Review: The Mind Game by MG Harris.

 The Book:

Years have passed since her childhood friend disappeared, but Roni remains consumed by the mystery. Can she uncover what happened to Maxim Santiago?

Podcast fame thrusts 17-year-old Roni into a perilous quest to find her missing friend, who disappeared from Dulles Airport, Washington D.C. She teams up with tech-savvy Kenzie to crack cryptic messages and unearth a dark secret about trafficked kids. Dodging shadowy agents of the ruthless Russian dictator waging a global ‘Mind Game’ on his enemies, they end up in a sweltering Mexican town, a nexus for refugees

They shared childhood memories, but Maxim has changed. He’s older, wiser, perhaps even dangerous. Now he seeks their help to rescue enslaved children guarding a world-shaking secret, but time’s running out. Roni and Kenzie dive into Maxim’s risky mission, testing their friendship amid a struggle for control of a key project that could win the ‘Mind Game.

It's a journey that brings Roni an astonishing self-discovery. Can she trust in herself to help the rescue succeed?

 

My Thoughts:

This is a fast paced action packed teen adventure with a unique concept at its core from the author of bestselling teen series The Joshua Files.

I really enjoyed reading this. It’s a fun romp through some great locations. One of the things this author does so well is bring Mexico to life. The pace never lets up and the pages almost turn themselves.

The story is narrated by teen podcaster Roni and is told in an engaging and chatty style, perhaps to reflect her online persona, yet for some reason that I can’t put my finger on I never really clicked with her. The character of Max by comparison had much more depth and I’m curious to see where his story leads.

This is the first in a new series from this author. I will certainly be looking out to see what comes next.

Self Publishing promotion update: (August 2024)

Here is my latest update on the various promotional activities I have undertaken to try to spread the word about my self-published books, and how successful or otherwise these activities have been.

1. Social Media

I joined a number of reader and author groups on facebook and did my best to contribute as far as possible. Most have very strict ‘no promotion’ rules but some do offer opportunities such a monthly post where people can post kindle sales or new releases. Apparently the way authors game these groups is to team up and then talk about each other’s books. Unfortunately I don’t have a team of author friends willing to big me up, so I just have to play by the rules. Where I was allowed to I advertised the kindle countdown sale for The Arid Lands and my ARC signups for Dragons of Dunmoray. The main benefit from joining these groups was the helpful advice on offer.

Other social media activities continued as normal.

2. ARC Readers

In the run up to self publishing my new book, Dragons of Dunmoray, decided that, rather than approaching review blogs, I would reach out for ARC (Advance Review Copies) readers. I set up an ARC signup form on google forms and included one important question – Why do you want to read Dragons of Dunmoray? This deterred non humans very effectively. I only had one signup who was clearly a bot.

So far I have sent out 20 review copies. Hopefully this will prove to be a better approach than my previous efforts of approaching review blogs directly.

3. Readers Book Club

The Arid Lands was chosen as book club read for April/May and the organiser sent out six free copies to the participants. There was lively discussion but then one of the participants warned everyone than Amazon frowns on authors leaving reviews for other authors’ books and will cancel your KDP account if they catch you. So this immediately killed off anyone leaving reviews for anyone else, which was a shame.

I did ask the participating authors if anyone would be happy to let me have quotes that I could use in my promotion, but nobody responded.

As of now this group appears to have fizzled out.

4. Indieverse awards

This has come to nothing and I won’t be pursuing it any further.

5. SPSFC4

I plan to enter The Arid Lands into SPSFC4. I thoroughly enjoyed taking part in SPSFC3 and although Red Rock didn’t make it past the first round I feel it raised my profile plus I discovered some fantastic new authors and books.

6. Kindle Sale

I ran a two day kindle countdown deal for The Arid Lands in June. Sales had tailed off over the preceding couple of months so I hoped that this would give it a boost. I did my best to promote it wherever I could but only picked up a handful of sales.

So in conclusion the approach I took to find ARC readers has been significantly better than pitching to review sites. Final tallies for how many ARCS I will send out at the proportion that translate into reviews are yet to be determined.

 

 

Building my ARC team

When I was building up to the release of The Arid Lands I looked into how best to obtain reviews. At the time I decided I would try to approach book bloggers directly. I researched (I found a useful list on Reedsy) to identify bloggers who would accept self published books (many don’t) and who were interested in the SF and dystopia genres (again, this whittled them down). I ended up with a shortlist of 20 to approach.

I pitched The Arid Lands to these blog sites but only one requested a review copy and I’m not aware of them ever leaving a review. A couple of others came back to me asking for money which they hadn’t made clear on their websites which was annoying.

