Tuesday, 28 February 2017

The Flame of the North releases today!


The Flame of the North is out there in the wild!

About the book:
Ten-year-old Mica hates the cold. Yet he’s bound by duty—and prophecy—to rule over the City of Winter as his grandfather’s heir. All signs seem to indicate that something is wrong and the reappearance of the Yuki-Onna in the Painted Hall is an additional worrisome detail…

The Flame of the North (North #2) follows Danis & Hana’s son as he attempts to fulfil the last portion of Dragon’s Prophecy.

Find out more: The North Series

BUY NOW!
Amazon | Kobo | iBooks | Barnes and Noble | Google Play | Smashwords

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In conjunction with Flame's release, and because I haven't had a giveaway in a while, here's a rafflecopter!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

What's Skyping Back in Time, you ask?
Well, Skyping Back in Time is a MG story written by a fellow Malaysian Writer, Agnes Ong. It won the Merit Award in the 2014 Calistro Prize and is a really lovely read. (Agnes also features in my book, Love in Penang, so obviously I like her writing :p) As far as I know, the only place you can buy this book is from the author herself.
Because I hardly ever keep children's books on my shelf AND I wanted to help a fellow Malaysian writer, I decided that I'll give it away to someone on the Internet! But someone on the Internet who lives in Malaysia because shipping is expensive, yo.

AAAANNNYYYWAAAYYYYY Giveaway is up for a week. Good luck!

(P/S: check back tomorrow for my review on Skyping Back in Time)

Monday, 27 February 2017

#musicmonday: Hello (cover) by @speter_music



Dropping a shout out to the young kid who shared the Say It Like You Mean It stage in Kim Haus yesterday while it's still Monday.

Happy Music Monday, yo.


Oh heck, here's an original too.

Wednesday, 22 February 2017

#bookreview: The Forgotten Tale by @scifrey

The Forgotten Tale (The Accidental Turn, #2)The Forgotten Tale by J.M. Frey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Untold Tale was one of my best reads in 2016, so when I found out that Story Cartel had review copies of The Forgotten Tale, I jumped at the chance.

The Forgotten Tale starts with an idyllic scene: The Piper family (Syth, Lucy and baby Alis - obviously they cannot retain his identity as Forsyth Turn) are preparing to celebrate Solsticetide in their new home in Canada. Forsyth is beginning to settle in, having even learnt to hack well enough to get a job with the Government. When books - famous fantasy books like The Wizard of Oz and The Hobbit - start disappearing, Forsyth fears that he may have earned bad luck by turning away a guest on Solsticetide. But what was he to do? Invite Elgar Reed in and give him access to his new family and new home so that the Writer can turn his life upside down again? Then they're sucked back into The Tales of Kintyre Turn... and so begins a new adventure.

The novel itself is structured with alternating chapters from Forsyth's point of view and a third-person POV of things happening in Hain. It was lovely to see how Frey balances the two so you get enough to know what's happening and why whilst Forsyth is still in the dark, and yet you don't know too much that you start getting bored.

Again, Frey's brilliance lies in the way she has fully dissected the fantasy novel and their associated tropes, making this one of the most self-aware stories in existence - and which also takes away an element of predictability because you have no idea where she's planning to go with all the things she has set up. I mean, yes, you can guess that whatever obvious trope she introduces she's probably going to overthrow, but you don't know when - or how. And there are times where she uses the obvious like a mischievous tongue-in-cheek gremlin saying, "look, you're battling the structure here. It's a lousy structure, but THAT'S WHAT IT IS until you decide to change it."

Tropes she plays with are motherly love (do all women naturally love all children?), agency, throwaway characters, purpose, fighting the structures. In her quest for diversity, Wyndham, the son of Kintyre Turn and Isobin, the Queen of Pirates, is obviously the Black Character, as Piper was the Chinese one (minus point - despite the obvious Chineseness of her matrilineal line [bao bei, wai po, Yuan-Xiao, mooncakes?] she still uses "Pip's Asian facial structure" as if that actually helps elaborate anything.). It's very much also a story on children and legacy, and whether the wishes of the parents are being forced on the children. The ending is very obviously a Deus Ex Machina, but brilliantly executed, with a look into the lives of poor struggling Writers, for whom writing is truly hard.

But I guess, what I liked most about this episode in The Accidental Turn is its very strong theme of Redemption.

View all my reviews

Review of The Untold Tale here!

