[  Mood: Neutral ]
Dear Permuted Press,

Hi, Matt C. here. I’ve just read some books of yours I’d like to review but I feel like I need to say a few things first.

I like you guys, I really do. I’ve read a lot of your books over the last few years. You’ve introduced me to some great writers I would have otherwise missed. I think you do a great job of fostering new writers and getting them out there. Plus I like your format choice, the books look great on the shelf.

Still I have a few gripes I have to make, some things I see writers there doing a great deal and editors just letting them go. Not every book is guilty of all of these just sometimes in combination, sometimes just one, sometimes none.

1. Using the title of the book repeatedly in the book. This is kind of a pet peeve of mine. In some cases this is understandable, if your novel is about a rabid dog named Cujo and you name your book Cujo obviously it is going to turn up quite a bit. On the other hand if you name your book Death Storm and every other page uses ‘death storm’ to describe the storm that causes zombies, rainfall in general and worst of all if a character makes a play on words on the title – "The rain has stopped but the zombies are out…let’s go make a death storm of our own." WINK. it makes one feel as if they have been hit by a shovel. Think about a movie that you’ve seen where a character during a speech did that pause ‘title of movie’ pause take and how a small light in your soul went out.

2. You, the writer, know guns. You’re a LEO or former (or current) military or an avid collector, for whatever reason baby you know guns inside and out. That’s good it gives some realism to the story. What it shouldn’t be is a license to list the contents of every weapons cache the survivors find, itemized by make and model, boxes of ammunition by caliber and type and any special extras like laser scopes, combat webbing, etc. Once I noticed this I started paying attention to the phenomenon. One author provided excruciatingly detailed lists of weapons finds all of which were never mentioned again after being accounted for. It was like reading a copy of Guns n’ Ammo. Say more with less.

3. Don’t fall in love with your protagonist, give them some flaws. And no "Just cares too much" and "Will keep trying and trying until they succeed" are not flaws.

Ok, that’s it for me.
Remember always try the head shot first and don’t forget to double tap,
Matt C.