I read Baron’s first book, WHEN YOU WENT AWAY, and I was blown away by the story. Here was a great tale, with a male protagonist, told in first person, two rare things. It wasn’t a romance novel, but had romance in it. It wasn’t a chick-lit novel, but it had a lightness and humor to it. It wasn’t women’s fiction, but it had some depth and powerful moments. I was pleased to find a new author I hoped to follow. Then I read CROSSING THE BRIDGE, also by Baron, and I wondered if this author had used up all his best writing skill in his first novel. This story, while it showed some spark of potential, wound on way too long, detailing too much mundane detail in the daily life of the protagonist, and the romance aspect of this story was weak.

But boy did Baron redeem himself with SPINNING. I absolutely loved SPINNING and consider it one of the best books I’ve read recently. So when I picked up ANYTHING, by Michael Baron, I was hoping for another story that was at least as good as WHEN YOU WENT AWAY and hopefully as good as SPINNING. What I got was something somewhere in between the two: a good, solid story that was fun to read and compelling, but not as deep or rich as either of the other books.

ANYTHING, by Michael Baron – Plot Summary Read the rest of this entry »

Michy’s Book Reviews is pleased to invite Donna Anastasi, author of SPIN THE PLATE, to offer a guest blog post on our site. Welcome, Donna, and thank you for your post! Enjoy! Be sure to leave Donna Anastasi a comment!

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There are a couple of phrases that give me a back of the neck prickle and skin crawling annoyance: “play hard” and “serious hobby”. Don’t get me wrong. This country and the people in it would be much better off if adults took the time to play. But once it becomes “hard” or “serious,” you might as well head back into the cubical and get paid for it. I have an obscure hobby that started this time of year 12 years ago. I’d recently made it through a car totaling accident and while heading for a stone wall, vision partly obscured by the air bags that punched me in the chest and face, I really thought “this might be it”. A week later, still in that wiggy state of mind following that type of accident, I found myself wandering a pet store with my two then little girls. I’d always wanted gerbils. And why not? Why not just do the thing you want to do rather than throwing up excuses all the time on why you shouldn’t. My girls picked out two, one for each.

Now, I raise gerbils, show gerbils, judge gerbils, and travel the country doing educational events and pet expo exhibits. The gerbils give me a reason to do many things I wouldn’t otherwise do as an engineer in this socially isolated country, where people here in New England have never seen the inside of most of their neighbors’ homes. People come into my home regularly and often see the magic in the “gerbil room.” In addition to picking out their own gerbil pair, it’s a place where nothing is rushed. We chat gerbils, play with babies, and maybe even visit with a token resident rat or chinchilla.

Sometimes, after some conversation, I discover it’s a local celebrity that’s come by to get their children  (or themselves) a couple of gerbils: a writer, an artist, a sandcastle sculptor, a cartoonist. As a wife, mom, and full time worker with a stressful day job, the demands on my time are constant. For some reason, though, no one bothers me when I disappear into the gerbil room to clean cages, give the animals activities that make them smile, or shhhhh…hide behind a closed door and the rain-forest-like sound of 60 gerbils all gnawing paper towel rolls at once. I’ll get on my computer and do a little writing just because I want to, just for fun.

Truthfully, I’m an introvert who’d just as soon hole up in the gerbil room and keep to myself. But for some reason this obscure gerbil hobby is a source of fascination to the general public. In keeping with my personal motto “It’s all for the gerbils” (or as I used to joke with the kids, “The gerbils come first”), I open my private world and gerbil room to all the newspaper reporters, the radio interviewers, and this week, associate producer and casting director, who call. In 2005 I wrote an Amazon-top-selling (still) gerbil care book, the gerbils have been featured in countless news articles, the New Hampshire chronicle, and NPR. A network now thinks that the gerbils may just be fodder for a reality show – you can see their casting videos on youtube.

So, are gerbils lucky? Being a person who doesn’t believe in luck, that I can’t say. I do know if you are good to gerbils, good things happen.

Me in the gerbil room: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAkeQs1V4L4

Gerbil Whispering: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DavbA7C0gE4

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You can pick up a copy of Donna Anastasi’s book, SPIN THE PLATE, visit the review of this book on Michy’s Book Reviews, or stop by Amazon.com and pick up your paperback or Kindle copy today!

Author’s Short Bio:

I am Michael Meyer, a recently retired college writing professor. I literally taught at universities all over the world, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, and the US Virgin Islands. I retired last December from a California community college. I live in Southern California wine country with my wife Kitty and our two other cats.

Author Interview with Michael Meyer:

Tell us a little bit about your book/s. What are their titles; which is your favorite if you have more than one, and briefly let us know what they are about. Pay particular attention to your most recent book and/or your first book:

Michael Meyer:   THE FAMOUS UNION is a rollicking romp through the halls of academia, where the powers-that-be make theater-of-the-absurd decisions that bring chaotic conditions to a once-proud institution of higher learning. THE SURVIVAL OF MARVIN BAINES is a whimsical look at a man coping with midlife. Both novels are humorous and filled with somewhat eccentric characters, but both have an underlying seriousness to them.

What inspires you and motivates you to write the very most?

Michael Meyer:  I have always been both a student and teacher of language. Words fascinate me. I love being able to string words together that display cleverness while conveying a powerful thought or image. People fascinate me. I observe those around me, and then I try to capture life’s quirkiness and its wonders as I write.

What about your family? Do you have children, married, siblings, parents? Has your family been supportive of your writing?

Michael Meyer:  My wife and my three sisters are all very supportive of my work. We are a close-knit family. We support one another. One of my sisters told me that she could not help laughing hysterically at times as she read THE FAMOUS UNION.

The main characters of your stories – do you find that you put a little of yourself into each of them or do you create them to be completely different from you?

Michael Meyer:  One of my sisters told me that she could see bits and pieces of me in the character of Marvin Baines, so that is probably true since she has known me all of her life. There are bits and pieces of many people I have encountered in life in my characters.

