Author: The Shameful Narcissist

The State of the Reader: 5/31/23

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 1 Comment

<–The State of the Reader: 3/8/23         The State of the Reader: 6/14/23–>

A biweekly post updated every other Wednesday detailing my current reading projects and what new titles I’ve added to my to-read list.  Title links go to Goodreads, and if you have an account there feel free to friend me!  I’d love to see what you’re reading and/or planning to read.

Books Purchased: 11

Total: $90.47

Books Finished: 0

Books DNF’d: 1

Title: Dark Planet Warriors: The Complete Serial
Series: Dark Planet Warriors
Author: Anna Carven
Date Added: March 35, 2023
Date Started: March 31, 2023
Date DNF: May 14, 2023
Percentage Completed: 70%

Cover of Dark Planet Warriors: The Complete SerialMedia: eBook/Kindle/Library

Oh my god this book was bad.  It was so bad.  SO SO bad lol.

“Why did you read so much of it then, TSN?”

Continue reading →

The State of the Writer: 5/28/23

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 1 Comment

<–The State of the Writer: 4/16/23         The State of the Writer: 6/11/23–>

A post updated every other Sunday discussing my current writing projects and any completed the prior two weeks.

Finished Projects: 1

Project: Story/Series
Working Title: The High Archon (The Truth Seeker Chronicles)
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Original
Length: Novel
Current Word Count: 11,282
Status: Reorganizing
Progress: Preparing to review draft

I’ll talk about my horrendous schedule later below, but right now my goal is to get back to drafting.  My last post was almost a month ago, and once again I got lost in the weeds of worldbuilding.  I had to step back and ask myself what my goal was and why I’d stopped drafting in the first place, and while the answer was I needed more background, like the obsessive I am, I went overboard.  Yes, I might need these extensive notes at some point, but I don’t need all these details right now, and I could work on some things concurrently as I’m drafting.  So the plan is to review what I have written and figure out what I directly need to hash out and if I haven’t already then do so.

Continue reading →

The Stillness of the Sky by Starla Huchton (Flipped Fairy Tales #2) (DNF)

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 1 Comment

Title: The Stillness of the Sky
Series: Flipped Fairy Tales
Author: Starla Huchton
Date Added: August 16, 2017
Date Started: November 21, 2018
Date DNF: November 23, 2018
Reading Duration: 2 days
Genre: Fantasy, Fairy Tales (Retellings), Romance, Young Adult (YA)

Cover of The Stillness of the Sky by Starla Huchton (Flipped Fairy Tales)Pages: 322
Publication Date: January 7, 2015
Publisher: Self
Media: eBook/Kindle

Once upon a time, my life was certain: it was insignificant, and it was cruel. But I refused to let it define me, no matter how great the cost.

Once upon a time, I made a wish. The world I knew grew wider than the sky and higher than the stars, and I listened to the voice within me, reaching out for freedom.

Once upon a time, my wish became my fate, and my destiny the hardest lesson to learn: kindness may be the most difficult path, but it can save entire kingdoms.

This is a “Jack and the Beanstalk with a different gender retelling,” which has never been one of my favorite fairytales.  I don’t hate it, but I could never be completely on Jack’s side.  I mean he did break into someone’s house and steal their shit so why wouldn’t the giant be angry about that?

As with most fairytale MC’s the mother is absent, though this time not dead.  She left when Jack was younger, leaving her with an abusive and alcoholic father, though apparently this was by Jack’s own choice, because if she’d gone with her “who would’ve taken care of the animals” 🙄.  Of course there needs to be a catalyst for a story (had Jack gone with her mother there wouldn’t be a plot), and I think Huchton is trying to say it wasn’t that the mother didn’t want her, but rather Jack made her own (poor) choices, but it’s pretty infuriating.

Continue reading →

The State of the Writer: 4/16/23

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 2 Comments

<–The State of the Writer: 3/19/23         The State of the Writer: 5/28/23–>

A post updated every other Sunday discussing my current writing projects and any completed the prior two weeks.

