Angela Benedetti's Blog
March 12, 2014
Looks Like Astroturfing, Quacks Like Astroturfing...
I got a book recommendation in my e-mail from someone I have friended on Goodreads. Okay, that happens occasionally. I click through to check out the book.
What I see is that only one other person I know has reviewed it, and they're just boinging because it's out, rather than talking about the book itself. There are a bunch of reviews from people I don't know. Okay, I can work with that, usually, and with a 4.65 average rating with over 50 ratings, that usually means a pretty awesome book.
Except there's a weird sort of uniformity about these reviews. The very first one has links to a bunch of vendor pages where you can buy the book -- who besides the author ever does that? -- and some animated GIFs, and a lot of generic squee. And hey, there's another review a ways below that with... links to a bunch of vendor pages. Same format. o_O Lots of generic squee, and quite a few "OMG I got my ARC!" type comments. Some mentions of a coming blog tour. Very little actual discussion of the book itself, of parts people like or dislike -- you know, the useful stuff that shows up in a useful review.
Huh, smells like a street team.
Not that there's necessarily anything wrong with a street team. My understanding is that the term came out of the music business, where a street team is a group of people who hit the streets in a town where a band is coming to play a gig soon. They talk up the show, put posters up everywhere, make it look like there's a lot of buzz and excitement about the band, make people want to come hear them, make it feel like the show's going to be awesome fun and everyone should be there. Street-level marketing. Oh, and the street team is usually paid, even if it's just in T-shirts and show tickets and stuff.
A lot of writers are using street teams now to build up buzz about a new book. They form a group of fans who are willing to go out and generate buzz when a new book comes out, fans who are usually paid in free books and maybe some swag. And seriously, if a writer has enough fans to form a street team, that says something about their writing right there, so that's cool so far as it goes. Having a bunch of people read your book early and post reviews right away, whether on Goodreads or Amazon or their blogs or anywhere else, can certainly help build buzz, and that can be a good thing.
But I read Goodreads for reader reviews. Information about the book, posted by readers who've read it. When I see that the whole first page of reviews looks like it was written by people who are all focusing on the squee rather than the useful info, when I see a bunch of readers who put up a great rating with "review to come," when I see a bunch of not-really-a-review reviews that look like they were all written from the same press release...? I get the feeling that these aren't actually reviews. They feel like coordinated buzz put up by a bunch of people who are all following the same set of instructions. (Seriously, how many individual reviewers put up multiple links to a book's buy page on multiple vendors? And to see that twice in the first handful of reviews...? [eyeroll])
Having a bunch of individuals -- not Capitol-R Reviewers who own or contribute to a review site, but just-folks type readers -- put up reviews is valuable because readers like me like to see what individual readers have to say about a book. People go to Goodreads for grassroots book reviews, written by individuals who've read a book and are reviewing it. When what we find is a bunch of cookie-cutter reviews that sound way too similar, with lots of squeeage but very little info about the book, reviews that all seem to be cribbing from the same info packet? That doesn't look like a grassroots response -- that looks like astroturfing. It feels fake, it feels manipulative, and it doesn't make me want to dash out and buy the book, or even put it on my to-buy list.
I'm ignoring that book I was recced. If I hear about it again in the future, if I see people I know -- who've actually read it -- talking about it, saying what they think, discussing bits they liked or disliked, then I might buy it later. For right now, though, all I know is that a bunch of people were handed some kind of crib sheet and instructed to go out and squee. My immediate response is negative, though, and any future buzz I run into about it is going to have to overcome that.
I can see street teams working. And heck, maybe there are readers who'll see someone they don't know post, "OMG this book is awesome! I heart it so much!! Five stars!! Everyone has to buy it!!!" and will immediately run out and get it. I'm not one of them, though, and I suspect there are a lot of readers like me. If I had a street team, I'd ask folks to actually read the book, discuss what specific parts they liked (and even disliked, if any), and maybe throttle back on the squee some. Because new-release grassroots buzz should at least look like a spontaneous outpouring of enthusiasm, rather than a carefully coordinated release of marketing push. In my opinion, anyway.
No sale. Try again next time.
Angie
What I see is that only one other person I know has reviewed it, and they're just boinging because it's out, rather than talking about the book itself. There are a bunch of reviews from people I don't know. Okay, I can work with that, usually, and with a 4.65 average rating with over 50 ratings, that usually means a pretty awesome book.
Except there's a weird sort of uniformity about these reviews. The very first one has links to a bunch of vendor pages where you can buy the book -- who besides the author ever does that? -- and some animated GIFs, and a lot of generic squee. And hey, there's another review a ways below that with... links to a bunch of vendor pages. Same format. o_O Lots of generic squee, and quite a few "OMG I got my ARC!" type comments. Some mentions of a coming blog tour. Very little actual discussion of the book itself, of parts people like or dislike -- you know, the useful stuff that shows up in a useful review.
Huh, smells like a street team.
Not that there's necessarily anything wrong with a street team. My understanding is that the term came out of the music business, where a street team is a group of people who hit the streets in a town where a band is coming to play a gig soon. They talk up the show, put posters up everywhere, make it look like there's a lot of buzz and excitement about the band, make people want to come hear them, make it feel like the show's going to be awesome fun and everyone should be there. Street-level marketing. Oh, and the street team is usually paid, even if it's just in T-shirts and show tickets and stuff.
A lot of writers are using street teams now to build up buzz about a new book. They form a group of fans who are willing to go out and generate buzz when a new book comes out, fans who are usually paid in free books and maybe some swag. And seriously, if a writer has enough fans to form a street team, that says something about their writing right there, so that's cool so far as it goes. Having a bunch of people read your book early and post reviews right away, whether on Goodreads or Amazon or their blogs or anywhere else, can certainly help build buzz, and that can be a good thing.
