Review of 10276 in Two Months

Review of 10276 in Two Months

Written by Giok Ping Ang

Reviewed by R. Murry

The human psyche is very frail when it comes to the question of love.   In my opinion, the five senses of sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch, must confirm that issue before it is answered.  Ms. Ang’s protagonist, in her novel 10276 in Two Months, using social media’s Facebook, does not establish all her senses in deciding her love for another because of the distance factor. In essence, he is on the other side of the world.

The drama of this romantic novel’s main story and subplot is so compelling that the reader will have a hard time putting the book down to take a break – it’s that mesmerizing.  Both novellas arrive at conclusions that will frustrate and endear the reader to the lead character and to her screenplay’s main character.  She is writing the play to impress her lover while fantasizing about what she would like her love to be.

Yes, the protagonist is a writer, and so is her lover.  Therefore, like many who are reading this, we use Facebook and Twitter to promote ourselves and our writing.  In their communications, some of it poetically written; they become smitten and arrive at the level of soul mates without using all of their senses – literally and figuratively. 

However, Ms. Ang’s prose has you so involved; you will believe that the outcome will be a match or matches in heaven since there are two love triangles portrayed in this narrative.  When the end of these passionate sinful predicaments arrive, you will know what it would be like, in Ms. Angs’s words, to feel what it’s like if poets ran out of poems and why these characters sank into the poison of love and lust.

If you are romantic, as I am learning that I am, you’ll enjoy this new age communication twist on courting – looking for a soul mate through Facebook.

Purchase at http://bit.ly/1k2JPJ1

Review of Childhunt.

Review of Childhunt

Written by Faith Mortimer    

Reviewed by R. Murry

The crime is perpetrated by a man from the past at the beginning of this suspenseful novel.  Yes, the novel is about an abduction of two children.  However, it is much more thrilling than one might expect when knowing who and where the deranged perpetrator is.

Historical background of the children’s mother is suspect; the frustration of dealing with the local police is disturbing; a clairvoyant unravels some truths; and Diana Rivers puts her skill as an investigator to work.  These actions are chilling to the point that one does not suspect what might be around the next corner.

No detail is left out of Ms. Mortimer’s novel.  The characters and the local in Cyprus we know from reading other books in the series, but this novel stands on its own.  New characters are developed well to support and enhance this finely tuned additional adventure of writer, part time sleuth, Diana Rivers.  

Tensions rise and fall throughout, psychologically speaking.  Mother’s grief and her being suspect involves the reader to feel deep emotions for what she is going through.  The children’s plight at the hands of a hideous man keeps the reader involved.  The fact that the weather and the limited intelligent police force are hindering the search for the children leads to concern.

All the above and more is a good reason to read Faith Helen Mortimer’s novel Childhunt.   I hope she does not let Diana Rivers fade away.  If Ms. Mortimer does, we are grateful for her short reign as the sleuth on Cyprus.  

Purchase at:  

Amazon US http://amzn.to/1m2iZcJ

    

Interview of Faith Mortimer

Interview of Faith Mortimer

Author of Childhunt!

Questions by R. Murry

Can you tell me a little about yourself?

Good morning Roy. May I take this opportunity to thank you for having me as your guest author this week.

Briefly, I live about 70% of the time in an old stone-house in the foothills of the Troodos Mountains on Cyprus and the remainder of the year in the south of England where I’m from. I began writing seriously around 2000, when my husband and I took early retirement and decided to go off sailing! We are both qualified Yacht masters and before we settled in Cyprus, we explored the seas from as far north as New York down the east coast of the USA to the Caribbean and Venezuela and then back across the Atlantic into the Mediterranean where we finished our travels in Turkey – a fantastic eight years living on our sailing yacht – and the perfect place to write books!

Do you remember the first story you wrote?
I’ve always written stories ever since I can remember. The most serious was when I was about fourteen. It was a romance set in Borneo!

Were you inspired by someone or something?
I’ve always enjoyed playing around with words (and of course reading), at a young age I knew I wanted to write my own stories

What do you like about writing a story?
Oh that’s easy. It’s MY world. My people, my places, my feelings. I love drawing the characters from people/friends and then taking a bit from one person and adding another – a real mix and great fun.

Can you tell us about your book?
I’ve now written eight books. Five are mystery suspense thrillers known as the Diana Rivers series.. The titles include: The Assassins’ Village, Children of the Plantation, The Surgeon’s Blade, Camera, Action…Murder! and Childhunt.


