Tuesday, 28 August 2018

Memoirs of a Guardian Angel is $0.99 at Wallmart

In case you haven't heard, Wallmart and Kobo have partnered to bring you thousands of e-books, which you can shop directly from Wallmart's website.

To celebrate this momentous occasion, I'm happy to announce that Memoirs of a Guardian Angel, my urban fantasy novella, is available for only $0.99, for a limited time only.

Click below to buy it directly from the Wallmart store!


Tuesday, 21 August 2018

Nilsen's Hollow by Allen Caraway (Book Review)


Where to start?

The plot was good, the story was okay, and the mystery was unpredictable... at least to me. But it was one of those "why didn't I think of that?" moments when the culprit was revealed, so it's possible that someone with more experience reading mysteries than me will figure it out long before I did.

On the downside, the supernatural element was downplayed and disappointing. Early on in the story, the protagonist sees ghosts everywhere, and a poltergeist-type entity keeps moving his stuff around. And then it abruptly stops, with no real explanation. Other than a few tenuous dreams, there isn't any more mention of it until right at the end, when a... well, let me not tell you that.

The writing's also strange. It might just be a British thing, but the author keeps forgetting to use the word "I". Instead of saying "I did this", he'll just say "Did this". That took a while to get used to.

He and his characters are also always "sketching" things, like salutes or waves, and sometimes smiles. How do you sketch a smile?

One word he overuses a lot is "Evidentially". Which wouldn't be so noticeable, but I'm pretty sure that he means "Evidently". Every. Single. Time.

In summary: not a bad story, but the writing takes some getting used to, and I felt I was let down because it was billed as a "Supernatural Mystery".

My Review: 3 / 5 Stars

About the Book


A spectacular, heart-pounding paranormal mystery about one man’s quest to hunt down and stop a serial killer.

“This is a tight thriller, a paranormal mystery that stands foursquare to its brief and delivers with confidence ... what I read was a book that Stephen King would be proud of ... a solid read; entertaining throughout ... a work written with a great assurance ... it is brilliant holiday reading material.” ~ Kate Onyett, The Future Fire Reviews

THE GHOST

Sam Munro doesn’t believe in ghosts. However, he soon changes his mind when he discovers that his hotel room is haunted, the paranormal activity terrifying him and the disruptive and restless ghost pursuing Sam wherever he goes.

THE MURDER

A young woman goes missing, presumed murdered, her body never found. Seven years later, the local sheriff’s office has all but forgotten the case. Only one man is trying to find her and the killer: the woman’s uncle, Gunther Parkinson, a retired Chicago homicide detective turned private investigator.

THE DECEIVER

When Gunther asks Sam to assist with his investigation, Sam quickly finds himself entangled in a supernatural mystery that catapults him into a maelstrom of deception, vengeance and murder that leads Sam to a horrifying conclusion: he has trusted the wrong person and could be the killer’s next victim …

This exciting paranormal thriller will take the reader on an unforgettable journey through the darkest corridors of human emotion. In Nilsen’s Hollow, Caraway writes about how grief, mania and retribution can change lives – for the worst, and forever.

Steve Pattee from HorrorTalk on this powerful haunted hotel story: “… effectively creepy … it more than delivers on the suspense ... Caraway does a great job on presenting believable, likeable characters in realistic circumstances without falling into the trap of making anyone too clichéd … There is also no disputing that he can write a mean mystery … I would eagerly read more of Munro's adventures.”

Lilia Tombs from Horror Shock Lolipop on this intensely suspenseful ghost mystery: “Caraway's writing style is wonderfully descriptive; he creates the beauty of the landscape in Montana just as vividly as the horror of gory murder scenes … reading it is enjoyable throughout … a solid, well-written paranormal thriller.”

Previously published as Drowning in Shadow/To Evil Comes a Daughter.

Click here to find out where you can buy a copy.

A crapton of Science Fiction and Fantasy Books for $0.99

Do you love science fiction and fantasy?

The guys over at Art of the Arcane have put together a massive list of science fiction and fantasy e-books, all of which cost just 99 US cents. Click the banner below to see them all:


Also included in the list is my paranormal flash fiction collection, Heaven and Earth!

As you can see, the promotion ends on 31 August, though, so you'd better hurry.

What's your all-time favourite science fiction or fantasy book? Let me know in the comments below.

You're welcome, by the way.

Tuesday, 14 August 2018

Overdrive Libraries in South Africa

I've blogged here about Overdrive before, specifically, the Gauteng E-Library. It's an awesome free way to read e-books and listen to audiobooks.

