Five of the best things I discovered on the internet in 2011

Five of the best things I discovered on the internet in 2011 in no particular order:

1. Kanye West -  My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Yeah, not the kind of music my demographic are supposed to like but I saw it trending on Twitter so checked it out on YouTube. Wow. A delightful combination of samples from all kinds of classic music including King Crimson from the 70s. But these simply expertly background the comment, rhythm and virtuosity of KW. I can easily compare this music to the virtuosity of Stairway to Heaven

and Bohemian Rhapsody.

What do you think?

 Rolling Stone writer Rob Sheffield gave it five out of five stars, citing it as West's best album and "his most maniacally inspired music yet, coasting on heroic levels of dementia, pimping on top of Mount Olympus [...] Nobody else is making music this daring and weird".^[127]  source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Beautiful_Dark_Twisted_Fantasy

Well not this daring and weird since King Crimson huh? Wow from the calm in the centre of the storm 1969.

2.  https://twitter.com/ I joined twitter - not really expecting anything. Found that I can talk to people around the world freely, find them, find people with my interests. Find anything at all I could possibly think to look for, ask about, and find more than I could ever imagine cause the people on twitter are into anything imaginable. And most are friendly, and talk about themselves and their interests and if they are lonely, or happy, they give good advice, quote from their own thoughts and those of famous others, share recipes and knitting patterns, hates and loves, create trends based around hash tags and titles, soccer players, rugby games and movies or television programs. Discuss live internationally and online if x should have been red-carded or not, if the Kardashians have their support or have set some kind of example.... the opportunities to get involved in the veins of the world are there - only on Twitter.

3. http://www.goodreads.com/   This is a superb site for anyone who reads or writes. Which maybe half the population of the developed world. 
Of course there are lots of people who can read and write but never actually do those skills - with the exception of texting, perhaps which I do count as writing and reading. LOL
So hey - Check out this amazing and illuminating website - which I have tested to the max by adding all kinds of literature to my profile and - yep - they had a link somewhere to the book. 
A BIG improvement on my childhood in Southland NZ where if I wanted a book of a classical work I had to ask and then the librarian would find a fusty volume in the basement! Now of course libraries simply turf out books when the withdrawals become below a certain point and kids who want to read Plato or Suetonius or Vergil - as I did, can download it free from my next fave website and Awesome Project:-

4.  The Gutenberg Project.http://www.gutenberg.org/

Firstly, let's celebrate the inventor of the ebook 

Michael S. Hart (1947-2011)

Project Gutenberg's founder, Michael Hart, passed away September 6. 

Here is a Brief Obituary 

Wow, how many authors like myself are benefiting by this young man's vision back in 1971? 

I like this man, he and GBS are like me, we want the world on our own terms:

'A lifetime intellectual, Hart was inspired by his parents, both professors at the University of Illinois, to seek truth and to question authority. One of his favorite recent quotes, credited to George Bernard Shaw, is characteristic of his approach to life:

 "Reasonable people adapt themselves to the world.  Unreasonable

 people attempt to adapt the world to themselves.  All progress,

 therefore, depends on unreasonable people."

Michael prided himself on being unreasonable, and only in the later years of life did he mellow sufficiently to occasionally refrain from debate. Yet, his passion for life, and all the things in it, never abated.'

All authors and readers light a candle for this talented man and support the project as thousands of classic books are being made into ebooks and not for profit, like Google Books scanning project no doubt is for.

5. http://jakonrath.blogspot.com   Joe Konrath is a kick-ass author, gun promoter and very successful writer from every angle you observe him.

I had the longest belly laughing session ever at Joe and DWS 'fisking' a memo from Hatchette publishing co. This would only be hilarious to ppl like myself who have been published by big trade publishers and have watched the employees - paid handsomly from OUR book sales - trying to prove why their jobs are necessary to anyone.

Anyone considering a career in writing or publishing would be wise to read his entire blog.

Any author trade published would be advised to read his blog as well as that of http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/?page_id=860 and buying this book http://davidgaughran.wordpress.com/

I launched my small publishing company Quintessence Publications and published eight books since March 2011. 

I will get more books published in 2012 but these fine people and many others who are available in links from their blogs are enormously helpful to me and hundreds of other authors, wanna-be authors and people who simply want to express themselves.

Thanks Joe K, David G, Dean Smith and his wife Kris.

Awesome people - setting an example of helpfulness and caring - spreading the love of writing and helping others throughout the world. 

Enjoy this list and watch this space for more marvelous authentic voices from New Zealand and the rest of the world whom I will be publishing in 2012.

Happy New Year

Christine Leov Lealand

Finding great books to read - when there's all that 'dreck'

Attention Readers! Authors want to thrill YOU!


