Tag: Romance

Book Review: ‘Silver Nitrate’ by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

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Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s ‘Silver Nitrate’ is my latest read of 2025.

Moreno-Garcia first popped onto my radar with the release of ‘Mexican Gothic’ (which I’ve still yet to read). So, when I found ‘Silver Nitrate’ on the shelf, I grabbed it – and not only because that red cover oozes coolness.

‘Silver Nitrate’ follows Montserrat, an awkward sound editor. She’s in love with her childhood best friend, the washed-up actor Tristan. Together, they discover his new neighbour is a horror director from years past. For unknown reasons, he never finished his final film. Now, the director wants Montserrat and Tristan to help him complete it. Things go awry from there.

I had a good time with ‘Silver Nitrate’. The setting of ’90s Mexico is very cool and original. The childhood friends who always loved movies and horror resonated with me. And the idea of Nazi sorcerers is always creepy. The book is easy to read and doesn’t overstay its welcome. That said, I do have a few complaints.

I thought the genre was going to be horror when I went in. But, despite one or two scares (a couple of which were quite fun), the book itself isn’t terrifying. In fact, it wanders over to fantasy, sci-fi, and romance. I’d say it’s a romance novel wrapped in horror wallpaper.

Additionally, very few of the characters popped for me. Tristan, despite his interesting backstory, is whiny and annoying. Montserrat has her moments, but sometimes acts out for no clear reason. Abel was fun, as was the other guy who likes tropical décor (I forget his name). Speaking of forgetting, the main villains were all forgettable. We’ve all encountered these nefarious, lurking-in-the-shadows cult types before. Plus, there never felt like there would be any real repercussions if our heroes failed, only a vague ‘end of the world.’

These caveats didn’t stop me from enjoying ‘Silver Nitrate’, but they did make it disappointing. Judging by the cover and the blurb, this should have been a home run for me, yet it wasn’t. In the end, ‘Silver Nitrate’ didn’t quite cast the spell I hoped for. But it was fun enough to keep me curious about Moreno-Garcia’s other worlds.

I’m especially eager to check out ‘Mexican Gothic’.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ☆ ☆

Book Review: ‘Caliban Cove (Resident Evil, #2)’ by S.D. Perry

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For the final book of my 2024 reading challenge, I picked up S.D. Perry’s ‘Caliban Cove (Resident Evil, )’.

Having enjoyed Perry’s first ‘Resident Evil’ novelization, I wanted something lighthearted and easy. With its evil corporations, secret labs, and hordes of zombies, this book was a no-brainer. Pun intended.

Unlike most of Perry’s Resident Evil books, ‘Caliban Cove’ is not tied to a specific video game. There is no ‘Caliban Cove’ game – this story is Perry’s creation. Free to craft her own story, she takes us on a new romp with Rebecca Chambers, the rookie medic from the first story. The story follows the events of ‘The Umbrella Conspiracy’. Perry dives straight into the action.

Like its predecessor, ‘Caliban Cove’ is fast-paced and easy to read, making it a breeze to fly through the pages. I appreciated Perry’s creativity with new monsters and villains, bringing some freshness. That said, the ending felt rushed, and I wanted more details about some of the creatures. While keeping your big bads in the shadows can build suspense, having some payoff at the end is nice.

Although weaker than book one, ‘Caliban Cove’ is still fun – it’s good cheesy action to turn your brain off.

Book Review: ‘To Paradise’ by Hanya Yanagihara

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Hanya Yanagihara’s ‘To Paradise’ is book thirty-seven of 2023 and my third book club book.

This book is massive. Its 700+ pages are daunting, and I felt intimidated by it. But I got through it. And yes, that makes it sound like an ordeal, and in a way, it was. It felt powerful and exhausting and transformative and draining. It’s tough to describe.

Yanagihara has split this tome into three sections—three books in one. She set the first in 1893, the second in 1993, and the last in 2093. She deals with inequality and discrimination in these books. It’s about love and homosexuality, for the most part. The first sees an alternate reality, where being gay is now legal in certain parts of the US during the 1800s. The book in the 1900s seems to be pretty accurate. 2093 sees same-sex relations criminalised once more.

I liked book one a lot. Part one of book two was okay. Part two of book two was slow and dull. Book three was phenomenal; I loved it. These books could be more consistent. I often wished Yanagihara had devoted a novel to each story rather than trying to cram them all into one. Either that or she had shortened each section to fit into a standard 300–400 page book.

It’s a sprawling, ambitious, messy, unfocused masterpiece. It is a challenging book to read. It takes time to get through, and it isn’t easy. It is only sometimes rewarding and is often frustrating. I’m sure there are many bits that I didn’t understand and went over my head. It could have used more editing and refinement.

But it’s still brilliant.

I recommend it to those who are brave enough.

‘Eye to Eye’: A story of reconnection

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How is it September next week? Where has the time gone!? This next one was written for the Reedsy contest, Second Chances. I chose the prompt, “Write a story about childhood sweethearts coming across one another after many, many years apart.” As you can probably guess, I took it in a rather weird direction… The title of my story is Eye to Eye, and you can read it here on WordPress or over on my Reedsy profile!

A glimpse was all I needed to recognise my childhood sweetheart; I’d never forget those killer’s eyes.

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Well, that’s all for today! Until next time, guys. 🙂

Check out my dark little story for Valentine’s Day: ‘Which Heart?’

