Month: February 2015

Fantasy Review: ‘Forging Divinity’ by Andrew Rowe

Sometimes it seems as if every possible approach to fantasy has already been done a thousand times. So it’s lovely to find a new author capable of putting an original slant on the genre, whilst also having a lot of fun. In some ways this is a conventional story – young man with powers and a special sword, a monarchy under threat, active gods and goddesses – but it constantly took me by surprise, and combined some glorious punch-the-air moments with laugh-out-loud humour. Even the opening, which seems to be heading in one direction, veers straight off in a different one almost immediately. I love a book which surprises me, so this was a very good start. Here’s the premise: a young man wanders into town carrying a particularly striking sword, a religious artifact. He immediately becomes the focus for various factions who want to protect him or relieve him […]

Posted February 28, 2015 by PaulineMRoss in Review / 0 Comments

Brave or crazy? Author Holly Hook sets herself an unusual challenge

Holly Hook is the author of ‘Twisted’, a story where a girl swept up in a tornado emerges… somewhat different. But it hasn’t been selling as well as she’d hoped. So, to bounce up a few extra sales, she’s set up a sales challenge: if the book reaches 2,000 sales, she’ll let a live tarantula crawl over her face. And if it reaches 10,000, she’ll emulate the heroine of her book, and go twister-chasing. Crazy or what? Actually, the tarantula would worry me more than the twister, but that’s just me. If you want to help Holly on her way, you can buy the book at Amazon and other major eretailers. Or you can follow along with the challenge at Holly’s blog. I wish her every success. I think…

Posted February 24, 2015 by PaulineMRoss in Uncategorized / 3 Comments

‘The Mages of Bennamore’: Chapters 1-4

1: A Death The day before my fortieth birthday, my employer killed himself. It was expected, naturally. No ship owner could lose his entire fleet to the waves without paying the price of failure, no matter that the fleet comprised a single ship. Master Krend had to do what was proper, or lose all his rank, leaving his family destitute. It wasn’t his fault his only ship had foundered in a storm. He didn’t deserve to die, but that was the way things were done in the Port Holdings. Everything had been prepared. Master Krend had already sent his younger children away. He had been measured for his shroud. He had dictated the notifications of his death to me, my last and most distressing duty as his recorder. Now he had carried out his own last duty. The only person at all surprised was the kitchen girl, who came up […]

Posted February 23, 2015 by PaulineMRoss in The Mages of Bennamore / 0 Comments

Paranormal Fantasy Review: ‘Song of the Sea’ by Jade Varden

This book is way outside my usual sphere – YA, not-quite-human creatures, some romantic difficulties – but the opening is charming, and I ended up enjoying it a lot. Here’s the premise: Brenna is a high school student with a best friend, an almost-boyfriend, a fisherman father and a mother who likes to stand looking wistfully out to sea for hours on end. When Brenna discovers something unusual in the attic… at this point, I knew exactly what was going to happen. And when it does, and Brenna decides to head for the high seas alone in a small boat, frankly I wanted to sit her down and tell her just what a stupid thing she’s doing. But – teenager. There’s no reasoning with them, so I can accept this as part of her character. Out on the oceans, Brenna runs into the inevitable difficulties, plus a rather nice young […]

Posted February 18, 2015 by PaulineMRoss in Review / 0 Comments

Beta readers wanted!

So here I am again, asking for your help. The Mages of Bennamore is now as revised as I can make it without more pairs of eyes on it. I have a couple of beta readers already, but I’d love some more. If you’d like to help, all you have to do is read the book and let me know what you thought worked and what didn’t work. It’s about 150,000 words (approximately 380 pages), and I can supply it is mobi, epub or pdf format. If you’d like to beta read it, you can email me. Here’s the detail: The war between Bennamore and the coastal region was over almost before it began. Now the victors are bringing their spellcraft to the Port Holdings, unaware that the coastal folk have their own less conspicuous magical ability. But the uniquely powerful mage who negotiated the alliance is dead, and the […]

