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Thursday, January 31, 2013

New competition! + TDX2 comments!

Just got to hear about a new competition, thought I's try it, the “Dear Lucky Agent” contest,for Young Adult and Sci-fi writers
http://tinyurl.com/a8msdw2
The prizes...
Top 3 winners all get:
1) A critique of the first 10 double-spaced pages of your work, by your agent judge.
2) A free one-year subscription to WritersMarket.com ($50 value)!

I'm not really entering for the prizes, just for the chance of winning...:-)

I also got a few comments on authonomy.com for TDX2 !

I find this fun and very easy on the eyes. You main characters are working well for you here and are going to continue to do so but you need to push the book. I do think you have a little gem here. Good narrative voice, good story line, nice flow and good pitch. Well done and I can score this high as I see good things ahead.

Lighter, smaller, but still great! And it's so short I can read it again and again! Watch out for my 'TT'! lol

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Article and NEW interview!

Yes, Paul Dorset (John Cox) allowed me to add an article to his blog. It's about 'Good' literature and how to 'assess' it. I can't reproduce it here, so here's the link :-)
I also had an interview last night with Justin Bienvenue, he's put it on his website here...but I'm the 2nd of 3000 on the same page, which will change in a day or two, and he's spelt my name wrong (D.A. Caile)..so here it is...

Interview with D.A (??) Caile.

1. I haven’t come across many writers of Humor, what can you tell us about it and what it’s like for you to write about?

I didn't choose to write humor, it chose me. I wanted to write serious literature, full of prose and heart, so deep, so wonderful. But when I tried, I found myself laughing. It wasn't me, I'm sardonic, I can't write seriously. So I wrote sardonically, and this strange quirky corny style appeared. I felt proud of it, so I stuck to it.

2. Care to tell us about your recent novel and your other distinct works?

I have 3 books and a free novella out at the moment, all based on the same quirky universe using the same basic characters throughout the series, ie. Satan, God, hobgoblins, angels, monkeys…sorry, humans, and plenty of anti-heros. Due to interviews such as this one, people are starting to wake up to them. I'm also working on my 4th book at the moment, 'Manna-X', and it's going well. My free novella 'TDX2' is still available for download if anyone's interested :-)

3. What is it like to write about Fantasy Fiction?

You can create your own world in fantasy fiction, bend the rules. When I first wrote in my style, I got stuck but then I realised, it's fantasy, anything goes, use your imagination and ideas. So I did. Now the words 'unique, original, different' appear among comments made by my readers.

4. How has being an English teacher and proofreading come in handy and helped you in your writing as an author?

Teaching English helps with my own lousy use of grammar and lexicon, and it also gives me an opportunity to 'play' with the language. Sometimes a student says something strange and it sparks off a crazy idea. Proofreading hasn't helped, though, I can't seem to edit my own work!

5. What type of publishing do you usually go with and how has the experience been for you?

Self-publishing. I have no patience to wait until forever to get a rejection letter from those publishers who are open for submissions. I have a tiny reader base, which has a chance to grow…any day now…I'm sure of it…almost positive…, and I'm happy to self-publish and give them and myself the opportunity to read what I have written. Those who've read all my books can't wait for the next one.

6. Is there a certain trait or theme you always try to incorporate into your novels?

Perhaps that good wins over evil, not so believeable, I know. Ever heard of 'conceptual continuity'? It was a Zappa thing, and that's what I always try to incoporate, links between books, kind of inside jokes. Or using the same characters, ie. Sniff and Grint, the hobgoblins, or my favourite, Graham Reader, the Grim Reaper.

7. I noticed you keep track of votes and downloads of your books, I myself do the same sometimes, Why do you think this is important as an author to do?

As a small self-published author, I'm 'on my own', I don't have editors and agents and a large publishing firm behind me. Keeping up with any information about my writing 'career' allows myself and my readers to be in the picture about what's going on. Every download and vote is important to my 'well-being'.

