"The String Conspiracy" by Candace Freilich

Current Tags

adventure, quirky, humor, science fiction, multiverse, female protagonist, scifi

Categories

Science Fiction / Action & Adventure

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The String Conspiracy

Author's Description

Jo's last invention didn't exactly explode. But after causing chemical burns and thousands in damages, it didn't bring in job offers either. So when she hears there's a reward for finding a missing prototype, it's sleeves up, scanners out. Jo slides from planet to planet chasing leads. But something's off about the trail she's following, and tech failures are taking out her competition. The next one could leave her stranded. Or worse.

Why I Chose it

The first paragraph introduces the main character by saying Jo isn't a thief, and then listing all the tools she has in her bag that would seem to indicate otherwise. There's a nice layer of underdog humor running through this story and a likable and competent main character.

[17 episodes so far, with 3 updates in the last 30 days.]

Who Might Like This

If science fiction with competent, likable characters and a quirky universe are your jam, check this out!

Unrelated Griping

Vella has been up and down all day, but I think that's an AWS problem.

"Just use the cloud, they said. Everything will run perfectly in the cloud..."

"Sigils & Sushi" by Nia Quinn

Current Tags

urban fantasy, strong heroine, paranormal romance, humor, supernatural, fantasy, magic

Categories

Fantasy / Paranormal

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Sigils & Sushi

Author's Description

Failed witch Immy Cordell makes the best of her day job, checking-in rental cars for supernatural customers flying out of Saskia Springs. Spare change in the cup holder? Cool. Bottle of perfume too big to fly with? Sure. Snapping photos of hotties that come through? Why not? But every now and then, something magical gets left behind, and it's a toss-up whether it'll help pay the bills or cause the next best thing to an apocalypse. Especially when that magical something is a sexy, secretive guy.

Why I Chose it

This is another one of the stories that I came across again and thought I had already recommended but for some reason I hadn't. I'm not sure if it's because it didn't have many episodes published when I first saw it, or if it had so many likes that I thought I should try to boost something else. In any case, it's a great paranormal fantasy that starts out strong, with a main character in an interesting job with magic that may or may not be useful.

[15 episodes so far, with 3 updates in the last 30 days.]

Who Might Like This

Well-written paranormal fantasy with a sense of humor — try it!

Unrelated Griping

Every once in a while someone will post on one of the Facebook Vella author groups about how weird it is that nobody knows about Vella other than authors or how odd it is that the interface is so bad. And every time someone will jump in with "But it's in beta!" as if the company with the most resources on the planet couldn't afford to hire a competent software team. Vella has been a commercial product for 5+ months. Very little has improved in that time.

Anyhow, all I can really say is I wish I was still naïve enough to believe "But it's in beta!" meant the product just wasn't done yet and not "we're still trying to see if it's worth spending more money on it" because the more months go by, the more I think the product is failing to launch. There are some great stories there and I think there's a market for the format.

"In Search of Harmony" by Marc Whipple

Current Tags

isekai, fantasy, gamelit, litrpg, humor, romance, magic

Categories

Fantasy / Romance

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In Search of Harmony

Author's Description

Chris Erikson has been isekai-ed into a world of magical music! Normally, a Song Mage can sing a single pure tone that has a magical effect. But our hero has a unique cheat ability called "Leader of the Band" that enables him to... well, cheat. Now he has to collect a group of Song Mages and teach them to sing in harmony. But there are all kinds of ways to get a Song Mage to sing, especially when they're a beautiful woman who's always been silenced... Updates every Monday!

Why I Chose it

Today's random search word was "harmony". (It gave me a lot fewer random sermons about how God is talking to the author than my search on "speak" did.) I had to look up what "isekai" meant — as far as I can tell, it's basically portal fantasy.

Anyhow, this is another litrpg story, and it leans heavily on that — the main character has a full-death experience, gets sent to another world, and looks up his stats. I was entertained by the first episode. 

Does it seem like this story might veer into "woman are the prize at the end of the video game" territory? Maaaybe. I'm not sure. And it's possible that particular weakness might not bother fans of litrpg as much as it would bother me. So... see for yourself!

[16 episodes so far, with 1 updates in the last 30 days.]

Who Might Like This

Portal fantasy litrpg readers!

Unrelated Griping

I try not to point out flaws in any one story (because yeah, I'm sure someone could find all sorts of problems with my own), but I found a story yesterday that had the phrase "sharp, arcuate bow" three times in adjacent sentences in the first paragraph. I try not to let editing errors ruin my enjoyment of a story, but that just felt egregious. I mean, at least re-read your first paragraph before you publish.

Anyhow, I've decided to put "sharp, arcuate bow" into all my novels from now on.

"Bloodbound" by Maya Kozlova

Current Tags

vampires, maya kozlova, paranormal romance, greek mythology, urban fantasy, contemporary fantasy, fantasy romance

Categories

Romance / Paranormal

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Bloodbound

Author's Description

Rowan Sinclair was just trying to get through life. Until a couple of thugs saw fit to kidnap her after work one night, babbling on about blood marks and vampires. She figured they were crazy, but that was before she saw the mark, met the enigmatic Leonidas Solari, and was reminded of an ancient heritage she'd tried to forget.

Why I Chose it

This seems like a bit of a variation on the vampire-human paranormal romance genre. I'm interested in finding out how the greek mythology tag plays into it, but that's not clear from the first few episodes.

[7 episodes so far, with 7 updates in the last 30 days.]

Who Might Like This

If you're a vampire lover, this could be your next story!

Unrelated Griping

I know I keep bringing it up, but I'm really curious. At least half the new stories have one sentence per paragraph. The writing quality on all of those is... we'll be polite and call it "not great". I'm not alone in that opinion since they end up with zero likes. So the question is, are they all being loaded onto Vella by one person (or business)?

