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Author Archives: Rebecca
Other Pricing Considerations
I'm not going to be able to tell you specifically at what price to sell your book, but I can share some thoughts on the subject with you.
Pricing to low can work against you
The average consumer equates a low price with low quality, so in less they are forced, because of economic reasons, to purchase the cheapest item, then most of the time they won't purchase it if it's priced to low. They will actually move on to an item that costs more. I know that some self-published authors have sold tons of books at $0.99, but I bet you dollars to donuts that the low price was not that big of a factor. The major factor would have been that it was good book. My guess is they would have sold just as many books if they had charged a higher price. So in my estimation they lost a lot of money.
That is not to say, they will never buy it if it's priced too low. You also need to take into account the committment factor: meaning that if it sounds half decent and I don't have to invest a lot, then I may just say, "What the heck," and purchase it. I have purchased books off the bargain books table, but I usually regret it later.
However, if you have put no effort into having your book edited and delivering a quality product to your customer, then by all means price it low because that's all it is worth.
Low prices and sales are not the same
There's a big difference between an item being priced low and an item that is on sale. In the first case, it's cheap, but in the second case, it's a deal. And who doesn't love a great deal? But, please, oh please, don't mark your book up, so that you can mark it back down and make it seem like a sale. You always want to be honest with your customers. You're trying to build a customer base for life, and attempting to con them is not the way to do it. Use the sales option to promote your book or reward loyal customers, not to rook people.
Book purchases are not like other purchases
With other purchases, such as a DVD player, I'm comparing quality, features, and prices. Book purchases are not like that. In book purchases I'm going through a bunch of books until I get to one I like, then I stop. There's no comparison shopping. The only reason pricing has come into it is because traditional publishing houses have way over priced their books, and I'm verifying that I'm not being overcharged. I'm not looking for the cheapest deal. I'm looking for a good book.
Bibliophiles love books
We not only love reading them, we also love possessing them. Storage used to be a big issue in keeping my books, but that's no longer a problem with e-books. I have over 900 books on my Kindle and I am more than happy to get more. Keep in mind that if you're book is priced right bibliophiles are going to be more than happy to purchase that book (a point that I think mainstream publishers have missed).
Price Ceiling
There's a downside to being an outsider. Since you're not privy to the rationale that business decisions are based upon, then you don't truly understand why they do what they do. Traditonal publishers charging way too much for ebooks and Amazon trying to push prices as low as possible confuses the heck out of me. Quite frankly, I think they are both way off point.
As far as I'm concerned the traditional publishers are shooting themselves in the foot with their prices. Here is what they, and now, the self-published author need to understand: I do not have to buy your book. I may want to buy your book, but I do not have to buy your book. And if you have over-priced it, then I will not buy your book. I recently decided to load up my Kindle with my all-time favorite books. I looked up Hemingway's Old Man and the Sea and the publisher wanted $12.99. Which is horribly overpriced for a book that has been on the market for this long, so I didn't buy it. And I'm not going to buy it until the price comes down even though I would love to have it on my Kindle.
That was an instance of looking for a specific book, but you'll notice that price still played a big factor in my purchasing decision. But in most cases I'm not looking for a specific book, I'm just looking for something to read. Here is what the seller needs to keep in mind: in the second case I have not chosen your book because I must have your book. I have chosen your book because I'm narrowing down the field of books available for sale. I do this, as I've written in previous posts, by looking at titles and covers, reading descriptions and reviews. Now, I'm checking out prices, so price is another factor that you need to understand when you go to sell your book.
Back in the day you pretty much knew how much a book was going to cost. If it was a paperback, then it was this much. If it was a hardback, then it was that much. These days prices are all over the board. This is where I think Amazon and the traditional publishing houses missed the boat. They didn't take into consideration the fact that the consumer already had fixed in their mind how much a book should cost and they were more than willing to pay that price. In my mind, and I have heard others say this, the price of an e-book should cost no more than a paperback. Mainstream publishers are going way beyond that price and are losing sales because of it. Amazon is going way below that price, and while sales are up, revenues are down, so they're losing money because of it.
What the self-published author needs to know is how much I'm willing to pay for that book and not to go over that price. Otherwise, you've just lost a potential customer.
Now, I've talked about what your price ceiling should be, and in the next post, or posts, I'll talk about other pricing considerations.
Are Fake Reviews Really a Good Idea?
Before I go on I want to say that I do not think that all authors pad their reviews. But that there are some that do is self-evident. What I really think of indie authors is that they are very brave people. You've invested a large amount of yourself in writing a book. In addition to that, you've put it out there for all the world to see and to COMMENT on. That's just gutsy.
I will also admit that there have been times, especially with professional movie reviewers, that what they seem to think is great I thought is awful, and vice versa. But when you run across a new author and you see one or two 5-star customer reviews and forty 1- or 2- star reviews you get to thinking something is up. Especially, if the 5-star review was the first one posted. And it may be tempting to try to increase interest in your book by padding the customer review section with a 5-star review, but is it really a good idea?
I've just written a book (hypothetically) and so far no reviews. To help sales I decided to a) write a 5-star review, or b) have my mother write a 5-star review. Good or bad idea?
Well, if it's honestly a 4- or 5-star book, then no harm done. It it's not, then you've shot yourself in the foot. Because what you have done is mislead the reader into buying your book thinking that they were going to sit down and have this great reading experience. What do they get instead: just the opposite. That's disappointing in itself. But now you've aggravated the situation by lying to them.
It's always unpleasant to get all set to read a good book and find out it's not to your liking. But what makes it even worse, is that you've built up their expectations higher then normal, so they have farther to fall when they are disappointed. Not only is their disappointment greatly increased, but if they get an inkling that they have been intentionally duped by a review, they get angry. And angry people, a highly motivated people, are more likely to write, what? Bad reviews. I'm talking mean, nasty reviews. I have seen them. If that isn't enough, the person that you wanted to become a lifelong reader, has probably added your name, in big red letters, to a list of authors that they will never read again. And, if they are still angry, are telling all of their friends not to read your books. You've accomplished the exact opposite of what you were set out to do.
Compare this to the scenario where there is no review. The reader has no idea what to expect. It may be good, bad, or just okay. With an unknown, unreviewed author, the reader knows they are taking their chances that it may not be the best book in the world and they understand that. If the book turns out to be not so good, that was a chance they took, and they chalk it up to experience. No harm done really. You may not have gained a fan, but you didn't create an enemy either. They may still write a bad review. But whether they write a bad review no longer depends on their being angry, but depends on how actively they review. Think about this, there's a big difference between a disappointed honest reviewer, and an angry reviewer. The former will, more than likely, just state what they don't like about the book, the latter is going to verbally rip you and the book to shreds.
Fake reviews: BAD IDEA.
How Does the Review Fit In?
So, I've liked your title enough to look at the description. I've read your description, and I'm still interested. Now I move on to the reviews. Believe it or not, considering this is a review site, I don't put much stock in reviews. For the simple reason, other than the technical aspects, whether you like a book or not, is a matter of personal taste. I might not have the same taste as you do, therefore, I may not like the same books. So, a bad review is not a deal breaker for me.
So why do I read the reviews? Partly out of curiosity (this especially applies to personal reviews), and partly to pick up more information about the content. There are certain things that I just don't want to read about, and you can't always tell from the description whether the book contains those incidents. But, many times a private reviewer will tell you, and that's basically why I read them. However, content excepted, good or bad reviews are not really going to determine whether or not I buy your book.
So, I'm probably not the best person to write about this subject. But, then again, maybe I am. The point of these posts is to give authors information about their readers. And some of us, don't base our purchasing decisions on reviews. With one exception:
The Deal Breaker
The online booksellers have been kind/savvy enough to allow the everyday reader to give their HONEST opinion on the books they have read. Some authors/publishing houses have tried to turn this feature to their own advantage by posting FALSE reviews. (I think this has backfired miserably). I have decided in return, not to purchase any books where I don't believe the review is honest. In my next post I'll explain why I think this is bad business. For now, suffice it to say, it goes against the spirit of honesty, and undermines the entire process. I want no part of it.
To sum it up, this consumer reads reviews, but they don't necessarily affect the purchasing decision. Again, the reviews are just one part of an entire process. So don't let it get to you, if no one has reviewed your book yet. And please, don't make the mistake of posting a false review. It's going to hurt you way more than it will ever help you.
One More Comment Regarding Descriptions
I just finished browsing some books at Amazon.com and I noticed something new in the description field: instead of simply giving a description of the book, there are one or two lines from an article about the book from and entry in Wikipedia. If you would like to read the entire description, then you need to click on one of the links provided in the description section which will take you to the full article at Wikipedia.
I've only seen this being done on mainstream publisher's books, and I can't account for what possessed them to do this. Normally, and there are exceptions, my motto is that if the mainstream publishers are doing it, then the self-published author should follow suit. But this is one of those exceptions. Please, do not copy the mainstream publishers in this. Because you don't want to make your potential customers work harder than they have to. I shouldn't have to go searching to find out what your book is about.
To me, this is akin to going to a bookstore and picking up a book, getting one or two lines of the description along with a note directing me to some other part of the bookstore to get the rest of the description. This makes no sense to ask a customer to leave your product and go somewhere else to get a description. Not only does it make no sense, it's a little risky. What if I'm not in the mood to go that extra click to read about your book? Don't forget you haven't hooked me yet. I'm still in the initial stages of making a decision and you can lose me at any moment. Not providing good customer service is one way of losing me.
In addition, for some, like myself, short descriptions are a definite deal breaker as I wrote earlier in the week. It may just be me, but I personally don't call this a good idea.
Descriptions Are So Important
What a book description should do is pretty self-explanatory and I don't have a lot to say about them, other than there are a few things the self-published author ought to know.
Many book descriptions will include the reviews for the book. In general, I don't have a problem with authors doing this. However, I do get annoyed when the review come before the description. I'll tell ya, it doesn't matter how much people liked your book, if it's not about something that I'm interested in reading, then I don't care what they have to say. Reviews do have their place, but please put them after the description. Otherwise instead of impressing me, you're annoying me. Which is not a reaction you want from a potential buyer.
That's a petty annoyance, and one that I can live with, but don't enjoy. The next and last is a definite . . .
Deal Breaker.
I will drop your book like a red-hot potato if the description of your book is a one-liner. Reason being is that I figure if you can't write a decent description, then you can't write a decent book. And that's it for me. I just click right off that page, and start the whole cycle all over again (with someone else's book). So make sure you spend that time on the description, it's worth it.
How Important is that Cover?
Once I've found a title that has intrigued me, I next take a look at the cover.
Now that a lot of book buying is done on the internet some people tend to think that the cover has gained prominence over the title. Reason being is that the cover is the first thing people see, and, therefore, that is what is going to attract them. I couldn't disagree more with this. Although, there are times when I've been hit with just the cover, and it has intrigued me enough to take a further look, most of the time I'm presented with a picture of the cover, plus the title and author. I still tend to the title first, and then the cover after that.
When I inspect the cover I'm simply trying to garner more information about the book and that's pretty much the extent of it. If the cover portrays something that I don't want to read about, such as a picture of a vampire (I'm really tired of vampire books), then I put it back and go on to the next title. If it doesn't give me any information on what the book is about, or portrays something that I do want to read about, then I will move onto the description. Which I will write about next week.
So what can the self-published author take away from all of this? One, is the purpose the cover plays. It simply gives the reader a little more information about the book, but doesn't necessarily play that prominent of a role in the purchasing decision. My advice is do not spend an exorbitant amount on that cover. Your money would be much better spent on an editor, as that is the main problem that I see in self-published books. Rest assured that I have NEVER purchased a book simply because of the cover, and I have NEVER not purchased a book because of the quality of the cover.
That being said, the cover should be nice because it's part of the product packaging and it also shows a level of professionalism.
Ashar'an Rising (Book 2 of the Nexus Wars Saga) by Robert Day
5 out of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy Word Count: 186,000
Where to purchase:
Amazon US: $0.99 Amazon UK: £0.86 Barnes and Noble: $2.49
Smashwords: $2.49 Sony: $2.49
