An interview with Groovy Lee

Today I have Groovy Lee on ARCBookblog, a lady who gives me TV envy, because my big screen clearly isn’t big enough. Before I get too upset about that, here’s Groovy to tell us all a bit about herself.

I was born in the deep south where the number four has two syllables. I somehow did not acquire that distinct Southern accent, but I am accustomed to expressions of “Yall”, “Ain’t”, and when I’m really mad–“Ain’t gonna!”.

I’m also addicted to bottled tea and cooking shows; I crochet and collect crystal. My best friend and Queen is my daughter who gets a foot massage from me after a long day:)

My most favorite time of the year is tennis season. When the French Open, Wimbledon, and The US Open are airing, you can look for me, but you won’t find me. Unless you know where my 53″ television set is. Even then approach me with all the care you would a Grizzly–exactly, you wouldn’t! My daughter is prohibited from communicating with me unless it’s a code 10 emergency; And even then I’ll direct her to the neighbor for help–just kidding, she knows how to dial 911

I write Romantic/Suspense, Suspense, and wholesome, passionate Romances that deal with matters of the heart. No sexually graphic stories or one night stands. I write about love, not lust. If my stories bring a smile to just one person’s heart, then I’ve done my job. That’s what it’s all about.

One of my books, Cause She’s A Good Girl, was featured on a popular Nashville Morning Show, Talk of The Town, and given a highly recommended by BookWoman. I’m still smiling at that:)

Thanks to all of you who have added me to their list of authors they are fans of. I’m so honored! And I love when people friend me:) I’m not a big fan of Facebook or Twitter, but I invite you all to email me with your suggestions or questions.

You can contact me here on Goodreads or atreyhu@att.net.

Thank you for your time and Good Reading!

http://www.groovylee.com/

Now that we have the bio portion of this interview out of the way, it’s time for the questions.

Me – Is writing a full-time occupation, or do you have a job that keeps you from it?

Groovy – I’m so blessed to be able to write full-time.

Me – What aspect of publishing do you find the easiest?

Groovy – Pushing that button that turns your manuscript into a bona-fide book. Everything else is hard work, but a joy.

Me – What do you find the most difficult?

Groovy – I’m sure I’m giving the same answer as everyone else, but it’s the promoting part I find the hardest. I’m an introvert. Selling my work or me as an author is not easy. I wish there was a red button to push where all of your fans were waiting. Wishful thinking—right?

Me – What is your perfect writing environment.

Groovy – When I’m beginning a story on paper, it’s upstairs on my bed while Perry Mason is on TV; when it’s time to work in front of my computer, it’s when no one is home and there’s quiet.

Me – Do you have a process you follow when writing a book?

Groovy – Not really. I just write down what my characters tell me to.

Me – Would you rather be critically successful or financially successful?

Groovy – That’s a good question. I think critically successful. I want the whole world to love reading my books. The financial success will come automatically when they purchase them.

Me – If you could pick 1 celebrity to read your book and give an opinion on it, who would it be?

Groovy – At first it was Prince. But now that he’s no longer with us, it’s Oprah. Because if she likes it, so will her millions of followers.

Me – Do you find it easy to avoid being distracted when you sit down to write?

Groovy – It depends on what stage of writing I’m in. If it’s the beginning stage, no; but if I’m trying to edit, yes. I need quiet to get the flow of the story and make sure the scenes are coming together.

Me – If you have published already, what has been the most successful technique/site/opportunity for you in terms of getting either exposure or sales?

Groovy – So far for me, it’s Goodreads. I’m active on a lot of forums, and my books get a lot of exposure there.

Me – Last but not least, and something a little fun, what is your favourite animal, and why?

Groovy – Let’s see—Dogs are extremely smart and loyal; horses are THE most beautiful animals; there’s a Hawk that flies around my house, and he’s absolutely breath-taking; Animal Kingdom is one of my favorite shows. Each species come in all sorts of colors and sizes, so I can’t pick a favorite, sorry.

