Reading | CW Hawes

Ben Willoughby

Good Books You Probably Never Heard Of – Part 7

I’m back with Good Books You Probably Never Heard Of. And today we’re not looking at one book. We’re looking at one remarkable author.

Ben Willoughby and I met on Twitter, and I’m glad we did. His horror books have provided hours of scary, spooky, and at times hilarious entertainment.

He is also the very talented artist who is responsible for the awesome book covers of my Pierce Mostyn series.

In addition to writing horror, Ben has written a high fantasy novel, Gods on the Mountain, and is working on The Zeppelin Lords dieselpunk trilogy.

It is his horror tales, however, I want to highlight in this post, for they are the books I’ve read and thoroughly enjoyed. So without further ado, let’s take a look at Ben Willoughby’s Reign of Terror.

Mannegishi is based on a Cree Indian legend. The small people, the Mannegishi, play pranks on people. They’re tricksters. And at first Jonathan Banks wonders if perhaps he hasn’t had the misfortune of drawing the attention of the Little People. But then things start taking an ugly turn, and so does the story. Highly recommended.

Daddy’s Girl is a ghost story you won’t easily forget. Alex never knew her father. He died when she was very young. However, through the stories about him, she learned he was a warm and loving person, and was a devoted father who loved her very much. When she goes off to college she discovers what a father’s love truly means. And woe to those who threaten Daddy’s Girl. You don’t want to miss this story.

The House That Homed is a hilarious dark comedy. And Willoughby handles the comedy and terror with equal aplomb. You just might never want to be home alone again. Thoroughly entertaining.

Raw Head is another tale based on Native American legend. A serial killer is brutally murdering children. And events cause Susie to fear that the child she is carrying may be the next victim. Can the killer be stopped? What if the killer isn’t human? An emotionally powerful tale.

Deadly Whispers is a dark comedy that takes a whole new look at Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response, or ASMR. And let me tell you, that look is both chilling, and funny. Very funny, in fact. There’s also a love story. Horror, humor, and love. A combination guaranteed to creep you out and warm your heart at the same time. And the ending? Well, I never saw that one coming! Very highly recommended.

If you are looking for horror tales that are well-written and come from a very fertile imagination, look no further than Willoughby’s books. They’re superb.

If you are a writer in need of a book cover, I highly recommend Ben Willoughby. He understands book covers. You can get in touch with him on Twitter.

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!

Share This!

From Reader to Writer

Readers become writers when at some point they say to themselves, “I can do that.”

Or they just know the writing life is for them. An intuitive sort of thing.

With the advent of viable e-books, a new breed has risen up. I call them the gold rush writers. They see writing as a get rich quick scheme. And there are quite a few who are making significant piles of money. But as with most prospectors in the gold rush, most writers aren’t making those piles of money. In fact, it’s the middle man who is: the man who sold shovels to prospectors, and the ones selling covers, and formatting and editorial services to writers.

For myself, I cannot remember a time when I didn’t read. My mother read to me when I was young, and, even though she wasn’t a very good reader herself, she instilled in me a love for reading that has never left me.

Along with never remembering a time I wasn’t reading, I don’t remember a time when I wanted to be anything but a writer.

Unfortunately, my parents were of a practical bent and writing was just too dreamy and artsy-fartsy for their tastes. I got no encouragement from them to write.

However, a person who truly wants to write can’t be held back and I did write some during my school years, got one or two things published in the school lit mags, had a play produced in high school, a poem published in a fanzine, and that was about it.

After school, life and family responsibilities took over and the writing got pushed to the back burner.

The bug, though, had bitten and in 1989 I wrote my first novel, a mystery, Festival of Death. The book took me a year to write, but I wrote it. When finished, I sent it out, got a rejection slip, took another look at it, and decided it needed work, as most first novels do, and put it in the drawer.

I made a few more attempts at fiction. Had one or two pieces accepted in fanzines. And then switched to poetry.

Never in a million years would I have thought of myself as a poet, but it was via poetry that I found my initial writing success.

During the 1990s, and into the new century, I wrote several thousand poems, had hundreds published (mostly in e-zines), and eventually became a “name” in the small world of English language Japanese-forms (we’re talking about haiku, tanka, and renga).

The Internet is fragile and its content ephemeral. What is here today, is gone tomorrow. And most of my published poetry is no longer extant. The myriad of pixels have vanished. The e-zines are gone.

As I approached retirement age the fiction bug bit me again, but this time very hard. Poetry didn’t provide a big enough canvas anymore. I wanted the space a short story or novel provided. I wanted to create interesting characters and saddle them with impossible problems.

And so it was, I gave up poetry and returned to fiction. I had many false starts. Mostly because I thought I had to outline my novel. And I can’t outline worth a darn. When I finally learned there was such an animal as the “plotless” novel, and such a creature as the pantser — I knew I could finally write fiction. After all, I never planned my poems. I was a pantser poet. Why not a pantser novelist?

I never looked back. My first novel as a pantser was a monster of 2000+ pages. A sprawling cozy catastrophe completely un-publishable as originally written — it nevertheless broke the ice.

I’m now revising and publishing The Rocheport Saga as a series. There are currently seven volumes, with more to come.

Next was Festival of Death. I love Tina and Harry and couldn’t let them languish. I hauled the original manuscript out of the drawer, kept the first chapter and the ending, and rewrote everything else. A much, much better novel the second time around, I went ahead and self-published it. And have chronicled many more adventures of Tina and Harry, Tina being Minneapolis’s most unusual private eye.

The life of Lady Grace Hay Drummond-Hay is every feminist’s dream. I don’t understand why no one has written her biography. A fascinating woman who lived in fascinating times: the period between the two world wars. A prominent and well-known journalist in her day, it’s sad to see she is virtually unknown today.

