Today, I thought it might be fun to get to know a character from the Kings of Chaos world. After the release of Crossroads, a close friend suggested including him into my next book. I don’t think he knew exactly what he was asking for at the time, but I sure worked him into the story! And with that, let’s get to know Big H just a little bit better.
First, an excerpt from Big H’s introduction in Crossfire: Continue reading
Filed under Behind the Scenes
I’ve previously shared about my lifelong love affair with writing. However, I’ve also shared that English classes were never my strong suit. I began writing simply because I love to read and thought I wanted to take a crack at writing my own stories. I’ve never taken a single creative writing class. I didn’t major in English, journalism, or communications in college. My whole writing career has been a hands-on, learn-as-you-go type of experience up to this point. Continue reading
Filed under Blogumentary
As a writer, I like to challenge myself when it comes to my vocabulary. It’s fun to discover new words, or simply introduce under-utilized words whenever possible. In addition to that, I’m a total hillbilly, and I was raised around some of the best sayings you could ever imagine. I’d like to take a few minutes and share some personal favorites with you, just so we can all enjoy the wonder of these splendid words! Let’s begin, shall we?
My top 25 best words on the face of the earth: Continue reading
Filed under Dictionary
Previously, I talked a little bit about how I selected the topic and story for Crossroads. This time, I’d like to talk a little bit about the setting for the series.
When I started writing the first book, I just wanted to start writing. I was too eager (and ignorant of the writing process) to do any world-building. However, if you want your story to feel real, then you have to make the setting real. I don’t mean that in a sense that the setting has to exist on the planet Earth, (obviously, hence science-fiction) but it needs to be believable. The setting has to exist in the writer’s eye, so it can come to life in the reader’s mind. Some writers build actual maps of the locations for their stories (if the places don’t already exist). Others rely on a city grid taken straight from real life. When I started Crossroads, I didn’t really plan on doing either. All I knew was that I wanted it set in a real geographic location, so it would be tied with a tangible, physical place, but I also wanted to make it up as I went along to make it fit to the story.
I started with what I thought was a cool town name; Rough River Falls. That originally started as White River Falls, but there is an actual White River in central Indiana, and that’s not where I wanted this story set. I thought Rough River Falls sounded cool. A quick Google search showed me that there is a Falls of Rough near the Rough River Dam in central Kentucky. That was perfect! A real geographic location that people could attach the story to, but there is no town of Rough River Falls, which means I still had the liberty to make it up as I pleased. Or so I thought. Continue reading
Filed under Behind the Scenes
I’ve been on a roll lately with my reading, and my latest conquest is the sequel to George Kramer‘s medical horror/thriller, Blind to Blood. The first book in this series was my introduction to Kramer. Book-wise, that is. We had met more than a handful of times before I got a chance to dig into one of his books. I thoroughly enjoyed the plot and unique story behind the characters. It had its flaws though, and I was hoping to see those fixed with the sequel, Blind to Blood 2: The End Game.
Ben Berstgel is truly a unique character. From his mustard-colored birthmark covering half of his body, to an interesting and well-thought-out backstory involving his mother, Kramer makes it easy to understand where things went wrong for Ben growing up. Throw in the idea that this serial killer doesn’t enjoy physically abusing his victims, and you have one interesting psychopath. This story also introduces some intrigue surrounding Ben’s twin brother. Did he have one? Did he not? I’m very curious to see where this brother story line goes and would’ve really liked to see it explored further in this book.
With as much as I enjoyed the story for both novels, unfortunately, the sequel still wasn’t able to break free of some of the mistakes that I noticed in the first one.
I was really hoping to see a little more attention to detail in the editing and proofreading process. There were several spelling and grammatical mistakes that could be caught with a more attentive editor and more time spent prior to going to press. These things are generally small errors and easy to overlook, but as a reader, they take me out of the story while my brain processes and deciphers the information, and it tends to break up the pacing of the plot. I also struggled with a contradiction from the main character himself, Ben. He mentions several times throughout the book how he likes to punch his victims in the belly in order to get them to bend to his will. As mentioned above though, there’s the idea about how he doesn’t like to abuse his victims, beyond the slaughtering, that is. Those two thoughts tend to work against each other and distracted me from being able to fall completely into the story.
The first person point-of-view is not a common story-telling method, and I have learned myself about what makes it so difficult. It’s not a bad method when properly executed, and Kramer pulls it off pretty well. The biggest draw back would be when the main character, Ben, breaks the 4th wall to talk to the readers, again, taking the reader out of the action of the story.
All of that being said, overall, Blind to Blood 2: The End Game is extremely original and entertaining. At the same time, the gruesome nature is quite cringe-worthy – in a complimentary way. It’s a short, fast read that’s easy to get sucked into, hard to put down, and before you know it, you’re at the end. I’ll give it 3 scalpels out of 5.
I know I already said this once, but this time I mean it. Next up: Patrick J. O’Brian‘s latest release, Uncertain Terms.
Filed under Book reviews
In the interest of sharing bookish things from all corners of the world and supporting the craft as much as I can, I’d like to share a press release that I received from the other side of the globe. From the prolific pair of Adam Bennett and Sam M. Phillips, I present to you:
SCIENCE FICTION DOUBLE FEATURE: Phosphorus & Into The Eye
A pair of Sci Fi novellas from authors Adam Bennett and Sam M. Phillips, the founders of Zombie Pirate Publishing.
INTO THE EYE
In the 22nd century, a polluted Earth sits at the heart of an intergalactic trade empire. Alberic Americ, an out of work miner, is desperate to get off world. He’ll do anything to get a job on a ship heading into The Eye, an ominous region of space where mysterious pearls are harvested as fuel. Determined to prove his worth, Alberic battles his inner demons on a journey to discover the source of his own choices.
PHOSPHORUS
As a Warrior Monk of the Order, Dietrich Adrigan walks a path separate from the billions living in the New York Elevator. Escaping the high-tension life of the gigacity, Dietrich visits the Earth Sanctuary to contemplate a great trial to impress the Council of Elders. A chance meeting leads him off planet, where he’ll confront interplanetary mafiosos, and risk almost certain death in search of a hidden space station.
Get your copy today in paperback and eBook.
Worldwide link: http://a-fwd.to/1sgxgOA
Filed under Uncategorized
Lately, I’ve read a few bios for some author friends as well as some stories about the importance writing has had in some of their lives. That got me thinking, what kind of role has writing played throughout my life? I have a tendency to downplay and minimize my artistic endeavors, never really feeling like my efforts are adequate, so I really wanted to give it some serious introspection and see if I could connect any dots. Turns out, I think I can…so I did. Continue reading
Filed under Blogumentary
