Wednesday, December 20, 2017

Christmas Break

So, I'm on Christmas Break. I know that I haven't posted any lately and that the last two posts might have sounded a bit scatterbrained as unfinished. Hopefully, that won't be the case forever as I'm not like that normally.

Right now I'm on break from what had to be the most brutal Term I've experienced to date. November was the most brutal with days spanning from Monday to Friday where I would have to be up for 8:30am and not be able to leave the school grounds until 4:10pm. On top of that, I would have up to three assignments on the go at the time and that often left me to push at least one assignment to the very last minute – which was usually my After Effects assignments.

After Effects is an Adobe program where you're able to apply special effects to video footage. Most of the special effects you see – like the information you see on news channels and the names and occupations that'll pop up on documentaries. There're other things,  I haven't learned how to do. Like the ghosting effect featured in Doctor Strange (which I haven't watched).

Anyway, because of the way I had to juggle things, my After Effects assignments turned out to be horrible, and I got a C as my final mark.

But I'm so relieved it's all over. Of course, I'm still working on my Advanced Photography's Assignment 5 and Final Assignment. They're interesting, but they're due tomorrow... at midnight. I have 12 things I have to get done:

  • Three Panoramas
  • Two HDR Images
  • One HD Timelapse
  • Two Images Illustrating 2 different Kingdom Concepts/Virtues (I chose Faith as one)
  • Two Images Illustrating 2 different anti-Kingdom Concepts/Virtues (I chose Destruction and Death).
  • One Image with a jet black background.
  • One Image of Food.

I've already got the three panos, one of the HDRs, the timelapse, one of the Kingdom Concepts (the Faith one), one of the anti-Kingdom Concepts (the Destruction one), the jet black background, and the food one done. I'm about to go and do the second HDR. I'm going to do it one of the LED lights on my garage since we don't have Christmas lights on yet. And since I missed the sunset.

And HDR is when you take a picture of something that is too dark, one that's just right, and one that's too bright, and then merge it all together so it looks more 3D.

I thought I had both HDRs already, but I looked at my first one today and found it too blurry for my liking.

I'm also afraid that my timelapse is too grainy because I accidentally saved all the JPEGs I used in it at a lower quality than I should have. My teacher wants me it to be HD, as in 1920 x 1080 pixels. It is those dimensions, but it looks grainy to me. I really don't want to have to go about sticking it together again, because it was a struggle the first time since I hadn't taken enough pictures for a ten second timelapse with 30 frames per second. I set it for 29.97 frames per second and still had to use some of the pictures I wasn't happy about in order to kick it off and have enough for ten seconds.

Just how bad would it look on a huge HD plasma TV? I think I'm going to watch it on the big TV in the living room in order to be sure it doesn't look too bad. I pray it won't.

I've recently begun to read The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks, the first in The Night Angel Trilogy, and it'll be the next book I'll review on my blog. It isn't a Christian novel, and there is some profanity, though not much thank goodness. Some of the stuff that goes on in the background isn't pleasant but seems to resonate since I just finished a course at college that addressed issues like what is mentioned in the book. Poverty is rampant in the city the main character finds himself trapped in, something he's trying to escape.

I'll have a lot to talk about when the review comes out.

With that book, I'm thinking of starting to rate my reviews like video games are rated (like ESRB rating). I'm thinking of rating it as a solid PG-13 or a 'T', though I don't know if that rating will go up because I haven't finished it yet. I haven't even gotten quarter of the way through it yet.

It's an intriguing story.

There's a lot of stuff going on in my life, good things, stressful things. I'm working on a short story I haven't planned out, and a novella I'm still planning out. I'm planning on publishing them on Smashwords, since it's a platform that publishes on ever conceivable ebook platform. I'm so excited!

I've really seen myself grow over these last two terms and that makes me extremely excited for my future. Like the trip to Tibet I'll be taking for my practicum after I graduate.

I believe I'll have a lot to write about in the future :D

Sunday, November 12, 2017

David Brainerd Quotes

This coming week, I'll be writing a short paper and an 8-minute presentation on the Life and Diary of David Brainerd. The book is a biography of David Brainerd interspersed with what parts of his diary that he allowed the author of the biography to include.

Brainerd was a missionary to the Native Americans, and he lived between April 20th, 1718 – October 9th, 1747. I'm not even half-way through the book yet, but already I know that he is a man who experienced the same emotions and fears that I've felt, which has me sympathizing with him and feeling what I need to feel and think for my coming assignment.

Here are some quotes I've come across that I quite like.


"All I want is to be more holy, more like my dear Lord. O for sanctification! My very soul pants for the complete restoration of the blessed image of my Saviour; that I may be fit for the blessed enjoyments and employments of the heavenly world."
– David Brainerd

"Farewell, vain world; my soul can bid adieu;
My Saviour's taught me to abandon you.
Your charm's may gratify a sensual mind;
Not please a soul wholly for God design'd.
Forbear to entice, cease then my soul to call;
'Tis fix'd through grace; my God shall be my all.
While He thus lets me heavenly glories view,
Your beauties fade, my heart's no room from you."
– a poem by David Brainerd

"Lord, I'm a stranger here alone;
Earth no true comforts can afford;
Yet absent from my dearest one,
My soul delights to cry, my Lord.
Jesus, my Lord, my only love,
Possess my soul, nor thense depart;
Grant me kind visits, heavenly Dove,
My God shall then have all my heart."
– a poem by David Brainerd


I find it fascinating that he wrote a couple poems in his diary...