Posted February 18, 2015 by PaulineMRoss in Uncategorized / 0 Comments

Books that caught my eye: ‘Hawkridge’ by Julian Kindred

Generally, when I write about books here, it’s a review of a book I’ve read. I read and review perhaps 50 books a year. There are many more I’d love to get to, but… so many books, so little time. And if I don’t read it, I won’t review it. But sometimes a book will catch my eye for some reason, and even though I don’t have time to read it myself, it’s interesting enough to mention here. This is one I found in Joel Friedlander’s cover design awards. I love a book that blurs genre boundaries, and this one does it in glorious style – it’s a fantasy western, complete with ranch hands roping… wait for it, dragon calves. Wonderful! Here’s the cover and blurb. Note that I haven’t read this, but if anyone has, do post a comment. Colt Hawkridge thought he was content with his life on […]

Posted February 17, 2015 by PaulineMRoss in Books that caught my eye / 0 Comments

‘The Plains of Kallanash’: only $0.99!

For those of you in the US or UK, you can pick up a copy of ‘The Plains of Kallanash’ for the special price of $0.99 instead of $3.99 (it’s £0.99 in the UK). The discount will be running all week. If you’ve already bought your copy – thank you! If you have any friends you think might enjoy it, let them know. Enjoy!

Posted February 16, 2015 by PaulineMRoss in Uncategorized / 0 Comments

Fiction Review: ‘The Italian Girl’ by Iris Murdoch

What this book needs is more orcs. Or any orcs at all, really, but preferably a great horde of slavering, rampaging, hell-bent-on-destruction orcs. Failing that, zombies would do the trick. Or perhaps we could push swords into the characters’ hands and toss them into the gladiator arena. Frankly, they need something of the sort. A post-apocalypse world to shake them out of their fairyland and give them something serious to worry about. Because I’ve never come across such a snivelling bunch of whiny, self-absorbed morons who so badly need to just get over themselves. Here’s the plot, such as it is. Matriarch Lydia has just died, and son Edmund returns to the family home wherein reside his brother Otto and his wife Isabel, along with Otto’s apprentice and his sister, and the resident nanny-turned-housekeeper, the eponymous Italian girl. The story then unfolds with one melodramatic revelation after another, accompanied by […]

Posted February 12, 2015 by PaulineMRoss in Review / 2 Comments

‘The Fire Mages’ launch: promotion results

My first epic fantasy book, ‘The Plains of Kallanash’, was published in September with no promotion, apart from me wittering excitedly on social media. It performed exactly as you might suspect (around 60 sales in the first month before flatlining, and only 3 reviews). I always intended to delay heavy promotion until I had at least three books out, but the new book, ‘The Fire Mages’, is a much more marketable candidate (coming of age, young girl finding her powers, loads of magic), so I wanted to give it a bit of a head-start without pushing the boat out financially. The plan was to keep it at $0.99 for the first two weeks after release, combining that with some promotion every day. The first week would be smaller sites, with the big hitters in the second week. The objective was to generate steady sales which would give the book some […]

Posted February 10, 2015 by PaulineMRoss in Publishing/marketing, The Fire Mages / 3 Comments

Five-star archives: ‘The Lions of al-Rassan’ by Guy Gavriel Kay

I read this is 2011, as a follow-on to ‘Tigana’, and while it avoids the flaws of that work, it has a few all its own. I went on to read ‘A Song For Arbonne’, which I gave 4 stars, and haven’t read any Kay since. I do enjoy his work, but it is terribly over-wrought, and I have to get myself in the right frame of mind for it. My tastes nowadays veer more towards smaller, less ambitious tomes. Or perhaps just writing that doesn’t take itself quite so seriously. Well, this was a three Kleenex book and no mistake. That’s three boxes of Kleenex, of course. Not a book to read on public transport, unless you have no embarrassment gene. No one does grand tragedy quite like Kay. But I’m not totally sure what genre this is. It’s more fantasy than anything else, but the world-building is lifted […]

Posted February 8, 2015 by PaulineMRoss in Archive, Review / 2 Comments