Music Monday's originated at The Tattooed Book Geek's fantastic blog and has shown up hither, thither, and yon since then.
Category: News/Misc. Page 47 of 228
HC Chats with Jodie from Witty and Sarcastic Bookclub about Self-Published Authors Appreciation Week
I’m dipping my toe into something new here. There’s some things I’ve wanted to try and the written word just ain’t gonna cut it. (and I hate saying that about the written word–maybe it’s just my capabilities with it that are the problem…that seems more likely).
Jodie was willing to be my first victim, er, chat partner. This comes across a little more interview-y than I’d hoped. I’ll get there, maybe. Still we chat about Jodie’s blog, the origins of Self-Published Authors Appreciation Week, what some of this year’s features are going to be like, some self-published work in general, and a little more. Hope you enjoy!
As an added bonus, you can watch me adjust settings while recording–because who doesn’t do that? And try to awkwardly find a comfortable way to sit while staying in frame. Clearly, I’m not a professional. I’m barely an amateur.
I’ve got one more trial balloon scheduled that you should see in a few days. We’ll see if I schedule more.*
* Obviously, part of that is going to depend on finding people to sit down with me. If you’re interested, let me know.
As is typical of a holiday week, this is a short post. Less to distract you from your Saturday reading, right?
Odds ‘n ends about books and reading that caught my eye this week. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:
This is Why Book Marketing Doesn’t Work
‘Really I just want to stay home and make art about my dog’: An interview with Sara Varon—I’m pretty sure I’ve never run across Varon before, but this interview makes me interested in checking out her stuff.
7 Thrillers With Shocking Twists
10 Must-Read Authors for Fans of First-Person Adult Urban Fantasy—This is a very narrow category…but can’t argue with most of this picks.
Tough Questions with Left on the Shelf—the latest in the Tough Questions series
To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago Week? (not much, really)
Don’t Hurt People and Don’t Take Their Stuff: A Libertarian Manifesto by Matt Kibbe
I noted the release of Premonitions by Jamie Schultz and Artful by Peter David
This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
Broiler by Eli Cranor—I dunno…it’s by Cranor, isn’t that enough? It’s about revenge, power, economic disparity in the most American of places—a chicken processing plant.
Dog Day Afternoon by David Rosenfelt—Marcus asks Andy for a favor and gets him to represent a suspected mass-shooter. I really enjoyed this one, as I said recently.
Breaking the Dark: A Jessica Jones Marvel Crime Novel by Lisa Jewell—Jessica Jones travels to England to investigate some teens who are too-perfect. It’s hard to explain in a phrase or two…but these are creepy kids and something has to be making them that way.
Boise Longpig Hunting Club by Nick Kolakowski—the new edition of this explosive thriller
The Night Ends with Fire by K. X. Song—a new retelling of the story of Mulan.
Junkyard Roadhouse by Faith Hunter—Shining Smith is neck-deep in trouble—that’s nothing new, sure, but it’s a different kind of trouble.
I finished 24 titles (4 up from last month, 6 down from last June), with an equivalent of 7,342 pages or the equivalent (1,128 up from last month), and gave them an average of 3.52 stars (.05 up from last month, so basically it’s a draw).
On the writing front, my new work schedule is really taking its toll, but I think I’m starting to be able to plan around it and prepare for those days that I know are going to be hurting me. We’ll see if I say something in August or not. As is my custom, I really do think I could’ve written more–especially on the review-ish front, but I’m happy enough.
Overall, I’m calling June a win (especially if you look at the Mt. TBR size!). Here’s the breakdown.
Books/Novels/Novellas Read/Listened to
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Still Reading
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Ratings
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2 | |
2 |
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1 |  |
0 |
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5 |  |
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6 |  |
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8 | ||
| Average = | 3.52 |
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TBR Stacks/Piles/Heaps
| Audio | E-book | Physical | Goodreads Want-to-Read |
NetGalley Shelf/ARCs/Review Copies |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| End of 2023 |
6 | 47 | 68 | 153 | 5 |
| 1st of the Month |
3 | 52 | 83 | 163 | 8 |
| Added | 2 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 1 |
| Read/ Listened |
2 | 3 | 10 | 1 | 2 |
| Current Total | 3 | 54 | 79 | 162 | 7 |
Breakdowns:
“Traditionally” Published: 16
Self-/Independent Published: 8
| Genre | This Month | Year to Date |
|---|---|---|
| Children’s | 1 (4%) | 5 (4%) |
| Fantasy | 3 (13%) | 16 (12%) |
| General Fiction/ Literature | 2 (8%) | 11 (8%) |
