Felicia Fredlund

Writer. Editor. Reader.

Felicia

Great Web Comic: XKCD by Randall Munroe

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This series of posts are about entertainment that I recommend when people ask me for recommendations. It also includes place-specific “entertainment”, such as beautiful gardens; it might be stretching the definition of entertainment, but I enjoy myself in the places I recommend.

They are not universal recommendations. I wouldn’t recommend a dark thriller to someone looking for something nice and happy; I’d recommend a romance.

They aren’t perfect or without mistakes.

Art is never finished, only abandoned. ~ Leonard da Vinci

XKCD by Randall Munroe

I don’t remember who introduced me to XKCD, a webcomic I’ve enjoyed immensely for years, even if I don’t always understand them.

There is a lot of physics, maths, and other sciences, but I read for the humor and the cutely funny ones. I also do find the science ones interesting, at least when I understand them!

The one thing to know is that after you finish reading the comic, you should hover your mouse over it and read the text that pops up. Those are the best.

The comic is made by Randall Munroe.

A few years back I bought a couple of the comics in print. I can share those comics here, Munroe allows it, and I will share my absolute favorite, but for the others, I’d rather link so you can potentially go down the rabbit hole of the wonderful and sciency weird.

Jealousy

XKCD Loves the Discovery Channel

Lastly I want to share one that kinda transcends the comic format. I was reading XKCD regularly when this one came out, so I got to follow it in real time. It is called Time and is more like a cartoon/animated movie, except you can pick the pace yourself, or let it go through the many many frames automatically.

Click the play button in the top left to let it run with some pauses on key frames. You can adjust the speed in the same area. Or you can step through the frames with your arrow keys or the buttons in the top right.

Have fun with this last one. I have no idea how long he worked on that one, but it is long.

Urban Fantasy Added to the Roster

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My new release this month is an urban fantasy story. I’ve read urban fantasy for many years and love writing it too. And now I get to share it.

Here is the description:

As a valkyrie, Tyra escorts the souls of Swedish soldiers who died in combat to Valhalla. In this twenty-first century, she barely works because Sweden has not been at war for a long, long time.

When taking a soldier’s soul to Valhalla, Tyra unwillingly talks to Loki when he seeks her out. Right then, she feels the call from another soul.

Her turn for another calling should not have come that quickly, but off she goes despite her bad feeling.

You can buy it here as an ebook.

Next month is October, meaning Halloween. Which means horror movies, horror games, and horror books, right?

Except, I think more about the sun leaving, cozy lamps and candles lit in the evening. A chill to the air that livens up my skin. Trees in beautiful fall colors.

I can’t wait!

Great Movie: Die Hard and Die Hard 4.0

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This series of posts are about entertainment that I recommend when people ask me for recommendations. It also includes place-specific “entertainment”, such as beautiful gardens; it might be stretching the definition of entertainment, but I enjoy myself in the places I recommend.

They are not universal recommendations. I wouldn’t recommend a dark thriller to someone looking for something nice and happy; I’d recommend a romance.

They aren’t perfect or without mistakes.

Art is never finished, only abandoned. ~ Leonard da Vinci

Die Hard and Die Hard 4.0

My movie taste runs primarily action. And a classic action movie that I like to rewatch regularly is Die Hard. I also love rewatching Die Hard 4.0 (while double checking the name of Die Hard 4.0 (as I know it), I learned that the North American name for the movie was Live Free or Die Hard).

(Die Hard 2, Die Hard with a Vengeance (3), and A Good Day to Die Hard (5) are also good, but if I’m not planing to rewatch all Die Hards, I always pick 1 or 4.)

I don’t know that there is much to say about Die Hard (1) that hasn’t already been said.

Christmas, great action, and fun interplay between characters.

Basically feel good with explosions.

Instead I’ll talk about Die Hard 4.0. If I have to pick between watching 1 or 4, I might actually pick 4 because it hits a few more of my favorite things.

I like hacker/action movies.

So what 4 adds is a sidekick that I find funny, a bit sweet, and just the right amount of snark/wit. There are also strong women, a villain that is very Die Hard, and one specific one-liner from the sidekick that I love.

I watch action movies for relaxed fun. Give me some entertaining characters and great action and I’m good. That is what I look for in my action movies. So if that is your thing, Die Hard (all of them) are a good choice.