If you’d like to know more about Groovy you can check out the following links

Website

Goodreads

Facebook

Amazon Author Page

A Body Resurrected

Sixteen year-old Mira is an Egyptian girl who lives a quiet life in her small village in Lower Egypt 3303 B.C.E. But two visitors from the planet Aut are about to change that. The first “flying metal” that whips across the sky carries a murderous plague by the name of Demen. The second one that follows, brings a bounty-hunter named Weir. Against her father’s wishes, Mira becomes Weir’s accomplice in his mission to apprehend Demen before another woman dies by his hands.

But there’s a problem: Demen is now a powerful Pharaoh in the city of Sharkura. Will apprehending him cost Weir and Mira their lives?
Almay, California, USA, twenty-first century:

Tina Leggs oversees the artifacts and exhibits of the Graham-Arlee museum. She has no idea that the mummy exhibit that’s drawing huge crowds, is the same Demen that her ancestor, Mira, bravely faced centuries ago.

Demen is no longer a powerful Pharaoh. Now, he’s nothing more than a museum exhibit since he was discovered in the Valley of the Kings. But a rare occurrence will give him life once more. And his desire to kill the misery known as woman is as strong as ever.

Enter Q, a second bounty-hunter sent from Aut to capture him. Like Mira, Tina has been cast into the role of ally to this handsome visitor. Amid the destruction Demen is causing, and the risk to their lives to stop him, they realize their deep love for one another.

But, will she leave her family on Earth for the sake of that love?

Amazon

 

Indie Book Showcase 2017

The group I’m part of on Goodreads is having their first showcase of the year, it’s an event featuring books by the many members of SIA (Support for Indie Authors) a wonderful group that is incredibly supportive and filled with great people who write in just about every genre you can think of.

I’ve read and enjoyed several, and got more on my TBR list.

If you’re looking for books to fill up your kindle/tablet or other e-reader, or maybe you’re after some paperbacks to use your Christmas money on, look no further. Whatever you like to read, and whatever your budget, you’re bound to find something to suit you, just follow the link below and see what we have to offer

Support Indie Authors Event

Through The Hostage – An Honest Review

Through The Hostage

J C Steel

I was gifted a pdf copy of this book in exchange for an honest review, and here it is.

Khyria Ilan is a commander in the Cortii, the most elite mercenary organisation in known space. With a past she can’t remember, and commanders who would love to see her dead, her future is likely to be short: her command faces their ultimate test to prove their right to survive. When the odds are impossible, sometimes the only thing to do is play the game …

Through The Hostage is a complex sci-fi novel that, in my opinion, bites off more than it can chew. I really liked many of the characters J C Steel created; Khyria Ilan is flawed, and dangerous, and complicated, and very interesting, but it felt as though not enough was shown about her, from the beginning it’s revealed that pretty much everyone around her wants her dead, but at no point is a solid reason given, nor is it revealed why she has apparently abandoned her command. Jack is another interesting character, and I would have liked to have seen more of his efforts to learn about and understand this alien world he finds himself in.

Many of the other characters have an equal amount of potential, but it feels too much as if the reader only gets a surface view of things. There’s the suggestion of so much, but not enough detail to help the reader navigate this strange world.

Adding to my difficulties with this book are the details you do get about the organisation Khyria Ilan and her group are part of; I suspect J C Steel has limited military knowledge or experience because the group describes themselves as mercenaries, when everything in the book indicates they are in fact part of an army working for a council of some kind, and they undergo up to 10 years of training before taking a test to determine if they are fit to join the ‘army’ as a fully qualified unit (as someone with, admittedly limited, military experience, it seemed very unrealistic that what was essentially a platoon-sized unit would spend such an excessive amount of time in training before qualifying; training may continue after qualification but in general the training to qualify in an army is measured in months, not years, even for special forces units).

