Read it all and loved it all. It starts, as you say, slowly but despite lack of high-voltage action the development of Alan's character and background is hypnotic and very readable. It made me cry at the end so proof of a strong emotional engagement. You do emotional engagement very well. The twist in the tale at the end is fantastic and totally unexpected. This book deserves many more readers.
Shubie

Thank you
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A lovely quirky novel peice of writing and backed with pleasure. My one piece of advice would be to re-work the first chapter. It is a list and as such I found it hard to digest with each paragrpah starting "Another..." It could put people off before they get to the main course (like that German fat on bread starter). I may even suggest you move it later - perhaps slot it in around about chapter 4 or 5 so as to get the reader fully hooked in before too much character analysis.
That aside, very well done and good luck. Gabe view book

A terrific and yet simple idea executed with craft and compelling intelligence.

Thank you so much. Of the books I have written this one means so very much to me. Gabe. view book

Hullo Gabriel. Bound to become a winner. How distracting to be a 'hit' man under the cover of an honest disability. No one would think to stop and question him. People with disabilities don't do things like that. Ha-ha you have proved them wrong. already shelved and now backed. Please take a look at my book and thanks in advance


Linda Lou Long
Southern dis-Comfort
http://www.authonomy.com/ViewBook.aspx?bookid=11421

Thank you. for your backing. I thought I had already backed yours but must be mistaken. Will get onto it in the next day or so. Thanks again. Gabe. view book

Catherine, this is an amazing book. I can feel the perspiration of its birth but I am so glad you knuckled down and finished. It was worth it believe me.
You have a wonderfully tight style of writing that gives the work weight and yet does not condemn it to drowning. There is also a really skilful delicacy in the way you drop in the occasional modern day word or phrase that helps link the historical to the here and now without making it flippant or horrible "pop culture".
I have to confess I have tended towards the racier bits of Genesis in the past whilst my favourite remains the action packed second book of Samuel but reading you has shown me there are pearls in even the dullest looking shells. I may have to go back and read some more. Thank you. Gabriel
p.s. I really did not like the child sacrifice. That sort of thing always upsets me. And that from a writer of gruesome thrillers. Although my "In Sight of the Line" was a softy. Well done and very good luck. view book

Amusing characters in a well trodden scenario but one you manage make sound fresh and new. And the way you keep up the pace of the telling is very skilful. There are a couple of places where I found the dialogue (especially Tybalt) slowed my reading and grated a bit but not sufficiently to dim the enjoyment. There were also a number of paragraphs that were long and heavy and I found myself having to go back to re-read. This of course could be more to do with reading off a screen than anything else but I do think some paragraphs could be split. That aside these are very minor issues in an otherwise very good book. Well done and good luck. Gabriel. view book

Lovely lovely lovely. I intended to read just a couple but ended up reading six. And it is indeed a shame that the illustrations can't be downloaded here but I can imagine them. Very well done and backed with great pleasure.
Gabriel.
p.s. If you do get a few moments to have a quick look at "A Patch of Dappled Sun" I would be very grateful. view book

I do not usually enjoy fantasy books and usually wouldn't pick it but your book was recommended to me (by a trusted friend) and so I had to have a look. And I am really glad I did. You write so economically and with such a matter-of-fact relaxed style. There is none of the fanatsy writers' common preponderence of heavy "aren't I clever thinking this up" descriptions and unpronounceable names. You write it as a story that just happens to be somewhere none of us have been or could go. I like that. There are some places where I think reading it aloud you would find yourself changing some of the phrasing (e.g. mid chapter 3 I found places where the previous easy flow stuttered a bit) and I confess to finding a couple of patches of dialogue in Ch2 a bit awkward and again this could be sorted very easily by reading it aloud to yourself. But these small niggles aside I actually enjoyed this which you should take as a very big compliment. Lastly a question. Is this simply a tale as told or is there an alegorical element? I like to think the latter but I don't want to be (or encourage youy to be) presumtuous. Anyway. Well done, backed and very good luck. Gabriel.
If you want to have a look at something completely different I would be very grateful if you could have a peek at "A Patch of Dappled Sun" some time. No obligation. view book

James, great story and Julia is a super character, well drawn and likeable in the critical MC sense. But what I liked best of all with this book is that it is not over-worked. At no time did I feel like I was being force fed detail or description. Like a skilful theatre set design I was given everything I needed to believe in the setting whilst having enough space for me to fill in the details from my own imagination. And for me that increased my personal investment in the story thereby allowing me to get more out of it. A difficult balancing act but one you pulled off spectacularly. Very well done and good luck with this. Gabe. view book

