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Meri's Corner

~ A Writer's Thoughts and Reviews

Meri's Corner

Monthly Archives: June 2013

Feeling very…

24 Monday Jun 2013

Posted by MBenson in Writing

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dystopian setting, mind everywhere, multiple book readings, original work, possible wip, ramblings, starting a new project, thoughts, writing

I’m not completely sure why, but I’ve been feeling very… wanting to write a dystopian set book. My small but currently growing library of novels and anthologies where this is the setting may be having a bad influence on my brain. I picked up Shards & Ashes from my shelf to start reading it the other day, which is a large contrast from Casting Spells that I’m currently reading.

And i should probably warn you now that this post might ramble. It’s Monday, and I should be running errands but the office I need to visit doesn’t open for another fifteen minutes.

Anywho, so I am in the mood to write/read dystopian settings and I’m not completely sure where the want to do either came from. It also leaves me wanting to crack the whip at a friend of mine that’s got a dystopian story in the works and I’m eager to read it as soon as possible.

My conflict with writing one is that I currently have a WIP and I really, really have goals to get it done and I don’t want to deviate from that to plot a new story, short or novel length. If I were in a slightly better place with my time, I might try to balance them but I don’t really have much time to bounce between two.

Brains. Why do they do this to us? Because seriously. I don’t need any more distractions or I’m gonna see the painful side of a whip as it’s cracked at me to keep working on my WIP.

I do know I’ll be jotting down the thoughts on this idea, so hopefully I can go back to it when either I have more time or after Christmas.

Pricing on the Kindle Store

20 Thursday Jun 2013

Posted by MBenson in Personal Thoughts, Writing

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Amazon Kindle, as a buyer, as a seller, books, pricing, self publishing, thoughts

I have to say that sometimes it amazes me how the pricing ends up on Amazon’s Kindle store. With Kindle Direct allowing authors to self publish instead of finding a publisher, it’s flooded the ebook stores with more material than ever. (Which is both good and bad.)

On the one hand, it means that authors don’t have to jump and compete with that very small market that is the big publishers line up, and they don’t have to deal with the hassles that can come from trying a small, specifically genre-d press, or bend their genre and style to fit that small press. However it also means that anyone can publish anything, and editors aren’t always used before publishing. (Though I’m starting to get a little off topic here since I wanted to discuss the pricing, aren’t I.)

A lot of the books on the store are $0.99 – especially when it’s a book one of a series, which I personally think is great. It gives you the ability to try a new author without really committing a lot of money at first, and if you like them and want to continue the series it’s usually $2.99. To me? That seems more than fair and more than a little awesome. It’s affordable as the reader, the author gets their stories out there, and while it’s not much they’re also getting at least a little money for the effort they’re putting into it.

What baffles me though, while I was cruising the Kindle store I came across an author who is publishing 4K stories and asking for $2.99 for them. In a see of chapter ebooks and lengthy novellas that are being sold for $0.99, this person wanted more. And I will admit, I haven’t gotten into self publishing my stuff yet, though I do have plans to in the near future, I don’t see how the author thought that would be a good business plan. Especially since said author states the word count in the description on the info of the book so you know you’re getting a massive short.

I won’t say that the author is wrong for charging that much as it’s her work and she has every right to charge as she pleases. What I’m wondering is, do people actually spend that much for such a small short? Am I just a little too wallet tight to spend almost a dollar for every thousand words?

Old Projects, New Eyes

18 Tuesday Jun 2013

Posted by MBenson in Writing

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fantasy, goals, original fiction, thoughts, WIP

It’s hard sometimes to look back and go ‘well hell. I was supposed to be done with that by now.’ And yet that’s what I ended up doing this last week while I was on vacation visiting my best friend. I’ve been trying to write a novel for the last four years, and every year I always let life or other things get in the way of finishing. I don’t set it as a priority, and that’s my main problem. Though the major secondary problem is that I haven’t been setting time aside to write.

I got a new job a couple months ago and that had completely side tracked me as well, but that’s an excuse. And not a very good one. Though that’s also neither here nor there.

After talking to my friend, and realizing that I had written 30,000 words and the story didn’t go anywhere, or do anything. And staring at this large piece of work that’s been sitting for what feels like forever, it felt like a chore to try and work on it. Like I was tied down and chained to keep it because it’s what I have to show for the last four years. But it made me want to work on it even less for that too, because I wasn’t sure how to salvage it with how backed into a corner the main character was now.

So, with the encouragement of my friend, I scrapped all of it but the treatment and outline. We reworked some of story so it will hopefully flow a little better too as I write it. And we’ve set up goals for me to meet, the  main being a minimum of 667 words a day, but 1,000 if I can get it there. My goal as a whole is to have the rough draft done by Christmas. That starting in 2014 I can do revisions and edits and have it finished before this time next year.

It might not seem like a lot, or a strict deadline, but I have issues trying to follow most deadlines, and I will be doing my best to keep up with all of my goals. And hopefully I will update with better progress as the year gets closer to closing.