But I read Goodreads for reader reviews. Information about the book, posted by readers who've read it. When I see that the whole first page of reviews looks like it was written by people who are all focusing on the squee rather than the useful info, when I see a bunch of readers who put up a great rating with "review to come," when I see a bunch of not-really-a-review reviews that look like they were all written from the same press release...? I get the feeling that these aren't actually reviews. They feel like coordinated buzz put up by a bunch of people who are all following the same set of instructions. (Seriously, how many individual reviewers put up multiple links to a book's buy page on multiple vendors? And to see that twice in the first handful of reviews...? [eyeroll])
Having a bunch of individuals -- not Capitol-R Reviewers who own or contribute to a review site, but just-folks type readers -- put up reviews is valuable because readers like me like to see what individual readers have to say about a book. People go to Goodreads for grassroots book reviews, written by individuals who've read a book and are reviewing it. When what we find is a bunch of cookie-cutter reviews that sound way too similar, with lots of squeeage but very little info about the book, reviews that all seem to be cribbing from the same info packet? That doesn't look like a grassroots response -- that looks like astroturfing. It feels fake, it feels manipulative, and it doesn't make me want to dash out and buy the book, or even put it on my to-buy list.
I'm ignoring that book I was recced. If I hear about it again in the future, if I see people I know -- who've actually read it -- talking about it, saying what they think, discussing bits they liked or disliked, then I might buy it later. For right now, though, all I know is that a bunch of people were handed some kind of crib sheet and instructed to go out and squee. My immediate response is negative, though, and any future buzz I run into about it is going to have to overcome that.
I can see street teams working. And heck, maybe there are readers who'll see someone they don't know post, "OMG this book is awesome! I heart it so much!! Five stars!! Everyone has to buy it!!!" and will immediately run out and get it. I'm not one of them, though, and I suspect there are a lot of readers like me. If I had a street team, I'd ask folks to actually read the book, discuss what specific parts they liked (and even disliked, if any), and maybe throttle back on the squee some. Because new-release grassroots buzz should at least look like a spontaneous outpouring of enthusiasm, rather than a carefully coordinated release of marketing push. In my opinion, anyway.
No sale. Try again next time.
Angie
September 4, 2013
New Release -- Captive Magic [Updated]
Captive Magic releases today, and is available at the Torquere site. UPDATE: It's currently available on Amazon, Amazon UK, ARe, Rainbow eBooks, Smashwords (with a 38-page sample), and Bookstrand. No B&N or Kobo yet, and the paperback isn't up yet at all.Also, to go along with the new novel release, all my older books on the Torquere site are 20% off. This is a great time to catch up on the Sentinel series, or anything else you might've missed.
I love new release days. :D
Angie
August 18, 2013
Captive Magic Coming
I got my cover for the third Sentinel novel, Captive Magic, and permission to show it off. :)
The book is due out on 4 September, and I'm excited to see what people think of it.
Check out Captive Magic.
Just under three weeks to go!
Angie
The book is due out on 4 September, and I'm excited to see what people think of it.
Teleporter Breck Bayes made a deal with a demon to save the life of his little sister Amanda, who was dying of cancer. The demon expects Breck to work off the debt -- as a thief who can get past any walls or locks. If Breck balks, Amanda's cancer will come back, and she'll die. Breck's a good guy, but a few trinkets versus Amanda's life? It's no contest.
Manny hears about Breck's popping around town and uses his own talents to find and confront him. Sentinels are supposed to prevent the magegifted from using their talents to steal, by force if necessary, but then he gets the whole story. Manny understands family, and he decides that his Sentinel persona is going to have to suck it up and deal while he helps Breck get out from under the demon -- even if it means becoming an accomplice to the thieving while they plot Breck's escape. But then the demon notices Manny, whose truesight and seeking would be very useful in its quest to own things that don't properly belong to it, and suddenly it's not only Breck who's in trouble.
Check out Captive Magic.
Just under three weeks to go!
Angie
July 7, 2013
Reading on 25 July in Seattle
On Thursday, 25 July, I'm going to be reading at a Gay Romance Northwest special SF/Fantasy event, at the University Bookstore in Seattle, along with Astrid Amara, Ginn Hale and Laylah Hunter. The U Bookstore is at 4326 University Way NE Seattle, WA 98105, and the event starts at 7pm. It's free, so I hope everyone in the area who likes SF, Fantasy and/or gay romance will come down to hang out with us.
This event is a lead-in to the Gay Romance Northwest Meet-Up on 14 September, at the Seattle Central Library, in the Microsoft Auditorium. The library's at 1000 4th Ave Seattle, WA 98104, right downtown. This is a one day event, with registration starting at noon, the event itself from 1pm to 5pm, and Happy Hour from 5pm to 7pm for folks who can't stand to leave and want to stay and chat a while longer. (I'll be there the whole time, and hopefully we'll get a group to go to dinner after. [crossed fingers])
Early registration for the Meet-Up is $15; it goes up to $25 on 1 August. This is a great price; I've been to a lot of conventions and conferences, and I haven't seen one-day prices this low for a couple of decades. Pre-register here.
Writers attending the Meet-Up in September:
Astrid Amara
Talya Andor
Eric Andrews-Katz
Cate Ashwood
Heidi Belleau
Angela Benedetti
Sarah Black
Kade Boehme
L.C. Chase
Megan Derr
Stormy Glenn
Amelia Gormley
Ginn Hale
Lou Harper
Daisy Harris
Laylah Hunter
Amber Kell
Nicole Kimberling
Morticia Knight
Pender Mackie
Finn Marlowe
Sasha L. Miller
M.J. O'Shea
Rick R. Reed
Devon Rhodes
P.D. Singer
Tara Spears
Andrea Speed
Ethan Stone
Lou Sylvre
Anne Tenino
Piper Vaughn
This event is being hosted by Old Growth Northwest, a non-profit organization working to support a complex ecosystem of writers and readers in the Pacific Northwest. Thanks to them for helping put on these events!
This event is a lead-in to the Gay Romance Northwest Meet-Up on 14 September, at the Seattle Central Library, in the Microsoft Auditorium. The library's at 1000 4th Ave Seattle, WA 98104, right downtown. This is a one day event, with registration starting at noon, the event itself from 1pm to 5pm, and Happy Hour from 5pm to 7pm for folks who can't stand to leave and want to stay and chat a while longer. (I'll be there the whole time, and hopefully we'll get a group to go to dinner after. [crossed fingers])
Early registration for the Meet-Up is $15; it goes up to $25 on 1 August. This is a great price; I've been to a lot of conventions and conferences, and I haven't seen one-day prices this low for a couple of decades. Pre-register here.
