Ted Krever: Writing and other forms of torturePosted on by ted krever
‘A Crafty and Devious God’ is my first book. I don’t take it seriously, I put it online basically because I can’t disown my own work. But it got a very nice review today, which reminds me not to have such firm ideas about what might be useful to other people.
5.0 out of 5 stars Both Crafty and Devious, January 9, 2012
I won a copy of Mr. Krever’s Mindbenders some months back, and enjoyed it so much I had to take a look at the rest of his catalogue. This one jumped out at me for the title alone (I have a habit of skimming blurbs to the point I’m often surprised at what the plot actually turns out to be). A few pages in, I knew this book would cement Mr. Krever’s place on my (in this case, virtual) bookshelf.
His writing is very natural, loose and easy, yet deep and thoughtful. I can tell he’s a man who has experienced life and not just lived it. The evidence is there in his prose.
I should caution the most prudish of people there is a fair amount of sexual material in the book, but it’s nothing explicit. Considering the backdrop of the story, it could have easily become that. Instead, Mr. Krever serves up an engaging character study. It’s a tale of a man who’s lost, looking for his way, and a girl who knows she is destined for great things and is determined to achieve it at all costs.
It’s a great read–enough to tear me away from my own edits for a time–and I look forward to Mr. Krever’s next book.
Ted Krever: Writing and other forms of torturePosted on by ted krever
Karl works at the same chain I do. He’s a cranky mess of a smart guy, trying to figure out how to live a real life, hold his health together and maintain a relationship with his son as the world gets older.
Karl calls me every couple of days to complain about sales (nobody in retail is doing great business these days), to rank on the Mets (I’m a Mets fan, pity me) and complain about the Jets, Rangers and even the Yankees, in season. He listens to WFAN and takes it all seriously. He doesn’t listen to the news because WFAN is the level of engagement with the world that he can handle. When I hear him, I expect complaints.
He called me a day or two ago and said he’d started seeing someone. Kind of a long-distance thing, he said, though not as long-distance as my last one. Which was Ireland, so it was real long-distance. How far? I asked. Just upstate, about twenty miles. That’s great, I told him. That’s not that far.
Yeah, but she doesn’t really know me, he said. We knew each other a long time ago and I’m not the same anymore. Then he proceeds to tell me they saw each other at a family gathering recently and spent an hour talking. So she knows who you are, I said.
Yeah but I’m working all the time and I don’t know if I want to start driving back and forth, do I want to do that? And she’s 46, how’s that going to work? I have enough trouble with my son these days, do I need more?
And somehow along the way, I got the message, figured out what he wasn’t saying: What’s she want to do with me?
Men put up a good strong front. We do it persistently enough that we often have a hard time letting down in public and – especially if we’ve lived alone awhile – sometimes even in private, inside our own four walls. Women take the front seriously far more often than I expect them to. But men do talk, intimately – in a man’s way, a little more cloaked, a bit in code – and moreso as we get older and more fragile and things get closer to the bone.
So I told Karl: I can tell you my opinion, but it’s not like I know anything –
No no, he said, that’s what I want. I know you’re seeing somebody now.
Women see things in us we don’t, I told him. They help us get in touch with parts of ourselves we don’t contact on our own. Our world gets bigger and we get bigger in response. Which hurts sometimes – and is scary often – because we’re stretching muscles we haven’t used in a while.
I was able to say that last line without irony, ladies.
He thanked me for the encouragement. He thanked me, without saying so, for telling him he deserved to have a woman want him. That he was still a man and a good one.
Probably a better one, for having someone want him, even if it isn’t forever. ‘Someone’ is a big position in anyone’s life. It’s that bigger world we all deserve to live in.
Ted Krever: Writing and other forms of torturePosted on by ted krever
Mindbenders has just been chosen as one of the Best of 2011 by the Paranormal Romance Guild (which actually reviews all kinds of books).
There is actually a vote going on now at their website. I have to admit, I don’t really believe in a vote or a ‘Best of.’ Without reeking of cliche, I really do feel like the honor is getting nominated. But it does feel good for someone to single you out.
Ted Krever: Writing and other forms of torturePosted on by ted krever
Anybody who thought Amazon wasn’t a ‘real’ publisher – or who thought they were going to save the publishing business, bringing an indie sensibility and an openness to innovation that leaves behind the old stodgy traditional booksellers – should know better now.
