Getting Reviews

I always like it when someone not only wants to read my novel, but upon finishing it actually decides to talk to me about it. I can clearly see when this happens that someone really cared about it.

When The Third Face came out, I have to confess that I was actually surprised by how few people actually bought it, based on statistics. But that really doesn't tell the whole story at all. When I started actually talking to people, I discovered that most of the copies were actually being passed around among friends and family. That was because those buyers were the kinds of people I mentioned above: they actually care a lot about my book! That means a lot more to me than sales figures.

One person who received a copy was my favorite English teacher from high school. She shared it with her students, and recently I received an e-mail from her with comments from 5 of them. I'm so pleased with these that I'd like to share them with you now.


"It was a very thorough piece. [...] Although I typically am not a fan of fantasy-esque work, this kept me engaged."
 
"It was clever.  I am a big fan of element bending."

"This was a fresh approach.  It was interesting, even though the plot lost me in a couple of spots early on."
 
"Wow!  This was a lot of work for a high school student!"
 
"It felt like it was written by someone older.  It was pretty serious!"

While I can never thank the individuals who said these things directly (since they were all anonymous), I want to express my gratitude in general to anyone who's given their thoughts on it to anyone. When you do that, you're doing me a personal favor. That's something I thoroughly appreciate.

What's next?

Well, I've given The Third Face its time: nearly a month and a half. Surprisingly, I even backed off from my ceaseless promotion of it! To some it might seem as if I've actually forgotten about it, especially now that, I'm happy to say, I've just gotten a job.

The reality of it is that I decided to focus on more books. I've spent the majority of my free time lately reading series that I never got to completely finish when I was younger, and much of the rest on writing. Those who have read The Third Face to the end will be excited to know that I'm starting work on the sequel right now.

What can you expect from the next book? Without spoiling the ending of The Third Face, I can say that a lot of questions it posed will be answered, only to be replaced with new ones. New characters will make their way onto the scene. Others will return that you never expected to see again. The pace is about to pick up, as the main cast discovers their limits and fights to survive.

I really wish I could settle on a title right now, so I could at least give you that much. For now, just know that I'm hard at work developing the ideas to expand upon the world I've created.