Category Archives: book review

Caution! This Post Contains Fantasy Football

Posted on September 1, 2014 | 4 comments

I’m not kidding. This is really about fantasy football. It may seem like a departure for me, but believe it or not, my online writing career began with fantasy sports back in 2005. I wrote for several websites and a magazine and even got paid for doing it.

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Over the last couple weeks I’ve been listening to the satellite radio SiriusXM’s fantasy sports radio channel. A frequent guest on some of the shows was a guy named David Gonos. He talked about a new fantasy football book he had published that he was selling for $5.00 as a PDF download from his website. My first thought was, “I’d like to read that book.” Yes, I do know that fantasy football is just the sports nerds version of Dungeons & Dragons. (joke credit to Rich Eisen) My second thought was, “I’m not going to pay $5.00 for a PDF. Why the hell didn’t he just put it on Amazon so I could download it to my Kindle?”

So I looked him up online, e-mailed him and expressed my second thought much more tactfully in the e-mail than I thought it. Long story short, I spent the weekend e-mailing with David Gonos and helped him get his book in the Amazon store.  If you or someone you know is into fantasy football I highly recommend this book. It is a GREAT resource with tips and strategies from over 50 experts. The information in it isn’t just applicable to this year either. You can use it again and again as you prepare for and play your fantasy football seasons. Also, David was a really nice guy who wasn’t offended that a random guy contacted him to give him advice. I believe nice people should be supported. If you play fantasy football here’s the link to his website: DavidGonos.com and here is his book on Amazon: 101 Fantasy Football Tips. If you’ve got SiriusXM radio you can listen to him as the featured guest on The Fantasy Funhouse on channel 210 sometime between 9:00-11:00 EST tomorrow.

See you tomorrow morning for Top Ten Tuesday! ~Phil

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A Bad Review for My Book: How Great is That ?

Posted on February 24, 2014 | 20 comments

A few weeks ago the unthinkable happened. I got a bad review for my book on Amazon. Guess what? I L-O-V-E it. My thoughts are this; I’m not writing books for everyone. I’m writing books for me and for people who like to read the same kind of stuff that I do.

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In my life philosophy, if people don’t get mad at you sometimes then you are obviously never taking risks with your thoughts, words, and actions. Don’t get me wrong; I don’t want a lot of people to disagree with me or criticize my books, but if I occasionally get someone’s undies in a bunch then I think I’ve probably done something noteworthy

 

 

The reader, whom I shall not name, gave the book three stars and started her review by saying, “Not what I expected. I did not finish the book. I stopped about 1/3 of the way through.”  Really lady? You decided not to finish the book because it was too scary and then gave it a 3 star rating anyway? Maybe it would have gotten all five stars if she had read the other two thirds.

She also said, “There is some swearing in this book. The usual words may not be used but you know what is intended.” What? Characters in a book acting like normal human beings? I can’t believe it. Hide your children! Contact the authorities!

Furthermore she added, “The boys frequently ignore rule for their safety, climb out their windows when they are supposed to be in their rooms.” Oh no! Fictional characters having fun and acting age appropriate? Get this on a banned books list somewhere immediately!

What really cheesed me off, and I do not say that lightly because I’ve never been cheesed off before, is that she gave away three crucial plot elements that occur in the first third of the book. If you don’t like my book, fine. We all have different tastes. Apparently she was searching for a book for small children and thought that the synopsis mentioning a serial killer wasn’t clear enough. If you don’t like it, I don’t care, but don’t ruin surprises in the book for others.

All in all, I’m pleased that someone read part of my book, hated it, and thinks it should be at least PG-13. I’m not suggesting any of you go write bad reviews just to please me, but if you clicked on the book in the right sidebar and read it I wouldn’t mind a bit.

Have a great Monday! ~Phil

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Book Review of “Wool” by Hugh Howey

Posted on December 23, 2013 | Leave a comment

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See that cover in the right half of the picture? That’s why I read Wool. In the store the cover just grabbed my attention. It was different, like the story.