I found little in the way of tension in the book; all the way through the reader is told that Khyria Ilan is under constant threat of assassination, but the few attempts that take place happen off-screen – as it were – and seem so feeble as to be easily dealt with. Because of that, I found the book fairly flat; even when it finally reached the much-mentioned Crossing, there seemed little in the way of danger, and it was all over with far too quickly and easily.

I think with some work, this could be a very good novel, it’s longer than it really needs to be in my opinion, has themes that could be more fully explored, and it lacks enough tension to keep the reader hooked and get them concerned about the characters, but it does end with a very nice scene with Jack back home and unable to tell anyone about where he’s been and what he’s been doing and I’m pleased about that.

Crystal Singer

Anne McCaffrey

Killashandra thought her world had ended when she was told she would never become a concert singer.And then she met the stranger from off-world.

He said he was a Crystal Singer – one of the unique ones of the Galaxy – and when Killashandra tried to find out what a Crystal Singer was the answers were vague, obscure.All she could discover was that they were special people, shrouded in mystery, and danger, and beauty – and something altogether incomprehensible.

It was then that she decided that she too must try and become a Crystal Singer.

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One of the things I like best about McCaffrey’s writing is how she is able to create new worlds that fit within the universe she has already established without seeming out of place. There is only the occasional mention of things from the rest of the universe, the focus is all on the Crystal Singers and their world, but there’s enough there to know that so many of the different books are connected, even if only distantly.

The first two thirds of the book are better than the last; Killashandra Ree is a very good character, well-written and interesting and McCaffrey really lets you get to know her, and the world she joins, full of danger though it is, has an appeal to it. The secondary characters are decent but not quite as well fleshed out as Killashandra, which makes them harder to connect with.

When she has to go off-planet for a contract, though, I begin to lose interest. It’s still well-written, but I just don’t find this part of the book to be as interesting.

If you like quality sci-fi with a well-developed world, then you should check this book out, and its sequels.

Nimisha’s Ship

Anne McCaffrey

Nimisha Boynton-Rondymense was the body-heir of Lady Rezalla and, as such, was the heiress of one of the First Families on Vega III. But even as a child she eschewed the formalities of her aristocratic background and was happiest in her father’s shipyard. By the time she was in her twenties she was the designer of the most advanced space yacht in the galaxy, and was owner of the Rondymense shipyards.

It was on a test of her Mark 5 prototype that things went wrong. In an empty space field, suitable for test runs, she was suddenly confronted with the boiling white pout of a wormhole, was sucked in, only to be thrown out into an unknown dimension of space. She was not the first. As she explored this new, unfamiliar section of the universe she found traces of ships that had been marooned over many centuries.

Not knowing if she would ever return to the world she knew, Nimisha chose to land on ‘Erewhon’ – fascinating, terrifying, beautiful and frightening – and inhabited not only by three survivors of a previous Vegan ship but by something else…

This has long been one of my favourite sci-fi books, and I still enjoy it whenever I pick it up for a fresh read, but my tastes have changed over the years and I now wish it was written in a harder style. The story is decently written and accessible, with no complicated technological terms to confuse the reader, and likeable characters, especially  Nimisha herself; in addition to that there’s some nice, if not extensive, descriptive detail and the aliens are nicely imagined.

I do find that the situations are coped with a little too easily at times, which takes away any real sense of struggle or danger, and that’s a shame. Even the attacks connected to the fight over Nimisha’s inheritance are treated too casually, and at the end of the book there’s no resolution to that situation, it just seems to be forgotten about.

Don’t get me wrong, this is an enjoyable book, but only if your preference is for a lighter read. This same story in the hands of someone who writes heavier, more in-depth, sci-fi could have been absolutely fabulous. That said, I still look forward to reading it again.

