Book Reviews

The State of the Writer: 9/18/22

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<–The State of the Writer: 9/4/22         The State of the Writer: 10/2/22–>

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: Updating background information on Scrivener

I finally finished torturing my MC along with completing the history of the world/kingdom I suppose.  The latter is kind of split amongst several Scrivener pages since it has to do with a demographic as well as several characters.  I may wind up compiling all of the notes into one history document.  It might help me figure out some loose ends, too, who can say.

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The State of the Writer: 9/4/22

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<–The State of the Writer: 8/21/22         The State of the Writer: 9/18/22–>

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: Updating background information on Scrivener

By SilviaMarti (Deactivated DA Account)

I decided my male MC wasn’t suffering enough, so I made things worse before they got better?  I can’t really say better.  It’s more just less bad?  Or probably more eventually you get used to the pain.  Anyway, I ran into another slight snag in needing to know what’s going on in the background, so I’m working on that right now.  It’s actually making the series title more relevant so I can’t complain.

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Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke

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Title: Childhood’s End
Author: Arthur C. Clarke
Date Added: April 19, 2017
Date Started: September 13, 2018
Date Finished: October 19, 2018
Reading Duration: 36 days
Genre: Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Classic

Cover of Childhood's End by Arthur C. ClarkePages: 224
Publication Date: August 1953
Publisher: Del Rey Books
Media: Paperback (Library)

The Overlords appeared suddenly over every city–intellectually, technologically, and militarily superior to humankind. Benevolent, they made few demands: unify earth, eliminate poverty, and end war. With little rebellion, humankind agreed, and a golden age began.

But at what cost? With the advent of peace, man ceases to strive for creative greatness, and a malaise settles over the human race. To those who resist, it becomes evident that the Overlords have an agenda of their own. As civilization approaches the crossroads, will the Overlords spell the end for humankind . . . or the beginning?

Childhood’s End is a Arthur C. Clarke’s vastly different take on the “alien invasion” trope.  This is no bombastic War of the Worlds or Independence Day narrative, but inversely, neither is it covert in vein of They Live or The Thing.  Because the fore mentioned narratives have the extraterrestrials show blatant hostility, one might be inclined to think they seem less ominous; however, because both the intentions and even appearance of the Overlords is unknown, their endgame could be far more malicious than any world destroying alien race.

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The State of the Writer: 8/21/22

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<–The State of the Writer: 8/7/22         The State of the Writer: 9/4/22–>

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: Updating background information on Scrivener

“The Sorrowful Lord”

I’ve spent the last week or so thinking up new ways to torture the above character, my poor main, “dark angel” Uriel. I’m very much a “make them suffer for their happy ending” type of writer even after the happy ending, because happiness doesn’t last; joy is a lie, and all shall end in despair.  I even wrote a poem about it, buuuut I’m not willing to share that yet haha.  After I finished writing about how I was going to torture him, I had to sign off for the evening, because it cut a bit close to the bone (…also literally).  There’s self-mutilation for reasons that would make anyone sad.  This was all in service of bridging the gap between my first novel and the WIP.  I had notes on it, but more details needed to be fleshed out.

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The State of the Writer: 8/7/22

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<–The State of the Writer: 7/24/22         The State of the Writer: 8/21/22–>

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: Updating character pages on Scrivener

This might be a bit bare bones this week because you have a grumpy TSN.  I stayed up until six this morning watching small animal vlogs and I didn’t wake up until seven so I’m cranky, hungry, sore, and out of sorts.  Anyway, let’s get this done.

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The Lightning God’s Wife by Grace Draven (Master of Crows)

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Title: The Lightning God’s Wife
Series: Master of Crows
Author: Grace Draven
Date Added: September 27, 2017
Date Started: October 17, 2018
Date Finished: October 19, 2018
Reading Duration: 2 days
Genre: Fantasy, Short Story, Paranormal Romance

The Lightning God's Wife coverPages: 29
Publication Date: September 17, 2014
Publisher: Self
Media: eBook/Kindle

It hasn’t rained for a quarter of a century, and a dying world gasps for water. Outcast and exiled, the rain priestess Revida rescues a man and his children as they flee from the wrath of a creator god known as the Bitter Dark. But Atagartis is more than a man, and Revida soon discovers the lover she’s known only in dreams has a purpose for her and the tearless grief she’s born for more than two decades.

This short takes place in the same world as Master of Crows, occurring after the first novel in the series.  Silhara and Martisse (the OTP) serve as a framing device for the tale at hand, as she’s telling him the story after they’re both woken up by a storm in the midst of a bad drought.

While I enjoyed reading about Silhara and Martisse again (I love when a deadpan snarker is matched with cool witticism), the Lightning God and Rain Goddess story was (ironically) kind of dry, which is a double shame because I’m pretty certain they were supposed to complement to the sorcerer and apprentice turned lovers from the first book.  The idea was good, but the execution didn’t do anything different with the motifs of *spoiler* warring sibling gods and deities falling in love with humans to whom they eventually grant apotheosis. *end spoiler*   This could be because Draven didn’t have time to flesh out these characters in this short excursion into the world, so if the story had either been longer or actually focused on Martisse and Silhara, it would’ve worked better.

