EVIL UNLTD: THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL

I'm new here, so - skimming through for the time being. I caught your prologue and found it fun to read from the p.o.v. of the bad guy for a change. Dexter is so unapologetically evil, even taking pleasure from minor acts of vandalism. My daughter and her bf would love this, I'll tell her to have a look-see. Very much her kind of dark, snarky humor.

Ha! your monicker caught my eye on the self publishing thread and I decided to have a look as anyone calling themsleves 4dprefect must be writing to entertain . It is a great idea, you relly feel for Dexter who has obviously been on the end of one thwarting too many. I've only read one chapter but will read the rest when I have some time at the weekend.

Rob.

We need a successor to the late Douglas Adams and the, alas, fading Terry Pratchett (although I hope he may be long preserved for us and his Alzheimer's progress slowly or cease). This looks like it could be a good bet, after the 2 chapters I've read. You're onto my watchlist. R

A very well written and well thought out book.
Easy to read and paints a picture of some strange world.
Characterizations are brilliant, the idea of the book is well supported by the writing style.
Found myself thinking of a cross between hitch hikers guide and Austin Powers.

I hope the book has success, it deserves it.
Backed

How fun and well written! I could see this as a continuing series very easily. Your writing is quick-witted, descriptive and visual. I can see the characters and hear the inflections. Looking forward to reading more!!

you took chapter down! and I wanted to read MORE!! :-P

Simon,

The opening page of a book is critical to it's success. It's a preview of the kind of writing to come. It's the first thing an acquiring editor sees. It's what a person in a book store reads before trying a new author. As a result it deserves close attention.

Some long, multiphrased sentences bogged me down on your first page. I had to reread the first six paragraphs to understand what was being conveyed.

Your seventh paragraph was excellent. The writing was tight, evocative and vivid.

Al

Thank you very much for your comments on 'Gone'. It was indeed a difficult book to write, inspired as it was by a true event. It is a story like no other.

As a matter of interest - the switch of POV was deliberate to highlight the fact that something was going to happen to the main character. Though actually, with my second novel ('The Star Realm', which is the first of a trilogy) POV changes all the time to consider all five of the main characters, as they are equally important - and I believe it works.

Good writing, now I must get back to my current work.

Thanks again

Julie

Thanks so much for looking at the Dreams Bound in Black excerpt. What you read is an experiment. The story is written from a different perspective, but I wanted to see if this approach worked better. So, I am extremely grateful for your feedback. Thanks for the heads up about the dialogue. I'll go back and give it another look with your comments in mind. I see you have a second book dealing with airplanes with a very different feel than Kip. I've book marked it. Sounds interesting.
TobyC

Stef, don't worry about making sense - this is authonomy ;-) Hope you enjoy Kip when you get some time and be sure and let me know when you do upload something.

Hi Stef - huge thanks, glad you enjoyed it. Would also *really* love to hear your thoughts on Kip Doodle, my children's book - when you have a chance. Only a shame you haven't a book uploaded so I could return the favour.

HI there. Thanks for your offer - 'Gone', please.

Good writing.

Julie

Great line, "...he could picture the bottom dropping out of an Evil market." Straight onto my bookshelf, of course.

Fab idea!

Julie

Simon

Just realised I never thanked you for your comments on TNOOT (and for reading any of it in the first place). Most remiss of me.

I wasn't going to bother reading Evil Unltd what with it being already on the editor's desk and that. I will, however, take a sneaky peek at Kip Doodle.

Great characterisation. This could run and run. Big fun to read :-)

Hello SAF, Glad you enjoyed my book, Achilles 42, encouragement from writers like you has prompted to continue the book, which I hadn't worked on is two months. I hit 30,000 words today and I figure I'm about 40% there. Thanks for your comments. I'll definitely listen to your suggestions.

Cheers

Thanks for having a look at my story. I'm currently tweaking chapters 1 & 2 but am finding myself very self conscious on Authonomy which is hampering creativity. You are romping up the charts again I see.
Best
Mark

Sorry, Simon. Only just saw the message you left on my book. I confess I haven't commented on Evil as yet - not that you needed my vote! I skimmed the opening, and sf comedy isn't really my thing to be honest, so I wasn't sure I could give you a fair reading. Though from what I have looked at, I do like your writing style and I think you're subtly funnier than Terry Pratchett (he's a bit too in-your-face for my liking). Does that help?

congrats on making the editors desk :) xxx

Thanks for taking a look at To Hell in a Handbasket, and glad you enjoyed the stories despite the footnotes. Your book has been on my shelf for quite a while; I see you have another MS out here I'll need to read!

