Victoria Ray's Blog, page 17

Grotesque: abnormally large, shockingly ugly, distorted, and ludicrously odd

I have a remedy against thirst, quite contrary to that which is good against the biting of a mad dog. Keep running after a dog, and he will never bite you; drink always before the thirst, and it will never come upon you. François Rabelais, Gargantua and Pantagruel, book 1  Have you ever wondered what a grotesque world would look like? Is it a world where the laws of nature, symmetry,...

Reviews

Review not a writer; read, analyze and understand its writing, which also mirrors and reflects its thoughts and persona. Ehsan Sehgal Reviewed By Kenneth Salzmann for Readers’ Favorite – 🔆🔆🔆🔆🔆 The more than two dozen short stories in Victoria Ray’s intriguing and inventive collection, So Absurd It Must Be True, undoubtedly deliver a full measure of skillfully wrought absurdity packed into a wide range of characters and plots, from futuristic motifs...

Shambhala Land – myth or reality?

The Shambhala Land is said to be a hidden paradise in the depths of the Himalayas, only to be reached by a long and treacherous journey. The Shambhala legend dates back to thousands of years ago, and it has been referenced in a variety of ancient texts, such as the Kalachakra Tantra [ click to read – a guide to KT ]. Shambhala is a Sanskrit word that means either place of Peace...

Nothing is more important than an unread library

Let the readers do some of the work themselves. Fyodor Dostoyevsky 2021 hasn’t been a regular New Year, neither has our resolutions… But no matter what year it is, some resolutions remain with us forever – such as writing and reading, plus adapting to a slightly old new world with a mask as a casual fashion of our wardrobe.  Here in Sweden, the winter arrived only yesterday. Compare pictures: 1st January...

Author Interview – Jessica Bakkers

LET THIS NOVEL HAUNT YOU…  1. I’m so excited to get to talk to you about Guns of Perdition (Armageddon Showdown Series), Jessica! This is your debut novel, and it’s haunting, gorgeous, and dark. Congratulations! What can readers coming in fresh to your work expect from this book? Thanks so much for having me, Ray! I’m thrilled to be here. Guns of Perdition is a genre mashup of Western and Horror, commonly known...

Is the universe symmetrical?

Symmetry is what we see at a glance; based on the fact that there is no reason for any difference. Pascal We love patterns. We build our houses following a pattern. We make our dresses following a contour or model. The nature around us also follows formats and likeness. The bees make their honeycombs in hexagonal shapes. The stars, the moon, and the sun also form a specific shape. Could...

The brilliance of D. H. Lawrence: a pornographer or a genius?

I can’t bear art that you can walk round and admire. A book should be either a bandit or a rebel, or a man in the crowd. Writers are often perceived as strange people because of their lifestyle and sometimes because of their writing style. D. H. Lawrence was a British writer and poet who was regarded as one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. He was...

From real to pseudo

In the introduction to the book Aspects of the Novel, the author E. M. Forster says that his subject is to analyze the literary works written in English. He asks himself: can he ignore the prose written in other languages? He states, “as unpleasant and unpatriotic it sounds, the truth has to be faced. No English novelist is as great as Tolstoy – he has given a complete picture of...

Literature is not innocent

“When one sees one of my pictures, one asks oneself this simple question, “What does it mean?” It does not mean anything, because mystery means nothing either, it is unknowable,” said Rene Magritte about his painting The Lovers. As you understand, we’ll talk about surrealism, but not about Rene Magritte in particular, although he was one of the most plagiarized artists, the true surrealist with witty and unexpected ideas. Today I’d...

Author Interview – John W. Howell

We chatted with John W. Howell about his new novel Eternal Road: The final stop, the transformation of the heroes, and the meaning behind historical and supernatural elements. 1. What is the significance of the book’s title Eternal Road? The title came to me one day while I was writing one of the scenes. Eternal Road is the avenue to one’s selected spot to spend eternity. The road is well-traveled...