Review: Wool by Hugh Howey

Wool Omnibus Edition by Hugh Howey

550 pages

Broad Reach Publishing

Nook Edition April 6, 2012

From the book description:

Thousands of them have lived underground. They've lived there so long, there are only legends about people living anywhere else. Such a life requires rules. Strict rules. There are things that must not be discussed. Like going outside. Never mention you might like going outside.

Or you'll get what you wish for.

Review:

Brilliant!

Let me start by saying although I love science fiction, I’m not a fan of dystopian stories. So when such a novel overcomes my innate objections to this sub-genre, it has to have great characters, narrative, detail that makes it real, and a satisfying denouement. Wool hits all the points.

Howey’s character development is most impressive. I’m going to get a tad technical here, so please bear with me. Wool was written in third person limited, which means the only character whose head the reader should be able to see into is the point of view (POV) character for that scene or chapter. Here’s an example where Howey added flesh to another character through the eyes of the POV character:

Jahns glanced over and saw that her deputy's gaze had crept toward that dark crook in the hill. He covered his mouth with a fist of sharp knuckles and faked a cough.

    Most of all, it was the quality of the writing that allowed me to suspend my disbelief and ignore the some of my objections to the plausibility of the silo “world”—essentially an underground biosphere. I still wonder why Howey didn’t use geothermal energy and heating, the best source of power readily available to this underground environment that he created. One thing that made me buy into the author’s vision was his attention to detail while leaving enough for the reader to imagine and play with. I felt the reader needed this insight into how the silo could provide a livable environment that would support a viable population for hundreds of years.

    Even though most people don’t read such things as acknowledgments, I would have liked one, and was disappointed that it was missing from my edition. Perhaps there’s one in the print edition.

    This is one book that I will read more than once.

Review: The Last Days of Richard III and the Fate of his DNA

The Last Days of Richard III and the fate of his DNA: the book that inspired the dig [Kindle

Edition]

by John Ashdown-Hill

192 pages

The History Press, January 31, 2013

A must read for Ricardians

In August of 2012 a team of archaeologists from the University of Leicester went digging in a social services parking lot with the idea of hopefully finding evidence of the Grey Friars Friary. Not only did they locate the friary, they found Richard III’s remains.

In 2003, before the dig was ever considered, John Ashdown-Hill started his investigation of finding a living descendent from the female line of Richard’s mother, Cecily Neville. The female line of descent is necessary because children inherit an exact copy of their mother’s mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), but only the female passes this copy to the next generation. The author describes the process of finding a living descendent of one of Richard’s sisters and of the mtDNA analysis. The mtDNA was now available for comparison to the remains’ mtDNA. As exciting as this information is (for me), this is the present day science. This book is so much more.

Ashdown-Hill paints a fresh picture of a man, who despite terrible personal tragedies—his only legitimate son had died suddenly in April of 1484 and less than a year later, his wife died after a long illness (probably tuberculosis)—looking forward to remarrying and producing an heir and to a long reign as England’s king. Although there can be no doubt that Richard genuinely grieved for his son and wife, he nevertheless was planning for the future. This refreshing image is different from what most historians and novelists have portrayed.

The reader also gets a sense of what daily life was like for Richard, what some of his duties were, and how he would execute them.

One Ricardian myth the author dispels, is the one that purports Henry Tudor antedated his reign to August 21, 1485 (the battle where Henry defeated Richard was fought August 22). Ashdown-Hill could not find any extant contemporary evidence to suggest Henry’s reign was backdated by one day. The suspicion is the myth began ca 1647 from an error translating (from Latin to English) Richard III’s Epitaph (Buck’s translation with the dating errors are presented in Appendix 6).*

I found this book to be rich in detail and informative about Richard III’s last 150 or so days and about the role of DNA in confirming the remains. Not only is “Last Days” a significant historical reference, I found it a delight to read. John Ashdown-Hill achieved what is rarely seen in such a scholarly work—a reference that can be read from beginning to end without compromising the facts. I can’t recommend this book enough.

*Note: Several on Facebook who responded to this post pointed out that the antedating is part of the Parliamentary Rolls from Henry VII’s first parliament in 1485. Per Chapter 9, footnote 10:

This interpretation is based on Crowland, pp. 194– 95. However, the relevant passage does not, in fact, say that Henry antedated his accession, and there is no evidence to support such a claim in the surviving acts of attainder against Richard III’s supporters.