In this second book of the Nexus Wars Saga, the first being Demon Gates, the scope of the story has been widened to not only include Valderion, but also the struggles of others whose lives are being affected by both the demon presence and the strategic maneuverings of the Ashar'an .
Valderion barely registered his friends words as a multitude of thoughts and emotions ran through his mind. Pain, Anger, Sorrow, Guilt, Regret, Shame. He was reminded of the great weight he carried with him in the form of his quest, and wondered if the fulfillment of it was worth the losses, and how many would pay dearly for being associated with him, or what he was fighting for. He still did not have a firm idea of that, knowing it was something he was 'born to do', but still he did not have to like it.
I cannot say enough good things about this book. If I had to sum it up in one word, that word would be 'Wow'. Robert Day's talent allows him to write scenes that are simply enthralling. Especially, the battle scenes. Not only does he include blow-by-blows of the battles that make them very riveting, but he also emphasizes the emotion, and the tragedy that goes along with it. The result is impressive, and sometimes heart-wrenching.
In addition to that his writing brings his characters alive. There are so many fantasy novels where the secondary characters are passive or enigmatic, but Day gives all of his characters a personality and life of their own which adds to the depth and breadth of the saga.
If Day can keep this up the Nexus Wars Saga will be one of the best fantasy series ever written.
Content Rating:
This book is very clean.
it's nicely formatted, but does not contain a table of contents.
About the Author:
Robert Day was born in Newcastle, New South Wales. His family moved to the small town of Gloucester when he was 10. He was introduced to Fantasy books by a friend soon after, and from then on hardly a day seemed to go by when he was not lost in some fantasy land rather than doing homework or chores. Around age 15 he discovered Dungeons and Dragons thanks to his older brother Jamie, further fuelling his imagination.
It was during a time when he had seemed to have read most fantasy available to him that he thought "How hard can it be?"
The answer being, of course, "Very Hard!"
Twenty years later, after turning what was originally one enormous manuscript into 2 moderately huge ones, he brings you Demon Gates, book 1 of the Nexus Wars Saga. This, his debut Novel, is the beginning of what will eventually be a 5 – 7 book series.
Robert now resides on the Central Coast of NSW with his beautiful wife Kerri, 2 cats, and a border collie dog named Jasper.
If you would like to learn more about this author and his other works you can find his blog at http://robertdaybooks.blogspot.com/ or go to his website at http://www.robertdaybooks.com/
Title is Everything
In the end readers are all about words, so when I go looking for a new book to read, I start perusing titles. The book is either picked up or passed by based on its title. Using my experience as a reader, I'll try to go through different aspects of titles and how they affect my purchasing decisions and also what I glean from them.
Is the title intriguing?
By intriguing I mean that it speaks of something more. For me to find out what that more is I have to pick up the book and peruse it. Now what's intriguing to me is not necessarily going to intrigue someone else. All I can say in that respect is know your audience. Know what attracts them to your genre, and use that information to help title your books. Here are some examples of titles that I've found intriguing.
- A Land of Ash
- No Better Place to Die
- Saying Goodbye to the Sun
- Call of the Herald
- The Samurai Strategy
Or quirky?
I'm all for quirky. I don't know that this would be a definite rule of thumb for titling every type of book out there, but it does get my attention. A couple of examples:
- Bubba and the Dead Woman (Anything that involves a bubba is worth a follow-up)
- Memoirs of a Vending Machine
- Jacks School of Shines
- Please Don't Eat the Daisies
Does it feature a favorite character?
If you've written or are planning to write a number of books featuring the same character, then please put that somewhere in the title or subtitle. Signifying that this book contains that same character can tell me a couple of things.
- If I am already familiar with the character, that this book is about that character, something that I might not have known if it hadn't been included in the title/subtitle.
- If this is the first time that I'm meeting this character it lets me know that there are other books out there or are forthcoming. If I then read and like the character I can go searching for these other books.
Believe it or not I can be a great fan of a character and not be a great fan of the author. I love Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series, but I do not like other books written by the author, so make sure that you include the character name in the title somewhere. Here are some examples:
- Harry Potter and the . . .
- . . . A Donovan Creed Novel
- . . . A Stephanie Plum Novel
Along the same lines: is it a series?
Again, if you are writing a series of books signify that in the subtitle, this lets me know that there are follow-up books. It was years before I learned that Dune by Frank Herbert was the first of a series of books.
Single Word Titles
For the most part I'm not a fan of single word titles unless that single word speaks volumes.
I hope this helps.
Sorting Matters
When I go looking for a book it's usually somewhere that someone has amassed a number of books to be sold. That could be online, a bookstore, a garage sale, or the library. Depending on how they have been sorted pretty much depends on what type of book that I purchase.
Sorted by Genre:
My favorite genre is fantasy. If the bookseller has separated the books by genre, then I normally head straight for the fantasy section. What this means to the authors of every other type of book is that I have immediately eliminated them from my selection process. What it also means to those selling books is that you want to make sure that you have you listed your book by genre, so when I'm browsing the book shows up. I think this is especially important in the online sites. I've noticed the genre missing on some books that I've looked at on Amazon. There's been some talk that even if you've classified your book on Amazon, that sometimes it doesn't show up. So it just may be a glitch in Amazon programming. But if not, then make sure you designate a genre for your book.
Normally where I find unsorted lists of books is at the library, bestseller or editor pick lists, and the Kindle Nation weekly digest of free books. These types of lists are great ways for authors to reach readers who normally concentrate on a specific genre. I have discovered some great authors this way. Authors not in my usual genre that I probably wouldn't have heard of otherwise. It's a nice way to pick up readers who wouldn't normally read your genre.
Sorted or unsorted are both good the for author, and ultimately for the reader. Get your book classified so that those that are interested can go directly to you, but also try to get on some unclassified lists to give you a better chance of picking up some new readers.
Which Marketing Campaign is Successful?
If you sales increase as a direct result of your marketing campaign, then it's successful. Nuff said. Post over.
Just kidding. There's actually a quick way and a slow way of determing how your marketing efforts are doing.
Quick and Easy: Coupon Codes
Direct mail marketers use a little trick to determine which geographic area or mailing campaign is initiating sales. They do this by using coupon codes. They assign a unique coupon code to a geographic area. They can then tell the response rate per region based on which coupon code is redeemed.
Self-published authors (SPAs) can do the same thing with coupon codes from Smashwords. The idea here is have a UNIQUE coupon code for each blog or website where you offer your book, so that you can track which sales are coming from where. It might work something like this:
You come up with a list of blogs or websites that you are going to approach about promoting your book: whether that is a free giveaway to some or a discount to all is up to you. You are going to make a list of those websites that consent, and for each of those listed you are going to generate a UNIQUE coupon code. You want to keep track of which coupon code is going where, so notate which coupon code is being sent to which website. (I personally suggest 50% rather than free if you're giving the discount to everyone at that site. Fifty percent off is a great deal. You can still generate interest and make money at the same time. I would only use free for a select few as people who may not otherwise be interested may download it just because its free. Because ultimately you are trying to figure out which website is most likely to generate sales, not which websites have the most people who want free books.) After that it's just a matter of keeping track of which coupon code is being redeemed.
Slow Going
The slow method is going to occur by keeping track of any blip in sales that occur after one of your targeted websites or blogs advertises the book. It's slow going because you can only offer one promotion at a time as you want to see how your sales do for each individual site. If you promote the book at various websites at the same time there is no way to tell which website is generating the interest.
What you need to do first is figure out your average sales over a certain period of time. Remember that there are certain buying trends that vary by month, so you need to take that into account. You can't compare December to June, so you want to keep track of average sales by month. If your book has been out for awhile and sales have been steadily increasing, then you are going to want to factor that into the equation. You don't want to give a promotion credit for an increase for which it wasn't responsible. That will skew your numbers. For instance, if the average sales for last May was 50 and your sales have been increasing by approx. 10% then you can expect 55 sales in the upcoming May. Any sales above 55 can loosely (great margin for error in this method) be attributed to your promotion.
Remember to space your promotions, so that you can give some time for a single promotion to take affect. And as you add more promotions you may have to increase the base sales number that you use to take into account previous promotion that are still generating sales. For instance, you run a promotion that gives you a big blip in sales for a week, then it slows down, doesn't die off, but slows down. You are now selling 60 books a month rather than the expected 55 a month. Your new base sales number for June has increased from 55 to 60. You will use this new number, 60 instead of the 55, to ascertain how the next promotion does.
What is this Information Good for?
The main reason for marketing research is to ascertain who your audience is. You can find out if your books are more popular in certain regions, to certain age groups, to particular gender, etc. Once you have this information, then you can start marketing your books towards those people. As a reader, the better you market your book, the better off I am because I now have a better chance of finding those books that interest me.
Discovering New Books: Word of Mouth
I have various means of discovering a new book to read, but today I want to concentrate on recommendations from friends, and see if the self-published author (SPA) can use this to get their books into the hands of those that want to read them. I want to do this because I think this is a great opportunity for the SPA to break from the pack and get that word of mouth going instead of waiting for someone to discover their book among the hundreds of thousand other books.
I heard it from a friend:
On first look a book recommendation would seem fairly straightforward: a friend comes up and says "Hey, you should read this book." And I read it. But it doesn't always work that way. I have some friends whose taste in books are so different from mine, that I will go out of my way NOT to read a book that they've recommended. So it's not enough simply to be recommended by a friend, it's need to be a someone who likes the same types of books that I do.
Birds of a feather flock together
Fortunately for the SPA people that tend to like the same things tend to congregate and experience those things together. And with the advent of the World Wide Web they can be easily found. This means that with little effort and investment the SPA can micro-market their book and gain a large return both in money and feedback.
Micro-Market that Book:
To do this effectively, you'll need to determine your audience. This could be based on a number of different factors:
Genre: The simplest and most generic group. Target a book club or discussion group about whatever genre it is that you write.
Age: If you've written the books towards a specific age group, then target that age group, otherwise a little more marketing investigation will have to go on before you can use this one.
Gender: Does your book appeal more to one gender or another? Find out where they hang out.
Location: Did you know that Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series sells better in New Jersey than in any other part of the country? Why? Because it all takes place in New Jersey. If you've written a book that is set in a specific geographic area, then you can target the readers in that audience.
Other interests: I once bought a book because it centered around a group of friends who quilted. It appealed to me because I also quilt on occasion. So if your book is set in a ski resort, or some such than target places where skiers hang out.
Similar authors: If you write with a style or stories similar to more well-known author, then target their audience. Find places where people are talking about their books.
What Now:
First off, what I wouldn't do is start spamming the comments section with a link to your book. What I would do is simply email the blog- or web-host and let them know that you have written a book that you think may interest (explain why) their readers. Tell them that you are willing to give the first [insert number here] respondents a free copy in return for their feedback. Or you may even work with the host in creating some kind of contest. If they turn you down, try another. If they don't great.
One More Thing:
I just want to insert a comment about offering your books for free. Personally, I think that giving away something free, when done smart, is a great marketing idea. When I say smart I mean giving away something valued by your current customers as a way of showing your gratitude or to a new audience in order to increase your market share. And normally, I would say that distributing your book through Barnes and Noble, or Amazon free would be a good idea if so many other people weren't doing it already. I'll tell you, I get an email once a week from Kindle Nation and it lists all of the books that are currently being offered for free on Amazon. I probably have forty of those books loaded on my Kindle, and since the list is updated every week I could probably get away with never buying another book again. It might be different if I had read all of them, but so far I've only read a handful.
To me that's a very expensive ad campaign (I've heard some authors get as many as 2,000 downloads) for a SPA. Think about it: 2,000 x $0.99 = $1,980 * 35% = $693.00 minimum or 2,000 x $2.99 = $5,980 * 70% = $4,186 minimum. it's especially pricey when you are not even certain if the book is going to be read by the people that downloaded it. True, that technically wouldn't be counted as a lost sale, but it's also not a gain. If that's the case, then you are defeating your purpose which is to get the word out.
This post got a lot longer than I wanted, so I'm going to follow up on Tuesday with a post on how to use this give away to help you determine if your campaign is successful.
Demon Gates (Book One in the Nexus War Saga) by Robert Day
4 out of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy Word Count: 150,000
Where to Purchase:
Amazon US: $0.99 Amazon UK: £0.69 Barnes and Noble: $1.99
Smashwords: $1.99 Sony: $1.99
An old evil is arising, and the people of Kil'tar are ill-equipped to deal with it. The ones who should have the knowledge and strength to deal it with it have forgotten and grown weak. The unsuspecting who are forced to deal with it need to learn and train. Yet all will need to fight. Some will live. Some will die. This is a story of that time.
