Starving Review: Heirs to Eternity by Eka Waterfield

Heirs to Eternity by Eka Waterfield (Amazon)

A rarity here, my foodies, as I must start this review with a bit of full DISCLOSURE: I performed editorial work for this particular title.

That being said, let’s begin. The urban fantasy genre is a big one, growing larger by the day, and it may seem that most every flavor available for that genre has been tried out already. If you said that, you’d likely be right. However, as we all know, it isn’t the particular flavors in a recipe but how they are blended and mixed that makes the dish. Does Heirs to Eternity find that proper blend or is it wildly overspiced?

Before we take a taste, let’s examine the Staving Review kitchen guidelines:

1. I attempt to rate every book from the perspective of a fan of the genre
2. I attempt to make every review as spoiler-free as possible

The World Of … : The Inspector Redmane Mysteries – Building the Greatest City in Aardsland! a.k.a. Fantasy World Building

We’re mostly back on track today with another The World Of … article, this time talking about my soon-to-be-available first book in The Inspector Redmane Mysteries, The Songstress Murders!  Initially intended to talk about world-building in genre fiction, my crushing fatigue leads me to ramble about themes, the origins of the story, and all sorts of things, but it does get to that pesky world-building thing quite a bit.  Enjoy!

Starving Review: Hungry for You (Haven Book 1) by Michelle Kay

Hungry for You (Haven Book 1) by Michelle Kay (Amazon, Goodreads)

While the more erotic end of romance fiction is rare in my extensive pantry, it certainly isn’t non-existent!  Today, as part of the Local Author Assault, it’s time to serve up Hungry for You, a contemporary erotic LGBT fantasy romance (that’s a lot of words!) done in the yaoi style of Japanese gay romance.  Will Hungry crystallize the visual style of the manga and anime it is inspired from into a written form or will it fall short?

Before we cut the romance cake, let us recount the vows of the Starving Reviewer:

1. I attempt to rate every book from the perspective of a fan of the genre
2. I attempt to make every review as spoiler-free as possible

Starving Interview: Michelle Kay, author of Hungry for You (Haven Book 1)

It’s landmark day in the Starving Review kitchens, as we conduct our first live interview with chef Michelle Kay, a local Gulf Bay author and subject of this week’s Starving Review with Hungry for You.  Let’s take a listen!

Starving Review: Steele Resolve (The Detective Jasmine Steele Series 1) by Kimberly Amato

Steele Resolve (The Detective Jasmine Steele Series 1) by Kimberly Amato (Amazon, Goodreads)

It’s Christmas at Starving Reviews LLC, but that doesn’t mean we can sleep on the job, no sir!  We have some fresh literary cuisine to tuck into, straight from the pantry, just to make your day complete.  This week, we get back into the nitty-gritty of some noir detective tales as we sink our teeth into Steele Resolve.  Will this treat match up to the genre’s illustrious meals of the past or will it be as tasty as an actual mouthful of steel?

Before we take that first bite, let’s take the oath of the Starving Reviewer:

1. I attempt to rate every book from the perspective of a fan of the genre
2. I attempt to make every review as spoiler-free as possible

Writing Is A Bad Habit: Love is Love a.k.a. All Flavors of Romance

Merry Christmas Eve, friends!

The holiday rush left me away from the keyboard yesterday, but I’m not one to shirk my responsibilities.  Here we go, then, with this week’s Writing Is A Bad Habit, to talk about romance in writing.  More specifically, I want to talk about the ins-and-outs of writing a non-heterosexual romance, that is to say a LGBT, and any other letters you can add to that, romance.

To someone that is purely heterosexual, this may seem like a difficult thing to do.  Maybe you feel uncomfortable with the concept or perhaps you have a fear of being offensive to others.  Either one may motivate you to avoid the topic entirely, yet this isn’t the best way to approach it, especially in a world that is coming to grips that these alternate sexualities are as healthy and valid as normal, straight sexualities.

