Pandragon Dan

Ok guys, just gonna give you some updates today as I'm busy going through my list of books to read/review to  clear my reading backlog as much as possible. I'm doing quite well, but still got a long way to go. The reason for the lack of reviews is that I am currently reading about 3/4 books at once. My aim is to try and get three books reviewed three weeks in a row - and (touch wood) I should be able to do that if all goes according to plan.

With that being said, I'm here to let you guys know that for the foreseeable future, I will only post on a Wednesday if I have a review or guest blog to host. Blogging three times a week is fine, but it seems a little pointless if I don't have anything to say (kinda like this post right now, really). Therefore, Wednesday are now reserved for my reviews and guest posts from authors. Remember, if you're an author that wishes to do a guest post or include me as part of your blog tour, or even promote your new book, etc, please contact me at PandragonPublishing@gmail.com or go to the website link below and email me.

Also, I thought I'd get your opinion on this - I've been thinking of maybe getting a new place to host my blog. I'm not saying that I'm unhappy with this blog at the moment, but a complaint that I've heard from some people is that they aren't happy to use their Facebook to comment on this blog. Fair enough - but it doesn't look like Wix are going to be changing that anytime soon (despite it being a common complaint on their customer service page). Therefore, I've been possibly looking into alternatives to host my blog. And this is where you guys come in. What blogging services do you use? Which do you recommend and what has worked well for you in the past? I'd love to know your thoughts on this. You can either comment me below (if you don't mind using your FB profile) or email me above, or even tweet me if you prefer. Whatever you want. This is your time to have your say and let me know.

Thanks guys. Another post to follow Friday!

Kindest

Regards

Pandragon

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Please help Sponsor my Crowdfunding Campaign - Legacy of the Dragonkin

Sorry that I haven't been updating the website recently. Things have been a little busy at the moment (I am currently preparing for a book club reading of Trapped on Draconica at my old school in June and preparing a campaign for my next book, Legacy of the Dragonkin), but it's been worth it! Just to let you guys know that I recently reviewed a number of short stories on Read2Review and I present them to you below so that you can see what I thought.

Click on the link below to be taken to the review.

A Fly in Amber b y Deanna Kipling

A Picture is Worth 1000 Chomps b y Deanna Kipling

Attack Of The 50-Foot Sushi Monster b y Deanna Kipling

Abominable by Deanna Kipling

A Memorable Weekend by John Brinhing

Antique Charming by Natalie-Nicole Bates

Next week, I aim to have my second Pandragon Review. Watch this space! In the meantime, check back on Friday when there will be another blog post!

Pandragon

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REQUESTS CURRENTLY CLOSED

 

Unfortunately, as of June 8th 2012 I am currently not accepting any new review requests until the current backlog is cleared. Those who have contacted me prior to this date with a review request (that have yet to send me a copy of their book) may still do so if I have asked for it. I aim to try and clear the backlog as quickly as possible.

 

Please accept my apologies for any inconvenience caused. I have still accepting requests for guest blogs/blog tours.

 

I am now officially opening up my blog for book reviews! As some of you know, I review books on the website Read2Review – but I’ve decided to open my blog up to reviews independently of the website. Don’t worry, I will still be doing book reviews for R2R, but I also know how hard it is for authors to get reviews these days and would like to do my bit to help.

Therefore, if you are an author and would like to submit a book to me for review then I’d love to hear from you. Please read on and make sure you read ALL the information before emailing me.

How I will conduct my reviews

I will review any book by any author. It doesn’t matter if it’s self published, vanity published or traditionally published – if you’re an author who has a book, then I will be happy to give it a look (and you even got a little rhyme there from me!).

Reviews will be posted on my blog as and when I can – usually on a Wednesday as that is when I dedicate my blog to reading. I will also post any review on Amazon and Goodreads, and if you can suggest another place for the review to go, then let me know (I cannot currently put a review on Smashwords without buying the book first, so if you suggest this, please bear this in mind).

How I review the book will be based on the following criteria, starting with a brief synopsis of the piece/author:

COVER: They say never judge a book by it's cover, but I will spend a few moments talking abou the cover and outline any issues that it may have. This will not effect my overall review though - I'll just be making a comment on it if anything.

