Worst use of a $5 chicken ever, books (RL)

I decided to make spaghetti sauce this weekend. It's one of the few (only?) things I can cook that come out great every time, but the problem is that eating a lot of tomato-based stuff gives me horrible heartburn, so I try to resist making it.

While I was at the supermarket to pick up the stuff for it, I noticed that the $5 Friday special was a roasted chicken. Since I needed lunch, I grabbed one. It turned out to be a very meh lunch (way too greasy), but it was sitting in so much "juice" at the bottom I figured it would make outstanding soup. Me? Cook two things in one weekend? Impossible!

Turns out that was right. I came home after work to my apartment smelling VERY chickeny. "I'm surprised how much smell escaped the fridge," I thought. Turns out I left the chicken on the counter by mistake. c.c Bah!

Books: I've been going back and forth about making my 2012 book posts private or letting folks see them. I won't always write big reviews about the books, so I thought private would be better (so I wouldn't feel like people were expecting something of me), but I think I'll just LJ cut them instead.

( Book #1 of 2012... preview of book #2 )

Edit: This is the funniest, cutest dog video ever:

Credit to treuegrit for linking me!

There should be an easier way to tell when books are self-published...

Sorry for two posts in one day, but this annoys the heck out of me. I started the year's second book, and it's BAD. I mean bad-bad. Self-published bad. The first paragraph:

"By the gods, pull the damn sword out," the man on the floor howled out into the tavern. Although down the bar, Glorias' ears heard him well enough. The aged warrior looked over at the figure laying face down on the dirty boards. A man screamed in agony while a halo of patrons surrounded him.

So many 'buh?'s in one paragraph! The first sentence is horrible. Remove everything outside of the dialog, add an exclamation mark. That doesn't make it into a good first sentence, but it makes it better. What the hell is up with the second sentence? Why "Although"? Third sentence is okay, other than I'd hyphenate "face-down" (complex adjective). The fourth sentence is the worst. What man? Why "A man"? When paired with the third sentence, it makes it sound like a totally different man is now being talked about!

Plus, on the very first page is a simple grammar error!

While a plump drunkard shambled over to shut the wooden door, Glorias' leaned out from the far end of the bar.

Glorias's what?

Plus their use of possessive on Glorias makes me all frowny. I know there's no ONE TRUE WAY to make a name ending in -s be possessive, but way I learned it (Strunk&White), a ' with no S after for possessive is used only in ancient, biblical names.

Charles's cookie.
Jesus' pie.

The publisher is Seventh Star Press, which I never heard of. Their website is ugly and clunky. I can't find mention of them elsewhere on the net. I'm assuming it's not self, based on this from their site:

Seventh Star Press does not accept or open unsolicited manuscripts. We are currently focusing on our 2009 release schedule and are not adding any new authors/projects at the moment. Please feel free to check back here, as any changes regarding this will be posted here..

Hi typo in their site, too! One or three periods! Pick one! ARG!