Mary Stanik's Blog - Posts Tagged "iceland"

Listen to my interview with KYMN radio's Teri Knight, host of "15 Minutes With the Author." Original air date: February 25, 2013

Here's the link to listen to me talk about my book, Life Erupted. Really enjoyed talking with Teri.

http://kymnradio.net/2013/02/25/15-wi...

So many thanks to Naomi Lakritz for the exceptionally great review of Life Erupted.

Published a letter on March 26 in Iceland Review about the possible awakening of Mount Hekla, Iceland's "queen" of volcanoes. Called The Gate to Hell by others. Hekla is the volcano featured in Life Erupted so I'm taking a very keen interest in things.

http://www.icelandreview.com/letters/

Here on Goodreads. Hop, run, or walk on by and let's talk. Always civilized, of course.

http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/1...

For the week of September 18-24, on Digital Book Today. All featured books must be independently published, available on the Kindle format, and have earned at least 25 four star or better Amazon reviews. Happy to be included in this group.
http://digitalbooktoday.com/2013/09/1...

Happy to have been asked to sell copies of
"Life Erupted" at the October 5 Icelandic American Association of Minnesota's Leifur Eiriksson celebration. Been told a splendid cod dinner will be had by all.

http://www.inlofna.org/IAAMN/Leif.html

I entered "Life Erupted" in this contest. Some 2,800 books were in the competition, with one grand prize winner and nine first place winners, one for each of nine genre categories. While I did not win, I felt as if I had won, somewhat, after I read the great review the judge sent me today. Here is an excerpt. Thanks to the judge and to all of you who have bought the book and enjoyed it.

Judges Commentary*:

I really enjoyed reading Life Erupted. The main character, Jenn, is immediately likable and very vividly drawn; I was able to discern her character very quickly, and I enjoyed the interactions she has with the various other characters--especially her father, Bianca, Tony, and Erik. The other characters are drawn well and everyone seems to grow throughout the narrative.

One of the strongest parts of this book is the authorial tone. The descriptions of various people and settings, told through the lens of the POV character, are masterful and set the tone for the book. I never felt like this description was heavy handed. You also do a beautiful job, for the most part, of balancing exposition with action. While there are parts where you do "tell," the information you're conveying is important, and it's told through the lens of the POV character, so it still works and engaged me.

In terms of design and packaging, I found the illustrations to be cute and fitting for the tone of the book. The overall package is professional.

Overall, this is an excellent book. Thank you for the chance to read!


*Commentary may be quoted as: “Judge, Writer’s Digest 21st Annual Self-Published Book Awards”

Scroll through book covers, find something to read. Including Life Erupted.

www.coverscroll.com

So honored that Iceland's ambassador to the United States, Guðmundur Árni Stefánsson, has allowed me to share his thoughts about my book, Life Erupted. The ambassador, who has served in Washington since October 2011, previously was Iceland's ambassador to Sweden. He also has been a member of Iceland's parliament and has held a number of ministerial portfolios. As well, he is the former mayor of Hafnarfjördur. Prior to entering politics, the ambassador was a radio producer for the Icelandic State Broadcasting Service and was the editor of the daily newspaper Althýdubladid.

Here is what he said about my book:

I really enjoyed Life Erupted!

I could see that you had done a good job of researching the Icelandic locations and background. The Icelandic parts in the book were very truthful when it came to facts and figures, etc.

Keep up the good work!

Here's a short piece I wrote for Iceland Review that tries to explain as much:

http://icelandreview.com/stuff/reader...