Voice Me

Someone recently had a post up about the importance of author voice. The thrust of the post (from what I remember—I’m typing this on my netbook while commuting to work via subway) was how certain authors could make a tired trope fun and interesting.

Agreed. But I’m going to segue a bit. Author voice can impact on a much more basic level. Recently, I read a couple of ebooks by an author whose 'voice' was very appealing. I loved the characters and set-up and I quickly read each book back to back. I’m even toying with the idea of reading the next book, if there is one because the first two were so much fun to read.

But over on Fictionwise I rated them both just 'okay', and the only reason I didn’t give them the lowest grade of 'poor' was because of the author’s voice.

The stories were shallow; with no depth in characterization, plotting, motivation setting. They were more along the lines of a couple of sequential scenes strung together, than an actual story. Even a short one. Imo, they should have been free on the author’s site, or the editor should never have bought the story without more extensive fleshing out.

The majority of the action (confrontation with bad guys) happened off stage and there was so little teeth to flimsy conflict between the main protags there might as well have been none. Furthermore, the excerpts provided for both book (both of them the beginning of a love scene) gave the false impression that the books were far more carnal than they really were. There was only one love scene near the end of each the book and they were relatively tame despite what the teaser excerpt implied. So false advertising there. (A whole 'nother post, this).

See, how I went ranted on and on there? So how could I think of buying and reading the next book? Author voice. As shallow as the main characters are I really liked them individually and their interactions with each other. The pace was quick and I had a smile on my face the entire time.

On the flipside, (and this is going to be weird) but sometimes it’s not the author’s work per se, that doesn’t work, but that their voice doesn’t jive with my expectations.

Fer ‘sample. .. awhile ago there was book I was anxiously anticipating. I’d read the story blurb and a pretty generous excerpt. Both were dark and edgy bordering on horror. So I was expecting a more somber atmospheric opening to the book. Instead I got the sassy heroine cracking wise and wise assing, left, right and center. Threw me right out of the book. The humor was too soon, too fast, too much. I’ve never finished that book. Oddly enough, I did pick up a book later in the series which I enjoyed, and in which the heroine made several cameo appearances. Cracking the wise. Again, she set my teeth on edge. So maybe this was more a case of hating *that* character's voice, than expectation dissonance.

There’s also been books that I wanted to read by authors I admired but their prose left me stone-cold like my name was Austin, even as ‘intellectually’ I recognized and appreciated their wordsmithing.

Stupid story, great voice= love it, want more.
Potentially good story, author voice doesn’t not match expectations= Non-starter
Amazing word craft, author voice doesn’t hit right note = meh.

Go figure.

#kayneshrug

Library Haul

Rhyannon Bird's: Last Wolf Standing

That a woman who was his perfect match even existed. And that he'd find her in a bustling cafe. Yet just the scent of sweet, mortal Torrance Watson ignited a driving, explosive need to claim her that he knew his pack would never sanction. Worse, the rogue werewolf he'd been hunting had sensed that attraction and made Torry his prey. Forced to safeguard her from this ruthless assassin, who already posed a threat to his pack, Mason now faced the ultimate challenge. Did he have the courage to cross the line by sealing the blood bond that would make Torry his alone--a disloyalty few of his kind ever survived--or would he live an eternity without love?


Gord Rollo's: Strange Magic

A reclusive former magician moves to Pennsylvania to escape a dark past, a past which is about to catch up with him inthe form of a mysterious stranger and a battered old trunk containing a grotesque and deadly monstrosity.

That's a pretty scant synopsis, so I'll use an excerpt from the first review posted on Amazon:

Gord Rollo's latest release, Strange Magic, tells the story of former magician Wilson Kemp. Wilson has been trying for years to escape his past, going as far as changing his name, moving, and giving up his career as a magician. His wife and daughter know nothing of his past life, but unfortunately, his past has finally caught up with him and he may not be able to keep it hidden any longer. Someone in town known as "the Stranger" is killing both humans and animals, leaving messages at the scene of each crime for "The Iceman", which happens to be Wilson's old stage name. Wilson is now scared for the life of himself and his family. He is not sure who "the Stranger" really is, but fears it may be his old partner, "The Heatseeker". The problem with that scenario is that "The Heatseeker" has been dead for twenty-two years.


