S.J. Pajonas's Blog, page 91

Book Chat #36 – Star Wars And Four Audiobooks Including ARTEMIS

I finally broke my streak of no Kindle reading! Yay! Let’s get right to the goods.

What I read…

CANDY CHRISTMAS by Tracy Krimmer

I featured CANDY CHRISTMAS on the blog last week but I also wanted to include it in this Book Chat because I re-read it recently. I’m not a huge fan of holiday books but there’s something great about short stories that can be read in one sitting on Christmas break. Candy has to hold the company holiday party at her apartment and she’s got a crush on one of the young men she works with. I felt for her this entire story and it was nice to see a sweet ending. Another truly heart-warming story from Krimmer!

LOST STARS: JOURNEY TO STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS by Claudia Gray

I didn’t know what to think of this book when I first started it. It’s a YA Star Wars book about two friends, Ciena and Thane, who grow up in different class sections of their world, become Imperial officers, fall in love (the friends to lovers trope here is well done), and then one defects and fights for the Rebel Alliance. In the end, I really enjoyed this book, and Claudia Gray captured my attention so fiercely, I had trouble putting my Kindle down. And that’s hasn’t happened since I read THE FORGETTING in June. Almost six months since I read a fiction book for fun!

Things I liked about this book: seeing the events of STAR WARS, EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, and RETURN OF THE JEDI, plus more between those movies and THE FORCE AWAKENS from the viewpoint of other characters. Now I know why there’s that crashed Star Destroyer on Jakku! I also loved the chemistry between Ciena and Thane, and though I was frustrated with Ciena’s sense of duty, she was totally believable throughout. I’m definitely going to read more Star Wars books now. I have BLOODLINE and LEIA on my Kindle by the same author. I’m looking forward to them!

What I listened to…

THE ILLUMINAE FILES by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman

So I came across this book in the recommendations from DEFY THE STARS which I talked about in my last book chat. The blurb for DEFY THE STARS said, “For fans of the Illuminae Files” and I thought, “What’s that?” I must say that the two books are nothing alike, and whoever wrote that blurb needs to be fired. I had a lot of trouble getting through this audiobook. First of all, some of the voices drove me nuts. The “Briefing Note” voice sounded like they were trying to ransom someone. Then all the constant dates and different narrators confused me. It took me a long time to figure out what was going on. Another thing I didn’t like was that all the swearing was bleeped out. And there was a lot of swearing, which I don’t mind, unless it’s constantly censored and then it’s just jarring.

By the 70% mark, I was trying to get into the heads of the authors and editors and wondering why they wrote the story the way they did, which is a sign I wasn’t enjoying it to its full potential. I can’t help but think this story would’ve been so much better written in third person and for adults, not censored. By writing this story in a format of constant briefings, epistolary style, it lost a lot of the emotional connections I crave. My other biggest complaint was that it turned into a zombie book in space, and I’m really done with zombies. So, even though I listened to it to the end, and it was a good story, I won’t be continuing with the series.

TILL DEATH DO US TART by HY Hanna

This was another enjoyable mystery in the Oxford Tea Room Mysteries series! I have no complaints here. I didn’t figure out the killer ahead of time, and I was totally sucked in to the story all the way to the end. This is my favorite cozy mystery series! I need to check out HY Hanna’s other series for sure.

ARTEMIS by Andy Weir

I pre-ordered this audiobook and I was not disappointed by Andy Weir’s sophomore work one bit. I loved the moon city of Artemis. It was perfectly described to the point that I could see everything in my head. I loved Jazz Bishara to pieces. She was a much better fleshed out character than Mark Watney and I identified with her right away. This story had everything I loved: science fiction, a mystery, and a heist. I love a good heist! To top it all off, Rosario Dawson was the perfect narrator. Her delivery was so great and she nailed all the sarcastic bits. She should really do more audiobooks. She has the perfect voice for them. All in all, this is up in my favorites of the year.

STRANGE DOGS by James SA Corey

While waiting for the next book in the Expanse series to come out, I bought this novella and listened to it. It was short but I’m glad I listened to it because it takes place on the world Laconia that plays a part in PERSEPOLIS RISING, the newest book (which I’m listening to now). This story shows just how strange the life is on the other planets of the ring system, strange enough to bring back animals and people from the dead. Creepy but also really fascinating.

What have you been reading or listening to lately? Tell me in the comments!

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Sunday Update – December 24, 2017

First of all, Merry Christmas to all who celebrate! It’s Christmas Eve here and we’re taking it easy at home. Today, there’ll be Christmas cookie decorating, dinner together, maybe a Christmas movie, and lots of video game playing and reading on the couch. Definitely nothing to complain about.

