Cephalopod Coffeehouse Book Chat – Game of Thrones, etc., a Negative Review

From the ArmChair Squid:
“The idea is simple: on the last Friday of each month, post about the best book you've finished over the past month while visiting other bloggers doing the same. In this way, we'll all have the opportunity to share our thoughts with other enthusiastic readers.”

Sometimes I get a hold of a certain type of book that, while interesting, makes me skim words, sentences, and then paragraphs. Ultimately, plowing through the wordiness frustrates me to the point of skipping whole pages. In the category of Skippy books, I place the following:

The Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones) – George RR Martin. At some point, do we really need to know what they are eating at every meal? I want the tale to advance and not hang up in too many storylines. Plus, his penchant for killing off characters is wearing thin. If the initial hook is in the characters, I tend to lose interest if they are killed off. I mean, why invest my time and enjoyment in (insert name here) if he is going to die later?

The Wheel of Time – Robert Jordan. All started so well, so interesting. But, after a point, I groaned, “Just get on with it. Don’t bring in more characters, darn it. No more inane conversations. Move along. Gaaaah! Not another plot twist.”

I bought every WOT book and would again. At least he and co-author Brandon Sanderson, who picked up the reins after Mr. Jordan passed away, made the first five and the last two books amazing. The ones in-between, not so much. 

And I never liked the book covers. Too amateurish, IMHO. Though not as bad as anime, a style of art that I intensely dislike. Hate actually.

But Martin’s books...eh, I don’t know if I care enough at this point to continue the series. 

Recently I read One Second After by Willaim Forstchen and it quickly turned into a skipper. The reviews were wall-to-wall 5-stars but I didn’t buy it until the price dropped to $2.99. Glad I didn’t pay the full price now. It turned into a version of Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank complete with a death of a secondary character by the same disease. Too much “Bob” dialogue, the method of delivering info the author wants you to know via Y.T.M. aka Yapping Too Much. No strong females. All are wimpy and whinny. Bleh.

Mr. Frank's book is the one to read but it is dated and reading it makes me very uncomfortable. 

Do you have a famous Skimmer book? 

One Monday, Two Blogfests, A Marketing Symposium and Love

Love is in the Air: It's a celebration of that little thing called love. 

Of Oak and Dragons.
Lee, truly inexperienced, is making conversation with Ruen, a dragon in human form. To add to her misery, her preternatural rapier keeps injecting itself into the embarrassing conversation.

“Truly, I do not understand what emotions are so I cannot say what I am experiencing,” Ruen said.

I remained silent. The rapier rumbled but quieted into vague mutters
. 
A ghost of a smile played on Ruen’s mouth. “The actual, physical mechanics are basic. The function to continue the species, procreation that is, seems unduly enjoyed by humans. Is it better than kissing?” 

My cheeks were on fire and I had to turn away trying to find anything that needed my attention. “Uh, I wouldn’t know.”

“What, what? You’ve never done the dirty deed?”

 “You have?” I shot back.

He shrugged and stepped next to me. Before I could stop, he took my hand again, holding it between his two large warm hands. 

“No.” His eyes came up to mine. “Never. I have not experienced that particular human act.” He pursed his lips. “Why haven’t you?”

I tried to pull my hand away but instead he enfolded me in his arms. I felt his cheek in my hair, rubbing, his breath saturating the crown of my hair to the roots.

“I haven’t found the right person to share it with, I suppose,” I said into his chest. Oh, the smell, of oak leaves and dragon. “And I didn’t want it to be a casual incident. I wanted it to be special, with someone who I loved.”

 “You wanted your first time to be special or you wanted it with someone special?” 

“Both,” I said with a cut in my voice. “What movie are you imitating now? Love Potion No. 9 or Jerry Maguire?”

He whispered, “I saw The Little Mermaid.” 

I pushed him away. He was laughing in earnest now.

Overheated minks, the rapier growled in my ear.  

He was still laughing as he followed me to the patio. 

*****

What Works – Online Marketing Symposium: 
you tell us about a marketing idea that you've used and what worked or didn't work.

Worked: handing out large-sized rack cards (8 ¼ x 3 3/4 ) at catered meals, walk-a-thons, banks, festivals, etc. My sales shot up and it was highly rewarding.

What didn’t work was taking out ads on GoodReads. Probably that was a waste of money.