| Mystery/ Suspense/ Thriller | 7 (29%) | 43 (33%) |
| Non-Fiction | 2 (8%) | 13 (10%) |
| Science Fiction | 1 (4%) | 9 (7%) |
| Theology/ Christian Living | 3 (13%) | 17 (13%) |
| Urban Fantasy | 3 (13%) | 15 (11%) |
| “Other” (Horror/ Humor/ Steampunk/ Western) | 1 (4%) | 2 (2%) |
Review-ish Things Posted
- The Hope in Our Scars by Aimee Byrd: A Plea for Help
- Red Queen by Juan Gómez-Jurado, Nick Caistor (Translator): A Disappointing Thriller
- The Secret & Hunting Virgins: Two Short Stories by Wayne Hawk: I Read It So You Don’t Have To
- Catch-Up Quick Takes: Some Recent Non-Fiction Listens
- Moonbound by Robin Sloan: The White Stripes Save the World (but not really)
- Strange Religion by Nijay K. Gupta: People Say I’m Strange, Does It Make Me A Stranger…
- The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians (Audiobook) by James Patterson and Matt Eversmann: BTS of the Book Connecting Scene
- Poetry Comics by Grant Snider: Simply Bursting with Adequatulence
- Rites of Passage by M.D. Presley: You Won’t Need A Dowsing Rod To Find The Appeal This UF
- Bad Actors by Mark Pepper: Everyman No More
- Grandpappy’s Corner: Dinosaurs in Trucks Because Hey, Why Not? by Sandra Boynton: Boynton Whiffs One
- First Frost by Craig Johnson: Walt and Henry Get Their Kicks…
- Dog Day Afternoon by David Rosenfelt: Understanding Marcus
- IN MEDIAS RES—The Book of Perilous Dishes by Doina Rusti, James Christian Brown (Translator): The Arts of Occult Cuisine
- This Weekend Sees Re-release of Boise Longpig Hunting Club by Nick Kolokowski: A Gritty, Violent Visit to Idaho
- The Ballad of Bonaduke—Episode 53: Connection by R. T. Slaywood: Things That Make You Go “Hmm…”
- The Hijacked Conscience by Debra Peck: An Obsession for Assurance and Certainty
Other Things I Wrote
Other than the Saturday Miscellanies (1st, 8th, 15th, 22ndh, and 29th), I also wrote:
- 20 Books of Summer 2024: This is Going to Be A Tough One
- LITERARY LOCALS: A Q&A About Writing in Idaho with Melaney Taylor Auxier
- MUSIC MONDAY: Beautiful World by Colin Hay
- LITERARY LOCALS: A Q&A About Writing in Idaho with Christi Nogle
- Select We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulties…Please Stand By
- MUSIC MONDAY: From Above by Ben Folds/Nick Hornby
- LITERARY LOCALS: A Q&A About Writing in Idaho with Sarah Hill
- Top Ten Tuesday: Books on My Summer 2024 to-Read List (That Aren’t on My 20 Books Challenge)
- Opening Lines: One In the Chamber by Robin Peguero
- MUSIC MONDAY: The Underdog by Spoon
- LITERARY LOCALS: A Q&A About Writing in Idaho with Arnold Ytreeide
- Top 5 Tuesday – Top 5 books of 2024… so far!
- Cover Re-Reveal: Domestication by Shannon Knight
- WWW Wednesday for June 5, June 12, June 19, and June 26, 2023.
Enough about me—how Was Your June?
This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived on Taking on a World of Words—and shown to me by Aurore-Anne-Chehoke at Diary-of-a-black-city-girl.
The Three Ws are:
What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?
Seems easy enough, right? Let’s take a peek at this week’s answers:
What are you currently reading?
I’m reading Winter Lost by Patricia Briggs, and am listening to A Door in the Dark by Scott Reintgen, read by Jesse Vilinsky on audiobook–it’s a very strange semi-zombie Fantasy novel. Thankfully, there’s only one zombie-ish thing wandering around. (still, I shook a virtual fist at the friend who recommended it to me).
What did you recently finish reading?
I just finished Bruce Borgos’s Shades of Mercy–and Borgos was not messing around with this sequel. The last audiobook I finished was Labyrinth by Kat Richardson, read by Mia Barron.
What do you think you’ll read next?
My next book should be for The Last King of California by Jordan Harper and my next audiobook should be Breaking the Dark by Lisa Jewell, read by Helen Laser. I’ve been wanting to read this Harper book for ages, meanwhile, I didn’t know anything about the audiobook until yesterday. But I’m curious about what Marvel’s trying on the novel front, might as well start here, right?
You got anything explosive on your hands for tomorrow?*
* Yeah, I should do better. Sorry.
Book Blogger Hop
This prompt was submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer:
Which do you enjoy doing more on the 4th of July: watching fireworks light up the sky or reading an inviting book?
I know when I was younger, I enjoyed fireworks—but that ended at some point in my teens. Outside of one night at Disneyland about 18 years ago—I don’t get the appeal of them anymore. I can appreciate them for about 40 seconds nowadays.
Even if I enjoyed them, I think anyone who knows me would expect me to say “reading an inviting [or even simply not-unappealing] book” is what I enjoy more. That’s pretty much the case when the choice is “X or reading” for most values of X, truth be told.
However, on Thursday, I’ll be commemorating—as has been my habit for the last several years—Scare-The-Crap-Out-of-Your-Dog Day. It’s not that fun—and it frequently leaves me in rough shape for work the next day. But, good quality time with my dogs (even if they’re certain the word is ending) is one of those values of X that can beat reading.
