Novel 'Under 25' is gritty and delightful

BOOK REVIEW: Under 25 by Johanna Cordery

The cover of Under 25, a novel by Johanna Cordery

Starting with a forewarning of a tragic event involving a “young un”, Under 25 takes readers on a roller-coaster ride of emotions and suspense as they ponder who among the main characters might become the lost soul.

The ominous foreshadowing within the opening lines masterfully sets the scene for the engaging story that follows; a tale about the intertwined lives of a number of young people growing up in Yorkshire, England, during the 1980s.

With sensitivity, Cordery tackles the subjects of teenage love, pregnancy, dysfunctional families, betrayal and the spectre of young suicide.

At times the language is powerful, pulling no punches. And be warned that the well-crafted dialogue is written to reflect the linguistic quirks, nuances and characteristics of native Yorkshire speakers. This accent on authenticity is at the heart of Under 25’s gritty realism, which is also reflected in the descriptions of the homes and surroundings of the characters.

Ashley Shuttleworth is the key protagonist, and it is mainly through him that we see events unfold. However, Cordery’s engaging style also gives multi-person viewpoints that enlighten the story and add delightful depth along the way.

Under 25 is filled with twists and turns and unexpected developments. There are moments of humour (I laughed out loud many times), and scenes of agonising sadness.

Readers should prepare to become emotionally invested in the characters who are given space to develop and come alive.

When I first started reading Under 25, I was impressed with the realism of the settings. As the story progressed it was the suspense of wondering where everything would lead and where the answers would be found that kept me deeply engaged with this well-structured, fast-paced, dialogue-driven novel.

A refreshing new author has arrived on the scene. I look forward to reading the future works of Johanna Cordery.

Under 25 is available as a Kindle e-book from Amazon.


CLICK TO PLAY: A short promotional film for Under 25

Footnote: I attended college with author Johanna Cordery in the early to mid-1990s.

Four stars out of five for new Star Wars

The poster for the new Star Wars film

With the new Star Wars film only days into its general release, I shall steer clear of revealing anything of the plot in this post. What I will say is, yes go and see it.

I give it four stars out of five. It's fun, it's a great adventure story, and it has fantastic effects. New stars Daisy Ridley and John Boyega are captivating, and the film is steeped in the essence of the original three films in the saga. The emotional jolt at the end is brilliant and timed to perfection.

I'd loved to have given the film five stars, and perhaps when the next two (and final?) episodes are in place The Force Awakens will be elevated as a result. But for the moment it must stand on its own, albeit with its many nods back to the preceding films in the series.

Director JJ Abrams has done a fine job bringing the Star Wars franchise into the 21st century, but he has played it somewhat safe with The Force Awakens. As spectacular and enjoyable as the film is, there is a little too much reliance on the "tried and tested" recipe of the past, and not enough pushing beyond the established boundaries of the Star Wars universe. Having grown up with a high regard for the original trilogy, I was hoping for a larger dose of uniqueness in this new adventure.

Abrams has constructed a remarkable film that stands up well next to the original three Star Wars movies. But I'm left wondering if perhaps a brake was applied to more ambitious ideas on account of this being a Disney film and also a huge "first spin of the dice" gamble for the studio after it paid George Lucas $4 billion to secure the franchise.

I went to a charity, late-night showing of the film the day before it went on general release. As I rode my moped towards town ahead of the 11pm screening, I was remembering the night in 1978 when I saw the original Star Wars. I was 11 years old. The nearest cinema was in a town five miles away, and at the time we did not have a family car. However, a friendly teacher and his wife, who had a car, took me and my older brother to see the film.

In an age when it was still a novelty to see a colour television, I was blown away by the film. It was a tour de force with special effects not seen before on a big screen. The story, structured on the hero's journey, drew me in completely. The loss of Ben Kenobi was an emotional moment that stayed with me for a long time. During the car ride home I gazed out of the window at the starry night and imagined that somewhere out there this great adventure might indeed have taken place a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.

Now, just over 37 years later, it was another starry night and I was heading to a cinema to see the continuation of the saga from where it had left off after 1983's The Return of the Jedi. In a way that’s what makes Star Wars quite unique for many people, the fact that it has been a constant in their life from a very young age.

