The reviews are in! And a radio interview this Sunday!

Wow. So it turns out there were some reviews coming after all, from places I hadn’t expected ^_^ No wonder my distributor has been making some sales. Turns out libraries have been picking the book up thanks to a couple of library-friendly reviews that hit!

So, what are they saying?
Booklist Reviews says “This debut speculative fiction/horror novel is reminiscent of The Matrix and John Twelve Hawks’ The Traveler (2005). Although a little drawn out in the middle and preachy near the end, it indicates that Silva has promise.”

Library Journal says, “Latino author Silva brings a fresh new voice to the genre in this debut featuring a Latino-Asian hero and expanding the demographic appeal of sf. A good selection for most sf collections.”

Wow ^^;; And we’re still anxiously waiting for the next edition of SciFiNow to reach US shores; I believe there’s a review in there as well. So all of a sudden, Solstice is getting some publicity, and some sales. Wow…

It was a shock, for sure, to see those reviews. In fact, I just kind of stumbled into them, so you can imagine how speechless I was once I realized they were reviews. What’s most stunning about it is that, based on what everyone says in the industry, this was not supposed to happen! Reviewers, especially noted reviewers like Library Journal (affiliated with Publishers Weekly, so you know they’re not messing around), have a major bias against independently published works. I knew that going in, which is why I assumed they wouldn’t even look at Solstice. But obviously, something about our media kits and the book itself caught their eye and made them look past the stigma.

So far, from the little that I’ve heard from users, the book is going over well. One person even wrote about it in their livejournal (thank you, razorsmile!). So who knows, maybe this wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

Oh, and if you’re not doing anything on Sunday night (October 28) at 9:30 p.m., check out quietearth.us. Why? I’ll be on their weekly radio show ^^; Site co-hosts Don and Wilcoy have graciously offered to have me on to discuss the book. If you miss the show, you can always download a copy of it later on. This should be fun ^^;;

Of course, I still worry about how my readers (all 16 of them) will react to the seismic change in writing style once my new novel is completed and published. Moving right along past page 530 (meaning it's now officially longer than Solstice), I guess I’m already looking ahead, trying to figure out how to market it to the same people who thought Solstice—and its heartwarming story about the end of the world—was a good read. Like I’ve said, the new novel is a comedic satire, and although it bears some similarities to Solstice (namely in that Liliana has one vomit scene, reminiscent of Io’s 49 vomit scenes ^^), it goes without saying that the two books are completely different genres. Oh well, I guess I’ll worry about that once I get to that point. Right now, it’s just first draft stage.

Anyway, Solstice is now available wherever books are sold. You may have to ask for it at your bookstore, but rest assured, it can be ordered. Or you can do the easy thing and order direct from me (and get an autographed copy in the process, which will one day be worth…um…56 cents on ebay ^^)! Thanks!