Book Review: The Way Out By: B. Fox

I was nearly in tears when I finished this book. The Way Out is an emotional journey, delving into the harsh realities of life behind prison bars. The author doesn't hold back when it comes to the details of filth and evil that is captive behind the gray walls of Denmore Penitentiary. The flawed characters drive the story, especially Morris, whose true nature kept me on edge. Through his unlikely friendships, his sketchy deals and “plans”, and his interactions with the unrelenting guards, I yearned to uncover what seemed to be haunting him. While the answer felt slightly ambiguous, (at least to me,) I wasn't disappointed. There is so much heart in this story, and every ounce of it felt way too real.

B Fox's books challenge me beyond my usual reading, stirring deep emotions and thoughts. After loving Paper Castles, I couldn't miss The Way Out.

You can order your copy of The Way Out right HERE!

Happy Reading!

Book Review: The Manic Edge By: CJ Simone

 

More Fast Paced Thrills!

The second installment of this series did not disappoint! Gabe is back and still running from his perilous ties to mob families and grappling with his mental disorder. I was most captivated by the authentic characters and the way they took on their struggles—it made for a lot of tension building. It’s also always satisfying when characters with disorders or taken on and used so naturally and realistically in the story. Great work! I love the fast-paced writing, too. It keeps you hooked and doesn’t let up. If you’re looking to have your emotions tested with thrills and a romance that you can’t help but root for, check out this series!

The Manic Edge is available on Amazon, and if you have a Kindle Unlimited subscription, you're in luck, because this book is included! Check the link below!

Happy Reading!

ORDER THE MANIC EDGE NOW!

Here We Go Again!

I'm extremely pleased to announce that my third book, Lie Ever So Quietly, will be released on April 20, 2025, and it is available to Pre-Order now! As with my other books, this one will be available exclusively on Amazon Kindle, and available to read with your Kindle Unlimited subscription if you have one.  

As usual, I could use some help spreading the word about the release, so if you wouldn't mind kindly tapping the share button's below, I would be forever grateful!  

Also, I will be sharing some preview chapters in the coming weeks, so stay tuned for that.

The past never truly stays buried... 

Charlie Dalton finds himself haunted by memories he thought he had long resolved. Thirty-four years after a traumatic childhood event, Charlie's life is once again thrown into turmoil when his best friend and business partner is murdered. 

Charlie is immediately considered a suspect, and when lines between past and present blur, a web of connections is revealed which link Charlie to another missing person—someone he’d hoped the world had forgotten about.

As he grapples with anger, anxiety, and fear, Charlie must navigate a series of trials that test his resilience and determination. To protect his loved ones from public scrutiny, Charlie is forced to revisit the night that changed everything. He refuses to let his family be thrust into the spotlight as he was when he was eight. He won’t be transported back into that box in the barn.

Pre-Order Today!

What is a "Pity Patron?"

We've all seen these familiar posts on X, Insta, and FB. I've even posted a few with the hopes it would raise some kind of awareness to my work. If you're not familiar, this is a screenshot of a KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) sales dashboard, and it currently reads zero sales. A social media post with this image is usually accompanied by: "How's your month going?" or "After all my hard work, this is what I have to show for it." Or my personal favorite: "Who will save me from this ugly set of ovals?"

What is your first instinct when you see a post like this? Do you feel sorry for the author? Does it make you feel inclined to buy a copy of the author's book, as if your one purchase will make the author feel validated? Or do you make a snap judgment about the book, or the author's ability to write based on the number of sales? Maybe you just ignore the post. Maybe a completely different thought?

To be clear, Yes, I will take all the pity sales anyone wants to give me. But in my heart, I'd really rather someone bought my book because it was something they're interested in. I sometimes wonder how many "pity patrons" actually read the book they purchased, or if the book just sits in the back of their kindle queue to be forgotten about. I'm certain I am making a lot of unfair judgements here, but if you read between the lines, you'll realize I'm writing this post out of my own experience. Yes, I have purchased books out of pity for an author, hoping to raise their spirits. Also, yes, I have let the book sit in the back of my kindle queue with nearly zero intentions to read it. And if you really want me to be honest, the pity purchases I've attempted to read unfortunately don't hold my interest and they end up on another dreadful list: My "Did Not Finish" list.