PLOT: Essentially: is it a good story? Does it flow well? Is the pace right for the subject?

CHARACTERS: Are they well developed and interesting? Do they stand out? How do they develop during the story? To me characters are a very important part of a story and a large factor in making my decision about a story.

READABILITY: This covers how the story flows and how the different parts join together. I will also include details of any typos or formatting issues.

ARTWORK: I'll briefly talk about the cover if I need to and any other artwork involved.

I will also identify the target audience and I will warn you if there is any adult content and anything else the reader needs to know. After that, I'll do a quick pros and cons section of each book and then a final mark. Much like my Read2Review reviews, I'll give a mark out of five and say for whom I think this book is recommended.

Please note that all reviews will be purely be based on my own personal opinion and they will be as honest as possible. However, I will NOT post any reviews that are overwhelmingly negative. I myself am an author and know the level of hard work that goes into writing. That being said, I don’t believe in giving “empty praise” and will make my criticisms as valid and helpful as I can. If I feel that I cannot do a review without it being negative, I will contact you to advise you of this.

Time frame

I aim to complete any review within 4-6 weeks of receiving the book, although this is subject to change dependent on the level of submissions. I will read all books in the order that I receive them so that it is fair to the other authors. Should you require a review by a certain date, please let me know. I will try and accommodate where possible, but this cannot always be guaranteed.

EDIT: At the moment I am currently experiencing a large volume of review requests so the current estimated time for a review is around 2-3 months.

What I WILL review

I will review Fiction novels (I will also accept short stories and novellas) of ANY kind, this means I will review Children’s/Young Adult/Adult/Etc. My main love is Science Fiction and Fantasy, however, I have also reviewed Romance novels in the past and I am more open to them than most male readers. I do not wish to limit myself to any particular genre so please contact me to discuss your book and I will usually accept it (with the exceptions mentioned below).

I also will accept poetry, graphic novels, comics and Manga of any style – in fact I openly encourage creators (artists/writers) of those to send them forward to me and I will be happy to take a look. For any artists out there who wish me to critique their work, I am also happy to do that as well.

What I will NOT review

I won’t review any novel that contains rape, bestiality, torture, murder or child abuse if it is portrayed as a sexual fetish. I refuse to promote anything above that tries to pass itself off in that way. So that means no Hentai or anything resembling Hentai. That doesn’t mean I don’t accept erotic fiction – but if your work does include any of the above, please let me know.

This also means that I cannot accept any excessively erotic or pornographic artwork of any kind. Please bear in mind I have to be careful of the level of content I can post on my blog and this is the kind of stuff I don’t think I can get away with.

Also, I won’t review fan-fiction of any kind. That’s not to say that I have anything against it, I just don’t feel right reviewing something that uses other peoples work. Unless of course it is a semi-canon source that is meant to be part of the same continuity. If your work falls into this, please let me know beforehand.

At the moment I am currently not accepting Non-fiction books as I do not think I can give them a fair review, so if you're book is non-fiction then I may not be the best person to approach.

How much will I charge for reviews

I will NEVER charge any author/artist for a review of their work. This also means that I will NOT accept bribes of any kinds, so don’t even think about doing that – it will not make me review your book any quicker. I will review the books in the order that I get them, so please be patient.

And now – the important thing... How to submit to me for a review

EDIT: Due to the large amount of submissions I've had so far, I can only currently accept ONE title per author. If your book is part of a series, please send me the first part of the series. If you have more than one book currently out, please send me the one that you most want reviewed. If I like what I read, I will be happy to read more of your work.

Please send all review requests to pandragonpublishing@gmail.com with the subject heading “Review Request” and then the title of your book. All you need to do for this first email is a little synopsis of your book, telling me about the story, characters, genre, etc. You don’t need to go into too much detail, just a few paragraphs is fine. By all means include a link to your website or blog for me to check you out if you so wish.

If I like what I hear, I will ask for a copy of the book. DO NOT send me a copy of the book on your first email. I need to make sure that I can give a full and honest review of the book first, based on the synopsis you give me, so don’t send it until I tell you that I am ready to accept it. By all mean, send me any promotional material and a book cover – just don’t send me the book straight away until I ask for it. Don’t worry, I will usually say yes to any review requests. I would also like a authors biography to include with the review when it is posted, so please send me this also, including any links you like added (because I’d also like to promote you as a author during my review).

