K.A. Ashcomb's Blog, page 37

Hallucinations

She pressed her hands against her ears hard. Still, the sound persisted. It was children screaming, like an echo or muffled memory. She had been hearing it for a week now. Wherever she went, there it was. She had been badly startled at the grocery store when the noise had come back. It was as if it came right behind her. Instead of finding screaming children, there had been a poor unsuspecting customer who had gotten her face full of terror. Now, she stood there on the shaking bus, trying to get...

Book Review: Ye Gods! By Tom Holt

Jason, the hero and the son of god, is running around filling his destiny, following Hercules’s steps. But you might say his heart isn’t in it. Being a hero can be tedious. Then there are your aunts and uncles, and dad, the Greek gods, who are using you for their amusement. Plus, all is not well amongst the gods, and here our hero Jason is, in the middle of it. That’s the premise in a nutshell, and I love how Tom Holt pokes fun at this hero myth, tearing it apart. He continues emphasizing the fl...

Short Story: Blasphemy

She kneeled and pressed her forehead against the chapel stone. All around her, other people thanked the gods the way she did. But none felt what she felt. She was sure of it. Her hands were raw from scrubbing the floor the entire night while she had chanted the prays. There had been an answer urging her to carry on what she had done—telling her that her words were heard and she had been seen. Then it had gone wrong, and she had fainted only to wake up as the morning prayers came into the chamber...

Book Review: The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling

A sci-fi thriller set in a cave system, where one mistake might cost your life and where the pressure of the darkness breaks the psyche. Gyre, a cave diver/climber, descends into the cave system, trying to navigate through all the obstacles with the help of her handler, Em. And gradually, the story of why Gyre is there and who Em is and her motives are revealed. The story unfolds through their dialogue and Gyre’s inner monologue. The stakes are high, especially when there is a clear unbalance be...

Short Story: A Passing Moment

He lifted his gaze to see the sun dip down, swallowed by the sea. He shifted his weight on the plank he was sitting on and turned his attention back to the bobber.

“Stop fidgeting around. You are scaring the fishes away,” his grandma corrected him as the boat swayed.

There were just the two of them; had been for as long as he remembered. Now, as he thought about it, he had not seen another human being other than his grandma and his own reflection occasionally when the sea was calm and the ...

Book Review: The Utterly Uninteresting and Unadventurous Tales of Fred, the Vampire Accountant by Drew Hayes

Everything you need to know before jumping into this book is in the title. This is a book about Fred, the vampire accountant, and his misadventures. There are several smaller stories inside, introducing new characters, lore about the world, and how vampires and secret government agency, who know about supernatural beings, work. I listened to this as an audio drama, and I was highly annoyed at first because some of it was poorly made and a bit over the top, even for a humorous urban fantasy novel...

Short Story: Cake

Have I ever told you how I lost my life to baking? Now some might say that you cannot lose a life, let’s say, to a cake, and as they utter that out, they might notice that you literally can. But my life story isn’t about choking to death or going into shock because nuts were mixed into a rich chocolate cake with a coffee and flavored with chocolate buttercream frosting. No, I have no nut allergies and have been fortunate enough not to have diabetes. Instead, I lost my life to baking because the ...

Book Review: The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher

A tale of a woman called Mouse (Melissa) and her trusted dog Bongo goes to clean her deceased grandmother’s house in rural North Carolina on behalf of her father and gets into a messy situation. The woods are scary, and her family history is equally chilling. Again, I find myself unable to get into more details without spoiling the concept. Such is the case with mysteries and stories you need to experience to enjoy them. The Twisted Ones is a horror-light story as the quick jokes and fast moving...

Short Story: The Ritual

The deep rising rumble surged up the tree. Lewis could hear it as he pressed his ear against the bark. He held his breath in search of that popping sound when the water filled the tree. There it was, and he smiled. It was like a heartbeat. Lewis pressed his hands tighter around the oak, closing his eyes and being in the moment before the others would come. Time slowed down, and he let his mind wander from the tree’s hundreds of thousands of leaves to the branches spreading kilometers if they wer...

Book Review: The Emperor of Scent: A True Story of Perfume and Obsession by Chandler Burr

A book about scent and how we smell more than about perfumes, which, don’t get me wrong, plays a pivotal role. But it doesn’t stop there. This is a book about the scientific process to get a new theory known and accepted, and thusly about human pettiness, jealousy, hardheadedness, and being who we are with the need to find meaning with our existence and what we do. So, that is got out of the way, I can say that this book blew my mind. It made me realize I have ignored a vital sense I come equipp...