Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time

If you’d ever wondered what the universe was made of and how it came to be, and don’t mind your technical science, then this book is going to be just the ticket. Hawking gives us a very in depth and inquisitive look at the origins of our understanding of the universe, and makes it both readable and fascinating to readers of any age or education level.

As most of you probably know, I write sci-fi when I’m not running about battling pirates or making sure my dragons don’t argue over whether or not the prophecies are working right.  I’m also a closet astronomer and I love dabbling in astrophysics sometimes. I picked up A Brief History on the recommendation of another friend when I was discussing the genesis of black holes and the potential for wormholes to form in our galaxy, and I was not disappointed in what I found. Sure, it took me a few months to read in between working way too much and the loss of my bedside lamp, but I got there and boy was it a good ride. It expanded on a few things I already vaguely knew about (stuff like string theory, quantum entanglement, and the grand unified theory), but also educated me on the intricacies of said theories and added colour to what was once a textbook interpretation. Hawking is a capable and expansive writer, if not entirely personable (his style is heavily influenced by academic style but no less enjoyable), and I’d certainly read more of his work in the future. I’ve got the follow-up book, A Briefer History of Time, sitting in wait on my bedside table, but for now I think I’ll go explore some other things.

Of late I’ve been going on a bit of a reading binge to help combat some of my seemingly ever-present stress, and my horrible writer’s block. So far it seems to have helped, but sadly my bookcase is a bit too full and some of my books will have to go.

Anyway that’s it from me for now. Stay tuned for next time!

-P

Updates, and Camp NaNo April 2016

Hello readers!

Apologies for being so absent lately. Last month has been slightly crazy in between catching up on reading, Camp, a holiday, and my job. So let’s start from the top, shall we?

The beginning of April marked the first round of Camp NaNoWriMo, which I started participating in last year. As some of you may (or may not) know, I recently went through a major case of writer’s block which left me without words for the better part of 6 months. This was mostly because I was adjusting to my new job (which isn’t so new any more). As a result, work on Dreamstealer came to a grinding halt and it sat at onto 800 pages for far too long. So when April started, it was kind of a kick in the rear to get back to work. Except… I still had no motivation. My solution was to start working on Book Two of the Dreamstealer chronicles, which I’ve called Dreamchaser. I’m not even a full chapter in, but so far its turning out to be a far darker work than its predecessor. Once I have the ground work done, (and the third book done and dusted, its funny how one book can suddenly turn into a trilogy) I plan on going back for edits, beta reads, and then the big publishing day. I’m both nervous and incredibly excited that the Dreamstealer series is going to be my first book. It’s a huge task, but I never said I didn’t like a good challenge!

Besides Camp, April has been full of nerdy pastimes including a trip to Supanova on the second week of the month with my boyfriend. It was great fun and I came home with way too much loot. I also played a bit too much Skyrim, and may or may not have generated a new idea for a sci-fi novel. In between all of this I decided I would finish reading Robert Louis Stevenson’s  Treasure Island, which has been sitting on my bedside table for goodness knows how long. It was… an interesting read, which I’ll detail in my next post because otherwise this one will be humungous.

So, happy May, and onwards to the review!

-P

The dragons are laughing at me. But they haven’t won yet.

Cryptic title, right?

It’s been a very slow day/night, and I can’t seem to get anything out on either Dreamstealer or Pirates of Time. Not only is this worrying (because heck I have a word count to meet), but it makes me wonder if perhaps I started Dreamstealer off on the wrong foot. Is it time to rehash the introduction, give my characters more space on their pages? Perhaps. After the long conversations I’ve had with my characters, they’re all asking me for more than they have and they’re worried about each other’s safety in the world I’ve dropped them into. I suppose that’s a good thing; if my characters are worried then I’ve got a good world for them to work with. But even so, there’s some polishing to do and I’m glad they pointed it out to me.

I found myself reading this article http://www.laurellkhamilton.org/angels-demons-and-the-writer/ just a few moments ago and it made me think about just how much our own personal ‘demons’ do influence us, as writers. Especially when we’re writing genre fiction. I guess it’s something that we all deal with on some level, and it’s up to us to tame those demons and pull another card from our sleeve, hoping that this time it works.

