John’s Comments (group member since Jul 27, 2012)

John’s comments from the Editio Self-Publishing group.

I was invited by USA book discovery website, Shepherd.com to give my '3 Favorite Reads in 2023': Dostoyevsky/Vonnegut/Nabakov -
'The Brothers Karamazov is on a vaster scale than Dostoyevsky’s other novels, less concentrated along one line of supreme intensity. And yet, all the power still bursts forth, in moments where the innards of the characters seem to explode outward, penetrating the reader’s soul. It is hard not to be conscious of the fact that Dostoyevsky wrote this novel following the death of his own three-year-old son. The novel seems to constitute a re-piecing-together of the author’s mind, and, as this was his last book, a final statement on life and death, love and loss.'
https://shepherd.com/bboy/2023/f/john...

M. J. Joachim reviews The Survival of Thomas ford on her blog - "May all your nightmares be safe, with no monsters hiding under the bed."

http://mjjoachim.blogspot.co.uk/2015/...

L G Thomson's Thrillers with Attitude Literary Smorgasbord:

https://thrillerswithattitude.wordpre...

Far From the Madding Crowd to Jude the Obscure...while the ghostly ancient gods look on...The Thomas Hardy Experience:

http://authorselectric.blogspot.co.uk...

Flora Catherine Kennedy, L. G. Thomson, and myself, are doing readings at Phoenix Ale House, Inverness, Scotland, 7pm on June 9th, for XPONorth Summer Literature Festival/Highland Literary Salon - All welcome, FREE entry, wine and drinks!

http://highlandlitsalon.com/bookevent...

Roman Polanski's Film of the Tragedy of MACBETH (and various other Macbeth connections swirling through Time and Space...)

http://authorselectric.blogspot.co.uk...

The Survival of Thomas Ford: Book Review on This Dark Matter

http://thisdarkmatter.com/reviews/sur...

3 years in: A snapshot of publishing vital statistics for The Survival of Thomas Ford - Thanks very much to everyone who downloaded (and for the reviews!)

http://authorselectric.blogspot.co.uk...

Happy to announce that my espionage conspiracy mystery/thriller, Agency Woman, is FREE on Kindle from 24-25 December.

Available here on Amazon US:
http://www.amazon.com/Agency-Woman-Jo...

Available here on Amazon UK:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Agency-Woman-...

Agency Woman's Goodreads page:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

Featured here on Kindle Nation Daily:
http://kindlenationdaily.com/2014/12/...
*********************
A lost, wandering and damaged man finds himself drafted back into the world he thought he had escaped, when the local branch of a powerful, international Agency needs a mysterious job done in the remote Highlands of Scotland.
The new companion who leads him out of disaffected early retirement is a seductive, young, novice female agent, but could there really be far more to her than there at first seems?
They find themselves in a world of natural beauty, mountain and beach, which they will only contaminate with extraordinary rendition, abduction, bloodshed and torture.
The modern bureaucratic world of paperwork and subcontracting will mean that no-one actually knows which government or country is behind the operation, but one man will soon remember why he left Agency work like this and why he hates it so much, even though it may really be love that has dragged him back into it all.

A dark, Scottish tale of conspiracy, espionage, murder and terrorism, with an existential edge, and the spirit of an ancient mountain looming at its centre.

***********************
"Immense depths" Ignite, Top 500 Amazon Reviewer

"Poise and power in a dramatic Highland thriller" C. U. Usher, Amazon reviewer
***********************
Hope everyone enjoys, and Merry Christmas!

Oliver Tidy - "Do Authors Dream of Electric Chairs?"

http://olivertidy.wordpress.com/2014/...

I check...Too Often!
(And yes, I also lay blame on that new Amazon graph thingy!)

Free Kindle Nation Shorts:

"Please read on for an excerpt from a psychological spy thriller..." - Amazon Bestseller: *International Mystery & Crime*

http://us6.campaign-archive2.com/?u=2...

Agency Woman

My novel, Agency Woman, is on sale at 99 cents/99 pence on Kindle until 9 August -

"A dark, Scottish tale of conspiracy, espionage, murder and terrorism, with an existential edge, and the spirit of an ancient mountain looming at its centre."

Currently at Number 24 in the Amazon USA "International Mystery & Crime" bestseller chart...thanks very much to everyone who has already downloaded!

Featured here today on Kindle Nation daily:

http://kindlenationdaily.com/2014/08/...

Available here on Amazon US:
http://www.amazon.com/Agency-Woman-Jo...

Also available on Amazon UK:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Agency-Woman-...