8. Where do you get the inspiration for some of your humorous quirky stories?

From my environment, my surroundings, what I read, what I see, I experience. The best thing for me is to forget about writing and live. Then things happen. Strange things. Or is it just me?

9. Since you’re a man of humor got any good jokes or a funny tale to share with us?

Ha! A tale? I don't know about funny, but typical, and it's real. A couple's internet goes on the blink, it takes the service provider 4 months to send out an engineer. Engineers come out but can't find the manhole cover for the cable. The council dig a hole in the pavement for the engineer to sort out the cable. After one week, the council fill the hole up again. One hour later, the service provider engineer comes to sort out the cable and finds no hole, so he leaves. Months go by with lots of calls and finally another engineer appears. He climbs the electricity pylon.
"Where ya goin'?"
"Up the pole. The cable's up here."

10. What have you found to be a solid factor in the writing and making of a quality novel?

Ooo, tricky. First, stick to Freytag's pyramid, it's a winner. And second, write from your own experience, make it real, all your dialogues, actions, descriptions. No pretending, no 'fakeness'. Other than that, in my opinion it's all subjective. Thanks for questions :-)


Links:

TDX2 free download
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view...

Books on Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_nos...

Blog
http://danijcaile.blogspot.hu/

Monday, January 28, 2013

Update on Everything! TDX2, Not Me, books, articles, intervierws...

Update on everything :-)
My new little free novella 'TDX2' on Smashwords.com is now on...
TDX2 - 92 downloads, 4 libraries, 60 'Likes'
Francine, a devil of a reviewer on Goodreads (174 reviews, all VERY honest) wrote...
I read the novella I told you I would, TDX2, I put it up under my reviews. I loved it, was funny. I'll add it to my blog later tonight or tomorrow. Thanks for letting me read it!
Her review was 4 out of 5 stars...
A humourous romp through the afterlife! A lot of fun to read, had me laughing out loud a lot of times and other times wondering if I'd end up like the main character, too dull to die!
I also got 1 review from Anita (thanks) 5 out of 5 stars...
Good story, worth to read it. Dani's books are smart, funny and give you a new perspective. I've read them all, can't wait for the next one.
But I got 2 out 5 stars from a Goodreads member :-( ...then I saw how she (I'm guessing) rated other books, lots of 2s and 3s. She gave 'Catch 22'  3 stars...how can you do that?? Anyway, this is going to happen, not everyone's going to like it.

My 99 cents Kindles are rated like this now...
Rage - Amazon.com Kindle rating : 515,539
Beth - Amazon. com Kindle rating: 627,689
MBAT Amazon. com Kindle rating: 995,550
Trilogy Amazon. com Kindle rating:1,284,612

And my 55 word story on Austin Briggs website has: +65 from 71 votes (3 voted minus) with 2 comments...
Akos commented: How can you be sure it was you? What if it wasn’t? Funny short one. Make more:-)))
Carl commented: That was a funny story

I'm also waiting on 1 article and 1 new interview from Paul Dorset's website :-) The article is about 'good' literature and how subjective it all is, and the interview is about...me :-)

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Sniff and Grint are back!

Yes, not only is Graham Reader, the anti-hero Grim Reaper, in my next book, but Sniff and Grint are back!
Check out the first draft of their first scene :-)