This morning’s New York Times reports that Amazon intends to publish ‘Actors Anonymous,’ a new novel by James Franco. The actor.
Now, I’m not saying James Franco is a bad writer – he’s a talented guy so he might be very good. I’m just saying that we all know that’s not why he’s getting published.
Writers need Amazon right now. Indie writers like me, especially, need Amazon now. It’s where the action is. I’ve sold 95% of my books there since I first published them. Amazon is, for indies, just about the only game in town.
And therein lies the rub, dear reader. Right now, Amazon is a useful and positive place for writers, generally, at the moment. Note the qualifiers. Writers will remember (and tell you at length) about the hostile attitude Amazon’s own forums took to its own indie writers last year. Amazon plays games with prices (to its own benefit), gives us no information about who is buying our books and generally conducts itself like a business.
You can’t blame them for that and you can’t expect anything else. If Amazon offers me a contract and there’s something to be gained, I’ll sign it. Right now, three of my ebooks are exclusive to Amazon and that relationship is helping me gain far more sales and visibility than I had previously. So I like Amazon very much – at the moment.
But capitalism is based on competition and clearly, Amazon’s moves are designed to cripple or eliminate traditional book publishing companies and eventually to control that business entirely. To put Amazon in the position of dominating every segment of our careers that makes money – distribution, sales, publicity, you name it.
They’re going at this task with their usual efficiency and creativity. They’ve innovated and opened doors. There are a lot of writers who will rightfully feel that Amazon has been far more helpful to and open to creative solutions and new writers who didn’t fit the mold than the old system.
But once they’re the only game in town, the game changes – it’s just part of business. Historically, monopolies raise prices and narrow access, because their main goal changes from the desire to win everyone over to the desire to shut out any challenge to their control. We have only to look around at the fifty markets controlled by two or three companies – insurance, oil, cable television – to see the results. What have those guys ever done for anybody? As John Erlichman, one of Richard Nixon’s lieutenants, once said, ‘When you have them by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow.’
So all I’m saying is that writers should actively seek new venues- smart, well-run, creative alternatives – for publishing in this new age. Not to put Amazon out of business but just to give it a little healthy competition. When you start looking for an alternative to Amazon, you start realizing just how big and overpowering it already is.
For if we’re not careful, we’ll wake up and find that this refreshing little garden we’ve helped build for ourselves has turned into a huge and highly efficient prison.
Anyone who hasn’t read about the CIA’s experiments with mind control and alternate reality should at least do a couple of quick Wiki-searches on CIA Mind Control. The more you delve into the topic the more you will learn just how seriously our government (and others during the Cold War) took these things. And it’s upon this canvas that Ted Krever paints us this highly readable Conspiracy Thriller.
The story opens in the Florida everglades with the murder of an ex-CIA spy who was running a sort of group home for mentally affected vets of the Gulf War. Our narrator Greg was one such person. A one time journalist who no longer speaks or remembers due to Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome, Greg witnesses the assassination of his mentor first hand. What Greg does not know is why this has happened or why a neighboring man suddenly shows up to rescue him, or why this man seems to be able to speak without using his voice, can render hostiles unconscious with taser like electricity from his hands, or why he can drive with his eyes closed and describe what is about to come way before it happens. Most disconcerting is the fact that Greg’s mentor has placed a list of other defunct agents from the CIA Mindbender programs inside of Greg’s mind that their neighbor Renn can unlock piece by piece. What ensues is an excursion up and down the East Coast rounding up psychic spies of various talents in an effort to save the world from a shadowy group of assassins bent on destroying hope.
Sounds messy, but the adventure suits Greg as he slowly comes out of his shell and rediscovers the power in words just as he discovers the innate powers within himself. With each page Greg grows more sure footed and, as our narrator, becomes more entertaining. His short, somewhat awkward descriptions that open the book become more verbose and chocked full of literary devices as the book continues. Which is not only a great device, but really helps move the story forward as our team of misfit psychics band together to attempt the impossible.
