Neven Carr's Blog, page 7
March 5, 2016
Book Review: Catharsis by Noorilhuda
A story with potential.
This novel centres on a police detective, Aurora Fox and her determined efforts in solving the mystery of the abduction of ten-year-old, Daniel Logan. Enters Maxwell Caine, an elderly stranger, who appears to know more about the case than expected. With Caine’s help, Aurora finds Daniel still alive but heavily traumatised by constant physical and sexual abuse. Aurora’s priority, now, is to uncover the mastermind of the operation.
Noorilhuda’s story line, I found not too bad. At times, I even wondered what would happen next. However, there were sections of unnecessary narrative [e.g. the overly detailed news reports], incorrect punctuation and grammatical errors.
What I had the most difficulty with were the characters, particularly the main character, Aurora Fox. I found her to be insufferably angry, rude and twisted. Yes, I do discover why she is like this, and it is a plausible reason. But a main character devoid of any redeeming qualities, I find unlikeable and difficult to relate with.
In fact, I found the entire book filled with too many angry, damaged characters, graphically abused children and sad, pathetic marriages. If there were any happy characters in the book, they had been swallowed by the misery of the others.
With a heavy story such as this, a little light-hearted balance gives the reader breathing space.
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest, non-reciprocal review.
3/5 stars.
February 21, 2016
Stairway to Heaven Lookbook
Creating beautiful and unique ways to display books is something that really intrigues and delights me. I love seeing all the different way people have come up with to make their book experience enchanting. For me it’s even greater looking at space saving book storage solutions. This lookbook has the best of both.
These stairs truly are a way to heaven, book heaven :)
I love the whole design; the architecture, the regal-ness of the books, those stairs are heavenly indeed!
I love the sleekness and modern warmth of these stairs.
This set up is so amazing. I love how all the colors pop off the
crisp white backdrop.
I think this one might be the funnest. Climb up stairs filled with books
and slide back down!
I love this, I just imagine that those stairs lead to a heavenly room
filled with even more books.
Don’t get dizzy. This…
View original post 102 more words
January 31, 2016
Silver Spheres
Chapter 5
Written by: roseyn
A thick, cracking sound splintered Emily’s thoughts.
She snapped closed her eyes and pressed her palms hard against her ears. But it only made the sound sharper, heavier. An image of a long, dark whip materialised in her mind. Someone was holding it. She stretched the vision and saw a pot-bellied man, dressed in black pants, a matching top hat and a red, long-tailed coat.
Emily smiled.
He was task number three.
A strong sense of quietude and incredible lightness feathered through her, spiriting her away, so peaceful and gentle.
Until….
Emily opened her eyes.
Crisscrossed before her were tapered sheets of bright, blinding lights. Boisterous laughter blasted from all directions, and a skin-shivering muddle of peculiar smells, some mildly bearable, others so vile, they made her body convulse.
It was if someone had just declared war on her senses.
As her rapidly blinking eyes adjusted, muddied forms began to take shape. Tumbling aimlessly inside a large oval arena, were fuzzy-haired characters in gaudy, oversized clothes. Up above, a slim girl, in a white, sparkling leotard balanced precariously along a thin wire.
What was this place?
This place of arresting colour and obnoxious smells, of brazenly adulating humans. Another thunderous whip cracked Emily back towards the round-bellied man. He was now guiding a march of horses with cerulean blue plumes.
Concentrate, Emily, concentrate on your task.
The world around her fell into a deaf silence and her body into a robotic measure.
She inched closer to the old man, holding her breath. With all the incongruous smells, they weren’t enough to smother an ‘old man’s’ stench. When she was mere millimetres from him, she popped a silver sphere into the flared, opened pocket of his pants.
She then stepped away.
Take it back.
Emily froze.
Who said that?
She searched, a completely useless task amongst such a swollen conglomerate of alien faces. Nearby, the round-bellied man clutched his chest and then collapsed on his knees, expelling a long, painful groan. He raised his heavily-lidded eyes to the girl on the wire. Emily studied both their facial features, noticed their unique similarities.
What did this mean?
It means for him to survive he has to let his daughter die.
Emily felt her throat constrict.
You need to take back the sphere…now.
She wanted to ask why… who? But communicating was against the rules.
Now!
Her head yo-yoed with possibilities of what to do. But it was too late. The girl’s tightly curled foot faltered.
And she fell.
Within seconds, the world became a mass of infectious screams and panicky thuds and crashes. Had Emily caused this with the seemingly innocuous sphere? Something dark and ugly twisted her insides.
It’s not your fault, Emily. They are controlling your mind.
A boy, tall and lean with kind, green eyes and straw-coloured hair appeared. “I can help you,” he said in a warming voice. “Trust me.”
Why should she? He was, after all, human.
The boy smiled sadly. “And once, Emily, so were you.”
Comments
Submitted by Suraya Dewing on Tue, 2016-01-19 15:21
Oh my goodness. Where did this brilliant piece of writing come from. It’s got dreamscape qualities and twists and turns so the reader feels like he or she is tumbling through some strange world, struggling to grasp any reality. Crikey. It’s amazingly good! And you expect me to follow that!
Submitted by Hemali Ajmera on Wed, 2016-01-20 00:
Fantastic is all I can say. Great imagination and great story-telling.
Submitted by Ray Stone on Wed, 2016-01-20 08:05
We are stepping into another coming of age phase and those writers who are really experienced at this art of serial writing are now at the stage, in my opinion, where they should be taking on a complete 10 chapter serial of their own. Roseyn, it would be great to see one from you. Many other new members and those who are going through the ‘learning about the grid’ can see and learn a lot from fellow members writing a complete work. This chapter not only shows how to maneuver around the grid with carefully thought out lines but gives us an insight into clever and believable story telling. Writing a chapter is not only about getting on the grid – it’s about evoking enthusiasm in the reader by letting your mind run free and producing something special. Suraya says it all. A winner, Roseyn.
Submitted by roseyn on Fri, 2016-01-22 13:12
Thanks so much, Suraya, Hemali and Ray!
January 25, 2016
How to Kick Start Your Marketing Plan
You’ve finished writing a book. You’ve put blood, sweat, and tears into it. The editing was brutal, but somehow you’ve managed to live through it. Your cover looks amazing- everything is perfect. You send the book off to be published, and the hard work is over. You can now kick your feet up, and watch your book climb right to the top of the charts, right?
Wrong.
Dead wrong.
Sorry to burst your newbie author bubble, but the work is far from over. If you haven’t even considered your marketing plan before your book hits the stores, you are way behind to begin with. If your book hits the stores and you aren’t bothering to promote it, well…who’s going to know about it?
What You Need
Marketing budget. The first thing you need to do is figure out your marketing budget. There are tons of promotional sites that can…
View original post 485 more words
December 20, 2015
Interview by Author - Mercedes Fox
For full interview - click here!