Thanks to the blogger-ifics who volunteered to put on this super get-together.

Hosts –

Arlee Bird - http://tossingitout.blogspot.com/

Yolanda Renee - http://yolandarenee.blogspot.com/

Jeremy Hawkins - http://www.beingretro.com/

Alex J. Cavanaugh - http://alexjcavanaugh.blogspot.com/

Love is in the Air

I'm not getting all smoochy. Not me. Evah.

Nope. It's a blogfest, courtesy of Charity Bradford. 

UnicornBell, our writer's critique site, is sponsoring a meet n' greet blogfest on January 20 -24th.

It is the new feature at the blog I share with four other writers and established authors. Blogfests throughout the year as a way to increase your 'presence' in the blogosphere and create a platform.

The details for our first blogfest of 2014, in honor of the quickly approaching Valentine's day:




It's a celebration of that little thing called love. Be it steamy or sweet, puppy, kitty, teen, aggravating, first kiss or final goodbye, let your scene tug at our heartstrings.

Share your lovey dovey moment on January 20th and then visit and comment on the other blogs on the list.

To sign up, go to UnicornBell and get all the info about this year's blog-o-thons. Looks like a blast!

IWSG - Interruptions

IWSG—Writers, coming together on the first Wednesday of every month for a virtual pat on the back. 

Your mind is elsewhere. In another city, country, continent, planet. And the phone rings.

The sound jars you out of the scene and back to what a normal person describes as reality.

Or in other words, the sane world of living. Not writing.

It is a writer’s occupational hazard, those stumbles and stutters that we experience when battling a master swordsman, having a Eureka! moment during a pivotal scene, or ‘seeing’ the castle ruins for the first time.

I file these interruptions into two categories: Biggies and Aggravations. 

Biggies are new grandsons and major home renovations. Not much you can do about diapers and painting a wall.

Aggravations are meals, the spouse saying “come and help me a second”, unexpected guests who stay all day, and bad colds. The last one kicked my characters to the curb for the last ten days.

So how do you cope? How do you open the door back into your world? Or can you go back to the same place at all?

* * * *

Insecure Writers Support Group: The Final Frontier.

These are the voyages of the Ninja Captain, AJC. His continuing mission, to explore all new writing venues, to seek out new authors and new blogs. 

To boldly go where no blogateer has gone before.

The Times, They are a-Changin’

Come writers and critics

Who prophesize with your pen.

And keep your eyes wide

The chance won’t come again.

And don’t speak too soon

For the wheel’s still in spin.

And there’s no tellin’ who that it’s namin’

For the loser now will be later to win.

For the times they are a-changin’. - Bob Dylan

Several years ago, I established a writer’s critique blog, Unicorn Bell, with Marcy Hatch and Charity Bradford. 

We brought in two more writers, L. Blankenship (Disciple, self-pub) and Elizabeth Arundel as part of the team. 

Unicorn Bell, the product of writers, is a-changin’...er, making a few adjustments.

A regular schedule. Our team at UB has individual talents.

• L. Blankenship is gifted at critiquing 1500 word submissions. 
• Marcy is expert at First Pages and interviews.
• I, the Huntress of Fantasy, like taming the Query Monster and all its minions including loglines and blurbs.

To give our followers time to submit their chapters, loglines, and first pages, a weekly schedule is in order. 

Blogfests and book tours. So you want to create a presence online. How to do it?

My publisher, Musa Publishing, suggests bloghops/fests. Enter as many as you can manage. Comment and participate. This gets you out there, puts your name in front of people.

So why shouldn’t Unicorn Bell conduct a regular bloghop too? Good question and now a two word answer: 

• Charity Bradford. She intends to hold a bloghop during some of her weeks.

Book tours. Excitement is building. You have a book coming out! Now you want everyone to get the message.

• Elizabeth Arundel takes command of book tours. 

During her week, she will post all the info you send about your book. 

Lastly, do you have any special gifts that need an outlet? Would you like to join our team and build a writing platform to impress agents and publishers?

We are taking applicants for Unicorn Bell moderators. Send requests to our email with ‘Moderator Request’ in the subject line to unicornbellsubmissions[at]gmail[dot]com.

Join us for critiquing, bloghops, and book tours. It is definitely a can of mixed nuts at Unicorn Bell, the crucible of critique.