Robert A. Hunt (3)

The Crater Mountain Sasquatch typifies the problem with free and easy self-publishing - anyone can publish anything

I would like to thank Robert A. Hunt for the hard work and commitment he put into this worthy endeavor.

This story begins with a sasquatch named Gurchukk doing to battle with a grizzly bear named Skurtchotte to see who will be king of the mountain.

The bear and sasquatch begin to fight on the edge of and Indian village. The Indians begin shooting arrows and rifles at them. Skurtchotte is losing and runs into the Indian camp to escape Gurchukk. While the “little people” are killing the bear the Sasquatch in “a moment of spontaneity” before he “could process another thought, or make his next decision” kidnaps a four year old girl.

Is this a YA novel? Evidently not. Is the writer a YA? Nope, Robert A. Hunt doesn’t look like a young adult to me though his writing is certainly juvenile.

The girl is adopted by the Sasquatch who find “at the very least, she would make a very nice pet.”

Chapter two skips ahead fourteen years and introduces a veteran, Trevor McKinnon. He’s read an article in an 1865 newspaper and has come looking for a good spot “to start a prosperous life”. He purchases a homestead, goes hunting and stumbles upon Gurchukk, his wife, baby and “pet” Indian girl in a cave.

Gurchukk holds him prisoner. Gradually Trevor becomes a friend of the family.

Then the aliens arrive.

I got to chapter five before I quit. I kept reading because I couldn’t believe this book could continue to get worse. It did.

The Crater Mountain Sasquatch is hardly worthy of a review. As far as suggestions for improvement it would be difficult to know where to start except to say author Robert Hunter needs a great deal of work developing his skills as writer and a storyteller.

This is the problem with free and easy self-publishing – anyone can publish anything.

What makes this travesty a tragedy is it’s next to impossible to differentiate works like The Crater Mountain Sasquatch from other undiscovered but excellent novels like Not Lost for Lookin’ by Lexi Boeger, War in a Beautiful Country by Patricia Ryan and The Last Bad Job by Colin Dodds.

Hopefully, reviews like this one will help.

Like anyone else, Hunt could still learn to write better. Writing’s a craft and like any craft it takes lots of practice to get good at it. It’s more than a bit presumptuous to think the first thing you knock off is good enough to publish.

Prior to publishing his next work, and I hope he does, I would strongly suggest Hunter take some courses and join an objective critique group. I’d be surprised if he showed The Crater Mountain Sasquatch to any other writers or objective readers for comment before rushing to publish it. By objective I mean persons not in a position of conflict of interest meaning not your family, not your friends.… (mais)