Producer Paul's Ramblings

So let’s start the New Year with a review on a trio of books I read recently.

First up is Mockingbird, by Chuck Wendig. This book follows the continuing adventures of Miriam Black, the flawed heroine who has the unique ability to see how people die. She is a distant cousin to John Smith, Stephen King’s hero from The Dead Zone. Indeed, there are many nods to King in this story, but Wendig takes them, twists them, and makes them his own. John and Miriam wouldn’t get along, mainly because Miriam doesn’t really get along with anyone.

Mockingbird finds Miriam semi-settled, living in a trailer with her truck driver boyfriend Louis, and working a dead end job at a tacky beach store.  This doesn’t last, of course, and Miriam gets fired and decides to light out. But Louis talks her into speaking with a friend, a teacher at a boarding school who wants to know if she has cancer. Miriam reluctantly takes the gig, and from there is sucked into a nightmare of dead young girls and long-kept secrets that go far deeper than she ever expected.

This book is chock full of Wendig’s excellent writing, with characters you care about despite their flaws, and one tense situation after another that keeps you turning the pages (or in my case, hitting the “next” button on my Kindle). His books are not for the prudish or faint of heart, since Miriam cusses like a sailor, and Wendig’s prose style lends itself to colorful adjectives. But if you like your stories raw, your descriptions graphic, and your situations the type to make your fingernails ragged, then Mockingbird is for you.

My only complaint is Miriam’s mother, who we meet in flashback. Right now, she is really a pale imitation of the crazed religious mother from Carrie, and offers only the most superficial explanation for Miriam’s messed-up personality. However, I have faith that Chuck will give the character more depth in future outings, and this is a minor complaint in an otherwise excellent book. Rating: 8/10

Next I read Wicked as They Come, by Delilah S Dawson, a fine lady I had the pleasure of meeting at the Crossroads Conference in Macon, GA. I initially bought the book simply to support a fellow writer and a genuinely friendly person, thinking that I really wouldn’t care for the book. Do we really need another vampire romance?

Well, as it turns out, I was dead wrong in my assessment. This is an outstanding book. It tells the story, in first person, of Tish, a young woman in our world who is a hospice caretaker. Recently divorced and trying to figure out her path, she is at the estate sale if one of her recently deceased charges. In an uncharacteristic act, she steals a strange locket filled with a red liquid. Trying to open it at home, she spills the liquid on her hand. When she goes to sleep that evening, she awakes in the world of Sang, a steampunk land of men and animals who live on blood, but who aren’t undead. They simply require blood to survive. There are also “normal” people in the world, and there is currently an uneasy truce between the two species.

The first person Tish encounters is Criminy Stain, a Bludman and master of a traveling caravan of performers. He is also the one who created the locket, and he believes Tish is the one destined to be his true love.

From there we are taken on a rollicking adventure full of fights, magic, religious zealots, spurned lovers, and ravenous bludbunnies, who die like flies throughout the book. This is grand storytelling that is fun and enticing. Tish wants to go back home, but when she’s home, she yearns to return to Sang. And so do we, because Dawson draws the world so beautifully. It is like Earth, but oh so different, and Dawson has given herself plenty of room to expand her world. Her descriptions are vibrant and draw you into the landscape. We learn about the world along with Tish, and like her, we want to know more. There is romance, but it is well-handled and not overly done. And we care about the characters and want them to fall in love.  All in all, this was a well-crafted tale and a pleasant surprise. I definitely look forward to returning to Sang in future novels. Rating: 8/10

The last book is Hell Comes With Wood Paneled Doors by Christopher Gronlund. Another first person story, told by Michael, who is 13 at the time the story takes place.  He recounts the tale of the ultimate bad road trip, when he and his family head cross country to the Grand Canyon in order to dump his grandmother’s ashes into the big hole. Michael’s family is a dysfunctional mess, a fact further heightened when Michael’s father buys a new station wagon, the Inferno, which actually turns out to be possessed by Satan. Michael is the only one who realizes this, and it falls to him to save his family before the car destroys them or they destroy themselves.

