2013 January Reading List

The Name of the Wind byPatrick Rothfuss – It was quite a bit of a pain to read. I was more interested in the present time situation, but the author kept dragging me into the past, starting from early childhood and dwelling for an unnecessarily long time in his youth. I enjoyed Mistborn: The Fallen Empire much more.  4/5 stars

Shrads of Honour by Lois McMaster Bujold – Enjoyable, though it’s quite clear it was written in another century. 3/5 stars

Storm Front by Jim Butcher – Silly fun, but the all too powerful wizard Harry Dressen sounded like a whiny girl most of the time, so, umm, no. 3/5 stars

Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock – The writing flows nicely, but I got quickly bored by all the trees, woods, mythagos and story within story. I merely leafed through the last quarter of the book and couldn’t wait for the story to end. 3/5 stars

Millennium by John Varley – The first POV for two characters used for the entire book can take a while to get used to, but the book delivered in the end. 4/5 stars

Killing Floor by Lee Child – I haven’t seen the Jack Reacher movie yet so I wasn’t influenced by it. The short sentences nearly killed me. It works for short stories but not for novels, and a long one at that. I felt zero connection with the hero and the plot was not that interesting to begin with. 3/5 stars

Armata moliilor by Liviu Radu (Moth Army) – Great fun, though the part with the hero was more interesting than the one about the wizard. 4/5 stars

Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion – I picked this one up because I saw the movie trailer and thought it might be fun. I liked R, but I didn’t care for Juliet and her world. The airport life was more interesting. The same goes for the book, the first half is ok, the second half not so much. 3/5 stars

Star grading system reminder:
1 star - you won't find any so it doesn't matter
2 stars - waste of time or unfinished book or both
3 stars - you won't be sorry for reading it but you can just as well live without it
4 stars - it brings something special into your life
5 stars - brilliant, damn near perfect

Blue Moon Cafe Series Review (4)

Blue Moon Cafe Series: Where Shifters Meet for Drinks received another 5 star review:

"After every story that I finished, I felt I wanted more. Every character has charm and I almost believed they were actually my friends and even real people. My favourite was Jo, the mayor's wife, who was independent, a heroine and an inspiration for me. She is capable of many things to help the ones she loves and to serve the purpose she believes in.

I really enjoyed being part of the town, knowing their inside problems and jokes. I also liked that Ioana left out all the drama behind the classic stories and these superhumans try to adapt, no the other way around. They really act like normal people and that makes them real." - Diana Gavrila

Yes! She liked Jo! :D I'm feeling ridiculously happy that someone preferred Jo over all the other characters. Want to know a secret? She's my favorite too. :)

Read the full review here.

Blue Moon Cafe Series: Where Shifters Meet for Drinks is available through Amazon, Amazon.uk, Amazon.fr, Amazon.de, Amazon.es, Amazon.it, Amazon.ca, Amazon.co.jp, iTunes, Kobo and Smashwords, for only $0.99 for a short period of time. 

Blue Moon Cafe Series Excerpt

Blue Moon Cafe Series: Where Shifters Meet for Drinks was featured on Butterfly-o-Metter Books. You can also read there an excerpt different from the samples offered by Amazon and Smashwords.

Blue Moon Cafe Series: Where Shifters Meet for Drinks is available through Amazon, Amazon.uk, Amazon.fr, Amazon.de, Amazon.es, Amazon.it, Amazon.ca, Amazon.co.jp, iTunes, Kobo and Smashwords, for only $0.99 for a short period of time.

Blue Moon Cafe Series Interview and Giveaway

Here's another interview related to Blue Moon Cafe Series: Where Shifters Meet for Drinks and a giveway hosted by My Weekly Book. 5 copies available for 10 days. Good luck!

If you cannot wait that long, Blue Moon Cafe Series: Where Shifters Meet for Drinks is available through Amazon, Amazon.uk, Amazon.fr, Amazon.de, Amazon.es, Amazon.it, Amazon.ca, Amazon.co.jp, iTunes, Kobo and Smashwords, for only $0.99 for a short period of time. 

Interview in Suspans.ro

Andreea Sterea interviewed me about my traditional publishing and self-publishing experience for Suspans.ro.

Here is the result.

There's a bit about my upcoming plans in there too, if you're interested.

Blue Moon Cafe Series Review (3)

A review of Blue Moon Cafe Series: Where Shifters Meet for Drinks that put a smile on my face:

"As a paranormal collection of short stories this works very well. The stories are long enough to provide enough information to make the characters believable and compelling, but short enough to fill in those moments when you need just a little something to read but don't have time for a full novel or novella. There is also enough difference in the stories that they are complete and yet there is an underlying theme to the collection so each story leads to the next seamlessly." - Karen Doering

Read the full review here.

