Category: Books

The Picture of Dorian Gray, written by Oscar Wilde, published in 1890, is a fascinating tale about a man who makes a bargain with his soul. The protagonist, Dorian Gray, has his portrait painted by a friend, Basil, who introduces him to Lord Henry, an aristocratic man whose quips and epigrams are enough to fill a book. Dorian ends up keeping the painting for himself, and makes a wish that he will not age in years.

One night he brings his friends with him to see a play at the theatre where his betroth, Sibyl, plays a part in a Shakespearean play. But mid-way through, his friends are disappointed by it and end up leaving early. As a result, Dorian breaks off his engagement with her, and without spoiling what happens next, he discovers subtle changes in his portrait. In fact, each time he falls into wrongdoing, the portrait takes the brunt of it, turning more grim and unsightly overtime.

And with the influence of his friend Lord Henry, Dorian embraces a life where he casts aside all responsibility for the sake of his own happiness. No matter the imprudence or what wrongs he does, he bears none of the consequences, since the portrait is affected instead. But it isn’t long before he goes too far, leading him to look over his shoulder at all times.

The Picture of Dorian Gray is a remarkable novel not only thematically, but in prose, style, and plot. It’s a story that explores the psychological depths of a person who casts aside all responsibility for the sake of his own ego. The novel is a careful character study of an individual who bargains wit his soul, and it contains great suspense and tension throughout as others become affected by his wrongdoings, leading to a dissolution of his world and social circle.

The Secret Garden, by Francis Hodgson Burnett, published in 1911, is a story about a girl named Mary Lennox, who leaves her home in India after an outbreak of cholera (which her parents did not recover from), and is sent to her uncle’s estate in England. There, she explores a mysterious mansion, watched and tended by Mrs. Medlock, and the groundskeeper, Ben Weatherstaff, where rooms are forbidden and shut, and a ‘secret garden’ is closed off, with seemingly no entryway.

It is a story with many twists and turns, as Mary peels away the layers of the mystery of her uncle’s life (Mr. Craven), the mansion, the grounds, the ‘secret garden,’ and why it has been kept hidden. While she explores the estate, she befriends the family neighbors (the Sowerbys) who introduce her to the beauty of nature and gardening, and those other secrets which her uncle has kept hidden inside the mansion (no spoilers in this review).

The first half of the book has the reader exploring the mansion with Mary as she becomes familiar with the grounds, and learns about the other characters, as well as her family’s history. By the second half, as the mystery of her uncle’s past unravels, Mary begins to learn, through the restoring of the secret garden, how life can either be hindered, or it can flourish, when the old schemas of doubt and fear are cast away, and an outlook of hope and aspiration take shape.

When I first began reading The Secret Garden, I wasn’t sure how the story would unfold, but as a I read, it was like piecing together clues to a mystery that revealed why the characters in the mansion were so gloomy and despondent. By the end, it became clear how powerful certain beliefs can sour pessimism in our outlook, and that the only way to move forward is to face the sorrow and grief with courage and hope of the future.

To the Lighthouse, written by Virginia Wolfe, published in 1927, is a story that explores the family dynamics within the Ramsey household at their residence on an island in Scotland. A book that explores the thoughts and feelings of its characters, including Mr. and Mrs. Ramsey, their eight children, the guests of their house: Mr. Bankes, Ms. Briscoe, Mr. Tansley, Mr. Carmichael, Paul, etc., and the tensions that stir quietly in their minds.

For example, Mr. Ramsey is always pondering whether his books will be remembered, and Mrs. Ramsey wanting to go to the lighthouse despite opposition from her husband, and their guests view of them and everything else. It’s a novel that seems fleeting in the way it passes from one character’s thoughts to another. It upends that writer’s rule where authors are told to restrict a point of view to one character. Instead, the author leaps from one to the next as, for example, a scene during a meal where Minta mentions losing her grandmother’s brooch at the beach, and while she’s preoccupied with wanting to find it with Paul, Mr. Ramsey is fixated on himself, and the others on one thing or another.

The second part of the book is my favorite where it shows the passing of time through the personification of the house. How after it is abandoned, time erodes its walls and floors, and we discover what had become of the characters (especially with the onset of World War 1). The final act has some of the main characters returning to the house with a scene that juxtaposes Ms. Briscoe working on a painting, while Mr. Ramsey and two of his children make their way to the lighthouse by rowboat, with a dynamic that is far tenser than the first act.

If one is expecting to read this novel hoping for a plot-driven narrative with something dire at stake, this is not it. Rather, it is a novel that is introspective in fascinating ways, and through poetic prose, explores thoughts as if they were like paint on canvas moving through rivers of emotions and dreams.

On August 13th, 2025, my newest novel, Lordins of Fire, will be released on Amazon. It will be available on both Kindle and paperback.

Lordins of Fire is a fantasy novel set in a world in which sorcerers, called Lordins, have conquered most of the lands, and the sapients (humans), are trying to stop them from seizing the last two kingdoms. The story begins with a knight named Ryder, and his team of allies, who are part of the Royal Guard. Their mission is to protect the royal family, but soon, things take a turn for the worse, and Ryder must venture off into treacherous territory to survive.

Lordins of Fire is filled with adventure where the characters are faced with various obstacles to overcome, including powerful enemies and harsh landscapes.

I had a lot of fun writing Lordins of Fire, especially with the world-building aspect, and developing the characters and kingdoms. It was also exciting to see how the characters would handle certain situations, and how they evolved throughout the course of the story.

I have also created a Goodreads Giveaway for the book, and have included the link below.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Lordins of Fire

by Fallton Havenstonne

Giveaway ends August 13, 2025.

Enter Giveaway

I hope you enjoy the novel. Happy Reading!

