Are you a reader looking for a cool way to discover new books and authors? Or are you an author marketing a book? If you’ve answered yes to either question, you should check out Bublish. Bublish is a unique book-discovery website that uses “book bubbles” to create an interface between authors and readers. The bubbles contain excerpts from… Continue Reading
Category Archives: For Readers
The Four D’s: Part 3 – Depth of Character
Craft books and writing teachers will tell you that readers read for character. Indeed, the cornerstone of literary fiction is the complex character study. At a minimum, even the most surface-dwelling, plot-driven genre novel needs engaging characters to carry the story. These characters are not expected to confront deep emotional issues or transcend their… Continue Reading
The Final Push
Would you take a life to save a life? A cop would. A soldier would. How about a medical student? What if you were that student, and you had unrestricted access to the comatose trauma patient who shattered your personal life two months earlier, and by taking his life you could piece yours back… Continue Reading
The Woven Tale Press
The latest issue of The Woven Tale Press is now available. What is the Woven Tale Press, you ask? To paraphrase, it’s a monthly e-magazine that scours the web in search of creative energy that all too often lies buried in a blogger’s archives (like my stuff), be it visual arts, short fiction and nonfiction, writing advice or anything… Continue Reading
The Four D’s: Part 2 – What is Depth?
Resonant stories have depth. Forgettable stories don’t. Literary fiction, for example, takes us deep into the lives of characters and creates complex stories that touch upon the human condition. A good literary novel may resonate with the reader long after the book is finished. Genre fiction, many will say, tends to stay on the… Continue Reading
The Stretch Clock
After spending decades stooped over operating tables, and years hunched over a keyboard, my back is pretty much wrecked. Over the past year, however, I’ve made considerable progress in reversing this trend. I’ve spent time with a personal trainer, I’ve improved my posture, and I invested in a sit-stand desk and ergonomic chair. While all of these things have been helpful, I’ve… Continue Reading
Dennis Lehane and the Four D’s
If you are close to my age, or even a decade or so younger, you may remember a professional athlete whose career spanned the late eighties and early nineties. His name was Bo Jackson. He won college football’s Heisman Trophy in 1985, made his major league debut with the Kansas City Royals in 1987, and became… Continue Reading
The Poisoner’s Handbook
With the spectacular array of medical and surgical technology available to the modern physician and surgeon, it’s easy to regard our colleagues of a century ago as skilled tradesmen who could do little more than drain pus, amputate gangrenous limbs and treat the maladies of the day with voodoo and tonics. In reality, the birth of modern medicine… Continue Reading
The Final Push
If you could save a life by taking a life, would you do it? If you were a medical student, and with a single lethal injection you could repair your shattered world, would you place thumb on syringe and push? Michael Higgins is that student, and he has found himself in this very situation. Do you think he will play God… Continue Reading
The Me, Myself, and I Interview – Part 2
Are the terms intern, resident, and attending surgeon confusing? For a glimpse of how surgeons are trained in this country, read on. Me: Your stories are populated with medical students, interns, surgery residents and attending surgeons. Can you explain the various designations? Myself: Medical education is built upon increasing responsibility and experience. Medical students are, of course,… Continue Reading