Florence Festival of Books Follow-Up

Good morning! 

Earlier this month I wrote about the upcoming Florence Festival of Books. The event is usually annual, but it was cancelled in 2020 due to the pandemic. I was excited to return this year. (Fun fact: the 1st annual Florence Festival of Books was in 2011-- which was the year my first book was published. As a result, I can proudly say that I've attended every year!). 

 

 

This year got off to a bit of a rough start. It was stormy on the Oregon coast Friday night. I'm such a light sleeper that the strong winds and heavy rains woke me up several times. Fortunately, by Saturday morning the storm was letting up. It rained off and on during my drive to Florence, but it cleared up about an hour after the festival opened. 

 

 

I knew when I signed up that this year's festival would be different. In fact, for the week leading up to the event, I half expected to receive a message saying it had been cancelled. We've been experiencing a surge in coronavirus cases on the Oregon coast over the past few months (mostly due to the Delta variant). But, they decided to go ahead with the event while implementing several safety efforts. 

 

If you look closely, you might recognize the author in the lower left  photograph.

 

In addition to requiring everyone (both vendors and visitors) to wear masks inside the Florence Events Center, they limited the number of booths. If I remember right, they said there was 1/3 less booth this year than in past years. This allowed them to space out the tables which made it easier for participants to practice social distancing. They also had hand sanitizer stations set up throughout the building.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Despite advertising the event through all of the regular channels, this year's book festival didn't draw as many visitors as it usually does. Given the circumstances, this wasn't surprising; but, if I'm being brutally honest, it was still disappointing. 

I'm incredibly grateful to the people that did attend the event. I enjoyed chatting with the visitors to my booth. Since I wrote two books on local history, I tend to catch the attention of fellow history enthusiasts. This inevitably leads to interesting conversations! I also enjoyed catching up with several of my fellow west coast authors.

Baby book's 1st book festival...

 

I'm looking forward to next year's Florence Festival of Books. Fingers crossed that the world has returned to "normal" by then!

Happy reading!

~ H. S. Contino

It's a... Book!

 

After a year and a half of hard labor, my book baby is nearly ready to greet the world! (The Beta Reader edition)

I “burned the midnight oil” last night. I completed the final edits to the manuscript and uploaded it to Amazon and Kindle around 2 am. It’ll take them up to 72 hours to review the e-book version and a little longer for the print addition. During the review process, they’ll be making sure that the manuscript and cover formatting meet their publishing guidelines. The main thing is to make sure that none of text will be cut off at the edge of the page during the printing and binding process.

Since I created this novel on a shoestring budget (and I’m self-publishing it), I couldn’t afford to hire publishing help. As a result, I wore many hats: writer, editor, cover designer, manuscript designer, and eventually book promoter.

Editing your own work is incredibly challenging! Part of the problem is that you’re too close to the work. It’s hard to see the holes in your own story. It can be difficult to spot your own typos and other mistakes. For instance, I’m bad about reversing the order of letters when I’m typing. Spell check will help find some of these mistakes, but if the letters still form a real word they get missed (for example: form and from). The novel has gone through more than a dozen revisions over the past year and a half. Yet, during every read through, I find at least 1 mistake that I missed.

Realizing that I could use some help, I decided to release a Beta Reader edition of the novel. I included a letter in front of the novel encouraging readers to contact me with their comments (or if they spot any missed mistakes!). My current plan is to release the Beta Reader edition into the world while I work on the rough draft of another novel then return to it once I’ve received some reader feedback.

My regular blog followers may have noticed in the above photograph that I changed the title of the book. During all but the last two drafts, I had been called it “Timelines.” I liked that title and how smoothly in rolled off the tongue. It also looked awesome on the cover of the book– simple and concise. But… the title didn’t really fit the contents of the book.

The word “timelines” implies time travel while my story involves alternative realities/parallel worlds. The problem was that when I decided to change the title, my first 15 or so choices were already taken. I made the mistake before of using a too generic book title. As a result, my book was lost in a sea of others with similar titles and subject matters.

