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Shadsie Staring At My Own Grave from Across From the Cemetery Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: My elf kissing days are over
Staring At My Own Grave
#1: Mar 5th 2014 at 11:58:03 AM

My current read right now on my Kindle is a fantasy book called "The Dark Legion" by Micheal Holladay.

It is a book I found due to my being on a Legend of Zelda fanboard and said author being one of the members who advertised his work to fellow forum-goers. In the description of what it is about, I decided to go for it. I was hoping for some kind of reading-exchange between me and the other forum-goer due to my having self-published one of my own novels on Kindle. (I got sick of rejections from mainstream publishers and decided that that particular own work of mine had themes a little too odd for mainstream and was too short to be marketable in any way other than striking out on my own with it). Sadly, I didn't seem to get that exchange as all of two people have bought my book so far (one is someone I know, the other was... me... to make sure my illustrations worked properly on the Kindle in final form and for my "archive").

Anyway, the other forum-goer's book is semi-self-published. The author didn't go with Kindle's system outright like I did and instead got a vanity-publisher press to help him. The book counts as obscure because it's not a very known thing - despite some of the promotion he's getting courtesy of his press, I doubt it's doing much better than mine, since the kid doesn't seem to be rich yet or anything, and still hangs around a silly Legend of Zelda forum.

I'm only partway through "The Dark Legion" - not quite half. I've thought of maybe making a Tropes page for it, for fun, but I am having trouble keeping track of the Loads and Loads of characters. I'm not sure how to tell the author this, but it is a *very* typical Fantasy story. He probably already knows. The protagonist is a magician's son who has just started learning his magic, has a strong natural aptitude for it, and is given a warning by the dragon that's kept prisoner the courtyard of the local castle (protagonist is friends with a princess) that dark forces (the titular Dark Legion) is coming to destroy their kingdom and to overrun the world. The young magician and the princess free the dragon, who is found again by his long-awaiting dragon-mate, and I'm at the part of the book where they join up with a group of elves to fight the advancing army of demons and undead - while the Evil King is trying to tempt the protagonist's heart.

Yes, it is very *typical* fantasy and not something I'd recommend to readers who are a little burnt out on the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit books and movies. However, you like that stuff - which, fortunately, I do, you'll some fast-paced action in the battles, and Iannvor , wise ice-dragon character is someone I think is really cool. It's quite good for getting one's "fix" for Grand Good vs. Evil battles, plus a little moral ambiguity in-between. (Some of those elves are such snots to that one exiled-elf character)!

I am contemplating doing illustrations - just for fun, and possibly to put my bid in to getting work as an illustrator. (The maps the author chose to put at the head of his story show that he is not a professional artist and, since I enjoy drawing things like fantasy maps, I may just do that for him while I finish the book and get a solid feel for his world).

Anyway, what I'm saying is that I found a "little obscure thing" on Kindle, courtesy of knowing the author in one of my fandoms, and while, on one hand, I've found something full of every fantasy trope and cliche in the book (I've been listing off TV Tropes it hits in my head as I read it) I've also found something that fairly entertaining and probably more generally marketable than my weird stuff.

I'm thinking of "going back for more" in the case of "weird low-marketed / self-published fare" on Kindle... In emails I get where my own book is marketed, some titles are marketed alongside it that look kind of cute. I've looked into something called "Dwarves in Space" for instance, which I am thinking of getting simply because it has the title "Dwarves in Space." - I want to finish reading what I've got on my docket first.

Has anyone else found quirkly little things out there in our age of "screw the mainstream I'm gonna do it myself!" that they're reading / that they liked / want to discuss?

(*I didn't feel like advertising my own Kindle offering, as I thought it might be rude / against forum rules and such. I'm also sure there's a thread for that kind of thing somewhere on here. I don't feel like I'm "known" enough here to do that. I mostly *read* TV Tropes, I've actually edited all of twice, maybe, in all the time I've read the site, so I'm not important).

In which I attempt to be a writer.
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