I watched The Force Awakens, and when I left the cinema I contemplated the night sky and remembered how the younger me had done the same in 1978. Walking away from the cinema, I had a similar feeling of fulfilment and wonder. Seeing so many of the original Star Wars characters in this new film was more than a sentimental kick. They, like me, had outwardly aged in the intervening three decades; we had journeyed through our lives to reach this point, which felt like a reuniting of old friends.

In the wake of The Force Awakens, the Star Wars saga appears to be back on track after the less than fulfilling prequels of the late 1990s and early 2000s. My hope is there will be a greater amount of risk-taking in the next film, regarding new plot lines, villains, and those emotional jolts that stay with the audience long after they have departed the theatre.

Well done to Abrams for The Force Awakens. May the Force be with the next director, Rian Johnson, who now picks up the saga where it has been so tantalisingly placed by Abrams.

Tips for promoting an e-book

Dolphin Girl at No.9 in the literary fiction (British & Irish) sub category
 of the Amazon.com Kindle Store on September 28, 2015

One morning in September Dolphin Girl reached the top 6,000 bestsellers in Amazon.com's Kindle Store. At its peak it was briefly No.9 in the British & Irish literary fiction sub category, alongside novels by Salman Rushdie and Mark Haddon.

To date the book has collected eight reviews across the various Amazon sites, ranging from five-star to one-star. Presented here is a short road map describing what I did to initially promote Dolphin Girl. I hope these details might act as a partial resource guide for others who are looking to expand the audience for their books.

As Dolphin Girl was my first venture into the world of e-books, it took me some time to get going with promotion and marketing. I was learning all the way and soon discovered that a key requirement was to attract some reviews on Amazon.

Readers are less likely to buy a book that has no reviews. Reviews generally add a degree of legitimacy and reassurance about the quality and authenticity of a book. However, getting reviews in the first place presents a Catch-22 situation, because if people are unlikely to purchase a book with no reviews, how are you supposed to sell any copies in the hope of generating a few reviews?

If you are fortunate, one or two reviews might come through friends and acquaintances, which is a good start. Beyond that, the avenue I took was to make Dolphin Girl briefly available for download on the Story Cartel website. This is a great, free resource for authors and readers. An e-book is promoted for 21 days, allowing readers to download it for free. The only request is that the reader leave an honest review in return (on Amazon or Goodreads, etc). The review request is simply that, a request. There is no binding obligation. As a result, you might end up with only a fraction of readers following through with a review.

At the same time I ran a small, targeted ad campaign on Facebook, encouraging readers to check out Dolphin Girl on Story Cartel. This generated further downloads from potential reviewers.

Once I had five reviews on the Amazon.com website I was able to move on to paid promotional slots at a number of websites and newsletters. Most required a minimum of five Amazon reviews before they would consider listing a book in a one-day reduced price promotion. The effectiveness of these services varies, and a book's genre also plays a part in how much interest it attracts. I used a number of sites and ran a few "price pulse" promotions, spreading them across different days rather than in one big hit. By doing so I could monitor the effectiveness of the competing sites more accurately.

Most of these promotional outlets charge a fee, varying from $5 to $50. There are some that are free. The results vary from good to barely noticeable. From my experience the best were ENT & FK Books and Tips, Book Gorilla, and Book Butterfly. Others worth considering are Book Sends (with eReaderIQ) and Genre Pulse.

I should mention the "granddaddy" of these sites is BookBub. It has a colossal reach and charges hundred of dollars for a promo slot - and that's if you are lucky enough to be accepted. The current word among authors is that if you don't have at least 50 decent reviews already, you're probably going to be turned down. What BookBub also has going for it is the virtually guaranteed "positive return on investment" for an author, so the number of books they sell covers the cost of the promotional slot with a chunk of profit on top. Dolphin Girl, alas, was not featured on BookBub.

As a further aside, these sites and newsletters do a roaring trade in promoting free e-books. This was not something I did, but the theory behind making your book free, either for a limited time or permanently, is to generate more interest, more readers and more feedback.

On its promotional spotlight days, when priced at $0.99 or 99p, Dolphin Girl moved higher in both the British & Irish literary fiction and the fantasy/magical realism sub categories of Amazon's Kindle Store. It reached the top 50 in these sub categories on a number of occasions, and briefly peaked at No. 9 in the British & Irish category on September 28.

