Member: DavidHWebb

I forgot to mention that Emma is probably my least favorite out of her books (though many Austen fans would hate me for it). Not to say I didn't enjoy it, but I found her heroines in other books to be much more likable and her other storylines more interesting than Emma's clueless matchmaking.

posted by foolofatook at 3:47 pm (EST) on Aug 18, 2009

Hi,
I was actually just thinking about that the other day! I am pretty sure I remember Gandalf exclaiming "Fool of a Took!" in the book version. It has been a while since I read the book though. Hmm, maybe I should peek into my copy and check.
Jane Austen isn't for everyone, guys or girls. I applaud you for giving her a chance, though! I personally just really enjoy her stories and her humor, and her writing is, as you said, wonderful.
Thank you for the welcome, and I promise to stay away from the PGGB's!
Maddy

posted by foolofatook at 3:42 pm (EST) on Aug 18, 2009

Hi,

Just thought I'd let you know I finally have all 4 Crowthistle Chronicles on my shelf, so they're next up on my TBR list :) It'll be a couple of weeks yet coz I'm only halfway through book 1 of a trilogy now (The Book of Words by J.V. Jones), but I'll let you know what I think once I've got onto them :)

Take Care :)

posted by Seanie at 1:53 am (EST) on May 29, 2009

Hello David, I finished reading your book a while ago but haven't got around to writing a review. The small matter of moving house and totally rebuilding the one we are in now has taken more than a little of my attention.
To get the bad stuff out of the way first.. I am sure you are aware of the large amount of mistakes in the book. I felt upset that you were let down so badly by your proof reader.I was tempted to take a red pen to the book myself but the Rockhampton City Library might have objected.
I got a bit confused and lost right at the ( in my opinion) pivotal point of the plot when Son meets Father and speaks the WORD. The fall of the Empress and the appearance of the old Emperor seemed to happen too fast for me to catch on.All of a sudden the person who I thought was a powerful enemy was gone in the blink of a sentence. It took me quite a bit more reading to figure it out..
The good stuff... I love the story so far and will be eager to read the rest of the series. I was impressed by the whole Driadora side of the story. What an interesting race of people!
The fight scenes were a great read. Very fast but I was able to follow the whole thing.
I loved the ( hidden)Aussie references throughout the book. Are the orkya nut trees modeled on the Bunya pine? They have huge nuts which the native aborigines used to harvest and roast. I have eaten them myself..very floury but good if you boil them with lots of salt..like a big boiled peanut.
The dough cooked twirled around sticks also made me smile. We even discussed that on a Green Dragon thread!
Good luck with the rest of the series David. I will be folowing>
Regards, Chris

posted by cayman at 7:53 am (EST) on Apr 4, 2009

Hey, I just finished your book last night and posted my review today. I tried to be constructive, you can tell because of the length compared to many of my other reviews. If there is anything you have a problem with or want some clarification feel free to contact me.

Thanks for the story.
Keep up the good work.

posted by readafew at 4:52 pm (EST) on Mar 30, 2009

Hi!

I prob wont read The Crowthistle Chronicles for a while yet coz I'll wait til I have book 4 on my shelf & I'll have to find it in Trade Format to match the other 3 - its hard to fint Trade Paperbacks online! I am keen tho, especially coz book 2 came with an interactive cd which looks like it'll be interesting...

I'll let you know when I do get arround to it tho :)

Take Care
Seanie

posted by Seanie at 6:17 pm (EST) on Mar 23, 2009

Thank you:)

posted by TransformersFanGirl at 2:20 pm (EST) on Mar 17, 2009

Thank you, but I can't take credit for that, my friend Bri made that comment, not me. Yes I read the firs book(Yuck) and found it was even worse than what I expected. I wonder what would happen, if they think that book is "good literature", what they would think if they read Mary Higgins Clark or some of the other great romantics.

posted by TransformersFanGirl at 2:44 pm (EST) on Mar 11, 2009

Hahahaha, more sophisticated? Did you notice I was reading The Series of Unfortunate Events?

;)

posted by readafew at 8:12 pm (EST) on Mar 2, 2009

Is the trepidation because, I have some reputation for skewering or just general from having someone you 'know' read your work?

As far as IT, I support a couple programs for the natural gas industry. We could certainly use some more sales to help us out!

In general I treat spelling errors as publisher/editor problems, not author problems. That's what you have them for. What little I've heard you talk about the book actually intrigues me and I expect to like it, though I usually don't buy a book expecting to hate it. I put a review of every book I read up here so you will get full feedback from me. When I know the author is likely to read it I try to make it a useful review and do my best in MY writing.

