Trending ... What Will You Be Reading This Year?

Since we are nearing the midyear, I thought it would be interesting to start researching reading trends. I happened on an article written at the first of the year, which offered up predictions for 2013 in two ways: what you will want to read and how you will read it.

Being an author, I find it curious how the subject matter of what people read changes from year to year, and predictions being only as accurate as the weather report. That's right. Go ahead and say it. Might as well flip a coin.

In any case, here's a summary of what Thomas Umstattd had to say at www.authormedia.com --

Ebook sales will level off somewhat in sales profits for publishers as well as a decrease from the previous year's numbers of books sold. That probably makes sense when you consider the mad rush for everyone to buy one of many new toys, aka ereaders, for Christmas and load them up with many shiny new titles that they are STILL trying to catch up on reading before buying any new ones. I know I have about fifty on my Kindle and not even close to half read. Not surprisingly, once again, somebody predicts that ebook prices will come down from those ridiculously high ones set at $10 and up. Yeah ... I'll believe that one when I see it. Of course, there are many great buys out there under five bucks, just not ones by the oh so very popular clique of authors.

The latest craze, Thomas predicts, will be audibles. I personally can't stand listening to books on audio. My mind wanders way too much. And I probably hear about thirty percent or less of what people say to me. Still, I can see how this prediction might pan out. Heck, there are online services -- some for free, like www.acx.com --that will take your self-pubbed book and turn it into audio. It's that easy.

Finally, to the heart of the matter, what will people want to read? Well, according to Thomas, there will be more heart-warming americana type settings and people in them with stories that will make you all warm and toasty inside. I like that idea. Bring 'em on! To the other extreme, young adult books will keep sinking into the darker side. How many millions has The Hunger Games made? Yep. I can see that prediction hitting home. Thomas also talks about Christian literature growing and how serial books will increase in popularity.

Does Mr. Thomas Umstattd have that special crystal ball to see exactly what happens in 2013? Well, we are already close to June and half way through the year. I see more and more series of books, more audible versions of books, B&H is publishing more and lots more of Christian titles, more agents are taking on clients who write in that genre, YA is doing its darker side thing, and so it goes. But like all predictions, Thomas' needs a bit of tweeking. Those hot and trendy authors who always rank in the top ten bestsellers list? You guys and gals still got to get those ebook prices down to reasonable!

My bottom line? Well, all I can say about predictions is that no matter what becomes popular or trendy, I will always love to cozy up with a spinetingling mystery. Take that, Thomas Umstattd!

Reading Trends for 2013  by Thomas Umstattd

Podcast of "A Date to Die For" Part 2

For those who have been following, the podcast of part 2 of my mystery short, "A Date to Die For", is finally up and running ...

Lilly Millenovanovich has come to Atlanta for a book event to sell a few of her novels, maybe do a bit of shopping, but most of all to meet one of her author idols, Sylvestor Stone. What she didn't count on is a date with the famous author. And Lilly thought it might have been something to look forward to except for a couple of details. One, Stone tended to talk about himself ... a lot. And of course, there is that messy detail of finding her date dead in the bathtub.

Hope you stop by New Fiction Writers and listen to what Lilly plans to do about solving the murder, without getting herself killed, that is!

A Date to Die For Part 2

Again, thanks to Tony and Renee for doing such a great job and making this possible!

Well, it's finally finished! A collaboration among several wonderful people .... Tony Whitford and Renee Chamblis working together with me to present my story, "A Date to Die For", as a podcast featured on Tony's creative website, New Fiction Writers ... and it's ready for all to listen to Part I of a three-part series. I hope everyone will take the time to check out the site and maybe listen to Renee reading my story. By the way, the characters and storyline are offspring of my original, Whips, Cuffs, and Little Brown Boxes. I couldn't bring myself to leave the characters alone and just had to create more! Anyway, here is the link. Hope you enjoy!


A DATE TO DIE FOR PODCAST

Name That Novel #25

And here are lines from a beloved favorite of all those yound and old. See if you can name the author and title.

"Money is a needful and precious thing, and when well used, a noble thing, but I never want you to think it is the first or only prize to strive for. I'd rather see you poor men's wives, if you were happy, beloved, contented, than queens on thrones, without self-respect and peace."

Congrats to April! It's Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Name That Poet #11

See whether you can recall the author of these lines -- the name, please of this nineteenth century British poet.

The grey sea and the long black land;
And the yellow half-moon large and low;
And the startled little waves that leap
In fiery ringlets from their sleep,
As I gain the cove with pushing prow,
And quench its speed i' the slushy sand.

Then a mile of warm sea-scented beach;
Three fields to cross till a farm appears;
A tap at the pane, the quick sharp scratch
And blue spurt of a lighted match,
And a voice less loud, through its joys and fears,
Than the two hearts beating each to each!

No moss shall grow under her feet :-) Congrats to Tina who answered correctly with Robert Browning

Name That Novel #24

Here are some words from a character's inner thoughts taken from what classic novel? Title and author, if you please :-)


"Looking at these stars suddenly dwarfed my own troubles and all the gravities of terrestrial life. I thought of their unfathomable distance, and the slow inevitable drift of their movements out of the unknown past into the unknown future."

