Marie Sinadjan
Bio
Filipino spec fic author and book reviewer based in the UK. https://linktr.ee/mariesinadjan • www.mariesinadjan.com
Stories (303)
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Novelette Review: BestGhost by C. J. Daley + Spooky Season Recs
The Old Mayor’s Mansion sits just a few miles outside the town of Cemetery. When best friends Sean and Devon want to increase views on their ghost investigation channel, they know the mansion is the perfect spot to film. Armed with a slew of new equipment, the buddies set out to capture the paranormal hotspot that will make them famous—just maybe not in the way they were hoping.
By Marie Sinadjan2 years ago in BookClub
Book Review: Takuan from Koto by Ryu Zhong
A stone marten, in pursuit of the sun, climbs to the very Heavens and causes quite a commotion. Both the stubborn gods and the ordinary people have a hard time when weredemons break free. Even the Lord of the Underworld turns out to be powerless. But sometimes even a mouse can be stronger than an elephant, as the old proverb says. The fate of the world ends up in the hands of Takuan — a young trickster, who deceives the greedy, angry, and ignorant people across the country of Chinayindu. On his journey, he meets the wandering warrior Zhu Leizu, a temple monk named Soliang, the clumsy sorcerer Bricabrac, and many others. Our story begins with a village boy setting off to a monastery to become a demon-hunting monk, only to find out how truly dull monastic life can be. Or does our story actually begin with the birth of the stone marten Ta Guan? This book is a full box set of series ‘Adventures of Takuan from Koto’: Prince of Blue Flowers Hunters of Weredemons Envoys of Celestials
By Marie Sinadjan2 years ago in BookClub
Book Review: Who Will Find Her? by Ryan Young
It's been one year since the disappearance of beloved high school track star Melody Anderson. The small town of Hawksboro, North Carolina, has only started to recover from the media frenzy that's being fueled by a self-serving news anchor. As the case goes eerily cold, her suspected captor, a known predator with a history of violence, hasn't been seen in months. On a crisp autumn night, tragedy strikes again. During a packed high school football game, 14-year-old Cheyenne Holt vanishes from a park bench while spectators cheer on the home team. The sheriff is stunned and incapable of reliving the nightmare of the past year. He immediately labels her a runaway, killing any chances of a public outcry or coordinated search effort. No one is coming to help. With the weight of injustice pressing down on her family and friends, those closest to Cheyenne vow to find her by any means necessary. Four friends venture into the vast wilderness searching for answers and willing to face whatever monsters await. Whether it's the lead suspect in Melody's case or someone worse and far more dangerous. Someone closer to home.
By Marie Sinadjan2 years ago in BookClub
Birthday Writing Challenge
It's my birthday next month, and to celebrate, I'm organizing a challenge! Read (or Listen to) Me I'd love to write some flash pieces for you, so please leave me prompts and whatnot in the comments! I'll write at least 500 words and post them here on Vocal. Fantasy, sci-fi and horror are my go-to genres. Romance I usually take with a mix of SFF, though occasionally I'm able to write random cute encounters and sappy stuff.
By Marie Sinadjan2 years ago in Writers
Honeymoon
Author's Note: It's my birthday next month, and to celebrate, I'm taking requests for flash fiction pieces! So please feel free to leave me prompts and whatnot via the comments. (Or serenades, if you would rather. Samples on my TikTok, with a preference for Disney/Broadway/showtunes.)
By Marie Sinadjan2 years ago in Chapters
Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books by Filipino Authors
Romance and poetry have been staple hits with Filipino readers for so many years. But did you know Filipino authors and books are beginning to make waves in the science fiction and fantasy (SFF) circles in the international markets, both indie and traditionally published?
By Marie Sinadjan2 years ago in BookClub
Book Review: Faery Sight by Patricia Bossano
It isn't easy being a teenager, especially when you're a human princess living in the faery realm. Celeste yearns to truly belong there, and is ready to relinquish her human identity, but startling revelations from her dying mother expose shocking truths and impede her plans. Struggling to come to terms with her birthright, Celeste must find her place between worlds while exacting revenge against the evil sorceress who wronged her parents. Faery Sight is the unforgettable story of navigating the challenges of growing up, embracing your individuality and choosing your own path, even if that means facing a daunting enemy.
