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Multi-genre, multi-volume author, Stewart Hoffman, introduces us to his funny story about life in the afterlife, George Pringate’s Last Hurrah: Hell is tears, pain, and depression, baked into a cake made of misery and despair. Heaven is meet-cutes and puppies, life-affirming moments, and hanging out with Elvis! George Pringate is dead, and he really wants to go to Heaven! But first, he must survive Hell’s assassin, confront his demons with the help of his afterlife counselors, and most critically, be honest with himself. George is in big trouble. He doesn’t automatically qualify for heaven. He has some work to do, and that’s hard for a depressed slacker. This book is so much fun! I love the way Stewart writes. He has a wonderful knack for humor and I love the humor. His scene-setting is just right. The dialogue makes me laugh so much and the plotting is perfect. George has to go through so much to prove himself worthy of entrance to heaven, including not being destroyed by an assassin from the underworld. The action is really good also, the pace and flow make for a very smooth read. George thought life was hard, he is learning it’s even harder being dead. I award “George Pringate’s Last Hurrah” 5 stars! You will laugh yourself silly! You can buy this book:
https://smile.amazon.com/George-Pringates-Hurrah-Stewart-Hoffman-ebook https://www.goodreads.com/book/-george-pringate-s-last-hurrah https://amazon.co.uk/George-Pringates-Hurrah-Stewart-Hoffman You can follow the author: https://twitter.com/stewartfhoffman http://www.talkiegazette.com/books https://www.facebook.com/StewartFHoffman https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15583189.Stewart_Hoffman I have also reviewed this book "The Bug Boys" and interviewed the Stewart under the review, here is the link: https://www.wordrefiner.com/book-reviews/the-bug-boys-by-stewart-hoffman I reviewed the next book also “The Bug Boys Vs. Professor Blake Blackhart” https://www.wordrefiner.com/book-reviews/the-bug-boys-vs-professor-blake-blackhart-by-stewart-hoffman Tags: humorous fantasy, fiction Copyright © Mark L Schultz 2019 except for the author’s introduction
38 Comments
12/16/2019 11:19:58 am
Thanks for the 5-star review! I'm glad you enjoy my book.
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Mark
12/16/2019 11:47:34 am
I enjoyed your book a great deal. I love to laugh and your book gave me many laughs!
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Thanks! I wanted to use humor to explore difficult subjects (anxiety, depression, and substance abuse) in George P, and the feedback I’ve gotten so far seems to suggest that I’ve pulled it off.
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Mark
12/16/2019 12:52:34 pm
Excellent! Those are my favorite genres also. That was all I read for a long time.
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I wanted to do something different after the second Bug Boys book. I wanted to challenge myself and write in the 1st person (swapping between present and past tense too).
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Mark
12/16/2019 03:39:43 pm
I love stories written in first person POV. When done without any head hopping, I find the story so intimate. You pulled it off quite well!
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I designed the cover. It represents what George sees on the first page of the novel; a kind of pearly gates with a twist!
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Mark
12/16/2019 08:41:02 pm
I like the opening. The slow reveal is fun and grabs the attention in a subtle way.
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Character names come easily for me. Most of the time, I just scan my bookshelves and sample author names! For George Pringate, however, I wanted a name that sounded dull, like the most forgettable person you ever met.
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Mark
12/17/2019 09:42:53 am
I think you succeeded with George's name, it does sound dull and boring.
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I haven't entered any contests recently, but I did once get a honorable mention from Writer's Digest for the first Bug Boys book.
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Mark
12/17/2019 01:11:25 pm
An honorable mention from Writers Digest is nice. Congratulations.
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I never seriously queried any of my books. I have writer friends who do, and still don't have agents or a book deal after years of trying. I didn't want to wait.
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Mark
12/17/2019 08:53:13 pm
That story is what I have heard from so many authors. Amazon upset the publishing world so drastically, the traditional publishers have never fully recovered. So many of them closed shop or were bought up. Now, most of them are scrambling just to stay alive with very slim profit margins. They don't take chances like they used to, huge advances are the rare exception these days. Unless you are a big name already, they aren't going to invest promotional dollars. That is on the shoulders of the author. Some won't talk to an author unless the author has a mailing list of several thousand. The publishers see that as a quantity of guaranteed sales.
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My first two books were published through iUniverse, an independent publisher. The experience was, okay. They took care of all the copyright stuff and getting the books registered with the Library of Congress, etc. The process was expensive, but at the time I didn't know how to do this by myself so I was happy to let someone else take care of that.