I’m going to try and get back to my novels, and keep you updated.

Don’t stop reading!

AdmiralCarter.

A Day in the Life of AdmiralCarter

Hello all!

So I know I blogged yesterday, but I thought as it’s lunch time (and tea time when is it not tea time) and I was just reading this post on what bloggers actually do during their days (http://aopinionatedman.com/2015/07/07/what-do-bloggers-actually-do/), I’d add my daily plan to the rundown.

As a writer, blogger, and musician, I find that my day is usually broken up into a few manageable chunks of time. I’ll wake up usually around 8 or 9 in the morning, grab some breakfast and start plotting things out in my filofax (yes, I’ve got one. Yes, I love it.). Once that’s done, I’ll do chores (dishes, washing, clean the dog, dust, other general housework), then sit down to nut out some words on my current WIP. Lunch comes around, I’ll grab food and another full pot of tea and check blog stats, Facebook, and my other social media accounts. Emails get a look in too. After that it’s back to writing and/or music practice until 5. Then dinner, dishes, anything the dog needs done. Then more writing until I get so tired I end up going to bed. If I have any other things to do during the day, like run errands, I’ll usually squeeze them in as soon as I can.

So that’s pretty much what I do with my days. Fairly straightforward.

Best get back to Dreamstealer before Eri gets herself into trouble with another dragon.

AdmiralCarter

Camp NaNo 2015

Hello all!

So as you’ve probably noticed by my banner I’ve decided to tackle Camp NaNo for 2015. This will be my first camp, and my target is 50,000 words in a month. Piece of cake, right? Let’s hope so.

This time I’m working on a new project alongside Pirates of Time, and this new project is called Dreamstealer. It’s a high fantasy novel set on a world called Elari, where the Dream-Elders who rule the five provinces through predictive dreams are beginning to die because of a creature called the Dreamstealer. The Dreamstealer eats their dreams, and uses it to fuel chaos and unrest throughout the provinces. Wars are raging once more, and Elari is thrown into a state of bloody warfare and provincial rivalry, warlords have taken control and nowhere is safe. In the midst of all this chaos, one teenager – Eri Torain – has discovered that she has Dream Elder abilities, and is tasked with not only defeating the Dreamstealer but also with restoring peace and prosperity to the lands of Elari. Will she succeed? Stay tuned to find out!

So that’s what I’ve been up to lately.

As always, never stop reading!

AdmiralCarter

Another day, another chapter..

Hello all!

Thought I’d give you an update on what’s happening since it’s been a while. I’ve been darting between a bunch of different books lately, including the Dune chronicles by Frank Herbert, The Road to Dune, Angus Konstam’s Blackbeard biography, a novelisation of Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag, and other various books from the local library which have all been aiding me in writing Pirates of Time. It’s all been a bit of a whirlwind in that regard, not to mention the nine secondhand books I picked up from the Lifeline Bookfest this past weekend. The teetering tower beside my bedside table has returned, except its now capped by my DnD figurines and my flower press. I’ve also been playing way too much Skyrim, but have had to give that a break due to a lack of health potions and a need of a new strategy.

Now that I’m well and truly back on the writing wagon, I find that my creative drive has changed somewhat. I’ve had to switch over writing programs from Microsoft Word to a handy little fullscreen program called Q10, which is great for writing without distractions and aiding with the short creative bursts I seem to favour these days. On top of that, inspiration has struck me square in the face once more and Pirates of Time is getting a sequel. Now, I know what you’re saying. I haven’t finished the first book. And I know, but I’m getting ever closer with each chapter and now that I can see the horizon it’s easy for me to finish my pantsing and really get into the nitty gritty of my planning. I’m one of those people who start out with a general plan, which is slowly built up over time and then cemented as I get closer to the end of the piece. It isn’t the most efficient way, but who said writing had to be efficient if it was meant to be creative?

