Another book to read..."Thomas Riley"

"Thomas Riley", written by Nick Valentino, is a steampunk adventure novel. Which is one of the reasons to read it. If you have never read a steampunk adventure before (which was my case), I think this is a good one to try.

It is fast moving with identifiable characters (even the secondary ones) that the reader can relate to. It is written in omnicient third person, which is not the POV that I prefer, but it works in this novel - so much is going on, that you have to get some of it from others points of view. It is done quite well.

And, if you ever get a chance to meet Nick Valentino at a convention or conference - you MUST do so! This is an author who knows how to market a book. He is in steampunk costume and has a table display of artefacts that could very well be from his novel. He had special stamps to stamp your copy of the book (like a passport gets stamped), as well as signing each copy purchased. When I met him at the Virginia Festival of the Book in Charlottesville, Virginia this past spring, his was one of the busiest tables around, except maybe for the authors that were actually presenting talks on the mechanics of writing.

My daughter and her friend practically haunted his table; I wound up buying three copies of his book - one for each of them and one for me, since my daughter wouldn't let me touch her copy.

This is someone who needs to be asked to talk about marketing a book (hint, hint to those who run these conferences). At another convention, he gave away a [toy] gun! For details, check out his latest blog at Echelon.

You also have to check out his web site . He knows what readers want and he gives it to them. This web site a wonderfully, moody, steampunky interface.

Happy reading (and writing.)

Let me know if there is a book for young adults that you think I could learn something from.