Shiva Winters

I know, I am supposed to come on here and give everyone some deep insight into who I am and the nature of my existence, but for all that I have been writing for better than half my life and have been publishing the results of those efforts for several years, I have not in the past nor will I likely in the future do such a thing. To be perfectly honest, I am simply and without question just not that interesting, personally or professionally, perhaps that is an assessment that is overly humble or unfair, but it's a truth that is nevertheless fundamental. In a day and in the age when seemingly everyone is all too eager to document their every personal detail and display their every passing thought, I personally can find no compelling reason to do the same. Call it a quirk, call it a choice, or call it my own personal form of crazy, but there is me living through the dull-drums of existence and there are my books which at their core are the stories I've told myself over the years, and one category is considerably more interesting to me than the other.

When I first started writing, all those years ago, I didn't begin by putting words to a page for profit, or because I had delusions that one day I'd be celebrated for my efforts. I did it because it seemed like it might be a good way to pass the time, and in that moment, though I hardly understood it at that time, I found something when I wasn't looking for it. Since then, as time has passed, and I have honed my abilities, the underlying element of that moment of self-discovery hasn't truly changed, Entertainment. I don't write books because I can, I certainly don't write them for the sake of profit, though there is a glimmer of hope that one day there might be more of that. I write books because it's fun for me, it is my own strange kind of hobby and my own odd form of self-entertainment. And even if were to reach a point on some future day where the scales tip and I feel that this whole attempt to publish the results of my efforts is no longer viable, I will undoubtedly keep writing, if only for my own sake. I first published my books after a long and troubled decision making process, which ultimately weighed out marginally in the favor of the idea, that perhaps because I liked my books a great deal, that perhaps there were people in the world who would find an equal amount of joy in them. While at times there has been good reasons to doubt that belief there have been moments when that belief has proven true.

I am not like most writers, that is a truth best acknowledged right up front, I don't write my books thinking to imitate another author with their pulse pounding action, high drama, or unending tension. I write the stories I find interesting, create the worlds I think are cool, to follow the characters I like, through the events that unfold in front of both them and myself as we work our way towards whatever may come. I don't plot out my novels, I don't outline the story, I don't pre-program the dialogue, and often enough even I am surprised by the end of the current chapter as things change on a whim. My books are an organic process that grow and shift, free from over-sight and restrictions and ultimately often lead to place not even I can predict. Whether those who read my books like what comes of my strange hobby is more often than not is my very last concern, and while I might feel compelled to apologize for that being the case, it doesn't or won't change the facts in the end. Each book and each series I write are a result of the page's progress through the succession of each line and paragraph, loyal only to the facts on the page and require only the input of myself as a conduit in allowing those words to progress through their natural courses. So the end results of those efforts often enough take a path not even I expected, but I for one won't and will never change that fact.

My books are often strange and unexpected, I feel it is only right to acknowledge this, and there have been some in the past who have taken exception with that fact, angry that I did not meet their expectations. But I did not write my books for them, I wrote them for myself, selfish though that is, and I certainly did not publish my stories for them. Ultimately I publish my books for the small percentage of people who might read them and like them, and for the occasional bits of far flung joy I get from having people tell me how and why they enjoyed something I wrote. If you are one of those readers who starts a book with expectations and the belief that it is the writer's job to meet those expectations, please look elsewhere. But if you are one of those readers who reads simply for the joy of it, without expectations of what you might find, than I hope you will like what I have written.

Website: http://shivawinters.wix.com/home
Blog: http://shadowed-dreamz.tumblr.com/

action    action adventure    adventure    alien world    aliens    artificial intelligence    conflict    conspiracies    conspiracy    demons    espionage    exploration    fantasy    furries    genetic engineering    goddesses    gods    high school    high tech    hightech    hyperspace travel    interplanetary travel    interstellar community    intrigue    magic    mature themes    mechs    military    militia    multidimensional    mystery    narrative    near future    paladins    psychic powers    relics    robotics    romance    salakpatan    science fiction    shiva winters    smuggling    solarpunk    sorcery    space ships    space travel    spirits    spycraft    steampunk    strong language    sword and sorcery    telekinesis    telepathy    the forgotten children    time travel    treason    war    warfare   

• Cripple-Mode: Hot Electric on Nov. 22, 2014
  
  If you are looking for a casual read that is over and done with in a day, this is most certainly not the book for you. This book is in every way that matters huge, even speed readers can expect a sizable journey to reach the end. While the length insures you get a good bang for your buck, it can be a source of frustration as it was for this reader. This is because while your mind is filled with an overwhelming number of questions, anything like answers trickle in slowly by dribs and drabs through a means that can be frustrating. Nearly all there is to learn about the characters and the world spun into being inside the pages of this book is transmitted through dialogue as a opposed to narration. That means there is a ALOT of talking, and because of that quantity it can at times feel tedious and frustrating to read so many pages of back and forth exchanges. That aside J.L. Dobias has created a world which is convoluted, complicated, and filled nearly to overflowing with complexity with adds greatly to the realism, because lets face it life isn't ever simple. Be warned, however, that for all that this book is massive, answers it seem are still some distance away as this book can feel incomplete as it cuts off in essence, mid-story. Beyond that the author does a good job establishing the characters towards some future end and creating a very complex world filled with what from my perspective is unique science. He does a good job of spinning up a tale filled with tension and mystery and leaving a reader near screaming with a growing need for answers. While ultimately this reader ended up feeling some greater and lesser forms of dissatisfaction and periods of frustration, that should by no means dissuade fans of science fiction from giving this book a good, long walk through the woods of this other world. This is certainly not another of those watered down, casual reads that have no real substance and blank slates in the place of characters. This book is filled with strange characters, secrets, mysteries and a search for answers which carries a reader along with the main character as she herself seeks to understand the world she is awoken too. I for one will be moving on ahead to see what might be discovered as this series is continued.