WeWriWar 266: Demon Soul

Welcome to a new excerpt of DEMON SOUL for the Weekend Writing Warrior and Snippet Sunday. 

Pre-Plot:

Brownie is a normal girl, or so she thinks. She likes to chat with her sisters about random things, she likes fashion and she is member of the fashion club at school. But one day, as her little brother gets really sick because of a curse placed on him, she meets this really strange guy who cures him absorbing the baby's sickness within himself. As he is about to fall from his new acquired fever, Brownie sees Yue's soul and immediately falls in love with him. But Yue is not a human, Yue is a demon.

Brownie and Yue will built their love story until....

Plot:

Until Yue's soul is stolen. There is nothing left of their love. The purple light dancing in Yue's grey eyes is gone. Forever? Not quite. Brownie is desperate to find it back. And to get a soul stolen by demons, she needs to go deep into dark magic! But Brownie is not a witch, she is just looking for a spell powerful enough to bring her love back. When an amateur starts playing with strong magic without preparation and without caring for the consequences, things turn wrong...

Let's start right where we left off.  

Generally, Brownie liked to hear Hitomi tell her strange stories, however, tonight, she could only think about one thing. 

How would she get what she needed from the shop in the Demon World? 

She couldn’t possibly ask anyone to come with her, and she would need a nice disguise to go in there. 

I go in, I get the incense as fast as possible, and I go out. Everything is going to be alright, she kept on telling herself. 

But she wasn’t convinced. She was still lost in her thoughts as the dinner ended and she walked back to her bedroom.

If you miss them last week, check out my video of the Japan writers conference happening this weekend in Otaru.  

Day 1

 

Day 2

I also have some vlog about Otaru if you want to check the place out.

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Japan Writers Conference in Otaru

I spend the weekend at the Japan Writers Conference in Otaru. This is a free yearly conference in Japan of authors and writers and basically anyone interested who wants to show up and check it out. It was super interesting, I met a lot of nice people and it was also a trip to Hokkaido which is pretty awesome. 

Of course, I took this opportunity to make videos for my author channel on youtube. One for each day though I think I did a better genre with the second video. So you can check a sort of summary of what I learned and thought about the different lecture and workshop of the event. 

Here is the video for day 1

Here is the video for day 2

 

Now that the conference is over, I'm staying a few days in Otaru just for sightseeing so there will be vlogs of that coming up too.

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WeWriWar 265: Demon Soul

Welcome to a new excerpt of DEMON SOUL for the Weekend Writing Warrior and Snippet Sunday. 

Pre-Plot:

Brownie is a normal girl, or so she thinks. She likes to chat with her sisters about random things, she likes fashion and she is member of the fashion club at school. But one day, as her little brother gets really sick because of a curse placed on him, she meets this really strange guy who cures him absorbing the baby's sickness within himself. As he is about to fall from his new acquired fever, Brownie sees Yue's soul and immediately falls in love with him. But Yue is not a human, Yue is a demon.

Brownie and Yue will built their love story until....

Plot:

Until Yue's soul is stolen. There is nothing left of their love. The purple light dancing in Yue's grey eyes is gone. Forever? Not quite. Brownie is desperate to find it back. And to get a soul stolen by demons, she needs to go deep into dark magic! But Brownie is not a witch, she is just looking for a spell powerful enough to bring her love back. When an amateur starts playing with strong magic without preparation and without caring for the consequences, things turn wrong...

Let's start right where we left off.  

At that time, it had been so difficult to know what he wanted, what he felt. Thinking about it, it had been difficult until the end. Giving him his soul back would be her last gift for him, even if she knew she would never see him again.

She put the book back. After tomorrow she would not have to worry about demons ever again.

Brownie was the last to arrive in the kitchen. The little ones already had dinner and were in bed. The conversation was animated, Hitomi wanted to tell everyone about her next novel.

Check out my video of the Japan writers conference happening this weekend in Otaru.  

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Book Review: Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman (with video)

It has been a while since my last video and even longer since my last book review. Today I have for you a review of "Practical Magic" by Alice Hoffman. 

I have a mix feeling about this book. It can be some times intense, sometimes boring. It can be hard to follow at time because of the choice of POV and the crazy going time line but it doesn't fail to be interesting. It was a sort of difficult read, the type of book you really have to concentrate on to know where you are at.

Here is the video

 

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NaNoWriMo Vlog Day 22: THE WIN!

In this video I talk about winning NaNoWriMo by reaching 50k words.

I also show you the winner page with all the goodies and so you can see what happens when you win.

At first the damn NaNoWriMo word eating monster of hell actually eat my words like 247 words less than on my writing software so I had to add a few more to get the win.

