Books – Penstricken

Throwback Thursday: Typewriter: An Old-Fashioned Solution for Modern Writers

Posted on 10/10/201906/10/2019 by Ndrw

First published: 02/10/2016

We writers all know (or if we don’t know, we soon will learn) that perfectionism is the enemy of the writer. Of course, we all want our novel/play/movie/TV script/comic to be as close to perfection as it is possible to get. There’s nothing wrong with that. Some might even say that it is our sworn duty as story tellers to create the best story we are capable of and to present it in the most pleasing way possible. That’s all very commendable.

However, anyone who has been writing for any length of time will be able to tell you that you will almost never be able to simply sit down and produce a perfect first draft. It is almost guaranteed to be full of errors, typos, weak metaphors, poor dialogue and perhaps even gaping plot holes. An experienced writer knows this to be the case and therefore also knows that the only solution is to write a bad first draft, attack it with the Red Pen of Editing and then write a slightly better second draft. Repeat until you have attained perfection.

Back in the old days, there was no other choice. One could not simply hit the delete key and erase the last couple of words, much less copy and paste whole paragraphs. These days, however, it is tempting to just edit that first draft as you go along and make it perfect. After all, we have the technology. A typo can be easily fixed. Something you forgot can be easily inserted in the middle of the document. Words can be chopped, changed, pasted and tinkered with until it’s just right. The trouble is, nothing ever actually gets finished that way. As we have said before, a bad first draft can lead to a good second draft; a non-existent or unfinished first draft won’t ever amount to anything.

Unfortunately, I speak from personal experience. I am a perfectionist, and as such, I often found it all too easy to use modern technology to help me agonise over the same paragraph for hours or days at a time. Knowing that writing first and editing afterwards is the best way to work did very little to change this (because I’m contrary like that). Until one day…

I had a brainwave.

I’ll buy a typewriter! I thought. I’ll write my first few drafts on a good old fashioned typewriter and only do my final draft on the computer! Oh boy, this is going to be going swell!

For those of you born any later than the mid ’90s, a typewriter was a primitive (usually unpowered) machine with a QWERTY keyboard which printed directly onto physical paper as you typed. Since typewriters don’t have delete keys, copy and pastes or anything like that, the writer is forced to wait until the second draft to make any major changes. I therefore thought it might be the cure for my perfectionism. Unfortunately, the only way I was going to lay hands on a typewriter these days was to break into a museum and even then, I would be spending the rest of my life trying to find increasingly hard-to-find replacement ribbons. It was going to be a lot of trouble and expense when all I really needed was the discipline to not edit while I wrote.

Not to be deterred, however, I decided to search the internet for an app which does the same thing. Since I’m a Windows man and still loathe writing on tablets, I was quite specifically hunting for a typewriter app I could use on my Windows PC.

There aren’t many. I guess there’s not that much demand for word processors with virtually no functionality whatsoever. I found a grand total of three that ran on my PC plus one for Mac called Rough Draft (I don’t have a Mac so I cannot tell you if it’s any good or not. Let me know if you’ve reviewed it on your blog and I’ll maybe reblog it for you). Of those three, one appears to no longer be available except as a fifteen day trial version and the other was a very clunky web-based app that I found needlessly complicated to use. The other problem with both of these apps was that they emphasised the look and feel of a typewriter more than the simple functionality — which is what I really wanted.

Then I found it.

Typewriter – Minimal Text Editor: a very simple ASCII text editor which runs on Java (and thus, will run on just about any computer) and includes absolutely zero editing functionality. Unlike a lot of typewriter apps which waste time by mimicking the sound effects and ugly fonts of physical typewriters, this app still looks and sounds like any other distraction-free plain text editor. The only difference is that you can’t edit.

Delete key? Forget about it. If you make a typo, you’ve just got to like that typo.

Copy and paste? No way hosay. If you want to make text appear on that screen, you’ve got to type it in yourself; and once it’s there, it ain’t going anywhere.

The only functions (besides typing plain text) available to you in this app are:

Colour scheme switching (you can have green text on a black background or black text on an off-white background. Whichever one you choose, it will not affect the appearance of your document when you print it, since *.txt is the only file type available to you)
Full screen switching (full screen is good for creating a distraction free environment but you might find it more convenient to have this off if you’re doing other things simultaneously… like writing a blog about the app in question)
Open file
Save file
Save file as
New file
Print
View key mappings
Quit

That’s it. That’s all the help this baby is going to give you. Heck, you can’t even use your mouse to navigate around these options, since there are no buttons or menus of any kind. All of these functions are only available to you via keyboard shortcuts (i.e., ctrl+O to open file).

