by dmadson | Jan 22, 2014 | Uncategorized
809 Jacob Street is an interesting read! A fascinating concept based on the manifestation of inner demons, the sort of psychological investigation I enjoy. The characters were layered and complex enough to keep my interest when the pacing flagged.
Pacing and structure were the only things that let this book down. There were numerous chapters (fairly short chapters, mind you) that felt as though they were telling the same part of the story over and over again, hammering the scenes home. Rather than the short chapters increasing the pace, the fact that nothing really changes within them slows it down, making this repetition obvious. If they had been merged into one chapter this wouldn’t have been such an issue.
Most of the early portion of the story is told from the perspective of Joey Blue, while the latter portion is mostly told by Byron. They are all but mutually exclusive, the only thing that connects them being the house itself, forcing 809 Jacob street to become its own character. While it does have its own presence, it didn’t feel quite strong enough to actually bring this book together into one cohesive story. It could easily have been two separate stories, Joey’s the very psychological portion and Byron’s containing the action – which is why it doesn’t quite work.
Yet despite this lack of internal cohesion and focus, this book is worth a read. Great writing, interesting characters and a promising concept gives the reader enough to enjoy and ponder over, and you will ponder, and perhaps wonder, as I did, what would await me inside 809 Jacob Street.
3 1/2 stars
by dmadson | Jan 15, 2014 | Uncategorized
So moving officially sucks. In fact I think it sucked before now, but it’s been nearly three years since the last move and I’ve managed to mostly forget about it, like how you can have more children after the first despite how much it hurt and how much you hate getting woken sixty times every night. NO MORE KIDS! EVER!
But I digress. This move sucks more than any of the previous little moves from suburb to suburb, or even the one that took us two hours out of Melbourne and into the sticks. I don’t think you can get much further across the world than Australia to Canada. We have about three weeks left and are doing the goodbye rounds with friends and again and again I get asked how I’m going to adjust, or if I’m excited and so on. Well you know what? I’m probably going to piss myself when I get off that plane in another country where there’s all this weird white stuff called snow and everything, EVERYTHING is different. So please stop asking how I’ll adjust.
It is currently 43 degrees outside. And I haven’t even seen snow before…
by dmadson | Dec 30, 2013 | Uncategorized
Today is the day that The Gods of Vice takes its walk out into the great wide world.
It’s usually a stressful time for authors, but I find myself feeling calm today. Or, now I come to think of it, perhaps my background levels of stress are so much higher that this barely registers. I have one month to organise everything for the big move to Toronto, and what with visa applications, dogs to be transported, our house and all its furniture to be sold … Can you hear me screaming yet?
And into the midst of this comes The Gods of Vice. It has been a huge effort to get this book out on time, so it is somewhat of a relief to see it go out at all! This book took so many late nights that I began to wonder what a good nights sleep felt like. It went back for rounds of typesetting revisions. And the cover almost didn’t come. I think it is safe to say that this book didn’t want to come out at all. I put it down to the influence of Malice on the cover, and I think anyone who has read The Blood of Whisperers will agree with me. He doesn’t want his story told.
I think perhaps they don’t like each other very much. Does anyone else get that feeling?
But for all those who want to find out why, you can now purchase the ebook from Amazon and the paperback copy from here. It should be available from all the usual places and some awesome ‘bricks and mortar’ stores soon, too. Keep an eye on the stockists page for changes on that!
If you’re read it or are planning to, please consider leaving an honest review on goodreads and amazon, too, as that would be supremely awesome.
Devin – going to go gibber in a corner
by dmadson | Dec 5, 2013 | Uncategorized
Yes, a four month absence is a long time, but I assure you I have four months worth of crazy to account for it, but most importantly….
We are moving to Canada!
This isn’t as bizarre as it sounds, since my husband is Canadian, but having lived in Australia for ten years he is almost more Australian than me now. (He even says g’day, which I would never dare do…) But after ten years here, ten years in which we got married, had two children and I spent an AWFUL lot of time writing… it is time to move on. So we are in the process of moving. That means packing the one cubic metre of stuff we are sending on a boat, and three suitcases, and selling EVERYTHING else. It is very cleansing, as well as more than a little stressful.
I see it as a new adventure and a time of change. Some of our changes include:
– Not owning a car anymore (Bikes for the win!)
– Implementing Selfish Sunday, a day in which you do whatever you want, YOU time.
– No more microwave, glad wrap or chemical cleaners (did I say I was a health nut?)
As for the writing side of things, I will have even more time to work because we will have the designated babysitter known as Grandma, and what else are you supposed to know when it’s damn cold and snowing outside? I’ve never even seen snow before, so I plan to hibernate through the winter like a bear.
Stay tuned for updates! It’s going to be a crazy journey!
by dmadson | Aug 8, 2013 | Uncategorized
Wow… it has actually been a month since I last blogged. I had a schedule I was going to keep to as well, but it got entirely thrown out the window the moment I was bogged down in copy-edits. I had a deadline I had to meet and I only just made it with a few of those fantastic go to bed late and get up early nights. I will be more regular from now on… word of an author!
Coming up I am going to be doing some editing discussions to show the differences from first to final draft through all the editing stages. It will be very interesting to discuss the changes that happen at every level of drafting, from the big changes to the subtle.
Stay tuned!
by dmadson | Jul 4, 2013 | Uncategorized
I was very excited to be featured in an interview over at the Aurealis Blog! It was an interesting experience, my first interview, and is definitely worth a read for all the information about what I have been up to!
Putting myself out in the public space for the first time has been quite a nerve racking experience, knowing that, as an author, I am likely to receive all the usual shit-storm of people being dicks to other people on the internet. And as a self-published author, no matter how professionally the book is produced, that shit-storm is likely to be ten times worse. Fortunately I haven’t had too much of that yet, just lots of people ignoring me, which is helping to thicken my skin against what is coming.
Along with the interview with Aurealis, it was very cool to be in the local paper for the very first time. I had never done anything even vaguely worthy of this honour, even as a kid (it seems like everyone’s kids end up in the paper at some stage, but I must have been a very boring child).
