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zoexrider

The Zoe Zone

Zoe loves books, writes horror, erotica and erotic romance, and can be found as close to the stage as possible at small clubs across the Southeastern U.S., rocking the fuck out to her favorite bands.

 

Under the name Holden Wells, she has published several short stories in gay erotica anthologies. One of these—Roughing It—has been revised and expanded into a novella and is now available in print and ebook format. The sequel to Roughing It will be coming out in 2014. A number of short stories featuring the same characters are also in the works, the first of which, "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love," was released in ebook format in October 2013.

 

Zoe has also written a novel and a long story (both erotic romance) as Zoe X. Rider, both of which are currently seeking publication. In the meantime, she is working on a couple horror novels and a sequel to the erotic romance novel.

Currently reading

The Final Descent
Rick Yancey
The Seventies: The Great Shift In American Culture, Society, And Politics
Bruce J. Schulman
Shades of Gray
Brooke McKinley
Inescapable
Mina Kelly
Easy Ryder
Deanna Wadsworth
The Dragon's Path - Daniel Abraham I was restless reading this one, my mind constantly wandering to other books on my to-read list and wondering if I wouldn't be enjoying myself more if I'd picked one of those instead.

Being incessantly reminded of the tragic yet clichéd loss that one of the characters suffered didn't help. (Turning it into a drinking game might have. Keep that in mind if you find it bothers you, too.)

Tripping over the writing here and there didn't help either.

Nor did the fact that I really didn't enjoy spending time with one of the POV characters, or that I had trouble buying that poetry was a manly endeavor but an interest in speculative essays marked you as a dweeb.

There was enough in there, though, to keep me with it to the end, at which point I struck it from my Kindle and dove straight into one of the other books calling for my attention.

Except..in idle moments I would realize I was turning the characters over in my head, wondering what they were doing, how they were getting along, what would become of them. I'd find myself thinking about how Daniel Abraham handled certain things, the choices he made. How a lesser author would have done what you might expect, but Abraham instead took these opportunities to make his characters more complex and human, even the one I didn't (still don't, won't ever and don't have to) like.

Of those books I wanted to be reading instead, one I set aside unfinished (likely for good). The other two were fun--lots of action and adventure--but the characters didn't make themselves a home in my head the way the players in The Dragon's Path did.

Last night I finished book 2, which was wonderful.

What I wouldn't give for book 3 to be available already.