No matter how many times Ekron hit the 'reset' button, the radar still showed the abnormalites. Slumped over his bench, he gazed into the bleeping screen.
"Okay, guys. Compared to you, I'm new here. Just what exactly is this?" Ekron looked over to his two workmates. They were both sitting on deckchairs, lying in the rays of three large neon signs they'd stolen from a local chain of pizzerias, sipping on their homemade Mai Tais.
"Eh?"
"I said, what is this?"
"Can't you see we're busy?" Sniff spat his straw out and punched Grint in the side. "Go and see what he wants."
"Eh?"
"I said...never mind." Sniff recognised Grint's 'eh?' routine. He could play it all day. He got off his deckchair and dragged his ugly little hobgoblin body over to the radar while cursing Ekron under his breath.
"Look." Ekron pointed to the 4 abnormalites. Sniff tried to wipe them off the screen with his soggy booger-ridden sleeve, adding some abnormalities of his own. "Thanks a lot." Ekron cleaned the screen with a rag.
"Mmm. What are they?"
"You tell me. Monkeys, souls, dogs, cats, and any other animal you can think of, it's all there, but those...the system doesn't recognise them."
"Oh, is that why they're flashing red?"
"I guess so, I don't know." Ekron had been stationed here at Outpost 452 for only a few months, he hadn't seen much action in that time. Pick up a soul or two, go investigate the occasional do-badder, but nothing like this. Sniff tapped the screen a few times.
"Is it a bug?"
"I told you, I don't know. I'm going to have to report this."
"What?" Sniff had already covered the communication switch with his hand. "Do you know what'll happen if you do?"
"What?"
"Something."
"Something? What do you mean?"
"Something will happen. Why d'ya wanna go and do a thing like that? We're all nice and peaceful here."
"You are. Look, it's not going away. There's a problem, we have to report it."
After a short staring match, Sniff let go of the communication switch.
"Okay, but I warned you. Remember that." Ekron hit the switch and contacted Headquarters.

Friday, January 25, 2013

New book, new ideas

TDX2 Free ebook still going strong, 84 downloads, 3 libraries and 38 likes, and I'm still waiting for Premium status to be sent out to all places. I also have 58+ votes for my 55 word story, let's see what Mr. Briggs thinks of that at the end of the month. I'm thinking 1 of 2 things, either nothing or something.
New book! New ideas! This one has been rattling around in my head for a while now, and finally I have some actual words written down, about 3000 or so.
It's amazing how writing works. I have a pen that seems to help me bring out quirky ideas, and once one idea is down, more appear, maybe 2 or 3, so you write them down, then a few more appear... Need a bit more research for this one, too. I'll finally get Moses in on the act, and the Overlords, too, cunningly (not) disguised as Men in Black, and Graham Reader (Yeh!) is back, with a female monkey...sorry...human sidekick. Oh, it's coming along nicely :-) Slowly, but nicely...

Thursday, January 24, 2013

4th book Extract 1...

Now 80 downloads for TDX2, I was hoping for 100+, who knows, but I've really squeezed the networks I know to get that.
I now have 55 + votes from 59 for Austin Briggs 55 word story competition, thanks to my friends. Unfortunately, the votes aren't the only thing which he judges by. The judgement criteria includes votes BUT the final decision comes from how awesome he thinks your story is. Maybe no 55 dollars. I really needed the money. It's a good story, so much back-story to it. The guy thinks the baby is his, but who knows? Only the girl. But he's so big-headed he thinks it must be him. Anyway, fingers crossed.
The 4th book...based in Budapest, with a ton of historical facts behind it. Read an extract from Chapter 1...


If this wasn't far enough, then he didn't know what was. Out in the middle of nowhere, far from any living man, creature or tree, days from his last encounter with any kind of settlement, Rihat began to dig. Stopping only to listen to the faint sounds on the breeze, he dug deeper under the light of the moon and the stars. With a distant howl of a wolf, Rihat protected his precious cargo, an instinct bordering on paranoia. His Master had told him to run like the wind, run as far and as fast as he could, allow no one to take or touch the item which he carried, and hide it for all eternity, away from the imminent destruction of the temple in the holy city, away from the hearts and minds of all humanity...
"Szia."
Rihat abruptly stood up in his now 3-foot deep hole. He looked around, scanning the open plain lit up by the moon and saw no one. After some moments of silence, he began digging in earnest once again, thinking it was only his mind playing tricks.
"Ahoj."
A second sound. Someone was here, or were they? Was that a word he'd heard? It was from no language he knew. He'd been roaming north now for well over 3 weeks, it could be anything.
"Yassou.”
Rihat was sure that was Greek. He knew a little Greek, Stavros was his name.
"Hello."
That was Rihat's language.
"Hello?"
"Hello! What ya doing?"
There was someone else in this open plain. Jumping out of his hole, Rihat grabbed the sack containing his heavy burden, started running into the night, and tripped into another larger and much deeper hole. On landing, he heard the snapping of wood and knew it wasn't.

