Wednesday Reads: The Darkest Night

The Darkest Night by Gena Showalter, was a little too heavy on the romance for me (didn't keep me from sacrificing my sleep to finish reading it all in one day, however).  The romance was well done, of course, from a master like Showalter (site here), it's a guaranteed success.  The plot is what hooked me.  The Underworld Lords are each plagued with a different demon from Pandora's box (you find out in the first chapter, I promise I'm not giving anything away), they are immensely powerful, and an age-long enemy wants them dead--again.

Synopsis:

His powers -- Inhuman
His passion -- Beyond immortal . . .
All her life, Ashlyn Darrow has been tormented by voices from the past. To end the nightmare, she has come to Budapest seeking help from men rumored to have supernatural abilities, not knowing she'll be swept into the arms of Maddox, their most dangerous member -- a man trapped in a hell of his own.
Neither can resist the instant hunger than calms their torments . . . and ignites an irresistible passion. But every heated touch and burning kiss will edge them closer to destruction -- and a soul-shattering test of love . . .
Though they carry an eternal curse, the Lords of the Underworld are irresistibly seductive -- and unimaginably powerful . . .

First Sentence: "Every night death came, slowly, painfully, and every morning Maddox awoke in bed, knowing he'd have to die again later.  That was his greatest curse and his eternal punishment."  Wow.  Talk about getting straight to the point.  The first chapter can bog down in places with a bit of back story, but it's mostly well done and with enough forward momentum to keep you going forward.  It's powerful, emotional sentences like the first one that propels you forward. 

Beefs: Like I said, the Romance was a little heavy.  I don't really buy the love/lust and tingly sensations at first sight.  Not that it doesn't work.  Not that it isn't a great Paranormal Romance.  But there were times that I wanted to shove the romance out of the way to get to the paranormal, because the plot was gold.


Brownie Points: Two, actually, and both are characters.  Firstly, Ashlyn.  She can't read minds.  She hears conversations.  Place her in a room and she hears every conversation to ever take place there.  Unique right?  And undeniably handy--and annoying of course.  She's a very interesting character, with a great character arch.  Secondly, Torin, keeper of disease, causes widespread plague any time he touches someone.  How heart-achingly beautiful/horrible is that?!  I want to read his book (though, unfortunately, there isn't one yet).

Ending: What do you expect?  It's Paranormal Romance, and like all Romances, it has a good ending.

Recommendation: If it's your thing, read it.  It does contain explicit sex and (at times) eye rolling yukky love stuff, so approach at your own risk.

Would I represent it? A bit heavy on the romance for me.  It reminded me a lot of The Black Dagger Brotherhood series by J.R. Ward, which is Paranormal Romance, but I think the plot, character, world, and paranormal side of it was better developed in Ward's.  Something like that, I definitely would represent.

Happy Reading!

The Dark Side

I'm being swayed to the Dark Side of the Force... er, that is, e-readers.

A few months ago I nearly disowned my mother for owning a Kindle.  Last week I found out my best friend ONLY reads on her e-reader now.  I've been as resistant to change as Anakin Skywalker.  I vowed I would only get a fancy gizmo one day if I was travelling a lot, it would help me keep up with my work, and I could download documents to it to read manuscripts on the go.

Thanks to a tip on Twitter (more gray than dark on the scale of evilness), I found out that I could download manuscripts to my (mom's) Kindle!  I figured it out, thanks to Google, and spent all day on my couch reading, without being weighed down by my laptop.  Who knew it was super comfy to read Kindle on the couch?  Makes Snuggies obsolete too, you can hold and control the pages without freeing your hands from the blanket.

While I will still refuse to buy a book (unless I go on an extended trip) for the Kindle, preferring to buy it or borrow it, I'm not super anti-Kindle anymore. However, I really don't need an e-reader that can read my mind or tie my shoes, so don't expect me to have anything super fancy if you see me on the street (or conference).