The sequel is slowly in development. It still has no title. I do, however, know what I want it to be about. I’ve talked about it a little on my Facebook page, but no more details until then! Speaking of my page, I’ve recently decided to take up a nom-de-plum for the sake of my slightly hard to pronounce surname. I’ll see how that goes.

What are your thoughts on nom-de-plums and novel planning, everyone? Fill up that comments box, I love getting to read about your thoughts. Hopefully I’ll get up another book review soon it’s been too long.

Until next time and never stop reading!

AdmiralCarter.

Yo ho, yo ho, an author’s life for me

Hello everyone!

I do apologise for my absence. My dear Jeremiah has been taking up almost all of my time lately and staunchly refusing to let me work on anything but my novel. As most of you know, Pirates of Time is my current project and although I’ve been working on it since November of last year, it’s only now that the realities of being a writer have sunk in.

Let me clarify. For those of you who write regularly, I’m sure you’ve had the experience of telling someone about your novel, only for that person to immediately get excited and ask you for a first copy or an autograph. I’ve had many of these experiences myself, but never have I been asked for an autograph. Until today.

Most people I’ve spoken to have loved the idea behind my work: a former naval officer, turned privateer and then pirate for the sake of taking vengeance on the British state and patriarchy which had so wronged him in his childhood, only to then find himself stuck in the middle of an international fight for power and the arrival of creatures who wish to own the planet for themselves and have for years been working in the background to accomplish their goals. He’s faced with the choice of saving the planet, or forsaking his own morals and drive for the good of the British Empire. And so it is that Captain Jeremiah Carter of the HMS Excalibur finds himself faced with the greatest of calamities on the high seas and in the skies, and a brother who will stop at nothing to destroy him. I guess it’s a good feeling to know that people like the idea enough to read it (at least four suggested I turn it into a movie but I am a shocking scriptwriter), but it still freaks me out a little when people get excited. It makes me wonder what I’m to expect once I publish, and how things might change in the future. I hope good things but we never can tell until we get there.

Alas my tea has run out and I am in need of more.

Don’t stop reading,

AdmiralCarter

Why do people write?

Hello there readers.

As I was working through some general knowledge information for my upcoming classical piano exam and scrolling through Facebook, I came across a post in one of my writing groups asking why people write, and for us to offer up our reasons. This is a curious question that I suppose everyone has asked at some point, whether or not said person is a writer. After thinking about the question for a few moments, I wrote down “to go where I can’t” and ended it there.

But, after the thread got more comments all ranging in their answers from the sarcastic to the profoundly deep, it really got me thinking. Why do people write? What’s the point in it? I’ve been a writer for as long as I can remember. Before I could hold a pencil, I used to weave stories with my voice and my dreams. So for me, it’s always just been there. It’s only now that I’m actually working on something that I realise that part of it, for me at least, is driven by the need to explore. To let my imagination take flight and take me to places I literally cannot go. Whenever I work on Pirates of Time or any of my other pieces, I’m always struck by the need of my characters to move. To never be able to stay in one place for too long. Not only that, but the works are always set in some world that is not my own. Or, at least, one in the distant past.

For me, knowing this now is a very tangible thing. I’m a Type 1 diabetic, and as such my travel options are limited by regulations and international laws. The other piece to this puzzle is my younger self and her desire to one day become an astronaut and go to space, or become an archaeologist and explore the bowels of the planet. Of course I can’t do either of those things now, so I guess the answer to why I write is a yearning to travel. A yearning to see something new, to explore, and to possibly go somewhere nobody has gone before.

Practically speaking, people write for lots of reasons. To record their thoughts, keep track of money, make promises to one another, provide people with lists. Some of the earliest forms of writing – cuneiform – date back to 3000 BCE on clay tablets. Creative writing has a whole other background and purpose. Some people think they’re born to be writers. For others, its a career. Or an emotional outlet, a way to process their feelings and give them form and substance. George Orwell thinks its down to egotism and a desire to be talked about (http://thewritepractice.com/why-we-write/), more commonly known as fame. Others, like JK Rowling, wrote because she had an idea and she needed a way to both get money and to deal with emotional and financial pressure.

