book review Book Review: Anna Burns’s “Milkman” 28 Jan 201929 Jan 2019 Milkman, by Anna Burns This book shares some characteristics with Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan Quartet, which by chance I read just before picking Milkman up at the library: both explore themes…
book review Impression: The Neapolitan Quartet 2 Dec 201820 Jan 2019 The Neapolitan Quartet, by Elena Ferrante I came late to these controversial novels, but the old cliché of "Better late than never" certainly applies. I confess that I have become…
Author post To Lie for Truth’s Sake: the Novelist’s Conundrum 20 Apr 201820 Apr 2018 The job of a fiction writer is to lie. Still, if it were only to lie, you could dedicate yourself to advertising or politics instead, and accept troubled sleep as…
Author post… Quickie Book Review: Salman Rushdie’s “Fury” 24 Mar 201824 Mar 2018 Just finished Salman Rushdie's Fury. This was my first taste of Rushdie, and it disappointed me. The protagonist is the usual brilliant academic undergoing a midlife crisis. (True, he is…
Announcement… Teaser: “My Turn to Die” 28 Feb 201828 Feb 2018 I have finished the third draft of my next novel, titled My Turn to Die, and am grinding through the process of offering to agents while deciding whether I'd really…
Author post Clause and Effect 11 Dec 201711 Dec 2017 Do you love subordinate clauses? I know I do. And how about assonance and alliteration, rhythm and rhyme? Let's face it: they can be as tasty as chocolate. But would…
Author post Transcending Place 2 Dec 201714 Jan 2018 Place is important in stories: while plots are (or should be) based on actions, actions have to take place in a place--the very phrase "take place" tells us that. Be…
Author post The Value of Forgetting 5 Nov 20175 Nov 2017 A good memory is both blessing and curse to a novelist. As with all two-edged weapons, you have to wield it with caution, lest you damage your own self...or in…
Author post Getting Over Yourself: Advice for Novelists 17 Sep 201720 Oct 2017 There are many ways to become a good writer, but one of the best ways to become a great one–besides giving yourself a thorough grounding in the mechanics of language–is…
Author post The Beginning of the End 10 Sep 201710 Sep 2017 I came to the last word of the first draft of my third novel yesterday morning. This marks, of course, not the end of the hard work, but only the…
