K.A. Ashcomb's Blog, page 76

Book Review: The Passionate Witch by Thorne Smith, Norman Matson (Completed By)

This was a hard book to find in a physical form. Then I came across it (+ The Night Life of the Gods) in a local secondhand bookstore, I got exhilarated. The book I found was a pocket edition from the 40s, costing then $0,25 which means $319,19 when you take inflation into a count. Inflation what a nice thing (and that was sarcasm, just that you know. I’m not a fan of inflation, but we can get to my views about economics in some other post.) If I was to buy the same product today, it would co...

Worth of Luck, Chapter 5: All the Monsters in the Dark

Sigourney Perri walked from Harriet Stowe’s private quarters to Edbert’s bookshop. Like Edbert, she replayed her previous encounter over and again in her head. All the tiny mistakes she had done with Harriet caused the same goblins as Edbert had to parade around her stomach, banging their pots and pans together. In spite of them, she pick-locked Edbert’s front door open and slipped inside. Soon the old man came rushing in, holding a poker high. Sigourney watched as Edbert Pollock searched for...

Book Review: The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry by Jon Ronson

They are amongst us; they influence our societies; they are not unicorns even if they want to think themselves to be. However, sociopaths and psychopaths (+ narcissists) are not on the rampage. Not every disagreeable person who happens to annoy, hurt, or tick you off the wrong way is one. I hate when people say: “S/he is such a narcissist/sociopath.”

I have this one friend whose every ex is a narcissist, all her friends are sociopaths, and the world is run by psychopaths. You know the type. Y...

Book Review: Little Green Men by Christopher Buckley

This was my first introduction to Christopher Buckley’s political satires. I had heard good things about his writing, and I didn’t have an excuse not to read the Little Green Men I had bought two months ago. So, I dived into the book about little green men (no surprise there; the proof is in the title) and American politics.

Little green men always get me excited, so much my husband says I have an unhealthy obsession. And like with the monsters I root for the little buggers. I’m the first one...

Writing: Character Sheet: Madam Sabine

Hello everyone, (this is where you are supposed to wave back.) My book Worth of Luck came out Sunday, and unlike it would be expected I didn’t take a well-deserved rest. I have been working with my second book, and testing Amazon ads. But this post isn’t about Amazon ads, I will write about them when I have something to say. I thought I could show you what I have been doing. A sneak peek into a character sheet.

Just a friendly reminder, this hasn’t gone through an editor and is a raw version...

Self-Publishing: Live and Ready to Run

Today my book is live:

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Here is an Amazon link to my book!

 

The Worth of Luck has come out and is ready to be bought by you. And now I want to puke. I wouldn’t be this anxious if it wasn’t raining and the threat of thunder wasn’t hanging above. I would have fled into the deepest forest I could find and stayed there until any record of my book has stopped existing. Instead, I need to advertise.

So, here is extra info you don’t find on Amazon: There is no nice forest in my book where to hide....

Book Review: The Circle by Dave Eggers

For me, this was a hard book to listen to. Not because it’s badly made, but because of my already existing anxieties about social media and our current system of online world. I found myself agitated and on a verge of stopping listening to the book frequently. That is a reason for me to lift my top hat and bow to the writer. Dave Eggers has created a working horror novel. And yes, I know it isn’t listed under horror, but for me, humans and what they create are scarier than any monster from th...

Rant About My Writing

My first book (Worth of Luck) is coming out tomorrow, and the impending doom has made me think how and why I write. I noticed a lot has changed when I wrote my first book compared to how I’m writing my second novel for the series now. I’m still a discovery writer (the other weirder style is outlining.) What happened was, I smoothed out some kinks.

I write and plan as I go, but that is always based on an idea of character/s and a setting wrapped with a concept I want to play with. Often it is...

Book Review: The Cabal of Thotash by J. Zachary Pike

I’m a sucker for cults, chaos, and creatures that try to destroy the world. I’m the one nut rooting at sidelines and getting eaten by some horrible monster. I have made my peace with that. I wanted the cabal to succeed, to get past their inner power-play, sacrifice something else than a cat, and bring upon apocalypse, they didn’t. (Sorry to ruin your ending, but you might have noticed such an event to happen. Shame on you thinking it could have ended any other way.)

This was a fun short read...

Book Review: The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut

I will come out straight away: I’m partial with Vonnegut. I love his work. It’s profound, surprising, imaginative, and funny. Not ha haa funny, but ha funny. If you think ha haa is better than ha, think again. Ha comes with thought and second sight, and ha haa just releases tension created before the laughter.

I would love to say The Sirens of Titan was another one of Vonnegut’s masterpieces, but it wasn’t. The first part of the book was intriguing and had so much potential, but then everythi...