These are just my first thoughts on "pity patrons", we haven't even touched on what these types of sales do to the amazon algorithm. If a "pity patron" buys a copy of one of my mystery novels books but the patron is traditionally a romance reader, suddenly the Amazon algorithm gets the idea that my mystery novel fits in with the romance genre. Okay, this may not happen after one purchase, but if something like this happens enough, my book could be shown in the suggestion window to romance readers, which are not my target audience. Finding an audience for your writing can be extremely challenging. I don't need something like a confused algorithm slowing me down on top of everything else.

I'm probably dousing the flames of the supportive writing community right now (or maybe I'm throwing gas on it). I realize I'm making some assumptions that other people's buying habits are similar to mine. Or perhaps I'm way off, and some of these sales are from people who had been meaning to buy a book for some time but just forgot about it. Maybe the patron's interests do align with the author's writing, and they want to take a chance on the book. Either way, I stand by my point: what good are we doing if we buy books from authors who simply beg for the sale. It kind of feels like we're just dropping a few bucks into a hat. At the very least, maybe we’re increasing their Amazon sales rank for a few days. As an author, I would rather have true organic readers/patrons. I want patrons who buy my book because something about the tag line caught their attention—or maybe there was something about the cover. Better yet, I'd love a patron who buys my book because they had previously enjoyed something else I wrote. These are the best kind of patrons because they're no longer just patrons, they're fans! My main goal as an author is not to sell the most copies of my book, it’s to find my audience. Once I do that, sales are likely to follow.

There are so many other and better ways to support writers, and it costs you nothing! A simple like and share of an author’s post goes a long way. If you want to go the extra mile, leave a positive comment about the book to give it relevance to other people. Sure, you may be a fantasy reader, but maybe you have some followers/friends who read hard crime. Recommend the book to a book club who reads the genre of the book being promoted. And of course, if you have generally read an author's book and enjoyed it, share a review.

As I'm writing this, I realize this might be something I will want to delete later. I have this nagging feeling that someone is going to read this and think I'm calling them or out, or that I'm stepping on their supportive toes. I hope not, because that’s not my intention, and I apologize if I’ve upset you. If you are a "pity patron," I want you to know you are still very much appreciated. I'm sure your intentions are good, and I don't know for certain that your efforts are not worth the action. These are just my own thoughts I'm firing away with. I welcome any of your thoughts on this as well so we can have a respectable discussion on this. I don't think I have all the answers, and I'm certainly not perfect, because as I said at the beginning of this post, I will take all the pity sales anyone wants to give me!

Keep Reading!

Sign Up = FREE Book!

So, I don't know how long I'll run this little promotion, but I figured what the heck, it's Christmas!  Let's start 2025 with some FREE BOOKS!

Starting today, I will be giving away digital copies of my debut novel, THE GOUGE, to everyone who signs up to my mailing list.  

I want to say up front, I will not blow up your inboxes with a bunch of nonsense junk mail.  Literally, over the past three years, I have only sent out two emails to my subscribers, and both were simple announcements for the release of my books.  I also promise to never I share your information with anyone for any reason.   

I've created a Landing Page HERE where you can sign up.  Once I see your signup, I will send you a copy of the book in the format of your preference.  Please be patient with me as I am being a bit cheap, and I'm not paying for the Mailchimp premium plan which will send notifications to me on signups.  I will be checking the signups manually.  If you don't receive a copy of The Gouge after a few days, please feel free to contact me in the comments here.  I may have just overlooked the signup.

Remember, this is only for a limited time.  I don't know when I'll end this promotion, so get it while you can!

Thank you all for a fantastic 2024.  Have a great 2025, and Happy Reading!

M.H. David

SIGN UP = FREE BOOK

2024 In A Nutshell...

So, looking back over this past year, I realize I've only posted to this blog about five times. I started the year with so much hope for this blog. I thought I could manage, at the bear minimum, one post per month. However, I've been burdened by something all year that kept beating me down and kept me from making the effort. I know it sounds like I'm making excuses, and maybe I am, but it really is the truth. There were several events this year that deterred my writing, but the main one was that my oldest son moved out of the house at the beginning of the year. He also moved two states away so he could attend a film school, so that's put one heck of a buffer zone between us.  His moving out seemed to set the stage for the rest of the year for me. 

