Genre Specific Review Groups discussion

Space Opera Review Group (Closed)

In joining this review group you will have agreed to review the novels assigned to you on a two month schedule. Once the sign up phase is over then the review stage begins with a schedule of assignments set by the moderator.

The Space Opera peer review group will include all types of novels classified as sci-fi wars/space opera. As with other review groups, you will be expected to read and give an honest review of the book assigned to you. Assignments will be made after the group sign-up has filled with all six places.

Participants are expected to post reviews to Goodreads. If the Goodreads review is positive (three stars or higher), the review should be posted to Amazons US & UK at the same star level, if the book is available there. This makes having accounts with both Goodreads and Amazon a requirement.

This topic will be updated with the list of authors as they sign up with their names and Goodreads links to authors and their books. First come; first served. This is an authors only peer review group.

THE AUTHORS AND BOOKS ARE:

1 R. Leib: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

2 Yemisi Otasanya: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...

3 K.T. Munson: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...

4 James McCormick: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

5 D.M. Pruden: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...

6 Shawn Kass: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

Hi!

I'd love to add my book Unfathomable Chance to this list. It is both a fun sci-fi/space opera and YA friendly.

Summary: When Diana woke up on her 23rd birthday she thought it was going to be a normal day. She thought of donuts, coffee, and laughter. She did not think she was going to become the center in a galactic race to win her heart. None too pleased with the prospect of alien races descending on Earth to try and woo her, Diana does the only reasonable thing she can; she runs. Now she has to try and find a way to get rid of the blasted bracelet that is the cause of all the recent craziness in her life. The problem is this isn't an ordinary bracelet; it contains the Heart of the Cosmos. Furthermore the Cosmos chose her for a reason and it isn't keen on letting her go until she finishes what it started over ten years ago. Something tried to destroy it and now Diana isn't just worried about her heart, she is worried about her life.

Thanks!
K.T. Munson

I'll like to sign up my book 'Above the ether'. It's a science fiction with scenes in Massachusetts, Nigeria and South Africa. Features human-like aliens and a bit of space war.

Thank you.
Yemisi Otasanya

I'd like to participate. My novel is a sci fi adventure thriller called The Ares Weapon.

Hi, K.T., Yemis and D.M.,

You will all need to add the GR links to your books and author site to your posts.
Thanks

Please include The Negative's Tale by R. Leib

I, Chance by Shawn Kass

How much space travel is requried to qualify a book as a Space Opera?

The prologue takes place in space on the way to earth, and there are flashbacks to life elsewhere in the galaxy, but most of the action takes place on earth, occasionally from the point of view of something other than human.

If you think it will quallify, I'll offer The Zondon, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

Shawn wrote: "I, Chance by Shawn Kass"

Shawn, I need your GR links to author and book. Thanks.

Robby wrote: "How much space travel is requried to qualify a book as a Space Opera?

The prologue takes place in space on the way to earth, and there are flashbacks to life elsewhere in the galaxy, but most of t..."

Hi Robby,
Space opera needs a bit of warfare out in space, with futuristic technology, maybe a little romance. But the main action should be out there in space rather than on Earth. If we don't get enough suitable submissions I'll see what other members in this group think before including it here. Your blurb did not seem to mention many "space battles". Hope that's OK.
G.J.

G.J. wrote: "Robby wrote: "How much space travel is requried to qualify a book as a Space Opera?

The prologue takes place in space on the way to earth, and there are flashbacks to life elsewhere in the galaxy,..."

No worries. I'll go with the flow...

Hello. Here is the GR link to 'Above the ether'. Thanks
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...

Yemisi wrote: "Hello. Here is the GR link to 'Above the ether'. Thanks
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3..."

Hi, Yemisi. Thanks for that and you're on the list :-)
G.J.

Hi,
Is there any space (no pun intended) left to put my book down?
Mine is action based, soft SF space opera.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

thanks

James

Wow! Thanks.

Links for Unfathomable Chance:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...

Link for me:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...

K.T. wrote: "Links for Unfathomable Chance:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...

Link for me:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show..."

Thank you K.T.

Hi, Everyone,
It looks as though we may be up and running soon when I will be posting the schedule of review assignments in this message stream. Two points I need to make at the moment:
First of all reciprocal reviewing is not permitted in GR, so if the list of members includes an author whose book you have reviewed or who has reviewed you then let me know ASAP.
Secondly, please remember your commitment to fellow authors and post your review before the deadline dates on GR and Amazon as listed above.

