M.L. Sparrow's Blog, page 32

Blood Moon Rising: Into Darkness

Blood Moon Rising: Into Darkness is now up on Smashwords for FREE download!  It is a collection of short stories by self-published authors - including myself - within the genres of sci-fi, horror and supernatural. It was created for the 2016 Blood Moon Rising Facebook Event which is being held throughout May, so once you've read our stories you can pop along and say 'HI!' and let us know what you thought! There is also the chance to win lots of free swag, which I know everyone loves!  My days

Day Eighteen

It was a beautiful, sunny day today. Perfect for taking a picnic and exploring Shiroyama Park, which is exactly what I did. I grabbed a Hida beef sandwich from a shop and headed up there - I'm pretty sure it was the most expensive sandwich I've ever brought, but it was so, so good! A bit messy though, since it was so full all the filling spilled out when you bit into it!        I spent the day exploring the woods and sitting in the sunshine - though I was a little concerned about the bear alerts

Day Seventeen

So, I pretty much spent most of today eating... I don't actually know what some of it was, but as I was strolling though the streets of old building near the river, I kept seeing stalls selling all these yummy looking foods! My favourite was by far the sake steamed bun though, with red bean paste in the middle - I will defiantly be going back for more of that! - but the steamed bun with Hida beef, veg and cheese in it was also delicious. I just love steamed buns, they have such a great texture.

Days Fifteen and Sixteen

Hiya!  Like I said in my previous post, there's not much to tell you about yesterday, since I spent pretty much the entire day travelling, first on a bus from Kawakidani to Odawara, then a train from there to Nagoya, then another train to Takayama. Basically it was a long, boring journey... Well, actually that's a lie. The waiting around between each section was boring, but I actually quite like long train/car rides. I always have the best intentions of getting some work down, or reading a book,

Day Fourteen

So, my day started at 5.30 this morning, when my dad text me asking me to let him know I was okay. At first, I thought it was just because we haven’t spoken in a couple of days and tried to go back to sleep, but then I decided my dad wouldn’t text me just for that reason and decided to quickly go down to the lobby so that I could Skype him. He told me there had been an earthquake in Japan and wanted to know if I was anywhere near it. Having only just learned of it from him, all I could tell him

Strong in the Rain

Strong in the Rain: Surviving Japan’s Earthquake, Tsunami, and Fukushima Nuclear Disaster, by Lucy Birmingham and David McNeill.  Blurb: Blending history, science, and gripping storytelling, Strong in the Rain brings the 9.0 magnitude earthquake that struck Japan in 2011 and its immediate aftermath to life through the eyes of the men and women who experienced it. Following the narratives of six individuals, the book traces the shape of a disaster and the heroics it prompted, including that of

Day Thirteen

 Today I visited Yunessun, which is like an onsen amusement park and is very conveniently only a few minutes away from my hotel. You bath in red wine, sake, green tea… There’s even a ramen bath. There’s an outside area for children with slides and onsen’s made to look like caves. There are also relaxation rooms and an aroma therapy room, which I have to admit gave me a bit of a headache. Like many swimming places, they give you a wrist band so that you can get food and drink without having to

The Player

The Player, (The Game Maker, Book 3), by Kresley Cole  Blurb:  A madman with a shadowed past . . . In the City of Sin, Dmitri Sevastyan finds her, Victoria Valentine—sexy, vulnerable, and in need of a protector. Obsession takes root deep inside him. Despite a history tainted with violation and betrayal, he will stop at nothing to possess her.  A grifter with nothing to lose . . . Descended from a long line of con artists, twenty-four-year-old Victoria, a.k.a Vice, needs the score of a lifetime

Day Twelve

Today I caught the bus up to Moto-Hakone. The first thing I did when I got there was walk up to Hakone-jinja. It was fairly early, so I didn’t have to contend with a crowd of people whilst looking around the small shrine, but a couple of tour buses has arrived by the time I made my way down to the ‘Peace Torii’ and it took ages to get a picture of the huge, red Torii Gate without a stranger in the middle! After that I decided to get on a boat and take a tour of Lake Ashino-ko, which is a crater

Day Eleven

Travelling always wears me out, so today I decided to take it easyand decided to wander up to the Open-Air Museum, which turned out to be a little harder than it sounds. I knew it was close by, having looked it up in Google Maps last night, but I’d lost my bearings a little and wasn’t sure which direction to head once leaving the hotel, so I asked at the front desk. The man there, the same one who checked me in last night, was really nice and sweet, but I didn’t really get what he was saying,