The Cuckoo’s Calling – Review

Posted on July 22, 2013 by ashleymanningwriter

File:CuckoosCallingCover.jpg

Title: The Cuckoo’s Calling

Author: Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling)

Rating: ★★★★

I’ll be honest and say that I had not heard of this book before it was revealed that J.K. Rowling had written it. After I found out I downloaded the preview for my Kindle and was instantly hooked. I’m not really a fan of her writing. (I love the stories of Harry Potter and have read them all for that reason, but I have always struggled with her writing style.) If the book wasn’t a crime/detective novel then I wouldn’t have bothered with looking into it, but as it’s one of my favourite genres I thought I would give it a go.

Lula Landry, a supermodel, has fallen from the balcony of her apartment to her death. The police investigate and believe it to be a suicide. Lula’s brother thinks differently and hires, Cormoran Strike, a P.I., to look further into her death. At first he doesn’t want to take advantage of a grieving brother but the worry from constant looming debts get the better of him and he takes on the case. Initially not expecting to find anything that the police didn’t, Cormoran Strike, along with his new secretary Robin (Rowling does mention the Batman and Robin thing) start to uncover clues that Lula’s death isn’t as simple as it originally seemed.

The characters are really well done. Both Strike and Robin are really believable and I think they were the highlight of the book. Their own dramas and interactions took the book from an average crime/detective novel to a new level. 

I didn’t mind Rowling’s writing in this book either. I haven’t read The Casual Vacancy yet (But the paperback is now on my shelf), so I can’t tell whether I have grown up and accepted Rowling’s style, or she has improved since the Harry Potter books. There were a few parts where I had to reread sentences to make sure I had read them right, but this isn’t a big problem.

The twists were clever and some were unexpected. I did feel that the final reveal was a little underwhelming. While I had an idea who the killer was I wasn’t certain until it was revealed at the end, which is always a good thing.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes crime novels. It’s really well written. The characters are great and I look forward to the second installment which is due out next year.

Thanks for reading,

Ashley.

 

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Comic Con

Posted on July 21, 2013 by ashleymanningwriter

It’s that time of year again when I spend quite a lot of my time on the internet waiting for news from Comic Con, the biggest geekiest event of the year. This year has been a very good one. It started with a couple new J. M. Straczynski projects being announced. A comic based on the classic tv show, The Twilight Zone. Along with a new Terminator comic. I wouldn’t have given either of them a second thought if Straczynski wasn’t attached to them. Who, in my opinion, is one of the greatest writers going, it’s just a shame about his involvement in Before Watchmen and the Spider-Man arc “Sins Past”. His latest series, Ten Grand is turning out really well and I’m looking forward to Sidekick in the next couple of weeks. I will definitely be picking up the first issue of each of them.

The next big announcement I read about was the announcement that The Darkness, one of my favourite comics of all time, is being adapted into a film. This was a bit of a shock for me, considering the comic will be finishing in 2 issues time. The comic revolves around Jackie Estacado, a gangster who wields the power of the darkness, an ancient force that is past along from father to son. On top of this he is also in love with Jenny, a girl he met while living in an orphanage. Essentially it is a love story and has just gotten better over it’s near enough 15 year run. There is also the epic games. The first game was one of the main reasons I wanted to read comics. I can’t wait for this film and have really high hopes for it.

The next announcement that got me excited was that Zack Snyder is directing another Superman film, this one Superman/Batman, which was announced along side a quote from Frank Miller’s epic The Dark Knight Returns. Christopher Nolan is the executive producer and Henry Cavill is returning to play Superman. No word on Batman yet. There is so much potential for this and yet it can also go so wrong. I wasn’t a fan of Nolan’s last Batman film, and I don’t like a lot of Snyder’s films. Sucker Punch is one of the only films I’ve ever turned off half way through. That being said, Man of Steel was a surprise and much better than I thought it would be. While I’m not certain this will be a good film, it is in good hands and I will be seeing it as soon as I can.

Finally Avengers: Age of Ultron. The sequel to last years mega-blockbuster. Whedon is directing and it looks like the film is inspired by the recent story arc, Age of Ultron. I have no doubt that this will be excellent. The first Avengers film was very good and this one should be just as good. I liked the story Age of Ultron, and thought it would work as a stand alone film, it is a shock that this was announced as the next Avengers film,considering the comic arc finished, barely a month ago. Then again there might be no resemblance between the film and comic. Only time will tell. I do think it will turn out well though.

I know there were other announcements and I’ve read quite a few articles over the last couple of days and will continue reading them as they are published but these announcements are ones that have stood out the most. I will be reading an article about the Community panel (Probably my favourite tv show of all time. Currently on my 4th watch all the way through.)

Thanks for reading,

Ashley

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Part Eleven

Posted on July 16, 2013 by ashleymanningwriter

Part Eleven of Jimmy has now been uploaded. You can read it HERE

Please share and feedback is always appreciated. Thanks in advance,

Ashley

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The Walking Dead

Posted on July 16, 2013 by ashleymanningwriter

I will soon be doing a book giveaway on Goodreads (Stay tuned for more details on this) and will be signing the free copies of my book. I am looking forward to that. Please share the links and information when I post it on here. Thank you in advance. 

It won’t be until next week, at the earliest as I check the final details and such. 