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The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee (Montague Siblings #1)

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Title: The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue
Series Title: Montague Siblings
Author: Mackenzi Lee
Date Added: August 18, 2018
Date Started: September 24, 2018
Date Finished: October 16, 2018
Reading Duration: 22 days
Genre: Fantasy, Low Fantasy, Romance, Historical Fiction, Young Adult (YA), LGBTQ+

The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and VirtuePages: 513
Publication Date: June 27, 2017
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Media: eBook/Kindle

Henry “Monty” Montague was born and bred to be a gentleman, but he was never one to be tamed. The finest boarding schools in England and the constant disapproval of his father haven’t been able to curb any of his roguish passions—not for gambling halls, late nights spent with a bottle of spirits, or waking up in the arms of women or men.

But as Monty embarks on his Grand Tour of Europe, his quest for a life filled with pleasure and vice is in danger of coming to an end. Not only does his father expect him to take over the family’s estate upon his return, but Monty is also nursing an impossible crush on his best friend and traveling companion, Percy.

Still it isn’t in Monty’s nature to give up. Even with his younger sister, Felicity, in tow, he vows to make this yearlong escapade one last hedonistic hurrah and flirt with Percy from Paris to Rome. But when one of Monty’s reckless decisions turns their trip abroad into a harrowing manhunt that spans across Europe, it calls into question everything he knows, including his relationship with the boy he adores. 

CW: Contains discussions of homophobia, biphobia, racism, sexism/misogyny, ableism, and physical abuse

“Because I want you to know…that there is life after survival.”

Henry Montague or Monty, as he prefers to be called, has been allowed one last hurrah in the form of a Grand Tour of Europe by his dickhead dad before being forced to run the fore mentioned’s estates in England on pain of being disinherited.  Prior to the birth of his little brother, dubbed the “Goblin,” Monty’s status, though unwanted, was still secure as the earl had no one else to pass his title to, his only other issue being a daughter, Felicity.  Even if she could inherit, the house wouldn’t remain “in the family” insofar as she’d take the name of the man to whom she was wed.

Gif of Zendaya, a light skinned Black woman with her hair up in a bun, rolling her eyes and giving a side eye while looking off to the left

Just in case my thoughts about this were unclear…

It’s a similar situation to Samwell Tarly in ASOIAF with his father except “at least” Monty’s father isn’t threatening to kill him, only cut him off if he’s found “mucking around with boys again” (Lord Montague has no problem beating the shit out of him, though, but we’ll get to that).

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The State of the Writer: 4/3/22

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<–The State of the Writer: 3/20/22         The State of the Writer: 4/17/22–>

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

Finished Projects: 1

Project: Story
Working Title: The High Archon
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Original
Length: Novel
Current Word Count: 11,282
Prior Word Count: 11,211
Word Difference: +71
Status: Outlining
Progress: Reorganizing

I’ve never struggled so much with a story before, and it’s due to a variety of factors.  I’m sure if I was writing this a decade or so ago I would not have the issues I’m having now because a decade ago I had more energy.  While I have no shortage of ideas, the application of them takes more concentration than I can usually muster, and it’s frustrating AF.  Thank god I take notes on things, because I literally forgot an explanation/story I wrote about a major religious belief that makes perfect sense for how people would see the world, and it’s like 🤦🏾‍♀️ wtf are you doing??  So I need to stop and reorganize…again.  I need to figure out how OneNote and Scrivener are going to function in this story.  I’ve been using Scrivener for notes and OneNote for checklists, but I think I need to define better parameters.  I just hate feeling so unmoored, and I hate how I have to constantly reorganize.  It’s like my methods prior aren’t good enough and shit just becomes chaotic again.  I suppose I should expect the constant fight against entropy with the expectation that entropy will always win.

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The Books of 2021

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I’m following the same format from last year with some tweaks, because was 2021 really that different from 2020?  It’s all been just one continuous “year” hell state so let’s talk about books once more!

Favorite Book

Cover of House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas (Crescent City)

House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas (Crescent City #1)

This book hit every single one of my buttons: fallen angel/general turned slave/assassin with a half-human, half-fae lady is just the jumping (falling?) off point.  It really made me wonder if there was just a satchel of tropes that come with fallen/dark angel characters because I’m noticing patterns between this, Nalini Singh’s Guild Hunter series, FFVII, my own writing, Constantine (the film), and a slew of other narratives with them.  Like wtf is going on?  It’s something I definitely want to research down the line.

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The State of the Writer: 3/20/22

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<–The State of the Writer: 3/6/22         The State of the Writer: 4/3/22–>

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

Finished Projects: 0

Project: Story
Working Title: The High Archon
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Original
Length: Novel
Current Word Count: 11,211
Prior Word Count: 11,215
Word Difference: -4
Status: Editing Chapter 1 and adding in macro edits from notes
Progress: Chapter 2

I did add some words, but it looks like I cut out a few more than I did, which I’m totally okay with.  My note to myself is to just keep editing from where I left off, but I feel like I might need to so some organization sessions.  I just don’t like how my notes are currently on OneNote.  It probably doesn’t help that I have this both there and on Scrivener.  OneNote is mostly for “To Do” lists and reminders whereas Scrivener is for more honed and organized thoughts.  Because I can update OneNote on my phone and it’ll sync to the computer app and I haven’t figured out how to do that with Scrivener yet.

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