Some of the titles that I considered that were already in use: Parallel Lives, Alternative Lives, Parallel Worlds, Parallels (one of my favorites!), title variations using “Multiverse” including “Glimpsing the Multiverse”…

I finally settled on “Alternatives” since it implies choices. There are other published books that include the word but not as a stand alone title. I also liked that it was a single word title. For some reason, a simple title seemed right for this particular project.

My little blue marble…

I also went through many different computer generated book covers before settling on one. You’ve all probably heard the famous quote from Carl Sagan about the Earth being our little blue marble. Years ago, I purchased a blue marble with the continents painted on it. (Side note: I have to hide it in a jewelry box to keep my cats from stealing it!) I decided to photograph the marble and work it into the cover design. I also played with the lens effects in Adobe Photograph in my attempt to create a very sci-fi looking cover. I’m not completely satisfied with it though, so I may make additional changes. What I do like is that the current cover art hints at the contents of the book. There are two Earths travel parallel with each other through space.

Anyway… I’m seriously sleep deprived, so please forgive me if I rambled on in this blog post. I was just so excited to share this update with my readers and writing friends. I’ll update the bog again once the novel is available on Amazon and include the links where you can purchase it. The Beta Reader edition of the e-book is only $3.99. Technically, the print edition will be available as well, but I would recommend waiting to purchase the print version until after I’ve made the final edits. I can guarantee that there will be more changes made to the manuscript once I’ve received some feedback!

Oh, a little teaser from the back cover of the book:

According to theory, there are countless versions of reality running in parallel with each other. What if you were given a glimpse into your alternative lives? What version of yourself would you see? How would it effect your future decisions?

Francis Marino’s quiet life on the Oregon coast was interrupted when two military officers showed up on her doorstep with a bizarre story and urged her to come with them. Curious– and figuring that she had nothing to lose– she agreed. Thus began an unexpected adventure that forced her to leave her comfort zone and confront many of her beliefs about the world we live in.

As the commander of a highly classified military facility, Colonel Dominic Davis was dedicated to his job. But, after being exposed to an alien device, he is given visions of two alternative realities. Dom realizes that he needs to make changes– both personal and professional.

Life on Earth hangs in the balance…

Stay tuned! And, as always, thank you for subscribing to my blog. I really appreciate the support!

~ H. S. Contino

ARC Reviews– “Astro-Nuts Mission Two: The Water Planet” by Jon Scieszka and “BenBee and the Teacher Griefer” by K. A. Holt

 Hello everyone!

 

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to sign up to receive three advanced reader copies of books being published this summer for young readers. I don’t have any children of my own, but I am an auntie– and I have a healthy inner child. I really enjoy reading children’s books!

While working at a local library, I often told people that I was “an equal opportunity reader.” And I meant it! I read everything from kids’ picture books to children’s chapter books to YA to adult stories– and both fiction and non-fiction books (science, space, and history especially). You find the most interesting– and sometimes simply fun— books when you keep an open mind when it comes to reading.

The three advanced reader books that I received were all from Chronicle Books, and I’d like to take a moment to thank Kaitlyn Spotts, Associate Marketing Manager, for providing me with copies of the books to read. Thank you!

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the first two books, and I’m looking forward to reading the third (book review coming soon!)!

 

AstroNuts Mission Two: The Water Planet (AstroNuts #2)

by: Jon Scieszka, Steven Weinberg (Illustrator)

The first of the advanced reader books that I read was “Astro-nuts Mission Two: The Water Planet” which was written by Jon Scieszka and illustrated by Steven Weinberg. The book was a graphic novel and the second in a book series, but they provided enough information in the first few pages for me to be able to enjoy reading the book even though I hadn’t read the first one (yet!).

As the back cover explains, the “Astro-nuts” are four mutant animals that were created by “NNASA (Not-NASA)” for a very important purpose. Since the Earth is currently in crisis (due to pollution and climate change), the team needs to find a new habitable planet for the humans.

