Risk, Reward and Dreams

What kind of risk taker are you? How far outside your comfort zone are you willing to step or, for that matter, leap? Have no idea? Okay. Let me ask a different question: If you had your way, what would you do in your spare time?  Be specific.Would you bake cookies? Learn to play the piano? Write a novel?

Often people will ask the question, what would you do, if you knew you could not fail?  Hell, if I knew I could not fail, I would jump out of an airplane. But risk involves the chance of failure (or in my case airsickness). One of my guilty pleasures this season is “The Sing-Off”. I will sing my lungs out in the car, but it would take more than a few glasses of wine to get me up in front of a crowd to sing, especially in a room where people might know me. Maybe in a tavern in Romania where no English is spoken, so they won’t even know if I screw up the lyrics. My choice of song could be a whole other blog. But I have promised myself that one day I will do it and sober.  Vague goal, I know but I have higher priorities right now.

Some of you that follow me want to write that novel. Then what? Do you show it to anyone? Let’s start with trusted readers and editors. What about publishing it to the world?  Now we’re talking risk.

Risk is not just jumping out of planes, bungee jumping, climbing Mount Everest. Let’s get real, anyone who takes on these activities or any other you can name does not do it lightly.  No sane person pulls out of their suburban driveway and thinks “I’ve never even climbed a ladder to clean my gutters, but I’m going to the airport today. I’m going to fly halfway around the world, head straight to Nepal and climb that damn mountain.” Duh? You know and I know that massive amounts of training and preparation are required.

Now writing a novel, singing karaoke, quitting your day job, or starting your own business, do not present the same physical danger as Mt Everest. I may not break a leg but I can seriously bruise my ego.

That said, I am a risk-taker.  No-pain, no-gain, especially when it comes to ego. My mantra is perhaps the other side of that coin. I always say, if you want something ask. What’s the worst that can happen: they say no? Will you be any worse off than you are right now? No regrets, no what-ifs.  Like climbing Mt. Everest, it takes a lot of preparation. You study, you weigh all the pros and cons, you know the outcome is not guaranteed and that it impacts others, but you go for it.

I’m going for a working published writer. I have studied and keep studying the craft and the business of writing and publishing. I have an agent for my first novel, but I also track and am actively involved in the self-publishing world. I am ready to do what I need to do and to do it with eyes wide open. I am also turning my years of developing my craft to helping others achieves their dream by offering editing and proofreading services.  I plan on expanding those services over the next year. More on that in a later blog, too.

I love writing and working with writers and I find myself with some extra time on my hands. I will be planning my work and working my plan. An added bonus is that, along the way, I have met some incredibly talented and supportive friends.

For a great discussion of risk taking, visit Lance Armstrong’s LiveStrong Foundation's page on risk taking. I think you’ll agree that Lance knows something about risk taking.

What kind of risk-taker are you? What will you do to make your dream a reality?

Preying Angels by Jeff Davis, a Psychological Cyber-thriller

An Internet attack on the Federal Reserve brings together two colleagues, Michael Thomas and Gabrielle Sinclaire.  Once members of the Archangel project, a Special dark-ops government computer intelligence team, they suspect the attack was committed by another Archangel, Uriel/Lucifer, gone rogue. While investigating this cyber-crime from Thomas’ Mississippi home, they are called to assist in the analysis of a teenager’s home computer that may hold clues to her disappearance and the murder of other young girls.

Preying Angels is a dark cyber-thriller made all too chilling by the knowledge that internet stalking exists and we, especially the young and trusting, are all at risk.

Jeff Davis’ debut novel is a very good beginning for a career that promises to engage the reader in plots that are intriguing and push the envelope. He deals in a straight forward manner with, I believe, just the appropriate amount of violence, with young people as victims of adults with sick and twisted minds and the grief and pain of their family and the law enforcement officials who hunt the killer,  He takes it to the next level by introducing us to a master villain whose very willingness to manipulate a psychopath to achieve his own ends creates a new level of psychological horror.

If I had any suggestions, it would be to make the hero and heroine more three dimensional.  Mr. Davis writes the bad guy well.  I would like to know more about his protagonists, what makes them tick, what are their own flaws. How did they stay on the right side of the law when Uriel/Lucifer did not.  He hints at it, but I want to feel more of what Gabby and Michael feel. Don’t worry, he doesn’t have to go all romance on us in the next book but maybe a little more Jason Bourne.  We know that Bourne is a killing machine but he get a sense of his personal demons and torture. I’d just like him to dig deeper into their psyche and let us see it on the page.

I give Preying Angels 3-1/2 triskeles and look forward to even better coming from this inventive and fearless new writer.   

Preying Angels is available through these links at Amazon for Kindle and Smashwords. A print version will be available soon. 

