#YA

‘I Will Kill You in My Dream’ by Kristina Gallo – Review

Lee Hall Leave a comment

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Be careful with dreams, they may come true….

Everyone who has been through the struggle of fitting in at school can relate to this short story about teens in Croatia during a time of transition for the country. Teachers from the previous political regime don’t help, parents cannot relate and the popular kids don’t help. If you’re not one of them it’s difficult. Even if you attempt to get in on the social scene it involves going to a seedy club where ‘whoever survives could make a story’ which works as a metaphor for the wider environment this story is set.

‘Helena’ like a lot of teens has potential but is otherwise engaged, for this she is berated by the school while also made to feel invisible. She’s not a bad student but perhaps she attracts bad things and then the dreams begin…

‘I will Kill You in My Dream is an engaging and satisfying short story with a supernatural edge about the struggle of being a teen.

4 Stars

After the Green Withered by Kristin Ward – a review

Lee Hall Leave a comment

‘…the green withered, and with it our dreams for the future…’

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‘After the Green Withered’ is a story set in an imaginative dystopian future. It’s clear that Kristin Ward has worked tremendously hard to create a world and setting that may eventually become a reality. Water is the currency and key to survival; and the concept of water rationing gives this story a distinct originality.

From the beginning the reader is introduced to a well thought out and explained world; explanations is something many writers fail with and this one was just right. And this is a world that has become a police state; with everything under constant surveillance by the somewhat mysterious and sinister ‘DMC’ also known as the ‘company’. Whole towns are heavily guarded and fortified with a feeling that someone is always watching. Like today there are those who are privileged and those who are not, but the poverty contrast is focused more towards survival in this story.

The main character and narrator ‘Enora’ spends much of her time contemplating and toiling over her uncertainties. She finds herself drafted from High School and poor background to work for the ‘DMC’, although she never forgets her roots . Enora’s journey eventually moves to seeking out who is running the sinister underbelly that is the ‘DMC’, a company who represses the poor and is also responsible for a lot more. The mystery of who she can trust becomes a central point of tension that builds all the way to the end of the story.

Overall I was kept intrigued by this story but throughout I felt as if it was over descriptive and wordy. Much of the dialogue could have been longer but more time was given towards Enora’s thoughts and contemplation; much of which could have been put into dialogue or even shortened. The heavy description pulled me away from being immersed in what is a good story concept. Much of the writing could have been ‘shown’ to the reader as opposed to being ‘told’ and this what I think holds it back.

The ending came suddenly with no real resolve but kept me thinking as to where this story could go next, especially as there is a sequel planned. Having read this story I would be more than interested and look forward to the next one.

Thank you to Kristin Ward for giving me the opportunity to review the book.

Three and a half stars 

 

My Big Book Announcement

Lee Hall Leave a comment

The day is finally here and with great excitement I can happily announce that my first novel ‘Open Evening’ is going to be published!

As some of you may have seen the other day I put up the picture of a date on both the tweet machine and Facebook (or life invader, the name I prefer). And yes and this is actually happening.

On the 29th of September 2016 Open Evening will be available as an e-book initially and then later on in mid-October will see the release of it on paper back.

This blog site has been the very forefront of my publication journey in the past few years and finally there is a destination on the horizon. If you look to the right you can see a countdown of sorts that I had ‘fun’ trying to put up on Tuesday (look I don’t computer well ok).

If you have come from life invader you will have seen my short but sweet announcement video available to watch here. 

The details

As many of you book people will know getting published takes a lot of organisation and firing back and forth of emails. Now you’re probably asking who will be publishing Open Evening.

Well back in December I made contact with Nicky Fitzmaurice of Satin Publishing, an e-pub house I have had my eye on for some time. After sending my work to Nicky she happily accepted and will be editing the book (as well as doing many more things in terms of publishing it).

Open Evening has been recognised as YA (young adult) in genre and will hopefully appeal to a broad range of ages. You can read what it’s all about here.

Now finding success through publishing a book is not something that can be done single handed. Having already organised the services of an editor/publisher I have also been on the lookout for somebody to help promote and publicise the book.

Last week I asked a good friend of mine and fellow blogger Matt Streuli if he would help publicise things?

‘Of course’ he said (in abridged form). Now some of you will already know Matt who does fantastic work, blogging and campaigning for the awareness and stigma that comes with mental health. His journey in the past year can be seen in his many blog posts about the subject of mental health. He has appeared on the radio and even writes for the Huffington post.  I will even mention that every year he finds new and innovative ways to advertise the community drama club we both belong to.

What needs to be done?

So my book team has been organised and ready to assemble, what happens now?

Well there is still a lot to consider before any of you read the first words that begin Open Evening.

Firstly I need to get in contact with a cover artist. I know the saying about never judging a book by its cover but people do so it needs to be good.

Then I will need to get my head around all things that make up the publishing process. After all this is a journey of discovery.

At some point I shall sit down with Matt and discuss all the ways I can annoy people on social media about my book.

Importantly I will be blogging and bringing any updates onto here in order to build up an even bigger following that I already have. That ladies and gentlemen is where you come in.

No writer has ever found success without the support of loyal readers and in this day and age, followers. Quite honestly I need you all to like, share, retweet, re-blog and rewind the VHS before taking it back to blockbuster (what?). Seriously I need you, because on that day of publication I want Open Evening to make a dent in whatever list or chart it finds itself on. My dream is for the world to read my stuff and it’s on the horizon, but only if you help. There may be a signed book or cup of tea for your reward.

I said 2016 will be my #YearOfWriting and it is. So come with me if you want to read…

Thank you all sincerely for reading this and liking my posts on whatever social media platform you find me on. It means everything to me. This journey has been long but its going to get interesting soon.

LH