Writers attending the Meet-Up in September:
Astrid Amara
Talya Andor
Eric Andrews-Katz
Cate Ashwood
Heidi Belleau
Angela Benedetti
Sarah Black
Kade Boehme
L.C. Chase
Megan Derr
Stormy Glenn
Amelia Gormley
Ginn Hale
Lou Harper
Daisy Harris
Laylah Hunter
Amber Kell
Nicole Kimberling
Morticia Knight
Pender Mackie
Finn Marlowe
Sasha L. Miller
M.J. O'Shea
Rick R. Reed
Devon Rhodes
P.D. Singer
Tara Spears
Andrea Speed
Ethan Stone
Lou Sylvre
Anne Tenino
Piper Vaughn
This event is being hosted by Old Growth Northwest, a non-profit organization working to support a complex ecosystem of writers and readers in the Pacific Northwest. Thanks to them for helping put on these events!
June 14, 2013
The Gift
My story The Gift now has a Goodreads entry of its own. I'm assuming one of the volunteers working on the MM Romance group set this up, so I wanted to say thanks.
Not only for this, but for all the work they do on their Don't Read in the Closet events, one of which -- Love Has No Boundaries -- is going on right now. If I remember correctly, the current event brought in over a million words of free fiction, and the group staffers are hosting, coordinating, and herding all those words (and the hundreds of writers who produced them) to put on the event. They're also making stand-alone e-books of all the stories, working down the list. This is a bogglingly huge task, and the volunteers who keep the group running do it every year. Thanks and major props to every one of them.
Angie
Not only for this, but for all the work they do on their Don't Read in the Closet events, one of which -- Love Has No Boundaries -- is going on right now. If I remember correctly, the current event brought in over a million words of free fiction, and the group staffers are hosting, coordinating, and herding all those words (and the hundreds of writers who produced them) to put on the event. They're also making stand-alone e-books of all the stories, working down the list. This is a bogglingly huge task, and the volunteers who keep the group running do it every year. Thanks and major props to every one of them.
Angie
March 26, 2013
Third Sentinel Novel Done
I just subbed the third Sentinel novel, Captive Magic, so it should be out within a few months, yay! This book is about what Manny was doing back home while the rest of the gang was in Seattle during the events of Emerging Magic. Here's a bit off the top, completely unedited:
======
Chapter One
It started on Friday, a week before Christmas Eve. Manuel Oliveira didn't know anything was starting, but later on he looked back and saw that was it, the afternoon his fourteen-year-old niece Anita came dashing into his bookstore, the Grove, after school and babbled, "Uncle Manny! Mama saw a man disappear!"
Someone who didn't know better would've said that obviously his sister'd been mistaken, or had been drunk, or was just messing with her kid. Manny did know better, though, so he asked, "Where? When?" tensed to get on the phone if it seemed to be something that'd need action right away.
"Yesterday at Peralta! She was in the bedroom that evening, you know, to make sure all the visitors'd left before they locked up, and there was this guy standing right there and he looked at her and then he disappeared!"
All right, last night. And Lupita hadn't called him about it, so she must not think it was anything urgent. The fact that she hadn't called him at all was kind of weird, but he'd ask about that later.
"What did she think it was? A ghost?"
Manny was pretty sure there weren't any ghosts, but that didn't mean Lupita might not have thought her guy was a ghost, and besides, Manny might be wrong about ghosts.
"No! It couldn't have been a ghost 'cause he was wearing jeans and a T-shirt -- Mama said it was an old Giants shirt -- and if it was a ghost he would've been a caballero from olden times, right? Or even a peón if it was a servant. So it had to be an actual guy disappearing! Do you know anyone who can do that?"
"Not personally, not just vanish, bam. I've heard of people being able to do that, but I've never met anyone who could." Manny answered on auto-pilot while thinking. A good caster could do a transport spell, but that'd make a doorway to step through, and it'd be obvious what was what happened; they wouldn't just vanish. And even a great caster would take a while to cast that spell 'cause it was big and complicated and you could only draw so fast, right? Even Aubrey, the best mage on their Sentinel team, would take a few minutes to cast a portal spell.
"I wish I could do that! Wouldn't that be awesome? I'd never have to worry about being late for school again, or missing the bus, or not having money, or getting Mom to drive me." Anita was all about efficiency. Or maybe she was just trying to get through life doing as little work as possible, although that was pretty close to efficiency when you got right down to it.
A white lady who looked old enough to be retired came up to the counter with half a dozen fantasy paperbacks. She was giving Manny and Anita both the There Has To Be Some Logical Explanation glance, so Manny grinned and said, "Roleplaying game. Like D&D, but paranormal," while taking her books and sliding his rolling chair over to the register.
"Oh!" The lady laughed and smiled back. "My old group used to play the Hero system -- mostly Fantasy Hero and Champions -- before Harry and I moved up here. I never found a good gaming group after that. So many people just want hack-n-slash and our group was into serious roleplaying. Sometimes we went a whole session without killing anything if we were busy with politics and deals and all." She had a nostalgic smile and completely missed Anita's eyeroll, which was probably just as well.
"If I want to just hack-n-slash I'll play a computer game," said Manny with a nod. He took her money while smiling at her reminiscences, then thanked her and said goodbye.
As soon as she was gone, Anita was eyerolling again. "I swear, who plays with paper and pencils anymore? So lame!"
Manny glared across the counter at her, and Anita gave a heavy sigh and said, "Fine! Paper and pencil games are stupid and boring and anyone who plays them is a pathetic loser. Better?"
"Better. Still obnoxious, but at least you're not insulting a group of people who have nothing to do with it."
"That's not what it means and you know it!"
"That's exactly what the assholes who are all, 'That's so gay!' say. Am I supposed to ignore them too?" Manny was still glaring; she knew better, she was just picking up shit from some of the kids she hung with.
Anita did get the point. She shut up and looked away. "Okay, fine. I know, it still hurts even if you don't mean it to. I'm sorry."
Manny said, "That's fine, mija. Just try to remember it counts for all groups, even if you don't know anyone like that, right?" Manny knew better than to believe all the kids who used "so gay" as an insult were actually fine with homosexuals, but he wasn't going to argue it with Anita. She'd heard it before, and agreed with him; she just had to learn to think before she repeated shit.