Gabriel' Return Reviewed

Okay, so I know I promised this for Monday, but as everyone has experienced life, the day job and other "stuff" happens. But I always deliver even if a little delayed.

So without further adieu here are my humble thought on Steve Umstead's Gabriel's Return.

                

NAF Navy Commander Evan Gabriel receives an interrupted message from a former mission team member. The only problem is that for years, Commander Gabriel believed he was the only survivor of the ill-fated mission to Eden. The message from Katoa speaks of a terrorist group and dangerous weapons, so Gabriel must take a new team back to Eden and to confront the terrorists and its strange, dangerous jungle. Can he lead this team to success or is it another trap?

                Gabriel’s Return is the second book of Steve Umstead’s Evan Gabriel Trilogy.

                Full disclosure: I know Steve Umstead well as a fellow member of PubWriteGroup. Our association with each other and our fellows in Pubwrite has been and will continue to be based on honest feedback that helps each other grow as writers.  There is no compensation, direct or indirect, for this review.

                Umstead brings back Evan Gabriel, the remaining members of the team assembled in Gabriel’s Redemption and new characters that intrigue and entertain. Umstead continues to deepen his characters, even secondary ones to create a cast that is as diverse and fascinating as the flora and fauna of the jungles of Eden. Speaking of the setting, the rich description of animals and plants that are just different enough from anything found on Earth to be unique but similar enough to create a visual image in this reader’s mind made this a treat. I am not generally a reader of science fiction, particularly the overly technical type.  Umstead’s worlds and technology are clearly alien and futuristic but at the same time accessible. Gabriel’s personal growth and is struggles with his warrior (destruction) nature and his peacemaker (community builder) nature reveals itself as his personal battleground.

                I initially read, Gabriel’s Redemption, the first book of the trilogy and enjoyed it.  This second novel by Steve Umstead is even better. Steve is a master of mechanics and Gabriel’s Return is no exception.  From a plot, pacing and structure perspective, Return is even better. The writing is tighter adding to the tension and fast paced action. Personalities are were drawn with even seeming secondary characters have a distinct presence and role in moving the plot and/or my understanding of Gabriel or his key antagonist, the mysterious man called only The Prophet. If I had one suggestion, it would be to continue to refine the Evan Gabriel character. He has the potential to be richly layered and worthy of more than just a trilogy.

                I look forward to watching both Steve Umstead, the author, and Evan Gabriel, the warrior politician, grow and change.

                 NAF Navy Commander Evan Gabriel receives an interrupted message from a former mission team member. The only problem is that for years, Commander Gabriel believed he was the only survivor of the ill-fated mission to Eden. The message from Katoa speaks of a terrorist group and dangerous weapons, so Gabriel must take a new team back to Eden and to confront the terrorists and its strange, dangerous jungle. Can he lead this team to success or is it another trap?

                Gabriel’s Return is the second book of Steve Umstead’s Evan Gabriel Trilogy.

                Full disclosure: I know Steve Umstead well as a fellow member of PubWriteGroup. Our association with each other and our fellows in Pubwrite has been and will continue to be based on honest feedback that helps each other grow as writers.  There is no compensation, direct or indirect, for this review.

                Umstead brings back Evan Gabriel, the remaining members of the team assembled in Gabriel’s Redemption and new characters that intrigue and entertain. Umstead continues to deepen his characters, even secondary ones to create a cast that is as diverse and fascinating as the flora and fauna of the jungles of Eden. Speaking of the setting, the rich description of animals and plants that are just different enough from anything found on Earth to be unique but similar enough to create a visual image in this reader’s mind made this a treat. I am not generally a reader of science fiction, particularly the overly technical type.  Umstead’s worlds and technology are clearly alien and futuristic but at the same time accessible. Gabriel’s personal growth and is struggles with his warrior (destruction) nature and his peacemaker (community builder) nature reveals itself as his personal battleground.

                I initially read, Gabriel’s Redemption, the first book of the trilogy and enjoyed it.  This second novel by Steve Umstead is even better. Steve is a master of mechanics and Gabriel’s Return is no exception.  From a plot, pacing and structure perspective, Return is even better. The writing is tighter adding to the tension and fast paced action. Personalities are were drawn with even seeming secondary characters have a distinct presence and role in moving the plot and/or my understanding of Gabriel or his key antagonist, the mysterious man called only The Prophet. If I had one suggestion, it would be to continue to refine the Evan Gabriel character. He has the potential to be richly layered and worthy of more than just a trilogy.

                I look forward to watching both Steve Umstead, the author, and Evan Gabriel, the warrior politician, grow and change.

                I award Steve Umstead’s Gabriel’s Return                   4-1/2 

               

For those who are wondering, that is a triskele, an ancient symbol thought to represent the three worlds of Druidry and the unity between the worlds.

               

     Both books are available for Kindle, Nook, in paperback. Visit Steve's website  or the PubWriteGroup site for more information