"Argh!"
"You wanna watch that. Oh dear. Are you alright?"

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

55 word contest + TDX2 Update 2

Austin Briggs, a fine chap, has a 55 word story competition online. If you have the most Votes at the end of the month, you win 55 dollars. Please click, read and if you like it, vote!! :-) I need 55 dollars.
http://austinbriggs.com/flash-fiction-contest/not-me/
Update on TDX2...10 days online for free AT Smashwords...https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/273975... 74 downloads, 18 Likes and in 3 libraries (I really don't know what the libraries are, but hey). Awaiting a review, perhaps more will come. It's a nice little story, just an advert to my style of writing, really, but a nice little romp in itself.

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Author's feature: Linda Talbot on Dani J Caile: HEAVEN, HELL AND THE SEARCH FOR SATISFACTION

The first feature ever on this blog! Linda Talbot, fantasy author of Gift of Green Fire, a strange collection of short stories, and brand new Time Trance of the Gods (Book One), another collection of short stories based on ancient Greek Gods and mortals, was very kind to create this feature about me and my writing. It made me think about a few things...Hope you enjoy it :-)

 HEAVEN, HELL AND THE SEARCH FOR SATISFACTION

Dani J Caile has a bustling and bizarre imagination. It erupts with a host of earthly and otherwordly beings that one would expect to collide with baffling incoherence.
But beneath the wayward events and a humour that moves from pertinent to playful pun, lie clear concerns for humanity.
His novella Too Dull to Die, a free Smashwords edition, relates the fate of Guido, who is returned to Earth after death for another go at living because he has experienced no passion, pathos or even memorable moments.
"Guido is based on myself," admits Caile, "but without the life."
Guido eventually confronts God and accuses him of not caring about humanity. But it transpires God has left man to his own ends. And when Guido queries the point of the bible, God points out HE did not write it. If he had there would have been more jokes.
Says Caile, "Just imagine if there was a God, because I think no one can prove or disprove that point, if he loved you, wouldn't he want you to grow and take responsibility for your own life, like a true father over his children? In my opinion, man is responsible for his actions, whether there is a God or not."
In his third book The Rage of Atlantis, he considered the obstacles people put in the way of fulfilment and personal responsibility and how people seek scapegoats to increase the influence and feed the desires of those in power.
His influences were diverse. He explains,"Rage stemmed from thoughts of 9/11, Hungarian politics, dolphins and the hatred found in Marilyn Manson's 'Holy Wood.'
"What can we do to live fulfilling lives? Change? People find it hard to change. All we can do is live as impeccably as possible, I guess."
Caile's characters comprise a motley community. As well as hapless man, there are curious creations from hobgoblins to dolphins who talk. And there are often elements of extremes; good and evil, heaven and hell.
"It's easier to write in extremes and easier for the reader to understand the message given," he says, "Of course life is not black and white, but very, very grey. Hubble can see colours but the universe only sees black and white, life or death. You can't plead with the universe for a second chance. It's black and white, like life. You either do something or you don't. "
In his book  The Bethlehem Fiasco, a man is alone in the desert looking for answers. Is the influence he may subsequently have over people, beneficial or  likely to lead to conflict?
Caile believes, "I think prophets are fantastic people. The Bethlehem Fiasco attacks the disciples, not Christ. Belief is a very good thing, it gives you a purpose. Religion is another matter - money, power, control over the masses. Christ, Buddha, were great men but what came after them was corruption and greed."
But, for all the obstacles and pitfalls, this author believes everyone can live a fulfilling life. "Find your real priorities, motives and desires. The goals may be large or small. For instance Grint, a hobgoblin in  Man by a Tree, my first book, thinks a fulfilling life is eating and sleeping."
How do Caile's characters emerge?
He claims, "All my characters and ideas come from my surroundings. Someone says or does something or my mind spots something 'not quite right' or suddenly sees something or someone in a different light. Characters become composites of people I have 'experienced.'"
When asked if he once believed in fairies, he replies wryly, "How can you not believe in fairies? I have two living in my home. They put sugar and sweetness in my life. Actually, it took me six months to realise that the background picture on my computer was changed to a fairy scene of flowers and mushrooms by my daughter. Besides, wouldn't the world be a better place with fairies? Now Leprechauns - you have to watch out for them!"
Caile was brought up in Cambridgeshire, England and now lives in Budapest. What will he write next?
"My next book is in connection with the Manna Machine, the mythical device which fed the Israelites for 40 years, but the story will be set in the present. I'm still working on the plot and characters but once that's done, give me two months and it'll be complete."
His fans will no doubt delight in more offbeat fantasy and food for thought.

