Saturday 30 June 2012

Interogating Lexi Revellian

Lexi is an author who can turn her hand to numerous genres.  After the chick-lit contemporary fiction of Remix to the sci-fi of Replica, she published the fantastical fantasy books featuring Torbrek.



 


How do you strike the balance between writing something you want to write and writing something that people want to read, in terms of the compromises you make, if any?

No compromises. I write the sort of book I want to read, knowing many readers share my taste. If a publisher wanted me to add graphic sex and violence to Replica to make  it a standard thriller, and offered me a six figure sum, I’d decline. Haughtily.


What excites, attracts or appeals to you about the genres you write in?

Gah! Don’t mention genres – I have an aversion to pigeon-holes. My novels are hybrid. Some of my strangest reviews are from readers who assume they are pure chicklit, romance, thriller, or  mystery, and judge them on those terms. I like twists and surprises and humour, and all my novels have a romance in them. Literary fiction, ‘beautiful’ writing, leaves me cold.


Do you have a box, drawer, folder etc. where you keep thoughts and ideas for future stories? 

I have a pile of scrap A5 paper with gnomic sentences on, sometimes scrawled in the middle of the night. I write everything down, or I forget. You never know when inspiration will strike, or what you will overhear. I once cycled past a man and his Labrador. He was saying earnestly to the dog, “Now it’s no good you sulking…”

Each book I write has its own separate document of notes, where I put ideas, lists, character biographies and bits I’ve cut. Also a picture file; photographs of people, places, maps and plans.


How do you manage plot bunnies (ideas that invade your mind that aren’t usually helpful to the story you’re writing but breed like...er...bunnies)?

Plot bunnies? I don’t get those. I want some!


How much of you is in your characters? Which of your characters is the you that you’d most like to be?

There’s a bit of me in most of my characters, and the weird thing is, they then influence me. It’s as though writing them makes me acknowledge a hidden part of my psyche. I’ve become more assertive and outspoken since writing fiction, as if my characters showed me different ways of handling life. On a more trivial level, I hardly swore till I wrote Ric Kealey and Jeff Pike. 

If I had to be one of my characters, it’d be Caz Tallis, Remix’s narrator. She has a pretty good life – interesting job restoring rocking horses, gorgeous boyfriend, trusty best friend who is in love with her, and she’s happy.


Do you become so wrapped up in your writing that your spouse wonders if they're married to you or one of your characters?

I am spouseless, but when she lived at home the offspring used to do a lot of eye-rolling and at one point banned all mention of my books. So yes, I do get obsessed.


What type of book do you like reading? Is it the same genre as you write?

Genres again… I like an absorbing read with a satisfying (not necessarily happy) end, humour and believable characters. My two favourite authors I reread are Jane Austen and Mary Renault. I am no longer prepared to finish a book that’s hard going. All the best books are easy reads.


What lengths do you go to to convince us readers that your book has the X factor?

I research, I rewrite to make the read as smooth as possible, and revise in the light of beta readers’ comments. My daughter reads as I go along and tells me if she thinks the story is heading in the wrong direction. She is generally right. She also updates slang as necessary. I am fond of advice, though feel no obligation to take it, and am always ready to seize on suggested improvements.


How do you feel when a reader points out the spelling mistake(s) you have made?

Mortified. I have to correct it instantly, NOW! I take pride in my writing being typo-free, and am a good proof reader.  I’ve learned always to check brand names, as they are easy to get wrong.


What do you like most about visiting KUF/forums?

I like the friendly ethos, something that is alarmingly absent from some forums I have been on, and the other Kuffers. And I like the design of the site. Lou is a gent.


What is on your near horizon?

I am a third of the way through the WIP, currently called Ice Diaries. It’s set in a post-pandemic 2018, in a London covered by twenty metres of snow. My heroine, Tory, lives among a small group of survivors, the sort of people you’d meet at an Islington dinner party. One night she finds a man face down in the snow who has a disruptive effect on her little community…


Where can we find you for more information?

My website, blog, and Amazon Author Page. I always answer readers’ emails, and am still fretting about one who mistyped her email address so I couldn’t reply.

Thursday 28 June 2012

Shades of Grey by Michael Cargill

This is an anthology of three short stories.  In saying short stories, they are a decent length, not too short.
They are three stories about survival.  The stories are completely unrelated but with the same underlying theme.