This app is not for the faint-hearted. It will show your writing to you in all its unedited ugliness. But if you can swallow your pride and ignore all your mistakes, it will keep you writing right up until you’re ready to print off your work and attack it with that all important Red Pen of Editing.

It’s exactly what I’ve been looking for.

Thanks for taking the time to read this post. If you enjoyed it, don’t forget to ‘like’ this post and also follow us so you never miss another post. You can also follow Penstricken on Twitter, Pinterest and like Penstricken on Facebook, if that’s what types your writer.

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ATTENTION AUTHORS:

Every Tuesday, I post a new edition of Spotlight: a short post which shines a proverbial spotlight on a published novel or collection of short fiction. If you would like to have your book considered for a future edition of Spotlight, drop us an e-mail including a short synopsis of your book and a link to where we can buy it. Better yet, send me a copy of your book and I can include a mini-review.

I’m still looking to interview fiction authors here on Penstricken, especially new or indie authors. Whether it’s books, plays, comics or any other kind of fiction, if you’ve got something written, I want to hear about it. If you’re interested in having your work featured on Penstricken, be to sure to drop us an e-mail or message us on Facebook/Twitter/Pinterest.

You can check out our previous interviews here:

Spotlight: Duckett & Dyer: Dicks for Hire by G.M. Nair

Posted on 08/10/201905/10/2019 by Ndrw

If you follow Penstricken on Twitter (and you should), you may have noticed that I’ve been planning on doing a regular ‘Book of the Week’ post. Well, today is week one of this ongoing feature, which I hereby dub Spotlight.

To be clear, the selected book will not necessarily be my personal favourite books. It is simply my way of shining a spotlight on a different novel every week (hence the name), perchance to help the author to bag an extra sale or two. So if there’s a book you love that you want to spread the word about, get in touch and I’ll include it in a future edition. If you’re an author looking for a bit of free publicity, get in touch and tell me all about your book (or better yet, send me a copy and I can do a mini-review to go with it 🙏). If you’re thinking this all sounds a bit like a more refined version of my ‘Stories from the #WritingCommunity‘ post, well… you’re right. That’s exactly what it is).

And so this week, it’s a book that is definitely going on my Christmas list:

Duckett & Dyer: Dicks For Hire by G.M. Nair

They aren’t detectives, but they have to become detectives in order to figure out who’s telling people that they’re detectives. Read the #scifi #comedy critics are already calling “one of several books released this year”

Have you read Duckett & Dyer? Why not leave a wee comment below and let us know what you thought of it.

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Throwback Thursday: Sharleen Nelson Interview Omnibus

Posted on 03/10/201930/09/2019 by Ndrw

As you may or may not be aware, this Monday was actually a public holiday in the UK, and as I was thinking about what to do for this week’s Throwback Thursday I remembered the day I interviewed Sharleen Nelson was also a long weekend.

Oh! I thought, Maybe it’s been a year to the day since I interviewed Sharleen Nelson!

Nope. Turns out it was actually way back in June 2018. However I was so excited at the prospect of revisiting Penstricken’s first author interview that I said, ‘what the heck!’

This was originally published as two separate posts, so today I give you:

Sharleen Nelson Interview: Omnibus

Originally published 03/06/2018 and 10/06/2018

SPOILER ALERT

While every effort has been made to avoid spoilers in this post, anyone who has not read The Time Tourists by Sharleen Nelson is hereby advised that this post may contain a few unavoidable spoilers.

If there’s one thing I love, it’s a truly imaginative story. As a story about a time travelling private detective, The Time Tourists by Sharleen Nelson definitely fits that category!

I had the pleasure of interviewing Sharleen, whose debut novel The Time Tourists is available to buy on Amazon and other retail outlets.

You’ve been a journalist and an award-winning photographer for over twenty years. What made you decide to write a novel?

I have always been a writer, ever since I was a little girl. I used to spin stories in my head, complete with an array of characters and dialogue. I started one novel and got about 40,000 words into it, but then couldn’t figure out what to do with the characters, so abandoned it. This particular story started percolating about 10 years ago. My father had died recently and I was pretty devastated. I thought that getting lost in a nice little fantasy might be good therapy.

