News and Notices from the Writing Trenches #157…
Review of Leonardo Da Vinci. Last time I promised a review of Isaacson’s magnificent book. You’ll find it here:
Bottom line: I liked it more than the Einstein or Jobs bios.
Romance and erotica. I don’t write it. If you like it, fine, but I don’t write in these genres per se. A bit of romance is present in some of my novels, but I wouldn’t consider them racy. My characters are very human, though, so, if the story calls for it, there’s some romance.
One reviewer of Teeter-Totter between Lust and Murder complained that it didn’t live up to its title. He saw the word “lust” in the title and was disappointed. I’m sorry for disappointing him. I choose my titles carefully, and they generally have something to do with the plot—Detective Chen’s affair with a U.S. Senator in this case.
So I’ll warn all readers, present and potential: erotica, lust, and romance aren’t major ingredients in my stories. I’m not prudish, but I prefer to focus on other plot elements!
A. B. Carolan news. My new collaborator’s manuscript has gone through beta-readers, but The Secret of the Urns, based on my short story “Marcello and Me,” is still planned for fall release. Meanwhile, if you haven’t done so already, download a copy of the second edition of The Secret Lab that Mr. Carolan rewrote and reedited—it’s just been released. (The link is to the Smashwords ebook edition. It’s also available as in ebook and print versions on Amazon. Some readers have asked for the print version, so here it is.) There’s already one review on Amazon–congrats A.B.! It will be on Net Galley for a while, but you can always ask me for a free copy in exchange for an honest review. Like I said for the first edition, this isn’t Harry Potter in space, but it puts the magic back in sci-fi. And read some of A. B.’s short stories archived in the blog category “ABC Shorts.” You can also ask for “Who Is A. B. Carolan?” if you want to learn more about the reclusive writer—it’s one of my PDFs free for the asking.
“Mary Jo Melendez Mysteries.” It will become a trilogy. The MECHs (“Mechanically Enhance Cybernetic Humans”) were clamoring that they wanted some prime time. I agreed that their fate was a wee bit up in the air after novels #1 and #2. The situation will be resolved soon with Goin’ the Extra Mile, #3 in the series—the manuscript is now with my beta-readers. As with all my novels, you will be able to read this new one independently of the first two. But if you missed the sale of Muddlin’ Through and Silicon Slummin’…and Just Gettin’ By, books #1 and #2 in the series, they’ll be on sale again at Smashwords in the near future as part of the “Great Spring Thaw Sale”—see below.
Recent and future posts. If you missed “Water,” an article about how water plays an important role in literature and my upcoming post-apocalyptic thriller The Last Humans (to be published in 2019 by Black Opal Books), visit my blog’s archives. “Art and Fiction,” a future article, will analyze how fiction often contains art as a theme, in particular in my mystery/thriller books The Collector and Rembrandt’s Angel. I’ve also posted a series of my main characters’ bios; they’re archived in “Character Bios”; there will be more.
Commenting on posts. It’s come to my attention that WordPress settings were changed for my website’s blog (probably when my website gurus last performed a version update). These changes unfortunately kept readers from commenting. The problem has been fixed. I accept comments, but I screen them for foul language.
Reasoned discussions are always interesting and welcome, but be civil with your comments. That will make the discussion more pleasant for everyone.
Want to contribute? Readers of this blog can contribute in other ways besides comments: book reviews, guest posts, and interviews. If you’ve read a book and want to review it here, I’ll be happy to consider it—I know some people don’t like to review books on Amazon (I’m one of them now) because the review often gets lost among all the “reviews” that are nothing more than product endorsements. A guest post can also be written by anyone, but I limit them now to writing and the book business. I also have a list of interview questions I can send you if you’re a writer—you can peruse them, answer the ones you like, and/or add your own. I’ll edit your answers, but you’ll have final say on what appears in the interview on this blog. All three are opportunities for you to receive internet exposure on a blog that has existed for 10+ years.
“The Great Spring Thaw” Sale. Did you miss the March Smashwords sale for Gaia and the Goliaths and the “Mary Jo Melendez Mysteries”? No worry, those books will come around again and be on sale. Here’s how: Every two weeks, with one week overlap, one of my ebooks will be on sale at Smashwords. Take advantage of this sale to download some great spring reading. Each ebook will be on sale for $1.99, regardless of the normal retail price. For example, The Midas Bomb is now on sale there. Access my author page for the entire list of ebooks. (Remember, Smashwords offers ALL common ebook formats, including mobi format for Kindle.)
In libris libertas!
