By Alan McDermott Alan McDermott, the master of the firefight, has done it again. Just when you think he could not top the tension, pace and world-shattering implications of his plots, he has raised the bar again with his fifth Tom Gray book, Gray Vengeance. Sometimes I wonder if Tom Gray isn’t getting tired of saving […]
Here’s something that bugs me: sentences constructed as “this needs to happen.” For example, on a news report about the lack of mental health care workers in Nunavut, the journalist said “more nurses need to be hired in Nunavut.” That’s obviously false. Maybe nurses do need to be hired. Professionals need jobs. But that’s not […]
A few years ago, a group of blogs hosted something akin to a blog tour called Six Sentence Sunday, posting six sentences from their books. I’ve decided to revive that, rerunning some samples on my new blog. This sample comes from my first novel, The Bones of the Earth. Let me know what you think in […]
My Temporary Life Martin Crosbie, 2012 This was so good. The traditional publishing model is broken indeed if a string of publishers rejected Martin Crosbie’s excellent first novel. I can’t imagine what made them turn it down. The plot is engaging from the beginning, filled with grabbers like high-school bullying and drunkenness and a strong […]
The most important writing tip of all is: Keep it simple. Too many people try to be writers. They get stuck trying to construct new kinds of sentences, trying to shine or to equal Shakespeare or Fitzgerald. Or worse, they try to write like a business person speaks—or worst of all, like a politician. Instead, […]
Zoe Saadia is clearly a very good writer. She has succeeded in a difficult task for a writer — I know, because it’s very similar to what I tried in my own writing. In At Road’s End, Zoe Saadia presents a historical story set in a time, place and culture that are, as far as […]
I’m a writer, a speaker, and an editor. Some consider the combination to be some super being but, in reality, I am just a regular man. In other words, I write, I talk and I correct. I began life as a writer, the proverbial newbie, who felt he knew it all and had the best […]