Saturday, 18 February 2017

Looking for reviewers! #bookreview #fantasy #shortstory #ebook

Hey guys! I'm getting ready to launch a new short story, The Flame of the North, which is a sequel to When Winds Blow Cold. Both of these are short stories of about 5,000 words.

If you're interested in getting an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy / Review Copy) for review, let me know!

How do I write a review?

A review doesn't need to be long or complex. It can just be one sentence, if that's all you want to write. Here are a few pointers that you can use to help you write a review:

  1. Pick a star rating. (1 = I didn't like it; 5 = I loved it)
  2. Did you like the story? Tell us why or why not.
  3. Was there anything outstanding that you'd like to point out? (Try not to give away spoilers!)
  4. Who else do you think would like to read it?
  5. If you got this book for review, you should let others know. Something simple like "I got a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review" works fine and meets the legal disclosure requirements.

Where should I post the review?

You can post it on any online retailer (I should be on all, or almost all of them), but I'd really like reviews on Amazon or Goodreads. Quite a lot of people check out reviews on either of these sites before deciding to make a purchase, so your opinion (whether good or bad) will actually make a difference.

When should I post the review?

On or around the launch date of 28 February 2017! Right now, the only place you can post reviews is on Goodreads. Once the book goes on sale on 28 Feb, you'll be able to add your review to any of the retail sites. (And yes, you can post the SAME review on ALL the sites!)

Ok! Sign me up!

Fill up this form and I'll send you the ebook! If you need more info, head over HERE to find out more about The North Series.




Thanks so much!

Friday, 17 February 2017

#fridayflash: Cold

The world is small and narrow and cold. You look at your trembling hands, wondering how you got here. There's a blank space in your mind, a lapse, a blackness; a hole that you can't fill. How did you get here? The only other person in the room with you is unconscious and you don't know if you were the one who did that to him. Maybe you did. Why else would you be locked up in here together?
But if you had done that to him, why would they continue to put you here together? Maybe it wasn't you. Maybe it was something else. Maybe it was him. But there is no one to ask, and you have no memories, so you sit back down, crossing your legs and putting your hands in the folds of your thighs to keep them warm. 
Time ticks by but you don't know how much of it has passed or how fast because you seem to have misplaced your watch. You stare at the white band of skin on your right wrist that marks the place it usually sits. You feel weird without it. Your unknown friend hasn't stirred. Unknown because you've gone to look at his face, but you do not know who he is. Friend because you don't like to think that you're all alone here in this strange place. Your hands haven't warmed up at all. 
There's no sound outside and you wonder if you're sitting in some kind of vacuum. Surely, there should be sounds. A clock ticking, a fan whirring, an aircon humming - why is it so cold if the air-conditioning isn't on? The last you knew, you were in a tropical country. Nothing is ever cold without help. But it is cold here and now and you have goosebumps but there is no vent letting cold air in, none of the usual sounds of the machines used to regulate temperature. The thought strikes you, leaving a lump in your throat: There is no vent
You're in a metal box, with a dead body - you figure he must be dead because he hasn't stirred and you can't tell if he is breathing - with no air vent. You can't find the outlines of a door or a window or any of the usual outlets or marks that something has been sealed. How are you still alive? How are you still breathing oxygen? Are you actually still breathing and awake? Or are you hallucinating?
You pinch yourself and feel your own fingers on your skin, but you don't know if it's real or not because it's you pinching you so whatever you think you should feel would have been manufactured by your own brain. Even in a dream. Because if this isn't a dream, then what is it?
The first sound you have heard in days - because you're melodramatic that way - startles you. It's the scratch of metal against metal, like a door opening. Like the sound of a lock being released. You wait to be released, for a sign or an indication of an exit. Nothing changes. You're still here. The world is dark and narrow and cold.  

Wednesday, 15 February 2017

#bookreview: Rediscovering Discipleship | Robby Gallaty

Rediscovering Discipleship: Making Jesus' Final Words Our First WorkRediscovering Discipleship: Making Jesus' Final Words Our First Work by Robby F. Gallaty
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I downloaded Rediscovering Discipleship: Making Jesus' Final Words our Work from NetGalley sometime last year because I thought the book would be pretty useful and interesting. Little did I know that when I started reading it this year, it would also somehow coincide with a whole series of Discipleship sermons in church.

In some ways, it's been good. It's formed a stronger background to what discipleship is and should be.