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Mark
12/18/2019 01:16:53 pm
You learned a lot with iUniverse, it sounds like. Did they tie up your intellectual property rights for any length of time?
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I have both. Thankfully, the authors I like are pretty consistent! I love Terry Pratchett's Discworld fantasy novels, and John Scalzi is always a reliable read. More recently I've been enjoying books by Michael Poore.
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Mark
12/18/2019 09:41:25 pm
I have been reading all of my life. I learned to read before starting the first grade. The set of books I remember the best is Lord Of The Rings. I read it three times before graduating from high school. I read the Hobbit after the first read of LOTR.
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If you want your stories to have depth, to be more than just places and names moving around your plot, you absolutely need to tap into the emotions of your characters.
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Mark
12/19/2019 10:33:11 am
NaNo seems like an interesting experience to me. I am not a writer, but writing against a deadline of one month to have a first draft at least 50,000 words would be a good way to stretch writing muscles. After all, the first draft has only one purpose, that is to exist. It's supposed to be a piece of garbage. Because you cannot edit a blank page.
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I'm an, about-right-writer? I run each chapter by my critique group and make changes as I go. So, the first draft ends up being pretty close to the end product. The first Bug Boys book got a few chapters trimmed, the 2nd Bug Boys book was the same. George Pringate, I added a few things here and there. The editing process is mostly about making sure I find all my typos!
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Mark
12/19/2019 06:54:01 pm
Excellent, that might be a new category, somewhere-in-the-middle writer.
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I use real life events and people I know all the time. The Bug Boys is a good example of this, as I based Alex's family on my own. The book's heroes, Alex and Ian, are extensions of my own personality.
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Mark
12/20/2019 09:51:44 am
That makes a lot of sense, writing about what you know. It certainly fulfills the advice given to authors so much of the time. Even when writing about something not personally experienced, such as the afterlife, common experiences can be transplanted into the new setting.
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Villains are always more fun to write, because they have chosen to free themselves from the rules that govern the rest of us.
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Mark
12/21/2019 09:44:16 am
That is a good way to describe a villain. I have also read that every villain is the hero of his or her own story.
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There are three other members in my group. One has self-published, the other two are querying and hoping one day to get an agent and make a deal.
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Mark
12/21/2019 04:15:28 pm
Your group sounds like it has been going for a while. I can imagine how useful it is. I have heard from so many authors how important a critique partner or group is for many reasons.
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My 'slow and steady' process hasn't changed at all, and I'm a plotter that writes in a straight line. I would say flow was more important. To be honest I don't consciously think about it as I write. I just write a few pages every two weeks, and trust that my critique group will tell me if it doesn't flow well - which they do!
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Mark
12/22/2019 08:44:10 am
I believe in slow and steady wins the race. That could be the habitual procrastinator within me, also. I do prefer to research and evaluate options when I have the time.
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I try to avoid reading my books after they are published because I'd always find something I'd like to change. At some point in the editing process you have to say "no more" and move on!
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Mark
12/22/2019 08:21:31 pm
You are right about that. It's very hard for some writers to turn their baby loose. I have heard of some writers who never stop editing to avoid publishing.
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Charles Dickens. A Christmas Carol inspired George Pringate's Last Hurrah. Being that they are both fantastical stories with characters that guide a flawed protagonist through a life (afterlife in my story) altering adventure.
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Mark
12/23/2019 11:43:35 am
Dickens' Christmas Carol! I totally see that. That is a great comparison of type.
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I'm a plotter. I start with a two or three page write up of the story I want to tell, then I plot out each chapter. I have altered the story a little if there are new ideas I want to explore, but more often than not, the finished product is what 'the director' intended.
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Mark
12/24/2019 09:22:24 am
If I was a writer, I would probably be a plotter also. It seems to be my nature. I love maps and laying the story out ensures that the end is reached.
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Mostly on the computer, but I have a printout of the chapter notes on my wall, and as I go through my process, several post-it notes are used to remind myself to expand a point, or to research something.
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Mark
12/24/2019 04:38:04 pm
You and I work a lot the same way. I don't listen to music when proofreading. I do listen to the videos my daughter has made, she is a social media influencer for food and Weight Watchers. Our granddaughters are in many of the videos and I like hearing their voices in the background.
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Who am I?An avid reader, typobuster, and the Hyper-Speller. I am a husband, father, and grandfather. Archives
February 2025
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"I'm very pleased with all your efforts. Twitter promotion and proofreading were beyond what I expected with a book review. Your suggestions throughout the process of refining both books helped me immensely. I look forward to working with you again." A.E.H Veenman “Dial QR for Murder” and “Prepped for the Kill”
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