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1. Doing Time on Planet Earth - my novel, is once again available on Amazon.com in paperback. HERE.
I managed to get it published yesterday. YAY!
Co-worker: so how is the book promoting going?
Me: well I sold a copy to GT and CM.
Co-worker: So you're selling locally.
JS: It's an amazing book. I'm loving it.
Me: Well, I have at least one fan.
Right now, I'm debating on how much money I want to spend promoting it. Decisions, decisions.
2.) Wed Reading Meme
* What I just finished reading?
The Martian by Andy Weir, which I enjoyed quite a bit more than I expected. There's a movie coming out with Matt Damon and Jessica Chastin, directed by Ridley Scott, and co-written by Drew Goddard and Andy Weir.
Here's the review I posted on Good Reads and Amazon:
Enjoyed this book tremendously. It's a classic story of survival and resolving a problem, told with humor and a lot of humanity. A breath of fresh air in some respects...the hero is charmingly positive and snarky. Not to mention likable, and real.
It's also a nice change of pace from the violent and negative science fiction novels that I've read. People bound together to resolve a problem. Absurd things happen, but realistically. And at times it seems impossible - that there is no way they can fix this. But they don't give up. It's quite an uplifting and inspiring little story. And rather character driven for classic hard sci-fi.
And this is hard sci-fi. Lots of techno-babble and science involved. Didn't bug me all that much, but then I like technobabble, I tend to interpret it for a living. And I found the science to be rather interesting and informative.
Only quibble is that it is a bit too long. I'd have cut a 100 pages. It drug a little in the middle. And could have been a tad tighter plot wise. But other than that, I enjoyed it.
It's quite funny in places. Witty. With absurd and somewhat quirky situations. I laughed, I teared up a bit, and I grumbled. You really do start to emphasize with and root for the protagonist, the astronaut who is stuck on Mars. And all the people attempting to figure out how to rescue him.
Highly recommend.
What I'm Reading Now?
Burn for Me by Illona Andrews, which is okay.
It's sort of an urban fantasy take on the billionaire boys club/mercernary contemporary romance trope (neither of which I'm a huge fan of). The protagonist/heroine (Nevada Baylor) is likable, the hero not so much. Also it's not nearly as clever as Andrews' Magic series. The characters feel less complex somehow, and the banter less on target.
The problem I have with the hero, besides the fact that he is a sociopath, albeit a troubled/wounded one (aren't they all in these books? Seriously what is it with the sociopath hero trope?), is that he doesn't have much personality. Sort of your basic all around tough guy.
Also I'm having troubles understanding how the heroine can be attracted to him after he chained her up in his basement and mentally tortured her for hours on end. Granted he does save her life a few times after that -- but more for his own self-preservation. Also in the midst of doing it - he threatens her mother and family. Honestly? He'd creep me out. Regardless of pretty he is. And the characters in Andrews books are all pretty.
This one has a hairless chest, well-developed abs, and bulging muscles, along with multiple tattoos. Not a turn on for me at all.
I like the dialogue though. It's witty at times. But the writer is obviously working over time to sell a romantic relationship that I'm sorry, just is not there. The heroine is constantly lusting after the sociopathic hero, all the while admitting he's an sociopath who can demolish buildings with his mind, and gets off on it. So sociopath with a sadistic streak. Lovely.
I'll finish it. But I don't see myself getting the next in the series. I'm finding it hard to care about Mad Rogan or Nevada. I am however curious about her family. (See? I've come to that point in reading romance novels in which I find the non-romantic relationships more interesting than the romantic ones.)
There are an awful lot of these types of books out there. I know, because in my struggle to promote my own novel (which isn't in that genre or close to it) - I keep running across them. Pages and pages and pages of them. Everybody and their momma has written a paranormal romance.
* What I'll be reading next?
Probably Ancillary Justice by Anne Leckie which I wasn't able to download from Amazon until two days ago, hence the reason I'm reading Burn for Me. Well that, and the fact that I needed something mindless and fluffy. I've been distracted lately and somewhat stressed over the whole book promotion bit. This is the part I was dreading - promoting the book. Everything else - I'm actually fairly good at figuring out. But promotion and marketing...scares me.
