Another 5 star review for Demon’s Grip.
Okay, so I’m boasting again, but if I can’t do it on my own website, where can I do it? Here’s my latest Amazon review for Demon’s Grip. 5.0 out of 5 stars Deep Running Waves of Emotion and Cunning Demons. July 27, 2013 By Mr. Richard Lw Bunning This is the third of a planned four parts. All three books already published can be read as one offs, but I advise starting with “Lethal Inheritance: Diamond Peak”. Just how original Newland’s fantastical vision is becomes far clearer in this latest book. Meat is being put on the characters, even on those of the demons. Also, we are beginning to understand better what the Peak itself is all about. The metaphysical aspects of the series are being steadily reinforced, as are the human and humanistic interactions. As we are drawn along this other path, which stands alongside our physical world, I increasingly wonder…
Watch out for over-editing.
I’ve read a couple of books that I thought were over-edited. One had the feel of something the publisher might have asked for 10,000 words cut out of to suit the usual less than 100,000 words. It had big gaps in the plot & character growth as if chunks of the story had been taken out. Another one had the blandness of something worked over with every rule in the book in mind. There was nothing ‘wrong’ with the writing if you looked at it technically, but it had no pizzazz. I remember feeling that perhaps it lost its individuality in the push for perfection. In our efforts to make our writing the best it can be, we run the risk of losing the rawness or freshness of our original vision. After years of working on something, it’s easy to lose that spark under a pile of prunings. I know,…
The best fantasy illuminates reality & highlights truth.
The best fantasy is real. This might sound like a contradiction in terms but it’s not, simply because fantasy must be believable or it won’t quite work. That doesn’t mean that the fantasy can’t be wildly outrageous and bizarre, it can, but the characters have to act and react like people, and cause and effect must operate logically and consistently within whatever world the author has created, or it simply won’t work. That’s what I mean by ‘real’. Characters have to do things for clear reasons and in line with their motivations, otherwise the story won’t make sense. And if those characters, be they automatoms, walking plants or whatever don’t have humanlike feelings and reactions, or at least ones we can understand and feel for, we just won’t care about them, and if we don’t care, we won’t engage with the story. But, the very best fantasy goes even further…