What was the main inspiration behind The Time Tourists?

Well at the time I was working as a magazine editor/writer at this place called Marathon Coach– they build these million dollar luxury buses. Anyway, in the bathroom were framed prints of local street scenes from around the turn of the century– people walking, doing things, cars and buggies. I remember looking at those and thinking, ‘how cool would it be to just be able to walk into that picture, into that scene and be a part of it.’ I love history. I’m a photographer, and if time travel was real, I would totally do it! The combination of things just sort of meshed and I started forming the story. I didn’t want to deal with the tech part of having a time machine; I wanted it to be more of a magical thing, so that when my character arrived somewhere in time, the universe just filled in everything for her.

Did you find anything particularly difficult about writing this novel?

Yes, I wanted it to be more character-driven, less science fiction. I guess you could say it’s more of a fantasy, but it doesn’t really fit neatly into either genre. I guess you’d call it “speculative fiction.” The most difficult part of writing it for me was letting myself get bogged down with plot structure. I knew the story. I never have writer’s block at all, but I wasted a good deal of time organising and reorganising and moving chapters around–should I weave in the backstory? Should it be chronological? Finally, I just decided that I needed to write the damn thing and worry about that later. Once I did that, it all sort of fell into place.

When I first read the synopsis I thought I might be getting a sort of sci-fi/cozy mystery combination but there are actually a lot of different and sometimes very dark themes running through this story making it quite hard to categorise (definitely not a cozy, however!). What would you say was your central theme(s)?

That is a great question! You’re right, it isn’t the cozy tale that one might expect. Of course, as every writer does, I drew things from my own life and I wanted Imogen to be this very real, complex person with opinions about things. I didn’t want to just send her off on adventures without the audience knowing what motivates her. So much of it evolved as I was going along. It’s true what people say, that sometimes characters seem to have minds of their own. Teddy is a very dark and twisted character. He came about from an experience I had when I was 19. I was majoring in psychology and for a time, I volunteered on a crisis line. The phone calls were routed to my home phone and I had a list of resources to recommend to people who called in. One night, a 16-year-old boy called. I wasn’t supposed to council anyone, just refer them, but he started telling me this horrible story about how his mother was abusing him sexually and that she would let him use the car if he slept with her. Of course, that stuck with me and not only did it make the reader feel more sympathetic to the Teddy character, he wasn’t all pure evil, but also showed that abuse comes in many forms. It’s not always male perpetrators. I also wanted to explore themes like religion, misogyny, feminism, or what it’s like being a gay person in another time. So I’m not sure that there is a central theme. I just wanted to create characters that the reader could maybe identify with, who have real motivations and real flaws.

Let’s talk some more about your characters. Teddy is probably one of the most messed up characters I’ve ever come across. He’s absolutely vile in many respects and guilty of some pretty awful crimes yet there is also something pitiable about him. How do you go about developing a character like that?

He started out being just this borderline sociopathic neighbourhood bully with a kooky mother. We do feel sorry for him at times because, after all, he is this sort of confused teenage boy who wants to be good–he is envious of Imogen’s family. He would like more than anything to be their boy and have a normal life. But on the other hand, his mother has been doing unspeakably vile things to him since he was a child. He knows he will never be able to recapture that innocence and he also doesn’t feel like he deserves to be loved and he takes all that rage and pent-up anger and directs it at Tiffany. But just when he was beginning to feel better about his life, she shows up with the news that she is pregnant. He liked his job. Niles was mentoring him. He was thinking about a career. But Tiffany ruined everything. His reaction was obviously to get rid of her. In developing Teddy, I read up on sociopathic behaviours– antisocial behaviour, deceitfulness, hostility, irresponsibility, manipulativeness, risk taking behaviours, aggression, impulsivity, irritability, lack of restraint–and combined that with a narcissistic, abusive mother–and voila! Teddy.

You mentioned earlier that Imogen had her own opinions about things. Throughout The Time Tourists, the audience is privy to a lot of Imogen’s strongly-held beliefs about a whole range of controversial subjects from abortion to Darwinism. Do you think it’s important for authors to use their protagonists to make points on important real-life subjects?

I think every author’s approach is different. Each author has their own story to tell. I don’t know that it’s necessarily important, but for me personally, I think addressing real-world topics makes my characters more believable. I read something the other day about the movie Dirty Dancing. Everyone loves that film and it always feels like this very light, entertaining outing about dancing. However, the entire premise for Baby and Johnny getting together at all is because she is called upon to fill in for his usual dance partner after she falls victim to a botched, illegal abortion. I also think that if my characters are going back in time I have a responsibility to provide context and comparison.

