Anna Tan's Blog, page 20

#fridayflash: Regrets (excerpt) from #homegroan: A #nutmag anthology

Catherine Chong stood in the middle of the road on Puncak Bukit Mutiara and stared at the house in front of her. It was a squat, blocky thing that didn’t look like much from the outside—standing at road level, it appeared to be a very small single-storey house with a tiny front porch.

She frowned at it, then checked the address again.

It was the right house…

But it wasn’t what she’d expected to see, not with the vague memories she still held of this place. It was supposed to be huge, palatial....

#bookreview: Domesticating Dragons | Dan Koboldt

Domesticating Dragons by Dan Koboldt
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Noah Parker needs to get into Reptilian Corporation - the genetic engineering firm headed by inventor Simon Redwood that has cracked the code to hatching real-life dragons. Or, well, synthetic reptilian predators designed from genetically-engineered reptilian genomes, but who wants to say all that?

So. Dragons.

And with his biological simulator plus an added behavioural module, Noah can help the company design family-friendly pet dragons ...

#bookreview: Payoh | Jim Tan

Payoh by Jim Tan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was bored and didn't want to read something long, so I picked this up while surfing PNM on Libby. It's a pretty quick read (Libby tells me I finished it in 1 hour 50 mins) and, other than a few bombastic words assigned to the pompous Leonardo Owl, a really easy read. It's shelved in YA, at any rate.

Payoh is about JG Chan, a retired professor, and how he met the food court cleaner, Alphonsus Goh, at the first Changi Prison Writing Workshop....

Coming Soon - Home Groan: A #NutMag Anthology! #mywriterspenang

 

We're launching Home Groan in 20 days! 
I'm especially excited since I have technically been working on this since 2019. Really. The first iteration of this project started as a combined writing workshop + writing retreat + anthology for MYWriters Penang and was written as part of my Writers at Work assignment for my MA. (P/S, I got an A okay!)
Since then, we had to split the workshops & retreat (ultimately funded by Chevening's alumni fund) from the anthology project...

#bookreview: A Castle Awakened | Sharon Rose

A Castle Awakened by Sharon Rose
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A mysteriously abandoned castle claimed by an usurping foreigner. An injured lady who refuses to divulge her identity. Strange-looking monsters that threaten their safety. Lord Tristan Petram has finally found lands he can claim as his own--but it's hard to say if he can hold on to it. Beth has found temporary safety--but at what cost?

Filled with intrigue, A Castle Awakened offers an entrancing read for anyone looking for a medieval-style ad...

#musicmonday: Truth Be Told | Matthew West

#bookreview: When You Had Power | Susan Kaye Quinn

When You Had Power by Susan Kaye Quinn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When You Had Power is a story of found family in a post-pandemic world.

Taking oft-repeated wedding vows, Quinn builds a near-future dystopia struggling through frequent pandemics, energy problems, and climate plagues, where families are formed around a legal vow of care: for better, for worse; in sickness and in health. And Lucia Ramirez desperately wants this--a family that she has chosen and has chosen her in return--in a place wh...

#musicmonday: Psalm 45 (Fairest of all) | Shane & Shane

#musicmonday: The Day That I Found God | Switchfoot

v
The morning comes like an enemy soldier I feel the weight across my shoulders I feel the shadows getting colder But that ain't you
This noose ain't getting any looser I get so fearful about the future I hear the shame of my accuser But that ain't you
I found strength but it wasn't what I thought I found peace in the places I forgot I found riches ain't the things that I had bought I found out The day I lost myself was the day that I found God
I get caught chasing my own illusions I get so lost in these confu...

#bookreview: The Girl and the Ghost | Hanna Alkaf

The Girl and the Ghost by Hanna Alkaf
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I don't quite know how to review this book.

On one hand, I enjoyed it--it is unabashedly Malaysian, it plays deeply on feelings of friendship and betrayal, loss and grief--yet, on the other hand, I put it down after the first half to go do something and I had no real desire to pick it up again to finish it off. And I really don't know why.

It's not the creepy/horror factor. However horrible or terrible the original creatures are (and ar...