But on the other hand, it's also stirring up anger at the church - at the perceived failures of the church - in relationship to discipleship and their empty rhetoric. FACT: I wrote a whole rant about it on Medium because I was comparing what I was reading against what I was hearing.

"...you cannot apply a text differently today from how it was applied in the context in which it was written. In other words, a text interpreted today cannot mean something entirely different from what it meant back then. Texts must be understood in their context."


I had an idea for a blog post about this once...
Anyway, Gallaty starts off the book by delving deep into what discipleship was in Jesus' days: something like an expected mentorship, or an apprenticeship - things that we do not practice anymore, and can hardly comprehend. He goes into the details of a Jewish upbringing, throwing into stark contrast the way Jewish children learnt about God and the way Christian children today learn about God. Is one better than the other? I don't know. It's just different. But it does bring up the point of why so many Christian children, growing up in godly families, fail to develop a faith of their own.

He then shifts gear into how discipleship in the church has looked like over the years, from Jesus to Augustine to Wesley, rounding it up with how he leads discipleship groups in his church and his 5 MARCS of a disciple - Missional, Accountable, Reproducible, Communal and Scriptural - giving solid and simple practices to emulate.

One of the strongest things that has been reinforced for me is that discipleship is really about intentional community. It's about walking after the master, being open and transparent about successes and failures - not just the disciple's, but also the master's. It's not about just hearing someone preach. (Stop being a tadpole) But about seeing their lives as it really is - the good, the bad and the ugly. And then passing it on. Doing it again. And it comes back to that main, simple point: knowing who Jesus really is.

"You cannot know the God of the Word unless you know the Word of God. In order to understand God, you must know Jesus - the walking Word (John 1:1, 14) - which is impossible apart from the Scriptures."


Final thought: the goal of discipleship isn't how many people you can bring into church. The goal is to grow your disciples spiritually. I recently watched a great video on this - look, everything is related isn't it? - The question is not really about whether you meet some pre-defined "good standard". It's about growth: how far you've come from where you were.

"Could it be that believers minimise discipleship in the church because they never had the privilege of being discipled? That might be the first step you need to take as a leader. It is difficult - nearly impossible - to lead someone on a journey on which you have never been yourself."


I don't know where I'll go from here. But this book fails in its mission if I don't at least start somewhere. We've talked a lot about "accountability groups" in church and "spiritual parenting" in addition to the care cells. The problem has always been the practical application and carrying out of these discipleship movements. In retrospect, this sounds uncannily similar to the problematic statement of "no problem! You can do it yourself!" but with this caveat - Gallaty points out clearly that the ultimate disciple-maker, and the person we are all called to emulate, is Jesus himself.

If we profess to know the Jesus of the Bible and to follow Him, then we should take on this mandate to make disciples and trust Him to lead us along the way.

View all my reviews

Tuesday, 14 February 2017

#booklaunch: Abducted Life by @plynne_writes

Today I get to host Patricia Josephine's book launch!
We'll start off with a little teaser:

Returned Home––Abducted Life Teaser

White-hot light stung his eyes. The roar of an engine shook his eardrums, threatening to burst them. His arms and legs were pinned to the cold ground. Above, a massive craft hovered. It was black and sleek, like a giant Porsche with wings instead of wheels. Turbines beat out a frantic rhythm, and yellow lights flashed along its belly. With a low warble, the craft lifted up, vanishing among the stars in a matter of seconds.

Silence settled over the field. He rose to his feet. His only thought was to reach the girl lying motionless nearby. He stumbled across the flattened grass to Savannah. Her skin was washed white in the moonlight, and her strawberry blond curls were in tangles. She didn’t respond to his touch, but her breathing and pulse were steady. He gathered her into his arms.

In the distance, sirens wailed. Headlights raced down the road toward them. Panic lodged in his throat, and he bolted up. If they saw him…

The unconscious girl sprawled at his feet made him pause. He reached for her, but the dark green stripes coloring his arm made him recoil. He couldn’t allow her to see him either. She wouldn’t remember and would be repulsed with what they had done to him. He curled his fingers into a fist and ran to the edge of the field where the trees promised safety.

Hidden, he watched the police cars turn onto the field, kicking up dust in their wake. They skidded to a stop. Their headlights illuminated Savannah. Officers hurried to her with their hands on their guns. One knelt next to Savannah and placed two fingers on her neck.

“Call an ambulance,” he said. “She’s alive.”

“Is it her, Jimmy? The Janowitz girl?”