Just finished chapter 3, this is staying on my shelf! As well as being an extremely funny story it also pulses with vibrant language and descriptions. I particularly like, 'the patience of a cliff waiting for erosion,' and 'as fake as an aphid's orgasm.'
Now for nitpicks - the sentence beginning 'Alabaster complexion...' has an extra space between the first two words, and the sentence is rather long, as is the sentence beginning, 'The desk-monkey...'
I'm not sure about the sentence, 'The population of Lucre Centris had layered their innards...' it just doesn't seem to work in the way that your other descriptions do.
I'll be back for more.

Wow, well done- you reached the heady heights of Editorial Pickdom!

Congratulations, mate, you deserve your hallowed position. As a prize, you have won a year's supply of fresh decaf, courtesy of Kowalski's Florists, Upper West Side, New York. Feel free to pop in any time!

One more thing: will the book be out in time for Christmas, as I'm writing my letter to Santa right now..? :o)

Congratulations on making it to the desk.
SarahK

Hi Simon - just wanted to say congraulations. And thanks for all the entertainment on the forums.
Siobhán

Congratulations- totally merited. Go wallow in the glory for a while. jak

Simon, thanks for all your support over the last month, and I'm DELIGHTED you made it. Congratulations! I'm backing off Authonomy, just clearing my watch list and stuff, and am heartily glad I don't have to do any more plugging. I expect you are, too!
Hope to see you in print.
Nicky xx

Cheers guys, you are all stars. Thanks for the support and making me laugh :-) Fair to say I started my relaxing last night, but it was a hard-work month so my sigh of relief will now continue for, well, much of November I expect :-) And I know I woked up early for a Saturday - again! - but it's great to wake up to your comments this morning.

Hey Simon –

Congrats.

Anything other than a happy ending to the tale of blossoming man-love would have been heartbreaking. Imagine if one of you made the ED and the other hadn’t? Would the love have survived such a seismic rift? Thankfully we’ll never have to find out! Right, now I’ve said that, I promise never to use the phrase “blossoming man-love” in relation to you and you-know-who again.* You’ll notice I haven’t used a name – thus any protests doth fall on deaf ears!

I’m very pleased for you, for – quite aside from the quality of your work – I think you played the ‘game’ to perfection, with humour and integrity and sheer slog, and you deserve it for that. And ta for the laughs – you are a plugging god.

david
*Promise excludes the almost identical congrats to you-know-who

Hi Simon,

And ... breathe. Congratulations. Certainly a well-deserved reward for what must seem an eternity of work. And work it was. I think it's Harper Perennial that has the little 'PS' sections at the back, like extras on a DVD (about the author, interviews etc) - that would be a good spot for some of the material from your plugs.

Hope to see you around the forum - just not *quite* so much. Not that you're not wanted, but you know what I mean.

Cheers, Paul.

(If you thought you were stressed yesterday, just think how you'll be near the end of November. See if you can get a Valium prescription, or start taking St John's Wort now.)

Gold star. Not seen one of them since my school days. Congrats on the top spot and the coveted editors desk. Time for a rest. Well done, congratulations and good luck with the HC verdict. Well deserved (imo).

Did you think I’d forgotten? Mwah ha ha ha – I forget nothing!

‘Sporting a smile you could grate cheese on’ – I like it. And Professor Doomladen, ‘A small, crumpled package of a man, wired and dangerous, like a letter bomb with a nervous tic.’ Very nice. I did start to wonder whether there were any females in your world. It’s not quite my sort of book – Terry Pratchett doesn’t work for me either – but there’s a lot to like here.

So I’ve given it that long-anticipated flip. Like you need it.

[I think you could lose a few adjectives, fond though you clearly are of them, never using one where you can shove in two. And I did worry about the similarity with the Arthur Dent statue episode – I feel an HC editor is certain to make reference to it.]

Shelved. Absolutely hilarious Simon. I couldn't stop reading it. Dexter is a great villain and I love the idea of Evil being a marketable enterprise. Congrats on the chart position, its well deserved.

I just came back to read a bit of this a second time - still a joy. I hope it is published - I'll certainly add it to my real bookshelves.

