer to do.
RESURRECTION is really fun. If you like high-intensity thrillers, this won’t disappoint you.
And I want to thank Ben for introducing me to his intense style of writing, helping me understand a little more of how he thinks. And a gentle reminder that he still owes me that Hot Cocoa.
So, I’m kinda heartsick right now. I feel alive with magic, yet pained by it, just as the author says.
Salt and Storm is elegantly written, with woven imagery in every memory and trinket, every thrum and tremor. I felt the salt spray, the sand in my toes, the wicked wind whip around me. I felt it all, and yes, I too wanted to be the witch of Prince Island. I was very impressed with how fresh this book was to read. Set in later 1800s I expected the language to be thick like Elizabeth Gaskell, but it was young and spirited and easy to get lost in.
I found that this tale was not so much about young love and heartache, but the relationship we have mother to daughter and the legacy we leave for those who will follow us. The whales spoke to me as well, and I listened to their song, and thought for sure the whale would mend Avery, and I still hope it can. This book is good for bother mothers and daughters, telling possibly, a different story depending on where you are in life. Me having young girls can see with hindsight the disconnected relationship between Avery and her mother, but young teenage girls might pull toward the spirited freedom Avery sought.
The love story, as simple as Kulper wrote it, had entwined a mystery that left me aching to know more. That is the only reason I could not give this 5 stars – I believed too much in the magic, both whale magic and island tattoos, and thought magic would resolve my heart and heal it. But a good book makes me feel and ache when it is finished. I wished I could see more or understand more about Tane’s magic, the island he left and the images draw in his sketchbook.
A beautifully written story with a simple, elegant delivery. Very clean, laced with important messages any girl could relate to.
Whenever you meet authors at conferences or conventions, what is one thing we always say, besides the heart-felt THANK YOU? I think it goes something like this:
“I hope you love it. And here’s my card and information, so you can follow what I’m doing. If you can, write a review. I’d love to know what you think.”
I like to take time and thank those who invest in me as an author. I couldn’t be more sincere in my appreciation for choosing my series over the sea of other authors – and I mean every word. As crazy as this sounds, I didn’t start in this business to sell books, but to create art and find readers and keep them coming back. However, selling is the inevitability, or authors will cease to exist. Books are art, a creative expression and collaboration, but they are also a business, and artists like myself are losing.
There is a price with selling, and not just the cost of the book. I’ve said many times that authors are the worst at selling their books. Unless they have a knock-out elevator pitch, they frankly know too much about the story. Where should we start? What would grab their attention? What part would they like most? I think they’d like all the parts. And like Tommy Boy, we inevitably, kill the sale.
So, when I have someone interested, and I know they will absolutely love it, and YES, they bought a book – it’s a celebration. I have a new best friend, a fan, and they are so precious to me.
Many of my readers I meet at cons or author events, where I’m present to sign their books and talk with the readers one-on-one. Many are teens and aspiring writers. I love that interaction. I’d never trade it.
But, here is the problem that I have, it doesn’t translate to sales on Amazon.
Amazon is a juggernaut, driving sales of our products and controlling a lot of what we can do as authors. The truth is we have to play the Amazon game in order to show PROOF we are a validated author. The main way on Amazon to prove our validity is through reviews. If someone buys my book on Amazon, an email will be generated and asks for a customer review. If you buy an ebook, it’s an easy click to review and you’re done.
So, as much as I love meeting and talking with readers, it doesn’t turn my rating on Amazon.
Amazon is so big that a small fish like me is not going to matter that much to them. I am in the invisible bottom-feeding ocean, along with the other creative creatures that flounder, making their own way to survive. I’ve been swimming in the ratings around hundreds of thousands for a while, until I learned a few secrets. There is a magic number of reviews, if you didn’t know, that needs to be met in order for Amazon to pay attention to you. Once you hit that number Amazon is like, “Hey, this might make us money. Let’s pair it with this and see if we can get more hits?” Do you get those emails or bottom scrolls that show you this? It’s a game of numbers. As an author, I have zero control over this. It’s completely in reviewers’ hands.
Goodreads, owned by Amazon, has become a good friend. Readers love networking with other readers and authors- it’s a symbiotic relationship existing in an internet realm all about books. Several of my readers are a part of this world as well and celebrate their thoughts in this cyber-community. But, I’m having the same kind of breakdown with my readers, not because of the cultivation, but because of the age – several of my readers are not on Goodreads or Amazon, because, candidly, they are not old enough.
