The Cosmic Dance

News flash: The scheduled post on this blog has been interrupted to bring you a special feature on the occasion of International Dance Day.

I’ve been planning to write a post on dance from a really long time as I’m very passionate about it, but it never came together – until now. April 29th being International Dance Day, it has provided the perfect opportunity for me to talk about dance. As Friday is the day I normally post fiction, I’ve combined the two themes and decided to present the story of Lord Shiva’s cosmic dance. This is my interpretation of the ancient myth.

Fictional Fridays #10

My college life is taking up all of my time these days and with my exams approaching, I’ve had no time to churn out new stories. For what’s left of April and for three weeks of May, I won’t be posting on Mondays. Vocab Wednesdays will make a comeback in May and I will be posting fiction on Fridays. This is an unfinished novel I’d entered as my Camp NaNo project in July 2013. It’s filled with terrible clichés, but I was pretty inexperienced back then and I didn’t have a lot of original ideas. Although I’m not very proud of it, I’ve learnt a lot from it and it’s actually not all that bad for an 18-year-old. Plus, I love the covers! Then again, my pseudonym needs a bit of work.

Book Review: AMBER WAKE – Gabriel Falling

Genre: Historical Fiction

Series: The Razor’s Adventures Pirate Tales

Stars: 5 out of 5 stars

Setting: London, 1705

Favourite Quote: ‘He was, to me, an extension of myself. Perhaps he was speaking to me from somewhere inside of my mind that I didn’t want to listen to…’

AMBER WAKE – Gabriel Falling (Goodreads | Amazon) is an action-packed adventure that narrates the tale of Captain Gabriel Wallace, who, along with his loyal crew, takes on a life of piracy following his court-martial. It explores the themes of revenge and character transformation brought upon by desperate circumstances.

I finished this book in a little more than a day, which in itself is a reflection of how enjoyable it is. It is fast-paced and easily turns into a movie in front of one’s eyes as the sea battles and raging storms paint quite a picture. The plot is solid and well-worked out. The characters are a delight to get to know. I could relate especially to Maddox Carbonale, a young, resourceful man with a rebellious streak who helps out Gabriel in several situations. But the character I loved the most was that of Miles Jacobs, who is Gabriel’s best friend and first mate. His character arc is beautifully written.

It is a tall order to get the first person POV right, but the authors manage to do it perfectly. I took some time to get used to the Old English language and pirate tongue. A little nautical knowledge is a pre-requisite, in my opinion.

To sum up, the book was a thrilling ride and I’d recommend it to anyone who likes the genre or has enjoyed a pirate tale and fans of Disney’s The Pirates of the Caribbean.

The Authors:

P. S. Bartlett (Goodreads)

Ronovan Hester (Goodreads | Blog)

I received this book from the author, Ronovan Hester, in exchange for my honest review.

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I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Mr. Ronovan Hester through his WordPress blog. He runs a Haiku challenge and a fiction prompt challenge on a weekly basis. His prompts have brought out several good pieces of fiction from me. His support and advice have encouraged me in my writing journey. When I was offered a chance to read his debut novel, I ceased it immediately. I loved the writing style, the characters and the emotional as well as the moral conflict in the book. I’d recommend it to everyone reading this post (as long as you’re comfortable reading fiction). To all the avid readers, writers and poets out there, don’t forget to check out his blog (link provided above).

Fictional Fridays #9

I wrote another 200 words this week, but getting the exact word count was quite a challenge. I don’t know how to take this further, so feel free to offer some advice in the comments. Also, I hope that this comes as a surprise after where I stopped last time. If you haven’t read that, check it out here – Fictional Fridays #8.

A Little Less Lonely Tag

I was just searching around the Internet for fun book tags to do when I stumbled upon ‘A Little Less Lonely’ book tag by BookTuber Emma Tobias. It’s an old tag (original video published in November 2014) but I watched it a few hours ago and found that I could rattle off answers without too much effort. So, let’s dive right into it.

Fictional Fridays #8

I set myself a word count of 200 for this one and managed to hit the exact number. I’m planning to continue it, although writing outside of my Camp NaNoWriMo project is next to impossible. This is an old idea that I’m bringing to life now, so I do hope I can finish, unlike countless others that I couldn’t.

Alive by Night – Part 1

Trystan was sure he’d locked the gate and barred the doors, but the quiet sounds of sobbing coming from his office shattered his belief. His body froze as fear coursed through his veins. The delayed tingle of adrenaline freed his limbs and he shrugged off the mounting anxiety to tiptoe his way to the bedroom door. He paused and listened.  The voice was definitely a woman’s and the sniffling was accompanied by sounds of choking. Alarmed, he took the last few brave steps and switched on the lights of the adjacent room.

He scanned the room for signs of life, but there were none. It was as empty as he’d left it before he’d turned in for the night. Becoming increasingly disturbed, he walked the length and breadth of the room, trying to find the distressed lady, but it appeared as if she didn’t exist. He rubbed his eyes to shake off the sleepiness. The room went quiet for a minute and he could hear his pulse quicken. Just as it reached a crescendo, the crying started again, interspersed with high-pitched wails this time. Trystan backed off and pinched himself, but the scene in front of his eyes didn’t change.

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Hard to believe that so little is 200 words, right? I’m planning to write 10,000 for my Camp NaNo project and I hope to accomplish that as well. It’s not a tall order, but finding time for writing is.

What are your thoughts on this piece? Too little? I agree. But I have a specific question this time. How do you think the story will progress? Channel your inner Sherlock and post your answer in the comments.

One Lovely Blog Award

I got nominated for yet another award!

Warning: You’ll have to navigate through a lot of GIFs this time because my words are being funnelled into my Camp NaNo project and because I enjoy them.

Gandalf is proud of me! 🙂

Fictional Fridays #7

The fourth calendar month brings with it Camp NaNoWriMo (for those unfamiliar with it, check it out here). I’m taking part in it and have set myself a small goal of 10,000 words. I’m finally going to be working on my novel and hope to reach my word count goal against all odds (college assignments, dance practice and general laziness, to name a few). Due to this, writing fiction outside of it is going to be pretty hard as I don’t think I’ll have the time. That said, I do love fiction, so here’s something I wrote a long time ago and submitted it to a magazine, but it was never published and the editor never got back to me. I know it could be better, but I’ll be posting it anyway.