Wednesday, September 13, 2017

Alfâm Kuduszodikh - A Study on Music Playlists



*alfâm kuduszodikh – "music list" (ahl-faam kuh-duhs-zaw-dike – approximate pronunciation)

~~~

As promised, I bring you a post on music playlists. I would have written "music playlists" or "lists of music" in dwarvish (Khuzdul), but my source (Dwarrow Scholar) didn't have the words for those translations, lol.

Playlists are an easy way to keep track of songs that you like. You can pile all your favourite songs from one genre, or list all the songs that inspire you in your writing (or drawing, or working out, or doing paperwork or house cleaning or –).

You can build playlists almost anywhere – on iTunes, Spotify, Youtube, etc!

For example, here's a playlist from my Spotify (which I just built :P)

{ Fantasy Inspirational }
https://open.spotify.com/user/mikaelaingram/playlist/2q0A3v5f7MdOsKRq175389

The list contains these songs:

Lúthien's Lament by Eurielle
Lost Girls by Lindsey Stirling
Misty Mountains by Peter Hollens
My Dear Frodo by Howard Shore
Viverti by Mattia Cupelli
Victory by Two Steps from Hell/Thomas Bergersen
Forbidden by Eurielle

Creating playlists might just turn out to be extremely addictive.

Here's another playlist:

{ Steampunk Inspirational – incomplete }
Filled With
Euphoria (album) by Revolt Production Music
Cosmos
Breaking Away
Darkness Falls
Contageous
Euphoria
Embrace
Drive
Persecution
Nightmare
Killshot
Beyond the Wall
and
Palladio by Karl Jenkins
The Submarine by James Newton Howard
Starfall by Driftmoon
Die Walkure, Act III: Ride of the Valkyries by Richard Wagner
Schubert: Symphony No. 8 in B Minor, D. 759, 'Unfinished': I. Allegro moderato by Franz Schubert
Time by Hans Zimmerman

Music is a fun platform to mess with. These two playlists are just examples of what I might end up building on Spotify. I encourage you to build your own if you want to - you can get a free account on Spotify, though you'll have to contend with the occasional ad.

iTunes would be the only platform out there, other than Windows Media Player, that wouldn't force you to listen to adds between ever three or four songs, but you'd have to pay for the music before you can put them into playlists.

Spotify is rather easy to manipulate, though, and forces less adds on you than Youtube, which makes you have to sit through an add at the beginning of every video, with most saying your "video will play after add".

All you have to do on Spotify is find your song and click the three dots to the right of it. There, you click "add to playlist", and it will give you the option to choose which playlist. You just need to create the playlists before you go hunting so that it shows up.

Before I end this, though, I would like to give you a word of caution. Spotify doesn't support the artists who make the songs you listen to on it as much as you'd support the artists if you bought their songs on iTunes or on a CD.

I know this might not be such a big deal for artists who are extremely popular and have money rushing in because, no matter what, their fans will buy their stuff and pay to see them live. But many of the artists who have their music hosted by Spotify are more independent than the biggest superstars and rely on the money they receive when people by their songs. The Piano Guys released a message about this at the end of their Youtube music video of "Celloopa", and they have compensated for the pennies they receive for having their songs on Spotify.

So, yeah. Use Spotify to your heart's content, but consider buying the songs as well in order to support your favourite artists. After all, it doesn't hurt to have it on iTunes or on your MP3 player just in case you go camping where you can't get LTE service or you're running low on data and you just have to listen to those particular songs that are on that playlist of yours.

The world's music is at your fingertips, folks!

– Mikaela

Tuesday, September 12, 2017

Music to Write By


One of the things that I find helps me get into the mood when I'm writing is music.

Personally, I prefer lyric-less, soundtrack-like music, though once in while I find myself in the mood to write to the sound of people singing - though it slows down the speed of my writing since I have to focus on the words I want to write while being bombarded by a voice singing words at loud volumes right in my ear.

Of course, what determines what I listen to when I write depends on what genre my novel is and what is happening in the novel when I sit down to write it.

For example - when I'm writing my steampunk/sci-fi mystery novel A Murder of Whimsey, I would choose music that reflected the atmosphere I wanted. The album I ended up abusing during NaNoWriMo July in order to get out 20k words before the end of the month was Euphoria by Revolt Production Music.



This album is the perfect mix of dashing Victorian elements and energizing Sci-Fi melodies. I lived on this album, and it serves to remind me that I have to go back to that story someday.

Which I will.

When I have the brainpower to fully outline it, since I can never hold my focus long enough to do so. haha

I also find myself listening to Lindsey Stirling's musical epics, because they often fit certain moments and scenes in my stories. Her music filled my mind in July almost as much as Euphoria did, and it applies to all my works of fiction that I happen to be working on.


 





Another artist I find myself turning to is Peter Hollens, an acapella superstar who does a cover of an already existing song every two weeks or so. He's done many covers of Lord of the Rings and Hobbit songs, which I just can't stop listening to!



My favourites from this album would have to be "Misty Mountains ft. Tim Foust", "Hobbit Drinking Medley ft. Hank Green", and "Gollum's Song"! Outside of this album and far out of my reach, his cover of "Song of the Lonely Mountain" is another one of my favourites, which, alas, I cannot buy on the iTunes store!

These songs are currently helping me plow through a short story I hope to publish in the coming months, which I'll publish once I'm finished the final project of my Advanced Photography class, which will be the story's cover.






There are so many songs you can choose from and build your stories' playlists. I have so many, it's ridiculous - though I haven't had the mind to compile them into a playlist yet. I will here, tomorrow, but there is one more song that I want to show to you, one I enjoy listening to when I write, and a gem of a video I found containing several Steampunk-y/Victorian-themed songs.

The Video


The Song


The song is "Celloopa", as in 'cello–opa', by The Piano Guys, who are musicians, though not all of them play the piano. Like the guy in the video, he plays the cello. 

I love listening to the Piano Guys' music - as it is just as inspiring as the music I mentioned before - though I feel that I've yet to scratch the surface when it comes to the sheer quantity of their songs. 

I can guarantee that their songs are excellent to write to - though everyone's tastes are different. Every song I featured in this post reflect my taste in music and writing music.

Tomorrow, I hope to post a post about "playlists" some writers make while in the process of writing their novels. I have so many, and I feel I will learn something when I write it.

Thanks so much for enduring this rambling post!

– Mikaela

Thursday, July 27, 2017

True to You: a book review

True to You. Becky Wade. 2017. Bethany House Publishers. Pages: 367. [Source: bought]

Commanding voices and the clatter of a scuffle drew closer to their location. Like a sewing machine needle increasing in speed, Nora's heart picked up its pace.

"Oooh," Britt said. "I'm liking this."

A grinding sound came from above. The sprinklers that had been embedded in the ceiling descended. "No!" Nora called out.

In the next instant, cold water hit her in the face. Squealing, she drew herself into a ball, tucking her head between her upraised knees and wrapping her arms around her shins. Across the room, Britt hissed with disgust.

"Thank you so much for inviting me to partake in this fun experience," Nora said to her sister, though the words went little further than her ancient clogs. "Next time I feel overly content and dry and warm, perhaps I can come again."

The door to their room banged open. Nora angled her face toward the entranceway just as a man filled the opening. A big man. Square-jawed. His grave gaze swept the square footage in a millisecond. He seemed not to notice the falling raindrops, though they peppered his wet, spiky brown hair and drizzled down his stubbled face. He radiated complete and total competency.

The force of his presence careened into Nora like a hundred-mile-an-hour wind. In response, she could do nothing but hold her ground and blink.
~ Excerpt from Chapter 1

~~~

Rating: ✭✭✭✭✭

I knew I was going to enjoy this novel when I first saw this come up in an email from the Bethany House Publishers review program. I was going to review this for them, but I ended up running out of time despite how much I was enjoying it and because I was just home from college.

I was exactly halfway done this novel when I had to stop (because they ask that the book be deleted from your kindle, or other reading device, when the month's over). I just had to order it when I ordered my last book haul from chapters.indigo.ca.

From the beginning, I was hooked. I connected with Nora so hard it was like a vice.

At the beginning of the novel, we were introduced to Nora Bradford when she's participating in an training exercise with her younger sister, Britt. Of course it takes longer than she expected, and of course everything has to go wrong when the smoke machine sets off the smoke detector and ends up dousing everyone and everything in the building.