"So what about Mama?" She brightened up and leaned closer, with her elbows on the counter. "She didn't hallucinate it or anything, right? It was actually a guy who can teleport?"
"Maybe so," said Manny. "I'll have to talk to her and see."
"Are you going to try to find him? If you do, can I talk to him?" She was bouncing up and down on her toes at the thought of meeting a guy who could teleport. Manny figured she was collecting talents; it wasn't like she didn't know other folks who could do stuff most people thought was fiction.
"I don't know, it depends. If I do have to talk to him, we'll see about letting you meet him. He might be dangerous, or he might just not want to meet a pesty teenager." He gave her a teasing grin and got an offended scowl in return.
"I am not pesty! I'll bet he'd love to meet some folks he can just talk to! Most of you have to hide, but he wouldn't have to hide with us, right?"
"We'll see what happens, and what your mama says." Anita scowled again, but Manny ignored her. "You gonna stay?" he asked. "If you're gonna stick around, it's either homework or store work."
"I know, I know." Anita frowned down at her backpack and said, "Store work. Shelving?"
Manny nodded. "New box in back, checked in and ready to go out."
"Yay!" She scooped up her pack and dashed up the center aisle toward the curtained doorway that led to the tiny stockroom.
"No reading!" Manny called after her. "You bend spines or fold corners and I'll swat your butt!"
"I know!"
Manny grinned after her. She was a good kid, just needed someone to ride herd on her sometimes. Like every few minutes, but still, Manny'd been a lot more trouble at fourteen and he knew it.
He pulled out his phone and tapped out a text to his sister. Even if her disappearing guy wasn't urgent, it was something that should be checked out.
***
The store closed at six every weekday evening, and by then Anita'd shelved all the new books and done all her algebra besides. Math was actually her favorite subject, and Manny expected she'd end up an engineer like her dad.
They closed up together and he drove her home, to his sister and brother-in-law's three-bedroom house up the road a ways. It was in a mostly white neighborhood, but the high school -- diagonally across the intersection from Manny's store -- was the best in the district and they'd hunted until they found a place in that area.
Manny said hi to Anita's dad Miguel (except everyone called him Mike) and headed into the kitchen to talk to Lupita while Anita vanished upstairs, doubtless to get in some Warcraft, since apparently gaming on the computer wasn't at all stupid, boring, or pathetic.
"Hey, Manny!" Lupita was putting together hamburgers while a dutch oven on the stove waited for fries. Lupita made the best fries in the county because she fried them twice -- in lard. He'd have to hit the weights extra hard the next day to compensate, but they were absolutely worth it.
"Can I stay for dinner? Thanks, glad to!" Manny ducked a chunk of raw potato, then picked it up to toss in the sink.
"You're such a brat."
"You raised me."
"I should've tossed you out with the dogs."
"Then you wouldn't have anyone to help you with disappearing men."
"Heh. Anita wanted to be the one to tell you, so I let her. What do you think?"
"What do you think? Did he do anything? Say anything? Take anything?"
"It was really nothing. I mean, aside from some huge gabacho just going poof! in front of my face." She finished shaping the patties and went to check the thermometer in the lard. "It was only a second or two. I walked in, he looked at me, and poof!"
"Huh." Manny watched her put a handful of fries in the hot lard. The smell was awesome.
"Put the burgers in the broiler for me?"
"Sure."
She stood aside, keeping an eye on the clock, while Manny put the broiler pan of burgers into the oven, on the top rack close to the broiler element.
"So he was a white guy? Tall or fat or naked...?" Manny asked with a grin. "Anything about him memorable?"
Lupe just smirked. "Right, white guy, tall and built. Medium brown hair, down to his collar, Giants shirt from at least ten years ago, jeans. I didn't notice his shoes. Or his eye color. Sort of a beard, not like Papi's but really light, like he just hadn't shaved for a while. No jewelry that I noticed. It was really just a couple of seconds, and I was too shocked to take notes."
"No, that's fine. You got as much as anyone would've," Manny said, moving over to lean against a chunk of counter, out of the way. "And he didn't take anything? Did you check after?"
"I checked, and I don't think he did, but I couldn't swear to it. It was the second room and he might've been looking for something -- I could tell a couple of things had been moved. Nothing was broken, and I couldn't say if anything was missing, but there were things out of place. Inventories aren't kept on the property; I let Marjorie know and she'll come out with the lists to check."
"You told Marjorie some guy vanished?" Manny was teasing; he was pretty sure she hadn't, but it was an obvious question and it was natural to needle his sister.
She swatted him with an oven mitt and said, "No! I told her he pushed past me fast and got out before I could stop him. Not that I could've stopped him if he'd actually pushed past and not wanted to stop, you know? But I had to say something normal."
Manny nodded. He knew there wasn't anything incredibly valuable in the Peralta house. Stuff there had value because it was historical, and a few pieces might bring some cash from museums, but not without provenance, which a stolen piece wouldn't have. It wasn't like there was jewelry or anything in there, or a stack of two-hundred-year-old gold coins.
"So what do you think?" Lupita wasn't joking anymore, he could tell. She might kid about it, but it'd bothered her more than she'd admitted before.
"I think it depends on whether anything was missing. If so, then he's a thief and we need to do something about him. If not, then he's probably just figured out his talent and he's joy riding, in which case we need to contact him and give him a lecture on manners and not getting caught." He thought for a second, then added, "The stuff that was moved -- might it've been someone else?"
"I--" She paused and thought. "I suppose so. I don't think so, but I couldn't swear to it. There were a few people in earlier and I didn't have my eye on everyone at once. We tell people not to touch, but sometimes they do anyway. So yes, someone else might've moved those things."
Manny nodded. "I'm thinking joyrider, then, but let me know whether anything's missing."
======
Chapter One
It started on Friday, a week before Christmas Eve. Manuel Oliveira didn't know anything was starting, but later on he looked back and saw that was it, the afternoon his fourteen-year-old niece Anita came dashing into his bookstore, the Grove, after school and babbled, "Uncle Manny! Mama saw a man disappear!"