Picture of the Month — September 2018

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Pretty-lake-at-sunset_judarn-2017
So pretty…

This photo is quintessential Sweden. Sweden have many, many lakes, and forest is also very plentiful. This is from a nature preserve close to my childhood home.

A beautiful place where I can always find calm.

This was taken on a walk in May, 2017.

Dear Brother Out as Ebook

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Dear Brother is one of my first published short stories and it is now out as an ebook. If you’ve ever wanted to pick it up to read on your device of choice, now you can.

For those who don’t know, Dear Brother is a contemporary short story about dealing with grief.

Here is the description:

A cold and wet autumn makes a visit to the graveyard uncomfortable for twenty-something Silas Stone.

Nothing he notices. Not when more important matters are at hand.

His brother had died with things still unresolved between them.

You can buy it here as an ebook. No other kind of version is available yet, but might be in the future.

On to other things, the first “Great X” (where X = type of entertainment) came out a couple of weeks ago; posted in the Reader category.

These posts won’t always be about books (as the first one), but I hope you’ll enjoy a glimpse into my favorite entertainment and perhaps you’ll even find something you’d like to try.

I’ll see on the first for September’s Picture of the Month!

Great Book: Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce

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This series of posts are about entertainment that I recommend when people ask me for recommendations. It also includes place-specific “entertainment”, such as beautiful gardens; it might be stretching the definition of entertainment, but I enjoy myself in the places I recommend.

They are not universal recommendations. I wouldn’t recommend a dark thriller to someone looking for something nice and happy; I’d recommend a romance.

They aren’t perfect or without mistakes.

Art is never finished, only abandoned. ~ Leonard da Vinci

Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce

When I decided I wanted to do this series, I always knew what the first post would be.

Once a upon a time, when I was a little girl, I found reading boring. It was hard work and not fun at all.

Until…

I picked up Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce on one of the regular school visits to a library.

I was eleven years old and after reading that book, I’ve been a reader and later it lead me down the writing path.

Alanna was great, both the character and the book. It is a young adult book, at least that is where I would put it, especially with the later books seeing Alanna go from 10-11 years old to 18+. (The series is called Song of the Lioness.)

I loved the book because it fulfilled my biggest fantasies at that age: being a knight in training (aka a page), a girl, and having great magic.

I don’t want to spoil the books even though they are decades old. Let’s just say as the series goes on, it fulfilled more fantasies and went in direction I didn’t expect.

This isn’t Tamora Pierce’s best book (or series) in my opinion, but it was the book that made me a reader, so how could I not love it?

I’ve reread it many times. I read a lot of Tamora Pierce’s work and I’ll feature more of them in this series in the future.

If you like to read fantasy, like empowered girls/women, and like knights, castles, some fighting, magic, and adventure, this is a book for you.

Also, the rest of the series is also great; the fourth book is my favorite, but it is best when read after reading the first three.

Picture of the Month — August 2018

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Oddly angled photo from 2006
Compelling for some reason…

This throwaway picture came to be because I accidentally hit the “take a photo” button on my camera when I didn’t mean to take a photo. Or something very similar. I never deleted it because the odd angle seemed to create something beautiful with the lines in the picture.

Announcing Two Releases: a Short Story and an Anthology

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Today I have two announcements to make.

Let’s start with the anthology.

Nightly Bites Volume 2 includes my short story The Blood is on the Wall, its second appearance in an anthology. If you’ve picked up Fiction River: Editor’s Choice, then you already have this short story. If not, I hope you’ll consider picking it up now.

The Blood is on the Wall is about a UN soldier during a vampire apocalypse. A pretty dark tale if I say so myself.

The other 9 stories in the anthology are all vampires stories. So if you enjoy stories with vampires, this anthology is for you; also pick up volume 1 too (I’m not in it, but who can say no to vampires?).

You can pick it up in ebook here. Paperback is also available most places, finding it online is probably easiest and quickest.

My second announcement is a release of a new short story: At the Traffic Lights.

At the Traffic Lights book coverA contemporary tale that I had a great time writing.

The traffic light flashes yellow in an otherwise perfect neighborhood. Model houses, white picket fences, green lawns.

Everything completely normal except for the broken light.

A woman waiting for the car that will change everything.

At the Traffic Lights is only available in ebook as of yet; you can find links to most places it is buyable at here.

That was all for this time. I hope your summer reading is great. Mine have been so far.

Starting next month (or possible September), I will start sharing my favorite entertainment (aka books, games, movies, etc) on the blog. So look for that blogging series to compliment my monthly pictures.