So, be nice to the agents you are querying.  Make sure your file is compatible to sending to those handy E-Readers (word or rtf or lol or wtf... ok, so I don't actually know them all).  How else are e-readers going to change our world?  Not just the world of readers either, but of how the behind-the-scenes people (agents, editors, etc) conduct business?

Happy reading!

Wednesday Reads: Grave Witch

Grave Witch by Kalayna Price was outstanding.  Not sure how much clearer than that I can get.  (Did you notice?  It's not YA!!  Yup, moving up in the world.)

Synopsis:

Grave witch Alex Craft can speak to the dead, but that doesn’t mean she likes what they have to say . . .
As a private investigator and consultant for the police, Alex Craft has seen a lot of dark magic. But even though she’s on good terms with Death himself—who happens to look fantastic in a pair of jeans—nothing has prepared her for her latest case. Alex is investigating a high profile murder when she’s attacked by the ‘shade’ she’s raising, which should be impossible. To top off her day, someone makes a serious attempt on her life, but Death saves her. Guess he likes having her around . . .
To solve this case Alex will have to team up with tough homicide detective Falin Andrews. Falin seems to be hiding something—though it’s certainly not his dislike of Alex—but Alex knows she needs his help to navigate the tangled webs of mortal and paranormal politics, and to track down a killer wielding a magic so malevolent, it may cost Alex her life . . . and her soul.

First Sentence: "The first time I encountered Death, I hurled my mother's medical chart at him.  As far as first impressions went, I blew it, but I was five at the time, so he eventually forgave me."  I know, I know, I broke my rules again.  Gave you two sentences.  The first one alone is hilarious.  Immediately you know what her temper is like, that Death is not just an idea, but a man, and her mother was sick/dying at some point.  The second sentence puts the time frame in perspective, and you hear more of her voice.

Brownie Points:  Skipping the Beefs this week, because I really don't feel like making one up.  I loved how Price took a pretty ordinary world with witches and faeries and whatnot, and made it a little more interesting.  Alex is a Grave Witch, which means she can raise shades (or memories of the deceased) and talk to them, which is very helpful in the courtroom, or for people challenging a will.  She can also switch to her "grave sight" which means she sees the world of the dead.  And it leaves her partially blind after using it.  If you didn't know already, weaknesses make main characters interesting (much like Superman and Kryptonite).  Oh, by the way, Alex has a Chinese Crested.  I never know that adding an ugly dog to a novel makes it funnier, or the main character more likable.

Ending: Oh, it was good.  We know how she left things (in the spiritual realm and in the romantic one), but it left room for enough ambiguity to lead us on wanting more.

Recommendation: If you like Paranormal Romances, this one should be on your list, especially if you like slightly more Paranormal than Romance, but with good Romance and good Paranormal, neither too thin nor too thick.  (Not sure that made sense, but it sounded good in my head.  AKA, read it.)

Would I represent it?  Great humor. Great story line. Twisted enough from the usual "I'm a witch, hunky man wants me, world in chaos, people want me dead" story line.  YES! I would represent it.  I'm looking for Paranormal Romances all the time, but it has to be unique, with good voice, good plot, and good pacing.

Happy Reading!

Why Titles Can't Suck

Ever browsed a bookshelf and just HAD to pull out a certain book just based on its title?  I'm sure everyone's done it.  What other way can we navigate bookshelves?  Read each and every back cover blurb?  Well, while that's essentially what an agent does (query letters are basically back cover blurbs), if I'm swamped with query letters, I'll peruse the email subject lines until something catches my eye.  If something has a title that I just can't look away from, I'll go ahead and read that one, even if it wasn't the first in my queue to read (I read from oldest to newest).

The point is, your title can't suck.  Not only are you trying to get the attention of your readers once the book is finally published and you have a pretty cover (a subject all its own), the first step is getting the agent's attention.  Easier said than done, I know.  I suck at coming up with titles.  But the time you put into it will be worth it.  And make sure you research the title you would like to use: if it's been used, over used, will remind readers of something completely different, etc.

