Day Three.
4
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Remember that horrible scene in Alien where you realise that the aliens are actually paralysing humans to be left as food for the alien hatchlings?
Yeah, well, here’s where the script writers got the idea.
This is our second bathroom. Like most Malaysian houses, there are no insect screens. And the assassin aliens have access…
Left: Day One of the construction. Note the hole left to drag in the paralysed, living dinner…
Day 2: the construction continues, enlarged. The hole is closed, the imprisoned is enclosed in the dark awaiting death, along with the young that will suck its juices
Australian cover
US Cover
UK cover
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Well, in actual fact, Stormlord Rising is already available if you have access to Australian books and can buy the Australian Voyager edition.
But if you are in US, it’s out in August, next month – in fact I see that Amazon is advertising it for THIS month. That’s right, July. July 27th to be exact. So hop over there to Amazon.com, or to Borders online and order, NOW. You know you can’t wait a moment longer, and wouldn’t it be nice to get it the moment it’s available…? Besides, think what fun you can have teasing all those folk in the UK, who have to wait a little longer, by writing an online review.
If you are from UK, it’s November. At the moment, sometimes Amazon.co.uk allows you to pre-order, on other days the entry says “not available”. Not sure why.
BTW, I think the subtle differences in colour, as seen in the pix above, is more a result of the fact that the US version is glossy, whereas the UK version is matte with glossy title.
So, will you like it? So far the feedback from readers has been mind-blowing. They all say its better than The Last Stormlord, and I’m talking about people who loved The Last Stormlord. (One assumes those who didn’t like it won’t go on and buy the next!)
And of course, having just written a post on why writers shouldn’t take much notice of reviews, I am now cheeky enough to tell my readers that you should all take notice of the following totally brilliant reviews of Stormlord Rising:
There are two reviews here…
another here.
There’s another here at ASIF from Tehani Wessely.
And here’s one you may not have seen yet because it’s relatively new, from Nyssa over at Awritergoesonajourney. She gives me 5 out of 5 for plot complexity, world building, characterisation and writing style, bless her.
She also starts by saying “Larke will have your soul...” (Cue for me to give evil laugh).
“Most readers can recognise ‘middle book’ syndrome of trilogies, where the second book sags in terms of quality. Even the best of authors can write terrible middles, but not Glenda Larke. Carrying all the tension and hypnotic power of the first book, Stormlord Rising is a fabulous continuation of the brilliant The Last Stormlord, and edging the plots towards their final exploding conclusion. “
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“Larke sure knows her way around words, and by twitching at the strings of one character or another, she makes them dance to a tune only she can hear. We can only wait and read what she chooses to reveal to us.
“The worst thing about Stormlord Rising is that the end is so close, yet so far! Impatience is not pleasant, but it’s so hard to fight when you get a book this great, this spellbinding, this epic.“
Now if that doesn’t make you want to read the book, I’m not sure what will.
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This is a post written particularly for newly published or about to be published authors.
This is a post written particularly for newly published or about to be published authors.
Don’t get me wrong. I love reviews.
And I read them all. I have Google Alerts and Blog Pulse look for them every day and send them to my inbox …In some ways that makes me a bit of an oddity, because a great many writers won’t read their own reviews at all, especially not random reader ones from places like Amazon (as opposed to review sites and professional reviews). Why not? Because they start to obsess about them and they get too upset by the bad ones.
I view it differently.
Good or bad, they are a connection to readers, and I really appreciate that. Writing is a lonely business and we authors should connect to those who buy our books, who take the time to read our stories. Reading their reviews is one way to make that connection.
For me, well, the good ones give me a nice ego boost (and we all like that, right?). The highly critical ones – if they say something thoughtful or wise, it’s a learning experience I can benefit from. I can use what is said to make the next book better.
The reason for not obsessing about a review:
There’s no point. It is totally unrealistic to assume that all readers will like your work, any more than you like every book you read. So why get upset when someone says your characters are flat, your plot boring and your world poorly depicted? They give their honest opinion and for them it is true. It won’t be true for the next reader.
Believe me, you newly published writers out there: not everyone is going to like your baby, that lovely child you slaved over for years.
Some will miss the dimples and home in on the pimples instead, and yeah, your book will have pimples. No book is perfect.
Some readers just like a different kind of story entirely.
Some readers will hate the way you look at life, which will come through in your writing.
Some readers are just don’t get what you’ve written – it may be their failing, or yours.
Some will hate your writing style.
And that is true of everyone’s work. It doesn’t matter if your name is Ursula le Guin or Tolkien or Neil Gaiman, some will hate your story, others will find it boring.
So read reviews, but don’t obsess. You can even get a laugh out of the silly ones. For example, this complaint – and it was a complaint – about The Last Stormlord (which is book 1 of a trilogy):
“by the end of book one, you feel like you’re only a third of the way through the novel.”
Yep, mate. Exactly right.