With the evening came the eventual rise of the brother moons, shedding their mystical luminescence over the land, turning the lifeless scene below into one of eeriness as the orange glow bathed the ruins. Valdeiron dozed restlessly, waking as the waning moons were almost touching the grey outline of the dawn-filled horizon. He could not remember how long he waited and watched; only that neither sight nor sound had he seen of Cash or Trolls. Ruing the missed rendezvous, the shouldered his pack and rose, stretching against the light of the new day. Turning his gaze again to the south, he pictured in his mind what roads lay beyond the horizon.
Robert Day is a very talented author whose storytelling abilities are refreshing and, for the most part, unique. There are some similar scenes between this novel and those in Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. And while Day does a good job with the combat descriptions they all tend to end the same way which gets a little redundant and predictable. Which is sad because the rest of this book is anything but predictable as Day is a gutsy writer, like George R.R. Martin, in that he is not afraid to kill, or cast off secondary characters. As a matter of fact, how Day has approached secondary characters in this book is one of the reasons that this book is so good.
Unlike many other novels where the secondary characters reason for being and their actions revolve around the protagonist, in Demon Gates Day has given each of the secondary characters their own stories. Yes, they are introduced to the reader because they have some connection with the hero Valdeiron, but their fate is not necessarily tied up with his. It's more the case of events occurring on Kil'tar and each person has to deal with them the according to who they are and the circumstances in which they find themselves. While the heroes interests and the secondary characters coincide they stay together, when they don't they part. A very rare thing in a novel which makes for a truly good book.
Content Rating:
The book contains no swearing. It does have some graphic combat scenes, and there is one disturbing sexual incident.
Weird formatting: more like its typewritten, then the regular font we're used to seeing on the Kindle. It does not include a table of contents, but other than that it's perfectly fine.
About the Author:
Robert Day was born in Newcastle, New South Wales. His family moved to the small town of Gloucester when he was 10. He was introduced to Fantasy books by a friend soon after, and from then on hardly a day seemed to go by when he was not lost in some fantasy land rather than doing homework or chores. Around age 15 he discovered Dungeons and Dragons thanks to his older brother Jamie, further fuelling his imagination.
It was during a time when he had seemed to have read most fantasy available to him that he thought "How hard can it be?"
The answer being, of course, "Very Hard!"
Twenty years later, after turning what was originally one enormous manuscript into 2 moderately huge ones, he brings you Demon Gates, book 1 of the Nexus Wars Saga. This, his debut Novel, is the beginning of what will eventually be a 5 – 7 book series.
Robert now resides on the Central Coast of NSW with his beautiful wife Kerri, 2 cats, and a border collie dog named Jasper.
If you would like to learn more about this author and his other works you can find his blog at http://robertdaybooks.blogspot.com/ or go to his website at http://www.robertdaybooks.com/
Kudo's to the Self-Published Author
I know that I previously said that I would normally just post on Monday's, but as I was falling to sleep last night it struck me what a great contribution the self-published author is making to the reading world and I just wanted to give them kudos.
Fresh Perspectives:
That's what they are bringing to the reading world. This is what I've been seeing in the books that I have been reviewing. It's not the same old stories written in the same old tone. I'll tell you I actually stopped buying pop fiction a few years back because every book seemed to be the same. I got so sick of it I boycotted them and decided to read all of the classics. Yes, it's true that the mainstream publishing houses will come out with something new and different every once in a while, but that doesn't happen very often. For the most part if they find something that sells, they bring in more authors to write more of those same stories. But those days are changing. The market is getting blown wide open to fresh perspectives.
- The warmth and goodness that Rita Hestand brings to the romance novel in Chief Cook and Bottle Washer rather than that constant tension between protagonists that you find in most romance novels.
- The great sense of humor portrayed by C. L. Bevill in Bubba and the Dead Woman. I can count on one hand, and still have some fingers left over, the number of authors that made me laugh as much.
- The history of and memorial to Torpedo Squadron 4. What Gerald W. Thomas brought to this in Torpedo Squadron 4: A Cockpit View of World War II, because of his experience, was not only an extensive historical record, or a list of battles, but he added a level of humanity to it and, thereby, memorialized those who flew.
- Robert Day in Demon Gates: Book One of the Nexus Wars Saga (review upcoming) with his ability to portray all of his characters with their own stories.
Kudos to you all!
Chief Cook and Bottle Washer by Rita Hestand
3.5 out of 5 Stars
Genre: Contemporary Word Count: 86,000
Where to purchase:
Amazon: $2.99 Barnes and Noble: Free (as of 06/20/2011)
Emma and her daughter Sammie Jo need a place to hide out. Deke Travers needs a cook on his family's ranch. He also wants to find wives for his brothers in hopes that will settle them down. Deke decides to kill two birds with one stone and hire Emma as the cook in hopes that she and his brother Clint will fall in love.
He liked the sound of her voice, and when she chuckled it tickled his toes. A cowboys' toes shouldn't tickle, he warned himself and straightened the foolish grin on his face.
This is a standard romance novel, along the lines of the Harlequin Romance stories. Girl's in trouble. Boy ends up saving her, and they fall in love. And like the Harlequin Romances it's a short, easy read.
In the beginning the author seems to have a little trouble introducing new characters. In addition, and this is only at the beginning of the book, the author tends to assume that the reader knows what she is talking about. Making the start of the book a little confusing. But once you get past that the rest of the book just flows.
The best part of this book was the warmth of the Travers family, and how they welcomed Emma and Sammie Jo into their home. I especially liked how the author was able to portray the vulnerability of these cowboys to a baby. They just melt. It's really a sweet romance story.
Content Rating:
This book is very clean. No swearing, sex, or graphic violence.
The book does not include a table of contents. There are some other minor design issues, but nothing that should interrupt the reading experience.
About the Author:
Rita Hestand is from Texas, she's a widow, a mother, and a grandmother. She was an only child, and she traveled the U.S as a child extensively.
What made her a writer was the fact that she was an only child growing up in a age when a kid had to use their imagination to entertain themselves. She acted out her first books in the backyard all over the countryside.
Rita worked most of her adult life, but one job she's especially proud of is as a day care provider in her home for twenty years. Helping to raise her own grandchildren to school age, it seemed only natural to enroll in the Institute of Children's Literature, where she graduated in 1997. Rita writes children's books, poetry and romance, along with plays and short stories.
She's a member of Books We Love, WRW, and a firm believer that learning should never stop. But above all, she believes that one should NEVER GIVE UP!
You can find out more about the author and her other titles at http://ritahestand.com/.
Book Purchasing Decision
Choosing a book to read is really a process of elimination. Following are the steps that I go through when making that purchasing decision. I'll expand on most of these in later posts and try to explain what happens in each step of the process, so the self-published author (SPA) will better understand how it fits into the book buying/rejection process in order to help them become better publishers.
The steps:
- If I'm not looking for a specific book or author, then normally I'm browsing a selection of titles that someone else has put together: bestsellers list, bookstore, library, etc.
- If I'm looking at a list that is broken down by genre, then I will generally navigate straight towards my favorite genre.
- Where I will start perusing the titles.
- Once I've found a title that sounds interesting, I will look at the cover to garner more information about what's inside.
- Next I read the description.
- Then onto the reviews.
- If I'm still interested then I'll read the beginning of the book.
- Lastly, I check the price.
Like I said it's a process of elimination. Each step of the way I'm rejecting many books to hone on those few that I'm actually going to purchase. So to increase the chances of me buying their book the SPA should pay particular attention the different aspects of the consumer decision making process, so they don't lose them along the way.
Torpedo Squadron 4: A Cockpit View of World War II by Gerald W. Thomas
4.5 out of 5 Stars
Genre: Military Word count: Unknown
Where to Purchase:
Amazon: $2.99 Lulu (ebook): $2.99 Lulu (paperback): $24.99
The author, Gerald Thomas, served in the US Navy Reserve as a pilot for Torpedo Squadron 4. He gives a firsthand account, along with official reports of the various operations of which his squadron took part in both Europe, and Asia. Including the invasion of Iowa Jima and Okinawa.
In addition, as a memorial to the men of Torpedo Squadron 4 Thomas includes his own experiences, along with others, as a pilot or crewman of a torpedo bomber plane. Thomas gives us the entire gamut of what it was like to be a torpedo bomber pilot from that first desire to fly till the end of the war.
The sudden loss of a cockpit hatch was demoralizing to our crew. As the pieces of plexiglass flew by, our turret gunners, facing backwards in the dive, never knew if AA fire had killed the pilot or if the plane was out of control. That few seconds of push-over, dive, and questionable pull-out seemed like an eternity to the crew.
"One time over Manila, I thought Scott, my pilot, had been hit. I t seemed that he would never pull out — we just kept going down. I thought he was dead, so I snapped on my parachute, kicked the hatch, but it wouldn't open (I was too excited to pull the pin.) About that time, Scott pulled out."
Though this book is not without its faults: the transition from commentary to personal experience is not always smooth, and the images do not always match the subject at hand; the author, Thomas, more than accomplishes what he set out to do which was to make a "historical record" of Torpedo Squadron 4 as a "way to recall and acknowledge those who made the sacrifice." To that end he has included much, if not all, of the major action that the squadron saw; the tactical organization of each run; operational reports; extensive photos; and occasionally the contrasting viewpoint of the enemy.
To complete the picture of what it was like to be a torpedo bomber pilot in WWII Thomas includes his own personal experiences. These range from his first sight of an airplane when he was a young man, through flight school, serving as a pilot on an aircraft carrier, and home again. It is these descriptions, and those of his fellow pilots and crewman, that enhances the rest of the text by giving a firsthand account of the operations. As Thomas not only includes the living conditions on board an aircraft carrier, problems taking off and landing, the effect of weather conditions, problems with equipment, and morale issues it really brings home what these brave men had to endure to accomplish those missions. It was a privilege to read it, and I'm thankful the Mr. Thomas took put in so much time and effort to leave this historical memorial.
Formatting (for Amazon Kindle only):
The ebook is formatted very nicely. It contains hyperlinked footnotes and table of contents. In addition, navigation points that allow you to move from chapter to chapter are included. However, while there is an index it is not hyperlinked, and references the page numbers in the paper version, and not location numbers for the ebook version.
About the Author:
Gerald W. Thomas was born at home in Small, Idaho, in 1919. He grew up on a ranch during the Great Depression. His rural school went only to the 10th grade, so his Mother took his brother and him to California to finish High School and attend Junior College. He graduated from the University of Idaho just in time to volunteer for Navy service following Pearl Harbor. After training, he was assigned as a pilot to Torpedo Squadron VT-4. Following World War II, he earned a Ph.D in Range Management, and after stints as professor at Texas A&M University and Dean of Agriculture at Texas Tech University, he became president of New Mexico State University. He retired after serving as president for 14 years.
Thomas was awarded 3 Distinguished Flying Crosses, 2 Air Medals, and 2 Presidential Citations for his combat actions in WWII. He retired from the Navy Reserve with the rank of Lieutenant Commander.He is the author of numerous books, including "A Winding Road To The Land Of Enchantment" and "The Academic Ecosystem."
While Thomas does not maintain a personal webpage he has set up a site at http://airgroup4.com/index.htm that contains articles by members of Air Group 4 of which Torpedo Squadron 4 was a part. Having this site available has been instrumental in helping family members learn the circumstances surrounding their loved ones MIA or KIA status.
You can download a sample of Torpedo Squadron 4 at the following address:
Epub: http://doc45.com/sample-chapter/Torpedo_Squadron_Four-A_Cockpit_View_of_World_War_II-Sample.epub
Mobi: http://doc45.com/sample-chapter/Torpedo_Squadron_Four-A_Cockpit_View_of_World_War_II-Sample.mobi
What Does Self-Publishing Mean?
A self-published author is an author who has decided to bypass the traditional publishing route (traditional -Random House- or independent publisher) and handle the publishing process themselves. This entails the author funding and coordinating the following aspects of the publishing process:
- Editing (grammatical, flow, copy)
- Proofreading
- Indexing (if applicable)
- Book Design (including cover art)
- Printing and/or converting to digital format
- Marketing and advertising
- Distribution
- Foreign Rights and subsidiary Rights
With the advent of electronic media manuscript conversion and distribution have become so simplified that many new authors are treating the publishing process as a do-it-yourself project where the author does all of the work. Some even going so far as doing their own reviews. Now I'm not necessarily against authors handling the various aspects of book publishing themselves (except the reviews), if they are going to put out a professional product, but that doesn't always occur. Instead what the reading public is exposed to, and expected by the author to purchase and enjoy, is a book that is badly formatted (the most common problem I come across), unproofed, or unedited. Otherwise an inferior product from which they would like to make enough money to support themselves, so they can spend their life doing what they love.
Part of the problem is that authors don't realize what self-publishing entails. The other part is that's an awful lot of hats to wear, and to wear them all well is probably more than one person is capable. Either way, it's self-defeating. As the SPA (self-published author) will get bad reviews, bad publicity via word-of-mouth, and lose potential return customers. Not the best way to reach their goals. Now, I'm not saying that authors shouldn't self-publish. What I'm saying is that if they choose to go that route, then they need to make sure they are going to follow the steps in the publishing process.


