Book Review: Sullivan’s Wrath…Sequel to Sullivan’s War

The hero of Edaline, Richard Sullivan, returns in this book to chase down his friend. Frank Allen is not himself anymore after months of mental influence. Not to steam shovel the spoilers there is corruption in the new government of Edaline, itchy career minded SABI officers out to arrest Sullivan, a lovely rich heiress who wants the adventure to end with her and Sullivan living happily ever after, malevolent aliens…oh yes, and religious visions.

The pace of the novel is excellent as was the omnibus and the character development is still believable. A difference from the prequel is that the editing needs another pass. All blends together in my reading experience to give it four out of five stars.

http://www.amazon.com/Sullivans-Wrath-Sullivan-Saga-Michael-ebook/dp/B00BBKNDN4/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1387918497&sr=1-1&keywords=Sullivan%27s+Wrath

Book Review: Sullivan’s War

 

Sullivan’s War

by Michael K. Rose

The main protagonist in this epic tale is Richard Sullivan, orphaned at an early age by a corrupt government, who is Special Forces trained and out to right the wrongs on his home planet of Edaline.  The space opera within the Omnibus is dazzling as the adventure visits Earth, Edaline, Abilene, Faris, Silvanus and some mysterious trans-dimensional beings.

Those readers who prefer a dab of romance in their Science Fiction will get two lumps in this one book.  Sullivan and his love interest of course.  There is also the matter of some (Stellar Assembly-Bureau of Investigation) SABI agent fraternization.

This story rocks and I give it five out of five whatever units your planet takes.  Enjoy!

http://www.amazon.com/Sullivans-War-Omnibus-Sullivan-Saga-ebook/dp/B008N3RJC8/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1387749708&sr=1-1&keywords=Sullivan%27s+War

Minus A Conscience

The sixth work in the Next You Universe is ready for consumption.  I was going to wait until January…yeah, then I didn’t.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Minus-Conscience-Next-You-Universe-ebook/dp/B00HBD0IU6/ref=la_B009AM45MS_1_9?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1387136917&sr=1-9

http://www.amazon.com/Minus-Conscience-Next-You-Universe-ebook/dp/B00HBD1IF0/ref=la_B009AM45MS_1_10?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1387136917&sr=1-10

And for those of you who want the whole thing!!!

http://www.amazon.com/Minus-Conscience-Omnibus-Next-Universe-ebook/dp/B00HBDVEN6/ref=la_B009AM45MS_1_8?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1387136917&sr=1-8

As per my rules for Angus, each novel is $.99 but when faced with the economics of cover art and other support expenses it makes sense to package together.

Book Review: Paranormal teenage issues…with angst.

Sirocco

by Diane M. Haynes

 

Sirocco is a cross between a horse and a dragon that bridges dimensions to enter our world at the request of a magical person.  Riding this beast heals the rider and exacts a fee from the person who summoned it.  Teen age clairvoyant witches with boyfriend parent issues and doing impulsive things.

It was short and kind of fun to read though there are gaps caused by unexplained back-story.  I would suggest the author point potential readers to a prequel to fix this issue.  Three stars out of five.  The gavel descends.  Enjoy!

 

http://www.amazon.com/Sirocco-Little-Moon-Crescent-Press-ebook/dp/B00AG5NMJK/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1386961090&sr=1-2&keywords=Sirocco

Book Review: Erotica Novella

 

Virtual Encounters

by Stephen Oleander

 

 

I found the story of Craig and Veronica growing apart because of their separate experiments to be the major pull of this work.  Well done on that.  As each of the partners use a device to fulfill their individual fantasies they find that they are pulling away from each other.

I’m not convinced that the author needed quite the extensive variety of fantasy erotica in order to do justice to this novella, perhaps a little less would go a lot further.  There is a line, laughable by some, between erotica and porn.  They each have a goal and everyone’s perception of where that line resides is different.  My line was crossed in this work.

A note on editing.  The author needs to have a couple passes to make corrections as there are misspellings, misused and just plain missing words.  Though I have read a review copy which I did not pay for I have noticed that this is a novella length work being offered as a $3 eBook.

Everything mentioned to this point drives me to give a three out of five stars rating and that is based on the emotional plot work involved with Craig and Veronica.