A more detailed guide about GSRG rules etc can be found at:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group...

Thanks, G.J. Griffiths

PS We are waiting for one more book submission but if 3 or 4 of you wish to accept The Zondon from Robby (message 8 above) into this group then we can go ahead soon. Apparently it includes fewer battles in outer space :-) or :-( - Please let me know.

I forgot to mention, I have already reviewed R Leib's The Negative's Tale (back in Feb 2015)

There is a hot space-pursuit between aliens in the prologue, followed by an explosion, if that helps.

Oh, I should mention I've reviewed both R Leib's The Negative's Tale, and D.M.Pruden's The Ares Weapon. Both very good, BTW...

...looks like I didn't make the cut. Have a good time folks!

It looks as though we have the six books & authors I need for the assignments which will be scheduled in the next day or so. This is to allow time for anyone who has noticed a possibility of reciprocal reviewing to let me know. Thank you, James for your message about R. Leib's book.

Sorry, Robbie, but Shawn posted his links before anyone came forward with their "vote". We'll try to start up a new Sci-fi group ASAP for your book.

Update:
Here is the Schedule of Review Assignments.

Review Assignments will: Start on 12 Nov 2016 and End 12 Jan 2017

Round One:
runs from 12 Nov to 12 Dec 2016

1. Yemisi Otasanya reviews R. Leib
2. K.T. Munson reviews Yemisi Otasanya
3. James McCormick reviews K.T. Munson
4. D.M. Pruden reviews James McCormick
5. Shawn Kass reviews D.M. Pruden
6. R. Leib reviews Shawn Kass

Round Two:
runs from 12 Dec to 12 Jan 2017

1. K.T. reviews R. Leib
2. James reviews Yemisi
3. D.M. reviews K.T.
4. Shawn reviews James
5. R. Leib reviews D.M.
6. Yemisi reviews Shawn

NOTES: Contact the authors you are scheduled to review (Links above in message 1) to arrange to receive a review copy of their work. I strongly suggest that you do not exchange email addresses through this topic stream but use the GR direct message system, to avoid scammers and co.

If you are all OK with this (and cannot see a conflict) then let the Reviewing commence on 12 November.
Please post to this topic, both when you receive review copies and when you post the reviews (with links to your review). If you are going to be late with your review, either post to this topic as soon as possible or message the author and the moderator directly.

A polite “Thank you, Reviewer Name” from the author is a pleasant way of acknowledging a review and all that is expected. I hope we all agree that it is not seemly or very professional to publicly engage in unpleasant banter or rant about one’s review.

Your moderator is G.J. Griffiths
Thank you.

Received a review copy of I, Chance: An Allons-y Adventure Prequel.

R. wrote: "Received a review copy of I, Chance: An Allons-y Adventure Prequel."

Thank you for your acknowledgement of receipt of your book, R. I hope other members of this group have also exchanged books and are now reviewing. It is very helpful to me to hear this information.
Thanks.

I have also sent/ received review copies and am now in the process of reading

I am currently reading R.Leib's review copy and sent mine to K.T

Yemisi wrote: "I am currently reading R.Leib's review copy and sent mine to K.T"

James wrote: "I have also sent/ received review copies and am now in the process of reading"

Thanks Yemisi and James. Happy reading/reviewing!

I sent both copies out and have received both copies for review. I'm reading the first one now.

-K.T.

I have also received a review copy of my second round assignment, The Ares Weapon.

Sent and received, reading begins this weekend.

Shawn wrote: "Sent and received, reading begins this weekend."

R. wrote: "I have also received a review copy of my second round assignment, The Ares Weapon."

K.T. wrote: "I sent both copies out and have received both copies for review. I'm reading the first one now.

-K.T."

Thank you, each :-)
How about you, D.M.? Have you received/sent OK?

I've posted my review of K.T. Munson's Unathomable Chance on GR, Amazon.co.uk & Amazon.com (the latter seems to be taking its time putting it up though)

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/review/RQXFF...

James wrote: "I've posted my review of K.T. Munson's Unathomable Chance on GR, Amazon.co.uk & Amazon.com (the latter seems to be taking its time putting it up though)

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show......"