text:
photo © 2016, Ken Rodgers
by Joel Nelson
We read stories of Wars
Hist'ries written on pages
And records of battle
Drawn on walls of the cave
Read of Glory and Honor
And Right through the ages
And all those who fell
'Neath the crest of the knave
The themes are eternal
Of wars on the ocean
Of axes and swords
On the Otterburn Plain
The ninety gun Frigates
The horsemen in motion
The bleeding has stopped
But the stories remain
There are terms of Armistice
And flags of surrender
This war fought for freedom
That war saved a race
Twixt savages cruel
Or soldiers yet tender
The scholars record them
And each has its place
Some go unrecorded
Wars fought self-contained
Conflicts never ending
No respite or truce
For the foe lives within
Lashing out unrestrained
And the warrior wears thin
From the battles' abuse
The shelling subsides
Then intensity quickens
With most unaware
Of the state of the war
Leaving soldier and loved ones
With Conflict that thickens
Outsiders observing
The scene from afar
There is only so long
Any warrior can battle
'Til he must succumb
To the enemy inside
So loosening the reins
Stepping down from the saddle
Heaving sigh of relief
He will cease his long ride
His allies left standing
Gather somewhat uncertain
Refraining from judgment
United by love
Acknowledging peacetime
And drawing the curtain
Leaving all in the hands
Of the Maker above
© 2008, Joel Nelson
This poem should not be re-posted or reprinted without permission
In observance of Veterans Day and Remembrance Day, we're honored to share the words of Texas rancher and horseman Joel Nelson. He served in Vietnam with the 101st Airborne Division. A National Endowment of the Arts Heritage Fellow, Joel Nelson is respected for his writing and his reciting.
Find more about Joel Nelson at CowboyPoetry.com.
This photograph, by Idaho filmmaker, writer, teacher, and photograph Ken Rodgers, was taken last year at the San Antonio Veterans Memorial Plaza and Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
This year, Ken was the Grand Marshal of the Boise Veterans Day parade. See a great photo here on Facebook.
Ken and the equally talented Betty Rodgers are the creators of the award-winning film, Bravo! Common Men, Uncommon Valor, about the men of Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 26th Marines during the 1968 siege at Khe Sanh in Vietnam, with whom Ken served. Find more about it on Facebook and at bravotheproject.com, where there is an engaging blog.
Their latest project, a work in progress, I Married the War, tells the stories of the lives of combat veteran spouses, from WWII through today. Find more about it at imarriedthewar.com and on Facebook.
Find poems and more for Veterans Day at CowboyPoetry.com.

