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Views on Book Reviewing
Yesterday I attended a panel discussion on book reviewing organized by a literary journal published in the city where I live. At another recent event , a successful novelist said that one reason for...
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Book Reviews and Readers’ Appetites
In real life, I am a librarian, a cataloguer. I work in the technical services department of a public library, so I see a lot of books. I also work with a lot of book-related cataloguing data....
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The Delicate Art of Reviewing
Elsewhere in this blog I’ve taken a stab at book reviews — both writing a few myself and opining on the reviewing process. I’m returning to the topic today because I’ve recently wrestled with the...
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The Ratings Game
Now that I’ve rated quite a few books on Goodreads, Amazon and Smashwords, I’ve decided I don’t like the five-star system. It’s too limited, at least the way I use it. I give five stars only to books I...
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Book “Reviews”
I spent my blogging time today writing a book “review” on Goodreads. You can see it in the sidebar, along with others I’ve written. Why the quotation marks? Because I don’t think my comments on...
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A Fall/Winter Reading Challenge!
To celebrate fall and anticipate winter — great seasons for reading — I am issuing a friendly challenge to readers who are up for a “big read.” You can acquire all four books of the Herbert West Series...
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A Peculiar Pastiche: Pete Rawlik’s Reanimators
Several weeks ago I read an interview with author Pete Rawlik on the Lovecraft eZine blog, in which Rawlik referred to his novel Reanimators. I had not heard of this work before so of course rushed to...
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Local Author Book Review #1: Clamming Up by Lee-Anne Stack
Since the recent launch of the Emerging Local Authors collection at my local library, I have decided to read some of the 174 books and write reviews of them. I’m not sure how many I’ll be able to get...
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Local Author Book Review #2: The White Limousine by John R. Paterson
Time travel. Second chances. A lost love and a new love. These are the compelling elements of The White Limousine, a science fiction romance by Victoria author John Paterson. The plot revolves around...
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Local Author Book Review #3: PsyBot by Nowick Gray
The Plot: Computer programmer Joe Norton juggles a series of awkward relationships with women while working for a tech company that’s facing a merger. As if this isn’t bad enough, he experiences...
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Local Author Book Review #4: The New Fire by Ada Robinson
The New Fire by Ada Robinson is a historical novel about a history that never happened set in a place that does not exist. But it reads as though rooted in a real place and time. This is from the back...
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The Elusive Review
Book reviews help both readers and writers. Readers are more likely to buy a book with many reviews, even when they’re not 100% favourable. Writers consequently are always trying to encourage their...
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Dancing in a Minefield: Writers Reviewing Each Other
Book reviews have been on my mind lately — more than usual, that is, because book reviews are always a preoccupation of us indie authors. I’ve been thinking about reviews and reviewing because most of...
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The New Gatekeepers
I guess it had to happen. Technology opened the gate to all those writers who couldn’t get published the traditional way. Huzzah! But there are so many of us, cranking out books by the millions, that...
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An Almost Local Author Book Review: Adventure on Whalebone Island by M. A....
A while ago I decided to write reviews of some of the books in the Emerging Local Authors Collection at my public library. There were strict geographical criteria as to what constituted “local.”...
View ArticleBook Review: Of Patchwork Warriors by R.J. Llewellyn
“There came an era when the threat of incursion from the infernal other world realm of the Zerstorung was strong, placing the survival of entire unsettled Oakhostian Empire at risk and thus disparate...
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New Review of The Friendship of Mortals
I would like to share a lovely new review of The Friendship of Mortals, by Denzil the Book Owl, on his recently launched review site. Read it here, and the interview in which I answer several questions...
View ArticleAnother Almost Local Book Review: The Mystery of the Missing Mask by M.A. Wilson
Publisher’s description: Ryan and Kendra have returned to Maple Harbour on the British Columbia coast to visit their cousins Claire and Nathan. But the sleepy little town has been rocked by the news...
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Reviews, Interview, and RAEW
The Friendship of Mortals is getting some good attention! Berthold Gambrel wrote an insightful review on his blog, as well as one on Amazon, followed by an interview in which I answer his questions...
View ArticleBook Review: The Writer’s Pen by K. Morris
Kevin Morris’s latest collection of poems is now available on pre-order at Amazon UK. Here is my review of an advance copy… This latest collection by Kevin Morris consists of 44 pithy reflections on...
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