Let’s talk about reviews.

Make no mistake - this is the Big Ask. This is more important than you pre-ordering the book in the first place. This is what separates a nifty thing I made for all of you from a CULTURAL JUGGERNAUT. This is what takes the signal from AM to FM. This is what gets me closer to the dream. This is what gets you closer to owning a highly-prized First Edition Asteroid Made of Dragons instead of owning a Dusty Paperback Your Friend Wrote One Time.

When you receive your copy (soon!) and you turn the last page of the story proper - before the Acknowledgements, before the Author Info, before anything - I’ve added in an Author’s Plea. It’s a bald-faced request for a review. That is how important it is. More powerful than marketing, more potent than cover design, more influential than scores of social media posts - an honest review is what makes people read new books.

Sidebar: an honest review. What do I mean by that? I mean don’t just run  and give me all 5 stars to help out.  It will not hurt my feelings if you think AMOD is a 4 star book, or a 3 star, or a...2 star....or.....a.......1.........(faints)

Where am I? Who took my pants and replaced them with no pants? An honest review is what I want and what new readers need. I have personally read and loved books BECAUSE of bad reviews. The thing one person hated about a book - lo and behold was exactly why I knew I would LOVE the book. An honest reaction to a book - warts and all - is invaluable, because it cannot be bought. It cannot be manufactured in a Marketing Department. I almost always read a couple of reviews or articles before I try out a book that is an unknown quantity - most readers are the same.

Here’s a review I just wrote for The Life Engineered by JF Dubeau. I think a lot of you know that we’re bunkmates on the Sword & Laser shelf, and if you like great worldbuilding and robots this book was written just for you. I really liked it  - but I had some cranky quibbles, and I was honest about them here. As far as I know, JF has not launched any Capek assassins in my direction - fingers crossed. This is the type of review I love to get. Feedback, validation, criticism - what you liked, what you didn’t. I’m still growing as a writer and I benefit immensely from this kind of data.

One last thing: I need 100 reviews on Amazon. 

That’s the magic number, the tipping point if you will for that site’s algorithms to take more notice of the book. Amazon is the 500 lb. gorilla for better or worse and for the book to succeed, that’s the platform the book needs to be visible on. If 1 out of 4 of my followers here on Inkshares leaves a review - we’ll hit the magic number.  Actual written reviews are better, but even just taking the time to leave a star rating is all that is needed. 

Okay - I’ve yammered about this enough FOR TODAY. It’s just over six weeks until the official launch of AMOD, so I’ll be bringing this UP again. Give me some feedback here - does this make you feel weird and imposed upon? What other sort of topics can I regale you with?

As always - thank you so much for your support and attention. Crazy to think we’re coming up on the year anniversary of the Sword & Laser Contest that started this all in motion.

Sunday review/recommendation time.  I would have been posting up hours ago, but I am easily distracted when there is snow falling and stray cats feeding outside my back door.

Just as a reminder folks, bold text always denotes an embedded link with my updates.  Before I get to my recommendations I’ll give you a quick behind the scenes on my planning for the future of Exile, Magus.  I’m thinking about making a few changes to the story(the most major of which is a new introductory scene if I can only think of one, perhaps a prologue of sorts), and to aid in this I have enlisted the help of a few beta readers.  The feedback I’ve gotten so far has been insightful and quite useful in keeping my thoughts un-nebulous and mostly focused.

I believe I’ve mentioned it before, but in case I haven’t:  my dream layout for Exile, Magus would have a piece of full page cover art in front of each Part as a sort of illuminated title page.  To work towards that end I’ve been looking around for artists and have now got quite a long list which I’d like to work with, so I’ll be stopping my search and actually sending out messages to said artists to see whose work I can actually afford.  I hope to have a total of 14 pieces of art for Exile, Magus, and if I can find money for it I hope to work this into a giveaway when I most likely relaunch my campaign at a date yet to be determined.  No promises or details though, because its far too early for either.

With that out of the way its time to get on to the recommendations.  I still have my old shortlist that I’m working through, but I also can’t help but keep getting distracted by some of the wonderful new projects brought out of the woodwork by the current Nerdist Space Opera contest.  Since I’ve covered most of the projects on my old shortlist, I plan to cover one book from it, as well as two space opera books today, next Sunday, and then alternate Sundays with this same layout until the contest ends.  For the space operas I’m going to try to focus on one which has not made it to the top 10(because who doesn’t love an underdog) as well as one which is in the top 10.

Children of the Wise Oak  by  Oliver Tooley:  My inner pagan has long leaned to the Celtic, so the opening paragraph with its excellent use combination of vivid imagery and Celtic mythology to describe a sunrise was simply mesmerizing to my mind’s eye.  From here Mr. Tooley continues with a masterful technique, easily blending exposition, mythology, imagery, and characterization to settle me firmly into the mindset of this particular group of ancient Celts.  With this foundation it is impossible not to get swept away into the compelling narrative.

I’m very disappointed that this one hasn’t received more attention yet, it really is a superb work of historical fantasy.  Hopefully most of you simply haven’t found it yet and now that I’ve pointed it out to you we can get this book the attention it deserves soon, since its funding deadline is drawing very near - sometime around 3/16 if my math is correct.

To Live and Die in Avalon  by  Jason Chestnut:  Mr. Chestnut’s first chapter succeeds in combining two genres which I’ve always had a (perhaps unsavory) love for - 60’s spy movies and classic science fiction serials.  With imagery and characterization absolutely dripping with the sleek and sexy 60’s style blended so well with action and aliens that would easily fit into a Buck Roger’s adventure, To Live and Die in Avalon is such a joy to read that I can’t wait for more.

This is my underdog space opera recommendation, and I cannot understand how it hasn’t already broken into the top 10 on its own.  Check it out for yourself and see what I’m talking about.

The Traveller’s Cup  by  AC Baldwin:  I’ve long been a fan of the intermingling of science fiction and fantasy(even doing it myself at times), so how could I possibly pass up reading a book with the premise which it seems one may be able to sum up as a space race/treasure hunt amidst a civil war between space dragons and wizards?

The opening uses well-crafted narrative to quickly give us the exposition and characterization we need to get a good feel for the dynamics between the lowly Grays and aristocratic Lumens, as well as to give us insight into the mind of our unlikely protagonist as he is drawn into the race quite on accident(or his own foolishness, take your pick).  The high quality of writing and promise of the concept leaves me desperately hungry for more of Ms. Baldwin’s story.

This is very near to being an underdog in the space opera, sitting at position 10 in the contest as of this writing.  I hope to soon see it race up to one of the top 3 spots and stay there.

Wait there’s more!  I nearly forgot this bit.  I had promised at the end of my campaign that if Exile, Magus hit 300 followers I would post the final sections of Part 6.  Well, we passed the 300 mark days ago, so I will be posting up and sending out those sections sometime in the week to come.

That’s all I’ve got for this time, thanks for your time and enjoy yourselves!