Category: Fiction

Progress on the WIP: #SciFi in the Making.

On By stuartakenIn Creative Writer, Fiction, Mars, Progress

Last week I reached a total of 18,835 words; this week’s total is 25082. I’ve added 3 new chapters and completed all the character sketches. I have two of the original chapters to modify to take account of changes I made last week. Otherwise, the story is going well and I’m enjoying its creation. The …

Continue reading Progress on the WIP: #SciFi in the Making.

Progress on the WIP: #SciFi in the Making.

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Fiction, Mars, Progress

https://read.amazon.co.uk/kp/card?asin=B0749NW6W8&preview=inline&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_qMbkAbQM8TNAS&tag=stuartaken-21 Last week I reported I had 11,985 words. As a result of the notes I made, I’ve now added another 3 characters to the cast of players (I need to add another 5 for future chapters, but I already know their names and have an idea of their natures and ambitions, so I only …

Continue reading Progress on the WIP: #SciFi in the Making.

Progress on the WIP: #SciFi in the Making.

On By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Fiction, Mars, Progress

Dare I say it? Have I scaled the final barrier to creating the first draft? Last week I reported I had 11,985 words. I also noted that certain details were missing from my memory and I needed to read the first two books again to aid my failing powers of recall. I’ve now done that …

Continue reading Progress on the WIP: #SciFi in the Making.

Progress on the WIP: #SciFi in the Making.

On By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Fiction, Mars, Progress

I fear I missed this update last week. Put it down to a mixture of advancing years and a rather busy schedule: I have. So, currently I’m at 11,985 words, which, given I had a target of 10,000 for today is a pleasing result. It’s always a bit slow for a pantster at the start …

Continue reading Progress on the WIP: #SciFi in the Making.

Sink: Old Man’s Tale, by Perrin Briar: #BookReview.

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Fiction, Reading, Review

This book, listed as science fiction/fantasy, is an odd mix of parable, analogy, political comment and adventure. The style of writing falls mostly under the ‘tell’ rather than ‘show’ label, which makes for a strangely disconnected read for much of the time. There’s a transition from the beginning, set on terra ferma in Australia, and …

Continue reading Sink: Old Man’s Tale, by Perrin Briar: #BookReview.

Progress on the WIP: #SciFi in the Making.

On By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Fiction, Mars, Progress

So it begins! The first 1100 words are written, at last. The Fates thought they’d stymied me with various barriers placed in the way of creation, but they underestimated my sheer bloody-mindedness. So, medical issues and appointments, computer failures, and unsatisfactory phone lines apart, I’ve actually made a start on the new book. Whilst straining …

Continue reading Progress on the WIP: #SciFi in the Making.

Labor Day, by Joseph Farley: #BookReview.

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Fiction, Reading, Review

From the start, this science fiction novel, located on a future Earth, sets the scene for the society in which the action takes place. And it isn’t a society many of us would wish to inhabit. Fortunately, the characters are drawn with such a fine pen that the reader can quickly empathise with the main …

Continue reading Labor Day, by Joseph Farley: #BookReview.

Fires, by Tom Ward: #BookReview.

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Fiction, Reading, Review

This thriller, set in a steel city in the UK, treats fire almost as one of its characters. After the opening, in which we meet the main protagonist, a fireman, we are plunged into a world of burning, where the fire officer arrives at his next conflagration only to discover it’s his own home. He …

Continue reading Fires, by Tom Ward: #BookReview.

Inside Moves, by Walter Danley: #BookReview.

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Fiction, Reading, Review

Inside Moves is a thriller with elements that occasionally lift it above the usual formulaic presentation of such books. Starting with a climatic event, the book moves back into the period prior to this to set the scene and explain how the climax came about. The general background to the story, its locations, mood and …

Continue reading Inside Moves, by Walter Danley: #BookReview.

Progress on the WIP: #SciFi in the Making.

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Mars

Ah, progress! What a fine thing that would be, were it possible. But, fear not, it will eventually be reality. At present, I’m suffering a strange eye defect that makes reading/writing and staring at a screen for any length of time something of a problem. It’s under investigation and will doubtlessly be resolved shortly. Until …

Continue reading Progress on the WIP: #SciFi in the Making.

Shadeward: Exoneration, by Drew Wagar: #BookReview.

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Fiction, Reading, Review

Shadeward: Exoneration, by imaginative science fiction writer, Drew Wagar, is a continuation of the story begun in ‘Shadeward: Emanation’. If you haven’t read that book, I advise you to do so first, as it sets the scene and introduces the characters and the location whilst telling an engaging and compelling story. Continuing the saga, set …

Continue reading Shadeward: Exoneration, by Drew Wagar: #BookReview.

Sons of the Crystal Mind, by Andrew Wallace: #BookReview.

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Fiction, Reading, Review

Set on an almost unrecognisable Earth in a distant future, this novel deals with the perils of unregulated capitalism as it is allowed run rampant through a society in which consumers are entirely secondary to profit (ring any bells?). Peopled by charismatic, strong, female characters and complex antagonists, the tale quickly engages the reader. Written …

Continue reading Sons of the Crystal Mind, by Andrew Wallace: #BookReview.

Storm of Attraction, by Lily Black: #BookReview.

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Fiction, Reading, Review2 Comments

Storm of Attraction is a romantic thriller with an understandable bias in favour of female readers. After all, most romance readers are women. As a mature man, and the author of a romantic thriller, I’m able to enjoy the genre in a way a lot of men can’t imagine. Told very much from the woman’s …

Continue reading Storm of Attraction, by Lily Black: #BookReview.

Long Time Walk on Water, by Joan Barbara Simon: #BookReview.

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Reading, Review

Joan Barbara Simon’s ‘Long Time Walk on Water’, is a phenomenon. There’s nothing ordinary, pedestrian, or conventional in this story of love, lust, prejudice, violence and parental brutality. An adherent of secular, as opposed to faith-based, philosophy, I’m already biased against the cruel, arbitrary, and unjust interpretation of so-called sacred myths that spread brutality and …

Continue reading Long Time Walk on Water, by Joan Barbara Simon: #BookReview.

Progress on the WIP: #SciFi in the Making

On 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 …

Continue reading Progress on the WIP: #SciFi in the Making