Episode #289: We Be Reviewing & Promoing Local Authors

Today we offer an interesting two spot for books: one for promo and one for reviewing, both by local authors.

Up first, the promo

After many years of writer's angst spread across multiple rewrites (and multiple computers and printers), we have finally published our latest novella To Live Is To Die Young as an e-book through KDP and Books2Read, with the print edition to follow in the first week of September.

It really was very much a labor of love to produce this fast paced urban/city crime fantasy novella, as this is the second of four writing projects that I had decided to work on when I had retired in 2020 (man, coming up on five years now) to be successfully published (first was The Mortality of Familial Love in 2024) and I do hope you find the opportunity to check it out in the near future.

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And now, the review.

This author, A Wilson Steele is from Connecticut, and I had the pleasure of running into her at our town's annual Extravaganza as a vendor. I often try to purchase something every year when I visit and this year I have succeeded. 

Ms Steele writes historical mysteries set in the mid 1990's, and she also writes non-fiction books on horses (If I recall correctly, she's involved with a local horse rescue organization). This particular book, called The Trap, is volume one of a mystery series called The Griegg/Eastwood Mysteries.

Here's a snippet of the back cover blurb:

"It's 1995, and American Alana Eastwood's grandfather has fallen ill at his home in Germany. She immediately travels to be by his side. While staying in his home, Alana finds a box that contains family heirlooms and, to her amazement, an unopened letter postmarked Berlin 1945. The letter is addressed to her granduncle, who she believes died in the war. Even so, why was the letter still sealed? Opening the envelope thrusts her into one of the most notable unsolved mysteries of WWII."

I found this book to be very well written and intriguing enough to keep me engaged from cover to cover. I was very impressed by the way she handled both time periods involved: WWII and the 1990's, with an excellent eye for historical detail, especially with the way the entire story revolves around one of the more intriguing and enduring mysteries of WWII.

If you like well-crafted historical or time period mysteries, this introductory volume to the Griegg/Eastwood Mystery series is for you. Available as a paperback, e-book and audio book from Amazon. And you can find her on Facebook as well.

Thank you for stopping by and I do hope you check out not only my latest published work, but this wonderful introductory volume to what seems to be a very good mystery series.

{c} 2025 by G.B. Miller. All Rights Reserved

Episode #201: Do You Critique The Book Or The Writer?

Apparently Santa's soy milk and gluten-free vegan cookies didn't agree with him that day.

I subscribe to a nifty monthly newsletter put out by the Insecure Writer's Support Group, which contains great advice and links for writers of all abilities, among other things. It also sponsors a monthly blog hop, which I haven't participated in quite some time, and in conjunction with that blog hop, the newsletter will have a question prompt for that blog hop in case you're lacking a topic of choice for your monthly participation.

For the month of December the question had to do with book reviews, specifically, when you write a book review, are you critiquing the book or the author of said book?

For me, back in the day when I was able to write book reviews on Amazon for books that I had borrowed from my public library (current Amazon policy is that you have to spend at least $50 with a credit or debit card before you can leave a review), the majority of the time I would review the book and not the author.

Being a semi-professional writer, I was quite sensitive to sledgehammering an author over a particular book, since I had quite a few people do it to me, so I would try my best to critique a particular book. Very rarely did I critique the writer, as I would always try to give them the benefit of the doubt, especially if it was for a book that I didn't like or understand (example, I don't understand most poetry nor traditional prose). I always try to find something positive about a book, which is why I usually go no lower 2 1/2 stars on my public reviews.

On at least three occasions though, I did critique the author of a particular book. The first time was a book that started out decent but quickly nosedived into a master's thesis: very analytical and devoid of emotion. The second time was a memoir written by someone who was a civil rights lawyer, but it too nosedived, only this time it was the equivalent of a novel length apology from a White Liberal Savior. The third time was a well known indie musician turned writer who wrote a bio on a well known early R&B singer, but the bio basically read like a bio of the group they were in and not of them.

Beyond those three, all my reviews have concentrated on the book. I do try to point out in the reviews of books I don't quite understand why I would give them just a three or three and a half star rating, and I always try give props to those writers who write in genres that I don't understand.

I know it may sound like I'm being wishy-washy or waffling with those 3 star reviews, but I simply can't see myself hammering a book simply because I don't understand it. I find there's a huge distinction between reading a book and not liking it, and reading a book and not understanding it, so I always wrote my reviews with that philosophy in mind.

Oh and, in case you're wondering about the reviews of books that I'd enjoyed, almost without exception I do 4 or 4 1/2 star reviews. I have problems giving 5 star reviews, but that's a me problem more than anything else.

So my friends, this concludes my semi-shallow dive into my little slice of the topic called "Book Reviews". Hope you liked it and were able to learn something from it. Have a great week.

{c} 2023 by G.B. Miller. All Rights Reserved

Episode #156: Book Review "Out Of Dreams: Nightmares" by Charles Gramlich

I would like to preface this book review by stating that this was originally destined for Amazon, but because of a policy about reviews {requires a minimum $50 spent on a credit or debit card}, that I do 100% agree with, I am unable to post it there. 

By the way, this kicks off an occasional series of normal and abnormal reviews of products purchased. With that being said, please enjoy this stellar book review.

"Snack Size Nuggets Of Horror Goodness"

I'm one of those people who can be very picky when it comes to certain genres, like horror. I'm not a fan of the incredibly graphic, but I do have a tendency to lean towards a thinking man's horror (think pleasantly dark).

This particular book came recommended to me while I was scrolling through social media, so I thought I would give it a shot. Not counting the various credits, etc, it clocks in at a smooth 118 pages and is chock full of stories ranging from one to eight pages in length, with each one being a solidly entertaining and lively short story, designed to make you think about the darkness of what life has to offer.

One story did stand out in particular for me: Cliffy Is Missing. I won't spoil the story for you, but I had visions of a particular "Far Side" cartoon throughout the entire time I was reading the story.

Overall, I found this collection of short stories to be a fine sampler of horror for those who are looking to dip their toes into that genre but don't know exactly where to begin. For me, this was a good solid way to get my toes wet, and I highly recommend it to all. This short story collection gets a rare 5 star rating out of me.

Out Of Dreams: Nightmares by Charles Gramlich.

Like I said, I do fully support this review policy of Amazon's. It's a good start in trying to weed out the illegitimate reviews of a given product by applying a minimum threshold required to participate. However, it may be a very long while before I start using a c/c on Amazon, as I find it much easier to control my impulse buying by using a different payment form than a c/c. Which means that the bulk of my reviews will have to be posted here on my blog.

Hopefully my review has piqued your curiosity enough to not only check out this book, but check other fine works written by Charles Gramlich.

{c} 2023 by G.B. Miller. All Rights Reserved