The Firsts

Good morning, Readers!

Got this puppy from gallery.yopriceville.com. Click for link!

So, this past two weeks was great.

I received the first of my royalty payments.  It wasn't an enormous sum of money (don't go into publishing if it's money you want, folks!), but it still made me happy.  It was more, incidentally than the royalty payment I received from Amazon last year for all of my titles combined, so, progress!

Anyway, that made me really happy.

Also, the first of the reviews for Daughters of Britain has come in, and it's lovely (I also received a really thoughtful one privately via email, which I also loved, but since it was privately sent, I'm not going to share it publicly here)!  It's copied in full below (because I don't have anything of note to say, and I need to fill the space), but you can read it here if you'd rather go direct to the source.

I start this off by saying (probably to the author's chagrin) that I had super-high hopes for this book, because it was in the process of her writing it that I started reading some of her other novels (the Seraphime Saga, which I loved). I would see her posting little snippets of dialogue or narration on Facebook day by day, and those little snippets intrigued me enough to check out earlier books and now I pretty much snap up everything as it gets finished.

I'm not big on Historical Fiction - histories, fictionalized or no, of 'Real' people tend to bore me to tears, and I will admit that whenever a lot of long old-timey names of places/people get thrown around, I start to skim, but I can still enjoy the Stories and the Characters that populate them. Everyone loves a good epic tale of loss, war, grief, vengeance, and the occasionally more graceful exits from those less happy times.

"Daughters of Britain" is a story of two people who had common goals, similar origins, and the same ultimate enemy, even if they did not fully understand how each other had gotten to their shared circumstances. SM Carriere is, I think, at her best in this type of setting - go back a few thousand years, give her a some fierce warriors (be they men or women) and a brave cause to fight for, and you will not be disappointed.

To be fair, I feel like the opening was a bit slower than I would have liked, and although the story ended up being told from a variety of different viewpoints there were a few bits here and there where information was repeated that I didn't think were wholly necessary, but the characters were great and their story was well told.

As I mentioned above, in particular there were many Excellent bits of dialogue, narration, and biting wisdom, scattered throughout. I would say SM Carriere's "One-Liner" Game was strong in this one, for sure.

Both leads were great, although Adelbern only grew on me later in the book, while Mederei is the obvious favourite. Proud, noble, and badass - I got chills a few times from particularly good sequences.

Greatly looking forward to whatever comes next - keep writing. I knew this one would be great.

It made me so happy.

For the record, I don't expect a novella from the people reviewing my stuff.  Just a couple of sentences is more than adequate.  I appreciate people taking the time to review at all.

It really does help an author out; not just to fluff or destroy their egos, either.  It helps get word out about the book, and it helps readers find a book that might be an great fit for their tastes.

Anywho, I have to go.  I have Welsh lessons to be getting on with.

Thanks for the review, Robert!

​Ciao!