Sci-Fi, fantasy and speculative Indie Authors Review discussion

The book is already in the wild. Let's call it a soft launch (instead of saying I suck at launching a book and have no marketing nous).

Aussie authors appear to have no way of gifting via Amazon, but I'm happy to send a copy in the format of your choice.

If you like gritty psychological thrillers set in space, you should enjoy it. I've had great feedback but everyone agrees it's a dark and intense story, and there's a fairly even blend of genres (suspense, thriller, sci-fi, horror) hence the tag 'speculative'.

The book blurb should whet your appetite if I've done a bad job of luring you in this post :)

thanks,

G

That sounds really interesting. And you aren't alone in having no idea how to launch a book. I just kind of dropped mine out there and crossed fingers. Is there a Complete Idiots Guide for that?

David, I bet there's an idiot's guide. Once you get yourself into this position you discover hundreds of people writing books about writing books, or about publishing books. Personally I couldn't think of anything more boring than writing a dozen instructional texts on the subject. Marginally less boring is thought of reading one.

Anyway, it sounds like I'd like your book. Let me know if you want to swap reads.

I'm staggering about beneath a stack of unread books this high at the moment, but I've got to say yours does look particularly interesting Glenn - I'll get back to you. Also, you've probably seen that we run a Book Of The Month group read here and you could put it forward for that too when the next one comes around.

Thanks for the interest and the suggestion, Richard. Much appreciated.

Congratulations, I actually just bought the Kindle Edition of this, based on the Look Inside sample.

Although I've only published in eBook format, I have to admit that until now I've not seen a self-published book that didn't annoy me in the first few paragraphs of the sample text. The conversation that starts this book--incidentally, have you heard it's a no-no to start books or chapters with dialog? I hadn't either until recently and frankly I think that's a load of hogwash...but I digress--the conversation that starts this book is written extremely well.

The genre may be a bit out of my norm, but not totally foreign territory. I pretty much stay strictly in SF (as that's what I write). But I do sometimes read things like Clive Barker (Weave World), Lovecraft, and some hybrid weird stuff like China Miéville (or even Greg Bear's City at the End of Time). Not sure how close this will come to those, but I like your writing style so far.

No clue when I'll start reading it, though. I'm not usually one to read eBooks (and my paperback backlog is too large as it is!).

That's a great compliment, thanks. Apparently dialogue is my specialty. I feel as though I'm completely in my imagined world during banter. Considering that means effectively talking to myself, maybe I shouldn't be admitting it.

But no, I hadn't heard what must be rule #3923. In fact, I nearly wrote an entire book with only dialogue before changing the structure. As you suggested, a lot of the rules are rubbish. My favourite authors break them all the time.

You mentioned writers I know (except for Bear who I'll check out) so hopefully Nowhere entertains you. I think you'll find that it's less like the unbridled imaginations of Mieville and Barker, and more character-driven but I'm really confident in it.

Although I've read plenty of sci-fi, I'm less of a purest sci-fi reader and more a weird tales/horror/thriller fan. Which one of your books do you think I'd like best?

i will read and give feedback if you like.

Thanks happy. That'd be great. Would you like me to send you a file?

Not heard of Greg Bear? Tut tut, Glenn. Start with 'Eon' or 'The Forge of God' as those are the acknowledged classics. 'Forge of God' is better. And it does have one of the all-time best lines of any science fiction book, ever.

All I can do is hang my head in shame and get it into my Kindle asap. If you recommend it, I'll definitely give it a go.

Greg Bear's not for everyone's tastes. He's typically a very methodical, rational narrator. Some find him a bit dry and boring. City at the End of Time is kind of an outlier for him, a very, very far future SF story that borders on the fantastical...very dark and depressing in that literally the whole of time and space are decaying. But it's one of his wilder flights of imagination.

All that said, I'm an avid Bear fan.

Glenn wrote: "That's a great compliment, thanks. Apparently dialogue is my specialty...Although I've read plenty of sci-fi, I'm less of a purest sci-fi reader and more a weird tales/horror/thriller fan. Which one of your books do you think I'd like best?"

I feel the same way about dialog. I used to write more narration, but I've found myself more and more comfortable with writing dialog.

As to which story of mine you'd like best, I have no idea. (And there's really no obligation to reciprocate here, I bought yours because it grabbed my attention.)

You might want to just look at the samples on amazon and see which grabs you. If I were to hazard a guess, though, I'd say either my (finally price matched to FREE) short story Born Into Shadows or novella NightBird Calling. They're both in the same universe. NightBird has some of the wierder stuff in it, that is to say, more radical forms of posthumanity. "Born Into Shadows" is more of a space adventure story and concerns an event that's part of the backstory of a character in NightBird, but they are stand alone works.

I've just been reading the Nightbird sample and found myself feeling pretty comfortable in that ship. I think I enjoy the more imaginative science elements of other writers' work because I'm less likely to go there in my books. As always, we enjoy something a bit exotic. I'm looking forward to finishing it.

**thumbs up!**

What? No reviews yet? I corrected that with the following:

Glenn H. Mitchell's first novel, Nowhere was a surprising find for me: well-written, engagingly paced, suspenseful, and mind twisting. And though it does contain elements of the old first-contact SF trope, it's really more of a relationship tale. The story revolves around an untrustworthy war criminal struggling with his own guilt, depression, and paranoia—greed and self-interested scheming—originally bent upon his own destruction...and an alien woman who may finally offer him salvation, or utter ruin.

Seen from our anti-hero's perspective, Nowhere echoes much of the relationship heavy writings of Philip K. Dick: the main character's mind is unstable, flicking every few paragraphs from fear, paranoia and violent intent to self-doubting hope, forgiveness, and kindness. And as with many of PKD's works, the female lead--the alien in this case, on a mission from a dying world—is the one who commands the most strength of character. Yet she is also the one who brings with her the threat of deception and death—or is that all in our anti-hero's mind?

I found Mitchell's handling of internal narrative to be compelling and well-paced, though it was his adept and entertaining grasp of dialog that really first captured my attention. This is an author who knows language, knows conversation, and who writes with convincing clarity and boldness.

Completely enjoyable...with one small "but"...I did find the ending a bit abrupt. It was not wholly dissatisfactory, given the relationship heavy angle of the book, but it was also not quite as fulfilling as it could have been.

Still, Nowhere is an excellent first novel and a quick, compelling read. 4-stars well deserved.

Thanks Micah. Great review.

Hi Glenn. I like the sound of Nowhere! Hmmm ... that came out kinda poetic! Let me know if you would be interested in doing a review swap. My book: The Galapagos Incident, a science fiction thriller. If this is your kind of thing, check out my product page:

http://goo.gl/WlBkam

Hoping to hear from you!

Felix

Hi Felix. Thanks for the interest. I probably won't do a review swap. I'm on the last draft of a new book, reading a stupidly large James Ellroy novel, selling everything I own and trying to get drunk with everyone I know before I head overseas. Crazy times. But once I settle I'll hopefully have more time. Rather than do review swaps I'm more likely to just read it, and if I like it I'll review it. I'll put it on the list now.