The Forest of Hands and Teeth Trilogy

The Forest of Hands and Teeth trilogy consists of the following books written by Carrie Ryan.

1. The Forest of Hands and Teeth, 2009
2. The Dead-Tossed Waves, 2010
3. The Dark and Hollow Places, 2011

The books are set a couple hundred years after the zombie apocalypse. Most of the human race has been infected by zombies and only a few scattered communities of uninfected humans remain. Those communities are at constant risk of infection. These are the first books that I have ever read about zombies, and I must say that the content is very scary. While these novels are dystopian novels, I consider them to be more horror than anything else.

From Amazon's product page:

In Mary's world there are simple truths. The Sisterhood always knows best. The Guardians will protect and serve. The Unconsecrated will never relent. And you must always mind the fence that surrounds the village; the fence that protects the village from the Forest of Hands and Teeth. But, slowly, Mary's truths are failing her. She's learning things she never wanted to know about the Sisterhood and its secrets, and the Guardians and their power, and about the Unconsecrated and their relentlessness. When the fence is breached and her world is thrown into chaos, she must choose between her village and her future—between the one she loves and the one who loves her. And she must face the truth about the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Could there be life outside a world surrounded in so much death?

The first book, The Forest of Hands and Teeth, has a love triangle between Mary and two brothers, Harry and Travis. Mary has to figure out what it is that she really wants, not only with respect to the two boys, but in life, while all three struggle to find a away out of the Forest of Hands and Teeth.

The second book, The Dead-Tossed Waves, jumps around 30 years into the future. At first, I was a bit dismayed to have a new protagonist, Gabry, but I was quickly pulled into the action. Gabry has a connection to Mary, and Gabry's story has much to do with the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Gabry is part of a new love triangle with two boys, Catcher and Elias.

The second book tells a very similar story as the first book, although with different characters and twists. This does not bother me, since I enjoy series fiction, which always recycles ideas. While the overall story is much the same as the first book, the second book is just as interesting and fulfilling to read.

The second book ends with a cliffhanger, and the third book, The Dark and Hollow Places, begins shortly after the end of the second book. The third book has another new main character, Annah, but the action also heavily involves Gabry, Catcher, and Elias from the previous book.

The third book is significantly darker and more depressing than the other two books. While the book is very good, I found it to be almost a bit too hopeless. While all three books contain violence, the third book ratchets it up a few notches. Not only do the teenagers have to contend with the zombies, the Recruiters have become extremely cruel. The third book is definitely more for older teenagers, and a number of reviewers have labeled the book as a gateway to adult fiction.

Since the third book has such heavy content, I enjoyed it a little less than the other two books, although I still very much enjoyed it. While the third book has a conclusion to its main story, the ending is also left open-ended. The books have been referred to as a trilogy, but I have heard that the author has also called them a series. So far, the author has not made any comment one way or the other, but the possibility does exist for more books to be written.

You can read the beginning of the first book on Amazon's product page, which is what I always do in order to get a feel for whether I like an author's writing style. I greatly enjoyed these books.

Nancy Drew #15: The Haunted Bridge

The revised text of Nancy Drew #15, The Haunted Bridge, is a condensed version of the original story. As I read the revised text, I noticed one portion of the story that is flawed.

On page 138 of the revised text, Nancy is given two notes by the hotel clerk. One note is from Bartescue, and the other from Margaret Judson. The text specifically states that Bess and George have returned from changing in their rooms, and before they leave again, Nancy tells them about the two notes.

With only Ned present, Nancy places a note in the hand of a statue to communicate with Miss Judson, as requested in the note. Later, Bess and George see Bartescue take a note from the statue. George comments, "It must have been a note from someone." Wouldn't she know that Nancy received a note from Margaret Judson asking for a response to be placed in the statue? Nancy told them about the note from Margaret Judson, right? I was curious as to how this scene plays out in the original text.

In the original text, Bess and George are not present when Nancy receives the notes, and nothing is mentioned about them returning from their rooms. Ned is the only person told about the notes. George makes the same statement in the original text about the note from someone, but in this version, George does not know about the notes. If the revised text had not inserted the statement about Bess and George returning from their rooms and being told about the notes, the revised text would have kept the same logic as the original text. Those little details will get you every time.

