Thursday, March 29, 2012

Authors Whose Work I Have Read::

I'm beginning a page of authors I've read with links.  I'm not endorsing the links just the authors.
It may take me a while to complete this page... This is a random listing I'm not playing favorites here. Though most if not all of these authors line my bookshelves.




J.L. Dobias Author of Cripple-Mode: Hot Electric



Posted by at No comments:

Friday, March 23, 2012

Leaving Comments

If you want to leave a comment you will have to use the drop-down box and chose anonymous unless you fall into any of the other categories.  Then you will have to do the Captia .
Posted by at 2 comments:

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Here's a listing of some of the hard volume resources I had on hand while assembling Hot Electric
Remember that I stuffed these notions into my head and shook them vigorously, looked in and more often than not came up with "Try Again."  So the authors and their works listed here should be in no way held responsible for my desecration.

  • A concise history of Painting from Giotto to Cezanne  by Michael Levey
  • In and out the Garbage Pail  by Fredrick Solomon Perls
  • HTML complete  (whole bunch of editors)
  • Mythic Astrology by Ariel Guttman & Kenneth Johnson
  • Witches    by       Hans Holzer
  • Complete idiots guide  Wicca and Witchcraft  by  Denise Zimmermann and Katherine A.Gleason
  • THE ENOCHIAN TAROT  by Gerald and Betty Schueler
  • Tarot for Beginners     by   P.Scott Hollander
  • The Complete Guide to the Tarot  by Eden Gray
  • Principles of Development Lewis Wolpert (Rosa Beddington, Jeremy Brockes, Thomas Jessell, Peter Lawrence, Elliot Meyerowitz)  I should probably get a more current edition.
  • Personology by Gary Goldschneider
  • The Illustrated Atlas of the Universe by Mark A Garlick (Wil Tirion)
  • Astronomy the definitive guide by Robert Burnham, Alan Dyer, Jeff Kanipe, (Wil Tirion)
  • Essential Astronomy  by Cynthia Phillips and Shana Priwer                                                                The former three ended up being references along side wikipedia
  • Websters Universal Encyclopedic Dictionary
As it turns out many of these were mostly useful in setting some of the mood.

J.L. Dobias Author of Cripple-Mode: Hot Electric
Posted by at No comments:

Monday, March 12, 2012

Some of the resources I have found helpful in getting started with writing.




        J.L. Dobias Author of Cripple-Mode: Hot Electric


        Posted by at No comments:

        Tuesday, January 17, 2012

        Review:At the Gates of the World's Rim by Shiva Winters.


        At the Gates of the World's Rim by Shiva Winters.

        What I like about Shiva is that not only is there no end to her imaginings but each book gets much better. This is not one of those series where the second book is less than the first and the third is having trouble getting up to par. No. She makes each one better than the previous and they read quite well so that you might shuffle them up while reading and not get too confused.

        This installment begins to add to the already large dynamic family of Monorth. He and his sister now share a daughter through her partner. This is no ordinary young girl, its Monorth's offspring after all. We'll be seeing a lot more of her.

        Monorth's name basis relationship with the gods is growing as the gods seem to be drawn into his life as though he's some sort of spiritual lightning rod. Nix and Monorth are getting into the serious business of visiting and mapping out the gates to all the worlds beyond the rim.

        Monorth is still an outcast from the Salak'Patan so he's playing it all close to the vest but he's collecting such a vast library of knowledge that it's becoming evident that he shouldn't keep it to himself. He is going to have a tough time trusting others to handle it all .

        Nix and his fire cats are beginning to also grow their family and as they start expanding out into more preserves he and Monorth soon discover there are other being such as the fire cats who seem to represent each of the godly elements. Monorth also seem to be collecting a number of the 7 legendary swords of the gods.

        It's all leading up to a major turn of events.

        If you like Science Fiction, Fantasy, steam-punk, furry stories, Sword and sorcery, and even a few fire breathing dragons. (to say nothing of the cats). These novels are for you and it would be a shame to let a few spelling errors spoil the best read of the year.

        J.L. Dobias author of Cripple-Mode: Hot Electric
        Posted by at No comments:

        Monday, January 16, 2012


        Touchstone Trilogy by Andrea K Host.
        I purchased this book after reading a sample of Andrea K Host's -And all the Stars-. I had already put the three books in my wish list prior to that. But after reading that sample I had a feeling I should just buy the whole and totally unrelated trilogy. I read through them in three days.

        People have told me that writing in first person is hard to do. They have given various reasons why it does not work and sometimes those reasons are conflicted. Some even suggest that it's this decades fad to write in first person. Because this is written as a diary it's naturally in first person. Andrea nails first person right on the head, and right out of the box.



        Cass is such an engaging character in Stray that she sucks you right into her story at the beginning. There is not doubt of Andrea's world building abilities and her strong characterization. But what really got me in this story is in the chapter February when Cass's birthday arrives. And I'm not giving anything away, other than to honestly say I was so into Cass by then that I nearly cried. It's not often a book does that.

        And then there was Lab Rat One. And by now this series is peopled with a couple of handfuls of characters that you would think you'd need a score card but there are more to come and Cass has a way of making sure we don't lose track of who is who. Or maybe I should say that Andrea does.

        It doesn't take long before Andrea does it to me again. Even though Cass sometimes begins to sound a bit whinny I just get so into her whole dilemma that I can't help but feel what she must be feeling.

        So by Caszandra the third installment, you would think I was steeled and ready to handle it. But, Andrea through Cass has a way of now drawing you into her life and the extended family of people around her.

        This series of books is one powerhouse. Well told tightly packed. Emotionally charged.

        But what really got me was how it all touched me. I would need more stars if I gave a star for every time I was greatly affected by this story.
        Posted by at No comments:

        Sunday, January 15, 2012


        Essential Reading in Science Fiction by David Scholes seems to be neither of these.

        I purchased this e-book and I read these all straight through to the very end. I wouldn't call it science fiction as much as fantasy though it does contain a lot science fiction'y descriptions.

        This appears to be a collection of 24 stories that could very well stand alone. Yet there is this convoluted thread that runs through them all to make it look like a disjointed effort to make a novel.



        I say this because the first story has a character named Urrle who at one place gets miss-named as Earle. Earle seems to be a recurring character through out. And there are threads of Asgard myth's with Odin and Thor in prominence. And there is some almost faceless benevolent but non interfering alien race called the Brell. So, it becomes difficult at best to divorce these from one another. There are some other names recurring but often with disturbing conflicted time lines - such as Chris and Jenny.

        This is what creates the rather disjointed whole at best.
        It's not that these might not be good stories its just that my limited intelligence kept having me say "Huh" straight through to the end. I tried in my mind to break them up into their separate selves but that was just worse.

        Here's a challenge for other readers- read this and tell me what it is really all about.
        Posted by at No comments:
        Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)