A damaged cop (ho hum). Clones bred for replacement body parts (wait a minute). Flying malls that function as cities (what?). These are the main elements of Michael Marshall Smith’s dystopian noir thriller Spares. Rapt-addicted ex-cop, Jack Randall, has dropped off the grid following a great personal tragedy. He takes a job as caretaker of one of the farms that houses clones (the “spares”… Continue Reading
Category Archives: Book Recommendations
Sleep Your Troubles Away
A gothic horror story set in an old psychiatric hospital on the windswept coast of England. Psychological experimentation circa mid-1950’s. A medical mystery that stumps one of the great psychiatrists of the day, as well as his young protégé. If any of this lights up the literary centers of your brain, you will want… Continue Reading
The Four D’s: Part 5 – Depth of Story
If you’re an aspiring writer you know all about plot and subplot. Plot gives us the spine of the story, and subplots add depth, but where do plot and subplot take root? In theme. What is theme? Theme is what a story has to say about the timeless truths and facets of the human… Continue Reading
Do You Have an Ear For Dialogue?
Of the many technical skills needed to write fiction, dialogue is probably the hardest to master. You either have an ear for it, or you don’t. I’ve heard this. I’ve read this. I believe it. At best, the majority of us aspiring writers will learn to write good dialogue. Those blessed few who have the… Continue Reading
Gatsby vs Carraway – Whose Story Is It?
Many regard F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby as one of the great literary achievements of its time. Published in 1925, the story accurately reflects a cross-section of post-World War I America. Referred to as the Jazz Age, the early- to mid-1920’s brought unprecedented economic gain to post-war America, benefiting primarily the established upper… Continue Reading
The Four D’s: Part 4 – More on Depth of Character
At the welcome reception for my MFA program I was asked the following question: when my novel is published and on bookstore shelves, next to which author would I like to see it placed? I had never thought about this and found myself unable to come up with a satisfactory answer. Later, as I… Continue Reading
Stories About How to Tell Stories
On the cover of the trade paperback edition of The Things They Carried, a short excerpt from the New York Times book review says, “A marvel of storytelling … The Things They Carried matters not only to the reader interested in Vietnam but to anyone interested in the craft of writing as well.” I found this to… Continue Reading
Hell Hath No Fury Like That of the Scorned Woman
DENNIS LEHANE once said that the short story is the prose writer’s best chance for perfection. The novel is too big and unruly, but with the short story, the author can come close to getting it just right. I think Holly M. Kothe has approached perfection with her story collection Sweet Violent Femmes. The collection contains… Continue Reading
Baby This Town Rips the Bones From Your Back …
You’d think that a guy who could write a line like that, build an anthem around it, surround that song with the likes of “Thunder Road,” “Jungleland” and “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out,” and then land the covers of Time and Newsweek simultaneously (the first person to do so), you’d think a guy like that would… Continue Reading
Agatha Hattie: Queen of the Night
Are you strange parents with odd little children? If so, you will enjoy Agatha Hattie: Queen of the Night. And if you’re not strange, and your children are not odd, you will still enjoy this book. Agatha Hattie is a pretty little girl with a seemingly perfect life, but all that changes one day… Continue Reading