With regard to both versions of the text, the story about Margaret Judson bothers me somewhat. I'd have to read both versions carefully and take notes, but the timing of the fire that destroyed Margaret Judson's property, and Carson Drew's search for a woman accused of theft seem off to me. I also find it strange that Mr. Drew takes Nancy around to various hotels to search for a woman with a compact, and this is done at random times and for varying amounts of time. It seems pointless, but of course Nancy sees Margaret Judson multiple times during her attempts.

I don't have any other thoughts about this Nancy Drew book. Both texts tell exactly the same story, and both versions are good. Since the revised text makes a mess of the scene with the notes, I vote in favor of the original text as a better story.

A Parody of Wacky Seller Photos

Recently, I showcased some wacky seller photos. I decided to try to imitate some of those great ideas. Before I commence sharing my photos, I thought I would give sellers some suggestions on how they, too, can impress their buyers with their photography skills.

1. Never crop your photos. Buyers want to see your messes as well as get great decorating ideas.
2. Always make sure you use good props. Trees, bushes, and random objects work quite well.
3. Never show the spines of your books. Buyers don't want to know how well the books will look on the shelf.
4. Photograph the books from far away. Buyers like to be surprised about the condition of the books.
5. Never place the books in order. Buyers enjoy having to search through the photos to figure out what you have. Even better, don't include a list of the books in the listing. Buyers enjoy trying to read the titles in blurry photos.

Here are my photos. Feel free to use any of these ideas when you photograph your items.

The mailbox:

The pig statue:

Near a tree:

On a wagon wheel:

Under the arbor:

On some rocks:

On the car:

In a tree:

In the middle of some spring weeds:

On the fence:

In another tree:

On the compost pile:

By some bushes:

On some more rocks:

On the roof:

On the awning:

No books were harmed during the shooting of these photos. As a precaution, I did use books that are not in the best of shape.

Victor Horton's Idea: The Story That Started It All

James Keeline has recently published "Victor Horton's Idea," which was Edward Stratemeyer's first long story. The story is important, for it was the beginning of Edward Stratemeyer's career. Without Stratemeyer, our favorite series books, including Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys, would never have existed. We can go further and conclude that many of our favorite series books that were not connected to the Stratemeyer Syndicate would likely never have existed.

Here, James Keeline explains the importance of this release:

We just released our annotated illustrated edition of Edward Stratemeyer's first professional long story, "Victor Horton's Idea." Although the story is only 18,000 words, I have added annotations, vintage illustrations, and maps so readers can follow along. I have also written a 50-page introduction and added about 26 pages of vintage ads for Stratemeyer's books. It is offered as a 6x9" paperback ($14.99) and hardcover with dust jacket ($24.99). If Stratemeyer had not made this sale in early 1889 for $75, it is quite likely that he would not have continued to establish a professional career that would include 160 of his stories published as books and hundreds more produced through the Stratemeyer Syndicate. Few series of the twentieth century had continuing characters but this is something he refined well beginning with the Rover Boys and his success in this led to competition that includes the books many of us collect. In a way, our field of collecting is due to the sale of this one story. Stratemeyer wanted to buy it back but the publisher would not agree so Edward could never issue it as a book. This is the first time this story has been so issued.

This book is the first in a series of reprints under the 24 Palmer Street Press imprint as Lulu print on demand volumes. The name of the imprint is derived from the address where he lived with his parents from at least 1876 to the end of 1890 and where he did his amateur writings and his earliest professional writings. It is dedicated to reprinting early and scarce Stratemeyer texts. The next book will be Holiday Stories for Boys, Volume 1 which has 13 short stories he wrote in the 1890s for the Newark Sunday Call.

The book can be purchased from 24 Palmer Street Press.

Matched and Crossed by Ally Condie

After reading Divergent, I decided to read Matched and Crossed by Ally Condie, since the Matched Trilogy was mentioned so often in the reviews for Divergent.