If they ever make a film adaptation of The Time Tourists, who would you choose to play the lead characters?

Haha, I actually have thought about this–what author hasn’t? I sort of envision Jennifer Lawrence (Katniss in The Hunger Games) or maybe Emma Watson (Hermoine Granger from Harry Potter)– both seem like strong, feminist-type women. For Herbert Doran– Michael Shannon. He is so intense and awesome. Simon was actually based on a sort of Robert Downey, Jr. prototype, but I think we’d need someone a bit younger for the role. Not sure about Teddy– a method actor, for sure!

The Time Tourists is, of course, the first book in the Dead Relatives Inc. series. Now I know you won’t want to give too much away but I have to ask: what’s next for Imogen?

Imogen will have more adventures in time, of course, but there are a number of loose ends– her mother and father are still lost in time and we may never know what happened to Tiffany, or will we? At the end of the book, it was revealed that Teddy was Simon’s biological father, which unfortunately, makes Mimi Pinky his grandmother, so one can speculate what kind of a relationship they will have. Simon will have to also become acclimated to living 100 years in the future and as the new guy in Imogen’s life, I envision some conflict between he and her ex-boyfriend Fletcher. There will be a few other surprises that I’ll keep under wraps. I also see some danger ahead.

Final question: do you have any advice for anyone out there who might be thinking about writing their first novel?

Forget an audience. Write for yourself and don’t censure yourself. What do you like to read about? When I was a little girl, I enjoyed it so much because I was basically telling myself a story. Enjoy the journey. Just like the reader, as the writer I keep going so I can find out what happens next. Say what you want to say and write what you yourself would like to read.

The Time Tourists by Sharleen Nelson is available to buy now on Amazon and other retail outlets.

Click here to visit Sharleen Nelson’s author page.

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ATTENTION AUTHORS:

You can check out our previous interviews here:

Super Snappy Speed Reviews: Children’s Edition (Vol. 3)

Posted on 29/09/201927/09/2019 by Ndrw

SPOILER ALERT

Anyone who has not read Loving Comfort by Julie Dillemuth, Tiddler: The Story-Telling Fish by Julia Donaldson, Postman Pat: The Secret by John Cunliffe, Charlie Crow in the Snow by Paula Metcalf or Nicola Baxter’s version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears (Ladybird Picture Books) is hereby advised that this post may contain a few unavoidable spoilers.

My daughter has been into books ever since she was a baby. Now, being just shy of two and a half years old, she’s more story daft than ever before and so I thought it was time for yet another exciting instalment of Super Snappy Speed Reviews: Children’s Edition (you can check out al the previous editions at the bottom of this post).

You know the drill by now. These reviews reflect nothing but my own personal opinions and impressions, reduced, flattened and shrink-rayed into a few short sentences. The books I have selected have nothing in common, save the fact that they are all fictional stories for very young children. They are not necessarily books I particularly liked or disliked, nor are they sorted into any particular order. So, here we go.

Loving Comfort by Julie Dillemuth

This little book is aimed particularly at young toddlers who about to take that difficult step towards being fully weaned. It tells the story of baby Jack and how, with the help of his parents, he eventually managed to stop nursing when the time came for him to do so.

If you’re not American, you might find some of the language a little foreign (my daughter calls her grandfather papa, not me) but it’s a well written story which my daughter appears to understand. She certainly enjoys it.

My rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

Tiddler: The Story-Telling Fish by Julia Donaldson

When it comes to writing books for toddlers, Julia Donaldson can do no wrong. I’ll be honest and say that I don’t think Tiddler quite reaches the lofty standards of The Gruffalo or Monkey Puzzle (at least, my daughter doesn’t ask for it quite as often) but still a very solid offering from the author who seems to write all my daughter’s favourite books. No toddler’s bookshelf should be without it.

My rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

Postman Pat: The Secret by John Cunliffe

My daughter is a huge Postman Pat fan. This book was first published way back in 1982 and is based on a particular episode of the original TV series, in which the friendly Yorkshire postman Pat Clifton is surprised to discover that everybody in the village has learned his secret: that today is his birthday.