“I hope so.”

“But where did she disappear to? It’s been a year since she and Evan Sullivan went missing in this field.”

The officer beside Savannah shook his head. He stared at the starry sky. “Dunno.”

An ambulance’s red and white lights flashed in the darkness. Its call was mournful. The paramedics tended to Savannah. She woke as they worked. Tears blurred his vision when she whispered his name.

I’m here, Savvy.

But he wasn’t. He sank into the shadows of the forest and vanished.

Blurb

Savannah Janowitz’s perfect life was destroyed the night she and her boyfriend vanished without a trace. When she reappears a year later––alone––she’s a shell of her former self. Robbed of her popularity and her boyfriend, she has no memory of what happened to her. Savannah struggles to move forward as strange, new abilities manifest.

Evan Sullivan never gave extra-terrestrials much thought until the night he and Savannah were abducted. While Savannah’s memory was wiped clean, he remembers every horrific detail. Constantly reminded of the experiments that made him less than human, Evan hides in the shadows and watches Savannah rebuild her life without him. But neither can let the other go.

When their paths cross, Savannah and Evan finally see a glimmer of their old lives return. As they face what happened to them, they soon discover they aren’t safe. There’s more to fear than what’s hiding in the stars.

Available for 99cents at Amazon.

About the Author

Patricia Josephine never set out to become a writer. In fact, she never considered it an option during high school and college. She was all about art. On a whim, she wrote down a story bouncing in her head. That was the start of it and she hasn't regretted a moment. She writes young adult under the name Patricia Lynne.

Patricia lives with her husband in Michigan, hopes one day to have what will resemble a small petting zoo, has a fondness for dying her hair the colors of the rainbow, and an obsession with Doctor Who.

You can find her lurking on Twitter, Google+, Goodreads, and Wattpad. Find the latest news at her website or sign up for her newsletter. A link to all her books can be found here.

Monday, 13 February 2017

#musicmonday: You Have Shown Us | Martin Smith



He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, and to love kindness and mercy, and to humble yourself and walk humbly with your God?

Micah 6:8

Wednesday, 8 February 2017

#bookreview: Graven Idols by @jessicadall

Graven Idols (Order and Chaos, #2)Graven Idols by Jessica Dall
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was going to dive right into Graven Idols, read the first page, then realised I didn't have a clue what happened in the first book anymore. So I went back to Raining Embers and skimmed through it to figure out what was going on.

Graven Idols takes off right after the end of Raining Embers, with Brier and Palmer holed up in the Augarian palace along with Nico and Rosette. Tensions are high - it's a war zone, supplies are low, the army is in charge - especially between that strange triangle of Brier, Palmer and Nico. Nico and Brier are struggling through the remnants of their estranged engagement; Nico and Palmer relate best when they don't see each other; and Brier and Palmer are trying process what they've been through for that past year and what it means to them even whilst struggling through the fact that as Brier's mental condition deteriorates, Palmer's powers grow increasingly erratic and neither of them know why.

There's a lot to take in, with multiple threads running through the story, making nothing as simple or as innocent as it seems. Dall gives you a running start, dazzles you with all the things that are happening and then peaks, before dropping you into a strange in-between, where it feels like everything has slowed down. Maybe it's ending, you've climaxed, so the denouement is next, yes? Only there's another 20% left to the book... this is the part that lost it a bit for me. It felt a little too slow, like I know something is coming up, but it's taking too long. And when the final end came, it felt a little flat. Tense, but not gripping enough; sweet, but not satisfying enough. Maybe it peaked too early.
(Comparison: Tolkien does this in Return of the King. He reaches an end, and then meanders on, tying up loose ends to come to a final conclusion that hits home. Then again, that's the end of a trilogy. This isn't. There's something more to come - I hope? - so it felt a little draggy.)

What I'm especially curious about though is Rosette. It seems like there are many gods blossoming up all over the place, each tied to an ancient god or order, but no one seems to know exactly who or what Rosette is yet. Maybe in the third book...?

Overall, I enjoyed Graven Idols.

Note: I received a digital copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.

View all my reviews

Read my review of Raining Embers HERE.

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OOOOO CHECK OUT JESSICA'S WEBSITE TO FIND OUT HOW TO GET RAINING EMBERS FOR REVIEW!!!

Monday, 6 February 2017

#musicmonday: I Came For You | Planetshakers



Am somewhat surprised this is from PlanetShakers.
Then again, I haven't been following them since probably 2006.