When growing up, did you have a favorite author, book series, or book?

Michael Meyer:  As a young boy, I fell in love with the CURIOUS GEORGE series. As a student, I couldn’t get enough of John Steinbeck. I also greatly admire the work of Richard Russo.

Location and life experience can sprinkle their influence in your writing. Tell us about where you grew up and a little about where you live now?

Michael Meyer:  I grew up in Southern California, right on the beach. As an adult, though, I spent over half of my 40-year college teaching career out of state and overseas. I have lived in Finland, Germany, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, and the US Virgin Islands. I now am back where I started life, in the middle of sunny Southern California, and I like where I am. I am really a man of the world, and I travel internationally at least once a year. In fact, my wife and I just recently returned from a two-week visit to northern Italy.

Do you have any pets? What are they? Tell us about them.

Michael Meyer:  My wife Kitty and I have two identical flame-point Siamese cats that we rescued at different times. It is eerie since they look like brothers. They keep us on our toes. They love to chase each other through the house. My wife and I have spent many a night sitting on our couch sipping wine while watching our two little boys enjoy life to the fullest with each other, just happy to be alive.

Have you ever had a character take over a story and move it in a different direction than you had originally intended? How did you handle it?

Michael Meyer:  My characters in THE FAMOUS UNION all did this. At times, I literally had no idea what they would do next. One person who reviewed my book said that the characters would make a good case study for a psych course. I like that.

Now that you are a published author, does it feel differently than you had imagined?  

Michael Meyer:  Yes, it certainly does. I had no idea how hard it would be to get the word out about what I had written. Writing is fun. I love it! But marketing your own writing is real work, and I am not very good at it.

Now, anything you want your readers to know.

My two humorous novels are sold on Amazon Kindle.

• My American Amazon site
• My UK Amazon site
• My German Amazon site

Author Mini-Bio: Donna Anastasi

I love all things small and furry and travel the country doing small animal education, including judging at 4H and small animal shows. I wrote a still-popular gerbil care book (Bowtie Press) in 2005 and, in 2008, authored a chinchilla guide (Bowtie Press) promoting these charming, engaging creatures as companion animals, not coats. Spin the Plate published May 2010 and re-released July 2011 (Black Rose Writing) is my first novel. One thread in this contemporary, urban love story is the role of animal rehabilitation as a first step in healing from one’s own abusive past.

My day job is as a user experience and interaction designer for web-based applications. Writing proposals, technical reports, and user guides has helped in trade book and fiction writing, as well as in writing query letters and book proposals to publishers. Design is a highly collaborative process requiring the combined expertise of many different skill sets. In my writing, I take the same type of team approach, providing ideas and drafts to a wide and diversified audience and improving the content and writing through many iterations. In fiction writing I use a “mosaic” style to bring realism to the novel by tapping into first-hand experiences of others and then writing the characters into their stories.

My home is north of Boston in the woods of Hollis, New Hampshire where I live with my husband, two teenaged daughters, and an ever-changing menagerie.

What compelled you to write your first book?

Donna Anastasi:  For my first non-fiction book (on gerbils), the publisher contacted me after seeing a number of on-line articles I’d written about gerbil cares and asked whether I could recommend someone to write the book. I’ve read just about all the other gerbil books out there and they are either inaccurate or incomplete. So I responded with 10 reasons why I would be perfect and shortly after provided Bowtie press with a 10 page chapter listing, chapter samples, and a market analysis.

“Compelled” is a fitting way to describe the writing of my first novel Spin the Plate. The story and main characters came to me all at once in a day dream one morning on my 65 mile commute into work. This was a first-of-a-kind and exhilarating experience – it felt almost like recounting a really great movie that I’d just seen.

Have you always wanted to be a writer?

Donna Anastasi:  Truthfully for me, “I only write when I have to write.” Sometimes there is something that needs to be said and the thought of it strikes me and hangs on. Only filling my obligation of putting it to paper provides relief. Writing is laborious for me; I envy people who love to write, for whom the words flow naturally and easily.

I told very few people that I was writing a novel during the two year period that I was working on it after first being struck by the story. Namely I told those who I wanted to help me with the writing or to review a draft. Once I found an indie publisher for the book, I started to let people know about it. I was surprised to find how many people have a story kicking around in their head or jotted down on paper and long to publish it. It made me feel a little guilty to have completed a novel when I’d never dreamed of or even considered doing so.

Tell us a little bit about your book/s. What are their titles; which is your favorite if you have more than one, and briefly let us know what they are about. Pay particular attention to your most recent book and/or your first book:

Donna Anastasi:  Spin the Plate is my first novel. It is a story about a now-adult woman who was used to satisfy her father’s sexual urges through her childhood. She has emerged as a physically intimidating figure prone to violence against “men who deserve it.” Her animals and work rescuing them from the streets of Boston are just about the only companionship in her life. Francis, an unlikely hero with a back story of his own, is the one man who refuses to be scared off by Jo. He pursues her with dogged determination, putting into play a series of life-changing events.

Disclosures: This novel contains descriptions of child sexual abuse, profanity, and Christian-themes.

Are you currently working on any writing projects our readers should watch for release soon?

Donna Anastasi:  I’m writing a short story called “In God’s Name” which in a nutshell is about misguided obedience. It is a 10 minutes look into the life of a child who is an artist/child prodigy, much like child prodigy Akaine. However, rather than having parents who nurture her talent hers are strict conservative Christians. Her father sees “Hannah’s” artwork as frivolous, even sinful. I hope to have this story ready for a flash-fiction contest this week.

I am also co-authoring a book with Libby Hanna of Shawsheen River Rescue on establishing an in-home, small animal rescue.

Have you ever won any writing awards? If so, what?