The Matched Trilogy is set in a dystopian society. The Society controls all aspects of people's lives including what they eat, what they drink, where they live, where they work, and who they marry.

From Amazon's product page:

For Cassia, nothing is left to chance--not what she will eat, the job she will have, or the man she will marry. In Matched, the Society Officials have determined optimal outcomes for all aspects of daily life, thereby removing the "burden" of choice. When Cassia's best friend is identified as her ideal marriage Match it confirms her belief that Society knows best, until she plugs in her Match microchip and a different boy’s face flashes on the screen. This improbable mistake sets Cassia on a dangerous path to the unthinkable--rebelling against the predetermined life Society has in store for her. As author Ally Condie’s unique dystopian Society takes chilling measures to maintain the status quo, Matched reminds readers that freedom of choice is precious, and not without sacrifice.--Seira Wilson

The first novel, Matched, deals with Cassia's feelings about both Xander, her Match, and Ky, the boy whose face flashes on her screen. In the Society, people whose parents commit Infractions are reclassified. Ky was reclassified as an Aberration due to an Infraction committed by his father. For that reason, Ky cannot be matched, yet his face flashed on Cassia's screen. Could Ky be Cassia's true Match?

In the second novel, Crossed, Ky has been sent away, and Cassia makes the choice to leave the Society in order to find him. Cassia learns about the Enemy, which fights the Society, and the Rising, which is a group of rebels hoping to infiltrate and bring down the Society.

The Society is set in the future, probably by 100 to 200 years. The Society decided to take away people's freedom of choice and seeks to destroy the artifacts of the previous society, such as books, poems, and art. The items that survived are traded on the black market. I found this aspect of the story to be very interesting.

The first book is dangerous. The reader constantly fears for what will happen to Cassia as she pursues a forbidden relationship with Ky and hides artifacts that she should not have. The first book is very compelling.

Most of the second book consists of Cassia trying to find Ky, and frankly, most of it is filler material. As someone on Amazon pointed out, the book is like a long camping trip. While Crossed introduces several new characters and the reader learns about them, very little plot advancement occurs.

Fairly early in the book, something is mentioned about Xander having a secret, and this bothered me so much that I flipped through around 200 pages of the book until I discovered what it was. The fact that I could skip through that many pages without anything major to the plot getting spoiled tells how much filler material the book has. By the way, knowing Xander's secret earlier in the story, as a result of spoiling myself, kept me from being annoyed the entire time. Interestingly, the secret could make Cassia's final decision on which boy to choose easier in the end. I'm not sure that the author made a good decision.

The point of view switches between Cassia and Ky during the second book, and I kept having to look back at the first page of each chapter to keep track of who was narrating, particularly after Cassia and Ky were reunited. It isn't a big problem before they reunite, but after, it is confusing. I find that books that switch back and forth between two points of view tend not to be as good as books that stick with one character. This is why I don't like Rick Riordan's Kane Chronicles as much as Percy Jackson. The changes in point of view are distracting and often confusing.

The filler in the second book should have been shortened so that we could see more of what happens with Cassia towards the end. I can't say exactly what I mean without spoiling the content, but Cassia learns what her next move will be, and the plot finally advances beyond the long camping trip. Suddenly, the book skips ahead by months. I hate it when books do that. Why do authors insist on taking the easy way out to the detriment of the reader's enjoyment?

Most of the negative reviews for Crossed state that the book is boring. I did not find it boring at all, and I enjoyed the entire book. My primary problem is that the long trek through the canyon should have been shortened and the description of what happens to Cassia towards the end of the book should have been lengthened.

While the second book has a number of flaws, I enjoyed both of these books and will be reading the third book when it is released later this year.

International Payments and Email Response Rates on Bonanza

Sometime months ago, Bonanza changed its interface so that buyers outside of the United States can have Bonanza display all prices in their own currencies. While I have my booth on Bonanza set to display the prices in U.S. dollars, I cannot prevent prospective buyers from switching Bonanza on their end to display in their own currencies.

