Plants Scream Too

~ ron877 ~ Leave a comment

Image by Erik Llerena from Pixabay

Call of the Mandrake by F. R. Jameson is a type of ghost story featuring ghostly shadows. On the Amazon page for author Jameson, F. R. Jameson writes that the idea of ghostly shadows is a connecting device throughout all his writing. Good idea. If you like ghost stories, you might pick up the author’s complete series. Call of the Mandrake is a 148-page offer through Kindle for USD 2.99 or as a free read on Kindle Unlimited.

Lists are meant to save time and put everything in a neat place for easy retrieval. They are memory aids. I can’t remember where I filed my lists. One essential list is this one where I have my “comfort “ authors, like F. R. Jameson. I know I will learn new things, like unique things about Wales. And what is Mandrake? (I cheated). Imagine a plant that screams, and the sound can kill the listener. Jameson also provides a new spin on things like ghost stories with his “shadows.” I predict I will like this story. It is good to be able to find reliable entertainment.

Continue reading “Plants Scream Too” →

Call 911 for a Content Editor

~ ron877 ~ Leave a comment

Image by 200 Degrees from Pixabay

I have no idea what A Tragicomic NZ Love Story looks or reads like, so I am already anticipating the differences I will find in this novel. What is the specific New Zealand (NZ) slant? The book begins with a very positive note that includes a link to a free short story that is a prequel to Taking the Plunge. The link is a (dot) net address, which requires me to sneak up on the address through a VPN, but things eventually worked out.

In a Prologue I found attractive; readers meet Kate as she is piling all the worldly goods of her husband in her backyard in preparation for a barbeque that I am sure husband, accountant Lawrence, did not anticipate. Lawrence returned home to find his surprise as a reward for marital infidelity. Baby Corbin did not react other than to welcome Dad home, and readers can settle into a story to find out what a Tragicomic story reads like.

This novel has two useful elements. It is competently written as far a vocabulary, grammar, proofreading, and editing, although I have some reservations about the content editing. Secondly, it has several ethical issues or themes which can be the base for several novels. None of these ideas arrived at the early stages of development.

Continue reading “Call 911 for a Content Editor” →

October Terribles

~ ron877 ~ Leave a comment

Image by Rudy Anderson from Pixabay

As I go through my month of October Terribles, a term I apply to the wreck that is my erstwhile posing schedule due to medical issues; I have lots of time on my hands because I only answer to medical appointments. Appointments have left me more time to visit the WordPress Reader and look over favorites that I had “archived for later reading” during my employed life. I even read a few “positive attitude” posts and found them to be outstanding. ( I usually run from these types of posts).  I am sure I will post credits for these as I reference their advice in the future.

I look to humor for positive input. Unintentional humor and smart humor are my favorites. I find that in days of (almost) enforced TV viewing; news channels are my favorite. As I have heard from presenters on every channel.”You can’t make this stuff up.” Of course, I want to know about events, but the language and presentation styles of those who provide the news interest me. I find I want to comment on these features. I have time. Here goes.

CNN has an annoying amount of self-promotion. It is like the searching viewer is constantly landing on a static never-ending blog page rather than a  posts page. My thumb on a mute button remains one of the most reliable parts of my body. Nevertheless, sometimes a gem gets through, and it never gets old. My favorite:

CNN’s Anderson Cooper is interviewing the Man-Who-Would-Be-Potus and says (paraphrase)

“but that is the argument of a five-year-old.”

Reply from T-man, “They started it.”

It still airs embedded inside a promotional blurb.

Never gets old.

Continue reading “October Terribles” →

Home Sweat Home

~ ron877 ~ Leave a comment

Image by Hans Braxmeier from Pixabay

PREVIEW

Rant by Rob Radcliffe attracts reader interest because we all have the desire to occasionally rant. We know that during these vocabulary projectile exercises possibly no one is listening. We are screaming in our closets. Nevertheless, we feel better. Comedy and humor, added to submissions of intemperate whining, can be entertaining. Laughs is what I will look for in this collection.

METHOD

I tried something different in the way I reviewed this collection. I usually read all the way through a novel, highlighting and bookmarking as I go. Then brief reflection on what I want to write. With this set of stories, I wanted to either comment on each “chapter,” which might include a few negatives in the middle of an otherwise positive review. That experience happened with this collection. My most-oft cited criticism is the heavy amount of self-promotion of other writings which consume at least two chapters. The second most appearing criticism is that links in the collection do not work. When I went to Google to find Radcliffe’s blog, I couldn’t find it. I was able to find several Rod Radcliffe publications on the author’s Amazon page and I am sure I will read more works by this author. Several publications are available through Kindle Unlimited. Radcliffe’s novels are over-all good and have some fresh perspectives but the “unstable” nature of the goodness which comes from self-promotion and non-working links annoy me to the point that I would not pay for the downloads outside a Kindle Unlimited subscription.

Continue reading “Home Sweat Home” →

Bad Dreams and Uncertain Realities

~ ron877 ~ 2 Comments

Image by Ichigo121212 from Pixabay

Carthage by Joyce Carol Oates (JCO) is a 2014 publication that Amazon reports has 769 pages. Other platforms report more than 600 pages; this is a long book. So how could it be a page-turner and impossible to put down novel to be read in one session? It worked for me as I fended off the annoying lab technicians that wanted to briefly interrupt my reading for their micro-invasions. I can read in a hospital, but I can’t write a review, so after finishing this novel a couple of days ago, I had time to reflect and reread favorite passages. Thanks, Doc. And thanks to the author for getting me through depressing times. There is a lot of irony in that this novel is more depressing than not. For me, it is a solid five star read and bring on the pluses as they become available. The only shocking feature I found about this novel were negative reviews.

