K.A. Ashcomb's Blog, page 25

Short Story: Stolen Moment

I have never been good with reality. Sometimes, I feel like I’m not present, as if I’m snuggled behind my thoughts. Yet my thoughts are never of great importance. Just observations of everything and nothing. Then there are the periods I lose time or the time stands still for me. On those occasions, when the time is still, I feel most free. But I never get to stay at those moments. Reality has a way of sneaking in, and the time has to tick.

The harsh reminder is the bruises on my hands and leg...

Book Review: The Best Thing You Can Steal by Simon R. Green

A light heist novel without consequences. Gideon Sable puts together a team of unlikely allies to steal from the most ruthless man in London. They all have an ax to bury with Hammer and are willing to risk their lives to hurt him. There’s:
– Annie Anybody who can be anyone she wants to be and influence anything to do as she wishes

-The Ghost, who has been cursed to live unnoticed and forgotten

-The Damned, Lex, who has a one-way ticket to Hell

-Johnny, a mad scientist who has broken the ...

Book Review: Black Water Sister by Zen Cho

I’m a sucker for ghost and medium stories. They always make me feel all giddy. The thing with them is that, too often, they tied with romance, and romance never makes me that giddy. I’m made wrong. While Black Water Sister had romantic elements, it didn’t overpower the book. The book is about Jessamyn Teoh, who is forced to return to Malaysia with her family due to her father’s illness and their bankrupt business. She has to navigate the strange landscape of Malaysia and figure out how she fits ...

News: The Fourth Book

Hello everyone!

I’m excited to tell you that my fourth book has a title, and the cover is already done. Now, I will have to wait for it back from my beta readers and send it to my editor before I can publish the cover and title here. But the book will be published at the beginning of the following year. Something I didn’t expect to happen at the beginning of this year.

And there is more! I have started to write my fifth book already. I didn’t know the story before I finished my fourth book...

Book Review: We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

I am trying to figure out what to do with this book. I loved the main character, Merricat, who narrated the story. I loved the setting and the prose. But the actual horror was too much for me. Let me explain.

The story is about Merricat, Constance, and Uncle Julian Blackwood, who live in an enormous manor in a village where they are not welcomed. Little by little, the reader is let into the story of why they are ostracized and why there is this peculiar aura around their home. Merricat tries ...

Book Review: The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty

Go read this book. There, that’s all you need to know. Shoo, go and get it.

I loved this one to bits. The book is well written, the characters are fun, and the plot seizes you. Okay, there was one part I didn’t like at the end (the part about transformation because it felt like it didn’t belong in the book—the tone was off,) but otherwise, the book was executed so well that I had a blast. The writing made me see the book unfold in front of my eyes like a movie.

The book is about Amina al-S...

See, life goes on

Editing the last chapter. It felt I would never get there when my father died. But here I am. Everything rolling on again

Thanks for visiting, have a good one

P.S the cover picture is by me

Book Review: The Wood Wife by Terri Windling

I picked up this book, or more like my friend trusted it into my hands—this is her favorite. The book follows Maggie Black discovering her mentor’s, Davis Cooper’s, past. Cooper was a poet and a writer, just like Maggie, but she gave up her poetry to support her cheating husband, Nigel. Now divorced, she is heading to Tucson to claim the house and lands Davis Cooper left for her upon his death. His death and why he died are a mystery. So is his and his wife’s, Anna’s, lives. Maggie tries to piec...

News

I have gotten so much writing done in the past couple of weeks. A few more chapters and my fourth book is ready for the last editing round and to be shipped to my editor. Writing this book took longer than I expected. I planned to publish it sooner, but my personal life got in the way. But I have a lot stronger book in my hands now because of all the pain and struggles I had to go through. I got to write about the personal in a way that is relatable not just for me but everyone because we al...

Book Review: It Devours! by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor

Should you ever get lost in Night Vale, then you better believe in all the conspiracy theories to survive. Not that there needs to be a lot of believing happening because everyone knows the government is spying on you, and Pamela is making catastrophes just to be able to hold a press conference. But this time, it is not the government, or okay, they might be involved, with all the trembling and accidents happening in the town. Nilanjana takes it as her mission to find out what’s happening. She’s...