This has been one of my favorite long-term projects. The first book in this series is one of those that I cut my teeth as an editor on and finally we are nearing completion on volume three. Stay tuned here and at http://www.grailquestbooks.wordpress.com for more.
Rates and Such
In which I tell where you can find me and how much I charge and why.
Vacation Next Week
I know, I know, I just got back to posting last week. Worry not, after this rest, I’ll be more energized than ever before!
And We’re Back
What have I been doing the last two months? Watch the video to find out.
Social Media Thursdays…
Will be making a comeback next week. I’ll be done with my long hours at the day job, so expect more reviews, more videos, and more comments on others blogs starting then.
Busy, Busy, Busy
Holy shazbot, business has definitely picked up in the last couple of weeks. Here’s a partial list of what I have been or soon will be up to:
- Mystery novel beta read
- Another mystery novel beta read
- Sci-fi novel review
- Ghost writing a guide book
- Writing a blurb for a band concert
- Editing articles on direct response marketing
- Writing a series on restaurant marketing
- Writing an article on interview performance
In the near future, I’ll also be interviewing one of my oldest clients, the very first stranger to take a chance on my work. I’m really looking forward to that one.
Also for the next few weeks, I may not be very present on the internet more than is absolutely necessary. It’s basically the result of piles of extra work at the day job. Like extra work to the tune of 72hr weeks for the next month. So yeah, I’ll be posting and tweeting sporadically at best. After that, I’ll be back with a vengeance.
Resist the Machine – Reviewing Avant Nation by C.D. Verhoff
Avant Nation by CD Verhoff is a dystopian novel in the tradition of Brave New World and The Hunger Games. Like these books, much of the world is governed by a totalitarian regime that controls every aspect of its citizen’s lives. As for how the vast majority of citizens feel about it, the work skews far more towards Brave New World in that they don’t even realize that anything is wrong. The economy in Avantica is booming and disease and crime are nearly non-existent. Yet, step out of line and you are hauled off to a secret colony.
Main heroin Clara Spinner begins to question certain aspects of Avantica and its ruling government, especially the algorithm that is used to determine who gets how much medical treatment. However, she also has certain talents that lead to her going a mission deep into the territory of the Liberty Human Democracy, Avantica’s chief enemy. The things that are revealed during this mission lead to Clara’s doubts blossoming even more, setting the stage for a sequel.
This is this second book that I have read from Verhoff, the other being Comet Dust. In both works, she excels at building a detailed and believable world in which it is clear that there is a reason for everything, even if not explicitly stated. She also does an excellent job of building secondary characters that are more than mere cardboard cutouts, many even growing into full-fledged, three dimensional characters in their own right. These characters are also used to show the good and bad sides of Avantica and LUD. Not only are the two societies developed, with neither being completely evil or good but those characters are allowed to show a range of traits that make them seem like normal flawed people rather than ideological stand-ins. I will say that the author doesn’t do as good a job here as in Comet Dust, particularly with the extreme (though not complete) goodness and badness of two different groups of people that are met in LUD. Still, if a reader pays close attention, he will find that there is still a good deal of nuance there.
I highly recommend this book and hope that the sequel shows up sooner rather than later.
Thoughts on Gotham
Today on social media Thursday, I did something a little different…
Interview with Deanna Verhoff
First, I apologize for not posting for a couple of weeks. It has been insanely busy here at Gingerman HQ. Second, I apologize as well for the lousy lighting in this video. We had a ton of technical difficulties to overcome on this one. Now on to more important things.
Deanna is one of the most talented writers I have had the pleasure to work with. I’ve only been able to fully edit one of her books and begin reading another but from what I can tell, both are excellent and in a class of their own. More than that, it would be best to let the interview do the talking.
Editorial Philosophy
In the inaugural video here at Gingerman Editorial, I explain a bit of my editorial philosophy. I talk about the importance of internal consistency vs. external consistency and talk about the over emphasis on things like adverbs and passive voice.