This is a great concept, sort of a Vacation meets The Omen story, and at first it seems it will live up to its promise. The prose is light and humorous and Michael is an engaging narrator, a typical teenage boy stuck in a bad situation.

Unfortunately, as the story goes on, it becomes less charming. Michael’s family includes a whipped father with a penchant for tacky souvenirs and roadside attractions, an overbearing mother who smokes and cares only for her Chihuahua Lucky, and the twins Olivia and Elvis, who speak in unison and hate Michael. The characters are so unlikable that I found myself not really caring what happened to them. I think they were meant to be quirky, but only came out as annoying. There are some interesting set pieces in the story, but I couldn’t get past the characters. Only Michael’s father seems to care for him, but he’s so ineffectual it doesn’t matter. And no one is really changed by the end of the story, which makes it even less interesting. Indeed, Michael even makes a point to explain that nothing much changed, other than the family got along a little better. This should be a life altering experience, but it comes across as just an odd summer in a life of many.

There’s also a pacing problem. There’s no real buildup to the end, it’s just a series of adventures until finally the car decides to make its move. There’s also an indication that Michael will have to do something spectacular to save his family, but in the end, it’s really not that special.

Apparently this was once written as a script and then adapted to a book. I would love to see this as a movie because the right actors might be able to bring out character nuance that really seemed to be missing in the novel. I wanted to like this story, because I love supporting independent authors and I like original ideas. But this one didn’t quite make it. Rating: 4/10

So that’s it for this week. Catch you next time. Consider picking up my e-book, Godchild, if you haven’t already.

Chuck Wendig just keeps getting better and better. His latest, BLACKBIRDS, is one of the most exciting novels I have read in a great while. The story concerns a young lady named Miriam Black, who has been cursed with the ability to touch someone and see how they are going to die. So far, so DEAD ZONE, you may be thinking. But the story goes in a far different direction than the King novel. Whereas King’s Johnny Smith is a decent person who ends up using his ability to essentially save the world, Miriam has learned long ago (in a heartbreaking scene) that not only can she not change the fate of those she touches, but that her attempts to do so may in fact bring about the very destiny she’s trying to thwart (shades of David Gerrold’s “Man Out of Time” episode of the short-lived Logan’s Run TV series. Bonus geek points if you actually know what I’m talking about).

Miriam is an opportunist, sometimes staying with the people she knows are going to die and robbing them after they do. Miriam is not a nice person. She’s foul-mouthed, mean, and anti-social. And yet, you find yourself liking her anyway, because you begin to realize she is a damaged soul, whose past and “gift” have conspired to make her the nomadic, self-preserving hardass she has become.

In her travels she meets two men, one bad and one good. Ashley is a no0goodnik who has a mysterious silver case that comes with Frankie and Harriot, its own set of badass killers who are on the hunt for it. The other is Louis, a trucker that Miriam badly wants to stay with, but can’t because she has seen that she will be his death. Despite knowing she can’t change his fate, she still has to try.

All these disparate elements come crashing together in a steamroller story that demands you keep the pages turning long after you should have gone to bed (which is exactly what happened to me). You care about the fate of these three characters, and you hate the villians coming after them, even as you sympathize with the circumstances that made them criminals in the first place. Only the main bad guy, Ingersoll, is given short shift in the development department, but he’s so creepy and nasty he doesn’t need much else.

This book is not for the faint of heart or stomach. There is much coarse language and some graphic images that will remain with you long after you finish reading. But these are characters who demand your attention, and you will want to know more. And thankfully, we’re going to be getting more. The end of Blackbirds leaves room for many adventures, concluding with a teaser about Miriam’s true nature and her scheme in bigger things. I am eagerly awaiting those things, and look forward to spending more time with my new favorite badass anti-hero. Rating: 9/10

A LIFE TRANSPARENT by Tood Keisling tells the story of Donovan Candle, a man with a devoted wife and a dead-end life. Donovan once had dreams of being a writer, but real life and the pressures of earning a steady paycheck intruded and he soon lost his dream and settled for a boring but stable job and a life of average.

