Book Review – “If an Asteroid Falls on Valencia” by Kathy Baker

Hey, this post belongs to a series! You should know some background on the 2020 World Asteroid Day writing project that produced this mini e-book before reading this content! Get some understanding before continuing. Ha, ha!  

Kathy Baker joined the 6^th writing project (WRIPE-6) organized and coordinated by Chinthaka Nanayakkara during January 2020. At number 4, she was one of the first writers to join the project which was scheduled to reach its culmination in June 30^th in time for World Asteroid Day.   

Her mini e-book was 2 minutes read with a word count of less than 500 that comes under genres Thriller & Horror, Action & Adventure. However it is safe for all ages and was completed and published on Feb 6, 2020 under the heading of ‘If an Asteroid Falls on Valencia’.

Priya Esakkimuthu, is a Senior Coordinator of WRIPE-4 (World Asteroid Day 2018) and WRIPE-6 (World Asteroid Day 2020) and has been recognized as ‘one of the best pupils’ by Chinthaka Nanayakkara, with a passion for promoting the writings of all aspiring authors who participate in WRIPES. She says,

“Whenever I hear the word ‘Spain’ it always drives me to ‘Festivals’ ‘Flamenco’ ‘Bullfighting’ sort of things in mind, a well known country for its cultural heritage … It was truly a good tale with a lovely message. Loved it! Your words were really engaging. Keep it up.”

Rowena Claudia Fortuin, the 18^th participant of WRIPE-6 and its Afrikaans coordinator sees it as a “Very well-written story”.

The quick popularity of this short literary work inspired Kathy to release its Spanish version on the same day under the dramatic title of “Si un Asteroide cayera en Valencia”.

Moving forward, she translated nine other mini e-books of her fellow authors to Spanish on the project. In view of her commitment and performance she was made the Spanish coordinator of WRIPE-6 and currently maintains the Spanish version of WRIPES official blog: spanishwripes.blogspot.com

‘If an Asteroid Falls on Valencia’ begins in accordance with the official writing prompt of WRIPE-6, painting  a heartwarming description of Valencia, describing it as “the city of festivals and traditions, … located on the banks of the Turia river, on the east coast of the Iberian Peninsula.”

Gently moving in to the subject of weather, Kathy notes that the “natural disasters were rare in Valencia” and that “there was only one serious catastrophe in its recent history” which was the catastrophic flooding of Turia river in 1957 which claimed about 80 lives.

Then she brings in the asteroid. NASA announcing its arrival on 4^th February 2020, destined to collide with earth on 30^th June 2020, ironically on the World Asteroid Day and the target location identified as Valencia, Spain. Name of the killer: Asteroid (4179) Toutatis.

The most chilling part comes when Kathy describes the atmospheric changes that become visible in Valencia against the backdrop of the inevitable doomsday. She writes “Weather changed, and Valencia plunged into chaos…The blackouts followed one after the other, and most of the population in the city stayed behind closed doors for hours …. Waiting for their final hour.”

Kathy’s Sweek profile states that she loves music and is addicted to terror. This reflects throughout her story. It’s a book safe for all ages but at times it’s a terrifying read. Yet it ends with music – a clever twist added to the end of the story that can bring a smile to the lips of any reader.

Read the book FOR FREE! and don’t forget to Like, Follow, Share while you enjoy her story! You can also drop a friendly hello (or hola) to her anytime! She speaks both English and Spanish fluently.

As WRIPE-6 moved forward in the first  half of 2020 with its team of aspiring authors busy writing and excitedly preparing for the oncoming World Asteroid Day 2020, Kathy was recognized as one of the team’s highest performing personalities and sat down to an author interview with the Chief Organizer of the project. You can enjoy the full interview here!

Chinthaka Nanayakkara

Chinthaka Nanayakkara is an e-book author, a paperback author, editor, book cover designer, video maker, Youtuber, mentor, guest blogger and an organizer and coordinator of a unique type of WRIting ProjEctS called WRIPES. He was a former Brand Ambassador of Sweek.com – a mobile writing platform based in Netherlands that enables anyone in the world to read, write and share their stories at no cost.