Know some good self-published authors? I want to know too!

Amanda Hocking

Okay, I don’t live under a rock (most of the time). I know there are some good self-published authors out there. I just don’t know who they are yet. After reading this lovely NPR article about Amanda Hocking, a self-made and originally self-published bestselling author, I’m feeling inspired. I want to read a good self-published YA novel. That’s where I need your help. I’ve lived so long in the world of publisher-presented works, I’m not even sure where to go to find the good stuff. Sure I could browse the Internet, hoping I’ll stumble across something spectacular, but it is so hard to tell the good from the bad with just a blurb. I’d much rather get recommendations from people I trust not the lead me astray–that’s you guys. So please help me out! Let me know in the comments where I can find the good stuff or what self-published authors you all really enjoy.

Here a blurb from the article, just in case you are in need of some inspiration today:

Hocking went home and wrote her first paranormal romance — in 15 days.

She wrote and rewrote, edited and re-edited, but still no one was interested in publishing her work. On a whim, she decided to self-publish a few of her books online for anyone to download. She waited.

Some of her books began selling. She’d sell one or two books a day, and that went on for a while. Then, in June, it exploded. Bloggers began asking for interviews. Reviews began to appear on Amazon.com.

“I think I sold, like, 6,000 books that month or something,” she says. “It was a pretty dramatic jump.”

…

“It’s still totally unreal when I think about it,” she says. “It feels so weird to be able to just kind of buy things when I want them or need them.” Like a life-size replica of Han Solo encased in carbonite. It cost $7,000 and sits in her “movie room” — otherwise known as the basement.

Finally, last fall, Hocking joined an elite literary club that includes only 11 other authors, including James Patterson, Stieg Larsson and Nora Roberts: She sold her 1 millionth book for the Amazon Kindle.

And she has made $2 million doing it.

Thanks everybody, and I look forward to your recommendations.

(P.S. Check out Amanda Hocking’s blog. It’s neat!)

The Gathering Storm, by Robin Bridges

The Book:

The Gathering Storm
By Robin Bridges
Random House
Due out January 10, 2012

St. Petersburg, Russia, 1888. As she attends a whirl of glittering balls, royal debutante Katerina Alexandrovna, Duchess of Oldenburg, tries to hide a dark secret: she can raise the dead. No one knows. Not her family. Not the girls at her finishing school. Not the tsar or anyone in her aristocratic circle. Katerina considers her talent a curse, not a gift. But when she uses her special skill to protect a member of the Imperial Family, she finds herself caught in a web of intrigue. An evil presence is growing within Europe’s royal bloodlines—and those aligned with the darkness threaten to topple the tsar. Suddenly Katerina’s strength as a necromancer attracts attention from unwelcome sources . . . including two young men—George Alexandrovich, the tsar’s standoffish middle son, who needs Katerina’s help to safeguard Russia…and the dashing Prince Danilo, heir to the throne of Montenegro, to whom Katerina feels inexplicably drawn.

The Review

Back in September, Publisher’s Weekly put out this article which predicted the future fad of young adult literature was historical fiction. Judging by the up rise in novels by big name authors set in past times–Bright Young Things, Anna Godbersen (2010), Clockwork Angel, Cassandra Clare (2010), Name of the Star, Maureen Johnson (2011)–this assessment is proving to be true. Joining the fray is Robin Bridges’ debut novel, The Gathering Storm, which is set in Russia at the turn of the 19th century.

Although this novel features a cast of characters well known to the paranormal romance crowd (vampires, werewolves, undead, oh my!), the real shining star of the story is its exotic historical landscape. Bridges spends much effort conjuring up images of what life was like for the aristocracy of a Russia caught between the advancements of the industrial revolution and the lingering grip of superstition. Through the eyes of the main protagonist, a modern-minded young Duchess named Katerina, readers are whisked through glamorous winter balls, social calls to empresses and tsars, and the complicated maneuverings of a mother intent on having her daughter marry well (à la Jane Austen). And sleighs rides. There are a lot of sleigh rides.

