Book Review – “If an Asteroid falls on Singapore” by Pritika Aggarwal

Friday October 23, 2020 8:40 am

For our sci-fi loving book worms this is number six of our highly informative book review series released in the wake of World Asteroid Day 2020 that was celebrated across the world on 30^th June 2020.

The reviews are written for more than twenty mini e-books that were published in sweek.com for the sixth writing project or WRIPE-6 which was organized by a former brand ambassador of that platform.

This time we are going to take a closer look at the mini e-book “If an Asteroid falls on Singapore” by Pritika Aggarwal who is also the WRIPES Coordinator for Singapore and India.

Pritika’s Sweek profile describes her as, “loves to read and grow her knowledge in the fields of languages, sciences, and math enjoys diving into great fictional and literary works and absolutely adores writing. She is a fitness enthusiast, or even a naturalist, but her true meditation comes in being a logophile”

Pritika’s entry to WRIPE-6 “If an Asteroid falls on Singapore” begins with a lovely and elaborative description of the island country – the ‘little red dot’ so named after its continuous hot weather that prevails throughout the year. She points out the double entendre ‘the fine city’ which the place is called due to the most outrageous fines imposed on the absent mindedness of its citizens.

She explains DORSCON – the Disease Outbreak Response System Condition is at ‘orange’ but still not ‘red’ with regard to the covid-19 situation at Singapore. She sees the spread of the virus as “nature’s way of telling us to restore tranquility and harmony with and within her”

Taking note of the scarcity of natural catastrophes in the ‘little red dot’ because of its placement near the equator, Pritika brings our attention to an actually real life incident reported by the American Meteor Society (AMS):

“A very bright fireball described to be green in color was seen streaking through the sky over Malaysia and Singapore on February 11, 2020. The meteor was spotted around 05:01 LT on February 12 (February 11 at 21:01 UTC)”

An eye witness has stated: “It felt super near as I was standing on my balcony watching it explode and it disappeared within split seconds,” explaining the her initial experience as “At first, I thought it was going to either land into the sea right below my house or the wetland opposite because it was too big and it seemed very near.”

In her story, Pritika has cleverly woven this news fact to the narrative and proclaims ‘asteroid2020’ as the ‘grandfather’ of the ‘green fireball’ that was sighted on 12^th Feb. Asteroid 2020 will hit earth on June 30^th, the World Asteroid Day.

She does a very good job here, describing the panic that is felt by the Singaporeans. “Sprinting across the roads, glaring above into the sky [and] pleading for forgiveness” their behavior is something right next to madness and insensibility.

Then she suddenly twists her narrative, surprising the reader at the last paragraph and saving Singapore – and the world – at the last minute. It is very beautifully done.

You can now read “If an Asteroid falls on Singapore” for free on Sweek.com. If you find the story entertaining you can Like, Comment and share it with your friends.

It is also available in Hindi, German, Spanish and Portuguese.

Pritika Aggarwal currently maintains WRIPES blog on Singapore, being the WRIPES Coordinator for Singapore and India. Read her author interview in full.

Book Review – “If an asteroid falls on Bergen, Norway” by Chiminonroll

Friday October 16, 2020 9:40 am

As this week draws to a close we bring you the fifth book review (It is about Bergen, Norway!) of this exciting blog series that is based on the 6th writing project (WRIPE-6) organized by Chinthaka Nanayakkara who is a former brand ambassador of Sweek.com. The writing project was launched in commemoration of the world asteroid day that was celebrated on 30th June 2020.

Chiminonroll joined WRIPE-6 at number 22nd participant of WRIPE-6 which is the 6th Writing Project organized by Chinthaka Nanayakkara focusing on World Asteroid Day due 30th June 2020 and became the WRIPES coordinator for Norwegian language. She maintains https://nordicwripes.blogspot.com/ which is the Nordic version of WRIPES official blogger site.

Her literary work includes a World Made up of a Thousand Words, and collaborative editing and publishing with Hansha on his stories The Reflecting Nightmare and 1000 Year War.