Dystopia: a society characterized by human misery as squalor, oppression, disease, and overcrowding. (Dictionary.com)

It would be easy to dismiss Wool as another futuristic, sci-fi, dystopian society novel, of which there are far too many. Wool however is more than that. I also just realized that I’ve italicized Wool four times now. I may have to stop mentioning the name. All this italicizing is very labor intensive.

Where was I? Oh, that’s right, Wool is different. First off the hero of the story is a heroine. This is the first time that I’ve read a novel where the main character is a woman. Guess what? It didn’t matter. It was a good story about not just one person, but an entire society overcoming oppression and control. It is a story of the triumph of the human spirit in search of the truth.

In this future our atmosphere has become so toxic that the human race is forced to live in silos that are mostly underground. It is a vertical world where the residents must climb stairs, sometimes for days, to get from one place to another. As restrictive as their vertical world is, the rules by which they must live their lives are far more strict and steeped in mystery.

Just a few years ago Hugh Howey was an indie author like myself, publishing his own stories in hopes of getting noticed. I think that the silo with it’s rigid rules could perhaps be a metaphor for the old publishing industry. The heroine, Jules, representative of what indie authors face as they attempt to climb that ladder to a place in their desired profession where others see them and know their work. Hugh Howey climbed that ladder spectacularly to the top, going from indie author writing great self-published stories to bestselling author in both print and e-books format,  giving hope to all indie authors that if they continue to work hard, to overcome adversity and a rigid out of date system, they too can climb the ladder and survive to see the light like Jules did in Wool. 

Spoiler alert: I was pretty happy with the end. This is a long book, but it has a great payoff at the end for you. You can also read the interesting interview I did with Hugh for #ThePhilFactor back in July here.  You can find more about Hugh Howey and his writing at HughHowey.com. As always, if you enjoy The Phil Factor feel free to share on Facebook and retweet or reblog. I hope you’re having a great holiday season.

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New Novel Release! The Sneaker Tree

Posted on December 7, 2013 | 4 comments

Remember when you were a kid and you had that one magical summer that seemed to last a lifetime?

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Cooper, Gooby, Chuck, Cliff and Bolo don’t know it, but they are in the midst of a summer they will never forget. Their small town is paralyzed with fear as a serial killer preys upon children and The Golden Boys seem to be the only ones who have a chance to stop him. A life-long bond is forged between them as they confront each other, their worst fears and a killer that is more than anyone could possibly imagine.

From the first review that I swear I did not pay for: “This book had it all, great characters, humor and suspense. If you like Dean Koontz…characters you will like this book as well.” ~ Karen

If you read my first novel White Picket Prisons this is the perfect prequel. If you didn’t read White Picket Prisons don’t worry about it it! This is the prequel, so it happened before the other story. This is better to read first anyway. It was a fun write and I hope you find it to be a fun read. It’s not an 800 page long Stephen King kind of novel either. It’s the kind of book you can read in a weekend when you’re bundled up on the couch because it’s too cold to go out.

It’s now available for only $3.99 on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and in the iTunes bookstore as well as all the other online e-book retailers.

Yes, for my regular Phil Factor readers, I apologize that I didn’t do my usual Saturday post, but I promise I’ll get back to sarcasm as usual after today and I thank you for your wonderful support. As always, I love it when you do that social media thing that makes all this media social by sharing #ThePhilFactor on Facebook, Twitter, and anywhere else you’d like.

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Book Review: Stephen King’s 11/22/63

Posted on November 22, 2013 | 2 comments

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In honor of the anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy I thought I would re-post an amended version of my review from earlier this year. Yes, I realize that Stephen King doesn’t need my review to help his sales, but every once in awhile you read a book that captures your imagination so much that you want to tell everyone to read it. 11/22/63 is one of those books.

When it first came out in November of 2011 I had no interest in reading the book. I hated the title and the cover art. That’s usually enough to steer me away from any book. I am a Stephen King fan though, so about 6 months ago when I hit a dry spell in finding a book to read I gave 11/22/63 another look. Two things helped to convince me to give it a chance. The new book price had come down after it had been out over a year and I read the synopsis and discovered that it was a time travel story. Anyone with an imagination has thought about time travel. Most of us have wondered about the great what ifs both large and small, whether it be correcting mistakes in our own life or changing the world for the better.