Linda Talbot
Gift of Green Fire
Time Trance of the Gods (Book One)

Saturday, January 19, 2013

TDX2 - Status Report after 7 days

It's been 7 days since I put TDX2 on Smashwords.com for free. 61 downloads and 100s of pageviews. I even have 11 'Likes' and 1 review, with more to come. I added TDX2 to Goodreads and things are happening there, too. It's also been approved for the Premium Catalog, which means it goes to...
Apple (iBookstores), Barnes & Noble, Sony, Kobo, WH Smith, Diesel eBook Store, eBooks Eros, Baker & Taylor, Page Foundry, and others...
For 7 days, that's pretty good, considering no one knows me. I might have another interview up soon (scandalous) and an article (cross your fingers). Still reading 'Attila', and a few stories from other indie authors...


Friday, January 18, 2013

Napier's Attila again...

I gave William Napier's 'Attila the Judgement' another chance, and it's a nice little romp through The Roman's Eastern Empire - so far, because it's almost 600 pages, a brick by comparison, and won't take a day to read.
BUT I hate Priscus The author takes on this character as his 1st person Point of View, speaking through this pompous Roman 'tutor'. There are really nice pieces of writing, smooth, adventure style, broken by the occasional shitty dialogue (but I've got used to Napier's dialogue voice), then suddenly there's a passage where Priscus (sounds like a disease or facial wart) takes over - I have to put the book down at that point and start again some other time.
So, other than Priscus, a weak 3 out of 5 read so far, like most of the reviews (7 out of 22) on Amazon, but definitely not worth the six 5* reviews it got.

Sunday, January 13, 2013

You can't beat a Jules Verne book!

I got another book for Christmas, plain green cover, small, very thin recycled paper, absolutely nothing to write home about. 'Journey to the Centre of the Earth' written by Jules Verne in 1864. I remembered that old movie from the 60s/70s with that terrible American actor. I put it down and read the other (which I still haven't picked up since stopping at page 184). When the other showed its true colours, I picked it up. At first a slow start but then it I got caught up in the adventure. It was a great story, you can see why it's a classic!
I did, howeer, have 2 'ecological' problems. The group of 3, Axel, the professor and Hans effected the environment under the surface, first with the stream, and then with the explosion, with the sea draining down into the depths of the Earth. The first I was upset with, but the 2nd I was horrified!
Other than that, it was a FANTASTIC read! 11 out of 10 for Jules Verne!

Saturday, January 12, 2013

When Guido meets God...