For me the first one was OK.  But definitely good enough for me to want more.
The second one, John in WWII, was so vividly written, I could picture it so well.  I felt I was there with him.
The third story was my favourite.  It was so creepy as the story progressed.

I found the flow of writing to be superb.  There was nothing to pull you up short or stop you to wonder what was meant.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B007BFJ45E/?tag=kuffbl-21

Wednesday 27 June 2012

Interrogating Eric Christopherson

Eric Christopherson is the author of some seriously good thrillers where sanity is a matter of opinion.






How do you strike the balance between writing something you want to write and writing something that people want to read, in terms of the compromises you make, if any?

I enjoy reading thrillers to such an extent that it's no sacrifice at all consigning myself to writing within the genre. I haven't made any sacrifices with the writing of the books yet either. I write books I wish I could read myself. I do wonder how the work-in-progress--Tentatively entitled, Fortress of Ephemera--will play with the reading public, though. I have a very large vocabulary, partly as the result of possessing an advanced degree, and for the first time that vocabulary will be on display through the stuffy voice of the story's narrator. I think some readers will enjoy the rich language while others will be glad it's so easy on an ereader to access the dictionary. :)


What excites, attracts or appeals to you about the genre(s) you write in.

Vladimir Nabokov once said: "The unraveling of a riddle is the purest and most basic act of the human mind." I think it's the riddle aspect of the thriller genre that really turns me on: What is this character really like? Really made of? What happens next? Who done it? Who will prevail? How will s/he prevail? And so on. I like the outsize stakes usually found in a thriller very much too, the world-hangs-in-the-balance scenarios, as well as the clever high concept ideas and the often exotic locales.


Do you have a box, drawer, folder etc where you keep thoughts and ideas for future stories? Such as names you have come across, bits of dialogue, ideas, characters - even if you have no idea when you might use them?

I used to have such a folder, now it's a computer file. I've already collected more story ideas than I have time to write if I live a century. On the other hand, I'd only really want to write about ten percent of the ideas, if push came to shove, but any of the other 90 percent might serve as inspiration, a jumping off point for a really good idea.


How much of you is in your characters? Which of your characters is the you that you’d most like to be? Or be with

I think it varies how much of me is in a character from little to a lot. I think we all are multidimensional but most of our dimensions don't get exercised or developed. One of the pleasures of being a novelist is the opportunity to take one of my more or less neglected dimensions out of the box for a nice run.

The importance of humor in life only increases as I age, so I think the me I'd most like to be amongst my characters would be Argus Ward of Crack-Up; albeit, I wouldn't also wish to be schizophrenic!


Do you become so wrapped up in your writing that your spouse wonders if they're married to you or one of your characters?

No, because my wife and family come first, and that's my wife and family insisting, by the way. It slows my productivity, no doubt, but I wouldn't have it any other way.


What type of book do you like reading? Is it the same genre as you write?

I read thrillers and I read classic novels and nonfiction and little else. My favorite author of all time is probably Charles Dickens. I like Shakespeare nearly as well. I'm very slow in reading my favorite authors as I don't want to run out of new material from them. I'm fast approaching the end of Raymond Chandler's short oeuvre, and it's a bit sad for me.

Besides thrillers I read a lot of mysteries. I mean to write a straight mystery one day purely due to my love for them.


What lengths do you go to to convince us readers that your book has the X factor?

Well, there are the blurbs I write for the novels as well as the star ratings on Amazon and at Goodreads. I'm very grateful that the books have been so well reviewed. I only wish more people knew about them.

I do very little in the way of marketing. I mean to change that once I've finished Fortress of Ephemera.


How do you feel when a reader points out the spelling mistake(s) you have made?

This has yet to happen. I'm sure it will happen one day, probably a homonym the spell check fails to pick up.


What do you like most about visiting KUF?

Counting the number of members who've recommended my novels. :)


What is on your near horizon?

Finishing the work in progress and raising my one year-old, mutually incompatible goals.


Where can we find you for more information?

I don't have a website yet. But I can be reached at: suspenseman@gmail.com

Hollowland by Amanda Hocking

I picked up this book for free to see what all the fuss was about, Amanda Hocking being one of the top selling indie authors with many column inches written about her.

