Book Review: Daughter of the Sun

Book Reviews
A few weeks ago I got an email from an author I had never heard of before asking if I would participate in the tour for her new book. Ordinarily I don't take review requests, but since Daughter of the Sun is the first book in a series called Cult of the Cat and I am a crazy cat lady I simply had to read this book. I'll let the blurb tell you a bit about the book: Sixteen-year-old Trinity was born during a solar eclipse and left at the doorsteps of a convent along with a torn piece of papyrus covered with ancient symbols. Raised by nuns in the English countryside, she leads a quiet life until she’s whisked away to the Island of Cats and a grandmother she never knew. But before…
Read More

Book Review: DIY MFA: Write with Focus, Read with Purpose, Build your Community

Book Reviews, Reading Related
DIY MFA: Write with Focus, Read with Purpose, Build your Community is a brand new(it's actually only available on pre-order right now) writing book written by one of my all time favourite bloggers, Gabriela Pereira of DIY MFA. The book, blog and courses Gabriela has created all share one goal: to help writers who don't have the time or money for a traditional MFA program create their own structured writing education, a home-made MFA program. I've been following Gabriela since 2011 so I was obviously thrilled when she finally announced this book and even more excited when she sent out the call for reviewers and actually let me join the list. The Details The great thing about DIY MFA: Write with Focus, Read with Purpose, Build your Community is how different it is…
Read More

Book Review: The Path of Sorrow

Book Reviews
Normally I don't take review requests because I firmly believe in only reviewing books I love but when Martin Bolton approached me to review The Path of Sorrow I was thrilled, having already enjoyed and reviewed The Best Weapon back when it was still a Musa Publishing novel. The Path of Sorrow is a sequel and although I'd forgotten many details of The Best Weapon I still wanted to see more of the world. This book is so intense right from the beginning that I honestly don't know what counts as a spoiler so I'm going to let the back cover blurb explain as much about the story as the authors find appropriate: “A song of hope and sorrow, born on the coming storm.” After the cataclysmic events of The Best Weapon, an uneasy calm has…
Read More

Writing Fight Scenes by Marie Brennan

Book Reviews, Reading Related
If you're anything like me, fighting scenes are among the most challenging. Even if they flow when you're writing them, they sound wooden when you go back. You spend twice as much time on fight scenes as any other scenes in the book, sometimes more than that. So you might be pretty excited about the title of this book. I know I was. In fact, it was one of the most exciting titles I saw in the Writer Tools book bundle. Marie Brennan is an author who has not only written many fight scenes in her time but who also has some practical experience in both martial arts and fencing. She uses examples from her own work and life as well as some well known books and movies including The Princess…
Read More

Worldbuilding: From Small Towns to Entire Universes by Kevin J. Anderson

Book Reviews
At the end of 2015 I picked up a massive StoryBundle full of books for writers. Books about outlining, writing novels, publishing, freelance writing, even books about marketing books. Partway through fleshing out the world of the YA fantasy novella I'm editing, I decided to read Worldbuilding: From Small Towns to Entire Universes first. I'm really, really glad I did. This book is divided into sections so you can go through the chapters as you work on different parts of your world. Sections include geography, politics, the arts and religion. Each chapter is filled with dozens of questions and ideas about how the answers might impact your story. Even the most dedicated worldbuilders are sure to find a few questions they haven't yet asked in this wonderful book. You won't exactly…
Read More

How committed are you to building a successful writing career?

Book Reviews, Goal setting, Reading Related, Writing
Everyone says they're committed to their goals, but how many actually take regular, massive action to achieve them? How many people are actually committed enough to come home from their day jobs and work for hours on an art project, a novel, a side business? We hear about these people all the time--people who work full time and still spend 20 hours a week building their business until they're able to quit that full time job comfortably. People who put themselves through college or university by working full time and still get excellent marks. People who put their entire lives on hold and spend 80 hours a week working to release a new project or create a new business. We hear about them all the time, but the people who actually…
Read More

Why it’s important to review books you love

Book Reviews, Reading Related
[caption id="attachment_1952" align="alignleft" width="200"] This is one book I'll never forget[/caption] When it comes right down to it, the thing that drew most of you to this blog, the thing that convinced you to start writing, was most likely a love of books. We all have books we're passionate, both well known and almost unknown. I have at some point been touched deeply by books from every genre, but the genres that have impacted me most deeply are fantasy, YA and science fiction, particularly dystopian fiction. Some of the books I love are immensely popular: The Giver, Harry Potter, The Chrysalids, The Hunger Games, several books by Terry Pratchett. Other books I love have been written by little known authors, like Lady of Hay or An Unstill Life (now out of print). How popular a book is has nothing…
Read More

Flip Turn by Paula Eisenstein

Book Reviews, Reading Related
Paula Eisenstein is a wonderful author who I interviewed here earlier this year. You can check out that post for more information about her and the story of how we met--today I'd like to focus instead on her debut novel, Flip Turn. Let's start by glancing at the back cover copy: "In Paula Eisenstein’s spare and provocative first novel, a young girl must come to terms with the discovery that her brother killed a young girl. Feeling alienated and not knowing how to ask for help, she decides that suppressing her sexual development will ensure she doesn’t do the same thing. In Flip Turn, Eisenstein has created an unforgettable narrator whose success as an athlete leaves her conflicted about the attention she receives. She fears it will remind people of…
Read More

The Best Weapon by Martin Bolton and David Pilling

Book Reviews, Reading Related, Writing
I originally met Martin Bolton through Musa. One of Urania's many authors, he generously provided me with my first ever guest post, and, even better gave me a copy of his co-written fantasy novel to review. Due to a combination of mountains of homework and other obligations, it took me about two months longer than expected to finish the Best Weapon, but I can say it was certainly worth the wait. The Best Weapon is the story of two brothers created by the 'Lords of Hell' as a last ditch effort to save themselves from an unnamed evil force. These brothers, Naiyar and Fulk, are placed on opposite ends of the planet so they won't draw attention to themselves or discover themselves until the time is right. This book tells…
Read More
Live and Let Fly by Karina Fabian

Live and Let Fly by Karina Fabian

Book Reviews, Reading Related
Those of you who've been following me for a while may remember Karina Fabian's guest post on the submission process and my earlier interview with her. Most recently I had the opportunity to review Live and Let Fly, a paranormal fantasy released by Muse It Up Publishing earlier this year. Let's start with the back cover: For a dragon detective with a magic-slinging nun as a partner, saving the worlds gets routine. So, when the U.S. government hires Vern and Sister Grace to recover stolen secrets for creating a new Interdimensional Gap—secrets the U.S. would like to keep, thank you—Vern sees a chance to play Dragon-Oh-Seven. No human spy, however, ever went up against a Norse goddess determined to rescue her husband. Sigyn will move heaven and earth to get…
Read More