Down to the pub

The review that Pubby claims was left for one of my books has yet to post at Amazon. The review I left, for a book I selected to review on Pubby four days later, already posted.

Well, since I have the credits, I requested another review. And also took on another myself. A cool little turn-of-the-century steampunk novel that grabbed me with the first page. Hey, since I was thinking of reading it already...

I have feelers out but at the moment I still have a kiss-of-death rating on Hounds. A single star that is going to ensure nobody else will read it, ever. Until I can get something in there to make it look better.

At least I've started blocking out scenes for Wedding. I always have trouble getting into these. When I'm not writing in Penny's voice she seems so distant and alien. I think once I start putting down scenes it is going to go quickly, though. More quickly than the last, I hope.

Meanwhile I'm reading. And reviewing.

And binge-watching Bones. Which is a bit of a master class in how to set up a situation and handle exposition. Just overall very nice work. Very smart, very efficient. The stories are dense without feeling rushed. They feel like they are unfolding at almost a relaxed pace but when you hit the end of an episode you feel like you just saw a novel's worth of material.

You know, that's the most irritating thing about Pubby. Not the weird site, not the reviews going missing. That what I really want to do with the books I'm encountering is sit down with the writer and show them other, possibly better ways they could present their story.

Those who can't do, teach.

(Actually, I have a whole thought going on now about right brain versus left brain books. That some books speak to the one and some to the other and that is why the techniques and the reader response are so different. It isn't just fanfic: I'm seeing on Amazon as well these books with poor story-telling technique but vocal fans. Something different is speaking to those fans. Something us left-brainers aren't doing.)