Donna Anastasi:  The novel Spin the Plate has received the following recognition:

• Gold Medal Winner, Women’s Fiction, 2011 Living Now Book Awards
• Silver Medal Winner, Contemporary Romance, 2011 Readers Favorite Book Awards
• Finalist – International Book Award, Romance
• Finalist – International Book Award, Women’s Literature
• Finalist – USA Best Books 2011 Awards, Cross-Genre Fiction

The new cover design was featured on Five Alarm Book Reviews “Shelf Candy” spot:

My first published book (nonfiction) – The Complete Guide to Gerbil Care – has been the top selling gerbil product on Amazon since its release in 2005. Bowtie Press is interested in a 2012 second printing with a completely redesigned style and some new content – likely a chapter on training gerbil agility (oh yes, they can: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-HUFPO-Bek)

And finally, when I was seven my poem was selected in a poetry contest from the second grade classes, here it is:

The Fog

The fog is coming with grey clouds,

It makes the world look weird.

I wonder what is back there.

Nobody knows at all.

I wrote my second poem, titled “Beloved” at 47 and hope to release it soon.

Who is your favorite author and what is your favorite genre to read?

Donna Anastasi:  I read a wide variety of materials and authors. My novel Spin the Plate is cross genre touching – part contemporary love story, part abuse-survivor/inspirational, part animal rescue, women’s literature, and Christian-themed. Some of my favorite books on these various topics are works by C.S. Lewis, Pensees by Pascal, The Man who Listens to Horses, Tuesday’s with Morrie, Sounder, Wicked (the play, not the book), and The Perfect Joy of St. Francis. If you want to know more of my favorite books (and films), you can see my reviews and lists on Amazon.com.

Tell our readers what genre your book/s is/are and what popular author you think your writing style is most like.

Donna Anastasi:  The style of this book is somewhat like one of my favorite short novels, Sounder. Though Sounder is a young adult book, I first read it as an adult and re-read it every year or few. I pretty much start crying from the first pages until I finish the book. When I wrote the first draft of my story (available as a free ebook Spin the Plate Short Story), no one except the main human/animal characters were named. In Sounder only the dog (Sounder) is named. The main character is called “the boy” throughout, the mother, “the mother,” the teacher “the teacher,” etc.

A similarity in the style of Sounder and SPIN THE PLATE is that the story is character focused versus having extensive dialog, narrative, or scenic descriptions. Both stories read a bit like a screen play. Common themes are main characters that have gone through extreme hardship/abuse yet do not waste any time on self pity.

The book Sounder does an amazing job making the reader experience the animal-human bond and has a major theme of steadfast, unwavering loyalty and unconditional love. The dog and father with the great toll hardship takes on them are never portrayed as “damaged” or thought of in that way by the boy. The major difference in the two stories, of course, is that the father in Sounder is a hero-figure and the father in SPIN THE PLATE is far from it.

Is there anyone you’d like to specifically acknowledge who has inspired, motivated, encouraged or supported your writing?

Donna Anastasi:  Thank you for asking! The novel would never have come to be without extensive support of my husband Tom Anastasi, playwright and a master of dialog, Libby Hanna who let me know the novel was crying out for a street fight scene and then wrote one, those who shared their own stories and allowed me to put Jo and Francis into them: Janet Morrow, Ellen Bellini, Jon Bellini, and Valerie Baier, and those who read countless versions of the story in various drafts and provided invaluable fixes: author Holly Robinson, Vicar Pat Henking, Libby Hanna, Marta Cerda, Sharon Thibault, Jule Pattison-Gordon, my father-in-law author and grammar guru Tom Anastasi Jr., Amy Anastasi, and Steve Saisi. Mountain Ash web works for the cover art and Lee Libro for the second printing cover design. Creator of Black Rose Writing Reagan Roth, who is a pleasure to work with. And, Deacon John LeSuer for allowing me to use excerpts from his “Spin the Plate” sermon and upon which this novel was titled. The sermon in its complete and original form can be found here: http://spintheplate.org/spintheplate_sermon.pdf

Many authors have said that naming their characters is a difficult process, almost like choosing a name for their own child. How did you select the names of some of your lead characters in your book/s?

Donna Anastasi:  I love this question! Though I find that writing in general is a difficult process, I love the naming of characters and places. This is the one piece of writing that comes quickly and naturally. Poorly named characters will take a reader out of a story when either the name doesn’t fit, e.g., “Judith” for a trampy character, or it is too obvious like “Trixie.” My somewhat trampy character was named “Deidra.” Using appropriate-sounding names augments realism and helps the reader remember who is who. It can, as well, be a way for an author to honor some of the favorite people in his or her life (if their names fit the characters). Lauren Green (the first tattoo customer) is a merging of two of my sister’s names (Laurie Green and Ellen). The gardener’s physical description and name (Valerie) is from my mother who is a gardener and wrote the tour-through-the-garden scene for me, by the way.

I wanted the main characters of Spin the Plate to have gender-neutral names, as challenging preconceived notions of what it means to be feminine versus masculine is a strong underlying theme of the novel. The heroine’s name is in part from a work acquaintance whose name was Juliana Orsiano, but who signed all of her emails JO. It made me think that if I had a beautiful name like that I’d use it and made me wonder why she didn’t. I also have a long-time friend named Jo, a real-life professional horse whisperer, who is very private about her past. I still have no idea what her given name is.

As for the animal characters, Muzzy and the rest of the rattie boys are named after a boy rat-pack I once had. “Titan,” the street name for Jo’s enormous Rottweiler-mix, is the name of my pug (who is that size/dog in his own mind).

The café – “Teedo’s Outdoors Café” – was named for my brother Steven who we called Teedo when he was very young. I’m not sure why, perhaps that is how he said his name?? And I called it “Outdoors” café because my little Italian nana would always add “s” to words that should be plural but aren’t in English, for example, “shrimps.”

Anyway, I could go on and on because there is a story behind every character’s name as well as his or her description, but will stop here. Can you tell I love naming things?

Is there any lesson or moral you hope your story might reveal to those who read it?

