Why I Don't Read Blurbs

The back-of-book blurb is a necessary tool. It gives you the genre, the characters and the premise of the book. Its goal is to raise enough interest that a potential reader will give the book a try. It is invaluable and important, but for the most part, as a reader, I avoid them. 

Why?

Mostly, it's a personal quirk. I hate spoilers and the book blurb often tells you what's going to happen in the first three chapters of the novel. Even if they try to be coy, there is usually a hint of what the twist will be (for example I am very glad I didn't read the blurb for Consumed by J.R. Ward). I prefer to have the story be revealed to me as I read. And if the writer doesn't have enough skill to hook me on the front page, then its often a sign that no matter how great the premise the book is going to be only mediocre.

I always read the blurb when I was younger. I chose what book to read next based on genre and if the plot sounded interesting. I think this is how the vast majority of readers choose a book. Blurbs, for the most part, work. I still use blurbs to try out the work of authors I've never read before. But what works even better (for me) is choosing a book by author.

Again, as I young reader, I didn't pay that much attention to authors. But once I started writing myself it began more important to me. And I discovered that the most reliable marker of whether or not I was going to love (not like, but love) a book had nothing to do with the plot and everything  to do with the author. I vividly remember reading two Harlequins as a teen that had essentially an identical plot involving the heroine being unjustly convicted of a crime and deciding to get revenge on the prosecuting lawyer years later and yet one of them was a tense read and one was meh. 

When I buy an Ilona Andrews book, I really don't care that much whether it's in their Hidden Legacy series or the Kate Daniels World or an Innkeeper book or something entirely new. I know that it's going to be a great book and all I have to do is buckle in for the ride. 

Blurbs will always be important for finding new authors to read, but if I trust an author because they've consistently delivered a great story, I don't need the blurb. Do you have a favourite author? Try not reading the blurb to their next book.

Sneak peek of my next release: Queen of Souls!

SF/F would not be the genre it is today without mythology. Celtic, Greek, Norse, Egyptian, Japanese, Aztec—it’s all there. You can’t swing a stick in SF/F without hitting a novel that draws upon at least one and sometimes more world sources of mythology. And mine are certainly no exception!

Faerie Blood and Bone Walker both draw upon Celtic and Japanese mythology. Forthcoming work of mine, a novel with the working title of Queen of Souls, will be drawing upon one of my very earliest mythological loves: Greek mythos. It’s so prevalent in both SF/F and romance, I believe, specifically because there’s such a rich treasure trove of tales to mine for inspiration.

And one of my all-time favorite tales from Greek mythos is that of Hades and Persephone. I’ve always loved that story, enough that I had to write a sequel of sorts to it, an expansion to the core story. Here’s the working blurb for that!

***

No love is greater than that of a mother for her child–and no mother is more fierce in her love than Demeter the Life-Giver.

Demeter has never forgiven her brother Hades for stealing her precious only daughter. Three thousand years ago, desperate to free Persephone from the bond that pulls her back to the Underworld each year, she committed the ultimate sacrifice: transforming herself and her child into mortals. They have walked ever since in countless lifetimes across the earth, reincarnating when their human shapes die, while their eternal souls remain forever out of Hades’ reach.

The loss of his queen has nearly driven Hades mad. Consumed by grief and remorse, determined to win Persephone back to his side, he has abandoned his realm to search for her. Yet the Persephone he finds knows herself only as the mortal woman Korinne Marlowe. And her mother will stop at nothing to prevent him from stealing her again.

But a power greater and older than them all is rising to take back the earth he once ruled–and Korinne will have to prove herself worthy to stand among the gods if they’re to defeat the Lord of Time himself.

***

Want a taste of the story itself? Here’s how it opens!

***

The next time Hermes brought her back from the Underworld, Persephone wept tears of rage. They gleamed like jewels in her night-dark eyes and streamed down white cheeks that might have been sculpted from marble, so stiffly did she walk back into Olympus' shining halls. She offered no cause for it as she greeted Zeus and the others, and when with furrowed brow her father asked what troubled her, she replied only that she would discuss it only with her mother.

Aghast, Demeter hastened her daughter to their private sanctum, the garden they'd tended together ever since Persephone had been old enough to tap into the life cycles of green growing things and help them along. But this time the fragrant blooms and twining vines brought no consolation. Within their silent shelter the maiden collapsed in her mother's arms and sobbed.

"What has he done to you?" Demeter demanded.