This may seem hard, but there is a simple trick to dealing with the core matters of the relationship in such cases.  Here it is …. get ready for it!

The secret is … it’s just like any other kind of love and romance.  No, really, trust me, I know this first hand.  As a non-heterosexual person myself, take it from me and my time talking about these things with friends of every sexual persuasion.  There is nothing, at the romantic level, that is different or unusual about non-hetero love and relationships.  It is, in all essential purposes, the same.

Now, the real potential trip-ups can come in if you decide to explore past the romance to the societal and cultural issues that can come up from such romances.  For a well-rounded, realistic story, you may have to add considerable dollops of cultural elements and biases to your story.  Still, this isn’t any different from exploring other themes of societal prejudice.  Would you feel comfortable writing about racial issues, class divides, or biases and prejudices based on differing nationalities?  These are no different than dealing with issues of sexual discrimination.

What I want to conclude with is that you shouldn’t feel, if you are a heterosexual, that you can’t include non-hetero romance in your writing.  Simply treat it as any other romance you may write; it is in the end no different.

Until next time, good reading, good writing, and good luck!

Monday Musings: A Title And A Blurb a.k.a. The New Book Matches On!

Good morning, friends!

My title-less new book, due to be published sometime in January, now HAS a title!  It will be The Songstress Murders, the first of hopefully many Inspector Redmane Mysteries to come!  Also, I’ve sketched out my first draft of a book blurb.  To be honest, I am horrible with these (I find it mind-wracking to compress something so complex down to a little blurb) but I’m open to thoughts and input!

Here it is:

The Walled City is the wonder of a world reborn, five cities stacked one atop another. The only thing that stands between the normal Folk and the criminals that would prey upon them is the City Watch. Cue Junior Inspector Vela Redmane, lover of life and the lovelies, yet serious about her work as a detective, who finds herself in embroiled in one of the weirdest murder cases ever seen in this place of magic. Murder by pleasure, warring gangsters, mysterious mages, and a singing golem are just the start of Redmane’s troubles. The most complicated part of all? The roots of love, tangling Vela with both her top suspect and the sorceress who holds all the answers!

Book News: It’s Rough, But Done!

Good news, everyone!  The first draft of my next book, the as-yet-untitled fantasy mystery LGBT romance drama set in a post-magical-apocalypse with film noir and cyberpunk overtones *gasps for air*, is finished.  Now the trek of revision, beta input, editing, titling, and cover art remains!

Still, I really hope to get this out sometime in January, then immediately proceed to the next book of The Push Chronicles.  Oh, if the paragraph above catches your fancy, contact me via e-mail (jbgarner58@gmail.com) if you’d like to be part of the beta reading crew.

Until next time, good reading, good writing, and good luck!

Monday Musings: One More Sneak Peek For The Road! a.k.a.Exactly What It Says

It’s been a busy week here at Starving Author LLC and it promises to be even busier this week!  However, I promise not to leave you good folk hanging, so let’s start off the week with the final sneak peek (of this first round) of my newest novel, still really needing a title!  You can read the first Sneak Peek here and the second here.

Monday Musings: New Book Series, New Readers a.k.a. Beta Readers Needed!

Okay, literary foodies, I need to call upon some assistance!  You see, I think I’ve hit critical mass to start getting a proper group of alpha/beta readers together.  It is something completely different than the other novel series I have written and I’m looking for as much input as possible.

The book itself is a fantasy mystery romance LGBT drama set in a post-magical-apocalypse world with film noire and cyberpunk influences.  I don’t want to delve much into it as there is still fluidity in the course of the plot (I’m about a third of the way through the book).  If what you have seen here interests you so far, then contact me at jbgarner58@gmail.com and I will tell you more!

Sorry for the brevity today, but I am starting to work a few overnight shifts each week so, yeah, time to shift my sleep schedule.  Expect more later this week!

Until next time, good reading, good writing, and good luck!