New Novel Set On Hydra

[LadyGrinningSoul]

Indeed it does

Misinformation - Just been on the site this am and the discount is 20% not 25 x

[Hydra8]

Hi,

I'm a big Leonard Cohen fan, new to this forum. I'm posting to tell you about my new novel, a romantic comedy set on the island of Hydra. It's present-day Hydra, but my main character, Sally, falls in love with a Leonard Cohen tribute artist and my imaginings (not least of the main man) are from the beautiful images and essences of that time. It's an ebook called Ten Good Reasons To Lie About Your Age, available from Amazon Kindle stores or http://www.blackbirdebooks.com. I've never actually been to Hydra and am wondering if it shows?

Your Book has been added to the notes of Hydra once upon a time page (facebook). Wish you a great succes!

[lizzytysh]

Buy it. Read it. You'll love it. I just finished it last night, but haven't gathered all my thoughts to write something. I woke up this morning wondering how Sally is doing, though. It's a set-up for an ongoing series if I've ever seen one.

I was trying to compile a list of 'types' who would enjoy and/or glean from and/or be validated in reading this book. So far, this is what I have [NOT in any particular order!]:

1) Love Brit humour
2) Love to/not embarrassed to laugh out loud
3) Not embarrassed by their own tears
4) Lost a spouse or someone VERY dear, be it a partner, significant other, or friend
5) Recently divorced [loss not requiring death]
6) Love Hydra
7) Love Leonard Cohen
Value incisive insights into human nature and human experience
9) Love reading a story where it's not all laid out for you ahead of time, but rather where you experience the element of discovery, as the details of the story loop back on themselves and, in doing that, what has happened comes clear.
10) Enjoy a forward-moving story
11) Love writing that is RICH with detail
12) Love irony, wit, and down-to-the-ground honesty
13) Appreciate the sometimes relative frailty of our emotional selves and how we do our best to cope with that reality

*** [Add ons]:
14) Women growing older
15) Have neighbours who would not be of one's own choosing
16) Have children, especially who have not followed that 'ideal' linear pathway from youth to maturity that some/most parents envision or hope for
18) Appreciate the contrast in some couples [introvert-extrovert]... both straight and gay
17) Gay or had enough gay friends to recognize some of the other endearing/frustrating traits some have, including being camp
18) Love to travel and love the feeling of coming home
19) Bound for one reason or another to their love of their physical home

Well, I could certainly go on here... their is all but literally something for everyone in this book.

***

I knew there was a legitimate #20...

20) Love theatrical people

***

I'm sure I've left something out. I sincerely hope that LadyGrinningSoul [whose screen name I now 'get'] will soon be able to visit Hydra for herself. So far as I could tell, not all details were spot-on about our beloved island, but sufficiently many were to make those that weren't not matter. I also feel much better about the new front cover. Truthfully, I feel it ought to stay in place, but place the nude one on the back cover, where it can be more fully appreciated by the end of the story.


Best regards, LadyGrinningSoul,
Lizzy

[anneporter]

My sentiments exactly, Lizzy!
I'm looking forward to a second reading when I get my print copy( likely already waiting for me on my "other" island--where I will fly tomorrow!!)

[lizzytysh]

You know I can understand THAT, Anne... the same as I know you can understand that I'm looking forward to reading her other books, as well as her next one. Hoping she'll return to this tidy lot at some point, too . How can she not? They are living, breathing beings, the same as you and me.

I'm adding to the list above [as I knew I would ]. [The additions are set off with asterisks.

I devoured LadyGrinningSoul's book in the same way I've eaten cheesecake and carrot cake and other rich desserts ~ when I've known I ought not be having any, not the case here, of course... but the approach was still the same ~ but give in to "just a little" ~ hence, the pattern of a tiny slice, followed by just another tiny slice, and then another, and another, until the sum total of what I've eaten equates to a HUGE piece [up to and including half of the whole on other dessert dishes... seriously ], had I sliced it all at once. The book is, of course, not forbidden fruit like the rich dessert is... but my approach to it was as though it were, much of that due to time availability. I would start a new chapter, just a few paragraphs, to see what the 'progress' of things might be... and then the page and a couple more pages, and then I'd flip to see how many pages to the end of the chapter and would finish it. Then, maybe even start the next one, in the very same way with the identical pattern.

