Blog Tour Part Two: Book Bloggers Rock! #bookreview #amreading

The blog tour for my new novel, Settlement, ended yesterday. I’ve never done a blog tour before so I wasn’t sure what to expect.  But it proved to be a great experience. Yes, it was a bit nerve-wracking waiting to see what the bloggers’ thoughts were on the book, but I needn’t have worried – it all went well.

So I owe a huge thank you to all the book bloggers who took part out of the goodness of their hearts and to Kelly at Love Book Group Tours for organising it all.

And, as I did a few days ago when I posted a roundup of the first three stops on the tour (here), today I’m putting up the links to the rest.

Day 4: A lovely review on The Secret World of a Book Blogger site – here

Day 5: It was another extract from the beginning of the book was shared by Louise on her Bookmarks and Stages blog – here.

Day 6: Another fab review – this time from Kate on her Confessions of an Avid Reader blog – here.

Day 7: I had a guest post on Joanne’s blog – Portobello Book Blog – and Joanne even included a mini-review of what she thought of Settlement so far as she was still reading it at time of posting. You can see my post and her thoughts here.

Day 7: There was a second stop on day 7 at Sandra’s Beauty Balm blog. And with such a wonderful review from Sandra it was a great way to end the journey. You can read what she thought here.

And that’s it. So, once again, thank you to the bloggers, to Kelly, and to all the people who read the posts, and who commented on them and shared them on social media. I appreciate it all. And thanks to readers of this blog too who have also been supportive.

But before I go, I should answer the above mentioned Sandra’s question: Yes, there will be a third book in the Displacement/Settlement series. I’ve just started writing Fulfilment which will be the final part of the set. I will then leave these characters in peace and move on to something completely new.

Blog Tour for Settlement: The First Three Days #amwriting #amreading #lovebooksgroup

My new novel Settlement is out and about online all this week. It’s off on a tour of some book-bloggers’ websites. The tour has been organised by the amazing Kelly from Love Books Group and so far it’s going really well.

So I thought I’d give my own readers a chance to hop on board the blog bus and see where the book has been so far. Just click on the blog titles to visit each stop.

On day one, it was on Els’s blog – b for book review –  where Els shared an extract and some information about me and the book.

Day two saw Settlement arriving at Jill’s blog – On The Shelf Books – and Jill had written the most wonderful review.

Then today it showed up at MADE UP BOOKS where Cassandra almost made me cry with her appreciative review.

I’ve never done a blog tour before but this is proving to be great fun. And I must say a huge thank to all the bloggers who have given up their time for free to support it.

I’ll report back in a few days with how the rest of the week goes.

And a quick question as always to end: nowadays I find almost all my new reads via the book blogs that I follow. How do you find yours?

Book Review: George’s Run #1by Henry Chamberlain

A biography in comic strip form, a perfect blend of genres

George's Run 2

 

As I said in my previous post, sometimes it’s good to get out of your reading comfort zone and to read something that’s not in the genres you usually favour. And I suggested trying graphic novels if that’s not something that’s on your bookshelf. I also mentioned comics author Henry Chamberlain and his blog.

I was reminded of the power pictures have to tell stories with few or no words when I discovered Henry Chamberlain’s Comics Grinder blog. Henry is a cartoonist whose blog is a richly stocked shop window and showcase for all sorts of comics, graphic novels and cartoons and their creators, as well as associated movies and conferences.

For all writers, whether it be of fiction or non-fiction, the construction and pacing of content is crucial to the finished work’s effectiveness and appeal. But for the graphic writer it’s crucial. A whole scene, or indeed a chapter, might have to be contained in a single picture. But this constraint can work in the graphic form’s favour as it gives it immediacy.

And perhaps that’s why Henry’s idea of writing a biography in cartoon form is such a good one. A huge amount of detail can be told economically and powerfully.

Henry Chamberlain’s book about the life and work of American science-fiction writer, George Clayton Jones, someone it’s obvious he admires, is coming out in serial form–– very appropriate for the genre and the subject. And Part One of George’s Run is out now.

Sadly Johnson passed away shortly after the publication of the first instalment but Henry’s work promises to be a fitting tribute to the man.

George Clayton Jones born in 1929, was part of the pop and counter-culture world of the 1960s. He wrote for the TV sci-fi series The Twilight Zone, a scary and fascinating series I remember from the black and white days of my youth and from long before the X-Files were even a twinkle in television’s eye. Jones also wrote the first ever episode of Star Trek–– legacy enough when you think how that series developed. And as well as that he was a co-writer of the original Ocean’s Eleven on which the much later movie is based. But for true sci-fi fans his greatest achievement is probably as co- author of the cult classic Logan’s Run.

This first part then of George’s Run is based on a face-to-face interview Henry carried out with George and is an introduction to the man and his work and how he grew up in a time of all sorts of possibilities and imaginings and was influenced by the radio and the movies, the new media of the time.

The pictures are charming and expressive and Chamberlain succeeds in having them do that picture tells a thousand words thing. It’s a great start to the full biography of an interesting and, yes, groundbreaking writer. It also seems particularly apt to tell this life story in graphic form. Perhaps more biographies could or should be done in this way.

George’s Run is available on Kindle in the UK here and the US here

Henry also has a collection of his best comics stories available in his book A Night at the Sorrento and Other Stories.

Night at the Sorrento