She became the inspiration for my own Lady Dru alternative history novels. Of which I currently have two.

I’ve always loved horror and have several short stories and the Pierce Mostyn Paranormal Investigation series published.

And as long as I have breath there will be more ideas coming from my pen, and that makes me want to jump out of bed every morning and get to work.

The e-book revolution has allowed me to realize my dream. I’ve had enough rejection slips in my day to know I don’t like them — and to know they come from the subjective whim of another person, a person who just so happens to have the title “editor”. But a person who puts his or her shoes on the same way I do.

Editors aren’t infallible, nor are they omniscient. They make mistakes and their knowledge of the marketplace is limited. Most are in fact simply buyers for their publishing houses. And as such tend to be very conservative and not willing to take any chances.

Today’s e-book revolution puts the work of writers before readers — and lets us readers make the decision concerning a book’s future.

However, while writing is easy for me, marketing is a nightmare. And no writer hoping to get his or her work read can avoid marketing. Somehow we writers have to get our books before readers. And we readers will never know a book is out there unless someone tells us it is. There are just too many books for us readers to possibly know them all.

I once read that 3000 new books appear each day on Amazon. Amazon, however, only promotes those books on which it can make money. In the end, those are darn few. Most books, therefore, languish in Amazon’s dusty book basement. And many good books, sad to say, are sitting on those dusty shelves.

Why are good books not seen? Mostly because the author isn’t marketing them, or isn’t marketing them effectively.

Some authors believe in the magic wand. They say, “I’m a good writer and my friends like my book. It’ll sell.” Then they’re disappointed when it doesn’t. And it doesn’t sell because too few people even know it’s out there. One book in a sea of millions is the same as one needle in a haystack. There are no magic wands.

Marketing is difficult. It has few established rules, involves a lot of guesswork, and many years of experience. It also takes money. Maybe not a lot. But if a writer doesn’t have the money, then any amount is a lot.

I’m in that category. I don’t have a lot of disposable income. Therefore, I have to think harder and smarter about marketing. I just can’t throw money at the problem in the hopes of finding a solution. And I know there are no magic wands. I am going to have to do something to get people to find my books. And I want them to find my books. I want more readers. I think my books are good reads. Others think so, too. Those that have found them, that is.

IMO, Patty Jansen has laid out the best course for indie authors to follow if they want readers and would like to make a living from telling stories. It’s my plan to get more readers and hopefully make a few bucks while I’m at it. Art for art’s sake is fine. But it’s better if lots of people can appreciate it — and that takes marketing. And while I’m at it, you can find all my books here.

Even though I’ve moved from reader to writer I’m still a reader. Reading is my favorite form of entertainment. The number of books is endless, they’re fairly easy to find, and one can read anywhere and at anytime.

Currently, I’m reading the delightful Flaxman Low occult detective tales and Seabury Quinn’s Jules de Grandin stories.

Let me know what you’re reading. And the more obscure the book, the better! If the book is by an indie author, and I like it, I’ll give the author a little free publicity.

Comments are always welcome, and, until next time, happy reading!

Share This!

Being a Reader

There has never been a better time to be a reader. More novels and short stories are available today than ever before. Many are classics and can be gotten for free. For many others, the copyright has expired and they can be gotten for free, as well.

What were once rare gems, can also be had for free or perhaps a buck. And all with one press of the download button. The Internet, the Kindle, and the iPad make it that easy.

Sure, I love the feel and smell of a physical book. Nothing beats the experience of holding a book in your hands. It is, as one wit put it, the original hand held device.

But I actually find I read more books on my iPad. And I think that comes down to convenience more than anything else. Although cost does factor into it, as well.

Even a casual reader of this blog knows I’m averse to paying big bucks for a book. Unless it is an actual collectors item. Long before the e-book revolution, I was a big fan of used books. The main reason being the outrageous price tag corporate publishers were putting on their new books.

Granted buying used sometimes means one must practice delayed gratification. And that’s alright. Not every itch must be scratched immediately. Good things come to those who wait.

And now I see a similar trend amongst indie authors. When I first started getting into reading indie authored books, the prices were low. A free or 99¢ initial book, and then the rest of the series was usually $2.99 per book.

Now, those free or 99¢ first books are rare. And the price tag has inched up to wear many indie authors want $4.99 or more for their books. I think this is due in part to the gold rush mentality amongst many indie authors. For others, they see a higher price (mimicking the big corporate guys) as a sign of legitimacy.

For myself, I’m just not going to pay those prices. And sad to say, I’ve already started cutting back. After all, I’m not rich. Heck, I’m not even flush with cash. My wallet forces me to be frugal. One of the drawbacks to being retired.

I still live by the motto: wear the old coat and buy the new book. It’s just that I’m feeling the retirement income pinch and the intervals are getting longer and longer between new book purchases.

However, I don’t want to harp on the cost of entertainment. Everyone must make his or her own decisions based on what’s in his or her wallet.

What I do want to emphasize is that in all human history there’s never been a better time to be a reader. We readers are drowning in choices. The number of books we have to choose from is practically obscene. I’ve discovered so many writers, both old and new, that I never knew existed. I’ve been on fabulous adventures to places that only exist in the mind. And some that are real, but not really. Fiction is fiction, after all.

Expand your mind. Pick up a book, whether physical or digital, and go on an adventure. And if reading isn’t quite your thing, try audiobooks. I have friends who read very little. But they love listening to audiobooks. They could be your cup of tea.

Recently, I read two super books. Mark Carnelley’s The Omega Chronicles, a post-apocalyptic tale that realistically explores survival and the meaning of life.

And RH Hale’s Church Mouse: Memoir of a vampire’s servant, a vampire novel that brings back all the romance and all the terror that properly belongs to the quintessential creature of the night.

