Book review - Leashed, by Zoe Dawson

This book was quite well written and the core story is a pleasant little love story. I'm sorry I didn't enjoy it more. There were two reasons.

First, I thought it a great pity Ms Dawson didn't research more into the dog breeding world. I do realise that people outside the dog world don't know how much they don't know, but it is a writer's job to find these things out, and here this writer dropped the ball rather badly. However, the lack won't be apparent to readers who are also outside the dog world.

The other thing I didn't like was the large amounts of pornography. I do realise that porn is a regular occurrence in romance books nowadays, but the blurb, cover and the book's whole presentation had led me to expect something a great deal more clean and wholesome than what was there. I found the combination of porn and a dog story rather sick - like combining porn with small children, just something that, I feel, ought not to be done.

As I say, the writing itself was smooth and well executed, but a little more work and thought put into the preliminaries could have turned an okay book into an excellent one.

TOP CAT'S NEW YEAR'S HONOURS LIST 2015

This is my personal Honours List for 2015; the best of the independently published books I read in that year. Congratulations to all of the authors.

This is not books published in 2015. It's books I read in 2015. Some of them had been around before that. I'll be presenting them in alphabetical order of the author's name, within genre.


HUMOUR
Leonardo Acebo - Doreen 3
Suresh Chandrasekaran - A Dog Eat Dogfood World

Joseph Picard - The One Grapes

GENERAL FICTION
Jason Cornelius - The Lot Attendant
Patricia Halloff - At Journey's End
William Hazelgrove - Real Santa
Barry Peabody - Genevieve
Suzanne McLain Rosenwasser - Don't Ya Know
Biju Vasudevan - The Contract 

HISTORICAL FICTION
L J Trafford - Palatine
Rowena Williamson - Escape to the Highlands

POETRY
Barbara Alfaro - First Kiss
Barry Peabody - Rhyming Words Are For Everyone?


SCIENCE FICTION
Andrew Barber - Cybermancer I - The Cybermancer Presents

Andrew Barber - Cybermancer II - Ghosts in the Machine
Zig Davidson - Unglued


FANTASY
Lynne Cantwell - Firebird's Snare
Lynne Cantwell - Dragon's Web
Lynne Cantwell - Scorched Earth
Nancy Moors - The Black Swans
Andy Peloquin - Blade of the Destroyer
John Phythyon - Little Red Riding Hoodie
Jen Redmile - Children of When

STEAMPUNK
Ray Anselmo - An Unwanted Arrangement

ROMANCE
Ray Anselmo - Labours of Love
Mich Feeney - Right Click, Love
Carla Sarrett - Crazy Lovebirds

CHILDREN'S LITERATURE
Susan Day - Astro's Indian Odyssey
Susan Day - Clarence, the Snake From Dunolly
Susan Day - The Haunted Circus
Teddy O'Malley - Destiny and Faith Get Stuck In The Country

CHRISTIAN FICTION
Ray Anselmo - The Circuit Rider's Bride
Sharon Srock - Callie
Sharon Srock - For Mercie's Sake


CRIME FICTION
Zig Davidson - Unglued
Jana DeLeon - Louisiana Longshot
Roddy Murray - George Milne, Cat Detective


ACTIVIST FICTION
Kirtida Gautam - #IAm16ICanRape

NON-FICTION
Susan Day - Astro is Down in the Dumps
Susan Day - Understanding Your Dog Charity Grant - Kitchen Decluttering
Ryan Kinder - 1,000 Awesome Writing Prompts
Terri Main - How Do I...Create A Meme Using Free Online Software
Terri Main - Ridiculously Simple Self-Publishing: Ebook Formatting 101
Terri Main - Ridiculously Simple Self-Publishing: Do-It-Yourself E-Book Cover Design
Terri Main - The No-Excuse Zone


SHORT STORIES (SINGLES)
Terri Main - Parmenter's Wager
Tony Spencer - Know-Nothing Nigel
Tony Spencer - Shrinking Violet
Tony Spencer - The One Danielle Ste Just - Bean Mother
Timothy Tocher - Little Bad Wolf and Red Riding Hood

SHORT STORIES (COLLECTIONS)
Ray Anselmo - Adventures in Time and Place
Ray Anselmo - Labours of Love
Carla Sarrett - Crazy Lovebirds
Carla Sarrett - Strange Courtships
Carla Sarrett - Spooky & Kooky Tales

Book review - Kamayakshipuram, by Biju Vasudevan

If Kafka had written erotica it might have been a bit like this. The dreamlike quality of the narrative, the sense of powerlessness as the young man is drawn ever deeper into a nightmarish world of Tantric Gods and sinister devotees, reminded me quite strongly of The Castle.

I don't know very much about Tantric Buddhism, so could be wrong here, but it seemed to me that the overall structure of the book, with its blend of eroticism and spirituality, reflected the theme of that faith rather nicely.