Bridges has obviously done a lot of research in order to make the book historically accurate. I confess I’m no expert, but I do recall from my brief attempt at reading War and Peace (it is on my ereader and I will get to it…eventually) that the Russian aristocracy spoke mainly in French and that whispering of revolution was severely frowned upon–all of which is remarked upon by Bridges. She also spends an ample amount of time name-dropping, which is acceptable in small portions, but feels a bit overdone here.

Unfortunately, as much as I enjoyed the historical setting, I found the rest of the book lacking. The plot was okay. Nothing extraordinary or unexpected. The action was glazed over (stating merely that they fought furiously, rather than describing the punches). The pacing at times dragged. And the romance was…well, not very romantic. Katerina and her main love-interest George Alexandrovich had surprisingly few scenes together, and those that they shared were filled more with exposition advancing the plot than building any sort of affection between the two. Perhaps Bridges was trying to channel a Darcy-type character–after all, George was often described as brooding, and Katerina was convinced he detested her–but George was too standoffish for my taste. If not for some traditional hint-dropping by Bridges I would have been just as disbelieving as Katerina when George confessed his feelings. On the bright side, this is the first in a series, so Bridges has ample room for deepening Katerina and George’s relationship.

Finally, one last note on the cover art. The publishers were given an incredible opportunity to come up with an evocative cover; something that captured the romance and glamor of olden time Russia. They settled instead on a generic cover of a girl in a traditional ushanka hat. Disappointed.

The Rating

Readability:         
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Overall Rating:

The Recommendation

Read it if you like a mix of paranormal and historical fiction. Those who enjoyed the settings of Clare’s Clockwork Angel and Johnson’s Name of the Star will eat up this book.

The Gathering Storm Book Trailer

In anticipation of my book review of Robin Bridges’  The Gathering Storm (Jan. 10) which will, hopefully, be up tomorrow, I am posting the official book trailer put out by Random House. Enjoy!

 

Clockwork Prince

For me, the greatest test of a book comes not in the first few lines, but rather somewhere around page 300. At this point, both the book and I have reached a post-midway slump. The book, supposing it’s following a traditional arc, is stuck in the calm between two storms: the excitement of being introduced to the world, its characters, and its problems is over; but the final build to the conclusion has yet to begin. For my part, I’m usually cranky. It’s late, no doubt verging on 2 am, and I’ve got work early in the morning–and I still have so far to go. I know it’s a bit ridiculous, but not being able to finish the book in one sitting is upsetting. If my eyes weren’t exhausting and my brain demanding sleep, I’d take the extra 2-ish hours to finish the whole thing. But it can’t be helped. I’ve got to make a decision: either a) scan the rest of the book for major plot points before skipping to the end, or b) save it until tomorrow night.

Well, I’m an incredibly impatient person when it comes to books. I absolutely detest not knowing the ending before I shut the lights off for the night–which means, nine times out of ten, I’ll choose option a. After all, I reason with myself, there are hundreds of books in my queue I’m dying to read. What’s the harm in settling for the abridged version?

I know a book is good, however, when I instead go for option b. Luckily for me, Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare was that good.

The second in Clare’s Infernal Devices series, Clockwork Prince continues the tale of the intelligent and feisty Tessa Gray. Here’s part of the jacket description:

In the magical underworld of Victorian London, Tessa Gray has at last found safety with the Shadowhunters. But that safety proves fleeting when rogue forces in the Clave plot to see her protector, Charlotte, replaced as head of the Institute. If Charlotte loses her position, Tessa will be out on the street—and easy prey for the mysterious Magister, who wants to use Tessa’s powers for his own dark ends.

In order to protect Charlotte’s place at the Institute, Tessa Gray and her two friends/love interests, Will and Jem, set out on a quest to discover where the Magister is hiding. Their journey takes them through the dark secrets of the Magister’s past and also uncovers an unsavory secret one of the Clave is desperate to keep hidden.

The Review

I have read all of Cassandra Clare’s previous books, including those in her Mortal Instruments series, and I have to admit that this is far and away my favorite. I was not too impressed with the first installment, Clockwork Angel–it was one of the books whose ending I skimmed. The premise, while interesting, was not fully fleshed out. The characters were well-drawn, but slightly two-dimensional in terms of emotional motivations. Even the prose itself was a bit jilted, the historical scenery obviously heavily-researched, but feeling superficially thrown in for the sake of “touring” Victorian London.