TDX2 (Too Dull to Die) is now FREE to download at Smashwords (just saying again). For those who are concerned about downloading something which might 'contaminate' them or make them think or even possibly make them laugh...whatever...here's a snippet from the conversation between Guido and God almost at the end of the story. Cut a bit out...you need to 'download' it, you know :-)

....

“So, there’s no connection between you and say, the Bible?” God laughed.
“Tell me Guido, who wrote that book? Did I?”
“Well…”
“I’m sure it would be a better read if I’d written it.” God picked up Guido’s form again. “It would have more jokes in it, for a start..."
....

...“Looking at this form of yours, I wouldn’t call you bad. I’d call you…dull, sad even.”
“Dull? Sad?”
“Yes, Guido. You see, there’s something special about the time you can spend in the physical universe, there are natural ‘points’ in your allowed time where you can experience certain aspects of life to some degree, perhaps even to the full, with opportunities to expand your understanding and knowledge of both the positive and negative things in life, like love, laughter, success, hate, envy, abandonment, failure, to name but a few.” God looked at Guido’s shape and form, unchanged since dying. ”It seems you missed out on every single one of these. That takes talent, and some effort. You’ve experienced everything, of course, it would be impossible not to, but you seem to have miraculously experienced them all to the least.”
“When you say it like that, I feel such a loser.”

Too Dull to Die FREE ebook!

Yes, I finally put TDX2 (too dull to die) online as a free ebook, at Smashwords...
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/273975
Had 7 downloads within the 1st hour, so at least 7 people had a look. If you downloaded it and there was no cover picture, download it again, it has one now :-) Smashwords didn't accept my first cover, so I had to resize it, took a little time.
The 3 books are also available very cheap in Kindle format, $0.99 on Amazon.com and £1.02 on Amazon.co.uk.
My 2nd interview is still there, as is my 1st inteview.

Still 'thinking' about the 4th book, it's getting there, becoming a mass of words in my mind, a search for...:-)

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

INTERVIEW! - my 2nd interview online :-)

Well, yes, somehow through all this twittering, I got myself on an 'author promotional drive', and I've finally got another interview online!
See it here at epublishabook.com live...
It's a little witty, if I may say so myself, but TRUE. The truth has a certain absurdity.

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Amazon reviews...bogus or real?

Something is wrong with Amazon reviews. Loads of books have tons of 5* reviews, but once you read a few pages, you can see that this just isn't possible, the writing or the story or both are bad (not naming any names).
Are they bogus reviews or real? I thought reviews were meant to help someone decide which book was for them. Apparently not. How naive I am.
So, just what is the point of 'bogus' Amazon reviews? Sure, your friends want to do good by you, but it looks like 5* reviews depend on your social circle who...
1. have enough money to buy a book from Amazon;
2. are willing to express how great your book is, even though after reading only 1 page, you can see there are problems with it.
Now, when I look at a book's reviews, I check the lower star reviews as well as the 5 stars, especially the 1 star, they're sometimes funny, you take them with a pinch of salt. I'll probably get my fair share of  them - I hope not, as I feel I wouldn't deserve them, but hey, out of the hundreds of comments on all those author sites, there were 1 or 2 who had something bad to say. All I know is my writing isn't as bad as a lot of those books out there, even those with 64 5 star reviews!
I have a small social circle, relatively I know, but those who felt they needed to say something, have. And I'm still bugging the rest of them to read my books and give a review :-) Everyone is busy...
Oh right, so, what is the point of 'bogus' 5* Amazon reviews? Sales. They sell your book. It's as simple as that. Some people buy reviews, others ask their friends (as I mentioned). Of course, authors would deny all knowledge of this - they want to sell their books. It's a business, a cut-throat business.
If I had any money, would I do it too? What is the point?

Saturday, January 5, 2013

A Sale! Let's have a party!