Comments are always welcome. And until next time, happy reading!

Share This!

Bestseller Lists Are Fake

Bestseller lists aren’t what they pretend to be. In other, more blunt, words: bestseller lists are fake.

A few weeks ago I looked at what provides the best reading experience for us readers. Its characters we grow to love (or hate).

Today I want to look at how we readers are duped into thinking a book is a bestseller. And therefore worthy to be read.

I’m going to focus on The New York Times bestseller list because it’s the 800 pound gorilla on the block and has been since the 1930s when it began.

In 1983 William Blatty, the author of The Exorcist, took The New York Times Company to court claiming that the newspaper was intentionally excluding his book, Legion, from the bestseller list for editorial reasons. By looking at sales alone, it should have been on the list.

The New York Times won the case. Their defense in part was that the bestseller list was not supposed to be accurate, but merely reflected their opinion.

Here it is from the court ruling:

“Defendant further argues that inasmuch as the list was compiled in the exercise of its editorial judgment and represented its opinion of which books were best sellers, the First Amendment shields defendant from liability for interference with plaintiff’s prospective advantage by refusing to include his book in the list.” (Blatty v. New York Times Company, Court of Appeal, Second District, Division 7, California. Emphasis mine.)

For decades, The New York Times presented the illusion that the bestseller list was in fact a list based on actual sales of books. And virtually all of us were duped into thinking that illusion was reality. In fact, the list is merely a compilation of sales based on a survey of specially selected sales outlets, heavily edited by The New York Times staff.

In other words, the list is a sham. It’s fake news, as it were. The list is in reality merely the opinion of The New York Times staff as to what books should be bestsellers. It’s an op ed piece telling you what they think you should be reading.

So what does this mean for us readers? I think it means we can safely ignore bestseller lists. Because the books on them are not true bestsellers. They are not a true measure of what people are actually buying and reading.

We associate social proof with quality and acceptance. Author Mark Dawson makes this point all the time to authors when it comes to Facebook advertising. The more 5 star reviews an author has the better. This is part of our herd instinct. We are, after all, social creatures. There is a tendency within us to not go contrary to the group think. The Times knows this and exploits it in their bestseller list to get you to read what they think is best for you. In a way, this is a type of fake news.

The other lists, Wall Street Journal, Publishers Weekly, and USA Today operate in similar fashion.

Even Amazon plays this game by creating micro-categories for books, so that authors can get a “bestseller” tag — which generates more sales for the Zon. One author noted that his book on Washington, DC didn’t sell until he took advantage of Amazon’s Washington, DC micro-category. Suddenly it became a “bestseller”.

What this all means is that the term “bestseller”, when it comes to books, essentially has no meaning. It’s valueless.

Reading, as with all things in life, is a personal experience. What moves me, may very well not move you at all. I’ve laughed my head off at a passage in a book, while my wife doesn’t think it is at all funny.

Commercial fiction has proven that most people do in fact ignore bestseller lists. Starting back around World War I, the pulp writers ignored the academics and literati. They wrote what the average guy or gal wanted to read.

Edgar Rice Burroughs never made the New York Times bestseller list and I don’t think he cared. He got rich off Tarzan. Lester Dent made a decent living writing crime and suspense novels and most of the Doc Savage books. Murray Leinster wrote thousands of stories and made a nice living at it. The same goes for Seabury Quinn, Robert E Howard, and many others.

And this continues today with many indie authors making a very nice living without the help of The New York Times or USA Today. And that means most books which are enjoyed are not bestsellers. By extension that means that most books worth reading, aren’t on the bestseller lists.

William Shakespeare, who predates all these lists, wrote with one thing in mind: give the theater goers a play worth their money, and they’ll be back for more. It was the public Bill wrote for and he made a nice living doing so. In effect, he was a pulp writer.

We readers, I think, can safely ignore the claims made by authors of bestseller stardom. Because such a claim is no guarantee their books are actual bestsellers, or that they are any good. I know that has been my experience more often than not.

I’ve noted before in this blog, there are many gems that have never gotten into the top million on Amazon’s paid Kindle list. Those books are very much worth reading. Often they are far more creative and entertaining than those much higher up on the list.

Jacques Barzun, in his preface to The Selected Letters of Lord Byron, wrote: A letter is in fact the only device for combining solitude and good company.

I think the same applies to books. Leave the fake bestseller lists (and their fake social approval) behind. Be thyself.

Here are 4 articles that go into more detail regarding the bestseller list sham:

Tim Grahl tells us the truth on bestseller lists:

http://observer.com/2016/02/the-truth-about-the-new-york-times-and-wall-street-journal-bestseller-lists/

Ken Kurson gives us a look at political bias in the NYT bestseller list:

http://observer.com/2014/01/dueling-ailes-bios-and-the-new-york-times-bestseller-list/

Tucker Max on bestseller list bias:

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/280520

Noah Kagan on how writers can hit #1 on Amazon’s bestseller list:

https://okdork.com/hit-1-amazons-bestseller-list/

Comments are always welcome. And until next time, happy non-bestseller reading!

Share This!

Mystery vs Thriller

These days the term “thriller” is pretty much used indiscriminately. Indie writers are especially guilty of this abuse, but traditional publishers are in nowise innocent.

I suppose, in order to get us readers to buy books, the term “thriller” is plastered all over the book, used throughout the description, and liberally sprinkled in the advertising. The idea being that the book will “thrill” us. And who doesn’t want a few thrills in life?

But that isn’t at all what a thriller is. At least technically speaking. And if we readers don’t want to read thrillers, it would be very helpful if writers and publishers stopped calling everything a thriller when it isn’t.

Let’s take a look at what constitutes a mystery, a suspense novel, and a thriller.