If I do like the book (and we'll know soon enough! ;) ) I will be more than willing to test/proof read some more of your work.

posted by readafew at 7:30 pm (EST) on Mar 2, 2009

Just letting you know that your book is next up on my reading list. Can't wait!

posted by readafew at 4:22 pm (EST) on Mar 2, 2009

LOL

Much as I see it ;-)

Happy Yule!

posted by Busifer at 2:51 am (EST) on Dec 23, 2008

David

Thanks for your note. I read chapter one on your web page and am enticed to read more. I may shout myself a Christmas present! My own interest in the emerging church movement has evolved from a number of fronts - my own engagement with local church and community, training in spiritual direction and involvement in ministry training policy and direction. I have also read a fair bit of reflection on the Celtic influence on contemporary missiology and my later formation reflects some of that perspective - probably arriving at the same place you find yourself - a foot in each camp - emerging and established. I guess my emphasis is not so much on deconstruction but reconstruction. I reckon you can make alterations without razing the whole thing to the ground and starting over. Have a great Christmas!

posted by djryle at 10:35 pm (EST) on Dec 18, 2008

I see you got your button Congrats!

posted by readafew at 12:07 pm (EST) on Dec 16, 2008

Well thanks for the introduction to an Aussie Christmas! Sounds good :)

We'll be in Amarillo, Texas for the holidays and my French husband will be praying, again, for a blizzard as he wants very badly to see one. I am content without... but would love to see him get what he wants most for Christmas -- as long as it clears in time for us to get to Missouri (8 hr drive) for New Years with friends from college.

Congrats on the book -- the amount of work that goes into one is overwhelming to me. I hope they get you your tag soonest -- must feel good to have a book out. Hope you're pleased with the development of your new one. I'll look for your book when I'm home in the States.

Blessings of the season to you and yours,
Susan

posted by suslyn at 9:14 am (EST) on Dec 10, 2008

Hi,

I'm just curious... since you're an author and you're on LT, why aren't you showing as an LT author?

Trying to imagine Christmas in the southern hemisphere -- have you always lived there? Regardless I hope you have a nice December,

Susan

posted by suslyn at 8:36 pm (EST) on Dec 9, 2008

Mmm... 2am at wound up being. That sounds late, but I've always been a creature of little sleep, so I still wake up around 7. ^-^

Aaah. ^-^ Been thinking about that a bit too and I think it's largely a matter of empathy. As said, I think you'll always get some anthropomorphism, but I'm not sure it's really all that different from trying to write a character who's view of the world is very different from yours. It's just that you might have to keep in mind more physical characteristics along with their emotional/social view on the world, especially when you get to characters that aren't even remotely humanoid. At that point, it's crucial that you never forget these creatures are physiologically too different.

Twilight's covers... aren't the worst I've seen, but they're not the most appealing covers to me either. I can see why they work for some people and a little of why they don't for others, but... It's only been with online shopping this year and reading reviews that include the covers that I've started to notice them outside of "Well, I have this edition and I like the book enough to get the rest of the series, so ideally I want my covers to match". I like the design of the cover for your book, by the by. It's a really, really nice composition.

*grins* My friends are better writers than me. I make no illusions there, but you're right. It's all part of it and as long as it remains healthy, it's fine. It's taken me eight years to get to a point where I could begin believing people who say I'm a good writer, so I know that feeling you're experiencing extremely well! ^-^ It takes time, but you'll get there and it sounds like you've received some wonderful comments from people already! *hopes there'll be many more of such for David and that he'll be able to truly believe in his books and skills far sooner than she's managed to believe in her own*

posted by Shanra at 6:48 am (EST) on Dec 8, 2008

Hi! I thought it might be best to take this bit of my reply out of the discussion thread you made, so there's no chance of accidentally derailing it. (I'm quite enjoying it too, so thank you for that. ^-^ Discussions... are not my strong point, so it's nice to be in one that feels so comfortable and friendly. ^-^)

Anyway, what also struck me was when I read the following line:
I don't know how to decscibe the process - it is really fun. It is sort of like reading the book even though I am actually writing the words. I can sort of nudge the characters in the direction I think they should go - but sometimes they just won't.
(Well, there was a bit more, but that's hopefully enough to show what I wanted to talk about. ^-^)

I'm not a published author (Finishing a book and living in an English-speaking country might help there), but I do write a lot of fantasy and have many (amateur) friends who do the same. Each and every single one describes writing characters as you do, and all of them are people who's writing I highly admire and rate amongst the better writers out there. (I'd like to think I'm not letting friendships influence that enough to skew my opinion of their technical skill, at least.)

And... I think if you've got characters that are strong and developed enough to do that, you'll be all right with the women you're writing. ^-^ As I said in the thread itself, characters are their personalities more than their gender/sex.
That doesn't mean getting a few opinion from women you trust and admire won't be a good thing, but... Just a vote of confidence based on my own experiences there. ^-^

As a bit of food for thought, also, with so much questions and fears about writing people from the opposite sex, how on earth do we manage to portray creatures that aren't even human convincingly? They don't think like us or act like us. (Sure there's a degree of anthropomorphism that can't be escaped, but you've still got to keep people believing that they're not reading about humans.)

Anyway, hope that burbling helps in some way. ^-^

posted by Shanra at 6:39 am (EST) on Dec 7, 2008