The Never Hero - my 5 star review

I think it’s only a matter of time before "The Never Hero" becomes a sci-fi bestseller and a blockbusting movie. The story is more than gripping, it’s throat clutching. As we follow 22 year old, non-violent, thin Jonathan’s life go upside down the moment he wakes up in a puddle of his own blood without a single injury, we witness one of the most enjoyable mental treks. As deep and sober as the message may be (I’d say it can strike an epiphany) the level of entertainment reaches the same scale and the book doesn’t fail to deliver.

The plot is well crafted and the details are so real, you’d expect a Ferox run down your street. Had this book not been given any drop of fantasy (I'm referring to the Ferox's story and the blond man's implications), it would have probably not have had the same impact. With a little bit of imagination dripping into downtown Seattle, it stands as a remarkable metaphor that sends you thinking what is good and what is evil because in the end, this story is about neither. It is this uncertainty that makes things even more sizzling. There is great wisdom entwined in this story sometimes manifested as insightful questions rather than straight statements. There are also real facts from the worlds of martial arts and training. My favorite part was Jonathan’s psychological journey deeply captured in dialogue and gestures in a soul touching manner. Nothing is overdosed - the dialogue, the gestures, the thoughts, past and present - everything is just in the right amount to instill the ultimate sensation while reading.

It’s remarkably written - deep, thoughtful, balancing emotions and machine-like duty, shedding a view over themes like faith, war, morals, smothered anger and much more. Everything blends incredibly well with the characters and depth of detail - it was just enough to keep the flow smooth and tugging at my curiosity without feeling like something is missing or over pouring.

An amazingly written story, Ellery!

I’m eager for the sequel.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24957953-the-never-hero

Coco's Journey - a children's story with dragons and their pet parrots

I've always drawn on my school notebooks - dinosaurs, animals, dragons, cartoons, characters and scenes from the books I read until I began drawing my own stories. My favorite place to draw was the math notebook, but I was careful not to discriminate any subject - they all had their share of my drawings.

I went on sketching on my notebooks through high school and all over my algorithm books at University. The stories I shaped with my drawings became increasingly complex until I felt the need to write them instead of unrolling them in endless comic strips - and I was also running out of notebooks to draw on. Now I'm a software developer by day and a writer by night. In between I draw. I like connecting ideas in unlikely ways to create new things the same way you'd connect Lego blocks and then I illustrate them. I publish most of my work and ideas here, on Stirring Steer.

I had the idea for this story a while back, sometime before high school, as a token of inspiration from my own pets. As most of my stories, it started with countless sheets of drawings and scribbled characters on the edge of the school notebooks until it became a comic strip stretching on many pages. Later on, I took the writing from my comic, added a little more detail and after some thorough editing which turned into a complete rewriting, "Coco's Journey" the book emerged.

The drawings on my school notebooks.

The first page from "Coco's Journey" comic strip.

A few illustrations from "Coco's Journey" the book.

"Coco is an ordinary cockatiel who lives in the kitchen of a dragon family. One night, his beloved mate is kidnapped by a mysterious figure and Coco sets out on an amazing quest to rescue his sweetheart. But the dragons' house is huge and dangerous, full of hidden rooms and surprises. How will he find his mate in this maze? Embark on this exciting journey to meet Coco's friends, enemies and unlikely allies who all live in the dragons' lair."
- Goodreads

After the book was done, I decided to visit some of the characters to see if I could get an interview and updates on their lives.

Coco seemed to be doing... fine after the whole adventure. He and Moldy now have four featherless little joys.

Fifi has published his rhymes. His feathers still haven't grown back, but he's thinking seriously of booking a plane ticket out of here.

Mary refused to give an interview.

One of my favorite sayings is "The whole story is fiction, except for the parts that aren't." by Michael Crichton. Coco, Moldy and Cleo, my pet parrots, actually existed and the cockatiels did have four featherless bundles of joy.

When the baby parrots were still small, Coco wouldn't let us approach to change the sheets so we had to lure him away to clean the nest. While he was away, the babies would hiss at us noisily sounding like a nest of snakes instead of adorable parrots. But as they grew up they followed us all over the house and snuggled on our shoulders. Bringing them up was a great experience.

Cleo was the most sociable of all birds - he always came on my glass of water to take a bath when I was trying to drink and he would always screech loudly when he saw mum's red nails and fly around in circles close to the ceiling.

You can read the story for free here in exchange for a review or an opinion or a spoonful of feedback or whatever you'd like to say.

You can also buy the eBook from several online shops - Amazon,  iBooks, Scribd, Kobo, Copia and Ciando are just a few of them.

Enjoy! ^^

Trust and Independence

I walked into a Half Price Books store one evening when I was in Redmond. A book attracted my attention: "7 Rules You Were Born to Break" by Rick Lewis.

Even now, 8 months after I've left the forests of the NW coast, I still love skimming through this book as a reminder of the small things that pass by unseen, too often. It's not everyday that a successful street performer shares his life lessons with us. And what a perspective - the book talks about rules that we are more or less unconsciously taught and how, ironically, they work against us most of the time.

Today I randomly opened the book at rule no. 3: "Be Independent". I appreciate those times when I read something that I subconsciously know, but that I've never put into words before. This third rule says that we are taught to be self-sufficient and not to need anyone's help, ever. Sounds a bit lonely. Stand for a moment and look at it. Does it apply to you? I can certainly recall meeting with this rule not only within me but around me as well. What I like best about this book is that it talks about the misbehaviors that break these rules. Each rule can be broken by misbehaving in a certain way so that you can regain your natural balance and be happier. Asking for help is the way to ease the grip of "Be Independent". It's about trusting other people - an act that can scare most of us because it requires getting out of our comfort zone. Rick states it best at the beginning of the chapter: "Who we are as individuals blossoms as we discover and learn who we are in relationship to our world. We do this by deeply connecting with it, not by withdrawing from it." I love this one: "A mature individual is able to draw support and strength from others and provide a distinct contribution to the world. Our individuality suffers when we cut ourselves off from an exchange of help by trying to remain wholly independent." After all, true independence has never been reached alone.

Looking at this from a distance, we can see that being independent and asking for help can be antipodes and as all opposite things, the good spot is somewhere in the middle. It's knowing when you're imbalanced that is the challenge.