Donna Anastasi:  My role in authoring this book is that of a messenger, passing along a story that struck me one day. I think the novel will touch and speak to different people in different ways. Perhaps when people read this book they will experience one or more “plate spins,” i.e., a new way of thinking about or experiencing the world around us. Readers may come away with a very different reaction and response to the main character Jo than when first introduced to her in the book. Another “plate spin” that can occurs is a broad re-thinking of what it means to be feminine, strong, beautiful, and “of great value.”Finally, some readers take away the idea that making it through a past life pain may be used as a strength; it may enable a person to be uniquely qualified to help out another in some way for example in escaping or healing from a similar circumstance.

Anything else you want your readers to know? How can a reader learn more about you and writing?

There is a book website: www.spintheplate.com, if you want to know a bit more about me, the novel, or planned book events, including a virtual book tour in November and December 2011.

Here is my book blog: Blog: http://spintheplate.org/?cat=8

The ebook can be purchased for $2.99 at Amazon, B&N, or iTunes

Amazon:  Spin the Plate on Amazon.com

Smashwords: Spin the Plate on Smashwords

iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/spin-the-plate/id455610563?mt=11

The paperback is available at Amazon, B&N or directly from the publisher:

http://stores.blackrosewritingbooks.com/-strse-85/Spin-the-Plate-by/Detail.bok

There is a free short story version of the novel. This was the how the story first struck me and how I first put it to paper. It is available on Amazon, B&N, iTunes, Sony, Kobo, and Smashwords.

Commune of Women, by Suzan Still is one of those books I can’t quite pin down a numerical ‘star’ rating. There are aspects I truly loved and others that disappointed. The action starts quickly, so we readers are drawn in immediately. We can only see the story from the point of view (POV) of one character at a time. Each ‘section’ (they aren’t quite chapters), is told from a different character’s POV. This makes the story interesting in that readers get to see multiple perspectives, but it does nothing for the cohesiveness of the plot. In fact, there really isn’t a strong plotline for this book.

Let’s look at plotline though: seven different women are in the LAX airport at the time a terrorist attack takes place. Six of the women are passengers, customers, travelers, etc, while one of the characters is a young woman who is part of the terrorist group. Six of the woman are barricaded and locked in a break room at the airport, waiting to be rescued while folks on the outside are dead or dying and fleeing from the terrorists. After the gunfire ceases, the terrorists hole up in the airport, making it difficult to rescue any survivors, including the women in the break room.

These six women come together and try to survive on sodas and snacks from the vending machines in the break room, coffee, and water from the small bathroom and sink. While they await rescue or any news from the outside, and with one woman wounded and needing medical attention, the women come together and take on roles and chores to get through the ordeal, while they also sit around and tell each other stories from their lives to pass the time. The majority of the book is about the stories the women tell each other, and not about the terrorist attack or the events happening in the airport.

The plot, because it’s nearly non-existent, gets a low three stars. Read on to see my thoughts on the ending: no spoilers, but definite opinion about the ending will be later in this review.

While I enjoyed the different perspectives of the women, readers get character studies and flashbacks and stories of each of the characters’ pasts that do nothing to further a plot in the book. It’s more like a series of short, poignant stories from each character, and the action of the terrorist attack is extremely secondary to this. I give five full stars for developing the characters, though.

However, the flaw with the characters is in the writing style the author chose. The story is told in third person, close POV from that of each of the characters. At the top of each section, the character’s name is written so the reader knows who is the current focus. The problem with this is that the third person perspective doesn’t work. It absolutely should have been in first person. The best way to explain why is to show the old bag lady, Pearl, and how her sections were written. Third person assumes the writer is the narrator, so when Pearl’s section comes up, and it reads, “Well, one good thin bout this here sitchiation is, Pearl ain’ts gots to figger out a place ta sleep. By the looks of thins, ain’t none of them a-going nowhar.”

But this isn’t Pearl talking about herself in third person, but rather, it IS third person. The narrator is the author, and this isn’t how the author speaks; it’s how Pearl speaks. This also isn’t privy to Pearl’s internal thoughts, so using this language and spelling in third person just flat out doesn’t work. Not to mention, it made it hard to read, too. It was the same with each character, each section using the character’s voice; but it really should have all been first person close narratives for each character to really make this work.

So characterization gets five stars, plot gets three stars, and writing style gets almost four stars. But for purely entertainment purposes, I can give the book five stars, in that it did keep my attention and made me want to read more. I enjoyed learning about the women and their lives. However, I would have probably preferred the book be advertised as what it was, and have them sip over tea or something, than the way that it happened.

You see, we didn’t have any real heroines here. No one really stepped up under pressure and excelled or exceeded in any way. In fact, several of the women tend to break down inside of themselves. The extraordinary circumstances these women were in could have and should have brought out the best in them, or the worst in them, and we didn’t see that. All we saw were a group of women reminiscing with each other about their past, and I feel the author lost a chance to tell a dramatic, thrilling story. But I was entertained, nonetheless, and ultimately, I suppose that’s one purpose of a book, to entertain. I really liked reading about these women, but found their stories just really didn’t have anything to do with connecting them back to the weak plot.

The last thing I’ll say about the book is the end. It left a lot to be desired. It happened too fast, and there was not a lot of detail. One of the main characters dies, and it’s not the one folks might expect, but the author glosses over it through the POV of another character, and it just fails to evoke any connection, sympathy or emotion. It was a useless death, senseless, even, and it was handled poorly–almost in passing–right at the end of the story. The ending fell flat, and didn’t tie up the story as well as I would have liked.

Still, it’s a good read if you’re into characterization and short, poignant stories. The book was entertaining and I enjoyed reading it, even if I felt it could have been stronger in first person with a bit more plot to it than it had. For a women’s fiction title, it’s worth picking up to read.

Read more about COMMUNE OF WOMEN, by Suzan Still here: http://fictionstudiobooks.com/Fiction_Studio_Books/Commune_of_Women.html
See the Publisher’s Website here: http://fictionstudiobooks.com/Fiction_Studio_Books/Home.html
Visit the author’s Website here: http://suzanstillcommune.blogspot.com/

Disclosure: We received a free review copy of the book from the publisher in order to write this review.