It's a YA teenage girl kicks zombie ass book.  I'd heard her writing was rubbish and the story was ridiculous.  As I started reading it, I agreed.  The writing is not the best.  There's typos in here and she writes in the voice of a teenager - the book being written in first person.

The story is a bit silly.  The heroine sets off across zombie country picking up a lion and a rock star on the way.  I was only going to read a bit, then a bit more, then I was committed.  For all it's faults, I want to see how it ends.  It certainly won't win any literary prizes, but I've never liked a book that does.  This is trash, but in an entertaining way.  Will I read more?  I doubt it.  But I enjoyed this book, even though I didn't expect to.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00466H8JK/?tag=kuffbl-21

Sunday 24 June 2012

Interrogating Arthur Slade

Arthur Slade introduced me to steampunk and scary norse mythological creatures.  And he's a YA author!!!




How do you strike the balance between writing something you want to write and writing something that people want to read, in terms of the compromises you make, if any?

I tend to just write what I feel the story demands and what first appears in my head. Sometimes I'll push the envelope much further than I intended. It isn't until I get to the third or fourth rewrite that I begin to question what belongs and what doesn't. It's not that I think "will readers want to read this" but I'm thinking more at the level "does the story need this? Does it belong?" If the answer is yes, then the piece stays. If not, then it doesn't. An example from The Hunchback Assignments is that there is a scene where the procedures that were performed on the urchins by Dr. Hyde were a bit more grotesquely examined (in fact one character wakes up during an operation). After suggestion from my editors I cut several smaller scenes. The story didn't need that extra element of horror and in some ways it was better to leave that "procedure" suggested, not explained. It was just me figuring out how things were done.


What excites, attracts or appeals to you about the genre(s) you write in.

I call myself a fantastical writer because I don't write just in horror, or fantasy, or science fiction...or historical. Each of these genres has some core element that attracts me. Just like many other humans I'm curious about history. Why did we do things the way we did? And what if we did things differently? The fantastical elements allow me to stretch my mind (and the story) beyond the regular boundaries of the here and now. What if people come back from the dead? What would that really be like? What if you could change your shape? How would that change the "inner" you? That's fun to play with. I guess what I enjoy about that is the possibilities appear limitless.


Do you have a box, drawer, folder etc where you keep thoughts and ideas for future stories? Such as names you have come across, bits of dialogue, ideas, characters - even if you have no idea when you might use them? 

I have several scrap books, a folder called "ideas" (creative, eh?), and another file on my computer that I just drag and drop things into. Whenever there's a lull in my schedule I dive into the folder and find something. Though more often things are trying to get out anyway. Probably 95% of what I find never gets used. It just sits there. Waiting. Waiting. Hoping to become part of a story.


How much of you is in your characters? Which of your characters is the you that you’d most like to be? Or be with ? 

Oh, I think it depends on the character. Modo is an obvious example of someone who has similarities to me. I'm a reader. He's a reader. He's shy. I'm somewhat shy. He can change his shape. I can change...uh, well that's where we differ. But it's a natural process to strip mine elements of your personality and add them to your character. Of course, are the evil characters part of me, too? Yep. It's imagining what it would be like if you didn't have all those rules and messy morals in your brain. By far I'd like to be Modo, I think being able to leap up buildings in several bounds would be a lot of fun. And would save on transportation costs.


Do you become so wrapped up in your writing that your spouse wonders if they're married to you or one of your characters?

Alas, sometimes. Although I'm more likely to become just a brooding bore while I'm in a book. I tend not to talk about the book until it's done. And since that can be a year...well, that's a lot of brooding (don't worry, I talk about other things inbetween...I don't just brood for a year).


What type of book do you like reading? Is it the same genre as you write?

Mostly I read books for Middle Grade and Young Adults. That's the part of the industry I'm in and I have so many friends who keep writing books. But generally I enjoy reading fantasy and horror and science fiction and historical novels and ... oh, it's getting to be a long list.


What lengths do you go to to convince us readers that your book has the X factor?

Oh, I so wish I knew what the X factor is. If I did, I'd bottle it and sell it to other writers. And maybe to bystanders, too.


How do you feel when a reader points out the spelling mistake(s) you have made?

It's curious. For my novels that are only in print I'll just smile and go "thanks" because most of those can't be fixed until there's a reprinting...so there's not much I can do about it. But in books that I've epubbed, I can just open the file and fix the mistake. Easy. And it makes it a better experience for the next reader. 


