K.A. Ashcomb's Blog, page 58

Writing: A Short Story: Cycle

Hi everyone!

I’m still playing around with writing a piece from one sitting. Here is what came to me after my morning swim. There is nothing like being in the water and feeling like you weight nothing, yet, to know that you exist as there are pressure and friction when you take the first stroke after a spin.

Cycle

I float naked in the perfect weightlessness, but I’m not a bird, the king of the air. Neither am I a fish even when the turquoise water washes over me. I am what I am. For a long ti...

My Top 3 Books in September

Hi everyone!

I’m feeling a bit restless as this is one of those odd days when I want to be left alone and not to speak to anyone and hide under my table, but suddenly everyone wants my attention. I have several personal messages waiting on my phone, got a few on Twitter too, and I don’t even care to mention my email. And soon I’m off to my writing class, and you know what, there is people as well. I have to go under the table and take a breather and change my attitude. This is going to be a s...

Book Review: The Girl with Ghost Eyes by M.H. Boroson

This book is like Spirited Away for adults mixed with old kung-fu movies and immigration history (from China to San Francisco.) It instantly drew me in with fast action scenes and immediate language, and I kept thinking this will be great, it combines so many elements I love, starting from ghosts and reimagining history with powers beyond our world. And the main character, Li-lin, is sympathetic and someone to identify with.

But as the story progressed, the plot twist began to annoy me. I got...

Welcome to Night Vale by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor

I start right off by saying that I have never listened to the podcast, and I picked up this book because of the concept and humor factor. The first pages I thought okay what a fantastic setting, this fifties small-town sci-fi vibe with alien landings and Twilight Zone bizarre, and I kept thinking this would be a perfect place for a TV-show or a multi-player PC game.

You could say I was excited, and I felt at home. But the thing is, the story never started. There is a story, yes, but it is bei...

Writing: A Short Story: The Invisibles

Hello everyone!

I decided to try something new, to write a short story in one sitting and just for the blog. If this goes well and you like it (and I don’t take too much pressure from succeeding and delivering every Thursday,), it might become a recurring thing. Let’s see. Today’s topic was inspired by a woman who cleans the local swimming pool. She passes all the customers by and never looks into their eyes and pretends she is invisible. And for some reason, when I searched for a topic today...

Book Review: Jingo by Terry Pratchett

It’s just like Terry Pratchett to take a poke at all the serious, and twisted stuff we humans come up with and could live without if weren’t so bloody stubborn, making fun of them in that intellectual way. This time it’s war he is more surveying. Or could I say, Vimes has his opinion about, and you could say, he doesn’t see the point of it all. Not because of some suddenly risen land, that could go back to the bottom of the sea, thank you, nor for the reason why Rust or the Klatchians want it...

Book Review: The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert

I had a rocky start with this book (audiobook.) The quality was poor at the beginning, the voice and the reader’s tone seemed to fluctuate. I had to force myself to continue on as I knew I wanted to read this book. I’m glad I got past that as the quality got better and the peculiar problem at the beginning seemed to be a minor incident towards bliss if you can say that with this book’s topic.

To think back at the book, that might have been the only issue I had with it. Otherwise, the whole re...

Thank You!

Hi everyone!
Thank you for the overwhelming response towards my book. You have downloaded over a hundred copies! That warms my heart and a lot. Worth of Luck is still free until September 25th. So feel free to mention it to others.

Now I’m off to write a book review from The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert. It should come up here and “soon.”

See you later! And have a lovely day

FREE BOOK! Get Worth of Luck for Free

Hello fellow writers and readers!

I thought cold September nights needed a free book promotion. You can get my book Worth of Luck for free from Saturday, September 21 to Wednesday, September 25, 2019.

Have a lovely day and autumn

P.S. I’m off to snatch my cat and curl up on the couch with a good book, and occasionally glance outside to see if it still raining.

Rant: Genre Fiction

Hello everyone!

I have been thinking about literature, art, and genres a past few weeks after /rFantasy member asked about if fantasy genre was looked down upon. The age-old question which I grew up with and had to deal with when explaining “adults” what I read, but for a long time now I think I have been living in a bubble where those around me understand and accept that fantasy, sci-fi, horror, and other genre fiction are fiction and respectable to read and not some weird guilty pleasure yo...