BLUE, by Lou Aronica, was slow getting started, and I have to admit upfront that it took me quite some time to get through the beginning. It didn’t take too long for the story to finally pick up though and I was hooked from that point on. Let’s look at the good and bad of this book:

CHARACTERIZATION:

The characters, at first especially, seemed flat; I couldn’t find much sympathy for the teen protagonist, Becky, and the mother seemed to have little redeeming qualities to her. The divorce is one thing, but the attitude she had toward her ex-husband, when she is supposed to love her daughter so much, just never rang true to me at all.

Then there was this Gage character. I don’t know who Gage is. I don’t really CARE who Gage is. I hated the riddled way ‘he’ talked, that I still haven’t figured out if it was a riddle or not, since there was nothing to ‘figure out’ that we didn’t and couldn’t know without Gage. I also really disliked the lack of use of personal pronouns and overuse of Gage’s name, in an effort to ‘mystify’ Gage as genderless. It was unnecessary.

THE PACING & PLOTTING

So the Not-so-Good part is that if I had not been reading this book specifically to do a review, I might not have finished reading it. That would have been a travesty, though, because once the slowness and the tedium of the beginning was past, the story picked up and was much better. I would have missed what ended up being a good story. A very good story.

That said, I feel the author could have done a better job culling this. The story was overly long, unnecessarily so, with a lot of stuff that could have been removed that did nothing to further the plot. For example, long descriptive scenes of cooking, both on the mother’s and father’s side of the story, that didn’t further the plot. These could have been cut back and still had the impact.

Another problem was the believability and consistency of the characters. I also believe as several other reviewers on Amazon.com have said that the author tries to tackle too many deep themes in this book, and as such, it feels that none of them get fully resolved or get the attention they deserve. One or two deep themes and situations are enough, but this one tried to have divorce, remarriage, visitation, cancer and possible death of a child, survival of a world, problems with teenaged dating and friendship, father daughter relationship, mother daughter relationship, teenaged angst, etc. There was just ‘too much’ in the beginning to set all this up that was just backstory and boring.

Now, all that said, once the backstory was out of the way and the real story actually started, it was soooo much better. I loved the parallels drawn between the fantasy world and the reality world, and how the two are interlinked and perhaps dependent upon each other.

PLOT & MINOR SPOILERS:

Before I get to any spoilers, here’s the basic plot: Becky and her father, when she was a child and had leukemia, invented a childhood storytelling game in which they created a fantasy world called Tamarisk. This world had many of the same qualities as the real world, but in grander, more fanciful and artistic ways. The storyline in this fantasy world would parallel the real world, in that Becky would put elements of her real life into the fantasy she and her father created together.

When Becky’s parents get divorced, after she goes into remission from the cancer, in a fit of frustration and resentment (typical of a child of that age during a difficult divorce), Becky decides she’s done with Tamarisk. She and her father stop creating their stories, and though she thinks of the world now and then, it is nothing more to her than the memories of a sick child.

So life goes on, Becky spends time with her father one night per week and on certain weekends while he lives in an apartment across town. She lives with her mother who has since remarried, a man who doesn’t get much screen time in the book, but who seems okay. Then, one day, Becky starts to experience symptoms similar to those she had experienced when she had cancer before. She keeps it to herself for too long,because she’s afraid what it will mean, how it will change things, and how it will impact her life–and the lives of her family.

The diagnosis comes, and then things start to really change…

MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD: Becky, through her mind (or at least so she thinks), visits Tamarisk after she becomes ill again. Perhaps it was a dream, but it felt real, and different than a dream. One of the difficulties I have with this plot is that there was not more disbelief of the events by the characters in the story. I can see maybe Becky believing, but it was too pat, too easy, for Chris to accept. I’d rather have seen less cooking, less chit chat and backstory, and more talk about how and why this was happening. Perhaps a visit to the doctor to see if there’s a reason her mind might be playing tricks on her. Though partly, the father’s acceptance is explained by saying that perhaps it doesn’t hurt to let her have her fantasies, all things considered with her illness.

Tamarisk is beautiful, and Becky learns that though she has neglected Tamarisk, it has continued to live on and developed and change with her creating stories for it. Yet, even so, she finds she has the ability to make certain changes to Tamarisk once she accepts what is happening and starts telling the stories with her father again. The images drawn of that world were well done, in fact, probably were the best part of the novel. We begin to see the lines that connect Becky and Tamarisk, and how the two seem dependent upon each other. We watch changes in each: when Becky is sick the first time, the world experiences the blight; when Becky’s parents divorce due to the stress and problems related to the cancer, we see Tamarisk’s parents die due to the weakness on a bridge caused by the blight; we see the cancer come back, and the blight returns. We see the Queen suffering and we see Becky suffering, and the only time anything feels right is when the two worlds are connected as one, through Becky.

As for what many have said about the blanket at the end… I think this was the only way that the mother could believe, and I think that the mother needed to believe. It’s a fantasy novel, after all, and I’m okay with a fantasy that the mother and the father were able to get along and make peace, whatever the reasons.

CONCLUSION:

Tamarisk sounds beautiful and would make a great kid’s fantasy movie. The book has potential that was untapped, and perhaps needed a bit more work to cull the fat from the edges, but even so, it’s a good book, with a good storyline, good morals, good connections between the worlds. The last 1/3 of the book kept me staying up late reading and turning pages as much as the the first 1/3 of the book dragged.

But in the end, it WAS touching. It was sad but happy too. It did what a book should do: entertained me. I would recommend the book to anyone who likes fantasy, especially in the 11-25 year old age range, for those who enjoy young adult. I’m an adult and don’t usually do YA, but this one I did enjoy. My daughter is twenty-four and she loves fantasy and while she said it was a little ‘young’, she really enjoyed it and cried at the end. She has since recommended it to friends who have also loved it.

