Ilsa J. Bick: "Dark Passages" (Series Review)

Hardcover and Kindle

Paperback

Title: White Space [on Amazon | on Goodreads]

Series: Dark Passages (1st of 2 books)

Author: Ilsa J. Bick [Site | Goodreads]

Genres: Metafiction, Multiverse, Horror, Supernatural

Year: 2014

Age: 14+

Stars: 5/5

Pros: Different, exciting, engrossing - an outrageous kick in the butt of "regular" fiction, which is, at the same time, a love letter to it.

Cons: May sound confusing to some. Truncated chapter endings and suspense may drive the reader a little mad sometimes.

WARNING! High level of gore and horror (also of the psychological kind).

Will appeal to: Metafiction and multiverse enthusiasts. Patient, fearless readers, ready to engage with a nonlinear story.

Hardcover, Kindle and paperback (this is an edit. Paperback came out in 2017)

Title: The Dickens Mirror [on Amazon | on Goodreads]

Series: Dark Passages (2nd of 2 books)

Author: Ilsa J. Bick [Site | Goodreads]

Genres: Metafiction, Multiverse, Horror, Supernatural

Year: 2015

Age: 14+

Stars: 5/5

Pros: Different, exciting, engrossing - an outrageous kick in the butt of "regular" fiction, which is, at the same time, a love letter to it.

Cons: May sound confusing to some. Truncated chapter endings and suspense may drive the reader a little mad sometimes. All the different versions of the same characters and/or characters at different age stages may frustrate those who like step-by-step narrative.

WARNING! High level of gore and horror (also of the psychological kind).

Will appeal to: Metafiction and multiverse enthusiasts. Patient, fearless readers, ready to engage with a nonlinear story. Readers who like alternative history and steampunk (though I'm using the term in an oblique way here).

For Those Who Don't Follow Me on Twitter - I'm Still Alive! (Just Not Kicking...)

(OK, I'm not relaxing. And I don't even smoke. But the above accurately represents my latest blog activity...)

Aaargh. And here we were going so steady. Me and my blog, that is.

And I had all those wonderful new books to tell the world about.

Then what? No time, my dazzling beauties.

I simply can't do things piece by piece. And this applies to reviews too. I have to go and write a whole one in a day - it's a rare thing that I post a review I worked on for two days. Let alone more than two.

My (relatively) new work schedule (it started back in November) dramatically axed the time I used to devote to blog posts and reviews - which wasn't that substantial to begin with. And I can't bring myself to take advantage of the little free scraps of my day, because like I said, I don't like to fraction my writing. (Good thing I'm not an author, or I would only be able to produce short stories...VERY short ones. More like haiku). This explains my absence from the blog. But after 22 days, I'm beginning to feel A LITTLE uncomfortable. Restless. And well...should a casual reader - or an author who doesn't know me - stumble upon my blog and take notice of my conspicuous absence, they could only assume that I'm one of those bloggers who ended up not tending to their pages anymore, leaving them afloat in the oh-so-vast digital ocean. And such thought is more horrifying and disturbing than any corpse in any state of decay ever seen on a Bones teaser (except those with bugs creeping on them, because ICK). So I felt compelled to write this sad little filler post.

I think I'll have to change my frame of mind - if I want to post more than once a month, that is. Maybe take more organised notes while I'm reading, instead of my usual mess. Definitely force myself to take little steps day by day, instead of perversely clinging to the idea of running a whole marathon in one. I'm as stubborn as they come, but really...what choice do I have?

Any advice from my more experienced (and productive) blogging buddies? :)