Saturday 18 June 2011

The Docks: Father's Day offer

Get The Docks free on Smashwords with this coupon: CK45G valid until 21st June


Now on to the update: The Docks is out for premium distribution, as well as on Smashwords and Amazon, and I should be sending copies out for review. Unfortunately, I'm a little cautious for a few reasons.

Spoilers are one: spoilers in a review for a crime story would be a much bigger problem than spoilers for action/adventure.

The real problem is the main character. Harry is not a likeable character. He is sympathetic, but only because he's in over his head and he is only in trouble because of his own faint sense of ethics (at least he has one - his accomplices don't). The Docks has an unreliable narrator, in the sense that he's not just deceiving the reader, he's deceiving himself.

The difference between Harry and his opponent, Rivers? About thirty points of IQ and a badge. The reader can put together many of the things Harry misses, misinterprets, or doesn't mention.

After all, if the viewpoint character tells you when he's not lying, you should pay close attention the rest of the time...

I've also been asked about a printed version by bookshops. As this is self-published, unlike Fire Season, this would have to be done POD which takes away from my writing time. On the other hand, guaranteed offers of shelf space are something an author should not turn down.

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