Also there are number of translations released by Chiminonroll on behalf of WRIPE-6: Hvis en asteroide krasjer på Juiz de For a, Hvis en asteroide krasjer på Cape town, Sør Afrika, Hvis en asteroid krasjer på Tsjad, Hvis en asteroide krasjer på Rio de Janeiro, Hvis en asteroide krasjer på Andhra Pradesh and Hvis en asteroide krasjet på Bergen.

Hvis en asteroide krasjet på Bergen is actually the Nordic version of Chiminonroll’s entry to WRIPE-6 is “If an asteroid falls on Bergen, Norway” which is available in many languages.

In Norwegian:

In Afrikaans:

In Portuguese:

In Turkish:

In Hindi:

The story has been commented upon as “awesome work’ by Tanushree Chowdhury who is the Hindi and Korean Coordinator of WRIPE-5 and WRIPE-6. Samantha Carneiro, the Portuguese Coordinator of WRIPE-6 exclaims “Loved it!”

Chiminonroll has a gift for creating vivid imagery in a reader’s mind. This is pretty evident throughout her story; especially at the opening of her story when she sails into a rich description about the misty coastline of Bergen, with its numerous fjords and rocky mountains.

At the middle of the story, however, the mesmerizing description of the attractive geographical features of Bergen is subtly nudged towards the characteristic ‘always rainy’ weather in this part of Norway. When she mentions the oversight of NASA to detect the oncoming asteroid in good time to comply with the writing prompt given, it is almost a pity to escape from that rainy, fairy world of fjords and mountains.

The extent of possible damage on Norway by Asteroid 2020 is mind numbing. She theorizes that the collision impact would be“60 times greater than the atomic blast in Hiroshima” and explains the plausible scenarios if the asteroid falls into the sea, or if it makes landfall on – yeah –land.

You can enjoy the “If an asteroid falls on Bergen, Norway” FOR FREE in Sweek.com and if you find it as an really interesting read, you can share it among your friends, Like and Follow – and here comes the most exciting part -stand a chance to participate in upcoming WRIPE-7 or the 7th Writing Project of Sweek.com.

If you are really lucky your book would be featured in Youtube promo videos and in blog posts like this.

Book Review – “If an Asteroid Falls on Cape Town, South Africa” by Rowena Claudia Fortuin

Thursday October 8, 2020 8:24 am

Hey, hope you are safe and sound from Covid and everything! Wherever you are stay safe and keep in touch with us! Here is the fourth book review released in line with the World Asteroid Day Writing Project hosted by Sweek.com during June 2020.

The writing project was the 6^th of its kind and was coordinated by Chinthaka Nanayakkara who was a former brand ambassador of Sweek. com. His writing projects are called WRIPES (WRI extracted from the word ‘writing’ and P, E and S extracted from the ‘project)

The 6^th writing project is known as WRIPE-6. Writers from all around the world were given a writing prompt to describe the cities they live in and finish the story by giving an alarm to the entire world that their city is going to be destroyed by an asteroid heading towards earth.

So far ‘Our Universe For Kids’ have released book reviews on top three books showcased in WRIPE-6. They were ‘If an Asteroid Falls on Kolkata, India’ by Tanushree Chowdhury, ‘If an Asteroid Falls on Valencia’ by Kathy Baker and ‘If an Asteroid Falls on Rio de Janeiro’ by Samantha F Carneiro.

Tanushree was from India, Kathy was from Spain and Sam was from Brazil. The fourth author we are bringing forward today is Rowena Claudia Fortuin from South Africa who authored ‘If an Asteroid Falls on Cape Town, South Africa’. She is also the Afrikaans coordinator of WRIPE-6.

Rowena maintains one of the best blogs of WRIPES in Afrikaans language. Also she has recently published short story in Afrikaans called ‘Die Gelukkigste Mense in die Wêreld’ which means the ‘The Luckiest People in the World’ in English. ‘Die Gelukkigste Mense in die Wêreld’ was released on June 5 and is now available at selected online retailers.   

