Adan Ramie's Blog, page 44
April 25, 2015
Review 6 | TBR Pile Challenge | The Swarm by Arthur Herzog
This will be the sixth book I’ve reviewed for the 2015 TBR Pile Challenge. I’m happy to report that I actually really enjoyed it!
The Swarm by Arthur Herzog was published in 1974. (The movie based on it actually has Michael Caine in the leading role, which was actually a bit of really terrible casting by Warner Brothers.)
This story gripped me from the back cover. It starts with a news report:
FAMILY ATTACKED BY BEES—TWO KILLED MARYVILLE, N.Y. Sept. 26 (AP)—A family of five on an outing in a...
April 20, 2015
Word a Week | Week # 7
Welcome to theseventh installment of Word a Week. I hope you enjoyed Week #6.
In writing a recent book review, I had to look up this word to make sure I was using it correctly. I’m not sure where I learned it, but I love it, and I plan to use it more often.
This week’s word is:
amalgamation– [əˌmalgəˈmāSHən] (noun) 1. the action, process, or result of combining or uniting.
Feel free to use it as a writing prompt for a storyoran amusing or insightful anecdote related to the word, and post itin...
April 13, 2015
Word a Week | Week #6
Welcome to thesixth installment of Word a Week. I hope you enjoyed Week #5.
Computer networking is not something I’m particularly interested in, but it is a significant portion of my degree. I have so far taken four classes on the subject, and this topic comes up a lot in relation to frames as they are prepared, sent, and received.
This week’s word is:
encapsulate– [en-kap-suh-leyt] (verb) 1. to place in or as if in a capsule. 2. to summarize or condense. 3. to become enclosed in or as if in...
April 9, 2015
Amenities | Short Fiction in Paper Tape Magazine
Paper Tape Magazine published a short story of mine today. It’s called “Amenities,” and it is based in the universe (and on one of the main characters of) my novel-in-progress, Maladaptation.
Check it out here:
April 6, 2015
Word a Week | Week #5
Welcome to thefifth installment of Word a Week. I hope you enjoyed Week #4.
Since this will be the second month for WaW, I’d like to ask for some feedback. Are the words I pick inspiring? Do I need to turn it up a notch? Any suggestions?
This week’s word is:
pastoral– [pas-ter-uhl] (adjective) 1.having the simplicity, charm, serenity, or other characteristics generally attributed to rural areas. 2. pertaining to the country or to life in the country; rural; rustic. (noun) 3. a poem, play, or...
April 3, 2015
Novel Progress | A Maladaptation Update
What can I say about the progress I’m making on Maladaptation, my darling WIP? It’s slow.
I realized some shocking things about my story recently. Namely, I was on the wrong path. And, what’s better (worse?), I may be telling this story from the wrong point-of-view. Or, rather, I may have missed a key point-of-view while I was writing the original drafts. So there’s a lot of work still to be done.
Part of me thinks I need to include this in the growing list of stories about the detective, thi...
April 1, 2015
It Was Me All Along by Andie Mitchell | Blogging for Books Review #3
The cover of this book got my attention immediately among the dozen or so other book images that I perused.There stands alittle girl, the waves rolling inon the serene beach scene behind her; the bright, snaggletooth grin on her face as sunny as the day on which the picture was taken.Despite that, you can see her struggle immediately, a problem that one can only imagine will follow her into adulthood. Childhood obesity, as all of us know, has been a problem in America (and other developed cou...
March 30, 2015
Word a Week | Week #4
Welcome to thefourth installment of Word a Week. I hope you enjoyed Week #3.
This week’s word comes from my Micrsoft Access textbook, because all I do anymore is study and it’s muddying up my thought patterns.
This week’s word is:
criterion– [krahy-teer-ee-uhn] 1. (noun)a standard of judgment or criticism; a rule or principle for evaluating or testing something.
Feel free to use it as a writing prompt for a storyoran amusing or insightful anecdote related to the word, and post itin the commen...
March 27, 2015
Spring, Texas | WOW 555 Flash Fiction Challenge
In a stroke of luck, I managed to finish repairing the family toilet AND get this story written for the WOW555 Challenge before the week was up, and the deadline had passed. Hooray for productivity.
A warning and a disclaimer may be in order for this dark tale:
It’s dark. The subject matter is maddeningly cruel. Discretion is advised. The story, characters, and events depicted within are purely fiction, and any resemblance to reality are coincidental.
Spring, Texas
He said nothing ever happe...
March 25, 2015
Eureeka! | Banishing Black Holes in the Novel
It happened to me a few nights ago while I was trying to get to sleep. It slipped into my ear and slammed against my brain, like a roundhouse kick to my grey matter, and I knew what I had to do.
Wait, let me back up.
For the past week (or two), I have had some trouble sleeping. Either I couldn’t turn my brain off (though what it was actually thinking about is beyond me), or I would doze off, just to have some GIGANTIC DEMON SPIDER FROM THE NETHERWORLD crawl across my wall. Needless to say, th...