 

Smashwords:

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/372580

Book Review: Whiney Space Cadet Needs Growth Opportunity

Saving Mars:  Book One in the Saving Mars Series

by Cidney Swanson

 

Jessamyn is a young Marsian woman who has been studying to be the best pilot she can be in preparation to be selected as one of the few to raid Earth for rations.  The raid occurs once every twenty annums, Martian years, or roughly forty Earth years since relations between the two planets ceased.  The term Marsian has been adopted as a form of solidarity among the abandoned to starve colonists.

Back to the protagonist, Jessamyn, who behaves much like any late-stage teenager.  She has her withdrawal zone, plenty of opinion and a lack of consideration for the opinions of others.  Since she values the goal of being a raid pilot so much this condition puts her in jeopardy of losing her goal.

This novel is an excellent beginning to the series and I hope the remainder of the volumes will be this well produced.  Plot and world building are very well done as are some of the supporting characters.  The dystopian picture of Earth and its system of maintaining peace will need to be fleshed out in the series in order to keep most readers engaged but the dose of back story here was enough to carry the novel.

Though I have trouble feeling any empathy for the protagonist I know a lot of readers will so I have not let that detract from my four out of five star rating.  The one star minus has to do with the never empty power sources used in the book.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Saving-Mars–1-ebook/dp/B008SULWZ6/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1386598738&sr=1-1&keywords=Saving+Mars

Minus a Conscience to be released in January of 2014.

Excerpt from Native Heart.  I call this little scene traveling in a glass box.

We passed the next day gently moving around the shuttle only when absolutely necessary.  The duct tape held on the stingers but we didn’t know how much force the remainder of the shuttle could take and thoughts of testing really didn’t appeal.  I had been forced to kill V-Rebecca before our chance to experience sex but I was a quick study after the first incident of how to use the restroom in this body.  Somehow it managed to overwhelm the air scrubbers making it quite a stinky little ship.

Since I couldn’t see myself in anything I used some time to study Andy assuming his features to be similar.  There were two holes to the rear of the eye stalks which I realized were nostrils and it occurred to me that Ceffyl Dŵr would make pretty good submarines having eye stalks and top mounted breathing.  I was contemplating this when Andy broke the silence.

“DMAD, I understand that you are studying me to learn about your new body but you are creeping me out.  Let’s figure out something else to do that doesn’t involve eating or shitting.”

“Wow, way to limit the options there Andy.  It just so happens that I have an idea.”

“No sex either, sorry.”

“Yeah, that was so not my idea and thanks for the sudden imagery damn it.  Anyway, do we have anything that will help us to adapt or prepare for the tribal culture we are about to infiltrate?”

“I have some memory files from the Boothanes that explain their ancient tribal customs before they formed a representative government.”

“They’re on Rios with the Vessir right?”

“Yes, though they appear to have originated somewhere else and escaped Rakan captivity to colonize Rios before we got there.”

“You think it would help?”

“We have time to kill and very little productive to do with it.  Let’s see if we can focus on the files and form some general observations that might serve us.  I think though I should start us with some personal knowledge of tribal behavior.”

“Oh, that Maori business.”

“Not entirely.  I studied primitive histories of man at the Tribunal Marine War College.”

“Man wasn’t amphibian.”

“No but some things may cross over.  Leadership dominance mechanisms were of particular interest to me.  How tribes govern themselves and how focused the power is often dictates how prone they are to warfare and random violence.”

“Andy, I will tell you right now that I have great respect for the wealth of knowledge you represent.  That being said you know how to make a space ship smaller in flight?”

We were both quiet for a moment before I continued “Lecturing and monologue. I welcome what you have to say as I think you are the expert between us on this matter so I will accept your briefly made points as operating principles.”

Another few moments of awkward silence settled between us before being shattered by Ceffyl Dŵr Andy laughing his ass off.  I realized I had made some comedy by making a speech of my own and joined him in the screeching until both of us could take no more and we feared being detected by listening posts.  Probably shouldn’t have worried, that laughter would most likely cause a sound system to implode.