Luck to all!

And letting this one out as well (no pun intended....honestly!): It is H. G. Well's The Time Machine.

Name That Novel #23

Let's see what you can do with this American author's work.



"Look at the ugliness. Yet one has a feeling within one that blinds a man while he loves you. You, with that feeling, blind him, and blind yourself. Then, one day, for no reason, he sees you as ugly as you really are and he is not blind anymore and then you see yourself as ugly as he sees you and you lose your man and your feeling... After a while, when you are as ugly as I am, as ugly as women can be, then, as I say after a while the feeling, the idiotic feeling that you are beautiful, grows slowly in one again. It grows like a cabbage. And then, when the feeling is grown, another man sees you and thinks you are beautiful and it is all to do over."



Title and author name, please!

Good luck :-) Congrats to Joel with the correct answer: For Whom the Bell Tolls by Hemingway

Name That Novel #21

A portrait of American history: name this treasured story and its author.

"It ain't that big. The whole United States ain't that big. It ain't that big. It ain't big enough. There ain't room enough for you an' me, for your kind an' my kind, for rich and poor together all in one country, for thieves and honest men. For hunger and fat."

Congrats to April! The quote is from Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck.

Name That Poet #8

This one is once again by a classic American Poet. Let's see who can remember this sonnet and its author:

The sun is set; and in his latest beams
Yon little cloud of ashen gray and gold,
Slowly upon the amber air unrolled,
The falling mantle of the Prophet seems.
From the dim headlands many a lighthouse gleams,
The street-lamps of the ocean; and behold,
O'erhead the banners of the night unfold;
The day hath passed into the land of dreams.
O summer day beside the joyous sea!
O summer day so wonderful and white,
So full of gladness and so full of pain!
Forever and forever shalt thou be
To some the gravestone of a dead delight,
To some the landmark of a new domain.

Congrats to Daniel! He answered correctly with Longfellow. And the poem title is "A Summer Day by the Sea". Thank you, Daniel.

Name That Novel #18

Let's try this one.... slightly more contemporary, but still a classic and well-read.

"Winston had disliked her from the very first moment of seeing her. He knew the reason. It was because of the atmosphere of hockey-fields and cold baths and community hikes and general clean-mindedness which she managed to carry about her. He disliked nearly all woman, and especially the young and pretty ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies and nosers-out of unorthodoxy."

Good luck!

Congrats to Tina! 1984 by George Orwell.

Name That Poet #6

We had a very unusual burst of winter the other day, perhaps some remnants of snow and ice left over to give one final show. It left the roads and sidewalks glazed and the tree branches coated with its frostiness. It made me think of this. So, let's try and guess the poet from the lines of this very appropriate poem.

When I see birches bend to left and right
Across the lines of straighter darker trees,
I like to think some boy's been swinging them.
But swinging doesn't bend them down to stay.
Icestorms do that. Often you must have seen them
Loaded with ice a sunny winter morning
After a rain. They click upon themselves
As the breeze rises, and turn many-colored
As the stir cracks and crazes their enamel.
Soon the sun's warmth makes them shed crystal shells
Shattering and avalanching on the snow-crust--
Such heaps of broken glass to sweep away
You'd think the inner dome of heaven had fallen.

Name That Novel ... #16

Haven't done this in a long while, but since I just finished reading a great novel, I thought I'd share. See if you can guess this very contemporary, fairly new (2003) creation of suspense, and it's author who is well-known for a couple other well-written works.

"Since that trip as a boy, Teddy had never enjoyed being out on the water, took no pleasure from such a lack of land, of visions of land, things you could reach out and touch without your hands dissolving into them. You told yourself it was okay--because that's what you had to do to cross a body of water--but it wasn't. Even in the war, it wasn't the storming of the beaches he feared so much as those last few yards from the boats to the shore, legs slogging through the depths, strange creatures slithering over your boots."

And another passage, just in case you might need a bit more prompting:

"...He felt a sudden pity for all those people on the other side of the wall who recognized that thin wire for what it was, realized just how badly the world wanted to keep them in..."

Okay, good luck to all!

No takers, I guess...so.... Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane.

Name That Novel #15

Let's go across the Atlantic and back in time, about 100 years ago. This well-known author led an active social life, mixing with the aristocracy. The following excerpt was from the first volume of six. He was known for his style of creating extremely long sentences. This work was one of his efforts proving to be both creative and enlightening. See if you recognize him.

"... But when from a long-distant past nothing subsists, after the people are dead, after the things are broken and scattered, taste and smell alone, more fragile but more enduring, more immaterial, more persistent, more faithful, remain poised a long time, like souls, remembering, waiting, hoping, amid the ruins of all the rest; and bear unflinchingly, in the tiny and almost impalpable drop of their essence, the vast structure of recollection.

