Zombies

I've read four zombie books so far this year, and they are all among my favorite reads of 2012. I'm no longer in denial about liking zombies.

I'm not sure why I like zombies so much. Is it just because the books I happened to read were really well written? They all have high ratings on Amazon (averaging 4.3 to 4.6 stars out of 5), so that's a possibility. Or maybe zombies are the kinds of monsters I like. I don't care for vampires or werewolves, but I blame that on the popularity of Twilight, which turned vampires and werewolves into objects of romance rather than monsters to be feared. Not so with zombies. And the zombie stories I've read don't have much romance in them. Maybe that's the key.

If there's one thing that I'd like to see in the zombie books, it's to have a consistent set of rules. For example, I wish there were ground rules for:

• The cause for the rise of the living dead - Did zombies come about because of a virus? Something from outer space?
• How do ordinary people turn into zombies - Do you have to be bitten? Do you have to die first to re-animate as a zombie?
• What can zombies do - Can they think? Can they run?

Not having consistent rules won't ruin the books for me, but they make things a bit confusing when I start reading a new book. ("What do you mean the zombies are running? Zombies are supposed to be slow!")

Now that I know I like zombies, I'm going to look for more books in the genre to read. I hope they are as enjoyable as the ones I've read so far.

Edits and more edits

I finished my third round of edits on the 4th of July. (Yes, that's how authors who have full time jobs spend their holidays.) It felt like I revised about ten percent of the book. Most of it was minor, especially compared to the big changes I made the first and second times I went through the manuscript. I just started editing it for the fourth time. I'm pretty sure that after this round, I'll send it to some proofreaders to review because I'll need another pair of eyes to see the mistakes that my eyes are becoming blind to.

As I've mentioned before, I don't like the editing process. I'd much rather be writing something new than to comb through something I've already written for the umpteenth time. But I know that editing is necessary if I have pride in my work. I don't want to publish a sloppy story because I wasn't willing to work on making it better. That wouldn't be fair to my readers.So I'll keep going, probably for another two or three months, until I feel that the story is about as good as I can make it.

Book review: Blood Red Road by Moira Young

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Description:
Saba has spent her whole life in Silverlake, a dried-up wasteland ravaged by constant sandstorms. The Wrecker civilization has long been destroyed, leaving only landfills for Saba and her family to scavenge from. That's fine by her, as long as her beloved twin brother Lugh is around. But when a monster sandstorm arrives, along with four cloaked horsemen, Saba's world is shattered. Lugh is captured, and Saba embarks on an epic quest to get him back.

Suddenly thrown into the lawless, ugly reality of the world outside of desolate Silverlake, Saba is lost without Lugh to guide her. So perhaps the most surprising thing of all is what Saba learns about herself: she's a fierce fighter, an unbeatable survivor, and a cunning opponent. And she has the power to take down a corrupt society from the inside. Teamed up with a handsome daredevil named Jack and a gang of girl revolutionaries called the Free Hawks, Saba stages a showdown that will change the course of her own civilization.

Rating: 5 stars (out of 5)

Review:
This book was recommended to me by GoodReads, and I'm glad it did. I loved it. It's one of the top three books I've read this year. If I could use only one word to describe how Blood Red Road was written, it would be fluid. The prose just flows, as does the action. At no point in reading the book do I remember being bored. Moira Young wrote the book from Saba's point of view, and while her dialect and lack of proper punctuation threw me at first, once I got used to reading it, the rest of the book went quickly.

Without giving away too much of the plot, I enjoyed how each scene in the story led to the next. The characters were also engaging for the most part. I felt sympathy for Saba, her sister, and Jack. Even the Free Hawks. In some ways, Blood Red Road reminded me of the Chaos Walking trilogy, but better. It's what I hoped the Chaos Walking books could have been.

As with many books in this genre, there is an element of romance in Blood Red Road. However, unlike some other books, the relationship between Saba and Jack seemed to happen naturally. As a reader, I knew there would be sparks, but it felt like their bond made sense to the plot. It wasn't forced, and it didn't make you think the author put it there because there had to be romance.

The only unfavorable thing I can say about this book is the dialect it was written in. For me, it took a while to get used to. At the beginning of the book, I kept pausing to understand what was written, but once I got the hang of it, I think the dialect actually made the story flow better.

I highly recommend Blood Red Road. There's a sequel coming out in October, and I can't wait to read it.

How I choose what to read

Last time, I talked about how I read both print books and e-books. The process by which I choose what books to read differs depending on the format.

The print books that I read are all traditionally published. A majority of them come from recommendations by friends or via GoodReads. I joined GoodReads about a year ago, and as I add more books to my list, I've been getting more and better recommendations. Of my favorite books read this year, about half came from GoodReads recommendations. I also visit my local public library every weekend. A few months ago, I decided that I would pick random books from authors I've never read and give them a shot. I've been trying to do this once a month. Most of the time, these random books have been so-so, but occasionally, I'll stumble across a gem. The remaining print books that I read are ones that look interesting when I browse the library or bookstores.

