How many times have you walked into a book store or stood at a magazine rack and found what looks like a great book to read, only to find out that the novel is book number five in a series. The book series has become increasingly popular mainly because; readers look forward to the next installment of a book from their favorite writer or a favorite character; it is a great way for the writer to develop characters over time; and publishers love it because it is a guaranteed sell. Readers will follow a series even if some of the novels in the series are not necessarily good, which is good for the writer and the publisher but is not necessarily good for the audience. Publishers will contract writers to write a set number of books within a certain time frame, usually one a year, which can lead to a certain amount of stress for the writer to continue pumping out great novels one after the other. Some writers are good at it, but some are not, which lead me to create this blog.
It is a bit of a time commitment to start a series, so it would be nice to know beforehand if it is worth the time and effort to start a series and continue it. Some series start out slow, the first novels not being very good but improve greatly with time. Do you really want to give up after book two or is it worth moving on to book three, four and five? Many of the writers try to write their books as standalones, so that a reader can start anywhere in the series, but rarely is this successful. It would be nice to know if it is necessary to start out from the beginning or just start with book three. Letting the reader know about these things is what I hope to accomplish with this blog.
Some series must be read from beginning to end because there is a continuous story line that runs through the series, a good example would be the Harry Potter series. In other series, the characters will progress and develop but each novel will have their own separate adventure which is the most common type of series. Most series will have one protagonist with other characters making appearances sporadically throughout the series, whereas other series will have a group of characters that stay together throughout the series. More often than not the series strength lies in the development of its characters and not necessarily its storylines.
The focus of this blog will be primarily on forensic, medical and techno-thrillers. The reasoning behind this is that, I am a scientist in my day job which means I love science. These types of thrillers usually have a certain level of science incorporated in them, some of it pretty good and some of it not so good. I hope to highlight some of the scientific aspects from these novels and give you a perspective from a scientist point of view.
A final note, being a writer is not my day job but I love to read when I get free time, so writing this blog is an act of love of reading more so than writing. That being said, if I am critical of a writer, it does not mean that I don’t respect them. I think that writing a good novel and even a semi-good novel is a gift in story telling which I do not have, therefore, if I am blogging and reviewing a series, I am showing my respect to that novelist.
A-Thrill-A-Week 
Books in a series — so much in vogue, my own novel, I’m told, must be broken into 2 or 3 before I try to sell it. Thanks for this blog, Victoria. It’s visually impressive and professional,well-written and thoughtful, as well. I’m an author (not yet published) with a gazillion author friends who’d love to have more followers. All these blogs out there, and I happen across yours, and this one stands out. Bravo! And you’re not even an author, per se, but a scientist who loves to read. Gotta love it!!!
If you get a chance, you might check out some “Awesome Indie Authors” who write thrillers. Great review of “Reversions” (mine will appear Nov.12 in Perihelion Science Fiction ezine) — if you love ScienceThrillers Media, you may have read The Neanderthal’s Aunt (I love it!!). If you give indies a chance, check out http://john-l-monk.com/ — John has hand-picked a half dozen indie authors who really stand out for their talent. (His own novels rank right up there.) My blog also includes some great indies, such as Tam Linsey (“Botanicaust”) whose protagonists are green (they’ve been genetically altered for photoysnthesis).
Another indie author: E.E. Giorgi is a scientist and an award winning author and photographer. She spends her days analyzing genetic data, her evenings chasing sunsets, and her nights pretending she’s somebody else. On her blog, E.E. discusses science for the inquiring mind, especially the kind that sparks fantastic premises and engaging stories. Her debut novel CHIMERAS, a medical mystery, is a 2014 Readers’ Favorite International Book Award winner.
NEWSLETTER: http://eepurl.com/SPCvT
BLOG: http://chimerasthebooks.blogspot.com/
When pathogens cannot be found for real: read the science behind the scenes on my blog.
chimerasthebooks.blogspot.com/2014/10/is-ev-d68-causing-mysterious-polio-like.html
Thank you Carol for all the support. I will definitely check out your suggestions, I am always looking for good books with a bit of science in them.
I really enjoy your site, Vicky. Thanks for all of your hard work on it!
You might enjoy my new book (http://www.amazon.com/Power-Grip-Muscle-Friend-Murders/dp/1508425256), which builds clues from science and technology.
Thanks for the support. I will check your book out. Thanks.
Hi Vicky, Thanks for stopping by my book review site, prelovedbooksblog.com, where I too review mostly crime novels. I completely agree with your comments about series – I enjoy the room they give to develop characters over a longer lifetime. And I’m also nodding in agreement about the decision it takes as to whether to start a new series or not. Is it worthwhile or just distracting you from another novel? Anyways, I’m going to follow along as I’m always in the market for a new author, so your reviews will be helpful there. Regards, Deirdre, Ireland.
Hello! Thanks for stopping by to like my review of Depraved Heart. I see we read the same books. I don’t know if you’ve looked at my other reviews of many of the writers you have listed here. Since I started my blog last late April, the books I’ve reviewed are fairly recent, meaning they came out last year. I’ve followed or am following a lot of different series. I will admit that I’ve not been too thrilled with the recent Scarpetta series though. I like her new ones–Andy Brazil and Win Garano, as I’d mentioned, but Cornwell seems to like Scarpetta better, or perhaps that’s what her contract says! My most favorite detective though is Child & Preston’s Pendergast series! I love Aloysius. It was sad though that his wife died, but I’m wondering if he’s going to have a romance with his old/young ward. What do you think? Of course, I like Lincoln Rhyme too and I wonder if he’ll have a successful operation! Okay, over and out. Hope to see you come by again!
I m am thinking if we continue to pursue WP maybe our photo’s will appear with the post text in the reader. How much clearer can I make it to them? Seems you and I are on the same page attempting to get them to grasp what we are saying?! Many blogger friends of mine at times, their posts do not appear in the reader. They become very frustrated especially when they are paying for a .com site. Never have I had this problem before last week. Best Regards, Cheryl
Yes, this is a problem. I have noticed that the pictures have disappeared on a lot of other blogs as well. I will keep pursuing it. I am surprised that others haven’t jumped on board as well.
Just this a.m. (I wrote a post on my main site about this issue) I had a reply from yet another blogger friend, her .com (paid) blog does not appear in the reader for her followers. Yet, she has attempted to communicate with WP to no avail, they claim there is no problem-really…I will continue as well to ask questions until someone does something and realizes we are not stupid! Cheryl.
I am planning to send out a post as well.
Excellent Vicky!