Good Books You Never Heard Of

Sometime late last year I started reading three series by authors who advertised themselves as being New York Times, USA Today, and/or Amazon bestsellers.

I was so disappointed with the first book of the one series, I stopped reading a third of the way into the novel. It was just flat-out boring. The main character was an uninteresting unidimensional cardboard stereotypical kickass heroine. With Daddy Issues to boot. Even the promise of her becoming a vampire (and I love vampires) could not rescue my waning interest.

The second series I attempted was a sci-fi action series. I did manage to finish the initial novel. But it was a struggle. The main character was an angry cripple. Unfortunately he was also as flat and uninteresting as a pancake forgotten in the fridge. The villain was as unidimensional as Dr Smith in the original Lost in Space. And just as pathetic. The attempt to introduce a romance subplot was awkward and frigid. I didn’t go on to book two.

I got hooked on the third series from the blurb, but the first quarter of the initial book was just plain bad. The author clearly needed a ghost writer. The writing was wooden. The action unbelievable. The plotting, obviously cribbed from some “expert’s” plot point chart, was mechanical. If the book had been a paper novel, I’d have dumped it at the used bookstore and gotten some of my money back. Being an ebook, I’m just out the cash. One argument against ebooks.

I decided then and there I was not going to line the pockets of anymore “bestselling” authors. My money is too dear. I live on a retirement income after all.

As I’ve discussed before, a bestselling novel isn’t necessarily an actual bestseller. There are just too many ways to scam the system, or the system itself is rigged. A bestseller may in fact be a bestseller. Then again, the author or publisher or the raters could have manipulated things so the book simply looks like a bestseller.

I’m an avid reader. And it’s very true that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, or the reader in this case. What I like, you may not; and vice versa.

I don’t like Romance novels. Others eat them for breakfast. I don’t particularly like YA. Others read nothing but.

I’m not a fan of magic. Others love magic, even if the system is flawed. They don’t care.

In my opinion, the kickass heroine has been done to death. But there are those who love every kickass heroine who comes along.

That’s the beauty of art in any form — there’s an audience, whether large or small, for every artist.

Over the next few weeks, I want to shine a spotlight on some books, characters, and authors that are virtually unknown to the larger reading universe. Books, characters, and authors that I think deserve a much larger audience because they are very much worth reading.

Since attempting to read those three “bestselling authors”, I’ve launched a crusade to discover the hidden gems that are out there. Books and writers I thoroughly enjoy. Books and writers that deserve a much, much larger audience.

If you know of any that fit the bill, good books that aren’t selling, do let me know. 

Next week, if all goes well, we’ll begin. 

As many of you know, I’m in the middle of a major relocation. Moving from Minneapolis, Minnesota, where I’ve lived for the majority of my nearly 66 years, to Houston, Texas. 

Moving is chaos. Moving companies don’t operate on firm schedules. They have windows. So while they’ll pick up our stuff on Friday, the 24th, they may deliver it as late as the 7th of September.

Consequently, I won’t have ready internet service. So we’ll see what happens, knowing that at some point things will get back to a new normal.

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!

More on Writing’s Purpose

Two weeks ago we took a look at Stephen King’s statement regarding why writers write. We concluded that while it sounded noble, it wasn’t overly accurate.

Most writers write to make money. If they happen to enrich people’s lives along the way, that’s a nice bonus.

This week I’d like to look at Edgar Rice Burroughs’s far more realistic assessment.

In August of 1931, Forrest J Ackerman, then 14, got into an argument with his teacher over the literary merits of Tarzan. Ackerman then wrote a letter to Burroughs telling him about it.

Burroughs sent a letter back to Ackerman. Here is the reply:

Thanks for your letter. Tell your teacher that, though she may be right about my stories, there are some fifty million people in the world who will not agree with her, which is fortunate for me, since even writers of garbage-can literature must eat.

My stories will do you no harm. If they have helped to inculcate in you a love of books, they have done you much good. No fiction is worth reading except for entertainment. If it entertains and is clean, it is good literature, or its kind. If it forms the habit of reading, in people who might not read otherwise, it is the best literature.

Last year I followed the English course prescribed for my two sons, who are in college. The required reading seemed to have been selected for the sole purpose of turning the hearts of young people against books. That, however, seems to be a universal pedagogical complex: to make the acquiring of knowledge a punishment, rather than a pleasure.

I want to emphasize two points out of this excellent statement.

Love of Books

“If [my stories] have helped to inculcate in you a love of books, they have done much good.”

To my mind, reading fiction should be a pleasure. It should instill in the reader a love of books.