20,000 Leagues Under The Sea

Jules Verne

Professor Aronnax, his faithful servant, Conseil, and the Canadian harpooner, Ned Land, begin an extremely hazardous voyage to rid the seas of a little-known and terrifying sea monster. However, the “monster” turns out to be a giant submarine, commanded by the mysterious Captain Nemo, by whom they are soon held captive.

So begins not only one of the great adventure classics by Jules Verne, the ‘Father of Science Fiction’, but also a truly fantastic voyage from the lost city of Atlantis to the South Pole.

Captain Nemo is a fascinating character, and the Nautilus a wonderful sci-fi invention, I would love to travel the seas in it

The book is well written, with nicely described characters that you care about, including Nemo; the places and events in the book are similarly described well, making it easy to imagine yourself there. Despite being well written it can be difficult at times, to adjust to the older style of writing, which tends to be more wordy than that used by modern authors.

I like this book but the overall impression I was left with after reading it is that Jules Verne wanted to impress people with his knowledge of oceanic flora and fauna. The focus on that aspect of the book can get distracting and take you away from the storyline. If you can get past that, you’re probably going to enjoy the book.

Firefly

TV Series

Malcolm Reynolds fought against the Alliance and now he and his crew, made up of soldiers, mercenaries, and criminals work on the edges of space, trying to stay one step ahead of hunger and the law as they take whatever jobs they can find to make money.

What can I say about this series other than ‘perfect’, it really is in my opinion. I’m not too bothered about the western genre usually, but combining it with sci-fi, as Joss Whedon has done here, is both clever and exciting. It isn’t just the unusual setting that helps to make this series so good, it’s the casting – Whedon is always so good at picking the right person to take a role – the characterisation and the writing, oh and the effects, can’t forget them.

Nearly all of the cast have worked with Whedon before and it’s clear they enjoyed doing so, and that they trust him because he’s created some of my all time favourite TV characters. Normally I’d say there’s only one really character in a series, with others having good moments or episodes here and there, but with Firefly every character is different but equally and consistently good, to the extent that given the chance I would love to be a part of life on board Serenity amongst the crew.

The standard of writing in every episode is high, with scenes that range from the funny, to the frightening, and on to the emotional; if you don’t care about these characters you’re dead inside.

The lack of sound effects during the scenes set in space show Whedon’s attention to detail, and help to explain why almost everything he makes does so well.

If I have one complaint that keeps this from being 5*, it’s that some bone-headed TV exec cancelled it before it could really get going.

To show what the set was like, you have to watch this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmU-Bmk4Wrk

Dragonsdawn

Today’s review is for Dragonsdawn by Anne McCaffrey. This is the story of how humans came to the planet of Pern and how the dragons that protect them came to be.

Anne McCaffrey

A group of humans, desperate to escape the technological and technocratic society they live in, not to mention a recent war that ravaged their planets, travel to the planet Pern on the edge of known space to make a new start and build a civilization that relies less on technology and more on humanity.

To begin with everything goes well, with only minor hiccups along the way to them achieving their goal, but several years after landing and starting their colony disaster strikes; without warning they are subjected to a mysterious rain, a rain that eats everything carbon based it touches, a rain that falls again and again.

There is no escape, the ships that brought them can’t take them away again, they must stay and defend themselves, and so begins a project to alter the native flying lizards and develop a self-reproducing means of surviving – the dragons of Pern.

This is a great novel with some wonderful characters, people I really care about. It doesn’t go into as much detail as it could about the mechanics of establishing a colony on a far off planet, but that’s good because it focuses instead on the characters, how they interact with one another and their new home, the joy of discovery and the pleasure of living a better life. In the second half the story changes as the colony has to fight for survival.

Anne McCaffrey does a great job of bringing out the best and worst of people as they react to the threat, and I can’t help thinking that what she describes must have been influenced in part by the way Great Britain faced the blitz during WW2.

Overall the best thing I can say about this book is that even after repeated readings I still tear up at the death of one of the main characters. To me that’s the sign of a great writer.