Sea Goddess Released

I’m pleased to announce that after fourteen months of intensive authoring, my first novel of about 56,600 words is released as a Kindle eBook. The paperback version is being formatted. It will be added when the formatting is completed.

Sea Goddess is an uncommon novel with a fresh theme that fits more than one genre. This series of vivid experiences is a tale of ocean adventure, saltwater fishing, desire, pursuit, and love fulfilled. It's outdoorsy, contemporary, nautically authentic, and even partly a seafood cookbook. It's memoir-like, a buddy novel, and shot through with a golden vein of tenderness.

Set in Southern California and the coastal Pacific, the period is mid-1980s to the early 1990s. The main characters are a couple in their mid-thirties; married, and childless by choice. Jess and Evan both love to fish in the ocean. They also love seafood. They enjoy cooking together and cruising the watery expanse with all of the sea's moods and surprises.

Jess and Evan would sit beside a marina near their home to enjoy shared dream-time while longing to own a boat and go fishing together. When Jess found a beautiful, restored, wooden trawler yacht for sale, they bought her, re-named her Tin Hau and took her fishing on their days off. At first, they made mistakes that led to adventures like being caught in fog; dealing with all the work the engine needed; and even the threats of running aground and being lost at sea. But the fishing exceeded the happy couple’s dreams. They weaved-in romance afloat as they cruised to surrounding islands to anchor overnight and fish on distant reefs.

The angling couple's relationship included preparing and enjoying seafood they caught. They teamed up in the kitchen to prepare a few favorite recipes; easy, yet healthful and delicious, seafood feasts.

Jess and Evan caught so much fish that they gave away more than they ate. Eventually, they ventured far offshore to find the most plentiful catches. Some of their sport fishing was notable enough to make the news.

Sea Goddess is the story of a couple who bonded as fishing buddies through their shared interest, skill-building, seamanship, perilous escapes, teamwork, and star-crossed, mutual attraction. Read the story to find out how it all went and if, in the end, their adventures paid off their investment of time, cash, effort, and all of the risks they faced.

Please access the book preview HERE and if you like this first bit, I predict you’ll enjoy the whole book. There’s a link to the Amazon sales page in the upper left corner of this preview’s first page.

The Amazon Details page is found HERE:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07KVMYKJ5/

Another option: why not sign up for the free “Nonlinear Notions” newsletter in the footer of this website (scroll down) and gain access to some of my stories, also free, for a limited time only? Go to the bottom of this page and sign up. You’ll get access to some stories immediately, during the signup process.

Enjoy Your Reading,

Joseph Riden

How to Review A Book

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

Readers’ book reviews truly matter. Book shoppers appreciate insightful comments about a title that they're considering because reader reviews help them decide if a book they are viewing will interest them. Reader feedback also helps authors to know more about how to please their customers.

Customer reviews can make or break any product's success but a useful book review doesn't have to be lengthy or intellectual. The goal of a review is to honestly share your experience of reading the book, in your own words. Your comments will help others to gauge their own potential interest in the book before they commit to reading it. Insightful reviews help other readers in their quest to find books they like as they also help authors thrive. 

It's best to post your review soon after you finish a book while your reading experience is still vivid to recall. An online review can be as short or as long as you like, even a single sentence plus the rating stars you select to match your summary reading experience. But more information can be even more useful.

On Amazon, when you finish reading a book go to the book's Details Page to share your thoughts. You'll be prompted to log in. To get started, find the Reviews section on the product details page and click the "Write a Customer Review" button. On other sites, do the equivalent to post your review.

Thoughtful, informative reviews are fair but honest. They should reflect a readers' real reading experience. They may contain praise or criticism for a book, or some of both. First, jot down the textual part of your review. You could simply say what you liked or disliked and give your reasons. Your review isn't being graded but book browsers do appreciate other readers' insights. You can go into as much depth as the website where you are posting allows.

Here are a few review-writing prompts if you can use some help. Pick and choose the ones that are relevant to your overall assessment:

How would you describe the book to a friend?

What other books and/or authors you’ve read are similar or different?

Did you finish the book? If not, why not?

Was the book well-formatted?

Or did you find a lot of typos or format glitches?

Did the cover interest you and draw you in?

Was the cover relevant to book’s genre and to the content?

Are you glad you read the book? Why and how? 

Or was reading that book a waste of time?

Did you have trouble with the reading process? What was the issue?

How about the content, the length, and the writing style?

Did the book draw you in and keep you interested? Was it relevant?

What were your favorite parts of the book?

What parts of it did not meet your expectations? 

Did you find specific writing faults? What were they?

If the book is fiction, or another type of narrative, comment about the story's pace, length, tension, story arc, and resolution. How about plot, characters, settings, and the author's narrative style, and voice? What about themes and the title?

If the book is nonfiction, was the content interesting, useful, and/or valuable? Was it clear and credible? Were the author's assertions backed by facts and thorough research? How was topic coverage? Did the book hold your interest until the end?

Was it easy to stay engaged throughout the book?

Is there anything else you want to say?

Amanda Jones@amandagraphc

When your evaluation is done it’s time for your star rating. This naturally follows the textual section of your review because as you write, the text will clarify and justify the number of stars you pick to summarize your whole evaluation, showing the book's overall value and quality.

How strong was your summary feeling about this book? Five stars is best, one star is worst, three stars is neutral. Did you like it (4 stars) or love it (5 stars)? Did you dislike it (2 stars) or hate it (1 star)? Did the book leave you on the fence (3 stars)? Do you recommend this book (4 or 5 stars) to other readers? 

Each time you take five to fifteen minutes after reading a book to share your impressions, feelings, and thoughts with fellow readers, you're becoming more deeply vested in the worldwide community of book readers. That sets you up to receive contributions in like kind from other readers.

Everyone involved benefits from your online or offline book reviews. Thank you in advance for the reviews you post or have posted.

— JR