And as soon as I had recognised the taste of the piece of madeleine soaked in her decoction of lime-blossom which my aunt used to give me (although I did not yet know and must long postpone the discovery of why this memory made me so happy) immediately the old grey house upon the street, where her room was, rose up like a stage set to attach itself to the little pavilion ... the streets along which I used to run errands, the country roads we took when it was fine ... the whole of Combray and its surroundings, taking shape and solidity, sprang into being, town and gardens alike, from my cup of tea."

(translation from French to English -- Moncrieff and Kilmartin, revised by Enright)

Good luck to all!

Hats off to Tina! She guessed correctly with Proust and his work, Remembrance of Things Past.

Name That Poet #5

It's back! Try guessing the poet of this one. I'm giving you the last two stanzas of the five stanza poem.

Thy brother Death came, and cried
Wouldst thou me?
Thy sweet child sleep, the filmy-eyed,
Murmured like a noontide bee,
Shall I nestle by thy side?
Wouldst thou me?--And I replied,
No, not thee!

Death will come when thou art dead,
Soon, too soon--
Sleep will come when thou are fled;
Of neither would I ask the boon
I ask of thee, beloved Night--
Swift be thine approaching flight,
Come soon, soon!

Good luck, all :-)

I guess I will have to give this one up. It is by Shelley and the title is "To Night"
Thank you, ladies for contributing!

Check It Out ... Weekly Websites

If you are all about reading and perhaps belong to a discussion group, here is a site that gives you reading guides for thousands of novels. It even gives authors an opportunity (at a fee of course) to have your own book's reading guide published on this site. Other goodies include contest book giveaways. In any case, check out:


READING GUIDES

Here is one that many new or immerging authors may be interested in. This site gives writers the opportunity to have their work displayed on the site, giving it exposure to both readers and literary agents.

WORDSHACK

Name That Novel #14

Here's an internationally well-known classic. See if you can guess the TITLE and AUTHOR:


So saying, he gave the spur to his steed Rocinante, heedless of the cries his squire Sancho sent after him, warning him that most certainly they were windmills and not giants he was going to attack. He, however, was so positive they were giants that he neither heard the cries of Sancho, nor perceived, near as he was, what they were, but made at them shouting, "Fly not, cowards and vile beings, for a single knight attacks you."

Good luck to all!

Congratulations to Sarah: Don Quixote by Cervantes is the answer.

Name That Poet....#4

It's been awhile, and I apologize. Here is another poem from a classic poet. See if you know the name of both the title and the creator.

"Hope" is the thing with feathers--
That perches in the soul--
And sings the tune without the words--
And never stops--at all--

And sweetest--in the Gale--is heard--
And sore must be the storm--
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm--

I've heard it in the chillest land--
And on the strangest Sea--
Yet, never, in Extremity,
It asked a crumb--of Me.

Okay, good luck to all. :-)

Name That Poet #3

Here is a short contemporary poem. See if you recognize it. Then give us the poet and title if you can. And please check out the link below. Cara Power does a wonderful blog segment on poetry. This week's feature? Why "The Raven" narrated by Vincent Price, of course!

The fog comes
on little cat feet.

It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.

Congrats to Tina for guessing Carl Sandburg. And the title is "Fog"

Name That Poet --- #1

I thought I'd mix it up a bit. So, here is a poem for you to ponder. If you can, name the poet, and as a plus.... the title of the poem.

my sweet old etcetera
aunt lucy during the recent

war could and what
is more did tell you just
what everybody was fighting

for,
my sister

isabel created hundreds
(and
hundreds) of socks not to
mention shirts fleaproof earwarmers

etcetera wristers etcetera, my
mother hoped that

i would die etcetera
bravely of course my father used
to become hoarse talking about how it was
a privilege and if only he
could meanwhile my

self etcetera lay quietly
in the deep mud et

cetera
(dreaming,
et
cetera, of
Your smile
eyes knees and of your Etcetera)

good luck to all of you!

And the winners are ...... Cara and JW with the answer: e. e. Cummings and "My Sweet Old Etcetera"
Congrats to you both. And if you want, take a winner button with you to place on your site.

Name That Novel #11

Let's say adventure. This novel is very, very, very popular. The kind you want to read more than once....and probably have. So, here goes... Title and author, please.

"He walked briskly back to his hole, and stood for a moment listening with a smile to the din in the pavilion and to the sound of merrymaking in other parts of the field. Then he went in. He took off his party clothes, folded up and wrapped in tissue-paper his embroidered silk waistcoat, and put it away. Then he put on quickly some old untidy garments, and fastened round his waist a worn leather belt. On it he hung a short sword in a battered black-leather scabbard. From a locked drawer, smelling of moth-balls, he took out an old cloak and hood. They had been locked up as if they were very precious, but they were so patched and weatherstained that their original colour could hardly be guessed: it might have been dark green. They were rather too large for him. He then went into his study, and from a large strong-box took out a bundle wrapped in old clothes, and a leather-bound manuscript; and also a large bulky envelope...."

Good luck to all!

Congrats to so many of you! Fellowship of the Ring by Tolkien. Give yourselves a Novel Winner Button :-) -- See posting on 9/19 for directions....