Yes, finally got a Kindle sale of 'Rage of Atlantis' (rank #183,280 in the Kindle store) yesterday from a fellow author on Twitter, Melodie Ramone. Visit her blog and find out about her book 'After Forever Ends', which is quite high in the ranks (#37,229)  ...my other 2 books are still well over 1 million somewhere. Well, I didn't make any money, but now another person will read my 3rd book - hopefully. I'm actually a little stressed as to what she'll say about it, she mentioned she'd review it! 

A NEW interview is coming too! On January the 8th. Nothing special, but only my 2nd so far! This one is about marketing my 3rd book. Will post the address up on that day... 

Thursday, January 3, 2013

Is 'self-published' a dirty word? No.

I came across this wonderful circle of interviews of indie authors by other indie authors, and there was a question 'Self-published or published?' One indie author said she was published by a small publisher. I decided to track down this publisher and see if I could submit my work. After a few moments, I found out that...
1. there was no sole publisher with that name;
2. that name was connected to a publishing business, a printing house.
In the old days they called it 'vanity publishing'. I can only assume that someone 'ordered' copies to be made from that printing house and gave them as a 'gift'. So, no small publisher to submit my work to...:-(
But hey, isn't this way self-publishing? So this author wasn't 'published', she was 'self-published'. Is 'self-published' such a dirty word?
Look at the list of names from wiki of authors who self-published...
Virginia Woolf, Ezra Pound, John Ruskin, Marcel Proust, Martin Luther, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Jane Austen, Derek Walcott, William Blake, William Morris, James Joyce, Benjamin Franklin, Anthony Hope, Rudyard Kipling, D. H. Lawrence, Thomas Paine, Edgar Allan Poe, Carl Sandburg, George Bernard Shaw, Upton Sinclair, Gertrude Stein, Henry David Thoreau, Stephen Crane, E. E. Cummings, Zane Grey, Mark Twain, and Ernest Vincent Wright.
Ebook self-publishers include J. K. Rowling (yes, really!), Ian Fleming, Barbara Cartland and Catherine Cookson, Adam Croft, Stephen Leather, Deepak Chopra, and Pat Ingoldsby.
WHAT A LIST!!!!

569 pages? You're crazy, Orion!

I got a book for Christmas. William Napier 'Attila the Judgement'.
It's a 3rd person POV (point of view) Historical fiction about the Romans and Atilla the Hun. It's strange, it doesn't know where it's going in terms of style, it keeps changing from one paragraph to the next, you get a really nice flowing paragraph and it ends in a stinky sentence which is way out of style. The dialogue to cliche too, then rude, then so unreal.
The story is good, though there are too many coincidences for it to work right. And the story kinda loses strength after Part One. Plus at one point one Roman called Knuckles struggles to kill one single Hun, then suddenly he can kill hundreds with his bare hands and club, crushing skulls, etc. Just like a Hollywood blockbuster. So what is this book? Who knows?
Head jumping happens a bit, too, even more irritating than when I do it. At least when I do it, there's a break of some sort.
AND on page 181, suddenly from out of the blue comes a 1st person POV (point of view). Where did that come from? It continues on for I don't know how long, I stopped on page 183..of 569 pages?!
Do I read on? Only because I can't find my 'Catcher in the Rye' at the moment...
I can't believe this book got a publisher. Who is it? Orion! Jesus! Someone in their office has a screw loose. Congratulations to William Napier, though, he got a 3 book deal from them! Which is more than what I could...

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Researching the 4th book

Researching a new book is just one of those wonderful things in the journey of creating. Sorry? What?
Yes, researching, going round in circles, trying to find the answers to the questions which will be the skeleton to the logic of your book, I like it. Well, I would. Got a hell of a lot of it done in the last few days, pieces are falling into place in my mind, scenes are appearing, coming to life...
Those French are crazy when it comes to numbers. They count up to 60 and then stop. 70 is actually 60+10, 80 is 4*20, and 99 is 4*20+19 (quatre-vingt-dix-neuf)! 100 is finally a new number (cent). Crazy. Just wondering how to put it in...great fun!