Cenozoic Publishing

http://www.greenbookfestival.com/

Somebody pinch me!

Just concluded an interview with editors from Kirkus Reviews.  Thought I’d be nervous, but it went great, definitely stuck the landing. They will be featuring my novel in the May issue of their magazine.  Given my less than impressive DNA pay-grade, this is a fairly huge feat, like dunking over Dikembe Mutombo.

They were particularly interested in the process, why self-pub, and were impressed by the quality of work (their words, not mine)   Well, I went on to explain, after years of rewrites, 2 lit agents, and collecting enough rejection letters to wall paper a small cathedral, it was simply time.

Gotta come up with a photo now.  Sent them a pic while fishing and they said no.  Don’t have many pics of myself; always feel like its torture to the lens, Nikon waterboarding.  Guess I better go try to work on this.  Anyone know how to photoshop in some hair?

Ow!  I said pinch, not punch!

For those who may not know, Kirkus is a professional book review group that posts opinion on most traditionally published books (fiction and non-fiction alike) that come off the hopper.  As an “Indie author” I knew it was a gamble to ask them to look over Unnatural Selection, as they do not guarantee a positive review.   Website: http://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/

Earlier today I received my review, and opened it with–what I can only imagine to be–angst similar to that of an ancient explorer dropping a first foot upon the soil of a new world.   Was I going to find gold, exotic spices, or the snapping jaws of fabled dragons.

Whew!  I was enormously relieved to find that, as a whole, they liked the novel.  No gold or dragons, but somewhere in between.  I’ll post the review below for you to read, if you’d like.  They seemed to be a little disappointed with the drawing of the antagonist.  I can’t disagree.  Although I didn’t think it was that obvious.  I still have up to 80 free changes from the publisher (Createspace). Maybe I’ll make some modifications.  Thank god for print-on-demand!

Review will be “officially” posted on the Kirkus website in about a week.

-TP

UNNATURAL SELECTION, Cenozoic (386 pp.), $14.99 Paperback, January 24, 2012, ISBN: 978-0984669103

     Planet Earth is fried and fricasseed in this wildly suspenseful post-apocalyptic action yarn only partially set deep beneath the ocean waves.

     Compared to the sun-scarred humans still clinging to life topside, young biologist Jesse Baines is living well. Pacifica—the secret undersea lab nestled off the coast of San Diego where he and a community of other scientists have taken refuge after society’s collapse—is a self-sufficient oasis far from the reach of marauding cannibals. Still, Jesse can’t shake the feeling of being imprisoned in this pineapple under the sea, so he longs for a chance to ditch his cushy confines. When an unexpected disaster threatens Pacifica, he leaps at the chance to take part in a risky reconnaissance mission to recover some necessary items stored back on land. What unfolds next is all part of an ambitious plot that evokes elements of The Road and BioShock, the epic video game. Pryce’s muscular prose is relentlessly descriptive and often times even poetic in its blood and guts portrayal of a world seared into insanity. A keen sense of apprehension and anxiety consistently stokes the engines of suspense in an inexorable march toward ultimate calamity. Things only start to lag once the door is thrown open and the boogieman let out. Although artfully rendered, the main villain here is either a clichéd madman (right down to his evil genius grin), or (more generously) a loving homage to every Hollywood bad guy who’s ever plotted to take over the world. The story’s deep, dark, terrible secret, meanwhile, is a conspiracy theorist’s fantasy whirling with fears of overpopulation, global warning, genetic engineering and cloning. Some of the plot points seem a bit forced in order to facilitate the high adrenaline set pieces, while at least two other story threads are left virtually high and dry. But vividly rendered characters worth rooting for and supremely orchestrated action combine to compensate for any listing that might occur, which helps keep this semi-aquatic adventure on course to a thrilling conclusion.

     Nail-biting fun amid near-future pseudo-science.

Skim, skip, zoom…is the way I read most blog posts.  And given the microwaved lifestyles of the day, I suspect most do the same.  Every once in a while, however, a post comes down the pike that garners my full attention.   Step Right Up written by Sinead MacDughlas falls into this category.  First published on All Things Books—which is a charming and informative little blog chock full of all kinds of writerly treats—I read every word.  Well-written in craft and style, the piece also spoke very directly to the leg of the writer’s journey that I am about to embark on.  Specifically: promotion and publicity—chores that to me are only marginally less dreadful than root-canal.

This is an area that I was eventually going to address here, but since Sinead did such a splendid job (and I could express it no better) I asked if we could tack her work up here for a spell.  She graciously agreed, as did the curator of All Things Books, Tanya Contois.  Thanks to both of you.  Know that I am enormously appreciative.