Someone who didn't know better would've said that obviously his sister'd been mistaken, or had been drunk, or was just messing with her kid. Manny did know better, though, so he asked, "Where? When?" tensed to get on the phone if it seemed to be something that'd need action right away.
"Yesterday at Peralta! She was in the bedroom that evening, you know, to make sure all the visitors'd left before they locked up, and there was this guy standing right there and he looked at her and then he disappeared!"
All right, last night. And Lupita hadn't called him about it, so she must not think it was anything urgent. The fact that she hadn't called him at all was kind of weird, but he'd ask about that later.
"What did she think it was? A ghost?"
Manny was pretty sure there weren't any ghosts, but that didn't mean Lupita might not have thought her guy was a ghost, and besides, Manny might be wrong about ghosts.
"No! It couldn't have been a ghost 'cause he was wearing jeans and a T-shirt -- Mama said it was an old Giants shirt -- and if it was a ghost he would've been a caballero from olden times, right? Or even a peón if it was a servant. So it had to be an actual guy disappearing! Do you know anyone who can do that?"
"Not personally, not just vanish, bam. I've heard of people being able to do that, but I've never met anyone who could." Manny answered on auto-pilot while thinking. A good caster could do a transport spell, but that'd make a doorway to step through, and it'd be obvious what was what happened; they wouldn't just vanish. And even a great caster would take a while to cast that spell 'cause it was big and complicated and you could only draw so fast, right? Even Aubrey, the best mage on their Sentinel team, would take a few minutes to cast a portal spell.
"I wish I could do that! Wouldn't that be awesome? I'd never have to worry about being late for school again, or missing the bus, or not having money, or getting Mom to drive me." Anita was all about efficiency. Or maybe she was just trying to get through life doing as little work as possible, although that was pretty close to efficiency when you got right down to it.
A white lady who looked old enough to be retired came up to the counter with half a dozen fantasy paperbacks. She was giving Manny and Anita both the There Has To Be Some Logical Explanation glance, so Manny grinned and said, "Roleplaying game. Like D&D, but paranormal," while taking her books and sliding his rolling chair over to the register.
"Oh!" The lady laughed and smiled back. "My old group used to play the Hero system -- mostly Fantasy Hero and Champions -- before Harry and I moved up here. I never found a good gaming group after that. So many people just want hack-n-slash and our group was into serious roleplaying. Sometimes we went a whole session without killing anything if we were busy with politics and deals and all." She had a nostalgic smile and completely missed Anita's eyeroll, which was probably just as well.
"If I want to just hack-n-slash I'll play a computer game," said Manny with a nod. He took her money while smiling at her reminiscences, then thanked her and said goodbye.
As soon as she was gone, Anita was eyerolling again. "I swear, who plays with paper and pencils anymore? So lame!"
Manny glared across the counter at her, and Anita gave a heavy sigh and said, "Fine! Paper and pencil games are stupid and boring and anyone who plays them is a pathetic loser. Better?"
"Better. Still obnoxious, but at least you're not insulting a group of people who have nothing to do with it."
"That's not what it means and you know it!"
"That's exactly what the assholes who are all, 'That's so gay!' say. Am I supposed to ignore them too?" Manny was still glaring; she knew better, she was just picking up shit from some of the kids she hung with.
Anita did get the point. She shut up and looked away. "Okay, fine. I know, it still hurts even if you don't mean it to. I'm sorry."
Manny said, "That's fine, mija. Just try to remember it counts for all groups, even if you don't know anyone like that, right?" Manny knew better than to believe all the kids who used "so gay" as an insult were actually fine with homosexuals, but he wasn't going to argue it with Anita. She'd heard it before, and agreed with him; she just had to learn to think before she repeated shit.
"So what about Mama?" She brightened up and leaned closer, with her elbows on the counter. "She didn't hallucinate it or anything, right? It was actually a guy who can teleport?"
"Maybe so," said Manny. "I'll have to talk to her and see."
"Are you going to try to find him? If you do, can I talk to him?" She was bouncing up and down on her toes at the thought of meeting a guy who could teleport. Manny figured she was collecting talents; it wasn't like she didn't know other folks who could do stuff most people thought was fiction.
"I don't know, it depends. If I do have to talk to him, we'll see about letting you meet him. He might be dangerous, or he might just not want to meet a pesty teenager." He gave her a teasing grin and got an offended scowl in return.
"I am not pesty! I'll bet he'd love to meet some folks he can just talk to! Most of you have to hide, but he wouldn't have to hide with us, right?"
"We'll see what happens, and what your mama says." Anita scowled again, but Manny ignored her. "You gonna stay?" he asked. "If you're gonna stick around, it's either homework or store work."
"I know, I know." Anita frowned down at her backpack and said, "Store work. Shelving?"
Manny nodded. "New box in back, checked in and ready to go out."
"Yay!" She scooped up her pack and dashed up the center aisle toward the curtained doorway that led to the tiny stockroom.
"No reading!" Manny called after her. "You bend spines or fold corners and I'll swat your butt!"
"I know!"
Manny grinned after her. She was a good kid, just needed someone to ride herd on her sometimes. Like every few minutes, but still, Manny'd been a lot more trouble at fourteen and he knew it.
He pulled out his phone and tapped out a text to his sister. Even if her disappearing guy wasn't urgent, it was something that should be checked out.
***
The store closed at six every weekday evening, and by then Anita'd shelved all the new books and done all her algebra besides. Math was actually her favorite subject, and Manny expected she'd end up an engineer like her dad.
They closed up together and he drove her home, to his sister and brother-in-law's three-bedroom house up the road a ways. It was in a mostly white neighborhood, but the high school -- diagonally across the intersection from Manny's store -- was the best in the district and they'd hunted until they found a place in that area.
Manny said hi to Anita's dad Miguel (except everyone called him Mike) and headed into the kitchen to talk to Lupita while Anita vanished upstairs, doubtless to get in some Warcraft, since apparently gaming on the computer wasn't at all stupid, boring, or pathetic.
"Hey, Manny!" Lupita was putting together hamburgers while a dutch oven on the stove waited for fries. Lupita made the best fries in the county because she fried them twice -- in lard. He'd have to hit the weights extra hard the next day to compensate, but they were absolutely worth it.
