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Reviewed by David Lee Summers originally for Amazon
This past week, I had the opportunity to read Joy V. Smith’s latest novel, Taboo Tech. It tells the story of a young woman named Lacie Leigh Collier. Her parents seek out and try to understand old, dangerous, and forbidden technologies. As the novel opens, Lacie is graduating from primary school and preparing to move on to secondary school. Meanwhile, her parents have just found a lead on such a cache of taboo tech and leave her in the care of her uncle. If anything her uncle has an even greater interest in taboo tech and is soon tempted to explore yet another cache. He takes Lacie along with him, but they soon find the Interstellar Guard on their tail. Lacie’s uncle devises an intricate escape for his niece, but she soon finds herself alone in the galaxy with only the companionship of a fledgling AI called Embers.
At this point, Lacie’s adventures really begin. She completes school, then meets and befriends a group of professors who worked with her parents and they take her to a cache of taboo tech where she’s given command of a spaceship left to her by her parents. The professors and Lacie then hatch a plot to build a school on the site of the cache to allow the professors to investigate the cache while not arousing suspicion. To further allay suspicion, Lacie moves on to the resort world of Rainbow’s End where she befriends two members of the security staff and a diplomat’s daughter. All together, they help to thwart a plot against a princess. Lacie then must rescue her friends, the professors, from a plot to take over the school she helped to create. All the while, Lacie hopes to find clues to her parents’ and uncle’s whereabouts. Taboo Tech is a rollicking fast story that propels Lacie from one adventure to another as she meets new friends, new adversaries, AIs and aliens. We’re never really told why old tech is taboo in this world other than it’s “dangerous.” However, I did wonder if the author gave us some sly clues. Her characters are often as carefully analytical as computers and the deepest emotions are sometimes expressed by the AIs in this world. It makes me wonder if the powers that be in this universe don’t want the humans to know something about their connection to the AIs. If Joy V. Smith ever writes a sequel, maybe this is something that can be explored.
MORE ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Joy V. Smith has been writing stories since she was a kid and made her own little books. Her stories and articles have been published in print magazines, ezines, and anthologies; and her SF has been published in two audiobooks, includingSugar Time. Her books include Detour Trail;Strike Three; Sugar Time; a collection of her published short stories; and five e-books. She lives in Florida with Blizzard the Snow Princess, Pemberley the tortoiseshell cat, and Samwise the Chihuahua cross puppy in a remodeled house. (She's been practicing building and remodeling.) Learn more about her:
MORE ABOUT THE BLOGGER, THIS BLOG AND ITS BENEFIT FOR WRITERS
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. Of particular interest to readers of this blog is her most recent How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically (http://bit.ly/GreatBkReviews ) that covers 325 jam-packed pages covering everything from Amazon Vine to writing reviews for profit and promotion. Reviewers will have a special interest in the chapter on how to make reviewing pay, either as way to market their own books or as a career path--ethically!
This blog is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.
Note: Participating authors and their publishers may request the social sharing image by Carolyn Wilhelm at no charge. Please contact the designer at: cwilhelm (at) thewiseowlfactory (dot) com. Provide the name of the book being reviewed and--if an image or headshot of the author --isn't already part of the badge, include it as an attachment. Wilhelm will send you the badge to use in your own Internet marketing. Give Wilhelm the link to this post, too!
Today's guest post by loannis Tsiokos debunks one of those myths authors hear about reviews but also offers a new resource--one you don't want to miss! Watch for future guest posts on this blog from this new force in the world of book reviews. If you are having trouble getting book reviews, try #TheNewBookReview's Lois W. Stern's free book-review-getting service by going to https://bit.ly/FreeBookReviewMatchingService on this blog. Use the link or go to the tab at the top of the home page. It's part of Lois's #AuthorsHelpingAuthors project.
The big lie about book reviews
By loannis Tsiokos
Here is the big lie they told you about book reviews.
