It's always great to receive a positive review. This one is quite short, but says the things an author loves to hear. You can find the original here. # Ten Tales for Tomorrow Stuart Aken Rating: 5 Shrimps! Stuart Aken’s short story compendium Ten Tales for Tomorrow explores several possible futures. Speculative fiction often has …
Continue reading Another 5 Star, Well, 5 Shrimp, Review!
Do you struggle to find the ‘right’ word when you’re writing? Sometimes, I do, too. Maybe, in working to improve my own work, I can help you. Today’s words: Gaffer, Grow in size, Green-eyed monster, Genre, Synonyms are alternative words that have the power to convey exactly what you’re trying to say. Gaffer: Roget lists …
Continue reading The #Write #Word? Post 40
136 pages Literature/Classics (I read the Penguin Classics version, which includes a chronology, introductions, notes, a map of the region, the author's Congo Diary, an author's note and a glossary of nautical terms.) Written in 1899, some nine years after the author’s visit to the Congo, this novel is clearly inspired by and based on …
Continue reading Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad: #BookReview.
304 pages Literary/Action & Adventure. How to describe a book that is unique? This is an absurdist fantasy, delightfully written and so enjoyable to read. The author cleverly engages us with his empathetic description of Beatrix’s life (the Bee of the title) in the circus, and her pragmatic acceptance of a life so unjust and …
Continue reading The Colonel and the Bee, by Patrick Canning: #BookReview.
Struggle to find the ‘right’ word for your writing? Occasionally, so do I. Perhaps, in trying to improve my own work, I can help you. Today’s words: Enlightenment, Entomb, Eek, Esprit d’escalier, Engineer. Synonyms are alternative words that have the power to convey exactly what you’re trying to say. Enlightenment: Roget lists the following sub-headings; …
Continue reading The #Write #Word? Post 38
Character driven fiction is always deeper and more satisfying than that driven by plot. That’s a personal opinion, and many writers will disagree. But it’s how I write. I devise my characters first, get to know them, and then set them down in the location I’ve chosen/invented and place barriers on their route to their …
Continue reading Writing Characters: My Method.
A break from the relentless imperative of the internet is calling. It refreshes the spirit and reclaims sanity. I’ve produced posts to fill the gaps while I’m away: scheduling is such a useful device! So, before I go I’m indulging in some unapologetic promotion of my books. The best people to comment on books are …
Continue reading Progress, or a Pause?
183 pps Science Fiction/Post Apocalyptic Many readers make it a point of pride to express their dislike of science fiction. These same people probably proudly state their love of historical, romantic, thriller, literary, sensual, spy, legal, or indeed any other type of fiction. So, why the dislike of a genre that offers so much? I …
Continue reading Entangled Earth, by David Lea: #BookReview.
Return to Dust stood proudly racked with the other books my publisher, Fantastic Books Publishing was launching at Fantasticon 2018. I entered the big arena, the sports hall at Cleethorpes Leisure Centre, on Saturday morning before the public were given access. The whole place was an exciting hive of activity. But I get ahead of …
Continue reading Launching the Latest #Book
Travel/Italy 992 pages Until I’ve been to Italy, I can’t know the true value of this book. However, having read it in preparation, I can comment on what I’ve so far found. I’m off to Italy soon, visiting Rome, Naples and Pompeii, Florence, and Lake Maggiore, which is why I bought the general travel book …
Continue reading Lonely Planet, Italy: #BookReview.
It’s an odd situation for me, though I know many writers visit this apparent desert frequently and often for prolonged periods. But I appear to have hit that dreaded void known as ‘writer’s block’. But is it real? And, if it is, what causes it? I’ve spent the past few weeks catching up on all …
I’ve spent the better part of three years on a project, writing a novel each year, and found the void at the end of that process strangely debilitating. So, what do I do know? Fantastic Books Publishing launched Blood Red Dust, book 1 of the Generation Mars series, on 18th October 2016. War Over Dust, …
Continue reading The #Writing’s Done. What Now?
I was recently given a chance to have my reviewing activity revealed in charts and diagrams. I thought it would be interesting, for me, and for my readers. Here's the link to the result on BookSirens.
It’s done! It’s out! It’s available to buy (and review)! Right now! Okay, so an overindulgence in apostrophes. I’m excited. Delighted. Eager. The book is no longer a Work In Progress, so this is the last post in this series. There’ll be more on the book, of course: I’d like everyone to read it, after …
Continue reading Progress on the WIP: #SciFi in the Making.
Religion and Spirituality/Islam 156 pages Subtitled ‘Conversations, Questions, And Answers About Islam’, this slim volume is an introduction to the Muslim’s view of Islam. It’s also an attempt to separate the actions of extremists from the doctrines on which they base those actions. And an effort to educate non-Muslims in the way the religion is …
Continue reading What Would a Muslim Say?, by Ahmed Lotfy Rashed: #BookReview.
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Antidote to the Novel
Stuart Aken 