Reprise Review: Endless Joke / David Antrobus

Reviewed by: BigAl

Genre: Non-Fiction/Writing/Publishing

Approximate word count: 30-35,000 words

Availability    

Kindle  US: YES  UK: YES  Nook: YES  Smashwords: YES  Paper: YES

Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

“David Antrobus was born in Manchester, England, raised in the English Midlands, and currently resides near Vancouver, Canada. He writes music reviews, articles, creative nonfiction, fiction, and poetry. The lessons he learned from working for two decades with abused and neglected street kids will never leave him.”

Description:

“Endless Joke is a collection. It's funny. It's irritating. It's the book you never realised you needed. But you do. If you want to stay safe (and sane) between the twists and turns and death throes of the old publishing monster and the anarchic new killing fields of epublishing, this book will help in that regard. It's equal parts passion, humour, angst,  and a kind of bewildered, contemplative awe.”

Appraisal:

There’s a cliché people use in describing Allison Krauss, Becky Schlegel (I know, you’ve never heard of her – she sounds a lot like Allison Krauss), or other singers with great voices. They say they’d “love listening to her, even if she was singing from the phone book.” I feel the same way about reading David Antrobus’ writing. I’d love to read anything he writes because of his facility with language. Well, almost anything. Maybe not the phone book. Some describe his style as literary (I’ve called it that before and we see some of that here), but he also a talent for finding the humor in subjects you wouldn’t think of as funny. Although Endless Joke is, on the surface, aimed at target readers who sees themselves as writers, authors, or at least wannabes, I could see much of this book being of interest and entertaining to those who are interested in the life of a writer (even if they don’t want to be one), in the world of publishing and how it is changing, and just generally in language and literature.

The book’s description is true, but if you’re like me, you’ll read it and still wonder, “If I buy this book, what will I get?” It’s a series of standalone essays, some originally written for Indies Unlimited (a multinational, multiauthor blog), some for Antrobus’ personal blog, The Migrant Type, and others specifically for this volume. As a group I’d describe them as “Dispatches from the Frontlines of Indie Publishing,” but that’s not as clever a title as Endless Joke (which is a reference that will be explained in the introduction). They covered a wide range of subjects, yet seemed to make a coherent whole. One example, Punk Fire or Indie Schmindie, discusses the similarities between the Punk Rock movement of the 70s and Indie publishing today and points out why the similarities aren’t all a harbinger of good things to come. Another, Well Defined? Nevermind, lists thirteen words from a list of fifty compiled by The New York Times that were most likely to stump their readers. With each he gives the real meaning as well as his own, made up definition. This mixing of education with entertainment in many of the essays kept even the driest subjects (like definitions of twenty-dollar words) interesting.

Whether an indie author (current or future) or a reader, Endless Joke will entertain, educate, and provoke thought. I promise, it’s much better than the phone book

FYI:

UK (or maybe Canadian, you’ll have to decide) spelling conventions are used.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues

Rating: ***** Five stars

Teatime with Mrs. Grammar Person / Barbara Venkataraman

Reviewed by: BigAl

Genre: Non-Fiction/Humor/Writing

Approximate word count: 7-8,000 words

Availability    

Kindle  US: YES  UK: YES  Nook: NO  Smashwords: NO  Paper: NO

Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

During the day, Barbara Venkataraman is an attorney. At night, she writes in a variety of genres including humor and mystery.

Description:

“Fear not, Gentle Writer, Mrs. Grammar Person is here and she has the answers to all of the questions you never thought to ask. As a dedicated and serious grammarian, she will do what it takes to be entertaining and enlightening, but never vulgar or coarse. Heavens, no! Where are her smelling salts? Warm and witty, Mrs. G.P. makes grammar interesting with rhyming, wishful thinking, story-telling and a champagne toast. You are cordially invited to join her for a spot of tea!”