This leads to the question of whether it is more profitable to dump fifty crappy stories that nobody reads onto Vella, or dump a few crappy stories onto Vella and spend more effort teaming up with people to drive up likes and crowns? Both methods drag down Vella as a platform (because how many readers are going search through 20 obviously terrible stories to find something they might like?), but I suspect they will produce income, at least for the next few months.

"Love on Paper" by Sarah Madelin

Current Tags

romantic comedy, slow burn, friends to lovers, just kisses, sweet romance, older woman younger man, women's fiction

Categories

Romance / Humor

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Love on Paper

Author's Description

"To you, love is only fiction." Marin can't help but wonder...are these harsh parting words from her ex-fiance true? Did watching her parents' marriage end ruin her ability to commit? Ready to confront the past, Marin returns to the setting of her parents' famous love story - a tiny blue cottage on the English coast. Surrounded by sea winds, bittersweet memories, and her own surprising new romance, Marin must ask: Does she believe in love outside of books? And can she accept it for herself?

Why I Chose it

In the first episode, the main character is dealing with her former fiancé's betrayal. And while she's not exactly coping well, the episode manages to show this is an aberration. Lots of gentle humor and some wonderfully layered relationships here.

[11 episodes so far, with 11 updates in the last 30 days.]

Who Might Like This

I'm pretty confident anyone who enjoys low-heat romances will want to curl up with this serial!

Unrelated Griping

Ooh, it looks like they finally added a way to see if a story is complete! (At least, they added it in one place. I'm not sure it shows up anywhere else.) I'm going to be optimistic and assume this means some of the other major-but-easily-fixable issues will be addressed soon.

"Law-Law Land" by Harper Finch

Current Tags

memoir, law, family, life, relationships, divorce, drama

Categories

Nonfiction

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Law-Law Land

Author's Description

Family law - marriage, divorce, custody, adoption, paternity, estates, guardianship - touches every life at some point. These stories come from my 35 years as a family law attorney, beginning in 1983. Names and locations are fictitious but the rest is real. Every time I thought I'd heard and seen it all, a new case with facts stranger than fiction came through my office door....

Why I Chose it

I like to check out the nonfiction offerings. Most of the time you get a glimpse into a completely different life, with details you would never get from someone who hadn't lived it. In this case we also get the viewpoint of a woman practicing law in a small town in the 1980s, another unusual viewpoint for its time.

[6 episodes so far, with 6 updates in the last 30 days.]

Who Might Like This

If you enjoy learning the details of a small community and the lives impacted, check this out!

Unrelated Griping

There are stories in the "recently added" list which have "crowns" but no likes, which means multiple readers have marked the story as the best thing they read this week without anyone ever reading an episode. If authors are going to game the system, I wish they would at least try to make it look plausible.

"Night Rider: a Story of the Legacy" by R.G. Roberts

Note for New Readers

I signed up through Holidailies, so if you're checking out those entries — Welcome! On this blog I find one Kindle Vella story (almost) every day that at least passes my minimum requirements and try to direct people who might be the audience toward it.

If you've never heard of Kindle Vella... you're in good company! Amazon hasn't done a great job of promoting it to anyone who isn't an author. Vella is a serial platform — instead of curling up with a book, imagine catching up on the latest episode as you're waiting in line at the DMV.

• The first 3 episodes in every story are free.
  
  
• Amazon is currently giving away 200 tokens (sometimes more!) to anyone who registers.
  
  
• Episodes are priced based on length; the cost is one token per 100 words, so a 1500 word episode will be 15 tokens.
  
  
• If you enjoy an episode, you can click on the thumbs-up icon at the bottom to "like" it. (This is greatly appreciated by authors because it helps a story be shown to people searching for a new serial.)
  
  
• If you purchase tokens, once every week you can "crown" a story. (Again, this helps the story get shown to readers.)

If you want more information about how I choose a serial, check out this Welcome post.

I also complain so much about the Vella user interface (spoiler: it's terrible), that I added a section at the bottom of each review to rant about stuff. Please note that it never has anything to do with the serial that I reviewed that day.

And on to Today's Review!

Current Tags

epic fantasy, fantasy, heroic fantasy, multiple pov, outlaws, female protagonist, sword and sorcery

Categories

Fantasy / Action & Adventure

Affiliate Link

Night Rider: a Story of the Legacy

Author's Description

With their nation long conquered, Night Riders like Shade are the only defense Evendarians have. Yet it will take more than outlaws to save a fallen empire. Nikolas is a student, burning to make a difference. Reyma hides dangerous visions from her mother the queen. Rhea Belldoria builds an entire rebellion underground while Shade sparks revolution...neither knowing they need the other. NIGHT RIDER is an epic fantasy in a world with hints of hope, for fans of The Witcher and LOTR. New eps on Wed.

Why I Chose it

This is a solid example of epic fantasy, with political intrigue, multiple points of view, and magic. From the world-building evident in the first few episodes, this should work well as a serial. (Honestly, I thought I had already reviewed this one, but apparently not. I might have been waiting for more episodes. I'm not sure.)

[11 episodes so far, with 5 updates in the last 30 days.]

Who Might Like This

Epic fantasy with all the trappings! If that's your thing, check this one out!

Unrelated Griping

With all the things lacking in the user interface, the developers have... added "(Author)" after the name in the byline for each story. Not that there is any way to add anyone who isn't an author. I'm not even sure why you would want to add anyone else. Do other serial sites list the editor or something? This is an odd choice of things to modify.

I keep hoping I'll go to the site and find a sudden burst of competence in the design, but I'm beginning to lose hope.