Wednesday 3 June 2015

I've moved!

Exactly what it says on the cover.

The content of this site will be moving there as well, but it will look prettier and more organized.

New link is HERE

Or alternatively, you can type krystaman.wordpress.com on your search engine of choice to find me~

Monday 18 May 2015

NEL: My cat. Warning: picture heavy


Not Enough Love: Artemis the Cat

Today, I'm introducing you to Artemis (a.k.a. my kitty that loves my dad more than me). She's officially nine years old. 

What'cha doing? (Why aren't you writing?)
 She can usually be found in boxes.
I'm pretending you can't see me.
And whatever furniture my dad likes to use...
Pretending...

Excuse me? 
But occasionally, she'll hang out with me! (Only when I'm about to leave for work.)
Again?






Monday 11 May 2015

Not enough love: Aphorism

Not to be confused with the wikipedia definition, but it definitely applies here. In Japanese, words in kanji can be used to mean several things and the author uses it to great effect.

Aphorism by Kujo Karuna is a manga that takes place in a prestigious high school whose students are guaranteed to be successful in life upon graduation. Unfortunately, it is also a high school that accepts only the students who can see the floating island in the sky.

Upon acceptance, our protagonist Rokudou Momiji and his class is told to write a single word (in kanji) on a piece of paper with no other information than that it will determine his future. Since he met a pretty classmate that he wants to impress and feeling inadequate about his lack of smarts, athletics and height, Momiji writes down the word for 'change'.

Then monsters appear out of the ground and attacking/killing students.

The teacher (being really unhelpful) tells them that the word that they just wrote is their weapon and they must use it to fight off the monsters. For example, the person who wrote down the word 'knife' can manifest a sword and use it to kill said monster. The person who wrote down the word 'fire' can create fire and use it. The possibilities are only limited to the word that the student had written down.

As a writer, I thought the concept is interesting. We, who lives in the western world and uses English, have so many different words that means the same thing. However, in Japanese kanji has multiple meanings to the same word and the reader uses context to get the meaning.

I would be very happy if someone licensed this and start selling in Canada. *cough* Viz,I'mLookingAtYou *cough*

What kind of word would I have written had I not known that I would be fighting for my life in the next minutes?

What kind of word would you have written?

You can read Aphorism here.
If you can read Japanese, you can buy Aphorism as soon as I find a proper link for it. (Amazon does not count as a good link.)

Monday 4 May 2015

Not Enough Love: Yu Wo

So after a long time of not posting... I decide to start posting again.

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Errr... I'm not Kakashi, so simply put. It's me, being lazy.

Anyways, so I'm starting a Not Enough Love section, where I (almost?) weekly put up a recommendation on stories that just don't get enough love.

Legalities are definitely going to get a way in this as I will recommend things that may not have been licensed to be bought in North America, so as soon as I know where or how to get said product, I'll update the posts.

First up is my favourite Taiwanese author, Yu Wo ( 御我 ). She writes light novels (in the Western side of the world, we call them novellas) with a strong focus on fantasy and sci-fi.

I first encountered 1/2 Prince or 1/2 王子 when I was surfing through the net for interesting (non-licensed) manga to read. I mean, look at the gorgeous art!


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image from goodreads.com


It is the year 2100 A.D. With the arrival of the game 'Second Life', the realism level in virtual reality games have finally reached 99%.  Feng Lan, our female protagonist, has gotten into an argument with her twin brother over whether or not female gamers can be strong without using their female "attributes". Due to the high realism levels, gender switching is banned, however Feng Lan became the first and only transvestite in the game because she is the first player into the game.

Hilarity ensues as Feng Lan (under the username Prince) suffers from rabid wolves fangirls, crazy suitors friends, family issues (her brother didn't recognize her in the game and sees her as a rival hot guy out to charm ladies), and gender confusion. So much gender confusion.

An important note: This story was written in 2009, during a time which homosexuality is still considered a taboo in Taiwan. Therefore, please try to understand that jokes on sexual orientation is meant to be light-hearted.

You can read the stories for free here. The author has given permission for her work to be translated and placed on the site.


Wednesday 8 January 2014

A new Year and new books!

Nanowrimo, New Years and Christmas has come and gone, but I still remain! Mwuhahaha. Ok, I'm fine now.

Now that the busy holiday season is over, I have more time to write. So my dear readers (who I think are non-existent so far...), I'm back with a resolution to keep up with this blog while writing more of my stories every day. I have found a calendar* and I have decided that I would put up a sticker for every day I worked on my story.

Thursday 29 August 2013

Your Audience


I find the questions ‘why you write’ and ‘who is your audience’ is two similar questions, but mean something completely different.

Thursday 22 August 2013

As a Reader, Criteria in Choosing Books at the Store/Library

I'm the kind of person who goes shopping with a specific list and picks up random things on the way to checkout counter. This applies to my reading habits as well. Usually, I go to the library to pick up five or six books... and walk out with more than a dozen. But for every book I decide to take out, I leave a few more on the shelf. They have drawn my interest, but overall, I decided not to read them.

But why?