For your pleasure (and procrastination) here is a compilation of the best book titles (I'm a fan of 6, 10, 16, and 25, though the others shouldn't be discounted).

Which are your favorites?

What books have you picked up based solely on their titles (not on the list above)?

If you could title a book anything (doesn't have to be written, yours or otherwise) what would you title it?

Happy writing!

Rejection Rate take 2

This past month, starting on Dec 13 and ending today Jan 13, I've kept track of queries responded to, rejected, and requested.  In the past month, I have responded to over 300 queries.  Based solely on the query, I rejected 72% of those.

Wow do I feel like a sucker.  Some writers out there got creative and just plain good at query letters.  A few months ago, I reported my rejection rate at 86%.  However, what isn't good news, is the amount of full manuscripts I have requested based on those partials (20-50 pages depending on my mood): I'll give you a hint.  It's less than five.

Those number still sounding really high to you?  Freaked out?  Ok, here's an example that will hopefully put it into perspective for you.

Imagine you are in a bookstore.  How many books are in there at any given time?  10,000?  Ok, let's go with that number.  You are roaming the shelves.  One in every one hundred you pick up to read the back cover blurb.  One in every ten of those might sound interesting.  You leave the store with one book.  That's basically what agents do.  Except we wade through stuff that isn't ready to be published.  Most of the time though, it simply doesn't intrigue us.  There are plenty of books on the shelf I gloss over because they just don't interest me.

Here are a few personal things about me as an agent, since it may be unclear elsewhere.

• I do not represent Middle Grade.  YA for me begins at roughly 15, as long as the character has an "older" voice (meaning they don't sound MG).  
• I do not represent Women's Fiction.  I do however, represent Paranormal Romance which is a subgenre.
• I do not represent Literary Fiction.  We do, however, have fabulous agents at the agency who do.
• I do not represent Mystery/Crime or Thrillers.  Cozy Mysteries, however, have a special place in my heart.  Mix Mystery/Crime/Thrillers with paranormal and I'm a happy camper.
• "road trip" -  reminds me of the very acidy trip Where the Buffalo Roam.   So it's a no.
• I don't do "sub-real" or "experimental" or anything else that can describe Gravity's Rainbow or House of Leaves. You will, actually, make my day a little worse if you mention them.
• Chuck Palahniuk.  See above.  His stuff freaks me out.  And not in a good way.  (great respect for all four authors and books, it just isn't my cup of tea)

Here are a few pointers to add to my previous post's list.

• I love when writers are trying to build a platform with their websites.  But DO NOT tell me hi, include the link, and expect me to go there.  Still gotta include the query.  And word to the wise, if you have sample chapters on your site, and I'm feeling generous, I will take a look--so keep that in mind if you have no idea why you are getting rejected.
• Passive voice.  Avoid it.  Especially in your query.  If you use it in your query, you probably aren't aware of it, and therefore it probably runs rampant in your ms.  Dead give away.
• Don't rely only on spell check (ms or query).  Have someone take a look at it and careful of your homonyms.
• Very briefly, if you are a debut author, keep your word count within the confines.  I won't look at 280,000 words.  Querying a novel like that only marks you as someone who doesn't know what they are doing.  In the same vein, I'll do the same to a word count I feel is too low.  I like long books, so usually anything under 60,000 words sounds too short to me (actually, 60,000 words sounds too short to me, but I won't judge if the genre is right).  (good guidelines here)
• Please distinguish your genre very clearly, especially between YA and MG.

Starting this month, every month, on the lucky 13th, I'll report my rejection rate and a few pointers I picked up from query letters that month.  I will not directly reference any query letter nor will I take direct wording.  I respect your privacy as a writer and strive to keep that confidence.  These are general tips meant to benefit everyone.  On a happier note...

Happy writing!