On the surface the setup appears to be the same as what eBay has. On eBay, buyers can see listings in their own currency through the international eBay sites. The difference is that buyers are forced to send the payment in the seller's currency.

On Bonanza, buyers are allowed to send payment in their own currencies. This has caused U.S. sellers to receive payments through PayPal in foreign currencies. The seller is the one who pays the fee for the currency conversion to U.S. dollars. The fee is around $1.00 for small transactions and can be $5.00 and up for larger transactions.

Some Bonanza sellers have the mistaken impression that we can prevent our items from displaying in other currencies. We have no control over the currency that is displayed to the buyer. Another misconception is that this is a PayPal problem. I have never had an eBay buyer send payment through PayPal in a foreign currency, so I am confident that the issue is tied to Bonanza.

Up to 50% of my international buyers are now sending payment through PayPal in their own currencies. My PayPal is set where I have to approve such transactions, and then I incur the currency conversion fee. Despite the fee, I do accept all of them without comment.

Since Bonanza allows international buyers to set the currency to their own and allows them to send the payment in that currency, I do not feel like I have the right to deny the payments. My PayPal fees have increased, but in the end, I am confident that I gain. Some of the buyers have become repeat buyers. I am getting far more international buyers than I did back when Bonanza forced the buyers to pay in U.S. dollars.

A far higher percentage of my best recent transactions have been to international buyers. By "best," I mean transactions in which buyers are purchasing expensive books or large quantities of books. Clearly, I do benefit.

I believe that seeing the prices in their own currencies is directly impacting the likelihood of international buyers deciding to make a purchase.

If you sell on Bonanza, you need to be aware that many international buyers are sending payment in other currencies. If this is a problem, then you need to mention the currency issue in advance when you answer international postage inquiries.
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Bonanza has a new feature called "Email Response Rates." The email response rate measures what percentage of buyer questions that a seller answers and also records how fast the seller responds to those questions. The email response rate only measures the email response from questions sent from a seller's item page from the "ask seller a question" link.

The idea behind this new feature is to help weed out the inactive sellers from the active sellers. Unfortunately, sites like Bonanza attract sellers who list their items, forget about their items, and never return. You would think that these sellers would notice when they receive messages or payments, but many of them never do. You can imagine how unhappy a buyer becomes when a purchase is made from one of these sellers, and the purchase is never received. Those sellers make all of us look bad.

The email response rate displays on each item page. You can see mine here. I have answered one question since the feature was made live, and I answered eight hours after the message was sent.

Upcoming Children's and Young Adult Releases

A couple of weeks ago, I stumbled upon this article, "Top 10 Young Adult Fantasy Books You Should Read." After reading the article, I checked the listings on Amazon. I settled upon Divergent by Veronica Roth. I read the book in less than two days. It is very good.

Here is the promotional summary taken from the product page on Amazon.com.

In Beatrice Prior’s dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can’t have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.

I love having a few modern series to follow, because I can look forward to several new releases.

The second book in the Divergent Trilogy, Insurgent, will be released on May 1.

Also on May 1, Rick Riordan's The Serpent's Shadow, the third and final book in the Kane Chronicles series, will be released. I have not liked the Kane Chronicles series quite as much as I did the Percy Jackson series, but I have still found the books worth reading.

Michael Scott's The Enchantress, the sixth and final book in the Secrets of Nicholas Flamel series, will be released on May 22. I have greatly enjoyed the Nicholas Flamel series and have speculated for a long time on how the series will end. Reading the final book will be quite a treat.

May will be a month full of exciting reading.

Nancy Drew #14 The Whispering Statue

Near the beginning of the revised text of the Nancy Drew book, The Whispering Statue, Mrs. Merriam has arrived at the Drew home to tell of her suspicions about Mr. Basswood. The front and back doorbells ring at the same time that the phone rings. Nancy answers the phone, and a caller warns her that Mrs. Merriam needs to shut up. Nancy's friends open both doors, and masked assailants force their way into the home.

These assailants have just proved that Mrs. Merriam's concerns are true, which makes them stupid criminals. Mr. Drew remarks, "I don't understand what those men hoped to accomplish." Yeah, bunch of idiots. The scene is stupid enough that I actually enjoyed it.