MASKED anthology (various authors)

Anders (Fast Forward) delivers an ambitious collection of superhero tales that provide top-notch plots and characterizations while honoring their four-color roots. In Daryl Gregory's superbly metafictional "Message from the Bubble Gum Factory," a former sidekick finally realizes the broader implications of superheroes. Stephen Baxter nicely applies hard science to the futuristic "Vacuum Lad." Gail Simone's "Thug" and Mike Carey's "The Non-Event" bolster predictable plots with solid characters and prose. Joseph Mallozzi's "Downfall" and Marjorie M. Liu's "Call Her Savage" embrace comics clicheÌüs and make them both more complex and more entertaining. Only Mike Baron's dull, heavy-handed, and predictable "Avatar" stands out as noticeably weak, though Peter and Kathleen David's witty "Head Cases" feels more like the opening of a novel than a complete story. Overall, Anders has assembled a solid anthology that provides first-rate entertainment.


Robert Antoni's: My Grandmother's Erotic Tales (ed: how could I resist that title? *g*)

The title implies that Antoni ...has written a collection of folktales. Yet while the Caribbean tales told by 97-year-old grandmother Maria Rosa to her grandson Johnny do indeed form the framework, this is a work of fiction set in the West Indies during World War II. It begins when British officials commandeer Maria Rosa's family cocoa plantation for an American army base, telling her that she will be paid for the land when the war ends. With the invasion of U.S. servicemen comes the usual company of prostitutes and attendant lowlifes. Grandmother Maria tells her story of growing up against this background, mixing local color and folktales definitely earthy and often erotic with events of the time.



Kathleen Duey's: Skin Hunger (YA)

In this darkly atmospheric fantasy, the first in a planned trilogy called A Resurrection of Magic, Duey weaves together the stories of two teens who live in a world in which the working of magic has a turbulent history. When her bitter father dies, Sadima, a young woman who can communicate with animals, keeps house for two renegade magicians at a time when magic has been outlawed. Her experiences, which include learning to read and falling in love, alternate with those of Hahp, born generations after Sadima. Exiled by his wealthy, disapproving father, he attends a school of wizardry where, among other unpleasantness, students are starved to death if they can't conjure up food. The pacing in this page-turner accelerates as the stories progress and links between them emerge, moving toward a cliffhanger ending that will leave readers anxious for future installments.

Mark Billingham's: Lifeless

When a serial killer targets London street people in British author Billingham's
gritty fifth police procedural to feature detective Tom Thorne (after 2005's Burning Girl), Thorne, a psychological wreck following his father's death, convinces his bosses to let him go undercover. The detective manages to integrate himself into the community of the down-and-outers, even as a leak threatens to expose his ploy and place him in harm's way. An unusual tattoo on one of the victims leads the police to a squad of soldiers who may have been involved in atrocities during the first Gulf War-and to a possible motive for the killings.

Some Results

I'm finally (almost) back to normal. The month from hell is over and the nasty cold that hit me last week is in its last trailing stages. A possible plumbing emergency has been averted and today is the last day of a well deserved 4-day weekend that I sooo needed. The bad news is I'm going through another round of insomnia. :-/

Ah, well, the insomnia did serve me well yesterday while I worked on the manuscript till after 2am this morning. Revisions are done. We'll see if the editor likes it. (Second round of revisions, second editor, all prior to a --oh please let it be!--sale. I guess I'm still an unknown quality, and considering how long it takes me to write, I can't blame them to ask for revisions first (despite how minor) before possibly offering a contract.) Anyhow HotH is now just under 50K.

This weekend I also finally got around to brushing off the Sony ereader. I haven't used it since last year! Read a couple of fun reads - Cara McKenna's Willing Victim and Lisa Marie Rice's Woman on the Run. I love LMR's heroes, so it was a given I'd enjoy that book (gave it 3 stars over on Goodreads) but the real treat was Mckenna's book. It deals with consensual rough role play during lovemaking, which might make a lot of folks uncomfortable, but it was really well done. I loved the H/h and for a really hot erotic novel, there was plenty of story/character development. The book was a keeper and I'll be on the lookout for Ms. Mckenna's books in the future.

Think I'm on a bit of an erotic romance jag. Today I plan to (re)read Jaide Black's The Empress' New Clothes. I read it eons ago when it first released, but saw a recent review that made me want to read it again. Also, got an idea for an erotic short I'd like to get started on (although, knowing me, it'll turn into a full length book)

So that's my catch up.