Dolphin Girl peaked in the Amazon.com Kindle Store rankings on September 28, 2015

When the book returned to its normal retail price it occasionally picked up residual sales. This was probably due to its higher sales profile during the previous promotional days. As a further benefit, Dolphin Girl is now occasionally included in the "readers of this book also bought..." section that appears below books as they are browsed by customers on Amazon.

Along the way, the book attracted further reviews. Across all Amazon platforms, Dolphin Girl currently has a total of eight reviews, of which five are 5-star, one is 4-star and two are 1-star reviews. Some people loved it, while others found it unengaging.

Whether good, bad or indifferent, reviews are useful feedback and add to a book's credibility in the eyes of potential customers weighing up whether or not to make a purchase.

All-in-all, the experience of promoting my debut e-book novel was rewarding. Although Dolphin Girl is currently not part of a promotional campaign it continues to pick up occasional online sales.

Other authors have noted that being able to promote more than one book, and ideally having four, five or more available, builds greater sales momentum than can be achieved with a single book.

I'm still learning the ropes regarding promoting and marketing an e-book. I hope this summary will assist others embarking on the same journey.

Power of a hurricane

When Hurricane Joaquin brushed the island earlier this month, it brought winds gusting at 100 mph and slightly higher. They howled across Bermuda for more than 12 hours, reaching their peak after nightfall.

Joaquin was a Category 2 hurricane, just below 'major hurricane' ranking, but packing a powerful punch. The storm's winds became a significant factor as daylight bade a premature farewell, and grey clouds frantically raced above.

Alone in the centre of the garden the mature avocado tree was forced to dance to the tune of Joaquin. Shaken by the wind, with each new blast more forceful than the last, the branches were tossed back and forth almost to the point of breaking (see video).

A large branch hangs down from the
avocado tree after being snapped by
the fierce winds of Hurricane Joaquin

Nightfall arrived early, extinguishing the storm's day-long twilight. I was able to take a kitchen chair outside and sit under the small porch, near the back door, protected from the relentless southerly winds by the cottage's sturdy walls.

In that oasis of shelter in the midst of the hurricane's fury, I watched the avocado tree being mercilessly ravaged in the wind. At any moment it seemed it might buckle against the force of nature.

How small we are, I reflected; how transient are we, and our homes and surroundings in the face of nature's mightiest forces.

On cue, the lights went out. A transformer box on a nearby utility pole sparked in defiance, like a silent firecracker or a camera's popping flashbulb. Twice, three times, it fought back before submitting to the unrestrained hurricane forces sweeping the island.

With only candles and a flashlight for illumination, it was time to turn in for an early night. From my bed within the window-shuttered cottage, I drifted to sleep listening to the howling of the storm.

A bird box was left at an acute angle after being
pummeled by the winds of Hurricane Joaquin

In the grey light of morning the damage was surveyed. Two sizeable branches had snapped from the avocado trees, while lesser branches and twigs were strewn across the ground. A hefty flowerpot had been shifted and tilted, but on the whole none of the damage was on the scale of that done by Fay and Gonzalo, last year's two direct hit hurricanes.

The centre of Hurricane Joaquin stayed 60 nautical miles or more to the west, and so we were spared a much fiercer pounding. However, the storm was a timely reminder of the power of nature in the raw.

Wonders beneath the waves

From the surface the sea appears to be a vast empty expanse

From land it appears to be a vast expanse of water, and not much else. Stretching away in a uniform manner as far as the eye can see, the ocean is a seemingly unchanging palette - save for the texture of restless, wandering waves.

In harmony with the moods of the sky above, its blue radiance can alter day by day, but from above it portrays a glistening emptiness. Yet beneath the surface, in many places only inches below the waves, exists an otherworldly terrain filled with breathtaking seascapes.

It is neither the wind nor the sea breeze which causes the corals to sway in unison. They bow to the gentle currents and undertows that sweep through the submerged, sculptured rocks where curious fish move in and out.

Colourful corals create a rich, underwater garden scene

A sergeant major fish shows off his stripes, while a secretive squirrel fish dares to venture from a hiding place. The fish come in all shapes, sizes and colours, mingling without incident, content to share with their neighbours the aquatic wonderland.