It's at this training exercise that she meets John Lawson. Big, strong, handsome, ex-Navy SEAL John Lawson, CEO and owner of Lawson Training Incorporated.

I'm not a big fan of contemporary, or many novels that take place in the present day. The last time I did, I nearly threw my kindle across the room because I was at the end of my rope when it came to Cold Shot by Dani Pettrey. This novel, though, surprised me so much. I could hardly put it down, despite the fact it was Camp NaNoWriMo this month.

One thing I knew drew my attention to this story the most was the fact that John Lawson was an ex-Navy SEAL. When this book graced my email, I was attracted to it mostly because I had just finished watching the latest season of Hawaii Five-0. One of the main characters of the show is Lt. Commander Steve McGarrett, an ex-officer of the Navy.
Alex O'Loughlin as Steve

Because of this, I ended up picturing John Lawson as Alex O'Loughlin, the actor who plays Steve McGarrett. Despite the fact that John has brown hair and hazel eyes (like me!) and not black hair and blue eyes (like Steve).

I really enjoyed John's character, and his whole search for his birth mother and father due to a devastating medical diagnosis. His whole journey was realistic and gripping, and, in the end, made me hope that a man like him will one day enter into my life.

I didn't think that John was capable of emotionally crumbling like he did in the end, but he did. And that made him seem more human. I honestly can't wait to see more of him in the coming books.

Nora was by far one of my most absolute favourite female characters that I've encountered in a long time. I've never felt more connected to a female character than I was to her. She appreciated the old, classy things. She dressed old-fashioned, she did her hair in old-fashioned styles. She is a bibliophile like I am, though her library sounds like it's a bit more fantastic than mine. She's running out of space for bookshelves and books while I sit here with room for only 1 shelf. haha

Her job sounds absolutely divine. She runs the historical town centre in Merryweather, Washington, a place she got for a graduation present from her father. Over the years she's been working to add buildings to the place to give visitors the sense of what the town might have looked like in its early days. It reminds me of the time I went to Fort Edmonton in Edmonton, Alberta, and how I felt like I was on a real timey-wimey adventure - the most excitement I had for quite a few years.

Her main job, though, is that she is a genealogist. It's an interesting profession, though I would honestly find it a bit tedious after a while.

Nora and me shared a lot of views on the world, it seemed, and we also seemed to have the same insecurities. I also really look forward to seeing her again in the coming books, because she's the kind of character that I would follow to the ends of the Earth, need be.

This book came at the right time in my life. Every few days, I would get this melancholy feeling in my chest whenever I thought back to how a lot of the girls I know from collage had boyfriends. A girl from my Torah reading group had gotten engaged during the final reading break before the end of the school year; a girl in the same digital media program is blatantly in a relationship with a boy in the same program; another girl in the same program seems to be in a relationship with a second year (and now graduate) of my program; and once and a while, while I was walking about the campus grounds, I would walk by at least five couples, all smiling and happy.

It was depressing, because not a single boy approached me or was introduced to me, except one, to even be a friend until right before school was over for the summer.

But this book taught me that finding a man isn't everything. I don't want to be burned like Nora was. I can be content with my books and my writing and Pebbles until the right man, my John Lawson, comes walking (or running), into my life.

True to You is the first of the Bradford Sisters Romance series, and I just can't wait for the other ones to come out. I can't wait to see if Willow mends her relationship with Corbin, or if Britt finally realizes that her man has been in her life for years and she yet to realize it. It's so thrilling!

Thursday, July 20, 2017

Updates | Bookstagram | FYI

Hey guys! I pause in my NaNoWriMo writing in order to come and tell you of a few updates in my life.

I get that I've been rather quiet on here. There haven't been any new book reviews, but there's been a THM recipe (which is totally easy to make and anyone can enjoy it)! I've been a bit busy with writing, and I've been in a bit of reading slump (Not by Sight drove me insane, I find the main woman character rather unlikable), but my latest book haul has come in.

I had to race a severe thunderstorm in order to get them from the mail box!

(haha... eh -_-)

I learned something today: you can ask Indigo - Canada's biggest bookstore - to swap a book you've just got in the mail for another if you were sent a damaged copy. Out of the books I got, The Tropic of Serpents: a Memoir by Lady Trent by Marie Brennan (the sequel to A Natural History of Dragons) was damaged with the cover being scratched up by extensive handling, and the cover was bent in a place. So, with my mom's advice, I called up customer service, and the nice lady on the other side of the line helped me swap it for a pristine copy of the book, and emailed me a tag for the parcel I'm going to send the copy I have now back.

So - when you run into the problem of your book arriving damaged, call, ask for a pristine replacement, ask for a return label, and say that you will return it. I don't know if it works with other book-store chains, but it should. It would be horrible if it didn't.

My book haul consists of five books - which I bought in order to take advantage of Chapters/Indigo's unplug for the summer promotion, which would net me 4,500 points ($10 worth) on top of however many I got for the books through the normal channel (which is awesome since I'm going back to college this fall). I've provided the covers, because they're all beautiful.


I didn't include The Tropic of Serpents since the copy I have is not the copy I'm keeping.

It's kind of funny that three of the books I ordered were blue, and two had green (because the dragon on the cover of Tropic of Serpents is green. I honestly can't wait to crack into these books. I think I'm going to start with True to You, since I had begun reading it when Bethany House Publishers wanted me to review it - but I ran out of time. I think I'm going to review it anyway, because I was so into it.

Another piece of news: I've finally got a Bookstagram (an Instagram focused on reading and books) up and running! My username is 'space.locomotive' - couldn't think of an interesting or witty book-themed one, so I went with the layman's term of a vehicle in my current writing project. 'Space locomotive' is another name for 'star train'.


I'm so looking forward to posting pictures of books! I've only posted one picture so far - of my TBR pile. But I hope to get a picture of my bookshelf and my newest book haul in the coming week - or maybe in the next couple of days.

Of course, my bookstagram won't only be for the books I review or take pictures of (I'll likely post a picture of the book I've just read and provide a link in the post to the review here), it'll also host pictures and updates of the stories I hope will one day publish. They'll be simpler echoes of what I post here n_n

Today was a good day, and it wasn't dampened by the thunderstorm we had this afternoon!

Though having to lower my wordcount goal for Camp NaNoWriMo another 10k was a bit of a bummer. I was hoping to have Murder of Whimsey relatively finished by the end of this month.

Tuesday, June 20, 2017

10 Random Books to Tell you About me

I found this on the blog Stuck in a Book, and thought I should give it a try. So with a mug of coffee, and a break in the time I've put aside to clean my room, I'm going to use a random number generator to pick out the ten books randomly, since I don't trust my hands, lol.