Saturday, 4 February 2017

#atozchallenge announcement

During Yuin-Y's birthday lunch, we have apparently decided that this year's A to Z theme will be Princesses. Accompanied by her beautiful artwork!

At any rate, I surfed over to the official A to Z Challenge website, and there's supposed to be a very important announcement on Monday, 6 Feb. So. We shall see.

P/S She made these covers! And yes, that's a new book! ;)


FIND OUT MORE HERE: The North Series


Friday, 3 February 2017

#fridayflash: Sometimes The Light By Which They See Are The Flames From Where You Crashed And Burned


The light had gone out. One minute, it had been there, and the next, it was gone. There had been no in between, no flickering, no indication that something was wrong. Maybe it had dimmed. She wasn't sure. She'd been too busy trying to reach it to notice.

Meria craned her neck but as she hadn't been able see where the light had come from, she couldn't tell why it had gone out. All she could see was darkness, pitch-black darkness. With a shrug, she continued to climb, feeling the way with her hands and feet instead. A chill settled around her shoulders.

~

There was nothing left to do. Suria sat in the ashes of her home, spent. It had taken her hours to put the flames out, working alone through the night, spraying it with the single hose that she had. No one had come to help. The fire had been too large, too uncontrolled; they were just protecting themselves, or so they said.

But there was nothing left. Nothing but ashes. Everything she'd held dear had gone up in flames and it was too late to save anything. How was she supposed to start over? How was she supposed to rebuild everything? She sat alone in the dark, hugging herself.

~

The peak was nothing like Meria had imagined. She'd seen the light beckoning her, so she'd gone, expecting to find a place full of brightness and cheer. Instead, all she found was a ruin. Ruins and shadows.

Suria looked up at her. "I'm sorry, you came too late."

"Too late for what?"

"To watch me burn." Suria saw the confusion on Meria's face. "Never mind."

"I saw a light..."

"I've put it out now. The flames have taken everything. I have nothing left to give you."

Meria looked down to where her own home lay in ruins. It was covered in darkness and she couldn't see it anymore. She had come all this way for nothing. She slumped down beside Suria in disappointment.

Above them, the stars began to shine.

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Why Have I Seen This All Before?

On the Popular Vote: Version 1 | Version 2
On Freedom of the Press: Version 1 | Version 2 | Oh this is a nice touch.
On Attorney-Generals: Version 1 | Version 2
On Democracy: Version 1 | Version 2

Wednesday, 1 February 2017

#bookreview: 50 Famous Fables and Folk Tales

50 Famous Fables and Folk Tales: Collected from Around the World50 Famous Fables and Folk Tales: Collected from Around the World by Tom Baker
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

50 Famous Fables and Folk Tales turned out to be a much shorter read than I expected it to be.

Some of the fables are truly familiar - especially those from Aesop - but others proved to be new and amusing reads. I especially liked the African and Indian folktales/fables. The illustrations also add a nice touch.

Each story ends with a little moral, some of which were interesting to read. Others were a little strangely written. There were also a few annoying author asides (which I assume come from Baker).

Altogether quite amusing, though probably best for younger readers.

Note: I received a digital ARC of this book for review via Edelweiss.

View all my reviews

Wednesday, 25 January 2017

#bookreview: The Summer It Came for Us | @DanRixAuthor

The Summer It Came for UsThe Summer It Came for Us by Dan Rix
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The night after the horrible car crash, Remi wakes up at home with no recollection of how she got there. All her other friends are a little scratched up but okay - except for Vincent. Vincent is gone. Even worse, he seems to have been wiped off the memories of everyone else in town. Besides having to find Vincent, they also have to contend with the fact that there’s a strange nine-foot tall shadow after them. And really weird stuff happening where they crashed, near the Shasta-Trinity Supercollider complex, involving even the Defense Department.

The Summer It Came for Us starts off with a little leftover paranormal/horror vibe I got from Translucent, but quickly slips into something more in the vein of Timeloopers and God’s Loophole. Meaning, it's more science than spirits, though there's a little bit of overlap. They can both be pretty freaky when unexplained. Hint (which I hope is not spoilery): (view spoiler) It’s fast-paced and suddenly much shorter (at 2 hours) than the 5 - 10-hour tomes I’ve been reading lately. And also pretty much engrossing, so you don't quite realise that you've spent a bunch of time reading. Which is fine by me.