With a slender fist Persephone punched the floor. Leaves on the nearest vines withered under the strength of her anguish, turning brown and sere and falling to the earth around them, and something withered in Demeter as well when her child lifted a stricken gaze to hers. "I caught him, Mother," she rasped, as bleak and harsh as winter. "I caught him with a nymph."

"He betrayed you," Demeter said without surprise, stroking her daughter's hair. Zeus and Poseidon had never limited themselves to their consorts' favors; why should their brother Hades be any different? "I am so sorry, child. He's no fit lord for you. I never believed he was."

With a shriek Persephone surged up out of Demeter's embrace to stalk the length and breadth of the garden. "Why did he want to be my lord to begin with if he can do this to me? He could carry me down into darkness--"

"And give you a gift that was no gift, but a chain to bind you to his side." Persephone's features were contorted with such wild wrath that for an instant Demeter wondered if her gentle daughter was about to take up the weapons of Artemis or Athena to make war upon the husband who had wronged her. She was close to making war upon him herself. Even now the mere thought of a pomegranate was enough to drive her to obliterate every last one from the face of the earth.

"He could call snakes and stone to hold Pirithous for seeking me, yet say nothing of Adonis..." Persephone's voice cracked, and as she trailed off, she slumped against one of the fine carven pillars that ran up to the garden's high ceiling. Her eyes closed in defeat. "But perhaps he shares Adonis' view now, and finds me cold--unfeeling!"

"Do not say that!" Demeter followed her, and reached a hand to her chin to make her lift her eyes. "If he thinks you cold, daughter, he is a fool. If he can dally with a nymph instead of his own queen, he is a fool a thousand times over. Let her have him. He does not deserve you."

Persephone met her mother's eyes, but hers still brimmed with wetness, and her rage had wilted away. In its absence she seemed diminished now, vulnerable, broken. "Minthe will never have him again," she whispered. "I've destroyed her. I ripped her body asunder and turned the pieces into seeds. She grows now upon a hillside in Crete, and her scent is cool and fresh..." Laughter bubbled up out of her, but it was edged with hysteria, fey and black. "I should have made her smell foul, Mother! Why didn't I make her smell foul?"

***

I will be looking to release Queen of Souls in 2016, and I hope you all will join me for the adventure!

Angela writes as both Angela Highland (the Rebels of Adalonia series) and Angela Korra'ti (the Free Court of Seattle). Come talk to her about Greek mythology or any other favorite kind of mythos on angelahighland.com, or follow her on Facebook or Twitter!

Spoilers—To Peek or Not to Peek

There is a study out there that argues that knowing Spoilers can actually increase your enjoyment of a novel.   SpoilerAlert: Stories are not Spoiled by ‘Spoilers’.   

My first response to this was Get Out of Town, cuz I HATE spoilers.  People who read the ending first baffle me. I refuse to even read series books out of order.  In fact, I don’t  read blurbs if I can avoid it. Too often I’ve seen them ruin a surprise in the first few chapters of a book, or raise false expectations or be just plain wrong.  If I love a series or trust an author, I deliberately don’t read the back cover blurb.  I prefer to have the story unfold the way the author intended.  (Don’t get me wrong: blurbs are necessary.  I would never consider buying a book by a new author without reading the blurb. Movie or book ads that rely on rave reviews drive me crazy. I don’t care if  Such-and-such gave it five stars. I care about genre and PLOT.)

But then I thought about it some more and realized that the article might explain why I also love to reread my favorite books. There are books I’ve reread so many times I practically have the plot memorized, and yet I still enjoy reading them.  The second (or third or fourth) time around, I love to spot the little hints dropped in by the clever author along the way.  I love to reread tense action scenes, character interactions, and, of course, sexy times.  (When rereading I often skip descriptive passages entirely. I’m also less likely to reread mysteries than romances or fantasy novels.) I also really enjoy watching Game of Thrones on TV even though I've read the books and know exactly what's coming for the poor characters.

Different readers consider different things to be spoilers. My husband doesn’t understand how I can enjoy romance books when I know going in that the couple is guaranteed a Happily Ever After.  (This makes me roll my eyes since the books he enjoys, SF and fantasy, have happy endings 95% of the time, too. The plucky hobbits defeat the all-powerful Sauron, not the other way around.)  To him the HEA is a spoiler in and of itself. To me it’s a promise that I will be entertained and not depressed.

Here’s another article which argues with the original study’s conclusions: Scientific Explanations of Why Spoilers are So Horrible.

Do you hate spoilers?  Do you ever reread your favorite books?