Mr. Krever is a skilled writer. What could have been a terrible mess ends up being entertaining and thought provoking. He is tackling some very big subjects while trying to maintain a thriller’s pace and, for the most part, he succeeds. There are times when he attempts to inject the science behind the powers that threatens to tip the balance the wrong way, but he manages to right the ship each time. His small band of psychics each have strong well developed personalities and they stand out as unique characters on the page. Many lesser authors would have focused so much on the powers that they would become the “characters” but Mr. Krever focuses on the person first, their talents second. He avoids the cliches that you expect to happen and churns out a page-turning yarn that will appeal to many.
This could have easily been a 5 star effort, but in my mind the ending could have been slightly stronger. I also would love to see a suggested reading list in the next Mindbenders (due in 2012) with some of the titles referenced by Mr. Krever. But really, these are very small complaints and I can promise you I will definitely be reading future installments in what I hope is a series.
Let me close by saying that I picked this title up free for the Kindle during Krever’s December 2011 giveaway. Add to that his e-mail offer that allowed anyone who picked up Mindbenders to receive a free copy of his critically acclaimed 9/11 short story collection “After” and you have the best deal ever on Amazon! Read Mr. Krever’s Amazon commentary on any book you purchase by him to find free offers, but above all, read Ted Krever, he is a talented author!
Ted Krever: Writing and other forms of torturePosted on by ted krever
So – December 31st.
Every year, we stand in a long hall, staring at a door. We can see the side facing us, the details of the year coming to an end. The other side, once we open it, will be blank, fresh, waiting for the details to be written, inscribed on its surface.
2012 is a door I should, by all rights, be in no hurry to open. 2011 has been very good to me.
I went online this year. I put ten years of writing up for readers to review, pick apart and (hopefully) buy. It’s been a learning experience. Promotion is exhausting, far more than I ever expected. But I’ve been treated very well by reviewers and readers and recently, I’m actually selling a decent number of copies (of ‘Mindbenders’ in particular). The sequel to that book is going well and this blog and the books have gained me a new group of friends.
My personal universe grew as well. I met a woman who’s enriched my life in a thousand ways and who continues to surprise and delight me daily. She’s helped me blossom into a more expansive spirit and a bigger world and I foolishly think I’ve helped her learn a thing or two (despite the fact that she is, obviously, always right).
My son is healthy, growing and learning and experiencing a new life in a new place. We don’t see each other as often as we used to and that’s an unhappy development, but maybe that’s simply one of the things we have to work on.
So I have lots of reasons to linger in the doorway, to hesitate before turning the doorknob to the new year. But that’s not me.
(Photo by CO Moed)
I have a dear friend who keeps telling me these are the good old days. And he’s right in part – this year has been very good. But what he really means is that life is inevitably going downhill and I’ll resist that viewpoint as long as I can.
I’ve always looked ahead, my whole life. I’m an unreasonable optimist and comfortable with that prism.As long as there are possibilities, my world keeps expanding. Sometimes the growth is painful and scary but growth, I’m convinced, is the only youth tonic that really exists.
Doors open for us to walk through. That’s what doors are for.
Ted Krever: Writing and other forms of torturePosted on by ted krever
You guys are soooooo lucky!
For a limited time (until I decide to stop), if you buy a copy of ‘Mindbenders’ (only available at Amazon.com for the next several months), you’ll get ‘After’, my book of post-9/11 stories, FREE in the bargain!
Just send me an email (use either of the handy Email links on the right-side menu bar of this page) and type in the last three words of ‘Mindbenders’ (no fair peeking at the ending, though) and I’ll send you a coupon for a free download of ‘After.’
This offer is good for any purchaser of ‘Mindbenders’, past, present or future (until the offer ends, whenever that is).
Ted Krever: Writing and other forms of torturePosted on by ted krever
‘Mindbenders’ is now #3028 overall in Amazon’s Kindle Store and #128 (of 16,182!) in Kindle Thrillers! Help me make the Top 100! Buy yours now! The heck with that – buy TWO so you have a spare!
The sequel’s coming this summer – be prepared!
The Reviewers have spoken (complete reviews here) :
‘Mindbenders is an incredible read and I was recommending it to others before I even finished reading it. I loved the characters with their flaws and their quirks. I loved the action and the way the characters used their powers. The idea of people like this actually existing in our reality is disquieting, to say the least. Ted Krever’s world is a scary one, but one you shouldn’t miss reading about…This book deserves every bit of the five stars I give it.’ – Bonnie Lamer
‘I have been trolling Amazon’s kindle offerings for a while, buying lots of inexpensive (and sometimes not-so-inexpensive) SF and fantasy offerings from indie authors. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. But “Mindbenders” was a big win. …about 3/4 of the way through I was wondering if he could really pull it all together by the end, but he does, and in grand style…I thought all the way through that it was a single, stand-alone piece (and it certainly is stand-alone) but after finishing it I was pleased to find that a sequel is in the works.’ – James Tepper on Amazon.
