Genre Specific Review Groups discussion

In joining this review group you have agreed to review the novels assigned to you on a two month schedule. This group is now in the review phase and is no longer open for sign up.

SCI-FI REVIEW GROUP. As with other review groups, you will be expected to read and give an honest review of the books assigned to you. Assignments will be made after the group sign-up has filled.

Participants are expected to post reviews to Goodreads. The review should be posted to Amazon (US and UK) as well, if the book is available there. This makes having accounts with both Goodreads and Amazon.com a requirement.

Contact the authors you are scheduled to review to arrange to receive a review copy of their work. Note that Amazon has made a minor change in how reviews are displayed. As long as a review that is not verified as a purchase is recent, it will be displayed on the book's Amazon page. Once it rolls off, it will still be counted in the ranking of the book, but the link to show more reviews has been modified by Amazon to show only reviews that come from verified purchases. Authors may consider gifting their book to assigned reviewers so that they will qualify as verified purchases. Reviewers may bypass this limitation by offering to purchase the books assigned to them. All of this is voluntary. Authors may still provide review copies for free, and reviewers can still post reviews to Amazon that are not from a verified purchase. This change in Amazon policy has no effect on Goodreads.

Please post to this topic, both when you receive review copies and when you post the reviews.

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Note that any participant who makes no effort to fulfill his or her commitment to this group will have all reviews of his or her work resulting from this group deleted and his or her membership in the Genre Specific Review Group will be terminated.

THE AUTHORS AND BOOKS ARE:

1 MK Clark-Space Jumpers

2Stjepan Varesevac Cobets-Godeena

3 E.M. Swift-Hook-Trust A Few: Haruspex Trilogy: Part One

4 M.J. Lau-The Buried Few

5 L.N. Denison-Only The Few

6 Alistair Potter-Perax Frontier

THE ORDER OF REVIEW IS AS FOLLOWS:

Monday April 24 to End date Monday May 15

MK reviews Alistair
Stjepan reviews E.M.
E.M. reviews M.J.
M.J. reviews Stjepan
L.N. reviews MK
Alistair reviews L.N.

Monday May 15 to Monday June 12

MK reviews Stjepan
Stjepan reviews L.N.
E.M. reviews MK
M.J. reviews Alistair
L.N reviews M.J.
Alistair reviews E.M.

Yes! I have dared to do it. I have entered my work. It will be published on the 1st of May, so anyone who gets my book will have to read their second round first. We have one more space to fill, maybe two, then I can start scheduling =).

In the event that we get an influx of people wanting in, I will start up another round.

Oh - another review group! Stay Awake Alistair!

Could I put my Perax Frontier into this round?

Thanks... in anticipation.


Alistair.

Three books with "Few" in the title... what are the odds?

Phew - thought I was the only one that spotted that! :)

M.J. wrote: "Three books with "Few" in the title... what are the odds?"

Crazy odds lol!

Alistair wrote: "Phew - thought I was the only one that spotted that! :)"

Would you like to hop on board for this round Alistair? I see you do lol. I shall Schedule tonight.

Before I start, are there any conflicts? I'll start.

I have read E.M and Stjepan has read me, but not this book, so technically, if needs be, he will have to read me again.

All those 'few' books? You can only bury your trust and keep on with them ;)

No other conflicts for me, except with you, that I am aware of, Layla!

E.M. wrote: "All those 'few' books? You can only bury your trust and keep on with them ;)

No other conflicts for me, except with you, that I am aware of, Layla!"

Nice play on words there, E.M =D!

This review round is now open for business. Enjoy your reads people!

M.K. and M.J. I already have snagged your books and am looking forward to reading them :)

E.M. wrote: "M.K. and M.J. I already have snagged your books and am looking forward to reading them :)"

Awesome! Can't wait to hear what you think.

MK Clark, you are reading my book, I need your email address, mail me to my profile. I can not contact you through your profile.

Stjepan wrote: "MK Clark, you are reading my book, I need your email address, mail me to my profile. I can not contact you through your profile."

Hi there, I grabbed a copy of your book this evening, so I'm all set.

Grabbed my two....can't wait to get stuck in.

I have E.M.'s Trust a Few, L.N.'s Only the Few is coming s(ew)n! (sorry, couldn't resist.)

Did I really just write that? :)

You did, Alistair - and it only took a few words ;)

I have both books -- started reading last night!

This is going to be a good round, I can feel it!

I have book of E.M. and I start reading in the morning :)

Just wanting to check L.N. - there is no requirement anymore under Amazon rules to say that you were given the book by the author?

That would appear to be so E.M. I.think they frown upon it now.

Thanks for that clarification, L.N. I know in the past it was supposed to be stated, but as you say, my understanding is that under their new rules it can lead to issues if such a statement is included, so it is best avoided.

But if we've bought our copies, this isn't an issue, right?

It would not arise if the copy was purchased as you could not post 'I was given this book by the author' M.K.

The key issue is that if you are gifted the book, you are more likely to get issues if you put in the review that you were given it than if you say nothing. Whereas in the past Amazon wanted disclosure - today they might assume it means the review was 'purchased' by the gift of the book.

My review for


Space Jumpers on Goodreads
Space Jumpers on Zon UK
Space Jumpers on Zon US

E.M. wrote: "My review for


Space Jumpers on Goodreads
Space Jumpers on Zon UK
Space Jumpers on Zon US"

Thanks E.M. I'd love to chat with you more in a couple point that come up in your review. Some if the things you said, i find myself repsonding "that was the point," which means i didnt do a good enough job as the author of making that the point, and I'd like to discuss where i could revise to help.