I really miss seeing my son everyday, and I struggled for several months about whether I spent enough time with him while he was younger, when he really wanted my presence. I don't think I did all that bad as a father to him, but I let that infection thought of "Could I have done more?" worry my mind. I've been told all parents go through something like this when their kids leave the nest; "It's just a phase," they say. There have been a lot of "phases" to being a parent, but this has been the least fun one yet.  This one felt like it nearly defeated me.

I think I've finally adjusted to the change. I visit him as often as I can, we text a lot, and of course talk on the phone. We even managed to make it to a concert together earlier this year. Each time we speak, I have to fight the urge to tell him I wish he'd move back home. I don't want to put that on him. He knows I miss him, and that I love him, and that I'm proud of him and the things he's doing. He doesn't need to be subjected to any guilt for leaving home and finding his own way. I want him to be happy, but I also want him to know that dad is always here if he needs help. 

This post was seriously meant to be about making a commitment to this blog for 2025, but it took a very personal turn, and I'm not sorry for that. However, I do think I'll stop here for now. 

Wishing you both a very Merry Christmas, and so much love and joy for the New Year! 

God Bless,

M.H. David

This Was Never My Intention...

I want to say right now, this wasn’t my plan when I wrote the first line of The Gouge.  The Gouge was meant to be a stand-alone story, and that is all.  I’m not a big fan of books in a series, mostly because it seems like a gimmick to sell the next book.  Okay, it’s cool, but it really wasn’t what I was aiming for.  When sat down to write The Blue Hole, (again it was meant to also be a stand-alone story) I decided to do something just for fun—I decided to make a character from The Gouge, Detective Jason Burns, make what was supposed to be just a cameo appearance in The Blue Hole.  I chose to do this for two reasons:  One, because I needed a detective for the story in The Blue Hole, and two, I lazily didn’t feel like creating a backstory for a new detective.  Afterall, the work had already been done with Burns’ character and his backstory fit the bill close enough for what I wanted. 

Along the course of writing and finishing The Blue Hole, the book as a whole kind of morphed into a two separate stories—Story 1:  My original idea for The Blue Hole, and Story 2:  What Burns was going through.  Burns’ story actually took on a life of its own—it wasn’t supposed to be so focused on him, but more on the case which related to the original story.  Turns out, I really liked the way the two stories collided with one another. 

However, early on, after the initial release of The Blue Hole, it was pointed out to me that there was some confusion about the end result of Burns’ story in The Blue Hole—it felt incomplete.  The story is all there in the final pages of The Blue Hole—some of it more deductive and assumptive than the rest, but it’s there.  Could I have done a better job showing this?  I’m sure I could have, and I’m sorry I didn’t.  I’m not perfect, but I’m going to work on getting better with that.  To be honest though, there were some aspects of Burns’ story which were far too complicated to wrap up in detail in just one book, and include the rest of the original story in The Blue Hole.  So, naturally, guess what I’ve decided to do. 

The story will be continued in my next book!

That’s right, I’m going to ride that gimmick train!  Again, this was not the plan at the beginning of this story telling journey, but it’s what I’m faced with now.  I’m very excited about this next installment, and I have to say I am more thrilled about the idea of the connecting stories than I probably should be.  So far it’s been fun to write, and I can’t wait to share it with you both! 

So, if one of the two of you reading this are wondering when you can read this next installment, I will have some exciting news very soon!  If you don’t want to miss any news about the next book, it wouldn’t hurt to sign up for my email list on the left sidebar of your screen.  Don’t worry, I don’t send out pointless emails or spam.  It’s not monthly, weekly, or anything regular—to date I’ve sent out two emails to the group.  But if you want to be one of the first to get news on the new book, sign up!  But I might ask you to stay “quiet” about it for a little bit.  Hint?  What hint? 

Keep reading!

MHD