I was doing a Google search for Speculative Fiction in Rockland County, NY. I wondered if there were any clubs or readings in my neck of the woods.

I found Crescendo, which was written using some settings in my neighborhood. I decided to buy it and found it on Alibris.com for $1.99.

Crescendo, according to an interview with the author, is inspired by the works of Stephen King. The cover declares “Not one for the Squeamish.”

I was hoping that it would be good and that I could pass it on to my mother. The book, however, is a difficult read. I am not sure who the protagonist is or what it is about, except that there is a character who has bad dreams and waking images about death and gore. I read the first 50 pages and will try to read a little more on the way home, but I can tell you now that I won’t finish the book.

I am not the one to judge, because horror is not something I enjoy reading. This one is too dark and bloody to read for pleasure. My main problem with it is that I have read over 50 pages and I don’t know what the book is about, who is the villain, or who is the hero. Viewpoint seems to flit about from person to person so I don’t know who is the main voice.

That being said, the person writes well. Each page reads very well, but the overall structure seems to be off. It needs a much stronger narrative line and fewer beautiful words and less intense imagery.

It turns out the book is a published by a vanity press, Publish America. From what I have heard about this publisher, the cost can go pretty high to publish a few hundred books. I am guessing that this book cost the Author upwards of $2,500 for 100 books @ 343 pages (PA claims that it publishes for free, but closer look shows most authors pay for extras and buy numbers of their own books for self promotion). The book has a price tag of $24.95 for a trade paperback, which I suspect is near break even, if the books sold. No one would pay $24.95 for a trade paperback.

Sadly, I bought this book used from the Fairfax County Public Library. The author probably sent a bunch of books out to libraries in order to publicize the book at her own expense. The book is marked “Withdrawn from Circulation” with the reason “Low Demand” checked off. The circulation slip show no one ever checked the book out to read.

Every once in a while I think about formatting a collection of my short stories for a POD vanity press like LuLu or Amazon. If I ever do it, shoot me to put me out of my misery. If I can’t sell to a publisher who pays me rather than me pay them, forget it.