‘If an Asteroid Falls on Cape Town, South Africa’ begins with a short description of the picturesque country with a brief summary of the prevailing covid situation. Then immediately what follows is the unleashing of the wrath of the asteroid at the utopian state; “It has hit South Africa. Unexpectedly. Out of nowhere. Out of thin air… there is no time to prepare. This is no utopia. It’s a paradise of a disaster …”

As the tragedy unfolds, Rowena also creatively points out the worthless existence of all politicians stating, ‘with their empty promises of a better tomorrow … [they] did not foresee that there would be no tomorrow”

At this point she plays a little trick on the reader saying that ‘none of these have happened’ and conjures an image of happy life of the utopian state she dreams about; “families are laughing. The warning must be a mistake. The 30^th June will be just another day”   

Placing the reader at a dilemma, she asks the million dollar question: “If an asteroid falls, will [the world] will be prepared for it?”

‘If an Asteroid Falls on Cape Town, South Africa’ is an interesting an engaging read which you can enjoy for free. Let us hear what you think, my space lovers!

You can contact Rowena via email ([email protected]), Instagram (rowenaclaudia) and Facebook (Rowena Claudia Fortuin). Also you can visit her blog, rowenafortuin.blogspot.com in which she shares her thoughts, book reviews, film reviews etc.

Book Review – “If an Asteroid Falls on Rio de Janeiro” by Samantha F Carneiro

Friday October 2, 2020 11:56 am

Hi universe lovers! This is the third in our series of book reviews based on the sixth writing project on World Asteroid Day organized by Chinthaka Nanayakkara who is a former Brand Ambassador of Sweek.com.

If you are interested in knowing some back ground on this series you should start at the beginning! We don’t want you to be confused! (Warm smiles)

Samantha F Carneiro is just “Sam” for everyone who participated in the project, winning their hearts as she assumed the role of the Portuguese Coordinator within a few weeks she joined WRIPE-6.

She published ‘Se um asteróide cair em Bihar, Índia’, ‘Se um asteróide cair em Bergen, Noruega’ and ‘Se um asteróide cair em Cape Town, África do Sul’ during the first half of April, doing a great job in translating to Portuguese the literary works of her fellow authors who wrote in English.

Samantha’s excellent translation skills increased the online visibility of WRIPE-6 to a considerable degree.

Also a mini e-book author of the project, she released her own story titled ‘If an Asteroid Falls on Rio de Janeiro’ followed by its Portuguese translation ‘Se um Asteróide cair no Rio de Janeiro’.

Attracted to Thriller & Horror, Action & Adventure genres, Sam Completed ‘If an Asteroid Falls on Rio de Janeiro’ on Feb 15, 2020. Its Rating was ‘Safe’ and time to read was 3 minutes. Rowena Claudia Fortuin, the Afrikaans coordinator of WRIPE-6 comments “What an intriguing and heartbreaking read! You have a way with words!”

‘If an Asteroid Falls on Rio de Janeiro’ depicts the true panic that can be witnessed in society when it suddenly dawns upon them that they are all going to perish within a few hours time.

 

The narrator of the story was describing a calm and quite ‘Rio das Ostras’ (the Oyster river) when the emergency warning comes in: the entire Southern region of South America is going to be reduced to dust by an Asteroid just discovered  – and then everything becomes chaos.

Uniqueness of her writing style in this story is that she presents it in short paragraphs that mostly consist of single sentences. You load the story to your screen and you get the idea that you are looking at an event agenda rather than a mini e-book on sci-fi.

Yet, it is one hell of a powerful story.

You can now access ‘If an Asteroid Falls on Rio de Janeiro’ FOR FREE! If you find it really enjoyable as I did, you can Like, Follow, Share it among your online friends! You can also drop a friendly hi (or Olá) to her anytime! She speaks both English and Portuguese fluently.

As WRIPE-6, reaches nearly hundred mini e-books in more than five different languages Samantha Ferreira connected online with the Chief Organizer of the project from Rio das Ostras, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil over a cup of tea, in a quiet evening. [Read the full interview]