All in all this wasn’t a particularly satisfactory approach.

Now that I’m building up to the release of Dragons of Dunmoray in September I’ve decided that I will try a different tactic. I’m trying to build an ARC team (Advance Review Copies).

If you like dragons, Scotland, volcanos and danger, all topped off with a bit of spice, then you can find the link to my ARC signup sheet below. I will send you a free electronic copy in the hope that you will like it enough to leave a review, although there is no obligation to do so.

Dragons of Dunmoray ARC signup form

Cover Reveal: Dragons of Dunmoray

 Today I am delighted to share with you - the cover of Dragons of Dunmoray!

And I am now officially open to ARC (Advanced Review Copy) signups - so if you are interested in joining my review team please signup below.

Dragons of Dunmoray ARC signup form

The Dragons are Coming

 

I have a new novel in the pipeline, a dark fantasy set in Scotland. I'll be telling you more in the coming weeks, so watch out for my cover reveal! Not long to go now!

Review: Aerovoyant – The Industrial Age Volume 1 by PL Tavormina

The Book:

On planet Turaset, droughts ravage farmlands, cyclones rip through coastal cities, and with every barrel of oil the combustion industry pumps from the ground, the climate worsens. Alphonse has just refused a council seat because taking it means serving that rapacious industry. He leaves the city to seek solace in the wilderness, and there, a power to live the past awakens within him. Alphonse walks the steps of his distant ancestors on long-dead Earth, soon growing plagued with memories of its collapse, and he’s left with a troubling certainty: he must infiltrate the combustion industry to secure proof of its treachery, or Turaset will be next to fall.

Alphonse finds an ally in Myrta, a farmgirl who sees air, every molecule in every pulse of breath or blast of exhaust. With her talent, she can evade the patrols on the industry’s grounds. Together, Alphonse and Myrta can prove the industry lies about emissions. They can convince the councils to shut down fossil fuel use permanently.

But people in the industry have grown wise to Myrta’s power—and now she’s marked for death.

My Thoughts

This book is a slow burn. It’s a book to savour. The worldbuilding is fascinating and well developed and the gentle pace enabled me to become really invested in both the characters and the environment in which they live. There are lots of clever ideas here that gently reveal themselves as you read. For example Myrta’s ability to see air is quite fascinating.

The two main characters, Myrta and Alphonse, move along separate yet parallel paths before they finally join forces quite late in the story, but I felt this worked really well because when they do come together then the pace heats up, and because I had become so invested in their lives and their world, I really couldn’t put this book down.

The writing is vivid and evocative, the characters are compelling and genuine and the parallels with what we are doing to our own planet (Not to mention Turaset’s history) are a salutary warning, both for what could happen here if nothing changes, as well as the tendency for humanity to repeat the same mistakes.

All in all I enjoyed reading this book very much.

Strongly recommended.

A New Era for SciFi – the indie scene!

There is a whole new world of excellent SciFi out there – just under the radar. And I would like to draw your attention to it. For this is the indie (self published) Sci Fi scene – and some of the books I’ve read recently are very VERY good!

Unfortunately being self published these books tend not to gain the attention they deserve, and they’ve not been easy to find. Some I encountered through the SPSFC3 contest for self published SciFi, others I found through engaging with other authors.

I’ve always been an avid SciFi fan, ever since I was a child and skipped straight from children’s books into the SciFi world. I’ve read voraciously over the years but recently it’s been getting harder and harder for me to find the sorts of SciFi that I love to read. Mainstream publishing is trying to appeal to new audiences, but in the process the traditional readership is being left behind.

Now that isn’t to say that there’s no good SciFi being published by mainstream publishers. There most certainly is. But the big shift at the moment is towards fantasy and more specifically Romantasy, which isn’t for me. But then I discovered the indie scene and realised that this is where all those Hard SF and military and gritty space operas have gone.

So here I am, rediscovering my love for SciFi. And now I want to shout about some of the wonderful books and authors I have discovered. This is a selection of the best I’ve read so far. If you click on the link it will take you to my review for that book. And if you have any you’d like to recommend to me please leave a comment and I will check them out.

• Arkhangelsk by Elizabeth Bonesteel

• Embargo on Hope by Justin Doyle

• Kenai by Dave Dobson

• The Day the Earth Turned: Book 1. Summer by Chantelle Atkins

• The Prism Effect by J Wint

• Ironheart by Allan Boroughs

• The Girl from a thousand Fathoms by David Gullen