Need advice for love scenes?

Twenty authors share their tips with you.  The authors contributing advice write adult fiction and Y/A novels.  Check it out here.

Review of The Double (Spero Lucas) by George Pelecanos

Slow to start

4 Stars

This is the first book I’ve read by this author.  I love mysteries and the first thing that caught my attention was the title.

The main character, Spero, is a vet from Afghanistan turned private eye.  He is a womanizer, drinks too much, smokes too much, and likes to get into violent confrontations.  Even though he has all these bad traits, there is still some incentive to ride his bike, kayak, and stay fit.  On these adventures, the reader gets to see bits of the countryside around Washington DC.

It’s Spero’s job to find evidence about murder victims, retrieve stolen merchandise, etc which he’s good at doing because he’s willing to do whatever it takes.  Along with his main job, working for lawyer, Tom Peterson, he takes on odd jobs that usually bring him into contact with women, most of whom find him irresistible.  The women he meets all drink about as much as he does, which I don’t think would be the case in real life.

Pelecanos squeezes Spero’s private life with family in between his sleuthing and his beating up people to get information about his cases, which usually involve pretty and/or lonely women.  There is a lot of fighting with fists and guns and several descriptive sex scenes, so if this bothers you, be forewarned.

Once this book gets going, it’s an interesting read, but there was nothing special about the story.  It didn’t really have an “oh wow” that will stick in my mind long after I closed the cover.  But not everything is resolved in the end so maybe a sequel is coming.

A new site for humor writers

A new website called LaughRiotPress will be opening this year.  LaughRiotPress is a new site dedicated to self-published humor writers.  The purpose is for writers to connect directly with readers looking for humor books.

To sign up, or read more, check out LaughRiotPress.

More good news for self-publishers

In another article from Galley Cat, self-publishers will soon have another venue for publishing their books as Publishers Weekly gets into the self-publishing business.  This is a joint venture between PWxyz and Mediapolis.

BookLife will go live on May 29 2014 at the BookExpo America.  I don’t know how much this service will charge, but they will offer cover design, editing, the publishing of a physical book and marketing.  To read the article, click here.

Here’s an opportunity for self-publishers

Library

I read this recently on GalleyCat.  Are you interested in getting your ebooks into libraries across the US?  The digital platform, BiblioBoard, has teamed up with a trade publication called Library Journal for the purpose of distributing and reading self-published books through libraries.

This service is free to self-published authors, but Library Journal has to select your book first.  If selected, they will distribute your book to participating libraries.

To read this article and enter your book for consideration, click here.

The 12 and ½ Rules of Writing

Someone from Facebook shared this with me, so I wanted to pass it on.

Self-Publishing’s Share of the Kindle Market (by Genre)

I read this on the Indie Authors Group at Linked In.  This is interesting if you’re an indie author and didn’t see this.  Edward Robinson has this research posted on his blog.  Please click here to read the article.