Blue Moon Cafe Series: Where Shifters Meet for Drinks is available through Amazon, Amazon.uk, Amazon.fr, Amazon.de, Amazon.es, Amazon.it, Amazon.ca, Amazon.co.jp, iTunes, Kobo and Smashwords, for only $0.99 for a short period of time. 

"Cele 1001 de scorneli..." Review (2)

Among other books, Liviu from FanSF reviewed "Cele 1001 de scorneli are Mosului SF" too. Really, I can hardly think of a better compliment than comparing my prose to Isaac Asimov's (let's hope he wasn't thinking of Asimov early works, eh? :P). :) Read the full review here.

In other news, "Cele 1001 de scorneli are Mosului SF" made it into the top 5 Romanian sci fi books published in 2012 and voted by Galileo magazine's readers.

And the cover art is getting praises from Marian Mirescu, Tudor Ciocarlie,  Michael Haulica, and Florin Cristian in Galileo.

Blue Moon Cafe Series Giveaway

Here's a chance for you to win an ebook copy of Blue Moon Cafe Series: Where Shifters Meet for Drinks in the format of your choice by entering the giveaway on LibraryThing.

There are 25 copies available and the giveaway will run for two weeks so hurry up and request one!

Blue Moon Cafe Series: Where Shifters Meet for Drinks is available through Amazon, Amazon.uk, Amazon.fr, Amazon.de, Amazon.es, Amazon.it, Amazon.ca, Amazon.co.jp, iTunes, Kobo and Smashwords.

If you read it, please take the time to review it on Amazon and rate it on Goodreads. Thanks! 

Update: Woah, already 25 requests in only 2 days! I don't think it's because of the cover :P, so I guess fantasy does sell better than sci fi. 
2nd update: First I changed the number of offered copies to 30 and then to 40 because the goal here is to have people read it and hopefully review it. 
3rd update: 50 copies available and still more requested. If only half of the winners read the book I'll be happy. 

Blue Moon Cafe Series: Where Shifters Meet for Drinks Review (2)

A new day and a new review for Blue Moon Cafe Series: Where Shifters Meet for Drinks:

"Since I personally am not much into the shifters lore, I must confess her stories were a delight, making me want to read more of her fiction. I would recommend this collection for all those who are looking for something completely different, as in concepts and imagery." - Andreea Sterea

I quoted only the last paragraph because it's the perfect description of the book: shapeshifter stories for non-shapeshifter fans.

Read the full review on GoodReads.

Blue Moon Cafe Series: Where Shifters Meet for Drinks is available through Amazon, Amazon.uk, Amazon.fr, Amazon.de, Amazon.es, Amazon.it, Amazon.ca, Amazon.co.jp, iTunes, Kobo and Smashwords, for only $0.99 for a short period of time. 

Blue Moon Cafe Series: Where Shifters Meet for Drinks First Review

December is a terrible time to publish a book, especially a self-published one. People are busy with preparations for the holidays, and there are good chances for the book to pass unnoticed. I was fully aware of the problem when I published Blue Moon Cafe Series: Where Shifters Meet for Drinks, but since for various reasons it hadn't been ready for Halloween and I wanted to have another title published last year, I did it anyway.

First review appeared on Amazon already:

"I enjoyed this book and found myself reading it through the night. I loved the characters and even laughed a few times. The stories were well put together, so we were able to follow without confusion. Everything was described really well and I was sad when it ended. If you want something interesting, give it a try. You won't be disappointed." - Bec Botefuhr

Me happy. I hardly did any promotion for the book because of the same reason listed above, but I guess now it's time to get moving and change that.

Blue Moon Cafe Series: Where Shifters Meet for Drinks is available through Amazon, Amazon.uk, Amazon.fr, Amazon.de, Amazon.es, Amazon.it, Amazon.ca, Amazon.co.jp, iTunes, Kobo and Smashwords, for only $0.99 for a short period of time. 

Story: Invazia

Staring the year on a good note... After being hosted on Moshul SF's blog almost a year ago, Invazia (The Invasion) is now published in Nautilus, January 2013 issue (no. 60). Sixty is a nice, round number, and the story is cute if I may say so, so enjoy!

Update: Here's a nice review written by Mihai on Dark Wolf's Fantasy Reviews blog.

And another review on Scifientland.

And one in Gazeta SF.