It's been a while since I've read Rix, so it was a nice look back into all the wonderful stories that he has entertained me with! I see that Rix is still playing with the good girl/bad boy trope; fine, Remi isn't exactly a 100% innocent, and Malcom's badness is more aggressive, military edge (Americans and their guns, sheesh) than anything dangerous, but it still gives off a bit of that vibe. There's a little less absentee parenting here compared to his previous books, with more (even active) involvement from most of their parents except for Malcolm's (who are described as abusive/neglectful).

Themes touched on include acceptance, bullying, and teen suicide - very pertinent issues amongst the YA crowd - as well as some discussion on when/whether something should be taken to the relevant authority figures. Most current YA books make it seem like the protagonists live in a bubble and no one older or vaguely wiser can help them - or worse, makes all authority figures unreliable/antagonistic, but Rix creates a situation where they at least debate about looking for help. Whilst there is at least one unreliable authority figure, there are others who are sympathetic AND able to offer help/advice.

All in all, I enjoyed the book very much!

*Note: I received a free ARC from the author in exchange for an honest review.

View all my reviews

The Summer It Came for Us releases on Feb 1, 2017! Grab a sneak peek here!

Monday, 23 January 2017

#musicmonday: Beautiful Exchange | Hillsong



When only love could make a way
You gave your life in a beautiful exchange
When only love could break these chains
You gave your life in a beautiful exchange

Wednesday, 18 January 2017

#bookreview: Galactic Empires by Neil Clarke

Galactic EmpiresGalactic Empires by Neil Clarke
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I haven't had the greatest track record of picking good anthologies to read. Most of them garner something like a 3-star rating; a mixed up kind of meh. I'm also rather picky about my science fiction. Too hard and I get bored, too soft and it often gets too romantic for me.

What Neil Clarke has done here is create a collection that hits just the right spot with the right balance. Obviously, everything is galactic - whether it's a human-settled planet, or humans somewhere in space, or even no humans at all, just aliens - and based around empires - some benign, some conquering, others falling apart. Multispecies, multiracial, multigendered; nothing ever exactly fitting in our earthly constraints, every story mindblowing in its own way.

The only drawback of this anthology is that it takes an extremely long time to get through. This is mainly because each story is a novella in its own right but also because you can't just sit down and power through the whole thing. You need time and space in between each achingly beautiful story to just rest and let your emotions finish unfurling (and your brain to stop internally squealing) before you launch yourself headlong into the next adventure.

*Note: I received a digital ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review via Edelweiss.

View all my reviews

Get your copy of Galactic Empires HERE!

Friday, 13 January 2017

#fridayflash: Flame of the North (excerpt)


I was going to skip #fridayflash this week having been so busy finishing up the novella submission, but I thought I'd give you a sneak preview into my upcoming short story, Flame of the North!

It's a continuation to When Winds Blow Cold, so if you haven't already read that one, you can sign up for my mailing list to get a free copy! 

I'm also going to be giving out free ARCs for review, so stay tuned. =D

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Mica, son of the Sun and Snow, was miserable. His father had left for home two weeks after they arrived and Mica had quickly been absorbed into the rhythm of the castle. Morning until late afternoon was spent in the nursery, where various teachers from the city came to teach him everything from art to science, history to swordsmanship.

When they continued to duel outside in the middle of a snow storm, Mica started to count down to the day he could reasonably expect his mother to come and save him from this insanity. He felt as if every shiver he exhibited was greeted with a great sigh from his grandfather and a disapproving shake of the Steward’s head.

The clothes his mother had made him were not warm enough, no matter how many of them he put on at the same time. He wondered at how he had scoffed when he first saw those clothes! But neither could the best and thickest that the Steward found in all the Kingdom warm him.

Give him time, his grandfather said worriedly in his echoing voice that chilled Mica to the bone.

“Give him time,” the maids said, those motherly souls who worried about the thin shivering boy who had earned the Steward’s disapproving glare. “After all, this is his first winter—and him so used to the warmth of the South!”

So they gave him time and winter passed and spring began. The snows cleared, the flowers bloomed, yet the endless cold, even in spring, made him shiver. Half a year passed and still, he could not accustom himself to the frigid North. He missed the Sun and its cheery grin, he pined for the Sea and the waves and his friends from the deep. The Castle was too big for him; too large for an eleven-year-old boy and his dead grandfather, even with all the servants that lived with them.

