REVIEWS
I was blown away by The Woods. It is billed as a dark fantasy, and it is that. The magic in this story is both beautiful and disturbing. The narrative is gripping; deceptively simple in its setup and satisfyingly complex in its execution. And yet, while "Dark Fantasy," may begin to describe The Woods, it does not do the book justice. This is a deeply moving, literary novel, a reflection on adolescence that delves into the raw emotions of youth with the poetic insight of John Knowles (A Separate Peace) and the power of the underrated James Kirkwood (Good Times, Bad Times)....
Humor, melancholy, nostalgia, and beneath it all a compelling honesty that makes this work of fiction read almost like memoir. Leigh's prose is elegant, his plotting tight, his character work outstanding. But it is the voice of his protagonist that drives this story, that gives the book it's emotional weight and power.
I'm not going to delve into plot summary or anything else that might give away the many surprises that await you in The Woods... At $3.99, I guarantee you that it will be the best deal you get all summer.
-- David B. Coe, Crawford Award-winning fantasy author
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Offered only in e-book form:
THE WOODS
I'm conducting an experiment, and am inviting all of you to ride along.
Back when I realized just how much I loved teaching at the university, I knew that in order to teach full-time, I would need an advanced degree, and completed a Masters program in Creative Writing. For my 'thesis' in that program, I wrote a novel: a somewhat quirky story that didn't fit easily in the genre 'buckets' -- it's maybe dark fantasy, maybe young adult (or maybe not), with elements of magic realism and psychological horror. The book is titled, simply, THE WOODS.
I really loved writing THE WOODS, and poured into it a lot of my heart. Now, I very much like my current publisher and editor, have a current two-book contract with them, and intend to continue working with them for as long as they'll put up with me. They are a top-notch and professional group. Had they not passed on THE WOODS, I wouldn't consider doing this 'experiment' -- but they have, saying they weren't certain how to effectively market and target the book. That's fine: I understand that. Commercial publishing is commercial publishing.
Publishing is also changing, and I feel that as a teacher, I should also be actively working with those changes, so that I can pass along to my students my own experiences as a working writer.
So hence this experiment.
So what else can you do in this experiment? Well,
1) You can buy the book if you're so inclined. Heck, if enough of you do that in the same time frame, you can push the sales rank nice and low, which might encourage even more people to buy it.
Beyond that, you can help boost the signal!
2) If you do buy the book and like it, write a review on the book's page. It seems that browsers are impressed by books with lots of positive reviews. Mind you, I emphatically DO NOT want you to write a positive review unless you actually feel that way -- I really, really hate marketing of books with 'suspicious' reviews that all seem to be generated by the same person.
3) If you like the book and have your own blog/website/facebook, I wouldn't mind if you mention that you read the book and liked it -- nothing works better than good word-of-mouth, frankly. When someone I like and trust tells me that they enjoyed a book, I'm much more inclined to pick it up myself.
4) if you have a website or a blog, and want to play with viral marketing -- go steal this banner and put it wherever you (legally) like... Have fun!
5) If you run a review website or zine, let me know and I might just drop you a review copy in whatever format you want.
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