Fin's Wrong Ideas

I missed Taekwondo this morning. So I went to buy Iron Man this morning. Yay!

I also picked up a Latin text book or so. I needed something to keep my mind somewhat nimble. I also started messing around with my two domains and adding new things. Fun!

I picked up a book via Mom, and it was sucktacular! The title is “Vulnerable” by Amy Lane. While reading it…I got the feeling that Amy Lane is an LKH fan. Some of the plot devices seemed strangely familiar. The book was about Elves and Vampires, and seemed to be a mishmash between Anita and Merry Gentry. It has the vampire (sorta like Jean Claude) and it has the Elf (sorta a cross between a few of the guys in the Merry Gentry novels). And of course the main character of the book is well on her way to becoming a goddess. Eh. I was ok with the sex in the novel. I think my main problem is that although there was characterization in the book it was still two dimensional.

I also read the new Emma Bull novel “Territory“. I enjoyed it but I felt that it ended in a strange place. If you liked the movie Tombstone, that is exactly what it is except with magic. Kinda neat.

1. 
   amy lane said...
   11:54 pm - October 6th, 2008

   Sucktacular? OUCH! Yes–you’re right–I am a LKH fan, but I had some fundamental philosophical differences– hence my own books right? Anyway, sorry it disappointed! Hope you like your next book:-)

2. 
   Administrator said...
   6:20 pm - October 9th, 2008

   Wow, okay. Didn’t check my email for a couple days and I get an author reply. Sorry about the long delay. Conversion from livejournal to wordpress…and I still don’t have the kinks worked out.

   Hello, sorry about the negative review, it wasn’t right of me to be so blasé about it. I should have listed the good with the bad. I tend to harp on the bad before the good.

   The weird part was that I actually heard of your series via the LKH Lashouts group. They were pretty positive about your work, that’s why I picked your novel up. I love the genre and love finding new books in it. I plan on picking up the next couple books in the series.

   I think an author’s first book in a new series is the roughest generally because world building is hard. The next few books reflect growth as a writer and solidity of a style.

   I liked your first book better than LKH’s newest work. Blood Noir was truly sucktacular. That is saying something since that is her 16th book in the series. Her characters are starting to all sound the same, they seem to have lost their voices.

   What I did like about the book was that you killed off a major character. I dislike it when authors can’t kill off a character because of their attachment to it. (I haven’t read the last couple of books so I don’t know if he stays dead) The sex scenes weren’t the whole darn book. Yay! I think some authors forget that letting the reader use their imaginations to fill out the rest of a scene is a lost art. Like every graphic detail from LKH is a little much. You did fairly well on the ratio of plot to sex, and the sex wasn’t as much a crutch to advance the plot like LKH does. (Yes I know I compare it all to her books, it’s silly. I liked the first few up until Obsidian Butterfly. Unlike everyone else I hated that book because it was better when Edward was an elusive character. She destroyed the mysticism of the character which was part of why I liked him.)

   The bad, or why I had a problem with the book. I dig a good fantasy/supernatural story. I don’t know why but I can’t stand the whole Goddess storyline. I guess it’s hard for me to love a character who has the power to do anything. The plus is that you have provided stumbling blocks for your main character, it humanizes her and makes it easy to identify with her. I was disappointed though with how fast she converted from tough girl gas station attendant/college student to know-it-all powerful being that everyone is interested in.

   That being said…I’m not a professional critic. That’s highly evident by typos and grammatical errors above. I’m happy that you didn’t flame me for the negative comment, you took it in stride which was neat and makes me think that I should read the rest with that in mind……and that you are confident in your writing abilities to not provide juvenile responses to negative criticism.

3. 
   amy lane said...
   3:14 am - October 13th, 2008

   Trust me, my easy-going attitude has been hard won–and in turn, I’m very impressed by your more recent comments. (I was afraid you hadn’t been able to finish the book before, and that would have meant I failed you completely as a storyteller.) Your second criticism was awesome, by the way–keep at it–you’re intelligent, aware of the genre, and you make allowances for your own prejudices, which makes everything you say resonate with truth and objectivity. Seriously–hunt up some more authors and do some interviews–you’d be great at it.

   Re: Vulnerable

   I am aware of the danger of the ‘Mary Sue’ character–she can do anything and everyone wants her. That sort of thing irritates me, and although Cory’s power does make her innately desirable, in the future books I make it a point to let other people get some of the attention. In the second book I take steps to limit her number of lovers, and with one exception, that limit stays put. One of the things I’ve done is started what I hope to be a series of short stories/novellas involving the rather intense love lives of other members of Green’s Hill. The fun thing about love stories is the newness–I think that’s why so many of our ‘powerful women’ end up being the center of all male attention. Hopefully, these novellas will give some of that excitement to the series, and I can keep the rest of Cory’s adventures focussed mostly on the ass-kicking. (Okay–I can’t cut the sex out completely–it’s a hell of a lot of fun to write!) And don’t worry–Cory’s insecurities aren’t all gone–for the moment they’ve been subsumed by grief. They come back full force in the third book:-)

   Thanks for giving my book a chance–and for taking the time to reply. If you want to chat more (and not monopolize your blog–sorry ’bout that) you can find me at amylane AT greenshill DOT com