Good morning, friends and fans!
Welcome to a “Peek Into My Week”! Here’s a look at some of my latest news: February 27, 2023! Here are some things that happened this past week.
News About Writing & Publishing: This Is The Current State Of Things
Let’s take a look at the current status quo on various ongoing issues affecting my writing or publishing:
- New Audiobooks: As I told you last time, “We All Fall Down“, narrated by Darla Middlebrook, the third book in the Panic! Horror In Space series, was released on ACX on 17 February! This is my 19th audiobook, and while there are still a few more of my books that haven’t been turned into audiobooks yet, it will probably be a little while before they find their way onto Audible.
- Writing: Over the past few weeks since I returned to work, I was unable to do much writing. Last week, I continued work on my new academic paper entitled “By Their Fruits You Shall Know Them: A Proposed Framework By Which To Understand & Categorize Self-proclaimed ‘Occult Experts'”. This paper will draw heavily on several of the other papers I wrote in the same field of New Religious Movements, namely:
- “Satanism: The Acid Test“,
- “Satanism vs Pseudo-satanism: Disambiguation And Argument Against Conflation From Within Religious Satanism“,
- “A Date With The Devil – Occult & Satanic Calendars Debunked” and
- “Devil’s Advocate: The 666 Gangs – Why They Aren’t Satanists, How They Distorted South African Law Enforcement’s Perception Of Occult Religions, & The Consequences“.
Thereafter, I’ll most likely continue working on another paper tentatively titled “Breaking With Tradition: An Exploration Of The Future Of Submarines As Weapons Of War”. Yes, as writers, we get to research a lot of diverse fields, and even occasionally, to become fairly well-versed in some of them! This paper will be my first foray into “divining the future”, in this case of the submarine, which does tend to fall within the ambit of the sci-fi writer, doesn’t it? After all, the modern submarine was envisioned by Jules Verne in 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea back in 1869.
After that, I’ll see where to from there. Perhaps I’ll continue with “Harm’s Way“, the new novel I started working on during my December holiday!
- What Readers Say: I’m happy to say that the overwhelming majority of my reader reviews tend to be very positive and complimentary – and in the case of my audiobooks, complimentary of my writing and the presentation of the narrators. Just occasionally however, there is the odd negative review, usually from someone who doesn’t feel that LGBT+ characters have any place in science fiction – or in real life. This is unavoidable, as I’m sure most of you should know, because it’s impossible for one person to please everyone. Then there are the other sort of reviews, which – to be honest – leave me feeling… well, not knowing how to feel. It is this third type of review that I received for my book “Prodigal Sun” this past January.
Another great story spoiled
“Christina Engela has a huge talent when it comes to writing mystery thrillers. She can weave wonderful stories and great characters. However by book 5 the lgbtq agenda does start to pall a little, especially in this book. There is an awful lot of agonising over gender issues which rather undermines the main story. That said, the main reason for my title to this review is once again the awful narration by Darla Middlebrook. Why Ms Engela keeps using her is beyond me. The only way I can listen to her terrible drawl is by listening at 1.5x speed which makes it almost normal. It’s a great pity, as I won’t be listening to any more of Engela’s books narrated by her.” – Boojum, review of Prodigal Sun on Audible, January 20, 2023.
In spite of his (or her) complaints, Boojum left me a 5 star review for the story and several compliments, for which I’m very appreciative. They were less kind when it came to the narrator (1 star) and overall (2 stars), but okay, everyone has their own tastes I suppose. I rarely respond in writing to poor or overly critical reviews – and although I’m pleased that “Boojum” likes my work and left me a five star review for my writing, this is one of those cases where the content of a review has left me somewhat conflicted. Perhaps as conflicted as the writer of the review?
Some of the things they said, for example, where they claim that “by book 5 the lgbtq agenda does start to pall a little, especially in this book”… “agonizing over gender issues… undermines the main story” – well, that was a case of not being able to see the wood for the trees, because that was the main story. It has been since book 1. It will continue to be, until the day I publish the last book in the series.
Boojum has left reviews of other books in the Quantum series, so I’m sure they must know by now the series features transgender characters overcoming various obstacles in their lives? What I find odd is that it seems to have taken until book 5 of the series for them to complain about an “LGBTIQ agenda”, when these characters are placed under attack – as they so often are in the real world – by people who view their existence as an “agenda”? I’m not sure what to make of that. I’m really puzzled by their remarks – to me it makes no sense to buy the fifth book in a series that has featured LGBT characters since book 1, and then to complain afterwards about “the LGBT agenda”!
The Quantum Series is adventure comedy, yes, satire and parody even – but what it really is at its core, and always has been, is advocacy against transphobia and homophobia, and in fact against any kind of attacks against human rights.
Consequently, Quantum isn’t meant for transphobes or homophobes to enjoy, and “Prodigal Sun” is the start of a story-arc that’s meant to make them squirm – and hopefully to the point where they see the error of their ways. If Boojum were to read (or listen to) the sequel, “High Steaks“, they’d be led down an even darker path, where they’d see what happens when people who regard LGBT rights as an “agenda” get to have their way.
Lastly, Boojum is the only person who has reviewed any of my ten audiobooks narrated by Darla Middlebrook, who has complained so intensely about not being able to understand her “terrible drawl” as he put it. “Why Ms Engela keeps using her is beyond me.” He says.
Why? Because Darla Middlebrook is a consummate professional. She narrates clearly and precisely. In spite of my use of words in numerous languages in various books (Afrikaans words in “Opsaal“, Ruminarii and Jim-Waian dialog in Quantum) she has taken the time to find out how to pronounce them properly and as written. She also has a sharp sense of humor and appreciates which parts of the story are serious, and which are meant to be side-rippingly funny. Darla has narrated over 90 titles with great success. Overall, this narrator has received extremely positive reviews, and this harsh criticism appears to have more to do with the fact that she has an American accent than anything else.
Boojum says they won’t be listening to any more of my books narrated by Darla Middlebrook and calls it “a great pity”. I tend to agree – they’d be missing out, because yes, “High Steaks” is narrated by her – but the “LGBT agenda” and the “agonizing over gender issues” intensifies. SPOILER ALERT: The next three books (which aren’t out yet) will also progressively intensify as the planet Deanna fights the Deannan Uncivil War and the fascists get their comeuppances, so it’s just as well, because Boojum could be in for a pretty rough time of it.
I’m always sorry to lose a reader, so if the narrator isn’t to Boojum’s taste, I hope they prefer to read the eBooks or paperbacks instead. I am hopeful that Boojum will give the rest of the series a chance and leave me more positive reviews!
Other Stuff:
I started work three weeks ago, and it’s been back to business as usual.
In the last few episodes of this series of articles, I posted a number of inserts about transphobia. Readers will no doubt be relieved that they will be spared that in this episode.
That’s all for this week!
As always, I’ll keep you posted about any further developments. And remember:
In spite of some of my books having been on Amazon since 2005, not one of them has yet reached 10 reviews on any platform, let alone 50! I would really appreciate your help on this! Come on, leave a review – it’s free!
I wish you all a pleasant week until next time!