Not just Sherlock Holmes
After my review of one of M.C.Beaton’s books, in which I basically trashed the story, the editing, and the characterisation, I read other reviews of the book on Amazon and discovered that Dead Ringer was atypical. So, being the generous soul that I am, I decided to try again.
We recently visited Guernsey, and most of the touristy shops made a big thing out of selling the book (often marketed as “the book of the film”) or the DVD. Of course the book came out first, and on our return when a friend offered to lend me either the book or the DVD or both, I chose the book.
At our writing group, the Lichfield Writers, one of our members mentioned how much she enjoyed M.C.Beaton’s books. As we were going out of the library where we meet, I noticed the latest Beaton, Dead Ringer, on the Rapid Reads shelf (books which have just come in and you must get through them in a week because other people want to get hold of them). So I picked it up, and…
I’ve been increasingly irritated recently by the use of italics to indicate thoughtlines, I thought to myself this morning.
I’ve been reading quite a few things, where it seems that the authors have never heard of “indirect speech” when it comes to internal thoughts. Quite apart from the typographic convention of using italics for unspoken words, which I dislike, I think there are some serious problems here. Continue reading “So much for that, she thought”
I have often felt myself (and described myself) as a Rip van Winkle character – someone who’s been asleep for a long time and wakes up to find the world has changed around him. This is due to my having lived in the isolated Galapagos Islands (aka Japan) for the best part of 30 years.
This has meant (for better or worse) that I never lived in the UK under John Major, Tony Blair, or Gordon Brown, and under David Cameron for one week only. My British cultural life has likewise been circumscribed (not that it was ever up to much in the first place). For example… Continue reading “Let’s do the time warp again”
As someone who has been asked to provide reviews of others’ books (and has sometimes failed to provide them – mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa), and also as someone who writes books and welcomes reviews, this is a subject about which I have opinions.
When I published my first book, Beneath Gray Skies, I was convinced, as are all new authors, that I had written a masterpiece, and that the hundreds of positive four- and five-star reviews it would garner would send it to the top of the best-seller lists.
By the way, this old promotional video uses an old URL – this site is now the place to be!
Continue reading “Do reviews matter?”
In 2008, I was living in Japan, and making my living as a freelance writer. One of the assignments that came my way was the editing of an investment bank’s English-language marketing materials, prior to their translation into Japanese. However, something got in the way… Continue reading “Here we go again (and what the last time did for my writing?)…”
I’ve just added three more of my books to this site. They’re not my best sellers, but in some ways they’re the ones I’m most pleased with.
I started off with At the Sharpe End, crossing, double-crossing and triple-crossing at the time of the 2008 bank crisis. Set in Tokyo.
I particularly liked writing Leo’s Luck – it’s an insane romp through sex, rock and roll, and the paranormal. It made me laugh at the antics of its characters at times, and I hope it will do the same for you.
Or, of you want a hard-boiled thriller, check out Balance of Powers (currently a free download), dealing with the problems of an Afghan vet coming back to his Ohio home in 2007 .
More details on the Thrillers page.
I don’t consider myself to be a complete idiot when it comes to computers, but HTML and Web sites drive me up the wall, even with products like Adobe’s Muse (now, sadly, RIP) and the like. So I’ve bitten the bullet and signed up for a paid WordPress site to replace whatever went before. At the moment it is obviously a WordPress site, but it will eventually (in a day or so if I’m lucky) have its own domain.
It’s taking me a little longer to get it going than I thought it would, but slowly but surely I am getting there. Eventually, I hope to be able to add all kinds of wonderful things, but for now, only the Sherlock Ferret books are being featured. More will appear soon, but there are only 24 hours in a day, and I only have 10 fingers.
Even though WordPress is much easier to use than it ever was, and most templates are responsive, meaning there are still problems with different browsers, HTML is far from a true WYSIWIG solution.
Which is why, I suppose, I still prefer books. But then, all new technology has its problems.