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!
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