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 […]
Since today is Mother’s Day, this sample from The Bones of the Earth is an interaction between the main character, Javor, and his mother, Ketia (remember, no matter how outlandish they may seem to you, all the names are historical). This is from a flashback, where Javor remembers his mother talking to him on the […]
I have to admit that I probably do not fit into the target audience for Red Mojo Mama. But after I finished it, the more I thought about it, the more I came to like it. The story is about Lydia, known as “Red,”a woman in her late 30s who loses her husband and a beloved […]
By Samreen Ahsan This review is long overdue, but A Silent Prayer is a book that deserves all the attention it has received. It’s been just over a year since it was published, and in that time, A Silent Prayer has won first prizes at book fairs in Los Angeles, Hollywood and Paris, first prize […]