I might have cheated with the number generator, and I took books from my bookshelf and my Kindle. and I chose only the ones I've read in order for more authentic responses. I also listed them in alphabetical order in order to sate my perfectionist side, which will definitely rear its ugly head once this is posted due to the errors I won't notice until then.


Cinder by Merissa Meyer




I've reviewed this book, and I found it extremely gripping despite the fact that there were a few things I didn't like. I loved the futuristic, cyber-punk take on the Cinderella story, despite the fact it didn't turn out like the fairy tale and that Cinder's story is far from over (there's three other main stories that come after this). I got this book after seeing it floating around the bookworm world, and decided to give it a shot. I bought it at a Chapters in Edmonton over a year ago. I love the simplicity of the cover, despite the fact Cinder didn't wear red glass high heels to the ball, and she ended up losing a cyborg foot instead if a shoe. haha


Dreamlander by K.M. Weiland




This was a treasure. When I think of a good book along the lines of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, Dreamlander pops to mind. Makes me wonder if I should change my penname from 'Mikaela A. Ingram' to 'M. A. Ingram' – because most of my favourite fantasy books are written by those who have more than one initial in their penname X3 I super enjoyed this book because, despite the length of it, it kept me hooked and the pace was lively. The thing I loved most about it was that the man on the cover, the main character, reminds me of Canadian actor Yannick Bisson, and so I imagined him as such throughout the entirety of the book (as he looked in Sue Thomas F.B.Eye). I'm such a nerd. And it only took me a weekend to finish it, despite the fact that it was over 400 pages long! I got it after I found out about K.M. Weiland and started following her writing advice.


Fractured by Rae Elliott





This was another good book I found through my search for writing advice. Up to the point in which I found this novel, I had wondered if someone out there had mashed science fiction and fantasy into a science fantasy that involved an android somehow. I'm so glad I was able to support an indie writer while also finding such a gem.


The Maid of Fairbourne Hall by Julie Klassen





I got this book from Bethany House Publishers' review program a few years ago, back when I still ran my old blog "Pen to Paper". I believe this was the book that ended that review period, because I couldn't get into it when I got it. This last year, I fell into it and was unable to put it down until it was finished. It was so good! I guess I really like reading books where the main character has to stay hidden and experiences nail-biting instances almost constantly. This was so good! She was in love with the lord of the manor, but she couldn't let him know it was her!


Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie





This book let itself be known when I was in my Sherlock Holmes phase, and was sitting on "Sherlock's Shelf" section of Chapters when it was around. This was the book that introduced me to Hercule Poirot, and I found myself gripped by the happenings in the story – couldn't figure out who the killer was until the end! Through this book I would eventually come across series 7 – 12 on Netflix of Agatha Christie's Poirot, which I enjoy watching every time I have the chance to watch. I love this Mr. Poirot.


A Natural History of Dragons, a Memoir by Lady Trent by Marie Brennan





Such a treat, this one is. This was the first book I've found where a fantasy takes place in a Victorian setting, and not a medieval one (there ought to more, I think). I heard about this book from the bookworm's grapevine as well, and I think I finished it in, like, in a day. When I should have been writing my C.S. Lewis paper at college. This one's a fantasy in the fact that there are dragons, and I absolutely love dragons. I look forward to collecting the rest of the series once I have the money.


The Secret of Pembrooke Park by Julie Klassen





I got this one because I want to, one day, own all of Julie Klassen's novels. She's such a talented writer, and every one of her books sucks me back to the regency era. This one, though, didn't really engage me like I hoped, and seemed to stretch on longer than it should have. The atmosphere was interesting, but there was just too much going on. I'm attempting to read her The Dancing Master, but I'm having trouble, and I could only chalk it up to the fact that I'm not interesting in going to the regency era right now.


The Transformers: All Hail Optimus





Yes, I'm a nerd. A Transformers nerd. With the current storyline going on, with Optimus Prime (the mech on the cover), I was curious to see what was going on when it was said that this volume would cover events in which Optimus would try to annex Earth into the Cybertronian Empire. Poor guy, Optimus is only trying to annex Earth in order to keep it safe from the rest of the galaxy!

I got this when my uncle gave me an Amazon gift card for my birthday. So I can say that my uncle bought this for me :3


Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye Volume 4



Yeah, I'm not going to post the cover here. It's not like it depicts anything overly bad, it just has a bit of violence. So I'm going to spare anyone who's a little sensitive to that, and not post it here. Yeah, having Overlord's fist sticking out through Ultra Magnus' chest is a little violent (out of all covers of the issues contained inside it, they had to pick that one).

I bought this one back in January, but didn't receive it until I got home from college since Indigo deemed it necessary to send me Volume 5 before Volume 4, haha. I haven't really cracked it open yet since I care about most of the characters in the story, and I know they're going to get hurt (I've read a couple of the issues in it). Haha, get over yourself, Mikaela.


Two Renegade Realms by Donita K. Paul





This book left me with so many questions when I finished it. And what's frustrating was that its sequel, the final instalment of the Realm Walkers Trilogy, was slated to be released back in January-February of 2016, but then Donita K. Paul fell ill and Zondervan dropped her. Now we don't know when it'll come out.

I found this book and the first of it's trilogy in an Indigo of all places, which I found rather odd since it contains Christian themes and is written by a Christian authoress. I laugh, since Indigo seemingly doesn't know!



These are the ten books I shared so you guys could learn a bit more about me. This was fun :3

If you'd like to do this for yourself, click on the Stuck in a Book link I've provided at the top of the post.

Sunday, June 18, 2017

Two-Cheese Spaghetti Squash Casserole



My bio says that I like to mess with THM recipes, so today, I've finally created a recipe I know it on-plan and low-carb.

I'd call it a S, just in case, since I used two kinds of cheese and Classico Alfredo Sauce. Like, not the light kind.

Ingredients:

1 decent-sized Spaghetti Squash (medium-ish)
1 (410 mL) jar of Classico Alfredo Sauce
Around a cup of grated sharp/old cheddar cheese (to taste)
2 Mini Baby Bells

Directions:

This is a relatively easy side to make, but it takes time. 

First, you must split the spaghetti squash, scoop out the seeds and pulp, and place the halves face-down on a tin-foil covered baking pan while the oven heats up to 350 degrees F. Wait as it cooks until its skin is soft and extremely flexible, and the innards come out in the stringy awesomeness that gives the squash its name.

Put the squash in a 2.5 litre/2.6 quart baking dish. Add the Alfredo sauce, grated cheese, and grated up Baby Bell. I put one grated Baby Bell in with the cheddar. Mix it up and put the other grated Baby Bell on top.

Alternatively, you could save the first Baby Bell and put both on top if you want lots of crispy-cheese.

Put it in the oven, and cook it until the cheese is all melty. I don't have a set time since I didn't exactly watch the clock, lol. I did it all by sight.

