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Posted
November 20, 2017
Category
Beyond The Pyre, Fiction, Historical Fiction
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Reviews make an authors day

Starting the week with a five star review is wonderful and I am sure every writer can identify with that. But, what keeps our readers from posting their reviews? Especially after they have told you how much they enjoyed reading the book via email or social media.

Why readers don’t review isn’t a new debate so, don’t worry, I’m not going to go on about this. Except to say:

  • Your words to an author are just as important as the words in their books are to you.
  • What you say about a book you’ve read can make a huge difference to the success of an author. Especially to those who aren’t yet getting their books reviewed in the mainstream press.
  • Leaving a review is kind and the world definitely needs more of that.
  • Reviews encourage others to read the book

 

There’s no need to write a lengthy work of art. You could simply say,

‘Beyond The Pyre was a great story, I loved the characters and will look out for more from this author.’

Once done, you can copy and paste to Amazon, Goodreads and any other review platforms you are aware of.

If you would like to write something more detailed, you might want to consider the following template. You don’t have to answer every question; they’re suggestions!

Points to Ponder:

  • What was the story about?
  • Who were the main characters?
  • Were the characters credible?
  • What did the main characters do in the story?
  • Did the main characters run into any problems? Adventures?
  • Who was your favourite character? Why

 

Your personal experiences

  • Did you relate to any of the characters in the story?
  • Have you ever done or felt some of the things the book raises?

 

Your opinion

  • Did you like the book?
  • What was your favourite part?
  • Did you have a least favourite part?
  • If you could change something, what would it be? (If you wish you could change the ending, but don’t reveal it on a public forum! Authors eyes only.)

 

Your recommendation

  • Would you recommend this book to another person?
  • What type of person might like this book?

 

I love to engage with readers and other authors. Don’t hesitate to drop me a line. I will always respond.

Now on to the review that launched my Monday. A big thank you to Remmy Meggs in The USA for this.

Title: Beyond the Pyre
Author: Steve Costello
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Austin
Release Date: June 20, 2017
Format: Paperback, Kindle, hardback
Pages: 366
Source: Amazon.com

When I read a book about a country that I am not familiar with, I always open a map, so I can follow along with the story line. In this case it was France. As a child a few years ago I went to France, however I do not remember much of the trip. I do remember the boys wearing shorts and of all things either long sleeve shirts or sweaters. Since it was warm out, that didn’t make sense to an eight year old American boy.

I do the same with history, not to prove the author wrong, but to follow his lead. So in this case I looked up the word Cathar, and found as much detail as I could on the subject. To me dates are important in history, not that I memorize them, but there is a difference between Pope Innocent and Pope Alexander.  These are important details for me.

Now about the book Beyond the Pyre by Steve Costello (June 2017) I was told I was pronouncing Pyre wrong by one of my Anglo Saxon friends in Northern England, (South of Scottish England). That is because of the English spelling, the same English that type tyre instead of tire. Confusing.

Now that is out of the way, I found this book a lot different than any other book I have read the last five years. Yes, it is that different. True it only has one goal, and I do not think it is supposed to be scary story, however several times the hair on the back of my neck stood up, and a few times chills went down my spine.

The history of almost any church, Christian, Muslim, Jewish, is full of atrocities, including current events.  However as I read this book, I found so many fascinating things. First of all the characterizations. They were three dimensional, similar to how I write, I do not find three dimensional characters in books very often, so that is a plus. Just about every character was true to life.

The protagonist, actually I was not sure who the main character was because it seemed to me that each person was a main character. Yes it starts out with Ben and Catharine, but it quickly develops into something much more monumental.

American readers will see a difference in dialog, but only because it seems the English use single quotations instead of double quotations, and other minor differences. The subject matter is a matter of opinion, but one thing that grabbed my attention in chapter three I believe, was:

Elionor didn’t believe in the devil despite her Catholic upbringing: human beings created evil and could not lay blame elsewhere. – Steve Costello, Beyond the Pyre

Although I believe that to be true, by the end of the book, you will be in wonder. This is a good versus evil book, just remember that everyone has some good in them, no matter how evil they are.

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars, not many can write something like this unless they have lived close to it. – Remmy Meggs Nov 2017

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Posted
October 25, 2017
Category
Uncategorized, Words of Wisdom
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5 Responses

Under Attack

Is that an overstatement I see in the header above me? From  my position  on this hospital bed, I say, “understatement,” So the question is, how can my recent articles have been true? They were sprinkled with lashings of positivity and, genuine it was too. I ask again for my benefit more than yours; how can positives like those I enjoyed last week take such a serious nosedive? Slightly different phrasing brings the following thoughts:-

  1. Everything I write in here, and certain aspects of my fictional works are true. That said, those lashings of positivity were an accurate reflection of the state of the nation at the time of writing.

