A Real Piece of Work by Chris Orcutt

It just goes to prove what I have always said, there really are good Indie novels out there. A Real Piece of Work was recommended to me and I am so glad it was. Available from the Amazon Kindle store, this is the first in the series about private investigator Dakota Stevens. It is written in the first person in the style of Raymond Chandler and indeed the narrator alludes to the detectives of old but there is nothing old-fashioned or derivative. The story is very much a twenty first century take on the genre. Dakota Stevens and his beautiful Russian associate Svetlana Krush are asked to investigate the disappearance of a painting. The case takes them into the murky business of stolen art and of course into dangers they had not expected. Dakota is impetuous and passionate, whilst Svetlana has a brilliant analytical mind and is entirely logical. It makes for great chemistry between them and plenty of humourous moments. The story moves along beautifully and the ending is unexpected and satisfying. I loved the narrator's witty asides as the plot's twists and turns. Highly recommended.

Only the Innocent - by Rachel Abbott

My second recommendation for Indie novels is this murder mystery by Rachel Abbott. What I particularly liked about this was the fact that it is out of the ordinary. It is not purely a police procedural, although the policeman in charge of the investigation (As with all the characters)  is well drawn and believable. Hopefully, the author is planning to use him again in another novel. I would like to read more about him. The story unfolds layer by layer and  I did not guess who had committed the murder until the end. Even then, there was a final twist as the reason for the murder is revealed.

The novel hooked me from the beginning and kept me hooked throughout. A real page turner. I am very happy to recommend it. Another thumbs up for indie authors.

Novel Kicks is an online community designed especially for writers whether published or taking those first few steps. I am delighted that Laura Parish, the site's founder has agreed to answer some questions for me.

Laura, please tell us a little about yourself.

I’ve recently turned thirty and still wondering where my twenties went. I’ve wanted to write a book for years but fear has always got in the way. However, I’ve recently become a member of the Romantic Novelist’s Association New Writers Scheme so I’m hoping the lack of book will soon change. I also love music and would love to be working in the radio industry but for now I’ll stick with my I-pod which has songs ranging from The Beatles to Westlife to Lady Gaga (much to my husband’s Chris’ annoyance.) If I’m not writing, reading or dancing around to pop music, I watch TV for a living. :)

How did you come up with the idea for Novel Kicks?

Being a new writer myself, one of the things that I find the scariest (other than committing to the actual writing of the book) is letting people read my work. Therefore I thought it would be great to have somewhere people could post work and gain feedback (including me) and be around people in the same boat. As I work shifts, I couldn’t commit to a weekly writing group so putting something online seemed like the next best thing. Also, around the same time, my friend Roland was recruiting people on a Facebook Group to commit to writing a book in a year. I put the two ideas together in my head and suggested Novel Kicks to him.

What are your aims and ambitions for Novel Kicks?

My main ambition for Novel Kicks is to have a community within the forums. Somewhere people feel they can go to discuss with fellow writers and where people would feel comfortable in posting work. I also want the author interview section to continue to be as successful as it has been.

What have you enjoyed most about the experience?

Meeting new people via the virtual world of the site and being able to be in contact with some of the authors I admire has been the thing I’ve loved the most. I’ve managed to be in contact with so many lovely people (authors as well as users of the site) and it’s great. I’ve also been sent books for review; books I wouldn’t have normally picked up but have loved. If not for the site then I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to read so many wonderful stories.

How can people get in touch with you?

You can become a member on Novel Kicks (http://www.novelkicks.co.uk) – it’s free and we have a monthly book club and writing group where anyone is welcome to contribute too. You can also contact me via e-mail (novel@novelkicks.co.uk) and we’re also on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/novelkicks) and Twitter (@novelkicks)

If you’re a new writer and don’t really know where to begin then please come join Novel Kicks. We’re all a friendly bunch and the more people who use the forum, the better it will become.

Sea Witch by Helen Hollick

As I promised, my first Indie book review. I am so glad I started with this one. It proves what I have been saying, that there is some really good Indie writing out there.

Firstly, and most importantly for me, it is a good story and I was hooked from the very first page. Sea Witch, the first in a series, is the story of a pirate, Jesemiah Acorne, charming, handsome - of course - ruthless, but basically good and just a little vulnerable, all you would wish for from an enduring hero. The heroine, Tiola Oldstagh is a white witch with extraordinary powers but not the wand waving, spell weaving type and she has strength of character that comes not just from her powers. All the characters are believable even the baddies and the author shows us why they do what they do.

The story is basically boy meets girl, boy loses girl etc. but actually it is much more than that. Helen Hollick sets the period perfectly, it is well researched and detailed without long paragraphs of description or lecture notes. I love history and if a book has a good story and also educates me then  all the better. Within the first few pages I had learned the difference between a pirate and a privateer for example. No, I'm not going to tell you. Read it for yourself.

I am pleased to say that having been hooked initially Sea Witch kept me turning the pages right to the end and I am very happy to recommend it.

Why I am going to start reviewing Indie books.

There has been more and more interest recently in Indie and Self-published authors, especially with the growing market for e-books. Anyone can publish a book on Kindle. This has to be a  good thing in general as there is some great stuff out there and mainstream publishers are reluctant to take a chance on new authors unless they are guaranteed substantial sales.

The problem of course, is that there is also a lot of dross, bad writing, and good writing badly edited.

I decided recently that as I have gone down the Indie route myself, I should make an effort to discover and support other Indie authors.  But how to sort the good from the bad? I've chosen a couple of well reviewed books to start with and I'll post the reviews on this blog and goodreads, Amazon, etc. Although I will still read mainstream books - obviously - I'll only use this blog to review the Indies.

The Story Continues

Today I loaded Circle of Fire on to Kindle and it's time to move on. So many kind people have asked me when the second book is coming out and it is coming along but it's going to be a while. In the meantime, some of the characters who didn't play such a large role in Circle of Fire have their own stories to tell, filling in the gaps before the second book begins. I'll let them speak for themselves. Watch this space.

Genre-busting. It's just a story.

I have known for some time that I should be writing a blog but every time I started,  inspiration deserted me and I hummed and ha-ad about what to write. So I told myself what I always tell other writers, start at the beginning.

I was staying on holiday in a historic house in a medieval village in France. As I stood at the window of my room on the top floor (just as Nick does in the first chapter of my novel) I could see across the rooftops and beyond the surrounding forest, to the distant mountains. It was there that the idea for Circle of Fire came to me. Nick is a reluctant hero, a warrior who has turned his back on glory but is then forced to fight a battle between love and duty.

Obviously it took a while longer for the plot to take shape and about a year to write it. I knew nothing about French history and in fact the story I had written did not fall into any period of English history either. I had to invent my own country and give it a history of its own.

As much as I enjoy the fantasy genre, I am not too keen on magic or elves, so there are no wizards or wing-ed creatures. I did have a little flirt with mind-reading, or True-sight as I like to call it but all in all, my world was entirely human and down to earth. Was it then, a fantasy? Was it a history? Neither one nor the other or a bit of both?

Whatever I choose to call it, my novel is cross genre and publishers and agents would not publish it. I decided eventually to go the self-publishing route. YouWriteOn.com made the whole process easy and manageable and here we are. It's just a story. A reader can look at the back of the book and decide whether he wants to read it or not.

I would be very interested to hear from other writers who have similar problems. Perhaps we could start our own 'Just a Story' genre.