Someone posted in a reader's group on Facebook over the weekend, asking about Overdrive. She's in KwaZulu-Natal, and wanted to know how it worked.

With that in mind, here's a list of all the provincial libraries in South Africa that belong to Overdrive. You're welcome.

Note: These are all the South African provincial libraries I've been able to find on Overdrive. There may be others, so if you know of any, please comment below, and I'll update the list.

There are also quite a few private and school libraries on Overdrive in South Africa, and the company you work for may have corporate libraries as well. When it doubt, ask someone.

In terms of how to borrow books from a South African provincial e-library, The way it works in Gauteng is, if you have a card to any library anywhere in Gauteng, you have access to the Gauteng Library's Overdrive site. I don't see why it wouldn't work that way for the other provinces as well.


However, your card does need to have been issued fairly recently (probably within the last three years or so). I know this because when I was first trying to access Overdrive, before I got my own card, I tried my mom's card--which was issued yonks ago--and it didn't work. Then I got my own card, and about a month later, it was active on the Gauteng library site. My new card looks very different from that old one of my mom's I was trying, and the length of the number is different, too.

So it's probably just that you need to have a library card that was issued after the various provinces started using Overdrive.

What about you? Have you been able to borrow e-books or audiobooks from your local Overdrive library? Please comment below if you have; maybe your experiences will help others, too.

Tuesday, 7 August 2018

Featuring South African Indie Authors

For the past couple of months, I've been making a point of showcasing one South African self-published author in my monthly newsletter. Last month, for example, I featured hybrid author, Joanne Macgregor.

It gives me a good feeling, knowing that I'm doing my small part to help out the wonderful people who've helped me so much on my author journey. And I like to think my readers appreciate it, too.

This month's featured author is a secret, but if you're interested in reading more South Africans, and supporting the self-publishing scene in general, won't you consider signing up? You can click the link below to do so, and I'll even send you a free book to say thank you:
I hope to grace your inbox soon!

By the way, if you have a favourite indie author, who is currently living in South Africa, please feel free to comment below with a link to their website. Let's keep this post relevent for a long time, by showcasing our favourites.

Friday, 3 August 2018

Book Review: The Strain by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan


Three stars, four stars, three stars, four stars. Eenie Meenie Minie Moe.

I loved the story. The plot. I watched the TV series a few years ago, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I was keen to find out if I'd enjoy the book just as much.

Well, I did. Pretty much. The problem is that the writing, while completely devoid of any technical issues that I could pick up, isn't very easy-reading. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone just discovering the joy of reading, or learning English as a second language.

Run-on sentences and fragments abound. Sentences are two or three words long. And then all of a sudden you read a monster (excuse the pun) that spans a screen and a half of your e-reader, replete with a long-winded parenthetical note which, by the time you get to the end of it, you've forgotten what came before it.

Irritating, isn't it?

So you see why I'm struggling so much to decide.

Look, del Toro is a master storyteller, there's no doubt about it. He's written a gripping book, which was turned into an amazing TV series.

I've read a few reviews that complain that there are too many characters here. I must admit, I felt that too, in the first third or so of the book. But here's a spoiler for you, which shouldn't really be a spoiler, in a book like this: most of them are dead by the end of the first half. And I think most of those characters are necessary early on, so you can really appreciate the scope of the tragedy that's unfolding before your eyes.

If, like me, you love vampires but hate zombies, well then the monsters in this book are somewhat of a hybrid between the two. I'm still not a fan of the whole zombie genre, but at least these guys have some intelligence. Some discernible motivation.

Check it out, if you're a man of more classical, long-winded writing.

My Review: 4 / 5 Stars

About the Book

A plane lands at JFK and mysteriously ‘goes dark’, stopping in the middle of the runway for no apparent reason, all lights off, all doors sealed. The pilots cannot be raised.

When the hatch above the wing finally clicks open, it soon becomes clear that everyone on board is dead – although there is no sign of any trauma or struggle. Ephraim Goodweather and his team from the Center for Disease Control must work quickly to establish the cause of this strange occurrence before panic spreads.

The first thing they discover is that four of the victims are actually still alive. But that’s the only good news. And when all two hundred corpses disappear from various morgues around the city on the same night, things very rapidly get worse. Soon Eph and a small band of helpers will find themselves battling to protect not only their own loved ones, but the whole city, against an ancient threat to humanity.

Click here to find out where you can get the e-book.