Longform Essay: "Make Clowns Funny Again"

 

Over at my Substack, I'm trying to write both reviews and essays. Sometimes the essays get very long... such as this one: "Make Clowns Funny Again".

It deals with clowns and comedy, and their underestimated, often misunderstood role in society. Enjoy...

#comedy #culture

Book review: POOR THINGS by Alasdair Gray

 Read the review on my Substack.

FREE EBOOK WEEKEND: "The Argus Project"

      

FREE EBOOK WEEKEND

My space-opera novel THE ARGUS PROJECT will be available for FREE ebook download from Friday, November 28, PDT (Pacific Daylight Time) to the end of November 30, 2024.

Link:

http://amazon.com/ARGUS-PROJECT-R-Yngve-ebook/dp/B01N2OVKIS/

(In European time zones, the offer lasts until Sunday December 1, 2024.)

About THE ARGUS PROJECT:

ALL IS FAIR IN LOVE AND WAR...

In the distant future, Planet Earth has become the seat of an interplanetary empire. It wages war on its own colonies to gain control of the Solar System and its precious energy resources.

Two lovers are caught up in this colossal power struggle. They join forces to win back their freedom... and each other. In their way stands the military forces of an entire empire... and the last politician.

This complete 100,000-word science fiction novel has previously been released as a Web serial.

#scifi #sciencefiction #space #books #freebooks #scifibooks #literature #kindlebooks #freebook #bookpromo #bookpromotion #spaceopera

Book Review: DALLERGUT DREAM DEPARTMENT STORE by Miye Lee

 

Book Review: DALLERGUT DREAM DEPARTMENT STORE (2023) by Miye Lee

INSIPID: "Wanting in the qualities which affect the organs of taste; without taste or savor; vapid; tasteless."

That just about sums it up.

Perhaps something was lost in the translation from Korean to English, but this book felt synthetic ... as if it were computer-generated. (That certainly applies to the above book cover, too.) Nothing comes alive - not the characters, not the plot, not the setting. It all comes off as flat, fake, simulated.

The main theme, a store that sells dreams, is weak and convoluted. The "dream marketplace" seems to have insinuated itself into a space where it was never needed to begin with - a middleman who sells your own imagination back to you.

There is no sense of conflict or real tension in the story, since it's all about affirming the "ordered" state of dreamland. There is no chaos or disorder or depth or ambiguity. The "authority figure" characters are all-seeing and benevolent, which gets creepy in a way the author may not have intended.

Santa Claus appears as a character. It doesn't help.

Is this aimed at children? Then children deserve better literature.

Avoid.

FREE EBOOK WEEKEND (September 6-8): "THINGS FROM BELOW"

 

FREE EBOOK WEEKEND (September 6-8 (PDT), 2024):

My scary ebook THINGS FROM BELOW And Other Stories will be available for FREE download from Friday September 6 to the end of Sunday September 8, 2024, PDT (Pacific Daylight Time).

Bookmark this link:

https://amazon.com/Things-Below-Other-Stories-Yngve-ebook/dp/B07X32261D/

PLEASE NOTE: The freebie will be available longer, until September 9, in certain timezones (especially Europe). About THINGS FROM BELOW: BENEATH OUR FEET THERE ARE MONSTERS...

In the novella "Things From Below," the world is inexplicably attacked by giant creatures with a ravenous hunger for human flesh. Are these monsters real... or has reality turned into a living nightmare?
The book THINGS FROM BELOW also contains three additional tales of the macabre, by Swedish author A. R. Yngve. His short fiction has been published in the UK, Sweden and China.
Read a sample HERE.

#horror #books #freebooks #bookpromo #literature #boktips #litteratur

Mini-essay: "SPACE - The Perceptual Frontier"

I have posted a new mini-essay on my Substack: "SPACE - The Perceptual Frontier"

A quick dive into the question of why it's so psychologically hard to make an accurate image of a comet - or space itself. (It's not just the sci-fi movies - even astronomy books can't do it.)

Bokrecension: DET BLINDA RUMMET av A. R. Yngve

 Tora F Greve har läst och recenserat min novellsamling DET BLINDA RUMMET. Läs recensionen HÄR. Citat: Det blinda rummet är en samlingsvolym med AR Yngves speciella SF-stil och ett måste för alla som hyllar udda science fiction. De flesta har varit publicerade innan, det mesta på engelska i olika tidningar och antologier.