In this video you'll see the fail at validating my word count the first time and the final win.

Enjoy!

Here is the video

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NaNoWriMo Vlog Day 9 (8) Catch up and Mini Centaur

I did a lot of writing today. I managed to catch up the words I didn't write on day 8. I don't know what happened on day 8 really. I was just in front of my PC and I couldn't write any sentence that make sense.

So today I got almost 5k words which is what I needed to be on time for my own schedule.

I also made a video for my other channel with the last doll box I had to open.

You can see that here.

Then I made a little centaur custom. I had it forever and I finally decided it was time to make it. I had quite a bit of problem on the face but after three tries it's not that bad.

Here is the video

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NaNoWriMo Vlog Day 7: On Brainstorming and Write or Die (with video)

Today I had a very slow start so I decided to use one of my little tricks to get those words done.

I opened Write or Die and Wrote like a maniac because I didn't want to die. ;)

Write or die is an online page where you have to write or consequences. You can chose your amount of words and time for free or you can pay for the upgraded version. Personally, I use the free version, it totally does the work of tricking me into writing a lot of words really fast.

You can check it out and try for yourself here: http://writeordie.com/

Today I also talked with a friend and sort of brainstorm her story and it made me think about brainstorming for writer in general as I see it happen a lot in writing groups. I like to brainstorm for other but I would totally hate to have someone infusing ideas in my stories so in this video, I explain why.

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NaNoWriMo Vlog Day 4: I went to Doll & Toy

Today's writing was on the low side. 112 words that's ridiculous but at the same time. Every little words count and 112 words is always better than zero.

I went to a doll event (I do those a lot) in Saitama. It was my first time actually getting out of the train at Omiya station.

I have a coverage of the event here if you want to have a look.

It was small but a lot of fun, especially the seeing a doll created in front of me part.

I'm still on schedule for the "normal" NaNoWriMo but now I'm 502 words behind for my own special "2500 words a day" schedule. Hopefully, I'll deal with that soon and get back on track.

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NaNoWriMo Vlog Day 2: She looked like an angry pufferfish

Of course I have been writing today. I managed to reach 5452 words. That cover the 5000 words I should reach on day 2 and the 2500 daily words and gives me about 100 extra. 

I really wanted to push a bit more but I had no time after dinner. I still have half of my blog to work through. I really wish I could work when someone else is in the room, that would help a lot because as soon as Ikki comes home I can't do anything anymore except maybe read and crochet. 

So yeah no video filming and no writing after dinner unless he goes to bed before me. I need to find a way to schedule things so that I'm not so frustrated with being unable to work when he is around. 

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NaNoWriMo Vlog Day 1

Today is the first day of NaNoWriMo and I totally skipped on the midnight party kick start. I would probably have done it if I was still in Belfast but I actually don't know anybody to NaNo chat at midnight Japanese time since we are the first starting sort of. 

So I decided to have a before breakfast write instead and it worked really well. I'm at 2873 words already which is 373 words more than my normal 2500 words schedule. And yes, I know you only need 1667 a day to win NaNoWriMo but I have a different plan that actually proved to work for me. I also got very limited dolls delivered today.

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Book Review: A Song of Smoke and Fire by Megan Linski (with video)

Today I'm reviewing "A Song of Smoke and Fire" by Megan Linski.

This is the first book of her new series "Song of Dragonfire".

I got it as an ARC before the release but only got into reading it now.

It's a really nice story, though predictable. It has a lot of real element like the setting in Kraków, Poland.

You can see more about the setting and Kraków here on my blog post: Europe tour Interail 2006 : Kraków and the dragon hunting

So it takes roots in Polish folklore and at the same time it has other fantasy and fairy tales ingredient.

The predictable part for me was the love story though there are some twists to get there and the journey time of thing.

It was an entertaining read.

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Book Review: Torture (Angels & Demons Book 2) by Megan Linski (with video)

Today, I'm reviewing and ARC copy of Torture by Megan Linski.

Torture is the second book in the Angels and Demons series.

I was a bit apprehensive about reading it because I actually didn't quite like the first book as much as I wanted in a very unexpected way.

I enjoyed the first 60% of Torrent, which is the first book, and then I got totally annoyed with a lot of crappy unrealistic details.

Fortunately, Torture is way better than Torrent in a lot of ways going from the main character building, to the characters interaction.

The plot was also better define, especially with the interaction with the antagonist. After "A stranger in the house" this was really an awesome read. 

This video may contains spoilers of Torture and Torrent. 

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A Stranger in the House by Shari Lapena (Book Review) #Spookathon #Readathon

Today, I'm reviewing: A Stranger in the House which was the read along book for #Spookathon.

