Best Android Apps by Mike Hendrickson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was a fairly useful book for me (which is why I bought it rather than just skimming).

Unfortunately, with something like this, it is out-dated even before it is published. I was hoping there was a corresponding website to go with the book, but that was never mentioned.

They do have some good recommendations. I would have liked them to arrange it a bit differently instead of having basically just 2 sections (one for winners of a best apps competition and one for the ones they tried out arranged as certain types of apps).

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Towers of Midnight by Robert Jordan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow! So much happened in this book that I’m not sure I can keep it all straight or even make a coherent review. But, I can say that this book had humor, emotion (I got teary-eyed in the middle several times), and lots and lots of movement toward plot resolutions.

We got to see point of view from just about every character, including Aviendha. The only one that I wanted but didn’t get was Loial. I hope he shows up in the last book.

While I didn’t like Egwene or Elayne in this book as much, Rand was finally enjoyable. And Matt and Perrin were also pretty interesting.

I liked how their paths started crossing again and that some plotlines were getting resolved already.

Definitely a good read.

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Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association by American Psychological Association
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

For getting information out about APA style, it does its job.

For the authors be willing to update and fix their own style errors in the first printing, they get 5 stars.

APA is not the easiest or most understandable style out there, but it is what I am supposed to be teaching my students. So, I thought I should actually buy it.

I skimmed more than I read it, but it seems well organized and provides some examples that should be helpful.

I do applaud them for trying to put more online and leaving the not-likely-to-change stuff in the book.

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Sky Full of Stars by Sabine Berlin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is just a draft of what, I am sure, will be published soon.

Sabine’s story is interesting and unique for YA (there are no werewolves or vampires).

Setting: It’s in Utah! In rural Utah. And, while they setting is not described much, it is adequate to show the busy of southern Utah and the incredible range of scenery.

Plot: It is the classic girl meets boy, girl loses boy, girl gets boy back kind of story. Yet, it is not really formulaic. The plot flows from the action organically. There are some good twists and turns along the way as the heroine, Catelyn, learns about her family, the boy she loves, and who she really is.

Conflict: This story focuses on the Catelyn’s conflict with Eri, the boy she loves and who supposedly loves her too, until she finds out some disturbing news about him (da da dum). She has to fend off another would-be suitor and deal with being kidnapped, thinking that Eri is dead (yet there is no prolonged depressive bout with this girl (unlike in another now-famous book – hurray!). She also has to deal with the brutal tendencies of her long-lost aunt, and with the reality of who her parents were and what they did.

Character: This is perhaps the strongest part of Sabine’s writing. The characters felt real, and well-rounded, with complex thought and emotion. We especially see this of Catelyn since we are in her head the entire book (as is typical for first person-told story). At times I felt like it was too much thought and exposition without enough action, but the uniqueness and interesting story kept me going.

Text: This is a draft, so I won’t comment on grammar or style here. I will say that the writing is clear and easy to read.

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Death du Jour by Kathy Reichs
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I got this book from my Grandmother quite awhile ago (along with many other books). So, I didn’t have the first book in the series. It was interesting to read this story without having read the first book.

It is a typical murder mystery book, though, and so the characters don’t really grow or change much. Mainly, I missed out on her adventures (I have hints of them because of some flashbacks).

Setting: The author did a good job of contrasting the feeling of being in Canada and then in the South. Her descriptions were quite visual and enticing. They also played into the storyline.

Plot: There are a few different plot lines that are at least tangentially related and interwoven. The first revolved around the identity of a long-deceased nun who is destined for sainthood. The second is the search for the murderers of several people who turn out to be part of a cult. The third line deals with her love life.

Conflict: This is the weakest part of the story. Partly because the author attempts false suspense and partly because she gives hints of the future that indicate the heroine will be okay. There is plenty of potential conflict here though.

Character: The main character seems a lot like the author in terms of jobs and knowledge (writing what you know is perfectly acceptable), but the character is at least conflicted and has some quirks. The other characters feel a little wooden and Mary Jane-ish. This is especially true for the cult members. It was pretty obvious who the leader of the cult was (I guessed it from the moment we are introduced to the person).

