The Park in Winter
Our local park is always teeming with people walking their dogs, biking, playing sports, swinging. This is the only time we’ve EVER had it to ourselves. It felt very peaceful and sleepy.
Latest Entries
Book Review: The One
Series: The Selection Kiera Cass YA There’s a lot to like about this last installment of Kiera Cass’s The Selection series. To bring you up to speed, America Singer is in a reality-show style contest to wed Prince Maxon. But each of them has other romantic entanglements. And then there are the political rebellions, terrorist … Continue reading
Book Review: The Elite
Series: The Selection Kiera Cass YA Welcome back to this dystopian cupcake of a series. I liked Elite, the middle book of The Selection Series trilogy, the same way I liked The Empire Strikes Back as a mid-trilogy installment. We’re past all the exposition and can delve deeper into our characterizations and plot complications. … Continue reading
Book Review: The Selection
Kiera Cass It was bound to happen: Princesses +dystopias +reality TV _________ The Selection I made a feast of this odd little stew of a book, swallowing some sections whole, sometimes savoring a passage as I sorted it into its component ingredients. Oh, I’m on The Bachelor. Nope, I’m in The Hunger Games. The plot: … Continue reading
Percolatte
Hooray! It’s almost time for me to gather with my little brood of about a dozen local poets. We meet at non-chain coffee/tea house once a month to share our poetry. It’s not an open stage, although we do read our poems aloud for feedback and in so doing inflict our verses on any patron … Continue reading
The Ethics of Wonderland
So I’m reading Frank Beddor’s book, The Looking Glass Wars, based on Lewis Carroll’s famous 1860s book, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. The Looking Glass Wars is an interesting and creative book, full of action, and certainly worthy of a book review. But this is not going to be a straight-up book review. It’s a discussion of … Continue reading
Writing Update, and the art of the small
This month seems to be about the art of the minimal. First, my manuscript for the sequel to my book, Waking Beauty, is due to Enclave Publishing Nov 1. It is 85,000 words right now and needs to lose 5,000. Question of the day for those of you out there who write: Do you find it … Continue reading
Fortunate Events (a book giveaway) and Unfortunate Events
So I’m late to the party when it comes to A Series of Unfortunate Events. I just read the first three this month, because it seemed an Octobery thing to do. (Also because it’s Monday the 13th, the date Garfield the Cat fears most.) But as both a bibliophile and a denizen of pop culture, … Continue reading
Author Interview: John W. Otte
At the recent ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers) conference, I had the pleasure of meeting author John W. Otte. Here’s your chance to virtually meet him, too! I was both impressed and entertained by the book, Failstate, which I reviewed in an earlier post. After reading this great book, I sent John some questions. Hope you enjoy his … Continue reading
Book Review: Book of a Thousand Days
Shannon Hale YA Fantasy Ok, this is the Hebrew cover, but it’s just stunningly symbolic, so that’s what you get this time. Book of a Thousand Days has just about everything I have come to love in Shannon Hale, in abundance. She brings a surprising depth, even a kind of ache, to her fairy tales. … Continue reading
ACFW / book reviews / humor / superheroes
Book Review: Failstate
John W. Otte I picked up Failstate because I met the author, John Otte, at the ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers) Conference. And because I like superhero stories. Superheroes + reality TV + sibling rivalry + Christianity + coming-of-age story + love triangle + crime show ______________ Failstate Robin (Rob) Laughlin is overshadowed both in … Continue reading
Sarah E. Morin 