The spacing of the words and lines on the page also suits me. It's some eye-brain connection disability I have, where I get overwhelmed by the lack of white space when I'm reading. When things are too packed together [horizontally, vertically, and with narrow margins] something in me [my eyes, my brain] get overwhelmed and I stop reading. A practitioner in addressing various disabilities finally recognized and labeled it for me. Up 'til then, no one had understood. My solution is to visually isolate each line by placing a piece of paper both above and below it, so that all I see is the line I'm reading... and then move my way down the page. Not very practical. So, for me and my typical reading speed [slow], I zipped through this book. Between the various spacings and my interest level, I just kept coming back and back and back to it. Finally, MADE myself leave it at home, so it would last longer.

Last night, I finished it before my cats got fed. Other times, I got to sleep much later than planned... just one more paragraph, page, and chapter. Laughter feels good late at night. So does empathy.

The Prologue on this book is where the story actually begins, so don't skip over it!!

Now, I'm fine with the front cover graphic... and not in a Mrs. Robinson way... rather in a rediscovery-of-interest-in-life way and one's sheer determination to have one again. Now, I just want that so womanly one to be on the back .

My Christmas list is growing...


~ Lizzy

[LadyGrinningSoul]

Wow, Lizzy, that's a fantastic response, thank you hugely. I'm so glad you enjoyed the novel.

I'm definitely going to put 'Last night I finished it before my cats got fed' high on my review quote list, that's up there with 'laugh out loud'.

Now, I've kept quiet about this for as long as possible but as nobody's come up with it yet:

How many scenes from Leonard Cohen songs did you spot in the narrative? I'll give you tea and oranges in the Moonlight Bar but there are quite a few more!

The paperback is now available here,

http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/t ... f/center/2

UK I'm afraid so there's postage. The ebook is in all formats. But the great news is my literary agent is going to contact her US co-agent to see about getting this novel out in the US. We're waiting for a few more positive reviews to come in so if you could POSSIBLY put your wonderful response up on Amazon US it is really, really going to make a big difference. I'll get to Hydra yet!

I LOVE Hydra Once Upon A Time FB and am very honoured to be there. Thank you. My friend Debbie commented on your thread recently (she found you through me), those photos would make a fantastic book. Any plans? I guess copyright could be an issue?

[lizzytysh]

That's wonderful, LadyGrinningSoul, that you may get it to the States. With a Christmas gift for her in mind, I asked my supervisor about how much she reads. Hardly ever. Ever. I told her she just blew a great Christmas gift, then. She asked why and I told her I was going to get her a book. She remained relatively unfazed by that, so I added, "It's FILLED with Brit humour." Enthusiastically, she said "OH! I'd read THAT!!" Okay... sorted .

As for posting the positive review on Amazon, I'm happy to... though I think I need to be a BIT more concise for that . What an honour to have my cats comment included... THEY weren't real happy, but I was . And they're all still alive and doing the same as they were before I finished reading . If you knew how I sculpt my time around them, you'd understand why that comment could have been written in Bold.

For some reason, not sure why, I wasn't so motivated to try to find the Leonard-inspired scenes, though I could feel him floating throughout it. You'll see and feel that when you finally get to Hydra. I can't wait to hear your reactions to that visit. I was really enjoying your book in its own right. I may revisit that issue, though.


~ Lizzy

[LadyGrinningSoul]

That's wonderful, LadyGrinningSoul, that you may get it to the States. With a Christmas gift for her in mind, I asked my supervisor about how much she reads. Hardly ever. Ever. I told her she just blew a great Christmas gift, then. She asked why and I told her I was going to get her a book. She remained relatively unfazed by that, so I added, "It's FILLED with Brit humour." Enthusiastically, she said "OH! I'd read THAT!!" Okay... sorted .

As for posting the positive review on Amazon, I'm happy to... though I think I need to be a BIT more concise for that . What an honour to have my cats comment included... THEY weren't real happy, but I was . And they're all still alive and doing the same as they were before I finished reading . If you knew how I sculpt my time around them, you'd understand why that comment could have been written in Bold.

