I didn’t like Stella Gale when I first met her in Nancy Kent’s first novel, Stella Gale: A Rare Breed. She is brash and self-absorbed, repetitive, with a classic white trash vocabulary that does little to endear. I read a few pages, and then put it down. Read more about Stella Gale
I recently did a podcast interview and one of the questions was, “Do you put yourself in any of your stories?”
I said yes, I did, all three of my novels have some version of me and make use of people I know or have known.
That’s true, but I wish I had been able to expand on that. The way it is, it sounds as if my novels are autobiographical, and they are not. Read more about Writing Myself
I read lots of good books. Lots of non-fiction. Today, I’m reading Toynbee’s A Study of History. It has characters who figured long ago in far away places with strange sounding names. Judas Maccabaeus. Bar Kokaba. Mithradates, King of Pontus. Spartacus. There is a lot in history that parallels what we are currently experiencing that I find interesting. Read more about Flight into Fantasy
I hear a lot of complaining about the loss of real books – as if a work published on Kindle is not, in fact, a book. Just looked up the definition of “book” – it has been updated thus: Read more about Why Kindle?
What is The Expanse? It is, first of all, a series of Scifi novels by James S.A. Corey, which has been made into a TV series. It is, second of all, a positive vision of a possible future where the heroes of the piece have one prime objective: save lives whenever possible. Read more about The Expanse Awaits
It isn't TV's fault that I haven't finished reading another book in time to review. That honor goes to the work I'm trying to do in promoting my own books and writing pieces like this. However, 2018 has so far been another cornucopia of narrative riches, and before the summer season kicks off, I thought it might help to revisit some of those. They will all be on On Demand or Netflix soon, I'm sure, so here goes. Read more about Must-See-TV
I’m watching the second season of The Handmaid’s Tale, and I encourage everyone who can (it’s on Hulu) to join me.
Here’s the thing: this season spends some time chronicling the first intimations of change in what was, at the beginning, a world we recognize as our own. Suddenly there are more intrusive questions asked, women need a husband’s signature for birth control pills, identification as LGBTQ becomes, not illegal but … problematic. Read more about The Handmaid’s Tale - A Primer
With the likes of James Comey’s book, A Higher Loyalty and Michael Wolff's Fire and Fury hitting the newsstands, all certainly worth the read, I was delightfully surprised to learn that the non-fiction book of 2018 is none other than Prairie Fires, t Read more about Little House
It’s not easy writing a novel. It’s even harder selling them. Read more about Selling the Book
Stuff I’m watching and reading, because I know you all want to know.
WATCHING
Winter Olympics: Because I like to watch people doing stuff in snow. Rooting for the Nigerian bobsled team, the Mongolians, and whoever wins one of those Iron Person extravaganzas.
Victoria: Because I’m a sucker for fictional British history and because it stars a Dr. Who Companion. Read more about Winter 2018