Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Astrodene Review The Sallee Rovers

Up until now, no reviewer dedicated to the large and popular field of nautical fiction has reviewed Pirates of the Narrow Seas. I have been in suspense wondering how the book would rate with an audience that is large and knowledgeable in the field. I am therefore very gratified that Astrodene, owner of the large and handsome 'Historic Naval Fiction' website has given The Sallee Rovers a positive review.

Although he told me privately that it was such a good book he stayed up late to finish it, his review--like all of his reviews--is conducted with typical British restraint.

A few excerpts:

"This novel starts in traditional HNF style with Lieutenant Peter Thornton and his friend Lieutenant Roger Perry attending the Admiralty and recieving orders for the Frigate Ajax. However from that point onwards the narrative is very fresh. [...] The various characters are given well rounded individual personalities which it is a joy to follow the development of and whilst there is an M/M romance element to the book, to class it as such is to do it an injustice. It is a good swashbuckling naval novel."

Read the complete review: http://www.historicnavalfiction.com/index.php/general-hnf-info/book-reviews/1566-astrodene-review-the-sallee-rovers-by-m-kei

He also reposted the entirely of Nan Hawthorne's very thorough review (with her permission).

~K~

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

The Sallee Rovers: 'Best Pirates' at All Romance

http://www.allromanceebooks.com/category155.html

The Sallee Rovers, book one in the Pirates of the Narrow Seas, is rated in the top five 'best selling' and 'top rated' books in the 'Pirates' category at All Romance. What's especially nice is that it's a general list, not just a 'gay pirates' list. It features both heterosexual and gay titles.

In addition the paperback, Men of Honor, book two in the Pirates of the Narrow Seas series is finally on Amazon.com as is book three, Iron Men. Strangely, Iron Men is missing its cover. What's up with that? And sad to say, The Sallee Rovers, book one, is still not on Amazon.com in paperback (but the Kindle edition is there), even though The Sallee Rovers was approved weeks before the other two. Queries to Lulu and Amazon return stock answers that have nothing to do with my questions. It's a pain in the neck, but here's hoping all the paperbacks will eventually all appear there.

The Sallee Rovers #30 in the Historical category at 1Romance (also a mixed straight and gay list). They don't have a 'Pirates' or 'Nautical' category, so the competition is stiffer. #30 is quite respectable, considering how many straight and gay historical works it has to compete with. 1Romanceebooks.com

It's still #3 on the Best Gay Multicultural Lovers list at Goodreads, #7 on the Best Gay Pirate/Sailor list, and appears on various other lists as well, including #28 on the Best Nautical Novels list, which is dominated by famous authors such as Patrick O'Brian, C. S. Forester, etc. It's #1 on the very small Best Gay Historical Fiction list.

I am anxious to see the quarterly sales report!

~K~

Monday, June 21, 2010

All 3 Ebook Covers Previewed on Facebook

Bristlecone Pine Press, the publisher of the ebook version of Pirates of the Narrow Seas trilogy, has posted all three ebook covers to their Facebook page: http://en-gb.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=399933576917&comments

The cover designs by Alex Beecroft look very good indeed. I signed off on the galleyproof for Book Two before I went to sea two weeks ago, so I expect to see it any day now on the usual ebook sellers, and shortly thereafter on Kindle.

Oddly, only Book Two has shown up in paperback on Amazon.com. They drive me crazy.

~K~

Friday, June 11, 2010

Nan Hawthorne Reviews The Sallee Rovers

Nan Hawthorne has posted a thoughtful and insightful review of The Sallee Rovers at her blog, All She Read, http://allsheread.blogspot.com/2010/06/sallee-rovers-by-m-kei-pirates-of.html.


"Imagine a novel about life on a tall ship during the age of corsairs, privateers, and pirates, written by someone who who has sailed as part of the crew on such a ship [...] The author, M. Kei, [...] has faced many of the challenges and dangers his characters have. The result is exciting, rich, captivating, and authentic. [...] I dearly hope readers will not ghettoize novels like The Sallee Rovers because the protagonist is gay. If they do, they, like certain men who will not read a novel or see a film about a woman, are erecting an artifical barrier to a ripping good yarn."

Read more at All She Read at the link above.