If you can pick this one up, it’s worth the read, even with the not-so-good stuff that goes with it. The good stuff does, in my opinion, outshine it.

Dead Game: An Emily Stone Novel
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The plot idea was killer: An online role-playing detective/spy game that only an elite few who know how to access it are able to be a part of. The game has people searching for clues in real life, reporting back on the internet site for the game. Then a serial killer breaks loose in real life, leaving people dead–and evidence that the deaths have been filmed and documented exist. The only connection to the murder victims soon is revealed that they all were part of the role-playing game EagleEye (Which is sometimes one word, sometimes two words, sometimes italicized and sometimes in quotes throughout the novel.)

I have multiple problems with this very interesting plot line. I mean, the plot is a good idea, but the implementation of it in the novel is just poorly done. First, it’s called a ‘video game’ in the novel and the teasers, but it’s not. It’s a real life, online role-playing game – an MMPORG, if you will. There is a difference, and though I’m not an avid gamer, I know people who are, and this is not a video game – so to use the tagline “Game Over Means You’re Dead” isn’t valid either, since this game doesn’t really have a ‘Game Over’.

Then there’s Emily Stone, who is supposed to officially be ‘dead’. I don’t know why or how she’s supposed to be dead, because this book doesn’t explain that to me. I’m assuming there was a book prior to this one that explains that, but a good author should know to make the loose ends meet, even if the reader doesn’t pick up a series until midstream. The Darker Side: A Thriller, by Cody McFadyen series does this expertly. If you read all his Smoky novels, you’ll see a bigger picture, but if you pick up just one book, he explains and glosses over it enough that someone who knows isn’t bored by it but someone who doesn’t can understand. So in Dead Game, we have no idea really why Emily is supposed to be dead. But we do know that at one point she won’t go to a funeral, lest she be observed by people who know her and believe her dead, but then later, she goes around introducing herself with her real name to people who could really hurt her if they knew she was supposed to be dead. Then later, when the author needs her to be ‘dead’ again, she can’t do something because of that. If an author uses a plot device like this, it has to be consistent and believable.

The relationship between Rick and Emily is neither hot, steamy, taught nor believable. In one scene, we get gratuitous affection/intimacy that happens in the middle of an investigation lookout thing that ends up nearly getting them caught by people who shouldn’t know they were there, and it was just ‘bam!’ there it is. For what is supposed to be seasoned professionals, this is inappropriate behavior and had me rolling my eyes. If they can’t control themselves, these two super trained, highly skilled investigators, how the heck do they ever function to solve crimes? And if their lust for each other is so strong they can’t handle this, then the author needs to do a better job of explaining that.

There are multiple instances where homonyms were used incorrectly. There are multiple instances where numbers were spelled out and then the same number later in the sentence was written numerically. There are multiple instances where dialogue came mid-text-block, with more descriptive, then more dialogue, instead of the proper formatting, which made it hard to stay focused on the story itself. There were multiple instances of author intrusion. The worst of it all was the point of view: there were multiple ones. It’s not like the POV changed for each chapter, which is tough, but might have worked. It wasn’t like the POV was omniscient either; it wasn’t. The POV simply changed whenever the author needed the reader to know what a character was thinking, sometimes from one chapter to another, sometimes from one paragraph to another, and it was dizzying. It probably would have worked best from a third-person POV, omniscient, but instead, we were privy to the direct dialogue thoughts of every character, even bit character that were only two pages long before they were killed. There was no reason to jump point of view to a character for two and a half pages and then kill her. We had no need to know her.

The killer is introduced to us about halfway through the story, after the first part of the story works really hard to keep the killer hidden from us. But when the killer is introduced to us, we don’t get to know who he is, so the author uses all sorts of ‘he’ and such, to try to hide his identity, and then poorly tries to lead us in a direction away from who he is, and it just doesn’t work.

For the high price of the book, the fact it’s formatted at at least 1 1/2 spacing instead of single, it’s not really that long of a book either, so the value of the book versus what it is is poor, IMO. However, the plot is an interesting idea. I like the concept. I just think this book is closer to a first draft that needed much more development before it was released as a final product than it received. A good copy or content editor and a rewrite in some areas, and this could have been an amazing concept. I do hope the author will consider this for future novels, because there is a spark of something here and the ideas are great; the fleshing out just needs more work.

I Really Wanted to Love This Book…

… But unfortunately, I did not love it. I did, however, like it. It was entertaining if you’re not the type of reader who wants too much from a book. I personally prefer ‘more’. I agree with many of the other commentators who posted their reviews on Amazon.com for this book that the elephant dream was superfluous. Well, okay, the dream wasn’t so much, but the violence in the dream was. The same intent could have been conveyed without damaging the psyche of the reader to the point that it did. The result to Raine could have still had the same impact with the graphic nature of the dream.

Quincy and Raine are an unlikely pair. I realize that the book prior to this one went more in-depth with their relationship, but it was lukewarm at best. They did not have the chemistry I’d like to see in a partnership or a couple. The flip-flopping point of view of the story kept me from really getting into either character, as each superficially dealt with their feelings and each other. When the relationship finally consummated (again) in this book, it was again lukewarm and almost unworthy of including in the story.

As for the plot: I liked the plot. I liked the concept of it: An FBI agent whose identity gets stolen by someone he believes might be an ex subject of one of his investigations. However, he had plenty of enemies everywhere, so he’s not certain who to look at to see who is plotting to destroy him. And destroy him is the right words. He doesn’t want to kill him. He’s wanting to make him suffer. To Pay.

Here’s the problem, and I can’t really reveal it in depth without revealing spoilers, but I’ll just say: when the killer is finally revealed (and sadly, I figured out who it was the moment he was introduced to us in the book, and I HATE it when I can do that…) there really is no real, good reason for that person to hate the agent with so much passion. It just doesn’t make sense that he would plot for years to exact his revenge, for what? You’ll have to read the book to understand why.