 

Continue reading “Bad Dreams and Uncertain Realities” →

Apologies to My Muse

~ ron877 ~ 2 Comments

Image by Nicola Giordano from Pixabay

I’ll take it as a given that many, many readers, reviewers, and bloggers eventually get the urge to write. Exemplary posts about how easy it is to write abound. Do you mean that someone has written about personal experiences in using chopsticks at diplomatic functions? Accompanied by free, credited photos from Pixabay? And the writer/blogger has 3000 followers? I can do better than that. I am more interesting. The time-sucking requirements of a daily job do not allow me the luxury of waiting on a capricious muse. There must be an efficient way to get past the idea and straight into writing or telling stories. As a person who teaches English for a living, I felt I should be able to get past this easily. Not so. 

Continue reading “Apologies to My Muse” →

Deputy Chief Steadman’s Bet

~ ron877 ~ Leave a comment

Image by Adrian Malec from Pixabay

I was very impressed by the depth of research and skillful weaving of science and fiction to create a mystery in Nocturne in Ashes by Joslyn Chase. Find my review of Nocturne at this link (opens in a new window)  https://ron877.wpcomstaging.com/2019/05/15/an-explosive-mystery/. I should not have been surprised to be challenged with new knowledge, that is how Chase writes. I did not know what a “Paraquel” is. I thought about it for a while. Give it up, where is my Google? I could have waited for Chase to explain the term, but where is the fun in that?

Readers may be familiar with the idea that before publication, writers are sometimes left with too much “stuff.” They are urged by stoic editors to “kill off their darlings.” Do writers obey? Probably not, but they confine their errant ideas into an easily recoverable bin from which they may retrieve editorial rejects, spin them around a bit, and offer a new and additional perspective on previously published work. Take that, evil editors. Think of a set of parentheses that enclose not sentences but chapters. Writers sit at their workstations thinking of their readers while musing, “I wanted to tell this part of the story, but money-minded publishers would not allow it.” A Paraquel is an answer to that. Readers should recognize characters and settings from Nocturne in Ashes seamlessly integrating into the new story but different that is Steadman’s Blind.

Steadman is a veteran cop on a mission. Ordered to neighboring Mountain Vista on a mission to investigate a murder, there is little in the way of backup and support. Mt. Rainier has blown a gasket (although not its top), and the small town has been completely cut off from communication with the outside world. Before the cut-off, however, there was a call for help. There is the possibility that a serial killer known as the Puget Sound Slasher is hiding out in the town, And the suspect has not stopped killing.

Continue reading “Deputy Chief Steadman’s Bet” →

A Waste of Writer Talent

~ ron877 ~ Leave a comment

Image by Khusen Rustamov from Pixabay

Exposed by Joe Konrath and Ann Voss Peterson is one of the most disappointing novels I have ever read that is associated with the name of Joe Konrath. I looked almost in vain for a Konrath contribution and found three instances of humor used that reminded me of the writing of one of my favorite authors. For that reason alone, I gave this novel a pity rating of two Amazon stars. After completion of this novel, I immediately began reading Dying Breath written solely by author Konrath. The writing in Dying Breath was an affirmation of the Konrath talent. I will review that novel in a later post. Remarking on all the ways Exposed is bad will consume wordcount. The mystery for me is, what happened? I am searching for a novel written solely by Anne Voss Peterson. Perhaps this is only one instance in which two writer styles don’t match.

There may be a niche for this type of novel. Martial arts students, readers who like graphic descriptions of breaking bones, and readers who are addicted to pure, uncontaminated action might find Exposed entertaining. Except for a few pages in the first 50% of the Kindle edition, the text is something like this:

Continue reading “A Waste of Writer Talent” →

Parallelism 2 — Name That Leader

~ ron877 ~ Leave a comment

Photo by Foto Sushi on Unsplash

What an amazing fit for character description!

“He also had an amazing instinct for what forces could be mobilized at all and did not allow prevailing trends to deceive him. The period of his entry into politics was wholly dominated by the liberal bourgeois system. But he grasped the latent oppositions to it and by bold and wayward combinations seized upon these factors and incorporated them into his program. His conduct seemed foolish to political minds, and for years the arrogant Zeitgeist did not take him seriously. The mockery he earned was justified by his appearance, his rhetorical flights, and the theatrical atmosphere he deliberately created. Yet in a manner difficult to describe he always stood above his banal and dull-witted aspects. One particular source of his strength lay in his ability to build castles in the air with an intrepid and acute rationality.” {Fest, Joachim. Hitler (p. 4) Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Kindle Edition.}

My comments:

Just sit back and enjoy the quote. Except for the parenthetical note where I source my quote, who am I writing about?

 

Wasted Dreams

~ ron877 ~ Leave a comment

Image by 15299 from Pixabay

Joseph Wambaugh novels are impregnable to critics’ negative barbs; the author is that good. I started out expecting to rate Finnegan’s Week at five stars and ended the same way. This novel is entertainment that fans of “cop” novels will like. Sure, there are some mysteries. Who would steal two thousand pair of specialized US Navy boots? Who killed the various characters, and what were the motives behind the deaths? (No spoiler, not all the deaths were intentional). What is HAZMAT, and why should you care? (OK, HAZMAT means hazardous materials and, much like climate change, you should care about terms associated with HAZMAT very much.)

Continue reading “Wasted Dreams” →