Author: Marje @ Kyrosmagica

Hi. Welcome to my blog: M J Mallon - Kyrosmagica Publishing. A blog about magic, books, writing, laughter, and much more! I'm a YA fantasy author, poet and reviewer. My first YA fantasy novel The Curse of Time - Book 1 - Bloodstone is set in Cambridge and Book 2 - Golden Healer is now out too. As well as this, I have contributed to several anthologies, created my own with some amazing international writers, bloggers and creatives during the pandemic: This Is Lockdown and written two poetry collections: Lockdown Innit Poems About Absurdity & Mr. Sagittarius Poetry and Prose. I write book reviews on my blog and on Goodreads, book bub and on my bookstagram. I have a penchant for travel and have relatives in far flung places, Australia, Malaysia, and Singapore, (my birthplace.) I grew up in in Bonnie Scotland, in Edinburgh, and now live in Cambridge. I love sunny, hot places, particularly Rome, Venice, Portugal, Barcelona, and I forgot to mention the sun drenched beaches of the Caribbean, how could I? I am lucky to have been blessed with two lovely daughters and a husband who I fondly refer to in this blog as my black sheep. Family joke! With my passion for travel, culture, beautiful beaches, good food, books, theatre, writing, and humour, I hope to keep you entertained. I'm loving every minute of this creative journey, please join me.

How Writing Prompts Can Help Your Blog

A great list of many blog challenges you can get involved in from author H. R. R Gorman

Let Me Tell You the Story of...

When you start a writing blog, there’s only a couple ways to start interacting with other writers and readers:

Depend on people you already know to follow links to your blog
Start using your blog to interact with other bloggers

If you’ve got #1 set because you’re a Twitter star, congrats! That’s awesome!

giphy-1

Most of us, however, have to (or want to) deal with #2, and a great way to do that is through the use of prompts.

If you’re not convinced, keep reading – otherwise, scroll down to find a list of active prompts (curated by me and checked at least monthly for dead links).

Why Prompts?

“Aren’t prompts just limiting my creativity?” you may say.

To you, my fine friend, I must admit that it’s possible! Sometimes I answer a prompt and feel like the sliver of garbage I spewed out would have been better left with my…

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#author #bookblogger #meetup #StokeonTrent

This looks awesome an author book bloggers meet up in Stoke on Trent.

Chat About Books

We had such a lovely time at today’s meet up at the North Stafford hotel, Stoke-on-Trent. A MASSIVE thank you to all who came along and made it such a fab event. To those who couldn’t make this one, you were missed and we hope you can join us next time 😊

It has been great catching up with ‘old’ friends and meeting new ones. A big thank you to my partner in crime, Steph. I wouldn’t want to do this without you. Thanks, as always, for sorting everyone out with name tags. You’re a star!

Take a look at Rachel Sargeant (@RachelSargeant3): https://twitter.com/RachelSargeant3?s=09

Take a look at Steph (@StefLoz): https://twitter.com/StefLoz?s=09

Take a look at Susan Boulton (@BoultonSusan): https://twitter.com/BoultonSusan?s=09

Take a look at Kiltie Jackson (@KiltieJackson): https://twitter.com/KiltieJackson?s=09

Take a look at Caroline Venables (@thedivinewrite1): https://twitter.com/thedivinewrite1?s=09

https://www.facebook.com/scribblersue/

Take a look at Noelle | CrimeBookJunkie 🕵️‍♀️ (@nholten40): https://twitter.com/nholten40?s=09

Take a look at…

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The Lost Princess Richard Dee #ARC #BookReview #IndieAuthor #Betaread

Goodreads Synopsis:

The prequel to Ribbonworld and Jungle Green
Where is Layla Balcom?
The most famous woman in the Galaxy, heiress to the Balcom empire, has vanished.
Has she simply exchanged her celebrity life for peace and quiet or has the unthinkable happened?

In the midst of the search, where rumours and speculation are rife, journalist Miles Goram thinks that he’s found the answer. A girl on the run suggests that Layla could be a hostage, in a club where the rich indulge their fantasies.

It’s located on Dalyster, a corrupt and secretive world. A place where his status as a reporter will do him no favours in his efforts to uncover the truth.

With his world falling apart, Miles is caught in the rivalry between politicians and businessmen.

Review

Many thanks to Richard Dee for an Advanced Reader’s beta copy of the novella The Lost Princess – all opinions are my own.

This is the prequel to Ribbonworld and Jungle Green. I really loved the premise of this story and couldn’t wait to get my hands on a copy and it did not disappoint. I feel very privileged to have had a chance to beta read this novella – a great honour indeed. The narrative starts of at an intriguing pace and continues to keep the reader absorbed throughout.

