Let's Review

Opinions, Please

Authors love reviews and we never get enough of them, They help us learn what our readers like about our books and what we can improve on. They also help other readers decide if our book might be just what they want to read next.

Writing reviews is a simple task for me (and, yes, I leave a review on most of the books I read), but it is a dreaded task for some. I don't understand why, but I suspect that some readers feel inadequate when they are asked to write something that other people (gasp! even the author!) will read. Since I've developed a thick skin over the years, having been charred repeatedly over the fires of public opinion, this is not something that I avoid. As soon as I finish reading a book, I write a review. If I love the book, I usually write several sentences about it. If it's okay, I write a sentence or two.  If the book just wasn't my cup of tea, I usually say that or I don't leave a review at all because it wouldn't be fair. I mean, it's my fault if I pick up a book with certain expectations and then realize I was wrong. 

Let me give some pointers to you readers out there who don't know what authors are looking for when they ask you to write a review. We're not looking for high-minded, soul-stirring phrases (although those do make us squeal with glee and melt our tough, little hearts). Imagine that you're talking to your best friend about a book you just read. Try writing like that. It can be something simple like, "This book is typical of what this author usually writes and I enjoyed it. The hero is sexy and the heroine is kind-hearted and I really liked her. He's a rancher and she works in the hardware store in town. They meet at a church social when he buys the apple pie baked and she sees him feeding it to his horse! It had me turning the pages and I didn't want to put it down once I started it."

What an author will like about this is that there aren't any "spoilers" -- nothing that reveals major plot points to ruin other readers' enjoyment. Also, there are a few sentences about the story and the reader mentions that she liked both of the main characters. That's important to any author. It's imperative that readers like and/or identify with the hero and heroine.

Now here's an example of what you might write if you were lukewarm about the book. Maybe it didn't have the same spark that the author's other books had for you. "I usually love everything this author writes, but this one fell short for me because I didn't understand the heroine's behavior. She wanted the hero to pay attention to her and kiss her, but when he did, she pushed him away. Almost at the end of the book, we discover that she was emotionally abused in her last relationship. I wish I'd known that at the beginning, then I would have had sympathy for her."

Feedback like this is golden. An author will learn a valuable lesson from this reader. Also, the review isn't mean, but honest and helpful. It is criticism with a spoon of sugar.

Other helpful reviews point out typos or words that were used incorrectly or even misspelled consistently. Ouch! These hurt and embarrass us, but hey! We need to know this stuff. As long as it's helpful and not mean-spirited, we can take it. Just because you don't like a book doesn't mean you should tell others not to doesn't mean you should tell others not to purchase it.

Which brings me to a review posted for one of my books. The reader didn't like the book at all, but went one better by stating that, although the book received five stars and great praise, people shouldn't purchase it because she thought it was predictable and poorly plotted. Also, she hated the characters.

Let me point out that the review before this one was one of the best I've had and was left by someone who said she was a writer herself. That makes it even sweeter. I was soaring and giddy after reading that one. Of course, the next one sent me into a nosedive. That's how it goes sometimes. One review make you feel warm and fuzzy and the next one makes you wonder how you could offend someone so thoroughly. However, since I've been at this so many years, I know in my heart of hearts that I can write and tell a fine story.  I also know I can't please everyone, so I've learned not to worry too much about the readers who just don't care for what I dish out. It's okay. Go ahead and write a review, even if all you have to say about a book is, "I enjoyed this one, but not as much as I usually like her work." Something is better than nothing.

Think of reviews as your way of paying it forward. A writer has spent months writing a book and is eager to hear what readers think about it. Other readers will be interested in your opinion, too. Ten minutes of your time versus ten months or more of frantic typing and editing. It's not such a big ask, is it?

Living at the top of Pikes Peak

 

Post (C) Doris McCraw aka

Angela Raines 

Pikes Peak 
Image (C) Doris McCraw

Okay, unless you live in Peru, Tibet, or China, most of us don't and probably wouldn't consider living at 14,000 feet or higher. In the United States, few mountainous areas qualify as suitable for living quarters. Those problems didn't stop the Army Signal Corps from giving it a try in the 1870s.

Yes, Colorado had towns at high altitude. Even today, the towns of Alma, Blue River, and Leadville are over 10,000 feet in elevation.  In 1894, the town of Altman in the Cripple Creek Mining District had an elevation of 10,630', almost 300' higher than Alma. (Altman sat on the south side of Pikes Peak)

Altman, CO. from Western Mining History. If you look closely, you can see the top of Pikes Peak  in the background.

Although many people lived at these altitudes, in 1873, the US Army Signal Corps decided that the summit of Pikes Peak would be an ideal location for a year-round signal station. This would place the men at least 3 to 4000 feet higher than the highest town. To say that Colorado Springs, at the base of the mountain, was excited is an understatement. The local paper, The Gazette Telegraph on Oct. 4, 1873, had this to say, "There is every prospect that the new station on Pike's Peak will be in working order within six weeks; as it is hoped that the delay arising from the chief office, misapprehending the difficulties attended on this location, and thereby failing to secure an adequate appropriation, will be quickly remedied.