[Ashdown-Hill, John (2013-01-31). The Last Days of Richard III and the fate of his DNA: The Book that Inspired the Dig (Kindle Locations 3964-3966). The History Press. Kindle Edition.]

Pronay, N. & Cox, J., The Crowland Chronicle Continuations 1459– 1486 (London, 1986).

My search of the digital edition of Parliamentary Rolls for Henry VII’s first Parliament (November 1485), shows that Henry VII antedated his reign by a day. I emailed this information to John Ashdown-Hill and he is investigating this new (to him) evidence with the intent to amend the edition to reflect this information.

 

Review: To Kill a Mocking Dog

To Kill a Mocking Dog by Angela Cowan

209 pages

Kindle Edition

Book Description from Amazon:
Dead serial-killer Martin Hollis gets one last chance at life - only it’s more of a living hell for him. The Committee decides that as part of a new trial initiative, Marty will travel in time, find would-be victims and become a serial-saver. The alternative is spending eternity in black nothingness.

To say he's not best pleased would be like saying Genghis Khan was a bit cranky, but Marty wants another chance and agrees. Then he discovers he won't be travelling through space and time alone...and when he meets his new partner, the whole black nothingness thing suddenly doesn't seem quite so bad.

Review:

Redemption?

I have to admit, I was both intrigued and turned off by the premise of turning Marty, a serial killer into a serial saver, but Angela Cowan’s skillful writing made me identify with and like Marty and his partner Weedgie the mocking dog. I was able to suspend my skepticism within a few pages.

Despite the serious aspects of this book, Cowan wrapped it with humor and whimsy making it deceptively easy to read and hard to put down. I appreciate it when an author gets her point across without bludgeoning me with her position on morality.

If there was one thing I would fault, is I felt the reason Marty became a serial killer a bit too convenient and not entirely convincing to me. That did not affect my enjoyment of the book, however.

So if you are looking for a fun read with some substance, I heartily recommend this book.

Review of Bridgebuilders by Marlene Dotterer

The Time Travel Journals: Bridgebuilders

Marlene Dotterer

244 pages

Nook Edition

In the second book of The Time Travel Journals, we meet Sarah Andrews, Casey Wilson’s granddaughter, and the Sam Altair of the second universe are working to find a way to bridge to the first universe. Before she died, Casey made Sam promise to return to the first universe and then go back in time to visit her parents so that they should know what happened to their daughter. However, when Sam and Sarah bridge to the first universe, they find a dystopian Earth where climate change has devastated large parts of the planet, causing extensive flooding, drought, and famine.

In the first universe on dystopian Earth, we meet Andy and Moira, who are for me the main characters of the book. Andy is a graduate student who is teaching physics in an exclusive school for girls. Moira is a brilliant student on scholarship who is assigned to Andy. We learn that Moira is from a fundamentalist enclave and is desperate to escape. I found myself really caring about Andy and Moira—they came alive for me. Dotterer cleverly weaves the characters from both universes together for a gripping conclusion. To avoid spoilers, I won’t go into the details. Suffice it to say, I had a hard time putting the book down, even when good sense told me that it would be there the next day and that I should get some sleep.

Although the book starts with Sarah and Sam as major characters, the larger part of the book focuses on Andy and Moira. This, for me, was an issue. Because the book started with Sarah and Sam, I fully expected to become invested in them and follow them for most of the book. However, for a fair part of the book, Sarah and Sam were supporting roles for Andy and Moira, and once I met Andy and Moira, I didn’t want to leave them.

Bridgebuilders is a worthy sequel to Shipbuilder. If you enjoyed Shipbuilder, I think you’ll like the sequel. It’s not necessary to have read first book to understand the sequel, but it is worth reading in or out of sequence.

Deck Us All...

Every year at this time I grow nostalgic for the comic strip Pogo by Walt Kelly and his wonderful Deck the Halls parody--Deck Us All with Boston Charlie. Through the magic of YouTube I'd love to share this bit of holiday magic with you.

Happy Holidays and a Healthy New Year everyone!

The Next Big Thing

Last week, CLR Dougherty—sailor and author extraordinaire—tagged me and four others for The Next Big Thing. The way it works is for an author to answer  ten questions on their blog and then tags five authors to do so the week after. This presumes said author has been sociable enough ito know five others who authors and who are willing to participate in this experiment. 