Book Review: Dark Summer by Lizzy Ford

10 Monday Jun 2013

Posted by MBenson in Reviews

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dark summer, lizzy ford, review

Author: Lizzy Ford Dark Summer
Publisher: Guerrilla Wordfare
Genre: YA – Fantasy Romance
Rating: 4 Stars

In a world where magick is kept quiet and most people don’t know it exists, growing up with it flowing in your body can be hard. This is especially true for ward of the state, Summer. Orphaned at a young age, she never had anyone to show her the ways of her lineage and help her with her magick. That hasn’t stopped her magick from lashing out though, causing school after school to expel her. Now though, she’s sent to Priest Lake. A boarding school where the wind and trees sing to her, and where magick isn’t a curse but a gift meant to be fostered. But will her fate be any different at this new school where she’ll make enemies as well as friends?

The world that Lizzy created in this book is definitely an imaginative and creative one. Summer is a girl that has been down on her luck since her parents died and an orphanage took her in. Her story is a sad one, and yet she hasn’t given up the ability to hope that maybe this time it’ll be better. Maybe this new school where she isn’t an outcast because of her magick might be the one she can stay at.

Over the course of the book she faces both troubles and happiness, as well as some heartbreak. Nothing is ever simple in the life of a teenager, but throw in magick and the balance of light and dark that could cost one your soul and you have a very addictive read.

Book Review: Fraternal Devotion edited by K. Piet & Kristen Pavka

03 Monday Jun 2013

Posted by MBenson in Reviews

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anthology, review, Storm Moon Press

Fraternal Devotion Cover

Fraternal Devotion is an anthology published by Storm Moon Press and can be found here. The book contains five stories about brothers loving brothers. And while I know a lot of people tend to automatically frown or push away that concept, but I think that people should always give everything a try. You never know what will inspire you, or make you smile unless you try it. And by try it I mean give this book a try and read it. Especially since this book holds a lot of good stories in it.

Over all rating: 3.5 Stars

The first tantalizing tale, War and Peace and Brotherhood by D.K. Jernigan (4.5 stars) unfolds the tale of brothers Keith and Riley. In this world, a mutation has started turning some of the population and it has split sides. Riley had left a number of years ago and Keith had no idea where he’d gone until he shows up on the wrong side of the line that Keith’s been walking. This book is set in a world where an infection has started to change people, to those changed a lot of them see it as a gift but to those unchanged they see them as abominations that must be eradicated at any cost. The infection that changes you is spread by having sex with someone that’s already been changed, and personally I have to say it’s an interesting way to explain people gaining the ability to change into wolves or make themselves invisible, though that’s only a small example of what people have gained in this world. The world building in the story is imaginative and interesting, and the interaction and relationship between the two brothers in engaging and makes you want to keep reading.

The second story is Analgeisa by Alisha Steele (4 stars) and tells the tale of Brandon and Ethan. After a rather bitter divorce, their mother is trying to fix up their childhood home so she can sell it and move into something smaller and more affordable. There’s no hiding the fact that Brandon wants his brother, from the get go we know that the feelings are there. And watching the interaction between the two, the story of why Ethan ran to England with his band nineteen months before the story started, is extremely interesting and hot. This story, with it’s teasing, flirting, and jealousy is a very steamy read.

Third in the tales of brotherly love comes Depression, Love, and Swimming Pools by Leigh Wilder (3 stars). The story starts with Cale coming home on Spring Break to see his mother and his brother Derrick. His mother is quick to tell him that something is wrong with his older brother, and without actually saying it she thinks that Cale should fix whatever is going on as Derrick seems to have taken to just floating in the family pool nearly naked. The story overall is a relatively sad one, as you come to find that the brothers have gone through a good deal of loss between them, and that both are trying to cope as they can though Derrick is having a tougher time of it through everything. And while I didn’t gel all that well with this story, it is well written and the characters are engaging. Well worth the read.

Coming in fourth is On Clouds of Obsession by Azalea Moone (2 stars) where we meet Jeremy and Matt. It’s a week before Matt’s wedding to Candy, and Jeremy is not all that enthusiastic about the wedding. Matt invites Jeremy to the Bachelor party and despite his reservations agrees and goes. Things escalate from steamy to depressing and then around to sweet. If you follow Jeremy’s emotions, this story is a roller coaster of emotions, though I feel that it’s written extremely well. Neither the story nor the emotions lose you but instead make you want to continue with Jeremy to see how the shoe will fall when all is said and done.

And finally, but certainly not least is On the Edge by S.L. Armstrong & K. Piet (4 stars). Ben and Andrew are two brothers that have moved out on their own, sharing an apartment to support each other in the city away from their parents. Though there’s more than just trying to make it as a musician on Andrew’s mind, namely struggling through the guilt and shame that come from loving and sleeping with his brother. Ben doesn’t have any of the guilt or shame, but rather embraces that they’ve always gone against the grain and this was no different, and so long as it made them happy it was alright. The tug back and forth between the emotions is definitely a powerful one, and the story has a darker edge to it because of Andrew’s drug use.

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