Personally, I find the book a bit of a drag to read when compared to some of my daughter’s other books and, in true classic Postman Pat style, the story is very genteel even for a toddler’s book, but my daughter seems quite taken with it.

My rating: 🌟🌟🌟

Charlie Crow in the Snow by Paula Metcalf

This book is one of my daughter’s hot favourites right now. Personally, there’s something about it I find a little jarring, though I can’t quite put my finger on it. It’s a perfectly cute little story about a crow and his animal friends facing winter for the first time (presumably).

If I’m being clinical and analytical, I can find nothing wrong with this book. It’s sweet, educational, and my daughter loves it. It just doesn’t quite ring my bell, but then I don’t suppose it’s aimed at me.

My rating: 🌟🌟🌟

Goldilocks and the Three Bears by Nicola Baxter

It’s really difficult to pick just one version of this classic folk tale, so I went for Nicola Baxter’s version published by Ladybird Books (1999) because it is, hands down, my daughter’s favourite. The repeated contrast between Father Bear’s big things, Mother Bear’s medium sized things and Baby Bear’s tiny little things is a particular source of entertainment to my daughter, who enjoys trying to impersonate the booming voice I use for Father Bear and the squeaky one I use for Baby Bear.

Goldilocks was never my favourite folk tale, not even as a child, but I really enjoy this version of it and so does my wee girl.

My rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

DON’T FORGET TO CHECK OUT ALL THE PREVIOUS EDITIONS OF SUPER SNAPPY SPEED REVIEWS

Super Snappy Speed Reviews: Books (Vol. 4)	Super Snappy Speed Reviews: Children’s Edition (Vol. 2)
Super Snappy Speed Reviews: Doctor Who Edition	S uper Snappy Speed Reviews: Children’s Books Edition (v ol 1)
Super Snappy Speed Reviews: TV Edition (vol. 2)	Super Snappy Speed Reviews: Writing Apps for Android
Super Snappy Speed Reviews: Books (vol. 3)	Super Snappy Speed Reviews: Games Edition
Super Snappy Speed Reviews: Star Trek Edition	Super Snappy Speed Reviews: Books (vol. 2)
8 Super Snappy Speed Reviews: Film	5 Super Snappy Speed Reviews: TV Edition
8 Super Snappy Speed Reviews

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ATTENTION AUTHORS:

You can check out our previous interviews here:

Author Interview: Jacob Klop

Posted on 15/09/201915/09/2019 by Ndrw

‘A thin crack is all it takes for wickedness to coil into our world. Winding through the delicate minds of innocents and the twisted desires of killers, it preys upon the crippled pieces of our souls.’

Jacob Klop: husband, father, accountant and author of The Community, has just released an excellent new collection of short horror stories, collectively entitled Crooked Souls.

I had the pleasure of chatting with Jacob about his new book, the writing process, and what he feels makes for a great story.

How did you get into writing?

I always took creative writing as my optional courses throughout university, but my brain sent me into accounting and then life/kids came along. About five years ago I wrote the first couple chapters of The Community and then set it aside. I showed it to my wife a year and a half ago and she said it was good enough to be published. Since then, I’ve been obsessed. I believe I was born to be a writer in my heart but my brain sent me in another direction.

It must be quite a challenge to find time for writing while you’re still working as an accountant on top of your family/life commitments. Any tips for juggling it all?

Honestly, I believe the best strategy is to do your best to set a daily goal. Three hundred words a day and you’ll have a first draft of a novel in a year. I aim for a thousand words, but my kids are older now.

What kind of process do you go through when you write? Do you have a particular process that works for you?

I do. I like to write a chapter then do a first edit of the chapter before moving on. I find that tackling the first edit in one chunk can be overwhelming.

Often when you talk to some authors they’ll tell you that they’ll have their stories all planned out and then as they write, their characters will take on a life of their own and take the story off in unexpected directions. Do you ever find this to be the case or do you like to stick doggedly to a plan?

For my short stories I often only have two or three sentences outlining a general plot when I start and they can take a life of their own. My novels need a bit more planning though. As I write I tend to improve my original version/thoughts when I think of better ideas.

So let’s talk about your new collection of short horror stories, Crooked Souls. There’s some really compelling stories in here, each with their own tantalising, grizzly themes running through them. What inspired you to write this book?

I had the idea for one of the stories ‘Trick or Treat’ from years ago so I wrote it for fun in between novels. I had so much fun writing it that I just kept going with more short stories. It helps that my wife is addicted to short horror stories, so I always had a fan to show my work to.