There are frequent comments on the net, in news media and on Kindle boards about the ebook 'dreck' available for purchase and how to avoid it as a reader and find the 'good stuff'.
Let's return to the pre-ebook days of around 3 years ago. I can remember back then, can you?
Book Selection - how I did it.
When I went into a library or a bookstore what did I do to select a book to read and buy? I would look at titles and covers, I would find one that interested me and pull it out and skim thru the pages, if I liked the writing I would buy or borrow the book. If I didn't like the skimmed content I put it back and persisted in looking till I did find something I wanted to read. 
Even then the process wasn't perfect - there were books I took home I found I didn't like - and books I loved; and I'm sure I left some on the shelf I would have enjoyed.
Amazon and other etailers allow sampling of books which fulfill these traditional requirements - skim reading a sample of the book is available... all is as it was for book selection - 
Three years later....
Suddenly with the popular adoption of e-readers and ebooks we have readers requesting that all ebooks be sorted into equivalent bowls of electronic porridge! 
When in a bookshop or library they were alphabetical or sorted by category or genera or small and large print.
The only way you can read a book similar to one you just read is to read more by that author! 


Authors like me don't like to repeat ourselves. Any of our books may well be unique - trying to find a collection of equivalent well written books similar to each other is impossible, no matter what illusions of similarity the sorting bots on Amazon.com or Goodreads.com may lead you to believe otherwise. 
Even when browsing books in a closely related genera - you will find them of huge variety and skill - trade published or indie published.


Readers - please understand this:- Authors are writing what they want to write - because now they can and earn more than double the money they could have traditional publishing


Self publishing is the only financially viable, business-like way to publish. 
Authors like myself and thousands of others are empowered to write whatever we want, however we want. 


Authors want to thrill you


Authors now have the opportunity to thrill a new generation of readers who always wanted to read a book like ours but could never find even one because the 'gatekeepers' would never consider publishing a book like that! 
The whole field of 'generas' is opening up in a thrilling and exciting way - beyond what anyone could have dreamed of even three years ago. 
I can't imagine any author bothering to write to a tight genera or sub-genera prescription now, unless that is what they really want to do.
We are free to write wonderful books that we love, books that thrill us, books of a dozen different generas; and put them up for sale for readers to find.


Books are as easy to select as they ever were - easier. 
Lazy readers who can't be bothered to sample books before they buy will get the 'dreck' they deserve. 

The reader is now the gatekeeper - 

readers have always had to choose. 

There will be no elegant bowls of sweet pre-sorted tight categories for lazy people to slurp onto their ebook readers and take home knowing that they will have a load of comforting podge to read themselves to sleep with.
I have met people like that - they read so they can read themselves to sleep.
I don't write for them! 


Readers have to take responsibility to load their Kobos Nooks, Kindles, Ipads and tablets with books they have actually selected by the same process we have always had to use. 
An internet etailer site is much faster to browse than a bookstore at the mall or a library!
Choosing what you want to read is your strength - use it well, Readers
Have fun with your choices and tell the author and publisher what you liked and did not like about their book.


Reading and writing are now a conversation - the first time we have had the chance to converse in the entire history of publishing. 

Dungeonmaster to Novelist

I was once a creative Dungeon Master who developed my own milieus in that old tabletop roleplaying game which was popular back in the 80s - Dungeons and Dragons. I realise now that the skills involved in being a Dungeon master ruling over players, creatures and milieu alike was perfect training to be a novelist. Maybe a successful novelist.
Today gamers don't have the interaction they once had. Most games seem to be restricted to a few favourite milieus which the Dungeon Master no longer personally creates for the players. How many DMs actually modify their milieu to tease and torment their players? How many create their own maps, traps and creatures from scratch? My guess is that few now do.
If you long to create your own millieu and adventure within it with your friends - there is still no replacement for D&D. A set of dice, some graph pages, a map, a pencil and imagination and maybe a few other people is all you need to create something entirely new, progressive from moment to moment and interactive to a degree which computer generated games and internet generated games can merely hint at.
Writing a novel has the same level of excitement and creativity - a seriously good thing.
It was and is kind of sad that more milieus have not been utilised by D&D gamers - there's plenty of scope for Christian milieus - with the Soldiers of God hunting down and destroying the angels of darkness, Hospital adventures, Local neighbourhood adventures, Sci Fi adventures, hunting animals and humans through Africa or Asia, or in NYC; instead of a perpetual presentation of opponents from the monster manuals - undead and orcs - who do not interact and are simply disposed of as rapidly as possible in a maze or invented planet or continent - often imitated from some other person's creative vision.
While many pleasant hours may be had online adventuring - the player is trapped within the parameters of the set milieu offered by the game. There is no scope to go beyond into pure creative action and reaction.
If you as a player want to attempt something oddball like paragliding in a medieval war setting - well you just can't do it in an electronic setting - it has no flexibility or creativity. Whereas if you were in MY game and you as a player wanted to paraglide, hell, I wasn't going to stop you. But you would have to develop your glider, build it, fight off the wolves and natives and convince your group that it was a good thing. And then fly it. No problem. I LIKED my players to come up with new ideas. You wanna go to sleep in that room? Sure - you are going off on your own down that corridor cause no one else wants to go there? Excellent!
It is true young gamers do not necessarily have the breadth of vision, patience and creativity that a novelist develops - but a background of gaming and the creativity that pure old fashioned D&D offers will stand a novelist in good stead.
I've discovered that much.