One Soul for Sale
by Cate Masters
Eternal Press
June 2009
novella, 20,200 words
$4.50
paranormal, ebook
2 fangs
Madelyn's an artist working a day job she despises in order to make ends meet. Lately, her life feels very blah, so when her stand-up comedian (and gift shop cashier) friend Gwen jokes that Madelyn should sell her soul on uBuy, Madelyn actually does.
This was a sweetish story of good and evil, holding on to your dreams, and staying true to yourself. It was written in present tense but not first person, which was unusual enough that I kept noticing it throughout the entire story. Another thing that I noticed was that there were far too many weekdays! Based on information in the story, it started on a Tuesday... and was followed by five (!!) weekdays, then Saturday. (No, no, I certainly didn't start out keeping track of the days - I hit the first bonus weekday and thought "Huh?!")
Stella
by Colin Galbraith
Eternal Press
June 2009
novella 24,200 words
$4.50
paranormal, suspense, ebook
1.5 fangs
In the somewhat plodding Part I of Stella, we meet Randolph Lowe, an MI5 operative hiding out after his long-term assignment following the mysterious assassin "Stella" goes sour. However, Part II definitely jolted me awake and straight into "WTF?!" mode. ("Where did the demons come from?!") That disconnect showcased my main problem with this story - it doesn't particularly make sense or hold together very well as it flits about. I suspect this novella was supposed to have a dreamlike quality, but, in my opinion, that didn't really work. Additionally, like the other Eternal Press ebook I reviewed above, at several points editing issues jarred me loose from the story. (It's November 1986. One year later, it's also November 1986. Huh?)
Out of curiosity, as readers, what do you think is a good price to pay for an ebook? If it helps, Wikipedia defines a short story as being less than 7,500 words, a novelette as 7,500 to 17,500 words, a novella as 17,500 to 40,000 words, and a novel as more than 40,000 words.
Reviewed by Chris.
Fang-tastic Books Publisher Note:
We do not have it out for Eternal Press, really we don't, in fact I am an Eternal Press Author so I feel bad that Eternal Press books are consistently getting such bad reviews but I also feel honesty is important, if there are issues that need to be addressed then they should be, such as editing issues and flaws that continually appear- like too many days in the week, things that don't connect, story lines that get dissected and screwed up...these are things that throw readers off and turn them off. Simple things which complete editing should take care of.
I personally have not read these books, I would like to just to see what's going on but I already have a stack of to-do's that will probably never get done.
As an author I know how devastating a bad review can be and I always try to say something positive about some one's work, honestly positive.
My advice to the authors and editors- please read your work and do your best, even if you aren't raking in the big bucks do your best anyway because if you don't do your best now, you never will rake in the big bucks.
~Roxanne Rhoads
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
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5 comments:
Good points, Roxanne! And don't forget that Traveling Light, The Ghost Amethyst, and Whispers in the Dark were all Eternal Press titles that were very pulled together and got respectable ratings.
Oh yes, there are Eternal Press books that are quite well written. (mine, I hope, is well written and will be well edited)
I know for my previous story published by Eternal Press, Tasty Christmas Treats, I has a great editor that seemed to catch everything and a great cover artist who worked with me in designing the cover.
I think sometimes things juts get overlooked, especially whe doing everything via a screen. I don't read well on a screen, I read better with hardcopy in front of me. That's when I find mistakes, eitehr in my work, or somethign that I am reading.
I appreciate your honest review, Chris, though it perplexed me somewhat. I’m curious, exactly, as to what warranted the two-fang rating? That the story’s in present tense? And mentions a few days of the week? Granted, present tense isn’t for everyone, and in fact I’ve only ever seen one other story in third person present (Ian McEwan’s Saturday-after Soul’s completion). To me, it’s a way of engaging readers in the action, though I know some prefer to read about events after the fact. I applaud Eternal Press for taking a chance on a format other than the standard third person past tense. Stories in general excite me, but when I come across something a little different, it enhances the experience, and that’s what I hoped to give readers with One Soul for Sale.
In the interest of bettering my writing, I’d love to hear a more thorough explanation – please feel free to email me at cate.masters@gmail.com. I’m not requesting this in a confrontational way, but sincerely want to address whatever issues the story may have for future reference.
For the record, I put 200 percent into every story I write, and before I submit anywhere, each undergoes numerous critiques and revisions. Please don’t insult a writer by insinuating they toss their shoddy stories into the wind. Each reader brings a different set of preferences to each story; that’s a given. But to suggest the writer simply didn’t care about the story or the characters lowers us all.
I wasn't trying to insult anyone by saying they are "tossing shoddy stories into the wind". My main concern is editing and re-reading what you write.
I am terrible at this myself and as I writer I know after awhile it gets hard to read your own words over and over again and thus things are missed...like having one too many days in the week, or simple plot lines get off track.
That's why having someone else read your work that's great at catching things like that is wonderful(Chris, our ebook reviewer, seems marvelous at that, I think I'll start sending her my work before I send it to a publisher so she can catch all my issues, boo boos and brain drain mistakes)
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