The masks are pulled off of both men. When the police arrive and see the two identical masks, one of them remarks, "Those thugs were working together all right." Even if the masks had been completely different, I think we could conclude that two men forcing their way in at the front and back doors simultaneously would most likely be working together. These cops are smart.

The villains know that Nancy has two friends, since they saw them in River Heights. These two friends suddenly show up in Waterford with a girl named Debbie Lynbrook. The three girls do not hide that their hometown is River Heights. The criminals are dumb not to realize that Debbie Lynbrook is Nancy Drew in disguise.

At Mr. Basswood's shop, a customer described as a "stout woman" enters the store. Nancy helps her choose a book, and later, she speaks to Mr. Basswood about the sale. Mr. Basswood remarks, "I've been thinking about what the stout lady said..." I find it hilarious that Mr. Basswood uses "stout" to describe the woman just like the text of the book does.

An earth tremor occurs while Nancy is in the book shop. Just moments later, Nancy turns on a radio in time to hear a special announcement about the cause of the tremor. Breaking news updates sure were fast 42 years ago!

Later, the girls investigate Mr. Basswoood's shop after hours. While in the storage room, a man arrives, and the girls must hide. They pose behind empty portrait frames. Exactly who would be foolish enough to fall for a trick like that? More importantly, who would be foolish enough to attempt to escape detection that way? Of course the trick doesn't work.

Ned comes into Mr. Basswood's store, and Nancy and Ned act like they don't know each other so as not to jeopardize Nancy's sleuthing. All good, except a short time later, Nancy and Ned make no attempt to hide that they know each other while at the yacht club. I doubt that Waterford is so huge that they could get away with that.

While I was amused about some of the weak parts of the story, I really enjoyed the revised text. The idea of Nancy sleuthing in disguise is fun.

The original text features quite a few seemingly unconnected people who, in the end, are all connected in some fashion or another. This is a story of random coincidences.

The story is well written but features several different subplots. I wrote in a previous post that I would not be writing summaries in these reviews, but in this case, I need to give a short summary so that I can make my point.

Nancy acquires her dog, Togo, who runs off with Mrs. Owen's important papers. Nancy helps recover the papers, and Mrs. Owen remarks that Nancy closely resembles a Whispering Girl statue that is on an estate in Sea Cliff.

Sea Cliff just happens to be the locale in which Nancy is about to go on vacation. The Whispering Girl statue is on the old Conger estate, which has fallen into disrepair ever since Mr. Conger died. The daughter, Bernice Conger, has never returned home to claim the property.

Mr. Drew has a client named Mr. Owen who was defrauded by a man named Wormrath (I wonder if Wormrath ever went to Hogwarts?). Nancy thinks that there could be a connection between Mr. Owen and Mrs. Owen. The reader can guess that a connection absolutely must exist, because, of course, whenever anybody has the same surname, they have to be related!

I am reminded of when I have people ask me if I know ______ White, which happens quite often. This may come as a shock, but my name is rather common. It is no more logical that I know all Whites than it is that I know all Jennifers. Think about it.

A woman named Miss Morse travels on the same train to Sea Cliff. A man named Joe Mitza tries to defraud her.

A man tries to steal the Whispering Girl statue, and he has a monkey named Jocko.

How does all of this work out? Mr. Owen and Mrs. Owen each thought the other was dead, and Nancy's hunch that they might just be related helps reunite them. However, Mr. Owen nearly dies from the shock.

Miss Morse turns out to be Bernice Conger, and Joe Mitza is her son. Mitza was unaware of the connection, since he had not seen his mother in many years. Miss Morse/Bernice Conger is married to Wormrath. Mrs. Owen knew Bernice Conger when they were young.

The story is written well, but the events are too random for my taste. This is another book that seems more like a Kay Tracey book. The Kay Tracey books tend to have random, bizarre events. Nancy Drew books are usually plotted a bit better.

While the original text is overall a better story than the revised text, I like the revised text just a little better. The undercover sleuthing in the revised text gets my vote.