This book is extremely poorly written with a lot of very annoying things.

First, the POVs are all over the place. You keep on jumping from one character to the next without real definition or break except a paragraph break and the paragraph can be very unrelated even in the same chapter.

Then you have the obvious lack of research and realism about the car accident's consequences on the main character's body which basically is a turning point in the story.

A lot of the characters body motion or action aren't realistic either and the prose tend to be repetitive especially with Tom.

And the list could go on...

So I had a lot of problem with reading this book since for the first 10 chapters all I could see was everything that was "wrong" in it. Then after that the plot start showing a bit better. So many my attention to the annoying detail faded or maybe the writing got better, I'm not sure. For a thriller, it was kind of predictable. But I guess the story is ok and there are some plot twists.

Then there is Tom. I think that I have never seen such a crappy character taking that much of attention. It was said that he was supposed to be on his wife side when all hell breaks lose and people think she is lying well, he wasn't. Tom is probably the worse husband a woman can get, like really and he is self absorbed, his worry about his wife going to jail is what that's going to do to him, after all he cheat on her on her first night there, then again. And she still manage to forgive him, like what the fuck, you're not even married to the idiot get your money girl and run, leave him to Brigit, seriously they deserve each other. 

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The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins (Book Review) #Spookathon #Readathon (with video)

The Girl on the Train is the last book that I read in full for #Spookathon. 

I had already watched the movie so I definitely had to read the book. There are a bit of differences but the movie actually follow the plot really well. 

This book has three different POV in the first person in different chapters. So you always know who you are with. You follow three women on two different time line. 

Rachel, the girl on the train, is an alchoolic, depressive, divorcé who is obsessed with her ex-husband and like to look at a house while on the train because she imagine the life of the people living in it. 

Megan, is also depressed because she has a secret too heavy to carry. She is the type of hyperactive depressed person, sort of ation junky who would do anything not to think about the ghosts in her past. Basically, Megan and Rachel are exact opposite. One long for the past, the other can't avoid it enough. 

Then there is very boring Anna who is like a version of who Rachel used to be and would have been if her life had turned out as expected. 

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Book Review: Doctor Sleep by Stephen King (with video) #Spookathon

I finished to read Doctor Sleep last night. I thought I would be scared but there was nothing scary about this book. It was good just not as mind blowing as expected.
Still, I have a few issues.First with who Dan actually is and if it's not a bit out of character for him to be an alcoholic in the first place.
Then I found myself having empathy for the bad guys and sort of not completely understanding why the "good" characters didn't have much. I mean I can't understand why at least one of the characters couldn't show of some empathy for the bad guys.
Then I have a bit of problem with the mass murder, probably as a result of having empathy for the bad guys.
I also have problems with Momo's death, I mean I went to analyse, Danny taking the cancer from her as being the same as how John Coffey takes the illness from other people in The Green Mile and use it later. There is the same sort of process, Dan, just like John is sick while transporting the cancer but Momo dies while the woman in The Green Mile survives which I feel is a bit unfair.
Then there is the problem of the true knot. In a way it feels like the book want to make us believe that they were created in the  boiler's explosion which would be why they need "steam" but in an other way some of the member are really old, like century old so they would have to have existed before the incident in The Shinning. Or maybe it's just the place where the hotel used to stand that is attracting people. I'm not sure but I feel like the origin of the True Knot wasn't really explain and in the same way, they apparently used to be 200 and then now they are 41 but we are also told that the death are super rare for them so, where did the 160 others disappeared. I mean is there a third book fighting them coming up in 30 years?
Are the one who left Rose the Hat really all going to die of the measles?
So many questions partially answered only. And it feels to me a bit inconsistent. 

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Nightmare Realisation by Carol Riggs (Book Review) #Spookathon (with video)

Today, I have for you the first review of Spookathon: Junction 2020 Nightmare Realisation.
This book is the second book in the series. I read it as an ARC but it's actually out now so you can go and grab it here.

In Junction 2020 a group of five adolescent go through a portal made to triangle to reach what is called a landscape.
The landscape is build of the nightmare and favorite things of one of them.
In this book, we are in Tony's landscape so we learn about Tony's past, his likes and dislike and the reasons behind all of his nightmare.
At the same time, our little group of friends, Mainworlders, also have to fight against the Shifters, people jumping from landscape to landscapes to catch the Mainworlders and get out of the landscape with them.
Tony is a very particular character because all of his fears are actually lethal which makes this landscape very dangerous. He is very different from Marie in multiple ways, including the fact that he is not really as brave and as smart. This book is interesting because it pushes the understanding of the landscape and Shifters a lot further.
It was an interesting read. 

