Correspendence from an author.....

So, I am a member of a group on Facebook called Free Ebooks UK-Sharing Group and the other day saw a couple of posts by Christopher Hunter who, as you may recall, wrote the excellent Unravelling that I recently download and added to my 1001  List. So, I decided to post a Link to my Blog there and tell him how brilliant I thought his book was. His response....."Wow Mark, thank you!!! This has made my day and I was already having a good one as was. I will share the link with others, and just to point out, I consider this a novella trilogy as opposed to a novel trilogy. It's open to personal interpretation (some people have even claimed this as a short story!), but just wanted to give you the author's statement. Really appreciate you taking the time and hope you enjoy the rest of the series. :-D"

How cool is that? 

In other news, I also received the following E-mail from author, Michael Winn:

 

"Hey, Mark. I’m Michael Winn, the author of an ebook you’ve recently downloaded from Amazon. My publisher, Janice, at Janday Publishing e-mailed you a free gift certificate for The Dead Dog and Other Tales of Tragedy and Triumph. If you’ve had time to read it, I would be very grateful if you would post a short review on Amazon UK. I’m anxious to know the thoughts of avid readers. Hopefully you loved the book and will have some good things to say. And if you didn’t like the book? Well, as my mom taught me, sometimes it’s more polite to say nothing at all... :) Either way, if you post a review and would like to receive a free copy of a second book from the publisher, just let me know at this email or contact me through Facebook – I’ll be sure to let the publisher know to send you one right away. Thanks!

Kind Regards,

M.J. Winn"

I quite enjoyed getting that E-mail right up until the point where he says  "And if you didn’t like the book? Well, as my mom taught me, sometimes it’s more polite to say nothing at all." Errrr.....censorship!!??!! What, you only want to hear my opinion if I enjoyed the book? Errrr...sorry but it doesn't work like that! Actually I just read the book, a collection of short stories, and pretty much thought it dull and uninspiring with stories that never seemed to go anywhere and didn't have any point to them! Remember I talked about Virtual kindling? Well, along with Surviving The Fog, this E-book is certainly it! Big question is do I tell him what I think?

I think discretion has to be the better part of valour but I will be posting a passively negative review on Amazon because I think it is my due as an amateur reviewer. I have a duty to report how this book made me feel and I refuse to lie, either by omission or more directly, because it goes against all my principles!

The other book I have just finished is Amanda Hocking's Hollow land which is a zombie apocalypse novel very much in the vein of 28 Days and Weeks later! The book begins with Remy, a young teenage girl quarantined in a Government Facility, finding herself fighting for her life when security becomes compromised. Forced to flee, she sets off in search of her baby brother who was one of the first to be evacuated. Because her brother has a secret; and one that has ramifications for the future of the entire human race!

This was a good book aimed at younger readers and if the ending was a tad flat, it was only because it is paving the way for a sequel! I wouldn't say it was brilliant but was certainly better than Zombie Apocalypse recently reviewed by Lainy over on So Many Books, Not Enough Time recently which was highly original, depicting the use of Twitter during the beginning of the Zombie outbreak amongst other things, but which ended on a very silly and almost damaging note that threatened to discredit all that came before. At least Hollow Land stays pretty consistent throughout and is what it is ~ a teenage Zombie novel that flows at a fast pace and is reminiscent of Justin Cronin's The Passage at times.

Next to read on Kindle ~ have just downloaded a free short story from F.Paul Wilson from web-site Smashwords that details the early days of the conflict between Glaeken and Rasalom from his Adversary and Repairman Jack series!!! Am so excited to have found this for free and cannot wait to read this being a big fan of his Secret History Of The World!! The link to download it yourself is here: 

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/23892  The book comes in a Mobi file which you can download to your Kindle using a USB cable!

Oh, I just remembered, I have also recently read the short story, Tales From The Void:Scarecrow which I downloaded from Smashwords. A short horror tale set in an alternative world of Goblins and Trolls it was alright but nothing groundbreaking and okay for what it was. Basically a force of Magick breathes through from something never fully explained called The Void, awakening an ancient evil lying at rest inside an old scarecrow. One to read only if you have nothing better on the go....until next time....

Happy reading......luv Sparky xxxxx