‘,,,an exceptional job of creating and portraying the characters and their abilities, and weaving it into a plot that will absolutely enthrall you. His work is fascinating and provocative, leaving you wondering how much we control our own destiny, and how much is controlled by others.’ – ‘Mountainmama’ Shirley Hicks
‘Mindbenders was a wonderful surprise. It took me all of two pages to get into it, and I was hooked through the end…If I had to complain about anything, it would be the end. Not that I found the conclusion unsatisfactory, but I wanted to spend more time with the characters.’ – Steve Madden
~~~~
‘First rate action/adventure/thriller with twists, turns, suprises and a slam-bang conclusion. When you think you have the plot figured out, it throws you a curve of unexpected suspense.’ – Nash Black, author of SANDPRINTS OF DEATH
‘…a noir overlay to an otherwise hedonistic, modern thrill ride. Krever’s fully developed characters seep quietly into your head and set up house, begging you to read on well into the small and quiet hours of the night.’ – RM Holdsworth
‘This is political thriller at its best, there are twists and turns, traitors, and always something else hidden behind door number two. There is a great cast of characters, good guys and bad guys, and some who you just aren’t sure what they are.I enjoyed the heck out of this book, from the moment I picked it up I could not put it down.’ – Paranormal Romance Guild
‘…a brilliantly paced paranormal conspiracy thriller with an entertaining cast of characters and a plot that will keep you jumping from clue to clue to determine what is really happening.’ – Julie Dawson
‘This is that rare piece of fiction based on fact in such a way as to make the lines between the two seem to blur…well written and well edited, with a storyline that takes hold in the first few pages and doesn’t let go until the plot has unwound in ways one would not expect. The characters are well developed, ‘warts and all’, as the saying goes. The story takes the reader from the swamps of Florida to the catacombs of Rome while dealing with life and death, and war and peace.’ – Claudia
‘I was enthralled by this story and absolutely devoured it. It is fast-paced, exciting and yet allows for good character development and back-story…Overall I must say I was mightily impressed. I can recommend this story to anyone who enjoys a good thriller, suspense science/science fiction story, which covers a lot of people. In fact, anyone who enjoys a good tale should give this one a try – I think you’ll be as impressed as I was!’ -Katy Sozaeva
‘It is an awesome book. At times it was difficult for me to read. One of the characters was a vet suffering from PTSD. My son was in Iraq 10 years ago. Some of the scenes with the character of Greg brought back all the worry and fear. This is a fascinating book that is fiction based on fact. Ted Krever did an outstanding job! Read it even if it isn’t the genre you usually read.’ – CristiAK
Ted Krever: Writing and other forms of torturePosted on by ted krever
The old TV show began ‘There are six million stories in the Naked City’ and certainly plenty of them had to be fish stories – New York was, after all, the place PT Barnum had a museum (with live exhibits, no less).
So last night, I get on the 4 Train uptown, heading from the Ferry to Smitty’s apartment, and there’s a guy right across the car in hip waders, cradling two fishing poles with plastic lures between his legs, right under the signs for Technical Schools, the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit and ambulance chaser lawyers. He had a wool cap over his head and a little fabric box on the floor in front of him to hold his catch (my father was a fisherman so I know the paraphernalia).
But it’s the day after Christmas! Okay, the weather was warmer than usual earlier in the week but it was pretty chilly now. What possessed him to go fishing?
So I asked. I only did it for you, dear reader, because I knew you’d want to know – and because I needed something for the blog. And because Smitty would have asked if she’d been with me.
Lake Ronkonkoma
It turns out he always goes fishing this time of year, it’s his tradition. He takes the train out to Lake Ronkonkoma on Long Island with his two poles and his plastic lures and catches perch and wall-eye and bass are biting but they’re out of season so you have to throw them back.
