The Stuttering Tattoo

The Stuttering Tattoo

Author and Publisher: Greg Logsted

Imprint TKA Distribution

ISBN 9781937776213

This is a very "guy" book: young adult male readers will find a lot to empathize with and enjoy.

As a librarian for young adults, I appreciate that. But I see a lot of unpolished writing here. The plot line is great, but the construction and the composition need work.

Steven thinks in ponderous, existential big ideas. To the reader, he SOUNDS the way a 17-year-old male speaks -- but I don't think they really think that clunkily. There are some great, profound thoughts, though, coming from a 17-year-old.

I still haven't made up my mind about the always-present-tense verbs approach. Sometimes it didn't work for me.

But the plot development: wow. So much action and intrigue! And I loved Carlos who always had Steve's back. The characterizations were full and interacted well with each other.

But toward the end of the book as I was reading along, I suddenly had to do a double-take: the high point of the plot was just ... there. Abruptly. Was I the only reader who didn't realize the story line was building ... until the climax was past?

I'm curious about the TKA (Keyword Academy?) Distributor imprint: how much help did the author have to polish and strengthen the work? Apparently this is a self-published book, which might explain lack of community and breadth in the creative process. It also means a whole lot more time and effort invested by the author.

Regardless of publisher, however, this book had a KILLER cover, which many big-time publishing companies fail to achieve. My kids do pick their books by the cover.

In conclusion, I applaud Greg for his initiative and for his growing work. Keep writing, guy: I'm pulling for you!

What's different about this book:

 There's a whole lot of action, and a serious plot (people die!), and an appropriately and realistically functional family (whose is completely functional??), along with an honest male's appreciation of the female body (still kept clean -- thanks!). I figure these values (the great author's eye for a story) outweigh the lack of experience or editorship and bode well for Greg's coming works. 

And my guys who read it won't care about the editing.

What I'll do now that I've read it:

If I could get it in print, I'd pass it on to my junior and senior high school students. Since it's digital only, this book probably won't make it through our extremely narrow stream of Kindle books for our smallish collection of Kindles or other e-reader devices. But I'll keep my eye out for future Logsted works.

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