"Can I stay for dinner? Thanks, glad to!" Manny ducked a chunk of raw potato, then picked it up to toss in the sink.
"You're such a brat."
"You raised me."
"I should've tossed you out with the dogs."
"Then you wouldn't have anyone to help you with disappearing men."
"Heh. Anita wanted to be the one to tell you, so I let her. What do you think?"
"What do you think? Did he do anything? Say anything? Take anything?"
"It was really nothing. I mean, aside from some huge gabacho just going poof! in front of my face." She finished shaping the patties and went to check the thermometer in the lard. "It was only a second or two. I walked in, he looked at me, and poof!"
"Huh." Manny watched her put a handful of fries in the hot lard. The smell was awesome.
"Put the burgers in the broiler for me?"
"Sure."
She stood aside, keeping an eye on the clock, while Manny put the broiler pan of burgers into the oven, on the top rack close to the broiler element.
"So he was a white guy? Tall or fat or naked...?" Manny asked with a grin. "Anything about him memorable?"
Lupe just smirked. "Right, white guy, tall and built. Medium brown hair, down to his collar, Giants shirt from at least ten years ago, jeans. I didn't notice his shoes. Or his eye color. Sort of a beard, not like Papi's but really light, like he just hadn't shaved for a while. No jewelry that I noticed. It was really just a couple of seconds, and I was too shocked to take notes."
"No, that's fine. You got as much as anyone would've," Manny said, moving over to lean against a chunk of counter, out of the way. "And he didn't take anything? Did you check after?"
"I checked, and I don't think he did, but I couldn't swear to it. It was the second room and he might've been looking for something -- I could tell a couple of things had been moved. Nothing was broken, and I couldn't say if anything was missing, but there were things out of place. Inventories aren't kept on the property; I let Marjorie know and she'll come out with the lists to check."
"You told Marjorie some guy vanished?" Manny was teasing; he was pretty sure she hadn't, but it was an obvious question and it was natural to needle his sister.
She swatted him with an oven mitt and said, "No! I told her he pushed past me fast and got out before I could stop him. Not that I could've stopped him if he'd actually pushed past and not wanted to stop, you know? But I had to say something normal."
Manny nodded. He knew there wasn't anything incredibly valuable in the Peralta house. Stuff there had value because it was historical, and a few pieces might bring some cash from museums, but not without provenance, which a stolen piece wouldn't have. It wasn't like there was jewelry or anything in there, or a stack of two-hundred-year-old gold coins.
"So what do you think?" Lupita wasn't joking anymore, he could tell. She might kid about it, but it'd bothered her more than she'd admitted before.
"I think it depends on whether anything was missing. If so, then he's a thief and we need to do something about him. If not, then he's probably just figured out his talent and he's joy riding, in which case we need to contact him and give him a lecture on manners and not getting caught." He thought for a second, then added, "The stuff that was moved -- might it've been someone else?"
"I--" She paused and thought. "I suppose so. I don't think so, but I couldn't swear to it. There were a few people in earlier and I didn't have my eye on everyone at once. We tell people not to touch, but sometimes they do anyway. So yes, someone else might've moved those things."
Manny nodded. "I'm thinking joyrider, then, but let me know whether anything's missing."
October 9, 2012
Free Story -- Birthdays Suck
I just put Birthdays Suck up on my web site. This is a free short story, part of the Sentinels series, set back in the early nineties when Paul was a teenager. It's Paul's birthday, and he's not at all happy about it, because he's sure his life is pretty much over.
Note that this story has a MAJOR spoiler for A Hidden Magic. If you haven't read that, and plan to, you'll want to read that first, then go read "Birthdays Suck" afterward.
Enjoy!
Angie
Note that this story has a MAJOR spoiler for A Hidden Magic. If you haven't read that, and plan to, you'll want to read that first, then go read "Birthdays Suck" afterward.
Enjoy!
Angie
August 16, 2012
Emerging Magic and A Hidden Magic out in Paperback
Amazon has copies of Emerging Magic in paperback. The paper version is 390 pages long, and costs $16.95, free shipping if you have Prime.
I also have to laugh -- there are three companies offering to third-party sell you a new copy already, all with a $3.99 charge for shipping, which is doubtless how number one, who's charging $16.94 (Ooooo, discount!) is making money. Number two is charging $17.19, and number three (who's got to be seriously delusional, is all I can say) is charging $57.87. Good luck, dude. :)
I've heard some other writers griping about this, but so long as I get my royalty, they can sell the book for whatever retail price they like. I'm certainly not going to stress out over a business whiz who thinks he can sell a sixteen-something dollar book for almost sixty dollars, on the same page with a [Buy] button for the (identical) sixteen-something dollar version.
Anyway, I'm sort of boinging over here, because this is my first paperback book. I turned in the EM galleys ahead of the HM galleys, so I'm assuming the paperback Hidden Magic will show up some time soon; I'll definitely post about it when it does.
[ETA: Charisstoma found the A Hidden Magic paperback. It's not linked to the Kindle edition yet, so I didn't see it -- stealth paperback! It's 248 pages, and costs $14.95 with Prime shipping available. Thanks to Charisstoma for pointing it out!]
Angie
I also have to laugh -- there are three companies offering to third-party sell you a new copy already, all with a $3.99 charge for shipping, which is doubtless how number one, who's charging $16.94 (Ooooo, discount!) is making money. Number two is charging $17.19, and number three (who's got to be seriously delusional, is all I can say) is charging $57.87. Good luck, dude. :)
I've heard some other writers griping about this, but so long as I get my royalty, they can sell the book for whatever retail price they like. I'm certainly not going to stress out over a business whiz who thinks he can sell a sixteen-something dollar book for almost sixty dollars, on the same page with a [Buy] button for the (identical) sixteen-something dollar version.
Anyway, I'm sort of boinging over here, because this is my first paperback book. I turned in the EM galleys ahead of the HM galleys, so I'm assuming the paperback Hidden Magic will show up some time soon; I'll definitely post about it when it does.
[ETA: Charisstoma found the A Hidden Magic paperback. It's not linked to the Kindle edition yet, so I didn't see it -- stealth paperback! It's 248 pages, and costs $14.95 with Prime shipping available. Thanks to Charisstoma for pointing it out!]