My other book genre are romantic suspense/historical fiction/family drama/action & adventure; these are The Seeds of Time and Harvest (parts 1 & 2 of The Crossing) and my first romance set in France, ‘A Very French Affair.’ I have a short story collection entitled, The Bamboo Mirror, which is FREE on Amazon, Barnes & noble, KOBO, iTunes and Smashwords.

I’ve almost finished my next books which is a psychological thriller set in Scotland. This is a stand-alone book of many which I plan to write as a separate series. My working title is The Devil’s Brae and it is due out for release in July/August.

How did you come up with your storylines?
Almost all my stories feature either something I’ve experienced, or they are set somewhere where I’ve lived. If I like an idea I’ll go with it and set it down as soon as I can find time.

Do you have any tips for aspiring writers?

Yes – never give up. It is often a lonely occupation and only you can write your story. Don’t let others put you off, or tell you what you’re doing and how you’re doing it is wrong…it is how you feel and think and more often than not you will be right. Stick to your plans!

Which authors inspire you?

MM Kaye. Tolkien. Dickens.  I can read a great novel and I then go around thinking about it for days – the author may have a style that I admire and it gives me the impetus to get down and begin to write a new book. No one writer or person inspires me though.

Where can people go to read your work?
Amazon US  http://amzn.to/oLQt8c
Amazon UK http://amzn.to/qe90Lf
The book depository (paperbacks) http://bit.ly/oCON7U
Snippets and chapters are often found on my website www.faithmortimerauthor.com
Barnes & Noble http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/faith-mortimer

Kobo http://www.kobobooks.com/search/search.html?q=%22Faith+Mortimer%22

iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/faith-mortimer/id444132474?mt=11

Smashwords https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/FaithMortimer

Where can people find you on the internet?
Facebook author page: https://www.facebook.com/FaithMortimer.Author
Twitter: https://twitter.com/FaithMortimer
My website www.faithmortimerauthor.com

Is there anything else you would like to share with your readers?
Be yourself. Don’t judge others too harshly and always be there to give a helping hand – it could be you wanting that help some day. As I’ve already said it can be a hard slog. When you’re ready to publish make sure that the product you’re going to offer is as good as a paperback. Take time to edit and reedit, over and over. Be patient – it will take time to make any real progress. Be friendly and polite to everyone within the same market – you never know when you might need them and good manners never hurt. You can also learn lots from others as well.

Thank you so much for having me on here today!
                                               

Review of The Patriot Game

The Patriot Game                                    

By Ron Culley

Reviewed by R. Murry

An intriguing thriller, The Patriot Game, firstly, is an impelling suspenseful journey into the background of Ireland during World War II.  The twists and turns of the main plot and sub-plots are brought to endings that one would not anticipate.  The reader will have no problem following them to their conclusion, as I did.

Secondly, the novel purposes an underlining theme – Who is a patriot?  The soldier who pulls the trigger to kill the enemy, the one receiving the lethal bullet, or both?  Having been an intelligence specialist in Vietnam, I once pondered this question to my own conclusion as Mr. Culley questions in a number of demonstrative ways.

The soldier in waiting to kill his prey; the assassin who is creative in his assaults; the woman beaten to unconsciousness for information; and the spy who intrudes into the lives of non-combatants are a few of Mr. Culley’s ways of portraying some of his characters as their countries’ patriots.  He does it so well; the reader will understand the portrayal of either side of their lethal actions.

For you romantics, Ron has also interwoven interludes of compassion between some of the main characters that leads to unlikely conclusions.  These emotions offset the seriousness of the conflicts of a world in turmoil.  In his writings, he portrays his characters as humans, not stereo typed combatants.

Mr. Culley has put together an interesting tale worth reading for one who enjoys reading plausible historical adventures.  I enjoyed it immensely.  I hope you’ll enjoy it too.

Mr. Culley’s web site, www.ronculley.com where The Patriot Game and all of his other books are exhibited. 

Review of The Blues Detective

The Blues Detective

Written by Andrew Peters

Reviewed by R. Murry

“…Any Blues related problem in the City of Obesity ends up at my door.” Notes the Blues Detective in one of his crime breaking solutions to a case

that comes through his Memphis office door.  A musician by night and a sleuth by day is how it’s played in a southern tone – soft and mellow - cool.