What do you like most about visiting KUF?

Skimming. By that I spend a lot of time just reading about what other people are reading and what they recommend. Being a Canadian, it's always interesting to see what other countries find to be good books. There is some crossover between what North American readers read, but I find some real gems in the UK lists. And that's what we're all looking for.


What is on your near horizon?

Just finishing up Flickers,  a dark horror novel set in 1920's Hollywood. Needed a break from the Steampunk for a bit.


Where can we find you for more information? 

I live (virtually) at http://www.arthurslade.com From there you can link to my Twitter and Facebook accounts, where I blather on constantly about the horrible, painful life of being a writer. 


Hell's Fury by PD Martin

This story is about "RB" who is rescued from an Afghan prison where she was tortured and held captive for many months.  Since she was a top agent, she's offered a job with "The Committee" to assassinate bad people.  The first bad person is a people trafficker who uses the women as sex slaves.

I enjoyed this story, it kept me gripped as RB planned her operation and set up her hits.  I liked that she hated the traffickers for what they were doing and wanted to save the girls.

It was certainly a good read, fast paced and keeping you on your toes (or as it's in the case of reading, keeping you on your backside lol).

It seems like this may be the first in a series about RB and The Committee and I'd certainly  interested in reading more.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0083UX3B2/?tag=kuffbl-21

Saturday 23 June 2012

On The Rocks by Rosen Trevithick

This story is a surprisingly easy read as is all of Rosen's stories.  Even though the subject matter is something that most people don't think about, it's dealt with in a compasionate way.

Meg is about to jump of a cliff as her undiagnosed mental illness makes her not want to live any more.  Poppy comes across her and befriends her and helps her to understand her illness.  It sounds depressing but isn't.  It does pull at your heart at times.

Before discovering Rosen, I'd not thought about mental illness, but I feel Rosen helps you to understand it.

I'd read this as part of Seesaw which has to be one of my Books of the Year.

www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0067A8KP4/?tag=kuffbl-21

Venom of Vipers by KC May

I kept meaning to read this for ages, so at last I did.

It's set in a near future world, where the human race is about to be extinct from a disease, molio.  They have cross bred humans with reptiles in order to try for a cure and to keep even a part human going.  The cross breeds - called Saphers - live on a compound and the humans outside either want them to have full human rights and be freed or be put down as they are abominations.

I enjoyed this story.  It worked as a thriller and also made you think about "human" rights and genetics.  The characters were interesting.  I often forgot that some of them were Saphers and not human prisoners.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004EBT3HW/?tag=kuffbl-21

Tuesday 19 June 2012

Interrogating Shayne Parkinson

Shayne Parkinson is a Kiwi author of historical novels.  She has a habit of appearing in Amazon's top 100.



How do you strike the balance between writing something you want to write and writing something that people want to read, in terms of the compromises you make, if any?

I write what I'm drawn to write, and hope that people will want to read it. If my heart wasn't in it, I think that would show through in the writing—I wouldn't make a very good job of it!


What excites, attracts or appeals to you about the genre(s) you write in.

I've had an interest in history since I was a child, but this particular passion for writing historical fiction grew with the process of discovering my characters and the world they inhabit. I wanted to find out more about how they lived, and the more I learned the more fascinated I became.

While the historic period has shaped the attitudes of my characters and the events of their lives, and the period details are as accurate as I can make them, the books aren't about those details. I believe

that in some ways people are the same across the ages. We all have dreams and disappointments, loves and losses, joy and sorrow. For me, historical fiction can show us something of how our forbears lived—such different lives from ours—and can help us feel a kinship with them.

I find it easier to identify with ordinary people than the great and powerful, and although mine are imaginary they're as real as I can make them. I'd like to think that my characters give something of a

voice to those who lived obscure lives of quiet struggle and small triumphs, wanting the best for their children, even though their idea of "the best" might be very different from ours.


Do you have a box, drawer, folder etc where you keep thoughts and ideas for future stories? Such as names you have come across, bits of dialogue, ideas, characters - even if you have no idea when you might use them?

The folders are mostly computer ones, where I store away bits and pieces: future plot ideas, snippets about characters' lives, interesting names for characters or places, odd little events I hear of. I also have boxes of things like old photographs and diaries.