Next You Pre-Release Catch up Reading list

Next You Volume 1

Volume One:  Legacy of Daddy and Next You Interstellar LLC.

http://www.amazon.com/Next-You-1-Angus-Day-ebook/dp/B00FOSXJII/ref=la_B009AM45MS_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1386527721&sr=1-3

Next You volume 1

Volume Two:  Having Nice Things and Utopian Estates.

http://www.amazon.com/Next-You-2-Angus-Day-ebook/dp/B00FOTAJCG/ref=la_B009AM45MS_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1386527721&sr=1-4

Destined for Something

Destined for Something

http://www.amazon.com/Destined-Something-Angus-Day-ebook/dp/B00FIPF0GG/ref=la_B009AM45MS_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1386527721&sr=1-2

Book Review…Nah, mainly rant!

Editing, Proofreading and producing something that doesn’t make you cringe defensively every time someone mentions they’ve read it!

What’s up people?  This is the second time in a month that I’ve gotten to a point in a read where I’m sucked in by the story then I get a two by four over the head because someone(author) won’t put the effort in to make sure their work has at least one edit pass.

As a self-pub I am like all the Indies and Self-pubs out there when I state that we are fighting against a stigma.  The stigma put shortly:  Anything other than big five published work will be substandard and not as valuable.

If you(author) are broke and can not afford an editor or proofreader then at the very least you should have time.  Get a week or two of distance after the writing then begin a deep read-rewrite.  Everything that was screwed up in the work I got suckered into reading could have been fixed in a patient pass as I just mentioned.  It takes discipline.

Those of you who follow, or at least pay attention to what I do will remember that my policy is to decide whether I will finish reading a work before the fifty percent mark.  If I pass that then I will finish and write a review.  My goal is to always write positive reviews.

Sometimes our goals are unreachable and we have to move on.

The author seems to have taken down the book to rework it so I will only post this on my blog and Goodreads.  Great.  Sharing Pleasures, an erotic novella was on my ‘to-be-read’ pile since 24NOV12.  I made it to seventy percent pulled in by the heat of the story.  At that point the cumulative effect of the poor editing caught up and I felt a sense of betrayal.

That’s it.  That is where I am calling it.  Next!

Book Review: International Spy Thriller Action Romance

The Schliemann Legacy

by D.A. Graystone

 

Schliemann dug up some artifacts in 19th Century Turkey proving that the City of Troy had actually existed.  This is the inciting incident of the inciting incident bumping against a Nazi plot evolving into a conspiracy with a drug cartel, three different national intelligence agencies terrorists and maybe a kibbutz.  Oh yes, someone who might have been associated with a Pope and a really disgusting information broker.  Quite an involved plot with two leads vying for main protagonist, four heinous villains and a misogynistic dill-hole supervisor for one of the intelligence services.

This book was really fun, it had a lot of the elements of an action spy novel without really handing out the plot in the first half.  The descriptive writing made me feel like I had lived for a week in most of the places the story passes through and was exceptionally well done during the hotter portions of the book.

Editing had a few issues that I think might have been rewrite flubs.  They were few and didn’t detract from the story.  I recommend this book to anyone who likes Tom Clancy, Robert Ludlum or Eric Van Lustbader works.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Schliemann-Legacy-D-Graystone-ebook/dp/B0058DVXTQ/ref=sr_1_1_title_0_main?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1386093533&sr=1-1&keywords=Schliemann+legacy

Warning, Opinion Piece.

Why do we belong to social media groups-communities?
It is usually because we share interests and want to remain on the inside of anything new developing in those areas.

Very few of us want our information filtered by some one else’s opinion. If you are one of the few then move on and I will leave you in your comfort zone.

The fact of the matter is that in the entertainment world, especially with books we are subject to corporate filtering unless we read Indie and Self-pubs. These corporations slather the planet with huge promotion budgets.

Bringing it home.
Why do we need to use social media to bring more promotion to works that are already swamping the feed? {rhetorical, unless you think you have an answer then you may write it on your roll of thinking paper in your special room and keep it to yourself}

I just left a Community in G+ that has a huge membership. Apparently loads of people want to be spoon fed mainstream corporate BS. The moderator has blatantly allowed promo but not Indies or Selfies.

I warned you of an opinion and here is your bonus. It is actually a review of the site. If all you want is main stream this is a community for you. Enjoy!

https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/116559659196021786692