Last night I finally put together a complete draft of a new short story, finishing around 1am–and given that I can almost never sleep past 6am, I’m tired!

The story has a very near-future setting. I won’t make any judgments yet on its quality–it’s much too soon for that–but I did enjoy working on it, and I’m pleased to have a first draft.

Since last fall I’ve written four stories. Two were set in preexisting story worlds, and they were fun, and fast to write. The other two, including this one, are set in original worlds with characters that I’m making up as I go, and writing them has been a battle.

So I guess I should write more stories set in the worlds I already know?

And on the second subject of this post, I’m still looking for reader reviews! If you missed my prior post, I’m trying to get to twenty Amazon reader reviews on both the Puzzle Lands books, The Dread Hammer and Hepen the Watcher. The review count is creeping up. As of this morning The Dread Hammer has six reviews and Hepen the Watcher has three, but I’ve still got a long way to go. If you do review the books, check in here and post a comment to let me know, and you could win more books!

Thanks for stopping by.

What’s going on? Just this: I’m hoping to encourage you to help me reach a goal of twenty Amazon reviews, for each of the Puzzle Lands books–The Dread Hammer and Hepen the Watcher–by the ninth of May, just twenty-one days from now. It sounds like a daunting goal to me. Is it possible? Not without your help.

Right now The Dread Hammer has but four reviews, and Hepen the Watcher has only one (and thanks go out to Jennifer Stevenson, one of my very helpful beta readers, for that one!).

But here’s the thing:

Author Stephen Harper Piziks, a fellow Book View Café member, says that:

“Amazon makes recommendations based on the number of reader reviews a book gets. When a book reaches 20 reader reviews, Amazon’s computer starts recommending it. The content of the reviews doesn’t matter–only that the book got reviews.”

To test Stephen’s theory, I’m following his example and launching a contest to encourage you to help me by writing an Amazon review of either The Dread Hammer or Hepen the Watcher, or if you’re really into it, of both! The review doesn’t have to be elaborate. A couple of sentences conveying your general opinion should do it, though of course longer coverage is fine too.

If you haven’t had a chance to read the books yet, here are some sample chapters in epub (Nook) and mobi (Kindle) format to encourage you to try them. The samples are from Book View Café, but the books are of course available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble too. Click to download your preferred format:

Book 1: The Dread Hammer — EPUB Sample — MOBI Sample

Book 2: Hepen the Watcher — EPUB Sample — MOBI Sample

And after you’ve read…

Go here to review The Dread Hammer

…and…

Go here to review Hepen The Watcher

If you do review the books, PLEASE COME BACK HERE AND LEAVE A COMMENT letting me know which review is yours and if you have an address in the USA or not.

After May 9, I’ll go through the comments, randomly selecting one from a reviewer in the USA and one from a reviewer outside the USA.

(I discriminate only because of the very high cost of postage. I’d love to treat you all the same!)

The selected USA commenter will receive EITHER a print copy of both Puzzle Lands books OR a print copy of any ONE of the Nanotech Succession books OR the Tor® hardcover of Memory.

The selected non-USA commenter will get to select any two of Mythic Island Press LLC’s ebooks.

Is it possible to get to twenty reviews for each of the Puzzle Lands books in just twenty days?

I guess we’ll find out!

Update: April 28 — we’re ten days in and The Dread Hammer and Hepen the Watcher have collected seven reviews each! That’s much better than what we started with, but there’s still a long way to go. Thanks to everyone who’s reviewed and helped to spread the word. If you’ve read either book and haven’t reviewed them yet on Amazon, please consider doing so!