Reaper: Coming soon to a family near you

ARISE, AUTHONOMY GHOST!

Ease those weary, withered limbs from your coffin. Push away the stone from the mouth of the tomb.

You have one last task to perform. One last, sacred shelf to confer.

Whether you were plugger, spammer, gusher or troll, whether you flirted or fought in the forum or beavered away in the shadows, now is the time for your resurrection.

One last time. Marshall your strength, muster the last vestiges of your power and carry out your final Authonomy act:

Back my book, MIRROR IN THE SKY.

Then, only then, you may rest easy in your Authonomy grave.

Nick Poole2 (formerly known as NickP)

After reading the prologue I noted on my blog (http://thefutureofpublishing.com/blog/2009/07/failed-experiments-in-the-future-of-publishing-an-ongoing-series/)

I doubt it makes you want to read on. Perhaps it was the sentence, “From the gasps of fog a figure emerged as though exhaled from the bowels of the earth” that put you off? Or was it the Nike product placement in the second paragraph? The repulsive description of spittle in the fourth? Or the obscenity in the sixth?

Some commentators are more impressed by HarperCollins’ authonomy effort than I am. I conclude this entry by noting that like most large publishers today, HarperCollins no longer accepts unsolicited manuscripts directly. The famed “slush pile” of yore is not to be found there. What is to be found is a web site where the unpaid public are given the chance to read through the slush for HarperCollins, and the company can pray that a few bestsellers emerge. The one aspect that would qualify as social networking is that all of the folks who voted for chapter one of The Reaper are strong prospects to purchase the finished book, and feeling a certain ownership of the process whereby it was published, will read it with more generosity than I can summon, and quite possibly recommend it to their friends.

I’ll be continuing to follow the experiment.

Hullo Steven. Serial killers are my bag, and your book has a lot of dialog. Since I am from the States I do not understand some of the words and/or their context but I will read on. Will shelve and back.
Linda Lou Long
Southern dis-Comfort

I've just bought this book for real. I'm looking forward to reading the whole thing.

I've had chance to read further, and have put this on my book shelf.

the boy who ate earwigs - great stuff! and "Bob Mahler and the Wailers" made me laugh. I love Brook, I just want to take him home and mother him (after giving him a good seeing to!)

This is gripping stuff - right up my street - backed with pleasure!

I'm amazed its not higher ranked?

Regards

Martyn

I really enjoyed reading your work. I was not familiar with some of the British slang, but that didn't keep me from reading further. Good job. I like the details and characters. The characters seemed very real to me.
Have an awesome day!
Trina

I think your other comments cover just about everything. My only add would be to take another look at the flow of your story....not the pace or the story itself, but the flow. From time to time I found myself going back to reread several sentences before I could hear them in my head. No issue with the content....great work.

Lockjaw

I love this and, if there was actually any point, I'd back it. It's published and really deserves it because it's absolutely brilliant.

I truly enjoy books. I wish you the very best Harold Alvin

Fully deserves publication.

Chilling tale, I like how you work the cat (a honed, instinctive hunter) into the prologue. I wasn't sure what a 'tab end' is in the prologue (near paragraph 6).

I love how the inspector wakes divided between sleep and wake... not wanting to join either. A nice way to describe his less-than-excitement about life.

Good luck!

Congratulation, and I am looking forward to read your book.
BK Bazhe,
www.bazhe.com

Well done, Steve, a terrific read and right up my street as I have written a crime/thriller aswell. It was read and praised by an ex senior police officer who said my reasearch was correct and authentic and I used SOCO, too. And HOLMES.

Very clever and intriguing plot that is well written. I have had a few words from the 'cuss police' but take no notice. Like Stephen King said, 'We are not writing for an old laidies knitting circle.' People talk like that, end of...

All the very best with it. I am sure you will do well. Might even end up on TV! Fingers crossed.

Lucyxx

Your use of language is street worthy, put in the vernacular of the dialect used and abused by common ordinary people. I find the four letter words offensive but I do so in everyday life so the way you write is realistic. Normally I don’t read this type of book however since your book was accepted to be published I had to open the cover and take a look. Your unique style is captivating and keeps the reader involved; the coarseness of the characters spotlights your story and gives the feeling of being in the heart of the scene. Congratulations what you have written is book worthy and deserves recognition.

This is the first time I've heard of this title. It definitely grabs the reader straight away. I'll buy it! It's just my kind of book.

Well done, Steven. Gives hope to others!
Regards.
Pat

Is this YWO as the language is very energetic and lively, like someone doing magic tricks for the first time? Kind of reminded me of what a Victorian Jack the Ripper production would have been like a hundred or so years back. Maybe this is what you meant though? Good luck though, it will be interesting to see where this goes and whether HC have really picked a winner.

This book sounds right up my alley - from other authors of course. I can't write them but I love to read them. Congratulations, Steven! I look forward to holding this book in hand.

Steven

I just read your blog about agents and publishers. I'd previously read what there is of 'Reaper' and was really getting into it when it stopped. What puzzles me a bit is, if you self-published it earlier, why is it not all here?