subset: commoncrawl


text: So, anyway, I found this new game (I don't know if it's in development yet), and, well, I made it up. I'll start at the start, I have a design project that I have to do, and I have complete creative control (which kind of sucks, I'm not very creative), so naturally I took the geeks way out and decided to design a video game. Basically, it's a fighting game, right, and you choose characters to battle it out. Theres Maurice, the 7'4", million kg, white trash/half mexican car wrecker. Leroy, his younger brother, the 5'3" skinny, mulleted business partner with a big dog. Jamahl, the Shaquille O'Neal lookalike trash man. And of course, theres Chastity, the blonde, 30-something year old trailor whore with breast implants. So anyway, you choose which character you want to use, and fight all of the others to progress to the top of the table/scrap heap. That's basically it. ...Oh wait, I forgot, instead of fighting standardly, you choose a piece of heavy machinery (Bulldozer, Steamroller, Forklift etc.) each with their own stats and special abilities, and compatible characters etc. to battle against other heavy machinery. ...Naturally, it's all set in Hicksville, USA. ...It's called Scrap Metal. Your thoughts, Mario? .::COMPETITION::. Be one of the first people in the world to own Scrap Metal! All you have to do is come up with a funny, rude, or downright clever tagline to go with the title. Note: Prizes subject to availability.</span> Tagline examples: Ratchet and Clank: Up your arsenal Big Muthatruckers 2: Truck me Harder etc. Good luck.


text:
As I was monitoring the environmental objections of the Carpenters Union Local 152 (such as this May 20, 2013 letter) to the proposed Cordes Ranch Specific Plan in the City of Tracy, I stumbled upon a much more mysterious and sinister entity submitting CEQA objections to the city's proposed developments.
A group called Horizon Planet had been submitting objections under CEQA to the City of Tracy for a variety of development policies and proposals over the past year. It had even sued the City of Tracy.
But no information was available about who was behind Horizon Planet or what they wanted. My article about Horizon Planet – Space Aliens Abuse CEQA! – was published in www.FlashReport.org on September 20, 2013.


text:
I have a little 2 gig flash drive I leave attached to my RT-N16 for logging and for the ftp server. The only problem I have is that if the power ever goes out it's a bit annoying to have to disable the bandwidth and admin logging and the ftp server just so I can unmount the drive and run e2fsck. Is there a way to automatically run e2fsck before the drive is mounted when booting up, or is there an easier way to run it while the router is already up without having to manually turn everything off and then back on?
Unfold How would I run e2fsck automatically on reboot? by Rotareneg (guest), 22 Oct 2011 16:57


text:
Totally Custom Sluice Hammock
This is your chance to create something special.
Custom hammocks are built with extra care alongside trademark Sluice Infinity Hammocks in Raleigh, NC. Choose your hammock size and color then add a monogram or custom text. Include a pillow or grab a hat or add an indoor mounting kit here for less than you can purchase them individually.
Sluice hammocks can be setup virtually anywhere in less than a few minutes by people of all ages. The hammock pulls out of one end of the stuff bag & packs back up just like a sleeping bag. The stuff bag is attached to the hammock so your custom embroidery is visible when the hammock is packed up and also when it's setup with you in it. The bag matches the hammock and is about the size of a football.
Each hammock includes a pair of heavy duty polyester mounting straps that won't stretch or hurt tree bark. Use them to relax between two trees, posts, poles, pilings, wall mounts or whatever else you can find (that is strong enough to hold you) with no knots or fancy rigging. Just wrap each strap around a tree and then thread one end of the strap through the loop on the other end. Your weight in the hammock pulls the straps tight to grip the volunteering tree, post, etc. When you're not using the straps, bundle them up and snap them into the strap taco on the back of the bag to keep them from getting lost. Watch the setup video here.
The hammocks have small metal cinch buckles that are permanently attached to the ends of the hammock to let you make infinite adjustments to your setup. Dial in the perfect height and lay angle by sliding them up and down the straps. They are simple to use and give you seamless adjustment along the entire length of the strap. You can tighten the hammock right up to the tree or pull it out to the very end of the straps. Just like the straps around the tree, the buckles grip themselves when you pull against them. The distance between the two trees depends on the size of your trees (we recommend nothing smaller than 6 inches in diameter), but you can usually work with trees 10ft - 20ft apart.
The Standard Size hammock is intended for one person to relax in total comfort, but we regularly see 3 and 4 people sitting in this size without hesitation. Two small children can easily play around in a Standard together. If they each want their own, we have a Child's Size hammock that may be perfect. When they outgrow the small hammocks, let us know and we'll give you a discount on the next size up. For the Child's Hammock, we recommend a maximum occupant height of 48 inches to maintain plenty of head room and leg room while in the hammock. For the Standard Size, we recommend a maximum height of 6'-6".
Then we have the Jumbo Size. These things are huge! Get an extra three feet of width and choose an accent color to set yourself apart from the crowd. We recommend the Jumbos for serious loungers and for overnight sleeping because they give you even more room to get diagonal. Off-axis diagonal rotation, where you shift your your head and upper body to one side and feet to the other side, lets you lay with your back flat for long-term comfort. Rotate even farther and you'll be able to lay completely sideways and still have your head and feet completely supported by the hammock. The Jumbos give you enough room to share with a partner - or take it all for yourself! They're also great for families with children or dogs or both. Even with multiple people, there will be enough fabric left over to play hide and seek for hours.
Click to check out our Instagram for lots of pictures of the different hammock sizes in use.
Personalized options include curly-vine fancy style monograms, diamond monograms, block monograms, and custom text. The custom text option lets you add a personal message with up to two lines text. Choose from a wide range of colors including glow in the dark thread and rainbow thread! All embroidery is done in the same facility as the hammock manufacturing in Raleigh, NC. Each order is cared for individually, so please allow up to ten days for processing so we can ensure gold-standard quality.
All of the hammocks can hold up to 450lbs. They are made of nylon that doesn't pick up stains too bad, but you can throw them in the washing machine if you like to keep things sparkly. We recommend hanging to dry to keep the metal buckles from clanking and banging around in the clothes dryer.
The hammocks are designed to be portable and versatile and to be set up and taken down with each use. They have been known to stay up in more permanent-like situations in backyards or on porches, which is fantastic, but the fabric will pick up debris and may fade and/or change texture if exposed to prolonged sun, rain, heat, and cold.
We'd love to see pictures of your custom build in action on Instagram or on Facebook. Happy hammocking!


text:
What better way to celebrate America than fireworks on the beach. This year the fireworks will be lit off from 2nd block East, near the site of the old Front Beach Inn property. Make sure you come down early and grab a parking spot, all walkover parking spots are free after 6:00 PM. Visit your local Folly establishments while you are enjoying the 4th of July celebration. Check out the Folly Beach Now music calendar to see who will be playing that day on Folly.
Folly Beach – Monday July 4th, 2011 at dusk or approximately 9:00 PM. Yes it is on July 4th this year! Plan ahead and come early! Thousands of your friends will be here too.