I hope you guys enjoy it, since I surely did! <3

Tuesday, April 25, 2017

A Natural History of Dragons

A Natural History of Dragons. Marie Brennan. 2013. Tor Books. Pages: 334. [Source: bought]

You, dear reader, continue at your own risk. It is not for the faint of heart – no more so than the study of dragons itself. But such study offers rewards beyond compare: to stand in a dragon's presence, even for the briefest of moments – even at the risk of one's life – is a delight that, once experienced, can never be forgotten....
~~~

All the world, from Scirland to the farthest reaches of Eriga, knows Isabella, Lady Trent, to be the world's preeminent dragon naturalist. She is the remarkable woman who brought the study of dragons out of the misty shadows of myth and misunderstanding into the clear light of modern science. But before she became the illustrious figure we know today, there was a bookish young woman whose passion for learning, natural history, and, yes, dragons defied the stifling conventions of her day.

...a gust of shockingly cold air pulled at my sleeves, and ice stung my face. Wondering if we were in danger of hail, I looked up.
 I have little recollection of the next several seconds. Just a moment of frozen staring, and then – with no transition – my voice shrieking "Get down!" as I wrapped my arms around my husband and dragged him forward, off the wagon bench.


~~~

Rating: ✭✭✭✭✭

(Warning! This post contains spoilers! I couldn't help myself!)

This is another book that has been sitting on my shelf for over a year, waiting for my to get through whatever books I have been reading so I could pick it up with a clear conscience (there's nothing like guilt from having too many books on the go at once to ruin the experiance of a perfectly good book).

I really wished I hadn't waited so long to get to this! It was so good, and definitely not the kind of book I should have picked up when I was supposed to be writing a research paper on C.S. Lewis!

This novel is totally unique, and so satisfactory that when I finished it this afternoon I felt a longing to continue reading about Lady Trent's life and exploits. (I can't just go order the next instalment of the series since it chocks up to being over $30 Canadian for the hardcovers, unfortunately, and I'm collecting them in hardcovers because they're so pretty. So I'll have to wait, blah).

I have never before have read a novel that was purposefully written so that it read like a memoir. I had a sneaking suspicion that it would when I cracked it open, but I wondered how the story would fare since – well... memoir + fiction? It's volatile stuff.

But it worked so perfectly for this story, and I could hardly tear my eyes away from the pages in order to write my paper!

The story opens in Lady Trent's youth, when she was young, seven year old Miss Isabella Hendemore. She went out to play one day and found a small, dragon-shaped creature lying in the grass, dead. When she tried to take it home with her, it disintegrated in her hands – later the family cook would teach her how to properly preserve one in vinegar, and when young Isabella manages to jar an intact specimen, she names it 'Greenie', after its colour.

That was the moment her dragon fever, of a sorts, was born. It continued to drive her crazy until she was involved in an incident that forced her to conform to society – until she entered into her "season", the period of every young lady of high standing's life where they have to parade around until they met a man of high standing and they come to an agreement.

Isabella, faced with a lifetime of having her interests an intelligence stifled by the society-driven assumptions of the man she may one day call her husband, agrees to go with her brother to the king's menagerie, and it is there she meets her husband: Jacob Camherst.

It isn't long after they're married that they set off on an adventure into the mountains of Vystrana, where the rest of the story unfolds.

I fell in love with all of the characters, and the form of storytelling. I love Isabella and Jacob, and Mr. Wilker reminds me of Rodney McKay from Stargate: Atlantis (same sarcastic, high-strung kind of guy).

There are a few swear words, but nothing harsher than what I've heard my mother say when she's in a right royal mood (which is rare, and since we're Christian, it's nothing above a Parental Guidance).

At the beginning, when Isabella married Jacob, I wondered why his last name was 'Camherst' and not 'Trent', since Isabella is known as 'Lady Trent' in the future and not 'Lady Camherst'. I distinctly remember thinking, He's going to die, isn't he?

Now, if you've ignored my initial warning about spoilers, I'm afraid I've spoiled some of the story for you already. But I'm going to warn you again – stop reading if you haven't read A Natural History of Dragons yet! I'm going to be discussing the end past this point and I don't want to ruin it for you!

Anyway, now that that's out of the way...

Well, my hunch ended up turning out to be right. Jacob died, and that quite upset me. I liked Jacob! I didn't want Jacob to die! And because of where he died, he couldn't even be buried at home where Isabella could visit him regularly. It kind of reminds me of how Grandpa's grave is in BC, all alone.

The dragons in the story were quite impressive, and I was mildly reminded of How to Train Your Dragon while I read. In a good way.

I love the distinction of the world in this story. Usually, in fantasy, the society and world in the story is distinctly medieval. In this novel, the world is set at a technology level comparable to what we were at from 1812 to 1900 – there were steamboats, but according to Lady Trent there were yet to be railways and steam engines, yet there were steamboats – though I think they were comparable to the ones with the large paddle-wheels on their sides instead of ones of the Titanic's caliber.

I love the illustrations in this book – there're so lifelike! One was creepy in a few aspects, the one depicting Zhagrit Mat, sent shivers up and down my spine. I half expected Zhagrit Mat to come leaping out somewhere in the story since, well, it's a fantasy! Anything could happen in a fantasy! That amped up the tension because so much was happening. It was delightful!

The story world of A Natural History of Dragons is one I would love to daydream about, and I honestly can't wait to get my hands on the sequel, The Tropic of Serpents. Maybe I can get my hands on it before I come back to college...

Ah! I love it when I come across a good book!

Friday, April 21, 2017

Cinder: a book review

Cinder. Marissa Meyer. 2013. Square Fish, an imprint of Macmillan Publishers. Pages 387. [Source: Bought]

Even in the future, the story begins with Once Upon a Time....

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth's fate hinges on one girl....