Isn’t that a funny conundrum?
There are other ways to break the Amazon code, but several I don’t have control over. Sell a lot in one day, Amazon pays attention. Kindle-Unlimited is an amazing tool if you have control of your books. Setting up a FREE book through them could spike your rating to INFINITY, but being with a small press, I don’t have that freedom or control either. There are so many circumstantial variations to this game, what works for some, doesn’t always work for others. Nothing is going to work the same for everyone, so please don’t hurry and run out and sign up for these programs thinking you’ll be an overnight success. But what I am coming to understand is my limitations with control when it comes to Amazon – you have to play or you drown.
So, I’ve come up with a plan…
As a reward for finishing the hardest book I’ve ever written, my third and concluding novel to my series, EVERSTAR, I thought about rewarding myself. I wanted an art piece, something I could frame and display in my home, a reminder of this staggering accomplishment. I contacted Khai Vinh of Ghost Illustrations.com and commissioned a painting of my world. What he came up with is beyond stunning. He drew for me Southwick, the southern most point and the capital in my world of Parbraven. He captured it at the most pivotal point in the series, simply put – at the end. The artwork is full of secrets only a fan would notice and I decided that this couldn’t be just for me, this needs to be shared.
I’m giving a print of this beautiful painting exclusively to those who place a review on Amazon or Goodreads. It seriously is something I’m so proud of and special to me. To share it with you makes me all warm inside. I had a parent post for her son, who loved my books, but didn’t have an amazon account, so it’s still possible if you want your kids to have some wall art in their room.
This link will take you to my page where you can fill out your name, email, and where you posted. I’ll follow up and send you one of these posters FREE! I’ll even sign it if you like. I’m looking for honest reviews, of course. Fives stars are wonderful, but I know that my book is not everyone’s taste. Readers needs to know if this book is for them. This is my THANK YOU for taking your time and sharing your thoughts on my art.
Authors need you. Regardless of where you bought the book, reviews are IMPORTANT. They are an essential part of a delicate author ecosystem, like algae to coral reef, a sustainable resource that can keep us creating, producing, and gifted back to you. The only way we survive in such a huge ocean is with a little help from our friends – you, our readers.
FANGIRL by Rainbow Rowell hit dangerously close to my fanatica. I understood Cath’s character TOO well, as many fangirls would. This was a lot of fun to read, an escape from my normal adrenaline fueled YA fantasy. I was surprised at at the real story – a heart-aching family drama, the first taste of college, a delicate romance, and the different threads that makes us who we are.
It was a fun read, a little young for me, but still fun. Cather is a writer of fan fiction, playing in a world of Simon Snow magical mage extraordinaire. I could feel the author Rainbow Rowell’s fan love drip in nearly every mention of the orphan boy with magical gifts. This part was extremely enjoyable for me, a borderline spastic HP geekgirl. The voicing of both the book from “Gemma T. Lesley” and “Magicath” we different enough I could tell when I was reading the real books and Cather’s fan fiction creation. I think that is tremendously tricky and commend the author for it. The excerpts from the books were fun and my inner nerd wanted these books to be real, a fun tidbit that helped the book move.
I gave it four stars, not because the writing a characters weren’t awesome, just because it typically was not my kind of read and I don’t have much to compare it to.
(For my conservative friends, there is language, but harmless in every other respect.)
First, this book tricked me. If an author can trick me, where I can’t predict what was about to happen, then I love you. You are what I wish to be.
Second, sheer charm. I thought it was funny and the characters were well crafted. I enjoyed each character and felt they had their own story and individuality. Also, the story was so well-crafted that it wouldn’t be complete without all the characters. Each had a role and a decision.
And speaking of story-craft, this is impeccably-designed storytelling – a lost art. Starting with flawless world building all the way to the ingenious magic system, this book had everything I look for in books. The magic system was so concise, so well-planned, so individualized that I can vision it, feel it, smell it. THAT’S what a magic system should do – make you feel that it’s real.
Sanderson’s writing is easy to conceive and visualize. This world is painful and deep with heart-wrenching realism. It’s complicated and perplexing, but yet so freely expressed that anyone could understand it. For an author, this is not easy to teach, this is talent.