“You need sales to get reviews”
You most certainly need reviews to get sales, but the reverse is not true. In fact, book sales is the slowest process when it comes to reviews.
To get reviews you must put your book in the hands of Book Reviewers. That simple.
The three kinds of book reviewers.
Professional reviewers, book bloggers and casual reviewers.
Book bloggers and casual reviewers are almost always interested in the content of a book. They don’t care much about the publication year or publisher’s name.
The good news is that, although professional reviews can be a lot harder to get, casual and blogger reviews can be just as valuable.
The bad news is that finding casual reviewers to review your book on Amazon is still not easy.
That is perhaps because, you are not supposed to find them.
They need to find you.
Sure, you can give a book to somebody and ask them to review it, but if they were not already looking for that kind of book (and the chances of that are slim), getting them to read it and review it (for free as per Amazon’s terms) is not going to happen.
Note that I did not say that it’s hard to give away free books to people and ask them for reviews. People will happily accept freebies, but you will need to push several thousands of copies to get a handful of reviews. And to do that, you need marketing dollars and marketing knowledge.
Don’t get me wrong, there is no way to avoid marketing. The idea is to make is cost effective and worth the effort.
So, how do you get reviewers to find your book?
Think of the perfect reviewer. No, that’s not the one who would leave you a five-star review although I see where you are coming from. The ideal reviewer is the person who would have bought your book even if it was not a free review copy. Therefore, the ideal reviewer is nothing more than your target reader.
Once your target readers finds your book, you can offer them a free copy and ask for a review. You cannot offer a free copy “in exchange” as per Amazon, so be careful of the language you use here.
By free copy, I mean one of three things. You can either send them the ebook file or you can send them a Prepaid Amazon link, or a Gift Amazon link. The first one is self-explanatory. Amazon pre-paid and gift links are basically secret Amazon links where somebody can claim a free Kindle version of your book.
Prepaid and Gift links are not the same although they appear to be. One important difference is that prepaid links cannot be exchanged for credit whereas gift links can. Therefore, with prepaid links you can be 100% sure that the recipient will get the book (and you will also get the royalty payment back). However, prepaid links result to Unverified reviews whereas Gift links result to Verified reviews.
Getting your review copy to the hands of your target reader will also require a marketing budget and marketing knowledge. However, you will end up spending way less per review.
So, what’s your next step?
Unfortunately, you cannot use Amazon ads to offer free review copies in exchange for reviews. BookPub does not allow links to lead funnels so that can be restrictive. That leaves you with Google and Facebook ads, but you have to know what you are doing.
If you use Google, you will have to host a page where you kindly ask for a review and offer a free review copy.
If you use Facebook, you could ask for people to get in touch with you through your page. A better strategy is to ask readers to simply comment on a post and have a bot reply back to them with the review copy. This process, and even the follow up, can be automated entirely.
Finally, you might just want to try Fiveabook, a website that I started to help authors and publishers get reviews for their books.
MORE ABOUT TODAY’S GUEST BLOGGER
Ioannis Tsiokos is a programmer, author, book publisher and entrepreneur. He has published over 100 non-fiction titles. He owns and is managing director of Fiveabook.com, a website that connects authors who want reviews for their books with readers that enjoy free books. Find him on Twitter @fiveabook.
MORE ABOUT THE BLOG, THIS BLOG AND ITS BENEFIT FOR WRITERS
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. Of particular interest to readers of this blog is her most recent How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically (http://bit.ly/GreatBkReviews ) that covers 325 jam-packed pages covering everything from Amazon Vine to writing reviews for profit and promotion. Reviewers will have a special interest in the chapter on how to make reviewing pay, either as way to market their own books or as a career path--ethically!
This blog is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.
Note: Participating authors and their publishers may request the social sharing image by Carolyn Wilhelm at no charge. Please contact the designer at: cwilhelm (at) thewiseowlfactory (dot) com. Provide the name of the book being reviewed and--if an image or headshot of the author --isn't already part of the badge, include it as an attachment. Wilhelm will send you a badge similar to this one to use in your own Internet marketing. Give Wilhelm the link to this post, too!
