Hi lovely folk,
I am surprised and delighted to say that my novel The Beautiful Decay is up for various awards at the Queer Indie Awards!
If you enjoyed it, it would mean a lot if you'd vote for it. 💙
Discoverability is incredibly difficult as a self-published author and awards can be a big help.
Voting closes 26th Jan!
Reviews and Comments
I like to read
Non-bookposting: @Tak@glitch.taks.garden
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Tak! commented on The Beautiful Decay by Veo Corva
Tak! reviewed How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu
How High We Go in the Dark
4 stars
A series of bleak, gritty glimpses of what's in store for us over the next few decades.
The tone is lightened a bit here and there with injections of optimism, but I think it works against itself a little when the optimism feels unwarranted.
The way that the characters from the different stories are linked reminds me a bit of Cloud Atlas (although I only saw the movie (sorry)).
Tak! commented on How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu
Wow, the second story is bleak. Do not recommend for people with children in their lives.
Tak! reviewed Bookshops and Bonedust by Travis Baldree
Bookshops & Bonedust
4 stars
I was pleasantly surprised.
My takeaway from Legends & Lattes was that it was a cozy fantasy adaptation of a modern concept àla Pratchett, but I didn't get a particular feeling of depth.
With Bookshops & Bonedust, it's the converse - I felt like it was mainly a story about Viv and her forced journey of self-discovery, while all the rest of it was just set dressing.
Tak! commented on How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu
The #SFFBookClub January pick is How High We Go In The Dark, by Sequoia Nagamatsu. Thank you to all who voted and/or suggested books.
Tak! reviewed Wondrous Journeys In Strange Lands by Sonia Nimr
Wondrous Journeys in Strange Lands
3 stars
I enjoyed the setting, and some of the substories were compelling, but as a whole it was too rambling and incohesive for me.
I feel like it would have worked better as a series of stories about different people from the same village or whatever instead of repeatedly being like "despite being in the middle of this incredibly urgent life crisis, the main character decides to spend six months teaching an older woman to fold laundry" or "despite having a very bad outcome two chapters ago, the main character decides to engage in exactly the same dangerous behavior with no additional precautions"
Tak! commented on Wondrous Journeys In Strange Lands by Sonia Nimr
Tak! commented on Wondrous Journeys In Strange Lands by Sonia Nimr
Let's see if I finish this one in time for #SFFBookClub
Tak! rated Hidden Pictures: 4 stars
Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak
A mystery about a woman working as a nanny for a young boy with strange and disturbing secrets.
Tak! commented on Wondrous Journeys In Strange Lands by Sonia Nimr
The #SFFBookClub selection for December 2023
Tak! rated The Border Keeper: 4 stars
The Border Keeper by Kerstin Hall
She lived where the railway tracks met the saltpan, on the Ahri side of the shadowline. In the old days, …
Tak! reviewed Sisters of the Forsaken Stars by Lina Rather
Tak! reviewed Sisters of the Vast Black by Lina Rather
Tak! reviewed The Colours of Death by Patricia Marques
The Colours of Death
3 stars
An adequate whodunit set in alternate contemporary Lisbon where a minority of people are gifted with telepathic or telekinetic powers.
There were some oddities - for example, the protagonist talks about the ambient temperature in every scene. I was expecting it to become a plot point, but apparently it's just there. The story revolves around two investigators doing their thing, but they're oddly timid - they're perfectly content with people just refusing to talk to them about the investigation, and they act like getting a warrant for some piece of evidence that all their other evidence points at is an impossible obstacle.
It was enjoyable despite these details, and I'll probably read the subsequent entries eventually.