The writing of the sequel to To The Other is going well. I have ideas, the plot is moving ahead, I know where it will end. I just have to actually write it. The title “From Within” was suggested to me by a friend and I quite like it. I would appreciate your thoughts on this title

I finished The Walking Dead game earlier today. All 5 episodes and the 400 days DLC. I wasn’t planning on playing this game but put it on my rental list as a back up. I love the comic, but was disappointed by the first season of the TV show. I haven’t watched any further than that but I probably will do at some point. After about half an hour of playing the game I was completely absorbed by it. It was everything the TV show wasn’t. I actually cared about the characters and couldn’t wait to find out what happened next. The game had a decent length and even though it wasn’t that challenging it was very gripping and entertaining. I can’t wait for the sequel to come out, and I will be downloading them in the installments. The characters and plot points introduced in 400 days are very interesting and I can’t wait for more.

Playing The Walking Dead also made me want to play other more traditional “point and click” games and I decided on one of my favorites, Broken Sword. I first played that game about 12/13 years ago after borrowing it from a friend. At the time I didn’t understand how to play it or what was going on, but something gripped me enough to want to play it again and again. I never got through the first half hour of the game, even after borrowing it more times than I can count, but as I got older I understood it more, and got further. I’ve never completed the game, as I always get stuck somewhere, but I’m aiming to finally complete it now, and without using the internet for any help.

I still haven’t finished Corey Taylor’s book, but I have less than 50 pages left. I would have finished it in the last couple of days if J.K. Rowling wasn’t revealed to be the author of The Cuckoo’s Calling. I downloaded a preview of it on my kindle and was instantly hooked. While I love the Harry Potter series (and think it’s one of the best stories of all time) I’ve never been a fan of her writing. I don’t know if she’s become a better writer over time or my tastes have changed but I don’t have the problem with it anymore. I’m about 25% of the way through it and will probably finish that before I think about Corey Taylor’s book again.

I was also recommended a documentary about the impact of Vinyl Records on the music industry and how artists used them to change the music they were producing, called When Albums Ruled the World. It covers artists like Bob Dylan, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Yes, David Bowie, the album Tubular Bells and the Sex Pistols. I’d never though about the progression of music from the angle, that how people listened to the music changed the way the artists make the music. If you live in the UK it’s on the BBC iPlayer. It aired on BBC 4 last sunday at 11:30PM. I really enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone who loves music.

I also recently watched Apartment 1303, with my mum and girlfriend. I have said time and time again that I will stop listening to my mum when she says a film (especially a horror) will be good. In a way I’m glad I ignored my own statement. The film was horrendous. The story was cliched, there wasn’t any acting, there was no suspense, no horror, no terror. But from about 10 minutes into it I just couldn’t stop laughing. I tried to stop, thinking I would ruin the film for the others, but I just couldn’t stop. Spoiler alert. There was one bit when the fragile heroine fell from her 13th floor apartment to her death that I thought was hilarious. I also just googled the film to make sure I got the title right and found out it was also released in 3D, which just makes me smile.

I will be uploading the 11th part of Jimmy shortly. I hope you enjoy it.

Thanks for reading,

Ashley

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Thank You to all the helped me while writing my first book.

Posted on July 12, 2013 by ashleymanningwriter

A lot of people helped me with writing my book. I would like to thank them all here in a kind of chronological order. 

I would firstly like to thank my mum, Sharon. The first person who read the book. And in total read it 4 times, while helping edit and give advice. The book would simply not exist if it wasn’t for her. She also publicised the book, telling everyone she could and showing my website and book cover to anyone who would listen. To top it all off she has the first part of the sequel sitting somewhere ready to start making corrections. Thank you.

I would like to thank Tabby, my girlfriend, who read through several bits while I was writing to make sure they made sense and worked in the way I wanted them to. This involved a lot of emailing and phone calls. She also made sure I was keeping on top of my 1000 words a day routine. Thank you.

I would like to thank Louis Sidis for designing the banner on this site and the front cover to my book. Everything was made easier thanks to his brilliant artwork. Thank you. 

Next, a good friend from University. Reece Chambers who supported my work and showed interest. He read the first chapter and gave me pointers. He was one of the first, outside of family to read my work and support it.  You can find his writing on his BLOG or HELLOPOETRY. Show some support. His poetry is impressive. Thank you. 

Next up is one of my best friends, and unicorn bro. Liam Taylor. The amount of promoting he did was truly shocking. The compliments and praising of my book and constant Facebook sharing led to quite a few kindle downlaods. He’s constantly supporting my writing and I can’t express how much I appreciate it. He is very close to finishing his first game, Assimilation a kind of new style puzzly Tetris, Dr.Mario jumble with a new idea that is turning out to be pretty awesome. I don’t want to spoil his next project but that sounds even better. Check out his FACEBOOK PAGE here, and check out his BLOG as well. Show some support. Thank you.  

My Dad, also shared many facebook posts and told many people about it, which led to quite a few downloads. He has also been very supportive the whole time and is always interested in new updates on my books. Thank you. 

Finally, every single one of you that has read a post on here, shared something, downloaded a kindle version, or ordered a print copy, given feedback and or just clicked on here by mistake. I would like to thank every single one of you. Thanks. 

And thank you for reading, 

Ashley. 

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