Wishing all my readers a very happy New Year. I hope 2023 brings you lots of fun, laughter, and happiness!
Happy New Year!
Book Review: Tales of Magic & Destiny by various authors
Tales of Magic & Destiny is an anthology containing 12 short fantasy stories.
The Cover: I do like this cover, it depicts an ominous dragon confronting a mage in the midst of casting a spell. The image is strong and tells the reader to expect fantasy between the pages, I just wish the title font was as strong as the image. The font lets the cover down in my opinion, and it is a shame because the artwork is so good.
The Good Stuff: There are 12 stories to wrap your mind around, and none of the 12 stories were bad. I read through most without skimming, and found the majority of them held my attention. They are all fantasy stories as the cover promises and the writing is competent.
The Bad Stuff: There are quite a few typos in some of these stories. It is easy enough to read through and work out what the sentences should say, but it does pull you out of the reading experience each time you hit one. While the stories weren’t bad and held my attention, I was disappointed with the endings of some and found others a little average. There were probably 2 stories I enjoyed more than the others, but none of them really grabbed me and pulled me in.
Overall, this book was okay. None of the stories really stood out to me, but if you have an hour or 2 to burn it will pass the time. The writing wasn’t bad, but in my opinion, the stories weren’t great either. This one gets an average 3 out of 5 golden bookmarks from me.
Allan Walsh writes Fantasy and Horror. If you’re looking for something new to read in these genres, why not check out his books here. You can also find his titles available in libraries.
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Belated 2020 Wrap Up
I’m a little late to the party with this post, we are already half way into March 2021 and I’m only now reviewing my accomplishments for 2020. Well, better late than never, that’s what I say.
My goals for 2020 were as follows:
- Find a new job,
- Target 6000 words per week,
- Gain 10 new reviews,
- Publish an anthology of short stories,
- Finish 2 partially completed stories,
- Read 12 books,
- Write 12 reviews.
Here’s the short version on my achievements:
- I got a new job (eventually),
- I got nowhere near 6000 words a week. I’d say I’d be lucky if I got 1000 on a good week,
- I managed to garner 6 new reviews,
- I managed to write 5 new short stories to add to my existing ones. Part of this goal was to get 10 short stories to include in the anthology, so I made some progress on this goal. I also sent the new stories to my editor for a structural edit. I’m currently working through these edits, albeit at a very slow rate.
- I don’t think I even looked at these stories,
- I read 8 books towards this goal,
- I wrote 8 reviews.
2020 was full of surprises wasn’t it! Covid overtook the media and the world, throwing spanners in the works of many lives. Jamming the mechanisms and spitting out chewed up, mangled pieces of what once was. Needless to say, I didn’t meet my goals.
This is the longer version (covering a longer timeframe too) if you’re interested enough to read on:
I was made redundant from my day job at the end of 2018. I signed up for some study to open up more job opportunities and I focused on getting through as much as I could while I wasn’t working. I did some volunteering as a migrant English tutor in 2019, which was very enjoyable and rewarding, but didn’t help to pay the bills, so I got a temporary, part-time job. The plan was to continue my study on my days off, but the job turned out to be many more hours than I signed up for and wasn’t an enjoyable environment to work in. At the end of the contract I turned down an offer of an ongoing position and moved on.
I had received a nice little pay out from my redundancy, so when I finished up the temp job, I decided to take a break, travel the world a little, and enjoy life while I had the freedom to do so. I was in Thailand with friends when the Australian government warned to come home or get stranded. I got the last flight back to Brisbane in April 2020, just as everything was closing down because of Covid.
My priority on return was always to find a new job. Coming back into a changed environment hit the job market hard and I had no idea how tough it was going to be to find work. I put both my study and my writing on hold and spent the following months trawling job applications online, tailoring my resume, writing targeted cover letters, and didn’t get an interview. Not one single interview from hundreds of job applications. I started to volunteer again, this time in an Op Shop, both to gain some retail experience to put on my resume and in the hope it may present some opportunities for paid work. Once again, I enjoyed volunteering and got some satisfaction from the work, but nothing came of it.
To be honest, looking for work and being hit with rejection after rejection is de-moralizing, but I kept my chin up and continued to apply. Eventually, a friend told me my old employer (the one I was made redundant from) was hiring again. I made a phone call and landed an interview which resulted in a fixed term contract. Now I’m back at work, I’m trying to get into a routine with my writing.
All in all the last few years have been quite disruptive, and Covid added an extra level of complexity to my life. I’m not complaining, just stating a fact. I consider myself lucky. Australia has weathered well through the Covid storm and I know there are people out there far worse hit than I have been. Not just with disruption, but with loss of home, or worst still, loved ones. I may not have met my goals last year, but I did move forwards.
Whatever is going on in your life, keep striving to get ahead. Keep going. Look for opportunities to make things better – you only truly fail when you give up trying.
