Thursday, June 21, 2012

BEFORE THE FALL by Orna Ross: some thoughts

This is a five-star novel. Ross has a nice way with words. A couple of examples: “the one he likes best is the one who comes out when we’re home, snuggled up, three quarters of the way down a bottle of wine.” Or, “Dirty dishes accumulate in my sink until furred.” Her description of a plunge into alcoholism is grand, as the Irish might say. There is so much written about “roots.” The protagonist of this novel overcomes her roots, triumphs over the society into which she was born and her family ties to emerge as a startlingly independent, fulfilled woman. She takes the reader to unexpected places: backwater Ireland, to London, to San Francisco, where she is the most interesting. I suffer from an affliction, perhaps, of living in the modern world, but I was halfway through the novel before I realized what the title meant, who was the fallen.

A suggestion: My novel, THE PENCIL ARTIST is available as an e-book on Smashwords, Kindle, and Barnes and Noble; as a paperback on Amazon.

Saturday, June 16, 2012

For Science Fiction fans: OOOEELIE by Kenneth C. Crowe

A woman named Raine gave my novel, OOOEELIE, its first review, suggesting that Science Fiction fans would enjoy the book. The review on Shelfari: Rated 4 stars “I needed a book to read and I looked on my kindle and started OOOEELIE. it starts out about a couple whose marriage is on the rocks, and it seemed pretty interesting. Then I got to Chapter 9. If you can make it past Chapter 9 (where it is explained how Oooeelie is a descendant/reincarnate of a dog who landed on earth from outer space and taught man how to communicate) you will really enjoy this book. I'm not a science fiction book reader, but this one was really good. I really couldn't put it down. I liked the story of Joanna and how her life changed and also how her husband Gil was able to reinvent himself. The story of the Wesos Foundation and how the (foundation) tracked Oooeelie kept the story going. The ending was perfect! You can tell that this book was written by a man by some of the descriptions of the love/sex escapades. Oooeelie was not what I expected, but it was really enjoyable. I think Science Fiction fans would really like this. Give it a try!” Raine wrote this review 2 days ago.

A suggestion: My novel, THE PENCIL ARTIST is available as an e-book on Smashwords, Kindle, and Barnes and Noble; as a paperback on Amazon.