Thank you, James. I like the sound of this novel!

James wrote: "I've posted my review of K.T. Munson's Unathomable Chance on GR, Amazon.co.uk & Amazon.com (the latter seems to be taking its time putting it up though)

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show......"

Thanks James! So happy you enjoyed it! Also just to put your mind at ease: YA in this case is ages 14+

G.J. wrote: "James wrote: "I've posted my review of K.T. Munson's Unathomable Chance on GR, Amazon.co.uk & Amazon.com (the latter seems to be taking its time putting it up though)

https://www.goodreads.com/rev..."

Thanks G.J.! Also thanks for moderating. :)

Hi everyone- I got an email today from a writer who is really clued about about the writing profession- especially the sales/promotion side.

Here is a line from the message- it concerns Amazon's ongoing tightening of their rules.

"they've just instated a rule that books which are reviewed have to be purchased from amazon in order to be reviewed there. I received an email on this Wednesday."

Has anyone else heard about this? If this is the case, this will effectively put an end to GR review groups unless each author agrees to purchase the books (then you have the problem of book costs varying significantly).


James

ps, I did enjoy your story K.T - thanks for the great read.

James wrote: "Hi everyone- I got an email today from a writer who is really clued about about the writing profession- especially the sales/promotion side.

Here is a line from the message- it concerns Amazon's o..."

Yes. I have heard about this. We are going to wait and see what happens. This will not stop our review groups. We will come up with a solution. Some possibilities are:

1) Participants agree to set the price of their book on Amazon to an agreed upon nominal price for a day. All participants purchase the books they will be reviewing on that day. Then authors can put their price back to its original amount, if they like. This also would be an opportunity for authors to create an "on sale" events.

2) Authors gift copies of their books to participants assigned to review them.

And there are likely to be other solutions available to us.

Remember Douglas Adams' classic advice, "Don't panic."

R.

James wrote: "Hi everyone- I got an email today from a writer who is really clued about about the writing profession- especially the sales/promotion side.

Here is a line from the message- it concerns Amazon's o..."

Yes, James, it is something which demands our attention and as R. says probably requires modification of the methods used in GR Review Groups. It's interesting to note that if an author uses KDP Select to offer their book Free on Amazon then when that review is posted it is included as a "Verified Purchase" on Amazon's site.

G.J.

Here is a link from BBC regarding the reasons for changes at Amazon and who it affects:

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-38...

Sainoor wrote: "Here is a link from BBC regarding the reasons for changes at Amazon and who it affects:

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-38..."

If that is the case, then this should have no effect on our review cycles, since each person can submit up to five non-purchase reviews per week. The article says that the policy change is intended to stop people from selling fake reviews.

G.J. wrote: "James wrote: "Hi everyone- I got an email today from a writer who is really clued about about the writing profession- especially the sales/promotion side.

Here is a line from the message- it conce..."

Having read the BBC article I noticed that it states in the last line:

"The new rules will not apply to books."

So what's the problem?

Hello Shawn,

I've not been able to send you a message. Please send me a copy of your book in either PDF or kindle format to yemisiaremu@gmail.com. Thanks. Can't wait to read.

Yemisi wrote: "Hello Shawn,

I've not been able to send you a message. Please send me a copy of your book in either PDF or kindle format to yemisiaremu@gmail.com. Thanks. Can't wait to read."

Hi Yemisi,

I have passed on your message to Shawn via the direct message link on his page. Have you had problems with this?

G.J.

Dear G.J,

Thank you. Could not find the direct message link. Maybe I didn't look for it patiently enough. As I and Shawn are not friends on Goodreads, I was a bit confused on how to send the message at first. I am most grateful.

Thank you for reaching out. I sent you the PDF of "I, Chance", and look forward to reading your thoughts on my novel.

By agreement with the author, my review of "I, Chance" will be kept private.

R.

Here is my review of Yemisi's book Above the Ether:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

K.T. wrote: "Here is my review of Yemisi's book Above the Ether:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."

R. wrote: "By agreement with the author, my review of "I, Chance" will be kept private.

R."

Thanks for the info' R.Leib and K.T.

BTW, K.T. please don't forget to post your reviews on Amazons US and UK also.

How are we doing with Round 1 reviews, Yemisi, D.M. and Shawn? Due date was yesterday. Thanks.

G.J.