I had a hard week, and I’m glad it’s over. Those of you readers who have been with me a long time remember that I used to suffer from chronic sinus infections all winter long. One after another after another. There was one winter where I had, no joke, four sinus infections in a row. UGH. And I did everything I could to prevent them. Neti pots. Essential oils. Finally, year-round antihistamines seemed to do the trick, and I had a reprieve from them for over two years. That streak was broken this past week. But I’m on antibiotics now and feeling so much better. I’m still coughing and dealing with some lingering sinus issues but I no longer feel like death. Hooray!!

With all the couch time I’ve had, I’ve been doing a fair number of things, most of all reading and listening to THE DAYDREAMER DETECTIVE RETURNS A FAVOR. I finished my first, for-fun, non-beta-read fiction ebook since the summer! And the proofreading is coming along well. And thank goodness for online grocery ordering and delivery! I wasn’t well enough to go to the store, so at least I could order online.

Looking back on Facebook and Amazon Photo memories from years past, I’m feeling all nostalgic for when my kids were young and when my parents lived within an hour’s drive. We had good holidays back then, for sure. Now my family all live far away, and we mainly spend the holiday with my husband’s family, whom I love dearly. I do miss my parents and brother around this time of year though. I’m sending them big hugs from afar, and hopefully, we’ll Skype later today.

What else happened this week?

Extended sickness meant that I spent a lot of time in bed reading and eating tons of cough drops. I went through almost an entire box of Kleenex as well.

A blurry photo but we did make it out to see the new Star Wars movie. I’m in the camp of not entirely liking it and seeing most of the flaws. Still, it was an enjoyable movie.

My husband and the kids built a gingerbread house together while I convalesced on the couch.

See a pattern here? Lol. I got my monthly Bokksu shipment and enjoyed a few snacks on the couch while I read.

As you can tell, there wasn’t much worth taking photos of this week! I hope to remedy that next week as well as get out walking again.

Coming up this week on the blog: Last Book Chat of the year, Reflections on 2017, and the end of this year’s Audiobook Challenge.

PS) I’m also testing the Scheduled posting on this blog because it messed up last week. If all goes well, this blog post will go live and everyone will get their emails. If not, there might be a little weirdness on the blog while I fix a few things. Thanks!

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I’ve Been Sick…

I’ve been sick now for two weeks. Ugh. I am single-handedly keeping Kleenex in business. Though I’m still getting work done, being creative has been hard. Coughing and blowing your nose constantly does not make for engaging writing. I still have to proofread THE DAYDREAMER DETECTIVE RETURNS A FAVOR and get that off to my secondary proofreaders and ARC Team, but that shouldn’t be too hard.

So I need a little rest time over the holidays, as you can imagine. Posting will be light here on the blog until the New Year. I wish everyone a happy holiday, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, and all the other holidays celebrated at this time of year!! I hope you enjoy the time with family or friends or you just get a little alone time with a good book.

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Featuring CANDY CHRISTMAS By Tracy Krimmer

It’s the holiday season! What can be better than picking up a cute and fun holiday story to read by the fire? I love this season, not only for the quiet reading time on the couch, but also the sweet holiday stories.

In an ongoing feature here on the blog, today, I’m featuring CANDY CHRISTMAS by Tracy Krimmer.

I asked Tracy, “Why did you write CANDY CHRISTMAS?”

She replied…

I love holiday romances. During the busy season it can be hard to find time to read, so I wanted to write a romance that could easily be read in one sitting. Candy Christmas also features a socially awkward character, one I’ve always wanted to write.

Introverted Candy didn’t ask to host the company holiday party, but that’s exactly what she’s doing. Will she go from sweet to sour when her best friend not only intrudes on her apartment, but meddles in her love life?

Check out CANDY CHRISTMAS on…
Amazon

Find Tracy Krimmer Online

Want to learn more about Tracy Krimmer? You can find her online here…

http://www.tracykrimmer.com

http://www.facebook.com/KrimmerAuthor

http://www.instagram.com/tracykrimmer

https://www.bookbub.com/authors/tracy-krimmer

http://www.twitter.com/tkrimms

https://www.facebook.com/groups/readtracykrimmer/

Do you love socially awkward characters?

I love socially awkward characters, and I really identified with Candy in this story. Tell me what you think of socially awkward characters in the comments.