Without further delay: read, enjoy, smile…

Step Right Up

   by: Sinead MacDughlas

Facebook, Twitter, Google +. I have accounts on all three. As a reader, social networking is a bit like walking down the midway at a huge fair. All the author(carnies) are shouting at once, “Hey, hey, over here. You got a couple’a dollars? You’re gonna love this. Check it out. Here! No, here! Look, I’ll throw in an extra prize!” And like a kid at the carnival, I’m racing from place to place, trying to decide where to spend my allowance, and how to get the most for my money.

As an Indie author, it’s sometimes more like trying to be the thirty-third caller on a radio show, for a pair of backstage passes, at that concert everyone wants to go to. If I don’t dial in at just the right second, I have to wait an hour and try again. My speed dial is all set and my finger is hovering over the button, (in this case, the enter key), waiting for the perfect opportunity.

Sometimes it’s similar to attempting a conversation with my hubby while he’s watching T.V. If I’m really lucky I can catch that commercial break, and get in a sentence or two, before he flips the channel.
Most often it feels like I’m twenty years old again, at the bar, trying to connect with some hotty on the dance floor. The music is blaring, the lights are flashing, and there’s a pair of girls grinding on each other a foot away. I’m winking, flipping my hair and showing off my moves, and it takes me a while to realize he hasn’t been looking at me for the last five minutes. His attention has already been taken by the blonde behind me, with the short skirt and the long legs.

It’s easy to get drawn into a cycle of spamming, as a writer. We are the carnies at the fair, each trying to get your attention. I suppose there are some writers who just want you to buy their book. Those are the “sales link spammers”. You’ve all seen them. Once or twice a day, they post their sales links, and then sign out. Most of us, though, really just want to share our words with you.

Sure, I’d love to sell a thousand books and be able to write for a living! It’s not a very likely scenario, but it’s a nice dream. My first book has cost me approximately four hundred dollars to publish. Every penny of that money came out of my pocket. I’d have to sell eight hundred copies to recoup that money. To date, I’ve sold one. I’ve given away over one hundred and sixty copies, via contests, ARC’s, free downloads, reviewer copies and just plain gifts. If I sell eight hundred copies in five years, I think I’ll have a heart attack. I certainly don’t expect some publishing company will pick me up on a big, fat contract anytime soon. I really just want to share my words. I’m beginning to think, though, that social networking isn’t such a great way to do that anymore.

With the switch to a ticker feed on Facebook, the speed at which Twitter operates, and the ‘hit and miss’ postings on Google +, I find myself, more often than not, feeling lost in the crowd. I’m just one voice of many shouting into crowded rooms, hoping someone can hear me over the noise. “Hello?”

There must be a better way…

See more from Sinead at:  http://www.author.sinmacd.ca/

See more from Tanya at:  http://speedyreader-allthingsbooks.blogspot.com/

Next week guest blogger and author of Unscheduled Stops, Sinead MacDughlas will be sharing here!  Oooh…I can’t wait!

My girlfriend broke up with me after the football game on Sunday, even after I gave her a good half time roll.  I quickly hung up the phone with my bookie and asked her why?

Her answer– “You never cover the spread.”

It’s been my experience that some things in life are best learned through experience.

YES…only 24 hours till the return of Beavis and Butt-head to TV!  I’m stoked, one of my favorite shows of all time.  I’d be only marginally more excited if Angelina Jolie was sitting on my lap right now!

        FIND OUT IF…

A deadly mix of plague and environmental turmoil forces a small group of scientists and their families to seek refuge in an underwater facility.  Located off the coast of California, Pacifica was conceived to study alternative energy systems and algae farms as part of America’s continued effort to go green.  Who knew that its greatest service would be as sanctuary for the human race.

 YOU

Jesse Baines is one of the fortunate few to make it down to Pacifica – although he doesn’t feel all that lucky.  Unlike most, Jesse finds life in Pacifica confining and bleak.   And after his parents are lost — one to plague, the other to the sea — he wants out more than ever. But leaving Pacifica is easier said than done.

CAN

A mission back to land is eventually authorized and Jesse finally gets his chance.  And what the team finds is startling and strange, the environment so vastly altered as to be another planet entirely.  Every step upon the cauterized soil brings new adventure, the mystery as deep and dangerous as the Marianas Trench.  The obvious threats of cannibalism, disease, and searing radiation turn out to be only the beginning.

SURVIVE

Why do the majority of survivors have dark skin?  What caused the deadly plague and global decline?  Come face to face with a creature of impossible origins.  Discover the secrets of a strange new world, and the unfathomable forces behind it all.  And most of all, find out if you have the Darwinian vigor to survive…

UNNATURAL SELECTION