I find I don't read as much as I used to--or rather, I read a lot, but much of what I read is not anything I can review. In the early days of BooksForABuck.com, I would go months between submissions, so I didn't need to spend a whole lot of time keeping up with these. Today that is no longer the case--I get a number of submissions every month (often several a week), which means a lot of my reading time is involved in reading submissions (most of which, unfortunately, I ultimately have to pass on) rather than books from other publishers. I've also become fussier--both in what I accept, what I write myself, and in what I read. I can't tell you how often I've been reading something from a major publisher only to realize that if it had been submitted to me, I would have rejected it. (I have seen a number of works I've rejected turn up from small publishers but I'm still waiting for the huge best-seller that I pass on). When I stop reading a book in the middle, I don't do the review. After all, who wants to read a review of a book I didn't even finish?

The other problem with reviews is that writing them takes time. I spent all morning today writing four reviews. Here they are: THE VONDISH AMBASSADOR by Laurence Watt-Evans. This was a really charming fantasy story. My review is here: www.booksforabuck.com/sfpages/sf_09/vondish_ambassador.html. MISTRESS OF PLEASURE by Delilah Marvelle. This novel had a refreshingly different heroine. www.booksforabuck.com/rompages/rom_2009/mistress_of_pleasure.html. THE TRAITOR by Stephen Coonts. Lots of action and adventure but I did have some problems with the logic. www.BooksForABuck.com/mystery/mys_09/traitor.html. BULLETPROOF TEXAS by Kay Thomas. A cave, a cancer-eating bug, an angsty hero who is mad at all drug companies, and a project lead who's afraid of the dark. www.booksforabuck.com/rompages/rom_2009/bulletproof_texas.html. Incredibly, I'm about caught up on my to-be-read stack--again, partly because I've tossed a lot of it and partly because I stuck the books I didn't think I'd get to into the pod. Don't worry, though--I've got lots of submissions to catch up on.

Speaking of submissions, I got a new one from Michael Kechula today--he's the author of A FULL DECK OF ZOMBIES and he submitted another set of his wacky flash fiction. In honor of the occasion, I'm making A FULL DECK OF ZOMBIES the www.BooksForABuck.com book of the day. For only $3.99, you can read more than 50 complete stories--of zombies, aliens, and the people who love them (and have their faces eaten by them). It's a weird sort of fantasy but I enjoy it. Check it out here: www.booksforabuck.com/sfpages/sf_07/full_deck_of_zombies.html. (Available in HTML, Adobe Acrobat PDF, eReader, Microsoft Reader and Mobipocket). Here's the cover (cover design by Karen Leabo):

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