Anna Tan's Blog, page 111

Friday Flash, A to Z, Divergent, Books and rambling about everything else!

I was thinking of doing a Friday Flash, but I think I need to concentrate on working out my A to Z posts. I'm working on E right now, and it seems the Elves want to fight over some obscure treaty or covenant that the men (or rather, the one man in trouble) have no clue about. I still have a long way to go and looking at the rate I've been writing... this does not bode well.

In other news, I've just watched Divergent. And Four, oh, Foooouuuurrrrrrr. *sigh* I don't know if I would fangirl enough...

Narratives: Who am I?

We've reached Exodus as part of our cell group's Bible study, and I stayed up until 2 a.m. on Monday night (uh, I mean Tuesday morning?) prepping slides (and getting distracted by YouTube and Dreamworks' Prince of Egypt) because I felt like it (totally unnecessary, but oh well). And now I'm staying up late Tuesday night, after said cell group, writing this. (Why, I wonder, why? Why can't I just go to sleep like a normal person?)

Moses' questions and protests (Read Exodus 3 and 4) when he was c...

#atozchallenge: the great and awesome theme reveal! #atozreveal

Back in December I was on a nature walk (haha, so unlike me) with my uncle’s family up in Cradle Mountain, Tasmania. Part of the trail was covered in planks, and it was pretty cold (at 6am!!) so there was frost on the ground. It was pretty magical. My head started filling with fairy stories, and then it struck me - how come all the cold places have really nice fairy tales? (Or at least Disney-fied ones?) Eastern folk tales seem to be more gory and scary and not (yet) cleaned up for kids - the...

Print version of Imaginary Friends launches this Saturday!

LAST MINUTE EXCITING NEWS!!!!

Because I'm just SO bad at keeping up with everybody and everyone, I just realised that my friend Melanie Lee is launching the print version of her book Imaginary Friends: 26 Fables for the kid in us this Saturday, 2pm at the Putrajaya International Book Festival.

And I can't go because I've been making lunch plans AND tea plans like crazy.

So if you're somewhere in the Klang Valley, and are planning to go for the book fair, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE go and support...

#bookreview: God's Loophole by Dan Rix

God's Loophole by Dan Rix
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Jeremy Rockwell has built the bubble - a prototype machine that isolates users from reality, letting them directly experience quantum effects, such as manipulate individual atoms. Rockwell brings in his girlfriend, the mysterious Raedyn Summers, and his brother, sports jock Gabriel, as business partners in his new tech start up.

Fighting against time to produce results for their backers, Raedyn and Gabriel spend more and more time using the machi...

When an airplane disappears

Tick.
Time seems to stand still.
Eternities passed before the next -
Tock.
piece of news filtered
in, which didn't say much either. When
Tick.
will daddy come home?
The children ask, not knowing the pain,
Tock.
the anguish it brings
in its innocence. Wait and hope, wait-
Tick.
and pray, wait and wait
For the miracle that may never
Tock.
happen. But may. 'Cos
no one knows yet. And maybe no news
Tick.
is good news or no
news is worse news. I guess it depends.
Tock.

---

Because fiction is how I deal with thoughts I am...

In search of my innate Malaysian voice

I don't listen much to TED talks, but this caught my eye whilst browsing Facebook.

I identify with her in many ways, growing up reading British and American books, growing up writing stories that have a very Western slant in my extremely Asian surroundings. I believe it was Shamini Flint (or was it Preeta Samarasan?) who talked about something like this as well in last year's Georgetown Literary Festival, questioning why there aren't stories about our Malaysian experience, about the thing...

#bookreview: The Reluctant Prophet by Nancy Rue

The Reluctant Prophet: A Novel by Nancy Rue
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Reminiscent of Charles Sheldon's In His Steps, The Reluctant Prophet follows the story of Allison Chamberlain as she gets a divine nudge to do crazy things - like buy that Harley Davidson she doesn't even know how to ride. And care for that broken prostitute and her loud-mouthed son who have just lost their father and grandfather. Allison isn't always certain that she's hearing God's voice right, but that doesn't stop her from...

#fridayflash: Son of the Sun, a snippet

He walked on unseeingly until he had passed far beyond the town before he stopped and looked around him. The verdant forest around him hummed with life and he stood in awe as he watched birds of bright colours flash across the skies above him, lighting from branch to branch. He leaned against a large rock, listening to the stream that bubbled nearby. He wanted to plunge into the water, to hide his pain and disappointment in the hands that had held him all this time. He wanted to float on its...

#bookreview: The Mind Readers & The Mind Thieves by Lori Brighton

The Mind Readers by Lori Brighton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Cameron Winters has always been the freak mind reader trying desperately to appear normal. Then one day, Lewis shows up and tells her that there are others like her. Defying her grandmother, whose only wish is to protect her, she runs away with Lewis for the promise that Aaron, her father's friend, will be able to teach her all that she needs to know about how to use her powers and to protect herself.

I downloaded this on one of my frequ...