text:
Along the way, I have come across some wonderful, encouraging, inspiring artist. You should check them out:
Gene Cole, the Ebony Poet. (He is my big brother in poetry!) (RIP)
and if Gene is my big brother,
Amina1389definity is my big sister, she's sooooo big that you can find her here, and here!
Nathan M. Richardson was one of the award winning poets at the Eye/I Witness Gordon Parks Poetry Contest.
I had the opportunity to hear this young lady one summer at the Delaware Art Museum. She was 11 at the time. The world better look out for this young lady!


text:
The Double StudyBed offers a full size double bed (190cm x 138cm, 6' 3" x 4ft 6″ ) plus a large work area (190 x 60 cm). yet occupies a very compact footprint whilst in desk form. The top rail also provides a very useful wide and deep (43cm) shelf surface. There is a huge amount of room to attach pin-boards, pictures, posters, video screens etc. to both the desk and bed backs.
As with all StudyBeds it is very light in operation and can be converted easily in seconds by just about anyone. It allows items up to 48 cm to remain on the desk when converted. A Top Box (48cm high) can be added to optimise space, likewise a mobile Under-desk cabinet.


text:
Recently I was lucky enough to hook up once again with my good friend Nathan for a reenactment of the float from Little Webberville to Big Webberville on the Colorado River that we had done just a couple of weeks ago. Things were much different on this float though, where our previous trip had been at a much more agreeable 500 CFS, this trip found us barely scratching 300 CFS, making this usually mammoth body of water feel like something more akin to a hill country stream. If one was so inclined, one could probably wade a good 80% of this stretch as it was all a good 3-6 feet below normal flows.
The day started off almost too good to be true with Nathan and i both quickly hooking into a few male Guadalupe that all managed to free themselves of their barbed albatross within a few feet of being netted. It was hard to tell where the lack of commitment laid, i assume it was them but it could have just as easily been us. Even though it took quite a few fights before one of us properly landed one it was quite the endorphin rush calling a fishy spot, casting into it and watching your rod tip bend in acknowledgment that you occasionally you do get things right.
photo by @theurbanfly on instagram
A short while later after rounding the bend we came to the first long pool, a bitch of a slog in even the most exemplary of conditions, just as the previously mellow winds whipped themselves up into a frenzy that one usually finds on the coast. We are talking straight upstream, northern bound, blow you backwards, cresting wind waves force winds. They certainly aren't fun at normal flows and even less so when the river barley has a pulse to move you down stream.
Eventually we made it to a fork in the river where there's the option to take a smaller channel and use the trees along the shoreline as a welcome respite from the relentless gale force winds. I've fished a lot of waters in Texas and this small side alley is one of my favorite, feeling more like a float through a tropical rainforest than a tail water just a stones throw from a major metropolitan area (Austin). Still, at least for me, it's one of those places that invokes the feeling that if should be absolutely teeming with fish while simultaneously dashing those expectations repeated visits.
Eventually joining back up with the other channel we once again were back in the river proper as the wind died down, apparently losing much of its bluster. It was good timing too as we were approaching the first of two large cliffs on this dugout, carved out over the years by this temperamental river. They generally have deep waters at the base, with currents pushing everything in the water up against them meaning that if you want to find a fish, they'll be there.
photo by @theurbanfly on instagram
Upon approaching the cliff i spotted a downed tree extending from the bank, surmised it to be holding a bass, cast next to it and watched as a healthy sized Guadalupe Bass darted from the shadows and pounced on my streamer before it had barely touched the water. It might not have been the biggest Guadalupe i've caught, but it provided an absolute thrill on te 4WT, pulling me in several directions before coming to hand. Releasing this beautiful specimen extra carefully I looked up to see Nathan (who just seconds ago had snapped the photo above of me and my catch) struggling with his own ordeal on the end of his line.
As his line ran circles around his paddleboard he kept yelling at me to "Get the net!" in a voice that might have as well been screaming "OH SHIT!"
I assumed it was a largemouth or Guadalupe and paddled at the appropriate speed towards him getting the net ready. Then the fish broke the surface and i caught site of the flank, resplendent in its alternating silver and black lines. Around that time I freaked out, knowing that white bass are usually found above lakes of which there are none down on this stretch of the Lower Colorado. Nate, not knowing what he had, saw me freak out, and then commenced to freak out as well sending us both into a spiral of joy and confusion that can only be described as transcendent. Eventually for him it meant a new species on the fly, and in the most unlikely of places.
It was a fitting way to end the day and quite honestly, a great way to wrap up life. Sometimes you choose the outcome and sometimes the outcome chooses you. If nothing else, life is an interesting ride.
Note: The day we we floated it (10/24) it was barely 300CFS. That night it stormed with a vengance and 24 hours later it spiked at 4,500CFS. Interesting indeed.


text:
A Minute Taken
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The Ultimate Retracement
June 30, 2015
Last spring, AMT was tasked to complete a boundary survey in Brandywine, Maryland on the county line between Charles and Prince George's counties. The survey consisted of retracing about 100 acres of land that is being donated to The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission. This land is located within...
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The not-so-secret wisdom of the mentor
May 19, 2015
The passing of one of my most fervent mentors has illuminated the topic for me as of late. My mentor was a former boss who always knew when to push or to pull or even when to stand down with a good "you'll figure it out." This mentorship taught me...
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Tunneling Through History
April 10, 2015
The historical Claudius Crozet Blue Ridge Tunnel is a mile-long train tunnel that was built to allow trains to pass through the Afton Mountain at Rockfish Gap, a natural low point on the mountain in Central Virginia. The tunnel
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Surveying the Haunted
March 3, 2015
AMT was contracted to provide civil engineering and surveying services for the restoration of the Point Lookout Lighthouse. The AMT Project Survey Team created a specific deliverable for the project--a 3D Point Cloud of the Interior and Exterior of the Lighthouse Building. While conducting research for the project, going through...
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Presenting on our Stormwater Experience
January 21, 2015
The Virginia Metropolitan Stormwater Association, also called VAMSA, asked Don Rissmeyer to present AMT's experience to its members during its quarterly meeting last week in Richmond. Don and I were excited to share our best management practice designs with a focus on stream restoration. As this was my
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Sometimes It's Easy
December 24, 2014
It started with an idea. We do "Bring Your Child to Work Day," and Discover Engineering Family Day, what about those whose kids have fur? What about our "furbabies?" They need love too! "We should do
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Solving Problems with High Tech Gadgets
October 31, 2014
Inspecting water and sewer lines hasn't always been easy. While there were ways to do it, they either required getting down into the sewers or waiting until something flooded to find the compromised pipe. As technology has improved, other methods were developed. Now we have the option of using remotely...
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Developing the next generation of STEM students
October 7, 2014
Science, Technology, Education and Math, or STEM, education is a prevalent topic in our country's dialogue. Currently, we don't educate enough students in these fields to replace retiring professionals or to support the scientific advances and innovations that we hope to accomplish. The Virginia Department of Transportation-Northern Virginia District Civil...
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In Praise of Praise
August 8, 2014
I received an email from a colleague today praising a document that a member of our marketing team put together. I've had a fairly productive day, but likely the best task I did today was to find out which team member
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Carolyn's Journey
July 2, 2014
In December 2011, I was diagnosed with ALS, also called Lou Gehrig's Disease.
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Training Tips from the Military
June 11, 2014
In the fall of 2010, I was on the red-eye returning to DC from a laser scanning conference in San Francisco and a previous passenger had left the November 2010 issue of the Harvard Business Review in the seat back pocket. The focus of the issue was on leadership lessons
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Boots on the Ground – Dramatic Digital
May 21, 2014
Most employees have hobbies that are separate from their chosen careers. Sometimes these hobbies reveal great talents. Ryan Gilbert, a project engineer from AMT's Richmond office, started
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Reflecting on the Future
May 2, 2014
Last week we celebrated Bring Your Child to Work Day by showing 34 of our employees' children what we do for a living. Days like this make one think of the future. These will be the people taking over for us when we retire. Or will they?
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Work Zone Awareness Week
April 9, 2014
This week marks the annual public outreach campaign "Work Zone Awareness Week." Since its inception more than a decade ago, the campaign has grown from a localized event in the mid-Atlantic to a nationwide initiative to promote safety at the beginning of each construction season. In 2012, 611 people
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Where We Work – Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania
March 14, 2014
In this installment of "Where we Work," we visit the location of one of AMT's newer offices, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. Mechanicsburg is a collection of townships named for the mechanics who made and repaired wagons in the early 1800s and continues as a
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Landscape Architects: More Than a Pretty Garden
February 11, 2014
Landscape architecture is often viewed by the public as a beautification measure rather than an integration of natural systems and design. This integration creates functional landscapes that address environmental issues, sustainably manage stormwater, and create desirable spaces while respecting the surrounding environment. What makes landscape architecture beneficial on new and...
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Getting Ahead by Doing it Wrong
January 15, 2014
A recent LinkedIn post by Kevin Roose of New York Magazine suggests that you can get ahead using spelling mistakes and bad email etiquette. The post cites an exchange between Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook and Evan Spiegel of Snapchat in which Zuckerberg contacted Spiegel looking for a meeting. Spiegel's...
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Boots on the Ground – Christmas Wonderland
December 4, 2013
The Boots on the Ground series features the people at AMT who do the work out in the field, create the designs, plans, and analyses, and provide support that allows our company to thrive. In this edition of Boots on the Ground, we feature Silver McElroy, Billing Specialist in our...
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The holiday in the middle
November 21, 2013
The beginning of the holiday season is upon us, and while we're taking a moment to decide whether to say "happy holidays" or "Merry Christmas" or preparing for the start of Hanukah or other celebrations, it's worth focusing on the holiday at hand. The A/E community has a good amount...
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Where we Work – Rockville
November 7, 2013
If you check out our news section, you'll see that AMT is moving our headquarters office. You'll also see that we're staying in Rockville, Maryland. So it seemed apropos to start a new series in the blog on the places AMT works with Rockville.
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Nine tips for sharing the roadway
October 23, 2013
There has been increasing interest in recent years toward Complete Streets designs and bicycle and pedestrian friendly amenities in designing new roadways. As these roadway designs are being implemented and are less geared toward motorized traffic, there is also a push toward safety when it comes to sharing the road....
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Remembering Trevor
October 9, 2013
After a tragic accident last week, AMT Inspector Trevor Blankenship was laid to rest yesterday. Listening to Trevor's friends and relatives recount and recall stories of how Trevor had touched their lives was nothing short of amazing.
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Support Those Who Support You
September 27, 2013
Whether it's through serving our current contracts and clients or pushing to win new ones, it seems that members of the A/E/C community are continually operating at full capacity. But with as busy as we get, it's good to stop and take time to engage with those...
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Boots on the Ground – Speed Manager
August 14, 2013
In our first Boots on the Ground post, we feature Eric Groah, a construction manager who works out of our Verona office with the Virginia Department of Transportation in its North West Regional Operations administering projects such as Signals, Guardrail, Signs, Pavement Markings, etc. While Eric is a great construction...
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Unwinding the Backwards Presentation
July 31, 2013
So you've received some good news—your proposal was chosen for shortlist. Fantastic news! You gather some key players to sit down and discuss the upcoming presentation. You begin discussing the presentation slides: who will create them, what project examples will be used, and images are typical topics. After hours of...
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Are Permeable Pavements Affordable?
July 17, 2013
New and innovative stormwater management approaches are appearing every day through the creativity and experience of stormwater professionals. One of the technologies gaining traction with our clients is permeable pavement, especially in urban areas where land is unavailable and costs are at the highest. Permeable pavement eliminates the need...
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Keeping Safe on the Fourth
July 3, 2013
Here are a few ideas that may help you all have a safe and happy Fourth:
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A Minute Taken
June 20, 2013
The process of restructuring and redoing a website requires some reflection on who we are as a company and what we truly want to say to those who want to know about us. After a great deal of exploration, we have come up with a site that reflects our company...
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Working in Isolation
April 19, 2013
In American culture, we strive for independence. As we achieve success in our careers, we are rewarded with ever-increasing amounts of isolation. We have our own corner offices. We see working from home as a reward. It allows us to get things accomplished. Yet at the same time, without physically...
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A Culture of Awards
April 19, 2013
A colleague related a story to me today. He was being a bit of a stickler on a quality issue with a contractor. The client, knowing that one of our projects had just won an award, said, "You're just looking for another award." I was so proud of my colleague...
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Solar Water Heating
SolarBK's Solar Hot Water system in both family and industrial scale are optimized to meet customers's needs The very first introduced Solar Water Heater in Vietnam was from SolarBK®. Some...READ MORE
PV Rooftop
PV Rooftop System (solar photo-voltaic panels on the roof of buildings or households that generates electricity) is currently one of the highlights of SolarBK solutions to help solve the issues that...READ MORE
Solar Farm & Wind Farm
As renewable energy has become an emerging power source, Solar Farm/Wind Farm, which can also be called as Solar/Wind power station, becomes popular these days. With our strength in...READ MORE
Seawater Desalination System
The need of drinking water in the islands or coastal regions is really urge, particularly during natural disasters. The situation gets even worse due to the climate change. Understanding...READ MORE


