The Sound of One Man Reviewing

Mick Halpin, the occasional guest-host of Paula B's wonderful The Writing Show podcast has not only been offering me incredibly detailed and useful feedback for me as a guest in one of Paula's "Getting Published" reality series but he has also recently reviewed my book One Hand Screaming.

I've snipped out some really nice "blurbs" from the review such as:

Originality is decidedly rare in horror. Invention is even more rare in horror fiction, thus a sigh of relief at Leslie's "Browsers"
- Mick Halpin, criticalmick.com, January 2007

and

He's mighty good with a hook.
- Mick Halpin, criticalmick.com, January 2007

. . . but despite the fact that there were some things Mick liked about the book, that's not the best part of the review. The absolute best part of the review is that this doesn't read like a review at all. It reads like more of a creative writing exercise. The review is revealed within the body of a very unique and funny story. And the story itself is peppered with small references to things that I swear Mick planted there as cute little "easter eggs" for me to find and enjoy.

He describes his reviews in this cover statement: "Mick Halpin offends snooty critics by offering reviews that non-intellectuals can grove to. UNRULY REVIEWS. The rules of proper diction can bite my ass."

Reading through reviews on Mick's website it's obvious that he's having a good time, telling it like he sees it and enjoying the freedom of being creative. And he ends up producing some uniquely bizarre essays. So I can honestly say that I have never had so much fun reading a review of my work as when it gets penned by the zany master of unconventional reviews, Mick Halpin.

Read the full very fun to read review here.