Sotto Voce's Blog, page 2

BOOK REVIEW: Bird Streets Vampire Murders (Ed Morawski)

 

This is a creative book, and itquickly pulls my attention from the start. There are many characters, butalmost all of them are distinctive enough. We follow the story from the mainprotagonist, Janice, who investigates bizarre murders after joining her newteam. Unfortunately, some of the victims are famous, which escalates thesituation and media attention.

I enjoy how this book doesn’t botherin being politically correct, and it’s both strange and cliché in a certainway. Although the reve...

BOOK REVIEW: The Memory of Lost Dreams (Joseph Minart)

 

The Memory of Lost Dreams is an ambitious tale about aspeculative world where we can enter and live in the dream. It explores thegood and bad and how it can be used for the wrong purpose. It also bringsreaders to the world beyond imagination that exists far into the future.

The story is everywhere in the book's first half, and I hadto recheck some parts to ensure I didn't miss anything. However, it's easyenough to pick up once readers understand the main idea of REQUIEM, thecontraption t...

BOOK REVIEW: The Breath of the Sea (Jeff Chapman)

 

 

The Breath of the Sea is another chapter of Merliss’sadventure. This time, it follows a very interesting journey of a family of apoor fisherman struggling to make ends meet.

I hate to say I saw the twist coming since the verybeginning, when I had started to become familiar with the characters. However,it didn’t reduce my enjoyment in reading the tale.

The stories stand out great on their own, and when theyintertwine, it becomes a massive tale of creative imagination. I like thecharac...

Book Review: The Blackened Yonder (J. Gibson)

The Blackened Yonder is the first book of the series. Theauthor plans for the series to have at least four books, based on a sentence Iread at the end of this one.

The book follows three PoV, which I get to read from twodifferent perspectives. This is one of my favorite styles because it’s alwaysintriguing to see the opposites of a coin. Unfortunately, besides some mentionsabout the main conflict, the stories of both sides only start to integrateabout 75% into the book, which, imho, make...

Noisy Neighbors

 

When I read and write, I prefer zero distraction—no music,no conversation. This is amusing to me because I can multitask with everythingelse. I can fully concentrate on driving while listening to complicated storiesor music or basically doing everything else, but not reading or writing.

When silence is not an option, my other way to do it is toblank out on the surroundings. I wrote my first book while confined in a smallspace with my parents blasting music and movies. They were there for ...

How Introverts Make Friends

 

Locky: I found this stick, can we bring it home?

I used to chuckle atthis meme, thinking it was not true, I am capable of making friends!

How introverts makefriends:

They don’t

An extrovert found them, liked them, and adopted them 

Then, a few days ago, Ianswered a question on X about stray dogs we befriended on the beach. I toldsomeone I was happy I still had the chance to meet a stray who had been adoptedby a kind-hearted person, and she asked me how. This stray, Molly, was adoptedb...

BOOK REVIEW: GORY STORIES (JOEY WEBB)

 

This is an interesting short story collection. The tales areshort and fast-paced. At times, I could see the endings and twists coming,others, not so much. They don’t always provide satisfying endings, andsometimes, they end abruptly, but for some reason, I don’t mind them. Thestories feel classic from the way they are told and unfolded, which feels likenarration. They never dwell too long on the characters and plots, and thisworks fine for short stories.

There are some typos, like missin...

My One and Only Co-writer Circa 1995

Just a few days ago, I reached out to an old friend fromhigh school. We haven’t been in contact privately for 30 years (gasp). It wasonly during COVID time we had a group Zoom call (it was a nightmare for me, andI had only done it once voluntarily) between several ‘close’ high schoolfriends. Close as in, three decades ago. To be honest, I struggle to findsimilarities now because we all studied in different places, took up differentmajors, and grew up with different adult aspirations. The v...

Two Celebrations!

 

Two celebrations!
My buddy, sunshine, and best friend Locky celebrated his tenth birthday yesterday. We went to his favorite beach, named after him (Google magic), and I gave him a haircut, a hand-drawn birthday hat, treats and toys. Long may he reign and many happy returns.  


I'm also happy to announce that my newest book is ready for pre-order. I was too afraid (please keep this a secret, I want to be fearless in Locky's eyes!) I'd expect something by setting up a pre-order, but then again, I'd...

A Chopped Index Finger

 

It's great towrite about things without first-hand experience. Research, reading about them,just like today when my search history is full of questionable things like howto knock someone unconscious, collapsed lung recovery, which side is moredamaging when you stab a neck… Yeah, I have asked around before, and this isthe problem with every writer who doesn't write in normal, harmless genres. Mysearch history is sparkling, totally not a serial killer's vibe. Definitelynormal, move along, ...