What Is a Mystery?

A mystery is essentially a puzzle. The form we are most familiar with is the detective novel, which was invented by Edgar Allan Poe and popularized by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

In a typical mystery, there is minimal action. The sleuth goes about sleuthing to find the solution to the puzzle, which is some type of crime, usually murder. The detective is not often in danger, although other characters often are.

The suspense is usually minimal — although the author may crank it up near the end of the story.

The mystery novel is more or less an intellectual read. It’s appeal is the solving of the puzzle by the reader before the detective, or enjoying the detective’s process in solving the case. The traditional mystery is definitely not an action-packed read.

Recently I re-read Fer-de-Lance by Rex Stout. It’s the first Nero Wolfe mystery.

I was surprised at how little action there was in the book, which was published in 1934. Wolfe, who in some books weighs a seventh of a ton, sits, drinks beer, questions people, tends his orchids, eats, and thinks. That’s it.

Archie Goodwin, Wolfe’s assistant who tells the story, drives from NYC to White Plains numerous times. He questions people for Wolfe, makes wisecrack remarks, gives us his observations, and also thinks about the case.

The only “action” occurs towards the end of the book when Wolfe stages a robbery to get a person to talk. Wolfe’s life is threatened once, also near the end of the book. And Archie punches a cop. That’s it. Definitely not action-packed, although the suspense does ramp up a bit at the end; yet the book is a thoroughly delightful read. Stout achieves this by the use of plenty of humor, interesting characters, and the laying out clues for our consideration.

What Is A Suspense Story?

A story of suspense may be a mystery, but the difference is that the reader knows more than the protagonist. Frequently, the reader knows who the bad guy is long before the good guy does. And because we, the reader, know things the hero doesn’t — suspense is created.

Will the hero realize there is a viper in the basket? Will he or someone else open the basket and get bit? That’s the creation of suspense.

The suspense novel also has a limited scope. The protagonist, the hero or heroine, is the one who’s primarily in danger.

A classic example of the suspense story is Hitchcock’s film North by Northwest. The story is about a man who is mistaken for someone else: a man trying to foil a plot to steal government secrets. Plenty of suspense is generated as the good guy tries to escape the bad guys. Especially because he has no idea who is after him and why.

What Is A Thriller?

At the risk of oversimplification, a thriller is a suspense tale on steroids.

Whereas a suspense novel is generally focused on the protagonist and if he or she will beat the villain, the thriller has much higher stakes. The villain is going to destroy the city, or country, or world. The protagonist must not only stop the villain, but must stop the series of events the villain’s set in motion that will take down the world’s economy, for example.

Thrillers are usually villain-driven. The villain shares the stage with the hero.

A classic example of the thriller is the film Die Hard. We have the villain seize control of a corporation’s headquarters and hold hostage those inside the building, who are at the company Christmas party, in order to steal a fortune in bearer bonds. There is only one man in the building who can stop the villain and save the hostages.

There is plenty of suspense; some mystery, because we don’t know at first what the real goal of the terrorists is; and loads of action. That’s the thriller: suspense, action, and high stakes.

Novels such as The DaVinci Code and The Hunt for Red October raise the stakes even higher.

Mixing It Up

People being who they are, like to mix things up. There may be elements of mystery in both suspense and thriller tales, as noted above, but it isn’t the main element.

There may be plenty of suspense in a thriller, but the nature of what is at stake is different from that in a pure suspense story.

Lee Child, for example, writes what are essentially action novels, even though they are labelled thrillers. The stakes in a Reacher novel are small, at least the ones I’ve read. Either Reacher has to get himself out of a predicament or decides to get someone else out. There is nothing big, like the destruction of the world’s economy, at stake. Which means, technically, the books aren’t thrillers. But in the process of getting out of trouble, there is loads of action. Bodies litter the ground before we close the book. Which makes the books in actuality action novels.

So even though the word “thriller” is applied to Child’s novels by his publisher, they don’t conform to the thriller formula. It is this blurring of distinctions, for the sake of marketing, that in my opinion does a disservice to readers. I guess action novels just don’t sell as well as thrillers.

Popular Tastes

Today the “thriller” — whether the book actually is one or not — is hot. A book labelled a thriller is sure to sell.

Even many writers of detective novels are trying to jump on the thriller bandwagon by ramping up the action and claiming that the “pages turn themselves”, which is of course utter nonsense. And action alone is not the sole hallmark of a thriller anyway.

To my mind, this is a shame. When the thriller reader picks up a mis-identified book, he or she ends up disappointed and may even negatively review it. And the mystery reader will shy away from such books thinking they’re thrillers, when in fact they aren’t.

The quest for the almighty dollar is no excuse, in my mind, to mislead us readers.

I read mysteries because I like the more sedate pace and the intellectual aspects of the story. I don’t particularly like thriller novels because they are often too long and have the inevitable slow spots, which make for boring reading and thus ruins the whole thriller aspect. I’d rather watch a thriller movie, if I’m in the mood for a thriller.

The best part of the indie revolution is that there are far more published authors now then there were pre-Kindle. And while many writers have jumped on the thriller bandwagon, there are also many, who, like me, write the traditional mystery. Some are:

It’s a great day for readers. Many writers — good writers — who would never have been tapped for membership in the hallowed halls of traditional publishing, can now share their gems with us. Writer and reader are all the richer for this new age.

As usual, comments are always welcome, and, until next time, happy reading!

Share This!

Successful People Read

Last month, Christina DesMarais wrote why we should read. Take a look at her article. It’s short — and eye-opening.

Today, I’m going to riff on her points.

Want to Be Open-Minded and Creative?

Then you need to be reading fiction. A study by the University of Toronto revealed that short story readers were essentially more open-minded than essay readers. Why? Because fiction encourages you to think and ponder. It stimulates the imagination. Lets you wander outside your box.