Is horror your ‘usual’ genre then, or do you dabble?

Oh, I’m a dabbler. My first novel was dystopian fiction. I have a completed Sci-fi and MG Fantasy that I need to do final edits on and I’m currently working on a sci-fi in a cyber world with an augmented detective as the main character.

Going back to Crooked Souls, I was quite struck, in a good way, by how in some of the stories the more fantastical horror themes are blended together with ‘real life’ monsters: nurses who get off on the suffering of patients, sleazy groups of men hoping to take advantage of a lone woman and so forth. Would you say horror, despite its fanciful surface themes, has something valuable to say about the darkness of real life?

I suppose it can, but personally, I’m just doing my best to entertain the reader with realistic characters facing horrifying situations. Once the story is in my readers hands it’s up to them to take whatever they want from them.

So what makes for a really great story in your opinion? What ‘does it’ for you personally as a reader?

In my opinion, great stories are driven by a combination of strong character development and an entertaining plot peppered with enough description for the reader to visualise what’s happening. As a reader I want to see what’s happening and feel like I’m getting into the mind of the character. I want to feel immersed in the story.

Do you have any particular author heroes?

Robin Hobb is my favorite followed by Dan Simmons probably. Lately I’ve been reading a variety of indie authors.

And finally, do you have any tips for new writers working on their first book?

Just do it. Don’t hesitate. Get writing, but keep reading and keep writing. I thought my first novel was great, but set it aside for about six months. When I returned to it, I cut out two thousand words because I’d essentially continued to grow and improve as a writer.

Crooked souls by Jacob Klop is available to buy now on amazon.

CLICK HERE TO VISIT Jacob Klop’s AUTHOR PAGE.

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ATTENTION AUTHORS:

You can check out our previous interviews here:

7 Useful Writing Tip Posts

Posted on 08/09/201907/09/2019 by Ndrw

It’s that time again! Time for me to take a step out of the spotlight and draw your attention to some of my favourite fiction/writing blog posts which I have come across in recent days. This week I’m focusing exclusively on writing tips, so if you’re a writer who finds yourself stuck in a rut (we all do from time to time), why not have a look at some of these posts by my fellow bloggers and see if they can’t help you come unstuck (so to speak)?

As ever, these posts are listed in no particular order. And so, without further ado:

‘Infographic: Writing Tips from Famous Authors’ by Nicholas C. Rossi

‘Top 10 Writing Tips by Author Terry Tyler @TerryTyler4 #Top10WritingTips’ by Shelley Wilson

‘Writing Tips I Can’t Stand!’ by Madame Writer

‘Creative Writing Tip’ by Jason Youngman

‘7 Tips to Writing Factions in Fiction’ by Charles Yallowitz

‘Top 5 Most Important (Yet Least Talked About) Tips for Writing Flash Fiction – Guest Post By Marie Korman’ by Marie Korman

‘Writing Tips: 7 Ways to Write Funnier Fiction’ by Dan Brotzel

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ATTENTION AUTHORS:

You can check out our previous interviews here:

Super Snappy Speed Reviews: Books (vol. 4)

Posted on 25/08/201924/08/2019 by Ndrw

SPOILER ALERT

While every effort has been made to avoid spoilers in this post, anyone who has not read: Lust by Roald Dahl, Dune by Frank Herbert, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, The Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Christie or The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler is hereby advised that this point may contain a few unavoidable spoilers.

Well, it’s been a while since I’ve done one of these things so I thought it was time for another exciting ‘books’ edition of Super Snappy Speed Reviews. You know how it all works by now: I review a bunch of books in a few short sentences and give a rating out of five stars for each. As ever, these reviews reflect nothing but my own personal opinions and impressions, condensed, crushed and deflated into a few short sentences. The books I have selected have nothing in common, save that they are all fictional. They are not necessarily books I particularly liked or disliked, nor are they sorted into any particular order. So, here we go.

Lust by Roald Dahl

Yes, the author of the B.F.G and James and the Giant Peach also wrote a few short stories about two friends who swap wives for the night, leper-loving-ladykillers and the devastating effects of combining politics with powerful aphrodisiacs. In true Roald Dahl style, this collection of short stories is often strange, occasionally dark and profoundly compelling. An excellent book.

Just not for children.

My rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Dune by Frank Herbert

An absolute classic of the sci-fi genre: Dune is a complex, multifaceted and inventive. It is full of detailed world building, a well written cast of characters and undeniably forms part of the bedrock of the modern space opera genre.

Unfortunately, I did find it a bit of a drag at points. It feels needlessly wordy at times, has an increasingly grim tone from start to finish (and beyond if you read the whole series) and often sacrifices entertainment value to make way for its own cleverness. The dialogue was a bit dry at points too.

My rating: 🌟🌟🌟

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

If you ask me what my favourite book of all time is, there’s a very good chance I’ll say ‘Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck.’

Where do I begin? Rich characters, a simple but compelling plot, vivid description, excellent use of figurative language, excellent narrative voice, carefully explored themes and a tragic ending. I can’t sing its praises highly enough.

My rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 + ∞

The Mystery of the Blue True by Agatha Christie

Reading a Poirot novel has become like putting on a pair of comfortable slippers to me. You expect a similar blend of 1920s well-to-do types, scandal, bridge games, drawing rooms/steam trains and so forth while Poirot confidently pursues the truth all the while being patronised by those who think they know better. If that’s all you’re looking for, The Mystery of the Blue Train will not disappoint. It’s everything a Poirot novel should be (Oh, and I didn’t figure out ‘who dunnit’ prematurely which is always a plus).

My rating: 🌟🌟🌟

The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler

I read this book for one simple reason: I didn’t have enough hard boiled detective fiction in my life and Raymond Chandler’s work is widely and justifiably considered to be the daddy of them all. The dialogue and narrative voice are both rich and striking (a little too rich at points; my ’30s American slang is a little rusty and I didn’t always understand it), the mood is dark without being depressing and the mystery is complex enough to keep the reader trying to figure out ‘who dunnit’ from cover to cover.

In spite of that, I personally found it a bit of a slog to read and, at times, a little difficult to understand, perhaps because the 1930’s American language and culture was so foreign to me. A very well written novel to be sure but not my cup of tea.

My rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

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Book Review: Mark of the Raven

Posted on 11/08/201910/08/2019 by Ndrw

SPOILER ALERT:

Anyone who has not read Mark of the Raven by Morgan L. Busse is hereby advised that this post may contain a few unavoidable spoilers.

I love a good old fashioned high fantasy set in faintly medieval inspired magical worlds and Christian fantasy Mark of the Raven by Morgan L. Busse promised to be exactly that. The protagonist, Lady Selene of House Ravenwood, has the ability to enter and even manipulate the dreams of other people and stands to become the head of her royal house. As she learns, under the cold instruction of her mother, to use her gift to spy upon and even assassinate the enemies of her house she becomes torn between the dark destiny set before her and the dream of a more peaceful way of life.

In general, an enjoyable book. I liked it. It didn’t knock my socks off but it was okay.

Most of the drama in this story focuses on Selene’s own internal conflict. Oh, yes, there’s an apparent threat to the Great Houses from the encroaching Dominia Empire but this never really matures into any direct conflict for any of the main characters. Instead, the main characters are simply squabbling about how best to deal with the threat of invasion, or indeed, if such a threat even exists. That side of things, however, is fairly by-the-by, for which I was immensely grateful as it could have become incredibly boring otherwise. Selene’s internal conflict about her own destiny and whether or not she can (or even should) carry out her mother’s instructions for the sake their house and their people is far more interesting, and the author very wisely focuses on this throughout and it is this particular arc which is concluded by the end of the novel. As part of a series, the conflict with the Dominia Empire and the break-down of relations between the great houses is left very much open and will, I trust, be fulfilled in the following instalments.

The world-building was strong, if not particularly mould breaking. It was easy to imagine the sights, sounds and smells of Rook Castle and the Magyr Mountains and the history of the world is also well developed and feeds directly into the story in a way which seems natural and believable. I did feel like the religions practised by the main players (in particular the followers of the Light and of the Dark Lady) were a little underdeveloped, which seemed like an especially odd thing to leave so half cooked in a Christian fantasy. On the plus side, this prevented the story from feeling obviously preachy. Indeed, I have a sneaking suspicion that the true allegory lies in the inter-house politics and the Dominia threat, where I suspect the different houses possibly represent church denominations and the Dominia represent all the forces of hell or something along those lines. If that is the case, however, it is not delivered in a way which ruins the story or makes the reader feel preached at. The author clearly knows how to incorporate theme effectively.

