In addition to providing attention to standout authors who are already established writers, it has always been my objective for Lions Den to give a modicum of exposure to independent authors, particularly those who read this blog and are willing to avail themselves of the chance to have their books criticized by impartial reviewers. So, I’d encourage you to get involved in reviewing the new authors as well, and to be very blunt and forthright with your criticism so they can learn how to improve their writing. Don’t be cruel or seek to provide amusement at their expense, nor handle them with kid gloves to spare their feelings. And whether you are praising them or slamming them, also show them an amount of respect for being willing to take the heat in a public manner.
Thanks, we now have the requisite three reviewers for Escape From Tekmar.
First, I want to thank Vox for giving me this opportunity. Maybe it’s an
opportunity to hang myself, who knows, but I’m grateful anyway.
Maybe
I ought to tell a bit about myself first. I’m, in some ways, pretty
much like one of the caricatures for a liberal woman – fat middle aged
nerdy spinster who keeps cats and never found a man to have children
with, and people usually seem to automatically put me in that box,
somebody who donates to Greenpeace and marches for gay rights (okay,
that I might do if it was in support of, say, Iranian gays). But I’d
prefer being free even if I’m not quite sure whether I would be able to
handle it, I haven’t done exactly well with my life as things are (I
have lived my whole life in Finland. This country tilts pretty far left,
and I have to admit I don’t know what actual freedom might be like. We
are either somewhat coddled or somewhat smothered here, take your pick.
Or maybe take both.).
I enjoy creating stories, it’s something I
have been doing my whole life, so whether I can turn writing into a
source of income or not doesn’t really matter that much
on one level, I will keep on writing anyway. But when I finally caught
on about the ebook revolution it made sense to see if they might even
sell. On the other hand, if I am good enough that I might get where I
could live on it, especially if it might turn into something I could
make a good enough a living with that I’d be able to move somewhere with
more sun, well, time (seasonal affective disorder, I belong to the
small percentage who does get it bad so I could definitely use more sun,
problem with moving: SAD also derailed all my attempts to study when I
was younger, and while young manual laborers can get work aging ones are
not in great demand anywhere).
I am somewhat past 50 already,
and it would really suck if I actually happened to be good enough to
become popular only for that to happen around the time when I need a
wheelchair to go around. So in spite of being a coward I figured it
might be time to start taking some chances in hopes I
might speed things up a bit. Including this one.
I know this
may have been an idiotic thing to do since I don’t know, not really, how
well I write, and the end result could be getting this novel
eviscerated. The eviscerations I have read on Vox’s blog have been
enjoyable but I guess I would not like having one of my stories being
the subject of one. But the one thing I’m sure of is that I will not
have any success with anything which would require a sustained effort
throughout the year. Not this far north. Believe me, I have tried. And I
hate the idea of spending my entire life as a total loser. So what the
hell, might as well try. I don’t have that much to lose. Some pride,
maybe, but not much else.
The novel is a pretty simple story, an
adventure in which a young man finds himself solely responsible for
something important for the first time in his life. There is a girl who
is perhaps not telling him everything, and a world which is not
very nice.
I have had these characters for a long time, and
have some half planned stories of when the main character in this is a
full adult, but I felt I wanted to start with a few of how he became
that man. As said, no real idea of the quality, during the last weeks I
have gone from ‘ohmygod it’s awful’ to ‘hey, it’s pretty good’ and back
already. Can be damn hard to judge your own work.
It’s science
fiction, but more of the space opera kind, meaning what ‘science’ there
may be is at best rather fluffy. But we do have starships, colony worlds
which have been created by terraforming, and genetically engineered
humans, so I guess the genre is science fiction.
This is the
first time I have dared to try a male main protagonist. I have written
two novels with female main characters before (they can be found on
Amazon if you look for Kiti Lappi in Kindle books, along with a few
short stories). Frankly, I’m not sure how well I get
men, while I have worked in a mostly male work environments and have
had a couple of friends I have never had any really close ones in my
life.
Breaking expectations is one thing I like as a reader, so I
have attempted to do that a bit with the universe of this story, if not
so much with the plot or the characters. No idea if I have succeeded,
especially since this is just a first small slice of something bigger. I
have every intention of exploring this universe more.
Well, if
you read the story and think I’m the next coming of Bulwer-Lytton just
go ahead and say so, if I am I need to know (should perhaps adjust my
strategy of how to try selling my stories). But if so I would of course
appreciate if you say it politely, after all I’m not claiming to be
anything I’m not. But it won’t make me stop writing, telling stories is a
compulsion I have never been able to get rid of (I have tried). And
besides, you’ll never know. After all, good old
Bulwer-Lytton was a bestseller once.