Sixteen-year-old Cinder, a gifting mechanic, is a cyborg. She's a second-class citizen with a mysterious past and is reviled by her stepmother. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai's, she's suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world's future. Because there is something unusual about Cinder, something that others would kill for.

~~~

Rating: ✭✭✭✭✩

For years I've been hearing down the bookworm grapevine how great Cinder, and in extension, The Lunar Chronicles are. So I was highly optimistic about this book when I plucked it up from the Chapters bookstore shelf I found it on.

Now, I did end up enjoying it immensely when I read it, but there were some elements I didn't quite like.

I fell in love with Cinder, sympathized with her, felt frustration with her when her stepmother and eldest stepsister treated her like dirt. Felt sad when she felt sad, etc. I was totally immersed.

The story opens with with Cinder sitting in her shop stall in the marketplace, switching her cyborg foot for a new one since it's been on her since she was a kid. The old one was too small, and it was beginning to rust and become difficult to deal with. Her only company is her android companion, Iko, who is much more lively than the average android.

Suddenly, a boy trying to remain discreet with his hoodie and his bowed head appears in front of her stall and plunks an older android down on her worktable. It doesn't take Cinder long to realize who her newest customer is, and once she realizes it's Prince Kai of all people, well, her life just jumped off a cliff.

The worldbuilding that went into this story was splendid. The setting, New Beijing, was definitely something new for me but not wholly distracting, though it was kinda sad since the city sounded pretty crowded. I don't really know what to say about how far into the future the story takes place.

There were a few things that irked me. I'm such a stickler for the little details, little things that don't bother others, haha. But...

  • I didn't really like how Canada, sometime in the past, had been absorbed by America. Like, I get that countries get absorbed and split over time, but the fact that America tried to absorb Canada in 1812 and failed and then, in this story, Canada is nothing more than a province... UHG.
  • At least Canada's representative got a mention.
  • There was a lot of the "Cinderella Story" that had been cut out. Like I expected the author to not follow too closely to the Cinderella Story framework, but there were bits I kinda wished had happened. Like maybe a Lunar fairy godmother? (okay, okay, I can see that Dr. Erland kind of filled that role by providing a new cybernetic hand and foot, but that happened after the ball!)
The main thing that kind of bugged me and kind of ruined the world of The Lunar Chronicles was the presence of the sub-dermal ID chips. I can blame the Left Behind series for inducing the major paranoia I felt when the ID chips were mentioned, because in Left Behind, the authors had it as part of the mark of the beast with the fact that you needed to have one if you wanted to be a member of society.

The chips put me ill at ease, but I was eventually able to look past it.

The world presented in this book offered an interesting contrast to what kind of world is often offered in futuristic science-fiction stories. Instead of a pristine, peaceful, united world, the world in Cinder is grungy, sick, and shattered. The Earth is ravaged by a sickness worse than ebola, with people being carted away by medical androids never to be seen again.

In the story, I stuck close to Cinder, meaning that my mind didn't wander and dwell on the world around the events of the stories. It was just so depressing. I guess I can only handle so much gloom in a story (which is why I've never been a big fan of dystopia), haha.

Dr. Erland had to be my favourite character after Cinder in the novel. At first, I didn't like him very much since he was basically the reason why Cinder had been "sold" by her stepmother, and I fully expected that he was going to start dissecting her. But then he turned out to be the total opposite of the evil head-scientist I thought he would be. He was basically the first person to actually care about Cinder since her adopted father died. And the fact that he's a Lunar hiding out amongst the humans and that he's wants revenge on the Lunar Queen due to her authorities having taken his daughter away....

I honestly can't wait to read Scarlet, Cinder's sequel. I want to know what will happen to Cinder and Dr. Erland. Is it wrong that I want to see what happens to a secondary character more than the main character? No. I often find myself in this predicament! (Dr. Erland better not die!)

Queen Levana must be stopped, and it's a moment I await with bated breath. She is such a sick, evil woman.

Saturday, April 15, 2017

It Could Just Be Radiation

I have to admit, I do admire the Star Wars franchise. I like watching the movies and the TV shows when they're available on Netflix (hint hint, Netflix, I want to see the second season of Rebels), and the whole concept is rather fascinating. But since I'm human, there are some things I don't like.

I always found something weird about the Force. What was the Force and where did it come from? Why did the users of the Force practically worship it? Then my parents practically dropped the bomb on me when they said that they had read somewhere (yes, somewhere) that the mechanics of the Force had been based on (if I remember correctly) Buddhism or Hinduism. As a Christian, I could literally hear the record scratch as soon as that news left their mouths, and I knew from that day on I would never be able to fully enjoy the Star Wars universe again.

But since I'm a writer, my mind instantly began to whirr. Alternative possibilities to the existence of the Force whipped through my head, especially after I watched "first" three movies (The Phantom Menace [I], Attack of the Clones [II], Revenge of the Sith [III]), where they explained the microbes known as 'midichlorians' were what connected Jedi, Sith, and Force-sensitives to the Force.

I know that a lot of fans complain that the "first" trilogy kinda ruined things thanks to the whole midichlorian, young Anakin, and rise of the Empire thing – it had all been backwards, and that irked people. It didn't rise to people's expectations. But the whole midichlorian diagnosis kinda (haha...eh) supports my theory that the Force is some sort of radiation.

There is a ton of lore that I have no idea about (thanks to always being strapped for cash), but going by what the movies portray, you could easily say that the Force is nothing more than background radiation caused by the uniqueness of the galaxy (or all galaxies) and the people that live within it. Put a kind of superhero spin on it. Not everyone can tap into this radiation, because that's determined by how many midichlorians one has in their body. So, superpowers!

The radiation theory can support the saying that believers in the Force often spout whenever someone is curious about it: "it moves through every living thing". According to an article from the Hong Kong Observatory's website, the human body emits electromagnetic radiation.

Electromagnetic radiation is a kind of radiation that includes visible light, radio waves, gamma waves, and x-rays, in which electric fields and magnetic fields vary simultaneously.

Each planet, in order to support life, needs some sort of magnetic field in order to keep itself from being fried by its parent star. The magnetic field is made of electromagnetic radiation. Everything seems to emit some sort of electromagnetic radiation, so it is logical to conclude that the Force is made of electromagnetic radiation.

Electromagnetic radiation comes from every living thing.

So... SCIENCE!

Eheh... despite this and the fact the nature of the Force is distinctly mystical in canon, me as a person can always view it through science-coated glasses.

Star Wars is an exemplar example of a space opera (epic space opera as Wikipedia calls it), one of my favourite genres, and I love the stories. The aspects of the Force has not stopped me from loving the stories or falling in love with the characters. It hasn't stopped my Dad (who was the one who raised the fact of the background of the Force) from liking the Stormtroopers (if it's Star Wars, he gets it with Stormtroopers on it), or my Mom from loving the Ewoks.

I just wanted to point out what I think is an interesting scientific explanation for the Force. I probably just Star Trek-ified the whole thing ("it's magic for the locales, but it's science to us" kind of thing), but science is fun, right?

Right?

And, honestly, having radiation-induced superpowers sounds super cool.

------

Sources for electromagnetic radiation explanation:

Lee Shuk-ming, Olivia. "Radiation emitted by Human Body - Thermal Radiation." Radiation. September 2010. Accessed April 15, 2017. http://www.hko.gov.hk/education/edu02rga/radiation/radiation_02-e.htm.

"Electromagnetic radiation." Wikipedia. Accessed April 15, 2017. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_radiation.

Tuesday, April 4, 2017

A Brief History of Timekeeping

One of the elements that occasionally crosses my mind when I am worldbuilding a new culture is how the people tell time. Usually, the cultures I create are advanced enough for normal clocks, but in the story that I'm writing for Camp NaNoWriMo April the way the tribe of the Lajar tells time is with a sundial.

Or––a moon-dial, since the Lajar are a night-dwelling society since the sunlight that beats down on the Endless Waste of the desert moon of Dekartaal is extremely harsh. I've been contemplating exactly how the moonlight could help tell time. Oh well, I'll have to figure it out :3

Anyway, I found this video on the history of timekeeping on youtube. It's an interesting, engaging video––which even explains how quartz crystals help drive clocks. I never knew that quartz conducts electricity! That can totally be used to help with worldbuilding in the future!


I'll tag this under "for future reference" and listed on a page "Worldbuilder's Library" so you can find this quickly in the future when it's no longer a recent post. Yay for interesting videos! Awfully addictive, though.

Sunday, March 19, 2017

Writing Update

It's days like to day, ones where I spend the time doing what I want while anxiously dreading the coming week, that I think about my original stories while keeping an eye on Deep Space Nine as it plays on a window seperate from the one I'm writing this blog post on.

Yeah, I can't seem to stop multi-tasking. My mom says I'm a master at it.

Well, it's a skill I got from my mother, so I can only blame Mom, haha.

Usually I don't like to talk about my stories since they usually fall through and fade away like "A Galaxy So Fickle" did (though it's an idea that has been archived. I would like to recycle it again). But, since this is my blog, I should really write something other than book, movie, and TV show reviews. That's all it's been for the last few months, and people read my blog, so...

Yeah, I'll write about something. I want to expand the horizons of this blog (if that makes sense), and in the future I want to write about the differences between Science-Fiction-Steampunk and Fantasy-Steampunk. But right now, I'm going to talk about my latest novel project.

Over the last couple of months, I've been working on the backbone and outline of a novel project I've submitted to Camp Nanowrimo as "The Sceptre of Raja-dûmé" (pronounced: rah-ZHah doom-may). It's about a gentleman thief named Fletcher Broome (one of those characters that have been on reserve, waiting for their story to come along).

I've been following how-to's written by K.M. Weiland (yes, the authoress of Dreamlander!) that can be found on her website www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com, and so far I kind of know where the story is going to go. But I don't exactly know what's going to happen after Fletcher gets to the sands of the Endless Desert on Dekartaal... will he wander the sands for a week before he's found, or will he run into someone right away?

I'll have to keep planning. Camp Nanowrimo April is coming up fast, so the story has to have a better background before April 1st. So, yeah...

Saturday, February 18, 2017

Book Review: Dreamlander

Dreamlander. K.M. Weiland. 2012. PenForASword Publishers. Pages: 544. [Source: Bought]

What if it were possible to live two very different lives in two separate worlds? What if the dreams we awaken from are the fading memories of that second life? What if one day we woke up in the wrong world?