I managed to get it published yesterday. YAY!
Co-worker: so how is the book promoting going?
Me: well I sold a copy to GT and CM.
Co-worker: So you're selling locally.
JS: It's an amazing book. I'm loving it.
Me: Well, I have at least one fan.
Right now, I'm debating on how much money I want to spend promoting it. Decisions, decisions.
2.) Wed Reading Meme
* What I just finished reading?
The Martian by Andy Weir, which I enjoyed quite a bit more than I expected. There's a movie coming out with Matt Damon and Jessica Chastin, directed by Ridley Scott, and co-written by Drew Goddard and Andy Weir.
Here's the review I posted on Good Reads and Amazon:
Enjoyed this book tremendously. It's a classic story of survival and resolving a problem, told with humor and a lot of humanity. A breath of fresh air in some respects...the hero is charmingly positive and snarky. Not to mention likable, and real.
It's also a nice change of pace from the violent and negative science fiction novels that I've read. People bound together to resolve a problem. Absurd things happen, but realistically. And at times it seems impossible - that there is no way they can fix this. But they don't give up. It's quite an uplifting and inspiring little story. And rather character driven for classic hard sci-fi.
And this is hard sci-fi. Lots of techno-babble and science involved. Didn't bug me all that much, but then I like technobabble, I tend to interpret it for a living. And I found the science to be rather interesting and informative.
Only quibble is that it is a bit too long. I'd have cut a 100 pages. It drug a little in the middle. And could have been a tad tighter plot wise. But other than that, I enjoyed it.
It's quite funny in places. Witty. With absurd and somewhat quirky situations. I laughed, I teared up a bit, and I grumbled. You really do start to emphasize with and root for the protagonist, the astronaut who is stuck on Mars. And all the people attempting to figure out how to rescue him.
Highly recommend.
What I'm Reading Now?
Burn for Me by Illona Andrews, which is okay.
It's sort of an urban fantasy take on the billionaire boys club/mercernary contemporary romance trope (neither of which I'm a huge fan of). The protagonist/heroine (Nevada Baylor) is likable, the hero not so much. Also it's not nearly as clever as Andrews' Magic series. The characters feel less complex somehow, and the banter less on target.
The problem I have with the hero, besides the fact that he is a sociopath, albeit a troubled/wounded one (aren't they all in these books? Seriously what is it with the sociopath hero trope?), is that he doesn't have much personality. Sort of your basic all around tough guy.
Also I'm having troubles understanding how the heroine can be attracted to him after he chained her up in his basement and mentally tortured her for hours on end. Granted he does save her life a few times after that -- but more for his own self-preservation. Also in the midst of doing it - he threatens her mother and family. Honestly? He'd creep me out. Regardless of pretty he is. And the characters in Andrews books are all pretty.
This one has a hairless chest, well-developed abs, and bulging muscles, along with multiple tattoos. Not a turn on for me at all.
I like the dialogue though. It's witty at times. But the writer is obviously working over time to sell a romantic relationship that I'm sorry, just is not there. The heroine is constantly lusting after the sociopathic hero, all the while admitting he's an sociopath who can demolish buildings with his mind, and gets off on it. So sociopath with a sadistic streak. Lovely.
I'll finish it. But I don't see myself getting the next in the series. I'm finding it hard to care about Mad Rogan or Nevada. I am however curious about her family. (See? I've come to that point in reading romance novels in which I find the non-romantic relationships more interesting than the romantic ones.)
There are an awful lot of these types of books out there. I know, because in my struggle to promote my own novel (which isn't in that genre or close to it) - I keep running across them. Pages and pages and pages of them. Everybody and their momma has written a paranormal romance.
* What I'll be reading next?
Probably Ancillary Justice by Anne Leckie which I wasn't able to download from Amazon until two days ago, hence the reason I'm reading Burn for Me. Well that, and the fact that I needed something mindless and fluffy. I've been distracted lately and somewhat stressed over the whole book promotion bit. This is the part I was dreading - promoting the book. Everything else - I'm actually fairly good at figuring out. But promotion and marketing...scares me.