One day he finds himself flickering in and out of existance. Literally disappearing from the world and standing in a land of gray shadows inhabited by white, alien creatures. At first it’s for a split second, but the bouts of disappearance get longer, and his wife is no longer noticing he’s there. What’s going on?

Things go from strange to dangerous when Donovan’s wife is kidnapped (in a scene that will sadden/infuriate cat lovers) and held by a mysterious man known as Aliester Dullington. Dullinton wants Donovan to perform a task for him, to return an errant sheep to the Monochrome, a land full people whose lives have ceased to matter and who have simply disappeared from the real world.

This is an intriguing premise, and Keisling handles it well, giving us a character with which many can relate, a man who once had a dream and watched it die the death of a thousand small disappointments. He has become settled, boring, bland. And he will suffer the fate of all who have done the same before him. But he has a chance to change things, and he’s going to do his best to do so.

The book has interesting things to say about life and pursuing what you wanted instead of settling for what you became. The writing is tight and the story never flags. Despite some fairly heavy concepts, the prose never becomes pedantic, and the back and forth between Donovan and his brother Micheal is real and touching in spots.

My one complaint (and it’s a minor one) is that the ending is wrapped up just a little too neatly. I would have like perhaps a bit more ambiguity with Donovan’s decision in the consequences there of. There was a place I thought was the perfect ending about five pages before the book actually ended, which would have left enough room for doubt to make the story just that little bit more intriguing. But this is a small thing and certainly doesn’t detract a great deal from what is a really good story about life and how it should be lived, if you don’t want to find yourself relegated to obscurity.

Rating: 8/10

In the past couple of weeks I’ve read both SHOTGUN GRAVY by Chuck Wendig and GOBLINTOWN JUSTICE by Matt Forbeck, which is part of his Shotguns & Sorcery setting, so it’s been a shotgun sort of month. Here then are my reviews.

I continue to be more and more impressed with author Chuck Wendig, and SHOTGUN GRAVY is no exception. A novella, it tells the story of teenager Atlanta Burns (and what a great name that is) a reluctant hero who ends up helping a couple of misfits deal with the tormentors in their life. The two are Shane, an overweight Venuzualian (as he constantly reminds people when they call him Mexican) and Chris, and out and proud gay teenager. They are both being tortured and bullied by different people and they come to Atlanta, infamous after she settled a problem with a .410 shotgun. She is reluctant to help, but ends up doing so anyway. As she does, she discovers the cause behind the bullying goes deeper than she ever expected, and she runs afoul of people who are ready to make her life a living hell.

As with his DOUBLE DEAD, Wendig has written a story peopled with interesting, true to life characters. The story grabs you from the begin with a tease about what exactly Atlanta did to earn her reputation, and slowly draws you in. Atlanta is a complex teenager, full of anger, doubt, loathing for her mother (with good reason), and the need for friends even as she pushes them away. The other characters are equally compelling, the only exception being Chris. He is the loud, effeminate homosexual character who throws it in your face and, unfortunately, reminded me way too much of the Kurt Hummel character in GLEE. And the fact his name was Chris just made me picture Chris Colfer, who plays Kurt. Now, it’s possible Chuck has never watched GLEE and didn’t know how close he was treading to that character, but nonetheless, I found Chris, even though I liked him a great deal, the least rounded of the bunch.