Much fiction, even much commercial fiction, is at base philosophy. The author is exploring different world views or philosophical questions — all disguised as a story.

Fiction sows the seeds for reflective thought. And in our current environment where people no longer dialogue, reflective thought can challenge some of our dearest and most cherished assumptions. And possibly re-open those dialogues.

Want to Live Longer?

If you do, then read a book. A Yale study found that book readers 50 and older lived nearly 2 years longer than non-readers or magazine readers.

Reading books develops thinking skills and concentration, as well as improving vocabulary. And a greater vocabulary allows one more nuanced verbal expression.

Reading a book for at least 30 minutes a day creates cognitive engagement. In other words, it gets your brain active. And many studies have shown that a key to defeating dementia and ill health in old age is to be mentally active. Reading helps us do that.

Improves Your Writing Skills

Whether you write on paper or type on your laptop, if you want to improve your ability to communicate by the real or virtual page then you need to read.

Reading a wide array of literature exposes us to different metaphors, allusions, words, illustrations, styles. All of which can enrich your own.

If you are looking to express yourself better on the page, then read a book.

Reduces Stress

And who doesn’t want to do that?

Reading takes us into other worlds. And because we have to create the images of the fictional world in our mind, it takes us out of our present situation and transports us someplace else. By doing so, we get our mind off of our troubles for a little while. And that is good for our health.

Reading Provides Entertainment

Reading is an age-old means of entertainment that you can enjoy by yourself or with others. Reading a book with your family or a loved one is a fabulous way to spend time together.

It’s convenient too. Just open the book and you are there. Just turn on your e-reader or tablet and you are ready for fun.

What’s more, a book allows for interactive entertainment in a way a movie or TV show doesn’t. You can pause and reflect on a scene. Argue with the author. Discuss with a friend. All this can be done far easier with a book, than with video.

But I Don’t Have Time to Read

Actually, you probably do. As with anything in life, it depends on what you value. Those things you value, you do. So look at what you are doing. If what you are doing is so important it can’t be set aside, okay. And if those important things fill up every hour of your waking day, then they must be important.

However, I seriously doubt you don’t have wasted time in your day. Time spent in idle chit-chat. Time spent staring at your phone. I don’t have a smart phone. I find it difficult to imagine what the heck is so mesmerizing about those darn phones.

Then there is time spent in commuting to work. What do you do in the bus or train or car pool?

Even at just 30 minutes a day, it’s possible to read a book a week. I know that sounds impossible, but it really isn’t. Try it. Pick out 3 books. Assign each book to a week, and dedicate 30 minutes a day to reading it.

If you find that you don’t read fast enough, and some of us don’t, I’m a rather slow reader, don’t worry. Simply set aside 2 weeks to read the book. After all, that’s what the library gives you.

The point is to read each day something you enjoy. It can be poetry, short stories, essays, novels, non-fiction. What you read doesn’t matter as much as reading. Although I’d recommend a mix. Remember variety is the spice of life. And no spice = bland.

Those Who Don’t Read

The Pew Research Center discovered that 26% of American adults did not read even a part of a book in the past year.

That is a ghastly statistic.

As the number of non-readers increases, so does the number of violent acts. Are they related? That would make for a very interesting study.

At the very least, we are growing a population less prone to think, less likely to live longer, and less likely to have good mental health.

What Do I Read?

That’s easy: whatever you want! But mix it up, as noted above.

I read a lot of non-fiction while researching when writing my novels and stories. Consequently, I tend to focus on reading fiction. And I also happen to enjoy fiction more than non-fiction. I also read poetry on occasion.

I’m also partial to today’s indie authors and authors of the past. Undoubtedly, you have your own favorites — even if you don’t know them yet.

Years ago I worked in a library. The head librarian was a mystery lover and one day we were talking about mysteries. I said I liked Sherlock Holmes, but otherwise wasn’t all that interested in mysteries.

She took me over to the bookshelves and handed me a volume of Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe. I took it home and read it. It was love at first read. I never looked back.

Today, I find myself reading lots of mysteries. Thank you Marilyn Gray for a lifetime of splendid enjoyment.

Here are a few authors I happen to like. They write well and are very imaginative. Just click on the name to go to their Amazon page.

Crispian Thurlborn writes horror and fantasy.

Ben Willoughby writes horror and fantasy.

Steve Bargdill writes imaginative mainstream fiction.

Jack Tyler writes steampunk adventure.

William Jackson writes… Well, wherever you put it, it’s entertaining!

James Vincett writes military science fiction.

Cordwainer Smith wrote highly imaginative science fiction.

Rex Stout wrote the incomparable Nero Wolfe mysteries, and other genres in his early days.

And if you want to check out what I write, here’s my Amazon page.

You can also check out my Facebook page where I post on Mondays the Book of the Week.

Comments are always welcome. Until next time, happy reading!

Share This!

The High Cost of Books

I love to read. Reading provides a joy few things can match. If you follow this blog, you’re aware of that. However, books are expensive to buy. And when I tally up my outlay for the printed page, whether physical or digital, I go into a bit of sticker shock.

Perhaps that’s one reason subscription libraries such as Scribd and Kindle Unlimited are popular. For a monthly fee, you can read as much as you want. And if you are an avid reader, the service can easily pay for itself. Of course there are the public libraries, which your tax dollars pay for. The only problem I have with public libraries is that you have to return the books. And I suppose that goes for subscription libraries too.

Awhile back, Amazon gave me a 60-day free trial of Kindle Unlimited. However, once the trial was over, I dropped it. Even though I did end up reading at least $20 worth of books, that’s $10 for each month, I found that I had to sift through a lot of chaff to find the wheat.