More and more, the Steward would find him in the Painted Hall, staring at murals that had once come to life. He looked with longing on the deep blue sea, at the creatures he had called his friends. The great whale rising to the surface to breathe; the schools of fish swimming amidst the wreckages; the dolphin pod frolicking in the sun; the sun itself, bright and yellow and full of the promise of warmth. But the painted hall was truly only painted now. None of it came to life for him as it once had for his father.

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Wednesday, 11 January 2017

#bookreview: The Illusory Prophet | @susankayequinn

The Illusory Prophet (Singularity #3)The Illusory Prophet by Susan Kaye Quinn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

TBH, I'm just sitting here going what? Whaaaatttt? over and over again. (But which doesn't give you a coherent overview of the book.)

So, I spent the first half of the book being annoyed at Elijah Brighton because I hate waffly main characters who can't decide who they are and what they want. Like GET ON WITH IT. And I was getting a little upset with Quinn because WHYYYYY are you doing this. I thought you're better than this!

But then Eli finally finds a purpose (I hesitate to say 'his' - it's a purpose, but it might not be exactly what he wants) and starts putting things together, so I'm like yay! Things are happening! This looks good! And then I'm starting to get worried because THERE ARE 6 MINUTES LEFT IN THE BOOK THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING (although I know there's a book 4, but still) and then *BOOM*. ARGH Susan Kaye Quinn WHERE IS BOOK FOUR I NEED BOOK FOUR NAAAAOOOOOO.

Yeah.
So that's my entirely incoherent review of The Illusory Prophet.
Minus one star because. Waffle.

Also, if you haven't read Augment yet, now would be a good time, because Miriam and the Makers appear in this one.

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Emotions aside, besides being very entertaining, the Singularity series does study rather deep questions for a science fiction novel. The question of the soul appeared very strongly in the first book of the series (The Legacy Human) and seemed to be skimmed over rather quickly in the second book (The Duality Bridge) but is back in full force here again.

It's actually a very thoughtful book because of the waffling, if you get what I mean. 'Cause if things are just happening boom-boom-boom, you wouldn't have time to think, right? And Eli does it a lot. He questions his purpose. He questions his humanity. He soul-searches. He asks unanswerable questions (and he also does ridiculously stupid things, but that's beside the point).

It would seem that Quinn is quite against organised religion - this isn't the first time she's made religious groups in the book seem extremely cultish and bad - but she's also building Eli into something of a religion of his own. I'm not sure if I'm entirely okay with the symbolism she uses (saviours, prophets, resurrection, miracles, three days) but I guess there's nothing to complain about (and I usually don't really care that much but it seemed a bit in-your-face.)

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*Note: I received a free copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.

View all my reviews

Friday, 6 January 2017

#fridayflash: Yì Bin and the dragon













Today's flash is a snippet from my current WIP, which I may or may not finish in time to submit to TOR. *eyes word count; glares at calendar*

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A long time ago, when your great-grandfather, Yì Bin, was a young man seeking fame and fortune, he set off to seek a dragon. His grandfather, our venerable ancestor, had been a Dragon Master before him, and Bin was adamant that he would be one too. So he packed his bag, bid his family goodbye and left on his quest.

According to the practice of the time, Bin first travelled North to the great capital to pay respects to the King. The King gave him his blessing, pointing him to the West, where rumours of dragons had arisen. Bin travelled for more than a month before he saw his first dragon. It was a small creature—hardly bigger than a horse.

"Are you the dragon who has been terrorising the villages?" Bin asked as he pulled out his sword.

The dragon laughed. "Do I look that terrifying to you?" it paused to say before lunging at the young man. 

But Bin was strong and fast so he side-stepped the attack without a scratch. He sheathed his sword, clasped his hands before him and bowed to the dragon, saying "Then my battle is not with you."

With that, Bin continued down the road, the dragon by his side. 

"Why do you come with me, Master Dragon?" Bin asked. 

"It amuses me. It has been a long time since I have conversed with a human," the dragon replied.

"What do you wish to converse about? I am not learned in skills of poetry and verse, as our esteemed officials and royal court are," Bin confessed. 

"Oh, anything you wish," the dragon said, then changed his mind. "Tell me about your home," it ordered.

By the time Bin finished describing the lush green fields, deep blue skies, rolling hills and bubbling creeks of his ancestral home, the deal was made. Loong would accompany him on his quest in return for being invited to visit the Yì home. 

And that is the story of how Yì Bin made his first dragon friend.