Don’t worry, I’m not going to give out any spoilers here. In 11/22/63 school teacher Jake Epping is a likable fellow but a little lonely since his divorce. When his elderly, ailing friend reveals that he has discovered a “rabbit hole” in the back room of his diner that takes a person back in time Jake is of course skeptical, until he tries it.

Once Jake is convinced, his friend throws out the really big bait. What if Jake could travel back in time to stop the Kennedy assassination? Would the Vietnam war be avoided thus saving thousands and thousand of young men’s lives? What other positive changes to history might occur if John F. Kennedy hadn’t died?

The book is  historically accurate and painstaking in many of the details. Stephen King builds a fascinating tale around that framework, adding flesh to the skeleton of information we all know about the event.

Of course if everything went according to plan Mr. King wouldn’t have much of a novel here, and that’s where this story gets really fun. What if, when you travel back in time, every little thing you do has a ripple effect that leads to unintended changes that you can’t possibly foresee? What if your interactions with people changed the course of their lives? How would your future be different when you got back?

In the end 11/22/63 turns out to be a surprising love story with a  surprising ending that Stephen King credits to his son Joe Hill, who is a successful horror/suspense writer in his own right. As with any Stephen King novel, going in you have to know you’re making a significant time investment, but for this ending 11/22/63 is worth it.

As always, if you enjoy what you read at #ThePhilFactor please hit the Facebook, Twitter, or other share buttons below.

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Book Review: Fifty Shades of… Phil?

Posted on July 26, 2013 | 1 comment

I’d like to thank Jasmine of Flux and Flow for the wonderful review of Fifty Shades of Phil. Finally someone gets me!

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Book Review: Stephen King’s 11/22/63

Posted on July 23, 2013 | Leave a comment

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Yes, I realize that Stephen King doesn’t need my review to help his sales, and often I try to support indie authors with my Tuesday blog interview, but every once in awhile you read a book that captures your imagination so much that you want to tell everyone to read it. 11/22/63 is one of those books.

When it first came out in November of 2011 I had no interest in reading the book. I hated the title and the cover art. That’s usually enough to steer me away from any book. I am a Stephen King fan though, so about 6 months ago when I hit a dry spell in finding a book to read I gave 11/22/63 another look. Two things helped to convince me to give it a chance. The new book price had come down after it had been out over a year and I read the synopsis and discovered that it was a time travel story. Anyone with an imagination has thought about time travel. Most of us have wondered about the great what ifs both large and small, whether it be correcting mistakes in our own life or changing the world for the better.

Don’t worry, I’m not going to give out any spoilers here. In 11/22/63 school teacher Jake Epping is a likable fellow but a little lonely since his divorce. When his elderly, ailing friend reveals to Jake that he has discovered a “rabbit hole” in the back room of his diner that takes a person back in time Jake is of course skeptical, until he tries it.

Once convinced, Jake’s friend throws out the really big bait. What if Jake could travel back in time to stop the Kennedy assassination? Would the Vietnam war be avoided thus saving thousands and thousand of young men’s lives? What other positive changes to history might occur if John F. Kennedy hadn’t died?

Of course if everything went according to plan Mr. King wouldn’t have much of a novel here, and that’s where this story gets really fun. What if, when you travel back in time, every little thing you do has a ripple effect that leads to unintended changes that you can’t possibly foresee? What if your interactions with people changed the course of their lives? What if, when you got back to your future it was drastically changed, and not for the better?

In the end 11/22/63 turns out to be a surprising love story with a wonderful, surprising ending that Stephen King credits to his son Joe Hill, who is a successful horror/suspense writer in his own right. As with any Stephen King novel, going in you have to know you’re making a significant time investment, but for this ending 11/22/63 is worth it.

As always, if you enjoy what you read at #ThePhilFactor please hit the Facebook, Twitter, or other share buttons below.

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