A review of my novel "A Lucky Break"

Here is a review of my novel A Lucky Break by a fellow author Lydia Lin, here is the blurb for the novel a time travelling romantic comedy:-

On his way to a job interview James Campbell is mugged, not a good start to his day but it leads to a fortuitous discovery, he can travel through time. James quickly realises that he can use this breakthrough to amass a small fortune. It rapidly changes his life and then quite accidently he travels back to 1647 the time of Oliver Cromwell and the delectable Esmeralda. Follow him as romance blossoms but not without one or two unexpected problems along the way.

And here is Lydia’s review:-

An enjoyable story told in a chatty, good-natured tone, as hinted by the fitting book cover design. Take this book along to read while waiting for a family member undergoing dental cleaning. The author is humorous at times and very detailed in delivering the narrative. (I did skip a few pages that describe the cricket match.) The sincerity of the idealistic main character will allow you to look past the typos and punctuation errors that occasionally pop up on the page.    

Below is a parody inspired by this book:

O young James Campbell is come out of the wall.
His head is dizzied but his mind remains clear.
And sharing his good fortune, he's a friend to all,
But the one he most desires is his Esmeralda dear.

Not only did Lydia take the time to read and review the novel, she also very generously took the time to give me a list of typos etc. Thank you so much Lydia.

So my sincere apologies to those readers who have a copy of A Lucky Break with errors in it. I’m currently working on the eBook to turn it into a print version through Createspace and all errors will be corrected. Seeing as how I ranted about the need for self-published authors to get their work as good as they can I feel humbled I published this book with these typos. All I can say is that I was too enthusiastic to get it out there. Another few weeks and it would have been as near to perfect as I could make it. Let that be a lesson to us all.

Now, Lydia’s book is Sweetie Goes to Bed and here is the blurb:-

A little story about a bed-time routine gone awry. Naughty Sweety sneaked

out of his cradle and learned a lesson the hard way. This picture e-book is written in simple language for young kids to read.

It provides a link to the an audio file for a lullaby and a children's song. Click here to view the animated book trailer. 

Also there is a Question & Answer game provided to add fun to the learning. Lydia plans to add more play and learn activities to the new blog site at: The Question and Answer Game

Are Governments fit to Govern?

The world waits to see if the Republicans and the Democrats can reach an agreement that would stop the USA defaulting on a loan repayment next Tuesday. Greece and Ireland are bankrupt with Spain Italy and Portugal not far off. Every country in the western world is in dept up to its eyeballs. So are governments fit to govern? Successive governments world wide have borrowed way beyond the country’s ability to pay, the ruling party depending on growth in GDP tomorrow to pay for today’s prolificacy. Don’t politicians ever read and learn from history? Don’t they know that there will always be boom followed by bust, (thank you banks for your irresponsible behaviour that got us into this current mess).

In the UK most of the politicians are what we call the political classes. They have never had a proper job, come from rich well to do families and have no idea what it is like to struggle because of lack of money. David Cameron the British Prime Minister is currently on holiday in Italy with his family in a £9,500 per week villa. That is virtually twice what a British pensioner gets in a year in pension. HE REALLY UNDERSTANDS POVERTY.

I call governments 4 or 5 year dictatorships. Before they are elected the politicos promise the earth then fail to deliver on 90% of what they say. In the UK if it were left up to the people to decide Immigration would be stopped, Foreign Aid would be stopped and the UK would leave the EU. The politicos know this so these matters were barely discussed before the last general election.

I remember watching the inauguration of President Obama along with millions of others. I think the whole world had hope for the future at that ceremony, a hope for change, a hope for YES WE CAN.

In the meantime the people suffer, and will continue to do so for generations to come!!!!!

We wait for Tuesday, what will be the consequences of failure, who knows, but it will be the people world wide that will suffer, that you do know.

Print or eBooks or both?

Hello

As word of www.booksandnovelstoread.com is spreading I am getting more and more requests from authors to put their books on the website. That is fantastic and long may it continue and help us all sell our self published books and novels.

However there are a number of those books that are only in the printed format with no eBook available. I believe this is short sighted because evidence suggests that eBooks are outselling the printed version by about 4 to 1. That is potentially a lot of book sales you could be missing out on. It isn’t difficult to create an eBook from your printed version.

Go to www.smashwords.com which is a totally free website in which to upload your book. Follow the Smashwords Style Guide to alter the formatting of your book so it is suitable for Smashwords. Their so called meat grinder turns your upload into virtually every type of digital format so your book can be read on any eReading device from Kindle through to Ipad and every thing in between.

If you are serious about selling your work you need to do this, you know it makes sense. One final thing when you’ve created your eBook let me know and it will be my pleasure to put it onto Books and Novels to Read.com.

All the best - Terry

A new source to get the word out there.