Text: The false suspense was understandable, if annoying. The hints of "if I’d only known then what I know now" really threw me out of the story and the present (really past) action. Still the writing was competent and the story interesting – I love learning more about forensic science.

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The Murdered House by Pierre Magnan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Another book that I got from Grandma. And another murder mystery. This one is set in France, though. And deals with a twenty-year old murder.

It feels like it is an older murder than that, though, because of how everything is framed. Which is a little strange. The twist at the end is interesting, and predictable if you know what to look for. As well as why someone keeps beating the main character to his intended victims.

Setting: Rural France. Which makes this kind of fun to read for that. In fact, this was translated into English from French. So it is authentic as far as that goes.

Plot: Basically, it is the main character’s intention to find and then kill his parents’ murderer (or murderers). He is also erotically haunted (perhaps subconsciously, perhaps just in his mind) by his mother’s ghost. This part is just weird.

Conflict: Just between the main character and his would-be targets. Who mysteriously end up dead before he gets the chance to.

Characters: There is some meat here, with lots of different kinds of characters. I didn’t really find myself caring for any of them. Maybe Rose. But the author implied that she lived to be old, so the tension there was lost and it seemed obvious that she never married the main character, so tension there was lost too. I still don’t understand why he left or why the ending happened the way it did. Very strange. Perhaps to set up another book? It was definitely not an uplifting book, in any case.

Text: I liked the French feel, with the turns of phrase and the words used (translated in footnotes as appropriate).

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My last post, I wrote about sending off my short story. Well, I just got a response back yesterday. It was a no.

But, the note was kind and didn’t totally tear down my dreams of fame and fortune.

It said:

Thanks for submitting your story to IGMS. It had some good qualities, but in the end I only have a limited number of slots and your story didn’t rise high enough to make the final cut.

Makes it sound like my story was at least considered. Of course, this is probably a form rejection, but it is still nice and positive.

The next step for this story is to put it up for my online writing group to critique. That should help me figure out where it is weakest.

I have no idea where else to send this, so I’ll have to do some more research on that too.

Well, last night I sent off my first short story submission to Intergalactic Medicine Show. It is a bit frightening.

I originally created the story at Liberty Hall Writers as part of a flash fiction contest. I liked the story but haven’t done much with it for a couple years.

Then, I needed something for my Writing Group (The Point Writing Group, to be specific) and pulled it out, dusted it off, and totally revamped it. My writing group gave it a pretty good reception, with some much needed advice on how to improve the “surprise” for the end, and I rewrote it again. That was a couple months ago.

Then, yesterday, I pulled it out again and added in more world building-type detail to bring it even more to life.

I felt like I’d done all I could for this story and so I sent it out into the big bad world.

It will probably be rejected (it is my first submission after all), but the experience has been good for me.

I recently started a writing group in my area. We critiqued each other’s stuff for the first time earlier this month, and I have to say that it was a great experience. It got me moving on my writing and should make it so that I write more regularly (creatively, not necessarily on my blogs ).

In February, a couple of us (the Founders) got together to come up with guidelines for our group.

Dave Farland had sent out several emails last year about writing groups, so I went through those again and pulled out the good nuggets of information.

In any case, we set up some rules about how we’re going to run the thing and our expectations. Basically, we expect people to write something new every month instead of just rehashing the same old thing again and again. We also don’t want critiques to get out of hand and so will use something similar to Orson Scott Card’s bootcamp method (which I believe is also used at Odyssey and/or Clarion). Everyone will get a turn and there will not be any cross-talking or commenting by the author.

We also decided to include a short writing exercise at the beginning of each one so that we can improve our craft and get our brains working.

Finally, we decided (for various reasons that I will not enumerate at the present time) to call our group The Point Writing Group.

We are open to anyone who is serious about writing and improving themselves.

So, if you live in northern Utah county or southern Salt Lake county (in Utah, of course), then we’d be happy to have you.