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Writer in Training

WWW Wednesday 26/10/2016

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I first saw this meme on Cookie Break with Sarina Langer but it’s hosted by Sam over at Taking on a World of Words and I thought it would be a lot of fun to try out. So let’s get started. The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading? What did you recently finish reading? What do you think you’ll read next?

What are you currently reading?

I've just started 12:07 The Sleeping by L. Sydney Abel.

the-sleeping

I've only read the first three chapters so far so I can't say much about it yet. The premise is interesting, taking the sleep paralysis that many people experience and making it sinister. I am already feeling that the prose could be a little cleaner - too many adverbs for my tastes - but if the story is strong enough, I usually forget about the prose so we'll see how that goes.

I was given a copy of this book in exchange for a review so expect to see a full review next week.

 

What did you recently finish reading?

I recently finished  The Winter Hunt and Other Stories by Steve Lockley and Paul Lewis.

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This was a really well put together collection of short fiction. Many of the stories are set in and around Swansea and some of it felt very like Glasgow, so very familiar to me. I guess that's probably the case of most UK cities. I think the magic of these stories comes from the extraordinary events in very ordinary surroundings. The young woman who lives in a run down estate and hates her job and her alcoholic father only to come face-to-face with the winter hunt; the old couple living in a house that's falling apart but refusing to move for reasons that go deeper than you would expect.

I won't say too much more at the moment because there's a full review of this one coming up. Look out for it over the next few weeks.

I also recently finished reading a manuscript for one of my writing friends and I'm really excited about it. I expect to share more information with you shortly.

 

What do you think you’ll read next?

I have three books on my 'to-review' pile before I'll have the chance to pick anything for pleasure - or the for reading challenge that I've set myself (expect to see a post about that on Friday). They are:

Akiri: The Sceptre of Xarbaal by Brian D Anderson and Steven Savile

akiri

Abernathy by Claire Patel-Campbell - currently crowd-funding on Unbound; and

Horror: A Literary History by Xavier Reyes

I will most likely read them in the order listed here.