My only major criticism of this novel is that it was a little predictable, especially the outcome of the relationship between Selene and Damien. Pretty much from the first moment we saw the noble and true Damien, servant of the Light and all round good guy (who certainly wouldn’t ever dream of marrying a lady of Ravenwood!), I knew he was going to end up marrying Selene. I was not remotely surprised by this and I frankly got a little fed up waiting for it to happen, especially given Selene’s obvious attraction to his soul and Damien’s fascination (though certainly not love or desire, no sir-ee!) with her. I will say this however: exactly how the two characters got from ‘stranger’ to ‘husband and wife’ stage wasn’t quite how I expected it to happen and it was, therefore, still worth reading.

Speaking of characters, the main players in this story (specifically: Selene, Damien, Selene’s Mother and, to a lesser extent, her father) are fairly well developed, if a little unremarkable. They are all distinctive enough and driven by clear motives to accomplish specific goals. There are loads of other characters (twenty four if the ‘character list’ at the start of the book is to be believed), each distinctive enough in their own ways, however some of them feel a little superfluous, as if they are only there to make up the numbers at the summit.

All in all, an easy enough read with jut enough excitement and intrigue to keep me going, but a little predictable at points and slow to begin with. If you like Christian fantasy, you’ll probably enjoy it in a ‘no fuss’ sort of way. Even if you’re not particularly interested in religious fiction, you’ll probably still enjoy this book well enough without feeling like its intruding on your beliefs. A nice, safe bit of easy reading fantasy.

My rating: 🌟🌟🌟

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Stories from the #WritingCommunity

Posted on 21/07/201920/07/2019 by Ndrw

If you’re a writer and you’re on Twitter, you’ve probably come across the #writingcommunity. And what a great bunch of folk they are! There’s a whole host of writers out there giving each other support, advice and encouragement in what can often be a very solitary vocation.

And so I thought it was time to throw my own tuppence in to help my fellow writers of the #writingcommunity, by asking them to tell me about their book so that I could share it in this post. I was hoping to get more replies than I did, but not wanting to disappoint those who did reply with their synopses, I decided just to go ahead and post what I had anyway and if I get more interest further down the line, I’ll do a second post.

So, what follows, in no particular order, are a couple of synopses of books by my fellow writers and links to where you can buy them. I’ve not read them all myself, but that doesn’t matter. This isn’t Super Snappy Speed Reviews, this is just my humble effort to support my fellow writers by publicising their work. Why not have a wee look and see if anything takes your fancy? Your new favourite book might be one click away.

Werewolf Nights by Mari Hamill

Unlucky in love and financially struggling, a widowed baker agrees to star in a werewolf movie to save her town from ruin. As fame appears to bring love and money on a silver platter, a legendary werewolf threatens to destroy her newly found blessings.

Click here to buy.

The Gift-Knight’s Quest by Dylan Madeley

An embattled princess trying to hold everything together. A paranoid soldier clouded from seeing who the true villains are. A shadow foe who has plans for the two and their world.

Click here to buy.

And that’s a wrap I’m afraid! Hopefully next time I do a post like this I’ll get a bit more interest and I’ll be able to include more than two books. If you want to be included in the next one just drop me a line with a short synopsis of your book and a link to where we can buy it and I’ll include it, no questions asked (as long as it’s fiction!).

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8 Great Fiction and Writing Blogs

Posted on 07/07/201906/07/2019 by Ndrw

It’s that time again, when I take a few steps back from the fore to put the spotlight on some of my favourite posts from other fiction and writing blogs around the web.

There’s no particular unifying theme to any of these posts, save that they’re all fiction or fiction-related posts I recently enjoyed and, I trust, you’ll enjoy them too.

As ever, this is simply a selection of my favourite posts, not an exhaustive list; and as ever, this list is in no particular order. So without further ado:

‘Writing Tip: STOP Writing’ by KaylaAnn

‘Top Ten Tuesday | Unpopular Bookish Opinions’ by Fictionnochaser

‘Billionaire Fiction’ by Beetleypete

‘Flash Fiction: Escape’ by Jane Dougherty

‘Bones #Short Prose #Flash Fiction’ by Short-prose-fiction

‘5 Overused Words in Fiction’ by Kelsie Engen

‘Walter the Wonder Dog’ by Angela Largent

’20 Books I loved as a Kid/Teen #TopTenTuesday 📚’ by Amanda Hartwick

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