‘IMPASSE DAY’ Novel: Alpha-Readers Wanted

‘IMPASSE DAY’

(Novel – political thriller/hard science-fiction)

ALPHA-READERS WANTED

My new novel Impasse Day is at the ‘alpha test’ phase.

It’s a near-future political thriller with a hard science-fiction bent. It has a lot of threads and a rich cast (think Game Of Thrones amount of story going on).

I need fast readers to help ‘alpha test’ it.

In English, ‘alpha test’ (it’s a software term) means:

* This is a warts-and-all draft

* I’m still working on it as you’re reading it. So at least one plot thread will be altered slightly!

* I’m still prepared to make directional changes in it (a bit). When it gets to ‘beta test’ phase I’m only fixing typos and grammos! 🙂

WARNINGS:

* Impasse Day is a ‘brick’ – it’s 640 pages in full-size ‘trim’, about 680 pages on an average e-reader (though shorter if you don’t have massive line-spacing like I like!). So you need to be a fast reader who eats big books.

* It has STRONG ADULT LANGUAGE. There are no sex scenes but there is violence on and off stage throughout the story.

I have a couple of trusty alpha-readers already on the case, but I could use as many as possible? PLEASE? 🙂

If you think you could finish it by mid-March (at the latest) this year 2019, email me at:

jon@jonswordsholdsworth.com

and I’ll send you an EPUB (and a PDF).

I need comments on:

* What you ENJOY and LIKE about Impasse Day!

* Anything that BORES, ANNOYS or PUZZLES you!

* Typos

* Grammos

* Characters who get lost

* Threads that get lost

* Violations of Chekhov’s Rule: something that you thought would reappear later but vanished

* Repeat’os: anywhere I’ve said something twice without it being justified

* Contradict’os: anywhere something is contradicted later

* Ghost’os: somebody stars speaking but at no point was actually introduced

* Smug’os: a character demonstrates too much familiarity with the other characters or with the reader, without earning the right

* Zombo’s: a character has no personality whatsoever

* Walking Dead Dialogue: characters ramble-on at length about nothing and your eyes glaze over

Etc.

In return:

* I have not money to offer, BUT, I’m sure I can do food/gift vouchers for your favourite eatery, Amazon gifts or fluffy things through the mail. Name your poison!

* You’ll get a mention in the back pages of the finished product, and if you’re an author I’m happy to put links to your author page (just specify it for me!).

Cheers!

Jon Swords-Holdsworth

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