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Japan Tea Shop Inspiration

When it comes to my books and Japan, tea is an important part of the story. In the Nogiku Series, Sanaa loved her coffee and Jiro loved tea. They did business at Shofu-an, the Minamoto’s tea house in Ku 6, and drank tea during negotiations. In the Miso Cozy Mysteries Series, Mei opens a tea shop where she specializes in helping her elderly clients and those around town. She loves her tea shop and everything it represents for her future.

So, when I sat down to write these books, I looked for some good inspiration on how I would picture them in my head so I could describe them for my readers. If you’d like to learn more about tea houses, definitely check out this post on . Today, I’m going to show you some of the inspirational photos I collected especially for writing THE DAYDREAMER DETECTIVE OPENS A TEA SHOP.

I love this building. It has such charm. This is how imagine most of the buildings in Chikata.

Japan-Kyoto-Uji-City-Kanbayashi-Mitsuboshi-en-Tea-Shop-and-Museum-Byodo-in-StreetView-2-April-2004 by tiarescott, on Flickr

And here are some more storefront inspirations that helped me picture Oshabe-cha, Mei’s tea shop.

Tea Shop @ Uji by Tim Yau, on Flickr

tea by henrie tsai, on Flickr

Wonderland by Lilac and Honey, on Flickr

When it comes to the inside of the shop, I really wanted to have the place be warm wood and eclectic clutter, much like Mei. Remember that she inherited Etsuko’s bento box collection from THE DAYDREAMER DETECTIVE BRAVES THE WINTER, so I picture them on shelves around the shop.

Kaikado – Tea Caddy Shop, Kyoto by Christian Kaden, on Flickr. © Christian Kaden / www.Japan-Kyoto.de

Green Tea Shop by Mathieu Thouvenin, on Flickr

tea shop by sparkle glowplug, on Flickr

Ocha no Kanbayashi, Tea Store in Uji by Christian Kaden, on Flickr. © Christian Kaden / www.Japan-Kyoto.de

I love those photos! They’re truly inspirational. Hopefully they fire up your imagination for when you read the Miso Cozy Mysteries series!

(All photos in this post are used in accordance with Creative Commons Licenses.)

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Sunday Update – December 17, 2017

This will be a light post with only a few photos because I spent most of the week sick. I haven’t been sick in 3 years so I knew this was coming, but still, it really laid me out. Two weeks ago, I had a sinus head cold, and when that cleared up, I thought I was done. But then this past week started with a chest and coughing cold that lasted all week. I did the bare minimum all week long. No real walking. No real outings if I could help it. I basically hunkered down and napped as much as possible. I dropped off the kids to school each day and then took a nap in the late morning. That was about it.

Sigh.

I did manage to stay on track with editing. Thank goodness I have a laptop I can take to bed or the couch. I think I’ll end my editing spree only one day behind, which is not too bad. I wanted to be done by the 20th and I’ll make that deadline, no problem.

Today, I’m feeling much better, though. I slept all night last night without waking up to cough. A miracle! I think tomorrow I may be near 100%. Fingers crossed!

What else happened this week?

On Monday, before I really was sick, I helped out at the school with the Holiday Shoppe for the kiddos.

Ramen while sick is IMPORTANT.

The Christmas tree at the tennis club is decorated with tennis balls, of course.

Thursday and Friday, I attended concerts at both schools. First a band mini-concert at the middle school, and then the holiday concert at the elementary school.

And here’s another pic of our Christmas tree because I was too tired to get off the couch. Lol.

Coming up this week on the blog: tea shop inspiration for The Miso Cozy Mysteries series, a look at CANDY CHRISTMAS by Tracy Krimmer, and a Book Chat!

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OZONI AND ONSENS Is Now Available In Paperback

I had a few people write to me and request a paperback version of OZONI AND ONSENS, so that’s now available for sale on Amazon.

Order your paperback of OZONI AND ONSENS now!

And for those who asked, THE DAYDREAMER DETECTIVE RETURNS A FAVOR will also be available in paperback, but not until close to its publication date in January. I publish all my paperback versions through Createspace, and they don’t allow me to set up pre-orders for my books. So I have to upload them and have them ready for the publication date instead. I appreciate your patience! Since I’m not a best seller or anything, I can’t really swing any weight around to get me pre-order capabilities. This situation has to do.

I’ll be back next week with a writing update and more!

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Let’s Make Salmon Hot Pot! – Recipe

I’m down sick with a cold and this salmon hot pot would be really awesome right now. Anyone want to drop on by and make it for me? No?

