Stuart Aken's Blog, page 17
October 29, 2023
My Socks Have Gone Bonkers, by Dale Neal, Illustrated by Mark Millicent #BookReview.
This charming and funny book of rhyming verse will appeal to children of all ages as well as to the childlike part of most adults. The illustrations are clever and fun, too. It’s a book your children will delight in whether reading it themselves or being read to by their favourite aunt or uncle. The …
October 28, 2023
#ScenicSaturday 28th October 2023
My photos in this continuing series show our beautiful world. Maybe they’ll encourage viewers to help save it from human carelessness. This month’s series is from our stay on the Greek island of Zakynthos. One evening we took a ‘sunset cruise’ on a small boat with about 30 other tourists. The boat was able to …
October 25, 2023
Fancy Some Fantastic New Books, Free?
The imaginative and generous independent publisher, Fantastic Books Publishing, is launching 9 new titles during the period 14th October to 4th November. There are books for all tastes here. But the point of this post is the competition accompanying the launches. You can win copies of all these books quite simply. You merely have to …
October 22, 2023
Lady Hartley’s Husbands, by Andrea Emblin #BookReview.
A real saga of a novel in which we travel through the life of the female protagonist, Irene, known to her friends as Reene, from her 16th birthday life-changing event to…well that would be spoiling the story. Let’s just say we leave her in her more mature years. There is, as the title suggests, more …
Continue reading Lady Hartley’s Husbands, by Andrea Emblin #BookReview.
October 21, 2023
#ScenicSaturday 21st October 2023
My photos in this continuing series show our beautiful world. Maybe they’ll encourage viewers to help save it from human carelessness.This month’s series is from our stay on the Greek island of Zakynthos, where we spent our 35th wedding anniversary. As with most of the Greek islands, tourism has altered the natural landscape a good …
October 20, 2023
A Suggestion in Space, by Alan R Paine: #BookReview.
Good fiction is mostly about relationships among the characters portrayed in the book. There is an underlying attitude held by some readers that science fiction is all about rockets, space wars, and/or alien beings. It’s a shame such false bias exists, since much science fiction is actually about relationships amongst people. A Suggestion in Space …
Continue reading A Suggestion in Space, by Alan R Paine: #BookReview.
October 17, 2023
Death By Column Inches, by Penny Kot: #BookReview.
Having read previous works by Penny Kot, under her other pen names, I expected to find a complex plot, with many twists and turns, populated by a cast of varied and credible characters. I was not in any way disappointed. In fact, this novel is probably her most convoluted story so far. Able to convincingly …
Continue reading Death By Column Inches, by Penny Kot: #BookReview.
October 15, 2023
Elusive Folk Tales of the Peak District, by Mark P Henderson: #BookReview.
Having read Mark’s novels, Perilaus II and Con, I was keen to see what this collection might have to offer. I was not disappointed. The variety is wide-ranging from the darkest and most murderous to the lightest and most laugh-out-loud humour. I read this under a hot sun in Greece, but could feel the damp, …
Continue reading Elusive Folk Tales of the Peak District, by Mark P Henderson: #BookReview.
October 14, 2023
#ScenicSaturday 14th October 2023
My photos in this continuing series show our beautiful world. Maybe I can encourage viewers to help save it from human carelessness. I was unable to post one of these for last Saturday. We’d just returned from a two week break from online activity, and also had our ‘Flu and Covid boosters on the Saturday. …
October 13, 2023
The Umbrellas of Hamelin, by Sue Knight, Reviewed.
Literature? Fantasy? Science Fiction? Magical Realism? All of these appear in this anthology of remarkable short stories. Sometimes the style borders on the surreal, sometimes stream of consciousness is employed, but all the tales are imaginative and thoughtful, managing to capture mood and emotional turmoil, some are terrifying cross-genre pieces that stir emotions and ideas. …
Continue reading The Umbrellas of Hamelin, by Sue Knight, Reviewed.