Finished Projects: 0

Project: Story/Series
Working Title: The High Archon (The Truth Seeker Chronicles)
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Original
Length: Novel
Current Word Count: 11,282
Status: Reorganizing & Worldbuilding
Progress: Adding more background notes to Scrivener

This is why it takes me forever to do anything…I spent about half an hour on Pinterest because I got distracted then I had to look for the source because nobody fucking includes sources and it’s like grrrr.  Sorry, I know to some it seems like nbd but when you don’t include a source the artist doesn’t get credit, and it’s…just a whole thing.

Continue reading →

The State of the Writer: 3/19/23

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 2 Comments

<–The State of the Writer: 3/5/23         The State of the Writer: 4/16/23–>

A post updated every other Sunday discussing my current writing projects and any completed the prior two weeks.

Finished Projects: 1

Project: Story/Series
Working Title: The High Archon (The Truth Seeker Chronicles)
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Original
Length: Novel
Current Word Count: 11,282
Status: Reorganizing & Worldbuilding
Progress: Working on tangential ideas

I don’t remember where I found this picture.  Maybe on Pinterest or Twitter?  It was probably Pinterest because that’s where I have it saved and of course there’s no source ugh.  He’s probably from some game or manga I should know about but don’t.  Anyway, I immediately thought he looked like he’d make a beautiful bride and I wanted to write about him lol.  Because my brain will just hyperfixate on something and stay with it until I take enough notes to appease the shit sponge, I’m currently writing some background for this.  Will it make its way into my WIP?  Who TF knows.

Continue reading →

Bear With Me: The Lost Robots

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 1 Comment
More video game reviews and analyses can be found here.

Title: Bear With Me: The Lost Robots
Series: Bear With Me
Genre: Point-and-Click, Puzzle, Mystery
Developer: Exordium Games

System: Nintendo Switch
Release Date: August 8, 2016

Bear With Me is a point-and-click adventure developed by Exordium Games, an Croatian indie studio founded in 2014.  The original was released in three episodes in August 2016 with this particular part, a prequel, The Lost Robots dropping in July of 2016.  All of the iterations are best described as “episodic noir adventure games,” drawing obvious inspiration from the genre of film noir (per Wikipedia).

This was one of those games where I absolutely loved the demo, immediately bought it, and then instantly forgot about it.  Since I’m nearly always in the middle of playing something (often more than one something), I won’t start another game right away, but I want to be able to as soon as a “slot” opens up.  The main issue is I only have so much energy, including emotional energy, to dedicate to something, and once I’m in I’m all in.  Granted Bear With Me was more relaxing than taxing, but you don’t necessarily know that beforehand.

The aesthetic of the game is perfect for the film noir mien with everything in black and white,

and the voice acting is excellent.  Ted, or Ted E. Bear, the one referenced in the title, has the hardboiled detective persona down pat.  His voice has a bit of a flat effect, but it fits the character of the jaded PI.

Continue reading →

The State of the Gamer: 3/9/23

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 1 Comment

<–The State of the Gamer: 12/15/22           The State of the Gamer: 3/23/23–>

A weekly post updated every other Thursday detailing my current gaming projects.  I have an account at Grouvee, which is a site you can use to keep track of your backlog, so please feel free to friend me there!

Games Demoed: 1

  • Octopath Traveler II – I knew I was going to buy it, but I wanted to demo it first anyway.  I wound up finding a $50 Nintendo eShop during the move so I paid a lot less for it than I would’ve.  I figured it would be good to have an another game to play when I wasn’t in the mind frame for Harvestella, especially in the seasonal farm planning phases for that game, which is what I’m in now.

Games Purchased: 6

  • Astronomical Club for Queers $1.99 ($0.00) @ Nintendo eShop – I will pretty much buy anything that’s queer/gay lol.  Especially when it’s this inexpensive.  Even if I don’t like the game putting money into the hands of queer (or at least queer friendly) indie devs is one of my top priorities.
  • Mozart Requiem $7.49 ($5.19) @ Nintendo eShop – I almost didn’t buy this because I’m not 100% certain about it.  There’s something in the description about a time limit and TSN doesn’t roll like that lol.  But it was on sale and I had points so if I don’t like it, it’s only $5 lost, and there’s a good chance I’ll like it since I’m a music fan.
  • Japanese Escape Games: The Retro House $6.99 @ Nintendo eShop – I’m really glad this was super cheap because I haven’t been that into it.  The puzzles aren’t that intuitive and the help isn’t that helpful.
  • Japanese Escape Games: The Mansion of Tricks $6.99 @ Nintendo eShop – Same issue as the other JEG.  I’m not going to give up on them entirely since I do love point-and-click puzzle escape games, but if I find better ones on my iPhone I tend to go back to them.
  • Nancy Drew: The Captive Curse $3.49 @ Nintendo eShop
  • Octopath Traveler II $59.99 ($13.59) @ Nintendo eShop – I love finding gift cards.
Total: $86.94 ($36.25)

