As you know, my attempt to read and review a self-published SFF work sort of went down the crapper last year. I felt kind of bad, because I really wanted to do this. Meaning that I wanted to give an indie speculative fiction author's book a fair shot and come what may.
Since the "winner" of the draw saw fit not to get back to me, I was at a loss as to what to do. So I put that little project on hold and kind of forgot all about it. Fast forward to last fall, when Ted Cross, long-time Hotlist follower, communicated with me, touching base to see if perhaps I'd be interested in giving his self-published cyberpunk tale a go since I hadn't followed through with the experience in 2014. I thought about it for a while and then replied that I couldn't offer any promises as to if/when I'd read it. Still, Cross took a chance and sent me a PDF file, crossing his fingers.
My curiosity was piqued a few weeks later when I discovered that he paid 2000$ out of his own pocket to have the cover art done by the talented Stephan Martiniere because he wanted the novel to stand out from other self-published works out there. I spent the Holidays debating whether or not to do this and I finally decided to read and review The Immortality Game. You can find more info about this title here.
Here's the blurb:
Moscow, 2138. With the world only beginning to recover from the complete societal collapse of the late 21st Century, Zoya scrapes by prepping corpses for funerals and dreams of saving enough money to have a child. When her brother forces her to bring him a mysterious package, she witnesses his murder and finds herself on the run from ruthless mobsters. Frantically trying to stay alive and save her loved ones, Zoya opens the package and discovers two unusual data cards, one that allows her to fight back against the mafia and another which may hold the key to everlasting life.
So there you have it. As promised, I will read and review an indie SFF novel. Don't know exactly when, but Ted Cross' The Immortality Game is now in the 2015 book rotation. . .
8 commentaires:
As I commented last time, I really appreciate that you've taken the time to do this, Pat.
People don't fully appreciate how unnecessary it is for you to do this at this point in the Hotlist's lifespan.
Cheers.
I hope the story might appeal to you enough so that you don't feel it a complete waste of your time! It's a quick read, at least. I hope the fact it is indie won't taint your feelings beforehand.
Cross's novel looks great! :)
There is indeed a huge problem with many self/indie-published titles not having... eh... let's call it "professionalism."
That gives folks like Mr. Cross a bad name. He put effort into his work and it shows. Writers like him shouldn't be lumped together with the rest.
A lot of book bloggers have shied away from reviewing self/indie titles because of this problem (and there's no blaming them!).
What do you think could be done to ameliorate this problem?
—Vic S.—
It's your loss mate. There is a lot of good fiction which is self published. You only buy clothes with brand names too?
Get off your high horse and branch out a bit. Just about every one of your reviews says you have problems with the "pacing".
I think you have problems with reading. Maybe you should concentrate on reading as many books as possible to improve this if you are going to continue for another 10 years.
There are certainly great indie novels, but without a "gatekeeper" it's hard to separate the good from the bad and most of us don't have unlimited time to waste reading trash. I don't blame Pat at all for staying away from the indie scene; I only read the most successful ones and even then they can be uneven.
I come here to read about the best. I don't have that much time to bother with second best, even if that is way better than the average one.
I respect what Pat is doing and I wouldn't come here if he was wasting his and my time with every self published novel out there!
Nice cover, I couldn't tell it's self-published.
I like to discover new books and authors beyond the catalogs of big publishing houses.
As a result of reading your post I bought a copy of "The Immortality Game".
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