Monday Book Recommendation: Tales Anthologies – Inklings Press

Inklings Press is the brainchild, and publishing house that brings together new, very talented authors together, select a genre, then continue to create amazing, fantastical worlds with riveting characters and amazing stories. I have had the honour of reviewing their anthologies and each time I do, I am blown away by the talent.

Tales of Wonder is their latest anthology, and it will be this Wednesday’s book review as well (and I must admit that I loved it.)

For a list of their anthologies, which you can buy on Amazon, visit their website: Inklings Press

We are a group of friends that share a love for many interests, be it comics, RPG’s, anime, fantasy, science fiction, mystery, alternative history, wargames and literature. But above all we are a group of like minded friends that decided to create our owned e-publisher in order to provided us with an outlet for our stories, novels, anthology and blog/ezine projects related to those interest. Working as a team we hope to create and share good quality work with our readers.

Our purpose is to provide a new offer when it comes to fantasy, science fiction, mystery & alternative history tales.

Mission Statement

We see us, The Inklings, as a group which aims to inspire, push, and support authors.

Inspire: to overcome the dreaded writer’s block, the blank page. To provide a sounding board for ideas and motivate us to keep writing.

Push: to offer critics, revisions and motivate us to keep working within deadlines, which are often the bane of any writer.

Support: during the writing, which is the toughest stage and celebrate their sucess post publication, providing a friendly platform.

Nurture: because every writer needs sometimes help, guidance or even someone to talk with (and even fight a bit) and nurture those ideas seeds. And what better way to do so than with friends that have been or are at the same stage.

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Wednesday Book Review: Thr3e

Title: Thr3e

Author: Ted Dekker

Publisher:  Thomas Nelson

Book procurement: Bought at a little secondhand book store in Melville.

Release Date: December 10, 2006.

Synopsis:

Enter a world where nothing is what it seems. Where your closest friend could be your greatest enemy.

Kevin Parson is alone in his car when his cell phone rings. A man calling himself Slater offers a deadly ultimatum: You have exactly three minutes to confess your sin to the world. Refuse, and the car you’re driving will blow sky high. Then the phone goes dead.

Kevin panics. Who would make such a demand? What sin? Yet not sure what else to do, Kevin swerves into a parking lot and runs from his car. Just in case.

Precisely three minutes later, a massive explosion sets his world on a collision course with madness. And that’s only the first move in this deadly game

Review:

A friend of mine introduced me to Ted Dekker ages ago where I procured The Circle, which didn’t appeal to me much. So I tried Heavens Wager and that was a great book. Thr3e was in the backseat of my car for some weird reason, probably didn’t take it out since I bought it 6 months ago, and I decided I might as well read it. I’m so glad I did.

It begins with quite a philosophical question regarding the nature of man/humans/people. Is man good or evil? Does our capacity to do evil make us inherently evil? How do we deal with our inner duality of good and evil? In the bible sin is sin (sin is overstepping the boundaries set by God), which leads to asking if someone who gossips is as bad as someone who murders since both have overstepped the boundary – committed a sin.

Kevin Parson is a seminary student who poses this question to his professor. Almost as though to immediately lead him towards the answer, he receives a call from a man called Slater.  Solve this riddle and confess your sin, or you die. What follows is an explosive action packed adventure with Kevin Parson revisiting his childhood, solving riddles posed and trying to figure out who Slater is.

The writing is fluid. It moves along at a fantastic pace almost as though I’m watching a movie and everything is unraveling splendidly. So refreshing to enjoy a book that keeps me turning the pages and shouting out in agony as I try to figure out who Slater is. As much as Ted Dekker falls into Christian thrillers, it’s not a book trying to convert you into Christianity. There’s hardly any reference to it and when there is, it’s linked to Kevin, Slater and the ongoing battle between them. Expertly handled from beginning to end.

Let’s not forget that amazingly mind-blowing hair-tearing-from-suspense conclusion that had me talking to myself in traffic and uttering profound praise to Ted Dekker for messing with my mind!! Whoa. Loved it.

Rating: A MINDBLOWING 5 out of 5. (edited)

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Ted Dekker is known for novels that combine adrenaline-laced stories with unexpected plot twists, unforgettable characters, and incredible confrontations between good and evil. Ted lives in Austin with his wife LeeAnn and their four children.

