By a landslide, this cover is the one everyone likes. So I am officially designating it as my book cover.
I’m finally at the point where I need to find a few beta readers for my memoir “My Cancer Journey” (Stage 4 to cured) It’s a story of courage, raw emotions, and an alternative cure to cancer. It details my encounters with the cancer industry.
I’m looking for feedback on readability, interest, and pacing.
It’s a novella length, so it shouldn’t take too long to read.
Who wants to help an aspiring author realize his dream of being published?
Kent Wayne or as we know him in the blogging world as Dirty Sci-fi Buddha has a great series of books that I just finished. Normally I don’t do reviews because I’m pretty sucky at them. I felt compelled to review all four volumes on Amazon. I thought it would be pretty neat to put them all here at once.
Echo Volume 1 – Approaching Shatter – 4/5 stars
I had to deduct one star due to the length being quite short for a novel. The author added the first 3 chapters of the next book to pad it out, but as I had already planned on reading it, I skipped the preview.
This volume introduces us to the world of Echo. It also sets stage for the main character. There is just enough action to keep it interesting. You might be tempted to skip this volume but don’t! It’s crucial to the rest of the story. All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed it and was eager to read the volume 2
Echo Volume 2 – A Taste of Ashes – 5/5 stars
The action heats up in this volume and never stops. It just keeps ramping up with little short respites that let you catch your breath. Every time I thought it couldn’t get more tense, the author turns up the heat even more.
The military sci-fi is spot on. I really liked this volume.
Echo Volume 3 – The Dialectic of Agony – 5/5 stars
After reading volume 2, I almost took a break but I’m glad I dove into volume 3. This is probably my favorite of the series. We go from military sci-fi to fantasy and back again. The author split the volume between two main characters that will be eventually intertwined.
The storytelling is engrossing. I was tempted to read all night long.
Echo Volume 4 – The Last Edge of Darkness – 5/5 stars
As a conclusion to the series, I did not expect this. Not much action for the first 2/3 of the book, but then WOW! The ending was great. Tremendous kudos to the author for introducing concepts that generally most people shy from. The way he introduces Time Concepts, morality and religion is thoughtful and you are eased into it. I’ve read other books with these concepts and they seemed preachy. Not this one.
Fantastic series all in all. I probably could have devoted more time to my writings, but instead spent hours reading. Time well spent in my opinion.
My Kindle has notified me that I’ve read at least one day each week for the past 104 weeks. That’s two years of steady reading. Seems I’ve also read 68 books this year. I should be done with the 69th and maybe 70th by the end of the year.
I would love to say that all the books I’ve read have been fantastic. Alas, that is not the case. Most were so-so. A few were “meh” and some were really bad. This is because I’m a cheap bastard. I get the books on sale, preferably for free. Yes, as a writer, I should be supporting Authors by buying their books at full price. With the flood of books provided by Kindle Direct Publishing, finding a good book is pretty hard.
I did come across three books that I really liked for various reasons. These are the ones that stick with me. I’ll go ahead and do a quick review for them right now.
The Theta Prophecy by Chris Dietzel – This one has stuck with me. I really enjoyed it and more importantly it made me think, not only of the past, but of the present and a huge “What If” this was a true story. Here’s the book blurb.
The treasure at Oak Island. JFK’s assassination. A tyrannous regime’s inner-workings. Welcome to The Theta Prophecy, where alternate history meets modern dystopian. Having survived a perilous journey into the distant past, a time traveler grapples with the crushing realization that his sacrifices were in vain. In a different era, the world suffers at the hands of an empire bent on instilling misery upon an entire population. But the course he unknowingly sets the world upon will change everything we think we know about history.
Shavings by Joseph Crosby Lincoln – This is an old story that was converted to digital format. Joseph Crosby Lincoln wrote for the Saturday Evening Post among others. He has a whole slew of books of the Cape Cod area during and after World War One. This one is my favorite. The style of the writing, the story, the twists and the characters all combine to make a memorable story. It’s free on Kindle.
A Strange Beginning by Gretta Curran Browne – As I’ve said before, I don’t get poetry. Not my thing at all. However, I may be rethinking it a bit. This book I couldn’t put down. It hooked me right at the beginning and wouldn’t let go. This is the start of a 7 book series. I’m seriously considering buying the whole series in hardback form. Though at a price of $14 to $15 each, that would be a huge chunk of my discretionary spending. Here’s the book blurb.
He was later to become known as “The most beautiful and most famous man in England” — but not yet….
Beginning when he is a boy of ten years old, we join George Gordon when he is living a miserable life with his manic Scottish mother in a few rented rooms above a shop in Aberdeen, unaware that his true heritage is with the English aristocracy – who soon come to claim him.
Alife of wealth and privilege is then bestowed upon him, which eventually sets the stage for him to prove his own individual worth, in his own way, and in his own time. Meticulously researched, and adapted into novel form, ‘A Strange Beginning’ is the first of a series of books about the most iconic young man of his time, whose fame still lives on today.
Writing with Cancer 