A to Z Challenge

A to Z Challenge: C is for “Count of Monte Cristo”

CFor the letter C of the A to Z Challenge I had a difficult choice to make. On one hand, I had the Count of Monte Cristo, a nobleman with a mysterious and painful past, on the other, Conan the Barbarian, a warrior in a classic tale that started the fantasy genre. But since I’ve already mentioned Conan in last year’s Myk Book Tag, I decided to give this post entirely to the count, or rather, to the book that tells his story. (more…)

9 Comments
April 4, 2016
A to Z Challenge

A to Z Challenge: B is for “Blindsight”

BFor today’s A to Z Challenge and letter B, I have my impressions about “Blindsight” by Peter Watts.

I came across this book thanks to Uczta Wyobraźni (The Feast of Imagination) great series by a Polish publisher, featuring most interesting, imaginative, and original writers of the contemporary speculative fiction. My acquaintances and friends kept telling me it’s brilliant and fresh, but they often quietly added the “challenging” part.

I had no choice, I had to read it, and see for myself. (more…)

6 Comments
April 2, 2016
As a Side Note

A to Z Challenge: Theme Reveal

A2Z-BADGE_[2016]I’ve known about A to Z Challenge for a couple of years now, but I never got around to joining it. Mostly because I never considered myself a blogger, and my posting schedule is still at best “shaky”, with merely a post a week (or even less). But, as you can guess, this year is different and I’ll be doing my best to post 26 posts throughout April (Sundays excluded, everybody needs a bit of rest!), each related to one letter of the alphabet.

And today is the challenges day for theme reveal. (more…)

36 Comments
March 21, 2016
Personal Rants

Confessions of a Book Addict

1Looking at my Goodreads challenge (yes, I’m still behind) made me think I’ve read awfully few books this year, and it made me wonder why. I still consider books my favorite pastime, and the “to be read list” is ever so growing. But I don’t read as much as I used to.

Of course, there’s been a lot of writing and editing this year on top of my day job, and I could say video games, movies or arts & crafts take up my free time, but then why would I pick them over books if I love reading so much? The question made me thinking, and I finally realized I don’t read books because… I’m scared. (more…)

12 Comments
December 1, 2015
News

“Flashback Friday” guest post

I've been invited by Raven Oak to do a guest post for "Flashback Friday" series. If you're in for a read about the book series that influenced my writing feel free to pop over to her website and check it out!

0 Comments
April 12, 2015
Personal Rants

Bookshelf of Young Melfka – Myk’s Book Tag

booktagJust a day after I was nominated in Liebster Award Blog Hop, I’ve been sneakily tagged by Myk Pilgrim from Little Plastic Castle who challenged me to reveal ten most formative books. Books that shaped the Melfka I am now.

Digging into the depths of my past might be traumatic for the onlookers, so you keep reading on your own responsibility. But if you’re brave enough (or just curious which peculiar and unexpected books I listed), keep reading! (more…)

6 Comments
March 1, 2015
On Writing / Personal Rants

No Excuses for Plagiarism

plagiarismRecently I came across an article from 2010 about a German writer whose first book, a bestseller, was proven to be plagiarized from a novel of another author. What shook me more than the act itself, was the author’s defense. “It’s not copying, it’s mixing”, even though supposedly whole passages were copied from another author’s work.

Just a week later I witnessed online a similar situation: a young Polish author publishing with a vanity press openly admitted that his book is a fan-fiction set in one of the bestselling fantasy author’s world and using her main character. This time the excuse was similar: “it’s only inspiration and it’s ok if I use the main character’s name, because it’s not the same character”. I didn’t get to read an excerpt from the book, but the book’s description suggests the main character is a dragon, just like in the bestselling series. (more…)

4 Comments
December 7, 2014
As a Side Note

From a booklover’s life

by Jules Morgan, via Flickr
by Jules Morgan, via Flickr

I remember the day I was going to Ireland “possibly for a year, maybe forever”. Since I was flying over there, my luggage was restricted by weight and I only could take four books with me. Two of them were dictionaries: Polish-English and English-Polish as I had a hunch they might come in handy. The other two were fiction: one that I already read and loved and the other one that I didn’t, but was supposed to write a review. That’s it, four books.

Just a year later I pushed my bicycle up the hill, carrying a package on it. It was my first bookshelf: meager, small and insignificant, but at least I could transport and assemble it on my own. I had few more books back then, but they still all fitted in and there was even some space left for boxes with “stuff”. (more…)

10 Comments
April 14, 2014