Blog

Fiction – Suspense/Thriller

Read as a paperback book

Short review

What a book! I’m late to the party with this one, the book is about the same age as I am, but I had watched the film 20 years ago or so. It’s an utter page turner, and in true Stephen King style, there are bits you don’t want to read, yet you can’t take your eyes from the page.

The story builds and builds as we learn more about Annie Wilkes and as we learn more everything becomes a bit more dangerous. There are some great moments in this book and I just loved what addictive reading it was. It’s the type of book I’ll suggest to people if they’ve not read any Stephen King before.

What I learnt as a writer reading this –

I love that a great story like this can be broken down into a tag line that is sheer brilliance – “Paul Sheldon used to write for a living, now he writes to stay alive.” It tells you everything you need to know, and makes you want to read the book. A great way to distil it, not a word wasted there.

Most of the book takes place in one room, we use Paul’s mind to do any travelling we need to do. The way information is gathered is clever (no spoilers) and there never feels that too much is given away at once, we’re always want to know just a little more, so we turn the page.

The suspense is just so well done, you’re on the edge of your seat when you hear Annie come back in the drive. It’s so cinematic in it’s writing.

Book 3 of 2025

Fiction – Slice of life martial arts fantasy – Cosy Fantasy

Listened as an audio book

Narrated by Travis Baldree

Short Review

I came across this book as I sometimes search by narrator when looking for audio books, and I really enjoy Travis Baldree telling of a story.

This book is a very light, very readable fantasy novel, set in a world with powerful “cultivators” that can have what they want. they are masters of martial arts and the spirits, trying to get so powerful they can defy the heavens. One gets killed and someone else gets to inhabit his body, and he doesn’t want to do all that stuff, he wants to settle down and farm…

I like this genre of “cosy” fantasy. In this book the stakes were low, but it goes exactly where you want it to, the humour in it is brilliant and a few moments had me laugh out loud as I was listening to it. There are also some incredibly sweet moments and the romance and friendships in it feel natural.

I doubt this book would be for everyone, it’s steady, but for me it was just the read I wanted, having read some much darker and heavier books lately, and with the general state of the world at large.

A happy read.

What I learnt as a writer reading this –

That not every book has to follow the same format. Instead of moving from action scene to action scene like some fantasy, this book holds your interest in other ways. It doesn’t follow convention and is a stronger book for it.

The way the relationships were built throughout the book, small things that were mentioned early on that become much bigger later. Dropping very subtle clues and hints makes the reader feel clever when you get something before it’s revealed, even though that’s exactly what the writer wanted.

Spoilers – Being in the “head” of the animals (who are some of the main characters) was done brilliantly.

The speech patterns for the different characters was excellent, no doubt enhanced by a great narrator, but it was easy to see who was thinking or speaking by the way it was written.

Book 2 of 2025

So I have a fairly popular blog, An English Homestead, that ‘ve been running now for about 13 years. I’ve had millions of views, tens of thousands of comments, and have posted nearly 2000 times on there. It’s been brilliant and in no way will that be stopping. I’ve even built my business around.

That business has many strings to it’s bow, if I’m totally honest none of them earn me a great deal, but I just about make a living, and it works well around the children and our smallholding.

It has enabled me to do more of what I love. I love working with wood (lucky as a carpenter of 20 plus years), I love talking to people (I give talks to garden clubs) and I love writing.

In fact, writing is one of my main passions. Writing and stories. Any of my friends will tell you I’m terrible for loving a good story.

The picture above is where I spend a fair amount of my time when I’m working, I spend it stood (stooped maybe at times) at a bench making the items I sell. But the whole time I’m there I’m listening to stories, or I’m learning about writing, or studying what people have written (in spoken word) to make my own writing better. I come away buzzing with ideas and things I can write about.

I also use this space to write articles for two of the magazines that I currently write for, Woodcarving magazine and Woodworking Crafts, which I write for each issue. I have written for other magazines as well, including Country Smallholding Magazine, Woodturning, Furniture & Cabinet Maker, Home Farmer, and I also write for a small magazine called The Harrowing Times. I’ve had over 125 articles published so far and really enjoy being able to do this.

So this blog is me pushing my writing further. I want somewhere I can post some creative writing, either fiction or non fiction. Where hopefully I can build up people for a Newsletter who enjoy my writing and I hope it can help me develop as a writer.

I also want somewhere I can keep a record of the books I read, the idea being I’ll give a very short review and a few points to myself about what I learnt from each book as a writer. Last year I set myself a target of reading or listening to 52 books. A modest target of a book a week, and I achieved 60. I aim to do the same again this year.