Reads as if you have some real talent. Looking forward to more!

Wow, I love this,really takes me back to that whip-cracking sense of humour usually that goes along with reading a Douglas Adams book. Good Luck Simon. A fantastic fun read just waiting to be made into a movie, I know some people.....

I've said it before, and I'm saying it again (after reading more):

Dangit! I'd buy it!

How's that sound, eh? If either one of us gets our work from here published, the cappuccino's on me, okay? ;)
Ciao!
Kimberly

This is a heck of a lot of fun -- so glad that a site like this was able to introduce me to the book. Good luck!

Your sister sent me in this direction, she is shamelessly plugging for you! I am in the process of reading, but so far I am very much enjoying your writting.

Dear Simon, just skimmed through a few chapters so far but I was totally engaged for the hour I was allowed to read. Good luck with this, it's certainly on my watch list and I'll finish it just as soon as the Gods allow. Martin

I'm glad you reminded me to bookshelve it as I hadn't - doh!
G

Hi Simon!
I've been meaning to read this for quite some time now but I've been shying away from it as sci-fi is not my thing at all! However, I'm so glad I forced myself to read an excerpt (congrats by the way for being at the top of the charts!) as I was so wrong!!
The first thing that caught my attention was your flawless writing. There are so many chapters hovering around on Authonomy that need a good edit and proofing, but this is flawless. You have a great way with words, almost as if they have filtered onto the page quite effortlessly.
This is a fun read and I found it very easy to follow as the events unfolded. It's humorous which is always a good ingredient to add to sci-fi (I'm thinking Blackadder here!) and I didn't have a problem visualising the characters.
It's clear to see why this is at the top of the charts - it feels original with fresh ideas. Even though I'm not a sci-fi reader (heck, I've never even watched the whole of Star Wars!) I'd definitely buy this if I saw it in a bookshop.
I'll come back and read from where I left off!
Good luck with it Simon!
Gillian

Seems to be a deserved number one. I really look forward to buying this in the shops...

Hello Simon,
You are a gentleman, and I thank you! I'm sure you are home and dry on the Ed's Desk and you have my full support.
Nicky

Hi Simon,

Adding this to my watchlist, I will try and get to it by the weekend. The pitch made me laugh, I look forward to reading it. Take care!

Stef

I agree with what you say. I had already decided to make some changes to the first part of the chapter, based on comments here and elsewhere. However, I can't upload the amended chapter just yet because it takes the word count below 10k and I have yet to finish working on the next chapters. Normally, I would not go back and revise until I had got to the end, otherwise I take ten times longer to finish.

Thanks for the comments. I take the points you make about the odd words and using them with care. Perhaps, I need to avoid setting myself up for the reader to scan for the errors; the error of the day phrase is perhaps a hostage to fortune. I will give it some thought. I appreciate the critique. And the shelving.

Hi Simon, Thanks for the message you left. Glad my timing was good. Sorry to hear about that shit news! But you are still number one on authonomy so you can skip the agent and go straight to the mighty source. Cheers, Heather

Thoroughly enjoyed Evil - all of the characters are very much alive in my head already, and yes, I'm rooting for Dexter & the gang.... And many a laugh out loud was produced - can't wait to be able to read the book in full. Excellent work that man!!

Thanks, Simon.

Nice to get a vote of confidence from "Da Champ." Yeah, Elroy has been a sorce of reading joy, and an influence. While you are a truely shameless plugger, yours are always inovative and highly entertaining. Class will out, even while plugging.

Best to you, and "Evil."

Thanks again, NS

I'm a suxxor!
You're shelved (at least until I read till the end and longer if you give me some tips on how to improve MB!)
K4ll m3 k1ckb4ck
Lucie

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3v1l unltd's r0xx0r sl1ckly cl3v3r l1k3 m3!!!1!!!!1
d1dn't r34d 4ll but w1ll d0 s00n
sp0tted 2 typ0s d00d: 0ne Ffobbes & "... that, had required a complex 15-character alphanumeric code..." & ch4pt 4 41n't s3p4r4t3 u kn0w wh4t 1'm s4y1ng d00d
sign3d l33t
ps 4ny t1ps 0n h0w 2 m4k3 MB sh4rp3r w0uld b r3w4rd3d w1th s3v3r4l k1l0s 0f 3mm3nt4l!!!11!!
pps gr0wnupz & 3d1t0rz r t3h suq d00d