text: Inspired by the regal hotels established across Canada during the early days of the CPR, the Balmoral is a little castle in the big city. As the home's design draws inspiration from Old World traditions, the interior is rich in stonework and custom millwork, and the exterior bears many specialty details such as {need examples}. Like the hotels that inspired it, the Balmoral reflects a deep appreciation for enduring craftsmanship and offers a beautiful view from every room. It also honours its medieval inspirations with an underground passageway to the detached garage.


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Really fun vid
Jacques Cousteau ate him with butter!
Steve Irwin blew through him like a didgeridoo!
I'm conserving my opinion.
Really fun vid
As someone involved in the writing Discord for this battle, I will say there were a TON of Spongebob line suggestions. They must have either made the active decision to not have a Spongebob line or were unimpressed by all of the suggestions. But rest assured, it was not something that was overlooked by the patrons.
If you want me to review something of yours, click me.
We're all humans, we all make mistakes, but try to always keep the site rules in mind..
Things on here I found funny:
Spoiler:Originally Posted by PolarBoreOriginally Posted by DionOriginally Posted by WumboOriginally Posted by TDFE ConfessionalOriginally Posted by GonadtheNomadOriginally Posted by SuperRapzOriginally Posted by PolarBore
Originally Posted by Martin Luther King, Jr.


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We run a lot of recaps on AfterEllen.com, but we aren't able to run them on every single show with a lesbian or bisexual female character. It's a great problem to have, really — too many shows on television with gay women. So we decided to do a weekly column giving you the basics on the lesbianish storylines and highlights from out lesbians who have regular shows on the tube. If we miss anything, we'd love for you to send us a tip.
Pretty Little Liars (ABC Family, Mondays): Emily's mom tells her the need a fresh start so they've moving to Texas to be by her father. Meanwhile, Emily seems more excited by emails from Samara, but is distracted by A's latest attempts to do in the PLLs. Watch the full episode at ABCFamily.com.
Shameless (Showtime, Sundays): Amy Smart guest starred as Jasmine, a young mom whose kids go to school with Debbie, and befriends Fiona when she comes in to help out. Jasmine takes an immediate interest in spending time with, complimenting and kissing Fiona, with hints that she might want something more from her in the next episode.
Skins (MTV, Mondays): On the season finale, Tea comes clean with both Betty and Tony about why she messed with their heads (and hearts). Watch full episodes at MTV.com.
The Good Wife (CBS, Tuesdays): Alicia helps Kalinda out when she is subpoenaed, but Kalinda figures out how to direct attention back to Blake and get out of the proceedings. But at the end of the episode, a huge secret is revealed about her that changes everything.
All About Aubrey (Oxygen): For the second week in a row, Aubrey flirted with bisexuality by going into the sauna with Krystal and giving her friend her first girl kiss. When Aubrey tweeted a photo of them naked together in the sauna, gossip sites went wild, calling Krystal Aubrey's new girlfriend.
The Amazing Race: (CBS, Sundays) Kisha and Jen pass some time while waiting for a train by taking on the Cowboys and Globetrotters in a game of basketball. Watch full episodes at CBS.com.
Daily Talk Shows
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (NBC): Rachel Maddow stopped by Thursday night to discuss her trip to the Hoover Dam and what's going on in Libya.
The Ellen DeGeneres Show (WB): Ellen welcomed author Jodi Picoult this week to discuss her book Sing You Home. Watch full episodes at ellen.warnerbros.com.
The Rachel Maddow Show ( MSNBC): Rachel continued her war watch on Libya, updates on Japan and then discussed Tim Pawlenty as the GOP's sleeper presidential candidate for 2010. Watch full episodes at MSNBC.com.
The Suze Orman Show (CNBC): A group of women want a bachelorette party in Vegas, but can they afford it? Suze answers them and tells you what you can't afford to cut from your budget. Watch video clips at CNBC.com.
The Talk (CBS): NCIS star Rocky Carroll stopped by to talk about his show and what it was like to work with Sara Gilbert on the short-lived CBS series Welcome to New York. Watch full episodes at CBS.com.


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Huw Hutchison AIYEP 2015 – 2016
Adviser at Department of the Prime Minister & Cabinet
We went to West Kalimantan for our AIYEP exchange. We lived in Pontianak for the City Phase and Lumbang for the Regional Phase.
Both my host families made an extraordinary effort to make me and my buddy feel welcome. Through visits to local sights of interest, introductions to their friends and relatives, and patient conversation after a long day of work and travel, they always went out of their way to look after anything we needed. And, of course, I still miss the delicious food that I was treated to on a daily basis.
I worked on a team focused on environmental issues. Lumbang, like many places in Indonesia, did not have an effective way to manage garbage, which had proliferated in recent years. This meant that the streets, waterways and forests were strewn with litter. We tried to tackle this issue by running weekly trash collections, educating local residents on ways to manage garbage and developing a pilot composting scheme at the village's primary schools. Happily, a number of these activities have continued on after our departure. It's very satisfying to know that we had some role in improving the local environment.
More than anything, it affirmed my interest in the Australia-Indonesia bilateral relationship, and the huge potential that exists for greater mutual understanding and cooperation between our two countries. Knowing that there are other young people working towards that shared vision is an enormously empowering thing to experience. I am sure that it will continue to guide my ambitions and interests well into the future.