~~~

Rating: 
 ★ ★ ★ ★


This book... man, what a treasure! I am so glad I stumbled upon it. I can only thank K.M. Weiland for her leading me to her story, since I've been reading and trying to follow along with her writing advice.

Immediately, I found myself connecting with Chris Redston, the main character of the story. Usually, it takes me two or more chapters to settle down and decide if I like the main character enough to want to follow them through the rest of the story. My connection with Chris was stronger than with any character than I can remember in recent memory. And that thrilled me.

Due to college, the first 25 to 40% were kind of slow, and it took me longer than I liked to get reading. But then I couldn't put it down, and I ended up eating up the rest of the novel like it was the best of Swiss chocolate. Everything was so well-rounded, and you knew what all the main players were doing when you needed to know what they were going. Usually, writers tend to follow the main character and sometimes the deuteragonist, and other important characters would pop up and strike with their plot-twisting purpose before promptly vanishing again. But not in Dreamlander.

You followed Chris, Allara, and Orias Tarn almost evenly throughout this 60-chapter story.

~~~

So his life was careening toward a dead end.
So he was using work as an excuse to run away. 
At least it was safe. At least it was sane. Mostly.

~~~

I loved the genre of this story so much. I went in thinking it was a high fantasy and wondering exactly what the glowing device was in Chris' hand on the cover. But then it quickly occurred to me, when Chris became more and more immersed in the "dream world" - the world Chris would go to when he fell asleep - that it was high fantasy mixed with steampunk. And I love steampunk just as much as fantasy and science fiction.

K.M. Weiland's writing voice was so smooth that it didn't distract me from the story. The dream world and the countries of Lael and Koraud felt so real that I could see myself navigating the streets as if I was following Chris as he went about. I didn't want to leave when Chris left.

I felt fear and connected with the events of the story when I was introduced to the protesters and eventual terrorists/rebels who joined with the bad guys. Nateros (I think that was how it was spelled) echoed with so many things that are happening today, in reality, and it took my breath away, because she was able to make it believable.

This is definitely a book I would like to get in physical format when and if she makes a sequel for it (because I've heard she's been considering it...). And I definitely want to read it again someday. Great job, K.M.!

There was so much I felt when reading this story, but there's no possible way I would be able to put it all down!

Saturday, February 4, 2017

Oz the Great and Powerful

When this movie came out, I was mildly intrigued, but by the way they had the commercials laid out, I got the impression that three women in the commercial were fighting over Oz and that the whole movie was soaked with too much magic. It was one of those commercials that ended up being too vague, and I came to the conclusion that my family wouldn't ever be interested in watching it, so I went and forgot about it, since I didn't have the money to go and buy the DVD.

Yesterday, I stumbled across it on Netflix. I was bored and I wanted to watch something other than another episode of Forensic Files. So a click later, I found myself plummeting into Nostalgia Lake.

When I was younger, I had an insatiable appetite for anything meteorological or tornado-related. This was fuelled by The Wizard of Oz, due to the tornado at the beginning of the movie. Of course, every time the tornado was to come on screen, I would rush to my bedroom and gather up my blankies and my stuffies before I went back to the movie. I keep saying that my fascination with tornadoes is rather morbid, and it hasn't changed at all. I haven't watched The Wizard of Oz in years, not since I had to do a review on it in English class over the summer when my teacher sent me a link to it online. We used to have it on VHS, but our machine went and died when I was 13/14 years old and we had to clear out all our VHS tapes since we couldn't get our hands on another machine (I wish we hadn't).

Despite my apprehension on it, Oz the Great and Powerful turned out to be a lot better than I could have ever expected.

Netflix's synopsis, "He's an amateur magician and a con man, but all of Oz expects him to save the day. He should have booked Vegas", doesn't do the movie justice, leading me to believe if those at Netflix really know what they're doing when they write up the synopsi for their movies. Oz deserves a better synopsis, because it was so much more and the last sentence of the synopsis leads me to believe that the writer had inserted their own opinion into it.

Because Oscar Zoroaster Phadrig Isaac Norman Henkle Emmanuel Ambrose Diggs, or "Oz" as everyone knows him as, is a magician who was a part of a travelling circus, and he seemed to be doing pretty well despite the fact that he was playing with the hearts of several women at the same time, and that he was so skilled with his tricks that he made it look like he could perform miracles.

He was so convincing, he inadvertently duped a young, wheelchair-bound girl into thinking he could heal her so she could walk again.