How much of you is in your characters? Which of your characters is the you that you’d most like to be? Or be with?

I really don't think there's much of me in any of them—I don't think I'd survive long in a 19th century farming valley, especially with all that childbearing. I did bequeath one or two of the city dwellers my incompatibility with early mornings. One of my characters, Sarah, has a very comfortable life and is financially independent; I think hers is the life that would suit me most. She's also (like me) hopeless

first thing in the morning. One reader described Sarah as going through life "with her elbows out"; I think I have a less black-and-white view of the world than she does.

The one I'd most like to be with is Frank. As I say at the end of one of the books, my husband was my inspiration for the very finest aspects of Frank’s character.


Do you become so wrapped up in your writing that your spouse wonders if they're married to you or one of your characters?

He remarked a while ago that it always feels as if we have a houseful of people, even though it's only the two of us! He does cheerfully cope with sharing the house with my motley assortment of characters. We often discuss their motivations and how they'd handle particular circumstances; there's even some role-playing at times.  The boundaries don't *quite* blur to the point of forgetting who's married to whom, though.


What type of book do you like reading? Is it the same genre as you write?

Confession time: I re-read a lot, especially my old favourites. My single favourite author is Jane Austen, and I never tire of revisiting her. Rather than having a favourite genre, I like books with engaging characters and/or appealing settings. I also read quite a lot of non-fiction, particularly in the area of New Zealand history.


What lengths do you go to to convince us readers that your book has the X factor?

Well, there's the theme park, and the "Amy's Trail" tourist venture... oh, you mean in real life, not daydreams? I just put the books out there and hope for the best. I have lots of lovely readers who encourage friends and acquaintances to read the books, and this word-of-mouth is the best promotion I could hope for.


How do you feel when a reader points out the spelling mistake(s) you have made?

Very grateful to the reader who's taken the trouble, and mortified at having let a work out into the world with an error in it. Fortunately it hasn't happened very often!


What do you like most about visiting KUF?

The open, welcoming atmosphere, and the way writers and readers mix so comfortably.


What is on your near horizon?

In a fit of madness, I've decided to work on two books at once: the next in my fiction series, and an unrelated non-fiction work about a scandalous incident in 19th century Wellington. How well I survive this remains to be seen.


Where can we find you for more information?

My website is www.shayneparkinson.com. It has some background details of the books' settings, along with my contact email address.

Friday 15 June 2012

Day by Day by Shaun Jeffrey

I've read a few of Shaun's books, from the police procedurals of Prosper Snow in The Kult to the wierd and dark worlds in  books such as Dead World and Dark Seduction.
But this book is the scariest.  It reads as if it's a newspaper report/interview rather than a novel story.  The horror in this story is that it is the truth in many towns around the country.
I can't say I "enjoyed" it as such, but it was gripping reading and I didn't want to stop until I found out the ending.

www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B008AQGSNY/?tag=kuffbl-21

Wednesday 13 June 2012

Interrogating Steve Robinson

On the release of To The Grave, the follow up to his very popular book In The Blood, I interview Steve Robinson on the eve of his first year of being an indie author



How do you strike the balance between writing something you want to write and writing something that people want to read, in terms of the compromises you make, if any?

I like to write the kind of books that engage and excite me as a reader and I figure that if I can achieve that for myself when I’m writing then others might enjoy my books for the same reasons.  I like a good story and that’s what I try to create.  A good story, well-told. That’s my mantra.  It doesn’t really feel like I’m making any compromises and that’s perhaps because I love the genres I write for and crime-fiction in particular is very popular at the moment.


What excites, attracts or appeals to you about the genre(s) you write in.

I love weaving a mystery through a book and it’s the unanswered questions that keep us turning pages to find the answers, isn’t it?  Also, because my protagonist, Jefferson Tayte, is a family historian, I have the freedom to write in any time period I choose, and that’s something else I love about the genres I write for - it’s exciting for me when I finish a book and I start to wonder where the next story will take me.  It keeps everything fresh for both writer and reader alike.  To paraphrase Forrest Gump’s ‘box of chocolates’ scene, you never know what you’re gonna get - and neither do I.  Add in the crime-fiction element and things get more exciting because I can also write for the thriller genre.


Do you have a box, drawer, folder etc where you keep thoughts and ideas for future stories? Such as names you have come across, bits of dialogue, ideas, characters - even if you have no idea when you might use them? 