By Marie Sinadjan2 years ago in BookClub
Book Review: Promise by Christi Nogle
A young woman confronts her digital doppelganger. A mother and daughter struggle underground, finishing robots for the rich. A loving couple find that their mirrors are very different than mirrors used to be. Your devices sometimes connect not just to the web but to the afterlife. Be prepared for strangeness here. We have several types of aliens, alternate dimensions, virtual-reality writing retreats, time-travel games and time-travel tragedies, cosmic artforms and living paintings, haunted Zoom meetings, and giant worms. These stories reflect the weird and unknowable future. They are often bizarre and dreadful, but they also veer towards themes of hope, potential... and promise.
By Marie Sinadjan2 years ago in BookClub
Book Review: The Whistlers in the Dark by Victoria Williamson
My name’s Jinny. I’m twelve autumns old, and this is the story of how I woke the sleeping stones and brought fire and destruction down on us all… Scotland, 158 AD, is a divided country. On one side of the Antonine Wall, thirteen-year-old Felix is trying to become a good Roman soldier like his father. On the other, twelve-year old Jinny is vowing revenge on the ‘metal men’ who have invaded her Damnonii tribe’s homeland. At the Damnonii’s sacred circle of standing stones, her planned attack on Felix goes badly wrong, awakening a legend that threatens to bring fire and destruction down on them all. Can Jinny and Felix overcome their differences and soothe the stones back to sleep before it’s too late? Set in Kirkintilloch at the end of the Roman occupation, The Whistlers in the Dark is an uplifting story of friendship across a divide, as well as a spooky tale of a circle of standing stones going walking at Halloween.
By Marie Sinadjan2 years ago in BookClub
Book Review: Blunt Force Rising by Russ Colchamiro
Angela Hardwicke is Eternity’s most daring private eye... Still reeling from a brutal off-world case, Hardwicke and her protégé Eric Whistler are hired by Ther’eda Ranadyne, the realm’s sole creator of androids, to provide extra security during an industry conference aboard a galaxy cruise ship. Isolated millions of miles from home, the event quickly devolves into heated arguments between the pro-android community and its detractors, while a murder sets off a harrowing chain of events, the likes of which even Hardwicke has never faced. In Blunt Force Rising , the claustrophobic fourth novel in Russ Colchamiro’s Angela Hardwicke sci-fi mystery series, she is not only forced to confront unresolved waves of prejudice, bigotry, fear, and trauma... but fight for her very life.
By Marie Sinadjan2 years ago in BookClub
Audiobook Review: Talia: Heir to the Fairy Realm by Joel C. Flanagan-Grannemann
Talia — the young, Iridescent-winged Heir to the Fairy Realm — and the Heir to the Human Realm — Prince Bastile — embark on a secret love affair that has wide-ranging consequences for both their worlds. Certain elements within each society hate the other side, and the Realms have a long history of warring with one another. Talia, her maid, her 8 Ladies, and her Heir’s Guard (9 female Fairy soldiers) soon find themselves alone on an adventure through the lands of the Fairy Realm in search of information on a reviled ancestor, the Exile Queen. While Talia has always aspired to bring peace to the two Realms, her evil Aunts (known as the Three Sisters) and others within both the Fairy and Human courts conspire to thwart her ambitions, not understanding the ancient prophecy they are about to set Talia on the path to fulfill.
By Marie Sinadjan2 years ago in BookClub
Book Review: The Crash by Robert Peston
As the world falls apart, a deadly conspiracy comes together . . . London, 2007. It's summer in the the economy is booming, profits are up and the stock market sits near record highs. But journalist Gil Peck is a lone voice worrying it can't last. Deep in the plumbing of the financial system, he has noticed strange things happening which could threaten the whole economy. But nobody wants to hear not the politicians taking credit for an end to boom and bust, not the bankers pocketing vast bonuses, not even Gil's bosses at the BBC, who think it's irrelevant. When Gil gets a tip-off that a small northern bank has run out of money, everything changes. His report sparks the first run on a UK bank in 140 years. The next day, Marilyn Krol, a director of the Bank of England dies in an apparent suicide. For Gil, it's personal. Marilyn was his was his scoop connected to her suicide? Or is there something more sinister in her death? Gil is determined to find out. The more he investigates, the more he is drawn into the rotten heart of the financial system, where old school ties and secret Oxbridge societies lubricate vast and illegal conflicts of interest. The whole economy has been built on a house of cards, and Gil is threatening to bring it down. When simply reporting the facts can make or break fortunes, Gil has to ask is he crossing the line between journalist and participant? Are his own conflicts of interest making him reckless? And in a world ruled by greed where nothing and no-one is too big to fail, what price will he pay for uncovering the truth?
By Marie Sinadjan2 years ago in BookClub
