FEATURED AUTHOR - Alice K. Boatwright is the author of the Ellie Kent mysteries, which debuted with Under an English Heaven, winner of the 2016 Mystery and Mayhem Grand Prize for Best Mystery. The series continues with What Child Is This? and In the Life Ever After. Alice has also published other fiction, including Collateral Damage, three linked novellas about the Vietnam War era; Sea, Sky, Islands, a chapbook of stories set in Washington’s San Juan Islands; and Mrs. Potts Finds Thanksgiving, a holiday parable…
Read more
Recent comments: User reviews
Reviewer: Martin Grundy 5th February 2021
It is hard to tell if this is a mistake, but the version of "Survival Story" by Marita Balto that I picked up is not ready for publication.
It is littered with spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, missing words, malapropisms, logical inconsistencies and missing details. There is even one editing comment left in the text.
This is a shame, because the story is a good one. The author has a way with words. The pace is good. The style is simple and effective. Many of the descriptions of the sea, sunsets, illness and insects are very evocative. A knowledge of and a love for dogs shines through. But it seems that the writer has rushed to finish, in order to advertise her (admittedly very worthy) cause at the expense of a professional product.
For the book to be taken seriously, it needs thorough revision by a competent editor. This is not a matter of pedantry. The words of a novel should be metaphorically written on glass with the reader looking through the glass to the story unfolding in their imagination. When there is a mistake in the text, attention is diverted from the story to the text itself, which is disruptive and not what is required. In that sense, the words of the book should be invisible.
I am sure I would recommend a revised and corrected edition of "Survival Story".