There has to be something in the water at some writer’s retreat somewhere that is quietly, magically morphing normal humans into the best kind of authors. How else do you explain the emergence of Drew Hayes, Rachel Aaron, Dennis E. Taylor, and Scott Meyer all at around the same time?…
Full disclosure, I love Rachel Aaron – no, not personally, we’re not that close – I just love the way she approaches fiction. Her characters are vivid, unique, and relatable, even when they’re demons from hell. She knows how to make you care about a slacker dragon boi or an…
There’s a running gag in The Muppet Movie where someone says something unfounded about frogs—like touching one gives you warts—and Kermit flails his arms and yells, “That’s a myth!” As he does, a girl pops up out of nowhere and, with a lisp on her cutesy face, says, “Yeth?” Stupid?…
I survived Covid, how about you? My guess is, if you’re reading this, you definitely survived, but did you? Being alive after something so earth-shattering isn’t the same as survival, not on a deeper level. If you lost someone, I’m so very sorry. If you lost something – your sense…
by T.C. Weber This book felt like a mix of the old Mission: Impossible TV show and Ready Player One. It’s an odd mix and sometimes it works really well and other times it hits a speed bump. However, this author can write. His use of language and pacing are…
Until college, I had never done much writing. As an avid reader, I had always preferred to be on the other end of the exchange. In the back of my mind throughout my childhood and teenage years, I thought I would write one day, but that day never seemed to…
by Randy Ingermanson How to Write a Novel Using the Snowflake Method Someone recommended this book to me after I said that I can’t plot and have never been able to. I wish I could remember who it was that made the recommendation because I owe her big time. I…
by Joe Haldeman The Forever War This is the weirdest sci fi book I’ve read since Ringworld, and just as unlikable. The idea is fascinating – time travel via space travel, but the execution is deeply flawed. The military stuff bored me to tears but at least I don’t know…
by Susan Wilson The Dog Who Danced Let me preface this by saying that I’m a fanatic about dogs in general, and blue merle Shelties in particular, so if you’re going to write about this breed, I’m going to notice when you’re full of it. Let’s start with the fact…
by Ellery Adams The Secret, Book and Scone Society Nora has a secret and so do her new friends. It’s too bad that it was death that brought them together, but now they are getting to know each other’s secrets even as they try to find the killer stalking their…