Happy New Year!
Hello Readers,
Well, we’ve made it through another year, and what a shocker of a year it has been. Covid has forced many changes onto us, yet we are resilient and continue to adapt. It is what we do. So, however your life has changed, continue to move forward and appreciate what you’ve got. Enjoy the pleasures life has to offer, however simple they may be.
I truly hope that 2021 is a better year for all of us.
Happy reading!
Book Haul – Look What I Scored.
Hello Readers,
A writer friend of mine here in Australia recently moved back to the USA. Having lived here for some years he had years of possessions to get rid of before the move. Amongst these possessions was a stash of books. So naturally, when he put the call out for anyone interested in buying any of them at a discount, I put my hand up. Now I was only expecting to come away with a few books of interest, but wow, what a collection. I came away with 12 books on the craft of writing (and I even left a handful of others as I am limited on shelf space at home). Thankfully someone got in and bought his whole collection of fantasy/sci-fi novels before I got there, or I would have been in a real fix.
So, what did I get? Here is the list:
Fondling Your Muse
How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy
Scene and Structure
Characters and Viewpoint
Worlds of Wonder
Creating Characters: How to Build Story People
Writing Fantasy and Science Fiction
Make a Scene
Eyes Like Butterflies
The Forest for the Trees
The Complete Guide to Writing Fantasy
The Writers Complete Fantasy Reference
What a haul!
I have started reading a reviewing these books already, it will take me a while to get through them, but I plan to get to them all in coming months. If you’ve read any of them and care to comment, please do so below, it may sway my reading order.
Happy Reading.
Book Review – Magician by Raymond E. Fiest.
Magician by Raymond E. Feist
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Magician is an epic fantasy novel about the lives of Pug and those around him, their victories, their defeats, their friendships, oh… and there is magic.
The Cover: A good traditional fantasy cover that clearly demonstrates the genre and gives you some idea of what sort of story you’re going to get.
The good stuff: While Magician bears some similarities to Tolkien’s work, it is an epic tale in its own right. Feist has put an original spin on a plot that has been used before and has some well rounded characters. His world building is done well, creating different races and cultures in worlds far apart. The Magician has everything a great fantasy epic should have: magic, magical weapons and armour, dragons, elves, dwarves and more.
The Bad Stuff: If I said I had just read a book with wizards, dwarves, elves, goblins and a mad king, what would you think of? Well, The Magician is not the title that most people would think of. As mentioned above, there are a few similarities to another well read epic fantasy in this book. There’s also some over explaining and repetition, with a fair bit of telling in the writing style.
In my opinion, this is a great fantasy novel and is a much loved classic that deserves a space on the shelf of any true fantasy fan. This one gets 4 out of 5 golden bookmarks from me.
Want to know if you agree with my review? Grab your own copy from these links:
Allan Walsh writes Fantasy and Horror. If you’re looking for something new to read in these genres, why not check out his books here. You can also find his titles available in libraries.
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What Does This Writer Do When He’s Not Writing? A weekend of fun in Brisbane City.
Hello Readers,
It is a long weekend here in sunny Queensland as we have a public holiday for Labour Day, a celebration of the 8 hour working day. And what a weekend it has been. It started off a bit lacklustre with some cleaning up around the house, washing down the deck out back, filling and sanding some small cracks in the walls and stuff like that as we prepare our house for sale – but then we moved onto the fun stuff; my amazing woman had organized an amazing weekend.
We began on Saturday night. Myself, my partner, and a small group of friends had dinner out at a local burger joint called Miss May’s, and it was packed! There was literally a queue out of the door from the time we arrived right through until we left about an hour later. The venue was nice, the food was good and the bar had quick service with numerous beers on tap. Something you don’t usually find around here.
The following day I forewent my monthly writer’s group session and spent the day at a festival called Cinco De Mayo (which translates to 5th of May). A Mexican festival celebrating the day that Mexico gained independence from Spain. It was a fantastic day out on the Brisbane riverside, and while it was colourful and vibrant, there was a very chilled and relaxing atmosphere. They had live music, dancing, Mexican street food, and of course, I had some great company. That night we stayed in the city at an apartment with a view that overlooked the Brisbane river.
The next morning we treated ourselves to a cooked breakfast and made our way down to the museum to check out the Egyptian mummy exhibit. Six mummies on loan from the British Museum that have been scanned and reveal what is inside the mummifications. It really was pretty interesting stuff. Then it was off to the arts museum to admire some true works of art (and a few I reckon they picked up from the local kinder-garden. Art really is very subjective). After walking around for a couple of hours our feet were starting to tire, so we made our way to the Munich Brau House at Southbank for a hearty meal, a well-earned beverage and some Bavarian entertainment with some family members.
And now the fun ends. It’s back to work tomorrow to earn back some of the cash we spent on an awesome weekend, but it was well worth it, after all – life is for living!