One of the challenges with reading a book is finishing it. When starting a book, it’s fun and exciting to explore the world brought to life by the pages. But as the days pass and we try to progress, things can get in the way. Chores, obligations, work, tiredness, etc. Then when we return to that book, it’s all that more challenging to finish.

I try to stick to a rule where I read a certain number of pages/chapter(s) a day. If I find myself unable to meet the goal, I will adjust the page/chapter count to make it more manageable. Using a book app that measures your reading progress can be helpful, as well. After you’ve reached your goal, you can either keep reading or stop. I find this helpful as a way not just to measure my progress, but to encourage me to read each day.

When someone recommends a book to me, I’m more inclined to read it than if I came across the book in a digital catalogue. It’s different than reading a book review, too, since there is more conviction when someone says you you ought to read a book. Or if they personally give me a book to read, it carries more weight, like they want to pass it along where it can inspire a new reader.

At times, that book might sit around for years on the shelf until it finds its way into my “to read” list. Sitting on the shelf, collecting dust, until finally, the pages come to life.

But if the book ends up sitting on my shelf again (after reading it), I might explore the works of that writer, who might even become one of my favorite authors to read.

I’ve made it a goal to read at least one chapter a day. I’ll read more if I can, but on days where I’m busy or am too tired to read, this goal has kept me on track with finishing books that I would otherwise not finish.

This would assume that the number of chapters determines the number of days it’d take to complete a book. 20 chapters means 20 days. 40 chapters means 40 days, etc. To the contrary, I often finish books much sooner. Why, you might ask?

I’ll challenge myself to read further ahead, reading 2 or more chapters if I’m really immersed in the story. Once I’m near the end, I’ll read the last 30-40 pages or so without taking a break, even if there are more chapters ahead. It’s a great feeling to finish a book early, since there’s more time to read other books.

I made this rule for myself because, so often, I wouldn’t read from time to time, and that would stretch out to weeks or months, resulting in me not finishing books (only completing them halfway, for example). By following this simple rule, it has helped me to finish books, regardless of how long they are, or how long it would take to read them.

My newest novel, Into The Other Side, will be available on Amazon on March 1st, 2025.

What would happen if there was a world hidden within our own, holding back creatures that want to invade our reality?

That’s what Into The Other Side explores. It is a novel that follows a drama professor named Phaedra, who finds a pair of sunglasses that allows her to see strange, monstrous creatures whenever she removes them from her eyes. Nobody else can see the creatures except her, leaving her to face them on her own. As the creatures wreak havoc, she must find a way to stop them, or else break the curse affecting her eyes!

I wrote Into The Other Side last year on a typewriter, which was my first time completing a novel on one. It was a lengthy process, and it took some getting used to, especially the clacky sounds that echoed off the walls, not to mention that I could type much faster on the computer. But the patience required to type on a typewriter allowed me to think about every sentence and word I wrote, since it required effort/force to press the keys firmly enough for the ink show up on the page.

Below you can find the link to the Goodreads Book Giveaway for the book. The print and ebook versions of Into The Other Side will be available on March 1st, 2025 if you want to get a copy before or after the giveaway ends (March 4th).

Thank you for visiting, and I hope you enjoy the story!

Happy reading!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Into The Other Side

by Fallton Havenstonne

Giveaway ends March 04, 2025.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

I’m excited for the Kindle release of The Sea Rescuers tomorrow. The paperback version for it will be available on September 16th.

The novel started off as a short story, but as I wrote it, the story grew, and it soon expanded to different locations with new characters and world-building elements that took on a life of its own. It was one of those stories where each time I worked on it, I saw something new that I didn’t see before. It was a story I had a lot of fun with, since I imagined it very much like a movie, and I wanted to capture each scene emotionally and visually with words.

There is also humor sprinkled throughout the story, and a lot of research went into the sea creatures, as well as the technology of ships and vessels. I find that with each story I write, I learn a lot in my research as if I were working on a nonfiction book. It makes you appreciate the different fields that are out there, and how much there is to learn about the world.

What I learned the most while writing The Sea Rescuers was to stay true to your vision and to be persistent in completing a story you’ve started. There were times when I was exhausted, times when I wasn’t sure if I would finish the novel. But then it occurred to me that a story won’t finish by itself, and I have to put the time in to complete it, or else, it’ll remain an unfinished work.

I wrote The Sea Rescuers in the spirit of an adventure story, and so it has many suspenseful moments, and includes twists and turns that keeps the characters on their toes. In addition to these aspects, the story explores themes about the environment and biotechnology. One of the great things about literature is that it not only entertain us and gets us turning to the next page, but it can make us think long after we’ve finished reading a book.

My newest novel, The Sea Rescuers, will be available on September 10th, 2024 on Amazon. Sometime after that, the print version will be available for sale.

The Sea Rescuers is a science fiction story that begins with a shipwreck on a deserted island, leaving two people stranded. For the next several days, they explore the island to find food and resources while salvaging supplies from the shipwreck. Day by day, they become more adept at survival, making use of the sea and jungle to acquire food. But the island is rife with danger, and they must find a way off after a close-call encounter, or else, figure out how to survive until help arrives.

As the story progresses, the twists and turns lead to new adventures for the characters, where they face off against vicious creatures. In the process, the story explores themes such as biotechnology, and humanity’s relationship with the environment, marine animals, and so on.

I had a lot of fun writing this novel, and with each draft, I felt like I was uncovering new facets of the world, story, and characters. It’s probably my most optimistic and hopeful story of all the ones I’ve written. In the end, it’s a story about choice, and how making better choices will make the world a better place.

I hope you enjoy The Sea Rescuers and have a lot of fun reading it!