I found a lot to enjoy in your book and if you have some specific questions, I am very happy to answer them if you would like to PM them to me. I have been in that kind of place myself as an author and learned that sometimes what I thought I was saying loud and clear, needed a few more flags to wave in the face of the reader before they spotted it!

Thank you E.M for your links.

And my review for


The Buried Few on Goodreads
The Buried Few on the Zon UK
The Buried Few on the Zon US

E.M. wrote: "And my review for


The Buried Few on Goodreads
The Buried Few on the Zon UK
The Buried Few on the Zon US"

Wow E.M! Super quick! Thank for the links....you are done for this round. See in another one soon =D

Was easy to be super quick as both reads were well written and easy to read as a result. ;)

I shall be back......

E.M. wrote: "And my review for


The Buried Few on Goodreads
The Buried Few on the Zon UK
The Buried Few on the Zon US"

Thanks for the thorough and honest review, E.M.!

Here's my Review for Alistair's Perax Frontier.

Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-re...

Thank you M.K for your review links, on to round two =)!

Hi M.K.

Thanks for the great in-depth review of Perax Frontier - there's obviously a few things I need to have another look at! Possibly one is switching dictionaries for a US market version?

Had you crying at the end - score! :)

Cheers, and again thanks, Alistair.

if you want to email me a word version, i can go through and point some things out.

Last night I posted my review for Alistair Potter's Perax Frontier to Goodreads, Amazon US and Amazon UK. Great book!

Just to check, is it OK for people to mark down books on the basis of them using US or UK spelling if the reviewer is from the other country? I always ignore these or even look them up if I am unsure so as not to be unfair to the person I am reviewing. But if it is a 'thing' I might need to check the nationality of all my reviewers before agreeing to a round in future...

I would never mark books down for US/UK spelling, so to me that is a no, no.

M.J. wrote: "Last night I posted my review for Alistair Potter's Perax Frontier to Goodreads, Amazon US and Amazon UK. Great book!"

Thanks for the great review, glad you enjoyed the book.

Cheers, Alistair :)

E.M. wrote: "Just to check, is it OK for people to mark down books on the basis of them using US or UK spelling if the reviewer is from the other country? I always ignore these or even look them up if I am unsu..."

Maybe this wasn't in reference to my review, but I feel the need to chime in. I agree, regional differences in spelling and conventions should not be grounds for a lower review. In my review, I merely mentioned differences between US and UK English as a possible explanation for some of the parts I tripped up on. The legitimate conventional errors (which I said were few and far between) were a small part of the slight decrease in rating I gave Alistair's terrific book.

Thanks for the clarification M.J. Although your review prompted my enquiry, it is something I have had a few friends complain about recently - enough to make me concerned - that their use of UK spellings and punctuation have led to them being accused of bad writing in reviews from US readers. Hence my worrying it might be an issue to look out for. Good to know that here at least, it is not :)

M.J. wrote: "Last night I posted my review for Alistair Potter's Perax Frontier to Goodreads, Amazon US and Amazon UK. Great book!"

Thank you for your links M.J. One more round to go.

E.M. wrote: "Thanks for the clarification M.J. Although your review prompted my enquiry, it is something I have had a few friends complain about recently - enough to make me concerned - that their use of UK spe..."

I had something similar happened to me, E.M. Someone said that my first book was full of spelling mistakes. We shouldn't have to Americanise our books to suit their needs! *Rant Over!*

I thought I posted my reviews for Stjepan's book already as well, but I must have only thought about it.

My reviews for Godeena are live on Goodreads, Amazon US, and Amazon UK!

On the topic of style, punctuation and spelling - I remember looking at a number of 'highly regarded' British writers who used their own unique style of layout. There was one crime writer, who wrote her dialogue like a script - always starting a line with;

Bob said, "...

Sheila said, "...

etc. said, "...

She was completely uncompromising, and apparently flying in the face of 'convention'. She was also very popular, with many, many readers and books to her name. None of her fans were worried how she got it on the paper - they loved her stories!

I've studied a few 'variations on the theme', and the common element was CONSISTENCY. If the reader understands your system, it's reasonably easy to follow, you stick to it, have a good story to tell and have an accessible 'voice' - you are there.

Of course 'conventions' help readers to 'get comfortable' faster - and there's some 'obvious stuff' you should avoid, but bottom line, surely it's about telling stories in the most accessible and naturalistic way possible?

Cheers, Alistair.

L.N. wrote: "E.M. wrote: "Thanks for the clarification M.J. Although your review prompted my enquiry, it is something I have had a few friends complain about recently - enough to make me concerned - that their ..."

I don't think anyone wants a situation where US reviewers demolish UK authors for not using local-American spelling and UK reviewers retaliate against US authors for not using local-UK spelling. Does anyone see a French novel as bad because it is written in the language of the author? Which version of English is right or wrong is now impossible to rule on since it's one point each: The US population outnumbers the Brits but the Brits got there first. To confuse this further, English relies on 1,400 years worth of loan words which have been adapted from the spelling that might still be used in those languages (wyrm/worm) and some US spellings are the original UK spellings (e.g. mollusk). In conclusion, please don't take off stars from authors for writing in their own language because that's partisan and people might do the same to you for not writing in theirs. This way lies madness.

M.J. wrote: "I thought I posted my reviews for Stjepan's book already as well, but I must have only thought about it.

My reviews for Godeena are live on Goodreads, Amazon US, and Amazon UK!"

Thank you M.J for your links. Your obligation to this round is now complete.

Here are my links for Space Jumpers!

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-re...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/review/RFIWI...