On to the Q & A:

1) What is the working title of your next book?

     Strange Times—it’s the third book in the series about Richard III in the 21^st-century.

2) Where did the idea come from for the book?

    Since this is the third book in the series, I need to first talk about why I chose to write about Richard III and to employ time travel to bring him into the 21^st-century. I read “The Sunne in Splendour” by Sharon Kay Penman that showed me a human Richard III, one very different from the Shakespearean arch-villain. I had to learn more about Richard, and in doing so, became compelled to write about the real medieval monarch. The result was This Time followed by Loyalty Binds Me. The idea for the third book came from what is probably an apocryphal story about Francis Lovel, one of Richard’s most loyal supporters and close 15^th-century friends. The legend is that two years after the Battle of Bosworth where Henry VII defeated Richard III, Lovel joined up with a rebellion to restore the yorkists to the throne. They were defeated at Stoke. Most rebels were killed, but Lovel’s fate was unknown. One story was that he returned to Minster Lovel, his estate just outside Witney where he became trapped in an underground storage chamber and starved to death. Richard reads this tale and can’t get it out of his mind, even though it’s probably not true. He becomes obsessed with this story and tries to come up with a plan to save his friend from such a horrible end.

3) What genre does your book fall under?

    These three books aren’t represented by single genre, although the unifying thread is historical fiction. In addition to science fiction and adventure elements, the other main focus is character. As a reader, I want to become invested in the characters, so as a writer I tried to create characters that people would want to know.

4) What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?

    I really like Stephen Moyer (Vampire Bill Campbell in “True Blood”) for Richard. He resembles the National Portrait Gallery painting of Richard III.

5) What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

    How much will Richard risk in order to save a friend from starving to death 500 years in the past?

6) Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

    Self or indie.

7) How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?

    I’m still writing it. I’ve been working on it off and on for the past five years, but have been interrupted with trying to market the first two books (This Time and Loyalty Binds Me) and life in general. I do have the book planned out, but as they say, the devil is in the details.

8) What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

Because my books aren’t straight historical fiction, they are somewhat unique, not quite matching up to other books in the genres, including historical fiction that uses time travel as a device, because historical fiction that uses time travel usually has their protagonists go back in time to their chosen historical period instead of bringing a historical figure forward in time as I’ve done. I think the second book, “Loyalty Binds Me” can be compared somewhat to “Daughter of Time” by Josephine Tey, in that they both examine the mystery about the princes in the Tower in some depth, but in very different ways.

9) Who or what inspired you to write this book?

    As I previously mentioned, I was inspired first by “The Sunne in Splendour” Penman’s wonderful novel about Richard III, and then by what I learned about Richard in my research. One of the first things that got to me about Richard III was that he was only 32 when he was killed in battle. I felt his story was unfinished.

10) What else about the book might pique the reader’s interest?

    Personally, I hope that those who read my books will become interested in the life of Richard III and will want to learn more about him and possibly join the Richard III Society to connect with others who are interested in Richard’s life, the Wars of the Roses, and 15^th-century England and its culture.

The following authors have graciously agreed to participate in The Next Big Thing. Their post will be available December 12^th. Please visit them to whet your reading appetite.

Annamaria Bazzi

Brian Wainwright at Greyhounds and Fetterlocks
Kris Jackson at Kris Jackson Design
Lloyd Lofthouse at Anything Goes—a blog
Peter St John at Jenno’s Blog 

Going Indie: Why Quality Matters

It is my pleasure to welcome Helen Hollick, historical novelist and indie author discussing what it takes to be a successful indie author.

Indie authors – self-published writers – are gradually gaining respect from potential readers, but it has been, and still is, a long haul for those of us to publish our novels under independent means (i.e. not with a traditional mainstream publishing company) and not be condemned as failures or not good enough for “proper publishing”.

Most of us who have chosen the Indie route have done so for a reason. In my case it was because my previous UK mainstream publisher (Heinemann) decided to drop my backlist. Historical fiction had fallen from popularity, my books had not sold as well as expected mainly because of poor marketing. I also discovered that my agent was doing nothing for me. We did not see eye-to-eye on a project I passionately wanted to pursue (my Sea Witch Voyages) so she dropped me. End of career, I thought.  I retrieved my copyright, wrote the pirate-based novel I wanted to write, picked myself up, dusted myself down and found a small Indie company who had an even smaller mainstream imprint.