I keep notepads by my bedside and all over the house (as I’m sure every writer does), but most of my ramblings go into files on my laptop.  I don’t do longhand at all well because I can type faster than I can write - if I want to keep things legible that is.  And I do ramble.  By the time I’ve finished a book of around 100,000 words, I’m sure that I’ve written twice that in notes and research.  I love technology for that reason.  Without my laptop I’d go through so many notepads, be completely disorganized and need a bigger house in which to store all the boxes, drawers and folders I’d need to contain all those words.


How much of you is in your characters? Which of your characters is the you that you’d most like to be? Or be with ? 

I’ve wondered that myself.  My agent asked me this a few years ago when she was trying to get a mainstream publisher interested in my debut book, In the Blood. I was sitting with her at her office in London, having hand-delivered my second book largely because it was cheaper to visit her than post it.  She asked where I got the character of Jefferson Tayte from and I said that most of him came from me.  She said, ‘but you don’t look anything like him.’  That’s true, but it’s not really what I meant, although we are roughly the same height.  I tend to define my characters by their moral attributes as well as physical.  When you see a character you get an image that you can recognize, but you don’t know them, do you?  What I meant was that in any given situation that I’d put Tayte in, I would ask myself what I would do.  How he behaves is much as I would behave myself or hope I would.  Other characters are taken from people I’ve met.  Tom Laity from In the Blood is a real person by a different name.  The real man is exactly like the character in the book and he also lives in Cornwall and ran a deli at the time.  You can’t beat drawing from real life - and you can always embellish.  In To the Grave, Tayte really shares the lead with a character from 1944 called Mena.  She’s a 16/17 year old girl and I’ve no idea how she came to me but she’s such a wonderful character that I’m so glad she did.


Do you become so wrapped up in your writing that your spouse wonders if they're married to you or one of your characters?

I think she wonders where I am more than who I am.  I do tend to get into character though as well as the period when I’m deep into a book.  I think you have to or how else am I going to feel it?  And if I can’t feel it, how can I expect my readers to?  It’s all part of the job.  At least I’m at home though, so I’m kind of around and the balance works okay for us because my wife works long hours herself. 


What type of book do you like reading? Is it the same genre as you write?

Pretty much.  I like crime-fiction, of course, and I love a good mystery, but I’m off police procedurals and I don’t like murder-mysteries.  I prefer to think of my books as mysteries with murder, where the mystery itself runs deeper than whodunnit.  I like my mysteries to be more about why.  Every now and then you come across a book that grabs your attention outside of your usual genres, don’t you?  I love it when that happens.  If the storytelling in a book is strong enough, I don’t really mind what genre it is. 


What lengths do you go to to convince us readers that your book has the X factor?

I like to raise questions in a book blurb while letting the reader know what it’s about.  There are about thirteen questions in the blurb for To the Grave and hopefully they will entice the reader to read on and find the answers.  I don’t know about X-factor.  I think that’s a little different for every reader and the answer to whether or not a book has it for a reader can only come at the end of the book.  The reviews from such readers stack up over time though and books that have that X-factor will eventually show through.  I guess the only way I could try to convince you that my books have the X-factor would be to show you what others thought about my work.


How do you feel when a reader points out the spelling mistake(s) you have made?

Grateful.  They really are doing me a service.  I’ve had what feels like a small army of proofreaders working with me on polishing To the Grave and we’ve already had a great comment from one reader who said how well edited and proofed it was, so credit to them.  This is the very reason I’m holding back the paperback release for a few weeks because it’s so easy (and free) to fix an error in an eBook publication, less so when it’s in print.  So, if you or any one else finds any errors in my work, please let me know.


What do you like most about visiting KUF?

I’ve been a Kuffer since last year now and I find it a very friendly and supportive environment.  I look in quite a bit just to keep abreast of what’s going on, even though I don’t find as much time to interact as I would like to when I’m writing, which is most of the time.


What is on your near horizon?

The 3rd book in the Jefferson Tayte Genealogical Crime Mystery series.  I have the title and most of the plot already.  Beyond that I’m planning a six book series, so four more to go, and maybe a second series if there’s call for one.  Once I’ve set things up for the paperback edition of To the Grave, and once I’ve finished all the jobs around the house and garden that have been piling up while I’ve been writing, I’ll hunker down to book three, which I hope to release early next year.


