The Little Red Hen's Review
My mother used to trot out the Little Red Hen's old standby when we kids hadn't done something we were supposed to have done. "I guess I'll just have to do it myself," said my mother and the Little Red Hen. Now I'm going to trot it out.
There's a new 5-star review of The Luck of Madonna 13 here on Goodreads...and I wrote it myself. I'd read it to you, but I'm a little hoarse after all that keystroking.
The Luck of Madonna 13 by E.T. Ellison
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Be warned, Dear Reader. This is an Author's Review and possibly not to be trusted for dispassionate objectivity. But maybe dispassionate objectivity is overrated. You decide.
The first 15 times I read this puppy, I rewrote it immediately afterwards. Took me 11 drafts to get the original Chronicler's Edition ready for publication in 2002. Then I took a break from reading it to work on Book 2 in the Last Nevergate Chronicles. When I wanted a break from that worldscape, I worked on the first two books in the Hallah Saga, which kept me occupied with writes and rewrites for nearly a decade.
A couple years ago (and with trembling eyeballs) I re-read my first novel, "The Luck of Madonna 13." Although my more mature (and more critical) self found ample scope for updates and improvements, I still liked it. Wanting to see how my new Blathertech Model 007 Overwriting Filter worked on my own stuff, I pushed the DO IT button and held my breath. Ouch! After seeing all the nifty turns of phrase and clever similes it wanted to remove, I almost cried. Almost. But the damn thing was right...and I was secretly relieved. The stuff it wanted to excise wasn't really all that nifty or clever, so sayonara to it. See, by then I'd come to terms with the reality that my brain doesn't naturally spew out prose with the sparkling literary quality of a Margaret Atwood or a David Mitchell or even a Stephen King. So the new edition reflects more attention to narrative flow and good storytelling practice and less on intrusive wordsmithery. Honestly, it's a better tale because of it.
My wife tells me I have the immature "don't tell me what to do" brain of a stubborn, heels-dug-in 5-year-old. It's a brain that has the most fun when it's making shit up (also known as inventing stuff) and not doing what it's "supposed" to be doing. So that's what I let it do these days. Mostly. Except sometimes.
One thing I really, really enjoyed writing was the [future] history of St Coriander, the remote IsoTown that most of the story's characters grew up in (I was a history major for an entire semester back in ancient times). I liked writing that so much that I put it in front of the narrative. I was stubborn. My Inner 5-yo insisted...even in the face of kindly advice from wiser souls. This "future history" (written as a chapter in a history book about IsoTowns) was called Genesis in the 2002 hardcover Chronicler's Edition. Reviewers argued about whether it should be in the front or the back, but didn't beat me up too badly for it. But in the new edition, Genesis has gone to a new home: The Chronicler's Compendium, a separate FREE volume that also includes updated versions of all the stuff from the old LastNevergate.com website. Interested souls can download it in PDF form from my new website for zilch. Is it worth reading, even if it's not a narrative story? Well, while recently updating it I got more than a few chuckles at all the wildly disparate fun-pokery and satirical tidbits. Who was I channeling when I wrote that stuff? Terry Pratchett, maybe? Douglas Adams? Dunno. No author in his/her write mind wastes valuable time creating giveaway stuff like this just because it's fun. That should tell you something.
But what about the actual story? The novel itself? I confess that I am woefully hapless when it comes to telling stories about my own stories. I know the novel has a beginning, a middle and an end (sort of). I know it has two teen female protagonists: Glendyl (the athletic, popular one) and Lizbeth (the brainy, orphan loner). I know it's a coming-of-age story and a heroes journey/quest story. I know that transformation is one of the recurring themes. I know that it has elements of a classic thriller, where a clueless "everywoman" type gets tossed into the deep end of a pool filled with mutant killer guppies. I know there's conflict, tension, action and even some heart-wrenching moments. But that's just frameworky stuff.
Them that really know the story are the characters, after all. They were there, living through it. So they did the real writing; I just gave them a place to do it and wrote down what they did and how they felt. Okay, I gave them some cool stuff to play with, too: vile dragons imported from Cametto-5, a dead wyvern's Standard Toolbelt, slivershots, MenuMasters, hoverbars...stuff like that. And there's the mysterious "oracle" on their slates (Septriq, they call it), a smartass backpack, three castles, tech-powered magic and a winged, bipedal created species I dubbed wyverns. (Author Fact: if I could be reborn, I'd want to be reborn in a wyvern body. After reading about Lysheem, you will, too.) There's also Exeter, an ancient bad guy with epic red chinwhiskers who fancies himself a sorcerer and plays kickass centuries-retro bluesrock. There's also a dusty old war of sorts and a long-lost piece of tech that is the major bone of contention (the last Nevergate). It's a fun story I can still get lost in...even after all these reads.
Okay, I'm about done here. Book 2 is calling me, jealous that I'm still dancing too often with Book 1. I'm going to sign off by clicking on the 5 stars up there. You think I should deduct stars because "The Luck of Madonna 13" is completely devoid of vampires, zombies and swordplay? If so, shouldn't stars get added back because an important underlying non-character happens to be the outrageously lucky 13th clone of a certain pop star? The one who has reinvented herself more times than cats have lives? If I did, I'd end up with way more than 5 stars. At least that's what my calculator says.