Looking back, the quality of the books they published for me were less than wonderful. Poorly set in places – even printed in Comic Sans for the first few books (I didn’t realise they would print exactly what I sent them – I assumed they would set everything in “house style”.) I was not especially surprised when the company went bankrupt. The staff did their best, but when the MD didn’t pay them, the printers, the office rent or due royalties to most of his authors, perhaps his going belly-up was a good thing.

For me, however, being with that company gave me a breathing space, to learn things quickly (how to and how not to do things!)  – and allowed the publishing world to cotton-on to the emerging importance of Indie Publishing. I am now with a fantastic UK Assisted Publishing Company, Helen Hart’s www.silverwoodbooks.co.uk. This is Helen’s own company and she does all she can to produce, quality books for authors who, for whatever reason, decide against Mainstream Publishing.

There is one thing that my personal experience has taught me. A book is only as good as it is written, as good as it has been edited, and as good as it has been produced.

 There is an ocean of difference between poor-quality, unedited, incorrectly formatted self-published books – and the ones that, frankly, are no different than those published by Random House, Harper Collins or any of the Big Boys… in fact, some self-published novels being produced now are even better than those being produced by the traditional houses. This is because those of us who take our writing – and self-publishing – seriously, do so with a professional eye. We are determined to prove that we mean business, that we are capable, respectable, worth-reading authors, and are taking care to produce quality books.

So what do I mean by “quality”?
If you are going to produce your own book – either literally self-publishing it, or commissioning a company to do all the technical stuff for you – type-setting, cover design etc – the writing itself must be good. Maybe you have been turned down by agents and publishing houses for a reason, perhaps your story really isn’t good enough yet. It needs polishing, it is too much “tell” not “show”; too many point of view changes; too much author’s voice. The plot, perhaps, does not have enough pace. Or just (I’m sorry to say this, but I am being honest) too badly written.

Get an independent critique from a professional company. And be honest with yourself. You cannot get an honest opinion from friends and family – your Mum/Aunt/Best Friend is going to love it, even if it is more boring than the latest edition of the telephone directory. An outsider will give that professional opinion – and if they say it needs work, don’t get all huffy. Real writers appreciate constructive criticism, professionals give constructive appraisal (not destructive – someone who says “this is rubbish” because they happen to prefer thrillers to romances is not being helpful!)

So when you know your labour of love has potential, find a professional editor. And no, this is not just for checking the spelling and punctuation. You will need a full, concise, edit to pick up on things like continuity errors, rambling passages – scenes that are too slow, missing explanations or too much explanation. After a full edit (and a re-write) then comes the copy edit for grammar, punctuation, spelling. Then the proof read – again get someone else to do this as well as yourself – you will not pick up your own errors.

Engage a professional cover designer. Yes your favourite niece might be a budding artist, but what makes an attractive picture does not necessarily relate to an eye-catching book cover, especially when it is reduced to thumbnail size.

Then there is the typesetting. Use a respected font, not Comic Sans, make sure the margins are not too narrow, nor too wide – and straight-edged on each side. Professionally produced books do not have ragged-edged (i.e. left justified) margins! Single line spaces, not double, page numbers at the bottom if you are publishing in the UK (at the top is the trend in the US) In short, do your homework. Look carefully at how established publishing houses produce their books and emulate their examples of layout from the copyright page to the end-piece.

If you want to be regarded as a good, high-standard, worth-reading author, then ensure your books look, feel and are of the highest quality. Give your readers the full enjoyment that they have paid for and leave them wanting your next glittering diamond, and the next … and the next...

Thank you Helen for informative and encouraging suggestions on what we aspiring self published and indie authors can do to make our brands hold their own with those traditionally published. I would also add that in lieu of finding local writing groups and critique buddies, that there are many online critique workshops where we can get honest feedback. When I first started on my writing adventure, I joined Critique Circle where I was able to get the support I needed. But it doesn't stop with peer critiques. Helen's point about engaging a profession copy editor cannot be stressed enough. 

Discover more about Helen and her books on her website: Helen Hollick's World of Books.

Her book, Discovering the Diamond, A guide to writing and getting published from a bestselling author can be found:

On Amazon.com Kindle $2.99

On Amazon.co.uk Kindle £1.54