Like many of you, I acquired that love very early. I doubt I was even in kindergarten. Books such as Seuss’s Scrambled Eggs Super and Syd Hoff’s Danny and the Dinosaur I still fondly remember. And I’ve loved reading and books ever since.

That love I helped to instill in my daughter. And I now encourage reading whenever I can. For a love of books is far more beneficial than a love of TV, or movies, or video games. Reading has so many additional benefits than video entertainment. It is a skill that is critical to the survival of civilization.

As Burroughs himself points out in his letter: teaching seems to universally have as its goal to make acquiring knowledge a punishment, rather than a pleasure.

This especially affects boys. Is it any wonder girls now go to college in greater numbers than do boys? When reading is a “girl thing”, it only follows that studying is also for “girls” — and what young boy in his right mind wants to like a girl? None when I was growing up, and I don’t think boys have changed all that much in the years since.

Therefore we should encourage authors to write books with good male role models. Because boys don’t identify with female leads. Reading about hot babes and kickass heroines comes in after puberty — if they read at all by that time.

Entertainment

“No fiction is worth reading except for entertainment.”

In my opinion, this is where it is at. Say what one will, the ultimate purpose of a story is to entertain. It may do other things as well — but if it doesn’t entertain, it does nothing beneficial. And it may even go so far as to destroy the impetus to read.

Burroughs noted that if a story entertains and is clean, it is good literature. And the best literature is that which forms the habit of reading in people who might not otherwise read. That is the best form of enrichment. The enrichment of lives. The lives of those who weren’t previously readers.

Comic books are entertainment and are often put down by parents. However, my first exposure to Jules Verne was a comic book version of From Earth to the Moon. It didn’t hurt me. I’m still an avid reader. And I even read “good literature”.

Writing’s Purpose

The purpose of writing fiction is the same as the ancient art of telling a story around the fire: to entertain. The story may also teach a lesson, or moral, or a bit of philosophy. But if the story doesn’t entertain, then it has failed in its main purpose and also in any secondary purpose. And may even turn off the reader. A lifetime of potential pleasure gone in a moment.

I also want to mention Burroughs’s comment “…even writers of garbage-can literature must eat.” Burroughs wrote to entertain and make money. And he made a lot of money.

What I especially like is that Burroughs was honest. He wasn’t afraid to say he wrote for money.

I wonder: if Mr King says one shouldn’t write for money, then why hasn’t he given away all of his earnings from writing? Seems to me the proof is in the pudding.

Comments are always welcome. And until next time, happy reading!

Seventeen Days…

…and counting! In 17 days the moving van will be here and a new adventure begins. For those of you who do not know, my wife and I are relocating to Houston, Texas.

She’s retiring on the 17th. She’s put in her time working for the man and is now looking forward to spending her days painting. And if we plan it right, she’ll make some money doing so. That, however, requires a business plan and she hasn’t gotten that far. Yet.

For me, though, all of the packing and sorting is basically a pain in the… I can’t focus! Too much of my brain’s RAM is filled up with wrapping paper, bubblewrap, and boxes.

My books are boxed. My paper (most of it, anyway) is boxed. Most of my pens are packed away. File drawers are empty and the contents packed in boxes.

In the chaos of moving, my writing world is upside down. And that is giving my creative brain conniption fits.

I want to write! And it seems all I’m getting done is an ever growing To-Do List.

Yes, I know: this, too, shall pass. But in the meantime, my brain is stamping its little foot and it’s not being very nice about the forced vacay.

It keeps trying to sidetracked me with plot ideas, story snippets, intriguing first lines — and boy are they tempting. After all, I could just pay the movers to pack everything. Right?

Every time I start thinking along those lines, my wallet throws a fit. And it has a much bigger voice.

What I’ve done to solve this little dilemma, is to type up a short story I wrote some time back. Typing and editing isn’t writing. And it isn’t very creative, but at least my brain now has something to do.

What I have managed to sneak in is time to read. I have discovered a new (to me) author. Richard Schwindt, out of Kingston, Ontario, Canada. He is delightfully humorous, writes about the adventures of very interesting characters, and does so with a very deft pen.

He also writes self-help non-fiction. He’s a semi-retired social worker and therapist.

Take a look at his Amazon page for some truly fab reads. I provided the link to his Amazon.ca author page, as his Amazon.com page doesn’t contain all of his oeuvre.

I’ve recently read (links are to amazon.com):

Herkimer’s Nose

Scarborough: Confidential

Sioux Lookout: Confidential

Kingston: Confidential

All four books are paranormal mysteries with intriguing occult detectives. They are only $.99 for the summer. Do pick them up. Schwindt is a delightful writer.

Now back to packing.

Comments are always welcome. And until next time, happy reading!