So how about you? What did you do over the weekend?
Allan Walsh writes Fantasy and Horror. If you’re looking for something new to read in these genres, why not check out his books here. You can also find his titles available in some libraries.
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It’s all about me, but it’s just for you.
Hello Readers,
Okay, so I know readers are an inquisitive bunch and most of you like to get to know a little about the authors you read, so I thought I would make this post about myself. Hopefully it will give you a bit of an insight into who I am and what I like to do with my spare time.
Now where do I start? Hobbies is probably a good place. To be honest, with a full-time job, most of my spare time is taken up with my writing and the business of being an author. On the occasion when I find I do have some spare time or those days when I really just want a bit of a break, I do love a good movie. My favourite genres would be action/adventure and sci-fi movie. I don’t just watch mainstream movies either, I will watch movies from around the world. I love a good international movie and recently watched an awesome South Korean flick called ‘The Villainess’. Some of my favourite movies would have to be The Matrix, Ninja Assassin and The Princess Bride. As for TV shows, well I can’t go past Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead and the recent version of West World for the commonly known shows, but I also like things like Untouchables and Acquitted on the lesser watched world TV scene.
What else can I share with you? Ah… I really enjoy going out somewhere for a coffee, whether it be a new café in a peaceful surround or an established coffee shop in a bustling, inner-city suburb. Similarly, I like to go out for a drink in a small bar somewhere with a couple of mates or have a small group of friends over for a few beers and something to eat.
As far as sports go, I love martial arts and I enjoy watching UFC or other contact sports on the TV. I also like to think of myself as a bit of an artist and I’ve been told that I’m quite accomplished at painting miniatures (and while I don’t play D&D, I do love the card game ‘Magic the Gathering’). I’m not so good with watercolours, but I enjoy painting with them. I am my own worst critic when it come to my art , but while I don’t generally like the pictures I paint, I do have some pieces that I’m proud of. I also like ink as a medium, I really like the look of things drawn in black ink on white paper.
Activity wise, I enjoy bush walking from time to time, but more-so adrenaline fuelled experiences, especially the ones that involve me driving. Whether it is a V8 dune buggy, a Lotus on a skid pan, or an HSV speed trial – I’m up for it!
And that’s about it for now,
I hope you enjoyed learning something about me.
Happy Reading!
Allan Walsh writes Fantasy and Horror. If you’re looking for something new to read in these genres, why not check out his books here. You can also find his titles available in some libraries.
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Time To Check In – How Are Things Looking?
Hello Readers,
Welcome to my new site – allanwalshauthor.com, I hope you like what you’ve seen so far. I’m quite pleased with the result and feel it looks more professional than my last website. The new site has been up and running for a few weeks now, and so far I haven’t come across any teething problems. I don’t tend to view my own site from the front end as much as my readers though, so I thought I would reach out to you and see if you have had any issues. If you have come across any stray links, problems with downloadable content, or just spotted a spelling mistake or two, please reach out to me by email and let me know. Alternately, you can leave me a comment below to let me know what you think of the new site, any issues or ideas on how to improve it.
Over the last weekend I was thinking about the sort of posts to put on this new site. I certainly want to gear it towards my readers and your interests. If you’ve been following the site, you will have noticed that I have re-posted my 10% club posts from my old blog. I wanted to get the samples of my work up on here for new readers visiting the site that might want to see some of my work. I’ve also decided to continue with my book review posts, this way you can see what I’ve been reading and what I thought of the books. I may also transfer some of my previous reviews over from the old site, but I will try to layer these between new posts so you are not just getting a lot of content you have seen before. I’ve started this off with a brand new review of The Destroyer by Michael Scott-Earle.
Being an Indie Author can be time consuming at the best of times. It is a big machine and the cogs need oiling to keep everything running smoothly. I have spent the last few months setting things up so the wheels don’t need as much grease, and now that I have established my new site and set up the tools I need to continue my journey with a little less effort, I hope to focus more on my writing. I look forward to giving you all something new to read in the future.
Until then, happy reading!
Allan Walsh writes Fantasy and Horror. If you’re looking for something new to read in these genres, why not check out his books here. You can also find his titles available in some libraries.
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Welcome to the Official Website for Allan Walsh – Author!
Hello Readers and Welcome!
This is the first post on my new website. If you’re after a welcome gift, jump over to my ‘Home’ page and grab yourself some free books.
For those of you who have followed me previously on ‘Allan Walsh – Author, A Writer’s Journey’, I say thank you. Rest assured, I have brought you over to this new site, so you should receive all my blog posts as normal. If you have not got your copies of the free books on the home page, go and grab them now.
Happy Reading.
Allan Walsh writes Fantasy and Horror. If you’re looking for something new to read in these genres, why not check out his books here. You can also find his titles available in some libraries.
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