August, 2011

Good News!

I’ve mentioned David Sterry and Arielle Eckstut’s book, “The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published” before, so all I’ll say about that is, if you haven’t bought it or at least read it, what are you waiting for? Buying and reading that book was the beginning of my good fortune.

I bought their book when they came through Kansas City last winter during a “Pitchapalooza” event. (If you see one of these come up in your neighborhood and you have any writing aspirations, GO. You will not regret it. Even if you do nothing else for the entire evening but sit and listen, you will hear some of the best feedback you’ll ever get and you’ll receive it for free. What more could a starving artist ask for – well, beyond a six figure book deal. LOL) At the Kansas City tour, they offered every person who bought their book a twenty minute conference call to discuss their pitch. It’s not a six figure book deal, but when your query isn’t getting you anywhere, that twenty minutes is GOLD. If you’d like to read their testimonials, click on the link.

My pitch was not chosen for presentation at the Pitchapalooza, but buying their book and registering to receive their newsletters put me in a place where I did not expect to land. I am now a contributor on their Facebook page! I couldn’t be happier and David and Arielle have been the soul of generosity.

Doing a little jig… and off to find another quote. 🙂

Book Review of The Young Samurai: Way of the Warrior

In previous books, Jack Fletcher sailed to Japan with his father only to lose him to the wave of anti-Christian sentiment sweeping the island nation. When the Ninja who murdered his father steals Jack’s father’s logbook, Jack’s only possession and an invaluable guide to the world’s oceanic trading paths, Jack vows to retrieve the book. I assume that’s where the last book in the series ended, but I’m not positive as I jumped into this book without ever having read the first novel.

I have to say, my lack of previous experience in Jack’s story did not stop me from enjoying this book, which is surely a rarety among sequels: an outstanding standalone novel. (Since writing the above, I’ve done my research. Not only is there a book before this one, there’s a series. I have a lot of catch up to do!)

In Way of the Warrior, the story still winds around Jack, the lost logbook and Jack’s efforts to become a samurai, but the war against foreigners and the other Daimyo (provincial rulers) now takes center stage. In fact, the latter half of the book rates as among the most moving pieces of YA or warfare reading material I’ve been privileged to read. The self sacrifice of Jack’s classmates moved me beyond words at times.

If you have boys looking for good reading material, I can’t think of anything much better than this book. As someone who hates reading series, it surely speaks volumes that I want to read Mr. Bradford’s other work.

We Apologize For the Inconvenience

Sorry, folks, no blog today, I’m busy fighting Ninja. However, I will have a review of an outstanding boy’s book on Wednesday, so please stay tuned, true believers! 😀

Blogging from a smart phone

Is not fun, so I’ll ask you what are you’re most frustrating writing or blogging moments?

China Artistry in the News

In a recent NPR Morning Edition article by Sandy Totten, Americans found that China wants to use the western movie making infrastructure to promote China and its long history. “The Chinese government-owned company recently invested $30 million in hopes of making a movie that would both celebrate Chinese culture and turn a tidy profit.”