There are many reasons why people write then, I suppose. As writers then, we have to find our own purpose and stick to that. Use it to drive us through our darkest hours and to help us when our characters start revolting because we haven’t paid them enough attention *cough cough*.

But, more than that, we have to hold onto our dreams and pursue them until we have achieved, or we can pursue no more. We have to believe in ourselves, believe that we can do it, and keep going.

Don’t stop reading, or writing, dear readers. I’ll be back soon.

AdmiralCarter

Fairy Tale Book Tag: True Love, Princesses, and Midnight Magic

Fairy Tale Book Tag: True Love, Princesses, and Midnight Magic.

I absolutely ADORE fairy tales. Here’s my list in response to the questions. You should go check them out! This is the first tag I’ve filled out.

 

1. Is there a book you lie about because you feel ashamed for liking it?

Hmm, this one’s hard for me. Becca Fitzpatrick’s Hush, hush series. I love it SO MUCH, but it feels awkward because, well, I’m 21 now and 21 year olds can’t read YA fiction, right? Right?!

2.  Which book do you love that has a hideous cover?

John Irving’s The World According to Garp. Mostly because there’s a toad on the front, and I can’t stand toads. I originally thought it was a Wind in the Willows-esque novel whose main character was a toad. Boy was I wrong.

3. What was the last book you bought based on cover alone?

Ok this one’s easy. Kevin J Anderson’s The Edge of the World, which I’ve already written a post about. Easily one of my favourite books, and much better than the last time I bought something for its cover. Thanks for that, overly-gruesome murder mystery.

4. Who is your favourite book couple? 

Another hard one. It’s been a while since I’ve read anything with a couple as its focus (so I can’t be too talkative here), but I’m gonna go with Julian Carax and his lover from Carlos Ruiz Zafon’s The Shadow of the Wind. Their relationship is so supportive and flexible, and although it crumbles a little near the end its still one of the most sincere and heartfelt ones I’ve seen yet.

 

 

 

5. If you like to branch out into new genres, what was the latest book you’ve tried?

Easy. Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, which I’m reading right now. Classic literature of this era (18th-19th centuries), especially romance-related ones, have never really been my cup of tea. I find that they’re often stuffy and moralistic, and lack a cohesive plot. Nevertheless, I’m driving on with it and hoping it gets a little more bearable.

6. What was the last book that made you stay up all night? 

I tend to keep very late hours (perpetual night-owl), so staying up all night isn’t a huge deal for me. I would have to say the last one that really engaged me that much was either RS. Ingermanson’s Transgression, or Neal Stephenson’s REAMDE. Beyond that? Pirates of Time of course, my beloved WIP. If it’s gripping enough to keep me awake it has to be good, as far as I’m concerned. Or just hugely annoying to write, because of research.

 

7. What’s the worst book you’ve read recently?

Well. This is difficult. Recently, the worst I’ve read is E.L. James’ 50 Shades of Grey. I know I’ve already written a post about it, and talked about the psychological elements in it, but really? There’s no excuse for poor writing. There just isn’t. It makes it worse when it isn’t marketed and/or discussed properly in the media. It’s primarily a book about a very emotionally unstable man and a naive woman who tries to be some kind of hero, and it’s also about blatant abuse. BDSM is a whole different kettle of fish to 50 Shades, and for those of you who think otherwise I’m so, so sorry. But it’s just not right. A close second on that list is James Flint’s Habitus. Total lack of continuity, and the concept is nuts. Characters are 2D, seriously just go read my blog post on it, or if you like just read the book.

(Not even going to put pictures).

 

So those are my answers. How about you? Are there any books that came to mind when you saw this list? And do you have any favourite book tags? Tell me in the comments, I love hearing from you!

 

As always, never stop reading and stay tuned for more!

AdmiralCarter

Happy Holidays!

Hello everyone!

With the festive season upon us, I’d just like to wish you all a very happy holiday season and prosperous new year. All the best for now, and see you again in 2015!

Never stop reading!

AdmiralCarter.