K.A. Ashcomb's Blog, page 42

Short Story: The Last of Us

She locked herself into her room after a bad dinner. Her parents were still shouting in the other room, and she could hear her older brother escaping out through his window. She opened her closet and pulled out her grandpa’s ham radio set. It was in an old suitcase which had come with the receiver, transmitters, and mic. Her father had set up an antenna on their roof for nostalgic reasons. He used to do this with gramps. Her mother hated the huge thing, saying it made the house ugly and to stand...

Short Story: The Alien and I

I can feel the rhythm behind me. I glance once again over my shoulder, but the streets are empty. The electric lights glimmer against the black wet tarmac. All my senses tell me to run. I can’t. I have to keep the pace steady, or else I won’t only let myself down, but I also will jeopardize the lives of others. The lights flicker, meaning it is close and ready to attack. I reach for the side pocket of my trousers. My hands shake as I try to take hold of the black box there. I can’t mess this up....

Short Story: The Intelligence One of the Kind

I see what you are trying to do to me. Don’t think I don’t. The murder in your gaze is visible. But I won’t back down. I know you would like to see me scurry off, be no bother to you. It is not how it works. I have as much right to be here as you do. I remember the time you had some respect towards me, appreciating how clever I am. You praised me for being able to crack the nut. You saw a kinship in me. Now I am no more than a vermin to you—a pest and omen of ill.

What happened to us? I have ...

Book Review: Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez

Invisible indeed. This book is likely to make you a bit angry. And a bit is downplaying information gaps we have when it comes to women, which cost lives. And there is no way around it. Caroline Criado Perez proves with the data on how female lives are lost because we see the male body as a standard. I spoke about this book with my sister. She worked as a nurse in a cardiac unit. She commented on how women are misdiagnosed when they have a heart attack because the male symptoms are seen as the n...

Top 3 Books in October

Hello there! Another month has gone, and books have been read and written. This month has been a hard one for me. I had a plan to write more book reviews, but I couldn’t, I have been too tired. But I hope November will be kinder for me. I tore my AC joint, which means I have to slow down and not exhaust myself continuously. So, that is a good thing. I hope you have been doing fine. The craziness continues on, but at least there are books to keep us sane.

Here are my top reads in October:

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Short Story: The Visions

When the dance starts, there is no stopping it. It has to run its course. The feet stomp, the arms move with the purpose from the shoulder to the fingertips. Next to the dancer moves a wolf, shaping the world according to it. The pair of them barely visible behind the dust cloud lifted from the ground—the music, unheard. Then they are gone, and you and I are left.

So my grandmother told me the world came to be, saying that only the gifted see glimpses of the dancer and the wolf. I look for th...

Short Story: Perception

His spotted hands shook, and his back ached as he bent over the trash bin. He rummaged through the trash to find something to eat or drink. The smell was nauseating. Someone had thrown out something which had spoiled a long time ago. He tried to avoid the bags where the scent was the strongest, but it was no use. The odor had taken over the whole bin. He let his feet drop on the ground and shut the lit.  This was usually a good place to find uneaten or half-eaten food. But today, he wasn’t as lu...

Book Review: Auxiliary: London 2039 by Jon Richter

This book is like Blade Runner. The old movie rather than the book. And I felt giddy—finally a book with grit. We follow detective Carl Dremmler through the future London, where AIs and androids are a reality, and where you can augment yourself and get a robotic hand, and people are unemployed because of these changes. The right kind of city mood is there. Everything kicks into gear when a man murders his girlfriend and says it was his robotic hand that did it. Here Jon Richter entails us with t...

Short Story: Meditating Computer

It happened close to the next jump they were supposed to take. The ship suddenly stopped going forth, and the mainframe refused to communicate what the problem was. As the lead engineer, she was in charge of the situation, meaning the blame for the failed voyage would fall to her. She cursed as she paced around the room. An hour ago, she had driven the captain and others out of there. They had been making her lose more than her concentration. She had gone over the usual system checks finding no ...

Book Review: The Shepherd’s Crown by Terry Pratchett

Crivens! and so it goes. I could leave this review there. This is a sad, sad book. You say goodbye in so many ways, to the whole Discworld series and to the one you have loved with the fullness of your heart. (Although they would object to this. They are not after adoration, just doing their job.)

Tiffany is becoming the witch she deserves to be, and she is showing to the others how to combine the new way of witching with the old. It is beautiful to see how Discworld developed throughout all ...