Hey peeps. If you are active on social media you are probably already aware of the #IndieApril hashtag which is being used to promote independent and self-published books and authors this month. We are now more than halfway through the month, and to mark the occasion, the ebook edition of my first novel, The Exercise Of Vital Powers, is on sale for just £0.99/$0.99/€0.99 all this week.
One of the inescapable truths about literature is that there is no such thing as a universally loved book. Even the most lauded work you have ever read has its detractors. In other words, one person’s masterpiece is another person’s trash. This being the case, every author knows that sooner rather than later their books will receive bad reviews, and yesterday I received my first ever 1 star review on Goodreads for The Exercise Of Vital Powers. I have since been inspired to write how I’ve chosen to deal with this unwelcome development.
Greetings people. To say that I have been neglectful of my blogging duties this year would be something of an understatement. Regrettably, as much as I would like to be posting new updates on a regular basis (I certainly have plenty of unwritten posts I want to share), all my free time at present is being spent on writing my second novel while continuing to promote my first. In other words, I’m not likely to be in a position to start frequently updating the blog again before the end of May, at the earliest. Until then, this is a quick post to let you know I’m still breathing, and inform you of the most significant developments in my writing life since the turn of the year.
You are no doubt aware that C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe is one of the most beloved and successful children’s fantasy books in history. But have you ever wondered what inspired Lewis to write the story? Well it’s a question that has been answered in the book, Of Other Worlds: Essays And Stories, a posthumously published anthology of essays and unpublished stories by Lewis.
Hello people! Please check out my review of the urban fantasy novel, King Maker, by Maurice Broaddus. The review originally appeared on my soon-to-be defunct book blog, Another World, but I’ve given it another lease of life at its new home on my official website.
King MakerMaurice Broaddus
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Angry Robot
Format: Paperback, 416 Pages
Date: 4th March 2010
ISBN-10: 0007343310
ISBN-13: 978-0007343317
Recent years have brought about a growing trend which has seen the publication of numerous re-tellings/re-imaginings of classic works of fiction. Whether it be the reworking of popular children’s fairy tales into more “grown up” paranormal tales, or unconventional “mash-ups” blending horror with Victorian literature in the vein of Austen and the Bronte sisters, there has been several interesting, albeit not particularly good books written.
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The end of the year is upon us, and it’s time to take a look back at what turned out to be my most productive reading year for over a decade. Having set myself a modest target of ten books to read in 2018, I surpassed that goal by reading a total of twenty-seven books. To mark that achievement I am hereby going to share with you the best of these books that I read because, much to my surprise, I had the pleasure of reading five novels that I awarded 5 star ratings to. That many 5 star reads in a single year is unheard of for me.
So, we are into the penultimate month of the year, and I am in need of some assistance to achieve an end of year target. Calling all book bloggers and booktubers: Do you like reading fantasy? Do you appreciate a character driven narrative? If the answer to both questions is yes, you might be able to help me break the 100 ratings and 50 reviews barrier for my book, The Exercise Of Vital Powers, on Goodreads.
As you may have noticed, it’s been a while since my last blog post. There are reasons for this, the principal one being that I’ve been focussed on my fiction writing for the past several weeks. After being sidetracked by a couple of novellas (that I’m still not sure I’m actually going to publish), I finally resumed work on the second draft of the sequel to The Exercise Of Vital Powers, that some of you are eagerly awaiting. With any luck you’ll get your hands on it no later than summer 2019; I’ve been making good progress on it over the last couple of weeks.
Please check out this new review for The Exercise Of Vital Powers, posted on Nana’s Fantastical Reads.
~Werbung / ad – Thank you to Ian Gregoire for providing me with a copy of this book. All opinions are my own.~
Ever since The Exercise of Vital Powers was reviewed and praised by Booktuber Kitty G as part of SPFBO 2017, a contest for indie authors hosted by author Mark Lawrence, I was very intrigued by the premise. However, the cover didn’t really appeal to me and might have been the reason why I didn’t pick it up immediately. The next time I checked, the book was no longer available on Amazon since the author wanted to revise the book and publish a second edition with a brand new cover. I was lucky enough to participate in the cover reveal in May. Since the new edition is available now since the beginning of July, I was finally able to read the book and share my thoughs on it…
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It’s exactly a month since the re-release of The Exercise Of Vital Powers, and it’s time for a look back at what the book has accomplished in those four weeks. To start with, I probably don’t need to state that sales, so far, are nothing to write home about. But as mentioned in a previous post, I’m not particularly interested in sales figures this time around. My primary goal in publishing a revised second edition of my debut novel is to ensure there is a large enough potential audience for the upcoming sequel. With that in mind I set three (non-sales related) end of year targets to determine whether the publication of a sequel next year is worthwhile. Now, one month later, let’s see how much closer I am to achieving these targets.
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