Beginning with John Pearson's 1973 James Bond: The Authorized Biography of 007, Ian Fleming Publications has licensed a number of pre-Casino Royale Bond stories as part of their ongoing series of James Bond continuation novels. In addition, a number of unsanctioned books, often fictionalized versions of Ian Fleming's World War II experiences, have been published as alleged foreshadowings of the literary material Fleming would use in his James Bond yarns.
The longest-lasting sanctioned pre-MI5 Bond stories began with Charlie Higson's 2005 "Young James Bond" books which author Steve Cole took over in 2014.
In terms of the adult Bond, after long runs of Bond continuation novels by John Gardner and Raymond Benson, in which the character of Bond was "frozen in time" and emulated the cinematic aspects of the films, Ian Fleming Publications opted for a course change in 2014 beginning with Sebastian Faulks's Devil May care in a new series featuring books by various authors sticking as closely as possible to the spirit and flavor of the Fleming books, using settings and events occurring in the 1960s.
Then came Anthony Horowitz's well-received 2015 Trigger Mortis which took Bond back to the '50s, and included unused material by Ian Fleming himself. Horwitz, Bond, and a bit more unused Fleming material returned in 2018 with Forever and a Day, the latest offering set before the events in Casino Royale.
007 literary aficionados have been divided in their responses to Forever and a Day, with many a reader praising the book for its keeping close to the style and flavor of Fleming, its comparatively subtle introduction of many Bond tropes of the original novels, its revealing how James Bond got the 007 number, and the characters introduced by Horwitz, notably the love interest between Bond and "Madame Sixteen."
Add me to the list of critics who really, really liked Forever and a Day. I don't see much to complain about, especially as so many continuation novels were entertaining, readable, and completely forgettable. For me, Madame Sixteen is now one of my all-time favorite Bond girls, although calling her a "girl" isn't close to accurate. She's well-developed--in the literary sense--mature, resourceful, as good as an action companion as 007 could ever ask for.
True, that scene where supposed acid turns out to be merely water and some of the incursion scenes are a tad contrived, and nothing could be more contrived than Irwin Wolfe's rationalization for his motivations. But when was Ian Fleming ever flawless?
I'd wager most Bond literary fans have already read, evaluated, and passed judgement on Forever and a Day. It's the rest of you this review is for. If you're not a habitual reader of either Fleming or the continuation novels, is Forever and a Day a good read for you? Is it a good starting point, now being the first authorized 007 adventure in the chronological sequence of the canonical Bond?
Naturally, every reader should start with Fleming himself, and I recommend Dr. No, From Russia With Love, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, or Casino Royale. (Not coincidently, these became the best films.) In terms of continuation novels, yes, Forever and a Day is now an ideal starting point. It's the most memorable yarn in many a moon. More Horowitz, please.
MORE ABOUT THE REVIEWER
Dr. Wesley Britton is the author of The Beta Earth Chronicles and reviews for BookPleasures.com and this blog among others. Learn more about him at:
MORE ABOUT THE BLOGGER AND SOME WAYS TO GET THE MOST FROM THIS BLOG
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. Of particular interest to readers of this blog is her most recent How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically (http://bit.ly/GreatBkReviews ) that covers 325 jam-packed pages covering everithing from Amazon vine to writing reviews for profit and promotion. Reviewers will have a special interest in the chapter on how to make reviewing pay, either as way to market their own books or as a career path--ethically!
This blog is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.
Note: Participating authors and their publishers may request the social sharing image by Carolyn Wilhelm at no charge. Please contact the designer at: cwilhelm (at) thewiseowlfactory (dot) com. Provide the name of the book being reviewed and--if an image or headshot of the author --isn't already part of the badge, include it as an attachment. Wilhelm will send you the badge to use in your own Internet marketing. Give Wilhelm the link to this post, too!