But that’s a minor quibble. The story is outstanding, fast paced, exciting, and makes me excited for the return of Atlanta in BAIT DOG. Rating: 9/10

Matt Forbeck’s GOBLINTOWN JUSTICE is a short story set in the world of Shotguns & Sorcery, and Matt plans to write more in the series as part of his 12 for 12 Kickstarter campaign. This story introduces us to the world of Dragon City and the character of Max Gibson, a ne’er do well who leaves a tavern to find his friend, an Orc named Sig, standing over the body of a guard. Sig gets arrested and it’s up to Max to try and find the real killer and clear Sig’s name. What we mainly learn in this story is that Dragon City is a land of prejudice and racism (Humans and Goblinoids don’t like each other, and Elves don’t like anybody) and that it is, for the most part, every humonoid to himself. I like the setting and can’t wait to read more about it. The story is a servicable introduction to the land,  is engaing, and Max is an interesting character. I found the ending a bit less than satisfying, but it is actually in keeping with the tone of the setting, so it works.  All in all, a fine way to kill a half-hour (if you’re a slow reader) Rating: 8/10

So there you have it for now. Until next time. And please consider picking up a copy of my book, GODCHILD.

Every now and then you read a book that blows your socks off. Not because of any profound themes or life-changing words of wisdom, but simply because of its sheer badassery. DOUBLE DEAD is just such a book. From the first page, where vampire Coburn wakes up from a coma to find the world has gone to the zombies, to the last page, where (sorry, you’ll have to read it to find out), this novel never lets up. Coburn is not your friendly, sparkle-infused vampire that’s all the rage. Let’s put it this way. Colin Farrell tried to play a badass vampire as Jerry Dandridge in the remake of Fright Night. Coburn would rip Jerry’s neck off and shit down his neck, laughing the whole time he did it. Coburn is one seriously mean dude.

But the meanness breeds arrogance and overconfidence, which leads Coburn into a bit of trouble. He almost loses his (un)life to a pack of zombies. He escapes, but not before one of them bites him. His blood does something to the creature and she becomes, well, something new. Something aware. Which makes her really dangerous.

Then Coburn stumbles onto a group of survivors. After a tense standoff, he decides to make them his “cattle.” After all, with the majority of the population zombies, a vampire has to have something to chow on. So he agrees to take them west if they agree to feed him. From there, it becomes a bizarre road trip through hell in back. Half the fun of the book is reading author Chuck Wendig’s mapcap set pieces, full of blood, guts, cannibalism, gunfire, and explosions. And that’s just in the first act. From there, things get increasingly surreal and insane.

Wendig has populated his world with great characters. These aren’t your typical survivors you see in every zombie story. In many ways, it’s a miracle these people survived as long as they did before Coburn came along. But you believe they could survive, despite their differences and inabilities. They’re human, not zombie killing machine, and all of them are instantly relateable, and a few of them almost instantly unlikable. If you’ve ever read any of the author’s blog posts at Terrible Minds, you know that his prose is funny, profane, and engaging. The same can be said for this book, which is not for the prudish or faint of heart. It occasionally drifts into author intrusion sometimes, and you find yourself going, “what a clever turn of phrase Chuck has used there” so the writing is perhaps not as transparent as it could be. But you know what, when it’s this entertaining, who gives a damn?

If you like zombies, vampires, visceral horror, dark comedy, or all of the above, you need to pick up this book and give it a read. You’ll find yourself engrossed in one of the most original, enjoyable post-apocalyptic urban horror stories to come down the trail in a long time. I can’t wait to see the movie. Hell, I want to be the one to make the movie. RATING: 9.5/10

VEGAS KNIGHTS is the story of Jackson and Bill, two college age guys who also happen to be magicians. So, like any smart kids with mystical powers, they decide to head to Vegas and use the Art to cheat at Blackjack and win lots of money. This all goes really well…for one night. Then things begin to go horribly wrong. The boys learn that they aren’t the only magicians in Vegas. In fact, the town is practically overrun with them. All actual stage magicians are real magicians, and their leader is…well, that would be spoiling the trick.

