rebelatheart

The first reviews of ALL THAT YOU CAN LEAVE BEHIND www.amazon.com/All-that-leave-… or www.smashwords.com/books/view/… PAINTING BY NUMBERS www.amazon.com/Painting-by-num… pouring in, and all are very favorable.

J.M. Snyder over at Rainbow Reviews did a great job reviewing PAINTING BY NUMBERS. I was happy to see that he fully understood the character and the message of the book:

"The author strips away any artifice when it comes to the depiction of this character while at the same time ensuring that the portrayal of Seth and his violence is not gratuitous, sensational, nor is it romanticized. No doubt Seth's inability to cope with the victimization he endures at school is further exacerbated by his mental illness and the author does not attempt to hide or make excuses for Seth's violence, or his sexist and racist tendencies. But at the same time, the writing deftly communicates to the reader with understanding and compassion the sheer anguish of Seth's existence and the reasons for his vehement self-loathing, his anger and his feelings of utter helplessness and hopelessness. The author achieves a fragile balance in the writing of this character. Even with what Seth has done, it is difficult to dislike him. The emotion that does surface while reading this novel is one of deep sorrow at the tragedy of Seth's life.

In this sense, the overarching message of this story is not a moral debate of whether Seth is a victim, or a monster, or both. Rather, the story questions why no one stepped in to help Seth in school, and how and why a boy in Seth's predicament can so easily slip through the cracks and go unnoticed in virtual plain sight by family, teachers and society until it's too late."


You can read the full review here:  www.rainbow-reviews.com/?p=772…

I've been very busy lately, and have hardly taken any pictures. The main reason for this is that all summer long I've been writing screenplays, and now two of my two novels are out as eBooks. You can find them on Smashwords, where they are available in all eFormats. They should be out on Amazon by next week as well, and you can find them in the iTunes bookstore.

Go take a look, and read a preview:

Painting by numbers
Smashwords: www.smashwords.com/books/view/…

also available at Amazon: www.amazon.com/Painting-by-num…

                        
All that you can leave behind
Smashwords: www.smashwords.com/books/view/…

Also available at Amazon:  www.amazon.com/All-that-leave-…


I've also been busy building my online presence to promote my work:

My Smashwords: www.smashwords.com/profile/vie…
My Amazon author page: www.amazon.com/David-Thyssen/e…


Twitter www.twitter.com/davidthyssen
Goodreads www.goodreads.com/davidthyssen
Scribd www.scribd.com/davidthyssen


Blog: allthaticanleavebehind.blogspo…


If you read my books and like them, please help me spread the word!

You know how it says "needs premium membership" right up there to the left of this journal on my front page, and that of countless people who do NOT have a "premium membership"? Let me tell you something, nobody 'needs' a "premium membership". In fact, I'm fairly certain that, like me, people 'need' a lot of things in life other than a "premium membership". Personally, I find it quite arrogant, and almost upsetting that the people at DA assume we all "need premium memberships". I wish I had the option to take that line off my profile, because it's insulting, and just plain distracting. Of course a "premium membership" is nice to have, but certainly NOT a necessity.

One option I do appreciate is the ability to set Deviations to 'members only'. Not that it would stop anyone from seeing your stuff, since all it takes is setting up an empty profile, but at least it keeps people off who are just surfing around. Recently I found one of my pictures on someone's Tumbler, which is why I set all of my Deviations to 'members only'. I'm not making a big deal out of this, like some people ("help, someone STOLE my "art"!), no, I don't need that, It will go away after a while and, unless my pictures are being used in an offensive way of any kind, or if money is being made with it and I don't get my cut, I really don't care. But I did make it a little more difficult for random people to randomly find my pictures.

Last week I posted 2 new pictures, and forgot to change the privacy settings. One picture, with the title "Girls", got quite a lot of attention, especially compared to what I usually get. In less than 2 days there were over 200 views, which is something most my other Deviations don't even have after 2 years. Compare the views of "girls" with the other one I posted that day "Yellow", and you will notice a huge difference. Personally I would have preferred more views on "Yellow". Come to think of it, I have plenty of Deviations I think are far better than "Girls", and wish people would take a look, and maybe leave a comment or favorite, but 'Girls' got everyone's attention. I think it is safe to conclude that there are people trolling this website looking for something in particular, and that, one should consider this when picking a title. I think next time I have a picture I REALLY want people to see, I will call it 'Sex', or something in that order, regardless of what the picture shows. At least I know for sure it will get some "premium" attention.

For a while I've been using frames for my pictures, because I feel a picture should be framed. Frank Zappa once said that if a picture weren't framed, the art would fall out, and who can argue with that? But, I'm going to go without frames for a while, and give the picture more space. If the art truly falls out, I think I will notice.

I've mostly been busy editing a DVD movie I shot while in Costa Rica, and which will premiere soon. I'm still keeping up with DA, even though doesn't seem to be much interest in my pictures. I'm not here to win a popularity contest, like some people are, but I do think I have a few nice photographs in my gallery, worth a little more attention than they're getting. I'm almost through the Costa Rica pictures, and haven't been very active with the camera lately, but I'll take new pictures and keep posting for those who do appreciate my photography.

I can't believe it's almost Christmas...

I got internet back since a few days, I will update more frequently.