Dust Jacket Reviews
TANSMANIA
Cindy Hoyt is one of the funniest people I’ve ever known, but unlike most funny people, she knows how to write really funny stuff. Even if you weren’t alive when white people first began coating themselves with baby oil and aiming aluminum reflectors at their faces (and if you think those days are over, do a web search on “tanning salons”), Tansmania will crack you up. Make sure your core is engaged, to avoid busting a gut while reading this hilarious—and even somewhat informative—account of the wonders of the world of tanning.
— Alice Bloch, author of Mother-Daughter Banquet and Lifetime Guarantee
What I love most about Tansmania is it showcases Cindy Hoyt’s incredibly unique sense of humor while managing to highlight her equally dizzying intellect. I’ve never read anything like Cindy’s work. She has her own voice—one you’ve likely never heard before. Tansmania is funny, yes, but you’ll find yourself coming away from the book smarter and more informed. It’s the ultimate beach reader’s beach read. (I stole that line from one of her emails because I thought it was funny.)
— Tavi Black, author of Where Are We Tomorrow?
A book you WILL want to take lying down.
— Jeff Hoyt, audiobook narrator and host of the Hoytus Interruptus storytelling podcast
“If laughter is the best medicine, you are about to overdose.”
— Dr. Alison Alaback, DVM, LAPD, HMS
LUCID
Lucid by Cindy Hoyt is a marvelous psychological literary fiction novel that follows its protagonist Callie Naylor as she maneuvers through a phenomenon she possesses: the ability to lucid dream. Through a narrative written in the first-person, the wit and sometimes acerbic but always entertaining voice of Callie comes to life in the same way her dreams do. She is able to control the direction of her dreams through an intentional technique of remaining conscious while asleep, an experience that is initially spontaneous but begins to evolve as Callie expands on her capabilities, biting back in unexpected and perilous ways. The blending of dreams and the waking hours becomes intolerably convoluted as Callie is forced to address the reality of her frequently unreal predicament. In her words: ‘I was being held hostage by my own involuntary reflexes.’ Hoyt is an exceptional writer with a talent that flexes its muscles in Lucid. Prior to this book, I didn't even know that lucid dreaming existed. Parasomnia I'd heard of, but that isn't what this is. As a gateway into the arena of conscious dreaming, this bit of fiction is brilliant, as is the novelty of vitamin B6 which—trust me on this—has now made its way into my kitchen cabinet. In all seriousness though, the community that Callie is surrounded with is a wonderfully authentic family with relatable quirks, as well as her friend Amber and an ancillary cast of characters. Hoyt has built a world that for all its aberrations is firmly set in a realism that is solidly developed. The book is instantly engaging and Callie is a protagonist worthy of rooting for and fighting for, and I am so pleased to have had the opportunity to read this fantastic novel.”
—Asher Syed for Readers' Favorite
To reduce the considerable efforts of a novel writer to three or four sentences is, I believe, a form of literary crime. But so it goes in these online/tablet days. To be succinct, I loved this book. Author Cindy Hoyt chases and tackles an elusive subject, that of self-aware dreaming. The book is very funny and sometimes quite touching. And, like a dream, the book floods your mind with possibilities. The blurring of the line between the collective thing we call “reality” and one’s own internal mental landscape is deftly handled as are the delineation of characters and plot. In reading this opus you will, perhaps, develop a taste for lucid dreaming yourself. What could be better? For dreaming is a free trip to anywhere in the universe and your passport never expires. And lucid dreaming? Well, buy the book and learn, pilgrim!!
—Michael Monteleone
Most of us are stuck in the droplet of consciousness inside our heads, and now you are reporting from the ocean of it that we’re all floating in. A great and timely service to Humanity!
—Colby Atwood
A tour de force! An unexpected tale from an original and rapturously gifted writer, Lucid brings the strange and compelling world of lucid dreaming front and center as a beautiful, frightening and ultimately dangerous addiction in prose that somehow manages to be antic, playful and alarming at the same time. No fair peeking at the ending!
—Bill Wood, television screenwriter and author of BILLY BOY
I don't remember my dreams very well, but when I have one that morphs and changes and contains fantastical elements, I tend to wake up and spend some alert time processing what just happened. Did I exert some kind of control at some point? Did I experience a lucid dream? Am I negotiating with my own subconscious as I try to put my own spin on my sleeping adventures? Cindy Hoyt's “Lucid” employs her trademark sense of humor to spin a harrowing tale that will get you thinking about these same things both before you fall asleep and after you wake up thinking “what the hell was that???”
—Game Cube Addict
All I can say is, “Cindy, please use your superpowers for good!”
—Alice Bloch, author of MOTHER-DAUGHTER BANQUET