Angie
August 7, 2012
Gee, Who'da Thought...?
I just got a mailing from Goodreads with new books for August from authors whose work I have on my shelves. Amazingly enough, there were NO m/m books on it. At all. Not a one.
Wow, I guess August is just a completely dead month for new m/m fiction. Because clearly Goodreads wouldn't be biased in any way against an entire genre of fiction, right? Right??
Angie
Wow, I guess August is just a completely dead month for new m/m fiction. Because clearly Goodreads wouldn't be biased in any way against an entire genre of fiction, right? Right??
Angie
July 25, 2012
Emerging Magic is Available
My new Sentinels novel, Emerging Magic, was released today, and is currently available on the Torquere Press site and through ARe. Amazon and B&N aren't showing it yet, but should be soon. It'll also be available in paperback (along with a paperback edition of A Hidden Magic, the first novel in the series) through Amazon; I'll post when those show up.
Emerging Magic picks up shortly after A Hidden Magic wraps up, with Rory discovering something that changes his perception of the last decade of his life.
==========
Rory's mother took him to psychiatrists, let them circumscribe his life, let them give him drugs, while knowing all along there was nothing wrong with him. When Rory finds out, he's angry and confused and just wants to get away for a while. His mother's betrayal plus another kidnap attempt make a visit to the father he hasn't seen in ten years seem like a great idea.
When Rory, Paul and Aubrey get to Seattle, though, it's obviously not going to be just a normal family Christmas. Someone north of San Jose tried to kidnap Rory twice before they left, and to Paul, it's too much of a coincidence that Nathan, Rory's dad, has magic talented friends. While Rory tries to reconnect with his only other family, Paul is trying to figure out whether anyone in Nathan's group is after Rory. They definitely have secrets, and at least one of them has been playing around with things he doesn't understand; the local fey are after him, and elves aren't known for caring too much about collateral damage.
And there's a master wizard in the area who's up to something big and would really like to have Rory's help....
==========
Paul, Rory, and Elizabeth strolled along the sidewalk, between pools of moth-filled light and patches of murky darkness. It was after eight, but the sidewalks were still pretty crowded; it might be a Thursday but it was a Thursday within two weeks of Christmas and the shoppers were swarming. The downtown shopping area wasn't as insane as the malls -- Paul wouldn't go near Valley Fair at gunpoint until after New Year's -- but there were enough people around to slow progress down the street.
So when Rory suddenly stopped, Paul's first thought was that someone ahead of him was blocking the way for a moment. But then he saw that Rory was peering into the darkness down a walkway, a narrow, bricked area where a restaurant had outdoor seating when the weather was warmer. It was currently unused and unlit, and apparently empty.
When he paid attention, though, Paul could hear a noise, something like a dog crying from behind some bushes spilling out of a planting area, back in the shadows.
Rory glanced at Paul as though checking that he'd heard something too, then started off toward the bushes. "It sounds like something's hurt. Maybe a dog got hit by a car and dragged himself back in there?" he said over his shoulder.
Paul was about to agree when Elizabeth said, "Rory? I don't hear anything, baby. You're having another one of your episodes. Let's find a place where you can sit down and meditate for a few minutes." She hurried after him and took his arm, trying to tug him away, glancing toward a bus stop bench up the street, but Rory stood his ground.
"No, it's a dog, Mom. I just want to go check. Paul hears it too." Rory looked up at Paul for support, but Paul held up a hand in a "wait" signal and switched to magesight, frowning into the darkness.
There, behind the dark confusion of foliage, magic glowed a dim blue. The central shape was humanoid. It was stocky in build, and looked like it might be short for a human, but it was crouched down and Paul couldn't quite tell.
The sound of the crying dog faded away and a blob of magic swelled blue-green, then pulled back slightly. Paul got an image of an arm winding up to throw.
He called, "Down!" and spun around, grabbing both Rory and Elizabeth by the arms. He shoved Elizabeth down onto the pavement, used a quick jerk of leverage to get Rory down next to her, then threw himself over them both while activating a bronze pendant shaped like a shield.
A blue-green flash reflected off the pale pavement, and a cluster of moths, perfectly immobile, fell to the ground around them in a rain of gentle pattering.
Elizabeth was squawking in outrage and Rory was struggling to get up. Paul ignored them both and raised a binding spell, invoking the magic in one of his pins -- a tiny pair of handcuffs piercing his jacket near the collar -- and then focusing all his attention on directing it at the small, stocky fey thing that was swirling blue-green magic again in a clear attempt to prepare another spell.
Hurrying would be incredibly stupid at that point, so Paul didn't. He ignored the two people protesting beneath him and cast the binding just a moment after the fey threw something at him. It crackled. The back of his jacket flared with heat for a moment, then he smelled something burning.
He muttered, "Fuck!" under his breath and smacked out his smoldering hair with both hands. It'd been barely two weeks since a salamander had taken an inch or two off the back the same way; he was going to look like an eighties reject if the back got much shorter while the top stayed long.
Burning hair distracted Paul long enough for Rory to squirm out from under him and stagger to his feet, then help his mother up. Elizabeth was still squawking, and Paul took a moment to pay attention to what she was saying. Then he stopped, rolled over and stared up at her in shock.
"--one of those magic people! I knew you were no good, sneaking around Rory, pretending to be his friend, making him think you actually like him! You're just using him, you lying bastard! You just want his magic, trying to seduce him into helping you with whatever plan you have for power or riches or whatever it is you're doing that'll get him killed while you slip away to find some other victim!"
She actually whacked Paul with her purse, something he'd never seen outside a movie, but he was too stunned to even duck. The sturdy bag hit him a good crack in one cheek, and the pain startled him out of his shock. He rolled to his feet and backed out of range, ready to fend off any more physical attacks.
Rory had stepped back too, and was staring at his mother with his eyes wide and his mouth partially open. When Elizabeth paused to take a breath before continuing with her harrangue, Rory said, "You knew."
Elizabeth stopped, then turned and stared back at Rory in dismay. "Rory, baby--" She raised her hand to Rory's face and moved toward him, but Rory dodged away.
"You knew." The pain and shock and betrayal in his voice stabbed into Paul like a spike.