Naturally, some of it is horrific reading, including natural disasters, the atrocities of the Taliban, and of course the later part reporting on her shooting and recovery. But even these sections are fascinating, informative and inspiring.
And so much of it is joyful. If a flower could write about her life, this is how she would write.
Seeing Pushtun culture from within was interesting and educational. And no one reading this book could continue with the delusions of those who see all Muslims as evil terrorists, the Other to fear and hate.
Malala comes across as a real person, with her faults as well as good points. She is not some saint, up there, but one of us. That means, each of us can be like her.
Even before reading the book, my often expressed opinion was that her father must be exceptional to have raised a daughter like her. My reading confirmed and even reinforced this. From an early age, he has defied the conventions of his culture, and followed his own light of decency, intelligence and courage.
I do have one slight disagreement with this young lady. For her, education is the key to everything, for me it is one essential component of several. But that’s fine. I hope her influence only continues to grow.
MORE ABOUT THE REVIEWER
Dr. Bob Rich is a professional grandfather, with hundreds of grankids all over Earth. Anyone under 25 qualifies: they only need to apply. Everything he does, including his 18 published books, is designed to work for a survivable future for young people, and a future worth surviving in. This means changing a global culture that emphasizes and rewards the worst in human nature, particularly greed and aggression, into a global culture that empahsizes and rewards the best in human nature: compassion, empathy, cooperation, sharing, decency. He has lots of good resources at his blog, Bobbing Around https://bobrich18.wordpress.com including descriptions of his books, which get uniformly high ratings and complimentary reviews.
MORE ABOUT BLOGGER AND WAYS TO GET THE MOST FROM THIS BLOG
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. Of particular interest to readers of this blog is her most recent How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically (http://bit.ly/GreatBkReviews ) that covers 325 jam-packed pages covering everithing from Amazon vine to writing reviews for profit and promotion. Reviewers will have a special interest in the chapter on how to make reviewing pay, either as way to market their own books or as a career path--ethically!
This blog is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.
Note: Participating authors and their publishers may request the social sharing image by Carolyn Wilhelm at no charge. Please contact the designer at: cwilhelm (at) thewiseowlfactory (dot) com. Provide the name of the book being reviewed and--if an image or headshot of the author --isn't already part of the badge, include it as an attachment. Wilhelm will send you the badge to use in your own Internet marketing. Give Wilhelm the link to this post, too!
MORE ABOUT THIS BLOG
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. Authors, readers, publishers, and reviewers may republish their favorite reviews of books they want to share with others. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read and love. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page and in a tab at the top of this blog's home page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites so it may be used a resource for most anyone in the publishing industry. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.
Please see the
reviews for book 1, book 2, and book 3 as this is the fourth and final book in
the Dining Out Around the Solar System books.
Donal becomes an
interpreter for the police in book four as knows the language of people from
planet Mercury. A Mercurian girl, Surrune, is suspected of murder, and Donal is
there to help, wearing trousers with solar panels to be able to charge his
electronic gadgets. Myon, the Jafraican journalist, also helps as he and Donal
are a team for London’s Eye. Donal works on his writing
for publication in this book. The
food scenes in restaurants are wonderfully described as Donal still writes
restaurant reviews. The pair ride the tube and walk to their
destinations.
At Surrune’s, they
find off-world workers are being exploited as there are too many people crammed
into the rented spaces inside mansions. The landlord does not have proper permits.
The building could not have passed health or safety inspections for many
reasons. Doors are blocked, some tenants have no escape routes, and poor air
quality are just some of the code violations. Similar mansions are standing
empty or unoccupied -- inviting other troubles.
There
is a British Parliamentary election, and the police need to keep public fears
to a minimum. One of the election issues is the rising sea, and another is the
health issues of the space miners. Donal’s mother had radiation sickness from working
for BSM (British Space Mines) and died. His concerns are understandable. The
off-worlders may not vote, so they can’t help themselves through politics.