Latest reviews on Amazon.com:

5.0 out of 5 stars it was THAT good! So much more to feel, July 25, 2014
By LynnAnn Thomas "mover of energy" (Sugar Camp, WI) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)
Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Agency Woman (Kindle Edition)
I'm goin' back in...and re-reading it again...it was THAT good! So much more to feel...can't wait!



5.0 out of 5 stars A Hitchcockian he-story expertly wrapped into a she-story, May 10, 2014
By Scriblerus "Scriblerus" - See all my reviews
Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Agency Woman (Kindle Edition)
One reader's notes about this book say:

Brilliant. A Htitchcockian he-story expertly wrapped into a she-story.

Uncertain moral framework, goals, purpose - in keeping with the incomprehensibility of modern life.

Absolute sureness of style ... Language honed: polished steel.

Not as much stabbing, shooting, bleeding, etc., as in The Survival of Thomas Ford ... no sooner had I written that and returned to the book than there was a smashed skull and dangling eyeball, on my very next e-page.

Funny, self-mocking.

Horror less unbearable than in TSoTF because the Highlands setting is setting is so marvellous to imagine.

V. good on fugue states, altered states, hallucinatory states, ... fevered brain ... etc..

Kafkaesque in the mysterious ness of the 'they'.

Pacing is almost uniformly excellent.

Not as lyrical as TSoTF ... Action is all, in this book, though it can be more internal than external.

... My five stars are for the quality of JAAL's prose and for the insight in this book into the evolution of relationships between men and women, about which I have written here: What John A. A. Logan, master of the literary thriller noir, adds to startling revelations about the gender dance ...
[...]

#HowIWrite Blog Hop: (Almost) All In The Mind

(Four questions on the writing process; and an introduction to the work of Michel Sauret, Cheryll Barron, Julia Jones, and Dennis Hamley - with a little Bugs Bunny and Shakespeare thrown in, too!)

http://authorselectric.blogspot.co.uk...

The Survival of Thomas Ford is now up on BooksGoSocial!

http://booksgosocial.wordpress.com/20...

Happy to announce that Storm Damage is on sale, at 99 cents in US/ 99 pence in UK, on Amazon Kindle only, until 29 June!

http://smarturl.it/stormdamage

*WINNER OF BEST SHORT STORY COLLECTION IN THE EFESTIVAL OF WORDS BEST OF THE INDEPENDENT EBOOKS AWARDS 2013*

STORM DAMAGE is a collection of ten stories by John A. A. Logan, author of THE SURVIVAL OF THOMAS FORD

Ten tales of mystery and psychological suspense – from bewildered astronaut adrift in space, to traumatised soldier, isolated spy, circus of supernatural horrors, lost airmen’s ghosts, and an existential encounter between a wolf and a pig on a moonlit hillside: in STORM DAMAGE the reader is taken on a journey through deserts both physical and psychological, around this world and beyond it

Storm Damage featured here yesterday on Kindle Nation Daily:
"Ten Award-Winning Tales of Mystery And Psychological Suspense by John A. A. Logan… Discover Storm Damage Now For Under $1.00!" -
http://kindlenationdaily.com/2014/06/...

And featured here today on Kindle Books and Tips:
"Today’s Featured Kindle Book of the Day is Storm Damage, by John A. A, Logan, is regularly $2.99 but has been discounted to just 99 cents today in the Amazon Kindle store. This book has received an average user rating of 4 out of 5 stars based on 21 customer reviews. Genre: Suspense" -
http://www.fkbooksandtips.com/2014/06...

Finding Success When Your Back is Against the Wall

http://litreactor.com/columns/finding...

Last year I combined a 5 day free promo with a Bookbub ad - then had 49000 free downloads of the novel - followed by 1000 sales at $2.99 over the next month - and 50 new Amazon reviews in that month also.
But since then I believe Amazon have changed the algorithm which led to the potential of a lot of paid sales following a successful free promo...

2012 was even better, the first free promo I ever did in April 2012, with no advertising, resulted in 10000 free downloads, but this was followed by $1800 of sales/profit over the next 7 days.
(In fact, I still remember watching the KDP screen just after that free promo ended, and there were 350 sales at $2.99 in the first 5 hours...it didn't seem real at all!)

Now I notice that authors are writing blogs calling 2012 the Gold Rush period, especially regarding Kindle Select...and I can see why!

Finding Success When Your Back is Against the Wall

http://litreactor.com/columns/finding...

On friends, influences, and destiny - Kurosawa's Brother

http://authorselectric.blogspot.co.uk...