It is a quick, well-crafted read with fantastic characters and an imaginative Sci-Fi setting: Dalyster: An obscure planet, it had a reputation for corrupt officials and illicit pleasure, provided you had the funds.

It is an imaginative and engaging way to introduce readers to Ribbonworld and Jungle Green.

Here’s a link to the latest news about The Lost Princess, Ribbonworld and Jungle Green: https://richarddeescifi.co.uk/the-lost-princess-arriving-soon/

Ribbonworld is the prequel to the Balcom Dynasty #1 – A sci fi which I’ve uploaded to my kindle.

Ribbonworld is set in: ‘Reevis, a planet without days or nights where life is only possible under a vast pressure dome.’

Richard Dee’s Sci fi is very readable. #highlyrecommended.

I am looking forward to reading more from Richard Dee. Richard is a talented author and great supporter of the indie community.

My rating: 5 stars.

I also enjoyed reading Andorra Pett and The Oort Cloud Cafe – check out my review here: https://kyrosmagica.wordpress.com/2019/03/30/bookreview-andorra-pett-and-the-oort-cloud-cafe-mystery-scifi/

Richard runs The Indie Showcase on his blog to help support and introduce indie authors to the larger community: https://richarddeescifi.co.uk/the-indie-showcase/

Don’t miss out, do check out his blog: https://richarddeescifi.co.uk/

Have you read any of Richard’s books? Do comment I’d love to hear from you.

Happy reading!

I’ve written loads of reviews. Please follow to links to read more of my reviews:

https://kyrosmagica.wordpress.com/2015/09/28/a-m-of-my-book-reviews/

https://kyrosmagica.wordpress.com/2016/11/27/my-kyrosmagica-reviews-n-z/

Buy Book: myBook.to/TheCurseofTime

Social Media Links

Authors Website: https://atomic-temporary-67364188.wpcomstaging.com
Collaborative Blog: https://sistersofthefey.wordpress.com
Twitter: @Marjorie_Mallon and @curseof_time
#ABRSC: Authors Bloggers Rainbow Support Club on Facebook
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17064826.M_J_Mallon

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mjmallonauthor/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mjmallonauthor/

Smorgasbord Posts from Your Archives – #Potluck – Health – My Gallbladder Operation by M.J. Mallon 2014

Thank you to Sally for my first post from my archive #potluck #health #gallbadder #operation.

#Bookreview – Soul Swallowers by D. Wallace Peach and giveaway winner

Wonderful review by Robbie Cheadle of Soul Swallowers by D Wallace Peach. And great news I’ve won the giveaway for Double Blind by Dan Alatorre.

What Amazon says

When swallowed, some souls gift insights, wisdom, a path to understanding. Others unleash power, proficiency with a sword, and indifference to death. One soul assimilates with ease. But swallow a host of the dead and risk a descent into madness.

Estranged from his family over the murder of his wife, young Raze Anvrell wields his fists to vent his rage. Then a chance at a new life beckons, and he retreats to the foothills of the Ravenwood, the haunt of unbound ghosts. He and his mentor build a freehold, a life of physical labor and the satisfaction of realizing a dream. They raise horses and whittle by the fire until the old man dies, and Raze swallows his first soul.

When his brother reaches out, open wounds begin to scar. But the tenuous peace won’t last. While those who rule the Vales yield to the lure of…

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There Is Far Too Much Emphasis Placed On Planning

Great advice from Jack Eason about keeping planning to a minimum to let your creativity flow. #writerstips #writing

Have We Had Help?

I know I’ve spoken about planning in the past. But like a lot of seriously overused writing crutches, it bears talking about yet again.

So many new and not so new writers insist on planning every single detail in their current work in progress almost to the point of being totally paranoid about it. It’s as if they need an Idiot’s How To Guide to be able to write. It has to be said that following this inflexible method leaves nothing to be desired. Neither does it make you think before you write. Nor does it allow you to make use of your imagination, not to mention being adventurous and therefore spontaneous. Give me research and spontaneity over planning any day.

It’s fine if you are just another hack with no imagination whatsover, ghost writing for a living. But I ask you, where’s the fun in that? Where is the…

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Carrot Ranch June 20 Flash Fiction Challenge #FlashFiction

June 20, 2019, prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less) write a story about having to wait. Who is waiting and what for? Think about how the wait impacts the character or the story. Go where the prompt leads!

Respond by June 25, 2019. Use the comment section below to share, read, and be social. You may leave a link, pingback, or story in the comments. If you want to be published in the weekly collection, please use the form. Rules & Guidelines.

The idea for this piece of flash came about from job shares. Imagine if the person who you were job sharing with was a murderer… What a thought!

