Books By Alan

Click on book covers for reviews and previews.

RealmShift

"an inventive and action-packed story"

"a gripping, thought-provoking tale"

"a novel I am loath to put down. A most surprising read. Quite a ride"

"fast-paced and engrossing"

"RealmShift is phenomenal. If it’s not already on your bookshelf it should be."

MageSign

"a fast-paced ride through a visceral reality"

"a fast paced supernatural adventure that will leave readers rethinking how they view the Cosmos"

"a gritty tale of blood rituals, mystery, and mysticism… grabs hold of the reader and doesn’t let go"

"fantastic qualities … horrific at times... I highly recommend it"

"Alan Baxter takes the reader right to the edge and then pushes us over. And I thank him for it."

Ghost Of The Black

"Excellent pacing"

"I’ve found myself not wanting to stop reading"

"Everything about it is bang on"

"very, very readable."

Wise Words

"Things need not have happened to be true. Tales and dreams are the shadow-truths that will endure when mere facts are dust and ashes, and forgot." - Morpheus, The Sandman - Dream Country (Neil Gaiman)

"A powerful agent is the right word. Whenever we come upon one of those intensly right words in a book or a newspaper the resulting effect is physical as well as spiritual, and electrically prompt." - Mark Twain

"At the beginning there was the Word - at the end just the Cliche." - Stanislaw J Lec

Speak of characters and critique shall appear

November 24, 2009

By alan

Funny. I’d just published the previous post about characters, then off I went to check my Google Alerts. I found a review of RealmShift by Karen Lee Field. I know Karen from a great writers messageboard that sadly no longer exists and I usually read her blog. I’m rather honoured to discover that RealmShift was the first ebook Karen ever read, on her new iPod Touch, and it was a pleasant experience for her in terms of ebook reading and enjoyment of my novel. It’s an all round superwin!

Interestingly, among other things, Karen had this to say:

I was pleased to find characters with depth, characters I could relate to. Strangely, I could even understand why the bad characters were bad, which means they were well written and fully developed.

I take that as an enormous compliment. At least I know I can do it. Acheiving the same thing in my short fiction might be harder, but I know I have it in me. You can read the whole review here if you’re interested.

Thanks Karen if you’re reading! I’m glad you liked the book. You going to read MageSign too? People tell me it’s better.

8 Responses to Speak of characters and critique shall appear

Karen Lee Field on November 25, 2009 at 2:20 pm

You’re welcome.

And, yes, I am going to read MageSign. I already have my copy, just need to transfer it to the iPod Touch.
alan on November 25, 2009 at 2:36 pm

Excellent. Now I’m a bit nervous, hoping that you like it, hopefully more than RealmShift. And welcome to the world of ebooks. It’s an exciting time for reading.
ganymeder on November 30, 2009 at 5:56 am

Just finished ‘RealmShift’ and I agree that the character development was really good. I totally understood why the one evil bastard was so evil. Sam I wasn’t as sure of, but the mercenary I could totally see. I’m curious about Isiah though, wondering more about his background and why he was ‘chosen.’

Thanks!
alan on November 30, 2009 at 2:24 pm

Hey ganymeder – glad you enjoyed RealmShift. I often had to go outside and get fresh air after writing scenes with Carlos (the mercenary) in them. Getting inside his head was pretty disturbing! You going to read MageSign too? You might get to understand Isiah a bit more from that, although there’s not much more of his origins. (BTW, love to have you leave a review at Amazon, Smashwords, etc…!)
ganymeder on November 30, 2009 at 4:57 pm

I left a review at Amazon. Apparently smashwords doesn’t like my reviews because it never wants to load. But I did post one at amazon.
alan on November 30, 2009 at 5:37 pm

Thanks, you’re a legend.
ganymeder on December 2, 2009 at 9:06 am

I did buy the book at Smashwords, so I don’t understand why it wouldn’t work for me.

Gah, I don’t understand why my reviews aren’t showing up. I tried Amazon again, and when I tried to review it a second time it told me I’m only allowed to review it once. But when I search, my review doesn’t show up. Maybe there’s a delay?
alan on December 2, 2009 at 2:39 pm

I expect there is a delay at Amazon – there is for pretty much everything. Not sure about the Smashwords ones though.