And here’s the proof that obsessing is ridiculous:
As you read these excerpts, remember that each one of these is a comment about the same book, The Last Stormlord.
Characters
“The characters were cardboard.” (Good Reads reviewer)
“full of interesting characters and the central characters are likable…” (Amazon reviewer)
“the characters are predictably clichéd, the villain more so than the heroes, and the supporting cast worst of all.” (Amazon reviewer)
“Larke calibrates conflicts and tensions between characters remarkably well and with subtlety.” (Online Review site)
“A lovely job is done here in showing him (Shale) growing up…” (another Online Review site)
Pacing and Plot
“A nice tight story line with no inconsistencies” (Amazon reviewer)
“With this novel she moves into the realm of sheer virtuosity” (Newspaper review)
“This is a GREAT book” (Magazine review)
“The plot is predictable” (Good Reads reviewer)
“It is an engrossing book.“ (Same good Good Reads reviewer as comment immediately above)
“This book was long and difficult to follow.” (Amazon reviewer)
“This is a GREAT book” (Magazine review)
“The plot is predictable” (Good Reads reviewer)
“It is an engrossing book.“ (Same good Good Reads reviewer as comment immediately above)
“This book was long and difficult to follow.” (Amazon reviewer)
“an extremely entertaining book.” (Amazon reviewer)
“Emotion zilch. Meh.” (Good Reads reviewer)
“I ended up staying up all night reading it once I started” (Amazon reviewer)
“Emotion zilch. Meh.” (Good Reads reviewer)
“I ended up staying up all night reading it once I started” (Amazon reviewer)
“Couldn’t get into it. Didn’t care about the characters or the problems.“(Good Reads reviewer)
“…even in 600 pages – no long, dull stretches of exposition. This book keeps moving and tumbling from one fantastic set-piece to another. “ (Online reviewer)
“ Wonderful setting, wonderful world building, incredible imagination and all in all a good tale.”(Good Reads reviewer)
World Building
“has created a great world here with different cultures and characters” (Amazon reviewer)
“The stuff with the water was inventive and original.” (Good Reads reviewer)
“The premise is still dumb.”(Same good Good Reads reviewer as comment immediately above)
“a great setting with an interesting magic and belief system.” (Amazon review)
“world-building is a great strength of the story”(Another newspaper review)
“I’ve visited an arid and frightening and wholly convincing land… and I’ve loved very minute of it. ” (Online Review site)
“I just couldn’t buy an entire civilization that refused to seek out new horizons, explore beyond the status quo of barely enough water to survive in a desert…” (Good Reads reviewer)
And here’s one more comment I just have to include. I don’t have a clue what it means, but it struck me as very funny:
“When I finished with the book, I honestly feared she might be more-talented version of Christopher Paolini.” (Amazon reviewer)
So, which comments am I going to obsess about, the good ones or the bad ones? Which ones am I going to believe?
My philosophy is: read them all, learn what you can, appreciate them — and don’t take any of them too seriously. Not even the good ones. More importantly, write the best novel you can, and then try to make the next one even better.
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The UPS man came and left a shiny new book with my name on the cover. Book two of the Stormlord trilogy, Stormlord Rising, from the Orbit US. (See the cover to the left right…)
If you live in the US, one more month, people! You can order now, you know. Try clicking on the purchase ikon to the left right in order to order from Borders.
And I just signed the first foreign language translation contract for the trilogy. More about that another time…
I’m back from Terengganu.
And a very long drive it was too – we took over 8 hours to return.
So here are some more pics from the beach below our hotel in Kuala Terengganu.
So here are some more pics from the beach below our hotel in Kuala Terengganu.
The states of Kelantan particularly, but Terengganu as well, have a long tradition of building and flying kites.So, where are all these kites from?
— China.
Sigh.
Below: I particularly loved these bird kites in flight. They were so real, fluttering the primary “feathers” while flying!
Below: decisions, decisions….
Below: And here’s two kites battling it out in flight. And note that bat kite on the stand at the lower left. In flight, that fellow looks totally wicked, with bright flaming orange eyes…scary.
Birds…well, I didn’t actually go birdwatching, but I had my binoculars. There were ten or so Little Terns around the harbour, a dark morph Reef Egret, a kite of the living kind – a Brahminy, and a pair of adult White-bellied Sea-eagles with a nest and this fully fledged youngster below, high in the casuarinas. Nice to know these magnificent eagles can nest in the trees right above the kite sellers and parked cars, next to a large hotel, and still bring a young to the edge of independence. You can see the nest in the second photo below, with the young waiting, hoping to be fed.
These photos are actually in reverse order.
Above: Mid-morning light from the hotel window…
Kuala Terengganu as seen across the harbour, early morning. Our hotel is the building to the left.
Above: Fishing boats leave the harbour just after dawn
Above: Dawn as see from the hotel swimming pool
Dawn’s early light…
And below – the reason for coming to the east coast: to attend a village wedding in Terengganu, one of my husband’s invaluable students/assistants.