With Clockwork Prince, Clare has moved past all that. While we are certainly touring Victorian London and its surrounding environs, including a trip to York to see its great cathedral, it doesn’t feel as forced. In fact, the description of the turrets “piercing the sky like Saint Sebastian stuck through with arrows” is very fitting, and fleeting enough that it doesn’t interrupt the story’s flow. It also gives the pace more breathing room, so the scenes truly in need of lengthy descriptions (Starkweather’s hall of horrors, for instance) don’t feel bogged down.

From a plot standpoint, the story was pretty transparent. No major revelations. No unexpected twists. The bad guys remained bad. The good guys good. And the betrayals, such as they were, were extremely obvious on both sides.

But the plot was never meant to be the shining star of the novel. Relationships were. The romantic triangle was, naturally, delightful to read. Tessa’s emotions were realistic and complex, as was her attraction to both Will and Jem. The scenes build the romantic tension at a subtle, but not dragging pace. When the emotions at last boil over, it is believable and heartbreaking.

Other things I liked: the exploration of non-romantic relationships, such as those between parabatai; the comprehensive tour through Victorian literature; the discussion of sickness and immortality; and, of course, the ever-fabulous Magnus Bane.

[Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare
Published December 6, 2011
Margaret K. McElderry Books]

The Rating

Readability:         
Originality:           
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Overall Rating:

The Recommendation

READ IT! It is an excellent addition to Cassandra Clare growing repertoire of young adult literature.

(Phew! I made it through my first review! Please let me know what you think by leaving a comment, liking the post, or sharing it on facebook or twitter.)

YA Covers Get All Dressed Up

Have you noticed lately that a visit to your local bookstore’s young adult section is like a trip to a high-end New York fashion show? Everywhere you look, hauntingly lovely girls grace the bookshelf catwalk, modeling intricate and, often, extremely voluminous gowns.

Just take a look at these extravagant covers:

This fancy-dress trend has exploded in the past year (all these books were published in 2011, except for The Luxe and Matched, which came out in the tail end of 2010), a symptom of the revival the gothic–aka paranormal–romance novel is currently undergoing. There’s no doubt that the covers are evocative. The atmosphere is dark. The subjects’ expressions, if seen at all, are forlorn and longing. Combined with single-word titles like Passion, Wither, and Entwined, the images are clearly meant to elicit tingling emotional responses from their teenage consumers, rather than hint at any sort of plot point.

And it works, usually. I know I’ve picked up these books in part to admire the pretty dresses and bask in their deliciously dark aura. With the best ones, I can practically feel the intrigue and romance seeping through the covers.

However, even the most gorgeous dress, if staged improperly, can go horribly awry. The new YA novel by Tahereh Mafi, Shatter Me, is one such example. An otherwise fantastic debut novel that plays with classic gothic and dystopian motifs, the cover art is sadly disappointing.The straightforward view had the potential to be fresh and different from the slew of other dress covers. The fact that the female subject’s entire face is showing is a huge improvement, in my opinion, on the trend of using partially hidden features. Her expression is obviously meant to be strong and determined, but  just comes off as a generic runway face. The backdrop doesn’t help matters either, since it, in fact, looks like a catwalk, complete with a door through which the model can disappear once she’s stomped the length of the runway. Even the strike-out in the title and tagline comes off cheesy, although I’m more willing to forgive this, since the style is employed throughout the text as well.

All in all, I quite like the fancy-dress cover trend. Done right, the covers are beautiful and exciting, conjuring up visions of magic and mystery. Done wrong, the gorgeous dress becomes nothing more than a flat stage piece, easy to pass over in favor of the multitude of others vying for attention.

(P.S. Want a full review of Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi? Check out this one by fellow blogger endlessqueue.)

 It’s a superhero story with a female protagonist. I feel like it may be harder to find your own voice in the YA genre lately, as so many novels seem to be playing off of all the other ones in the genre. What Tahereh Mafi does is all natural, it’s her voice developing a unique idea and standing out from all the rest.