RISK PAYS OFF WITH KIRKUS KUDOS

Like most folks, I didn’t know a lot of things when I first started my professional career as a science fiction romance author. Oh, I was pretty good at the writing part. By the time I became “professional,” I’d had years to hone my craft as a journalist and as a Star Trek fan fiction writer, and I’d had the guidance of several excellent mentors and editors.

But the marketing and promotional aspects of the publishing world were a completely unknown territory. And I happened to acquire an agent and get a unique sort of publishing deal just as publishing was turning itself upside down and inside out. Writers were suddenly required to do their own promotion, even at the big publishing houses. Self-published authors had to do it all—editing, covers, formatting, pre-publication promo, advertising post-publication, not to mention establishing a presence on social media. For a while, I had some support from my little hybrid publishing deal. But in 2018 all that went away, and I became self-pubbed. The learning curve, already steep, became nearly vertical.

I say all this to explain that I missed something along the way that could have given my debut novel, Unchained Memory: Interstellar Rescue Series Book 1 a substantial boost when it came out. I can’t blame myself entirely, of course. My agent/publisher should have known about this and at least given me the opportunity to take advantage. But she didn’t. One of her many failings. Maybe she didn’t have enough faith in me or the book, or the rules were different in 2015 when it was first published. In any case, when I could I took the chance myself, and it paid off. Better late than never.

Anyone in the publishing business has heard of Kirkus Reviews. Best-selling authors and major works flaunt their Kirkus review quotes in ads and interviews everywhere. I had always wondered what it took to get a review from Kirkus, thinking maybe you had to jump through flaming hoops or maybe you had to know somebody. Well, no, turns out you just have to pay a fee and wait several long weeks for the review to be done. It’s not cheap, and you’re not guaranteed to get a positive review (that would be unethical, of course). But you do have the option to ask that the review not be published on the Kirkus website if it’s not particularly favorable, and you can use it however you like (subject to Kirkus rules) in your promo.

So, asking for the review was a gamble, but one that paid off for me. The reviewer liked my book! I now have a great Kirkus review to brag about and to use on my Amazon book page and my website. The only surprise for me was that the review read so much like a synopsis. The reviewer was quite talented in that way, though. Wish I’d had them when I was selling the novel in the first place!

Here’s the review, in all its glory! (You can also find it on the Kirkus website here.)

A woman and her therapist try to decode her strange visions of interstellar captivity in Frelick’s romantic SF thriller.

After waking from a mysterious, hourslong blackout in her car at the side of the road in small-town Tennessee, Asia Burdette returns home to find that her children have been killed in a house fire. Guilt-stricken, the young mother suddenly finds herself plagued by dreams of enslavement on another world. Confounding in their realism, the dreams depict an alien civilization in which human adults and children are forced to work as miners, extracting precious crystals amid brutal conditions. Asia remains tormented by restless nights and preoccupied with the circumstances of her blackout; it’s only when her case is assigned to Ethan Roberts, a handsome psychiatrist specializing in people dealing with lost time, that her luck begins to change. The vividness of her experience eventually reveals her to be an alien-abduction survivor, even turning Ethan into a believer. He jeopardizes his career to help unravel the mystery of Asia’s dreams, accompanying her on an increasingly dangerous journey of discovery that reveals that she’s not alone in her experience. Before long, the pair discover that there are some people who will do almost anything to keep Asia’s story a secret. Frelick offers imaginative descriptions and pulse-pounding action (“Dust billowed and choked the life from lungs and air filters. Supports collapsed and tons of mountain crushed screaming workers in pockets of tens or hundreds.”) Although it does offer some upsetting content at times, its scenes of violence aren’t graphic. Throughout, the plot keeps readers guessing with a thoroughly well-crafted mystery, but those looking for passionate romance will not be disappointed; there are several love scenes. It all concludes with a hint of more adventures to come that will leave readers wanting more.

A suspenseful and steamy otherworldly tale.

Almost makes you want to go back and read it again, right? Wait, what? You haven’t read it? You can get your copy of Unchained Memory: Interstellar Rescue Series Book 1 on Amazon.

Cheers, Donna