First, I have to say– what a fun read! The characters were outrageous (a stink bug super hero, anyone?), and there were numerous laugh out loud moments. I was particularly amused by a lot of the extra details– for instance, there is a hidden message on the copyright page (please, go look for it!). I also enjoyed the page at the end of the book that talks about the writer and illustrator– who, apparently, live across the street from each other. Or at least they did– it all depends on if Steven managed to escape the illustrated fish which is attempting to gobble him up in his photograph…

I also liked how the author and illustrator incorporated real science information and classical artwork into the book. For example, they pause the story to talk about the scientific method and explain to kids the steps involved. I especially liked the section at the end of the book that discussed the original artwork and how Steven Weinberg incorporated it into the graphic novel (using a collage style of illustrating). Once again, it’s educational as it explains to kids what a collage is and highlights both the art and the artists that created the original works. They even provide a link to the Dutch National Museum (Rijksmuseum) and encourage kids to go learn more.

So, to recap: the story was fun, outrageous, and educational– does it get any better than that?

My only critique would be that the underlying message of the book— and the parallels between the clam management of the water planet and the human management of the planet Earth— was a bit heavy handed. Although, I do appreciate the message (and agree with it).

Since the copy I read was an advanced reader edition, most of the pages were in black and white. Unfortunately, the gray-scale “washed out” some of the artwork. There were a few colored pages in the center of the book to provide the reader with a better idea of what the finished product would look like. I have to say that the illustrations looked much, much better in color!

I look forward to reading more about the Astro-nuts in the future! And I intend to track down a copy of book #1…

“Astro-nuts Mission Two: The Water Planet” will be published this month (August 2020) by Chronicle Books.

 

 

BenBee and the Teacher Griefer: The Kids Under the Stairs

by: K. A. Holt

 

The second advanced reader book that I read was “BenBee and the Teacher Griefer” by K. A. Holt. It’s the first book in the “The Kids Under the Stairs” series. This book was a novel, but it does include some drawings and other multi-media material.

As the back of the book explains, the four kids in the book all failed the Language Arts section of a standardized test. As a result, they’re all forced to attend summer school before they retake the test– which the kids call the “FART” (the “Florida Rigorous Academic Assessment Test”).

I absolutely loved reading this book! It’s got everything from humor to heart. I enjoyed the combination of light hearted (and sometimes completely silly) and serious moments. There were times while reading the book that I literally laughed out loud, but there were also other moments where I was reaching for my box of tissues. The book is a fun read; but, it’s also got depth, and it discussed quite a few heavy topics.

 

It’s a story about misfits and underdogs— and completely relatable. I think the middle school (and later high school) years are challenging for everyone. But, for these four particular kids, they’re a little bit harder (for four different reasons).

“BenBee and the Teacher Griefer” is the type of book that I wish I had been able to read when I was a kid (although, reading it as an adult sure made my inner child happy!).

It did take me a little while to get used to the unusual formatting of the book. But, after a few pages, I realized that the sections from the point of view (POV) of the different kids were formatted to reflect their personalities (and, in some ways, their personal struggles). For example, Jordon J’s sections were large paragraphs with lots of run on sentences and random thoughts. It was pretty much “stream of consciousness” style writing. One of the other kids described Jordon J as “the human version of coffee”— so structuring the portions of the book from his perspective this way was perfect.

I also liked how the author incorporated a fictional video game into the story. It gives the four kids common ground– since they’re all fans of the game– and I think that it’ll give real kids a way to connect with the characters while they’re reading the book.

I don’t know what else to say, but it is a GREAT book! I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for additional books in the series. (I also plan on giving my copy of the book to my nephew to read next!).

“BenBee and the Teacher Griefer” by K. A. Holt will be published in September 2020 by Chronicle Books.

(Note: I also shared portions of both book review on GoodReads).

 

Thanks for reading! See you next time!

~ H. S. Contino