For me, I find it a better use of my wallet and time to go the sample route. Download a sample. After all, they’re free. I can read it at my leisure, and if I like the sample, then I buy the book. I spent an awful lot of my reading time on KU partially reading books I didn’t like, all the while feeling the pressure to tally up $10 worth of reading for the month. I’m retired. I don’t want or need pressure.

Since I discovered subscription libraries (and public libraries) aren’t my cup of tea, what alternatives do I, and you, have?

Free Books

The world is awash in free books. Indie writers trying to secure a fan base have given away lots of books. They are everywhere. Some are very good, others not. Many are short stories, or novellas (which I happen to like, but many don’t), and some are just samples.

For the voracious reader, the free stuff can be good.

Another source of free books can be found at places like Faded Page, Project Gutenberg Australia, and Project Gutenberg. These places offer books that are out of copyright. Which means the books are older. And you can usually find many classics in their lists.

I recently downloaded Raymond Chandler’s novels from Faded Page. A great deal.

There are plenty of free books available. Which can keep us reading for a long time.

Used Books

I love used books. Great deals can be found in used bookstores, and especially garage sales, where the books are often close to being free.

Libraries often have sales of the books they discard. They are another source for good cheap reads.

For a long time now, I’ve only purchased used copies of traditionally published books due to their high cost when purchased new. Paperbacks selling for $15 and up. I simply can’t afford that. And let’s not even discuss hardbacks.

However, over the past couple years, I’ve noticed used books going up in price. Especially on Amazon and Amazon-owned ABE. And ever since Amazon bought bookfinder.com, the search results have deteriorated. The cheap books seem to have disappeared and the search results appear to be skewed towards Amazon and its affiliates.

Of late I’ve gone directly to ThriftBooks, bypassing their selections on Amazon and ABE. If I buy $10 worth of books, I get free shipping and that is a big help. The free shipping is not available if you buy Thrift Books offerings on Amazon or ABE.

All in all, used books remain a great bargain for the avid reader.

Ebooks

Deals on new ebooks are possible if you are willing to read indie authors.

I rarely buy new ebooks from the Big Five Publishers. They’re too expensive. The same goes for the regional, university, and small presses. An ebook of 100 pages for $15? Seriously? I saw that recently. And the author is dead. So who’s benefiting?

However, over the past couple years, I’ve noticed indie authors up-pricing their books. It’s now not at all uncommon to see self-published ebooks going for $4.99 and up, when just a short while ago the norm was $2.99 and $3.99.

Nevertheless, very good reads are available for $3.99 and less. It just takes a bit of looking. It also helps to stay away from authors bragging about their books being “bestsellers”.

Personally, I don’t spend more than $3.99 for an ebook. I just won’t do it. I self-publish. And I know for a fact one does not have to spend a dime to put out a book these days. If self-published writers think they need to spend hundreds and thousands of dollars to produce a book, and pass the cost onto me, then I’m not going to subsidize their poor judgment. And what’s more, I own a bridge in Brooklyn I’d like to sell them.

Recap

The prices for new books are only going to continue to go up. Those 35¢ and 50¢ paperbacks I knew as a kid aren’t ever coming back.

But there are still plenty of inexpensive options available to those of us who are avid readers. We just have to think smarter and quit buying the high-priced books.

So, what are our options?

Free books. There are plenty out there, both new and out of copyright.
Used books. Don’t buy new, if you can buy used.
Don’t pay more than $3.99 for an ebook. Because in reality, they cost nothing to produce. That gives the author, if self-published, about $2.75 for royalty. As a self-published author, I’m telling you no one needs to pay big bucks to produce an ebook. So don’t go out of your way to make someone else rich and subsidize their unnecessary production costs.

Comments are always welcome, and, until next time, happy reading!

Share This!

Today’s Frenetic Pacing

We read for two reasons. Information or entertainment. Informational reading has no competition. The various media do, but not the reading itself.

On the other hand, recreational reading, entertainment reading, has an ever increasing array of competing activities. Video games, computer games, board games, TV, Netflix and Amazon streaming, movies, sports activities, plays, concerts, and the list goes on.

Today’s writers, particularly indie writers, it seems to me, feel the need to compete with today’s cinematic pyrotechnics, and the ever increasing graphic sex and violence the visual entertainment media are portraying.

Today I just want to focus on pacing. I’ll talk about sex and violence another time. Of the books I’ve recently read, the pacing falls into two distinct camps. I’ll call them thriller-paced and literary-paced.

Thriller-Paced

Everywhere we readers look, we see books advertised as fast paced, as page turners, or that the pages even turn themselves. The thriller is everywhere. It’s taken over the mystery field, it’s gone into outer space, it’s pervasive in science fiction, and it’s even moved into horror.

Frenetic pacing is in. To the detriment of the reading experience.

Recently I read a space opera by a supposed USA Today bestselling author. I say “supposed” because writers are scamming the system by riding to “Bestseller” status in boxed sets where their name doesn’t even appear in any of the advertising.

Anyway, I read an advanced reader copy of Book One of the series, which had recently been rewritten and expanded, with the intent that I’d write a review. I’m not sure that I will, because I don’t have much good to say about the novel. And Book Two wasn’t much better. I eventually just stopped reading it.

I can’t say either book was bad. But I can’t say either one was especially good either. The writing, on a technical level, was fine.

What torpedoed the reading experience for me were the characters. They were flat, insipid, and pretty much lackluster. To the point where I didn’t really care what happened to them.

The author spent the entire book doing nothing but piling on crisis after crisis. There was no breathing room. And his paltry attempt at trying to establish a romance element fell flat on its face for me because even that seemed to be nothing more than following the “insert romance here” point on the plot outline.

When I finished the first book I was so exhausted from the pacing, I almost wished everyone would die just so I could get some relief.

