Everybody Shrugged, by Walt Pilcher: #BookReview.

On 05/06/2018 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Reading, Review

354 pps Genre Fiction/Political/Literary humour. Humour in any book is a gamble. We don’t all see with the same eyes. Whilst this novel rarely made me laugh out loud, I did smile and grin a lot, so it was a positive experience. That it managed this while dealing with such issues as government incompetence (this …

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Progress on the WIP: #SciFi in the Making.

On 30/05/2018 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Fiction, Mars, Progress

Now the WIP is with the publisher, and I’m awaiting the response, the result of their edit, the cover and design suggestions, I thought I’d review my Science Fiction activity to date. ‘Ten Tales for Tomorrow’, was self-published in January 2011. It’s a collection of mostly dark, sometimes humorous, speculative fiction. There’s variety here; everything …

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Progress on the WIP: #SciFi in the Making.

On 23/05/2018 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Fiction, Mars, Progress6 Comments

Well, that’s it! The book is with my publisher. At 67,269 words, it’s the shortest of my novels. But it’ll be a damned good read (not that I’m in any way biased, you understand). The final part of the editing process for me was a read-through, aloud, from a print run. Many authors neglect this …

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Progress on the WIP: #SciFi in the Making.

On 16/05/2018 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Mars, Progress4 Comments

Six chapters to go, and the MS stands at 68,660 words, a record low word count for one of my novels! Thursday, I was driven to hospital by a kind and friendly volunteer from a local service that provides rides for people on such missions. I won’t bore, or distress, you with details of the …

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Simon Says, by Rachel McClellan: #BookReview.

On 14/05/2018 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Fiction, Reading, Review2 Comments

A truly gothic and demonic horror story. The narrator’s voice carries all the bile, disapproval, confidence and uncertainty of the youth well. This is a short but powerful read and one to produce nightmares if read too close to bedtime in a lonely place. The conflict of denial against the reality of the situation leaves …

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A Better Ten Commandments, by James Miller: #BookReview.

On 13/05/2018 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Reading, Review

This is both a self-improvement and inspirational book with a very real difference. That difference is crucial. James Miller is a man on a mission. A mission I’m utterly at one with. Our lives are governed from birth, throughout education and maturity, to the final day, by dogma, myth and legend posing as truth. Although …

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Dreams of Winter, by Christian Warren Freed: #BookReview.

On 29/04/2018 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Fiction, Reading, Review1 Comment

342 pages Science Fiction/Space Opera/Military Whilst a devotee of Science Fiction, I admit to being less than impressed by most Space Opera, so I come to this book with baggage. This is one in a series of books with the collective title ‘A Forgotten Gods Tale’ and I have no knowledge of the rest of …

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Progress on the WIP: #SciFi in the Making.

On 25/04/2018 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Progress

So far 10 chapters subjected to the in-depth part of the edit that includes running the text through ProWritingAid, an online grammar checker. My beta reader is just a couple of chapters behind me. I was aiming to have a dozen chapters complete in time for this update, but I hadn’t allowed for a half …

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Illinois Native Americans, by In60Learning: #BookReview.

On 07/04/201807/04/2018 By stuartakenIn Author, Reading, Review

Subtitled ‘A 9,000 Year Civilisation’, this little book is part of a project aimed at providing readers with concise histories that can be enjoyed as text or is an audiobook version. The idea is sensible and welcome. I know absolutely nothing about American Native Indians, other than the terribly distorted view that TV’s cowboy programmes …

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Progress on the WIP: #SciFi in the Making.

On 04/04/2018 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Fiction, Mars, Progress6 Comments

The content edit is complete! I’ve now arrived at 71,057 words, an increase of 21,497 since last Wednesday. This means the first in-depth edit is finished. I’m resting from the process tomorrow, perhaps taking a long walk in the Forest with my wife and my camera. Then it’ll be the start of the more detailed …

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Writers, Quirky? Surely Not!

On 22/03/2018 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Literature6 Comments

The infographic below came to me via the custom-writing blog I think many visitors to this site might find it interesting, so here it is for your delectation. Enjoy!

Progress on the WIP: #SciFi in the Making.

On 21/03/2018 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Fiction, Mars, Progress

Movement at last! Today, I completed the first content edit on Chapter 15, meaning I’ve 32,079 words in the new document for the book. I hope to have greater progress to report next week, now that I’ve completed all the work on migration of files and pictures to my new PC. Of course, there’s still …

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70 Solutions to Common #Writing Mistakes, by Bob Mayer: #BookReview.

On 19/03/2018 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Reading, Review

If you’re a writer just starting out or, better still, someone thinking of starting to write, this is a useful book. It also contains reminders of good, and bad, habits to keep established writers on track. So much has been written about the craft of writing that a lot of the advice in this little …

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To Enter the Path, by Stephanie Flores: #BookReview.

On 15/03/2018 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Fiction, Reading, Review

Within this book is a great story trying to get out. The main protagonist, a young woman overtaken by a demonic magic spirit, is very well imagined and drawn. Her companions are equally well created. The problem is that the story is somewhat swamped by the repetitive nature of the challenges and solutions. The book …

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Progress on the WIP: #SciFi in the Making.

On 14/03/2018 By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Fiction, Mars, Progress

It’s been an interesting week, but then most weeks this year have borne an element of surprise, frustration, despair, joy or paranoia. The important aspect, considering this post, is that I’ve put 8 chapters through the first content edit, reaching a total of 16,555 words in the current document. There’ll be a second content edit …

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