Two weeks ago, at the Missouri Writer’s Guild Conference, I met a girl named Alexandra Rowland, whose passion for writing was unquenchable. I was impressed from the get-go at her drive, her exuberance, and the fact that she, a year younger than me, seemed to have her writerly shit together way more than I do. Example:…
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Book Review: “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy
I barely know where to begin with this one. I picked up “The Road” because I’m currently waiting for reader comments on my own post-apocalyptic novel, THE SOWING, and I wanted to take advantage of the downtime to research the classic dystopian and post-apocalyptic stories – the ones that my own work will inevitably draw…
Read MoreBook Review: “Disconnect” by Imran Siddiq
I’ve been going on a bit of a YA reading spree lately, but I’ve been fairly disappointed by the fact that so many of the protagonists in this genre are female. I have nothing against female protagonists, but the imbalance in the genre is overwhelming. Where are the books for boys? Where are the coming-of-age…
Read MoreBook Review: NEXUS by Ramez Naam
The tagline for the book NEXUS, published by the Angry Robot imprint of Osprey, is “Mankind Gets An Upgrade”, but frankly, I don’t think that does the book justice. Lots of books are about “upgrading” humans, whether through genetic modifications, android additions, or drugs (as is Nexus). The tagline is technically correct: the basic premise of NEXUS…
Read MoreBook Review: “Shatter Me” by Tahereh Mafi
I finally did something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time. I bought the first book in Tahereh Mafi’s new series, SHATTER ME, which was released in November of 2011 by Harper/Harper Collins. Her second book, UNRAVEL ME, was just released on Feb. 5, which made me think, “Oh, how easy it will…
Read MoreBook Review: “Ready, Player One” by Ernest Cline
READY, PLAYER ONE is a vivid and compelling story: a fast-paced sci-fi novel that takes place largely in virtual reality, with a double helping of 1980s pop culture references and video game trivia. Centered around the quest to find an “egg” hidden inside this virtual world that contains the key to the largest private fortune…
Read MoreBook Review: “Days of Blood and Starlight”
In June of this year, I read and reviewed the first book in Laini Taylor’s bestselling series, “Daughter of Smoke and Bone”. I called it–and I was not alone in this–“young adult fiction”, for its fantasy elements, its playful and inspired prose, and its plot-driven, fast-paced machinery. This second book, however, defies that categorization. Maybe…
Read MoreBook Review: “Never Hug A Nun” by Kevin Killeen
When was the last time you spat spitballs, ducked under an arc of streaming pee, or got locked in “Jail” at the elementary school carnival? When was the last time you robbed a thrift store? Jumped in front of a train? Jumped ON a train? Lobbed rocks at fresh-off-the-assembly-line cars? Well, guess what, kiddos. Patrick…
Read MoreBook Review: “A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius”
A critic’s darling, a national bestseller, winner of a plethora of book awards (I’m sure, though my politico fact checkers have yet to comment on this unverified claim), a not-quite heartbreaking work of perhaps some form of genius—and yet at the heart of it all I get the sense that Dave Eggers is mocking both…
Read MoreBook Review: “The Name Of The Wind”
Dearest readers, On a recommendation, I decided to delve into a genre I haven’t read much of since before I went into college: fantasy. The recommended book was THE NAME OF THE WIND, Book 1 in a trilogy with the decidedly-badass name “The Kingkiller Chronicles”. The recommendation came with the claim that “Patrick Rothfuss [the…
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The Z-Axis 