Now I know a writer must make his characters suffer, otherwise there is no story. But ask yourself this: how often in real life do you have days where not a single thing goes right? I’d hazard a guess they are darn few. So why in these “thrillers” are we asked to accept an entire book where the good guys have nothing but bad hair days for days and days and days on end? Because even on bad hair days something usually goes right. But not for the fictional characters.

Quite honestly, I don’t really care about plot. If the characters are interesting — real people, with real problems — whatever the story is, it will be the story of the characters. Ray Bradbury said, create your characters, let them do their thing, and there’s your story. Why don’t writers follow this?

Instead, they focus on trying to write a well-crafted plot and then insert the characters into it. The end result is that the characters are no better than marionettes and even less interesting.

Today’s plot-driven thriller is wooden and uninspired and, frankly, exceedingly boring.

I’ve made a deal with myself. Thrillers and USA Today bestselling authors are off my reading list. The books I’ve read by bestselling authors and those marketed as thrillers are mediocre at best. And why read mediocre or bad books when so many good ones abound?

Literary-Paced

What I’m calling “Literary Pacing” is normal pacing. The pacing employed by Isaac Asimov, Rex Stout, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Anthony Trollope, Charles Dickens, Lawrence Block, and Edgar Allan Poe. Or the pacing you’ll find in such books as Costigan’s Needle, Tomorrow and Tomorrow, When Worlds Collide, The Handmaid’s Tale, Hidden World, and The Day of the Triffids.

The above mentioned authors and books (and the list barely scratches the surface) have one thing in common — characters we care about. Comte Saint-Germain. Archdeacon Grantly. Scrooge. Nero Wolfe. Matt Scudder.

Literary pacing doesn’t mean there’s no excitement. There may be fight scenes, or car chases, or gun fights, or tense escape scenes. These, however, are scattered throughout the story. Occurring naturally as the characters go about their business of telling us their stories. And that’s the key: the characters are telling us their stories. Not the author.

Literary pacing occurs when the writer writes character-based fiction. It’s not about the plot. Good fiction is never about the plot. It’s about the characters.

We don’t remember Gone With The Wind for the thrilling plot. We remember Scarlett and Rhett. “Hills Like White Elephants” isn’t remembered because of the plot. It’s the characters that make the story. We don’t remember The Lord of the Rings because of the plot. It’s a ho-hum quest story. We remember the book for the characters — both good and bad. Because both the good guys and the bad guys in The Lord of the Rings are memorable.

Plot-Driven vs Character-Driven

Many of today’s indie writers are so concerned about cranking out the next book, all they focus on are the story beats and the outline. Making sure they’ve hit all the plot points at just the right time. The resulting fiction is mechanical at best. A fast-moving piece of mediocrity. An eminently forgettable book.

On the flip-side, even mediocre character-driven stories can stay with you for decades.

Who remembers the 1956 sci-fi novel Tomorrow And Tomorrow by Hunt Collins (aka Ed McBain)? Yet that book has stayed with me ever since I read it when a kid some fifty-plus years ago. Why? The world Collins created and the characters. Especially the characters. I don’t remember their names, but I remember them.

Recently I read the Dave Slater mysteries by PF Ford. I like Dave and his sidekick Norman Norman. They are “people” I care about. And what makes the stories good is that they are the stories of Dave and Norman.

Ford’s novels aren’t just plots into which he plunked down some characters. No, he did the Bradbury thing: created his characters, let them do their thing, and the result was their story.

The late Elizabeth Edmondson’s A Very English Mystery series is the same. Real people doing their thing — and we get to read the delightful tales as a result.

I think today’s rash of thrillers is the result of indie authors trying too hard to make a buck. It seems to me they think if they can just throw more action, more sex, more blood at the reader they’ll get more fans and more money.

Unfortunately for them, this reader has been turned off. Anything labeled fast-paced or thriller won’t get my buck. Neither will anyone spouting off they are a USA Today bestselling author. The books are disappointing and my time is too valuable to waste.

Comments are always welcome, and until next time — happy reading!

Share This!

Slow

If you look at just about any book ad or Amazon genre page, the words that most often jump out at you are “fast paced” and “thriller”. Or you might find phrases like, “the pages turn themselves”. Or subtitles packed with the words, “gripping”, “shocking”, “thrilling”.

As a reader, it seems to me, writers are hellbent on jacking up my blood pressure and giving me cardiac arrest. The scribblers are doing their best to push frenetically paced everything down my throat. Can’t wait to get my copy of the new gripping, thrill-packed, and shocking edition of the Betty Crocker Cookbook, where the recipes make themselves.

I blame the furious pace of contemporary fiction and the taste for such stuff on generations that were raised watching Sesame Street. If any kid’s show was designed to produce and then cater to hyperactivity it is Sesame Street. For those of us raised on Captain Kangaroo, Sesame Street’s fevered pace is apoplectic.

Of course, there are those who disagree and they’re free to do so. As with anything, there is probably more than one cause. In addition to Sesame Street one could blame texting, with its abbreviations and clipped text.

Contemporary TV shows, playing to the Sesame Street generations, jump from scene to scene, throwing a tumult of disconnected storylines at the viewer that I often find it difficult to follow.

I know, I know, we baby boomers are dying off. Nobody gives a flying fig about what we think. But quite honestly, what’s the rush? Why do the pages have to turn themselves? Can’t I pause a moment and smell the fictional rose? Can’t we follow Simon and Garfunkel’s advice? “Slow down, you move too fast. Gotta make the morning last.” Seriously, night will come all too soon. Why rush it?

For me, a story is to savor. As with making friends, it takes time to get to know the characters and to decide if I want them for friends. So much of today’s writing is plot-driven tripe lacking in what makes life worth living: people, and beautiful things and experiences.