But this magician isn’t happy with the status quo. He has in mind to break down the barrier between the living and the dead. He’s enlisted the help of Jackson’s father, and would dearly love to have Jackson, one of the most powerful magicians he’s seen, on his side. Jackson doesn’t want to cooperate, and things get ugly.

There’s much more to this engaging tale, but I can’t say too much else without giving things away, so hopefully what I’ve written above is enough to intrigue you. Because VEGAS KNIGHTS is an intriguing tale. It’s a wonderful idea well told by writer Matt Forbeck, full of cool characters, both living and dead, and an action packed plot that makes great use of the Sin City setting.

The character of Jackson is well-drawn. The story is told in first person from his POV, and he is an engaging character that you like. He’s not perfect, and has been badly wounded by a family betrayal, which gives him nice motivation and makes his actions at the end both believable and touching. The action is tight and the book is well-paced.

Now Matt is a Twitter acquaintance and a really nice guy, so that makes criticism tough, but I hope he’ll take it in the spirit in which it’s intended. The problems I had with the book were minor, but they did detract from the enjoyment.

First was the character of Bill. He’s one of those guys that you know is going to be annoying, and he was. He’s a smart ass, which is fine, but he was a smart ass in situations where he should have known better. The boys get into some really dangerous (as in potentially fatal) situations, and Bill makes with the pithy remarks. This can work in a movie, but in a book it makes me wonder why the bad guys just didn’t shoot him (or at least punch him in the mouth). This cavalier attitude occasionally rubbed off on Jackson, but was nowhere near as annoying or prevalent.

This was my biggest issue. The other two are more personal and may not bother you as much. The first was the main bad guy. He’s a figure and one of the book’s best ideas. I wanted to know more about him, about his past, what happened when he left where history left him (that will make sense if you read the book) and how he came into the position of power he did. Perhaps Matt will write a prequel that gives us some of that.

The other thing was the ending. I give Matt credit for going with an unconventional ending (and one that leaves things open for a second book) but it left me feeling a bit let down. If anything called for the ending you expect, it was this story.

But make no mistake, this is a good book that will keep you engaged and is well worth your time. I really would love to see it made into a movie, because it would be a good one. Pick it up and give it a read. Score: 7/10

Be sure to pick up a copy of my novel, GODCHILD. Available on Kindle. Thanks

Just finished reading Confessions of A Freelance Penmonkey, by prolific author Chuck Wendig (@chuckwendig). A book of writing advice, it is easily one of the best I have read on the subject in a long time. A compilation his blog posts available at Terrible Minds, the book covers manyfacet of writing, from getting started to writing query letters, and even the pros and cons of why you want to be a writer.

The book is written in an informal style in a completely NSFW way. This isn’t a book you want to read out loud in the office, but you will be laughing out loud several times. Chuck presents all this valuable information with tons of profanity, madcap observations, and a strange penchant for telling us he’s not wearing pants. I’m also a little concerned about his masturbatory habits and his apparent drinking problem. Seriously Chuck, lay off the booze-soaked wanking marathons and you’ll get a lot more done.

Seriously though, this book is a must have for anyone writing or thinking about writing. Especially if you’re thinking about writing and haven’t taken the plunge. Chuck lays it bare, both the good and the bad. He strips away the whole “mystical writer” myth and explains that writing is, in fact, hard work and downright discouraging at times (a fact I can easily corroborate). If you can read this whole book and still want to be a writer, then you probably have what it takes to be one.

Much of the advice in here is not relevatory. It’s things you’ve heard before. But it’s always good to be reminded of the basics and refreshed on things you may have forgotten. And Chuck does it in such a way that it all seems fresh again. I mean really, how many books, let alone writing books, are you ever going to read where you see a phrase like “rage fuck a pumpkin?”

My only complaint with the book (and it’s a minor one) is that some of the advice is repeated in several different columns. This is the danger of pulling the posts from the blog I guess, but I only need to be reminded so many times that the manuscript needs to be as error free as possible. Of course, I had that one stapled to my head by a third grade teacher, so maybe that’s my own cross to bear.

