"The second half really sucks"

Whenever a new review of my books is posted, I get both excited and apprehensive. Did the reviewer like it? hate it? love it? In particular, reviews of The Venom of Vipers are always scary when the reviewer identifies himself or herself as a scientist because, well, I'm not. So when I saw that a review had been posted on Goodreads for it, I eagerly and warily began reading. And I came upon this phrase:

"Science aside, the first half of the book was interesting and entertaining character development and backstory. The second half really sucks you in and becomes exciting and suspenseful."

On reading the first part of that second sentence, "The second half really sucks," my heart fell just about to my feet. My tear ducts sat up and said, "Hello!" I actually had to read it again to realize the reviewer liked it.

We writers are such an emotional lot, aren't we?

Another giveaway for The Venom of Vipers

Ryder wants to be more than a lab rat; he wants to be free. 
Katie wants him to save the world. 
Purists want him dead.

A supervirus threatens to wipe out the human population.

The only hope for the future is a cure hidden inside Ryder Stone. Created in a lab and brutalized, betrayed and hated by humans, Ryder yearns for freedom. On the outside, a group of human genetic purists want him dead.

When Katie Marsh, a brilliant young geneticist, discovers his secret, she must fight to protect Ryder, gain his trust...and convince him to save humanity before the purists destroy them both.

~

I'm giving away a free copy of my latest novel, science fiction thriller The Venom of Vipers, every day until I decide not to do it anymore. :) To enter the drawing:

1. Add The Venom of Vipers ebook to your Amazon wish list.* 
2. Open your Wish List on Amazon.com and click the Share with Friends button near the top. There'll be a short URL that looks something like this: http://amzn.com/w/1AB23CDEF45G6. Copy that and email it to me -- or just plop my email address (k . c . may @ live . com) into the To: box. If The Venom of Vipers is on your wish list when I do the drawing sometime in the evening (EST), you might be selected as the winner!
3. If you are the winner, I'll send you either an Amazon gifted copy or a Smashwords coupon.

*If you don't own a Kindle, that's okay -- add it anyway and let me know in the email that you prefer a Smashwords coupon. If you win, you can download the book from www.smashwords.com in whatever format suits you.

If you don't win today, just leave The Venom of Vipers in your wish list and you'll be automatically entered into tomorrow's drawing! Pssst -- tell your friends!

The Kinshield Legacy receives another great new review

Darkiss, on his review blog Darkiss reads, wrote this about The Kinshield Legacy:

"Well written and highly entertaining, you are taken on an adrenalin fuelled roller-coaster ride of excitement and exhilaration. K.C. May is well worth adding to your fantasy collection and will sit comfortably beside David Eddings, Raymond E. Feist and Stephen Donaldson."

Full review can be read at http://www.darkissreads.com/2011/01/kinshield-legacy-by-k-c-may.html

Yes, yes I did just about fall out of my chair!

The Venom of Vipers gets a face-lift

After reading a lot of forum discussions lately about cover designs and taking a long, hard look at the cover for The Venom of Vipers, I decided it needed a change. It needed to be interesting. And I needed the help of someone who designs book covers, not just an artist, so I contacted Carl Graves of Extended Imagery.

Not only did Carl "see into" my book based on what little description I gave him, he picked out the most interesting tidbits and put together a cover that also matches the layout of my other covers. If you've read the book, you know how well this new one fits the story!

Hopefully this new cover will spark a little more interest than the old one. :)

Top four of 2010!

My debut novel, epic/heroic fantasy The Kinshield Legacy, was named as one of the top four reads of 2010 on DailyCheapReads.com by Grace Krispy!

What a fabulous honor it is to be selected. I can't begin to describe what a great feeling and wonderful sense of accomplishment it is to know my books are being enjoyed.

Goodreads giveaway

I started another Goodreads giveaway for the paperback edition of The Venom of Vipers. If you're a Goodreads member (or want to sign up to be one), head over to http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/7494-the-venom-of-vipers to enter the giveaway. It ends Jan 11.

Writing software

I love books on writing. I have over 70 of them on my shelf right now. Books on plotting and characterization, self-editing and setting, description and prose style -- they're all there. For a while, maybe 8-10 years ago, I started looking for writing software. I bought Dramatica and WritePro and Power Structure. I tried yWriter and WriteWay and Who Knows What Else. And then I went back to good ol' Word.

Don't get me wrong. Word drives me as crazy as the next person. But I know it, and it doesn't get in my way. My dad (rest his soul) was fond of saying, "The best piece of software is the one you know how to use." But a recent discussion on the Kindleboards opened my eyes to another program for authors: WriteItNow. It's simple yet elegant, giving me ways not just to write my scenes and chapters but to organize my notes about events and characters, too. No more txt files called Notes1 and Notes2! I can keep everything all nice and tidy together, easily accessible while I'm writing.

To be fair, yWriter did that as well, but what I particularly like about WriteItNow is that it has a feature to gather all my scenes into a single RTF file in a manuscript format. Plus, its internal editor is super easy to use, and it has additional features like storyboarding and daily word count targets. The only "problem" with the word count target was that it didn't count my words accurately.

I was writing along for an hour or so and checked my progress. 818 words. Oh. Hm. Okay, I thought it would be more than that. I wrote for another 15 minutes. 823 words. Now wait a minute! That can't be right. I typed the word test and checked again. 824. Okay, maybe it is working. But how could I have only added 5 words in 15 minutes? Maybe I misread the first number. So I wrote for another hour. 830 words. WHAT? No freaking way. I selected all the words in the scene I was working on and used the regular word count feature: 1864. Hahaha! I see what it was doing there: getting me to exceed my daily goal. BY CHEATING. Ah well, I can't complain. I'm ahead of schedule now!

Since I'm on the subject of writing software, I have to give a shout out to Serenity Editor for Writers. That's one powerful piece of editing genius. It's not a magic button to turn a dull story into a work of art, but it will help find places where I've written the same 3-word phrase repeatedly, such as "shook his head." It's funny how many times a writer will write something like that without realizing it. I don't know about other writers, but I find that kind of assistance very helpful.

The Kinshield Legacy receives a great new review

It never ceases to thrill me when a reader enjoys my book, especially those who step out of their comfort zone to try a new author in a genre they don't typically read. I feel like I've done my part to represent indie authors and fantasy writers in a good light. In this case, the reviewer writes, "The plot was interesting and entertaining, a mystery and a quest, and moved along at a quick pace." She then calls it an "Excellent debut fantasy." Thank you, Ms. Evans! I'm so glad you enjoyed the story!