The Magic City

The Magic City

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Reviewing Reviews

How many times has the wise Laura Hayden cautioned, "Friends don't let friends read reviews."  Following that advice, who does read reviews? 

Don't worry, this isn't a post ranting about evil reviews.  Rather, I'm interested in starting a discussion about the benefit (or harm) that comes from reviews.  Without a doubt, a positive review from a major publication can generate good buzz for a book, but what benefit do reviews really serve?  Who is reading them?

My mother is a voracious reader.  She finds new books based on librarian recommendations and word of mouth from her friends.  The same is true of most of my lawyer friends.  When I started rattling off book review sites and asking them if they read reviews on Amazon/Barnes & Noble, they laughed, patted me on the head and told me I needed to leave work at an earlier hour because I was frying my brain.  In comparison, most of my writer friends devour blogger reviews, Goodreads reviews, etc. like the words were the very air they breathe.  Do only writers care about reviews?  I'd love to hear your review of reviews.  Do you have any favorite sites or trusted sources? 

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Theme Music - Part 2 - Play List for Spellbound: A Magic City Mysery



As promised, here is the playlist for Spellbound.  I am working on my next playlist (i.e. procrastinating).  I would love for you to share your playlist in the comments.
Uprising by Muse

The Highwayman by Loreena McKennitt

Mesmerizing by Liz Phair

Numb by Linkin Park

Never Saw It Coming by The Jesus & Mary Chain

Hide and Seek by Imogen Heap

#1 Crush by Garbage

My Immortal by Evanescence

Lullabye by Concrete Blonde

Where Do I Begin by The Chemical Brothers

Song for Whoever by The Beautiful South

The Stolen Child by Loreena McKennitt


Thursday, May 3, 2012

Theme Music - Part One

In a very entertaining (wicked is probably a more apt adjective) Twitter chat with M.V. Freeman and Katherine Bone the subject of theme music for our WIPs came up.  The one song that runs throughout mine is Uprising by Muse, so I thought I'd share:


I'll be back over the weekend to post my playlist.  In the meantime, I'd love to know what one song or songs would be the theme for your latest work.  Baby needs to load up her iPod!  Post a comment (with your email address), and I'll select one winner for a $10 iTunes gift card.  I'll announce the winner in the comment thread by Sunday morning.