I’m been flat out working on the new Awesome Indies site and have been neglecting my own books. Kind of, put out Demon’s Grip, went on a little blog tour and then forgot about it. I put more energy into promoting others than I do myself, but I find it easier to blow other people’s trumpets. Mine always sounds a bit tinny to me. Frankly, I didn’t expect it to be a book that anyone would actually like. It’s very much a third book in a series, and as you may have guessed by now, it has some pretty complex themes. Not your normal young adult, which is why it’s not young adult, it’s new adult.
Anyway, (pardon the ramble), but this morning I woke to a lovely email from reviewer Clive S. Johnson, author of the very unusual fantasy/sci-fi/literary Dica series. I try not to let reviews either get me down or boost me up, because I prefer my happiness not to be tied to external events. I am the master of my mind & therefore the master of my own happiness – that sort of thing – but i enjoy a good review as well as the next author. Clive hasn’t published a review yet, but he gave me permission to post his email in this blog, so here it is.
Firstly, I would like to congratulate you on a most exemplary work, a real joy to read. I have to say that it’s significantly better than the previous one of yours I read. The colour, depth and vitality of both the writing and the narrative is stunningly good: the exploration of motives, outlooks and hopes of the characters quite intoxicating.
I strongly suspect that you have, quite rightly so, given yourself over to free expression in your writing, that you’ve allowed a true and honest voice to come through, unguarded, into your prose. The work is of an order of magnitude better for it. What made it so noticeably more powerful for me was the unflinching handling of human emotions, desires, foibles and addictions, and the clarity and richness of the framework in which they were set, and indeed the manner of their resolution. An expertly balanced delivery.
In many way, I feel your work sits outside the traditional genre of YA, as I understand it, and ranks as a true work of literary accomplishment. I do not, by this, mean to decry its suitability for young adults, for many will draw from it the depths of meaning and insight more normally appreciated by the more mature reader.
I believe you deserve to do well with this volume, and hope that the fickle book market recognises this, and you prosper by it.
Me too, Clive. Thanks for the best wishes.
I’d better get back to the Awesome Indies site now. I’ve still got lots of work to do on it.