Appraisal:

A series of chapters that may have had a first life as blog posts, this small book teaches and refreshes grammar rules with an emphasis on word usage (common homophone errors, who vs whom, etc). The lessons are delivered by the fictional character Mrs. Grammar Person. She’s a bit over the top, even for a mild Grammar Nazi such as me, in how serious she takes her subject. But that seriousness is where the humor comes into play. Mrs. Grammar Person’s wordplay to illustrate her points was both amusing and educational. I picked up on one set of homophones that I was consistently using wrong (you home in on something, not hone in). I also picked up a good rule to help with the dreaded ‘who’ versus ‘whom’ decision.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: **** Four Stars

The Editor's Eye / Stacy Ennis

Reviewed by: BigAl

Genre: Non-Fiction/Writing

Approximate word count: 55-60,000 words

Availability    

Kindle  US: YES  UK: YES  Nook: YES  Smashwords: NO  Paper: YES

Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

“Stacy Ennis is a book and magazine editor, writer, book coach, and speaker. Her greatest joy is helping people achieve their book-writing dreams, and she has had the opportunity to work with a diverse group of authors in varied genres, editing several chart-toppers.”

For more, visit stacyennis.com.

Description:

“The Editor's Eye: A Practical Guide to Transforming Your Book from Good to Great shows you how editing can help you write your best book. In this no-nonsense guide, book coach and editor Stacy Ennis takes you through the ins and outs of the often bewildering book-editing process. As you begin to understand how writing and editing complement each other, you'll become more confident as a writer, finish your book faster, and move toward the ultimate goal: publication.”

Appraisal:

Regular readers of my reviews or ramblings elsewhere, primarily at Indies Unlimited, know that where copy editing and proofreading are concerned, I tend to come down hard on indie books that are deficient in this area. If a book falls short here, I see it as an unambiguous indication that the author or publisher failed to put the proper polish on their product in a way that is easily measurable and has nothing to do with personal taste, other than how forgiving a reader’s inner editor is. If I start picking apart a book with lots of specific examples of shoddy writing, plot holes, or scenes that did nothing to move the story forward, the book has even bigger problems. All of these are indicative of less than adequate editing at some point in the writing and preparation of the book. All of this is a lot of words (that with proper editing would be many fewer) to say that I believe every author needs an editor (and a copy editor and a proofreader). Being indie doesn’t give anyone a pass.

In this book (well edited, BTW) Stacey Ennis explains for the current or wannabe author (or the interested reader) each stage of the editing process, what is involved, and how each will make your book better. In her words, how to take your book from good to great. She also tries to straighten out some misconceptions associated with editors, what they do, and gives advice on finding and hiring the right person (bad editing might be worse than no editing).

Although I had a basic idea of what each phase of editing involved, I felt like I came away from reading this book with a deeper understanding of the details. The only complaint I have is minor, that at times it felt like the fine line between informing about editing and making a hard sell might have been crossed, at least for some people. However, the discussion of the various modes of publishing (self-publishing, small press, Big 6, and variations) largely made up for it in its evenhandedness in explaining the pros and cons of each, while including an appropriate disclaimer to beware of and steer clear of the predatory vanity publishers.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: **** Four stars

How to Write Good / John Vorhaus

Reviewed by: BigAl

Genre: Non-Fiction / Writing

Approximate word count: 20-25,000 words

Availability    

Kindle  US: YES  UK: YES  Nook: NO  Smashwords: NO  Paper: YES

Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

John Vorhaus is the author of numerous novels and screenplays. In the non-fiction arena, he’s written several books on poker as well as a guide on writing comedy for television and film, The Comic Toolbox: How to be Funny Even If You’re Not, which is now in its fifth printing.

For more, visit the author’s website.

Description:

“Starting with a wink at his own dumb title and a case for whimsy as a writer’s best friend, veteran writer and writing instructor John Vorhaus offers us this latest glimpse inside his writing mind. Drawing on a quarter-century of experience in writing scripts and novels, and teaching and training writers worldwide.”

Appraisal:

The dedication of How to Write Good is “to everyone who has the itch,” and its aim seems as much motivational as instructional, to get those who are writing wannabes to start, and encourage those who have tried and struggled, to try, try again. If there is an overriding theme, it is that the key to figuring out what works, not for other writers, but what works for you, is not being afraid to give an idea a try. Be whimsical. Heck, you can even try a grammatically questionable title.

