Book review: A Dance of Cloaks by David Dalglish (4 out of 5 stars)

A month ago, I won a Goodreads contest where I recieved an ARC (advance reading copy) of David Dalglish's A Dance of Cloaks.  This is the first in his Shadowdance series.  It is a fantasy book, in much the same vein as George R. R. Martin, R. A. Salvatore, and Brandon Sanderson.  If you like fantasy books, Dalglish is a young writer you'll want to check out.

Here is my Goodreads review - I gave it 4 out of 5 stars:

I will try make this as spoiler free as possible.

First, the prologue was like something straight out of Game of Thrones.  I then wanted to know much more about the character Aaron Felhorn--and you got much, much more about him throughout the book.  His character growth was astonishing to read.

For those who love their fighting scenes to be blow-by-blow, much like R. A. Salvatore, then you will not be disappointed.  For me, these scenes wore on me.  At times, there also seemed to be too many point-of-view characters, and even those characters seemed to be thin.

This is the first of a trilogy, and even though I do give it a 4-star rating, Dalglish has produced a gritty world like one of Martin's Game of Thrones world or Sanderson's first Mistborn book.  The highlight of the book was the planning of the takeover of the Kensgold, a one-day event where the three kings of the Trifect meet to discuss trade agreements.

And the ending led me to want more of this story.  Well done, David Dalglish.

Here is a link to the Amazon Kindle store for A Dance of Cloaks by David Dalglish.

Book review: Writers of the Future Volume 29 (5 out of 5 stars)

Ever wonder who the best new writers to watch for? Look no further than the Writers of the Future Volume 29..

I purchased this book because I wanted an idea as to what stories were accepted, as I too have been submitting to the quarterly Writers of the Future contest.

Like most anthologies or short story collections, not all stories connected with me. But, what few I didn't like someone else undoubtedly will, and the ones I liked outweighted the ones that didn't. Hence the 5-star rating.

Among some of my favorites were "Cop for a Day" by Chrome Oxide (love that pen name!), "War Hero" by Brian Trent, "Master Belladino's Mask" by Marina J. Lostetter, and the grand-prize winning "Twelve Seconds" by Tina Gower.

Aside from the wonderful stories, the illustrations were well-worth the price of admission.

Tucked within the book were also essays by Dave Wolverton, L. Ron Hubbard, and others. Hubbard's "The Manuscript Factory" was sheer brilliant, and Nnedi Okorafor's "The Sport of Writing" put a unique perspective on the craft of writing.

Link to the Amazon Kindle page: Writers of the Future Volume 29

Closing out 2013 / Thinking ahead to 2014

I had 18 distinct goals for 2013.  As of this sitting, I have completed 10 of them.  Not bad.  I'm very happy with where I'm at.  In reviewing some of my goals, a few I did not even continue to pursue--namely a novel I had written years ago and was going to edit for publication this year, however its writing needed A LOT of work, so I decided to put it on hold for now.

How is your list of goals for 2013 coming along?  Please feel free to add your comments below.

On to 2014, I have brainstormed quite a list I'd like to accomplish.  Now, in the upcoming weeks, I'll refine it and tack it up so I can see it.

One goal I didn't even come close to hitting is my exercise goal--actually, it's a weight goal I wanted to hit.  In speaking with my wife and sister-in-law recently, I have decided to join the local gym.  But not yet.  There's a small financial matter to settle first as my wife continues treatments down at the Mayo clinic quite often.

But that is a goal I will be pursuing in 2014.

Happenings In The Outhouse 08-Nov-2013 / No NaNoWriMo for me

The month of November is NaNoWriMo.

"NaNo . . . what?  Rhino?"

No, silly.  NaNoWriMo - short for National Novel Writing Month.

"Oh, okay.  What's that?"

For the month of November, participants are committed to write 50,000 words of a new novel--this comes out to roughly 1,667 words a day.

Even though I'm in the process of editing a novel and writing the first draft of a new one, I'm still not participating.  Officially.  I do believe participting in NaNoWriMo is good for someone just starting out, who has never written a novel.  It's a good way to set a daily goal for yourself, to get in the habit of writing everyday.

Good luck to all NaNoWriMo'ers.

Amazon's new Kindle Countdown Deals - worth checking out

Recently, Amazon has announced a new feature on their Kindle store: Kindle Countdown Deals.

This allows Kindle-exclusive ebooks to be discounted for a limited time.

The following link provides an in-depth look into this new feature.  One of the high points of this program, I see, is that there is a special list that these books will appear.  Here's the link.  I'm going to try this out, and will let you know what I discover.

Some of the features are:

1) deals are time-based - hence, the name countdown.  Not only does the author have control over how much time is left, the readers see that time as well.

2) royalty rates are retained at the lower price - this is an incredible feature, for typically ebooks selling below $2.99 have a much lower royalty rate than those priced $2.99 or higher.

For those self-publishers out there, you might want to give this a try.

Here's the link explaining the new program.

Note: my thriller novel Beholder's Eye (Central Division Series Book 1) is currently on the Countdown program.  It is normally $2.99, so if you want to pick up the book for less, please click on this link to pick up the book on the Amazon Kindle store.

And here's a copy of the new cover.  Let me know what you think:

Eyeballs on your work

What all writers, new as well as seasoned, need are eyeballs on your work.  You need more and more people to read what you write, and to crave it, so that when you have something new come out, they can't wait to pick it up.

It's as simple as that.  It doesn't matter if you're Stephen King or a new writer who just started her first blog post, all of us writers need readers to read our work.

And the more people read your work, the more money you can make.  You may never get up to the level of success where instead of asking if you can afford the latest Lamborghini, you ask what color, but if you don't put yourself out there, you may never achieve your dreams.

Write something.

Send it out--whether it's on a free blog post or self-publishing on the Kindle or even submitting to a professional market.

Then write something else.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

The world depends on it.

Happenings In The Outhouse 01-Nov-2013 / My 500th post!

This is my 500th blog post.  Hard to believe I've written so much on this blog, and even when I go back, I'm astonished at what I've written.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Writing a novel in a year - setting goals (this post was the fifth one I ever wrote, and it shows how one can take a task as daunting as writing a novel and complete it sooner than one thinks)

Use your favorite author as inspiration, not a boundary (this one sums up why it's unwise to say, "I want to be the next Stephen King" - because your goal is to be better than them, not to use their success as your boundary)

Simplicity (post regarding getting good at one thing, then branching out - i.e. Stephen King writes horror novels or John Grisham writes legal thrillers)

Writers Groups - the good, the bad, and . . . the weird (self-explanatory - about writing groups)

Shoot for the stars (where I introduced the "pie in the sky" goals)

There are a ton more, so for now these are a few highlighted ones.  I hope you've enjoyed it so far.  Now, onward to the next 500!

And beyond!