On Dragons

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Up to date with the Twilight movies

I'm probably the only novelist in the Western world who hasn't read the Twilight series.

• Because vampires are not my thing.
• Because werewolves are not my thing.
• Because I'm wary of runaway bestsellers based on a dream.

However, I've recently sat through all three movies, and I was pleasantly surprised. Definitely watchable and without the cheesy dialogue I was led to expect. Vampires that shine are only marginally more my thing than vampires with gory mouths a la True Blood, but the main actress is mega cute and I'm in love with Jacob (both as a character and because of what he looks like without his shirt on).

I'm told the movies beat the Hot Tub Time Machine (I haven't see it so can't comment)....

Based on my latest murder mystery novel....

I write like

James Joyce

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

James Joyce. That's the angst-ridden chap whose books I've never been able to start, let alone finish. The one whose sentences run over pages and pages, streaming his bleak consciousness into bleak reality. Yay. So flattered. Not.

PS Depending on which of my books I plug in, I also write like Stephen King and Dan Brown. Much better.

"The bride will keep her name"

"The bride will keep her name" by Jan Goldstein (that's a male version of "Jan") is an interesting book, and I don't mean "interesting" in a euphemistically negative sense.

From a reader's perspective, it's a romantic suspense with more emphasis on the suspense bit, which is refreshing. While the romantic bits are almost too sugary in their perfection, you can almost forgive them in view of the imperfection that's to come. The twisty bits of the plot are also fun. My biggest disappointment was insufficient sleuthing. while I understand not all brides-to-be have detective skills, surely some basic questions should have occurred to her, like "How does the adversary know where I am and what I said in the ladies' room" and "Why is he doing this?" which neatly translates into "Who will benefit?"

From a writer's POV, the points of note include:

• The hardcover was published by Shaye Areheart Books who subsequently got restructured out of Crown Publishing. (The paperback has been picked up by another imprint of theirs, though.)
• How unusual is it for a man to write romances?

Entertaining, short, interesting read about South Africa in the late 90s

My thanks go to Ursula Pieper for a wonderful review of "Murder @ Work". Read more.

Incidentally, I'm looking for 2 reviewers to write up something about "Murder @ Play". Hands up?

Don't want to review? Then read on: if you buy a copy of "Murder @ Play" (on Kindle, but you don't need Kindle to read it, any PC will do) and contact me before the end of July 2010, I'll send you an e-copy of "Murder @ Work".