I wanted to tell you all about another terrific blog to get the word about your book out there. The link to bookblog is:-

http://bookblogs.ning.com/

This is a very active group so be a bit careful which emails you choose to receive when you post. I received over 30 emails on the first day which is a bit overwhelming but does illustrate how active the blog is. There is a forum, you can post in your own blog and there is loads of useful information. It is easy to limit what emails you do get, just go to your page and there are controls to adjust which emails you get.

If you are serious about selling your books you need to follow all of these leads. Let everybody you can and beyond know about your books. Spread the news as far and wide as you can and before long you will be selling them.

All in all this is a very good site, well worth looking at and getting involved.

Have a great day - Terry

A Review of God, Yes! Hell, No! By John Alexander Baker.

As I’ve said before when I’ve reviewed a book of this nature, I’m not a religious person so I guess I always approach the subject with a cynical eye. I try not to but I believe it is very difficult if not impossible to approach anything with a completely open mind. However I found God, Yes! Hell, No! a fascinating read.

The basic premise of the entire book is that there is a god, a loving caring god, one who could not possibly have created a hell. How could the Almighty do anything as cruel as that? Now this will be a controversial concept for many religious people and John makes no apologies for that but he believes the whole idea of hell, eternal damnation and all is just a MAN made concept to keep the people in fear and under their control. Remember the people who were originally being preached too lived in a very small world, most could not read or write so all their information came by word of mouth and what better way to control the population than offering them eternal damnation if they did not obey God’s laws.

A short quote by the author:-

If God doesn’t want these billions of people, why doesn’t he just destroy them, completely? Why does he have to make them “Suffer” for all of eternity, forever and ever? I just cannot believe that he would do such a thing. It makes absolutely no

sense at all.

Which pretty well sums up his thoughts on the subject.

The author backs up his thesis with hundreds of passages from the bible that he claims is a constant contradiction against itself, perhaps this is down to interpretation by the reader or their religious leader or minister. Reading the author’s words I can see what he is saying, are these readings selective? I’m not qualified to comment, I’ll leave that to the more studied reader.

I can tell you that the research that has gone into writing this book is amazing and the way John links things together proves beyond doubt he knows his subject.

This isn’t a comfortable read, not a just before sleep book, but a very serious study of faith, its influence on believers’ lives and the entire concept of there being a hell. He will ask you to look at your faith, your beliefs and point out that you have a God given brain to make your own choices.

My final words on God, Yes! Hell, No! Is I believe an important book in the religious library but one you must be prepared to read with an open mind. The choice is yours.

My rating 4 out of 5.

To go directly to John Baker's website click here. 

To purchase a copy of God, Yes! Hell, No! click here. 

I'm delighted to tell you?????

I’m as pleased as punch to tell you that my wife Sandra’s first novel Moorcroft - The Possession the printed version is now available to purchase from Createspace immediately. It will be on Amazon.com within the week (so I am told) and all the other Amazon locations in due course, watch this space.

I’m very proud of Sandra’s achievement, I didn’t realise what a talented writer she is. I’ve been writing for quite some time as you know and Sandra had always told me how at school as a child she would always write ten or so pages for a story where as all the other kids would only write three or four pages. The signs of an active imagination I’m sure you will agree. Then one day going through some old papers I found a hand written outline for a story. With a bit of pushing from me Sandra started writing and the story just grew and grew. When it got to over 600 pages Sandra decided to split the tome into three and thus was born The Moorcroft Trilogy.

I know I’m biased but I think the story is extremely good. It isn’t what I would consider the normal type of book I like to read but did enjoy it immensely. It is a romantic ghost story with some unusual twists that Sandra’s imagination came up with.

Here is the blurb from the back cover:-

When tragedy strikes on the day of her wedding with the accidental death of her fiancé Frederick, Charlotte Worthington goes into a rapid decline taking her close to insanity. When her father dies soon after it is too much for the young woman and she takes to her bed and with the help of some sleeping drafts commits suicide. However her lonely and restless spirit is not yet ready to leave the home she loves and she wanders the halls and corridors of Moorcroft waiting for Frederick to return to her.

Charlotte’s character is confusing, at times kindly and loving and at others mischievous and spiteful as she strives to get her own way, so she has mixed feelings when the Gardener Family invade her home and become its new residents. Sarah, the young daughter refuses to acknowledge the existence of the ghost and Charlotte torments her in return. Richard the son grows from a cheeky boy into a handsome man and Charlotte is captivated and is determined to make him her own. Totally unaware of Charlotte’s existence, Richard falls head over heels for his sister’s best friend Victoria and proposes marriage. It is then that the trouble really starts. To what lengths will Charlotte go to rid herself of her rival and win Richard’s affections?

Click here to buy a printed copy of Moorcroft - The Possession from the Createspace eStore.

Click hereto buy an ebook copy of Moorcroft - The Possession from Smashwords.