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Break the sugar cycle and become your best self.
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Are You Struggling With:
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Crazy Bouts of Low Energy
Energy highs and lows are definitely related to poor diet + mental stress. I can help.
Frustration From Not Knowing Where to Begin
My specialty is reducing mind chatter & getting you organized . Did I mention I can help?
Is This You?
You tend to be Type A & Self Motivated
Can't seem to get the food thing right
You know you're better than where your life is right now.
One too many to-do's, and no focus on what's next.
How do I know this about you?
Because I am you. I've been there. Done that. I've had unfocused thoughts and
uncontrollable cravings no matter how much willpower I threw at myself! I then
"figured it out," and have been helping women do the same for over a decade.
Jenn Edden offers a fresh and wise approach to living with radiant energy and unshakeable confidence.
Jenn's style of writing is fun, to the point and always focused on one thing- helping women feel their most confident self. I have no doubt Woman Unleashed is the answer woman have been looking for when it comes to finding their best self!
Woman Unleashed is a breath of fresh air.
It's like Jenn has tapped into my mind and knows exactly what I'm thinking, and exactly what I need! She writes with courage, confidence, and an infectious enthusiasm that inspires action from the inside out. Simply put, Jenn gets what it means to be a highly sensitive woman living in a not so sensitive world.
Jenn speaks straight from the heart. Both nurturing and direct, she's got a rare combination of qualities that make a person want to listen and learn. Jenn generously shares her knowledge in "Woman Unleashed" for all of us to benefit.
I love Jenn Edden's high-energy and to-the-point perspective. I have no doubt she will help women all around the globe with their overall health and their mental, physical and emotional well being.
Woman Unleashed is a must-read for anyone looking to kick sugar and take their life to the next level.
Jenn Edden is a go-to expert for sugar addiction. What she teaches simply works.
Watch My Latest Videos
What Jenn's Clients Love About Her…
I hired Jenn as a health coach as I had issues with yo-yo dieting and never getting any permanent results… We came up with a plan to eliminate those from my routine as they were not serving my body with good nutrition. I have to say I love being binge free, it always felt like it held me captive in moving forward in my life and now it feels like I've been set free from just a bad habit.
For someone who takes control of most situations, Jen helped me realize that I had very little control over my eating. Who knew that what we eat controls so much of who we are (inside and out!).
My energy, attitude and general sense of self is so much better when I control the things I choose to eat. And while I thought it was easy to simply, 'eat better', Jenn coached me into seeing that I didn't know as much as I thought.
Jenn's program was a game changer. With Jenn's guidance and support, I created a new understanding of and relationship with my body. I have the knowledge and experience of what truly nourishes me. I can now make stress-free choices for what to cook and when eating out, because I know what will give me real energy. I no longer turn to food for fulfillment and learned to invest in experiences to cut cravings. Jenn helped me create a new lifestyle where I have the body and health I always wanted for myself.
I've been working with Jenn for a year and a half, and it's funny because initially I hired her as my business coach to help propel my health coaching career, but as life would have it, things changed, and she evolved into, what I like to call my LIFE coach.
We now talk the whole enchilada – business and health. I couldn't imagine my life without her in some capacity.
Women Empowered
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Latest News from Jenn's Blog
The Inside Scoop On RV Life (Mindbodygreen Article Inside!)
I was asked by Mindbodygreen to write an article on staying healthy and sane with Covid19 while living on the road!! I thought you might want the inside scoop on what we're actually doing to stay sane! It's not always easy but we're making it work. What other choice...
Are You Being "Bad" Or Is Sugar Just Your Weakness?
My daughter and I talking today about how to get along with people and the right things to say to them so we don't say things that could be taken offensively! Not everyone has the natural abilities of social etiquette and for sure my middle kid is one of them! Caitlin...
Two of My Biggest Fears!
And I know I'm not alone in having them so for those who have some fears that keep them from living their best life this is for you! As you know I left NY last June, sold most of our stuff and bought an RV to travel the country with my family for the year. Insert...
Wanna Stay in Touch? Me too!
Click here to get my 6 Step Plan to Kick Cravings, Outrageous Energy & an Empowered Life.
Join other women who are on the road to feeling, looking and being their best self. Every day.
Why Choose Jenn as Your Coach?
That's a Great Question!
As a recovering sugar-a-holic for over a decade, I have helped countless numbers of women feel empowered by learning how to kick the cravings without diets, pills or silly gimmicks that don't work in the long run.
As a mom of 3 small kids, a wife and a business owner, I am passionate about serving women who struggle with juggling too many hats while hoping to carve out time for themselves.
I wasn't always fit and put together the way people see me now. It's taken me well over 2o years to put all the pieces together. I was that kid growing up who was highly sensitive and got my feelings hurt a lot. I always tried to do the best I could, but would come up short and turn to cookies as my relief. I had a lot of anxiety and bouts of depression for sure. Peace of mind was something that other people had, but for me it was just a nice concept in books I've read.
I tried every diet known to man to drop the weight and most of the attempts would work. It was "once the diet was over" where I had problems. My cravings would always come back and so would the weight. All I remember thinking was "here I go again!"
Here's the awesome news.
I've been in your shoes and know the frustration and disappointment that no else can quite appreciate.
What I teach stops the "I'll just be good" mentality, curbs cravings and has you feeling empowered to think about what YOU want. When was the last time you thought about that?


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According to the grande dame of fashion herself, Coco Chanel, "Fashion is architecture. It is a matter of proportions". She was absolutely right and who can disagree with Madame Chanel?
We all know that keeping everything in proportion makes for a pleasing visual appeal. When you ignore this, things do not work together as well as they should.
For instance, picture an outfit made of a calf-length dress, knee length coat and flat shoes.
What about a wide full-length coat on a petite frame?
I am sure I do not have to give you a full-blown explanation as to what is wrong with these two outfits. You already know that their proportions are just wrong.
The thing is, proportions do matter in fashion and style. Today, let's see how we can keep things in proportion if we are plus sized and curvy. As well as length and width of clothing, there are three main accessories you also have to keep in proportion to your body size: jewellery, shoes and handbags.
Wear larger pieces of jewellery instead of dainty items as these will appear lost on you. Thin pendant chains and 'barely-there' bracelets will disappear on your body. However, Make the most of bold pieces that will make a statement. Do not shy away from dramatic pendants, necklaces and eye-catching cocktail rings.
In order not to look as if you raided your five-year old's closet, choose handbags which are in proportion to your body size. So please ditch those tiny and compact bags now. Large totes are ideal for you and can be carried over the shoulder, crook of the arm or by the hand. When carrying a bag on your shoulder though, double-check that it doesn't add too much bulk in the bust area. Et voilà!
Due to the extra weight to support and the fact that they are cut super tiny, thin heeled stilettos might be out of the picture for you. I can hear some of you lamenting that fact but comfort and safety is after all paramount. So what about wedges and platforms? They offer comfort, height and a variety of colours and styles. Court shoes, with a slightly thicker heel, will flatter your silhouette and bring a touch of elegance to your outfit. As an added bonus, they can be found in wide fittings too.
I hope you found this post helpful.
A Bientôt
Marie-Anne x
Other posts you may like:
Curvy girl chic
Little black dresses for curvy women
Figure-kind prints
Figure-kind stripes
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Readers' Comments
👠 "I am so proud of following your advice because I attended a function recently and a totally unknown lady came up to me and said how elegant I looked!!!! I was so happy, as you can imagine!!!! Thank you so very much for everything."
👠 "Love! Love! Finally a no non-sense approach to being chic, excellent tips, easy to do and understand, anybody can be chic!"
👠 "My closet is organized and I can put my hand on an item of clothing I'm looking for easily, thanks to your book"
👠 "I still need purging but thanks to you I was able to move in one wardrobe box instead of 3."
"Make every day special and beautiful"


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WWE '13 and the Attitude Era: ThatSportsGamer Show Episode 35November 15, 2012 at 11:36 pm | Posted in Podcasts | Leave a comment
Tags: Attitude Era, EA and UFC Games, FIFA 13 sales, NCAA 13 Uniform DLC, NHL 13 Roster Update, Playstation 3, Pro Wrestling X Kickstarter, Retro Gaming, ThatSportsgamer.com, video game podcasts, video games, Wrestling Video Games, WWE, WWE '13
I'm really enjoying WWE '13, especially the ability to replay storylines from the Attitude Era. If you liked wrestling from 1997 to 2000, this feature is what you've been waiting for since WWF No Mercy on the Nintendo 64. Keep your eye out for great sales this holiday season to pick the game up at a discount (we're playing on PS3). Then you can use that saved money to purchase the Fan Axxess pass for all the game's DLC plus much more.
Continue Reading WWE '13 and the Attitude Era: ThatSportsGamer Show Episode 35…
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When BioWare announced that Mass Effect Andromeda wouldn't be getting any further single-player updates, the studio ended their message by saying, "We hope to see you again in the Mass Effect universe." Shortly afterwards, BioWare GM Casey Hudson expressed interest in returning to the franchise in the future.
Making more Mass Effect games is something EA is also interested in, but as Executive Vice President Patrick Söderlund explained to GameReactor at gamescom, "we have to make sure that we bring it back in a really [relevant] way, and in a fresh, exciting place. That's my job, and that's Casey's job, and BioWare and the Mass Effect team's job, to figure out what that looks like, and that we don't know yet, but we will."
Prior to making that comment, Söderlund said he personally thought Andromeda was criticized a little more than it deserved:
Well I think, my personal opinion is, I think that the game… I usually don't do this, but this is one of those places where I feel like the game got criticized a little bit more than it deserved. I think the game is actually a great game. Yes, we have to acknowledge the fact that there were some things that maybe we could have done better, absolutely, but as a whole, if you go in and you buy the game today with everything that's in it today, I believe that that's a game worth buying, personally.
After mentioning that Mass Effect as a franchise has "such a big fanbase," he added, "I see no reason why we shouldn't come back to Mass Effect. Why not? It's a spectacular universe, it's a loved [series], it has a big fanbase, and it's a game that has done a lot for EA and for BioWare."
If Mass Effect does come back, what do you hope to see?
[Source: GameReactor]