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Spookathon 2017 (Participation Announcement!) #spookathon

Here is my video to announce my participation to #spookathon 2017.
So here are some of the "rules" and link that I got from BooksandLala Spookathon video.

Spookathon links 2017

playlist, twitter

The organisers:

BooksandLala,  Shannon and Paige

Spookathon dates

October 16 - 22, 2017

Spookathon challenges

1. read a thriller

2. read a book with a spooky word in the title

3. read a book based on a childhood fear

4. read a book with orange on the cover

5. read a book that has a spooky setting

My list of Spookathon books for this year.

1) Nightmare realisation

2) Doctor Sleep

3) The girl in the train

Maybe

4) I am number four

5) A Stranger in the House 

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The Truth about Alice by Jennifer Mathieu (Book Review) (with video)

Today, I'm reviewing The Truth About Alice by Jennifer Mathieu.
I wanted to read this book for quite some time but I was a bit afraid to actually know the Truth about Alice.
Alice Franklin is actually one of the only main character in the book who doesn't have her POV. She is talked about but never does anyone actually ask her what happened and the only time she voices it, her best friend doesn't believe her.
Her story is told through the eyes of multiple unreliable narrator who all have their own reason to propagate rumors about her. It's kind of disturbing to actually see everything unfold and to learn the truth because those characters are sort of directly talking to the reader.
I was afraid to read this book because I thought something really drastic would happen and actually, nothing drastic happens which makes it even more realistic.

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Book Review: Origin by Dan Brown (with video)

The last Dan Brown book came out of October 3rd and of course I had to get it and read it immediately.
I'm a bit on the fence about this book I have to admit. There are a lot of thing that I like about it but as a part of the Robert Langdon series, it falls a bit short from the previous books.
I wanted the thrill of looking for the clue and decoding all the symbolism but it wasn't there. Instead, this book takes you through a race against the clock let by a computer. I think you can say that Origin stand for the Origine of life but also for Dan Brown going back to his original theme of writing about computer and science fiction.
I wasn't prepared for that.
The thing is if it isn't a Robert Langdon book, it's still a good book, though it was a bit predictable.
The threat to religion this time is science, or more accurately the grudge of an atheist using science to kill the religious idea of genesis. I mean there are already a lot of Christian who believe in Evolution as a fact without turning down the rest of their religion. The idea that knowing for sure what the start of live was would kill religion as a whole is a bit presumptuous but it still might do it for some people. The thing with this book is that it also uses the fear of technological progress. Just like previous Dan Brown book. The computer are going to be starter than you and they are going to want to kill you, which sort of annoys me a little because it's just so easy. It would have been so much more interesting to have a real antagonist that you wouldn't get rid of by just unplugging it. In this book the human reaction to the news of the origin of life is totally tuned down which is a bit of a shame. 

 

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The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (Book Review) Turtles all the Way Down Countdown 4/4 (with video)

Today, I'm reviewing the last of John Green's books until tomorrow and probably the most famous too: The fault in our stars.

First I have to say I didn't like this book all that much. I think it's overrated. I didn't feel anything sympathy for most of the characters. Yes, they are going to die and that's so sad because they are so young but basically my feeling for them sort of stopped there. I don't know if it's because I already knew they were going to die I mean since they all have cancer.

But I couldn't be friend with any of those characters and I need to be friend with the characters in the books I read or at least I need to have some emotional reaction to them. With this book, I didn't.

I find the character highly pretentious and the fact that they are sick doesn't mean they can't be spoiled little brats. The entire book feels like they know everything about life and about other people and their struggles just because they are dying. It's just very annoying.

Then we have everybody around the main character being a pain. I mean Patrick is ridiculed, Hazel's parent really don't understand poor Hazel who knows so much better, the nurses don't go to funerals, and the writer of Hazel's favorite book is like... a drunk.

It's like from Hazel's point of view the entire world sucks and nobody can be a decent person. And I totally get that she has teenager view of the world aka adults=bad idiots and cancer but at the same time it's really tiring to read.

And then there is the love story and it didn't really work for me. Because if I can't like the characters it's really hard to imagine how they can' love each other, I guess but at the same time all of them were so self-centred that I wasn't sure to see how this work except for the fact that they might want to experience stuff at rushed speed because they don't have time to lose after all.

I think Augustus was a nice guy and that he could have really love Hazel but the problem I have here is that:

1) he was dying without telling her.

2) He wanted to get laid and she was probably the only one around wanting to help with that. 

3) He already explained that his previous girlfriend died of brain cancer and he stayed with her by pity, which really doesn't help me trusting his deep feeling for Hazel even though they still felt more genuine than Hazel's feeling for him.

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