When I think of winter, I think of cold days (which I don’t like), snow (which I can’t stand), and hot pot meals (which are awesome and make up for everything else). Hot pots, or nabe as they’re called in Japan, are the best thing ever. Learn more about nabe in this post on my blog. Really, the best. A bubbling pot of delicious food set right on the table and everyone helps themselves. You don’t even have to dish it out! It’s convenient, easy, and filling, and if you’re lucky, you may even have leftovers for the next day.

Today, I’m going to share with you my favorite salmon hot pot recipe. It comes to you from this awesome cookbook, JAPANESE HOT POTS, that I highly recommend you pick up. I have it in paperback, but the Kindle edition is pretty cheap, and definitely worth your while.

I’ve been making this hot pot every winter for the past three winters so I’m going to give you my variation on it since some of the traditional vegetables are hard to find, even around here where I have access to several Asian grocery stores. It is definitely worth it to find the authentic vegetables called for in the cookbook. And if you buy the cookbook, you’ll find many more hot pot recipes and even some vegetarian ones too, that you can try. For this hot pot, I had some nice purple potatoes left over from my CSA share. They were the perfect addition to this wintery treat.

Let’s get cooking!

Stephanie’s Salmon Hot Pot Recipe (Modified)

Dashi Stock

8 cups of water

2 6-inch pieces of kombu. (This is what I use.)

Three large handfuls of shaved bonito. (This is what I use.)

Add the 8 cups of water and the kombu to a large stock pot and let it steep for 30 minutes. Placed the stock pot over medium heat and bring it to a boil. Remove the kombu. Add the three large handfuls of bonito and bring to boil. Decrease heat and let simmer for five minutes. Remove any scum from the surface. Turn off the heat and let steep for 15 minutes. Strain through a fine mesh strainer with a paper towel to catch any smaller bits of bonito. Discard flakes after using.

Salmon Hot Pot

4 cups dashi

1/2 cup white miso

1/4 cup mirin

1 medium Spanish onion, cut crosswise into thick slices

1/4 small head of Napa cabbage (approx 1/2 pound), cut into bite sized pieces

2 medium yukon gold or yellow boiling potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch thick slices

3 carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch thick slices

1/2 package firm tofu, cut into 4 pieces. (I use the Nasoya brand. You can get whatever you like.)

2 ounces of harusame (clear rice noodles), soaked in water 15 minutes. (These are a nice substitute.)

2 leeks, chopped into 1/2 thick slices

6 ounces variety of mushrooms, sliced. Shiitake, oyster, enoki, baby bella are all good choices.

1 pound salmon fillet, halved lengthwise and cut into 1/2 inch thick pieces

2 cups spinach or chopped kale

1 tablespoon salmon roe (optional)

Prepare broth by combining dashi, white miso, and mirin in a separate bowl. Whisk together and set aside.

I use my Le Creuset Enameled Cast-Iron 5-1/2-Quart Round French (Dutch) Oven. Whatever you use, don’t go smaller than that. Place the onion slices, potatoes, carrots, and cabbage at the bottom of the pot. Pour in the reserved broth. Cover and bring to a boil over high heat. Decrease heat to medium and simmer for 3 minutes.

Uncover pot. Place the tofu, harusame, leeks, and mushrooms in little separate neat bunches on top of the other ingredients. Cover the pot and simmer for 5 more minutes.

Uncover pot and arrange salmon slices on top of the other ingredients. Cover and simmer until salmon is cooked through, about 5 minutes more. As the fish cooks, press it down into the soup with chopsticks so they heat through evenly.

Add the spinach or kale, cover, and simmer for 2 more minutes. Garnish with optional salmon roe.

Transfer the pot to the dining room table being careful not to scorch your table or your hands. Pot will be VERY hot. I put down a towel and then two trivets to keep mine from burning the table. Serve ingredients together in small bowls.

Optional side dish: white rice.

If you have leftovers the next day, I have a suggestion for you. We like to boil up some soba noodles (buckwheat noodles), add them to re-heated hot pot soup, and have it for lunch. It’s delicious!

I hope you enjoy your hot pot! I’m already hungry and wanting another one right now.

Sunday Update – December 10, 2017

Another week done and closer to the end of December and 2017! This was quite a week. We had three half-days of school in a row, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, so my week was a little messed up.

Monday, we had a usual day with school in the morning and gymnastics in the afternoon. I started working on the Daydreamer 4 edits, and I went for my walk in the morning too.