So not only does the villain disappoint me, but I figured it out too easily. Strike One.

Second strike is the characterization and dialogue. We never get a firm image of who Raine is. I mean, is she strong and independent or is she tortured by her past? Can she truly be both? I don’t think she pulls it off. The character is weak and neurotic, not this strong leading lady who is trying to make a go of being a private investigator. I also never get a good feel of Quincy either. The dialogue is just really bad. I found myself rolling my eyes several times, thinking there’s no way these people in these situations would say these things.

Third strike was the procedural problems at the end of the book. I can’t, again, say much without giving away spoilers, but the person they use at Quanitco in the end to fool the UNSUB would never have been allowed into that place, that position, and certainly would never have been used in that way. They’d have used an agent before bringing in a civilian (even a law enforcement one), and they certainly wouldn’t have used that tactic. It just wouldn’t happen, so it fails me at suspension of disbelief.

I won’t rehash the plot here, since so many other comments have it and the description is quite clear. My review is more of the plot, which is good; characterization, which is weak; ending, which is poor; and editing, which could have been improved.

All said, it’s not a bad read. IF you like quick, fast-paced books, this one might be worth it to read on a lazy afternoon, but don’t expect to be turning pages and gasping with delight or surprise. This book is decent, but not one I’d go out of my way to recommend.

That said, HIDE, by Lisa Gardner is actually worth the time to read, so I know she has talent and skill. This book just fell flat.

This review is my own opinion, based on a copy of the book that I purchased. I have not been paid for this review and did not receive an advance copy. I just enjoy Gardner’s work and will be reading more of her books.

Pick up your own copy of THE NEXT ACCIDENT:

RECOMMENDED READING: SPIN THE PLATE, by Donna Anastasi – Yes, I do recommend this book for adding to the your reading list!

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SPIN THE PLATE, by Donna Anastasi features Jo, who is a façade of tough-as-nails with a bit of tender-as-a-kitten underneath female tattoo artist with a near comic-book vigilante personal life. She’s both likable if you get to know her and disdainful from a distance. She wears her weight and size and attitude as a shield to keep people at a distance, and yet, reveals her softness through the animal rescue activities and several scenes in the book in which she protects, fights for, or encourages those who are the ‘underdog’ position. Read the rest of this entry »

Miriam Pia Mini-Bio:

Michelle Devon has graciously invited me to be interviewed as an author. She has asked me to introduce myself: My name is Miriam Pia. That is normally how I am known. I am one of the Americans. I come from “the sexual revolution generation” or something like that – essentially the America with liberated women and everyone having sexual freedom. I grew up a Unitarian Universalist, which I have also practiced for a good 10 years as a weekly church going style UU.

I have mostly lived in the USA but also lived in England for five years and currently reside in Germany. I love my country but like to be a broad minded, worldly American rather than a narrowed down, close-minded American. My family background is a mixture of upper poor and lower middle class. Poverty gets tiresome after a while and some of the pathways out of poverty are not worth the spiritual cost they charge to get you there. I have been formally educated to MA level but was held back to the Postgraduate Diploma level in order to stay with “the men” in Modern European Philosophy. That tells you more than enough…except maybe brunette, 7 or 8 on looks where 10 is best.

It’s rare today to find an author who does nothing but write for a living. Do you have a ‘real’ job, and if so, what is it?

Miriam Pia: I did try to. I went to both university and graduate school to make sure I could have a real job. Then I ended up backed into a corner because I let a husband support me as I took my writing to the next level so that when he abandoned me 2 or 3 years later I didn’t have a real job to fall back on but only the writing. That was my late 30s if anyone is wondering, and after I had the baby.

What are some other jobs you’ve had in your life? I have managed to teach one class in philosophy once – as that was one of my planned ‘real jobs’ it’s a bit weird that I’ve done so little of it. That was at a university; I was an adjunct faculty member. I have worked also in offices as a clerk, been a trainee asst. manager at news agent/miscellaneous item shops, accumulated 6 years experience as an administrative clerk/low level secretary, and have been a gardner, a nanny and a camp counselor and kitchen staff. I even tried witnessing but I’m not that great of a dancer so it didn’t go very well. I had planned to work in a science laboratory or for a zoo or in forestry or for the USGS as a geologist, or as a university teacher of philosophy as a day job but was shunted to writer.

What compelled you to write your first story or book?

Miriam Pia:  I was actually a little kid and it was second nature.

Have you always wanted to be a writer?

Miriam Pia:  No. The joke about “the Gemini moon” is “What don’t you want to be when you grow up?” I think sometimes writing stories is a constructive way of burning off all the wild ideas and possibilities of what if I did this? What if I did that? What if I was different from how I am? What if I was able to be everyone and to do everything in the world – wouldn’t that be cool? OK, maybe that’s too much to take on.

What compels you to be a writer?

Miriam Pia:  It started out as a cheap form of therapy – Dear Diary, and as a cheap way of developing a skill, since I read so much: which is also cheap fun, it made sense.

I am talkative and have a powerful imagination: writing fiction simply harnesses this natural energy.

Tell us a little bit about your writing. Do you have any published books? What are their titles?

Miriam Pia:  Uh…is there anything called ‘semi published’ in this business?
People can get: An Adventure in Indianapolis. Its out on the Kindle right now, and by 2013 it should be out as an honest to God ‘traditional book’ thanks to Alethia Publishing.

This is a great urban crime fighting story written for a general adult audience. I also do a little juvenile writing, that’s what I mean t differentiate from. There are 4 main characters, not just one. They are: a Father, a lawyer, a fighter and a burglar. They serve the fictional Mayor of the real city of Indianapolis to fiction fight a fictional case of a real crime problem that Indianapolis has. So, its ‘true to life’ but not true in many ways.

