WEEKLY STATUS REPORT # 33

Last Sunday I received the approval that my book is ready to be released, but the having any certainty about not having any problem which would result in having some pages print light than others, I decided to investigate the problem further.

It took a while, but on Tuesday I found the cause – the style at the top of the WORD document main page had different for each page which appear lighter when printed. I created a duplicate file so I wouldn’t lose the integrity for the problematic file and proceeded to make the necessary corrections. Once I finished the correction process I resubmitted all the files again to await their approval. Before retiring for the night at around 1:00 AM on Wednesday I checked the status of my book on CreateSpace and found the files were approved. I then viewed a virtual copy and seeing no problems, I ordered a printed proof copy this time paying for an expedited delivery. I’ve been tracking the packing and I’m due to receive it tomorrow, Monday, December 1, 2014.

With the satisfaction that all is well now that my second book has been released, I’ve started to write a sequel with another 100 micro fictions being written.  The only difference is I’ll be looking for other venues to find my prompt words, and so far I’ve written a total of eight items.

If you’ve been following my blog this past week, you’d know I’ve posted reviews for 4 more books. I currently still have 2 more physical books in my possession I need to read/review plus an additional book I’ve yet to receive from my GoodReads.com giveaway wins; plus one e-book on my bookshelf on Shelfari to read/review.

In regards my Haiku Anthology I’ve added no additional items. However, after joining a new internet group I’ve have which deals with the writing of Haiku, I’m now in the process of tweaking the ones I’ve already as well as the titles I’d written for each one; apparently a Haiku doesn’t get a title unless there are several written as a sequence for a single topic.

I’d so much wanted to write another chapter for my YA Urban Fantasy The Secret of the Well.  But with Thanksgiving and the shopping madness over the weekend, this didn’t happen. Hopefully, this week will finally bear some fruit for this endeavor.

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BOOK REVIEW # 33 – STAY ANOTHER NIGHT

I received a print copy of this book as a giveaway on GoodReads.com in return for my honest opinion for the book.

From the inviting title I entered the giveaway to win one of the 100 copies being offered. When I received my copy I didn’t really care its relatively small pocket trim size, as compared to the trim sizes I usually receive. The trim size made it somewhat less comfortable to read.

The premise for the storyline is also something which caught my eye; a young runaway, underage girl, Coco gets a job in a strip club run by a Mafia-type Don, she then gets a job as a model followed by that of an actress.  Coco seems to be too prefect at times, probably due to the male POV the book seems to have been written in. While the storyline takes a few twists and the foreign locations are quite vivid in their descriptions, the book as a whole didn’t really do anything to arouse my interest in the book.

I find it interesting the book, in its paperback format or the hardcover edition, are apparently no longer available.  I also found it interesting the copy of the book I’d received had been printed in India.

In the end, the best I can give this book is only 3 STARS. 

US  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FBMKIRW

UK  http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00FBMKIRW

BOOK REVIEW # 32 – JADED

“Jaded ” is a one of those YA novels which come along once in a while that has a wonderful blend of items which makes it appealing to a wider audience.

The book tells the story of a young girl, Jade, who lives in a highly restrictive dystopian commune environment where the color of one’s eyes determines everything. While the community’s ophthalmology knowledge exceeds the world on the Outside, the same level of technology is almost non-existing when it comes many other areas of life. 

Jade is now of the age where she needs to make vital decisions concerning the rest of her life.

Jade’s eyes, and everyone else’s, have been closed to the reality of the community they all live in. It’s only when her Grandmother Ruby gives her the forbidden diary she’s written that Jade begins to discover the shocking secrets which abound in the society she’s living in, secrets which include her parents past. Jade is aided in her quest for the truth by two individuals about her own age, Tyrian [Ty to his friends] and Peaches [daughter of the commune’s leader].

Jade continuously runs the risk of being caught and being sent to a slave cabin or even worse being blinded. To makes matters worse someone unknown to her is determined to stop Jade in her pursuit to find the truth of what’s really behind the commune’s very existence. The red herrings and twists the story contains make this book a real page turner and one which is hard to put down. My only regret is not having bought the paperback but I couldn’t resist paying only 99 cents for the KINDLE edition for the book.

Given what I’ve written for my review in the above, I feel it deserves the 4 STARS I’m giving. Hopefully, I’ll be able to get to read the rest of the author’s planned installments for this series.

