Monday, August 22, 2011

More Gems

Back from the holidays. I had a great fun, quite a lot of quality time with my family ! But also some time to read. I had taken some ebooks with me, and didn't read them all, but also bought supplementary books. Ebook makes it SO easy ! So I now have a few more "Gems" to share with you.

Great: (4-5 stars on my scale)
Blood of Requiem (Daniel Arenson) $3 at Smashwords
One I forgot to write about last time. Great Fantasy book, where "Were-Dragons" fight for their race. Some new ideas regarding dragons, good writing... The followup just became available at Smashwords.

Stray : Touchstone part 1 (Andrea K Höst) $3 at Smashwords
Just one of Andrea K Höst excellent books. A YA three part story (waiting now anxiously for the third and last part) about a girl "trapped" away from home. Mostly funny/light when the hero "escapes" through humor what sometimes would call a dire situation, but also sometimes grave, all in all a good book.

Sex Zombies (S. Wolf) $3 at Smashwords, $1 @ Amazon
Not for children !! Definitely adults only !! Take a Zombie B movie, Take out the gore, replace it by sex, add humor, shake... and you get a damn good ebook.

Good : (equivalent 3-4 stars)
Arranger (L.J. Sellers) $3 at Amazon, B&N
A thriller set in a "fast-forward" future, just a good mix of action, police work and little romantic interest. I really liked the "cyberpunk-lite" atmosphere and settings, and hope the author (used to more contemporary thrillers) will explore it further.

Talon of the Unnamed Goddess (J.R. Tomlin) $3 at Smashwords
Mix some Ninja/Warriors with "medieval-scale" politics and battles, and you get a book worth it's price and your reading time. Would clearly have been "Great" with some "internal conflict".


Let's Get Digital: How To Self-Publish, And Why You Should (David Gaughran) $3 at Smashwords and PDF for free at the author's homepage
A great source of information for people interested in self-publishing. A great addition/comparison to ...

How I Sold 1 Million eBooks in 5 Months (John Locke) $5 at Smashwords
John Locke explains the marketing approach he took to sell his self-published books. While his books are fun to read, marketing  is clearly where John Locke excels.

Priscilla the Great (Sybil Nelson) $1 at Smashwords
A MG book about a girl discovering she's got Super-Hero powers... Some kind of mix between James-Bond (villains) and Marvel (powers), with the parodic distance of a MG/YA, without too much angst. A Light, easy read. Your children may appreciate. I did.


These Hellish Happenings (Jennifer Rainey)  $1 at Amazon
Life in Hell is what not it's claimed to be. You may have seen from previous "reviews" how much humor is important to me. It doesn't  miss here either. Still, the book also explores some other deeper themes. A nice read too.

2 comments:

  1. SFReader, have you read HP Mallory's "How I Sold 200,000 E-Books, A Guide for the Self Published Author"? I found it somewhat more practical and its advice more useable (for me anyway) than Locke's book. Of course, that probably wouldn't apply to everyone, but I suggest checking it out for anyone interested in self-publishing.

    And thanks for the mini-review.

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  2. J.R. Thanks for the suggestion. At the moment, (and having read the two books not so long ago), I guess I'll work on the rest of my TBR list, but when I feel the urge to get a new "Self-Publishing" book, I'll sure take a look at it.

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