Who?
I'm not surprised you asked! If I said her name on the street, I doubt many of you will know who she is. However, I think you should fix that. Familiarize yourself with her work.
Since I started reviewing, I've watched as writing trends changed. When I was young, you had to send in a manuscript to a publishing house and pray for the best. Today, we have teenagers writing books and self-publishing. With the possibilities of self-publishing and publishing online, it has really opened up the opportunities for those who believe they have a story to tell. In theory, this makes it an amazing and wondrous world we live in, where anyone can be a published author. In reality, this makes it nearly impossible for the actual writers of literature to be found. They seem to become lost in the masses.
We have people like Stephen Kozeniewski. He writes stories you've never heard before. Just when you thought everything had been thought of, here comes this man who has original ideas and a natural talent for sharing them with you. How many of you know of this man?
We have Sam Goodnight. This genius teenager spent three years writing notes and published his first book at the age of fifteen. Fifteen! Now here's the thing, it's not just a book. It's an epic adventure that will take even an avid reader a week to finish. How many of you know of Sam?
We have L. F. Falconer, who is my favorite fantasy author. She popped on the scene a couple of years ago with the Hope series and I immediately fell in love. I don't even like fantasy! She has this incredible talent for merrily skipping along, humming a happy tune, when suddenly entrails are everywhere! The real talent comes in in the fact that you don't feel shocked out of where you were. It's like you're out for an afternoon stroll and you see an airplane about to crash. You can't look away! You know it will be horrifying, but you can't stop watching! How many of you know of this lady?
So, now let's get back to K.P. Ambroziak, after my long vent. Don't worry, that's been building up in my system for quite some time. I should be all calm now. *cough cough* Anyway! Ambroziak is one of those few authors that has really caught my attention the last few years. Being a reviewer, I come in contact with a lot of new authors that most of the public don't.
The first book I read was The Journal of Vincent DuMaurier. Now, this came out right at the edge of the zombie craze. The sequel to this book followed shortly behind. Here's the thing, she takes a look at how the zombie apocalypse would react in a world that has vampires. Intriguing, right? What really struck me was her style of writing. Other than the zombie/vampire content, these books could easily have been written a hundred years ago. The wording is beautiful. The storytelling is superb. The characters are dear and personal to you. For me, reading Journals was every bit as enthralling as each episode of The Walking Dead is.
After that, I read El and Onine. Now, this just wasn't my thing. I'm not a huge fan of fantasy (see notes above). However, Ambroziak's writing style, storytelling and characters made it so that I could at least finish the book. It was a great story, it was just one that I didn't care about. There were definitely some twists and turns.
The point of this long post? I just finished reading Ambroziak's latest novel. It's called The Trinity. Watch for the review on Minding Spot! Anyway, as I was reviewing this morning, I was really struck by what a versatile author she is. She started off with this incredible story about zombies/vampires. Then there's the fantasy/sci-fi. This latest book is religious conspiracy. It's every bit as good as Journals was. It's such a different genre than what she's written before though. I'm starting to wonder if this woman can write everything successfully. There's an elegance about her that seeps into everything I've read. I'd really love to know where she gets her ideas. I'm anxious to see what she comes up with next. If you haven't heard of her, she's definitely one to check out. This isn't just popcorn fiction. There's substance. There's meat.
Speaking of meat...I've made myself hungry!
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