Author: cherylmahoney

I'm a book review blogger and writer. I have published four novels, The Wanderers; The Storyteller and Her Sisters; and The People the Fairies Forget; and The Lioness and the Spellspinners. All can be found on Amazon as an ebook and paperback. In my day job, I'm a Marketing Specialist. Find me on Twitter (@MarvelousTales) and GoodReads (MarvelousTales).

Book Review: On Writing by Stephen King

On By cherylmahoneyIn Reviews5 Comments

I’ve been hearing On Writing by Stephen King recommended by other writers for quite a while.  I finally sat down and read it–and now I wish I could remember if the people who recommended it were readers of Stephen King.  Because as a non-Stephen King reader, I find that I can wholeheartedly recommend…part of it.

On Writing is sub-titled “A Memoir of the Craft,” and that “memoir” part should have tipped me off.  The first (pretty sizable) section of the book is Stephen King’s “curriculum vitae,” describing the events in his life that influenced his writing.  This would probably be fascinating…if I had read any of his writing (well, I’ve read one novella, because they turned it into a Johnny Depp movie…)

So if you’re a Stephen King fan, you’d probably like this first section.  If, like me, you’re not…well, it’s perfectly well-written and not a bad narrative…but I still skipped half of it.  Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against Stephen King–he just doesn’t write the kind of books I read, and I came to this book looking for writing insights, not his autobiography. Continue reading “Book Review: On Writing by Stephen King” →

Quotable Cynthia Voigt

On By cherylmahoneyIn Ruminations1 Comment

“Yet [the story] kind of came out, almost without her thinking of it, almost as if it had been already written inside her head, and she just had to find the door to open to let it out.”

– Cynthia Voigt, Dicey’s Song

TV Review: Star Trek Voyager

On By cherylmahoneyIn Reviews, Science Fiction7 Comments

I’ve been a Star Trek fan ever since I was ten or twelve or thereabouts–whenever it was my dad first showed me “The Empath.”  Since then, I watched every episode of Classic Trek, and sizable chunks of…almost everything else, even the animated series.  But until recently, there was a gaping hole in my Star Trek experience.  I had never watched Voyager.  I’d seen maybe a dozen episodes and could identify every major character, but compared to the other series I felt decidedly unacquainted with Voyager.  Happily, Netflix streams every series of Star Trek, so a year or so ago I set out to fill in this gap.

VoyagerVoyager covers the adventures of the crew of the starship Voyager under Captain Janeway, lost in the Delta Quadrant with a 70 year journey ahead of them to get home.  I watched the last episode a week ago.  Here at the end of the journey, I think it was a decent show, but the weak link of the franchise.  Mostly, I struggled with the characters.  I know people who say they love this crew, and I liked them well enough by the end–but I had a lot of trouble connecting. Continue reading “TV Review: Star Trek Voyager” →

Quotable Oscar Wilde

On By cherylmahoneyIn Quotable1 Comment

“One’s real life is so often the life that one does not lead.”

– Oscar Wilde

Book Reviews: The Last Dragonslayer and The Sleeper and the Spindle

On By cherylmahoneyIn Fantasy, Reviews1 Comment

Continuing along through Once Upon a Time reads that I only have a bit to say about 🙂 I have another two-for-one post today…

The Last Dragonslayer by Jasper Fforde

Set in an alternate England (made up of hundreds of fractured Un-united Kingdoms), this is a world where magic exists but is on the wane. Jennifer Strange, foundling child, fell into a management role of Kazam, last great magic house, and is struggling to keep the bills paid, the lights on and the magical elevator riding up and down. In a changing world, magicians have to take on assignments like rewiring a house and delivering pizza by magic carpet. When all the local seers foretell the death of the last dragon for next Sunday at noon, the fortunes of Jennifer, Kazam, the country and the existence of magic itself all could be changed.

I’ve got troubles with Fforde. I love his ideas, which makes me want to love his books—and yet I don’t. To be fair, the only other book I read by him was The Eyre Affair (someone gains the power to enter books and change them, changing the content in every copy, and he’s gunning for Jane Eyre—possibly the best idea ever) but it was a similar experience both times. I mean, pizza delivery by magic carpet!  Cool idea! Plus Jennifer is perfectly likable, the plot is effective if a little slow-moving, and the supporting characters are zany and interesting and yet, something just didn’t work for me. Continue reading “Book Reviews: The Last Dragonslayer and The Sleeper and the Spindle” →