Just imagine if one of today’s thrilling writers were to write “Hills Like White Elephants”? The main characters would probably chug down their beers, and charge onto the train, without ever having a word of conversation. Yep, a fantastic story that.

I don’t want to bump and grind my way through a story. I want to savor it, like I do a cup of tea, or a plate of spaghetti with my favorite sauce, or a crumpet dripping with butter and orange marmalade.

For me, a slower paced story that is packed with suspense, and sprinkled with action, where I can grow to love the characters, and want to read more about them — that’s what I want to read.

I don’t want to read about cardboard people racing hell for leather through situation after situation that in the end I could not care less about.

Unfortunately, for me, what that means, practically speaking, is that entire genres and sub-genres are leaving my reading list. I even find myself abandoning contemporary fiction altogether, in favor of older books because the pacing is often slower, with a focus on building suspense and giving me a main character I care about.

Yes, I’m willing to admit I’m the odd man out. That I’m in the minority. Today’s majority wants herky-jerky story presentation and frantic action. But as P. F. Ford notes in his ads, if you want character and humor rather than blood and gore, then his books are for you.

Nice to know I am not alone.

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!

Share This!

The Mars-Venus Thing, Part 1

Quite honestly, I don’t know if women are from Venus and men, Mars. What I do know is that men and women look at the world differently. We can argue why this is until and even after the car is in the garage. The fact remains, the sexes see life from different perspectives. And in the end, that’s all that matters.

As a reader, as a male reader, I find I tend to gravitate towards certain types of books. And I am not just referring to genres here. I’m talking about characteristics. Such things as pacing, the amount of action, humor, violence, and sex.

A few months ago I referenced an article by Kate Summers, “Adult Reading Habits And Preferences In Relation To Gender Differences”. The article is informative and I think for the most part right on.

So I thought I’d revisit Ms Summer’s article and answer the questions she gave her survey participants. I dropped one of her questions and replaced it with one of my own. Here are the results (my answers are italicized):

1. How many books do you read in a year?

About two dozen or more.

2. Do you generally prefer fiction or nonfiction?

Fiction.

3. What nonfiction topics interest you?

Airships, history, philosophy, cooking, ships.

4. Do you have any favorite genres you like to read?

Mysteries, science fiction, adventure, sea stories.

5. Do you read series books or do you prefer standalone books?

Series.

6. What are a few of your favorite books?

An Artist Of The Floating World, The Remains Of The Day, Seneca’s Letters, Earth Abides, Day Of The Triffids, On The Beach, Wingman.

7. Do you have any favorite magazines?

No.

8. Who are a few of your favorite authors?

Kazuo Ishiguro, Daniel Pinkwater, Robert E. Howard, H.P. Lovecraft, H. Rider Haggard.

9. Do you typically prefer male authors or female authors?

Male authors.

10. Do you typically read books that feature male protagonists or female protagonists?

Male.

11. Were you encouraged to read when growing up?

Yes.

12. How do you choose books to read?

Subject, word of mouth, reviews.

13. Do you belong to a bookclub?

No.

14. Do you discuss books with your friends?

Not usually.

15. Are you an active member of any book related social networking sites?

No.

16. Do you own an ereader?

Yes.

17. In what format do you prefer to read, print or digital?

Doesn’t matter.

18. What kind of reading do you do online?

Nonfiction and research.

19. Do you become interested in reading a particular book if it is adapted into a movie or a TV series?

Not especially.

What I discovered is that my answers more or less fit in with those of fiction reading men. Good to know I’m normal, at least as far as reading is concerned.

In Kate Summers’s survey, women overwhelmingly preferred fiction to nonfiction. This may account for the perception amongst males that fiction reading is for “sissies”. And most males would rather die than be accused of being a sissy. Which may also account for men publicly declaring a preference for nonfiction.

I grew up in a family where reading was encouraged and my father read fiction. Consequently, fiction has always been part of my life and was nothing I was ashamed of. And I’m very glad for that.

Summers’s survey revealed women tend to be eclectic readers, having no preference overall for male or female protagonists or authors. On the other hand, a strong majority of men prefer male authors and male protagonists. This preference may be due to males more than females needing to identify with the characters. This was clearly seen in a survey of 11th grade boys and girls, where 43% of the boys compared to 35% of the girls cited needed to identify with the characters in a book.

Reading habits of men and women are important to writers — if the writer desires to write to a target audience.

Males tend to prefer action and humor. I discovered I’m a bit of an oddball in this regard as I don’t care for unrelenting and fast-paced action. I like action, but keep it to a few action scenes. I prefer plenty of non-action or little action and a whole lot of character development. Slowburn fiction is more my speed.

Females, on the other hand, tend to like romance and realistic fiction dealing with relationships.

As a writer, I find these preferences very interesting. It seems men tend to prefer plot-driven stories, with women preferring character-driven stories. Maybe that’s why men, for example, prefer thrillers (lots of action), whereas women prefer mysteries (especially cozies) where relationships and the characters’s personalities play a much larger role.

Every individual is, of course, unique. But generally speaking, it seems men and women form two different reader groups. What I see going on today amongst writers, both indie and traditionally published, is a catering to women readers at the expense of men. And this is taking place among both men and women writers.

The key to success, so we writers are told, no matter the genre or target audience (such as YA), is to have a kick-ass heroine. I think the underlying reason for this is the notion that in general men don’t read fiction. Which is, of course, not true. Men do read fiction. But men tend not to be social about their reading habits and therefore their reading choices generally don’t show up in surveys.

But we’ll save this part for next week, where we will examine the bias against men.

And if you are a man reading this post, please consider answering the questionnaire above that I took and put your answers in the comments.

Until next next time, happy reading!

Share This!