Fin City: A Dame to Grill For LITERARY Cooking Adventure

In the dark and winter-ruled city, I had grown mad from the snow, and the darkness and the cold. I needed to feel refreshed, needed some hint of spring to remind me that the world needn’t be constantly swept in shadows…

Ahem. Well…that is…I decided to leap into action and make some lovely grilled fish tacos on a dreary March day a few weeks ago and they were SUPERB! In a tribute to Frank Miller’s Sin City graphic novels, I donned some makeup, slicked my hair back, and got to work in the kitchen. I dealt with a rather unforgiving lime that was not in the mood to be juiced, some frozen fish trapped in a bag that wouldn’t open, and of course, battled the all powerful grill pan as it viciously spat oil at me.

All in a days work though. The fish tacos were wonderful.

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Horror-Fail Friday: A Likely Story!

Horror-FAIL Friday

Every good horror story, film, or game has a story behind it. It doesn’t need to be intricate in order for it to have good atmosphere and be frightening…the premise just needs to be plausible. When a game tells you that the character had heard about a haunted mental hospital and, despite being warned, just HAD to go there… that’s not really the best way to start out. There isn’t even a reason given for why this character felt so compelled to go there. Also, saying that the character blacked out upon arrival and woke up later to find that he was in the exact same place he fainted in…isn’t really jarring information. But, as we delve further into the “mystery” of this game following HarshlyCritical, the story continues to hand us plot points that don’t quite add up.

Horror Fail Friday: JUMP SCARES!

JUMP SCARE!

Horror media, whether it is a film, video game, or book loves to employ jump scares. What exactly is a jump scare you may be wondering? Well, let’s put it this way: Say your main character is driving to a party at a friend’s house outside the city. All of a sudden, their car breaks down. They’re on an empty stretch of road and are forced to walk to find help. After trekking through the woods for over an hour, they happen upon a derelict mansion and go inside searching for a phone or something to aid them with fixing the car. The house is old, dark, and creaks with every gust of wind. The character digs out a flashlight and begins exploring. And then…this happens…

Vox Reading Excerpt

I never realized how ridiculously difficult it could be to do a voice-over for a video without the proper equipment. I’ve been at this project for most of the day, but I finally have an end result. For those of you whom haven’t read my first novel, Vox, please check out this excerpt from chapter 7 that I’ve posted. It’s best viewed at night without the lights on. Oh, and tell me what you thought. It’s my first time doing something like this so… I’d like some feedback! 

I’m in the process of doing my cooking adventure. I’ll have that up for you guys later tonight! Thanks again!

~KSilva

 

Jules Verne Liked to Party

Good morning, folks!

Next week, my friends and I will be throwing our first annual birthday bash for author Jules Verne. The idea was created last year on his birthday, February 8th. (We are throwing the party a couple days later.) Plans involved cupcakes, snuggies, giant squid, yellow submarines and steampunk photoshoots. It promises to be quite a fun event and hopefully, it will become a yearly tradition. There is a possibility of this being a year of author tributes. I hope we are able to plan more!

Vox: Inspiration Through Music

Good evening folks!

Well, I realized today that it’s impossible for me to choose only 5 songs to talk about for Vox. My first book is incredibly special in that I listened to so many varied songs and artists while composing each chapter. Allot of music isn’t even listed on the website under the soundtrack list. What I’d like to do is choose the songs that had the most meaning to me (which will definitely be more than just 5) and explain what it was about them that inspired certain things in the book. So relax back in your computer chair, get a warm mug of tea, and venture forth into Inspiration Through Music!

Aequitas: Inspiration Through Music

Good evening, readers!

As promised, I’ll be talking about a few of the songs I’ve listened to that have inspired key scenes in “Aequitas”, the upcoming sequel to “Vox”. I’ve also decided to make a permanent “Inspiration Through Music” weekly post in order to focus on one song and/or musical artist that has inspired my writing in some way. I will be creating a page where all of the links will be posted. It will be located on the blog roll in the right hand column. I have also placed my “Food Adventures” page there for you to find the links to those. [I’ve decided to try making a cheesecake for this week’s project! Hopefully it goes better than the pastitsio…]

I will be discussing five songs which I listened to in order to help inspire certain scenes in “Aequitas.” All of them are very different from one another, but are incredibly expressive and always drop me into the scene with ease while I listen to them. I don’t want to give too much away as to what happens in these scenes so I’ll be doing something that my favorite writer, Anthony Bourdain, did for a chapter in his book “Medium Raw.” The best way to do this is to open the link in a separate tab and listen to it as you read the vignettes below. Once you’ve read them, feel free to check out the corresponding youtube videos (especially the one for #3).

Limbo: A Short and Sweet Soundtrack for Horror Writers

Good morning,

I have a nightly ritual. Check the social media sites, and then hunker down to watch some video game commentaries by Harshly Critical. They are always entertaining and are always a mood lifter if I’ve had a particularly rough day. Yes, another shock of information about me: I adore certain video games. I’m very picky about them. In the past, they have helped to inspire some of my writing, ie: Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver was a huge influence behind “Vox”.

At the moment, HC has been doing a playthrough of a little known indie game called “Limbo.” It has black and white 2D graphics. The simple premise is that you play as a young boy who is trying to make his way through a series of hostile environments to find his sister. There’s no dialogue, there are no epic cutscenes, and it’s extremely linear. But, it’s one hell of a game.

Inspiration for “Home”

Good morning, folks!

Hoping everyone had a wonderful and safe Christmas! It actually snowed here… quite a bit. I ended up staying at my parent’s house and was without my computer for a full 24 hours… (which almost never happens!) Still, it was a pleasant day unwrapping gifts and spending time with my family. Among many fantastic gifts, I received some new video editing software for my laptop. Hopefully now, I’ll be able to experiment more with making some more professional looking book trailers! I’ll take a look at everything this Thursday when I have more time!

Since I am once again pressed for time this morning, I would just quickly like to thank those people who read “Home” and enjoyed it. The idea for the story had been trapped in my head for several days and that morning I literally dumped it from my noggin onto the blog. I wrote it in an hour, so any mistakes I made I apologize for. I was trying to get ready for work, too!

If any of you wondered what my inspiration was behind this story, I’ll say right now that it was a combination of a couple things. One is a unique book trailer that someone posted for the novel, “Going West” by Maurice Gee. The trailer is a stop-motion animated piece which runs for about one and a half to two minutes. The narrator brings life to Gee’s stunning imagery through the course of the video. You can find that video here.

The second inspiration is a new song released by Puscifer this year (fueling my James Maynard Keenan obsession), which is called “Tumbleweed.” I listened to that song while I wrote “Home”. You can find that song here.

This week, I’ll be posting some interesting factoids about “Vox” and “Aequitas”, specifically where I get my inspiration from while writing those books. I’ll also be posting more writing tips in general!

Til then, enjoy the day!

KSilva

Pass it on!

Good morning, readers!

Today is my day off and I intend on finally getting some writing done while also trying to re-coup. Christmas week has been hectic. I was up until midnight on Tuesday wrapping presents, worked a long shift at work yesterday, and I feel like I could just use a bit of relaxation today.

I have a youtube video to share with you that makes me feel pretty warm and fuzzy inside. It’s a little Pay-It-Forward kind of video that should be passed on to as many people as you can think of this holiday season. I know I needed to see something like this this morning.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qc8ZbVcdHpg

 

Have a wonderful day and pay it forward!

~KSilva

P.S. I intended on relaxing but Lemon Jelly apparently won’t allow me to do so. He’s trying to pull down picture frames and chew on folders. Silly cat.

"I will eat your soul!"