Author: Jeff Hampton

Day 7 of the Aransas Morning Book Blog Tour brings a review from a man who calls himself The Clueless Gent, and I really like this one. But not for the reason you may think.

I won’t label a review as a “favorite” because I believe that taints the process. A book review is an independent opinion by a person who took the time to read a book and share that opinion. Good or bad, that opinion is a gift because it adds to the public knowledge about a book and that helps potential readers make a decision. And reviews, like the daily news, should be gathered from various sources. Some of the world’s most-loved books received tepid or even bad reviews. And some of the best-reviewed books have left readers saying, “Huh?” Same goes for movies and records.

But I like the review by  “The Clueless Gent” because I like his method: general thoughts about Aransas Morning followed by discussions of setting, character and technical aspects. That’s the sign of someone who takes rewiewing seriously. I can tell he read and didn’t skim. And on top of that, he’s a darn good writer himself with well-crafted sentences and entertaining turns of phrases. I’m looking forward to reading his reviews of other books.

So, does he like Aransas Morning – and might you like it too? Read him and find out:  The Clueless Gent

Ever wonder what’s inside an author’s head when he’s writing? Day 6 of the Aransas Morning Book Blog Tour provides two glimpses inside my head. First, The Page Unbound has an interview where I talk about the origins and motivations for writing in general.

And then Syd Savvy has a playlist of music that kept my feet in the sand while writing Aransas Morning. First is music and artists that are mentioned by characters in the story – music that they like and that I happen to like too. It doesn’t get any richer than Mozart’s “Clarinet Concerto in A Major,” or any more mellow and forlorn than much of the work of Miles Davis.

The second category is songs that I listened to while writing or to get myself in the mood for writing. Guy Clark and Gary P. Nunn helped keep my head close to the sights and sounds of the Texas Gulf Coast with “The South Coast of Texas” and “My Kind of Day on Padre,” respectively. While a trio of songs by David Gilmore – “On an Island” / “The Blue” / “Then I Close My Eyes” – helped keep my soul in the location as well.

You might want to cue up some of these and listen while you read.

It’s hard to believe we’re halfway through this tour. On the one hand it seems to be going fast, and on the other it feels very slow and intense. The latter is due to the sensibilities of an introverted writer. I do want people to buy and read Aransas Morning and enjoy the characters and the story as much as I do, but when it comes to promotion I feel a lot like Sam, my main character in the book: hesitant and reluctant.

So I’m pleased to have others talking about the book, and that includes the Tangled In Text blog, which today has a review. I like these words because they capture the spirit of what I was trying to do:

“This story had a group of shy, recluse, broken people coming together and relearning how to interact with others again. The characters’ backstories were incredible and clever. They meshed together beautifully and each story complemented the others.”

Read the whole review here: Tangled in Text.

Admittedly, it’s a quiet story. As I tell people, there are no car chases, no exploding buildings, no space aliens or super heroes. Just real people going through what real people go through. If you go to my Aransas Morning book page on this web site, you’ll learn that some of the story comes from my own real life.

And there will be more about that in an interview at tomorrow’s stop on the blog tour. See you then!