Anna Tan's Blog, page 48
May 1, 2018
#bookreview: Frost | Selah Tay-Song
Frost: Tales of QaiMaj Vol I by Selah J Tay-SongMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Despite the longish "time left in book" you see when you open Frost, the book is really a quick read--if you've read Dream of a Vast Blue Cavern, that is.
The first 40% of this compilation consists of 6 brand-new short stories that explore various aspects of life in QaiMaj, along with a short commentary from Tay-Song. The second part is a preview of Dream of a Vast Blue Cavern, the first in the Dreams of QaiMaj series, plu...
April 29, 2018
#AtoZChallenge: Zilch
Z is for Zilch because that’s what I’ve got for you today.
I think I was overly ambitious (as I always am) because I sometimes need goals to push myself.
But I also forget that sometimes downtime is also necessary, goals or no.
I think I was overly ambitious (as I always am) because I sometimes need goals to push myself.
But I also forget that sometimes downtime is also necessary, goals or no.
April 27, 2018
#AtoZChallenge: Young -- or when Rahsia was young
I don't know if I'm going to keep this, but I like it well enough. It's sort a continuation from Rahsia. (With some stuff in between but eh.)
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Nek proved hard to corner that evening, though Rahsia tried as hard as she could to speak to her away from her mother. She couldn’t figure out whether it was Mak who kept hovering over them or if it was Nek who kept steering them to Mak, but every time Rahsia was alone with Nek and was about to ask her about what Iman’s mother had said, she’d find tha...
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Nek proved hard to corner that evening, though Rahsia tried as hard as she could to speak to her away from her mother. She couldn’t figure out whether it was Mak who kept hovering over them or if it was Nek who kept steering them to Mak, but every time Rahsia was alone with Nek and was about to ask her about what Iman’s mother had said, she’d find tha...
April 26, 2018
#AtoZChallenge: Xenial
X is always a problem. Sigh. Anyway, xenial: "of, relating to, or constituting hospitality or relations between host and guest and especially among the ancient Greeks between persons of different cities", so here’s a bit about the hospitality of the nomads.
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Adam looked around the camp as they were led in. It was smaller than the camps along the Pilgrim’s Trail, the dull tents making it seem bleak. Bedraggled children peeked out from tents only to be pulled back by anxious parents. They were...
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Adam looked around the camp as they were led in. It was smaller than the camps along the Pilgrim’s Trail, the dull tents making it seem bleak. Bedraggled children peeked out from tents only to be pulled back by anxious parents. They were...
#AtoZChallenge: What I Wrote Today
Also, what on earth am I writing =.=
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The next day, Rahsia doesn’t get to resume her lessons, though. She’d had to head in to the shop, and by the time she reaches Iman’s apartment in the afternoon, she walks in to find Ahmad there. He jumps to his feet defensively when she enters.
“What’re you doing here?” he asks.
“I could ask you that same question,” she replies dryly.
“I’m their father.”
“Estranged father.”
“So I haven’t been around. Does that mean I should never get to see them?”
Rahsia wants...
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The next day, Rahsia doesn’t get to resume her lessons, though. She’d had to head in to the shop, and by the time she reaches Iman’s apartment in the afternoon, she walks in to find Ahmad there. He jumps to his feet defensively when she enters.
“What’re you doing here?” he asks.
“I could ask you that same question,” she replies dryly.
“I’m their father.”
“Estranged father.”
“So I haven’t been around. Does that mean I should never get to see them?”
Rahsia wants...
April 24, 2018
#AtoZChallenge: Visions (snippets of the current WIP)
Rahsia scrabbles at the last of her dreams. She’s built her life around a lie. Now that it has all been taken away, she has nothing. Everything she’s been doing in between has been waiting. Waiting for her destiny. Now she has no career, no prospects, no training that would be useful for anything. What use is knowing how to shield her mind to prospective employers? How useful is unravelling a dream to anyone but a priest or a Secretkeeper? What in Trikingdom can she earn by knowing how to ski...
April 23, 2018
#AtoZChallenge: Update for #campnanowrimo
Sooooooo I've been dreadfully behind on my Camp NaNoWriMo goals, even though I've already reduced it drastically.
But yesterday, I did this.
So it's all good, at least until I have to hit my next goal tomorrow.
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Rahsia wakes up with a crick in her neck. She doesn’t recall why she’s sleeping on the floor in such an awkward position. It’s not as if she fell asleep drunk last night, unless the priest had spiked her tea. He wouldn’t have done that. He couldn’t have done that either, unless he’d br...
But yesterday, I did this.
So it's all good, at least until I have to hit my next goal tomorrow.
---
Rahsia wakes up with a crick in her neck. She doesn’t recall why she’s sleeping on the floor in such an awkward position. It’s not as if she fell asleep drunk last night, unless the priest had spiked her tea. He wouldn’t have done that. He couldn’t have done that either, unless he’d br...
April 22, 2018
#AtoZChallenge: Tulen (an excerpt from Secretkeeper)
Rahsia pushes the problem aside when she reaches the Iman’s apartment building. Iman lives—lived—in a small one-room flat on the second floor. It’s poorly maintained, the once-white paint now a dirty, peeling grey. There are weird greenish fungus patches in various corners. There’s rubbish strewn along the hallway and up the stairs. She has to pick her way through the dirt. It’s not as if this is the first time Rahsia has seen it—she comes over often to take care of the children during the we...
April 20, 2018
#AtoZChallenge: Secretkeeper
Secretkeeper first started out with the thought:
What do you do with the secrets you keep?
I’d originally wanted to do an urban literary type story about a girl—one of those quiet types who are great listeners—that’s feeling bogged down by all the secrets she has to keep because people keep telling her things and being trusted to keep them secret. It was supposed to be set in Penang, because why not write about the place I actually live in, huh?
But… I couldn’t get the story to move. Nothing wo...
I’d originally wanted to do an urban literary type story about a girl—one of those quiet types who are great listeners—that’s feeling bogged down by all the secrets she has to keep because people keep telling her things and being trusted to keep them secret. It was supposed to be set in Penang, because why not write about the place I actually live in, huh?
But… I couldn’t get the story to move. Nothing wo...
April 19, 2018
#AtoZChallenge: Rahsia
Secrets are a burden.
Rahsia had known that since she was seven and her teacher had stared when she said her name was Rahsia binti Abdullah. The teacher asked if that was really her father’s name, but hadn’t said why, so Rahsia asked her mother when she got home in the afternoon.
“That’s none of her business,” her mother replied with venom.
“But what does she mean, Mak? Why would she ask that?” Rahsia pressed, confused though she had never known her father. Maybe now Mak would tell her about him...
Rahsia had known that since she was seven and her teacher had stared when she said her name was Rahsia binti Abdullah. The teacher asked if that was really her father’s name, but hadn’t said why, so Rahsia asked her mother when she got home in the afternoon.
“That’s none of her business,” her mother replied with venom.
“But what does she mean, Mak? Why would she ask that?” Rahsia pressed, confused though she had never known her father. Maybe now Mak would tell her about him...