Of course, that becomes the least of his worries when it turns out he flirted with the wrong woman and ended up enraging the circus' strongman. He vacates his mobile headquarters as fast as he can, managed to escape out a trapdoor in the floor moments before his head can be torn off by the strongman, and tears across the circus grounds until he comes across a hot air balloon, which he takes from its handler, claiming all the while that he owned 50% of it.

Making it into the air, he does a little jig before he notices that everyone in the circus, everyone who had come to watch him make his escape, is now running away, screaming at the top of their lungs. Confused, he turns around to look at what sent them running and is struck speechless. All he can manage to do is gasp as he takes in the massive twisting column of air writhing towards him. It only takes him a moment before he realizes that he's stuck in the air and that he's heading right towards certain death. In frustration, he screams as he is sucked in, his dreams of grandeur slipping from his fingers as death stares him in the face.

Inside the tornado, he's faced with death again and again as debris slams into the basket of the air balloon again and again. He faces off against the circus organ as it plays a haunting melody. But then it seems to all end as he reaches a point in the tornado that indicates that it's not what it seems. For a moment, Oz is totally weightless. It's gone strangely calm and debris has suddenly stopped trying to kill him.

But it's only calm for a moment, a moment that's only long enough for him to grab his top hat before he's sent reeling up the rest of the funnel cloud.

Beware of the tornadoes in Kansas, because there's a 50% chance that they're portals to another world.

This was a very well written movie. I got to know the main character rather well in the first five to ten minutes, well enough that I would get second-hand embarrassment whenever he flirted with women or did something that I had a feeling would cost him further down the road (the yellow brick road, haha). I usually don't come across movies written this well, and this was such a treat.

This movie was not predictable in the slightest, something I thought it would be since all I could remember from the trailer were three women in opposition of each other for some reason, a reason I assumed was because of Oz. I was proven wrong when the first person he meets in Oz is Theodora - who I assumed was the Good Witch who would wind up giving Dorothy her ruby slippers in The Wizard of Oz. You can tell how long it's been since I watched that movie, since the good witch who gave Dorothy her ruby slippers was named Glinda, not Theodora.

I immediately began to suspect who Theodora was when Evanora, her older sister, made her believe that Oz had played her, and she began to cry and her cheeks burned when her tears touched them. My suspicions were soon confirmed when Evanora, who had revealed herself as the wicked witch who killed the sisters' father, turned her into the Wicked Witch of the West. Apparently, if deep down you are wicked and you cry, the hot water in your tears will burn you. Because that's what ultimately ends her in The Wizard of Oz. I thought it was a weakness all three sisters shared, but Glinda had tears gathering in the corners of her eyes, and she wasn't burning.

I guess the thing that thrilled me the most about this movie was they had me completely fooled on who exactly was the real bad guy until it they were revealed. I saw Evanora as guardian of Emerald City and concerned older sister who only wanted to protect Theodora when she saw that she was smitten with Oz. I fully believed that Glinda was the wicked witch who killed their father until it was revealed that it was actually Evanora who did it!

Then I thought Evanora was the one who would eventually transform into the Wicked Witch of the West, because her whole getup was green and black. But yet again I was proven wrong.

Oz was a cleverly written main character. I didn't like that he was a heartbreaker, but he was put through a rigorous Path to Redemption character arc that turned him into a kind-hearted man in the end. I thought there was a clever point of juxtaposition when he couldn't heal the girl's legs back in Kansas, but ended up being able to fix the China Doll's legs with glue in China Town. That occurred to me as I lay in bed last night, revelling in the excellent story telling the movie had.

One thing I don't get though - Evanora was killed at the end of the movie, so she's not the witch who was crushed under Dorothy's house when she came to Oz. So who was the witch who was crushed under the house? Who was the original owner of the Ruby Slippers? Did Glinda, Evanora, and Theodora have another sister? Or was it a cousin? According to the The Wizard of Oz the witch crushed under the house was, in fact, the Wicked Witch of the West's sister, the Wicked Witch of the East. So who exactly is this sister?

  • The transition from black and white to colour when Oz goes to Oz was a nice touch.


I'll definitely want to show this to my kids when I have them and when they're old enough to understand the story. Because they're definitely going to grow up watching The Wizard of Oz. It's movies like these that make me look forward to the days where I'll be saddled with the responsibility of being a mom.

And this is a movie I definitely want to watch again.


Tuesday, January 3, 2017

Fractured

Fractured. Rae Elliott. 2014/2015. Smashwords. ebook. [Source: Bought]

An android slave named Lough seeks to return to his previous life as a powerful human king.

But Lough begins to question that goal when what's left of his human heart is inspired by the royal family he serves. Lough is in awe of Queen Darphina, a selfless mother who would face death in order to protect her children. Lough befriends young prince Fenton, who seeks to liberate his oppressed people from the tyranny of his father, the King.

As Prince Fenton is about to come of age, the blood-thirsty and power-hungry king plots against his heir to the throne. But the queen overhears his plans. (Synopsis shortened. Full synopsis here.)

~~~

Rating: 

When I bought this book off of Kindle, I was excited. It was the first Science Fantasy with an android in it I had yet to come across, and I was thrilled. And an android that used to be human? A corrupt human? How juicy is that?!

As a note: I classify this as a 'Science Fantasy' due to the fact that there are heavy science fiction elements in this story, yet it's set in a distinctly fantasy-like setting, with a monarchal government system and elements like poor citizens of the kingdom who use horses as a main mode of transportation.

In all honesty, the synopsis lead me to believe that Lough was going to be the main focus of the story, but it quickly became apparent that the attention was to be divided between Lough (whose name is pronounced like the word 'low' and does not rhyme with word 'bough' like I thought), the queen, and her children. Not that I minded, I was just caught off guard.

The only problems I had with the story was that it didn't feel like it focused on Lough desiring to be who he once was in the way that the synopsis lead me to believe. I thought he would dwell on the desire to be the powerful king he had been, despite the gaping holes in his memory, a lot longer than he had. And the only other thing that had me pursing my lips in a careful mix of uncertainty and doubt was the fact that the main inciting incident didn't seem to occur until halfway into the story.

I loved the world-building, though. That was my favourite part. I was immediately sucked in in the first chapter. I found myself falling into a world of fantasy that was delightfully free of any apparent magic - world of fantasy mixed with science fiction that successfully brought together my two favourite genres. There were elements of dystopia, because of how the king treated his people, but it distinctly didn't feel like a dystopia, for which I am glad - I don't like dystopia. There's only so much depressive themes in a story that I can take before I can't take it anymore.

I really loved this story and I'm so glad I chose to sit down and read it during my Christmas break. It's so refreshing to come across a story like this and not be bowled over by profanity and inappropriate scenes.

Ranger's Apprentice: The Battle for Skandia, a review

The Battle for Skandia . John Flanagan. 2006. Puffin Books. Pages: 294. Price: USD $8.99/$11.99 CAN. Setting: Skandia. ISBN 0142413402. [S...