Hive takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where an alien force decimated the world. There are now pockets of humans trying to survive and hopefully, end the hive for good.
There are strong characters throughout the book and you see the relationships change among them. The main character really comes into his own by the end of the book. The writing is effective in transplanting the reader into the hive’s world.
I enjoyed the story and the twists throughout. No spoilers here but there are exciting twists!
There was quite a bit of description used, especially in regards to the weapons. The amount of description was tedious to read. The weaponry descriptors were strange and things I wouldn’t have known if not for video games.
Overall I enjoyed this book and look forward to the rest of the series.
It’s almost ready! This book deviates from what I have published in the past but horror has always been my favourite genre. I am happy to be publishing my first collection of short horror stories. Each story is unique with its own format and characters.
Peter Topside author of the Preternatural books has this to say:
“I was given an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review (Thank you, Randi!) Now it’s well known that I’m not a fan of short stories. The only exceptions there are HG Wells’ The Invisible Man and his other well known sci-fi/horror type stories. However, I read through the Little Scare collection, and really did enjoy these tales of the macabre a great deal. They were diverse, and didn’t follow any type of generic formula or theme, which was refreshing. Each tale was also long enough, without overstaying its welcome. They were a bit gruesome at the right times, but it was more reserved and not overly graphic. This is where the writing was done well, as it left certain things unwritten and just insinuated, which is much easier than going into excessive details on the terror at hand. Aside from that, the writing was very easy-to-follow and the book as a whole just had this general creepiness and anxiety-producing uneasiness throughout. My personal favorite here was A Scorched Letter, with Chookies being a close second. If you want a quick read that’ll tickle your inner horror fan, give this a look!”
I did it, I joined and now I’m a Tik Tokker. If you aren’t on the platform, why not? I’ll admit it can be time consuming and suck you in, but I am having so much fun. If you are on the platform follow me @writeordieshow
The videos that I post are all based around mental health, shocking right?
When Tik Tok first came out like many I was thinking “nope, never going to happen”. I didn’t want to be on a platform with a bunch of young kids making up dances. However, it has been overrun by, ahem, adults. There are many people who are my age getting on there to spread their message, or just jokes. A personal favourite of mine are the animal videos.
This has given me a great release for short thoughts that I want to share. My longer thoughts will make new books.
If you are looking for a time killer, I mean another way to get some information, then join me on Tik Tok.
And no, I get nothing in return for telling you to join, other than hopefully a few more follows.
For the past year I have been working on a new non-fiction novel and I am very excited to announce that at the end of March it will be published! Now this blog is not to be salesy (but of course I would love for you do read the full book) what I want to do is explain what it is about and why it is an important book.
This new book is called “Embracing Me” and is about embracing the parts of yourself (or myself) that we often try to hide from the world. If you haven’t had the pleasure of reading my first book (Thoughts of a Wanderer) you may not know that I have depression. I have tried hard to hide this (sometimes not so successfully) because I used to view it as a major weakness. I didn’t want to show that weakness to others.
Last year I was working on a goal setting book but I had this nagging thought that I wasn’t working on the right book. I felt the need to write about mental health awareness. Not just awareness but how to love yourself even when you may be dealing with some form of mental health trouble.
One of things that really bothers me is hearing how cavalier some people talk about or tease about those who are dealing with mental health problems. And I was compelled to let others know that even if you are struggling you aren’t broken, it is something I have been working on in my own life.
Throughout this book I share some of the tips that have helped me and explaining my story so that others don’t feel alone. One of the worst feelings is the of feeling you are the only one struggling with a problem. So I wanted to share my story for others to feel included. As well for others who simply want to understand how others might be feeling to better support a friend or family member this book is my story so that others may be able to understand others. Understanding is the first step to stop the stigma around mental health.
You may be able to relate to this – my mind is always racing. I get easily overwhelmed thinking about all of the things that need to be done and don’t end up doing any of it. I have tried various techniques to help with that and the one that I found works best for me was weekly to-do lists.
What I mean by that is the week divided up with a to do list under each day. No appointments on this list just all the things. The reason I need it divided up was because when I had one list it still seemed too overwhelming. I also tried listing based on category; home, work, kids, etc. That didn’t help.
Finally, my mother-in-law gave me a little pad of a weekly to do list. I could look at my calendar and see what days I had time to do which tasks and write those tasks in those days. Then I only needed to worry about what I was doing that day. If I finished everything then I could easily see what else needed to get done. This worked really well for me.
Then the little pad ran out of paper. I tried doing the same thing on a white board but it wasn’t the same. Being able to scratch out done tasks is too satisfying and seeing all the finished tasks was almost as important as seeing them divided up by day. It’s motivating.
Which is why I decided to make my own. I was just going to make one for me but thought that I can’t possibly be the only one struggling to find a solution to the overwhelm that is life and all it’s things. After I made it for me, I have published it on Amazon to order.
If you do happen to order the notebook, I want you to know that the cover picture are my actual dogs. They are my work helpers – or work procrastinators.
Everyone’s brain thinks differently. If you are having trouble with overwhelm just keep trying different techniques to help. Eventually you will find something that works for you.