Vorhaus says “in writing, there are no wrong choices,” and he’s not afraid to make what seems like a wrong choice. For example, this snippet from early in the book:

(Boy, here comes a convoluted sentence – get ready for it.) I figure you figure what I figure you figure because if I were you I would be figuring the exact same thing. (Told ya. Convoluted as hell.)

Confused? I can’t blame you, yet, this sentence worked for me. Vorhaus’ books are always spiked with humor, and as the above shows, he’s not afraid of poking fun at himself. In this section he’s talking about reading the mind of the reader, specifically how they’ll react, by evaluating how you react (this is also one of the keys to success in poker, one of Vorhaus’ other areas of expertise).

After reading How to Write Well, even the worst writer in the world should be encouraged to keep plugging away. As Vorhaus says, even that worst writer who is “spewing drivel onto the page every day,” will eventually reach the point where it “will cease being drivel, or at least evolve into drivel of a finer sort.” For some of us, drivel of a finer sort is a worthy goal, at least for now.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: **** Four stars

Endless Joke / David Antrobus

Reviewed by: BigAl

Genre: Non-Fiction/Writing/Publishing

Approximate word count: 30-35,000 words

Availability    

Kindle  US: YES  UK: YES  Nook: YES  Smashwords: YES  Paper: YES

Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

“David Antrobus was born in Manchester, England, raised in the English Midlands, and currently resides near Vancouver, Canada. He writes music reviews, articles, creative nonfiction, fiction, and poetry. The lessons he learned from working for two decades with abused and neglected street kids will never leave him.”

Description:

“Endless Joke is a collection. It's funny. It's irritating. It's the book you never realised you needed. But you do. If you want to stay safe (and sane) between the twists and turns and death throes of the old publishing monster and the anarchic new killing fields of epublishing, this book will help in that regard. It's equal parts passion, humour, angst,  and a kind of bewildered, contemplative awe.”

Appraisal:

There’s a cliché people use in describing Allison Krauss, Becky Schlegel (I know, you’ve never heard of her – she sounds a lot like Allison Krauss), or other singers with great voices. They say they’d “love listening to her, even if she was singing from the phone book.” I feel the same way about reading David Antrobus’ writing. I’d love to read anything he writes because of his facility with language. Well, almost anything. Maybe not the phone book. Some describe his style as literary (I’ve called it that before and we see some of that here), but he also a talent for finding the humor in subjects you wouldn’t think of as funny. Although Endless Joke is, on the surface, aimed at target readers who sees themselves as writers, authors, or at least wannabes, I could see much of this book being of interest and entertaining to those who are interested in the life of a writer (even if they don’t want to be one), in the world of publishing and how it is changing, and just generally in language and literature.

The book’s description is true, but if you’re like me, you’ll read it and still wonder, “If I buy this book, what will I get?” It’s a series of standalone essays, some originally written for Indies Unlimited (a multinational, multiauthor blog), some for Antrobus’ personal blog, The Migrant Type, and others specifically for this volume. As a group I’d describe them as “Dispatches from the Frontlines of Indie Publishing,” but that’s not as clever a title as Endless Joke (which is a reference that will be explained in the introduction). They covered a wide range of subjects, yet seemed to make a coherent whole. One example, Punk Fire or Indie Schmindie, discusses the similarities between the Punk Rock movement of the 70s and Indie publishing today and points out why the similarities aren’t all a harbinger of good things to come. Another, Well Defined? Nevermind, lists thirteen words from a list of fifty compiled by The New York Times that were most likely to stump their readers. With each he gives the real meaning as well as his own, made up definition. This mixing of education with entertainment in many of the essays kept even the driest subjects (like definitions of twenty-dollar words) interesting.

Whether an indie author (current or future) or a reader, Endless Joke will entertain, educate, and provoke thought. I promise, it’s much better than the phone book

FYI:

UK (or maybe Canadian, you’ll have to decide) spelling conventions are used.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues

Rating: ***** Five stars