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Thomas Gaffney

writertomg@bookwyrm.social

Joined 1 year, 4 months ago

Author • Dreamweaver • Visionary • Plus Actor • You're about to enter the world of my imagination • You are entering my Darkplace • He/him

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Stephen King: Billy Summers (2021) 4 stars

Billy Summers is a man in a room with a gun. He’s a killer for …

Review of 'Billy Summers' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

I liked it. I liked the character of Alice better than Billy. It would be interesting to see a future book about her. Would she end up becoming a hitwoman?

Still, I bought this because: 1) it was Stephen King and 2) I read it was good. But truthfully, I tired of his crime books. The End of Watch trilogy was enough for me. I want to get back to his horror. I should've picked up [b:If It Bleeds|46015758|If It Bleeds|Stephen King|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1571399830l/46015758.SY75.jpg|70552618] instead

Guy Kawasaki: APE, author, publisher, entrepreneur (2013, Nononina Press) 4 stars

"In 2011 the publisher of Guy Kawasaki's New York Times bestseller, Enchantment, could not fill …

Review of 'APE, author, publisher, entrepreneur' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Definitely a must-read if you’re looking to self-publish. I wish I’d read this before self-published Stranger Things Have Happened. I would totally do it differently. Lots of good ideas I want to put to use going forward.

Elizabeth Acevedo: The poet X (2018) 4 stars

Xiomara has always kept her words to herself. When it comes to standing her ground …

Review of 'The poet X' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

I completely surprised myself by giving this four stars. I'm NOT one for poetry. It is not my jam, it is nowhere near my wheelhouse. Opening the cover, I immediately decided I wasn't going to like this book, told as a collection of poems by the main character, Xiomara. As it went, I admitted the story behind the poems was actually fantastic. I figured I would give this three stars. As it went on, I found myself more and more enthralled with Xiomara and rooting for her as I'd root for the final girl in a horror story/movie. I think that's what won me over. Xiomara and her life as a Black & Latina woman growing up in Harlem to a strictly religious mother and uncaring father. By the end, I was completely in Xiomara's corner and pulling for her in the Slam Poetry competition. I still don't like poetry …

Nnedi Okorafor: Binti (2020, DAW) 4 stars

It's been a year since Binti and Okwu enrolled at Oomza University. A year since …

Review of 'Binti' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Very excellent. Had to read the first short story for school and ended up reading the whole trilogy to see what happens. I'm glad I did! Highly recommended for sci-fi fans. There were times where I thought Bindi was acting too childish compared to how her character acts throughout the rest of the stories. But other than that, everything was amazing.

reviewed All Systems Red by Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries, #1)

Martha Wells: All Systems Red (EBook, 2017, Tor) 4 stars

In a corporate-dominated spacefaring future, planetary missions must be approved and supplied by the Company. …

Review of 'All Systems Red' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

I LOVED All Systems Red. Murderbot might be my new favorite character in all of Sci-Fi. I had to read this for my first grad school class at Emerson, and it was an overall winner. Highly recommended if you like Sci-Fi, or if you like character-driven stories that are quick-paced, with decent action and good suspense. I will most definitely be adding the other Murderbot books to my TBR pile.

Milan Kundera: The Book of Laughter and Forgetting (1999) 4 stars

The Book of Laughter and Forgetting (Czech: Kniha smíchu a zapomnění) is a novel by …

Review of 'The Book of Laughter and Forgetting' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

It definitely had it's good moments. And it definitely had it's OMG-WTF moments. Was that because of the timeframe it was written? Cultural differences? I'm not sure, but man it probably wouldn't be published today. It was good to read something so different than a Western novel, but overall I didn't think it was great.

Gabriel García Márquez: Of Love and Other Demons (2008) 4 stars

Of Love and Other Demons (Spanish: Del amor y otros demonios) is a novel by …

Review of 'Of Love and Other Demons' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

It was okay. Started off really good, but lost my interest along the way. Not my cup of tea, but I had to read it for school. It was interesting from the perspective of seeing how other countries/cultures/people tell stories, so that I liked.

reviewed Hyperion by Dan Simmons (Hyperion Cantos, #1)

Dan Simmons: Hyperion (Paperback, 1995, Bantam Spectra) 4 stars

On the world called Hyperion, beyond the reach of galactic law, waits a creature called …

Review of 'Hyperion' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

It was good. I'm a little ticked off by the cliffhanger ending, but not royally pissed. It didn't ruin my enjoyment of the book. However, I was very underwhelmed. I picked this up cause I've heard a lot of good things about it, but not one single section or chapter left me saying, "Whoa!" It's just stuff that happened and then the end, or kind of end. I wish there was more to it.

Andrzej Sapkowski: Last Wish (Paperback, 2008, Orbit) 4 stars

Geralt de Rivia is a witcher. A cunning sorcerer. A merciless assassin. And a cold-blooded …

Review of 'Last Wish' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

A good start to the Witcher series. If you like the Netflix show, you will like this. Most of season 1 came from the stories in this collection. I've only played the game briefly, so I don't know how the storylines stack up there. I knew I would like the "story" and premise, having enjoyed the Netflix series, but was worried about the writing - being translated an all. But it was quite enjoyable and I think I would've liked it even if I hadn't seen the TV show first. A decent amount of world-building without paragraph upon paragraph of the history of things. Highly recommended. I have the next two waiting for me, but might switch it up to something else before starting them.

Lisa Cron: Story genius (2016) 4 stars

"Following on the heels of Lisa Cron's breakout first book, Wired for Story, this writing …

Review of 'Story genius' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

It's definitely one of the three books I would recommend to authors. Stephen King's On Writing, Betsy Lerner's The Forest for the Trees: An Editor's Advice to Writers, and now Story Genius.

The book is not perfect. She does spend a lot of time dumping on other writing/plotting styles when I think they can go hand-in-hand with her Scene Card methodology. But Lisa's way of cracking open the deeper levels of your story and your characters was eye-opening. I had numerous ideas running through my head as I read this book, it was hard not to set the book down and dive back into my story. But in the end, I'm glad I waited. Lisa's explanations are clear and concise, and she pulls no punches about what readers want and what bullshit you need to cut out. And using her folders and scene cards plays a huge …