Once, however, established, it's importance as the highest station in the world cannot be overestimated; and its records and observations will be anxiously scanned by the meteorologist of all countries."

Oh, how the thought of having such a place in their own backyard, so to speak, was exciting to this new town, which had been established two years earlier in 1871. They were excited and wanted bragging rights when the wind at the Mt. Washington station in New Hampshire, with an elevation of only 6,288' only about 200' higher than the town of Colorado Springs, reported one-hundred mph winds. Of course, the paper of Sept. 27,1873, had this to say: "The signal Corps report high wind on the peak on Thursday — the highest they have experienced there. The velocity was fifty miles an hour. The signal Corps on Mount Washington have been reporting a wind of one hundred miles an hour, but our boys intend to beat them yet, even if they have to "blow" themselves."

So excited were the citizens that they arranged a celebration on the peak to begin on October 11, 1873. The Gazette published the following program in the Oct 4, 1873 issue:

The following program has been arranged for the ceremonies attending the opening of the signal station on the summit of the peak next Saturday.

 

Friday, — invited parties expecting to attend the dedication of the US Signal Station, will please meet at 8:00 AM at the Colorado Springs hotel. At 9 AM, starting; arriving at the summit at 5 PM. Tea. Ladies to stay on summit — Gentleman at Camp Howgate the S.S. camp near timberline.

 

Saturday, — Breakfast. Dedication of the building. Presentation of flag. Photographic view of the ceremonies. Dinner. Remainder of the day employed in amusement and conversation. Tea. Ladies remain on the summit — Gentleman at Camp Howgate overnight.

 

Sunday morning, — start for Colorado Springs, arrived toward evening. 

 

The photograph shows Albert James Myer, holding binoculars, and another man standing outside a stone observation station on Pikes Peak, Colorado. Library of Congress photo.

 Of course, for the men who would be living there, well, that was yet another part of the story. They lived in a building 40'x40' with one wall 11 feet high and the other 9 feet, creating a sloping roof. There was also a 10' x 12' storeroom built onto the original station. The original staff consisted of six people. There were three in the first crew on top of the mountain, two more in Colorado Springs, and another who was responsible for handling supplies. Initially, the weather reports were to be sent using their flashes, but the unpredictable visibility at the top of the mountain a telegraph line was built.

Although the sun would shine, there were days when the thermometer told another story. In November 1880, a Mr. F. L. Jones, the signal officer stationed at the peak, said that one Tuesday night was one of the coldest ever experienced by him on the peak. The thermometer showed a minimum of 36° below zero during the entire night, and at 5 o'clock yesterday morning, it was 31° below.

Two left under clouds of suspicion of fraud, while others simply moved on. Of course, one cannot tell the story of the signal station without mentioning O'Keefe. With the aid of a conspirator in Colorado Springs, O'Keefe told some amazing tales about the top of the peak that were printed worldwide. They even went so far as to stage a funeral and headstone to the child of O'Keefe and his wife lost to the large rats that ate the child. Of course, O'Keefe was a bachelor. I did find an interesting article written years later that tells of death at the station. From Dec. 31, 1933, Gazette, the following information was shared from stories told by the early construction workers.

"All went well at the new station during the first few months of occupation. Following the Christmas holidays, the pair reported 'snowing continuously. Wind blowing a perfect gale.' These reports did not vary from day to day. The monotony and steady grind were upon the boys on the peak. About the middle of January Sgt. O'Leary reported his companion as being a very sick man and growing worse. They had been provided with a medical kit, but nothing so far administered had been of any effect and in the daily reports he grew fearful and apprehensive. Sgt. Lamont called in a well-known physician of Colorado Springs and advised with O'Leary what was best to do. O'Leary grew fearful and called for immediate help, admitting at the same time that no man could live long in the blizzard constantly raging on the mountain. Reports from the peak were discouraging; the stricken man had now developed pneumonia and was rapidly sinking. At 3 o'clock one morning O'Leary called up Lamont and sent a cryptic message,' he is dead.' Little was heard from the peak the days following. O'Leary's hand on the key lack the firm touch of his former self. He was evidently laboring under a great mental strain as his nervous spasmodic touch of the key indicated. When asked what he had done with his companion his brief reply was that he had been buried "military." The story went on to say that they had difficulty getting O'Leary down from the top of the mountain. "The three beef hides were lashed together and he was wrapped in blankets and brought down on an improvised sled. At one point the sick man was shot off the sled but without injury." O'Leary's story ended by saying "O'Leary improved physically and mentally, but never became his former self and shortly afterward died in a federal asylum for the insane."

The experiment of the signal station ended around 1888. 

(From a 2019 version of this post)

Until Next time

Doris

Angela Raines - Amazon

Doris A. McCraw - Amazon