For comic and graphic novels, it’s ok to send me some sample artwork if you so wish. I will probably only ask for one issue in the case of a long running series. If it’s a one off, the full issue will be fine.

When I ask for the book, it is probably easiest to send them in PDF or Mobi files. However, if you only have hard copies of the book, I will accept them as well – however please see the disclaimer below.

Finally – a little disclaimer

Please note that the above information is subject to change without prior notice.

I reserve the right to not review a book based on the above and I reserve the right to cancel a review at any given time. I will always give a reason for doing so in this instance.

By the same token, you have the right to ask me to cancel a review if you so request prior to its posting.

Should you wish to send me a paperback copy, you are responsible for your own postage and packaging. Should you wish for a copy of the book to be returned, please include a stamped address envelope with your letter or I will NOT return it. Please bare this in mind when sending hard copies.

I aim to respond to all review requests within 7 working days. If, once receiving your book for review, you have heard nothing from me from the time frame mentioned above, please send me ONE chaser email. If you continuingly spam me with emails, I will cancel your review.

By sending me a copy of your book, you acknowledge that I can use any material provided (ie, cover art) for review purposes. You will retain full copyright to the book and its contents.

Guest posts/blog tours

For those wishing to do a guest post or wish to have me as part of their blog tour, or to include any of my works on their blog, please email me at the address above to discuss.

Reviews of my books

If you wish to express an interest in reviewing any of my books - please contact me at the above email to discuss.

So there you are, hopefully the above is ok for you and please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any further questions.

Regards

Pandragon

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WARNING: This blog contains SPOILERS.

Ever since the after credits scene of the first Iron Man film, with Tony Stark meeting with Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D, fans of the Marvel series have been salivating with the thought of a possible Avengers movie. And as The Hulk, Thor and Captain America made their way to the big screen, the vision of an Avengers movie became all that more realised – until 2012 when that dream finally came true!

For those unfamiliar with the Avengers as a team, they are essentially Marvel’s version of the Justice League, with all the heavy hitters in the Marvel Universe being part of them at one time or another during the course of their existence. But what made the Avengers stand out as a team was the fact that all the superheroes that were involved with them had their own personalities, needs, beliefs, etc. As such, there was sometimes a lot of infighting between their ranks, rivalries between heroes – and sometimes outright hatred for one another which caused some friction between the team. Whilst they always banded together to fight evil in the end, their egos would clash with each other more than once. This I think made the Avengers a lot more realistic as a team – because in any team there are always going to be egos that are more powerful and want to be more dominate, no matter how close they are as people. This is why I think the Avengers are one of Marvel’s most enduring superhero teams – alongside the X-Men.

Doing a crossover film with all of Marvel’s greatest heroes was never going to be an easy task. Sure, they had done a few animated films and TV series (Ultimate Avengers being one of these), but bringing it to the big screen was always going to be a challenge. Luckily, once I heard that Joss Whedon (Serenity, Buffy the Vampire Slayer) was writing and directing it did fill me with hope, as his scripts are usually very well written. And given that no other recent Marvel film had disappointed me I did hold a lot of high regard. But then, I remember the first time I saw Michael Bay’s Transformers, and being horrified by the result - as it was basically a mutilated version of the characters that I grew up with. The Avengers are characters that I grew up on when I was a comic geek and I wanted it to be done right.

So, on Tuesday of this week, I sat down in the Cinema, donned my 3D glasses and, in the back of my mind I prayed “please don’t let this suck.”

Thankfully, my prayers were answered. The Avengers was quite frankly – MARVELOUS! Pun intended! Not only did it exceed my expectation, but it left me leaving the cinema feeling uplifted and excited, which can only be a good thing.

The Avengers does rely on the fact that you have seen the films Iron Man (1 and 2), The Incredible Hulk, Thor and Captain America because it doesn’t go into a lot of back story for the characters and it continues plot threads that were started in those films. But this I think worked in its favour. Too many films tend to get slogged down in “origin story” plots which I think can really slow the pace down in a film if not done properly. But as these origins and plots had already been established, it meant that it could go straight into the story and keep the pace at a firm grip.