Where can we find you for more information?

I’m told that my website is an interesting place to visit. The address is:  http://www.steve-robinson.me.  Please drop by and take a look around.  You’ll find my contact email there, too, and I’m easy enough to find for a chat on the KUForum and the Goodreads UK Amazon Kindle Forum.

Monday 11 June 2012

Construct a Couple by Talli Roland

Construct a Couple is the sequel to Build a Man and follows Serenity as she starts a new job and meddles a bit too much in her boyfriend's life.

At times I was frustrated with Serenity as she was just too meddlesome and not talking things through with her man.  But then if she did talk to him, this would be a short story lol.  I thought she was a bit selfish at first, but she soon turned my feelings towards her around.

I was getting a bit bored of chick lit and heading towards the "cosy mystery" genre, but this has revived my interest.  If only all chick lit could be this enjoyable.

www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B008A6V1CW/?tag=kuffbl-21

Saturday 9 June 2012

The Barcza Gambit by Roger Cave

This book is the first of a series of novels featuring Alec Fincham, a SBS operative.  As an introduction it was a very good story.  It seemed to start off slow and although it wasn't excitement all the way through, it kept me wanting to read it.  In fact I read from about 20% to the end in just one day.

I didn't think the book was anything special, yet it was addictive reading.   There were spelling mistakes, but I have informed the author and I might have had an earlier copy.  These didn't really take me away from the read.

Will I read more of the exploits of Alec Fincham?  Yes, I think I will.  The character was interesting and not flashy like Dirk Pitt can often be.  I'm not comparing these to Clive Custler books, more like Andy McNabb books.

www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004QT6ZZ0/?tag=kuffbl-21

Thursday 7 June 2012

Interrogating DM Andrews

DM Andrews, Fantasy Author, gets straight to the point



How do you strike the balance between writing something you want to write and writing something that people want to read, in terms of the compromises you make, if any?

I've come to learn that people want a good story that keeps them turning the pages. Any genre can do that, but some genres are more popular than others. I'm not naturally inclined to read the mainstream, but I'm looking more toward it. In the end I do need an income to keep writing, but I can hopefully still theme the writing around what I find exciting.


What excites, attracts or appeals to you about the genre(s) you write in.

I enjoy British history and mythology, so I guess fantasy ties in with those pretty well.


Do you have a box, drawer, folder etc where you keep thoughts and ideas for future stories? Such as names you have come across, bits of dialogue, ideas, characters - even if you have no idea when you might use them?  

Yes, I keep them in various folders, notebooks and bits of paper.


How much of you is in your characters? Which of your characters is the you that you’d most like to be? Or be with ?

There's always a bit of me in a character. I'm pretty sure most of my characters end up a lot more developed than me - so I'd be willing to spend time with any of them.  


Do you become so wrapped up in your writing that your spouse wonders if they're married to you or one of your characters?

I have no spouse, but I think I get more wrapped up in the world rather than just the character.


What type of book do you like reading? Is it the same genre as you write?

I enjoy fantasy, some historical fiction and some children's/YA books. Generally I would read what I write.


What lengths do you go to to convince us readers that your book has the X factor?

Not so much that it detracts from writing my next book.


How do you feel when a reader points out the spelling mistake(s) you have made?

Terrible. But I'm the same at seeing them in others' works.


What do you like most about visiting KUF?

It's British!


What is on your near horizon?

I'm working on about four books at the moment. The one most likely to be completed first is a YA first-person fantasy tale about a thirteen-year-old boy.


Where can we find you for more information?

You can find out more about "The Serpent in the Glass", "Pied and Prodigious", and my other writings, at http://www.writers-and-publishers.com

Friday 1 June 2012

Hilda Hopkins, Murder, She Knit by Vivienne Fagan

I was recommended this book when I asked for recommendations for "cosy mysteries".  I believe this book is permanently free.

This is the story of Hilda who accidentally kills her lodger, then decides that's a good career move and starts knocking her lodgers off.  The police are after her, but she is wiley and escapes and is on the run from them.

It's only about  64 (old fangled) pages long but was a decent read for a short story.  I really enjoyed it and would probably read more, but not at £1.30 for each story.

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005792MS2/?tag=kuffbl-21