Before I get to promoting the Kindle book giveaway you see to the left (happening today because the war that inspired it began on today’s date in 2003), I’d like to respond to something I read in a recent review of that book.
Writers are rightly warned about responding to reviews. Whether someone liked or disliked what they read is something we should care about, but it’s nothing we should argue with, really. Beyond reading it, the review is none of our business.
This response to a review isn’t to the review itself, but to an observation included with the review that points to a preconceived idea of a certain kind of war fiction, which I was introduced to – and that has persisted ever since – with the 2007 release of Pretty Much True… in its early form, Homefront.
That preconceived idea/opinion is this: if the novel is about war from the home front perspective and written by a woman (as Pretty Much True… is), it will, or should, probably have something to do with stoicism and picking up and carrying on and finding strength and/or faith, and so forth.
The review I’m responding to (and it wasn’t a bad one), recently posted on Amazon, concludes with this:
I just found this in a file while doing a search for something somewhat related. After spending so much time with Pretty Much True…, there are actually times, now, I can’t remember whether something in the book happened only in the book, or whether it’s a real memory.
A lot of Pretty Much True… rings true because I used my experience to guide the fiction, but now and then I’ll be reminded of just how many little pieces of reality also became Mia’s reality. The following true (real true, not pretty much true) account was saved as a file called “guest post,” but I don’t remember who it was for or whether it was ever sent: Continue reading
I just wrote something very close to the following (it’s been very lightly edited for blog-worthiness) in a personal email and thought it was worth sharing here.
A while back, I wrote about a dilemma involving a scary
Pretty Much True… is now available. It can be ordered from your local bookstore, or you can find it online at most online bookstores, including Amazon (where it’s also available on Kindle).
I couldn’t be more excited, and more honored, to be published by Missouri Breaks Press. Pretty Much True… has had a few years of Continue reading
Yes, Dad, I know it’s blurry. Who doesn’t look good in blur?
I’m so excited about the Sept. 4 release of Pretty Much True…that I can’t wait – I have to give away a couple of copies, and exactly a month before the release seems like the perfect time.
I have the nagging suspicion I should probably be concerned about publishing & book-selling anti-trust suits, monoliths, and monopolies.
But I’m already worried about enough things of my own, such as
KT 