He tells me this in a polite but very disinterested tone of voice. Sleepy almost. And I remember the mornings getting up early with my father because you took the fish unawares in the morning (why this would be so was never explained to me). And listening to his slightly blurred diction, I remembered the tradition of beers in a cooler that also goes with fishing. Many beers – it’s a long day.
So Happy Holidays and New Year to the winter fisherpeople and all the other slightly eye-widening characters that keep the mad surreal caravan of New York City turning all year long.
Ted Krever: Writing and other forms of torturePosted on by ted krever
For the next three days, through December 26th, ‘Mindbenders’ will be a free ebook download on Amazon!
The Reviewers have spoken:
‘Mindbenders is an incredible read and I was recommending it to others before I even finished reading it. I loved the characters with their flaws and their quirks. I loved the action and the way the characters used their powers. The idea of people like this actually existing in our reality is disquieting, to say the least. Ted Krever’s world is a scary one, but one you shouldn’t miss reading about…This book deserves every bit of the five stars I give it.’ – Bonnie Lamer
‘I have been trolling Amazon’s kindle offerings for a while, buying lots of inexpensive (and sometimes not-so-inexpensive) SF and fantasy offerings from indie authors. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. But “Mindbenders” was a big win. …about 3/4 of the way through I was wondering if he could really pull it all together by the end, but he does, and in grand style…I thought all the way through that it was a single, stand-alone piece (and it certainly is stand-alone) but after finishing it I was pleased to find that a sequel is in the works.’ – James Tepper on Amazon.
‘,,,an exceptional job of creating and portraying the characters and their abilities, and weaving it into a plot that will absolutely enthrall you. His work is fascinating and provocative, leaving you wondering how much we control our own destiny, and how much is controlled by others.’ – ‘Mountainmama’ Shirley Hicks
‘Mindbenders was a wonderful surprise. It took me all of two pages to get into it, and I was hooked through the end…If I had to complain about anything, it would be the end. Not that I found the conclusion unsatisfactory, but I wanted to spend more time with the characters.’ – Steve Madden
~~~~
‘First rate action/adventure/thriller with twists, turns, suprises and a slam-bang conclusion. When you think you have the plot figured out, it throws you a curve of unexpected suspense.’ – Nash Black, author of SANDPRINTS OF DEATH
‘…a noir overlay to an otherwise hedonistic, modern thrill ride. Krever’s fully developed characters seep quietly into your head and set up house, begging you to read on well into the small and quiet hours of the night.’ – RM Holdsworth
‘This is political thriller at its best, there are twists and turns, traitors, and always something else hidden behind door number two. There is a great cast of characters, good guys and bad guys, and some who you just aren’t sure what they are.I enjoyed the heck out of this book, from the moment I picked it up I could not put it down.’ – Paranormal Romance Guild
‘…a brilliantly paced paranormal conspiracy thriller with an entertaining cast of characters and a plot that will keep you jumping from clue to clue to determine what is really happening.’ – Julie Dawson
‘This is that rare piece of fiction based on fact in such a way as to make the lines between the two seem to blur…well written and well edited, with a storyline that takes hold in the first few pages and doesn’t let go until the plot has unwound in ways one would not expect. The characters are well developed, ‘warts and all’, as the saying goes. The story takes the reader from the swamps of Florida to the catacombs of Rome while dealing with life and death, and war and peace.’ – Claudia
‘I was enthralled by this story and absolutely devoured it. It is fast-paced, exciting and yet allows for good character development and back-story…Overall I must say I was mightily impressed. I can recommend this story to anyone who enjoys a good thriller, suspense science/science fiction story, which covers a lot of people. In fact, anyone who enjoys a good tale should give this one a try – I think you’ll be as impressed as I was!’ -Katy Sozaeva
‘It is an awesome book. At times it was difficult for me to read. One of the characters was a vet suffering from PTSD. My son was in Iraq 10 years ago. Some of the scenes with the character of Greg brought back all the worry and fear. This is a fascinating book that is fiction based on fact. Ted Krever did an outstanding job! Read it even if it isn’t the genre you usually read.’ – CristiAK
The sequel’s coming in the summer, so get started reading! More fun than your job – guaranteed! So buy it (free!) now! Tell your friends! Cheat me out of royalties, even though I’m a poor, starving artist -see what I care! Just read it!
5.0 out of 5 stars Both Crafty and Devious, January 9, 2012
