Bloated Goat Review on Booklopedia Blog

Cleo from Booklopedia was gracious enough to review Bloated Goat and give it 4 stars. She found it hilarious and original. You can read the whole wonderful review RIGHT HERE.

Indie eBook Hall of Fame

Bloated Goat is listed on the Indie eBook Hall of Fame blog, under the young adult category. Here is the link: Bloated Goat on Hall of Fame

Multiple Stories

I'm working on multiple stories and plots right now, varying from novel to short story size. I have the big ones listed on the right side of the site under Works in Progress.

Working on so many at one time is a double-edged sword. I feel great having several stories to tell, but it takes enormous patience and brain power to keep them all separate and organized in my head.

What's that? You think I should write stuff down so I don't have to remember it all?

Hey, why didn't I think of that?  Thanks!

Gratuitous Non-Book Post

This will be a rare segue from my normal book posts, but I just gotta say how exciting it is to see the Green Bay Packers going to the Superbowl.

What a season!

I've had about fifteen almost-aneurisms during the season and none more stressful than the latest Packers-Bears NFC Championship game.


Thanks guys for such a wonderful season...one more game to go!

The Hunger Games - Finished

Well, I finished The Hunger Games last night. What a ride. I really liked it a lot. While reading the story I felt parts of it were familiar, and after awhile, I think it was because it reminded me of Stephen King's The Long Walk...which I loved, too.

The book left me wanting more, obviously, since it ends one story arc but fails to resolve the main one. Which, I guess, is why there is a book two and three. I've already ordered book two, so we'll see how that goes.

I'm definitely glad I read it. I'm not sure what age range it is marketed to, but I wouldn't let anybody under thirteen read it due to the violence and adult subject matter.

The Hunger Games

Yes, I know...I've come late to the party. Everyone has heard about or read The Hunger Games before me. What can I say? I live in my own bubble.

I just picked it up at the library yesterday and I'm about 30 pages into it. So far, I like it. The story is interesting, the characters are compelling, and the writing is real. Even better, I'm excited to finally have another book to read. I had been in a book drought for over a week.

Awesome 5-star Review for Bloated Goat

This review had me smiling so hard it hurt my face. I really appreciate it when someone takes the time to leave such wonderful thoughts. Here is the review from Amazon:

"If you enjoy wild, zany humor, unfettered creativity and hysterical literary asides, this book is for you! The writing style is very unique, and the whole concept for the story is completely original. This book will really appeal to kids who enjoy Lemony Snickett ("A Series of Unfortunate Events") and adults who want a ridiculous, family-friendly story to read to younger kids. My 11 and 13 year old children laughed out loud many times while reading this, as did I.

To give you an idea of the writing style, here's the opening paragraph, "The forest is full of many wonderful and zany creatures, each with amazing personalities, entertaining stories to share, and timeless memories to relive. Unfortunately, dear reader, those animals command very high salaries and unreasonable dressing room requests, so instead, you get stuck with the animals in this story..."

Go ahead and spend $.99 to find out what happens to these crazy "underpaid" characters! What have you got to lose? This book is pure fun."

Doug TenNapel

Have you read any of Doug TenNapel's graphic novels? Do you like humor? Do you like action? Do you like tight plots? Do you like strange, unexplainable characters and situations that make you think to yourself, "Now, why the heck didn't I think of that?"

If so, then you need to check out his works. I've read Creature Tech GN, Earthboy Jacobus Graphic Novel, Tommysaurus Rex, and Iron West recently.

They are all fantastic. Check them out at his website here:  www.tennapel.com

4-Star Review from The Book Blog

I'm happy to announce Bloated Goat has received another good review. Shaynie from The Book Blog wrote some very kind words and did a great job summarizing parts of the story that even I have trouble doing. Isn't that crazy? And I wrote it.

Derek J Canyon's Adventures in ePublishing

There is an interesting blog I follow called Adventures in ePublishing written by Derek J Canyon. I found it sometime over the last three months when I was researching and planning to release Bloated Goat on Kindle. I feel very fortunate that I did, because Derek's posts about his own self-publishing journey have been refreshing, insightful, and entertaining. He makes the data easy to understand using various charts and he leaves no stone unturned when trying to squeeze every bit of insight out of what is working and what is not. If you haven't found his blog yet - do yourself a favor and check it out.

Spalding's Racket

Bloated Goat is featured over on Spalding's Racket blog today. Nick Spalding runs a pretty neat blog over there, and I'm glad I found it a few weeks ago. It features all kinds of great indie books. I'm happy to have Bloated Goat front and center over there...even if it's only for a few hours.

3-Star Review for Bloated Goat

Just yesterday I received my first 3-star review for Bloated Goat from The IEMommy Blog. That initially saddened me, until I started thinking more about the words and intent in the review. I won't post the whole thing here as you can read it on the Bloated Goat product page, but here is a partial:

"Hmmmm? Yep, that's pretty much how I am going to sum up this book....because I am not really sure where to go with this review. I have to remind myself that this is a book for tweens and therefore I might be missing some of the humor because I am too well, old! Simply put and matter of fact. While I have read many tween, kids and YA titles this one was quite a bit different. If you enjoy comedy such as Police Academy, Monty Python and the Simpsons...you just may enjoy this book."

So, a day later, I am feeling better. And I realized that the quote "If you enjoy comedy such as Police Academy, Monty Python and the Simpsons...you just may enjoy this book." is a very positive endorsement. Apparently, the reviewer doesn't think those three shows are funny, but obviously millions of other people do.

So, I learned or reaffirmed these thoughts: This reviewer didn't get my humor. That's okay. This reviewer didn't give me a stellar rating. That's okay. This reviewer is entitled to her opinion. That's okay (duh).

My skin just got a little thicker. I'm going to continue to write what I want to read.

Another Nice Review for Bloated Goat

Yvonne from Socrates' Book Review Blog has reviewed Bloated Goat. She liked the story and gave it 4 cats (that's a good thing). You can read her review HERE.

Bloated Goat for $.99

I would like to introduce you to my new middle grade children's book called Bloated Goat.

It is a unique fantasy story suitable for ages 8 and up and full of humorous, light-hearted adventure that you and your children will love. Crazy characters like Cocky Doodle and Granny Hammy are thrown into wacky situations like skunk weddings and giant mushroom feasts. If you loved the laugh out loud humor, strange characters, and fantasy atmosphere of Shrek and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, you will love Bloated Goat.

Check out these links for reviews and more:

Bloated Goat on Kindle

Bloated Goat on Nook

Bloated Goat on Smashwords

Welcome

Hello Everyone,

This is my first post on my first real website. And no, I don't count that ridiculously silly one I made in college that was full of Street Fighter and Megaman GIFs and sappy love poems.

This will be my little corner of the Internet where I can shovel my wares (that's merchant talk for "please buy my books") and talk about whatever else I want to.

Thanks and happy reading!