My flash:

Only two more hours, she joked as she left. I smiled. I knew I would say the same to her after two days’ time. The weekend is teasing me, waiting with a glass of wine. At two minutes past five I open her drawer to eat the snack she left me. It kills me to admit it but it tastes good. She’d said it was foul but lied. One more bite.

Shame that death arrived before the weekend. She didn’t need to poison me—we were both on the same prolonged career path.

https://carrotranch.com/2019/06/21/june-20-flash-fiction-challenge/

Cheerio for now!

Buy Book: myBook.to/TheCurseofTime

Social Media Links

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mjmallonauthor/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mjmallonauthor/

COLLEEN’S 2019 WEEKLY #TANKA TUESDAY #POETRY CHALLENGE NO. 132 #SYNONYMSONLY

I’m looking for a Christmas venue for our staff party which is proving to be more difficult than I first anticipated. A colleague at work suggested I considered The Cock pub. Anyway, to cut a long story short I called The Cock and checked the size of the venue. We require a big capacity – over fifty guests – and I was informed that the venue was too small. Dead pan, I reported this back to my colleagues with the words: ‘the cock is too small!’

Cue much laughing… Oh my!

Thereafter, not content with the way things were going I googled other possible pubs and discovered a feisty possibility called The Wrestling Cocks. This wasn’t big enough but I was impressed by their passionate pride to their pub! They pointed us in the direction of another venue – the name escapes me – but sadly this didn’t meet my exalted expectations either…

So after much soul searching and a protracted period of titillating I’m now considering a more simple approach. Perhaps a venue with a numeral in the name such as The Three Buttes, or The Eight Ding-Dongs...

ALL PUBS NAMES IN ITALICS HAVE BEEN CHANGED TO PROTECT THEIR PRIVACY!

The pressure’s growing

To find a perfect venue

A decision soon

Be it big, or small in size

Carry on… up the pub dears!

Synonyms: For influence (I used pressure) and perception: (feeling)

To join in Colleen’s poetry challenge:

https://colleenchesebro.com/2019/06/18/colleens-2019-weekly-tanka-tuesday-poetry-challenge-no-132-synonymsonly/

Social Media Links

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mjmallonauthor/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mjmallonauthor/

Buy Book: myBook.to/TheCurseofTime

#BookReview The Start of Something Wonderful @JaneLambert22 #TuesdayBookBlog #booklover

Fantastic review of Jane Lambert’s The Start of Something Wonderful from Lucy at blonde write more. #Midlifecrisis #romance #uplifting

Book Review of Devil In The Wind by Frank Prem #Poetry #BlackSaturday #Wildfires

Goodreads Synopsis:
Devil In The Wind is an account of catastrophic fire and its immediate aftermath.

In this 21st century, the whole world seems to be on fire. America burns. Europe burns. Greece is reeling after its own tragedy of fire.

And Australia burns, as it has always done, but now so much more fiercely.

In February 2009, wildfires burnt through entire communities, taking 173 lives and injuring hundreds, while destroying thousands of houses and other buildings. Up to 400 fires destroyed 450,000 hectares of forest, native fauna and habitat, livestock and farmland.

In the aftermath of the fires, the voices of people who had lived through the experience — victims, rescuers, and observers — spoke and were heard.

Devil In The Wind is Frank Prem’s poetic testament to the personal, and very human, accounts of those who themselves experienced and survived Black Saturday.
My review:

I discovered my love of poetry as a teenager and this love continues to this day.

Devil in The Wind is very different from any poetry book that I have ever read before. I’ve never encountered stream of consciousness poems before, or poetry that chronicles such a devastating experience in such a thoughtful, honest, human and visual way.

Poetry delivers raw emotions in a way that prose sometimes struggles to do.

My favourite poems are:

Evidence to the Commission of Enquiry

Like A Duck on The Lake

Portraits in Green And Gold

The look of salvation

First bus to Marysville

The strength of a Trukie

Ever again

Don decides

Frank Prem’s links:

https://frankprem.com/

https://frankprem.wordpress.com/

Thank you to the author for a copy – this in no way affects my review.

My recommendation: 5 stars. Definitely read this, it is a fantastic collection.

Have you read Devil in The Wind?

Buy Book: myBook.to/TheCurseofTime

Social Media Links

Authors Website: https://mjmallon.com
Collaborative Blog: https://sistersofthefey.wordpress.com
Twitter: @Marjorie_Mallon and @curseof_time
#ABRSC: Authors Bloggers Rainbow Support Club on Facebook
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17064826.M_J_Mallon

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mjmallonauthor/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mjmallonauthor/

Why Prompts?

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