Speculative Fiction That Asks Big Questions
Every now and then I see posts on Twitter or Facebook asking whether or not Scrivener is a good project development program for writers. I always chime in with a resounding “yes!” Not because I’m being paid to say so. I’m not. I just know a useful tool when I see one, and I want…
What?? Monday got past me without posting on my site??? I think somebody spun the clock ahead (and not just for daylight savings time) when I wasn’t looking. How did I lose a whole day? To be honest, things are going to be cranking in my life for the next month or so. After I…
I mentioned in my last post that I was traveling to Guatemala with friends who do humanitarian work on behalf of the Masai American Organization through proceeds from the Dream Shop and other sources: providing basic health, dental and visual checkups; building new schools and elder centers; supporting local women’s co-ops who create hand-dyed and…
By Angie Thomas Balzer + Bray Publishing, ISBN: 978-0062498533 Hardcover, 464 pages. ©2017 16-year-old Starr Carter lives in Garden Heights, a poor black neighborhood where gangs run the streets and drugs are ubiquitous. Between her mother’s job as a nurse and her father’s community grocery store in the Heights, Starr’s parents manage to send her…
By Brad Parks Dutton Publishing, ISBN: 978-1101985601 Paperback 464 pages. ©2017 When federal judge Scott Sampson receives a text from his wife saying she will pick up their kids after school, he is mildly annoyed. It was his turn, not hers. He and the twins had plans, and now they’ll have to be postponed. Besides,…
After a long dry spell, I’m writing again. At the moment, I’m working on a short story with specfic elements (my norm), and a new, non-specfic novel which I intend to write as a series of letters. Single first-person POV telling a tragic story that will probably be the hardest thing I ever write, so…
Right now, I’m about four weeks away from beginning yet another round of revisions on my novel. Why four weeks, you ask? Because the draft is still out with two readers and, by the time I get their changes back, I’ll be preparing for a trip to Guatemala with friends. A series of semi-major revisions…
One thing I see a lot of in our local writing community is public readings, where a writer stands before an audience and reads a segment of their work. If you’re a writer, but you’ve never attended a public reading, you should consider it. It’s a great way to get a taste of different styles…
Next month at this time, I’ll be preparing for a one-week trip to Guatemala. Oh, who am I kidding. I’m preparing now. There’s a lot to do, and even though much of the trip will be unscripted, I know at least some of what I’ll need to have while in-country. It helps to know I…
By Tim Johnston Algonquin Books, ISBN: 978-1616206772 Hardcover, 416 pages. © 2019 An unexpected winter road trip across several states toward a small town in Minnesota lands college students Audrey and Caroline in the icy waters of the Black Root River. Audrey survives. Caroline does not. Despite Audrey’s claims that their car was deliberately pushed…