Anyway, get this book, read it, absorb its knowledge, make sure you recycle the bourbon bottles you drain while learning from Chuck, and then get to writing. Or not. Chuck may have scared you off. If he did, great. The last thing we need is more wanna be writers who don’t have the guts to actually do it.

Rating: 8/10

PS. Please pick up a copy of my book, GODCHILD, avaialable on Kindle.

As I sat there the other day eating my Chick-Fil-A sandwich and fries, I got to thinking about some gaming friends of mine who have boycotted the company because of its anti-gay stance. They asked me why I didn’t do the same. I made a cute quip about how I would sacrifice gay marriage for a Chick-Fil-A banana pudding shake. But then I saw something the other day about the amount of money the restaurant donates to anti-gay organizations, so I did a bit more soul searching and think I’ve come up with a reason why I still eat there, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

First off, they do have damn good food. They’re probably my favorite fast food restaurant. Their secret process (which, if you didn’t know, is simply that they soak the chicken breasts in pickle juice overnight) makes for a fine-tasting sandwich. So there’s the tyranny of the stomach to consider.

But that in and of itself really isn’t a good reason. The main reason is that, and I doubt they realize this, but they are wasting their money.

That’s right. All the money they are donating to these organizations fighting against gay rights is a waste. They would be as well served to use it as toilet paper or kindling. Progress can’t be stopped, it can only be slowed down for a while. These anti-gay groups are fighting a losing battle, they’re just too stupid to see it. Gay marriage is legal in 9 states now (including a couple I would have never expected) and that number will continue to grow. I feel reasonably confident we will a federally mandated gay marriage law on the books in my lifetime.

I believe this because I believe people are inherently good and reasonable. Once you push the religious nonsense aside, there is no real sound basis for denying gay marriage or equal gay rights. People are starting to realized that, and as the old guard dies away and young people grow up and see that the world didn’t screech to an abrupt halt when their uncle married another guy, the whole idea that gay people can’t marry, or visit each other in the hospital, or claim joint tax returns, will just be silly.

Now bigotry will never die. It and ignorance are two things that hang on to their misguided lives with all their worth. You can’t totally stomp out stupid anymore than you can kill every cockroach. But you can certainly marginalize it, and make it ineffective, and put such narrow-minded people in the minority. It happened with civil rights, it happened with sufferage, and it will have with gay rights.

So Chick-Fil-A is just pissing away millions of dollars. I know they work with charities too, so it seems that money would be better served going to causes that help people, not try to oppress them. After all, I thought helping others was a cornerstone of the Christian way. Eventually they may realize that they’re throwing their money away. Until then, I’ll continue to eat their tasty sandwiches and laugh how asinine they’re being.

And the chocolate peppermint shakes are back, so it’s time to go guzzle down one of those puppies.

I didn’t realize when I started to read CURSED that I was going to be reading a fairy tale, albeit a fractured fairy. But there it was. There are good guys, bad guys, curses (obviously) and a lot of magic that goes unexplained and you have to take on faith.

That lack of explanation threw me off initially. You are immediately thrown into the middle of the story of Nicholas and Cicely, two people who have been cursed by some unknown force. Nicholas is doomed to be slapped by someone every day. Cicely has a tennis ball and she’s convinced that if she drops it, the world will end. This information is doled out over several chapters as we slowly learn the nature of the curses and meet some of the other people in Nicholas’s life and how they are affected by both his current situation and past behavior.

Another thing that initially bothered me was Nick’s habit of lists. He might

1. Tell you what he was thinking.

2. Tell you what he wanted to do.

3. Tell you what he thought the outcome of that action might be.

At first it seemed like a gimmick, some cute way of being different, but as I read further, I realized it was Nick’s way of trying to make sense of the chaos his life has become. Nick (I’ve been through enough with him that I feel I can call him that) was a wreck before the curse showed up, and things have only gotten worse.