An
interesting micro-business set-up is that people are using the former red
telephone boxes for small businesses such as mending, sewing, dog-walking
services, or other small shops. There is even a directory of red box businesses
in London.
Climate
change is affecting life in London with cut flowers being less popular due to
their carbon footprint. With the sea level rise, the water table is saltier.
Care must be taken with trees and plantings. Only cremation is permitted as
London has no more space for burials. We learn about how climate change has
affected other areas of the world, as well, such as Australia.
A
case of jealousy almost causes Donal a terrible problem, but he insists it is a
misunderstanding. His attitude again reveals he is a nice person.
The
overcrowding issue is resolved in a most off-world manner, both on and off
Earth. Oh, best of all, Donal and Myron have girlfriends by the end of the book,
which is a satisfying ending after reading all four books.
Winter
is approaching, and it is time to think about getting shuttle-flu jabs before
Christmas!
Clare
O’Beara reads extensively and reviews books for Fresh Fiction.com.
Check
out her books and sign up to her quarterly newsletter on:
MORE ABOUT THIS BLOG
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. Authors, readers, publishers, and reviewers may republish their favorite reviews of books they want to share with others. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read and love. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page and in a tab at the top of this blog's home page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites so it may be used a resource for most anyone in the publishing industry. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.
By now we are familiar with Donal
and Myron and to what great lengths they will go for a story as journalists. and help others in futuristic London. Working on an article about imports from the planet
Mercury will have them doing just that. They also find out that not all of the
off-world immigrants have the best intentions, causing them to take chances to
get the story, yet again. Student protesters cause a riot at the dome, which
will be another big story for the two friends. They are by now considered the
foremost journalism off-world watchers.
Donal has it on good
authority that mint green is the color of the season. Which is not the reason
large buildings in major cities around the world are lighted in green for the 17th
of March. Since he is press from London’s Eye, he tries to get in the
large dome no one is allowed to enter. Do you guess he will find a way in and
also uncover a story?
Again, this book has
scientific information, and in this one I learned quite a bit about the bubonic plague.
There is also fiction, of course, and ground squirrels in American squirrels
now have bubonic plague. I looked it up online and they actually do now in a few
parts of the USA, resulting in a very few human deaths per year. It took a
science fiction book to help me realize that fact. Rats are part of a problem
in this book, but our heroes will try to solve the situation. After all, they
helped origami be considered as an Olympic sport. A sports reporter was sent to
cover a tournament. Yes, an Origami tournament, or “alternative” sports.
We learn more about
climate change and the runaway greenhouse effect making lakes and seas very
acidic. The Londoners are practical and wear solar panels in their coats or
shirts to charge their tablets, phone, books, and other electronic devices. People
move up the mountains to avoid the wind as it results in additional problems. Climate
change contributes to problems in society. Students protest because of
student loans, not being able to find employment, and being financially
strapped – which sounds like many college graduates today. The problems in the
book mirror our problems today in many ways, including racism, women’s rights, tax
evasion, migrant worker issues, and others we hear about on a daily basis. It
is a dystopian story.
The heroes are
modest, as this quote reveals:
“London’s Eye would win an award for breaking and
covering the Skybridge story the following spring; we let Kipp and Angie go to
collect it at the prestigious Press Awards dinner. We reckoned they deserved
it." Donal and Myron could have accepted the award but chose to let others have the glory. Americans, be sure to read the Glossary of London terms such as "whistle
and flute" means a suit. Fun!
Clare reads extensively and
reviews books for Fresh Fiction.com.
Check out her books and sign up to
her quarterly newsletter on:
The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. Of particular interest to readers of this blog is her most recent How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically (http://bit.ly/GreatBkReviews ) that covers 325 jam-packed pages covering everything from Amazon Vine to writing reviews for profit and promotion. Reviewers will have a special interest in the chapter on how to make reviewing pay, either as way to market their own books or as a career path--ethically!