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If you didn’t know, now you know, I’ve started a bookstagram!

@ascribe_bookstagram

The Harvest Man by Alex Grecian

Scotland Yard’s Murder Squad—and Jack the Ripper—return, in the extraordinary new historical thriller from the author of the acclaimed national bestseller The Yard.

In The Devil’s Workshop, London discovered that Jack the Ripper was back, sending the city—and Scotland Yard’s Murder Squad—into chaos. But now it is even worse. Not only is the Ripper still at large, but so is another killer just as bad.

For Inspector Walter Day, it has been a difficult time. His wife has given birth to twins, his hostile in-laws have come to stay, and a leg injury has kept him at his desk. But when the Harvest Man begins killing, carving people’s faces off their skulls, the Yard knows they need Day in the field.

Not so Sergeant Nevil Hammersmith. Rash actions have cost him his job, but that doesn’t stop his obsessive hunt for the Ripper. When the mutilated bodies of prostitutes start turning up again, Hammersmith enlists the help of a criminal network to stop Saucy Jack, his methods carrying him further and further from the ideals of the Yard, so far in fact that he may never be able to find his way back.

Of course, the Ripper’s been playing a game with him—with Walter Day, as well. He is pushing both of them to their limits, and what happens when they get there . . . no one can say.

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Spring Death month continues and this week is Serial Killers. The Harvest Man gave me chills, exploring the one antagonist character type that freaks me out. A 4 star rated book in my Book Review: The Harvest Man. It’s an entire series so get it from the first book.

Grecian is the author of several bestselling historical thrillers featuring Scotland Yard’s Murder Squad: THE YARD, THE BLACK COUNTRY, THE DEVIL’S WORKSHOP, THE HARVEST MAN, and LOST AND GONE FOREVER, plus the original Murder Squad ebook, THE BLUE GIRL.

He also created the six-volume graphic novel series PROOF, and the two-part graphic novel RASPUTIN.

He currently lives in the American Midwest with his wife and son. And a cat. And a tarantula.

Goodreads: Alex Grecian

Personal Site: AlexGrecian.com

Weekly Challenge: Genre Blender

This weeks Challenge comes in the form of a Genre Blender with the idea of mixing two genres from a given list and writing something with the amalgamation. I will be blending Mystery with Open Letter. This should be fun.

A “Prep for NaNoWriMo” Short

To The Artist

We have been in your debt for far too long, and the people will testify to this fact with more than just words. The branding that scars our bodies should not have to leave us defenseless and at the mercy of the state and yet here we are, running from those who ought to protect us. Your markings do not change who we are, they merely alter how others perceive us but this is not who we are. How long do you intend to pretend that what you do is for our benefit, that by shunning us you save us? How long must we wait before our markings are recognized for what they truly are, a con? How much longer must we wait, for true freedom?

You are aware that bodies have shown up in the city, unexplained murders the authorities say, vigilante killing sprees the people say but I tell you there is another at work here. The evidence is clear, every body found bore a similar trait – all had their markings altered by you. The question is, who is the killer?

When you were arrested in connection to these murders, we all knew it could not have been you. How could our supposed saviour be the one killing off our people? However, when you refused to comment to the higher ups, I felt a tangible loss of hope from those who believed in you. What was worse, once the evidence pointed elsewhere you refused to help anyone else and you were no longer the hero the people expected you to be.

We hope you have a change of heart soon as the air stirs in anticipation of something great. There is talk amongst the people of a new generation of younglings with markings unlike any seen before. This future generation will need to be protected from those who would seek to eradicate them, the very ones who have killed our brothers and sisters and instilled a fear so deep within you that you have turned your back on us.

To you, murderers lurking in the shadows, this message is for you too. You know very well what it is you are doing but we will not stand for it. The Artist might cower in fear but we will not. We have already seen your works, we know whom you have in your sights and we will find you. The people will find you. Your motives are weak and that is why you will fail.

To the Marked Ones, do not live in fear. Justice stands atop the hills of Renton, sweeps across the valleys of Fairway, washes across the Gallade ocean and beats in every one of your hearts.

Live in peace.

The Standing Marked Ones

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Oh I can see this novel paving its way across my vision! How exciting! NaNoWriMo come along now.

In response to:

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_writing_challenge/genre-blender/