Failing Test featured on Kippoe Blogspot!

A nice interview and feature on Kipp Poe's blog. Check out his many reviews and find your next read!

Happy weekend!

Well, it has been a very nice week. Failing Test has been featured on several blogs and received a couple of four star reviews. First, Imogen Rose read and reviewed FT and then posted an interview with me on Dawn Judd's Breakout Book Review. Here is the link:
http://breakoutbooks.blogspot.com/2010/08/failing-test-by-jm-pierce.html

Also, I was invited to be a guest "reader" on an Amazon Kindle Forum called "The Retreat", yesterday and posted the first couple pages of Chapter 12 from FT, in which my favorite character, Clifford Johnston, is introduced. You can check it out here:
http://www.amazon.com/tag/kindle/forum/ref=cm_cd_pg_pg14?_encoding=UTF8&cdForum=Fx1D7SY3BVSESG&cdPage=14&cdSort=oldest&cdThread=Tx2K2T0PIT7Y6EQ

I will also be attending a book signing for an area high school in Wichita, Ks in the next couple of months. The date hasn't been made firm yet, but I will post more info as it is made available to me. Here is the link:
http://fcclabookfest.blogspot.com/


Enough talking about myself, a fellow indie author looks to be poised to make it into the big show! Amanda Hocking, author of the "My Blood Approves" series as well as "Switched", has been contacted by a very prominent agent and (in my opinion) is only a short drive away from stardom! Congratulations Amanda. We are all very proud of you!!!! You can check out her authors page on Amazon here:
http://www.amazon.com/Amanda-Hocking/e/B003H4L762/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1283009999&sr=1-2-ent


This is a dynamic and fantastic time to be an Indie Author. "Duality" is coming along quickly and I'm hoping to have it published by the end of October 2010 and then in December, I'm hoping to have the sequel to FT (A Shadow's Light) published as well.

I am very grateful to all who have shown FT and myself such love and support. Best wishes to you all and take care!

J.M.

A circular, and in my opinion, pointless debate.

I've been gone for a few days working on my newest book, but I will admit that I've lurked an Indie Author forum here and there while at my day job. I've watched several threads grow concerning being traditionally published vs. independent and have tried to keep up with. Springing from that discussion was another regarding Indie Authors reviewing one another's work.


To be honest, I don't much care what anyone else says about Indie/Self Published authors. Do I take offense to it? No, not really. The thing that concerns me more is the tendency for everyone to be so critical of everything. It's like we are all being expected to charge into battle and see how many pieces of cow manure we can find on the battlefield. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying everybody hug and sing campfire songs, but really, why did you start writing? Was it to prove that you were better than someone else? For some of you maybe. I personally am tired of hearing how bad Dan Brown's writing sucks or Stephenie Meyer's writing is garbage. It starts to sound like a bunch of high school teens hating on the prom queen simply because she won and you didn't. Now, you may honestly hate their writing, but I just don't get why people have to wave a flag saying "Yep, it sucked!" unless they are trying to be a part of an elitist clique.

As far as reviewing indie authors, I have reviewed several. I know Amanda Hocking (My Blood Approves series) just started a thread about reviews and I agree with her 100% in that I have one heck of a time writing them! I have done it for two indies and I will surely do it again. My reviews aren't the great ten paragraph rants on the literary greatness, or the lack thereof, that a lot of people seem to require in order for it to be "helpful". To be honest, I hate when the conversation of reviews comes up because there are so many review snobs out there that it makes getting one less fun. "Don't pay attention if they're in the same state, don't pay attention if it's another indie author, don't pay attention unless it's written without any emotion and reads like a term paper", it just gets old. It is hard enough for some of us to have the slightest level of self esteem and really, all we want to do is write a book. After the book is written then maybe, just maybe, someone will read it that will enjoy it.

I guess to close my rant, I'll say that I just wish people could do their thing, whatever that thing is, without being judged at every turn. I have absolutely no problem with people posting bad reviews as long as they are genuine and constructive, but I think dismissing a good review or questioning its motives simply because it was written by another Indie is selling a lot of people's work, as well as the integrity and character of our fellow authors, short.

Failing Test is being featured on several blogs and websites this coming week!

Failing Test is being featured on the following blogs and websites!

http://fictionfordessert.blogspot.com/

http://oescienne.com/blog/
 
http://www.indieurbanfantasy.com/

http://indiebooksblog.blogspot.com/2010/08/simple-is-better.html/

http://lisadgibson.blogspot.com/
 
I want to give a big thanks to the ladies and gentlemen who have given FT this opportunity and to Lisa Gibson for the nice review on her blog. Also a big thank you to all of the readers and fans of Failing Test. I am very grateful.

Rules and restraints on how fantastic a fantasy can be?

Greetings everyone! Today I want to talk about the habit that some have to put a lid on how fantastic a fantasy can or should be?

To me this in direct conflict with the definition of fantasy. The Wikipedia online dictionary defines the term fantasy as "a situation imagined by an individual or group that has no basis in reality but expresses certain desires or aims on the part of its creator. Fantasies typically involve situations which are impossible (such as the existence of magic powers) or highly unlikely."

I'm confused in how one can read a fantasy and say "this is too much" or "that could never happen". This would be like going water skiing and getting upset because you got wet. It makes no sense to me.

I can remember when the last Indiana Jones came out. My wife and I were sitting in the theatre, very much enjoying the movie for keeping with the tone of the first three. Then the great waterfall scene comes where Indiana and his group go over the towering falls and come out unscathed! From behind me, I hear a man's voice say, "Aw come on! They'd be dead!" I turned and gave him a funny look and shook my head. Here he is, paying his hard earned money to watch an Indiana Jones flick and all he can do the entire movie is cut it down for being exactly what Indiana Jones has been for over two decades? What, you mean in the first three Indiana Jones movies that you saw everything was totally believable and possible? Really?

Superman has a TON of different powers. He can fly, use x-ray vision, run insanely fast, jump tall buildings in a single bound, is super strong, can shoot laser beams out of his eyes, bounce bullets off of his chest, and freeze super villains with his super cold breath. Who in the world would want to read something so over the top and impossible? How did he get these powers? Sure it's because of the color of our sun, but how in the world are all of these super powers possible? What happens inside of him that makes it physically possible? It's kind of like how many licks it takes to get to the center of a tootsie roll tootsie pop..."the world may never know!"

Batman is nothing more than a human with deep pockets and a desire to right wrongs that are in the world. Using nothing more than a suit made of super durable material and an array of gadgets, he is able to stop any adversary. He can fall from the tops of buildings, have trees fall on him, get caught in explosions, and even fight true superheroes with actual super powers and win! Who in the world would want to read something so far fetched and, dare I say it...fantastic?

Maybe I'm different than the rest of the fantasy loving world? Maybe I can get lost in someone's imagination easier and dream of the impossible being possible? For me, there are no rules or restraints on how fantastic a fantasy is allowed to be. In fact, I say the more fantastic the better. If I wanted the real world I'd watch the news.

Take care all!
J.M.

Another five star review on Amazon!

I can't tell you how good this makes an author feel!
See all of the "Failing Test" Amazon reviews here!

Book siging at Salina Public Library a success!

Thanks to all who came to the signing at the Salina Public Library! It was a great time and some new people were introduced to the world of "Failing Test". Take care to all!

J.M.