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Dead Lake is featured in this special event. 

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eBook & Paperback Sweepstakes!

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Enter to win 25 ebooks and a brand new Kindle!

Dead Lake is featured in a Book Giveaway run by Bargain Booksy, a book promotion site that notifies readers of any discounted books. One lucky winner will receive 25 eBooks and a brand new Kindle.

To join the giveaway click on the picture below. It's running for two months to give people plenty of time to take part.

Dead Lake on sale for the whole of July!

Due to a variety of events happening over the month of July, I have put Dead Lake on sale for 99c/p.

I'm also sharing snippets when I am sharing, so watch out for those - and here's another:

“What the hell was that?” she coughed. “What did you do?”

“Do you not know what your own gemstone can do? It sucked the negativity right out of you. That’s what it does. I knew if I could pull that out, I could get you to open up.”

“I had no idea you could use it that way.”

“You can use it a multitude of ways if you know how.”

Tricky had underestimated him, much like he’d underestimated her. It was a shame he’d taken such a dislike to her, they could have been powerful working together.

Click on the picture below to grab your copy.

Review: The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafta (cheap translation)

The Metamorphosis: by Franz Kafka | Deluxe Edition by Franz Kafka
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A weird little story that doesn't really go anywhere. In fact it's quite a sad ending. There's no explanation about why Gregor wakes up transformed into some kind of beetle (never defined what exactly) and it's written as a narrative from his perspective and what is going on in his mind until the last couple of pages, which is a little strange.

I read this because it was a famous book, but I don't understand why.

This particular copy has serious formatting issues, and a lot of punctuation errors, including wording - which I am unsure is the translation or not. I have ordered a more reputable copy to try and see if it reads differently or better.

View all my reviews

Review: Save Game, by Joseph Sale

SAVE GAME by Joseph Sale
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I wasn't sure what to expect from this book. I met Joseph Sale at a Indie Horror event and bought the book as I liked the look of the cover. I love a good cross over of genres: fantasy, dark fantasy and horror, and a little bit sci-fi. This has a little bit of everything.

Levi's a gamer and trying to win a contest in a game so he can pay for his father's surgery which will save him from dying of cancer. It dips between his real world and the world in the Game, which is full of backstory about the world and characters. I was reminded of Raymond E Feist books when reading this, with the world building within the game, and the quest-like storyline.

I loved Sale's way of putting things and how he so fluidly describes things in such short sentences, making them very visceral. There are many unexpected twists and turns with betrayals as well as loyalties, and I really enjoyed it. It was a fast read for me. I have already bought the second book in the series.

View all my reviews

Review: Prince: A Sign 'o' the Times by John McKie

Prince: A Sign 'o' the Times by John McKie
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I came to this book because my mother knew the writer a few years ago (my mother passed in 2021), and a sibling told me about it. And, of course, I'm a Prince fan, have been since I was 14 years old. Utterly devoted, all my life. Since Prince's death I have read several books, some I have liked, some less so. This sort of fits a bit in the middle.

There is some new content in this book, lots of anecodes, lots of name dropping and comparison to other artists, but also some really cool stories about meet ups and collaboration, lots of things I've not heard before. It gets very technical about music in places, and the last chapter is devoted to the people he worked with saying he was a great musician. As with many of the books about him, the focus is on his success in the 80s and events and anecdotes from that time, much less about his albums, tours, events in the next three decades. There was a touch here and there, but it's a shame as I would have liked to have known more about those eras.

But the downfall of this book is in the structure and editing, or the lack thereof.

McKie tried to use Sign of the Times album as a sort of structure, putting the chapters around the songs from the album, after making the somewhat arbitrary statement that this album was Prince's masterpiece and everything paled against it. I am in completely disagreement, as Parade was far more fluid, as was The Gold Experience, Art Official Age, even Hit N Run Phase one. But another fan might mention any other album too. Mostly because all of Prince's albums had a different feel and spoke to people in different ways. Sign of the Times always felt disjointed to me, a mish-mash of songs. Some were superb, and some were less so.

But the problem for me, as an editor and proofreader is how badly it was all put together. It should have had a developmental editor, and then a copy editor and then a proofreader. It is overly wordy, sentence flow is ruined by a side mention or comment on whoever the author is about to quote, and paragraphs aren't put together cohesively. I appreciate to put topics together can be difficult with so many stories, but it needed serious reschuffling and also honing down significantly. And then comes the errors.

On page 43 Prince's date of birth is wrong! It says the 7 April 1958 - everyone knows it's 7th of June. It's even stated earlier in the book. And then the array of brackets that aren't either opened or closed, speech marks that are in the wrong place, and a litany of other errors that make this an arduous read. There are also factual errors too about smaller things, which should have been fact checked. It's like no one actually bothered. Maybe they were in a rush to get it out, or maybe they just didn't want to pay someone. But it is totally unprofessional. I feel badly for the author as it's not strictly their responsibility. I would recommend the publisher get it proofread properly and update it. As an author myself, I know it's not hard to do.

This could have been something quite special, but in the end it felt like a money-grab book. We are awash with them since Prince's death. I personally recommend either Mayte's book, or Morris Day's. They have been my favourites so far. People that actually loved him and aren't just trying to make money off his name.

View all my reviews

Battle of Wind & Fire, Book Three of the Summer Realm Trilogy is Out Now!

The third and final book in the Summer Realm Trilogy, Battle of Wind & Fire is out now! And this completes the trilogy.

The relief at finally finishing this project and having all the books out for everyone to enjoy is huge. It's been two long years of collaborating, writing and developing the world and characters. And then realising we were going to have three books on our hands, and not just one! Although it's bittersweet, too, as one of the authors, Michael Wombat, is no longer here to celebrate with us. And since the end of October, when we had the complete first draft down, and he told us he was too ill to continue helping to deliver it, things have been quite chaotic trying to get it ready as soon as possible. But we did it! Hooray! And I know he would be over the moon too! I did manage to capture his thoughts and feelings about it while he was still able, by getting him to fill in this Q&A for me!

Order your copy by clicking on the book cover below.