The beautiful ending gives a hint of the author's philosophy of the unity of religion, which we first saw in The Molecular Slaves.

The two characters, Prakash and Padma, were eminently likable and engaging, and the dialogue between them was for me one of the high points of the book. The erotic content was not overdone, and this prudish reviewer was not disgusted by it, which indicates, to me at least, that it was handled with style, craft and restraint.

This writer's style is charmingly idiosyncratic, with that hint of foreignness that is often conveyed by slightly unusual word use. That said, there were places where I felt the English needed a bit of polishing, as might be expected when one writes in a second language.

All around a great read.

Kamayakshipuram is available from AMAZON in both kindle and paperback editions.

Book review - The Dragons' Chosen, by Gwen Dandridge

Seldom, if ever, have I seen such effective use made of point of view in a work of mediaeval fantasy as it is in The Dragons' Chosen. The keen observation and detailed thought that have been given to it make the book a delight to read. Gems such as this - "She must be accustomed to hard work, for I could see muscles in her arms and legs, but she had all her teeth. An enigma." - drive home the reality of the characters to striking effect.

The writing is down to earth, but never coarse, and the coming of age theme is beautifully developed, with the personal growth of the heroine a necessary factor in the book's resolution. Dandridge's sharp observation and keen wit, combined with the sheer likability of her characters, place this book, for me, in the same class as Mary Brown's wonderful Dragonne's Eg series. It exemplifies the way in which plot development in a good novel hinges on the personal characteristics of the players.

But above all, the one thing that makes this book really special is the way the author works point of view, wielding it like an expert swordsman with a rapier. For this alone, Dandridge will join the small group of authors I recommend to clients for their particular skills.

Good use is made of visual imagery, without overdoing the descriptions, and there is every indication that this is the work of a seasoned and capable writer.

A thoroughly enjoyable read, which held me captive from the first page to the last. 

The Dragons' Chosen is available from AMAZON in both kindle and paperback editions.

Book review - The Author Organizer, by Ella Medler

Brief, concise and very much to the point, this useful little book shows the emerging (or even the established) writer how to set up a filing system that will support a rational and organised approach to book production and marketing.

Although the title suggested to me more of a methodology, the book deals almost exclusively with infrastructure - with setting up and maintaining a file system that will both protect against data loss and facilitate efficient use of an author's resources.

As a veteran of the I.T. industry, this is both a subject close to my heart and one with which I have often worked. A good physical organisation of data supports a far more effective work effort. I have never known this not to be the case.

Although presented to the beginning writer, Medler does not 'talk down' to her readers, and this file system could be used by an author at any stage of his career. It offers a way out of chaos for those whose body of work has grown organically over a number of years, and although due to my own technical background I consider myself fairly well organised in terms of my data structures, I plan to adopt several of the features of Medler's system myself. Just the 'personal' folder on its own will, I believe, save me many hours of tedium.

This series of books is free, I believe, to members of Ella Medler's website, and I certainly plan to be investigating other books in the series to find more hidden gems. I recommend this book whole-heartedly to anyone who has ever spent frustrating minutes (or hours) looking for something in his computer. 

The Author Organizer and the other books in this series can be downloaded free by registered members of Paper Gold Publishing.

Book review - Ghosts In The Machine, by Andrew Barber

Following on from the first book in the series, The Cybermancer Presents, this book continues to rocket its roller-coaster ride of entertainment through the world of virtual gaming, this time, complete with a tongue-in-cheek zombie apocalypse.

The premise is original, the characters well-developed and original, the action both hilarious and yet oddly believable - in short, there really isn't anything not to like in this great book. It's full of triggers to things we love - The Sims, Monty Python, Star Trek - but never comes even remotely close to anything that could be dismissed as fan fiction. A thoroughly entertaining read from a very talented author.

Ghosts in the Machine is available from AMAZON.

Book review - How Do I... Create A Meme Using Free Online Software

A member of the 'How Do I' series, this book takes the reader, with absolutely no fuss, bragging or puffery, through the step-by-step process of creating a meme. No longer need we be dependent upon Cheezburger! Main shows you how to do it all, and free.

For anyone using memes in promotional work, I think it's well worth paying 99 cents to learn how to do it without Cheezburger - if only to have that professional look that's conveyed by not having a comic site's branding across the bottom of it.

As always, Main's instructions, without being at all patronising, are simple enough for the most technophobic person to follow. What I love most about all of her non-fiction guides and 'how-to' books, though, is the complete absence of all the puffery one typically finds in works of this kind. There is no having to wade through 60 pages of 'I'm so cool, I make squillions of dollars every five minutes, blah blah blah.' Just the content, beautifully organised and illustrated, and every word useful.

How Do I... Create A Meme Using Free Online Software is available from AMAZON.