His name is Otis King and he is a crime solver who is by far the most uncomplicated human to be a crime buster: he drinks; he eats; he fornicates; and he solves problems. Music is his passion and because of that he gets the coolest and strangest crimes to solve. Some of which are not crimes at all. They are just misunderstandings that this Welshman demurs over.

The Blues Detective cases are short but sweet.  Andrew’s writing keeps your attention and imagination in the game. He’ll use a short phrases like “I re-trouser.  I ask my questions.”  You laugh and understand what he meant by putting it at that precise moment.  His paragraphs are short and sometimes a word or two.  You'll get the meaning when Otis says “I open an eye.” and moves on to “A mistake.”

Mr. Peter’s Otis King is the person telling the collection of tales that will have you laughing and thinking – did he say that?  Unfortunately, there are only ten cases to be solved in this book.  I’ll keep it in my Kindle and I'll go back and read a case or two when I need a little fun time.

Andrew Peter’s off the wall interview is below.  Have some fun and read it too.

Where can people go to read Andrew's work?

I have about ten things available now, short story collections, novellas and novels and they can all be found on my Amazon author page.

http://www.amazon.com/Andrew-Peters/e/B008PDVKBM/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

http://www.amazon.co.uk/AndrewPeters/e/B008PDVKBM/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1  

Review of The Hand of Yemanja

Review of The Hand of Yemanja

Written by Claudio Tapia

Reviewed by R. Murry

Today is Mother’s Day 2013 in America and the novel I just finished was about the migration of a strong woman, someone’s mother, to the Americas.  The fate that she traveled to by leaving her identity behind in Europe is the crux of this character driven novel by Claudio Tapia, a migrant himself.

Lydia, just Lydia, a single woman, travels into the unknown. She, like many adventures going west to find one’s fortune, encounters events that bring out her real character.  This innate being that was there but was not tested because of a shelter background – being a woman in a man’s European world in the 1900s.

Although this is fiction, well written I might add, Lydia's character is made real by the detailed way Claudio presents her side of the equation of the novel’s events of arriving in a strange country, that she is looking forward to.  The arrival sets the tone of this unpredictable story.  People are met in the first encounters on ship and upon docking that change Lydia’s life and others near her for every.

Lydia is redefining herself and the young native girl she takes under her wing when arriving in America.  Their relationship is intertwined - Lydia being the saint and Edmilce the follower.  Their relationship comes together because of a man and ends that way.  Not because they are both in love with him, Paxi, but because fate deemed it that way.  And no one runs from fate.

There is much going on with the three main characters. It would be unkind of me to not let the reader enjoy this adventure on his own by giving out details.

Mr. Claudio Tapia has presented his case for the historical novel with a colorful geographical background to boot.  He has written a book to enjoy because of its flawed characters that come alive on the written page and an adventure that is also plausible.

Claudio's interview and links are below: http://
bit.ly/1oDEfUE

Review of The Fall of the Empire

Review of

The Fall of the Empire                 

Written by

Zoe Saadia

Reviewed by R. Murry

Most of my readers know that I’m an ex-Green Beret and have been exposed to unconventional warfare and hand-hand combat.  Where Ms. Saadia acquired this information, only she knows.  She did her research, and her battle scenes come alive on the written page.  One of the Warlords is praised for his unusual way of setting up a fight that will commence in an unconventional way, leading to many victories.  

However, the story is not about warfare – its backdrop.   It’s about people, trying to stay alive in the turmoil they had no control over. A young lady of sixteen wants to avenge the death of her family and is in the process of solving it when interrupted by force bigger than her.

A young trader, who has feelings for the slave girl, is put in a position where his allegiance is opposite to that of the girl unbeknown to him.  Each becomes spies for opposing the army of warriors.  This is what propels the story forward.

Battles are fought hand to hand.  The firm with moral purpose survives in the story.  They believe that the gods are helping them, but it’s their inner strength that moves them forward.  Zoe’s has written characters who show their feelings on their sleeve so to speak.

Zoe’s young lady is the strongest of all the characters with a moral goal.  Her strength is noticed by an invading Warlord who helps her to move towards her goal to the point that he is in awe of her uncommon beauty with physical and inner strength. He noticed that she is not a slave and he was right.  You’ll have to read the book to see what she really is.

Zoe Saadia prose is well written and will keep you wanting to know – What next?  It’s a delightful tale.  Something you shouldn’t miss.

Purchase at: http://
amzn.to/1mQr4N2

http://http://amzn.to/1mQr4N2