I thought your prologue set the scene very effectively, without getting bogged down in too much detail, and it managed to draw the reader into the mind of the mindless. I liked the whole mirror image thing, where expulsion from school is celebrated as a status enhancing achievement.

Another thing I struggle to understand is, while your book has deservedly been picked up by a publisher, your ranking on this site seems to be plummeting. It makes me wonder what the ranking system is all about.

Congratulations, good luck with the future!

yay!!

I was hooked from the onset, and am looking forward to reading the whole book! I'm a big fan of crime novels and am always looking for one that's not the same old killer strikes again. You've accomplished that! Congrats on your signing! Hopefully my friend Janet Roberts will be as fortunate as you in the future - check out her novel, The Leaf Queen, on here. She brings her characters to life in a way you can hear their accents and feel as though you're watching a movie in your head. You'll smile and cheer, you'll maybe cry a tear or two and your heart will be full by the end. Already your book has captured me in a way that will also have me seeing the movie in my head, drawing gasps and at times smiling (already has). Good luck in your future endeavors!

Congratulations, Steven!

Yes, I too have just read the good news as it was sent to my email address. Congratulations! It must be a great thrill for you.

I've just read the good news on the Authonomy blog. Congratulations on getting a publishing contract!

I like stories with serial killers, so I liked this and found it a good read. You kept me entertained.

Hi – finally got round to reading some more!

I don’t think I can add much to my previous comments – it’s very well written, some good characterisation, believable dialogue, humorous banter etc.

My only criticism would be that the detailed crime scene section, in chapter 2, seemed to drag a bit (though my not being a particular fan of ‘Police Procedural’ type crime stories, might be to blame!).

I did wonder if perhaps there’s a bit too much of Brook’s personal details coming through too soon? (Maybe it could be spaced out a bit more, scattered through some of the later chapters?)

And for us poor readers, I’d suggest increasing the font size (say, 12point) and not having it ‘bold’ – this actually makes it harder on the eyes to read on a computer screen! (Plus separate chapters, as the further in you get, the harder it is to keep scrolling down to where you left off . . .)

(Sorry, these are petty little niggles, I know!)

Darren

I do not normally read crime novels, but the opening caught my eye. To me, there was a weird undertone to the opening crime scene which made it seem almost holy, as though Brook is at a shrine, not a place of slaughter. Anxious to read more......

Eugene Stedman

As a fan of gritty crime thrillers I liked this. Regarding the SOCO query - I thoroughly researched this for my novel (Sinema) and SOCO is still the term used (Scene of Crime Officer), so spot on.

Hi – only had a quick shufty at “Reaper” so far, but thought I’d note a few initial thoughts . . .

I’ve really enjoyed reading it so far - I liked the description of Jason, the asbo-in-waiting teen, and his ‘youth-speak’, although felt perhaps it went on a little too long (especially as this was still only the prologue). – perhaps might benefit from removing him from the prologue, and just showing the killer? (then introduce Jason later?).

Slight niggle: At first I wasn’t sure if the use of a cassette player was to set the time period as slightly in the past, or had the user just not got round to installing either a CD or MP3 player, though the later mention of mobile phones gave me a rethink that he simply couldn’t afford (or want) anything more modern.

Some great characterisation and natural sounding dialogue, the pace seems to bound along nicely, and there’s a good thread of humour tinged with world-weary cynicism.

Slight niggle 2: I thought ‘Greatorix’ was a pretty odd choice of name, can’t say I’ve heard it before (I always find odd names a bit off-putting, as they jump out of the page, but weird names crop up all the time in real life I suppose!)

A damn good read, I’ll try and devote some more time to it when able . . .

Darren

I liked this very much. Read to the end of chapter 2 and it all seems very gritty and realistic. Not sure they're still called SOCOs though. I think most forces swapped to the American CSIs a couple of years ago. And the carpet confused me as well! Wasn't sure about Jason's voice in places - sometimes you have him speaking in street language and other times he seems very eloquent. I think it's more to do with your writing style (which I like very much) - perhaps you could make it clearer where it's actually Jason's internal thought and where it's narrative? Or maybe I'm just talking rubbish!

Dialogue excellent, very individual character voices. Maybe cut the cat at the very start? Great pace and tension and just the right amount of backstory. I could see this on the shelves of WHSmiths easily and will be looking for it in a couple of years!

As a writer it's always difficult to turn off your inner editor and enjoy reading something for its own sake, so kudos for almost managing to make me do that that here.

I loved the gritty realism and the characters. The pacing is spot on too.

Only two detail points bothered me, but since crime novels stand and fall on detail I'll list them here. Firstly, "That fit the pattern", an American usage (according to Fowler, British English would demand fitted) which doesn't sit well in the thoughts of a man you've told us is fussy about language. The second thing that tripped me was the carpet (excuse the pun) being removed before the bodies. Were they and their furniture not on the carpet? Or is this the carpet from the hall?

Nit picks aside, good stuff!