On the e-book side, my selections are based on electronic sources: blogs, forums, Twitter, free e-books on Amazon, etc. I tend to favor indie authors when I read e-books. One reason is that there are a lot of indie authors on the websites that I go to. The other is that I will only buy an e-book if its price is significantly less than the print version, and that tends to happen with indie books much more so than with traditionally published ones. As part of trolling blogs and forums, I'll also hear about books that are available for free on Amazon. I probably wind up downloading one free e-book a week, but they tend to go to the bottom of my to-be-read list and will bubble up only when I run out of paid books and previously downloaded free books on my Kindle.

I'd be curious to know how other people pick the books they read.

E-books vs. print books (or, how I read)

There's no question that e-books are here to stay. Last year, Amazon reported that they sold more e-books than print books. This has led to a religious war about which is better for readers, e-books or print books. E-book supporters point to the convenience of carrying many e-books on one device and their (sometimes) lower cost. Those who prefer print books cite that print books feel better and they're easier to share.

Where do I stand on the e-books vs. print books debate? Honestly, I like both. It may sound like a cop-out, but I like having both formats and would be sad if one of them went away.

When I have at least half an hour to read, I prefer print books. There's nothing better than curling up with a paperback in bed before I go to sleep. I'm in the camp that believes that print books feel better. I like the feel of the pages between my fingers, sometimes even the smell of paper. Also, dropping a paperback on my face when I fall asleep hurts less than when I drop my Kindle reader. :-)

On the other hand, during the day, it's inconvenient to carry a print book around with me, but I always have my phone, on which I installed the Kindle app. So during the day, whenever I have a few free minutes, I whip out my phone and read.

In the end, on any given day, I'll be spending time reading a print book and an e-book. I've been doing this for several months now, and it seems to be working out pretty well. I wind up reading about 4 print books and 2 or 3 e-books each month. Nowadays, I can't imagine having just e-books or just print books to read.

Book review: Origin by J.A. Konrath

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Description:
When linguist Andrew Dennison is yanked from his bed by the Secret Service and taken to a top secret facility in the desert, he has no idea he's been brought there to translate the words of an ancient demon.

He joins pretty but cold veterinarian Sun Jones, eccentric molecular biologist Dr. Frank Belgium, and a hodge-podge of religious, military, and science personnel to try and figure out if the creature is, indeed, Satan.

But things quickly go bad, and very soon Andy isn't just fighting for his life, but the lives of everyone on earth...

Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)

Review:
Joe Konrath is somewhat of a legend among indie writers. His blog, A Newbie's Guide to Publishing, was one major influence on my decision to self-publish. His blog is known for being controversial, sometimes offensive, but informative. Likewise, the two previous books I've read by Konrath are also offensive yet entertaining. I don't read one of Konrath's novels because I'm looking for good writing. I read it to be entertained. So when Konrath made Origin free on Amazon, I snapped it up.

Reading Origin was like reading two different books. The first half, unfortunately, was not that good. Konrath spent too much time going into the backgrounds of the people working at the secret facility where the story takes place. The back stories were forced and didn't flow with the rest of the novel. Even the relationship between the two main characters was hard to believe, as if Konrath threw it in because you have to have a romantic relationship in every story.

Then, once hell breaks loose, the story takes off. It becomes the entertaining joy ride that I hoped the book would be. There's a good bit of gore, so I don't recommend the book to those with a weak stomach, but if you can handle it, you'll probably find this book a fun, fast read.

I couldn't decide between giving this book 3 stars or 4. If I could rate each half of the book separately, I'd give the first half 3 stars and the second half 4 stars. In the end, I decided on 4 stars for the book overall because my intention in reading it was to be entertained, and in that respect, Origin did a pretty good job.

Done with first round of revisions

Thanks in large part to my productive Memorial Day weekend, I'm done with the first round of revisions on my second novel! I estimate that I changed about 30% of the text during the editing process. A whole new chapter was written from scratch, and large parts of three other chapters were re-written. I also resolved a plot problem that nagged me when I wrote the first draft. In the end, I believe that this second draft is significantly better than the first.

Now comes the hard part. The easy fixes have been made to the manuscript. Every round of editing from here on will only result in minor (albeit necessary in many cases) changes. The book will never be perfect, but at some point, I will have to decide that it is good enough to hand to beta readers. When they provide me with feedback, I'll undoubtedly revise the book some more until I deem it good enough to be published. Like many authors, I don't believe that I'll ever achieve perfection, but the question is how good is good enough.

But I don't have to worry about that for another few weeks. Now it's time to start the second round of revisions.