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witchheart (1)

Well, hey guys! Happy Valentine’s Day! Have you got much planned for today? Got a special someone you’re spending it with? Don’t worry if not, there’s no pressure — some say it’s just a Hallmark holiday anyway, manufactured to make money from sales of saccharine cards, boxes of chocolates, and red roses that die within a week…

But, hey, that’s enough cynicism for one day! I’ll be spending the day with my partner, but we won’t be doing anything particularly out of the ordinary to mark this date; a couple of pizzas, a bottle of wine (or two), cuddles on the couch, and a few movies to fall asleep in front of. Maybe even some video games… Perhaps Resident Evil? (At least, that’s how we spent V-Day last year!)

Anyway, on to the reason for this post! For Halloween and Christmas last year, I made holiday-themed posts for my Bite-Sized Horror series. I had a lot of fun with them, and I want to continue the trend for many holidays to come. I thought about doing something for Valentine’s Day, but I honestly haven’t had enough time to properly do it justice. I have, however, had just enough time to write a short story! So, here you have it, a dark little tale about love, life, and death, in order to celebrate Valentines Day 2020. The title of my story is Which Heart? You can read it by clicking here!

Friday the 13th of February: Part One

The witch staggered into the clearing clutching the man’s body. She stumbled to her knees, for his weight was greater than her own, but she did not drop him. She would not drop him, not ever. With a grunt that might have been a howl of rage, she lurched to her feet, arms cradling the lifeless frame.

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I hope you like the story, I really enjoyed writing this one. I’m quite proud of it! Also, I made the artwork for the associated image, which I’m also rather fond of. Art is sort of a “side-side-hobby” for me (with making music being my “side-hobby” and writing being my “main” hobby!), and I’ve kinda got it in my head that it’d be nice to make my own art for my stories, to really draw the reader into the twisted little world I’ve got within my mind…

‘Something Swims Behind (Still My Sunshine)’: My aquatic entry for this week’s Reedsy!

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Ah, here we are! All caught up, at last! Made it! How are you guys doing? Still with me? Still reading these inane ramblings and occasionally perusing my mad scribbles that I’m trying to pass off as “writing”?

This week’s Reedsy theme was ‘genre-blending’! How exciting! I chose the prompt, “Write a sweeping romantic tale of two lovers who must overcome the horror of being hunted by an unseen foe…” Naturally, the allure of horror drew me in to this prompt. Did you expect anything less? 😉 The title of my story is Something Swims Behind (Still My Sunshine), and — as always! — you can read it here on WordPress, or over on my Reedsy profile!

We were just entering the hadal zone when we realised, we weren’t alone.

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As mentioned in the last post, this story was written with plenty of time to spare, and I think it really shows. I hope you guys like it — I had lots of fun writing it. I just love the ocean, even if it is an utterly terrifying place!

Well, until next time… stick to the shallows, and if something starts knock-knock-knocking, you best get the hell out of there!

‘Returning the Favour’: My first Reedsy story of the decade

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So, here’s another Reedsy short story, as promised! This one was written for the theme, ‘Auld Lang Syne’, for the new year. I chose the prompt, “Two strangers meet at a New Year’s Eve party. They spend the party together, and then never see each other again…”

As mentioned with my last Reedsy story, this was written mere minutes before the deadline, as it was a very busy period. I pondered not doing a story, as I wasn’t sure it’d be up to my standards, but I decided to do something. After all, the worst thing you ever wrote is better than the best thing you never wrote. The title of my story is Returning the Favour, and you can read it here on WordPress, or over on my Reedsy profile.

“Don’t panic,” said the man with my face, “I’m not here to hurt you.”

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I hope you guys like the story, despite it’s length and rough, sketch-like nature. I think if given more time, I could have made this much better, but sometimes life gets in the way of our art. Even though I know it’s far from my best, I’m still quite happy with it.

Until next time, guys!

‘Honesty in G# Minor’ was shortlisted for the Reedsy contest!

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Well, I’ve been shortlisted for the Reedsy competition again! This is the third time I’ve been shortlisted, now. I’ve won it twice, and would love to win it a third time, but being shortlisted three times isn’t anything to sniff at, either!

Honesty in G# Minor was a bit outside my comfort zone as a writer, so it was really nice to know that people actually enjoyed it! If you haven’t already, you can read the story on here, or over on Reedsy.

“Think of it like painting a picture.”

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If you’re interested, you can check out my other stories which were shortlisted:

And my stories which actually won:

 

‘Honesty in G# Minor’: My short romance story for this week’s Reedsy contest!

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https://blog.reedsy.com/creative-writing-prompts/author/joshua-insole/

Well, hi there! I know it’s been a while — I used to post every day, but with NaNoWriMo and other things going on, that just isn’t possible these days… I hope you’re all keeping well, though!

This week’s Reedsy theme was ‘Everyone’s an Expert’; I chose prompt #4 — “Write about something you consider yourself to be an expert in, but do it from the perspective of a total novice.” There aren’t many things I consider myself to be an expert in, but I think (as previously shared on here) I’m pretty good at songwriting — so that’s the direction I took the story in. I didn’t actually intend to write a romantic story… it just sorta happened. I don’t like to force my writing — if it’s horror, it’s horror, if it’s romance, it’s romance — I like to just let it flow… but I was a bit surprised at the tone. However, considering that I wrote this story after coming back from my brother’s wedding, perhaps the romantic tone wasn’t that surprising after all? The title is Honesty in G# Minor, and you can read it here, or on my Reedsy profile.

“Think of it like painting a picture.”

“I can’t paint, either.”

“No, it doesn’t matter. Just think of it like painting a picture.”

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I hope you like the story — I know it’s a bit unusual, compared to my usual fare. I think exploring new genres and territories is always a good idea, if only to give you new ideas. I wrote the piece in a very short space of time, even by my standards — I got back home from the wedding yesterday. Perhaps I could have refined the idea a little bit, but I still quite like it — I think the story has got a lot of heart.

Until next time, take care! I hope you have a great weekend!