"Rory, no--"
"Yes. You knew all along. You knew it was real, you knew, and you let me think I was crazy! All those years! You took me to doctors, let them poke and question and give me thousands of pills, and all along you knew it was bullshit, that what I saw was real!" Rory's voice got louder as he went, and by the end it was raw with fury. "You bitch! You ruined my whole life, let them convince me I was crazy, and for nothing!"
==========
Get the whole book at Torquere, ARe or Rainbow eBooks.
Emerging Magic picks up shortly after A Hidden Magic wraps up, with Rory discovering something that changes his perception of the last decade of his life.
==========
Rory's mother took him to psychiatrists, let them circumscribe his life, let them give him drugs, while knowing all along there was nothing wrong with him. When Rory finds out, he's angry and confused and just wants to get away for a while. His mother's betrayal plus another kidnap attempt make a visit to the father he hasn't seen in ten years seem like a great idea.
When Rory, Paul and Aubrey get to Seattle, though, it's obviously not going to be just a normal family Christmas. Someone north of San Jose tried to kidnap Rory twice before they left, and to Paul, it's too much of a coincidence that Nathan, Rory's dad, has magic talented friends. While Rory tries to reconnect with his only other family, Paul is trying to figure out whether anyone in Nathan's group is after Rory. They definitely have secrets, and at least one of them has been playing around with things he doesn't understand; the local fey are after him, and elves aren't known for caring too much about collateral damage.
And there's a master wizard in the area who's up to something big and would really like to have Rory's help....
==========
Paul, Rory, and Elizabeth strolled along the sidewalk, between pools of moth-filled light and patches of murky darkness. It was after eight, but the sidewalks were still pretty crowded; it might be a Thursday but it was a Thursday within two weeks of Christmas and the shoppers were swarming. The downtown shopping area wasn't as insane as the malls -- Paul wouldn't go near Valley Fair at gunpoint until after New Year's -- but there were enough people around to slow progress down the street.
So when Rory suddenly stopped, Paul's first thought was that someone ahead of him was blocking the way for a moment. But then he saw that Rory was peering into the darkness down a walkway, a narrow, bricked area where a restaurant had outdoor seating when the weather was warmer. It was currently unused and unlit, and apparently empty.
When he paid attention, though, Paul could hear a noise, something like a dog crying from behind some bushes spilling out of a planting area, back in the shadows.
Rory glanced at Paul as though checking that he'd heard something too, then started off toward the bushes. "It sounds like something's hurt. Maybe a dog got hit by a car and dragged himself back in there?" he said over his shoulder.
Paul was about to agree when Elizabeth said, "Rory? I don't hear anything, baby. You're having another one of your episodes. Let's find a place where you can sit down and meditate for a few minutes." She hurried after him and took his arm, trying to tug him away, glancing toward a bus stop bench up the street, but Rory stood his ground.
"No, it's a dog, Mom. I just want to go check. Paul hears it too." Rory looked up at Paul for support, but Paul held up a hand in a "wait" signal and switched to magesight, frowning into the darkness.
There, behind the dark confusion of foliage, magic glowed a dim blue. The central shape was humanoid. It was stocky in build, and looked like it might be short for a human, but it was crouched down and Paul couldn't quite tell.
The sound of the crying dog faded away and a blob of magic swelled blue-green, then pulled back slightly. Paul got an image of an arm winding up to throw.
He called, "Down!" and spun around, grabbing both Rory and Elizabeth by the arms. He shoved Elizabeth down onto the pavement, used a quick jerk of leverage to get Rory down next to her, then threw himself over them both while activating a bronze pendant shaped like a shield.
A blue-green flash reflected off the pale pavement, and a cluster of moths, perfectly immobile, fell to the ground around them in a rain of gentle pattering.
Elizabeth was squawking in outrage and Rory was struggling to get up. Paul ignored them both and raised a binding spell, invoking the magic in one of his pins -- a tiny pair of handcuffs piercing his jacket near the collar -- and then focusing all his attention on directing it at the small, stocky fey thing that was swirling blue-green magic again in a clear attempt to prepare another spell.
Hurrying would be incredibly stupid at that point, so Paul didn't. He ignored the two people protesting beneath him and cast the binding just a moment after the fey threw something at him. It crackled. The back of his jacket flared with heat for a moment, then he smelled something burning.
He muttered, "Fuck!" under his breath and smacked out his smoldering hair with both hands. It'd been barely two weeks since a salamander had taken an inch or two off the back the same way; he was going to look like an eighties reject if the back got much shorter while the top stayed long.
Burning hair distracted Paul long enough for Rory to squirm out from under him and stagger to his feet, then help his mother up. Elizabeth was still squawking, and Paul took a moment to pay attention to what she was saying. Then he stopped, rolled over and stared up at her in shock.
"--one of those magic people! I knew you were no good, sneaking around Rory, pretending to be his friend, making him think you actually like him! You're just using him, you lying bastard! You just want his magic, trying to seduce him into helping you with whatever plan you have for power or riches or whatever it is you're doing that'll get him killed while you slip away to find some other victim!"
She actually whacked Paul with her purse, something he'd never seen outside a movie, but he was too stunned to even duck. The sturdy bag hit him a good crack in one cheek, and the pain startled him out of his shock. He rolled to his feet and backed out of range, ready to fend off any more physical attacks.
Rory had stepped back too, and was staring at his mother with his eyes wide and his mouth partially open. When Elizabeth paused to take a breath before continuing with her harrangue, Rory said, "You knew."
Elizabeth stopped, then turned and stared back at Rory in dismay. "Rory, baby--" She raised her hand to Rory's face and moved toward him, but Rory dodged away.
"You knew." The pain and shock and betrayal in his voice stabbed into Paul like a spike.
"Rory, no--"
"Yes. You knew all along. You knew it was real, you knew, and you let me think I was crazy! All those years! You took me to doctors, let them poke and question and give me thousands of pills, and all along you knew it was bullshit, that what I saw was real!" Rory's voice got louder as he went, and by the end it was raw with fury. "You bitch! You ruined my whole life, let them convince me I was crazy, and for nothing!"
==========
Get the whole book at Torquere, ARe or Rainbow eBooks.