I found this a powerful read and not one for the faint-hearted. A clever compelling plot and some strong characters. I particularly enjoyed the slight change of writing style of the retrospective pieces where it felt to me like the action was being viewed through a screen - just like real life - slightly detatched and hazy but with sharp flashes of extreme clarity. Very skiful.
I think the short pitch is intriguing but the long pitch inpenetrable - it wasn't until I had read a lot of the book that I could understand the pitch as all. A little tidying up could pull in a lot more casual readers. There were also a few places in the book where I couldn't follow from one chapter to the next where I was. Although you know what is happening imagine a reader who cannot read it all in one go and has to take breaks between chapters. I dislike books that start chapters with date/place stamps but a few subtle pointers (or retro-links) as to where we are could help a lot. But maybe I'm just too old.
Anyway, very well done and you fully deserve to be shooting up the rankings. Good luck. Gabe.
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Reading any other book it like bobbing along on a merry-go-round horse compare to this white-knuckle roller-coaster. Just 5 chapters in and I am exhausted by the phenomenal (dare I say unique) experience. You cannot describe this sort of thing - you just have to persuade others to try it for themselves. And thanks heaven (anybody's) for the concept of the swap read because without that there is no way I would have ever been here. An I woudl have missed something amazing. Great work Steve. Backed with ease. Gabriel. view book

I laughed aloud at the first line and didn't stop chuckling, chortling and other humourous reponse stuff thereafter. A great read and how I wish I could take the whole book on holiday with me. Well done. Gabe. view book

This is wonderful. I thought I would have a quick peek over lunch and ended up reading the whole lot. I adore Gen and her turn of phrase is pithy and funny (even when she' s maybe not trying to be). And I booed Maddy of course to show solidarity. You have a really good way with words and phrasing that pulls the reader on and your hook in the tail of each chapter masterfully ensures the next is started without putting the book down. I think that's what they may call "unputdownable". I want to see chapter 6. Excellent work and backed with sincerity. Gabe. view book

Fabulous - absolutely fabulous. I have never been there but now I feel like I have. The characters and language are brilliant and that is even before you get anywhere near the story. So many passages made me laugh out loud (I hope I was supposed to) at the sheer blunt irreverence of thoughts expressed. So a superb job and very very well done on a work that is (in my Authonomy experience) quite unique. Gabe. view book

There is something ever so slightly old fashioned about the writing style here that fits is perfectly with the story without making it too bloody hard to read. Very skilful. And then there is that sense of foreboding - from the very first chapter - that hangs around the reader; there, close by and yet ungraspable. Excellent. This book is not just a read - it is a total sensory experience. Masterful and worth a far higher slot on the rankings. And the cover is the best on this site in terms of its fit with the tale. Very well done you. Gabe.
p.s. I noted somebody in a comment put you in bed with Stoker. For me it has more of the elusive creepines of Poe in some of his less well known short stories. (Hope that doesn't upset you.) GG
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Gabriel
A couple of things did this for me in the first few moments of reading: The intensity of the start and the correct spelling of hiccough. I knew I had to read further. Okay I did want to barf at that last sentence – people kill beautiful things all the time (consider deer shooting) could there not have been something else? –The animation on her face, the way she threw her hair back, an ethereal quality, an elegance…anything. ‘Beautiful’ is so clichéd these days (and such a popular adjective on this site) I cringe every time I read it.

But the quality of your spelling forced me to turn the page (and then I hit ‘decent’ in the first line – should be descent, m’dear) and I stumbled upon what society considers the antithesis of something beautiful and I was inspired once more to read on.

You show so well the viewpoint of David, the child, and in few words. I could imagine just what he felt like and whence this strong determination of his had come. Then the pieces start to fall into place and the reader is jolted into the realization that this ‘cripple’ is an assassin. Talk about surprises. And that’s what this is. Full of them, little twists and turns that keep the reader both entertained and guessing. On the shelf.

Lesley

Thank you so much for your comments. All taken to heart. And that typo in line one!! I have read that a dozen times or more myself, had the thing proof read (twice), edited and then read by well over 200 people and nobody noticed such a glaring error. Thank you. I hate silly mistokes (that was deliberate by the way). Gabe. view book

One thing i know is that i read your book aloud, and this is a good sign, as it is difficult to read aloud a book that is not smooth. I see profesionalism in describing David, you never told us he is crippled but you showed it. I see him waiting for the passangers to come out of the plane. I would love you to include more dialogue, but that will be wanting too much because i enjoyed your style and the flow of the story.
You know what i did? i also read chapter 16, and isaw that you sustained your voice.
Backed with pleasure!

Thank you Tope but there is no sign of your backing yet. Is there a problem? I promise I will be reading your book soon but I am a bit behind. Do not worry. Cheers. Gabriel.


Tope Apoola
Times of the supermen

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This is so far off my usual reading radar but I have to admit you had me. There is something special about your prose compared to other efforts in this sort of genre. I can't put my finger on it but it's like you didn't strong-arm me into believing in your fantasy - you just told me about it and left me to believe all by myself. yes, it's the subtlety of your telling that's different. Now that's clever!! So very well done and backed with pleasure. Gabe. view book

To be frank I found this a tough read. But I still kept on reading. That tells me you know how to grip the reader with a tough subject. Sure there are places where it could be smartened up and any half-decent editor will do that for you but do not let them take away the direct - sometimes sparse - grittiness of the telling. Well done. Gabe. view book

Snappy, sassy (good Lord - I'm starting to write like an American) and bloody funny (thank the Lord I'm English again). Anyway - all that nonsense aside - this is great fun and exactly the sort of book I look for when I am swapping the office for the beach. Backed with pleasure. Gabe. view book