US http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00II0UUSQ

UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00II0UUSQ

BOOK REVIEW # 31 – JAYDEN & THE MYSTERIOUS MOUNTAIN

Been quite busy with the release of my second book, Micro Fiction – An Anthology, couldn’t post my reviews on a more timely basis.

As a rule street kids have nothing to look forward to except a live in the streets trying to eke their existence on an on-going basis. Most street kids that is until Jayden and his friends of the street got picked up a benefactor who wanted to turn their lives around. Their benefactor places them in a private school where they’re taught better than any school in their former neighborhoods.

If you thought their benefactor had a reason for doing this, you’d be right, he needed them to be totally trained in how to fight terrorists who threatens everyone’s existence. The book contains a wonderful mix of genres; action/adventure, sci-fi with the use of high-tech equipment, etc. This is story in which its young street kids learn to take responsibility, and take it seriously.

While Ms. Cope’s writing style has turned the book into a page turner complete with the red herrings in contains, it could use some tweaking to correct the errors it contains. Overall I believeJayden & The Mysterious Mountain: Book 1 deserves the 4 STARS I’m giving it.

US: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EYSKMF2

UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00EYSKMF2

FIVE SENTENCE FICTION – Irritation

Well I’m back again this week with my response for Lillie’s prompt word of “IRRITATION.”

MISTAKEN IDENTITY

The other day Denise Dey received a certified letter stating her husband’s car would be repossessed if a payment isn’t made within 14 days.  It didn’t seem to matter to the customer service representative she spoke that the car had been paid off two months after he’d died, even after the documentation had been faxed to them.

Denise explained her situation over and over, again and again, to one individual after another; but all of her efforts seemed to have been fruitless. Finally with two days left you can just imagine how irritated she felt when she’d received a phone call vice-president of the company apologizing for the inconvenience they’d created. It appears they wanted someone else, they wanted a Denice Day and not her.   

BOOK REVIEW # 30 – LOWRIDERS IN SPACE

The following review is my honest opinion for an ARC of this book I won in a giveaway on GoodReads.com

One of the reasons I decided to enter the drawing for this book is that the book is in reality a comic book. As any child of the 1950’s can recall, comics played a major part of what we read; as well as being something we’d used a part of our allowance each month for. Comics were broken down by sex; while the boys had their Superman, Batman, etc comics, the girls had their comics from the Archie series of comics: Archie, Jughead, and Betty and Veronica.

Lowriders in Space succeeded in bringing me back to those days of my youth, with it being a comic with a more adult storyline. I found the book interesting because it dealt with two elements which are not usually found in literature. The first is the topic of the storyline, the building of a lowrider. Lowriders are unique to the Mexican¬-America culture of Southern California are personally modified cars, usually junkers, built to ride closer to the ground than regular car and had been made for cruising rather than for racing. These cars built by teams then get enter into competition for the glitziest, uniqueness, etc car.

The second element deals with women in non-traditional roles, and the one in this book is that of the lead mechanic of the team which built the winning entry for the competition the book deals with to win a carload of cash and a solid gold steering wheel. Not only did the car run after they were finished with it, it also wound up launching itself into outer space.

For its unique storyline which crosses genres and what I’d mentioned in the above, this book definitely deserved the 5 STARS I’m giving it.

US  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KGNMT0K  

UK  http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00KGNMT0K  

WEEKLY STATUS REPORT # 32

Well last week has been a BIG WEEK for me as far as my second book, Micro Fiction – An Anthology, is concerned. On Friday I received the PROOF COPY for this book, and after examining it, I noticed an minor error in the text for the back cover. This meant correcting the error and starting the approval process over again, on Saturday I got notified the book is ready to be released. However, I decided to recheck the actual book itself for errors, which turned out a good decision to make as I found a handful of minor errors which needed to be corrected, which I did. I then submitted the entire book for a new review.

However, in examining the interior of the book I noticed an uneven printing of its pages, which I advised CreateSpace of; which they can’t tell the reason for since I’ve resubmitted my files. They’re refunding the cost of receiving the PROOF COPY. Now the question is whether or not I’m going to ask for a second PROOF COPY and wait until the end of November to receive it delaying its release; or will I attempt to correct the problem myself, delaying its release even longer. The answer next week.