If you want other opinions about "The Luck of Madonna 13," the Media section of my http://www.etellison.com website has a couple pages of accolades by reviewers who can be counted on to be more dispassionate and objective than moi. Me, I recommend getting a copy and deciding for yourself how many stars it deserves. It's affordable now, after all. Almost cheap. Such a deal! — ETE
View all my reviews
There's a new 5-star review of The Luck of Madonna 13 here on Goodreads...and I wrote it myself. I'd read it to you, but I'm a little hoarse after all that keystroking.
The Luck of Madonna 13 by E.T. EllisonMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Be warned, Dear Reader. This is an Author's Review and possibly not to be trusted for dispassionate objectivity. But maybe dispassionate objectivity is overrated. You decide.
The first 15 times I read this puppy, I rewrote it immediately afterwards. Took me 11 drafts to get the original Chronicler's Edition ready for publication in 2002. Then I took a break from reading it to work on Book 2 in the Last Nevergate Chronicles. When I wanted a break from that worldscape, I worked on the first two books in the Hallah Saga, which kept me occupied with writes and rewrites for nearly a decade.
A couple years ago (and with trembling eyeballs) I re-read my first novel, "The Luck of Madonna 13." Although my more mature (and more critical) self found ample scope for updates and improvements, I still liked it. Wanting to see how my new Blathertech Model 007 Overwriting Filter worked on my own stuff, I pushed the DO IT button and held my breath. Ouch! After seeing all the nifty turns of phrase and clever similes it wanted to remove, I almost cried. Almost. But the damn thing was right...and I was secretly relieved. The stuff it wanted to excise wasn't really all that nifty or clever, so sayonara to it. See, by then I'd come to terms with the reality that my brain doesn't naturally spew out prose with the sparkling literary quality of a Margaret Atwood or a David Mitchell or even a Stephen King. So the new edition reflects more attention to narrative flow and good storytelling practice and less on intrusive wordsmithery. Honestly, it's a better tale because of it.
My wife tells me I have the immature "don't tell me what to do" brain of a stubborn, heels-dug-in 5-year-old. It's a brain that has the most fun when it's making shit up (also known as inventing stuff) and not doing what it's "supposed" to be doing. So that's what I let it do these days. Mostly. Except sometimes.
One thing I really, really enjoyed writing was the [future] history of St Coriander, the remote IsoTown that most of the story's characters grew up in (I was a history major for an entire semester back in ancient times). I liked writing that so much that I put it in front of the narrative. I was stubborn. My Inner 5-yo insisted...even in the face of kindly advice from wiser souls. This "future history" (written as a chapter in a history book about IsoTowns) was called Genesis in the 2002 hardcover Chronicler's Edition. Reviewers argued about whether it should be in the front or the back, but didn't beat me up too badly for it. But in the new edition, Genesis has gone to a new home: The Chronicler's Compendium, a separate FREE volume that also includes updated versions of all the stuff from the old LastNevergate.com website. Interested souls can download it in PDF form from my new website for zilch. Is it worth reading, even if it's not a narrative story? Well, while recently updating it I got more than a few chuckles at all the wildly disparate fun-pokery and satirical tidbits. Who was I channeling when I wrote that stuff? Terry Pratchett, maybe? Douglas Adams? Dunno. No author in his/her write mind wastes valuable time creating giveaway stuff like this just because it's fun. That should tell you something.
But what about the actual story? The novel itself? I confess that I am woefully hapless when it comes to telling stories about my own stories. I know the novel has a beginning, a middle and an end (sort of). I know it has two teen female protagonists: Glendyl (the athletic, popular one) and Lizbeth (the brainy, orphan loner). I know it's a coming-of-age story and a heroes journey/quest story. I know that transformation is one of the recurring themes. I know that it has elements of a classic thriller, where a clueless "everywoman" type gets tossed into the deep end of a pool filled with mutant killer guppies. I know there's conflict, tension, action and even some heart-wrenching moments. But that's just frameworky stuff.
Them that really know the story are the characters, after all. They were there, living through it. So they did the real writing; I just gave them a place to do it and wrote down what they did and how they felt. Okay, I gave them some cool stuff to play with, too: vile dragons imported from Cametto-5, a dead wyvern's Standard Toolbelt, slivershots, MenuMasters, hoverbars...stuff like that. And there's the mysterious "oracle" on their slates (Septriq, they call it), a smartass backpack, three castles, tech-powered magic and a winged, bipedal created species I dubbed wyverns. (Author Fact: if I could be reborn, I'd want to be reborn in a wyvern body. After reading about Lysheem, you will, too.) There's also Exeter, an ancient bad guy with epic red chinwhiskers who fancies himself a sorcerer and plays kickass centuries-retro bluesrock. There's also a dusty old war of sorts and a long-lost piece of tech that is the major bone of contention (the last Nevergate). It's a fun story I can still get lost in...even after all these reads.
Okay, I'm about done here. Book 2 is calling me, jealous that I'm still dancing too often with Book 1. I'm going to sign off by clicking on the 5 stars up there. You think I should deduct stars because "The Luck of Madonna 13" is completely devoid of vampires, zombies and swordplay? If so, shouldn't stars get added back because an important underlying non-character happens to be the outrageously lucky 13th clone of a certain pop star? The one who has reinvented herself more times than cats have lives? If I did, I'd end up with way more than 5 stars. At least that's what my calculator says.
If you want other opinions about "The Luck of Madonna 13," the Media section of my http://www.etellison.com website has a couple pages of accolades by reviewers who can be counted on to be more dispassionate and objective than moi. Me, I recommend getting a copy and deciding for yourself how many stars it deserves. It's affordable now, after all. Almost cheap. Such a deal! — ETE
View all my reviews
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