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There are quite a few bloggers around who have earned a certain respect amongst the book-loving community, who will review your book if approached nicely. Maybe not the same as a press review, but at least it is another impartial reader to lend their weight to your reputation. A site I found...

Must the obvious make one's eyes bleed?

Absolutely :) Just using the highest-profile example. Could just as easily have referred to the Catholic-Protestant conflicts of Northern Ireland, the Hindu-Muslim feuds of India, or the secular but equally fundamentalist repressions of Mao's China or Stalin's Russia. My point being, it is...

I'm not sure that any culture has ever consciously 'invented' a religion with a purpose like that in mind. Rather, I think they evolve from a necessity. For example, if you don't know why some people get sick while others are healthy, you look at what the healty people do; and if they are...

I too must confess a fondness for Simon Cowell. He is on the level. And I'm clearly not alone - he always gets the loudest cheer of all the judges. Maybe because he dares to say the things we all dream of saying... My lordy, this has now become a Simon Cowell thread! We've created a monster...

I have often felt that concepts such as 'karma' or 'divine grace' are how cultures have, over history, attempted to impose some sort of order on the social imperative: namely, 'how can we all just get along?' It's no mystery that stealing from someone creates bad karma - it makes it more...

In that case, manuscriptx, I would definitely recommend that you check out Lulu.com and see if you can get some success with your writing there. With your technology background you should find the mechanics of self-publishing much easier than I did. Quite a few people seem to have no small...

A good analogy I read was in a book on writing by Michael Legat. 'People think they can write a novel because they have read novels. But they don't assume they can make a chair just because they have sat in a hundred different chairs.' It is a great art to make something look easy, and good...

Hear the voice of reason. :) Off-topic (ish), but it's worth pointing out that there WAS no Dan Brown scandal. I don't defend Brown's writing (an average thriller at best) but there was no plagiarism. The 'Holy Blood' writers claimed their book was factual. You cannot plagiarise 'facts'. If...

Reminds me of Emily Dickinson, actually, both in the metre used and in the rather enigmatic content. Circling around the edge of ideas rather than being obvious in its meaning. Do you know her poems? The similarities are quite interesting.

Trouble is, finding an agent is very nearly as hard as finding a publisher. Some actually say, 'come back when you've got a publishing deal' incredibly enough. p.s. I would not say 'beware' Lulu, exactly. It does exactly what it says on the tin. You sign away no rights, and you hand over...

Surely the best character has to be Sam? He is the one who grows and develops the most, shows the most selfless courage, pushes his limitations the hardest (with the arguable exception of Frodo... but then Frodo is 'chosen by fate' whereas Sam is simply chosen by friendship. The moviemakers...

I know what you mean. It can be disheartening to pick up a promising book and then be told that you'll have to read 15 more to find out how it ends. And I do suspect that some authors simply stick to their own money-making formula rather than diversifying. I find I get on better approaching a...

I will say a good word for Lulu.com. It is an easy and relatively cheap (technically, virtually free) way of producing good, bound copies of a book yourself. Even if you pay them for worldwide distribution through online retailers, it is only about £150/$200, an acceptable charge I think. I...

Is that not a little misogynistic? The idea of the man being constant but the female being changeable? Many women also work very hard and consistently... :-) I'm only semi-serious, don't worry... I know it is not intended as chauvinist, but it is worth considering the 'feminist reading' of...

A truer word was never spoken. Some still labour under the delusion that publishers are actively seeking new authors. They aren't. They sit like Simon Cowell in bored semi-interest until a suitable candidate crosses their field of vision. It is hard to imagine what 1-page pitch could be so...

Disorders necessary in order to become a writer: ADD - the real world isn't enough to hold your attention, you need to invent something that can. Paranoid delusions - because you are inventing non-real situations, and you are talking to thousands of imaginary people whom you don't know...

There is no copyright on facts, only on artistic creations. So you can feel free to use any factual information you glean about Patton (or anyone), so long as you do not parrot anecdotes word for word. Take the bare bones of the facts and re-tell them in your own style, with your own emphasis...

And yet some people can get away with it magnificently. 'Council of Elrond' anyone? (I know, genius is the exception.) But I never cease to be amazed by how Tolkien manages to makes a 10,000 word committee meeting so riveting. Just goes to show that rules can be broken, occasionally.

The boundaries are more blurred than one might think. 'The Little Friend' by Donna Tartt has a child protagonist, but is most definitely an adult book. 'Tarka the Otter' is often marketed as a children's book, but really only because it is about an otter. The prose is as eloquent and...