I can’t move on to number 2 just yet because I need to point out what Sherlock Holmes referred to as his question of sobriety. Well this is my ‘QOS’ not that belonging to Holmes. Anybody who has been treated for a medical problem with high doses of morphine will know what I mean. Why didn’t I move to number 2? Oh look at the view of the mountains and the old city (La Cité) of Carcassonne (I can’t see them but I know they can be seen through my window).   Blue sky, a few high, streaky clouds too. I’m still not sure of what I was saying, I really can’t remember. Now I,ve been distracted by a nurse who has told me to type one-handed because blood is getting into the line. I know what I wanted to say.

My sobriety has been challenged, memory dimmed far more than usual, don’t expect miracles here but i will do my best. Sigh, following a visit from doctor’s junior and senior, I’ve completely lost the plot now so I’m going to do a virtual Tardis tour of the end of last week (easy to remember because the posts and other tasks are here on my notebook).

Leaving out the detail, it’s clear that last week was one of those that I am very happy to sign off as a great week. A couple of blog articles, positive action on social media, excellent strides forward with the edit of my current WIP and chapter 1 belonging to the book following the WIP, written and waiting impatiently for what will follow. I don’t usually jump ahead like that but sometimes it just has to be done.

My Twitter followers had also taken a substantial leap and I had been interacting with many through DM. Some were various types of publisher who would like to have my trade. Others were readers who have said they have or, will be reading my work. I’m not a follower counter but I value the relationships building in the Twitterverse. Note past tense just moved in.

Shortly before logging out on Friday, a new follower caught my eye. ‘Wow, he looks young for a US Army general. Surely not a day over sixteen. So, that set off the alarm bells and more so when he sent a DM not five minutes later saying, ‘hi, how are you and the family?’

‘Fine, thanks. How’re you and yours, ‘Sir;” Note the respectful sir. That was around 18:00 hours and I needed to logout to make dinner.

Strange thing; at 20:00, Twitter locked me out for breaking terms and conditions. I never did discover what I had allegedly done and support didn’t respond to my query. I sorted it out and it happened again at 21:00 and 07:00 on Saturday. There was two more re-runs on Sunday and Monday but the earth may have ended and I doubt that my awareness  would have registered on the most sensitive of scales. So those went unnoticed. But, David P. Perlmutter (not the doctor, the one who wrote the cool true story), I may need that ‘get out of jail free card.’ I know it’s rude to ask for the return of gifts but, needs must.

Seriously, I was not alone last weekend. Other Twitterversians had their accounts interfered with. Using third party programs to reach people on opposite time zones may be the cause of some of that interference but wait!  Oh dear, we are back to lists of two items again, although the previous one did get a bit confusing didn’t  it. So much so, I promised two items and left you stranded searching for that ellusive number 2. Not this time!

2. Using third party programs to promote your tweets is not allowed. So, I have been using commun.it  for several months because it enables my tweets to go live when folks are online in NZ, Aus, etc. As people who see my tweets will be aware, they advertise my books, this blog and a range of tweets to inspire and motivate (nice little non-earners).

That number two has potentially turned into something quite large. What about the widget I am about to use to post this to Twitter, Facebook . . . ? It is after all, third party software. Golly! Following the publication of this post and subsequent third party mention on Twitter, I will let you know with a brief follow up post about what happened.

First I have a huge favour to ask. I would dearly like to contact my Twitter friends to let them know I am not sulking but infact, laying on my back, typing with one hand to a screen above me. The Carcassonne Hospital network uses a version of Firefox that is so old, Twitter flatly  refuses to open on such a relic. So if a few people would be so kind as to put out the word I would be very happy. Please also let me know if I get sent to jail again.

Designing and building a simple wardrobe with my son caused a disk hernea and the disk is pushing against the sciatic nerve. Raising my head 4 cm off the pillow causes nasty pain in my legs . . . but I still seek those Positive, Dynamic Solutions. I have a book tour planned in The UK in four weeks so healing energies gratefully appreciated. My meditations will be on fixing the problem so the doctors don’t have to.

Getting to this point was a challenge, more so in the last couple of hours because a new medication has been added. These guys really are on my side. Perhaps we should all stop for a moment and meditate on the good health of healthcare workers across the world. Without them we would be lost.

 

 

 

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