If you’ve been following my blog this past week, you’d know I’ve only read and posted review for 1 additional book. I currently still have one more physical book in my possession I need to read/review plus an additional three books I’ve yet to receive from my GoodReads.com giveaway wins; plus one e-book on my bookshelf on Shelfari to read/review.

In regards to the yet untitled anthology of Haikus I’m writing, I’ve made what I feel has been considered progress in this endeavor; I now written a total of 15 Haikus this week, which brings the total of Haikus written to 93 or 37.2% of my target figure of 250. I’ve obtained the most of these prompts in the past week from http://www.haikuhorizons.wordpress.com and I’ve placed myself on their mailing list to receive their future prompts each Sunday.

This past week I succeeded in re-reading the manuscript for my YA Urban Fantasy, The Secret of the Well. My goal, from here on, is to write at least one chapter each week until the manuscript is completed. This time I’m going to have the text edited by a third party, and at the same time I’m going to start searching for someone to design the cover for the book, both of which will be done if I obtain the needed funds.

BOOK REVIEW # 29 – THE MORES OF THE MAELSTORM: VOLUME 1

I received a copy of this book as part of giveaway on GoodReads.com in return for my honest opinion of it.

This is the first time I’ve read anything by the author, Mark Shelton; and I must I’m quite pleased with the experience. The stories in “Mores of the Maelstorm,” reminds me a little of the original, black and white episodes of “The Twilight Zone,” in which each story basically falling into its own category. The book runs the gumut, from sci-fi and fantasy to the macabre. Each story contains some sort of twist at the end.

While I read this book at a single sitting I feel it might have been better if I’d read it one story at a time.

I believe it deserves the 5 STARS I’m giving.

US http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OQKU0V4

UK http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00OQKU0V4

 

WEEKLY STATUS REPORT # 31

Well last week has been a BIG WEEK for me as far as my second book, Micro Fiction – An Anthology, is concerned. On Wednesday I created a simplistic cover for the book at no cost on CreateSpace using one of their templates. On Thursday, I worked on the interior text for the book. And Friday morning a virtual proof was ready for my approval, but I opted to receive a printed PROOF copy for the book instead. I expect to receive this PROOF next Monday, November 24, 2014.  This means, once I give my approval, the paperback edition should become available in about two days; at the same time I’m going to order the conversion for the KINDLE Edition.

 

If you’ve been following my blog this past week, you’d know I’ve read and posted reviews for five more books. I currently still have two books in my possession I need to read/review plus an additional two books I’ve yet to receive from my GoodReads.com giveaway wins; plus one more e-book on my bookshelf on Shelfari. I’m most definitively keeping the New Year’s Resolution I made this year about starting to read books again.

With the above accomplished and reading requirements under control, I feel confident I can return to working on my MG/YA Urban Fantasy The Secret of the Well, and my adult Contemporary Romance novel, His Darkest Secret this week.

The 64 Haikus I’ve already written are now arranged into five categories so far. I’ve also decided to reduce the number of Haikus I plan to include in this anthology from 400 to 250, which means I’ve completed about 25.6% of this endeavor. I’m now going to now search in earnest for sites which deal with the writing of Haikus to obtain my prompts/ideas to write them with. I’ve found one of these sites http://www.haikuhorizons.wordpress.com where I looking at all of the prompts they’ve already given and writing a Haiku for each one. I’m following this site now and I’m going to be current with it. This week I wrote an additional 14 Haikus, giving me a total 78 [31.2% completed.]

With the completion of my first anthology of Micro Fiction, I’ve eagerly started working on a second volume. But this time, I’m not going to reply on only one source for my prompts, which has worked out wonderfully for me, and as of now I’ve already written five of them.

 

HAIKU – HAIKU HORIZONS – COLD

I’m always looking for another venue in which I can be created in.

I think I’ve found it in the writing of HAIKU

Here are my responses for the Haiku prompt on Haiku Horizons

Nature

One day hot. Next cold.

Mother Nature deals the cards.

No one knows what’s next.

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Midsummer’s Cycle

Midsummer heat’s on

Longing for mid-winter’s cold

Heat’s longed for again’

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Goldilocks Syndrome

This one is too hot.

Then choose the other instead.

But that one too cold.