For Mia

New Year Falling

About book reviewing

They say all writers should read as much as they can but I have to confess, it’s not so easy when your time is limited. I’m also in a phase of my life where writing is of much greater importance to me. I've become a bit of a slow reader! However, when I do read something I make an effort to review it because I feel it is so important. Authors need reviews as without them they simply cannot progress, neither in terms of improvement or public awareness.

I do think that the rating system has become a little inflated. So many books get five-star reviews now that it is difficult to see where things truly lie. I guess it's natural as a lot of friends do the reviewing too! Of course, they may still be very good books and utterly worth the rating.

For that reason, I make a point of writing a proper review. If I give four of five stars then I want to explain why I am doing so.

Likewise with lower ratings too although, since I target my reading carefully, I feel this is less likely to happen. Note that I would not post a review where someone has only one or two stars: It’s unfair to the author. The truth is if I am reading a book I am hating, possibly because other reviews have misled me, or it's simply not for me then I'll stop and go read something else. Why torture myself?

Nearly every book has something good to say about it and I say it. If there are negatives, then I tend to bring them out after the positives in my review: “The book might have been even better if …”

Note that it is important to always, always, always try and say only positive things when discussing the author and impersonalise negatives by referring to 'The book' or 'The story'.

ABOVE ALL ELSE: Enjoy your reading first. Write your review afterwards.

Anyway, those are my brief thoughts on reviewing, which I’ll try and expand it sometime in the future.

My reviews are posted here http://madden-brooker.com/Book-reviews/book-reviews.html (click on the covers to link back to the full versions on this blog site.)

The real reason writers have poor self-confidence

Insecurityscrotum the word auditor sneaked out from under the sleeping writer’s hand. He counted carefully, made notes of the grammar errors. Giggled at the descriptions. Then he climbed up to the writer’s ear and whispered …

“You are just so shit. Useless. Pathetic.”

Fantasy Me: Marlene Dietrich

Oh, those old movies seen as a kid! Dietrich (along with Becall) is mainly responsible for a lifelong temptation to start smoking.

My stories reflect my soul

Sapphira says ...

Website update

Just been touching up my website. Sooooo difficult to get something that looks right. It's a balance thing, as much visual (or more so) than anything else. anyway, here it is - take a look.

Inspiration begets inspiration

Review of sing the Blues

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I have to start this review saying that serious horror has never been a genre that appealed to me. So, it was a huge surprise to find this very dark material sucking me in and refusing to let go. This is not just serious horror: this is thoughtful horror. Her predators are real and terrifying; listen and you will hear their footsteps behind you.

Tina Collins has an eye for the worst of human nature, and she stuffs her characters with the basest of desires and motives; sexual desire and gratification are the essential ingredients. Her monsters' (human or not) carnal needs are things we can all relate to at some level, and are the more frightening and disgusting for it.

The writing is incredibly easy to run with; utter horror should not be this readable. Her confidence in handling the subject matter means that it evokes images straight up; after a while, it felt like I was wandering around Goya’s black paintings: scenes of despair and human futility, the big pictures quickly and beautifully rendered with deft splashes of words, and the details presented with subtlety and a master’s touch.

Somehow into all of this, she threads a tiny bit of hope, but mostly to extinguish it like a magician before your eyes. Despair is pretty much the glue that binds these short stories together, and there appears to be no real happy endings here then ... but if you are getting the impression it all sounds too bleak and nasty, only to be enjoyed by sick individuals, then you would be very, very wrong. The darkness resonates: you read it and are surprised by how digestible each little course is.

As a reader, I have felt rewarded by this book, embracing the ‘dark side’ a little and being a bit more at ease with its presence. As a writer, I feel I’ve learned something about the art of storytelling.

I will be looking out for more work from this author.

Writing is hard: Writing is heart.

Just published some short stories on my website

When people on Twitter make you powerful

Bared Soul

Time to let out another little short I've recently written. romance, not explicit, but with a hint of burning spice.

Bared Soul

Happy meter time

Sunday thought

The relationships between a writer and their characters are complex. For some reason, they often don't respect my plot. They dislike people they are supposed to like. They cry when I had hoped they would laugh.

And I nearly always forgive them.

The Secret of all Creation

A short story offered up for anyone who is interested. This is one of my quirky horrors - no blood, no gore - but a nice little twist.

Writing update

Hi everyone, just thought I'd let you know what I'm currently working on

Absolution
This is the 5th Novel in my Forgotten Wings series. It's been written, re-written and is currently back in latter self-editing phase. Still aiming to get it out in the New Year.

Girl at a Station
This is a sweet little girl/girl romance that I've just made available on my website. I enjoyed writing it and I plan on doing other such stories.

The secret of all creation
A short horror story will be free published on my website next week.

Out next week

How was I today?

In a good place, writing happy things (like Girl at a Station). Work (the day-job) is a bit CRAP but overall I am warm and fuzzy.