#musicmonday: It's Always Been You | Phil Wickham

You saw me first
You let me in when I was at my worst
The moment when I heard You say my name
It's the first time in so long I'm not afraid
I'm not afraid

You are the voice that calms the storm inside me
Castle walls that stand around me
All this time, my guardian was You
You are the light that shines in every tunnel
There in the past, You'll be there tomorrow
All my life, Your love was breaking through

It's always been You
It's always been You

My northern star
Your love will be the compass of my heart
Oh, I just want to be right where You are
Right where You are

You are the voice that calms the storm inside me
Castle walls that stand around me
All this time, my guardian was You
You are the light that shines in every tunnel
There in the past, You'll be there tomorrow
All my life, Your love was breaking through

It's always been You
And it's always been You
It's always been You
It's always been You

Who stood with me in the fire?
It was You, it was always You
Who pulled me out of the water?
It was You, it was always You
And who carried me on their shoulders?
It was You, I know it's You, You

You are the voice that calms the storm inside me
Castle walls that stand around me
All this time, my guardian was You
You are the light that shines in every tunnel
There in the past, You'll be there tomorrow
All my life, Your love was breaking through

It's always been You
And it's always been You
It's always been You
It's always been You
It's always been You

***

If Mikal had a theme song by the end of Amok, this would be it. 

***

Amazon | Other ebook retailers | Teaspoon Publishing (paperbacks)

#bookreview: In Real Life | Elisabeth Warner

 This is a slightly delayed book review because I was distracted on Wednesday by AstraZeneca pit fights and on Thursday by client's who cannot tech or English. 

In Real Life by Elisabeth Warner

I'm not going to give this a star rating because I was involved in critiquing this story, so that doesn't seem quite fair.

In Real Life is set in a near dystopian future - the United States of America has isolated itself and built its own Internet where they are safe from terrorists, religion, and the rest of the world. But then the Internet shuts down, USA is thrown into disarray, and Lin has to rediscover how to live life without her AI assistant, Tobi, handling everything from her household appliances and her schedules to her very life. When patrol officers take her mother away for questionable social media activity, she has to figure out if she can trust the one person she has raged against for the past five years: her ex-husband, Don.

In Real Life is very much about hope. Hope when things turn dark, when nothing in life seems to make sense. It's also about forgiveness, and faith, and finding Jesus. Yes, it's an explicitly Christian book, so there's some preaching involved - if you don't like come-to-Jesus moments, this probably isn't the right book for you, though it is relatively light, short, and 100% story/plot appropriate.

A strong theme is also about making connections - or re-making them in some cases - and about rebuilding your life from the shambles it has become. And how community helps you do that in many ways, whether it's being a sounding board when you're worried, helping you let go of the past, or supporting you despite your failures.

View all my reviews

BUY IN REAL LIFE NOW!

#CoverReveal: Amok

EVERYONE! IT'S AMOK'S COVER REVEAL DAY!

What is faith, except hope in desperation?

All Putera Mikal wants is to gain the Amok Strength, the supernatural power granted by Kudus to the Mahan royal family. No matter how religiously Mikal keeps his vows, Kudus still denies him the Strength—whilst his father, Sultan Simson, flaunts the Strength despite his blatant defiance of the Temple and the priests’ visions of coming doom.

Then the prophecies come true.

Taken captive, Mikal must find a way to liberate his people and restore his throne in Maha—and the key to this is the Amok Strength. But what does it take to gain Kudus’ favour?

***

Amok releases in one month, on 24 June 2021, but you can preorder your copy now!

  

Amazon | Teaspoon Publishing

***

Love the cover? Check out our cover artist's website for more: Jiwosophy

Jiwo also explains his process in this thread:

@natzers approached me to illustrate and design the Cover for her "Absolution" Series, starting with the 1st of the trilogy, "Amok". Here's a thread documenting the creation process from beginning to completion.@teaspoonpub #CoverReveal #coverart #bookcover pic.twitter.com/SMdKxdUmYy

— jiwosophy (@jiwosophy) May 24, 2021

***

About the Author (aka me!)

Anna Tan grew up in Malaysia, the country that is not Singapore. She is interested in Malay/Nusantara and Chinese legends and folklore in exploring the intersection of language, culture, and faith.

Anna has an MA in Creative Writing: The Novel under a Chevening scholarship and is the President of the Malaysian Writers Society. She can be found tweeting as @natzers and forgetting to update annatsp.com.

Find her online: Website | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter

***

Visit other stops on the Cover Reveal! Their posts will be going live throughout the day, so I'll update the links as and when I see them. But you can go ahead and see all their other bookish posts too :)

C.O. Bonham

Moments For My Thoughts

Sholee's Sphere

Mermaird | Mermaird on Instagram!

a Sith reader

Runalong The Shelves

H. L. Burke | burkesdragons

L.A. Thornhill

Kara J Lovett

Jason Joyner

Abigail Falanga

#musicmonday: Make Room | Community Music

Here is where I lay it down 

Every burden every crown 

This is my surrender 

This is my surrender 

Here is where I lay it down 

Every lie and every doubt 

This is my surrender 

And I’ll make room for you 

To do whatever you want to 

Do whatever you want to 

Shake up the ground of all my tradition 

Breakdown the walls of all my religion 

Your way is better 

Your way is better 

Here is where I lay it down 

You are all I’m chasing now 

This is my surrender

---

CCLI #7122057 | Evelyn Heideriqui, Josh Farro, Lucas Cortazio, and Rebekah White © 2018 | Praise, Supplication, Surrender, Worship Mike Curb Music, FYWBTG Publishing, A New Song For A New Day Music, Father Of Lights Publishing

Join the #AmokNovel Cover Reveal and Release Tour!

OKAY okay okaaaayyyy.

So I'm finalising the cover and I'm SO EXCITED to share it with you! And I'd like to get you excited along with me!

If you'd like to join my cover reveal party and online launch tour, here's where you can sign up! 

In the meantime, check out Jiwosophy's website! 

#bookreview: KL Noir: Magic | edited by Deric Ee

KL NOIR: MAGIC by Deric Ee

I'll forgo the star rating on this one, mostly because it felt pretty evident that Noir is still not my thing, so I'd hardly give a fair rating.

There's a level of magical realism to most of the stories (hello, supernatural Malaysia) here that made the anthology more palatable to me as a whole than some of the earlier books in the KL Noir series. On the other hand, there's also a level of obliqueness to quite a few stories that makes for a rather overall 'eh' feeling for me.

As of now, here's a short list of stories I really enjoyed:
Dastar - Sukhbir Cheema - THIS!!! This is the one story I would read over and over again. I would probably recommend you buy this anthology just for this story.
The Radio - Lily Jamaludin - This was a great start to the book, actually. Simple, understated.
Tooth and Consequences - Terence Toh - lol Terence, as usual, starts off dark and grim and then goes in unexpected directions. (Looking forward to TOYOLS 'R' US)
Pontianak, Risen - Nadia Mikail
Jaga Diri, Jaga Hati - Hong Jinghann
We Are Young - Joshua Lim - I don't know if I really "enjoyed" this, but it did stand out.

View all my reviews