RV010 - Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan

Imagine, for yourself, if death wasn't the end. If losing consciousness for that final time was not the end of your life.

That's what this book asks you to buy into for its narrative and I must say it's quite an enjoyable ride, for the most part, though some parts will be not for those of a sensitive nature...

A Snapshot II - Snapback

Hello everyone!

I have been making extra effort to keep my blog updated this week as, admittedly, it has gone off the list of my priorities for a while, but it's okay because I have been taking plenty of time to think about the future of The Write Dimension 3.0.

As you can no doubt tell I have wiped the formatting of this blog's layout to make way for the long-delayed revamping I have been promising since last year. I like this approach because it gives me time to tinker with the other formats, find one that works with my vision for the future of this blog and eventually update it.

I am processing my latest "Off the Scale" posts so expect that to resume on a coming Monday as we return to business as usual. In addition, expect a review or two as I am putting together some content to restart them once again.

It's going to be a gradual phasing in of the content I have planned rather than an overwhelming upload and change around. That works better for my fluid, dynamic vision for where I want to take this blog now that we are in a new decade!

Hope to see you with me on this and, as always, any feedback in the comments below would be appreciated. If you like the content, as always, feel free to share it with others who might benefit accordingly.

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A Snapshot

Hello everyone!

I have tried to conjure up content for you, dear readers, but the books I have been reading lately are just not up to scratch for my calibre to produce a review from.

I will, however, endeavour to keep you all in the loop with my progress because you have shown tremendous patience in giving me the space to work through my issues outside of the blogsphere. It has had to be scaled back on a permanent basis because there has just been too much demand upon my own personal resources that I have had to reprioritise everything and everyone in my life.

Thankfully, God has been my Rock throughout this period of my life where I have just wanted to journal my way through it and nothing more. I know that I would not have made it through without Him.

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Back Once Again

Hi everyone!

It's been quite some time since I've been able to post on here as I've been going to through quite a rough time of it, what with losing my uncle before Christmas and a rather unexpected encounter with a friend.

But I'm back now, or at least I intend on being. I have read a fair few books since I last wrote on here and will be looking to resurrect my review series, yet without rushing into too much. I know my limits a lot better now and have been trying as hard as I can not to push them, merely to lean against them to increase personal capacity...

Stuey's News 2020 - Regular Posting will Return

Hi everyone!

Just a quick update to let you all know that I'm in a far better and more suitable place to be blogging again, so I expect to be updating this blog with more content in due course. Including the long-awaited redesign of all things format-related.

I have been through some really challenging times lately that has required my entire mental resources to focus upon it effectively. Consequently, it has taken my focus off my blog for a while, which cannot be helped. However, I shall be looking to resume my "Off the Scale" series celebrating all things classical music once again as I bid to make it to 100 and sign off on that series.

Thank you for your patience whilst I've worked through these issues as it has taken everything within me to keep things on course. I have to give all credit to God, for that, because I could not have persisted upon this course and sustained my progress without Him.

Thanks be to God "who always causeth us to triumph in Christ" (2 Cor 2:14) indeed!

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Stuey's Awards 2019

Hello everyone!

It's that time of year again where I look back on this year's highlights in terms of films I have watched, games that I have bought and my TV highlight. As always, apart from the TV highlight, there will be some entries that haven't necessarily been released this year. But that is just how I roll in terms of these highlights.

It's nearly Christmas time, so let's get these awards underway...

This is My Life

Hi everyone!

Though I might not be able to see whoever reads this, know that I fully respect and love that you have taken the time to read this, an anonymous voice from somewhere across the internet.

My updates might have been sporadic for much longer than I have ever intended, it has not come without price. That price has seen an increase in importance for me to journal my way through this year's valley experiences rather than plastering them all over here.

Don't you worry, what I am hoping for, is a real sense of purpose to come through out of the aftermath of what I've written since starting my Faith Experience journals...

Furnace by Alexander Gordon Smith

 

Straight out of the mind of a very disturbing individual, this book tells the story of children who are sent to Furnace Penitentiary, a prison built under the earth where experiments can be conducted and seemingly gotten away with due to the little consequences.

This book is ideal for a teenager who loves to read and have his, or her, mind twisted up by the graphic violence. Yet for me, it swung for the fence and missed some way. It's not a bad book, I just cannot get behind a story like this where one of the main staples is violence for seeming violence sake.

I didn't really like this one, though have looser standards that standard books due to the teen rating for it. I have more tolerance for this type of fiction because there are some places that this fiction needn't go for the younger generation.

Vienna Blood by Frank Tallis

Being a Victorian-style detective thriller, though not explicitly set in those times, this book instantly caught my eye. I am a huge fan of stories that tell themselves from the point of view of an investigator like Sherlock Holmes or Endeavour Morse. Seeing the crimes from the point of view of these investigators then allows me to see whether the author will show off his knowledge of crime solving methods that are restricted before technology's now widespread usage.

Would I say that there was anything that I don't particularly like about this? Not really because I would say the author was knowledgeable enough to be able to spin a yarn that belongs on a coffee table as some light afternoon reading. It's not too heavy in detail yet manages to weave a complex tale of criminal behaviour that avoids the usual tropes in these types of stories.

After America by John Birmingham

In a world where a mysterious wave has inexplicably wiped out most of the population, what remains are bands of survivors ranging from pirates, to the remnants of a skeletal government.

This is pretty much where this book is coming from, the second in the series by author Birmingham who, until this book, I have never heard of before. It contains the standard fare from your Tom Clancy-types and yet at the same time manages to be different enough to attract my attention in the first place. I had never come across a story that intrigued me enough despite the content not being my initial go-to for reading material.

I wasn't disappointed, however, because the story is good, the writing is solid and, as much as it can do, it steps effortlessly around the tropes that, unfortunately, usually riddle these types of stories.