Tuesday was our first half-day of the week, and I finished up my edits early so that I could take the evening off. I finished off my full Battlestar Galactica watch that evening, and I was so pleased that I got the chance to watch it all again. It took me a few months, but it was a lot of fun and worth the time. I also had a parent-teacher conference this day that went well.

Wednesday was my busiest day. There was the half-day and I had the cleaning ladies here in the morning. Then I had an extra kid in the house for the afternoon. I had to go to the parent-teacher conference for the other kid this day too. One of my kids had a Girl Scouts meeting while I took the other one to tennis, and then afterward, we were finally free. It was a long tiring day.

Thursday was our last half-day. I hit a big milestone this day, too! I finished my 100 Miles in 2017 goal! I crossed the finish line on it during my morning walk. It felt great to know that I accomplished something concrete this year that I had to work on all year long. The kids were bored in the afternoon so we watched some Supergirl together and then I told them to entertain themselves. Lol. That only sometimes works.

Friday, we had a full day! I went for a walk first thing then met up with Amy at Panera for some writing time. Then I did some grocery shopping before getting the kids from school. I made Japanese curry for dinner and actually saw my husband! Lol. He was gone or doing work-related events all week long.

This weekend I haven’t been feeling very well, so I’ve been taking it easy. My head feels like it’s stuffed with cotton and I’m constantly trying to pop my ears. I did manage to make Salmon Hot Pot yesterday, though, and I plan to post the recipe on the blog this week. Otherwise, I’ve been sitting, reading, and editing. That’s about it.

Today, my family got the Christmas tree and it’s up in the living room! I’ll enjoy it in the weeks to come.

What else happened this week?

Monday morning was foggy and my walk in the park was very moody. Lol.

I started my edits on Daydreamer 4. I should be done before Christmas.

I finished my watch of Battlestar Galactica. Starbuck was always my favorite character.

Scenes from the park. Me hanging with my heron buddy. He’s very broody. And the cattails in the lake are puffing up!

I completed my goal of walking 1000 miles in 2017!!

We got our first snow yesterday. I’m glad it’s already melting some.

Salmon Hot Pot from Saturday night turned into Salmon Hot Pot: The Second Coming for Sunday lunch. We added soba noodles for the leftovers.

And the kids helped trim the Christmas tree today! They did a great job.

On the blog this week: Salmon Hot Pot recipe and a writing/editing update. A light week this time!

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Call For Reviews! I Could Really Use Some…

Hello readers! Well, the year is coming to a close and I’ve had a chance to go back through some of my books and see which could use some reviews before we tick over to 2018.

You see, I very rarely ask for reviews. I feel it’s an organic thing and that people will leave them or not when they read a book. But looking back at the reviews I’ve gotten this year, I realized the number was a lot less than I’ve ever seen. It’s time to give them a little boost!

REMOVED, which has been free for some time and was free on Instafreebie for over a year, only got nine reviews TOTAL this whole year. And I’ve given away over 5000 copies of it, just this year. Later books in the Nogiku Series have fewer than ten reviews.

Leave a review for REMOVED

Leave a review for REVEALED

THE DAYDREAMER DETECTIVE is doing really well and has almost hit 100 reviews! Anyone out there want to give it a new review and help me get closer to this milestone?

Leave a review for THE DAYDREAMER DETECTIVE

I republished SUMMER HAIKUS and it’s stuck at 8 reviews even though I gave away 2600 copies including many to my ARC team.

Leave a review for SUMMER HAIKUS

And finally my new series could really use some reviews. CRASH LAND ON KURAI and CHAOS IN KADOMA WARD both have had a fair share of reads and sales, but very few reviews including one that complained about the romance in the second book (2-stars, but hey, he’ll read the next one! Lol. It must not have been that bad.)

Leave a review for CRASH LAND ON KURAI

Leave a review for CHAOS IN KADOMA WARD

Reviews are so important, positive or negative. Even that 2-star review will let someone know that he liked it despite the romance and that might convince someone else to read it who does like a romance sub-plot in their sci-fi. You never know! Authors like me don’t really make a lot of money doing this job, but more reviews could make the difference between getting a BookBub featured deal or not. It could make the difference between someone hitting that Buy Now button or not. It could make a difference between a book being picked up for a foreign or audiobook rights deal or not. Your review can make a difference!

Please consider taking the time to leave a quick, simple review on any of the books in my collection. Here’s a link to my Author Page on Amazon. All you have to do is click on a book, scroll down to the “Write a customer review” button, click, and leave your review. Also, if you’re a Nook, Kobo, or iBooks reader, their sites accept reviews as well. Thanks for taking the time to help me out!

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