Progress on the WIP: #SciFi in the Making

On 11/10/201718/09/2017 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Fiction, Mars, Progress

This is a robot reporting (metallic synthetic voice mode). The post was scheduled before I started my annual break from all things digital: the only way to protect sanity in a world driven round the bend by constant calls on our attention. So, no movement in the files for the work in progress, only within …

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Progress on the WIP: #SciFi in the Making.

On 27/09/201718/09/2017 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Fiction, Mars, Progress

Today is my 29th wedding anniversary and I’m spending it with my lovely wife. This is a scheduled post, created before I started my annual break from all digital connection: it’s the only way to stay sane in a world being driven mad by constant calls on our attention. So, no change to the work …

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An American Cage, by Ted Galdi: #BookReview.

On 24/09/2017 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Fiction, Reading, Review

This thriller is much more than that. Generally, thrillers are notorious for their concentration on story at the expense of character. In An American Cage, however, Galdi has broken that mould. He’s devised a tale that threads character throughout the story without adversely affecting pace and engagement. Written in present tense, and from an omniscient …

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Progress on the WIP: #SciFi in the Making.

On 21/09/2017 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Fiction, Mars, Progress

A small number of new characters have been created to go with the new locations and period. Most of the others appear in the first two volumes, as the new book continues the story, moving only a few years forward initially. Location requires more research, and some informed speculation, but that’s going well at present. …

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Progress on the WIP: #SciFi in the Making.

On 13/09/2017 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Fiction, Mars, Progress

As work on this is mostly confined to the void that occupies most of my skull, I don’t have a lot to report today. Preparation, they say, is all. My method of moving toward the writing of a piece is to gather together my characters, something I’ve mostly achieved, though some are proving elusive for …

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Travelling Light, by Vickie Johnstone: #BookReview.

On 13/09/2017 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Reading, Review

I exercise a degree of caution when reviewing poetry, since I’m by no means a competent practitioner. Therefore my judgment is necessarily both subjective and lacking in personal experience. This is a pleasant read with a great deal of variety in the poems offered. There's rhyme and blank verse here. For me, the blank verse …

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Emanation: Shadeward Saga #1, by Drew Wagar: #BookReview.

On 09/09/2017 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Fiction, Reading, Review2 Comments

Genre can be the bane of the author’s life: most publishers insist on slotting fiction into predefined pigeonholes. But some books defy this process, either merging genres or crossing boundaries. Emanation is such a book. It is, essentially a science fiction book, but reads, certainly in the beginning, like a fantasy novel. It’s …

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Progress on the WIP: #SciFi in the Making.

On 30/08/2017 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Progress

This weekend sees the annual science fiction and fantasy shindig in Hull. Fantasticon 2017 is on course to be the best yet. I’ll be there signing copies of War Over Dust and meeting readers as well as fans of all types of gaming in a splendid venue. I’m also partaking in a talk with another …

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The Purple Bowtie, by Lisabeth Reynolds: #BookReview.

On 28/08/2017 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Reading, Review2 Comments

[A review is a personal opinion. No reviewer can represent the view of anyone else. The best we can provide is an honest reaction to any given book.] This book is listed as ‘lesbian romance’. So, what attracted an agnostic, heterosexual man to delve into its pages? The description intrigued me to begin with. …

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Progress on the WIP: #SciFi in the Making.

On 23/08/2017 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Progress

So, some small progress made: I’ve added a few notes from further research and ideas that occurred during the week, usually when in bed! At this early stage, while I wait for the story to mature, I restrict my activity to research and those daydreaming sessions that allow the imagination free reign. I won’t start …

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Utopia for Realists, by Rutger Bregman, Reviewed.

On 22/08/2017 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Reading, Review2 Comments

This is a book I'd love everyone to read. Really. With its subtitle, ‘And How We Can Get There’, it offers hope for the future. Well written and, with forty pages of bibliography/research annotations, a book that has clearly been thoroughly researched. If you’ve reached that stage where you see a future for humanity in …

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A Night Shift, by Joshua Scribner: #BookReview.

On 14/08/2017 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Reading, Review

This short piece of dark fantasy puts a different spin on a popular theme, and carries it through with some dark humour. It’s a compact story, told simply but with great effect. We know as much as we need to about the characters and watch as the tension slowly builds to the denouement, which contains …

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The Fall of the House of Usher, by Edgar Allan Poe: #BookReview.

On 12/08/2017 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Fiction, Reading, Review

It’s dangerous to review a much-loved and respected classic; even more so for an author. So I face this review with some trepidation. The story is, of course, of its time; a period when readers had fewer distractions, were happy to read wordy stories, and were educated enough to understand the subtleties of language. I …

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Progress on the WIP: #SciFi in the Making.

On 09/08/2017 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Mars, Progress

Blood Red Dust is on the shelves. War Over Dust has just appeared as a Kindle, available from your local Amazon. The launch for that will still officially be 2nd September at Fantasticon in Hull, but you can now obtain your copy as an ebook and get ahead of the pack. Maybe even read/review …

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Story in Literary Fiction, by William H. Coles: #BookReview.

On 09/08/2017 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Fiction, Reading, Review

Subtitled ‘A Manual for Writers’, this is a scholarly work that attempts to analyse what makes a story ‘literary’ rather than ‘genre’ and advises on how to go about achieving this distinction. Presented in two parts, after a brief introduction to the topic, the book looks first at ‘Structuring the Story’, in which the author …

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