Month: January 2015
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Recommended Reading: Station Eleven
This month, I’m highly recommending the post-apocalyptic novel, Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel. Station Eleven does something that I hadn’t thought was possible: it offers something new and exciting in the post-apocalyptic genre. I have read a lot of post-apocalyptic books, and I was getting burned out on them. It seemed like there was nothing…
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A good resource for writers…
I recommend that all writers, whether you intend to self-publish or publish traditionally, read the excellent and short reviews of self-published books that Jefferson Smith (and occasional guest reviewers) posts at Immerse or Die. Smith maintains that the most important quality of fiction is whether it enables the reader to become immersed in the story, an assertion…
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Watch out, that writer’s taking an info-dump!
This is another entry in my ongoing series identifying common problems in self-published novels. As a writer, you’ve got a terrific idea for an alien planet, a fantasy world or a dystopian future. You’ve worked out all the details, and you just know that no other writer has come up with something this creative or…
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Favorite Reads of 2014
I was going to do a whole “year in reading” post, but I got sucked into other things and now I find the year has already turned over. Happy new year! Here are my favorite reads of last year. Many are relatively new, some are classics, all are worth your time. The Sundial by Shirley…