Beneath the waves is a world that lives and breathes by its own rules, immersed in a peaceful silence. To see and appreciate its wonders is to have your soul uplifted.

As we snorkelled last weekend, Heather and I saw turtles and a golden spotted sea eel. Unfortunately the camera was not switched on for those encounters. It is not a GoPro, alas. This is "old school" filming using a standard camera in a watertight pouch. Even so, I hope the glimpses of the world beneath the waves in this short video will uplift your soul.

Dolphin Girl: e-book vs paperback

When Dolphin Girl was released in April it was my first foray into the world of e-books. Considering the explosion in the number of people now reading on devices such as Kindle, Kobo and other tablet apps, it made sense to bring out an e-book version alongside the paperback.

For readers and authors the cost of buying and selling e-books is far more economical in comparison with a physical book, quite apart from the instant availability and convenience of an e-book, which can be bought and downloaded in a matter of seconds from virtually anywhere in the world.

So, I decided to step into the brave new world of e-books with Dolphin Girl - albeit as a latecomer to the party.

To my surprise, all my initial sales were of physical copies of the book, even though the paperback cost three times more than the e-book. I began to wonder if I'd got the sums wrong and my readership simply preferred to have and hold a "book book".

Then, almost four months after Dolphin Girl was published it achieved its first e-book sales. It was a relief to see it finally being downloaded electronically. As a result, it briefly climbed into the top 400 in two sub-categories at the Amazon.com store twice in the space of a week. (Below is the e-book's ranking as it appeared on August 20)

It was pleasing to see Dolphin Girl attracting some attention, even though it has yet to be featured in any major advertising promotion. During the coming weeks and months I will apply some of the things I've learnt, and continue to learn, regarding e-book marketing.

A major factor to being accepted by some of the bigger book promotion outlets is the number of reviews or readers' ratings a book garners. It seems like a Catch-22 scenario - and in a way it is. But there are smaller steps that can be taken to help build momentum and with it the likelihood of a few reviews and ultimately a slot with a promotion outlet.

So I'm thankful for, and encouraged by, the words of the handful of early reviewers of Dolphin Girl.

The marketing and promotion process for Dolphin Girl is still at an early stage, although had I known what I know now it would be much further along the line. I hope to share future progress at a later date.

For now, I would like to thank all readers who have given Dolphin Girl a chance, whether as an e-book or "book book."

Dolphin Girl available here on Amazon, and also on Kobo

Bermuda Gold is a sparkling thriller

BOOK REVIEW: Bermuda Gold by Lee Slonimsky (Moonshine Cove Publishing)

When small-time private detective J E Rexroth agrees to investigate threatening calls made to the wife of a hedge fund manager it seemed like just another job that would bring in some income and help keep the wolf from the door of his downbeat office in Manhattan. But little did he know it was far from a regular case, and that the tentacles of evil reaching out for his new client were also bearing down on his world from another direction.

Rexroth is soon caught up in a murky world where big money, murders and a terrorist plot collide. As creeping paranoia takes hold, he discovers that all he values in life is on the line as he tries to unravel a sinister scheme before it is too late.

Bermuda Gold author Lee Slonimsky has drawn upon his real-life background as a New York hedge fund manager and former educator at a criminal justice college to create a compelling detective thriller that will have readers' nerves jangling as much as those of the characters caught in a web of fear, threats and deaths.

Slonimsky expertly weaves together seemingly unconnected threads as he builds suspense and ensures the reader is with Rexroth every step of the way, from New York to Bermuda and back again, as he tries to evade shadowy, menacing adversaries.

Using his knowledge of the hedge fund industry to carve out believable scenarios that could lurk in the secret world of big money investment deals, coupled with familiarity of police procedures informed from his time at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, the author has created a fast-moving and compelling detective thriller.

The vulnerabilities of the characters are well observed, as are the descriptions of the streets of Manhattan, the splendor of the greater New York environs, and the beauty of the sun-kissed island of Bermuda.

Sprinkled throughout are evocative imagery and turns of phrase worthy of a poet's mind.

There are some books that you never quite get to the end of, while others so grip you set aside extra time to read them, eager to discover how they will end. Bermuda Gold falls squarely in the latter category. It is a rewarding and thrilling read.

Bermuda Gold (Moonshine Cove Publishing) is available from Amazon