Continue reading →

The State of the Reader: 3/8/23

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 6 Comments

<–The State of the Reader: 12/14/22         The State of the Reader: 5/31/23–>

A biweekly post updated every other Wednesday detailing my current reading projects and what new titles I’ve added to my to-read list.  Title links go to Goodreads, and if you have an account there feel free to friend me!  I’d love to see what you’re reading and/or planning to read.

Books Purchased: 10

Total: $19.21

Books Finished: 3

Title: The Cruel Prince
Series: The Folk of the Air
Author: Holly Black
Date Added: August 1, 2019
Date Started: October 31, 2022
Date Finished: January 3, 2023

Media: eBook/Kindle

I had mixed feelings about this one.  For the most part I liked it: enemies to lovers, slow burn, and all that, but some of the shit Jude did was so unbelievably stupid it was hard to suspend my disbelief.  Yes, even beyond the foolishness most YA protagonists do.  There’s also something about the world building that bothers me, but I can’t put my finger on it.  It’s meant to show how common the weirdness of faerie is for Jude and her twin sister, but it almost makes it come off as shallow as opposed to just every day strangeness.  I put the next book on my TBR list, but I don’t know when I’m going to get to it.

Note: I’m just going to list out the other two books I finished since I started them after I put this post on impromptu hiatus.  Sorry, I just have a lot of catching up to do and lack the time and energy to do my regular detailed post.

Continue reading →

The State of the Writer: 3/5/23

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 2 Comments

<–The State of the Writer: 12/11/22         The State of the Writer: 3/19/23–>

A post updated every other Sunday discussing my current writing projects and any completed the prior two weeks.

Finished Projects: 2

Project: Story/Series
Working Title: The High Archon (The Truth Seeker Chronicles)
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Original
Length: Novel
Current Word Count: 11,282
Status: Reorganizing & Worldbuilding
Progress: Updating Scrivener with details about merfolk

I have been on this merfolk/seafolk kick for a good two or three months now.  I already had ideas about hybrids in the series combined with needing to create lore for people who live by the sea on the other side of a mountain, and I was able to tie that in with other previous lore.  I’m at the part where I put everything into Scrivener, which is the last step, but I still have at least two other demographics to do after this.  Eh, slow progress is still progress.

Continue reading →

Blister by Jeff Strand

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 1 Comment

Title: Blister
Author: Jeff Strand
Date Added: October 1, 2017
Date Started: November 12, 2018
Date Finished: November 20, 2018
Reading Duration: 8 days
Genre: Thriller, Horror, Suspense, Dark, Humor

Cover of Blister by Jeff StrandPages: 275
Publication Date: June 21, 2016
Publisher: Sinister Grin Press
Media: eBook/Kindle

They call her Blister. She’s a hideously disfigured twenty-three year-old woman, living in a shed next to her father’s house, hidden away from the world.

Jason Tray is a successful cartoonist, banished to his agent’s lakeside cabin for a few days of mandatory rest and relaxation. One night, while hanging out with a couple of the locals at a dive bar, he takes them up on their offer to go “see Blister,” having no idea what they’re talking about.

He peeks through the window at the most nightmarish thing he’s ever seen.

In the morning, he wakes up, hung over and regretful. He’s better than this. He needs to…apologize?

From the Bram Stoker Award-nominated author of PRESSURE, DWELLER, and WOLF HUNT comes a tale of fiendish secrets, ghastly crimes, and human monsters.

Blister’s premise is a bit of a bait-and-switch, and it kind of has to be.  You can’t squeeze a 275 page story out of a man being an asshole to a disfigured woman and then apologizing the next day.  Obvious questions about how she became disfigured come up, as well as why the hell she’s living in a shed, and just when you think all the questions that can be answered are, something else happens to keep the story interesting.

Continue reading →