For some reason, not sure why, I wasn't so motivated to try to find the Leonard-inspired scenes, though I could feel him floating throughout it. You'll see and feel that when you finally get to Hydra. I can't wait to hear your reactions to that visit. I was really enjoying your book in its own right. I may revisit that issue, though.


~ Lizzy

For some reason, not sure why, I wasn't so motivated to try to find the Leonard-inspired scenes, though I could feel him floating throughout it

Gosh, really? I can't say that's what I was aiming for, I was looking for poetic inspiration I suppose, it's amazing that that comes through.

Good on your supervisor. One of the reasons this didn't get past the sales reps at the big publisher (where the UK deal fell through) was they didn't think there was an audience for it (sales reps, young, male 20s, hold all the power in publishing houses these days). Brit humour also an interesting point. Publishers spend so much time analysing what Brit things will work in the US, if it had gone through all the usual channels to get there I'd have had to take certain references out ('oh they wouldn't know who Bob Flowerdew was.' 'Change the word pavement to sidewalk.' etc etc.)

And huge thanks re Amazon. Cat quote going up soon.

xxx

[anneporter]

Hi, stephanie, i'm so glad you didn't americanize it. The Britty-ness is a big part of the appeal for me: Cohen, sex, and middle-aged angst with a flavour-enhancing accent ( like adding a squeeze of lime to strawberry ice cream... , or to be more Hydra-esque about it: a pinch of cinnamon to the moussaka....)

[lizzytysh]

One of the reasons this didn't get past the sales reps at the big publisher (where the UK deal fell through) was they didn't think there was an audience for it (sales reps, young, male 20s, hold all the power in publishing houses these days). Brit humour also an interesting point. Publishers spend so much time analysing what Brit things will work in the US, if it had gone through all the usual channels to get there I'd have had to take certain references out ('oh they wouldn't know who Bob Flowerdew was.' 'Change the word pavement to sidewalk.' etc etc.)

(sales reps, young, male 20s, hold all the power in publishing houses these days)
Geeeeeeez... that's scarey, that that demographic is what dominates the publishing houses!! Sales reps, not literary-based people. Young 20s... ey yi yi.
Male...

These factors slice and dice the fare that is appropriate to the whole of the populations to be considered. What about older and old... what about 40s and 60s and female... and literary! Helllllloooooooooo............... they need a board to make these decisions. A diverse board!

'Change the word pavement to sidewalk.' etc etc.)

Right... sure wouldn't want to learn a new term or phrase in a language common to each other! Learn from its context! Enrich our speech and understanding.

I have NO CLUE who Bob Flowerdew is... but if I can't figure it out from his name and its context, I've got a problem. I considered Googling him, but why bother in the midst of my enjoyment. I already understood.

Oh, my, let's just dumb it all down and homogenize it for those in the U.S. ... and if you refuse, then we'll withhold. How much other pleasurable reading have we missed . I've not been reading a whole lot ~ period, for my own, various reasons ~ but there are PLENTY HERE who do!!

Great analogy, Anne .


~ Lizzy

[lizzytysh]

Hi LadyGrinningSoul ~

I posted my review on Amazon last night. I got a confirmation message saying that it would show up in [or within] 24 hours. Between my and other reviews already there, I hope many people buy your book .


~ Lizzy

[LadyGrinningSoul]

It's there! Thanks so much Lizzy.

[lizzytysh]

My pleasure... reading your book and writing the review, Stephanie.
I'll go back tonight and read the others already there that I joined.

Ironic that the very thing the young reps are so concerned about was the first thought that occurred to me when I came here to comment after finishing it.
"Who else would enjoy this book?"



~ Lizzy xxx

[LadyGrinningSoul]

At last! the novel is available as a paperback on US Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Ten-Good-Reasons- ... 43&sr=1-10

[lizzytysh]

YAY!!! And well worth the cost and postage, too!

May your sales go especially well, Stephanie! Starting with folks from here, who won't regret buying your very enjoyable, funny, insightful, and touching read.
I'm glad I waited for getting Christmas gifts, so these will be purchased from Amazon!! That will include another one for myself, as well.

The very best to you, Stephanie!!


~ Lizzy