Eventually Nick and Cicely decide to see if they can find others who are cursed, and that’s when the book really picks up. Their hunt eventually leads them to the source of the curse and he/she/it is not happy about being discovered. Or is he/she/it?

That’s the thing about this book. It constantly keeps you guessing. Anything can happen. Not in the uber-powered wizard way, but in the fairy tale magical realism way, where you just accept things as they’re told. And you find yourself soon invested in the lives of these characters, hoping for a good outcome for them. Even the ones that turn out not to be what you expect.

My favorite character turned out to be Cicely. She’s one of those free-wheeling eccentric types (she calls water “snowman sweat”, among other things) who in the hands of a lesser writer could become annoying. But in Jeremy Shipp’s capable abilities, she comes off charming, defiant, and the glue that holds Nicholas, and much of the story, together.

I have a few nitpicks. I wish that had been more sensory details. Much of the characters’ surroundings are left for us to fill in, but Nick’s spare writing style (the story is told in first person) doesn’t really allow for such things. It works in the context of the style, so it’s more about my personal taste that any flaw in the writing. I also wish there had been a tad more explanation about a few things. I’m certainly not the type who needs to be spoon fed everything, but I do like some things told to me. A better sense of exactly how the “magic” (and I use that word loosely) came about would have been nice.

But these things do not detract at all from the story. I certainly look forward to more of Mr. Shipp’s odd, outrageous take on the world. For now, I suggest you

1. Buy CURSED

2. Read it

3. Come back and let me know what you think about it.

Rating: 7/10

An interesting thing happened the other day. I got a comment on my review of Fat Kid’s Wolfy Revenge. I was surprised by this for three reasons. 1) No one ever comments on my blog. 2) If there is a comment, it’s spam. 3) This comment was actually from the author of the book I reviewed.

You can read the comment below if you want, but the general gist was “thanks for reading the book, sorry you didn’t like it, I will take your comments to mind for my future endeavors.”

Now, considering the harshness of my review (and re-reading it, I see it was harsh) there could have been any number of reactions. The easiest and most obvious would be “fuck you, you don’t know what you’re talking about.” Instead the author took the high road. It was quite refreshing and unexpected and I feel this is the way we need to go as writers and filmmakers to really engage our audience, by interacting with them in a positive way and considering their thoughts as valid and possibly a way to improve ourselves as artists.

This can be difficult at times. I know when I read bad reviews of COLD STORAGE on Netflix (and believe me, there are several) my first reaction is “fuck you, you don’t know what you’re talking about.” But then when I look at it from an objective viewpoint, I can often see the validity of the person’s opinion. (The exception is the obvious trolling comments, such as “this is the worst movie ever made the whole thing sucked.” COLD STORAGE isn’t Shakespeare, but the worst movie ever? Not by a long shot.)

But if we can take the true criticisms to heart, dissect them, and see if this is indeed a flaw in our work, we can do our best to mitigate it in future endeavors. Now I’m not saying we should take every comment, see it as a weakness, and try and change it. It’s a long-known fact that you can’t please everybody, but if we can take the essence of comments and distill something useful out of them, then that’s the way to go.  And like this author, we should take time to thank our readers. Now we don’t have to email every person who makes a comment or posts a review. That would be way too time consuming. But a general thank you occasionally in a blog is nice. And if a review or comment hits you in a particular way, good or bad, reach out to that person and talk to them (assuming they haven’t hidden behind the anonymity of the internet).

Engage and interact. You might gain a new friend. At the least, you might keep a reader. I don’t know if I would have read anymore of Krisitan Hanson’s future novels before the other day, but because he reached out to me, was friendly and respectful (probably more than I had a right to expect) and assured me he was improving as a writer, I will take a chance on more of his work. And perhaps my review of his next book will be better, gaining him some readers. That’s the whole beauty of the social network.