The End of the Bizarro

After careful consideration and having done a great deal of research, I'm sad to say that I have to sign off on the bizarro reviews. I am currently working with a publisher on a bizarro book. Because of this, I feel that the ethics of reviewing other bizarro authors is slightly gray. Many authors review other authors' works, and that is fine, but I believe there is a stronger pressure to provide positive reviews in these cases. Or, the converse, perhaps a less-than-scrupulous author will try to sabotage another through poor reviews. Because of the tremendous amount of sock-puppets, saboteurs, and other dirty tricks out there, it really makes one gun shy.

I have given two star reviews, and a few threes. And as I said in my post, "The Shill Stops Here," (http://voltairereviews.blogspot.com/2012/06/shill-stops-here.html), I expected backlash from going down that path. But now that I'm in a different position, it's better to cut the cord completely than to try to walk a line that I'm not sure I can stay on.

There will be reviews here, but mainly of classics, some books in other genres (e.g., Endurance -- Shackleton's Incredible Journey), but I'm sorry to say that bizarro is out right now.
I will post a link to my book when it is released.

Goodkindles

Hey all, check out Goodkindles

http://goodkindles.blogspot.com/

Listed as a blog on this site--great place for connecting readers and writers.

Included on the "Great Websites for Marketing & Connecting with Readers" list by Jeff Bennington from The Kindle Book Review.

Galactic Fat

Author: HC Turk

Description: In the near future, Robar Drill awakens from a chemical torpor to learn that he is not the average pizza boy he appears, but a former wino whose life has been commandeered by The Federal Government. During the years in which Robar's senses were nulled, The Government surgically transformed him into a metaman with enormous powers, the only person capable of saving Earth from an alien race bent on harvesting human cellulite.....

Review:

This one is a toughie. The book starts off in staccato form—very short, fast sentences. Usually this is verboten, but then Turk’s style levels out and the story begins.

But what it is about?

I guess that is bizarro. When the reader is not really sure what is going on, or what strange world we are going to be transported to.

The book does seem to ramble at times and drag through scenes. While I like the effective repetition of words and beginnings of phrases, there could be a lot of extra “stuff” cut out which would not hurt the overall flow of the story.

So, I went back and re-read this as I would most bizarro: In bits and pieces. By taking breaks from the story, I was able to enjoy it more and really get a good dose of the utterly twisted and perverse. And then it was back to Endurance.

Not everyone likes to read that way, and I’m not really suggesting it. What it gets down to is your stomach for this type of thing. People who love bizarro will enjoy this and have no issues, while others on the fence may struggle with it. Just hang in there and keep it going with other stuff, and I think you’ll come to the same conclusion... this is an excellent work of strange fiction.

Three stars because it’s really good, but it sometimes drags. Still, recommended.

I was given a copy of this for review.

Good? News

Author: Paul Anthony Zecos

Description: Just go get it here

 http://www.lifeanew.org/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/goodnews.pdf

Review: 

I don't review religious stuff, and don't read much of it. But this was sent to me to review, so I gave it a shot. Boy, oh, boy.

One of the biggest issues with this book is the formatting. He uses yellow text from time to time, which I can't read very well on screen. Additionally, I really do not like how certain words are highlighted or colored differently. I prefer a nice, clean, stable format throughout. If you want people to take key pieces away form a block of text, there are better ways: Indentation, bullets, etc.

Now for the message itself. Or lack thereof. There are snippets of ideas, some key points at the beginning that can be valid, and a coherent thought here and there.

In the beginning, the author details how God is love, how God expresses and evokes love—and in so doing, he mentions philosophies from other major religions: "Some fail to understand that the ‘Truths’ of their religion such as forgiveness, courage, joy etc. come from love." It was nice to see other religions included and not discounted.

A few ideas could be challenged, but I then one gets into a philosophical argument, and a review really isn't a place for that. Just let me warn you: Setting up a commune or "land of God", won't work—we are humans after all, and invariably a leader will seize and consolidate power and soon you'll all be drinking Cool-Aid. Besides, sequestering oneself away from the "wicked world" does no good if you want to try to be an example to others; show them a higher moral standard. You can't change others, but you can live your life to a standard. Life is easier when you're not trying to force the world to bend to your will.

And there are some big-time rants in here, including almost the last 2/3rds of the whole thing. Font, color, highlighting changes were never-ending and the book look some strange pieced-together story created from magazine cutouts. I'm telling you, you can get your message across without all of this... there are good points in here, at times, but the ranting and raving really doesn't make your case. It was painful to look at, and too painful to read. Re-do this, cut out the raging brimstone, and offer some actionable items that we can use to live our lives.

If you don't read this book, there are two things I thought worthwhile:

* God is Love

* Don't let the media guide and drive you; listen to God, make time for Him.

I was given a copy of this book for review.