Do you prefer pyrotechnics, the printed word, or perhaps another option?
Music Monday's originated at The Tattooed Book Geek's fantastic blog and has shown up hither, thither, and yon since then.
Here’s a quick check-in for this challenge run by Cathy at 746 Books.
So far, I’ve read 4—which puts me a 2/3 of a book behind last year. I should read at least 1 more this coming week, but I’m a little intimidated about my picks for the rest of the summer. A little. Really 8 books a month doesn’t sound that bad for the rest of the summer, but I know full well that other things are going to pop up to distract me. It’s a self-inflicted problem—and one I fully predicted. But still…
I’m more intimidated by the fact that I haven’t written about any of these four yet—am hoping that I can get at least one posted about by Friday. (stranger things have happened, I hear).
Let’s take a quick look at my progress in June:
(subject to change, as is allowed, but I’m going to resist the impulse to tweak as much as I can).
Odds ‘n ends about books and reading that caught my eye this week. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:
Kinky Friedman, Alt-Country Musician and Celebrated Humorist, Dies at 79—from his mysteries to his music and beyond, Friedman was a unique voice (that should’ve been heard by more)
How the ‘Owner’s Guide’ Became a Rare Book
How to Tell a Great Campfire Story
The Literary Power of Hobbits: How JRR Tolkien Shaped Modern Fantasy
Rob Hart on ‘Assassins Anonymous’ and the Dark Appeal of the Assassin Genre—Nick Kolakowski chats with Hart about his latest book, the genre, and the sequel (squee!!!!)
The Joy of Reading Books You Don’t Entirely Understand: It really should be acceptable and normal to say “I don’t entirely understand what I just read, but I loved it.”—There’s a few books I’ve read in the last few years that fall under this category. Glad to see I’m not alone (and I know that I really should read more things like this, but do enjoy the comfort of understanding things)
Traditional publishing vs. Self-publishing: Should There Be A Conflict?—I haven’t finished this yet, but there’s some good stuff to chew on in this conversation
2000th Post and 6 Years Blogiversary Q&A—Sifa Elizabeth Reads celebrates two landmarks with a Q&A (and some decent advice)
Bookmark Chat: Organization
Idle Thoughts on Fantasy Stereotypes: The Big Man—a good follow up to the Idle Thoughts on The Mentor
To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago Week?
Little Tiny Teeth by Aaron Elkins—Gideon Oliver and John Lau enjoy an Amazon River cruise (until the obligatory dead body shows up)
The Hero’s Guide to Storming the Castle by Christopher Healy—the second in this very fun MG Fantasy series
Dead Connection by Alafair Burke—I remember really liking this first Ellie Hatcher book (and, sadly, almost nothing else about it).
I also noted the release of The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith
This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
Don’t Let the Devil Ride by Ace Atkins—”A Memphis woman hires a PI to find her missing husband, only to discover that he is involved in a dangerous web of international intrigue–and she and her children are now at risk.” I think the promo line, “S.A. Cosby meets Don Winslow,” is a bit odd (kinda seems like using too many words to say “Ace Atkins”), but eh…it is catchy.
The Daughters’ War by Christopher Buehlman—Galva’s backstory in “set during the war-torn, goblin-infested years just before The Blacktongue Thief.” The prequel nature of this really doesn’t intereste me. But I do like the concept, I really enjoyed my first exposure to Buehlman early this year, and that podcast I featured last week did pique my curiouslty. Which is me using too many words to explain why I’ll be listening to this soon (probably explaining to myself more than anyone…)
Love Letters to a Serial Killer by Tasha Coryell—”An aimless young woman starts writing to an accused serial killer while he awaits trial and then, once he’s acquitted, decides to move in with him and take the investigation into her own hands.” If this wasn’t described as a black comedy, I’d stay far away from it (while understanding why others race to it). But I gotta admit, I’m intrigued…
This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived on Taking on a World of Words—and shown to me by Aurore-Anne-Chehoke at Diary-of-a-black-city-girl.
The Three Ws are:
What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?
Seems easy enough, right? Let’s take a peek at this week’s answers:
What are you currently reading?
I’m reading The Book of Perilous Dishes by Doina Rusti, translated by James Christian Brown, and am listening to Labyrinth by Kat Richardson, read by Mia Barron on audiobook.
What did you recently finish reading?
Yesterday I finished Wesley Parker’s Detours and Do-overs and Robert Germaux’s Grammar Sex and Other Stuff: A Collection of (mostly humorous) Essays. I most recently finished The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi, read by Wil Wheaton on audiobook, and at least temporarily set aside One in the Chamber by Robin Peguero, read by Zion Jang because it just wasn’t working for me (but I can see why it would for many people).
>
What do you think you’ll read next?
My next book should be the ARC of Shades of Mercy by Bruce Borgos—I think this series has legs, and I’m eager to be proven correct. My next audiobook should be A Door in the Dark by Scott Reintgen, read by Jesse Vilinsky, assuming the friend who is currently listening to our library’s copy (and recommended it to me) finishes before I finish Labryinth.
Tell me what you’ve been reading lately—or what neat thing is coming up on your TBR.