I like to call it “a law enforcement fantasy story” because it is about how 4 people work for the City to solve a crime in a case where the villains are real “weasels” and have taken cover under the very law which is supposed to be able to catch them and hold them accountable for their crimes. Naturally, as citizens we fantasize about people like that getting caught, and I imagine the cops fantasize about it even more. In this story, the bad guys actually get it, but how?”

There are also some books that I helped with. I am not the author but I did work on them. They are:
Be Diversity Competent! By Jermaine Davis
The Complete Guide to Investing in Mutual Funds by Alan Northcott
Think and Grow Rich – Family Style put out by Angel Publishing
The Expatriot Guide to Moving to the USA by Expatriot Focus 2005 edition

There are some dating guides through Closeout Explosion which may exist, but I’m not really sure.

I don’t even know now whether or not I will ever re-write and get published my first novel, which I really liked and was very proud of the 2nd draft of.

Have you ever won any writing awards? If so, what?

Miriam Pia:  I have received an Honorable Mention from Iliad Press Summer Art Awards for a short story in 2003, and 2 Editor’s Choice Awards from the International Society of Poetry – in 2003 and again in 2008 or 2010 [embarrassing but I’m not even sure. I had the award up on my kitchen cupboard in Indianapolis but then I moved to Germany and don’t have it any more.]

Do you belong to any writing forums or organizations that have helped spur your career as a writer? If so, tell us about them and how they’ve helped you.

Miriam Pia:  Online, yes. At LinkedIn I belong to something like 5 writer’s groups. I also joined CrimeSpace. I also use Twitter and Face book a lot and have approximately 30 – 40 professional writers as Facebook Friends so I see them on most days. I have landed the most contracts through Guru.com and have used places like Elance and Freelance Success and many other online freelancing places all in an effort to find contracts. I also submit to traditional publishers. Sometimes I only submit to ones who can take electronic submissions because I am broke or out of printer ink or horribly impatient in certain “left handed” ways.

What type of music, if any, do you listen to while you write?

Miriam Pia:  It’s not always the same. I love classical music and Enya. I’m a giant Rush and U2 fan, but I’ve heard a lot of other bands ranging from Beatles to Ozzy and Disturbed but also Oasis and now and then one of these quiet classical musicians…violinists and pianists mainly.

What inspires you and motivates you to write the very most?

Miriam Pia:  Sometimes a great idea or contract. Other times its just that I’m bored and lonely and still feel verbal and if I write a story while I’m daydreaming I feel like I’m harnessing this natural energy.

What about your family?

Miriam Pia:  I have one child whom I adore. He is now a 15 year old dual citizen of the USA & Germany: he comes from foreign graduate students in London in their 20s. I have some living ex-husbands who are presently married to other women. The one who didn’t want any children has no children and the others have had at least one daughter by another woman. Obviously there is ‘some issue’. The good news is that ‘I love a lot’ the bad news is that some guy isn’t even with me any more….unless that’s not bad news. Not sure. To be very truthful: one day a year or two after my most recent divorce I was in a therapist’s office answering a 600 question questionnaire. I did not answer the 100 questions about family. When it had been 4 years since the most recent divorce I was able to say “I have a family of 2” without bursting into tears. “It’s me and my son.”

When growing up, did you have a favorite author, book series, or book?

Miriam Pia:  Most of my childhood there was no man living in my home and my mother was not remarried. During that decade and a half I read avidly. I loved massive amounts of SF and fantasy, much of which blurred together in my mind. Ones that stand out: Tolkein, that lady who wrote the Pern books where the dragons have to burn the thread before it kills everyone, The Sword of Shannara and other related stories, CJ Cherryh, Isaac Asimov, CS Lewis – the Chronicles of Narnia, Nancy Drew & the Hardy Boys, my older sister told me about Dune but I never read it. I watched the movie with a lover who’s name I won’t disclose in 2009 or 2010 a few years after the most recent divorce, Robert Heinlein, Harlan Ellison, Anne McAffrey – Wind in the Door and others, Alice in Wonderland and …Through the Looking Glass, anyone my older brother said was good after he was finished with it and handed it off to me. After all, I’d already shared our mother’s womb and had worn his old pajamas; I might as well also read the same book…most of the time if he liked it or my sister liked it so did I.

Hey, let’s get morbid. When they write your obituary, what do you hope they will say?

Miriam Pia:  She loved well / was much loved.

Bring us into your home and set the scene for us when you are writing. What does it look like?

Miriam Pia:  It’s boring to watch.

What about movies?

Miriam Pia:  In truth, SF and Fantasy blockbusters. Usually, when everyone else – or millions of other people like it; actually so do I.

Is there any one particular book that when you read it, you thought to yourself, “Man, I wish I’d written that one!”?

Miriam Pia: No, I’m the one who always wants me to be me. “I hope I do something that great, but it will have to be something I can do as myself or else it would be meaningless.”

Many authors have said that naming their characters is a difficult process, almost like choosing a name for their own child. How did you select the names of some of your lead characters in your book/s?

Miriam Pia: Talitha in An Adventure in Indianapolis is named after a handicapped teen I took care of – or tried to, for a few months in Indianapolis in 2000. It was hard; she’s very difficult but in truth I did actually like her but I almost never express it to her that I haven’t forgotten her and still care. So I named a character after her in the novel. She doesn’t even know about it.

Is there any lesson or moral you hope your story might reveal to those who read it?

Miriam Pia: Read it and find out.

Do you have any book signings, tours or special events planned to promote your book that readers might be interested in attending?

Miriam Pia: I hope to but right how I have to really watch the pizza that’s in the oven. I already ruined one because I was answering these questions.

If so, when and where?

Does being a published author feel differently than you had imagined?

Miriam Pia: I don’t know…ask me again when there’s a hard cover. So far it is anti-climactic. Like how I have never had a bridal gown or honeymoon even though I got married.

Now, use this space to tell us more about who you. Anything you want your readers to know. Include information on where to find your books, any blogs you may have, or how a reader can learn more about you and writing.

http://www.uranianfiction.webs.com/

Visit Miriam Pia on Amazon.com.