Loki returns as the villain of the piece, fresh from his “death” at the end of Thor. Having made a deal with an alien race called the Chitauri, Loki plans to use the power of the Tesseract to bring them to Earth so that he can (what else) take over the world. But Nick Fury (played by the always charismatic Samuel L. Jackson) decides that he’s not going to let these motherloving Chitauri ruin this motherloving world (Snakes on a Plane ref – FTW!) and reactivates the Avengers initiative. Enter Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Bruce Banner and new recruits Black Widow and Hawkeye to save the day.

The plot may be pretty basic and indeed something that we’ve all seen before – but Whedon’s witty writing breathes new life into an otherwise clichéd storyline. Most of the drama comes from the fact that the Avengers, as a team, cannot seem to work together due to their conflicting egos. Iron Man is naturally a little pompous and sees this as nothing but a game, Thor wants to capture Loki so that he can be tried on Asgard, Banner just wants to stop the Hulk causing destruction and Captain America is desperately trying to hold the team together – even though he doesn’t trust Fury in the least. Whedon could have easily made the team instantly bond, but because he focuses on their individual egos it makes all the characters stand out and have equal time in the sun. None of the Avengers gets more treatment than the other so it feels fair with the amount of time we spend with them.

Typical of Whedon, there is a lot of humour and witty one liners and action sequences. As such, the film doesn’t always take itself seriously and knows when to have a little fun. I think the funniest scenes involve the Hulk and there are a couple of moments when the entire cinema erupted with laughter. And the final fight sequence with the aliens is just AWESOME! Even though there is so much going on, it’s filmed in such a way that it’s easy to keep up with – not relying on the typical techniques of having explosions everywhere and close up camera shots (Michael Bay, take note of Mr Whedon’s work – he knows how to shoot action sequences!).

Plot wise, the story moved quickly and not once feels boring due to the characters bringing it to life. My only minor critique would be that I don’t think they really dwelt on Captain America’s backstory enough. Considering his story was that he was frozen in the 40’s and then awoken in modern times, I feel they could have done a lot more with his character trying to adapt to the world which has changed so much since his disappearance. I guess that must have been removed for time constraints.

I saw the film in 3D and I will say that it was pretty decent, even though I’m not really a fan of 3D. However, some of the 3D fight scenes were shot in the dark and this really doesn’t work that well. 3D works best in light when there are bright colours around (Avatar did this brilliantly) and the dark makes it a little blurry. Still, the film is perfectly fine in 2D.

All in all, The Avengers was a huge success in my eyes and actually felt like an Avengers movie. It was epic, thoughtful, sometimes funny and just overall badass! After so long of building up these characters in previous movies, it was great that this finally came together. But not only that, I got a glimpse of the after-credits scene before I left, hinting at the next villain. I squealed out loud when I saw who it could be. I won’t give away any spoilers for those who didn’t see the film – but if you know the comics, let’s just say it’s a villain that’s obsessed with Death!

The Avengers might quickly be forgotten about when the new Batman film comes out, but for any hardcore Marvel fan (or comic fan in general) then this movie does the franchise justice in a way I didn’t think possible. If Marvel are smart, they’ll keep this film as the blueprints for their future films.

Pandragon

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The Avengers and all related characters belong to Marvel and Disney. I claim no ownership of any of these characters and use them only for reviewing purposes.

Recently I submitted two reviews for my good friends at Read2Review and I thought I'd share them with you guys today.

The first was for the book Wasteland by Lynn Rush - a supernatural romance that I felt had a few flaws, but a decent enough story and those who enjoy supernatural romance will no doubt see through the flaws that I rose.

The second was Tobacco-Stained Mountain Goat by Andrez Bergen - by far one of the most original and entertaining reads I've had this year so far. If you love a little bit of Philip K Dick style Sci-Fi, with a little feeling of 40s style fashion and some elements of Mad Max, then I highly recommend this novel!

Click on the book covers below to be taken my review of the book and see what I thought of them.

 

There are links to buy the books if you fancy checking either of them out.

 

Thanks guys.

Pandragon

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